Italian Archaeologists Believe, They Have Found Skeleton Of The Real Mona Lisa

Much attention has been paid to Mona Lisa's smile throughout the years, but this week her skeleton is winding up in the spotlight. Italian archaeologists announced Tuesday they found the skeleton of  lisa Gherardini,a  believed to be the model for Leonardo's masterpiece, which currently hangs in The Louvre in Paris. Found near the convent of Sant'Orsola in Florence, the bones will be sent to the Deparment for the Conservation Of Cultural Property for an examination.

Experts Believed Mona Lisa's Identity was discovered after notes from 1503 were discovered in the margin of a book in which an acquaintance of Leonardo da Vinci wrote that Leonardo was currently working on a portrait of Lisa Gherardini. 16th century art historian Giogrio Vasari was another reliable source to identify Gherardini as the model, writing about it in his "Lives Of Artists." Giuseppe Pallanti, a historian who has written three books delving into Mona Lisa's story, determined after 25 years of research that Leonardo's father was Gherardini's neighbor in Via Ghibellina.

The hunt for Gherardini's remains has been ridden with controversy, as many of her family members believe her body should be left in peace. Her descendent Natalia Guicciardini Strozzi, an Italian princess, told the Telegraph that the search for her bones was a "Sacrillegious act" The princess then asked: "What difference would finding her remains make to the allure of Leonardo's painting?"

What do you think, readers? Can any archaeological discovery really solve the mystery of Mona Lisa's smile?

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Ace Football Player 'Mario Balotelli' with Hot French Model

Sexy Vanessa Lawrens has been soaking up the sun with the Manchester City star as he enjoys a break on the party island of Ibiza with his friends.

The 22-year-old beauty was spotted getting out of the striker’s car with a pretty blonde pal and leaning in for a kiss with Mario.

Last week, Vanessa - who is a model, singer and presenter - snuggled up to 21-year-old Mario on the back of a jet-ski in a tiny bikini.

The footballer has been making the most his summer break before the new football season begins.

Off the pitch, the fiery sportsman has been in a paternity Battle with his ex-girlfriend Raffaella Fico.

The couple split in April after their tempestuous year-long relationship ended with a doorstep bust-up.

But three weeks ago, model Raffaella revealed she was four months pregnant and claimed the baby was his.

Mario was initially said to be “delighted" with the news but then demanded a DNA test, which she has agreed to.

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Bad News For Obama

The presidential race is a dead heat, according to the newly released CBS/NYT poll. And for all the attention being paid to the attacks on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital and, more subtly, his wealth, the economy still appears to be the overriding factor.

President Barack Obama trails Mitt Romney, 47 percent to 46 percent.

After weeks of bad news for the presumptive Republican nominee, the poll result would seem to be unexpectedly tight. And the most logical explanation for why Obama has failed to open up a national lead seems to rest on the economic polling data.

Romney leads Obama among respondents by a margin of 49 percent to 41 percent on who can best handle the economy and jobs. People who think the economy is getting better dropped from 33 percent in April to 24 percent now -- owed largely to a series of bad jobs reports.

Obama is perceived as the candidate who can best help the middle class, with 52 percent citing the president on that question, including 15 percent of Republicans. But even then, he gets a heaping of blame for not turning the economy around. Almost two-thirds of respondents said the president's policies contributed to the economic downturn. Only 17 percent of respondents said the president's policies on the economy were "improving it now."

The economy, in short, is drowning out the political conversation surrounding Romney's private equity career, at least on the national level. Romney's years at Bain Capital made 14 percent of voters more likely to vote for him and 23 percent less likely to vote for him. A fuller 60 percent of voters said it didn't matter. Romney's wealth made 5 percent of voters more likely to vote for him, 20 percent of voters less likely to voter for him, and didn't matter to 73 percent.

There are some silver linings for the president's re-election campaign. Fifty-two percent of Republican voters said they, like Obama, believe tax cuts should expire for people with incomes of more than $250,000, including 16 percent who think they should expire for all earners. Meanwhile, 46 percent of respondents said the Supreme Court's health care decision was a "good thing," while 41 percent said it was a bad thing. That suggests a growing acceptance that this is the law of the land.

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'Syria Now Out Of Control'

By Andrew Quinn and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, July 18 (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was clear that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was losing control of his country and it urged the international community to get behind a political transition plan to avert a looming sectarian civil war.

