Blunders and Babies

Blunders, babies and butts, oh my!

While Shakira was busy giving birth to her baby boy Milan Tuesday, Beyoncé was dealing with a lip-synching controversy and Justin Bieber was showing off his, um, assets on Twitter.

And those weren't the only celebrities making headlines this week.

Take a look at the stars that topped our most recent photo galleries!

Burt Reynolds Hospitalized With Severe Flu; Rep Says Actor "and His Mustache" Receiving Best of Care

Burt Reynolds, we're pulling for your recovery—and getting a good laugh from your PR camp.

The Smokey and the Bandit star has been hospitalized in Florida with a severe case of the flu that landed him in the intensive care unit with severe hydration.

Happily, Reynolds' rep told E! News on Friday, "He is doing better. They are taking care of him and his mustache."

Yes, the rep really said that.

Burt Reynolds braved quintuple bypass surgery in 2010 

The 76-year-old actor, an Oscar nominee for Boogie Nights and erstwhile star of the CBS sitcom Evening Shade, most recently contributed his voice, as himself, to the quirky animated FX series Archer.

May Reynolds—whose mustache indeed contributed to his sex-symbol status in the 1980s—feel better soon! 

After threats against U.S., North Korea turns ire to South

"Troubling and counterproductive" rhetoric from North Korea is inflaming tensions on the Korean peninsula, but ultimately, "we will judge North Korea by its actions, not its words," the U.S. envoy to North Korea said Friday.

In its latest bout of saber-rattling, North Korea on Friday warned of the possibility of "strong physical counter-measures" against South Korea after the United Nations imposed tougher sanctions against the North earlier this week.

The threat against South Korea came a day after the North said it would carry out a new nuclear test and more long-range rocket launches as part of a new phase of confrontation with the United States.

The statement Friday from North Korea's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said it would take action against South Korea if it "takes a direct part" in the U.N. sanctions.

U.N. Security Council slams North Korea

The South Korean Unification Ministry declined to comment specifically on the new threats from Pyongyang. It reiterated its stance that North Korea should refrain from further provocations.

"Now is a moment when I think all parties in the six-party process, in particular here, North Korea, should turn their attention to how to peacefully and diplomatically address challenges that concern them," U.S. envoy Glyn Davies said from Beijing.The two Koreas have technically still been at war since the all-out conflict between them in the 1950s. Smaller scale clashes have occurred since then, most recently in November 2010 when North Korea shelled a South Korean island, killing several people.

South Korea and the United States are often the focus of menacing language from Pyongyang, but the latest U.N. sanctions, a response to a long-range rocket launched last month by the North, appear to have prompted a ratcheting up of the threats.

Opinion: For the U.N. and North Korea -- Game on

A displeased Chinese editorial

At the same time, North Korea's strong words and vow to conduct a third nuclear test -- previous ones took place in 2006 and 2009 -- appear to be testing the patience of its main ally, China, which voted in favor of the U.N. sanctions this week.

An editorial published Friday in the English-language edition of the state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times struck a displeased tone over Pyongyang's comments a day earlier.

"China's role and position are clear when discussing the North Korea issue in the U.N. Security Council," the editorial said. "If North Korea engages in further nuclear tests, China will not hesitate to reduce its assistance to North Korea."

That prospect carries weight, since North Korea's impoverished economy relies heavily on China to stay afloat.

Global Times, whose editorial line often but not always reflects official Chinese policy, made it clear, though, that Beijing isn't about to cut Pyongyang loose.

Timeline: North Korea's rocket-fueled obsession

"If the U.S., Japan and South Korea promote extreme U.N. sanctions on North Korea, China will resolutely stop them and force them to amend these draft resolutions," the editorial said.

Global Times noted that Beijing had put "a lot of effort into amendments" to the resolution approved by the Security Council this week."It seems that North Korea does not appreciate China's efforts," it said. "It criticized China without explicitly naming it in its statement yesterday."

The newspaper was referring to a passage in the controversial North Korean statement Thursday that said that "big countries, which are obliged to take the lead in building a fair world order, are abandoning without hesitation even elementary principle, under the influence of the U.S. arbitrary and high-handed practices."

