Oscar Pistorius has told his murder trial in Pretoria he was “heartbroken” when he saw the body of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
“I crouched down over her… and I checked to see if she was breathing or if she had a pulse,” the athlete said.
The prosecution has now finished five days of grueling cross-examination, which has seen the athlete break down on several occasions.
Oscar Pistorius, 27, denies murder, saying he mistook his girlfriend for an intruder.
The prosecution says Oscar Pistorius deliberately shot dead Reeva Steenkamp after the couple had had an argument and has suggested he is staging his emotional outbursts.
He faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder.
Before his cross-examination ended, the court was shown a photograph of the toilet covered in blood where Reeva Steenkamp was shot in February 2013.
Oscar Pistorius said that after shooting through the toilet door at what he thought were intruders, he realized he may have mistakenly killed his girlfriend, a 29-year-old model and law graduate.
He said he tried to break down the door with his shoulder, before using a cricket bat, all the time screaming in panic.
Oscar Pistorius has told his murder trial in Pretoria he was “heartbroken” when he saw the body of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
But the double-amputee sprinter said he stopped screaming when he finally opened the door and saw the body.
When asked why, Oscar Pistorius replied, his voice trembling with emotion: “I was heartbroken… overcome with sadness.”
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the athlete had deliberately killed his girlfriend following an argument.
“You fired four shots through the door whilst knowing that she was standing behind the door. She was locked into the bathroom and you armed yourself with the sole purpose of shooting and killing her,” he said.
Oscar Pistorius replied: “That is not true.”
The athlete has previously said he and Reeva Steenkamp had spent a quiet evening together before he woke up on hearing a noise in the bathroom.
After the cross-examination ended, Oscar Pistorius’ defense lawyer Barry Roux asked a few further questions before presenting to the court the Valentine’s Day card which Reeva Steenkamp had written for the athlete.
On the card, she had written: “Roses are red, violets are blue, I think this is a good time to say, I love you.”
Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.
Oscar Pistorius has now ended his testimony.
Prosecution witnesses have testified to hearing a woman scream, but the defense disputes their testimony.
Judge Thokozile Masipa temporarily halted proceedings on two occasions on Monday after Oscar Pistorius broke down sobbing.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said: “You’re getting emotional now because you’re getting frustrated because your version [of events] is improbable.”
Both prosecution and defense have asked Judge Thokozile Masipa to postpone the case until May 5, following Tuesday’s cross-examination.
Gerrie Nel said members of his team were engaged in “more pressing” cases, which needed their attention, as well as “personal arrangements”.
The defense said the case should still finish on May 16, as planned. The judge said she would deliver her judgement on this request on Wednesday.
Jordanian ambassador to Libya, Fawaz Aitan, has been kidnapped in the capital Tripoli, in an attack that left his driver wounded, officials say.
Gunmen travelling in two cars on Tuesday abducted Jordanian Ambassador Fawaz Aitan, the Libyan authorities said.
The Jordanian prime minister said that the envoy’s release was being negotiated.
Jordanian ambassador to Libya, Fawaz Aitan, has been kidnapped in the capital Tripoli, in an attack that left his driver wounded
Libya has been plagued by instability since armed groups toppled Col. Muammar Gaddafi from power in 2011.
“The Jordanian ambassador was kidnapped this morning. His convoy was attacked by a group of hooded men on board two civilian cars,” government spokesman Said Lassoued told AFP news agency.
On Sunday, Libya’s newly appointed PM Abdullah al-Thinni stepped down after what he described as a “cowardly attack” on him and his family by a militia.
Abdullah al-Thinni had been appointed as PM after his predecessor Ali Zeidan was sacked for failing to improve security.
Several kidnappings of officials in Libya in previous months have been blamed on militiamen.
They are often paid by the government, but their allegiance and who controls them remain in doubt.
Bluefin-21 robotic mini submarine deployed to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the southern Indian Ocean has had its first mission cut short.
The drone was sent to search the sea floor for wreckage after signals believed to be consistent with “black box” flight recorders were detected.
The Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating limit of 15,000ft and was brought back to the surface.
It was due to return later on Tuesday if weather conditions permitted.
“To account for inconsistencies with the sea floor, the search profile is being adjusted to extend the sonar search for as long as possible,” an update from the US Navy – which operates the Bluefin-21 – said.
The Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating limit of 15,000ft and was brought back to the surface
The US Navy said in a later update that no objects of interest were found when the six hours of data were downloaded and analyzed.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board. It was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers over the South China Sea.
Malaysian officials believe, based on satellite data, that it ended its flight thousands of miles off course, in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.
Amid a major international search, an Australian navy vessel last week detected four acoustic signals using a US Navy towed pinger locator. Officials believe these could come from the missing plane’s flight recorders.
No signals have been detected since 8 April, however, leading to fears that the recorders’ batteries – which last about a month – have run out.
