One of the usual Paris highlights, Alexander McQueen’s show, has been taken from the official catwalk schedule and transformed into a subdued presentation following the designer’s death, but there will be plenty of other flamboyant events happening at and around Paris fashion week. While brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermès will be giving attendees an update on what’s new in French luxury, international designers including the Dutch Dries van Noten or Viktor & Rolf, British Gareth Pugh or Japanese label Comme des Garçons will present more forward-thinking fashion avantgarde. Designers to watch are the French capital’s rising star Damir Doma as well as former Dior Homme designer Nicolas Andreas Taralis, who now shows under his own name. Sonia Rykiel will have to prove that she didn’t forget how to do high fashion after her successful ranges for H&M, but while no one would seriously doubt that, Ungaro’s resurrection after last season’s Lindsay Lohan disaster is far more uncertain. It will also be interesting to see whether labels such as Balmain stick to their highly popular rock’n’roll chic instead of risking a new look, and if the ‘curvier model’ trend as seen in Italy (Prada) and London (Mark Fast) and an increased booking of Victoria’s Secret girls or high fashion colleagues like Lara Stone persist. Trade fair Première Classe will run concurrently to the fashion week, as will the edgier Tranoi, which for the first time features Tokyoeye, an initiative to promote Japanese brands in Paris. As for gossip, it has emerged on deadline.com that Zoolander writer Justin Theroux will be on site to “immerse himself on what is current in fashion” for the long-awaited sequel of the fashion parody. Also, French Vogue and luxe palace, Hôtel Crillon are collaborating for a meeting hub with low-calorie meals and a make-up pit stop, while party mogul Jean Roch is planning the launch of his VIP Room Theater – an expansion of his legendary nightclub, featuring an Italian trattoria, a café and a concept store – for March 5.

Eri Yoshida, Eighteen-year-old knuckleballer Eri Yoshida, the first woman drafted by a Japanese team, was in Fort Myers today to meet the man who inspired her to pitch.

Back in November 2008, Tim Wakefield said he hoped to see her pitch one day. Today, after Yoshida watched his side session, he returned the favour:

She spun a couple, but for the most part, it was very good. She was able to take the spin out of a lot of them and they had quite a lot of movement on them. … I had seen film of her and I was pretty impressed at the film. But to see her in person and to actually see her throw, I was very impressed with how she threw and the knowledge she had on the knuckleball, because she told me she was self-taught. This is the first time she’s actually ever had coaching throwing a knuckleball. I kind of know where she’s at, because I was there when I first started throwing — nobody knew what to do.

Kevin van der Perren (born August 6, 1982 in Ninove, Belgium) is a Belgian figure skater. He is the 2007 & 2009 European bronze medalist and a six time (2000-2004, 2007) Belgian national champion. Van der Perren was the flag bearer for Belgium at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He is married to British skater Jenna McCorkell. As of January 2010[update], he was ranked 7th in the world.

He was the flag bearer for Belgium at the 2006 Winter Olympics and Belgium at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

KOLKATA : India Vs South Africa Test, South Africa were struggling to save the second and final cricket Test against India after losing three key wickets in a rain-curtailed fourth day’s play on Wednesday.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra sent back skipper Graeme Smith (20) and Jacques Kallis (20), and Harbhajan Singh dismissed Alviro Petersen as South Africa stuttered to 111-3 by tea at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Watch Live Cricket

Hashim Amla was unbeaten on 45 and Ashwell Prince was yet to open his account at the break, which was taken early due to rain.

South Africa, who made 296 in their first innings, still trail India by 236 runs with seven wickets in hand.

India declared their first innings on a mammoth 643-6, built on centuries by Virender Sehwag (165), Venkatsai Laxman (143 not out), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (132 not out) and Sachin Tendulkar (106).

The tourists need a draw to win their first Test series in India for a decade and reclaim the top spot in the official rankings from Dhoni’s men, after winning the opening match in Nagpur by an innings and six runs.

Off-spinner Harbhajan gave India the breakthrough in the post-lunch session when he got rid of first-innings centurion Petersen (21) in his second over after the break.

