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Fry's fury over article comments

 Stephen Fry said he was portrayed as the "antichrist" after he was apparently quoted claiming the only reason women slept with men is that "sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship".

 The Observer said the "uncharacteristically extreme comments... denote a marked break in tone from a man whose public schtick tends towards inoffensive charm and gently upmarket wit".

 It said the remarks are "likely to be roundly dismissed by those who have embraced the idea of women's ability to have unemotional, uncommitted sex as an empowered lifestyle choice".

 Fry, 53, used his favourite medium, micro-blogging site Twitter, to offer his response, posting: "So some paper misquotes a humorous interview I gave, which itself misquoted me and now I'm the Antichrist. I give up."

 Shortly afterwards, the broadcaster and writer, who has almost two million followers, added the simple message: "Bye bye."

 Fry's magazine article comments set the Twittersphere alight. Danny Mercer wrote: "I love Stephen Fry but WHAT comments to make. I'm willing to accept he was misquoted but ... how badly can you be misquoted?! Daft."

 The Observer was quoting Fry from an interview he gave to gay magazine Attitude in which he is reportedly said: "If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas... It doesn't happen. Why? Because the only women you can have sex with like that wish to be paid for it."

 Matthew Todd, editor of Attitude magazine, told the Guardian: "Stephen Fry wasn't making any judgment about that, or saying it was a good or a bad thing, he was just pondering why that may be."

 Copyright © 2010 The Press Association. All rights reserved. ||||| Exactly a year to the day since he threatened to leave Twitter because he thought there was "too much aggression and unkindness around", Fry posted "Bye Bye" on his account.

 The tweet to his 1,910,676 followers came after Fry claimed he was misquoted over comments suggesting that women were incapable of enjoying sex.

 The openly homosexual broadcaster, who claimed he was celibate for 16 years, finding the idea of sex disgusting, said it was clear that women had no interest in sex from the fact that they do not go out seeking casual encounters in graveyards or on Hampstead Heath.

 He claimed that women only go to bed with men “because sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship”.

 Fry’s remarks have been branded “rubbish” and "madness" by feminists who have questioned his qualifications for making pronouncements on female sexuality.

 The 53-year-old, who hosts the popular quiz show QI on BBC1, launched the bizarre tirade in an interview published in the November issue of Attitude magazine.

 He said: "If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas. Women would go and hang around in churchyards thinking: 'God, I've got to get my f------- rocks off', or they'd go to Hampstead Heath and meet strangers to shag behind a bush.

 “It doesn't happen. Why? Because the only women you can have sex with like that wish to be paid for it."

 He continued: "I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want.

 “Of course, a lot of women will deny this and say, 'Oh no, but I love sex, I love it!' But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?"

 Germaine Greer, the eminent feminist author and academic, said Fry’s remarks were “gratuitous” and accused the broadcaster of having “delusions of grandeur”.

 She said: “Stephen Fry is clearly under a delusion that he is an authority on female sexuality. Well, if he thinks that women are not interested in genital encounters with total strangers then he is absolutely right. But to conclude that we are therefore uninterested in sex is madness.

 “It is true that men have an interest in a kind of sex which women find infinitely depressing, and it’s true that women really don’t want to hang around toilets hoping that someone will come along and play with their bits. That is not what passion is about for us and we would be placing ourselves in mortal danger if it was.

 “Women have an idea of passion which men like Stephen can’t even begin to imagine. What women yearn for is intimacy. The fact that for women sex is an integral part of closeness doesn’t mean we are any less interested in it.’

 Rosie Boycott, the feminist journalist, also denounced Fry’s outburst as “rubbish”.

 She said: “Women are just as capable as men are of enjoying sex. We don't go cruising or cottaging on Hampstead Heath because we don't need to.”

 Paul Flynn, the journalist who interviewed Fry, said: "I thought it was quite an odd generalisation to make at the time, but he delivered it with certainty and it was clearly something he'd thought about."

 Fry also used his interview to disclose details of the “extraordinary underworld” of cottaging – anonymous sex between homosexual men in public lavatories - with which he was “slightly obsessed” in his youth.

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– Britain's most popular tweeter has apparently quit Twitter after being lambasted for comments about women's sexuality. Actor Stephen Fry tweeted "Bye Bye" to his 1.9 million followers after he claimed he was misquoted in a magazine interview that women don't enjoy sex. According to the interview, the homosexual celebrity, 53, said women obviously aren't interested in sex because they don't seek out casual encounters on the street, reports the Telegraph. He said women only have sex because that's "the price they are willing to pay" for a relationship. "If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas," the magazine Attitude quotes him as saying. "Women would go and hang around in churchyards thinking: 'God, I've got to get my f****ing rocks off', or they'd go to Hampstead Heath and meet strangers to shag behind a bush." He added: "I feel sorry for straight men." Fry insists he was misquoted in the story that triggered a firestorm of criticism, though he hasn't clarified his comments. "Now I'm the AntiChrist," he complained. (Click here for a list of celebs who should quit Twitter.)


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– There’s nothing quite so heartwarming as the story of a man who cheats on his universally beloved wife with a tattooed stripper, but turns it all around and gets engaged to yet another tattoo enthusiast. Yes, those crazy kids Jesse James and Kat Von D are betrothed. Despite the aforementioned hardships, “2010 was actually the best year of my life because I fell in love with my best friend,” James tells People. “An amazing woman who stood behind me when the world turned their backs.” The lovebirds go on fawning with such touching sentiments as, from James, “Growing old with her is going to be a f***in' blast!" Click for Sandra Bullock's reaction.

Sandra Bullock Not Blindsided by Jesse James' Engagement

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 While the rest of America shook their heads in surprise at the swift engagement between

 Sources close to Sandy tell PopEater that she was given a heads up that this would come out this week and that while she isn't exactly jumping for joy, she has accepted that Jesse is moving on with his life with Kat. Sandra's biggest priority right now is her adopted son, Louis, and she isn't planning to let anything get her off course from being the best mom she can be.

 "It may seem like only yesterday that Jesse and Sandra split, but for her, life has changed so much that it seems like ages ago," our source tells us. While the rest of America shook their heads in surprise at the swift engagement between Jesse James and his girlfriend of six months, Kat Von D, one woman took it all in stride: Jesse's ex, Sandra Bullock. Sources close to Sandy tellthat she was given a heads up that this would come out this week and that while she isn't exactly jumping for joy, she has accepted that Jesse is moving on with his life with Kat. Sandra's biggest priority right now is her adopted son, Louis, and she isn't planning to let anything get her off course from being the best mom she can be."It may seem like only yesterday that Jesse and Sandra split, but for her, life has changed so much that it seems like ages ago," our source tells us.

 While Sandra and Jesse aren't exactly close friends, they do have ways to keep information flowing between the two of them, and our source says that Jesse knew he needed to let Sandra know that things between him and Kat were serious."Sandra knew it was coming, and she was ready," our source says.It does seem like tattoo queen Kat is a much better match for bad boy Jesse James than the buttoned-up Academy Award winner was. Jesse reiterated that sentiment in a statement about his future wife: "2010 was actually the best year of my life because I fell in love with my best friend," he said. ||||| Jesse James & Kat Von D Are Engaged

 or leave a comment of your own See what other readers have to say about this story –

 Start your engines. Motorcycle king Jesse James and tattoo artist Kat Von D are going to be married."You know sometimes the public and press gets it wrong. This is one of those times. 2010 was actually the best year of my life because I fell in love with my best friend. An amazing woman who stood behind me when the world turned their backs," James tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I have never met anyone so kind and loving and committed to making the world a better place every day. My love for her is beyond description. So honored that she said 'yes.' Growing old with her is going to be a f----n' blast!"The pair have been dating since last summer , following the collapse of James's marriage to Oscar winner Sandra Bullock . Their divorce was finalized last June "There is no one else for me. He's the one," The LA Ink star tells PEOPLE.Asked if she will move from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, to be with her fiancé, Von D replied, "If only it were that easy. Having two places we call home will be good for now. In the end, home is where the heart is, and my heart's with him."James, 41, and Von D, 28, have been engaged in Twitter PDA in recent weeks. On Jan. 13, James Tweeted : "They say True love will always shine through. The only reason I started Twitter again? so I could publicly profess my love for @thekatvond ."She responded: "Thank you always supporting me and believing in everything I do. But most of all, thanks for being my best friend." |||||


When there’s political upheaval in Tehran, it’s often interwoven with the explosive question of possible outreach to the United States. And that may be the case with a recent feud between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

 The key figure in this dispute is Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s former chief of staff and said to be his choice as successor in the next Iranian presidential elections, scheduled for 2013. In recent months, Mashaei is said to have initiated a series of contacts attempting to open a dialogue with the United States.

