Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf 's "Mixed Emotions"

Cassidy Wolf has "mixed feelings" about the arrest of former classmate Jared James Abrahams, who confessed to federal investigators on Thursday to blackmailing and extorting the reigning Miss Teen USA. Wolf appeared on NBC's Today on Friday, Sept. 27, where she opened up about how it felt to have someone break into her computer, remotely turn on her webcam and watch her most intimate moments.

"My computer light never came on, so I wasn't aware. This person had been taking pictures of me in my room, changing clothes from putting on outfits, walking back and forth from the shower," Wolf recalled. "I received an anonymous email from an anonymous person [who] basically was extorting me and blackmailing me. I saw that he had attached nude photos of me that he had taken in my bedroom."
Wolf alerted the authorities, who subsequently launched an investigation. 

Abrahams—a 19-year-old college student studying computer science—was formally charged on Thursday, Sept. 26. Investigators found evidence of hacking software as well of images and videos of the victim. He is out on $50,000 bail and has been placed on house arrest; he can only leave to attend church, school, doctor's appointments and meetings with his lawyer.

"This happened to me when I was a normal girl in high school and it can happen to anybody," said Wolf.

Teyana Taylor and Rihanna Beef on Twitter

Two weeks ago, the G.O.O.D. Music rapper/singer posted an Instagram vid of her singing Anita Baker's "Caught in the Rapture." Earlier this morning, Rihanna posted to the same social media site a clip of her hairstylist Yusef singing the same segment of the song while wearing a long wig and a snapback — a style that's become a signature of sorts for Taylor.

TT allowed no time for that to marinate. She responded via Twitter with, "Don't play wit me @rihanna f--k all this industry s--t, YOU & I know each other VERY well. Throwing subs 4 wat? u got my #, don't show off."

Rih's super fans, who call themselves the "Navy," also got in on the war of words, to which Taylor responded, "y'all could bully everybody else & get away wit that s--t but that s--t ain't gone work ova here. so y'all could miss me with that NAVY s--t."

In the begining of the spat, Rihanna's timeline was mostly out of the direct light: "Screaming in an empty room! #dontfeedtheanimals." Rih refused to directly mention Taylor until she posted a picture comparing her net worth ($90 million) to the Harlem-born singer's income ($500,000).

Taylor hit back at the slight with her own brand of venomous humor.

"90 million dollars & 90 million n----s diving in that b---h box," Taylor tweeted after changing the photo on her Twitter page to feature a photoshopped image of her punching Rihanna in a boxing match. It's no accident that Taylor used the infamous photograph of Rihanna following her 2009 assault at the hands of Chris Brown

Tina Fey Wardrobe Nip Slip Emmys 2013 - Wardrobe Malfunction [VIDEO]

The “30 Rock” creator took the stage with fellow writer Tracey Wigfield to accept the award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series when her breast fell out of place. Fey, 43, was accepting the microphone from Wigfield when her cobalt blue Narcisco Rodriguez halter gown popped in the flight, ever so slightly, and barely exposed part of her bosom. It seems double-stick tape might not always work.

Once Fey took the microphone, she quipped that no one allowed for Wigfield to speak, and then she praised the writer for encouraging her to work harder.

Earlier in the ceremony, Fey and Amy Poehler sat in the front row and heckled host Neil Patrick Harris as they ate popcorn with 3-D glasses on. The two hassled the “How I Met Your Mother” star, with Poehler screaming, “Take your pants off!” Then Fey added, "And twerk it. I come to award shows for the twerking."

When Harris questioned why the pair was wearing 3-D glasses she responded, “So I can see your business up close," Fey quipped. "Yo NPH, take those pants off," Poehler then joined in. "America wants to see what you're working with!"

But NPH wasn’t willing to oblige the funny ladies. "No, I'm not going to do that. That would be degrading," he said.

But the two made the audience laugh once more when they fell on the stairs to the stage later in the show.

Check out video below to see Fey’s seemingly accidental nip slip above: 

Cher Announces 'Dressed to Kill' Tour

 The tour will visit 49 cities across North America starting March 22 in Phoenix and will include stops in major markets including Washington D.C.,  Philadelphia, NYC (Brooklyn and East Rutherford, NJ), Seattle and Los Angeles before wrapping up July 11 in San Diego.

A pre-sale for American Express cardholders runs Monday, Sept. 30, through Thursday Oct. 3. Online ticket-buyers will get a free copy of Cher's new album, "Closer to the Truth," which comes out tomorrow (Sept. 24). Further ticket info, including timing for general public sales, will be made public on Cher's website.

Cher, 67, wrapped her "Farewell Tour" (later dubbed "The Never Can Say Goodbye Tour") in 2005 after playing 325 dates in 20 countries over the span of nearly three years.

