Gearing up for the release of her new album Britney Jean, Britney Spears hit up the Kiss FM Studios in London, England on Wednesday morning (October 16).
The “Hold It Against Me” singer hammed it up with Rickie, Melvin, and Charlie from “In The Morning,” sporting a beige top and sunglasses.
Meanwhile, Britney sang Miley Cyrus’ praises during an interview earlier this week- "My mom and her mom know each other. She's a girl's girl and she gets the whole Southern thing."
As for their duet on “Bangerz (SMS)”, Spears noted, "It's just really worked out. I'm a huge fan of hers. I think she's brilliant right now. She has so much energy and she's on fire, so for her to even say anything about me is just really cool.”
Ed Westwick has moved on from his villainous Upper East Side Gossip Girl days, and made a smooth transition into star-crossed murderous Shakespeare!
You heard that right!
From high school cocaine habits to sword fighting — this Brit does it all!
Ed took on the iconic role of Tybalt, Juliet's cousin and Romeo's enemy, in the latest adaption of Romeo and Juliet, and he gives a stellar performance!
In a new interview, the 26-year-old star reveals what life's been like after GG and how he's excited to take on different characters:
“At the moment, you know I did six years on Gossip Girl and it was an amazing experience. It was my first time working on an American TV show. And, right now, I’m enjoying the idea of exploring film and going from character to character."
And after acting on the hit CW show for so long, it was a natural transition to move out of his chic NYC digs, for a sunny new home in Los Angeles:
“I decided to leave New York after Gossip Girl, and I had such a specific experience of it for the time we were there. I have a place there and I look forward to going back at some point. I have wonderful friends there, and New York is an amazing place and did so much for me, and it was an incredible experience, but what I’d like to do, is, at some point, is go back and experience it in a different way.”
We're sure they'd love to have Mr. Bass him back to cause rich kid mischief in the Big Apple, but we have a feeling he's going to be on the west coast for a while!
The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.
Susan Walsh/AP
The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.
Susan Walsh/AP
The Supreme Court has agreed to review an Obama administration policy that requires new power plants and other big polluting facilities to apply for permits to emit greenhouse gases.
To get these permits, which have been required since 2011, companies may have to use pollution controls or otherwise reduce greenhouse gases from their operations — although industries report that so far they haven't had to install special pollution control equipment to qualify for the permits.
The rule is part of a larger effort by the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.
The EPA started with automobiles. It determined that once it did that, it was "compelled" by the Clean Air Act to also require greenhouse gas permits when companies want to construct big new facilities. The statute requires permits for all facilities that are major polluters of "any air pollutant." And the EPA has long interpreted this to mean any pollutant that is regulated under the Clean Air Act.
The utilities, manufacturers and chemical companies that petitioned the Supreme Court challenge EPA's decision. They argue that the EPA should have interpreted "any air pollutant" to mean only pollutants that have health-based ambient air quality standards, such as ground-level ozone, according to Jeffrey Holmstead, an industry lawyer who headed EPA's air pollution program under the Bush administration.
Furthermore, industry groups argue that getting these permits causes delays in big projects that could help revive the economy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided in 2012 that the EPA got it right.
In its decision, the appeals court cited a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which affirmed the EPA's determination that greenhouse gases are a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.
That Supreme Court ruling also upheld the EPA's finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and the Obama administration's authority to regulate greenhouse gases from automobiles.
The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case on the greenhouse gas permits for large polluters early next year.
These greenhouse gas permits are not the same as the greenhouse gas regulations that the Obama administration has been drafting over the past couple of years.
The EPA last month released a second proposal regarding how it wants to set limits on how much greenhouse gases new power plants can release. President Obama says he also intends to regulate greenhouse gases from existing power plants, but has yet to release a proposal.
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday passed a measure to waive fees for producers who shoot television pilots on location in the city.
The measure, which comes after years of declining pilot production in L.A., was first authored last year by Eric Garcetti, who in his recent campaign for mayor promised to find ways to stem runaway production and improve the environment for movie and TV production.
Garcetti is expected to sign the measure into law within a week and it should take effect soon after.
