Carla Bruni’s round belly confirms pregnancy rumors

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy showed off a rounded belly last Thursday. This confirms rumors which stated she was pregnant.
Italian-born Bruni, who madea career as a singer, already has a son from a former relationship but has frequently stated that she would like to have a child with Nicolas Sarkozy. It would be the fourth child for Sarkozy after the three sons he has from his former two marriages.
Posing for photographs at the a Group of Eight summit in the French resort of Deauville, she wore a loose-fitting white mock dress which from time to time stretched over an obvious bump around the midriff.
She has not confirmed the rumors of her pregnancy so far, but she didn’t make any effort to dismiss them. She fended off any direct questions about it and started concealing the heavymidriff with baggy clothing.
A British charity delivered a maternity basket containing a childbirth kit and hygiene supplies to Carla Bruni to publicize the issue of child mortality in developing countries. President Nicolas Sarkozy refused any comment on the reports that they are expecting their first child together. A German newspaper however quoted Sarkozy’s father saying the rumors are true.
"I'm glad to be having a grandchild".
Voici, a French glossy magazine, cited sources saying that Carla was “expecting twins in October”.
She kept the mystery with a series of interviews: "My lips are sealed to protectsomething."

LRG hip-hop clothing designer Jonas Bevacquafound dead

The Twittersphere was buzzing about Bevacqua on Tuesday: "I just learned about the passing of a revolutionary mind," one fan tweeted. "RIPto Jonas Bevacqua the Co-Founder of LRG, You brought much swag to this world, rest in peace," said another. -- Jenn Harris

Kim Kardashian flashes her ring in Monaco

Kim made sure to flash her 20.5 carats in Monaco this weekend, where she and her fiancé attended the Amber Lounge nightclub's benefit fashion show for the 2011 Special Olympics. Other stars at the event included Prince Albert of Monaco, his fiancée Charlene Wittstock and singer Taio Cruz, who performed his hit song Break Your Heart.
"Monaco is so gorgeous!" Kim tweeted . "Backstage at the Matthew Williamson fashion show! He is amaze! Prince Albert and Charlene here too! About 2 go on stage! I always get nervous." She even tweeted as she and Kris were about to head in to the palace for dinner with Prince Albert.

Schiavone survives scare to reach semis

Defending champion Francesca Schiavone dug herself out of a huge hole to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6 7-5 7-5 and reach the semi-finals of the French Open.
The fifth seed looked to be heading out of the tournament when she trailed 4-1 in the second set but Schiavone is certainly a fighter and she gradually reeled Pavlyuchenkova back in.
A couple of superb one-handed backhands enabled the Italian to break for a 6-5 lead in the second set and from there it seemed there was only going to be one winner.
Pavlyuchenkova, the world's best teenager at 15th in the rankings, had knocked out third seed Vera Zvonareva to reach the last eight at a grand slam for the first time in her career.
The Russian continued to fight hard but her chances looked slim at best when Schiavone moved into a 5-1 lead.
There was another twist to come, though, as Pavlyuchenkova defied her flagging fortunes to win three games in succession. She then created two break points when Schiavone served for the match for a second time, taking the second with a mis-hit return.
From 5-5, though, the Russian faltered again, losing her serve and then finally succumbing as Schiavone served out for a place in the last four against either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Marion Bartoli.
Schiavone felt her extra experience had helped her against such a young opponent, saying: ‘The more I play, the better I play. That's always been the case. I started much too slowly. But by the end I felt much better and I could play better tennis.
‘She played really well but maybe she has less experience than me. Today I think I used my 30 years.’ The expressive Italian was a hugely popular winner when she beat Samantha Stosur last year and she delighted Court Philippe Chatrier again today. She said: ‘I love tennis when I can express myself. I am transparent, so you can understand how I play and how I feel. Maybe I shouldn't show so much. I am like this on the court and off it.
‘I was 6-1 4-1 down and I was saying, “Francie, this is the way things go. Today it is like this. Keep going”. I was really sad inside, but what can you do? Nobody could change things except me.’
Schiavone's fightback continued a theme at Roland Garros this year, with Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Vera Zvonareva all winning matches they looked favourites to lose while Kim Clijsters blew a big lead against Arantxa Rus.
The Italian gave credit to the surface, saying: ‘Clay always gives you a chance. Grass and hard courts, much less so. On clay you have to go to the net and shake hands before you can say the match is finished.’ Pavlyuchenkova, 19, admitted the situation got to her and praised Schiavone for her comeback.
‘It was very tough match and it's very difficult to lose this kind of match,’ said the Russian. ‘I'll just try to move on and I will try to take all the positive things. It's very good experience. It's my first quarter-final and it's never easy to play a good game and to win easily in the quarter-finals, especially against Francesca. She was really great today.’

