your socials news

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg milk dry their default movie personas, but it's all part of the joke—and what a great joke it is. Sending up by-the-books buddy cop movies, these two Guys are a match made in comedy heaven. The Bigger Picture: The Other Guys is not only an odd-couple movie, but a wicked parody of badass-cop dramas, with all the shattered-glass, car-chase, bomb-exploding pomp glorified by all action pictures since Die Hard. The badasses here are Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson, gleefully spoofing their usual onscreen roles as swaggering cops with an inflated sense of ego. The only detective who isn't jockeying for position as next top dog is Allen (Ferrell), who plays it safe at his desk, much to the frustration of his reluctant partner, Terry (Wahlberg). A high profile case comes to their attention, and at Terry's urging, they tackle it with all of the gusto and none of the competence. While they bumble around, the script unpeels their backstories like a...

2010 BMW X6 ActiveHybrid — First Drive Review Although BMW initially shunned hybrids in favor of clean diesels and other alternative powertrains, the German automaker is joining the electrically assisted fray next year with not one but two gasoline-electric vehicles: the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid 7 — our first drive of which you can read here — and the 2010 BMW ActiveHybrid X6. Both models share ActiveHybrid badging and fall in the contradictory performance-hybrid segment, but their similarities end there. The 7 is a mild hybrid that uses an electric motor in its eight-speed automatic gearbox and a compact lithium-ion battery mounted in the trunk to assist acceleration and run the accessories; the X6 is a far more complex full hybrid. The latter's pair of motors and advanced electronic continuously variable transmission allow it to waft up to 1.6 miles and at speeds of up to 37 mph on electric current alone. Forget about Prius-like fuel economy, though, because the ActiveHybrid X6 is t...

HIROSHIMA, Japan — With the mournful gong of a Buddhist temple bell and the release of a flock of doves, a crowd of 55,000 on Friday solemnly marked the moment 65 years ago when the world’s first atomic attack incinerated this city under a towering mushroom cloud. For first time, a representative of the United States, Ambassador John V. Roos, participated in the annual ceremony, raising hopes here of a visit soon by a more prominent guest, President Obama, who is scheduled to be in Japan in November. Mr. Obama has become a popular figure here since delivering a speech last year in Prague calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. The mayor and other residents of Hiroshima have repeatedly invited him to come to their city, which — along with Nagasaki — is one of the world’s most recognized symbols of the horrors of nuclear war. Until Friday, American officials had always skipped the annual ceremony, fearing their presence would renew the debate over whether the United States should...

BIRMINGHAM: James Anderson and Stuart Broad took four wickets apiece as Pakistan collapsed to 72 all out -- their lowest total against England -- on the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston here yesterday. This slump came just five days after Pakistan had been dismissed for their previous lowest against England of 80 in the first of a four Test series that the hosts won by a crushing 354 runs at Trent Bridge on Sunday. England compounded Pakistan's plight by reaching 43 without loss at tea. Andrew Strauss, the England captain, who'd started the reply with a first-ball boundary, was 24 not out and fellow left-handed opener Alastair Cook 17 not out, after having an lbw verdict overturned by the Decision Review System (DRS). Pakistan, as happened at Trent Bridge, were again found wanting against accurate swing bowling in helpful, overcast conditions. Umar Amin (23), Umar Akmal (17) and Mohammad Aamer (12) were the only batsmen to make double-figure scores in an innings featur...

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's daughter was arrested for allegedly shoplifting Wednesday at a Manhattan beauty store. Caroline Giuliani, 20, a student at Harvard University who lives in N.Y.C. with her mother, was arrested at a Sephora shop on the Upper East Side after allegedly stealing makeup, the New York Post first reported. NYPD Detective Martin Speechley tells PEOPLE that Caroline is expected to be charged with "petit larceny," which is a police term for shoplifting goods worth less than $500. The former mayor's daughter was taken to a local precinct for processing, and was released. Her next court date is set for August 31. When asked to comment, her attorney Michael Bachner would only say, "Caroline is a lovely young woman. Still, it would be inappropriate for me to comment while her matter is in the legal process." Five cosmetic items worth about $100 dollars were found in her purse, sources tell NBC New York. A rep for Caroline's mo...

