Liam Hemsworth Says The Hunger Games Made Him Hungry For Fast Food

Liam Hemsworth is about to hit the big time when The Hunger Games opens in theaters just past midnight on March 23. But the 22-year-old Australian star's girlfriend, Miley Cyrus, has been getting attention in L.A. clubs lately for all the wrong reasons.


"She gets pretty crazy," a source tells Us Weekly of Cyrus, 19. "She's always out in skimpy outfits and writhing on Liam . . . Sometimes he looks embarrassed for her."
Another insider explains that while Hemsworth loves his girlfriend's "fun-loving side . . . he gets concerned too."


At the New York City screening (attended by the main cast), he said: "There weren't too many stunts or fighting in this one for my character, but my character lives in District 12, which is the poorest district, and I had to lose quite a bit of weight for it. When we were shooting the film, actually, me and Josh went to Kentucky. He's from Kentucky. And we had a few days off from shooting and we decided to get White Castle which I'd never had before, and then we played basketball after eating the White Castle and we threw up a little bit so yeah, that was interesting."


He also praised Lawrence, and said she could win a Man vs Wild type competition. He added: "She's had the most training out of all of us. She could be deadly with a bow and arrow. She could do some damage. ... she's very fierce."


Lawrence, meanwhile, talked about traveling with her co-stars. She said: "We all get really hyper in the beginning, and then we all get tuckered out and fall asleep at the same time, so we're kind of a great group to travel with in a way. I mean, I love traveling with the boys. It's so fun just to get back with them again. It's just been a blast -- all of it."

‘Hunger Games’ star Liam Hemsworth ‘embarrassed’ by girlfriend Miley Cyrus’ behavior

While yesterday, Katniss herself, Jennifer Lawrence, told Ryan Seacrest that she was doing her best to manage her excitement over the biggest thing ever, Liam has found no such balance.


Of course, the nonstop red carpet proposals and ribbing at the hands of his fellow movie star brother, Chris Hemsworth, probably aren't helping matters.


"I'm just running on adrenaline most of the time," Gale's alter ego told Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show this morning. "I've been waiting a while for people to see it. The expectation just keeps getting bigger and bigger."


And he assures fans that they won't be disappointed.


"It's a really, really good movie. It's honestly one of the most powerful films I've seen."


No false modesty here. But hey, he's earned it. Particularly when you bear in mind the girl on fire trial by fire it took to get him into fighting form.


When asked appreciatively about his physique in The Hunger Games, Liam admitted that he was told to lose weight and get in shape for the role…albeit not in so many words.


According to Us Weekly, the former Disney star has been garnering the wrong kind of attention these days. Whether it’s her controversial Twitter posts upsetting her religious fans or her penchant to constantly go out in public without wearing a bra, the Hollywood wild child’s actions haven’t been helping Hemsworth’s rising star status.


“She gets pretty crazy,” a source told the magazine of the 19-year-old starlet. “She’s always out in skimpy outfits and writhing on (Liam). Sometimes he looks embarrassed for her.”


Though the 22-year-old Aussie actor reportedly enjoys the “fun-loving side of Miley,” he also “gets concerned too.”


“Liam’s always looking after her,” the insider said.


Though Cyrus’ recent behavior has become more of a hassle for Hemsworth, he recently spoke out in her defense in the March issue of Details.


“The poor girl can't have one night where she can feel safe in her own world. It's ridiculous," he said of Cyrus, who found herself in hot water earlier this year when photos from Hemsworth’s birthday party showed the actress inappropriately posing next to a phallic cake.


Liam and Cyrus have been dating for over two years since they first worked together on the set of "The Last Song."


"She makes me really happy," he has said of Cyrus. "When you start, you want to be professional, but when you're filming those scenes with someone and pretending to love them, you're not human if you don't feel something."

Jim Yong Kim to Be Named to World Bank Post

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday named Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth College and a global health expert, as its nominee to lead the World Bank.


That makes Dr. Kim the front-runner to take the helm of the multinational development institution on June 30, when its current president, Robert B. Zoellick, will step down at the end of his five-year term. Tradition has held that Washington selects the head of the World Bank and Europe the leader of its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, since they were founded during World War II.


Dr. Kim’s name was not among those widely bandied about since Mr. Zoellick announced his plans to move on last month. Highly respected among aid experts, Dr. Kim is an anthropologist and a physician who co-founded Partners in Health, a nonprofit that provides health care for the poor, and a former director of the department of H.I.V./AIDS at the World Health Organization.


The White House's pick is nearly certain to become the next World Bank president after its current leader, Robert Zoellick, steps down as planned in late June after a five-year term.


The White House has selected the World Bank president since the institution was created in 1944 under an informal agreement with European nations, who pick the head of the International Monetary Fund. The combined shares of U.S. and European nations in each organization make it nearly impossible for a candidate from other nationalities to break the unwritten compact.


The World Bank's board, which represents its 187 member nations, plans to meet next week to consider nominations and issue a shortlist of three people to interview. It plans to make a final decision ahead of the bank's spring meeting next month.
The White House announcement came as the nominations window was set to close on Friday. The decision to wait until late in the process allowed other nations to discuss their own candidates, creating the first competitive race in the bank's history. But the delay also stoked criticism of the U.S. based on early reports of whom the White House was considering.


The U.S. shortlist included Lawrence Summers, a former World Bank chief economist who served as a top economic adviser to Mr. Obama, and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Both officials are considered potential appointees in a second Obama administration, an administration official said Friday.


Dr. Kim, before heading to Dartmouth, led the global-health and social-medicine department at Harvard Medical School. At the World Health Organization, he focused on helping developing countries improve AIDS treatment and prevention programs. He has also worked on tuberculosis, including efforts to cut the cost of treatment and finding treatments for drug-resistant strains.