The Global Times editorial also suggested that North Korea shouldn't rank too highly among China's priorities.

"China hopes for a stable peninsula, but it's not the end of the world if there's trouble there," it said, referring to the Korean peninsula that comprises North and South Korea. "This should be the baseline of China's position."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday had urged North Korea and the West to "keep calm, remain cautious and refrain from any action that might escalate the situation in the region."

How dangerous is North Korea's nuke capability?

U.S. concerned but prepared

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Thursday there are no "outward indications" that North Korea is about to conduct a nuclear test, but he admitted it would be hard to determine that in advance.

"They have the capability, frankly, to conduct these tests in a way that makes it very difficult to determine whether or not they are doing it," he said in a Pentagon press conference.

"We are very concerned with North Korea's continuing provocative behavior," Panetta said, but he added that the United States is "fully prepared" to deal with any provocations.

Justin Bieber Investigated for Nerf Gun Assault

This really is not Justin Bieber's week.

First, the singer was accused of cheating on Selena Gomez while smoking pot in December with someone named Mimi Jenson.

Then, a radio host in Charlotte said Bieber was really mean to her at the gym.

Now, Canadian cops are actually investigating a complaint by a woman who was in the vicinity of Bieber backstage at a November concert in Ottawa.

TMZ sources say Bieber was horsing around with his very young brother and sister when one of his Nerf darts hit this bystander.

She proceeded to flip out and file a police report over the incident.

For whatever reason, the Canadian mounties are taking this report seriously enough to confer with witnesses and attempt to get to the bottom of the attack.

The accidental Nerf gun attack, we must once again emphasize.

Clinton says Benghazi attack part of broader North Africa challenge

Last September's terrorist attack in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans didn't happen in a vacuum but was part of a "broader strategic challenge in North Africa and the wider region," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

In sometimes emotional testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the September 11 attack on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Clinton reiterated that her position made her responsible for what happened.

"As I have said many times since September 11, I take responsibility," Clinton told the panel.In response to critics who have charged that the State Department refused additional protection sought by diplomatic and security staff, Clinton said in opening remarks that there was "timely" and "exceptional" coordination between the State Department and the Pentagon on the night of the attack

"No delays in decision-making. No denials of support from Washington or from the military,' Clinton said. An independent review of the U.S. government's response to the attack, she noted, "said our response saved American lives in real time -- and it did."

Clinton said she directed the response to the attack from the State Department that night and "stayed in close contact with officials from across our government and the Libyan government."

Anticipating criticism of misleading "talking points" prepared by the CIA that initially said the attack on the mission was motivated by anger over an anti-Islam video, Clinton said: "The very next morning, I told the American people that 'heavily armed militants assaulted our compound' and vowed to bring them to justice. And I stood with President Obama as he spoke of 'an act of terror.' "

In addition, Clinton said she immediately took steps to beef up security at U.S. posts around the world, including creating an independent review board that found "systematic failures" in how the State Department handled security at the mission.

Questions for Clinton in the Benghazi hot seat

"I have accepted every one of their recommendations," she said. "I asked the deputy secretary for management and resources to lead a task force to ensure that all 29 of them are implemented quickly and completely as well as pursuing additional steps above and beyond the recommendations."

The appearance in the Senate and, later Wednesday, before a House committee, was one of the last acts for Clinton before she leaves her post as long planned.

"For me, this is not just a matter of policy," she said. "It's personal."

In reference to the return of remains of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and the other three slain Americans, Clinton said in voice choked with emotion: "I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped caskets off the plane at Andrews. I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters."

Republican questions at the hearings were expected to range from a security vacuum in Northern Africa to new cables suggesting that Stevens once proposed moving the compound to a more secure location adjacent the CIA Annex, sources told CNN.

With several new members on the House Foreign Relations Committee, and two possible GOP presidential hopefuls -- Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky -- on the Senate panel, State Department officials anticipated aggressive questions about whether the presence of Islamic extremists in Mali and Algeria were in any way related to past decisions by the Obama administration to keep U.S. combat troops out of Libya.

However, A GOP member of the committee told CNN that House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce, R-California, met with Republicans on the committee and urged them to be respectful of Clinton.

