The US Secret Service is now investigating another claims that some of its agents paid for strippers and prostitutes in El Salvador.
An advance presidential security team is reported to have paid for sexual favors in a strip club in 2011.
Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings said the Secret Service director had not yet found anything “credible”.
The allegations come in the wake of a sex scandal involving Secret Service and military personnel in Colombia.
Eight US agents have left the service over the Colombia allegations, in which Americans were found with as many as 20 women, thought to be prostitutes, at a Cartagena hotel.
The agents were part of a team preparing for a visit by President Barack Obama to the Summit of the Americas earlier this month.
The US Secret Service is now investigating another claims that some of its agents paid for strippers and prostitutes in El Salvador
Another 12 military personnel are also under investigation and have had their security clearance revoked.
Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, spoke to Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan by phone on Thursday as the latest allegations emerged, he told reporters.
“[The director] had not found anything credible, but he’s still looking into it,” Elijah Cummings said.
Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan used similar language, telling the Associated Press: “Any information brought to our attention that can be assessed as credible will be followed up on in an appropriate manner.”
US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also confirmed that her agency is looking into the El Salvador story, reported by Seattle-based TV station KIRO-TV.
The report included allegations that US embassy officials also visited the strip club.
“Obviously, we will inquire of our embassy in San Salvador with regard to the conduct of our own employees,” Victoria Nuland said.
“But the article alleges that they attended the establishment, not that they engaged in any illegal or unsanctioned conduct.”
Senator Joseph Lieberman said on Thursday that he was disappointed to hear new allegations, and plans to hold hearings into whether the reports indicate a pattern of behavior.
“I keep running into people who say they have talked to agents who tell them of misconduct of this kind over the years,” Joseph Lieberman said.
In testimony to a Senate panel on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said President Barack Obama’s safety had not been at risk, but that the misconduct was “inexcusable”.
On Thursday, US Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee told CNN that the Secret Service was planning rule changes in response to the Colombia scandal.
Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer and one of China’s best known dissidents, has escaped from the house arrest.
Rights activists say Chen Guangcheng slipped out of his home in Dongshigu town in Shandong province on Sunday.
Chen Guangcheng’s exact whereabouts cannot be verified at the moment but human rights campaigners said they believe he has fled from Shandong province.
He has been under house arrest since he was released from jail in 2010.
Activist He Peirong, who has been campaigning for his freedom, told various sources that she drove him to “a safe place” outside Shandong.
Rights activists say Chen Guangcheng slipped out of his home in Dongshigu town in Shandong province on Sunday
There are also unconfirmed rumors that Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, is at the US Embassy in Beijing.
The US embassy ”would not comment”, says an Associated Press news report.
In the same report, He Peirong denied the rumors published in Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao newspaper, saying that she had spoken to people at the embassy.
“I can tell you he’s not at the US embassy, and he’s not in Shandong,” she told AP.
An activist based in the US who has been in close contact with Chen Guangcheng confirmed that the dissident had left Shandong.
”He was able to get out of his home on 22 April and his friends… escorted him to a safe location outside of [his home province of] Shandong,” Bob Fu told the AFP news agency.
Chen Guangcheng, who has been under house arrest for almost 20 months, is known as ”the blind lawyer”.
He lost his sight in childhood. He has no formal legal training as the blind were not permitted to attend college.
He is known for revealing rights abuses under China’s one-child policy and has accused officials in Shandong province of forcing 7,000 women into abortions or sterilisations.
Chen Guangcheng has also advised farmers in land disputes and campaigned for improved treatment of the disabled.
The plight of Chen Guangcheng has become famous around the world, and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has repeatedly called for his release and is due to visit Beijing next week.
A British research suggests that self-service checkouts are turning many shoppers into criminals.
The figures were revealed in a study of 4,952 shoppers by money-saving website watchmywallet.co.uk. They paint an alarming picture of just how many shoppers are willing to act dishonestly to save money.
Although shoplifting can carry a custodial sentence, very few are handed out.
Almost a third of shoppers have admitted to stealing while putting items through the scanners, with many tricking the machines by giving the wrong information.
Additionally, a quarter of those who did not steal admitted their only reason for not doing so was fear of being caught.
The checkouts, which rely on users to scan items, are often poorly supervised – making it easy to abuse the system.
Shoppers admitted to using a wide range of techniques, including slipping extra items through and lying about which items they had.
The most common ruse was to select cheaper fruit or vegetable items when weighing them before paying.
Other popular methods included always selecting “small” when asked the size of items such as salad boxes, as well as bagging goods without scanning.
A British research suggests that self-service checkouts are turning many shoppers into criminals
Supermarket checkouts have devices which detect when an item not paid for makes it into the bagging area, giving rise to the now familiar phrase “unexpected item in the bagging area”.
However, staff regularly overrides the checkout in order to keep queues moving.
When shop staff are not present, small items can easily be slipped into a bag unnoticed and, if challenged, passed off by the customer as a mistake.
Items without barcodes, such as loose fruit and vegetables, provided the greatest opportunities to cheat.
A sixth of shoppers admitted to being dishonest when asked to enter an item manually.
A common trick is to select the cheapest vegetable, typically white onions, when putting a more valuable item through, such as oranges.
Half of those who admitted to cheating said they selected a cheaper item when putting loose items through.
According to experts, offenders are often not driven by poverty but just take advantage of the fact they are unlikely to get caught.
Beverley Stone, a psychologist, said: “Often the people who choose not to obey the rules just don’t have a conscience. They only do the right thing if they think they might be caught, so if the chances are slim they’ll do it.
“I don’t think they can be motivated by poverty because they’ll still be paying for some of the shopping – so they can’t be that poor. These statistics show a lack of morals in this country today.”
The figures come in the wake of a series of cases involving celebrities accused of shoplifting. Earlier this year, television chef Antony Worrall Thompson was cautioned for shoplifting five times in 16 days from a branch of Tesco.
Staff spotted him on camera bagging up goods in the selfcheckout area without paying.
Last year, Lindsay Lohan was sentenced to 360 hours’ community service in the US for stealing a necklace.
And last September, Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea was challenged by Tesco staff after he allegedly ate a doughnut which he had not paid for.
Footage of the aftermath of the police shooting of Mark Duggan, whose death in north London sparked the 2011 summer riots, has emerged to media.
The footage, by someone who says they witnessed the shooting, includes attempts to save Mark Duggan’s life following the incident last August.
On the tape, the witness recounts that Mark Duggan jumped out of a car and police twice shouted: “Put it down.”
The witness who provided the footage to the BBC has asked to remain anonymous.
Mark Duggan was shot by police on 4 August in north London. Within days there was rioting in Tottenham – the scene of the shooting – which then spread across England in the worst disorder in a generation.
The father-of-four was a passenger in a minicab which was stopped in a planned operation involving the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime affecting black communities, and officers from the specialist firearms team CO19.
Footage of the aftermath of the police shooting of Mark Duggan, whose death in north London sparked the 2011 summer riots, has emerged to media
Two shots were fired from a police gun and Mark Duggan died following a single gunshot wound to the chest. A non-police issue firearm was found at the scene.
The pre-inquest review into the death heard earlier this year that the gun had no traces of Mark Duggan’s fingerprints, DNA or blood on it.
The footage begins just minutes after the police opened fire at about 6:15 p.m. It shows the people-carrier minicab that Mark Duggan had been travelling in and three unmarked police cars used to halt the vehicle. Mark Duggan is lying on the pavement as attempts are made to resuscitate him.
Buses initially pass the scene before the police have had time to close roads. As time goes on, paramedics can be seen continuing emergency treatment in vain. Firearms officers wearing baseball caps can be seen moving around the scene.
During the footage, the witness provides occasional commentary of what has happened – and also recounts the moments before the filming began.
According to an audio expert, the witness says: “They blocked him in, they blocked him in. He jumped out… And then he’s taken out, shot him … because I heard them shout at him yeah, put it down, put it down.”
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) had not been able to interview any of the 31 officers who were present at the incident.
All the firearms officers involved in this operation have provided statements to the IPCC but they have all turned down a request to be interviewed. The IPCC does not have the power to compel them to answer questions about what happened there.
Deutsche Bank reports a sharp fall in profits, in part due to weaker performance in investment banking during the eurozone debt crisis.
Net income for the first three months of the year was 1.4 billion Euros ($1.9 billion), down 35% on the 2.1 billion Euros the bank made a year earlier.
Revenue was down 12% at 9.2 billion Euros.
The bank said although the business environment was “more stable” than at the end of last year, it was “far less favorable” than a year earlier.
