Gerard Butler Rescued After Surfing Accident

Gerard Butler
Sam Sharma/Pacific Coast News
FacebookTweetGerard Butler was pulled underwater and dragged over a rocky reef Sunday by a large set of waves while he was filming the surfing movie Of Men and Mavericks in Northern California. 

The actor, 42, was taken to Stanford Medical Center dazed but not seriously injured, after being rescued by a safety patrolman, according to ESPN.com.

"[Butler] had that 100-yard stare that surfers get after a two-wave hold-down or near-death experience," reports ESPN.

Piers Morgan Tries, Fails to Extricate Himself From U.K. Phone-Hacking Scandal

Well this doesn't look good.


Testifying before a government inquiry today in Great Britain about his alleged involvement in the phone hacking scandal, CNN talk-show host Piers Morgan didn't do himself any favors when he refused to answer questions about the illegal activities said to have occurred on his watch as the editor of the Daily Mail between 1995 and 2004.

"I have no reason...to believe [hacking] was going on," he told the London-based panel via video link.
During intense grilling, when asked whether he had listened in at any time to a voicemail the former Beatle left with his then-wife, Heather Mills, the newly departed America's Got Talent judge admitted that he had done so, and even acknowledged hearing Sir Paul singing "We Can Work It Out" as the couple were making up after a nasty fight.

But he declined to reveal who played the tape for him or how he even came to hear it on the grounds that "it would compromise a source."

It now appears that said source had broken the law as Mills has stated there was no way anyone might have heard the message unless she was hacked.

Per the U.K.'s Guardian, Morgan denied having listened to a hacked message. He also refuted suggestions that he was "directly involved" in hiring private investigators to ferret out information for the tabloid, nor did he condone the apparently widespread practice of paying police informants for tips.

Digging himself a deeper hole, when asked whether eavesdropping in on a private recording was ethical, the editor turned TV personality hedged.

"It doesn't necessarily follow that listening to someone else talking to someone else is unethical," he told the panel.

how to make it in america

HBO Renews 'Enlightened,' Cancels 'Hung,' 'Bored to Death,' 'How to Make It In America'
The premium cable network clears room on its schedule for upcoming series including "Luck," "Veep," "Girls" and the untitled Aaron Sorkin newsroom project.



HBO has renewed critical darling Enlightened for a second season, while opting not to move forward with three series: Hung, Bored to Death and How to Make It In America.
With a slate of upcoming series including Luck, Veep, Girls, Life's Too Short and Angry Boys, the premium cable network cleaned house Tuesday, making room on its schedule by ending the runs of the three low-rated comedies.
Hung, which stars Thomas Jane as a down-on-his-luck suburban high school basketball coach who resorts to male prostitution, returned for its third and now final 10-episode season earlier this fall.
PHOTOS: 'Enlightened' Among 2012 Golden Globe Nominees
Though the half-hour series from Dmitry Lipkin and Colette Burson fell far short of garnering the kind of accolades or viewership that other efforts including Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones did for the premium cable network, it didn't go entirely unrecognized on the award show circuit. Jane and co-star Jane Adams were each nominated for Golden Globe nominations for their roles in 2010 -- only Jane was on this year's Globes roster. In the end, neither the praise nor the ratings -- its third season finale collected 930,000 viewers, down considerably from the 2.31 million who tuned in for its Season 2 closer -- were enough to warrant another season.
Bored to Death, starring Jason Schwartzman, Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson, opened its third season to a similarly disappointing average viewership of just 240,000, a significant drop from the 1.1 million the second season garnered a year earlier.
PHOTOS: TV's Priciest Primetime Shows for Advertisers
How to Make It In America -- often dubbed Entourage for the East Village set -- also struggled to find the buzz and viewership Entourage was able to garner over its eight-season run. The Bryan Greenberg comedy closed out its second season with a paultry 560,000 viewers.
For its part, Enlightened opened to just just 210,000 total viewers in its October premiere, low even by HBO standards. While the critically praised Laura Dern vehicle continued to trot along with a limited viewership over the course of its freshman season, it earned what the other three series did not: awards show attention, picking up surprise Golden Globe nominations in both the comedy and best actress category last week.
Creator Mike White told The Hollywood Reporter last week that the nominations mean "we may have to grovel a little less for a second season." Whether or not any actual groveling occurred, White got his wish.

bill conlin

Longtime Philadelphia Daily News sports columnist Bill Conlin has been accused of sexually molesting at least four children in the 1970s, when they were aged 7 to 12.


