Euro Top 20. The best music for you!

Facebook Deals UK goes live

Facebook Deals (www.facebook.com/deals/) will launch in five European countries with the UK first to spearhead the new service for Europe say Facebook.

“It’s word of mouth at scale,” said Joanna Shields, the vice president of EMEA at Facebook explaining how the new service will work.

Facebook users will be able to check for places nearby via the Facebook Places feature within their smartphone app and then see which place has a deal. Clicking on the shop, café, or restaurant will show the deal available like “buy a coffee and get a muffin free.”
Users then just have to show that coupon to the shop when they place the order to get the deal.

WEBSITE OF THE DAY - On The Snow

We start a week of website recommendations dedicated to the white stuff with www.onthesnow.com, arguably one of the best all-rounders for skiing info and advice.
It’s a US-based site, but their resort reports are truly global and we reckon they’re about as up to date as any local services we checked in comparison. You can switch to your local version too, but if you’re still choosing your destination, the .com landing page gives a wider range of destinations. Either way, you simply choose where it is you're heading to the slopes and the site will give the latest weather and snow conditions.
The Gear Guide is a good place to see what’s hot on the piste this season (it’s all about how you look really, isn’t it?) so a few minutes spent here before you travel will leave you well informed and looking the business.
It’s all downhill from then on.

Britain’s taste in 20th century pop songs is nothing to be proud of

Well, we’re a cheesy lot who like a good singalong delivered with a bit of colour and panache. Or so it would seem judging by the BPI’s sales statistic for the best-selling albums in Britain from 1956 to 2009:

1.       Greatest Hits – Queen (first released in 1981, 5.7 million)

2.       Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967, 4.9 million)

3.       Gold: Greatest Hits – Abba (1992, 4.6 million

4.       What’s The Story Morning Glory? – Oasis (1996, 4.4 million)

5.       Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits (1985, 4.1 million)

Queen, The Beatles, Abba and even Oasis are poptastic groups, who marry a fantastic sense of melody and song structure to a swaggering presentation, whether it is ABBA’s jumpsuit glamour or Oasis’s gang aggression.

And then there’s Dire Straits Brothers In Arms. It is, to be fair, Mark Knopfler’s strongest collection of songs, that rode in on the first CD wave and a massive MTV-orientated hit with Money For Nothing. And we clearly do like a bit of silvery, twiddly guitar too, with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon hovering just outside the top five.

Dg zinios vasario pradzia

Daily art news

LAUSANNE.- The Fondation de l’Hermitage in Lausanne is organizing a major exhibition devoted to Spanish art at the dawn of the 20th century. Focusing on painters of “The Generation of 1898” who emerged from the severe upheavals endured by Spain throughout the 19th century, the exhibition highlights how these artists evolved. Oscillating between respect for Hispanic traditions and modernity, their works were part of the contemporary surge to broaden horizons that arose among the Spanish avant-garde. 

Auschwitz remembered, January 27, 1945

Sixty-six years ago Auschwitz stopped functioning. This is commemorated around the world as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The biggest extermination camp of Nazi Germany’s Third Reich was in annexed south-western Poland. Ninety percent of its victims were Jews.

The advancing Red Army of the Soviet Union arrived on January 27, 1945. The Soviets found a few thousand prisoners left, in a camp that had been partly destroyed by the retreating Germans.

The survivors and the material evidence pointed to the mass murder that had taken place in Auschwitz. Though warehouses had been burnt, the gas chambers still stand to this day.

Adolf Hitler called the industrialised attempt to exterminate all the Jews of Europe “the final solution”.

Israel’s official memorial to the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, at Auschwitz and elsewhere, is a 180,000 m2 complex called Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem.

