North Korea announces it has sentenced US citizen Kenneth Bae, aka Pae Jun-ho, to 15 years of hard labor.
The announcement, from state news agency KCNA, said Pae Jun-ho, known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was tried on April 30.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist. Pyongyang said he was accused of anti-government crimes.
The move comes amid high tensions between North Korea and the US, after Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.
North Korean media said last week that Pae Jun-ho had admitted charges of crimes against North Korea, including attempting to overthrow the government.
“The Supreme Court sentenced him to 15 years of compulsory labor for this crime,” KCNA said.
Kenneth Bae was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist and he was accused of anti-government crimes
Kenneth Bae, 44, was arrested in November as he entered the northeastern port city of Rason, a special economic zone near North Korea’s border with China.
He is believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent. The Associated Press news agency also reports that he is described by friends as a devout Christian.
“We call on the DPRK [North Korea] to release Kenneth Bae immediately on humanitarian grounds,” US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said on Monday.
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism.
They were released after intervention from high-profile American figures, including former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, both of whom went to Pyongyang.
In 2009, Bill Clinton negotiated the release of two US journalists accused of entering North Korea illegally, Laura Ling and Euna Lee.
Held after North Korea’s second nuclear test, both had been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor before they were released.
Observers suggest Pyongyang could be using the jailed American as leverage, amid a very tense situation on the Korean peninsula.
The UN expanded sanctions against the communist state in March, in the wake of its February 12 nuclear test and December long-range rocket launch.
Pyongyang reacted angrily both to the measures and annual US-South Korea military exercises which saw high-profile displays of US military hardware.
It threatened to attack US military bases around the region and cut key hotlines with South Korea.
It has also withdrawn its workers from the North-South joint industrial zone at Kaesong, prompting South Korea to pull its staff out for the first time since the project was launched a decade ago.
Only seven South Koreans remain at Kaesong, a complex just inside North Korea where more than 120 South Korean firms operate using North Korea workers.
Seoul says they are negotiating final wage payments and should be returning South Korea soon.
The South Korean government has pledged 300 billion won ($273 million) in emergency loans for firms hit by the suspension at Kaesong.
US detainees in North Korea:
Eddie Jun Yong-su: Businessman detained for six months in 2011, freed after a visit led by US envoy Robert King
Aijalon Mahli Gomes: Teacher and Christian jailed in 2010 for eight years over illegal entry via China – freed after Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang
Robert Park: US activist crossed into North Korea via China in late 2009 – freed in 2010 by North Korea
Laura Ling/Euna Lee: Jailed in 2009 for 12 years over illegal entry via the Chinese border – freed after Bill Clinton met Kim Jong-il
Less than 24 hours until entering to rehab for a court-ordered 90 days, Lindsay Lohan posted a picture of herself packing on her Instagram account on Tuesday night.
Lindsay Lohan, 26, was seen surrounded by several bags of clothes, accessories and shoes.
Dressed in a casual pair of shorts and a loose-fitting top, Lindsay Lohan appeared to not know where to start.
The troubled actress captioned the snap: “90 days and 270 looks.”
Lindsay Lohan packing before entering to rehab for a court-ordered 90 days
Who Lindsay Lohan is trying to impress remains to be seen as while she is allowed visitors during her rehab stay, she is restricted from venturing out of the facility, which is said to be the Seafield Center in New York.
And whether she will actually be allowed the excess luggage all together is unlikely, as Seafield allows patients only seven changes of clothes during their 90 day stay.
However, Lindsay Lohan’s new tweet hints that the star might not be staying at Seafield anymore.
New reports claim that Lindsay Lohan is considering moving facilities because of Seafield’s strict non-smoking rules.
According to TMZ, Lindsay Lohan has been complaining to friends that she doesn’t think she can go the full 90 days without the smokes.
In an attempt to amend the rules, the actress has asked her lawyers to negotiate with Seafield to make an exception for the tobacco-loving actress.
But Seafield reportedly will not budge and refuses to bow down to Lindsay Lohan.
Her lawyers are now said to be consulting with Morningside Recovery in Newport Beach, California, which does allow smoking.
Lindsay Lohan is familiar with the facility after already spending time there in 2010.
However, her cunning plan may not come off as according to TMZ, City Attorneys for L.A. and Santa Monica have not approved Morningside.
Lindsay Lohan’s lawyers are expected to front the courts on Thursday, providing prosecutors with proof that the actress has enrolled in some kind of approved rehab facility.
Miley Cyrus has posed for a new issue of V magazine in her raciest photo shoot ever.
The young actress can be seen almost n**ed tugging on her underwear, unbuttoning her trousers and cupping her bare breast in the shocking images.
Miley Cyrus, 20, also graces three different covers for V magazine, showing plenty of skin in each of them.
She shed her Disney princess image long ago, but the starlet still seems intent on proving again and again that she isn’t the wholesome type.
Miley Cyrus also dyes her crop of hair various colors for the arresting snapshots, including bubblegum pink, bright orange, lilac and white.
Miley Cyrus has posed for a new issue of V magazine in her raciest photo shoot ever
And she said of her sudden and surprising image overhaul: “I chopped my hair and bought a pair of Docs and never looked back.”
For the new issue of the magazine, Miley Cyrus was interviewed alongside Pharrell Williams, who helped produce her upcoming fourth studio album.
Miley Cyrus said of the record: “Everyone can like what we’re doing. That’s when I feel like my record is so different. It’s not what people expect where it’s me giving my mi**le finger and saying, <<F*** you. I didn’t make a record for the people that love me.>>
“I made a record for the people that love me, but then I made a record for the people that I want to start to understand me.”
The album is scheduled to be released this year and Miley Cyrus admitted she is glad she has taken her time on getting it right.
“I got excited because on this record I can say whatever I want,” she said.
“And then I got more comfortable with that and the record got better and better.
“If I had made it two years ago when I should have had a record come out, it would have been a little brat trying to say <<This isn’t who I am! This is what I’m trying to prove!>>. Now I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody.”
A fish pedicure in Greece on Monday left Kim Kardashian screaming in horror – and it was all caught on tape.
Khloe Kardashian filmed both Kim and Kourtney getting a fish pedicure – the treatment started off in Asia and has become a worldwide craze.
Kim Kardashian, 32, posted the footage on Keek on Wednesday and it was clear from the very beginning the star was not happy about her fishy pedicure.
“I’m about to do a fish pedicure,” she wrote.
Kim Kardashian – who showed off her growing bump in a short high-necked cream gown – immediately started screaming as the little fish nibbled away at the dead skin on her feet.
A fish pedicure in Greece left Kim Kardashian screaming in horror
“Oh my god, oh my god, I don’t like it, I don’t like it,” the reality star can be heard screaming in the video.
“Can I take them out, can I take them out?
“I hate it.”
The rest of the Kardashians tired to get Kim to go through with the procedure even yelling at her to keep her feet in.
“Kimberly stop,” Khloe Kardashian says off camera.
Kourtney Kardashian meanwhile took the pedicure in her stride, sitting calmly as the little fish went to work.
She does exclaim in the video however: “It is the weirdest thing ever.”
Always the joker in one of the Keek videos Khloe Kardashian takes viewers on a tour of the salon and declares that she “would need piranhas” to make her feet smooth.
It may have been a blessing in disguise that Kim Kardashian was not able to go through with the pedicure, as there have been numerous healthy warnings about the practice.
As the fish cannot be sterilized, there has been concern the pedicure can spread infections including, in the most serious cases, HIV and hepatitis C.