 This new outreach follows Ahmadinejad’s efforts in 2009 to explore a possible nuclear deal with the West, which were rebuffed by Khamenei. Paradoxically, the hard-line president, notorious for his anti-Israel rhetoric, would also like to take credit for a deal that eases Iran’s isolation and opens the way for greater contact and cooperation with the West.

 “He [Ahmadinejad] craves recognition from outside, and Mashaei is his instrument,” says one well-informed Iran analyst.

 The political ferment in Tehran is one more sign of the Arab Spring, an earthquake that is shaking the entire Middle East. In this environment, both Ahmadinejad and Khamenei understand that the legitimacy of their increasingly isolated regime is in danger. Ahmadinejad’s circle seems to favor outreach; Khamenei and the clerics want deeper retrenchment.

 Sources say Mashaei has sent multiple signals indicating that he wants to meet with American representatives. U.S. officials say there hasn’t been a meeting, and that’s probably because Washington isn’t clear precisely who Mashaei represents or what his agenda for talks might be. Although President Obama has never dropped his offer to talk with Iran, it would be risky for the United States to engage any single faction. That’s likely one explanation for U.S. wariness about Mashaei’s overtures.

 “The history of U.S.-Iranian relations is littered with corpses of failed contacts, where the U.S. was talking with a single faction or an intermediary who couldn’t deliver,” says the senior Iran analyst.

 Given the widespread rumors about Mashaei’s travels, it is likely that Khamenei and his allies are aware of his efforts to open a channel to Washington. A search of the Iranian press doesn’t yield any hard information about Mashaei’s outreach, but it may help explain the recent attacks by mullahs on him and his patron, Ahmadinejad.

 The public turmoil included an unusual warning from Khamenei that he “will never allow deviation in the movement of the Iranian nation” and a chorus of criticism by senior clerics against Ahmadinejad and his allies, who are referred to in the Iranian press as “the perverted team.” In parliament late last month, Speaker Ali Larijani, who is a key Khamenei loyalist, declared, “The perverted group will never succeed!”

 Ahmadinejad boycotted cabinet meetings for 10 days last month, and when he returned last weekend, he said in a show of loyalty that he was “ready to die” to defend Khamenei and was “a servant of the political system.” According to Iranian press reports, the president added defensively: “Impeachment requires a reason. What have I done?”

 The political battle erupted, according to these reports, after Ahmadinejad and Mashaei attempted to get greater control over the intelligence ministry, prompting the resignation of Heydar Moslehi, its director. But on April 20, Khamenei refused to accept the resignation, and Moslehi was reinstalled — in an unusual public rebuke by the supreme leader of Ahmadinejad.

 Mashaei is described as a clever operator who, like Ahmadinejad, mistrusts the clerical establishment. The dislike is mutual. Iranian media have reported that a cleric close to Khamenei named Mojtaba Zolnour argued: “Currently, the actual president is Mashaei. Intervention in the affairs of various ministries and the episode with the Ministry of Intelligence are the result of his intervention. . . . These people do not believe in clerics and Velaayat-e-Faqih [rule by the clergy]. They want Islam without the clergy.”

 Mashaei isn’t the only Iranian who has indicated a desire to meet with Americans. Similar signals are said to have come last year from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the mayor of Tehran and a rival of Ahmadinejad who is thought to be close to Khamenei. But this track apparently didn’t lead anywhere.

 What’s intriguing is that the battles among Iran’s leaders take place as Muslims from Morocco to Pakistan are questioning their regimes and seeking greater self-determination. The ferment inside Iran may seem different, spoken in the arcane language of Shiite religious politics, but it’s part of the same process.

 davidignatius@washpost.com ||||| Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).

 Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".

 The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached.

 On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initiallyasked to resign.

 Ahmadinejad's unprecedented disobedience prompted harsh criticism from conservatives who warned that he might face the fate of Abdulhassan Banisadr, Iran's first post-revolution president who was impeached and exiled for allegedly attempting to undermine clerical power.

 Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, a hardline cleric close to Khamenei, warned that disobeying the supreme leader – who has the ultimate power in Iran – is equivalent to "apostasy from God".

 Ahmadinejad has so far declined to officially back Khamenei's ruling over Heydar Moslehi, the minister at the centre of the row. In the first cabinet meeting since the president returned, Moslehi was absent.

 Khamenei's supporters believe that the top-level confrontation stems from the increasing influence of Mashaei, an opponent of greater involvement of clerics in politics, who is being groomed by Ahmadinejad as a possible successor.

 But the feud has taken a metaphysical turn following the release of an Iranian documentary alleging the imminent return of the Hidden Imam Mahdi – the revered saviour of Shia Islam, whose reappearance is anticipated by believers in a manner comparable to that with which Christian fundamentalists anticipate the second coming of Jesus.

 Conservative clerics, who say that the Mahdi's return cannot be predicted, have accused a "deviant current" within the president's inner circle, including Mashaei, of being responsible for the film.

 Ahmadinejad's obsession with the hidden imam is well known. He often refers to him in his speeches and in 2009 said that he had documentary evidence that the US was trying to prevent Mahdi's return.

 Since Ahmadinejad's return this week, at least 25 people, who are believed to be close to Mashaei, have been arrested. Among them is Abbas Amirifar, head of the government's cultural committee and some journalists of Mashaei's recently launched newspaper, Haft-e-Sobh.

 On Saturday, Mojtaba Zolnour, Khamenei's deputy representative in the powerful Revolutionary Guard, said: "Today Mashaei is the actual president. Mr Ahmadinejad has held on to a decaying rope by relying on Mashaei." |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– The power struggle between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is getting more intense—and a lot weirder. Several people close to Ahmadinejad and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being magicians and summoning genies, reports the Guardian. Ahmadinejad has faced harsh criticism from religious conservatives since he returned to work after going AWOL for 11 days because of a disagreement with Khamenei. The feud appears to stem from reactions to unrest in the Arab world, notes the Washington Post. Khamenei and other religious leaders favor retrenchment, while Ahmadinejad and his circle are believed to favor outreach. Mashaei, Ahmadinejad's chosen successor, has made efforts to open lines of communication with Washington in recent months, sources say. Tensions have further increased with the release of a documentary that claims that Hidden Imam Mahdi, Shia Islam's savior, is about to return. Senior clerics allege that a "perverted team" among Ahmadinejad's inner circle is responsible for the film.


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 LONDON — Surgeons in Britain have saved the life of a baby girl who was born with her heart outside her body as a result of a rare condition that usually leads to the termination of pregnancy or death, the hospital where she was treated said on Wednesday.

 The Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, England, said the infant, now named Vanellope for a Disney character, was born with a rare condition known as ectopia cordis and had been thought to have less than a 10 percent chance of survival. The surgery to relocate her heart was said to be the first successful procedure of its kind performed on a newborn child in Britain, although a few comparable cases have been reported in the United States.

 Her parents, Naomi Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, of Nottingham, England, discovered in June that they were expecting their first child. A scan at nine weeks showed ectopia cordis, with the heart and part of the stomach growing externally, the hospital said in a news release.

 The condition is extremely rare — estimated at five to eight cases per one million live births. “Because of the risk of infection, as well as the risks from the associated defects, pregnancies may be terminated or babies may die in the womb or soon after birth,” the hospital said.

