Walking could play an important role in fighting depression, according to researchers in Scotland.
Vigorous exercise has already been shown to alleviate symptoms of depression, but the effect of less strenuous activities was unclear.
A study in the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity showed walking had a “large effect” on depression.
One in 10 people may have depression at some point in their lives.
The condition can be treated with drugs, but exercise is commonly prescribed by doctors for mild symptoms.
Researchers at the University of Stirling scoured academic studies to find data on one of the mildest forms of exercise – walking.
They found eight studies, on a total of 341 patients, which fitted the bill.
The report’s authors showed “walking was an effective intervention for depression” and had an effect similar to other more vigorous forms of exercise.
Walking could play an important role in fighting depression, according to researchers in Scotland
They said: “Walking has the advantages of being easily undertaken by most people, incurring little or no financial cost and being relatively easy to incorporate into daily living.”
However, they cautioned that much more research needed to be done. There are still questions over how long, how fast and whether walking should take place indoors or outdoors.
Prof. Adrian Taylor, who studies the effects of exercise on depression, addiction and stress at the University of Exeter, said: “The beauty of walking is that everybody does it.”
He added: “There are benefits for a mental-health condition like depression.”
How any form of exercise helps with depression is unclear. Prof. Adrian Taylor said there were ideas about exercise being a distraction from worries, giving a sense of control and releasing “feel-good” hormones.
The mental-health charity Mind said its own research found that spending time outdoors helped people’s mental health.
Its chief executive, Paul Farmer, said: “To get the most from outdoor activities it’s important to find a type of exercise you love and can stick at. Try different things, be it walking, cycling, gardening or even open-water swimming.
“Exercising with others can have even greater impact, as it provides an opportunity to strengthen social networks, talk through problems with others or simply laugh and enjoy a break from family and work. So ask a friend to join you.”
Ten candidates from the Egyptian presidential poll, including former spy chief Omar Suleiman and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Khairat al-Shater, have been barred by election officials.
Ultra orthodox Salafi Sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail has also been banned.
No reason was given by officials, who said the banned candidates had 48 hours to appeal. Thirteen candidates remain.
Elections are due to be held in May, more than a year after Hosni Mubarak was overthrown by popular protests.
The decision by Omar Suleiman to stand for the presidency sparked major protests in Cairo on Friday
Egypt is still governed by a military council, although parliamentary elections have taken place in the meantime. The Brotherhood-backed Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) became the largest party in parliament.
The decision by Omar Suleiman to stand for the presidency sparked major protests in Cairo on Friday.
The news that he and nine other candidates were being excluded was announced by Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission. Officials said the 10 did not meet the conditions for candidacy, but no further explanation was given.
UCLA scientists have found that human stem cells can be genetically engineered into “warrior” cells that fight HIV and the new cells can attack HIV-infected cells inside a living creature.
The breakthrough discovery is hoped to be the first step towards a treatment that can eradicate HIV from an infected patient.
Much HIV research focuses on vaccines or drugs that slow the virus’s progress – but this new technique could offer hope of a “cure”.
The study, published April 12 in the journal PLoS Pathogens, demonstrates for the first time that engineering stem cells to form immune cells that target HIV is effective in suppressing the virus in living tissues.
“We believe that this study lays the groundwork for the potential use of this type of an approach in combating HIV infection in infected individuals, in hopes of eradicating the virus from the body,” said lead researcher Scott G. Kitchen.
The scientists took CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes – the “killer” T cells that help fight infection – from an HIV-infected individual and identified the molecule which guides the T cell in recognizing and killing HIV-infected cells.
Human stem cells can be genetically engineered into “warrior” cells that fight HIV and can attack HIV-infected cells inside a tissue
However, these T cells, while able to destroy HIV-infected cells, do not exist in great enough quantities to clear the virus from the body.
So the researchers cloned the receptor and used this to genetically engineer human blood stem cells. They then placed the engineered stem cells into human thymus tissue that had been implanted in mice, allowing them to study the reaction in a living organism.
The engineered stem cells developed into a large population of mature, multi-functional HIV-specific cells that could specifically target cells containing HIV proteins.
The researchers also discovered that HIV-specific T cell receptors have to be matched to an individual in much the same way an organ is matched to a transplant patient.
In this current study, the researchers similarly engineered human blood stem cells and found that they can form mature T cells that can attack HIV in tissues where the virus resides and replicates.
They did so by using a surrogate model, the humanized mouse, in which HIV infection closely resembles the disease and its progression in humans.
In a series of tests on the mice’s peripheral blood, plasma and organs conducted two weeks and six weeks after introducing the engineered cells, the researchers found that the number of CD4 “helper” T cells – which become depleted as a result of HIV infection – increased, while levels of HIV in the blood decreased.
“We believe that this is the first step in developing a more aggressive approach in correcting the defects in the human T cell responses that allow HIV to persist in infected people,” Scott G. Kitchen said.
Dutch scientists think they may have seen evidence for Majorana fermion, the famously elusive quarry in particle physics.
The Majorana fermion was first predicted 75 years ago – a particle that could be its own anti-particle.
Now Dutch researchers, who have devised some exotic and minute circuitry to test for the Majorana’s existence, believe their results show the fermion to be real.
The team has reported the details of its experiments in Science magazine.
“It opens up some very interesting ideas,” said Leo Kouwenhoven from the Delft University of Technology.
Majoranas should behave quite differently from more familiar matter particles, such as electrons.
When these confront their opposites – positrons – they annihilate each other in a flash of gamma rays.
The idea that a particle existed that might be equal to its anti-particle was put forward by Italian Ettore Majorana, a brilliant theorist who mysteriously went missing after withdrawing all his money to go on a boat journey in 1938.
Many have tried to prove his fermion’s existence, with a lot of the recent interest pursued not in giant accelerators, which have traditionally hunted new particles, but rather in incredibly small electronic devices where lengths are measured on the order of just billionths of a metre (nanometres).
Dutch scientists think they may have seen evidence for Majorana fermion
Prof. Leo Kouwenhoven’s group fabricated just such a device with the help of colleagues from the Eindhoven University of Technology.
It comprised a phenomenally thin wire in contact with a semiconductor and a superconductor.
When a magnetic field was applied along the length of this “nanowire”, electrons in it were restricted to a certain set of energies. But the set-up created a specific gap in energy in which electrons could gather together, acting in synchrony as a Majorana particle.
The team applied a voltage to the wire, measuring the degree to which the wire conducted electricity at several points along its length.
The scientists say they saw two distinct dips in this conductance, one at either end of the wire. This is where they believe the Majorana particles were hiding.
