HOT CELEBRITIES: Actor Jim Carrey is Romancing NYC Russian Student Anastasia Vitkina; Lady Gaga goes public with her boyfriend Taylor Kinney; Russell Brand files for divorce from Katy Perry

Wed, 28 Dec, 2011

Jim Carrey's new lady has been identified!

According to the New York Post, the blonde woman the 49-year-old actor has been romancing is Anastasia Vitkina.

The paper reports that Russian beauty is a student in New York. A source told Us Weekly the duo enjoyed a cozy dinner date at Perry St. in October. She and Carrey were also spotted together earlier this month at a Guns N' Roses show in L.A.

In August,the Mr. Popper's Penguins star professed his love for actress Emma Stone, 23, in a video unloaded to his official website. "Emma, I think you're all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but smart and kind-hearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you," Carrey told her. "We would have chubby little freckle-faced kids, we'd laugh all day long, go camping and play Yahtzee. Tell ghost stories by the fire."

"And every day, for the rest of your life, you would thank God that I was the appropriate age for you," he continued. "But I'm not. I'm 49. I have lines on my face, sometimes a little gray in my beard, and it takes me a little bit longer to pee than it used to."

Carrey split from Jenny McCarthy in April 2011 after five years together. He rebounded with 24-year-old model Anchal Joseph in January.

Do Jim and Anastasia make a cute couple?

Lady Gaga goes public with boyfriend Taylor Kinney

Lady Gaga has gone public with her new romance after enjoying a romantic stroll with Taylor Kinney in California at Christmas.


The singer was first linked to The Vampire Diaries star in July after he played her love interest in the music video for her single You And I.

Now the new lovers have stepped out together for the first time - they were photographed with their arms wrapped affectionately around each other in California over the weekend.

According to Britain's The Sun, the couple celebrated the holiday at a beach house Kinney shares with three other friends.

Gaga refuses to speak about the relationship, but told reporters in October, "You know, I don't talk about my love life, but I'm very happy."

Russell Brand files for divorce from Katy Perry
 

LOS ANGELES - British actor Russell Brand filed for divorce on Friday from his singer wife Katy Perry after just over a year of marriage.


Brand, 36, star of the movie “Get Him to the Greek”, and “California Gurls” singer Perry, 27, met in 2008 and married on October 23, 2010, becoming one of the most high-profile couples in the entertainment industry.

But their marriage has been in trouble for several weeks, according to celebrity media. They spent the Christmas holidays apart, with Brand being photographed in England and Perry spotted in Hawaii — both without their wedding rings.

Brand filed divorce papers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday citing irreconcilable differences.

“Sadly, Katy and I are ending our marriage. I’ll always adore her and I know we’ll remain friends,” Brand said in a statement on Friday.

Perry’s spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

Brand had dismissed rumors earlier in December that the marriage was in trouble.

“I am married to Katy perpetually. Until death do us part was the pledge. I am still alive,” the comedian told U.S. talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Paul Martin and Cathy Lee Clayson: a story with plenty of twists

Stung by her husband's acquittal on charges of slitting her throat, an Ajax woman now faces a custody battle.


The day she claims her husband tried to slit her throat on a Jamaican roadside, Cathy Lee Clayson felt as though she was watching herself in “a really bad horror movie.”

“It was like a 20-minute . . . nightmare of trying to escape (with) my life,” she said.

The alleged attack prompted a year-long saga that culminated in a November trial.

Her estranged husband, 44-year-old Paul Martin, was found not guilty and returned home after 11 months in the country, four spent in jail.

But with two young children in the picture, the story has yet to reveal its ending.

“It’s been a horrible ordeal and it’s just going to continue,” Clayson, 35, said in a matter-of-fact tone from the Ajax home she once shared with Martin.

“The day the verdict came in, I was just overwhelmed with feelings and emotion and felt sick to my stomach that this man who — I know what he’s done to me — is going to walk free in Canada.”

While Martin, who taught grades 5 and 6 at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Ajax, sat in prison accused of trying to kill her, Clayson told her children their father was teaching in Jamaica.

Their 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter still don’t know any different.

“That’s all they know as of today. Just trying to do the best I can to protect them,” she said.

“My eldest son, well, he’s 16, so he knows everything,” she said, referring to a child from a previous relationship.

Clayson won’t comment on an ensuing custody battle but said she has had her children “from the get-go,” since Martin was charged with wounding with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In a previous interview with the Star, Martin expressed his desire to “be a daddy again” and according to a source, a family court matter is already underway. The estranged couple now communicates only through lawyers.

Martin did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The saga began Dec. 23, 2010, on the final day of the couple’s Caribbean vacation to revive their failing marriage. They checked out of their Montego Bay resort and were to head to the airport in a rented SUV, but stopped along the coast so Martin could take some last-minute photos.

That’s where the stories diverge.

In Martin’s version of events, it was in fact Clayson who attacked him. The jury ultimately believed his story.

