Activists in Bahrain say a man has been found dead with gunshot wounds after overnight clashes with police a day before Sunday’s Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The body was found in the Shia village of Shakhoura, near the capital, Manama, an opposition group said.
On Friday, tens of thousands took part in at times violent protests demanding an end to the crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the rally.
Armored vehicles are patrolling the streets of Manama ahead of the race.
The discovery came as practice and qualifying sessions for the Grand Prix were taking place. Mainly Shia protesters have announced “days of rage” against the race.
Formula 1’s governing body, the FIA, only went ahead with the Grand Prix after the government said it had security under control.
Last year’s Grand Prix was cancelled after 35 people died in February and March during a crackdown on mass demonstrations calling for greater democracy.
The protesters demand an end to discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni royal family.
A man has been found dead with gunshot wounds after overnight clashes with police a day before Sunday's Bahrain F1 Grand Prix
Human rights groups and activists estimate that at least 25 people have died since the start of the protests, many as a result of what has been described as the excessive use of tear gas.
Activists from opposition group al-Wefaq said the man found dead on Saturday, variously named as Salah Abbas Habib or Salah al-Gattan, 37, was killed by government forces.
Several others were hit by birdshot in the incident, said Nabeel Rajab from the Centre for Human Rights.
In a message posted on Twitter, the Bahraini Interior Ministry confirmed that a dead person was found in Shakhoura. It said police had launched an investigation.
On Friday, Bahrain’s Crown Prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, said cancelling the Grand Prix “just empowers extremists”, and insisted that holding the race would “build bridges across communities”.
Jean Todt, the president of the motor racing governing body, the FIA, said he had no regrets about the race, as extensive investigations into the situation in Bahrain had unearthed “nothing (that) could allow us to stop the race”.
“On rational facts, it was decided there was no reason to change our mind,” Jean Todt said.
The Shia protesters say going ahead the race lends international legitimacy to a government that is continuing to suppress opposition with violent means.
Al-Wefaq said security forces had beaten protesters in Shakhoura with tools and weapons, according to the AFT news agency.
The group reported on Saturday that 70 people had been injured by security forces in the past two days and 80 others arrested.
Meanwhile, the daughter of political and human rights activist Abdul al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months, was briefly detained when she went to see him in hospital, Nabeel Rajab said. She was not allowed to see her father.
Abdul al-Khawaja launched his hunger strike in protest against a life sentence handed down by a military tribunal in June.
He stopped drinking water on Thursday, according to his daughter, Zainab.
She said on Saturday her father was in a critical state.
“He’s on the 73rd day of his hunger strike and the last call he made yesterday, he asked for his lawyer to go see him so he could write his will.
“We’re afraid that we might never hear of him again, and that we might not see him again.”
During Friday’s protests, tens of thousands people walked along a motorway from Budaiya, an area to the west of the capital, Manama.
Police fired stun grenades and tear gas at a small group who tried to reach the site of the former Pearl Roundabout, which was at the heart of the initial mass anti-government protests last year.
Meow, a 2-year-old orange and white super-sized cat tips the scale at nearly 40 pounds, and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter is on a mission to get the feline back into shape.
Meow’s 87-year-old owner could no longer take care of him, so the pet was turned over to a shelter in southeastern New Mexico that called the Santa Fe shelter for help.
“The thing with this cat is when you look at it, certainly it’s obese. You see that. But it’s a sweet looking cat. His face is very sweet. It’s just incredibly fat,” shelter spokesman Ben Swan said Friday.
Meow has been placed with a foster family. He’ll be on a special diet so he can start shedding some pounds. The goal is for him to lose at least 10 pounds so he can be put up for adoption.
The shelter plans to post updates on Meow’s weight loss on its Facebook page.
Meow is 2 years old and tips the scale at nearly 40 pounds
It’s not clear how the feline was able to gain so much weight in just two years. Adult cats typically weigh between 7 and 12 pounds.
“If you go online, you’ll see a lot of fat cats and these are people who have fed them just one thing, like meat or something that’s not nutritionally balanced,” Ben Swan said.
“Then the cat refuses to eat anything else and then they just get fatter and fatter and fatter.”
Meow has one thing going for him. He’s not the fattest cat out there.
That record belongs to Himmy, a tabby from Australia that weighed almost 47 pounds. The shelter said Guinness World Records has since stopped accepting applications for the record over concerns it would encourage people to overfeed their animals.
In Meow’s case, the shelter is awaiting blood test results to make sure he doesn’t have any additional health problems.
Shelter veterinarian Jennifer Steketee said the idea is for Meow to gradually lose weight by eating a special diet. He has already lost a couple of pounds since being turned in.
Jennifer Steketee said the dangers of feline obesity are not much different than they are for humans – extra pressure on the heart and joints.
Ben Swan said all the extra weight makes it tough for Meow to play. He had little interest in the super-sized toy mouse the shelter gave him when he first arrived and he couldn’t squeeze much more than his head into the carpeted ring attached to the shelter’s scratching post.
“He’s very sweet. He’s doing everything a normal cat would do except he loses his breath and tires easily,” Ben Swan said.
Food companies in UK have been warned about the presence of acrylamide, cancer-risk chemical, in everyday products ranging from crisps and chips to instant coffee and ginger biscuits.
A biscuit designed for babies and toddlers has also been caught up in the alert.
Experts are even warning families to only lightly toast their bread at home, as the chemical, called acrylamide, is more likely to form the longer and darker foods cook.
A study by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has identified 13 products containing raised levels of the chemical. In each case, officials at the local council where the supplier is based have been told to notify them.
Acrylamide, which is still being investigated by scientists, is a cooking by-product associated with frying, baking, roasting or toasting foods at very high temperatures, usually greater than 120 C.
The FSA insists its findings raise no immediate risk to the public and there is no need for people to change their diet.
The UK Food Standards Agency warns food companies that everyday products such as instant coffee could contain the cancer chemical acrylamide
However, it is putting pressure on all food companies to reduce acrylamide levels because long-term consumption could increase the risk of cancer. Its official advice is also that families should ensure bread and chips they eat are only toasted or baked to the “lightest color possible”.
The FSA said its study of levels of acrylamide and furan – another cancer-risk chemical – is used to identify which firms need to take action. Acrylamide is formed by a reaction between natural components in food as it cooks.
In reality it has probably been in the diet for as long as man has fried, roasted or toasted food. Manufacturers including Heinz and McVitie’s have already responded by changing their recipes.
But others, including Nestle, makers of Nescafe, say it is impossible to do so without harming the flavor and quality of their products. Nestle added: “There is currently no scientific evidence to suggest any particular product has any negative impact on health in the context of acrylamide exposure.”
The FSA is required by the EU and the European Food Safety Authority to carry out the annual tests. It looked at 248 samples, from chips sold by fast-food outlets to supermarket own-label and big brand ranges. In 13 cases levels were above the “indicative value” – a trigger point to tell the firm it should examine its production process.
European watchdogs have been putting pressure on food manufacturers to reduce acrylamide for almost a decade.
In 2002 Swedish studies revealed high levels formed during the frying or baking of potato or cereal products.
The FSA said: “This raised worldwide public concern because studies in laboratory animals suggest acrylamide has the potential to cause cancer in humans by interacting with the DNA in cells.
“The Agency believes exposure to such chemicals should be as low as reasonably practicable.”
The latest survey found “an upward trend” in acrylamide levels in processed cereal-based baby foods, excluding rusks. Importantly however, the FSA said this did not mean parents should stop giving these products to youngsters.
The UK Food and Drink Federation, which represents manufacturers, said members are “ensuring levels are as low as reasonably achievable”.
