Tiger Woods has lost a front tooth after being hit in the face by a camera while watching girlfriend Lindsey Vonn secure her 63rd World Cup Alpine ski win.
The former world number one golfer decided to surprise Lindsey Vonn, who was competing in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
Tiger Woods had his tooth knocked out during a crush of photographers at the awards podium after Lindsey Vonn’s victory.
As his agent Mark Steinberg explains it, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video surged toward the stage, turned and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth.
“During a crush of photographers at the awards’ podium, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged towards the stage, turned and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth,” Mark Steinberg said.
“Woods’s tooth was knocked out by the incident.”
“I was among those who escorted him from the tent to the snowmobile and there was no such incident,” Nicola Colli, the secretary general of the race organizing committee, told The Associated Press.
“When he arrived he asked for more security and we rounded up police to look after both him and Lindsey.”
Mark Steinberg also said that the tooth is missing and would not say when Tiger Woods would replace it.
Even more bizarre was witnessing Tiger Woods dress in a skeleton disguise as Lindsey Vonn became the all-time woman’s record holder in alpine skiing victories.
Real estate tycoon Kameron Segal has been shot by a bike-riding gunman as he sat parked in his Rolls Royce in Hollywood.
Kameron Segal, 48, was shot at least twice in the neck area at close range around 8:40 p.m. Friday while parked behind his business, William Holdings Inc., in the 7500 block of Sunset Boulevard, just west of North Gardner Street. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai hospital where he was reported in critical but stable condition on January 17.
Photo Facebook
Police say there was no indication of robbery but haven’t disclosed a motive in the mysterious attack.
Authorities say the shooter – described as a black man wearing dark clothing – rode up on either a 10-speed or racing bicycle and attacked Kameron Segal before pedaling off. Police searched the Hollywood area but were unable to locate him.
On his website, Kameron Segal is described as the chief executive and founder of William Holdings Inc., a real estate management company with 19 apartment buildings in Los Angeles. An acquaintance at the scene told a KNBC-TV reporter that Kameron Segal was on his way to purchase a $5-million building in downtown Los Angeles.
The UK military is currently ranked fifth in the world for firepower. They are beaten only by the US, Russia, China and India. Recent information suggests that over 200 nuclear weapons are at the disposal of the British military, and so they are a force to be reckoned with. Most people know very little about the ins and outs of the armed forces, so we’ve got some facts that stats that should help to clear things up. At the end of the day, your government spends 2.5% of GDP on defense. Wouldn’t you like to know where your money is going? At the last count, the UK military employed 100,290 personnel in various roles. Thanks to government cutbacks, that number is set to drop considerably over the next twelve months. Even so, it’s pretty impressive.
The UK currently ranks sixth in the world for military spending too. In 2013, official reports claim over 57.9 billion pounds were spent on defence at home and overseas. At the current time, the UK military owns 4154 armoured personnel carriers, tanks and reconnaissance vehicles. That means our men and women have the best backing possible when negotiating dangerous territories. While it might come as a surprise to some of you, women now account for 9% of enlisted personnel in the UK military. The real figure for nuclear weapons is 225. You might wonder why we need so many, but that becomes obvious when you look at the stats for Russia and China. Source www.grayandcosolicitors.co.uk
Zambia is voting in a presidential election caused by the death of Michael Sata in 2014.
The vote is expected to be a close contest between Edgar Lungu from the governing Patriotic Front and Hakainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development.
The winner will serve out the remaining 18 months of Michael Sata’s term.
Zambia is due to hold a general election in 2016.
The Patriotic Front held its final rally in a suburb of Lusaka on Monday as campaigning drew to a close.
Correspondents said the Patriotic Front has been presenting a united front following some bitter infighting over its candidate.
Interim President Guy Scott, who was a close ally of the former president, told supporters that “Michael Sata is still the spirit behind this party”.
Guy Scott – a white Zambian of Scottish descent – was barred from contesting the election himself because his parents were not born in Zambia.
Edgar Lungu has portrayed himself as a candidate for continuity and has said he wants to complete economic development projects initiated by Michael Sata.
His closest rival, the economist and opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema, says he has the experience necessary to revamp Zambia’s economy.
Correspondents say the election campaign has been largely peaceful.
However, electoral commission Chairwoman Irene Mambilima said she had “noted with dismay” some violent incidents.
In a nationwide address on Monday night, Guy Scott vowed to crack down on any post-election violence.