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 “All the way through, it was, ‘The chances of survival are next to none. The only option is to terminate. We can offer counseling,’ and things like that,” Ms. Findlay, the mother, told The Leicester Mercury newspaper. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Against the odds: The story of baby Vanellope

 A baby born with her heart outside her body has survived after surgery at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.

 Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who has no breastbone, was delivered three weeks ago by Caesarean section.

 She has had three operations to place her heart back in her chest.

 The condition, ectopia cordis, is extremely rare, with only a few cases per million births, of which most are stillborn.

 The hospital says it knows of no other case in the UK where the baby has survived.

 Her parents, Naomi Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, from Nottingham, say Vanellope is "a real fighter".

 Naomi said: "It was a real shock when the ultrasound showed that her heart was outside her chest and scary because we didn't know what would happen."

 The couple paid for a blood test which showed there were no chromosomal abnormalities and that made them determined to continue with the pregnancy.

 Dean added: "We were advised to have a termination and that the chances of survival were next to none - no-one believed she was going to make it except us."

 Naomi said having a termination was "not something she could do".

 "To see, even at nine weeks, a heartbeat - no matter where it was. It was not something I was going to take away.

 "In a way her strength gave me a strength to keep going," she added.

 Vanellope had been due on Christmas eve but was delivered by Caesarean section on 22 November in order to reduce the chances of infection and damage to the heart.

 There were around 50 medical staff present including obstetricians, heart surgeons, anaesthetists, neonatologists and midwives.

 Image copyright Glenfield hospital Image caption Minutes after her birth, Vanellope's chest was covered with a sterile bag to keep her heart moist and reduce the risk of infection

 Within 50 minutes of birth, the baby was undergoing the first of three operations to put her heart back inside the body.

 In the most recent surgery, Vanellope's own skin was used to cover the hole in her chest.

 Image caption Naomi and Dean with Vanellope

 Frances Bu'Lock, consultant paediatric cardiologist, said: "Before she was born things looked very bleak but now they are quite a lot better - Vanellope is doing really well and has proved very resilient.

 "In the future we may be able to put in some internal bony protection for her heart - perhaps using 3D printing or something organic that would grow with her."

 A handful of children in the United States have also survived this condition.

 Among them is Audrina Cardenas who was born in Texas in October 2012.

 She also had surgery to place her heart back inside her chest and was sent home after three months.

 Audrina was given a protective plastic shield to cover her chest.

 Glenfield Hospital says Vanellope still faces "a long road ahead" - the major risk being infection.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Baby born with heart outside body goes home

 The next step is to take her off a ventilator, which is being used to aid her recovery from surgery.

 Dean Wilkins said: "She defying everything - it's beyond a miracle."

 The couple named Vanellope after a character in the Disney film "Wreck-It Ralph".

 Naomi said: "Vanellope in the film is a real fighter and at the end turns into a princess so we thought it was fitting." ||||| Vanellope Hope Wilkins, who had her first surgery within an hour of delivery, is believed to be first baby in UK to survive with the extremely rare condition

 A baby girl born with her heart outside her body is believed to be the first in the UK to survive with the extremely rare condition after undergoing three operations, the first within an hour of her birth.

 At a nine-week scan, Vanellope Hope Wilkins was discovered to have the condition ectopia cordis, with her heart and part of her stomach growing externally.

 Her parents, Naomi Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, of Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, were advised “termination” was the only option, they said.

 But three weeks after her premature birth, by caesarean section on 22 November, Vanellope, who is named after a Disney princess, has survived three operations at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, to move her heart back inside her chest.

 Experts, including the consultant cardiologist, have said they do not know of another case in the UK where a baby has survived such a condition.

 Describing their emotions on first being told of her chances, Findlay said: “I burst into tears. When we did the research, we just couldn’t physically look because the condition came with so many problems.”

 Wilkins said: “We still didn’t know what we were looking at when we saw the scan, it looked like a little hamster with a hat on.”

 They decided against termination, preferring to leave it to nature, and worried throughout the whole pregnancy.

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Vanellope Wilkins undergoes corrective surgery, in what is believed to be a UK first, at Glenfield Hospital. Photograph: University Hospitals of Leiceste/PA

 The couple said they were told the first 10 minutes after birth were crucial as her ability to breathe would be essential. “But when she came out and she came out crying, that was it. The relief fell out of me,” said her mother. Her father said: “Twenty minutes went by and she was still shouting her head off – it made us so joyful and teary.”

 Vanellope has undergone three operations carried out by a team of 50 staff at Glenfield Hospital. Immediately after her birth, she was wrapped in a sterile plastic bag. Consultant neonatologist Jonathan Cusack said: “At around 50 minutes of age, it was felt that Vanellope was stable enough to be transferred back to the main theatre, where she had been born, to the waiting anaesthetists, congenital heart disease and paediatric surgical teams who began the task of putting her entire heart back inside her chest.”

 She was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit where she was due to stay for at least several weeks while she got strong enough and big enough for her heart to be placed fully within her chest and covered with her skin.

 After seven days, her chest was opened a bit more to create space to allow her heart to fit back in. In the average baby, there is an indent on the left lung which leaves space for the heart, but she did not have this. Over two weeks, her heart naturally made its way back into her chest as a result of gravity.

 I felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts because here she is fighting. I’m glad I stuck to my guns not to terminate. Naomi Findlay, Vanellope’s mother

 The latest operation involved taking skin from under her arms and moving it to join in the middle of her body. Surgeons had created a mesh that protected her heart as she did not have ribs or a sternum. As her organs fight for space inside her chest, she is still attached to a ventilation machine.

 Babies born with the condition – one estimate is five to eight per million – have less than a 10% chance of survival.

 Branko Mimic, the lead surgeon at the East Midlands Congenital Heart Centre, said: “Cases such as Vanellope’s, where everything else appears essentially normal, are even rarer, and whilst it would seem more hopeful she will do well, it is therefore almost impossible to be confident of this.”

 Frances Bu’Lock, a consultant paediatric cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, said she had described the chances of the baby surviving as remote. “I had seen one in foetal life around 20 years ago but that pregnancy was ended.”

 Findlay said all the way through her pregnancy that she was warned the “chances of survival are next to nothing”. After the birth, she said, “I felt guilty for thinking negative thoughts because here she is fighting, and there was I, about to give up. I’m glad I stuck to my guns not to terminate though, I’m so glad.”

 Wilkins said: “I lost hope a few times, if she didn’t move I’d say: ‘Has she moved today?’ and then, the next thing, she’d suddenly move and you’d go: ‘Oh she’s heard me’.”

 They named their daughter after a character in the film Wreck-it Ralph. “Vanellope in the film is so stubborn and she turns into a princess at the end, so it was so fitting. The Hope part of her name is the fact that she has brought us hope, and my mum and dad, because even they, as grandparents, thought they would never get to see their granddaughter,” said Findlay.

 Wilkins said: “Some mums still terminate and if we can get out there that there is a hope, and that it can be done, then it’s giving all those mums out there a chance.” His daughter’s name was a reminder, he said, “that there is that hope”.

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Write a summary.

– Nine weeks into her pregnancy, Naomi Findlay was told "termination" was the only option. The fetus in her womb was growing a heart—but in a rare case of ectopia cordis, it was outside of the body, as was a portion of the stomach, giving the fetus less than a 10% chance of survival, reports the Guardian. Three weeks after giving birth a month prematurely, however, Findlay, 31, and Dean Wilkins, 43, are the proud parents of a baby girl believed to be the first in the UK to survive such a condition, joining a few others in the US, per the New York Times. Less than an hour after she was delivered via caesarean section on Nov. 22, Vanellope Hope Wilkins went into her first of three surgeries at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital to relocate her heart into her chest. Doctors say she's now doing well, though she remains on a ventilation machine. Getting to this point wasn't easy. After the first surgery, doctors had to wait for Vanellope's chest to grow to make room for the heart. With doctors assisting, the heart eventually moved into a cavity through gravity. Doctors then created a mesh to protect the heart, as Vanellope was born without ribs or a sternum, and in the final surgery, they covered the hole with skin taken from under the infant's arms. "In a way her strength gave me a strength to keep going," Findlay tells the BBC. "No one believed she was going to make it except us," adds Wilkins. "It's beyond a miracle." A pediatric cardiologist says Vanellope "has proved very resilient." The main focus now is to prevent infection, but "in the future we may be able to put in some internal bony protection for her heart, perhaps using 3D printing or something organic that would grow with her." (Heart surgery saved an unborn child in Canada.)


