JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank, has revealed a surprise trading loss of $2 billion on complex investments made by its traders.
Overall, after accounting for other gains, losses at its chief investment office (CIO) are estimated to come in at $800 million in the second quarter.
The loss could be as big as $1 billion, chief executive Jamie Dimon said in an unscheduled conference call.
JPMorgan shares fell 6% after-hours, with other bank stocks following.
JPMorgan Chase has revealed a surprise trading loss of $2 billion on complex investments made by its traders
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America also suffered heavy losses in electronic trading after the market close.
The strategy taken at its CIO had been “riskier, more volatile and less effective” than previously believed, Jamie Dimon said.
“There were many errors, sloppiness and bad judgement. These were egregious mistakes.
“They were self-inflicted and this is not how we want to run a business.”
The CIO is an arm of the bank used to make broad bets to hedge its portfolios of individual holdings. Hedging is an investment practice used to reduce the risk of price fluctuations to the value of an asset.
The trading loss, revealed in a regulatory filing, is expected to hurt JPMorgan’s overall earnings in the quarter, and will come as an embarrassment to the bank.
It had emerged from the 2008 financial crisis in much better health than many of its rivals after avoiding risky investments that had hurt others.
“We will admit it, we will learn from it, we will fix it, and we will move on,” Jamie Dimon said.
He added that the bank was trying to unload the portfolio in question in a “responsible” manner in order to minimize the cost to shareholders.
Jamie Dimon said the type of trading that led to the loss would not be banned by the so-called Volcker rule, designed to censure certain types of trading by banks with their own money.
But he acknowledged that the errors would be particularly embarrassing, given his public criticism of the Volcker rule.
“It plays right into the hands of a bunch of pundits out there, but that’s life,” he said.
Prof. Mark Williams from Boston University, and a former Federal Reserve regulator, said taxpayers should be concerned about these trading losses.
“Taxpayers ultimately have to bail out these <<too big to fail>> banks. And that’s what JPMorgan is – it is too big to fail,” he said.
“How could a bank that’s supposed to be the premier bank in setting the leadership role allow such risk taking?”
The oldest-known Mayan astronomical tables have been discovered at Xultun archeological site in Guatemala, archaeologists announce.
Xultun includes the first known instance of Mayan art painted on the walls of a dwelling.
A report in Science says it dates from the early 9th Century, pre-dating other Mayan calendars by centuries.
Such calendars rose to prominence recently amid claims they predicted the end of the world in 2012.
The Mayan civilization occupied Central America from about 2000 B.C. until its decline and assimilation following the colonization by the Spanish from the 15th Century onwards. It still holds fascination, with many early Mayan sites still hidden or uncatalogued.
The ruins at Xultun were first discovered in 1912 and mapping efforts in the 1920s and 1970s laid out much of the site’s structure.
The oldest-known Mayan astronomical tables have been discovered at Xultun archeological site in Guatemala
Archaeologists have catalogued the site’s features, including a 35m-tall pyramid, but thousands of structures on the 30 sq km site remain unexplored.
In 2005, William Saturno, then at the University of New Hampshire, discovered the oldest-known Mayan murals at a site just a few kilometres away called San Bartolo.
In 2010, one of Dr. William Saturno’s students was following the tracks of more recent looters at Xultun when he discovered the vegetation-covered structure that has now been excavated.
When Mayans renovated an old structure, they typically collapsed its roof and built on top of the rubble. But for some reason, the new Xultun find had been filled in through its doorway, with the roof left intact.
Dr. William Saturno, who is now based at Boston University, explained that despite it being under just a metre of soil today, that served to preserve the site after more than a millennium of rainy seasons, insect traffic and encroaching plant and tree roots.
“We found that three of the room’s four walls were well preserved and that the ceilings were also in good shape in terms of the paintings on them, so we got an awful lot more than we bargained for,” he said.
The excavation was carried out using grants from the National Geographic Society, which has prepared a high-resolution photographic tour of the room.
It measures about 2 m on each side with a 3 m, vaulted ceiling, and is dominated by a stone bench, suggesting the room was a meeting place.
The east wall features a number of seated figures, nearly life-sized, dressed in black and wearing elaborate headdresses similar to a bishop’s mitre.
They all look toward the north wall, on which a more elaborately dressed figure in orange holds a stylus in a hand outstretched toward a figure that Dr. William Saturno believes represented the king of Xultun.
“The seated figures that we see around them are involved in some narrative in which the king is being portrayed impersonating a Mayan deity and these guys are in attendance at that impersonation,” Dr. William Saturno explained.
The relevance of the figure with the stylus seems clear: “We think this room was used as a writing room, that it’s part of a complex associated with the work being done by Maya scribes.”
Perhaps most intriguing among the finds were several finds related to astronomical tables, including four long numbers on the east wall that represent a cycle lasting up to 2.5 million days.
The east wall is mostly covered by tabulations of black symbols or “glyphs” that map out various astronomical cycles: that of Mars and Venus and the lunar eclipses.
The wall also features red marks that appear to be notes and corrections to the calculations; Dr. William Saturno said that the scribes “seem to be using it like a blackboard”.
The Xultun find is the first place that all of the cycles have been found tied mathematically together in one place, representing a calendar that stretches more than 7,000 years into the future.
The Mayan numbering system for dates is a complex one in base-18 and base-20 numbers that, in modern-day terms, would “turn over” at the end of 2012.
But Dr. William Saturno points out that the new finds serve to further undermine the fallacy that this is tantamount to a prediction of the end of the world.
“The ancient Maya predicted the world would continue, that 7,000 years from now, things would be exactly like this,” he said.
“We keep looking for endings. The Maya were looking for a guarantee that nothing would change. It’s an entirely different mindset.”
US Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee, which advises the FDA, has for the first time backed a drug to prevent HIV infection in healthy people.
The panel of health experts recommended US regulators approve daily pill Truvada for use by people considered at high risk of contracting the AIDS virus.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not required to follow the panel’s advice, but it usually does.
Some health workers and groups active in the HIV community have opposed the approval of the drug.
However, the move could prove to be a new milestone in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee recommended US regulators approve Truvada for use by people considered at high risk of contracting the AIDS virus
Truvada is already approved by the FDA for people who are HIV-positive, and is taken along with existing anti-retroviral drugs.
