Greek moderate Democratic Left party says it will not join pro-bailout parties in a coalition without the more radical far left Syriza.
The Greek president has called the four main parties, including the centre-right New Democracy and the Socialist Pasok, to try to form an emergency government to avoid new elections.
But Syriza said it would not attend because it could not back any coalition which supported austerity.
A majority voted against last week.
Greek moderate Democratic Left party says it will not join pro-bailout parties in a coalition without the more radical far left Syriza
EU finance ministers are due to meet in Brussels to discuss the Greek crisis later on Monday.
The fear over holding new elections is that parties that oppose austerity measures that are a condition of Greece’s bailout deal might do well again in new polls.
And with no sign Europe’s leaders are prepared to renegotiate the deal, Greece could end up leaving the eurozone.
For the first time, some central bankers have spoken openly about the consequences of a Greek exit from the single currency.
Paul Watson, the founder of US-based anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has been arrested in Germany, the group announces.
In a statement, Sea Shepherd said paul Watson was detained in Frankfurt and now faces extradition to Costa Rica.
It quotes German police as saying the arrest relates to a confrontation over shark finning in 2002.
Sea Shepherd is a controversial direct action group best known for disrupting Japan’s annual whale hunt.
In the past there have been collisions between its vessels and the whaling fleet, and its activists have also boarded Japanese vessels.
Paul Watson, the founder of US-based anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has been arrested in Germany
Paul Watson tweeted late on Sunday: “I am currently being held in Frankfurt on charges from Costa Rica. Court appearance in the morning.”
The German warrant related to an “alleged violation of ships traffic” which took place in Guatemalan waters in 2002, the group said, when it “encountered an illegal shark finning operation” – referring to the practice of catching sharks, slicing off their valuable fins and returning the shark to the water where it will usually die.
On order of the Guatemalan authorities, the group says, it instructed the crew of the Costa Rican vessel in question, the Varadero, to head back to port to be prosecuted.
“While escorting the Varadero back to port, the tables were turned and a Guatemalan gunboat was dispatched to intercept the Sea Shepherd crew,” the statement claims.
“The crew of the Varadero accused the Sea Shepherd of trying to kill them, while the video evidence proves this to be a fallacy.
“To avoid the Guatemalan gunboat, Sea Shepherd then set sail for Costa Rica, where they uncovered even more illegal shark finning activities in the form of dried shark fins by the thousands on the roofs of industrial buildings.”
Media cite Costa Rican reports as saying Paul Watson also faces an outstanding warrant for attempted murder stemming from the same incident.
According to Sea Shepherd, Paul Watson is being assisted in jail by European deputies Daniel Cohn Bendit and Jose Bove.
“Our hope is that these two honorable gentlemen can set Captain Watson free before this nonsense goes any further,” Sea Shepherd says.
British police has released the footage of an irate woman that has been captured on camera chasing after and scuffling with a cyclist in a country lane.
The video on YouTube shows the slim red head catching up with the cyclist and pushing him as the pair argue.
The older looking man in wellington boots, Barbour style jacket and flat cap had been holding up traffic behind him in a country lane.
The woman appears to have raced from a car which was being slowed down by the bike in a country lane.
She is seen catching up with the cyclist, pushing him and kicking out as both raise their arms towards each other.
British police has released the footage of an irate woman that has been captured on camera chasing after and scuffling with a cyclist in a country lane
Police released the YouTube video in a bid to trace the people involved in the incident which is believed to have happened at around 12.30 p.m. on Saturday, January 28.
The road where the incident took place was the B4425 at Ampney Coln near Bibury in Gloucestershire.
A police spokesman said: “On this day a woman called Gloucestershire Police to report that she had been assaulted by a cyclist who had been holding up traffic.
“Officers have made a number of enquiries to locate this woman but it appears that the contact details she gave were incorrect.
“As part of their enquiries officers seized footage that had been posted on YouTube that is believed to be connected to the same incident.
“The footage shows a man cycling along a road when he is approached by a woman on foot who pushes him; they then get into an altercation.
“Investigating officers have been working to identify the individuals, but to no avail. They are now turning to the public for their help.”
The people in the film, or anyone who witnessed the incident, have been asked to phone Gloucestershire Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Kim Kardashian already has facial features that strongly resemble her mother Kris Jenner, but she could have passed as her twin yesterday as she donned a cropped wig for a photo shoot.
Kim Kardashian, 31, was the splitting image of Kris Jenner, 56, as she got to work in Downtown Los Angeles for Vogue Italia.
The reality star seemed to be paying tribute to Kris Jenner on the American Mother’s Day, donning the short wig and baring an uncanny resemblance to the matriarch.
After spending the morning with Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian tweeted: “Happy Mothers Day!!! Had an amazing breakfast with the family…now off to a special shoot today!”
Kim Kardashian was the splitting image of her mother Kris Jenner as she posed for Vogue Italia on Mother’s Day
Kim Kardashian had onlookers talking when she slipped on skin-tight leather dress to a very casual basketball date with her boyfriend Kanye West yesterday.
But perhaps there was a reason behind her inconvenient choice of clothing as she watched the LA Lakers play the Denver Nuggets.
The raven-haired beauty was spotted in an extremely similar fitted frock on the shoot yesterday, so maybe she was simply practicing for a day in the animal skin.
Kim Kardashian could be seen getting her ample curves squeezed into the black dress, which fell above-the-knees and appeared to leave no room for movement.
As the magazine’s contributing fashion editor Rushka Bergman fitted a belt around her waist, Kim Kardashian would have had trouble staying upright in the towering heels which went over her sheer hosiery.