“If you take a solid material and you make the right combinations, the natural particles living in these condensed matter structures, will also obey this defining property of Majorana fermions – that a particle is equal its anti-particle,” Prof. Leo Kouwenhoven said.
“The system is still built out of atoms, with nuclei and electrons, but the electrons behave together in such a way that their collective state is a Majorana fermion.”
Other groups working in this field of solid state physics are thought to be close to making similar announcements.
Probing the novel properties of Majorana particles could allow scientists to understand better the mysterious realm of quantum mechanics, which explains the behavior of matter and its interactions with energy on the very smallest scales.
Those properties are also expected to make the fermions ideally suited to be the stable “bits” of information in the long-talked-about quantum computer, a theoretical device that would make use of quirky quantum effects to perform computation at incredible speeds.
And it has even been suggested that the “missing mass” in the Universe – the matter we cannot detect directly but which we know to exist because of its gravitational influence on everything we can see – is made up in some part by Majorana particles.
Ryan O’Neal has revealed he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer after he already survived one serious health scare, leukemia.
Ryan O’Neal, 70, also said his doctors have told him he has a good chance of making a full recovery.
The Love Story star said: “Recently I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer.
“Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery.
“I am deeply grateful for the support of my friends and family during this time, and I urge everyone to get regular check-ups, as early detection is the best defense against this horrible disease that has afflicted so many.”
Ryan O'Neal has revealed he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer
Recommended treatment for localized stage four prostate cancer involves a combination of radiation therapy and hormone therapy.
The latter removes the male hormones necessary for prostate cancer to grow.
However, if it has spread to distant organs and bones it is treatable, but not curable with current standard therapies
Ryan O’Neal was treated in the late 1990s for myelogenous leukemia, which causes the bone marrow to produce too many white blood cells.
His latest diagnosis comes three years after he lost his longtime love Farrah Fawcett, who he had an on-off relationship with from 1979 until her death in 2009.
Farrah Fawcett died at age 62 of anal cancer.
Ryan O’Neal has written a memoir about his life with Farrah Fawcett called Both of Us coming out next month.
They had one child together, much troubled Redmond O’Neal, while he has three other children, including his actress daughter Tatum.
Ryan O’Neal recently starred in the flop reality show Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals with his daughter, which aired on the little-watched OWN Network.
Few days after Marc Anthony filed for divorce from estranged wife Jennifer Lopez, there are reports that he really didn’t want to split up with her after all.
Marc Anthony was apparently hoping for reconciliation, but he filed for divorce after JLo turned him down.
According to TMZ, instead of fighting for her marriage, Jennifer Lopez, 42, decided to pursue her feelings for much younger boyfriend, Casper Smart.
Sources close to Marc Anthony have revealed that he had heart-to-heart talk with JLo a few weeks ago.
But JLo revealed that she is in love with Casper Smart and wanted to end the marriage.
Marc Anthony apparently had no idea that her relationship with Casper Smart had gotten so serious and was “blindsided” by the news, the website reports.
Marc Anthony was apparently hoping for reconciliation, but he filed for divorce after JLo turned him down
This paved the way to his divorce filing on Monday, almost a year after the couple announced they were separating last July.
Marc Anthony, 43, cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for divorce, which he filed under his real name Marco Muniz.
The papers were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The vocalist is asking for joint custody of the couple’s 4-year-old twins, Emme and Max.
And the multimillionaire does not want to provide his even richer wife with spousal support, in the unlikely case she asks for it.
He is also requesting each side pays their own legal fees.
When Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez split, they had been married for seven years, having tied the knot in 2004.
It is unclear why it took so long for either Marc Anthony, who is now dating Venezuelan model Shannon de Lima, or Jennifer Lopez, who is very much an item with her lover Casper Smart, 25, to file for divorce.
This will be JLo’s third divorce, following her marriages to dancer Cris Judd and Ojani Noa, and Marc Anthony’s second.
Marc Anthony divorced former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres in 2004, whom he has two sons, Cristian Marcus Muñiz, 11, and Ryan Adrian Muñiz, nine, with.
Italian midfielder Piermario Morosini has died following a suspected heart attack on the pitch in Pescara, football officials say.
Ex-Italy under-21 footballer was playing for Livorno in the Serie B match at Pescara when he fell to the ground in the 31st minute.
A defibrillator was used and Piermario Morosini, 25, was taken to hospital. The game was halted with other players in tears.
All league games in Italy this weekend have been called off following Piermario Morosini’s death.
Italian midfielder Piermario Morosini has died following a suspected heart attack on the pitch in Pescara
Piermario Morosini had been on loan to Livorno from the Serie A club Udinese.
He collapsed face down and appeared to be in convulsion. The referee’s assistant drew the referee’s attention and he stopped the game.
The footballer was taken to Pescara’s Santo Spirito hospital by ambulance, but he could not be revived.
Last month Bolton’s Fabrice Muamba was technically “dead” for 78 minutes after collapsing in an FA Cup tie.
The 24-year-old England player is now making “strong and steady improvements”.
Following Fabrice Muamba’s collapse, attention had been drawn to the situation for athletes in Italy, which has mandatory cardiac screening for all young people engaged in organized sport.
The charity Cardiac Risk in the Young says that the Italian measures have reduced the incidence of young sudden cardiac death in Italy by 90% in the 30 years since the screening was introduced.
King Juan Carlos of Spain has undergone hip replacement surgery following a fall on a private trip to Botswana, the Royal Palace has said.
King Juan Carlos, 74, suffered a triple fracture of the hip, which the palace said was “linked to arthritis”.
This is the fourth operation the king has undergone in the past two years.
Earlier this week, the king’s 13-year-old grandson was treated in hospital after shooting himself in the foot.
King Juan Carlos underwent surgery on Saturday morning at the San Jose Hospital in Madrid, under the supervision of Dr. Angel Villamorthe.
King Juan Carlos of Spain has undergone hip replacement surgery following a fall on a private trip to Botswana
The palace said: “Juan Carlos had suffered a fracture of his right hip in three pieces, linked to arthritis. A reconstruction of the parts of the fracture was carried out and a hip implant was installed.”
It said the fall in Botswana was “accidental” but gave no further details.
But the Spanish daily El Pais said the king was hunting elephants at the time.
In three other operations since May 2010, King Juan Carlos has had a benign lung tumor removed, a torn Achilles repaired and was given an artificial right knee joint.
Last November the king wore sunglasses to hide an injury sustained when he was “hit by a doorknob”.
Earlier this week the king’s grandson, Felipe Juan Froilan, accidentally shot himself in the foot while carrying out target practice outside a family home north of Madrid.
According to a controversial study, the real reason women pursue careers is because they fear they are too unattractive to get married.