"Our economy is my top priority" said Garcetti, "and the entertainment industry generates more than 500,000 jobs in L.A. Focusing on TV pilots not only supports a key part of the industry, it can lead to a huge long-term dividend if a series gets picked up."
The production of TV pilots in Los Angeles, as tracked by Film L.A., has fallen from 2006-2007 when 82 percent were shot in the city to about 52 percent in the most recent pilot season. Studies have shown that there is a direct link between where a pilot is shot and where the show is ultimately produced, so grabbing pilot activity is crucial to keeping the jobs in Los Angeles.
In urging passage, L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian told his fellow council members: ""When production leaves Los Angeles, the loser is not the big studio, the loser is not the famous producer, the loser is not the A-list actor. The loser is the person who gets up early in the morning, drives to work in a pick-up truck in order to serve as a carpenter on a set, or the person who has been working their entire career as an electrician in the film industry, or the seamstress, or the other below-the-line workers or other middle class workers who don't travel to Vancouver or to New Mexico or New York to go with a production. Those are the people who don't work when we don't have production here in Los Angeles.
This is another step by Garcetti, who in late September appointed former TV Academy president and Hollywood executive Tom Sherak as his film czar, to work to stem runaway production and lobby Sacramento legislators to increase and extend the current $100 million annual allocation of tax incentives to keep movie and TV jobs in California.
Which F1 driver was the best performer during the Japanese Grand Prix weekend?
Review how each driver got on below and vote for who impressed you the most during the last race weekend.
Japanese Grand Prix driver-by-driver
Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel – Didn’t take pole position for the first time at Suzuka but had his KERS been working he would probably have found more than the tenth of a second that separated him from Webber. From the outset he played the tyre management game to allow him to run a short, aggressive final stint. When the crunch time came he wasted no time passing Grosjean to clinch a satisfying win which puts the championship destiny almost beyond doubt.
Mark Webber – Webber hasn’t always been close enough to Vettel this year to take advantage when his team mate has a problem but he was at Suzuka and pushed his team mate hard for the victory. Said he was “surprised” to be switched to a three-stop strategy[1] but was able to use his superior speed in the final stint to pass Grosjean. Had he done so more quickly he could have gone after his team mate.
Ferrari
Fernando Alonso – Held his hands up after being beaten by Massa in qualifying and admitted he hadn’t been quick enough[2]. His race pace was better but he spent the first stint stuck behind Massa. He took advantage of traffic in the second stint to get past Massa, then later demoted Hulkenberg when the Sauber driver’s tyres began to drop off. That gave him fourth place, and he felt no more was possible under the circumstances[3].
Felipe Massa – Would Massa “drive for himself”, as he told Brazilian media after being dropped by Ferrari, or would he “definitely help” his team mate[4] as Luca di Montezemolo insisted? That was answered in the first stint when Massa repeatedly ignored Ferrari’s instructions to let Alonso through, delivered through the radio code “Multifunction strategy A”. Hulkenberg took advantage of the situation to jump both Ferraris, then Alonso finally found a way past his team mate, after which Massa picked up a penalty for speeding in the pits and fell to tenth.
McLaren
Jenson Button – Set the same time to within a tenth of a second on three separate occasions in qualifying and felt he’d wrung all there was from the MP4-28. Driving to the grid he chose to reduce the front wing angle on the car but quickly regretted the decision, suffering understeer which wasn’t cured until the last stint. Held off Massa for ninth.
Sergio Perez – Crashed at Spoon during second practice, which he said was his mistake as he’d touched the artificial grass on entry to the corner. Narrowly missed Q3 but started well, only to lose time when Rosberg came out of the pits immediately in front of him. Like Button he had a slow pit stop as well. His left-rear tyre was punctured in slight contact with Rosberg, which killed his chances of scoring points.
Lotus
Kimi Raikkonen – Crashed in Friday practice – for the second weekend in a row – missing valuable race simulation time. Raikkonen’s been unhappy in qualifying since the new tyres were introduced and although he made gains in Japan he remained in the lower reaches of the top ten. Had wheelspin at the start which cost him places but he made progress from there on. A weekend which started poorly ended up with a brilliantly-judged pass on Hulkenberg for fifth place on the outside at the chicane.
