Paralyzed swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen is walking for the first time with the help of bionic legs since an ATV accident in June.
The accident left Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, 41, paralyzed from the waist down.
Paralyzed swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen is walking for the first time with the help of bionic legs
The Olympic champion, who said she felt “1,000 times better” after being released from a Colorado rehabilitation hospital last week, documented her first time standing and walking with the aid of a walker and leg devices Thursday on her Instagram account.
“Standing up for the first time on my own in 2 1/2 months,” Amy Van Dyken-Rouen captioned on the photo.
Amy Van Dyken-Rouen was paralyzed from the T11-12 vertebrae down after being thrown from an ATV in Arizona on June 6, though she has since said that she’s felt movement below her belly button and hopes to regain feeling in her legs some day.
The Russian aid convoy has moved across the Ukrainian border, without permission, after Russia accused Ukraine of obstructing it.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Ukraine had held up the convoy in order to pursue war against rebels in Luhansk, where the aid is destined.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was “not part of that convoy in any way”.
Reports suggest the trucks are being escorted by rebel fighters.
“Our humanitarian aid convoy is starting to move towards Luhansk,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
It warned Ukraine not to take any action against the convoy without specifying the consequences.
Ukraine fears that the aid convoy of at least 260 trucks, which arrived at the border more than a week ago, is part of a broader Russian intervention in eastern Ukraine.
Russia denies accusations that it arms and trains the rebels in the rebellion in Luhansk and the neighboring region of Donetsk, where four months of fighting have left more than 2,000 people dead and has caused more than 330,000 people to flee their homes.
The Russian aid convoy has moved across the Ukrainian border, without permission (photo Reuters)
The rebel-held city of Luhansk has been without running water, power and phone communications for 20 days as government forces hold it under siege.
As many as 70 trucks have entered Ukrainian territory, moving out of the no-man’s land between the Russian and Ukrainian border posts.
Reporters at the scene saw rebel fighters in front of the convoy as it passed over the border, in a rebel-held sector near the Russian town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky.
It is normally a drive of about two hours from the trucks’ camp to the city of Luhansk.
However, it is unclear if the convoy will be able to use the motorway there because of continuing combat between rebels and government forces.
An ICRC spokesperson in Moscow said it had concluded that it had not “received the necessary security guarantees from the fighting parties to allow us to escort the convoy at this time”.
It cited “heavy shelling overnight” in Luhansk.
“We understand that the convoy is now moving, however the ICRC is not part of that convoy in any way,” the spokesperson added.
The Russian branch of the ICRC said earlier it was ready to take part in the relief operation and was contacting its international colleagues.
“We are warning against any attempts to sabotage this purely humanitarian mission, which was prepared a long time ago, in an atmosphere of full transparency and in co-operation with the Ukrainian side and the ICRC,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Delays in Ukrainian clearance for the convoy had “become unbearable”, it said.
“All excuses for blocking the delivery of aid to people in the area where this humanitarian catastrophe is happening have been exhausted,” it added.
“The Russian side has decided to act. Our convoy carrying humanitarian aid is beginning to move towards Luhansk.”
There was no immediate comment on news of the convoy’s entry from the Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian media did report, however, that the convoy had not received the go-ahead from Ukraine.
In a statement on its website, Luhansk’s official council reported on August 22 that the dire situation in the city remained unchanged with no halt in the bombardment.
The bodies of 20 Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine last month have arrived in Kuala Lumpur.
A specially chartered plane took off from Amsterdam and landed around 10:00 local time.
National flags are flying at half-mast for the day of mourning.
Flight MH17 is believed to have been shot down by a missile fired by pro-Russian rebels. They deny the claim.
All 298 passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 died on July 17.
From office workers to train drivers, many among the nation of 30 million observed a minute’s silence as white hearses drove the remains from the airport to private funerals in various provinces.
Malaysia’s public transportation, including the national rail system and Kuala Lumpur’s monorail, paused during the minute of silence.
PM Najib Razak, who turned his Twitter and Facebook pages black, wrote a condolence message that was widely shared.
The bodies of 20 Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine last month have arrived in Kuala Lumpur (photo Getty Images)
“Last month, 43 Malaysian lives were taken over eastern Ukraine. Today we mourn the loss of our people. Today, we begin to bring them home.”
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. Today we stand with you, united as one.”
Transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement that the government will “redouble” efforts to bring home the remaining victims.
Malaysia Airlines is organizing a public prayer session and a spokesman also expressed the company’s condolences.
Earlier on Thursday, a contingent of Malaysian soldiers met the plane to escort the coffins to the hearses.
All the coffins were draped in the national flag. Three of the 20 bodies have been cremated in the Netherlands.
The victims’ bodies have been given to their families and relatives to be laid to rest.
This is the first time Malaysia is holding a national day of mourning for civilian victims.
The honor has traditionally been accorded only to the royal family and heads of government.
Of the 43 Malaysian victims, 28 have been identified in the Netherlands so far, which is leading an international investigation into the crash in eastern Ukraine.
More than 200 coffins with remains of the victims have so far been taken to the Netherlands.
The inquiry is being hampered by continuing fighting between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian rebels near the crash site.
German millionaire and removals entrepreneur Klaus Zapf, who shunned the trappings of wealth, has died from a heart attack at the age of 62.
Klaus Zapf was the founder and co-owner of Zapf Umzuge, one of the largest relocation companies in Europe.