Can you imagine to work here? Working in Google is like in dream :)

The top 10 singles and albums on iTunes

Tunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending Jan. 24, 2011:

Singles:

1. "Grenade," Bruno Mars
2. "Black and Yellow," Wiz Khalifa
3. "Hold It Against Me," Britney Spears
4. "Tonight (feat. Ludacris & DJ Frank E)," Enrique Iglesias
5. "Firework," Katy Perry
6. "F(asterisk)(asterisk)kin' Perfect," P!nk
7. "Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) (feat. T-Pain)," Pitbull
8. "Coming Home," Skylar Grey, Diddy — Dirty Money
9. "The Time (Dirty Bit)," Black Eyed Peas
10. "We R Who We R," Ke$ha
Albums:
1. "The King Is Dead," The Decemberists
2. "Science & Faith," The Script
3. "Teenage Dream," Katy Perry
4. "Sigh No More," Mumford & Sons
5. "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes," Social Distortion
6. "Some Kind of Trouble," James Blunt
7. "Country Strong (More Music from the Motion Picture)," Various Artists
8. "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," Bruno Mars
9. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," Kanye West
10. "Speak Now," Taylor Swift

The Best Photo of the Day from http://www.artdaily.com

NEW YORK.- A general view of the art installation, The Roses, by US artist Will Ryman on Park Avenue in New York, New York, USA, 25 January 2011. The Roses cover 10 blocks of Park Avenue with an unseasonable crop of giant pink and red rose blossoms. 

http://www.artdaily.com

Jack Black nominated for 'worst actor' award

Golden Raspberry Awards 2011 - or Razzies - are announced on eve of Oscar nominations

Jack Black has been nominated for a Razzie Award for 'Worst Actor' in the traditional pre-Oscar nomination night awards that recognise all that is bad in films.

The nominations for Golden Raspberry Awards - or Razzie for short - were announced on Sunday night, with Jennifer Aniston nominated for Worst Actress for her role in The Bounty Hunter and The Switch.

The blockbuster supernatural tale "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and the action fantasy "The Last Airbender" tied for the most nominations with nine each, including worst picture.

The Razzies lineup was announced a day before Oscar nominations come out. Razzie winners, chosen by the group's 600 voters, will be announced on 26th February, the night before the Oscars.

The awards, founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, precede the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day. The term raspberry in the name is used in its irreverent sense, as in "blowing a raspberry". The awards themselves typically cost around £5 each, in the form of a "golfball-sized raspberry" which sits atop a Super 8 mm film reel, the whole of which is spray-painted gold.

See  Nominations

Daily art news

This Oct. 15, 2009 file photo shows the famous 3,300-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti seen at the "Neues Museum", New Museum, on the so-called Museum Island during a media preview in Berlin, Germany. Egypt has officially requested the return of the bust, which has been in Berlin decades. Dating back to the 14th century B.C. monarch, it tops Egypt's wish list of artifacts the country hopes to bring back as part of a campaign to retrieve thousands of antiquities spirited out during the colonial period and afterward. 

 RADFORD, VA.- Community leaders and officials from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and Radford University gathered on Thursday evening, Jan. 20, for a preview event celebrating the opening of “Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Whistler: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts,” an exhibition commemorating the museum’s 75th anniversary. Supported by Altria Group, the special exhibition is open to the public and is featured in the Radford University Art Museum, located in the Covington Center for Visual and Performing Arts, from Jan. 21 - March 4, 2011. Admission is free.

Deadly blast at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport

Up to 31 people have reportedly been killed in an explosion at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport according to the Russian Health Ministry. Some 130 more are said to have been injured in what the Investigative Committee believes to be a terror attack.

20 people are reported to be in grave condition.

The heavy smoke at the site of the explosion is hampering the efforts of the emergency workers establishing if there are any more victims in the area, a ministry spokesperson says. There are reports that the bomb was packed with shrapnel.

People are being evacuated. Airport workers have destroyed a brick wall near the luggage claim area to let the passengers leave the area of the explosion.

An initial probe indicates the blast was a terrorist attack caused by a suicide bomber. Another theory is the bomb may have arrived in one of the bags.

Moscow police have been put on alert over possible terror attacks in the capital. Police are also on alert at Vnukovo airport and Sheremetyevo international airport in Moscow, and in the metro system.

International flights are being redirected to other Moscow area airports. Some 80 emergency teams are already on the spot. The first groups of injured passengers have already been taken to hospital.

Medvedev is holding an urgent meeting with the Prosecutor General, the Investigative Committee Chief and the Transportation Minister.

According to reports the explosion happened at 4:30pm in the luggage claim area in the international arrivals wing of the airport. The explosion power was equivalent to 5 to 10 kilograms of TNT.

