Showbiz - News - Charles pub visits 'spark addiction fears' - Digital Spy: "Coronation Street star and reformed alcoholic Craig Charles has reportedly concerned his loved ones with a string of heavy drinking sessions.

The People tracked the 46-year-old's visits to the White Lion pub, which is located near the ITV soap's set, over a period of three weeks.

The publication revealed that Charles, who worked to beat a booze and drugs addiction after being snapped smoking crack cocaine in 2007, downed drinks at the establishment four days in a row last week, while another troubling session began as early as 11am.

During the short period, Charles made trips to the White Lion before, after and between shooting scenes for Coronation Street.

A friend of the actor stated: 'Craig is becoming known for his boozy lunches, and people are beginning to worry."

Fergie blames 'addiction' to pleasing others : "BRITISH duchess Sarah Ferguson has blamed her behaviour during the 'cash for access' scandal last year on her 'addiction to seeking the appreciation of others'.

The Duchess of York (pictured) caused major embarrassment to Britain's royal family in May when she was caught in a videotaped sting by UK tabloid newspaper News of the World offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew for £500,000 ($791,250)."

JORDAN: ANDRE IS PURE EVIL Katie Price in rant against Peter | The Sun |News: "JORDAN launched a rant against 'evil' Peter Andre yesterday - even claiming he still loved her.
The 32-year-old model, real name Katie Price, spoke out after jetting to the States for the Oscars.

Peter is now dating model Elen Rivas, 35, and is compiling a dossier in a bid to win custody of his and Katie's kids, Princess, three, and Junior, five."

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'Unseen' Andy Warhol portrait sells for £10.8 million - Telegraph: "After going on show for the first time at Christie's in London, the painting sold for more than double its estimated price to an anonymous bidder.
The 6ft square work, with the artist's face in half-shadow, was part of a hugely important series of works dating back to 1967 when he had found international renown.
The portrait, in red and white, was from a series of 11 highly regarded works, eight of which featured in a landmark retrospective at New York's MOMA two years after his death in 1989. Others are held by the Tate collection and in Munich and San Francisco, and only three have ever been at auction
The work has been in a private collection since 1974 and was only recently rediscovered and authenticated by the draconian Andy Warhol Authentication Board."

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Germany and U.S. Developing Secret Spy Satellites, Wikileaks Says | AHN: "The United States and Germany are developing satellites that officially are to be used for crisis management during natural disasters but really are intended for spying, according to the latest Wikileaks releases.

The $274 million satellites are scheduled to begin service as soon as next year, the State Department documents say.
Wikileaks, a Web site that publishes secret government documents, appears to have obtained the U.S. State Department communications that describe the program from the U.S. embassy in Berlin.
The satellite program, called HiROS, would use high-resolution images that could identify objects as small as 1.5-feet long. HiROS stands for High Resolution Optical Satellite System."

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3quarksdaily: "Two things we can learn about Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara from the US embassy in Rabat, courtesy of WikiLeaks: 1) it’s a source of personal revenue for Moroccan army officers but 2) everything’s fine really.

Western Sahara used to be a Spanish possession, which Madrid was due to hand over to the indigenous population in 1975. King Hassan II of Morocco took advantage of the chaos in Spain at the time of Franco’s death and annexed the territory. The UN deplored the move; the Polisario Front embarked on a liberation war, which resulted in stalemate and a ceasefire in 1989. By this time Morocco controlled most of the territory and was pouring in settlers to outnumber indigenous Sahrawis.

Under UN auspices, both parties – the kingdom of Morocco and Polisario – agreed to a referendum on independence. Twenty years later, the vote is a lost hope: the Moroccans have driven it into the ground with Byzantine objections, year on year. The UN mission has been sidelined; the settler colonial project continues; there are hundreds of thousands of refugees in Algeria and a population inside the territory that’s punished when it calls for independence."

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The Royal Wedding: secrets of the guest list - Telegraph: "Prince William’s wedding will be the most sought-after invitation of 2011. But neither the Prince of Wales nor the Middletons will be sending out the cards. This will be done by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which will consult the young couple and look back in files to see which public figures should be invited, according to protocol.
Since Prince William will one day be King, the guest list is not entirely his prerogative. The Queen and the Prince of Wales will have a say, and certain government departments may be consulted, most particularly the Protocol Department of the Foreign Office. Lord and Lady Spencer, for instance, were allowed only 30 personal guests at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981."

Karzai 'refused' to sack minister - Central & South Asia - Al Jazeera English: "Afghan leader has been defying US pressure to sack an allegedly corrupt minister  for over a year, according to some of the latest diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website.

Secret diplomatic records showed Ismail Khan - privately termed 'the worst' by US officials - kept his job at an agency that controls $2bn in international projects.

The refusal to remove the official despite threats to end US aid highlights how little influence the US has over Hamid Karzai on issues such as corruption.

The state department correspondence was written as Karzai was assembling a cabinet shortly after his 2009 re-election.

Reining in corruption is seen as vital to Afghanistan's long-term stability."

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange parties it up on Christmas: "He might be in a lot of trouble for many different reasons but that didn't stop WikiLeaks' Julian Assange from enjoying a party on Christmas day.

Assange currently holed up in a Norfolk mansion on police bail and is facing charges of sexual misconduct in Sweden, reports the Daily Mail.

But he still made merry. Assange enjoyed a traditional Christmas dinner with host Vaughan Smith and other guests and got into the Christmas spirit by dressing up as Father Christmas and proudly posed with a bulging sack bearing the inscription, 'Dear Santa, I've been very, very, very good (most of the time).'

The ten-bedroom manor is looked after by housekeeper and excellent vintages of wine and port are available from the well-stocked cellar.

Assange and guests tucked into a gut-busting feast of turkey and all the trimmings at the 600-acre estate, which contains a sustainable farm complete with livestock, and a carp lake."

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BBC News - Hackers crack open mobile network: "Mobile calls and texts made on any GSM network can be eavesdropped upon using four cheap phones and open source software, say security researchers.

Karsten Nohl and Sylvain Munaut demonstrated their eavesdropping toolkit at the Chaos Computer Club Congress (CCC) in Berlin.

The work builds on earlier research that has found holes in many parts of the most widely used mobile technology.

The pair spent a year putting together the parts of the eavesdropping toolkit.

'Now there's a path from your telephone number to me finding you and listening to your calls,' Mr Nohl told BBC News"

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