Studies from 2010 showed that Truvada, made by California-based Gilead Sciences, reduced the risk of HIV in healthy gay men – and among HIV-negative heterosexual partners of people who are HIV-positive – by between 44% and 73%.
The Antiviral Drugs Advisory Committee voted 19-3 in favor of prescribing the drug to the highest risk group – non-infected men who have sex with multiple male partners.
They also approved it, by majority votes, for uninfected people with HIV-positive partners and for other groups considered at risk of acquiring HIV through sexual activity.
The votes followed an 11-hour meeting of the panel in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a lengthy public comments session.
Opposition to the prospect of approving the drug is based on concerns that users could gain a false sense of security, and fears of a drug-resistant strain of HIV.
There is also concern that the high cost of Truvada could divert limited funding from more cost-effective options.
“We need to slow down. I care too much about my community not to speak my concerns,” said Joey Terrill, of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which campaigned against the drug’s approval.
Nurse Karen Haughey told the panel: “Truvada needs to be taken every day, 100% of the time, and my experience as a registered nurse tells me that won’t happen.
“In my eight years, not one patient that I’ve cared for has been 100% adherent.”
But others welcomed the panel’s recommendation.
“This brings us closer to a watershed for global HIV prevention efforts,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, after the vote.
The FDA is expected to make its decision by 15 June.
Early results from a US trial suggest it may be possible to use “stem cell shielding” to protect the body from the damaging effects of chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy drugs try to kill rapidly dividing cancer cells, but they can also affect other healthy tissues such as bone marrow.
The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, used genetically modified stem cells to protect the bone marrow.
The body constantly churns out new blood cells in the hollow spaces inside bone. However, bone marrow is incredibly susceptible to chemotherapy.
The treatment results in fewer white blood cells being produced, which increase the risk of infection, and fewer red blood cells, which leads to shortness of breath and tiredness.
Early results from a US trial suggest it may be possible to use "stem cell shielding" to protect the body from the damaging effects of chemotherapy
Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, in Seattle, said these effects were “a major barrier” to using chemotherapy and often meant the treatment had to be stopped, delayed or reduced.
They have tried to protect the bone marrow in three patients with a type of brain cancer, glioblastoma.
One of the researchers, Dr. Jennifer Adair, said: “This therapy is analogous to firing at both tumor cells and bone marrow cells, but giving the bone marrow cells protective shields while the tumor cells are unshielded.”
Bone marrow was taken from the patients and stem cells, which produce blood, were isolated. A virus was then used to infect the cells with a gene which protected the cells against a chemotherapy drug. The cells were then put back into the patient.
The lead author of the report, Prof. Hans-Peter Kiem, said: “We found that patients were able to tolerate the chemotherapy better, and without negative side effects, after transplantation of the gene-modified stem cells than patients in previous studies who received the same type of chemotherapy without a transplant of gene-modified stem cells.”
The researchers said the three patients had all lived longer than the average survival time of 12 months for the cancer. They said one patient was still alive 34 months after treatment.
Beer will be allowed to be sold in stadiums at the 2014 World Cup after Brazilian Senate has passed a controversial and much-delayed bill.
When Brazil was chosen to host the event it promised to sell alcohol at matches despite a 2003 drinks ban introduced to stop violence.
Football’s world governing body, FIFA, demanded the change because brewer Budweiser is a World Cup sponsor.
President Dilma Rousseff is now expected to sign the bill into law.
Beer will be allowed to be sold in stadiums at the 2014 World Cup after Brazilian Senate has passed a controversial and much-delayed bill
Although the legislation does not specifically authorize the sale of alcohol inside stadiums, the government says it does allow Brazil to fulfill FIFA’s requirements.
“Violence in stadiums has decreased a lot because of the ban against alcoholic beverages,” said Senator Lindbergh Farias, who voted in favor.
“They will only be able to sell them during the World Cup; we’re not going to allow it in general.”
But some senators still voiced concern.
“FIFA’s demand doesn’t make sense because the most important thing is that alcoholic advertisement is freely available,” said Senator Humberto Costa.
“To liberalize the use of alcohol, imagining that 10,000 or 20,000 beers sold in a match would change a company’s economic situation is absurd,” he said.
Another sticking point in the passage of the World Cup bill has been over cut-price tickets.
In Brazil students and pensioners are entitled to half-price entry to sports matches, but FIFA did not want this extended to the World Cup because of the potential impact on revenues.
It has pledged to set aside 300,000 tickets for students, pensioners and minority groups instead.
Amid the disagreements, the law’s approval was delayed, leading FIFA’s secretary-general Jerome Valcke to say that Brazil needed a “kick up the backside”.
Brazil’s lower house passed the bill in March and at a meeting in Zurich this week Brazil and FIFA appeared to smooth over their differences.
European Parliament has passed regulations to make using a mobile phone abroad significantly cheaper.
The plans, which were voted in by a huge majority, include imposing a price cap on operators.
From July, using mobile data in Europe will not cost more than 70 eurocents per megabyte – far less than current rates.
Consumers will also be able to choose a different operator abroad from the one they use at home.
It is hoped this split-network approach – which comes into force in 2014 – will encourage greater competition.
The first changes will come into effect from 1 July. Calls will be capped at 29 eurocents per minute, plus VAT.
European Parliament has passed regulations to make using a mobile phone abroad significantly cheaper
The EU said the regulations were designed to prevent “bill shock” – the moment when travelers discover they have totted up huge bills after making calls and using data applications, such as maps, while away.
“In a borderless Europe, there is no place for charges that diverge so much at home and abroad,” said MEP Ivo Belet.
The EU said the changes could mean savings for a “typical” businessman of more than 1,000 Euros in a year.
The EU said that from 2014 customers would be able to choose their mobile networks upon arrival in a country, or signing up to a contract before leaving.
Currently, mobile users are forced to use their standard domestic operator when travelling abroad – or to use alternative arrangements, such as a cheap pre-paid handset.
Under the new regulations, customers can choose a different operator with a more attractive travel tariff before leaving – without changing their number.
Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), one of Europe’s main contributions to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is built and ready to ship to the US.
MIRI will gather key data as the $9 billion observatory seeks to identify the first starlight in the Universe.
The results of testing conducted at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK have just been signed off, clearing MIRI to travel to America.
James Webb – regarded as the successor to Hubble – is due to launch in 2018.