The debutant opener was foxed by a delivery that found the inside edge of his bat and popped up to short leg where Subramaniam Badrinath latched on to the head-high catch on second attempt.

Kallis shaped up to defend against Mishra but offered an outside edge to Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps. He shared 57 runs for the third wicket with Amla.

Earlier, only 14 overs were bowled in the morning session after a wet outfield delayed start of play by 90 minutes.

Smith and Petersen played with caution after resuming at the overnight total of 6-0, until Mishra was brought into attack in the 13th over.

Mishra struck off his first delivery, trapping Smith in front of the wicket to cap a miserable outing for the South African skipper in the Test series. Smith scored just 30 runs in the series.

Watch Live Cricket

The Test series will be followed by three one-day internationals at Jaipur (Feb 21), Gwalior (Feb 24) and Ahmedabad (Feb 27).

Daisuke Takahashi ( Takahashi Daisuke?) (born March 16, 1986 in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the a four-time (2006-2008, 2010) Japanese national champion , the 2008 Four Continents Champion, and the 2007 World silver medalist. He represented Japan at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

SINGAPORE: Oil prices hovered above $74 a barrel Tuesday in Asia as investors looked for signs of improving global crude demand amid light holiday trading.

Benchmark crude for March delivery was up 9 cents at $74.22 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. With markets closed Monday in the U.S. for the Presidents Day holiday, the contract last settled on Friday, falling $1.15 to $74.13.

Trading volume was light in Asia as markets in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Oil has traded between $69 a barrel and $84 for the last few months as investors struggle to gauge global crude demand.

On Monday, Japan said its economy grew an annualized 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter while China raised reserve requirements for banks last week in a bid to slow economic growth
and avoid asset bubbles.

“There are some signs of improvement in OECD countries as a whole with strong Japanese growth data,” Barclays Capital said in a report. “Worries about softening in China’s commodity demand are overblown.”

In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil was steady at $1.9203 a gallon, and gasoline fell 0.47 cent to $1.9248 a gallon.

Natural gas rose 4.6 cents to $5.51 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude was up 35 cents at $72.86 on the ICE futures exchange.

TOKYO: A former close aide to Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was charged on Thursday over falsified political funding records, public broadcaster NHK said, in a development that threatens to erode support for the government.

The scandal, which has been public knowledge for months, is thought unlikely to force Hatoyama to resign but the indictment will be another headache for his government, which marked 100 days in office on Thursday and faces key decisions on next year’s budget and relocating a U.S. airbase.

A sharp slide in voter approval could endanger the premier’s grip on his post ahead of an upper house election in mid-2010, in which his Democratic Party wants to win an outright majority to reduce the clout of two tiny but vocal coalition partners.

Opinion polls have shown voters are unhappy with Hatoyama’s explanation of the scandal over misreported donations, but a majority have said he need not resign over the affair.

Jiji news agency said the Tokyo summary court would fine the former aide 300,000 yen ($3,280). Tokyo prosecutors’ office said it could not confirm the report.

The indictment is thought unlikely to cause a quick, sharp drop in Hatoyama’s voter support, although it has slipped to as low as just below 50 percent from initial highs over 70 percent as doubts grow over the premier’s leadership skills.

Media reports have said prosecutors will not charge Hatoyama himself.

“It coincides with the end of the honeymoon period, as Hatoyama’s government marks 100 days in office and in that sense, it is symbolic and fateful,” said Kyohei Morita, chief economist at Barclays Capital Japan, adding that he expected limited impact on financial markets.

“The (opposition) Liberal Democratic Party is too weak to force him to resign… and I don’t think Hatoyama will voluntarily step down either. But it may worsen voter support ahead of the upper house election,” he said.

Hatoyama said earlier in the day he would explain more about the funding scandal once prosecutors make decisions.

TOKYO : Five off-duty soldiers were killed and another was missing on Saturday after their boat capsized off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, officials said.

The Self-Defense Forces members were night fishing on an offshore breakwater 500 metres (1,650 feet) from Tomakomai port, southern Hokkaido, late on Friday, a local coastguard official said.

As the weather turned bad, they tried to leave the breakwater on a boat but it suddenly turned over, throwing them into the sea, the official said.

