Mel Gibson and ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva have reached a financial and custody agreement after their long-running court battle according to Associated Press.

Mel Gibson has been locked in a bitter dispute with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva over the custody of their 1-year-old daughter, Lucia. However, late on Friday night Los Angeles Superior Court officials said in a statement "As the result of a multiday settlement conference, the court announces that Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva have achieved a settlement in their ongoing dispute." Terms and conditions of the settlement were not announced, but a hearing Wednesday will be held to discuss financial arrangements. The former couple have argued for more than a year over custody and financial issues in mostly-secret court proceeding in Los Angeles. The Braveheart star and Russian musician were first seen together in 2009 but since then their personal life has become international news following the actor-director's plea of no contest to the charge of misdemeanour battery against GRIGORIEVA in a deal that allowed him to avoid jail time in 2010.
This settlement comes after a series of personal controversy that has left the Mad Max actor's career in tatters. He was arrested in July 2006 for a much publicised drink-driving incident as well as a tape that was made public in which he allegedly threatened GRIGORIEVA as she held their daughter

powerful people tend to gravitate toward other powerful people

famous clinical psychologist and celebrity researcher Jim Houran who once said that “powerful people tend to gravitate toward other powerful people.” When it comes to celebrity couples, one plus one equals millions – $283 million, to be precise, the estimated combined sum earned by The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples between May 2010 and May 2011, according to data from the latest Celebrity 100 list.

Coming first on our ranking is the powerful duo formed by supermodel Gisele Bundchen and NFL superstar Tom Brady. Thanks to a monster year filled with fashion and endorsement deals, not to mention a few business ventures that could put her on the road to becoming the world’s first billionaire supermodel, Bundchen pocketed a massive $45 million over the 12-month period. Not to be overshadowed by his more famous wife, Brady – who signed a four-year, $72 million contract extension in September with the New England Patriots, NFL’s richest deal on an annual basis – brought home another $31 million, putting the couple’s combined annual earnings at $76 million.

Music’s most powerful couple, Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z hauled in some $72 million over the past year, making them No. 2 on our list.  The Houston-born R&B diva pulled in $35 million, thanks mostly to business-focused deals such as a clothing line with Dereon and endorsement deals with L’Oreal, DirecTV, General Mills and others. As for Jay-Z, his earnings come from the 10-year $150 million Live Nation deal that he signed in 2008 and the cash he collects as a shareholder in New Jersey Nets, 40/40 Club chain and ad firm Translation.



Hollywood royalty Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt came in third place on our list, with a combined $50 million annual income. The highest-paid actress in the world is the only woman making bank for playing action heroes in Tinseltown these days: Salt, which was originally written for Tom Cruise, earned $300 million at the box office. Her other movie from last year, The Tourist, made another $280 million worldwide. As a result, Jolie folded about $30 million last year, while her husband, Brad Pitt, cashed in some $20 million. With his Plan B production company, Pitt has become as active a producer as he is an actor. But don’t write him off the big screen just yet, as his latest movie appearance (on Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life) is already generating Oscar buzz.

Apart from the fact that he is yet to popularize soccer in America, David Beckham, along with his former Spice Girl wife Victoria, are the world’s fourth Highest-Paid Celebrity couple, with combined earnings of $45 million between May 2010 and May 2011. Beckham’s pitch prowess has declined in recent years as the 36-year-old’s career winds down, but he still collects big endorsement checks from companies like Adidas and, more recently, Samsung, for which he will be the global brand ambassador during the 2012 Olympic Games in London. His pay check last year: $40 million. Victoria, which is better known on this side of the Atlantic by her nickname Posh, responds for the other $5 million from the couple’s annual income, thanks to the percentage of sales that she collects from her fashion lines of wool dresses and $3,000 purses.

Coming last, but not least, is Twilight’s Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, who have both earned $20 million last year thanks to the franchise’s global success, making their combined annual salary $40 million. With the end of the Twilight franchise in sight, they both are preparing for a post-vampire career. Pattinson has taken the lead in more “serious” projects, like Remember Me, which earned $56 million on a budget of $16 million. In the meantime, Stewart’s non-Twilight career hasn’t been as promising as her co-star and real-life boyfriend’s so far. Her 2010 film The Runaways grossed only $4.6 million at the box office. But there’s still hope for Stewart: next year she will be seen in cinemas playing the leading role in the film Snow White and the Huntsman.