Martin gave an unsworn statement in court, one of three ways an accused can testify in Jamaica. He said his wife attacked him with a knife and he was defending himself when she was cut.

But Clayson will have none of it.

“His story was just unbelievable,” she said, insisting her DNA, not his, was found all over the car, and that his so-called defensive wounds consisted only of bruises. “What he’s done to me was malicious, premeditated.”

There are plenty of twists, including the fact that Martin admitted to initially lying to police about the incident, saying the couple had been robbed and his wife attacked. It was Clayson, in fact, who came up with that idea in what she said was a desperate attempt to get to the hospital and save her own life.

Since the beginning, she said, her story has not changed.

As she sat in the SUV, she said, Martin came from behind and slit her throat. “Not only once but he tried to go at me again,” she said.

Clayson said she managed to escape the car and run down the road, but Martin chased her down, put her back in the car and started to strangle her. He accused her of having an affair.

She remembers yelling her children’s names and asking, “What have you done, what have you done to me? Oh God help me.”

Eventually, she jumped out of the moving car and was rescued by a passing pickup driver.

She was taken to hospital where she underwent surgery for her throat wound.

Clayson describes her injury as a 25-centimetre gash across her neck that cut through tissue, fat and muscle, just missing her larynx.



Her husband never physically harmed her before the incident, she said, but had a “controlling nature.”



Martin was known in the community as a great teacher, she said. “Up until Dec. 23, I could probably say the exact same thing. But he became someone else.”

As for the future, Clayson plans to eventually return to work as a manager at the Royal Bank, but is taking it one day at a time.

She worries about running into Martin, who is reportedly living with his family in Scarborough. She would not say whether the children have seen their father since his return.

“At end of the day it’s the children that are impacted forever.”

Stung by her husband's acquittal on charges of slitting her throat, an Ajax woman now faces a custody battle.


The day she claims her husband tried to slit her throat on a Jamaican roadside, Cathy Lee Clayson felt as though she was watching herself in “a really bad horror movie.”

“It was like a 20-minute . . . nightmare of trying to escape (with) my life,” she said.

The alleged attack prompted a year-long saga that culminated in a November trial.

Her estranged husband, 44-year-old Paul Martin, was found not guilty and returned home after 11 months in the country, four spent in jail.

But with two young children in the picture, the story has yet to reveal its ending.

“It’s been a horrible ordeal and it’s just going to continue,” Clayson, 35, said in a matter-of-fact tone from the Ajax home she once shared with Martin.

“The day the verdict came in, I was just overwhelmed with feelings and emotion and felt sick to my stomach that this man who — I know what he’s done to me — is going to walk free in Canada.”

While Martin, who taught grades 5 and 6 at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Ajax, sat in prison accused of trying to kill her, Clayson told her children their father was teaching in Jamaica.

Their 3-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter still don’t know any different.

“That’s all they know as of today. Just trying to do the best I can to protect them,” she said.

“My eldest son, well, he’s 16, so he knows everything,” she said, referring to a child from a previous relationship.

Clayson won’t comment on an ensuing custody battle but said she has had her children “from the get-go,” since Martin was charged with wounding with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In a previous interview with the Star, Martin expressed his desire to “be a daddy again” and according to a source, a family court matter is already underway. The estranged couple now communicates only through lawyers.

Martin did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The saga began Dec. 23, 2010, on the final day of the couple’s Caribbean vacation to revive their failing marriage. They checked out of their Montego Bay resort and were to head to the airport in a rented SUV, but stopped along the coast so Martin could take some last-minute photos.

That’s where the stories diverge.

In Martin’s version of events, it was in fact Clayson who attacked him. The jury ultimately believed his story.

Martin gave an unsworn statement in court, one of three ways an accused can testify in Jamaica. He said his wife attacked him with a knife and he was defending himself when she was cut.

But Clayson will have none of it.

“His story was just unbelievable,” she said, insisting her DNA, not his, was found all over the car, and that his so-called defensive wounds consisted only of bruises. “What he’s done to me was malicious, premeditated.”

There are plenty of twists, including the fact that Martin admitted to initially lying to police about the incident, saying the couple had been robbed and his wife attacked. It was Clayson, in fact, who came up with that idea in what she said was a desperate attempt to get to the hospital and save her own life.

Since the beginning, she said, her story has not changed.

As she sat in the SUV, she said, Martin came from behind and slit her throat. “Not only once but he tried to go at me again,” she said.

Clayson said she managed to escape the car and run down the road, but Martin chased her down, put her back in the car and started to strangle her. He accused her of having an affair.

She remembers yelling her children’s names and asking, “What have you done, what have you done to me? Oh God help me.”

Eventually, she jumped out of the moving car and was rescued by a passing pickup driver.

She was taken to hospital where she underwent surgery for her throat wound.

Clayson describes her injury as a 25-centimetre gash across her neck that cut through tissue, fat and muscle, just missing her larynx.

Her husband never physically harmed her before the incident, she said, but had a “controlling nature.”

