Britney Spears reveals details of her new CD

Fans who have been saying "Gimme More" since Britney Spears released her last record in 2008 were in for a treat Wednesday. The singer announced that she's got a new CD out next month and revealed its title and cover art on Twitter.

 

"I've poured my heart and soul into this album over the last 2 years," Spears, 29, tweeted of "Femme Fatale," which drops March 15. "I've put everything I have into it. This album is for you, my fans, who have always supported me and have stuck by me every step of the way! I love you all!"

Spears included a Twitpic of the album cover, which features a close up of the tousled-haired singer staring seductively into the camera.

So what can listeners expect from "Femme Fatale"?

Spears calls it "Sexy and Strong. Dangerous yet mysterious. Cool yet confident!" while a press release describes it as "a tribute to bold, empowered, confident, elusive, fun, flirty women and men."

The release explains, "It's not a conceptual album, Spears is letting the music speak for itself. She's worked hard on it for two years and she considers it to be her 'best album to date,' true to where she is now personally and professionally."

Will you be buying Spears' new CD?

Giant snails monitor air pollution in Russian city

It's a snail-paced solution to pollution woes.

The St. Petersburg waterworks is putting six giant gastropods to work monitoring emissions from a sewage incinerator. The African snails, the size of some rats, are attached to sensors that will show them getting sick if they take in too much bad air.

Some environmentalists say the unusual move is just a publicity stunt aimed at distracting attention from unsafe practices at the incinerator. But the waterworks company, Vodokanal, says it's a serious attempt to improve control over what comes out of the smokestack.

The plant uses conventional gauges to check emissions, but company officials said they also wanted to keep an eye on compounds that might be produced in concentrations too low for the gauges to detect or that might harm humans when combined with other substances.

"Live organisms won't deceive anyone about the danger of pollution," said Olga Rublevskaya, director of wastewater disposal at Vodokanal. The company is also using crayfish to monitor the quality of city water.

"This is very strict control for us. Now we are under the watch of snails and crayfish all the time!" she said.

The snails, which grow up to 20 centimeters (eight inches) long, live in a fish tank inside the city's Southwest Waste Water Treatment Plant. They are attached to sensors that measure their heartbeat and some other vital signs. Three breathe clean air, the other three diluted air coming from the plant's chimney.

If sensors register an unfavorable change in the latter group's behavior and condition, it would be an immediate signal that air coming from the burnt sewage residue was dangerous.

"The African snails, which are able to live for up to seven years, will also help to test the influence of possible accumulating substances over a long period," said Sergei Kholodkevich, an ecological researcher who came up with the idea for using the snails.

Kholodkevich, who works at an institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said he chose snails because they had lungs and breath air "like people do."

 

 "Their other advantage is a settled way of life, compared to mice that run all the time. The third is that they have shells where sensors can be affixed, and no limbs to scratch themselves and kick off the sensors," he said.

Steinar Sanni, a biologist from Norway's International Research Institute of Stavanger who has studied the program but is not connected to it, said snails and other animals can be very effective for monitoring industrial emissions and water quality.

"We'll definitely see more such ecological solutions in the world in future," he predicted.

Local environmentalists, however, are skeptical and say the waterworks is trying to fend off criticism of the sewage treatment plant, which they say is burning toxic industrial waste.

Dmitry Artamonov, who heads Greenpeace's St. Petersburg office, accused Vodokanal of hiding information about the plant's effects on the environment. He said Greenpeace was denied permission to inspect the city's treatment facilities.

"And we understand the reasons for that. The issue is that the local treatment facilities are meant for treatment of domestic waste but not for treatment of industrial waste that contains toxic substances and also gets dumped into the sewage waters," Artamonov said.

Civilized countries, he said, no longer burn such residue, and the city government should require local industries to introduce new clean technologies and forbid them from dumping polluted waste into sewage waters.

"As for snails, it can be hard for them to indicate the environmental danger immediately, because such substances as dioxins, for instance, can accumulate in an organism over a long period of time and only decades later provoke cancer," Artamonov said.

Farrah Fawcett's red swimsuit goes to Smithsonian

The red swimsuit that helped make "Charlie's Angels" actress Farrah Fawcett a 1970s icon became part of the Smithsonian's collection Wednesday on what would have been her 64th birthday.

 

Fawcett's longtime companion Ryan O'Neal presented the swimsuit and other items to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington. O'Neal said Fawcett, who died in 2009 after battling anal cancer for several years, always intended to give the suit to the museum.

"They asked her years ago for the bathing suit," he said. "So it was always in her plan."