The accusers include a niece of Conlin's who is now a prosecutor in New Jersey. Conlin has denied the accusations through his attorney.

The allegations were reported in a lengthy investigative story today by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The story, by Nancy Phillips, included some parents of the alleged victims saying they were made aware of the assaults at the time, but elected not to tell authorities.

The newspaper says no legal action can be taken against Conlin, 77, because of the statute of limitations laws that existed at the time of the alleged assaults.

The niece who is now a prosecutor, Kelley Blanchet, told the Inquirer that: "This is a tragedy. People have kept his secret. It's not just the victims, it's the victims' families. There were so many people who knew about this and did nothing."

Conlin retired Tuesday from the Daily News, just hours before the Inquirer published its story online. He had worked as a columnist and baseball reporter there for more than four decades.

Conlin's attorney, George Bochetto, told the Inquirer that: "Mr. Conlin is obviously floored by these accusations, which supposedly happened 40 years ago . . . He has engaged me to do everything possible to bring the facts forward to vindicate his name."

Blanchet told the Inquirer she was molested at about the age of 7 when Conlin visited her parent's house. She said Conlin touched her genitals and penetrated her with his fingers.

Blanchet said she, two other women and a man were going public with their accusations now because the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State had brought back memories of their ordeals.

On Nov. 11, Conlin wrote a column about the Sandusky case. Conlin essentially scoffed at people who said they would have intervened in the incident where Sandusky has been alleged to have raped a boy in a Penn State locker room.

Wrote Conlin: "Everybody says he will do the right thing, get involved, put his own ass on the line before or after the fact. But the moment itself has a cruel way of suspending our fearless intentions."

Barbara Healey, whose son Kevin and daughter Karen are among Conlin's accusers, told the Inquirer that: "I'm really sorry that I didn't do something more at the time . . . Call the police is what I should have done."

Said Karen Healey, now 44 and the mother of three: "Nobody called the cops . . . Everyone went back to living their lives. It's never talked about. None of the kids are offered therapy. We all go on with our lives."

Earlier this year Conlin was given one of his profession's highest honors, when he was presented with the J.G. Taylor Spink Award by the Baseball Writers Association of America at the Baseball Hall of Fame. He also gained national attention as an oft-bombastic commentator on ESPN's The Sports Reporters.

Greenhill Says Two Managing Directors

Greenhill Says Two Managing Directors Died in N.J. Plane Crash



Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Greenhill & Co. managing directors Jeffrey F. Buckalew and Rakesh Chawla died yesterday aboard a single-engine plane that crashed on a New Jersey highway.

Buckalew’s wife, Corinne, and two children also were on the plane owned by Buckalew, an experienced pilot, according to a statement from New York-based advisory firm Greenhill. There were no survivors, New Jersey police said in a post on Twitter.

“The firm is in deep mourning over the tragic and untimely death of two of its esteemed colleagues and members of Jeff’s family,” Chairman Robert Greenhill and Chief Executive Officer Scott Bok said in the statement yesterday. “Jeff was one of the first employees of Greenhill. He and Rakesh were extraordinary professionals who were highly respected by colleagues and clients alike.”

Buckalew, 45, led Greenhill’s North American advisory activities. He started at the firm in 1996, the year it was founded, after working at Salomon Brothers, according to the company. Chawla, 36, was a managing director for the financial- services sector. He joined Greenhill in 2003 from Blackstone Group LP.

The men were traveling on business for Greenhill, said a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because that detail hadn’t been made public.

The plane crashed on Interstate 287 in Harding, New Jersey, about 35 miles west of Manhattan, after taking off from Teterboro Airport, state police said on Twitter. The plane was en route to DeKalb-Peachtree Airport near Atlanta, according to flightaware.com. No one on the ground was killed, according to the New York Daily News, which quoted witnesses as saying the plane appeared to have broken up in flight.

Discussed Icing

A wing was found in a tree about a quarter-mile away, the Associated Press reported. The news service said the plane, a Socata TBM 700 single-engine turboprop, departed at 9:50 a.m. local time and crashed 14 minutes later after the pilot had discussed icing with flight controllers.