Polling stations opened at 06:00 and will close at 18:00.
The electoral commission said that counting of the ballots should begin shortly after polls close with results due to be announced within 48 hours.
Michael Sata, who was Zambia’s fifth president, died in London last October at the age of 77.
Without sounding cliché the future is certainly paved in robots, or at least robotic design. Society has come a long way, and only continues to develop towards a golden pinnacle. Everything we utilize on a regular basis whether inside or outside the home is in some way or another technology or at least influenced by such. Even jobs that would normally be filled by people can be replaced with high end products of technology. Offspring of technology can speak, take orders, and accurately respond with ease now in our society. Science hasn’t stopped its forward push, and it’s quite acute when we take a moment to observe google sudden rise into robotics.
Recent news states google has been laying claim to robotic companies left and right and it has left many wondering the question why. Google’s seemingly recent interest in these types of technologies has been at the top of its list, and as of now they have purchased eight robotics companies spanning over a couple of months. So far Google has procured Schaft Inc, Industrial Perception, Redwood Robotics, Meka Robotics, Holomini, Bot & Dolly, Boston Dynamics, and DeepMind Technologies. When we take a moment to look while these aren’t necessarily a great number of companies they certainly offer quite the variety when it comes to robotics. This list covers smart AI, disaster relief robots, and surprisingly enough even a four-legged robot that can run almost 30 mph. Google has diversified its product offerings over the last decade. If it wasn’t the case before Google will now certainly need the speedy services of A1 Servomotor or at least something comparable to tend to all these robots. It’s all so interesting; however, this doesn’t help clarify our question.
While the answer is not necessarily straightforward we do know that “Google is a business that has made data and algorithms something quite successful, so it’s a logical step for a company that values innovation as highly as Google does”. Anthony Mullen, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, states this to simply be the case, and is the next step in becoming closer to consumers. Mullen goes on to claim that, “Robots, like smartphones, are a platform for products and services. Both require data and intelligence to operate well and Google is very good at data and algorithms. To ensure that they aren’t disintermediated in the ‘last mile’ to the consumer (or employee) means getting involved in the physical world with hardware.”
While this seems like a rather large leap for google it can’t be denied that their healthy interest does seem to at least interconnect with previous ventures. Android phones and the like carry a certain similarity when it comes to functionality so it wouldn’t be odd for a connection to be made and for google to expand. This of course would seem rather complex for the average customer, and is a concept that is gradually worked in. It’s not entirely known if the market is ready for such a thing as robots, however, it is certainly something unexplored worth the endeavor.
President Barack Obama will call for tax increases on the wealthy to help the middle class during his State of the Union address on January 20.
The proposals would raise $320 billion over a decade, to fund benefits such as tax credits.
The speech is the centerpiece of the US political diary and may shape both Barack Obama’s legacy and the 2016 election.
However, the president faces resistance to his proposals, with Republicans controlling both Houses of Congress.
With the US economy growing, President Barack Obama will stress that it is time for ordinary US families to feel the benefits.
According to US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the plans include:
Closing a loophole allowing the wealthiest Americans to pass on certain assets tax free
Raising capital gains tax on the richest earners from 23.8% to 28%
New fees on US financial firms with more than $50 billion in assets
The revenues would rise more than enough to fund the proposed benefits for the middle class, according to the officials.
These include tripling child tax credits, help for families with two working spouses and extra incentives to save for retirement.
The speech is also set to include a plan to expanding free community college education and proposals on cyber-security.
The State of the Union speech will be President Obama’s first since the Republicans seized control of the two Houses of Congress at elections last November.
His proposals have already been dismissed by some in the party.
“Slapping American small businesses, savers, and investors with more tax hikes only negates the benefits of the tax policies that have been successful in helping to expand the economy, promote savings, and create jobs,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G Hatch said.
Administration officials hope to find some common ground with their opponents.
They also say the increase in capitals gains taxes, likely to be resisted by many Republicans, returns the rate to what it was under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
According to the New York Times and Der Spiegel, the US knew North Korea was behind the Sony Pictures hack because it had secretly infiltrated the country’s computer networks in 2010.
The newspapers cited US officials and leaked documents from the National Security Agency (NSA).
The New York Times said hidden software had alerted US intelligence services to North Korean hacking activity.
North Korea has consistently denied involvement in the security breach.
