Taylor Swift attends after party, but avoids Gyllenhaal |
- Taylor Swift attends after party, but avoids Gyllenhaal
- Arabic Fiction longlist: When a judge becomes the judged
- Asian stocks tumble as oil price continues slide, dollar on defensive
- Sean Penn prepares paperwork to adopt Theron’s son
- Neymar ready to shine
- Happy birthday, Liam Hemsworth! (VIDEO)
| Taylor Swift attends after party, but avoids Gyllenhaal Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:08 PM PST
The Blank Space singer had an intense two-month relationship at the end of 2011 with the Nightcrawler actor before he abruptly ended things. The stars both attended a soiree at Hollywood hotspot Chateau Marmont after the Golden Globes on Sunday night and Taylor reportedly got flustered after spotting the 34-year-old busting his moves surrounded by a bevy of beauties. "She wasn't dancing," an eyewitness told Us Weekly, "but I saw her grab her friend's hand and repeat, 'We have to go. We have to go.'" Jake seemed oblivious to the situation, dancing with Rita Ora and then actress Malin Akerman. The source added that the 25-year-old hitmaker retreated to the bathroom several times throughout the evening, and at one point bumped into the Black Widow singer, along with Cara Delevingne and actress Dakota Johnson. "The four girls were together and Taylor was having a mini meltdown. Cara's arm was around Taylor, calming her down as Rita looked on. They were talking extremely closely," the insider added, before going on to describe the star 'frantically walking round in a circle' in the venue's lobby afterwards. "She couldn't find her friends and her makeup was smudged," they said. However avoiding the Donnie Darko star wasn't the top priority for all of his exes. Reese Witherspoon, who dated the hunk for over two years between 2007 and 2009, made sure to catch up with her former beau during the ceremony. "Reese paused and hugged Jake Gyllenhaal," another eyewitness told the publication. "They looked happy to see each other!" After their relationship ended, the Oscar winner went on to marry Jim Toth in March 2011 and gave birth to their son Tennessee following in September 2012. — Cover Media  |
| Arabic Fiction longlist: When a judge becomes the judged Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:04 PM PST
Berrada represents one of nine different nationalities featured on this year's longlist, with three Egyptians and three Lebanese heading up the count. All three Lebanese authors return from previous years: Jabbour Douaihy, a professor in French literature at the University of Lebanon, was present on the inaugural IPAF shortlist with June's Rain and is named for the third time thanks to Tripoli juxtaposition The American Neighborhood. Likewise, another French-educated professor in Antoine Douaihy was longlisted in 2014 and is in the running again with long-distance, cross-cultural love story Drowning in Lake Morez. Journalist and writer Jana Elhassan was on the IPAF's list in 2013 with her second novel, Me, She and the Other Women, and it's her story of post-war redemption Floor 99 that's included for 2015. Other multiple nominees are Maha Hassan (Syria, Female Voices) and Ashraf al-Khamaisi (Egypt, Sharp Turning). The full list can be found here. "This varied list showcases writers from a range of artistic schools and generations. Some titles are first novels, others are by more established writers. "However, our focus in choosing this longlist was the books themselves rather than their authors," wrote the 2015 Chair of Judges, whose identity remains secret until a winner is announced on May 6. The prize foundation prides itself on bringing acclaimed Arabic fiction to a wider audience, offering each prize winner the guarantee of English-language publication, in addition to a US$50,000 (RM178,565) sum (and US$10,000 to each of the six shortlistees). Supported by the Booker Prize Foundation and Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, the 2015 prizegiving is timed to take place on the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Last year's winner was Iraqi novelist, poet and screenwriter Ahmed Saadawi with Frankenstein in Baghdad, whose English-language publication will be overseen by Oneworld and Penguin in August 2016. — AFP |
| Asian stocks tumble as oil price continues slide, dollar on defensive Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:04 PM PST
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 0.3 per cent. Japan's Nikkei <.N225> dropped 1.4 per cent and Australian shares <.AXJO> were down 0.9 per cent. The region's focus was on Chinese trade data due at 9 p.m. ET, especially as recent signs of weakness in the world's second largest economy have been central in worries over global growth. Wall Street shares fell for a second straight session yesterday, led by a further sharp decline in energy shares as oil prices tumbled about five per cent. Declining oil prices added to concerns about US corporate results as the release of earnings goes into full swing, with profit forecasts for S&P 500 energy companies having dropped sharply in recent months. "Only the negative aspects of cheaper crude oil have been in focus so far, but attention could turn to its positive attributes if U.S. data on Wednesday can confirm an expansion in private consumption," said Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo. US crude oil <CLc1> was down 27 cents at US$45.80 a barrel after dropping well over US$2 yesterday to a fresh 5-1/2 year low after Goldman Sachs warned that prices would fall further and as Gulf producers showed no sign of curtailing output. In currencies the dollar traded little changed at 118.435 yen, a haven that benefits when investors turn wary toward risk assets. The greenback was unable to hold its ground after briefly rising above 119 yen yesterday and remains far from a 7-1/2 year peak of 121.86 struck late in December. The dollar's sluggishness against the yen, exacerbated by a drop in US Treasury yields, helped the euro steady at US$1.1831. The common currency continued to put some distance between a nine-year low of US$1.1754 hit late last week. The sell-off in equities worldwide over the past few sessions has been a further boon for government debt. The US 30-year bond yield fell to a near-record low overnight, while the five-year Japanese yield touched a record low of zero per cent. — Reuters |
