London’s Mayor Boris Johnson was left dangling on a zip wire for several minutes when it stopped working at an Olympic live screen event.
Boris Johnson was trying out a 45 m (150 ft) high zip wire at Victoria Park, where the Games are being shown on big screens.
The wire then lost momentum, leaving him suspended “like an odd Christmas decoration” above a crowd of people.
As onlookers snapped photos, he joked: “This is great fun but it needs to go faster.”
London’s Mayor Boris Johnson was left dangling on a zip wire for several minutes when it stopped working at an Olympic live screen event
Lee Medcalf, who was at the event, said: “When Boris came down the zip wire, it was very James Bond-esque with him shouting <<Team GB>>.
“However, he seemed to lose momentum and was left hanging there like an odd Christmas decoration for about five to 10 minutes.
“He spoke to the crowd, which had gathered beneath him, saying <<this is what it’s all about; this is great, this is fantastic, this is Team GB>>.
“I was thinking <<Yeah it’s good, but you’re still just hanging there>>.”
A spokesman for the mayor said: “The mayor has survived his first zip wire experience relatively unscathed.
“Clearly the judges are likely to have marked the mayor down for artistic impression, and unlike team GB, the mayor may not be winning too many Gold medals today.
“He does however remain unbowed.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said London was “lucky to have” Boris Johnson as mayor.
David Cameron said: “If any other politician got stuck on a zip wire it would be disastrous.
“With Boris it’s a triumph… London is lucky to have him.”
Far-right Golden Dawn party in Greece has handed out free food to hundreds of struggling people in central Athens, but only to Greek nationals.
The ultra-nationalists won 18 parliamentary seats in Greece’s June election, with a campaign openly hostile to illegal immigrants.
People lining up for food had to show identity papers to get the free packages from party volunteers.
Greece’s debt crisis has pushed the unemployment rate up to nearly 23%.
At Wednesday’s event on Syntagma Square the Golden Dawn activists handed out packets of pasta, milk, potatoes and cooking oil.
One of the party’s MPs, Ilias Kasidiaris, told Reuters TV that they had bought the food “exclusively from Greek producers to give to Greek people”.
Far-right Golden Dawn party has handed out free food to hundreds of struggling people in central Athens, but only to Greek nationals
A fellow MP at the event, Christos Pappas, said: ”We are in Greece, so Greeks have priority.”
“The illegal immigrants that have come here, who enjoy, if you will, all the rights and privileges that come from Greek taxpayers are illegal, invaders. They are a threat to Greece,” he said.
The Greek newspaper Kathimerini says the event took place despite a ban from the local authorities, who did not want it to be held in Syntagma Square.
Greece’s ruling coalition was meeting on Wednesday to decide on more painful budget cuts. They have not yet agreed on 11.5 billion Euros ($14 billion) in additional savings required to access a new loan installment from the EU and IMF, worth 31.5 billion Euros.
Mariya Alekhina, one of the three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot, on trial for an anti-Putin protest at Moscow’s main cathedral, has been given medical treatment in court, a lawyer says.
Medics were called when the women said they felt unwell on the third day of the trial on Wednesday, the court said.
The defendants say they are being deprived of sleep and are poorly fed, according to a defense lawyer.
They deny hooliganism charges in the case, which has divided Russia.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Mariya Alekhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich were taken into custody in February after performing a protest song against President Vladimir Putin at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.
The song outraged the Russian Orthodox Church, which accused them of blasphemy. Supporters say the case reflects the state’s growing intolerance of government opponents.
Mariya Alekhina, one of the three members of Pussy Riot, on trial for an anti-Putin protest at Moscow's main cathedral, has been given medical treatment in court
The first prosecution witness called on Wednesday testified that he was not in the cathedral during the performance and had only seen it on video.
Proceedings were interrupted for several hours to allow Mariya Alekhina to be given treatment after a fall in her blood sugar levels, defense lawyer Nikolay Polozov told Russian media. He added that Mariya Alekhina was a vegan and needed a special diet.
Later on Wednesday, there was a further interruption when Mariya Alekhina again repeatedly complained about feeling poorly, according to media reports.
Nikolay Polozov told the Interfax news agency that the defendants have been subjected to a punishing regime since the start of their trial.
“For a third day running, the girls have been woken at 5:00 a.m., held in a 1sq m [11 sq ft] unventilated room, after which they are taken to court,” he said.
“They are not fed, and court sessions last up to 12 hours, during which they are only given 20-30 minutes for a small snack of dry rations. They are then taken back to remand after midnight. They are also denied an evening meal and can only sleep for small number of hours.”
The women are facing the charge of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility and could face up to seven years in prison.
At the start of their trial on Monday, the three pleaded not guilty, but apologized for the offence their performance had caused.
The case has divided Russia, with many feeling the women are being made an example of as part of attempts to clamp down on the opposition.
Moslemuddin Sarkar, a Bangladeshi man who went missing for 23 years, has been reunited with his family, who had given him up for dead.
Moslemuddin Sarkar, 52, arrived back in Dhaka on Tuesday, a day after being freed from a Pakistani jail with the help of the Red Cross.
His family lost contact after Moslemuddin Sarkar left for India in search of work in 1989. Years later, he ended up in Pakistan, where he was arrested.
Moslemuddin Sarkar says he was beaten and tortured in his subsequent 15 years in prison.
“I requested that embassy officials send me back to Bangladesh but no one listened to me,” he said.
“I suffered a lot in the prison and was crying for help. But no-one came to my rescue. Still I don’t understand why I was kept in jail for such a long time. At last, I am back with my family and I feel great.”
Moslemuddin Sarkar, a Bangladeshi man who went missing for 23 years, has been reunited with his family, who had given him up for dead
There were emotional scenes when Moslemuddin Sarkar was welcomed by relatives at Dhaka airport.
