Rupert Murdoch has appointed his sons Lachlan and James to top roles at his media and entertainment empire News Corp and 21st Century Fox.
Lachlan Murdoch returns to the Murdoch empire as co-chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox, having previously stood back to focus on his own businesses.
Meanwhile, younger son James Murdoch was appointed co-chief operating officer at 21st Century Fox.
After the phone hacking scandal, James Murdoch quit as executive chairman of News International in 2012.
Rupert Murdoch has appointed his sons Lachlan and James to top roles at News Corp and 21st Century Fox (photo Getty Images)
News Corp is one of the world’s biggest media organizations, and owns newspaper titles The Times, Sun, and the Wall Street Journal.
News Corp split from 21st Century Fox in 2013. The business owns broadcaster Fox News in the US and British Sky Broadcasting in the UK.
Rupert Murdoch, who went through a high-profile split with wife Wendi Deng last year, said Lachlan was a “talented executive” with a “rich” knowledge of the business.
Lachlan Murdoch will report to Chase Carey, chief executive at 21st Century Fox.
Rupert Murdoch said: “I am very pleased he is returning to a leadership role at the company, where he will look closely with me, Chase, James and rest of the board of directors to drive continued growth for years to come.”
He also said he was “pleased” to promote James into the “important role”.
There is reportedly no new role for Rupert Murdoch’ third sibling, Elisabeth.
Switch off your lights on Saturday, March 29, from 20h30 to 21h30 local time and save the planet.
Switch off your lights on March 29 to celebrate Earth Hour 2014
Every year in March since 2007, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) celebrates Earth Hour, where millions of people, businesses and governments – including the European Union institutions – around the world turn off their lights for one hour, sending a powerful message for action on climate change.
Giant book Patria Amada (Beloved Motherland) explaining Brazil’s tax rules has been put on display in front of the National Congress in Brasilia, in protest against the country’s tax system bureaucracy.
The book weighs as much as an African elephant and is taller than a grown man and has 41,266 pages.
“My goal is to invite society to reflect – the country needs a new model rendering life less difficult for firms and taxpayers,’’ tax lawyer Vinicios Leoncio told AFP after unveiling the colossal work.
Giant book Patria Amada explaining Brazil’s tax rules has been put on display in front of the National Congress in Brasilia
The 7000 kilo volume lists chapter and verse the myriad fiscal rules and regulations governing life in the continent-sized nation.
According to a 183-nation study, Brazil is “the absolute world leader in terms of tax-related bureaucracy,’’ Vinicios Leoncio said.
He claimed that a Brazilian firm spends 2600 hours a year on its taxes.
“The average in Europe is 180 hours,” Vinicios Leoncio said.
“We are worse than Mozambique, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone – in Brazil we create 35 tax norms per day,” he said.
The US and EU have decided to imposed “deeper sanctions” against Russia if there are “further incursions into Ukraine”.
President Barack Obama said “energy is obviously a central focus of our efforts”, acknowledging it “will have some impact on the global economy”.
Barack Obama was speaking after talks in Brussels with EU leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy.
At a news conference the three men spoke of the special relationship between the transatlantic partners.
Barack Obama said: “The world is safer and more just when Europe and America stand as one.”
Herman Van Rompuy, European Council president, called it a “crucial” relationship.
Their talks at the headquarters of the 28-nation EU bloc also covered plans to finalize a transatlantic trade partnership, as well as efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear program and Syria’s chemical weapons.
Barack Obama praised the EU for the steps it had already taken – along with the US – to penalize Russia. These have included visa bans and asset freezes against a number of Russian officials.
Barack Obama was speaking after talks in Brussels with EU leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy
He said those actions were taken after Russian forces moved in to annex Crimea, and they now must consider “the potential for additional, deeper sanctions” should Moscow attempt to do the same in other parts of Ukraine.
“We recognize that in order for Russia to feel the impact of these sanctions, it will have some impact on the global economy as well as on all the countries represented here today,” Barack Obama said.
Acknowledging that some EU countries are more dependent than others on Russia for energy, he said “this entire event has pointed to the need for Europe to look at how it can further diversify its energy sources”.
Barack Obama said NATO must remain a “regular presence” in those eastern European countries who are now feeling vulnerable to possible Russian intervention. He also voiced concern at the falling defense budgets of some countries.
Herman Van Rompuy called Russia’s actions in Crimea “a disgrace in the 21st century, and we will not recognize it”.
Ukraine’s southern peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia earlier this month after a referendum which Kiev and the West considered illegal.
It follows the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych at the end of February following months of bloody protests over his decision to seek greater ties with Moscow rather than the EU.
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine remain high. Moscow accused Ukrainian officials on Wednesday of preventing Russian commercial pilots and crew from disembarking at Kiev International Airport.
This is Barack Obama’s first official visit to the EU headquarters in Brussels.
He began his trip to Belgium with a visit to a cemetery in Flanders, where US soldiers killed in World War One are buried.
He paid tribute to fallen US soldiers at the American Cemetery and Memorial in Waregem, to mark 100 years since the start of WW1. Belgian King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio di Rupo were also in attendance.