| Sean Penn prepares paperwork to adopt Theron’s son Posted: 12 Jan 2015 05:03 PM PST
The Oscar winning couple have been together since early last year after being friends for a number of years. The stars were rumoured to have gotten engaged in November and now it's claimed that the 54-year-old is to become her son's legal parent. "[He] has already begun the paperwork to formally adopt Jackson," an insider told Radar Online. "Charlize never placed any pressure on Sean to adopt Jackson. It has been a very natural process of them becoming a true family." The threesome are regularly seen on fun outings together. The Milk actor, who has 23-year-old daughter Dylan with ex-wife Robin Wright, gets a lot of joy out of spending time with the little boy. "Jackson calls Sean 'daddy,' and Sean just lights up around him," the source continued. "Sean picks Jackson up from nursery school, and all of the parents know him." Over the weekend, the lovebirds stepped out without Jackson to attend Sean's Help Haiti Home gala in Beverly Hills. The star-studded event was attended by the likes of Reese Witherspoon, Salma Hayek, new parents Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, and Coldplay front man Chris Martin, who gave a stunning solo performance at the start of the evening. The event raised US$6 million (RM21.32 million) for Sean's J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which has supported Haiti since the devastating earthquake in 2010. "We'll see a Haiti that will be able to stand on its feet in not too long. That's an exciting thing," he told People magazine before the night began. — Cover Media |
| Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:59 PM PST JANUARY 13 — The FIFA Ballon d'Or award, unsurprisingly won for a third time by Cristiano Ronaldo last night, has been a closed shop duopoly in recent times, with the last seven awards being claimed either by Ronaldo or his great personal rival Lionel Messi. I don't think that will be the case for too much longer, though, because on the evidence I have seen so far this season another young man is ready to match their achievements and take his place among the game's elite: Neymar. The flamboyant Brazilian arrived in Europe with Barcelona amid great fanfare in the summer of 2013, having already well established a reputation as football's most exciting young talent after breaking into the Santos team at the age of 17. He was initially quite slow to produce his best form at the Nou Camp, however, struggling to carve out a role for himself in a team whose attacking structure was excessively dominated by the need to serve Messi.
Neymar finished his first season in Spain with nine goals in La Liga and six more in cup competitions, playing well in fits and starts — especially when Messi was absent – but not truly shining to his full capabilities as his team failed to win a major trophy for the first time since 2008. Then came the World Cup Finals in Neymar's native Brazil, and a golden opportunity for the flamboyant forward to prove to the watching world exactly why he was so highly rated. He did he did not disappoint, playing a starring role to propel an otherwise lacklustre Brazil into the semi-finals, before the hosts crashed out in spectacular style against Germany when he missed the last four encounter through injury. Despite the disappointing end, the World Cup was a roaring personal success for Neymar, and the first half of the new European season has started in a similarly positive fashion with a string of excellent displays for Barcelona. Even though his team have struggled for consistency, the Brazilian has been their brightest shining light. With Messi often well below his best and regularly being moved to new playing positions as manager Luiz Enrique searches for a an effective formula, and new signing Luis Suarez slowly settling in at his new club, Neymar has comfortably been the team's consistently best attacking player so far this season. He has already scored 17 goals in all competitions — two more than he managed the entirety of his first campaign in Spain – and he has been a more constant presence in his team's attacking play, constantly involving himself from his starting position on the left wing, cutting inside to penetrate opposition defences and consequently mustering a better goals-per-minute record than Messi. His latest outstanding performance came on Sunday night, scoring the opener in Barca's rousing 3-1 victory over reigning champions Atletico Madrid and causing problems for a normally rigid Atletico defence throughout the ninety minutes. The post-game headlines were dominated — as generally happens in Barcelona — by Messi, who was back to his very best at the end of a week which had been packed with controversy amid reports of a bust-up with under pressure manager Enrique. But for all the predictable fuss about the Argentine, Neymar's performance was just as impressive in its own way and reaffirmed once again that he is ready to fulfil all his teenage promise. The greatest challenge facing Enrique, or whoever succeeds him as Barca's boss in the still quite feasible scenario that he is sacked, is instilling an effective team structure which allows Messi to shine without acting to the detriment of his other players — something they have lacked in the last two or three years. Neymar has to play a fundamental role in that process. It helps that he has a good personal relationship with Messi, who is therefore more likely to accept the prospect of passing on some of his limelight to his fellow South American. As they showed on Sunday night with a terrific all round team display to beat Atletico, if Barca get their attacking balance right they will be hard to stop. And if that happens, it won't be long before the perception that Messi and Ronaldo are by far and away the best players in the world will be challenged. Neymar is ready to step up. * This is the personal opinion of the columnist. |
| Happy birthday, Liam Hemsworth! (VIDEO) Posted: 12 Jan 2015 04:58 PM PST NEW YORK, Jan 13 — Australian heartthrob and "Hunger Games" star Liam Hemsworth celebrates his 25th birthday today. — Cover Media |
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