The White House, reacting after a Damascus bomb blast that killed Syria's defense minister and Assad's brother-in-law, said the 16-month old Syrian rebellion was gaining momentum and the country's fractured opposition was both strengthening and unifying.
"It's clear that the Assad regime is losing control of Syria. There is real momentum against Assad, with increasing defections, and a strengthened and more united opposition that is operating across the country," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.

Vietor said the international community must work with Syria's opposition to craft a workable transition plan.

"The sooner this transition happens, the greater the chance we have of averting a lengthy and bloody sectarian civil war and the better we'll be able to help Syrians manage a stable transition to democracy," Vietor said.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking earlier, said that Syria was lurching into unpredictable territory and underscored that Assad's government would be held responsible if it failed to safeguard its chemical weapons sites.

"This is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control," Panetta told a Pentagon news conference, adding that the international community needed to "bring maximum pressure on Assad to do what's right, to step down and allow for that peaceful transition."

One European national security official, reflecting the intelligence estimate of Washington and its allies, said that while the deadly bomb blast that wiped out key Syrian security officials was a huge setback for Assad, it was not necessarily a death blow.

RATCHETING UP PRESSURE

The Obama administration has sought to ratchet up international pressure on Assad including at the United Nations Security Council, where Russia and China have thus far blocked efforts to impose harsher measures including sanctions.

The U.N. Security Council delayed until Thursday a proposed vote on a Western-backed resolution that threatens Damascus with sanctions as envoys for the major powers grappled with differences that show little signs of narrowing. .

Facing impasse at the Security Council, the United States and its allies have over months imposed their own sanctions on Damascus, and the U.S. Treasury on Wednesday added 29 Syrian officials to the official U.S. blacklist.

The United States also designated five companies linked to the Syrian government agency responsible for non-conventional weapons programs, and one company controlled by Rami Makhluf, who the Treasury statement called a "corrupt crony" of Assad.

U.S. officials were weighing the latest news from Damascus in light of the rapidly changing situation on the ground, with particular focus on the whereabouts of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.

Western and Israeli officials have said the Assad government appears to be quietly shifting some chemical weapons from storage sites, but it is not clear whether the operation is merely a security precaution amid Syria's escalating internal conflict.

The Syrian government denies carrying out the operation. Syria's undeclared stockpile -- believed to be the largest of its kind in the Middle East -- has been reported to include sarin nerve agent, mustard gas and cyanide.

"We've made very clear to them that they have a responsibility to safeguard their chemical sites and that we will hold them responsible should anything happen with regards to those sites," Panetta said, adding that the United States was working closely with its allies on the issue.

Syria's spreading carnage has boosted political pressure on Washington to take a stronger stance, although U.S. officials underscore that there is virtually no appetite for potential military intervention.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told Reuters that the Obama administration was acting like a "deer caught in the headlights" in its response to the Syria crisis and called for tougher measures including arming Syria's rebels and working with allies to create a "no fly, no drive" zone across Syria. (Additional reporting by David Alexander, Matt Spetalnick; Mark Hosenball and Margaret Chadbourne; Editing by Vicki Allen and Cynthia Osterman)

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Syria's Defence Minister Killed In Damascus Blast (Video)

By BASSEM MROUE and ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press

BEIRUT -- A bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting Wednesday in Damascus, killing three top regime officials - including President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law - in the harshest blow to Syria's ruling family dynasty and the rebels' boldest attack in the country's civil war.

Syrian state-run TV said the blast came during a meeting of Cabinet ministers and senior security officials in the capital, where fighting between rebels and government troops has raged for four straight days.

The assassinations could signal a turning point in the civil war following some of the worst bloodshed that Damascus has seen in the 16-month uprising, the growing list of high-ranking defections from the regime and the increasing frustration by world leaders over their inability to find a diplomatic solution.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the bombing showed that the bloodshed in Syria was "rapidly spinning out of control," and it was time for the international community to bring "maximum pressure" on Assad to step down and permit a stable transfer of power. The Obama administration also slapped new financial sanctions on Assad's government.

It was not immediately clear where Assad was. He gave no immediate statements on the attacks.

The Assad family has ruled Syria for four decades, creating an ironclad and impenetrable regime. Wednesday's attack was an unheard-of strike on the inner circle.

Syria's rebel commander, Riad al-Asaad, claimed responsibility, saying his rebel forces planted a bomb in the room and detonated it. All those involved in carrying out the attack are safe, he said.

