Miss California Carrie Prejean is disappointed she didn't win the Miss USA pageant after her answer to question on gay marriage from blogger Perez Hilton sparked controversy, but says she's proud she stayed true to her beliefs and wouldn't change the response – even though she believes it cost her the crown.

Prejean, who was first runner up, appeared Tuesday morning on NBC's "Today" show and when host Matt Lauer asked if she'd alter her answer if given a "do-over," she said no.

"I did not want to offend anybody, but I think with that question specifically, it's not about being politically correct, for me it was being biblically correct," she told Lauer.

During Sunday night's competition, Hilton asked Prejean if she felt all states should move toward allowing same-sex marriage - to mirror the efforts of states like Vermont and California.

She said, "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one or the other ... same sex marriage or opposite marriage," then added, "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman ... that's how I was raised."

Hilton later ranted about Prejean on his celebrity blog and called her some nasty names.

Hilton went on CNN's Larry King Live Monday night while Prejean spoke about the incident the same night to Fox News - fielding questions on whether she thought her answer cost her the crown.

"Out of all the topics I studied up on, I dreaded that one. I prayed I would not be asked about gay marriage. If I had any other question, I know I would have won," she said in the Fox News interview.

Hilton told King he hadn't bashed Prejean for her beliefs, but felt a candidate for Miss USA should offer more inclusive answers.

Hilton has extended Prejean an invitation to discuss the matter over coffee, but she has not accepted.

Prejean appeared at peace with the outcome Monday in her chat with Lauer - again referencing her faith and saying she was proud of herself for advancing so far in the competition.

And as for her close brush with taking the crown?

"It wasn't what God wanted for my life that night," she told Lauer.

Summary: Miss California is sad she lost the Miss USA pageant after her answer to a question on gay marriage sparked controversy, but says she wouldn't change her response – even though she believes it cost her the crown.


Joaquín Torres has designed the homes of Madonna, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and most of the Real Madrid soccer team. The Spanish "architect of the galactic stars" is known for sleek, modern, elegant designs (think lots of heavy stone, glass, and polished metal), and for his meticulous attention to detail—he even designs the furnishings for many of his homes. Here's a look at some of the insanely opulent residences he's created:

She has dolphins in her living room. Dolphins. Enough said.

Joaquín Torres respects his client's privacy requests so he keeps his mouth closed when asked about the interior of this celebrity couple's home. But given how nice the outside is, it's probably safe to assume it looks pretty good inside as well.

Sanz trusted Torres to completely redesign his home. We trust Sanz was pleased with the results.

Apparently Zidane's home was the most difficult for Torres to design. In an interview with Hola Magazine in 2010, he said they had a lot of problems communicating to Zidane that an architect works with one kind of architecture, not all or any kind of architecture.

Ronaldo, like many of his teammates, lives in the gated La Finca community created by Torres. The footballers all live in identical multi-million dollar houses, which Torres also mostly furnished.

Summary: Madonna, Penelope Cruz, and most of the Real Madrid soccer team had their homes designed by Spanish architect Joaquín Torres. Here are 5 of these amazing homes, complete with dolphins in your living room.


Fetty Wap did a mea culpa after his rap video got a school principal benched.

The remorseful rapper took the mic Wednesday night at a Paterson, NJ school board meeting in the wake of the suspension of the principal who let him film at the high school he attended.

Fetty had been adamant the school district missed the point of his video that features images of weed and pole dancing in a classroom.

Before the board meeting Fetty rallied troops to gather support for the principal.

Summary: Fetty Wap did a mea culpa after his rap video got a school principal benched. The remorseful rapper took the mic Wednesday night at a Paterson, NJ…


The U.S. government on Monday said it would sue to block Staples’ SPLS agreement to acquire rival Office Depot ODP , arguing that it would significantly reduce nationwide competition for consumable office supplies sold to large business customers.

There was no mention of office furniture, electronics, or other such goods.

Staples originally agreed back in February to buy Office Depot in a deal that, at the time, was valued at $6.3 billion in cash and stock. This came 19 years after Staples had originally agreed to acquire Office Depot—at the time for $3.36 billion—at which point it was blocked by federal regulators who were concerned that the deal would result in a price-gouging duopoly between Staples and Office Max.

Office Depot had since acquired Office Max, but Staples believed that the intervening increase of online rivals like Amazon AMZN and Walmart WMT would adequately address antitrust concerns. Apparently it was wrong.

The deal would involve nearly $4 billion in cash and a stock component that has fallen significantly in value since it was originally announced. The overall equity value stood at $5.45 billion as of Monday’s market open, although Staples stock has tumbled further since the Federal Trade Commission announcement.

The FTC vote to issue the administrative complaint and to seek a temporary restraining order was unanimous, with the administrative trial set to begin on May 10, 2016.

Staples and Office Depot have said that they will contest the FTC action.

All of this comes amid a recent burst of U.S. antitrust activity. A merger between canned tuna companies Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea was called off Friday due to Department of Justice concerns, and on Monday, General Electric GE canceled a contested $3.3 billion sale of its home appliances unit to Sweden’s Electrolux.

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Summary: Trustbusters are on a roll.


Barbara Walters has been turning to her high-powered friends for advice on whether she should step in to a full time role and save “The View,” Confidenti@l has learned from a well-placed industry insider.

A second source close to the show confirms that there has indeed been high-level chatter about bringing Walters back for an upcoming Sweeps Week appearance toward the end of this month, but says those discussions have revolved around a one-off visit rather than Walters returning to run the show.

Walters has been left “disappointed” with the constant behind-the-scenes drama and on-air chaos the show has been experiencing during the past year. Her latest hope is that recently returned original panelist Joy Behar can bring some sanity and sensibility to the struggling chat show.

“She created it, and to see the show turn into this hodge podge of topics which constantly gets press upsets her,” says our first source. “She doesn’t want to see it canceled, and thinks she’s the only one who can save it.”

But nearly all of Walters’ pals are advising her against intervening, with that source saying it may not even be a realistic option.

“It’s not like she can return there every day to produce a live show,” says our source. “She watches, and has given notes, and continues to give notes but she should be remembered for creating it, not its demise.”

What Walters was interested in doing specifically was spearheading a total overhaul of the show’s topics and better controlling the drama between the cast and ABC execs.

In May 2014, Walters taped her last episode of “The View,” which featured Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton, and a solid group of women anchors who showed up to pay respects.

Walters has been officially retired, although she still has an office at ABC and occasionally contributes to specials.

We’d reported that immediately after she retired, it seemed she wasn’t ready to let go just yet. A source had revealed that Walters, who created the show in 1997, was spotted on a couch in the show’s green room soon after she left. “Let’s just say she likes to give notes,” said the source.

"I have, of course, mixed feelings about retiring," Walters had said at the time.

A rep for ABC tells Confidenti@l “We are always excited to hear from Barbara at The ‘View.’ Not only is she the creator but one of the most brilliant TV producers working in the business.”

Summary: Barbara Walters has been turning to friends for advice on whether to step into a full-time role and save the troubled show.


Monday was a feel-good day for the Diamondbacks organization, with only a loss by the Dominican Summer League D-backs keeping the organization from a top-to-bottom sweep of eight games.

As it was, a 7-1 ledger isn't bad. It started with a 4-1 victory for the big guys over Gerrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Also in the win column were Triple-A Reno (a double-header sweep), Visalia, Hillsboro, Missoula and the Arizona Rookie League D-backs. Mobile and Kane County had the night off.

This type of success doesn't come out of the blue. Visalia (73-47) and Hillsboro (34-23) both rank at the top of their league's overall standings, with Kane County (72-45) and Missoula (33-21) in striking distance of the best record in their leagues.

RENO: Aaron Blair continues to pitch well for the Aces, improving his record at Reno to 6-1 with six strong innings in a 3-2 victory over Colorado Springs in the first game of a double-header sweep on Monday night. Blair gave up seven hits and two walks and struck out four. He's now 12-4 with a 2.95 ERA over two levels. Catcher Gerald Laird drove in two runs and is now hitting .444 on his rehab assignment.

--In the second game, a 7-3 Aces' victory, Mike Freeman had four hits and Jamie Romak, just back from two weeks with the big club, had two hits, including his 23rd home run, and pushed his RBI total to 90, second best in the PCL. Jordan Pacheco also had a home run among his two hits.

VISALIA: The Rawhide erupted for 23 hits on Monday to eke out a 13-12 victory over Modesto in 10 innings. In a bit of a statistical oddity, the 23 hits consisted of 22 singles and one extra-base hit -- a home run by Gerson Montilla. A pair of Arizona products led the way, as Kevin Cron had five hits and drove in two runs, giving him 90 on the year, and Jamie Westbrook had four hits and reached base six times (two walks) in seven plate appearances. Infielder Phil Gosselin, acquired in the Bronson Arroyo-Touki Toussaint trade, went 2 for 5 in the fifth game of his rehab stint. Gosselin was playing his first game for Visalia after four with the Diamondbacks' Rookie League team.

--Cron hit his league-leading 24th home run in a 7-5 loss to Stockton on Sunday, and teammate Daniel Palka belted his 22nd. Palka also has 21 stolen bases and 33 doubles in 430 at-bats.

KANE COUNTY: Wei-Chieh Huang pitched five hitless innings on Saturday in a 3-0 victory over Lansing. Huang walked two, struck out three and improved his record to 7-2 with a 2.04 ERA. Zac Curtis pitched the ninth, retiring all three batters he faced for his club-record 27th save. Curtis, a sixth-round draft pick out of Middle Tennessee State in 2014, has been dominant in his two years as professional. At 5-feet-9, the organization felt he was better suited for a relief role, and he's responded with two dominant seasons. He had 14 saves, a 1.00 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 27 innings last season for Hillsboro and has followed that up with a 1.57 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 46 innings for Kane County.

