Caymans ban cruise ships at port

The Cayman Islands government said Tuesday it has banned cruise ships from anchoring at a port where their huge chains have damaged coral reefs.

Environmental officials say some coral can be preserved despite extensive damage along the sea floor near the Spotts Dock facility, which is used as an alternative port when seas are too rough for cruise ships to call on the George Town harbor.

"Because cruise ships are the biggest vessels to use the area regularly, their chains tend to cause a lot of the damage," said John Bothwell, a research officer with the British Caribbean territory's environment department.

A cruise ship anchoring for one day can destroy nearly an 1 acre (0.4 hectares) of intact reef, he said.

Cruise ships capable of holding their position without anchoring will still be allowed to unload passengers in Spotts Bay, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of the capital.

The ban had been in place previously, but Port Authority director Paul Hurlston reinstated it effective April 19 after officials noticed ships were anchoring again.

A restaurant in Spain has been named by an international panel of judges as the World's Best Restaurant for the second year running.
El Bulli, near Barcelona, claimed the top spot in this year's list of the 50 best places to eat, announced in London on Monday evening.
A panel of 651 judges from around the world reviewed restaurants in 70 different countries to compile this year's S. Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurant list.
El Bulli's success relegated The Fat Duck in Berkshire, England, to the number two place for the second time.
The two restaurants have similar approaches to food -- both are known for dishes that combine unusual ingredients using sophisticated scientific techniques.
El Bulli chef Ferran Adria is the brains behind the restaurant's menu. He travels for six months every year in a quest for gastronomic inspiration, then returns to his Barcelona laboratory where he experiments with new tastes, temperatures and textures.
His ground-breaking techniques have inspired other chefs throughout the world to experiment. The waiting list to eat at the restaurant is in excess of a year.
France has the highest number of top restaurants with 12 entries in the top-50 list -- up from 10 last year. Paris was the best city for food enthusiasts, with nine restaurants in the top 50, followed by London with six.
The United States has eight entries -- the second-highest number for any single country. Spain and Italy tie in fourth place with six entries apiece.
There was no change in the top six restaurants in the list compared to last year.

Sony touts tiny, film-thin TV screen that bends

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- In the race for ever-thinner displays for TVs, cell phones and other gadgets, Sony may have developed one to beat them all -- a razor-thin display that bends like paper while showing full-color video.

Sony Corp. released video of the new 2.5-inch display Friday. In it, a hand squeezes a display that is 0.3 millimeters, or 0.01 inch, thick. The display shows color images of a bicyclist stuntman and a picturesque lake.

Sony said it has yet to decide on commercial products using the technology.

"In the future, it could get wrapped around a lamppost or a person's wrist, even worn as clothing," said Sony spokesman Chisato Kitsukawa. "Perhaps it can be put up like wallpaper."

Tatsuo Mori, an engineering and computer science professor at Nagoya University, said some hurdles remained, including making the display bigger, ensuring durability and cutting costs.

But he said the display's pliancy is extremely difficult to imitate with liquid crystal displays and plasma display panels -- the two main display technologies now on the market.

"To come up with a flexible screen at that image quality is groundbreaking," Mori said. "You can drop it, and it won't break because it's as thin as paper."

The new display combines two technologies: Sony's organic thin film transistor, which is required to make flexible displays, and organic electroluminescent display.

Other companies, including LG. Philips LCD Co. and Seiko Epson Corp., are also working on a different kind of "electronic paper" technology, but Sony said the organic electroluminescent display delivers better color images and is more suited for video.

Sony President Ryoji Chubachi has said a film-like display is a major technology his company is working on to boost its status as a technological powerhouse.

In a meeting with reporters more than a year ago, Chubachi boasted Sony was working on a technology for displays so thin it could be rolled up like paper. He had predicted that the world would stand up and take notice.

Some analysts have said Sony, which makes Walkman portable players and PlayStation 3 video game machines, had fallen behind rivals in flat-panel technology, including Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea and Sharp Corp. of Japan.

But Sony has been marking a turnaround under Chubachi and Chief Executive Howard Stringer, the first foreigner to head Sony, by reducing jobs, shuttering unprofitable businesses and strengthening its flat TV offerings.

Contracts, clothes among Jackson items for sale

Workers pulled glittery suits and platinum records out of cardboard boxes Sunday ahead of what's being called the largest auction of Jackson family memorabilia ever.

Auction staff unpacked and displayed more than 1,100 lots including rhinestone-studded costumes, faded documents and other mementoes at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The items are expected to fetch millions of dollars from bidders from around the globe Wednesday and Thursday.

"This really is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence," said Arlan Ettinger, president of auction house Guernsey's. "I cannot imagine that somewhere down the road some other collection could come out of the woodwork and rival this. It's not going to happen."

There's a Bill Whitten-designed militaristic red coat with gold rope that belonged to Michael Jackson, and a 1987 contract detailing his $30 million purchase of the California ranch that became the infamous "Neverland."

There's also a frilly pink "Mae West" dress worn by Janet Jackson at age 8 during family performances at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in 1974.

In a worn telegram from July 6, 1984, Marlon Brando encourages Michael Jackson before a show: "Please try not to make an (expletive) of yourself and please for God's sakes don't fall in the orchestra pit."

The items are to go on sale following a protracted court battle that ended two weeks ago when Michael Jackson's lawyers reached a confidential settlement and dropped an effort to block the auction.

