NASA has reported its first setback in its Curiosity rover mission to Mars.
A sensor on the robot’s weather station that takes wind readings has sustained damage.
The mission team stresses this is not a major problem and will merely degrade some measurements – not prevent them.
It is not certain how the damage occurred but engineers suspect surface stones thrown up during Curiosity’s rocket-powered landing may have struck sensor circuits and broken the wiring.
NASA is describing the news as an isolated “disappointment” in what has otherwise been a spectacular start to the mission.
Javier Gomez-Elvira, the principal investigator on the broken instrumentation – the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) – said he was hopeful of finding a good way to get past the issue.
NASA has reported its first setback in its Curiosity rover mission to Mars
“We are working to recover as much functionality as possible,” he told reporters.
Curiosity – also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, MSL – touched down in the equatorial Gale Crater two weeks ago.
It will operate on Mars for at least two Earth years, looking for evidence that the planet may once have had the conditions suitable to host microbial life.
Engineers are close to completing their programme of post-landing check-outs on Curiosity.
This has involved powering up all of the machine’s instruments, and it was during this testing that the problem was found on REMS.
The weather station is a Spanish contribution to the rover project.
It records air and ground temperature, air pressure and humidity, wind speed and direction, as well the amount of ultraviolet radiation falling on the surface.
These parameters are measured from sensors distributed around the rover, but a number are held on two finger-like mini-booms positioned halfway up the vehicle’s camera mast. This is where the wind sensors are located.
The REMS team first noticed there was something wrong when readings from the side-facing boom were being returned saturated at high and low values.
Further investigation suggested small wires exposed on the sensor circuits were open, probably severed. It is permanent damage.
No-one can say for sure how this happened, but engineers are working on the theory that grit thrown on to the rover by the descent crane’s exhaust plume cut the small wires.
The wind sensor on the forward-facing mini-boom is unaffected. With just the one sensor, it makes it difficult to fully understand wind behavior.
“It degrades our ability to detect wind speed and direction when the wind is blowing from a particular direction, but we think we can work around that,” said Curiosity’s deputy project scientist, Ashwin Vasavada.
All the other REMS measurements look good.
Air temperatures in Gale Crater have been up to about minus 2C in the Martian afternoon, and down to minus 75C in the middle of the Martian night.
In general, the rover is in rude health. On Monday, it wiggled its front and back wheels to check its steering capability.
Commands will now be sent up to initiate the first drive.
“We’re going to drive forward a few metres, turn in place about 90 degrees and then back up,” said mission manager Mike Watkins.
“We should make tracks.”
Another major engineering milestone passed this week has been the unpacking of Curiosity’s robotic arm.
It was flexed to exercise its joints. The arm holds a 30 kg tool turret on its end that includes a drill to take powered samples from rocks.
Natalie Wood’s death certificate has been amended to reflect some of the lingering questions surrounding the star’s death in 1981.
Actress Natalie Wood drowned during a boat trip with her husband, TV star Robert Wagner, and actor Christopher Walken. At the time it was ruled to have been an accident.
But police reopened their inquiry last year after receiving new evidence.
The death certificate now says she died as a result of “drowning and other undetermined factors”.
The amended document, obtained by the Associated Press news agency, also says the circumstances of how she ended up in the water are “not clearly established”. The certificate was altered earlier this month.
Natalie Wood's death certificate has been amended to reflect some of the lingering questions surrounding the star's death in 1981
Chief of detectives William McSweeney said the decision was made by the coroner’s office. He added that detectives still had work to do on the case, but that did not necessarily mean a major development was coming.
“We don’t close these cases,” he said.
“These cases have active periods and more passive periods. We’re moving toward the end of an active period.”
Conflicting versions of what happened on the yacht have contributed to the mystery of how the actress died in November 1981.
Natalie Wood had been partying the night before her death, and the coroner’s investigation ruled she had been drinking and may have slipped trying to board the dinghy.
Resuming the investigation last November, the sheriff’s office said: “Recently sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning.”
The move came hours after the captain of the boat, Dennis Davern, told NBC News that he lied to police during the initial investigation and that a fight between Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner had led to her death.
In his book Pieces of My Heart, Robert Wagner acknowledged that there had been a fight with Natalie Wood before she had disappeared, but authorities have said Wagner is not a suspect in his wife’s death.
Natalie Wood’s body was found floating in a Catalina Island cove off the coast of California. Police reports said she was found wearing a long nightgown, socks, and a jacket.
The post-mortem report said Natalie Wood had bruises on her body and arms as well as a facial abrasion on her left cheek.
Robert Wagner’s family said they supported the reopening of the inquiry and trusted the detectives would “evaluate whether any new information relating to the death of Natalie Wood Wagner is valid, and that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death”.
As a child, Natalie Wood featured in films like Miracle on 34th Street and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.
Natalie Wood was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar for her role in Rebel Without a Cause, and for best actress for Splendor in the Grass and Love with the Proper Stranger.
Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, has called for more time to implement tough spending cuts and reforms, ahead of talks on its bailout.
Antonis Samaras told German daily Bild that Greece needed “breathing space”.
He will meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers later, and the French and German leaders later this week.
At issue is whether Greece has done enough to receive its next 31.5 billion-euro bailout payment.
Failure to unlock the funds could lead to Greece defaulting on its vast public debt and possibly leaving the euro.
Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, has called for more time to implement tough spending cuts and reforms, ahead of talks on its bailout
Antonis Samaras is under pressure to show Greece can fulfill its commitment of 11.5 billion euros in public spending cuts within two years in order to qualify for the money.
At the talks with Jean-Claude Juncker, he is expected to float the idea of Greece being given a two-year extension to the deadline.
He will argue that Greece has lost time because of elections this year, and that it should be allowed to move more gradually in order to ease the economic pain felt by the Greek people.
“Let me be very explicit: we demand no additional money. We stand by our commitments,” Antonis Samaras told German tabloid Bild in an interview published on Wednesday.
“But we have to kick-start growth in order to cut our deficit. All that we want is a little <<breathing space>> to revive the economy quickly and raise state income.”
However, a government source says Antonis Samaras will not press the issue too hard, fearing it might cause bad blood with the group of lenders that monitors Greece’s bailout.
Yannis Varoufakis, professor of economics at the University of Athens, said Antonis Samaras was “profoundly, deeply and sadly wrong. Greece does not need more breathing space. It is not breathing at all.”
He said the solution Europe had implemented to tackle Greece’s insolvency crisis was a “very silly one” – providing gigantic loans “on condition of austerity measures that would shrink the national income from which that huge loan would have to be repaid”, requiring yet more loans and more austerity.
Antonis Samaras goes on to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday, and French President Francois Hollande on Saturday.
The “troika” – the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – is expected to report on Greece’s progress next month.
Eurozone leaders have so far resisted any move to soften the bailout conditions.
Especially in Germany, the eurozone’s richest country, the government is under pressure not to make any more concessions.
On Monday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle insisted Athens must press ahead with the terms already agreed.