HILLSBORO: No. 1 overall draft pick Dansby Swanson continues to acclimate himself to pro ball with the Hops. In four games, he's 3 for 17 (a .176 average), with all three of the hits going for extra-bases (two doubles and a triple).

Summary: Aaron Blair picked up his 12th victory of the season as Reno pulls off a double-header sweep.


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Summary: Discover the NCAA College Football League Scores.


The Arellano Felix brothers, a clan of infamous drug traffickers in the border city of Tijuana, have a history of meeting sticky ends during festivities. The eldest, Francisco Rafael, was killed at a party by an assassin dressed as a clown. His brother Ramon, known for his brutal torture techniques, was shot dead by police during a seaside carnival. A nephew, Luis Fernando Sanchez Arellano, was arrested while watching Mexico beat Croatia in the soccer World Cup. Now after seven male members have gone to their graves or prison cells, the clan may have done what is unthinkable for many in the macho cartel world – let a woman take the helm.

One of the sisters, Enedina Arellano Felix, could be running the remnants of the Tijuana Cartel that traffics cocaine, marijuana, heroin and crystal meth over the world’s busiest border crossing into California, American and Mexican agents say. The 54-old trained accountant is said to be less of a party animal or sadistic killer than her male relatives and more business focused. She is believed to have taken control after Sanchez Arellano, who is reported as being either her son or her nephew, was arrested last year. While there have been other female drug traffickers since the 1920’s, Enedina, known as La Jefa, or the boss, could be the first to head an entire cartel.

Rising to the top in an industry dominated by extremely violent chauvinist men is no east feat, says Javier Valdez, a Mexican journalist who interviewed female traffickers for his book Miss Narco. “This is a world where men behave like animals. Many women in it are used, abused and then killed by the same traffickers they worked with,” Valdez says. “The women who rise high in it are very rare. They have to be extremely intelligent, talented and brave.”

Furthermore, Enedina Arellano Felix has not only survived the fall of her brothers but a slew of takedowns of cartel bosses across Mexico. Under President Enrique Pena Nieto, police and soldiers have rounded up kingpins across the country including the “world’s most wanted man,” Joaquin, “Chapo” Guzman and Miguel Trevino, head of the paramilitary Zetas. La Jefa is one of the last women, or men, standing.

The Arellano Felix brothers moved from inland Mexico to Tijuana in the eighties, carving out their trafficking empire in blood and cocaine-fueled parties. Their antics inspired characters in the movie Traffic. But while the brothers were taking over nightclubs and burning corpses in barbecues, Enedina Arellano-Felix was reported to be studying accounting at a private university.

As her brothers fell in the 2000s, Enedina rose up in the organization, running its money laundering operations by creating front businesses such as pharmacies. From 2002, the U.S. treasury blacklisted her and her companies under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Act. Any American doing business with them can be fined up to a million dollars. By 2006, Mexico’s then attorney general Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said in a news conference she had become the chief financial operator for the cartel.

In 2008, the Arellano Felix brother Eduardo led the cartel into a brutal turf war that left piles of bodies around Tijuana. But after police arrested him after a shoot out, Sanchez Arellano took over with Enedina by his side, says Mike Vigil, the former head of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. As number two and now number one in the cartel, the Jefa has helped reduce violence and got back to the traditional business of smuggling drugs to Americans, Vigil says.

“She is not into the wars of her brothers. She is into making alliances and making money,” says Vigil, who spent 13 years in Mexico, often undercover. “Her beauty may also have helped her make alliances with powerful traffickers such as Chapo Guzman.”

But while purportedly making her drug trafficking fortune, little is known of the Jefa. There are few photos of her besides some family portraits from the 1980s. She married and divorced at least twice, with one husband also alleged to be a money launderer, but her present marital status is unknown. Instead, myths of this Tijuana boss are spread in song and film. Among drug ballads that appear to be inspired by her legend is one called La Jefa de Tijuana. “A very powerful female, brave and decisive,” croons the singer to accordions and a polka beat. A low budget narco movie was also released with the same name, showing the fictional Jefa as a beautiful women who is not afraid of a gunfight.

Such a mix of fantasy and reality permeates the role of females in Mexican drug trafficking. Women, often with obvious plastic surgery, pose with guns in slinky clothes in many drug ballad music videos. One woman, Claudia Ochoa Felix, who looks like Kim Kardashian, posed with weapons on social media, sparking accusations in local newspapers that she was the head of a group of assassins. She denied it at a news conference.

These videos and social media create a distorted idea of what it is like for most women in the cartel world, say the journalist Valdez. It is not a glamorous life of mansions and jewels, but of brutality, rape, prison and death, he says. Drug traffickers will get girlfriends to have excessive plastic surgery to make them fit their fantasies but later, they may leave them to rot behind bars or murder them. “They want to control women’s bodies as a way to have power over them,” Valdez says. “But in the end, most of them see women as vulnerable and disposable.”

Summary: The men of the Arellano Felix clan are dead or in jail so officials believe Enedina Arellano-Felix has taken over


Plans to build more than 6,000 homes on green belt land around Birmingham have been given the go-ahead, in a move that is likely to anger campaigners.

The Birmingham Development Plan – the council’s long-term plan to build 51,500 homes in the city before 2031 – has been endorsed by the government's Planning Inspectorate, meaning it can now be formally adopted by the local authority.

As part of the strategy, fields near the Sutton Coldfield bypass will have 6,000 homes and 175 acres of business built on them. The Planning Inspectorate’s report cited “exceptional circumstances” that justify altering the green belt boundary, and said that there were no plans to release any more green belt land after 2031.

But local campaign group Project Fields said there were “clearly better places” to build the homes.

“There are swathes of brownfield land ripe for developments which the public is not opposed to and which already has the pre-existing infrastructure in place,” a spokesperson for the group said.

There will another consultation on the details of the plans later in the year, but the council said that there would be a mix of homes built on the site, supported by new infrastructure.

Birmingham needs 89,000 more homes by 2031 in order to meet expected demand – meaning the area will still have a shortfall.

Waheed Nazir, acting strategic director for economy at the council, said: “Having the Birmingham Development Plan endorsed by the planning inspector is a major success and means we can get on with the job of providing much-needed housing and employment opportunities in the city.”


Financial services software company Envestnet ENV announced on Monday that it has acquired financial data mining and technology company Yodlee in a cash and stock transaction valued at $18.88 per share, or approximately $660 million. After incorporating about $70 million in cash and cash equivalents, the deal is valued at about $590 million.

Founded in 1999, Yodlee YDLE powers a technology that allows banking institutions and online financial managers to aggregate consumer financial data. It allows consumers to aggregate their credit card statements, bank accounts, and investment portfolio in one website. Its customers include 11 of the 20 largest U.S. banks ranked by assets, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. Over the past year, it created a smaller unit, Yodlee Interactive, which provides application program interfaces (APIs) to startups in the financial sector, as well as an accelerator program for startups.

Yodlee says it has 20 million paid users. The company, which went public on the NASDAQ in October 2014, generated revenues of $98.6 million for year ended June 30, 2015.

The company recently came under fire for how much consumer transaction data it shares with financial institutions in its network. The Journal report asserts that Yodlee sells data it gathers from credit card and debit transactions to investors and research firms, and points to a study from MIT that claims the data can be de-anonymized. Yodlee has refuted the latter, saying that the data passed on to banks for research is scrubbed of any personally identifiable information and can’t be walked back to a person’s identity. Nevertheless, this data-selling part of Yodlee’s business has been quietly operating for at least a year, Fortune has learned, and the company is slowly beginning to publicly talk about it.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2015 or in the first quarter of 2016.

Summary: Less than a year after going public, Yodlee sells for $18.88 per share.


It was a Saturday night in New York. Francis Coppola, the director of the “Godfather” films and head of the “new‐boy network” that has moved into power in Hollywood, came to the hotel suite of Michael Cimino, a loner with only one released work (a 1974 caper film titled “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”) to his credit.

As Mr. Cimino tells it, Mr. Coppola said, “You beat me, baby.”

For even as the world awaits “Apocalypse Now,” Mr. Coppola's long‐overdue Vietnam epic, Mr. Cimino has completed writing, producing and directing his own Vietnam odyssey, “The Deer Hunter.” Since neither of these auteurs knows how many moviegoers will be willing to sit through a movie, and a long one at that, which evokes our unresolved feelings about Vietnam, Mr. Cimino had been counting on “Apocalypse Now” to break the ice.

Now his film will be first.

“The Deer Hunter” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday for nine reserved‐seat performances in order to qualify for the 1978 Academy Awards (and then will be withdrawn until its national opening in February). It is the story of three steelworkers of Russian extraction, portrayed by Robert De Niro, John Savage and Christopher Walken, who during the Vietnam war volunteer to serve together.

Even in previews, the film has aroused controversy. One of its graphically rendered central themes is the suicidal game of Russian roulette, which the characters, when captured by the Vietcong, are forced to play. Many who have been in Vietnam remember no such torture. In addition, the chronology of the war seems scrambled, and a massacre resembling that at My Lai 4 is attributed to th6 Vietcong, rather than to Americans.

Mr. Cimino thinks a long time before responding: “I don't dispute the accounts of My Lai 4, but I think that anyone who is a student of the war, or anyone who was there, would agree that anything you could imagine happening probably happened.