CHER 'DRESSED TO KILL' TOUR IN 2014

March 22 - Phoenix, AZ (US Airways Center)
March 24 - Houston, TX (Toyota Center)
March 26 - Dallas, TX (American Airlines Center)
March 28 - Little Rock, AR (Verizon Arena)
March 29 -  Tulsa, OK  (BOK Center)
March 31 - Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena)
April 2 - Pittsburgh, PA (Consol Energy Center)
April 4 - Washington DC (Verizon Center)
April 5 - Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun
April 7 - Toronto, ON  (Air Canada Centere)
April 9 - Boston, MA  (TD Garden)
April 11 - Indianapolis, IN (Bankers Life Fieldhouse)
April 12 - Detroit, MI  (Joe Louis Arena)
April 23 - Buffalo, NY  (First Niagara Center)
April 25 - Montreal, QC (Bell Center)
April 26 - Ottawa, ON  (Canada Tire Centere)
April 28 - Philadelphia, PA (Wells Fargo Center)
April 30 - Columbus, OH (Nationwide Arena)
May 2 - Cleveland, OH (Quicken Loans Arena)
May 5 - Charlotte, NC (Times Warner Cable Arena)
May 7 - Raleigh, NC  (PNC Arena)
May 9 - Brooklyn, NY (Barclays Center)
May 10 - East Rutherford, NJ (Izod Center)
May 12 - Atlanta, GA  (Philips Arena)
May 14 - Jacksonville, FL (Veterans Memorial Arena)
May 16 - Orlando, FL  (Amway Center)
May 17 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL (BB&T Center)
May 25 - Las Vegas, NV (MGM Grand
May 28 - Denver, CO  (Pepsi Center)
May 30 - Lincoln, NE  (Pinnacle Bank Arena)
May 31 - Kansas City, MO (Sprint Center)
June 2 - Louisville, KY (KFC Yum! Center)
June 4 - St. Louis, MO (Scottrade Center)
June 6 - Milwaukee, WI (BMO Harris Bradley Center)
June 7 - Chicago, IL  (Allstate Arena)
June 9 - Des Moines, IA (Wells Fargo Arena)
June 11 - Minneapolis, MN (Target Center)
June 20 - Winnipeg, MB (MTS Centere)
June 21 - Saskatoon, SK (Credit Union Centere)
June 23 - Edmonton, AB (Rexall Place
June 25 - Calgary, AB  (Scotiabank Saddledome)
June 27 - Vancouver, BC (Rogers Arena)
June 28 - Seattle, WA  (Key Arena)
June 30 - Portland, OR (Moda Center)
July 2 - San Jose, CA  (SAP Center) at San Jose
July 5 - Ontario, CA  (Citizens Business Bank Arena)
July 7 - Los Angeles, CA (Staples Center)
July 9 - Anaheim, CA (Honda Center)
July 11 - San Diego, CA (Valley View Casino Center)

He was known as "the godfather of the console", building the Japanese firm Nintendo from a playing cards manufacturer into one of the world's most powerful computer games businesses. Now the gaming industry is paying tribute to the company's former president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who diedon Thursday at 85.

For a generation of gamers, Yamauchi's Nintendo represented a golden era of mainstream gaming, dominated by classic titles like Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and Metroid. In the early 90s, the company's mascot Mario, a moustachioed Italian plumber, became one of the world's most popular animated characters. A 1990 survey found he was more recognisable to American children than Mickey Mouse.

Yamauchi installed the company's central doctrine – that gameplay is always more important than technology. It is the philosophy that would continue to define the company after his retirement, leading to the hugely successful Nintendo Wii, which introduced a motion control device for gaming but relied on cheap off-the-shelf hardware, unlike its expensive rivals, the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The company said it was "in mourning today from the sad loss of the former Nintendo president Mr Hiroshi Yamauchi, who sadly passed away this morning."

Yamauchi took over the company after his grandfather, the previous president, suffered a stroke. He transformed Nintendo from a little-known manufacturer of Japanese hanafuda playing cards into the most powerful force in the global video game industry, and stood as president of the company from 1949 to 2002.

Yamauchi had a reputation for spotting talent and at a Nintendo factory he picked out engineer Gunpei Yokoi, who would eventually go on to develop the Game Boy handheld console. Yokoi had built a robotic arm for his own amusement, but Yamauchi saw the potential to mass-market the device as a product, kickstarting Nintendo's expansion into the toy and gadget market.

Noting the boom in video games, Yamauchi later asked young artist Shigeru Miyamoto to create an arcade machine that would appeal to the growing global audience. The result was Donkey Kong, a massive success in its own right and the origin of the Mario character.

The long-standing president would go on to oversee the company's entry into the home console business, which it dominated in the 80s and early 90s with the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) consoles. At its height, Nintendo enjoyed a 90% share of the console hardware market.

Importantly, in the wake of the video game crash in 1983, where a glut of mediocre third-party releases for consoles such as the Atari VCS effectively devalued the whole industry, Yamauchi oversaw the introduction of Nintendo's "seal of quality" programme, which restricted the numbers of developers that could release games on its systems.

He intrinsically understood the importance of good games and talented game designers, rather than engineers and hi-tech hardware. In 2004, he told one Japanese newspaper: "Cutting-edge technologies and multiple functions do not necessarily lead to more fun. The excessively hardware-oriented way of thinking is totally wrong, but manufacturers are just throwing money at developing higher-performance hardware."

A shrewd businessman, Yamauchi ensured that Nintendo remained debt-free throughout his long period in charge. Unlike the consoles marketed by most of his competitors, Nintendo machines were always sold at a profit rather than as loss-leaders for software sales; he also ensured that game publishers paid in advance for the manufacturing of game carts, removing the risk for his own company. In this way, he helped to revolutionise the way the games industry functioned.

Although Yamauchi stepped down in 2002 to be replaced by current president Satoru Iwata, he remained a major shareholder and retained an advisory role.

"Hiroshi Yamauchi transformed a run-of the-mill trading card company into an entertainment empire in video games," said Ian Livingstone, co-founder of Games Workshop and life president of games developer Eidos. "He understood the social value of play, and the economic potential of electronic gaming. Most importantly, he steered Nintendo on its own course and was unconcerned by the actions of his competitors. He was a true visionary."

Ali scores first kiss from the Bachelor with 'signature move'

 IT TOOK a "signature move" to land the first kiss on The Bachelor, but 27-year-old Ali nailed it in one.

The real estate agent, who has made no secret of her intense desire to bag the eligible chiropractor, last night successfully turned their kickboxing session into a kissing one.

But was the pash a smooth spontaneous move or was it a calculated ambush?

Either way, Ali got the jump on the rest of the bachelorettes and became the envy of the dating contest.
During their first one-on-one date, Tim asked Ali to give him a dancing lesson to tone down the "aggression of the boxing".

Apple Releases iOS 7-Ready iTunes 11.1

Apple has just released iTunes 11.1, the update to iTunes that brings iTunes Radio to its desktop music software. The Pandora-like streaming music service offers custom stations based on artists and genres, with ad-free streaming for those with iTunes Match subscriptions, or on an ad-supported basis completely free, with track skipping included.