Specialists even recommended sufferers of psoriasis, such as Kim Kardashian, should never use the treatments.
Fish pedicures have been banned in some American states including Florida, Texas, New Hampshire and Washington.
Kim Kardashian has been in Greece with both her family and step father Bruce Jenner’s family for a holiday. She flew out to Paris, France, on Tuesday and then headed to England the following day.
William Roache has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl in the 1960s.
A man, aged 81, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, is being questioned at a Lancashire Police station, police said.
The offences are alleged to have been committed in Haslingden between April and July 1967, officers said.
Neither William Roache, who has played Ken Barlow in Coronation Street since 1960, nor his representatives have commented.
A Coronation Street spokesman said: “Given that a police investigation is under way it would not be appropriate to comment.”
A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “An 81-year-old man from Wilmslow in Cheshire has this morning, Wednesday May 1 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape.
“The man will be interviewed at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day.
“We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge they will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.”
William Roache has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 15-year-old girl in the 1960s
Two police officers are stationed by the closed wrought iron gates outside the star’s home.
In March William Roache issued an apology after he appeared to suggest in a New Zealand television interview that sex abuse victims were being punished for behavior in “previous lives”.
The actor also said if there was anonymity for people making accusations of child sex offences, there should also be anonymity for those accused because of the stigma they faced even if innocent.
William Roache has an award from Guinness World Records for being the world’s longest-serving soap actor, having played Ken Barlow since Coronation Street’s first episode.
Deanna Durbin, one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office stars in the 1930s and early ’40s, has died aged 91, her son has announced.
Her son, Peter H. David, made the announcement in a newsletter to her fans, saying Deanna Durbin died “a few days ago”.
In 1947 Deanna Durbin was the highest-paid star in the United States. But she retired from the business the following year when she was just 27.
Deanna Durbin made her film debut in the 1936 MGM short Every Sunday, in which she appeared alongside Judy Garland.
Deanna Durbin was one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office stars in the 1930s and early ’40s
Born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada in 1921, Deanna Durbin was nurtured and promoted by producer Joe Pasternak.
Her first movie for the Universal studios, Three Smart Girls, was nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1937.
Deanna Durbin auditioned for the part of Snow White in 1936. But Walt Disney turned her down, saying her 15-year-old voice was too mature for the part.
In 1939, Deanna Durbin and fellow teen star Mickey Rooney were presented with Juvenile Academy Awards for their “significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth.”
The success of her films, which reportedly saved Universal from bankruptcy in the late 1930s, was estimated to account for 17% of the studio’s revenue during the decade.
In 1946 Deanna Durbin’s salary of $323,477 made her the second highest-paid woman in America, just behind Bette Davis.
Winston Churchill watched her films before they were released to the general public in the UK, while Anne Frank hung a picture of Deanna Durbin on the wall of the attic in which she and her family hid from the Nazis.
In 1949, after 21 films and at the height of her worldwide fame, Deanna Durbin quit the movie business and retired to a village in France.
She shunned the spotlight with her third husband, the film director Charles David, who died in 1999.
Deanna Durbin rarely gave interviews but did send reporters a letter in 1958 in which she said she was “never happy making pictures”.
“The character I was forced into had little or nothing in common with myself – or with other youth of my generation, for that matter.”
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows by shutting down Disneyland in Anaheim, California, to walk down the aisle for a fifth time in a lavish fairytale-themed ceremony.
Mariah Carey, 43, was transformed into a princess for her special evening, arriving in front of the iconic Magic Kingdom castle in a horse-drawn pumpkin-shaped carriage that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a scene from Cinderella.
Having the opportunity to wear yet another wedding gown, the singer donned a typically over-the-top corseted ivory dress, featuring a dramatic ruffle detail skirt and train.
Wearing her hair swept up into a half beehive, Mariah Carey adorned her head with a glittering diamond tiara, which she teamed with matching earrings and a sparkling necklace.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon renewed their wedding vows by shutting down Disneyland in Anaheim
Posting a series of short videos on her Vine page, Mariah Carey could be seen getting ready for her fifth big day alongside her 2-year-old daughter Monroe.
Monroe wore a princess-inspired white gown, which would have no doubt made her the absolute envy of the playground.
Instead of the glittering diamond headpiece her mother was wearing, Monroe had white ribbons in her hair as she joined in the celebrations.
Poking fun at her “diva” reputation, Mariah wrote on her Twitter page: “Slowly making our way to the freezing cold guests #donthatemebecauseimadiva #cinderella.”
Before later adding alongside a video of her and Monroe: “Mommy and princess Monroe.”
Mariah Carey and little Monroe were then seen making their way to the Disneyland ceremony in a giant pumpkin-shaped carriage pulled by two white horses as the visibly emotional star wiped away the tears from her eyes.
She tweeted: “On our way to renew our vows. I love you @NickCannon shut down Disneyland KKLB.”
Nick Cannon – dressed as Cinderella’s Prince Charming – only appeared in the selection of videos very briefly, and was seen holding hands with the couple’s son Moroccan, who was dressed in a mini white tuxedo, as the carriage carrying Mariah and Monroe pulled up.
The picture-perfect family then made their way down the aisle in front of a selection of close friends and relatives as the couple toasted their fifth wedding anniversary in dramatic style.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon raised eyebrows when they tied the knot on April 30, 2008, at the singer’s private estate in the Bahamas after just six weeks of dating.
Since then, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon have renewed their vows in a variety of locations, including Las Vegas, the hospital bed after she gave birth to the twins and most recently, Paris.
Three new suspects were arrested in connection to the Boston Marathon bombing and they are thought to be Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s roommates, Kazachs Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov and an unamed American, who helped him cover his tracks after the fatal blasts.
The Boston Police Department were the first ones to report the arrest over their Twitter feed, andThe Boston Globe claimed that the three people in custody were college students and the roommates of the younger bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Federal sources told The Washington Post that the three students disposed of undisclosed material in a landfill on behalf of their 19-year-old Chechen friend Dzhokhar Tsarnaev following the bombing.
The clue fits as police were seen searching a landfill in nearby New Bedford, Massachusetts last week during their search for evidence in the case.
Two of the suspects, identified as Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, were already in police custody in regards to an immigration issue that investigators discovered after questioning them over their license plates that read “TERRORISTA#1”. Those two friends are Kazakh citizens and the third is thought to be an American national.
The three are charged with making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice, which implies that they were not involved in actually carrying out the attack but rather helping the suspect evade police after the fatal blasts.
Azamat Tazhayakov, Dias Kadyrbayev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Times Square last year
The claims were reiterated by NBC’s Pete Williams, who said that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s roommates were arrested Wednesday and charged with giving false information to police.
The three were all students at UMass Dartmouth- where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was enrolled- and that they helped him after the April 15 bombings.
This is not the first time that the bomber’s roommates have come under investigation, as they prompted alarm bells after it was revealed that they were driving a BMW with license plates that read “TERRORISTA#1”.
Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov remained in custody over immigration issues as they are Kazakh nationals whose academic visas had expired.
CNN has since identified Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov as two of the three friends that were arrested today.
The third person in custody on Wednesday is believed to be an American citizen who will be charged with making a false statement, according to CBS.
Attorney Robert Stahl told CBS that they were drawn to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev because he also spoke Russian.
The attorney confirmed they now face separate federal charges and have an afternoon court appearance related to the bombing case.
CBS reports that the men will be charged conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
ABC affiliate WCVB reports, citing a lawyer who was briefed on the case early Wednesday, that the three suspects disposed “of a backpack full of fireworks that was in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s dorm room, done at the request of Tsarnaev sometime after the bombing.”
