A video of toddler William Stokkebroe dancing the jive to Elvis Presley’s Jailhouse Rock has attracted more than 3.8 million hits, 15,000 likes, and almost 1,700 comments on YouTube.
The two-year-old learned his smooth moves from his parents Kristina and Peter Stokkebroe, who run dance studio Studie43 in Denmark, according to the video’s description.
William Stokkebroe wins over the crowd by gyrating his hips, clapping, tapping his feet and attempting to sing along to the hit song.
Dressed like a true pro in a checked shirt and jeans, William Stokkebroe wows his captive audiences, who laugh and cheer, as he throws some shapes on the dance floor.
William Stokkebroe, 2, wins over the crowd by gyrating his hips, clapping, tapping his feet and attempting to sing along to Jailhouse Rock
The tiny dancer imitates Elvis’s signature moves, while incorporating some of his own style, jumping high in the air and pulling a series of funny faces.
At the end of his crowd-pleasing performance, the toddler takes a triumphant bow, applauds himself, blows a kiss to his fans and high-fives a familiar face.
Internet users reacted with delight at the adorable video. Denisethepainter posted: “ELVIS! You’re BACK! That is one super cool baby! Amazing and soooo CUTE!”
Marginalacz said: “Lucky kid, he already knows what to do in life, I am 25 and still have no idea.”
Charla Nash, the woman who lost her eyesight, lips, nose and hands in a vicious chimp attack, says she feels at home in her new skin two years after her face transplant.
Charla Nash, 58, who nearly died in the horrific mauling, told the Hartford Courant exclusively that she feels no different than she did before the attack.
“I just feel like it’s my face,” Charla Nash said.
“It’s just not working real good.”
Charla Nash, a single mother from Stamford, Connecticut, told the Hartford Courant that she’s regaining movements in her face and can express herself with various motions.
“Every day, my muscles get better,” she said.
Sandra Herold, Charla Nash’s friend and owner of the 200-lb chimp Travis, died of an aneurism in 2010. Charla Nash said that if she could say anything to her former boss and friend, she would say: “Sorry that all this happened. And, nothing we can change now.”
However, Charla Nash added that Sandra Herold was “a trouble person” that was more worried about her pet – who was shot and killed after the attack – than she was of her.
Charla Nash says she feels at home in her new skin two years after her face transplant
In past interviews, Charla Nash revealed that having a new face allowed her simple human pleasures – she has regained her sense of smell and can eat again.
Charla Nash is even regaining sensation in her forehead, cheeks, eyebrow, and nose.
But most of all, she’s learning how to smile.
“It creases up here,” she told the Hartford Courant as she pointed at her mouth.
In the interview, Charla Nash also spoke of long years of rehabilitation, and the hope of regaining some semblance of independence.
“I don’t know what the future’s doing (sic) to bring… so I don’t get my hopes up,” she said. Though she added that she wants to progress far enough that she can again ride horses and live in her own house.
Charla Nash said she misses simple things – like being able to bargain hunt, bask in the sunshine, or even look at her 20-year-old daughter, Brianna.
“I have to depend on a lot of help,” Charla Nash she said.
“My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.”
Charla Nash also gets phantom pains in her hands, despite the fact that they were removed after the 2009 attack.
Transplants added in surgery later had to be removed because of dangerous complications.
In an interview with ABC 7 last month, Charla Nash – who likes being called Charlie – said she doesn’t want anybody’s pity.
“I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,” Charla Nash said.
“I want to be like everyone else.”
There are very real financial concerns as well. Her surgery, care, and rehabilitation have cost millions.
According to the Hartford Courant, there is a $150 million case pending against the state of Connecticut for allegedly not protecting its citizens from an unsafe creature.
One state employee reportedly wrote in a memo that Travis’ attack was “an accident waiting to happen”.
“I hope that I do get my day in court,” Charla Nash said.
She has been told by doctors that she needs to work on bulking up, as she is still quite thin for her 5ft 10in frame.
Charla Nash, who was blinded in the 2009 attack, was fitted with brown glass eyes and hopes to get a double hand transplant after the first one failed.
She received a revolutionary full-face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston nearly two years after the attack.
The operation – performed by a team of more than 30 surgeons and nurses – and subsequent recovery were widely covered.
Prior to the surgery, Charla Nash hid her face under a veil, saying that she chose to wear it “so I don’t scare people”.
International Space Station (ISS) crew took refuge in two Soyuz escape capsules as a piece of space junk drifted nearby.
The debris – a discarded piece of Russian rocket – was detected on Friday when it was too late to move the ISS.
NASA said the debris was barely close enough to be a threat but that precautionary measures had to be taken.
It is the third time in 12 years that the ISS has faced a possible collision with space junk.
In June 2011, a piece of debris came within 335 m (1,100 ft) of the platform.
The ISS is currently manned by three Russians, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut.
They were ordered by ground control to move into two Soyuz escape capsules in case the station was hit, but a NASA spokesman said they were given the green light to return to the main station at 02:38 GMT on Saturday.
The “sheltering exercise” was carried out with “due diligence and in a very precautionary and conservative fashion”, said the unnamed spokesman.
“Everything went by the book and as expected, the small piece of cosmos satellite debris passed the international space station without incident.”
ISS crew took refuge in two Soyuz escape capsules as a piece of space junk drifted nearby
Russia’s space agency said the debris had passed the station at a distance of 23 km (14 miles).
“The cosmonauts have returned to performing their previously assigned work,” an official told Interfax news agency.
NASA says it is actively tracking some 22,000 pieces of space debris, but there are millions of objects left over from decades of space travel drifting in Earth’s orbit.
They range in size from smaller than a centimetre across to large chunks of rockets, defunct satellites or discarded fuel tanks.
All are travelling at several kilometres per second and could cause serious damage to the ISS or vital satellites if they collided.
The single biggest debris-generating event happened in 2007, when China used a missile to destroy one of its own satellites. The explosion created more than 3,000 trackable objects and an estimated 150,000 debris particles.
Then in 2009, a Russian and American satellite collided, releasing tons of debris.
Attempts are being made to avoid such incidents happened again by drawing up an international code of conduct for space exploration.
The US announced in January that it was backing EU countries in working towards the code to address long-term safety and security concerns and establish “guidelines for the responsible use of space”.