The other big thing this update brings relevant to today is iOS 7 device support, which is necessary for those looking to update and sync their devices via the desktop when that new mobile OS goes live, likely in a couple of hours. If you still sync with your desktop regularly (I’ve stopped long ago thanks to iCloud), then you need to get downloading now to keep things running smoothly post-update.

Also new are the handy Podcast Stations, which allows you to make custom stations with the podcasts you follow regularly, which automatically update new episodes and sync playback position for each episode across devices. That’s a nice feature to have if you’re a commuter who regularly gets their podcast fix on the way to and from work, for instance.

One more new feature is Genius Shuffle, which you can use to play what iTunes determines are complimentary songs from your collection. I still miss iTunes DJ, but this is a feature that should help in similar situations, like when you’re soundtracking a party.

If you’ve been eager to try iTunes Radio, which really is a capable competitor to the best streaming radio services out there already, then this is your first chance, since it comes before iOS 7 hits. Also remember that iTunes Radio is for U.S. iTunes account holders only for now, with no word on when international users will gain access just yet

Christina Milian shows off nipple in bra-less tops

The singer could not be missed thanks to her extremely tight top and lack of support as she turned up to training in Los Angeles, California.

Even though many in her position may have felt a bit exposed, the songstress seemed unperturbed.
The star coupled her tank - which also showed off some of her toned midriff - with a pair of barley-there distressed denim cut-off shorts.

Christina Milian certainly knows how to ensure she is the centre of attention.

With more celebrities than you can poke a stick at arriving at Dancing With The Stars, the 31-year-old still had all eyes on her on Sunday.

Christiana's position on going bra-less did not change hover, but she did slip into a far more sensible grey playsuit and plain white Nike trainers.
The mother of one looked relaxed despite it being her final full day practice ahead of the eagerly anticipated curtain-raiser on Monday.

IOS 7 is here: A whole new iPhone experience

The new iOS 7 iPhone software not only has a new look, but Apple successfully addresses many long-standing issues.

Your iPhone is about to get a giant makeover: Apple is pushing out iOS 7 to iPhone users on Wednesday.

The new iPhone operating system is the most substantial update in the software's history. Apple not only added new features and functionality, but the company radically reinvented the six-year old operating system's appearance.

For the most part, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) succeeded in making iOS easier on the eyes and simpler to use. Apple trimmed the fat where necessary and added some meat to areas that were lacking.
New look: The most noticeable difference in iOS 7 is the design. Gone are the core apps that look like real-life objects. In their place is a far more modern, streamlined, flatter digital aesthetic.
Apple didn't eliminate depth and texture altogether, but it redefined how it uses those effects. For instance, Apple made some menus and features appear translucent, like a frosted sheet of glass. That not only provides a stylish touch, but it produces a layered effect to help visualize how different parts of an app are linked, and how they are separate.

You'll notice this everywhere from the home screen icons to the design of the lock screen to the screen that shows up when you receive a call. But the way you use those elements is more or less the same as before.

And there are still touches of the old version of iOS throughout the new iOS 7. For example, the Messages app still uses speech bubbles, and the camera app still uses an on-screen shutter button. But the look of those features has been spruced up as well.
There was a time when Apple had to demonstrate how its flat, glass screen could replace many self-contained gadgets people already owned. So everything had a glassy, textured layer applied to it. The calendar had to look like a paper calendar. The compass had to look like something you'd see in a 16th-century Spanish galleon.

Now that the vast majority of us understand our smartphones, Apple has been able to ditch those visual analogs and become truer to its sleek, modern hardware.

New features: Perhaps the most useful addition to iOS 7 is Control Center. It's your metaphorical junk drawer full of settings, media playback controls, and shortcuts to utility apps, like the clock, camera and calculator. You can now also toggle the LED on and off from control center, functioning as a de facto flashlight. And it's easily accessible: just swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
Control Center isn't a revelation: Having quick access to Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is something that's long been on Android. But it's a welcome addition -- and frankly should have already been added to iOS a long time ago.

Siri's functionality has been expanded some. It can now be used to search for Wikipedia and Twitter. That's nice, but it's still no Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Now, which can tell you to leave home earlier than usual because there's an accident on the freeway.
The new weather app in iOS 7 is more informative than ever, and the App Store can automatically update your apps.

The Photo app has mostly been changed for the better by automatically arranging your photos according to time and place. But the new shared photo streams addition felt incomplete. It allows multiple people to share and comment on photos -- think of it as a remixed version of group MMS. But with so many people already using Apple's iMessage to share photos, it's unclear why people are supposed to use the new feature.

The Notification Center in iOS 7 now has three separate sub-pages, making it feel more bloated and confusing than its previous iteration. For example, if you don't use a calendar, one of the sub-pages is just a completely empty screen.

Apple overhauled multitasking in iOS 7, giving apps the ability to fully run in the background. That means apps like Twitter and Facebook will be able to automatically update their feeds without you having to open the app. Apple even promises that iOS 7 will learn which apps you use the most, when you use them, and will make sure they're always updated at that time. But it will be hard to tell how well this feature will work until app makers begin to support it.

Airdrop is Apple's file sharing protocol, allowing iPhone users to share photos, contacts and things like passbook cards with one another. In theory, it is a wonderfully simple way to transfer files. But you can't use it with the Mac version of Airdrop. And the main appeal of Airdrop seems to be photos -- which is confusing since that's what shared photostreams are for. Until there is a critical mass of people running iOS 7, it's hard to gauge how useful Airdrop will be.

Despite a few hiccups in execution, Apple has successfully re-thought iOS for the better.
The biggest achievement of iOS 7 is Apple's willingness to acknowledge that it's immensely successful hardware had gone a bit stale. Apple had the awareness and courage to make some major changes without doing anything so drastic that it risked alienating its user base.

IOS 7 isn't perfect, but it's still as worthy a mobile OS as Google's Android. IOS 7 lays down the foundation for the next five or so years that will allow Apple to keep the iPhone feeling modern and progressive. 