The heavily-indebted country has received two massive EU and IMF bailouts – one for 130 billion euros this March and one for 100 billion euros in May 2010 – to allow it to continue payments on its vast public debt and stay in the eurozone.
Cuts in public spending, benefits, pensions and public sector salaries imposed as a result of both loans have led to severe economic hardship, and Greece remains mired in recession.
Matt Damon’s latest role will see him playing Liberace’s gay lover Scott Thorson in an HBO TV movie of the pianist’s life.
Matt Damon stars alongside Michael Douglas, 67, in the title role, and the pair were spotted getting into character on the set of the project, entitled Behind the Candelabra, in Palm Springs on Monday.
Michael Douglas, 67, looked the spitting image of Liberace on the set, sporting a brown wig, lilac shirt and beige trousers as he headed to his trailer in between takes.
The actor’s brown wig was slicked back into a Seventies style which left the veteran actor bearing a striking resemblance to the musician.
Matt Damon and Michael Douglas get into character as gay lovers on set of new Liberace biopic
Scott Thorson was 17 when he first met Liberace in 1976.
Liberace had promised Scott Thorson, who was raised in foster homes, that he would adopt and care for him and eventually the performer incorporated his live-in lover into his lavish Las Vegas stage performances.
The Ave Maria singer was famed for being the world’s highest-paid entertainer at one point, and enjoyed his fortune with an extravagant lifestyle.
But the romance ended due to the pianist’s sexual promiscuity and Scott Thorson’s drug addiction, which led him to contract Hepatitis C.
In 1982, Scott Thorson filed a $113 million lawsuit against Liberace, with the palimony suit being the more famous part. But in 1986, the pair reportedly settled out of court for $95,000, two cars, and two pet dogs.
Scott Thorson reconciled with Liberace on his death bed, and a year later published the book Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace on which the film is based.
Also joining the cast are Dan Aykroyd as Liberace’s long-time manager who disapproved of his relationship with Thorson, Rob Lowe as the plastic surgeon tasked with making Scott Thorson’s face resemble Liberace’s, and Debbie Reynolds will play Liberace’s mother Frances, according to Total Film.
Republican Mitt Romney has called on embattled congressman Todd Akin to withdraw from the race for a Senate seat in Missouri.
Todd Akin has sparked uproar by claiming women’s bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape”.
He is defying intense pressure from his own party to leave the race, accusing people of over-reacting.
Correspondents say Republicans fear the backlash could sink their bid to win control of the US Senate in November.
Mitt Romney said on Monday Todd Akin’s remarks were “offensive and wrong”, but he had stopped short of urging him to drop out at that point.
But on Tuesday, Mitt Romney said: “Today, his fellow Missourians urged him to step aside, and I think he should accept their counsel and exit the Senate race.”
Todd Akin has sparked uproar by claiming women's bodies could prevent pregnancy in cases of "legitimate rape"
Senator Roy Blunt and four former senators from Missouri said earlier in a joint statement that Todd Akin’s candidacy did not serve the national interest.
On conservative radio host Mike Huckabee’s show, Todd Akin again refused to quit the race.
He described the response to his comments as a “little bit of an over-reaction”, saying he had mistaken “one word in one sentence on one day”.
“By taking this stand, this is going to strengthen our country,” the sixth-term lawmaker said.
“I hadn’t done anything morally or ethically wrong, as sometimes people in politics do.”
Last week Todd Akin had a comfortable lead in opinion polls over incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill in the Midwestern state of Missouri, which has leaned increasingly conservative in recent years.
Then on Sunday, he was asked by a local news station if he would support abortions for women who have been raped.
The 65-year-old lawmaker replied: “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare.
“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said Todd Akin’s claim “contradicts basic biological truths”.
But even as top conservatives were lambasting the congressman, the Republican Party was reportedly ratifying a call for a constitutional ban on abortion, without any exception for rape or incest.
The position was to be the subject of a vote at the Republican national convention in Tampa, Florida, next week.
In a new campaign advertisement released early on Tuesday, Todd Akin said: “Rape is an evil act. I used the wrong words in the wrong way, and for that I apologize.”
But the US Senate’s top Republican, Mitch McConnell, said the apology was insufficient.
He said Todd Akin had “made a deeply offensive error at a time when his candidacy carries great consequence for the future of our country”.
The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has reportedly told Todd Akin that $5 million in advertising set aside for Missouri would now be spent elsewhere.
The Karl Rove-backed Crossroads organization also pulled its ads from Missouri.
But Sen McCaskill, whose campaign appears reinvigorated by her Republican challenger’s slip-up, wants Todd Akin to stay in the race.
She said Republicans were trying to “kick sand in the face” of their party’s voters in Missouri who selected Todd Akin this month as their candidate.
On Monday evening, CNN television host Piers Morgan labelled Todd Akin a “gutless little twerp” for pulling out of an appearance on his show.
Nike is launching their most expensive shoes ever this fall but put a halt to their famous midnight launches.
At $315 the LeBron X’s will be Nike’s priciest sneakers to date after the Oregon based firm hiked their costs by five to ten percent to reflect increased production costs and a decline in profits.
And on top of the financial demand made to their devotees, Nike will no longer sanction midnight launches for their new line after recent outbreaks of violence at malls and Nike stores amongst those who have camped for days at a time to get their hands on the sneakers first.
Known for their superstar endorsed products such as Air Jordan’s, the new LeBron X’s will come complete with motion sensors to measure exactly how high the wearer jumps.
The sneakers were unveiled by NBA superstar LeBron James during the 2012 gold medal basketball game between the United States and Spain at the London Olympics.
However, Nike have said that they are not pushing up prices in an effort to squeeze consumers.
“We are constantly looking at ways to enhance the product line with the new innovation and product attributes,” said Nike spokesman Mary Remuzzi to the Wall Street Journal.
Nike is launching their most expensive shoes ever LeBron X this fall but put a halt to their famous midnight launches
Some though, have reacted with outrage to the price hike at a time of economic uncertainty in the United States.
“As unemployment ravages the working class, our lower and higher education systems shudder in crisis, and murder decimates our forgotten urban poverty zones, Nike is rolling out it first $300+ sneaker,” said Hamilton Nolan on Gawker.
“But mom, you don’t understand – it’s worth it.”
Indeed, the president of the National Urban League to drop the price for the new sneakers, saying that he has taken “incessant phone calls and emails” from angry consumers who can’t afford the new shows.
Marc Morial, who is president of the civil-rights group and the former mayor of New Orleans, responded to the reports on Tuesday from the Wall Street Journal about the apparent price hike.
“It’s the consumer’s choice after all, but it’s insensitive to market a $300 shoe to kids and teenagers as people are going back to school and struggling to buy school supplies,” said Marc Morial to the Wall Street Journal.
“This is not food, this is not rent, it’s a single pair of sneakers.”
Outrage against the pricing has quickly spread, with members of the public openly wondering why Nike are starting the line at such a high price.
“Prices are getting crazy excessive and as long as we continue to buy sneakers, Nike is going to keep increasing the prices,” said Donell Brown, 30, who owns a cleaning services company in Dearborn, Mich.
