Families of MH370 passengers have begun to receive initial compensation payments of $50,000.
So far six Malaysian families and one Chinese family have received the money, and insurers are assessing the claims of 40 more Chinese families.
Relatives of all 239 missing passengers can claim up to $175,000 each.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace of the plane has been found.
Families of MH370 passengers have begun to receive initial compensation payments of $50,000 (photo Getty Images)
Malaysian deputy foreign minister Hamzah Zainudin stressed that the government has not yet declared the plane lost.
“When we talk about the full payment, we have to wait until we announce the issue on the tragedy MH370 is over,” he said.
Malaysia Airlines’ insurer, a consortium led by Germany’s Allianz, is making the payments.
Many of the relatives also refuse to accept that their relatives may be dead.
A group of families has joined together to raise $5 million to investigate the plane’s disappearance and encourage anyone who might have information to come forward.
A massive search operation conducted in seas hundreds of miles from any land has failed to find any debris from the plane.
Experts are continuing to survey the sea floor and are bringing in specialist equipment.
They believe the jet ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles north-west of the Australian city of Perth.
Actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee has died at the age of 91 at her home in New Rochelle, New York.
Ruby Dee died of natural causes on Wednesday evening.
The Emmy-winning actress was married to screen legend Ossie Davis for 56 years.
Among Ruby Dee’s most famous screen rolls were A Raisin in the Sun and Do the Right Thing
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis frequently collaborated, sharing the stage in five productions, appearing together in five movies and starring in a radio show, The Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee Story Hour.
“We have had her for so long and we loved her so much,” Ruby Dee’s daughter, Nora Davis Day, told US media following her death.
Ruby Dee was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and later raised in Harlem, New York, where she later pursued acting.
She met Ossie Davis in 1945 when she auditioned for Broadway play Jeb, and the couple married in 1948.
They were active in civil rights issues, including promoting black performers in the entertainment industry.
Among Ruby Dee’s most famous screen rolls were A Raisin in the Sun and Do the Right Thing.
Ossie Davis died in 2005, and the couple is survived by their three children, Nora, Hasna and Guy.
The 2014 World Cup officially got under way with a colorful opening ceremony before hosts Brazil kicked off against Croatia.
A cast of 660 dancers paid tribute to Brazil’s nature, people and football with a show around a “living” ball on the Arena de Sao Paulo pitch.
The final act saw a performance of official World Cup song We Are One by Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull.
The month-long tournament sees 32 nations compete in 64 games.
A cast of 660 dancers paid tribute to Brazil’s nature, people and football with a show around a living ball on the Arena de Sao Paulo pitch (photo Getty Images)
Many fans took to the streets to sing and chant their support for Brazil as excitement built in the hours before the tournament began.
But there were also demonstrations from those unhappy with the expense of hosting the tournament.
Performers dressed as trees, flowers and various musical instruments all performed in three acts before the central ball opened to reveal singers Claudia Leitte, Jennifer Lopez and rapper Pitbull as they sang the official World Cup song as the finale.
The opening game of the tournament between Brazil and Croatia kicks off at 17:00 local time.
No host nation have ever lost their opening World Cup game, with the previous 20 producing 14 victories and six draws for the hosts.
Brazil starts as favorite to win the World Cup for a sixth time, while holders Spain are aiming to win a fourth major tournament in a row after winning the European Championship two years ago.
The other seeded teams are Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Argentina, Germany and Belgium.
FIFA said it had sold more than 2.9 million tickets, but they were still available for several matches on Wednesday, including some involving Germany, Italy and France.
A French court was wrong to convict Paris-Match magazine for revealing that Prince Albert II of Monaco had a love child in 2005, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.
The public interest outweighed privacy arguments in the case, the ECHR ruled.
After the Paris-Match article appeared, in May 2005, Prince Albert sued the magazine, but later acknowledged that the child was his.
The boy was born to Nicole Coste, a French-Togolese flight attendant.
When Prince Albert, the reigning monarch in Monaco, learnt that Paris-Match was going to publish the article he told its owner, publisher Hachette Filipacchi Associes, not to do so. But the magazine went ahead, including photos of the prince with the child. The revelation also appeared in Bunte magazine in Germany.