Martin was known in the community as a great teacher, she said. “Up until Dec. 23, I could probably say the exact same thing. But he became someone else.”

As for the future, Clayson plans to eventually return to work as a manager at the Royal Bank, but is taking it one day at a time.

She worries about running into Martin, who is reportedly living with his family in Scarborough. She would not say whether the children have seen their father since his return.

“At end of the day it’s the children that are impacted forever.”

Teacher's attempted murder trial underway in Jamaica

A schoolteacher and a banker, once in love, go on a Caribbean vacation to mend their failing marriage, leaving their kids at home with family.


The tropical trip ends with a shocking roadside throat-slashing, the wife in hospital, the husband in jail charged with trying to kill her — a year-long legal battle ahead of them.

That battle ended Tuesday, when 44-year-old Paul Martin, who taught grades 5 and 6 at an Ajax Catholic school before the ill-fated holiday, was found not guilty by a Jamaican jury.

A delay in getting his passport back from authorities has postponed Martin’s return to Canada, but his lawyer said he remains patient. After all, what’s a few more days after an 11-month nightmare?

A defeated and devastated Cathy-Lee Clayson, Martin’s now-estranged wife, returned to Canada on Wednesday after flying in for the trial earlier this month.

Clayson, 35, has opted not to comment for now, but a friend who accompanied her to Jamaica for the trial spoke to the Star just before they boarded a flight to Toronto.

“It’s disheartening when she has the cut on her throat, the evidence, hard evidence right there,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified.

“It’s been tough. And then now with a not-guilty verdict, that’s very, very, very tough. It’s extremely scary for her.”

Martin was jailed in Jamaica for four months following his wife’s injury. He was released on bail in April but forced to remain in the country.

He and Clayson will likely face further legal proceedings, this time related to custody of their two children and their marriage.

Many matters are yet to be determined, including whether or not Martin will resume his teaching post, the impact of the couple’s ongoing dispute on the community and the delicate matter of custody arrangements for their two children.

A family court matter is already underway, according to one source.

Martin has elected not to speak at this time.

A spokesperson for the Durham Catholic District School Board confirmed Martin is still employed with the board but could not say whether or when he will return to teach at St. Francis de Sales Catholic School in Ajax.

“We haven’t received any official notification from Mr. Martin or anybody representing (him),” said superintendent Tracy Barill. “Once we are contacted officially, we’ll have to go through a process at that time.”

Last December, on the final day of the Caribbean vacation, Martin and Clayson checked out of their Montego Bay resort and hopped in a rented SUV to head for the airport.

Telling his wife he wanted to take photos of a nearby cliff, Martin drove away from the airport and turned onto a secluded road, according to court testimony.

What happened next was fiercely disputed by the pair and their lawyers.

Clayson testified that as they sat in the vehicle, her husband slit her throat twice with a knife and tried to strangle her, accusing her of having an affair.

He then drove back to the main road, where Clayson jumped out of the vehicle and was eventually rescued by a passing pickup driver. She was taken to hospital where she underwent surgery to her throat.

Meanwhile, Martin drove to the police station and told investigators that an armed robber had attacked the couple — a story he later admitted was false.

In an unsworn statement, Martin testified that it was his wife who attacked him with a knife and he was defending himself when she was cut.

Martin’s lawyer, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, suggested in court that Clayson was the one who proposed they tell police she had been attacked during a robbery, and her husband agreed to it.

Clayson admitted she had come up with the plan, but said she did so in a desperate attempt to save her own life as she pleaded with her husband to take her to the hospital.

In the end, Martin’s story swayed a jury of five men and two women, who found him not guilty of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The original charge of attempted murder was reduced before the 11-day trial began.

According to Nathan Robb, a private lawyer hired by Clayson to help prosecute the case, she shouted at her husband as he left the courthouse, calling him a “coward” and a “bastard”.

Ontarian acquitted in slashing coming home
Canadian acquitted in Jamaican throat-slashing trial

Canadian's throat-slashing trial starts in JamaicaAn Ontario man acquitted in Jamaica of slashing his wife's throat has told CBC News he is eager to get back to his children and his job as an elementary school teacher.

Paul Martin was accused of violently attacking Cathy Lee Clayson on the final day of a vacation in the Caribbean nation last December.

Paul Martin claimed his wife was the aggressor and was cut in a struggle for a knife. CBC“After 11 months of this ordeal, I am relieved that the truth has finally come out,” said Martin, speaking to CBC News from the Montego Bay area on Saturday.

“I was unanimously found innocent of an offence I absolutely did not commit."

During the trial, Martin’s attempted-murder charge was reduced to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

A seven-person jury acquitted him on Tuesday.

Martin's lawyers persuaded the jury that Clayson was the aggressor and was wounded in a struggle that she started — a change from the original claim that she had been attacked by a carjacker.

The Jamaican Observer reported that Clayson admitted in court that it was her idea to lie about the robbery, and that Martin is a good father to their children. Still, Clayson maintains that her husband violently attacked her last year.