A criminal case has been opened into the incident. Police are searching for three suspects in connection with the blast.

Hot line incident telephones:

8 (495) 363-61-01

8 (495) 662-82-47

8 (495) 644-40-56

Bruce Springsteen records 1913 song

Rock legend to duet with Dropkick Murphys on song called Peg O' My Heart.

Bruce Springsteen will appear on the new album by Dropkick Murphys singing a 1913 song called Peg O' My Heart. Peg O' My Heart was composed by Alfred Bryan and Fred Fisher and featured in the 1913 musical Ziegfeld Follies. The song, performed by Max Harris and his Novelty Trio (based on a version by The Harmonicats), was used as the theme of the Dennis Potter's BBC television series The Singing Detective in 1986. Springsteen duets with frontman Ken Casey on a cover of the song and Casey said of the duet: "It links two generations. We're spanning a lot of years of music here, yet our songs share similar themes, stories, and values." The track features on the band's seventh studio album Going Out In Style, due for release on February 28. The album also features a guest appearance from NOFX frontman Fat Mike.

Bob Dylan signs deal to write six books

Singer vows to write 'interesting' follow-up to his acclaimed Chronicles.

Bob Dylan has signed a six-book deal with Simon & Schuster, encompassing two sequels to his acclaimed 2004 book Chronicles: Volume One as well as another book based on dialogue from his Sirius/XM radio show "Theme Time Radio Hour."

The remaining three books on the deal have yet to be finalised. Dylan's literary agent Andrew Wylie had reportedly been seeking an eight-figure deal for the books.

The first book was published in 2006 and Dylan said at the time: "The reviews of this book, some of 'em almost made me cry - in a good way. I'd never felt that from a music critic, ever....Most people who write about music, they have no idea what it feels like to play it. But with the book I wrote, I thought, 'The people who are writing reviews of this book, man, they know what the hell they're talking about.' It spoils you."

Dylan has talked before about his possible plans for Chronicles: Volume 2, saying: "I think I can go back to the 'Blonde on Blonde' album - that's probably about as far back as I can go on the next book. Then I'll probably go forward. I thought of an interesting time.

Daily art news

NEW YORK (AP).- For more than a century, tens of thousands worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, building some of the nation's most storied warships — sailing frigates, Civil War ironclads, gunboats, sloops and 20th-century warships and submarines. The yard's sprawling hospital treated soldiers from the 1860s through World War II. Now, more than four decades after the largest-scale shutdown of any military facility in U.S. history, the Navy Yard is coming to life again.
Today, the 300-acre facility hums as a vibrant industrial park with the Steiner Studios, the largest film and television complex outside Hollywood, and hundreds of other businesses. A $25.5 million museum and visitor's center under construction, the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92, will highlight the shipyard's 210-year history with blueprints, maps, photos and vintage tools. 

Daily art news

Luis M. Chiappe, director of the Dinosaur Institute, in white shirt, talks with a journalist at a preview of a Tyrannosaurus rex growth exhibit, featuring three specimens of varying ages, at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011. Featured are fossils of a 30-foot-long young adult, about 18 years old, upper left; a 20-foot-long juvenile, about 14, right; and an 11-foot-long baby, about 2, said to be the youngest known specimen, lower left. The T. rex trio will be the centerpiece of a new, expanded Dinosaur Hall, with some 300 fossils, 20 full-body specimens, interactive and video exhibits, in two large galleries that will more than double the previous space. The hall is scheduled to open to the public in July, 2011

Pushy parents? To a pointe

Does ballet attract too many over-pushy parents, asks Judith Woods.

'The key to running a successful ballet school is boundaries and good discipline. Not just for the students – I’m talking about the mothers. You have to show them who’s boss or they will try and push you around.”

Judith Townsend runs the West London Dance Academy, which has 300 pupils, aged from three to 14. Herself a classically trained dancer, Townsend learned the art of crystal-clear communication from her mother. “When I was a girl, doing competitions – which are quite brutal, because you stand in a line before the judges either in abject misery or basking in glory – my mother would say that if I ever dared to walk off crying or in a strop, that would be my last ever competition, so I always kept my head held high.”