Heinz changed its Banana Biscotti recipe this year to reduce acrylamide to trace levels. United Biscuits, which makes McVitie’s Gingernuts, said it has cut acrylamide by 70%. The firm also pledged to cut levels in its McCoy’s crisps.
Boxun.com, the US-based Chinese-language website that has reported extensively on the Bo Xilai scandal in China, says it was crippled for several hours by a concerted hacking attack.
The Boxun website had to move to a new webhost after the denial-of-service attack on Friday, its manager said.
Boxun has reported for several weeks on the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai was removed from key political posts as his wife was investigated for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Boxun’s original webhost, Name.com, told the Associated Press news agency that the hack was one of the biggest in the company’s history.
It reportedly followed an emailed threat that it would be attacked if it did not disable the site.
Boxun has reported for several weeks on the scandal surrounding Bo Xilai
It is not clear who launched the attacks, but the manager of Boxun.com, Watson Meng, was quoted as saying he believed they were ordered by China’s security services.
A denial-of-service attack involves hackers paralyzing a website by bombarding it with enquiries.
Boxun.com, based in North Carolina, was set up 12 years ago by Watson Meng to campaign for human rights and democracy in China.
It has published a stream of reports and allegations about the fate of Bo Xilai, the politician at the centre of China’s biggest political scandal in years.
Bo Xilai was sacked as Communist Party boss of the south-western city of Chongqing, and suspended from other key political posts, amid an official investigation into corruption and allegations that his wife was involved in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Neil Heywood was found dead in Chongqing in November 2011.
China routinely blocks web content that it deems inappropriate, but reports on Boxun are often repeated on micro-blogging sites in China by people who use software to circumvent internet restrictions.
With more than half a billion internet users, China is finding it increasingly difficult to control the flow of information.
Chinese authorities have stressed that their investigation into Bo Xilai and his family is purely a legal matter.
Kim Kardashian has seemingly gone a little too far with her latest bronzing regime as her bright orange dress was almost hard to distinguish from her deepening tan as she promoted The Kardashian Kollection at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois last evening.
The attire, however, clung to Kim Kardashian’s curves perfectly and showed off plenty of her ample assets.
Kim Kardashian, 31, paired the eye-popping outfit with some nude stilettos and an oversized bag plus a gold necklace choker.
She was joined by her sister Khloe, who opted for some questionable attire.
While Khloe Kardashian’s all-in-one patterned jumpsuit was cute, it failed to flatter her own sensational curves.
Unlike her older sister, Khloe Kardashian covered up with a cropped leather jacket and showed off her huge engagement and wedding ring.
During the event, Kim Kardashian posted several pictures of herself, including one of her pulling faces for the camera.
During The Kardashian Kollection launch at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Kim Kardashian posted several pictures of herself, including one of her pulling faces for the camera
Kim Kardashian captioned the quirky snap: “Silly at Sears!”
She also posted a photograph of her and her sister in the back seat of their chauffeured car making their way to the event.
She captioned the picture: “Koko & Kiki.”
Kim Kardashian was clearly in a happy mood, and it may well have something to do with her good night’s sleep the night before.
The reality star was snapped snoozing by her mother Kris Jenner and the Kardashian matriarch wasted no time in posting the picture to her Twitter page.
Kim Kardashian was snapped snoozing by her mother Kris Jenner and the Kardashian matriarch wasted no time in posting the picture to her Twitter page
Kris Jenner, 56, uploaded the snap and posted the caption: “I love that @kimkardashian still crawls in bed with me…she’s still my little girl! #favoritething.”
Kim Kardashianwas seen with her hand to her face and is dressed in a modest pair of long-sleeved grey pyjamas – a far cry from her usual sexy day-to-day image.
Kim, Kris and Khloe Kardashian are in Chicago promoting their Kardashian Kollection for Sears line together.
Kourtney Kardashian, who is currently heavily pregnant with her second child did not make the trip.
As the reality TV family arrived into Chicago airport they were greeted by a number of fans.
But Kim Kardashian didn’t appear in the mood to mingle and failed to smile when accosted by her admirers.
Kim Kardashian, who is currently dating Kanye West, donned a simply grey jacket, a white top and a pair of black baggy trousers for the journey.
Rich Ross, the head of Disney film-making studio, has resigned as chairman a month after the film John Carter became one of the company’s biggest flops.
The 15-year Disney veteran revealed his move by email: “I no longer believe that the chairman role is the right professional fit for me.”
Rich Ross, 50, became chairman in 2009.
He was previously the president of the Disney Channel when it created the hugely successful High School Musical and Hannah Montana series.
Rich Ross, the head of Disney film-making studio, has resigned as chairman a month after the film John Carter became one of the company's biggest flops
At the movie division, Rich Ross approved production of the science fiction film John Carter, although it had been in development before he joined the studio.
The film, which was based on a series of books by Tarzan writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, eventually cost more than $250 million and last month Disney said it expected the film to lose about $200 million.
That would leave the studio with $80 million – $210 million in operating losses.
Disney is not expected to appoint a new studio chairman immediately.
The company’s Chief Executive Bob Iger hailed Rich Ross’s contribution: “For more than a decade, Rich Ross’ creative instincts, business acumen and personal integrity have driven results in key businesses for Disney.
“I appreciate his countless contributions throughout his entire career at Disney and expect he will have tremendous success in whatever he chooses to do next.”
Rich Ross joined the Disney Channel in 1996 as a programming and production executive and was promoted to president of the cable channel in 2004.
Starbucks tops the coffee charts when it comes variety: grande, hot, decaf, triple five-pump vanilla, non-fat, no foam, whip cream, extra hot, extra caramel, upside down, caramel machiato.
Beyond the thousands of flavors and orders, Starbucks will happily brag about, according to those in the know there is also a “secret menu”, one which features exclusive concoctions such as the Dirty Hippy and the Captain Crunch.
Experienced coffee drinkers have been known to stroll into a branch and order Zebra Mocha without the barista battling an eyelid, according to the people at The Daily Meal who have uncovered a slew of secret recipes.
Other flavors that have been revealed as exclusive, unadvertised combinations known by the Starbucks team include the Grashopper and the Cake Batter Frappuccino.
Anonymous online conversations between former employees and coffee obsessives are scattered around food blogs and photo sites with tips as to where to order what and how to make sure you get it.
But some say that it isn’t as simple as knowing the name if you want to ensure you get the right beverage and it helps to know the ingredients.
All combinations, of course, require nothing more than the ingredients on offer in branches of the mega-chain so a lot of the detail is in the preparation.
The Undertow Shot for instance is a hot shot of espresso layered over cold milk that is layered over syrup.
One Starbucks enthusiast who prefers his coffee this way explains on his Flickr page: “You drink it like a shot and get a hot then cold then sweet taste.”
Anonymous online conversations between Starbucks former employees and coffee obsessives are scattered around food blogs and photo sites with tips as to where to order what and how to make sure you get it
Everyone is familiar these days with a Chai latte but if you double up on the shot, the regular Chai drink is apparently elevated to off-the-menu status as a Double Dirty or Extra Dirty Chai.
Alternatively, if Dirty isn’t your style, the soy version is known affectionately as the Dirty Hippy.
The Penguin Mocha or Marble Mocha combines the white chocolate mocha with the regular mocha for those who have decision making issues.
But if what you are looking for is an extra zing there is always the option of adding raspberry flavoring for something called the Red Tux Mocha.
Fans of the cereal may be disappointed to learn that Captain Crunch does not contain sweetened corn and oats, but to many the combination of hazelnut syrup in a Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino is similar enough in flavor to earn the title.
And the list goes on.
So the next time you swing by your local branch for your regular shot of breakfast energy, think again. There may be something better than you just didn’t know about before.