Bluefin-21 is an almost 5m-long vehicle that can create a sonar map of the sea floor. On Monday officials said each mission was expected to last 24 hours, with 16 hours spent on the ocean floor, four hours’ diving and resurfacing time, and four hours to download data.
The submersible has a safety feature that brings it to the surface if it exceeds its performance capabilities, however.
The sea where the Bluefin-21 is searching is estimated to be about 4,500m deep, but experts say there could be variations on the sea floor.
President Barack Obama has called President Vladimir Putin urging him to use his influence to make separatists in eastern Ukraine stand down.
The phone call between Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin came as pro-Russian activists continued to occupy buildings in eastern towns.
For his part, Vladimir Putin rejected accusations of Russian interference, calling the reports “unreliable”.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s acting President, Oleksandr Turchynov, has announced the start of an “anti-terrorist operation”.
He told parliament it had begun in the “north of Donetsk Region” on Tuesday morning and was being conducted “stage by stage, in a responsible and weighed manner”.
The extent of the operation was unclear but unconfirmed reports on Russian media, quoting separatists, speak of Ukrainian armor being on the move near the flashpoint towns of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
President Barack Obama has called President Vladimir Putin urging him to use his influence to make separatists in eastern Ukraine stand down
Tanks and armored personnel carriers could be seen parked 44 miles from Sloviansk on Monday.
EU foreign ministers say they will expand a list of names targeted by sanctions.
Tension has been steadily rising since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula, formerly part of Ukraine, last month.
The move, condemned as illegal by Kiev and the West, followed the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
The White House said the “frank and direct” conversation between the two presidents was made at Russia’s request.
“The president expressed grave concern about Russian government support for the actions of armed, pro-Russian separatists who threaten to undermine and destabilize the government of Ukraine,” a White House statement said.
“The president emphasized that all irregular forces in the country need to lay down their arms, and he urged President Putin to use his influence with these armed, pro-Russian groups to convince them to depart the buildings they have seized.”
The statement also threatened Moscow with wider sanctions, saying “the costs Russia already has incurred will increase if those actions persist”.
The Kremlin said in a statement that recent unrest in Ukraine’s south-east was “the result of the unwillingness and inability of the leadership in Kiev to take into account the interests of Russia and the Russian-speaking population”.
The statement said Vladimir Putin had urged Barack Obama to “use the resources at the disposal of the American side” to help prevent any bloodshed.
It dismissed claims that Russia was interfering in Ukraine, saying the accusations were based on “questionable information”.
Thousands of Russian troops are reported to be deployed along the border between Ukraine and Russia. Kiev fears any crackdown on pro-Russian groups could trigger an invasion.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has issued an apology to the nation after three officials of the country’s intelligence agency were charged with fabricating evidence in a spying case.
President Park Geun-hye said the case had exposed “wrong practices” within the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
NIS chief Nam Jae-joon promised a “bone-crushing overhaul” of the agency.
The NIS is accused of falsifying documents, including Chinese immigration records, to prosecute a North Korean defector.
President Park Geun-hye has issued an apology to the nation after three officials of the country’s intelligence agency were charged with fabricating evidence in a spying case (photo AP)
On Monday one of the agency’s deputy heads, Suh Cheon-ho, resigned to take responsibility for the case. Three NIS officials are also facing charges in connection with the scandal.
It relates to the case of Yoo Woo-seong, a former Seoul government official who defected from North Korea in 2004.
He was charged with providing information to Pyongyang about more than 200 North Korean defectors, but subsequently acquitted.
When prosecutors appealed, they submitted Chinese immigration records on Yoo Woo-seong’s visits to the North – some of which were later found to have been forged.
“Regrettably, wrong practices of the NIS and holes in its management system have been revealed,” the South Korean president told her cabinet, according to Yonhap news agency.
“The NIS must make excruciating efforts to overhaul itself to make sure this kind of incident won’t repeat itself.”
The NIS has faced controversy in the past, including allegations that its agents took part in an online campaign to discredit the opposition candidate during the 2012 presidential election.
Tyler Gene Priddy was born November 30, 1981, in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
Tyler “Flip” Priddy was the son of Gene and Glenda (Long) Priddy. He died on May 28, 2013 at his home in Yukon, Oklahoma, at the age of 31.
He attended Hinton Elementary School and graduated from Putnam City High School in Warr Acres, Oklahoma. He worked for Warren Caterpillar for 10 years and was currently the parts warehouse manager.
Tyler Flip Priddy died on May 28, 2013, at his Yukon home at the age of 31
Tyler Priddy enjoyed drag racing. Starting with a Mustang, then an El Camino, he eventually turned his passion towards a reality TV show called Street Outlaws, where he beat out several others to be selected for the show.
On Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws, Tyler’s nickname is Flip. Anything he could get on and go fast he would because Tyler was a “Gear Head”. He loved racing RC cars and Jeepin’ with his boys.
Tyler “Flip” Priddy loved his 4 boys and had nicknames for them all. They were his world. He was never seen without a Miller “High Life” or a “Monster” in his hand.