Top Baylor Lady Bears to Follow on Twitter: A Fan’s View

ATLANTA — As soon as the NCAA women's bracket was announced, Sasha Goodlett started getting a flood of texts from her friends.
"They were all saying, 'Ohhh, you have to go against Brittney Griner,'" the Georgia Tech center recalled. "I was like, 'Hey, we have two games before that. Let's not get too caught up in ourselves.'"
Well, those two games are out of the way.
Fourth-seeded Georgia Tech has reached the regional semifinals for the first time in school history, but there wasn't much time to celebrate.
Next up Saturday in the Des Moines Regional: top-ranked Baylor (36-0) and the nation's most dominant player.
The Yellow jackets (26-8) are a huge underdog, like just about everyone who goes against Griner and her supporting cast. Baylor romped through the first two rounds, beating UC Santa Barbara by 41 points, then easing to a 19-point win over Florida that was punctuated by a dunk from the 6-foot-8 phenom — only the second woman to pull off a slam in the NCAA tournament.
While Griner relies on those sort of plays to intimidate her opponents, Georgia Tech talked bravely before boarding the plane to Iowa.


Brittney Griner


On March 22, Griner tweeted "Sorry tweeps won't be tweeting a lot the next couple weeks. Gotta stay focused #RoadToTheFinalFour."


Baylor hasn't lost since falling in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA tournament, and much of its success has to do with Griner's veteran presence. Griner ranked No. 7 in the country this year in Division I action with 23.1 PPG in 36 appearances.


Follow Griner on Twitter @grinerbrittney.


Odyssey Sims


On March 20, Sims tweeted "36-0, We Headed To The Sweet 16!!!!!!"


Sims, a sophomore guard at Baylor, racked up 526 points and added 162 assists in 36 games this season. Follow Sims on Twitter @simshoops0.


Makenzie Robertson


On March 20, Robertson tweeted "Ready to get this game going and head home! 2 hours…need another W #unfinishedbusiness #BUvsFLORIDA."


Shortly after her tweet, Robertson and the Lady Bears topped Florida, 76-59.


The following day, Robertson tweeted "You don't actually realize how long basketball season is until this time of year…we've been going since last summer #unfinishedbusiness."


Is weariness finally starting to settle in, or will Baylor have enough to finish out the season as a champion?

Baylor's Brittney Griner is the biggest star on a big stage

DES MOINES — As McNeese State of Louisiana prepared to face top-ranked Baylor and its 6-foot-8 center, Brittney Griner, in December, the Cowgirls had no way to simulate Griner’s height and reach on a basketball court. So their coach took a kayak paddle to practice.


“We duct-taped a pad around the paddle to swat shots,” Coach Brooks Donald-Williams said.


Never has a collegiate women’s player possessed the combination of Griner’s size, mobility, soft shooting touch, effortless dunking and elegant obstructiveness, which allows her to block shots while hardly ever drifting into foul trouble.


As men’s teams did in the 1960s for U.C.L.A. and the 7-footer Lew Alcindor, who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, women’s teams have resorted to exotic preparation and props to mimic Griner’s intimidating 88-inch wingspan. Success has been modest against a player whose standing reach is 9 feet 2 inches, only 10 inches below the rim.


Approaching the semifinals of the Des Moines Region on Saturday, Baylor (36-0) is four victories from becoming the first N.C.A.A. basketball team to win 40 games in a season.


Just her standing in the middle of the paint, you see her, and going at her is a hard thing to do.”


And when Griner has the ball, it can be a humbling experience.


“It’s really tough, but you’ve just got to be able to hold your ground and keep her from burying you,” Iowa State forward Chelsea Poppens said. “I mean, no one wants to get dunked on.”


Griner’s ability to play above the rim as a high schooler made her a YouTube sensation. Her evolving skills as a shooter and shot blocker leave WNBA teams wondering just how good she can become.


“Every time Brittney Griner gets a repetition, whether it’s in practice or it’s in a game, she’s growing in her understanding,” Burke said. “And that’s probably the most important piece to the puzzle.”


In some ways, Griner is an extension of past greats.


“For me, the first truly dominant center that I ever watched on television was Anne Donovan,” Burke said of the Old Dominion all-American from the early 1980s. “Brittney sort of combines the size of an Ann Donovan with the athleticism and mobility of a Lisa Leslie.”


When Sports Illustrated previewed this year’s NCAA Tournament, the magazine devoted three pages to Griner — the only player in history, male or female, to score 2,000 points and record more than 500 blocks.

Jim Yong Kim, Dartmouth College president, tapped by Obama to head World Bank

President Barack Obama’s decision to pick Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim took many by surprise, considering that Kim isn’t a regular in Washington circles.


“Dr. Kim’s name was closely held and not among those widely bandied about since Mr. Zoellick announced his plans to move on,” the New York Times wrote in its story on nomination.


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”At this moment, across Washington, hundreds of surprised reporters and gov’t aides are Googling ‘Jim Yong Kim’ to find out who he is,” joked Washingtonian magazine editor Garrett Graff on Twitter.


Kim’s been president at Dartmouth since 2009 and is a former director at the World Health Organization and the co-founder of Partners in Health, which provides health services to the poor. But career accomplishments aside, what about his lighter side? In a “Greenroom” online-only video interview he did during an appearance on “The Charlie Rose Show” in March, Kim opened up about less weighty matters.


Kim did not speak at the announcement. But in a letter to Dartmouth alumni and others, he called the bank “one of the most critical institutions fighting poverty and providing assistance to developing countries in the world today,” and said that he would accept Obama’s nomination.


He was a surprising choice. The focus at first was on nominating a major political figure such as Clinton and former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers.


But Kim drew quick support, and one other candidate for the job, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, withdrew from contention in praise of Obama’s choice.


Kim “is a superb nominee,” Sachs said, a “world-class development leader.” Sachs had campaigned openly for the job, arguing that the bank’s next leader should be a development expert rather than someone who had spent a career in finance.


Still, Kim may be the first American World Bank nominee to face competition. Ni­ger­ian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been nominated by a member of the bank’s executive board. Under the bank’s procedures, if three or fewer people are nominated, each will be interviewed. A decision on the new president is expected before upcoming bank meetings in mid-April.