He earned himself a legendary reputation for living well below his means, and was known for acts such as collecting returnable bottles at night.
Klaus Zapf died on August 20, his company announced on its website.
Despite his vast wealth, Klaus Zapf lived in a small flat and was paid just enough to cover his basic living costs, according to Der Spiegel.
He once said that he collected empty bottles on which there is a deposit to be reclaimed and only shopped at supermarkets with the lowest prices.
According to reports, he lived on less than 300 euros ($400) a month.
Klaus Zapf was the founder and co-owner of Zapf Umzuge, one of the largest relocation companies in Europe
“I don’t need money. It just makes us unequal,” he was quoted as saying.
German press reports describe him as being “deeply immersed” in the left scene during his student years, and names Rudi Dutschke – a prominent leader of Germany’s socialist student movement in the late 1960s – as among his peers.
Klaus Zapf founded his removals company in Berlin in 1975, after cutting his university studies short.
He came to West Berlin 45 years ago and labored, humping furniture, which inspired him to set up his own company.
Klaus Zapf never got a driving license, so he relied on others to drive the transit van while he did the heavy lifting and later moved into management.
When the Berlin Wall came down, he reportedly predicted that the capital would move from Bonn to Berlin, leading him to set up a depot there and get the lion’s share of the moving business.
The company says it has some 600 employees and more than 60,000 customers per year at 14 different locations.
Klaus Zapf, who married twice – most recently in June this year – leaves behind a daughter.
A mandatory fingerprinting system will placed in Venezuela’s supermarkets to combat food shortages and smuggling, President Nicolas Maduro has announced.
Nicolas Maduro said the system would stop people from buying too much of a single item.
However, the opposition in Venezuela rejected the plan, saying the policy treated all Venezuelans as thieves.
Critics said fingerprinting consumers of staple products was tantamount to rationing and constituted a breach of privacy.
Up to 40% of the goods which Venezuela subsidizes for its domestic market are smuggled to Colombia, where they are sold at much higher prices, the authorities say.
A mandatory fingerprinting system will placed in Venezuela’s supermarkets to combat food shortages and smuggling
“The amount of staples smuggled to Colombia would be enough to load the shelves of our supermarkets,” Gen. Efrain Velasco Lugo, a military spokesman, told El Universal newspaper earlier this week.
The opposition blames what it says are the failed left-wing policies of the past 15 years – initiated by late President Hugo Chavez – for the country’s economic crisis.
Dissatisfaction with the shortage of many staples, as well as rampant crime and high inflation, led thousands of people in the western Venezuelan states of Tachira and Merida to take to the streets in January.
The protests quickly spread to the rest of Venezuela, which faces similar problems.
Earlier this month Venezuela launched an anti-smuggling operation on its border with Colombia.
It deployed 17,000 troops along the border and began closing all the crossings at night.
The one-month ban will be lifted in mid-September.
The decision to close the border was agreed with Colombia, where the smuggling of cheap goods from Venezuela is also seen as a major problem.
The Colombian government says it leads to a big loss in taxes, with complaints of unfair competition faced by local businesses.
Dr. Kent Brantly, one of the US aid workers who recovered from an Ebola infection, is “thrilled to be alive” as he is discharged from hospital.
Dr. Kent Brantly, 33, thanked supporters for their prayers at a news conference in Atlanta.
Nurse Nancy Writebol, 59, was discharged on August 19.
The two were brought to the US for treatment three weeks ago.
The outbreak has killed more than 1,300 people in West Africa, with many of the deaths occurring in Liberia.
“Today is a miraculous day,” said Dr. Kent Brantly, who appeared healthy if pallid as he addressed reporters on Thursday at Emory University hospital.
“I am thrilled to be alive, to be well, and to be reunited with my family. As a medical missionary, I never imagined myself in this position.”
Dr. Kent Brantly contracted the Ebola virus in Liberia, where he and his family moved in October 2013 (photo AP)
Dr. Kent Brantly said Ebola “was not on the radar” when he and his family moved to Liberia in October.
After his family returned to the US as the Ebola outbreak tore through West Africa, Kent Brantly continued to treat Ebola patients and woke up on July 23 feeling “under the weather”.
Dr. Kent Brantly said he lay in bed for nine days, getting progressively sicker and weaker.
On August 1, he was flown to Atlanta for treatment at Emory unit.
Emory infectious disease specialist Dr. Bruce Ribner said after rigorous treatment and testing officials were confident Dr. Kent Brantly had recovered “and he can return to his family, his community and his life without public health concerns”.
The group for which Dr. Kent Brantly was working in Liberia, Samaritan’s Purse, said they were celebrating his recovery.
“Today I join all of our Samaritan’s Purse team around the world in giving thanks to God as we celebrate Dr. Kent Brantly’s recovery from Ebola and release from the hospital,” Franklin Graham said in a statement.
Nancy Writebol’s husband David said in a statement that she was free of the virus but was significantly weakened.
Her family decided to leave the hospital privately in order to allow her to rest and recuperate.
Meanwhile, South Africa on Thursday said non-citizens arriving from Ebola-affected areas of West Africa – the countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – would not be allowed into the country.
There is no cure for Ebola, one of the deadliest diseases known to humans, with a fatality rate in this outbreak of 50-60%.
But both Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol received an experimental treatment known as ZMapp.
The drug, which has only been made in extremely limited quantities, had never been tested on humans and it remains unclear if it is responsible for their recovery.