Clinton was originally scheduled to testify last month but postponed her appearance as she was treated for illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain. The country's top diplomat returned to work just over two weeks ago.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Clinton was "going to get some very hard questions" on the State Department's role in handling security for diplomatic security in Libya before the attack, as well as what Clinton was doing the night of the violence.

Clinton faces hearings with numbers on her side

"We had an ambassador missing for something like seven hours with no assets brought in" for a response, he told CNN on Wednesday.

An independent report from the Accountability Review Board ordered by the State Department said it did not find "that any individual U.S. government employee engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored his or her responsibilities" leading up to the attack.

However, one State Department official resigned and three others were placed on administrative leave after the report was released in December.

Sources told CNN that congressional staffers have been shown new State Department e-mails and cables indicating that in November 2011, Stevens proposed two options to the State Department for boosting security for diplomats in Benghazi.

The first involved moving the diplomatic compound back into a hotel. The second would have moved the compound to an unoccupied villa adjacent the CIA Annex.

CIA officials agreed with U.S. diplomatic personnel in the country that the latter option would be safer, but the State Department rejected the idea.

It's a position Clinton took soon after the September attack, telling CNN in an interview last October that she was ultimately responsible for security.

There have been more than 30 hearings and closed door briefings on Benghazi with State Department officials present.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Congress has failed to expeditiously fund State Department efforts to upgrade security at high-risk posts. He pointed a finger at House Republican leaders.

"A paucity of resources ingrains a specific culture within any organization, in this case the State Department --- namely that every purchase, every expense, must be justified in a time when the threat of even more cuts loom beyond the horizon," Connolly said in a statement released on the eve of the hearings.

Obama ordered a review of security at all diplomatic outposts in the wake of the attack.

Clinton also was likely to face questions about the storming of the natural gas facility last week in Algeria during which militants seized dozens of hostages. Three Americans lost their lives.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is believed to have had a hand in the attack. Clinton also will likely face questions about the battle against extremists in neighboring Mali.

Growing potatoes

What to grow

• There are dozens of different potato varieties, usually described as early, second early and maincrop potatoes.These names indicate when they crop and also give you an idea of the space you'll need, how closely and when they can be planted.
• You should concentrate on the earlier types if you're short of space, and it's also worth remembering that earlies are less likely to encounter pest problems as they're lifted so much earlier in the year.
• Second earlies take 16 to 17 weeks to mature after planting, so you should be able to harvest them from very late June through to the start of August.
• Maincrops are ready 18 to 20 weeks after planting, so they can be lifted usually from July through to October. Maincrops take up the most space in the garden, but they tend to be the best varieties to grow if you want some for storage.

What to do

How to chit

• Chitting simply means encouraging the seed potatoes to sprout before planting.
• Start chitting from late January in warmer parts of the country or in February in cooler areas, about six weeks before you intend to plant out the potatoes.
• Each seed potato has a more rounded, blunt end that has a number of 'eyes'.
• Stand the tubers with the blunt end uppermost in trays or old egg boxes, with plenty of natural light.
• The potatoes are ready to be planted out when the shoots are 1.5-2.5cm (0.5-1in) long.

How to plant

• Plant your chitted potatoes when the soil has started to warm up, usually from mid-March or early April. Start by digging a trench 7.5-13cm (3-5in) deep, although the exact depth should vary according to the variety of potato you're planting.
• Add a light sprinkling of fertiliser to your trench before you begin planting.
• Plant early potatoes about 30cm (12in) apart with 40-50cm (16-20in) between the rows, and second earlies and maincrops about 38cm (15in) apart with 75cm (30in) between the rows.
• Handle your chitted tubers with care, gently setting them into the trench with the shoots pointing upwards, being careful not to break the shoots. Cover the potatoes lightly with soil.
• As soon as the shoots appear, earth up each plant by covering it with a ridge of soil so that the shoots are just buried.
• You need to do this at regular intervals and by the end of the season each plant will have a small mound around it about 15cm (6in) high.