Article:

As you may have read, yesterday was Kate Middleton's dirty 30 birthday. And as you may have wondered, what does one get for the woman who has everything, including the (future) Queen of England's crown? If you're Kim Kardashian, you get her shoes! But not just any pair of shoes -- a pair of shoes you and the company you're affiliated with designed.

 In honor of Duchess Catherine's birthday, Kim and Shoe Dazzle presented her -- and everyone else in the world -- with The Duchess, a black leather quilted platform pump that the actual Duchess wouldn't be caught dead in. Sweet gesture, though, Kim!

 Now, to be clear, I don't think the shoe is actually intended for Kate -- like, I don't think Kim's people wrapped a pair up and sent it off to Kensington Palace. I think it's more of an homage to Catherine and her royal style -- oh, and a ploy to garner publicity and cash for the company. But still, doesn't explain why they're so not something she would ever wear.

 More on Kate Middleton's Birthday: Kate Middleton's 30th Birthday Will Be Fit for a (Boring) Princess

 As Kim explains in the video below, she feels that the shoe's "classic quilting and graceful silhouette channels the Duchess’s classic style." I say it channels Payless. Not that anything is wrong with Payless! I have plenty of Payless shoes, pro-Payless folks! But, I don't think the Duchess does.

 Either way, it was a nice, albeit self-promoting, gesture on Kim's behalf. And although I don't think Kate Middleton will ever be seen on the red carpet sporting these bad boys, I'm sure she appreciates it. That is, if she even knows about it at all.

 Check out Kim Kardashian's birthday present to Kate Middleton:

 Do you think Kate would wear these shoes? Do you think this is a genuine present from Kim, or a chance to self-promote?

 Image via ShoeDazzleUK/YouTube ||||| By Radar Staff

 Khloe is not a Kardashian!

 Robert Kardashian‘s ex-wife and widow have come forward in a Star magazine exclusive in which they both claim that the late Kardashian expressed his doubts about the paternity of Khloe.

 “Khloe is not his kid — he told me that after we got married,” Jan Ashley, 63, the woman who married Robert after Kris Jenner, revealed to Star.

 PHOTOS: Jay-Z Cheers on Kris Humphries During His Game Against The Hawks

 “He just kind of looked at me and said [it] like it was a matter of fact. He said, ‘Well, you know that Khloe’s not really a Kardashian, don’t you?’ And I said…’OK,’ and that was it.”

 Ellen Kardashian, 63, married Robert in 2003 just two months before his death, after dating for nearly six years — and she has also come forward after eight years of silence to “tell the truth” about the Kardashian family.

 “Khloe brought it up all the time,” Ellen told Star. “She looked nothing like the rest. She was tall, had a different shape, light hair, curly hair. Didn’t look anything like the other three children.”

 PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian’s Bikini Body Through The Years

 And while Kris recently admitted in her new book that she cheated on Robert during their marriage, both Jan and Ellen said they’ve always known she cheated, and so did Robert.

 “Robert did question the fact that Khloe was his,” Ellen said. “Any normal man would if they knew their wife had cheated on him.”

 Since Robert’s death in 2003, Ellen fell on hard financial times — filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010 and last October the home that she and Robert shared in Indian Wells, Calif. was sold after going into foreclosure.

 PHOTOS: Khloe Kardashian Hits The Gym Without Any War Paint

 But in a final bombshell, Ellen claims Robert told her that he and Kris weren’t even sleeping together at the time Khloe was conceived.

 “[But] he never would have considered a DNA test,” Ellen concluded. “He loved her very much.”

 To read the full, explosive story, pick up a copy of Star magazine — on newsstands Thursday.

 RELATED STORIES:

 Kim Kardashian Making Huge Money For New Year’s Eve Appearances, Other Celebs — Not So Much

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  ||||| The Duchess of Cambridge turned 30 yesterday (did you catch our retrospective of her best looks?), and Kim Kardashian seized the opportunity to wish her a happy birthday...while promoting one of her businesses, naturally!

 Check out this shoe she and her team at ShoeDazzle created in honor of the occasion--it's called "The Duchess," and its "classic quilting and graceful silhouette channels the Duchess's classic style," according to the UK version of the site. Here's Kim's take on it:

 Do you think the Duchess would actually wear this? Would you? Discuss!

 PLUS...more shoe news!

 - A genius boots trick to look slimmer in an instant

 - 11 superchic pairs, all under $40

 - Trend alert: T-straps are the next big thing!

 Photo: ShoeDazzle ||||| By Radar Staff

 The Kardashian women are famous for their extravagant red carpet outfits, expensive jewelry and global fashion collections, but it’s not just the female members of the reality TV family that love to dress up, as Star magazine can exclusively reveal.

 Robert Kardashian’s former wife, Ellen, claims that Bruce Jenner, 62, has a secret fetish for wearing women’s clothing, shoes and lingerie, according to the new issue of Star.

 Ellen learned of the bombshell over drinks with Bruce’s ex, Chrystie, who spilled the beans on his cross-dressing alter ego.

 PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian Visits Sister Khloe In Dallas

 “’Of course Bruce was every woman’s heartthrob when he was that age, right?’” Ellen says she asked. “But Chrystie said, ‘Yeah, until I went on a trip and I came back and he had gone through all my clothes. And I found my bras… He’d clip them together and wear them.’

 “I couldn’t live with that,” she confessed.

 Chrystie went on to divorce Bruce, but his next wife, Kris Jenner, was unfazed by her husband’s odd taste, and Ellen tells Star that he continued to cross-dress for years after their wedding.

 PHOTOS: Khloe Kardashian Hits The Gym Without Any War Paint

 But her daughters weren’t as accepting about finding size 13 heels in their mom’s closet!

 “Khloe called her dad and she was very upset, crying and screaming about it,” revealed Ellen.

 The full story can be read in the new issue of Star magazine — on newsstands Thursday.

 [radar_embed service=5min.com src=” http://pshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?sid=1126&width=486&height=412&playList=517713429&sequential=1&shuffle=0″]

 RELATED STORIES:

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 Kim Kardashian & Reggie Bush Are Talking Again! ||||| By Jen Heger – Radar Legal Editor

 During the very brief time Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian were married, the couple argued about the way the E! reality star spoke to her family, which was often in a very disrespectful and belittling manner, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

 One of the things that attracted Humphries to Kim, was how close she was to her own family, as Kris comes from a very small, close knit family. However, the similarities ended there, as Kim would speak to her momager, Kris Jenner, and siblings, Khloe, Kourtney, and Robert in terms that made Humprhies bristle.

 PHOTOS: Khloe Kardashian Hits The Gym Without Any War Paint

 “Kris just couldn’t believe that Kim would speak to her mom with such disrespect, often telling her she had no idea what she was doing, as pertaining to Kris’ management of her career,” a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com. “On one recent episode of Kourtney and Kim Take New York, Kim called Khloe an ‘ugly little troll’ because she was woken up by her sister, earlier one morning than she liked.

 “Kris would NEVER even joke with his parents, nor his sister, Kaela that way. He just wasn’t raised that way. Kris tried to approach the subject gingerly with Kim, saying there were other ways to communicate her frustration and anger, rather than using such ugly language, Kim responded by telling him that it was none of his business.”

 PHOTOS: Kim Kardashian’s Bikini Body Through The Years

 During the recent episode of Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Kim confided to her mom that she was unhappy in her marriage to Humphries during a business trip to Dubai, that took place just weeks after the wedding. Kim didn’t want Humphries to go with her on the trip, even though he said on camera that he wanted to go.

