Sharon Stone nude shoot for US fashion magazine puts her back on top

Sharon Stone, photographed by Mark Abrahams for Harpers Bazaar. Photo: Mark Abrahams/Harpers Bazaar

Sharon Stone has posed nude for American fashion magazine Harpers Bazaar for a photo spread to accompany an interview in which she talks openly about her struggle to rebuild her career after suffering a massive aneurism in 2001.

Stone, who was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for Martin Scorsese's Casino in 1996, has never been shy about revealing her physical attributes.

In 1990, she did a nude photo shoot for Playboy in a bid to jumpstart a career that had stalled in the years since she debuted with a brief cameo in Woody Allen's 1980 comedy Stardust Memories. In 1992's Basic Instinct, the film that made her for a period one of Hollywood's top stars, she fleetingly and famously uncrossed her legs to reveal that her character, Catherine Tramell, did not have any underwear beneath the striking white dress she wore to her interview with Michael Douglas's police detective.

In the role that made her a star, as Catherine Tramell inBasic Instinct.

It was a bold gesture that cemented her in the public mind, but the new shoot is in some respects far braver.
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Stone is now 57. "I'm aware that my ass looks like a bag of flapjacks," she told the magazine. "But I'm not trying to be the best-looking broad in the world.

"At a certain point you start asking yourself, 'What really is sexy?' It's not just the elevation of your boobs. It's being present and having fun and liking yourself enough to like the person that's with you. If I believed that sexy was trying to be who I was when I did Basic Instinct, then we'd all be having a hard day today."

Sharon Stone, photographed by Mark Abrahams forHarpers Bazaar. Photo: Mark Abrahams/Harpers Bazaar

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Madeline Stuart, Model With Down Syndrome, Will Make Her New York Fashion Week Debut

Madeline Stuart, an Australian model who has Down syndrome is scheduled to walk in New York Fashion Week on Sept. 13.Credit: courtesy of EverMaya / Tammy Swales Studio

Such an inspiration! Australian model Madeline Stuart, who was born with Down syndrome, announced she will walk in New York Fashion Week for American label FTL Moda, in association with the Christopher Reeve Foundation, on Sept. 13.

Sharing a pic from the fashion brand on her Instagram on Aug. 11, she wrote, "Guess who is modeling in NY for NY fashion week xx."


But that's not all! The Brisbane native, 18, has had such a positive impact since she was discovered in May (and has collected nearly 450,000 fans on Facebook and 60,000 followers on Instagram) that she will also front two new campaigns. Stuart is the face of accessories brand EverMaya, which has also introduced a line of handbags named after her (five percent of the sales will go to the National Down's Syndrome Society). Activewear line Manifesta has also signed a contract with Stuart.



A photo posted by Madeline Stuart (@madelinesmodelling_) on Aug 11, 2015 at 5:30am PDT



Despite having Down sndrome and other health problems (including three holes in her heart and a loose valve, all of which she manages with heart medication), Stuart remains completely positive and driven toward her goal. "She's done so well because this isn't about us," Stuart's mother, Rosanna Stuart, told Cosmopolitan. "It's about fighting the fight for all the people out there that are a bit different. She can walk into a room and not judge anyone. I wish I could be more like my daughter."


And the model, who went viral earlier this year after her activewear and swimsuit photos were posted on Facebook, lost nearly 50 pounds by hitting the gym and the pool before international fashion requests came trickling in. "She's worked hard for it," her mother told the Daily Mail in July. "People with Down syndrome can do anything. I think it's time people realized that people with Down syndrome can be sexy and beautiful. We will only continue doing this as long as Maddy is happy doing this. It's only what makes Maddy happy that's important."


Stuart will be the second model with the condition to take to the fashion week catwalk, following in the footsteps of American Horror Story actress, Jamie Brewer, who strutted in New York Fashion Week for Carrie Hammer in February.

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Bangkok bomb was worst ever attack on Thailand, says PM

Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has said the bombing of a shrine in the capital, Bangkok, on Monday was the "worst-ever attack" on the country.