American investigators believe the hackers spent two months building up a map of Sony’s systems before the hack took place, the papers say.
November’s attack on the company saw the leak of sensitive documents including salary details and confidential emails between executives.
It also resulted in Sony film The Interview, a comedy about an assassination attempt on North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, being briefly shelved and then released online.
The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the intelligence community was fully aware of North Korean attempts to infiltrate US commercial networks, tracking them routinely.
“While no two situations are the same, it is our shared goal to prevent bad actors from exploiting, disrupting or damaging US commercial networks and cyber infrastructure,” said spokesman Brian Hale.
“When it becomes clear that cyber criminals have the ability and intent to do damage, we work cooperatively to defend networks.”
A teenage couple who have been on the run for two weeks across the southeastern US has been caught in Florida.
Cheyenne Phillips, 13, and her 18-year-old boyfriend Dalton Hayes were arrested on January 18 in Panama City Beach.
The two teenagers are facing charges including burglary, theft and criminal trespassing, police said.
Cheyenne Phillips and Dalton Hayes had eluded police in several states after vanishing from their homes in western Kentucky.
Authorities believe their travels took them to South Carolina and Georgia before they were finally surrounded in Florida as they were sleeping in a stolen pick-up truck.
Panama City Beach Police said that both teens were taken into custody without incident.
Cheyenne Phillips and Dalton Hayes were believed to have stolen several vehicles and passed stolen cheques, said police.
Earlier, Dalton Hayes’ parents had asked them to surrender and “face the consequences”.
Dalton Hayes’ mother Tammy Martin said that the teenagers had been dating for about three months before they ran away.
Tammy Martin said that Dalton Hayes and the family had believed the girl to be 19.
By the time her son realized she was only 13 years old, “he was already done in love with her”, Tammy Martin said.
Dalton Hayes had already been in trouble with the law when he ran away. He had been facing charges of burglary and theft, the Associated Press reports.
Kentucky Sheriff Norman Chaffins told the news agency he was relieved at how this had ended.
“I think me and the family and many other law enforcement agencies were not getting a good feeling about how this was going to turn out,” he said.
Dalton Hayes is due to appear in court on Monday morning, but Cheyenne Philips will be summoned before a juvenile court later.
The crash of AirAsia QZ8501 was not likely due to terrorism, Indonesian investigators said in their first remarks since analyzing the cockpit voice recorder.
There were also indications that the plane encountered bad weather.
The AirAsia plane is thought to have gone down on December 28 when it encountered difficulties from an approaching storm.
All 162 people onboard the flight from Surabaya to Singapore perished.
Two more bodies were recovered on January 19, bringing the total found so far to 53.
Investigators had listened to the entire two-hour recording, and found that there was no threatening voice on board.
The recording appeared to indicate that the pilot was too busy attempting to regain control of the aircraft to send a distress signal.
Some of the parameters retrieved from the flight data recorder seemed to indicate that the plane had encountered bad weather.
More analysis was needed from the rest of the 1,200 parameters to determine the exact weather conditions and the impact the weather had on the plane’s engines.
Investigators have only transcribed half of the cockpit voice recording and that would require more analysis as well.
Search teams managed to find the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder last week.
The fuselage of the plane, believed to hold most of the bodies, has also been located and search teams are now working out how to retrieve it.
The authorities are expected to issue a preliminary report on the crash on January 28.
Argentine federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner last week of a cover-up has been found dead at his home in the capital, Buenos Aires.
Alberto Nisman was investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died.
On January 14, he accused Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of involvement in a plot to cover up Iran’s alleged role in the bombing.
The president’s spokesman dismissed the allegations as “ridiculous”.
Alberto Nisman, 51, was found dead by his mother in the bathroom of his home.
The Security Ministry released a statement saying that Alberto Nisman’s bodyguards had raised the alarm after he failed to answer their phone calls on January 18.
Concerned about his welfare, they fetched Alberto Nisman’s mother and tried to enter his apartment, the statement said.
They found the door locked from the inside with a key still stuck inside.
After a locksmith gained access, they found Alberto Nisman’s body in the bathroom.
According to the statement, a gun and a cartridge shell were found next to his body.
Alberto Nisman was due to give evidence at a congressional committee hearing on January 19 to outline his accusations against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other officials.
He had published a 300-page report on January 14 alleging that the president and Foreign Minister Hector Timerman had opened a secret back channel to Iranians suspected of involvement in the bombing of the community centre.
