‘Naked chef’ to debut on Hong Kong adult channel

Floria Cheung Ching-sze wants to get men interested (in cooking): “(The apron) covers pretty much everything but hides nothing.


A Hong Kong adult channel is set to debut a cooking show headlined by a nude host who will prepare Cantonese dishes wearing a transparent apron — an apparent bid to encourage more men to cook.

Host Flora Cheung will start each 30-minute show shopping for fresh ingredients in the city’s famous wet markets, undressing once she is back in the privacy of her studio kitchen, the South China Morning Post reported.



Cheung, who admits she has never worked in a restaurant kitchen, said she hoped the risqué show would draw more men into the kitchen. The first episode is set to air later this month.

“I have always liked cooking and I thought I should share (the) enjoyment with more people,” the 26-year-old told the Post.

“Most men don’t like to cook, but I want to get them interested . . . From shopping to cooking — it’s the whole shebang,” Cheung added.

The host promised that her tailor-made, transparent apron would not leave much to the imagination.

“It covers pretty much everything but hides nothing,” she was quoted as saying.

Producer Jesse Au told the paper that the show might spawn similar offerings, with nude hosts cooking up a range of Asian cuisine: “This could be an endless series if it proves popular.”

Icelandic volcano set to erupt dwarfing last year's devastation, warn scientists

Scientists in Iceland are warning that another volcano on the island looks set to erupt, threatening to spew-out a blanket of dust that would dwarf last year's eruption.

Geologists detected the high risk of a new eruption after noticing an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island's second largest volcano Bárdarbunga.

Pall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, says the area around Bárdarbunga is showing signs of increased activity, which provides 'good reason to worry'.

Last year's eruption of volcanos near Eyjafjallajokull, located in the south of the island, caused chaos around the world as hundreds of planes were grounding due to dust and ash filling the sky.

 Cloud: Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano spews ash and ice into the air causing travel chaos  in May last year with hundreds of planes grounded

 Eruption: Lava flows from Eyjafjallajokul sending plumes of thick black smoke high into the air in Iceland

Mr Einarsson told the country's national TV station 'RC:v' that a low number of seismometer measuring devices in the area is making it more difficult to determine the scale and likely outcome of the current shifts.

But he said there was 'every reason to worry' as the sustained earthquake tremors to the north-east of the remote volcano range are the strongest recorded in recent times and there was 'no doubt' the lava was rising.

The geologist complained that the lack of coverage from measuring devices means he cannot accurately detect the depth and exact location of the increased number of localised earth movements.

'This is the most active areas of the country if we look at the whole country together,' he told Icelandic TV News.

'There is no doubt that lava there is slowly growing, and the seismicity of the last few days is a sign of it.

We need better measurements because it is difficult to determine the depth of earthquakes because it is in the middle of the country and much of the area is covered with glaciers.'

Eruptions at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano thrust torrents of molten rock through the shattered ice sheets in the mountain crater, spewing a towering wall of ash, dust and steam high into the air.

Respected volcano watcher Jón Frímann, said on his volcano watch blog: 'After the
Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in 2010 it seems that geologists in Iceland take earthquake swarms more seriously then they did before.'

He explained the Icelandic Met Office had on Sunday warned of the increased risk of a eruption in north-west side of Vatnajökulll glacier due to the high earthquake activity in the area, and added: 'It is clear that only time is going to tell us if there is going to be a eruption in this area soon or not.'

The last recorded eruption of Bárdarbunga was in 1910, although vulcanologists believe its last major eruption occurred in 1477 when it produced a huge plume of ash and pumice and the largest known lava flow during the past 10,000 years on Earth.

It is the second largest volcano on Iceland and is directly above the mantle of molten rock.

 Could this happen again? Scientists fear that the Bardabunga volcano could cause similar scenes if it erupts

 Delays: Thousands of passengers whose flights were cancelled were forced to travel hundreds of miles by coach or ferry

 Stuck: Passengers queue to board coaches for other airports, after their flights were cancelled due to the volcanic ash cloud re-entering the UK's airspace last year

Don't be so rough with the kids!' Lioness gives male a real earful after playfight with cubs

He's supposed to be the king of the jungle, but these pictures clearly show who's in charge.

The male lion cowers his head as he is given an earful by a lioness after a playfight went too far.

The father had pinned his daughter Lusaka to the ground in mock anger after the playful cub had repeatedly nipped his tail.