Countries backing the code would also commit to exploring space for peaceful purposes only and to not attacking each other’s satellites.
But critics say such a code would not be legally binding, and concerns remain about countries being obliged to share information on satellites used for military purposes.
India, China and Russia, all of which have advanced space programmes, have not yet said they will back the code.
Whitney Houston died by drowning in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton Hotel suite, according to the LA coroner, but it was also determined that a non-lethal level of cocaine was found in her body, and that long-term cocaine abuse contributed to her death.
So far left unanswered is whether any illegal drugs were found at the scene, whether anybody from Whitney Houston’s entourage is suspected of cleaning up the area before paramedics arrived, and how she obtained the drugs.
“It’s still an open investigation for us,” Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen told People magazine when asked if cocaine was found in the hotel room.
“I can’t disclose any details about the investigation.”
Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter previously confirmed that prescription bottles were found at the scene but that the medications were “not in an alarming amount.” The coroner has not commented on whether illegal drugs were also found.
Whitney Houston’s death is still an open investigation for police
Whitney Houston, 48, was found unresponsive and underwater in the tub on February 11, a day before the Grammy Awards, and was pronounced dead at the scene soon afterward.
The star had a long and well-publicized battle with substance abuse and went into rehab several times, including a stint in May 2011 in an outpatient program for what her reps said was drug and alcohol treatment.
The coroner’s office on Thursday released only a brief synopsis of its findings. A full autopsy report, which typically includes details of what investigators find at the death scene and witness interviews, is expected in about two weeks.
What the coroner is announcing is that based on a February 12 autopsy and toxicology tests: “The final cause of death has been determined to be drowning (and) effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.”
Cocaine, according to the report, was “contributory to death.” Also found in her system were marijuana, Xanax, the muscle relaxant Flexeril and Benadryl, “but did not contribute to the death.”
The bottom line, according to the report: “No trauma or foul play is suspected.”
Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Mexico, being greeted by thousands in central city of Guanajuato, and welcomed by President Felipe Calderon.
The Pope is at the start of his first visit to Spanish-speaking Latin-America.
President Felipe Calderon said the visit had enormous importance as Mexico was suffering greatly from drug-related violence.
Before his arrival, the Pope said it was vital “to fight this evil” and urged the young to renounce drugs. After Mexico, he will travel to Cuba.
Pope Benedict XVI said Marxism there was no longer working.
He said the ideology no longer corresponded to reality and called for “new models” to be found.
The Pope made it clear that “the Church is always on the side of freedom of thought and of religion”.
Pope Benedict was welcomed by cheering crowds at Guanajuato on Friday. Supporters at the airport chanted: “Benedict, brother, you are now Mexican!”
The pontiff then led a short blessing on a specially erected platform within the airport.
Pope Benedict XVI was welcomed by the Mexican President Felipe Calderon
All day under a hot sun, thousands of cheering followers – dressed in white and yellow T-shirts and waving flags – lined the route to the city of Leon to catch a glimpse of Benedict as he passed in the armour-plated Popemobile.
Security is tight – with the federal police and military deployed in large numbers.
Pope Benedict XVI is due to hold talks with President Calderon later on Saturday.
He will also spend time in the city of Silao, near Leon.
On Sunday some 300,000 people are expected to attend Mass, and huge camp sites have been set up to give pilgrims somewhere to stay.
Earlier, while on route to Mexico, Pope Benedict told journalists: “I share Mexicans’ joy and hope but also their anguish and grief,” referring to the country’s drug related violence, which has taken 50,000 lives in the past five years.
One Mexican supporter said: “With this wave of violence that we’re living, not just in individual states but across the country, the Pope’s visit could be a great source of comfort.”
Some 88% of Mexicans – almost 100 million people – are Roman Catholic, and the Pope’s predecessor, John Paul II, was a regular visitor to the country.
Pope Benedict XVI is not regarded with the same affection yet, but there is undoubtedly excitement about the visit among the faithful.
The Pope faces sensitive issues in Cuba.
This week the campaign group Amnesty International reported that life was getting harder for dissidents there.
Earlier this month, activists were evicted from a church they had occupied in the capital, Havana, demanding an audience with the Pope.
In Havana, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the government was open to opinions that differed from its own, in a reference to the Pope’s comments that Marxism there was no longer working.
Rihanna was pictured leaving Ashton Kutcher’s $10 million bachelor pad in the middle of the night, but it has now been revealed that the singer has enjoyed an eight week fling with the actor.
Rihanna, 24, has reportedly been enjoying late-night trysts with Ashton Kutcher after hitting it off with him at a friend’s party in December.
The popstar is apparently so besotted with Ashton Kutcher, that she’s asked about joining his Kabbalah group.
Rihanna was spotted by a photographer as she drove up to Ashton Kutcher’s property with her security team around midnight.
The snapper confirmed to TMZ that Rihanna arrived almost square on the witching hour and didn’t leave until roughly 4:00 a.m.
It was revealed that Rihanna has enjoyed an eight week fling with Ashton Kutcher
A source told The Sun: “The flirting began as soon as Rihanna and Ashton met and swapped numbers. That moved onto texts and arranging to meet. They snuck off to a santa Monica hotel a few weeks ago.
“They are two single people having a fling, so thought it would be best to meet in secret.
“Rihanna has told friends he’s funny and cute. Both of them love a good time and think they’re too busy for anything serious just yet. She’s starting to enquire about Kabbalah sessions with his rabbi.
“If she and Ashton are getting really close, she wants to be able to understand it.”
The source said he didn’t want to rub another relationship in estrange wife Demi Moore’s face.
“He’s a good guy and, with all Demi’s recent health problems, people have forgotten that.”
Rihanna has come under fire recently for asking her ex Chris Brown to work with her after he brutally beat her two years ago.
Meanwhile, Ashton Kutcher is still maligned for cheating on Demi Moore and creating the scandal that led to their marriage breakdown.
A previously unknown Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart piano composition, believed to have been written when he was as young as 10, has been uncovered in Austria.
The piece, thought to have been composed in 1767 or 1768, was found in a notebook in an attic.
Researchers recently determined there was strong evidence Allegro Molto is a Mozart composition.
It was transcribed into a notebook bearing the name Del Signore Giovane Wolfgango Mozart.