The research team, made up of three women and two men, said that when men are thin on the ground, “women are more likely to choose briefcase over baby”.
And the plainer a woman is, they claim, the more she is driven to succeed in the workplace.
Central to their argument was the idea that women have evolved to become homemakers and men, providers.
They said this means that when men are scarce in a particular area, women, and particularly less attractive ladies, may decide they need to provide for themselves with a well-paid career.
The researchers carried out several experiments to come up with their startling argument.
The first looked at the number of eligible men in an area, which they called the “operational sex ratio”.
According to the controversial study, the real reason women pursue careers is because they fear they are too unattractive to get married
After collecting data from across the U.S., the researchers found that as the number of eligible men in a state decreased, the proportion of women in highly paid careers rose.
In addition, the women who became mothers in those states did so at an older age and had fewer children.
To prove that a lack of men was behind the trend, the researchers then carried out practical experiments.
These involved showing women newspaper articles or photos that gave different impressions of the sex ratio in an area and then quizzing them about which was more important – work or family. When they were led to believe that men were scarce, they were more likely to prioritize career over family.
However, when questioned, the women didn’t believe the shortage of men would lead to more job openings for women. Instead they thought there would be more competition to find a husband.
The final experiment tested the researchers’ suspicion that less attractive women would be more interested in careers because they might find it difficult to secure a partner.
The 87 young women were given mocked-up newspaper articles describing the sex ratio in nearby university campuses and were asked about their views on family and career.
They were also asked how attractive they believed themselves to be to men.
Those women who saw themselves as being less desirable than average were highly likely to be career-orientated.
Researcher Kristina Durante, from the University of Texas at San Antonio, said: “Does the ratio of men to women in a local population influence women’s career aspirations? Real-world archival data and a series of laboratory experiments suggest that the answer is yes.”
The study, which was carried out by U.S. and Dutch researchers, is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Iran and P5+1 are meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, for talks aimed at ending the deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Envoys from the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany hope the talks will halt rising regional tension.
Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful, but critics suspect it of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel has hinted in recent months that it could carry out a pre-emptive strike on Iran to prevent that happening.
The talks are the first to be held between Iran and the world’s major powers for 15 months.
The envoys are setting the bar pretty low – they do not expect detailed, substantive proposals from either side.
What they want to see is whether Iran is ready to seriously engage and, if that happens, there may be another round of talks in four to six weeks time.
Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said the Istanbul talks had started in a “positive atmosphere”, adding: “There is a desire for substantive progress.”
The six world powers, known collectively as the P5+1, hope the talks will at least cool tensions.
Iran and P5+1 are meeting in Istanbul for talks aimed at ending the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme
Russia said they had to be “constructive”, and warned both sides not to “overblow the differences” between them.
“We really need to find a middle course,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
“The negotiations are about renewing confidence.”
US President Barack Obama has described this as a “last chance” for diplomacy to work, while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran had to “demonstrate clearly in the actions they propose that they have truly abandoned any nuclear weapons ambition”.
But one source close to the Iranian delegation told Agence France-Presse: “So far the Iranian delegation finds the Western position … disappointing and discouraging.”
On Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was “standing firm on its fundamental rights and under the harshest pressure will not retreat an iota from its undeniable right”.
The P5+1 group hopes eventually to persuade Iran to reduce its enrichment of uranium and fully open up its nuclear facilities to inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
There are suggestions that the stringent sanctions on Iran could be reduced if it complies with the requests.
The last series of international talks broke down in January 2011 after the parties failed to agree on any issues.
Since then, the IAEA expressed concern that Iran had failed to co-operate with its inspectors and had carried out activities “relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.
Israel, which believes a nuclear-capable Iran would be a direct threat to its security, has warned that time is running out to prevent that outcome.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he would never allow Israelis to “live in the shadow of annihilation”, and hinted his country is ready to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if diplomacy does not work soon.
President Barack Obama has warned against “loose talk of war”, while stressing that all options remain open.
Saroo Brierley, an Indian boy who lost his mother in 1986, has found her 25 years later from his new home in Tasmania – using satellite images from Google Earth.
Saroo was only five years old when he got lost. He was travelling with his older brother, working as a sweeper on India’s trains.
“It was late at night. We got off the train, and I was so tired that I just took a seat at a train station, and I ended up falling asleep.”
That fateful nap would determine the rest of his life.
“I thought my brother would come back and wake me up but when I awoke he was nowhere to be seen. I saw a train in front of me and thought he must be on that train. So I decided to get on it and hoped that I would meet my brother.”
Saroo did not meet his brother on the train. Instead, he fell asleep and had a shock when he woke up 14 hours later. Though he did not realize it at first, he had arrived in Calcutta, India’s third biggest city and notorious for its slums.
“I was absolutely scared. I didn’t know where I was. I just started to look for people and ask them questions.”
Soon he was sleeping rough. “It was a very scary place to be. I don’t think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and trains stations of Calcutta.”
The little boy learned to fend for himself. He became a beggar, one of the many children begging on the streets of the city.
“I had to be quite careful. You could not trust anyone.”
Saroo was only five years old when he got lost in 1986
Once he was approached by a man who promised him food and shelter and a way back home. But Saroo was suspicious. “Ultimately I think he was going to do something not nice to me, so I ran away.”
But in the end, he did get off the streets. He was taken in by an orphanage, which put him up for adoption. He was adopted by the Brierleys, a couple from Tasmania.
“I accepted that I was lost and that I could not find my way back home, so I thought it was great that I was going to Australia.”
Saroo settled down well in his new home. But as he got older the desire to find his birth family became increasingly strong. The problem was that as an illiterate 5-year-old he had not known the name of the town he had come from. All he had to go on were his vivid memories. So he began using Google Earth to search for where he might have been born.
“It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask, <<Does this match?>> And when you say, <<No>>, you keep on going and going and going.”
Eventually Saroo hit on a more effective strategy. “I multiplied the time I was on the train, about 14 hours, with the speed of Indian trains and I came up with a rough distance, about 1,200km.”
He drew a circle on a map with its centre in Calcutta, with its radius about the distance he thought he had travelled. Incredibly, he soon discovered what he was looking for: Khandwa.
“When I found it, I zoomed down and bang, it just came up. I navigated it all the way from the waterfall where I used to play.”
Soon he made his way to Khandwa, the town he had discovered online. He found his way around the town with his childhood memories. Eventually he found his own home in the neighborhood of Ganesh Talai. But it was not what he had hoped for.
“When I got to the door I saw a lock on it. It look old and battered, as if no-one had lived there for quite a long time.”
Saroo had a photograph of himself as a child and he still remembered the names of his family. A neighbor said that his family had moved.