Alberto Nisman alleged that the scheme was intended to clear the Iranian suspects in order to facilitate a trade deal between Iran and Argentina.
He said that he had issued a request that a judge question the president and the foreign minister “for being authors and accomplices of an aggravated cover-up and obstruction of justice regarding the Iranians accused of the AMIA [Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association] terrorist attack”.
The car bombing of the seven-storey building was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina’s history.
In 2007, Argentine prosecutors accused Iran of planning and financing the attack, and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of carrying it out.
Iran dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
So far, no-one has been convicted in connection with the AMIA attack.
Last July, at events marking the 20th anniversary of the bombing, Pope Francis demanded justice for the victims.
Actor and fitness guru Greg Plitt has died in a train accident in California.
Greg Plitt, 37, was struck on Saturday afternoon on the tracks near Burbank Metrolink station.
Several radio stations are reporting that the former model may have been filming with friends at the time.
Police have confirmed they seized recording equipment from the scene.
Greg Plitt recently starred in the Bravo show Work Out and is due to feature in a new reality series called Friends to Lovers later this month.
Photo Getty Images
A Bravo spokesperson said: “This is a terrible tragedy. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with Greg’s family and friends.”
Fellow workout guru Rob Riches has tweeted that the world has lost a fitness icon.
Greg Plitt acted in a number of movies, appearing alongside Robert De Niro and Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd, and with Christian Bale in Terminator 4.
Katie Price has joined the Celebrity Big Brother show after model Chloe Goodman’s elimination on January 16.
The 36-year-old singer was brought in by producers after they removed Jeremy Jackson and Ken Morley for separate cases of inappropriate behavior.
When asked why she signed up Katie Price said: “There is always a price for the Pricey and the price was right.”
Katie Price says the thought of winning hasn’t even crossed her mind but what can we expect from the “businesswoman, model, author, singer, TV star and proud mum” in the house?
“Hopefully they will see the real Katie Price, not the version of Katie Price a section of the press like to invent,” said the mother of five.
She added: “That is why it’s good when I do my reality shows.
“I haven’t done one of those for a few years so it is a good chance for them to see that I am still the same normal down to earth person.”
Katie Price said: “I don’t really wear makeup and I am always casual when I’m not working.
“My hair will most likely be scrunched up on my head, no make- up, in my trackies or hoodies, that’s me. I think people will be surprised.”
Katie Hopkins is also in the house and she’s had a few things to say about Katie Price on Twitter in the past, including criticizing the name of her youngest child, Bunny.
Alexander O’Neal has quit the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother show.
The soul singer is the third contestant to leave outside the house’s usual elimination process.
Alexander O’Neal had been given a formal warning by producers on January 17 for using homophobic language aimed at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.
Although he apologized, the singer has now opted to leave the house.
Jeremy Jackson and Ken Morley were previously removed from the house over their behavior.
Alexander O’Neal’s departure follows a dispute between him and Perez Hilton, in which the singer accused his housemate of deliberately provoking him.
A short message from Alexander O’Neal was read to those remaining in the Big Brother house, which read: “To all my housemates, I’ve had a great experience with you guys and I have mad love for almost all of you.
“I want you guys not to be sad that I’m leaving and to not let my departure interrupt your experience.”
Baywatch star Jeremy Jackson was thrown off the show after pulling open another contestant’s dressing gown, exposing her. He later received a police caution for common assault.
Former Coronation Street actor Ken Morley was removed from the house for using racist language while in conversation with Alexander O’Neal.
Speaking after his dismissal, Ken Morley accepted he had used “an outdated expression”, but denied he was racist.
Model Chloe Goodman, who was involved in the incident with Jeremy Jackson, is so far the only contestant to be evicted by public vote, leaving the house on January 16.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday about Alexander O’Neal, Chloe Goodman said: “He’s a lovely man, but he isn’t comfortable. He hates the disrespect in there and I think he’s finding it hard to cope. He wants to go home.”
Helping to make up the numbers of the departed celebrities, Katie Price entered the house on Friday.
American Sniper has topped the North American box office with takings of $90 million.
The movie set a record for a January opening following its six Oscar nominations last week.
American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood, is up for best picture and best actor for star Bradley Cooper, who plays real life Navy Seal Chris Kyle.
Action comedy The Wedding Ringer opened in second place with $21 million.
British family film Paddington came third with $19.3 million.
