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In a verdict that surprised everybody in the Orando (Florida courtroom) jurors acquitted Casey Anthony for murdering her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony.
Casey Anthony was let off from first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter.
However, she was convicted for four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to law enforcement officials.
The jurors, including five men and seven women, who heard testimony in the month-long trial and took nearly 11 hours, said: “We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.”
Had she been convicted of murder, then Casey Anthony would have either got a death penalty or life in prison.
Jurors gave this shocking verdict after hearing 91 witnesses and 30 days of testimony, with stunning revelations, disturbing evidence and even more disturbing behavior.

Nancy Grace.

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Tireless review website and increasingly rabid festival booker Pitchfork announced today that they will be bringing their curating talents to the land of Daft Punk for the first annual Pitchfork Music Festival Paris. The two day fest will take place on October 28th and 29th at La Grande Halle de la Villete, a 5.000-capacity venue which the site describes as ‘a stunning 19th century glass and metal structure that stands in the center of the Parc de la Villette, the city’s largest public cultural park.’
In a twist no doubt inspired by their buddies at U.K.’s All Tomorrow’s Parties festival, the lineup for the second day will be partially curated by Pitchfork golden boy Bon Iver, whose self-titled album recently garnered rave reviews from the site. Time will tell if this will be as successful as their Chicago festival (it’s sixth incarnation is going down in two weeks) or if Pitchfork Paris will be indie rock’s very own Euro Disney.

Pitchfork Music Festival.

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The 4th of July, American Independence Day, celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which declared US Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. But technically speaking, July 4th doesn’t qualify to be the US Independence day.
Historically, the legal liberation of 13 original colonies took place on July 2, 1776, in a closed session of Congress. However, the Second Continental Congress took two more days to modify the famous of American documents, delaying the final approval of Declaration of Independence by two more days.
Although the Declaration of Independence managed to get the Congressional approval on July 4, 1776, it was not made public until July 8. Thus the first Independence Day was celebrated on July 8, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence was read on July 8th, 1776 by Col. John Nixon. He, less than a year later, would be made a brigadier general of the Continental Army.
The day saw summoning of citizens to Independence Hall for the very first public reading of the US Independence Declaration, by ringing the bells of Philadelphia (including the Liberty Bell). This breaks yet another American myth regarding the ringing of Liberty Bell.
Contrary to the popular misconception, Liberty Bell did not ring on July 4th, 1776 to mark the US Independence day. Americans had to wait four more days (till July 8th) to listen to the Liberty Bell as well as the public reading of Declaration of Independence.

Independence Day.

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Jim Morrison of the Doors died 40 years ago, on July 3, 1971. He was found dead at the age of 27 in a bathtub in Paris. The mystery that surrounded his death only served to increase the public’s fascination in him, to this day.
How do I know this nugget? Simple. Journalists tend to remember these kinds of factoids. And ever since President Ronald Reagan commemorated the 40th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in 1984, 40 has been the new 50 for the media — and a milestone that is worth chronicling for the masses.
Morrison sang some of the most enduring songs in rock and roll history, such as ‘Light My Fire,’ ‘LA Woman’ and ‘Break on Through,’ which still can be heard today on oldies stations. The Doors were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
Long hailed as a great rock vocalist, Morrison has also been hailed as a creative icon for many of the punk and grunge singers who followed the Doors, including Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam.
Morrison remains one of the seminal figures in rock and roll history. Ten years after he died, Rolling Stone pointed out that Doors records continued to sell at a strong clip, and the magazine honored Morrison with the classic headline – “He’s Hot, He’s Sexy and He’s Dead.”
In 1991, a new generation learned about Morrison and the Doors through Oliver Stone’s controversial biopic, ‘The Doors,’ which, some people said, presented an inaccurate portrait of Morrison because it concentrated more on his partying and carousing instead of his artistic nature.

Jim Morrison.

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Francois-Henri Pinault, Salma Hayek’s multi-billionaire husband fathered supermodel Linda Evangelista’s 4-year-old son.
Evangelista was tightlipped about Pinault’s paternity back in 2007.
According to reports, Hayek and Pinault met in May 2006, announced their engagement and her pregnancy in 2007, broke up in 2008, reconciled and were married on Valentine’s Day 2009.
Evangelista’s son was born in October 2006 – which means that her baby was conceived before Hayek and Pinault had even met. Pinault, who is the CEO of a company that owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, in addition to his daughter with Hayek, also has two children from a previous marriage. He is yet to publicly acknowledge Evangelista’s son as his.
Both the tycoon and his actress wife has previously insisted in interviews that Pinault has only three children (Valentina and two from his previous marriage to his first wife) and the father of her son was “a New York architect”.

Linda Evangelista.

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DR WHO star Karen Gillan tried to flee into a lift after being found naked and mumbling in a hotel corridor, it emerged yesterday.
Guests and security stopped the actress from making her bizarre exit draped in a sheet.
Karen (23) had earlier tried to get into a guest’s room stark naked at 7am in New York’s exclusive Ace Hotel.
The guest said – “She was whimpering and laid down in front of my door. Then she was on her feet and trying to get in the elevator.”
The incident came after Karen, who plays Amy Pond, had partied with the rest of the cast.
Last week she was pictured at London’s notorious nightclub The Box.
She was cast as the eleventh doctor’s companion in early 2009 and first appeared in April 2010, effectively replacing Billie Piper’s character of Rose Tyler.
The Ace hotel yesterday said the behaviour of its guests was “confidential”.
The BBC confirmed Karen had stayed but added – “In April Karen participated in a US publicity tour which successfully promoted Doctor Who for our commercial channel BBC America.
“She punctually and professionally fulfilled a busy set of media appearances and fan screenings but we’re unaware of this alleged incident.”