It will carry a 6.5m primary mirror (more than double the width of Hubble’s main mirror), and a shield the size of a tennis court to guard its sensitive vision from the heat and strong light of our Sun.
The observatory has been tasked with tracking down the very first luminous objects in the cosmos – groupings of the first generation of stars to burst into life.
To do so, James Webb will use its infrared detectors to look deeper into space than Hubble, and further back in time – to a period more than 13 billion years ago.
“The other instruments on James Webb will do massive surveys of the sky, looking for these very rare objects; they will find the candidates,” explained MIRI’s UK principal investigator, Prof. Gillian Wright.
“But MIRI has a very special role because it will be the instrument that looks at these candidates to determine which of them is a true first light object. Only MIRI can give us that confirmation,” she said.
• James Webb’s main mirror has around seven times more collecting area than Hubble’s 2.4m primary mirror
• The sunshield is about 22m by 12m. There will be a 300-degree difference in temperature between the two sides
• James Webb’s instruments must be very cold to ensure their own infrared glow does not swamp the observations
• The mission will launch in 2018 on an Ariane rocket. The observing position will be 1.5 million km from Earth
Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), one of Europe's main contributions to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is built and ready to ship to the US
JWST is a co-operative project between the US (NASA), European (ESA) and Canadian (CSA) space agencies.
Europe is providing two of the telescope’s four instruments and the Ariane rocket to put it in orbit.
MIRI is arguably the most versatile of the four instruments, with a much wider range of detectable wavelengths than its peers (5-28 microns).
Fundamentally, it is a camera system that will produce pictures of the cosmos.
But it also carries a coronagraph to block the light from bright objects so it can see more easily nearby, dimmer targets – such as planets circling their stars. In addition, there is a spectrograph that will slice light into its component colors so scientists can discern something of the chemistry of far-flung phenomena.
MIRI is a complex design, and will operate at minus 266C. This frigid state is required for the instrument’s detectors to sample the faintest of infrared sources. Everything must be done to ensure the telescope’s own heat energy does not swamp the very signal it is pursuing.
The hardware for MIRI has been developed by institutes and companies from across Europe and America.
The job of pulling every item together and assembling the finished system has had its scientific and engineering lead in the UK.
MIRI has just gone through a rigorous mechanical and thermal test campaign at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire.
This included shaking the instrument to simulate the pounding it will receive during the ascent to orbit on the Ariane.
It was also put in a vacuum chamber and subjected to the kind of temperatures it will experience in space.
“It’s been a real privilege to work on MIRI and great to see it finally ship out,” said Paul Eccleston, the engineer at RAL who has overseen the test campaign.
“It will be so exciting when we put it on top of the rocket and light the blue touch paper, so to speak, and watch it go up into space.”
The paperwork signing off the test results has now been accepted by NASA.
The next step is for MIRI to be put in a special environment-controlled shipping box, so it can travel to the US space agency’s Goddard centre. The Maryland facility is where the final integration of James Webb will take place.
MIRI will be fixed inside a cage-like structure called the Integrated Science Instrument Module and positioned just behind the big mirror.
The years to 2018 promise yet more testing.
• James Webb’s instruments will be tuned to light beyond the detection of our eyes – at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths
• It is in the infrared that very distant objects will show up, and also those objects that in the visible range are obscured by dust
• Hubble is a visible light telescope with some near-infrared capability, but its sensitivity will be dwarfed by JWST’s technologies
• Europe’s far-infrared Herschel space telescope has a bigger mirror than Hubble, but JWST’s mirror will be larger still
Recommended 16 years ago as the logical evolution beyond Hubble, the JWST has managed to garner a fair amount of controversy.
Technical difficulties and project mismanagement mean the observatory is now running years behind schedule and is billions of dollars over-budget.
Elements of the US Congress wanted to cancel the telescope last summer. That did not happen, but Capitol Hill now has James Webb on a very short leash, with NASA required to provide monthly updates on milestones met or missed.
Much of the talk around James Webb tends to centre on cost. The current estimate for the US side is $8.8 billion, which covers the full life cycle of the project from its inception to the end of initial operations. Extra to that bill is some $650 million for the European contributions like MIRI and Ariane.
Dr. Eric Smith is NASA’s deputy programme director for James Webb. He believes taxpayers do appreciate the venture.
“When you’re able to show people that James Webb will do things that not even Hubble can do – then they understand it,” he said.
“People recognize how iconic Hubble has been, and how much it has affected their lives.
“The images and scientific results that Hubble has returned have permeated popular culture. Webb pictures will be just as sharp but because the telescope will be looking at a different part of the spectrum, it will show us things that are totally new.”
The next installment of VH1 Divas will feature a tribute to one of the most renown singers: the late Whitney Houston.
The special will be taped in December in Los Angeles and aired at a date to be determined with Whitney Houston’s longtime musical director Rickey Minor handling executive producer duties.
Whitney Houston herself has been a three-time performer on Divas in 1999, 2002, and 2003. Performers for the show have yet to be announced.
“We all felt that if any show could pay tribute to Whitney’s music, it would be <<Divas>>,” VH1 president Tom Calderone said
“December felt like enough time where it wouldn’t be sad anymore, you’d want to celebrate her music.”
Whitney Houston herself has been a three-time performer on Divas in 1999, 2002, and 2003
Last year’s Divas concert paid tribute to soul music, honoring five different cities for their contribution to the genre.
The specials began in 1998 as a way to support the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, having gotten a revamp in 2009.
Bobby Brown will marry his two-year long fiancée Alicia Etheridge in Hawaii on the weekend of June 15th.
Bobby Brown, 43, and his fiancée Alicia Etheridge – who have been engaged for two years and have a son Cassius, who will turn three later this month – will tie the knot in Honolulu on the same weekend he performs on the island with his band.
According to celebrity website TMZ, the New Edition musician will also fly out some of his family and friends to witness the ceremony he has dubbed his “big day”.
It is doubtful whether his estranged daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, – his only child with former wife Whitney Houston – will attend.
Bobby Brown will marry his two-year long fiancée Alicia Etheridge in Hawaii on the weekend of June 15th
Although Bobby Brown has been engaged to Alicia Etheridge for two years, it was recently claimed he and Whitney Houston – who died in a Beverly Hills hotel room in February – had been planning to remarry in an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas with Bobbi Kristina as their only witness.