ZMapp was also given to a Spanish priest, who died, and three Liberian health workers, who are showing signs of improvement.
James Foley’s killers wanted a $132 million ransom for his release, his employer has said.
GlobalPost CEO Philip Balboni said the Islamic State (ISIS) militants first demanded money last year.
James Foley was abducted in November 2012, and a video of his beheading was released by ISIS earlier this week.
In the video, they threatened to kill another American, journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, if the US did not stop its air strikes against the group in northern Iraq.
US air strikes have continued near Mosul despite the warning.
The US has begun a formal criminal investigation into James Foley’s death, with Attorney General Eric Holder saying that the US has a “long memory and our reach is very wide”.
In the UK, police and security services are trying to identify the jihadistwho appeared in footage of James Foley’s killing.
Unconfirmed reports suggest the man – who had a British accent – is from London or south-east England.
Journalist James Foley was abducted in Syria in November 2012
On Thursday, Eric Holder said the US pursuit of James Foley’s killer would be determined.
“We have an open criminal investigation, and those who would perpetrate such acts need to understand something: this Justice Department, the Department of Defense, this nation, we have long memories and our reach is very wide,” he said.
“We will not forget what happened and people will be held accountable one way or the other.”
Earlier President Barack Obama condemned the killing and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“We will be vigilant and we will be relentless,” he said.
“When people harm Americans, anywhere, we do what’s necessary to see that justice is done.”
The US launched more air strikes on ISIS targets in Iraq on Thursday.
US aircraft destroyed or damaged four ISIS vehicles and several bomb placements in strikes near Mosul dam, the military said.
Since August 8, the US military says it has conducted a total of 90 airstrikes across Iraq.
Of those 90 strikes, 57 have been near Mosul Dam, the military said.
The US defense department has revealed that the US “attempted a rescue operation recently to free a number of American hostages held in Syria”.
“Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location.”
It was the first time the US government had acknowledged that its forces had operated in Syria since the country’s civil war began in 2011.
The Pentagon statement did not specify whether the operation had intended to rescue James Foley.
However, senior US officials – speaking on condition of anonymity – confirmed this. They added that the troops had killed several ISIS militants.
Bank of America has agreed pay a record settlement of $16.7 billion for misleading investors about the quality of loans it sold.
The loans were sold by Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch before Bank of America bought them in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.
The associate attorney general said “no institution is either too big or too powerful to escape” punishment.
The settlement will cut the bank’s third-quarter profits by $5.3bn.
Bank of America will pay a total of $9.65 billion in cash and provide consumer relief worth about $7 billion, much of which will go towards homeowners struggling with their mortgages.
The cash component consists of a $5 billion civil penalty and $4.63 billion in compensation payments.
The case centered on Countrywide Financial, the biggest lender at the time of the crisis, and Merrill Lynch selling mortgage loans to investors but not explaining the full extent of the risk involved.
Bank of America has agreed pay a record settlement of $16.7 billion for misleading investors about the quality of loans it sold
Tony West, the associate attorney general, explained: “It’s kind of like going to your neighborhood grocery store to buy milk advertised as fresh, only to discover that store employees knew the milk you were buying had been left out on the loading dock, unrefrigerated, the entire day before, yet they never told you.
“And just like you might be in for an unpleasant surprise when you got home and poured yourself that glass of milk, investors – such as public pension funds and federally-insured financial institutions – were unpleasantly met with billions of dollars in losses when those securities investments soured.”
Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s CEO, said: “We believe this settlement, which resolves significant remaining mortgage-related exposures, is in the best interests of our shareholders, and allows us to continue to focus on the future.”
On Wall Street, shares in Bank of America opened 1.5% higher on relief that a major cloud hanging over the firm had been removed.
Previously, the largest banking fine by US regulators was a $13 billion settlement reached with JPMorgan in 2013, for misleading investors during the housing crisis.
The Bank of America fine is the latest in a line of penalties imposed by the US on banks since the 2008 financial crisis.
In March 2014, Bank of America agreed to pay $9.5 billion to settle charges that it misled US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over mortgage securities.
The entire cast of popular South African soap opera Generations has been sacked after going on strike in a long-running dispute over pay and contracts.
The show’s 16 actors, watched nightly on state broadcaster SABC, were fired after resisting calls to return to work at studios in Johannesburg.
The program will continue to air until October, while producers have indicated new actors will be recruited.
Generations follows black middle-class characters working in advertising.
It first aired in 1993, a year before South African’s first democratic multi-party elections brought Nelson Mandela to power.
The show – known as a “soapie” – is a popular draw with ordinary South Africans, providing a source of aspiration to TV viewers.
Executive producer Mfundi Vundla told a South African radio station that new cast members would be sought.
The entire cast of Generations has been sacked after going on strike in a long-running dispute over pay and contracts
“There were other actors before, there will be other actors in the future,” he told Talk Radio 702.
“Generations will go on, it doesn’t mean the demise of the series.”
“We’ve been engaging with them since October last year,” said Mfundi Vundla, who added the cast had been asked to continue recording the show while negotiations continued but had not returned to work.
“That’s it, it’s finished, it’s a termination,” he added.
Mfundi Vundla branded the actors’ pay and contractual demands “unreasonable” and claimed 12 of South Africa’s highest paid actors were Generations cast members.
The cast have contended they are underpaid and also receive no repeat fees for their work, which is screened in other African countries.