American Sniper jumped from 21st place at last weekend’s US box office, after a limited release in just a few screens.
It is now Clint Eastwood’s most successful film as director, beating Gran Torino’s 2008 opening of $29.5 million, and performed twice as well as studio estimates according to Reuters.
The Wedding Ringer, which stars Kevin Hart as a best man for hire, achieved its successful opening weekend despite being panned by critics.
Last week’s number one, Liam Neeson’s action sequel Taken 3, fell to fourth place.
US cinemas were especially busy during the three-day Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend.
Martin Luther King drama Selma, which was nominated for two Oscars including best picture, was in fifth place.
The Imitation Game – which landed eight Oscar nominations – also made the top 10, along with Disney musical Into the Woods, the final Hobbit film and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken.
New cyber-terrorism film Blackhat was in 10th place.
According to a study by anti-poverty charity Oxfam, the richest 1% will soon own more than the rest of the world’s population.
Oxfam’s research shows that the share of the world’s wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year.
On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016.
The research coincides with the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The annual gathering attracts top political and business leaders from around the world.
Oxfam’s executive director Winnie Byanyima, who will co-chair the Davos event, said she would use the charity’s high-profile role at the gathering to demand urgent action to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
In a statement ahead of the gathering, Winnie Byanyima said the scale of global inequality was “simply staggering”.
“It is time our leaders took on the powerful vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world.
“Business as usual for the elite isn’t a cost-free option – failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back decades. The poor are hurt twice by rising inequality – they get a smaller share of the economic pie and because extreme inequality hurts growth, there is less pie to be shared around,” she added.
Oxfam is calling on governments to adopt a seven-point plan to tackle inequality, including a clampdown on tax evasion by companies and the move towards a living wage for all workers.
It made headlines at Davos last year with the revelation that the 85 richest people on the planet have the same wealth as the poorest 50% (3.5 billion people).
It said that that comparison had now become even more stark, with the 80 richest people having the same wealth as the poorest 50%.
Oxfam said the research, published on January 19, showed that 52% of global wealth not owned by the richest 1% is owned by those in the richest 20%.
The remaining population accounts for just 5.5% of global wealth, and their average wealth was $3,851 per adult in 2014, Oxfam found.
That compares with an average wealth of $2.7 million per adult for the richest 1%.
The study comes just a day before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he is expected to call for tax increases on the wealthy to help the middle class.
The trial of Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah, who flew into a rage when macadamia nuts were served to her in a bag and not on a plate, has begun in Seoul.
Cho Hyun-ah, also known as Heather Cho, ordered her plane that was taxiing to return to the gate and offload the chief steward.
The “nut rage” incident occurred on a Seoul-bound flight from New York on December 5.
On January 19, Cho Hyun-ah pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing aviation safety.
Heather Cho, 40, who has been detained since December 30, was wearing a green prison uniform in the packed courtroom.
She stood with her head lowered and answered questions in a whisper.
Her lawyers argued in the opening statement that the charges were based on “exaggerated statements” and that the safety violations were minor given the plane was still on the ground and had not yet reached the runway.
Photo EPA
Heather Cho, who is the daughter of Korean Air chief executive Cho Yang-ho, is also accused of interfering in the execution of a government official’s duty and coercion, according to prosecutors, who said she allegedly exerted influence in the government investigation.
She faces a maximum 10 years in jail if found guilty of diverting the aircraft with no good reason.
Cho Hyun-ah publicly apologized for the incident and resigned from all her posts at the airline in December.
However, the story was widely seen as an example of poor management in South Korea’s family-run conglomerates, or “chaebols” that dominate the country’s business landscape.
The Korean transport ministry said it would place sanctions on Korean Air of a ban on some routes or fines of up to $2 million.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will not appear in the next X-Men film.
Patrick Stewart, 74, said on Larry King’s show: “It is going to be looking very much at the earlier lives of all our characters. And so I don’t think we’ll be making an appearance. Nor Sir Ian McKellen, either.”
X-Men: Apocalypse is due for release in 2016.
It’s expected to focus on the cast of X-Men: First Class, which included James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have played the roles of Professor X and Magneto in the X-Men series since 2000.
2014’s installment X-Men: Days of Future Past featured a time travel plot that meant those original stars could appear alongside their younger counterparts from X-Men: First Class.