CBS reports that the suspects were arrested for “harboring or aiding the suspects after the fact” and that they are in the custody of the FBI.
“At this point, we’re not really in a position to make any comment,” FBI spokesman Alison Mahan told Talking Points Memo.
The Boston police followed up their initial tweet by confirming that there is no threat to public safety.
The news of the arrests comes one day after the elder suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s wife Katherine Russell was interviewed by investigators after they spent hours searching her home.
Former Kardashian nanny Pam Behan, who worked for the family for five years from 1991, has revealed the tumultuous time Kourtney Kardashian and Bruce Jenner went through during her teenage years, claiming the star wanted “nothing” to do with her stepfather.
Pam Behan, the author of new tell-all book Malibu Nanny: Adventures Of The Former Kardashian Nanny, explained in an interview with the New York Daily News: “Bruce tried to engage with Kourtney and to parent her as a good stepfather would. Kourtney wanted nothing to do with it. “Bruce tried to talk to her, and she yelled, <<You’re not my dad! Don’t even speak to me!>>”
But the former nanny maintains Kim Kardashian, who was 10 when she joined the family, was always “sweet and friendly”.
Pam Behan is the author of new tell-all book Malibu Nanny Adventures Of The Former Kardashian Nanny
Pam Behan also admitted her relationship with family matriarch Kris Jenner was often fraught, and recalled one particular incident where the “momager” launched into a foul-mouthed tirade at her after she forgot to buy broccoli at the grocery store.
She explained: “Kris wants what she wants, when she wants it, which is usually now! Especially as hired help, there were good times and bad times.
“I had mentally started packing my bags – I was going to quit. And all this, over broccoli!”
Pam Behan also recounted the time she shared a story with the family about losing a race on her High School track team, something that didn’t wash with Bruce and Kris Jenner and their ambitious plans for their daughters.
Speaking to the New York Daily News, Pam Behan said: “I had never been so humiliated and embarrassed in my life! Bruce grimaced and uttered in a pained voice, <<Never ever tell that story again in my house>>.”
And such was the family’s obsession with perfection that Bruce Jenner even suggested at one point that she should have a “little taken off” her nose with a helping hand from a plastic surgeon.
But it wasn’t all bad news for Pam Behan during her five-year stint with the then relatively unknown Kardashian clan.
After being hired from a Beverly Hills nanny agency, Pam Behan received a plethora of hand-me-down designer dresses from Kris Jenner, and was even given a table and chair set worth $10,000, enough to pay for a year of tuition fees.
Pam Behan’s access to the world of the rich and the famous even resulted in a brief relationship with Sylvester Stallone.
She explained: “I wanted it to last forever. But I couldn’t fully enjoy it because I was so overwhelmed that I was actually kissing Sly Stallone. What young girl from the Midwest isn’t in love with a celebrity? My locker was covered with his posters!”
In 1996, Pam Behan finally quit her stint with the Kardashian family, oblivious to the fact that they would soon become America’s most famous reality TV stars.
Pam Behan said: “Khloe would always beg me not to leave, saying, <<You’re not going to quit, are you?>> I felt like I was leaving my family.”
Amanda Bynes’ increasingly erratic behavior fails to slow to anything approaching normality, this time she’s been taking “selfies” of her wearing a very revealing lace bra.
Amanda Bynes, 27, has been given full access to her millions, it has been claimed.
The troubled starlet is splashing the cash after deciding to stop saving, according to reports.
Amanda Bynes apparently demanded access to her money – including the funds tied up in investments – a few months ago.
Amanda Bynes’ increasingly erratic behavior fails to slow to anything approaching normality
“While Amanda was growing up her parents and lawyers controlled all of her money, they put it away in investments so that she would be able to have it when she got older,” a source told Radar Online.
“Amanda made a lot of money starting with Nickelodeon and then other TV shows and movies, but she lived like a regular girl when she was young.
“However, a few months ago she demanded that she have complete access to all of the money so she could spend it, not save it anymore.”
Amanda Bynes recently told In Touch magazine that she is as rich as the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, who are believed to have a net worth of $300 million.
However, a source claims that in reality Amanda Bynes “is worth $5 to $6 million”.
“Amanda knows she has a lot of money. Before she wasn’t restricted from getting to it, but a lot of it was tied up in investments and banked for her future, but she insisted that she be able to use all of it as she sees fit and there is nothing anyone can do to stop her from spending it all,” the first insider added.
Amanda Bynes continues to display bizarre behavior and recently shaved off half of her hair.
A disturbing flurry of text messages has revealed Tamerlan Tsarnaev was willing to lay down his life for his Muslim faith.
According to Fox News, in 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev sent text messages to his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, indicating that he was willing to die for Islam.
In 2011, Tamerlan Tsarnaev sent text messages to his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, indicating that he was willing to die for Islam
Around the same time he sent those texts, suspicions were brewing about the 26-year-old former boxer.
Last week, U.S. officials described to the AP what the government knew about Tsarnaev since he was first placed on the intelligence community’s radar 18 months ago.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.
Russia’s internal security service, the FSB, sent information to the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev on March 4, 2011.
The Russians told the FBI that Tsarnaev, an ethnically Chechen Russian immigrant living in the Boston area, was a follower of radical Islam and had changed drastically since 2010.
Because of the subsequent FBI inquiry, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s name was added to a Homeland Security Department database used by U.S. officials at the border to help screen people coming in and out of the U.S.
New reports reveal Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before Boston Marathon blasts, according to a senior Saudi government official with direct knowledge of the document.
It appears the Saudi warning came separately from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen.
Citing security concerns, the Saudi government also denied an entry visa to Tamerlan Tsarnaev in December 2011, when he intended to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the source said.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been previously disclosed.
The Saudis’ warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government and it “did name Tamerlan specifically”, according to the source.
“It was very specific” and warned that “something was going to happen in a major U.S. city”. The document did not name Boston or suggest a date for his planned attack.
If true, the account will produce added pressure on the Homeland Security department and the White House to explain their collective inaction after similar warnings were offered about Tamerlan Tsarnaev by the Russian government.
A DHS official denied, however, that the agency received any such warning from Saudi intelligence about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
And so the White House: “We and other relevant U.S. government agencies have no record of such a letter being received,” said Caitlin Hayden, a spokesperson for the president’s National Security Council.
The letter likely came to DHS via the Saudi Ministry of Interior, the agency tasked with protecting the Saudi kingdom’s homeland.
However, a Homeland Security official confirmed Tuesday evening on the condition of anonymity that the 2012 letter exists.
Meanwhile, House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mike McCaul plans to announce on Wednesday an investigative hearing to probe what U.S. intelligence knew prior to the Boston attacks.
Separately, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that the U.S. government will launch a wide-ranging inquiry into the sharing of information among the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence and law-enforcement agencies of the federal government.
The internal review will be led by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and several inspectors general.
It is not yet clear whether information from Saudi Arabia will be involved in James Clapper’s inter-agency review.
Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before Boston Marathon blasts
It appears the Saudi government alerted the U.S. in part because it believed American authorities should be inspecting packages that came to Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the mail in order to search for bomb-making components.
The written warning also allegedly named three Pakistanis who may be of interest to British authorities. The official declined to provide more details about the warning to the UK, but said the two governments received the same information.
The Ministry of Interior, he said, sent the letters in 2012, likely after Tamerlan Tsarnaev returned from Russia to the US in July.
