Sexiest Man Alive on Earth – People’s Magazines – Bradley Cooper

Sure, he’s easy on the eyes, but there’s more to 2011′s Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper than dazzling baby blues and a killer smile.

Ladies, take note: this Georgetown grad can whip up dinner, take you for a spin on his motorcycle and whisper sweet nothings in French (he’s fluent!). Just don’t try convincing him what a catch he is.

“I think it’s really cool that a guy who doesn’t look like a model can have this [title],” says the “Hangover” actor, 36. “I think I’m a decent-looking guy. Sometimes I can look great, and other times I look horrifying.”

Another reason to love him? Cooper, whose father Charles passed away in January, is especially close with his mom, Gloria. When he learned he’d been crowned Sexiest Man Alive, the “first thing I thought,” he says, “was, ‘My mother is going to be so happy.’ “

So what’s the truth about his dating status?

Cooper, who was with Renée Zellweger for two years until their split in March and has been spotted out with Jennifer Lopez in recent months, says he’s a “single 36-year-old male.”

“If you’re a single man and you happen to be in this business,” he says, “you’re deemed a player. But I don’t see myself as a ladies’ man.”

 

Hillary Clinton motorcade hit with eggs in Manila

A motorcade carrying Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Philippines was pelted with eggs and other objects Wednesday, the State Department confirmed, but the car carrying Clinton was not hit and there were no injuries.

The incident occurred at 2:45 p.m. in Manila, when the motorcade was traveling from the presidential palace to another location, deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters in Washington.

“The secretary’s motorcade ran into a crowd of approximately 40 to 50 people, protesters,” Toner said. “They threw objects at the lead vehicle — I believe it was eggs and paint balls, they maybe threw rock — and the motorcade pulled out of that area and went to the next scheduled meeting place.”

Toner later clarified that the “paintball” was more likely a balloon filled with paint. He also said that at no time was Clinton in danger.

Clinton is in the Philippines for commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. As part of that treaty, she signed the Manila Declaration binding the countries to work together on a variety of mutual interests.

Protesters storm Kuwaiti parliament

Dozens of Kuwaiti protesters stormed parliament late on Wednesday, as hundreds more demonstrated outside.

Eyewitnesses said they were demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah step down.

Hundreds of people, including opposition lawmakers, have been protesting weekly outside parliament over alleged corruption.

Some reports said riot police had beaten demonstrators using batons as they gathered outside parliament.

AFP news agency reports that at least five protesters were injured.

“Now, we have entered the house of the people,” said Mussallam al-Barrak, who was among those who led the protest against Sheikh Nasser, a nephew of the emir.

Corruption claims

The demonstrators broke open the gates to the parliament building and managed to enter the main chamber, where they sang the national anthem and then left a short time later.

One eyewitness and protester told the BBC that guardsmen did not intervene when they entered the parliament building, stormed after protesters’ attempt to march on the prime minister’s house were blocked.

“Some people managed to get inside. No confrontation happened with the national guard who are guarding the building,” junior doctor Mohammed told the BBC World Service.

“People are asking for more reforms, and especially as recently the government has not been going with the spirit of the constitution, which some regard as the absolute minimum of democracy.”

As the crowd returned to the square outside, the protesters outside shouted: “The people want to bring down the head (of government),” Reuters reports.

Kuwait’s parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the Gulf.

Kuwait has not seen the mass protests that toppled former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia’s Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, thanks to a generous welfare system, observers say.

But opposition groups have escalated pressure on Kuwait’s leadership in recent months over claims of corruption and perceived attempts to roll back political freedoms.

Teacher William Drury jailed after teens had sex in car

A drama teacher who watched as two teenagers had sex on the back seat of his car has been jailed.

A 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy had sex in William Drury’s car as he drove them home from his house in Chester Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Jurors heard he told the girl he loved her and kissed her. He also took photographs of her topless.

Drury, 48, was found guilty of a series of sex offences by a jury at Leeds Crown Court and jailed for three years.

Egypt has closed the Great Pyramid outside Cairo

Egypt has closed the Great Pyramid outside Cairo after rumours that groups would try to hold special rituals on 11 November at 11:11 (09:11 GMT).

The rumours sparked an internet campaign to stop any ceremonies.

However the head of Egypt’s antiquities authority said the pyramid had been closed until Saturday morning for “necessary maintenance” only.

The Great Pyramid houses the ancient tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu. Two nearby pyramids and the Sphinx remained open.

Security was tightened across the entire complex, Associated Press news agency said, with dozens of police officers and armed soldiers on patrol.

After 11:11, the director of the pyramids complex, Ali al-Asfar, said nothing unusual had happened.

