Venezuela’s electoral council has amended the final result of the April 14 presidential election for Hugo Chavez’s successor after finishing counting votes cast abroad.
The council said that according to its latest figures, Nicolas Maduro won the election by 1.49 percentage points, or fewer than 225,000 votes.
Earlier official figures had suggested Nicolas Maduro won by 1.8 percentage points.
Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski has demanded a full recount, which the council has rejected.
Figures released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday revealed that Henrique Capriles had won 93.13% of the votes cast abroad.
With 99.79% of the votes counted, the margin between the two candidates had narrowed to 1.49 percentage points, it said.
Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela’s election by 1.49 percentage points, or fewer than 225,000 votes
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 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”.
Supporters and opponents of Nicolas Maduro have also been clashing in Venezuela’s parliament, the National Assembly.
Opposition politicians have complained about 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.”
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.
On Monday, Nicolas Maduro 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 says he is on a hunger strike in protest.
William Plotnikov is a new figure that emerged in the story of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s conversion to violent extremist Islam.
Nicknamed “The Canadian”, William Plotnikov was a 23-year-old boxer from Canada who Tamerlan Tsarnaev met online and may have visited during his trip to Russia last year.
William Plotnikov, a Muslim convert from Toronto, could have spurred Tamerlan Tsarnaev to direct his against the US, new reports reveal.
The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reports that Tamerlan Tsarnaev went to Dagestan – a Russia republic torn by jihadist terrorism – to join an Islamic militia and fight against Russian forces in July 2012.
One day after William Plotnikov was killed by Russian security forces, Tamerlan Tsarnaev fled to Moscow. The next day he was back to the United States.
William Plotnikov, a Muslim convert from Toronto, could have spurred Tamerlan Tsarnaev to direct his against the US
Another contact Tamerlan Tsarnaev had in Dagestan – Makhmud Mansur Nidal, 19 – was also killed by Russian forces during his six-month visit to the war-torn region.
Novaya Gazeta suggests William Plotnikov may have turned Tamerlan Tsarnaev against the United States.
“It seems that Tamerlan Tsarnaev came to Dagestan with the aim of joining the insurgents. It didn’t work out..,” a security source told the newspaper.
“After Nidal and Plotnikov were destroyed and he lost his contacts, Tsarnaev got frightened and fled.”
Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s parents moved them to the US from the troubled Dagestan region years ago.
The similarities between William Plotnikov – who was called “The Canadian” by the other militiamen – and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are uncanny.
Both men were competitive boxers as teenagers. Both seemed to have suddenly turned to radical Islam in 2009 and quickly became interested in violent jihad being waged in Dagestan – where Islamic militias are targeting the moderate Sufi Muslims and fighting Russian security forces who control the region.
Both were born in Russian republics and later moved to the West, where they struggled to fit in.
It is unknown whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev and William Plotnikov ever met in person.
At one point, Tamerlan Tsarnaev visited his aunt in Toronto – the same city where Plotnikov lived with his parents.
William Plotnikov seized and interviewed by Russian authorities in 2010. At that time told them that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was one of the people he communicated with online.
Novaya Gazeta reports that the two communicated via a site associated with the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, a non-governmental organization.
William Plotnikov was then released by the Russians and went on to join an Islamic militia and take up arms against Russian security forces in Dagestan.
In February 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to Dagestan.
Novaya Gazeta reports that he was seen “more than once” by Russian intelligence units with Makhmud Mansur Nidal, 19, a half-Palestinian Dagestani who is believed responsible for a twin bomb attack in the capital Makhachkala that killed 13 people.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has abdicated and handed the throne to her son Prince Willem-Alexander.
Queen Beatrix, 75, signed the instrument of abdication in Amsterdam after 33 years on the throne.
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander has now become the country’s first king since 1890.
Huge crowds of orange-clad partygoers are in Amsterdam to pay tribute to the popular queen, who maintained a recent Dutch tradition to hand over to a new generation.
Queen Beatrix announced her intention to stand down in January, saying her son was ready to reign and that it was time for the throne to be held by “a new generation”.
