Jessica Simpson Dumped by Tony Romo

Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson at the AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods at the Congressional Country Club on July 1, 2009 in Bethesda, MD. NewscomUs Magazine Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo have called it quits, Usmagazine.com has confirmed.

A source close to Simpson confirms they broke up the night before her 29th birthday July 10. She was supposed to celebrate with a Ken and Barbie-themed party. (On Simpson's birthday, Romo spent the night at Los Angeles hot spot My House.)

"She canceled her party because of this," the source tells Us. "She's doing OK."
"Barbie party didn't happen, but I turned 29 and feel like I am on top of the world yelling I LOVE GETTING OLDER!" she wrote on her Twitter page Saturday.

Later, she wrote: "Everyone needs to know that hope floats...grab the strings and pull it back to you... Falling asleep with my mom and the dogs. Please, Lord, give all of my beautiful fans, friends, enemies, and family rest. Bring all of us peace."

A close friend of Romo's tells Us of the split: "It's been a long time coming."

Still, another source tells Us the volatile couple could always get back together. "They go from one fight right into another, without a second break," the source tells Us. "It's always something with Jessica."

Simpson's rep had no comment.

Simpson - who turned 29 July 10 - began dating Romo, 29, in November 2007 -- around the two-year anniversary of her split with Nick Lachey (who, incidentally, recently split with his girlfriend Vanessa Minnillo).

Look back at Jessica Simpson's most unforgettable moments

Simpson said she was watching a Cowboys game with her family when a segment on the quarterback aired, during which he said Simpson was his celebrity dream crush.
"My family was like, 'Did you just hear that?'" Simpson told the June 2008 issue of Glamour. "His picture came up, and I'm like, 'He's really cute.' Then I heard [that I was his crush], and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh!'"

See photos of more celebs who have landed their crushes

They later met after a pal introduced Romo to her dad, Joe. Simpson said she and Romo then began flirting "over e-mail and on the phone."
On their first date, Simpson told Glamour, "I had butterflies that you would not imagine. I wanted to puke in the cup holder ... It took me forever to put together an outfit!"

See Jessica Simpson's style hits -- and misses!

He tried to kiss her on their first date. "I was taken aback....
"The fact that this guy, on our first date, in the first 10 minutes of dinner, wanted to lean over the table and say, 'This is my girl, and I want to kiss her' -- our first kiss in front of everybody -- was awesome," she recalled to Glamour.
During their relationship, Simpson credited Romo with helping her change as a person.
"He reintroduced me to myself," Simpson told Glamour. "I thought that I had to be deeper, more profound and more artsy. You change with the guys you date."

See every single Us Weekly cover Jessica Simpson has appeared on

"Tony taught me that because he loves me [as me]. He made me feel comfortable [being myself] again," she said.
(She even dedicated the tune "You're My Sunday" to the football star while recently touring.)

See Jessica Simpson and other stars who've engaged in major PDA!

Despite professing her love for Romo, their relationship underwent its share of scrutiny.
Last year Simpson was nicknamed "Yoko Romo" by Cowboys fans who thought she was bad luck to Romo's football performance. Appearing on the Late Show With David Letterman, she even joked that she'll never again wear her pink No.9 jersey to games.

Look back at Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's cheesiest moments

Simpson - who the subject of much debate after she showed off a fuller figure earlier this year - told this June's Vanity Fair that they didn't let the criticism get to them.

Look back at the many loves of Jessica and Ashlee Simpson

"We don't let it affect our relationship," she said. "If we did, we wouldn't be together, because it happened at the very beginning. Dating the Cowboys quarterback comes with hype, the fans, the bloggers, but I've never dated a guy that was more simple. I'm always there for him after a game, and he knows he has me to come home to."

Asian stocks extend losses amid economic jitters

Asian stocks extend losses as investors can't shake economic jitters; Tokyo drops 2.1 percent

Asian markets extended their slide Monday as confidence about a quick economic recovery continued to wane.

