latest Celebrity News and Pictures

LeBron James has his chalk toss ... Metallica's got their band huddle ... we're pretty sure Justin Bieber kisses a photo of himself -- but the greatest pre-show ritual of all time definitely belongs to pro surfer babe Anastasia Ashley.

The video was shot over the weekend at the Supergirl Pro in Oceanside, CA -- and while Ashley didn't even come close to winning the competition, she definitely won our hearts.

We've all fallen in love with AnastasiAshley this week. She pours beer, she surfs (well), she's not afraid to wear thongs on beaches not located in Brazil. She's a dream girl.

Anastasia has now added a twerking routine to her repertoire. She's the new Michelle Jenneke! This is amazing.

Watch Her Videos Surfing

After days of alarms and embassy lockdowns, the United States and Britain on Tuesday stepped up security precautions in Yemen, with Washington ordering “nonemergency” government personnel to leave and the Foreign Office in London saying it has withdrawn its diplomatic staff in the capital of Sana “due to increased security concerns.”

In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where the threat of attack is considered greatest, the UK, France and Germany have also shut their embassies.

The British embassy has emptied completely, with all remaining British staff leaving the country on Tuesday, while the US air force flew out American personnel.

 The measures came a day after officials in Washington said the United States had intercepted electronic communications in which the head of Al Qaeda ordered the leader of the group’s affiliate in Yemen to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday.

Consequently the Obama administration decided last week to close nearly two dozen diplomatic missions and issue a worldwide travel alert.

The British and American warnings were issued several hours after Yemeni military officials said that at least four men, suspected of being Al Qaeda members, were killed in what was described as an American drone strike in the eastern Marib region of Yemen early on Tuesday.

AQAP has form. In August 2009, its master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Saudi national, built an explosive device so hard to detect it was either packed flat next to the wearer's groin or perhaps even concealed inside his body.

He then sent his brother Abdullah, a willing volunteer, as a human bomb to blow up the Saudi prince in charge of counter-terrorism. He very nearly succeeded.

Pretending he wanted to give himself up, Abdullah al-Asiri fooled Saudi security into letting him get right next to Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef before the device was detonated, possibly remotely by mobile phone.

The blast blew the bomber in half, but with most of the explosive force directed downwards, the prince had a miraculous escape with only a damaged hand. AQAP boasted that it would try again and it did.

In December 2009, Ibrahim al-Asiri devised another device to put on a volunteer, this time a young Nigerian called Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

He was able to fly all the way from Europe to Detroit with a viable explosive device hidden in his underpants, a massive failure of intelligence and security.

 The security alert spread to some of the United States’ allies in Europe. Britain and France closed their embassies in Yemen and said Monday that they had extended the shutdown until at least Thursday. Washington also announced that its embassy would stay shut until after the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, also expected on Thursday in most places. The German mission in Yemen was closed Monday, while Norway shut its embassies in Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

In recent years, the Al Qaeda affiliate in poverty-stricken Yemen has plotted a number of potentially spectacular attacks including an attempt to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet over Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, using explosives sewn into an attacker’s underwear. Months earlier, an attacker with a bomb surgically implanted in his body tried to kill the Saudi intelligence chief.

American officials have identified the bomb-builder in both cases as Ibrahim al-Asiri, an Al Qeada leader in Yemen whom the Obama administration has been trying to kill as part of a campaign using armed drones. But it was not clear if the reported attack on Tuesday was part of that same operation.

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To most, Shawn Burr will be remembered as a hard-working two-way forward and fan favorite with the Detroit Red Wings.

Here, where Burr resided since 2000, he was a charitable man who was a big presence in the community and used his standing and affable personality to help others.

“He told me that his legacy would be, ‘I was an average or a little better than average skater — definitely not a Hall of Famer,’” said Dave Goetze of Clyde, a close personal friend of Burr’s and the vice president and business manager of the Shawn Burr Foundation. “He said, ‘My legacy is giving back.’

“He said his greatest successes were his daughter Madison, his daughter Maison and his wife Amanda. And giving back.”

Burr, a Sarnia native who had been battling leukemia since early 2011, died Monday after falling in his St. Clair home and suffering head trauma. He was 47. He played 16 seasons in the NHL, accumulating 181 goals and 259 assists in 878 career games. His first 11 seasons in the NHL were spent with the Red Wings.

He certainly gave plenty to the area, as his foundation helped raise more than $1.5 million for local charities, Goetze said. Its original aim, after being set up on Burr’s 34th birthday — July 1, 2000 — was to benefit local youth-based charities. Since he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, the foundation’s focus shifted to supporting blood cancer research.

Whenever Burr arrived in the Red Wings dressing room, he drew a crowd, be it fellow players or reporters. He was always in good humour and never stopped talking. His teammates loved his jokes and reporters loved his one-liners about hockey.

“He always had that quick wit,” Yzerman said. “Something funny was always the first thing out of his mouth. He was an upbeat guy with a smile on his face.”

