Libya must free Australian lawyer, says Foreign Minister Bob Carr

FOREIGN Minister Bob Carr will step up pressure on the Libyan Government to release Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor from detention due to concern for her safety.
Ms Taylor was arrested on Thursday while representing the defence for slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam.
She remains in detention in Zintan, Libya. She is one of four International Criminal Court (ICC) staff being held in the country.
Libyan authorities say she was trying to pass documents on to Seif.
Senator Carr has called on Tripoli to guarantee Ms Taylor's security and work toward her immediate release.
"I have asked our Ambassador (David Ritchie) to travel at once to Libya to assist Ms Taylor," Sen Carr said.
He said Libyan authorities should "provide every assistance in securing her release".
The Department of Foreign Affairs has contacted the Libyan ambassador to Australia to support the lawyer's release as consular officials in Libya continue to try to gain access.
Consular staff have also been in touch with Ms Taylor's family.
The International Criminal Court president had expressed concerns about Ms Taylor's safety and that of her colleagues, Sen Carr said.
"I share those concerns, particularly as there has been no contact by consular staff.
"This was an authorised visit to Libya by an independent legal team, ahead of international court proceedings."

Olympian's photos of sex with wife stolen by staff at computer shop

INTIMATE photographs of an Australian Olympian having sex with his wife were stolen by staff at a Sydney computer shop after the prominent star brought his machine in for repair.

Shockingly, the practice is not illegal.

Information technology experts say the law offers no protection from the unauthorised copying of photos and data from any computer.

The Sunday Telegraph has seen the stolen images, which clearly depict the household-name star and his wife in numerous sexual poses.

Other celebrities are believed also to have been targeted in the scam, which involved employees at an inner-Sydney computer store targeting potential victims who brought their computers in for repair.

With the encouragement of the store's owner, staff scanned machines for intimate material and uploaded photos and videos to a shared drive, according to evidence provided by a source.

The store's owner demanded to know how the allegations were uncovered, and denied that sexual images had been targeted.

"If people choose to put photos and personal information on their computers, that's their decision," the businessman said.

According to Section 308H of the Crimes Act 1900, it is not an offence to "access data which is not protected or restricted by an access control system" or password.

IT experts said many popular security systems provided no protection from theft by repairers or technicians.

Senior security analyst Joel Hatton of AusCERT - an emergency computer response team that provides computer incident prevention, response and mitigation strategies - warned that a technician who was given access to a computer could do anything without seeking permission.

He advised computer owners to sit with any technician working on a machine.

"Don't give them more access than necessary and, if you do have separate user accounts, you can protect some of them with passwords," Mr Hatton said.

Celebs' secret paparazzi deals exposed

SHANE Warne's ex-wife Simone Callahan was allegedly tricked into pre-arranged paparazzi photoshoots by her new boyfriend, who accepted money from photographers to stage romantic moments.

Boyfriend Toby Roberts, a then-unemployed ex-model, was paid by an intermediary in 2011 on behalf of paparazzo Jamie Fawcett to bring Ms Callahan, 42, to pre-arranged settings including Bondi in Sydney.

The encounters were photographed by Fawcett and his then business partner Ben McDonald, who sold the photographs to New Idea and Woman's Day.

FAKEARAZZI: The full story on the secret celeb deals

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal several Australian celebrities accept cash or holidays in deals with photographers who sell faked "pap-shots" to glossy magazines.

Former Spice Girl Mel B, model Lara Bingle, singer Delta Goodrem and her ex-boyfriend Brian McFadden have all accepted inducements to pose for paparazzi despite the fact they frequently complain about privacy invasions.

Bingle and Danny Cipriani are said to have received an estimated $30,000 from Big Australia for "romantic" shots of them in Bora Bora.

The intermediary in the Callahan photographs is understood to be Mr Roberts's old school friend, Today Tonight's Melbourne reporter Jonathan Creek.

Mr Roberts, 38, failed to respond to more than 10 approaches for comment on the detailed allegations, while Fawcett, McDonald and Creek denied any involvement.

But a well-placed source has provided a statutory declaration on the transactions.

This newspaper has also seen documentary proof of the deals.

At home in Melbourne this week Ms Callahan said she was shocked to hear of the claims.

"I saw the pictures in the magazines (at the time) but I had no idea about any of this," Ms Callahan said.

"I just assumed that because we were out in Bondi there are lots of photographers around." The mother-of-three said she loved Mr Roberts but was "unsure" if they would marry.

She said she had a good recollection of his financial situation. "Toby wasn't working at the time, no."

She added: "None of this is very nice to hear."

The magazines paid $52,000 for the images, with the first set, taken at Mr Wolf sushi restaurant in Melbourne on February 9, 2011, selling to New Idea for $10,000.