The Queen formally relinquished throne at a short ceremony in the Royal Palace on Tuesday, signing a statement which read: “I now withdraw from my office of Queen of the Netherlands, and the monarchy will now be transferred to my eldest son, Willem-Alexander.”
There were huge cheers from the crowds outside, watching on giant screens in Dam Square, as Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess Maxima signed the deed.
Shortly after, the three royals emerged on a balcony above Dam Square.
Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess Maxima signed the deed
King Willem-Alexander thanked his mother for “33 moving and interesting years”, saying he and the Dutch public and people in Dutch overseas territories were “intensely grateful” to her.
The three then held hands on the balcony as the national anthem was played, before the new king and queen’s three young daughters were brought out to wave at the crowds.
Willem-Alexander will later be officially sworn at the Nieuwe Kerk, before a joint session of the Dutch parliament.
His wife Maxima, a 41-year-old Argentine-born investment banker, will become queen consort.
In the evening, the royal family will take part in a water pageant.
The ceremonies will be attended by other invited royals and high-ranking dignitaries, including Britain’s Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain and Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and his wife.
About a million visitors were set to pour into Amsterdam, and street parties are taking place across the nation.
On Monday, Queen Beatrix thanked the nation, saying the people’s devotion had given her the strength to carry on during her 33-year reign.
“Without your heart-warming and encouraging displays of affection, the burdens, which certainly have existed, would have weighed heavily,” she said.
Paying tribute to her late husband Prince Claus, who died in 2002, she said he had helped modernize the House of Orange.
“Perhaps history will bear out that the choice of my partner was my best decision,” said the monarch, who is known affectionately as Queen Bea.
She said hereditary authority of itself did not give substance to a contemporary monarchy; rather this was earned through “the will to serve the country”.
Willem-Alexander is well-prepared for the task ahead of him and will stand above party and group interests, she said.
Prince Willem-Alexander has already said he wants to “be a king that can bring society together, representative and encouraging in the 21st Century”.
“People can address me as they wish because then they can feel comfortable.”
Queen Beatrix is the sixth monarch from the House of Orange-Nassau, which has ruled the Netherlands since the early 19th Century.
Correspondents say she is extremely popular with most Dutch people, but her abdication was widely expected and will not provoke a constitutional crisis.
Under Dutch law, the monarch has few powers and the role is considered ceremonial.
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 has 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 to be sworn in at the Nieuwe Kerk
19:30 – performance of The Song for the King followed by a water pageant
Katherine Jackson’s lawyer says Michael Jackson’s promoters AEG Live failed properly to vet Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of causing the megastar’s death from a drug overdose, as a wrongful death lawsuit opens.
Katherine Jackson and his three children say AEG Live should be held liable for Michael Jackson’s death in 2009.
The promoters say they did no wrong and could not have foreseen Michael Jackson’s death on the eve of his comeback tour.
Millions of dollars are at stake in the trial, which could last up to 90 days.
Brian Panish, who represents Michael Jackson’s relatives, told a court in Los Angeles that AEG Live was the only party that maintained it was unaware of the star’s addiction to prescription drugs.
“Over the years Michael’s family and people who knew him believed he had a problem with prescription medication,” Brian Panish told a jury of six men and six women.
Katherine Jackson’s lawyer says Michael Jackson’s promoters AEG Live failed properly to vet Dr. Conrad Murray, who was convicted of causing the megastar’s death
“His stirring voice, his musical genius, his creativity and his generosity and his huge heart was extinguished forever,” the lawyer said, adding that jurors would have to decide who was responsible for the star’s death.
But AEG Live’s lawyer Marvin Putnam said Michael Jackson’s closely guarded private life left the promoters in the dark about his drug dependence.
“The truth is, Michael Jackson fooled everyone,” Marvin Putnam said.
“He made sure that no-one, nobody, knew his deepest darkest secrets.”
The case, which is expected to focus on the last months of Michael Jackson’s life, his financial history and his overall health, could feature testimony from his children.
It is also reported that stars such as singer Diana Ross, director Spike Lee and music producer Quincy Jones may take the stand.
The trial is expected to focus on Conrad Murray, the former cardiologist who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 for administering a combination of sedatives and the anaesthetic propofol that killed Jackson.