A younger brother, Julhas Uddin, told the AFP news agency that Moslemuddin Sarkar’s mother “passed out as he hugged her” after returning to his home village.
“It was a heartbreaking scene. He could not control his tears for hours,” Julhas Uddin said.
A dockworker at the port of Chittagong, Moslemuddin Sarkar says he illegally crossed the border to India in 1989 in search of better opportunities, without telling his family.
“We searched for him for years and finally gave up hope believing he might have drowned in the sea. But our mother always believed that her son would return home one day,” Julhas Uddin said.
In 1997, Moslemuddin Sarkar was caught trying to enter Pakistan without valid travel documents, spending the next 15 years in prisons in Lahore and Karachi. He said he was completely cut off from the world during that time.
“I went to Pakistan believing that I would get a better job there. But they caught me at the border,” he told AFP.
“I wrote dozens of letters to my village address, but did not have any clue that they were never posted. At one stage I lost all hope of returning home.”
His fate reportedly came to light when Pakistan sent a list of long-serving Bangladeshi prisoners to consular officials, who informed Moslemuddin Sarkar’s family. They in turn appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, who facilitated his release.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo has usurped Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time in a poll by the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine.
Sight and Sound polls its experts once a decade – and Citizen Kane has been their top pick for the last 50 years.
This time, 846 distributors, critics, academics and writers chose Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 suspense thriller, about a retired police officer with a fear of heights.
Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak, Vertigo beat Citizen Kane by 34 votes.
In the last poll 10 years ago, it was five votes short of toppling Citizen Kane.
Alfred Hitchcock called it his most personal film and it sees the director tackle one of his recurring themes – love as a fetish that degrades women and deranges men.
It opens with police officer Scotty Ferguson (James Stewart) retiring from the police force after his vertigo inadvertently leads to the death of a colleague during a rooftop chase.
He is then hired by an old friend, whose wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) has been behaving strangely.
As the story plays out against a glistening San Francisco skyline, there are dozens of twists and revelations that challenge the audience’s preconceptions about the characters and events.
It has become famous for a camera trick Alfred Hitchcock invented to represent Scotty’s vertigo: A simultaneous zoom-in and pull-back of the camera that creates a disorientating depth of field, known as a “dolly zoom” or “trombone shot”.
Vertigo has usurped Citizen Kane as the greatest film of all time in a poll by the BFI's Sight and Sound magazine
Like 1941’s Citizen Kane, Vertigo received mixed reviews on release but has grown in stature as time passed.
The BFI’s list contained few surprises, with the top 10 mostly representing a reshuffle of the 2002 list – and all of the films more than 40 years old.
Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story from 1953 was ranked third, bettering its last placement of number five, while Jean Renoir’s La Regle Du Jeu dropped one place from three to four.
The two new entries in the top 10 were both silent – Dziga Vertov’s Man With a Movie Camera (1929) at number eight, and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc (1927) at nine.
The most recent film in the top 10 was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) at six.
The top British film was The Third Man which came in at number 73.
For the poll, the panel voted for 2,045 films overall.
They were asked to interpret “greatest” as they chose – whether the film was most important to film history, aesthetic achievement or personal impact on their own view of cinema.
“This result reflects changes in the culture of film criticism,” Nick James, the editor of Sight and Sound said.
“The new cinephilia seems to be not so much about films that strive to be great art, such as Citizen Kane, and that use cinema’s entire arsenal of effects to make a grand statement, but more about works that have personal meaning to the critic.
“Vertigo is the ultimate critics’ film because it is a dreamlike film about people who are not sure who they are but who are busy reconstructing themselves and each other to fit a kind of cinema ideal of the ideal soul mate.”
Meanwhile, in a separate poll run by the magazine involving 358 film directors, Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story was voted the Greatest Film of All Time.
Again Citizen Kane was knocked down to number two, a place it shared with Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Vertigo took seventh place.
Directors including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen and Mike Leigh participated in the poll.
The full results of the polls will be published in Sight and Sound’s September issue.
CRITICS TOP 10 FILMS OF ALL TIME
1. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
3. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
4. La Regle Du Jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939)
5. Sunrise: a Song for Two Humans (F.W. Murnau, 1927)
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
7. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
8. Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1927)
Bulgarian police have released a composite image of the suspected suicide bomber who killed five Israeli tourists and a local driver on a bus on 18 July.
The bomber, who blew up a bus in the Black Sea resort of Burgas, has not been identified yet.
Forensic experts created the image of a dark-haired man with pale skin. The bomber’s head was found at the scene.
Bulgarian police have released a composite image of the suspected suicide bomber in Burgas
Police suspect that he entered Bulgaria in June and had accomplices.
But Bulgaria has declined to back Israeli claims that Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah played a role.
As well as those killed, dozens of people were wounded in the blast.
Shortly after the bombing, Bulgarian authorities released CCTV images of the suspected bomber, but they appeared to contrast with some witness descriptions.
So far no match has been found in international databases for the fingerprints and DNA samples taken after the bombing.
Tetra Pack billionaire Hans Kristian Rausing has been sentenced after admitting preventing the lawful and decent burial of his wife, Eva Rausing.
The body of Eva Rausing, 48, was discovered at the couple’s house in Belgravia, London, on 9 July.
Hans Kristian Rausing, 49, was sentenced to 10 months in custody, suspended for two years, at Isleworth Crown Court.
Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson said the case illustrated the “utterly destructive effects of drug misuse”.
A second two-month prison sentence, also suspended for two years, was imposed to run concurrently after he admitted a charge of driving while unfit through drugs.
Hans Kristian Rausing was also ordered to attend a residential drug rehabilitation treatment programme for two years.