Deutsche Bank reports a sharp fall in profits, in part due to weaker performance in investment banking during the eurozone debt crisis
Germany’s biggest bank also took a 257 million Euro hit after writing off its holding in pharmaceutical company Actavis.
Revenues at the bank’s investment banking division fell 8% to 6.2 billion Euros, while those at the asset management arm dipped 17% to $3.4 billion.
Postbank, Deutsche’s retail arm, also reported lower revenues due to low interest rates and a move to reduce risk across its operations.
“This is a strong result which reflects good performance across most businesses, despite continued risk discipline and lower client activity than in the prior year,” the company said.
Investors, however, appeared to disagree, with Deutsche shares closing down 3.7% in Frankfurt.
The bank said it had focused on consolidating its position and building up its reserves.
“We continue to pursue our strategy of reducing legacy risks and strengthening our capital position, as evidenced by our disposal of Actavis,” said chief executive Josef Ackermann.
Europe’s top banks have been hit hard by the eurozone debt crisis, which has undermined investor confidence and hit trading volumes, which has knocked investment banks’ revenues and, therefore, profits.
At least six people have been killed in two explosions at the offices of major Nigerian daily ThisDay, according to witnesses.
Three people were killed in a blast in Abuja, with another three killed at the paper’s offices in the northern city of Kaduna.
Witnesses say at least one was a suicide bombing, but officials say it is too early to say.
No-one has said it carried out the blasts although the Islamist group Boko Haram has staged similar attacks.
Both blasts are reported to have occurred at the offices of the ThisDay newspaper, a Nigerian leading daily.
At least six people have been killed in two explosions at the offices of major Nigerian daily ThisDay
Details remain sketchy but several witnesses, including the chairman of ThisDay‘s editorial board, said the blasts were the result of a suicide attack.
“The suicide bomber came in a jeep,” Olusegun Adeniyi told reporters at the scene in Abuja.
“[Security guards] opened the gate for them… The guy drove in through the gate and rammed into the building and exploded,” Olusegun Adeniyi said.
However, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency earlier said the Abuja blast appeared to be caused by a bomb planted inside the building.
The Kaduna explosion happened outside a complex housing a number of newspapers, including ThisDay.
A suspect has been arrested and is thought to be a member of the Boko Haram group, news agency AFP reports police as saying.
Footage filmed by the Nigerian paper the Daily Trust, showed a scene of confusion in Abuja as people sifted through the rubble as a number of small fires burned.
Police and paramilitary forces have cordoned off both offices, while emergency workers evacuated the injured and removed the bodies of those who died, witnesses say.
“The ceiling of our building collapsed on to our computers because of the force of the blast,” said an Abuja office worker in the building next door to ThisDay.
Boko Haram – whose name means “Western education is forbidden” – wants to establish Islamic law in Nigeria and has launched a series of deadly attacks across the country, including the capital, in the past 19 months.
Last month the group warned journalists not to misrepresent their views.
Mindbomb’s action The Golden Lie that Kills – MindBomb for Roşia Montană aims to raise public awareness in Romania about the toxic propaganda used in Rosia Montana of Gold Corporation’s (RMGC) media campaign.
Aggressively broadcast on TV channels and across a wide range of Romanian media, RMGC’s publicity aims at embellishing the image of the company. RMGC has flooded Romania with its brand of brutal colonialism; promoting the cynical politics of profit; this despite the huge costs that it entails: the destruction of an area and of a community, the wiping out of four mountains from the face of the earth and the demolition of a unique cultural patrimony of global significance.
In order to raise awareness about this danger, thousands of Mindbomb’s posters were posted in the streets of cities, towns and villages in Romania during the night from 11th to 12th April 2012. The action whose scope has been to raise awareness about the danger of the lies featured in RMGC’s PR campaign was supported by roughly 200 volunteers who distributed the posters in 43 towns throughout Romania, including: Alba Iulia, Arad, Abrud, Bucharest, Bacău, Bârlad, Bistrița, Baia Mare, Botoșani, Brașov, Câmpeni, Constanța, Cluj, Craiova, Deva, Huedin, Iași, Luduș, Medgidia, Mediaș, Onești, Oradea, Pitești, Piatra Neamț, Ploiești, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Roșia Montană, Rădăuți, Reșița, Satu Mare, Sebeș, Sibiu, Suceava, Târgoviște, Târgu Mureș, Târgu Ocna, Tecuci, Timișoara, Turda, Valea Arieșului, Zalău.
The volunteers are united in their determination to defend Rosia Montana until it is saved!
Mindbomb’s latest poster campaign is raising the flag about the very basic but grossly obscured trade-off entailed by the planned gold mine at Rosia Montana through cyanide leaching
Lies have short legs, says an old proverb. However, in Romania when a lie is gilded with money; dressed-up as publicity and supported by those in power, it can blind people’s minds and the laws in force. A gilded lie kills consciences as easily as cyanide kills life.
RMGC’s PR campaign has since many years offered the lie of a would-be economic and social paradise where everyone will in one way or another reap from the “benefits” of cyanide mining. During this time Romanian NGOs and citizens have constantly exposed this lie. The “moti” (the local population in Rosia Montana and in the region) by refusing to leave their homes; students and young professionals by occupying and protesting in front of ministerial buildings, squares, stadiums because they refuse to give up Rosia Montana. Scholars and the Romanian Academy have also, in their turn, drawn attention to the inherent and significant risks that RMGC’s murky mine entails. They are all living proofs that RMGC’s bait of “a piece of gold” is sheer bribery that Romanian people can do without; particularly when what is at stake are the lives of other Romanian people, Romanian patrimony and its national identity; the endurance of its mountain ranges, waters and the strategic resources of the country, namely our children’s inheritance.
The gold underneath Rosia Montana belongs to all Romanian people. It will be taken away from us and we will be left with cyanide instead without having had a say on it; as has been the case for the past 74 years. The governing parties and the mining company want to give us a golden bullet; omitting to say the bullet will take away our conscience, dignity and possibly even our lives.
The Mindbomb Project was initiated in 2002 by a group of artists, architects, journalists and writers as a pioneering action of using art as a form of protest. This brought about the introduction of the truly autonomous socio-political poster in Romanian culture which has aimed at hacking into the mainstream discourse of politics, mass-media and advertising industry.
Mindbomb’s latest poster campaign is raising the flag about the very basic but grossly obscured trade-off entailed by the planned gold mine at Rosia Montana: through cyanide leaching, the environment and our national heritage will be ground into oblivion with the false promise that we will all get richer as a result.”
The ultimate purpose of these actions has been the creation of an autonomous space for the purpose of dialogue and debate that initiates social change. MindBomb started as a challenge to the consumer culture and later developed into a broader critique of contemporary Romanian society and its public space.
Summer movies are coming, and iconic superheroes will dominate as Dark Knight Rises, Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man duke it out for box office supremacy, while the sci-fi derby includes fresh takes on the Alien saga (Prometheus) and Philip K. Dick (Total Recall), plus a return visit to MIB headquarters.
Of course, it’s not all grenades and gunshots. Just see a shirtless Tom Cruise in Rock of Ages and everythingless Channing Tatum in Magic Mike representing for the ladies this summer.
We count down the biggest and best blockbusters for beating the summer heat.
30. Battleship
Release Date: May 18
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rihanna
The Scoop: “John Carter” sank, but this feature version of the perennial Hasbro board game may be just the ticket to keep Taylor Kitsch’s career afloat. The decision to go sci-fi with invading aliens as the heavies is clearly the filmmakers’ attempt to capitalize on the success of “Transformers,” but with costars Liam Neeson and singer Rihanna in tow, this could be one unsinkable “Battleship.”
29. Bel Ami
Release Date: June 8
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci
The Scoop: R.Pattz is a beautiful friend indeed to the many lovely ladies in this 19th-century romp. The “Twilight” superstar plays Georges Duroy, a French libertine using his cunning and sexuality to broker his way from one powerful woman’s bed to another. Based on the novel by Guy de Maupassant, this one’s sure to get the more literary-minded audience’s home fires burning.
28. Sparkle
Release Date: Aug 17
Starring: Whitney Houston, Jordin Sparks, Derek Luke, Cee Lo Green
The Scoop: Whitney Houston’s swan song is a remake of the 1970s cult classic, which she adored as a child. The late singer was set for a big-time comeback, including a soundtrack produced by R. Kelly, before her tragic death in February. Houston and “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks are “Giving Him Something He Can Feel,” and audiences will be floored.