Although the music was not written in the hand of Mozart or his father Leopold, historians at Salzburg’s Mozarteum foundation strongly believe it is by the burgeoning composer.
A previously unknown Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart piano composition, believed to have been written when he was as young as 10, has been uncovered in Austria
Music expert Hildegard Herrmann-Schneider said only Leopold Mozart used this name when writing down his son’s name.
The 160-page handwritten notebook, dated 1780, also contained musical works written by Mozart’s father.
Austrian musician Florian Birsak performed the four-minute piece at Mozart’s childhood home on his original piano.
Florian Birsak said: “It’s not just anyone’s piece, there is already a touch of the great Mozart he later became.”
In 2009, researchers uncovered two pieces of music believed to have been written when Mozart was seven or eight.
Sugar, a very lucky cat from Boston, may have used up more than one of her nine lives after she fell out of the 19th floor of her owner’s apartment building.
Miraculously, Brittany Kirk’s white furred cat survived the 200 feet fall from the high rise window in Boston and walked away without a scratch or broken bone.
Brittany Kirk had cracked the window open in her apartment to let in the breeze because of the particularly warm weather on Wednesday.
Somehow, the one-year-old cat managed to get onto the ledge and fell out of the window.
Luckily for Sugar, she dodged bricks and concrete and landed on a very small patch of mulch.
Brittany Kirk told CBS Boston that she definitely believes in the old saying about nine lives.
“I think she probably used one or two or maybe eight.”
When workers with the Animal Rescue League examined Sugar, they found that she only had minor bruising on the lungs
When workers with the Animal Rescue League examined the cat, they found that she only had minor bruising on the lungs.
A resident in the West End building said she saw a “white streak” go by her window that afternoon and then saw Sugar after she hit the ground.
Mike Brammer, assistant manager for the Animal Rescue League told MSNBC.com: “You could see the impact crater where she actually did hit the ground and she actually lost some fur in the hole, too.”
After the fall, Sugar had bounced back up and ran back into the apartment building in Storrow Drive.
“Considering what she had been through, she was in really good shape,” Mike Brammer said in the report.
Surprisingly, rescuers say research suggests that cats have a better chance of surviving falls when they’re from higher than nine floors.
“The cats were able to relax, orient themselves in a flying squirrel position with the legs spread out. It slowed their descent down.”
After the incident, Brittany Kirk called the managers of her high rise to have a screen installed on her window.
“I’m just so thankful. When I came home from work today and I saw her, I was just very thankful. It’s a miracle,” Brittany Kirk told CBS Boston.
Tori Spelling has announced she is pregnant with her fourth child.
Tori Spelling, 38, who is married to Dean McDermott, announced the happy news on her Twitter account today.
The former Beverly Hills 90210 star posted a message saying: “Our family has some exciting and life changing news to share,” which linked to her website.
Tori Spelling wrote: “Dean, Liam, Stella, Hattie, and I are beyond thrilled to announce that another little McDermott is on the way!
“We feel truly blessed that another angel has found us.”
The actress also posted a picture of her bump with her children’s hands resting on top of it.
Tori Spelling has announced she is pregnant with her fourth child
Tori Spelling has fallen pregnant just five months after giving birth to Hattie.
Given that couples normally wait to the three-month mark before announcing the happy news it is likely she fell pregnant in December after welcoming her third child in October.
In April 2011, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, who married in 2006, took to Twitter to announce they were expecting their third child.
After giving birth to Hattie, Tori Spelling spoke of her desire to have a large family.
She revealed: “People say, <<Oh my God, it’s utter chaos after two>>. But it’s not, it’s great.
“You lost your mind after the second one, so the third fourth and fifth, it’s like you’re so far gone, it’s just kind of the same.”
Dean Mcdermott, 46, added: “As soon as I saw it was positive and it was a pregnancy, we both thought we need to have a fourth – at the same time.”
Kazakhstan’s shooting team has been left stunned after Borat spoof anthem was played during a medal ceremony at the 10th Arab Shooting Competition in Kuwait instead of the real one.
Kazakh team asked for an apology and the medal ceremony was later rerun.
The team’s coach told Kazakh media the organizers had downloaded the parody from the internet by mistake.
The song was produced by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat movie, which shows Kazakhs as backward and bigoted.
Footage of Thursday’s original ceremony posted on YouTube shows gold medalist Maria Dmitrienko listening to the anthem without emotion and finally smiling as it ends.
Kazakh gold medalist Maria Dmitrienko listened to the Borat anthem without emotion and finally smiling as it ends
Coach Anvar Yunusmetov told Kazakh news agency Tengrinews that the tournament’s organizers had also got the Serbian national anthem wrong.
“Then Maria Dmitrienko’s turn came,” Anvar Yunusmetov said.
“She got up on to the pedestal and they played a completely different anthem, offensive to Kazakhstan.”
The spoof song praises Kazakhstan for its superior potassium exports and for having the cleanest prostitutes in the region.
The film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, released in 2006, follows Sacha Baron Cohen’s character, the journalist Borat Sagdiyev, as he travels to the US and pursues the actress Pamela Anderson.
The film outraged people in Kazakhstan and was eventually banned in the country. The government also threatened Sacha Baron Cohen with legal action.
Jarno Smeets, the man who posted on YouTube a video of himself apparently conducting a successful test flight of a “wing-suit” he’d invented , has admitted it was a hoax.
In the widely viewed film the “inventor” – a Dutch man calling himself “Jarno Smeets” – appears to fly using a contraption powered and controlled by the flapping of his arms.
But an animator and film-maker called Floris Kaayk has now admitted that he is in fact Jarno Smeets.
And Floris Kaayk says he faked the whole thing.
Floris Kaayk created an elaborate back-story behind the supposed invention, claiming it was inspired by sketches of a “flying bicycle” his grandfather had designed, which his mother had found in the attic of his home.
Animator and film-maker called Floris Kaayk has now admitted that he is in fact Birdman Jarno Smeets
He claimed to have used Wii technology to co-ordinate the flapping motion of his arms to a huge pair of wings made from hang-glider fabric.
The video was a huge hit on YouTube, and quickly went viral, being picked up by media organizations around the world.
But viewers started to become suspicious when the engineering institutions he claimed to belong to revealed they had never heard of him.