BCCI imposes life ban on S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has imposed a life ban on tainted cricketers S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan. Rajasthan Royals players Sreesanth and Chavan were found guilty of spot-fixing during sixth season of the Indian Premier League

Meanwhile fellow Rajasthan Royals player Siddharth Trivedi has been handed a one-year ban while Amit Singh has been banned for five years in the IPL spot-fixing scandal. The case against India's under-19 world cup winner Harmeet Singh, who also represents the Royals, was closed due to a lack of evidence. 

The ban was imposed by the disciplinary committee of the BCCI after their meeting in New Delhi today. The committee, which includes Board vice-presidents Niranjan Shah and Arun Jaitley, imposed the sanctions on the players as per the recommendations of BCCI's Anti-Corruption Unit chief Ravi Sawani, who comprised the one-man probe panel.

The disciplinary committee met with Sreesanth, Chavan, Amit Singh, Harmeet Singh and Siddharth Trivedi at the meet on Friday. In press statement after the meeting the BCCI said: Mr. S. Sreesanth is banned for life from playing any representative Cricket, or in any way being associated with the activities of the BCCI or its affiliates. Ankeet Chavan was also handed the same punishment

Naked magazine covers: Kate Upton

If you thought Kate Upton in a bathing suit was just too conservative, you'll probably want to pick up a copy of the #29 issue of Muse magazine. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue covergirl poses in her birthday suit for the Italian magazine's cover, photographed by Sebastian Faena.

Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking Ball' music video, poses nude

Just when you thought Miley's antics couldn't get any worse ... The 20-year old singer's video for "Wrecking Ball" debuted on VEVO on Sept. 9, 2013, and the raunchy starlet made sure to leave nothing to the imagination as she hopped on a wrecking ball like a swing, ditching her clothing entirely while crooning the lyrics to her love ballad. "I came in like a wrecking ball/ I never hit so hard in love," she sings.

John Legend's fiancée Chrissy Teigen bares breasts in nude photo

The crooner took to Twitter to post the pic of himself lying naked beside his lady. 'Love your curve and all your edges,' he said.

John Legend is getting in on the action of music video nudity.
Legend, 34, gave a sneak peek of his video for "All of Me" off his fourth studio album, "Love in the Future," which he appears in the buff alongside his breast-baring fiancée Chrissy Teigen.

"Love your curve and all your edges," Legend wrote along with a black-and-white pic he retweeted from photo director Nabil. "Pic from the video shoot (slightly NSFW) @chrissyteigen @nabildo."
The image shows him lying in bed beside Teigen, who is propped up on one side with her breasts exposed. They both appear to be nude with a white sheet casually covering them.

Friday the 13th: why do we fear it and how unlucky is it really?

The origins of the Friday the 13th being an unlucky date are shrouded in mystery.
The most commonly held perception is that Friday is an unlucky day and 13 is a particularly unlucky number.

In numerology 13 is considered to be an irregular number and is also the number of witches you need to form a coven.

Some say the roots of 13 being considered unlucky lie in a Nordic myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Valhalla.

The 13th guest was Loki, the god of mischief, who arranged for the god of joy and gladness to be shot with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. He died and the whole world was thrust into mourning.

There is also a biblical reference to 13 being considered unlucky. Judas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus who later betrayed him, was supposedly the 13th guest to sit down at the last supper.

Ancient Christianity may also yield some clues as to why Friday is perceived as 
unlucky. Christ was crucified on a Friday and Cain is believed to have killed his brother Abel on a Friday, perhaps even Friday 13th. Some biblical scholars believe that Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on a Friday.

In the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer referenced Friday as being an unlucky day in his Canterbury Tales, “And on a Friday fell all this mischance".

Seafarers have long considered it is bad luck to set off on a journey on a Friday. It was also historically known as the day that people were usually hanged in Britain.
In the 1990s medical researchers tried to prove whether or not people are particularly prone to misfortune in Friday 13th.

The results published in the British Medical Journal, noted that the number of motor accidents in the South West Thames region increased from a total of 45 on the six Friday 6ths between 1989 and 1992, to some 65 accidents on the six 
Friday 13ths in the same period – an increase of 52 per cent.

Researchers in Sweden also claimed that the country was a more risky place to be on Friday the 13th.

According to historian Donald Dossey who told National Geographic that Friday the 13th costs the American economy approximately $800 or $900 million (£500,000-£570,000) because people will not fly or do business they normally would do.

However Dr Caroline Watt of the University of Edinburgh says that it is the belief in the Friday 13th superstition that could, in fact, prove the greatest risk to the average person:

“If people believe in the superstition of Friday the 13th then they believe they are in greater danger on that day. As a result they may be more anxious and distracted and this could lead to accidents. It becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
“It is like telling someone they are cursed. If they believe they are then they will worry, their blood pressure will go up and they put themselves at risk.”

Unfortunate events that have happened on Friday the 13th

The Da Vinci Code popularised the link between the Friday the 13th superstition and the decline of the religious order the Knights Templar.

On Friday 13 in October 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay to be arrested along with thousands of other Templars.
Buckingham Palace was hit by five German bombs on Friday September 13 1940 with both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth coming close to being killed. One member of the royal staff died and the palace chapel was destroyed.

A Chilean Air force plane ‘disappeared’ in the Andes on Friday 13 October 1972, with 16 survivors turning up two months later. They had been forced to eat dead passengers in order to survive.

The rapper Tupac Shakur died of his wounds on Friday September 13 1996 six days after being shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground on Friday 13 in January 2012 off the western coast of Italy killing 30 people.

Naked magazine covers: Treats! Magazine

The "Blurred Lines" crooner covers Treats! magazine's latest issue, surrounded by several fully nude women. "I've done some topless photo shoots before but never completely nude," Thicke, 36, tells the magazine, according to Just Jared. "It was very sexy and I like that. At first I thought, 'Okay, let's just do topless' … but, again, my wife and her friends were like, 'No way … go all the way.' I think we definitely pushed the envelope." In fact, according to Thicke, the Treats! photo shoot is what inspired the "Blurred Lines" video (r.) -- and it was all his wife Paula Patton's idea. "When I was talking to my wife and her friends about the video they said, 'Do something like Treats! because you love it so much,'" he said.