Following his talks with Herman Van Rompuy and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Barack Obama will meet NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
An Ankara court has ordered the suspension of the controversial Twitter ban, but it could be weeks before it takes effect.
Turkish users of Twitter expected to regain access shortly after the ruling but it remained blocked.
Turkey’s telecommunication authority (TIB) has 30 days to decide whether to lift the ban.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to “wipe out Twitter” after users spread allegations of corruption.
Twitter itself has filed a challenge to the access ban.
It said it had acted on two out of three Turkish legal orders but had concern about the third order as it was a request us to suspend an account accusing a former minister of corruption.
Turkey’s Twitter ban sparks outrage and social media mocks
“This order causes us concern,” its general counsel, Vijaya Gadde, said in a statement.
“Political speech is among the most important speech, especially when it concerns possible government corruption.”
At a rally ahead of important local elections on Sunday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying: “I don’t understand how people of good sense could defend this Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. There are all kinds of lies there.”
Twitter ban was imposed on Friday on the grounds that the social media site had failed to remove the allegations of corruption involving senior officials.
A number of complaints were filed to courts, arguing the ban was illegal and unconstitutional.
The administrative court in Ankara issued a temporary injunction on Wednesday ordering the TIB to restore access to Twitter until it could deliver its full verdict on the ban.
Turkish media reports suggested the ban would be suspended soon afterwards but a source in Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office told Reuters news agency the TIB had 30 days to implement or appeal against the court ruling.
Thirty days is a standard period in such cases.
“The millions of people in Turkey who turn to Twitter to make their voices heard are being kept from doing just that,” Vijaya Gadde said.
“There are no legal grounds for the blocking of our service in Turkey,” she added.
Users have found many ways of circumventing the prohibition, which has been widely criticized and ridiculed.
Pope Francis has formally accepted the resignation of suspended Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the Vatican has announced in a statement on Wednesday.
The senior German Church leader has been suspended over his alleged lavish spending.
Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, 53, has been accused of spending more than 31 million euros ($43 million) on renovating his official residence.
The cleric, dubbed the “bishop of bling” by the media, offered to resign when the scandal broke last October.
Bishop of Limburg Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst has been accused of spending more than 31 million euros on renovating his official residence
In response, Pope Francis temporarily suspended Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst and instructed a Church commission to investigate the matter.
Pope Francis has repeatedly expressed his disapproval of senior clerics whose lifestyles seem too lavish.
On Wednesday, the Vatican said the inquiry found that the senior cleric could no longer exercise his ministry.
The Church called on the diocese of Limburg to accept the decision “with docility” and to work toward restoring a “climate of charity and reconciliation”.
The Vatican did not further elaborate on the future of Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, but said he would get a new position “at the opportune time”.
Auxiliary Bishop Manfred Grothe has been appointed to run the Limburg diocese.
Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst and his luxury lifestyle have become infamous in Germany, where many people pay a Church tax to the state. The tax raised 5.2 billion euros for Catholics and 4.6 billion euros for Protestants in 2012.
At the heart of the criticism was the refurbishment of the cleric’s official residence, originally set to cost 5.5 million euros.
German media reported that the quarters were fitted with a 15,000-euro bath, a conference table for 25,000 euros and a private chapel worth 2.9 million euros.
Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was also under fire for a first-class flight to India to visit the poor.
New reports claim that North Korean men are now required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un.
The new guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, media reports say. They are now being rolled out across the country – although some people have reservations about getting the look.
“Our leader’s haircut is very particular, if you will,” one source tells Radio Free Asia.
North Korean men are now required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un (photo Getty Images)
“It doesn’t always go with everyone since everyone has different face and head shapes.” Meanwhile, a North Korean now living in China says the look is actually unpopular at home because people think it resembles Chinese smugglers.
“Until the mid-2000s, we called it the <<Chinese smuggler haircut>>,” the Korea Times reports.
It seems that haircuts have been state-approved in North Korea for some time – until now people were only allowed to choose from 18 styles for women and 10 for men.
Earlier, North Korea’s state TV launched a campaign against long hair, called Let us trim our hair in accordance with the Socialist lifestyle.
Kim Jong-un’s father, late leader Kim Jong-il, who ruled North Korea for 17 years, sported a bouffant hairstyle, reportedly in order to look taller.
A satellite has identified further 122 objects potentially from the missing flight MH370, Malaysia’s acting transport minister has said.
The images, taken on March 23, showed objects up to 75ft in length, Hishammuddin Hussein said.
All aircraft taking part in Wednesday’s search have now left the area without identifying debris from the plane.
Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.
The objects were found in satellite images from a 250 sq miles area around 1588 miles from Perth in Western Australia, Hishammuddin Hussein said.
He said that it was not possible to tell whether the potential objects were from the missing aircraft, but called them “another new lead that will help direct the search operation”.
The images were supplied by French-based Airbus Defense and Space and were given to the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency on 25 March, Hishammuddin Hussein said.
The images were passed on to the Australian Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Perth on Tuesday, he added.
