Hugh Grant accuses paper of phone hacking

Actor Hugh Grant testified Monday at Britain's government inquiry into media ethics he thinks he was a victim of phone hacking.

The British celebrity accused the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which is not owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International, of hacking into his phone for a story about his relationship with former girlfriend Jemima Khan.

The Daily Telegraph said Grant testified it was "inconceivable" the paper had obtained a story about his relationship with Jemima Khan any other way

He also implied police were leaking stories to the press, saying paparazzi showed up before police when his girlfriend was mugged.

Earlier, the parents of a slain British schoolgirl testified they had false hope their daughter was alive because a hacker had cleared the girl's voice mail.

The parents, Sally and Bob Dowler, accustomed to hearing a recording that their daughter's voice mailbox was full, said they were thrilled when they thought Milly Dowler had picked up her messages, The Daily Telegraph reported Monday.

But Milly Dowler's phone had been breached and messages were deleted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective hired by Murdoch's defunct News of the World.

"At first we were able to leave messages and then her voice mail became full ... so I was used to hearing that," Sally Dowler told a government inquiry. The inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister David Cameron after it emerged Milly Dowler, 13, who was abducted and killed, had been a subject of the phone-hacking scandal that forced the News of the World to close and resulted in the arrests of several members of the newspaper's management team.

"I rang her phone and it clicked through on to her voice mail and I just jumped and said: 'She's picked up her voice mails Bob. She's alive,'" Sally Dowler said. "When we heard about the hacking that was the first thing I thought."

She said the revelation about her daughter's phone being hacked had been "terribly difficult to process."

"We would sincerely hope that News International [parent of News of the World] and other media organizations would look very carefully how they procure, how they obtain information about stories. Obviously, the ramifications are far greater than what appears in the press," Sally Dowler said.

The mother told the inquiry into media culture, practices and ethics she didn't sleep for three days after learning her daughter's phone was hacked, the BBC said.

Iran ready to 'pound' Israel

Iran is ready to hit centers of Israeli support if the Islamic republic is attacked by its adversary's military forces, a military chief said.

Tehran blamed Israel for a mid-November explosion at a weapons depot belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The explosion at the Aghadir missile base, 25 miles southwest of Tehran, killed Maj. Gen. Hassan Moghaddam, acknowledged as the architect of Iran's strategic missiles forces.

Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, deputy chairman of the Iranian Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the semiofficial Fars News Agency that Israel would pay the price for military aggression.

"We are fully prepared to pound all the centers of the Zionists through reliance upon the missile power which has been gained through the efforts made by Great Martyr Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam," he said.

Iran last week embarked on a military exercise that it said encompassed about 300,000 square miles along the country's eastern border.

Israel was suspected of launching preparations for a military strike on Iranian nuclear installations. The Israeli military destroyed nuclear targets in Iran in the 1980s and in Syria in 2007.

The saber rattling comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, said it believed Iran was carrying out some scientific research that was tied to the development of a nuclear bomb.

Tyler Perry explains Kim Kardashian "Counselor" casting

Tyler Perry has caught no small amount of flak for casting reality TV star Kim Kardashian in his upcoming movie "The Marriage Counselor."

And now the writer/producer/media magnate has spoken out in defense of using the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star, whose resume is a little thin when it comes to officially scripted fare. Perry has posted a lengthy missive on his blog, detailing his reasons for casting Kardashian.

The takeaway from Perry's pro-Kardashian manifesto? He's doing it for the kids -- specifically, to get them into the theaters to see his movie and absorb its message.

The "Madea" auteur begins his justification with a little ice-breaker, acknowledging the flood of angry emails he's received over the casting decision with a joke.

"Y'all gave me a new movie title, Tyler Perry's 'Diary of a Mad Black Woman Cause You Hired Kim Kardashian, Don't Make Me Take Off My Earrings and Boycott Yo A**,'" Perry quips. "Some of my ladies are upset. OK, all jokes aside, can I have my say? Will you at least here me out?"

According to Perry, he cast Kardashian, 31, in the film because of the sway she has over the youth audience. Perry noted in his post that, after writing the script, he read through it and realized the importance of exposing a younger audience to the message of the film.

"YOUNG FOLKS NEED TO SEE THIS!!!" Perry said of "The Marriage Counselor, which trails an aspiring relationship expert whose own union becomes imperiled by outside influences.

Perry added that, as he was casting the film a couple of months ago -- "long before I even heard about Kim's marriage or divorce" -- he asked a producer which performers are admired by the nation's youth. After being shown a photo of a young crowd piling up outside of one of the Kardashians' Dash boutiques, Perry had his answer.

"I thought, 'What better person?'" Tyler recalled. "She literally has millions of young people following her. I thought and still do think, that it would be very responsible of her to be a part of this film."

Adds Perry, "If one of those young people see this film and find the strength to live a better life and not go through what these characters went through in this movie, then we have all done what I feel I'm being led to do here. I hope you understand. I really do!"

In the film, Kardashian plays Ava, a co-worker of the film's female lead character, Judith (portrayed by Jurnee Smolett), who's "constantly trying to influence Judith on everything from her shoes to her hair."

Since word of Kardashian's casting broke, a multi-front campaign on internet outrage has sprung up. Threatening to boycott the film if Kardashian wasn't axed from the production, many complained of Kardashian's supposed lack of moral fiber, in light of her 72-day marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries.

Former "The Talk" co-host Holly Robinson Peete, meanwhile, joked that the worldwide community of "blacktresses" were upset because Perry had eliminated a potential job for them by casting Kardashian.

Perry addresses the moral issue at the end of his post, asking, "And lastly, because I believe that my films speak from the inside out, why wouldn't Kim Kardashian be invited into a film about Faith, Forgiveness and the healing power of God? What is wrong with that??"

Deficit deal failure would pose crummy choice

If the deficit-cutting supercommittee fails, Congress will face a crummy choice. Lawmakers can allow payroll tax cuts and jobless aid for millions to expire or they extend them and increase the nation's $15 trillion debt by at least $160 billion.

President Barack Obama and Democrats on the deficit panel want to use the committee's product to carry their jobs agenda. That includes cutting in half the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax and extending jobless benefits for people who have been unemployed for more than six months.

Also caught up in what promises to be a chaotic legislative dash for the exits next month is the need to pass legislation to prevent an almost 30 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors. Several popular business tax breaks and relief from the alternative minimum tax also expire at year's end.

A debt plan from the supercommittee, it was hoped, would have served as a sturdy, filibuster-proof vehicle to tow all of these expiring provisions into law. But after months of negotiations, Republicans and Democrats were far apart on any possible compromise, and there was no indication of progress Saturday.

Failure by the committee would leave lawmakers little time to pick up the pieces. And there's no guarantee it all can get done, especially given the impact of those measures on the spiraling debt.

Instead of cutting the deficit with a tough, bipartisan budget deal, Congress could pivot to spending enormous sums on expiring big-ticket policies.

If lawmakers rebel against the cost, as is possible, they would bear responsibility for allowing policies such as the payroll tax cut, enacted a year ago to help prop up the economy, to lapse.

Last year's extensions of jobless benefits and first-ever cut in the payroll tax were accomplished with borrowed money.

The 2 percent payroll tax cut expiring in December gave 121 million families a tax cut averaging $934 last year at a total cost of about $120 billion, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Obama wants to cut the payroll tax by another percentage point for workers at a total cost of $179 billion and reduce the employer share of the tax in half as well for most companies, which carries a $69 billion price tag.

"The notion of imposing a new payroll tax on people after Jan. 1 in the midst of this recession on working families is totally counterproductive," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.

Letting extended jobless assistance expire would mean that more than 6 million people would lose benefits averaging $296 a week next year, with 1.8 million cut off within a month.

Economist say those jobless benefits — up to 99 weeks of them in high unemployment states — are among the most effective way to stimulate the economy because unemployed people generally spend the money right away.

"We will have to address those issues," Durbin said.

Extending benefits to the long-term unemployed would cost almost $50 billion under Obama's plan. Preventing the Medicare payment cuts to doctors for an additional 18 months to two years would in all likelihood cost $26 billion to $32 billion more.

Lawmakers also had hoped to renew some tax breaks for business and prevent the alternative minimum tax from sticking more than 30 million taxpayers with higher tax bills. Those items could be addressed retroactively next year, but only increase the uncertainty among already nervous consumers and investors.