The Jackson family claims in its suit, filed in 2010, that AEG Live had not properly investigated Conrad Murray’s background before he was hired to serve as Michael Jackson’s personal physician.
Conrad Murray was to be paid $150,000 a month during the This Is It concert series, but Michael Jackson died before the tour began.
The doctor is in prison, appealing against his conviction.
AEG Live is expected to argue that Michael Jackson had selected Conrad Murray to be his personal doctor, and that Murray was not officially an AEG Live employee.
Michael Jackson’s family is expected to argue the concert promoters put pressure on Conrad Murray to get the megastar ready for the gruelling tour schedule despite the pop icon’s fragile health.
Famous members of Michael Jackson’s family, including his sister Janet, are also expected to attend the trial.
Pictures of Angelina Jolie, taken when she was a 16-year-old model, reveal how much her body has changed since she became a star.
The teenage Angelina Jolie did have rounded hips and soft fleshy arms.
Pictures of Angelina Jolie, taken when she was a 16-year-old model, reveal how much her body has changed since she became a star
Today, they have gone the same way as those of any other A-lister – to mostly skin and bone. At the same time, interestingly, her chest size has increased.
Angelina Jolie’s unblemished skin is also a distant memory.
The actress, now 37, is understood to have at least 13 tattoos decorating her body, including the geographical co-ordinates of her children’s birthplaces etched on to her left shoulder.
Amanda Knox, who is facing a retrial over the killing of Briton Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007, claims she is innocent during an ABC News interview to be aired later on Tuesday.
Amanda Knox, 25, says claims that she is a “she-devil” and “heartless manipulator” are all wrong.
“I’d like to be reconsidered as a person,” she says.
Last month, an Italian court overturned her acquittal and ordered a retrial.
Her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 29, will also face a new trial.
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox in Perugia in November 2007.
ABC News interview coincides with the release of Amanda Knox’s autobiography Waiting to Be Heard
Prosecutors believe 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.
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.
“I was in the courtroom [in Italy] when they were calling me <<devil>>,” Amanda Knox says in the ABC interview.
“It’s one thing to be called certain things in the media and then it’s another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting for your life, while people are calling you a devil.
“For all intents and purposes, I was a murderer – whether I was or not. And I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.”
She adds that what happened to her “was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone”.
The interview is timed to coincide with the release of Amanda Knox’s autobiography (Waiting to Be Heard), for which she 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.
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 Amanda Knox’s fate.
The piece of wreckage uncovered last week and believed to have come from one of the planes flown into the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks has been identified as a section of the wing, the NYPD has said.
The 5 ft piece was initially identified as a landing gear segment.
It was found by surveyors on Wednesday wedged in a narrow, rubbish-filled space 18 in wide.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks as hijackers brought down planes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Five suspected al-Qaeda militants are awaiting trial for the attacks at a military tribunal at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The plane part, known as a trailing edge flap actuation support structure, came from the underside of the wing, New York police said in a statement.
Authorities have not determined which of the two planes the metal piece came from.
The piece of wreckage uncovered last week and believed to have come from one of the planes flown into the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks has been identified as a section of the wing
The NYPDsecured the area in lower Manhattan – between 51 Park Place and 50 Murray Street – as a crime scene after the aircraft piece was found.
The location is at the site where a mosque and community centre has been proposed, three streets away from “Ground Zero” – where the twin towers once stood.
Police have taken photographs and are keeping the site off-limits until a health assessment has been made by the medical examiner’s office.
New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has said investigators would scour the space for possible human remains.
He said the piece of debris was found at about 11:00 local time on Wednesday by surveyors hired by the owner of 51 Park Place.
At 08:46 on 11 September 2001, American Airlines flight 11 hit the World Trade Center’s north tower. Seventeen minutes later, United flight 175 hit the south tower.
Although rubble from the attack was cleared in 2002, other debris has been found scattered across the area since.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the attacks while the other four men being held at Guantanamo Bay are accused of providing support for the co-ordinated hijacking.
They are charged with conspiring with al-Qaeda, terrorism, and one count of murder for each known victim of the 11 September attacks at the time the charges were filed – 2,976 in total.
The five face a possible death sentence if convicted.