Further 122 objects potentially from the missing Malaysian Airlines plane have been identified by satellite
The latest images are the fourth known collection of satellite pictures showing possible debris in the southern Indian Ocean. No pieces have yet been recovered in the search area, which has now been split into an east and west section.
The transport minister said Malaysia Airlines was “now taking a lead in communicating with the families” and would be conducting its own press conferences.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), co-ordinating the search, said that all aircraft involved had left the area without finding objects from the plane.
It said seven military and five civilian planes had taken part and a total of six countries were now involved – Australia, New Zealand, the US, Japan, China and the South Korea.
The commander of the Chinese search operation, Dong Yan, said his ships were still looking for an object spotted by a plane earlier on Wednesday.
“The focus is on searching for floating objects, oil slicks, floating parts of the external layer of the plane and people that may have fallen into the water,” he told Chinese television.
Australian authorities said on Wednesday that three more objects had earlier been spotted by a civilian aircraft involved in the search.
However, it could not be confirmed whether they were related to the missing aircraft.
The search for debris from the missing plane is taking place in one of the world’s remotest regions.
If debris confirmed to be from the plane is found, the search area will narrow further.
However, experts say the aircraft’s locator beacons, which will help guide ships to the wreckage, now have less than two weeks of battery life remaining.
A 10-year-old boy has been critically injured after reportedly being hit by a police tear gas canister at a rally in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir.
His father, Mehmet Ezer, said his son, also named Mehmet, had been hit at close range at the end of the rally held by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party.
A photo taken in hospital shows the child with his face covered in blood.
The death of another boy hit by a tear gas canister, after a nine-month coma, sparked protests earlier this month.
The Peace and Democracy Party has been campaigning in a mayoral election to be held in Diyarbakir, in south-west Turkey, on Sunday.
Mehmet Ezer has been critically injured after reportedly being hit by a police tear gas canister at a rally in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir
Among the party’s demands is the establishment of a regional parliament in the city as a move towards autonomy for the Kurds.
The Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, has been on ceasefire for a year.
But frustration is growing among Turkish Kurds at the slow pace of the reforms they expected in return for peace.
More than 40,000 people have died since the PKK launched its insurgency 30 years ago.
In the latest incident, Mehmet Ezer apparently ventured outside after the rally ended peacefully on Tuesday.
“We were at home with his mother,” his father said.
“Suddenly he wasn’t at home. Apparently my son went out in the street along with other kids. He was shot at from a short distance. This is what people next to him were telling me.”
Mehmet Ezer Sr. said doctors had told him his child would have to remain in intensive care for 24 hours for his condition to be assessed.
Interior Minister Efkan Ala launched an inquiry, saying action would be taken if anyone was found to be at fault.
Another boy, Berkin Elvan, was 14 when he was struck in the head by a canister during mass unrest over the redevelopment of an Istanbul district, Gezi Park, in June. He had reportedly been on his way to buy bread at the time.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has announced that three air force generals have been arrested for plotting an uprising against his government.
Nicolas Maduro said that the authorities had been tipped off by “young officers”.
The three generals, who have not been named, had links with the opposition, said Nicolas Maduro.
The arrests are the latest development in nearly two months of political unrest, which have cost the lives of at least 32 people.
Nicolas Maduro has announced that three air force generals have been arrested for plotting an uprising against his government (photo AFP)
Nicolas Maduro’s comments were made during a meeting with a delegation of foreign ministers of the UNASUR regional bloc, which was sent to Venezuela to assess the political crisis.
“The generals who have been detained have direct links with opposition sectors and were saying that this week was going to be decisive,” said Nicolas Maduro.
They were planning to create “chaos in the public services, power cuts across Venezuela,” he added.
He said the authorities had been alerted by “alarmed younger officers, generals, lieutenant colonels” who had been invited to join the coup. The generals were arrested on Monday night.
Nicolas Maduro has previously accused right-wing sectors backed by the US of stirring up trouble as part of a plot to oust him.
The opposition has accused the government of heavy-handedness in their response to the street protests, which began in the first week of February.
L’Wren Scott’s private funeral has been attended by family and friend in Los Angeles, where partner Mick Jagger led the tributes.
A family spokesperson confirmed the service at Hollywood Forever Funeral Home included “memories and words of tribute” from Mick Jagger and L’Wren Scott’s brother Randy Bambrough.
Mick Jagger’s daughters and grandchildren also gave readings.
Mick Jagger led tributes at L’Wren Scott’s private funeral in Los Angeles (photo Reuters)
L’Wren Scott, 49, committed suicide in her New York apartment on March 17.
Around 70 people are thought to have attended L’Wren Scott’s funeral, which also featured words from talent agent Justinian Kfoury, costume designer Ira M Hammons-Glass and O Magazine‘s creative director Adam Glassman.
Mick Jagger’s spokesperson said poems were shared by actress Ellen Barkin and Mick Jagger’s daughter Karis, while his daughter Jade and grandchildren Mazie and Zak read psalms.
The gospel song Will The Circle Be Unbroken was performed by singer Bernard Fowler with Dave Stewart on guitar, and L’Wren Scott’s niece Hannah Bambrough gave a reading of Shakespeare’s sonnet Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day?