President Barack Obama’s published schedule indicates that he met in the Oval Office with Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Interior minister, on January 14, 2013.
The Saudis denied Tamerlan Tsarnaev entry to the kingdom when he sought to travel to Mecca in December 2011 for a pilgrimage known as an Umrah – one that is undertaken during months that don’t fall within the regular Hajj period of the year.
That rejected application came one month before he traveled to Russia, where U.S. intelligence sources believe he acquired training enabling him to construct and detonate the bombs that he and his younger brother Dzhokhar placed hear the Boston Marathon’s finish line.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in federal custody at a prison medical facility.
The Saudi official speculated that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s residence in the US might have made it more difficult for him to gain entry into the kingdom.
“U.S.-based Muslims who become radicalized and want to visit Mecca create an unusual problem,” he said, compelling the Saudi government “to carefully examine applications”.
In the wake of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met with Secretary of State John Kerry on April 16, and then had an unscheduled meeting with President Barack Obama on April 17.
“This is the DNA of the Saudi government,” said the Saudi official, referring to officials in the royal court in Riyadh.
“This is how they work. They sent the letter, but that wasn’t enough. They then sent the top guy to meet personally with the president.”
The Saudi official dismissed the idea that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was likely trained by al-Qaeda while he was outside the US last year.
The Saudis’ Yemen-based sources, he explained, said militants referred to Tamerlan dismissively as “the volunteer”.
“He was a gung-ho, self motivated jihadi who wasn’t tasked by a larger group,” he said.
“There is no reason for anyone in Afghanistan to have in his thinking a scenario like this.
“He took the initiative. That’s why they call him <<the volunteer>>.”
“The Boston thing is beneath them,” he said of al Qaeda.
“They don’t think like this. This is like a firecracker to them. They want something big.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev may have boasted about his plans online, the Saudi official said, offering an explanation for how Yemen-based sources first learned of him. Islamist militants have well-developed social networks that can enable news to migrate quickly across vast distances.
The Saudi government sometimes tracks such radicals by launching fake jihadi websites to attract extremists. The Ministry of Interior then tracks them electronically, often across the world, and shares information with governments it considers friendly, including the US.
The Saudi intelligence services have a long history of providing credible information to America and Great Britain about looming threats.
“This is the fourth time the Saudi Arabian government has given the U.S. specific intel” about a possible terror plot, the official said, citing prior warnings about Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who repeatedly tried to light a fuse in his shoe to bring down American Airlines flight 63 bound for Miami in December 2001.
He also cited the 300-gram “ink-cartridge bombs” planted on two cargo planes headed for the US from Yemen in October 2010. Those explosives were intercepted in Dubai, and at an East Midlands airport in Great Britain.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s namesake was a 15-century Central Asian warlord who referred to himself as “the sword of Islam”. Sometimes spelled “Tamerlane” in English, he was known for his cruelty.
When he conquered Baghdad, Tamerlane reportedly made a pyramid of human skulls from unfortunate residents of that city.
Although still revered in Chechnya and throughout Central Asia, the original Tamerlane is sometimes vilified in modern-day Saudi textbooks.
Amanda Knox, who was convicted and then cleared of murdering her British roommate Meredith Kercher, says she may return to Italy to face a retrial.
“My lawyers have said that I don’t have to… I’m still considering it, to be honest,” Amanda Knox told USA Today.
Amanda Knox, 25, also went on TV to publicly protest her innocence as she released her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard.
Last month, an Italian court overturned her acquittal along with that of her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito.
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox – an exchange student- in Perugia in November 2007.
Prosecutors say she died in a brutal sex game that went wrong.
Another man – Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast – was convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to 16 years for the killing.
Amanda Knox says she may return to Italy to face a retrial in Meredith Kercher murder case
The case has drawn intense media interest in Italy, the UK and the US, and put the Italian police and justice system under great scrutiny.
Amanda Knox told USA Today on Tuesday that the thought of returning to Italy for the retrial was “scary”.
“But it’s also important for me to say: <<This is not just happening far away from and doesn’t matter to me.>>
“So, somehow, I feel it’s important for me to convey that. And if my presence is what is necessary to convey that, then I’ll go.”
The Italian courts cannot compel her to return for the retrial but they could request her extradition – at which point it would be up to the US authorities to determine her fate.
In a separate interview with ABC News, Amanda Knox said claims that she was a “she-devil” and “heartless manipulator” were all wrong.
She added that what happened to her “was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone”.
“It’s one thing to be called certain things in the media and it’s another thing to be sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil,” Amanda Knox said.
“For all intents and purposes I was a murderer, whether I was or not. I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.”
In a reference to the Kercher family, Amanda Knox said she wanted them to understand “that my need for justice for myself is not in contradiction with theirs”.
Amanda Knox said she hoped “that eventually I can have their permission to pay respects at her grave”.
The interview was timed to coincide with the release of her autobiography, Waiting to Be Heard, for which Amanda Knox was reportedly paid more than $4 million.
In the book, Amanda Knox maintains that on the night of Meredith Kercher’s death she was at Raffaele Sollecito’s flat smoking marijuana and watching a movie.
Several opposition MP’s are reportedly being injured during a brawl that have broken out in Venezuela’s parliament over the recent disputed presidential election.
Several legislators were left bloodied and bruised, with both opposition and pro-government lawmakers accusing each other of starting the fight.
A measure was earlier passed denying MPs the right to speak until they recognized Nicolas Maduro as president.
Official results show he narrowly beat opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski, who has demanded a full recount.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) – which has rejected Henrique Capriles’ demand – on Monday said Nicolas Maduro had won by 1.49 percentage points, or fewer than 225,000 votes.
This came after the council had amended the final result, taking into account votes cast abroad.
In all, 99.79% of the votes have now been counted.
Earlier figures had shown a 1.8 percentage victory for Nicolas Maduro, who stood in the poll as the chosen successor of the late President Hugo Chavez.
On Tuesday, the opposition said a number of its lawmakers were attacked and hurt in the parliament – the National Assembly.
One of the MPs, Julio Borges, later appeared on a local TV station with facial bruises.
Opposition deputy Julio Borges appeared on a local TV station with facial bruises after Venezuela’s parliament brawl
“They can beat us, jail us, kill us, but we will not sell out our principles,” Julio Borges was quoted as saying.
“These blows give us more strength.”
The opposition said it was being “silenced” by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello.
“I am going to ask you: Mr. Deputy, do you recognize Nicolas Maduro?” Diosdado Cabello asked one of them. “If you say no, you don’t get to speak in the assembly.”
Pro-government representatives blamed the opposition for starting the clashes.
“Today again I had to defend [Hugo Chavez’s] legacy,” lawmaker Odalis Monzon was quoted as saying by Reuters.
She added that she and several of her colleagues were attacked and beaten during the fighting.
The CNE declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner on April 15, after he had gained what it called an “irreversible majority”. He was sworn in as Venezuela’s president on April 19.
Henrique Capriles has demanded a vote-by-vote recount, but the CNE said it would be legally impossible to carry out.
It has, however, agreed to carry out a partial audit, which is expected to take until June. During the audit, 56% of the votes cast will be examined.
The CNE says the remaining 44% had been checked immediately after the election.
On Monday, Henrique Capriles said Nicolas Maduro had “illegitimately stolen the presidency”,
He has until May 6 to lodge his request with the Supreme Court contesting the election result.
Henrique Capriles said he had “no doubt that this will end up before an international body”.
Both Henrique Capriles and Nicolas Maduro have urged their supporters to turn out for separate demonstrations on May 1st, sparking fears the two camps could clash.