He was preceded in death by his Grandfather, Aubrey Priddy, and Aunt Mary Lou.
Tyler “Flip” Priddy is survived by his wife Morgan Amber Priddy of Yukon, his children Tovey Gene (Rito), Remey J (Flemerson), Dresdyn Rinot (Day Day) and Bennett William Edward (Baby B) all of Yukon, his parents Gene Priddy of Bethany, his mother Glenda Beckham, his Grandparents Letha and Calvin Brown of Hinton, and Jack and Lola Faye Long of Hinton, his brother Chris Priddy and wife Rebecca of Oklahoma City, and Ethan Priddy of Ada, aunts and uncles Taunna and Kerry Tapper, Gayla and Ricky Coats, Rick and Rhonda Long, Tim and Fay Priddy, and Shelly Lassiter plus many other relatives and numerous friends.
Washington Post and The Guardian US have shared this year’s Pulitzer Prize for public service journalism for a series of stories on NSA electronic spying.
The publications’ reporting was based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Among other winners of the top prize in US journalism was the Boston Globe, for breaking news reporting.
Two staff writers of the Reuters news agency were awarded the prize for international reporting.
The Pulitzer Prizes are awarded by the Columbia University journalism school.
In giving the top prize to The Guardian and the Washington Post, the Pulitzer committee said the Guardian helped “through aggressive reporting to spark a debate about the relationship between the government and the public over issues of security and privacy”.
It said the Post’s stories were “marked by authoritative and insightful reports that helped the public understand how the disclosures fit into the larger framework of national security”.
Edward Snowden, in a statement published by The Guardian, called the award “a vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government.
Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks earned Pulitzer Prize for The Guardian and Washington Post
“We owe it to the efforts of the brave reporters and their colleagues who kept working in the face of extraordinary intimidation,” added Edward Snowden, who has been charged with espionage in the US and is currently a fugitive in Russia.
Meanwhile, the Boston Globe provided “exhaustive and empathetic coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings and the ensuing manhunt that enveloped the city”, the committee wrote of the paper’s coverage of the April 15, 2013 attack.
Chris Hamby of the Center for Public Integrity was awarded a Pulitzer for his reporting on how lawyers and doctors conspired to deny benefits to coal miners stricken with black lung disease.
The top prize for US reporting was awarded to The Gazette in Colorado for its examination of mistreatment of wounded combat veterans, while the prize for international reporting went to Reuters for reports of persecution of a Muslim minority group in Burma, also known as Myanmar.
The editorial staff of the Oregonian in Portland won the prize for commentary for pieces explaining pension costs.
Tyler Hicks of the New York Times won for breaking news photography for images captured during a terrorist attack at Westgate Mall in Kenya. Also for the Times, Josh Haner won in the feature photography category for a “moving” essay on a Boston Marathon bomb blast victim who lost most of both legs.
Among other categories, Donna Tartt, author of The Goldfinch, was awarded the Pulitzer for fiction writing, while Don Fagin received the award for general nonfiction for his work, Tom’s River: A Story of Science and Salvation.
Members of this year’s selection committee included Katherine Boo, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and Eugene Robinson, a columnist for The Washington Post.
Tate Modern in London is presenting one of the largest collections of Henri Matisse’s “cut-out” artworks ever assembled.
Henri Matisse cut out paper shapes for collages when ill-health prevented him from painting, producing famous pieces such as The Snail and Blue Nude.
Tate Modern in London is presenting one of the largest collections of Henri Matisse’s “cut-out” artworks ever assembled
Many of the items will be seen together for the first time in the exhibition, which opens on Thursday and features about 130 artworks from the latter stage of Henri Matisse’s career.
Henri Matisse worked from a wheelchair after treatment for cancer and the exhibition compiles work dating from 1937 to 1954, when he died aged 84 of a heart attack.
The exhibition will be at Tate Modern until September 7 before it travels to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in mid-October. It can also be seen by cinema-goers from June 3 with the launch of Matisse Live.
The Canadian tax authority and leading UK website for parents Mumsnet have both announced they have had data stolen by hackers exploiting the Heartbleed bug.
Mumsnet – which says it has 1.5 million registered members – said that it believed that the cyber thieves may have obtained passwords and personal messages before it patched its site.
The Canada Revenue Agency said that 900 people’s social insurance numbers had been stolen.
These are the first confirmed losses.
The Mumsnet said that user data was at risk when her own username and password were used to post a message online.
The site added that it was forcing its members to reset any password created on or before Saturday.
The Canada Revenue Agency said that 900 people’s social insurance numbers had been stolen
Canada’s tax agency was one of the first major organizations to cut services as a result of the flaw in OpenSSL – a cryptographic software library used by services to keep data transmissions private.
However, its action last Tuesday appears to have come too late.
“Regrettably, the CRA has been notified by the Government of Canada’s lead security agencies of a malicious breach of taxpayer data that occurred over a six-hour period,” the agency said on a message posted to its homepage.