L’Wren Scott had been in a relationship with Mick Jagger since 2001 and designed stage outfits for the Rolling Stones when they performed at Glastonbury Festival and Hyde Park last summer.
The bodies of two more people killed in the massive mudslide in Washington have been recovered by authorities, bringing the death toll to 16.
The officials said they thought they had located eight more bodies under the mud but were unable to retrieve them.
As many as 176 people remain unaccounted for.
A 177ft wall of mud buried the town of Oso, north of Seattle, on Saturday. Officials said the search would resume at first light.
The bodies of two more people killed in the massive mudslide in Washington have been recovered by authorities, bringing the death toll to 16 (photo NBC News)
“We haven’t lost hope that there’s a possibility that we could find somebody alive,” local fire chief Travis Hots told reporters on Tuesday night.
“We are coming to the realization that that may not be a possibility – but we are going full steam ahead.
“We are going at this hard to get everybody that’s out there that’s missing”
The sudden, catastrophic mudslide on Saturday destroyed about 30 houses, temporarily damming a river and leaving a square-mile field of muck and debris in its wake.
Survivors were last pulled alive from the mud on Saturday.
But as many as 200 search-and-rescue workers at a time – aided by dogs, helicopters, laser imaging and excavation equipment – have not let up since, pausing only when darkness made the work too dangerous, officials said.
The search-and-rescue operation was further complicated on Tuesday by heavy rain, Travis Hots said, as the workers were forced to contend with slippery mud, upturned nails, wreckage, and deep pits of water.
New reports revealed that three Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama in the Netherlands have been sent home for “disciplinary reasons”.
According to the Washington Post, one of the agents was found drunk and passed out in the hallway of an Amsterdam hotel.
A Secret Service spokesman declined to give details but said the three had been put on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The service has been trying to rebuild its reputation after previous scandals.
In 2013 two agents were removed from Barack Obama’s security detail amid allegations of harassment and misconduct.
Three Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama in the Netherlands have been sent home for disciplinary reasons (photo Reuters)
And in 2012 several agents were dismissed following allegations that they hired prostitutes while in Cartagena, Colombia.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the latest incident happened before President Barack Obama’s arrival in the Netherlands on Monday for a nuclear security summit.
Ed Donovan said the three had been sent home for “disciplinary reasons” but declined to elaborate.
He added that the president’s security had not been compromised in any way.
The Washington Post reported that all three were on the Counter Assault Team – which protects the president – and that one agent was a team leader.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the incident, the newspaper said that one agent was found drunk and unconscious by hotel staff, who reported it to the US embassy.
It is believed that the other two agents were deemed complicit because they did not intervene.
Barack Obama visited the Netherlands on the first leg of a weeklong, four-country trip. He departed for Brussels on Tuesday night.
Two medium-range ballistic missiles have been test-fired by North Korea, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks.
It is the first launch of a Nodong missile since 2009 and marks a step up from the short-range rockets Pyongyang has fired in recent weeks.
The launches also came on the fourth anniversary of the sinking of a South Korean warship.
Washington and Seoul have condemned the launch, which violates UN resolutions.
The US State Department described the launch as “a troubling and provocative escalation”.
“We urge North Korea to exercise restraint and refrain from further threatening actions,” deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.
The South Korean defense ministry said the missiles were fired from the Suckon region north of Pyongyang and flew for about 400 miles before falling into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
“This missile is capable of hitting not only most of Japan but also Russia and China,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said.
The ministry described it as a “grave provocation”.
Two medium-range ballistic missiles have been test-fired by North Korea, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks
In recent weeks, North Korea has launched multiple short-range missiles – actions which have coincided with annual US-South Korea military exercises.
But this is the first launch of a Nodong missile – which has a range of about 1,000km – since 2009. A similar launch also took place in 2006.
Ballistic missile launches by Pyongyang are banned by the UN.
North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests, the most recent in February 2013. It is also developing a three-stage missile that experts believe could be capable of hitting parts of the US.
But it is not yet believed to have the expertise to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so it could be delivered via a missile.
The US State Department said North Korea did not issue any maritime notification warning of its latest test.
“We are closely co-ordinating with our allies and partners, including in the UN Security Council, to take the appropriate measures in response to this latest provocation and to address the threat to global security posed by the DPRK’s [North Korea’s] nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” the statement said.
The launches took place in the early hours of Wednesday, which marks four years since South Korea’s Cheonan warship sank with the loss of 46 lives near the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border.
South Korea says North Korea torpedoed the ship. North Korea denies any role in the incident.
They also came just hours after President Barack Obama met his South Korean counterpart, Park Geun-hye, and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at the nuclear summit in The Hague for talks that focused on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
It was the first meeting between Park Geun-hye and Shinzo Abe since both took office, amid strained ties over historical and territorial issues.
Barack Obama pledged his “unwavering commitment” to Tokyo and Seoul in the face of North Korea’s nuclear program.
North Korea says its rocket tests are self-defense exercises and says the military drills by Washington and Seoul are invasion preparations.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are to separate after more than ten years of marriage, the couple has announced in a joint statement.
