Christina Aguilera has revealed that Summer Rain Rutler is the name of her daughter with fiancé Matt Rutler.
The singer made the announcement via Twitter late on Sunday, August 17.
Christina Aguilera, 33, and Matt Rutler, 28, welcomed their daughter into the world on Saturday, August 16, at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Us Weekly reported.
“So proud to welcome our beautiful daughter Summer Rain Rutler into the world,” Christina Aguilera tweeted.
Christina Aguilera already has one son, Max, 6, by her first husband Jordan Bratman, but baby Summer Rain is Matt Rutler’s first child.
The happy couple announced on Valentine’s Day this year that they were engaged to be married, after meeting on the set of her 2010 film Burlesque.
Christina Aguilera has stayed out of the spotlight for most of her second pregnancy, something the new mom has relished. She tweeted in April about how excited she was for the months to come.
“So blissful in taking this time for creating all things blossoming new on the horizon…album, baby & beautiful music to come,” Christina Aguilera wrote.
Jyoti Amge has joined the cast of American Horror Story in its fourth season.
Known as the world’s smallest living woman, Jyoti Amge’s height of 2’6″ (62.8 cm) was documented by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Jyoti Amge, 20, has been on television before. She was featured in a documentary called Body Shock: Two Foot High Teen, and also appeared on Bigg Boss 6, a kind of Indian Big Brother.
Her exact role hasn’t been specified but season 4 of American Horror Story focuses on a traveling carnival, so it makes sense for her to be one of the strange attractions that the carnival uses to draw people in.
Jyoti Amge has joined the cast of American Horror Story in its fourth season (photo AFP/Getty Images)
Jyoti Amge is of Indian origin, born in Nagpur, and she weighs 12 pounds, only nine pounds more then she did at birth.
She has a form of dwarfism call achondroplasia, which stopped her growing after her first birthday. It has also left her with brittle bones.
However, Jyoti Amge is not the shortest woman ever. That record is still held by Pauline Musters of the Netherlands, who was born 12 in at the time of birth, and was 21.5 in at 9-year-old, weighing only 3 pounds. Pauline Musters, known as Princess Pauline, died of pneumonia at the age of 19, when she was about 24 in.
There is information about Jyoti Amge of either a husband or boyfriend.
Jyoti Amge did say that she is treated like a normal woman, and enjoys doing makeup, going shopping for clothes with friends, and watching movies.
American Horror Story: Freak Show will premiere in October.
Jaycee Chan, the 31-year-old son of martial arts star Jackie Chan, has been arrested on drug-related charges, Chinese state media say.
Actor Jaycee Chan and Taiwanese movie star Kai Ko, 23, were detained last Thursday, Beijing police said in a statement on their official microblog.
Police said both men tested positive for marijuana, with more than 100 grams of the drug found at Jaycee Chan’s home.
Their arrest comes amid an ongoing crackdown on drugs which has already netted several celebrity figures.
Gao Hu, 40, who appeared in the 2011 Zhang Yimou film The Flowers of War, was detained earlier this month for possession of marijuana and methamphetamines, state media said.
In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for “forceful measures” to tackle illegal drug use.
A government anti-drug advisor told the Associated Press news agency that Chinese celebrities were being targeted because of the “huge influence” their behavior had on “their large numbers of fans”.
Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee, has been arrested in Beijing on drug-related charges (photo Getty Images)
Beijing Municipal Anti-Drug Office deputy director Jin Zhihai however, said that police were not specifically targeting celebrities.
“If there is an increased crackdown on drugs, the number of celebrity offenders will also rise,” he told the Beijing Times on August 14.
Last week, 42 artist management agencies in Beijing signed an agreement with police pledging not to recruit celebrities with reported drug use problems.
Jaycee Chan, whose father Jackie was named an official “Narcotics Control Ambassador” by Chinese police in 2009, had been put under “criminal detention” for the suspected crime of “providing a shelter for others to abuse drugs”, Beijing police said.
If convicted, Jaycee Chan faces a maximum prison term of three years.
Kai Ko, a Taiwanese actor and singer, won the best new actor award in 2011 at the Golden Horse film awards – known as the Oscars of the Chinese-language film industry. He also won a Chinese Film Media award for his role in the movie You Are the Apple of My Eye.
Accused of consuming drugs, Kai Ko had received a two-week detention term, his management company Star Ritz Productions said.
“I feel very regretful, very sorry to all the people who support me. I’ve been a very bad example, I’ve made a very big mistake,” Kai Ko said in an interview broadcast on Chinese state television on August 19.
Beijing police also said two other people, a 36-year-old assistant and a 33-year-old suspected dealer, were detained in the incident.
Jaycee Chan’s management company M’Stones International apologized on his behaf for the “social impact” caused and said they would “supervise his rehabilitation and help him return to the right path”.
Jackie Chan’s publicist told the Associated Press that he had travelled to Beijing to deal with his son’s arrest.
Pope Francis has lifted a ban the Catholic Church put on the beatification of murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero over his suspected Marxist ideas.
An outspoken critic of the military regime during El Salvador’s bloody civil war, Archbishop Oscar Romero was shot dead while celebrating Mass in 1980.
Beatification, or declaring a person “blessed”, is the necessary prelude to full sainthood.
Oscar Romero was one of the main proponents of Liberation Theology – an interpretation of Christian faith through the perspective of the poor.
On Monday, Pope Francis said he was hoping for a swift beatification process.
“For me Romero is a man of God,” the Pope told journalists on the plane bringing him back from a trip to South Korea.
Pope Francis has lifted a ban the Catholic Church put on the beatification of murdered Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero over his suspected Marxist ideas
“There are no doctrinal problems and it is very important that [the beatification] is done quickly.”