Kim, Dartmouth’s leader since July 2009, is a physician by training and an anthropologist. His background is in global health, and he has worked extensively on health issues in the developing world.

Obama says shooting death of Fla. teen a 'tragedy'

President Barack Obama called the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in a Florida suburb a "tragedy" on Friday and said that "every aspect" of the case that has rallied civil rights activists should be investigated.Speaking in personal terms, Obama expressed sympathy for the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, by a neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense."I can only imagine what these parents are going through and when I think about this boy I think about my own kids," Obama said. He aimed his message at Martin's parents, saying, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans take this with the seriousness that it deserves and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened.


The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and a grand jury is considering whether to charge George Zimmerman, who acknowledged shooting the teen but said it was in self-defense. Martin's parents, civil rights activists and others who have rallied to the cause say they won't be satisfied until Zimmerman is arrested.
Police Chief Bill Lee stepped down temporarily this week to try to cool the building anger that his department had not arrested Zimmerman. Hours later, Gov. Rick Scott announced that the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, had recused himself from the case in hopes of "toning down the rhetoric" surrounding it.
Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight, and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.
Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up on chasing the teenager and was returning to his sport utility vehicle.
Obama cautioned before speaking that he must "be careful so we're not impairing any investigation." But he said he was glad the Justice Department was investigating and that Florida officials had formed the task force.
"I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how did something like this happen, and that means we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident," Obama said.
Obama brought his voice to an issue that is sensitive in Florida, a large and diverse state that plays an influential role in presidential elections. The Orlando area in central Florida is particularly important, acting as a bellwether for statewide elections.
Republican hopeful Mitt Romney weighed in after Obama spoke, saying, "What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. There needs to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity."
The case resonates with many black Americans, a key voting group during Obama's 2008 election, who see it as yet another example of bias toward blacks. Civil rights groups have held rallies in Florida and New York, saying the shooting was unjustified. Of Sanford's 53,000 residents, 57 percent are white and 30 percent are black.

Giant asteroid Vesta 'resembles planet

NASA spacecraft orbiting the huge asteroid Vesta has snapped amazing new photos of the colossal space rock, images that reveal strange features never-before-seen on an asteroid, scientists say.
The new photos of Vesta from NASA's Dawn spacecraft highlight odd, shiny spots that are nearly twice as bright as other parts of the asteroid — suggesting it is original material left over from the space rock's birth 4 billion years ago, NASA officials said today (March 21).


With a width of about 330 miles (530 km), asteroid Vesta is one of the largest and brightest objects in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. NASA's Dawn probe has been orbiting Vesta since 2011 to study the space rock in unprecedented detail.


Dawn's principal investigator, Christopher T Russell, told the meeting that the science team found it hard not to refer to the object as a planet.


He said the rounded asteroid showed evidence of geological processes that characterise rocky worlds like Earth and the Moon.


Vesta is the second most massive of the asteroids, measuring some 530km (330mi) in diameter. It is dominated by a huge crater called Rheasilvia and bears many other scars left by the hammering it has received at the hands of other asteroid belt denizens.


One important transitional feature of Vesta can be found in its topography, or elevation. Vertical elevation on the Moon or Mars might reach tens of kilometres, but these objects are also very large.


"This means the topography is about 1% of the radius," Dr Ralf Jaumann, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), told BBC News. If you go to Vesta, it is 15%, and if you go to the largest outer asteroid - Lutetia - it is 40%."


In short, this mathematical relationship between topography and radius (half an object's diameter), puts Vesta in an intermediate position between small asteroids and rocky planets.

Allen Stanford loses bid for new trial

HOUSTON — A federal judge has denied a request by convicted former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford for a new trial.


Stanford’s attorneys had argued the financier didn’t get a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and because jurors might have seen tweets from reporters covering the trial.


But U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion on Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted earlier this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank to pay for his businesses and his lavish lifestyle.


Prosecutors said he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


Stanford, who turns 62 on Saturday, was convicted on March 6 by a Houston federal jury on 13 of 14 counts related to what prosecutors called the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.


The decision came one day after Stanford's lawyers said their client had been deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.


Among the reasons they cited was a lack of time to prepare a defense, extensive prejudicial pretrial publicity, and the potential that messages sent by reporters from the courtroom via Twitter might have reached jurors during the six-week trial.


Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, in an interview declined to comment specifically on Hittner's order, but said: "Motions for new trials are filed for many reasons, including making sure we articulate everything so that in an appeal, the appellate court would have a complete record."


Stanford is being held at a Houston federal detention center following his conviction on charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Drowning killed Houston, but drugs took high toll

News that drowning, cocaine and heart disease caused Whitney Houston's death generated frustration and sadness. But not surprise.


"We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and manager, said in a statement.
The Los Angeles County coroner's preliminary report Thursday also noted that marijuana, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, the muscle relaxant Flexeril and the allergy medication Benadryl were found in the 48-year-old singer's blood but did not contribute to her death.


Coroner's officials did not reveal how much cocaine was found in Houston's system, but said there were signs of recent and chronic use. It was unclear whether she suffered a heart attack before drowning, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said.


"We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and manager, said in a statement.


Houston's death the night before the Grammys altered the awards ceremony and brought back immediate memories of the singer in her better days, belting out hits and starring in the feature films such as "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale." Years later, Houston's drug use had robbed her of her ability to hit high notes and left her once clean image tarnished.


"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 television interview with then-husband Bobby Brown by her side.


In 2009, after she had divorced Brown, she told Oprah Winfrey that her cocaine and marijuana use took over her life. Both drugs were found in Houston's system after she died, though the marijuana and several other prescription drugs played no role in her death, coroner's officials said.


"I had so much money and so much access to what I wanted," Houston told Winfrey. "I didn't think about the singing part anymore. I was looking for my young womanhood."

