The defense team of South African Paralympic champion Oscar Pistorius has condemned the airing of a video showing the athlete re-enacting the events of the night he killed Reeva Sttenkamp.
The footage shows Oscar Pistorius shouting and running on his stumps as he simulates holding a handgun.
It was aired in Australia only by broadcaster Channel 7 on Sunday.
A spokesperson for Oscar Pistorius’ said that the footage was filmed in order to create a “forensic animation”, but that it was “obtained illegally”.
The video showing Oscar Pistorius re-enacting the events of the night he killed Reeva Sttenkamp was aired by Channel 7 in Australia
“For the family, the airing of this footage constitutes a staggering breach of trust and an invasion of the family’s privacy,” the statement said.
The footage has not been seen in court in South Africa, where the athlete is on trial for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
In the video – filmed at his uncle’s house – Oscar Pistorius rushes forwards on the stumps of his legs.
Oscar Pistorius holds out an imaginary gun in his right hand and screams: “Reeva, call the police.”
He is also shown carrying a woman out of a toilet and downstairs.
The re-enactment was done to help US specialists create a computer model of the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp.
It is not clear why the full reconstruction was not used at the murder trial.
In the leaked footage Oscar Pistorius looks unsteady on his stumps, but perhaps more mobile than one of his doctors had described in his evidence last week.
Oscar Pistorius says he shot his girlfriend after mistaking her for an intruder in their house last year.
The prosecution argues that he killed Reeva Steenkamp deliberately after a row.
Oscar Pistorius’ trial will resume on Monday, July 7.
Two deadly shootings have been reported in Kenya’s coastal district of Lamu, the scene of several attacks claimed by Islamic militants this year.
Houses have been set alight in Hindi, near Mpeketoni, and a police station has been attacked at Gamba.
According to the Kenyan Red Cross, 13 people had been killed in the two incidents.
The Somali militant Islamist group al-Shabab has previously mounted a number of attacks in the region.
Two deadly shootings have been reported in Kenya’s coastal district of Lamu
However, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the latest shooting.
Witnesses said about a dozen armed men had appeared in the trading centre in Hindi, Lamu County, late on Saturday evening and opened fire.
“They went around shooting at people and villages indiscriminately,” area chief Abdallah Shahasi told Reuters.
County commissioner Miiri Njenga told the agency some government offices and properties had been burned down.
The Red Cross said another nine people – eight civilians and one police officer – were killed in Gamba, and one person was also missing.
There were few further details of the attacks – the Kenya National Disaster Operation Centre said confirmed the violence and said on Twitter that it was responding.
Attacks in the Lamu area early last month killed at least 60 people, as gunmen descended on hotels and a police station.
The area includes Lamu island, a well-known tourist resort, however, the attacks happened on the mainland, in Lamu County.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has blamed the attacks on political networks, despite al-Shabab claiming responsibility.
A US teenager was beaten while in Israeli police custody in East Jerusalem.
Tariq Khdair, 15, from Florida, is a cousin of Mohammed Abu Khdair, the Palestinian 16-year-old whose abduction and murder has triggered riots.
The US State Department says it is “profoundly troubled” by reports.
Israeli officials say they are looking into the incident. Police say the youth was among a group attacking officers.
However, Tariq Khdair’s family denies that he was involved in the violence.
Tariq Khdair’s cousin, Mohammed Abu Khdair, was abducted and murdered in Jerusalem
Unrest has spread from East Jerusalem to several Arab-Israeli towns after reports that an initial post-mortem examination found Mohammed Abu Khdair had been burned alive.
Mobile phone footage taken during Palestinian protests on Thursday appears to show two Israeli border policemen holding down Tariq Khdair on wasteland in East Jerusalem.
The footage shows one of the officers punching the teenager in the head before the boy is taken away. Photographs taken later show him with a severely swollen face.
US State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Tariq Khdair, who is still in custody, was visited by a consulate official on Saturday.