Prince Albert of Monaco’s son was born to Nicole Coste, a French-Togolese flight attendant
In France, Prince Albert was awarded 50,000 euros ($68,000) in damages, but in Germany his court action against Bunte was dismissed.
In its ruling, the ECHR found that the French court in Nanterre was wrong to convict Paris-Match over the article. It breached the magazine’s freedom of expression, the ECHR said.
The ruling said the French court had erred in failing to distinguish between “information which formed part of a debate of general interest and that which merely reported details of the private life of the Prince of Monaco”.
The child could not succeed to the throne, under Monaco’s constitution, but the court found that “the public had a legitimate interest in knowing of the child’s existence and being able to conduct a debate on the possible implications for political life in the Principality of Monaco”.
“The court concluded that, in disclosing the information, [Nicole Coste] had sought to secure public recognition of her son’s status and of the fact that the prince was his father, which were crucial factors in ending the secrecy surrounding him.”
Back in 2005, Nicole Coste was quoted as saying she met Prince Albert on a flight in 1997, leading to a relationship and the birth of the boy, Alexandre, in August 2003.
Prince Albert has two children from previous relationships – 22-year-old daughter Jazmin and 10-year-old son Alexandre.
Last month Prince Albert and Princess Charlene announced they were expecting their first child.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will return to the US on Friday, officials have said.
Bowe Bergdahl, 28, will fly to a military medical centre in Texas for the next part of what the military calls a “reintegration mission”.
Officials previously said he would be reunited with his family there.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed on May 31 in exchange for five Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo bay, a deal criticized by the Republicans.
He has been recuperating at a military hospital in Germany since his release.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will return to the US on Friday
Critics of the prisoner swap, which include some Democrats, have objected to the fact Congress was not given notice of the deal, and they say the detainees are too dangerous to free.
Shortly after his release, several commentators and soldiers came forward to brand him a deserter and call for him to be punished.
The Pentagon has concluded he left his post in Paktika Province without authorisation but it is unclear if he intended to desert from the Army. The Army has said it will investigate the circumstances of his capture, leaving open the possibility he could be prosecuted for misconduct.
His family has received death threats and a welcoming party in his hometown in the state of Utah was cancelled amid safety concerns.
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has not made any public comment since his release, but on Thursday, the Daily Beast website published a letter it said was one of two the soldier sent to his parents during his captivity through the International Red Cross.
In the letter, Bowe Bergdahl says he left because conditions were deteriorating at the base.
Excerpts of Bowe Bergdahl’s journals sent to a friend before he went missing, published by the Washington Post, suggest a young soldier struggling to handle the mental stress of war.
Sao Paulo riot police have used tear gas to break up a protest against Brazil’s World Cup, hours before the opening match.
At least one person was arrested and five others were injured, three of them journalists.
Protesters had tried to block a road leading to the stadium where the opening ceremony will take place.
Sao Paulo riot police have used tear gas to break up a protest against Brazil’s World Cup, hours before the opening match
Further protests are planned in other Brazilian cities over the expense of hosting the tournament.
In another development, striking airport workers in Rio de Janeiro blocked a road outside the airport, demanding a wage increase and a World Cup bonus.
The strike was to have lasted for 24 hours but union leaders called it off early for legal reasons.
Striking teachers also staged a rally in Rio city centre, further disrupting traffic.
Police charged with batons and riot shields, firing rubber bullets over heads of scores of protesters near a metro station on the route to the Arena Corinthians. Riot police moved in after the demonstrators refused to clear the road.
The demonstrators had been chanting “there won’t be a Cup”.
The violence happened about 8 miles from the stadium where Brazil will play Croatia at 20:00 GMT.
Three tanks have crossed the eastern Ukrainian border from Russia, Ukraine’s interior minister Aresen Avkov has said.
The tanks entered Ukraine along with other armour through a checkpoint controlled by rebels in the Luhansk region, Arsen Avakov said.
Ukraine’s army engaged two of them and destroyed part of the column, he said.
Russia has rejected Arsen Avakov’s statement as “another fake piece of information”.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected last month, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had a “substantial” conversation by phone on Kiev’s plan of peaceful settlement in the east, Ukraine’s [residency said in a statement.