Archbishop Oscar Romero denounced the right-wing death squads that operated in the Central American nation at the time and the oppression against the poor, calling for an end to all political violence.
Left-wing rebels fought an insurgency against the US-backed right-wing government.
Some 75,000 people were killed in the civil war, which began in 1980 and ended in 1992 with an UN-brokered peace agreement.
Archbishop Oscar Romero was killed on March 24, 1980, aged 62, after ending his sermon in the capital, San Salvador.
No-one has ever been convicted in connection with his murder.
In 2010, then President Mauricio Funes – El Salvador’s first left-wing leader since the end of the civil war – made an official apology.
“I am seeking pardon in the name of the state,” Mauricio Funes said as he unveiled a mural honoring Oscar Romero at El Salvador’s international airport.
Archbishop Oscar Romero, President Mauricio Funes said, was a victim of right-wing death squads “who unfortunately acted with the protection, collaboration or participation of state agents”.
The Gaza ceasefire has been extended by another day to allow talks in Cairo, according to an Egyptian government statement late on Monday.
The truce was extended until midnight on August 19 to allow talks on a more long-term arrangement.
A Palestinian official told Reuters there had been “no progress” so far but without a deal, violence would go on.
Officials say that 2,016 Palestinians and 66 Israelis have died since Israel began its offensive on Gaza on July 8.
In a statement that came minutes before the expiry of a previous truce at midnight on Monday, the Egyptian government released a statement confirming both sides had accepted its request for an extension.
The previous ceasefire came into effect last Wednesday.
Earlier, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces would hit back hard if Hamas resumed rocket fire.
The Gaza ceasefire was extended until midnight on August 19 to allow talks on a more long-term arrangement
He said the military was “ready for all scenarios” and were prepared “for very resolute action if fire resumes”.
Negotiating teams returned to Egypt’s capital Cairo for indirect talks on Sunday.
Palestinian negotiator Qais Abdul Karim said on Sunday that Israel was seeking guarantees that Hamas and other factions in Gaza would be disarmed.
Palestinians are calling for an end to the Israeli and Egyptian blockades of Gaza without preconditions, he added.
Hamas says it will not give up its weapons, while Israel insists it must maintain some control over Gaza’s crossings to prevent the smuggling of weapons.
Israel is also concerned by the import of building materials into Gaza, saying they could be used by Hamas to rebuild its tunnel network.
Middle East envoy Robert Serry said on Monday that the UN was ready to oversee imports of construction material sent to Gaza.
Robert Serry said the imports were crucial after “the unprecedented amount of destruction” had caused an “unprecedented level of humanitarian needs”.
Approximately 16,800 housing units in Gaza had been destroyed, Robert Serry added, affecting some 100,000 Palestinians.
In addition, he said more than 100 installations belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees had been damaged.
The Mia Moo Fund is organizing a new event to raise awareness about cleft lip and palate and help children affected by this condition.
For only $20, donors can win a boat from professional fisherman Jim Dillard and help the Mia Moo Fund in the process.
Mia Robertson’s mother, Duck Dynasty star Missy Robertson, wrote on her Facebook account: “Help a child with cleft lip/palate by buying a raffle ticket and you could win this boat! Lots of other prizes, too.”
The Mia Moo Fund also announced on its official website, miamoo.org:
“The Mia Moo Fund is proud to present the Jim Dillard Boat Giveaway, an amazing opportunity to generate awareness about cleft lip and palate. These children are born with difficulties that are difficult for most to comprehend, but we know that we can still do a lot to achieve what used to be considered impossible. Donors have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for a low price with all the proceeds going to help U.S. children in need of assistance. We will be hosting a raffle for the chance to meet Jim Dillard and win his famous bass fishing boat!
The fabulous prize is Jim Dillard’s 2014 Basscat Puma FTD with a Yamaha 250 SHO Outboard, Minn Kota Fortrex 112 Trolling Motor, 12’ Minn Kota Talon, and Hummingbird Electronics. It is a top of the line boat that is sure to please any fisherman, hobbyist or anything in-between!
The Mia Moo Fund is offering a Jim Dillard boat to raise awareness about cleft lip and palate and help children affected by this condition (photo miamoo.org)
With your support, we can help change the lives of children by funding vital research that can help those suffering from a cleft lip or cleft palate, and can grant these children with an increased quality of life. With your help we can help these kids gain a whole new perspective, one that is sure to help them develop into extraordinary people. We aim to help these children find confidence in themselves to accomplish their dreams, and to obtain the ability to reach their full potential.
Donors can purchase tickets on Jim Dillard’s website at http://www.jimdillardbassboatgiveaway.com/. The price of one ticket is twenty dollars, but there is no limit to the amount of tickets that can be purchased. Ticket purchases can only be made by individuals who are age twenty one or older, and all contestants must abide by applicable federal and state laws and regulations. All proceeds will go to the Mia Moo Fund to help generate awareness and directly help U.S. children with cleft lip and palate in need of assistance.
When an entrant purchases one of these raffle tickets, they will receive a unique number. The raffle drawing is scheduled to take place on November 8th, 2014, where all numbers will be placed in a box. If your number is drawn, then you win!
Donors will also be entering for a chance to meet world renowned sports fisherman Jim Dillard, a friend and avid supporter of the Mia Moo Fund. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, one that is sure to be a memorable experience for anyone interested in professional sport fishing.
Jim Dillard is a professional sport fisherman from Louisiana, and is also nine-year Walmart FLW Tour veteran. He is renowned for his ability to perform on many different bodies of water, and is loved by fans for his ability to remain consistent no matter what circumstance he is in. Dillard boasts five top-ten finishes in the top levels of sport fishing, and has qualified twice for the Forrest Wood Cup, a feat that every angler aspires to.”