This time, Obama wants them to be paid for. But a move by Democrats to try to finance jobs measures with hundreds of billions of dollars in savings from drawing down troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has gotten a cold shoulder from top Republicans.

"I've made it pretty clear that those savings that are coming to us as a result of the wind-down of the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan should be banked, should not be used to offset other spending," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. He did not address whether war savings could be used to extend expiring tax cuts.

Those savings are the natural result of national security strategies unrelated to the federal budget. Deficit hawks say tapping into them is simply an accounting gimmick.

"It's just the worst of all worlds if that were to happen," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

But without the war money at their disposal, lawmakers simply can't pay for the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits. Liberals such as Durbin are fine with employing deficit financing, especially if the alternative is playing Scrooge just before the holidays.

"Many people will hate to go home for Christmas saying to the American people, 'Merry Christmas, your payroll taxes go up 2 percent Jan. 1 and unemployment benefits are cut off.'"

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi captured in southern Libya

Moammar Gadhafi's former heir apparent Seif al-Islam was captured by revolutionary fighters in the southern desert Saturday just over a month after his father was killed, setting off joyous celebrations across Libya and closing the door on the possibility that the fugitive son could stoke further insurrection.

Seif al-Islam — who has undergone a transformation from a voice of reform in an eccentric and reviled regime to one of Interpol's most-wanted — now faces the prospect of trial before an international or Libyan court to answer for the alleged crimes of his late father's four-decade rule over the oil-rich North African nation.

Thunderous celebratory gunfire shook the Libyan capital of Tripoli and other cities after Libyan officials said Seif al-Islam, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, had been detained wearing traditional Tuareg clothing about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the town of Obari in an area that borders Niger, Mali and Algeria.

A photograph was widely circulated showing the 39-year-old son, who had been the last wanted Gadhafi family member to remain at large, in custody, sitting by a bed and holding up three bandaged fingers as a guard looks on. Osama Juwaid, a spokesman for the fighters from Zintan who made the arrest, said it was an old injury caused by a NATO airstrike and the detainee was otherwise in good health.

"I am hopeful that the capture of Gadhafi's son is the beginning of a chapter of transparency and democracy and freedom," Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib at a news conference in the western mountain town of Zintan, where Seif al-Islam was taken after his capture.

It was unclear what would happen next, with the international community urging Libyan authorities to ensure he is treated humanely and to cooperate with the ICC on bringing him to trial.

The emergence of Seif al-Islam as the only Gadhafi in custody to face justice posed a major test of the interim government's commitment to human rights and the rule of law. The murky circumstances surrounding the deaths of the reviled Libya leader and another son Muatassim on Oct. 20, and the decision to lay their bodies out for public viewing drew widespread criticism.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told The Associated Press that he will travel to Libya next week for talks with the country's transitional government on where the trial will take place. Ocampo said that while national governments have the first right to try their own citizens for war crimes, his primary goal was to make sure Seif al-Islam receives a fair trial.

"The good news is that Seif al-Islam is arrested, he is alive, and now he will face justice," Ocampo said in an interview in The Hague. "Where and how, we will discuss it."

Seif al-Islam's capture leaves only former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi wanted by the ICC, which indicted the two men along with Gadhafi in June for unleashing a campaign of murder and torture to suppress the uprising that broke out in mid-February. Protests inspired by the so-called Arab Spring sweeping the region soon escalated into a civil war, with NATO launching airstrikes under a U.N.-mandate to protect civilians.

Other photos and video clips showed Seif al-Islam wearing glasses and a beard, clothed in brown robes and a turban in the style of ethnic Tuaregs, a nomadic community that spans the desert border area of Niger, Mali, Libya, Algeria and Chad and long fought for his father's regime. In some, he was bundled onto an airplane that apparently carried him to Zintan, 85 miles (150 kilometers) southwest of Tripoli.

Libya's transitional government has struggled to consolidate control over the country and form a new government and build many institutions from scratch after months of violence and the refusal of several armed factions to lay down their weapons or join the national forces. International rights groups also have documented widespread prisoner abuse mainly aimed at former Gadhafi supporters, casting doubt on reconciliation efforts as the country tries to forge a democracy.

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, who played an active role in his country's early stance on the side of the rebels who rose up against Gadhafi, alleged that Seif al-Islam was at least as much to blame for past atrocities against Libyans as his father.

"His arrest is a real important moment. It's the real end of this war," Levy said during an interview in London, adding his voice to calls for Seif al-Islam to be judged by an international court.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said Seif al-Islam should be held accountable for his actions but urged the Libyans to treat all prisoners in full accordance with international standards.

"His capture and trial would be another step away from a 40-year dark chapter in Libyan history and help move the Libyan people toward the peaceful and democratic future they deserve," the State Department said.

It was a dramatic turnabout for Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, who is the oldest of seven children of Moammar and Safiya Gadhafi. He had one older half brother, Mohammed.

The British-educated son, who speaks fluent English, spent years touting himself as a liberalizing reformer in the autocratic regime, and he helped broker the agreement that saw Moammar Gadhafi renounce his weapons of mass destruction program and begin his journey back into the international fold after decades of isolation.

But Seif al-Islam staunchly backed his father in his brutal crackdown on rebels in the regime's final days, warning of "rivers of blood" if demonstrators refused to accept government offers of reform.

He went underground after Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces in late August and was widely reported to have been hiding in the besieged town of Bani Walid, issuing audio recordings to try to rally support for his father, but he escaped before it fell to revolutionary forces.

"This is the day of victory, this is the day of liberation, finally the son of the tyrant has been captured," said Mohammed Ali, an engineer, as he celebrated on Tripoli's Martyrs' Square, formerly called Green Square when it was the site often used by Gadhafi for fiery speeches. "Now we are free, now we are free, God is Great."

Revolutionary forces from the Zintan brigade said the arrest was made after midnight by fighters originally in the area to help with border protection when they got a tip that Seif al-Islam would try to flee the country.

Ahmad Ammar Abdullah al-Zintani, who was at the scene, said a group of 15 fighters armed with pistols, heavy machine guns and a rocket-grenade launcher took up positions on two hills overlooking the road at 10 p.m. Friday, then moved to surround two cars entering the area below about three hours later.

"Seif was in the second car. When the first car came forward we surrounded them and they didn't resist. And then the second car came up they tried to escape from the right and they got stuck in the sand, and Seif came out with three others," al-Zintani said.

He also said Seif al-Islam's thumb, index and middle finger on his right hand had been injured in a NATO airstrike and wrapped in a cloth since they couldn't be treated medically.

"We found out that he was trying to go to Niger hoping he could take over Libya again," al-Zintani said, echoing fears that Gadhafi's son could foment violence if he had remained in hiding.

Others said Seif al-Islam looked tired when he was caught.

"He was suffering from malnutrition and anemic because he had lived in the desert for a while. He was being protected by the al-Megarha tribe, which has been split in half over the revolution," Badawi Mohammed said. Members of the al-Megarha tribe include Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Bashir al-Tlayeb, who first announced the capture at a press conference in Tripoli, also claimed Seif al-Islam was caught with two aides who were trying to smuggle him into Niger, but the NTC's justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, said the detention was closer to the Algerian border and the convoy's destination was not known.

Seif al-Islam was being held in Zintan but would be transported to Tripoli soon, according to al-Alagi.

Libya's Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC had not taken an official position yet, but in his personal view, Seif al-Islam "is an outlaw and should be tried in front of the Libyan Court, by Libyan people and by Libyan justice."

Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called the arrest an important step forward as Libya tries to put its past behind it.

"I welcome the Libyan authorities' commitment to ensure his detention and trial meet international standards," Hague said. "His arrest will allow the Libyan people to move on to the challenge of rebuilding their country."

Police, protesters clash for 2nd day in Egypt

Egyptian police are clashing for a second day in central Cairo with protesters demanding that the military quickly announce a date to hand power to an elected government.

The police on Sunday were using tear gas against several thousand protesters in and around Tahrir square, birthplace of the 18-day uprising that toppled authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in February. The protesters were pelting the police with rocks.

The clashes followed a day of violence in Cairo and elsewhere in the country in which at least two people were killed and hundreds wounded. They were the worst clashes between police and protesters in months.