“Mr. Brown said he and his friends have been posting messages on Twitter and YouTube, urging other longtime sneaker fans not to buy the pricier LeBron shoes and to forgo waiting in line for new sneaker releases.
“Nike’s price increases are also being felt at the lower end: The venerable Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneaker now costs $50 compared with $45 a year ago.”
The LeBron 9 retailed for $170 when it was launched, but the latest shoe endorsed by the Miami Heat superstar is almost twice as much.
However, Nike have responded to the Journal’s story calling the price “inaccurate”, stating that the shoe is available without the motion detector embedded in the sneaker.
“The LeBron X will be launched in the fall at a suggested retail price of $180,” said Brian Strong in a statement to ESPN.
“The initial introduction of the LeBron X will be the red, white and blue Nike+ enabled version and that price is still being set, but will be at a higher price to reflect the Nike+ technology embedded in the shoes.”
At the same time as Nike are facing a backlash for the LeBron X price, they are issuing a memo to all official Nike retailers to no loner pre-sell or take reservations for shoes and to ban midnight openings.
“If a retailer offers Nike products for sale under circumstances where the retailer knows or should know that consumer response is likely to be exceptionally high, it must do so in a prudent and responsible way,” said an official memo seen by the Wall Street Journal.
“Retailers should assess what measure are necessary to secure the store and ensure the safety of personnel and consumers.”
In February, Foot Locker canceled the release of the $220 Nike Air Foamposite shoe when 100 Orlando police in riot gear arrived to break up fights that had started among customers camping out for the 4:00 a.m. release of the sneaker.
This week it has emerged Bobby Brown is “doing well” in rehab, after entering a facility as part of a plea deal following DUI arrest.
Bobby Brown, 43, entered the undisclosed treatment centre last week, with his lawyer admitting he agreed to seek help as part of the agreement made following the March arrest in Los Angeles.
In a statement, attorney Christopher Brown said: “Mr. Brown takes his agreement very seriously and admitted himself three weeks after concluding his honeymoon in Mexico during a break from the New Edition tour.
“Bobby is doing well and receiving services that comply with his agreement with the State of California.”
Bobby Brown is “doing well” in rehab, after entering a facility as part of a plea deal following DUI arrest
His new wife Alicia Etheridge said she and the father-of-five’s offspring, including three-year-old Cassius from their relationship and Bobbi Kristina with late ex-wife Whitney Houston, are “proud” of him for seeking help.
Alicia Etheridge said: “Bobby’s children and loved ones are very proud of him.
“We appreciate his fans prayers and well wishes. Bobby is mentally in a good place.”
However, it seems Bobbi Kristina Brown was not aware of the words being spoken on her behalf.
Asked by TMZ if he is “rising above” his problems, Bobbi Kristina Brown said: “Rise above is not the word you should use. Not at all.”
The pair’s relationship has been unstable for some years now, and deteriorated further following Whitney Houston’s death in February.
Bobbi Kristina Brown even snubbed her father’s wedding in June, instead opting to shoot for her Lifetime reality show, which has been dubbed The Houston Family Chronicles.
During her pregnancy Kourtney Kardashian gained 45 lbs, more than the 25 to 35 lbs that doctors recommend.
“I gained nearly 45 pounds,” Kourtney Kardashian, 33, explained.
“I’m 5 feet tall, so that’s a lot.”
But with her daughter only just six weeks old Kourtney Kardashian is “not really” thinking about losing the weight just yet.
“While I’m here around the house, I just eat healthy,” the reality star told Us Weekly.
During her pregnancy Kourtney Kardashian gained 45 lbs, more than the 25 to 35 lbs that doctors recommend
Her relaxed approached to losing the weight will come as a relief to her family, after Kourtney Kardashian collapsed following the birth of her son Mason, now two.
Having gained 45lbs in that pregnancy Kourtney Kardashian went on a fitness and health drive, which led to the breast feeding mother losing 33 lbs in three months as she slimmed down for a bikini photoshoot.
The speed of her weight loss led to health issues, documented in an episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Viewers saw Kourtney Kardashian helped by paramedics after fainting during a run on the beach.
After the scare, Kourtney Kardashian said: “I’m so embarrassed that I punished my body for a photo shoot.
“I’ve been obsessing about this weight thing a little too much.”
It seems that she has now learnt her lesson, taking a healthy approach to her post-baby body.
Penelope Scotland Disick joined the Kardashian clan on July 8, with the birth a family affair.
Kourtney Kardashian was joined by her partner Scott Disick, her sisters Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, brother Rob Kardashian and mom Kris Jenner.
The delivery was “really easy”, Kourtney Kardashian said – and just like with son Mason she delivered the baby herself, pulling her out.
“I did,” she told Us Weekly.
“She was coming out, and I was thinking, I should pull her.
“With Mason, I had no idea I was going to do that. This time, I thought, This is what I’m supposed to do.”
Russia has warned against unilateral action in Syria after President Barack Obama said the US might intervene militarily if Damascus used chemical weapons on the rebels.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there should be no outside interference and countries should “strictly adhere to the norms of international law”.
On Monday, President Barack Obama said the deployment of chemical weapons represented a “red line” for the US.
Meanwhile, troops are reported to have stormed a western suburb of Damascus.
On Tuesday, Russia’s foreign minister held talks in Moscow with China’s top diplomat, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, and a Syrian government delegation to discuss the conflict, which the UN says has left 18,000 people dead.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there should be no outside interference and countries should "strictly adhere to the norms of international law"
After meeting Dai Bingguo, Sergei Lavrov said Moscow and Beijing based their diplomatic co-operation on “the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the UN Charter, and not to allow their violation”.
“I think this is the only correct path in today’s conditions,” Sergei Lavrov added.
He said only the UN Security Council could authorize the use of force against Syria, and warned against imposing “democracy by bombs”.
He also told Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil that he wanted to hear his plans for “further actions to shift the situation into the channel of political dialogue in order for Syrians themselves to decide their fate without external interference”.
Qadri Jamil said external interference was “hindering efforts for Syrians themselves to resolve this problem”.
Russia and China have opposed intervention in Syria since anti-government protests erupted in March 2011. They have vetoed three Security Council resolutions seeking to press President Bashar al-Assad to end the violence.
On Monday, Barack Obama warned Syria’s government at a news conference that “there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons”.
Barack Obama said that he had not ordered military engagement “at this point”, but added that the US was monitoring the situation carefully and had made contingency plans.
In July, the Syrian government admitted that it had chemical and biological weapons and might use them in case of any “external aggression”. But it insisted they would “never be used in the Syrian crisis, no matter what the internal developments”.
Correspondents say there is also growing unease in Washington that Syria’s chemical weapons may fall into what Barack Obama termed “the hands of the wrong people”.
On Tuesday, soldiers were said to have stormed the western Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.
At least 23 people were killed and shops and houses were set on fire after government forces entered Muadhamiya at dawn, looking for rebel fighters, opposition activists said.
The bodies of several men who had been shot at close range were found inside buildings after the troops withdrew from the town, they added.