Tallulah Willis entered rehab shortly after tweeting a cryptic message on July 23, People magazine reported.
While the tweet has since been deleted from the 20-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s page, several sources indicated to the publication that she’s seeking help.
“The situation had been building for a while,” a family insider said.
“She’s been dealing with some unhappiness, and everything sort of came to a head,” the insider added.
“I struggled a lot when I was younger,” Tallulah Willis previously said in a video posted on her fashion blog, adding that she was “diagnosed with body dysmorphia”.
During her battle with the mental illness, Tallulah Willis whittled down to 95 pounds.
During her battle with body dysmorphia, Tallulah Willis whittled down to 95 pounds (photo Getty Images)
“[I was] reading those stupid f—ing tabloids when I was, like, 13, feeling like I was just ugly, always,” she continued on her blog.
“I believed the strangers more than the people that loved me, because why would the people who loved me be honest?”
While her famous parents are reportedly standing by her side, sister Rumer Willis celebrated her 26th birthday with a bang.
“Best birthday cake ever,” Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s oldest daughter wrote on Instagram on August 16 with a photo of a gun-shaped birthday cake, which her post indicated was received from her mother.
“Thank you mama for making this day so special.”
Rumer Willis also posted a funny black-and-white photo that appeared to be taken in a photo booth.
Only six years older than Tallulah and three years older than their other sister Scout, 23, Rumer Willis seems to be on the path of self-discovery and self-love despite the trials and tribulations she’s endured throughout her young life.
A few months before Robin Williams committed suicide on August 11, the actor sent out a hopeful message to a terminally ill fan.
According to New Zealand’s Sunday Star-Times, an ill 21-year-old woman named Vivian Wallace caught Robin Williams’ attention earlier this year.
The New Zealand-based Vivian Wallace was diagnosed with lung, bowel, and liver cancer in January and made a five-item bucket list, which included a desire to marry her love Jack, see her daughter Sophie’s first birthday, and to meet Robin Williams before she became too sick to do so.
Vivian Wallace was unable to make it to the US to spend time with Robin Williams, but the actor connected with her by recording a video message for her.
Robin Williams sent out a hopeful message to terminally ill fan Vivian Wallace a few months before his suicide (photo Getty Images)
It was recently revealed that Robin Williams was diagnosed with his own serious illness before his death, as his wife, Susan Schneider, said in a statement last week that he was in “the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease.”
“Hi Vivian, it’s Robin Williams here, saying hey girl,” the comedian says in the video.
“What’s going on down there in New Zealand? Sending all my love to you, Jack, and Sophie. Mark this off your bucket list.”
Ever the comedian, Robin Williams goes on to do his best Matthew McConaughey impression, emulating the actor’s trademark twang and saying: “I said, hey, hey, hey, what’s goin on, what’s goin on, it’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right. I’m just channeling Matthew McConaughey.”
“Much love to you, baby,” Robin Williams finishes, blowing a kiss to Vivian Wallace.
Vivian Wallace’s husband, Jack, told the Sunday Star-Times that the video meant a lot to his struggling wife, and added that the family is “just enjoying the time we have together” and plans to “take things a day at a time”.
In recent interview with Billboard Magazine, rapper French Montana admitted he wanted to take advantage of the spotlight dating Khloe Kardashian brought him.
French Montana’s remarks sparked outrage among Kardashian fans after he said: “I want to capitalize on it.”
“I’ll get a fan base from everywhere. I just hope I’ll be able to connect with everything that’s going on.”
Khloe Kardashian doesn’t care that French Montana benefits from her fame (photo Getty Images)
French Montana’s comments, which came a few days after Khloe Kardashian appeared in his Don’t Panic music video, caused fans to lash out, especially considering Kardashian has dealt publicly with the painful divorce from Lamar Odom on the most recent season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
However, Khloe Kardashian doesn’t seem offended by French Montana’s comments.
On Sunday, Khloe Kardashian tweeted: “It’s amusing to me that Y’all think I don’t see it. I was the first one to see it. I just don’t care.”
Liberia has admitted that 17 suspected Ebola patients are “missing” after a quarantine unit in capital Monrovia was looted.
The government previously denied the patients are missing and tried to reassure people, saying they had been moved to another health facility.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for exit screenings on all travelers from affected countries.
It wants checks at airports, sea ports and major land crossings.
Several airlines have already stopped flying to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – the countries worst affected by the world’s most deadly outbreak of Ebola, which has no known cure.
The Ebola virus has killed 1,145 people this year, the WHO says.
Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah said protesters in the West Point district attacked a quarantine centre on Saturday because they were unhappy that patients were being taken there from other parts of the capital, Monrovia.
Liberia has admitted that 17 suspected Ebola patients are missing after Monrovia quarantine unit was looted (photo Getty Images)
Other reports suggested the protesters had believed Ebola was a hoax and wanted to force the centre to close.
Tolbert Nyenswah had said that all the suspected patients had been transferred to an Ebola treatment centre in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Medical Center in Monrovia.
However, on Monday, Liberia’s information minister said 17 of the 37 patients were unaccounted for.
He said the authorities were now trying to track them down but said he was confident they would return.
He said the attack on the quarantine centre was Liberia’s greatest setback since the Ebola outbreak began.
Blood-stained mattresses, bedding and medical equipment were taken from the centre.
The looting spree could spread the virus to the whole of the West Point area.
Lindis Hurum, from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), says there is an urgent need for a massive public awareness campaign in Liberia.
MSF says the Ebola outbreak has had a terrible impact on Liberia’s entire healthcare system, which it says is more or less falling apart.