Whitney Houston drowned, but how

Drugs took many things from Whitney Houston — her pristine voice, clean image and her career — and coroner's officials revealed Thursday that cocaine also played a role in the Grammy winner's death in the bathtub of a luxury hotel nearly six weeks ago.


Houston drowned accidentally at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11, and autopsy results revealed heart disease and her recent and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors.


The results ended weeks of speculation about what killed the singer-actress at age 48 on the eve of the Grammy Awards and a planned comeback. Instead, Houston now joins the long list of entertainers who have died early with drugs at least partly to blame.


Houston died Feb. 11 at the Beverly Hilton, where she was discovered unresponsive and submerged in a bathtub.


The coroner's report points to chronic cocaine use, says chief investigator Craig Harvey.


"We feel that the cocaine coupled with the …heart disease complicated her condition," Harvey says. "Chances are if she did not have preexisting heart disease and cocaine use, she might not have drowned."


The amount of chemicals found in Houston's body will be revealed in the final report expected in about two weeks.


Long-term cocaine use can cause inflammation and chronic damage to the blood vessels around the heart, which can lead to hardening of the arteries, says Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.


In the short term, a hit of cocaine can cause abnormal heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac death.

Judge denies new trial for convicted fraudster Stanford, who says tweets prevented fair trial

TWO years before Carol Lovil’s life savings disappeared in R. Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme, she lost her husband, John, to cancer. While grieving, she asked her financial adviser at the Stanford Financial Group in Houston what she should do.


Two things still haunt her, Mrs. Lovil said in an interview this month.


She said she asked if the money she had in certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank was guaranteed. It was, she said he told her.


She said she also asked whether she should pay off the mortgage on the lake home in the Texas hill country that she and her husband bought in 1999. He advised against that, she said.


When she turned on the television news on Feb. 17, 2009, and saw the offices of the Stanford Financial Group being raided, Mrs. Lovil said she did not worry. Her money was insured, she thought.


But as it became clear that the $7 billion firm, which had been based in Antigua, was running a Ponzi scheme, she began calling and sending e-mails to her adviser to find out how to get her money back. At first, she was told everything was fine and not to worry. But within a week the responses stopped.


“I was lied to about the safety of this investment,” she wrote in one e-mail to the company. In another, she wrote, “I haven’t worked in 12 years, and in my small community jobs for someone my age are scarce.”


U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.


Prosecutors said he orchestrated the scheme to fund his businesses and lavish lifestyle. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


The 61-year-old is set to be sentenced June 14 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.


Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Financier Allen Stanford loses bid for new trial

HOUSTON — A federal judge has denied a request by convicted former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford for a new trial.


Stanford’s attorneys had argued the financier didn’t get a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and because jurors might have seen tweets from reporters covering the trial.


But U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion on Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted earlier this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank to pay for his businesses and his lavish lifestyle.


Prosecutors said he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


Stanford, who turns 62 on Saturday, was convicted on March 6 by a Houston federal jury on 13 of 14 counts related to what prosecutors called the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.


The decision came one day after Stanford's lawyers said their client had been deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.


Among the reasons they cited was a lack of time to prepare a defense, extensive prejudicial pretrial publicity, and the potential that messages sent by reporters from the courtroom via Twitter might have reached jurors during the six-week trial.


Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, in an interview declined to comment specifically on Hittner's order, but said: "Motions for new trials are filed for many reasons, including making sure we articulate everything so that in an appeal, the appellate court would have a complete record."


Stanford is being held at a Houston federal detention center following his conviction on charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.


He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14, and could spend the rest of his life in prison. The jury also found that federal authorities should try to seize $330 million of frozen funds that Stanford stashed in 29 foreign bank accounts.

Exxon Valdez to Be Junked Years After Worst U.S. Ship Spill

More than 20 years later, a ship best known for causing an environmental catastrophe is finally being put to rest.


The Exxon Valdez, which spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989, is being bought for $16 million by Global Systems Marketing Inc., a firm that purchases ships for demolition, Bloomberg reports. The vessel, now known as the Oriental Nicety, has changed names and owners four times since the infamous disaster.


At the time, the Exxon Valdez spill was the largest in U.S. history and resulted in Exxon having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid criminal prosecution, as well as to resolve civil claims made by federal and state governments, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Office. In addition, the company paid nearly $4 billion in cleanup costs.


Still, Exxon avoided a larger punishment. In 1994, an Anchorage jury awarded victims of the spill $5 billion, but after a 15-year legal battle the case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices awarded the victims just $507 million, according to CBS.


“The accident pointed out that the biggest risk involved in oil transport is the impact an accident can have on the environment,” Thomas Zwick, an analyst at Oslo-based shipping consultant Lorentzen & Stemoco AS, said in an e-mail today. “Large companies can go under as a consequence of the financial liabilities bestowed upon them following an accident.”
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the largest U.S. oil company, still faces litigation from the spill. The Irving, Texas-based company spent three years and $3.86 billion to clean up the spill, which damaged 700 miles of coastline and killed more than 36,000 birds, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Notorious oil tanker Exxon Valdez headed to India

NEW DELHI — The notorious Exxon Valdez tanker, responsible for one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history two decades ago, has been bought by an Indian company almost certainly to be scrapped for its steel and spare parts.


Best Oasis Ltd. would not disclose the price or purpose of its purchase, but it buys old ships solely to dismantle them, reuse salvageable material and discard the rest.


On March 24, 1989, millions of gallons of crude oil spewed into Alaska’s ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez dashed against rocks, coating the shoreline with petroleum sludge and killing nearly 40,000 birds. The spill caused incalculable environmental damage and demolished the fishing industry in the area.


Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., spent $900 million in restitution in a 1991 settlement and is battling more litigation from the spill.


The tanker moved on, with five name changes since the spill and ownership changing repeatedly, apparently to keep the ship in use while distancing it from the disaster.