Coldplay in French festival show

French festival show announced On Sunday, 3rd July 2011, Coldplay will headline the Main Square Festival at Arras in Northern France. Other acts performing that day include Portishead, PJ Harvey and Elbow. Tickets for the festival cost 69 Euros for one day and 135 Euros for three days. They go on sale at 10am local time on Wednesday, 26th January from www.mainsquarefestival.fr. .

From coldplay.com

Anchorman
 

Dave Grohl's 2011: Muppets, tours and a new album

Foo Fighters will peform in UK to promote new album

Dave Grohl's action packed year will feature an NME award, a new album, a major tour with the Foo Fighters and a cameo in the new Muppets film. Grohl has described Foo Fighters new album as "massive". It is the follow-up to 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, is set for release in Spring. He said: ''There's 11 songs and front to back there's not one sleepy ballad. It's different to any other Foo Fighters album because it just sounds big. It was really inspiring." The Foo Fighters finished work on their seventh studio album today, according to a post on the group's Twitter account Tuesday. "Ladies and gentlemen ... we are officially done. Champagne, anyone?," said the post, which was accompanied by a shot of frontman Dave Grohl holding a bottle of bubbly alongside band and crew. The as-yet-untitled 11-song album, due out in the spring via RCA Records, marks the follow-up to 2007's "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace." Four new songs -- "Back + Forth," "White Limo," "Dear Rosemary" and "These Days" -- were previewed during a secret show in Los Angeles last month.

Daily art news

PARIS - Sotheby's art handlers install the painting "La Lecture" by artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) at Sotheby's auction house in Paris January 19, 2011. "La Lecture", a 1932 portrait of Picasso's mistress Marie-Therese Walter, with an estimated price of up to $29 million, will be the main piece among several Impressionist modern and contemporary artworks that will be auctioned at Sotheby's London in February.

Jennifer Aniston: The one where the stars of Friends spent 10 years together

Read more on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8266238/Jennifer-Aniston-The-one-where-the-stars-of-Friends-spent-10-years-together.html

Sport news

MADRID (Euroleague) - Losing a big center on the eve of the Euroleague Top 16 isn't an ideal scenario for any team but such is the case for Zalgiris Kaunas.

The Lithuania giants have waved good-bye to 25-year-old Slovenian Mirza Begic, who has joined Real Madrid.

Begic, 25, scored nearly 10 points and five rebounds per game in the Regular Season in Europe for Zalgiris.

The club, which appointed Greek Elias Zouros as coach at the end of last week, take on Power Electronics Valencia on Wednesday night in Spain.

Begic has signed a deal that will keep him with Madrid through the 2012-13 campaign.

The Slovenian will still get a chance to play in the Euroleague this season as Madrid have also reached the Top 16. They host Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday.

Tour de France cheat Floyd Landis calls for legalisation of doping. Disgraced Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has called on cycling authorities to legalise doping because he believes testers will always struggle to uncover the cheats.

Australian Open 2011: Rafael Nadal remains on course after brushing aside Ryan Sweeting in straight sets. Rafael Nadal has continued his smooth progress at the Australian Open to set up a third-round meeting with home favourite Bernard Tomic.

From: http://www.fiba.com/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/

Rock's in a hard place

Last year, only three of the top 100 songs were by rock bands. Neil McCormick salutes the end of an era .

Is rock dead? The claim has been made before, usually prematurely. But evidence is mounting that we are witnessing the last gasps of the guitar-based genre that has towered over the popular music world since the 1950s.
As I pointed out last week in a blog – “How rock died (and nobody noticed)” – rock music, in any of its varied forms, has almost completely disappeared from the charts. This excited some controversy, with stories appearing elsewhere both issuing death certificates and defending rock’s survival skills.
Jim Morrison was probably the first to coin the phrase as far back as 1969, repeating, “Rock is dead” over and over in a widely bootlegged jam. In fact, the genre outlived the singer.
There were plenty who said rock was a spent force during the age of Seventies disco before punk brought distorted guitars back with a vengeance. Despite the rise of new wave, indie and stadium rock in the Eighties, the creative credibility of guitar music was seriously challenged by the pop, hip hop, electro and techno movements of that decade.