Many health facilities have closed, with patients as well as medical staff, too scared to turn up for fear of catching the disease.
The Ebola epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
One Nigerian doctor has survived the disease and was sent home on Saturday night, said Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu in a statement.
Onyebuchi Chukwu said five other people infected with Ebola had almost fully recovered.
The death toll of 1,145 was announced on Friday after the WHO said 76 new deaths had been reported in the two days to August 13. There have been 2,127 cases reported in total.
Ukraine military claims rockets and mortars hit vehicles moving refugees from the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine killing dozens of civilians.
Ukraine has blamed pro-Russian rebels but they have denied carrying out the attack, near the village of Novosvitlivka.
A rebel news outlet reported a heavy exchange of artillery fire in the area.
Ukrainian forces have moved into the outskirts of rebel-held Luhansk where basic supplies are running out.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said “militants” armed by Russia had fired at a refugee convoy with mortars and Grad rockets, on a road east of Luhansk.
He said “dozens” of civilians had died, including women and children.
“The convoy had white flags and was marked as civilian,” Andriy Lysenko said.
Another military spokesman said people had been burned alive inside their vehicles.
A spokesman for the rebel self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Andrei Purgin, denied that rebel forces had attacked the convoy.
Ukraine military claims rockets and mortars hit vehicles moving refugees from the Luhansk area killing dozens of civilians
“The Ukrainians themselves have bombed the road constantly with planes and Grads. It seems they’ve now killed more civilians like they’ve been doing for months now,” he was quoted as saying.
Alexander Zakharchenko, a rebel leader in Donetsk, told journalists: “Not a single convoy of refugees was shot at in the Luhansk region.”
There has been sustained artillery shelling of Luhansk, a city of 250,000 people, where civilians are suffering chronic shortages of water, food and electricity. Before the conflict, the population was closer to 420,000.
Hundreds of civilians are fleeing the city every day as Ukrainian forces edge into Luhansk.
The key rebel-held town of Horlivka near Donetsk has been encircled, military officials say, in another sign that the separatists have lost ground in recent days.
Also on Monday, the rebel-led administration in Donetsk said they had introduced the death penalty for offences including treason, desertion and sabotage.
Eduard Yakubovsky, acting prosecutor-general of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said the penalty would also cover “military crimes committed… on the battlefield, such as handing over military hardware or weapons”.
Observers said the move could indicate problems within the rebels’ ranks.
More than 2,000 civilians and combatants have been killed since mid-April, when Ukraine’s government sent troops to put down the rebel uprising in the east.
Russia has said an aid convoy of some 270 lorries to a base near the Ukrainian border. The lorries are parked close to a rebel-held border post awaiting inspection as the Red Cross wants security guarantees before the aid can enter Ukraine.
Earlier Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said full agreement had been reached on the aid convoy after talks in Berlin with his counterparts from Ukraine, Germany and France.
Sergei Lavrov said no deal had been reached on achieving a ceasefire.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said “the aim remains to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine and to prevent future victims”.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the talks in Berlin had been “a difficult discussion but I believe and I hope that we made progress on some points”.
Imran Khan’s opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), says it has decided to resign all its seats in Pakistan’s national assembly.
A senior member of party said they were trying to force PM Nawaz Sharif to step down.
The PTI party has 34 of the national assembly’s 342 seats, making it the second biggest opposition group.
Imran Khan has called for the prime ministers to step down, alleging vote rigging in the 2013 election that he won by a landslide.
Shah Mehmud Qureshi, a senior PTI leader, said the party would also withdraw from three out of four provincial assemblies in Pakistan.
The fourth province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is under PTI control and officials there will not resign, he said.
The members of parliament’s resignations must be submitted to the national assembly speaker but correspondents said this would not happen on Monday as parliament had adjourned for the day.
Imran Khan has called for Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif to step down, alleging vote rigging in the 2013 election that he won by a landslide (photo Wikipedia)
Imran Khan, a former captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, has been demonstrating along with thousands of his supporters in the capital Islamabad since Friday to demand fresh elections.
His rally took place at the same time as a similar demonstration by anti-government cleric Tahirul Qadri, who told crowds that the protests must continue until they bring a “peaceful revolution”.
Nawaz Sharif’s victory was the first democratic transfer of power in Pakistan, which has a long history of coups.
Critics say Tahirul Qadri has close ties to Pakistan’s armed forces.
Supporters of Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri are angry about Pakistan’s poorly performing economy, growing militancy, and the government’s failure to deliver services such as a steady electricity supply.
However, other opposition figures have criticized the demonstrations and Imran Khan’s call for people to stop paying tax bills in protest at the government.
Former president Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, the largest opposition party, said such “unconstitutional means” would not help the cause.
“Democracy will not be served by calls for civil disobedience nor by a stubborn refusal by any side to engage in a meaningful dialogue on political issues,” Asif ALi Zardari said in a statement.
Michael Brown, the unarmed black teenager killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, medical examiner Michael Baden has said.
Dr. Michael Baden was hired to perform a second, independent autopsy by the family of Michael Brown, 18.
They have called for the arrest of the officer who killed Michael Brown.
Michael Brown’s death has sparked days of unrest and clashes between protesters and police in the St. Louis suburb.
Darren Wilson has been suspended with pay since the shooting, and Michael Brown’s family have called for his arrest and prosecution.
Michael Brown was shot at least six times, including twice in the head
As the unrest, marked by a crackdown by armed police wielding tear gas and rubber bullets, has continued, on Sunday Missouri Governor Jay Nixon ordered the National Guard to the town to “help restore peace and order”.
