Lady Gaga eyes legal action over breast milk ice cream

LONDON (AFP) – Lawyers for US pop icon Lady Gaga have threatened legal proceedings against the makers of breast milk ice cream named "Baby Gaga", according to papers seen by AFP on Saturday.

The New York singer's lawyers have given the manufacturers until 1600 GMT Wednesday to change the name "if you wish to avoid proceedings for trade mark infringement and passing off", according to a letter addressed to London restaurant The Icecreamists Limited.

The cafe in the trendy Covent Garden district must also "cease and desist from in any other way associating with Lady Gaga any ice cream you are offering," said the letter from law firm Mishcon de Reya.

The letter accuses The Icecreamists of "taking unfair advantage of, and riding on the coattails of" Lady Gaga's trademarks in a manner that is "deliberately provocative and, to many people, nausea-inducing".

The ice cream has proved a big hit, with the first batch sold out within days of going on sale. It is made with milk expressed by 15 women who replied to an advertisement posted on an online mothers' forum.

Each serving costs £14 and is brought out by waitresses wearing flamboyant costumes, something Lady Gaga is well-known for.

But it is now off the menu after Westminster City Council, the local authority, seized the ice cream for health and safety checks.

"We are taking the ice cream away for samples," a spokeswoman told AFP, adding that they expected the results on Monday.

"It's not a ban. The owner has voluntarily agreed not to make any more or sell any more until we've got all the results."

Breast milk could carry viral infections, including hepatitis, she explained.

The manufacturers have said they use the same screening procedures as blood donation centres or milk banks in London.

LeBron James smacks Chris Bosh on the head with a pass

By Kelly Dwyer

In the third quarter of Miami's embarrassing loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday, LeBron James(notes) hit Chris Bosh(notes) in the head with a pass. Or a basketball, even.

We see quite a few games every NBA season. Players have kicked balls on accident, taken elbows to all parts of their face, and fallen on several types of embarrassing body parts. But a pass to the head, like that?

That's a new one, Miami. Congratulations.

young and hungry for jobs

By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press Brian Murphy, Associated Press – 2 hrs 56 mins ago
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Just days before fleeing Tunisia, the embattled leader went on national television to promise 300,000 new jobs over two years.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak did much the same Saturday as riots gripped Cairo and other cities: offering more economic opportunities in a country where half the people live on less than $2 a day.

The pledges-under-siege have something else in common: an acknowledgment that the unprecedented anger on Arab streets is at its core a long-brewing rage against decades of economic imbalances that have rewarded the political elite and left many others on the margins.

The startling speed — less than two months since the first protests in Tunisia — underscored the wobbly condition of the systems used by some Arab regimes to hold power since the 1980s or earlier. The once formidable mix of economic cronyism and hard-line policing — which authorities sometime claim was needed to fight Islamic hard-liners or possible Israeli spies — now appears under serious strain from societies pushing back against the old matrix.

Mubarak and other Arab leaders have only to look to Cairo's streets: a population of 18 million with about half under 30 years old and no longer content to have a modest civil servant job as their top aspiration.

One protester in Cairo waved a hand-drawn copy of his university diploma amid clouds of tear gas and shouted what may best sum up the complexities of the domino-style unrest in a single word: Jobs.

"They are taking us lightly and they don't feel our frustration," said another protester, homemaker Sadat Abdel Salam. "This is an uprising of the people and we will not shut up again."

The narrative of economic injustice has surrounded the protests from the beginning.

"The regimes and the leaders are the ones under fire, but it's really about despair over the future," said Sami Alfaraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies. "The faces of this include the young man with a university degree who cannot find work or the mother who has trouble feeding her family."

Tunisia's mutiny that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was touched off by a struggling 26-year-old university graduate who lit himself on fire after police confiscated his fruit and vegetable cart in December. Apparent copycat self-immolations quickly spread to Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere.

In Yemen, the poorest nation on the Arabian peninsula, sporadic riots have forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh into quick economic concessions, including slashing income taxes in half and ordering price controls on food and basic goods.

On Friday in Jordan, thousands of marchers clogged streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai and call for measures to control rising prices and unemployment. Many chanted: "Rifai go away, prices are on fire and so are the Jordanians."

King Abdullah II also has tried to dampen the fury by promising reforms, and the prime minister announced a $550 million package of new subsidies for fuel and staple products like rice, sugar, livestock and liquefied gas used for heating and cooking.

What feeds the flames is common across much of the Arab world: young populations, a growing middle class seeking more opportunities and access to websites and international cable channels, such as Al-Jazeera, which have eroded the state's hold on the media.

There are no clear signs on whether more protests could erupt.