There was reportedly also heavy shelling and fierce fighting in the southern town of Herak and in the northern city of Aleppo, where the Japanese journalist, Mika Yamamoto, was killed on Monday.
A commander in the Free Syrian Army, Col Abdul Jabbar al-Ukaidi, told the AFP news agency that its fighters now controlled “more than 60%” of Aleppo, although a security source in Damascus dismissed the claims.
Astronomers have found evidence for a planet being devoured by its star, yielding insights into the fate that will befall Earth in billions of years.
The team uncovered the signature of a planet that had been “eaten” by looking at the chemistry of the host star.
They also think a surviving planet around this star may have been kicked into its unusual orbit by the destruction of a neighboring world.
Details of the work have been published in Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The US-Polish-Spanish team made the discovery when they were studying the star BD+48 740 – which is one of a stellar class known as red giants. Their observations were made with the Hobby Eberly telescope, based at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.
Rising temperatures near the cores of red giants cause these elderly stars to expand in size, a process which will cause any nearby planets to be destroyed.
Astronomers have found evidence for a planet being devoured by its star, yielding insights into the fate that will befall Earth in billions of years
“A similar fate may await the inner planets in our solar system, when the Sun becomes a red giant and expands all the way out to Earth’s orbit some five billion years from now,” said co-author Prof. Alexander Wolszczan from Pennsylvania State University in the US.
The first piece of evidence for the missing planet comes from the star’s peculiar chemical composition.
Spectroscopic analysis of BD+48 740 revealed that it contained an abnormally high amount of lithium, a rare element created primarily during the Big Bang 14 billion years ago.
Lithium is easily destroyed in stars, so its high abundance in this ageing star is very unusual.
“Theorists have identified only a few, very specific circumstances, other than the Big Bang, under which lithium can be created in stars,” Prof. Alexander Wolszczan explained.
“In the case of BD+48 740, it is probable that the lithium production was triggered by a mass the size of a planet that spiralled into the star and heated it up while the star was digesting it.”
The second piece of evidence discovered by the astronomers is the highly elliptical orbit of a newly discovered planet around the red giant star. The previously undetected world is at least 1.6 times as massive as Jupiter.
Co-author Andrzej Niedzielski of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland, said that orbits as eccentric as this one are uncommon in planetary systems around evolved stars.
“In fact, the BD+48 740 planet’s orbit is the most elliptical one detected so far,” he added.
Because gravitational interactions between planets are often responsible for such peculiar orbits, the astronomers suspect that the dive of the missing planet toward its host star before it became a giant could have given the surviving massive planet a burst of energy.
This boost would have propelled it into its present unusual orbit.
Team member Eva Villaver of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in Spain commented: “Catching a planet in the act of being devoured by a star is an almost improbable feat to accomplish because of the comparative swiftness of the process, but the occurrence of such a collision can be deduced from the way it affects the stellar chemistry.
“The highly elongated orbit of the massive planet we discovered around this lithium-polluted red giant star is exactly the kind of evidence that would point to the star’s recent destruction of its now-missing planet.”
Pictures of Tom Cruise from last month have shown what the strain of the collapse of his marriage to Katie Holmes has had on him, as he had shed 14 lbs
Pictures of Tom Cruise from last month have shown what the strain of the collapse of his marriage to Katie Holmes has had on him, as he had shed 14 lbs.
Pictured on July 10 on the set of Oblivion 2, Tom Cruise, 50, looked quite beefed out compared to slim figure he cut three weeks later on July 28 in Malibu having lunch with his lawyer.
It has been reported that since Tom Cruise got word of Katie Holmes’ decision he has dived deeper into work, and is ignoring concern from his family members.
Speaking to Grazia a source said: “Tom’s friends and family have urged him to take a break, but he has brushed off their concern.
“He is refusing to slow down and is trying to soldier on. He doesn’t seem to be himself. He hasn’t been working out like he normally does and doesn’t appear to be eating well at all. His clothes just hang off him.”
The source also told the magazine: “His way of dealing with this is to throw himself into his work, but as a result he’s not looking after himself, and he risks cutting himself off from people who care about him and want to make sure he’s OK.”
Last week Wednesday, removal trucks were spotted at the Bel Air mansion that Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes shared when they were married.
The movers were reportedly taking her belongings and moving them to an undisclosed storage unit.
It was the latest sign that the former Dawson Creek actress is moving on with her life following her shock split from the Hollywood superstar.
Katie Holmes lodged the legal papers in June, citing “irreconcilable differences” for the split and requesting sole legal custody and “primary residential custody” of Suri – the couple’s six-year-old daughter.
They released a joint statement last month, saying: “We are committed to working together as parents to accomplish what is in our daughter Suri’s best interests.
“We want to keep matters affecting our family private and express our respect for each other’s commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other’s roles as parents.”
Best Buy’s net profits plunged to just $12 million on revenues of $10.6 billion in the second quarter.
Profits were $150 million in the same period a year earlier.
The profit fall was exacerbated by a $91 million one-off charge, primarily related to cost of closing stores.
Best Buy said uncertainty over its future sales meant it could not provide any guidance on its full-year profits.
The company, which owns 50% of UK-mobile phone chain Carphone Warehouse, has also suspended share buybacks.
The two opened 11 Best Buy outlets in the UK in 2010, but they all closed a year later.
Best Buy’s net profits plunged to just $12 million on revenues of $10.6 billion in the second quarter
Best Buy’s shares, which have lost almost 70% since their peak of $56.66 in May 2006, fell another 4% after the latest financial results.
The firm is struggling to compete with online rivals such as Amazon which are able to sell goods cheaper.
In March, Best Buy announced a major restructuring that included closing 50 stores, cutting 400 corporate jobs and trimming $800 million in costs.
Despite these changes, sales have continued to fall.
Sales at stores open at least 14 months fell 3.2% in the three months to 4 August, including a 1.6% drop in the US and an 8.2% fall in international sales.
This means same-store sales have now fallen in eight out of the past nine quarters.
The firm said on Monday that talks with the firm’s founder, Richard Schulze, over taking the company private had broken down.
Best Buy said that Richard Schulze had rejected an offer to conduct due diligence on the deal.
Richard Schulze, who owns just over a fifth of Best Buy, had wanted to buy the rest of the chain for between $24 and $26 a share.
He said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” that discussions over a possible buyout had broken up.
Best Buy has been trying to cut costs to improve its profit margins.
It said in June that one of its priorities was to stop its large stores simply becoming a showroom, where shoppers browse electronic products, but then buy them cheaper online.
Best Buy has seen annual declines in revenue at stores open at least a year for two of the last three years.
British-born Tony Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott’s younger brother.
Distinct visual styles mark both siblings’ films – Ridley Scott mastering the creation of entire worlds with such films as Gladiator, Blade Runner, Alien and this year’s Prometheus, Tony Scott known for hyper-kinetic action and editing on such films as his most recent, the runaway train thriller Unstoppable, starring regular collaborator Denzel Washington.