But the pair's fun came to a dramatic halt after the mother arrived and bared her teeth in fury at the male.

The remarkable images were recorded by amateur photographer Jennifer Lockridge, who took them at the National Zoo in Washington DC.

Yes dear: The male lion cowers as the lioness lets him know exactly how she feels about his playfighting at the National Zoo in Washington DC

Courting controversy: The playful cub grabs hold of her dad's tail as he pretends not to notice

Daddy's girl: The cub rolls playfully over on to her back as the male catches up to her

Cat and mouse: The male has a look that would stop a wildebeest at 50 metres as the female cub makes good her escape

Catfight: Lusaka, a five-month-old cub, is devoted to her father, who has just been allowed near his seven children in the zoo

Luke, the male lion, had been pretending not to notice his offspring's attentions, before joining in a playfight.

Ms Lockridge, 42, said the spotted the drama during a visit to the zoo last month.

She said: 'I thoroughly enjoyed watching this interaction and Luke has just recently been allowed to interact with his cubs. The zoo has a lion pride consisting of seven cubs from two mothers and Luke is the father of all the cubs.

'The particular cub, Lusaka, is particularly feisty and is always one of the last ones to go inside when called. Lusaka is definitely a "daddy's girl" and seems to be the most enamoured with her father.'

She said the way five-month-old Lusaka and her father played together reminded her of human parents and their children.

'As the cubs have gotten braver, they approach Luke easily wanting to engage him in play.

'I don't believe he realised she was biting his tail and he didn't seem to be very upset. Lusaka has a habit of biting the tails of her siblings as well as the adults.'

Egypt gas pipeline expolded

Tragic Getty oil heir who was left paralysed and almost blind after drug-induced stroke 30 years ago is 'close to death'

*John Paul Getty III is said to have just 'days' left to live
*Relatives at his bedside in mansion in Buckinghamshire
*Friends say that death would be a release for John Paul

An heir to the Getty oil fortune is believed to be close to death after suffering decades of ill health caused by drug abuse.

John Paul Getty III is being cared for at the family's mansion in Buckinghamshire and is believed to have just a few days left to live, Richard Kay reported in today's Daily Mail.

John Paul was born into fabulous wealth as the grandson of the notoriously tight-fisted oil tycoon John Paul Getty.

Grief: John Paul and his chauffeur leave the memorial mass held for his father Sir John Paul Getty in London, who died of a chest infection in April 2003 at age 70.

Ordeal: Kidnappers sent a picture to Italian newspapers of John Paul in a hole with his head heavily-bandaged and, right, the teenager emerges from a police station after the ordeal with his right ear missing

Tragedy struck the16 year-old when he was held ransom by Italian kidnappers who sliced off his right ear when his grandfather refused to pay the £17million ransom.

John Paul was held captive by a gang, believed to be the Mafia, in Rome for five months.

It was only when the captors cut off his ear and sent it to an Italian newspaper that his grandfather agreed to pay any money.

The teenager's life spiralled out of control after the incident which eventually led to him suffering a drug-induced stroke which left him paralysed and almost blind.

John Paul, now 54, is said to be hovering close to death as family and friends prepare for the worst.

He has had to be nursed round-the-clock by his mother, Gail, and a team of carers for several years. Now, his health is said to have deteriorated further.

A family source said: ‘They are an amazingly tough family. John Paul has been on the brink before but — like his father and his grandfather — he is tough as old boots.’

The Getty family — ­including his younger siblings, Aileen, Mark, Ariadne and Tara — have been informed, as has his son Balthazar from his marriage to film-maker Martine Zacher.

Friends say that death would be a release for John Paul, who has been confined to a wheelchair for years.

He has suffered scores of health scares when it was thought he wouldn’t pull through. He has to be spoon-fed, has difficulty communicating and has only peripheral vision.

John Paul achieved worldwide attention when he was kidnapped in 1973, when he was just 16.

He had previously been expelled from St George's British International School in Rome and his father moved the family to England.

After five months his notoriously tight-fisted grandfather, John Paul Getty Snr, agreed to pay the gang £2.1million which he ordered his grandson to repay with 4 per cent interest a year.

The trauma of his ordeal affected John Paul III so badly that he refused to talk to either his father or grandfather and turned to drugs.

Afterwards, John Paul pursued a hippie lifestyle and married ­Martine the year after his release. Aged 24 she was six years his senior.