27. The Expendables 2
Release Date: Aug 17
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Norris, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Scoop: A second helping of brawny, gun-totin’ geezers was inevitable after the mighty $275 million haul their pyrotechnics brought in two years ago. Stallone has ceded the director’s chair to Simon West (“Tomb Raider,” “Con Air”) but returns as writer and star, playing mercenary Barney Ross, who leads his team into a trap in which one of them gets whacked. They recruit new members Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) and Maggie (Yu Nan) to get some of that sweet, tasty revenge we like so much.
26. What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Release Date: May 18
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Brooklyn Decker
The Scoop: The go-to chick flick of the summer is based on the classic baby manual and follows five couples as they navigate the ups, downs and hormones of pregnancy. Oh, and don’t worry, guys, because Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock, Thomas Lennon, Rob Huebel and Matthew Morrison will be on hand for some much-needed bro time.
25. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
Release Date: June 29
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Channing Tatum, Bruce Willis, Adrianne Palicki
The Scoop: Because one just wasn’t enough. The Joes are back, but this time those Cobra scumbags have hatched a scheme to get their kung fu grip on the White House and eliminate America’s last line of defense. Tatum returns as Duke, but it’s Johnson as Roadblock and Willis as the original “Joe” who are running the show this time around. Did we mention ninjas swordfighting off a cliff face? POW!
24. People Like Us
Release Date: June 29
Starring: Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass, Jon Favreau
The Scoop: You might know the name Alex Kurtzman as one of the kings of franchise screenwriting with “Transformers,” “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek” under his belt. Instead of making a splashy debut as a director, he wrote this grounded drama (along with partner Roberto Orci) about a man named Sam (Pine) who has to deliver $150,000 to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he’s never met. He encounters her troubled 12-year-old son and probably learns something about himself, too.
23. Katy Perry: Part of Me
Release Date: July 15
Starring: Katy Perry
The Scoop: This concert documentary chronicles the life of the world’s biggest female pop star, from her humble beginnings as a gospel singer to when she kissed a girl and liked it. If you really want to have fun, try hopping back and forth between the theater showing this film and another one showing ex-hubby Russell Brand’s “Rock of Ages.”
22. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
Release Date: June 22
Starring: Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Adam Brody, Derek Luke, Connie Britton
The Scoop: Here’s a perfect 2012 comedy for the Mayan-minded. With an impending asteroid about to smush the Earth into a pancake, a man teams up with a neighbor to road-trip across an apocalyptic U.S. and reunite with his childhood sweetheart. We’d never have thought to cast Carell opposite Knightley, but that unlikely chemistry might just prove magical, especially given the unconventional nature of the script.
21. ParaNorman
Release Date: Aug 17
Starring: (voices) Casey Affleck, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
The Scoop: From the 3-D stop-motion geniuses at Laika — the very patient animators who brought us “Coraline” — comes this slab of spooky fun revolving around an outcast kid named Norman Babcock (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who communicates with the dead to protect his sleepy New England town from a horde of ghosts, witches and zombies. The trailers are awesome, with some incredible puppet animation and a hilarious “Monster House” vibe to the story.
20. Men in Black 3
Release Date: May 21
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve
The Scoop: Call it cautious optimism, but despite some clunky-looking effects and tales of production woes (delays, unfinished scripts), we’re still amped to see Will and Tommy back in black. With Josh Brolin doing a so-dead-on-it’s-scary Tommy Lee Jones impersonation as a ’60s-era Agent K, this will indeed be like walking into a time machine.
19. To Rome With Love
Release Date: June 22
Starring: Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page
The Scoop: Woody Allen made box office magic with last summer’s “Midnight in Paris,” so let’s see if he can strike gold twice in a row. The Woodman continues his globetrotting (London, Barcelona, France) with this trip to the boot of Europe as famous Italians (Benigni) mix with American tourists (Baldwin, Eisenberg, Page) in four interconnected comedic vignettes. Throw in an Academy Award-winning Spaniard (Cruz) and Allen himself, and you’ve got yourself a heaping plate of laughs al dente.
18. Magic Mike
Release Date: June 29
Starring: Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer
The Scoop: Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (“Juno”) remarked on an episode of “WTF with Marc Maron” that when she released her stripping memoir, it resulted in criticism and controversy, and she wondered if this film — based on Channing Tatum’s teen experiences takin’ it all off in Tampa, Florida — would bring the “21 Jump Street” star equal scorn. Only one way to find out, as Steven Soderbergh directs a beefcake wonderland eager to please. Tatum is, to put this tastefully, the Jedi stripping master, while Pettyfer is his Padawan disciple, and the ladies should look forward to some red-hot “lightsabers.”
Dark Knight Rises is no. 1 movie to see this summer
17. Moonrise Kingdom
Release Date: May 25
Starring: Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman
The Scoop: With Ed Norton as a cigarette-smoking Boy Scout troop leader, Bruce Willis as a sheriff with translucent glasses and Bill Murray as a disenchanted father, this couldn’t be anything but a standard-issue Wes Anderson affair. The director of “The Royal Tenenbaums” always has something delightfully eccentric up his corduroy sleeves, and his tale of two young kids in a runaway romance will not disappoint.
16. Rock of Ages
Release Date: June 15
Starring: Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Malin Akerman, Mary J. Blige, Alec Baldwin, Tom Cruise
The Scoop: Tom Cruise likes his old-time rock ‘n’ roll Bon Jovi-style as he belts out “Wanted Dead Or Alive.” Word on the street is Cruise brings down the house, but for backup you’ve got pros Russell Brand and Mary J. Blige waiting in the wings to make sure this Broadway musical takes it to the next level. Adam Shankman (“Hairspray”) directs.
15. The Dictator
Release Date: May 16
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, John C. Reilly
The Scoop: Cohen has always been a provocateur of the highest order, but could this lampooning of Middle Eastern despots, inspired by the novel “Zabibah and the King” by Saddam Hussein (!), be that final crossover into “too far” territory? Not by a long shot. Not since Charlie Chaplin spoofed Hitler in “The Great Dictator” has a world-class comedian had the cojones that Cohen does, and this will be a take-no-prisoners laughfest from “Borat” and “Brüno” director Larry Charles. Look out for Megan Fox parodying herself in a sexy cameo.
14. Safety Not Guaranteed
Release Date: June 8
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Jake M. Johnson, Karan Soni, Mark Duplass
The Scoop: The plot is pretty simple: Kenneth (Duplass) places an ad in the paper reading, “Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” Journalist Darius (Plaza) comes into his life to investigate the claim, and that’s when things get complicated. Based on an Internet meme, the film was praised at this year’s Sundance Festival and has “indie sleeper” written all over it.
13. Savages
Release Date: July 6
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson, Blake Lively, Emile Hirsch
The Scoop: Oliver Stone is going back to the crazy-ass, hallucinogenic vibe of “Natural Born Killers” with this tawdry tale of a couple of easygoing marijuana-dealing bros (Johnson and Kitsch) and their polyamorous girlfriend (Lively) who gets kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. Let the bodies hit the floor. Stone also wrangled Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, Benicio del Toro and John Travolta along for the ride.
12. The Campaign
Release Date: Aug 10
Starring: Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Dylan McDermott, Jason Sudeikis
The Scoop: If you’re at all familiar with a little series called “Between Two Ferns,” then you know that Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are a hilariously combustible combo. This satire from director Jay Roach (“Austin Powers,” “Meet the Parents”) follows two rival Southern politicians, played by Ferrell and Galifianakis (sans beard, mustache only), who are not gentlemanly about winning a coveted North Carolina congressional seat. With HBO movies “Recount” and “Game Change” under his belt, Roach has done pretty well using politics as a backdrop for drama, so we’ll cast our vote that he can mine the comedy as well.
11. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Release Date: June 22
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
The Scoop: Honest Abe is back, and he’s pissed off! The virtuous 16th president helped free the slaves in the Civil War, but any bloodsucking monster he encounters is going to need facial reconstruction. Adapting Seth Grahame-Smith’s popular tongue-in-cheek novel that re-mythologizes Lincoln (Benjamin Walker) as a badass, Ruskie Timur Bekmambetov of “Wanted” fame directs this All-American story of bloodshed and patriotism.
10. Brave
Release Date: June 22
Starring: (voices) Kelly Macdonald, Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, John Ratzenberger
The Scoop: The lucky 13th feature film in the jewel-encrusted Pixar dynasty is a dynamic change of pace. The lovely Macdonald (“Boardwalk Empire”) brings her Scottish brogue to voicing Princess Merida, a defiant young woman with a “my way or the highway” attitude. To overcome a terrible curse, the skilled archer must find a way to undo it, which may involve firing arrows at a giant frickin’ bear.