Nicolas Maduro on Monday said he had changed the route of his march because he “did not want problems”.
But the opposition says it continues to be targeted by the government, citing the arrest on Saturday of retired General Antonio Rivero as proof.
The opposition politician has been charged with criminal instigation and criminal association, after prosecutors blamed him for outbreaks of post-election violence.
Relatives of General Antonio Rivero say he is on a hunger strike in protest.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US has approved the “morning-after” pill without a prescription for women aged 15 and over.
Proof-of-age will be required to purchase the drug, Plan B. The decision comes a month after a judge ordered the drug to be made available to girls of all childbearing ages.
The FDA said its decision was not a response to the court ruling.
Reproductive rights groups approved the FDA move but called for fuller access.
On Tuesday, the FDA said its decision was in response to an amended marketing plan from the drug’s maker, Teva Pharmaceuticals, to sell Plan B without a prescription to women 15 and older.
But the move comes days before the deadline to comply with a New York district judge’s order to make the drug available over the counter to girls of all childbearing ages.
The FDA has approved the morning-after pill Plan B without a prescription for women aged 15 and over
The judge criticized the Obama administration for imposing an age-17 limit.
In 2011, the FDA said it had concluded the “morning after” pill could be safely used by girls of child-bearing age.
But in an unprecedented move, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the agency.
Kathleen Sebelius said there was not enough evidence from all potential ages to support removing over-the-counter restrictions.
The Obama administration was accused of bowing to pressure from social conservatives.
The reproductive rights group that brought the lawsuit said on Tuesday it will continue its legal fight if need be.
Lowering the age limit “may reduce delays for some young women but it does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification”, said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Amanda Bynes has been recently given full access to her millions and the troubled starlet is splashing the cash after deciding to stop saving, according to reports.
Amanda Bynes, 27, apparently demanded access to her money – including the funds tied up in investments – a few months ago.
A source told Radar Online: “While Amanda was growing up her parents and lawyers controlled all of her money, they put it away in investments so that she would be able to have it when she got older.”
Amanda Bynes has been recently given full access to her millions and the troubled starlet is splashing the cash
“Amanda made a lot of money starting with Nickelodeon and then other TV shows and movies, but she lived like a regular girl when she was young.
“However, a few months ago she demanded that she have complete access to all of the money so she could spend it, not save it anymore.”
She recently told In Touch magazine that she is as rich as the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, who are believed to have a net worth of $300 million.
However, according to sources, in reality Amanda Bynes “is worth $5 to $6 million”.
“Amanda knows she has a lot of money. Before she wasn’t restricted from getting to it, but a lot of it was tied up in investments and banked for her future, but she insisted that she be able to use all of it as she sees fit and there is nothing anyone can do to stop her from spending it all,” the insider told Radar Online.
“Amanda can do whatever she wants for a while with all of her money but it isn’t going to last forever if she spends the way she has been lately,” the source added.
“She’s rich but she could find herself in financial trouble pretty soon.”
Amanda Bynes’ unusual antics include regularly professing her love for rapper Drake which she did once again on Tuesday.
She posted a link to an image of Drake on her Twitter page along with the words: “Loving far apart eyes @drake.”
President Barack Obama has pledged once again to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid a growing prisoner hunger strike there.
At the White House, Barack Obama said the detention centre was “contrary to who we are” and harmful to US interests.
The president cited recent convictions of terror suspects to argue the civilian justice system was adequate for such trials.
Congress has blocked efforts to close the prison, but Barack Obama said he would renew discussions with lawmakers.
Barack Obama told reporters he had asked a team of officials to review operations at Guantanamo Bay and said he was not surprised there were problems there.
“It is inefficient, it hurts us in terms of our international standing, it lessens co-operation with our allies on counter-terrorism efforts, it is a recruitment tool for extremists, it needs to be closed,” Barack Obama said.
He described the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as a “lingering problem” that would worsen if it remained open.
“I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to keep America safe,” the president told reporters.
Barack Obama said that with the war in Iraq over and detention authority in Afghanistan transferred to Afghan forces, the facility in Cuba was no longer necessary.
He said he would need the help of Congress to devise a long-term legal solution to the prosecution of detainees.
Barack Obama’s comments come amid a hunger strike that has spread in recent weeks to include more than 100 of the 166 inmates at the facility.
They are protesting against their indefinite detention. Most are being held without charge.
UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has said Guantanamo Bay should be shut immediately.
Barack Obama has pledged once again to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, amid a growing prisoner hunger strike there
The UN has called the continued detention of so many people without trial a clear violation of international law, though it understands Congress has blocked Barack Obama from closing the prison.
Aid agencies are convinced the situation there cannot go on. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only agency with access to individual detainees, says there is now an unprecedented level of desperation at Guantanamo.
On Tuesday, a UN spokesman said the force-feeding of prisoners was also a probable human rights violation.
“If it’s clearly against the will of the people who are being forcibly fed, then in a view of the World Medical Association and indeed our view, this would amount to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment which is not permissible under international law,” said Rupert Colville, the UN spokesman on human rights.
In his remarks, Barack Obama seemed to support the US practice of force-feeding some hunger-strikers.
“I don’t want these individuals to die,” he said.
“Obviously the Pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best we can.”
The US has had to reinforce medical staff at Guantanamo Bay, with about 40 nurses and other specialists arriving at the weekend, according to a camp spokesman.
The strike began in February but spread in recent weeks to include more than 100 of the 166 people held at the facility.
Guantanamo officials deny claims that the strike began after copies of the Koran were mishandled during searches of prisoners’ cells.
A spokesman for the detention camp told Reuters news agency that 21 prisoners were being force-fed through tubes inserted through their noses, while five had been brought to hospital for observation but did not have life-threatening conditions.
Shorter hunger strikes have happened at Guantanamo since early 2002, when the US began bringing al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners there.
Violence erupted at the prison on April 13 as the authorities moved inmates out of communal cellblocks where they had covered surveillance cameras and windows.
Some prisoners used “improvised weapons” and were met with “less-than-lethal rounds”, camp officials said, but no serious injuries were reported.
Nearly 100 of the detainees have reportedly been cleared for release but remain at the facility because of restrictions imposed by Congress as well as concerns of possible mistreatment if they are sent back to their home countries.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to National Security Council Director Tom Donilon last week asking for the administration to “renew its efforts” to transfer the cleared prisoners.
Dianne Feinstein and another committee member had earlier asked the Obama administration to temporarily halt the transfer of 56 cleared Yemeni nationals after an attempted bombing claimed by al-Qaeda in Yemen in December 2009.
Soon after his election, Barack Obama made closing Guantanamo Bay a top priority for his new administration, pledging to close it within a year of his inauguration in January 2009.
Barack Obama’s plan to transfer prisoners to maximum security prisons in the US and try some detainees in the civilian justice system met fierce resistance from lawmakers of both parties.
According to legal sources, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyer have started very early talks about a possible deal in which the Boston Marathon bomber would cooperate in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team got a major boost on Monday with the addition of prominent anti-death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke, who has managed to get life sentences for several high-profile clients.
A judge approved the appointment of death penalty expert Judy Clarke to defend 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction during the April 15 marathon.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense team got a major boost with the addition of prominent anti-death penalty lawyer Judy Clarke, who has managed to get life sentences for several high-profile clients
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
But judge Marianne Bowler denied, at least for now, a request from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s public defender, Miriam Conrad, to appoint a second death penalty lawyer – David Bruck, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyers could renew their motion to appoint another death penalty expert if he is indicted, the judge said.