His grandfather disinherited him for ­marrying so young and in time he became addicted to cocaine and heroin.

John Paul lived a bohemian lifestyle around New York hanging out with famous artists and musicians of the time such as Andy Warhol.

The couple had a son, Balthazar, who went on to become a Hollywood actor.

But in 1981, still only 25, John Paul took the overdose that prompted his stroke.

The cocktail of valium, methadone and alcohol left him almost blind and confined to a wheel chair.

Paul's own father, Sir John Paul II, refused to pay his huge medical bills, saying he had to live with the consequences of his own drug-induced actions.

During the Sixties and Seventies Paul Getty II himself lived the playboy lifestyle to the full, hanging out with rock stars including the Rolling Stones. At one point he was consuming a bottle of rum and a gram of high-grade heroin a day.

He inherited the massive fortune from his father who died in 1976 as the richest man in the world. His meanness was well known and at one point he installed a pay phone in his mansion that guests were required to use.

John Paul II was knighted in 1998 but for all his wealth, tragedy dogged his life. His second wife Talitha Pol died of a heroin overdose, his daughter Aileen is HIV-positive.

In 1984 Texaco bought out Getty Oil for £900million, completely freeing him from any financial worries for the rest of his life.

John Paul is one of five other children including, Aileen, 45, Mark, 42, Ariadne, 41, and Tara Gabriel Galaxy Gramophone, 34, who inherited the fortune.

The money helped to pay for round-the-clock care for John Paul as he battled ill health related to his earlier stroke.

He lived in California for a period and moved briefly to Ireland after being giving citizenship in return for investments.

Gail Getty, the teenager's mother, meets the Italian press after announcing his kidnap

Hippy lifestyle: John Paul and his wife Martine on the beach in 1975 six years before he suffered a paralysing drug-induced stroke. His grandfather disinherited him for marrying so young

Rich: Millionaire oil tycoon John Paul Getty surrounded by female admirers. He was a workaholic who was notoriously tight with money

Hippy lifestyle: John Paul and his wife Martine on the beach in 1975 six years before he suffered a paralysing drug-induced stroke. His grandfather disinherited him for marrying so young

Family: John Paul Getty II with his first wife Gail Harris and their children John Paul Getty III, Aileen Getty and Mark Getty.

Commune: After his release John Paul Getty III took on a hippy existence and is seen here at a party hosted by Andy Warhol, in June 1976

Sprawling: Wormsley Park Estate, in Watlington, Oxfordshire, where John Paul's philanthropist father Sir John Paul Getty II lived

Scrooge: The oil tycoon John Paul Getty senior at his desk before he died in 1976. He initially refused to pay a ransom for the release of his grandson John Paul III

US, Russia cap ‘reset’ in ties with START treaty

Clinton and Lavrov exchange documents formally, bringing into force the landmark nuclear arms reduction pact START during the 47th Conference on Security Policy in Munich today, February 5, 2011

The United States and Russia formally inaugurated their new START nuclear arms treaty today, capping two years of work to “reset” the sometimes strained ties between the former Cold War enemies.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov exchanged the final START documents at the Munich security conference, where two years ago US Vice-President Joe Biden launched the Obama administration’s push for better relations with Moscow.

“Two years ago we all laughed about the translation of the ceremonial ‘reset’ button I gave to the foreign minister,” Clinton said, referring to a diplomatic gaffe in which she presented Lavrov with an oversized button on which “reset” was mistranslated into the Russian for “overcharge”.

“But when it came to the translation that mattered most, we turned words into action to reach a milestone in our strategic partnership.”



Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama signed the deal in April after a year of tough negotiations, committing the world’s top two nuclear powers gradually to reduce their atomic arsenals.

The START treaty has been at the centre of Washington’s effort to improve ties with Moscow, which hit a low with Russia’s 2008 war against pro-western Georgia and were further strained by disagreements on trade and US concerns over Russia’s record on human rights and free speech.

US officials say the “reset” has delivered results on a number of fronts including efforts to rein in the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, co-operation on the halting Middle East peace process and growing ties between Russia and Nato.

The START treaty itself is also seen as an important step towards Obama’s goal of nuclear disarmament — though analysts say there are much higher hurdles ahead if further progress is to be made.

Obama faced down sharp objections from some Republican senators, who said the new treaty gave too much away, to win Senate ratification late last year in a major political victory.