Seaside Heights fire: Raging fire strikes at the heart of Sandy-hit NJ town

A raging fire spewing fist-sized embers engulfed much of an iconic Jersey shore boardwalk Thursday, destroying more than 50 businesses and undoing months of rebuilding efforts after the inundation of superstorm Sandy.

Workers joined the fire in tearing into the boardwalk — a last-ditch effort to rob the inferno of fuel that helped preserve what was left of the economic lifeblood of Seaside Park and Seaside Heights.

The wind-whipped fire devoured eight blocks of boardwalk — four in each town — and caused millions of dollars in damage before workers halted its advance by ripping out a large section of boardwalk and piling up huge makeshift sand dunes meant to hold back fire, not water.

The blaze destroyed 32 businesses on the Seaside Park portion of the boardwalk, borough Councilwoman Nancy Koury told The Associated Press. Michael Loundy, a real estate agent who works with Seaside Heights on tourism projects, said 20 businesses were destroyed there.

The 6-alarm blaze began in the area of a frozen custard stand on the Seaside Park portion of the boardwalk. Fanned by 15-20 mph winds from an approaching storm system, it quickly spread north into Seaside Heights, the boardwalk town where the MTV series "Jersey Shore" was filmed — and

into Seaside Heights, the boardwalk town where the MTV series "Jersey Shore" was filmed — and where the October storm famously plunged a roller coast into the ocean.

The massive fire came just after the close of the summer tourist season that was marked by furious rebuilding efforts to fix damage caused by the winds and flooding of Sandy.

"It's devastating; I've been crying all afternoon," said Shirley Kreszl, who has rented a summer home inSeaside Park for decades. "Haven't we been hit enough? We try to rebuild and just when we think we saved a little bit of our town, this happens. It's just not fair."

The livelihoods of the two popular Jersey shore resort communities depend on summer tourism; they had just spent millions of dollars rebuilding their boardwalks, arcade games, pizza stands and bar and grills to be ready for the summer season. Seaside Heights rushed to rebuild its boardwalk in time for a May visit by Britain's Prince Harry, and finished with only hours to spare.

"I can't believe this is happening," Koury said as she watched the flames devour boardwalk structures. "Our small business people went through so much in the storm to get ready for summer and stay open all summer, and now it's all gone. I just can't believe it."

Gov. Chris Christie was typically blunt describing his thoughts.

"I feel like I want to throw up," he said.

The Hail Mary effort to save the remainder of the boardwalk began in the evening when public works crews tore out a 25-foot swath of boardwalk to serve as a makeshift fire break, depriving the blaze of fuel, and mounded up sand to hold off the advancing flames.

"That appears to have done the trick," said Seaside Park Mayor Robert Matthies.

Firefighters continued to pour water on the ruins well into the night, dousing a long line of now-gutted structures facing the beach.

Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor's Office, said there was no immediate indication of whether the fire appeared to be suspicious or accidental. The first priority was putting it out and securing the scene, he said.

A detailed investigation was due to get underway on Friday.

Miss Kansas Theresa Vail shows tattoos at Miss America pageant

Miss Kansas Theresa Vail says she wants to break the stereotype that women with visible tattoos don't compete in pageants.

So during the swimsuit portion of the Miss America competition on Tuesday, Vail revealed two tattoos — the Serenity Prayer on her right side and the insignia of the U.S. Army Dental Corps on her left shoulder.

She is believed to be the first contestant in the history of the pageant to do so.

That decision has generated national attention, including a profile in People magazine. The preliminary portion of the pageant begins Tuesday in Atlantic City, N.J.

“I am writing this post just weeks away from competing for Miss America because I do not want to shock the nation when I’m seen in a swimsuit, bearing my marks. I want to explain the meanings and reasons behind them, and why I am opting to show them proudly,” Vail wrote on her blog in August.

Vail, who is a 22-year-old student at Kansas State, is a member of the Kansas Army National Guard’s Medical Detachment, an avid bowhunter and an expert marksman.

One of her tattoos is the “Serenity Prayer,” which runs on her right side.

“I was growing up amidst the bullying and neglect, I found myself asking God on a daily basis to give me peace in knowing I cannot change certain things about myself, but also asking Him to give me the strength to change things that I had the power to. Praying to Him for these characteristics got me through my adolescent years, high school and boot camp. When I was 20 years old, I knew I wanted to always be reminded of my past and its connection to this prayer. Thus, I chose to have it tattooed onto my body. I have no regrets,” the blog explains.


Her second tattoo, on her shoulder, relates to her military service.

“The second is the military medical insignia. Though much smaller than the prayer, the significance is just as great. Since I was a child, God placed a strong passion for service into my heart. Service to my Country, and service to people through medicine. In the middle of this symbol is the letter ‘D’ to represent my dad, whose influence was paramount in choosing this career path,” she wrote.

On the blog, she defended her decision to leave the tattoos visible:

“Why am I choosing to bear my tattoos? Reference A; my platform! Empowering women to OVERCOME stereotypes and break barriers. What a hypocrite I would be if I covered the ink. With my platform, how could I tell other women to be fearless and be true to themselves if I can’t do the same? Now, had my platform been something entirely different, maybe the tables would be turned. Maybe. But I am who I am, tattoos and all.”

Vail, who won the Miss Kansas title after winning Miss Leavenworth County, is attempting to be the first Miss America from Kansas since 1997, when Tara Dawn Holland, of Overland Park, won.

Bill de Blasio on the brink as Democrats vote for New York mayoral nominee

Bill de Blasio, the unabashed progressive who lit up the New York mayoral campaign, faced a nervous wait to find out whether he would be the Democratic candidate on Wednesday as he hovered around the 40% needed to win the nomination outright.

A pledge by second-placed Bill Thompson to wait for the official totals mean it could be days before De Blasio finds out if he will run against Joe Lhota, who secured the Republican nomination.