Richard Altomare, chief executive of Universal Express Inc., the Boca Raton, Florida, luggage transportation company that owns the items, said Jackson's lawyers settled when they were convinced they had no legal claim to the goods.

"Despite his emotional attachment he had to accept he didn't have it," Altomare said.

As part of the settlement, Jackson was formally invited to attend, although it was unclear if he planned to do so.

Jackson, 48, has been living in Las Vegas planning his comeback after his 2005 acquittal in California on child molestation charges.

The collection's former owner, New Jersey businessman Henry Vaccaro, took possession of the memorabilia in 2002 after a failed business venture wound up in bankruptcy court.

Universal bought the items from Vaccaro for $5 million and spent more than $2 million transporting the goods from New Jersey to Las Vegas, Altomare said. The goods were insured by Lloyd's of London for more than $100 million, he said.

Japanese minister hangs himself

Japan's agriculture minister died Monday after hanging himself just hours before he was to face questioning in a political scandal, officials said, dealing a powerful blow to the increasingly beleaguered government ahead of July elections.

Toshikatsu Matsuoka, 62, was found in his apartment Monday unconscious and declared dead hours later.

An autopsy showed that he died after hanging himself, according to a Tokyo Metropolitan Police official who spoke on customary condition of anonymity. The minister was found hanging from a door in his apartment earlier Monday, and he left a suicide note, according to local media reports.

Matsuoka's death comes just ahead of upper house elections, and as support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet is plunging.

Abe, looking shaken after visiting the hospital where Matsuoka died, said although the minister had been "under intense questioning" in parliament, he had continued to be a useful member of the Cabinet.

"I am very disappointed," he said. "When I saw his face, he seemed to be at peace."

Matsuoka had faced heavy criticism over a scandal involving suspicious bookkeeping practices in his offices, and was scheduled to appear before a parliamentary committee Monday afternoon for further questioning.

He was under fire for allegedly claiming more than $236,600 in utility fees even though he rented a parliamentary office where utility costs are free. Opposition lawmakers had demanded his resignation, but Matsuoka denied any wrongdoing.

Abe had defended Matsuoka, saying that the agriculture minister reported to him all the alleged issues were properly handled and that his dismissal was not needed.

Matsuoka had been dogged by scandal. Along with the utilities questions, he apologized publicly just three days after taking office for not declaring $8,500 in political donations.

He acknowledged the undeclared funds, which came in the form of purchased tickets to a fundraising party, saying he was unaware that the contributions had not been reported. Matsuoka had since corrected his political funds report for 2005.

Japan's political funds law requires politicians to declare such donations when they exceed $1,700, Kyodo News said. The contributions came from the World Business Expert Forum, a group associated with scandal-hit business consultant FAC Co., which was raided by authorities in June on suspicion of illegally collecting funds from investors, Kyodo said.

Lohan`s wild weekend ends asleep in car

Lindsay Lohan, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Saturday in Beverly Hills, California, was photographed less than 48 hours later slumped in the passenger seat of a car.

Web site X17online.com posted the photos Monday, which it said were taken early that morning at a gas station after the 20-year-old actress left the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, with a girlfriend.

The photos show Lohan, wearing a gray hooded sweat shirt, with her mouth open and her eyes shut, apparently asleep. Another photo shows her kneeling on the ground, her back to the camera, apparently before getting into the vehicle.

Lohan was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Saturday after her convertible struck a curb in Beverly Hills, and investigators found what they believe is cocaine at the scene, police said.

Lohan, who spent time at a rehabilitation center earlier this year, was driven in another car to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, Lt. Mitch McCann said.

She told Allure magazine during an interview for its May issue that she decided to enter the secluded Wonderland Center at the suggestion of her therapist.

Her latest movie, "Georgia Rule," is in theaters. Her other screen credits include "Mean Girls," "Bobby," "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Freaky Friday."

Miss Japan wins, Miss USA jeered at Miss Universe

A 20-year-old dancer from Japan was crowned Miss Universe 2007 on Monday night, marking only the second time her country has won the world beauty title.

Dressed in a black, red and purple Japanese-style gown, Riyo Mori nervously grabbed the hands of first runner-up, Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil, just before the winner was announced. Then she threw her hands up and covered her mouth, overcome with emotion.

But she gathered herself together enough to catch the diamond-and-pearl-studded headpiece valued at $250,000 as it slipped off her head when Miss Universe 2006 Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico crowned her. Mori immediately placed it back on her head.

The last time Japan won the pageant was in 1959 when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.

Miss USA Rachel Smith, who slipped and fell to the floor during the evening gown competition and was jeered by the Mexican audience during the interview phase, was the contest's fourth runner-up.

Mori, from the small town of Shizuoka at the base of Mount Fuji, won the cheers of the Mexico City audience when she opened her interview, saying 'Hola, Mexico!'

"I learned how to always be happy, be patient and to be positive, and this is what I want to teach to the next generation," she said during the interview competition.

The daughter of a dance school operator, Mori said her grandmother told her as a child that she wanted her to be Miss Japan before she turned 20.

"From the very beginning, I entered the competition with high hopes and an unswerving determination to make this dream a reality," she said in a pre-competition interview.

She wants to someday open an international dance school in Tokyo.

"Right now I am only 20 years old, so I'm really excited about what I'm going to be able to do at this age to benefit society," Mori said after winning.

Also finishing in the top five were second runner-up Ly Jonaitis of Venezuela and third runner-up Honey Lee of Korea.

The winner travels the world for a year on behalf of charities and pageant sponsors.