Floris Kaayk then confessed to fabricating the footage, which he says is an exercise in “online storytelling”.
And for anyone doubting the veracity of Floris Kaayk’s claims to be a film-maker and animator, several short films by him can be seen on YouTube, and his website describes him as specializing in “blending computer generated images with live action”.
Ray J lashed out today at claims by Leolah Brown, Bobby Brown’ sister, made on HLN’s Dr. Drew show that he may have provided Whitney Houston with the drugs that contributed to her tragic death, saying her interview was “rife with false statements”.
“Though Leolah Brown was nowhere near the Beverly Hilton hotel on the day Whitney Houston died, [HLN’s parent company] CNN proceeded to broadcast an interview with Ms. Brown in which she falsely claimed that Ray J was at the hotel and contributed to Whitney Houston’s death,” Ray J’s attorney said in a statement released to E! News last night.
The statement continued: “Even the most minimal inquiry with anyone actually in contact with Whitney would reveal that Leolah Brown had been out of contact with Whitney for more than a year and was nowhere near the scene on the day of her death.”
Ray J lashed out today at claims by Leolah Brown made on Dr. Drew show that he may have provided Whitney Houston with cocaine
What ticked off Brandy’s little brother was the fact that Leolah Brown told Dr. Drew Pinksy that she witnessed Ray J (real name William Ray Norwood Jr.) leaving Whitney Houston’s hotel room “hiding his head” on the day she died.
“Why is he hiding his face? He’s always trying to show his face when he’s with Whitney. Why now? Why you trying to hide, Ray J?” Leolah Brown asked.
Leolah Brown then accused Ray J, who was rumored to be casually dating Whitney Houston, of being a “runner boy” for the music legend because he “knows somebody that sells drugs” and bought and supplied them to her.
Ray J’s lawyer has urged media outlets “not to republish these defamatory stories” and warned of legal action should they proceed to do so without verifying the truth.
Whitney Houston’s official cause of death, released yesterday by the Los Angeles County Coroner, reveals that she died as the result of accidental drowning and the combined effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine. The drug, however, was never found in her hotel room when investigators conducted their probe.
In a shocking interview on HLN’s Dr. Drew’sshow last night, Leolah Brown, Bobby Brown’ sister, blamed Ray J and Pat Houston for Whitney Houston’s death.
Leolah Brown decided to go on Dr. Drew’s show last night to discuss the Los Angeles coroner’s toxicology report on her former sister-in-law, Whitney Houston.
She made striking claims that Ray-J was Whitney Houston’s “runner boy” for cocaine. Leolah Brown also said she found it suspicious that she saw Ray-J leaving Whitney Houston’s hotel and hiding after her death, when he has never seemed to hide when cameras were around them before.
Bobby Brown’ sister also said she finds it hard to believe Pat Houston, Whitney Houston’ sister-in-law and manager, didn’t know the singer was doing cocaine that day. And as for Leolah Brown’s first thought when she heard the news of Whitney Houston’s death: “Somebody gave her a bad bag!”
Ray-J has put out a statement after this interview saying he was unaware Whitney Houston was using cocaine and he slammed Leolah Brown’s claims. He said he wasn’t even around the day Whitney Houston died as he was in San Diego.
Leolah Brown blames Ray J and Pat Houston for Whitney Houston's death on Dr. Drew's show
Later in the interview, Bobbi Kristina Brown’s cousins, Jerod Brown & Kelsey Brown, divulged more details about what they felt were odd happenings the day of Whitney Houston’s death.
Jerod Brown said “that guy Nick [Gordon]” came into the hospital soon after they got there to check on Bobbi Kristina during her panic attack and said: “Thanks for coming out.” As if they weren’t supposed to be there.
The cousins also said Gary Houston paid no mind to Bobbi Kristina Brown once she collapsed on the hotel room floor right in front of him. Gary Houston “kept rolling the luggage from the room right past her.”
They also talked about Whitney Houston’s off shore accounts and why Leolah Brown “believes” she has legal guardianship of Bobbi Kristina Brown. .
However, Bobby Brown’s reps have been extra mum on talking about any specifics or any rumors concerning Whitney Houston’s death. They have only put out their own general statements on behalf of Bobby Brown. So there is a chance Bobby Brown knew nothing about this Dr. Drew interview and/or didn’t co-sign it.
Data from a NASA’s Dawn spacecraft revealed that the giant asteroid Vesta possesses many features usually associated with rocky planets like Earth.
Vesta has been viewed as a massive asteroid, but after studying the surface in detail, scientists are describing it as “transitional”.
The Dawn spacecraft has been orbiting Vesta – one of the Solar System’s most primitive objects – since July 2011.
They have documented many unexpected features on its battered surface.
Mission scientists presented their latest results at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in The Woodlands, Texas.
Dawn’s principal investigator, Christopher T. Russell, told the meeting that the science team found it hard not to refer to the object as a planet.
Christopher T. Russell said the rounded asteroid showed evidence of geological processes that characterize rocky worlds like Earth and the Moon.
Vesta is the second most massive of the asteroids, measuring some 530 km (330 miles) in diameter. It is dominated by a huge crater called Rheasilvia and bears many other scars left by the hammering it has received at the hands of other asteroid belt denizens.
One important transitional feature of Vesta can be found in its topography, or elevation. Vertical elevation on the Moon or Mars might reach tens of kilometres, but these objects are also very large.
“This means the topography is about 1% of the radius,” Dr. Ralf Jaumann, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), said. If you go to Vesta, it is 15%, and if you go to the largest outer asteroid – Lutetia – it is 40%.”
In short, this mathematical relationship between topography and radius (half an object’s diameter), puts Vesta in an intermediate position between small asteroids and rocky planets.
Data from a NASA’s Dawn spacecraft revealed that the giant asteroid Vesta possesses many features usually associated with rocky planets like Earth
Another aspect concerns the way its surface has been modified, or “processed”, by the many collisions. This is evident in dark material that can be seen in images of its terrain.
The dark material seems to be related to impacts and their aftermath. Scientists think carbon-rich asteroids could have hit Vesta at speeds low enough to produce some of the smaller deposits without blasting away the surface.
Higher-speed asteroids could also have collided with Vesta’s surface and melted the volcanic basaltic crust, darkening existing surface material.