“Everything is normal,” he told AP.

“The only thing different is the closure of the Khufu pyramid.”

Both he and the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mustafa Amin, said the pyramid was closed for maintenance after the large number of visitors during the Eid al-Adha holiday last week.

Reports of planned ceremonies at the site were “completely lacking in truth,” Mr Amin said.

But the rumours had sparked an internet protest campaign to block any rituals “within the walls of the pyramid on November 11, 2011,” Atef Abu Zahab, the head of the Department of Pharaonic Archaeology, told AFP news agency.

The pyramid is the biggest and most famous of the Giza monuments and is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing.

Numerologists have been excitedly awaiting the alignment of ones on Friday, believing the date holds special significance.

Hospitals have reported a surge of bookings for Caesarean births and wedding venues have been having a busy day as well.

Mexican interior minister killed in crash

Mexico’s interior minister, Jose Francisco Blake Mora, was killed in a helicopter crash Friday, the government said.

The helicopter went down in the Xochimilco area south of Mexico City, government spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said.

Also killed in the crash were Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights Felipe Zamora and the ministry’s press office chief, Jose Alfredo Garcia, she said.

In all, nine people perished — seven passengers and two crew members, she said.

In July 2010, Mexican President Felipe Calderon appointed Blake Mora to the post that oversees security efforts against drug cartels in Mexico. That battle has cost thousands of lives.

“I grieve his loss” and those of the other victims, Calderon said in a national address, saying that Blake Mora leaves behind a wife and two children.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the accident. A photograph of the crash site depicts a relatively concentrated debris field. The French-manufactured THP06 Super Puma helicopter was made in 1987 and had logged 717 hours of flight, Mexican officials said.

Before becoming interior minister, Blake Mora was an attorney from Baja California state who was chief of staff to the state government from 2007 until July 2010. Previously, he was a councilman in Tijuana, as well as a state and federal congressman.

Charged with leading the national effort against the cartels, Blake Mora was considered to be close to the president and, in fact, led his political campaign in Baja California.

The helicopter crashed while traveling between Mexico City and the Mexican state of Morelos south of the city, officials said.

At a news conference, Sota confirmed there were no survivors and said the president met with Blake Mora’s widow. Blake Mora was 45.

Also killed were Diana Ayton Miriam Sanchez, a technical secretary; media spokesman Jose Alfredo Garcia; and three members of the air force: Basio Felipe Cortés, Pedro Ramon Becerra Escobar and Jorge Luis Juarez Gomez.

Ironically, Blake Mora’s last writing in his Twitter account refers to an accident suffered by a predecessor who died in November 2008.

“Today we remember Juan Camilo Mourino three years after his departure, a human being who worked on building a better Mexico,” Blake Mora says in a tweet posted on November 4.

Mourino died when his plane, which was returning to Mexico City after a tour of work in the state of San Luis Potosi, crashed near the intersection of the Mexico City’s Periferico beltway and its grand boulevard, the Paseo de la Reforma.

There was no foul play suspected in that accident, as investigators determined that turbulence from a commercial airliner was the probable cause.

On November 4, 2008, the government Learjet slammed into the capital’s wealthy Lomas neighborhood, killing all eight people on board and six on the ground. At least 40 others on the ground were injured.

An investigation led by Gilberto Lopez Meyer, head of the nation’s Airports and Auxiliary Services agency, determined that the Learjet 45 was following a Boeing 767 too closely and the pilots lost control in the larger jet’s wake.

Former Interior Secretary Santiago Creel reacted to Friday’s news on Twitter by saying: “I’m sorry the accident. My prayers for Francis Blake and the other crew are found safe and sound.”

Blake Mora succeeded Fernando Gomez Mont, who resigned as Calderon reorganized his Cabinet. A senior presidential adviser, Patricia Flores Elizondo, also resigned.

At the time, Gomez Mont said: “Currently, the country is facing challenges, but I am certain that us citizens, political actors and government have the potential, the duty and the will to surpass them.”

F1′s Ecclestone speaks at German banker’s bribe trial

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told a court in Munich that he paid a former banker to avoid a potentially costly tax investigation.

The ex-banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, on trial in Germany, stands accused of corruptly accepting the money when the sport was sold in 2006.

But Mr Ecclestone has denied the payment was a bribe.

“I had no alternative at the time,” Mr Ecclestone, who has immunity for his testimony, told the court.

While immune for his testimony, he could still be prosecuted for any actual wrongdoing. He has said that he is confident he will be exonerated for paying the banker.