“We are profoundly troubled by reports that he was severely beaten while in police custody and strongly condemn any excessive use of force,” she said.
“We are calling for a speedy, transparent and credible investigation and full accountability for any excessive use of force.”
The Israeli Justice Ministry said the police investigations department was looking into the incident.
Thousands attended Mohammad Abu Khdair’s funeral on Friday near the family’s home in the Shufat district of East Jerusalem.
Mohammad Abu Khdair’s believes he was killed by Jewish extremists in revenge for the murders of three Israeli teenagers – Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both aged 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach.
German leader Angela Merkel has begun a three-day visit to China with trade issues high on the agenda.
Germany and China are important trading partners and Angela Merkel is travelling with a large delegation of German business executives.
On Sunday, the German chancellor is visiting Chengdu, capital of south-western Sichuan province, where more than 150 German companies are active.
The visit is Angela Merkel’s seventh to China since taking office in 2005.
Angela Merkel has begun a three-day visit to China with trade issues high on the agenda (photo Reuters)
She will also hold talks with Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese market is important for Germany while China is looking to Germany as the supplier of machinery and cars for its rising middle class.
In the past, Angela Merkel has spoken out against human rights abuses in China but it is not clear if she will voice her disapproval this time.
At a joint business council in Beijing, the German delegation is expected to address sticking points such as fair market access for foreign companies and respect for intellectual property rights.
In an article in Welt am Sonntag, German intelligence chief Hans-Georg Maassen warned that small and medium-sized German companies were at risk of industrial espionage from Chinese government agencies.
“They are up against very powerful adversaries. The Chinese technical intelligence agency alone has over 100,000 employees,” Hans-Georg Maassen said in an excerpt of an interview to be published on Sunday.
China is Germany’s second largest export market outside Europe after the US.
Germany sold goods worth 67 billion euros ($91 billion) to China last year, while imports from China topped 73 billion euros.
Paul McCartney has resumed his Out There tour in the US after being forced to take nearly two months off due to a virus that left him in hospital.
Paul McCartney, 72, played an arena in Albany, New York, on Saturday night as part of his Out There tour.
Paul McCartney played an arena in Albany as part of his Out There tour (photo USA Today)
He called off the Japan leg of the tour and a South Korea show after falling ill on May 16 and later postponed a number of US dates.
Paul McCartney spent six days in a Tokyo hospital being treated for the viral infection.
Before his illness, Paul McCartney had last performed on May 1 in Costa Rica.
He opened the show at the Times Union Centre with Beatles’ hit Eight Days a Week and dedicated a song, My Valentine, to wife Nancy Shevell.
Paul McCartney has 19 performances scheduled for the US, including at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where the Beatles played their final full concert in 1966.
Hurricane Arthur, which was weakened to a post-tropical storm, has battered south-east Canada leaving more than 200,000 homes and businesses without power.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick bore the brunt of the storm’s torrential rain and strong winds.
Forecasters say Arthur will move north-east through the Gulf of St Lawrence towards Newfoundland on Sunday.
On Friday, Arthur hit North Carolina with hurricane-force winds and later skirted New England.
Tropical storm Arthur has battered south-east Canada leaving more than 200,000 homes and businesses without power
Late on Saturday, the Canadian Hurricane Center said Arthur was centered near Moncton in New Brunswick after making a second landfall in Canada.
Trees were blown down and power was cut to more than 141,000 customers in Nova Scotia and 110,000 in New Brunswick.
The largest number of outages was reported in Fredericton where winds of more than 62mph had brought down a number of large trees.
Police in Saint John, New Brunswick, said some roads were closed by flooding.
The storm also caused flight cancellations and delays at the region’s largest airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Prince Edward Island said electricity poles had been knocked down and roads were blocked by fallen trees.
New England was largely spared major damage although about 19,000 people in Maine and 1,600 in Vermont were left without power.
Daniel Brown, a specialist at the US National Hurricane Center, said Arthur had now lost its tropical characteristics and had become “more a wintertime-type low”.