 “There’s something in my relationship that I feel isn’t right,” Kim told her mother in Dubai, as the two headed to the airport to go back to the U.S. “And married life isn’t what I thought it would be with him: I keep thinking something is off.”

 PHOTOS: Jay-Z Cheers on Kris Humphries During His Game Against The Hawks

 As their marriage quickly deteriorated, the arguing only intensified. “Kim got angry at her mom on the phone while they were in New York because of a photo shoot that she had to go to, that she didn’t want to do. Humphries was in the room, and told Kim to stop, and that she had diarrhea of the mouth. Kim quickly turned her anger towards her husband and hung up on her mom, which happens all the time,” the insider says.

 PHOTOS: See The Pics Allegedly Taken In Kris Humphries And Kim Kardashian’s Suite

 RELATED STORIES:

 Kim Kardashian Making Huge Money For New Year’s Eve Appearances, Other Celebs — Not So Much

 Kris Humphries Nets Thousands Of Boos At Madison Square Garden

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 Kris Humphries Busted By Kim Kardashian After House Party On ‘Kourtney & Kim Take New York’ |||||
What is a summary?

– Kate Middleton turned 30 on Monday, so of course Kim Kardashian got her a present. If by "got her a present," you mean "designed an unfortunate-looking pair of shoes and then named it 'The Duchess' in an effort to pump up sales." Glamour points to a video of Kardashian presenting the quilted heels to Kate, and at least one blogger agrees with us that the shoes' namesake "wouldn't be caught dead" wearing them. In other Kardashian news: Rumors have long swirled that Khloe, aka the least offensive Kardashian, is not actually a Kardashian. Today, Robert Kardashian's ex-wife and widow come together to tell the world that, yes, those rumors are true. Of course, the whole thing goes down in a Star interview. "Khloe is not his kid—he told me that after we got married," says one. The other adds that Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner weren't sleeping together when Khloe was conceived, and that Jenner cheated. In the same interview, one of the ladies also claims that Kris' new husband, Bruce Jenner, likes to wear women's clothing, a weird fact she apparently knows because she once had drinks with Bruce's ex. And finally, Kris Humphries—remember him?—was apparently not happy with the fact that his then-wife Kim often spoke to her family disrespectfully, sources tell Radar.


Article:
Only 3 percent of U.S. drug defendants in federal cases chose to go to trial instead of pleading guilty in 2012, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch.

 The small number begins to make sense if you consider the consequences faced by drug defendants convicted in court, argues the report's author, Jamie Fellner.

 “Prosecutors can say, ‘Take these 10 years or, if you get a trial and are convicted, you’re going to look at life,’” said Fellner, an attorney who specializes in criminal justice issues at Human Rights Watch. “That’s a pretty amazing power that unfortunately they are more than willing to wield."

 The effect, she argues, is that prosecutors essentially “force” defendants to plead guilty.

 Last year, drug defendants in federal cases who went to trial and lost were sentenced to more than three times as many years in prison as those who took a plea, according to the report’s analysis of data from the United States Sentencing Commission, a government agency.

 And the majority of those who did go to trial -- 89 percent of them -- lost.

 The percentage of defendants in 2012 who fought their charges is likely an all-time low. In 1980, the first year for which the report reviewed the relevant data, the percentage of federal drug defendants who pleaded guilty was slightly more than 60 percent, and it has risen steadily since then.

 The advent of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws in the mid-80s is largely responsible for the steady increase in guilty pleas, according to Fellner. Such laws required judges to impose harsh, predetermined sentences on people convicted of the distribution and, in some circumstances, possession of illicit drugs, while giving prosecutors the ability to offer defendants smaller sentences as part of a deal.

 “If you can get someone to acknowledge guilt without the burden and expense of a trial, without having to marshal witnesses and line up witnesses, and without risking an acquittal, why not?” said Fellner. “You don’t have the cost of a trial, it doesn’t take the time and resources, and it increases the notches on your belt of how many convictions you’ve gotten.”

 But in reality, the government lacks the resources needed to try everyone who is charged with a drug offense, said Steven Jansen, the vice president and chief operating officer of the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a professional group based in Washington.

 “Justice would almost stand still if we took the majority of our cases to trial,” he said.

 Jansen noted that efforts are underway to reform the nation’s mandatory-minimum sentencing laws. Lawmakers from both parties have introduced bills that would scale back the reach of those laws, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has directed federal prosecutors to shift their attention away from drug cases.

 “Our system is looking at mandatory minimums and what we’re going to either do or not do about them,” Jansen said. “But a defendant is really not forced to accept a guilty plea. Obviously they have a right to go to trial no matter what the sentence is.” ||||| America

 Report: Threat Of Mandatory Minimums Used To Coerce Guilty Pleas

 i itoggle caption Stephen Lam/Reuters /Landov Stephen Lam/Reuters /Landov

 A new report says the Justice Department regularly coerces defendants in federal drug cases to plead guilty by threatening them with steep prison sentences or stacking charges to increase their time behind bars.

 And for the first time, the study by Human Rights Watch finds that defendants who take their fate to a judge or jury face prison sentences on average 11 years longer than those who plead guilty.

 In all, a whopping 97 percent of defendants plead guilty — no surprise, says author Jamie Fellner, given the enormous and essentially unchecked power that federal prosecutors wield.

 "As long as there are mandatory minimums, prosecutors dictate the sentences by the charges they bring," Fellner told NPR in an interview.

 The issue matters because about half of the people in costly and overcrowded U.S. prisons got there after being charged with and convicted of drug offenses. Even though many of those inmates worked on the ground floor of drug operations, they still serve long prison sentences because of five- and 10-year mandatory terms that Congress breathed into life during the heart of the crack cocaine scare in the 1980s. Prosecutors have the option of adding more charges based on a person's prior offenses, including low-level drug possession cases.

 Fellner's interviews with prosecutors, judges and public defenders and her review of sentencing data uncovered dozens of cases where defendants got sent to prison for nearly a half-century for first-time drug offenses.

 In one such case, the Human Rights Watch report said, Mary Beth Looney refused a plea deal that would have sent her to prison for 17 years for dealing methamphetamines and having guns in her house. Prosecutors added more charges against her. Ultimately, after trial and conviction, she was sentenced to more than 45 years behind bars. As a federal appeals court noted, mandatory minimum sentences left the trial judge with little discretion but to impose "effectively a life sentence" on the 53-year-old Texas woman who had no prior convictions.

 For others with a history of small-time drug possession raps, the ability of the Justice Department to stack on those old histories adds up, too. One judge wrote that he was dismayed by the life sentence that prosecutors tried to impose on a defendant for carrying such a small amount of drugs over the course of his criminal history that the substance "would rattle around in a matchbox." But too often, Fellner wrote, judges find their hands are tied by the mandatory sentencing system.

 "To have a judge and a jury relegated to essentially museum pieces, it's not healthy," Fellner said. "It doesn't lead to trust in the results. When you have innocent people tempted and also maybe pleading guilty just to avoid the possibility of a really long sentence, that doesn't give you a whole lot of faith in the integrity of the system."

 Updated at 9:30 a.m. ET: DOJ Responds:

 Justice Department spokeswoman Ellen Canale said in an email to NPR that "it is critical to ensure the criminal justice system operates fairly in every case, and the Department's charging policies reflect that goal."

 She added: "Under the Department's policy, prosecutors are instructed not to file sentencing enhancements unless the defendant is involved in conduct that makes the case appropriate for severe sanctions. This seeks to ensure that these enhancements are reserved for serious, high-level, or violent drug traffickers. The Department agrees that the enhancements should not be used to coerce defendants."

 Our original post continues:

 In August, Attorney General Eric Holder told federal prosecutors not to hit low-level drug offenders with charges that carry mandatory minimum sentences, part of an effort to reduce U.S. incarceration levels, to reorient the criminal justice system toward violent criminals, and to become more "smart" on crime. Human Rights Watch says it's too early to say how prosecutors around the country will interpret that broad guidance. There's no apparent remedy if prosecutors refuse to follow the directive. And Fellner said she already has found some cases where the Justice Department appeared to do just that.