Hans Kristian Rausing has been sentenced after admitting preventing the lawful and decent burial of his wife, Eva Rausing
Police discovered the body of mother-of-four Eva Rausing in an advanced state of decomposition after they arrested her husband.
In a statement read to the court earlier, Hans Kristian Rausing said he had been unable to confront the reality of his wife’s death.
The court heard that Hans Kristian Rausing told police in a statement after his arrest: “I do not have a very coherent recollection of the events leading up to and since Eva’s death.
“Safe to assure you that I have never wished her or done her any harm.”
He added: “I did not supply her with drugs. I have been very traumatised since her death.
“I do not know what caused her death. I did not feel able to confront the reality of her death.
“I do not feel, with the benefit of hindsight, that following her death I acted rationally.
“I tried to carry on as if her death had not happened and batted away any inquiries about her.”
In a separate statement read to the court, Hans Kristian Rausing’s doctor said his patient had told him: “I know it sounds selfish but I just didn’t want her to leave.”
His doctor described him as a shy, socially awkward man who could not cope with the overwhelming emotional trauma of his wife’s death.
Hans Kristian Rausing was stopped by police on 9 July on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A subsequent search of the couple’s home led to the discovery of Eva Rausing’s body under a pile of bin bags, clothing and bed linen in a room which had been sealed with gaffer tape.
A post-mortem examination to determine the cause of her death proved inconclusive.
Medical reports showed that she probably died on 7 May. Initial toxicology reports showed the presence of drugs in her system.
Prosecutor James O’Connell said Eva Rausing had expressed concerns about her husband’s “chaotic lifestyle” to her financial adviser on 3 May, the last time she was seen by witnesses.
Hans Kristian Rausing’s family is said to be worth more than $6 billion.
They made their fortune from the Tetra Pak carton firm, although the family exited the company in 1995.
In sentencing, Judge McGregor-Johnson told Hans Kristian Rausing: “You and your wife had every material advantage imaginable, and for a time a happy family life.
“Your relapse into the misuse of drugs, together with that of your wife, destroyed all that.
“It is graphically illustrated by the contrast between the rooms visitors saw and the utter squalor of the rooms you really lived in.”
The couple had struggled with drug addiction for many years.
After an earlier court appearance, Hans Kristian Rausing’s parents issued a statement, saying they hoped their son could “find the strength to begin the long and hard journey of detoxification and rehabilitation”.
In 2008, Eva Rausing and her husband faced drug charges after crack, heroin and 52 g of cocaine were found in their home.
Eva Rausing had been arrested after she allegedly tried to smuggle small amounts of crack cocaine and heroin into the US embassy in London.
After apologizing to Adele for calling her fat, Karl Lagerfeld has now found fault with the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister, Pippa Middleton.
Karl Lagerfeld, 78, was commenting on Pippa Middleton’s style, when he admitted that he admired only the rear view of her.
According to The Sun, the Chanel designer said: “Kate Middleton has a nice silhouette and she is the right girl for that boy.
“I like that kind of woman, I like romantic beauties.”
“On the other hand, her sister struggles,” Karl Lagerfeld continued.
“I don’t like the sister’s face. She should only show her back.”
Karl Lagerfeld was commenting on Pippa Middleton's style, when he admitted that he admired only the rear view of her
No doubt Pippa Middleton’s fans, who have dubbed the 28-year-old “Her Royal Hotness”, will not be best pleased.
It is not the first time Karl Lagerfeld has voiced his opinion on the Middleton sisters.
At the launch of his pop-up beauty boutique in London’s Covent Garden last week, the designer was full of compliments for Kate – even defending her style against critics who might deem it dull.
Karl Lagerfeld said: “She knows pretty well what to wear and what to do. She has a divine silhouette so she can wear anything.
“She has a sense of what’s right for the moment because you can not dress like a mad woman in those situations.”
While he slammed Pippa Middleton in yesterday’s interview, Karl Lagerfeld did have high praise for Victoria Beckham, who he recently hosted for a shoot in his couture atelier in Paris.
“That body, after four children,” he exclaimed.
“There are not so many who have a body like that. She is very disciplined.”
Chinese Olympic delegation has begun an investigation into allegations two badminton players “deliberately lost” their match, state media says.
Doubles players Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli are among eight players charged by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) with “not using one’s best efforts to win”.
Four players from South Korea and two from Indonesia have also been charged.
China’s Olympic Committee opposed any behavior which violated “sporting spirit and morality”, a spokesman said.
Further action could be taken based on the results of the investigation, the spokesman said in a report published by Xinhua news agency.
Reports have suggested both pairs wanted to lose to secure an easier draw.
Chinese Olympic delegation has begun an investigation into allegations two badminton players "deliberately lost" their match
The match between the top-seeded Chinese duo and South Koreans Jung Kyung-Eun and Kim Ha-Na came under scrutiny after the longest rally in their game lasted four shots.
Match referee Thorsten Berg came on court at one point to warn the players, who also appeared to make deliberate errors.
Both pairs were already through to the quarter-finals.
The Chinese duo lost, meaning – Xinhua noted – that if both Chinese pairs continue to do well, they will not meet until the final.
Yu Yang said after the match that the performance was about saving strength.
“We’ve already qualified, so why would we waste energy? It’s not necessary to go out hard again when the knockout rounds are tomorrow.”
A subsequent match between South Korean third seeds Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung and Indonesian pair Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polii also came under scrutiny, with both teams apparently keen to lose – and so avoid the Chinese in the next round.
A statement from the BWF confirmed that all four pairs would face charges of “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”.
It is not clear what kind of penalties they could face. They are due to play in the quarter-finals later on Wednesday.
Australian coach Lasse Bundgaard said the group format of the tournament was to blame.