Gizmodo got their hands on one of the first BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphones from RIM. Their verdict? The screen has such a low-res, it’s like going back to SD after watching HD for a year. It’s a 480×360 display and a “grisly sight,” the text is jaggy and ugly when compared to an Android or iPhone display. Why RIM did not advance their display technology, especially after seeing the fantastic response Apple received from their fancy Retina Display is beyond me. Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 6 software we were hoping would make a big difference – has not really changed much. Giz explains “The software is a mess and fixes none of the major problems with BlackBerry.” RIM put 512MB of ram inside, which matches the iPhone 4. But with a 624MHz processor, it’s still crippled. “It often hangs and stutters moving from app to app.” Universal search is perfect, it finds exactly what you need, whether it may be an mp3, contact, or file. Just start to type it out, and it’s there. Some good points...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon demanded on Thursday that whistle-blower web site WikiLeaks immediately hand over about 15,000 secret Afghan war records it had not yet published and erase material it had already put online. "We are asking them to do the right thing," said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell in asking WikiLeaks to hand over the U.S. documents and delete material it had put on the Internet. "We hope they will honor our demands," he told reporters, adding that the only rightful owner of all the classified material in WikiLeaks possession was the U.S. government. The whistle-blower site caused an uproar when it published more than 70,000 documents last month, coming at a time when U.S. public and congressional support for the nine-year war in Afghanistan is flagging. The defense department said the leak -- one of the largest in U.S. military history -- put U.S. troops and Afghan informers at risk and WikiLeaks might already have blood on its hands. Wik...

KANDAHAR, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- NATO-led forces in south Afghanistan has confirmed that a chopper of the alliance crashed in Taliban birthplace Kandahar in south Afghanistan on Thursday. However, there is no loss of life reported, China's Xinhua news agency reported, quoting a spokesman of the military alliance in southern region Richard McMorton as saying. "A helicopter of NATO-led forces made emergency landing in Panjwai district after developing technical problems and later on caught fire," McMorton told Xinhua. He also emphasised that there were no casualties on the crew and service members aboard. Meantime, a Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi in talks with media via telephone from unknown location claimed responsibility for the incident, saying the insurgents shot the chopper down by a rocket-propelled grenade, killing all aboard. The incident, according an eye witness named Abdul Rahman, occurred at around 02:00 p.m. local time outside Panjwai bazaar and the chopper ...

Lily Allen has new reason to "Smile" – she and her boyfriend are to become parents, PEOPLE has confirmed. "Lily Allen and Sam Cooper are very happy to confirm that Lily is expecting their first child," her rep said in a statement to PEOPLE. "Lily's professional commitments will carry on as normal, including a scheduled performance at the Big Chill this weekend." The British singer, 25, and Cooper, 32, her boyfriend of one year (he is the owner of an upscale building company), have been letting friends and family in on their joy. Allen told Britain's Sun on Thursday that she is "delighted." All told, this is a momentous month for Allen. She is also set to unveil her new clothing line, Lucy In Disguise, with her sister Sarah Owen at the Vintage Goodwood Festival on Aug. 13. The baby news comes more than 2½ years after she suffered a miscarriage. In May, Allen told a British radio show that having children "is ultimately my main goal in...

(Business Insider) -- Google is one of the smartest, most innovative companies in the world, but in its core business -- online search -- it's being routinely shown up by Microsoft's third-place search engine, Bing. Bing is a surprisingly fast-moving, innovative product -- and it's forcing Google to play catch-up time and time again. Years ago, for example, Google set itself apart from other search engines by focusing on making its homepage load faster than everyone else's, including a very simple design with a white background. Then, last year, Microsoft launched Bing with a colorful, photography-driven design. When Bing's look became popular, Google launched a feature to enable its users to make Google look colorful like that, too. For a day, Google even replaced its default background with an image, mimicking Bing's look. Google users were not impressed with the decision, however. They howled, and Google quickly reverted back to the plain white look. The dec...

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday rebuffed a call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for face-to-face talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama, saying Iran was not serious about discussing its nuclear program. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs nonetheless held the door open to US-Iran talks as the State Department saw signs that Tehran may now be seeking a dialogue with Washington under the pain of new sanctions. “We have always said that we’d be willing to sit down and discuss Iran’s illicit nuclear program, if Iran is serious about doing that,” Gibbs told reporters. “To date, that seriousness has not been there.” On Monday, the Iranian leader criticized Obama for missing “historic opportunities” to repair the broken relations with Iran and offered to meet him. “We are hopefully coming for the UN assembly,” Ahmadinejad said in an address to expatriate Iranians which was broadcast live on state television. “We are ready to sit down with Mr. Obama face-to-fa...

Although no-one is able to lift a finger to help develop the MP4-25 for the next two weeks, Lewis Hamilton has said that he will be chivvying the McLaren team to unlock the car’s latest secrets ahead of the resumption of the F1 world championship in Belgium. The Briton recorded only his second DNF of the season in Hungary at the weekend, but it was enough to cost him the lead of the drivers’ championship, while McLaren also lost its grip on the constructors’ standings as Red Bull Racing recorded a 1-3 result. With the Woking team seemingly unable to tame the ‘blown diffuser’ system it debut at Silverstone three weeks ago, Hamilton is concerned that Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel will be able to pull away in the points race, with Ferrari also causing McLaren headaches as it returns to form with its own version of the RBR diffuser concept. “If they continue with the pace they have, then we really don’t have a huge hope,” the 2008 world champion admitted to Reuters, “We’re ...