"The forensic expert did not support her story," Martin's lawyer, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, told CBC News, adding that Clayson's claims were undermined by inconsistencies.

"She was found to have been departing from earlier statements she had made to the police."

Martin eager to return home

Martin spent four months in a Jamaican jail before being granted bail in April. Until now, he hasn't been allowed to leave the country.

Martin did not speak directly to reporters while case was making its way through the courts.

In his interview with CBC News on Saturday, he said he was not interested in rehashing the details of the case and said that he is eager to move on with his life when he returns to Canada in the coming week.

“The worst part of this is I’ve been away from my children for a year,” said Martin, who is the father of two children, 3 and 6. “That’s just been very painful.”

He said he hopes to return to St. Francis de Sales school, where he taught Grade 5.

“I’m looking forward to getting back in the lives of the kids and resuming my job,” he said. “I love the kids I teach.

The Durham Catholic District School Board refused to say whether Martin will be reinstated, saying only that he is still listed as an employee.

“I don’t even want to think of what happened. I look forward to moving forward and getting back into my life that I miss so dearly.”


Glenroy Sinclair, Special

First posted: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 08:10 AM MST
Updated: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 08:15 AM MST

Paul Martin and Cathy-Lee Clayson in their wedding photo.


HANOVER, Jamaica — The lawyer for a Canadian teacher accused of trying to kill his wife during a vacation in Jamaica last year has suggested the wife was the aggressor in the fight.

Paul Martin, a 43-year-old from Ajax, Ont., is accused of trying to murder his wife, Cathy-Lee Clayson, on Dec. 23, 2010. His trial began Monday.

On Tuesday, defence lawyer Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, one of Jamaica's most prominent lawyers, raised questions about Clayson's credibility and grilled her during cross-examination. Samuels-Brown suggested Clayson had agreed to tell local police that an armed robber had attacked the couple.

Martin is accused of taking his wife to a deserted road in Stewart Castle, in the neighbouring parish of Trelawny, and slashing her throat and attempting to strangle her, after accusing her of having an extramarital affair.

But Martin says he and his wife, a bank manager, were the victims of a robbery attempt while sightseeing in an area that is known for its tourist attractions.

Prosecutor Paula Llewelyn completed her examination of Clayson on Monday. At least three other prosecution witnesses are expected to take the stand Wednesday.

Clayson told the jury that she and her husband left the Iberostar Resort in Montego Bay on Dec. 23 to go sightseeing before going to the Sangster International Airport to board a flight to Canada.

She said Martin stopped in a deserted area and then attacked her and accused her of being unfaithful. A taxi driver eventually rescued her after she escaped from the car.

Martin and Clayson were married on July 17, 2004, and have two children together.

Martin's mother, who kept wiping away tears, was accompanied by her husband and two of Martin's brothers. Two brothers and a sister-in-law were also present to offer moral support to Clayson.

ABIERTO DE AUSTRALIA 2012: Maria Sharapova podría estar ausente en el Australian Open

La rusa se bajó del torneo de Brisbane, que se jugará del 1 al 8 de enero, por una lesión en el tobillo. “Espero estar lista para el primer Grand Slam del año”, deseó.


Maria Sharapova es la número 1 de Rusia y, actualmente, ocupa el puesto 4 de la WTA. Sin embargo, una lesión en el tobillo la dejó afuera del primer torneo del año y podría dejarla también sin el primer Grand Slam del año, el Australian Open que se comenzará el 16 de enero.


La ex número 1 del mundo dio a conocer hoy la noticia de que no podrá jugar el torneo de Brisbane, que se desarrollará del 1 al 8 de enero en el Queensland Tennis Centre como parte del Australian Open Series, los torneos previos al Abierto de Australia.

"Lamentablemente mi tobillo no está al cien por cien y no podré venir este año. Estaba deseando empezar la temporada 2012 en Brisbane, un torneo con una fantástica reputación por dar una calurosa acogida a los jugadores", explicó Sharapova, quien iba a presentarse por primera vez en Brisbane.

Samantha Ardente : Quebec school employee fired for porn starts her own adult film company

Sat, 24 Dec, 2011....
After being fired from a school board job she held for nearly a decade, a Quebec office assistant who moonlighted as a porn actress has wholly embraced the industry that got her into hot water in the first place.

The woman — who prefers to go by her porn moniker Samantha Ardente — set tongues wagging in the spring when her off-hour escapades came to light after a student recognized her in an adult film.

Months after she sparked widely varying opinions on her activities, Ardente started a production house for adult films and starred in the company's debut flick.

"I feel positive about everything that happened," Ardente said through a translator. "It was a life experience but I came out a bigger and better person."

Founding her own adult film company was a step Ardente took only after gaining the approval of her 12-year-old daughter, who had previously been unaware her mother did porn on the side.


"I didn't have the time to tell my family what happened, they got to know it through the media," she said, adding that it was hard to deal with the impact her uninvited fame had on her loved ones.