Kim Kardashian was joined on the job in Los Angeles’ Chinatown by her boyfriend Kanye West, who patiently sat in a chair as aides fussed over her behind giant black screens.
She looked like she’d be spending plenty of time switching into different ensembles with an array of clothing displayed on the clothing rails.
Although an inspiration board showed black and white images of androgynous models and old time paparazzi shots, Kim Kardashian seemed to be channelling her manager mother Kris Jenner even more so when she switched into a leather jacket and shorts.
Kim Kardashian teamed the look with huge sunglasses and knee-high boots which she wore over fishnet tights.
Barack Obama tried to convince Reverend Jeremiah Wright to keep quiet during 2008 US presidential campaign and offered his former pastor $150,000, claims Edward Klein’s book, The Amateur.
Jeremiah Wright, a retired pastor who came under fire after an old sermon where he said that the September 11 terrorist attacks were “America’s chickens coming home to roost”, said that he was offered $150,000 to stay silent until the election was over.
Journalist Edward Klein interviewed Jeremiah Wright and included their conversation in his new book, The Amateur.
“After the media went ballistic on me, I received an email offering me money not to preach until the November presidential election,” Jeremiah Wright told the author, as relayed by The New York Post.
Jeremiah Wright said that “one of Barack’s closest friends” sent an email to a member of the church saying that he would pay $150,000 for the pastor to keep quiet for fear of saying something incendiary.
The Reverend said that following the incident, the then-candidate Barack Obama requested a private, secret meeting with him to make a personal plea.
Barack Obama tried to convince Reverend Jeremiah Wright to keep quiet during 2008 US presidential campaign and offered his former pastor $150,000, claims Edward Klein’s book, The Amateur
Jeremiah Wright said that, while he wasn’t sure whether or not Barack Obama was wearing a wire, they met and discussed their options.
“And one of the first things Barack said was, <<I really wish you wouldn’t do any more public speaking until after the November election>>,” Jeremiah Wright told Edward Klein.
“He knew I had some speaking engagements lined up, and he said, <<I wish you wouldn’t speak. It’s gonna hurt the campaign if you do that.>>”
Barack Obama, who was in the midst of navigating the ensuing political storm that occurred after Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s comments went public, hoped to stem the tide by getting his long-time family friend to ease off until Election Day.
“Barack said, <<I’m sorry you don’t see it the way I do. Do you know what your problem is?>> And I said, <<No, what’s my problem?>> And he said, <<You have to tell the truth>>. I said, <<That’s a good problem to have. That’s a good problem for all preachers to have. That’s why I could never be a politician>>,” Jeremiah Wright said in the interview.
Barack Obama went into damage-control mode after the video of the sermon went viral, and delivered a well-received speech on the racial state of America.
In the speech, called “A More Perfect Union”, Barack Obama criticized the political views of Jeremiah Wright but tried to balance his personal history with the man and his controversial thoughts.
“I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy,” Barack Obama said in the March speech.
“I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.”
Police has found 49 mutilated bodies dumped by a roadside near the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico.
Security officials said the 43 men and six women had been decapitated and had their hands cut off, making identification difficult.
They blamed the killings on a conflict between rival drugs gangs – a note left with the bodies said they had been killed by the Zetas cartel.
It is the latest in a series of recent massacres in northern Mexico.
The Zetas have been fighting the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels for control of smuggling routes into the US.
Police has found 49 mutilated bodies dumped by a roadside near the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico
The bodies were found at 04:00 local time in Cadereyta municipality on the road from Monterrey to Reynosa on the US border.
Security officials said the bodies appeared to have been killed at another location up to two days ago and dumped from a truck.
“We know from the characteristics that this is the result of violence between criminal gangs, it is not an attack on the civilian population,” Nuevo Leon State security spokesman Jorge Domene said.
State prosecutor Adrian de la Garza said the fact that hands and heads had been cut off made it difficult to identify the victims, but he said it was possible they were Central American migrants.
The grim find comes just days after police discovered the dismembered, decapitated bodies of 18 people in two abandoned vehicles in western Mexico.
Earlier this month 23 dead bodies – 14 of them decapitated – were found in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, also in Nuevo Leon state.
Around 50,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the army to combat the cartels.
The latest killings show that, although many Mexicans felt the drug violence had been easing this year, the conflict is still claiming many lives, often in the most brutal circumstances.
There’s no official announcement from Apple that the iPad mini/iPad nano is even in the works, so a release date for the tablet is even more up in the air.
Although if the rumors turn out to be true, we can expect Apple to start rolling out the iPad mini very soon after a extraordinarily over-hyped launch event.
According to a Digitimes source, the iPad nano could start production in the third quarter of 2012.
Analyst Shaw Wu says the “exact timing” for an iPad mini release date “is difficult to predict”, but said its launch is a “question of when, not if”.
A report straight out of China suggests that key Apple manufactures Foxconn and Pegatron have started to receive orders for the new iPad mini. It goes on to say the factories will have 6 million units ready for a launch in Q3 of 2012.
Apple has announced its annual WWDC event running from June 11-15, which sold out in just two hours, and there’s a chance we could see the Cupertino firm announce the iPad mini there, possibly alongside the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 – but then again, we could also see Apple launch a new ice cream factory, such is the chances of all three of those happening.
A iMore source claims that the iPad Mini will be ready by October 2012.
There's no official announcement from Apple that the iPad mini is even in the works, so a release date for the tablet is even more up in the air
Apple is known for its extravagant products, launch events and pricing policies, however the iPad mini may herald a new era for those who long for an Apple device, but simply can’t part with an arm and a leg to buy one.
