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Monthly Archives: July 2016

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Our newspapers and televisions screens have, over the last seven days, been awash with coverage documenting the horrifying events which have been unfolding in Germany.

Since last Monday, the country has seen a spate of senseless violence across various cities – events which have added to daily discourse regarding Angela Merkel's immigration policy.

On July 18, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee, armed with an axe and a knife, attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzberg southern Germany before being shot dead by police.

The teen, who Islamic State claim was one of its fighters, injured at least four passengers before being apprehended by police.

Commenting on the incident which rocked the country, Isil's online Amaq news agency said: "The perpetrator of the stabbing attack in Germany was one of the fighters of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in answer to the calls to target the countries of the coalition fighting the Islamic State."

Four days later, an 18-year-old male of dual German and Iranian nationality opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich, killing nine and injuring more than 20 before turning the gun on himself.

Authorities have established no links between the gunman and any terrorist organisations, but are currently investigating the theory that the student carried out the attack as a nod to the fifth anniversary of a mass shooting in Norway.

A mere two days after the horror endured by dozens in Munich, a 21-year-old Syrian male was detained by police after attacking, and ultimately killing, a pregnant woman with a machete in Reutlingen.

German officials have yet to establish a motive for the attack, which took place near a doner kebab stand at Listplatz Square, but current reports have described the incident as a ''crime of passion', with one onlooker asserting: "The perpetrator was completely out of his mind."

While the perpetrator was known to police, officials have asserted that the incident 'did not bear the hallmarks of a terrorist attack'.

Later that same day, the country was yet again rocked by reports that a bomb had been detonated outside a music festival in the German town of Ansbach, and today it has today been established that the 27-year-old Syrian responsible for the attack, who also died in the blast, had been denied asylum a year ago.

Commenting on the attack which injured 12 people – three critically- the Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said: "My personal view is that I unfortunately think it is very likely this really was an Islamist suicide attack."

"The obvious intent to kill more people at least indicates an Islamist background," he added.

According to authorities, the events which have taken place in Germany over the past seven days are adding to the population's concerns over security and immigration.

Speaking to the press in the wake of these attacks, Mr. Herrmann insisted: "We must do everything possible to prevent the spread of such violence in our country by people who came here to ask for asylum."

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This is a developing news story…

At least two people have been killed and 16 injured in an attack on a Florida nightclub.

According to local news reports the mass shooting occurred in the early hours of this morning during a “teen event” at Club Blu in Fort Myers.

The Telegraph has reported that many of the injured are young people.

Reports suggest clubgoers as young as 13-years-old were attending the event.

One person has been detained by police in connection with the attack. 

The victims have yet to be identified.

The news comes less than two months after a single gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Earlier this month actress Jennifer Aniston led an impressive conversation about the position of women in society as she criticised the press for their treatment of female celebrities and now the star has given one of her most powerful interviews yet to a group of teenagers at an Italian film festival.

During a Question and Answer session with a gathering of children and teens at Giffoni Film Festival, Jen got real on the topic of self doubt.

When one youth asked her if she has ever woken up in the morning feeling unsure of her identity, Jen openly replied: "There are not enough fingers and toes in this entire room to count how many times that moment has happened to me."

"We're all human beings at the end of the day, whether we're a waitress or a baker or a student or whatever we are, at the end of the day you kind of can hit walls and think I can't go any farther. Or this is too much.”

“My heart can't take it or the pain is too great, or am I good enough? Will I survive?"

“And you just have to sort of somehow miraculously overcome. You just go, ‘I can't, yes I can, yes you can.'"

Upon receiving a round of applause for her answer, the Friends star – who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award at the festival – looked visibly moved as she became tearful and dabbed her eye with a tissue.

She then continued: "And also know that your actors, your idols, your icons, whatever you call them, have all had that experience or that moment in their lives many, many times.”

“There's nothing that separates us from you, because we all started at the same place."

"We all came out of nowhere. We were all born little innocent empty vessels. Don't punish yourself if you feel that. Go talk to people and seek help and always find something to inspire you."