“Based on our analysis to date, social insurance numbers (SIN) of approximately 900 taxpayers were removed from CRA systems by someone exploiting the Heartbleed vulnerability.”
“We are currently going through the painstaking process of analyzing other fragments of data, some that may relate to businesses, that were also removed.”
The Heartbleed bug was made public a week ago by Google and Codenomicon, a small Finnish security firm, which independently identified the problem.
OpenSSL is used to digitally scramble data as it passes between a user’s device and an online service in order to prevent others eavesdropping on the information.
It is used by many, but not all, sites that show a little padlock and use a web address beginning “https”.
The researchers discovered that because of a coding mishap hackers could theoretically access 64 kilobytes of unencrypted data from the working memory of systems using vulnerable versions of OpenSSL.
Although that is a relatively small amount, the attackers can repeat the process to increase their haul.
Mumsnet has been criticized for one aspect of its handling of the breach – its email to members contains an inline link that it suggests they click to reset their passwords.
By contrast Canada’s tax agency said it would not call or email the individuals it believed to be affected by its breach in order to avoid giving criminals a chance to exploit the situation.
Instead it said it would send out registered letters.
Interactive artist Daan Roosegaarde has unveiled glow in the dark road markings on a 500 m stretch of highway in the Netherlands.
The paint contains a “photo-luminising” powder that charges up in the daytime and slowly releases a green glow at night, doing away with the need for streetlights.
Daan Roosegaarde teamed up with Dutch civil engineering company Heijmans to work on the idea.
The technology is being tested with an official launch due later this month.
It is the first time “glowing lines” technology has been piloted on the road and can be seen on the N329 in Oss, approximately 100km south east of Amsterdam.
Once the paint has absorbed daylight it can glow for up to eight hours in the dark.
Daan Roosegaarde has unveiled glow in the dark road markings on a 500 m stretch of highway in the Netherlands (photo Studio Roosegaarde)
Daan Roosegaarde’s projects aim to help people and technology to interact. His past projects have included a dance floor with built-in disco lights powered by dancers’ foot movements, and a dress that becomes see-through when the wearer is aroused.
Heijmans was already working on projects involving energy-neutral streetlights when Daan Roosegaarde teamed up with the company.
The company says that the glow in the dark technology is also “a sustainable alternative to places where no conventional lighting is present”.
Initially the team also had plans to develop weather symbols that appeared on the road once the temperature reached a certain level. A temperature-sensitive paint mixture would be used to create giant snow flake-shaped symbols on the tarmac to warn users that the road may be icy.
The current stretch of glow in the dark road in Oss does not include this temperature sensitive technology.
It is a pilot project at this stage and is expected to expand internationally later this year. Dutch media report that Heijmans is keen to use the paint on other roads but has not yet negotiated any contracts.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel at the Oscar Pistorius murder trial in Pretoria has suggested the South African athlete is using his emotions “as an escape”.
Oscar Pistorius, 27, broke down in tears four times on Monday and has also vomited in court.
“Now you trying to be emotional and it’s not working,” said prosecutor Gerrie Nel.
Oscar Pistorius admits killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year, but says he fired his gun after mistaking her for an intruder.
Gerrie Nel said Oscar Pistorius had deliberately shot Reeva Steenkamp after the couple had had an argument.
As the prosecutor resumed his cross-examination on Monday, he accused Oscar Pistorius of “tailoring his evidence” as he went along to suit the defense case, which had been “concocted”.
“Your version of events is untrue,” Gerrie Nel said.
Oscar Pistorius admits killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14 last year, but says he fired his gun after mistaking her for an intruder
Shortly before the case adjourned for the day, Gerrie Nel said: “You’re getting emotional now because you’re getting frustrated because your version [of events] is improbable.”
The prosecutor, known as “bull terrier” for his fierce style of questioning, then asked: “You’re not using your emotional state as an escape are you?”
Gerrie Nel spent much of the day trying to highlight apparent inconsistencies between Oscar Pistorius’ bail application and his evidence in court.
On one occasion, when Oscar Pistorius corrected Gerrie Nel, the prosecutor said this showed the athelte was a “stickler for detail” and yet on many aspects of the case, the athlete was being vague.
Earlier, Gerrie Nel again pressed Oscar Pistorius on the moment he shot Reeva Steenkamp.
The athlete said he had not intended to kill anyone.
“I fired out of fear,” he said.
This prompted Gerrie Nel to say Oscar Pistorius was changing his story from self-defense to saying he shot by accident.
The prosecutor said this was because the truth was: “You fired at Reeva.”
“It’s not true,” Oscar Pistorius replied, breaking into tears and prompting the court to briefly adjourn.
After the break, Gerrie Nel said that, as Oscar Pistorius was trained to use firearms, the court could not accept he had fired by “mistake”.
The prosecutor said the fact that a pair of Reeva Steenkamp’s jeans was lying on the bed showed that she was in the middle of getting dressed in order to leave Oscar Pistorius’ house when she was shot after the couple had argued in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013.