State-run TV initially said it was a suicide blast but later referred to the attack as a bomb.

"God willing, this is the beginning of the end of the regime," al-Asaad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his base in neighboring Turkey.

"Hopefully Bashar will be next," he added.

Syrian TV confirmed the deaths of Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, 65, a former army general and the most senior government official to be killed in the rebels' battle to oust Assad; Gen. Assef Shawkat, the deputy defense minister who is married to Assad's elder sister, Bushra, and is one of the most feared figures in the inner circle; and Hassan Turkmani, a former defense minister who died of wounds suffered in the attack.

Also wounded were Interior Minister Mohammed Shaar and Maj. Gen. Hisham Ikhtiar, who heads the National Security Department. State TV said both were in stable condition.

Although there were no statements from Assad, Syrian TV said in the hours after the attack that a decree from him named Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij as the new defense minister. Al-Freij used to be the army chief of staff.

A member of the Syrian National Council opposition group, Omar Shawaf, said the assassinations sent a clear message to the regime that no one is safe - including Assad himself.

"The hands of the Syrian people and the Free Syrian Army can reach anyone inside Damascus," he said from Turkey, where he is based.

Republican Guard troops surrounded the nearby al-Shami Hospital, where some officials were treated, witnesses said.

The state-run news agency SANA reported that the bombing was aimed at the National Security building, a headquarters for one of Syria's intelligence branches and less than 500 meters (yards) from the U.S. Embassy. The embassy has been closed since Washington withdrew its ambassador months ago.

Police had cordoned off the area, and journalists were not allowed to approach the site.

Earlier, SANA said soldiers were chasing rebels in the Midan neighborhood, causing "great losses among them." In addition to Midan, activists reported heavy clashes in the districts of Qadam, Nahr Aisha, Kfarsouseh, Tadamon and Hajar al-Aswad and said army helicopters were used in several locations.

Eager to show the government is still in control of Damascus, the Interior Ministry took journalists on a tour of its quiet neighborhoods. But even there, traffic on the streets was thin and almost all shops were closed.

Damascus-based activist Omar al-Dimashki said large numbers of troops and plainclothes police were deployed in the streets after the morning bombing, with snipers taking up positions on tall buildings.

"People are rushing home," he said.

More than 80 percent of shops in the capital were closed, he said.

"It's so empty, it reminds me of when Hafez Assad died in 2000," said a resident of Damascus, who declined to be identified for fear of retribution. "Everyone is really scared of the coming days, especially tonight, with the possibility that the regime will take revenge."

The attack came two days before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking and sex from dawn to dusk. Last year, anti-government protests sharply increased during Ramadan.

The last major attacks on regime figures and government buildings date back to the early 1980s, when members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood were waging a guerrilla war to topple the regime of Assad's father and predecessor, President Hafez Assad.

Hafez Assad himself survived an assassination attempt in 1980 when members of the Muslim Brotherhood threw grenades at him, wounding him in the leg.

The violence in Syria has spiked in recent months. Besides a government crackdown, rebel fighters are launching increasingly deadly attacks on regime targets, and several big suicide attacks this year suggest that al-Qaida or other extremists are joining the fight.

Activists say more than 17,000 people have died since the uprising began in March 2011.

The Syrian army said in a statement that its forces will continue to fight.

"Whoever thinks that by targeting the country's leaders they will be able to twist Syria's arm is disillusioned because Syria's people, army and leadership are now more determined than ever to fight terrorism ... and cleanse the nation from the armed gangs," it said.

Rajha was the most senior Christian government official in Syria, appointed to the post by Assad last year. His death will resonate with Syria's minority Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Syria's population and have mostly stood by the regime.

Christians say they are particularly vulnerable to the violence sweeping the country of 22 million people, and they are fearful that Syria will become another Iraq, with Christians caught in the crossfire between rival Muslim groups.

At the United Nations, the Security Council delayed a vote scheduled for later in the day on a new resolution on Syria in a last-minute effort to get Western nations and Russia to reach agreement on measures to end the violence.

The key stumbling block to an agreement is the Western demand for a resolution threatening non-military sanctions. It is tied to Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which could eventually allow the use of force to end the conflict. Russia, a close ally of Syria, is adamantly opposed to sanctions and any mention of Chapter 7.