HSBC Bank Australia is set to expand its retail footprint and institutional business in Australia after reporting a 28 per cent jump in pre-tax first half profit. The Sydney-based subsidiary of the London-based global banking giant said its interim 2010 pre-tax profit was $152 million in the six months to June 30. The bank does not report after-tax earnings for each of its country operations, but said it enjoyed strong growth across all business lines except for its global banking and markets business. Interim pre-tax profit for the global banking and markets unit declined 10.5 per cent to $76 million on the previous corresponding half, HSBC Australia said in a statement on Tuesday. During second half 2010, HSBC Australia says it will look to increase its penetration of the local institutional market. It also wants to further expand its retail footprint and branch numbers to capture more international and wealthy customers. The bank said it aimed to increase its headcount by 15 per cen...

Now that she’s no longer the Bachelorette, Ali Fedotowsky has a wedding to plan — and she’s on a time crunch if she wants to make it down the aisle before next summer. “In the spring, we’re thinking,” the star of The Bachelorette said on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night when asked about when she’d like to marry her new fiancé, Roberto Martinez, who proposed with a Neil Lane diamond engagement ring on Monday’s finale. While their wedding will likely be a big event — “Her mom wants like 700 people,” Martinez said — the couple already extended an invitation to a VIP guest, and we’re not talking about Chris Harrison. When asked by Kimmel if they’d invite President Obama, who was not invited to Chelsea Clinton‘s wedding, and his family, Fedotowsky replied, “Absolutely, if they’ll come.” The couple have only had limited time since the finale taped about three months ago — spending five days together for every 10 days apart, they said, because of demands of the show. But they found some “weird...

Chelsea Clinton walked down the aisle in a Vera Wang dream dress – and later changed into a Grecian-inspired gown for the reception, where the new bride and her groom, Marc Mezvinsky, charmed everyone on the dance floor. "They were amazing," one wedding guest told Women's Wear Daily. "It was like watching Dancing with the Stars. They definitely took lessons." Guests at the Astor Courts also enjoyed a menu of farm-fresh salad, risotto, beef short ribs and grilled fish, plus toasts by the mother and father of the bride. Former president Bill Clinton raised a glass for his new son-in-law, joking to guests that he was, "looking forward to having some company because I'm outnumbered." The father of the bride included a sentimental note as well, telling the 400 guests, "Despite the fact that we have had interesting careers, we still consider the most important job we ever had being the parents of Chelsea." As the newlyweds enjoy their two-week-...

Michael Schumacher has admitted that his move on Rubens Barrichello was 'too hard' and has apologised to his former team-mate for his actions. Schumacher issued the apology on his own website after reflecting on his defensive manoeuvre that nearly drove Rubens Barrichello into the pit wall at 180mph during the Hungarian Grand Prix. "Immediately after the race yesterday I was still in the heat of the moment but after seeing the incident with Rubens again, I have to say the stewards were right in their decision. My move against him was too hard," Schumacher said on his official website. "Naturally, I wanted to make it difficult for him to overtake me. I clearly showed him that I didn't want to let him pass but, looking at it rationally, I wasn't seeking to endanger him with my manoeuvre. If he feels I was then all I can say is sorry, this wasn't my intention." Schumacher's latest stance is in stark contrast to Sunday, when he appeared unrepenta...

I have a certain weakness for Charlie Rangel. He's a stone, flat-out war hero--his service in frigid Korea, during a terrible moment in that war, in an Army that was just learning how to integrate (in other words, an institution that was still racist in many ways)--has always earned him some extra tolerance from me, even if his brand of politics was classic, troglyditic inner city cronyism. I've also loved his gravelly New York accent--he's family!--and his flash dress and his sly sense of humor (and his insistence on the restitution of the draft, so that rich and upper middle class kids help bear the brunt of the fighting in America's endless wars--or, by using their class-based megaphone, end them). But he's a crook. No getting around it. And his brand of politics--the Harlem Clubhouse patronage and condescension machine--has, arguably, diminished the chances of success, and increased a culture of dependency, for many of his constituents over the pas...

Australian Mark Webber took over as leader of the Formula One world championship yesterday with a mature and measured victory in an incident-filled and controversial Hungarian Grand Prix. The 33-year-old Red Bull driver took full advantage of other people's problems, including those of his German teammate Sebastian Vettel, to produce an assured drive that brought him his fourth win of the season and the sixth of his career. "It was a bit of a gift for me but you know I haven't had many of them," said Webber, who was taking part in his 150th Grand Prix. "It was an incredible day for the team. One-two was our goal but we were unfortunate not to get that." Webber finished the 70-lap race 17.821sec ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Ferrari with Vettel, hampered by a drive-through penalty for infringing the safety car rules, finishing a frustrated and angry third in the second Red Bull at the Hungaroring. "I didn't understand what was going o...