“If you can win a medal by losing, but not by winning, that’s not a good situation to be put in,” the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.
But a commentary piece carried by Xinhua was more reflective. The players’ actions did not “break any rules”, it said, but such behavior damaged “sportsmanship and ethics”.
“It is purely an act just for getting gold, with absolutely no respect to the spectators. You will be widely criticized even if you win the gold medal in the end,” the commentary read.
“Is it more important for us to ensure a gold-winning opportunity, or to protect China’s image and to spread the Olympic spirit?”
The row provoked heated debate on Sina Weibo – one of China’s Twitter equivalents. Moderators put up a page dividing comments into support and criticism of the players – and 70% of commentators backed the players.
One user in Beijing said: “It all depends on the result! Once the result is right, the way you achieve it doesn’t really matter.”
But another from Foshan in southern Guangdong said: “Passive competition, no matter what, goes against the Olympic spirit. All you want to achieve by doing this is to secure both gold and silver.”
Arirang Mass Games will be held in North Korean capital Pyongyang from August 1st until September 9th, 2012.
Mass Games takes place in the one of the biggest world’s stadium – Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium (for 150,000 visitors). The most magnificent show on Earth involves over 100,000 performers.
Amazing choreography, unbelievable synchronism and intricacy of acrobatic numbers – result of many months’ hard trainings of thousands of people. Ninety minute-long spectacular performance really astonishes imagination.
Arirang Mass Games will be held in North Korean capital Pyongyang from August 1st until September 9th, 2012
After success of the Arirang Festival in 2005, the organizers decided to extend Mass Games into next years. In 2007, August 16, Mass Games entered to Guinness Book of World Records. The record of “largest gymnastic and artistic performance in the world was created in Pyongyang, the capital of the DPRK” the Guinness Certificate says.
The Mass Games at Arirang Festival possess an important ideological character praising the Workers Party of North Korea, its armed forces, Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. These messages may not be clear to foreign spectators who are not aware of North Korean iconography: a rising sun symbolizes Kim Il-Sung. When a gun is shown, it signifies the gun which Kim Il-Sung gave to his son Kim Jong-Il. The color red, particularly in flowers, stands for the working class. And the color purple and red flowers represent Kim Il-Sung (as the flower “Kimilsungia” is a purple orchid and the flower “Kimjongilia” is a red begonia). A snowy mountain with a lake represents Mount Paektu where Kim Jong-Il is said to have been born in a log cabin.
From as young as 5 years old, citizens are selected based on skill level to serve for the Arirang Festival for many years. In most cases this will be the way of life for them until retirement.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to visit DPRK and to see the most spectacular show in the world!
Trailer of the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, has given fans their first glimpse of Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem’s blond villain in action.
Javier Bardem’s character, named Silva, is seen confronting a manacled James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, and is later shown disguised as a British policeman.
The trailer features actor Ben Whishaw as “The New Q” and explosive action in various London locales.
It also shows James Bond being “killed” in action and M typing up his obituary.
Played by Dame Judi Dench, 007’s boss is then seen being chastised by Ralph Fiennes’ character Gareth Mallory for losing a disc drive containing details of undercover British agents.
Subsequent scenes depict an explosion at MI6’s Thameside HQ and a Tube train plummeting into an underground vault.
The trailer reveals previously unknown plot points, one of which appears to have been drawn from Ian Fleming’s novel You Only Live Twice.
Trailer of the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, has given fans their first glimpse of Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem's blond villain in action
The 1964 book concludes with an obituary for James Bond written by M after the secret agent is believed to have been killed during a mission in Japan.
The latest trailer comes shortly after Daniel Craig’s cameo appearance during the Olympic Opening Ceremony in a short film that showed Bond escorting the Queen to the Olympic Stadium.
Audiences in the US were treated to a teaser of the new footage during NBC’s telecast of the London 2012 launch.
Other scenes unveiled on Tuesday include one showing British actress Naomie Harris, in her role as field agent Eve, “shooting” James Bond off the roof of a moving train in Turkey.
Skyfall marks Daniel Craig’s third big-screen appearance as Ian Fleming’s legendary spy.
Daniel Craig, 44, was previously seen in the role in 2006’s Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace in 2008.
Spanish actor Javier Bardem, 43, won the best supporting actor Oscar in 2008 for his villainous role in No Country for Old Men.
Javier Bardem, who is married to fellow Spaniard Penelope Cruz, was also Oscar-nominated in 2001 and 2011.
Microsoft is overhauling its free webmail service, dropping the Hotmail brand it has used since acquiring the product in 1998, and adopting the name Outlook.com.
The revamped service will help sort messages as they arrive and allow users to make internet calls on Skype.
It said the move would help tackle the problem of “cluttered” inboxes.
The action may also be designed to win over users of Google’s rival Gmail service.
Microsoft said that in many cases email had become a “chore” because its users accounts had become “overloaded” with material.
Its solution is to automatically sort messages into different areas to distinguish between emails from contacts, newsletters, package delivery notices, social network posts and other identifiers determined by the account holder.
Microsoft is overhauling its free webmail service, dropping the Hotmail brand, and adopting the name Outlook.com
In addition it is taking steps to link the Outlook account with other services the user might have subscribed to.
“We are giving you the first email service that is connected to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google, and soon, Skype, to bring relevant context and communications to your email,” the firm’s Chris Jones said on its blog.
“In the Outlook.com inbox, your personal email comes alive with photos of your friends, recent status updates and tweets that your friend has shared with you, the ability to chat and video call – all powered by an always up-to-date contact list that is connected to your social networks.”
In what may be perceived as a dig at Google, Chris Jones added that the firm would not scan email content or attachments in order to sell the information to advertisers or others.
He also announced that web versions of the firms Office apps were built-in, potentially helping it counter competition from other web-based application suits such as Google Docs and Zoho Docs.