All of the region's major markets lost ground, with Japan's index headed for its ninth straight loss amid reports the prime minister had decided to dissolve parliament and call general elections. Oil prices resumed their two week sell-off to trade near $59 a barrel.

Renewed anxiety about the pace of recovery in the world economy has kept stocks from rallying further after huge gains between March and June.

Investors are now looking to second-quarter corporate earnings and profit outlooks for the year, to be issued in the coming weeks, for guidance about the economy's prospects.

Unless corporate profits and major economies show more evidence of healing, markets could be hard pressed to move higher for now.

"Most people are fairly cautious, they think it's been a bit too much too soon," said Daniel McCormack, a strategist for Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong. "If economic data doesn't keep improving we could continue to drift off from here."

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average dropped 191.68 points, or 2.1 percent, to 9,095.60. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 364.71, or 2.1 percent, to 17,343.71, while South Korea's Kospi dived 3.2 percent to 1,382.45.

Elsewhere, Taiwan's market tumbled 3.5 percent, Australia's index lost 1.3 percent and India's benchmark was down 1.4 percent.

Trade on Wall Street Friday was uninspiring amid jitters about earnings season and as a survey showed U.S. consumer confidence falling to its lowest level since March.

The Dow fell 36.65, or 0.5 percent, to 8,146.52, the lowest close for the blue chips since April 28.
The broader S&P 500 index lost 3.55, or 0.4 percent, to 879.13, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 3.48, or 0.2 percent, to 1,756.03.

Wall Street futures pointed to more losses on Monday. Dow futures were down 55, or 0.7 percent, at 8,030 and S&P futures fell 7.4, or 0.9 percent, at 866.90.

Oil prices dived in Asia trade, with benchmark crude for August delivery down 71 cents to $59.18 a barrel. The contract fell 52 cents to settle at $59.89.

The dollar was flat at 92.43, while the euro traded slightly lower at $1.3920 from $1.3944.

'Bruno' sashays to box-office fame with $30.4M (AP)

Gay Austrian fashion devotee Bruno has landed the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office, though it's uncertain how much staying power he has.

Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" started big on opening day Friday but had a huge drop the rest of the weekend, with the Universal Pictures mock documentary finishing with $30.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The movie took in nearly half of its weekend total — $14.4 million — on Friday, then tumbled with just $8.8 million Saturday and an estimated $7.2 million Sunday.

Revenues for hit movies typically go up on Saturday, so the nosedive for "Bruno" could be a sign that it lacks the shelf life that made Baron Cohen's "Borat" a $100 million smash.

"It is unusual for a film to drop on Saturday. Normally, you expect the film at least to be even on Saturday or above compared to Friday, because Saturday is the biggest moviegoing day of the weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It's going to be interesting to see how it does over the long run."

"Bruno," which features Baron Cohen as a wannabe going to extremes to achieve celebrity, finished ahead of 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which took second with $28.5 million. The "Ice Age" sequel raised its domestic total to $120.6 million.

Finishing third after two weekends in the No. 1 spot was Paramount's sci-fi blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with $24.2 million, raising its domestic haul to $339.2 million. The sequel passed the $319 million total of 2007's "Transformers."

The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy "I Love You, Beth

Cooper" opened weakly with $5 million, finishing at No. 7. The movie centers on a high school valedictorian who uses his graduation speech to declare his love for a bombshell classmate (Hayden Panettiere).

"Bruno" outpaced the $26.5 million opening weekend for Baron Cohen's surprise 2006 hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." "Borat" started with $9.2 million on opening day Friday then climbed to $10.1 million Saturday, a sign that fans were talking it up to friends.

That good word-of-mouth propelled "Borat" to a long run at theaters, the movie climbing to a $128.5 million domestic total.

"Borat" also scored its big opening weekend in far fewer theaters. "Bruno debuted in 2,756 cinemas, more than three times the number for "Borat."