Tony was the first of the Scott brothers to enjoy blockbuster success with Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, the top-grossing film of 1986 at $176 million.
Tony Scott teamed with Tom Cruise again four years later on the hit Days of Thunder. He also had a sequel to Top Gun in development.
But Ridley Scott later managed more and bigger hits than his brother and earned a level of critical respect never achieved by Tony Scott.
Gladiator won the best-picture Academy Award for 2000 and earned Ridley Scott one of his three best-director nominations; Tony Scott never was in the running for an Oscar, and critics often slammed his movies for emphasizing style over substance.
The two brothers ran Scott Free Productions and were working jointly on a film called Killing Lincoln, based on the best seller by Bill O’Reilly.
Their company produced the CBS dramas NUMB3RS and The Good Wife as well as a 2011 documentary about the Battle of Gettysburg for the History Channel.
Besides Unstoppable, Tony Scott worked with Denzel Washington on four other movies: Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu and The Taking of Pelham 123.
British-born Tony Scott, who lived in Beverly Hills, was producer and director Ridley Scott's younger brother
• The Hunger (1983) – His debut starred Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie as vampires. It was a commercial flop but became a cult classic
• Top Gun (1986) – Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, and Val Kilmer turned this film into the highest-grossing of the year, $354million, and a pop-culture classic.
• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) – This Eddie Murphy film was the most highly-anticipated film of the year
• Revenge (1990) – Tony Scott left the action genre to work with Kevin Costner in this adultery thriller. It was a flop
• Days of Thunder (1990) – Tom Cruise returned for a film about the danger of NASCAR racing. Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall played major roles
• The Last Boy Scout (1991) – Bruce Willis starred in this big-budget action film that under-performed at the box office
• True Romance (1993) – Ironically, this was Tony Scott most critically-acclaimed film but also one of his biggest commercial flops
• Crimson Tide (1995) – Another success for Tony Scott in this thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington
• The Fan (1996) – Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes star in a psychological thriller about fanatical baseball fans
• Enemy of the State (1998) – Will Smith played opposite Gene Hackman in a big-budget spy thriller
• Spy Game (2001) – More glowing reviews for another Tony Scott spy thriller, this one starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt
• Man on Fire (2004) – Denzel Washington as a CIA operative bent on revenge after his young charge is kidnapped in Mexico
• Domino (2005) – Keira Knightley stars as a bounty hunter in LA. Panned by critics
• Déjà Vu (2006) – A science fiction thriller starring Denzel Washington
• The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) – Denzel Washington and John Travolta play opposite each other in this terrorism-related thriller.
• Unstoppable (2010) – Tony Scott again turned to Denzel Washington. The critics enjoyed it and the public too spending $168 million
Mining giant Lonmin has dropped its threat to fire miners who failed to return to work at a South African mine after deadly clashes last week.
Lonmin’s decision came after the government appealed to the firm to drop its ultimatum to sack workers if they failed to end their strike by Tuesday.
Last week, police shot dead 34 strikers at the Marikana mine.
The South African parliament is due to debate the killings on Tuesday, amidst a national outcry, reports say.
South African President Jacob Zuma has a declared a week of national mourning and has promised to appoint a commission of inquiry into the shooting.
Mining giant Lonmin has dropped its threat to fire miners who failed to return to work at a South African mine after deadly clashes last week
Mark Munroe, Lonmin’s executive vice president, said firing thousands of workers would not necessarily ease tension.
“I don’t think it’s going to contribute to a more stable environment if Lonmin goes out and puts deadlines and ultimatums and says we will fire everyone if no one comes to work,” he said.
A minister in Jacob Zuma’s office, Collins Chabane, said Lonmin had agreed to suspend its ultimatum in talks with the government.
“I think we need to try to temper the flare-up of emotions on all sides and try to find a reasonable solution to address the problems,” he said on local radio, AFP news agency reports.
Senior opposition party members visited the mine in North West province ahead of a special parliamentary sitting that will debate the incident, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper reports.
“We have heard the workers concerns and we have familiarized ourselves with the situation. We will now be in a better position to ask the right questions in parliament,” opposition United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa is quoted as saying.
About 3,000 rock-drill operators (RDOs) walked out more than a week ago in support of demands for higher pay.
The strike was declared illegal by Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum producer, and the mine was shut.
Clashes between strikers, some holding clubs and machetes, and police culminated on Thursday when officers armed with automatic rifles and pistols fired dozens of shots.
The miners, who are currently earning between 4,000 and 5,000 rand ($484-$605) a month, say they want their salary increased to 12,500 rand ($1,512).
The body of Jesse Robredo, Philippine Interior Secretary, has been recovered from the sea after a plane he was travelling in crashed.
Jesse Robredo’s body was retrieved from wreckage of the light aircraft about 55 m (180 ft) underwater, Transport Secretary Mar Roxas told reporters.
He was described as a “most honorable” leader by the spokesman of President Benigno Aquino.
Three others were also on the plane when it crashed on Saturday.
Flags at government institutions and police stations are being flown at half-mast.
The body of Jesse Robredo, Philippine Interior Secretary, has been recovered from the sea after a plane he was travelling in crashed
“The nation is united in grief and gratitude to one of her finest and most honorable servant-leaders,” Benigno Aquino’s spokesman said in a statement.
The small plane was travelling from Cebu City in central Philippines to Jesse Robredo’s hometown of Naga City, in Camarines Sur province, when it encountered engine problems.
The pilots sought permission for an emergency landing at Masbate province, but did not manage to make it there. Witnesses saw the aircraft crash into the sea less than a kilometre from the runway.
The bodies of the two pilots have also been found in the wreckage, the government said, but it is not clear if they have been retrieved.
A fourth person, Jesse Robredo’s aide, managed to get out of the aircraft on Saturday. He was rescued by local fishermen and taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Benigno Aquino flew to Masbate on Sunday to oversee the search and rescue operation for Jesse Robredo, local media report.
The president was also with Jesse Robredo’s family on Tuesday as they received his remains in Naga City.
Jesse Robredo, 54, was in charge of the national police force and provincial governments. He was a close ally of Benigno Aquino and helped his election campaign in 2010.
He was a long-time mayor of Naga City before his appointment to Benigno Aquino’s cabinet.
A graduate of Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government, Jesse Robredo received numerous awards for good governance.
One of these was the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award, known as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize, in 2000.
Various officials have described him as an “exceptional” and “inspirational” public servant.
“His unflagging sense of integrity and diligence served as an example to many of his colleagues in and outside government, and these same qualities have made him a most valuable and highly regarded member of President Aquino’s cabinet,” said Florencio Abad, budget secretary, in a statement.
Director Tony Scott did not have inoperable brain cancer, despite initial reports a terminal diagnosis was what drove him to commit suicide from a bridge in Los Angeles, his family told authorities the day after his death.
Tony Scott, 68, perhaps best known for Top Gun, was said to have leaped to his death “without hesitation” in an effort to spare his family the pain of watching his slow death, ABC News reported. Hours later, ABC backed away from that report.
The Los Angeles Times confirmed that Tony Scott’s family told the corner’s office Scott did not have cancer – or any major illness.