‘Keep calm’

In court on Wednesday, Mr Ecclestone said that he was worried that, if he did not pay, Mr Gribkowsky would alert the UK tax authorities to “things” that might lead to a tax inquiry.

“The only alternative was that the British tax authorities followed a case that would have been very expensive for me,” he said.

“The tax risk would have exceeded £2bn,” said Mr Ecclestone. “I paid him to keep calm and not to do silly things. I knew he wanted to start a business.”

The allegations revolve around the sale of BayernLB’s stake in Formula 1 to private equity group CVC Capital Partners, which still owns the commercial rights to the sport.

In return for the payment to Mr Gribkowsky, who was in charge of the sale of German bank BayernLB’s stake in F1, prosecutors allege Mr Ecclestone received $41.4m in commissions from the bank, as well as a large payment to a family trust.

In July, Mr Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph that he paid $44m (£27m) to the former banker in 2006, but denied the money was a bribe.

Private equity firm CVC bought majority control of F1 from Bernie Ecclestone’s family trusts and a group of investment banks.

Mr Ecclestone remains F1′s chief executive and retains a large shareholding in the sport.

He is scheduled to testify further in the trial on Thursday.

Russia rules out new Iran sanctions over nuclear report

Russia has ruled out supporting fresh sanctions against Iran, despite a UN report that says Tehran may be trying to develop nuclear weapons.

France and the US both said they would pursue new sanctions against Iran in the wake of the IAEA report.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the report showed the need for the world to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons.

The US and its allies suspect Iran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb, which Tehran denies.

The Iranian government insists that its nuclear programme is for peaceful means.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Interfax news agency that extra sanctions “will be seen in the international community as an instrument for regime change in Iran”.

“That approach is unacceptable to us, and the Russian side does not intend to consider such proposals.”

The Russian foreign ministry later issued another statement saying that the report “does not contain fundamentally new information”.

Italy borrowing costs hit record 7%

Italy’s cost of borrowing has touched a new record, a day after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would resign once budget reforms were passed.

If Italy tried to borrow money today, payable in 10 years, it would have to pay an interest rate of more than 7%.

Investors fear that Italy could become the next victim of the debt crisis.

In a bid to calm markets, President Giorgio Napolitano said reforms would be passed and Mr Berlusconi would resign “within a few days”.

The 7% level is widely viewed as unsustainable and was the point at which Portugal, Greece and the Irish Republic were forced to seek a bailout.

This so-called yield on Italian government debt is the highest since the euro was founded in 1999. In comparison, Germany’s implied cost of borrowing for 10 years is 1.73%.

The BBC’s business editor Robert Peston said: “No-one wants to lend to a country when that country would use the loan to pay the interest on previous loans – that’s throwing good money after bad.”

The debt was also pushed up as a clearing house asked for a larger deposit to trade Italian bonds – to cover the increased risk of non-payment.

Giant asteroid to pass near Earth

An asteroid that is 400m (1,300ft) wide will pass by the Earth on Tuesday, closer to it even than the Moon.

It poses no danger to the Earth and it will be invisible to the naked eye.

Asteroid 2005 YU55′s closest approach, at a distance of 325,000km (202,000mi), will be at 23:28 GMT. It is the closest the asteroid has been in 200 years.

It is also the largest space rock fly-by the Earth has seen since 1976; the next visit by such a large asteroid will be in 2028.

The aircraft-carrier-sized asteroid is darkly coloured in visible wavelengths and nearly spherical, lazily spinning about once every 20 hours as it races through our neighbourhood of the Solar System.

It will trace a path across the whole sky through to Thursday.

“This is the closest approach by an asteroid that large that we’ve ever known about in advance,” said Lance Benner of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

But he stressed that there was no chance that the pass would be anything other than a close encounter.

“2005 YU55 cannot hit Earth, at least over the interval that we can compute the motion reliably – which extends for several hundred years,” he said.

Instead, the pass gives astronomers a rare opportunity to study the asteroid in detail.

In particular, two radio telescopes – the Goldstone Observatory in California, US and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, US – will be tracking radio echoes off it in a bid to understand better what it is made of and how it is shaped.

The precise details of the asteroid’s path will also help scientists to predict where it will go much farther into the future.

Amateur astronomers may catch a glimpse of it with telescopes of 15cm or larger, Nasa suggests.

The Earth has several regular visitors like 2005 YU55 – most famously the Apophis asteroid. Apophis has in the past been claimed as a possible future impactor when it returns to our neighborhood in 2029 and again in 2036.

There is, according to the latest calculations, no danger from Apophis either. However, it will pass much closer to the Earth on 13 April 2029 – at a distance of just 29,500km (18,300mi).