9. Total Recall
Release Date: Aug 3
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston
The Scoop: Nobody thought Paul Verhoeven’s triple-breasted 1990 sci-fi classic needed a remake, but so far, the footage screened of Len Wiseman’s futuristic vision has been received positively by fans. Colin Farrell, believe it or not, is the Schwarzenegger substitute, bringing a more cerebral take on the mixed-up memory bank of character Douglas Quaid, who tries to get a vacation implanted in his head when things go violently haywire.
8. The Bourne Legacy
Release Date: Aug 3
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Oscar Isaac
The Scoop: Jeremy Renner proved in last year’s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” that he can do the spy thing with gusto, but can he bring the same Energizer Bunny intensity to this franchise that Matt Damon did? Despite the title, this is a Jason Bourne-less entry in the Robert Ludlum franchise, with Renner’s Aaron Cross an alumni of the same kick-butt school that Bourne dropped out of. The events will parallel much of the action in the previous three movies, kind of like “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” but with more car chases and choke holds. Joan Allen, Albert Finney, Scott Glenn, and David Strathairn all reprise their roles from the previous films.
7. Ted
Release Date: July 13
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel McHale
The Scoop: “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane is trying his hand at a feature, but it won’t be family friendly. The cute stuffed teddy bear of the title magically comes to life and grows up to become a foul-mouthed, alcoholic, pot smoking slacker along with his “thunder buddy for life” John (Mark Wahlberg). When John’s girl Lori (Mila Kunis) wants Ted out of his life, the horndog Snuggle Bear from hell has to strike out on his own. If MacFarlane can sustain the hilarity of the trailers, he just might have a subversive sleeper hit on his hands. If not, it’ll be a noble collection of dick jokes.
6. Dark Shadows
Release Date: May 11
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloë Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote
The Scoop: We are now officially living in the age of the vampire, but with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton hitting the blood bank we expect this adaptation of the cult classic ’60s soap opera to have a bit more bite than “Twilight.” His Deppness plays Barnabas Collins, a 200+ year-old who wakes in 1972 Collinsport, Maine, and has to adjust to his modern family and the vengeful witch Angelique (Green) who cursed him. Expect this vamp to be high camp.
5. The Amazing Spider-Man
Release Date: July 3
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Irrfan Khan
The Scoop: With Sam Raimi’s last Spidey spin only five years back, you may feel like this reboot is déjà vu; but as Steely Dan said, “wheels turning’ ’round and ’round / You go back, Jack, do it again.” Peter Parker (Garfield) is once more a nerdy high schooler, but with a bit more emo than Tobey Maguire brought to the role. This time ’round he’s bit by the spider, invents his own web shooters, tangles with The Lizard (Ifans), and gets some blonde ambition in love interest Gwen Stacy (Stone). Besides his usual swinger charm, expect Garfield to emphasize Spidey’s trademark wisecracks, as well as a suit that looks like it was designed by Nike.
4. Prometheus
Release Date: June 8
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron
The Scoop: Back in the sci-fi saddle for the first time in over three decades, director Ridley Scott is dipping back into the “Alien” well for a sorta-prequel that will also stand alone as its own unique sci-fi horror epic. Detailing nothing less than the origin of mankind’s existence, this will be one seriously intense voyage to the dark side of the universe for the title ship and its all-star crew. Be sure to face-hug someone close to you.
3. Snow White and the Huntsman
Release Date: June 1
Starring: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Sam Claflin, Ian McShane
The Scoop: How many Snow Whites does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Two, apparently. With the already released “Mirror Mirror” not as “fairest” as it set out to be, its competitor for your fairy-tale dollar features Bella herself, K.Stew, as an armored warrior version of the sunlight-deprived maiden. Theron is the evil queen who wants to swallow your soul, and Hemsworth puts down Thor’s hammer for the Huntsman’s axe.
2. The Avengers
Release Date: May 4
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson
The Scoop: Loki has an army, but Tony Stark has a Hulk. That’s how this works. Nerd deity Joss Whedon (“Serenity”) has assembled Marvel’s mightiest heroes for the knock-down, drag-out slugfest we’ve been waiting five movies for. Downey gets back in his shiny tin can as Iron Man, Evans is the defrosted Captain America, Hemsworth is a strange Thor in a strange land, and Ruffalo finds it’s not easy being green as Bruce Banner’s incredible alter ego.
1. The Dark Knight Rises
Release Date: July 20
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman
The Scoop: Um, duh, this one was always No. 1 with a bullet. Christopher Nolan seemed hesitant to try and top the Joker-tastic previous film – the biggest superhero movie of all time – when he told Hero Complex in 2008, “I have to ask the question: How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?” Well, Chris, you must have found a way, since the Caped Crusader (Bale) has risen with supervillain Bane (Hardy) and ambivavillain Catwoman (Hathaway) hot on his tail for the final part of our generation’s ultimate cinematic Batman saga.
The world is marking today 26 years from the worst nuclear accident and Chernobyl survivors and victims’ families have held a midnight memorial.
Dozens of people died in the three months after the catastrophe but the subsequent health fallout of those who lived in the path of the leaked radiation is unknown.
On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl nuclear reactor four exploded sending a radioactive cloud over European Russia, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Britain and US East Coast.
Nearly 60% of the deadly fallout affected Belarus where an estimated 200,000 people were evacuated from areas contaminated as a result of what experts describe as the biggest disaster in the entire history of nuclear power generation, both in terms of human deaths and economic damage.
Fast forward to today, and even in the exclusion zone, plants have re-grown, animals are flourishing and Chernobyl has been opened to tourists.
But Chernobyl refuses to be relegated to the past. Indeed it may still be devastating the lives of millions who continue to live in the fallout zone.
Aside from the potential health hazards of living in an area contaminated with radiation, domino socioeconomic effects have caused multiple problems in these regions.
The world is marking today 26 years from the worst nuclear accident and Chernobyl survivors and victims’ families have held a midnight memorial
Chernobyl Children International, or CCI, works to help kids in the region whose lives have been impacted by a disaster that happened years before they were born. Many suffer from physical problems such as congenital heart defects. Many kids have chronic illnesses or disabilities, and many live full time in institutions.
For many severely disabled children there, the future is uncertain. CCI works to build community centers in affected areas, in the hopes that there will be some support system for them after they are too old to remain in institutions.
The impact of Chernobyl we see today is not just the exclusion zone around the destroyed reactor, but enormous radioactive contamination still observed in the now independent states of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. There are vast territories in Russia’s Bryansk Region where the levels of background radiation are still too high for people to live safely in the area. In Germany, a hunting ban is still in effect in those regions where contamination due to radioactive fallout was recorded in 1986.
Today Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich is to inaugurate the construction of a new 1.2 billion euro sarcophagus to hold the remains of the reactor which exploded.
It was a combination of flawed design and operator error which caused the blast and produced a radioactive cloud.
Chernobyl’s reactors were shut down and eventually decommissioned. Reactor four was initially encased in an unstable concrete shell. The more permanent casing should be completed by 2015.
Sacha Baron Cohen already caused a stir promoting his new film The Dictator when he tipped Kim Jong-Il’s “ashes” over Ryan Seacrest at the Oscars in February.
Now, the London-born comedian has controversially attacked Queen Elizabeth II in a new trailer for The Dictator made especially for the UK.
Sacha Baron Cohen wished Her Majesty well for her upcoming “blood diamond” jubilee and said he hoped it was a smooth transition when Prince Charles kills her and takes the throne.
The hyped-up film tells the story of a fictional leader, General Aladeen, who is thought to be based of Kim Jong-Il and Saddam Hussein, of the fictional Republic of Wadiya.
In an intro to the latest trailer, the bearded character, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, is seen sitting on a chair surrounded by gun-wielding plebs.
He addresses the camera, saying: “I would like to congratulate your dictatoress Elizabeth on her blood diamond jubilee and I hope it is a smooth transition when her son Charles eventually kills her and seizes power.”
Sacha Baron Cohen wished Her Majesty well for her upcoming “blood diamond” jubilee and said he hoped it was a smooth transition when Prince Charles kills her and takes the throne
A news report is then shown that says tensions are rising between the world community and the “rogue North African Wadiya” intensified when United Nations weapons inspectors were refused access to the country by General Aladeen.
It cuts to a clip of U.S. president, Barack Obama, saying he will “take no options off the table”.
The report than delves into the background of Aladeen and he is seen as a baby with a full beard.