The tanker moved on, with five name changes since the spill and ownership changing repeatedly, apparently to keep the ship in use while distancing it from the disaster.
Best Oasis official Gaurav Mehta said his company bought the ship. It's now a converted ore carrier known as the Oriental Nicety, but he did not disclose its current location and status.
"I can confirm that Best Oasis has bought the tanker, but can give no details till we take delivery of it," Mehta said.
The ship is 26 years old, not significantly aged for a tanker, but it has been considerably damaged. It was split by rocks in the Alaska spill and was damaged in a collision in the South China Sea in 2010.
Hong Kong-based Best Oasis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries in the western state of Gujarat.
India has one of the world's largest industries for breaking down old ships and oil tankers in the town of Alang, along the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat.

Tim Tebow Traded To New York Jets

DENVER -- Fourteen months ago, amid skepticism over a hire that looked like somebody sticking a shiny hood ornament on a beat-up Fiat, Denver Broncos president Joe Ellis told me that his new executive vice president of football operations, John Elway, carried a "clear vision of where we need to go."


Back then, that vision was blurred by the disastrous autumn of 2010 that the once-proud franchise had endured.


In a Tuesday press conference, followed by a Wednesday night trade of Tim Tebow, Elway ushered in the next step in restoring what he built in the 1980s and '90s as a player. At the press conference, Elway was joined by coach John Fox, GM Brian Xanders and owner Pat Bowlen, all wearing a bright orange tie and the kind of grin that shouts, "Yeah, that's right, we pulled it off." And next to them, another famous quarterback: Peyton Manning.


Careful to credit all involved, Fox conceded, "No doubt, (Elway's presence) was huge," in landing Manning. And Fox expounded on why: "John's understanding of what it means to be a great quarterback, his involvement, the position he's in to help make Peyton's career here a success."


Over at ESPN New York, Rich Cimini's gut reaction is that this move makes no sense for the Jets.


Specifically, he says, it undermines Sanchez just at the time that the team should be trying to come together.


"The Jets just gave Sanchez a three-year contract extension, affirming their faith in a quarterback whose stature in the locker room took a hit last season," Cimini writes. "The Tebow acquisition is counter-productive because all it does is re-open a can of worms that should've been buried."


As soon as Sanchez has a bad game, writes Cimini, the Tebow fans will clammer for a QB change.


"It will become the soundtrack of the Jets' season," Cimini writes.




The short answer seems to be that the New York Jets will leave Mark Sanchez as their starting quarterback. The Washington Post says that even though the incumbent is "embattled," the Jets will likely "experiment with Tebow at other positions, including running the Wildcat."

Jets' Ryan reiterates Sanchez is starter, not Tebow

When it comes to QB Tim Tebow, critics are still pulling apart his passing mechanics and saying he will never become a great NFL QB. While that may be true, Tebow is much more than just an NFL QB for his fans. As a mother, I know children look up to athletes as role models. Unlike many professional NFL players, Tebow is a role model that any parent can feel comfortable with their child looking up to.


While his playing ability may be in question, there is no doubt regarding Tebow's leadership skills. He has the ability to get teammates inspired and believing in themselves. Despite being down, Tebow was able to rally his team together to come back and win game after game. He shows children that, despite the critics, he will always come out determined to improve and do what needs to be done.


But the Broncos signed Peyton Manning on Tuesday. Sanchez and the Jets finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs last season after Sanchez helped take them to AFC title games in 2009 and 2010.
Ryan was asked if there would be competition between Tebow and Sanchez considering what Tebow did last season and the mania he created in Denver and throughout the country.
"Well, I look at it this way," he said. "We're incredibly fortunate to have a couple of young quarterbacks with playoff experience and playoff wins. Mark's been to two AFC championship games in three years and has four road playoff wins. I think that speaks volumes. I think the young man is just hitting his stride. I think he's going to be a tremendous quarterback. He is our quarterback. I think what Tim gives us is another great competitor in the things that we can do with him — that Wildcat in particular."

Why Etch A Sketch gibe will be hard for Romney to shake

LOS ANGELES, - Mitt Romney is going for laughs next week -- intentional laughs, this time.


The former Massachusetts governor and current GOP presidential candidate will appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" next week as the lead guest on Tuesday's episode, NBC said Thursday.


The announcement comes on the heels of a major gaffe on the part of Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN that Romney's campaign would "hit a reset button" in the general election against President Barack Obama should Romney win the GOP nomination, comparing the proposed campaign tactic to a popular children's toy.


"It's almost like an Etch A Sketch -- you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again," Fehrnstrom said.


Since then, Romney has become the butt of many jokes in the public, not least of all from his rivals in the campaign, who've used the gaffe to paint Romney as a flip-flopper a la John Kerry.


Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum brandished an Etch a Sketch during a campaign event in Texas on Thursday, hinting that America might be better off re-electing Obama if Romney wins the nomination.


Fehrnstrom has accidentally stumbled on something profound. He may not have much experience with Etch A Sketch technology. With all due respect to that iconic American toy, its legendary reset abilities have never been quite up to scratch. Dark smudges tend to mar the perimeter of its silvery slate, and no matter how vigorously you shake the thing, you can never quite obliterate the residue. Even so, the real-life Etch A Sketch in all its splotchy glory actually offers a better metaphor for American politics than the fantasy of a clean post-primary slate.
It's not that Fehrnstrom's contempt for the cognitive capabilities of the voters is entirely off the mark. The collective memory of the American electorate is notoriously short.
Think you're smarter than the average voter? Identify the authors of these political promises:
• "He won't streamline the federal government and change the way it works, cut 100,000 bureaucrats and put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of American cities, but I will."
• "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years."
• "My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors and stay within the public financing system for the general election."

Mitt Romney win over Louisiana conservatives

Mitt Romney may have won the Illinois primary by a wide margin Tuesday night, but it was not a knockout, and Rick Santorum will live to fight another day. Even so, the conventional wisdom is that this contest was the beginning of the end.


The Illinois results underlined the clear trend emerging around Romney voters: They are less religious, they are college-educated and economically better off than the average Republican primary voter.