It’s thought that Apple’s idea behind the iPad nano is to tackle the budget end of the which, where the Amazon Kindle Fire is currently king, and a Digitimes source predicts it could land with a very reasonable $249-$299 price tag.
As the name suggests, an iPad which will be sporting a screen smaller than the stock 9.7-inch display found on the first three Apple tablets.
In February, a Wall Street Journal report claimed a source from an Apple component supplier had confirmed it was testing a smaller screen for Apple, in the region of 8-inches with a similar resolution to the iPad 2.
In March, Digitimes reported that the new iPad mini would actually come with a 7.85-inch display – a tad bigger than the 7-inch screen found on the Kindle Fire.
April saw Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu reveal that Apple had been testing devices with screens ranging from 4 to 12-inches and highlighted that the 7.85-inch format would be most likely “when, not if” the iPad mini is launched.
Shaw Wu also predicted the iPad nano would sport the same resolution as the original iPad and iPad 2, at 1,024 x 768 – meaning developers wouldn’t have to tweak their apps.
According to an iMore source, the mini iPad will sport a 7-inch screen with the same retina display as the iPhone 4S and new iPad.
To help keep the cost of the iPad mini down, one source reckons it will ship with just 8 GB of internal storage – the same amount as the Amazon Kindle Fire.
Well, we’re still unsure whether Apple will go down the iPad mini route. Steve Jobs made his stance on smaller tablets quite clear and it would be a daring move by the Cupertino-firm to go against its popular former boss.
The budget tablet market is one which is definitely growing, and one which Apple is currently not part of, so it won’t be too much of a surprise if the firm does decide to go down this route.
Guitarist Brian May has confirmed Queen will use a Freddie Mercury hologram on a West End theatre stage – and vows people will wonder if they really saw the star.
A digital projection will appear tomorrow to mark the tenth anniversary of the band’s musical We Will Rock You.
The announcement comes soon after drummer Roger Taylor said he wouldn’t feel comfortable performing with a simulation of the singer, who died in 1991.
Controversy has surrounded the projection effect after rapper Tupac Shakur appeared with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg at last month’s Coachella festival, even though he was shot dead in 1996.
Asked whether Queen would make use of the technology in a similar way, Roger Taylor said: “I don’t think I want to. It just doesn’t sit too well with me. I don’t want to appear with a hologram of my dear friend. It’s the real one or no hologram for me.”
He added: “Were somebody to use a hologram of Freddie, I would have no objection.”
Guitarist Brian May has confirmed Queen will use a Freddie Mercury hologram on a West End theatre stage
Now bandmate Brian May confirms Queen are to employ the effect, although they’re not planning to perform alongside the projection.
The guitarist told BBC: “It’s a little unfortunate they did that thing with Tupac as we’ve been trying to make Freddie appear on the stage for quite a while.”
Brian May points out the effect does not produce a true hologram – and adds the musical won’t use the technique employed at Coachella.
“It’s something we’ve looked at ourselves,” he explained.
“But I think probably for a show that runs eight shows a week, it’s not really quite practical.”
Freddie Mercury projection will be used at London’s Dominion Theatre. The original cast, along with producer Robert De Niro, will be present for the May 14 anniversary.
The guitarist vows: “People will come out saying, <<Did we actually see Freddie?>>”
Meanwhile, Queen has confirmed its members will play a third concert in London with TV gameshow winner Adam Lambert singing. They perform at the Hammersmith Apollo on July 11, 12 and 14.
The Queen Extravaganza official tribute show, created by Brian May and Roger Taylor, is currently touring the US.
Lady Gaga recently split up from her boyfriend Taylor Kinney, but her pal Terry Richardson has claimed today the singer is engaged.
The celebrity photographer posted a link to his blog on Twitter, writing: “Gaga showing off her new engagement ring!”
It links to a picture of Lady Gaga brandishing a huge rock on her engagement finger.
Of course, it could be just an elaborate hoax, given that Lady Gaga, 26, split from Vampire Diaries actor Taylor Kinney earlier this month.
TMZ is running the story and carrying the picture of Lady Gaga wearing the ring, claiming there are conflicting reports about her relationship status.
It was reported earlier this month how Lady Gaga called time on her relationship with Taylor Kinney because she wants to concentrate on her career.
Lady Gaga recently split up from her boyfriend Taylor Kinney, but her pal Terry Richardson has claimed today the singer is engaged
Apparently Lady Gaga decided it was pointless to string him along as she embarks on her mammoth Born This Way Ball tour, so decided to it was time for the couple to “take a break”.
A source close to Lady Gaga told Us Weekly: “She will be touring nonstop until next year and has found she can’t have relationship at the same time.”
It seems Lady Gaga decided she would be juggling too many interests by recording her next album, maintaining her relationship and embarking on a 110-show tour, and that something had to give.
The insider added: “There’s just no room for anything else. Her work is all-consuming.”
Guitarist Donald “Duck” Dunn, who played with Booker T and the MGs, has died in Tokyo aged 70.
The MGs were the house band for Stax Records, and Donald Dunn can be heard on songs such as Otis Redding’s Respect and Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin.
He was in Japan for a series of concerts, and had played two shows on Saturday night.
His friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour, said Donald Dunn had died in his sleep.
“Today I lost my best friend,” Steve Cropper wrote on his Facebook page.
“The World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live.”