Dr. Michael Baden, a veteran of the New York City medical examiner’s office and nationally prominent forensic pathologist, said in a news conference on Monday that his preliminary findings could answer the family’s basic questions, including how many times he was shot and if he suffered.
He and forensic pathologist Shaun Parcells said Michael Brown was shot at least six times, twice in the head. They believed at least two bullets left re-entry wounds. One bullet entered the top of his head. Michael Brown was 6ft 4in tall.
Shaun Parcells said a wound to Michael Brown’s right arm may have been sustained as he had his hands up, “but we don’t know”. He said the wound was consistent either with having his back to the officer or facing the officer with his hands above his head or in a defensive position.
Both men said more information was needed, including x-rays from the initial autopsy, the medical evaluation of Darren Wilson and the clothes Michael Brown was wearing at his time of death.
Dr. Michael Baden said there were no signs of a struggle, as abrasions around the teenager’s face were likely from falling to the pavement after being shot.
He also believed Darren Wilson did not shoot him at close range as there was no gunpowder residue on his body, suggesting the officer was at least 2ft away.
Julian Assange has suggested he will be leaving Ecuador’s embassy in London “soon”.
The WikiLeaks founder said he would be “leaving the embassy” after two years’ refuge but gave no more details.
Julian Assange, 43, is wanted for questioning over alleged s** assaults in Sweden and faces arrest if he leaves the embassy.
WikiLeaks spokeswoman Kristinn Hrafnsson later said the plan “as always” was for Julian Assange to depart when the UK “calls off the siege”.
“The world is not coming to an end,” Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters inside the embassy.
“The plan, as always, is to leave as soon as the UK government decides to honour its obligations in relation to international agreements.”
Julian Assange faces questioning by prosecutors in Stockholm over claims made by two women in 2010. He denies the allegations and sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in June 2012 shortly after the UK’s Supreme Court dismissed his efforts to block his extradition.
Since then police have maintained a round-the-clock presence outside the building, in London’s Knightsbridge, at a cost of £6.4 million ($10.2 million).
Julian Assange would be arrested and extradited if he left the embassy.
Speaking at the news conference, Julian Assange said: “I understand that Kristinn Hrafnsson has said that he can confirm I am leaving the embassy soon.”
He added it was not because he needed medical treatment, as had been reported in some of the UK press.
Julian Assange has suggested he will be leaving Ecuador’s embassy in London soon (photo AP)
Julian Assange says he fears he could eventually be handed over to the US because WikiLeaks published classified US military documents on the Afghan and Iraq wars.
However, UK courts have repeatedly ruled that he should be sent to Sweden to face questioning.
The UK first ordered his extradition in February 2011. Julian Assange launched a number of appeals, which culminated in the Supreme Court saying the extradition was lawful in 2012.
After that decision, Julian Assange, who had been on conditional bail, sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy.
He was then granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 and the country’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said he would continue to be offered “protection”.
Sitting next to Ricardo Patino at a news conference on Monday, Julian Assange said his health had suffered during his time inside the embassy.
Reports in UK newspapers at the weekend said Julian Assange had developed a heart defect and a chronic lung condition during his confinement.
The Australian said the reasons for him leaving were not those “reported by the Murdoch press” – but did not elaborate further.
Any argument Julian Assange could not be extradited because of his health was “almost certainly bound to fail” because Sweden has a good healthcare system.
Ricardo Patino said the Ecuadorean government would attempt to meet Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to discuss the case.
He said changes to the UK’s extradition laws had created a better climate for reaching a deal over Julian Assange.
“It is time to free Julian Assange. It is time for his human rights to be finally respected,” Ricardo Patino added.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman called on the Ecuadorean government to help “bring this difficult and costly situation to an end”.
A convoy of cars belonging to a Saudi prince has been attacked by gunmen in Paris, France.
The heavily armed men stole 250,000 euros ($330,000), police say.
The convoy was heading through northern Paris on its way to Le Bourget airport late on Sunday evening when it was raided, reports say.
The gunmen seized a vehicle carrying the money and documents, later releasing the driver and two others.
The convoy was said to have come from the Saudi embassy. No-one was hurt.
The gunmen, reportedly armed with Kalashnikov rifles, targeted a Mercedes mini-van at 21:15 local time on the northern ring road, or peripherique, at Porte de la Chapelle, on the edge of Paris.
The motorcade, belonging to a Saudi prince, was ambushed by eight people in two separate vehicles who pointed their guns at the driver of the Mercedes, forcing him to stop, French media reported.
The Saudi prince’s convoy was heading through northern Paris on its way to Le Bourget airport late on Sunday evening when it was raided
The men then drove the vehicle away with the driver and the two other Saudis inside. No shots were fired and the Saudis were later freed.
“In the vehicle there was roughly 250,000 euros in cash and official documents from the embassy,” police union spokesman Rocco Contento told BFM TV news.
According to Rocco Contento, the operation lasted just a few seconds, something that pointed to “a very organized and especially informed commando unit, who had information and accomplices”.
“As far as I am concerned, it looks very much like it could be commandos from eastern Europe, who we know about, who are often paid to do dirty work.”
The Mercedes was heading to Le Bourget airport with paperwork for the departing prince, who has not been named, according to the prosecutor’s office. Le Bourget is often used for high-level visitors taking private jets to Paris.
The vehicle was eventually found abandoned and another of the gang’s cars was found burned out.
Licia Albanese has died at her New York home at the age 105.
The Italian-born soprano sang in hundreds of performances at New York Metropolitan Opera between 1940 and 1966.
Famous for her interpretations of the title roles in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Tosca, Licia Albanese was revered worldwide.
In retirement Licia Albanese gave master classes around the globe and set up a foundation to support young singers.