Outlook.com also links up with Microsoft’s Skydrive cloud storage, allowing users to send photos and other documents via the service to avoid the risk of going over their attachment size limit.
This could pose a threat to the rival Google Drive service as well as Dropbox, Sugarsync and others.
Chris Jones said the firm had built a “brand new service from the ground up”. But Matt Cain, an analyst at the tech consultants Gartner, played down the suggestion of a major leap forwards.
“Outlook.com represents reverse-consumerisation – taking a ubiquitous business tool and recrafting it for the consumer market,” he said.
“There really is no new technology here – the filtering tools have been around for some time as well as the social network integration.
“What is new is the cleaned up user interface, and the marketing spin, and the tight integration with office web apps and Skydrive, and the forthcoming integration with Skype.”
Microsoft is offering the service in a “preview” mode for the time being and has not announced an official release date. While it advises users to upgrade, Hotmail subscribers can stick with the old system if they wish – at least for now.
Catholic and veterans groups in Poland are protesting against Madonna’s concert in the Polish capital because it falls on the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.
Some are urging ticket-holders to boycott Wednesday’s show, which comes 68 years after the city’s failed revolt against Nazi occupation began.
Organizers of the concert have agreed to show a short clip about the events of 1944 before the performance.
Every year, Poles commemorate the 200,000 lives lost during the uprising.
One Catholic group called Krucjata Mlodych (Youth Crusade) has started an online campaign urging people not to attend the concert.
They say more than 50,000 people have signed up to their Don’t Go To See Madonna campaign.
Catholic and veterans groups in Poland are protesting against Madonna’s concert in the Polish capital because it falls on the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
The group also says anti-Madonna Mass services and street prayer sessions have been held.
They accuse the singer of offending their faith through her use of burning cross and crown of thorns imagery, and say she promotes pornography and sexual deviation.
Billboards around the capital promoting the concert have been defaced with the sign of the Polish Home Army, the largest underground army in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Every year, at 1700 on 1 August, sirens wail across Warsaw and people stand still to pay their respects to the victims of the 63-day uprising.
Conservative opposition MP Stanislaw Pieta has appealed to the government not to allow the concert to go ahead in Warsaw’s National Stadium, Polish Radio reports.
Concert organizers have agreed to a proposal by city officials to show a short film about the uprising in the stadium before the show, in an attempt to appease the protesters.
Ania Pietrzak, a spokeswoman for concert organizer Live Nation, told the Press Association: “It is an important moment in Polish history, so we have decided to remind people of that moment.”
It is the latest controversy to hit the 53-year-old singer’s MDNA tour.
In Paris, some fans booed her when she ended the show after only 45 minutes.
Madonna also angered supporters of France’s right-wing National Front party, by showing a swastika imposed on the face of the party’s leader, Marine Le Pen.
Power supply in India has been fully restored after a two-day blackout hit much of the country, officials say.
More than 600 million people were affected by the power cut after three electricity grids collapsed, one for a second consecutive day.
The power failure caused havoc, with whole cities grinding to a halt and transport and other services badly hit.
The breakdowns in the northern, eastern and north-eastern grids affected 20 of India’s 28 states.
Power System Operation Corporation chief SK Soonee said electricity had been restored in all three grids overnight on Tuesday by engineers from the state-owned company.
The blackout caused chaos on transport networks with hundreds of trains stranded and water supplies interrupted.
Power supply in India has been fully restored after a two-day blackout hit much of the country
In Delhi, Metro services were halted and staff evacuated trains. Many traffic lights in the city failed, leading to massive traffic jams.
Other areas affected included Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan in the north, and West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand in the east.
In the eastern state of West Bengal, around 200 miners were trapped underground as lifts failed, but officials later said they had all been rescued.
One shopworker in Delhi, Anu Chopra, 21, said: “I can understand this happening once in a while but how can one allow such a thing to happen two days in a row?
“It just shows our infrastructure is in a complete mess. There is no transparency and no accountability whatsoever.”
In a statement on national TV on Tuesday evening, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde blamed the crisis on states taking more than their quota of power from the national grid.
He said he had appealed to states to stop this and instructed his officials to penalize those states which did.
But officials in Uttar Pradesh, one of the states blamed in the Indian media, said there was “no reason to believe” they were at fault.
Anil K. Gupta, the chairman of the state’s power company, called for “further investigation to ascertain the real cause”.
The power minister of Haryana state, Captain Ajay Singh, was quoted by NDTV as saying his was not the only state with overdraw from the grid.
“We are not to be blamed for the technical snag that tripped the grid,” he said.
“We are simply being blamed for what everyone does.”
Also on Tuesday it was announced that Sushil Kumar Shinde had been promoted to the post of home minister, in a widely anticipated cabinet reshuffle.
He has been replaced by the current corporate affairs minister, Veerappa Moily.
Power cuts are common in Indian cities because of a fundamental shortage of power and an ageing grid – the chaos caused by such cuts has led to protests and unrest on the streets in the past.
But the collapse of an entire grid is rare – the last time the northern grid failed was in 2001.
India’s demand for electricity has soared in recent years as its economy has grown but its power infrastructure has been unable to meet the growing needs.
Correspondents say unless there is a huge investment in the power sector, the country will see many more power failures.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) has charged eight female Olympic badminton players with “not using one’s best efforts to win a match”.
Four pairs of players – two from South Korea, one from China and one from Indonesia – could be disciplined.
Spectators booed the two badminton matches played at Wembley Arena on Tuesday, in which the four accused pairs of players were appearing.
China’s Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and South Koreans Jung Kyung-Eun and Kim Ha-Na are among those facing charges.