The START treaty commits the two nations, with 95 per cent of the world’s nuclear weapons, to ceilings of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads in seven years, up to 30 per cent lower than in the 2002 Moscow treaty.

It will limit each side to 700 deployed strategic missiles and bombers and establish verification rules, absent since the US-Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) expired in 2009, enabling them to keep tabs on each other’s arsenals.

Now the treaty has taken effect, the two nations will begin exchanging information about the status of their nuclear forces and, within weeks, hold the first on-site inspections of each other’s nuclear arsenals in nearly two years.

The United States and Russia have already signalled differences over further cuts, including on tactical nuclear weapons that many analysts regard as a more immediate danger.

The US Senate has asked Obama to seek negotiations on tactical nuclear weapons within a year after START enters into force. But Russia, which has a stockpile several times larger than that of the United States, has resisted, saying talks should not be held until each country confines its tactical nuclear weapons to its own territory.

Man, 24, arrested for paedophilia after girl, 12, gives birth to baby

A 12-year-old schoolgirl has given birth in Romania while the baby girl's 24-year-old father is being held on paedophile charges, say police.

The youngster, Claudia Feraru, had managed to keep her pregnancy secret from her parents in Bucharest for six months before confessing.

Her father, Sorin, said she had been scared 'like any girl who hides something from her parents' before the birth on Wednesday.

A street view of Bucharest, where a 12-year-old girl has given birth

' We know who the father is, but we haven't decided what to do with him.

'We have other priorities, to raise the baby for one. We're going to be her parents.'

She delivered the 6lb baby by caesarean and is said to be making a good recovery.

Under Romanian law, having consensual sex with someone under age 14 is classified as child abuse.

Cases of very young mothers are not all that rare in Romania, with most pregnancies registered in Roma/Gypsy communities and in poor families.

In November last year, a girl from Bucharest aged just ten gave birth to a baby in Jerez, southern Spain.

Strangely, a Romanian woman is believed to be the world's oldest woman to give birth, at age 66.

President Obama on Egypt: 'We Oppose Violence As a Response to This Crisis'--'Fed up' Mubarak won't quit-White House reportedly plans Mubarak's exit

Vice President Omar Suleiman of Egypt has won the blessing of both the Mubarak and Obama administrations as the leader of a political transition toward democracy in Egypt.

American 'Jihad Jane' faces life in jail after admitting terror plot to kill Swedish cartoonist

An American woman who called herself 'Jihad Jane' online pleaded guilty today to her role in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who had offended Muslims.

Colleen LaRose, 47, helped foreign terror suspects intent on starting a holy war in Europe and South Asia, prosecutors said.

LaRose, who also was accused of using the online screen name 'Fatima LaRose,' has been in custody since October 2009 and faced a possible life sentence under charges in a four-count indictment.

Speaking clearly but quietly, LaRose said today she had never been treated for any mental health problems and was entering her plea freely.

 Colleen LaRose known as 'Jihad Jane' was indicted by U.S. authorities March 9, 2010 for planning deadly attacks in Europe and South Asia

 Change: Colleen LaRose is due to reverse her plea to terrorism charges to guilty

She whispered a few comments to her lawyers, some of them prompting a smile from public defender Mark T. Wilson.

In 2009 Colleen LaRose was accused of conspiring with Islamists and pledging to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war.

The 47-year-old from Michigan is planning to plead guilty at a special hearing in Philadelphia later today, according to her lawyer, Mark Wilson.

'She is going to plead guilty,' Mr Wilson said on Friday, according to CNN.com.

LaRose was indicted as part of an investigation into an alleged plot to kill Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who, in 2007, depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog.

She was arrested in October 2009 in Philadelphia while returning to the U.S..

The accused, also known as Fatima LaRose, posted a YouTube video in 2008, saying she was ‘desperate to do something’ to ease the suffering of Muslims, according to authorities.

There were allegedly five other co-conspirators involved, however they have never been named by the government.

In addition, LaRose, who has spend two years in jail since being arrested, has been accused of lying to a federal agent and attempting identity theft.

If she is found guilty of all the charges against her, she faces a sentence of life in prison.

Mr Wilson continued: 'I share the same hope that she does, that she will be out of jail sooner than later.

'She will do time [but] she's been doing remarkably well, considering the circumstances.'

According to a source cited by CNN.com LaRose has been held in a detention centre and has been isolated from other prisoners since October of 2009.

Further, she is only allowed one hour a day outside her cell.