The film had a cliffhanger ending which some have suggested could leave the door open for the veteran actors to appear in future X-Men films or one of the upcoming X-Men related films, Gambit or Deadpool.
There have been seven films in the X-Men franchise so far, including two Wolverine spin-off movies.
X-Men: Apocalypse, which will be directed by Bryan Singer, is due for release in 2016.
It is an adaptation of the popular comic book storyline of En Sabah Nur and his Four Horsemen.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have a long history of working together in both film and theatre, dating back to the 1970s.
Spain’s Supreme Court will examine one of two paternity suits against former King Juan Carlos, it was reported this week.
On January 14, the court announced that it will hear the case of Belgian housewife Ingrid Jeanne Sartiau, born in 1966, who claims that King Juan Carlos is her father.
It is the first lawsuit to be brought against Juan Carlos, 77, who lost his total immunity from prosecution when he abdicated in favor of his son Felipe in 2014.
A spokesman for the royal palace declined to comment, saying only that it respected the judiciary’s independence.
The court dismissed a second paternity suit lodged by Spanish waiter Alberto Solá Jiménez, 58, who claims to be King Juan Carlos’s son. A court official told AP that Alberto Solá Jimenez’s claim lacked legal basis.
Photo AFP
Alberto Solá Jimenez has claimed that his mother, the daughter of a well-known Barcelona banker, may have had an affair with King Juan Carlos before he married Queen Sofia.
Ingrid Jeanne Sartiau and Alberto Sola Jimenez joined forces in 2012 and underwent DNA tests that showed there was a 91% chance that they had a parent in common.
Their bid to make King Juan Carlos take a paternity test at the time failed due to his protection from prosecution as a serving monarch.
The reign of King Juan Carlos was marred in later years by a series of scandals, including an extravagant elephant-hunting trip to Botswana during the economic recession.
Juan Carlos’ youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, is due to stand trial on charges of tax fraud following a long-running corruption scandal.
Infanta Cristina and her husband Inaki Urdangarin, who is accused of embezzling public funds, both deny any wrongdoing.
King Felipe VI has been trying to clean up the image of the Royal institution and restore its waning popularity.
North Korean prison camp escapee Shin Dong-hyuk, who is now a high-profile human rights campaigner, has apologized for inaccuracies in his story.
Shin Dong-hyuk, 32, was the subject of a best-selling book after he fled North Korea in 2005.
The book described how Shin Dong-hyuk was tortured, and his relatives killed.
On January 17, author Blaine Harden said that although the key elements of Shin Dong-hyuk’s accounts were correct, the time and date of some events were wrong.
“From a human rights perspective, he was still brutally tortured, but he moved things around,” Blaine Harden told the Washington Post.
Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside a North Korean labor camp. He said that he spent 23 years in captivity before his escape, and that during his time inside, he was starved, tortured and saw his mother and brother executed.
He managed to flee after climbing through an electric fence, and eventually settled in South Korea.
Blaine Harden wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk’s experiences in his book Escape from Camp 14, which became a best-seller and was translated into 27 languages.
Blaine Harden said he had learned that Shin Dong-hyuk “had told friends an account of his life that differed substantially from my book”, and spoke to him to clarify the changes.
Photo Getty Images
One inaccuracy in Shin Dong-hyuk’s account was where his mother and brother were executed, the Washington Post said.
In the book, Shin Dong-hyuk had said that they were killed in Camp 14, a prison camp in North Korea. However, Shin Dong-hyuk now said that the execution took place while they were in another camp, known as Camp 18.
In his original account, Shin Dong-hyuk had also described being burned and tortured when he was 13, after he was suspected of plotting an escape. However, Shin Dong-hyuk now says that that torture occurred when he was 20, the Washington Post said.
On January 18, Shin Dong-hyuk wrote on his Facebook page that he was “very sorry”. He said that he had wanted to “conceal and hide” part of his painful past.
“We tell ourselves that it’s okay not to reveal every little detail, and that it might not matter if certain parts aren’t clarified,” he wrote.
Shin Dong-hyuk also said that he might end his work against North Korea’s prison camps, but urged supporters to continue campaigning against rights abuses.
North Korea has previously sought to discredit Shin Dong-hyuk, including by releasing a video of Shin’s father saying that his son had never been in a labor camp.
Human rights experts have argued that the inaccuracies in Shin Dong-hyuk’s account are minor, and do not alter the extent of the torture he suffered.
In 2013, Shin Dong-hyuk gave evidence to a UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea’s human rights.