The news that he could escape the death penalty for divulging information was reported on NBC News.
Judy Clarke’s clients have included the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; Susan Smith, a woman who famously drowned her two children; Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; and most recently Jared Loughner, who shot former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head.
All received life sentences instead of the death penalty.
Judy Clarke has rarely spoken publicly about her work, however, at a speech Friday at a legal conference in Los Angeles, she talked about how she had been “sucked into the black hole, the vortex” of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Susan Smith.
“I got a dose of understanding human behavior, and I learned what the death penalty does to us,” Judy Clarke said.
“I don’t think it’s a secret that I oppose the death penalty.”
David Bruck has directed Washington and Lee’s death penalty defense clinic, the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, since 2004.
Neuroscientists in Boston have asked for a chance to examine Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain to try and find some explanations for the marathon attacks.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller argued in the Boston Globe that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain should be studied “as closely as our forensic experts have studied a few blocks along Boylston Street” – the scene of the double blasts on April 15.
He works as a psychiatrist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the city, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died and his younger brother, Dzhohkar Tsarnaev, 19, was treated after a stand-off with police.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller claimed that we are all keen for more details about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radicalization, and also the reported aggression and anger of the suspect.
Neuroscientists in Boston have asked to examine Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain to find some explanations for the marathon attacks
The doctor acknowledged that many people are looking for explanations as to why the two men allegedly plotted and executed the attacks that killed three people and injured more than 260.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller claimed in the Boston Globe that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain is an “opportunity to examine important and interesting evidence that is there for the taking”.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a battle with armed police on April 19 but his body has yet to be claimed.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller said that Dr. Robert Cantu and Dr. Robert Stern of Boston University’s Center for the Study of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) have already expressed an interest in Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain.
CTE is a degenerative brain disease that was initially discovered in boxers. And Dr. Micahel Craig Miller believes that Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s boxing career could have caused this or another condition in the suspect.
He concedes that: “We are not likely to agree about the meaning of what is found in the brain of the suspected bomber.”
Dr. Michael Craig Miller quoted Doctors Cantu and Stern who point out that any evidence of a brain disease “would not necessarily have been the cause of Tsarnaev’s premeditated, violent behavior”.
He argued that in the aftermath of the bombings we have concentrated on “the aspects of politics and culture, or of social and family life, that may breed violent behavior”.
Dr. Michael Craig Miller is asking to study Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s brain as it “may teach us a small but important bit about the biology of violence”.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s family has received more than $100,000 in welfare benefits over the last decade, according to the Boston Herald.
Details of the benefits – which included cash, food stamps and housing assistance – are contained within more than 500 documents that were handed over from Massachusetts welfare officials to a committee of state lawmakers on Monday.
The documents have not been released publicly, but a person who has reviewed them told theBoston Heraldthat the “breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning”.
The paper also spoke to Massachusetts Rep. David Linsky about the documents, who promised a thorough review of the assistance that the family received.
“I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,” said David Linsky, the committee’s chairman.
It has been previously reported that deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his wife Katherine Russell relied on food stamps and public assistance from 2011 to 2012, soon after they became parents.
Last Friday, the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance detailed how the couple received food stamps from September 2011 to November 2012.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Russell, who married in June 2010, are believed to have become parents to their daughter, Zahara, in 2011, in the months before they began receiving the aid.
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s family has received more than $100,000 in welfare benefits over the last decade
In addition to food stamps, the young family also benefited from TAFDC (Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children), a program for low income parents with dependent children.
TAFDC is paid out twice a month and can be directly deposited into a recipient’s bank account.
The assistance was paid to Katherine Russell, since a person must be a U.S. citizen, or eligible non-citizen, to receive the aid.
While they took the government aid, Katherine Russell would sometimes clock as many as 80 hours a week while her unemployed husband stayed at home.
Ultimately Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s income made the couple ineligible for welfare and they stopped receiving state money in November 2012.
Welfare officials have been forced to divulge details of the aid that was paid out to the family of the bombing suspects.
Mass. Gov. Patrick Deval told state agencies last week that they should not discuss the details of what government assistance Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had received, citing privacy concerns.
Welfare information is not available for public release unless the person in question provides their consent, but it is available to lawmakers.
Massachusetts State Rep. David Linsky called on the state’s Department of Transitional Assistance to provide him with the information.
David Linksy issued an ultimatum on Thursday to welfare officials, giving them 24 hours to provide the information.
“My office is working to fully comply with your request,” DTA interim commissioner Stacey Monahan wrote in his report to Rep. David Linsky, saying they were only providing a summary “given the great interest in this matter”.
In addition to the aid paid out to Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Katherine Russell, both alleged Boston bombers had benefited from welfare since their parents Anzor and Zubeidat Tsarnaev collected foodstamps and TAFDC – from 2002 to 2004 and again in 2009 to 2011.
Since the Tsarnaevs are Chechen immigrants, some wondered why they received aid. But the state agency explained that they were considered eligible for the public assistance.
“The Tsarnaev parents were eligible to receive benefits as legal, non-citizen residents who were granted asylum status and met the basic eligibility criteria for DTA, including household income levels, presence of dependent children and other factors,” the DTA interim commissioner Stacey Monahan said in a letter addressed to David Linsky, Chairman of the House Post Audit and Oversight Committee.
The Herald had reported that sources who knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev said that though he sported a flashy appearance, he failed to earn very much money for his family and was essentially a stay-at-home dad.
His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, has been described as more entrepreneurial.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died early on April 19 after a shoot-out with police in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was captured late on April 19 after an extensive manhunt.
Willem-Alexander has been sworn in as king of the Netherlands in an enthronement ceremony at Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) following the abdication of Queen Beatrix today.
Willem-Alexander became the country’s first king since 1890 when his 75-year-old mother signed the abdication deed earlier on Tuesday after 33 years on the throne.
Huge crowds of orange-clad partygoers are in Amsterdam to pay tribute.
Now known as Princess Beatrix, the former queen maintained a recent Dutch tradition of monarch’s handing over power to a new generation.
Wearing the royal mantle, the new king swore to uphold the constitution at a colorful enthronement ceremony in the Nieuwe Kerk, a decommissioned church, before a joint session of the Dutch parliament.
“I swear that I shall defend and preserve the independence and territory of the state with all my powers,” he said.
“That I shall protect the general and individual freedom and rights of all my subjects and shall use all available means granted to me by law for preserving and promoting general and individual prosperity as I befitting of a good king…. So help me God almighty.”
Crowds in the square outside cheered as the announcement of his inauguration was made from a balcony overlooking the square amid trumpet fanfare.
In the evening, the royal family will take part in a water pageant.
Willem-Alexander has been sworn in as king of the Netherlands in an enthronement ceremony at Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk
Queen Beatrix had announced her intention to stand down in January, saying her son Willem-Alexander was ready to reign and that it was time for the throne to be held by “a new generation”.
She formally relinquished the throne at a short ceremony in the Royal Palace on Tuesday, signing a statement transferring the monarchy to Prince Willem-Alexander “in accordance with the statutes and the constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands”.
There were huge cheers from the crowds outside in Dam Square, who were watching the ceremony on giant television screens, as she, her son and his wife Maxima – a 41-year-old Argentine-born investment banker – signed the deed of abdication.
Shortly afterwards, the three royals emerged on a balcony above the square.
The visibly emotional Princess Beatrix told the crowds: “I am happy and grateful to introduce to you your new king, Willem-Alexander.”