Gwyneth Paltrow, 41, and Chris Martin, 37, announced the split on her blog in a post titled Conscious Uncoupling.
“It is with hearts full of sadness that we have decided to separate,” they wrote.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin, who married in December 2003, have two children – Apple, 9, and Moses, 7.
A spokeswoman for Chris Martin confirmed the split, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin are to separate after more than ten years of marriage
In the message on Gwyneth Paltrow’ blog on the website Goop.com, the couple said they had “come to the conclusion that while we love each other very much, we will remain separate”.
The couple said they had been “working hard for well over a year, some of it together, some of it separated, to see what might have been possible between us”.
“We are, however, and always will be a family, and in many ways we are closer than we have ever been,” they wrote.
“We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time.
“We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner.”
Within minutes of the message being posted, the website crashed as readers attempted to visit the site.
The statement was also accompanied by a photograph of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, as well as advice on marriage, divorce and spiritualism from two doctors.
In a lengthy essay titled On Conscious Uncoupling, Dr. Habib Sadeghi and Dr. Sherry Sami wrote about divorce as “a traumatic and difficult decision for all parties involved”.
“By choosing to handle your uncoupling in a conscious way, regardless of what’s happening with your spouse, you’ll see that although it looks like everything is coming apart; it’s actually all coming back together,” they concluded.
The announcement comes after Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin moved to Los Angeles last year, having previously lived in London.
Ukraine’s ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko has been caught in a leaked taped phone call with parliamentarian Nestor Shufrych, talking about it is “time to go grab guns and kill those damned Russians with their leader,” so that “not even scorched earth will be left where Russia stands”.
Translations also capture Yulia Tymoshenko as saying she would “like to grab a machine gun and shoot that motherf***er in the head”.
According to the Moscow Times, the recording, apparently made March 8, details a conversation between Yulia Tymoshenko and Nestor Shufrych from Ukraine’s National Security Council, and has Tymoshenko suggesting that Ukrainians should kill Russians, and, in particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The recording, which may have been altered, also apparently features Yulia Tymoshenko suggesting that the 8 million Russians living in Ukraine should be killed with “nuclear weapons”.
Yulia Tymoshenko has been caught in a leaked taped phone call with parliamentarian Nestor Shufrych (photo RT)
The video containing the recording was initially uploaded to a YouTube account under the name Sergiy Vechirko, and has since been widely shared on pro-Kremlin media outlets.
While the Moscow Times reports that Nestor Shufrych has denied the recording is real, a tweet from Yulia Tymoshenko appears to suggest she believes at least part of it is real.
In her tweet, Yulia Tymoshenko says that the recording has been edited, and that she in fact said that the Russians in Ukraine “were Ukrainian”.
She also added: “Hello FSB :)” in reference to Russia’s security agency.
Yulia Tymoshenko, widely considered a potential candidate for the Ukrainian presidential election in May, does not have a reputation for being anti-Russia, which has struck some as strange, and had enjoyed a working relationship with Vladimir Putin in the past.
HTC One (M8) features a depth sensor to let owners change what appears in focus in photos after they are taken.
HTC’s new flagship Android smartphone also features a bigger screen and louder speakers than the previous model.
The Taiwanese company said the device should turn around recent weak earnings and help it recover market share.
But experts said Samsung and Apple’s bigger marketing budgets would continue to put HTC at a disadvantage.
HTC only shipped 6.4 million units of the original HTC One model last year, according to the research firm IDC.
That compares with 43.3 million shipped copies of Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and 39.5 million shipped units of Apple’s iPhone 5S, which also launched in 2013.
HTC One (M8) features a depth sensor to let owners change what appears in focus in photos after they are taken (photo HTC)
Across its portfolio as a whole, HTC actually sold fewer handsets in 2013 than 2012 despite growth in the wider market.
One of the new handset’s distinguishing features is a sensor on its back used to record distance.
The information is used by an app to allow the owner to mimic the effect of changing focus after a photo is taken, keeping selected objects sharp but blurring others.
It also allows users to add stylized effects to a photo’s background while keeping its main subject unaltered.
Another innovation is the ability to activate the phone without having to press its on-button. Swiping the screen in different ways takes the user to either what they were last doing, the home screen or a feed of news stories and social media updates.
HTC also boasts that battery life is 40% better than before even though it has a bigger, 5in screen.
However, it lacks a fingerprint scanner despite the firm’s inclusion of the security feature on the One Max handset.
Despite winning several awards, sales of the original HTC One underperformed.
HTC said that part of the problem was production delays caused by its use of a unibody metal case and a new type of camera.
After Duck Dynasty’s Mia Robertson underwent her recent facial cleft surgery, the Robertson family has started a non-profit organization to help raise awareness and to help fund research for children with cleft lips and palates.
Missy and Jase Robertson’s daughter had surgery on January 3, and is recovering speedily.
Mia Robertson was born with a facial cleft, and had her first surgery when she was just three months old (photo Twitter)
Mia Robertson, now 11, was born with a facial cleft, and had her first surgery when she was just three months old. Cleft lips and palates form in the womb, resulting in a gap in the upper lip or the roof of the mouth because the tissue did not fully form during early pregnancy.
