Saturday, July 31, 2010

Russia burning: Army sent in to battle wildfires that left at least 28 dead

By Mail Foreign Service

Helpless: Residents can only watch their homes and burn in the town of Vyksa


Russia sent the army on Saturday to battle wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and were threatening dozens of towns and villages.

Thick smoke and ash slowed firefighting efforts and thousands of people were being evacuated.

Half of the 300 homes in the village of Maslovka, half a day's drive south of Moscow, were reduced to cinders.


Decimated: A burnt-out car sits in front of a destroyed house in the village of Mokhovoye


Stunned locals sifted through the ash for possessions to salvage and people pooled what little food they had - mainly potatoes and carrots - to ensure no one starved.

'This is a catastrophe,' Maslovka resident Yevgeniya Yuzhina said as she waited in a hotel lobby in the nearby city of Voronezh filling out a form to receive cash compensation.

All 300 of the army's fire trucks have been dispatched, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said,
Many regions of the country are suffering their hottest summer since records began 130 years ago.

Officials said Friday over 214,136 acres (87,000 hectares) of parched woodland and peat bog were burning in at least 14 of the country's 83 regions, mainly in western Russia


Stripped bare: Only the tree trunks survived the flames in this forest where all the foliage has been burnt away


Destructive: Dry grass burns near the town of Voronezh around 294 miles south of Moscow


State television reported Saturday that the death had risen from the last reported figure of 25, without providing details.

#Fire and wind have no days off, so we can't take any days off,' Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a videoconference with emergency officials, where he announced 3 million rubles ($100,000) would be allocated for each of the 1,200 homes destroyed so far. He pledged that all would eventually be rebuilt.

Yuzhina said her house had been worth half a million rubles more than the amount Putin pledged and her husband, daughter and elderly parents now had no place to go.

'We're placing all our hopes on Putin,' Ivan Kosinov, an unemployed 46-year-old, said as he waited in line.


Surveying the damage: A man crosses a smouldering field at the edge of Voronezh, central Russia


Desperate: People whose houses was destroyed by the forest fire stand in a queue for a handout of government money in Voronezh


In the industrial city of Togliatti, in central Russia, 2,000 children were evacuated from a summer camp as a state of emergency was declared, the state ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The rural Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod provinces were the worst-affected, Rossiya-24 TV reported.

The Nizhny Novgorod region's governor, Valery Shantsev, said in televised remarks Saturday that the situation there remained grave because thick smoke was preventing firefighting planes from dumping water on the blazes.


Burnt out: There was little left in the village of Mokhovoye after fire tore through it


Fires that had encircled Voronezh, a city of 850,000 people about 300 miles (475 kilometers) south of Moscow, this week were not visible Saturday, and officials reported they had been brought under control.

Thick plumes of smoke from distant blazes were drifting into the city centre, where some refugees were staying in hotels.

Five people, including one firefighter, were killed by wildfires in Voronezh, and six residents and a firefighter died when a fire swept through the village of Mokhovoye in the Moscow region, officials said.

The other deaths occurred south or east of Moscow.

Putin visited Verkhnyaya Vereya, a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region where all 341 homes were burned to the ground and five residents were killed on Friday.



source: dailymail

New photos Sonia Cruz Miss Universe El Salvador 2010

New photos Sonia Cruz Miss Universe El Salvador 2010

Sonia Cruz is a beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Nuestra Belleza Universo El Salvador 2010 or Miss El Salvador Universe 2010 at the Finale held at the Telecorporación Salvadoreña studios in San Salvador on June 25, 2010.

A beautiful 20 year old and stands at 173 cm will represent El Salvador in Miss Universe 2010 in Las Vegas this August.






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News on Miss Iowa Katherine Connors on July 30, 2010


Miss Iowa Katherine Connors (R) chats with Washington Nationals pitcher Miguel Batista (L) before throwing out the first pitch at their MLB National League baseball game with the Philadelphia Phillies in Washington, July 30, 2010. The Nationals invited Connors to the game to make up for Batista's unintentional slight against her, telling reporters after he was booed by home fans for replacing Stephen Strasburg that the fans were disappointed the same way they would have been if they were expecting Miss Universe and got Miss Iowa instead.



Miss Iowa Katherine Connors (L) poses for photographers with Washington Nationals pitcher Miguel Batista (R) before throwing out the first pitch at their MLB National League baseball game with the Philadelphia Phillies in Washington, July 30, 2010.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT ENTERTAINMENT BASEBALL)



Miss Iowa Katherine Connors throws out a ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, July 30, 2010, in Washington.

(AP Photo/Nick Wass)

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More photos of Photos of Adriana Vasini Miss Venezuela Mundo 2010

Official Photos of Adriana Vasini Miss Venezuela Mundo 2010 in Miss World website.







Courtesy of : Miss World

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New Photos Eva Arias Miss Dominican Rep. Universe 2010

New Photos Eva Arias Miss Dominican Rep. Universe 2010.













Photo credit : msnlatino.telemundo

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A quiet wedding Chelsea? Dream on! With 500 guests, a £3.2m bill and even a flight ban above the venue, that was NEVER going to happen

By Laura Collins


Sacred spot: The gazebo with a horseshoe of white flowers where Chelsea and Mark are saying their vows this afternoon


The groom was ‘a bundle of nerves’ and the father of the bride ‘so emotional’ he considered just getting his daughter down the aisle was ‘a major accomplishment’. As for the bride, she had, she told friends jokingly, rather hoped for a small wedding.