Three tanks have crossed the eastern Ukrainian border from Russia
Petro Poroshenko said that it was “unacceptable” for the tanks to be crossing into Ukraine, his press secretary said.
Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared independence after holding referendums last month which were deemed illegal by the government in Kiev.
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of supporting and arming the rebels – a claim denied by Moscow.
Arsen Avakov said the tanks had crossed the border from Russia along with armoured personnel carriers and artillery pieces in the Dyakove area of Luhansk region, before moving into the neighbouring Donetsk region.
There, Ukraine’s interior minister said, the tanks headed for the town of Snizhne on Thursday morning. Two then proceeded to the town of Horlivka and were attacked by government forces.
“The fight is under way,” Arsen Avakov said.
“I cannot say about its final outcome, but part of this column has been destroyed.”
Unverified video has been posted on YouTube of a battle tank rolling down a street said to be in Snizhne. The footage was shot from a flat overlooking the street.
A second clip, also said to have been recorded in Snizhne, shows a similar tank passing a roundabout.
A rebel spokesman told Russia’s Ria-Novosti news agency that they were fighting a force of 40 Ukrainian tanks north of the city of Luhansk.
The tanks had been stopped at the village of Makarovo, the spokesman said.
George H.W. Bush celebrated his 90th birthday on June 12 by making a tandem parachute jump near his summer home in coastal Maine.
The US’s 41st president made the jump delivering on a vow he made five years ago even though he can no longer use his legs.
The former president jumped from a helicopter at 6,000 feet harnessed to Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott, a retired member of the Golden Knights, the Army’s parachute team, near Kennebunkport. Mike Elliott guided George H.W. Bush to a gentle landing five years ago.
On Thursday morning, the helicopter picked up George H.W. Bush outside his home, known as Walker’s Point. His family transported him from his wheelchair to the chopper, then sang “Happy Birthday” before it took off.
George H.W. Bush could later be seen floating to the ground using a red, white and blue parachute. He landed safely near St. Ann’s Church, where friends and family had gathered, according to a spokesman, out of the sight of reporters.
George H.W. Bush celebrated his 90th birthday by making a tandem parachute jump near his summer home in coastal Maine
“He had a big smile for the crowd. You could tell he was exhilarated,” said Diana Untermeyer, a family friend from Houson.
“He’s an amazing man. This is just another sign of that. I think that like most of America, our family loves him to pieces. It was just a real thrill to do this again.”
The jump was kept secret partly to give George H.W. Bush himself the option of bagging it.
Spokesman Jim McGrath said the former president likes both a surprise and an adrenaline rush.
“It’s vintage George Bush,” Jim McGrath said.
“It’s that passion for life. It’s wanting to set a goal, wanting to achieve it. I’m sure part of it is sending a message to others that even in your retirement years you can still find challenges.”
The first time George H.W. Bush jumped from an airplane was when his plane was shot down in World War II over the Pacific. Later, he decided to jump from a plane of his own accord and marked his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays by skydiving.
The former president said on his 85th birthday that he’d like to do it again on his 90th.
Other birthday festivities included a private dinner with more than 200 relatives and friends, including some from his White House days: press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, White House counsel Boyden Gray and political director Ron Kaufman, Jim McGrath said. His children, including former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will be there, Jim McGrath said.
Kennebunkport is a special place for George H.W. Bush. As a boy, he visited the family home at Walker’s Point every summer, except during World War II. The retreat was later dubbed his “summer White House.”
George H.W. Bush now uses a wheelchair or scooter because of a form of parkinsonism that has robbed him of use of his legs.
Kim Jong-un has blasted North Korea’s weather service for “incorrect” forecasts in a rare public dressing down of a government body in the reclusive nation, which suffers regular natural disasters.
The North Korean criticised the science used in observations and called for the use of modern equipment in the unusual rebuke, which came during an inspection of the Hydro-meteorological Service, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
“There are many incorrect forecasts as the meteorological observation has not been put on a modern and scientific basis,” Kim Jong-un said, urging the agency to “fundamentally” improve its work and equipment.