Jase and Missy Robertson started the Mia Moo Fund, a non-profit organization to help raise awareness and fund research for causes and treatments of cleft lips and palates.
Wednesday’s Duck Dynasty Season 5 finale will center on Mia Robertson’s journey with a facial cleft and highlight how her family has rallied around her in loving support and prayer.
The Boston FBI agent that killed Ibragim Todashev – a friend of Boston Marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was justified in fatally shooting him, a Florida prosecutor said.
The prosecutor said Ibragim Todashev was a “fearless fighter” who brandished a long metal pole as he attacked the agent and a Massachusetts state trooper who had been interviewing him in his Orlando apartment.
Shortly afterward, the Department of Justice’s civil rights division also cleared the agent.
Ibragim Todashev sustained seven gunshot wounds in the incident, according to an autopsy.
“My conclusion, based upon the facts presented to me in this investigation, is that the actions of the Special Agent of the FBI were justified in self-defense and defense of another,” State Attorney Jeffrey L. Ashton said in a letter communicating the findings of his investigation to FBI Director James Comey.
Ibragim Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed-martial arts fighter, had allegedly just confessed to a role in the 2011 killings of three Waltham men, a crime in which Tamerlan Tsarnaev has also been eyed as a suspect.
The letter said that two Massachusetts state troopers and the FBI agent interviewed Ibragim Todashev for 4½ hours during which he admitted “some involvement in the triple homicide that was under investigation”.
Ibragim Todashev had allegedly just confessed to a role in the 2011 killings of three Waltham men, a crime in which Tamerlan Tsarnaev has also been eyed as a suspect (photo Wikipedia)
One of the troopers left the room after Ibragim Todashev agreed to prepare a written statement describing his involvement. Ibragim Todashev’s demeanor changed at that point, the letter said.
While neither the trooper nor the agent left in the room was looking, a coffee table “is propelled into the air” striking the FBI agent in the head. Ibragim Todashev ran to the kitchen and could be heard rummaging through drawers, apparently looking for something, the letter said.
The trooper then allegedly saw Ibragim Todashev “moving in his direction carrying a long pole of some sort … with the end of the pole pointed toward him as if intended to be used to impale rather than strike,” the letter said.
The FBI agent fired three to four shots from his .40-caliber Glock 23 pistol at Ibragim Todashev as he advanced. Ibragim Todashev was dropped to his knees but was not incapacitated and “immediately sprung toward the officers in what the [trooper] describes as a low angled lunge”. The FBI agent fired three to four more shots, incapacitating and killing Ibragim Todashev, the letter said.
The law enforcement agents knew of Ibragim Todashev’s history as a skilled martial arts fighter, having reviewed his fights on video. They were also aware of recent violent confrontations he had been in both Florida and in Massachusetts, the letter said.
At the moment of the final fray, Ibragim Todashev had easy access to a door behind him to flee, but instead of fleeing, he appeared to choose to fight, the letter said.
“There is no evidence of close range firing in any of the gunshot wounds,’’ the report said. The medical examiner said six bullets were recovered from Ibragim Todashev’s body.
The report marked the first detailed public findings about the fatal shooting of Ibragim Todashev since the May 22 incident. The FBI’s own internal review was completed months ago, and it was awaiting the final review by the Department of Justice.
For more than 10 months, the bureau refused to release the autopsy results or basic details, such as whether Ibragim Todashev was armed, leading to widespread skepticism about the integrity of the investigation.
Ibragim Todashev’s father, Abdulbaki Todashev, a government official on leave in Todashev’s native Chechnya, a region in southern Russia, has said in the past that he would consider a wrongful death lawsuit against the bureau. He has also sent photos of his son’s bullet-ridden body to President Barack Obama and urged him to investigate the case.
President Barack Obama has called on Americans to pray for the victims of the landslide in Washington which has claimed at least 14 lives.
Officials say as many as 176 people remain unaccounted for after the 177ft wall of mud hit near the town of Oso, north of Seattle, on Saturday.
Emergency officials said they expected the death toll to rise throughout Tuesday as they comb the debris field.
Search crews have worked day and night, using helicopters and laser imaging.
“The total fatality rate remains at 14 and we’re expecting that number to go up throughout the day,” local fire chief Travis Hots told reporters on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama has called on Americans to pray for the victims of the landslide in Washington which has claimed at least 14 lives (photo AP)
At a news conference in the Netherlands earlier, Barack Obama asked all Americans to send their thoughts and prayers to the victims.
“We know that part of this tightly knit community has been lost,” he said.
“We hope for the best, but recognize this is a tough situation.”
Barack Obama has declared an emergency in Washington State and ordered federal authorities to co-ordinate the disaster relief effort.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee – after surveying the area from the air – said it was “devastation beyond imagination”.
Jay Inslee said the slide “basically cut a mountain in two” and deposited it on the town below. Nothing in the path of the slide was still standing.
Family members and volunteers were using chainsaws and their bare hands to shift the wreckage and try to find those missing.
Snohomish County emergency management director John Pennington has said the official list of the missing stood at 176.