Romney won because there are more voters that fit this profile in Illinois than there were in the Southern states where Santorum prevailed. But those high-wealth voters have come with a high price tag.


On top of that, conservative kingmaker Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) told reporters Thursday that he’s “excited” about the idea of Romney winning the Republican nod. That bodes well for the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign. The comment by DeMint – who hasn’t endorsed -- hasn’t gotten the kind of play that Etch A Sketch-gate has. But it’s arguably of greater importance in the GOP primary campaign.


For Rick Santorum, Louisiana represents the last chance until May of having a big win in a southern state.


Santorum’s camp itself acknowledges that April is not a great month for them – five northeastern states as well as D.C., Maryland and Wisconsin hold their contests. So if Santorum is looking to deflate Romney’s hopes, Louisiana would be the best place to do so.


For Newt Gingrich, who hasn’t had a good day in quite some time, Saturday’s primary will be an indication of whether things are going from bad to worse. The former House speaker’s campaign is $1.6 million in debt, and he was bested by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for third place in this week’s Illinois primary. Will Louisiana give him a lift?


And for Paul, Louisiana is the latest chance to, well, not finish in last place. The Texas congressman faces the same problem here as elsewhere – namely, that the big crowds that come to support him at rallies are nowhere to be found when it comes time to vote.


Adding to Louisiana’s import is the fact that there’s a 10-day lull in the calendar after Saturday.


Stay tuned here at Election 2012 and at The Fix for the latest from Louisiana and elsewhere on the trail.

Trayvon Martin case: More protests Friday in Florida

If Sanford city officials thought the police chief's departure would calm tempers arising from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Thursday night's rally in the teenager's honor proved them wrong.


As speaker after speaker took the stage at a downtown park, they made one thing clear: They want George Zimmerman, the man who said he shot the 17-year-old, arrested, and they won't settle for anything less.


"I pledge I will not let my son die in vain!" Martin's father, Tracy Martin, told a cheering crowd of several thousand after being introduced by the Rev. Al Sharpton.


"We want to see Zimmerman in court with handcuffs behind his back, charged with the death of this young man, Trayvon Martin!" said Sharpton, who organized the rally and flew to Sanford earlier in the day despite learning of his mother's death that morning in Alabama. Sharpton said his mother, who was 89 and suffered from Alzheimer's, would have wanted him to be there.


Police Chief Bill Lee said earlier in the day that he was stepping down temporarily to try to cool the building anger that his department did not arrest neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman, who has said he shot Martin on Feb. 26 in self-defense. Hours later, the governor announced that the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, had recused himself from the case.


Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, believe Zimmerman should have been arrested. They claim he was profiling their son and acted like a vigilante.


Tracy Martin told the thousands at the rally to keep his son in their minds.


"If Trayvon were here, he would have been here tonight," he said. "He was a people person. Let's get justice for your son."


The signs, chants and sentiments all came down to a demand for justice in the case. Another rally was set for the state capitol Friday morning and students at Martin's Miami high school planned to walk out in protest in the afternoon.


At Thursday's protest, some people carried signs that said: "100 years of lynching, justifiable homicide. Same thing." Others sold T-shirts that read: "Arrest Zimmerman."


"It's the norm around here, where anything involving black culture, they want to wipe their hands of it," said Shella Moore, who is black and grew up in Sanford.


The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and the local prosecutor before he quit the case convened a grand jury April 10 to determine whether to charge Zimmerman.


Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.

El DeBarge drug arrest interrupts acclaimed comeback

DeBarge, 50, whose real name is Eldra Patrick DeBarge, was busted by undercover cops near a freeway interchange in Los Angeles’ Encino neighborhood, an LAPD spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.


Officers observed DeBarge and another man taking part in an apparent drug deal about 2 p.m. Monday, gossip website TMZ reports. Police also found illegal drugs in the area where DeBarge was standing, though they did not disclose what kind of drugs were found.


El DeBarge was arrested in connection with drug possession with intent to sell, according to the LAPD. That's a felony in California, punishable by up to three years in jail.


The possession element of the crime can be fulfilled in several ways: Actual possession means the drugs were found on the person; constructive possession means a person had access to the drugs and control over the drugs; and joint possession means two or more people had access to, and control over, the drugs. It's not clear what kind of possession El DeBarge was arrested for.


The arrest is a major blow to DeBarge, who had tried desperately to clean up his act. In the last year and a half he had showed the true power of public redemption with a high-profile comeback -- 2010’s Grammy-nominated, “Second Chance,” his first album in nearly two decades.


Once the lead singer of the popular '80s Motown family group DeBarge, he transitioned that early success into a solo career. But it became an afterthought when addiction -- which he has battled for more than two decades and has also plagued a number of his siblings -- and a laundry lists of legal troubles, including arrests on cocaine possession and domestic violence charges, crippled a once-thriving career.


His dependence on heroin and crack ultimately landed him in prison, where he spent 13 months before his release in 2009. But the new album gave him a renewed outlook on life.


“Second Chance,” DeBarge's first release on new label home Geffen, boasted production from Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Babyface, and collaborations with Faith Evans, 50 Cent and Fabolous. It was nominated for R&B album at this year's Grammys, but was bested by Chris Brown.


It appeared the singer had slipped back into old habits shortly after the album's release. Last year he dropped out of a tour with KEM and Lesidi to enter rehab to deal with substance abuse issues. "I hate to disappoint my fans, but it is necessary for me to take the time to work on me so that I may continue to share my music and my story with everyone," DeBarge said in a statement after that cancellation.


DeBarge, bounced back and The Times caught the singer’s nimble set at the 2011 Essence Music Festival in July, but shows have garnered shaky reviews. Mikael Wood called the singer’s recent show at Key Club "volatile all by itself, with false song starts, a baffling dance contest and the temporary disappearance partway through of DeBarge, who tearfully retreated behind a curtain at the rear of the stage after singing ‘Rhythm of the Night.’” He was also seen emotionally reuniting with Whitney Houston during her last public appearance at Hollywood's Tru nightclub two days before her death.