Arthur was the first hurricane to hit the US since Superstorm Sandy devastated New York and New Jersey in October 2012.
Justin Jedlica was first dubbed “The Human Ken Doll” in a 2012 20/20 segment on extreme plastic surgery.
In an April 2014 interview with the Daily Beast, Justin Jedlica, 32, talked about his extensive surgery history and the one thing he doesn’t have in common with Ken Doll.
The New Yorker has spent a whopping $170,000 on plastic surgery. Justin Jedlica underwent his first surgery at the age of 18, going on to have a total of 149 procedures.
Justin Jedlica has spent a whopping $170,000 on plastic surgery (photo Getty Images)
He told the magazine: “Three days after my 18th birthday I went in and did my first nose job, which is something I wanted from a really young age.”
“For me, that was something I needed to fix… I’ve had 149 cosmetic procedures – which is different than surgeries. I’ve probably had 19 actual full-on surgeries; even in those 19 surgeries I’ve had some combos where there have been several areas worked on.”
Justin Jedlica is a gay, married man. Human Ken had a civil union ceremony to his partner in July 2013.
They have been together for five years.
Justin Jedlica says his husband is in support of his body alteration, explaining: “He tells me that my plastic surgery turns him on… he doesn’t have any qualms with it. It was something we talked about even before we got married, because I was like, <<We’re not going to get married if you’re going to give me shit about my surgeries!>>. He was like, <<Oh, I know that’s part of you, it’s totally fine>>. He’s not opposed to having work done either. It really was a moot point; it wasn’t an issue at all. I think he thinks it’s kind of cool.”
A plane carrying members of a parachute club crashed in southern Poland killing 11 people.
Rescue workers said only one of the 12 people on board survived and had suffered serious injuries.
Eleven people have been killed when the Polish plane carrying members of a parachute club crashed near Czestochowa (photo AP)
The Piper Navajo light aircraft had just taken off from an airfield in Rudniki near Czestochowa. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
Witnesses said the plane’s engines had made an odd, droning sound before it began to fall from the sky.
Police spokeswoman Joanna Lazar said local people had helped to rescue the sole survivor.
“We have established that just after the crash local residents came running towards the wreckage and helped to save one of the passengers from the plane. A 40-year-old man was taken to hospital.”
Polish police and prosecutors have launched an investigation into the crash.
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine rebels have pulled back to the main city of Donetsk, abandoning several strongholds in the Donetsk region to government forces.
Separatists abandoned the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, as well as some smaller towns, in the north of Donetsk region.
However, they have vowed to continue the fight from Donetsk city, describing the withdrawal as a tactical retreat.
Ukrainian forces launched an offensive this week after a truce broke down.
Ukrainian rebels abandoned several strongholds in the Donetsk region to government forces
The government said in a statement that the rebels had fled after mortar shelling from government forces.
Ukraine’s newly-elected President Petro Poroshenko said the breakthrough was “the beginning of the turning point in the fight against militants”.
“This is not complete victory. But the cleansing of Sloviansk from gangs who are armed to the teeth is of huge symbolic importance,” he said in a statement.
Some rebels were initially quoted as saying they were heading to the nearby city of Kramatorsk.
It later emerged that the pro-Russian fighters had also abandoned their posts there, and were apparently heading south to the regional capital.
Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said the rebels had abandoned the entire “northern sector”.
The pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk city said rebel fighters had begun to arrive from the north, and urged residents to stay in their homes.
Rebel leaders were quoted as saying the decision to abandon Sloviansk was taken by Igor Strelkov, the military commander of the DPR.
Igor Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Girkin, had pleaded for Russian intervention on Friday saying his men had lost the will to fight.
A caliphate is an Islamic state ruled by a single political and religious leader, or Caliph.
Caliphs are regarded by their followers as successors to the Prophet Muhammad and the leader of all Muslims.
The word “caliph” comes from the Arabic khalifa, meaning “successor”. Its use means the IS claims Baghdadi as the only legitimate successor to the Prophet.