Scientists are confident there has been volcanism on the asteroid during its history. This is because there are hundreds of pieces of Vesta sitting in museums around the world.
They form a particular class of meteorite called the HEDs; more of these objects have fallen to Earth than all the meteorites from the Moon and Mars put together. Studies of HED meteorites have revealed telling chemical signatures of volcanic activity.
Dave Williams, from Arizona State University, said: “We know [from the HED meteorites] there were lava flows at some point in history, so I expected there to be at least a few lava flows, maybe a few channels, shields or cones. Looking at all the images in places that have been illuminated thus far, we don’t see any evidence of that.
“That’s because of all the impact processing over Solar System history. It has destroyed all the evidence.”
Mission scientist Brett Denevi, from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, explained why she thought some of the collisions that have hammered Vesta were intense enough to melt its surface.
Referring to observations of a crater called Marcia, in Vesta’s northern hemisphere, Dr. Brett Denevi commented: “We think what we’re seeing here is at least a portion of this target rock has melted and flowed. The impact velocities were high enough – at least in this one case.”
She added: “Impact melt hasn’t really been observed on asteroids before. It wasn’t really expected because the speed of collisions in the asteroid belt are pretty low compared with the inner Solar System. So it wasn’t known whether you’d have enough energy to melt the target rock.”
Dawn probe is set to depart Vesta for an even bigger object – the spherical “dwarf planet” Ceres – in August for an arrival in 2015.
The EU has agreed to expand its mission against Somali pirates, by allowing military forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea.
In a two year-extension of its Atalanta Operation, the European Union defense ministers agreed warships could target boats and fuel dumps.
The move is a significant step-up in operations, but one that also risks escalation.
Several EU naval ships are currently on patrol off the Horn of Africa.
They police shipping routes and protect humanitarian aid.
The EU says the main tasks of the mission are the protection of vessels of the World Food Programme delivering food aid to displaced people in Somalia, and the fight against piracy off the Somali coast.
The EU has agreed to expand its mission against Somali pirates, by allowing military forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea
In a statement, the EU’s foreign policy head Catherine Ashton said fighting piracy was a priority of the mission in the Horn of Africa.
“Today’s important decision extends [Operation] Atalanta’s mandate for two more years and allows it to take more robust action on the Somali coast,” Catherine Ashton said.
The EU said “a budget of 14.9 million Euros ($19.7 million) is provided for the common costs of the prolonged mandate”.
A Finnish study found that people of working age who live alone increase their risk of depression by up to 80% compared with people living in families.
The study says the main factors are poor housing conditions for women and a lack of social support for men, who are both equally affected.
The research also tracked the use of anti-depressants in 3,500 Finnish people.
The study authors highlight the fact that the proportion of one-person households in Western countries has increased during the past three decades, with one in every three people in the US and the UK living alone.
The participants in the study, published in BioMed Central’s public health journal, were working-age Finns; 1,695 were men and 1,776 were women, and they had an average age of 44.6 years.
They were surveyed in 2000 and asked whether they lived alone or with other people.
People of working age who live alone increase their risk of depression by up to 80 per cent compared with people living in families
Other information about their lifestyle was gathered, such as social support, work climate, education, income, employment status and housing conditions, in addition to details on smoking habits, alcohol use and activity levels.
Researchers found that people living alone bought 80% more anti-depressants during the follow-up period, between 2000 and 2008, than those who did not live alone.
Dr. Laura Pulkki-Raback, who led the research at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said the real risk of mental health problems in people living alone could be much higher.
“This kind of study usually underestimates risk because the people who are at the most risk tend to be the people who are least likely to complete the follow up. We were also not able to judge how common untreated depression was.”
Researchers said that living with other people could offer emotional support and feelings of social integration, as well as other factors that protect against mental health problems.
Living alone, the study said, could be linked with feelings of isolation and a lack of social integration and trust, which are risk factors for mental health.
The study said all the factors involved needed to be addressed in order to understand and reduce depression in working-age people.
EU foreign ministers are set to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on Syria First Lady Asma al-Assad, diplomats say.
The UK-born wife of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad is among 12 Syrians to be added to a number of figures, including the president, who are already subject to sanctions.
It was unclear whether the ban would stop Asma al-Assad from travelling to the UK.
Anti-government activists accuse the regime of killing thousands of protesters over the past year.
In recent weeks, the Damascus government has stepped up its efforts to crush pockets of rebellion in cities including Homs and Hama.
Every day, activists report dozens of deaths and more protests.
President Bashar al-Assad has promised political reform, but observers and his opponents have dismissed his plans as window-dressing.
EU foreign ministers are set to impose a travel ban and asset freeze on Syria First Lady Asma al-Assad
For years there was a perception that Asma al-Assad’s Western upbringing could encourage reform in Syria.
Asma al-Assad, 36, who is of Syrian descent but spent much of her life in west London, has generally played a low-key role in the regime.
However, in February Asma al-Assad wrote to Britain’s Times newspaper to explain why she thought her husband was still the right man to lead Syria.
Last week activists released some 3,000 emails they said were from private accounts belonging to Bashar al-Assad and his wife.
The messages, which have not been independently verified, suggested Asma al-Assad continued to shop online for luxury goods even after the uprising was in full swing.
The UN says at least 8,000 people have died since the uprising against Bashar al-Assad’s regime began last March.
Bashar al-Assad and his allies say terrorist and armed gangs are behind the violence, and say hundreds of security personnel have been killed fighting them.
Reality star Kim Kardashian was attacked with flour on the red carpet at her own perfume launch in West Hollywood.
Kim Kardashian, 31, was covered in flour after an unidentified Asian woman pelted her at the launch of True Reflection at The London Hotel in West Hollywood.
The reality star arrived dressed-to-the-nines, wearing a black blazer, leather trousers and a bright blue blouse, but within minutes she looked more like a dowdy housewife after a kitchen mishap.
Kim Kardashian’s whole back and shiny hair was covered in the substance, which was later determined as cooking flour, according to TMZ.
TMZ reports that after the attack, Kim Kardashian, who arrived at the hotel with her mother Kris Jenner, was ushered into a private room where she removed her doused jacket and brushed the flour off the rest of her outfit and long brunette locks.
Kim Kardashian opted to go back to the event following the fracas, and the assailant was arrested by police who were called to the scene, according to TMZ.