The clashes are stoking tension less than two weeks before the start of the country's first post-Mubarak parliamentary elections.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo's Tahrir Square Saturday to dismantle a protest tent camp, setting off clashes that killed two protesters, injured hundreds and raised tensions days before the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster.

The scenes of protesters fighting with black-clad police forces were reminiscent of the 18-day uprising that forced an end to Mubarak's rule in February. Hundreds of protesters fought back, hurling stones and setting an armored police vehicle ablaze.

The violence raised fears of new unrest surrounding the parliamentary elections that are due to begin on Nov. 28. Public anger has risen over the slow pace of reforms and apparent attempts by Egypt's ruling generals to retain power over a future civilian government.

Witnesses said the clashes began when riot police dismantled a small tent camp set up to commemorate the hundreds of protesters killed in the uprising and attacked around 200 peaceful demonstrators who had camped in the square overnight in an attempt to restart a long-term sit-in there.

"Violence breeds violence," said Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, an engineer who joined in the protest after a call went out on Twitter urging people to come to Tahrir to defend against the police attacks. "We are tired of this and we are not leaving the square."

Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and beat protesters with batons, clearing the square at one point and pushing the fighting into surrounding side streets of downtown Cairo.

A 23-year-old protester died from a gunshot, said Health Ministry official Mohammed el-Sherbeni. At least 676 people were injured, he said. At least one other protester was killed in Alexandria, where demonstrations and clashes also took place, said a security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.

Crowds swarmed an armored police truck, rocking it back and forth and setting it ablaze.

After nightfall, protesters swarmed back into the square in the thousands, setting tires ablaze in the street and filling the area with an acrid, black smoke screen. Police appeared to retreat to surrounding areas, leaving protesters free to retake and barricade themselves inside the square. The air was still thick with stinging tear gas.

Shortly before midnight, police pushed back toward the square, firing more tear gas and drawing a barrage of stones from the protesters holding the site.

The government urged protesters to clear the square.

A member of the military council, Gen. Mohsen el-Fangari, dismissed the protesters and said their calls for change ahead of the election were a threat to the state.

"What is the point of being in Tahrir?" he said, speaking by phone to the popular Al-Hayat TV channel. "What is the point of this strike, of the million marches? Aren't there legal channels to pursue demands in a way that won't impact Egypt ... internationally?"

"The aim of what is going on is to shake the backbone of the state, which is the armed forces."

In a warning, he said, "If security is not applied, we will implement the rule of law. Anyone who does wrong will pay for it."

Saturday's confrontation was one of the few since the uprising to involve police forces, which have largely stayed in the background while the military takes charge of security. There was no military presence in and around the square on Saturday.

The black-clad police were a hated symbol of Mubarak's regime.

"The people want to topple the regime," shouted enraged crowds, reviving the chant from the early days of the uprising. Crowds also screamed: "Riot police are thugs and thieves" and "Down with the Marshal," referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's military ruler.

Some of the wounded had blood streaming down their faces and many had to be carried out of the square by fellow protesters to waiting ambulances.

Human rights activists accused police of using excessive force.

One prominent activist, Malek Mostafa, lost his right eye from a rubber bullet, said Ghada Shahbender, a member of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.

At least four protesters were injured in the eyes as a result of what Shahbender said were orders to target protesters' heads.

"It is a crime," she said. "They were shooting rubber bullets directly at the heads. ... I heard an officer ordering his soldiers to aim for the head."

A videojournalist for the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah, was also hit in the eye by a rubber bullet and was undergoing surgery.

Police arrested 18 people, state TV reported, describing the protesters as rioters.

Protests were also held Saturday in the Red Sea port city of Suez, where a crowd of thousands attacked a police station, with some hurling firebombs at the building, said protester Ahmed Khafagi. They were met with tear gas and gunfire.

In Alexandria, hundreds of people threw stones at the main security headquarters, said protester Ahmed Abdel-Qader. He said it felt like the revolution was starting all over again.

"We only managed to bring down the head of the regime. The rest of the tree is still standing," he said.

A day earlier, tens of thousands of Islamists and young activists had massed in Tahrir Square to protest Egypt's ruling military council, which took control of the country after Mubarak's ouster and has been harshly criticized for its oversight of the bumpy transition period.

Friday's crowd, the largest in months, was mobilized by the Muslim Brotherhood and focused its anger on a document drafted by the military that spells out guiding principles for a new constitution.

Under those guidelines, the military and its budget would be shielded from civilian oversight. An early version of it also said the military would appoint 80 members of the 100-person constitutional committee — a move that would vastly diminish the new parliament's role.

Groups across the political spectrum rejected the document, calling it an attempt by the military to perpetuate its rule past the post-Mubarak transition. Back in February, the military had promised it would return to the country to civilian rule within six months. Now, there is deep uncertainty over the timeline, and presidential elections might not be held until 2013.

El-Fangary said if the plan in place is followed, the military will be out of power by the end of 2012.

Friday's demonstration dispersed peacefully, but several hundred people remained in the square overnight in an attempt to re-establish a semi-permanent presence in the square to pressure the military council.

Violence began Saturday morning, as police moved in to clear them.

The Interior Ministry, which runs the country's police forces, accused people of trying to escalate tensions ahead of the parliamentary elections, which will be held in stages that continue through March.

Activists say they just want to guard the outcome of their revolution.

Unemployed graduate student Nasser Ezzat said he traveled from southern Egypt to Tahrir because he wanted to help finish the revolution that people died for. He came to the square on Friday, leaving behind his a pregnant wife in the city of Sohag.

"I dream of a fairer Egypt for my unborn daughter, one without police harassment and corruption," he said on Saturday.

Google Opens a Digital Music Store

Looking to extend its reach as a hub for entertainment and social networking, Google introduced a set of music features on Wednesday, including a download store to compete with iTunes.

The service, Google Music, will sell individual tracks and full albums, letting customers store the songs on servers, on so-called cloud accounts. And through an integration with Google’s nascent social network, Google+, the company will also let customers share music by offering friends one free listen to any bought track.

Google Music puts the company in direct competition with Apple, Amazon and Facebook. Many analysts saw the move as part of an escalating war among those companies to develop consumer environments.

“They’ve got to make their ecosystem appeal to consumers in a way that Amazon and Apple have,” said Michael Gartenberg, a media analyst with Gartner. “Personal cloud services are what’s going to drive the next wave of consumer adoption. So Google has to be playing here. But because they’re so late they have to be playing here in a unique way.”

Google will sell music through the Android Market, the marketplace where users of its mobile phone system buy apps, videos and e-books. The new service is an expansion of Music Beta, which the company introduced in May, and will store customers’ songs in remote servers and allow users to listen to them on any device or computer.

Google Music will have 13 million songs for sale, the company said. But while music from three of the four major record companies and many independents will be included, Google has so far been unable to reach a licensing agreement with the Warner Music Group. Warner, the third-largest major label, has artists including Green Day, Neil Young and Led Zeppelin.

The music service is also, to large degree, a way to enhance the company’s mobile offerings to compete with Apple’s iPhone.

Google’s announcement, held at a Los Angeles art studio and shown on YouTube, came two days after Apple opened its iTunes Match service, which for $25 a year lets users back up music in the cloud through a more efficient system than Google offers. But in the presentation, Jamie Rosenberg, a Google executive, noted that its cloud backup was free.

“Other cloud music services think you have to pay to listen to music you already own,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “We don’t.”

Amazon began selling its Kindle Fire tablet this week, which will be able to play music, video and other media. And in September, Facebook unveiled new features with music streaming services like Spotify and MOG that let users of those services share the music they are listening to.

Google’s relations with the major record companies have often been strained, with the labels accusing Google of not doing enough to curtail piracy. When Google introduced its limited Music Beta service in May, the company’s executives complained publicly that some of the labels would not agree to special licenses that would have allowed Google to offer more extensive features.

Yet Google’s reach makes it a powerful partner for music companies, according to Rob Wells, president of the Universal Music Group’s global digital business.

“We expect this to be a rich new revenue stream for our artists,” Mr. Wells said at the event. “Any new legitimate place to consume music is a fantastic antipiracy tool.”

Among the other features included in the announcement were a set of resources for independent artists, who for $25 can set up Web pages and offer their own music at prices of their choosing. To promote the new service, the company is also offering a number of free songs by the Rolling Stones, the Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay and the rapper Busta Rhymes.