In addition to public testimonies from more than 80 North Korean defectors and witnesses, the commission also drew on confidential interviews with about 240 other witnesses who were afraid to speak publicly, fearing reprisals against their families.
The commission said detainees in prison camps were subject to “deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide”.
In December, the UN Security Council discussed North Korea’s human rights record, after the UN General Assembly voted in favor of referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity.
According to Secret Service officials, shots were fired near Vice-President Joe Biden’s house in the state of Delaware, but he was away at the time.
The shots were fired on January 17 from a public road in Greenville, outside a security perimeter, Robert Hoback said.
The road is several hundred feet from the house, and officials were searching to see if the shots had hit anything.
The incident, which happened at about 20:25 on Saturday, is under investigation.
The Secret Service said the vehicle from which the shots were fired “drove by the vice president’s residence at a high rate of speed”.
“The shots were heard by Secret Service personnel posted at the residence, and a vehicle was observed by an agent leaving the scene at a high rate of speed,” it said.
Joe Biden’s office says the vice-president and his wife, Jill, were later briefed on the incident.
One man was arrested later nearby but it is not known if he was directly involved in the shooting.
The Bidens spend many weekends at the Delaware house, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The incident comes four months after an intruder armed with a knife managed to dodge guards and enter the White House.
Egyptian film icon Faten Hamama has died at the age of 83.
Faten Hamama was only a child when she made her screen debut. She went on to appear in almost 100 films.
The actress was the former wife of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif. They were married for nearly 20 years and appeared in many films together in the 1950s.
Faten Hamama died on January 17 after health problems, according to Egypt’s official news agency Mena.
Her son Tarek Sharif confirmed that the actress had passed away but did not give a cause of death.
Born in 1931, Faten Hamama was known as the “Lady of the Arabic Screen” and was a star of the golden age of Egyptian cinema.
Faten Hamama’s career was at its peak in the 1950s when she met fellow actor Omar Sharif.
Born a Christian, Omar Sharif converted to Islam to marry Faten Hamama and described her as the only love of his life, reports the AFP news agency.
After their marriage they went on to star in many films together, including the 1961 film River of Love which was based on the Russian classic Anna Karenina.
Omar Sharif and Faten Hamama divorced in 1974.
Faten Hamama also starred in romantic films with the Arab singer Abdel Halim Hafez.
She appeared in films advocating women’s rights and condemning social injustices, reported AFP.
Faten Hamama is survived by her son Tarek Sharif, her daughter Nadia Zulficar, and third husband Mohammad Abdel Wahab Mahmoud.
Millions of people are expected to attend an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Philippine capital Manila.
An estimated three million people had already gathered at Rizal Park two hours before the Mass began.
Twenty years ago, more than five million people attended a Mass celebrated here by Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican said Pope Francis would dedicate the service in part to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the country in 2013.
The Mass will be Pope Francis’ final full day in the Philippines, where there are 80 million Catholics, concluding his six-day tour of Asia.
Pope Francis arrived in a “popemobile” based on the design of the local minibuses, known as jeepneys.
Crowds sang and cheered as the pontiff stopped at various points to greet worshippers.
Some people had camped outside the park overnight to be the first ones admitted when the gates opened early on Sunday morning.
Before the final mass, Pope Francis held morning meetings with religious leaders and young people at the University of Santo Tomas which is the biggest Catholic university in Asia.
Pope Francis opened his meeting with over 20,000 students by remembering the 27-year-old woman who had died during his visit to Tacloban on January 17.
Earlier, police had reported that she had been killed when scaffolding collapsed after Saturday’s Mass.
The Pope then listened to several children speak about their experiences of growing up on the streets.
One of the children, 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar, wept as she told her story and asked why God had allowed it to happen.
A visibly moved Pope Francis replied: “Only when we are able to cry are we able to come close to responding to your question.”
He added that the world needed to learn how to cry with those in need.
“Those on the margins cry. Those who have fallen by the wayside cry. Those who are discarded cry. But those who are living a life that is more or less without need, we don’t know how to cry,” he said.
Pope Francis, who comes from Argentina, was applauded when he told students that sometimes men were too macho, and that women had much to tell today’s society, seeing the world through different eyes, and asking different questions.
At least 200 members of the Yazidi religious community, mainly elderly people, have been released by the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in northern Iraq.