The fire department was also called to the scene to inspect the substance, which after several minutes they determined as cooking flour.
Kim Kardashian was covered in flour after an unidentified Asian woman pelted her at the launch of True Reflection at The London Hotel in West Hollywood
After Kim Kardashian returned to the event she laughed off the ordeal and even made a joke in light of the incident.
“That probably is the craziest, unexpected, weird thing that ever happened to me,” Kim Kardashian told E! Online.
“Like I said to my makeup artist, I wanted more powder and that’s a whole lot of translucent powder right there.”
Meanwhile her mother Kris Jenner told the website: “If anybody comes at me with something, call security.”
According to E! Online, the woman ran off after she threw the flour, but didn’t get very far when Kim Kardashian’s representation intercepted her and held onto her before security took over.
Kim Kardashian has not pressed charges over the incident and the unidentified woman has been released, according to a press release from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Moments before the assailant launched their attack, Kim Kardashian was blissfully unaware of what was to come, happily posing for pictures and doing interviews with the press.
The attack may have quite possibly have come from a protester opposing Kim Kardashian’s love affair with fur.
In November 2011, Kim Kardashian was the target of a PETA campaign.
The animal rights group posted a billboard in Los Angeles that featured a photo of the curvy star wearing a fur-trimmed jacket.
A picture of two foxes was included, along with the caption: “Kim: These babies miss their mother. Is she on your back?”
The attack comes just a few months after somebody flour bombed Kim Kardashian’s best friend Jonathan Cheban in New York City while he was walking with the reality star near her boutique Dash last December.
The unidentified person threw the flour in Jonathan Cheban’s face yelling: “This is for Kris Humphries!”
Jonathan Cheban and Kim Kardashian’s ex-husband Kris Humphries had a notoriously rocky relationship, which was played out on Kim’s reality show Kim and Kourtney Take New York.
“I think it’s pathetic that someone would go to this length to show their support for someone,” Jonathan Cheban told Us Weekly following the ordeal.
“With fans like that, who needs enemies?”
Kris Humphries representation also released a statement at the time, denying that he had any involvement.
“[He] would never condone hateful and unacceptable behavior like that to anyone, in any situation,” the statement said.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries notoriously split last year after just 72 days of marriage.
Kim Kardashian’s little sister Khloe immediately took to her Twitter account to express both her outrage and praise for her sister’s dignified reaction after the flour pelting.
Khloe Kardashian wrote: “I’m proud of how Kim handled the situation.”
Kim Kardashian’ sister then later added in defense: “I wish I was with my sister tonight. I bet you that woman wouldn’t have dared tried a thing…”
Sources connected to Whitney Houston, who were with the singer on the day she died, told TMZ an individual removed all traces of cocaine from the room before authorities arrived.
The Coroner’s Office said Whitney Houston used cocaine “immediately prior to her collapse.” Investigators who arrived on scene found no traces of cocaine or any other illegal substance.
One source, who is extremely close to the situation, told TMZ that the individual who removed the cocaine was also the person who supplied it to Whitney Houston.
An individual removed all traces of cocaine from Whitney Houston’s hotel room before authorities arrived, say sources
Earlier reports claimed other items were removed from the Beverly Hilton Hotel room as well, including bed sheets.
The Beverly Hills PD told TMZ its investigation is not closed. Police will not comment on whether they are looking at evidence tampering.
Whitney Houston drowned in the hotel room bathtub on February 11, having ingested cocaine recently enough to have it be a contributing factor in her death, said Los Angeles coroner yesterday.
But how exactly did Whitney Houston, who was only 48, die in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton?
Did she overdose? Hit her head? Simply fall asleep? Did years of cocaine use cause the heart disease that was also detected during autopsy?
Los Angeles County Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter, who determined cause of death to be accidental drowning combined with cocaine use and atherosclerotic heart disease, told E! News that his team actually has not been able to pinpoint exactly how Whitney Houston died as far as sequence of events – but there are some likely possibilities.
“It means she could have passed out and drowned,” Ed Winter said.
“Also, continued use of drugs resulted in heart disease, and that could have led to a heart attack.
“At this time, I don’t know how bad her heart was. That will be in the final report. We know she drowned, she had heart disease, and the cocaine was considered a contributing cause to her death.”
They will be reexamining Whitney Houston’s heart for other indicators of deterioration in the coming days.
As for the traces of pills found in Whitney Houston’s body, chief coroner investigator Craig Harvey told reporters during a press conference that it was “clear Houston was taking Xanax, but the levels were such they were a therapeutic level…normal for someone following the rules of a prescribed medication.”
“The Benadryl may have created a combined effect, but the toxicology said all levels were therapeutic or sub-therapeutic and not contributory to her death,” Craig Harvey said.
Whitney Houston drowned in the hotel room bathtub on February 11, having ingested cocaine recently
They found a “moderate” amount of cocaine – an “acute dose, not too much before she collapsed,” he said, but noted that there was evidence of “chronic usage.”
“Drug use creates problems,” Craig Harvey explained.
“If you have one condition and you’re using cocaine, you’ll exacerbate it. It causes the heart to beat faster, the arteries to constrict, which can create a problem and set you up for a cardiac event.”
“It exacerbates heat disease,” he said.
“Probably in the long run, [all of the substances] didn’t help.”
The coroner’s office said earlier today that the final report should be available for release within two weeks.
Meanwhile, at least one medical expert doesn’t buy the notion that the marijuana, Xanax and other sedatives found in her system were not considered contributing factors in Whitney Houston’s death.
“I don’t know how you can say that a bunch of sedating drugs, even in small amounts, couldn’t contribute to somebody either passing out or becoming sedated to the point where you wouldn’t necessarily struggle to recover the way most people would,” Dr. David Baron, chief of staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Ortopaedic Hospital, told E! News.
“If we were falling asleep and slipped under the water, our emergency systems in our brain would wake us up,” Dr. David Baron said.
“When people are sedated, the brain doesn’t have the normal alarm systems working properly to make you struggle and fight for life. So I really don’t get why [the coroner’s office] said they were not contributing causes; I don’t know how they can know that unless they were in such minute amounts.”
Which is a possibility – the official report hasn’t been released yet.