A Marriage of Economic Convenience

THE scene last Tuesday night at a shopping party to preview the new Versace for H&M collection was fairly predictable, if you didn’t count the midnight concert by Prince. When the racks of gold-studded dresses and tropical-print shirts were finally unveiled, in a temporary store on a Hudson River pier, the invited fashion editors, celebrities and Nicki Minaj quickly picked them clean. “Many of the women in the crowd made beelines for the collection’s men’s clothes,” Style.com said. There was still a line outside the shop at 2:30 a.m.

More than a decade since Target first popularized collaborations between high-end designers and mass retailers, and seven years since H&M introduced a collection with Karl Lagerfeld, there is still allure in the concept of cheap and chic.

Based on news media coverage to date, there is every reason to expect huge crowds and long lines when the Versace clothes go on sale Thursday at international H&M stores (Donatella Versace is to attend the opening in London) and Saturday in the United States. Items from the collection like a cropped baseball jacket with vivid leopard-spotted sleeves, for $129, will undoubtedly sell out, and many of them will then likely reappear on eBay at a higher price. (Actually, that jacket is already there, with an asking price of $179.99.)

Despite concerns that the commonplace appearance of designer names at stores like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart and even Payless ShoeSource would eventually lead to shopper fatigue, such collaborations are proving to be both a reliable business model for retailers and a business in themselves.

And designers, even those who have far less name recognition than Ms. Versace, are finding these collaborations to be increasingly lucrative. While few details about financial relationships have ever been made public, the typical fees paid to designers have generally more than doubled over the last five years, according to several participants in recent deals, though each seems to follow its own rules.

Mr. Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney, who designed an H&M collection in 2005, were each reportedly paid $1 million for their services; and Madonna, whose M by Madonna collection was sold there in 2007, was said to have received $4 million. (Billboard reported in 2007 that sales of Madonna’s collection, which was broader than most, reached $20 million.)

Ms. Versace’s payment is expected to be closer to that of the other designers, according to company executives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the terms were confidential. But Ms. Versace’s deal is based on a percentage of sales. It also includes a higher financial commitment from H&M for advertising and promotions. A spokeswoman for H&M said the company would not comment on any sales or compensation figures for the collaborations.

Marc Beckman, a founder of Designers Management Agency, a talent agency that has worked with labels like Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam, Christian Siriano and Sophie Theallet, said that deals with the biggest players in the fast-fashion sector now typically include cash payments of over $1 million. In 2007, many of those payments, particularly for Target’s Go International program for emerging designers, were reported to be around $250,000. Mr. Beckman negotiated a long-term contract for a Jay Manuel collection at Sears Canada, connected Rachel Roy with Amar’e Stoudemire for a collaboration and paired the handbag designer Monica Botkier with Swatch.

“The deals we have done, as long as they are for designers at the high end, are seven digits, and at the low end they are six digits,” Mr. Beckman said.

While the mechanics of such collaborations have become more sophisticated, just how they work has remained somewhat mysterious to shoppers, who may not realize that sales of Ms. Versace’s collection for H&M, or the wildly popular Missoni line that was sold at Target this fall, will barely have an effect on the retailers’ overall sales volumes. In fact, their success is not measured in dollars, but in overall media impressions, the metric used to determine how many times consumers read or saw a mention of the collaboration in the news media. The Missoni for Target collection, for instance, was covered in the September issues of more than 40 magazines and amassed impressions in the billions.

AT&T, U.S. argue over witnesses in antitrust trial

AT&T Inc complained on Wednesday that the Justice Department was too slow in telling who its witnesses would be as the government seeks to block the telecommunications giant's acquisition of rival T-Mobile USA.

The government, in a court filing Wednesday, proposed giving AT&T an initial list of up to 15 witnesses on November 18 and additional lists in December and January. The trial begins on February 13.

This did not please AT&T, which noted that the court had initially urged witness lists be exchanged "at the earliest possible time."

"More than six weeks after the court's order, defendants are still no closer to receiving a witness list. Yet plaintiffs seek to push the date back still further," AT&T said in its filing.

Instead, AT&T suggested Special Master Richard Levie consider giving each side a specific amount of time during the trial to be used as each side wishes.

"Plaintiff's (the government) case is likely to focus on the few competitors that plaintiffs claim matter in the market. Defendants' (AT&T) case will broaden that focus to show the much broader array of market participants competing fiercely for customers," AT&T said.

The government, for its part, argued that AT&T's desire for a quick trial would be undermined by its failure to cap its witness list.

"Defendants' proposal presages well over 100 depositions in December and early January. That is unreasonable, and court intervention now is necessary to stop it," the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department's antitrust division filed its lawsuit on August 31 to stop AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom AG, a $39 billion deal.

The deal would vault No. 2 ranked AT&T into the leading position in the U.S. wireless market. The current industry leader is Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. carrier, has also sued to stop the deal. T-Mobile is the No. 4 operator.

In addition to concerns about market concentration, the government believes that the loss of T-Mobile could push up wireless prices since T-Mobile generally costs less than other carriers.

AT&T argues the deal will accelerate its expansion of high-speed wireless service to nearly all Americans.

Other wireless carriers have also filed suit to stop the deal.

The cases are USA v. AT&T, T-Mobile USA Inc and Deutsche Telekom AG, case No. 11-1560; Sprint Nextel Corp v. AT&T Inc et al, No. 11-1600; and Cellular South v. AT&T, No. 11-1690. The three challenges are all before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Motorola revives Razr name with smartphone

With its super-slim, stylish frame, Motorola's Razr phone became incredibly popular in 2004 — a smash hit that Motorola hasn't been able to replicate. Now, many years later, the company is trying to recapture some of that magic by ushering the Razr into the smartphone age.

The new Droid Razr, available Friday through Verizon Wireless for $300 with a two-year service contract, echoes the svelte form and good looks of its ancestor.

It has many great features, including a big touch screen and the ability to use Verizon's high-speed 4G LTE network for zippy Web surfing. It also has Motorola's MotoCast service for wirelessly streaming and downloading content stored on your computer.

Yet I couldn't get much time to enjoy the phone because using it with LTE quickly wore down the battery.

And while the phone runs the latest version of Google Inc.'s Android software that is available for smartphones, shoppers may be tempted to wait. Verizon will soon offer Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which will come with an even newer version of Android called Ice Cream Sandwich. The Droid Razr is expected to get that update, too, but not until next year.

Don't get me wrong, though: The Droid Razr is a hot phone.

Gazing at it for the first time, I had the same thought as I did when I first laid eyes on the now-ancient Razr phone: How the heck did Motorola make the phone that thin? Except for a chunk at the top that houses the rear camera, flash and an external speaker, the Droid Razr is slimmer than any other smartphone. It's just a third of an inch thick. It's light, too, at 4.5 ounces.

It makes other smartphones — Apple's iPhone included — look chubby by comparison.

Its back is covered in diagonal gray and black lines composed of Kevlar fiber, which is meant to increase the phone's strength. Another perk, though one that's not visible: The phone has a water-repellent coating both inside and outside that is meant to shield it from damage caused by the occasional spill.

The Droid Razr boasts a 4.3-inch display, which is too big to fit too comfortably in my hand, but plenty large for watching videos and checking out websites. It isn't the highest-resolution screen you'll find on a smartphone, but colors looked bright and images were crisp.

The screen also works well as a viewfinder for the Razr's 8-megapixel camera. The camera snaps photos pretty quickly. I was able to capture sharp shots in bright and low light.

The phone is speedy overall, owing to its dual-core processor and 1 gigabyte of memory. I had no problem streaming tunes while I bounced between IM'ing friends, checking up on gossip sites and using Google Maps to find a good restaurant near my office.

The phone has a big battery that promises 12.5 hours of talk time. To keep the phone slim, the battery is built-in and cannot be easily replaced.

And, as expected, it won't last long if you're on Verizon's faster data network: Using a combination of LTE and Verizon's slower 3G network to surf the Web, stream an episode of "The Office," download apps and stream music from Pandora, I only had 15 percent battery life left after two-and-a-half hours.

That seemed lame. Of course you can lengthen the battery life by not using the LTE network, or by severely limiting how much you use it. But access to this high-speed network is one of the phone's best features, improving all sorts of Web-related tasks, including video streaming and Web surfing.