Author Derrick Handspike – who wrote Bobby Brown’s biography – said: “Bobby told me, <<Whitney and me are getting married again>>.
“They were planning a small wedding, probably in Las Vegas with just the two of them and their daughter Krissi. Bobby told me, <<The world may have thought we were history, but the reality is we were never really apart. We’ve never stopped loving each other>>.
“After his dad’s funeral in Boston in December he flew to Atlanta. For the next week Bobby holed up at Whitney’s home, where they rekindled their romance and their intimate relationship. They slept together in Whitney’s bedroom and talked about what kind of wedding they’d have.”
A number of bodies have been found by rescuers at the wreckage of Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that crashed into mountains in Indonesia on Wednesday.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 vanished from radar screens 50 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a brief demonstration flight.
On Thursday a helicopter found debris on the side of a cliff near a dormant volcano.
“So far we haven’t found any survivors, but we are still searching,” rescue team spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.
About 45 people are said to have been on board the aircraft.
Russian jet crashed into Mount Salak “around 1.5km [one mile] from the spot where the plane last made contact”, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on television earlier in the day.
“An investigation must be carried out immediately and thoroughly. Search and rescue operations must prioritize finding any survivors.”
A number of bodies have been found by rescuers at the wreckage of Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that crashed into mountains in Indonesia on Wednesday
Eight Russian pilots and technicians, Indonesian airline representatives and journalists were among those said to be on board the plane.
Earlier reports had said 50 people were on board, but Indonesian agents of the Russian-made plane said this figure had been revised down because some people got off before take-off.
Aerial searches for the plane on Wednesday were hampered by darkness and strong winds. Fog early on Thursday also delayed search efforts.
The plane took off from east Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma airport at 14:00 (07:00 GMT) on Wednesday, on its second flight of the day.
At 14:50, it was recorded as dropping from 10,000 ft (3,000 m) to 6,000 ft near Salak, a peak measuring 7,200ft (2,200 m).
Rescue teams on the ground were working to reach the site where the debris was spotted, officials said.
Sukhoi officials have been on an Asia-wide tour in recent months to show off their aircraft to airline firms.
The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi’s first commercial aviation plane.
It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with Italy’s Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also involved.
Sukhoi aimed to sell 42 of its planes to Indonesia, which has witnessed a fast-expanding aviation market to cater for a growing middle class in the world’s fourth most populous nation, Reuters adds.
Facebook launches its own app store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network.
Facebook said the App Center will become the “new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something” and other titles.
Developers will have the ability to charge a fee for apps sold in the store in the near future, Facebook said.
The announcement came as Facebook admitted growth in mobile use could hurt future advertising revenue.
Ahead of its initial public offering, Facebook told potential investors in a statement: “If users increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.”
Facebook launches its own app store to promote mobile programs that operate using the social network
The App Center is expected to be rolled out globally in “the coming weeks”, said Facebook’s Aaron Brady in a post on the network’s developer blog.
“All developers should start preparing today to make sure their app is included for the launch,” he wrote.
However, Aaron Brady said the store was not designed to compete head-on with the likes of Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
“The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook – whether they’re on iOS, Android or the mobile web,” he wrote.
“From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play.”
Only apps which make use of Facebook’s log-in system Connect are eligible to be included in the store.
Saverio Romeo, an industry analyst from Frost & Sullivan, said the store announcement suggested an aggressive push by Facebook to become a bigger player in mobile.
He said Facebook needed to become “more significant, to attract more ideas and get more experience in the mobile space”.
“I think the store is an important element – a community of developers is a fundamental element in the growth we have seen with Apple and Android,” Saverio Romeo said.
He also said he believed Facebook could position itself as the first major app store to be platform-agnostic – that is, not tied to a single platform such as iOS or Android.
“The type of applications that the Facebook community can develop can have an incredible open horizon.
“Facebook is ubiquitous – it does not have any preferential routes. The question is the monetisation of all this.”
Olympic flame which will be used for the London 2012 torch relay has been lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece.
The flame was kindled by a “high priestess” who captured the morning sun’s rays in a parabolic mirror.
The ceremony came amid political and economic turmoil in Greece, the home of the Ancient Olympics, where a week-long leg of the relay will be held.
The flame flies to Britain on 18 May for a 70-day relay around the UK.
The lighting ceremony took place in front of the ruins of the Temple of Hera, next to the ancient stadium.
Actresses playing Olympic priestesses danced and men dressed as heralds put on a display symbolizing athletic strength.
“High priestess” Ino Menegaki then lit the flame in the bowl-shaped mirror and used it to light a Greek Olympic torch.
The flame – an Olympic symbol meant to represent purity because it comes from the sun – was then placed in an urn and taken to the stadium where the ancient Olympic Games were staged.
Olympic flame which will be used for the London 2012 torch relay has been lit during a ceremony in Olympia, Greece
LOCOG Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe, International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and Hellenic Olympic Committee president Spyros Capralos were in Olympia for the moment marking the countdown to London 2012.
Lord Sebastian Coe said: “Today is the rallying call to the athletes – the best athletes of their generation – to come to London. That in itself is a big moment because it’s the biggest sporting event in the calendar.”
He told assembled Greek and Olympic dignitaries and a crowd gathered on the slopes of the stadium: “We are reminded this morning of sport’s enduring and universal appeal, and the timeless Olympic values that transcend history and geography; values which, I believe, in these challenging times are more relevant than at any time before and particularly to young people the world over.
“In 1948, shortly after the Second World War, my predecessor stood where I am today and made the first tentative steps in turning the world from war to sport.
“We find ourselves in challenging times again and turn to sport once more to connect the world in a global celebration of achievement and inspiration.”
In the stadium, it lit the London 2012 torch of Liverpool-born Greek world champion 10 km swimmer Spyros Gianniotis, who will carry it on the first leg of the relay around Greece.
He passed it on to Alex Loukos, 19, the first British torchbearer, a boxer and, in 2005, one of a delegation of east London schoolchildren who travelled to Singapore as part of London’s final bid for the Games.
Alex Loukos said: “It feels like I’m coming full circle.
“I went out to Singapore before we even knew that we’d won the Games and now I’m here, sort of kicking it off. It’s a big honor and a privilege and I’m just trying to take it all in.”
The torch is due to travel 2,900 kms (1,800 miles) through the country, carried by 500 torchbearers, on a route circling the country and travelling out to Crete.