Nikki Rocco, head of distribution at Universal, said comedies such as "Bruno" typically drop off over opening weekend this time of year, while "Borat" opened in November, when audiences are less fickle than summer crowds.

The studio will have to wait until next weekend for a sense of how well "Bruno" can hold up for the long haul.

"I don't know. That crystal ball just isn't on my desk this morning," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Zany comedies tend to be like that, so I'm hoping that in the scheme of things, it just plays out the way zany comedies will play out."

Reviews on "Bruno" were not as strong as those for "Borat," which critics generally liked. There also had been questions about whether Baron Cohen's flamboyantly gay persona might prove off-putting to audiences.

"Bruno" did most of its business in cities on the East and West coasts, while revenues were "softer, much softer in middle America," Rocco said.

Even if revenues continue to plunge, "Bruno" is well on its way to turning a profit for Universal, which paid $42.5 million for rights to distribute it domestically and in eight other territories. "Bruno" took in $25 million in overseas markets so far, including $20 million in those Universal acquired, among them Great Britain, Australia and Germany.

Modi Wiczyk — co-chief executive officer of Media Rights Capital, which financed "Bruno" — said the movie exceeded the company's expectations. Wiczyk said he had anticipated "Bruno" would finish in the range of $25 million domestically for the weekend.

"We don't have talking robots or karate in our film," Wiczyk said. "For that increasingly small subset of films that don't have robots, we did terrific."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Bruno," $30.4 million.
2. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $28.5 million.
3. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $24.2 million.
4. "Public Enemies," $14.1 million.
5. "The Proposal," $10.5 million.
6. "The Hangover," $9.9 million.
7. "I Love You, Beth Cooper," $5 million.
8. "Up," $4.7 million.
9. "My Sister's Keeper," $4.2 million.
10. "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," $1.6 million.

How much water do you really need?

Drink water. Drink more water. Drink water before and after you exercise. Sure, I'd heard all of that advice a million times but somehow, when I did my first distance triathlon in the heat of the competition, I forgot all about what I’d read in EatingWell Magazine’s article “Eat to Win” about what to eat and drink while you exercise. I mean, it was sweltering out there. It was a dry hot day on a sunny course. I was doing better than I ever expected. Felt great, in fact. So why stop at the water stops? Why let someone pass me?

Then, as I started to get toward the end of the race, my body slowed down. My mind slowed down. I felt lethargic. I lost five places in the last mile. But after I crossed the finish line, the really weird things started to happen: I couldn't find my bike. Or my car. Or my friends. In fact, I couldn't remember much, to the point where I forgot that I had finished the race and went to start the bike leg again. Finally, a friend said, "You're dehydrated," a fact confirmed later in the medical tent.

Ever since then, I've become religious about drinking water before, during and after exercise. (Should you drink bottled water or tap water?) Drinking water or other fluids (I like to drink flavored, low-cal drinks) consistently through your day allows the water to get to all the organs that need it—including your muscles and your brain—while you’re still resting. So, basically, you’re just setting yourself up to start off on the right foot when you are ready to exercise. (It’s important to eat too. Try these 3 on-the-go power breakfast recipes to fuel your day.)

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) suggests sipping an additional 17 to 20 ounces of water 2 hours before you exercise. But in 1 hour of exercise, the body can lose more than a quart of water—especially when it’s hot, like it was the day of my race. So it’s important to drink while you’re exercising too: 7 to 10 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes.

More isn’t better: Too much water can make you sick, a condition called hypernutremia where you essentially waterlog your system. So can going too long without replenishing electrolytes, such as sodium. So if you’re working out hard for more than 45 to 60 minutes, you’ll want to choose a sports drink or consume a food that contains some sodium (e.g., pretzels) with your water. (As for eating, check out these 4 natural fuel foods.)