Fortunately, Motorola included a very neat app called Smart Actions that can alleviate a bit of the battery drain. Smart Actions can be set to automatically alter the Razr's settings at a certain time, either by using built-in "rules" that you can modify or by using ones you determine.

For example, you can set a low battery saver rule to dim your screen, turn off the phone's GPS and stop content from syncing in the background when the phone's battery reaches a certain level or when you get home. You can also set rules to support your own laziness. I instituted one that makes the phone launch its music app whenever I plug in a pair of headphones.

The phone also includes a service called MotoCast, which comes across as Motorola Mobility Holding Inc.'s answer to Apple Inc.'s iCloud content streaming service. With MotoCast, you can wirelessly access and download documents, music, videos and photos stored on your Mac or PC on your Razr.

Unfortunately, because content you stream with MotoCast is housed on your computer — not on remote computer servers as it is with iCloud — that computer must be on and connected to the Internet for you listen to The Beatles or watch old episodes of "The Simpsons." I don't know about you, but I don't leave my home or work computer online all the time.

You can download files to the phone for use at any time, but even with the phone's 32 gigabytes of storage space you can't possibly store as much content as you could on your computer.

Still, MotoCast is free. The software, which works with a number of Motorola smartphones, was easy to set up on my home computer. On the Razr, streaming songs show up in the phone's music app, denoted by a tiny icon, and they played flawlessly. Videos are less obvious: I found them in the phone's file manager and gallery apps. They didn't seem to stream as well, looking pixelated despite my connection to LTE.

Beyond the strengths and weaknesses of its hardware and software, though, I couldn't forget about the Razr's $300 price tag. This is higher than most other Android smartphones offered by the major wireless carriers. Even the cheapest iPhone 4S can be had for $200. It's sure to make some potential buyers balk.

The Droid Razr is as impressively skinny and stylish as its namesake. But shortcomings like its brief battery life when using LTE will likely make it hard for this smartphone to become as popular as its predecessor.

The song's the thing for Swift, Perry at CMAs

Though still largely the domain of men, triumphs by Taylor Swift and The Band Perry at the Country Music Association Awards show that the young women of country music are finding their voices and shoving the boys out of the way.

Swift won the CMA's entertainer of the year for the second time Wednesday night, Kimberly Perry of sibling act The Band Perry took home song of the year and two other awards with her brothers, Neil and Reid. Add in wins by Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and Sugarland, and the songwriting strength of today's country girls is undeniable.

"When Taylor won entertainer I secretly sang (Beyonce's) 'Who runs the world? Girls,' to Blake," Lambert said after she and husband Blake Shelton repeated as male and female vocalist of the year. "I'm just really happy that females are starting to be very prominent and it is the female singer-songwriter.

"It's so cool that Kimberly wrote song of the year by herself. And that's a dream of mine. I'm just so happy the girls were really celebrated tonight."

Celebrated like rarely before. Swift became the second woman to win entertainer of the year twice, joining Barbara Mandrell, and she did it by the age of 21.

"To win it twice is like the coolest thing ever happening to me twice," Swift said backstage. "I'm freaking out right now."

She's inspired legions of young girls to take up guitar and write their own songs, and she has spread the gospel of country music to the Far East, filling stadiums like few others can. She crossed the 20 million mark in album sales and has almost no rival in the genre when it comes to bringing converts over the wall.

She's made all that headway on the strength of her songs. She loves nothing better than the process of turning inspiration into something that makes a connection with people all over the planet.

"All of the sudden this idea that was just yours is now everybody else's and they sing it in their cars and sing it about their breakups or falling in love and they incorporate it into their lives," Swift said.

Perry experienced a similar kind of revelation when her song "If I Die Young" conquered country radio then began to crossover on to pop stations. Rarely do country songs resonate across genres, and that the melancholy "If I Die Young" ran hard in the face of the successful formula so many follow made it even more impressive.

The song earned Perry song of the year, which goes to the writer, and The Band Perry, which includes her brothers, single of the year and new artist of the year.

Perry said the song came to her one afternoon and she got most of it down right away. She showed it to her mom and said she thought she'd bring it to Nashville to get help from another songwriter to finish it, but her mother encouraged her to keep ownership. It turned out to be the right choice.

"We sort of feel like we are part of the country evangelism scene and we love to hear country songs on pop radio," she said.

Crossing over was another strong theme of the night.

Jason Aldean, who earned his first major CMA award when his platinum-selling "My Kinda Party" won album of the year, also won musical event of the year for his duet "Don't You Wanna Stay" with pop star Kelly Clarkson. And Kenny Chesney won music video of the year for his duet "You and Tequila" with rocker Grace Potter.

Lady Antebellum, whose crossover appeal is rivaled only by Swift's, won its third straight vocal group of the year award and Sugarland took vocal duo of the year for the fifth straight time.

That theme also carried over to the stage where stars from different genres came together for some of the CMA's strongest performances. The show also featured plenty of sexy dancing, fire and belching smoke special effects and, at one point, acrobats spinning down from the ceiling on lengths of unspooling fabric.

Lionel Richie had every star buzzing on the red carpet before performing duets from his new country album with Rascal Flatts, Darius Rucker and Little Big Town. He posed for a picture with Lambert and gave advice to Lady Antebellum on the red carpet.

Gregg Allman joined fellow Peach State natives Zac Brown Band on "Georgia on my Mind," Natasha Bedingfield, in a dress that featured a fluffy red skirt, joined Rascal Flatts on stage to perform their duet "Easy," and that was just the start of genre shuffling.

Shelton and Kenny Loggins opened the show with a high-energy version of Loggins' hit "Footloose." Later, Glen Campbell, one of country's biggest crossover pioneers who is now battling Alzheimer's disease, was given a musical tribute when Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley sang three of his songs.

Richie hadn't performed on the CMAs since 1986 when he appeared with Alabama. He noted the show has changed dramatically over the decades, as has country music.

"It's Cirque de Soleil ... it's full-on production," Richie said. "This is off-the-chain. This is the Oscars of the music business, the CMAs."

Lambert and Shelton made a little history when they took male and female vocalist of the year. They're the second married couple to win the awards in the same year.

"Congrats to my hubby, too," Lambert shouted from the stage to Shelton on the eve of her 28th birthday. "It's going to be a good night tonight, baby!" The camera cut to Shelton, who rubbed his hands together and smiled devilishly.

Pregnancy made my voice stronger

Mariah Carey is known for her five-octave range, and she says her voice has gotten stronger, thanks to pregnancy.

The 42-year-old gave birth to fraternal twins in April via C-section. She recently lost 30 pounds by following the Jenny Craig diet, and says the process has enhanced her vocals.

"Right now I feel like pregnancy actually helped me vocally," Carey said in an interview Wednesday. "At this moment my voice is in great shape."

The Grammy winner is also working on new music, which she said is partly inspired by her pregnancy.

Carey made the comments as she was announced as the new brand ambassador for Jenny Craig, which is now called Jenny. The singer said after giving birth she was "approached by a lot of different companies," but that the folks at Jenny "understood me."

During her pregnancy Carey dealt with gestational diabetes and toxemia. She says "you couldn't make me go through that again.

"I knew I was going to gain weight during the pregnancy, but I didn't think about the pain the weight would cause," she said. "I didn't know if I was going to be able to walk again ... I couldn't get up out of my chair alone."

Carey said in addition to eating right, she worked out a lot, though husband Nick Cannon wasn't her partner in that sense.

"He's in great shape and he can eat anything he wants (and) I'm jealous of that," she said. "But sometimes I'm glad 'cause he has candy by the bed, and I'll sneak one of his little candies."

Carey says her involvement with Jenny — which supports the American Heart Association's "My Heart. My Life." initiative — stretches beyond just helping women bounce back from weight gain during pregnancy.

"We just lost Heavy D," she said of the rapper who collapsed and died Tuesday. "I considered him my friend and ... he was (in his) early 40s, so it's serious. It's really serious."

What are Some Affordable Digital Cameras

Many of us, are very interested in photography, and get attracted towards cameras, especially digital cameras that are available in the market. We look out for the best one which has a better mechanism and most importantly, we see, whether it confines to our budget or not. But, we still don't want to compromise on the quality. This requires proper analyzing of the product and its features. Here are some digital cameras listed below, that may be affordable and in your budget. Take a look...