King Willem-Alexander thanked mother for “33 moving and interesting years”, saying he and the public and people in Dutch overseas territories were “intensely grateful” to her.
The three then held hands as the national anthem was played, before the new king and queen’s three young daughters were brought out to wave at the crowds.
The royalcouple’s eldest daughter, 9-year-old Catharina-Amalia, has become Princess of Orange and is now first-in-line to the throne.
Many international royals and high-ranking dignitaries are taking part in the events, including the UK’s Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain and Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and his wife.
Willem-Alexander has said he wants to “be a king that can bring society together, representative and encouraging in the 21st Century”.
He has said he does not expect to be called “his majesty,” saying people can address him “as they wish”.
King Willem-Alexander is the seventh monarch from the House of Orange-Nassau, which has ruled the Netherlands since the early 19th Century.
Under Dutch law, the monarch has few powers and the role is considered ceremonial.
He or she is expected to be politically impartial, co-sign acts of parliament, help with the formation of new governments and to undertake state visits.
King Willem-Alexander has become not only the monarch of the Netherlands but also the Dutch Caribbean territories of Curacao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. He holds several military titles but requested an honorable discharge before his accession.
In recent decades it has become the tradition for the monarch to abdicate.
Queen Beatrix’s mother Juliana resigned the throne in 1980 on her 71st birthday, and her grandmother Wilhelmina abdicated in 1948 at the age of 68.
Queen Beatrix remained active in recent years, but her reign has also seen traumatic events.
In 2009 a would-be attacker killed eight people when he drove his car into crowds watching the queen and other members of the royal family in a national holiday parade.
In February last year her second son, Prince Friso, was struck by an avalanche in Austria and remains in a coma.
Abdication day in the Netherlands:
10:00 local time – Queen Beatrix signs the act of abdication at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam
10:30 – the former queen, now Princess Beatrix, and the new King Willem-Alexander appear on the palace balcony, with new Queen Maxima
14:00 – King Willem-Alexander is sworn in at the Nieuwe Kerk
19:30 – performance of The Song for the King followed by a water pageant
Former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner showed off his torso while going paddle boarding in the Aegean Sea as he and his family continued to enjoy their holiday in Greece.
Bruce Jenner, 63, was pictured next to his two sons, Brandon and Brody Jenner, who at the ages of 31 and 29 respectively both possess rippling torsos.
The reality star, who was once the most famous American athlete in the world after he won gold in the decathlon at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, showed that he still has plenty of endurance as he enjoyed the one hour expedition.
Bruce Jenner showed off his torso while going paddle boarding in the Aegean Sea
Bruce Jenner did however have a bit of trouble coming in from the sea and actually made a landfall with his oar.
Meanwhile, Brody and Brandon Jenner sliced through the sea with ease, laughing and joking along with their father as they soaked up the sun.
Pale Bruce Jenner attempted to get a tan in the colorful patterned board shorts he wore for the occasion, but his skin tone appeared to be more of a red hue.
While he didn’t get his hair wet this time, his auburn locks appeared to be getting frizzy all on their own from the salty sea air.
Once the boys reached the land, Bruce Jenner sat down on some rocks for a rest and chatted to his handsome son Brody.
He then slipped on a grey T-shirt as the trio made their way up the hill to head back to their hotel.
The group appeared to working off their dinner from the night before.
Bruce Jenner and his boys joined his wife Kris Jenner and their daughters Kendall and Kylie, and Kris’s other daughters Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian for a big family dinner.
His sons from his marriage to his ex-wife Linda Thompson will be making regular appearances on the new season of the Keeping Up With The Kardashians reality show.
They seems to be enjoying their new found reality fame, looking animated as they laughed and chatted with the extended family at dinner the night before.
The clan decamped to Santorini from the nearby island of Mykonos where they have been holidaying since Thursday.
The family have been renting a series of luxury villas at the My Mykonos Retreat, which come with stunning views of the South Aegean Sea.
Missing out on the trip are Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Kanye West and Khloe’s husband Lamar Odom.
Nadine Ascencao, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s ex-girlfriend, has revealed that he tried to turn her against the U.S. and beat her if she wore Western clothing.
Nadine Ascencao, 24, says that over the course of her relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, he was transformed from a fun-loving student into an Islamic extremist who shunned American life.
She lost her virginity to the Chechen immigrant and said she was besotted with him – but now she admits she had a “lucky escape”.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a stand-off with police four days after he and his brother Dzhokhar, 19, apparently set off two bombs at the Boston Marathon on April 15.
Since the terror attack, which left three by-standers dead and more than 270 injured, Tsarnaev brothers’ interest in Islamic terror has been revealed.
Nadine Ascencao, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s ex-girlfriend, has revealed that he tried to turn her against the U.S. and beat her if she wore Western clothing
Nadine Ascencao told The Sun: “One minute he’s this funny, normal guy who liked boxing and having fun, the next he is praying four times a day, watching Islamic videos and talking insane nonsense.
“He became extremely religious and tried to brainwash me to follow Islam. Tamerlan said I couldn’t be with him unless I became a Muslim. He wanted me to hate America like he did.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev apparently stopped her from listening to pop music or watching television, and tried to control who she spent time with.
“Tamerlan told me I should only talk to Muslim girls, not other <<slutty>> girls,” Nadine Ascencao said.
When she wore Western clothing, Tamerlan Tsarnaev would fly into a rage and even attack her, Nadine Ascencao added.
“He hated my tight trousers and made me wear long skirts,” Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s ex-girlfriend told The Sun.
“Towards the end I was wearing a hijab. He once ripped a pair of my jeans and hit me in the face with them.”
Nadine Ascencao and Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s relationship seems to have hit the rocks after he started seeing Katherine Russell after meeting her at a nightclub.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev would apparently play the two women off against each other, pitting them in competition to learn Islamic verses.
A police report from July 2009 indicated that he slapped Nadine Ascencao during an argument at their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She called 911 to complain, but although Tamerlan Tsarnaev was arrested and charged with assault the charges were dropped before trial.
The couple broke up later that year after three years together, and Tamerlan Tsarnaev went on to marry Katherine Russell, who converted to Islam in order to be with him.
Nadine Ascencao says she had no contact with her ex-boyfriend in the years before he launched his terror attack this month, but was questioned by the FBI over her links to the Islamic extremist.
“When they said Tamerlan was dead, I didn’t cry,” she told The Sun.
“I was more shocked Dzhokhar was involved. He was a nice kid.”
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is currently in police custody in hospital after being injured in a shoot-out with police which led to his arrest hours after Tamerlan’s death on April 19.
Princess Maxima’s entrance into the Dutch royal house was a sensation, and now she the queen consort of King Willem-Alexander, with the abdication of her mother-in-law Queen Beatrix on 30 April.
While her family’s links to a fallen dictatorship were scrutinized by parliament, the Argentine charmed the nation.
So how did this unconventional princess captivate a country so committed to rules and protocol?
Dutch historian Henk te Velde recalled: “The first time I met Maxima she was wearing a wetsuit, waving exuberantly as crowds strained against security cordons to capture a close-up of their most adored royal.
“The princess plunged into the canal and swam through Amsterdam: Her willingness to brave the city’s freezing waters for charity is symbolic of a character that has captured the Dutch imagination.”
“She came and she conquered,” Henk te Velde said.
He adds that her readiness to speak to the people in their own language when she married Crown Prince Willem-Alexander also went down well.
“People were struck by the fact that as soon as she came she started to learn Dutch,” he said.
“We were impressed. It showed she has respect and was willing to make an effort to understand us.