But while the precise result may still be in the balance but the message from New York Democrats could not be more clear. The battle to succeed Michael Bloomberg as the next mayor of the biggest city in the United States will be an ideological fight led by a candidate determined to distance himself as far as possible from the billionaire incumbent.

Christine Quinn, the city council leader and Bloomberg ally who started the race as frontrunner, bowed out in a dismal third place with only 15% of the vote, her hopes to break ground as the first woman and first gay mayor dashed.

The final result will not be known until next week at the earliest: New York's 1960s lever-pull voting machines will not be opened until Friday, and 19,000 paper ballots not due to be counted until Monday. If the result is still close – and New York's Board of Elections is notoriously inefficient – Thompson could demand a recount. He declined to concede the race on Wednesday, vowing to wait until the official result.

Thompson told supporters on Tuesday night that he would wait for the official count instead of conceding defeat. "We took Mike Bloomberg on and we almost beat him. Now we're gonna finish what we started," said Thompson, who was the Democratic nominee in 2009 but lost to the incumbent billionaire.

"Every voice in New York City counts and we're gonna wait for every voice to be heard. We're gonna wait for every vote to be counted. So my friends this is far from over."

According to tallies collated by WNYC radio, Thompson had 26.10% of the vote on Wednesday morning, with Quinn in third place on 15.47%. Anthony Weiner, who had also looked strong earlier in the campaign, suffered the ignominy of a fifth-place finish with just 4.91% of the vote. After a tear-filled concession speech, in which his wife Huma Abedin was notable by her absence, Weiner made an inglorious exit: a picture showed him giving a one-fingered gesture of insult to reporters as he was driven away.

Valerie Vasquez, director of communications at the city's board of elections, confirmed that BOE staff would open the lever voting machines on Friday to get the official totals and stressed that current numbers are unofficial. She said the official count is done to safeguard against possible "human error" in the unofficial count – conducted by polling staff on Tuesday night.

The lever machines were wheeled out of retirement after the board of elections determined that its modern machines would not be able to be reset in time for a runoff vote, but problems were reported with some machines on Tuesday.

"There were isolated instances through the city. I would not say it was widespread," Vasquez said. "We did have instances where the machines did not work or had to be repaired or replaced, but in those instances no one was ever disenfranchised there was always an availability for an emergency ballot for a voter."

Amid the uncertainty over whether De Blasio would face a run-off with Thompson on 1 October, it was clear that Democratic New Yorkers had resoundingly voted for change. Exit polls indicated that seven out of 10 Democratic primary voters – the lion's share in this very liberal city – wanted to see a new direction at city hall, even though about half thought that the incumbent Michael Bloomberg had been doing a good job.

De Blasio's triumph has been attributed in no small part to his overt positioning as the anti-Bloomberg candidate, encapsulated in his campaign mantra "a tale of two cities" that played on the incumbent's personal wealth and his friendliness towards Wall Street. It was an extraordinary rise from relative nobody four weeks ago to a 15-point lead over the second-placed Thompson.

His early rival, Quinn, tried to muddy his campaign by portraying him as a flip-flopper on term limits: De Blasio promised to extend limits for city council members when he was wooing them in a run to be speaker of the council in 2005, then opposed Bloomberg's bid for a third term when New York mayors were limited to two.

But in the end his message was simpler: Quinn, a close ally of Bloomberg, had facilitated Bloomberg's unprecedented extra term in office and, in terms of policies, promised more of the similar, if not the same.

De Blasio also proved himself to be a nimble strategist. He defused the threat of competition from Bill Thompson, the only black candidate in the Democratic primary race, by running heavily against the unpopular "stop-and-frisk" policing policy that was last month ruled an unconstitutional form of indirect racial profiling.

On a more personal level, De Blasio played the oldest politician's trick in the book – he surrounded himself with his loving family. Which, in this case, included his African American wife Chirlane McCray, 19-year-old daughter Chiara and 16-year-old son Dante, whose Afro hairstyle became a symbol of De Blasio's campaign and who appeared in a widely circulated video saying that his father was the "only Democrat with the guts to really break from the Bloomberg years".

De Blasio's seemingly unstoppable ascension holds up the intriguing prospect of an ideologically intense general mayoral election on 5 November of the sort not seen in New York for decades.

If De Blasio secures his party's nomination and runs on the overtly liberal platform that he laid out in the primary, it will pitch him against the Bloomberg-friendly emphasis on wealth-creation and high-end investment promoted by Lhota, Tuesday night's Republican victor.

Lhota, the former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the New York subway, has already declared his intention to go after De Blasio as a radical firebrand and class-warrior, saying in his victory speech that the Democrat's politics was the kind that "brought our city to the brink of bankruptcy and rampant civic decay."

De Blasio and Lhota have already clashed at the polls, albeit from the sidelines. In the 1989 mayoral election De Blasio was part of the winning campaign team of the Democratic candidate David Dinkins, while Lhota acted as an economics adviser to the Republican Rudy Giuliani.

It remains to be seen whether Lhota's aggressive approach will work. New York has been transformed over the past 25 years, with its finances in much better shape and its reputation for crime and anarchy dissipated.

The legendary tribalism of New York politics, in which voters could be predicted to move in solid and often antagonistic blocs, has also been substantially overcome – not least by De Blasio himself. Exit polls showed that he had achieved what used to be considered in this city the impossible: he attracted majority support from almost all demographic groups.

That included black people and Hispanics as well as whites; women as well as men, gays as well as straights, residents from all five boroughs, as well as Protestants, Catholics and Jews. (Asians voted overwhelmingly for John Liu, the comptroller, or city auditor.)

Slate columnist June Thomas wrote of De Blasio: "He didn't just get more LGBT votes than the lesbian candidate, he got more votes in majority black precincts than Thompson, the African American candidate, and he drew more women voters than the female candidate."

The other imponderable now is how Bloomberg will react to De Blasio's likely Democratic candidacy and the challenge it poses to the incumbent's legacy. The present mayor has made it plain that he is not a fan of the Democratic frontrunner, going so far as to denounce his campaign as "racist".