Affordable Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix S570 ($149.95 - $199.95)
Nikon Coolpix S570 is a slim, light-weight digital camera with nice design and good features like smart portrait system, good lens specifications, etc. This ultra compact camera is simple and stylish and it is available in pink, red, blue and black.

Key Specs

• Dimensions (WHD): 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Megapixels: 12 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 5x
• Highest Resolution Size: 4000 x 3000 pixels

Canon Powershot A480 ($89 - $110)
Canon Powershot A480 is one of the affordable models designed by Canon. It is simple and easy to use. The design is not really very attractive but, it is good enough to take fine photos and to serve your modest requirements in photography. It is available in red, blue, silver and black colors. The performance is not very high but satisfactory. It is powered by AA alkaline batteries.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.4 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Megapixels: 10 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.5 inches
• Zoom: 3.3x
• Highest Resolution Size: 3648 x 2736 pixels

Canon PowerShot A1200 - Silver ($ 109.00 approximately)
This Canon model is quite inexpensive and affordable one. Though it is inexpensive, the quality of this camera is not compromised, but don't expect very high performance. It delivers high photo and video quality but shooting performance is not up to the mark. I wouldn't recommend it for daily active use, but as of money is concerned, it is budget-friendly. AA alkaline batteries are employed to power this compact digital camera.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.8 x 2.5 x 1.2 inches
• Weight: 6.5 ounces
• Megapixels: 12 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 4x
• High Resolution Size: 4000 x 3000 pixels

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W570 ($144.99 - $186.80)
This is an ultra-compact digital camera, which is reliable and simple to use. Lens softness in the some edges and corners is an undesirable feature in this camera. Decent photography and auto shooting features are some of the good features in it. Shot to shot slowness, prevents it from high ratings. It is powered by lithium-ion batteries.

Key Specs

• Dimensions: 3.6 x 2.1x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 4.1 ounces
• Megapixels: 16 megapixels
• LCD Size: 2.7 inches
• Zoom: 5x
• High Resolution Size: 4,608 x 3456 pixels

How does YouTube Make Money?

The first YouTube video was uploaded on 23rd April, 2005 and featured Jawed Karim, one of the founders of the site, at the San Diego zoo and since then the site has come a long way. Before the advent of YouTube in 2005, people easily sent text through email and even photographs and images as email attachments but sharing videos on the Internet was something that no one could think of. But thanks to Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim, the three men behind the creation of YouTube, video sharing became fun and easier than ever before. All you need to do is visit the site, search for your favorite video and then just sit back and enjoy! What's more, you can even create your own profile by registering with the site for free and then log in and upload your own videos. The videos on the site are Flash videos and to view them, you need to have the Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed in your browser.

Before we get on to find out how YouTube makes money, let's try to understand a little about the business dynamics of YouTube, which includes the cost of hosting and distributing so many videos. If we consider the expenses of any website, the first thing that comes to our mind is sourcing the content. However, most of the content on YouTube is free as the videos are uploaded by people who are members of the site. However, there are other charges that include hosting charges, uploading charges, charges for transcoding and most importantly, charges for distributing. The estimated price that YouTube pays per month for bandwidth is around 30 million U.S. dollars, which is a pretty big amount!

How does YouTube Earn Money?

In November 2006, Google bought YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion and now the site functions as a subsidiary of the Internet giant. The fact that Google Inc. showed interest in acquiring YouTube means that YouTube was indeed a money spinning venture that made huge profits. So, where does all this money come from and what makes YouTube such a successful business venture financially? Read on to know.

Revenue from Advertising
This is by far the biggest source of revenue for any site and YouTube is no exception. If you type something in the search box and click enter, you are directed to a page that displays the search results that match the words you had typed in. If you look at the right side of this page, you'll find that there are a number of links of websites featured under a section named 'Google Ads'. These are nothing but Google AdSense advertisements and every time someone clicks on these links, YouTube earns revenue.

Another way to earn money through advertisements is to place ad clips before or after a video. This is termed as premier advertising and is rare in YouTube. Even though millions of videos are viewed by people who visit the site, you can see that hardly any of the videos have ads in them. Only 3-4% of the total videos on the site have ads in them while the rest do not.

The estimated revenue earned can be arrived at by a simple calculation: if the amount gained from advertising is greater than the cost of hosting, per video, then the site definitely stands to gain huge revenues. Now, advertisements are again not all the same and fall under two major categories. Advertisement clips that are a part of the video and play either before the video clip or at the end of it, come under the category of macro-advertising. On the other hand, micro-advertising includes Google ads that are not a part of the video but appear on the web page. In YouTube, you would rarely find macro-advertising but mostly you would find Google ads. No matter what the type of ads, the revenue of a site is directly proportional to the percentage of content that carries an ad with it. And taking into consideration the huge popularity of YouTube and the millions of users the site attracts, it does manage to make huge profits in spite of the humble web advertising rates for micro-advertising.

Revenue From Bidding Keywords
If you know the basics of search engine optimization, you must be aware of what keywords are. They are words or a group of words that most people search for. Now, if you begin typing something in Google's search box, you'd see that there are a few suggestions that appear. In the same way, you find suggestions appearing below the search box in YouTube as well. The phrases that appear are termed as keywords. Now, say the name of the video you have uploaded on the site is "How to Jump Around the House" and you wish more and more people to come and "see" you jumping around. So, what is the best thing to do? Well, if you can make your title appear as a suggestion the moment someone types 'how to', then the chance that people would land up on your page increases manifold, isn't it? For this, all you need to do is bid for keywords. The more the number of people who bid for their video titles (or a part of it) to appear in the list of suggested keywords, the more the revenue earned by YouTube!

In addition to this, YouTube has launched a service in the U.S. whereby people who subscribe can watch movies online on a rental basis. Also, agreements with various entertainment houses allowing them to showcase their films and shows on the site, contribute to the revenue earned.

China hospital disposes of live baby

Health authorities in south China said Friday they were investigating a hospital medical team for mistakenly diagnosing a stillbirth and disposing of a baby that was alive.

The probe is taking place at the Nanhai Red Cross Hospital in the Guangdong provincial city of Foshan where the incident occurred on October 26, the Nanhai district health bureau said in a statement faxed to AFP.

According to the statement, Liu Dongmei -- eight months pregnant -- had been rushed to the hospital with internal bleeding and stomach cramps.

She later had an emergency birth, but the baby was neither breathing nor crying after leaving the womb and its skin had turned purple, it said.

Believing it was dead, the medical team disposed of the child but did not follow proper hospital procedures, the statement added.

The Foshan News, a local website, reported that when Liu's sister-in-law asked to see the body around 30 minutes after birth, she was handed a yellow plastic bag containing the infant and found it was still alive.

"I opened the plastic bag and saw the baby's hands and feet moving, the stomach was going up and down and air bubbles were coming out of his mouth," the paper quoted her as saying.

She was further shocked when she saw the baby was a boy -- not a girl as the family had been told, it said.

According to the Foshan News, nurses had told the family the child was a girl in an effort to blunt the blow of its death.

In China, baby boys are often viewed as more precious than girls, as many families can have only one child as part of the nation's population policy and desire a male heir.

Following the discovery, the newborn was rushed to intensive care where he remains in a stable condition.

Officials at the hospital refused to comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

China's healthcare system -- once widely praised for improving the health of millions -- is now panned as costly, underfunded and providing shoddy treatment, especially in poorer regions.

Liu and her husband are seeking to sue the hospital for 300,000 yuan ($45,000), the Beijing News said.

The head of the maternity ward, a doctor and two nurses have been suspended pending the results of the investigation, it added.

Tom Ford 'thrilled' to reprise Bond styling

Tom Ford "could not be happier" about dressing Daniel Craig in upcoming Bond movie Skyfall, scheduled for international release late 2012.

It was revealed November 3 that the designer will be reprising his styling duties for the spy thriller, which is currently being filmed and stars the British actor along with new Bond girls Bérénice Marlohe and Naomie Harris.

Designer-and-director Tom, who helmed 2009 drama A Single Man, dressed current 007 Craig in Skyfall’s 2008 predecessor Quantum of Solace. He thinks the fictional spy perfectly encompasses his eponymous label’s sleek aesthetic.

"I couldn't be happier to be dressing Daniel Craig again," explained the designer in an announcement of the collaboration.

"James Bond epitomizes the Tom Ford man in his elegance, style and love of luxury. I am thrilled to move forward with this iconic character."