Kim Jong-un has blasted North Korea’s weather service for incorrect forecasts
Accurate forecasts are needed to protect the “lives and properties” of people from disasters caused by “abnormal climatic phenomenon”, he said.
Calling the weather service “very important work directly affecting the overall economic affairs”, Kim Jong-un also underscored the need to “modernise meteorological observation equipment at a high level”, KCNA said.
It was not clear when Kim Jong-un visited the agency, but public criticism of government officials during field trips by North Korean leaders is extremely rare.
Undated pictures released by KCNA showed Kim Jong-un giving “field guidance” inside the weather service in the capital, some of his audience standing attentively with arms by the side.
North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages under the ruling Kim dynasty, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.
In May, state media reported that North Korea was hit by its worst spring drought in more than three decades, threatening thousands of acres of staple crops.
Expedia has become the latest company to accept Bitcoin transactions as a form of payment.
The travel agency will initially accept the virtual currency for hotel bookings only, and is currently restricting the trial to its US site.
Expedia’s announcement comes after a turbulent few months for Bitcoin, which has been plagued by security concerns.
Expedia has become the latest company to accept Bitcoin transactions as a form of payment
A number of smaller online travel sites already accept virtual currencies, including Travel Keys and CheapAir, but Expedia is the first company of its size to adopt Bitcoin.
In a statement, Expedia’s global vice-president, Michael Gulmann, said the company was “in a unique position” to “solve travel planning and booking for our customers and partners alike by adopting the latest payment technologies”.
Expedia will use Bitcoin exchange Coinbase for processing transactions, but Michael Gulmann told the Wall Street Journal that the company would not hold the currency, but would convert its Bitcoin deposits back into US dollars every 24 hours.
Bitcoin, which is the world’s most prominent crypto-currency, has been the subject of much controversy in recent months.
The collapse of Japanese Bitcoin exchange MtGox, following a number of security breaches, harmed the currency’s reputation, and there have been several controversies surrounding taxation of transactions made with Bitcoin.
The digital currency took another step closer to the mainstream this week, with both Google and Yahoo adding its conversion price to its financial tools.
More than 60,000 online retailers now accept Bitcoins worldwide.
AirAsia is set to start flights in India on Thursday.
AirAsia is the first airline with foreign investment to operate in India.
The airline has been set up by one of Asia’s biggest low-cost carriers, AirAsia, and India’s Tata Group.
The carrier’s promise to become the “lowest-cost” airline in India has triggered a fresh price war in the sector.
Most of India’s domestic airlines have been mired in losses owing to high fuel costs and intense price competition.
AirAsia is the first airline with foreign investment to operate in India
Only one of India’s six main carriers, IndiGo, has been making profits in recent years.
India has seen a surge in demand for air travel in recent years, making it one of the faster-growing aviation markets in the region.
But despite huge potential, airlines have struggled to make money, not least because they have been trying to cut fares in an attempt to attract more customers.
For its maiden flight between Bangalore and Goa, AirAsia India has offered tickets for as low as $17, cheaper than the train fare for a second-class air conditioned cabin.
The move has triggered a price war, with other domestic carriers slashing their fares and also offering heavy discounts.
While that may be good news for travelers, it is not so good for airlines because most of them have been struggling financially.
For its part, AirAsia India said its model had always been about keeping the fares low and its costs “razor-thin”.
AirAsia chief executive Mittu Chandilya said the model had worked in similar markets for the past 12 years.
India opened up its aviation market to foreign investment in 2012 in an attempt to boost growth in the sector and the overall economy.
Four years ago the Germans had Paul, the octopus, who caught the world’s attention with his surprisingly accurate predictions of the tournament’s results.
For the World Cup 2014, host country Brazil has chosen a sea turtle, named Big Head, as its oracle (photo Time)
Using sea creatures as fortune-tellers seems to be turning into a World Cup tradition.
For the World Cup 2014, host country Brazil has chosen a sea turtle, named Big Head, as its oracle and it has already picked a winner for the opening match this Thursday.
The Thai ruling junta has ordered TV regulators to ensure that soccer fans will not have to pay to watch any matches at the World Cup 2014.
The military said it was part of its “happiness campaign”, which has seen a number of policy gimmicks, such as free haircuts and concerts.