Guitarist Donald "Duck" Dunn, who played with Booker T and the MGs, has died in Tokyo aged 70
Miho Harasawa, a spokeswoman for Tokyo Blue Note, the last venue Donald Dunn played, confirmed he died alone early Sunday. She had no further details.
Born in Memphis on November 24, 1941, Donald Dunn started playing bass at the age of 16.
“I tried the guitar but it had two strings too many,” he wrote on his website.
“It was just too complicated, man! Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players; another one wasn’t needed. What was needed was a bass.”
His distinctive grooves underpinned dozens of hit records for the legendary Stax label – including Soul Man and Try A Little Tenderness. The MGs scored their own hit with Green Onions in 1962.
“We were recording almost a hit a day for a while there,” he said.
“But I never knew how popular that music was until I came to England with Otis Redding in 1967.”
That tour, which also featured Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, and Arthur Conley, was feted by Britain’s rock royalty – many of whom had been influenced by the Stax house band.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, John Mayall, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, and The Beatles all attended shows and, according to legend, The Beatles sent limousines to pick up the Stax crew each night after the shows.
In return, Booker T and the MGs covered the entire Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Their version was called McLemore Avenue, which was the address of the Stax studio complex, and the cover mimicked the Fab Four’s famous zebra crossing photo.
The band later provided backing for the John Lennon solo track Beef Jerky.
In his later career, Donald Dunn worked with the likes of Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart.
He played himself in the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers, and its 2000 sequel.
The MGs were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and Donald Dunn received a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2007.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West as well as Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel sat front row as LA Lakers played against the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center.
Showing no signs of an earlier spray tan overload, Kim Kardashian and her new beau Kanye West couldn’t get enough of each other as they giggled through the game, missing most of the action on court.
It’s hardly surprising Kanye West, 34, was engrossed in his lady as she displayed an abundance of cleavage.
It’s usually the cheerleaders that prove distracting for the men in the audience but Kim Kardashian made sure all eyes were on her as she donned a skin ensemble.
The leather-clad star looked rather dressed up in a fitted dress which zipped all the way from top to bottom.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West sat front row as LA Lakers played against the Denver Nuggets at the Staples Center
Kim Kardashian, 31, has probably seen far too many basketball games for her liking, her estranged husband Kris Humphries plays for the New Jersey Nets.
Game seven of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2012 NBA playoffs was clearly not exciting enough for her.
Kim Kardashian opted to let her originally tied-back hair down, kick back in her seat and yawn while an equally bored-looking West stared glumly ahead.
They weren’t the only ones unimpressed with the main event.
Recording artist and actor Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel left their chairs with his fiancées mouth agape as if ready to yawn too.
It was only until the musician got involved in a drumming session that things really spiced up for the comfortable and casual pair.
Other stars watching at the famous California venue included actor Jeremy Renner, Modern Family star Julie Bowen and The Lucky One’s Zac Efron.
A new research shows that the size of a woman’s brain grows after their baby is born with increased growth linked to the mother’s enthusiasm and affection for their child.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth, according to the report completed at Yale University.
“We observed small but significant increases in the volume of gray matter in the brain,” said study co-author Dr. Pilyoung Kim to My Health News Daily.
According to the report published in Behavioral Neuroscience in October of 2010, for adults, gray matter’s volume typically does not change over a few month period, like those new mothers studied, making the findings so out of the ordinary.
Typically that kind of growth isn’t seen without a brain experiencing significant learning, injury, illness, or undergoing a major environmental change.
Specifically the researchers saw its growth to the hypothalamus, substantia nigra and amygdala, parietal lobe and prefrontal cortex.
Those regions are responsible for one’s emotion, reasoning and judgement, the senses, and reward behavior, according to the report.
Brain scans taken of pregnant women before and after giving birth showed an increase in their mid-brain after childbirth
With their findings, mothers who showed more enthusiasm over their birth, describing their child using words as special, beautiful, ideal, and perfect, were found more likely to show an increase in their mid-brain opposed to others.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim, who’s currently with the National Institute of Mental Health in Washington, hopes the findings can further help scientists learn what motivates some mothers more than others in caring for their children.
“We’re currently researching whether giving moms oxytocin, a hormone that triggers a reward response in the brain, could influence their response to their child,” Dr. Lane Strathearn, a developmental pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, told My Health News Daily.
Dr. Pilyoung Kim’s findings further correlate to a previous report undertaken by Dr. Lane Strathearn in 2008 that showed that a baby’s smile lights up a mother’s reward centers in her brain, like the prefrontal cortex found in the 2010 study.
“A baby’s smile is a very powerful stimulus,” said Dr Stathearn speaking to ABC News.
“It makes sense biologically. Babies are completely and utterly dependent on their caregivers. It makes sense that nature would build in a system that would reinforce that relationship,” she said.
One question researchers on the brain’s growth say they are still working to figure out, however, is the reasoning behind the findings.
“We don’t know whether it’s the experience that changes the brain, or the brain that changes the experience,” said Dr. Pilyoung Kim.
Her team suspects a woman’s increase in hormones like estrogen, oxytocin and prolactin as possible factors as well.
Scopolamine, colloquially known as The Devil’s Breath, a drug that eliminates free will while leaving the victim completely articulate, is currently being dealt on the streets of Colombia.
The Devil’s Breath is derived from a particular type of tree common to South America.
Stories surrounding the drug are the stuff of urban legends, with some telling horror stories of how people were raped, forced to empty their bank accounts, and even coerced into giving up an organ.
VICE’s Ryan Duffy travelled to the country to find out more about the powerful drug. In two segments, he revealed the shocking culture of another Colombian drug world, interviewing those who deal the drug and those who have fallen victim to it.