This was denied by Oscar Pistorius.
The Paralympic champion also started sobbing as he recalled shouting at the burglars he thought were in his house.
When asked why he broke down, Oscar Pistorius said: “I am traumatized” by the events of that night.
A crowd of pro-Russian activists stormed a police station in the town of Horlivka, near Donetsk, taking control of the building and ignoring a deadline to leave or face eviction by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov hit out at “aggression” from Russia, but signaled support for a national referendum.
Oleksandr Turchynov said Kiev was “not against” a vote on the future of the country, a key demand from protesters.
He also said Ukraine was preparing an “anti-terrorist operation” against gunmen occupying government buildings in Sloviansk and a number of other towns and cities.
Correspondents say people in eastern Ukraine are anxiously waiting to see if Oleksandr Turchynov carries through on his threat to use the army against the pro-Russian groups.
In a televised address to parliament, President Oleksandr Turchynov suggested Kiev would be open to moving from a republic into a federation and giving broader rights to Ukraine’s Russian speakers.
The pro-Russian groups who have seized government buildings in eastern regions are demanding local referendums on either increased local rights or an option to join the Russian Federation.
But Oleksandr Turchynov stopped well short of giving in to these demands by showing support for a national referendum, of which the outcome is uncertain because most people in Kiev and the Ukrainian-speaking west reject the idea of federalization.
“We are not against holding a national referendum,” he said.
“I am certain that a majority of Ukrainians will support an indivisible, independent, democratic and united Ukraine.”
He also used the speech to accuse Moscow of open aggression in the east of the country.
“It’s not a confrontation between Ukrainians, but covert and now no longer covert aggression by the Russian Federation against our country,” Oleksandr Turchynov added.
Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said it was not in Russia’s interests for Ukraine to break up but added that Moscow wanted all citizens of the country to be given equal treatment by Kiev.
He also denied allegations that Russian agents had been fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine and said he was seeking explanation from US of reports that CIA director John Brennan had visited Kiev.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday, Russia urged Kiev not to use force against protesters in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitaliy Churkin, called on the government in Kiev to “start a genuine dialogue”.
Vitaliy Churkin warned UN diplomats that there were neo-Nazis and anti-Semites within the ranks of “the self-proclaimed government in Kiev”.
[youtube M2924YB3ZG4 650]
Pro-Russian activists threw rocks at the police HQ in Horlivka before storming it
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire took top three prizes at this year’s MTV Movie Awards – best film, as well as best male and female performance for actors Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence.
Johnny Depp gave the popcorn-shaped award to two of the film’s stars, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin.
Jonah Hill won best comedic performance for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Jared Leto presented Mila Kunis with the best villain prize, while Channing Tatum won the trailblazer award.
Josh Hutcherson remembered his late fellow cast member Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died earlier this year of a drug overdose, and said: “I know that if Philip were here, he would think this is really cool.”
Hunger Games: Catching Fire – a young adult film about an oppressed society fighting back – has earned more than $850 million globally and was the second-biggest US opening of last year, behind Iron Man 3.
The final part of the story, Mockingjay, has been split into two films that will be released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The movies are based on Suzanne Collins’ hugely successful dystopian fantasy novels.
Mila Kunis won for her performance in Oz the Great and Powerful, Sam Raimi’s fantasy film which pays homage to The Wizard of Oz while Channing Tatum, star of 22 Jump Street and Jupiter Ascending, was the first male winner of the trailblazer prize, after Emma Stone and Emma Watson.
Favorite character of the year was a surprise win for Shailene Woodley, who played Tris in Divergent, beating Jennifer Lawrence’s Katniss in The Hunger Games. They each received more than 9 million votes.
The Hunger Games Catching Fire took top three prizes at this year’s MTV Movie Awards
The Fast and the Furious actress Jordana Brewster introduced a special tribute to the film’s late star Paul Walker, who died in a car crash last November. He won the MTV movie award for breakthrough male performance in 2002.
Co-star Vin Diesel added in a video clip: “I’m always going to be here for you even when you tell me to go. That’s who Paul Walker was.”
Mark Wahlberg, star of The Fighter and the upcoming Transformers film, collected the generation award.
“Many people have gotten this award before. Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston… and you know what they all have in common? They’re all old. This is the too old to come back award,” said Mark Wahlberg.
Rihanna won the prize for best cameo performance in the comedy This is the End and she later performed The Monster with Eminem.
Ellie Goulding sang Beating Heart, from the soundtrack of young adult thriller Divergent.
The MTV ceremony also recognizes some non-traditional categories: Zac Efron won best shirtless performance, while best kiss went to Emma Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Will Poulter for a scene in their road-trip comedy We’re the Millers.
The awards are also an opportunity for the film industry to showcase upcoming summer films and their stars.
Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 introduced a clip of their new film, featuring Garfield’s Spider-Man encountering the blue villain Electro (Foxx) in New York’s Times Square.