Thailand’s football match with elephants representing World Cup nations
Meanwhile, an anti-coup protest leader has been charged with incitement and could face 14 years in jail.
The junta overthrew Yingluck Shinawatra’s government last month promising to restore order.
Bangkok and some other parts of Thailand have been under curfew ever since.
The military has since cracked down on dissent, detaining hundreds of potential opponents and releasing them with warnings about their future behavior.
FIFA’s World Cup 2014 begins today with Brazil opening the tournament against Croatia.
The month-long tournament sees 32 nations compete for a place in the final in Rio on Sunday, July 13.
The opening match will be preceded by a ceremony in Sao Paulo that pays tribute to nature, people and football.
Last year more than a million people took to the streets of major Brazilian cities to protest against what they see as excessive spending on the World Cup.
World Cup 2014 opening match will be preceded by a ceremony in Sao Paulo that pays tribute to nature, people and football
Brazil’s government is keen to prevent a repeat of some of the violence seen at those protests, and President Dilma Rousseff has said she will not allow violent demonstrations to mar the World Cup.
Thousands of extra police and soldiers will be deployed to ensure the matches get under way smoothly.
Hosts Brazil start as favorites to win the World Cup for a sixth time, while holders Spain are aiming to win a fourth major tournament in a row after winning the European Championships two years ago.
The other seeded teams are Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Argentina, Germany and Belgium.
The host nation have never lost their opening World Cup game, with the previous 20 opening games producing 14 victories and six draws for the hosts.
A capacity 65,000 crowd is expected for the match, with their journey to the stadium eased after metro workers voted not to resume a strike over pay and the dismissal of 42 colleagues.
The host city for the opening ceremony had been braced for considerable disruption after traffic chaos was caused by a five-day stoppage earlier in the week.
As one problem eased another began, however, with airport workers in Brazil’s second largest city Rio de Janeiro announcing a 24-hour strike starting at midnight on Wednesday, meaning industrial action will continue through the opening day of the World Cup.
FIFA said it had sold more than 2.9 million tickets, but they were still available for several matches on Wednesday, including some involving Germany, Italy and France.
Former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf’s request to leave the country has been backed by the Sindh High Court.
The Sindh High Court removed Pervez Musharraf’s name from an exit control list on Thursday. The former leader is currently barred from leaving Pakistan.
The government has 15 days to appeal before the order comes into effect.
Pervez Musharraf is currently on trial for treason. He denies the charges and has described the accusations as politically motivated.
Former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf is currently on trial for treason (photo Wikipedia)
Pakistan’s military is watching the trial of the former general closely – correspondents say they are concerned over the precedent the trial could set in a country with a history of military rule.
On Thursday, Pervez Musharraf’s lawyer Farogh Naseem said: “The court has allowed our appeal and ordered to strike down Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List. The order will be executed after 15 days.”
Pervez Musharraf is currently under house arrest. He was admitted to hospital for chest pain in January.
In April, the Interior Ministry turned down Pervez Misharraf’s request to end a travel ban preventing him from leaving the country, to visit his sick mother in Dubai.
Many in Pakistan believe he could flee the country and avoid facing charges, if allowed to travel.
Pervez Musharraf was president from 2001 to 2008. He left the country after losing the 2008 elections, facing possible impeachment.
He dramatically returned to the country in March 2013 to compete in elections, but was barred from standing and now faces a series of court cases.
In addition to five charges of treason, Pervez Musharraf faces criminal charges in connection with the killings of two politicians, and putting dozens of senior judges under house arrest in 2007.
Pervez Musharraf is also on bail in connection with the killing of a cleric in the 2007 Red Mosque siege in Islamabad.
According to a new research, sunscreen alone should not be relied on to prevent malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer.
The British researchers back public health campaigns calling for sunscreen to be combined with other ways to protect the skin from sun, such as hats and shade.
The new study, an animal research, published in Nature, reveals more about how UV light induces cancer in skin cells.
Sun exposure is a well-known risk factor for melanoma skin cancer.
Researchers say sunscreen should be combined with other ways to protect the skin from sun, such as hats and shade
But, until now, the molecular mechanism by which UV light damages DNA in skin cells has been unclear.