Abdulmecid II was the last Sunni Caliph of Islam from the Ottoman Dynasty (photo flickr.com)
First caliphate came into being after Prophet Muhammad’s death in 632. In the centuries which followed, caliphates had dominion in the Middle East and North Africa.
Historically, caliphates involved governance under Islamic law, with the leadership elected according to Sunni practice and selected from a group of Imams under Shia traditions.
Laws under a caliphate are traditionally defined in accordance with Islamic ethics. In the past the role of caliph has largely been symbolic, leaving the day-to-day running of government down to the devolved powers of local rulers.
The last widely accepted caliphate was abolished in 1924 by Turkish leader Kemal Ataturk after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Abdulmecid II was the last ruler of a caliphate.
In 2014, Islamist militant group ISIS has declared caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, appointing its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as Caliph.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been appointed caliph by the jihadist group, which has seized large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
The video appears to have been filmed on Friday during a sermon at the al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul, northern Iraq.
The footage surfaced on Saturday amid reports that he had been killed or wounded in an Iraqi air raid.
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has called on Muslims to obey him, in his first video sermon (photo AFP)
It was not clear when the attack was supposed to have taken place.
In the sermon, at Mosul’s most famous landmark, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi praised the establishment of the “Islamic state”, which was declared by ISIS last Sunday.
Experts say the reclusive militant leader has never appeared on video before, although there are photographs of him.
“Appointing a leader is an obligation on Muslims, and one that has been neglected for decades,” he said.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi also said that he did not seek out the position of being the caliph, or leader, calling it a “burden”.
“I am your leader, though I am not the best of you, so if you see that I am right, support me, and if you see that I am wrong, advise me,” he told worshippers.
Captions in the video referred to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as “Caliph Ibrahim”, a name he has used since the group unilaterally declared him leader of an “Islamic state” last Sunday.
Czech tennis player Petra Kvitova has won her second Wimbledon title after defeating Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in this year’s final.
The Czech sixth seed reclaimed the title she first won in 2011 with a 6-3 6-0 victory in 55 minutes against Eugenie Bouchard.
Petra Kvitova has won her second Wimbledon title after defeating Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in this year’s final
Petra Kvitova, 24, has won her second major title which will see her move up to fourth in the world rankings.
Eugenie Bouchard, 20, had made history by becoming the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final.
The 20-year-old had won junior Wimbledon just two years ago and was one win from taking the senior title in only her sixth Grand Slam tournament, but came up against a player in remarkable form.
The only thing that might have troubled a rampant Petra Kvitova was the weather, but early rain cleared and the roof was opened long enough for the final before being brought across for the trophy presentation.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowels will divorce after nine years of marriage, GLOBE Magazine claims.
Meanwhile, Celebdirty Laundry reported that Queen Elizabeth allegedly called Camilla Parker-Bowles a disgrace after trying to force the royal family into a $350 million divorce pay out to buy her silence.
“Camilla isn’t likely to go without a fight though,” GLOBE Magazine claims.
“This chick has always been in it either for the crown or for a nice payday and so expect her to dig in her heels on this one. She has also been at Charles’ side for over 3 decades so she certainly does have a lot of dirt on him.”
New reports claim Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowels will divorce after nine years of marriage (photo Getty Images)
The divorce claims intensified after Prince Charles and Camilla went on their Canadian tour after Prince William and Kate Middleton won rave reviews on their three-week tour in New Zealand and Australia. Although the couple fought against going, the Queen insisted they needed to do this to earn the public trust and after spending three and a half days on a 41 engagement with his wife, Charles packed up his bags as soon they got home.
“Upon landing in Nova Scotia on May 18th Camilla exclaimed that it would take a lot of booze to survive,” according to GLOBE‘s June 9th print edition.
“It caused constant fighting and Charles was raging every time his drunken wife threw back another gin martini.”