Daniel’s Bond attire will be handmade in Italy and will include the mandatory tailored suits as well as suave accessories and Tom Ford eyewear.

Tom isn’t the first designer to offer his services to a movie costume department. Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld was the natural choice for costume supervision during the making of 2009 Coco Chanel biopic Coco avant Chanel. Highlights included a specially made remake of Coco’s iconic monochrome suit for leading lady Audrey Tautou.

Meanwhile, siblings Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte got caught in a heated debate back in January after collaborating on a series of costumes for last year’s ballet thriller Black Swan. Costume designer Amy Westcott was given credit come awards season, after Kate and Laura had reportedly not negotiated credits in their initial contract.

Pakistan court indicts seven in Bhutto murder case

A Pakistani court Saturday indicted five Islamist militants and two police officers in the high-profile assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, prosecutors said.

Bhutto, the first female prime minister in the Muslim world, was killed in a gun and suicide attack in 2007 in one of the most shocking events in Pakistan's turbulent history.

An anti-terrorism court indicted the seven men in a hearing held behind closed door in the city of Rawalpindi for security reasons.

"They have been charged with conspiracy as well as abetment in the murder," Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, a government prosecutor, told Reuters.

The charismatic Bhutto was killed on December 27, 2007 as she waved to a crowd through the sunroof of a sports utility vehicle following an election rally in Rawalpindi weeks after she returned to Pakistan from a self-imposed exile after striking a deal with then military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf's government had blamed Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud for the killing. Mehsud was killed in a U.S. drone strike near the Afghan border in 2009.

The five Taliban militants were charged with "criminal conspiracy" for bringing the suicide bomber from the tribal belt in the northwest to Rawalpindi where he carried out the attack, another prosecutor Mohammad Azhar said.

The police officers, including Saud Aziz, who was then Rawalpindi police chief, were charged with breach of security by "changing the security plan for BB (Benazir Bhutto)," he added.

Musharraf, who lives in exile in Dubai and London, also faces accusations of failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto.

The anti-terrorism court in February issued an arrest warrant for him and later declared him fugitive of law after he failed to respond to these accusations.

In August, the court ordered the confiscation of all property and the freezing of Musharraf's bank accounts in Pakistan after he again failed to respond.

The prosecutor Ali said the court would deal with Musharraf's issue later.

A report by a U.N. commission of inquiry released last year said any credible investigation should not rule out the possibility that members of Pakistan's military and security establishment were involved in the killing, though it did not say who it believed was guilty.

It heavily criticized Pakistani authorities, saying they had "severely hampered" the investigation.

Musharraf has denied suggestions that he or his security agencies had any role in Bhutto's murder.

After her death, Bhutto's party won general elections in 2008 by riding a wave of public sympathy and ultimately forced Musharraf to step down.

Bhutto widower, Asif Ali Zardari, has been the president of the country since then.

Justin Bieber Denies Paternity Suit Claim

Mariah Yeater, 20, claims that she had unprotected sex with Justin Bieber after a concert at the Staples Center in October 2010 and that the baby she had in July 2011 is the child of the singer. In the paternity suit filed in San Diego, California, Yeater is requesting that Bieber submit to a paternity test and that he provide her with child support under California law.

Attorneys for Yeater also point out that the young woman is not asking for substantial monetary compensation from Bieber, but rather she simply wants him to acknowledge responsibility for the child. "We call upon Justin Bieber and his attorneys to reach out to resolve this issue in a reasonable manner," was a statement offered by Yeater's legal team.

Bieber would have been 16 at the time of the alleged encounter with Yeater and her attorneys have been quick to point to a lack of a denial from Bieber's camp that the singer had sex with the plaintiff. For his part, Bieber has taken to Twitter to vaguely address the issue, stating that he's going to ignore the swirling rumors and instructing his followers to judge him for his music.

Bieber's camp also responded via its spokesperson and offered the following rather clear denial: "While we haven't yet seen the lawsuit, it's sad that someone would fabricate malicious, defamatory and demonstrably false claims."

This story has the potential to be huge and we'll find out in the coming weeks exactly how credible Ms. Yeater's story really is. It would seem that Bieber submitting quickly to a paternity suit would be the easiest way to put an end to the story one way or another.

Greek Government on Brink of Collapse

Leaders from with Greek's struggling government are calling for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister George Papandreou in hopes that his removal will allow for the ascendance of a ruling party that will stop the planned referendum on the debt deal. Of course, Papandreou is doing everything he can to try to stay in power in Greece, even if it means voting to have Greece default on its debts and remove itself from the Euro.

Increasingly, economists are calling for Greece to simply default on its debts and drop out of the European Union. Doing so would be harmful for Greece and devastating for the Euro, but it would likely prove to be the fastest route for Greece to return to some sort of financial normalcy. By continuing to accept new bailout packages and austerity measures, Greece is essentially subjecting itself to sovereign debt slavery for decades to come. And even with harsh austerity and rescue plans, if the Greek and European economies don't start to generate significant growth, Greece and the Euro are going to crumble anyway.

With one major U.S. financial player, MF Global, already failing under the weight of European debt exposure, the fear is that many more European and U.S. banks would be at risk should Greece default. The likely domino effect of a Greek default and exit from the Euro would probably force Italy and Spain out of the Euro as well, thus triggering widespread collapse of the European financial infrastructure. Markets have been largely positive on the news that the Greek government is trying to quash the proposed referendum vote, but the long-term prognosis for Greece, and by extension Europe, is pretty bleak.

Resort Casual Wear for Women

Clean, cool, sophisticated, elegant effortless. These are some of the words that a resort casual attire should embody. Resort wear, in its essence, is the clothing that you would wear to a vacation or to a resort. It is a notch above your regular casual wear and it is miles away from the tailored business wear. Imagine you are traveling first class to an exotic island or are going to lounge around in your own private yacht. What would you wear in such a scenario? Yes, you got it right... it is resort wear. It's not individual clothing that makes resort casual wear into the fashionable wear that it is. It is more about how you layer clothing, mix and match different clothing items and accessorize it to attain an air of effortless chic. From palazzo pants to maxi dresses, from blingy statement necklaces to tribal inspired earrings, here we will give you the low down of looking stylish in resort wear.

Resort Casual Attire for Women

Palazzo Pants
One of the best pieces of resort casual wear that no women can do without is a pair of sexy palazzo pants. Palazzo pants that are fitted at the waist and flare down at the bottom are just perfect for women of any height and body structure. They give you a modern and chic look and the best thing is that it can be paired with many different tops. You can find a good pair of palazzo plants from high-end designers like Gucci and 3.1 Phillip Lim to high street brands like Mango, Promod and Topshop.

Playsuit
Another great piece of smart casual wear for ladies that you just have to have in your wardrobe is the playsuit. A sexy floral playsuit with straps or even the strapless version would make you look glamorous in an effortless way. Chiffon, crushed silk and linen playsuits in saturated hues and bright florals are one of the best trends this season. A slouchy shrug or a sheer organza jacket will give your bare arms some coverage if the weather gets a bit chilly.

Maxi Dress
A maxi dress in an exquisite floral print with a bit of volume at the bottom and a hint of shimmer is one of the best resort casual wear. For resort wear, you cannot choose a maxi dress which is run-of-the-mill and boring. You need to up the ante a bit by going with bold floral prints or animal prints in a sexy figure hugging silhouette. Gone are the days when you would slip into something mundane like a strappy maxi dress in cotton or linen and call it resort wear. What you need is a maxi dress in a flowy material like chiffon, Georgette or silk satin with a trendy botanical print or bold floral print in citrusy colors. Halter necks or plunging V neck maxi dresses with sequins at the yoke are also a good choice.

How to Dress in Resort Casual Attire

Just knowing which clothing items to choose for resort wear is not enough. You need to know how to put together these items to look absolutely resort ready. If you are going to wear palazzo pants, then you should pair it with a scoop neck blouse or an off shoulder blouse. A wide obi belt that clinches your waist and shows off your figure is perfect for such an outfit. Pair it with block heels in a neutral hue and lot of gold bangles in one arm. To finish the look, tie a silk scarf in a nautical print over your shoulder and carry an oversized gold tote bag. Nude makeup with citrus colored nail paint and a berry hued lipstain will make you look spectacular and très chic.