“The family told us it is incorrect that he has inoperable brain cancer,” Craig Harvey, a chief at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office told the newspaper.
TMZ were the first to report that Tony Scott’s wife Donna told authorities her husband was healthy, according to unnamed sources.
Donna Scott told investigators that rumors of a return of her husband’s cancer was “absolutely false”, TMZ says.
The celebrity news site also claims the preliminary results of an autopsy did not reveal the presence of cancer – though more tests are needed.
Tony Scott’s body was pulled from the water beneath the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, California
The revelation, if proven true, begs the question – what could have driven the successful director, whose films have grossed more than $2 billion, to kill himself?
His older brother, Sir Ridley Scott, is flying from London to Los Angeles to be with Tony’s family.
Tony Scott’s tragic death comes just weeks after he was pictured looking pained as he left a Beverly Hills restaurant on July 23.
Tony Scott had been in hospital earlier this summer and told friends it was for a hip operation. But they knew he had previously kicked cancer and some believe it had come back.
“He has been suffering from cancer and he had a relapse,” a source told the New York Post.
“He wasn’t depressed, he was a lovely guy. On Sundays everyone went to his house, there would be the guy who worked in his local restaurant sitting by the pool by Michael Caine.”
Another source added: “He did have cancer, and for a while he was cancer free. He didn’t have any money problems or marriage problems.”
The beloved filmmaker, who directed movies including Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II and Enemy Of The State and was the younger brother of director Ridley Scott, fell within feet of a cruise boat around 12:30 p.m. on Sunday as horrified tourists watched.
“He landed right next to our tour boat, and many of us saw the whole thing,” a witness, who had been on the cruise around the Los Angeles Harbor, told TMZ.
According to the Contra Costa Times, Tony Scott climbed a fence on the south side of the bridge, which spans San Pedro and Terminal Island, at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday and leaped off “without hesitation”.
Several people called 911 around 12:35 p.m. to report that someone had jumped off the bridge, according to Los Angeles police Lt. Tim Nordquist. Police are interviewing witnesses.
A dive team with Los Angeles Port Police pulled the body from the murky water around 3:00 p.m. It was taken to a dock in Wilmington and turned over to the county coroner’s office.
Investigators found a note in Tony Scott’s black Toyota Prius, which was parked on the bridge, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The note listed names and contact numbers – including that of his wife – so police could call his friends to tell them of his death, TMZ reported.
A suicide note was later found at his office but, while it is said to have been much more detailed than the note in his car, its contents were not revealed.
Simon Halls, a publicist who represents the Scott brothers, confirmed the death.
“The family asks for privacy during this time,” Simon Halls said.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy is planned and results could be expected as early as this afternoon.
The sudden death shook Hollywood and film fans as the successful director apparently had everything to live for.
Tony Scott leaves behind twin sons and his wife Donna, a model and actress who had appeared in some of his films.
He was also in the early stages of developing a sequel to cult classic movie Top Gun with Tom Cruise and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. It was set for release in 2014, the L.A. Times reported.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said the UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country’s embassy in London.
Rafael Correa said such a move would open up the UK to having its diplomatic missions around the world entered.
The president was speaking to state television about the continuing dispute over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Julian Assange has been in the embassy since June and been granted asylum by Ecuador as he fights extradition.
The UK says it is obliged to extradite Julian Assange to Sweden, where he faces questioning over sex assault claims, which he denies, and he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has said the UK would be committing diplomatic suicide if it tried to enter his country's embassy in London
Julian Assange entered the embassy in June while on bail before extradition proceedings against him started.
The interview with Rafael Correa opened with a short report from inside the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
It showed Julian Assange hugging his lawyer, the former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, just minutes before he addressed crowds of his supporters from the embassy’s balcony on Sunday.
Rafael Correa was then asked if he thought there was now no possibility the UK authorities would enter the embassy premises to arrest Julian Assange, as they had previously indicated they might in a letter to Ecuadorean officials.
The preseident said: “While the United Kingdom hasn’t retracted nor apologized, the danger still exists.”
He said such a course of action would be “suicide for Great Britain because then people could enter their diplomatic premises all around the world and they wouldn’t be able to say a thing”.
There was very little said on what the next diplomatic step might be regarding removing Julian Assange from the embassy.
But Rafael Correa said, if needed, he was prepared to take the issue to the United Nations.
He also said Ecuador was hoping for strong support from a meeting of the Organization of American States on Friday.
“Remember that David beat Goliath. And with many Davids it’s easier to bring down a number of Goliaths,” he said.
“So we’re hoping for clear and coherent backing because this violates all inter-American law, all international law, the Vienna Convention and all diplomatic traditions of the last, at least, 300 years on a global scale.”
Returning to the question of Julian Assange, Rafael Correa said: “The British say they have no choice but to extradite him but why didn’t they extradite Augusto Pinochet?”
While Rafael Correa may not have thrown any fresh light on where the stalemate goes next, he did reiterate that the channels of negotiation with the UK were still open.
The UK has insisted it will not grant Julian Assange “safe passage” to Ecuador as it seeks a diplomatic solution to him being given asylum.
The Supreme Court in May dismissed Julian Assange’s bid to reopen his appeal against extradition and gave him a two-week grace period before extradition proceedings could start.
On Sunday, Julian Assange, 41, used his first public statement since entering the embassy to claim asylum – delivered from a balcony – to call on the US to stop its “war on whistle-blowers”.
The US is carrying out an investigation into WikiLeaks, which has published a mass of leaked diplomatic cables, embarrassing several governments and international businesses.
In 2010, two female ex-WikiLeaks volunteers accused Julian Assange, an Australian citizen, of committing sexual offences against them while he was in Stockholm to give a lecture.
Julian Assange claims the sex was consensual and the allegations are politically motivated and fears extradition to the US if extradited to Sweden.
Being overweight is not just bad for your waistline but for your brain too, say researchers who have linked obesity to declining mental performance.
Experts are not sure why this might be, but say metabolic changes such as high blood sugar and raised cholesterol are likely to be involved.
Obesity has already been tipped as a risk factor for dementia.
The work, published in Neurology, tracked the health of more than 6,000 British people over a decade.
The participants, who were aged between 35 and 55, took tests on memory and other cognitive skills three times over a 10-year period.
People who were both obese and who had unhealthy metabolic changes showed a much faster decline on their cognitive test scores compared to others in the study.
Being overweight is not just bad for your waistline but for your brain too
The experts stress that they only looked at cognitive function, not dementia.
The boundary between normal ageing, mild cognitive impairment and dementia is blurred – not all impairment leads to dementia.
All of the study participants came from one group of civil service workers, which may mean the findings may not apply more generally to other populations.
They said: “More research is needed to look at the effects of genetic factors and also to take into account how long people have been obese and how long they have had these metabolic risk factors and also to look at cognitive test scores spanning adulthood to give us a better understanding of the link between obesity and cognitive function, such as thinking, reasoning and memory.”