Greece has seen huge demonstrations of social unrest in previous months, sparked by financial chaos and efforts to reach a deal with the European Union on a bail-out for the Greek economy.
Talks to try to form a new government have been ongoing after elections on Sunday failed to produce a conclusive result.
Several international companies including BMW have stepped in to help fund the torch’s journey.
The Greek section of the 2012 torch relay ends at the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, on Thursday 17 May, where the flame is handed over to London Olympic Games organizers.
The stadium hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
The last torchbearers in Greece will be Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas and Chinese gymnast Li Ning – who lit the cauldron at the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony.
The 2008 Olympic torch relay, which travelled the globe, was dogged by pro-Tibet, democracy and anti-China protests.
The 2012 flame will travel straight from Greece to the UK on 18 May, flying into the Royal Navy airbase at Culdrose, near Helston in Cornwall.
The UK torch relay begins at Land’s End the following morning when three times Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Ben Ainslie will be the first to carry the torch on British soil.
He wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “It is a privilege for me to be asked but, more than anything, it is an exciting moment for the country.
“The arrival of the torch on home soil really brings home how close the Games are.”
Carried by 8,000 torchbearers, the Barber Osgerby-designed torch will cover 8,000 miles across all of the country’s nations and regions.
It is due to reach the Olympic Stadium in Stratford on 27 July to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.
For the ancient Greeks, fire was a divine element believed to have been stolen from the Gods.
A flame was first lit at the modern Olympics at the Amsterdam 1928 summer games, but it was not until Berlin 1936 that a torch relay route was set out from Greece to Germany.
Prom night was almost a complete washout for a group of students from the Kettle Moraine High School, Wisconsin, when they posed for a picture standing on a pier and ended up in the water.
After a day of styling – including manicures, pedicures and hair appointments – this group of teenagers gathered at the lake house home of one of their parents for the traditional prom night ritual of having their photographs taken.
And as more and more of them squeezed on to a wooden pier to pose for the camera, the wooden panels collapsed – and the party landed in the water.
Prom night was almost a complete washout for a group of students from the Kettle Moraine High School, Wisconsin, when they posed for a picture standing on a pier and ended up in the water
One of the students, Sydney Rogers, told Wisn.com: “One of my friends was screaming and on the verge of tears and the other was laughing.
“We were all trying to squeeze on one part of the pier… and we were trying to get more people on.
“All of a sudden I was standing in the water. We landed on our feet, but it went from posing for a picture to standing in the water, just like that.”
The students had gathered at a friend’s lakehouse in Lac La Belle in Oconomowoc, to have their photographs taken ahead of the big night.
As the teenagers lined up and leaned in closer for the big group shot, their parents looked on with pride. However, their smiles turned to shrieks as the pier collapsed, with some of their parents screaming in horror too.
Luckily, the students saw the funny side and were able to laugh about the mishap afterwards.
And they didn’t let it ruin the prom either: The resourceful teens – and their mothers – whipped out a sewing kit and hairdryers to repair the damage before heading off to enjoy their big night.
President Vladimir Putin has told President Barack Obama that he will not attend the G8 summit in the US later this month.
Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated as President this week after an absence of four years, told US officials he was busy finalizing his cabinet.
Russian president will send the outgoing president, Dmitry Medvedev, who replaces him as prime minister, instead.
The two presidents will now hold talks at the G20 meeting in Mexico in June.
Earlier this week, Washington criticized the Russian police response to anti-Putin rallies in Moscow.
A State Department spokesman said the US was “disturbed” by the “mistreatment” of peaceful protesters.
Organizers said 20,000 people took part in a protest on Sunday against Vladimir Putin’s inauguration, though police put the figure at 8,000.
President Vladimir Putin has told President Barack Obama that he will not attend the G8 summit in the US later this month
In a statement, the White House said President Vladimir Putin “expressed his regret” to President Barack Obama by phone.
The US and Russian leaders will meet during the G20 summit in Mexico in June.
“The two presidents reiterated their interest in the sustained high-level dialogue that has characterized the reset of relations and the substantial progress of the last three years,” the statement said.
The US is hosting the G8 summit of seven of the world’s most industrialized nations, and Russia, at Camp David on 18-19 May.
It was widely expected that Vladimir Putin would use the event to mark his return to the world stage.
It is not clear whether his decision not to attend is a deliberate snub to the US, following criticism of the Russian election process.
It also highlights growing tensions between the two nations over the US missile defense plans in eastern Europe.
President Barack Obama has ended months of hedging on the issue of same-sex marriage by saying he thinks gay couples should be able to wed.
Barack Obama has become the first sitting US president to back gay marriage.
Mitt Romney, the Republican who is set to challenge Barack Obama for the White House in November’s elections, promptly said he was against gay marriage.
In recent days, Vice-President Joe Biden and cabinet member Arne Duncan had expressed support for gay unions.
A Gallup poll on Tuesday suggested that 50% of Americans were in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage – a slightly lower proportion than last year – while 48% said they would oppose such a move.
The interview with ABC News was apparently hastily arranged as Barack Obama came under mounting pressure to clarify his position on the issue.
President Barack Obama has ended months of hedging on the issue of same-sex marriage by saying he thinks gay couples should be able to wed
“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Barack Obama told ABC.
He pointed to his administration’s commitment to increasing rights for gay citizens. He cited the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and said his administration had dropped support for the Defense of Marriage Act.
“I’ve stood on the side of broader equality for the LGBT community. I hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient,” Barack Obama said.
He said he had changed his views after seeing gay members of his own staff who were in “incredibly committed monogamous relationships”, and service personnel who felt constrained by not being able to wed.
Barack Obama also said discussions with his own family had helped the “evolution” of his views on the issue.
“There have been times where Michelle and I have been sitting around the dinner table and… Malia and Sasha, it wouldn’t dawn on them that somehow their friends’ parents would be treated differently,” Barack Obama said.
“It doesn’t make sense to them and frankly, that’s the kind of thing that prompts a change in perspective.”
In 2010, Barack Obama said his views on the issue were “evolving”, a stance that had frustrated gay rights supporters and donors.
His comments aired on Wednesday come a day after North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment effectively banning same-sex marriage or civil unions.
The Obama campaign had opposed that measure, which was passed with 61% in favor and 39% against.