Although Western nations appear to have little appetite for force, Russia fears a repeat of the NATO campaign in Libya and adamantly opposes any intervention.

Reacting to the bombing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of inciting Syria's opposition.

"Instead of calming the opposition down, some of our partners are inciting it to go on," he was quoted as saying by the RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.

Supporting the opposition "is a dead-end policy, because Assad is not leaving voluntarily," he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak summoned his top security and intelligence advisers to discuss the situation in Syria. Israel fears that militant groups said to be operating in Syria, including al-Qaida, might try to take advantage of any power vacuum to stage attacks on Israel. On Tuesday, Israel's military intelligence chief said Assad had diverted his troops away from the Israeli border area toward the center of the country, reflecting Assad's worsening position. He said jihadist groups have moved into the border area and might try to exploit the situation.

The new financial sanctions imposed by the U.S. targets a huge swath of top members of Assad's government, including the prime minister and 28 other Cabinet ministers and senior officials. The move freezes any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from doing business with them. The administration had already imposed similar penalties on security officials, but the latest step extends those sanctions to virtually the entire government.

"Today's actions reflect the unwavering commitment of the United States to pressure the Assad regime to end the carnage and relinquish power," said David S. Cohen, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department. "As long as Assad stays in power, the bloodshed and instability in Syria will only mount."

As news of the assassinations broke, Syrians opposed to Assad's regime celebrated in several locations across the country. Internet video showed people in convoys of cars and motorbikes honking their horns and firing weapons in the air in Saraqeb and other towns in the northern Idlib province. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the video.

Residents of Hass distributed sweets as they gleefully shouted: "You are going to hell, shabihas" - a reference to the pro-regime militia that has been blamed for mass killings.

In a dust-filled refugee processing center in Jordan, tens of refugees gathered to celebrate. Women, wearing the black Muslim veil and head-to-toe robes, ululated as men danced under a scorching sun.

"It's great news," said a 43-year-old refugee from the restive southern town of Daraa, who identified himself only by his first name, Ahmad, for fear of retribution. "God willing, the criminal Bashar is next."

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Bulgaria Bus Blast Kills 6 Israeli Tourists

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Israel vowed to strike back at Iran for a brazen daylight bombing Wednesday that killed at least seven people on a bus full of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.

The bombing was the latest in a series of attacks attributed to Iran that have targeted Israelis and Jews overseas and threatened to escalate a shadow war between the two arch-enemies. Iran has denied involvement in the past but did not comment on Wednesday's attack.

President Barack Obama termed it a "barbaric terrorist attack" and called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to pledge U.S. help in finding the perpetrators.

The Fatal Bus Carrying Israeli Tourists

The blast gutted the bus at the airport in the quiet Black Sea resort city of Burgas, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital, Sofia, where the Israelis had just arrived on a charter flight from Tel Aviv carrying 154 people, including eight children.

Black smoke billowed into the sky from the stricken bus after the bomb exploded. Young Israelis said they were just boarding when the blast ripped through the white vehicle in the airport parking lot. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at least seven people were killed.

"We were at the entrance of the bus and in a few seconds we heard a huge boom," said Gal Malka, an Israeli teenager who was slightly wounded.

The resort town has become a popular travel destination in recent years for Israelis, particularly for recent high school graduates before they are drafted for mandatory military service.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which wounded 30 others. But suspicion immediately fell upon Iran and its Lebanese proxy, the Hezbollah guerrilla group.

"All signs point to Iran," Netanyahu said. "Just in the past few months, we have seen attempts by Iran to harm Israelis in Thailand, India, Georgia, Kenya, Cyprus and more. This is an Iranian terror attack that is spreading across the world. Israel will react forcefully to Iran's terror."

The Israeli leader gave no evidence to back his charges.

Top Israeli security officials were holding consultations late Wednesday. The Israelis said they were still weighing their options on how to respond, and there were no preparations under way for an immediate reaction.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss a sensitive security matter, said any reaction would probably be a pinpoint operation limited in scope, most likely under the auspices of the Mossad spy agency.

The officials said security officials also were concerned about further attacks, similar to a string of incidents in India, Georgia and Thailand earlier this year, and were reviewing security at potential Israeli targets, such as airline terminals and diplomatic installations.

The Bulgaria attack came exactly 18 years after the bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina that killed 85 people. An Argentine investigation concluded Iran was behind that attack. In addition, Israel has accused Iran of being behind a string of attacks in Europe, Asia and Africa in recent months.