Half of that sum went to Creek via a bank account held in the name of Tune In Media, which he runs with his wife Brittany Creek.

The money was paid by Oceanic Media Group, a now-defunct agency run by Fawcett and McDonald.

The second set, taken on March 4, 5 and 6 at North Bondi and Tamarama, became a Woman's Day spread on March 21, 2011.

The story said the pair were "smitten" and appeared as "lovestruck teens". Roberts, the article said, was "a tall, dark and handsome model-turned business manager with a body to swoon over".

Woman's Day paid $42,000, of which 50 per cent went to Mr Roberts and Creek.

Mr Roberts, who now runs an orthotic pelvic cushion business, has not returned more than 10 text, email and phone approaches.

Fawcett initially said: "I know nothing about these pictures." He later rang to say he had taken photographs but no deal had been struck with Mr Roberts.

"You can't write this story about this bloke, how would he look," Fawcett said. "The damage you'd do would be terrible and would make you a c***. You would also make (Mr Roberts) look like a c*** and I don't think he is a c***.

"You would create so many problems if you wrote this story."

Within an hour of this newspaper visiting Ms Callahan on Thursday, Fawcett telephoned the newspaper. "Don't go breaking up a happy home," he said.

He admitted knowing Creek and said Creek and his wife had once provided him "guerrilla marketing advice".

Asked if he had spoken to Creek about Mr Roberts, Fawcett said: "Gee, I may have. He was on the Shane and Simone story. I can't recall, don't think so. Good on you, I have to go."

McDonald would not comment, while Creek said he met Fawcett once outside Ms Callahan's home while working on a story.

Asked if he had spoken to Fawcett in recent days, he responded: "I don't know."

Creek said the $26,000 paid to Tune In Media was for his wife to "maybe provide media strategy to (Oceanic) ... it's not my business to get involved in my wife's business".

"I really don't know what you are talking about."

Asked about emails from his address to Oceanic at the time of the shoots, Creek said they were sent by his wife.

It is believed Roberts never dealt directly with paparazzi.

Celebrities allegedly make deals worth between $10 million and $20 million per year in a bid to control their images.

Matthew McConaughey weds longtime girlfriend Camila Alves in Texas

MATTHEW McConaughey married his longtime girlfriend Camila Alves in a private ceremony in his home state of Texas today.

The actor and his Brazilian model fiancee said "I do" before a small crowd of close friends and family, People magazine reported.



The ceremony was held at McConaughey's sprawling Austin property, with guests camping out after the ceremony in dozens of tents pitched for the occasion.

Alves will take her new husband's name, People reported, officially becoming Camila McConaughey.

The Lincoln Lawyer star, 42, and Alves, 30, got engaged over Christmas.

They started dating in 2007 and have two children together -- a three-year-old son, Levi, and a daughter, Vida, who is two.

Batman has given a name to his pain - Leonardo DiCaprio

BATMAN better add his ex-publicist to his rogue’s gallery. Harrison Cheung, who worked with Christian Bale for a decade, says the actor has a temper problem. And hates Leonardo DiCaprio.

Cheung has written a tell-all book about the alleged anger issues, which is in no way an attempt to cash in on the upcoming release of The Dark Knight Rises.

The book, modestly titled Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman by the Man Who Helped Make Him a Phenomenon, claims that Bale:

- Has distanced himself from family and friends and has not spoken to his mother in more than four years;

- Used to reduce little girls who asked for his autograph to tears;

- Inherited his temper from his father.

Although stories about Bale's temper are nothing new - the guy who shot Terminator: Salvation knows never to interrupt the acting process again - Cheung's have the sliver of credibility if only for the fact he used to work for Bale.

But his attempts at tying to explain Bale's "pain" smack of comic-book psychology, with Bale's difficult relationship with his "overbearing" father reading like a secret origin plot for a villain:

"They both over-reacted out of proportion to any perceived offence. Christian would seethe and hiss like some surly snake. Once at an Enterprise Rent A Car just a few blocks down from their Manhattan Beach house, Christian was so loudly lecturing the woman at the desk and he was so angry that she started trembling and pointed to the security camera overhead for protection."

Cheung even has Bale storing animal foetuses in jars in his bedroom.

Like every good comic, the book has a nemesis: DiCaprio.

"DiCaprio. The name burned Christian like a branding iron. Over the years, Christian had lost This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape to DiCaprio.

"Christian had read for the part of Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet but was told that they had decided to cast an African American in the part instead.

"Christian too had gone up for the part of Jack Dawson in Titanic but was told that James Cameron didn’t want two British lead actors playing the two leads who were both supposed to be American."

Funnily enough, Warner Bros wanted DiCaprio to play the Riddler opposite Bale in the new Batman film.