Fawcett wore the bathing suit for a photo shoot shortly before her debut on Charlie's Angels in 1976. The resulting poster sold millions of copies and became the best selling poster of all time, according to Smithsonian curator Dwight Bowers. Bowers compared the poster to World War II pinups of Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, saying it became a symbol of the 1970s era.

Though fans know the bathing suit as red, it is actually a burnt orange color, possibly due to fading. Before it was donated to the museum, Fawcett framed it herself, and it was stored at a Los Angeles warehouse, O'Neal said.

Nels Van Patten, Fawcett's friend and tennis coach who was with her during the bathing suit shoot, said Wednesday she did her own hair and makeup for the pictures and didn't have a mirror. She also squeezed a lemon in her hair to get natural highlights, he said.

Also donated to the Smithsonian were Fawcett's book of scripts for the first season of "Charlie's Angels," a 1977 Farrah Fawcett doll and a "Farrah's Glamour Center" styling kit for creating her signature hairdo. The items will be part of the museum's popular culture history collection and will go on display this summer.

Fawcett's friends and family at the museum Wednesday for the donation included Fawcett's son with O'Neal, Redmond O'Neal, and O'Neal's daughter, Tatum O'Neal.

O'Neal, who became choked up during the ceremony, said later he feels Fawcett's presence every day.

"I'm still having trouble with losing her," he said.

She was born Feb. 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Egyptian army moves between rival camps in Cairo

Egyptian army tanks and soldiers moved to end violence between anti-government protesters and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo's central square on Thursday after standing by for nearly a day as the two sides battled with rocks, sticks, bottles and firebombs.

 

Hours after automatic gunfire hit the anti-government protest camp at Tahrir Square, killing at least three protesters, soldiers carrying rifles could be seen lining up between the two sides around 11 a.m.. Several hundred other soldiers were moving toward the front line.

Four tanks cleared a highway overpass from where Mubarak supporters had hurled rocks and firebombs onto the protesters.

 

The pre-dawn firing escalated what appeared to be a well-orchestrated series of assaults on the demonstrators that began when Mubarak supporters charged into the square on horses and camels on Wednesday afternoon, lashing people with whips, while others rained firebombs and rocks from rooftops.

Anti-Mubarak demonstrators traded showers of rocks and other projectiles in a counter-assault that drove their assailants out of the square within hours. Anti-government protesters took army trucks and set up an ad-hoc frontline on the northern edge of the square, near the famed Egyptian Museum. The two sides traded volleys of rocks and Molotov cocktails for much of the night, until sustained bursts of automatic gunfire and powerful single shots rained into the square starting at around 4 a.m. and continuing for more than two hours.

The protesters accused Mubarak's regime of unleashing a force of paid thugs and plainclothes police to crush their unprecedented nine-day-old movement, a day after the 82-year-old president refused to step down. They showed off police ID badges they said were wrested from their attackers. Some government workers said their employers ordered them into the streets.

 

The anti-Mubarak movement has vowed to intensify protests to force him out by Friday.

The notion that the state may have coordinated violence against protesters, who had kept a peaceful vigil in Tahrir Square for five days, prompted a sharp rebuke from Washington, which has considered Egypt its most important Arab ally for decades, and sends it $1.5 billion a year in aid.

"If any of the violence is instigated by the government, it should stop immediately," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

 

Protest organizer Mustafa el-Naggar said he saw the bodies of three dead protesters being carried toward an ambulance before dawn Thursday. He said the gunfire came from at least three locations in the distance and that the Egyptian military, which has ringed the square with tank squads for days to try to keep some order, did not intervene.
Footage from AP Television News appeared to show two more dead bodies being dragged along the highway overpass where the Mubarak supporters were massed.
At one point a tank spread a thick smoke screen along the overpass, just to the north of the square, in an apparent attempt to deprive attackers of a high vantage point. Farther back in the square, around 4,000 protesters were holding out. A man with a microphone called out the names of the missing — most of them children — from the hours of clashes.
At an open-air clinic in the middle of the square, doctors treated the injured. Dr. Amr el-Yamani said most had suffered head injuries from hurled rocks.
Mustafa el-Fiqqi, a senior official from the ruling National Democratic Party, told The Associated Press that businessmen connected to the ruling party were responsible for what happened.
Egyptian Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Farid said three people died and at least 611 were injured in Tahrir Square on Wednesday. One of those killed fell from a bridge near the square; Farid said the man was in civilian clothes but may have been a member of the security forces.
Farid did not say how the other two victims, both young men, were killed. It was not clear whether they were government supporters or anti-Mubarak demonstrators.
After years of tight state control, protesters emboldened by the uprising in Tunisia took to the streets of Cairo and other cities on Jan. 25 and mounted a once-unimaginable series of demonstrations across this nation of 80 million.
State TV said Vice President Omar Suleiman called "on the youth to heed the armed forces' call and return home to restore order." From the other side, senior anti-Mubarak figure Mohamed ElBaradei demanded the military "intervene immediately and decisively to stop this massacre."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with Suleiman to condemn the violence and urge Egypt's government to hold those responsible for it accountable, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
___
AP correspondents Hadeel al-Shalchi, Sarah El Deeb, Hamza Hendawi, Diaa Hadid, Lee Keath and Michael Weissenstein contributed to this report.