 

Monterrey shocked by casino attack

Mexico's authorities are promising justice for the 52 people who lost their lives in Thursday's attack on a casino in Monterrey. But in Monterrey itself, such talk is falling on deaf ears, the BBC's Julian Miglierini reports.

People here are still reeling from the shock of seeing their city, once known to be one of the safest in Latin America, become the scene for the first massive attack on innocent civilians in the history of Mexico's complex drugs conflict.

The Casino Royale, now guarded by the army, is close to collapse after flames engulfed it. The smell of burnt plastic and wood lingers on.

The facade was torn down by a crane from a nearby construction site as desperate casino employees tried to reach those who had gone back into the burning building to avoid being attacked by the gunmen. They had not realised that the emergency doors were locked, turning the building into a death trap.

"We found the bodies in toilets, offices, in places in which the victims tried to protect themselves from what they thought was a shoot-out at the entrance of the casino," rescuer Jorge Camacho Rincon said.

"They never imagined that the biggest threat was actually the fire that was started intentionally".



There's just so much crime and no solution that we can think of”

Guadalupe Vega
Mother of one of the victims
"Monterrey is hurting," said Juan, a cab driver, and that is how many in this city feel after an attack the government described as "terrorism".

It hurts, they say, because this is a city that liked to think highly of itself both as the industrial engine of the country and as a sophisticated counterpart - often a rival - to chaotic Mexico City.

The city is quickly losing its pristine reputation because of the drug cartels who seem to be fighting over trafficking routes to the US border and for control of the affluent Monterrey drugs business.

Many in Monterrey have no doubt that Thursday's attack was part of the violence that has brought this city of 1.1 million people to its knees.

Bold move
Since the fire, Monterrey's drama is most palpable outside the city's morgue.

Here, relatives of the missing wait anxiously for news and DNA results. Those who have received the remains of their relatives are "lucky", some say.





Witness who does not want to be identified: "I heard the explosion and I hit the ground"
You hear stories like that of Francisco, who is still looking for his wife. The only indication that she was in the casino at the time was that her car was found in the parking lot outside.

Guadalupe Vega, however, has recovered the corpse of her 19-year-old daughter Carla Espinosa, who started work at the casino a day before the attack.

Guadalupe is shocked that her daughter is now on the long list of people - almost 40,000 - who have died in Mexico's drug conflict since late 2006.

"I feel very powerless. We are seeing this major violence all around the country, but I had never thought that one day if would be my turn. I can't believe it. There's just so much crime, and no solution that we can think of," she said, tearfully.

Investigators can still be seen at the site of the fire, scouring every corner of the burnt-out building for any leads that will help them understand what exactly happened on Thursday - and why.

The attack was a bold move by the gangs. It happened in broad daylight, was aimed at civilians and took place in the heart of the city.

Many people are struggling to understand what could have pushed organised crime groups to stage such a high-profile hit.

There is talk of an issue about government permits for the casino to remain open, and about alleged links between drug gangs and the city's gambling business.

Others, like local journalist Luis Petersen, hint that the attack could be related to the "fee" many gangs allegedly demand from business owners in exchange for protection.

This extortion practice - similar to the "pizzo" demanded by the mafia in Southern Italy - is widespread in Monterrey, says Mr Petersen.


The attack happened in broad daylight in the centre of Monterrey
"That is why so many businesses end up moving to another city or even to the the United States," he tells the BBC.

The political shockwaves caused by the attack have been felt beyond the mountain ranges that surround Monterrey, and have reached the highest level of government.

President Felipe Calderon has been sharply criticised for what many in Mexico say is his failed strategy to tackle Mexico's security problem.

On Friday, when he visited the scorched remains of the casino to place a wreath in remembrance of those who died, Mr Calderon was visibly emotional. He looked stern and thoughtful.

Only time will tell if Thursday's attack will mark a turning point in the battle for Mexico's security that he launched as soon as he came into power.

A white pick-up truck with a silver ribbon is still parked near the casino entrance. It was placed there to lure gamblers into the building.

It is a reminder that Monterrey's Casino Royale was once a place for people to dream. What they got was a nightmare - a tragic event that adds to Monterrey's already troubled times.

 

Hurricane Irene Hits North Carolina, Claims First Life

Hurricane Irene, the monster storm rolling up the East Coast, has claimed its first life, a North Carolina man killed outside his home by a tree limb that blew down this morning.