The voiceover says he did not know his mother who died in childbirth – but a clip is shown of her being smothered with a pillow.
The only son of dictator, Omar Aladeen, he is said to have gained power at the age of seven.
He apparently changed more than 300 words to “Aladeen” including the words negative and positive, causing mass confusion.
A clip is shown of a man in a doctor’s surgery being asked if he wants the “Aladeen news or the Aladeen news” and he is told he is “HIV Aladeen”.
The dictator even launched his own Olympic games and is seen winning a sprint race by shooting his opponents.
He won 14 gold medals at the games.
Sacha Baron Cohen caused chaos at the Oscars in February when he arrived dressed as Aladeen and emptied an urn of “ashes” over Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet.
He told the E! presenter: “These are the ashes of my good friend Kim Jong-Il and it was his dream to come to the Oscars and be scattered on the red carpet and on Halle Berry’s chest.”
On Monday, Sacha Baron Cohen attended CinemaCon in Las Vegas dressed as the character.
As he approached the stage, he jokingly asked a member of the crowd: “How much for your daughter?”
Then, after referring to CinemaCon as “Cinnabon,” Sacha Baron Cohen he spoke of his love of movies such as When Harry Killed Sally, 14-Year-Old Virgin and the “family comedy” Planet of the Rapes.
He also took a swipe at DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg and recently departed Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross.
On Jeffrey Katzenberg, who had just finished his presentation promoting Madagascar 3 and Rise of the Guardians, Sacha Baron Cohen said: “I thought I was the only dictator speaking tonight. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Jeffrey Katzenberg was speaking. He rules with an iron fist.”
Sacha Baron Cohen then threatened the exhibitors to put The Dictator in their theaters, or he would detonate bombs underneath their seats.
“Is that chewing gum underneath your seat? Certainly they are not plastic explosives. Trust me, there are bigger bombs than John Carter. Just shoot the executive behind that. Oh – wait, you did,” he said, referring to Rich Ross’ recent departure from Disney.
Sacha Baron Cohen urged the audience to see a screening of The Dictator later that evening, promising free Rolexes, blood diamonds, and young girls “or boys, if you are from DreamWorks”.
Bobbi Kristina and Bobby Brown were spotted this week having lunch at a Time Square restaurant in New York.
Bobbi Kristina, 19, and Bobby Brown were joined by the singer’s longtime girlfriend Alicia Etheridge and three other friends at Blue Fin restaurant located in the W Hotel in the heart of Times Square.
According to Us Weekly eyewitness, the lunch lasted about 90 minutes, and Bobbi Kristina Brown as being none too thrilled to be there. She “was on her phone and texting a crazy amount. She didn’t seem too thrilled to be there, in all honesty.”
Bobbi Kristina and Bobby Brown were spotted this week having lunch at Blue Fin restaurant in New York
Bobbi Kristina Brown, who has been living in Whitney Houston’s Atlanta home, has been keeping out of the spotlight for the past few weeks after making headlines when she was seen holding hands and kissing Nick Gordon – the boy that Whitney informally adopted when he was 12 years old.
Bobbi Kristina is getting ready to make her acting debut in a new Tyler Perry sitcom.
Meanwhile, Bobby Brown, who is notorious for his legal woes, was recently charged with a DUI and could face up to six months in jail if convicted.
Bobby Brown, the troubled ex-husband of late singer Whitney Houston, has avoided jail for DUI after making a plea bargain with prosecutors.
Bobby Brown, 43, pleaded no-contest to a charge of driving with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher.
In return prosecutors dropped a charge of driving under the influence, which would have carried a stiffer penalty.
According to TMZ, Bobby Brown was sentenced to 36 months of summary probation and one day in county jail, the latter of which he already served after his arrest.
In addition, the singer has to complete a 90-day alcohol program.
Bobby Brown was arrested last month in Los Angeles after cops noticed he was driving while talking on his cell phone.
And when he was pulled over, they said he strongly smelled of alcohol.
During his sobriety test Bobby Brown blew a 0.12 on a breathalyzer, which is legally drunk in California.
Bobby Brown has avoided jail for DUI after making a plea bargain with prosecutors
At the time, his lawyer, Tiffany Feder, said “everyone is innocent until proven guilty”, but did not deny he had been drinking.
After being arrested, Bobby Brown was taken to Van Nuys jail.
Officer Tiana Reed said: “We observed intoxication once Mr. Brown was pulled over.
“We put him through four sobriety tests, none of which he passed.
“He was arrested at 12:20 p.m. and booked into the Van Nuys jail.”
Bobby Brown already has a DUI conviction.
He was arrested in Georgia back in 1996.
Bobby Brown eventually pleaded guilty to DUI and served eight days in jail.
Meanwhile it has emerged Bobby Brown may be on the road to reconciling with his daughter Bobbi Kristina.
According to US Weekly, Bobby Brown and his daughter Bobbi Kristina spent some quality time together in New York on Tuesday.
A witness said Bobbi Kristina Brown had lunch with her father at upmarket restaurant Blue Fin, which sits in the heart of Times Square
They were joined by his longtime girlfriend Alicia Etheridge and three other friends.
But while their meal lasted around 90 minutes the bystander claims Bobbi Kristina “was on her phone and texting a crazy amount”.
“She didn’t seem too thrilled to be there, in all honesty,” the source said.
Lawyers portrayed Amy Pinto-Walsh, painter Thomas Kinkade’s girlfriend, as a ruthless gold digger who is out to “tear down” the late artist’s reputation and do irreparable damage to his family, in a restraining order granted by a judge yesterday.
The order against Amy Pinto-Walsh claimed she broke a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters the morning Thomas Kinkade was found dead and threatened to reveal his business and personal secrets.
Thomas Kinkade’s bodyguard, Dean Baker, – who drove him around after he was caught drink driving – said the family had reason to fear Amy Pinto-Walsh because she was prone to “impulsive and erratic” behavior and once threatened to “tear Mr. Kinkade down”.
Dean Baker was quitted in court documents and said he was witness to her behavior when he accompanied them on numerous vacations.
“On one occasion Pinto-Walsh made a threat to Mr. Kinkade along the lines of “I will tear you down. I would expect Pinto-Walsh to disclose confidential information,” Dean Baker said in his declaration filed on April 8.
The order against Amy Pinto-Walsh claimed she broke a confidentiality agreement by talking to reporters the morning Thomas Kinkade was found dead and threatened to reveal his business and personal secrets
A close friend of the family and godmother to the Kinkade children, Linda Raasch, left a similar declaration saying she was concerned about amy Pinto-Walsh’s motives, according to the Mercury News.
Linda Raasch said: “I told her releasing private and confidential documents would cause great emotional distress. But she was unmoved by my entreaties.”
However, the artist’s brother, Patrick Kinkade, said Amy Pinto-Walsh was a “good and sweet person” and was surprised at the restraining order.
Patrick Kinkade told the Mercury News: “Amy was Thom’s girlfriend. They enjoyed each other immensely. She’s a good person, a sweet person. She cared about Thom.”
The request for the restraining order said: “This threat is not just a mean-spirited act of betrayal, but a calculated attempt to garner money and fame at the expense of the grieving Kinkade family, including his wife and four daughters.”
Though the painter had separated from his wife, Nanette Kinkade, about two years ago, their divorce was not finalized when he died three weeks ago of what is believed to have been natural causes.
Thomas Kinkade was said to have been planning on marrying Amy Pinto-Walsh as soon as the divorce was finalized. They had been dating for 18 months.
“Amy was already part of his circle of friends and that really enraged Nanette,” an unnamed source told Radar Online.
“Nanette was furious and humiliated that he not only cheated on her, but moved on so quickly and publicly with her.”
Nanette Kinkade didn’t make any attempt to hide her frustration either, as she filed a restraining order against artist’s mistress shortly after his death, wanting to stop her from breaching a confidentiality agreement she signed more than a year ago.
Thomas Kinkade’s estranged wife fears Amy Pinto-Walsh will attempt to sell her story and could release private family photographs.
Thomas Kinkade, the so-called Painter of Light, was one of the most successful artists in the U.S., but he struggled with alcoholism before his death at the age of 54, and split from his wife Nanette in 2010.
Li Xueming, also known as Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai’s elder brother, has quit the board of China Everbright International, a Hong Kong-listed company.
Everbright said that Vice-Chairman Li Xueming had resigned to minimize any adverse impact on the company of media reports on his family background.
Bo Xilai’s removal has become China’s biggest political scandal in years.