“Look, the film is not realistic — it's surrealistic. Even the landscape is surreal. For example, the little steel town we called Clairton is composed of eight different towns in four states. You can't find that town anywhere — it doesn't exist. And time is compressed. In trying to compress the experience of the war into a film, even as long as this one [184 minutes], I had to deal with it in a non‐literal way. You're right, I used events from '68 [My Lai] and '75 [the fall of Saigon] as reference points rather than as fact. But if you attack the film on its facts, then you're fighting a phantom, because literal accuracy was never intended.”

Michael Cimino, 35, a self‐described workaholic (“I have no personal life”), is seated in his Sherry‐Netherland suite. Though in New York to publicize “The Deer. Hunter,” he is also poring over maps and photographs of mountains in Washington state for his next film. “I'm tired,” he says, looking more pained than weary. “We've driven about 9,000 miles in three weeks scouting locations” for “The Johnson County War,” which he has written and will soon direct.

Mr. Cimino is dressed in jeans and Western boots. Although it's cold in the room, his shirt is unbuttoned to reveal, California style, his bare chest. He is solidly built, shorter than average, With clear, olive skin and small, intense dark eyes. He is serious; speaks calmly and sometimes inaudibly; frequently parries a question with a question.

For instance, he is vague about how many siblings he has. But Mr. Cimino does reveal that he is the oldest son of music publisher. And that while growing up in New York City (borough unspecified), his grandfather enchanted him with wonderful stories and his grandmother cast the final die for his current endeavors by taking him to the movies three times a week.

Mr. Cimino first wanted to become a fine artist, but that didn't seem, in his words, “quite respectable,” so he studied architecture and art history instead; just short of his doctorate, he dropped out of Yale. “I felt the need to unlearn my formal education,” he explains. “Most people I knew had been crippled by their educations. Some were even dying spiritually.” So Mr. Cimino joined the Army about the time of the Tet offensive in 1968 and was assigned as a medic to a Green Beret unit training in Texas, but was never sent to Vietnam. After the Army, he studied acting and ballet.

Because he had been trained in the visual arts, Mr. Cimino was able to land a job with a small company in New York that produced documentary and industrial films. “They taught me to use a Movieola,” he recalls. “I operated the Movieola and I swept the floors. I was hooked — I decided to become a filmmaker.”

He began by writing screenplays, including those for “Silent Running” and “Magnum Force,” for which he received a co‐author credit. Eventually Mr. Cimino wound up in Los Angeles where he sent his screenplay “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” to Clint Eastwood, the star of “Magnum Force.” Mr. Eastwood quickly hired him to direct it ('he couldn't have had the property without me”). The film was both a critical and commercial success — it cost $2.2 million without Mr. Eastwood's fee, and grossed some $25 mil.. lion in the U.S. alone.

Yet, it wasn't until four arid years, and 800 produced movie script pages, later that Mr. Cimino was sought out by EMI, the British conglomerate. When he presented his idea for “The Deer Hunter” to them, he was so stunned to win approval that “I said, ‘What do you mean by O.K.?’ And they said, ‘O.K., go make a movie.’ “ The picture was begun in 1976 and completed two‐and‐one‐half years later. Its final cost — nearly $15 million.

Mr. Cimino's two films have in common an emphasis on male bonding —between bank robbers Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges in “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” and GIs Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken in “The Deer Hunter.”

“Friendship and sentiment and the giving of one's words are very important,” Mr. Cimino says. “This is a lonely country, and people die of loneliness as surely ?? they die of cancer. But I also know that in every friendship there's the potential for destructiveness as well as for nourishment.”

“The Deer Hunter” was filmed on location in various parts of the United States and Thailand, “which is more like Vietnam than the Philippines, where Francis shot ‘Apocalypse Now,’ “ says Mr. Cimino. This was partly because audiences have come to expect the authenticity of location shooting, and also because the director believes that “encountering a real place changes the performances of actors in subtle ways, and changes the spiritual texture of the film.”

That's why Messrs. De Niro, Walken and Savage, along with John Cazale and Chuck Aspegren, donned protective asbestos coats and hoods to play their roles as steelworkers standing on the floor of U.S. Steel's Central Blast Furnace in Cleveland, where molten metal — heated to 3,000 degrees — spewed forth like water. And that's why in Thailand, Mr. De Niro and Mr. Savage performed their own stunts, including plunging into a muddy, swiftly moving river from a helicopter hovering at a height of 30 feet. And that's why Bangkok's Patpong Road, known as “The Street of 1,000 Pleasures,” was rented for two nights to allow Mr. Cimino to re‐create the nightlife of Saigon's infamous Tu Do Street.

Mr. Cimino also insisted that much of the picture's 70‐minute tour‐de‐force music track be recorded liVe in the advanced Dolby system. All of the music in the Russian Orthodox church wedding at the beginning of the film was captured live, and the Chopin piano nocturne played by George Dzundza in Welch's Bar was actually performed by the actor, though Mr. Dzunda, not a pianist, had to “practice for months.”

Summary: Leticia Kent ints Michael Cimino, writer-director-producer of Vietnam war film The Deer Hunter (M)


Scandal-scarred Chris Brown is blasting a villa landlord’s “f--king petty” accusation that he urinated and vomited his way through a pricy Ibiza rental.

The “Fine China” singer, who spent the last week tooling around the celeb-friendly Spanish island, posted video walk-throughs of the mostly immaculate property to Instagram late Friday — claiming he’d shot the footage minutes before he and his pals hit the road.

“This is exactly why I recorded all these videos in the house. And this was probably 10 minutes before we left to go to the airport,” Brown said in one video. “They called the police; they did all kind of things without even being in the house. Allocated all of these different damages that are non-existent.”

“It's easy for them to believe it,” he fumed. “Let’s put Chris Brown’s name in it, so people can automatically assume ‘cause I don’t have the benefit of the doubt.”

Chris Brown kicked out of Ibiza villa after urine, vomit found

Earlier Friday, a police report obtained by TMZ.com had alleged that the property’s walls were marred with apparent knife marks, a bed had been peed in, and there was vomit everywhere. The landlord had reportedly phoned the cops after Brown wouldn’t leave at check-out time.

He or she reportedly also complained that Brown owed $26,000 in rent, and claimed $60,000 total with damages.

But it appears the singer anticipated trouble while he shot the handheld videos, during which he muttered things like “just so y’all know we ain’t no dirty n----s” and “nothing messed up, nothing damaged.”

“So if y’all see some bulls--t on TMZ saying, oh, Chris Brown and them trashed the f--king house or whatever, that’s the people, the landlords trying to get some money,” he said.

Gwyneth Paltrow can’t believe she’s the most hated celebrity

Brown owned up to scuffing a portion of wall sheetrock with a chair, but otherwise denied the gossip site’s report.

“It’s f--king petty and it’s unnecessary,” he said in the last video. “I don’t conduct myself like that. We turn up, we have fun; we’re not no f--king animals, bro.”

Summary: Scandal-scarred Chris Brown is blasting a villa landlord’s “f--king petty” accusations.


After spending nearly a year trying to decide whether a 17-year-old girl was gang-raped during a party at the home of two De Anza College baseball players, the state attorney general's office said Friday that there was no way to tell whether allegations of "disgraceful" behavior by several men also amounted to a crime.

The men who came under suspicion of sexual assault for what happened at the off-campus party in March 2007, many of them De Anza players, cannot be prosecuted because of "wildly conflicting accounts" supplied by witnesses whose memories were often clouded by alcohol, and because of a lack of "consistent, useful identifications," Attorney General Jerry Brown's office said.

"We consider the criminal case closed," Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr said shortly after state prosecutors backed her nearly year-old decision not to file charges.

Carr had asked Brown to review the case after three women who were at the party at a bungalow in unincorporated San Jose and pulled the girl from the home protested the district attorney's decision not to prosecute, as did victims' rights advocates.

The case arose after the three young women, players on the De Anza women's soccer team, forced their way into a room at the party March 3, 2007, after they peered through a partially covered French door and saw the girl on a mattress apparently being sexually assaulted as several men stood around.

She was intoxicated to the point of being comatose and had vomit on her face, the women said.

After forcing their way past a young man blocking the door, they were able to drag the teen to their car and take her to a hospital, the young women said. But they "were unable to provide consistent, useful identifications of the persons they observed engaging in sexual contact" with the girl, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette wrote in a letter to Carr dated Friday.

"Without such identifications, we cannot ethically pursue a prosecution," he wrote. "It is certainly not proper to simply criminally charge everyone who may have been in the room."

The alleged victim in the case, identified only as Jane Doe, "has no memory of anything that happened at that party beyond her initial arrival," Gillette wrote.

The three women who reported seeing the incident - April Grolle, Lauren Chief Elk and Lauren Breayans - said they were devastated by the prosecutors' position.

"We are disappointed beyond words at (the) decision and in the entire criminal justice system," the women said in a joint statement. "The message seems to be, if you get an underage girl drunk enough, you can get away with rape."

John Cahners, an attorney for a former De Anza baseball player whose family owns the home where the party was held, said the decision is the correct one.

"I'm happy they did the right thing, rather than make a political decision on what they may have perceived people wanted," Cahners said. "I'm hoping people will learn they shouldn't rush to judgment on a few things they hear in the news media."

Prosecutors, though, clearly indicated they felt their hands were tied by the limitations in the evidence they had.

Carr said she was "appalled by the behavior at the party that night." Gillette called the young men's alleged conduct "disgraceful."

"Nobody should be satisfied with the outcome," Carr said. "As a former leader of this office's sexual assault unit, a former judge, and as a mother, my heart goes out to this young woman when I think about what happened to her that night."

The young woman filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court in March, accusing 10 men of being involved in the incident. The lawsuit claims the men took turns raping her while she was unconscious, took photos of the attack and sent them to acquaintances.

Nine of the defendants were players on the De Anza baseball team. The suit is pending.

