Vali Corleone publikon videon me Shkendije Mujaj(VIDEO EKSKLUZIVE)

Rita Ora ne krevat pas koncertit me Sali Berishen (VIDEO)

-->

--> http://i45.tinypic.com/2nbso7s.png

Çiljeta në “qiellin e shtatë”

-->

Edhe pse ka hyrë në muajin e shtatë, Çiljeta këmbëngul se nuk do ta braktisë muzikën, por do të mendojë pak më vonë për të, pasi tani e pret ‘detyra’ më e rëndësishme dhe lumturia më e madhe që mund të përjetojë një femër teksa pret të bëhet nënë.
Në një intervistë për Bluetooth këngëtarja pohon se djali i saj erdhi në momentin e duhur.
“Janë pa diskutim emocionet më të bukura që mund të përjetojë një femër. Jam në qiellin e shtatë”, – thotë seksbomba e skenës, e cila duket sikur po jeton vërtet parajsën.
Dy prindërit e rinj, Çiljeta dhe Tomaso, prej çastit kur morën vesh se këngëtarja ishte shtatzënë, kanë kaluar muaj të tërë të mbushur me dashuri, emocion, lumturi, kujdes dhe angazhim për të përgatitur çdo gjë të nevojshme për anëtarin më të ri të familjes.
Madje këngëtarja na rrëfen dhe një detaj tjetër: shpesh i këndon foshnjës, pse jo duke besuar në atë që thuhet nga mjekësia, se bebi mësohet që në bark me zërin e nënës së tij. Ndoshta kështu trashëgon edhe dhuntinë e Çiljetës për të kënduar. -->

Gjendet e vdekur në përrua një 80-vjeçare

-->

Një 80-vjeçare është gjetur e mbytur në një përrua në Karinë.
Peqin: Policia bëri të ditur se në përroin e Rrushkës të fshatit Karinë u gjet shtetasja, Kadrie Hasa, 80 vjeç.
Mësohet se e moshuara vuante prej 4 vitesh nga një sëmundje mendore dhe se ishte larguar nga banesa prej disa kohësh.
Policia po hetohet për zbardhjen e rrethanave në të cilat ka ndodhur ngjarja./InfoGLOBI/

Kliko ketu posht===>> -->

Rrahja me e madhe e femrave qe keni par ndonjeher (Video) – 18+

-->

KLIKO KETU posht ? --> -->

Shkendije Mujaj Ju Sqaron Fansave Te Saj Profilin e Facebook Te Vertet?

Shkendije Mujaj publikon nje Video gabimisht ne Profil(VIDEO)

Shkendije muja shi femra me seksi e estrades publikon nje video bagimisht ne profilin e saj te facebooku-t

-->  

North Korea to launch long-range rocket in December

North Korea is to launch a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December, its official news agency says.

The KCNA agency said the aim was to launch a satellite.
Previous - unsuccessful - launches have been criticised as breaches of a UN ban on North Korean ballistic missile tests.
The announcement is likely to increase tensions with North Korea's neighbours, with South Korea expressing concern over Pyongyang's announcement.
South Korean officials called the move a "grave provocation" and a "challenge to the international community".
The atmosphere in South Korea is especially tense as the country prepares for a presidential election scheduled for 19 December, the BBC's Lucy Williamson reports from Seoul.
North Korea's most recent rocket launch, in April, was a failure.
The US, Japan and South Korea said the rocket flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing into waters off the Korean peninsula.
Earlier this week South Korea halted a satellite launch minutes before take-off after problems were found during the final checks.
'Peaceful purposes' North Korean scientists and technicians had now "analysed the mistakes" of the April launch, the Korean Committee for Space Technology said, via KCNA.

The rocket will be of the same Unha-3 variety as was used in the April test. It will be launched "southward" from the Sohae base near the Chinese border, KCNA said, implying it would be directed over the East China Sea.
The flight path had been chosen to avoid debris falling on neighbouring countries, the agency said.
"Unha" is Korean for "galaxy", and is the name given by North Korea to the space launcher version of its Taepodong-2 missile, which has an estimated range of 2,200km. The missile has not yet been successfully tested.
There had been recent speculation that North Korea would attempt another launch soon, with a UN Security Council committee on Thursday warning the country against such a move.
Saturday's statement insisted the forthcoming launch would be for "peaceful purposes".
The test will be the second to take place under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, who took over leadership of the country after the death of his father Kim Jong-il almost a year ago.

Viewpoint: James Bond fails the tech test in Skyfall

As a self-confessed technology geek, there have been numerous occasions when my enjoyment of a movie has been marred by technological impossibilities. For example, Independence Day was ruined for me when Jeff Goldblum used an Apple Mac to transfer a virus to the alien mothership and thus saved mankind, all at a time when it was a miracle if you could get your Mac to talk to a printer via a cable.

So, for all you out there with similar sensitivities planning to go and see Skyfall, the latest in the Bond franchise, be warned! I have been to see this movie (expect spoilers below) and if you like your technology on the realistic side then you should see a different show...
One of the most glaring errors occurs in what is perhaps the most crucial scene between the cyber-terrorist bad guy Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, and Bond, who is tied up throughout to a chair.
In the scene, the large room is dominated by the racks of computers that allow Silva to conduct his cyber-attacks.
What is striking to a geek like me however is the complete absence of background noise!
Firstly, a room full of computing hardware would have to be air-conditioned to keep the temperature of the servers down. Despite the precarious situation Bond was in, all I could think about was the potential of a fire caused by overheating throughout this scene.
Secondly, as anyone who has been in a server farm will tell you, you would have struggled to hear the conversation over the background humming from the machines themselves.
Hacked-off Later we see an active hacking attempt on MI6 by Silva with Q and Bond watching an animation that represents the code involved in the attack.