In the US, 31 states have passed constitutional amendments or legislation against same-sex marriage.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney set the stage for an election year clash over the polarizing social issue by saying he was against gay marriage.
The former Massachusetts governor told a Fox News affiliate: “I do not favor marriage between people of the same gender, and I do not favor civil unions if they are identical to marriage other than by name.
“My view is the domestic partnership benefits, hospital visitation rights, and the like are appropriate but that the others are not.”
Celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 84.
A police spokesman said officers went to the stylist’s home on Wednesday morning to confirm the death. He said Vidal Sassoon had died of natural causes.
Vidal Sassoon is regarded as one of the best-known hairdressers of his generation.
He is credited with revolutionizing haircuts in the 1960s, and developed a popular line of hair products under his name.
The creator of the “bob” hairstyle, he is best known for his short, geometric cuts, ending the bouffant styles trendy in the 1950s.
One of his best-known clients was Mary Quant, the famous British fashion designer who popularized the mini-skirt. Mary Quant called Vidal Sassoon the “Chanel of hair”.
Celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon has died at his home in Los Angeles, aged 84
In a tribute, fellow British coiffeur and friend Nicky Clarke said he was “hugely significant – the most iconic of hairdressers”.
Before Vidal Sassoon’s arrival on the scene, he said: “People were in rollers, backcombing their hair. What he bought was a different kind of hairdressing.
“It was all about modernism – in some ways he defined the 60s. He helped to put Britain on the map.”
Nicky Clarke said Vidal Sassoon was a “humble person” who “loved his craft”, and would be greatly missed.
Vidal Sassoon was born to Jewish parents in West London in 1928.
His father left when he was five, and his mother had to put him and his brother into a Jewish orphanage because she could not afford to keep them.
In 1948, at the age of 20, Vidal Sassoon travelled to Israel to fight in the Arab-Israeli War.
On his return to Britain, Vidal Sassoon began working for the famous hairstylist Teasy Weasy Raymond, in Mayfair, before opening his own salon in 1954.
“My idea was to cut shape into the hair, to use it like fabric and take away everything that was superfluous,” Vidal Sassoon said in 1993 in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
“Women were going back to work, they were assuming their own power. They didn’t have time to sit under the dryer anymore.”
Vidal Sassoon also campaigned against anti-Semitism, establishing the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the 1980s.
Vidal Sassoon’s private life attracted as much publicity as his business success. He divorced three times and married his fourth wife in 1992.
A helicopter has spotted what is thought to be wreckage of the Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that disappeared on Wednesday, Indonesian officials say.
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 vanished from radar screens 50 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a brief demonstration flight.
Officials said the helicopter had seen debris on the side of a cliff near a dormant volcano.
About 45 people are said to have been on board the aircraft.
“The aeroplane crashed at the edge of Salak mountain,” Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on television.
“I have spoken directly to our officer in the field, it was found around 1.5 km (one mile) from the spot where the plane last made contact,” he said.
“An investigation must be carried out immediately and thoroughly. Search and rescue operations must prioritize finding any survivors.”
The Sukhoi Superjet 100 vanished from radar screens 50 minutes after taking off from Jakarta for a brief demonstration flight
There was no sign of any passengers but rescuers were preparing to drop a team from a helicopter onto the ridge to search for survivors, a military official said.
Eight Russian pilots and technicians, Indonesian airline representatives and journalists were among those said to be on board the plane.
Earlier reports had said 50 people were on board, but Indonesian agents of the Russian-made plane said this figure had been revised down because some people got off before take-off.
Aerial searches for the plane on Wednesday were hampered by darkness and strong winds. Fog early on Thursday also delayed search effort
The plane took off from east Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma airport at 14:00 (07:00 GMT) on Wednesday, on its second flight of the day.
At 14:50, it was recorded as dropping from 10,000ft (3,000m) to 6,000ft near Salak, a peak measuring 7,200ft (2,200m).
Juanda, a villager who lives near the mountain, told local TV: “I saw a big plane passing just over my house.”
Rescue teams on the ground were working to reach the site where the debris was spotted, officials said.
Sukhoi officials have been on an Asia-wide tour in recent months to show off their aircraft to airline firms.
The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi’s first commercial aviation plane.
It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with Italy’s Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also involved.
Sukhoi aimed to sell 42 of its planes to Indonesia, which has witnessed a fast-expanding aviation market to cater for a growing middle class in the world’s fourth most populous nation, Reuters adds.
Car maker Ferrari has apologized after one of its cars drove on top of an ancient Chinese monument in Nanjing as a publicity stunt.
Ferrari suggested the incident was the fault of a single reckless employee.
The car was filmed wheel-spinning on top of a 600-year-old Ming-dynasty era wall in the city of Nanjing.
Footage of the screeching vehicle has infuriated China’s online community. It has hit a nerve in a society where such cars are a symbol of privilege.
Car maker Ferrari has apologized after one of its cars drove on top of an ancient Chinese monument in Nanjing as a publicity stunt
One web user called it a “rude insult” to Chinese tradition and culture.
The stunt, in the run-up to a Ferrari show, left tire marks on the wall.
But most public anger has been directed at city officials after reports emerged suggesting they had agreed to rent the use of the wall to the Ferrari dealership for about $12,000.
City officials have retorted that the car company did not have approval.
“No enterprise or individual is allowed to use the city ramparts in Nanjing for commercial purposes,” Nanjing Cultural Relics Bureau Captain Wu Jing said.
Other than the tire marks, physical damage to the monument does not appear to be substantial.
As a publicity stunt, the incident could not have gone more wrong.
The night-time spin, shortly after the car had been hoisted on to the wall, reportedly led to the cancellation of the event itself, a celebration of 20 years since Ferrari entered the Chinese car market.
The word Ferrari has now been blocked on Chinese microblogs, perhaps as part of an effort to contain criticism of the actions of government officials.
Last night Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended the launch party for friend Erica Reid’s parenting book The Thriving Child.
Beyoncé, 30, showed off her stunning post-baby body in a form-fitting teal dress, highlighting her tiny waist with a thin belt for the occasion, while husband Jay-Z in a printed T-shirt and denim jacket.
The singer, who welcomed Blue Ivy, her first child with Jay-Z, in January, left her blonde hair down and straight for the event, pairing her outfit with a pair of hoop earrings.
The pair looked more in love than ever at the party, held at a private residence in New York, with Jay-Z smiling as he playfully pinched his wife’s cheeks while the pair posed up for photographers.
