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Colombo, June 14  Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka said Thursday that he aimed to topple the government and create a new political culture, ruling out any possibility of working with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Speaking at the first press conference since his conditional release from jail May 12, Fonseka was upbeat about his role and insisted that he would work with a common opposition to defeat the government, Xinhua reported.

"There is a corrupt government and a corrupt political culture so we have to first get rid of the corrupt government. If we want to benefit from the new political culture I am talking about, we will have to topple the government and then we have to come into power and implement this new political culture," he said.

Talking to the media, he also categorically ruled out joining the government or working with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as he said the president "could not be trusted". He called on the opposition to unite and accept a leader that will be picked by the people.

Though under the conditions of Fonseka's release he cannot contest in an election for seven years, he said that with people's support he would be able to overcome this hurdle.

The relationship between Fonseka and the government became strained after he retired from the military in late 2009 and announced his candidature for the presidential election.

Fonseka contested as the leader of an opposition coalition but lost the election. He was later arrested and jailed over various charges, including illegal arms deals, harbouring army deserters and making allegations to the media that soldiers had shot unarmed rebel cadres.

Fonseka was freed from prison last month on a presidential pardon but still faces trial in a case involving harbouring of army deserters.

She's half human, half vampire, and entirely adorable -- in a stoic, bloodthirsty sort of way. Bella and Edward's first offspring Renesmee has been revealed as she makes her big screen debut -- in a talking role -- in "Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2" (in theaters November 16).

Renesmee, seen peeking through in this photo released by Entertainment Weekly, is played by 11-year-old Mackenzie Foy -- and yes, she has grown up quite quickly since she was born in "Part 1." (To be fair, Foy did make a brief appearance as Renesmee in "Part 1" during a flash forward scene depicting the thoughts of Jacob -- played by Taylor Lautner.)

Comedian Jerry Lewis had a serious health scare. The funnyman was apparently rushed to the hospital just before he was to present Tom Cruise with a legendary Friars Club award.

The New York Post reports that the 86-year-old collapsed from low blood sugar before he was about to go onstage at Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria. The publication added that a Friars Club official informed the audience that Lewis had fallen ill shortly before the event and had been taken to the hospital, but was expected to recover.


According to the Post, the showman was believed to have been released from the hospital and was resting at a Manhattan hotel.

The Friars Club show did go on, hosted by Alec Baldwin. Cruise, who had brought son Connor and daughter Suri to the event, was presented with the legendary Entertainment Icon Award, which has been given to only three others: Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, and Douglas Fairbanks.

The 49-year-old's "Jerry Maguire" co-star Cuba Gooding Jr. and NBC's Matt Lauer stepped in to present the award to the "Rock of Ages" star.


Lewis himself had been scheduled to receive the Applause Award.

Cruise reportedly told the crowd, "I am sorry Jerry couldn't be here tonight." He added, "but I know he is going to be fine."

A spokesperson for Jerry Lewis declined to give a statement.

What's the first thing you do when you wrap the most popular television show on the planet? You sign on to play an evil corporate head in a big budget Hollywood remake. That's what you do.

Hugh Laurie, 53, has just agreed to play the CEO of Omni Corp in the remake of 1987's "RoboCop."And while audiences are well accustomed to Laurie playing a grump, they may be surprised to see him as someone who is evil-to-the-core.

First played by Oscar-nominated Irish actor Daniel O'Herlihy, the evil CEO role will yet again belong to a U.K.-born actor. (Laurie is from Oxford, England.)

Laurie's long-running television show "House," also the name of his dark-yet-brilliant lead character, ended in May. The show, watched by 81.8 million people in 66 countries, becoming the most-watched television program in the world in 2008, won five Emmys during its eight-year run and earned Laurie two Golden Globes, two SAG awards, and other awards except for an Emmy for his performance. (Perhaps he will finally pick up his Emmy this year -- this is his one last chance!)


"RoboCop" is due in theaters next year and has an approximate budget of $100 million.

The role of the infamous cyborg RoboCop, first made famous by Peter Weller in the film franchise that endured through the early '90s and even spawned a television series, will be played by Swedish-born actor Joel Kinnaman -- who currently stars in AMC's "The Killing."


Oscar-nominated actors Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson have also signed on to the film as has Abbie Cornish. Oldman plays the scientist who creates RoboCop, Norton, Jackson plays a media mogul (we hear he's a good guy) and Cornish plays Norton's wife.

Laurie also stars in war drama "Mr. Pip," based on a best-selling novel of the same name. Its release date is not yet determined.

Surprising absolutely no one, it seems that Apple's social music network Ping doesn't have the userbase that it needs in order to push onward. Therefore — according to AllThingsD — the company will officially kill Ping in the next official iTunes release.

Apple officially unveiled Ping on September 1, 2010 as a major feature of the then-brand-new iTunes 10. The pseudo social network was designed as a way for fans to keep track of the comings and goings of their favorite music makers, while sharing the tunes they love with other Ping users. At first, music lovers seemed enthusiastic about Ping, and in order to drum up support, the company had several high-profile artists — including Lady Gaga and Chris Martin of Coldplay — hop on board early.

Unfortunately, nothing could save Ping from eventually being a "me too" social network, with nearly all of its features easily replicated on already established social hotspots. Now that Apple is officially partnered up with both Facebook and Twitter, there seems to be no room in the company's portfolio to maintain it.

If you're a devote Ping user, you may take some comfort in the fact that the next major iTunes update probably won't take place until this coming fall, so you'll have at least a few more months to say goodbye.