The longest rally in their game lasted four shots, with match referee Thorsten Berg coming on to court at one point to warn the players. The players also appeared to deliberately serve into the net and hit the shuttlecock out of the court.
Both pairs were already through to the quarter-finals. Reports have suggested they both wanted to lose to secure an easier draw.
The Badminton World Federation has charged eight female Olympic badminton players with not using one's best efforts to win a match
The unseeded South Koreans eventually won their match, meaning they would next play China’s Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei.
The South Korean pair did not comment, but Yu Yang said she and Wang Xiaoli were saving energy for the knockout stages.
Meanwhile, China’s Olympic sports delegation launched an investigation into the alleged “deliberate losing” by its badminton players, saying it opposed any behavior violating “sporting spirit and morality”, as reported by state media.
A later match between South Korean third seeds Ha Jung-Eun and Kim Min-Jung and Indonesian pair Meiliana Juahari and Greysia Polii is also under scrutiny by the Badminton World Federation.
Both pairs of those teams had also already qualified for the knockout stages, with the winner of Group C to play Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and the Korean pairs to face each other if Kim Ha-Na and Kim Min-Jung lost.
At one point the referee, Thorsten Berg, again intervened and brandished a black card to disqualify the players. However, he then rescinded his decision following protests from the two teams.
Both teams appeared keen to lose and therefore not play the Chinese in the next round, but the Koreans eventually won by two sets to one.
A statement from the BWF confirmed that all four pairs would face charges of “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” and “conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport”.
Celebrated author and political commentator Gore Vidal has died aged 86, his family has confirmed.
Gore Vidal, born Eugene Luther Gore Vidal, died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, with the cause of death believed to be complications from pneumonia.
Gore Vidal produced 25 novels, including the best-selling Burr and Myra Breckenridge, more than 200 essays and several plays.
The author also ran for political office twice and was a well-known commentator.
His nephew Burr Steers told US media that his uncle had been ill “for quite a while”.
Celebrated author and political commentator Gore Vidal has died aged 86
Gore Vidal was among a generation of literary writers who were also genuine celebrities – fixtures on chat shows and in gossip columns.
His social circle included Tennessee Williams, Orson Welles, Truman Capote and Frank Sinatra.
Gore Vidal wrote his first book aged 19 and later went on to become one of America’s most distinguished authors.
But he was not always comfortable with the literary and political establishment.
His second book, the City and the Pillar, tackled homosexuality, making it highly controversial at the time.
Bookshops refused to stock it, and he was ostracized for most of the 1950s and forced to work under pseudonyms.
In the late 1950s he began to write under his own name again, working on the screenplay to Ben Hur, among other films.
Born in 1925, Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was the scion of one of America’s grandest political dynasties.
His grandfather, TP Gore, was a senator and his father a one-time Secretary of Aviation under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Microsoft has confirmed that it will release its Surface tablet to coincide with the launch of its Windows 8 software on October 26.
Microsoft revealed the date in a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
“The next version of our operating system, Windows 8, will be generally available on October 26, 2012,” Microsoft said.
“At that time, we will begin selling the Surface, a series of Microsoft-designed and manufactured hardware devices.”
Microsoft has confirmed that it will release its Surface tablet to coincide with the launch of its Windows 8 software on October 26
The Surface tablet was announced in June, but no release date or specs were given at the time.
Microsoft has not confirmed if the 26 October release date covers the US only, or if it will extend to other markets.
While the Surface tablet release was largely expected to coincide with Windows 8 availability, this is thought to be the first time the date has been publicly confirmed by Microsoft.
The announcement that Microsoft is to make its own hardware for the first time angered many of its partners, something Microsoft alludes to in its filing.
However, the firm has refused to release details of the price of the unit.
Some internet users have speculated that a top of the range model could cost in excess of $1,600.
According to new reports, police have issued an arrest warrant for Cuba Gooding Jr. after an altercation at a New Orleans bar in the early hours of this morning.
Cuba Gooding Jr., 44, is allegedly accused of shoving a female bartender at the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street around 2:00 a.m., according to TMZ.
The star became agitated and started swearing when bar patrons who recognized began taking photos, a witness tells TMZ.
When the female bartender approached the actor and asked him to leave, Cuba Gooding Jr. allegedly pushed her up against the wall.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is allegedly accused of shoving a female bartender at the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street in New Orleans
Police are now under orders to arrest the actor on sight.
Cuba Gooding Jr. is currently in New Orleans to film The Butler, about a White House employee who serves eight Presidents over the course of three decades, with Oprah Winfrey and Lenny Kravitz.
Cuba Gooding Jr. was last spotted on set on Friday where he appeared to be in good spirits.
Kate Middleton has topped Vanity Fair’s annual International Best Dressed list for the third year running.
The prestigious ranking, which appears in the September issue of the glossy title, saw the Duchess of Cambridge trump some of the fashion world’s most influential figures including actresses Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger and Léa Seydoux, as well as the much-loved New York Times street style photographer Bill Cunningham.
Kate Middleton won praise for patriotically championing home-grown designers such as Alexander McQueen, Alice Temperley, and Matthew Williamson, as well as High Street brands.
Of course, the Duchess was not the only royal to make the list. Her brother-in-law, Prince Harry, also featured at number 27, while Monaco’s Charlotte Casiraghi and HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark placed at numbers 35 and 32 respectively.
Kate Middleton has topped Vanity Fair's annual International Best Dressed list for the third year running
They appeared alongside fashion industry power players such as Stella McCartney, Alice & Olivia designer Stacey Bendet and Odcar de la Renta PR Erika Bearman, better known by her Twitter handle, OscarPRGirl.
Among the men to make the list was Gisele Bundchen’s quarterback husband Tom Brady, who ranked high at number seven. Interestingly the supermodel herself didn’t even make the list at all. The same was true of Jay-Z, who came fifth, while wife Beyonce didn’t feature either.