"The name of my family was involved in a scandal."

Ardente was suspended from her job at a Quebec City-area high school in March after a student spotted her in a porn video on the Internet.

While she didn't deal with students in her job, the spicy contents of her videos turned her into quite the celebrity among them.

School board officials fired Ardente after they were unable to reach agreement on her transfer to another job. They acknowledged Ardente hadn't done anything illegal but said her cinematic activities don't correspond with the values being taught at the school.

Ardente had initially offered to put an end to her pornography career but said the board also wanted to impose working conditions that she felt would be too restrictive. After filing a grievance she eventually reached an out-of-court settlement with her employer.

After a rollercoaster ride encompassing both negative and positive reactions to her previously hidden life, Ardente said her supporters inspired her to push ahead with the very actions that touched off the controversy in the first place.

"I just continued with my life," she said.

Ardente said the production company she launched in August currently only makes tasteful "soft core" movies with couples. In her own film, she stars alongside her boyfriend and business associate Derek Tyler, but says she also has other projects with prominent porn stars in the works.

Ardente is already featured in a calendar that can be found in select Quebec stores and has plans to launch a lingerie line in the future.

"My life has changed in the sense that people who didn't know me before recognize me in the street as Samantha," she said.

"They say that they're happy to see I kept my head up and that I kept going forward instead of looking back."
Samantha Ardente en rajoute, en posant nue sur cinq pages, dans le nouveau numéro du magazine Summum, qui sera mis en vente demain.


Le magazine édité à Québec consacre cinq pages en textes et photos à celle qui a fait l'actualité, au cours des dernières semaines, après que sa double vie d'actrice porno et de secrétaire administrative a été révélée au public.

«Lorsque nous lui avons soumis l'idée de ce reportage, elle s'est montrée d'abord hésitante en raison de son travail.»

«Cependant, le jour où elle a perdu son emploi, elle nous a dit Oui tout de suite», expliquait au Journal, hier, Alain Rochette, rédacteur en chef du magazine pour hommes que publie le groupe Genex.

Samantha Ardente dans son plus simple appareil (Photo gracieuseté Summum)

Son choix de photos

«C'est elle-même qui nous a fourni les photos qu'elle avait fait prendre par un photographe de son choix».

En plus de montrer l'ancienne employée de la Commission scolaire des navigateurs dans son plus simple appareil, le reportage rapporte ses commentaires quant aux événements récents. Julie Gagnon raconte qu'elle aurait souhaité poursuivre sa double vie, si elle n'avait pas été démasquée par un élève de l'institution de Lévis.

«Vous allez me trouver naïve, mais oui, je croyais sincèrement que personne ne ferait le lien entre Julie et Samanta (son pseudonyme). Je désirais n'en tourner que quelques-uns (des films XXX), le temps de regar nir mon compte en banque».

Ami perdu

Elle parle aussi de ses deux filles. «Ma petite de trois ans est trop jeune pour comprendre, mais celle de onze ans a beaucoup de peine». Elle ajoute: «J'ai perdu un ami qui m'était cher, avec toute cette histoire. Je trouve dommage qu'il ait décidé de prendre ses distances.»

Samantha, qui se dit toujours célibataire, explique aussi qu'elle n'a «aucune restriction» lors du tournage de films pornos, ajoutant que le plus «wild» de ses cinq tournages était avec trois gars.

Elle dira aussi que faire du porno au Québec «ne rend pas riche» : «Ça paie à peine un voyage dans le sud». «Les tournages se font surtout dans des chalets et des suites d'hôtels. Ce n'est qu'en arrivant sur le plateau que l'on fait connaissance avec nos partenaires».

Mardi, elle a lancé son site Internet (www.samanthaardente.ca) et elle envisage produire une gamme de produits sexuels de marque Samantha

School secretary outed as porn star by pupil strips off again… despite promising to give up her seedy double life

May 28, 2011

May 28, 2011 Julie Gagnon - Samantha Ardente's Weird World


A porn star school secretary who promised to give up her seedy secret double life has stripped off again after being sacked from her day job.

Julie Gagnon, who goes by the stage name Samantha Ardente, made headlines around the world after being outed by a 14-year-old pupil from her school who recognised her in a porn film.

The young mother was finally sacked from her job at Etchemins High School near Quebec City last week after news of her starring role in the film Serial Abusers 2 reached school management.


Miss Gagnon, who has starred in five adult movies, had agreed to stop making them in a desperate bid to keep her job, but the school board claimed her film career ‘was not compatible’ with her position.

Despite being hopeful of regaining her school job after launching legal action against her sacking, Miss Gagnon has bared all in a five-page spread in the erotic magazine Summum.

In the May edition of the French-language lads’ mag, the former secretary disrobes in a series of provocative poses and explains how she imposed ‘no restrictions’ in her film scenes.

She describes how she entertained three men at the same time and tells the publication she would have continued to make porn films had her secret life not be discovered.