Top ten most inventive “secret menu” Starbucks drinks:
• Dirty Hippy – Chai Latte with two shots and soy milk
• Grasshopper Frappuccino – A mocha frappuccino blended with java chips and peppermint syrup
• Bootleg Brulée – A white mocha with two shots, toffee nut syrup and caramel drizzle
• Zebra Mocha – White chocolate mocha with java chips and chocolate chips sprinkled in.
• Three C’s: Cinnamon dolce latte with caramel syrup and chocolate mocha syrup.
• Biscotti Frappuccino – Frappe with the biscuits bought separately and blended in
• The Penguin Mocha – A white chocolate mocha combined with the regular mocha
• Captain Crunch – Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino with hazelnut syrup
• Red Tux Mocha – A Penquin Mocha with rasberry flavouring
• The Widow Maker – Half iced black tea, half iced black coffee.
26-year-old Hunter Moore’s business plan was simple: he got rich by publishing indecent pictures of men and women without their permission.
He would encourage visitors to his site to “submit noodz” (nudes) of their former girlfriends and boyfriends, as well as details about who the subject was and why they deserved to be featured.
This information would be posted up in full on his site, IsAnyoneUp.com.
As well as the person’s full name and location, links to social networks, usually Facebook, would also be included.
Below each post appeared a stream of comments from visitors critiquing – to put it lightly – the victim’s looks and body.
If anyone complained, they were ridiculed. If they threatened legal action, Hunter Moore ignored it. As many of the site’s victims soon discovered, they were largely powerless to do anything about it.
It was enough for many to dub Hunter Moore the “most hated man on the internet”.
“I love the attention,” Hunter Moore said ahead of the site’s surprise closure.
“People think I’m completely evil and what I’m doing is completely immoral, but at the end of the day I feel like I’m just educating people on technology.
“As sad as it is, hurting or ruining people’s lives as people say, is entertainment for some.”
In what has been seen as an uncharacteristic flicker of conscience, Hunter Moore announced handing the domain to Bullyville – an anti-bullying social network.
It means, after weeks of worry, people like Lucy (not her real name), a 22-year-old British woman, can now begin to get over their experiences.
A selection of pictures, taken by her and sent to her then-boyfriend, were published alongside a link to her Twitter account.
It didn’t take long before the messages and friend requests started to flood in.
“I burst into tears knowing that everyone would see these pictures and I would be a laughing stock,” she said.
“My friends, family and current boyfriend have all seen the images and it’s been made extremely embarrassing to go back to work or attend university.”
Lucy emailed Hunter Moore several times to ask for the pictures to be removed. All her requests were ignored.
She turned to her local police force.
“They [did] nothing at all to help with this situation besides saying contact the website, which I have done and still nothing has happened,” she said.
In the US, the FBI’s internet crime department said it was not investigating the site.
IsAnyoneUp was set up at the end of 2010 – originally as a way for Hunter Moore to write stories about his own experiences with women, as well as post pictures.
A year on, Hunter Moore said IsAnyoneUp was getting over 300,000 hits a day, and was raking in about $20,000 a month in advertising revenue – a large portion of which was being spent on web hosting costs.
IsAnyoneUp was set up at the end of 2010, originally as a way for Hunter Moore to write stories about his own experiences with women, as well as post pictures
There were very few subjects off limits for Hunter Moore. Most popular, he said, were posts showing teachers.
“People obviously want it, and I’m going to give the people what they want.
“That could definitely affect someone’s livelihood,” he admitted.
“I didn’t use to post teachers, and then I realized that’s where all the traffic is. I have to pay my bills.
“I’m just a businessman.
“I just monetize people’s mistakes that they made and it’s kind of a shady business. But if it wasn’t me, somebody else was going to do it. All I did was really perfected the way to monetize people’s naked pictures.”
As the site’s notoriety grew, so too did the media coverage and, Hunter Moore claimed, threats to his safety.
“I’ve had people climb over the fence, come to my parties, try and fight me, just to serve me with papers, just to get stuff removed.
“I’ve never had anyone successfully do anything. I’d be interested to see what route people would take just because I’m so bored with my life and reading all these stupid emails from people trying to sue me for millions of dollars, but no – I haven’t had anything happen yet.”
The site’s fans – of which there were many – continued to support it, despite increased media scrutiny, setting up online campaigns to save it.
“They were like, <<Oh yeah, Hunter’s awesome>>,” Hunter Moore said.
Evan Brown, a lawyer in the US, had advised several people on how to deal with IsAnyoneUp. He was able to have one woman’s pictures removed. Hunter Moore acknowledged it as the only successful claim.
The lawyer utilized a law intended to help copyright holders remove content from the likes of YouTube. As the picture was a self-portrait, copyright belonged automatically to the woman in question.
A removal request was sent; not to Hunter Moore, but to the host of his website. It worked – but Hunter Moore adapted, Evan Brown said.
“Since then, it appears he has moved the site to another server to make it more difficult to ascertain where it is that it’s hosted, and who to send that notice to.”
Hunter Moore said he has had over 40 different hosts for the website.
Until its closure, IsAnyoneUp.com was hosted with BlackLotus, an LA-based company which specializes in handling security threats such as distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, a common tactic used by hackers to knock websites offline.
BlackLotus president Jeffrey Lyon confirmed its business with Hunter Moore, adding that he did not make moral judgements on the actions of its clients.
Jeffrey Lyon said he took a “neutral” view of Hunter Moore’s activities.
Evan Brown said it was very difficult to accuse Hunter Moore of breaking any other laws in relation to IsAnyoneUp, and the relative low profile of the victims helped offer an added layer of protection.
“That this site has been able to persist for over a year now is a testament to the fact of how expensive litigation is, how difficult the processes are to discover who is responsible for positing these images,” Evan Brown said.
He also cited a web phenomena known as the “Streisand effect”, the theory that attempting to take legal action over an issue only serves to inflate it further.
“There’s any number of reasons why people don’t want to magnify this problem. That certainly is an impediment because of the ridicule they could subject themselves to,” Evan Brown said.
“I’ve consulted with a couple of college athletes who didn’t want their coach to find out.”
Hunter Moore detailed several plans for the website – including a social network and even a spin-off TV show planned with a “major US network” – a week before IsAnyoneUp’s closure.
“I have a lot of stuff in the works, and I have a lot of people working with me behind bigger things.”
In his closure statement, Hunter Moore claimed he could no longer deal with the “drama” caused when under-age content was submitted.
He said this posed the biggest problem for the site – particularly when it came to submissions originating from the UK.
“A lot of under-age content comes out of your end of the world,” he said.
“We almost had to black out the UK from accessing the site at one point because we were getting so much under-age content. We usually just flag it and try and report it.”
It is as yet unclear what caused Hunter Moore’s sudden change of tack.
In his note posted on Bullyville.com – which is where visitors to IsAnyoneUp.com are redirected – he said he wanted to “stand up” for victims of bullying.
That statement stands in stark contrast to his previous comments: “It’s anonymous to me. I don’t know the people – it’s just a little picture on a screen.
“If you’re just crying over some [picture] you sent to some boy you just met, no I’m not going to take it down, and no I don’t really care.”
In the fifth day of his trial, Anders Behring Breivik has described how he shot people who were “begging for their lives” during Utoeya island rampage in which 69 people died last July.
Testifying before an Oslo court, Anders Breivik described seeing people curled up and “completely paralyzed” as he reloaded his weapon and shot them in the head.
Earlier Anders Breivik, 33, said he was normally a nice person but had shut off his emotions to carry out the attacks.
The main aim of the trial is to decide whether he is sane or insane.