And it’s not always easy to drink on the run, or the ride, so once you finish exercising you’ll want to replenish the fluids you’ve lost by drinking more. ACE suggests weighing yourself before, and after, exercise to see how much “water weight” you’ve lost. You should sip 16 to 24 ounces of fluids for every pound you’re lighter. No scale? Drink until your urine is a pale yellow.

Fighter's inexplicable actions

So Brock Lesnar, in the parlance of pro wrestling, had gone straight heel.

After bludgeoning Frank Mir to retain the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight championship at the hyped UFC 100, the former pro wrestling star decided to put on a real show.

Lesnar ran around the octagon flipping off the Mandalay Bay Events Center crowd with both middle fingers. He shouted at Mir as the challenger sat on a stool trying to regain his equilibrium. Mir stood up and they went sort of nose-to-broken nose before Lesnar cackled with laughter.
In the post-fight interview, Lesnar encouraged the booing fans to “keep going” before continuing to taunt Mir.

No one and nothing was spared. Lesnar even turned his attention to the UFC itself, which paid him an estimated $3 million for the fight, pointing at the giant Bud Light advertisement in the middle of the octagon.

“I’m drinking a cooler full of Coors Light, Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me anything.”
Anything for the children at home, big guy?

“Hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”

With his clown-show antics, Brock Lesnar just became the greatest villain in modern fighting. From refusing to tap gloves prefight in a sportsmanlike ritual to this over-the-top rant that came right out of the silly wrestling circus.

“Straight WWE,” said a stunned Dana White, the president of the UFC. “Brock went so far over the top tonight I can’t even describe it. I don’t think in the history of the UFC we’ve ever done anything like that.”

Postfight, White pushed his way into Lesnar’s crowded locker room and took the big guy into the bathroom for a private “discussion.” Lesnar himself described it as “a whip-the-dog session.”
“With women in here you don’t want to know what I said,” White said. It worked, Brock showed up at the press conference smiling, supposedly contrite and even drinking a Bud Light.

ADVERTISEMENT “First and foremost I want to apologize,” Lesnar said. “I acted very unprofessionally after the fight. I screwed up and I apologize. I apologize to Bud Light. I’m not biased, I drink any beer.”

It was mostly a chance for laugh lines, but it was still an apology. Lesnar said the pent-up energy of avenging a loss to Mir caused him to go crazy. “I’m a sore loser,” he said. “I don’t like to get beat. I believe I gave that fight to him. So there was a lot of emotion in this fight for me.
“Man, I was so jacked up. I’m used to selling pay-per-view tickets. I come from a business that is purely the entertainment business.”

And so that was the excuse. Lesnar didn’t flip, he just flipped the switch back into Vince McMahon’s operation where nothing is too over the top. The UFC, however, is real and it has tried to position itself not as a blood sport but one based on sportsmanship and mutual respect.
Lesnar did the UFC no favors in that regard. And neither did veteran Dan Henderson, who dropped a vicious forearm smash on an already knocked out and prone Michael Bisping on the undercard. Henderson then admitted he did it on purpose to avenge prefight trash talk. The UFC even went on to award him its $100,000 “knockout of the night” bonus. White also gave Henderson a talking to, but Henderson still said it “felt good.”

The damage done to the UFC’s mainstream momentum remains to be seen. While some will be repulsed, others will be drawn in. It’s cage fighting, after all. Things get out of hand.

That this occurred on the promotion’s biggest night, when the numerical significance of the card was expected to bring in a large first-time audience, wasn’t appreciated by the UFC. The night was electric and highly entertaining. And while it is likely to most offend people who weren’t disposed to giving mixed martial arts a chance in the first place, White was aghast at Lesnar’s act. This isn’t what he built. This isn’t what he wanted.

“What he’s doing out there tonight is not real,” White said. “You don’t have to act like something you’re not. This isn’t the WWE. I don’t ask these guys to act crazy so we get more pay per views. That’s not the business I’m in.”

