Did Jennifer Lopez And Bradley Cooper go on a Date

Jennifer Lopez and Bradley Cooper have sparked the rumor mill, after they went out to dinner together a few days ago. The pair was spotted at Per Se, a restaurant located at Columbus Circle in New York City.

Any hint of romance has been denied by the actor’s reps, their dinner date has been explained away by saying that they were simply discussing a future “project,” But according to TMZ sources the dinner was “romantic” and intimate. And The New York Post has reported that the couple were “heavily flirting” with each other over dinner.

Both are fairly recently single; Lopez split from husband Marc Anthony after seven years of marriage in July, Cooper and Renee Zellweger announced their split after two years together in March. A simple two hour dinner together has well and truly triggered a great deal of speculation of whether they were up to more than just business.

Australian floods may send coal prices soaring

NEW YORK: Epic floods sweeping Australia could seriously limit the world’s coal supplies, driving up prices and raising inflationary pressures throughout the global economy.

The huge northeastern state of Queensland, now largely under water, provides half the world’s needs for coking coal used in the steel-making industry.

“It could take several weeks to reopen mines which have been physically flooded,” said Ben Willacy, a Wood Mackenzie analyst based in Sydney.

“Mines that have not been flooded will be dependent on the reopening of rail systems,” he said.

According to IHS Global Insight, the floods in Australia have led to the closure of an estimated 90 million tonnes of annual production capacity.

Premium Peak Downs brand coking coal in Queensland was last quoted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia at 253 US dollars a tonne. Six months

A Minute With Bette Midler on New Year TV special

NEW YORK: She has received four Grammys, four Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a Tony Award, and even after selling more than 30 million records, singer Bette Midler is still going strong.

For over 40 years, Midler has delighted audiences with her bawdy live performances, and on Dec. 31, Midler will be ringing in the New Year on cable TV channel HBO with her special, “The Showgirl Must Go On,” which is the live stage show she has been performing in recent years at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The special was taped in front of a packed house at Caesars. Midler, known as “The Divine Miss M,” dons elaborate costumes and sings some of her best-known hits including “Wind Beneath My Wings” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” with her back-up singers, The Harlettes, and a 13-piece band.

Midler asked about the TV special, why being environmentally green is common sense and her love of books.

Q: How did you get in such great shape for the show?
A: “A year before we even started rehearsals, I started doing my warm-ups, getting on the treadmill again and lifting weights. It”s fascinating to get on stage and run for an hour and a half, wringing wet at the end. And I loved every minute of it.”

Q: You”ve had such a long and successful career. What do you think is the key to your success?
A: “I don”t do everything that comes my way and I tend to do things in spurts. I”ll be really busy and then just collapse, take a break for a year or two and then come roaring back. I”m not sure if that”s how you achieve longevity, but I tend to sift through things and make sure they are things I really want to do.”

Q: You did over 200 performances of your Las Vegas show. How do you keep a song fresh that”s done night after night?
A: It”s not so easy, but the crowds are different every night and every crowd becomes a beast of its own — this huge monster that has to be wrangled and corralled. And you have to stay in tune with them. There”s an ebb and flow between the crowd and the entertainer that really keeps you on your toes, and this changes with every performance. I think that”s what keeps a song fresh.

Q: Are you working on any new projects?
A: No, this is one of the down times. Just looking around to see what”s out there. It”s a different world now, with the Internet, iTunes, YouTube, Twitter — all this stuff which is so different from what I do and I really don”t know where I fit in it. I feel if you can entertain a group of people live, you”re really going to be okay, and I”ve always been able to do that.

But I”m curious to see where I fit in in this new world, so I”m exploring my options.

Q: What”s on your iPod?
A: I just love Teddy Pendergrass. I”ve always been a big fan. Also, Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, “The Sound of Philadelphia” and Harry Nielson, “A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night,” which is one of the most beautiful records ever made. And I listen to The Stones.

Q: You”ve been a pioneer in the now popular green movement, founding the nonprofit New York Restoration Project (www.nyrp.org). Why are you so passionate about it?
A: I feel our city has the right to be a beautiful, clean and green city. When I came back to New York City from California in 1995, I felt the city wasn”t living up to its potential. So I started the New York Restoration Project with my own funds, surrounded myself with very good people and staff and we”ve been going strong for 15 years. We”ve been very lucky.

We”ve had a tremendous outpouring of support from New Yorkers of all stripes, all colors and all ages.

Of all the things I”ve done, I have to say I”m proudest of the fact that we”ve raised awareness of people that live in the city. Mostly what I am doing is common sense. All green thought is based on common sense. If you want to survive then you have to make sure that the planet in which you live is healthy.

Q: If you weren”t an actor, singer you”d be
A: I think would probably own a bookstore. I really love books. They”ve been my friends my whole life. To be surrounded by wonderful books is a real treat every day.

Sandra Bullock tops People’s most intriguing list

NEW YORK: Sandra Bullock, whose year of Oscar highs and divorce lows were captured this year in tabloid headlines, was named woman of the year in People magazine’s issue of the 25 most intriguing people of 2010.

In its special issue that hits newsstands on Friday, People also singled out stars and non-stars alike with special titles. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were named “Glam Parents,” and the Chilean miners were singled out for their dramatic rescue.

But Bullock graces the cover for making it through her up-and-down year. The 46 year-old actress won the best actress Oscar for “The Blind Side” in March, but about one week later her joy turned to heartache with sensational headlines that her husband Jesse James had cheated on their marriage.

In April, it was revealed that she and James had previously adopted a baby boy. By June, the pair were divorced and Bullock had custody of the child. Then, in August, financial website Forbes.com declared her the highest paid actress in Hollywood who earned $56 million for two box office hits, football film “The Blind Side” and romantic comedy “The Proposal.”