Among the actors losing their jobs is Sophie Ndaba, who has played Queen Moroka since the show’s inception.
The cast’s lawyer said they would seek further advice before deciding how to fight the show makers’ decision.
South Africa’s Arts and Culture minister, Nathi Mthethwa, said he was willing to help reach “a speedy and amicable resolution to this matter” and added the drama had helped foster the development and growth of the country’s creative industries.
The laptop of outgoing Belgian PM Elio Di Rupo has been stolen after a thief broke into his car in Brussels.
The theft took place on August 18 while PM Elio Di Rupo was at the gym, but details have only just emerged.
Elio Di Rupo’s spokesman has denied reports that the laptop contained state secrets and sensitive details about the royal family.
The theft primarily involved “personal notes and some work documents”, the spokesman said.
The thief saw his chance when Elio Di Rupo’s driver popped into a bookshop while the prime minister was in the gym in the centre of Brussels, Dutch-language daily Het Laatste Nieuws reported on August 21.
Elio Di Rupo’s laptop has been stolen after a thief broke into his car in Brussels
He smashed a side window in the Audi A6, folded the back seat and found the laptop in the boot of the car.
PM Elio Di Rupo made a statement to police soon afterwards in which the newspaper reported he had referred to important details about internal politics and the royal family.
A briefcase, suit, white shirt and mobile phone charger were among other items stolen, the report said.
However, Elio Di Rupo’s spokesman said the theft did not involve classified information or state secrets and the laptop itself was thoroughly protected. Such documents were always transported according to rules and adapted procedures, a statement said.
Brussels police are investigating the theft.
Elio Di Rupo’s computers have received unwanted attention in the past, too. In September 2013, federal prosecutors opened an inquiry into two possible hacking incidents in the prime minister’s office.
A French-speaking Socialist, Elio Di Rupo took on the role of prime minister in 2011 after more than 500 days of political deadlock in which Belgium was left without a government.
Elio Di Rupo submitted his resignation after elections in May this year, but has continued in the role in a caretaker capacity.
More unscheduled checks on McDonald’s restaurants across Russia have been announced by the country’s consumer watchdog as part of a probe into food standards.
The move comes after watchdog Rospotrebnadzor temporarily shut four McDonald’s restaurants in Moscow.
The actions come amid rising tensions and sanctions between Russia and the West over the crisis in the Ukraine.
The regulator denied the checks were politically motivated. McDonald’s said “top quality” food was its priority.
The regulatory agency said: “There are complaints about the quality and safety of the products in fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s.”
McDonald’s is one of the symbols of America.
Russian parliament has also called for checks on other US fast-food brands, including Burger King and KFC.
McDonald’s said its main priority was to serve customers “top quality menu items”, and that it was studying a claim by the food standards watchdog “to define what should be done to re-open the [Moscow] restaurants as soon as possible”.
Russian state news agency Ria Novosti reported that the regulator was preparing to take McDonald’s to court over alleged breaches of health and safety regulations.
Russia’s first ever McDonald’s opened in 1990 in Moscow’s Pushkin Square (photo McDonald’s)
McDonalds decline to comment on that report.
Unscheduled checks will be made in McDonald’s restaurants in the region of Sverdlovsk in west-central Russia, the Volga region of Tatarstan, the central Voronezh region, and the Moscow region.
“There has been a selection of microbiology tests, sanitary and chemical tests, and identification indicators,” the watchdog said.
McDonald’s said it was “open to any checks”.
A company spokeswoman for European operations said it was aware that the regulator was carrying out the checks, which would be likely to continue for a couple of months.
The spokeswoman added that McDonald’s serves millions of customers a day in Russia, and wanted minimal disruption for them.
According to Ria Novosti, checks have been ordered across Russia’s Central Federal District, and that inspections of McDonald’s in all of the country’s regions will take place.
The checks and restaurant closures come amid a background of diplomatic tensions and tit-for-tat sanctions between Russia and the West over the crisis in the Ukraine. The West has accused Russia of supporting pro-Russian militants.
Earlier this month, Russia imposed an embargo on food imports from the EU, US and some other Western countries, in response to sanctions over Ukraine.
On August 20, the regulator temporarily closed four Moscow restaurants as part of an ongoing investigation of McDonald’s.
The first ever McDonald’s in Pushkin Square, which opened in 1990, was one of the outlets that was shut. Restaurants on Manezh Square, Svobodny prospect 35b and Prospect Mira were also closed.
Jens Breivik, the father of jailed Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, has written a book expressing feelings of guilt and responsibility over his son’s actions.
Anders Behring Breivik admitted killing 77 people when he bombed central Oslo and then went on a shooting spree at a youth camp on nearby Utoeya island in 2011.
His parents separated when Anders was a year old and Jens Breivik claims to have had little contact with his son.
Entitled My Fault? A Father’s Story, the book is set for release in October.
“I feel some guilt and I feel some responsibility. What would have happened if I had been a better father? Would Anders have done what he did?” Jens Breivik wrote, according to an excerpt of the book released by the publisher Juritzen.
A retired Norwegian diplomat living in southern France, Jens Breivik wrote the book with the help of a ghost writer and is expected to question his behavior as a parent and his role in the life of the radical far-right killer.
Jens Breivik has written a book expressing feelings of guilt and responsibility over son Anders’ actions
In 2012, Anders Breivik was sentenced to the maximum 21 years in prison for carrying out the country’s worst peacetime massacre in its modern history.