Clijsters stunned in second round of French Open

PARIS (AP) -- There were plenty of excuses available for Kim Clijsters after a stunning collapse in the second round of the French Open against a woman ranked 114th. In assessing her 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 loss to Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands on Thursday, the second-seeded Clijsters could have pointed to her heavily taped right ankle, which she hurt while dancing barefoot at her cousin's wedding last month. In recounting how she managed to waste two match points and drop 11 of the last 12 games after leading 5-2 in the second set, the Belgian could have mentioned that she last entered the French Open in 2006, and had played a total of five clay-court matches anywhere since. And in explaining her 65 unforced errors - 43 more than her opponent made - and 10 double-faults, Clijsters could have reminded everyone that she hadn't competed at all since late March because of that bum ankle and previous injuries to her right shoulder and wrist. Instead, the winner of the last two Grand Slam titles, and four overall, pointed a finger squarely at herself and an odd crisis of confidence. The 27-year-old Clijsters also gave credit to the 20-year-old Rus, who entered the day with a 3-4 career record in major tournaments and only twice before had been to Court Philippe Chatrier - and those visits were as a spectator. After delivering one of the most surprising tennis results in recent years, Rus acknowledged she was nervous at the outset, perhaps because Clijsters is one of her favorite players, someone she used to cheer for when watching on TV. She said she had trouble dealing with wind that gusted at upward of 20 mph, making the balls move unexpectedly at times and occasionally kicking up clouds of loose clay into players' eyes. Those conditions led to this bon mot from Rafael Nadal: "If you play good, seems like much less wind. If you are playing bad, seems like a hurricane.'' The five-time French Open champion wasn't forced to work nearly as hard as he did in getting past John Isner in five sets Tuesday, but Nadal was hardly satisfied after beating 48th-ranked Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (4). He needed to erase eight set points after trailing 5-1 in the third against Andujar, who said he thinks Nadal is "going through perhaps a period of doubt.'' Also reaching the third round were past Grand Slam finalists Robin Soderling and Andy Murray, along with No. 10 Mardy Fish, the last U.S. man in the field. Six seeded men lost: No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, No. 20 Florian Mayer of Germany, No. 24 Sam Querrey of the U.S., No. 27 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, No. 28 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and No. 32 Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Davydenko, a French Open semifinalist in 2005 and 2007, was beaten in five sets by Antonio Veic of Croatia, a qualifier ranked 227th whose reward is a third-round match against Nadal. Garcia was the youngest and, at 188th, lowest-ranked woman left, and was playing in only the second tour-level event of her nascent career. Many expect great things from her, including Murray, who after beating Simone Bolelli 7-6 (3), 6-4, 7-5, took to Twitter and wrote, "Girl sharapova is playing is going to be No.1 in world one day caroline garcia, what a player u heard it here 1st.'' Sharapova's take? "She's on her way up, definitely.'' Actually, Garcia looked like the poised veteran early, taking the first set and a 4-1 lead in the second, buoyed by a partisan crowd that roared with approval after her 17 groundstroke winners, seven more than Sharapova accumulated. But during a changeover, spectators raised a ruckus by doing the wave, and Garcia acknowledged later that flustered her a bit. "I had many things going in my head, because I was leading. I was playing well. She was not really in the court,'' said Garcia, who now will play in the junior tournament. "And then she reacted just like a champion, because she is a great champion.'' The French Open is the one major title Sharapova doesn't own, but she and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the only women with multiple Grand Slam trophies who are still around. That's because the Williams sisters didn't enter the French Open - and because Clijsters already is unexpectedly headed home.