Kiefer Sutherland doesn't have the magic 'Touch' in new series

After eight seasons of protecting the free world from terrorists on “24,” Kiefer Sutherland wanted a break from television.


The 45-year-old actor worked on some films, took part in a Web series called “The Confession” and starred in a Broadway play. Then a pilot script for a new TV drama, “Touch,” landed in his lap.


“I was halfway through it and I remember thinking, ‘Oh no,’ ” Sutherland said. “I was falling in love with it. By the time I finished, I knew I would be very disappointed with myself if I found myself on the couch … just watching the show as opposed to being a part of it.”


Sutherland spoke to reporters from Moscow, one of the stops on his recent whirlwind tour through Europe to promote “Touch.” The show’s unprecedented global launch has it premiering in more than 100 countries this week.


Fox’s science fiction drama boasts an international appeal with its multi-cultural cast, scenes set in foreign cities and an intriguing premise: People around the world are linked to one another and their lives intersect — with potentially major repercussions — as a result of patterns hidden in numeric sequences.


Sutherland plays Martin Bohm, an under-employed single dad whose uncommunicative, mute son, Jake (David Mazouz), has barely defined, semi-mystical abilities. Jake sees patterns in numbers that allow him to predict the future and compel him to send his father to correct deviations in the patterns.


While Martin struggles to figure out what his son is trying to tell him (with the occasional help of Danny Glover as a disgraced scientist) and keep his troubled son out of state custody (with the regular help of Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a sympathetic social worker), subplots swirl around them that amplify the interconnected theme.


It’s a complete change-of-pace role for Sutherland, and he responds with one of his best performances, revealing Bohm’s elation, despair and confusion while grounding the fanciful story in real emotion. Unfortunately, his disciplined performance is done in by an undisciplined show that moves too slowly to put limits on Jake’s powers. Which, by the way, is the same flaw that doomed creator Tim Kring’s last show, “Heroes.”

Kristen Stewart to Recreate Herself in 2012

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner fans – You know you want it! It’s the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part two trailer and it can’t seem to grace our eyes and ears quickly enough. Sure, there are other young adult novel adaptations to get excited about, including this month’s Hunger Games premier, which is where I intend to view the Breaking Dawn part two trailer for the very first time. It is followed by another Stephenie Meyer story in March 2013, The Host. At some point we’ll even get a City of Bones movie. But right this second, let’s focus on Twilight, shall we?


Kristen is expected, however, to completely dispel that notion with the release of Snow White and the Huntsman, which debuts in theaters this summer. The entire cast is in fact top-notch, with Stewart at the helm.


Another key to Kristen's longevity in the film world stems from the transition of her role in Twilight. Unlike many 'child' actors, her role of Bella Swan transitioned, too, from young teenager to married adult and mother. That plays a vital role in her believability among present and future viewers.


Snow White and the Huntsman, as well as On The Road--Kristen Stewart's other big 2012 film--will no doubt prove to skeptics that the Twilight actress is being recreated from that role into one of a versatile and immensely talented actor. On The Road will even feature Stewart dirty dancing and in various stages of undress.


2012 will no doubt be Kristen Stewart's year in a variety of ways. Fans are even hoping by year's end that word of an engagement between her and Robert Pattinson might emerge.


Do you plan to see Kristen in her new roles when both Snow White and the Huntsman and On The Road hit theaters? Do you believe that 2012 will find her recreated in the acting world?

'Cosmopolis' Teaser Has Plenty Of Robert Pattinson, Sex And Dinosaurs

The trailer for David Cronenberg's new film, Cosmopolis, hit the Web today, and by the looks of it the Twilight heartthrob has finally graduated to his first serious adult role in this sex- and violence-filled tale based on the novel by Don DeLillo.


It also, ladies, happens to show off his very naked torso, so check it out! (Word of caution: Trailer is of a graphic and sexually explicit nature.)




The flick chronicles a day and a night in the life of a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager who sets out across Manhattan to get a haircut. And in case you think Pattinson stretched out in Water for Elephants, Cosmopolis is a far cry from the veterinary medicine student he played in the former.


During the surreal Odyssey-like trek, our hero encounters his wife on several occasions, gets caught up in traffic jams caused by a presidential visit, finds himself cast as an extra in a movie, is stalked by two men and stumbles into a riot.


There are plenty of quick flashes of scenes throughout the teaser, but not enough to give us a sense of anything more than the movie's tone. In true David Cronenberg style, "Cosmopolis" will be noir, it will be dark, and it will be weird.


For you few uninitiated left out there, "Cosmopolis" is the adaptation of Don DeLilly's surrealist thriller novel of the same name. It follows Pattinson's character Eric Packer, a wealthy billionaire bored with the world, as he travels deeper and deeper into Manhattan's underworld over the course of 24 hours. He spends much of his time in a limo, and runs into a cast of colorful characters.


And, apparently, some imaginary dinosaurs along the way, as we see in the teaser. There's plenty of weirdness at play here, but we're willing to give ourselves up to it. And if you thought "Bel Ami" was going to have a ton of sex in it, just wait until you see the ways Pattinson is hooking up in "Cosmopolis."


The film doesn't yet have an American release date, but it is due in theaters in France on May 23 and in Portugal on May 31. It is largely expected that "Cosmopolis" will premiere at Cannes.