Q's graphics looked better than a command-line interface

The animation is very creative but it has absolutely no resemblance to anything you might see in reality.
What you would actually see would be a plain command line - very dull admittedly. If you were very lucky you might have a mirror image of the attacker's screen but clever graphics? Not likely.
Again, we security geeks are asked to suspend our knowledge of the complexities of cryptography when we find Bond being able to decipher part of the code in order to spot Granborough Road Tube station embedded in the cipher.
If only it was as easy as that. Code-breaking is incredibly difficult, just ask the poor people at GCHQ who only last week had to admit they were stumped by a 70-year-old message taped to the leg of a dead pigeon, and can really only be done nowadays by large amounts of computing power.
I cannot remember the last time I broke even a simple substitution code, but admittedly I don't work for GCHQ.
Tracking shots Then there is my particular bugbear - tracking Bond underground.

Director Sam Mendes did not make technological accuracy his top priority

The public have no idea how hard it is to even track people in indoor locations using radio frequency techniques such as wi-fi, Bluetooth or Zigbee.
It is highly unreliable. However difficult normal above-ground indoor tracking can be, tracking people underground is a nightmare.
Despite this, we see Q getting an immediate fix on Bond and easily tracking him as he navigates deep underneath London in the tunnels.
Arrhhhh, I'm an indoor location determination researcher... get me out of here!
Of course, it is not difficult to understand why films overreach in their depiction of technology.
Take just one example from Skyfall, such as hacking.
Hacking in the real world is quite mundane and involves a number of labour intensive steps from identifying the systems which have weaknesses to executing the "payloads" which allow capture of the remote systems.
It also quite often takes place on an old-fashioned "command line" with no fancy graphics at all. Any movie which attempted to give you a realistic interpretation of this would risk putting the audience to sleep.
Licence to school The positive aspect for us involved in teaching computer science is that exciting overdramatisation of technology can encourage the younger generation to take up computing courses in higher education.
Even without the movie glamour however, life in computer sciences can be pretty exciting. One of the most involving aspects of my life is acting as an expert witness for defence lawyers in court cases.

It is lucky Bond did not have to pass an ICT exam to be able to return to active service

This often sees me forensically trawling through a defendant's hard disk or mobile phone in some corner of a police station, visiting suspects in prison and attending court in order to help with technical questions.
This is indeed a fast-paced world to be in, and one about to get even more interesting in the near future due to the sheer amount of information stored on digital devices.
The importance of this data and the need for secure systems is certainly one aspect of technology that Skyfall did get right - the James Bonds of the future will have to be very aware of the potential for disruption posed by hacking sensitive information and platforms.
Kevin Curran is a technical expert for internet and security matters at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and is also a reader in computer science at the University of Ulster.

Carbon emissions are 'too high' to curb climate change

It is increasingly unlikely that global warming will be kept below an increase of 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels, a study suggests.

Data show that global CO2 emissions in 2012 hit 35.6bn tonnes, a 2.6% increase from 2011 and 58% above 1990 levels.
The researchers say that emissions are the largest contributor to future climate change and a strong indicator of potential future warming.
The findings have been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Meanwhile, the data has been published in the journal Earth System Science Data Discussions.
Many low-lying nations have used the UN conference, which is currently under way in Doha, to call for a threshold temperature rise less than 2C, arguing that even a 2C rise will jeopardise their future.
"These latest figures come amidst climate talks in Doha, but with emissions continuing to grow, it's as if no-one is listening to the scientific community," said Corinne Le Quere, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.
"I am worried that the risks of dangerous climate change are too high on our current emissions trajectory," Prof Le Quere said.
"We need a radical plan."
The researchers' paper says the average increases in global CO2 levels were 1.9% in the 1980s, 1.0% in the 1990 but 3.1% since 2000.
Recently, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new record high in 2011.
In its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the organisation said that carbon dioxide levels reached 391 parts per million in 2011.
The report estimated that carbon dioxide (CO2) accounted for 85% of the "radiative forcing" that led to global temperature rises.
Other potent greenhouse gases such as methane also recorded new highs, according to the WMO report.

Rebels in DR Congo withdraw from Goma

Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have withdrawn from the key city of Goma under a regionally brokered agreement.

The M23 rebels boarded trucks and headed out of the city, 11 days after seizing it from government troops backed by UN peacekeepers.
The deal calls for the rebels to withdraw towards the town of Kibumba.
The M23 rebels deserted from the army in April, with some 500,000 people fleeing their homes in ensuing unrest.
The last remaining 300 rebels sang as they left Goma on flat-bed trucks, AFP news agency reported.
"Now Congolese government policemen are controlling the central bank, the governor's office and the border post," Ugandan Brig Jeffrey Muheesi, who serves on a mission sent by regional leaders to observe the withdrawal, told the Associated Press news agency.
More than 270 Congolese policemen have arrived in the city port as part of the transition.
Humanitarian crisis

Continue reading the main story

Who are the M23 rebels?

According to the withdrawal accord, mediated by Uganda, the rebels are to pull back to a 20km (13 mile) buffer zone around Goma.

The accord had stipulated that the M23 would leave behind 100 soldiers to guard the airport in conjunction with a UN contingent and a government unit.
However, Sy Koumbo, a spokesman for the UN in Congo, told Associated Press that the rebels had tried but failed to force their way into the airport to seize weapons on Friday.
The rebels said recovering the materiel was part of the withdrawal process.
Mr Koumbo said an agreement was reached and the rebels were not given the arms.
However, one Goma resident told AFP that the rebels had "stolen so much - vehicles, ammunition, everything" and was happy to see them leave.
The UN has warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in the region because of the recent fighting.
Goma is the key city in an eastern border area that has seen years of conflict sparked by ethnic and political differences, and grievances over mineral resources.
Some five million people died during the 1997-2003 DR Congo conflict, which drew in several regional countries, including both Rwanda and Uganda.
The UK has suspended aid to Rwanda, amid concerns about the country's role in the conflict.
Both Rwanda and neighbouring Uganda strongly deny UN accusations that they are backing the M23.