Now that would have been epic fight: "Mummy, why is Batman stamping on the Riddler's head and saying. 'That's for Titanic'?"

Britons want Prince Charles as next king

PRINCE Charles has overtaken his son William as the people's preferred successor to Queen Elizabeth II in the wake of her Diamond Jubilee.
YouGov's poll for The Sunday Times newspaper found that 44 per cent of respondents want Charles to succeed his mother, with 38 per cent opting for William.
The figures have been exactly reversed since a poll two weeks ago, suggesting Britons were impressed by how Charles stood in for his ill father Prince Philip at last weekend's festivities marking the Queen's 60-year reign.
Philip, who celebrates his 91st birthday on Sunday, was released from hospital on Saturday after five days of treatment for a bladder infection that forced him to miss the final jubilee celebrations.
At the star-studded jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace on Monday, thousands of revellers chanted Philip's name after Charles told them, "If we shout loud enough, he might just hear us in hospital".
Charles, 63, also paid a warm and witty tribute to "Mummy", describing her "a very special person" as he took to the stage at the end of a concert featuring the likes of Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
With his father absent, Charles also stood beside his mother during Tuesday's jubilee service at St Paul's Cathedral, and joined her, along with his wife Camilla, in a horse-drawn carriage as she waved to more huge crowds.
Philip's popularity has also risen in the wake of his illness, with 58 per cent describing him as an asset to the royal family compared to 47 per cent before the jubilee celebrations.
Prince William's popularity surged after his engagement to Catherine Middleton, who he married last year in a glittering ceremony that was broadcast around the world.
Support for the royal family remains high, with 75 per cent of Britons in favour of keeping the monarchy, according to the YouGov poll.
Buckingham Palace told AFP that 1.5 million people had filled central London on Tuesday to cheer the 86-year-old Queen, many waving Union Jack flags as she passed in her carriage and waved from the palace balcony.
Some 1.2 million people also lined London's River Thames last Sunday for the spectacular 1000-boat jubilee pageant, while street parties were held up and down the country.

Prometheus a creative spectacle

A FAMOUS movie poster once stated that "in space, no one can hear you scream".

However, you could park yourself at the other end of the galaxy, and still not drown out the sound of the hype trumpeting the release of Prometheus.

For once, the buzz gets it right. Acclaimed director Ridley Scott has re-taken the controls of the Alien series in assured and compelling fashion.

The many years of rumours have been proven correct: Prometheusis definitely a prequel to Scott's landmark 1979 sci-fi chiller Alien.

Nevertheless, this new instalment is best viewed as an epic repositioning of the franchise.

The memory of supremely silly follow-ups such as Alien Vs Predatorwill be obliterated permanently by the majestic visual scale and tremendous performances on display here.

A complex plot unfolds in the year 2093, where a corporate-funded space mission is under way to investigate the origin of mankind.

After a two-year journey, the 17-strong crew aboard the spaceship Prometheusland on a distant barren moon, where they happen upon a dome-like structure that clearly does not belong there.

Once inside a maze-like arrangement of caves and tunnels, the visitors experience a sequence of terrifying phenomena hinted at in the first Alien film.

What starts out as an honourable quest for knowledge gradually becomes a desperate fight for survival.

In the tradition forged by Sigourney Weaver's immortal Ripley in the first two Alienoutings, it is a steel-willed, independent female that stands the best chance of beating the terrifying odds. The original Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Noomi Rapace, truly impresses as Elizabeth Shaw, a feisty British archaeologist who makes a discovery that takes her and partner Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) all the way from the Scottish Highlands to another solar system.

On a visual level, Prometheustruly delivers upon all expectations, with superb creature design and some of the best uses of 3D since Avatar.

Unlike many of the spectacle-driven event pictures of today, there isn't a single, superfluous frame to be found here. As overwhelming as some of the effects often become, it is all for the greater good. Prometheuseffortlessly transports viewers to another world, and keeps them there. The illusion is never broken.

The cast of Prometheusis exceptionally strong, with Idris Elba (an eccentric spaceship captain), Charlize Theron (as a pretentious company rep) and a scene-stealing Michael Fassbender (as an android with a secret agenda) the standouts.

Australia's Guy Pearce also has a key part in proceedings. However, viewers will have to strain hard to recognise him under some very convincing ageing make-up work.

If there is a sticking point for those who are not die-hard followers of all things Alien, it could be an erratic screenplay.

The story told here sometimes lacks both the clarity and urgency many would expect of a blockbuster film.

Fans hungering for the graphic and spectacular shocks of the original Alien films will have to be patient. The great gross-out factor takes a while to kick in. But when it does, you will satisfied with the results.

The sheer ambition at work throughout Prometheusmakes the occasional scripting hiccup a forgivable flaw.