State prosecutors contend only nine men were present in the room during the alleged assault. Search warrants issued for computers and cell phones failed to produce any relevant information, they said.

Several of the men named in the lawsuit did not return calls seeking comment Friday. The father of one of the baseball players said simply, "We don't have anything to say about it. Never did."

De Anza suspended eight players for violating the team code of conduct after the incident came to light. The college also canceled all baseball practices and games for a week.

None of the suspended players tried out for the team this year, campus spokeswoman Marisa Spatafore said. Some of them have already completed their second year at the two-year community college campus in Cupertino, she said.

Three of the nine men state prosecutors investigated had been granted immunity in the case, and an attorney for the women who forced their way into the room during the party said that may have hampered the investigation.

"These three women were able to positively identify the guy who held the door closed that allowed the rape to go on," attorney Jim Hammer said. "I would have started with him. The problem with immunity is if you don't grant it properly, you can give it to the real perpetrators."

State prosecutors said they could not comment on specifics of that issue.

"We did everything we could to try to prosecute this case," Brown spokesman Gareth Lacy said.

The state's supervising deputy attorney general, Joyce Blair, conceded at a news conference that the teenage girl had been victimized.

"Anyone in these kinds of circumstances suffers," Blair said, "and we certainly consider her a victim."

Summary: After spending nearly a year trying to decide whether a 17-year-old girl was gang-raped during a party at the home of two De Anza College baseball players, the state attorney general's office said Friday that there was no way to tell whether allegations of "disgraceful" behavior by several men also amounted to a crime.  The men who came under suspicion of sexual assault for what happened at the off-campus party in March 2007, many of them De Anza players, cannot be prosecuted because of "wildly conflicting accounts" supplied by witnesses whose memories were often clouded by alcohol, and because of a lack of "consistent, useful identifications," Attorney General Jerry Brown's office said.  Carr had asked Brown to review the case after three women who were at the party at a bungalow in unincorporated San Jose and pulled the girl from the home protested the district attorney's decision not to prosecute, as did victims' rights advocates.  The case arose after the three young women, players on the De Anza women's soccer team, forced their way into a room at the party March 3, 2007, after they peered through a partially covered French door and saw the girl on a mattress apparently being sexually assaulted as several men stood around.  [...] they "were unable to provide consistent, useful identifications of the persons they observed engaging in sexual contact" with the girl, Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette wrote in a letter to Carr dated Friday.  The lawsuit claims the men took turns raping her while she was unconscious, took photos of the attack and sent them to acquaintances.  Search warrants issued for computers and cell phones failed to produce any relevant information, they said.


In the wake of the housing crisis last decade, homeownership rates declined markedly. In 2005, more than 69 percent of American households owned the home they lived in. Today that rate is just 64 percent. The decline has been especially steep among young homeowners. At the end of 2015, less than 35 percent of adults under the age of 35 owned their home.

It isn't just mistrust of a volatile market that has driven young adults away from home buying. Mortgage lending practices have been tightened since the crisis, which means young people with shorter credit histories may find it harder to get a mortgage.

Another problem is affordability. Prices have now rebounded beyond their pre-recession peaks, while wages in much of the country have not shown the same growth. That can make it hard for some would-be homeowners to afford an adequate down-payment or monthly mortgage payments.

These problems are more pronounced in some areas than others. For example, the most expensive housing markets can be found in clusters on the West Coast and in the Northeast. Likewise, mortgage accessibility varies greatly depending on location.

To find the best cities for first-time homebuyers, SmartAsset looked at data on the affordability, mortgage availability and the stability of the housing market in every U.S. city with a population of more than 300,000. We considered metrics such as the number of HUD-approved lenders, the price per square foot of residential real estate and the volatility of price changes over the past five years. (Read more about the methodology.)

Click ahead for a look at the 10 best cities for first-time homebuyers.

Summary: A look at data on the affordability, mortgage availability and stability of the housing market in U.S. cities populations of more than 300K


The Los Angeles home of the late Michael King is listing for $42 million.

Mr. King and his brother Roger became larger-than-life figures in television as they built their family’s company, King World Productions, into a syndication powerhouse before selling it to CBS in 1999 for $2.5 billion in CBS stock.

Summary: In Pacific Palisades, the property of King World Productions’ Michael King includes a seven-bedroom ivy-covered home and several outdoor entertaining spaces.


For months, much of the political world obsessed over primary and caucus polls, eager to know who the party’s presumptive presidential nominees would be. Now that this phase of the process is nearing its end, general-election polls are all the rage – though they probably shouldn’t be.

Clinton, who remains a heavy favorite to win the Democrat nomination, leads the presumptive GOP nominee 46 percent to 43 percent among registered voters, a difference that is within the poll’s margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.1 percentage points. In April, Clinton held an 11-point advantage over Trump, 50 percent to 39 percent, and had led him consistently by double digits since December.

In all, the survey foreshadows a hard-fought, competitive and negative general election. At this point, the two candidates are in a statistical dead heat among registered voters, with Trump favored by 46 percent and Clinton favored by 44 percent. That represents an 11-point shift toward the presumptive Republican nominee since March. Among all adults, Clinton holds a six-point lead (48 percent to 42 percent), down from 18 points in March.

So what can we surmise based on the most recent results? Quite a bit, actually.

1. The race really has tightened. I get the sense there were a fair number of observers who said, “There’s simply no way the United States would consider a demagogic reality-show personality to be the Leader of the Free World.” This became the basis for broadly held assumptions that Trump would never seriously compete for the presidency. Given the obvious fact that the race has tightened, at least for now, it’s time to reassess those beliefs. The outcome is hardly assured.

2. It’s not yet an apples-to-apples comparison. Now that Trump stands alone as the presumptive Republican nominee, GOP voters have largely rallied behind him, right on cue. Clinton, meanwhile, is still competing against Bernie Sanders, and Democratic divisions are more acute against the backdrop of increasing Republican unity. The better and more salient general-election comparisons will come once both major-party nominees are on the same intra-party footing.

3. Sanders’ supporters have an important role to play. If, after the dust settles on the Democratic race, the Vermont senator’s backers eventually prefer Clinton to Trump, Clinton will get a boost and her odds of victory will improve considerably. If they don’t, and Sanders supporters balk at the more progressive candidate, the likelihood of a Trump presidency will grow to alarming heights.

4. The effect of the #NeverTrump campaign is negligible. The presumptive GOP nominee still has some detractors in his party, but the semi-organized campaign to rally anti-Trump Republicans appears to be a bust.

5. Don’t overreact. It’s May. The Democratic primaries won’t wrap up for another three weeks. The conventions are two months away. Looking back, we can find May polling from previous election cycles in which Mitt Romney, John McCain, John Kerry, and Michael Dukakis all led before eventually losing.

In other words, if you’re a die-hard Trump fan telling your friends, “OMG, he’s going to win this thing!” or an enthusiastic Clinton supporter saying, “Time to panic!” you’re both overreacting. These polls offer important snapshots of current public attitudes, and they help establish useful baselines for future comparisons, but it’ll be a while before national polls start serving as the basis for credible predictions.

Summary: What can we surmise based on the new national polls? Quite a bit, actually.


Daniel Yergin’s “Markets Run into Skepticism—and Regulators” (op-ed, July 19) mentions that 30% of the U.S. economy is from foreign trade which supports 41 million U.S. jobs. At what cost? The balance of trade deficit was $500 billion last year. The 41 million jobs are paid for not by foreign trade but largely by our Treasury in the form of increased debt. Trade is good but only if it is equal, with a balance of visible and invisible exports and imports.

Mr. Yergin mentions the debate over what caused the financial crash...

Summary: Daniel Yergin, foreign trade, 41 million U.S. jobs support trade, massive trade deficits, $500 billion in 2015


Police continued searching Monday for additional people who may have been involved in a Fort Myers, Fla., nightclub shooting that left two teenagers dead and as many as 20 others injured.

The nightclub, Club Blu, had been hosting a party for teens before the gunfire broke out after midnight Monday.

Three people were in custody in connection with the shooting, Fort Myers Interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said, adding, “We are still looking for others.” Officials said the shooting wasn’t an act of terrorism, but didn’t provide a motive in the attack.

Sean Archilles, 14 years old, and Stef’An Strawder, 18, were killed. Mr. Strawder, played basketball for Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Acres, Fla., as well as on a traveling team, and aspired to play professionally, according to posts on his Facebook page and Twitter .

Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers treated 16 people for injuries related to the shooting, ranging in age from 12 to 27. Three remained in the hospital as of Monday afternoon, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Two were in critical condition and one was in fair condition. Some of those injured drove themselves to local hospitals, Chief Eads said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott canceled his scheduled events Monday and traveled to Fort Myers to meet with law-enforcement and local officials. He told reporters those responsible “will clearly be held accountable.”

Police were first notified of the shooting at Club Blu’s parking lot at 12:38 a.m. Monday, and officers arrived soon afterward, Chief Eads said.

Witnesses and family members described a chaotic scene, according to Facebook accounts and televised local reports.

Syreeta Gary told Fox 4 that patrons were running and hiding between cars to dodge bullets. She said her daughter and a friend fled a gunman as he fired—and her daughter’s friend was shot in the leg.

Juss Olivia posted a Facebook video describing how she hid under a car and then ran to escape the “nonstop spraying” of bullets. She said she saw a young shooting victim. “The little boy was just laying there on the floor. He was just trying to fight for his life,” she said.

Timothy Settles identified himself as a wounded clubgoer on Facebook, posting a video from his hospital bed. “I don’t wabna [sic] die,” he wrote.

In a Facebook post early Monday attributed to Club Blu, the nightclub said it is “deeply sorry” and that “there was nothing more we could have done.”

