O.J. SIMPSON FAKES PAPARAZZI SHOT To Make Vegas Massacre Reaction Vid

staged a paparazzi run-in with a photog Wednesday night so he could make (and possibly sell) a video commenting on the Vegas massacre. 

O.J Simpson was having dinner at a posh Vegas country club where our photog overheard him planning a TMZ-style video shoot. He was going over the shoot with the people at his table.

When he got to the parking lot, it was lights, camera action and O.J. offered up his "thoughts and prayers" while his friend recorded. 

Our photog fired up his camera to ask some questions, but apparently that really screwed things up. O.J.'s photog tries to run our guy out of the shot, but Simpson realized his plan had been foiled and beelined it for his car.

The situation is almost identical to the paparazzi "run-in" at a Nevada gas station after O.J. was released -- when Simpson acted shocked someone had found him in the middle of the desert, yet still gabbed away. 

It all begs the question ... is O.J. getting paid for the pap shots? How much? And will the money get to the families of the people he killed? And, if Simpson's taking money under the table, that could violate federal tax law and O.J. could go back to the big house.

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Glee actor Mark Salling admits possessing child sex abuse images

Mark Salling (pictured in 2016) starred in the musical series Glee for six years

Former Glee actor Mark Salling has pleaded guilty to possession of images of child sex abuse.

Salling, 35, now faces between four and seven years in prison and has been ordered to pay about $50,000 (£38,000) to each victim.

The actor was arrested in 2015 after a tip off he was in possession of images of children being sexually abused.

Investigators eventually found thousands of images on his laptop and hard drive.

Salling was charged with two counts of receiving and possessing images of child sexual abuse in May 2016, and faced a possible 20 years behind bars.

But documents obtained by several outlets show he has entered into a plea deal with California's district attorney.

As part of the agreement, Salling will be subject to 20 years supervised release and will have strict restrictions placed on his contact with under-18s, according to celebrity website TMZ.

Salling played bad-boy football player Noah "Puck" Puckerman on the hit US show Glee from 2009 to 2015.

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Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson lead all-star King Lear cast

Sir Anthony Hopkins will play King Lear, with Emma Thompson as daughter Goneril

Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson are reuniting on screen to star in Shakespeare's King Lear for the BBC.

It will be adapted and directed by Richard Eyre and will also feature Emily Watson, Jim Broadbent, Christopher Eccleston and Jim Carter.

Filming on the co-production with Amazon Studios starts this month and it will be on BBC Two in 2018.

Sir Anthony and Thompson previously starred in Oscar-nominated films The Remains of the Day and Howard's End.

Thompson and Sir Anthony starred in The Remains of the

King Lear will be set in a fictional version of the present day, with Sir Anthony's Lear presiding over a totalitarian military dictatorship in England.

Thompson will play his eldest daughter Goneril, Emily Watson will play middle daughter Regan, and Florence Pugh will be the youngest, Cordelia.

Richard Eyre directed Emma Thompson in The Children Act

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said: "Richard Eyre has assembled an unmissable cast to embody his vision for a timeless but deeply resonant screen adaptation of King Lear."

Jim Broadbent will play the Earl of Gloucester and Sherlock star Andrew Scott will play his son Edgar.

Downton Abbey's Jim Carter will play the Earl of Kent, with Christopher Eccleston as Oswald.

Also in the cast are Tobias Menzies, Anthony Calf, Karl Johnson and John Macmillan.

Thompson has just filmed another movie with Eyre, The Children Act, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

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Drink-drive rules 'need updating for autonomous car era

Will occupants in self-drive cars be considered as drivers?

Drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs should be exempt from drink-drive laws if they are using autonomous cars, an Australian report has suggested.

The National Transport Commission (NTC) has recommended the change, comparing it to someone getting into a taxi.

Current laws could be a "barrier" to the adoption of such vehicles, it said.

Many countries are considering updates to the laws of the road to accommodate autonomous vehicles.

The NTC has been tasked with looking at the legislative changes necessary as self-drive vehicles become common on Australia's roads.

Such cars have already been trialled in the country, and commercial rollouts are expected by 2020.

A Google self-driving car being tested in California

The report considers many aspects of the law changes necessary to accommodate such vehicles, but one of the key issues it addresses is deciding who would be responsible - the person in the vehicle or the autonomous driving system (ADS) that is operating it.

"The NTC believes that the introduction of automated vehicles will have overall safety benefits for the road network by reducing the risk of human error," the report says.

"Enabling people to use an automated vehicle to drive them home despite having consumed alcohol has the potential to improve road-safety outcomes by reducing the incidence of drink-driving."