China’s biggest e-commerce group Alibaba has bought an 18% stake in Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like service, as it looks to tap into the fast-growing social media sector.
Alibaba will pay $586 million for the stake, valuing Weibo at over $3.2 billion.
The deal is expected to help Alibaba drive traffic from Weibo, which has more than 500 million users, to its e-commerce sites such as Taobao.
It will also help generate additional advertising revenue for Weibo.
According to the two firms, the partnership will bring in $380 million more in advertising and social commerce services revenue for Weibo over the next three years.
China’s biggest e-commerce group Alibaba has bought an 18 percent stake in Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like service
“We believe that this strategic alliance helps to create a stronger Weibo,” said Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba.
“It affirms our view of the vitality and importance of social media in unleashing value in e-commerce activities.”
China has become the world’s biggest internet market and it is expected to grow even further in the coming years as more people get access to the internet.
Alibaba, was one of the early pioneers in the sector in China and has benefited from this boom.
It offers various services, including Alibaba.com which connects businesses across the globe to Chinese manufacturers. It also runs online shopping sites for retail consumers in China as well as an online payment service Alipay.
Driven by its success, the firm has been looking to increase its dominance in the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, social media sites such as Weibo have seen tremendous growth in China in recent times and have become a powerful medium for consumers.
The two companies said their partnership will help them grow their respective businesses and that they will “cooperate in the areas of user account connectivity, data exchange, online payment and online marketing, among other things”.
“Weibo and Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms are natural partners,” said Charles Chao, chairman SINA, the parent firm of Weibo.
“Together we provide a unique proposition not only to existing online merchants, but also to individuals or businesses, who wish to offer products and services on social networking platform to take advantage of the traffic shift toward social and mobile internet.”
According to the deal, Alibaba will have the right to increase its ownership in Weibo to 30% at a mutually agreed valuation “within a certain period of time in the future”.
Kendra Spears is set to become a princess after announcing her engagement to Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the eldest son of billionaire racehorse owner the Aga Khan.
Supermodel Kendra Spears, 24, once dubbed “the next Cindy Crawford”, will marry Prince Rahim Aga Khan, 41, in a Muslim ceremony, though a wedding date has not yet been set.
The engagement was made public on Friday by the Aga Khan in a press release on hiswebsite.
The Aga Khan, who is the spiritual leader of the world’s Shia Ismaili Muslims, said he was “delighted to announce the engagement”.
Kendra Spears is set to become a princess after announcing her engagement to Prince Rahim Aga Khan
Kendra Spears, who has appeared in campaigns for Diane von Furstenberg and Prada, and walked the catwalk for Calvin Klein, Chanel, Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy, among many others, thanked well-wishers via Twitter, writing: “Thank you all for the kind tweets! We’re very excited!”
The supermodel is a University of Washington sociology graduate who made headlines in 2009 when she was sued for changing model agencies.
After a two-year legal battle, Kendra Spears was made to pay Ford Models over $150,000 in royalties after switching to Next.
Prince Rahim Aga Khan, who studied in the U.S. at Brown University and the Navarra Business School in Barcelona, Spain, is involved in the poverty reduction efforts of the Aga Khan Development Network.
Kendra Spears, who will likely be converting to Islam ahead of the ceremony, will be marrying into a family with a long-established history of beautiful brides.
Her fiancé’s paternal grandfather was famously married to Rita Hayworth, and Prince Rahim’s British mother, Princess Salimah Aga Khan, was known as supermodel Sarah Croker-Poole before she wed (though she and the Aga Khan divorced in 1995, she continues to be known by her married name.)
The Aga Khan, 74, then married German former pop star Gabriele Renate Homey in 1998, after which she took the name Inaara, though they divorced in 2011.
Prince Rahim will be following in the footsteps of his younger brother, Prince Hussain, who also married an American model.
Prince Hussain, 39, wed New York professor’s daughter Kristin White in 2006 in a fairytale ceremony at a 14th century chateau outside of Paris. The bride converted to Islam and adopted the name Khaliya.
The marriage appears to have been short-lived though as it was reported in 2011 that the pair – who have no children – had split.