In the new study, scientists at the University of Manchester looked at the effects of UV light on the skin of mice at risk of melanoma.
This allowed them to examine the effects of sunscreen in blocking the disease.
“UV light targets the very genes protecting us from its own damaging effects, showing how dangerous this cancer-causing agent is,” said lead researcher Prof. Richard Marais.
“Very importantly, this study provides proof that sunscreen does not offer complete protection from the damaging effects of UV light.
“This work highlights the importance of combining sunscreen with other strategies to protect our skin, including wearing hats and loose fitting clothing, and seeking shade when the sun is at its strongest.”
The researchers found that UV light caused faults in the p53 gene, which normally helps protect the body from the effects of DNA damage.
The study also showed that sunscreen could reduce the amount of DNA damage caused by UV, delaying the development of melanoma in mice.
But it found sunscreen did not offer complete protection and UV light could still induce melanoma, although at a reduced rate.
Another concern is the fact that any post-sunburn inflammation has the potential to cause cancer cells to migrate. According a study conducted at the University of Bonn in Germany, there is a strong link between UV-related skin inflammation and the spreading of cancer cells in blood vessels. Essentially this means that a bad sunburn can spread cancer from organ to organ, and it does this through the alteration of pigment cells in the dermis. Thankfully, ointments such as mometasone are able to swiftly end inflammation brought on by too much sun.
ISIS insurgents in Iraq have seized the city of Tikrit, their second major gain after capturing Mosul on Tuesday, security officials say.
Tikrit, the hometown of former leader Saddam Hussein, lies 95 miles north of the capital Baghdad.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki vowed to fight back against the jihadists and punish those in the security forces who fled offering little or no resistance.
The insurgents are from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).
ISIS insurgents in Iraq have seized the city of Tikrit, their second major gain after capturing Mosul (photo AFP/Getty Images)
ISIS, which is also known as ISIL, is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
The Islamist group controls considerable territory in eastern Syria and western and central Iraq, in a campaign to set up a Sunni militant enclave straddling the border.
There were also reports on Wednesday of fighting further south, in Samarra, 70 miles north of Baghdad.
Separately, at least 21 people were killed and 45 hurt by a suicide bomber at a Shia meeting in Baghdad, police said.
As many as 500,000 people fled Mosul after the militants attacked the city. The head of the Turkish mission in Mosul and almost 50 consulate staff are being held by the militants, Turkish officials say.
Turkey’s foreign minister warned there would be “harsh retaliation” if any of its citizens were harmed.
The insurgents moved quickly south, entering the town of Baiji late on Tuesday.
There were heavy clashes reported in Tikrit, with dozens of insurgents attacking security forces near the headquarters of the Salaheddin provincial government in the city centre.
AFP news agency quoted police and witnesses as saying there was fighting at the northern entrance to Samarra.
Earlier PM Nouri Maliki vowed to fight back against the militants. He has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency.
In a live TV address, he said a “conspiracy” had taken place in Mosul and surrounding Nineveh province.
Nouri Maliki said he did not want to apportion blame for who had ordered the security personnel “to retreat and cause chaos”.
According to Republican officials, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor intends to resign his leadership post by the end of July after losing Virginia primary election Tuesday night in a major upset.
Eric Cantor, who became the first House Majority Leader to ever lose a re-election, plans to step down from his leadership position by the end of July, according to the Washington Post.
The Post, citing “three Republicans familiar with his plans,” said that Eric Cantor will officially announce his plans later Wednesday at a meeting with colleagues.
On the morning after his loss to David Brat, an economics professor supported by the tea party, there had been quiet pressure on Eric Cantor to step down from his post as the Republicans’ second-ranking leader.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor intends to resign his leadership post by the end of July after losing Virginia primary election
Others did not wait for him to make his intentions known.
Representative Kevin McCarthy of California was informing fellow Republicans he intended to run to succeed Eric Cantor, officials said, and Representative Pete Sessions of Texas also signaled an interest.
Representative Steve Scalise was hoping to replace Kevin McCarthy in his current spot, officials said.
Eric Cantor’s defeat was the first primary setback for a senior leader in Congress in recent years. Former House Speaker Thomas Foley of Washington and Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota both lost their seats at the polls in the past two decades, but they fell to Republicans, not to challengers from within their own parties.