But it’s hard to be low-key when your big day is hailed as America’s ‘Royal wedding’, and last-minute preparations include shutting down a chunk of federal airspace, with the secret service making sure access roads to the venue are secure.


Here comes the bride: The rows of white seats for the wedding guests neatly set out in the sunshine, with a white carpet leading up to the gazebo


Yesterday afternoon Chelsea Clinton, 30, married childhood friend, financier Marc Mezvinsky, 32. And when it came down to it, the ‘hoopla’, as Chelsea described it, that comes with being the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, was worth it.

The ceremony was due to take place at 5pm local time in Astor Court, the former home of millionaire businessman John Jacob Astor IV, set in 50 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York state.


Glammed up: A wedding guest makes her way through to one of the buses in Rhinebeck which was ferrying the exclusive congregation to Chelsea's wedding


Fit for a wedding: A girl is seen carrying a dress outside the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York State, this morning


Guest list: Bill Clinton's half brother Roger strolls with his son Tyler this morning, while Ted Danson arrives for the nuptials in Rhinebeck


President Obama had reportedly offered the White House as a venue, while actor Ted Danson, a family friend, suggested his home on Martha’s Vineyard. But the couple opted for a small town 90 miles north of Manhattan and the relative seclusion of the Astor estate.

Residents inconvenienced by the circus surrounding the wedding were given a bottle of wine from Clinton Vineyards – coincidentally the name of the wine producer that neighbours the Astor estate.

The bottle came with a hand­written note of apology from the couple’s wedding planner and offered a telephone number to call if there were any problems.


Glittering: Guests wait for a bus to depart from the Delamater Inn to go to the wedding


Protection: A team of security patrol the Rhinebeck streets this morning


Line up: Limousines wait outside a hotel in Rhinebeck this morning


The night before, wellwishers lined the streets of Rhinebeck as the wedding party enjoyed a rehearsal dinner at the local Beekman Arms Inn. But though they smiled and waved, Chelsea and Marc’s parents were silent about the details of yesterday’s ceremony, which is estimated to have cost £3.2million.

With a guest list of 500, it could hardly be described as intimate but, according to one source, ‘Chelsea actually has a very small circle of friends.


It's all for our girl: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary arrive for the rehearsal dinner at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York


Green team: Bill and Hillary Clinton wave to the crowds as they arrive for the rehearsal dinner


He fits the bill: Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky are set to wed tomorrow


Of course she understood that, her parents being who they are, she didn’t have much choice but to have a big do.

So her one stipulation was that she and Marc had to have at least met everybody who was invited.’

Who received an invitation has been the subject of much speculation, but Steven Spielberg, producer Steve Bing, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey were expected to attend.

Tony Blair was believed to have been invited, but was unable to go.

Chelsea has been a vegan for more than ten years and instructed society caterer Olivier Cheng to provide vegetarian and vegan dishes for the wedding feast.

Her £7,000, five-tier wedding cake was gluten-free. But the meat-eaters among her guests would have been relieved to see that organic beef was also on the menu.


Party guy: Businessman Steve Bing leaves a party in honour of the happy couple on Friday


With gratitude: A bottle of wine and a note sent by Chelsea Clinton's wedding planner thanking the neighbour for putting up with road closures


The scale of the wedding has been made clear by the small army of workmen employed over the past week to construct pavilions and marquees at a cost of £400,000.

Tables and crockery are believed to have added another £75,000 to the bill.

But though Chelsea’s dress – thought to be designed by Vera Wang – reportedly cost between £16,000 and £20,000 and she was expected to wear £160,000 worth of jewellery (as well as her £600,000 engagement ring), her own style, according to one friend, is, ‘low-key and modest’.

She is currently studying for a masters degree at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.

And though she may be a far cry from the awkward, curly-haired 12-year-old who stood with her parents on the steps of the White House in 1992 when Bill was first elected President, Chelsea has no desire to follow her parents – mum Hillary is the US Secretary of State – into public office

The couple met as teenagers and their friendship gradually turned into romance. According to a friend of the couple: ‘Chelsea adores Marc and her parents do, too’.


So thoughtful: A note sent by Chelsea Clinton's wedding planner thanking the neighbor for putting up with road closures on the day of the wedding


Royal wedding: Well-wishers line a street across from the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck


Catering crews work on the sprawling grounds and under the tent at Astor Courts in Rhinebeck in preparation for the wedding




source:dailymail

Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19

Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19



Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19



Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19



Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19



Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19



Miss Universe Hungary 2010, Babinyecz Tímea, 19


PERSONAL DATA:

Birth Name: Timea Babinyecz
Birth Date: (age 19)
Birth Place: Szeged
Height: 5' 8" (1.72m)
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Title(s):
Major Competition(s): Miss Universe 2010





Mexico National costume for Miss Universe 2010 - Photos of Jimena Navarrete, Miss Mexico Universe 2010, in National Costume for Miss Universe 2010







Photos of Jimena Navarrete, Miss Mexico Universe 2010, in National Costume for Miss Universe 2010.

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