As for the cocaine, Dr. David Baron said, if she ingested a “large amount…she could have easily had a cardiac event like a heart attack and an irregular heartbeat. There is no way after someone dies to know if they had an arrhythmia, they are always the mystery of sudden death where you weren’t there to witness it.”
“We are probably never going to know the exact sequence of events that took place,” Dr. David Baron concluded.
“But the question about whether the drug use caused her to drown or not I think is unquestionable. It either compromised her heart, made it weak, caused an arrhythmia and resulted in blood vessels constricting.”
Japan prepares its anti-missile defense systems in response to the planned launch of a North Korean long-range rocket next month, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka has said.
Reports said the defense systems would be deployed near the island of Okinawa to shoot down the rocket should it threaten Japanese territory.
North Korea says the rocket will put a satellite into orbit.
But the US and its allies believe the launch is a pretext for a missile test.
Pyongyang said last week it was to mark the 100th birthday of its late Great Leader Kim Il-sung with the launch.
The announcement drew widespread criticism that the launch would violate UN Security Council resolutions.
The resolutions were imposed after a similar launch in April 2009. Japan is particularly concerned as the last North Korean rocket was launched over the country.
“I have ordered officials to prepare to deploy the PAC-3 and Aegis warships,” Naoki Tanaka said.
The Japanese parliament also passed a resolution condemning the launch.
South Korea, China and the US have also expressed concern over the planned North Korean launch.
“It would be a grave provocation threatening the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and north-east Asia,” the South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement.
Nuclear envoys from South Korea and Japan held talks in Seoul to work out how they would respond if the launch were to go ahead, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
Japan prepares its anti-missile defense systems in response to the planned launch of a North Korean long-range rocket next month
Meanwhile, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua said Deputy Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun met Pyongyang’s ambassador to express Beijing’s “worry”.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called North Korea’s announcement “highly provocative”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said any launch could discourage aid donors.
“Such an act would undermine recent positive diplomatic progress and, in its effect on international donors, would likely worsen the humanitarian situation inside the country,” he said in a speech in Singapore.
Last month, Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests as part of a deal for the United States to supply 240,000 tons of food aid to North Korea.
It also agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and to allow back UN weapons inspectors as part of the deal.
A US state department spokesperson said it would be “hard to imagine” giving food aid to North Korea, as previously agreed, if Pyongyang went ahead with the rocket launch.
In the launch three years ago, Pyongyang said the satellite made it into orbit and characterized it as a test of its satellite technology.
The move drew condemnation from the US and South Korea and led to the UN resolutions prohibiting the North from nuclear and ballistic missile activity.
Foreign officials said there were no indications that a satellite had reached space and that the launch was a cover for Pyongyang to test long-range missile technology.
North Korea said last week that the launch of a rocket carrying a satellite would take place between 12 and 16 April.
The ”working satellite”, the Kwangmyongsong-3, is an opportunity for ”putting the country’s technology of space use for peaceful purposes on a higher stage”, said a North Korean spokesman.
The rocket would be launched from the Solace Satellite Launching Station in Cholsan county, North Pyongyang province on the country’s west coast.
State media also reported that North Korea has already launched two experimental satellites.
Israel passed a law banning models from advertisements or fashion shows if they measure less than 18.5 on the body mass index (BMI).
The new law is part of an effort to promote health for women of all sizes, and to stop glorifying the ultra-thin.
“Beautiful is not underweight,” says Rachel Adato, one of the creators of the bill.
In recent years, much attention has been paid to how women are portrayed in the media, whether it’s an overly airbrushed magazine model with an impossibly slim waist, or a TV starlet with protruding collar bones.
In an era when pro-anorexia communities congregate on social media sites like Pinterest, it’s no wonder that lawmakers are concerned with women’s body image.
For sure, reducing the number of images that portray women as very thin is beneficial, says Claire Mysko, director of Proud2BeMe, a website created with the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to promote healthy body image.
“There is a danger in being constantly exposed to one image of beauty,” Claire Mysko says.
“There is a serious lack of body diversity in the media. People are not seeing themselves and their bodies reflected.”
Israel’s law may be the catalyst needed to help make change. But others say it could make things worse.
Many magazine editors, modelling agents and casting directors say they want to use more diverse models, but can’t because of industry expectations – with each blaming the other group for setting the tone.
Israel passed a law banning models from advertisements or fashion shows if they measure less than 18.5 on the body mass index
“They all feel trapped into producing what nobody individually espouses,” says Amanda Mears, author of Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model.
“Everyone felt individually powerless.”
Regulating the types of models that can be used may be a good way to “shock” the system into making changes, she says.
However, Amanda Mears, along with many other experts on eating disorders and body image, worry that the law is flawed.
“Bodies come in different shapes and sizes, and the very idea that there is a concrete qualifying number, and if someone can match it they’re considered healthy, is wrong,” Amanda Mears says.
BMI, a ratio of height to weight, is best used as a way to measure the average size of groups of people, but is not a good indicator of personal health, says Margo Maine, a clinical psychologist who has specialized in eating disorders.
“It’s arbitrary,” Margo Maine says.
“In the past I would have welcomed [the law] but I am a little leery of the judgment about the correct body type.”
Limiting the types of bodies that are permitted to model or considered attractive can backfire, says Matthew Johnson, director of education at the Media Awareness Network, a media education programme in Canada.
“What would be more effective would be encouraging a wider variety of body shapes on TV and in media in general.”
Otherwise, the message is not to celebrate bodies of all shapes and sizes, but to reject extreme thinness.
“We have reduced women to their size,” says Dr. Margo Maine, author of The Body Myth.
“By targeting women who are thin, whether they have an eating disorder or are naturally thin, we are focusing on the individual instead of challenging the culture that buys into it.”
Thin women may have an easier go of it than fat women, but they’re still subject to attacks about their size. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is subjected to constant speculation about her health and comments about her weight.
Angelina Jolie’s Oscar appearance last month set Twitter alight with criticisms of her thin frame. “Angelina Jolie looks like her arms are ready to snap in half at any moment. Gross,” wrote one user.
Speaking out against very thin star celebrities can feel like a satisfying blow against unrealistic body standards, says Raegan Chastain.
As an advocate for fat acceptance she has often heard people criticize women for being too thin.
Still, she warns those trying to come to terms with their own size to leave other people out of it.