Another great resort wear outfit that looks very contemporary and fashionable is the kaftan. A kaftan in an animal print of black and white or painterly print with sequin detailings at the hemline and neckline is just perfect. Pair it with platform pumps or sparkly stacked heels and statement bib necklace. The best thing about a kaftan is that you can wear it over your swimsuit when you are lounging around the hotel pool.

Resort casual wear for women is all about understated glamor that looks relaxed and effortless. By mixing and matching your outfits, you can create some beautiful resort wear that looks chic and stylish.

Quartz Watches Vs. Mechanical Watches

Their digital brother aside, Quartz and Mechanical watches have contested against each other ever since the Quartz watch went into production in the 1960's. Since then, people have debated over the better choice among the two. I introduce you to, and hopefully resolve for you, this dispute about the better watch.

First up, a small list of the terminologies that watch-makers use to make it easier for me to explain.

In Mechanical Watches

• Balance staff: This is the "heart" of all mechanical watches, as it is upon this shaft that the balance swings back and forth, moving the dials.
• Cap: This is a metal cap, rounded, used to set a watches time and/or calendar.
• Movement: The inner construct of the watch that moves the dials and calendar.
• Ebauche: An entire movement made with the intent of assembling it elsewhere.
• Escapement: The device that controls the rotation of the hands of the watch, from within the movement.

In Quartz Watches

• Piezoelectric effect: The Piezoelectric effect is what makes the Quartz watch tick.

A Chronology of Horology
A brief history of the evolution of watches will explain where both watches come from and essentially, leading to the age-old debate over which one is better. The mechanical watch was the older one, the pocket watch (also called the 'Nuremberg Egg') claimed to have been created by a Peter Henlein in 1510. The watches very crude, often times frustrating and needed constant care for winding to get the right time from them. They were brought nearer to precision by John Harrison in 1760 and practically attained by The Waltham Watch Company in 1876. New designs of the Escapement, the beginning of jewel bearings and better winding capabilities are what brought the Mechanical watches closer to what we use today. With the piezoelectric effect discovered in 1880 by Jacques and Pierre Curie, the first quartz clock was built at The Bell Laboratories in 1927, the quartz watches came to dominance in the late 1960's.

The Battle
I start by the attribute that most readers have on their minds - price. The quartz watch is cheaper than the mechanical one by leagues. The former prides itself by boasting prices as cheap as 4$ kids' watches or even free giveaways to as pricey as a 25,000$ Chopard watch for ladies. Another win for the quartz is its accuracy. Today, a good mechanical watch can give an accuracy of at most 2-3 seconds a day. Quartz watches in sale start with 0.5 seconds a day or better at a fraction of the price that high-accuracy mechanical watches are worth.

The second round is about durability and stress-handling. Now, the internal pieces of a quartz are much lighter than that of a mechanical one. This may be why quartz suffers less on impacts while a mechanical one faces some damage. Because of its need to be opened periodically to be maintained, the mechanical watch may not be as water-proof as the quartz watch. The mechanical watch is under more internal stress because it contains more moving parts, another benefit of having a quartz watch; as it can be built with far lighter pieces.

That is as far as the current quartz watches take you. Mechanical watches have been in use for generations, literally. Maintained pieces can last for incredible 200 years of use. The basic difference between the watches is in their working mechanisms and that is what decides their strengths and weaknesses - one uses winding springs and the other relies on batteries and electronic circuits. Thus, where distortions in electromagnetic fields can destroy quartz watches, the mechanical one endures. Magnetic fields disorient, or sometimes reorient, the mechanical watch. But this effect is reversible, unlike a quartz piece, that relies on permanent magnets in its stepper motor. To it, a strong magnetic field causes permanent damage.

As far as periods of used and unused are concerned, this area is wide and cannot be generalized. Mechanical watches need to be wound from time to time (except for the self-winding ones), making them hard to use when shelved for long periods. The usage period of a quartz watch depends on its battery. This is an unreliable aspect, as battery lives are quite unpredictable.

The Verdict
So, in essence, it remains a fact that quartz watches and its internal electronic parts (including batteries) are in an infant stage. Much work remains to be done on them. This means that the constantly evolving technology will lay redundant that watch you got from your father on your 18th birthday. Mechanical watches remain a status symbol amongst many, while a quartz watch is one that simply tells the time for those who follow it closely and don't have the time or money to keep a check on maintaining their watches.

Fashion Styles for Women

When it comes to fashion, most of us women, are slaves! We must know what is the latest fashion style and make sure we're up to date with it. We fret at the thought of wearing something that was 'so last season'. Fashion styles for women are constantly changing, but that doesn't mean you have a tough time keeping up with them. This article will give you the lowdown on some great and evergreen fashion trends and styles! Enjoy!

Let's begin with a head to toe style guide that will keep you looking classy and stylish at all times.

Hairstyles For Women

Read these hairstyle tips for women with different lengths of hair.

Short Hairstyles
Below are some cool short haircuts that you can try.

Mess It Up: If you have short hair, you don't really need to worry about what to do with it. After you wash it, just scrunch the ends up a bit and then don't touch your hair till it dries. You're ready with an unkempt yet stylish mane! This look works perfectly when you're out partying with your girls or for a semi formal dinner party too!

Bangs Galore: Nothing works better on short hair than bangs. Wash your hair, then blow dry only the bangs and use a straightening iron to straighten them. Leave the rest of the hair untouched. If you're attending a formal event, just clip up the bangs across the side of your forehead or slick them back with a pretty sequined clip. Thank me later!

Medium Hairstyles
Try these amazing medium hairstyles.

Curly Wurly: Medium length hair looks fabulous in curls. So get out that curling iron and give your head bouncy, curly hair! Just wash it off if you think it doesn't suit you. If you have naturally curly hair, nothing like it. Just apply a good leave in conditioner and you're ready to make heads turn wherever you go!

Medium Bob: Who said you can't bob medium length hair. Ask your hairdresser to cut it just the right length and then curl the ends out and maintain the crown in a stylish bob! If you're not in the mood for curly ends, straighten out the entire hair length. The bob will get accentuated and your lustrous hair will cradle your pretty face perfectly.

Long Hairstyles
You'll love these long hairstyles.

Layers: God bless the inventor of the layered haircut. Layers are perfect for long hair, straight, wavy or curly. You can tie up your hair in a high ponytail and your layers will be highlighted. You can also tie it up in a stylish braid. The short hair at the crown will fall out of the braid by default, and your will look rakishly styled.

(Miss)Tresses: Your long hair is tired of being bunched up in a bun all day. Let it down and flaunt your gorgeous tresses to the world! Curl them, straighten them or just give them a wavy, carelessly scrunched look, all look fabulous. Letting your hair hang loose for a change is a great way to let your hair relax too!

Fashion Styles for Women: Clothes

Given below are some classic must haves in fashion styles for women's clothing.

Summer Dresses
Summer equals sunny colors! And in summer, you can never go wrong with bright colored summer party dresses. Go crazy with day colors like yellows, oranges, pinks, greens and blue. The keyword being bright, avoid dark shades of the aforementioned colors. The length of the dresses is totally up to you.

Winter Wonder
Here's something that will give a whole new meaning to the word 'utilitarian'. Confused? Now picture a light weight, over sized cardigan (preferably, knee length) with large buttons running down the center, in the color of your choice, of course. Now every thing's crystal clear to you isn't it? It's one of the most trendy clothes for women.

Spring Surprise
Small flowers. Pretty flowers. Big flowers. Vibrant flowers. When it comes to spring, all I can think about are flowers. So why not include these wonderful creations into our clothing as well? Go all out on floral prints in your garden party dresses, skirts and tops! Big, small or colorful, who cares!

Formal Elegance
For formal occasions, like weddings or corporate parties, you can dress yourself up in the following special occasion dresses: beaded dresses or gowns or a fabulous cocktail dress. There's something about beads that adds a dash of femininity to the whole look! Of course, don't go overboard with the beads. You don't want to end up looking like a mystic fortune teller!

All Time Classic
This has been mentioned in probably every fashion related article that has ever been written. It is the Holy Grail of the fashion world. Celebrities and women like you and me, swear by it. It has been immortalized in the world of fashion styles for women and (I'll say) is the official best dress for every occasion. Please tell me you've guessed it by now. Yes! It's the evergreen (erm... ??) little black dress! If you don't have one yet, rush out and get yourself one pronto!