But at a time when New Yorkers appear highly divided by the achievements of the 12 Bloomberg years, any intervention by the current mayor on the side of Lhota would run the risk of backfiring.

Sydney Leathers Shows Up at Anthony Weiner’s Election Night Party

Sydney Leathers, the woman who derailed Anthony Weiner’s once-promising New York City mayoral campaign by revealing he had sent lewd messages to her online, wreaked havoc on his election night plans as Weiner’s campaign struggled toward the finish line.

Leathers appeared at Weiner’s election night party at a restaurant in midtown Manhattan Tuesday night, clad in a low-cut red dress and blocking the entrance to the restaurant. Leathers seemed intent on confronting the man whose political comeback she says she ruined.

When Leathers was asked why she was outside Weiner’s primary party she replied, “I just felt like I should. I felt obligated after being this involved in the situation,” she answered.

“I was shocked that he was so high in the polls before the scandal happened. It was shocking to me, knowing the type of person he is,” she added. “He tried to lie about the second scandal and tried to act as if the first scandal was the only thing that ever happened, that he had done wrong and he was this changed man and that’s not the case and I am proof of that.”

Leathers’ presence delayed Weiner’s concession speech for more than a half hour, as he was forced to scurry in unceremoniously through a neighboring fast food restaurant in order to avoid a confrontation.
It was the second time in a day Leathers caused a headache for the Weiner campaign.  Earlier Tuesday, Leathers was spotted outside of his Manhattan campaign headquarters holding an anti-Weiner sign. Weiner had been scheduled to conduct some phone calls there, but his campaign abruptly changed plans.

“I’m outside of Weiner headquarters just as a reminder of his impulse control problems and why he shouldn’t be mayor. I’m a physical reminder of that,” Leathers said.  “I just felt that it was necessary for me to be here as a reminder of why the people of New York shouldn’t vote for him and shouldn’t take him seriously, unless they want a mayor ‘Carlos Danger.’”

Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin, who spoke emotionally on her husband’s behalf at a press conference when the scandal broke, was not by his side as he conceded defeat, or as he cast his vote earlier in the morning. 
 According to Weiner, the couple had originally planned on voting together.

“She’s on a call. She will be voting today also,” Weiner said.  “She was in Washington late into the night. She’s got some meetings and some calls and some stuff she’s working on too. She’s got her own busy thing going on.”

Abedin, a top adviser to Hillary Clinton, was not seen on the campaign trail since speaking out in support of her husband when the scandal broke.

Alice Eve shows off her flawless complexion

Actress Alice Eve looked effortlessly chic making her way through the airport in her classic Burberry trench coat, to which she added a red Fendi statement bag and these Isabel Marant Tamara studded slip-on clogs which we just love. 

The chunky, clunky style of the humble clog might seem like a tricky trend, but worn well they can be super stylish. Clogs have been hovering in and out of fashion ever since the 90s, but in 2010, Chanel brought them bang up to date with a sky high heeled pair, and eco-friendly Stockholm-based clog brand Swedish Hasbeens have been sported by Sarah Jessica Parker no less.

Jimmy Kimmel pranks the Internet with viral ‘Twerking Girl on Fire’ video

Gotcha! Jimmy Kimmel might just be the king of YouTube pranks.
After several successful "Hey Jimmy Kimmel!" games, in which viewers have submitted scores of videos of them pranking family members under Kimmel's guide — the late night "Live!" host decided to pull a fast one on the entire internet.

Last week, a viral gem known as "Worst Twerk Fail EVER" — where a girl's attempt at the daring dance results in her pants catching on fire — was viewed on the video broadcasting site over 9 million times.
It was shared around on social media, and became water-cooler fodder on several television news outlets. Some blamed Miley Cyrus’ Video Music Awards performance, others worried that “twerking” could be as dangerous as it is provocative.

But on Monday night, Jimmy Kimmel stuck a fork in the conversation when he revealed that his “Live!” team is behind the video, and ultimately an elaborate hoax.
"To the conspiracy theorists on the Internet who thought the video was fake: You were right it was fake," Kimmel, 45, said after playing an "extended" version of the clip that features him appearing with a fire extinguisher at the end.

"We shot the video about two months ago," he explained. Which means a month before Cyrus, 20, would have taken to twerking on stage with singer Robin Thicke.
"We put it up and didn't send it to any TV station. I didn't tweet it, we didn't put it on any websites. We just put it up on YouTube and let the magic happen."

Kimmel also revealed that the girl from the video — previously identified as Caitlin Heller — is actually a stuntwoman named Daphne Avalon, but she was sworn to secrecy.
"I got numerous Facebook [messages] … texts …" Avalon said, about family and friends who had seen the video.

Some viewers had speculated the video was a fake, but “Caitlin Heller” refused any interviews, and the truth remained a mystery until Monday.
“Thank you for helping us deceive the world and hopefully put an end to twerking forever," Kimmel concluded.

Helen Flanagan steps out wearing ANOTHER chunky urban necklace

She recently showed her sensitive side by gifting two homeless men with £20 during a night out in Manchester on Saturday. 

But as a new week dawned so too did Helen Flanagan’s taste for chunky, urban chains – and she was keen to show off her latest bit of bling when she ventured out in leafy Wilmslow on Monday. 

The former Coronation Street star’s rather distinctive necklace stood out above her loose black top as she strode forth for a spot of shopping in the peaceful Cheshire town – not far from old stomping ground Alderley Edge, where she once shared a home with footballer Scott Sinclair. 

Helen wants to finish her college education

Actress Helen Flanagan is thinking of going to university to get the education she missed out when she was a child star on Coronation Street. The 23-year-old actress played Rosie Webster in Coronation Street for 12 years before quitting in February 2012 after suffering from dep

ression.

Flanagan is considering further her education after missing out on going to college due to her working commitments in the soap, reported Daily Mirror.

“I want to live for the moment really. We’ll see what happens. I might even consider going back to university,” Flanagan said.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University tops world's top 200 university rankings

US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University on Tuesday topped an authoritative list of the world's top 200 university rankings that did not figure any educational institutions from India.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, the country's premier institution, comes in way down at No 222, dropping from 212 last year, in the 'QS World University Rankings' released here on Tuesday.