Daily art news

 LONDON.- This retrospective of the leading Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco (b 1962) is the largest presentation of his most critically acclaimed works in the UK. The exhibition by Gabriel Orozco is on display until April 11, 2011 at the Tate Modern. A sculptor of global significance, Orozco draws on the histories of western and Latin American art practice with limitless innovation and experimentation. Featuring over 80 works, and a new installation never previously exhibited, the survey highlights Orozco’s substantial production of sculpture, photography, drawing and painting. 

Radwanska loses her raquet

Agnieszka Radwanska literally loses her racquet at Australian Open 2011.

'Shoah' documentary screening

The Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum invites you to commemorate International Holocaust Rememberance Day. The commemoration will take place at the Centre for Tolerance of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, on Jan. 26 at 10 a.m.

On the eve of Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Centre for Tolerance of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum presents the international prize winning documentary cycle "Shoah” created by the French director Claude Lanzmann (b. 1925), which lasts nine and a half hours.

From 10 a.m. until 8.00 p.m. the cycle of the documentary movies will be shown without intervals in the movie hall of the Centre for Tolerance (Naugarduko Str. 10/2, Vilnius). Visitors can come and go at their convenience all day long.

Shoah premiered in Paris in 1985. After watching the documentaries, the famous French philosopher Simon de Beauvoir expressed her opinion to the French newspaper La Monde: "I have never imagined such a combination of beauty and horror… A real masterpiece.”

The premiere of the film had a great impact on the world from the cinematographic and historical aspect – the dialectics of the film became the subject of articles, books, seminars.

While recording the memories of the Jewish survivors, German perpetrators and Polish peasants bystanders, Lanzmann brakes from the pure historical documentary genre.

you need to get off facebook

Bruno Mars topples Rihanna from top of UK singles chart

American pop star Bruno Mars has fired Rihanna from the top of the charts with his new single Grenade.

It is the second number one for the singer-songwriter who was acclaimed for his debut hit, Just the Way You Are, last year. The song is also in the top 20, holding onto the number 17 slot.

His chart success comes in the week he was nominated for the International Breakthrough Act in the Brit Awards and saw his new tour, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, sell out in record time.

Jessie J, winner of the BBC's Sound of 2011, saw her first single Do It Like a Dude climb the charts to claim the number two spot with Rihanna ft Drake settling for number three with What's My Name.

Rihanna, however, can be consoled with holding onto the top of the album charts with Loud.

Katy B and Ms Dynamite's dance tune Lights On stayed at number four in the singles chart while X Factor winner Matt Cardle's previous number one When We Collide, a cover of Biffy Clyro's Many of Horror, slipped down to number five. 

Daily art news

LOS ANGELES, CA.- Artist and Oscar and Grammy Award-winning songwriter Carole Bayer Sager debuted her new collection of lyrical, abstract paintings at her first ever solo show. Hosted at the LA Art House, Generations: New Paintings by Carole Bayer Sager marks the artist’s return to her original love of abstract work in an exploration of color, texture and light.

“Painting and songwriting have many similarities for me,” says Sager. “Both are intuitive and expressive and, just as in songwriting, it is rewarding when your painting touches another person.”

Roberto Carlos scores direct from a corner

South Americans call it an "Olympic goal". The more prosaic British term is "scoring direct from a corner". Roberto Carlos is a master of the art, as demonstrated by this opportunistic goal for Corinthians against Portuguesa.

Scientists claim to create rain in Arab desert

  A secret scientific program to control the weather has seen artificially created storms rain down in Abu Dhabi, says an article posted on Aol News.

Recent reports say Swiss scientists working for the ruler of Abu Dhabi Emirate last year successfully created 52 rainstorms in a usually arid region of the United Arab Emirates, using secret technology.

Most of the storms were created in Al Ain, near Abu Dhabi, during July and August — the height of summer when conditions are usually parched.

The founder of the Swiss company running the project, Meteo Systems International, boasted of the project’s success.

“We have achieved a number of rainfalls,” trumpeted Helmut Fluhrer.

NBA TV Top 10: January 14th

Looking up: 2011 is ready to rock

Business may be going from bad to worse but the music is thriving, says Neil McCormick. 

Contemplating what 2011 holds in store for music, you don’t need a crystal ball to see trouble ahead. With HMV announcing that it is to close 60 stores, the big question facing the music business is whether there is a future at all, or at least a profitable one.