Last night Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended the launch party for friend Erica Reid's parenting book The Thriving Child
Beyoncé and Jay-Z were joined at the event by other famous faces including Mary J. Blige, with the two female singers pulling in author Erica Reid for a tight hug at the event.
Erica Reid, the wife of X Factor USA judge L.A. Reid, decided to pen her bestselling book The Thriving Child: Parenting Successfully through Allergies, Asthma and Other Common Challenges after discovering that both her son and daughter suffered from serious allergies and irritations since birth.
Erica Reid, who is mother to 11-year-old daughter Arianna and eight-year-old son Addison, said in a recent interview that she believes in a firm but fair approach to parenting.
She said: “I love my children, I am very sweet to them but I’m also very firm with them, and they don’t get their way with every single thing.
“The world is not always going to present them with a silver spoon and I want them to learn that now rather than having them wake up shell-shocked in 30 years.”
Erica Reid’s manual is sure to come in useful for Beyoncé in the future, as the singer revealed earlier this week that she and Jay-Z are definitely planning to have more children.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “I definitely want to have more. I don’t know how many. God knows, I don’t know yet.”
Rihanna was reportedly rushed to hospital with dehydration after partying at the Met Gala in New York on Monday night.
Rihanna, 24, tweeted a picture of herself attached to an IV drip in a hospital.
The singer was suffering from “exhaustion and dehydration”, according to MediaTakeOut.
However, after a brief stay in the undisclosed medical center, Rihanna was discharged and allowed to fly back to her home in Los Angeles, arriving in California earlier this morning.
After a brief stay in the undisclosed medical center, Rihanna was discharged and allowed to fly back to her home in Los Angeles
It comes just days after she pulled out of a Saturday Night Live rehearsal due to her tiredness.
Rihanna has certainly been burning the candle at both ends in recent months and the new issue of America’s Star magazine claims she is “spiraling out of control”.
“Rihanna loves to party but this past month she’s gotten really out of control,” an insider tells the publication.
“She’s been drinking almost everyday and talking about smoking weed a lot too.”
Rihanna’s wild nights out have included a late visit to a strip club in Queens, New York, on May 2 where she was seen throwing money at female performers.
“Everyone is telling her to slow down and think about therapy, or even rehab,” the source continues.
But Rihanna has always been proud of her Good Girl Gone Bad reputation.
She has said: “I’m crazy and I don’t pretend to be anything else.”
For the first time ever in France, the incoming presidential couple, Francois Hollande and his partner Valerie Trierweiler, are not man and wife and the protocol boffins at the French foreign ministry are straining over an interesting conundrum: what to call the new First Lady?
Francois Hollande and journalist Valerie Trierweiler have been together since 2005; openly so since 2007, when Hollande’s relationship with fellow Socialist Segolene Royal was publicly ended.
Theirs is by all accounts a devoted partnership. Valerie Trierweiler was at Francois Hollande’s side throughout the campaign, with an office at his headquarter.
Valerie Trierweiler gives him regular advice, and is credited with having masterminded his “relooking” – the makeover and weight-loss programme that preceded his presidential candidacy.
Many will have a got a first look at Valerie Trierweiler during the victory celebrations at the Bastille on Sunday night: an attractive woman of 47 with thick chestnut hair, clearly delighted by her partner’s triumph.
Francois Hollande and journalist Valerie Trierweiler have been together since 2005
After the exotic glamour of Carla Bruni – and before her the buttoned-up correctness of Bernadette Chirac – she will offer a very different version of the presidential consort.
Valerie Trierweiler’s origins are not exactly humble, but certainly rather more ordinary than the backgrounds of her predecessors. In her own words, she comes from a family of “impoverished bourgeoisie”.
Her paternal grandfather owned a bank in the western town of Angers, but by the time Valerie Massonneau was born in 1965 the affluence had long since petered out.
Her father lost his leg at the age of 12 while playing with an unexploded shell in World War II. They lived in a council house in Angers, and her mother did part-time work as a cashier at a local skating-rink.
One of six brothers and sisters, Valerie had ambition and came to Paris to study politics. She started in journalism at the now-defunct magazine Profession Politique, and in 1989 was taken on as a political reporter at Paris Match, where she has been ever since.
Funnily enough one of her early assignments was to interview the 38-year-old Segolene Royal, who in 1992 had just given birth to her fourth child with Francois Hollande.
Segolene Royal was environment minister at the time – she was the first ever French minister to give birth in office – and spoke to Valerie Trierweiler in her hospital room.
Valerie Trierweiler briefly met Francois Hollande a few years earlier, but their friendship deepened from 2000 when they met often in the corridors of the National Assembly.
“We both loved politics, and we both loved to have a laugh,” she told one interviewer.
Today Valerie Trierweiler says she has to pinch herself to believe the extraordinary change that suddenly come upon her life.
“It’s a bit like I am the subject of one of my own despatches,” she said.
“You know that film in which a person in the audience enters the screen and becomes part of the film. It’s like that.”
Pestered by questions about how she will approach her new life, Valerie Trierweiler has said she needs time to work it out.
The couple has indicated they do not intend to live in the Elysee palace, but they have been told by the presidential security people that their current residence in the 15th arrondissement of Paris is unsuitable.
As much as possible, Valerie Trierweiler wants to maintain her previous lifestyle. She has three children by her former husband Denis Trierweiler, two of whom are taking the baccalaureate in June.
She also intends to keep on with her journalism – though she has already been obliged to give up writing on politics because of her relationship with Francois Hollande.
“It is going to be very complicated,” said the journalist and writer Philippe Labro, who gave her a job as political interviewer on the TV station Direct8.
“She is someone who has always worked, who’s come from nowhere, who’s done everything for herself. I understand her point of view, but it’s going to be very hard to keep doing that and be First Lady.”
One thing she should understand well, given her background at Paris Match, are the demands of the celebrity press – though a recent contretemps with her own employer suggests there could still be tensions to come.
When the magazine published a large and favorable photo-story about her on 8 March (International Women’s Rights Day), she tweeted: “Bravo to the sexism of Paris-Match.”
As for the protocol, no-one seriously thinks the marital status of Francois Hollande and Valerie Trierweiler presents a problem.
Times have changed – and today being unmarried is as “normal” (Francois Hollande’s watchword) as being married.