Karen Gillan.

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Last year at the BET Awards, Chris Brown stomped and bawled his way through an emotional tribute to his idol, the late Michael Jackson. The performance earmarked a yearlong public plea for redemption that had plenty of highs and lows. On Sunday night, it was pretty clear that at least one audience had embraced the singer.
The 22-year-old was the uncontested man of the evening, collecting five trophies, including male R&B artist, video of the year and collaboration for ‘Look at Me Now’ during the telecast, which aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
“All my fans are everything to me” – Brown said while accepting the award for male R&B artist. “I know it’s been a long road. I just appreciate every blessing that’s been put in front of me.”
Later, he delivered a dance-heavy medley of tracks from ‘F.A.M.E.,’ his first No. 1 album, and performed alongside buzzy up-and-coming rapper Big Sean. He even chided his own lack of poise when it comes to public speaking, something the audience got a laugh out of, given his meltdown on ‘Good Morning America’ in March.
Although Brown’s appearance made for the rather awkward question of seating arrangements in case Rihanna would make an appearance – she didn’t, despite winning for female R&B artist – their names did cross paths thanks to a major snafu.
As a fan presented the Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award, Brown’s name was called as the winner (the show used tablet computers instead of traditional envelopes to reveal who had won), but then it was quickly changed to Rihanna.
“Well, this is awkward” – said Drake, who emerged from backstage to accept on behalf of the absent singer for their hit ‘What’s My Name,’ amid gasps and muttering from the confused audience.

Chris Brown.

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Bond star Daniel Craig has wed Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz, Craig’s publicist has confirmed.
Craig (43), the sixth actor to play the coveted secret agent role, is reported to have wed Weisz (41) at a private ceremony in New York.
Weisz won best supporting actress at the Academy Awards in 2006, for ‘The Constant Gardener’.
The British stars, who play a married couple in forthcoming film ‘Dream House’, have been dating since December. Publicist Robin Baun, representing the James Bond actor, confirmed the pair had married, but did not offer any details.
Craig, whose revamped portrayal of James Bond in 2006′s ‘Casino Royale’, was critically acclaimed, will to make his third outing as 007 in October 2012.
He came to public attention with roles in ‘Layer Cake’, ‘The Mother’ and ‘Enduring Love’.
He is due to star in the Hollywood remake of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’, which will be released later this year.
Weisz, whose films include ‘The Mummy’, ‘About A Boy’ and ‘The Lovely Bones’, was previously married to ‘Black Swan’ director Darren Aronofsky, with whom she has a five-year-old son Henry.
Craig has one daughter (Ella) from his previous marriage to Fiona Loudon, which ended in 1994.

Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig.

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After weeks and weeks of speculation and predictions about the direction of the 2011 NBA Draft, the night was kicked off with a three-team trade involving the Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats and Sacramento Kings and, from there, the activity was non-stop.
Without the star power and fanfare of the past few drafts, this year’s draft still packed some punch late in the first round and into the second. Despite a lack of clear-cut winners like the Wizards (John Wall), Clippers (Blake Griffin) and Bulls (Derrick Rose) over the past three drafts, respectively, some fared better than others on Thursday night. Here is a look at the winners in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Cleveland Cavaliers. Clearly the biggest losers in free agency last summer, when hometown hero (turned Judas) LeBron James bolted for greener pastures on South Beach, the Cavalier rebounded in a big way on draft night.
The selection of Kyrie Irving, arguably the best player in the country prior to a toe injury that relegated him to just three games beyond December 1, was a safe, but solid, use of the first overall pick. Irving stepped into a Duke program that returned seniors Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler – both of whom were picked after Irving on Thursday night – and quickly became the leader of, and best player on, what looked like the best team in college basketball last season.
With the fourth pick, Cleveland took 20-year old Tristan Thompson from the University of Texas. The 6-8 power forward is has a ton of potential, particularly on the defensive end of the floor. A terrific shot-block and offensive rebounder, Thompson struggled with inconsistency in his only season in Austin, but is an athletic big who should complement Irving for years to come.
Irving was widely considered the best player in this draft and Thompson, while still raw as a basketball player, gives consistent effort and energy. The duo of one-and-done players gives the Cleveland fan base something to be excited about moving forward and the Cavaliers front office a pair of young, talented players around whom they can build around.

NBA Draft logo.

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Yokohama, Japan – Nissan is forecasting a 15.4 percent drop in profit for the fiscal year through March 2012 because of production disruptions from the March earthquake and an unfavorable exchange rate.
But the Japanese automaker is expecting to sell more cars around the world, despite the disaster in northeastern Japan that battered production earlier this year at 4.6 million vehicles, up 9.9 percent on year – underscoring Nissan (NSANY – news – people )’s resilience.
Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Thursday that Nissan hopes to boost market share in the U.S. from the current 9 percent to 10 percent, seeing that as “a milestone.” He acknowledged that won’t be reached this fiscal year because of supply shortages caused by the disaster, but Nissan had been almost there when the magnitude 9.0 quake struck on March 11.
He also said that the company’s six-year plan, to be disclosed Monday, will show strong growth for the years ahead, not only in emerging markets but also in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe.
Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s No. 2 automaker after Toyota Motor Corp. (TM – news – people), said Thursday that its profit will drop to 270 billion yen (3.4 billion dollars) for the fiscal year through March 2012 from 319 billion yen the previous fiscal year.
Sales are expected to edge up 7.1 percent to 9.4 trillion yen (117.5 billion dollars).

Earthquake in Japan.

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