 Fellner said Congress needs to restore discretion to federal judges, by getting rid of mandatory minimums or giving judges more power to depart from sentencing guidelines based on the facts in an individual case. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will consider some of these options when the Senate returns from recess next week. Fellner said Holder, in the meantime, should bar prosecutors from threatening longer sentences because defendants in drug cases refuse to plead guilty. |||||Summary:

– Defendants in federal drug cases are getting unfairly sentenced, thanks to mandatory minimums and unchecked power wielded by the Justice Department, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Prosecutors basically "force" defendants into pleading guilty with threats of lengthy sentences and stacked-up charges if the case goes to trial, the study states. "Prosecutors can say, 'Take these 10 years or, if you get a trial and are convicted, you're going to look at life," study author Jamie Fellner tells the Huffington Post. "That's a pretty amazing power that unfortunately they are more than willing to wield." Just 3% of cases went to trial last year, and of those, 89% of defendants lost. On average, they were given an extra 11 years in prison compared with those who took a plea deal, NPR reports. In one case, a 53-year-old woman with no prior convictions was given "effectively a life sentence" of 45 years for dealing meth and having guns in her house; she had refused a plea deal of 17 years. "When you have innocent people tempted and also maybe pleading guilty just to avoid the possibility of a really long sentence, that doesn't give you a whole lot of faith in the integrity of the system," Fellner says. As for Eric Holder's promised reform: Fellner says she's already found cases where prosecutors have failed to take his advice.


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Mayer to Get Close to $60 Million (And Maybe More) in Overall Compensation for Yahoo’s Top Job

 Yahoo revealed in a regulatory filing that it could be paying its new CEO Marissa Mayer a total of close to $60 million to turn the company around.

 The mega-sum includes salary, equity grants, stock options, a make-whole payment for the Google shares she left behind and, perhaps most remarkably, a $30 million one-time retention award.

 The amount, which is a whole lot more than what the last two Yahoo CEOs — Carol Bartz and Scott Thompson — were paid is, um, rather large.

 One Yahoo board member had characterized the pay package to me as “big, big bucks,” as I reported earlier today.

 I would say so!

 (Side note: Mayer is already extraordinarily wealthy from her stint at Google, where she was its 20th employee.)

 Here’s the breakdown of the largely performance-based compensation:

 The salary amount is typical at $1 million, with an annual bonus of up to 200 percent of the base salary, which is $2 million. But, according to Yahoo’s employment letter, she could also get up to a 400 percent bonus, dependent on exceeding targets, which is $4 million.

 Mayer also gets an equity award for 2012 of $12 million in stock ($6 million) and options ($6 million) that vests over three years. (She could get another similar grant annually, but I did not include that in the overall number, which is $12 million annually or more if she exceeds targets.)

 The really big number is a huge up-front, one-time retention award, vesting over five years, of $15 million in stock and $15 million in options.

 Finally, there is a make-whole payment of $14 million for the stock she left behind at Google.

 Overall, that means about $5.4 million for the rest of this year and could add up to $20 million each year to come.

 The pay package was hotly debated by the board as to whether the high-profile exec was worth the huge amount.

 While Mayer is considered a talented techie, a very strong decision maker and adept at product innovation, some of the board’s directors raised concerns about her and paying so much to retain her.

 One issue: She had been notably passed over by Google CEO Larry Page for one of the major unit jobs in his reorganization of the company, while others in her peer group had been promoted.

 That said, since such company ups and downs happen all the time, others argued that Mayer was just the kind of disruptive agent of change that Yahoo needs, especially because she could inspire its engineers and also attract much needed talent.

 The enormous compensation was pushed through, said several sources, by Dan Loeb, the one-time activist shareholder who now appears to be the puppet master of the Yahoo board. He owns about six percent of the Silicon Valley Internet giant.

 (Another side note: Multiple sources tell me that Loeb has been making calls to all kinds of Internet figures this week, looking for high-fives for his landing of Mayer, a hiring that was largely engineered by him.)

 Her appointment has surely garnered a lot of attention for Yahoo, with massive media coverage of the dynamic young exec. Some of the coverage has focused on her being a woman and also on the fact that she is currently pregnant.

 But much of it is focused on how Yahoo — a deeply troubled company that has been trying to revive itself for many years now without success and with a lot of management mishegas — has been able to attract such a high-profile and impressive-resumed leader to goose both its products and its stock.

 Let’s hope Mayer can do just that, because Yahoo is surely paying up big-time for the privilege.

 Please take a gander here at the filing, directly from the Department of the Internet Rich Get Richer:

 YHOO-20120719-8K-20120715

 Please see this disclosure related to me and Google. ||||| Getty Images Marissa Mayer in 2011

 Yahoo Inc. showed just how big it is betting that new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer can change its fortunes.

 New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer will receive as much as $100 million in compensation, stock, bonus and retention awards over the next five years, according to a Thursday regulatory filing. George Stahl has details of The News Hub. Photo: Bloomberg.

 Yahoo's new CEO Marissa Mayer is set to make $100 million over the next five years. WSJ's Amir Efrati has the details of Mayer's mega pay package. Photo: Getty Images.

 A Struggling Internet Pioneer See key dates in the history of Yahoo, which helped to revolutionize the Web. View Interactive

 Ms. Mayer will receive up to $100 million in compensation, stock, bonus and retention awards over the next five years, according to a Thursday regulatory filing by the Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet company.

 Ms. Mayer is expected to receive around $5.4 million from Yahoo for the remainder of this year and around $20 million a year after that, though some of that amount is tied to performance targets set by the board.

 While it is hard to make a direct comparison, Ms. Mayer's predecessors, Scott Thompson and Carol Bartz, received compensation packages worth $27 million and $44.6 million, respectively, over several years. Both CEOs departed prematurely. Mr. Thompson resigned in May after a five-month stint, while Ms. Bartz was fired last fall after more than 2½ years at Yahoo.

 Ms. Mayer, 37 years old, joined Yahoo as CEO on Tuesday after a 13-year career at rival Google Inc., where most recently she was a vice president of local, maps and location services.

 The Yahoo pay package includes restricted stock units valued at $14 million in order to "partially compensate" Ms. Mayer for forfeiting her compensation from Google. It also includes a one-time retention award that is valued at $15 million and will vest over five years.

 Ms. Mayer wasn't one of Google's top officers and so her compensation wasn't publicly disclosed, but she was employee No. 20 at the Internet search firm and received a windfall in the company's 2004 initial public offering.

 Mark Reilly, a partner at 3C Compensation Consulting Consortium LLC in Chicago, said that Ms. Mayer's compensation package seemed "reasonable and competitive" given that Yahoo is "a huge company, a turnaround situation, and they got someone who was doing a fantastic job" at Google. Such a package is "needed to attract that type of talent," he said.

 Ms. Mayer faces the challenge of turning around onetime Internet pioneer Yahoo, which has more than 700 million monthly unique visitors to its news, sports, entertainment and email sites but has failed to develop innovative Web services and is far behind its competitors in offering sophisticated tools for advertisers to buy ads on its sites.

 Yahoo on Tuesday reported second-quarter profit dropped 4% from a year earlier to $227 million, while revenue slipped 1% to $1.22 billion.

 —John Letzing contributed to this article.

 Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com

 A version of this article appeared July 20, 2012, on page B3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Yahoo to Pay Mayer $100 Million Over Five Years. |||||

– She may have an almost impossible task ahead of her at Yahoo, but at least Marissa Mayer will be well paid for her efforts. Very well paid. Kara Swisher of All Things D reports that Yahoo could end up shelling out at least $60 million over five years, more than the company paid its previous bosses. Mayer's annual salary is a par-for-the course $1 million, but then come the extras. "The big number is a huge one-time retention award, vesting over five years, of $15 million in stock and $15 million in options," writes Swisher. But even $60 million might be undershooting it. The Wall Street Journal says Mayer will get $100 million over five years—if the company hits all its performance targets.


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WHO, WHAT, WHY?