There just remains the tricky question of what to call her. Conjoint? Compagne? Maybe. Or conceivably Madame Hollande?
Francois Hollande and Valerie Trierweiler have said they will not get married purely for reasons of protocol.
A study published in the journal BMJ Open suggests that a simple drawing test may help predict the risk of older men dying after a first stroke.
Taken while healthy, the test involves drawing lines between numbers in ascending order as fast as possible.
Men who scored in the bottom third were about three times as likely to die after a stroke compared with those who were in the highest third.
The study looked at 1,000 men between the ages of 67 and 75 over 14 years.
Of the 155 men who had a stroke, 22 died within a month and more than half within an average of two- and-a-half years.
Taken while healthy, the test involves drawing lines between numbers in ascending order as fast as possible
The researchers think that tests are able to pick up hidden damage to brain blood vessels when there are no other obvious signs or symptoms.
Dr. Clare Walton, from the Stroke Association in UK, said: “This is an interesting study because it suggests there may be early changes in the brain that puts someone at a greater risk of having a fatal stroke.
“This is a small study and the causes of poor ability on the drawing task is not known. Although much more research is needed, this task has the potential to screen for those most at risk of a severe or fatal stroke before it occurs so that they can benefit from preventative treatments.”
Dr. Bernice Wiberg, lead author from Uppsala University in Sweden, said: “As the tests are very simple, cheap and easily accessible for clinical use, they could be a valuable tool – alongside traditional methods like measuring blood pressure (and) asking about smoking – for identifying risk of stroke, but also as a possible important predictor of post-stroke mortality.”
She also suggested it could help improve information given to patients and their family.
A new study findings presented at the European Congress on Obesity suggest that older obese men could shift excess weight by taking testosterone supplements.
In a study, hormone-deficient men were given testosterone supplements in a similar way to HRT for older women.
Men lost an average of 16 kg over five years when testosterone levels were increased back to normal.
But experts warn that supplements may not be the answer due to possible risks of prostate cancer and heart disease.
Prof. Richard Sharpe from the University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Health said: “The notion that this is a quick fix for obese older men is, as always, simplistic. It is far more sensible and safer for men to reduce their food intake, reduce their obesity, which will then elevate their own testosterone.”
Men lost an average of 16 kg over five years when testosterone levels were increased back to normal
The findings announced at the conference also suggest that raising testosterone levels could reduce waist circumference and blood pressure.
Dr. Farid Saad, lead author of the study said: “We came across this by accident. These men were being given testosterone for a hormone deficiency – they had a range of problems – erectile dysfunction, fatigue and lack of energy.
“When we analysed the data we found that every year, for five years, they had lost weight. It may be that the increased testosterone restored their energy levels and led to a behavioural change of being more physically active.”
However, experts remain dubious. While some experts have linked low testosterone levels to a male “menopause”, with symptoms including changes in sleeping patterns, poor concentration, feeling worthless and anxiety, others have found to have no such link.
The study looked at 115 obese men aged between 38-83 years with low testosterone levels. They were injected with the hormone every 12 weeks to increase levels. The research, paid for by Bayer Pharma, a manufacturer of testosterone replacement therapy, found no increased risk of prostate cancer, a side-effect found in other studies.
The relationship between obesity and testosterone appears to be a vicious cycle. There are numerous studies showing that obesity, in particular abdominal obesity, is associated with reduced testosterone levels in men and a reduction in muscle.
With ageing, especially beyond 40-50 years, testosterone levels tend to decline slowly, which may predispose to abdominal obesity which will then further lower testosterone levels.
A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 with at least 44 people aboard has gone missing on a demonstration flight in Indonesia.
The plane disappeared from radar screens during a flight from Jakarta meant to last 30 minutes, a blogger with the Sukhoi delegation said.
Helicopters were dispatched to look for the jet, thought to have been flying near a mountain, Sergey Dolya said.
Emergency services confirmed a Sukhoi plane was missing.
The plane, which took off at 07:00 GMT, is believed to have had about four hours’ fuel aboard.
A Russian Sukhoi Superjet 100 with at least 44 people aboard has gone missing on a demonstration flight in Indonesia
Gagah Prakoso, spokesman for Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, said 46 people had been aboard the plane, which vanished from radar near Bogor, a city in West Java province.
He said it was unclear who was on board because they were people invited by Sukhoi, but they were “likely to be reps of Indonesian airlines”.
Sergey Dolya tweeted that there were 44 people aboard, eight of them Russians.
The plane took off from east Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma airport, which is used for some commercial and military flights, at 14:00 (07:00 GMT), the Indonesian search and rescue agency spokesman said.
“At 14:50 it dropped from 10,000ft [3,000m] to 6,000ft,” the agency told AFP.
Herry Bakti, head of the transport ministry’s aviation division, said the aircraft had been on the second of two demonstration flights, and those on board were invited guests.
The Russian embassy in Jakarta said in a statement earlier this week that a Sukhoi Superjet 100 demonstration would take place in Jakarta on Wednesday, AFP added.
The embassy could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi’s first commercial aviation plane.
It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with Italy’s Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also involved.
Gagah Prakoso said Sukhoi had been offering the Superjet to Indonesian airlines.
Actor John Travolta faces new allegations of sexual assault after a second male masseur joined the $2 million legal action against him.
In amended court documents filed on Tuesday, the unidentified man claimed John Travolta, 58, tried to initiate sex at a hotel in Atlanta on 28 January.
The new accusation follows allegations that he sexually assaulted a masseur at the Beverly Hills Hotel on 16 January.
Actor John Travolta faces new allegations of sexual assault after a second male masseur joined the $2 million legal action against him
John Travolta’s lawyer called the new claim “just as ridiculous as the first one”.
“Our client will be fully vindicated in court on both of these absurd and fictional claims,” said attorney Martin Singer.
The second man, a resident of Georgia, was referred to in court documents as John Doe No. 2. He claimed that John Travolta rubbed his legs, touched his genitals and tried to initiate sex during a private appointment.
His claims echoed those of the first masseur, referred to as John Doe, who accused John Travolta of exposing himself and groping him.
Both legal actions were filed by Okorie Okorocha, a lawyer based in Pasadena just outside Los Angeles, and have been dismissed as “fabricated” by John Travolta’s legal representatives.
Best known for his roles in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, John Travolta has been married to Kelly Preston since 1991.