Other names included in the 2010 list were actress Natalie Portman, given the title “Screen Gem,” for her risky role as a ballerina in Oscar-hopeful film “Black Swan.”

Female rapper Nicki Minaj was named “Rap Renegade,” and upcoming Oscar co-host and actor James Franco, who this year has starred in movies, released a book and had his own art exhibit, was labeled “Multitasker” in the list.

Conservative politician Sarah Palin was dubbed the “Big Gun” of 2010.

People also highlights celebrity marriages, separations and a “Hall of Shame” that reviews the year’s celebrity lows, including actor Mel Gibson”s domestic abuse investigation.

Michael Jackson’s glove sells for big money

NEW YORK: Michael Jackson’s glove is getting some love.

The King of Pop’s glove from his late ’80s “Bad” tour just sold at a Beverly Hills auction for $330,000, a US-based news agency reports.

Julien”s Auctions said the glove worn by Jackson sold for $330,000 (£209,000) at the “Icons Idols” auction Saturday night. A jacket signed by Jackson brought in $96,000 (£61,000) and a fedora he wore on stage went for $72,000 (£46,000) at the Julien”s Auctions event.

Also hitting the auction block were his jacket and fedora, which sold for $96,000 and $72,000, respectively. Other high-priced items from the auction were an X-ray of Albert Einstein’s brain, which brought in $38,750, and two prescription drug bottles that belonged to screen siren Marilyn Monroe. The bottles sold for $18,750.

Saudi King Called Zardari Greatest Obstacle to Pak Progress

Wikileaks: Saudi King Abdullah called President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to Pakistan’s progress, according to an online report of New York Times that quoted Wikileaks as saying.

The report further quoted King Abdullah as saying: “When the head is rotten, it affects the whole body.”

The cables released by Wikileaks, the whistle-blower, disclose that aging monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan.

Speaking to another Iraqi official about Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, King Abdullah said, “You and Iraq are in my heart, but that man is not.” The king called President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan the greatest obstacle to that country’s progress. “When the head is rotten,” he said, “it affects the whole body.”

AFP quoting US documents leaked by WikiLeaks and published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper, said King Abdullah urged the United States to attack Iran to destroy its nuclear programme.

Leaked memos from US embassies across the Middle East recorded the king’s “frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program.”

The memo showed that the king told the United States to “cut off the head of the snake,” and said that working with Washington to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq was “a strategic priority for the king and his government.

Wikileaks Release Secret Papers

NEW YORK: A global computer hacking effort by China is among the revelation laid bare by a cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

The New York Times, one of the newspapers provided advanced access to the papers, on Sunday offered a preview of the revelations from a huge sampling of the daily traffic between the State Department and some 270 embassies and consulates that it intends to detail in the coming days.

WikiLeaks disclosures involve 3000 cables from Delhi to Washington

The cables show that nearly a decade after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the dark shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States’ relations with the world, said the Times.

“They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, Pakistan, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the American Consulate.”

America’s close Arab allies have urged it to strike Iran – by bombing nuclear sites and decapitating the ruling Islamic theocracy; cyberwarriors from China’s  politburo have attacked U.S. government computer networks.

“They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon – and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal,” the Times said.

Dispatches from early this year quote the monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah, as speaking scathingly about the leaders of Iraq and Pakistan.

The White House was quick to “condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorised disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information.”

It would jeopardise “our diplomats, intelligence professionals, and people around the world who come to the United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open government,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

“By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the lives and work of these individuals.”

Wikileaks Leak US Nuclear Standoff With Pakistan

NEW YORK: Wikileaks documents that flooded the international press with sensational diplomatic secrets laid bare several disclosures about Pakistan.

A dangerous standoff of United States with Pakistan over nuclear fuel is among the revealations.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called President Asif Ali Zardari the greatest obstacle to Pakistan’s progress, according to an online report of New York Times that quoted Wikileaks as saying.

The papers depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda.

Karzai’s brother ‘corrupt drugs baron’ US says: WikiLeaks

NEW YORK: Leaked US documents on Monday painted President Hamid Karzai’s controversial younger brother as a corrupt drugs baron, exposing deep US concerns about graft undermining the war against the Afghan Taliban.

Internet whistleblower WikiLeaks has started to release quarter of a million confidential US diplomatic cables, detailing embarrassing and inflammatory episodes in what the White House has condemned as a “reckless and dangerous action”.

Ahmed Wali Karzai has long been dogged by allegations of unsavoury links to Afghanistan’s lucrative opium trade and private security firms.

But as a powerful figure in Kandahar, where US forces are leading the fight to break a nine-year Taliban insurgency, Western officials have kept quiet in public on the president’s younger half brother’s tainted record.

Leaked cables from the US embassy in Kabul now

Second-hand smoke kills 600,000 a year: WHO study

NEW YORK: Around one in a hundred deaths worldwide is due to passive smoking, which kills an estimated 600,000 people a year, World Health Organization (WHO) researchers said.

In the first study to assess the global impact of second-hand smoke, WHO experts found that children are more heavily exposed to second-hand smoke than any other age-group, and around 165,000 of them a year die because of it.

“Two-thirds of these deaths occur in Africa and south Asia,” the researchers, led by Annette Pruss-Ustun of the WHO in Geneva, wrote in their study.

Children’s exposure to second-hand smoke is most likely to happen at home, and the double blow of infectious diseases and tobacco “seems to be a deadly combination for children in these regions,” they said.

Commenting on the findings in the Lancet journal, Heather Wipfli and Jonathan Samet from the University

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