June 2012 Archives

After touching down in Riga, the capital of Latvia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton set a record by visiting her 100th country as America's top diplomat.

The previous record for any other secretary was 96. Clinton has also visited 22 other countries prior to her cabinet post, making her career tally 122!

Since 2009, Clinton has completed 70 trips, spent 337 days on the road and more than 73 days on the plane, equaling over 1,750 hours, her staff says.

Hope they have a good data plan for all those texts from Hillary!

With media attention focused on politics at home, especially after the Supreme Court health care ruling, Clinton continues to travel (and run) the world.

Dressed in a navy suit, Clinton seemed unfazed by the mileage as she shook hands with Latvian President Andris Berzins at Riga Castle this week.

"I wanted to save a very consequential number for Latvia!" she said proudly ... before heading off to Finland, Latvia and Russia within 24 hours.

Here are the 100 countries the Secretary of State, the frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic nomination if she decides to run, has traveled ...

Continue Reading...

Already squaring off against ex-wife Tameka Foster in court, Usher appears to be facing a new problem with a new woman.

The artist has obtained a temporary restraining order against Darshelle Jones-Rakestraw, claiming she's living in a dream world where Usher is her husband.

In court documents, Usher alleges that Darshelle appeared at his home in Georgia, pounding on the front door until police were called to the property. She then left the area, only to return the next day and tell cops that she was married to Usher and simply misplaced her keys. At this time, Darshelle was arrested.

Darshelle Jones-Rakestraw Defends Self Against Usher Allegations

In the above video, however, Darshelle denies all charges and says Usher has been giving her money for a long time, while also promising to help with her music career.

She plans to file a defamation charges against Usher.

Ann Curry is out as co-host of The Today Show, Savannah Guthrie is in and Matt Laurer's marriage is safe.

Wait... what?!?

The National Enquirer claims Lauer's wife, Annette Roque, was very concerned that her husband was pushing for long-time correspondent Natalie Morales to take over the seat next to him every morning, a situation that allegedly would have led to Roque filing for divorce.

Why? Well, take a look at Morales...

"When she heard about Ann getting the boot, the first thing she told Matt was she didn't want him cozying up any closer to Natalie," a tabloid source said of Lauer and Roque.

"In fact, Annette drew a line in the sand and said if he pushed show bosses to make Natalie his new co-host, she'd divorce him."

This isn't the first time that split rumors have sprung up between this couple.

In May 2010, insiders also told the Enquirer that Lauer was having an affair. Nothing came of the story, the marriage remained intact and now, thanks to the hiring of Guthrie, it appears as if the same applies here.

Have you Heard the one about Amber dating Johnny Depp?

It wouldn't be the first time, most likely. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are "100 percent dating," according to Us Weekly's new cover story, not even two weeks after the actor separated from longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis.

Amber Heard and Tasya van Ree split up as well, so ...

"They are 100% dating," a source says of The Rum Diary co-stars. "He treats her very well." Another source says he just bought her a horse, so ... there's that.

The duo met back in 2009 but didn't become romantic until the film's promotional tour in 2011, when Depp and Paradis were already seriously estranged.

"They started sleeping together during the press tour," a pal says.

Obviously, it's unconfirmed based on these accounts, but rumors continue to surround Johnny and Amber. You tell us: Would they make a good couple?

Two hats worn by Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton before her marriage to Britain's Prince William were recently sold at auction for fairly big bucks.

One, which she wore to a wedding in October 2010, went for the equivalent of $5,080 and the other for $5,030. Not a small amount for an accessory.

Interestingly, both of the hats were rented ... who rents hats? Apparently if you're the UK's most fashionable young woman, it's par for the course.

Given that Prince Charles reportedly picks up the tab for all work-related Kate Middleton wardrobe costs, she can afford to rent the best of the best, too.

The two hats were part of the 'Passion for Fashion' auction held by Kerry Taylor, the same auction house which sold a dress of hers for £78,000 last year.

Now that she's married to William, auction houses are unable to put any items of the Duchess' clothes up for sale unless she sanctions a charity auction.

For more of her stylish headwear, click through the Kate Middleton pics below!

Jack Black took the stage with a Queen cover band in concert on June 23, belting out the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody." Suffice it to say, the guy is awesome.

The actor was at the Protomen show at the Exit/In theater in Nashville, Tenn., when the tribute group broke into the song and asked him to participate.

About three minutes into the classic rock staple, the group called The Muppets star, who's also half of the band Tenacious D, on stage to sing back up vocals.

The crowd went wild. Watch Jack rock the house below:

Jack Black Sings Bohemian Rhapsody

Take that, Madonna!

In news that absolutely no one finds shocking, Justin Bieber is number-one on this week's Billboard 200 chart, as his new album, "Believe," solid 374,000 copies in its first week of release. That's the biggest debut sales week to date in 2012, surpassing the Material Girl's 359,000 for "MDNA."

The figure also represents a personal best for The Biebs. He previously sold 291,000 albums of "My World 2.0" in April 2010.

Justin, of course, has been anywhere and everywhere this week for promotion. The above still was snapped of him during a performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, while he actually stopped for a sing-along with fans prior to making that appearance.

He also engaged in a pretty great Awesome-Off with Jimmy Fallon earlier in the week. You should watch it.

After Jesse James cheated on her 19 times and she got engaged to him on almost as many occasions, Kat Von D is moving on and stepping out.

With her new boyfriend, English rapper Scroobius Pip.

Yup, that's his name. Well actually it's David Meads, but he goes by Scroobius Pip, half of the electro hip-hop duo dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip.

Although he’s not all that well known in the English music mainstream, Pip had some success last year with his solo album, Distraction Pieces.

Von D and her rapper beau looked cozy as they shopped on trendy Melrose Ave., but the romance could end up being merely a vacation fling.

Pip hails from (and still resides in) Essex, England, which may put a strain on their relationship, as he is headed back there in the near future.

Another potential hangup? Her would-be married name of Kat Von D Pip.

[Photos: WENN.com]

The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare and its individual insurance mandate today, although Fox News and CNN apparently expected a different outcome.

They were so surprised, they reported it was struck down!

Many in the media expected the Supreme Court to throw out the 2010 Affordable Care Act, but no one officially knew until the ruling at 10:15 Thursday.

Looks like CNN and Fox News jumped the gun. Fail.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling established that the law, which mandates citizens have health insurance, is constitutional, since not doing so results in a tax.

Nonetheless, Fox's ticker initially reported that individual mandate had been declared “unconstitutional,” while CNN said the mandate had been “struck down.”

Both networks ultimately corrected their reports, but not before their utter idiocy was disseminated throughout the Twitterverse. Really, guys, awesome work.

It's unclear if they were merely confused by the court's extensive 193-page ruling or if they had that text ready to go ahead of time and forgot to change it.

In any case, as HitFix's Alan Sepinwall joked, this would make for a great episode of The Newsroom ... in two years, with the full benefit of hindsight.

Kourtney Kardashian will welcome a daughter into the world any day now, but this just in: the reality star will NOT be participating in a natural water birth.

TMZ sources that Kardashian was considering this option because it's reportedly a more peaceful process for the child… but Kourtney then witnessed the event in action a couple days ago and reacted to it in disgust.

Kourtney allegedly told pals the entire thing was "horrific" and, without drugs administered to mother, "looked brutally painful," although we have to ask: Doesn't that description apply to dating Scott Disick as well?

In the end, Kardashian will simply go the route of Beyonce and Jessica Simpson and rent out a suite at a hospital, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles to be exact. No word yet on how much she'll charge for the right to the first photos, but rest assured: it will be a lot.

[Photo: WENN.com]