 The Magazine answers...

 Karolina Kurkova's belly indentation

 Enlarge Image

 Underwear model Karolina Kurkova has no belly button. Is a barely-there navel for cosmetic or medical reasons? The newspapers call it the "riddle of the £2.5m beauty". The beauty in question is Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. The riddle is her non-existent belly button. Its absence was noticed this week when the 24-year-old graced a US catwalk for lingerie giant Victoria Secret. While most of us have an "outie" or an "innie", Ms Kurkova has a smooth indentation (although sometimes a tummy button is airbrushed onto her photos in post-production). Otherwise known as a navel, the belly button is the rounded, knotty depression in the centre of the abdomen caused by the detachment of the umbilical cord that fed you while in the womb. We all have umbilical cords, so why don't we all have a belly button? Ms Kurkova has not spoken publicly about how she came to have a smooth navel, and all her agent will say is "she's not an alien". THE ANSWER May be result of abdominal operation in infancy Or umbilical cord left to detach naturally Adults may have artificial navel after stomach surgery, or cosmetic reshaping But Karolina Kurkova is not saying Some have no belly button as a result of the surgery needed to correct abdominal problems at birth, often either an umbilical hernia, or a condition known as gastroschisis - born with the stomach and intestines poking through a hole in the abdominal wall. This is what happened to Rob Swainson, 26, of Bournemouth, who spent his very first hours in surgery to rectify this unfortunate mistake of anatomy. As a result, he has a cross-shaped scar in the middle of his tummy instead of a belly button. "I thought about having one constructed when I was getting interested in girls, but not for long," he says, adding that people are more surprised by his scar than his lack of a navel. "You only have to look at Michael Jackson to realise it's probably best to live with what you've got." And while it is standard practice to clamp, cut, then seal a newborn's umbilical cord to prevent infection, in lotus births - or umbilical non-severance births - the cord and placenta are left to drop off naturally. "But that's not at all common in this country, and there's always still something there to show where the cord was attached," says a Royal College of Midwives spokesman. Cosmetic surgery Adults, too, may lose their navel after stomach surgery or having skin grafts taken from their tummy. Some may have an artificial belly button made. WHO, WHAT, WHY? A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines And thanks to the trend for midriff-baring tops, cosmetic surgeons have developed an operation called an umbilicoplasty for those who want a more aesthetically pleasing navel. Most procedures involve transforming an outie to an innie, or resizing a large or lop-sided innie to be less obvious. Rajiv Grover, a consultant plastic surgeon and secretary of Baaps (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Sugeons), says it is rare to do this for cosmetic reasons alone, as over time the scar pulls and tightens. However, there are certain procedures during which a new navel may be fashioned. "The two main reasons are, one, they've developed a small hernia - a weakness in the abdominal wall - which needs removing; or two, as part of a tummy tuck. This involves pulling down the extra skin and fat, and to do this the surgeon must cut the belly button free from the muscles underneath, and make and reattach a new one once the loose skin is pulled taut." Ms Kurkova's lack of navel doesn't seem to be hindering her career. Forbes magazine ranked her as the eighth highest paid model in the world last year, with estimated annual earnings of over £2m. What she's got is far more eye-catching than what she hasn't. Below is a selection of your comments. I too was short-changed a navel at birth; although to this day I have no idea why. I suspect being born three months premature via caesarean section may have meant the tissue was pliable enough to gently set into a mild indentation. Any doctors out there who can confirm? I used to tell people I was grown in a vat... Still, no belly-button fluff.

 Riv, High Wycombe I lost my belly button after abdominal surgery five years ago. I've found it very useful on training session icebreakers when we are asked for an unusual fact about ourselves, although I often have to prove it.

 Darren Jalland, Larbert, Scotland I have exactly the same sort of smooth indentation. It's the result of a repair of an umbilical hernia when I was two years old, 65 years ago. For many years now this operation, if done in the UK, would be completed with a cosmetic belly button. Perhaps The Czech republic hadn't caught up with the modern technique 24 years ago. These days very few UK children would have this operation done at all as it is now realised that most childhood umbilical hernias correct themselves by the age of three or four.

 Maureen, Birmingham Sixty years ago I was house-surgeon to a London surgeon, a real Lancelot Spratt character. He thought the umbilicus was a nasty dirty place and when operating on anyone's abdomen he would, without permission or consultation, cut it out. My job was to invent some story to tell the patient why it had been necessary. How times have changed.

 Bill Hunt I too have no belly button, the result of an umbilical hernia operation at the age of two. I have a long scar across my stomach, which meant I felt self-conscious wearing a bikini in my teens. I believe this operation is now performed with keyhole surgery leaving minimal scarring.

 Sarah W, Bournemouth, England British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton Kelly Sotherton, the heptathlete, has a "smoothie" too.

 James, Leamington How the umbilical cord is treated at birth always affects the cosmetic appearance of the umbilicus or tummy button. Long ago in a normal delivery it was the practise to allow the placenta to stay attached, unless the baby's blood group was different to the mother's. How it is treated after birth varies country to country and health service to health service over history. With the advent of sterile plastic clamps, the neat way they were tied before was not allowed as the clamp had to come from a sterilized delivery pack of necessities. This gave a different effect and one could not continue to treat it by retying. There is much more but suffice to say, it is not the person's make-up, or the midwife's fault, or the babies' (though parents can stop babies from crying and coughing or eating too much too soon, as excess protrudes the area).

 Deena Mary Jones, Bromsgrove My dogs have no belly buttons, because their mothers gently chewed the wound from the umbilical chord, and licked them while they were healing. She continued doing so until there was virtually no scar from birth

 Conor, Dublin I am currently working on masters degree in chiropractic. Anatomy is a major part of the course. In the early embryo, the gut actually goes straight through. Differential growth then causes all the folding and rearrangement of the abdominal organs. For quite a while, the umbilicus is relatively large and the gut actually folds into it. As the embryo/foetus grows the umbilicus gets relatively smaller and the gut is pushed into the abdomen. In some cases the gut can get trapped on the outside needing surgery after birth.

 David Elliott, Derby and Pontypridd A lot of premature babies have no or small belly buttons, we call my son's a belly-popper as it looks more like a press stud.

 Jon, Oxford My husband is 37 and he had an umbilical hernia for most of his life, which meant he had no naval because of it. But due to medical reasons he had the hernia removed and now has a belly button which was reconstructed from the tissue left behind.

 Jo Thomas, Preston My cousin has no belly button as his body was attached directly to the wall of his mum's womb during development. No umbilical cord developed but he is fine, he has a line where we have a belly button.

 Sam, London, UK My husband (who may wish to remain nameless) also has a smooth indentation instead of a typical belly button. This is because his mother was a midwife and her colleagues "did a good job on him" apparently.

 Proud Wife, Leeds, UK I put my lack of belly button down to a very precise knot, tied by a perfectionist midwife. Not the experience I had with aliens.

 James, Glasgow Karolina Kurkova does have a belly button. If you look on her own website, there is a picture of her wearing just a bra and pants and she has a very normal navel. Either it's been airbrushed in or airbrushed out in the other photo.

 David, Reading, UK My nephew was born with gastroghesis, a condition that meant all his internal organs are developed outside the body instead of inside. When he was born they operated, and now he is fine, although instead of a belly button, he has a large scar running from one side of him to the other. We call it his smiley belly.

 Terence Turner, Chelmsford, Essex I used to have a boyfriend with a dent of a bellybutton just like Karolina. He joked that it was because he had been made, not born, but I never found out the real reason.

 Amy A childhood friend of mine had no belly button as she was born as a conjoined twin, her brother had a belly button, but she did not.

 Colin Leadbeatter, London, United Kingdom Sorry Colin, but I think your friend was having you on - conjoined twins are always the same sex, so your friend must lack a belly button for some other reason.

 Jan, Redditch, Worcs My mother had no belly button after an operation in her 30s for umbilical hernia. She was left with a scar across her tummy with a small lump at either end and slight indentation in the middle. My father used to say it was her zip fastener for future operations. I reckon that would be a very good idea to save being cut open next time and merely need zipping up afterwards, it would also save the surgeons a lot of time and trouble.