“The board would like to take this opportunity to clarify that recent reports by the media on Mr. Li’s family background have no relationship with the normal business and operations of the company,” Everbright said in the statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
“Mr. Li has demonstrated dedication and diligence in serving the company during his tenure of directorship,” it said.
Li Xueming, also known as Bo Xiyong, Bo Xilai’s elder brother, has quit the board of China Everbright International
Bo Xilai, once tipped for China’s highest office, was removed from his role as Chongqing party secretary in March and suspended from all political office in April.
He is being investigated for “serious discipline violations”, Chinese authorities announced on 10 April and his wife, Gu Kailai, is being investigated in connection with the death of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Since then the lifestyle and political and business dealings of Bo Xilai and his family have come under intense media scrutiny.
According to its website, China Everbright International focuses on alternative energy and waste management.
The New York Times has recently reported that Bo Xilai ran a wire-tapping system that extended as far as China’s president Hu Jintao.
Citing “nearly a dozen people with party ties”, the New York Times said the disgraced Bo Xilai ran a wire-tapping network across Chongqing, where he was party chief.
His officials even listened to a phone call involving Hu Jintao, the paper said.
Chinese authorities have not mentioned wire-tapping in reports about Bo Xilai, whose wife, Gu kailai, is being investigated over the death of British businessman, Neil Heywood.
They are investigating Bo Xilai over “serious discipline violations”, while Gu Kailai has been detained as a suspect in the death of Neil Heywood, found dead in Chongqing in November 2011.
Chinese authorities say they believe Neil Heywood was murdered.
The New York Times has recently reported that Bo Xilai ran a wire-tapping system that extended as far as China's president Hu Jintao
Bo Xilai – a high flier once expected to reach the top echelons of office – has not been seen in public since he was removed from his political posts, in the biggest political shake-up in China in years.
Bo Xilai’s wire-tapping operation began several years ago as part of an anti-crime campaign in Chongqing, the New York Times said.
It was handled by Wang Lijun, the police chief whose flight to the US consulate in February signaled the start of Bo Xilai’s downfall, and expanded into targeting political figures.
Last year, the paper reported, operatives were caught intercepting a conversation between the office of President Hu Jintao and Liu Guanglei, a top party law-and-order official whom Wang Lijun had replaced as police chief.
A conversation between Minister of Supervision Ma Wen, who was visiting Chongqing, and President Hu Jintao himself was also monitored, the paper said.
Authorities in Beijing found out and began investigating, straining the relationship between Wang Lijun and Bo Xilai.
The wire-tapping “was seen as a direct challenge to central authorities”, the newspaper reported, citing party insiders.
These new claims will add to the sense that this scandal has exposed deep rifts and mistrust at the very highest level of China’s Communist Party.
Also important were fears that Bo Xilai, seen as a divisive populist, could not be trusted if elevated to the highest levels in the party.
Bo Xilai’s fall from grace comes with China due to begin its once-in-a-decade leadership change in October.
Since the scandal erupted, the lifestyle and political and business dealings of he and his family have come under intense media scrutiny.
Bo Xilai’s brother has resigned as director of a Hong Kong-based company, a day after his son issued a statement defending his lifestyle.
Syrian activists say at least 70 people have been killed in an attack on a house in Hama.
They said several houses in the Mashaa at-Tayyar district in southern Hama were destroyed by a big explosion.
State media said 16 people died in the blast in a house used as a bomb factory by “armed terrorist groups”.
Meanwhile, a video has emerged which purportedly shows a man being buried alive by security forces, allegedly for sending material to TV stations.
The unnamed man, who is said to be a media activist, is seen pleading for his life as earth is shoveled over his head. He then goes silent.
The security forces are heard cursing him for receiving money for sending material to Arabic satellite TV stations.
Syrian activists say at least 70 people have been killed in an attack on a house in Hama
The video was leaked by sympathizers.
Following the blast in Hama, activists posted video on the internet showing a scene of devastation, with bodies being pulled from the rubble.
One report said 13 children and 15 women were among the dead.
They said the blast was caused by government shelling or even a Scud missile attack.
State television showed pictures of injured children in hospital and says that a group using the house to make bombs detonated them accidentally.
The reports cannot be independently verified owing to government restrictions on foreign media.
Continuing violence has been reported across Syria since a ceasefire was introduced earlier this month – including in towns where UN observers are present.
There are two observers currently stationed in Hama.
France now says the Security Council should consider the use of force in Syria if a UN-backed peace plan proposed by international envoy Kofi Annan fails to stop the violence.
The plan calls on Damascus to withdraw troops and heavy weapons from cities.
The UN has sent a small advance team of observers to Syria. Last weekend the Security Council approved the deployment of another 300.
The UN says about 9,000 people have died since pro-democracy protests began in March 2011. In February, the Syrian government put the death toll at 3,838 – 2,493 civilians and 1,345 security forces personnel.
Warner Bros. presented 10 minutes of 3D footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at 48 frames per second at the CinemaCon 2012 convention in Las Vegas.
Director Peter Jackson said in a videotaped message that he hopes his movie can be played in 48fps in “as many cinemas as possible” when it opens December 14.
The Hobbit, the first major motion picture to be made at the higher frame rate, closed the Warner Bros. slate presentation Tuesday at CinemaCon.
The new film has been shot at a rate of 48 frames per second, compared with the industry standard of 24 frames.
Frame rate refers to the number of images displayed by a projector within one second. The cinema standard has been 24 fps for many decades. Jackson explained that in the early days of film, silent pictures were shown at an even lower frame rate – reducing the amount of film used – but it was bumped to 24 to support the requirements of sound.
However some attendees claimed the scenes looked like low-budget TV.
Warner Bros. presented 10 minutes of 3D footage from The Hobbit. An Unexpected Journey at 48 fps at the CinemaCon 2012
In a video introduction, Peter Jackson told the audience that using 48 frames per second produced a smoother image.
“The movement feels more real – it’s much more gentle on the eyes,” he said.
Peter Jackson said the new approach would take time to adjust to and some attendees agreed, branding the footage as a failure in digital technology.
The clips ranged from action sequences to quieter moments, including a dialogue sequence between Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and Gollum (Andy Serkis). The CinemaCon audience also saw the return of castmembers from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, including Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) and Orlando Bloom (Legolas).
The Los Angeles Times said the footage was “hyper-realistic”: “An opening aerial shot of dramatic rocky mountains appeared clearer than the images in most nature documentaries.
“But the effect was different when applied to scenes with actors dressed in period costume, whose every move – and pore – was crystal clear,” it added.
One projectionist told the newspaper it “looked like a made-for-TV movie”.
“It was too accurate – too clear. The contrast ratio isn’t there yet – everything looked either too bright or black,” they said.
However the Associated Press reported the footage was “vivid, with grass blades, facial lines and soaring mountains appearing luminous and pronounced. The actors looked almost touchable, as if they were performing live on stage”.
Other digital pioneers are making the same push for higher film speeds.
Avatar creator James Cameron has promised to shoot the sequel to his science-fiction blockbuster at 48 or 60 frames per second.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first chapter in Jackson’s two-part adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s fantasy classic.
The two films were shot back-to-back in 3D, with the second part, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, due in cinemas in December 2013.
On Tuesday, Sony announced that a software update for its digital cinema projection systems would support 48fps and be available in the fall. Sony expects the majority of its 13,000 installed 4K digital cinema projectors to support high frame rates by the time The Hobbit is released.
The Hobbit will also be available in 24 fps.
Peter Jackson’s Rings trilogy resulted in an estimated $2.9 billion at the global box office and a combined 17 Academy Awards.
According to a major safety review for the UK’s Health Protection Agency (HPA), there is still no evidence mobile phones harm human health.
Scientists looked at hundreds of studies of mobile exposure and found no conclusive links to cancer risk, brain function or infertility.
However, they said monitoring should continue because little was known about long-term effects.
The HPA said children should still avoid excessive use of mobiles.
It is the biggest ever review of the evidence surrounding the safety of mobile phones.
The study said exposure to low-level radio frequency fields was almost universal and continuous because of TV and radio broadcasting, Wi-Fi, and other technological developments.
A group of experts working for the HPA looked at all significant research into the effects of low-level radio frequency.
They concluded that people who were not exposed above guideline levels did not experience any detectable symptoms.
That included people who reported being sensitive to radio frequency.
Scientists looked at hundreds of studies of mobile exposure and found no conclusive links to cancer risk, brain function or infertility
They also said there was no evidence that exposure caused brain tumors, other types of cancer, or harm to fertility or cardiovascular health.