Chilly Night, Warm Hearts at the Screen Actors Guild Awards

The biggest stars of film and television bundled up a bit on Sunday Jan. 30, as they descended on the Shrine Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate their own achievements. It was an unexpectedly chilly walk on the tented red carpet after a day of showers, but nothing dampened the spirits of the actors who gathered for the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.

 

SAG is the union that traditionally represents film actors, although those lines have blurred over the years, as guild members float between working in both movies and television. There was much talk at the show that AFTRA, the union for TV actors, and SAG will soon merge; SAG president Ken Howard told the full house that "by this time next year, I believe SAG and AFTRA will be one union, together."

And many of the winners agreed.

 

"Unions made this country strong and they give a voice to the worker," proclaimed Melissa Leo through tears of joy, who took home the Outstanding Performance by a Female in a Supporting Role for "The Fighter."

Not everyone was concerned with politics, however, as the gorgeous dresses were the talk of the night. Presenter Susan Sarandon wore Nicole Miller in purple, nominee Amy Adams went with a white chiffon number from Herve L Leroux, and Annette Bening looked completely elegant in a bejeweled golden Tony Ward gown.

 

Bening lost out to Natalie Portman, who took home the Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role for "Black Swan" while showing her baby bump in a white Azzaro sheath. She, too, cheered on her union, saying, "I've been working since I was eleven years old, and SAG has been taking care of me all along."

Like Portman and Leo, who have won every major award so far this season, Christian Bale and Colin Firth took home the Male equivalents, for "The Fighter" and "The King's Speech." But the surprise of the night came when "The King's Speech" nabbed the biggest prize that SAG gives, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. "The Social Network" has been scooping up all the best picture accolades until now, which many take as a sign that "The King's Speech" may edge it out come Oscar time at the end of February.

 

As everyone from Sofia Vergara, Angie Harmon, Jon Hamm, Nicole Kidman, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Longoria and the whole cast of "Glee" looked on, other winners were awarded from the television side. Prizes went to Steve Buscemi of "Boardwalk Empire," Julianna Margulies from "The Good Wife," Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock," and, in an award that only shocked the recipient, Betty White for her work in "Hot in Cleveland."

"This is the biggest surprise I have ever had in this business," the 89-year-old White said with a laugh, as her fellow actors gave her a standing ovation. "You didn't applaud when I turned 40!"

American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez says that despite this season's focus on the emotional backstories of contestants, the competition is still all about the singing.

 

"This will be the standout season for talent," Lopez said Wednesday.

Lopez, who brings her signature superstar glamour to the newly made-over judging panel, said she's had to fight back the tears when meeting contestants like Chris Medina, whose fiancee suffered traumatic brain injury in a car accident just months before they were to walk down the aisle.

 

"It's tough. It's emotional. But this is the thing about 'American Idol' that I love. It's about people and their dreams and their struggles, and that's what I think everybody loves about it. You see yourself in these people," she said backstage after a press conference announcing her new partnership with Gillette Venus.

Other heart-wrenching moments include twin Travis Orlando, who took "Idol" cameras on a tour of the Bronx shelter he once called home, and Nashville's Lauren Alaina, who sang "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" with judge Steven Tyler, after recounting her cousin's battle with a brain tumor.

Lopez insisted the personal stories aren't crowding out the singing.

 

"I think America — because they're the ones who vote at the end of the day — you know they go for the talent," Lopez said. " ... And if it happens to have a story attached to it, it like takes it over the top."

Fans, again, will be the ones to decide.

Nadal must rest for 10 days after injury

World number one Rafael Nadal has confirmed on his official website that he must rest for 10 days following the injury he sustained in the Australian Open.

 

Nadal was clearly hampered by a thigh injury during his quarterfinal defeat by compatriot David Ferrer in Melbourne last week.
And now the 24-year-old has revealed that he is suffering from an "adductor longus rupture of the right leg".
Nadal added that he was undergoing physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory treatments, as well as specific stretches with doctors.
The Spaniard entered the Australian Open aiming to claim a "Rafa Slam", with the Wimbledon, French and U.S. Open titles already in his possession.

However, his last eight defeat to Ferrer meant that Rod Laver in 1969 remains the last man to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.