She said: ‘You’ll think I’m naive, but yes I sincerely believed that nobody would make the connection between Julie and Samantha.

‘I just wanted to do turn a few (porn films), just enough to replenish my bank account’.

Miss Gagnon now plans to launch a range of sex products under the ‘Samantha’ brand name.

She claims most of the movies were filmed in ‘chalets and hotel suites’ and she didn’t meet her film partners ‘until arriving on set’.

The magazine’s editor claims Miss Gagnon had originally rebuffed offers to strip off but changed her mind soon after finding herself out of work, and even provided her own private photos.

Editor Alain Rochette told QMI agency: ‘She said yes immediately.’

Miss Gagnon, who continues to fight her sacking, claims the young pupil who discovered her secret second life demanded sex in return for keeping quiet.

The Canadian boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was suspended from school in March for creating a fake Facebook page in her name with a racy profile picture of Miss Gagnon in her underwear, after she allegedly refused the boy’s request for an autograph.

But the secretary claimed this week that the boy – whose mother is a teacher – asked her to perform a sex act on him in a trade for his silence.

Miss Gagnon’s lawyer, Franco Schiro, claims his client became alarmed when the pupil inquired about her young daughter.

According to Mr Schiro, in an online conversation the pupil ‘basically asked her for oral sex in order to stop what was going to be happening to the daughter of my client’.

Miss Gagnon said she tried to start a police investigation, but was told by officers it wasn’t a criminal matter.
The owner of Pegas Productions, which makes the porn films Miss Gagnon has starred in, has condemned her sacking.

Nicolas Lafleur said: ‘She (Miss Gagnon) was very nervous. She didn’t want to lose her job and I don’t think she told everyone, so it wasn’t easy for her.’

According to Mr Schiro, in an online conversation the pupil ‘basically asked her for oral sex in order to stop what was going to be happening to the daughter of my client’.

Miss Gagnon said she tried to start a police investigation, but was told by officers it wasn’t a criminal matter.

The owner of Pegas Productions, which makes the porn films Miss Gagnon has starred in, has condemned her sacking.

Nicolas Lafleur said: ‘She (Miss Gagnon) was very nervous. She didn’t want to lose her job and I don’t think she told everyone, so it wasn’t easy for her.’

BKG NEWS: Syria tries to crush revolt with death penalty for ‘terrorists’, 19-year-old Moroccan at centre of Berlusconi sex case gives birth, Women take to the streets as violent crackdown on protesters ‘disgraces’ Egypt

19-year-old Moroccan at centre of Berlusconi sex case gives birth


Tue Dec 20 2011
Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby, has given birth at a Genoa hospital.


ROME—Italian media say the Moroccan woman who is at the centre of a sex scandal with former Premier Silvio Berlusconi has given birth to a girl at a Genoa hospital.

Luca Risso, the companion of 19-year-old Karima el-Mahroug, told Sky Italia TV News on Tuesday that mother and daughter are fine. The baby is named Sofia Aida Risso.

The mother is also known as Ruby.

Berlusconi is currently on trial in Milan on charges of having had sex with her when she was 17 and working as an underage prostitute, and then trying to use his office to cover it up.
Both he and Ruby deny they had sex.

Syria tries to crush revolt with death penalty for ‘terrorists’


By Zeina Karam

Tue 20 December, 2011

CAIRO—Security forces pursuing activists and army defectors shot and killed at least six people in central and northern Syria on Tuesday, activists said, while an Arab League official said an advance team will arrive in Syria this week to prepare for an observer mission as a possible step toward solving the crisis.

Violence in several locations across the country highlighted the difficulties facing the mission tasked with ensuring the Syrian regime's compliance with an Arab League plan for ending the nation's bloody political conflict.

After stalling for weeks, Syria on Monday signed the plan to send foreign monitors, bowing to growing international pressure to end its bloody crackdown on a nine-month uprising which the U.N. says has killed more than 5,000 people.

An Arab League official said Tuesday that the advance team, led by the Arab League's assistant secretary-general Sameer Seif el-Yazal, will travel to Syria Thursday.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told reporters Monday that the advance delegation will include legal, administrative, financial and human rights experts to discuss the makeup of the observer teams.

He said 500 observers will eventually deploy around the country in small groups of at least 10.

Syria's opposition dismissed the deal as a stalling tactic, and the violence continued unabated, with reports by activists that more than 100 people were killed on the same day the pact was signed.

The U.S. said it will judge Syria by its actions.

“We've seen too many broken promises from the Syrian regime. So we're really less interested in a signed piece of paper than we are in actions to implement commitments made,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Monday night.

The Arab League plan calls for removing Syrian forces and heavy weapons from city streets, starting talks with opposition leaders and allowing human rights workers and journalists into the country, along with observers from member countries.

Violence has escalated in recent weeks in Syria with more frequent armed clashes between military defectors and security forces. The increasing militarization of the conflict has raised fears the country is sliding toward civil war.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist group said at least six people were killed by security forces Tuesday in the central city of Homs and in northern Syria.