But they said very little was known about risks beyond five years, because most people did not use mobile phones until the late 1990s.
Prof. Anthony Swerdlow, who chaired the review group, said it was important to continue monitoring research.
“Even though it’s relatively reassuring, I also think it’s important that we keep an eye on the rates of brain tumors and other cancers,” he said.
“One can’t know what the long-term consequences are of something that has been around for only a short period.”
There has been speculation about the health effects of using mobile phones for years.
The HPA conducted a previous review in 2003, which also concluded that there was no evidence of harm. But there is now far more research into the subject.
The experts said more work was needed on the effect of radio frequency fields on brain activity, and on the possible association with behavioral problems in children.
They also called for more investigation into the effects of new technology which emits radio frequency, such as smart meters in homes and airport security scanners.
The HPA said it was not changing its advice about mobile phone use by children.
“As this is a relatively new technology, the HPA will continue to advise a precautionary approach,” said Dr. John Cooper, director of the HPA’s centre for radiation, chemical and environmental hazards.
“The HPA recommends that excessive use of mobile phones by children should be discouraged.”
Metropolitan Police in UK have issued a computer-generated image of what Madeleine McCann might look like now, as evidence into her disappearance are reviewed.
The picture, created with the McCann family, shows how Madeleine would look aged nine, the Metropolitan Police said.
Having analyzed the evidence, the Met said it is possible Madeleine McCann is alive, and they believe she was abducted.
Madeleine McCann, from Rothley, Leicestershire, was nearly four when she disappeared from a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007.
On Tuesday, Det. Ch. Insp. Andy Redwood, who is heading the UK review, said his team was “seeking to bring closure to the case”.
The picture, created with the McCann family, shows how Madeleine would look aged nine
The UK review began last May after Prime Minister David Cameron responded to a plea from Madeleine’s parents Gerry and Kate.
The Metropolitan Police have been working in “close collaboration” with a senior investigating officer from Portugal’s Policia Judaria.
The review team has been compiling and reviewing material from three separate strands – the Portuguese investigation, inquiries by the UK law enforcement agencies, and the work of private investigators or agencies.
It is believed to be around 40,000 pieces of information equating to about 100,000 pages.
“The intention is to identify from that material investigative opportunities which we will then present to the Portuguese authorities who retain primacy for the investigation.
“Officers have so far identified around 195 such opportunities within the historic material, and are also developing what they believe to be genuinely new material,” said the Metropolitan Police.
The force said the objective of the team was to work with the Portuguese authorities with a view to having the case, closed since 2008, re-opened in due course.
DCI Redwood said: “From the outset we have approached this review with a completely open mind, placing Madeleine McCann at the heart of everything we do.
“We are working on the basis of two possibilities here – one is that Madeleine is still alive; and the second that she is sadly dead,” he said.
The Metropolitan Police have also appealed for anyone with new information to come forward.
Jessica Simpson is due to give birth any day now and she has taken to her Twitter page to announce she has been dreaming about her trip to the hospital.
Jessica Simpson, 31, still won’t be putting style on the backburner as she hopes that when the time comes, she’ll be dressed to impress.
She tweeted yesterday: “I just woke up from a dream that I wore a leopard caftan in the hospital. Fabulous!! Now I need to find one!”
Last week it was claimed that Jessica Simpson had already given birth but Jessica used the microblogging site to slam the rumors.
The star wrote: “To everyone who keeps congratulating me on the birth of my baby girl…I’m still pregnant!! Don’t believe what you read ladies and gents.”
Jessica Simpson still won’t be putting style on the backburner as she hopes that when the time comes, she’ll be dressed to impress
Jessica Simpson and her very large bump are frequently spotted out and about with fiancé Eric Johnson.
She has been upfront about her pregnancy and the cravings it’s brought about.
Jessica Simpson has revealed in a series of interviews that she is indulging in her favorite childhood foods.
Unlike some expectant mothers, she says she is not concerned about watching what she eats and is happy to “give into my cravings”.
Jessica Simpson is said to have put a grand baby weight loss plan in place after giving birth and has cited mother-of-two Jessica Alba as her post-baby inspiration.
She is rumored to be the next face of Weight Watchers for the slim down plan following the birth.
Canadian researchers, who examined the impact of the medications on the whole body, say common anti-depressants could be doing patients more harm than good.
Researchers at McMaster University examined previous patient studies into the effects of anti-depressants and determined that the benefits of most anti-depressants compare poorly to the risks, which include premature death in elderly patients.
“We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs,” said study leader and evolutionary biologist Paul Andrews.
“It’s important because millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they’re safe and effective.”
Anti-depressants are designed to relieve the symptoms of depression by increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, where it regulates mood.
The vast majority of serotonin that the body produces, though, is used for other purposes, including digestion, forming blood clots at wound sites, reproduction and development.
The researchers, whose study was published in the online journal Frontiers in Psychology, found that anti-depressants had negative health effects on all processes normally regulated by serotonin.
This included a higher risk of developmental problems in infants, problems with sexual function, digestive problems and abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly.
The authors reviewed three recent studies showing that elderly anti-depressant users are more likely to die than non-users, even after taking other important variables into account. The higher death rates indicate that the overall effect of these drugs on the body is more harmful than beneficial.
The higher death rates among anti-depressants users indicate that the overall effect of these drugs on the body is more harmful than beneficial
“Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It’s intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it’s going to cause some harm,” Paul Andrews said.
Millions of people are prescribed anti-depressants every year, and while the conclusions may seem surprising, Paul Andrews says much of the evidence has long been apparent and available.
“The thing that’s been missing in the debates about anti-depressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects,” he says.
“Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue.”
In previous research, Paul Andrews and his colleagues had questioned the effectiveness of anti-depressants even for relieving depression. They found patients were more likely to suffer relapse after going off their medications as their brains worked to re-establish equilibrium.
Paul Andrews says it is important to look critically at their continuing use.
“It could change the way we think about such major pharmaceutical drugs,” he said.
“You’ve got a minimal benefit, a laundry list of negative effects – some small, some rare and some not so rare. The issue is: does the list of negative effects outweigh the minimal benefit?”
Locals in Hradok, Slovakia, are currently living in a fear of this tiny tearaway – whose fearsome fighting skills have seen it dubbed the Kung Fu Guinea Pig.
The pint-sized ninja terrified dog walker Marta Domotorova when it attacked her Hungarian pointer dogs during a stroll on heathland near her Hradok home.
With a series of spinning kicks and leaps the fearless rodent saw off both the hapless hounds as they tried to play with it.
Marta Domotorova said: “Bona started barking and Meggie wanted to sniff it. I guess it got pretty scared although both dogs are harmless and just wanted to play.
“But then they got pretty scared when the guinea pig started its Kung Fu chops.”
The pint-sized ninja terrified two Hungarian pointer dogs during a stroll in Hradok
Local wildlife experts think the furious furball is an escaped household pet.
One said: “It’s not the first time we’ve heard of this. These creatures are usually docile family pets but when threatened they will fight for their lives like any animal that thinks it’s been cornered.”
Others have questioned whether the guinea pig is actually a hamster and some cynics – believe it or not – have suggested the little critter’s flight may have had some digital assistance.
The Office for National Statistics in UK has announced that the country’s economy has returned to recession, after shrinking by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012.
A sharp fall in construction output was behind the surprise contraction, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Wednesday’s figure is an early estimate and is subject to at least two further revisions in the coming months. It is compiled using 40% of the data gathered for later revisions.
The UK economy was last in recession in 2009.
Prime Minister David Cameron said the figures were “very, very disappointing”.
“I don’t seek to excuse them, I don’t seek to try to explain them away,” he said at Prime Minister’s Questions.
“There is no complacency at all in this government in dealing with what is a very tough situation, which frankly has just got tougher.”
David Cameron said it was “painstaking, difficult” work, but the government would stick with its plans and do “everything we can” to generate growth.
Labour leader Ed Miliband said the figures were “catastrophic” and asked David Cameron what his excuse was.
“This is a recession made by him and the chancellor in Downing Street. It is his catastrophic economic policy that has landed us back in recession,” Ed Miliband said.
UK economy returns to recession after three years
The ONS said output of the production industries decreased by 0.4%, construction decreased by 3%. Output of the services sector, which includes retail, increased by 0.1%, after falling a month earlier.
It added that a fall in government spending had contributed to the particularly large fall in the construction sector.
“The huge cuts to public spending – 25% in public sector housing and 24% in public non-housing and with a further 10% cuts to both anticipated for 2013 – have left a hole too big for other sectors to fill,” said Judy Lowe, deputy chairman of industry body CITB-ConstructionSkills, said.