The list is predictably dominated with US universities, with MIT grabbing the top slot and Harvard at No 2, pushing Britain's Cambridge University to No 3.

As part of one of its most comprehensive global reviews, the 800-strong annual ranking includes 11 Indian institutions in all with the IITs leading the charge – IIT Bombay at 233, IIT Kanpur at 295, IIT Madras at 313 and IIT Kharagpur at 346.

"The stable performance of Indian institutions is a reflection on the country's efforts to internationalise its higher education system. However, it's clear that more efforts are needed in the area if the country's institutions wish to feature more prominently at the top of global rankings," said Ben Sowter, head of research at QS, a British firm specialising in education and study abroad.

"In a country where education is prized above all matters and competition for a coveted place at one of the country's top institutions is high, students need a broader comparison of domestic universities. QS is currently working closely with Indian institutions in a pilot ranking project for the 'BRICS' nations, which is due to be launched later this year," Sowter added.

The annual rankings take into account the subject range, research results and academic reputation offered by 3,000 institutions internationally.

In the list of the top 50 universties in Asia, IIT Delhi and IIT Bombay come in at 38 and 39 followed by IIT Kanpur at 51 and IIT Roorkee at 66. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology tops the Asian rankings followed by a number of Chinese, Japanese and Korean institutions.

Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam University ranks at 119 and the National University of Sciences and Technology in Islamabad is at 120 - both ahead of the University of Mumbai which is at 140 The best-performing countries in terms of number of universities ranked in 2013 include the US (144); UK (69); Germany (42); France (40), followed by Japan (38).

The UK now boasts six of the world's top 20 universities with Edinburgh and King's College, London edging into the top 20 slot alongside Cambridge, UCL, Imperial and Oxford in the top 10.

The researchers report that the average undergraduate tuition fees for the global  top 10 universities are up to a record high of around USD 34,000 per year, nearly double the 2007 average of USD 18,500.

With the rupee going through a period of extreme volatility, an elite world-class education for an Indian student may be at its costliest ever.

The 'QS World University Rankings' is made up of six indicators: academic reputation (40 per cent), employer reputation (10 per cent), faculty student ratio (20 per cent), citations per faculty (20 per cent), international students (5 per cent) and international faculty (5 per cent).

This year, 62,094 academic and 27,957 employer responses contributed towards the results, making the survey one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Nicki Minaj says Gucci Mane is in "dire need of rehab" after he claims to have slept with her

Rapper Gucci, 33, went on a bizarre Twitter rant criticising Eminem and Drake before bragging about his alleged sexual encounters with Minaj

Nicki Minaj has denied rapper Gucci Mane’s claims he had sex with her –  tweeting the rapper is in “dire need of rehab”.

Gucci spent an entire day criticising other artists including Drake, Eminem and 2 Chainz before writing about his alleged sexual conquests in the music industry.

The Gooch boasted about his relationship Minaj and claimed he lived with her when she was staying in Atlanta while being managed by his former manager Deb Antney – who was his pal and estranged Brick Squad crew member Waka Flocka Flame’s mother.

The curvy songstress reacted after the MC wrote: “Me and waka [estranged crew member Waka Flocka Flame] f*** nikki minaj dats nothing [SIC]”

In the broken English posts, the 33-year-old rapper also bragged he has pictures of Minaj in his bed.

But the Super Bass singer quickly responded: "May God strike me dead if I ever had sex wit that man," also mocking his "#ugliness."

Miley Cyrus's new Wrecking Ball video says young women should be sexually available

Another day, another Miley Cyrus controversy. Last time it was twerking at the VMAs; this time it's the video for her new song, Wrecking Ball (hypocrisy disclosure: scroll down and you can watch the clip I'm about to complain about across several hundred words). In said video you can see: Miley nude! Miley in her undies! Miley orally pleasuring a sledgehammer! Yes, you can watch – of all the sights in the world – Miley Cyrus simulating fellatio on something you'd find in a garden shed. What next? Selena Gomez giving a handjob to a strimmer?

I have a 13-year-old daughter, so Cyrus has been part of our family life since Hannah Montana launched on the Disney Channel in 2006. In company with my daughter, I've seen countless episodes of the TV show; I've seen the spinoff movie; I've seen the 3D concert film; I saw one of the five sold-out shows at the O2 in 2009.

Now Cyrus evidently wants to cast aside her crown as queen of the tweens, and she's gone about it in the way that many young women who became famous very young have done: she's embraced sexualisation. What's startling about Cyrus's journey is the extent of the embrace: the Wrecking Ball video doesn't demonstrate a woman exploring her sexuality, it depicts a woman exploring the iconography of porn. That was inevitable once she chose the repulsive Terry Richardson – a man whose work gives the impression that he looks at a woman and can't help seeing a blow-up sex doll – as director.

What disturbs me about Wrecking Ball isn't the fear that my daughter will look at the video and decide to learn about sex from garden implements. After all, one reason tween stars have to reinvent themselves is that the tweens themselves move on so quickly – part of the journey into adolescence consists of casting aside childhood love. I'm sure she'll be curious, and look at the video, but I also suspect she'll be embarrassed by Wrecking Ball, rather than inspired by it. That said, I'm probably not alone among parents in dreading the likely question: "Why has she done this?"

That's the more troubling aspect of Wrecking Ball. Maybe Cyrus has done this entirely of her own voliition. And it is certainly not my place, as a 44-year-old man, to pronounce on how 20-year-old women should display their sexuality. But whatever her reasons for making the video, Cyrus does send a message: that the best way for young women to be noticed is to sexually objectify themselves. And, in this case – sadly – it seems to have worked.

It's now five past noon, and Wrecking Ball has had 14,453,182 views on YouTube. It's added more than a million since I started writing this piece. I'm reminded of a line spoken by Ryan Gosling in the film Crazy Stupid Love: "The war between the sexes is over. We won the second women started doing pole dancing for exercise."