About 30 homes were destroyed and more than half the town of Oso is missing – a recent census put its population at 180.
Copenhagen Zoo that provoked outrage after putting down a healthy giraffe has killed a family of four lions to make way for a new young male lion.
The Danish zoo says it “had to euthanize” two cubs and their parents after it failed to re-home them.
The 16-year-old male and 14-year-old female were nearing the end of their natural lives in captivity, it added.
Last month, Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius the giraffe because it was deemed surplus to requirements.
Copenhagen Zoo that provoked outrage after putting down Marius the giraffe has killed a family of four lions to make way for a new young male lion (photo CBC)
“Because of the pride of lions’ natural structure and behavior, the zoo has had to euthanize the two old lions and two young lions who were not old enough to fend for themselves,” the zoo said in a statement.
According to zookeepers, the male cub “would have been killed by the new male lion as soon as he got the chance.”
The zoo said it had asked other parks to take the 10-month-old cubs, but had received no offers.
The new male lion is due to arrive in the next few days and will be introduced to the zoo’s two female lions who, born in 2012, have reached breeding age.
Last month, the manager of the zoo received death threats after healthy two-year-old giraffe Marius was put down and later dissected in front of visitors.
Copenhagen Zoo said the animal did not fit in with the park’s breeding program but the move shocked animal lovers across the world.
Despite the outcry over the death, the zoo said it did not believe it was necessary to change its procedures.
A spokesman for Copenhagen Zoo said there would be no public dissection of the lions since “not all our animals are dissected in front of an audience”.
On Monday, police Capt. Francois Moller revealed in court at Oscar Pistorius’ trial that he had been able to extract some 35,000 pages’ worth of text messages from Reeva Steenkamp’s phone.
Capt. Francois Moller said that 90% of the messages between the couple “were loving”, but he had picked out exceptions.
Correspondents say some of these messages could prove extremely damaging for Oscar Pistorius.
Reeva Steenkamp’s messages paint a picture of the athlete as a jealous and possessive boyfriend prone to anger.
The texts between the couple also suggest Oscar Pistorius asked Reeva Steenkamp to keep quiet over an incident in January 2013 where he allegedly fired a gun at a restaurant – another charge he denies.
Reeva Steenkamp’s messages paint a picture of Oscar Pistorius as a jealous and possessive boyfriend prone to anger
“Angel please don’t say a thing to anyone… I can’t afford for that to come out,” Oscar Pistorius wrote.
“I was not flirting with anyone today I feel sick that you suggested that” (Reeva Steenkamp, January 27, 2013)
“I’m scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and how you will react to me” (Reeva Steenkamp, January 27, 2013)
“I do everything to make you happy and to not say anything to rock the boat with you” (Reeva Steenkamp, January 27, 2013)
“I can’t be attacked by outsiders for dating you and be attacked by you – the one person I deserve protection from” (Reeva Steenkamp, February 8, 2013)
The court heard Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp called each other “Angel” and “Baba”
“Angel please don’t say a thing to anyone…Darren told everyone it was his fault. I can’t afford for that to come out” (Oscar Pistorius, January 11, 2013, following an alleged shooting incident).
Oscar Pistorius’ lawyer, Barry Roux, has denied claims the athlete and his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp were unhappy.
Barry Roux emphasized that among hundreds of “loving” text messages, only four showed signs of arguments.
The lawyer made his case while cross-examining a police captain who had given evidence about the couple’s mobile phones.
Double amputee Oscar Pistorius denies deliberately shooting Reeva Steenkamp last February, saying he thought she was an intruder.
The prosecution has now ended its case and the trial has been adjourned until Friday.
Defense lawyers say Oscar Pistorius will take the stand, but it is not clear when that will be.
The defense is particularly focusing on text messages and calls extracted from the couple’s mobile phones by police Capt. Francois Moller.
Double amputee Oscar Pistorius denies deliberately shooting Reeva Steenkamp last February
Oscar Pistorius, 27, previously said he had forgotten the password to his iPhone and investigators went to the US shortly before the trial began to meet Apple officials to try and gain access to it.
Barry Roux tried to demonstrate that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp had arguments but these were soon resolved.
Many of the text messages exchanged between the couple were affectionate in tone and showed they were in love, the defense argued on Tuesday.
The defense also played CCTV footage, earlier broadcast by Sky News, showing Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp kissing in a shop.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel later questioned the relevance of the video.
On Monday Capt. Francois Moller revealed he had been able to extract some 35,000 pages’ worth of messages from Reeva Steenkamp’s phone.
He said that 90% of the messages between the couple were loving, but he had picked out exceptions.
In one message sent on January 27, 2013, Reeva Steenkamp: “I’m scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and of how you react to me.”
The message was sent after Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp had a row when he accused her of flirting with another man at a friend’s engagement dinner – weeks before he shot her dead.
In another message written a week before her death, she said: “I can’t be attacked by outsiders for dating you and be attacked by you – the one person I deserve protection from.”
Correspondents say some of these messages could prove extremely damaging for Oscar Pistorius.
Reeva Steenkamp’s messages paint a picture of the athlete as a jealous and possessive boyfriend prone to anger.