Rousseff vetoes part of Brazil oil royalty plan

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has vetoed part of a law intended to share royalties from Brazil's oil fields across the country's 26 states.

Rio de Janeiro governor Sergio Cabral had warned the measure could bankrupt his state ahead of the 2016 Olympics.
President Rousseff vetoed that part of the legislation which would have affected existing oil concessions.
But she retained a measure spreading wealth from yet-to-be-explored oil fields which are still to be auctioned.
The development comes after some 200,000 people protested in Rio de Janeiro against the bill, which they said would deprive Rio state of much of its oil revenue.
Local politicians had said it could cost the state $1.7bn (£1.06bn) next year.
They also said that the changes would affect Rio's ability to host the 2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
Some of the largest oil finds in recent years have been discovered off the Brazilian coast.
Brazil's main oil-producing states had threatened legal action over the measure.
A new structure for distributing royalties has to be in place by January in order for auctions of "explorations blocks" to go ahead.
Brazil's Education Minister Aloizio Mercadante says 100% of the profits from new oil concessions should be used to improve education in Brazil.

Facebook and Zynga to end close relationship

Facebook and Zynga have amended an agreement that gave the games developer strong access to the social network's one billion users.

Zynga is the developer behind Farmville, a game once mostly played on Facebook, which at its peak attracted 82 million players a month.
Zynga now has its own games platform, but players will no longer be able to share their progress on Facebook.
Zynga's share price fell by 13% in after-hours trading following the news.
It is the latest blow for the company, which last month announced job cuts and studio closures.
The change, which will take place from 31 March 2013, ends Zynga's ability to promote its Zynga.com platform on Facebook.
The move also means it will no longer be required to display Facebook advertising on its own site.
"There was plenty of speculation Zynga was getting referrals within the Facebook community that other gaming companies weren't getting which helped drive web traffic to Zynga games," Digital World Research chief executive PJ McNealy said.
Facebook said the move would bring its relationship with Zynga in line with other games studios.
"We have streamlined our terms with Zynga so that Zynga.com's use of Facebook Platform is governed by the same policies as the rest of the ecosystem," the social network giant said in a statement.
"We will continue to work with Zynga, just as we do with developers of all sizes."
Facebook has not announced plans to build its own games platform.
Recent figures suggest 80% of Zynga's revenue comes from Facebook users.
In an email to staff in October 2012, Zynga founder Mark Pincus said the company would close its Boston studio and consider closing studios in the UK and Japan as part of an "overall cost reduction plan".

UN vote gives Palestinians new diplomatic powers

When the weak November sun rose on the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday morning, it revealed, naturally enough, a city little changed from the night before.

Palestinian society remains divided politically and geographically between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The economic weaknesses remain of course, as do all the difficulties of living under an Israeli occupation, which stretches back to the Six-Day War in 1967. And of course there is the chronic problem of the moribund peace process with Israel.
For all those reasons the decision of the UN in New York to upgrade the status of the Palestinians by an overwhelming majority could be seen as largely symbolic. But the point is that in the Middle East, symbolism matters.

Continue reading the main story

Plenty of attention in the build-up to the vote was centred on a technical question about UN procedures which could have far-reaching political implications - would this upgraded status give the Palestinians access to UN agencies and the International Criminal Court?

If it did, then they would be able in theory to pursue Israel for its settlement policies on the West Bank - widely seen as a clear breach of international law.
Israel rejects that legal interpretation - but it may not be anxious to see the issue tested in court.
Even if the Palestinians didn't decide to exercise that option immediately, the threat that they might do so at a moment of their choosing would be a powerful diplomatic tool.
Israeli officials say all of this is already pushing back any prospects of peace talks. Palestinians I've spoken to argue that process was already so moribund that it was simple common sense for them to pursue an alternative path.
Israeli reprisals In the build-up to the vote in New York, Israel worked hard to derail the Palestinian strategy - or at least to try to ensure the backing of a network of powerful allies.
But that strategy failed - France voted for the Palestinians, and both Germany and the UK abstained.
The United States naturally remained in Israel's corner but, alongside it, was to be found largely a small collection of diplomatic minnows including the Western Pacific Territories of Palau and Micronesia.
There is a natural tendency at such moments to look forward and try to work out what events in New York might mean for the future of the two-state solution and relations between Israelis and Palestinians in general.
But it's worth looking at last night's vote in New York as a snapshot of where international sentiment lies right now on an issue which has bedevilled global diplomacy for decades.

After the vote, Israel announced 3,000 settler homes would be built in East Jerusalem and the West Bank

Palestinians see the scale of the vote as clear evidence that a tide of opinion is turning their way. Whether they can translate that sentiment into some sort of concrete political progress is hard to determine.
And nothing in the Middle East is simple.
The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza would have boosted the standing of the Palestinian militant organisation in the eyes of the Arab world.
It is the more moderate PA based in the West Bank which has invested in the diplomatic strategy through the UN.
So some of the countries which abstained on the vote or voted for the Palestinians may have intended to boost the more moderate secularists of the PA against the Islamists of Hamas rather than the Palestinians in general against the Israelis.
It's not yet certain how Israel will respond to its diplomatic defeat. It may delay any reprisals until it's clear when and in what circumstances the Palestinians would make their move on the issue of the International Criminal Court.
Having failed to block the Palestinian bid - or rally a large number of significant countries against it - Israel suddenly switched its own diplomatic tack earlier this week and began playing down the significance of the proceedings in New York, in effect hoping that toning down its own response would somehow play down the Palestinian achievement.