The violence also came against the broader backdrop of the international standoff with Iran over its nuclear program. Israel, accusing Iran of developing nuclear weapons, has repeatedly hinted it is prepared to strike Iranian nuclear targets if Tehran does not curb its suspect program.

In the past, Iran has accused Israel of being behind a series of covert attacks on Iranian nuclear targets, ranging from the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists to mysterious computer viruses that have damaged Iranian centrifuges.

Israel has never admitted to involvement, but it and others have accused Iran of reprisal missions, including a February bombing in New Delhi that wounded an Israeli diplomat's wife and the discovery of a cache of explosives in Bangkok that Thai officials claim was linked to a plot against Israeli diplomats.

Israeli officials also have long warned that the Iranian-backed Hezbollah would try to attack Israelis abroad. Hezbollah has accused Israel of assassinating a top leader in Damascus in 2008 and vowed to avenge the killing. Israel has never admitted involvement in the mysterious explosion.

In statement, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak cited Iranian-backed militants and other radical Islamic groups as the likely perpetrators of the Bulgaria bombing.

"We are in a continual fight against them. We are determined to identify who sent them, who perpetrated (the attack), and to settle the account," he said.

Israeli counterterrorism expert Boaz Ganor said Wednesday's attack was "likely not the last in a series," adding, "All this looks like Hezbollah, Iran or a combination of the two."

Despite repeated alerts and concerns of an Iranian-backed attack in recent months, Israel said it had no advance intelligence on a pending attack in Bulgaria.

The attack took place near the airport, shortly after a charter flight filled with Israeli youth landed at 4:45 p.m. local time.

Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, said he was briefed by his Bulgarian counterpart and informed that a bomb was planted in the bus as it was transferring tourists from the airport.

He said six people died at the scene and another at the hospital. Two others were in critical condition.

Britain also condemned the attack, with British Foreign Secretary William Hague offering condolences to the victims' families.

Late Wednesday, Israel announced it was dispatching a military medical and relief team to Bulgaria, a country of 7.3 million bordering Greece and Turkey.

The Burgas airport was closed and traffic redirected. In Sofia, meanwhile, Mayor Yordanka Fandakova ordered a stronger police presence at all public places linked to the Jewish community. There are some 5,000 Jews in Bulgaria and most live in the capital.

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Zimmerman "I Am Not A Murderer" (Video)

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman charged with murdering unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, said during his first televised interview: “I’m not a racist. I’m not a murderer.”

Zimmerman, joined by his defense attorney Mark O’Mara, sat down with conservative Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity and discussed the events that unfolded the February night Zimmerman shot and killed the 17-year-old Martin, the national outrage the shooting caused and what he perceived as the media’s rush to judgment.

“Is there anything that you regret? Do you regret getting out of the car to follow Trayon that night?” Hannity asked. “Do you regret that you had a gun that night?”

“No, sir,” Zimmerman, 28, replied. “I feel that it was all God’s plan and not for me to second-guess it or judge it.”

At times Zimmerman seemed to eek out a nervous smile, with sweat gathering on his upper lip. He spent much of the one-hour interview recounting the moments just before and after the shooting. But he also addressed Martin’s parents. When asked what he would say to them, he answered, “I would tell them again that I’m sorry.”

“I don’t have, my wife and I don’t have any children," he said. "I have nephews that I love more than life, I love them more than myself. I know that when they were born it was a different, unique bond and love that I have with them. And I love my children, even though they aren’t born yet. And I am sorry that they buried their child. I can’t imagine what it must feel like, and I pray for them daily.”

Zimmerman was arrested 44 days after the Feb. 26 shooting in his gated community in Sanford, Fla. He was jailed on two separate occasions and is now free on bail. Zimmerman told Hannity that while he has few regrets of the way he handled himself that night, the result was a “tragic situation and I hope that it’s the most difficult thing I’ll ever go through in my life.”

About 45 minutes after the televised interview, Martin’s family released a statement condemning Zimmerman’s comments.

“George Zimmerman said that he does not regret getting out of his vehicle, he does not regret following Trayvon, in fact he does not regret anything he did that night,” the statement read. “He wouldn’t do anything different and he concluded it was God’s plan.

“We must worship a different God because there is no way that my God would have wanted George Zimmerman to kill my teenage son,” Tracy Martin, Martin’s father, said in the statement.