Anders Breivk harbored extremist right-wing views and claimed he had reacted against what he saw as a Marxist-Islamic takeover of Europe.
His deadly rampage against a Labor Party youth camp on Utoeya island was found by an Oslo court to have been a premeditated act of terrorism.
Anders Breivik’s jail term can be extended if he is deemed to remain a danger to society.
Jens Breivik has often been described as an absent father after the separation from his wife. At the time of the separation, Jens Breivik attempted to win custody over Anders but was unsuccessful, and he lost touch with his son when Anders was a teenager.
A previous book about Anders Breivik’s late mother, Wenche, portrayed Jens Breivik as a domestic tyrant.
During the murder investigation and trial, it emerged that Norwegian social services had suspected Anders Breivik was neglected at home as a child.
According to the editor of My Fault? A Father’s Story, Arve Juritzen, the book is a form of self-trial for Jens Breivik.
Jens Breivik has re-established contact his son in the last two years but has not shared the manuscript with him.
Animal tests suggested that Botox injections may help fight cancer.
The new study, published in Science Translational Medicine, showed nerves help stomach cancers grow.
Research on mice found that using the toxin beloved by those seeking a wrinkle-free face to kill nerves could halt the growth of stomach tumors and make them more vulnerable to chemotherapy.
Botox is usually used in the fight against the signs of ageing, not cancer.
The toxin disrupts nerve function to relax muscles and even out wrinkles, but a growing body of work suggests nerves can also help fuel cancer growth.
Scientists Columbia University Medical Centre, in New York, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim investigated the role of the vagus nerve – which runs from the brain to the digestive system – in stomach cancer.
Research on mice found that using Botox to kill nerves could halt the growth of stomach tumors and make them more vulnerable to chemotherapy
Either cutting the nerve or using the toxin Botox slowed the growth of tumors or made them more responsive to chemotherapy.
Dr. Timothy Wang, one of the scientists in the study, said: “If you just cut nerves is it going to cure cancer? Probably not.
“At least in early phase, if you [disrupt the nerve] the tumor becomes much more responsive to chemotherapy, so we don’t see this as a single cure, but making current and future treatments more effective.”
Some trials have started in people who are having surgery to remove a stomach cancer. There has also been research suggesting nerves may have a role in prostate cancer too.
However, Dr. Timothy Wang acknowledged that there was a long way to go before this could be considered a treatment.
“With everything new in cancer, even if it looks great, when you start to roll it out to patients it always seems cancer is smarter than we are.
“Tumors have the ability to out-evolve any single agent, knocking one leg of a stool is probably not going to topple it.
“But I think this has a lot of potential and in a decade or two I can see these pathways being targeted.”
Gucci Mane has been sentenced by a federal judge to spend 39 months in jail after pleading guilty to a federal firearms charge in May 2014.
Rapper Gucci Mane, 34, whose real name is Radric Davis, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after reaching an agreement with prosecutors.
The judge also sentenced the rapper to serve three years of supervised release with limitations on his travel during that time and to pay a $5,000 fine.
Radric Davis has already spent 11 months in custody, which leaves him with 28 months remaining on his sentence. Had he gone to trial, Gucci Mane could have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
According to the indictment, on September 12, 2013, police caught Radric Davis, a felon on probation, with a Taurus 45-caliber handgun and eight rounds of ammunition.
Two days later, a friend concerned about the rapper’s behavior also called Atlanta police.
About 1 a.m. September 14, 2013, authorities found Radric Davis walking near Moreland and East Confederate avenues. The rapper became “increasingly agitated with officers and began cursing and threatening them”.
Gucci Mane has been sentenced to 39 months in jail after pleading guilty to a federal firearms charge (photo Getty Images)
The officers arrested Davis and discovered he was carrying a handgun and small amount of marijuana, police said at the time. The federal indictment claims Gucci Mane was in possession of a Glock 40-caliber handgun and 11 rounds of ammunition.
His lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Steve Jones on August 20, 2014, to recommend that the Bureau of Prisons put the rapper in a drug program and to house him in a facility on the West Coast, away from negative influences he has in Atlanta.
“He understands he has some work ahead of him and his goal is to bring resolution to this case and get back to performing,” said Drew Findling, Radric Davis’ attorney.
“He doesn’t want anything to distract him. He wants to do anything to get back to the work place and the work place is the stage.”
While on probation after he is released from prison, however, Gucci Mane will be allowed to leave the Northern District of Georgia no more than seven days a month unless he has his probation officer’s permission. Radric Davis told the judge his tours usually lasted 14 to 15 days.
Judge Steve Jones lectured Radric Davis about redirecting his life once he is released.
“You’re a young man, You have a full life before you. … I see a lot of famous people move outside the line,” the judge said.
If Gucci Mane continues to break the law, Judge Steve Jones said: “You’re going to wake up one morning broke. You’re going to wake up one morning back in prison.”
Elizabeth Vargas and Marc Cohn have decided to divorce after 12 years of marriage.
20/20 anchor Elizabeth Vargas, 51, and singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, 55, share two sons together: Zachary, 11, and Samuel, 8.
“Marc and Elizabeth are in divorce proceedings,” a source reportedly told People magazine.
Elizabeth Vargas and Marc Cohn have decided to divorce after 12 years of marriage (photo Getty Images)
“The kids are with him in New York while she seeks treatment.”