‘Single Ladies’ review: Stacey Dash, LisaRaye mirror ‘Basketball Wives’ formula

The scripted new series “Single Ladies” packed in so many music references, I half-expected VH1 to resurrect “Pop Up Video,” with informative thought bubbles hovering over the heads of Stacey Dash, LisaRaye, and Charity Shea. The cameos were in full effect on “Single Ladies,” an original two-hour movie turned TV series.  First it was Eve .  Then TLC’s Chilli stopped by.  Then Common played a Mayor while Jermaine Dupri and the “Real Housewives” Kandi Burruss partied in the background.

Terrelle Pryor, NBA Finals 2011, Basketball Wives and Tuesday's Hot Sports News

Clear out the foundation of the Ohio State football program and all you have left is dirt. Nowthat Jim Tressel has packed up, amid the impending destruction of the Ohio State Buckeyes, the focus is shifting to just how far, wide and deep their transgressions go. Again, it’s not as if anyone should be surprised. These days, scandals in college athletics are as common as rabid fandom and BCSarguments. The questions now becomes about the next steps. What will this mean for the Ohio State program? What sanctions will be imposed? If you are in the Ohio State inner circle, you must be thinking: "How long will we have to wait to get back on top?"
The Sports Illustrated investigation into Ohio State was not eye-opening, but was more validation for those that never believed a big-time school could sustain success for so long and be so clean.
The new target of the NCAA will be Terrelle Pryor. Pryor must have thought his misdoings would have blown over by now, but he’d be sorely mistaken. His nightmare is just beginning. College athletes do their best to keep those skeletons in the closet. Once you open that closet, you can’t close it again. For more on the Ohio State football scandal and the rest of Tuesday’ssports topics, stay right here.

'Basketball Wives' Season 3 premiere bonus clip: Meeka trashes Royce because she was a dancer

Basketball Wives " returned last night with its Season 3 premiere -- and it picked up right where all the drama left off last season: Everyone's mad at Royce, Tami hates Evelyn and Shaunie pretty much stays out of it all.
Fans were also introduced to a new Wife: Meeka, who'smarried to former Golden State Warrior player-turned-scout Speedy Claxton .
In a bonus clip that VH1 didn't air, Meeka dines with her husband and gives him the lowdown on all the ladies, namely Royce, a former Orlando Magic and Miami Heat dancer, who hasa child with Magic center Dwight Howard -- a big no-no to the Wives. "I think what bothers me most about Royce is she was a dancer," Meeka tells Speedy. "She crossed the line. I don't know how I can be a wife and be her friend. You know how I feel about stuff like that."
Although Meeka and Royce did have a face-to-face meeting in the premiere, it was hardly a showdown of Wife vs Dancer.
"Ok, it was a rule you're not supposed to fraternize with players," Royce says to Meeka. "However, you can't really tell someone who they can and cannot be with."
Meeka must quickly get her claws out because in a preview for the season, she seems to have dove head-first into the catfights. "Meeka is a trouble-maker," Tami says matter of factly.

Call of Duty Elite Adds Social Layer to Hit Gaming Series [PICS]

Video game company Activision has finally revealed Elite, a new social layer for its wildly popular Call of Duty games. Elite was designed to unite the massive community of Call ofDuty players as well as provide tools to help gamers of all levels improve their skills.
Cross-platform services are becoming more popular as video game designers realizetheir community isn’t console-specific . Web playerswant to test their mettle against console players and vice versa. Elite goes beyond the game to include social networks like Facebook. Users can link up their Facebook accounts to Elite topull in Likes and automatically find friends who are also using the service.
Elite also introduces groups and clans, which will play a much larger role in Modern Warfare 3 , the next Call of Duty game. Groups are largely open and can be based on anything. Like eating lobster? You can join or create a “Lobster” group. Like playing with machine guns? There’s a group for that. Same with “Yankees” or “Los Angeles.” Groups operate similar to fan pages on Facebook. Users can track and compare themselves to these mini-communities of players. Users can join a totalof 64 groups.
Clans are more limited. Userscan only belong to one clan and there is a cap on how many players can be in a clan. The Call of Duty folks were tight-lipped about how clans will play into the next iteration but promised they would be key.
We recently sat down with the game’s designers for a demo of Elite. The room, a penthouse hotel room in Manhattan, featured rows of huge black computers with the Elite skull logo. There, they talked about their goals and plans for Elite. The service is available on web browsers, consoles and mobile apps and will work with all future Call of Duty games, including Black Ops , the most recent game in the series. Elite features four main sections: Career, Connect, Compete and Improve.