Ellen Page, one of the stars of X-Men: Days of Future Past, presented a clip from the forthcoming blockbuster, in which the X-Men join forces with their younger selves.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who is starring in Godzilla, gave Orlando Bloom the award for best fight, for a sequence in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, where Bloom and co-star Evangeline Lilly took on the brutal Orcs.
MTV Movie Awards 2014 were hosted by TV presenter, comedian and writer Conan O’Brien.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier remained at the top of the US box office for a second week, holding off competition from new release, Rio 2.
The Marvel sequel, which set a new US record for an April release last week, took $41.4 million, adding to the previous week’s haul of $96 million.
Animated adventure Rio 2 was close behind, raking in $39 million on its debut, according to early estimates.
Low budget horror Oculus and football drama Draft Day were third and fourth.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier remained at the top of the US box office for a second week
Oculus took $12 million – more than double its $5 million budget – while Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner and directed by Ivan Reitman, took $9.8 million.
Globally, The Winter Soldier also continued to fly, taking $60.6 million over the weekend.
Captain America sequel has made nearly $477 million globally since its release internationally three weeks ago. That figure has already surpassed the $370 million total for 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.
Teen Sci-Fi movie, Divergent, took fifth position, adding $7.5 million in its fourth week to bring its cumulative total to $124.9 million.
Lionsgate announced last week that the third installment in the series will be split into two releases, one to open in March 2016 and one in March 2017. The second film will be released in 2015.
North American box office Top 5:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $41.4 million
Rio 2 – $39 million
Oculus – $12 million
Draft Day – $9.8 million
Divergent – $7.5 million [youtube 7SlILk2WMTI 650]
Robotic submarine Bluefin-21 will be deployed for the first time to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said the Bluefin-21 drone would be sent down as soon as possible to search for wreckage on the sea floor.
Teams have been using a towed pinger locator to listen for signals from the plane’s “black box” flight recorders.
But no new signals have been heard since April 8, amid concerns the flight recorders’ batteries have expired.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board. It was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers over the South China Sea.
Malaysian officials believe, based on satellite data, that it ended its flight in the southern Indian Ocean, thousands of kilometres off course.
Teams searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane are to deploy robotic submarine Bluefin-21 for the first time
An international search has focused on waters west of the Australian city of Perth, with teams racing against time to detect signals before the flight recorder batteries – which last about one month – run out.
ACM Angus Houston, who heads the joint agency coordinating the search effort, said that given no signals had been detected in six days, it was time to go underwater.
The Bluefin-21 – an almost 5m-long underwater autonomous vehicle that can create a sonar map of the sea floor – will search for wreckage in an area defined by four signals heard last week.
Officials believe those signals – picked up by the pinger locator towed by an Australian vessel – are consistent with flight recorders.
“Analysis of the four signals has allowed the provisional definition of a reduced and manageable search area on the ocean floor,” ACM Angus Houston said.
“The experts have therefore determined that the Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield will cease searching with the towed pinger locator later today and deploy the… Bluefin-21 as soon as possible.”
Angus Houston warned that the submersible search would be a long, “painstaking” process that might, in the end, yield no results.
Each Bluefin-21 mission will last 24 hours, with 16 hours spent on the ocean floor, four hours’ diving and resurfacing time, and four hours to download data.
Australian vessel Ocean Shield had also spotted an oil slick in the same area where the signals had been heard, ACM Angus Houston said, and a sample was being sent for testing.
“I stress the source of the oil is yet to be determined but the oil slick is approximately 5,500m downwind… from the vicinity of the detections picked up by the towed pinger locator,” he said.
Australian officials have said previously that they are confident they are searching in the right area for the missing plane.
Officials have no idea yet why the plane diverted so far from its intended flight path. Investigators are looking at options including hijacking, mechanical failure, sabotage and pilot action.
Venezuela’s military has admitted it committed “some excesses” during weeks of political unrest that have left 41 people dead.
The military’s strategic command chief, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, said they were investigating 97 officers and police staff for “cruelty and torture”.
However, Vladimir Padrino Lopez stressed these were less than 1% of all officers.
Security forces have been accused of human rights abuse during the almost daily anti-government protests.
“We are able to say that 97 [officers] are being investigated by prosecutors for cruelty, for torture,” Gen. Vladimir Padrino Lopez said.
General Vladimir Padrino Lopez insists the security forces of President Nicolas Maduro respect the rule of law
“That represents only 0.4% of the force,” he told Venevision television.
The protests have left at least 41 people killed and hundreds more injured on both sides.
The Venezuelan opposition and human rights activists accuse the security forces of repression and using heavy-handed tactics.
However, Vladimir Padrino Lopez insisted the security forces were acting “in accordance with the rule of law”.
“No soldiers have received orders to hurt anyone, harass or end the life of a Venezuelan,” he said.
On Thursday, President Nicolas Maduro met opposition leaders in crisis talks aimed at quelling more than two months of protests.