“Another person came and then a third person turned up, and that is when I struck gold. He said, <<Just wait here for a second and I shall be back>>. And when he did come back after a couple of minutes he said, <<Now I will be taking you to your mother>>.”
“I just felt numb and thought, <<Am I hearing what I think I am hearing?>>”
Saroo was taken to meet his mother who was nearby. At first he did not recognize her.
“The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had forgotten that age would get the better of her. But the facial structure was still there and I recognized her and I said, <<Yes, you are my mother>>.
“She grabbed my hand and took me to her house. She could not say anything to me. I think she was as numb as I was. She had a bit of trouble grasping that her son, after 25 years, had just reappeared like a ghost.”
Saroo Brierley has found his mother 25 years later using satellite images from Google Earth
Although she had long feared he was dead, a fortune teller had told Saroo’s mother that one day she would see her son again.
“I think the fortune teller gave her a bit of energy to live on and to wait for that day to come.”
And what of the brother with whom Saroo had originally gone travelling? Unfortunately, the news was not good.
“A month after I had disappeared, my brother was found in two pieces on a railway track.” His mother had never known whether foul play was involved or whether the boy had simply slipped and fallen under a train.
“We were extremely close and when I walked out of India the tearing thing for me was knowing that my older brother had passed away.”
For years Saroo Brierley went to sleep wishing he could see his mother again and his birth family. Now that he has, he feels incredibly grateful. He has kept in touch with his newly found family.
“It has taken the weight off my shoulders. I sleep a lot better now.”
And there is something to make him sleep better – with memories of Slumdog Millionaire still fresh, publishers and film producers are getting interested in his incredible story.
Scientists have discovered that nearly twice as many emperor penguins inhabit Antarctica as was previously thought.
UK, US and Australian scientists used satellite technology to trace and count the iconic birds, finding them to number almost 600,000.
Their census technique relies in the first instance on locating individual colonies, which is done by looking for big brown patches of guano (penguin poo) on the white ice.
High resolution imagery is then used to work out the number of birds present.
It is expected that the satellite mapping approach will provide the means to monitor the long-term health of the emperor population.
Climate modeling has suggested their numbers could fall in the decades ahead if warming around Antarctica erodes the sea ice on which the animals nest and launch their forays for seafood.
“If we want to understand whether emperor penguins are endangered by climate change, we have to know first how many birds there are currently and have a methodology to monitor them year on year,” said Peter Fretwell from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
“This study gives us that baseline population, which is quite surprising because it’s twice as many as we thought, but it also gives us the ability to follow their progress to see if that population is changing over time,” he said.
Scientists have discovered that nearly twice as many emperor penguins inhabit Antarctica as was previously thought
The scientists have reported their work in the journal PLoS One.
Their survey identified 44 key penguin colonies on the White Continent, including seven that had not previously been recognized.
Although finding a great splurge of penguin poo on the ice is a fairly straightforward – if laborious – process, counting individual birds in a group huddle is not, even in the highest resolution satellite pictures.
This means the team therefore had to calibrate their analysis of the colonies by using ground counts and aerial ph
Peter Fretwell and colleagues totted 595,000 penguins, which is almost double the previous estimates of 270,000-350,000 emperors. The count is thought to be the first comprehensive census of a species taken from space.
Co-author Michelle LaRue from the University of Minnesota said the monitoring method provided “an enormous step forward in Antarctic ecology”.
“We can conduct research safely and efficiently with little environmental impact,” she explained.
“The implications for this study are far-reaching. We now have a cost-effective way to apply our methods to other poorly understood species in the Antarctic.”
The extent of sea ice in the Antarctic has been relatively stable in recent years (unlike in the Arctic), although this picture hides some fairly large regional variations.
Nonetheless, computer modeling suggests a warming of the climate around Antarctica could result in the loss of more northern ice floes later this century.
If that happens, it might present problems for some emperor colonies if the seasonal ice starts to break up before fledglings have had a chance to acquire their full adult, waterproof plumage.
And given that the krill (tiny crustaceans) that penguins feed on are also dependent on the ice for their own existence (they feed on algae on the ice) – some colonies affected by eroded floes could face a double-whammy of high fledgling mortality and restricted food resources. But this can all now be tested by the methodology outlined in the PLoS paper.
“The emperor penguin has evolved into a very narrow ecological niche; it’s an animal that breeds in the coldest environment in the world,” explained Peter Fretwell.
“It currently has an advantage in that environment because there are no predators and no competition for its food.
“If Antarctica warms so that predators and competitors can move in, then their ecological niche no longer exists; and that spells bad news for the emperor penguin.”
A dozen of Secret Service agents providing security for President Barack Obama at an international summit in Colombia have been sent home following allegations of misconduct.
The agency did not give details, but reports suggest the accusations involve prostitution in Cartagena, which is hosting the Summit of the Americas, and at least one agent was found to be cavorting with prostitutes.
Agency spokesman Edwin Donovan told said the agents had been replaced and Barack Obama’s security would not be affected.
Barack Obama arrived in Colombia on Friday to attend the summit.
In a statement, Edwin Donovan said the agency took allegations of misconduct “very seriously” and said an investigation had been launched.
“There have been allegations of misconduct made against Secret Service personnel in Cartagena, Colombia prior to the President’s trip,” he said.
“Because of this, those personnel are being relieved of their assignments, returned to their place of duty, and are being replaced by other Secret Service personnel.”
A dozen of Secret Service agents providing security for Barack Obama in Colombia have been recalled following allegations of misconduct
According to The Washington Post, 12 agents were recalled, and at least one was suspected of involvement with prostitutes.
More than 30 leaders are in the Colombian port city for the summit, which will see talks on economic policy and trade.
Even before the incident with the agents, the summit seemed likely to be an awkward one for the US government, with debates on the legalization of drugs and sanctions against Cuba promised.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa is boycotting the summit because of Cuba’s exclusion, and the attendance of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in doubt.
Earlier, Colombian police said two small explosions took place in Cartagena, but caused no casualties or damage.
Those explosions followed at least one other blast in Bogota near the US embassy, officials said.
According to new reports, Bee Gees star Robin Gibb is lying in a coma and doctors fear he only has days to live.
Robin Gibb’s family was keeping a bedside vigil, praying for the 62-year-old’s survival.
The Bee Gees star appeared to have made a recovery from liver and colon cancer this year, but doctors believe a second tumor may be present, reported The Sun.
He has also developed pneumonia.
Robin Gibb’s wife, Dwina, brother Barry, 65, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 39, and Robin-John, 29, were at his bedside at a private hospital in Chelsea, West London.
