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When Prince Andrew was pictured on a yacht getting touchy-feely with a woman half his age, the denials came thick and fast. They're just friends, said a source, and anyway, she's married. But now it turns out 25-year-old Alexandra Escat is in fact single - and the pair have since been seen jetting off together. The Duke of York, 50, was seen engrossed in a playful conversation with the Filipino model on a luxury yacht last week.

To become the nation's first black president, Barack Obama not only won heavy percentages of the black and Hispanic vote but also managed to trim the Democratic Party's traditional deficit among white voters. Four years after Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) lost the white vote by 17 percentage points, Obama lost it by 12, according to exit polls. While the 2008 gains were generally attributed to Obama's strength with young voters -- he won by 10 points among whites 18 to 29 years old -- he managed to improve on Kerry's showing with white voters across every age demographic.

Link only to online gallery of six pictures. Scott Brown was a catalog model for ten years during the 1980's. The last picture is the best.http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/gallery/Brown_model/

Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. British Columbia is replacing block grants to hospitals with fee-for-procedure payments and Quebec has a new flat health tax and a proposal for payments on each medical visit -- an idea that critics say is an illegal user fee. In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States. Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly...

If the European Union wants to endure, perhaps its architects should look at how Canada keeps disparate regions together in one union. One of the magic ingredients, as we Canadians know only too well, is equalization payments — i.e. transfers of income from the richest to the poorest provinces – specifically, from Alberta and Ontario (although Ontario is faltering) to the Maritimes and Quebec. Does the EU have the same capacity to make equalization payments? It would seem not. The Germans, who pay their taxes, are quite disenchanted about supporting Greek citizens, who, by and large, avoid taxes and have...

An immigration proposal circulated by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) would make it easier for foreign fashion models to work America’s catwalks. Just don’t bother asking Schumer’s office how it got there. Or why it’s now out of the bill. POLITICO put the question to Schumer’s office five times. The main response: The provision won’t be in the final version of the bill. So does that mean that the next Gisele Bundchen might have to wait in line with other foreign workers for visas?

(edit)  The Boeing B-50 bomber is so big it holds the title as the world's largest electric model aircraft, It is classified as a light aircraft and is licensed by the Civil Aviation Authority.Built by Tony Nijhuis in his garage the aircraft is a scale version of the US bomber and has a 20ft wingspan and weighs just over seven stones.It took Mr Nijhuis, from Hastings, East Sussex, two years to make the radio-controlled plane that he calls the 'jolly green giant' and cost him £8,000.   (edit)  t has 96 batteries that power four electric motors which drive...

The doughty Government Investment Corporation of Singapore is not often a hotbed of heretical thought. Recently, however, a debate has been bubbling at the GIC that has fascinating implications for investors round the world. The issue at stake revolves around the so-called Harvard or Yale investment model. During most of its recent history, the GIC – like many other sovereign wealth funds round the world – has looked at these huge university endowment funds with envy and admiration. For the Harvard or Yale model seemed to offer an exciting vision for any long-term investment group that wanted to do more...

Naomi Campbell 'Attacked Driver' Supermodel Naomi Campbell was being sought by police in New York after her driver claimed she attacked him. 02 Mar 2010 Ms Campbell took anger management classes after pleading guilty to throwing her mobile phone at a maid in 2006 Photo: PA New York police said the 39-year-old model is accused of striking her driver from behind and causing his head to hit the steering wheel of the car around 3pm (2000 GMT). The driver, who was hired for the day, was said to be left with bumps and bruises after the incident. By the time...

She may have the face of an angel, but authorities say this city society gal has the heart of a thieving little devil. Kashmir Snowdon-Jones, 21, a sometime model and increasingly well-known Manhattan party girl, was charged Wednesday afternoon with identify theft and multiple counts of grand larceny for rack ing up $3,821.71 in unauthorized charges on a frenemy's credit card, according to cops and prosecutors. The blond beauty, whose family claims to be descended from British bluebloods, allegedly used the stolen plastic to charge takeout burritos and Domino's pizza and buy a pair of $800 leggings, bathing suits and...

PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – The Panjshir Ministry of Justice, together with the Independent Afghanistan Bar Association, hosted the valleys first-ever Rule of Law training conference, Jan 19 –26, in an effort to build capacity in the administration of justice in Panjshir province, Afghanistan. 50 local officials including judges, prosecutors, police officers and other members of the justice sector participated in the training. The curriculum covered prison, civil and juvenile law, civil rights, ethics and anti-corruption, monitoring of government departments, role of the defense attorney, illegal detentions, investigations, inheritance, criminal procedures, crimes against the government, and other legal issues.Mr. Mahboobullah Nikzad,...

Measuring a tiny eighth of an inch by quarter of an inch, this carefully crafted piece of engineering is the world's smallest working train model. The five-carriage train, which is 35,200 times smaller than a real train, nips around an oval route even taking in a ride through a tunnel on its three-quarter inch track. Created by New Jersey train enthusiast David Smith, the miniscule model was built using nothing more fancy than a craft knife and a steady hand...

Lizzie Miller is considered too large to model plus-size clothes. Is the reaction that followed the publication of this picture going to change that? 'It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches," gushes Cindi Leive, editor of US Glamour in a post on the magazine's blog, "but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands." The picture in question, illustrating a story about body confidence, has generated more than 700 comments on the site, and featured on the US Today morning TV programme. What does it show? A beautiful, creamy-skinned...

With each passing week, the political headlines make it clear that the luster is falling off the Democrat brand quickly. Whether its Obama’s falling polls, falling numbers for his health care initiative or growing disenchantment with the Pelosi/Reid leadership, the trend is unmistakable. To make matters worse for Democrats, that trend is likely to continue in the year to come.

A Muslim part-time model will become the first woman to be caned in Malaysia after pleading guilty to drinking beer, a prosecutor said today. An Islamic court ordered that Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, be lashed six times with a rattan cane after she was caught drinking alcohol in a raid on a hotel night club in eastern Pahang state last year. Prosecutor Saiful Idham Sahimi said Kartika will be the first woman to be caned under Islamic law after she chose not to appeal the sentence. He said: 'This is the first case in Malaysia. ... It is a...

A new mathematical model reveals the tactics that a small number of interlopers can use to seize power. How is it possible for a small number of newcomers to displace a well-established group of leaders? That's not just a question for military organizations wanting to overthrow governments; it's a question for political parties controlling national debates, new products displacing well-established market leaders, and flocking birds following leaders to new food sources. Social scientists have studied the nature of effective leadership for centuries with limited success. Physicists, on the other hand, are new to the party, which gives them a chance...

Miami plastic surgeon has bragging rights to remaking a Maxim beauty's breasts, but it could cost him more than a half-million dollars. Former Miss Norway and Maxim, Esquire and Stuff magazines topless model Monica Hansen has won a default judgment for $564,555 in her lawsuit against Dr. Leonard Hochstein for using pictures of her on his Web site, allegedly without her permission. He flatly denied the charge.

Shaykh Ali mejbel Al-ghreer (left), the Rabee packing shed owner, Tracy Atwood (center), Inma Chief of Party, and Glen Keiser (right), the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team III leader, participate in the cutting of the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony of the Rabee packing shed in Adhamiyah, June 14. Photo by Pfc. Bailey A. Jester, 1st Cavalry Division. BAGHDAD — Members of embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team III (ePRT) attended the grand opening of the Rabee fruit and vegetable packing facility in Adhamiyah, June 14, the first modern fruit and vegetable packing facility in Iraq. "It [the packing facility] will allow...

With a naked photoshoot coming up Indian model Padma Lakshmi could have been forgiven for putting herself on a strict diet. But the 38-year-old, who is author Salman Rushdie's ex, had no such concerns. 'I think I look better when I have a little bit of weight on - my breasts are fuller, and I’m curvier than when I’m at my thinnest,' she tells this month's edition of U.S. magazine Allure.

The cause of death of a murdered ex-model from Tennessee was ruled to be a bullet wound to her head, according to the medical examiner. Lisa Renee Davis, 29, died from a single shot from a .22 caliber gun belonging to her killer — an acquaintance named Austin Agee who committed suicide and confessed to the crime in a note that told police where to find the woman's body. -snip-