Some have questioned the validity of the ONS’s figures, particularly on the construction industry, which has been particularly volatile in recent quarters.
But Joe Grice, chief economic adviser to the ONS, said the construction data was based on a survey of 8,000 companies and had been carefully checked and double checked.
The latest figures supported the view that the economy had been “flattish” in the past few quarters, he added.
Over the last year and a half, the economy has fluctuated between quarters of growth and contraction.
Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King has previously warned that the economy will continue to “zig zag” this year.
He had forecast growth in the first quarter but then a contraction in the second quarter, when the extra bank holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee is expected to reduce output.
“It is clearly not good news, the missing link in the economy has been confidence,” said Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors.
“These are relatively small falls, so we shouldn’t be too alarmist.
“[But] regardless of the figures, it is the message that comes out to business – to be cautious – exactly when we want them to be a little more aggressive in terms of recruitment and investment.”
However, some pointed to other recent business surveys, which painted a more positive picture of the economy.
“These figures are at odds with the experiences of many UK businesses, which continue to operate with guarded optimism,” said David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce.
He added that he expected the preliminary estimate to be revised upwards when more information became available.
The estimate for construction output is based on published data for the first two months of the quarter, and an estimation for the third month.
But the ONS pointed out that, while there was “a tendency for upward revisions” to construction, March would need to be “exceptionally strong” in the construction sector to produce growth in the quarter.
The first estimate of GDP for the last three months of 2011 showed a contraction of 0.2%, which was later revised to a contraction of 0.3%.
US media report that Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is expected to suspend his campaign next week.
Newt Gingrich said on Wednesday that he expected Mitt Romney, who won five primaries on Tuesday, to be the Republican nominee.
The former House Speaker’s campaign had said it would reassess its future if he did not win the contest in Delaware.
Newt Gingrich has won only two primaries – South Carolina and Georgia – since the election season began in January.
He will reportedly hold his last campaign event on 1 May in Washington DC.
During a campaign stop in North Carolina on Wednesday, Newt Gingrich all but conceded.
“You have to at some point be honest about what’s happening in the real world as opposed to what you would like to have happened,” Newt Gingrich told supporters.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is expected to suspend his campaign next week
Newt Gingrich added that Mitt Romney “had a very good day yesterday. You have to give him some credit.”
He said he would continue to campaign for the next week as a “citizen”, adding he would discuss economic issues, such as high unemployment.
“We are going to stay very, very active and we are working out the details of our transition,” Newt Gingrich said.
“But I am committed to this party. I am committed to defeating Obama.”
Newt Gingrich was expected to go ahead with several scheduled campaign stops across North Carolina.
The former House Speaker had campaigned heavily in Delaware ahead of Tuesday’s primary, a state that Mitt Romney all but ignored.
But Newt Gingrich still lost the state’s vote by 30%.
Bob Walker, a Gingrich adviser and former US representative, said on Tuesday: “I don’t think we can lose by 30 points in Delaware and feel good about it.”
In December, Newt Gingrich confidently predicted he would become the Republican nominee, and for a time enjoyed high poll ratings.
Although he won his home state of Georgia and nearby South Carolina, Newt Gingrich racked up heavy losses as the primary season continued.
He had vowed to fight on, even as Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney’s main Republican challenger, suspended his own campaign earlier in April.
Following Tuesday’s wins, the Romney campaign will begin formally integrating with the Republican National Committee.
RNC chairman Reince Priebus said on Wednesday he had directed its staff to start communicating with Mitt Romney advisers.
Former Massachusetts Governor Romney’s delegate lead means it is impossible for any other candidate to capture the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination at the Republican convention in August.
Oh Kil-nam, a retired South Korean economist, says his life was ruined by his decision to defect to North Korea.
Oh Kil-nam, 70, still does not know the fate of his wife and daughters – either dead or imprisoned in a labor camp.
In 1985, North Korean agents approached Oh Kil-nam and suggested he defect.
The agents offered him an important job working as an economist for the North Korean government and promised to provide free treatment for his wife’s hepatitis.
Oh Kil-nam took the offer seriously. He had just completed his PhD in Germany on a Marxist economist. Back at home in South Korea, Oh Kil-nam had been active in left-wing groups opposed to the country’s authoritarian regime.
His wife Shin Suk-ja was horrified by the idea of going to the North and opposed it from the start.
“Do you know what kind of place it is?” she asked.
“You have not even been there once. How can you make such a reckless decision?”
But Oh Kil-nam replied that the Northerners were Koreans too – they “cannot be that brutal”, he told her.
So at the end of November 1985, Oh Kil-nam, his wife and two young daughters travelled via East Berlin and Moscow to Pyongyang.
When they arrived at Pyongyang airport, Oh Kil-nam began to see he had made a mistake in coming. Communist party officials and children clutching flowers were there to meet them. But despite the cold of a North Korean December, the children were not wearing socks and their traditional clothes were so thin that they shivered.
“When I saw this I was really surprised and my wife even started to cry,” he said.
Communist party officials drove Oh Kil-nam and his family to what they described as a guest house. The building was inside a camp in the mountains and guarded by soldiers. There was no treatment for Shin Suk-ja’s hepatitis and no job for Oh Kil-nam as an economist. Instead, for several months, North Koreans indoctrinated them in the teachings of The Great Leader Kim Il-sung, the founder of the current regime.
Oh Kil-nam and his wife began working for a North Korean radio station.
“My wife began as a broadcaster but she was not able to carry on for long. Her health had deteriorated and at the same time she was quite critical of the North.”
Oh Kil-nam was less independent. “I began to read scripts based on party directives – in the end, I was like a parrot.”
Oh Kil-nam, now 70, still does not know the fate of his wife and daughters after more than 20 years
While he was there Oh Kil-nam came across South Koreans who had been abducted, including two air stewardesses and two passengers from a Korean Air Lines flight that had been hijacked by North Koreans in 1969.
Oh Kil-nam was approached to go on a mission abroad. He was to be based in the North Korean embassy in Copenhagen, from where he could do what had been done to him – lure South Korean students in Germany to the North Korean embassy.
When Shin Suk-ja heard about the plan she was furious.
“I remember the two of us talking about it softly under the blanket. I told my wife that by fulfilling this mission, we would preserve our livelihood in North Korea. But she slapped me in the face.”
His wife said they would have to pay the price for his mistakes – he could not entrap others.
“She told me I had to find a way to escape when I got to Europe, that there would be a way to rescue the family.”
On arriving at Copenhagen airport, Oh Kil-nam managed to escape from North Korean control. “I approached the immigration desk. I had a little piece of paper on which I had written: HELP ME. I explained that the passport they were seeing was not my real passport, that my real name was Oh Kil-nam, and that my real passport had been confiscated in North Korea.”
After two months in jail in Denmark, the Danish authorities sent Oh Kil-nam to Germany. There he tried to free his family, but with no luck.
“My biggest mistake was not to approach the German Foreign Ministry directly.”
Oh Kil-nam’s wife, Shin Suk-ja, and their daughters, Hye Won and Gyu Won
For Shin Suk-ja and her two daughters, Oh Kil-nam’s defection was catastrophic. They were taken to Yodok concentration camp, where the North Korean government imprisons its enemies. The conditions in this slave labor camp are reportedly as bad as anything in Nazi Germany or Stalin’s Gulag.
For a time, Oh Kil-nam heard nothing about the fate of his family. Then in February 1991 he managed to get six photographs of his wife and daughters and a tape cassette with a message from them.
“On the tape my daughters were telling me how much they missed me and my wife was saying that perhaps it would be OK for me to come back now.”
Oh Kil-nam suspected a trap. “North Korea was trying to stop me from heading back to South Korea because I had experience of working in its propaganda division. I knew a lot of its secrets, including the fact that many people from South Korea, who were kidnapped and taken to the North, were working there.”
But nonetheless the realization that he could not get back in touch with his family was devastating.
“By that time I had completely given up. My whole body was just broken down.”
In 1992, Oh Kil-nam returned to South Korea. “I felt that my death was not far away. I just wanted to be close to my brother and my sister on my death bed.”
Oh Kil-nam did not die but nor has he ever heard from his wife and daughters again. He does not know whether they are alive or whether they died in the prison camp.
“I do feel that I may be able to meet my family again, but it is just a hope, a glimmer of hope inside a dark tunnel.
“I hope there will come a day when I can meet my family again, hug them and embrace them, and cry tears of happiness. If it does happen it will be the happiest day of my life.”