On 22 July 2011, Anders Breivik set off a car bomb near government buildings in Oslo, killing eight, and then massacred 69 participants in a Labour Party youth camp on the nearby island of Utoeya.
In Friday’s testimony, Anders Breivik said he had arrived on the island dressed as a policeman, and told security officials at the camp he had been posted there following the bombings in the capital.
Anders Breivik then described in chilling detail how he killed people.
Before shooting his first victims, Anders Breivik said he had “100 voices” in his head telling him not to do it.
But after that moment of hesitation, he said he pulled the trigger, shot two people in the head and moved on.
Displaying no emotion, Anders Breivik went on to say he had entered a cafe where several people were hiding.
“Some of them are completely paralyzed. They cannot run,” he said.
“Two people were curled up.”
In the fifth day of his trial, Anders Behring Breivik has described how he shot people during Utoeya island rampage
Anders Breivik said he reloaded after running out of ammunition.
“People were begging for their lives. I just shot them in the head.”
Others pretended to be dead, he added, but he knew they had not been wounded and shot them too.
Anders Breivik continued his rampage around the island, luring youths from hiding places by telling them he was a police officer who was there to protect them.
When they came out, he said: “I shot towards many of them aiming at their heads.”
The stunned silence in the courtroom was replaced with tears.
Anders Breivik admits killing all 77 victims but denies criminal responsibility, saying he was defending Norway from multiculturalism.
He said he had envisaged the most important attack as being the Oslo bombing, but Utoeya “became the most important attack when the government building did not collapse” as planned.
Depending on whether he is found sane or not, he faces either prison or committal to a psychiatric institution.
Anders Breivik himself maintains he is sane but a practitioner of political extremism.
Earlier on Friday, he insisted he was “under normal circumstances a very nice person, very caring about those around me”.
He said he “absolutely” understood why his testimony was horrifying to others.
But said he had embarked on a deliberate programme of “dehumanization” in 2006 to prepare to carry out killings.
Anders Breivik added that empathy was not possible, as he would “break down mentally” if he tried to comprehend what he had done.
Asked if he could feel sadness, Anders Breivik said “yes”, saying the funeral of a friend’s brother had been his “saddest day”.
In additional points, Anders Breivik:
• claimed he had not wished to kill “civilians” when he had targeted the government buildings in Oslo, only “government targets”, but it was impossible to exclude “civilian” deaths entirely
• said that from 2006 he had studied the weaknesses and strengths of organizations from the IRA to al-Qaeda, concluding that the most successful was al-Qaeda, because they “embrace martyrdom” – “and that is key to the successful resistance fight”.
• said it was impossible for “cultural conservatives” like him to get any of their ideas published in the media or in books, due to an alleged project to protect liberal beliefs
• said he believed Japan and South Korea were ideal states, as they had “taken a stand against multiculturalism and Marxism in the 1970s”
In Thursday’s testimony, Anders Breivik said he hoped his car bomb in Oslo would kill the whole government, and had also hoped to kill all those on Utoeya – more than 500 in all.
Anders Breivik’s evidence is scheduled to last five days, concluding on Monday. The entire proceedings are expected to last 10 weeks.
A German court in Hamburg ruled that YouTube is responsible for the content that users post to the video sharing site and it could face a huge bill for royalties after it lost the court battle.
The court wants YouTube to install filters that spot when users try to post music clips whose rights are held by royalty collection group, Gema.
The German industry group said in court that YouTube had not done enough to stop copyrighted clips being posted.
YouTube said it took no responsibility for what users did, but responded when told of copyright violations.
“Today’s ruling confirms that YouTube as a hosting platform cannot be obliged to control the content of all videos uploaded to the site,” said a spokesperson for YouTube.
“We remain committed to finding a solution to the music licensing issue in Germany that will benefit artists, composers, authors, publishers and record labels, as well as the wider YouTube community,” they added.
YouTube could face a huge bill for royalties after it lost the court battle over video clips in Germany
Gema’s court case was based on 12 separate music clips posted to the website. The ruling concerns seven of the 12 clips.
If YouTube is forced to pay royalties for all the clips used on the site it will face a huge bill.
Gema represents about 60,000 German song writers and musicians.
If enforced, the ruling could also slow the rate at which video is posted to the site as any music clip would have to be cleared for copyright before being used.
Currently, it is estimated that about 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube worldwide every minute.
YouTube owner Google has yet to comment on the ruling.
The court case began in 2010 and came after talks between YouTube and Gema about royalties broke down. In 2009, the stalemate meant that videos from German recording firms were briefly blocked on the site.
Gema has rung up several victories against sites it has claimed are using music without paying royalties.
In 2009, file-sharing site Rapidshare was told to start filtering songs users were uploading following action by Gema. In March, 2012 a second judgement told Rapidshare to be more proactive when hunting down content pirated by users.
Music streaming site Grooveshark pulled out of Germany claiming licensing rates set by Gema made it impossible to run a profitable business in the country.
German geologists from Aachen University found evidence that a tsunami recorded by the ancient historian Herodotus did indeed protect a Greek village from Persian invaders.
The geologists say they have found evidence in northern Greece that the event in 479 saved the village of Potidaea.
Herodotus recorded that huge waves had killed hundreds of Persian soldiers during the siege of the village.
The scientists warn the area may experience another massive marine event.
They say that northern coastal regions should be included among the Greek regions prone to tsunamis.
It is usually the southern coast of Greece which is identified as a risk area.
A tsunami recorded by the ancient historian Herodotus did indeed protect a Greek village from Persian invaders, say geologists
Greek geophysicists say earthquakes pose a much greater threat to the country than tsunamis.
“We have found several historic tsunamis on the coast,” Aachen’s Professor Klaus Reicherter told Germany’s DPA news agency.
“That means there is a certain risk for the coastal areas.”
Sediment on the northern Greek peninsula where Potidaea and the modern town of Nea Poteidaia are located shows signs of massive marine events, such as large waves, the Aachen study found.
Excavations in the suburbs of the nearby ancient city of Mende uncovered sea shells likely to have been lifted from the ocean bed and tossed about during a tsunami.
The findings were presented at the annual conference of the Seismological Society of America in San Diego, California.
Herodotus records: “Then there came upon them [the Persians] a great flood-tide of the sea, higher than ever before, as the natives of the place say, though high tides come often.
“So those of them who could not swim perished, and those who could were slain by the men of Potidaia who put out to them in boats.”
San Mateo, Calif.– Marketo announced on April 18, 2012 that it has redefined marketing automation with the acquisition of Crowd Factory, Inc., a leading social campaign management platform. With its first acquisition, Marketo breaks social marketing from its usual silo, making it an integrated and integral part of every online marketing initiative. With social marketing a mandate for every company – large and small, business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) – this combined solution enables marketers to amplify and measure social-enabled campaigns to deliver more customers and gain an immediate competitive edge.
“Social marketing campaigns and marketing automation have been like the proverbial two ships passing in the night, with most social marketing tools sitting in silos disconnected from mainstream marketing processes. Today we have changed that game,” said Phil Fernandez, president and CEO of Marketo. “By combining Crowd Factory with Marketo, marketing professionals can finally use integrated social campaigns to boost the reach and impact of every marketing initiative they undertake – at every step in the customer lifecycle. Since releasing our first products four years ago, Marketo’s innovation has repeatedly reset the standard for marketing solutions, and we’re thrilled to do it again with this revolutionary development in social marketing automation.”