Much of what Zimmerman addressed in the one-hour interview was rehashed, the stuff of previous news fodder from police reports, recorded phone calls and witness statements.

But it was the first time that Zimmerman publicly spoke about the shooting since he took the witness stand during an April bond hearing. And it gave him an opportunity to counter reports this week that a cousin claimed he molested her over the course of a decade when they were younger, and that his family was boastfully racist.

First, Hannity asked Zimmerman to “take us back to that night.”

Zimmerman said that per his usual Sunday routine, he was on his way to do some grocery shopping at a nearby Target store when Martin caught his attention.

“That’s the last time I’ve been home,” Zimmerman said.

It was a rainy night, and Zimmerman said that Martin seemed suspicious because of the leisurely way that he was walking and ducking between the houses. Martin didn’t look like a resident running out to get the mail or a “fitness fanatic,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman sat in his vehicle, his 9 mm handgun tucked into his waistband. He told Hannity that aside from work, he kept the licensed handgun on him at all times. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, told Hannity that he’d joined the previous August after a neighbor’s house was broken into while she was home with her 9-month old baby. Zimmerman said his wife, Shellie, saw the burglars escape through their backyard.

“That was enough to scare her, to shake her up,” Zimmerman said. “I promised her I would do what I could to keep her safe.”

On an audio recording of a call Zimmerman made to a police non-emergency number the night of the shooting, Zimmerman said Martin saw him sitting in his vehicle and walked toward him, reaching into his waistband.

“I thought he was just trying to intimidate me,” Zimmerman said.

On that same phone call to police, Zimmerman said Martin then ran. He told Hannity that Martin wasn’t running at all, more like “skipping.”

Zimmerman said he never went more than 100 feet from his vehicle, and got out just to see where he was. When asked about the gap from the time Zimmerman hangs up with the police dispatcher and the time Martin is killed, and whether he was following Martin after the dispatcher warned against it, Zimmerman said he wasn’t. He said that he was simply trying to locate a proper address, and that he wasn’t chasing Martin.

Less than 30 seconds later, Zimmerman said Martin appeared, “asked me what my problem was” and “punched and broke my nose.” Zimmerman said that he wasn’t sure if he was knocked on his back or pushed, but landed on his back with Martin pummeling him and smashing his head into the sidewalk "more than a dozen" times.

He said Martin taunted him during the struggle, telling him to “shut up, shut up, shut up,” and at one point saying, “You’re going to die tonight.”

Zimmerman said Martin tried to suffocate him by covering his mouth and his broken nose with his hands. Zimmerman said that he screamed out hoping to alert the police, who he assumed would be arriving.

Zimmerman said Martin noticed the gun in his waistband.

“At that point I realized that it wasn’t my gun, it wasn’t his gun, it was the gun,” Zimmerman said. “I didn't have anymore time.”

Zimmerman fired a single bullet into Martin’s chest.

“He sat up and said something to the effect of, 'You got it,' or 'You got me,'” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman said he at first didn’t realize how badly Martin was injured. About an hour later, after he was taken to the police station, he learned he’d killed the youth.

“Why do you think Trayvon would have confronted you the way he did,” Hannity asked. “Could there have been any possibility that he though you were after him and you though he was after you and there was some misunderstanding in any way?”

“I wrestled with that for a long time, but one of my biggest issues through this ordeal has been the media, conjecture, and I can't assume or make believe,” said Zimmerman.

Hannity then referenced that Martin’s parents lost their son and what if anything Zimmerman would say to them if he could.

“I pray for them daily,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder and faces a possible life sentence if convicted. He said he thinks about that possibility daily, but trusts the system.

“It’s a finite situation that I’ve been placed in,” he said, “… I have no choice but to believe in the system.”

O’Mara declined to allow Zimmerman to speak on allegations by prosecutors that he lied to the court during an early bond hearing in which he and his wife told the judge that they were broke, while days later it was revealed that the couple were sitting on more than $135,000 in donated funds. Shellie Zimmerman has been since charged with perjury and the judge has suggested that George Zimmerman may have broken the law as well.

O’Mara for the first time said that he is considering using Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law, which gives people wide discretion in the use of deadly force, as a defense.

Zimmerman refuted claims by a cousin, now in her mid-20s, who told investigators that his immediate family were racist and that he sexually molested her from the time she was 6 years old until she was about 16.