Shirley Cramer of the Alzheimer’s Research UK said: “We do not yet know why obesity and metabolic abnormality are linked to poorer brain performance, but with obesity levels on the rise, it will be important to delve a little deeper into this association.
“While the study itself focuses on cognitive decline, previous research suggests that a healthy diet, regular exercise, not smoking and controlling blood pressure and cholesterol in midlife can also help stave off dementia. With dementia figures spiralling towards a million, the findings suggest we should be conscious of our general health throughout life.”
Just two weeks after landing its Curiosity rover on Mars, NASA has announced it will send another robot to the planet in 2016.
The InSight spacecraft will be a static lander that will carry instruments to investigate Mars’ deep interior.
Scientists say this will give them a clearer idea of how the rocky planets formed – the Earth included.
InSight beat two other proposals in a competition to find NASA’s next relatively low-cost mission.
This so-called Discovery class of endeavor is cost-capped at $425 million (345 million euros), although that figure does not include the rocket to launch the spacecraft.
InSight stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.
It will be led from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
The design of the lander leans heavily on the successful Phoenix probe put on the Red Planet in 2008. But although the 2016 venture will look very similar, it will carry very different instrumentation.
A seismic experiment will listen for “marsquakes” and use this information to map the boundaries between the rock layers inside Earth’s neighbor.
It will determine if the planet has a liquid or solid core, and provide some clues as to why its surface is not divided up into tectonic plates as on Earth.
Just two weeks after landing its Curiosity rover on Mars, NASA has announced it will send InSight robot to the planet in 2016
Key components of this package will come from France and the UK.
InSight will also push a German-built thermal probe into the surface to gauge Mars’ temperature profile. This will reveal how the planet is cooling.
JPL will provide the two cameras on InSight and a robotic arm.
It will also deliver another sensor that will very accurately determine the degree to which the planet wobbles on its axis.
All the data combined will inform researchers about the internal state of Mars today and how it has changed through the eons.
“This is science that has been compelling for many years,” said John Grunsfeld, who heads up NASA’s science division.
“Seismology, for instance, is the standard method by which we’ve learned to understand the interior of the Earth – and we have no such knowledge for Mars.
“This has been something the principal investigator (JPL’s Bruce Banerdt) of this mission has been trying to get to Mars for nearly three decades, and so I’m really thrilled that this is now at a mature stage where he has been able to propose something that fits within the cost and schedule constraints of the Discovery programme.”
It is clear from surface features that the Red Planet was much more geologically active in the past. The remains of the largest volcano in the Solar System – Olympus Mons – can be seen on Mars.
When and why this activity waned remains to be established, but it is an issue that plays directly to the question of life on the planet.
Earth retains an atmosphere and water at its surface because of the protective magnetic field generated in its liquid iron/nickel core.
At some point, Mars lost its global magnetic shield and that allowed the stream of particles billowing away from the Sun – the “solar wind” – to strip away the planet’s atmosphere, leading to the loss also of its surface water. This change may have stifled any chance for life to establish itself on Mars.
NASA is currently basking in the success of its Curiosity rover, which landed on the planet two weeks ago. That mission, by comparison, is costing $2.5 billion (2 billion euros).
The space agency says the InSight selection was made before the six-wheeled vehicle touched down and so was not influenced in any way by recent events.
The outlook for American Mars scientists now looks considerably brighter than it did at the beginning of the year.
Back in February, they were told NASA’s budget for Red Planet exploration would be cut back sharply; and many feared that if Curiosity was lost during its risky landing, they might not see another US-led Martian lander for perhaps 10 years.
InSight – Mission to Mars’ interior
• Launch window: 8-27 March 2016
• Landing: 20 September 2016
• Destination: Flat equatorial plain
• Mission length: Two Earth years
• Cost: $425 million cap (without rocket)
Billionaire George Soros has bought a stake in Manchester United football club, a US regulatory filing showed.
George Soros’ investment fund bought about 3.1 million Class A shares in the club, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Class A shares carry one vote each, compared with 10 votes for every Class B share.
The club floated on the US stock market earlier this month.
Billionaire George Soros has bought a stake in Manchester United football club
While the figure was less than originally hoped, the flotation valued the club at more than $2.3 billion, making it one of the biggest sports clubs in the world.
Manchester United has been controlled since 2005 by the Glazer family, the billionaire US sports investors who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football franchise.
About half of the $233 million that the club raised from its flotation will go to paying off the club’s debts, with the rest going to the Glazers.
Manchester United’s shares on Monday closed down 2.7% at $13.06, after hitting a fresh low of $12.91 earlier in the day.
Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s prime minister, has died at the age of 57, state media say, after weeks of illness.
Meles Zenawi died in a hospital abroad, said state media and a government spokesman, but they did not say exactly where or give details of his ailment.
Speculation about his health mounted when he missed an African Union summit in Addis Ababa last month.
Meles Zenawi took power as the leader of rebels that ousted communist leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
He had dominated Ethiopian public life since the 1990s, as president and then prime minister.
He was austere and hardworking, with a discipline forged from years spent in the guerrilla movement – and almost never smiled.
Meles Zenawi died in a hospital abroad, said state media and a government spokesman, but they did not say exactly where or give details of his ailment
“Prime Minister Meles Zenawi passed away yesterday [Monday] evening at around midnight,” government spokesman Bereket Simon said, adding that he was “abroad” when he died, according to AFP news agency.
“He had been recuperating well, but suddenly something happened and he had to be rushed to the ICU [intensive care unit] and they couldn’t keep him alive.”
State television said he had died after contracting a “sudden” infection.
Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also Ethiopia’s foreign minister, will be acting head of government, state television said.
“Even if Ethiopia has been badly affected for missing its great leader, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi initiated fundamental policies and strategies which will be further strengthened,” the TV said.
Meles Zenawi had not been seen in public for some eight weeks prior to his death, and was reported to have been admitted to hospital in July.
But three weeks ago, the spokesman Bereket Simon said he was in “a good condition and recuperating”, and dismissed reports he was critically ill.
At the time he declined to give any details about Meles Zenawi’ whereabouts or what he was suffering from.
But reports suggested Meles Zenawi was in hospital in Belgium, suffering from a stomach complaint.
President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons by Syria would be a “red line” that would change his thinking on intervention in the crisis.
Barack Obama said he had “at this point not ordered military engagement”.
But he added: “There would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons.”
Earlier the new UN special envoy to Syria faced criticism for refusing to say whether President Bashar al-Assad must quit.
Barack Obama, speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, said the deployment or use of biological weapons would widen the conflict in the region.
He said: “It doesn’t just include Syria. It would concern allies in the region, including Israel, and it would concern us.”
He warned President Bashar al-Assad and “other players on the ground” about the use or movement of such weapons.
He said: “A red line for us is [if] we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around, or being utilized. That would change my calculus.”
President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons by Syria would be a "red line" that would change his thinking on intervention in the crisis
Syria holds the world’s fourth-largest stockpile of chemical weapons. Last month a Syrian foreign ministry spokesman said the weapons would never be deployed inside Syria.
