Archive for the ‘Down’ Category
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Millionaire socialite Paris Hilton has jumped into the U.S. election campaign, calling Republican candidate John McCain a “wrinkly white-haired guy” and offering her own energy policy.
The blonde Hilton, dressed in a leopard print swim suit and gold pumps, jokingly declared her own candidacy in a video posted on the website Funny or Die, saying: “I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”
She was responding to a television ad by McCain, 71, that used her image to attack Democratic rival Barack Obama.
The 27-year-old socialite said McCain’s use of her in the ad, which sought to undermine Obama by likening his popularity to her celebrity, had effectively put her in the race for the top U.S. office.
Pretending to take time off from reading a travel magazine as she leaned back on a lounge chair, Hilton insinuated herself into the hot issue between Obama and McCain — how to solve the U.S. energy crisis.
“We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars,” Hilton simpered, drawing on suggestions from both candidates.
Hilton, a tabloid favorite who gained fame from a notorious home-made sex tape, offered to paint the White House pink and threw down the gauntlet to McCain and Obama.
“I’ll see you at the debates, bitches,” she said. Continued…
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Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson and actor Ryan Reynolds, who have been silently dating for over a year, decided to take their relationship to the next level and got engaged, Johansson’s rep confirmed in a statement to People.
“They’re both thrilled,” Johansson’s rep Marcel Pariseau was quoted by People as saying.
However, according to E!Online, a source close to Johansson claims that the couple have actually been betrothed “for a little while,” and they have kept the engagement on the down-low because “they want to keep things private.”
The two started dating in the spring of 2007, shortly after Reynolds, 31, broke off his engagement to singer Alanis Morissette following a four-year relationship. Scarlett also dated her “Black Dahlia” co-star, Josh Hartnett, for about two years until the end of 2006.
Earlier this year, the 23-year-old actress was spotted shopping for wedding dresses in Los Angeles, but immediately rejected engagement rumors, explaining that a member of her family was getting married, not her.
The couple is next expected to attend the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute Gala in New York, where Johansson will undoubtedly debut her ring.
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The filly Eight Belles finished second behind favorite Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, then collapsed with two broken front ankles and was euthanized after crossing the wire.
The field of 20 horses was galloping out around the first turn at Churchill Downs when Eight Belles suddenly went down on both front legs and jockey Gabriel Saez slid off.
“When we passed the wire I stood up,” said Saez, a first-time Derby rider. “She started galloping funny. I tried to pull her up. That’s when she went down.”
An equine ambulance reached her near the second turn and tended to the filly.
“There was no possible way to save her,” on-call veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage said. “She broke both front ankles. That’s a bad injury.”
Trainer Larry Jones and owner Rick Porter decided to run Eight Belles against the boys in America’s greatest race despite her never having done so before. She brought in solid credentials with a four-race winning streak and then ran gallantly.
The dark gray filly also was entered in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks for fillies. Jones, however, won that race with Proud Spell and set himself up to pull off the double.
Eight Belles was the first filly since 1999 to run in the Derby; the last to win was Winning Colors in 1988. She didn’t press 2-1 favorite Big Brown down the stretch, and he drew away to a 4 3/4-length victory.
Still, Eight Belles was a sentimental pick by 157,770 fans, second- largest crowd in Derby history. She even had the support of Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton. Eight Belles repaid their faith by returning $10.60 and $6.40.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux and Big Brown galloped by Eight Belles in her waning moments.
“This horse showed you his heart and Eight Belles showed you her life for our enjoyment today,” he said. “I’m deeply sympathetic to that team for their loss.”
A ground crew member checked the level of radiation near the Soyuz capsule after its landing.
Although NASA is concerned about last weekend’s rough, off-target landing of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying three astronauts, an agency official expressed confidence on Tuesday that the Russians would solve the problem.
The Soyuz capsule, carrying a crew home from the International Space Station, made a steeper-than-normal re-entry early Saturday and landed in Kazakhstan about 260 miles short of its target.
Russian and American officials said the astronauts — Dr. Peggy A. Whitson of NASA; the Russian capsule commander, Col. Yuri I. Malenchenko; and a South Korean bioengineer, Yi So-yeon — had been exposed to twice the normal stresses of gravity, but were not harmed. They remain in Russia for normal postflight debriefings and examinations.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, told reporters Tuesday that the incident was “clearly a concern” to the agency but that it was too early to judge the impact on future space flights.
Mr. Gerstenmaier said there had been a problem with the Soyuz descent module separating as planned from a propulsion module. This was the second consecutive Soyuz re-entry with a separation problem, he said, noting that a return last October also ended in a steeper-than-normal “ballistic re-entry.”
The Soyuz has explosive bolts that are supposed to separate its three sections before the center descent module carrying the astronauts assumes a normal re-entry orientation with its heat shield down. If the other modules do not break away as planned, Mr. Gerstenmaier said, the heat and forces of re-entry are supposed to pull them apart.
If this does not happen, the descent module could be damaged or destroyed by returning through the atmosphere at the wrong angle.
Mr. Gerstenmaier cautioned against giving too much credence to initial reports out of Russia that the astronauts had been in extraordinary danger, noting that the Soyuz had been safely launched and recovered for decades and that there was “an inherent reliability in the system.”
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