The Aga Khan’s daughter, Princess Zahra, 42, also had a failed marriage. She married British male model and farmer’s son Mark Boyden in 1997 – and had two children, daughter Sara, and son Iliyan with him – but they divorced in 2005.
The Rhode Island home of Katherine Russell Tsarnaev’s parents have been visited by FBI agents reportedly to take a sample of her DNA after traces of a woman were found on one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks.
Spokesman Jason Pack confirmed that agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the attacks.
According to The Wall Street Journal, FBI agents went to the house today to collect a DNA sample from Katherine Russell in a bid to rule out her involvement in the bombings.
An official close to the case told the newspaper that female DNA has been found on at least one of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks. Though investigators haven’t determined whose DNA it is or whether the DNA means a woman helped the two suspects carry out the bombings.
FBI agents investigating the Boston bombings visited the North Kingstown home of Katherine Russell’s parents, where Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s widow has been staying since the attacks
Jason Pack said the FBI visited the house as part of its investigation into the April 15 blasts, which killed three people and injured hundreds more.
“The FBI is there as part of our ongoing investigation, but we aren’t permitted to discuss specific aspects of our case,” the agency said in a statement.
After agents finished their job, Katherine Russell Tsarnaev, 24, left with her attorneys through a separate door. She was later photographed smiling as she left a Providence law center with her attorney.
Katherine Russell’s attorneys have previously said she and her family were in shock when they learned of the allegations against her husband Tamerlan and brother-in-law, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a gun battle with police while surviving suspect 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.
No one has yet come to claim Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s body, which is in the custody of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris.
The medical officer has determined Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s cause of death, but won’t release the information until the body has been claimed, Terrel Harris told The Boston Globe.
Katherine Russell converted to Islam before marrying Tamerlan Tsarnaev and having his child, 3-year-old daughter, Zahara.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has made a farewell national address thanking the Dutch people one day before her abdication and investiture of her son, Prince Willem-Alexander.
The queen thanked the Dutch people for their “heart-warming displays of affection” and also paid tribute to her late husband, Prince Claus.
Queen Beatrix was also attending a sumptuous gala dinner in her honor at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
She has been head of state since 1980, when her mother, Queen Juliana, abdicated.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands has made a farewell national address thanking the Dutch people one day before her abdication
In her televised address, Queen Beatrix said that the people’s devotion had given her the strength to carry on.
“Without your heart-warming and encouraging displays of affection, the burdens, which certainly have existed, would have weighed heavily.”
Paying tribute to her late husband, Prince Claus, who died in 2002, the queen said he had helped modernize the House of Orange.
“Perhaps history will bear out that the choice of my partner was my best decision.”
Monday evening’s gala dinner was being attended by her family and other invited royals and high-ranking dignitaries.
Earlier on Monday, Crown-Prince Willem-Alexander, 46, his future queen Maxima, 41, and their three children took part in a final dress rehearsal for his investiture at Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk.
Willem-Alexander will become the Netherlands’ first king since Willem III, who died in 1890.
Queen Beatrix is the sixth monarch from the House of Orange-Nassau, which has ruled the Netherlands since the early 19th Century.
Correspondents say she is extremely popular with most Dutch people, but her abdication was widely expected and will not provoke a constitutional crisis.
Under Dutch law, the monarch has few powers and the role is considered ceremonial.
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.
She has 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.
Amanda Bynes debuted her new undercut last week after shaving half her hair off, but she continues to show off her new style in several pictures posted in Twitter on Sunday.
The new bizarre self portraits featured Amanda Bynes winking at the camera while taking pictures of herself in a gym mirror.
Amanda Bynes debuted her new undercut last week after shaving half her hair off
“At the gym! Rawr!” she wrote, before posting the series of snapshots showing her blonde tresses worn long over one shoulder and cropped shaven on the other side.
She sported a white tracksuit top and baggy white tracksuit bottoms while posing in front of several gym machines
Amanda Bynes, 27, debuted her new look on Twitter last week.
The troubled actress posted: “I buzzed half my head like @cassie! No more old photos! This is the new me! I love it!”
Amanda Bynes follows in the footsteps of R&B singer Cassie, rocker Ellie Goulding and model Alice Dellal, who have all sported similar hairstyles.