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were photographed recently as they paid tribute to Wales’ coal miners on the fourth day of their tour in the region. During their visit to Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Prince Charles was spotted placing a wreath at the foot of the Welsh National Mining Memorial. Charles and Camilla also opened the Aber Valley Heritage Centre that features the history of the south Wales valleys.
“My wife and I have so enjoyed this opportunity to meet you all and if I may say so to have a chance to pay our respects at the memorial,” Prince Charles said as he paid tribute to the courage of the miners, and to those who lost their lives for digging the precious coal that helped Britain’s economy.
Mohammad Abu Khdair, the Palestinian teenager found dead in Jerusalem this week, was burned alive, first post mortem examination findings quoted by the Palestinian attorney-general say.
“The direct cause of death was burns as a result of fire,” Mohammed al-A’wewy was quoted as saying.
Israeli authorities say the circumstances surrounding the death of Mohammad Abu Khdair, 16, are unclear.
The teen’s death followed the abduction and murder of three young Israelis, with violent clashes spreading overnight.
The post mortem examination on Mohammad Abu Khdair was carried out by Israeli doctors, with Saber al-Aloul, the director of the Palestinian forensic institute, in attendance.
The Palestinian official news agency Wafa quoted the attorney-general as saying that Saber al-Aloul had reported fire dust in the respiratory canal, meaning the victim had “inhaled this material while he was burnt alive”.
Mohammad Abu Khdair’s death in Jerusalem followed the abduction and murder of three young Israelis
Mohammad Abu Khdair, who had also suffered a head injury, had burns to 90% of the body, it was reported.
The findings have not been officially released.
Mohammad Abu Khdair’s family believes he was killed in revenge for the murders of the three Israeli teenagers.
The bodies of Naftali Frenkel and Gilad Shaar, both aged 16, and 19-year-old Eyal Yifrach were found on June 30. Their funerals were held on Wednesday.
Thousands attended Mohammad Abu Khdair’s funeral on Friday near the family’s home in the Shufat district of East Jerusalem.
Hundreds of Palestinian youths clashed with Israeli police in East Jerusalem before and after the funeral.
The clashes continued overnight in the West Bank and spread to Israeli-Arab towns in northern Israel.
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said protesters burned tyres and hurled rocks. Disturbances were reported in Taibe and Tira.
Police responded with tear gas and stun grenades and more than 20 people were arrested.
Clashes were also reported in the central town of Qalansawe overnight, with Jewish drivers attacked and some cars torched.
Haaretz reported that some 50 Palestinians and 13 policemen were hurt in clashes, which it said had spread to all of East Jerusalem’s districts.
Israeli officials handed the body of Mohammad Abu Khdair to his family on Friday morning.
Germany has summoned the US ambassador in Berlin after a man was arrested on suspicion of spying for the NSA.
The US diplomat “was asked to help in the swift clarification” of the case, the foreign ministry said.
German officials confirmed the arrest but released no other details.
US-German ties were strained after allegations last year that the NSA bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone as part of a huge surveillance program.
The NSA bugged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone as part of a huge surveillance program
The scale of the agency’s global spy program was revealed in documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
The revelations also raised feeling in Germany against American surveillance.
German media say the man arrested this week is a 31-year-old employee of the federal intelligence service, the BND or Bundesnachrichtendienst.
A spokesman for Angela Merkel said she had been informed of the arrest, as had the members of the nine-strong parliamentary committee investigating the activities of foreign intelligence agencies in Germany.
Der Spiegel news magazine said the man was believed to have passed secret documents to a US contact in exchange for money.
However, one unnamed politician told Reuters news agency the suspect had offered his services to the US voluntarily.
“This was a man who had no direct contact with the investigative committee… He was not a top agent,” the source said.
Katy Perry has been sued by Christian hip-hop stars, who claim her hit Dark Horse ripped off their track Joyful Noise.
They accused Katy Perry of using the 2008 track without permission, tarnishing its “devoutly religious message” with images of “witchcraft” and “black magic.”