Terry Crisp, who was Burr’s coach during his first of two tours with the Lightning, told the Tampa Bay Times he was the best trash-talker he ever heard.

“I used to stand behind Shawn Burr on the bench with a pen and paper in my hand and write down the barbs he'd throw at the other players,” Crisp said. “He had to be one of the best trash-talkers I have ever, ever encountered in my career, and I heard some good ones, believe me.”

Burr, who was a native of Sarnia, Ont., made himself valuable to his teams with his checking and hitting, powered by a relentless work ethic. And he finished his 16 NHL seasons in 2000 with a respectable 440 points in 878 regular-season games.

After his NHL career was over, Burr moved back to the Detroit area where he worked for a brokerage firm. He also became active with the Red Wings alumni team and he raised more than $1.5-million (U.S.) for charities in the St. Clair area through his foundation.

"He was a funny guy, a nonstop talker, always had a trick to play," former teammate Chris Osgood told The Free Press. "My first game as a rookie, he put my name upside down on my jersey. He was the guy in the ’90s who kept everybody else relaxed. He did the dirty work for the team on the ice and then kept the guys relaxed in the dressing room."

Burr leaves his wife Amanda and daughters Madison and Maison.

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Usher's son Usher Raymond V is in the ICU at an Atlanta hospital after a serious accident in a residential pool Monday, TMZ has learned.

Sources tell TMZ, the accident occurred yesterday just after 2 PM in Atlanta. We're told Usher was not there at the time.

Here's what we know ... The child was playing in the pool with his aunt and saw a toy in the drain.  He dove down to get the toy and his arm got stuck in the drain.  The aunt immediately dove in to rescue him but couldn't get his hand out.  The maid then dove in and tried but was also unsuccessful.

The maid screamed for help.  Two audio-visual contractors working in the house came out, dove in and freed the boy.  One of them administered CPR immediately and rushed to the hospital.  The boy was "conscious, alert and breathing.  People connected with Usher tell us he rode with his son to the hospital in the ambulance, but according to the police report, Usher met his son there.

5-year-old Usher Raymond V is the oldest of Usher's two sons with ex-wife Tameka

 Usher's 5-year-old son nearly drowned in a backyard pool in Atlanta on Monday — setting off what could be an ugly custody battle after the boy’s mom apparently blamed the Grammy-Award winner for the accident.

The R&B singer was not at the home where the terrifying incident occurred, a report said.

But Usher’s ex-wife, the boy’s mother, seems to be holding the entertainer responsible anyway.

Tameka Foster — who lost another child by a different father in a Jet Ski accident — filed legal documents Tuesday to try to gain custody of little Usher Raymond 5th, citing a dangerous environment, TMZ said.

The drama began Monday when the boy ended up at the bottom of a pool behind a home in downtown Atlanta and became stuck in a drain, police said. He was trying to retrieve a toy, TMZ reported.

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Tony Stewart broke his right leg in a sprint car wreck on Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway. He will miss this weekend's race at Watkins Glen at the very least – road-course specialist Max Papis will fill in – and this almost certainly kills his chances of winning another Sprint Cup championship.

According to Stewart-Haas Racing, a replacement driver for Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International has not yet been determined. Stewart is 11th in the standings, and with one victory this season, leads the race for the first Wild Card in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

UPDATE: Stewart will undergo a second surgery. According to Stewart Haas Racing, the first surgery "served as a preliminary procedure to stabilize and clean the Grade 2 injury." Stewart remains hospitalized for observation.

"It looked like he got into a lapped car," race winner Brian Brown told The Des Moines Register. "When I got close, he was flipping cage down. I didn't really have time to watch and see what was going on."

Although former NASCAR driver Jason Leffler was killed earlier this year in a sprint-car crash in New Jersey, Stewart maintains close ties to his short-track roots by scheduling roughly 70 sprint car events per year. Friday at Pocono Raceway, Stewart brushed off the Ohsweken accident as routine.

“You guys (in the media) need to watch more sprint car videos and stuff. It’s starting to get annoying this week about that. That was just an average sprint car wreck. When they wreck, they get upside down like that. That was not a big deal,” he said. “… I guarantee you, there were 15, 20 guys across the country who flipped just like that this weekend. We’re just fine. If it’s bad, we’ll let you guys know.”

Stewart of course cancelled a Tuesday testing session at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the team announced Tuesday that Papis will replace him at Watkins Glen. The team did not reveal how long Stewart will be out.

"I told someone to go get my phone or else I was going to get up and get it myself," Stewart wrote on his Facebook page. "Finally got reconnected to the world and just want to say thank you for all the prayers and well wishes. My team will remain strong and I will be back."

This would be the first Cup race without Stewart since 1998, a string of 521 consecutive starts.

Stewart is currently 11th in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and with a win does hold one of the wild-card spots. However, missing significant time will likely drop him below fellow one-win drivers Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr., who are 10th and 19th points behind Stewart, respectively.
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