“We tried to give the teens WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A SAFE PLACE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME. Ages 12-17,” the post said.

It added: “There was armed security as well as full security, inside and out. As the club was closing and parents were picking their children up.....that’s when all this took place.”

The Club Blu shooting in Fort Myers, roughly 150 miles northwest of Miami on Florida’s Gulf Coast, came just six weeks after the worst gun massacre in recent U.S. history left 49 dead in an attack at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Police killed that gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, after an hourslong standoff. During his shooting rampage, Mateen called 911 and declared allegiance to Islamic State.

Write to Cameron McWhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com and Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com

Summary: Police continued searching for additional people who may have been involved in a Fort Myers, Fla., nightclub shooting that left two teenagers dead and as many as 20 others injured. Police said the shooting wasn’t terrorism-related.


The UK is opposing an international ban on so-called “killer robots” at a United Nations conference that is this week examining future developments of what are officially termed lethal autonomous weapons systems (Laws).

Related: The Guardian view on robots as weapons: the human factor | Editorial

Experts from the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence are participating in the week-long session in Geneva which will consider whether increased computing power will eventually enable drones and other machines to select targets and carry out attacks without direct human intervention.

The meeting, chaired by a German diplomat, Michael Biontino, has also been asked to discuss questions such as: in what situations are distinctively human traits, such as fear, hate, sense of honour and dignity, compassion and love desirable in combat?, and in what situations do machines lacking emotions offer distinct advantages over human combatants?

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, an alliance of human rights groups and concerned scientists, is calling for an international prohibition on fully autonomous weapons.

Last week Human Rights Watch released a report urging the creation of a new protocol specifically aimed at outlawing Laws. Blinding laser weapons were pre-emptively outlawed in 1995 and combatant nations since 2008 have been required to remove unexploded cluster bombs.

Some states already deploy defence systems – such as Israel’s Iron Dome and the US Phalanx and C-Ram – that are programmed to respond automatically to threats from incoming munitions. Work is also progressing on what is known as “automatic target recognition”.

We do not see the need for a prohibition as international humanitarian law already provides sufficient regulation

The Foreign Office told the Guardian: “At present, we do not see the need for a prohibition on the use of Laws, as international humanitarian law already provides sufficient regulation for this area.

“The United Kingdom is not developing lethal autonomous weapons systems, and the operation of weapons systems by the UK armed forces will always be under human oversight and control. As an indication of our commitment to this, we are focusing development efforts on remotely piloted systems rather than highly automated systems.”

One of the problems of the debate is that there is no internationally agreed definition of what constitutes a lethal autonomous weapons system. Among those giving evidence to the UN meeting this week will be Dr William Boothby, a retired RAF air commodore and lawyer who used to run the unit responsible for ensuring that newly acquired weapons conform to the UK’s international humanitarian law obligations.

“International law already prohibits the use of currently available autonomous technology for offensive attack operations [unless they are tasked] in the most particular and narrowly defined circumstances,” Boothby said.

“It is current law that states must apply when assessing the lawfulness of new weapons.”

One scenario he suggested was where a young soldier might be ordered to clear a house of enemy troops. He might, from a bright sunlit street, enter a dark room, detect movement and in perceived self-defence open fire killing a mother and her young children.

“Who will say that a piece of machinery might not one day be developed capable of differentiating [between armed soldiers and non-combatants]?” Boothby said.

“I’m not saying it could be done, but I’m not prepared to say it couldn’t be done. And therefore is a ban on technology which has yet to be full developed to maturity an appropriate course of action? I suggest not.”

Thomas Nash, director of Article 36, which campaigns to prevent “unnecessary or unacceptable harm” caused by new weapons, was at the Geneva conference on Monday.

He told the Guardian he was disappointed at the UK government’s opposition to a specific prohibition. “That is a position that will have to change,” he said. “More than two-thirds of those who spoke today said they favoured the principle of all weapons being subject to the principle of ‘meaningful human control’.”

Nash suggested that work developing so-called “automatic target recognition” was already blurring the responsibilities between the task of the machine and its human controllers.

The technology may already be deployed in some systems, he added. It could be used to show on screen to an operator targets identified at a distance perhaps through their heat signatures or appearance.

Such prompting may influence the decisions of an officer. “We have concerns about it,” Nash said. “Any military attack should be through deliberate human reasoning. The next stage would be to allow the machine to initiate the attack itself.”

Summary: Activists urge bar on weapons that launch attacks without human intervention as UN discusses future of autonomous weapons


Aston Villa striker Jordan Ayew is to remain with the Championship club after manager Roberto Di Matteo revealed that there is no release clause in the player's contract.

Villa look likely to lose Idrissa Gana to Premier League side Everton.

But there is no risk of Villa losing 24-year-old Ayew, who moved from France in July 2015 when he signed on a five-year deal from Ligue 1 side Lorient.

"We're not looking to sell. It is not a question," Di Matteo told BBC WM.

"Gana was totally different. He had a clause in his contract but nobody else has."

Speculation had linked Ayew, whose brother Andre plays for Swansea City, with a move to West Ham United, while there has also been reported interest in him from clubs in Europe.

But new Villa owner Dr Tony Xia has already said that he wants Ayew to stay and Di Matteo added: "Jordan Ayew is going to stay here. He is going to be part of our plans. His qualities will shine."

Ghana international Ayew was Villa's top scorer last season, netting seven goals in 30 Premier League appearances, of which seven were as substitute.

Di Matteo's public stance on midfielder Gana's future came on the same day that goalkeeper Brad Guzan left to sign for Premier League side Middlesbrough on a two-year contract.

Since he took charge on 2 June, Di Matteo has added goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini from Italian side Hellas Verona, as well as signing Bournemouth defender Tommy Elphick and Reading midfielder Aaron Tshibola.

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Summary: Aston Villa striker Jordan Ayew is to remain with the Championship club, as there is no release clause in his contract.


The billionaire businessman Ronald O. Perelman plans to explore “strategic alternatives” for Revlon, the cosmetics company he has controlled through his investment firm for more than two decades.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, MacAndrews & Forbes, Mr. Perelman’s investment firm, said that it expected “from time to time to communicate with third parties” and Revlon about a potential transaction, but that it had “not formulated any specific or definitive plan.”

“There can be no assurance that exploration of any transaction, to the extent undertaken, would result in interest by any third party, or result in a transaction,” MacAndrews & Forbes said in the filing.

Mr. Perelman, through MacAndrews & Forbes, owns about 78 percent of Revlon’s outstanding shares.

He first gained control of Revlon in 1985 through a hostile takeover and tried to take the company private in 2009.

Revlon’s stock price has been hit hard in the last year, declining 24 percent. The company has a market value of about $1.3 billion.

In its most recent financial disclosure, Revlon said that its profit declined to $6.2 million in the third quarter, from $14.6 million in the prior-year period.

A version of this article appears in print on January 16, 2016, on page B2 of the New York edition with the headline: Business Briefing; As Revlon’s Profit Falls, Perelman Hints at a Sale. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: Mr. Perelman’s investment firm said that it expected “to communicate with third parties” about a potential transaction, but has not formulated a plan.


Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia

She's known as the greatest living actress – but acting isn't Meryl Streep's only talent. We know she's funny,

she can sing. In fact, her daughter Mamie Gummer says itÂ¹s pretty much StreepÂ¹s favorite activity. "She loves, loves, loves to sing," she told

. "[She] loves it more than almost anything."

As she's set to hit the big screen in a musical role in

this month and is in talks for yet another in

creator Lin-Manuel Miranda – let's take a look back at all the films where Streep hit a note or two.

Streep was a full on

in the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, based on the songs of Swedish sensation group ABBA. Unlike some of her less-experienced costars, Streep was a fan favorite in the film.

In the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's classic musical, Streep played a witch seeking eternal youth – with quite a few solo numbers along the way.

This movie was a non-musical filled with music: Streep played Ricki, an aging rocker trying to reconnect with the adult children she abandoned. The best part to us, however, was seeing a Streep rock crazy hair, blue eye shadow and high-heeled Doc Martens while jamming on an electric guitar.

landed a 29-year-old Streep her first-ever Oscar nomination – and it was the first time we saw her sing on camera: During a tense dinner scene, she belts out "God Bless America."

All right, so Streep doesn't sing in this one, but she

play the violin – a skill she perfected with daily six-hour practice sessions for a month before filming. She got so good, in fact, that she was able to hold her own alongside orchestral veterans like Joshua Bell and Isaac Stern.

In this Great Depression-era film, Streep, who played the washed-up radio singer Helen Archer, sang the tune "He's Me Pal" on stage in a half-imagined scene at a bar. When Streep was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2011, her

costar Anne Hathaway sang a rendition of the song in her honor – this time called "

With the accompaniment of the band Blue Rodeo, Streep sang the original song "I'm Checking Out" as well as Ray Charles' "You Don't Know Me" in

, in which she played the daughter of a Hollywood icon who overdoses and goes to rehab. She was scheduled to perform "I'm Checking Out" at the Oscars, but was pregnant and couldn't sing. Instead, Reba McEntire took her place on the Academy Awards stage.

Streep was a fiancé-stealing Broadway actress in

, and kicked off the dark comedy with a leading-lady-worthy number.

Streep dueted with another screen icon, Lily Tomlin, on "My Minnesota Home" in

, which followed the final broadcast of a radio variety show in Minnesota.

bows on Christmas 2018 to see Streep singing again feels like forever, you're in luck:

, in which Streep plays an aspiring (but lacking in talent) opera singer, hits theaters this August. Don't expect to hear the singing Streep is known for, however: Florence was famous for being an

hits theaters on August 12, and

is set for release on December 25, 2018.