The demonstrations began over high levels of crime, rising inflation and shortages of basic foods, but have since grown into a wide opposition movement.
Venezuela remains sharply divided between supporters and opponents of Nicolas Maduro, who narrowly beat his bitter rival, opposition leader Henrique Capriles to the presidency last year.
Frazier Glenn Cross, Jr., a former Ku Klux Klan leader with a history of anti-Semitism and racism, has been identified as person of interest for the killing of three people at two Jewish centers in Kansas City, law enforcement officials said.
Frazier Glenn Cross, Jr., 73, from Missouri, is suspected of fatally shooting a 14-year-old Eagle Scout and his grandfather in the parking lot at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City campus in Overland Park then gunning down a woman at Village Shalom, a retirement community that is several blocks away from the center, law enforcement officials said.
A civil rights organization that tracks hate groups said it has long known about Cross.
Frazier Glenn Cross has been identified as person of interest for the killing of three people at two Jewish centers in Kansas City (photo KCTV-5)
The Southern Poverty Law Center says Frazier Glenn Cross is known to them using aliases – Glenn Miller or Frazier Glenn Miller – and is the former Grand Dragon of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
The center sued Frazier Glenn Cross in the 1980’s for intimidating African Americans, and he has had several run-ins with the law since then, including being accused of violating the terms of a court order that settled the lawsuit.
A profile assembled by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) includes several anti-Semitic statements attributed to Frazier Glenn Cross.
Police only described the suspect as an elderly man with a beard in a Sunday afternoon news conference.
According to the SPLC, Frazier Glenn Cross quit high school as a senior to join the Army. In a 20-year Army career he had two tours in Vietnam and 13 years as a member of the elite Green Berets before he was forced to retire because of his Klan affiliation in 1979.
Later he went on to be active in a neo-Nazi group called “The Order” that advocated violence against Blacks and Jews among others, the SPLC said.
Frazier Glenn Cross even unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for North Carolina governor in 1984 and as a Republican for a state Senate seat in 1987, the SPLC said.
Megan Huntsman, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, has been accused of killing six of her own babies after their bodies were discovered in cardboard boxes at her former house.
Megan Huntsman, 39, gave birth to the babies between 1996 and 2006.
Seven bodies were found by police at the house in Pleasant Grove; it is unclear why the woman has only been charged on six counts.
Megan Huntsman’s estranged husband, Darren West, who has not been charged, discovered the first body in the garage before alerting authorities.
The woman was charged with six counts of murder at Utah Country Jail on Sunday.
Megan Huntsman has been accused of killing six of her own babies (photo Utah County Jail)
Darren West, who has himself been in prison recently on drug-related charges, is believed to have been her partner when the children were born.
“We don’t believe he had any knowledge of the situation,” police spokesman Michael Roberts said.
When asked how the husband could not have known his wife had given birth to seven children, Michael Roberts replied: “That’s the million-dollar question. Amazing.”
Police officers “got more and more shocked with each box they opened”, he added.
The babies’ bodies have been sent to a medical examiner for testing.
DNA samples taken from Megan Huntsman and her husband will be used to confirm the identity of the parents.
On Sunday, Darren West’s family said they were in a “state of shock and confusion.”
Megan Huntsman had moved out of the house around three years ago.
She had three daughters, a teenager and two adults, who had continued to live there.
The daughters seemed “normal”, neighbor Vickie Nelson told the Associated Press.
They did not seem to know their mother was pregnant or notice anything suspicious, neighbors said.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is facing a criminal investigation in Poland for allegedly bribing doctors.
Eleven doctors and a GSK regional manager have been charged over alleged corruption between 2010 and 2012, BBC reported.
A former sales rep said doctors were paid to promote GSK’s asthma drug Seretide.
GSK said one employee had been disciplined and it was co-operating with investigations.
If the allegations are proved, GSK may have violated both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is illegal for companies based in either country to bribe government employees abroad.
A former sales rep for GSK in the Polish region of Lodz, Jarek Wisniewski, said: “There is a simple equation.”
“We pay doctors, they give us prescriptions. We don’t pay doctors, we don’t see prescriptions for our drugs.
“We cannot go to doctors and say to them, <<I need 20 more prescriptions>>. So we prepare an agreement for them to give a talk to patients, we pay £100 [$150], but we expect more than 100 prescriptions for this drug,” he told BBC program, Panorama.
GlaxoSmithKline is facing a criminal investigation in Poland for allegedly bribing doctors (photo Reuters)
“It’s a bribe,” Jarek Wisniewski said, confirming that although on paper the payments were for educational services, the doctors understood very clearly that they must produce a certain number of prescriptions in return.
The Lodz public prosecutor found evidence in documents given to doctors by GSK to support claims of corrupt payments in more than a dozen different health centers where there was no evidence “patient education” had taken place.
Spokesman Krzysztof Kopania said: “We have evidence that in more than a dozen cases it was a camouflaged form of a bribe.
“In return for the financial gains the doctors would favor the product proposed by the pharmaceutical company and they prescribed that medicine.”