Demencia Black, a drug dealer in the capital of Bogota, said the drug is frightening for the simplicity in which it can be administered.
He told VICE that Scopolamine can be blown in the face of a passer-by on the street, and within minutes, that person is under the drug’s effect as scopolamine is odorless and tasteless.
“You can guide them wherever you want,” he explained.
“It’s like they’re a child.”
Scopolamine is made from the Borrachero tree (Brugmansia candida), which is very common in Colombia
Demencia Black said that one gram of Scopolamine is similar to a gram of cocaine, but later called it “worse than anthrax”.
In high doses, scopolamine is lethal.
The drug, he said, turns people into complete zombies and blocks memories from forming. So even after the drug wears off, victims have no recollection as to what happened.
One victim told VICE that a man approached her on the street asking her for directions. Since it was close by, she helped take the man to his destination, and they drank juice together.
The victim took the man to her house and helped him gather all of her belongings, including her boyfriend’s cameras and savings.
“It is painful to have lost money, but I was actually quite lucky,” the woman said.
According to the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the drug – also known as hyoscine – causes the same level of memory loss as diazepam.
In ancient times, the drug was given to the mistresses of dead Colombian leaders – they were told to enter their master’s grave, where they were buried alive.
In modern times, the CIA used the drug as part of Cold War interrogations, with the hope of using it like a truth serum. However, because of the drug’s chemical makeup, it also induces powerful hallucinations.
The tree common around Colombia, and is called the “borrachero” tree (Brugmansia candida) – loosely translated into the “get-you-drunk” tree.
It is said that Colombian mothers warn their children not to fall asleep under the tree, though the leafy green canopies and large yellow and white flowers seem appealing.
Experts are baffled as to why Colombia is riddled with scopolamine-related crimes, but wager much of it has to do with the country’s torn drug-culture past, and on-going civil war.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are facing a tough task to avoid defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia election on Sunday.
Opinion polls in the key state of North Rhine-Westphalia suggest an emphatic re-election victory for the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Analysts say voters look set to reject Angela Merkel’s tough line on fiscal discipline as a cure for state debt.
Recent polls in Greece, France and Italy have rejected austerity policies.
Voting in North Rhine-Westphalia ends at 16:00 GMT, with exit polls expected soon after.
The CDU and its national coalition partner, the Free Democrats, recently lost elections in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. The CDU scored its lowest tally in the state for 50 years.
The poll in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will test the popularity of Chancellor Merkel’s CDU, as opposition to her strict austerity policies grows outside Germany.
NRW, Germany’s most populous state and with a large economy, has a history of influencing national politics.
The election was called in March after the state’s minority government, run by a coalition of the SPD and Greens – narrowly failed to get a budget passed.
Polls suggest that state premier and SPD candidate Hannelore Kraft will easily defeat CDU rival Norbert Roettgen, who is Angela Merkel's environment minister
Despite its troubles, polls suggest that state premier and SPD candidate Hannelore Kraft – who has headed the fragile government for the past two years – will easily defeat CDU rival Norbert Roettgen, who is Angela Merkel’s environment minister.
In her campaign, Hannelore Kraft has emphasized strengthening indebted local communities, investing in education and boosting the state’s business appeal.
Norbert Roettgen, on the other hand, has accused the SPD of financial irresponsibility, holding rallies dominated by a huge inflatable “debt mountain”, to emphasize the state’s problems.
He provoked controversy early in the campaign by refusing to commit to being a full-time opposition leader if he lost. Such a move would cost him his job in Berlin.
Angela Merkel said the election offered the region an opportunity to elect a government that would not take on “ever more debt”.
The Pirate Party, which has grown in strength recently with its calls for transparency and internet freedom, is looking to enter its fourth state parliament.
Nationally, Sunday’s election will not change the balance of power, whatever the outcome.
But opposition leaders warned it could send an important signal ahead of national elections expected in late 2013.
Arsala Rahmani, a senior Afghan peace negotiator, has been shot dead in Kabul, officials say.
Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban minister and a key member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, which leads efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban.
He was reportedly close to President Hamid Karzai and a key figure in the reconciliation of Taliban commanders.
Last year the peace process was dealt a major blow when the peace council’s chief was killed in a suicide attack.
Arsala Rahmani was a former Taliban minister and a key member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, which leads efforts to negotiate a peace deal with the Taliban
Burhannudin Rabbani was killed by a bomb hidden in the turban of a suicide attacker posing as a Taliban peace envoy last September.
His US-educated son, Salahuddin Rabbani, was appointed to replace him last month.
Police say that Arsala Rahmani was shot dead by an unidentified gunman in a vehicle, while he was on his way to work in the west of Kabul.
Attackers driving a white Toyota Corolla fired a single bullet using a silencer. Arsala Rahmani reportedly did not have a bodyguard.
Afghanistan’s peace council was set up two years ago by President Hamid Karzai to open negotiations with insurgents.
The council was credited with reconciling hundreds of Taliban field commanders, but had failed to woo any senior figures away from the insurgency.
Arsala Rahmani was responsible for the committee that looked at freeing Taliban prisoners from Bagram and other Afghan prisons.
But how much the peace council achieved in the two years since it was set up remains unclear.
Although the Taliban denied sanctioning last year’s killing of Burhannudin Rabbani, they view the Western-backed Karzai government as illegitimate.
In March the militants suspended parallel preliminary peace negotiations with the United States, saying US efforts to involve the Afghan authorities were a key stumbling block.
Tens of thousands of people have protested in capital Madrid and in a number of Spanish cities to mark the first anniversary of the “Indignants” movement.