Known as one of the last surviving prima donnas of the mid-20th Century, Licia Albanese denied being a diva.
“Diva? Hah! I was never a diva. No, no. What does it mean? Only God makes a diva,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2004.
Soprano Licia Albanese sang in hundreds of performances at New York Metropolitan Opera between 1940 and 1966
“No, just call me a plain singer with lots of expression.”
Born in Italy in 1909, Licia Albanese made her professional debut in the 1930s.
She went on to work with many of the great singers of her generation, including a late-career performance with Luciano Pavarotti.
Following early success in Italy, France and England, Licia Albanese went to New York, where she made her first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in 1940, singing the role of Cio Cio San in Madame Butterfly.
A Puccini specialist, Licia Albanese sang the role more than 300 times during her career.
She also wowed the critics as Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, a role she performed with the New York Met more than 90 times – a record for the company that still stands.
Revered for her pinpont diction and sensitive dramatic interpretations, Licia Albanese appeared in the first telecast form the Metropolitan Opera in 1940 in a production of Verdi’s Otello.
A frequent collaborator with the conductor, Arturo Toscanini, Licia Albanese recorded regularly for the record label, RCA Victor.
Avoiding heavier roles that could be detrimental to her voice, Licia Albanese continued to sing into the 1980s, when she gave concert performances of Steven Sondheim’s Follies with the New York Philharmonic orchestra.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has remained on the top of the US box office for a second consecutive week.
The live action revival of the 1980s cartoon reptiles took $28.4 million, according to early estimates.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was at two with $24.7 million, bringing its three-week US haul to $222 million.
Let’s Be Cops opened at number three taking $17.7 million with action sequel The Expendables 3 debuting at four with $16.2 million.
It was a weak opening for the Sylvester Stallone film which sees a host of action stars of yesteryear including Dolph Lundgren, Wesley Snipes, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford team up as part of Stallone’s mercenary group.
Takings were well behind previous debuts in the franchise. In 2010 The Expendables opened with $34.8 million and The Expendables 2 took $28.6 million in 2012.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has remained on the top of the US box office for a second consecutive week
The third installment is the first to be rated PG-13 – which allows children to watch the film although parents are advised caution – whereas the first two were R-rated, restricting under 17s unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Its lower rating, together with being leaked online before release, is thought to have damaged its performance in cinemas.
The Giver, starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep opened at five with $12.8 million.
The fantasy drama, adapted from the 1993 young-adult Lois Lowry novel, tells of a futuristic society in which a 16-year-old is chosen to be the receiver of its past memories.
The Army National Guard (ARNG) is the primary United States federal and state military reserve force.
The group is organized by the US Army and US Air Force.
Every US state and territory has a National Guard. The Army National Guard is divided into subordinate units stationed in each of the 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia, and operates under their respective governors.
The Army National Guard is the primary United States federal and state military reserve force
The Army National Guard may be called up for active duty by the state or territorial governors to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as those caused by hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, as well as civil disorder.
The District of Columbia Army National Guard is a federal militia, controlled by the President of the United States with authority delegated to the Secretary of Defense, and through him to the Secretary of the Army.
Guard units may also be ordered into active duty for up to two years by the US president during national emergency.
The National Guard has been sent to the town of Ferguson as protests escalate over the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon signed an order to “help restore peace and order and to protect the citizens of Ferguson”.
The decision was made as police clashed with angry crowds shortly before a second night under curfew began.
Police in Ferguson, a suburb of St Louis, said they came under attack and had “no alternative” but to respond.
Captain Ron Johnson said protesters had thrown Molotov cocktails and bottles at security forces, and set up barricades before the five-hour curfew began at midnight on Sunday.
“For those who would claim that the curfew was what led to [the] violence, I will remind you this incident began three and a half hours before the curfew was to have started,” Ron Johnson told journalists in Ferguson on Monday.
Correspondents at the scene described seeing smoke clouds rise up as police began to disperse the protests on West Florissant Avenue, with a helicopter beaming down a spotlight.
Some of the demonstrators were spluttering and poured bottles of water into their eyes as they felt the effects of tear gas. Others sought cover from the unrest inside a fast food restaurant.
The killing of Michael Brown by a white policeman in a street on August 9 has inflamed racial tensions in the largely black suburb.
The National Guard has been sent to the town of Ferguson as protests escalate over the police shooting of black teenager Michael Brown (photo AP)
Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown after reportedly stopping him for walking in the street, disrupting traffic.
Governor Jay Nixon has criticized police for releasing surveillance video which apparently shows Michael Brown stealing some hours before his death.
Jay Nixon said the release of the footage “appeared to cast aspersions” on the dead man, saying “it made emotions raw”.
He also condemned the protesters: “These violent acts are a disservice to the family of Michael Brown and his memory and to the people of this community who yearn for justice to be served and to feel safe in their own homes.”
A preliminary post-mortem examination by the St Louis County Medical Examiner’s office on the day after Michael Brown’s death found he had been shot, police said, without disclosing how many times.
However, a preliminary private post-mortem report has since revealed that he was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, the New York Times reports.
The bullets did not appear to have been fired from very close range due to the lack of gunpowder on the victim’s body, forensic pathologist Michael Baden was quoted by the paper as saying.
Michael Baden flew to Missouri on Sunday to conduct a separate autopsy at the request of the family.
Officials last week confirmed that Darren Wilson was a six-year police veteran with no previous complaints against him. He has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
Floods and landslides in Nepal and northern India have killed at least 160 people following days of torrential rains.
In Nepal, officials said at least 101 people were known to have died after rescuers found four more bodies. More than 130 people are still missing.