Yet, paradoxically, while business may be bad and getting worse, music itself continues to thrive, the very ether throbbing to the virtual din of start-up enterprises, one-man bands and hardened road veterans competing for the world’s hopelessly divided attention.

The real trick in confusing times of rapid technological change, free distribution and collapsing sales is how to break through the information overload and make pop music that is actually popular, resonating throughout the whole world and not just in margins of the imagination. Justin Bieber has proved there is still a global hormonal market for blue-eyed teenybop pin-ups, but, if you can catch that kind of attention while offering something resembling artistic vision, purpose and originality, well, maybe there is hope for this pop malarkey after all.

Golden Globe Winners 2011

Cecil B. DeMille Award

Robert De Niro

Best Motion Picture - Drama

The Social Network

Columbia Pictures; Sony Pictures Releasing

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Natalie Portman – Black Swan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Colin Firth – The King's Speech

Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

The Kids Are All Right

Antidote Films, Mandalay Vision, Gilbert Films; Focus Features

Vienna Philharmonic breaks with the past

The VPO is moving on: the Vienna Philharmonic is still one of the world’s top orchestras, boasting that special Viennese sound; and still synonymous with tradition in its noblest sense, with its New Year’s Concert still one of its highlights. Yet that tradition is being enriched today by new, fresh blood. The proof is the VPO’s new concertmaster, or rather concertmistress.
Albena Danailova is the orchestra’s first female concertmaster, and playing at the New Year’s Concert was her dream come true.
“For me it was the job of my dreams, I’d never have thought I would play in the New Year’s Concert, I saw it so many times on TV when I was a child. And now I’m really happy!” she said.
In an orchestra the concertmaster is the first among the first violins. It is a sensitive position for which Albena Danailova seems particularly suited. The appointment may also have been political, as the orchestra only started admitting women at all in 1997.
Dr. Clemens Hellsberg is the VPO’s President and first violin: “She won the audition, and she convinced us as a violinist, as a leader, as a soloist, as a chamber musician… so it was nothing else but an artistic decision.”
Opening up to the new, but within the framework of tradition; hard work plus music of the finest quality: that is the VPO’s stated creed.

Germany's musical take on life with the Wall

Daily art news

BUENOS AIRES.- In this photo taken Jan. 13, 2011, figures depicting The Beatles are exhibited at The Cavern club and new Beatles Museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The museum is the product of the particular Beatlemania obsession of Rodolfo Vazquez, a 53-year-old accountant who became a fan at the age of 10 when he got their Rubber Soul record.

Rihanna makes British chart history

Singer has number one singles in five consecutive years to equal feat of Elvis Presley

Rihanna has become the first female solo artist in British chart history to achieve No.1 singles in five consecutive years.

The Official Charts Company announced her record after 'What's My Name?' rose from number two to the top spot. The last solo artist to achieve the feat was Elvis Presley, who had number ones in each year from 1957 to 1963.

Rihanna's album 'Loud' also holds on to its number one slot, giving her the second UK chart double of her career. The 22-year-old Barbadian singer has sold more than 15 million albums and 45 million singles worldwide.

In 2007, her album 'Good Girl Gone Bad' and single 'Umbrella' topped both charts simultaneously.

The 22-year-old singer knocked X Factor champion Matt Cardle's "When We Collide" from the top spot to number two after three weeks at number one.

Rihanna has this week been filming the music video for her upcoming single with Nicki Minaj called 'Fly'.

Rihanna's Number One Hits

2011 - What's my Name?

2010 - Only Girl (In The World)

2009 - Run This Town

2008 - Take a Bow

2007 - Umbrella

Michael Jackson 'was healthy'

Dr Christopher Rogers testified on Tuesday at a preliminary hearing after which a judge will decide if there is enough evidence for Dr Conrad Murray to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Dr Rogers says Murray was improperly using the powerful anaesthetic propofol to treat the musician for insomnia. He also says Dr Murray was wrong to leave Jackson's side while he was under anaesthesia.

Rogers says he does not believe the singer injected himself with propofol, which Dr Murray's defence attorneys have suggested could have occurred.

However, the forensic pathologist says Jackson may have swallowed some of the drug based on the amount found in his stomach.