In the meantime, the cementing of Lesnar’s reputation as the promotion’s most hated man is done.

“Brock hasn’t made himself very loveable,” White said. “They hate Brock.” For the UFC, a classic villain is business gold. He’s the ultimate leading man for the organization. Some loathe him. Some love him. No one can ignore him. For those seeking his comeuppance however, there isn’t a WWE storyline that can be written to stop him.

Lost in the antics was Lesnar’s performance, a brilliant effort that showed both his growth as a mixed martial artist and the immense potential. The question becomes, who the heck can tame this mountain of a man from the Minnesota woods?

Shane Carwin? Cain Velasquez? Mir in a final chapter of a trilogy of fights? No doubt they’ll get a chance, and no doubt they stand a chance.

The greatest beneficiary of each Lesnar snarl, however, lives in Stary Oskol, Russia, a man named Fedor Emelianenko who is considered the No. 1 heavyweight (if not pound-for-pound fighter) in the world. If anyone has the knockout power to stop the 6-3, 265-pound Lesnar, it’s Emelianenko.

Fedor doesn’t fight in the UFC though. He’s with its rival promotion, Affliction. He’ll fight Aug. 1 in Anaheim, Calif., in what is the last match of his contract. Affliction is hoping to re-sign him until 2012, but the UFC will come hard after him. More now then ever. And that means money, big money.

“Eventually Fedor is going to be here,” White said. “I want Fedor. We’ll end up getting that deal done and then we’ll do Brock vs. Fedor and we’ll do a huge fight.”

Time will tell, but the pressure to sign the elusive Russian has been ratcheted up. A villain was born and there isn’t an obvious superhero in sight. The UFC brought Brock Lesnar over from the WWE for just this kind of a sensation. And the big man has delivered – the good, the bad and the embarrassing.

Only Dana White has no scriptwriters that can contain him.

Obama, other G-8 leaders expand Italian summit

President Barack Obama is in Italy, midway through the three-day G-8 economic summit that is heavily focused on climate change and world trade.

His round of meetings today begins with one-on-one talks with the president of Brazil. Then Obama and leaders of the seven other richest developed nations broaden their talks to include the leaders of five additional countries: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and Egypt.

Later there's to be a working lunch that will draw in even more points of view, including representatives of a half-dozen international organizations, among them the U.N., the World Bank and the International Energy Agency.

Tonight the leaders attend a working dinner hosted by Italy's president.

Oil pauses above $60 amid weak US gasoline demand

Oil prices paused above $60 in Asia on Thursday after dropping 17 percent since last week as rising U.S. gasoline inventories suggested crude demand remains weak.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 48 cents to $60.62 a barrel at midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell more than 4 percent, or $2.79, to settle at $60.14.

Prices have dropped from an eight-month intraday high of $73.38 a barrel on June 30 on evidence that U.S. drivers, who typically hit the road more during the Independence Day holiday last week, are staying home in droves this summer.

The Department of Energy reported Wednesday that gasoline in storage grew by another 1.9 million barrels last week, the fifth straight week that stocks have grown.

"That's not a good sign," said Clarence Chu, a trader at market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. "It shows demand for gasoline hasn't picked up like it normally does this time of year."

Other signals recently that the global economy and crude demand isn't recovering strongly from a severe slowdown have also helped undermine investor confidence. On Wednesday, The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted that demand for crude has fallen so sharply, it will take another four years to recover to 2008 levels.

Last week, the unemployment rates in the U.S. and Europe rose to the highest in decades.
"There's been a string of bad news," Chu said. "The fundamentals didn't support the price at $70 in the first place."

"The momentum will likely take us into the $50s."

In other Nymex trading, gasoline for August delivery rose 1.4 cents to $1.65 a gallon and heating oil gained 0.94 cent to $1.55. Natural gas for August delivery jumped 3.6 cents to $3.39 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent prices rose 57 cents to $61 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.