We love hearing Jennifer speak in such a raw way about this important topic and hope she continues to inspire in the future.

Feat image: Getty

Centre image: Getty

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There are some people whose feet hit the floor the moment their alarm sounds in the morning… and then there's the rest of us.

Setting multiple alarms at night before desperately stabbing the snooze button the following morning is as regular a routine for many of us as brushing our teeth and losing our keys.

If, however, giving yourself those extra few minutes in bed rarely has the desired effect, it's likely you've fallen victim to sleep inertia.

According to ASAP Science, regularly using the snooze button has a woeful effect on your body's sleep cycle, and if you immediately fall back asleep after going for the ol' 'snooze and roll over' move, you're setting yourself up for a day of despair,

Each time you press snooze and go back asleep, you delay the wake-up process, confuse your body and are forced to endure even more sleep inertia as the day progresses.

Thankfully, this groggy feeling – which many of us have become accustomed to – lifts throughout the day, but if you want to see the back of it forever, the experts suggest you pretend the snooze button doesn't exist. 

We can't promise we'll try, but we'll TRY to try.

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Made In Chelsea star Ollie Locke has officially come out as gay in a new interview with The Sun.

The 28-year-old TV personality – who has previously admitted to being bisexual – revealed that after his split with Catherine Louise Radford in December he realised he wanted to live his life as a gay man.

While speaking about the upcoming Summer special of the hit reality show, Ollie said: "It's the first time the viewers have seen me as gay instead of bi. I do say the words 'I am a gay man'."

 

 

I suppose I need to wake up and get ready for dinner! #monaco X

A photo posted by Ollie Locke (@ollielockeworld) on

 

"I lived with a woman last year when I was off camera and we had two dogs together.”

"Then when we broke up in December, I thought, 'That's it now, I think I'm now gay'."

Ollie – who has previously dated Gabrielle Ellis, Chloe Green and Ashley James on Made In Chelsea – also shared that he is now ready to begin a relationship with a man.

 

 

Me and @toffgeorgia drinking rose whist she is pretending to do exercise!! X

A photo posted by Ollie Locke (@ollielockeworld) on

He said: "I want to experience my first gay relationship whether that's on or off camera. I don't mind. But I want to have one. I'm ready."

We’re delighted to see Ollie happy and can’t wait to see what the new series has in store for him.

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There is no ideal way to cope with a breakup, but for newly single star Iggy Azalea it seems dusting herself off and moving on is the best approach.

Last month the rapper split with her fiancé Nick Young after it was revealed that he had been cheating on her.  Iggy then subsequently learned that Nick’s ex was already pregnant with his second child before she had even called off the wedding.

But thankfully the Aussie singer has decided not to let her breakup hold her back as she has been spotted getting cosy in a club with Khloé Kardashian’s ex French Montana.

According to E! News, Iggy and French went to see J. Lo’s All I Have show at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas together before moving on to the Jewel nightclub where they were spotted partying long into the night.

After spending the night dancing with each other, the celebrity pair were then seen leaving the club together.

On Saturday, the star posted a pretty striking belfie on Instagram to mark her trip to Vegas.  She was in the city preparing to perform at the Jewel nightclub when French and his crew arrived.

 

 

#Vegas

A photo posted by Iggy Azalea (@thenewclassic) on

Centre image: Wire Image

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It has long been said that blondes have more fun than their dark haired companions but as Michelle Keegan proved at Thursday’s Choose Love ball, blonde simply does not work on everyone.

Many of the world’s best known women have given in to the temptations of the bleach bottle but as the likes of Victoria Beckham and Angelina Jolie have proved, sometimes it is best to have your fun and then quickly retreat back to the dark side.

Here are some of our favourite stars who learned hard and fast that blonde just wasn’t for them.

Anne Hathaway: The Alice in Wonderland star's beautiful bone structure means she can work it long and she can work it short but no amount of jawline perfection would enable Anne to pull off blonde.

