Gym membership contracts are to be put under the spotlight by the fair trading regulator, following customer complaints.

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Gym contracts under investigation

Britney Spears turns 30 today, a big milestone for the bonafide superstar. From Mouseketeer to pop princess, to troubled star and back again, Spears has made a pretty remarkable comeback recently considering she was whacking cars with umbrellas just four years ago. So in honor of the pop star, here’s a look back at her time in the spotlight thus far. Read full article > >

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Britney Spears turns 30: A timeline of her tabloid life

While I’ll admit that one of the ads in the controversial new ad campaign by Italian fashion brand Benetton is a little funny—the expression on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s face is priceless in a photo-shopped image of her being kissed by former Italian prime minister Silvio “Bunga Bunga” Berlusconi—the rest of the campaign is something else: A little sad. In an effort to reinvigorate its flagging brand, the fashion company’s leaders appear to be making a desperate effort to grab the spotlight. Read full article > >

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Benetton ads could kiss customers goodbye

For most of her time in the spotlight, Beyonce has been a fiercely private celebrity. The singer usually declined to discuss her relationship with Jay-Z, so much so that the rapper was “ shocked ” when his wife said “I love you” during one of her acceptance speeches at the 2010 Grammys. And then this August, Beyonce put on a sparkly suit jacket and revealed her baby bump onstage at the MTV VMAs. It was the world’s invitation into her life. Read full article > >

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Beyonce’s wedding dress revealed in ‘I Was Here’ video

Act 1 begins with them being committed. “Whatisthisplace?” an actress asks during a rehearsal of “Past, Present, Future: A performance that challenges perceptions, attitudes and the words used to describe what it is to be normal.” The actress’s words tumble together, but the rehearsal audience can understand her. What they don’t know is that at one time she could not speak well at all. Now look at her, in the spotlight. Projecting. Read full article > >

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Intellectually disabled actors challenge what it means to be “normal”

As protesters outside St Paul’s Cathedral put the Corporation of London in the spotlight, Marc Ashdown examines the unique institution that has governed the square mile for two centuries.

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VIDEO: The City: A state within a state

Sports stars aren’t any more prone to make financial mistakes than anyone else, but their fame puts those errors in the spotlight.

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Your Money: Financial Lessons From Sports Stars’ Mistakes – Your Money

As Timothy D. Cook takes over as Apple’s chief executive, followers of the company wonder how he will react to the spotlight and the scrutiny.

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At Apple, Cook Has Tough Act to Follow

The murder of PSNI officer Ronan Kerr was a “very personal attack”, his mother tells the BBC Spotlight programme.

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Kerr’s mother hits out at killers

Fallout from the revelation that former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child outside his marriage has been “very hard” for him, and the actor “is doing everything he can to take full responsibility to take all of the spotlight off his children and wife,” a source said.

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Schwarzenegger sons born days apart

The tribute acts keeping Kate Bush in the spotlight

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Sounds of love

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The opening act in the contest to pick a challenger for President Obama in 2012 proved to be an awkward moment for the Republican Party. Thursday night’s candidate debate did as much to highlight divisions within the party as it did to offer a brief for why the president should be denied a second term. With many of the party’s potentially strongest candidates either choosing not to participate — or still making up their minds about whether to run — the 90-minute debate offered a platform for second-tier candidates to make their case. They took full advantage of the spotlight, but in the process they offered dissonance in the GOP message along with moments of comedic relief to the audience. Read full article > >

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GOP debate proves an awkward start in the fight against Obama

As Sarah Palin contemplates a 2012 presidential run, she suddenly has competition from Michele Bachmann and Donald Trump, who could steal conservative votes – and her spotlight.

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Trump and Bachmann crowd Palin’s space

COLUMBUS, OHIO – Across Ohio last week, the legislative push to restrict the union rights of government workers was greeted again and again by noisy protests.

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Ohio, Wisconsin shine spotlight on new union battle: Government workers vs. taxpayers

By Julian Fisher, MD How strange for a physician to say that…and especially as I make an initial appearance on this blog.  Physicians are supposed to be caring and to want to care for patients and their illnesses.  But bear with me for a moment, as this commentary is about to shift…. Illness is omnipresent and often becomes newsworthy, especially when someone with a high profile becomes ill – or when a dramatic event propels someone – or a nation – to prominence because of that illness.  The shooting in Tucson is the obvious example but many others abound.  A prominent CEO takes ill — again — or a Hollywood celebrity falls off the wagon – with a giant thud.  And suddenly the spotlight of Entertainment Tonight or ABC or the New York Times or the Financial Times shines upon them…and the world hovers in expectation or curiosity. We are supposedly in a new world of journalism melded with technology.  Actually not true:  the new age began decades ago before the Internet or blogs existed with all-news radio stations and then 500 cable channels enriching our lives as never before…and needing to fill their programming venues with ‘stuff.’  The news expanded – or news producers expanded the available news to fill that void, a topic that James Fallows has covered so well here and in his book Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy .  Thus was born intrusive news…or the world intruding on us, peering over the shoulders of those who are well and especially those who are ill, wondering how ill they are and when or whether they will get better. I would argue that illness is a very personal and private matter.  Anyone who has worked with patients knows that. Anyone who has a family member seriously ill knows that.  Learning to walk or talk again after a stroke takes a great deal of effort.  Regaining one’s strength after major shoulder surgery or loss of a limb entails hours and weeks and months of agonizing work – and pain.  There are few patients who want to expose themselves in their moments of greatest weakness to public scrutiny, to be items on Entertainment Tonight or the equivalent general news or business news outlets. There are, of course, outliers:  the larger-than-life Hollywood individual (perhaps afflicted with a narcissistic personality disorder) who wants/needs to have his or her illness flung or hung out for public inspection…or the captain of industry whose presence is critical to the company (I’d sell any stock I had in that company if its performance depended on only one person at the top). But in general, illness is a private matter, and as much as we want to know about the triumphs and trials of others, we need to learn to back off and allow people to be ill and recover in private…the illness of others is your business only if they ask you to join in. Julian Fisher, MD is a Boston-based neurologist and medical information entrepreneur.  

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Your Illness Is Not My Business