Summary: She can act, she can sing – what can't she do?


Bolivia fights to maintain its traditional use of the coca leaf as drug trafficking threatens national customs.

There are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world today, many of them held as forced labour.

US & Canada, Latin America, Haiti

A look at how DNA sampling can help put an end to the ivory trail. Plus, California's starving sea lions.

Science & Technology, Climate Change, Environment

Al Jazeera tells the story of the caliphate providing a fascinating insight into past empires and present-day politics.

Summary: Graciela Chichilnisky is a professor of economics and of statistics at Columbia University.


A man who attacked Tube passengers with a knife in London and tried to behead one of them has been jailed for life.

Muhiddin Mire, 30, targeted people at random during the attack inspired by so-called Islamic State at Leytonstone station on 5 December.

He grabbed musician Lyle Zimmerman, 57, and attempted to murder him in the ticket hall by cutting his throat.

A man shouted: "You ain't no Muslim, bruv" after Mire said he would "spill blood" for his "Syrian brothers".

The attack was caught on CCTV and mobile phone footage was taken by a passer-by who carried on filming as Mire, who lived alone in Sansom Road, Stratford, lunged at him.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said while he accepted Mire was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia at the time of the offence, he also believed he had been motivated by events in Syria.

He continued: "In other words, because Muslims were being bombed in Syria, he was going to attack civilians here.

"That was designed to intimidate a section of the public, and it was to advance an extreme cause."

Judge Hilliard said Mire's "brazen" actions were "an attempt to to kill an innocent member of the public for ideological reasons by cutting his throat in plain sight for maximum impact."

Mr Zimmerman said he was attacked from behind by Mire who "punched me to the ground then kicked me in the head until I lost consciousness".

He added he had been "preposterously lucky" an off duty GP was also on the train "who helped me even when my assailant was still wandering around the station".

The court previously heard the 30-year-old had a history of mental illness and suffered his first episode of psychosis in 2006.

However, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC called it a "revenge attack".

"We suggest that it can be no coincidence that the attack was carried out some three days after Parliament had voted to extend the UK bombing campaign against Isis in Syria," he said.

Mire will begin his sentence at Broadmoor secure hospital, where he will serve a minimum of eight-and-a-half-years before he is considered for parole.

He was previously found guilty of attempted murder, and admitted four counts of attempted wounding and an alternative count of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Summary: A man who attacked Tube passengers with a knife in east London and tried to behead one of them, is jailed for life.


It was difficult because there were no conventions for the death of a person such as the Princess of Wales. He prepared his now famous “People’s Princess” speech on the back of an envelope with the help of Alastair Campbell

He felt that the royal family’s lack of response to the Princess’s death was dangerous for them in the face of a massive outpouring of public grief and felt a duty to protect the monarchy from itself.

He says he did his best, even though some members of the Establishment did not like who he was and what he represented. Mr Blair felt that he could not be direct with the Queen about the gravity of the situation so he spoke to the Prince of Wales, who agreed with him and said he would tell the Queen that Mr Blair thought that she should make a public statement. She agreed.

After the funeral, Mr Blair spent the weekend at Balmoral, where he felt a little uncomfortable, and could not have got through it with out the stiff drink that was served up before dinner.

He spent a lot of time alone with the Queen and says it was hard for her to accept the public perception that he was telling her what to do. He did not know the Queen well then and they were both ill at ease with one another. “I spoke, with passion, of the need to accept life’s lessons. I worried she found me presumptuous — she was a little haughty.”

But at the end of the weekend the Queen accepted that she had learned some lessons.

A year later he spent a weekend at Balmoral with Cherie, who wanted to bring the children, but he told her this was out of the question. They had a barbecue where the Royal family served the food and did the dishes. “You think I’m joking? You’re sitting in front of your empty plate and suddenly, the Queen clears it away for you.” Mr Blair says he spoke to Prince William who was still angry about his mother’s death. He believes he felt burdened by the “prison of hereditary tradition”.

Buy 'Journey' by Tony Blair from the Telegraph Books

Summary: When Diana, the 'People's Princess' died, Tony Blair felt a duty to 'protect   the monarchy from itself'.


“I will always try and bowl quick. I get out there I don’t know anything different. I go out and just want to bowl fast. Especially now I am only playing this format I try and go out there and for those four overs I try my best,” he told Telegraph Sport. “Every ball I bowl is an effort ball. If you can get guys like him [Gayle] out it only helps your case no end. We knew he was the big wicket we needed to get. I was coming down the hill with the wind behind me at Hove so perhaps the stars were aligned for me that night. It was a big wicket for me to get and I was pretty pumped when I got it.”

It was handy timing, for the selectors met a few days later to pick the squad for the one-day series and Twenty20 against Sri Lanka and felt it was time to give Mills a chance.

“This is a massive opportunity. It is what I want to be doing and where I want to be,” he said. “It is a one-off game so hopefully they give me a crack. If I do well in this game then there is potentially one more for England later in the summer [against Pakistan] and then, looking further down the road, hopefully I will get some gigs around the world in the winter. If I play for England that is going to help my case no end.”

Mills has been timed in televised matches regularly reaching 94mph and Kevin Shine, the England and Wales Cricket Board fast bowling coach, has said in the past that, when he takes balls from him wearing a mitt, there are “flames coming out of the back of them”. Pace alone is not enough, though, and Mills has worked on being more consistent. He also bowls a well-disguised slower ball that he thinks is 20mph slower than his stock delivery.

Summary: Tymal Mills knows that a decade ago he would now be “looking for a new job” but instead the fastest bowler in the country has the chance on Tuesday to attract the Indian Premier League and Big Bash scouts if he makes a good impression on his England Twenty20 debut.


Erin Horgan is more than a casual John Mayer fan. When she learned about a Caribbean cruise being offered earlier this month with the singer as the featured entertainment, the 22-year-old worker at a Hyannis, Mass., scrapbooking store didn't hesitate to drop $1,000 for a ticket.

As it turned out, she got even more contact with her favorite singer than she expected: Mr. Mayer, hamming it up for fellow passengers, donned a neon green thong-style swimsuit as Ms. Horgan and others furiously snapped photographs. In a blog post after returning home, Ms. Horgan joked that she was going to send the pictures to celebrity magazine Us Weekly.

She didn't have to. Within days, Ms. Horgan heard not only from Us Weekly, but also from MTV, VH1, Rolling Stone, Blender and Newsweek. She ended up selling photos to Newsweek and VH1 – she says she was offered "a couple hundred" for each photo, but declines to be more specific.

"The thought of getting shots that anyone was interested in was never on my mind," she said.

Ms. Horgan is part of the changing face of the paparazzi trade, an Internet-fueled industry that feeds on the public's seemingly insatiable interest in entertainment news. Photo agencies are increasingly relying on submissions from regular folk who either happen to bump into celebrities while carrying digital cameras, or who have injected themselves into the cat-and-mouse game of celebrity snapshots, despite any formal training.

This has led to an explosion in the number of photographs available to magazines and Web sites like TMZ or Perez Hilton. And it has created friction with the old-guard paparazzi, who often find themselves navigating throngs of amateurs at red-carpet events. The pros complain that the newcomers are partly to blame for depressed prices, since they sometimes agree to sell shots for $25 or $50 that could have commanded several hundred dollars before. What's more, they gripe about rude and particularly aggressive behavior from some of the amateurs – no small allegation in an industry long known for its anything-goes tactics.

"It's the citizen paparazzi," said Mario Lavandeira, who is better known by his online persona Perez Hilton. His popular gossip blog frequently posts celebrity pictures submitted by readers.

Photo agencies such as Buzz Foto LLC, Scoopt (acquired last year by Getty Images Inc.) and Mr. Paparazzi are among those that increasingly encourage amateurs and young photographers to send in their findings. For Brad Elterman, Buzz Foto's co-founder, the most successful contributors are people who find themselves in the right place at the right time, such as a guest who is staying in the same Maui hotel as Nicole Richie. "They can break the story before anybody else," he said. "That is the future, without a doubt."

Mr. Elterman got his start shooting Bob Dylan and Robert De Niro in the 1970s and remembers waiting, across the street and with only two or three other paparazzi, for stars to emerge from restaurants. Those days are long gone, he said. "This is not rocket science," he added. "Everyone who has a digital camera is a potential correspondent."

One of his stars is Justin Campbell, an 18-year-old college student in New York whose first big break was snagging a shot of Kirstie Alley eating pie -- "right when she was doing the Jenny Craig thing," Mr. Campbell said. The photo ended up in the National Enquirer, and Mr. Campbell made $600.

Many days, he goes on the prowl for celebrities as soon as he finishes classes in the afternoon, often staying out until 2 a.m. "He reminds me of me when I was a kid," Mr. Elterman said.

On a single evening last month, Mr. Campbell photographed Paris Hilton in four different locations, as well as Bruce Willis, Rosanna Arquette and Hollywood stylist Rachel Zoe. He sends his photos to Buzz Foto's site, where Mr. Elterman then tries to sell them to magazines, newspapers and Web sites. When photos sell, Buzz Foto pays photographers 60% of the sales price. Scoopt, which operates in a similar way, pays 40%.

The services generally prohibit contributors from submitting photos to more than one agency and some ask that contributors refrain from posting submissions on personal blogs. Photographers also must affirm that their pictures weren't altered or taken in violation of privacy laws.

Mr. Campbell hopes to carve out a career as a photographer, but other contributors are more casual. Celeste Manolas, a project architect in Santa Barbara, Calif., landed a paparazzo's Holy Grail -- Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie -- during a recent film festival screening.