A family friend told The Sun: “Our prayers are with Robin. He has kept so positive and always believed he could beat this.
“Sadly, it looks like he has developed pneumonia, which is very bad in his situation.
“If there is anyone you would put money on pulling through such a dire situation, it would be Robin because he is a fighter. But this is a battle he will struggle to win.”
Bee Gee star Robin Gibb is lying in a coma and doctors fear he only has days to live
Robin Gibb revealed his battle with cancer in October 2010.
He had emergency surgery to treat a blocked bowel, before a further operation to treat a twisted bowel. Colon cancer was then discovered and it spread to his liver.
Robin Gibb’s twin brother Maurice died of complications resulting from a twisted intestine in 2003, aged 53.
Robin Gibb famously appeared on the Alan Titchmarsh Show looking pale and gaunt and has cancelled a handful of appearance over the past two years because of his health.
Barry Gibb earlier this week jetted into the UK from Tennessee in the U.S. to join other members of the family.
His brother’s arrival this week comes after his nephew – Robin Gibb’s son – RJ described the overwhelming moment the family learned that the Bee Gees star was in remission from cancer.
RJ, 29, full name Robin-John, revealed that he was sitting next to his famous father in his hospital bed when the doctor told them the happy news.
“I leant over the bed and I kissed him on the forehead and just said, <<I love you>>,” RJ told the Mirror.
“Then we sat together for ages, just taking it all in and being together without saying anything.
“It was the best news we could have hoped for. It was the most beautiful feeling and instantly life was so much better.”
However, this isn’t the first time that Robin Gibb’s family and fans have been left worried as the singer also re-entered hospital back in February.
Robin Gibb was admitted into a London clinic as part of his treatment and rehabilitation.
At the time a family source told The Sun: “We feared the worst. But doctors have said they are astounded at his response to treatment.”
But it was only a matter of weeks before this that Robin Gibb insisted he had made a “spectacular” recovery.
Robin Gibb, left, and his late twin brother Maurice, right, and older brother Barry
Speaking to BBC Radio 2 host Steve Wright, the artist revealed that he felt better than he had done for a decade.
“The prognosis is that it’s almost gone and I feel fantastic and really from now on it’s just what they could describe as a <<mopping-up>> operation,” he said.
“I am very active and my sense of well-being is good.”
Robin Gibb also suggested that reports about his health had been conjecture, adding: “I mean the fact is, I’ve never spoken to anybody about my condition or the condition that I was in and a lot of them go over the top to the point where they’re telling me things that I didn’t even know about myself.”
And despite being admitted to hospital last week for further intestinal surgery, the singer had been given the all clear.
A statement released on the singer’s behalf said: “On Sunday 25 March, Robin Gibb underwent further intestinal surgery.
“He is currently recovering in hospital and therefore, for the time being, all existing commitments prior to the Titanic Requiem concert, have had to be cancelled.”
Robin Gibb and RJ had composed the music for the Royal Philharmonic performance at Westminster Central Hall next week.
In February he had talked about feeling “fantastic” following his treatment and said he had begun to put on weight after looking increasingly gaunt.
At first his illness was thought to have been due to the hereditary intestinal condition which led to the death of his twin brother.
Speaking about his cancer, last month he said: “The prognosis is that it’s almost gone and I feel fantastic and really from now on it’s just what they could describe as a <<mopping-up>> operation.”
In an interview earlier this month, Robin Gibb pondered whether his illness is “karma” for the fame and fortune he has enjoyed.
“I sometimes wonder if all the tragedies my family has suffered, like Andy and Maurice dying so young and everything that’s happened to me recently, is a kind of karmic price we are paying for all the fame and fortune we’ve had.
“But we’ve worked hard for everything we’ve achieved.”
A representative for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt – whose engagement was confirmed yesterday – revealed the Brangelina brood is “very happy” as their famous parents are set to wed.
Angelina Jolie, 36, recently revealed in an interview how their kids often asked why there were not married “like Shrek and Fiona”.
With the news, the couple’s seven-year commitment will be all the more clear for their youngsters to see.
Robert Procop, a private jeweller for the couple, revealed earlier today that he designed an engagement ring for Angelina Jolie under Brad Pitt’s guidance.
And Brad Pitt’s spokeswoman Cynthia Pett-Dante later confirmed the news, saying: “It is a promise for the future and their kids are very happy. There’s no date set at this time.”
Angelina Jolie was spotted wearing the ring on her wedding finger at the Chinese Art collection at the LA County Museum earlier this month, where she was pictured with Brad Pitt, 48, and their son Pax, eight.
A representative for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt confirmed they are set to wed
A spokesperson for the jeweller announced the news to the world, saying: “I can confirm that, yes, Robert Procop did indeed design an engagement ring for Angelina Jolie, designed in collaboration with Brad Pitt.”
Robert Procop said: “Brad had a specific vision for this ring, which he realized over a yearlong collaboration. He wanted every aspect of it to be perfect, so I was able to locate a diamond of the finest quality and cut it to an exact custom size and shape to suite Angelina’s hand.”
He continued: “Brad was always heavily involved, overseeing every aspect of the creative design evolution.
“The side diamonds are specially cut to encircle her finger. Each diamond is of the highest gem quality.”
Experts estimate the ring cost around $250,000.
Angelina Jolie’s father Jon Voight was among the first to publicly congratulate the pair, telling Us Weekly: “I’m very happy for them.”
Angelina Jolie has been married twice before – to British actor Jonny Lee Miller between 1996 and 1999 and then Billy Bob Thornton, from 2000 to 2003.
Brad Pitt’s marriage to Jennifer Aniston lasted five years before they announced they were divorcing in early 2005 – which came after he had met Angelina on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Brangelina – as they became known – quickly became a Hollywood power couple, with a brood of six children; five-year-old Shiloh and twins Knox and Vivienne, aged three, along with three adopted children Maddox, 10, Pax, eight, and Zahara, seven.
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt once insisted they wouldn’t wed until the legalization of same-sex marriage in America.
Scientists have concluded that is 99% certain there is life on Mars after a mathematical analysis of the Red Planet soil samples taken by Viking 1 probe on July 1976.
Viking 1 did find evidence of extraterrestrial microbes in soil samples from the Red Planet.
Mathematical analysis of the samples concluded that salts in the soil on Mars “threw off” initial estimates – and that the soil samples show strong evidence of microbial life.
The new analysis looked for “complexity” in the samples – an indication of life. To the surprise of the scientists, they found it.
“This suggests a robust biological response,” say the researchers, from the University of Siena and California’s Keck Institute.
“These analyses support the interpretation that the Viking LR experiment did detect extant microbial life on Mars.”