Joyful Noise comes from Flame’s Grammy-nominated album Our World: Redeemed.
Dark Horse topped the US Billboard chart for several weeks in January.
The group of rappers – Flame aka Marcus Gray, Lecrae Moore, Emanuel Lambert and Chike Ojukwu – are seeking damages from Katy Perry, guest artist Juicy J, Capitol Records and songwriters Dr Luke and Max Martin for copyright infringement.
Katy Parry has been sued for ripping off Joyful Noise for her mega-hit Dark Horse
Court papers in St Louis, Missouri, show they also want an injunction and profits gained from the unauthorized use of their track, stating Katy Perry had performed Dark Horse at sold-out concerts throughout the US and sold millions of copies.
“The devoutly religious message of Joyful Noise has been irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in Dark Horse,” said the rappers’ complaint.
They continued: “Indeed, the music video of Dark Horse generated widespread accusations of blasphemy and an online petition signed by more than 60,000 demanding removal of an offensive religious image from the video.”
The video for Dark Horse was edited in February this year following the complaints, with a pendant featuring the Arabic word for God being digitally “scrubbed” out of the scene.
More than 440 million people have watched the video on YouTube since February this year.
Flame said the track’s similarities to Joyful Noise were brought to his attention by his DJ, Cho’zyn Boy. The DJ compiled an audio comparison of the two songs, published by Rapzilla, after noticing comments about them on Twitter.
They claim Katy Perry and her collaborators “never sought or obtained permission” to use Joyful Noise for “creating, reproducing, recording, distributing, selling, or publicly performing” Dark Horse.
Russia’s State Duma (lower house of parliament) has passed a law requiring internet companies to store Russian citizens’ personal data inside the country.
The Kremlin says the move is for data protection but critics fear it is aimed at muzzling social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
The Russian government is thought to be seeking greater access to user data.
Russia’s State Duma has passed a law requiring internet companies to store Russian citizens’ personal data inside the country
Social networks were widely used by protesters opposing President Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin in 2012.
Analysts say there are fears that Russia may be seeking to create a closed and censored version of the internet within its borders.
The new bill, passed by the lower house of parliament, must still be approved by the upper chamber (Federation Council) and President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law.
If passed, the new rules will not take effect until September 2016 but will give the government grounds to block sites that do not comply.
“The aim of this law is to create… (another) quasi-legal pretext to close Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all other services,” internet expert and blogger Anton Nossik told Reuters news agency.
“The ultimate goal is to shut mouths, enforce censorship in the country and shape a situation where internet business would not be able to exist and function properly.”
Introducing the bill to parliament, lawmaker Vadim Dengin said “most Russians don’t want their data to leave Russia for the United States, where it can be hacked and given to criminals”.
Germany’s intelligence service has arrested one of its employees on suspicion of spying for the US, reports say.
The man is said to have been trying to gather details about a German parliamentary committee that is investigating claims of US espionage.
German authorities have asked the US ambassador for “swift clarification”.
The NSA was last year accused of bugging the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of a huge surveillance program.
The NSA was last year accused of bugging the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of a huge surveillance program
The scale of the NSA’s global spy program was revealed in documents leaked last year by Edward Snowden.
The revelations about the NSA put a strain on ties between Germany and the US and raised feeling in Germany against American surveillance.
According to the German media, the man arrested this week is a 31-year-old employee of the federal service, the BND or Bundesnachrichtendienst.
The German federal prosecutor’s office confirmed the man’s arrest, but gave no other details.
A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had been informed of the arrest, as had the members of the nine-strong parliamentary committee investigating the activities of foreign intelligence agencies in Germany.
Der Spiegel news magazine said the man was believed to have passed secret documents to a US contact in exchange for money.
However, one unnamed politician told Reuters the suspect had offered his services to the US voluntarily.
“This was a man who had no direct contact with the investigative committee… He was not a top agent,” the source said.
Forty six Indian nurses, who were trapped in fighting engulfing parts of Iraq, have been freed, Indian authorities say.