Crowd Factory is a complete social campaign management platform that helps marketers accelerate social and word-of-mouth marketing, grow their marketing databases with unique social profiles and attract new customers. The platform allows marketers to add social applications and messages quickly to every channel – Facebook Pages, Twitter and LinkedIn feeds, landing pages, websites, banner ads and emails. These applications encourage social sharing, supercharging the results of every multi-channel marketing campaign. Then, Crowd Factory automatically tracks the reach and impact of this social sharing, providing direct feedback on the return on investment (ROI) of social marketing. Companies of all sizes, including Molson Coors, Sony Music, Jive Software, Quickoffice and British Telecom use Crowd Factory’s social marketing software to drive real business results every day.
Now, marketers have a breakthrough solution that unifies Marketo’s broad platform for marketing automation, sales effectiveness, and analytical reporting with Crowd Factory’s platform for rapidly creating and deploying social campaigns like customer referrals or sweepstakes.
Sanjay Dholakia, CEO of Crowd Factory commented the following:
“Crowd Factory pioneered the idea of Social ROI by empowering marketers to push viral campaigns throughout the social web, and then track that valuable social activity back to individual influencers and conversions, this fits perfectly into the vision of marketing automation that Marketo has led: that all marketing activity matters and can be measured against the bottom line. We are excited to join the Marketo team and help companies of any size in any market segment generate more campaigns, more leads and, ultimately, more customers.”
“I like this combination a lot,” said Paul Greenberg, president of The 56 Group, LLC, a customer strategy consulting firm. “A 21st-century multichannel marketing strategy has to incorporate social channels as well as traditional or it’s going to fail. To succeed at that, there needs to be a technological underpinning that can handle all channels in conjunction with the increasingly demanding requirements from customers. The combination of Marketo and Crowd Factory is as close to the complete package for this as you’ll see for a long while.”
“The prospect of combining Crowd Factory’s social capabilities and platform with Marketo’s marketing automation platform – especially lead scoring – is a really exciting and innovative development,” said Christine Poirier, Manager, Digital and Relationship Marketing at Molson Coors. “Our reach with email campaigns is limited to the consumers in our database. However, with Crowd Factory we are able to easily give our consumers a way to share our brands and our content with their friends, in an authentic way. This helps us amplify our reach, while also giving our consumers a fun way to engage with our brands and with their social networks.”
“As a customer of both companies, this is terrific news – it’s all about reducing friction in the marketing funnel and scaling our ability to effectively reach, educate and nurture our target customers,” said David Karel, VP of Marketing at Bizo. “Our revenue growth is accelerating and Marketo has played a big role as we’ve ramped our marketing effort from ‘zero to 100 mph’ these past couple of years; in fact, our marketing programs contributed almost as much business in Q1 as they did all of last year. We just signed up with Crowd Factory to continue our growth by giving a social lift to all of our content and campaigns. Integrating this power with Marketo will help us drive better results at each stage of the sales and marketing funnel.”
Marketo will continue to support and invest in all current products and customers of both companies. And with combined innovation from both companies, Marketo expects to introduce an exciting new unified product family soon, one in which social campaign management comes to life, where every marketing campaign is a social-enabled marketing campaign. Customers will get an inside view at the Marketo User Summit, May 22-24 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
About Marketo
Marketo is the fastest growing provider in Revenue Performance Management. Marketo’s powerful yet easy-to-use marketing automation and sales effectiveness solutions transform how marketing and sales teams of all sizes work — and work together — to drive dramatically increased revenue performance and fuel business growth. The company’s proven technology, comprehensive services and expert guidance are helping more than 1,800 enterprise and mid-market companies around the world to turn marketing from a cost center to a business-building revenue driver. Marketo also offers Spark by Marketo™, a new brand of marketing automation tailored specifically for small businesses – the fastest-growing and largest segment of today’s economy.
Marketo, Spark by Marketo and the respective logos are trademarks of Marketo, Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Rihanna has revealed she has not been offered the role of Whitney Houston in a planned biopic of the late singer.
However, Rihanna, 24, admits she would love to play the role.
Rihanna says she would love to play Whitney Houston in a biopic, following her recent big screen debut in action movie Battleship.
Rihanna has revealed she has not been offered the role of Whitney Houston in a planned biopic of the late singer
“I haven’t heard anything about that. If I was going to do a biopic, it would have to be someone I admire and she is definitely one of those. I’ve heard all the rumors but that’s it,” showbizspy.com quoted Rihanna as saying.
Rihanna reveals she also wants to experiment with different genres in the cinema world.
“I would love to try comedy. That is something I would really like to have a go at,” the singer said.
Kelley Lynch, Leonard Cohen’s former manager and partner, has been jailed for 18 months for harassing the singer-songwriter.
Kelley Lynch, 55, was found guilty by a Los Angeles court last week, after a sending a torrent of expletive-strewn emails and letters to Leonard Cohen.
She was also sentenced to five months probation and ordered to attend anger-management courses.
Leonard Cohen, 77, thanked the court for the “even-handed and elegant manner in which these proceedings have unfolded”.
“It was a privilege and education to testify in this courtroom,” he told an LA county superior court judge.
Kelley Lynch is not likely to spend her full sentence behind bars due to prison overcrowding in California.
She served as Leonard Cohen’s manager for 17 years, and the pair had a brief relationship.
Leonard Cohen fired, and then sued, Kelley Lynch in 2004 over the theft of millions of dollars from his personal fortune
But Leonard Cohen fired, and then sued, Kelley Lynch in 2004 over the theft of millions of dollars from his personal fortune.
A judge ordered Kelley Lynch to pay $9.5 million in damages, but her lawyers claimed she was unreachable and the money was never repaid.
Leonard Cohen, whose best-known songs include Hallelujah and Suzanne, later came out of retirement, in part to rebuild his finances.
Kelley Lynch’s campaign of harassment started soon after she was fired.
The court was shown binders of emails Kelley Lynch had sent Leonard Cohen, some of which ran to 50 pages.
In a statement made before the sentencing, Kelley Lynch accused prosecutors of carrying out a “vicious attack” on her.
However, she added: “I do believe that I have engaged in excessive and unauthorized rambling.”
“It gives me no pleasure to see my onetime friend shackled to a chair in a court of law,” said Leonard Cohen, “her considerable gifts bent to the service of darkness, deceit and revenge.”
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain says the weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix will go ahead despite protests.
“Cancelling the race just powers extremists. Having it allows us to build bridges and celebrate our nation as an idea that’s positive,” Prince Salman said.
Unrest in the Gulf state has led to calls for the race to be cancelled for the second year running.
On Friday, thousands attended a protest in Budaiya, demanding an end to the crackdown on dissent.
Riot police initially showed restraint, but when a group of about 100 protesters broke away and attempted to reach the site of the former Pearl Roundabout – the focus of last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations – they fired stun grenades and tear gas.
The overnight demonstrations called for the “overthrow of the regime” and the release of the human rights and political activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike in prison for more than 70 days in protest at the life sentence he received from a military tribunal in June.
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain says the weekend's Formula 1 Grand Prix will go ahead despite protests
Earlier in the day, the Force India team missed Friday’s second practice session because they wanted to return to their hotel before dark.
Four of their mechanics narrowly avoided being hit by petrol bombs during a clash between protesters and police on Wednesday.
On Thursday, a bus containing 12 mechanics from the Sauber team took to the hard shoulder after encountering a burning bottle in the road and seeing masked men running towards their lane. No-one was hurt in either incident.
Several British politicians have called for the race to be cancelled while Amnesty International said “not much has changed” in Bahrain since last year’s protests led to the deaths of more than 50 anti-government demonstrators.
Prime Minister David Cameron said it was a matter for Formula 1, but Labour leader Ed Milliband insisted it would send out the wrong signal if the grand prix went ahead at a time of protests over human rights abuses.
However, Prince Salman said he thought the race could be “a force for good”.
“I think this race should continue because it is indeed a very big event for this country, important economically, socially,” he said.