Khloe Kardashian has lost an estimated 20 lbs recently through exercise and healthy eating and she wanted to unveil her new beach body while on a family holiday in Mykonos, Greece.
Khloe Kardashian, 28, stripped down revealing her frame in a one-piece bathing suit.
The reality star was pictured leaping off a boat in the cleavage-baring number, which also showed off her sculpted back with its scoop design in the rear.
Khloe Kardashian stripped down while on a holiday in Mykonos, revealing her frame in a one-piece bathing suit
Lamar Odom’s wife wasn’t afraid to let her legs catch some sun as she donned the high cut item which showed off plenty of her behind from a side angle.
Khloe Kardashian completely let go of an inhibitions as she jumped in the water with both hands in the air.
She wore her locks with two French braids at the front, letting the rest of her long tresses fall on her back.
Upon returning to her family’s yacht, Khloe Kardashian covered up her lower half with a white towel and concealed her eyes with dark sunglasses.
Khloe Kardashian claims to have dropped 20 lbs thanks to boxing sessions.
“Well I love to box,” she told recently OK! magazine.
“I’ve always boxed. I just love it. I’m good at it. I get the circuit really well.
“Like when they yell out numbers I’m really fast and good with it and it keeps me really entertained.
“I don’t get bored and you shed weight when you do it.”
It was Kate and William second wedding anniversary, but it was business as usual for the Duchess of Cambridge as she visited Naomi House Children’s Hospice today.
Kate Middleton, 31, was without husband Prince William during the engagement at the children’s hospice in Hampshire to mark Children’s Hospice Week.
It was Kate and William second wedding anniversary, but it was business as usual for the Duchess of Cambridge as she visited Naomi House Children’s Hospice
According to sources, Prince William is on shift as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot in Anglesey on the anniversary of their Westminster Abbey wedding in 2011 – which is normally celebrated with a gift of cotton.
However it is believed Kate and William enjoyed a private weekend away in Norfolk to mark the occasion.
On her visit to the hospice, Kate Middleton looked blooming in an apricot-colored Tara Jarmon Coat and a peach dress by a private dressmaker.
She was presented with a beautiful posy of flowers by Sally Evans, eight, from Salisbury, Wilts, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy.
LG Electronics has announced it will begin deliveries of curved OLED television sets in May, making it the first to offer such a product to the public.
The use of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) allows screens to be made thinner and more flexible than before.
The 55 in (140 cm) model will cost 15 million won ($13,550) and is initially limited to sales in South Korea.
One analyst said that being first to market gave LG “bragging rights”, but suggested demand would be limited.
LG Electronics and its rival Samsung Electronics both showed off curved OLED TV prototypes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, but did not announce release dates at the time.
LG Electronics has announced it will begin deliveries of curved OLED television sets in May, making it the first to offer such a product to the public
The two businesses are part of larger conglomerates that have separate divisions manufacturing their own television display panels. Many of their competitors buy in the components from third parties, making it harder for them to claim such an exclusive.
OLED tech is based on carbon-based materials that convert electricity into light.
While LCD screens need a backlight to illuminate their crystals, OLED does not need a separate light source.
This allows the newer type of TVs to be made thinner, lighter and more energy-efficient than before, as well as offering the advantage of deeper blacks.
In addition, the OLEDs can be fabricated onto a flexible plastic substrate rather than a rigid glass layer, making it easier to manufacture them into a curved screen.
This has allowed LG to market the new EA9800 model as being only 4.3 mm (0.17 in) thick, weighing 17 kg (37.5 lb) and offering an “Imax-cinema-like” viewing experience.
“With more than five years research behind developing the optimum curvature, the entire screen surface is equidistant from the viewer’s eyes, eliminating the problem of screen-edge visual distortion and loss of detail,” LG Electronics said in a press release.
IHS Screen Digest, a market research firm used by television manufacturers, said it expected Samsung to follow with a similar product soon, although it noted that teething troubles with making large OLED TVs was likely to keep their prices high and output low in the near future.
The firm’s senior analyst Ed Border added that, in the short term, curved TVs were likely to be more valuable as a promotional tool rather than a profit-making product to their makers.