The man was hit while he was walking around his house this morning in a rural area of Nash County, where winds were roaring at more than 60 mph, county Emergency Management Director Brian Brantley told the Associated Press.

The center of Hurricane Irene hit the coast of North Carolina near Cape Lookout with Category 1-force winds of 85 mph.

Hurricane warnings for the next 48 hours have been issued for North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

So far, eastern North Carolina has already seen three tornadoes in the past few days, and the majority of the state and areas of Maryland and Virginia are under tornado watches through Sunday.

Stacy township, on the coast of North Carolina, is seeing 93 mph wind gusts this morning.

The far end of the fishing pier in Atlantic Beach, N.C. collapsed overnight. The 100-foot long pier is still standing, but its end has disappeared into the ocean.

Nearly 200,000 homes in North Carolina are experiencing power outages, according to Power Energy. Winds up to 85 mph ripped power lines from their poles, causing many of the shortages. The hardest hit areas were Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, N.C.




"Our crews are restoring service as quickly as possible, where it is safe to do so," Power Energy tweeted.

For more on how Hurricane Irene is impacting the North Carolina coast and the surrounding area, go to ABC News affiliate WTVD-TV

All airports in the New York area will stop accepting arrivals at noon today. The airports expected to be impacted the most are in New York (Newark, John F. Kennedy and Laguardia), Philadelphia, Penn. and Charlotte, N.C.

The American Red Cross has opened 150 shelters across the northeast and is preparing to open dozens more as the storm moves north.

"We have operations in more than a dozen states. Our priority right now is sheltering," said Gail J. McGovern, the Head of American Red Cross in a press conference this morning.

"We're now in the middle of what could be one of the largest responses the Red Cross has had in recent memory," McGovern added.

McGovern encouraged people to register on "Safe and Well," a website that allows you to inform family members that you are okay.

New York City Evacuations

Evacuations began Friday in New York City with the sick and the elderly.

For more on how Hurricane Irene is impacting New York and the surrounding tri-state area, go to ABC News affiliate WABC-TV.

NYU Langone Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Manhattan, two campuses of Staten Island University Hospital, and Coney Island Hospital have moved hundreds of patients to higher ground.

Today, around 370,000 people in zones the city has labeled A (closest to the water) and in the Rockaways have been ordered to evacuate. It is the first time New York has ever evacuated its residents because of a hurricane. "It is better to take precautions and get out of the storm. Mother nature is much stronger than all of us," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a press conference Friday.

The storm is expected to weaken as it travels up the eastern seaboard, and may be reduced to a tropical storm by the time it reaches New York.

 

Chicago street gangs forge new model

intersection of Lexington and Pulaski doesn’t look very prosperous.

Ugly, empty lots anchor two of the corners. There’s a yellow-painted Dollar Store, ubiquitous in Chicago’s low-income neighborhoods. There’s a hair salon. And a storefront church where gospel music seeps outside, the only evidence of joy in the otherwise bleak landscape.

But in the shadows, business booms at Lexington and Pulaski — the heroin business.

Surprisingly, it’s not one of Chicago’s behemoth gangs that controls the market here on the West Side.

Instead, members of rival gangs — the Four Corner Hustlers, the Unknown Vice Lords, the Conservative Vice Lords, the Gangster Disciples and the New Breeds — sell drugs under the banner Syndicate Four.

Increasingly, members of rival gangs band together to control the narcotics sales around a single block.

Less common are gangs structured like corporations with a chairman giving orders down a chain of command to thousands of members in neighborhoods all over the city — and country. Many of those kingpins, such as Gangster Disciples leader Larry Hoover and Blackstone Rangers founder Jeff Fort, were locked up long ago in federal conspiracy cases.

The streets weren’t “safer when the [kingpins] were in charge, but it was more structured,” said Leo Schmitz, commander of the Chicago Police gang enforcement unit.

Authorities say there are more than 70,000 identified gang members in Chicago who belong to more than 70 traditional gangs such as the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords and Latin Kings. But there are more than 300 independent factions — like Syndicate Four, Schmitz said.

By aligning with factions, individual gang members keep more money from drug sales than they do in traditional gangs, where gang leaders take a larger share of the profits.

“They are their own bosses now,” Schmitz said. “They are independent contractors.”