“If you want to push against standards, you don’t do that by bashing people,” Raegan Chastain says.
“You can’t look at someone and tell how healthy they are. Weight and health are two separate things.”
With that in mind, NEDA has advocated that models be screened for eating disorders, but not that they be prohibited from working based on a size and weight limit.
They’ve also launched Proud2BeMe, an extension of a Dutch website designed as a safe space to discuss body issues and health concerns.
“There are people who are naturally thin and people who are naturally heavier, and we need to accept a diversity,” Claire Mysko says.
“That’s the goal: not to define one body type as attractive and another type as unattractive.”
• Spain: Madrid fashion week restricted models who have a BMI of less than 18 (2006)
• Italy: Government instituted a self-policing code of conduct for the fashion industry, including requiring medical proof that models do not have eating disorders (2006)
• UK: the Advertising Standards Authority issued guidelines about the use of digitally manipulating photos, saying they will stop ads that are misleading, including those that portray extreme thinness (2011)
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales suspected of killing civilians in Afghanistan will be charged with 17 counts of murder, according to US officials.
Robert Bales, 38, is accused of attacking the villagers in their homes in Kandahar province on 11 March. Most victims were women and children.
He was later moved to a military prison in the US after being transported from Afghanistan to Kuwait.
Robert Bales could face the death penalty if convicted.
He would also be charged with six counts of assault and attempted murder, a US official said.
The charges are to be read to the soldier at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, later on Friday, according to the Associated Press news agency.
The Taliban said on Friday that it had no faith in any trial of Robert Bales.
“This was a planned activity and we will certainly take revenge on all American forces in Afghanistan and don’t trust such trials,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters news agency by telephone.
Sgt. Robert Bales is the only known suspect in the killings – despite repeated Afghan assertions that more than one American was involved.
He is being held in solitary confinement at Fort Leavenworth.
Staff Sgt. Robert Bales suspected of killing civilians in Afghanistan will be charged with 17 counts of murder
Robert Bales’ lawyer, John Henry Browne, who has played down reports that his client was drunk on the night of the killings, said earlier this week the soldier remembers “very little” of the incident.
John Henry Brown said there were “no forensic evidence” against him and “no confession”.
He said Sgt. Robert Bales had received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty. He had already completed three tours in Iraq.
John Henry Brown also said his client – whom he described as “a decorated soldier” with an exemplary record before the shooting – had witnessed his friend’s leg blown off the day before the killings.
The case has undermined US relations with Kabul and led to calls for NATO to speed up its planned withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
Sgt. Robert Bales’ trial could take years, contrasting with Afghan demands for swift and decisive justice.
The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage.
Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she drowned in the bathtub at Beverly Hilton Hotel, according to the official report released by the Los Angeles Coroner today.
Whitney Houston sunk into the bathwater after suffering a massive heart attack caused in part by her prolonged drug abuse.
Following the news, Whitney Houston’s family has released a statement that says: “We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure.”
The singer’s mother, Cissy Houston, is reported to be “shocked” to learn that her daughter was still using drugs at the time of her death.
According to TMZ, Cissy Houston believes Whitney began taking drugs again due to stress over her comeback, but thought her daughter was sober at the time she filmed the movie Sparkle.
The ruling is an ignominious ending to Whitney Houston’s fall from grace.
The report also ends weeks of speculation over how the 48-year-old pop icon died, with some members of her family even suggesting foul play may have led to the surprise death on February 11.
Ed Winter, spokesman for the coroner’s office, said the official cause of death was accidental drowning.
He added that heart disease and the star’s cocaine use were contributing factors to her collapse.
Whitney Houston had cocaine in her system when she drowned in the bathtub at Beverly Hilton Hotel
The Chief Coroner Craig Harvey stated during a press conference that the results suggest “chronic usage” of cocaine by Whitney Houston.
He said there was “an acute dose” of cocaine in Whitney Houston’s system when she died.
Craig Harvey added that the results indicate the star ingested cocaine “not probably too much before she collapsed”.
Coroner’s officials said the results suggest Whitney Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
Traces of marijuana and the prescription anti-anxiety drug Xanax were found along with Flexiril and over-the-counter Benadryl, but they did not play a direct role in her death.
Law enforcement sources said it was likely that Whitney Houston had a heart attack that caused her to lose consciousness and drown in the bath at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The heart attack was probably brought on by the hardening of her arteries as a result of years of cocaine abuse.
Immediately after the death, it was widely thought that drinking binges combined with prescription pills combined to make the star lose consciousness and slip under the bathwater.
But the toxicology tests did not show any significant amount of alcohol in Whitney Houston’s system.
Several bottles of prescription medication were found in her hotel room, but they were not said to be in excessive quantities. No cocaine was discovered in the room.
Beverly Hills police said in a statement there was no evidence of wrongdoing in connection with the death.
The final Coroner’s report is expected to be released in approximately two weeks.
Whitney Houston died just hours before she was scheduled to appear at producer Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy Awards bash.
Whitney Houston died in accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors, Los Angeles coroner has ruled today.
Coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey said drug tests indicated Whitney Houston was a chronic cocaine user.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation over the cause of Whitney Houston’s death.
Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bath of her Los Angeles hotel room on the eve of the Grammy Awards on February 11.
In a statement, the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office described Whitney Houston’s manner of death as an “accident”, adding that “no trauma or foul play is suspected”.
Whitney Houston’s cause of death was cited as drowning and “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use”.
Whitney Houston died in accidental drowning, but drug abuse and heart disease were also factors
Other drugs found in her blood included marijuana, as well as Xanax (anti-anxiety) drug, Flexeril (muscle relaxant) and Benadryl (allergy medication).
But these were not factors in her death, the coroner’s statement said.
Immediately after the death, it was widely thought that drinking binges combined with prescription pills combined to make the star lose consciousness and slip under the bathwater.
But the toxicology tests did not show any significant amount of alcohol in Whitney Houston’s system.
Patricia Houston, the singer’s sister-in-law and manager, told the Associated Press news agency: “We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure.”
Whitney Houston was laid to rest at a cemetery in her home state of New Jersey after a funeral that was attended by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige.
Whitney Houston, who was one of the world’s best selling artists from the mid-1980s to late 1990s, had a long battle with drug addiction.