The nurses have been handed over to Indian officials in the Kurdish city of Irbil and are due to be flown home on Saturday.
Forty six Indian nurses were trapped in fighting engulfing parts of Iraq
The nurses were working at a hospital in the northern city of Tikrit and had been stranded there for more than week.
Tikrit is among a number of towns and cities seized by jihadist-led Sunni rebels in recent weeks.
“All the 46 nurses in Iraq are safe,” chief minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala Oommen Chandy told a news conference on Friday, adding that they were to be transferred to Irbil airport.
The nurses, all from Kerala, are due to arrive in the southern city of Kochi on Saturday morning.
On Thursday, Indian officials said the nurses were “unharmed”, but had been moved out of Tikrit.
Indian media reports said they had been pressured into boarding buses and leaving the hospital by jihadist fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
There are few details about the exact circumstances of their release.
In 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared the United States of America an independent nation not on July 4, as more than two centuries of Independence Day celebrations would suggest, but on July 2.
John Adams, a congressional delegate from Massachusetts and a future president of the new nation, wrote about the vote for independence in a letter to his wife, Abigail: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
So why do Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4th? Because that was the date on the Declaration of Independence, a document that was widely publicized and reprinted from one end of the fledgling nation to the other. As a result, the Fourth of July quickly became associated with personal liberty and national independence in the minds of all Americans.
The Second Continental Congress declared the United States of America an independent nation not on July 4, but on July 2 (photo Wikipedia)
The Fourth of July was not a federal holiday until 1941. Although July 4 had long been celebrated as the Independence Day holiday by tradition, and even by congressional decree, it was not officially a federal holiday until Congress agreed to give federal employees the day off with pay – and that didn’t happen until 1941.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who had been leaders in the American Revolution and US presidents as well as personal friends and political adversaries throughout much of their long lives, died on the same day, July 4, 1826. Their deaths came exactly 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which Thomas Jefferson had drafted and both men signed.
As John Adams was near death on the evening of July 4, 1826, his last words were reported to be: “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
John Adams was mistaken. Jefferson had died approximately five hours earlier.
In July 1776, there were approximately 2.5 million people living in the newly independent United States of America, roughly the same number of people who currently live in Brooklyn, New York.
After much debate among the Founding Fathers, the bald eagle was chosen as the new American symbol and appeared as the centerpiece of the national seal. Benjamin Franklin never really embraced the choice.
The first public recognition of American independence was in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776, just a few days after Congress declared the nation’s independence from Great Britain. The Liberty Bell sounded from the tower of Independence Hall, summoning people to the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon. Even though Congress had adopted the Declaration on July 4, it was not publicly announced until July 8, after the document came back from the printer.
The first annual commemoration of American independence occurred on July 4, 1777, in Philadelphia while Americans were still at war with the British, fighting to hold onto the liberty they had declared for themselves a year earlier.
Billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife has died aged 82.
Richard Mellon Scaife’s death comes less than two months after he had announced he had an untreatable form of cancer.
Billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife helped finance the election campaigns of Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan
The heir to the Mellon banking and oil fortune, he helped finance the election campaigns of Republican Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
Richard Mellon Scaife also backed inquiries in the 1990s to discredit the then Democratic President, Bill Clinton.
He died early on Friday at his home, his newspaper – the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – reported.
It said his death came just one day after his 82nd birthday, without providing further details.
Richard Mellon Scaife was an ardent supporter of right-wing causes, contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to think-tanks, lobbyists and conservative newspapers and magazines.
The UK’s largest warship was officially named in Queen Elizabeth II’s honor at a ceremony at Fife’s Rosyth Dockyard.
The vessel marks “a new phase in our naval history”, the Queen has said.
A bottle of whisky was smashed on the hull of the 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth – the first of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers being built.
The Red Arrows flew over the dockyard before the ship was officially named.
First Sea Lord Admiral George Zambellas said the ship was “fit for a Queen”.