Continue reading the main story

A first indication of Israeli anger, though, came less than 24 hours after the vote was taken at the UN.

A senior Israeli official confirmed that the government is approving the construction of 3,000 new homes in settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and speeding up the processing of 1,000 existing planning permissions.
The Palestinians may well have been expecting this - or something like it - but it's a reminder that the gulf between the two on the settlement issue remains huge - and that events in New York and this reaction to them will do nothing to solve it.
It's also worth re-iterating that a shift in status at the UN to the same status as that enjoyed by the Vatican won't fix a single road or feed a single child here in the West Bank or in Gaza.
But symbolism really does matter.
And on that subject, here's a final point to consider.
We have grown used to referring to this dispute as one between Israel - the proper noun denoting a nation state - and the Palestinians - the use of a collective noun describing a people rather than a defined political entity.
Does the UN's upgrade mean that the use of the title Palestine for that entity now enters the daily lexicon of diplomacy and journalism? And if it doesn't, when does it ?
Something for them to ponder over in the foreign ministries and editorial conference chambers of the world in the coming days

Syria crisis: Deadly bomb blast hits Homs

A car bomb has killed at least 15 people in the Syrian city of Homs, the state-run Sana news agency reports.

At least 24 people were wounded in the blast which damaged homes in Al-Hamra district, Sana said. Video footage posted online showed flames and smoke.
Meanwhile the army is continuing to batter rebel-held districts of Damascus with airstrikes and heavy artillery.
Activists say about 40,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Assad began in March 2011.
Homs, Syria's third-largest city, has been a major battleground in the 20-month uprising.
On Sunday Sana reported a "terrorist bombing carried out with a booby trapped bomb" near a mosque in al-Hamra district.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group that monitors the violence, said the death toll could increase as many of the wounded were in a critical condition.
In Damascus the army pounded the district Kafr Sousa, in a attempt to stop rebel forces from reaching the capital, activists said.
On Saturday internet services around Damascus resumed after a two-day blackout, as violence near the city intensified.
Elsewhere, the Syrian army launched air strikes on the northern city of Aleppo, the Observatory said.
The Syrian government blames the uprising on foreign-backed militant groups.

Slovenians vote in run-off presidential poll after protests

Slovenians are voting in a presidential run-off, following days of protests over budget cuts and alleged government corruption.

The vote pits incumbent Danilo Turk against former PM Borut Pahor, who is favoured to win by opinion polls.
On Friday a number of people were injured as protesters clashed with police in the capital Ljubljana.
Slovenia is facing one of the deepest recessions among the 17 countries in the eurozone.
The country's economy has shrunk more than 8% since 2009.
Thirty-three people were charged with public order offences after the trouble in Ljubljana, police said.
A protest that attracted thousands of people earlier in the week in the second city, Maribor, also turned violent.
'Lack of confidence'

Police and protesters clashed outside the parliament building in Ljubljana

Polls across Slovenia opened at 06:00 GMT and are due to close at 18:00 GMT, with first results expected within hours.
Mr Pahor won the first round of the election, and recent opinion polls suggest the ex-PM will be triumphant again on Sunday.
Commenting on the recent protests in the country, Mr Pahor told the Associated Press that the demonstrations "signal a lack of confidence" in government institutions.
Many protesters are angry at what they describe as harsh austerity measures being implemented by the current centre-right government.
They also accuse the government of corruption - a claim denied by the authorities.

Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto inaugurated as president

Security was tight in Mexico City for the inauguration following clashes between protesters and police

Continue reading the main story

Enrique Pena Nieto has been sworn in as Mexico's new president, promising to boost economic growth and tackle drug-related violence.

"My government's first aim will be to bring peace to Mexico," he said.
Some 60,000 people were killed in drug-related violence during the rule of his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.
Security was tight in Mexico City for the inauguration earlier as petrol bomb-wielding protesters clashed with riot police who fired tear gas.
One protester was gravely injured after being hit with a tear gas canister.
The demonstrators are angry at what they say was vote-buying by the president's campaign, says the BBC's Will Grant in Mexico City.
They were also protesting more generally against the return to power of Mr Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after a 12-year absence.
But in his inaugural speech at a ceremonial palace in the old city centre, Mr Pena Nieto said the state had "lost ground" since his party left power.
"Lawlessness and violence have robbed various parts of the country of peace and freedom," said the 46-year old.
Security issues Earlier, amid a cacophonic trumpet fanfare, outgoing President Felipe Calderon handed a sash with the colours of the Mexican flag to Mr Pena Nieto at the city's Congress building.
All week in Mexico City, a ring of steel had been in place around the building ahead of the ceremony.

Only three women are in the 20-member cabinet named by president-elect Enrique Pena Nieto

It had created massive traffic jams in the already congested city as authorities tried to prevent protesters from gaining access to parliament.
Earlier, the new president, who is 46, named a 20-member cabinet.
His foreign minister will be Jose Antonio Meade, who was treasury minister in Mr Calderon's outgoing government.
Mr Pena Nieto spent his final days as president-elect in talks with leaders in the US and Canada, Mexico's partners in the regional trade organisation, Nafta.
The PRI governed without interruption for 71 years until 2000, and its opponents often accused it of being authoritarian and corrupt, and of having links to the drug cartels.
But during his election campaign Mr Pena Nieto was adamant the party had evolved.

Continue reading the main story

"I can say categorically that in my government, there won't be any form of pact or agreement with organised crime," he told the BBC. "It's not the path nor the route to greater security for the Mexican people."