In northern Indian states severe flooding after rainfall left at least 60 dead and entire villages marooned.
The worst of the rain is now thought to be over.
At least 101 people were known to have died in Nepal floods
Landslides and flooding devastated rural communities and cut off roads throughout the region. In Nepal, officials voiced fears about a possible cholera outbreak.
Rescue helicopters have been deployed to convey emergency supplies to those stranded.
More than 1,500 villages are inundated in India’s Uttar Pradesh state where 28 people have died and thousands have been left homeless.
In Uttarakhand, cloudbursts and landslides killed 32 and in Bihar at least two people have died.
“The flood situation arose following heavy downpours in Nepal, which led to overflowing rivers which originate in the Himalayan region including Tibet and Nepal,” news agency Reuters quoted chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh Alok Ranjan as saying.
In the north-eastern Assam state, the water level has risen to alarming levels in the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, flooding large areas and killing one person, reports the Press Trust of India.
The Kaziranga National Park and the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary are also heavily flooded, forcing animals to move to highlands to protect themselves, the agency added.
Ricardo Izurieta, Chile’s ex-army commander, has passed away at his home aged 71.
Gen. Ricardo Izurieta succeeded Augusto Pinochet as army commander in 1998, during the country’s difficult transition towards democracy.
In a statement, the army praised Ricardo Izurieta for uniting Chilean society.
He helped set up a human rights commission to investigate serious abuses committed during military rule.
The commission’s work led the military to admit that it had dropped the bodies of political prisoners into the sea during the dictatorship.
Lieutenant-General Ricardo Izurieta took over from General Augusto Pinochet as commander-in-chief of the Army in March 1998
Ricardo Izurieta took over from Gen. Augusto Pinochet as commander-in-chief of the Army in March 1998 and stayed in the post until 2002.
Augusto Pinochet had seized power in a coup in 1973 and stood down as president in 1990. But remained as army commander for another eight years.
During the 1973-1990 period Augusto Pinochet led the brutal persecution to supporters of the deposed Socialist President, Salvador Allende.
According to official figures, 40,018 people were victims of human rights abuses in the Pinochet years and 3,065 were killed or disappeared.
Ricardo Izurieta was appointed to replace Augusto Pinochet as army commander by Chile’s democratically-elected President, Eduardo Frei.
“He united the army and the whole Chilean society, without excluding anyone,” the army said in a statement.
The Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, also praised Gen. Ricardo Izurieta role in Chile’s democratic transition.
“He was someone I could rely on in difficult times,” said Jose Miguel Insulza, who was forced to leave Chile after the 1973 coup.
Ricardo Izurieta will be buried at the Military Academy in Santiago on Tuesday. The cause of death has not been disclosed.
Augusto Pinochet died in hospital in December 2006, aged 91.
In October 1998, he was arrested while on holiday in London.
The Spanish government sought to put Augusto Pinochet on trial in Madrid over the deaths of its citizens in Chile, but he was released and returned to Santiago in March 2000.
Ricardo Izurieta was at the Air Force base in Santiago to welcome his former commander.
Pope Francis has urged for reconciliation between the two Koreas, on the final day of his visit to South Korea.
Koreans, Pope Francis said, should reject a “mindset of suspicion and confrontation” and find new paths to build peace.
The pontiff spoke at a Mass in Seoul’s main cathedral attended by President Park Geun-hye and North Korean defectors.
The service coincided with the start of major US-South Korea military exercises.
The annual drills, called Ulchi Freedom Guardian, last for 12 days and involve some 80,000 US and South Korean service personnel.
The exercises always enrage North Korea, which has in recent weeks conducted a series of short-range missile tests – including one as the Pope arrived.
It has threatened a “merciless” retaliatory strike in response to the drills.
North Korea and South Korea remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in an armistice and not a peace treaty.
Pope Francis has urged for reconciliation between the two Koreas, on the final day of his visit to South Korea (photo EPA)
Speaking at Myeongdong Cathedral, Pope Francis said all Koreans were “brothers and sisters, members of one family, one people”.
“Let us pray for the emergence of new opportunities for dialogue, encounter and the resolution of differences,” he said.
He also called for generosity in providing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and urged Koreans to work together as one, “with no victors or vanquished”.
Representatives from North Korea’s state-run Korean Catholic Association were invited to attend the Mass, but Pyongyang rejected this offer.
Also at the service were seven elderly women forced to work as prostitutes for Japanese troops during World War Two.
One of the women gave Pope Francis a gold butterfly pin – a symbol of their continuing struggle for justice – which he wore during the Mass.
Pope Francis, who on Saturday beatified 124 Koreans who died for their faith in the 18th and 19th Centuries, later flew out of Seoul.
The pontiff will visit the Philippines and Sri Lanka in January.
En route to Rome, Pope Francis sent a telegram to Chinese President Xi Jinping as a follow-up to a message he had sent when he flew over China to South Korea on Thursday.
“Returning to Rome after my visit to Korea, I wish to renew to your Excellency and your fellow citizens the assurance of my best wishes, as I invoke divine blessings upon your land,” Pope Francis said.
The Vatican and Beijing have no formal ties, but the decision to let Pope Francis fly through Chinese airspace is being seen as a possible sign of warmth.
When Pope John Paul II visited Seoul in 1989, he had to fly through Russian airspace to get to South Korea.
Serena Williams has won her first Cincinnati title beating Ana Ivanovic in Western & Southern final on August 17.
Serena Williams, 32, needed only 62 minutes to beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in the Western & Southern Open for a personal breakthrough.
She’d never even reached the finals in Cincinnati until last year, when she fell apart and lost to Victoria Azarenka on a third-set tiebreaker.