It does not recommend drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs be exempt if they are in semi-autonomous vehicles or cars that allow a switch-over to manual driving.

Ben Gardner, an associate at law firm Pinsent Masons, said that the technology had a long way to go before such changes would become necessary.

"The technology is not quite there for full autonomous vehicles and, as long as we require a human to gain control if needed, it would not be right for them to get drunk," he said.

A recent report from Pew Research indicated 87% of US adults favoured policies that would see a person in the driver's seat who could take control of an autonomous vehicle if needed.

And 83% thought such vehicles should travel in dedicated lanes.

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Instagram polls expose voters' 'embarrassing' choices

Instagram added a polling feature on 3 October

Instagram has been criticised after adding a feature to its app that reveals which way people have voted.

Users can add a poll when adding a picture to their Instagram "story", and can see what their followers choose.

Many users said they did not realise their choice would be visible to the poll instigator, and some said they had made embarrassing mistakes.

Instagram said users were warned that their vote would not be anonymous, the first time they engaged with a poll.

People's choices are revealed to the user who instigated the poll

It also announced the feature on its blog, however not every Instagram user will have read it.

Some people said they had cast questionable votes on polls, such as "Do I look cute?" or "Do you like my art?" without realising their choice would be shared.

Rival social network Twitter also lets people create polls, but it does not reveal how people voted.

Instagram said in a statement: "We love how the community is embracing the poll sticker to get their friends and followers' opinions.

"The first time a user sees the poll sticker, they see a notification informing them that the story creator will be able to see how they voted."

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Japan to restore neglected gardens abroad

There are about 500 Japanese gardens around the world, such as this one at the World War Two-era Manzanar internment camp for Japanese-Americans in California

Japan is to send gardening experts around the world to restore Japanese-style gardens that have fallen into a state of neglect, officials say.

The gardens have unique features such as stone bridges, ponds, moss-covered paths, stone lanterns and carefully tended miniature trees.

Local gardeners have been overwhelmed by the task of maintaining them.

There are about 500 Japanese gardens around the world of which 40 are in disrepair, the land ministry said.

They require pruning, new plants and trees, and work on traditional stone lanterns that have fallen over.

Officials say the plan is a way of promoting Japanese culture abroad.

The gardens are used by Japanese groups abroad for tea ceremonies, festivals and other events to introduce people to Japanese culture, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported.

Embassies have asked the government in Tokyo for help to restore the gardens, AFP news agency reported.

The land ministry says it will send a five-person team to rebuild Japanese gardens in Romania and the US state of California later this year.

The ministry also plans to hold lectures and provide manuals to enable local gardeners to maintain the gardens.

The first overseas Japanese garden was created by the Japanese government in 1873 as part of the Vienna World Expo, and the interest it sparked led to more being built.

Further Japanese gardens were created abroad as part of diplomatic initiatives after World War Two.

The gardens measure about 5,000sq m (1.23 acres) each and are present in more than 100 countries, the Asahi Shimbun said.

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Pakistan Sufi shrine: At least 18 killed in Baluchistan

Devotees rushed to help the victims following the blast outside the shrine

At least 18 people have been killed and 27 injured in a suicide attack on a Sufi Muslim shrine in Pakistan's south-western province of Baluchistan.

Crowds of devotees had gathered for a three-day religious ceremony when the blast happened.

The shrine is in Jhal Magsi, near the provincial capital Quetta.

The bomber reportedly detonated his explosives after being stopped at the gate of the shrine by a policeman. The officer was killed.

"The suicide bomber struck outside the shrine at a time when it was packed with people attending anniversary celebrations of Syed Cheesal Shah," said local official Asad Kakar, referring to a Sufi saint.

The police officer's actions in stopping the bomber entering the shrine reduced the number of casualties, Baluchistan home minister Sarfraz Bugti told Reuters.

Security forces have sealed off the building, Pakistani media reported.

It is unclear who carried out the attack, but Sufi shrines have been increasingly targeted by Islamist extremists in recent years.

They view Sufism as heretical.

• Pakistan's Sufis under attack from Islamic hard-liners
• What is Sufism?
• Will Pakistan ever stamp out extremism?

In February at least 80 people were killed in an attack on a shrine in Sehwan in southern Sindh province. So-called Islamic State said it was behind that attack.

Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam which spread throughout the Indian subcontinent in the 13th Century.

Sufis believe in saints who can intercede for them directly with God. Several million Muslims in Pakistan are believed to follow Sufism's tenets.

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