Also Tuesday, President Bashar Assad issued a new law under which anyone found guilty of distributing weapons with the aim of committing “terrorist acts” would be sentenced to death, state-run news agency SANA said.

The Syrian government claims armed gangs and terrorists are behind the uprising, not protesters seeking more freedoms in one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.

SANA said that according to the new law, anyone found guilty of weapons smuggling would be handed sentences ranging from 15 years to life imprisonment. Those smuggling and distributing weapons with the aim of carrying out terrorist acts would get a death sentence.

Women take to the streets as violent crackdown on protesters ‘disgraces’ Egypt

By Sarah El Deeb
Tuesday 20 December, 2011

CAIRO—Around 10,000 women marched through central Cairo demanding Egypt's ruling military step down Tuesday in an unprecedented show of outrage over soldiers who dragged women by the hair and stomped on them, and stripped one half-naked in the street during a fierce crackdown on activists the past week.

The dramatic protest, which grew as the women marched from Tahrir Square through downtown, was fueled by the widely circulated images of abuses of women. Many of the marchers touted the photo of the young woman whose clothes were partially pulled off by troops, baring her down to her blue bra, as she struggled on the ground.

“Tantawi stripped your women naked, come join us,” the crowd chanted to passers-by, referring to Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the military council that has ruled Egypt since the Feb. 11 fall of Hosni Mubarak. “The daughters of Egypt are a red line,” they chanted.

Even before the protest was over, the military council issued an unusually strong statement of regret for what it called “violations” against women — a quick turnaround after days of dismissing the significance of the abuse.
The council expressed “deep regret to the great women of Egypt” and affirmed “its respect and total appreciation” for women and their right to protest and take part in political life. It promised it was taking measures to punish those responsible for violations.

The statement suggested the military's fear that attacks on women could wreck its prestige at home and abroad, which has already been heavily eroded by its fierce, five-day-old crackdown on pro-democracy protesters demanding it surrender power. The ruling generals have campaigned to keep the public on its side in the confrontation, depicting the activists as hooligans and themselves as the honourable protectors of the nation, above reproach.

In unusually harsh words, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday accused the Egyptian security forces and extremists of specifically targeting women.

“This systematic degradation of Egyptian women dishonours the revolution, disgraces the state and its uniform, and is not worthy of a great people,” she said.

In a possibly significant hint of new flexibility, the council also said in its statement Tuesday that it was prepared to discuss any initiatives to help the security of the country. In recent days, a number of political factions have pressed the military to hand over power by February, rather than June, when it promised to hold presidential elections.

In the past, police in Mubarak's regime were accused of intentionally humiliating women in protest crackdowns. But images of women being abused by soldiers were particularly shocking in a society that is deeply conservative and generally reveres the military. The independent press has splashed its front pages with pictures of soldiers chasing women protesters, including ones in conservative headscarves and full face-veils, beating them with sticks and clubs and dragging them by their hair. The crackdown has left 14 people dead — all but one by gunshots — and hundreds wounded.

The images of the half-stripped protester, whose identity is not known, clearly had a powerful resonance. A banner showing a photo of her on the asphalt — one soldier yanking up her black robes and shirt, another poised to stomp on her chest — was put up in Tahrir Square for passing drivers to see.

“The girl dragged around is just like my daughter,” said Um Hossam, a 54-year old woman in traditional black dress and a headscarf at Tuesday's march. “I am a free woman, and attacking this woman or killing protesters is just like going after one of my own children.”

Ringed by a protective chain of men, the women marched from Tahrir to the Journalists' Syndicate, several blocks away, chanting slogans demanding the military council step down.

Many accused the military of intentionally targeting women to scare them and their male relatives from joining protests against the generals. Previously, the military has implied women who joined protests were of loose morals. In March, soldiers subjected detained female protesters to humiliating tests to determine if they were virgins.

“They are trying to break women's spirits, starting with the virginity tests. They want to break their dignity so that they don't go out and protest,” Maha Abdel-Nasser, an engineer who joined the march, said.

Two sisters, Yomna and Tasneem Shams, said they never took part in previous protests because their parents wouldn't allow them. But they happened to be downtown Tuesday and spontaneously joined the women's march.

“No one should ever be beaten for expressing their opinion,” Yomna, 19, said. “I am proud I took part in today's protest. I feel I can tell my kids I have done something for them in the future.”

Some also criticized Islamic parties, which stayed out of the antimilitary protests and did not participate in Tuesday's march — even though religious conservatives often tout their defence of “women's honour.” Pro-democracy activists accused them of being worried about anything that might derail ongoing, multistage parliamentary elections, which the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood and the more conservative Al-Nour Party have dominated so far.

“This is a case of honour. But they clearly don't care for honour or religion. They now care only about their political interests,” said Mohammed Fawaz, one of the men in the protective chain around the marching women.

The protest also is likely to deepen the predicament of the military as critics began to talk openly about putting them on trial for abuses, and politicians are floating ideas for their exit, perhaps in return for immunity.