Viking 1 probe did find evidence of extraterrestrial microbes in soil samples from Mars
The reassessment was prompted by the discovery of “perchlorates” in the soil at the landing site of another Mars lander, Phoenix, in 2008.
The presence of the chemicals in Viking’s samples had led scientists to conclude the samples were contaminated.
The scientists behind the experiment remain divided over how conclusive the evidence for life on Mars is.
Christopher McKay of NASA’s Ames Research Centre said in an interview with Discovery News: “Finding organics is not evidence of life or evidence of past life. It’s just evidence for organics.”
“The ultimate proof is to take a video of a Martian bacteria. They should send a microscope — watch the bacteria move,” said Josheph Miller of USC’s Keck School of Medicine.
“On the basis of what we’ve done so far, I’d say I’m 99 percent sure there’s life there.”
Future Mars missions may be able to settle the question.
One forthcoming unmanned mission is the new Mars Science Laboratory rover, called Curiosity, scheduled for launch in November.
The $2.5 billion nuclear-powered machine will land on Mars’ surface with a suite of 10 science instruments to try to determine if conditions are favorable for life.
Another key Mars mission is scheduled for 2016. Called the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, it will carry five science instruments and will study gases in Mars’ atmosphere, including methane, for evidence of biological or geological activity.
“The instruments on that atmospheric mission have a factor of 100 to 1,000 increase in sensitivity over what is currently available from Mars orbiters or from ground observations,” said Mark Allen, Ph.D., who is the U.S. project scientist for the 2016 Mars mission.
A video showing Whitney Houston’s daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown smoking pot out of a bong while partying with friends last year splashed online this week from the National Enquirer.
Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family members were said to be worried about the young daughter spiraling out of control after the loss of her mother and once the video was shown, reports begin to ask if she was out of control.
A family friend confides to RadarOnline that Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, is having some wild times.
The source said: “She’s drinking, smoking weed and abusing prescription meds.”
Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family members were said to be worried about her spiraling out of control after the loss of her mother Whitney Houston
The 911 call made when Whitney Houston’s body was discovered was released this week, which can’t have been easy for Bobbi Kristina.
“She’s self-medicating to deal with her heartbreak and it’s only making things worse,” explains the source.
“She’s on a self-destructive track and will end up just like her mother if she doesn’t find help.
“She desperately needs rehab and therapy, but she doesn’t want to hear that,” adds the insider, noting that a Houston family intervention had failed.
Painter of Light Thomas Kinkade battled alcoholism over the past several years and had a relapse just before his death at his home in California a family member has said.
Thomas Kinkade’s brother, Patrick, told the San Jose Mercury News decades of attacks on Kinkade’s work and a split with his wife two years ago had taken a toll on the artist.
“He would shoulder the world, pull the naysayers on his back and smile when he was doing it,” Patrick Kinkade told Mercury News.
“As much as he said it didn’t bother him, in his heart deep down inside it would sadden him that people would criticize so hatefully his work and his vision when people didn’t understand him,” he added.
Thomas Kinkade died in Monte Sereno on April 6 at age 54 of what a spokesman has said was natural causes. An autopsy is pending.
A recording of a dispatcher involved in the response to his home says Thomas Kinkade had been drinking all night and was not moving.
Still adjusting from a turbulent year in 2010, Thomas Kinkade split from his wife the same year his company filed for bankruptcy.
With a decline in his paintings’ sales, galleries closed and he struggled with sobriety, especially so he could continually see his four daughters.
Painter of Light Thomas Kinkade battled alcoholism over the past several years and had a relapse just before his death
“He loved Nanette and was heartbroken,” his friend Pete Jillo told Mercury News of his former wife of roughly 28 years he met on a paper route.
He was working on “adopting a clean lifestyle” and with some ups and downs, was getting there, right until the night before his death.
Thomas Kinkade’s scenes of country gardens and pastoral landscapes led to a commercial empire that was said to fetch some $100 million a year in sales. The artist’s paintings hang in an estimated one out of every 20 homes in the United States.
A key feature of his paintings is their glowing highlights and saturated pastel colors. His works often portray bucolic, idyllic settings such as gardens, streams, stone cottages, and main streets.
“There’s no hypocrisy in Thom’s vision,” his brother told Mercury News.
“What you’re looking at is a man. He believed in God. He loved his daughters. He wanted people to be affirmed by his work. But he was awfully human.”
“Thom provided a wonderful life for his family,” his wife, Nanette, said in a statement according to msnbc.com.
“We are shocked and saddened by his death.”
The painter is notable for the mass marketing of his work as printed reproductions and other licensed products through his company The Thomas Kinkade Company.
The prices of his paintings range from $200 to more than $10,000.
“Thomas Kinkade, the celebrated <<Painter of Light>> is one of the most widely collected and beloved artists of our day,” his official website says.
“Each year millions of people are drawn to the luminous light and tranquil mood of Kinkade’s paintings and include his creations in their lives through prints, books, and other fine collectibles.”
Thomas Kinkade, an University of California Berkeley graduate, was a devout Christian and has said his inspiration comes from his religious beliefs and that his work is intended to contain a larger moral meaning.
“I try to create paintings that are a window for the imagination,” Thomas Kinkade said on his website.
“If people look at my work and are reminded of the way things once were or perhaps the way they could be, then I’ve done my job.”
Thomas Kinkade’s company made $32 million per quarter from 4,500 dealers across the country 10 years ago, before going private, the Mercury News reported.
His website also offers prints, mugs, nightlights and other home-decor items adorned with his paintings, which feature bridges, churches, cottages, Disney scenes, gazebos estates and the outdoors.
Thomas Kinkade grew up in the small town of Placerville, California, graduated from high school in 1976, before attending the University of California, Berkeley and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
He married his wife Nanette in 1982 and the couple has four daughters: Merritt, Chandler, Winsor and Everett all named after artists.
Thomas Kinkade is reported to have earned $53 million for his artistic work between 1997 and May 2005.
But in 2010, his company’s Morgan Hill manufacturing arm, Pacific Metro, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Months later, Thomas Kinkade was reportedly arrested on suspicion of DUI. In 2009, the Los Angeles Times reported the FBI was investigating whether he fraudulently induced investors and then ruined them financially.
Madonna appears to have forgotten about her pedicure despite her groomed exterior while launching her new fragrance Truth or Dare in New York yesterday.
Madonna, 53, suffered a bout of temporary amnesia when it came to nurturing her feet, confidently strutting onto the red, or rather black, carpet wearing a see-through chiffon skirt and peep toe heels.
She may have tried to deflect attention from her lower half by showcasing her svelte figure in the sheer black lace dress – but the large toe on her left foot stood out as it appeared to be painted gold while the others were simply decorated with a clear nail varnish.