LaRose spent most of her life in Texas, where she dropped out of high school, married at 16 and again at 24.

After a second divorce, she followed a boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, to Pennsylvania in about 2004 and began caring for his father while he worked long hours, sometimes on the road.

In 2005, she swallowed a handful of pills in a failed suicide attempt, telling police she was upset over the death of her father - but did not want to die.

As she moved through her 40s without a job or any outside hobbies, Gorman said, she started spending more time online.

Though he said he did not consider her religious and she apparently never joined a mosque.

LaRose and Gorman shared an apartment with his father in Pennsburg, a quaint if isolated town an hour northwest of Philadelphia.

Just days after the father died in August 2009, she stole Gorman's passport and fled to Europe without telling him.

From June 2008 to August 2009 she allegedly went online to recruit male fighters and women with Western passports to marry them.

She also sought to raise money for the holy war, it is claimed.

E-mails recovered by authorities allegedly show correspondence between LaRose and a man in South Asia whom she planned to marry after he said he could deal bombs and explosives.

He also told her in a March 2009 e-mail to go to Sweden to find the artist, it is claimed.

U.S. threatened to take military action against China over arms race in space

* WikiLeaks documents reveal battle for supremacy above the Earth in 2007
* Both superpowers destroyed their own satellites with missile strikes in show of strength

The U.S. warned China it could take military action in response to Beijing’s use of space missiles, it has emerged.

Leaked diplomatic documents reveal that the U.S. shot down one of its own satellites to demonstrate its ballistic power after China had destroyed its own weather satellite.

And despite being threatened with military action in 2007 by then U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, China carried out another missile test only last year.

The military standoff has been likened to the ‘star wars’ strategic missile plan conceived by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.

According to diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and published by the Daily Telegraph, China and the U.S. jostled for position behind closed doors over the issue of missile defence.

China shot down a weather satellite stationed 530 miles above the earth in January 2007, sending over 2,000 pieces of space debris into orbit.

The strike was the first anti-satellite test since 1985 but despite widespread international criticism of China’s actions, then-Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jinchao stressed: ‘There’s no need to feel threatened by this.’

Cause for conflict: China and the U.S. engaged in a military standoff over space missile tests

The field of conflict: An artist's impression of a weather satellite, similar to that shot out of the sky by China with a missile




The U.S. state department appeared to not agree, with Clark Randt, the American Ambassador in Beijing complaining about the test to Chinese assistant foreign minister He Yefei.

Officials working for Ms Rice later told China: ‘A Chinese attack on a satellite using a weapon launched by a ballistic missile threatens to destroy space systems that the United States and other nations use for commerce and national security. Destroying satellites endangers people.’

Officials warned: ’Any purposeful interference with US space systems will be interpreted by the United States as an infringement of its rights and considered an escalation in a crisis or conflict.

‘The United States reserves the right, consistent with the UN Charter and international law, to defend and protect its space systems with a wide range of options, from diplomatic to military.'

While the U.S. said China’s testing of an anti-satellite missile contravened ‘the spirit of cooperation’ of international space operations in the 21st century, just over a year later Washington launched its own test strike.

A malfunctioning U.S. satellite was shot down in February 2008, with the public explanation that its fuel tank was defective and would be hazardous if the satellite retuned to earth.

However, diplomatic missives at the time indicate the strike was militarily-sanctioned, with the American Embassy in China receiving ‘direct confirmation of the results of the anti-satellite test’ from U.S. military commanders in the Pacific.

Leaked embassy cables reveal the shooting of satellite USA 193 angered Beijing.

A memo sent from the Beijing embassy in Februarty 2008 said the Chinese 'repeatedly emphasised that the United States should provide information on the planned satellite interception prior to releasing the information to CNN'.

Tensions were evident in June 2008 with Chinese delegates at a defence summit claiming the superpowers were ‘neither allies nor adversaries’.

However, China carried out a fresh test last year, according to documents sent from the office of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in January 2010.

A diplomatic cable said the Chinese destruction of a CSS-X-11 missile about 150 miles above the earth could be judged to have ‘furthered both Chinese ASAT [anti-satellite] and ballistic missile defense technologies’.

The cable also outlined the concern of the ‘Obama administration’ over China’s stance on space weaponry.

Warning: China's president Hu Jintao (left) angered the U.S. by testing an anti-satellite missile, with officials working for then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatening Beijing with military action