Another soldier who was with the six managed get back to the breakwater by himself, while rescue operators found five people floating near the breakwater, who were later confirmed dead.

“We will soon send a patrol boat out there to find the remaining one,” the official said.

The meteorological observatory issued a warning of strong winds and high waves in the region late on Friday.

The Oscar winning actor has been appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime. On Friday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon presented the actor and director with the U.N. Correspondents Association’s Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.

Cage, 45, said his role as an ambassador will be “to shine a spotlight on the need for global justice.”

Pearl Harbor latest updates :- PEARL HARBOR, —A noise awoke George Steckbeck on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

A private in the Army Air Corps, Steckbeck lay in his bunk at Hickam Field, which is adjacent to Pearl Harbor, on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu for a few moments.

He then noticed several guys looking out a window and smoke billowing in the background, so he got up to see what was going on. As he looked out the second-floor window that overlooked Pearl Harbor, he saw an oil tank burning, and then a battleship that was moored in the harbor blew up.

“I was just trying to figure out what was going on when this battleship blew up, and here comes a torpedo plane right in front of me,” said Steckbeck, a 1939 graduate of Lebanon High School. “In fact, the guy looked over and I don’t know what it was, but he either saluted or waved to me. I looked and, holy crimes, it had the rising sun on it, and when I saw that, I knew right away what it was.”

Realizing they were under attack, Steckbeck and his fellow airmen ran out of the barracks but were met with Japanese planes strafing them with machine-gun fire. He made his way to a hangar, where he tried to get machine guns from the armament shop to fire at the attacking Japanese planes.

He was able to get a pair of .45-caliber pistols and some bullets but no machine guns because they were locked up. While he was in the armament shop, a bomb hit nearby and knocked him into a wall, causing his nose to start bleeding.

Soon, the first wave of attacks was over, and after driving another soldier to the hospital, Steckbeck was standing around with some other soldiers when the second wave arrived. Steckbeck and the other soldiers jumped in a drainage ditch as the Japanese planes continued their attack on Pearl Harbor and Hickam.

“The whole gang of us ran out and jumped in this ditch, and that’s when they hit the barracks and the guardhouse,” he said. “We had no kind of shelter there at all.

“It didn’t last long,” he continued. “They were everywhere, coming from all directions. I was there shooting at them with a .45 pistol. Of course I didn’t hit anything, but at least I felt better shooting at them than just standing there watching.”

In all, six military sites on Oahu were attacked that day, and 2,390 Americans were killed. More than 320 aircraft were destroyed or damaged, and 21 vessels were sunk or damaged. On Hickam, 189 people were killed and 303 wounded.

It was feared that a Japanese ground invasion would follow, so that night Steckbeck was assigned to a .50 cal. machine gun along the base’s perimeter.

“That night, it got cold, and it was raining like a bugger,” he said. “I was half froze till they relieved me.”

The next day, he flew an air mission to bomb a Japanese submarine that had been spotted just off the east side of the island.

“We dropped two, and then we circled and we dropped two more,” he said. “We saw an oil slick, and then a Navy plane dropped some, and they must of hit it too, because then debris started to come up. It was officially listed as destroyed.”

Later in the war, Steckbeck participated in the Battle of Midway and the Guadalcanal Campaign. In all, he flew in 57 combat missions during the war.

Steckbeck was discharged from the Army in May 1945, but re-enlisted about a year later. In all, he served 12 years and was discharged with the rank of tech sergeant, after the Air Corps had become the Air Force.

After his military service, he worked as a printer for 23 years at Sowers Printing at 10th and Scull streets in Lebanon before retiring.

Steckbeck married his wife, Gloria, who was his next-door neighbor when he was a kid, in January 1944. She died in 2002. They had a daughter, who died in 2004, and four grandchildren.

Steckbeck, now 87, lives in an apartment at Bethel Point at Hill Farm Estate, a retirement community in North Annville Township.

Even today, 68 years later, he said he can remember the attack on Pearl Harbor like happened yesterday.

“I remember the attack real good,” he said. “It doesn’t seem like it was long ago at all.”  Courtesy  www.ldnews.com