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Is she or isn't she? Smoking Kate Moss's mystery bump 

She insists she isn't pregnant, and the cigarette in her right hand would appear to confirm that fact.

But the way she was rubbing what appeared to be a bump beneath her baggy top did nothing to dispel rumours that Kate Moss is, indeed, expecting her second child.

The 34-year-old model is on a break in Thailand with boyfriend Jamie Hince and six-year-old daughter Lila Grace.

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Lives To Remember: Iris Bouchard * 1932-2008  

Last April four of Iris Bouchard's children stood bunched together in a spare bedroom in their mother's Bethesda home staring at stacks of it: loose pages on the desk and bookshelves, manila folders poking out of an overstuffed filing cabinet, rows of letters in wooden clementine boxes in the closet. Bouchard had died just days ago, and her sons, Stephen and Ed, and daughters, Charlie and Ellie, had come to sort through the remains of her business, the Inter-American Employment Agency. For 35 years, until Bouchard stopped working around 2004, the company placed chauffeurs, maids, butlers and other household help in the homes of the Washington elite.

Bouchard had a thing for flamboyance -- furs, jewelry, one hat that closely resembled a strawberry shortcake -- but the walls of her home office were bare. She had died of emphysema, and though she had quit smoking several years before, the smell of cigarettes still hung in the air.

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Diaz has same New Year resolutions every year 

Hollywood actress Cameron Diaz has the same three New Year resolutions every year.According to mirror.co.uk, Diaz said every year she resolves to "stop smoking, start wearing a bra and stop shopping".

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• Gotcha! Salma Hayek, more star smokers try to hide the habit 

Whatcha got there, Salma Hayek?

The "Ugly Betty" star is the latest closet celebrity smoker to be exposed after she was spotted puffing away on American Spirits this weekend in Beverly Hills alongside her 1-year-old daughter, Valentina. . . .

Hayek told Marie Claire last year that she got hooked on cigarettes while filming "Frida" - and subsequently quit last April.

"It's the s---iest vice you could possibly pick," she said. "I've tried to quit before. But this time I'm done with it. I've changed." . . .

"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker was desperate to keep her habit a secret after she was caught in the act while vacationing in Puerto Rico earlier this month. . . .

But why all the secrecy?

"It's so taboo," says Antonia Russo, a Manhattan image consultant who specializes in advising performing artists.

Not only does does the habit work against Hollywood's health conscious image, she says, but it's counterintuitive to being a role model for teens.

"There's definitely a concept of 'people who smoke just don't care about themselves' or they're socially irresponsible," she says. As a role model, "you wouldn't want to be a part of that."

Onetime closet smoker Britney Spears now openly flaunts her Marlboro Lights . . .

"A lot of celebrities smoke - a lot," he said. "Young Hollywood is still a big smoker. The [anti-smoking] campaign has no effect on them."

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Merle Haggard beats lung cancer, but craves pot 

Merle Haggard is not letting a bout with lung cancer get in the way of his ambitious touring and recording plans.

Seven weeks after the 71-year-old country legend had a lemon-sized tumor removed in what he calls "the greatest test of my fortitude," he said on Wednesday that he expects to work harder in 2009 than he has in 20 years.

Haggard says he is singing better now that he is in the throes of kicking his daily marijuana habit. . . .

They will be the first shows of his life where he has not loosened up before with either tobacco or marijuana, he said. "So it's gonna be interesting as to what kind of a show comes out of this body that's used to performing the other way."

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The Neediest Cases - Harlem Man, 79, Rebuilds His Life After Thieves Clean Him Out  

Mr. Ford was referring to the loss -- he calls it a burglary, but admits he does not know what really happened -- of almost all his belongings while he was in the hospital last year for complications from gout and high blood pressure. . . .

While he was in the hospital, Mr. Ford said, he kicked cigarettes, which he had smoked since age 14. But faced with the stress of pulling his life together, he resumed smoking, and is back up to half a pack of Newports a day. . . .

He leaned forward on his cane and took stock of what he called “my world.” His hallway and apartment has the institutional look of most projects in the city, but the elevators usually work, and he has views of Harlem, including City College in the distance. Mr. Ford said he regretted not having children, and regretted resuming smoking.

“That’s next,” he said, “quitting the cigarettes.”