The texts between the couple also suggest Oscar Pistorius asked Reeva Steenkamp to keep quiet over an incident in January 2013 where he allegedly fired a gun at a restaurant – another charge he denies.
“Angel please don’t say a thing to anyone… I can’t afford for that to come out,” he wrote.
Oscar Pistorius trial was due to end this week but has been extended and will now run until the middle of May.
The prosecution says it will call upon four more witnesses before closing its case.
The defense team will then call upon its own witnesses, including Oscar Pistorius himself.
Families of Chinese passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have clashed with police outside Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing.
It came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said a new analysis of satellite data showed the plane had ended its journey in remote seas south-west of Australia.
China has asked to see the data on which Malaysia’s conclusion was based.
The search for missing flight MH370 has been suspended because of bad weather.
Malaysia Airlines disappeared on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, including 153 Chinese nationals.
In Beijing, relatives of the passengers released a statement accusing the Malaysian government of trying to “delay, distort and hide the truth”.
Dozens then left their Beijing hotel on a protest bound for the Malaysian embassy. Police stopped their buses from leaving, so they got off and walked to the diplomatic mission.
Families of Chinese passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have clashed with police outside Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing
Scuffles broke out as protesters threw water bottles and tried to storm the building, demanding to meet the ambassador.
Meanwhile acting Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the latest analysis of satellite data showed a final automatic signal – known as a “handshake” or “ping” – that was still being investigated.
“There is evidence of a partial handshake between the aircraft and ground station at 0019 UTC [GMT],” he told a news conference on Tuesday.
“At this time, this transmission is not understood and is subject to further ongoing work.”
If confirmed, this signal would have been sent more than seven hours after contact with air traffic control was lost, and eight minutes after the last confirmed handshake.
A multinational search effort has focused on seas some 1,500 miles to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.
Malaysian PM Najib Razak said on Monday it had to be concluded “with deep sadness and regret” that “flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.
Najib Raszak said the conclusion the plane was lost was based on new satellite analysis by British firm Inmarsat and information from the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
However, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng issued a statement saying: “We demand the Malaysian side state the detailed evidence that leads them to this judgement, as well as supply all the relevant information and evidence about the satellite data analysis.
“The search and rescue work cannot stop now. We demand the Malaysian side continue to finish all the work including search and rescue.”
Ukrainian ultra-nationalist leader Oleksandr Muzychko has been shot dead in what officials describe as a special forces operation.
Oleksandr Muzychko, better known as Sashko Bilyi, died in a shoot-out with police in a cafe in Rivne in western Ukraine, the interior ministry said.
He was a leader of Right Sector, a far-right group which was prominent in the recent anti-government protests.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s parliament has voted to accept the resignation of Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh.
Ihor Tenyukh had been accused of indecision in the face of Russia’s military takeover of Crimea.
The shooting of Oleksandr Muzychko happened just hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsia – their first meeting since Russia’s move into Crimea triggered a diplomatic crisis.
Ukraine’s Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokimov said Oleksandr Muzychko died after opening fire at police and Sokol special forces, who had raided a cafe to arrest him and fellow ultra-nationalists. The authorities described Oleksandr Muzychko as a criminal gang leader.
Oleksandr Muzychko, better known as Sashko Bilyi, died in a shoot-out with police in a cafe in Rivne in western Ukraine
During the raid, Oleksandr Muzychko fired at police as he was trying to flee, wounding one of them. Police then returned fire and captured him and three others in his “criminal gang”, Vladimir Yevdokimov said.
“He was still alive as they were arresting him – but then the paramedics, called to the scene, found that he had died,” Vladimir Yevdokimov said.
The three arrested gang members have been taken to Kiev for questioning.
A Right Sector organizer in Rivne has now threatened revenge for the killing of Oleksandr Muzychko, saying he had not been summoned by investigators.
“We will avenge ourselves on [Interior Minister] Arsen Avakov for the death of our brother. The shooting of Sashko Bily is a contract killing ordered by the minister,” said Roman Koval of the Right Sector in Rivne region, quoted by the Ukrayinska Pravda website.
Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Oles Doniy, gave a different version of events. He said two cars had forced Oleksandr Muzychko’s car to stop, and he had then been dragged into one of the other cars. Later his body was found dumped, his hands tied behind his back and two bullet wounds in his heart, Oles Doniy wrote overnight on his Facebook page.
Correspondents say Oleksandr Muzychko acquired notoriety in Ukraine after he was filmed brandishing an AK-47 assault rifle at a town hall session in western Ukraine, and then harassing a local prosecutor. After that, in February, the Ukrainian interior minister condemned his behavior and promised to investigate.
Moscow says the activities of Right Sector and other Ukrainian nationalist groups pose a threat to the large Russian-speaking minority in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin gave that as one of his reasons for intervening in Crimea.
However, some commentators say Russia has deliberately whipped up such fears, and that the influence of Right Sector in Ukrainian politics is exaggerated.
Earlier, Russian authorities issued an arrest warrant for Oleksandr Muzychko, accusing him of atrocities against Russian soldiers in Chechnya.