In central Madrid, many protesters occupying Puerta del Sol square ignored a midnight deadline to disperse.
However, by 05:00 a.m. on Sunday police had mainly evicted them.
Indignants movement was formed out of anger at the impact of Spain’s deepest economic crisis in decades. Unemployment hit a record high in April.
The centre-right government has recently announced fresh austerity measures.
The turnout in Madrid was huge and would certainly have met organizers’ expectations.
Spanish authorities had said they wanted the protesters to disperse by midnight local time but many ignored the time limit.
Tens of thousands of people have protested in capital Madrid and in a number of Spanish cities to mark the first anniversary of the "Indignants" movement
Police vans eventually moved in and appeared to have cleared protesters from the square. The atmosphere in other parts of the city centre was reported to be tense on Sunday morning but there were no reports of violence.
“Today’s goal is to recover the public spaces,” protester Sofia Ruiz earlier told Reuters.
“It is also a way to celebrate that we have been existing for one year and that we are going to be there until the system changes or we are listened to and they take into account our claims,” she added.
Last year the Indignants established a protest camp in Puerta del Sol, but the authorities had vowed they would prevent any protesters from staying overnight in the square.
There were some 2,000 riot police on duty.
At least 45,000 people also took to the streets in Barcelona, police said, although organizers put the attendance in the hundreds of thousands.
One protester there, Jose Helmandez, said he was a genetics and molecular biology doctor but had been unable to find a job in his field.
“A lot of people are leaving the country to find work, even if they end up not doing something they are qualified to do,” he said.
“I was living in France but returned to Spain almost two years ago, and all I can find are short-term jobs.”
Some have criticized the movement for having little impact on Spanish politics over the past year.
The government of conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, elected last November, has introduced budget cuts and tax rises.
Mariano Rajoy has also announced deregulation of the labor market, angering Spanish unions.
“This is a long-distance race, no-one can change an entire political system in one day or one year, it takes time,” Noelia Moreno, a former spokeswoman for the Indignants movement in Madrid, told AFP news agency.
Similar protests took place in other cities in Spain and across the world as part of a global day of action, some of them staged by the Occupy movement:
• In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside St Paul’s Cathedral, where a protest camp was removed in February. A number of people were arrested
• Smaller protests, numbering in the hundreds, have taken place in the Portuguese capital Lisbon and in Germany’s financial centre, Frankfurt
• Around 1,000 marchers converged in Tel Aviv to protest about the cost of living, with marches also reported in other Israeli cities
Meanwhile, in the latest attack on symbols of Italy’s austerity policies, a tax office has been firebombed in the city of Livorno. No-one was hurt.
Hundreds of fans from Istanbul football club Fenerbahce have clashed with police and occupied the pitch after Galatasaray won Turkish league championship final.
Fenerbahce’s traditional rival, Galatasaray, won the Turkish league championship following Saturday’s goalless derby.
Police used their shields to protect Galatasaray players on the pitch at Fenerbahce’s Sukru Saracoglu stadium.
Officers used pepper spray to disperse fans as players fled to changing rooms.
The violence followed a tense game during which referee Cuneyt Cakir booked several players and issued red cards to one player from each team.
After the final whistle, fans broke plastic chairs and threw them at the police and Galatasaray players. Flares were also thrown.
After the final whistle, Fenerbahce fans broke plastic chairs and threw them at the police and Galatasaray players
Violence continued outside the stadium, with Fenerbahce fans pelting a police vehicle with stones.
Rioters overturned rubbish bins and smashed shop windows, leaving nearby streets littered with debris.
Fenerbahce fans in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district also overturned two police vehicles and set them on fire.
While journalists, players and even policemen were said to have been affected by pepper spray, there were no reports of injuries.
However, elsewhere in the country a 29-year-old man wearing a Galatasaray shirt was attacked by Fenerbahce fans and stabbed in the abdomen, the state-run Anatolia agency said. The man was said to be in a stable condition.
Galatasaray ended the four-way title play-offs with 48 points, one ahead of Fenerbahce. Trabzonspor were third and Besiktas fourth.
Galatasaray, former UEFA Cup winners, are now level on 18 championships with Fenerbahce.
Their fans celebrated in Istanbul, dancing, lighting flares and waving flags.
Michael Caputo, a former masseur at the posh Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan, has claimed that John Travolta was blacklisted for three years from the hotel’s spa for inappropriate behavior.
Michael Caputo, 55, said that John Travolta always asked for a man for his massage at the hotel’s famous rooftop spa and was barred after several creepy-run ins.
The former masseur said that male staffers complained that John Travolta would grind against the massage table, remove the towel and lift his butt in the air during his therapy.
“Travolta would always request a man for his massage, but after a while no one would take him because of his inappropriate behavior,” said Michael Caputo.
“It got to the point where they couldn’t find any men to take him, and they had to ban him,” explained the masseur known as Magic Mike, who said he worked at the Peninsula from 1992-2008.
Michael Caputo, a former masseur at the posh Peninsula Hotel in Manhattan claims that John Travolta was banned for three years from the hotel's spa for inappropriate behavior
The ban lasted for three years and happened around a decade ago according to Michael Caputo, who now works from his Queens, New York home offering massages for $100 an hour.
“If he was banned, do you think he’d ever go back?” said John Travolta’s attorney, Marty Singer, dismissing the allegation as complete nonsense – noting that his client was at the hotel’s famous rooftop spa as recently as six months ago.
“He’s never been banned, I guarantee you. . . . The hotel never told John he was banned, and John never acted improperly,” according to the New York Daily News.