 

Kim Kardashian: With their Armenian skin tones the Kardashian girls were born to be brunette, but the hasn't stopped Kim for bleaching her hair.  Last year the reality star shocked everyone when she stepped out with peroxide blonde locks but thankfully she has spent most of her time since with more natural looking tones.

 

Jessica Biel: Justin Timberlake's BAE gave blonde a go back in 2008 but quickly retreated back to her brunette locks.  Since then she has dabbled safely with blonde highlights to create variation without taking the look to the extreme.

 

Victoria Beckham: Posh Spice might be a major style icon these days but it's unlikely she would have ever reached that status if she had held onto her bright blonde bob.

 

Angelina Jolie: Today Angelina is one of the most consistently stylish stars on the red carpet, but back in the late 90's the actress did play around with a much fairer look.  The star previously revealed to a German magazine that she was actually dark blonde as a child but her mother began dying her hair dark when she was around four years old.

 

Jennifer Love Hewitt: I Know What You Did Last Summer star Jennifer Love Hewitt had a seriously dodgy blonde experience back in 2014 when she debuted honey toned hues which darkened towards the end of her hair.  Thankfully the star has since realised her mistake and has transitioned back to being a full time brunette.

 

Tulisa: Troubled singer Tulisa has had some major style-based highs and lows but her 2012 blonde experience was most definitely among the lows.  The star's yellow locks brought her look right into the tacky zone she has since tried hard to avoid.

 

Jessica Alba: Over the years the hair of actress and model Jessica Alba has gone through a series of brunette to blonde experiments including all over blonde with bangs in 2005, rooty blonde in 2012 and now back to brown for 2016.

 

 

Keira Knightley: Pirates of the Caribbean actress Keira Knightly tried blonde in 2006 but quickly went back to her brunette roots.  Since then the star has kept in line with her natural shade and has changed her look by cut rather than colour.

  

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Beauty pageants have long been a topic of conflict among women but when the contestants involved are aged under 18 the conversation gets a lot more heated.

In the last few years teen beauty pageants have come under increasing pressure to ditch the swimwear element of the competition mainly because it is now largely seen as a sexist, over-sexualised and a pretty demeaning platform on which to place young women.

Last month Miss Teen USA received widespread praise when it announced it would be banishing the bikini walk from its upcoming show and ever since people have been wondering what the controversial event would be replaced with.

Well, according USA Today, instead of wearing bikinis in this year’s pageant the Miss Teen USA hopefuls will be dressing to impress in custom-made sportswear.

Each competitor will wear one of eight themed sports bra and legging sets which will be designed by Tapout and Goldsheep to represent the region of the US the girls are from.  Once the finalists are chosen, they will then wear sports gear which will be customised to show which exact state they represent.

Apparently the switch to sportswear is in keeping with the original purpose of the swimwear competition which – according to Refinery 29 – was actually to demonstrate the participants’ athleticism.

Over 50 15 to 19-year-old hopefuls will take part in this year’s Miss Teen USA competition on July 30.

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Nakd bars have really taken off.

Made with natural ingredients, they contain just fruit and nuts, and not an ounce of the refined rice puffs you find in most 'healthy' cereal bars.

Full of vitamins and minerals, they're also – HURRAH! – seriously delicious.

But if you regularly tuck in, it might be an idea to make a batch of them yourself.

The great thing is that they’re extremely easy to make. Here’s a version of the recipe that we tried out and absolutely loved. 

As you'll see, you can alter it slightly, depending on what extract you opt for, meaning you can mix it up and never get bored…

Ingredients: (serves 12)

1 ½ cups of dates

½ cup of raisins

1 ½ cups of cashew nuts

2 tsp vanilla extract (or orange, or mint)

2 tbsp cocoa

Method:

1. Blend all of the ingredients. Then line a container with cling film and press the mixture into it.

2. Pop it into the fridge and leave it sit there for about half an hour. 

3. Cut it into ‘bars' (or any shape you like really!)

4. Eat! If you put them in the fridge, they'll last about three-four weeks in an airtight container. If you want to freeze them, wrap them up individually to keep them fresh – they should be good for a couple of months. 