Earlier this month, he denied the PRI's return to power would be a return to the past. "It is not, because this is a different country," he said.
The new president has indicated he will focus on tackling extortion, kidnapping and murder, and he has drafted in support from Colombia's former top policeman.
The outgoing president is due to take up a position at Harvard University and maintains he has made Mexico safer.
But for many Mexicans, Mr Calderon's legacy as president is of an estimated 10,000 drug-related killings a year for the past six years.

Italy tracks down copy of Da Vinci's lost masterpiece

The copy is widely known as the Doria panel

Continue reading the main story

Italy's specialist art theft police have tracked down and brought home a 400-year-old copy of a lost Leonardo Da Vinci masterpiece - an incomplete fresco painting of the Battle of Anghiari.

It once decorated a wall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, the Tuscan city's monumental town hall.
The copy is temporarily on show until the New Year at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, the official residence of the president of Italy.
The painting shows a group of men-at-arms and knights on horseback engaged in close combat, fighting for possession of a flag.
The historic battle between Florence and its allies against a numerically superior force from Milan took place in 1440, and the Florentines won.
'Flawed work'

Continue reading the main story Salvatore Settis archaeologist and art historian

Art historians believe that Leonardo, experimenting with various fresco painting techniques, started painting the battle scene in 1503, using sketches he had been preparing for years.

But he never completed the project. The paint began to drip after he applied colour to the walls.
Trying to save what he could, he applied large charcoal braziers close to the painting. But the colours intermingled and only part of the fresco was completed.
Within a few years, after the fresco had deteriorated, the Hall of the Five Hundred was restructured and Giorgio Vasari was commissioned by the local ruler to paint a different battle scene to replace Leonardo's flawed work.
Vasari, later a biographer of Leonardo, actually saw the cartoon, or preliminary drawing on paper of the battle scene, which he described in glowing terms.

Peter Paul Rubens' version of the Battle of Anghiari

"It would be impossible to express the inventiveness of Leonardo's design for the soldiers' uniforms, or the crests of the helmets, not to mention the incredible skill he demonstrated in the shape and features of the horses, which Leonardo, better than any other master, created with their boldness, muscles and graceful beauty," he wrote.
'Truce' So we only have copies to enable us to imagine Leonardo's original design.
Peter Paul Rubens, using an engraving done 50 years after Leonardo started his project, did a masterly drawing of the Battle of Anghiari which is now in the Louvre in Paris.
"The idea that an ancient copy of a lost artwork can be as important as the original is familiar to scholars," says Salvatore Settis, archaeologist and art historian.
"Most important original Greek bronze statues were lost when they were melted down and are known today only through marble copies done by admiring Romans centuries later," he told a packed lecture at which details of the copy of Leonardo's masterpiece were revealed to the public.
The painting - on a small wooden panel measuring 115x86cm (45x34in) - was last seen in public 73 years ago on the eve of World War II, when it was shown at a Leonardo exhibition in Milan.
Then it disappeared.
But the Italian carabinieri police department which specialises in art theft patiently managed to track the clandestine life of the painting - known as the Doria panel from the name of the family in whose art collection it had remained for three centuries.
After being stolen from its owners in Naples, the panel passed into the possession of a Swiss art dealer, was sent to Germany for restoration in the 1960s , then turned up briefly at a New York art gallery in the 1970s before ending up in the collection of a wealthy Japanese art collector in the 1990s.
The painting will be shown at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence during 2013 and will then go on loan for four years back to Japan - under an agreement worked out with the Fuji Art Museum in Tokyo, where it was last exhibited.
Meanwhile, at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, work has been suspended on a project by an Italian engineer Maurizio Seracini who has been trying to prove scientifically by taking microscopic samples of pigment from the wall that Leonardo's lost painting may still be hidden under Giorgio Vasari's later battle scene.
Earlier this year, the mayor of Florence ordered a stop to all invasive technology inside the Hall of the Five Hundred.
So for the moment, the battle between scientists analysing layers of pigment and ancient walls with space age technology, and scholars who insist that they have documentary evidence that Leonardo's original Battle of Anghiari no longer exists has ended in a truce.

Japan Sasago tunnel: Collapse traps cars

A major road tunnel has collapsed in Japan, trapping a number of vehicles and leaving at least seven people missing, media reports say.

Survivors described how large sections of concrete fell on top of cars in the Sasago tunnel.
A fire broke out and rescuers said a number of charred bodies had been seen.
The incident started at 08:00 local time (23:00 GMT Saturday), about 80km (50 miles) west of Tokyo on a road that links it to the city of Nagoya.
The tunnel is one of the longest in Japan.
'Frightened' Pictures from closed circuit TV cameras inside the tunnel showed a section of up to 100m (328ft) that had caved in on the Tokyo-bound lanes on the Chuo Expressway in Yamanashi prefecture.

Continue reading the main story

• In pictures: Japan tunnel collapse

Thick black smoke blew out of the tunnel, hampering the rescue, which had to be suspended for several hours because a further collapse was feared.

When it resumed, the first fatalities were found.
A spokesman for Yamanashi Prefectural Police told Agence France-Presse: "A number of charred bodies were confirmed inside. The number of dead is not known."
The BBC's Rupert Wingfield Hayes, in Tokyo, says CCTV pictures now show rescuers moving freely over the collapsed roof sections.
He says there has already been criticism of the rescue services, which media say took three hours to reach the collapse site.
One woman who made her way out of the tunnel said she was with five other people in a van, but added: "I have no idea about what happened to the others. I don't know how many vehicles were ahead and behind ours."
A reporter for the NHK broadcaster described driving through the tunnel as it began to collapse, seeing other cars trapped and on fire. His car was badly damaged, he said.
Another survivor told the broadcaster that he saw "a concrete part of the ceiling fall off all of a sudden when I was driving inside. I saw a fire coming from a crushed car".