Several couples featured as a single entry, however. Colin Firth appeared alongside his wife Livia, who regularly steps out on the red carpet in eco-friendly designer creations.
Moda Operandi founder and Vogue contributor Lauren Santo Domingo came 20th in the list with her music executive husband Andrés
Italian socialites and power couple Ginevra Elkann and Giovanni Gaetani dell’Aquila d’Aragona also appeared together at number 38.
Other major names to make the list were singer Alicia Keys, actress Fan Bingbing and British actor Eddie Redmayne.
Today show anchor Matt Lauer came in at 25, New York Giants Wide Receiver Victor Cruz at 23 and Isabella Rossellini’s daughter Elettra Wiedemann came in at 33.
Vanity Fair is not the first title to have put the Duchess of Cambridge top of its best-dressed list.
People magazine named her one of their ten most stylish women in the world last September. And Harper’s Bazaar followed suit by putting her top of their list in November.
At least 19 people have been killed in two car bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.
The blasts happened within minutes of each other in the central Shia district of Karrada in the middle of the afternoon rush hour.
The first bomb exploded outside a restaurant and a bakery in al-Andalus Square, and the second outside a court opposite a major police headquarters.
More than 240 people have been killed this month in militant attacks in Iraq.
At least 19 people have been killed in two car bomb explosions in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad
Sunni insurgents linked to al-Qaeda appear to have been behind most of the violence, including a wave of bombings and shootings in Baghdad and towns to the north on 23 July which left at least 107 dead.
Clouds of black smoke rose above the centre of the capital on Tuesday after the latest bombings, which also injured more than 50 people.
“We were in a patrol when we heard the first explosion. The second explosion hit another square, and we went to help,” Ahmed Hassan, a policeman, told the Reuters news agency.
“There was a minibus with six dead passengers inside it.”
At least five policemen were also among those killed, officials said.
An interior ministry official told the AFP news agency that the first attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber, while the local TV news channel al-Sharqiya said they had both been suicide bombings.
Twitter is facing a user backlash after suspending the account of journalist Guy Adams, who had criticized NBC Universal’s coverage of the Olympic Games.
NBC Universal had complained that Independent newspaper correspondent Guy Adams had posted the email address of one of its executives.
But Guy Adams has alleged the complaint was only made after Twitter had alerted NBC to his message.
Twitter said it “does not actively monitor users’ accounts”.
However, the social network refused to discuss Guy Adams’s case, saying “it was company policy not to comment on individual users” for privacy reasons.
Twitter formed a partnership with NBC ahead of the Games to create a page highlighting messages from NBC personalities, athletes and fans during the event.
The broadcaster paid $1.18 billion for the US broadcast rights to the Olympics.
Twitter is facing a user backlash after suspending the account of journalist Guy Adams, who had criticized NBC Universal's coverage of the Olympic Games
Several users have retweeted the executive’s email address in protest at the suspension.
Guy Adams – who is based Los Angeles – posted a message last Friday criticizing NBC’s decision to broadcast the Games’ opening ceremony with a time-delay in order to target a prime-time audience.
On the US’s east coast it was shown with a three-and-a-half hours delay, on the west coast the gap was up to six-and-a-half hours.
This caused problems for users who enjoy swapping comments about major events on social network sites.
“The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven’t started yet is Gary Zenkel. Tell him what u think,” Guy Adams tweeted, referring to NBC’s Olympics president.
He also included Gary Zenkel’s business email address in the message.
Guy Adams said when he checked his account on Sunday he had received a message saying it had been suspended.
NBC Sports subsequently released a statement confirming it had called for the action.
“We filed a complaint with Twitter because a user tweeted the personal information of one of our executives,” it said.
“According to Twitter, this is a violation of their privacy policy. Twitter alone levies discipline.”
Guy Adams then published an article saying a Daily Telegraph journalist had forwarded him an email from NBC.
He quoted an NBC spokesman as saying: “Our social media department was actually alerted to it by Twitter and then we filled out the form and submitted it.”
Twitter’s terms and conditions say posting another person’s private and confidential information, including “non-public, personal email addresses” is a violation of its rules.
But Guy Adams said he had done nothing wrong, as the address he had used was a corporate one based on the same system used by NBC’s other employees and could easily be worked out by “anyone in possession of 30 seconds of free time and access to Google”.
Many Twitter users have come out in support of Guy Adams.
“Scandal that someone should be banned for voicing an opinion,” tweeted London-based Nicholas Pritchard.
“I think Twitter’s suspension of Guy Adams’ account hurts its own brand. A lot,” posted George Maschke from the Netherlands.
Among the critics were others involved in the media industry.
“Twitter’s suspension of @guyadams jars with company’s claim to be the free speech wing of the free speech party,” wrote the Guardian‘s special projects editor Paul Lewis.
“I wouldn’t have posted the email address. But Twitter’s removing his account was outrageous,” added Dan Gillmor, from the Arizona State University’s school of journalism.
Several users posted internet links to websites that had previously published Gary Zenkel’s contact details. Some also reposted the executive’s email address to Twitter.
NBC has highlighted that a record 40.7 million people watched its coverage of the opening ceremony, saying it was “a great early sign that our strategy of driving people to watch NBC in prime-time is working”.
Swiss bank UBS lost 349 million Swiss francs ($356 million) by investing in Facebook shares, more than halving its profits.
UBS’s second quarter profits were $425 million Swiss francs ($434 million), compared with 1bn francs a year earlier.
Facebook was valued at $104 billion at its flotation in May, but the shares are now 39% below the initial sale price.
As a result, UBS’s investment bank reported a loss in the quarter, compared with a profit of 730 million Swiss francs a year earlier.