The attack killed at least 20 people, including at least eight foreigners.

Mr Prayuth said the perpetrators had not been identified, but police have released images of one suspect seen on security footage at the shrine.

In a separate attack in Bangkok, an explosive device was thrown from a pier but caused no injuries on Tuesday.

The device - possibly a grenade - appears to have been thrown at the busy Sathorn pier in Bangkok but landed in water where it exploded harmlessly.

"If it did not fall in the water then it certainly would have caused injuries," the district's deputy police chief Col Natakit Siriwongtawan told Reuters news agency.

Monday's bomb targeted the Erawan Hindu shrine, a major tourist attraction.


It was detonated at about 19:00 local time (12:00 GMT) on Monday when the shrine, and the nearby Ratchaprasong junction, were crowded.

Scores of people were wounded.

Live coverage of Bangkok aftermath

"This is the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand," Mr Prayuth said.

"There have been minor bombs or just noise, but this time they aim for innocent lives. They want to destroy our economy, our tourism."

Authorities are now examining video footage taken from several CCTV cameras around the shrine for clues, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

They have released images of one young man who appears to walk into the shrine wearing a black backpack, but is then seen walking without it.

Members of the public are also handing in their own video coverage.

Bangkok explosion

Eyewitness accounts of the blast - "There was total chaos"

In pictures - scene of devastation

CCTV footage - captures the moment of the explosion

The facts - what we know so far

The Erawan Shrine - popular with locals and tourists

Mobile phone footage captures the blast

'I gave one man CPR' says BBC man

The bomb was clearly placed to cause maximum casualties, our correspondent says, and there is a lingering sense of shock in Thailand, which until now had been spared the kinds of terrorist incidents experienced by some of its neighbours.

Most victims were Thai, but at least eight were foreign - mostly from elsewhere in Asia.

In currency trading, the Thai baht fell to its lowest level in six years.

Jonathan Head BBC News, Bangkok: "Who is behind this attack?"

Bangkok is now sitting back and wondering who could possibly have carried out this act and what their motives could have been.

There is no shortage of potential suspects - people might wonder if it was the Muslim insurgency fighting for an independent state in the deep south. Lots of bombs go off there but, the insurgents have never perpetrated an attack outside their own area, so this would be an entire change in tactics.

People also look at the recent political violence and wonder if factions who lost out might have been involved.

It will be some time before the government gives some idea of what we should be looking for.


National police chief Somyot Poompummuang earlier described the device as a pipe bomb - an improvised device where explosive material is put in a sealed cavity to maximise the explosive impact.

He said the 3kg bomb had been placed inside the shrine.

"Whoever planted this bomb is cruel and aimed to kill. Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of people dead," he said.

Marko Cunningham, a New Zealand paramedic working with a Bangkok ambulance service, said the scene was "like a meat market".

"There were bodies everywhere. Some were shredded. It was horrific," he told the Reuters news agency.



The shrine is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is also visited by thousands of Buddhists each day.

It sits between a five-star hotel and a popular shopping centre on the Ratchaprasong intersection, which has been the centre of political demonstrations in recent years.




Bangkok has seen a decade of sometimes violent rivalry between political factions.

The military took over the country in May last year, removing an elected government following months of unrest. The capital has been relatively calm since then.

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Lenovo's Zuk Unveils Transparent Display Smartphone Prototype

Earlier this week we saw Zuk, Lenovo's online-only brand, launching its first smartphone in China named the Zuk Z1. The firm has also showcased a smartphone prototype, the highlight of which is a transparent display.

In a series of images posted on Weibo from the Z1 launch event on Tuesday, the prototype smartphone is seen featuring a near bezel-less frame on the transparent glass-like display. The prototype is said to perform almost all functions of a traditional smartphone such as displaying images, making phone calls, play music, and more, and features an Android-like interface.