Footage from cameras inside the tunnel shows part of the collapse

Survivor Tomohiro Suzuki said: "A part of the ceiling, just as wide as the road, had collapsed straight down and broken in the middle into a V-shape."
He and his family walked for an hour to get out, with the smoke worsening.
"I heard after a while on the public address system that a fire had occurred inside the tunnel and the sprinkler system was going to be activated," he told Jiji Press.
"I kept wondering when the fire would spread and catch us," Mr Suzuki said.

The twin-bore Sasago tunnel is an estimated 4.3km (2.7 miles) long and is on one of the major highways out of Tokyo.
The road has had to be closed because of the seriousness of the accident and this is expected to bring traffic chaos as thousands of weekend travellers head back to Tokyo on Sunday afternoon.
Our correspondent says there will be serious question about how a major tunnel on one of Japan's most important traffic arteries could have failed so catastrophically, with the private company that runs the highway saying the tunnel had undergone a major inspection just two months ago and had been given a clean bill of health.
Japan is prone to large earthquakes, but none were reported in the area in the morning.
One tunnel expert, Prof Chikaosa Tanimoto, told AFP that earlier quakes or vehicle vibrations could have caused old ceiling panels or pillars to deteriorate.

Greece bailout: How the crisis fuels the arts in Athens

It may not have the grandeur of Paris or Vienna but Athens has its own oddly shabby beauty. Beneath the magnificent archaeological sites, tree-lined streets hide pockets of elegance.

However, the city is also drab and unsightly in large areas, buildings choked with the fumes of traffic and cigarettes. It is many of these walls - grey and crumbling - that have been transformed by a burgeoning trend in street art.
For as the financial crisis has transformed parts of the city for the worse - once-affluent areas now beset by crime and prostitution - it has also inspired a flourishing community of graffiti artists, brightening up the capital with their acerbic and colourful creations.
Among them is the mysteriously named Bleeps.
Often compared to the British artist Banksy, he keeps his identity secret.
On a driving tour of his work, he points out an image that shows a woman holding a sign that reads "hopeless", next to words such as "monetary system", "capitalism" and "corruption".
Another depicts a banker clutching a safe, pursued by a figure representing death. A third, entitled "Greece's economic model" shows a girl with an amputated leg.
"I was in a sense lucky to live in this difficult era, although it's difficult for me as well," he says.
"It gave me the opportunity to discuss it and create images about it. If there weren't this crisis, my art would be like a voice in the desert. Nobody would listen to it."
Merkel mocked While Greece is strangled by the worst financial crisis in its modern history, an alternative cultural scene seems to be fighting back.

Continue reading the main storySofia Paschou Theatre director

State funding for the arts has been slashed by 30% in the past two years but the experience of living through today's Greece has spawned new and exciting cultural ideas.

In a small theatre in the capital, a young group performs their new show called 10 Centimetres Up. They, like many, have done away with props and scenery as budgets are tightened and so they rely on their impressive physical expertise and wit.
The play portrays three eras of Greece: the 1930s, the 1960s and the modern day. It is a visual feast: the actors play different roles and brilliantly act out inanimate objects.
References to the crisis are clear: a scene from today depicts tear gas-filled protests. In another, a homeless person is shown begging for small change "because I'm hungry".

The economic crisis is inspiring new theatre

At one point, the actors form the figure of the pro-austerity German Chancellor Angela Merkel, hated by many Greeks.
"Ich liebe Griechenland, ich liebe Deutschland," says the fictional chancellor, before repeating: "No hospitals, no education, no pensions, no, no, no."
At the end, a character from the modern day decides to remain in Greece while others leave.
"The crisis gave me a push to come back to my country and do something," says director Sofia Paschou, "because I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to say.
"It's that whatever the very bad situation that we're in, we are going to stay and survive. We're going to continue living and working and solving and dancing."
She says the crisis has brought together like-minded people who want to respond through their art.
"Instead of being angry on the streets breaking things, let our anger make something more positive, interesting and useful," she says.
Protest music That anger has spread into music too.
Hip-hop has become the sound of the crisis, with groups such as Psychodrama hitting out against the status quo in their lyrics.
The lead singer, Giorgos Siatitsas, has released a track that criticises the government and the media for spreading fear. The video contains strong images of street demonstrations, heavy-handed police action and poverty.

Giorgos Siatitsas performs says popular music has become political

"With the crisis, my music has become angrier," he says.
"That helps my fans to express the rage they feel too. Before, music was for entertainment. Now it has a political message. Music could inspire people to overthrow the system."
The recession has of course made things tough. Many galleries now struggle to sell their art. Big museums have cut back on security staff, leading to two major robberies this year and spending cuts have stunted important archaeological projects and excavations.
But Maria Vlazaki from the ministry of culture believes the arts scene can continue to prosper.
"This ministry always had limited funding," she says.
"Of course we have far more problems now but in difficult times, culture survives. We have a wonderful cultural heritage but we don't rely on that. We will continue to be not just a country of ancient culture but of an exciting modern one too."
With the theatre of Sophocles, the philosophy of Plato and the epic poetry of Homer, Greece's cultural legacy to the world is unrivalled.
Today, from the street to the stage to the studio, money is scarce but ideas are abundant and a new crisis culture is being born.

Moody's cuts AAA rating of ESM rescue fund

Moody's has cut the triple-A rating of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) euro rescue fund by one notch and given it a negative outlook.

