Proactive can appeal over £4.3m Wayne Rooney claim

Proactive can appeal over £4.3m Wayne Rooney claim

Sports management firm Proactive has won permission to appeal over a £4.3m claim against Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

The firm failed in its bid to sue Rooney in July 2010 for what it claimed was unpaid commission on deals agreed when the player was at Everton.

It was ruled that a contract between Proactive and Rooney for him to pay 20% commission on deals was unenforceable.

Permission for Proactive to appeal was given at the High Court in London.

Judge Brendan Hegarty ruled in 2010 at Manchester Mercantile Court that the eight-year contract Rooney signed as a young Everton player was "an unreasonable restraint" of his trade, when the Football Association recommended a maximum of two years.

After that hearing Rooney said he was "delighted", and that the firm had tried to "exploit him" by demanding vast sums.

Giving permission for the appeal earlier, Lord Justice Ward said Proactive did have a prospect of success in its arguments over Rooney's contract.

He said: "The mere fact that this was a claim for millions of pounds is almost in itself a compelling reason to give permission to appeal."

Proactive's founder Paul Stretford, took Rooney with him in October 2008 when he left the firm, citing "huge and irreconcilable differences".



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12382640

AOL to buy Huffington Post in $315m media merger

AOL to buy Huffington Post in $315m media merger

US internet firm AOL has agreed to a buyout of the Huffington Post online newspaper.

The $315m (£222m) deal will create an internet media group with 270 million users, including 117 million in the US.

The purchase price - $300m of which will be in cash - will be paid to co-founders Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer and a few minority shareholders.

Ms Huffington - currently editor of her namesake news service - will head the combined firm's content division.

This means she will take on responsibility for AOL sites such as Engadget and Techcrunch, as well as retaining her current role at the intellectual centre-left website she helped set up in 2005.
Advertising

"The Huffington Post will continue on the same path we have been on for the last six years - though now at light speed - by combining with AOL," said Ms Huffington in a joint statement.

AOL expects the purchase to help boost its flagging advertising revenues in a year that chief executive Tim Armstrong maintains will mark a turnaround for the company that divorced from Time Warner in 2009.

The Huffington Post is expected to contribute an additional 25 million users to the internet giant.

"The combination of AOL's infrastructure and scale with the Huffington Post's pioneering approach to news and innovative community-building among a broad and sophisticated audience will mark a seminal moment in the evolution of digital journalism and online engagement," said the two companies in their statement.

The transaction is expected to be completed in March or April and will need regulatory approval in the US.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12379623

Super Bowl: Christina Aguilera fluffs national anthem

Super Bowl: Christina Aguilera fluffs national anthem

Christina Aguilera fluffed a line of the Star-Spangled banner as she belted out a version of the US national anthem to open Sunday's Super Bowl in Texas.

The singer, 30, should have sung: "O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?" but repeated an earlier line with a slight variation.

She sang: "What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming."

The anthem is one of the set piece events of the glittering Super Bowl pre-game ceremony.

Aguilera's mistake immediately set social networks abuzz with chatter. Her representative could not immediately be reached for comment.

Controversy

The NFL final - which was this year contested by the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers - is one of the most-watched programmes in US television.

Last year it drew a record 106.5 million viewers.

The half-time show of Super Bowl in 2004 created controversy when Justin Timberlake ripped a piece of Janet Jackson's top, resulting in a glimpse of her right breast.

The pair said the incident was accidental, calling it a "wardrobe malfunction", but broadcaster CBS TV was fined $550,000 (£351,000) after hundreds of complaints from viewers.

The fine was subsequently revoked in July 2008.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12378790

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Arianna Huffington

5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Arianna Huffington

AOL’s recent acquisition of The Huffington Post took the Internet world by storm. The new editor-in-chief of the media conglomerate, Arianna Huffington, completely stole attention from the recently concluded Super Bowl XLV on many popular news websites and now, we here at TNW want to share some interesting facts about the woman behind it all.

1. Arianna Stassinopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in a family of four with one sister. At sixteen, she moved to England to attend Girton College at Cambridge University where she got an M.A. degree in Economics. In 1971, she became the President of the Cambridge Union Society, a highly-recognized debating society. She is now a naturalized US citizen.

2. She met oil millionaire Michael Huffington, a family friend of the Bushes, at a 1985 party hosted by Anne Getty in San Francisco. They got married one year later at a wedding party paid for by Getty.  In 1997, the couple got divorced after 11 years of marriage, and in 1998 Michael Huffington revealed that he was bisexual.

3. In 1981, she wrote a biography of Maria Callas, Maria Callas — The Woman Behind the Legend, and in 1989, a biography of Pablo Picasso, Picasso: Creator and Destroyer. Both of these works were accused of plagiarism. One of them ended in a court settlement where Gerald Fitzgerald, Callas’ biographer, was paid “in the low five figures.”

4. Huffington was an independent candidate to recall California governor Gray Davis in the 2003 recall election. She described her candidacy against front-runner Arnold Schwarzenegger as “the hybrid versus the Hummer.” The two would continue to have a high-profile clash during the electoral debate, where both candidates were criticized for making personal attacks.

5. Huffington first hosted a website called Ariannaonline.com, which now redirects to The Huffington Post. Her first foray into the Internet was a website called Resignation.com, a rallying place for conservatives opposing Clinton. In 2005, she became the co-founder of The Huffington Post, one of the biggest news websites in the Internet today, with more than 3,000 contributing bloggers.




http://thenextweb.com/media/2011/02/07/5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-arianna-huffington/

Valentines Day Gifts Idea 2011

Valentines Day Gifts Idea 2011

Valentines day is coming. Maybe you have planned special event or gift for someone you love. Or even you’re still looking for best Valentines day gifts? Nowadays, Valentines day not only associated with a couple, but it is growing as universal love and care. Yes, you can share love or show love everyday. But, maybe you need a special moment to make your love stronger.

You can find easily a beatiful Valentine’s Day gift from online store.

Valentines day gift for her, for your wife or mom, there are so many choice of beautiful diamond ring. Another choice are beautiful watch, charm bracelet, bangle, necklace, and all of them are beautiful. Your lovely person will love it for sure.

Valentines day gift for him, men, husband, father, or boy, you can choose watches, wallet, sweater, or games. Man always love a gadget, right. iPad, iPhone, digital camera, or Blackberry could be your alternative Valentine’s day gift.

You also can check on Amazon.com, because Amazon.com usually offer special promo for special event. Even you can send a romantic song through mp3. Happy Valentine’s Day! Through February 14, send any MP3s to your friends and loved ones, and get $2 off with code VDAYMP3S. Then share the love with a note about this discount and the music you chose on Facebook or Twitter.

There are so many great idea for your special Valentine’s Day. Happy Valentine, spread love to all the people in the world.



http://cebong.com/valentines-day-gifts-idea-2011

Christina Aguilera National Anthem Effort: FAIL!

Christina Aguilera National Anthem Effort: FAIL!

Poor Christina Aguilera.

The singer choked on the biggest stage of her career Sunday night, stepping to midfield prior to Super Bowl XLV and flubbing a lyric to the national anthem. Aguilera left out the words "O’er the ramparts we watched” and instead inserted “What so proudly we watched" in their place.

Watch the entire performance for yourself:



We really do feel bad for Christina, who has sung this iconic song in public on a number of occasions. Still, it was not the most embarrassing thing to happen to her this year.

UPDATE: Aguilera has released the following statement in response to the gaffe:

"I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place. I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through.”




http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/02/christina-aguilera-national-anthem-effort-fail/