 Marilyn Minnikin, Keighley, Yorkshire, England Adam and Eve didn't have belly buttons either.

 Edward, London I think people with scars or interesting bodies are far more beautiful than supposed perfect ones. There's something lovely about getting to know someone's body for the first time, and growing to love it, warts and all. Scars and oddities can be lovely in themselves, for the story they tell about the person bearing them.

 Jen, York I was impressed by the fact that this "navel-gazing" story appeared on World Philosophy Day!

 Rebecca H, Sunny Eastbourne So there's a global economic crisis, and you're trying to distract us about whether some poor girl has a navel or not. Look, she's drop dead gorgeous! Get over it. Concentrate on the important stuff.

 Peter, Blackpool Lancashire Peter, this article is a fun read. Not only that, it was informative, you learn something new everyday. "Stuff" like this is important, we don't all slouch around looking for doom and gloom - get out more.

 Tina, Blackpool, Lancashire

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 StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| The case of the missing belly button is solved!

 Victoria's Secret model Karolina Kurkova- who was voted E! entertainment's World's Sexiest Woman Friday - can finally squash those rumors about her curiously vanishing bellybutton.

 "She had an operation when she was an infant," her rep told the Daily News. "It’s a fact and just thank God she's healthy."

 The mystery of her strangely smooth tummy surfaced again as the Czech supermodel strutted her stuff on the runway in Miami two weeks ago.

 There was simply an indentation where the center "button" should have been.

 And don't be fooled by the glossy magazine spread: though the voluptuous blond seems to have a perfect button in the pages of magazines and catalogs, industry sources have revealed that is usually the result of photo retouching.

 So what belly button condition could baby Kurkova have had?

 Doctors say it was likely an umbilical hernia.

 "It does look like [she may have had] an umbilical hernia as a child that was either fixed or not fixed, which can distort the belly button," said Dr. Matthew Schulman, a plastic surgeon at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Medical Center.

 The condition is a fairly common in infants, Schulman said. Usually a portion of the intestine has popped through the abdominal muscles, causing an oversized "outie."

 "Most people have them fixed, because you should have any hernias fixed," Schulman said.

 That analysis could dispel rumors suggested that Kurkova had a vanity surgery. The media frenzy over the barely-there navel has stoked rumors that run the gamut of stories of a tummy tuck gone awry to suggestions that Kurkova was simply born sans button.

 Dr. Schulman is quick to quash the latter: "It's not accurate to say that someone just does not have a belly button."

 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| A Houston woman was forced to ask her doctor an unimaginable question -- where's my belly button?"I went in with the belly button and I'd like to know what you did with it? What happened to it? Did you throw it in the trash? Where is it?" Lori Jones asked.The 45-year-old Jones says she finally saved up enough money to get rid of her 'baby pooch' after having C-sections. She wanted to "bring sexy back" and wear a two-piece bathing suit."Yasss, summertime is coming," she said.So she did her research and had several consultations before she decided to go under the knife. Houston plastic surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzardan performed an umbilical hernia removal and tummy tuck surgery in December 2015.You may recognize the doctor. He's world renowned, focusing on gastric bypass surgeries for overweight patients. Dr. Nowzarda is even featured on the TLC show "My 600 Pound Life."Jones says her tummy tuck turned out great."That part of the surgery is fine. Perfect," she added.But the hernia, not so much. She spent weeks not completely seeing her results."Because the surgical tape and the gauze that's underneath I couldn't see the incision so the whole time I'm thinking my belly button is there," Jones said.But when she took off the tape, the belly button was gone."I said well damn. Wait where is my belly button?" she asked.Jones claims before the surgery the doctor did not warn her of the risks of losing her belly button."He said its going to be in place and re-positioned and the hernia was going to be fixed and no not me not having one now because I would've went along with time," Jones said.Eyewitness News caught up with the doctor outside of his Bellaire practice."We did tell her before and she had a previous surgery and she had a scar and there's no way you can save that area. I told her that before surgery and after surgery," Dr. Nowzardan said."We never discussed me not having my belly button. He told me my belly button would be re-sectioned," Jones argued."We can call Hollywood and get a Oscar nomination for her," the doctor replied.The doctor says he can recreate Jones a belly button after six months of healing.She says no, she wants to settle it in court. She's already contacted an attorney."I don't like it and for them to act like it's nothing that's what's really bothering me," Jones added. |||||

– "I said, 'Well damn … wait, where is my belly button?'" That's Lori Jones describing her reaction to her post-surgery discovery that her navel was no more. Hoping to don a two-piece bathing suit this summer, the 45-year-old Houston woman in December underwent the removal of an umbilical hernia and had a tummy tuck to get rid of her C-section-related "baby pooch," KTRK reports. A month later it was time to remove the surgical tape. Jones, "thinking my belly button is there," found out that it was not. And she has questions for renowned plastic surgeon Younan Nowzardan, who performed the surgery: "What happened to it? Did you throw it in the trash?" Nowzardan, however, tells KTRK he informed Jones that, because of a preexisting scar, the belly button was going to go. "We can call Hollywood and get an Oscar nomination for her," he says, adding that he can go back in and give Jones a new belly button. But Jones says she has contacted an attorney and wants to settle the issue in court. Her displeasure notwithstanding, Jones is not alone in being belly-button-less. Fashion model Karolina Kurkova, for instance, is lacking a navel because of a surgery she had as an infant, the New York Daily News noted when this odd fact made headlines a few years ago. The BBC also looked into the issue, explaining that in addition to surgery, another factor sometimes at play is a "lotus birth"—in which the umbilical cord and placenta are left to drop off on their own. (Cosmetic surgery turned this woman into a kleptomaniac.)


NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cypriot officials are baffled by reports that a meteor streaking across the nighttime sky may have exploded overhead with a thunderous bang that some said made the ground shake.

 Police said eyewitnesses reported seeing a blue glow emanating from the object that raced over the east Mediterranean island's Troodos mountain range shortly before midnight Thursday.

 Cyprus Geological Department official Iordanis Demetriades told The Associated Press Friday that there's no indication the object struck the ground and that it probably "exploded in the sky."

 A police official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity in line with police rules said numerous reports spoke of "a loud explosion" followed by "the ground shaking."

 Authorities are looking for possible remnants of the object. ||||| There were no reports of casualties or damage from the phenomenon which was reported across a wide area of the south of the Mediterranean island between midnight and 1 am.

 Authorities are now searching for space rock debris from any meteorite fall.

 "We have yet to confirm that it was in fact a meteorite but it is more than likely that it was," police spokesman Andreas Angelides said.

 "We have had many witness reports of a flash of light in the sky, a series of loud noises that were especially loud and heard in the districts of Nicosia and Limassol."

 Police said they had received hundreds of calls from the south coast of the island and some inland areas.

 They said they would continue to investigate.

 The civil aviation authority said that there had been no reports of anything untoward in the skies from pilots and all flights had operated normally in the island's air space during the pre-dawn hours.

 Meteors are pieces of comet or asteroid from outer space that create a fireball as they hit the Earth's atmosphere.

 Those that survive the intense heat and friction and reach the surface without breaking up are known as meteorites and are sought after by scientists for the information they can give about the early solar system. |||||

Write a summary.

– Officials in Cyprus are baffled by reports that a meteor streaking across the nighttime sky exploded overhead with a thunderous bang. Police say eyewitnesses reported seeing a blue glow emanating from the object that raced over the east Mediterranean island's Troodos mountain range shortly before midnight Thursday, per the AP. "We have yet to confirm that it was in fact a meteorite but it is more than likely that it was," says police spokesman Andreas Angelides, per AFP. A Cyprus Geological Department official says that there's no indication the object struck the ground and that it probably "exploded in the sky." The police official says numerous reports spoke of "a loud explosion" followed by "the ground shaking." (This YouTube video shows a bright flash.) Authorities are looking for possible remnants of the object.