The divorce news follows Elizabeth Vargas’ announcement that she has returned to rehab.
Elizabeth Vargas first revealed her decades-long battle with alcohol addiction back in November.
In regards to Elizabeth Vargas’ rehab stint, Marc Cohn told People magazine in a statement: “On behalf of Elizabeth’s family, we are in total support of her recovery and want her to be well.”
Elizabeth Vargas also released a statement saying: “I feel I have let myself, my co-workers and most importantly my family down, and for that I am ashamed and sorry.”
Beyonce has asked Gwyneth Paltrow for divorce advice as her marriage to Jay-Z has been on the rocks the past few months, Us Weekly reported.
Byonce, 32, has sought Gwyneth Paltrow’s advice as “she plans her split”, an insider told publication.
There are rumors claiming that Beyonce and Jay-Z, 44, will separate in the fall, after completing their On The Run tour dates.
Beyonce has asked Gwyneth Paltrow for divorce advice as her marriage to Jay-Z has been on the rocks the past few months (photo Getty Images)
Beyonce is planning for the breakup to echo Gwyneth Paltrow’s amicable “conscious uncoupling” from Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, the insider said.
According to the source, the couple will be seen together after the split announcement: “The day after the announcement, Bey and Jay will be spotted together.”
“The two will be all lovey-dovey.”
Earlier this month, while in town for their Los Angeles shows, Beyonce stopped by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Brentwood home.
Last year Beyonce gushed about Gwyneth Paltrow, calling her “incredible” and a “great friend on every level”.
Three senior Hamas military commanders have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza, militants say.
Mohammed Abu Shamala, Mohammed Barhoum and Raed al-Attar died in the attack near the southern town of Rafah.
They were among at least six killed, a day after Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif reportedly survived a strike that killed his wife and child.
An Israeli was severely injured as rockets were fired into Israel on Thursday, the army said.
Hostilities resumed after peace talks collapsed on Tuesday.
Israel has vowed to pursue its campaign until “full security” is achieved.
Six weeks of fierce fighting have left at least 2,103 people dead, all but 67 of them Palestinians and most of them said to be civilians.
Hamas commanders Mohammed Abu Shamala, Mohammed Barhoum and Raed al-Attar died in an Israeli attack near the southern town of Rafah
Israel’s strike on Rafah demolished a four-storey building and “dozens” of people were missing, Palestinian health official Ashraf Al-Kidra was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
The three commanders killed were key to operations including smuggling, tunnel construction and capturing the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2006.
Israel’s military said it had carried out 20 attacks on targets in Gaza during the night in response to militant rocket attacks. Since talks on extending the ceasefire failed, 213 rockets have been fired at Israel, it added.
According to an unconfirmed report by AFP news agency, at least six other Palestinians, four of them children, were killed in Israeli attacks overnight in the northern town of Beit Lahiya and in Gaza City.
In another development, Hamas warned foreign airline companies to stop flying to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport from Thursday.
Ofer Lefler, spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), told AFP that flights had been disrupted for 10 minutes but there had been “no change to take-offs or landings”.
Hamas also confirmed it was abandoning efforts to negotiate a durable ceasefire with Israel.
It had gone to the talks in Cairo demanding an end to the Israeli and Egyptian blockades of Gaza, and the establishment of a seaport and airport.
Israel, for its part, had sought guarantees that Hamas and other factions in Gaza would be disarmed,
The UN Security Council voiced “grave concern” at the resumption of hostilities and “called upon the parties to resume negotiations to urgently reach a sustainable and lasting ceasefire”.
Egypt expressed “profound regret” at the end of a 10-day period of “calm” during the talks, and said it would continue to try to secure a lasting truce.
Photographer Aja Oxman, who claims he was assaulted by Justin Bieber’s bodyguard on a Hawaii’s Shipwreck Beach last year, is suing the pop singer for assault and negligence.
Aja Oxman sued Justin Bieber, 20, and bodyguard Dwayne Patterson on August 20 in Los Angeles.
The photographer is seeking unspecified damages for injuries and mental and emotional distress that he claims are a result of being attacked on Hawaii’s Shipwreck Beach in November.
Photographer Aja Oxman is suing Justin Bieber for assault and negligence (photo Getty Images)
Aja Oxman’s suit accuses Justin Bieber of ordering Dwayne Patterson to force Oxman to hand over his camera memory card.
Dwayne Patterson was arrested on suspicion of assault after confronting Aja Oxman, who shot photos of Justin Bieber jumping off a cliff.
According to court records, Dwayne Patterson pleaded no contest to harassment and criminal property damage and has paid $6,000 in restitution to Aja Oxman.
Coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha has been named the new prime minister of Thailand.
Prayuth Chan-ocha, 60, was nominated on August 21 in a legislature hand-picked by the junta and made up of mostly military and police figures.
The general was the head of the army when he led a dramatic coup in May.
It followed months of intense political deadlock between Yingluck Shinawatra’s government and opposition parties that resulted in protests and clashes.
Prayuth Chan-ocha was chosen after all 197 members of Thailand’s National Assembly cast their votes on Thursday morning.
The vote in Parliament was little more than a formality, lasting just 15 minutes, as Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha was the only candidate.
The assembly’s choice is expected to be approved by King Bhumibol Adulyadej later.
Although his role is meant to be an interim one as Prayuth Chn-ocha plans to hold a general election in late 2015.
Coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha has been named the new prime minister of Thailand (photo AP)
He now wields enormous power and also still heads the military junta.
Prayuth Chn-ocha is expected to pick his new cabinet soon.
He has promised a root and branch reform of politics to prevent a return to the turmoil of recent years, offering a possible restoration of democratic rule next year.
However, critics believe his real priority is to destroy the political party of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, which has won every election for the past 14 years, and to secure a delicate royal succession.
Such goals would require a much longer democratic timetable.
Concerns have mounted that the military is seeking to strengthen its hold on the country.
Besides hand-picking the national assembly, the junta issued an interim constitution in July that gives the military sweeping powers.
It is appointing a national reform council that would help to come up with a permanent constitution that would take effect by July 2015.
Prayuth Chan-ocha and junta officials have argued that military rule has brought stability to Thailand following months of violent protests between the pro- and anti-Thaksin camps.
Shakira’s hit song Loca was indirectly copied from another songwriter’s work, a federal judge in New York has found.
Judge Alvin Hellerstein said Shakira’s Spanish-language version of Loca in 2010 had infringed on a song by Dominican singer Ramon Arias Vazquez.
Shakira’s English language version of Loca – which featured Dizzee Rascal – was “not offered into evidence” at the trial.
However, the Spanish language version – a collaboration with Dominican rapper Eduard Edwin Bello Pou, better known as El Cata – was widely released as a single around the world. It went on to sell more than five million copies and topped Billboard Magazine‘s Latin charts.
Shakira’s Spanish-language version of Loca in 2010 had infringed on a song by Dominican singer Ramon Arias Vazquez (photo Wikipedia)
It was also included on her 2010 album Sale el Sol. For English language markets, the album was titled The Sun Comes Out and both versions of the song were included.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Judge Alvin Hellerstein said that while the hit single had been based on an earlier version of a song recorded by Eduard Edwin Bello Pou [El Cata], that itself had been copied from Ramon Arias Vasquez’s original song.
“There is no dispute that Shakira’s version of the song was based on Bello’s version,” wrote the judge in his ruling.
“Accordingly, I find that, since Bello had copied Arias, whoever wrote Shakira’s version of the song also indirectly copied Arias,” he concluded.
Ramon Arias Vazquez penned his song Loca con su Tiguere in the 1990s, but El Cata has denied copying it.
The case has yet to determine damages for the plaintiff, Mayimba Music, which holds the rights to Ramon Arias Vazquez’s work.
Shakira’s song was distributed by Sony in both Spanish and English, but the copyright lawsuit mainly focused on the Spanish version.
Acccording to US officials, a secret military mission had tried but failed to free journalist James Foley and other American hostages in Syria.
Their comments come after a video of James Foley’s killing by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) militants appeared on Tuesday.
ISIS said James Foley’s death was revenge for US air strikes on its fighters in Iraq.
President Barack Obama condemned the killing as “an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world”.
He compared ISIS militants, who control large parts of Syria and Iraq to a “cancer” and said the group’s ideology was “bankrupt”.
The UN, UK and others have also expressed abhorrence at the video.
James Foley’s mother, Diane Foley, said he “gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “extremely concerned for all journalists” still held by ISIS, describing Syria as “the world’s most dangerous place to be a reporter”.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Pentagon said the US had “attempted a rescue operation recently to free a number of American hostages held in Syria”.
It said the operation “involved air and ground components and was focused on a particular captor network within ISIL” (the former name of ISIS).
“Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location.”
James Foley had reported extensively across the Middle East, working for GlobalPost and other media outlets
The statement did not specify whether the operation had intended to rescue James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria in November 2012.
However, senior Obama administration officials – speaking on the condition of anonymity – confirmed this.
They said that several dozen special troops had been dropped by aircraft into Syria in recent weeks to try to rescue US hostages, including James Foley.
They added that the troops had been engaged in a firefight with ISIS militants, killing a number of them. No Americans were killed.
James Foley, 40, had reported extensively across the Middle East, working for GlobalPost and other media outlets including French news agency AFP.
In the ISIS video, titled A Message to America, a man identified as James Foley is dressed in an orange jumpsuit, kneeling in desert-like terrain beside an armed man dressed in black.
He gives a message to his family and links his imminent death to the US government’s bombing campaign of ISIS targets in Iraq.
Clearly under duress, he says: “I call on my friends, family and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government, for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and criminality.”
Then the masked militant – who speaks with a British accent – delivers a warning to the US government before killing James Foley: “Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights of living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the bloodshed of your people.”
Another captive, identified as American journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, is shown at the end, with the warning that his fate depends on President Barack Obama’s next move.
Steven Joel Sotloff was abducted in northern Syria a year ago.
Marina Silva has been formally named as the Brazilian Socialist Party’s new presidential candidate.
Environmental campaigner Marina Silva, 56, replaces the late Eduardo Campos, who was killed in a plane crash last week.
Marina Silva was Eduardo Campos’s running mate and served as environment minister.
She is seen as a leading challenger to President Dilma Rousseff, who’s seeking re-election in the October 5 poll.
PSB President Roberto Amaral told a news conference Marina Silva had been chosen unanimously.
Congressman Beto Albuquerque was named the party’s new vice presidential candidate.
Marina Silva will test President Dilma Rousseff’s status as favorite to win October’s election and make this a much more interesting process than it looked like being barely a week ago.