Serena Williams has won her first Cincinnati title beating Ana Ivanovic in Western & Southern final
After getting broken in the first game, Serena Williams took control with her serve and took advantage of Ana Ivanovic’s sloppy play, improving to 5-0 in finals this year.
Ana Ivanovic was treated for a stomach ailment during her nearly 3-hour win over Maria Sharapova in the semifinals Saturday night. She didn’t have much left against Serena Williams, who dominated with her serve.
Serena Williams had 12 aces.
The only other event that Serena Williams has played six times without a title is Sydney. She finally got her win in Cincinnati with the help of a good matchup.
Serena Williams is 7-1 in her career against Ana Ivanovic, with the only loss coming at the Australian Open this year.
Despite the loss, Ana Ivanovic will move back into the top 10 in the WTA rankings with her strong showing in Cincinnati.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has criticized Ferguson police for releasing a surveillance video which apparently shows shooting victim Michael Brown stealing from a convenience store.
Jay Nixon said the release of CCTV footage nearly a week after Officer Darren Wilson shot black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, St Louis, “appeared to cast aspersions” on the dead man.
“It made emotions raw,” Jay Nixon told ABC on Sunday.
Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a federal post-mortem on Michael Brown’s body.
Riot police used tear gas and smoke bombs to disperse protesters overnight as they defied a curfew in Ferguson. The curfew is being extended for a second day, beginning at midnight on August 17 and running for five hours.
The killing of Michael Brown by a white policeman in a street on 9 August has inflamed racial tensions in the largely black suburb.
It caused dismay across the US while images of riot police deployed in an American city suburb have made headlines worldwide.
The video “appeared to cast aspersions on a young man that was gunned down in the street”, said Governor Jay Nixon.
On Saturday, Jay Nixon declared the curfew after looters targeted stores in Ferguson overnight.
Governor Jay Nixon has criticized Ferguson police for releasing a surveillance video which apparently shows shooting victim Michael Brown stealing from a convenience store
Seven arrests were made as police used smoke bombs and tear gas to disperse a crowd of about 150 in Ferguson, after being called to the scene of a disturbance at a restaurant after the curfew started.
A police car reportedly came under fire and a person was hurt in an apparently unrelated shooting in the same area.
As police were nearing the restaurant, a man with a handgun went into the street but ran away, AP news agency reports.
Someone also shot at a police car but it was not clear if it had been hit.
In the same area, a person was shot and critically wounded and police were searching for the attacker.
Demonstrators complained that the curfew would make matters worse.
Jayson Ross, who was leading the protesters toward the police before tear gas was fired, was quoted as saying by AP: “They got guns. We got guns. We are ready.”
Local politician Antonio French, who was with the protesters, tweeted: “Too many young men talking about they’re ready to die tonight.”
The US justice department is investigating the shooting of Michael Brown, with 40 FBI agents dispatched to Ferguson to gather information.
The justice department said on Sunday that Eric Holder had ordered a federal post-mortem examination at the request of Michael Brown’s family, in addition to a Missouri state autopsy.
A preliminary autopsy by the St Louis County Medical Examiner’s office on the day after Michael Brown’s death found he had been shot, police said, without disclosing how many times.
Earlier, the lawyer for Michael Brown’s family, Anthony Gray, announced that it had hired one of America’s most famous forensic pathologists, Michael Baden, to conduct an independent examination.
Michael Baden, 80, has worked on investigations into the deaths of such public figures as President John F. Kennedy, the punk star Sid Vicious and the family of the last Russian emperor, Tsar Nicholas II, according to a profile on Fox News, where he works as a TV host.
Darren Wilson, a six-year police veteran with no previous complaints against him, has been on paid administrative leave since the shooting.
Darren Wilson had reportedly stopped Michael Brown for walking in the street, disrupting traffic.
Dr. Phil revealed he and his wife Robin McGraw celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on August 14.
Phil McGraw, 63, tweeted alongside a photo of himself with his 61-year-old wife: “We make the best team.”
Dr. Phil also posted a video on Instagram, breaking down the momentous occasion.
“Thirty-eight years of marriage,” he wrote.
“Think about it. That’s 13,870 days – 332,880 hours. That’s a lot of smiles.”
In an interview with New You, Robin McGraw has admitted that friends find it strange that she never argues with her husband.
She told the magazine: “People cannot understand when we say we don’t fight. They go “that’s just not natural, you’re lying! Couples fight.”
Dr. Phil and his wife Robin McGraw celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on August 14 (photo Twitter)
“But we don’t fight and it’s because we had a conversation early on and I told him that it’s not natural for me to be in a house where people are screaming and yelling – my parents didn’t do it, I don’t do it and I don’t want to live in a house like that. He got it and has never raised his voice around me. We don’t fight.”
Robin McGraw added that she keeps the spark alive by flirting with Dr. Phil.
“Always flirt!” she said.
“A piece of advice I’d tell women: Learn what your husband considers flirting and learn what makes your husband happy.”
Phil and Robin McGraw have two sons, Jay, 34 and Jordan, 28. Jay McGraw and wife Erica have also given them two grandchildren – a 4-year-old girl named Avery and grandson London, 3.
Despite her growing career and duties as a mother and grandmother, Robin McGraw says that Dr. Phil is her number one priority.
She advises other women looking to balance work and family life to ask their husbands: “<<What can I do for you? Tell me what you need from me, what you need to hear from me, what you need to see me do. I’ll do it>>.”
Robin McGraw also recommends checking in with one’s husband on a regular basis, adding: “Phillip always needs to know I’m proud of him and the loves to hear that I appreciate him.”
Dr. Phil shares tips for a happy marriage in books such as Relationship Rescue and Family First.