This new allegation comes as John Travolta faced a slight reprieve in the increasingly murky sexual assault allegations against him.
Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican candidate in this year’s US presidential election, has rejected the legitimacy of same-sex marriage telling graduates at Liberty University, a Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia, that marriage is “a relationship between one man and one woman”.
Mitt Romney told the Liberty University commencement that marriage is an “enduring” institution that’s reserved for one man and one woman.
The crowd cheered his comments, made days after Democratic President Barack Obama embraced same-sex marriage.
Mitt Romney also said that culture – “what you believe, how you live, what you value – it matters”.
“Marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman,” he said.
Mitt Romney told the Liberty University commencement that marriage is an “enduring” institution that's reserved for one man and one woman
Mitt Romney, a Mormon by religion, was given a standing ovation.
Barack Obama, fighting for re-election as president in November, announced his support for gay marriage this week.
It was seen as a politically risky move, especially in the South, where one in three swing voters strongly opposes allowing gays and lesbians to wed.
Virginia is regarded as a key battleground in November.
Addressing the graduation ceremony at Liberty University, Mitt Romney avoided talking about his own faith but stressed the importance of Christian values in American society.
He has so far struggled to gain support from evangelical Christians in his campaign for the Republican ticket.
“There is no greater force for good in the nation than Christian conscience in action,” he told the audience.
While Mitt Romney opposes gay marriage, he has said that same-sex couples should have some rights, including the ability to adopt children.
Kourtney Kardashian flaunted her very large baby bump in a bright green bikini during a recent trip to Mexico to celebrate her 33rd birthday.
The mother-of-one was bold and blooming in her acid green bandeau two-piece, which featured a braided strap.
Kourtney Kardashian pulled her long brunette locks up in a bun to reveal a glowing complexion and wore a pair of aviator shades.
The doting mother watched on as her two-year-old son Mason cooled off in front of a water sprinkler on the grass.
Kourtney Kardashian flaunted her very large baby bump in a bright green bikini during a recent trip to Mexico to celebrate her 33rd birthday
The reality star and her son were also joined by Kourtney Kardashian’s partner Scott Disick, who enjoyed a stroll with his wife and son on the beach.
After getting his tiny feet sandy, Mason washed off his own footsies under the watchful eye of his father and then helped his pregnant mother tend to hers.
Earlier in the day, Kourtney Kardashian took Mason into the surf and instructed him how to splash around in the waves.
Giggling with glee, Mason ran ahead of his mother and even at seven months pregnant she jogged behind him to catch up.
Kourtney Kardashian watched on with pride as Mason took a fake ride all by himself on a jetski that was parked in the sand.
Scott Disick even showed him how to put his little hands on the wheel of the jetski and how to make it go.
Scientific evidence increasingly points to a far deeper problem that confronts dieters: cutting out calories changes your metabolism and brain, so your body hoards fat and your mind magnifies food cravings into an obsession.
Slimmers have often feared this was somehow true, but now science confirms this cruel fact of nature. New research shows dieting raises levels of hormones that stimulate appetite – and lowers levels of hormones that suppress it.
Meanwhile, brain scans reveal that weight loss makes it harder for us to exercise self-control and resist tempting food. Worse still, the more people diet, the stronger these effects can become, leaving some almost doomed to being overweight as a result of their attempts to become slim.
And as research lays bare the dangers of yo-yoing weight, some experts argue it would be better not to diet at all.
Researchers, including Joseph Proietto, a professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne, have uncovered one of the main possible reasons. Two years ago, his team recruited 50 obese men and women, and coached them through eight weeks of an extreme 500-to-550-calories-a-day diet (a quarter of the normal intake for women).
At the end, the dieters lost an average of 30 lb. Joseph Proietto’s team then spent a year giving them counseling support to stick to healthy eating habits. But during this time, the dieters regained an average of 11 lb. They also reported feeling far hungrier and more preoccupied with food than before losing weight.
As the researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, the volunteers’ hormones were working overtime, making them react as though they were starving and in need of weight-gain. Their levels of an appetite-stimulating hormone, ghrelin, were about 20% higher than at the start of the study. Meanwhile their levels of an appetite suppressing hormone, peptide YY, were unusually low.
Furthermore, levels of leptin, a hormone that suppresses hunger and raises the metabolic rate, also remained lower than expected.
Joseph Proietto describes this effect as “a co-ordinated defense mechanism with multiple components all directed toward making us put on weight”. In other words, the body had launched a backlash against dieting.
The team’s landmark study reinforces a belief among biologists that the human body has been shaped by millennia of evolution to survive long periods of starvation.
Cutting out calories changes your metabolism and brain, so your body hoards fat and your mind magnifies food cravings into an obsession
The human frame contains around ten times more fat-storing cells in relation to its body weight than most animals (polar bears, which have to endure long stretches when prey is unavailable, are similarly fat-rich).
Our calorie-hoarding frames have strong mechanisms to stop weight loss, but weak systems for preventing weight gain. If you manage to lose 10% of your weight, your body thinks there’s an emergency. So it burns less fuel by slowing your metabolism.
The body learns to function on fewer calories, resetting your metabolism. The problem is if you then stop dieting and start eating more again, those extra calories are stored as fat.
This effect kicks in after around eight weeks of dieting – and can last for years. Studies by Columbia University show this metabolic slowdown can mean that just to maintain a stable weight, people must eat around 400 fewer calories a day post-diet than before dieting.