Emad Gad, a newly elected lawmaker, said that without guarantees they would not be prosecuted, the generals won't hand over power by the end of June as promised. Foremost on their minds, he said, was the fate of Mubarak, who ended in court facing charges that carry the death penalty after ruling Egypt for nearly 30 years.

“They didn't get clear assurances and that is why they try diabolical tactics to make sure they get these guarantees,” he said, citing the military's attempt to enshrine in the next constitution language that would shield it from civilian scrutiny.

“We have to address their fears, their interests and future role,” he said.

The public and many activists welcomed the military when it took power from Mubarak in February. But relations have deteriorated sharply since as the democracy activists accused the generals of hijacking their uprising, obstructing reforms, human rights abuses and failing to revive the ailing economy or restore security.

The most recent protests — and earlier round of protests that saw a deadly crackdown last month — have seen unprecedentedly bold ridiculing of the military, which for decades was considered a revered institution above criticism. Young protesters have heaped profanities into their antimilitary slogans, demanded the execution of Tantawi and taunted soldiers in Tahrir.

On Monday, a member of the military council, Maj. Gen. Adel Emara, took a hard-line in a press conference, denouncing the protests as a conspiracy to “topple the state” and accusing the media of fomenting sedition.

He defended the use of force by troops, saying they had a duty to defend the state's institutions and declined to offer an apology for brutality toward female protesters. He did not dispute the authenticity of the image of the woman being dragged half naked by soldiers, but said Egyptians should not see it without considering the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The apparent change in attitude with Tuesday's statement of regret left some women unimpressed.

Sahar Abdel-Mohsen, a 31-year old activist, doubted the promise to punish those responsible and said the statement was in response to the U.S. criticism. “This is an apology to one woman, Hilary Clinton.”

“This is like someone raping a girl, and then going to the police station to marry her (to avoid prosecution) and then divorce her as soon as he leaves,” she said. “It is an attempt to exonerate themselves after the deed is done, but with little accountability.”



Sex shop purchase in Toronto outs Republican mayor

In this Oct. 28, 2008, file photograph, Southaven Mayor Greg Davis is interviewed in Olive Branch, Miss., during his failed congressional race.

A purchase made at a gay sex shop in Toronto then billed to taxpayers as a work expense has prompted a Republican politician in the United States to reveal he is gay.

Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, Mississippi, is at the centre of a spending scandal after a local newspaper revealed the politician had billed taxpayers for an estimated $170,000, including expensive dinners, a pricey family vacation and purchases at local liquor stores.

But it’s the $67 for unnamed merchandise from Priape, a gay sex shop near the intersection of Church and Wellesley Sts., that has caused the biggest stir for Davis, who has previously run for office on a conservative, family-values platform.

When asked about the purchase last week, Davis told the Memphis, Tennessee-based newspaper The Commercial Appeal, that he is gay and can no longer maintain a separation between his personal and public life.

“While I have performed my job as mayor, in my opinion, as a very conservative, progressive individual — and still continue to be a very conservative individual — I think that it is important that I discuss the struggles I have had over the last few years when I came to the realization that I am gay,” he told the newspaper.

Davis was in Toronto for a recruitment trip, and didn’t remember what he bought at Priape, he told the newspaper.

An employee at Priape, which specializes in DVDs, sex toys, leather, and clothing among other products catering to gay men, declined to comment Monday.

According to his website, Davis has a wife of 19 years, Suzann, and three young girls. He is currently serving his fourth term as mayor, and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in 2008.

The receipts were obtained by state auditors in an effort to reduce an estimated $170,000 they have demanded the mayor repay for illegitimate charges, the Commerical Appeal reported. The newspaper subsequently got hold of the receipts under a Freedom of Information request.

Davis has stated he won’t comment on the possibility of resigning as Southaven’s mayor, but said he would take some time off work to spend time with his family.

“At this point, my goal is to ensure that for the next year and a half that the city continues to grow,” he told the Commerical Appeal. “I will evaluate whether I will run again as mayor at a later time.”

Police make arrests in slaying of ex-mob boss killed near Montreal



December 20, 2011

MONTREAL—Quebec provincial police say they’ve made five arrests in connection with the slaying of a powerful mob boss who once led a New York City crime family.

Police held a news conference in Montreal on Tuesday to say they have arrested Raynald Desjardins, a powerful figure in Montreal with past ties to the Rizzuto family.

Salvatore Montagna, an alleged Mafia boss whom U.S. authorities identified as once having headed New York’s notorious Bonanno crime family, was killed near a Montreal-area river last month.

Desjardins, 59, and four other people are facing first-degree murder charges in Montagna’s death.

Montagna’s slaying is the latest in a series of Mafia-related killings and disappearances amid an ongoing power struggle.

Rizzuto, the reputed head of the Montreal Mafia, is currently imprisoned in the United States. A rash of killings and disappearances in late 2009 and early 2010 have robbed him of many of his closest family members and allies.