The Hollywood couple walked toward her, standing with ticket holders instead of in an area designated for professional photographers. Startled by her good luck, Ms. Manolas snapped away with one hand while holding her six-year-old Chihuahua, Sofia, in the other. "I must have taken probably 30 or 40 shots, 99% of which came off totally black," she said.

Her sister suggested that she try selling one particularly well-lit, smiling photo of the couple. Ms. Manolas did some research on Google and discovered Scoopt. So far, the picture hasn't been purchased. But Ms. Manolas says she now finds herself scoping out other events that could lead to photo sales.

Increasingly, nonprofessionals are positioning themselves alongside press photographers, said Brian Ach, a full-time freelancer for celebrity-photo agency WireImage, which is also owned by Getty. "It becomes difficult when there are marked spots for traditional agencies at an event, and somebody with a little point-and-shoot shows up and says, 'Well, I'm with so-and-so Web site," he said. "It happens at every single event."

Another professional photographer, Nancy Kaszerman, said shooting celebrities on the street means "fighting off the cellphones." At a recent Hotel Gansevoort party in New York, so many "TMZ-type" paparazzi crowded Ms. Jolie that she couldn't pose for a picture, Ms. Kaszerman said. "They were basically on top of her. They didn't use their lenses or their zooms," she said. "In the past, photographers would've given her some breathing room."

Aggressive tactics have become something of a trademark for X17 Inc., an 11-year-old agency known for its exhaustive coverage of Britney Spears. X17 has responded to the increased demand for photos by hiring untrained photographers, including homeless people, as paparazzi. "You don't have to be a professional photographer to be a paparazzo," said Brandy Navarre, who runs the company with her husband, Francois.

X17's 2007 sales topped $11 million, she said. Most of its photographers are paid a monthly retainer plus a 50% commission on picture sales, she added.

The reason these services are thriving, said Darryn Lyons, the founder of the London-based Web site Mr. Paparazzi, is that the general public is more likely to come across a million-dollar sighting than a photographer dispatched to capture an image.

"The public has greater access and better access than the official media at these times," he said. One example: A contributor to his Web site who made $30,000 from a set of photos of Gwyneth Paltrow surfing in Cornwall, on the southwestern tip of England.

But only one in 10 photos he receives is saleable, Mr. Lyons said, and only 1% will earn "good money" – several thousand dollars or more. Mr. Paparazzi lists tips on what it wants (David and Victoria Beckham) and doesn't want (reality-show stars).

But while the right photo still sparks a bidding war, overall, prices have been eroded by the glut of options editors face. "People hear about the videos of Britney crying somewhere getting $30,000," Mr. Ach of WireImage said. "It's kind of like the gold rush."

Write to Andrew LaVallee at andrew.lavallee@wsj.com

Summary: Hunger for celebrity gossip has created a new market for amateur photographers who are selling snapshots from their encounters with the rich and famous. But the newcomers are creating friction in paparazzi circles, and being blamed for saturating the market.


Around 1.5 million borrowers have tracker mortgages and another 3.5 million have other types of variable-rate mortgage, the rates of which may move in line with Bank rate, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Data also reveals banking customers have been dealt a double blow as savers have had their interest rates quietly cut by up to a quarter over the past week, as major high-street banks including Barclays, Virgin, Santander and Lloyds anticipated the rate reduction.

While homeowners may see their costs get even cheaper, the decision to chop the base rate means savers are facing a “lost decade” of returns on their cash, experts have said.

Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The nightmare for savers continues, and they now face a lost decade of returns on their cash.”

Mr Carney said: “With respect to savers … the returns are very low and they’re likely to be low for some time.”

Summary: Britain's biggest lenders were last night at odds with the Bank of England by delaying mortgage rate cuts despite the Governor telling them that they now have “


How much of the email you send gets deleted unread? A lot of it, if you’re like most of us in corporate America. But if you switch up the times and days when you send out messages, you can improve the chances that they’ll be read and replied to.

Email tracking company Yesware analyzed more than half a million sales emails to find out when recipients are more likely to open and reply. Their main finding: Send out email when there’s less competition if you want to grab a recipient’s attention. “When there’s little else being emailed, your emails are more likely to stand out and get noticed,” the company says in a blog post.

On weekdays, about two-thirds of emails are opened, but on weekends, that figure rises to about three-quarters. Weekend days only get about one-tenth the email traffic of weekdays, which means your message has a better shot of landing at the top of your recipient’s inbox. You’re also likelier to get a reply when you send email on the weekend, but you might have to be patient. A slightly higher percentage of weekday emails get same-day responses, but roughly 46% of messages sent on weekends are returned, compared to 39% of weekday emails. Contrary to popular belief, Yesware says, there’s no inherent advantage in sending emails on Monday versus any other weekday.

The time of day when you send messages matters, too. Yesware finds that although email traffic is highest during the workday and peaks during lunchtime, reply rates are highest when traffic is lightest. For the best results, Yesware’s findings suggest that you should send emails around 6 or 7 a.m., or around 8 p.m. During these hours, 45% — nearly half — of all emails sent receive a reply.

Previous research into Yesware’s data trove finds that another good way to boost your email reply rate is to copy additional recipients. An analysis of some 500,000 sales emails shows that messages sent to two people — one on the main “to” line, one on the “cc” line — were opened around 84% of the time, and replied to in more than six out of 10 instances. Copying a second recipient rather than sending it outright to both is the key, Yesware says in a blog post. If your recipients see that multiple people are included in the message, they figure somebody else will go to the effort of responding. “When a task is placed in front of a group of people, individuals are more likely to assume that someone else will take responsibility for it,” the company says. “So, no one does.”

Summary: You won't have to wait for replies or wonder if they even got the message


The trustees of the Social Security system’s finances released their annual report on Wednesday afternoon. They say the combined trust funds that help pay old age and disability benefits are likely to run out by 2034, the year when today’s 48-year-olds reach full retirement age. The trustee’s estimate reflects the latest economic and demographic projections, and it changes a bit most years. Last year’s estimate for trust fund depletion was 2033.

But what does it mean to say the Social Security trust fund has run out?

Let’s be clear: Social Security benefits won’t disappear entirely when that happens. If nothing else changes, the payroll taxes still being paid by younger people in the workforce will be enough to fund about 79% of scheduled benefits, says the report.

That’s because Social Security is by and large a pay-as-you-go system. At the individual level is looks a bit like a savings account, where you contribute money now in order to draw it down after you stop working. But in fact, it’s never been primarily run on saved money. Taxes from today’s workers are used to fund the benefits of today’s retirees.

But after the system was overhauled in 1983 and up until 2010, the amount of payroll tax dollars flowing into the system was higher than the amount of money that was needed to fund benefits. That extra money is in the so-called trust fund, and it’s invested in special, untraded Treasury bonds. Thanks to interest from the Treasuries and taxes on higher-earning beneficiaries, the Social Security system still takes in a bit more money than it pays out each year.

But soon that will flip over and Social Security will have to start eating into its past surplus to pay beneficiaries—and 2034 is the year that the surplus is currently expected to run out.

When that happens, unless Congress intervenes, the Social Security administration will be able to pay only the benefits supported by current Social Security taxes.

The trustees warned that a similar moment of reckoning could be coming much sooner for those who get Social Security disability payments. The trust fund that specifically supports disability insurance is scheduled to run out next year. In the past, Congress has addressed such problems by moving money from the much bigger retirement system into disability, but many Republicans in Congress are saying they want changes to disability-insurance rules before they’ll do this.

Returning to the system as whole, obviously a sudden drop to 79% of benefits is no trivial thing. It would be a brutal cut for many retired people who rely on Social Security. The point is that addressing a funding shortfall isn’t as challenging as stopping the system from going all the way to paying zero. All told, the gap between what Social Security promises to pay and what it will collect amounts to about 1.2% of GDP in 2035. That’s serious money, but also a fixable problem (except for the politics). For context, over the next decade, annual spending on everything besides Social Security and health care programs is projected to shrink by 1.7%, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Proposals to keep Social Security on track for the longer term range from promising to pay less—by further raising the retirement age, or adjusting benefit formulas—to raising taxes on higher earners or wealthier beneficiaries.

Think of 2034 as the rough political deadline for Congress to work that out, although the sooner it does so, the more gradual changes can be for either beneficiaries or taxpayers.

Summary: It's now projected to happen in 2034. Here's what that really means.


China's world number one Ma Long beat countryman Zhang Jike 4-0 to win the men's singles and claim a table tennis Grand Slam.

Ma, 27, becomes only the fifth man to have won singles titles at the World Championships, World Cup and Olympics.

With defending champion Zhang taking silver, China have claimed nine of the last 12 Olympic men's singles medals.

Japan's world number six Jun Mizutani beat Belarusian Vladimir Samsonov 4-1 in the bronze medal match.

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Summary: China's world number one Ma Long beats countryman Zhang Jike to win the men's singles and claim a table tennis Grand Slam.


Though the U.S. economy is alive and kicking again, the job market still feels a bit sluggish. If you’ve managed to land an interview, congratulations — you’re doing something right. Build on that success by avoiding common interview blunders. Here are 10 things you should never do in an interview.

Take time to learn about the company and the position you’re applying for. Gathering a few basic facts shows motivation and will help you know what questions to ask later. Also, prepare by bringing along extra copies of your resume or CV; some interviewers may be pulled in at the last moment and appreciate your forethought.

No surprise here; don’t show up late to a job interview. In fact, pad your schedule by 20–30 minutes just in case the train is running late or you can’t find a parking spot. Arriving to an interview five to 10 minutes early is completely acceptable and gives you time to mentally prepare.

If your phone rings during a job interview, you’d better hope there’s an HR director on the other end of the line with a smokin’ hot offer. Ringing cell phones and formal job interviews don’t mix. As unnatural as it may feel, completely silence or turn your phone off during an interview (and remember, vibrating phones can still be heard and are still a distraction).