Dr Murray has pleaded not guilty.

Daily art news

A man looks at two images part of a group of ten artworks entitled 'Wir Kleinbürger!' (We small people!)(1972-1976) by German artist Sigmar Polke in Berlin, Germany, 13 January 2011. The President of the Academy of Arts, Klaus Staeck, a friend of the late Polke presented the exhibition called 'Sigmar Polke - Eine Hommage, Bilanz einer Künstlerfreundschaft Polke/Staeck' (Sigmar Polke - a tribute, a balance of artistic friendship Polke / Staeck), which runs until 13 March 2011 at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. EPA/STEPHANIE PILICK.

NEW YORK, NY.- For the first time in more than 25 years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will display five of its original Autochromes by Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz for one week only—January 25-30, 2011—as part of the current exhibition Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand. Invented by Auguste and Louis Lumière in 1907, Autochromes are one-of-a-kind color transparencies that are seductively beautiful when backlit.

Clint Eastwood at 80: why I'll never stop shooting

The veteran actor and director talks to John Hiscock about his latest film and a career now in its seventh decade.

Clint Eastwood is without a doubt the fittest and most active octogenarian on New York’s Park Avenue as he climbs spryly out of his black SUV and strides into the Regency Hotel, acknowledging the greetings of the staff with a friendly wave.

“He can’t be 80,” someone whispers in amazement. “No way.”

NBA Acrobatics

Lietuvos diena

Minint Laisvės gynėjų dienos 20-metį Lietuvos prezidentė Dalia Grybauskaitė reiškia įsitikinimą, kad kaltieji tikrai bus nubausti.

Pagerbdami žuvusiųjų atminimą tikime, kad kaltieji tikrai bus nubausti. Tuo nevalia abejoti. Laikas tarnaus tiesai ir teisingumui. Nusikaltimams prieš žmogiškumą ir tautos laisvę senaties nėra“, - sakė Lietuvos prezidentė Seime vykstančiame iškilmingame minėjime.

Šalies vadovė pakvietė kurti tokią Lietuvą, už kurią kovojome Sausio 13-ąją.

„Sąjūdžio dienų siekis sukurti laisvą, pažangią ir teisingą kiekvienam piliečiui Lietuvą - tikslas, į kurį eis dar ne viena karta. Prisiminkime, pajuskime ir atgaivinkime tą solidarumo ir brolybės jausmą, kai žiūrėjome visi viena kryptimi, kai svarbiausia buvo Lietuva. Kai petys petin stovinčius nepažįstamus žmones gaubė nuoširdumas, tikėjimas be išlygų savo šalies ateitimi ir vienas kitu. Ši atmintis įpareigoja mus kurti Lietuvą tokią, už kurią kovojome tą naktį, tą dieną - sausio 13-ąją. Tegul mūsų ryžtą eiti šiuo keliu sustiprina ir nuolat palaiko laisvės gynėjų idealai. Sausio 13-toji yra mūsų vienybės šaltinis. Tegul jis niekada neišsenka ir maitina mūsų širdis laisvės dvasia!“ - iš Seimo tribūnos sakė D. Grybauskaitė.

Kreipdamasi į Sausio 13-osios įvykių dalyvius, žuvusiųjų artimuosius, Seimo narius ir visus Lietuvos žmones šalies vadovė linkėjo visiems vienybės ir tikėjimo.

Seime Kovo 11-osios salėje vykstančio iškilmingo minėjimo „Mūšis už Tautų laisvę“ dalyvius pasveikino Seimo Pirmininkė Irena Degutienė. Minėjime kalbėjo Aukščiausiosios Tarybos-Atkuriamojo Seimo Pirmininkas, Nepriklausomybės Akto signataras, Europos Parlamento narys Vytautas Landsbergis, Vilniaus arkivyskupas metropolitas, kardinolas Audrys Juozas Bačkis.

Į posėdžio dalyvius dar kreipsis Lietuvos laisvės gynėjo, žuvusio 1991 m. sausio 13 d., Tito Masiulio sesuo Giedrė Prialgauskienė, Rusijos istorikas, politikas, visuomenės veikėjas Jurijus Afanasjevas, lietuvių kilmės JAV politikas, Demokratų partijos atstovas, Kongreso narys (1982-1996), senatorius (nuo 1997), Baltijos sambūrio JAV Kongrese pirmininkas Richardas J. Durbinas, buvęs Islandijos parlamento narys, finansų ir užsienio reikalų ministras Jonas Baldvinas Hannibalssonas.