“Now she even makes jokes in Dutch.”
Maxima’s Latin American roots add to her appeal, according to Han van Bree, a historian who specializes in the Dutch royal family.
“She is exotic, she has passion and sparkle and flamboyance and she doesn’t try to be distant like Beatrix,” he says.
“We love her for that, people can feel the authenticity.”
But it would be doing Maxima a disservice to suggest her appeal lies in little more than teaching her Dutch husband how to tango.
Maxima studied economics and before meeting Prince Willem-Alexander at a party in Seville, she was working for Deutsche Bank in New York.
Maxima studied economics and before meeting Prince Willem-Alexander at a party in Seville, she was working for Deutsche Bank in New York
Her financial background helped win her the job of UN Secretary-General’s special advocate for inclusive finance.
She is involved in domestic debates on the divisive subjects of immigration and integration – something that has, in the past, put her at odds with the country’s influential right wing.
Maxima is also a prominent proponent of gay rights. One of her first appearances after becoming queen will be at a two-day international gay rights summit in The Hague.
Willem-Alexander has been aware of his “date with destiny” since he was a child. Han Van Bree believes this was not something he was looking forward to.
Since he was a boy, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander has had an awkward relationship with the press.
“He didn’t tell the media to <<go to hell>> as it was reported when he was 11, but it was something close to that,” says Han Van Bree.
During his student days in the quiet city of Leiden, there was an unfortunate photo taken of Willem-Alexander clutching a pint of beer that generated the seemingly unshakable nickname “Prince Pils”.
This apparently frustrated the future king greatly.
In an interview in 1997, he said: “My image is not something that keeps me busy every day. But I find it sad that one picture in a paper of me holding a glass has more influence on my image than… years of training.”
Prince Willem-Alexander would go on to learn many lessons on how to keep the Dutch people on his side.
“He was seen as the jet-set prince, <<chasing skirts>>. He was always a bit timid in public, a bit stiff,” says Henk te Velde, a professor of Dutch History at Leiden University.
“But now he looks more relaxed, he is being more himself and he looks ready now and Maxima has definitely helped.”
Maxima’s father did not attend her wedding and is not on the inauguration guest list either. Instead of joining the dignitaries descending on Amsterdam, Jorge Zorreguieta will watch his daughter become queen on television.
Jorge Zorreguieta was the agriculture minister during Argentina’s brutal military dictatorship, serving during the country’s infamous Dirty War. Though Maxima was a child at the time, the link initially created some controversy.
There was a campaign to have Jorge Zorreguieta arrested and put on trial for crimes against humanity if he entered the Netherlands. This has since been dismissed – but there may again be problems if charges are ever brought against him in Argentina.
The question of Maxima’s suitability was even debated in the Dutch parliament.
However, Queen Beatrix came to the rescue with a royal seal of approval.
She appeared alongside the new couple on her 63rd birthday and, during a rare public appearance to announce their engagement, the queen described her daughter-in-law as “an intelligent modern woman”.
Princess Maxima has demonstrated considerable dexterity in conforming to public protocol while maintaining private ties between her father and his so-called triple-A granddaughters – the unusual nickname given to the royal couple’s daughters Amalia, Alexia and Ariene.
“That is how I hope people will judge our family,” Prince Willem-Alexander once said.
Princess Maxima’s choice of outfit for her inauguration has been the subject of much discussion, of course. It is easy to ask why we should care what Maxima wears – but her clothes are likely to make a subtle statement.
She is renowned for her flamboyant style, mixing elegant gowns and bold, block colors. From a canary yellow tunic trouser suit during a state visit to Brunei to a cascading champagne gown at the 2011 state opening of parliament.
Princess Maxima is fluent in fashion and knows how to utilize its power of expression. Her extravagant ivory Mikado silk wedding gown was by Italian designer Valentino. More recently Maxima has shopped locally, showcasing stunning creations by a small Amsterdam-based atelier, Jan Taminiau.
For the royal couple’s only televised interview prior to the abdication – watched by 4.6 million viewers, roughly a quarter of the population – Maxima’s regal blue dress matched her husband’s tie.
Han Van Bree, who has met Maxima, interpreted this as a deliberate effort not to outshine Willem-Alexander.
He says: “She was not like herself – very reserved, very quiet… Normally she is electrifying with so much to say, but it was maybe only 20% Maxima and the rest was Willem-Alexander. It is his big day and I think she is making a conscious effort not to attract so much attention to herself.”
She has learnt from past mistakes, he adds.
“It’s important she shows that she knows her place – by the king’s side and not queen in her own right.”
As a result, Maxima may opt to leave her jewel-encrusted tiaras at home on abdication day.
But it will be hard for a woman who revels in refined glamour to rein in her exuberant style. With an audience of 1.6 million expected to congregate in orange attire in the capital, might Maxima join her subjects in adopting the colors of the House of Orange to celebrate the start of her husband’s reign?
As one royal magazine put it, her outfit must convey “hope and renewal” for the next generation.
She may be playing a supporting role, but it is a vital one.
In Henk te Velde’s words, Maxima is becoming the Dutch king’s “most important adviser” and what she wears matters.
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found that Ukraine’s pre-trial detention of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011 was illegal and her rights to a legal review and compensation were violated.
Yulia Tymoshenko, who is still in jail, also alleged physical mistreatment, but that complaint was not upheld by the ECHR.
The former prime minister was jailed for seven years for abuse of office over a gas deal.
Tuesday’s verdict does not overturn her prison sentence.
The ECHR will examine that verdict later, in a separate case.
ECHR has found that Ukraine’s pre-trial detention of former PM Yulia Tymoshenko in 2011 was illegal and her rights to a legal review and compensation were violated
According to the Associated Press, a Ukrainian government official stormed out of the courtroom after Tuesday’s ruling.
The judgment is not final as the parties involved have three months to lodge any appeal.
Yulia Tymoshenko did not enter any claims for damages.
She was a key figure in Ukraine’s 2004 Orange Revolution and went on to become prime minister twice.
In 2009, Yulia Tymoshenko signed a 10-year contract for the supply of Russian gas to Ukraine.
At her trial two years later, prosecutors argued that she had not obtained the approval of her cabinet to sign the deal, and that it had proved ruinous for the Ukrainian economy.
The Strasbourg-based ECHR found that Yulia Tymoshenko’s detention ahead of her trial had violated her right to liberty and security because it had been ordered for an indefinite period of time.
“No risk of absconding was discernible,” it said, noting that the former prime minister had not breached her obligation not to leave town or failed to attend a court hearing.
The Ukrainian trial judge, Rodion Kireyev, had ordered her to spend the trial in custody for contempt of court.
However, the ECHR judges ruled that this “reason was not included among those which would justify deprivation of liberty”.
The ECHR also ruled that Ukraine’s judiciary lacked a procedure for reviewing the detention of suspects.
A complaint that Yulia Tymoshenko had been denied proper medical treatment in detention was thrown out by the ECHR judges.
On the contrary, they found that the local authorities “had invested efforts far beyond the normal healthcare arrangements available for ordinary detainees in Ukraine”.
They also threw out an allegation that Yulia Tymoshenko had been beaten during a transfer from prison to hospital in April 2012, pointing out that she had refused to undergo a full forensic examination at the time.
Though the ECHR did not rule on the legality of Yulia Tymoshenko’s actual conviction, her daughter Yevgenia hailed the verdict as the “first victory” on the way to her release.
“Today we are saying that this is the first victory, the first step to her full political rehabilitation and her immediate release,” she told reporters in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