“It is ironic the one and only person that they could find that’s saying anything remotely to me being a racist also claims that I’m a deviant,” Zimmerman said.

The interview comes after rumors that Hannity had offered to pay some of Zimmerman’s legal fees. The rumor mill began churning this week after Zimmerman was heard in newly released recorded jailhouse phone calls telling a friend that a mystery benefactor he identified only as “SH” had agreed to support him.

Globalgrind.com later reported that “a rock-solid source" confirmed that the personal email addres for ‘SH’ that George Zimmerman gave to a friend is Hannity's, "thus confirming that ‘SH’ is in fact the Fox News host,” the website reported. Hannity during the interview denied offering Zimmerman anything.

The Zimmerman-Hannity relationship goes back several months. In April, Zimmerman defied his then-lawyers and spoke with Hannity in an off-the-record phone conversation. Hannity later conducted what critics have called a sympathetic interview with Zimmerman’s father.

Toward the end of the interview, Hannity asked Zimmerman to look into the camera and address Martin’s family, the American people and “so many people with so many opinions that vary so much … to tell them about George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.”

Zimmerman looked into the camera, and said:

“I do wish that there was something, anything that I could have done that wouldn’t have put me in the position where I had to take his life. And I do want to tell everyone, my wife, my family my parents, my grandmother, the Martins, the city of Sanford and America, that I’m sorry that this happened. I hate to think that because of this incident, because of my actions, it’s polarized and divided America and I’m truly sorry.”

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U.S Drought Continues, Misery Continues!

By Russ Blinch and K.T. Arasu

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, July 18 (Reuters) - Oppressive heat and a worsening drought in the U.S. Midwest pushed grain prices near or past records on Wednesday as crops wilted, cities baked and concerns grew about food and fuel price inflation in the world's top food exporter.

Soybean prices at the Chicago Board of Trade set a record high and corn closed near a record as millions of acres of crops seared in triple-digit heat in the Corn Belt. Corn fields have been plowed up in many locations for lack of rain. Now soybeans, which develop later than corn, are in the bull's eye.

"I get on my knees everyday and I'm saying an extra prayer right now," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters after briefing President Barack Obama. "If I had a rain prayer or a rain dance I could do, I would do it."

Vilsack said the drought was getting worse for hard-hit farmers and the wilting crops will mean higher food prices.

"Part of the problem we're facing is that weather conditions were so good at the beginning of the season that farmers got in the field early, and as a result this drought comes at a very difficult and painful time in their ability to have their crops have good yield," Vilsack said.

Drought conditions now extend over more than 60 percent of the lower 48 states, the government said. The Department of Agriculture on Wednesday extended drought aid to an additional 39 counties designated as primary natural disaster areas, bringing such aid to a total of 1,297 counties across 29 states.

Vilsack said rising grain prices would mean meat and poultry prices will be higher this year and next, although the inflation may be delayed as farmers start culling their herds due to high feed prices and meat supplies stay adequate.

But the outlook for higher food prices could add up to another headache for Obama as he faces a November election with high joblessness and slower economic growth.

Hard-hit livestock producers and other groups want the Environmental Protection Agency to give oil refiners a waiver from the mandate to blend ethanol into gasoline, arguing demand for the corn-based fuel was driving up corn prices. About 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop now is used to produce ethanol.

But Vilsack said there was no need for such action as yet.

"There is no need to go to the EPA at this time based on the quantity of ethanol that is in storage," he said.

The U.S. drought is expected to be felt worldwide as the world's biggest grain exporter struggles with shortfalls. The United States exports more than half of all world corn shipments and is also the single top exporter of wheat and soy.

"The dramatic rise in grain prices in the past few weeks is shaping up to be a serious financial blow for wheat importing countries," one German trader said on Monday.

"African and Middle Eastern countries are now facing painful rises in import bills."

WEATHER OUTLOOK STILL HOT AND DRY

Forecasters were calling for scattered showers on Wednesday evening in some parts of the east coast and Midwest. But relief was seen as too little and too late for many of the key areas of the central Plains and Corn Belt.

"There are no soaking rains in sight, nothing to relieve the drought," said World Weather Inc meteorologist Andy Karst. "There will be some light rains today through Friday in the eastern Midwest."

Iowa and Illinois, which produce about a third of U.S. corn and soybeans, continued to swelter on Wednesday in temperatures at or above 100 degrees (37.8 degrees Celsius) with little to no rain forecast.