Lietuvos parlamentas Laisvės gynėjų dieną kasmet mini kartu su mūsų valstybei lemtingą naktį žuvusiųjų už Lietuvos laisvę ir nepriklausomybę giminėmis ir artimaisiais, įvykių liudytojais, skaudžiai nukentėjusiaisiais, giminėmis ir artimaisiais tų, kurie žuvo gindami Tėvynės nepriklausomybę Lietuvos pasienyje, prie Seimo rūmų, prie Televizijos bokšto, Lietuvos radijo ir televizijos rūmų.

1991-ųjų sausio 13-osios naktį prie Televizijos bokšto žuvo Loreta Asanavičiūtė, Virginijus Druskis, Darius Gerbutavičius, Rolandas Jankauskas, Rimantas Juknevičius, Alvydas Kanapinskas, Algimantas Petras Kavoliukas, Vytautas Koncevičius, Vidas Maciulevičius, Titas Masiulis, Alvydas Matulka, Apolinaras Juozas Povilaitis, Ignas Šimulionis, Vytautas Vaitkus.

Po iškilmingo minėjimo vidurdienį Nepriklausomybės aikštėje vyks Valstybės vėliavos pakėlimo ceremonija, kurios metu žodį tars Seimo Pirmininkė Irena Degutienė ir Latvijos Prezidentas Valdis Zatleras.

Ketvirtadienį 15 val. Jono Pauliaus II auloje Seime bus atidengta Atminimo lenta žuvusiems, bus uždegti simboliniai Laisvės liepsnos aukurėliai.

Vėliau parlamento rūmuose Seimo vadovybės ir Vyriausybės nariai susitiks su žuvusiųjų artimaisiais.

 From: Lietuvos Rytas

Photos: Respublika      

Coming soon: new film releases

Thursday 13 January

Travellers (15)

A gritty action thriller about four friends setting out on a journey to reflect on their wasted youth. Some turns for the worst take them into a series of terrifying and brutal events.

Friday 14 January

Blue Valentine (tbc) Watch the Trailer

Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling star as a married couple in this romantic drama which dissects their relationship over the years.

Cabin in the Woods (tbc)

A 3D horror thriller co-directed by Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's a horror movie with its tongue firmly in its cheek.

Conviction (15) Watch the Trailer

Hilary Swank stars as a working mother who puts herself through law school to represent her brother, played by Sam Rockwell, who has been convicted of murder.

The Green Hornet (12A) Watch the Trailer

Seth Rogen stars as Britt Reid, by day a newspaper publisher, by night a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet.

Also released: The Final Sacrifice (tbc), Yamla Pagla Deewana (tbc)

Monday 17 January

GasLandJosh Fox writes, directs and stars in this documentary about American-rural landowners being offered money by energy companies trying to find the mother of all natural gas reservoirs.

Thursday 20 January

Ride, Rise, Roar

The effervescent David Byrne, lead singer of Talking Heads is the subject of this feature-length documentary.

Sport news

NBA - Rose leads Bulls charge against Pistons. Derrick Rose hit a game-high 29 points as the Chicago Bulls continued their mastery over the Detroit Pistons with a 95-82 victory, boosting their home win streak to a season-best seven games.

Red Bull dismiss rumours linking Sebastian Vettel with a move to Ferrari. Red Bull have quashed suggestions that Sebastian Vettel might be tempted to join Ferrari when his contract expires at the end of next year, saying the German would be “stupid” to sign for a team who already boast Fernando Alonso. 

Young Italian ski-jumper Simona Senoner, who last week died in Germany aged 17, was a victim of a "serious viral infection". Senoner lost consciousness at her hotel in Schonach on Thursday before she slipped into a coma and was transported by helicopter to hospital in Freiburg. She could not be resuscitated and she died was pronounced dead on Friday afternoon.

Dario Cologna and Justyna Kowalczyk both put the finishing touches to their second career Tour de Ski cross-country series titles in Val di Flemme, Italy. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/