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We're partial to an occasional (read: daily) treat around these parts. And certainly we're always in the market for a new, delicious sweet-treat that we can create at home. 

Because on a delicate Sunday evening after a weekend of socialising, we'd rather not venture outside unless totally compelled to do so (Zombie apocalypse or similar).

 

#wheninrome #deepfriedoreos #summerteeth

A photo posted by KH (@kimberlykate) on

Thus – welcome to our world, deep friend Oreos. We're not the only ones getting in on the act either – the hashtag #deepfriedoreos is increasingly taking over social media. 

 

#deepfriedoreos

A photo posted by @smstal on

Apparently it's something of a carnival/festival stable in the US, and certainly this is one American cuisine we're terribly glad is branching out on to these shores.

 

#DeepFriedOreos #IoniaFreeFair #FoodPorn

A photo posted by Joanna Owens (@jmowens79) on

Here's the best recipe that we've come across – and make sure to email the results to hello@shemazing.ie…

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 125g pancake mix
  • 250-350mls of milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 18 Oreo cookies
  • Oil for frying
  • Icing sugar

DIRECTIONS:

  • Add oil to a large skillet or deep fryer so that it's at least 5cm deep. Heat the oil to 175C.
  • Line a separate baking sheet with several layers of paper towels.
  • In a bowl mix together pancake mix, milk, egg, and vegetable oil until a batter is created.
  • Dip each Oreo in the batter and using a slotted spoon or tongs, place the Oreo into the hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.
  • Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to the paper-towel-lined baking sheet to let any excess oil drain.
  • Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.
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For most women applying mascara is a no brainer – find one you like, give your lashes a few quick swipes and off you go.  But apparently this process should be a lot more labour intensive than you’d think.

According to Allure, using just a couple of layers of mascara applies nowhere near enough product to achieve the volumising and lengthening effects you’ve been promised.

Makeup artist Amy Nadine claims it takes exactly 30 strokes per eye to get lashes on fleek and the technique used to apply the mascara shouldn’t exactly be haphazard either.

Amy told Allure the stokes should not be long and precise and that instead you should use “quick brisk strokes” when putting on this product.

Given that she’s recommending 60 strokes per day, they’d want to be pretty brisk indeed.

Feat image: Studio D

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Pop sensation Selena Gomez might be smashing her current Revival world tour but unfortunately that doesn’t mean the star is feeling totally herself.

Last night the singer got real with fans at her Indonesian concert and later used Instagram to share her emotions with the world in a heartfelt post.

According to Billboard, Selena appeared to get a little teary on-stage as she explained to her audience why the song Kill Em With Kindness is so important to her.  She said: “I get really frustrated. I get stupid sometimes.”

“I say things that I don’t mean, or that come out wrong just because I care so badly. But the thing is, at the end of the day, no war in anger was ever won.”

“I do know that deep down in my heart that I have to believe that we can love each other and always be kind no matter what it takes in us.”

While it’s not totally clear what sparked the star’s emotional presence, she later took to Instagram to say she “felt extremely unauthentic, unconnected to both myself and my music”.

 

 

Selena – who has just turned 24 – wrote: “I've never really felt like my materials, wardrobe or a video could define me. I act on a moment and fear something that hasn't happened.”

“I'm stagnant, I stay still and don't just sit with myself first and ask 'is this where I am, whole heartedly?'”

“I've always told the truth. I'm always true to my word, I've shown who I am but I need to rethink some areas of my life creatively and personally. had to get that out."

 

 

The post was captioned: “not being negative about anything I've done. I'm grateful for every single moment I get here – Indonesia you were LOUD and clearly inspiring. Love you so much.”

The Good For You singer has received an abundance of support from fans since the post first appeared with one writing: “I know you'll probably never read this but i, and all selenators, love you so much and will always be here for you no matter what. Please stay strong and don't loose that smile who stays us alive (sic).”

And another said: “Thank u for sharing. I think we all have those inauthentic moments. Your authenticity will rise above again. Sometimes we just slip into an inauthentic space (sic).”

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