Though her upper body was clad in a bodysuit, her legs were visible underneath the flimsy skirt with her bare ankles poking out the bottom.
Madonna completed the seductive ensemble with a heavy cross pendant.
Madonna launched her new fragrance Truth or Dare at Macy’s in New York
Though it is now 22 years after her documentary, Truth or Dare, was filmed in 1990, Madonna debuted her fragrance of the same name at Big Apple department store Macy’s.
Daughter Lourdes threw her support behind her mother with an appearance at the launch.
Despite her groomed exterior, Madonna appears to have forgotten about her pedicure
Fragrance specialists Coty Inc. signed an agreement with Madonna’s MG Icon company to launch her perfume.
Coty already have several celebrity endorsed fragrances on their books, including David and Victoria Beckham, Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Moss, Beyoncé and Kylie Minogue.
Madonna’s fragrance is aimed at women aged 25 to 45, with the 35-45 group as primary aim.
Speaking about the fragrance, Madonna told Women’s Wear Daily: “I have always been obsessed by fragrance…
“For years wanted to create something personal that was an expression of me, but that other people could relate to as well.
“Something classical and timeless and yet modern. My oldest memory of my mother is her perfume. I carry it with me everywhere.
“She always smelled like gardenias and tuberose, an intoxicating mixture [that was] feminine and mysterious.
“I wanted to recreate this scent, but with something fresh and new about it as well.
“Something honest and yet daring – hence the name Truth or Dare.”
According to reports, Madonna was deeply involved in the process of making her perfume.
She worked with Stephen Nilsen, a perfumer at Swiss fragrance company Givaudan, to create a “composition of white flowers on an intensive gourmand background”.
The scent is described as both light and dark, opening with notes of gardenia, creamy tuberose and neroli.
While at its heart there is jasmine, benzoin and white lily, based on vanilla absolute, caramelized amber and sensual musk.
The fragrance comes in two sizes – as 50 and 75 ml Eau de Parfum – along with body lotion and shower gel.
Perhaps her scent will sell as well as her recent album did.
Madonna scored the biggest selling debut album of 2012 in America when it was released last week.
MDNA sold an impressive 359,000 units, making it her eighth album to top the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Madonna is set to embark on her US tour this summer.
Heidi Hankins, a 4-year-old girl from Hampshire, UK, has been accepted into Mensa with 159 IQ, just one point below Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Heidi Hankins taught herself to read and was able to count to 40 at two years old.
British Mensa chief executive John Stevenage said Heidi Hankins’ parents “correctly identified that she shows great potential”.
According to Mensa, the average adult IQ score is 100.
Heidi Hankins, 4, has been accepted into Mensa with 159 IQ, just one point below Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking
In 2009, Oscar Wrigley, aged two and a half at the time, from Reading in Berkshire became the youngest ever child to join Mensa with an IQ of 160.
John Stevenage said: “We aim to provide a positive environment for younger members to develop.”
According to Mensa, the signs of a gifted child include an unusual memory, reading at an early age, intolerance of other children and an awareness of world events. A gifted child will also ask questions all of the time.
Mensa is the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world and is open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s detention by US authorities for 90 minutes at White Plains airport near New York has sparked outrage in India.
This “policy of detention and apology by the US cannot continue”, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said.
Shah Rukh Khan arrived on a private plane and was on the way to Yale University for a function when he was stopped.
US customs and border protection authorities later expressed “profound” apologies for the incident.
The spokesman for the US embassy in Delhi, Peter Vrooman, also apologized “if Mr. Shah Rukh Khan experienced an inconvenience or delay”.
It is not clear why Shah Rukh Khan was detained at the airport, which serves New York City.
Shah Rukh Khan’s detention by US authorities for 90 minutes at White Plains airport near New York has sparked outrage in India
In 2009 the actor was detained for two hours at Newark airport and was released after India’s embassy in the US intervened.
Shah Rukh Khan said then that he was stopped because he had a Muslim name. US customs officials denied that the actor had been detained, saying he was questioned.
“Apologies from America have become mechanical,” SM Krishna said on Friday.
He also asked India’s ambassador in the US, Nirupama Rao, to lodge a protest with Washington.
Member of Parliament Rajeev Shukla said the detention was “totally uncalled for”.
The Bollywood film industry has also come out in support of the actor.
“All that the US immigration authorities need to know about Shah Rukh Khan, they can find it at the touch of a button,” musician Javed Akhtar said.
Earlier, the Press Trust of India news agency reported that Shah Rukh Khan was stopped and questioned for more than two hours before being cleared by immigration officials on Thursday.
He was freed after Yale University officials contacted homeland security and customs officials.
“Khan was very, very upset over the episode,” the CNN-IBN channel said, quoting unnamed sources.
Later, Shah Rukh Khan told the students of Yale University that he had been stopped and questioned at the airport.
But, he made light of the incident and joked about it.
“Whenever I start feeling arrogant about myself, I always take a trip to America. The immigration guys kick the star out of stardom,” Shah Rukh Khan said to laughter from the audience.
“They [immigration officials] always ask me how tall I am and I always lie and say 5ft 10 inches. Next time I am going to get more adventurous. [If they ask me] what colour are you, I am going to say white,” he said.
Shah Rukh Khan has appeared in more than 70 films and is considered one of India’s most recognizable and popular celebrities.
There have been several incidents in the past of prominent Indian officials being stopped or frisked at US airports.
In December 2010, the US expressed regret after India’s then-ambassador Meera Shankar was pulled out of an airport security line and frisked by a security agent.
Some reports said she was singled out as she was wearing a sari.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was concerned about the incident and vowed to prevent a recurrence.
And in 2009, America’s Continental Airlines apologized to former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam for frisking him before he boarded a flight to the US.
Members of India’s parliament were outraged after it emerged that APJ Abdul Kalam had been frisked and made to remove his shoes at Delhi airport in April.
Protocol exempts former presidents and other dignitaries from such searches.
Kanae Kijima, a woman who murdered her three former lovers in 2009, has been sentenced to death in Japan.
Kanae Kijima, 37, known as Black Widow, murdered three men aged 41, 53 and 80 for financial gain, the court said. The judge added that there was no room for leniency.
She met the men on internet dating sites and poisoned them with carbon monoxide by burning charcoal briquettes after giving them sleeping pills.
Kanae Kijima says she is innocent and plans on appealing against the verdict.
Kanae Kijima, the woman who murdered her three former lovers in 2009, has been sentenced to death in Japan
The case has gained notoriety in Japan as the “Black Widow” case, named after the female spider that eats its partner after mating.