“It was only a few politicians who made those comments and it certainly doesn’t represent the entire British political system.”
Prince Salman, flanked by F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone, gave a media briefing at the track.
Bernie Ecclestone said: “We came here because this race asked to be put on the calendar. We’re happy and delighted it was.
“What happens in this country is nothing to do with us. This race has given the protesters an incredible platform for all you guys to talk to them.
“They say they talk about democracy, which is freedom of speech. They’ve had all the freedom in the world to talk.”
Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali said teams had been given assurances about their safety.
“With regard to security, we have received all the guarantees from the federation and the organiser and so far everything is under control. I don’t feel we as teams are the target of the protesters and that is really important,” he said.
“I would say there are two points. One there is the race, a sporting event, where we have to be focused as a team here in the paddock.
“Secondly, there is a political issue that is not really on our side to comment.”
A Bhoja Air jet carrying up to 127 people has crashed in a residential area near Islamabad international airport in Pakistan.
Aviation officials said the plane, flight BHO-213, was flying from Karachi to Islamabad when it crashed in bad weather minutes from landing.
Emergency teams are at the crash site, reported to be at Hussain Abad village near Bahria town.
There are no reports of survivors. Rescue teams are trying to assess if there are any casualties on the ground.
Reports suggest the plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying 118 passengers and 9 crew members, was making its final approach to the airport when the crash happened.
The Bhoja Air plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying 118 passengers and 9 crew members, was making its final approach to the airport when the crash happened
Even though rescue services were at the site, some people were searching the wreckage using light from their mobile phones, he added.
Witness Samab Ahmad SAID: “I’m working on a construction site not far from the landing strip and I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the plane crash land and then suddenly catch fire.
“It crashed on top of some sort of building, which could be residential. I can still see the fire from the distance. It’s a terrible, terrible scene. I heard the emergency services going to the scene too, including a helicopter.”
Saifur Rehman, from a police rescue team, told Geo TV: “Fire erupted after the crash. The wreckage is on fire, the plane is completely destroyed.”
A police official at the crash site, Fazle Akbar, told AFP news agency the plane had been totally destroyed and it would be a miracle if there were any survivors.
The jet left Karachi at around 17:00 local time and had been due to arrive at 18:50.
There were reports of rainstorms in the area at the time, but it is likely to take investigators weeks to determine the cause of the crash.
There have conflicting reports about the exact numbers of passengers and crew on board.
Bhoja Air is a small new commercial airline which was started about 10 years ago but closed because of financial difficulties. It recently re-opened.
Last July, an Airbus A321 crashed as it was about to land in Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board.
Although Pakistan’s air industry has been booming, critics say standards have not always kept pace with the increase in services.
From the moment Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007, no French president in modern times has been the object of such blatant dislike.
It is an animosity quite distinct from opposition to his actual policies.
All leaders expect hostility for the things they do. Few get it in such measure for the things they are.
“There is an irrational hatred of Nicolas Sarkozy among much of the public, and it is playing a major part in this election,” says Jean-Sebastien Ferjou who edits the news website Atlantico.
“I say <<irrational>> because that is what it is. Polls show that if you ask people about this or that policy of Sarkozy’s – but don’t mention his name – they will tend to support it.
“But they’re still not going to vote for him.”
For Jean-Sebastien Ferjou, the main reason for the hostility is that Nicolas Sarkozy was the first French leader to declare himself unashamedly on the political right.
“It is ironic because in fact he is ideologically totally unstructured. His talent is for energy and movement, and it is impossible to say what sort of intellectual history he comes from,” says Jean-Sebastien Ferjou.
“But he sent out a message very clearly that he was not embarrassed about saying he was on the right – and this set off a huge backlash of hostility.
“You have to understand that for years the right in France has totally abandoned the intellectual debate to the left.
“For so-called <<right-wing>> parties, the only argument they put forward was that they were better managers than the left. They could run things better. But they had surrendered in the battle of ideas and values.
“Sarkozy ended that complicity, and people hated him for it.”
From the moment Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007, no French president in modern times has been the object of such blatant dislike
The tone for this “Sarkophobia” is set in the cafes and cultural salons of bourgeois Paris, where the president is routinely viewed as vulgar, money-obsessed, semi-racist and dangerous.
Recently the film director Mathieu Kassowitz said that if the president made it to round two of the election, it would show that France was a “neo-fascist collaborationist” country.
The entertainer Christophe Aleveque said in an interview that Nicolas Sarkozy is “dangerous… from another planet… a fool who believes his own lies… psychologically not normal”.
“If he loves money so much that is fine, but it is his problem, so may I suggest he get a job in a bank or something. And leave us alone!” he said.
Five years after Nicolas Sarkozy celebrated his 2007 election victory at the pricey Champs-Elysees restaurant Le Fouquet’s, this is still held up as a symbol of his supposed jet-set lifestyle.
However, as his supporters grow tired of pointing out, senior Socialists are regularly seen dining in expensive Paris eateries. President Francois Mitterrand had no shortage of wealthy friends.
In 2002, the wife of the Socialist candidate Lionel Jospin told a magazine profiler how she did her shopping at Le Bon Marche – the Paris equivalent of Harrod’s food hall.
But being a sophisticated display of wealth,that was considered acceptable.
For the right-wing lawyer and polemicist Gilles-William Goldnadel, the roots of the anti-Sarkozism lie in a public culture still in thrall to the allure of the left.
“It is that old tradition – revolutionary, romantic – which will attack anything that smacks of money or privilege,” he says.
“And it’s allied to a journalistic profession that is overwhelmingly on the left.
“Polls show that 80 to 95% of journalists are on the left or far-left, and with their obsessive focus on the so-called vices of Nicolas Sarkozy, they are pushing the same agenda.”
Another interpretation of Sarkophobia is offered by writer Andre Bercoff, author of La Chasse au Sarko (The Sarko Hunt).
He says the real reason people dislike the president is not “Fouquet’s or bling-bling or all that nonsense. It’s because he broke the rules of how to be president.
“When de Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic, he created a presidency that was very like a monarchy. And since then all presidents, of left and right, have been happy to go along with that.
“But then along came Sarkozy who said, <<I don’t want to be a king – I want to be a politician. I want to be like a football coach>>. And the people really resent him for it.”
For Andre Bercoff, the other reason why the president is loathed is that he has told the French some inconvenient truths.
“The French were happy as long as they were ruled by a Mitterrand or Chirac, leaders who nurtured their post-Revolutionary belief that the French are a kind of chosen people for whom the normal rules of economics don’t apply,” he says.
“There is still a widespread feeling in France that we should set the path to a new way of being. Look at the success of (far-left candidate) Jean-Luc Melenchon.
“But Sarkozy punctured that illusion – and again people hate him for it.”
Jean-Sebastien Ferjou, Gilles-William Goldnadel and Andre Bercoff all believe that Nicolas Sarkozy has already lost the election, and that the prevailing anti-Sarkozism is a major cause.
But at Sorbonne University, sociology professor Michel Maffesoli is not so sure.
He agrees that Nicolas Sarkozy is the butt of an official culture whose exponents in the media, universities and the arts are overwhelmingly hostile.
But he draws a distinction between published opinion – the views of the intelligentsia – and public opinion.
And with the mass of the population, he argues, the president has far more of a rapport than is ever acknowledged.
“French public life has been dominated for two or three centuries by the rationalist ideas of the Enlightenment.
“But these ideas, which we might describe as those that have shaped ‘modernity’, are now giving way to the ideas and values of <<post-modernity>>,” he says.
“Post-modernity, which is the condition our societies are moving into, is far more anchored around the emotional than the rational or intellectual.