The Socata reached about 126 knots as it climbed and then slowed to 90 knots about 10 a.m., according to flight log data captured by flightaware.com. The plane’s stall speed is about 80 knots, meaning it might have gone into a spin or tumble and that the pilot’s efforts to recover may have overstressed the wing, said Bill Waldock, a professor of safety science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s campus in Prescott, Arizona.

“Ice is going to be a factor they will look at and why it started slowing down,” Waldock said. “If the plane had much ice, that’s going to increase drag tremendously, further slowing the plane.”

Medical Exam

Buckalew received a private-pilot’s license in June 2010, which let him fly a single-engine airplane and use instruments for takeoff and landing, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration data. His last medical exam was in July, FAA records show.

The address listed on Buckalew’s FAA license was the same address listed for Cool Stream LLC, the registered owner of the Socata. The flight deck of the aircraft accommodates a pilot and one passenger, and the main cabin provides seating for as many as five, according to airliners.net.

There were 852 accidents in the U.S. involving personal aircraft during the first 10 months of this year, killing 279 people, according to a Dec. 1 report from the National Transportation Safety Board. There were 25 commercial aircraft accidents in the period, mostly involving turbulence and none of which caused fatalities or substantial damage, the report shows.

‘Wonderful Man’

Buckalew, who received a bachelor’s degree and master’s in business administration from the University of North Carolina, advised on transactions in various industries, including VF Corp.’s $1.97 billion purchase of Timberland Co., Bok said in an e-mailed statement.

“Jeff was a wonderful man,” Craig W. Ashmore, who leads M&A strategy for Emerson Electric Co., said in an e-mailed statement. “He was an exceptional banker who gave Emerson insightful advice, and he was even-tempered, thoughtful and just fun to be around.”

Buckalew often won the company’s annual summer golf outing, Bok said in the statement, and Golf Digest had named him among the top golfers in finance.

Chawla received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Bok said in the statement. He helped to advise the U.S. Treasury Department on managing and disposing of the government’s majority stake in American International Group Inc., the New York-based insurer bailed out during the 2008 financial crisis, according to Bok.

Greenhill owns a plane used by employees for business travel and by Robert Greenhill and his family for business and personal travel, the firm said in a March regulatory filing. Greenhill personnel also use airplanes owned by the chairman for business travel, the filing shows.

--With assistance from Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta and James Langford in New York. Editors: Rick Green, Peter Eichenbaum, Dan Reichl

To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Marcinek in New York at lmarcinek3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net

lee eun mi

Lee Eun Mi's murderer sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Seoul High Court sentenced murderer and ex-boyfriend of singer Lee Eun Mi to 17 years in prison on Dec. 19.

The judge presiding over the appeal said, "The convicted party was dumped by the victim and met with her to come to a resolution. However, upon meeting and hearing some unpleasant words from the deceased, the convicted party stabbed his ex-girlfriend with a knife he had brought along with him. Thus the murder was planned and due to the violent nature of the crime, we came to the decision that the verdict should reflect this".

In the original trial, the convicted was sentenced to 20 years in prison. When asked why three years have been reduced from the sentence the judge stated, "The guilty party has shown remorse about the crime he committed and we have taken into consideration the fact that he gave 10 million won ($8,520) to the victim's family in an effort to repent for his wrongdoing".

The murdered singer belonged to the band Iris and was stabbed 62 times on June 19 when she announced her decision to break up with her lover. The murderer was arrested by police a day later at a roadside convenience store.

adeline teo

Remember Singapore Faith Ong Pictures? Back in 2008, Singapore Faith Ong pictures were all over the Internet. She was 21 years-old then. Faith Ong posted seven of her own pictures on the social site Friendster. One of Faith Ong  pics featured her in the bilik mandi (bath room). Anyway, Faith Ong Friendster page has already been deleted.

Then there was Singapore Adeline Teo who was a finalist of the FHM Girl Next Door 2007 Contest. Her racy pictures were exposed to the public at the same time with Edison Chan naughty scandal. According to a source, Adeline Teo’s pictures were leaked out because a photographer forgot to close his account that contain her hot shots.