However, the US has seen unconfirmed reports recently that the Syrian authorities have been moving the country’s chemical arms stockpile.
Fighting continued in several Syrian cities on Monday, including Damascus, Deraa and Aleppo.
A Japanese journalist, Mika Yamamoto, was killed by gunfire in Aleppo, the country’s foreign ministry has confirmed.
Mika Yamamoto, 45, was a veteran war reporter, working for Japan Press.
The UN says more than 18,000 people have been killed in the conflict, 170,000 have fled Syria and 2.5 million need aid within the country.
Earlier on Monday, the UN’s new envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi said he was “not in a position to say yet” whether President Assad should go, but was “committed to finding a solution”.
Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister, last week succeeded Kofi Annan who resigned after both sides largely ignored his peace plan.
On Sunday, UN observers ended their mission to verify its implementation.
Their departure came after the UN Security Council agreed to allow their mandate to expire at midnight, and instead set up a new civilian office in Damascus to pursue political contacts that might lead to peace.
Since being confirmed as the new UN and Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi has acknowledged that he has no concrete ideas of how to end the conflict, which he believes has been a civil war for some time.
On Monday, he said he was not ready to say whether President Assad should step down despite widespread international condemnation of his government’s crackdown on dissent since protests erupted in March 2011.
“I am not in a position to say yet, because I was appointed a couple of days ago. I am going to New York for the first time to see the people who I am going to work for, and I am going to Cairo see the Arab League,” he explained.
After announcing his resignation, Lakhdar Brahimi’s predecessor, Kofi Annan, said: “It is clear that President Bashar al-Assad must leave office.”
The main opposition coalition, the Syrian National Council (SNC), said Lakhdar Brahimi’s stance showed “disregard for the blood of the Syrian people and their right of self-determination” and demanded he apologize.
Lakhdar Brahimi stressed that he was “committed to finding a solution full stop”.
“I am a mediator. I haven’t joined any Syrian party. I am a mediator and a mediator has to speak to anybody and everybody without influence or interest,” he added.
“Then I’ll make up my mind about what to say and what to do.”
Duchess of Alba and her husband Alfonso Diez were today spotted enjoying a sunshine break on the island of Formentera.
The two, accompanied by a friend, took a cooling dip in the sea and enjoyed strolls along the beach.
With the typically extrovert duchess clad in a bright floral bikini and her friend in a cut-away cerise swimsuit, the threesome was sure to attract plenty of attention.
Duchess of Alba, 86, and Alfonso Diez, 61, married after much controversy in a ceremony last October; the bride, an eccentric billionaire with more titles than Queen Elizabeth II; her groom a civil servant young enough to be her son.
Alfonso Diez is the duchess’s third husband and 25 years her junior.
Duchess of Alba and her husband Alfonso Diez were today spotted enjoying a sunshine break on the island of Formentera
It emerged ahead of the wedding that the twice-widowed duchess had divided her $5 billion fortune between her six children to convince them that her suitor was besotted with her rather than her money.
Once they had realized the romance between their mother and Alfonso Diez was becoming serious her children had mounted a campaign to block any possible marriage.
They suggested publicly that she was emotionally unstable and even attempted to enlist the King of Spain in their efforts.
The duchess’s answer was to gift her five sons and daughter with their inheritance in advance.
Alfonso Diez also relinquished rights to his wife-to-be’s fortune in an effort to appease her heirs and convince them that he was not a gold-digger.
She did not give up her fortune to marry, rather designated who it will go to once she dies and until then remains in control of the House of Alba in its entirety, but her actions were enough to persuade most of Alfonso Diez’s detractors – and at least the four children that attended the wedding – that their love was real.
The colorful Spanish Royal wed her toyboy in a 15th century palace in Seville last October.
The eccentric Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart wore a delicate pale pink gown designed by Victorio y Lucchino for her third marriage, which took place in front of 38 guests.
Well-wishers donned fancy dress and wigs in an attempt to copy her quirky style as they celebrated in the city’s streets.
The duchess is a distant relative of Winston Churchill and Princess Diana and is among Spain’s most famous people.
Known now for her frizzy white hair, squeaky voice and wildly colorful clothes she entered Vanity Fair’s International Best-Dressed list in 2009 at the age of 83.
A bit of controversy is nothing new in the life of this multi-titled octogenarian.
Last year, Duchess of Alba was at the centre of a sex scandal when Spanish magazine Interviu published a 30-year-old picture on its front cover of the duchess sunbathing topless in Ibiza.
In July 2011 the duchess won damages of over $390,000 from a TV station that claimed she cheated on her first husband with a flamenco dancer.
She doesn’t really need the monet though.
Her fortune is estimated at around $5 billion but with a large chunk of her wealth tied up in property and art the figure could be up to $3.2 billion higher.
Upon her death each of the duchess’s children is now guaranteed to receive significant properties: her eldest, the future Duke of Alba, Carlos will become director of the Alba foundation and control both the Palacio de Liria and the Palacio de Monterrey, while the youngest and only daughter, Eugenia, gets a palace in Ibiza and a vast estate in Andalusia.
Duchess of Alba and Alfonso Diez, a social security administration employee, are old acquaintances through her second husband, who was a former priest, and Diez’s brother.
They bumped into each other about three years ago outside a cinema in Madrid and eventually started dating.
Apple, the world’s most valuable firm, is now the most valuable company of all time, with a market value of approximately $623 billion.
Apple has now surpassed Microsoft’s record of $620.58 billion set in 1999. However that figure is not adjusted for inflation.
The news comes ahead of the anticipated launch of the iPhone 5, and possibly a smaller and cheaper iPad.
Apple, the world's most valuable firm, is now the most valuable company of all time, with a market value of approximately $623 billion
Apple shares hit $664.74 in New York midday trading, before falling to $663.
That was $14.98, or 2.3%, higher than Friday’s close.
There is also speculation that Apple plans to make a TV set.
However, despite its market valuation, Apple, like many US companies, faces a number of challenges.
The strength of the US dollar against the euro and other currencies makes US-made goods more expensive overseas. Added to that, the faltering economic recovery in the United States, combined with recession in major markets such as Europe, is also making it more difficult to sell consumer electronics.
Apple also faces stiff competition from Samsung’s Galaxy S3 and HTC’s One X smartphones.
At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a bomb attack in Gaziantep, south-eastern Turkey, security sources and media say.
The suspected car bomb exploded close to a police station in Gaziantep, Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported.
Police officers were reported to be among the casualties and media showed a bus and other vehicles on fire.
At least seven people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a bomb attack in Gaziantep
No group has so far said it carried out the attack.
However, rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are active in south-eastern Turkey, which has a Kurdish majority.
Gaziantep’s governor Erdal Ata said the explosion had been caused by a remote-controlled car bomb, the Dogan agency said.
Earlier on Monday, two Turkish soldiers were killed and another wounded in a mine blast in south-eastern Hakkari province. Turkish officials blamed the attack on the PKK.
Clashes between the PKK – which seeks autonomy for the Kurds – and Turkey’s armed forces have increased in south-eastern Turkey over the past year.
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