Syria's authoritarian regime remains in firm control and has taken gradual steps to open up the economy. Rulers in the wealthy Gulf states have the luxuries of relatively small populations that often receive generous state benefits and other largesse. Kuwait's emir, for example, pledged this month 1,000 dinars ($3,559) and free food coupons for each citizen to mark several anniversaries, including the 1991 U.S.-led invasion that drove out Saddam Hussein's army.

But there have been stirrings of discontent in North Africa. Earlier this month, security forces in Algeria clashed with opposition activists staging a rally apparently inspired by neighboring Tunisia. In Mauritania, a businessman died after setting himself ablaze in a protest against the government.

A state-backed newspaper in Abu Dhabi, The National, ran interviews from four men from across the Middle East describing their trouble finding work. One 33-year-old Syrian, who has an English literature degree from Damascus University, complained he cannot find a teaching job or afford to get married.

"I feel as though I am in the Samuel Beckett play `Waiting for Godot,' which I studied during my degree," Khaled Kapoun was quoted as saying. "I keep hoping that tomorrow a job will come along."

Even high Arab officials have expressed unusual candor following Tunisia's upheaval.

Earlier this month, the head of the Arab League warned that the "Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession."

"The Tunisian revolution is not far from us," Amr Moussa said in his opening address to the 20 Arab leaders and other representatives of Arab League members gathered in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. "The Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration."

Moussa, who is Egyptian, called for an Arab "renaissance" aimed at creating jobs and addressing shortcomings in society.

But at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some experts said an education overhaul is needed in the region to shift from emphasis on state jobs to more dynamic private sector demands.

"Many people have degrees but they do not have the skill set," Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Asia department of the International Monetary Fund, said earlier this week.

"The scarce resource is talent," agreed Omar Alghanim, a prominent Gulf businessman. The employment pool available in the region "is not at all what's needed in the global economy."

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – The Facebook tale "The Social Network" won top honors Sunday at the Golden Globes with four prizes, including best drama and director, solidifying its prospects as an Academy Awards favorite.

Winning the dramatic lead-acting prizes were Colin Firth for the British monarchy saga "The King's Speech" and Natalie Portman for the psychosexual thriller "Black Swan."

Lead-acting honors for the Globes' musical or comedy categories went to Annette Bening for the lesbian-family story "The Kids Are All Right" and Paul Giamatti for the curmudgeon tale "Barney's Version."

The boxing drama "The Fighter" earned both supporting actor Globes, for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.

David Fincher, directing winner for "The Social Network," said he thought it was strange when "The Social Network" script came to him, since he usually makes dark character studies about misanthropes or films about serial killers. His films include the murder tales "Seven" and "Zodiac."

"I'm personally loath to acknowledge the kind of wonderful response this film has received for fear of becoming addicted to it, so suffice it to say, it's been really nice," said Fincher, whose film also won the Globes for screenplay for Aaron Sorkin and musical score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Sorkin, creator of TV's "The West Wing," had kind words for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network."

"Mark Zuckerberg, if you're watching, Rooney Mara makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie. She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a great visionary and an incredible altruist," Sorkin said.

The win by Portman for her role as a ballerina coming unhinged amid a production of "Swan Lake" sets her up for a two-woman showdown for best actress at the Feb, 27 Oscars with Bening, who won for her role as a stern lesbian mom in "The Kids Are All Right," which also won for best musical or comedy film.

It's familiar territory for Bening. She won the same prize at the Globes 11 years ago for "American Beauty" and went in as the best-actress favorite at the Oscars, where she lost to Globe dramatic actress winner Hilary Swank for "Boys Don't Cry."

Portman thanked the film's choreographer, her fiance Benjamin Millepied, with whom she's expecting a child. He also appears in the movie, and his character doesn't want to sleep with hers.

"He's the best actor! It's not true, he totally wants to sleep with me," Portman said, giggling.

"Barney's Version" follows the many loves in his life: his three wives, played by Rachelle Lefevre, Minnie Driver and Rosamund Pike, whom Giamatti described as "a trifecta of hotties."

"I got to smoke and drink and get laid in this movie and I got paid for it. An amazing, amazing thing," Giamatti said.

Bening won the musical or comedy actress prize in a field that included "The Kids Are All Right" co-star Julianne Moore. The film stars Bening and Moore as a couple whose family falls into turmoil after their teen children seek out the sperm donor that fathered them.

"I'm very proud to be a part of this very special film about two women who are deeply in love and try to keep their family together," Bening said. "My partner, Julianne Moore, I have to thank first. She asked me to do the picture with her. She made it possible for us to shoot it where we shot it, when we did, so Julianne -- you are a class act, thank you."

The buzz around town on Globes weekend was not only about likely winners, but also about a lawsuit filed Thursday by a former longtime publicist for the Globes claiming the organization that runs the show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, engages in payola schemes for nominations and awards. The allegations have been denied by the HFPA, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets.

