All the positions, fortunes, celebrities disappear as a snow flake that melts on the black asphalt of death. So does beauty too. And what else remains if not the piece of love that once existed in this great il or in this dream called life?
Sorin Cerin
Twitter users will be seeing a new look on their desktops and laptops soon, one that will look familiar if they also use the app on their smartphones.
In a post Monday afternoon, Twitter announced “a refreshed twitter.com reflecting the look & feel of our iOS & Android apps.”
The look won’t be a change for some users. Twitter has been testing out the new design on about 1% of people who use the site, studying their habits and making tweaks before rolling it out to everyone.
The main change, other than aesthetics, is a built-in “compose” box in the left rail of the Web page. The new location eliminates the old pop-up style compose box and appears to be a way for Twitter to encourage more users to actually tweet instead of just browse.
Twitter has said in the past that as many as 40% of its users are “lurkers,” folks who read what others post but don’t share anything themselves.
Users also will see their profile and header photos at the top of a rail on the left of the page. The main Twitter feed appears to be largely unchanged.
The new design had not appeared for all users as of Tuesday. Twitter didn’t offer a specific timetable,
Oh fame, what a fickle beast you can be. Sometimes kind and sometimes crushing. We asked CNN readers to vote on the celebs they thought had the best and worst 2013. Thousands of you voted. Here are the results:
Best year: With a hit album and plenty of time in the spotlight (mostly because of controversy) you voted Miley Cyrus as having the best 2013.
Best year: Jennifer Lawrence seems to be unable to do any wrong. Hit films, award nominations, adorable appearances and just an all-around cool chick.
Best year: Justin Timberlake donned his suit and tie for “The 20/20 Experience,” aka one of the biggest albums of the year. He followed that up with volume two of said album, a solo tour and a tour with rapper Jay Z. and (briefly) reunited with ‘N Sync. Not too shabby.
Best year: Sandra Bullock remained America’s sweetheart with films like “The Heat” and “Gravity,” which is generating tons of Oscar buzz for her.
Best year: Readers exercised their right to write in a candidate and voted Beyonce as having a great 2013. She certainly slayed it at the end with a self-titled “visual” album that soared in sales despite having no marketing before its secret release in December. Grown woman indeed.
Worst year: Things just seemed to go from bad to worse for Justin Bieber with bad boy stories galore. He rounded out the year with a low performing opening weekend for his latest concert documentary film, “Believe.”
Worst year: Amanda Bynes ended up hospitalized and much talked about after bizarre behavior and legal trouble.
Worst year: Troubled singer Chris Brown managed to get tossed from anger management rehab for being too angry. That, and more legal trouble, earned him votes from readers for worst 2013.
Worst year: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Need we say more?
Worst year: 2013 was supposed to be the big comeback year for Lindsay Lohan, but with tepid interest in her latest projects, that didn’t go quite as planned.
source:bbc
Former Venezuelan beauty queen Monica Spear, 29, and her British husband Thomas Berry, 39, have been shot dead in their car in Venezuela.
Their five-year-old daughter, who was injured in the incident, is said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Police have launched a investigation into the killing, which happened on the highway leading from Valencia to Puerto Cabello.
Ms Spear became Miss Venezuela in 2004, and also acted in soap operas.
Police believe they were the victims of a failed robbery attempt.
Ms Spear and Mr Berry were travelling at night from the city of Merida to the capital, Caracas, when they hit a sharp object “placed on the road”, according to Venezuela’s investigative police chief Jose Gregorio Sierralta.
At least two of the two tyres were punctured, he said.
The couple and their daughter waited for about 45 minutes for breakdown assistance, reported El Universal newspaper.
The car was about to be towed away when a group of five people approached and ordered them to stop.
The couple and their daughter reportedly ran back and hid inside the car but were shot at by the gang.
Ms Spear and Mr Berry died instantly. Their daughter, Maya, was shot in the leg.
Initial reports said Mr Berry was Irish. But the British Foreign Office has now confirmed he was a British national, who reportedly moved to Venezuela as a child.
The couple lived in the United States and were in Venezuela on holiday.
Venezuela has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Armed robberies and kidnappings are not unusual, but the death of Ms Spear has had huge impact in the country.
President Nicolas Maduro has promised to respond with “an iron fist” to those who continue to attack the Venezuelan people.
He expressed his condolences and said: “We were evaluating the cruelty with which the suspects acted. Violence is an evil that we have.”
He added: “There will be no tolerance to those who carry out acts like that, killing decent men and women, who have a right to live.”
The opposition leader and defeated presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles, posted a message on his Twitter account calling for a nationwide drive against violence.
“Nicolas Maduro, I suggest we put aside our deep differences and get together to fight the lack of security, as one bloc,” he wrote.
Hours later, Mr Maduro invited Mr Capriles to join all state governors and the mayors of the 79 municipalities for an emergency meeting later today.
source:bbcnews
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