“And Sarkozy seems to have grasped this instinctively. He is far more in phase with ordinary people than are the intellectuals who govern public life.”
Michel Maffesoli does not believe in opinion polls, because he says people know what they are expected to say, and so underplay their support for Nicolas Sarkozy.
“But in the voting-booth it is different. The booth is like a womb where people reconnect with the purely emotional. It means going with their gut rather than their brains.
“That’s why I think Sarkozy can still do it.”
It seems a bit of a long shot. Whatever Michel Maffesoli thinks of them, the opinion polls are pretty categoric.
But as Jean-Sebastien Ferjou also points out: “More than 60% of people voting for Hollande say they are going to do it purely to get rid of Sarkozy.”
Perhaps not the most positive way to embark on a new political era.
Supermodel Heidi Klum has tweeted one of her earliest modeling snaps and she looks completely different to her appearance now.
In the picture, taken in 1992, when Heidi Klum was just 19-years-old, the German model is seen in a prom dress posing on a bed with dolls and stuffed animals surrounding her.
Yesterday, Heidi Klum, 38, posted the snap and told fans: “Wow! Check out this picture from 1992. One of my very first photo shoots. This is my original hair color!”
Heidi Klum has tweeted one of her earliest modeling snaps and she looks completely different to her appearance now
Heidi Klum won a national contest out of 25,000 contestants called Model 92 which kick started her modeling career.
She received a contract with Thomas Zeumer, CEP of Metropolitan Models New York but it wasn’t until she landed a Victoria’s Secret job that her profile soared.
While Heidi Klum, now a mother-of-four, looks dramatically different compared to in the early years of her career she says she hasn’t and wouldn’t have any plastic surgery.
The supermodel told Allure magazine: “I’m proud to be able to say, in this day and age, I haven’t done anything. Everyone has a view of what’s not pretty and [plastic surgery] just doesn’t look pretty to me. Especially when I see it on really young girls.”
Heidi Klum also opened up about her split from singer Seal, describing the end of her marriage as a “curveball”.
Nestle, the world’s biggest food group, has reported rising sales but says it is having a “challenging year”.
The Swiss company said its sales in the first three months of 2012 were 21.4 billion Swiss francs ($23.4 billion), up 5.6% from the same period last year.
The group behind KitKat and Nespresso said that the trading environment had been subdued in many developed markets.
But it added that in most emerging markets “conditions remain dynamic and rich in growth opportunities”.
Nestle, the world's biggest food group has reported rising sales but says it is having a "challenging year"
Nestle struggled in 2011 with the strength of the Swiss franc, which cut its earnings by 13.4% in the full year.
But in the past six months the Swiss central bank has been intervening to weaken its currency and support the country’s exporters.
Nestle said an expected “improved raw material environment” in the second half of the year together with rising prices meant it could maintain its forecast of improved earnings and profit margins for the full year.
It did not comment on the deal it is expected to finalize this month to buy Pfizer’s infant nutrition business for about $9 billion.
Researchers from UK Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology have succeeded in mimicking the chemistry of life in synthetic versions of DNA and RNA molecules.
The work shows that DNA and its chemical cousin RNA are not unique in their ability to encode information and to pass it on through heredity.
The work, reported in Science, is promising for future “synthetic biology” and biotechnology efforts.
It also hints at the idea that if life exists elsewhere, it could be bound by evolution but not by similar chemistry.
In fact, one reason to mimic the functions of DNA and RNA – which helps cells to manufacture proteins – is to determine how they came about at the dawn of life on Earth; many scientists believe that RNA arose first but was preceded by a simpler molecule that performed the same function.
However, it has remained unclear if any other molecule can participate in the same unzipping and copying processes that give DNA and RNA their ability to pass on the information they carry in the sequences of their nucleobases – the five letters from which the genetic code is written.
The classic double-helix structure of DNA is like a twisted ladder, where the steps are made from paired nucleobases (RNA is typically a single helix).
Researchers have succeeded in mimicking the chemistry of life in synthetic versions of DNA and RNA molecules
Philipp Holliger and a team of colleagues created six different DNA- and RNA-like molecules – xeno-nucleic acids, or XNAs – by replacing not the nucleobases but the sugar groups that make up the sides of the ladder.
“There’s a lot of chemistry that seeks to build alternative nucleic acids, and people have been modifying the bases, the sugars and the backbone, but what we were focusing on was the type of nucleic acid or polymers that would retain the ability to communicate with the natural DNA,” Dr. Philipp Holliger explained in an interview for the Science podcast.
Because the nucleobases themselves were the same as those of DNA and RNA, the resulting molecules were able to join with their natural counterparts.
The effect is similar to work recently published in Nature Chemistry, showing that another sugar-substituted DNA analogue could be made to pair up with DNA itself.
But the crucial point in creating a full “synthetic genetics” is a set of nucleic acids like DNA and RNA that can not only carry genetic information, but would also allow it to be changed and passed on – evolution and heredity.
That requires a set of helper molecules called polymerases, which, once DNA or RNA “unzip” and expose their genetic information, help create new DNA molecules from those instructions.
Dr. Philipp Holliger and his colleagues have developed polymerases that efficiently transcribe the code of their synthetic DNA to natural DNA and then from that back to another synthetic DNA.
The process of evolution was encouraged in the lab; one of their DNA analogues was designed to cling to a particular protein or RNA target, those that failed to do so were washed away.
As successive copies of those that stuck were made, variations in the genetic code – and the resulting structure the molecules took on – led to ever more tightly attached XNAs.
“We’ve been able to show that both heredity – information storage and propagation – and evolution, which are really two hallmarks of life, can be reproduced and implemented in alternative polymers other than DNA and RNA,” Dr. Philipp Holliger explained.
“There is nothing <<Goldilocks>> about DNA and RNA – there is no overwhelming functional imperative for genetic systems or biology to be based on these two nucleic acids.”
In an accompanying article in Science, Gerald Joyce of the Scripps Research Institute wrote that “the work heralds the era of synthetic genetics, with implications for exobiology [life elsewhere in the Universe], biotechnology, and understanding of life itself”.
But the work does not yet represent a full synthetic genetics platform, he pointed out. For that, a self-replicating system that does not require the DNA intermediary must be developed.
With that in hand, “construction of genetic systems based on alternative chemical platforms may ultimately lead to the synthesis of novel forms of life”.
The suspicious death of Mary Pinchot Meyer, one of President John F. Kennedy’s mistresses, just months after his death, has sparked numerous conspiracy theories.
A new book claims that socialite Mary Pinchot Meyer, a beautiful divorcee who was close friends with the Kennedys and is widely known for having a lengthy affair with the playboy President, was shot in a cover-up operation by the CIA.
Mary’s Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy. Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision of World Peace by Peter Janney alleges that, in her preoccupation with her lover’s assassination and ensuing personal investigation, Mary Pinchot Meyer may have gotten so close to the “truth” that the CIA found her to be a threat.
As a result, CIA operatives staged a shooting to make it look like Mary Pinchot Meyer died due to a sexual assault that turned violent.
Whether or not the theory is true, there are a number of questionable components to the story of the months leading up to Mary Pinchot Meyer’s death on October 12, 1964.
Mary's Mosaic: The CIA Conspiracy to Murder John F. Kennedy. Mary Pinchot Meyer, and Their Vision of World Peace by Peter Janney
Her ex-husband, Cord Meyer, was a CIA agent himself and the couple were card-carrying members of Georgetown’s starry social set, which included then-Senator John F. Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline.
The couples became close friends, along with Mary Pinchot Meyer’s sister Antoinette (who went by Tony) and her husband Ben Bradlee, who was a bureau chief for Newsweek but later went on to be the managing editor of The Washington Post.