Romain Grosjean – Surely his best F1 performance to date with a solid qualifying effort followed by an outrageous start from which he emerged as an unlikely threat to Red Bull. Led comfortably for almost half of the race and did well to hold off Webber as long as he did before taking another podium finish.
Mercedes
Nico Rosberg – An unsafe release from the pits dropped him back into the pack where he ended up scrapping with Perez. Like his team mate in Korea he spent the latter part of the race stuck behind a Sauber, Gutierrez limiting him to eighth.
Lewis Hamilton – The merest touch of his right-rear tyre against Vettel’s front wing was enough to give him a puncture as he dived between the Red Bulls off the line. From looking likely to take second at the start he was soon out of the race.
Sauber
Nico Hulkenberg – Beat Alonso and Raikkonen in qualifying but couldn’t keep them behind in the race. However he held them off as long as he could until his tyres began to give up.
Esteban Gutierrez – Points looked unlikely when he lined up 14th on the grid but a superb start, gaining five places, brought him into contention. Gave away a position to Raikkonen though it was one he was always going to struggle to keep.
Force India
Paul di Resta – Ended his strong of retirements and took 11th, unable to resist Button in the latter part of the race. Still he was happy with the improved balance of the Force India.
Adrian Sutil – A crash in final practice forced him to change his gearbox, and after failing to escape Q1 he started last. Up to 16th by lap one, he gained two more places by the end of the race despite being passed by both Toro Rossos in one lap later on.
Williams
Pastor Maldonado – Went off twice in practice, but the first spin in Q1 was due to a wheel which hadn’t been attached properly and fell off[5]. The stand-out moment of Maldonado’s race was his desperate lunge down the inside of Bottas on his final lap, signalling his eagerness not to finish behind his team mate.
Valtteri Bottas – Impressively out-qualified Maldonado on his first race at a real drivers’ circuit. But his tyres went off badly in the final stint, losing four places in the last three laps.
Toro Rosso
Jean-Eric Vergne – Knocked out in Q1 after a bizarre incident when he left the pits with both rear brakes locked[6] – he thought his engine was down on power – which then caught fire. An early pit stop in the race didn’t work out for him as he became stuck in traffic. But three-stopping gave him the benefit of fresher tyres later in the race, allowing him to pass the Williams drivers and Sutil.
Daniel Ricciardo – Tried to make an alternative strategy work, starting on the hard tyres. But he became the latest driver to be penalised for completing a pass by going off the track on the outside of the corner, which he was deeply unimpressed with[7]. His drive-through penalty confined him to 13th place.
Caterham
Charles Pic – Already carrying a ten-place penalty into the race weekend, Pic committed much the same infraction he had in Korea – passing a red light without stopping – and earned an unprecedented drive-through penalty which was declared before the race had begun[8]. Despite that he was quick enough to beat the sole surviving Marussia home.
Giedo van der Garde – Collided with Bianchi at the start, putting both out. “I was squeezed between both the Marussia cars and had nowhere to go,” he said. “I lost my front wing in contact with Bianchi and then the car went straight off and into the wall.”
Marussia
Jules Bianchi – Hit the barrier at Degner 2 in first practice when his arm got caught against the side of the cockpit. Unfortunately that ruled him out of second practice as well[9]. Beaten in a straight fight by his team mate in qualifying for the first time, he was taken out on lap one of the race. “As I turned into the first corner on the opening lap, van der Garde hit my rear wing which pushed me off track and into the gravel.” A wasted weekend in which he completed just 32 laps, most of which in Saturday’s hour of practice.
Max Chilton – Out-qualified Bianchi on merit for the first time the year. But despite Pic having a drive-through penalty he was caught and passed by the Marussia seven laps from home after his tyres began to go off.
Qualifying and race results summary
Review the race data
Vote for your driver of the weekend
Which driver do you think did the best job this weekend?
Cast your vote below and explain your choice in the comments.
Who was the best driver of the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix weekend?
ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle is a known diva and Queen Latifah does not consider herself one, but both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET.
Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show's honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children's rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.
Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