Why would this be so? Muscle samples taken before and after weight loss show that once a person drops weight, the fibres may change to become more fuel-efficient – burning up to a quarter fewer calories during exercise than those of a person at the same weight naturally.
How long this state lasts isn’t known, though some research suggests it might be up to six years.
It’s also thought the brain changes in the way it reacts to food. This wilts our willpower, according to Michael Rosenbaum, a researcher at Columbia University Medical Centre who studies the body’s response to weight loss.
“After you’ve lost weight, there’s an increase in the emotional response to food,” he says, adding that there is also “a decrease in the activity of brain systems that might be more involved in restraint”.
In 2010, Michael Rosenbaum and his colleague, Joy Hirsch, a neuroscientist at Columbia University Medical Centre, scanned the brains of people before and after weight loss while they looked at objects such as grapes, chocolate, broccoli and mobile phones.
After losing weight, the scans showed a greater response in the areas associated with reward and a lower response in those associated with self-control.
And last year, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York discovered that when starved of food, brain cells actually consume each other. This causes the release of fats, which in turn results in higher levels of a powerful brain chemical that stimulates appetite, the journal Cell Metabolism reports. All bad news for dieters, as going without food could make them even hungrier.
All of this helps to explain why an analysis of 31 long-term clinical studies found that diets don’t work in the long run. Within five years about two-thirds of dieters put back the weight – and more. The researchers from the University of California found that dieting works in the short term, with slimmers losing up to 10% of their weight on any number of diets in the first six months of any regimen. But after this, the weight returns, and often more is added, says their report in the journal American Psychologist.
The analysis concluded that most volunteers would have been better off not dieting. Their weight would be pretty much the same and their bodies would not have wear and tear from yo-yoing.
This backfire effect is worst among teenagers: people who start habitually dieting young tend to be significantly heavier after five years than teens who never dieted. This mix of biology and psychology translates into a sobering reality: once we become overweight, most of us will probably remain that way.
Certainly, we should all be worried about what dieting does to our health. Restricting calories may increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, according to a study from 2010 in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
Ultimately, of course, we should be more wary of piling on the pounds, than relying on diets to reverse the damage.
Turkish journalists held in Syria for two months are on their way home after being released following Iranian mediation.
Reporter Adem Ozkose and cameraman Hamit Coskun have arrived in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
They are said to be in good health.
Adem Ozkose and Hamit Coskun were reported to be missing at the end of March while they were working in northern Syria on a documentary on the Syrian government’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Reporter Adem Ozkose and cameraman Hamit Coskun were held in Syria and have been released after two months following Iranian mediation
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said a Turkish plane will take the pair back to Turkey.
A former ally of Damascus, Ankara relied on Tehran – which backs Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad – to serve as an intermediary in talks to release the Turkish journalists.
Garrett McNamara, a Hawaiian surfer, has entered the Guinness Book of Records for riding the biggest wave ever thought to have been ridden.
In November 2011 Garrett McNamara caught a 78 ft wave at Nazare, off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot.
Garrett McNamara, 44, began surfing at age 11 and became professional six years later.
He has described his achievement as a stroke of luck and has used his feat to urge people to follow their passions.
The giant wave was located above an underwater canyon famous for being the world’s biggest wave generator.
In November 2011 Garrett McNamara caught a 78 ft wave at Nazare, off the coast of Portugal, beating the previous 2008 record by more than a foot
Garrett McNamara has said that on the day he broke the record, he at first had not wanted to take a ride but his friends urged him to catch a few waves.
“Everything came together. Everything felt right,” he said.
Hundreds of thousands have viewed the video and photographs of Garrett McNamara’s ride. They show his figure dwarfed by a giant wall of water.
“I knew it was big, but I didn’t know how big,” he said.
He later sent the footage and pictures to surfing expert Sean Collins, who guessed the wave was 85-90ft tall. Sean Collins died in December.
Last week, Garrett McNamara was awarded $15,000 for the ride at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards in California.
Judges for the awards examined the footage and pictures from different angles.
They also compared Garrett McNamara’s height in a crouch and the length of his shin bone with the wave’s top and bottom before reaching a verdict, event director Bill Sharp told the Associated Press.
Commenting on the record, Garrett McNamara said: “The world would be a much better place if everyone was doing what they wanted to do.”
However, the UK Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying: “I’m not sure I want to ride that peak again.”
Johnny Depp has slammed reports that he and Vanessa Paradis have split after 14 years.
At the premiere of Dark Shadows in London Johnny Depp denied that his relationship with Vanessa Paradis is in trouble.
In fact, Jonny Depp, 48, vehemently poured scorn on the suggestion.
“The rumors are not true,” the actor reportedly told The Sun newspaper.
“They are absolutely not true.”
At the premiere of Dark Shadows in London Johnny Depp denied that his relationship with Vanessa Paradis is in trouble
RadarOnline.com reported that Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, 39 , who have been partners for over 14 years and have two children together, were having troubles.
“People around him are worried about how Johnny is doing because he and Vanessa seem so fractured right now. Their relationship is heading toward the end,” a source told the website.
Yet despite Vanessa Paradis staying away from his Dark Shadows premieres, Johnny Depp insists that everything is fine.
“No matter what I say about this, people believe the opposite. I can’t say enough about it not being over,” he told The Sun.
Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, who have a home in France and a Caribbean island, have not been spotted together in months and Vanessa also recently walked the red carpet of her premiere, of Café de Flore in Paris alone.
They are parents to Lily Rose,12, and ten-year-old Jack.
Johnny Depp has a tattoo of his daughter’s name over his heart and one for Jack on his bicep.