Read More: How to Answer Horrible Interview Questions

Sometimes small courtesies can make a big impression. It’s good business etiquette to not sit down until you’ve been invited or shown to your seat.

It may sound terribly old-fashioned, but posture matters. Standing tall and sitting up straight not only conveys a sense of maturity and experience to others, it can boost your self confidence. If you’re a chronic sloucher, improve your posture with 10 targeted stretching exercises.

Be honest, but stay positive when it comes to discussing your previous or current employer. The world is smaller than most of us imagine and it’s impossible to know the personal or professional connections your interviewer may have.

Read More: 5 Things Never to Bring Up in a Job Interview

Don’t talk money unless you’re asked, or an offer has been extended. A premature focus on money and benefits sends the wrong message to your potential employer. (See also: 5 Things Never to Bring Up in a Job Interview)

Hold your head up, speak clearly, and make eye contact. Employers shouldn’t have to work to hear you and mumblers don’t come across as capable, confident employees. Remember, good communication is a skill you can learn. If you’ve had trouble in the past, explore ways to speak more effectively.

Up-talking is that annoying linguistic habit of phrasing statements as if they were questions (“I really enjoy my current position, but I think I’m ready for something more challenging?”). Up-talking implies you’re unsure of what you’re saying, need approval, and lack confidence. Sure, it seems like everyone is doing it, but up-talking is still the verbal equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.

Your interviewer is likely to ask if you have any questions about the role or the company. Don’t be shy; be ready with a set of essential interview questions. Speaking up shows that you’re interested and have been listening.

In our hyper-casual world, paying attention to the details during an interview can help you stand out in all the right ways. Especially for those positions that require interacting with clients or the public, knowing how to navigate a formal interview with grace and refinement is its own unique qualification.

Read Next: ‘What Should I Have Said When an Interviewer Asked If I Would Work Unpaid Overtime?’

Summary: Don't talk trash or money.


Hong Kong’s has long been known as one of the most ridiculous property markets in the world, but this is just getting silly.

The art and real estate broker Sotheby’s is listing a 745-sq.-ft., one-bedroom apartment at the luxurious Marinella complex for a whopping $2.8 million. The address of this exclusive property: 9 Welfare Road.

The swish development boasts sea views, an exclusive residents’ club, indoor and outdoor pools and a designer sky garden.

The irony won’t be lost on the city’s residents, who are more likely to be on welfare than able to afford to live on Welfare Road. One in five lives below the poverty line and, according to 2014 figures, 45.7% of the city’s 7.2 million population live in subsidized public housing.

The city copes with the world’s least affordable accommodation. The territory was in January named the least affordable place to buy a home for the sixth consecutive year in a survey by U.S. consultancy Demographia, which found the average flat costs 19 times the median income.

Although property prices in Hong Kong have actually fallen a little since peaking in September last year, home ownership remains an unattainable dream for most Hong Kongers.

Summary: The Hong Kong street features luxury apartments that sell for millions


At 5 feet, 6 inches—to credit the most generous estimate—with an unassuming demeanor and the air of a "schoolmaster dressed for a funeral," James Madison never cut an imposing figure. Until the middle-aged Madison married Dolley Todd, he did not seem to attract the opposite sex. If Madison enjoyed a rich interior life, he kept it to himself. What he felt about matters other than politics is not apparent, even in the carefully circumscribed letters he devoted mostly to matters of public import. Like George Washington, Madison evidently destroyed most of his personal correspondence, preferring to be known for his historic accomplishments—most notably for his role as "father of the Constitution."

For those who feel that we've had enough of biographies that show their subjects with their drawers down, this lack of intimate insight is perhaps a blessing. Kevin R.C. Gutzman's "James Madison and the Making of America" revels in the intrigue of political debate and the intricacies of the political process, fashioning a narrative that re-creates the drama of nation-making and governing. Mr. Gutzman's narrative concentrates on Madison's maneuvering in Philadelphia at meetings of the Continental Congress and, later, at the constitutional convention.

Mr. Gutzman meticulously recounts Madison's efforts to secure ratification of the Constitution in several recalcitrant states, working in concert with the redoubtable Alexander Hamilton, who later became an adversary not just of Madison but also of Jefferson. When John Jay dropped out due to illness, Madison functioned as the presiding brain for the Federalist Papers. Federalist Paper No. 10, generally considered Madison's finest achievement in political thought, makes the case for a large republic as the best guarantor of individual rights and as a bulwark against the tyranny that small republics, dominated by homogeneous majorities, were prone to practice.

Jeff Broadwater's "James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation" is a very different sort of book, dealing with the whole man and with the complete story of his life, insofar as the biographer can limn it. Members of Mr. Broadwater's cast of characters sport a good deal of human features and foibles, not just ideas and convictions: "When the Tunisian ambassador Sidi Suliman Mellimelli visited Washington in the winter of 1805–6, Madison had to provide him with a prostitute; the State Department accounts reflected an entry for the services of 'Georgia, a Greek.' "

Where Mr. Gutzman's theme is his subject's formidable talents as both political philosopher and operative, Mr. Broadwater provides a portrait of his everyday life: "There was, in reality, something strangely adolescent about Madison's years in Philadelphia. Unmarried and unattached, financially dependent on his parents, and with no fixed plans for the future, Madison in Congress often resembles nothing so much as a modern undergraduate, or perhaps, given his workload, a harried graduate student." Such passages restore Madison's humanity, rarely visible in Mr. Gutzman's wonkish chronicle.

Mr. Broadwater and Mr. Gutzman, however, agree that Madison botched the War of 1812. Mr. Gutzman is markedly harsh about Madison's role, pointing out that the debacle resulted directly from the Jefferson-Madison policy of maintaining a small standing army and relying on state militias, many of which refused to assist the federal forces. The war exposed other weaknesses in Madison's administration. He tended to appoint cabinet members and advisors more for their political clout than for their competence. As a result, he relied on a field commander who left Washington, D.C., so exposed that the outnumbered British forces were able to burn the White House and several other public buildings. When peace finally came at the end of 1814, the humiliated Madison could take some solace in America's significant victories at sea. Yet he had achieved none of his war aims, except (and this was important to Americans at the time) that he did stand up to the British Empire.

Mr. Gutzman and Mr. Broadwater also find common ground in arguing that Dolley Madison provided much more than window dressing for the Madison administration. She acted like an intelligence agent, opening the White House to her husband's supporters and critics and learning much that her aloof spouse could not have ascertained on his own. Even as she prepared to flee the White House as the British approached, she had the presence of mind to secure the president's papers and the treasured Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington. The story of her pluck did much to assuage public shame over the pillaging of the capital city.

Both biographers acknowledge that historians have not ranked Madison very high among American presidents. Posterity has viewed him as a weak commander in chief, in keeping with the scathing verdict that Henry Adams delivered on Madison as a leader in his influential "History of the United States During the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison" (1889-91).

A recent study by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg, "Madison and Jefferson" (2010), confronts head-on why Madison has not received his due. Madison tended to be more reserved than Jefferson, and he could not summon up the sort of charm that Jefferson could lay on with a trowel. Mr. Burstein and Ms. Isenberg contend that the main reason that posterity has put Madison in Jefferson's shadow is that Madison did not have Jefferson's "need for historical vindication." Rarely does fame come without vigorous efforts at self-promotion. Mr. Burstein and Ms. Isenberg, as well as Richard Brookhiser in his concise and eloquent "James Madison" (2011), argue that Madison made an important statement by asserting America's independence a second time: "By not losing, America had won," Mr. Brookhiser concludes.

Mr. Broadwater's and Mr. Gutzman's ultimate assessments of their subject, by contrast, remain a bit of a mystery, especially since both end their books so lamely. "Dealing in nuance and compromise, he left a remarkable but complex legacy, one that will be debated for years to come," Mr. Broadwater writes. "Soft-spoken in life, Madison remained unassuming in death," says Mr. Gutzman, noting that Madison, unlike Jefferson, left no gravestone touting his achievements. "His legacy must speak for itself," the biographer murmurs, leaving our fourth president to slink back into history.

—Mr. Rollyson is the author of seven biographies and of "Biography: A User's Guide" (2008)

Summary: Carl Rollyson reviews ""James Madison and the Making of America" by Kevin R.C. Gutzman and "James Madison: A Son of Virginia & A Founder of the Nation" by Jeff Broadwater.


Scunthorpe-born speedway star Woffinden fought hard, but couldn't overhaul the super Swede Antonio Lindback

REIGNING speedway world champion Tai Woffinden finished runner-up at the British Grand Prix last night – losing out in a stunning final against Sweden’s Antonio Lindback.

Woffy, 25, scored ten points in the qualifying heats at the Millennium Stadium, won his semi-final and came from last to second in the final but couldn’t overhaul Swede Lindback.

The Brit said: “I would love to have won in front of my home fans who were unbelievable again. “But I’ll take second in front of the fans. I couldn’t have asked for better support.

“I said before last night’s meeting the most important position to be is top of the standings in October.

“If I’m top at the end of the season then that’s all that matters.”

Woffinden is currently on 63 points, three points behind leader American Greg Hancock after five rounds.

Woffy didn’t look comfortable in the early stages on the man-made track in Cardiff – failing to win any of his first four heats – before finally winning his first race in his last qualifying race in Heat 18.

But he saved his best racing until the end – and came within inches of becoming the first home-grown to win a British Grand Prix since 2007.

Summary: REIGNING speedway world champion Tai Woffinden finished runner-up at the British Grand Prix last night – losing out in a stunning final against Sweden’s Antonio Lindback. Woffy, 25, sco…