Another couple that they spent time with was Mary Pinchot Meyer’s Vassar classmate Cicely d’Autremont and her husband James Angleton, who was the chief of the counter surveillance for the CIA.
Mary Pinchot Meyer, widely known for having a lengthy affair with JFK, was shot in a cover-up operation by the CIA
In the book, the author claims that Mary Pinchot Meyer would often bring marijuana and LSD to her trysts with the President.
During their conversations while on these hallucinogens, Mary Pinchot Meyer reportedly tried to appeal to JFK’s pacifist nature and urged him to seek peaceful solutions to such worldwide crises like the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.
At the time, LSD was not illegal, and many, including Harvard professor Timothy Leary, advocated its use because they believed it helped people expand their knowledge base.
Peter Janney’s book is not the first to draw conclusions between Mary Pinchot Meyer’s friendship with Timothy Leary and her intentions with her relationship with JFK.
He goes on to say that Mary Pinchot Meyer was later murdered by the CIA, who he believes organized JFK’s assassination in an effort to stop him from preventing violent escalation that they wanted in the Cold War.
Though The Huffington Post thought that the book rested largely on substantial assumptions, these theories have been in existence for some time.
One question lies in the existence- and retrieval- of Mary Pinchot Meyer’s diary that included writings about her affair with JFK.
Within a day of her murder, Ben Bradlee went over to her home to find the diary and, though the door was locked, he found James Angleton.
The CIA spymaster said that he also was looking for the diary but claimed that it was because his wife – Mary Pinchot Meyer’s friend – had asked him to.
The whereabouts of the diary today are uncertain.
Another clue erring on the side of the conspiracy is that while Mary Pinchot Meyer’s ex-husband included a statement of support for the police investigation of her murder, his assistant supposedly said that it was a lie and he did truly believe it to be a standard “in house rub out”.
In an interview shortly before his death in 2001, Cord Meyer said that “the same sons of b****es that killed John F. Kennedy” killed his ex-wife.
Police arrested Robert Crump, a man who was found near the scene of the crime, but had no connection to the murder weapon, which was never found, or any prior history with Cord Meyer.
According to a senior Chinese journalist, police knew British businessman Neil Heywood had been murdered in Chongqing last November and that a cover-up began immediately.
Police panicked when they realized the case could be linked to top politician Bo Xilai and his wife, Gu Kailai.
It was only this month that authorities named Gu Kailai as a suspect and promised an investigation.
Bo Xilai has been sacked, amid China’s biggest political scandal in decades.
Neil Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on 15 November 2011. Local officials initially said he died of excessive drinking.
Chinese police panicked when they realized Neil Heywood case could be linked to top politician Bo Xilai
Police who arrived at the hotel immediately knew he was killed, and panicked after they realized the case was linked to Bo Xilai, said the journalist.
Three of the investigators asked to resign out of fear. It was at this point that ex-police chief Wang Lijun became involved, the source said.
In January, Wang Lijun told his boss Bo Xilai about the case. He was sacked and subsequently sought refuge at the American consulate in Chengdu, where he reportedly told US officials about the murder and sought to defect.
That sparked the biggest political scandal in China in years, ahead of a leadership change in Beijing due to get under way in October.
State media have reported that Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, an orderly at Bo Xilai’s home, have been arrested. Bo Xilai is also under investigation for ”serious discipline violations”.
American company Princess Cruises says it deeply regrets that one of its ships failed to stop to help a fishing boat adrift in the Pacific Ocean.
Two of the three Panamanians on board the disabled vessel later died.
Princess Cruises said that although passengers on the cruise ship had spotted the castaways and alerted staff, the captain had not been told.
The one surviving fisherman – Adrian Vasquez, 18 – was later rescued after 28 days at sea.
Adrian Vasquez had reported that – after 16 days adrift – he and his companions saw a cruise ship sailing past, despite desperate attempts to flag it down.
Three birdwatchers on board the cruise ship – the Star Princess – said they had spotted the fishermen waving for help and told ship staff, but had been unable to persuade them to change course.
Princess Cruises says it deeply regrets that Star Princess ship failed to stop to help a fishing boat adrift in the Pacific Ocean
In a statement, Princess Cruises said a preliminary investigation had found that there appeared to have been a “breakdown in communication” in relaying the passengers’ concern.
It said Captain Edward Perrin and the officer of the watch were not notified.
“Understandably, Captain Perrin is devastated that he is being accused of knowingly turning his back on people in distress,” the statement said.
“Had the captain received this information, he would have had the opportunity to respond.”
Princess Cruises added that it understood its responsibility under the law of the sea to help any vessel in distress, and said its ships had been involved in more than 30 rescues over the past decade.
It said the investigation was continuing.
Adrian Vasquez was eventually rescued 1,000 km (620 miles) off the mainland, near the Galapagos Islands.
He said he survived after his friends died thanks to a sudden rainstorm that replenished his drinking water supplies.
Adrian Vasquez told the Associated Press he still felt anger at the ship he saw sail past two weeks before his rescue.
The notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater, say scientists who have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across the continent.
They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface.
The team have produced the most detailed map yet of the scale and potential of this hidden resource.
Writing in the journal Environmental Research Letters, they stress that large scale drilling might not be the best way of increasing water supplies.
Across Africa more than 300 million people are said not to have access to safe drinking water.
Demand for water is set to grow markedly in coming decades due to population growth and the need for irrigation to grow crops.
Freshwater rivers and lakes are subject to seasonal floods and droughts that can limit their availability for people and for agriculture. At present only 5% of arable land is irrigated.
Now scientists have for the first time been able to carry out a continent-wide analysis of the water that is hidden under the surface in aquifers. Researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and University College London (UCL) have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across the continent.
Scientists have mapped in detail the amount and potential yield of this groundwater resource across Africa
Helen Bonsor is from the BGS is one of the authors of the paper. She says that up until now groundwater was out of sight and out of mind. She hopes the new maps will open people’s eyes to the potential.
“Where there’s greatest ground water storage is in northern Africa, in the large sedimentary basins, in Libya, Algeria and Chad,” she said.
“The amount of storage in those basins is equivalent to 75 m thickness of water across that area – it’s a huge amount.”
Due to changes in climate that have turned the Sahara into a desert over centuries many of the aquifers underneath were last filled with water over 5,000 years ago.
The scientists collated their information from existing hydro-geological maps from national governments as well as 283 aquifer studies.
The researchers say their new maps indicate that many countries currently designated as “water scarce” have substantial groundwater reserves.
However, the scientists are cautious about the best way of accessing these hidden resources. They suggest that widespread drilling of large boreholes might not work.
Dr. Alan MacDonald, lead author of the study, said: “High yielding boreholes should not be developed without a thorough understanding of the local groundwater conditions.
“Appropriately sited and developed boreholes for low yielding rural water supply and hand pumps are likely to be successful.”
With many aquifers not being filled due to a lack of rain, the scientists are worried that large-scale borehole developments could rapidly deplete the resource.
According to Helen Bonsor, sometimes the slower means of extraction can be more efficient.
“Much lower storage aquifers are present across much of sub-Saharan Africa,” she explained.
“However, our work shows that with careful exploring and construction, there is sufficient groundwater under Africa to support low yielding water supplies for drinking and community irrigation.”
The scientists say that there are sufficient reserves to be able to cope with the vagaries of climate change.
“Even in the lowest storage aquifers in semi arid areas with currently very little rainfall, ground water is indicated to have a residence time in the ground of 20 to 70 years.” Dr. Helen Bonsor said.
“So at present extraction rates for drinking and small scale irrigation for agriculture groundwater will provide and will continue to provide a buffer to climate variability.”