The outcome may well mark the end of Eric Cantor’s political career, although at 51 he has plenty of time to attempt a future comeback.
David Brat is the tea party’s new star after defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the biggest primary upset in recent memory.
David Brat, born on July 27 1964, gained a Ph.D. in economics at the American University in Washington, D.C., before going on to work as an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College, a liberal arts college north of Richmond, Virginia.
So dedicated is he to his profession that he canceled a packed schedule of meetings with key conservative activists in May because he had papers to grade.
“He had school stuff to take care of,” his 23-year-old campaign manager Zachary Werrell told the Washington Post. His Democrat challenger in the staunch-Republican district is Jack Trammell, also a professor at Randolph-Macon.
David Brat is the tea party’s new star after defeating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the biggest primary upset in recent memory
Before obtaining his economics doctorate, David Brat, a Catholic, received a Masters in Divinity at Princeton, a course designed to “prepare students for the parish ministry [and] mission work at home and abroad,” according its website.
He is anti-abortion and says he will always uphold laws to protect human life. These laws, he says, “come from God, the Author of Nature.”
Originally from Alma, Michigan, David Brat moved to Virginia in 1996 with his wife, Laura.
David Brat attended Hope College in Michigan and received a B.A. in Business Administration in 1986; he also graduated with a Master’s degree in Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1990 and earned a PhD in economics from American University in 1995.
After working for Arthur Andersen and as a consultant for the World Bank, David Brat became a professor at Randolph–Macon College (RMC) in 1996.
His published papers include God and Advanced Mammon: Can Theological Types Handle Usury and Capitalism? and An Analysis of the Moral Foundations in Ayn Rand.
David Brat is a Roman Catholic and is a parishioner of St. Mary Catholic Church in Richmond with his wife and their two children.
A gunman shot dead a 14-year-old student at the Reynolds High School in Oregon before killing himself, police have said.
Oregon police on Wednesday identified the gunman in the Reynolds High School shooting as Jared Michael Padgett, a 15-year-old freshman.
They said he had no apparent connection to the fellow freshman he shot and killed before wounding a teacher and then eventually turning the gun on himself.
Jared Michael Padgett arrived on the school bus on Tuesday, carrying a guitar case and a large duffel bag, Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said at a press conference. One of those held an AR-15 rifle that the teen brought from home, the sheriff said.
Jared Michael Padgett shot dead a 14-year-old student at the Reynolds High School in Oregon before killing himself
“The student has died. I’m very, very sorry for the family,” Scott Anderson said.
Police arrived after shots were reported as classes started on Tuesday morning, when the suspect opened fire with a rifle.
The victim, killed in the boys’ locker room in a detached building holding the school’s gymnasium, was identified by authorities as Emilio Hoffman.
An athletics instructor was also grazed by a bullet but was able to initiate a school lockdown, which police say may have saved lives.
The person with the gun was found dead in a separate bathroom, police said.
Students were seen being led from the high school with their hands on their heads, and there were emotional reunions with parents outside.
During the evacuation another person was found to be armed with a gun and taken into custody. Scott Anderson said that was unrelated to the shooting.
Toyota is recalling about 650,000 vehicles in Japan because of Takata’s potentially defective airbags, the carmaker announced on Wednesday.
The Japanese carmaker said the move will expand a costly recall it announced in 2013 because the supplier, Takata Corp, had not fully identified the problematic parts.
Shares of Takata dropped after the announcement and were down over 4% when the Tokyo market closed.
A Takata spokesman said that more vehicles could be recalled by other manufacturers because of potential airbag inflator defects.
Toyota is recalling about 650,000 vehicles in Japan because of Takata’s potentially defective airbags (photo Reuters)
Carmakers including Toyota, Honda, Nissan Motor Co and BMW in 2013 recalled 3.6 million vehicles in total due to problems with the airbag inflator that could potentially explode and injure the driver or passengers. Those airbags were manufactured by Takata.
Honda and Nissan also said they were investigating whether they needed to recall more vehicles due to this problem.
Toyota said it was expanding the recall it announced in April 2013 that involved 2.14 million vehicles because the serial numbers that Takata had provided for potentially flawed airbag inflators had been incomplete.