Harvesting

• Your home-grown potatoes should be ready for lifting from June until September, depending on the varieties and the growing conditions. Earlies can be lifted and eaten as soon as they're ready.
• This will be when above-ground growth is still green, and usually as soon as the flowers open.
• Second and maincrop varieties can be kept in the ground much longer, until September, even though above-ground growth may well be looking past its best.
• Two weeks before you lift the crop, cut the growth off at ground level. This should give the skins of the potatoes sufficient time to toughen up, making them far less prone to damage from lifting and easier to store.

  Growing tips

  • Potatoes like plenty of sun, so avoid planting them in frost-prone sites, as these conditions can damage the developing foliage. If you're starting up a vegetable plot on very weedy ground or old grassland, potatoes may help swamp out weeds with their fast-growing, extensive foliage.
  • If you're short of space, try growing potatoes in an adequately drained container that's at least 30cm (1ft) deep and wide. Half fill the pot with multi-purpose compost or good quality, fertile garden soil, nestle two seed potatoes into the top of the compost and then top up with more compost or soil to within 2.5cm (1in) of the rim of the container.
  • It's particularly important that there's adequate water once the tubers have reached the size of marbles. Unless there's regular, ample rainfall, the size and quality of the crop will be reduced if you don't water your potatoes.

Confusion over Beyonce lip-syncing

A spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Band told The Times in a "last minute" decision, Beyonce opted to perform to a pre-recorded backing track.

However, the Marine Corp told the BBC "no-one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded".

But it confirmed that the band itself was not playing live.

Millions of people tuned in to watch the president be sworn in for his second term in office. The ceremony was punctuated by performances from James Taylor, Kelly Clarkson, as well as Beyonce, who sang the national anthem.

When the London Times reported that the singer had mimed, the story quickly travelled around the world.

The newspaper quoted a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Band, Master Sergeant Kristin duBois, who said: "We pre-recorded all music as a matter of course and have done since time immemorial.

"This is our 54th inauguration… There is no question of there not being any music, it's not because the performer cannot do it."

However, the spokeswoman did not state outright that Beyonce mimed her part of the performance.

In a statement, the Marine Corps gave the BBC a fuller picture of the events: "There was no opportunity for Ms Knowles-Carter to rehearse with the Marine Band before the inauguration so it was determined that a live performance by the band was ill-advised for such a high-profile event.

"Each piece of music scheduled for performance in the Inauguration is pre-recorded for use in case of freezing temperatures, equipment failure, or extenuating circumstances.

"Regarding Ms Knowles-Carter's vocal performance, no-one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded."

Some reports suggested the singer had pre-recorded her vocal in a studio at the Marine Barracks Annex on Sunday night.

They were drawing inferences from a series of images posted on the star's website over the weekend - one of which showed her in the studio holding the sheet music for the Star Spangled Banner.

If the claims turned out to be true, they would not be without precedent.

In 2008, American cellist Yo Yo Ma mimed his performance at President Obama's first inauguration, saying the freezing temperatures and wind might have affected his instrument live.

Reaction

Celebrities and fans have been debating Beyonce's performance.

Soul legend Aretha Franklin, who also performed at the 2008 ceremony, said the star did "a beautiful job", even if she was miming.

"When I heard the news this evening that she was pre-recorded I really laughed," she told ABC News.

"I thought it was funny because the weather down there was about 46 or 44 degrees and for most singers that is just not good singing weather.

"But she did a beautiful job with the pre-record... Next time I'll probably do the same."

On Twitter, TV presenter Piers Morgan said: "Beyonce still SANG it, everyone. It was HER voice."

Brooklyn band Prince Rama commented: "I actually think Beyonce lip-syncing the national anthem is one of the best conceptual art pieces I've seen in a long time".

While Los Angeles musician Michael Anthony defended the star, saying: "It doesn't even look like Beyonce was lip syncing at all."

A blog post on the Washington Times website said: "Some Beyonce fans insist it looked real, especially when she ripped out her earpiece midway through the song".

The BBC contacted Beyonce's representatives for comment but had not received a response at the time of writing.

Jay z new song

I just noticed that Jay z will make new music with the singer Justin Timberlake or some know as JT is just an audio but very soon it will be a music video is this will be a back to the music for JT i think so listen the audio and write all your comment below what you think the song is called a Suit and a Tie listen i personally liked it very much.This is the link of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJzRZ0T5ewc