Marina Silva has been formally named as the Brazilian Socialist Party’s new presidential candidate (photo AP)
In the last presidential election, standing as the Green candidate, Marina Silva polled a credible 20% of the vote and is already a recognizable and much-admired figure across this continent-sized nation.
The first test of public opinion after Eduardo Campos’s death suggested Marina Silva could surpass the main opposition PSDB candidate Aecio Neves in the first round and beat current President Dilma Rousseff in the second, although both outcomes were within the poll’s margin of error.
However, analysts caution that, with the strong emotional reaction to last week’s events, a bounce in the polls was inevitable and the picture could change substantially.
A devout evangelical Christian who overcame poverty, Marina Silva only learnt to read and write when she was 16.
Correspondents say she appeals mostly to young voters who are unhappy with the Brazilian political establishment.
On Sunday, more than 100,000 people in Brazil paid their last respects to the late presidential candidate, Eduardo Campos, a former governor and rising political star.
They attended a funeral Mass and filled the streets of the city of Recife to follow the passage of his coffin.
Eduardo Campos’s jet crashed on August 13 in bad weather in the port city Santos, near Sao Paulo, killing six other people. Investigators are still trying to establish the exact causes of the accident.
Former President George W. Bush accepted his daughter Jenna Bush Hager’s ice bucket challenge on August 20.
In a hilarious twist, former First Lady Laura Bush surprised him with the face full of cold water after the former president offered just to write a check.
Jenna Bush Hager nominated her dad for the viral challenge, which has helped raise over $22 million for ALS Association, when NBC News’ Craig Melvin doused her last week.
George W. Bush wrote on Facebook: “Thanks to Jenna Bush Hager, Rory McIlroy, Woody Johnson, and Coach Jim Harbaugh for the #IceBucketChallenge – and to Laura W. Bush for the check. Next up: President Bill Clinton. Help #StrikeOutALS at www.alsa.org.“
The former president starts his video by trying to forgo the ice altogether.
George W. Bush accepted his daughter Jenna Bush Hager’s ice bucket challenge
“I do not think it’s presidential for me to be splashed with ice water,” George W. Bush said.
“So, I’m simply going to write you a check.”
Then Laura Bush sneaks up behind her husband and splashes him with the required bucket of ice water.
“Now it’s my privilege to challenge my friend Bill Clinton,” George W. Bush tells the camera after he gets a moment to dry himself off.
“Yesterday was Bill’s birthday. And my gift to Bill is a bucket of cold water,” President George W. Bush said.
Former Manx Grand Prix winner Stephen McIlvenna has been killed during qualifying for this year’s event in the Isle of Man, organizers have confirmed.
Stephen McIlvenna, 39, of Northern Ireland, crashed on the Mountain Mile section of the TT course on Tuesday.
Race organizers said he was an experienced competitor who had been racing in the event for nine years.
Stephen McIlvenna won the 2009 Junior MGP and went on to compete in the TT.
Former Manx Grand Prix winner Stephen McIlvenna has been killed during qualifying for this year’s event in the Isle of Man (photo Manx Motorcycle Club)
A Manx Motor Cycle Club spokesman said it passed on its “deepest sympathy to Stephen’s family and friends”.
The coroner has been informed and an investigation into the circumstances of the accident is under way.
Northern Ireland’s Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín expressed her shock and sadness at Stephen McIlvenna’s death.
“Stephen was an experienced rider who clearly loved the sport of motorbike racing,” she said.
“He was a regular competitor on the Isle of Man and his death is a tragedy.”
The estate of Anna Nicole has lost the final bid to obtain her late husband J Howard Marshall’s fortune, seven years after the death of the Playboy model.
Anna Nicole Smith married Texas oil tycoon J Howard Marshall in 1994 when he was 89 and she was 26.
J Howard Marshall died in 1995, leaving his $1.6 billion estate to his son and nothing to Anna Nicole Smith, which she challenged.
A judge has now halted efforts by lawyers acting on behalf of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter to obtain $44 million.
After J Howard Marshall’s death, Anna Nicole Smith – using her real name Vickie Lynn Marshall – filed legal papers claiming he had promised to leave her more than $300 million in his will.
During the past two decades, many attempts have been made to overturn the will, including the Texas bankruptcy court and US Supreme Court.
The estate of Anna Nicole has lost the final bid to obtain her late husband J Howard Marshall’s fortune (photo Getty Images)
A Houston jury previously ruled J Howard Marshall was mentally fit and under no undue pressure when he wrote his will, leaving his fortune to his son E Pierce Marshall – who himself died in 2006.
Efforts continued after Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental drug overdose in February 2007, with lawyers representing her seven-year-old daughter Dannielynn, who lives with her father Larry Birkhead.
However, District Court Judge David Carter’s ruling means this will be the end of the matter.
“Time spent litigating the relationship between Vickie Lynn and J Howard has extended for nearly five times the length of their relationship and nearly 20 times the length of their marriage,” Judge David Carter said in court.
“It is neither reasonable nor practical to go forward.”
Judge David Carter also said while the record showed J Howard Marshall and his lawyers had “a distinct disinterest in rules or ethics”, Dannielynn Birkhead’s lawyers had failed to provide sufficient evidence of actual damages for him to award sanctions, Forbes reported.
J Howard Marshall family’s lawyer, G Eric Brunstad Jr., said in a statement they agreed with the judge it was time to stop legal proceedings.