In a further step, Toyota said it would instruct its dealers in the US and other overseas markets to begin replacing suspect Takata inflators on all of the vehicles covered by last year’s recall. Previously, the carmaker had asked its dealers to inspect the airbags and only replace those that were judged to be defective.
Toyota said it had been notified of one case in which a defective airbag inflator had caused a seat cover to burn. It said all of the recalled vehicles were equipped with passenger-seat airbags that could be defective and deploy “abnormally” in the event of an accident.
Toyota vehicles covered by the recall include the Corolla and Camry sedans, and Tundra trucks.
Takata has acknowledged to US safety regulators that it improperly stored chemicals and botched the manufacture of the explosive propellants used to inflate airbags.
The company has also said that it kept inadequate quality-control records which made it impossible to identify vehicles with potentially defective airbag inflators a decade or more after they were manufactured at factories in the US and Mexico.
The Takata recall in 2013 was the largest airbag-related recall in history and came after a series of accidents and at least two deaths allegedly caused by faulty airbags.
Emirates Airline has cancelled an order for 70 of Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft, the plane maker announces.
Airbus said the cancellation had followed “ongoing discussions with the airline in light of their fleet requirement review”.
In 2007, Dubai’s Emirates Airline placed 50 orders for the A350-900 and 20 for the A350-1000, with deliveries due from 2019.
A spokesperson for Emirates said the airline was “reviewing our fleet requirements”.
Emirates Airline has cancelled an order for 70 of Airbus’s A350 wide-bodied aircraft
Airbus said it was confident that new orders “in the coming months” would compensate for the Emirates cancellation.
“There’s no impact on the program as deliveries were scheduled to start at the end of the decade,” a spokesman said.
In a statement, Airbus said it was “very confident” in its A350 XWB program, adding that it had 742 firm orders and it expected the order book to continue growing in 2014.
“Interest in the game-changing A350 has always been very high with customers,” it said.
Airbus added that Emirates had recently “reiterated its confidence in Airbus products, particularly by praising the A380”.
Emirates Airline ordered an extra 50 A380 superjumbo planes at the last Dubai Airshow.
However, investors took the news of the cancelled A350s badly, with Airbus shares closing down more than 3% in Paris. Rolls-Royce shares fell more than 5% in London.
The A350 long-range jet is a competitor to Boeing’s 777 and 787 Dreamliner planes. The design of the A350 was changed in 2006.
Emirates announced it had ordered 150 of Boeing’s 777X planes at the Dubai Air Show last year.
Wal-Mart truck driver Kevin Roper, who was charged over the fatal crash that also injured Tracy Morgan, is due in court today.
Court papers claim the 35-year-old driver had not slept for more than 24 hours before the accident early on Saturday morning.
Kevin Roper swerved to avoid traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, crashing into Tracy Morgan’s limo bus and killing fellow comedian James McNair, known as Jimmy Mack.
The driver is facing death by auto and assault charges.
Kevin Roper was charged over the fatal crash that also injured Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan, who was nominated for an Emmy for his role in 30 Rock, is in a critical but stable condition after surgery on his leg at the weekend.
Earlier this week, Tracy Morgan’s spokesman Lewis Kay dismissed online rumors that his leg had to be amputated, calling them “completely fabricated”.
Tracy Morgan suffered a broken femur, a broken nose and several broken ribs in the accident, in which two other passengers were seriously injured.
One further passenger was treated and released from the hospital on Saturday while the limo driver and another passenger were unhurt.
New Jersey State Police have now released audio recordings of the three emergency calls made after the crash.
One unidentified woman told the operator: “It’s a terrible accident. The car flipped. It’s on its side. It’s two vehicles and a Wal-Mart truck.”
Tracy Morgan, who also starred in Saturday Night Live, was scheduled to start filming ten episodes of a new half-hour comedy show in August, for cable network FX.
“The only thing we are concerned with is the health and recovery of Tracy Morgan and the victims of this tragic accident,” said the network in a statement.
“We will support Tracy and his family in every way possible throughout his recovery. At the point when Tracy has recovered and decides that he is ready to go back to work, his show will be waiting for him.”