While there is no information revealed about the transparent display of the Zuk smartphone prototype, the image showing a picture of a girl on the display does hint towards a high pixel density. Needless to say, since this is a prototype smartphone, we would not be seeing it hitting the markets just yet, not at least until next year. In addition, the tech required to create transparent displays is not yet widely available. The prototype reveal was first reported by Gizmo China.

Lenovo's Zuk brand, by teasing a prototype smartphone with a transparent display, has come in direct competition with the likes of Samsung and LG, both of which have already showcased prototypes onfoldable Youm displays, transparent displays, and bezel-less displays in the past.

Zuk earlier this week launched its first smartphone named Z1 in China, priced at CNY 1,799 (approximately Rs. 18,250). Lenovo's new online-only brand is aimed at countering the rise of Xiaomi in China, which too has followed a low-cost online-only model. While Lenovo so far has not detailed any plans to launch its online-only smartphone brand outside China, it is expected the company may bring the brand to other markets. Zuk Z1 is one of the few smartphones that feature USB Type-C port, a large 4100mAh battery, fingerprint sensor, and a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony sensor (IMX214) and optical image stabilization (OIS), a feature that's found in select high-end smartphones.

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Sony Xperia Z5+ Promotional Image Leaks; UA Profile Tips

Sony has been rumoured to be working on its second-flagship of 2015, believed to be dubbed Xperia Z5, alongside a compact-version of the handset, Xperia Z5 Compact. Now, new details have emerged tipping that the Japanese manufacturer may already be working on a variant of the Xperia Z5, the Xperia Z5+.

A new Sony high-end Xperia smartphone has been leaked in promo image, believed to showcase the Xperia Z5+. Additionally, UA (user-agent) profile company listings tipping details about the Xperia 

Z5+ have also been spotted online

.

The leaked promo image claims to show a handset codenamed S70+, expected to be the Xperia Z5+. While the promo image is blurry, the handset in it largely seem to sport design same as the Xperia Z3+or Xperia Z4. Sony's OmniBalance design is clearly visible in the leaked promo image and the handset is seen in Black, Chrome, and Gold colours. The promo image comes courtesy Weibo (China's equivalent of Twitter) and was first picked up by Xperia Blog.

Separately, the UA profiles of the Sony E6833, E6853, E6883 - thought to be Xperia Z5+ variants - were spotted, tipping some details about the yet-to-be-announced handset including a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (MSM8944) processor. The listing (via Xperia blog) also shows a screen size entry of 3840x2160 pixel likely indicating the screen resolution of the upcoming handset to be 4K.

Sony recently confirmed its presence at IFA event next month and even claimed that it will announce "many new features."

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Social Media Posts Can Help Improve Public Safety: Study

Statisticians can glean insightful information from Facebook posts, tweets and other online social media communications that may help improve public safety, researchers have said.

Michiko Wolcott and colleagues evaluated social media traffic posted during and the days following typhoon Haiyan striking the Philippines in November 2013 to develop a set of social media analytics for emergency response managers.

"Social media can play a critical role in the dissemination of the information, as well as collection of relevant data during natural disasters," said Wolcott.

"The idea of leveraging social media data such as Twitter is intuitively attractive, given their natural ties to mobile devices with obvious disaster response implications," he explained.

Similarly, bio-statistician Elaine Nsoesie came up with a method for tracking food borne illness and disease outbreaks using social media sites such as Twitter and Yelp to supplement traditional surveillance systems.

Traditional surveillance systems capture only a fraction of the estimated 48 million food borne illness cases in the country each year, primarily because few affected individuals seek medical care or report their condition to the appropriate authorities, Nsoesie said.

"Reports of food borne illness on review sites could serve as early indicators of food borne disease outbreaks. Information gleaned from such novel data streams could aid traditional surveillance systems in near real-time monitoring of food borne related illnesses," Nsoesie added.

The findings were presented recently at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM 2015) in Seattle, US.

