Troubled US starlet Lindsay Lohan was sent back to jail yesterday after failing a drugs test in breach of bail conditions. Judge Elden Fox of the Beverly Hills Superior Court denied bail to the 24-year-old, after she tested positive for cocaine in a regular court-ordered drugs test the week before last.
Ms Lohan, who appeared stunned as she was led away, could be in jail for up to 30 days, after the judge set her next probation hearing for October 22. Jail officials indicated there would be no early release for the actress.
The judge refused to hear arguments from her lawyers arguing that she should be given bail because of the relatively minor nature of the charges against her. (AFP)
World’s biggest fashion show
Paris, Berlin and some 50 cities across France hope to stage the world’s biggest fashion show next week, with up to 10,000 men and women modelling their own style on giant open-air catwalks.
Held at the height of Paris fashion week which kicks off on Tuesday, the event organised by Paris’ Galeries Lafayette department store is bidding for a spot in the Guinness Book of Records.
Would-be models aged 16 and over were asked to post pictures of their look on the store‘s website, with 700 finalists chosen from among 3,600 people to take part in the flagship catwalk show on Thursday on Boulevard Haussmann in central Paris.
Smaller events, to be held on Thursday in Berlin and on Saturday in 54 sister stores across France, have drawn over 10,000 registrations. Put end-to-end the catwalks measure some two kilometres. (AFP)
Chilly royal reception
The Queen was refused an anti-poverty grant to help heat her palaces because Whitehall officials feared it would cause a public relations backlash, it has been reported.
In an effort to cut the Royal Household’s soaring electricity and gas bills, a senior aide wrote to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2004 to ask if the Queen would be eligible for a handout from a £60 million energy-saving fund.
The request for a grant to replace four combined heat and power (CHP) units at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle was turned down in August 2004, according to documents obtained by The Independent under the the Freedom of Information Act. (AP)
Bears attack Russian man in city street...
A wild bear mauled a young man on a city street in northern Russia yesterday, wounding the victim in the neck before he managed to flee, police said.
“When I saw the bear, I didn’t run away,” the victim, 26-year-old Andrei Kotikov, told Life News website. “I heard from hunters that you should stand still when coming across these animals. But that knowledge didn’t help me... I thought it was the end.”
Mr Kotikov, who is a weightlifter, managed to push the animal off and flee, the website reported, showing photographs of his bandaged neck and scratched back.
The bear apparently wander-ed into the city centre after soaring temperatures in summer destroyed its usual sources of food in the surrounding forest, a police spokesman said.
“There are few berries and nuts in the forest this year due to the heatwave,” said the police spokesman.
Syktyvkar is the regional capital of the remote Komi region in northwest Russia. Its population is just over 230,000. (AFP)
... and US woman in her kitchen
A US woman fended off a bear trying to muscle its way into her kitchen by pelting the animal with a large piece of courgette.
The woman suffered minor scratches and one of her dogs was wounded after tussling with the 200lb black bear in Frenchtown, western Montana.
The attacking bear stuck its head and part of a shoulder through the doorway of her house, but the woman grabbed a 14-inch courgette she picked from her garden earlier and threw it, hitting the bear on the top of its head and prompting it to flee. (AP)