It follows a downgrade earlier this month of key ESM-backer France.
Moody's also cut rating of the mechanism's predecessor, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF)
Managing director of the ESM and EFSF chief executive, Klaus Regling, described the ratings agency's decision "difficult to comprehend".
The largest backer of the two schemes, Germany, remains at the top-level of Aaa.
Moody's said its ESM decision was a consequence of its earlier French downgrade, namely that it "reflects the rating agency's view that there has been a marginal diminution in the certainty that the sovereign will fulfil its financial obligations" including its commitment to support the ESM.
It put the ESM's new rating at Aa1, and the EFSF to a "provisional" Aa1 from provisional Aaa.
In a statement, Mr Regling was critical of Moody's approach, which "does not sufficiently acknowledge ESM's exceptionally strong institutional framework, political commitment and capital structure."
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was launched in October as a permanent agency, based in Luxembourg.
From 2014 it will have up to 500bn euros (£405bn; $650bn) to help countries in difficulty.
The rescue fund is available to the 17 eurozone countries - but loans will only be granted under strict conditions, demanding that countries in trouble undertake budget reforms.

Helen Mirren 'unsure' over reprising her portrayal of the Queen

Dame Helen Mirren has admitted she felt "very unsure" about reprising her Oscar-winning role as The Queen in an upcoming West End play.

"I don't like going back to things," the 67-year-old revealed at the European Film Awards in Malta, where she received an honorary award.
"I like to go forward."
Written by Peter Morgan, who also wrote The Queen, The Audience examines the monarch's relationship with the Prime Ministers who served during her reign.
"The play's not really about The Queen. It's more about Britain in the 20th Century," said Dame Helen.
"It's an extraordinary way of looking at the history of Britain and it's an extraordinary team of artists who are putting the play together."
Directed by Stephen Daldry, The Audience opens in February at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End.
Dame Helen was speaking to reporters after accepting an award for European Achievement in World Cinema.
Her screen portrayal of The Queen in 2006 also won her a slew of prizes, among them a best actress prize at the European Film Awards.
Yet she still expressed surprise at receiving a standing ovation from the audience at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in the Maltese capital, Valletta.
"You get praise for some things you do, and for others you get kicked in the teeth," said the 67-year-old, who received her prize from friend and sometime co-star Sir Michael Gambon.
"So when something like that happens it's so unexpected. It was an amazing moment."
Austrian victory

Emmanuelle Riva stars in Amour, which chronicles the final chapter in the life of an octogenarian couple

Dame Helen was one of a handful of British honourees on a night dominated by Palme d'Or winner and Oscar hopeful Amour (Love).
Michael Haneke's drama about an elderly couple dealing with illness and dementia was named best European film and won additional prizes for its Austrian director and its two lead actors.
Neither Jean-Louis Trintignant nor Emmanuelle Riva - aged 81 and 85 respectively - were able to attend the ceremony.
Amour, released in the UK last month, is Austria's entry for next year's foreign language film Oscar.
Saturday's event marked the 25th anniversary of the European Film Academy's annual prize-giving gala, which was first held in Berlin in 1988.
Italian film-maker Bernardo Bertolucci, an honouree at the inaugural awards, was recognised again with a lifetime achievement accolade.
"What can I say? Long live European cinema!" said the director of Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor and The Conformist.
The 72-year-old's most recent film Me and You - his first in nine years - screened earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
Also recognised was British spy thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which received awards for its music and production design.

Bernardo Bertolucci received his lifetime achievement prize from Wim Wenders

Shame, Steve McQueen's film about sex addiction, was also honoured twice, taking home awards for its cinematography and editing.
The producer of another winning title, Belgian release Come As You Are, celebrated its winning the People's Choice Award by proposing to his girlfriend from the stage.
Yet the jovial mood was dampened on occasion by sombre references to the eurozone's financial situation and uncertain future.
"Europe is in a deep financial crisis, and in a crisis of identity," said Germany's Wim Wenders, president of the 2,700-member European Film Academy.
"But Europe is more than its economy," continued the director of Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas director. "Our cinema can feed the European soul.
"We need a European cinema if we want to give Europe a future we can believe in."

Yahoo 'ordered to pay $2.7bn' by Mexican court

Internet group Yahoo says it has been ordered to pay $2.7bn (£1.68bn) by a Mexican court.

The reported ruling follows a lawsuit stemming from allegations of breach of contract and lost profits related to a yellow pages listing service.
Yahoo said it "believes the plaintiffs' claims are without merit and will vigorously pursue all appeals".
The lawsuit had been brought by Worldwide Directories SA de CV and Ideas Interactivas SA de CV.
In a statement on its website Yahoo said the 49th Civil Court of the Federal District of Mexico City had "entered a non-final judgment of US $2.7 billion against Yahoo! Inc. and Yahoo de Mexico" in the case.
Shares in Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, fell by 1.4% in after-the-bell trading following the news.

Napoleon's Moscow Kremlin letter auctioned

A 200-year-old letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte in which he vows to blow up the Kremlin has been sold at auction for 150,000 euros (£122,000).

The letter, which dates from Napoleon's ill-fated invasion of Russia, was bought by the Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris.
It is written in code and was sold alongside a deciphered transcript.
It went under the hammer in Fontainebleau, south-east of Paris, at 10 times the initial estimate.
Before the auction, Jean Christophe Chataignier, director of the Osenat auction house, said the 1812 letter was expected to fetch between 10,000 and 15,000 euros.
It was written by Napoleon to Foreign Minister Hugues-Bernard Maret, who was at Vilnius in modern-day Lituania.
Having captured Moscow but with the Russian army having withdrawn and winter approaching, the emperor realised he had to turn back.
The first line reads: "On the 22nd at 3am I will be blowing up the Kremlin."
The letter also reveals Napoleon's frustration at the campaign, with his army ravaged by disease, cold and hunger: "My cavalry is in tatters, a lot of horses are dying. Make sure we buy more as soon as possible."
Napoleon kept the promise to blow up the Moscow Kremlin, destroying the Kremlin's walls and towers before retreating with his army, beginning a decline in his power that would lead to his abdication and exile just two years later.