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Rainbow Six Siege Preview: The Unlikely Social Game

Rainbow Six Siege is the latest tactical shooter in the Tom Clancy universe. Some of Ubisoft's attempts to stage a comeback for the series didn't work out too well, as neither Rainbow 6 Vegas nor Rainbox 6 Vegas 2 were very well received on the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. With Rainbow 6 Siege though, Ubisoft seems to have finally found the right formula for the series.

The last two Rainbow Six featured a single-player campaign, and Rainbow Six Siege is no different. However, this time around the focus is on multiplayer. Our preview at Gamescom 2015 had us squaring off other game journalists in five on five combat. Much like Team Fortress 2 and Battlefield 4, here too you choose your character class at the start of the match. While we had around 10 classes to choose from, the final game will have 20. Different classes have different powers, such as the ability to wield special weapons such as sledge hammers to breach doors, or electronic jammers to keep your foes at bay.

All of these class types and gizmos come in handy. And at times picking the right class is as important as having great reflexes. Matches in Rainbow Six Siege don't just have you gunning down the opposition (granted that's the most gratifying part of it) so choosing the correct class in relation to the rest of your team makes all the difference on some maps.

Our gameplay session had us defending a base against a team of human controlled attackers. There a brief preparation period that allowed us to set up defences, such as barricading rooms and laying down barbed wire. In the meantime our opposition scanned the environment looking for our location.

When the match started it was a tense, drawn out affair. Aiming and shooting felt precise. Movement was on the slower side, which is expected given the strategic nature of gameplay. If you were expecting a Call of Duty or Battlefield replacement, then think again because Rainbow Six Siege is a completely different beast. Camping (standing behind cover, waiting for your opponents to drop in) isn't a viable strategy either thanks to destructible environments. Provided your aim is true, one shot usually equates with one kill.

All of this culminates in a sense of vulnerability where you're compelled to communicate with your team mates in order to survive. We found ourselves chatting to our fellow squad members more often than not, prior to and during the three rounds we played to check who was using which class (so there would be no overlap), who had what items left (so they could be allocated in the necessary sections of the map), and of course, call in for backup. Towards the end of a frantic assault by our opposition it came in handy, calling in backup and requesting explosives that saved us the match.

While other games provide opportunities and mechanics such as class based systems and an emphasis on team work, the inherent fragility when playing Rainbow Six Siege's multiplayer mode pushed us and our team members to talk to each other. A rare occurrence considering that most multiplayer shooters are either expletive-laden affairs or gigantic chasms of silence punctuated by gun fire.



With a pre-order beta scheduled for September 24 and the game slated to hit on October 13, Rainbow Six Siege is looking to be a surprisingly competent multiplayer shooter. Wether the single-player campaign manages to match up remains to be seen, but if you're the sort looking for something to play with your friends, Ubisoft have conjured up what appears to be a viable option.

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EA Sports FIFA Coming to Android and iOS on September 22

Another year, another FIFA game. And while the PC and console versions have been annual staples for many a gamer, Electronic Arts (EA) hasn't forgotten about smartphone and tablet owners. The latest in its attempt at small screen dominance sees EA Sports FIFA hitting Android and iOS devices on September 22. The date coincides with the American release of the game on PC and consoles.

EA Sports FIFA for smartphones and tablets - which will be free to download and play - features console-like graphics, enhanced AI, and all the bells and whistles you've come to expect from the franchise with a yearly release in order to keep things relevant. The mobile version of the game also finally get player goal celebrations, and new control options for smoother gameplay.

But what's most telling is the ability for gamers to exchange players. It's a new feature that lets you get the players you want. Rather than sell or discard unwanted players, you can exchange them for random new ones. The better the player exchanged, the higher chance of getting a better rated one in return.

Also the game's popular Ultimate Team mode has undergone a few important changes, the most crucial of which ensures that you won't have to start over with your Ultimate Team from scratch. With regular updates and events, you can keep your existing players and keep playing.

While all these changes sound good on paper we're curious to see how they're received by the game's rabid fanbase when it hits on September 22.

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