Acting Trumps Action In A 'Games' Without Horror

Suzanne Collins’s “The Hunger Games” (the first book in a best-selling trilogy) is a sensational piece of pop primitivism—a Hobbesian war of all against all. In a dystopian society in the future, a group of wealthy, epicene overlords—authoritarians with violet hair and the vicious manners of French courtiers—threaten and control an impoverished population. Years ago, the virtuous commoners rose up, unsuccessfully, against their decadent rulers, and they’ve been both cosseted and terrorized ever since by a yearly lottery in which two teens from each of twelve districts are selected, trained, and turned into media stars. They are then set loose in a controlled wilderness, where they must survive hunger and one another, until only one of them is left alive. The survivor will bring home to his district both glory and food, and everyone, rich and poor, watches the events on television. Collins’s idea seems to be derived from the bloodier Greek myths and Roman gladiatorial contests (the big shots have names like Cinna and Claudius); from William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”; and from TV spectacles like the myriad “Survivor” shows and sado-Trumpian elimination contests. Collins’s strategy of putting girls and boys (some as young as twelve) at the center of a deadly struggle adds tense, nasty excitement to the old tales and tawdry TV rituals she draws on


Out of 24 participants, only one child will live. And we hope it will be Katniss Everdeen, from the impoverished mining District 12 — a teen who, when her little sister is picked in the lottery, volunteers to take her place.


Why is it problematic? Kids killing kids is the most wrenching thing we can imagine, and rooting for the deaths of Katniss' opponents can't help but implicate us. But the novel is written by a humanist: When a child dies, we breathe a sigh of relief that Katniss has one less adversary, but we never go, "Yes!" — we feel only revulsion for this evil ritual.


If the film's director, Gary Ross, has any qualms about kids killing kids, he keeps them to himself. The murders on screen are fast and largely pain-free — you can hardly see who's killing who. So despite the high body count, the rating is PG-13.


Think about it: You make killing vivid and upsetting and get an R. You take the sting out of it, and kids are allowed into the theater. The ratings board has it backwards.


The packed preview audience clearly loved The Hunger Games, but I saw one missed opportunity after another. Director Ross has a penchant for showbiz satire, pleasant in Pleasantville but ruinous in Seabiscuit — a great book about the torturous underbelly of horseracing turned into a lame, movie-ish period piece.

Gunman dies in hail of bullets as French siege ends

Mohammed Merah was the sort of radicalized individual who makes Western counterterrorism officials very apprehensive: someone who was determined, trained, living legally in Europe or the United States and operating alone. One of dozens (perhaps hundreds) of militants either unknown to authorities or suspected of plotting a terrorist attack but whose real intentions and movements are difficult to track.
Merah was shot dead at the end of a lengthy siege on Thursday; he had been hunted by police in connection with the killings of seven people in the past 10 days. He had twice visited the Afghan-Pakistan border area, in 2010 and 2011, French officials said Wednesday. And after the standoff began in Toulouse, he claimed to have been trained by al Qaeda, they say.


Two police commandos were injured in the operation - a dramatic climax to a siege which riveted the world after the killings shook France a month before a presidential election.


"At the moment when a video probe was sent into the bathroom, the killer came out of the bathroom, firing with extreme violence," Interior Minister Claude Gueant told reporters at the scene.


"In the end, Mohamed Merah jumped from the window with his gun in his hand, continuing to fire. He was found dead on the ground."


Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Merah had taken refuge in his bathroom, wearing a bullet-proof vest under his traditional black djellaba robe, as elite police blasted his flat through the night with flash grenades.


Police investigators were working to establish whether Merah had worked alone or with accomplices, Molins said, adding that Merah had filmed his three shooting attacks with a camera hung from his body and had indicated that he had posted clips online.

Tom Hanks adds Bill O'Reilly to apology

t turns out no famous person—not even Tom Hanks—is safe from the Internet and its vast depths of potentially humiliating material.


The Daily Caller, a conservative-leaning news site based in Washington, D.C., has posted a video featuring Hanks and the Eagles' Glenn Frey emceeing an event at the private St. Matthew's Parish School in Pacific Palisades. No big deal, right?




The ostensibly shocking footage shows a fellow parent—whom the Daily Caller identified as an investment banker—dressed in what apparently was his interpretation of an African tribal costume, complete with dark makeup on his face.


PlayClooney's Press Conference After Jail Release
And Hanks performed with this guy? What does the two-time Oscar winner have to say for himself? This is Tom Hanks we're talking about...


"For many years I emceed the annual fundraising auction for my kids' school," he said in a statement obtained by E! News. "In 2004, I was blindsided when one of the parents got up on the stage in a costume that was hideously offensive then and is hideously offensive now. What is usually a night of food and drink for a good cause was, regrettably, marred by an appalling few moments."

Elegant at every opportunity! Katherine Jenkins shows off her curves

Was this the best Dancing With the Stars Season Premiere night in history?! The judges seemed to think so, and unlike Chris Harrison on The Bachelor, they don't throw around superlatives like that every single episode of every season.


So you know Monday's Season 14 opener was at least pretty good, and with no one on the block tonight, the contestants were free to let loose, pressure-free!


Not to say we didn't learn who's in it to win it and whose cringe-inducing moves will likely make their stint on DWTS a short one, but all are safe this week! Let's get right to the biggest story, though: Jaleel White is no Steve Urkel.


His foxtrot with Kym Johnson closed the show, but DWTS saved the best dance for last apparently, as the former Family Matters star posted a 26! In Week One! Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins was elegant during her own foxtrot with Mark Ballas, also scoring a 26 and tying UJaleel for first place Monday.


Katherine and Mark will no doubt be hoping to recreate their previous success on DWTS when the show returns on Monday night.
The pair won rave reviews from the judges following their foxtrot, which judge Carrie Ann Inaba told them was the ‘best first dance on the first episode ever’.
But the couple are likely to face strong competition from fellow competitors including Maria Menounos, who is determined to move things up a gear this week with a sizzling Quickstep.
The Extra host, 33, looked in good spirits as she headed to a 'long rehearsal' with her professional partner Derek Hough yesterday.


And it appears Hough - who has won DWTS twice with Nicole Scherzinger and Jennifer Grey in recent years - has been putting her through her paces.
She wrote on Twitter: 'Quickstep is kicking my butt!!!!!!'
Menounos also uploaded a humorous video on her website, suggesting Hough is quite the demanding choreographer.
The Utah-native is seen sweaty and out-of-breath as he collapses on a seat, shouting: 'Water!'