Shakira sued for $100m by former boyfriend

Colombian pop star Shakira is being sued for $100m (£62.4m) by a former boyfriend who acted as her business manager for six years.

Antonio de la Rua claims he was the "principal architect" of a business plan that turned the singer into a global superstar.
He is seeking to "recover his share of past and future partnership profits," according to papers filed in New York.
In a separate case, Shakira is suing de la Rua for misappropriation of funds.
Her legal case, filed in the Bahamas in October, accuses him of paying himself an unauthorised bonus and using funds from their business partnership to pay personal expenses.
Mr De la Rua denies the allegations.
Sex appeal His legal papers, however, provide a rare insight into the intricacies of sustaining a global pop career.
He explains how the couple met in 2000, shortly after he had managed his father Fernando's successful campaign to become president of Argentina.
As they became romantically involved, he frequently joined her on her first world tour - The Tour Of The Mongoose. He describes how, as it came to a close, the star was "shocked" to learn the tour had "actually lost money".
The news caused the performer "extreme emotional distress and interfered with her ability to sleep and perform". She sacked her manager, and asked Mr De la Rua to take over her business affairs.

The legal case says Hips Don't Lie was a "second shot" at securing a hit song

They agreed he would be entitled to a share of the profits from her music and business ventures "in exchange for the contribution of his business and marketing skills, knowledge and expertise".
But his court papers acknowledge that the partnership, which began in 2004, was based only on an "oral agreement".
Mr De la Rua goes on to describe how he brokered a $300m deal with concert promoters Live Nation and a "lucrative" deal for a range of perfumes.
He was also instrumental in persuading a reluctant Shakira to record the song Hips Don't Lie in order to reverse flagging sales of her Oral Fixation Vol. 2 album. The song went on to top the charts in more than 25 countries.
The court papers describe a similar situation in 2009, when the first single from Shakira's She Wolf album "bombed".
He claims to have brokered a deal for Shakira to record the official World Cup song Waka Waka, the success of which ensured a profitable world tour which "saved the relationship" with Live Nation.
The legal papers add: "The combination of de la Rua's business and marketing talents with defendant's artistic talents, beauty and sex appeal succeeded in propelling the value of the partnership far beyond anything either had previously achieved or believed possible."
When the couple broke up in 2010, Shakira announced the news on her website, but stressed "we continue to be partners in our business and professional lives".
But a year later, in October 2011, the pop star instructed her lawyer to "terminate de la Rua, as if he were a mere employee," the legal papers claim.
Mr De la Rua said he has not received his share of the profits since then, and is seeking a payment of "not less than $100m" at trial.
At the time of writing, Shakira's representatives had not responded to the complaint.
The star is currently expecting her first child with footballer Gerard Pique, who plays for FC Barcelona. She has also signed up as a coach for the next series of The Voice in the US.

Tax: Starbucks in talks with UK's Revenue and Customs

Global coffee chain Starbucks has said it is in talks with HM Revenue and Customs and the Treasury over how much UK tax it pays.

It is one of several well-known firms that were criticised over the level of their corporation tax payments.
The firm admitted that it "needed to do more" in the UK on tax.
Meanwhile, Chancellor George Osborne has pledged more funds for the British authorities to tackle tax avoidance by multinationals.
He told the BBC that an announcement would be made on Monday about the " extra investment in the part of the Inland Revenue that tackles tax avoidance by multinational companies".
A Public Accounts Committee report on the topic of how much tax multinational firms pay in the UK is due on Monday.
In November the committee took evidence from executives from Starbucks, Google and Amazon over the amount of tax the companies have paid in the UK.
'Competitive'

"We have listened to feedback from our customers and employees, and understand that to maintain and further build public trust we need to do more," said a Starbucks statement.
"As part of this we are looking at our tax approach in the UK. The company has been in discussions with HMRC for some time and is also in talks with The Treasury."
Starbucks, which has more than 700 outlets across the UK, said more details would be released later this week.
BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett said the coffee company reported sales of nearly £400m in the UK last year, but paid no corporation tax at all.
"Much of the money it earns in this country is transferred to a sister company in the Netherlands in the form of royalty payments, leaving the UK division to report regular annual losses," he added.
Mr Osborne did not single out any firms while making his announcement on the Andrew Marr Show.
He also said that as well as his extra funding for the UK authorities, it was also necessary to work at an international level on the issue.
"It is actually Britain who has been working with Germany and France to get those rules on the international table," he said.
But he also warned against "pricing Britain out of the world economy", adding that "if we make our taxes less competitive that will just mean more companies stay out of Britain".
Monday's PAC report is expected to be critical of the current way in which multinational firms used UK tax legislation.
After last month's hearings, PAC chair Margaret Hodge MP said: "One of our concerns is that the ability of global companies to choose where they put their costs and their profits gives them an unfair tax advantage that damages UK-based businesses,"

George Osborne: Deficit cut is taking longer than planned

Chancellor George Osborne has admitted that curbing the UK's financial deficit is "taking longer" than planned.

But he told the BBC the government was "making progress" and that to "turn back now would be a complete disaster".
Mr Osborne, who delivers his Autumn Statement on Wednesday, said well-off people would "pay their fair share".
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said Mr Osborne's judgement had been "woefully lacking" and more investment was needed to promote economic growth.
The coalition has set a target of reducing debt as a share of national income by the next general election, due in 2015.
UK public sector net borrowing, excluding financial interventions, hit £8.6bn in October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), marking a rise from the £5.9bn borrowed in October 2011.
But last week the ONS confirmed that the UK's economy had grown by 1% during the third quarter of this year, following a recession lasting nine months.
'Pay our way' Mr Osborne refused to divulge any details of the economic forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which will be unveiled during Wednesday's statement.