More than 1,000 people queued up for fewer than 50 seats at the court to hear the verdict.
“The defendant repeatedly committed quite serious crimes that claimed the lives of three people,” the presiding judge, Kazuyuki Okuma, in Saitama district court, was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying.
“There is no room for leniency as the defendant committed the crimes for selfish purposes. She reiterated irrational excuses in court and did not show any remorse.”
Prosecutors said she killed the men so she would not have to pay back the money they had given her.
The defense said the men had either committed suicide because Kanae Kijima broke up with them, or died accidentally.
Two of the three victims were found dead in their homes in Tokyo’s Chiba prefecture. The third was found in a rented car in Saitama prefecture.
Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted he did not visit Fukushima on a visit to Japan after last year’s tsunami, despite saying he had.
Election rival Francois Hollande had queried Nicolas Sarkozy’s claim that he had been to the stricken nuclear plant.
French president admitted on Friday that he had not. “I’m not an engineer, I don’t need to stick my nose in the situation at Fukushima,” he said on I-tele.
The future of France’s nuclear power industry has become an election issue.
The Socialists have pledged to reduce France’s dependence on nuclear energy for its electricity, from 75% to 50% by 2025.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP government argues that the nuclear industry is good for the country economically, generating employment and exports along with clean, reliable electricity.
Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted he did not visit Fukushima on a visit to Japan after last year's tsunami, despite saying he had
The president had told an election rally in Normandy last Friday that he had visited Fukushima with his then ecology minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet.
Francois Hollande, the Socialist presidential candidate, said on Tuesday that he had checked out Nicolas Sarkozy’s statement and that “he never went there”.
“It’s the first time in the history of the Republic that an outgoing candidate has described a trip he never made,” Francois Hollande said.
“He’ll have been a pioneer in everything. Even on a trip he never took.”
Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged on I-tele: “I went to Japan with Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, I met the Japanese authorities, I discussed with the [Japanese] prime minister the situation at Fukushima and Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet went there.”
He said that he had been making the point that linking what happened at Fukushima to the debate over a nuclear power plant in France was absurd.
“I simply said that at Fukushima what happened was not a nuclear incident – it was a tsunami, with a wave that reached 42 metres in height that demolished the pumping systems that enabled the cooling of the central core, and that to say as a result of Fukushima that you should shut Fessenheim [nuclear plant] in Alsace, that seemed to me to be a particularly remarkable absurdity.”
It is not the first such gaffe Nicolas Sarkozy has made.
In 2009, he posted on Facebook a picture of himself at the Berlin Wall, saying he had chipped away at it with a pickaxe on the day the wall came down.
A caption dated the photo “9 November 1989”, but the man who took it said it was definitely from the following day.
Frances Bean Cobain has slammed her mother Courtney Love’s Twitter rant accusing Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl of “hitting” on her estranged daughter.
Frances Bean Cobain, 19, told Lifeline Live: “While I’m generally silent on the affairs of my biological mother, her recent tirade has taken a gross turn.”
The teenager added: “I have never been approached by Dave Grohl in more than a platonic way. I’m in a monogamous relationship and very happy. Twitter should ban my mother.”
Courtney Love, who is estranged from her only child, made the accusations on her private Twitter account on Wednesday night.
She claims that her daughter’s roommate told her that Dave Grohl – who is known as one of the nicest men in rock – “hit on Frances”, according to Gawker.
Dave Grohl, 43, is, for the uninitiated, the former Nirvana bandmate and best friend of Frances’ father, Kurt Cobain.
He has therefore known her since she was a baby.
Dave Grohl responded to Courtney Love’s accusations in a statement, he said: “Unfortunately Courtney is on another hateful Twitter rant. These new accusations are upsetting, offensive and absolutely untrue.”
After the initial incredible allegation, Courtney Love went on to threaten a Twitter account she obviously believed belonged to Dave Grohl, although it is actually linked to a German IT worker who hasn’t tweeted since 2008, according to the website.
Frances Bean Cobain has slammed her mother Courtney Love's Twitter rant accusing Dave Grohl of trying to seduce her
Courtney Love talked about Dave Grohl’s “pathology”, insisting that Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins resembles Kurt Cobain and is in the “submissive drummer position” in his hugely successful band.
It has to be noted that Taylor Hawkins actually looks more like Dave Grohl, albeit with Kurt Cobain-coloured straw blonde hair.
Courtney Love also argued that the fact Dave Grohl called one of his daughters Violet is salient, as a Hole song shares the same name.
However, his eldest child, who turns six on Sunday, was named after Dave Grohl’s maternal grandmother, as he’s stated in many interviews.
The happily married rocker also has daughter Harper, who turns three next week, by his wife of nine years, Jordyn Blum.
Dave Grohl is one of the most beloved artists in the world, and unusually for a rock star, all the tales about him relate to his generous and moral character.
Unencumbered by actual facts, however, Courtney Love also accused Dave Grohl of being “sexually obsessed” with Kurt Cobain then relayed information from a driver who claimed that Grohl had “his hands all over” Frances in his car.
The singer also insisted that Dave Grohl, who grew up in a suburb of Washington D.C, has tried to seduce her in the past.
This is far from the first time Courtney Love has attacked Dave Grohl.
Last November, Courtney Love started ranting about him taking food from her child’s table at a festival in Brazil after a fan flashed a poster of Kurt Cobain in the audience.
It’s alleged they clashed over Nirvana copyright issues, yet Dave Grohl has kept his counsel about Courtney Love and his friend.
Courtney Love has also accused singer Ryan Adams of ripping her off after getting confused about a connection she had with a member of his production crew, the Ashes and Fire star had to release a statement setting the facts straight.
And she lambasted former lover Steve Coogan, even accusing him of being a causal factor in his friend Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt.
Frances Bean Cobain filed a restraining order against Courtney Love in 2009, after it was granted she chose initially to live with her maternal grandmother and now has a residence in Los Angeles where she lives quietly away from the spotlight with her fiancé, Isaiah Silva.
Courtney Love’s private Twitter account, @cbabymichelle, is locked from the public, but Gawker has posted a screen capture collecting all of her tweets from last night.
Guinea-Bissau army has arrested the outgoing Prime Minister, Carlos Gomes Junior, in a suspected coup bid.
A military press attaché and his wife confirmed his detention after gunfire was heard in the capital overnight.
Guinea-Bissau army has arrested the outgoing Prime Minister, Carlos Gomes Junior, in a suspected coup bid
The country’s interim President, Raimundo Pereira, is also being held, according to the AFP news agency.
Correspondents say Carlos Gomes, who is running for president in this month’s run-off vote, is unpopular with the military over plans to scale it down.