The freed Yazidis people crossed out of ISIS-controlled territory and were received by Kurdish officials near the city of Kirkuk.
It is not yet clear why militants released them.
ISIS attacked the Yazidi minority community in Iraq last year, killing and abducting thousands of people.
Almost all of those released on January 17 were elderly or unwell, said Reuters. An early estimate of their numbers was put at 350, but later reports said there were some 200 in the group.
The group, including several sick infants, was taken directly by Kurdish Peshmerga forces to a health centre for treatment.
Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist, was at the centre.
“Some are wounded, some have disabilities and many are suffering from mental and psychological problems,” he told the AFP news agency.
“These men and women had been held in Mosul,” Khodr Domli added.
One elderly Yazidi among those released said some of them feared they would be executed when the militants ordered them onto buses.
Instead, they were taken to a crossing point between ISIS-controlled Hawija and the Kurdish city of Kirkuk.
One of them, an elderly Yazidi man in a wheelchair, told AFP that they had spent months in captivity.
“It was so hard, not only because of the lack of food but also because I spent so much time worrying,” he said.
The circumstances surrounding the group’s release are still unclear.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces drove back Islamic State militants in north-western Iraq last month, breaking a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had been stranded for months.
However, many Yazidi villages remain under ISIS control. Yazidi women and girls have been forced to marry or been sold into slavery by ISIS.
The Yazidi community estimates that around 3,000 women and children are still being held captive.
Brazil is “outraged” by the execution of Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, was arrested in 2003 after police at Jakarta airport found 13.4 kg of cocaine hidden in his hang glider.
Brazil says Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira was the first Brazilian national to be executed abroad and has warned it will damage relations.
Five other convicts from Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam and the Netherlands, were executed on January 18.
Convicted of drugs charges, they faced a firing squad in Central Java province shortly after midnight local time.
Five were executed on the island of Nusa Kambangan and the other one, a Vietnamese woman, was executed in the small central Javanese town of Boyolali.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement that she was “outraged and dismayed”.
“Relations between the two countries have been affected,” she said.
“The Brazilian ambassador to Jakarta has been recalled for consultations,” the president added.
The Netherlands has also recalled its ambassador, after Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the execution of Dutch citizen Ang Kiem Soe, 52, “an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The country resumed executions in 2013 after an unofficial four-year moratorium.
Indonesia’s Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said “hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect”.
President Joko Widodo has said that he will show no mercy towards drug criminals because they have ruined the lives of so many.
Dilma Rousseff had made a plea for clemency on January 16, but it was rejected by Joko Widodo.
She told her Indonesian counterpart that she respected the sovereignty and judicial system of his country but as a mother and head of state she was making the appeal for humanitarian reasons.
Brazil says Joko Widodo said he understood the Brazilian president’s concern but said he could not commute the sentence as the full legal process had been followed.
Human rights group Amnesty International urged the Indonesian government to halt executions immediately, and eventually abolish the death penalty.
Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira said in a video recorded by a friend that he regretted trying to smuggle cocaine into Indonesia.
“I am aware that I committed a serious offence, but I believe I deserve another chance. Everyone makes mistakes.”
A second Brazilian national, Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte, remains on death row in Indonesia, also convicted with drug trafficking offences.
Brazil abolished the death penalty in times of peace when it became a republic in 1889.
PGA golfer Robert Allenby says he was kidnapped from a bar in Honolulu, Hawaii, robbed and beaten, before being dumped in a park.
Robert Allenby, 43, says he may have been drugged before he was taken from the bar on January 16.
The Australian was helped back to his hotel by a retired military man.
“I didn’t think I was going to survive this one,” he told the AAP news agency.
Robert Allenby had been planning to fly out of Hawaii after missing the cut at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open.
Local television said the incident was being investigated as second-degree robbery.
“I was separated from my friend in the bar after we had paid the tab at 22:48 and he went to the bathroom and next thing you know I’m being dumped in a park miles away,” he said.
Robert Allenby said a homeless woman spotted him being dumped from a car, after being robbed of his phone and wallet.
The military veteran paid for a taxi for him back to the hotel, he said.
Pictures shown on the Golf Channel showed Robert Allenby with cuts on his nose and forehead and bruising around his eye.
His caddie Mick Middlemo told the channel Robert Allenby woke up groggy with no initial recollection of what happened to him.
Robert Allenby is ranked 271 in the world and has won four titles on the elite PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association] TOUR.