Some factions have been around for decades, but many others have formed in recent years, said Frank Diaz, superintendent of the Cook County Sheriff’s criminal intelligence unit.

“In the day, they would tell you, ‘I’m an Englewood GD,’ ” said Diaz, whose unit investigates gangs in the Cook County Jail. “Now they will say, ‘I’m from Squadville’ or ‘I’m with the Geek Squad’ or ‘Rock City’ or ‘Madville,’ ” — the names of various factions in the city.

Sheriff’s criminal intelligence investigator Franco Domma said one such faction, called 4-6 and Lawn, controls drug dealing at 46th and Woodlawn. The faction includes members of the Gangster Disciples, Black P Stones, Black Disciples, Mickey Cobras and other gangs, he said.

Faction members are using the latest technology to antagonize their rivals, something gang experts call “cyberbanging.”

One comment on a recent YouTube video called members of the Dro City faction “a bunch of GDs and BDs holding hands like some hos.”

Other messages on social-networking sites take credit for one faction shooting a member of another faction, Diaz said. Members of one faction will even target members of their own gang from a rival faction.

“We’re monitoring it all,” Domma said.

Once they’re in the jail, though, faction members align with traditional gangs like the GDs or Vice Lords to survive.

A member of the West Side faction called Syndicate Four spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times about his faction, which is older than many in the city. It was formed in 1992 after a squabble inside a traditional gang called the Four Corner Hustlers.

Syndicate Four controls the drug dealing around Lexington and Pulaski, but most of the older members have moved to the suburbs. They commute to the West Side to work, said the Syndicate Four member, who asked that his name not be used.

The intersection was a ghost town one day last week because a squad car was parked on a nearby corner to drive away drug dealers. The beat officers were assigned there because of several murders in the area this summer.

On a normal day, though, the Syndicate Fours sell heroin to everyone from junkies who pull off the Eisenhower Expy. to suburban teenagers who walk into the high-crime neighborhood from the CTA’s Green Line. The profits are huge — more than $9,000 a day, the Syndicate Four member said.

“It’s basically a money clique,” he said. “It’s all about the money.”

Some members of the faction have “Superman” tattoos, representing the “S” in Syndicate. But they don’t sport the Four Corner Hustlers’ traditional tattoo of a top hat and cane.

He confirmed that when he’s in jail, he affiliates with traditional street gangs for protection.

“On the street I’m Syndicate Four, but in the jail I’m a Four Corner Hustler,” he said.

The faction obtains heroin from Hispanic gang members connected to Mexican cartels, he said.

To make sure its customers aren’t actually cops, the faction conducts surveillance of the nearby police facility at Homan Square, sending a member to “eyeball” the covert cars that undercover narcotics officers are driving that day, he said.

If a lookout for the faction sees one of them approaching the block, “He calls over and says, ‘Shut it down, don’t serve nobody,’ ” the Syndicate Four member said, estimating the faction includes more than 30 members.

Faction members also check the arms of new customers for needle marks to see if they are heroin users — or possibly cops.

The walls of the office that Diaz and Domma share at the Cook County Jail are wallpapered with organizational charts of factions such as Syndicate Four. Each chart has mug shots of the members and their leaders.

“It’s always occurred on a small scale,” Diaz said of the factions. “But nothing like this. These guys are realizing more and more that there’s money to be made outside of your gang.”

 

Thousands flee Jersey shore as surfers ride storm's wave

Thousands of residents fled resort towns along the New Jersey shore on Saturday ahead of powerful Hurricane Irene whose arrival was just hours away.

Mandatory evacuations covered all of the state's barrier island beach resorts, including such popular spots as Atlantic City, Cape May and Long Beach Island, and affected hundreds of thousands of residents and summer visitors, officials said.

The looming storm was bringing the biggest waves of the season, prompting scores of surfers to flock to the beaches despite ominous clouds and rain.

"It's the waves," said Guy Gallo of Little Silver, N.J., as he prepared to paddle out into the Atlantic Ocean.

"But you don't want to get caught out when the hurricane hits," he added.

The Category 1 hurricane, expected to hit the region late on Saturday or early on Sunday, is likely to pack winds of 55 to 75 miles an hour (89 to 121 kph), weather experts said.

Damage to resort boardwalks is likely, forecasters said.

At a doughnut shop in Sea Bright, a sign advertising its closing hours read: "Friday 10 p.m., Saturday noon, Sunday, Good Luck