One doctor has already admitted guilt, been fined and given a suspended sentence. He said he accepted £100 for a single lecture he never gave, but only under pressure from a GSK drugs rep.
The company said a GSK training program to help improve diagnostic standards and medical training in respiratory disease was run by doctors in Poland from 2010 to 2012.
A statement said: “These sessions were delivered by specialist healthcare professionals who, based on contracts signed with GSK, received payments appropriate to the scope of work as well as their level of knowledge and experience. The provision of sessions under this programme was agreed with the Polish healthcare centers.
“Following receipt of allegations regarding the conduct of the program in the Lodz region, GSK has investigated the matter, using resources from both inside and outside the company. The investigation found evidence of inappropriate communication in contravention of GSK policy by a single employee. The employee concerned was reprimanded and disciplined as a result.
“We continue to investigate these matters and are co-operating fully with the CBA [Poland’s Central Anticorruption Office].”
In 2012, GSK paid $3 billion in the largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history after pleading guilty to promoting two drugs for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about a diabetes drug to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Last December, GSK announced it was making major changes to its incentive schemes after a damaging corruption scandal in China.
1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored confectioners coating
Easter Cake Balls
Directions:
Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended.
Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
Use a melon baller or small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.
Six victims of Augusto Pinochet’s military government have been reburied in Chile more than 40 years after they were killed.
The remains of the six men were discovered in an unmarked grave in 1992.
The men were among dozens of people killed by a military unit in late 1973, just weeks after General Augusto Pinochet came to power in a coup.
His officials flew around the country in helicopters, and executed political prisoners by firing squad.
Carlos Berger, Carlos Escobedo, Luis Moreno, Hernan Moreno, Mario Arguelles and Jeronimo Carpanchay were killed in the northern Chilean city of Calama.
Journalist Carlos Berger was murdered on October 19, 1973, by the infamous Caravan of Death during General Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (photo MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images)
Carlos Berger, a lawyer and journalist, had been arrested on September 11, 1973, after refusing to broadcast a government message at the radio station where he worked.
His and the other men’s remains were identified after extensive forensic tests in Europe, and finally buried in a ceremony at the main cemetery in the Chilean capital, Santiago.
The six men were murdered by what became known as the Caravan of Death, in one of the most notorious episodes of the Pinochet government.
General Augusto Pinocher sent the “delegation” of military men to Chile’s provincial towns because he was reportedly annoyed that some commanders there had been “soft” on political opponents.
The Caravan of Death is thought to have killed 97 opponents of the military coup.
According to official figures, 40,018 people were victims of human rights abuses during the 1973-1990 Pinochet government and 3,065 were killed or disappeared
Pope Francis marked Palm Sunday in a packed St. Peter’s Square ignoring his prepared homily and spoke entirely off-the-cuff in a remarkable departure from practice.
Later, the pontiff hopped off his popemobile to pose for “selfies” with young people in the crowd.
In his homily, Pope Francis called on people, himself included, to look into their own hearts to see how they are living their lives.
“Has my life fallen asleep?” Pope Francis asked after listening to a Gospel account of how Jesus’ disciples fell asleep shortly before he was betrayed by Judas before his crucifixion.
“Am I like Pontius Pilate, who, when he sees the situation is difficult, washes my hands?”
Pope Francis sounded tired, frequently pausing to catch his breath, as he spoke for about 15 minutes in his homily during Palm Sunday Mass, which solemnly opens Holy Week for the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Francis marked Palm Sunday in a packed St. Peter’s Square ignoring his prepared homily
“Where is my heart?” the pope asked, pinpointing that as the “question which accompanies us” throughout Holy Week.
Pope Francis seemed to regain his wind after the 2 ½ hour ceremony. He shed his red vestments atop his plain white cassock, chatted amiably with cardinals dressed more formally than he at that point. Then he posed for “selfies” with young people from Rio de Janeiro who had carried a large cross in the square.
He had barely climbed aboard his open-topped popemobile when he spotted Polish youths, they, too, clamoring for a “selfie” with a pope, and he hopped off, to oblige them.
In a crowd of around 100,000 Romans, tourists and pilgrims, people clutched olive tree branches, tall palm fronds or tiny braided palm leaves shaped like crosses that were blessed by Francis at the start of the ceremony.
Pope Francis used a wooden pastoral staff carved by Italian prison inmates, who donated it to him. The pope wants to put people on the margins of life at the center of the church’s attention.
The pontiff wore red vestments, symbolizing blood shed by the crucified Jesus.
Holy Week culminates next Sunday with Easter Mass, also in St. Peter’s Square. Many faithful will remain in Rome, while others will pour into the city for the April 27 canonization of two popes, John Paul II and John XXIII.
Pope Francis noted that Pope John Paul’s long-time aide, now Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, had come to Rome.
The pontiff also noted he’ll be making a pilgrimage to South Korea this summer, with the key event, church World Youth Day celebrations on August 15 in Daejeon.