Corn prices have jumped more than 50 percent in the last month as the crop wilted in many locations during its key growth stage of pollination.

Corn for September delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade closed at $7.95 a bushel, near last summer's record high of $7.99-3/4. Soybeans for August delivery closed at $16.85-1/2, a new record high.

"Now, it's soybeans' turn. The next two weeks will be critical for them. There is a chance for catastrophic problems in soybeans," said grains analyst Don Roose of U.S. Commodities in Des Moines, Iowa

"The summer of 2012 is on pace to finish third hottest on the list of 62 summers since 1950," said Steven Root, a meteorologist with WeatherBank Inc. "But it is still in the running for number two or one."

In many parts of the country, power grids were under pressure from demand on air conditioning but most were holding up. In New York City, Consolidated Edison reduced its power voltage in some Manhattan neighborhoods, resulting in brownouts.

Low water levels in many lakes and rivers were hampering transportation, with hydroelectric plants tapping water in locations like Arkansas and the Army Corps of Engineers issuing warnings to consumers about water levels.

Water usage for lawns and recreation continued to see restrictions in many areas of the country.

In crop areas, farmers saw further headaches from plant diseases like fungus and crop pests like spider mites on soybeans or rootworms or Japanese beetles in corn that appear in hot weather.

But one silver lining in many areas from weeks of drought was a pleasant surprise: fewer mosquitoes, which lack moist breeding places. "I can live with that part of the drought," said Scott Trout as he left a playground in Westwood, Kansas, with his wife and two children.

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Superstar 'Rajesh Khanna' Breaks Millions Of Hearts, Says Goodbye

The romantic 1960s took off with ‘Yahoo’ Shammi Kapoor’sJunglee and went through the gilded love stories of Rajendra Kumar of Arzoo and Mere Mehboob. Young girls worshipped Kumar and took pleasure in the comic antics of Kapoor. It looked like romanticism on-screen and of-screen had peaked.

Then, Rajesh Khanna happened!

Shakti Samanta-directed Aradhana in 1967 unleashed a romantic typhoon. After this film’s release, teenage girls pestered their parents to take them to see Khanna. When they read that he was down with fever, they fanned his photographs, sighed endlessly and shed copious tears.

Sure, there were stars like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand before him. But the Hindi film industry had not seen star adulation of the sort that followed when Khanna arrived on the scene; they called him the ‘Superstar’. And, there were big stars after him. Amitabh Bachchan came to be known as the ‘one-man industry’. The Khanna phenomenon, however, continued long after he faded away. Mass adulation never touched the Khanna peak again.

There was the phase of struggle before the supernova explosion. The first film he shot was Chetan Anand’s Aakhri Khat (1966), an artistic movie that did not cause any box office ripple. His real ‘break’, though, came with Raaz the next year, in which he acted with debutante Babita. He was shot to stardom with Aradhana (1969).

His next movie after Raaz, Bahaaron Ke Sapne was remembered more for Asha Parekh, who was then the leading heroine. Khanna’s fortunes changed when he acted with her inKati Patang in the early ‘70s.

During the shoot of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Namak Haraam (1973), rumours of a star clash between Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan started making the rounds. The grapevine had it Khanna made Bachchan do the shots again and again to tire him out and to outshine him. Most viewers were bowled over by Bachchan’s hallmark dramatic performance, but a re-viewing of the film would show that Khanna acted superbly and that Bachchan had to work that much harder to measure up to him.

The Rajesh Khanna-Sharmila Tagore starrer Amar Prem will be remembered as much for its haunting music and songs of Kishore Kumar as for the stylised acting of the lead pair. Khanna’s flair for the comic was evident in Hrishikesh Mukherjee-directed Bawarchi.

Since Khanna was conscious of his superstar status, he did not slip into secondary roles of father and uncle in films. It never even crossed his mind to do grey and dark characters. The superstar did not ever want to leave his hero’s perch.

There were two films where he played an older man and where the heroic glint remained undimmed. The first was Avtar, where he played the patriarch of a small and modest-income family, and refuses to bend before misfortune. Shabana Azmi played his wife in this film.

The other is Rishi Kapoor-directed Aa Ab Laut Chale in the late 1990s, where he again continued to be the unbending and dignified patriarch.

Khanna retained his superstar glow till the end, a reminder of the unparalleled explosion of fan adulation ever to happen in Hindi films.

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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