Addressing the audience, Queen Elizabeth said the “innovative and first class” warship, the largest ever to be built in the UK, ushered in an “exciting new era”.
“In sponsoring this new aircraft carrier, I believe the Queen Elizabeth will be a source of inspiration and pride for us all,” she said.
HMS Queen Elizabeth has been named with a bottle of whisky smashed on the hull of the 65,000-tonne vessel
“May God bless her and all who sail in her.”
About 3,500 people involved in the design and construction of the carrier watched the celebrations, alongside dignitaries and politicians including PM David Cameron, First Minister Alex Salmond and former PM Gordon Brown.
David Cameron said it was a “very proud day” for Scotland and the UK, while Alex Salmond said it was a “huge day” for the workers and their families.
Ian Booth, of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance which is overseeing the ship’s construction, said it was a “historic occasion”.
The Red Arrows fly-past was followed by a procession of three generations of Royal Navy aircraft, including a historic 1950s de Havilland Sea Vixen fighter – the last and only flying aircraft of its kind in the world.
The Queen oversaw the ceremony by pressing a button to release a bottle of Islay malt whisky – suspended at the front of the ship – to smash on to the hull.
The naming ceremony, a naval tradition dating back thousands of years, marked the first time in more than 15 years that the Queen has christened a Royal Navy warship.
Six shipyards in the UK including Tyne, Rosyth and Appledore have been involved in building parts of the carrier.
More than 10,000 people at more than 100 companies have worked on HMS Queen Elizabeth, which has been beset by construction and design delays.
The estimated cost of the vessel and its sister ship is £6.2 billion ($10 billion), well over the initial projected cost of £3.65 billion ($6 billion).
The warship is as long as 25 buses and can carry 40 jets and helicopters at a time. It will have a permanent crew of almost 1,600 when it enters service in 2020.
Mya has slammed rumors suggesting she and Jay-Z have been secretly dating behind Beyonce’s back.
The singer blamed gossip-hungry bloggers for spreading the false speculation.
Mya found herself at the center of cheating allegations this week after a blind item posted on MediaTakeOut.com hinted that she has been Jay-Z’s mistress for 11 years.
Mya collaborated with Jay-Z on her 2000 song Best of Me
The online report didn’t refer to Mya by name, but described the woman as a “very short-named R&B singer who hasn’t had a hit in awhile”, and went on to state: “She basically lives off the generosity of Jay-Z and a couple of other guys.”
One fan asked Mya about the accusations directly via Instagram on Thursday and the singer, who collaborated with Jay-Z on her 2000 song Best of Me (Part 2), responded: “Never did, never was, never will [have an affair with Jay-Z].”
“Illegitimate, thirsty sources with no facts and that’s the <<media>> for you-especially today. I play second to no one, pay my own bills, have my own label, own management company, rely on God only and respect myself & marriage too much for nonsense.
“False rumors are crafted for ratings & numbers. And miserable, unhappy people need someone to judge to deter the attention away from their own misery and feel better about their miserable lives. If they did it to Jesus, they’ll do it to anyone. God bless.”
Speculation about the status of Jay-Z and Beyonce’s marriage began surfacing in May after surveillance footage of Solange Knowles attacking the rapper in a New York elevator emerged online.
By 9 a.m. Friday, Hurricane Arthur had weakened to Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds around 90 mph and additional weakening expected, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Hurricane Arthur has weakened to Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds around 90 mph and additional weakening expected (photo NBC News)
The storm was moving northeast Friday morning after turning slightly west late Thursday, which increased the threat to mainland communities from flooding, tornadoes and intense winds.
However, officials in some coastal areas in North Carolina reported few problems Friday morning.
Emerald Isle along the Bogue Banks posted on its website that the July 4th fireworks were still scheduled for Friday evening. The curfew also was lifted. Dare County officials said the northern end of the county, where Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk, are located had reopened.
Hatteras Island on the southern end remained closed because of flooding on North Carolina Highway 12.