Swiss bank UBS lost 349 million Swiss francs ($356 million) by investing in Facebook shares, more than halving its profits
UBS warned that failure to resolve problems within Europe’s banking system “accentuated by the reduction in market activity levels typically seen in the third quarter” meant its next set of earnings were likely to be flat.
As a result, UBS said it would look at making further cost savings. The Swiss group is already in the process of cutting 3,500 jobs.
The company also said it was on target to meet new Basel III bank rules and would not have to issue new shares to generate additional money.
Its ratio of high quality – tier 1 – capital to lending was 8.8%, just shy of the 9% that will be required from next year.
Deutsche Bank has reported a 63% fall in second quarter earnings to 375 million Euros ($460 million) from 969 million Euros last year.
Like UBS, Deutsche blamed the economic downturn in Europe and the US for lower fees and commissions as firms cut back on big deals and share sales.
In a joint statement, Deutsche’s co-chairmen Jürgen Fitschen and Anshu Jain said: “The European sovereign debt crisis continues to weigh on investor confidence and client activity across the bank.”
Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny has been charged with embezzlement in a case he describes as “strange and absurd”.
Federal investigators in Moscow brought charges over a timber deal in the Kirov region in which he was involved as an unofficial adviser three years ago.
The case was previously investigated and dropped by regional prosecutors.
Alexei Navalny, who was also ordered not to leave the country, suggested the new charges were aimed at discrediting him.
Supporters of the anti-corruption lawyer, who led mass protests in Moscow against Russian leader Vladimir Putin this winter, demonstrated outside the offices of the Investigative Committee (SK) in Moscow, where he was charged on Tuesday.
Under Article 160 of the Russian criminal code on “misappropriation or embezzlement”, Alexei Navalny faces between five and 10 years in prison if convicted.
Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny has been charged with embezzlement in a case he describes as "strange and absurd"
Reacting to news of the case, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter: “We should be concerned with attempts in Russia to silence fierce opposition activist Alexei @navalny.”
The case relates to a loss-making contract concluded by a state-owned timber company in Kirov, a region just west of the Ural Mountains, with another company.
The Kirov regional budget for 2009-10 suffered a loss of 1.3 million roubles ($40,000) and Alexei Navalny was investigated as he was acting at the time as an adviser to Kirov’s governor, Nikita Belykh.
The charges were announced on Tuesday by Vladimir Markin, official spokesman for the SK, a federal body set up to act as the equivalent of the FBI in Russia.
Alexei Navalny was charged under articles 160 and 33 (acting as an accomplice to a crime), Vladimir Markin told Russian news agencies.
Investigators, Vladimir Markin said, had originally sought to charge Alexei Navalny with causing “damage to property by means of deceit or abuse of trust” but they proceeded to more serious charges after reviewing the evidence.
Alexei Navalny pointed out that he had gone to the SK expecting to be charged with the lesser offence, only to find the case had been altered against him into something much more serious.
“This charge is strange and absurd,” he said after emerging from the building.
“They have completely changed the essence of the charge.”
This winter saw the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Moscow since the fall of the USSR. Protesters rallied around Alexei Navalny, who accused Vladimir Putin’s allies of rigging elections.
Since Vladimir Putin was re-elected president in March, legal action against opposition figures has increased markedly. A tough new law was passed on public order offences and tight curbs were placed on non-governmental organizations.
In recent weeks, Alexei Navalny, a lawyer by training, turned his fire on the SK’s chief, Alexander Bastrykin.
Alexander Bastrykin denied Alexei Navalny’s allegations that he had undeclared business interests in the Czech Republic.
He admitted once owning a flat there but said he had given it to his first wife. As for commercial activity, he said: “I was never in business. Business in the sense of aiming to make a profit. If they can find a single euro in profit, I’ll resign.”
Alexei Navalny vowed on Tuesday to continue his political activities despite the case against him.
“I will continue doing what I did before – nothing has changed for me,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
More than half of India has been left without power after a massive power breakdown has hit the country for a second day running.
Indian officials said the northern and eastern grids had both collapsed. All Delhi metro services have been halted and staff is trying to evacuate trains.
Monday’s power failure caused severe disruption and travel chaos across northern India.
It was unclear why the grid collapsed but the power minister said some states may have been taking too much power.
Sushil Kumar Shinde said power would be restored in “another 90 minutes”.
After Monday’s cut, engineers managed to restore electricity to the northern grid by the evening, but at 01:05 p.m. on Tuesday, it collapsed again.
More than half of India has been left without power after a massive power breakdown has hit the country for a second day running
The eastern grid failed around the same time, officials said.
“Both the northern and eastern grids have collapsed. Please allow us to address the problem,” AFP news agency quoted VK Agrawal, the general manager of the northern grid, as saying.
The two grids together serve more than half of India’s 1.2 billion people.
The breakdown has hit a large swathe of the country including Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan states in the north, and West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand in the east.
An official in Orissa said the blackout in the eastern grid had been triggered by a fault and could take several hours to resolve.
Railway officials said more than 350 trains were stranded, and hospitals and essential services were running on backup generators.
Across West Bengal, power went at 13:00 and all suburban railway trains on the eastern railways ground to a halt from Howrah and Seladah stations.
However, the city is not badly affected as it is served by a private electricity board, our correspondent adds.
Power cuts are common in Indian cities because of a fundamental shortage of power and an ageing grid – the chaos caused by such cuts has led to protests and unrest on the streets in the past.
But the collapse of an entire grid is rare – the last time the northern grid failed was in 2001.
India’s demand for electricity has soared in recent years as its economy has grown but its power infrastructure has been unable to meet the growing needs.
Correspondents say unless there is a huge investment in the power sector, the country will see many more power failures.