Ricky Gervais returned as Globes host for the second-straight year. Gervais joked that Globe nominees weren't picked just so that Globe voters could hang out with stars such as Depp.

"They also accepted bribes," Gervais said, referring to the publicist lawsuit.

Philip Berk, who heads the HFPA, made no reference to the lawsuit during his appearance early in the show, simply offering a perfunctory plug for the quality of Hollywood movies.

Gervais pulled few punches as the night progressed, mocking Hugh Hefner, Charlie Sheen, Cher, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Scientologists and Robert Downey Jr., among others.

"Aside from the fact that it's been hugely mean-spirited, with mildly sinister undertones, I'd say the vibe of the show is pretty good so far, wouldn't you?" Downey, a presenter, shot back, perhaps only half-jokingly.

Bale, who won for his role as a former boxer whose career unraveled amid drugs and crime, thanked his collaborators on "The Fighter," among them director David O. Russell and star and producer Mark Wahlberg, who plays boxer Micky Ward to Bale's Dicky Eklund, Ward's older half brother.

"I've really got to give a shout out to Mark, because he drove this whole movie, and you can only give a loud performance like the one I gave when you have a quiet anchor and a stoic character," Bale said. "I've played that one many times, and it never gets any notice."

Bale seems to be on the same awards track as his "Batman" co-star, the late Heath Ledger, was two years ago, when he won supporting actor at the Globes for "The Dark Knight" on the way to earning a posthumous Oscar.

Leo, who plays the domineering mother of Ward and Eklund, had gushing words for all of her co-stars -- along with her own mother and other ancestors.

"Here in Southern California, home of my mother, her mother, her mother before her -- look Mom, I got a Golden Globe!" Leo said. "Mark Wahlberg, you are a prince, you are amazing. It was so beautiful to play your mother."

"Toy Story 3," the top-grossing film released last year and the second sequel to 1995's digital animation pioneer "Toy Story," won the Globe for animated films, making Disney's Pixar Animation unit five-for-five in the category since it was added in 2006. Past Pixar winners are "Up," "WALL-E," "Ratatouille" and "Cars."

"Wow, were you two even born when the first `Toy Story' came out?" "Toy Story 3" director Lee Unkrich said to his award's presenters, 16-year-old pop star Justin Bieber and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld, co-star of the hit Western "True Grit."

Robert De Niro received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement.

The usually taciturn De Niro gave an uncharacteristically interesting acceptance speech, making jokes about members of the HFPA being deported (along with most of the waiters working the event) and suggesting that most people in the room hadn't seen a lot of the films he was proud of, including "Stone," "Marvin's Room" and "Stanley and Iris."

"Some of you would be seeing them for the first time. You didn't even watch the screeners, did you?" De Niro said.

Among TV winners, "Glee" won three prizes, best comedy and supporting-acting prizes for Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer. "Boardwalk Empire" won two prizes, for best drama and dramatic actor for Steve Buscemi.

The Globe ceremony traditionally had a strong track record as a forecast for what film would win best picture at the Oscars. But the two shows have split in recent times, with only one top Globe recipient — 2008's "Slumdog Millionaire" — also winning the main prize at the Oscars over the past six years.

A year ago, the sci-fi sensation "Avatar" won best drama at the Globes, but the Iraq War saga "The Hurt Locker" took best picture at the Oscars.

BRISBANE, Australia (AP)—Top-seeded Robin Soderling beat defending champion Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 Sunday to win the Brisbane International singles title at Pat Rafter Arena.

With torrential rain falling outside the roofed but outdoor stadium, Soderling’s strong serve and pinpoint return of serve stymied Roddick throughout the match and enabled the Swedish player to finish the tournament without dropping a set.

“He had a great week, played well today and served too well,” Roddick said. “Every time I had a look in, he came up with one of those big serves. I’m usually on this side, but today I was on the other side.”

Chair umpire Fergus Murphy called the players off the court after rain blew in through a gap between the stands and the roof. The delay at 4-4 in the second set appeared to be prompted by Roddick slipping on the baseline.

During the break, Roddick was heard to tell Murphy: “I am not getting hurt before the (Australian) Open,” which begins Jan. 17.

After the match, Roddick endeared himself to the crowd of about 5,000, first by jokingly offering to buy umbrellas for the spectators at the top of the stadium who got wet due to the heavy rain.

He then doubled his contribution to victims of extreme flooding in Queensland state, of which Brisbane is the state capital. Ten people have died since late November and about 200,000 have been affected by the floods, and roads and rail lines have been cut.

Roddick pledged $100 for each of his 54 aces during the tournament. He then said he would double that amount and told the crowd that if they each contributed $2 to the flood appeal, they’d match his total.

In the women’s final Saturday, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-1, 6-3.