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Salma Hayek Loves Cigarette Smoking 

Salma Hayek continues her bad habit and puffs away at her cancer stick while out and about with her her daughter Valentina, 15 months, in Los Angeles on Friday (December 27).

The 42-year-old actress whipped out her cigarette after shopping up a storm at the Neiman Marcus department store. Salma’s mother, Diana Jiminez, looked after little Valentina during the actress’s smoke break.

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Salma Hayek: Smokin' Hot  

And from the looks of it, the "Desperado" actress had a little holiday stress to deal with, as she fumbled around for a lighter to light the cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

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Ain't life a drag, Simon? Cowell enjoys cigarette without taking a break from his jet-skiing 

Simon Cowell shows he can handle a jet-ski as well as his stable of pop stars as he enjoys a cigarette in Barbados.

The wealthy X Factor mogul is a heavy smoker and when the craving bites, he doesn't let a little business like speeding about the Caribbean bother him.

He simply sparked up and drove one-handed

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Blagojevich Case Used by Republican-Allied Foes of Labor Bill  

The 30-second television spot opens with a picture of Chicago’s skyline and a mug shot of an allegedly corrupt governor. . . .

The aim isn’t mere union bashing. The larger goal behind the ad campaign is to derail controversial legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize, the so-called card-check proposal.

“We will keep hammering on this,” said lobbyist Richard Berman, referring to the Blagojevich scandal. He heads Center for Union Facts, a Washington-based group that ran a full-page ad in the New York Times last week that sought to discredit the card- check measure by connecting the Illinois governor and SEIU. . . .

Berman primarily donates to Republican candidates and has run similar types of campaigns to defend his lobbying clients in the food, tobacco, beverage and restaurant industries.

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Leader of Guinea For 24 Years Dies 

President Lansana Conté of Guinea died after an illness, Prime Minister Ahmed Tidiane Souare said early Tuesday.

Mr. Conté, a chain-smoking and reclusive diabetic who was in his 70s, had governed the country since 1984, when he seized power after the country’s first president, Sékou Touré, died in a hospital in the United States.

The government said Mr. Conté had died after a long illness.

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Six Seconds With…Rocco DiSpirito 

If you were mayor, what would you change? I'd make every vehicle a hybrid. Theater would be free on Monday nights. I'd oversee the school lunch programs and allow cigar smoking in the city.

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Catching Up With Princess Leia  

"She wants the lights dimmed," said the manager of the Barnes & Noble on West 66th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. And the lectern? "She doesn't want that, either."

And so it was done.

At 8 p.m. on a recent evening, Carrie Fisher, dressed head to toe in black, perched on a stool in front of more than 200 fans. Just moments earlier, the audience had emitted a collective groan when told that copies of her new memoir, "Wishful Drinking," an adaptation of her one-woman show, would be pre-signed. Sadly, there would be no one-on-one with the actress who achieved icon status as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" films. . . .

Forty-five minutes later Ms. Fisher was outside, smoking a Marlboro Light and chatting with Abe Gurko, her old assistant

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Obituaries - Julius Fast, 89, Mystery Writer Who Also Wrote Books on Body Language and the Beatles, Is Dead  

Julius Fast, who won the first Edgar Award given by the Mystery Writers of America and went on to publish popular books on body language, the Beatles and human relationships, died on Tuesday in Kingston, N.Y. He was 89.

His death was confirmed by his daughter Jennifer Fast Gelfand. He had lived in Manhattan until suffering a stroke a year and a half ago. . . .

He also wrote books on how to quit smoking, how men and women can overcome their incompatibilities and the meaning of new research on Omega-3 fatty acids.

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Whistle blower Jeffrey Wigand still battling tobacco industry  

A dozen years after Jeffrey Wigand blew the whistle on the tobacco industry, he's still on fire about smoking and the companies that promote it.

Wigand was a tobacco company researcher who revealed industry deceptions and practices that get people hooked. His story inspired the 1999 movie "The Insider" starring Russell Crowe.

Wigand today runs Smoke-Free Kids Inc., a foundation that puts on educational programs in schools. He was in Cleveland last Tuesday to receive the "Rescuer of Humanity Award" from Project Love, a local nonprofit that promotes kindness among kids. A few hours before the awards ceremony, Wigand sat in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel & Conference Center Cleveland, armed with statistics about smoking in Ohio, to talk with us.

This conversation has been edited and condensed.

What are you doing these days?

I spend 182 days a year in front of school kids.

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