“There’s certain content which is great to see in different ways, but for a lot of what’s on TV seeing it curved is not necessarily going to improve the experience that much,” Ed Border said.
“But I think being curved is a good way of pushing the OLED technology to consumers and acting as a marketing tool.
“Looking forward, I think there will still be room for flatscreen TVs, especially if you are thinking of hanging an OLED screen on the wall or just want to buy a cheaper LCD set.”
LG said it was now accepting orders for the curved TV set in South Korea, and would announce the timing and pricing of versions for markets elsewhere “in the months ahead”.
The annual report by the Norwegian Refugee Council suggests almost 29 million people lived in internal displacement in 2012, with 6.5 million newly displaced just in the past year.
For the fourth year running, Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced people on the list.
Globally, the total number of displaced people has risen, with the conflict in Syria blamed for much of the spike.
A third of all internally displaced are in sub-Saharan Africa, the report says.
The annual report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) suggests internal displacement – in which people flee from violence without crossing their country’s borders – will continue to accelerate unless permanent solutions to conflicts are found.
IDMC Director Kate Halff says that governments are “responsible for finding long-term solutions for their displaced citizens”.
For the fourth year running, Colombia has the highest number of internally displaced people, according to the IDMC annual report for 2012
The report says that Colombia, with its estimated 4.9 to 5.5 million internally displaced people tops the global list.
It estimates that Colombia’s internal armed conflict forced around 230,000 people to flee their homes in 2012.
However, the report says that the figure is provisional, as the government did not publish official figures for the past year.
It also notes that the figure fails to include those people displaced as a result of violence carried out by criminal and drug-trafficking gangs.
That violence, however, has been on the up, with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos recognizing the rise of the criminal gangs as one of the main threats facing the country.
On Sunday, police figures suggested that Colombia’s largest criminal gang, Los Urabenos, now has more members than the left-wing rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
Both the Colombian Red Cross and the IDMC have warned that the victims of criminal gangs in Colombia do not receive the same official recognition as those victimized by the Farc or ELN rebel groups.
Police say the Urabenos have more than 2,000 members and operate in major cities such as Medellin, as well as rural areas, where they engage in drug and arms trafficking and extortion.
Colombia has suffered from almost five decades of civil conflict with both left-wing guerrilla groups and right-wing paramilitaries fighting each other, and the security forces.
Negotiators representing the government and the Farc rebel group are currently holding peace negotiations in Cuba in an attempt to end the conflict.
The government has also launched a restitution programme aimed at returning land stolen as part of the conflict to its rightful owners.
The mysterious Misha, identified as Mikhail Allakhverdov and thought to be the missing link in explaining the radicalization of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has broken his silence to speak out from his home in Rhode Island on Sunday.
Accused by members of the Tsarnaev family of being the mastermind behind the Boston Marathon attacks which killed three and injured over 280 people, Mikhail Allakhverdov has come forward in hope of setting the record straight.
Frenzied speculation surrounded his role in April 15th’s attacks, with some asking whether “Misha” was part of a wider terror cell or incredibly, if he was a Russian mole – sent to spy on Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
His very absence from the investigation fueled the conspiracy theories – but now he has come forward to declare himself innocent and that crucially the FBI do not believe he had any part in the bombings.
Christian Caryl from the New York Review of Books tracked down Mikhail Allakhverdov to his family home in Rhode Island – to a lower middle class neighborhood.
The meeting between Christian Caryl and Mikhail Allakhverdov confirms right away that he does have the widely reported distinguishing reddish beard mentioned by members of the Tsarnaev family.
Living with his parents in a tidy apartment, Mikhail Allakhverdov flat out denied any part in Tamerlan, 26 and 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s murderous attacks.
Confirming he is indeed a convert to Islam, Misha said he did know Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2009 as he spoke to Christian Caryl in Russian.
“I wasn’t his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this,” Mikhail Allakhverdov said to the New York Review of Books.
The mysterious Misha, identified as Mikhail Allakhverdov and thought to be the missing link in explaining the radicalization of Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has broken his silence
Mikhail Allakhverdov, 39, is of Armenian-Ukrainian descent and lives with an American girlfriend with his elderly parents.
His father is an Armenian Christian and his mother is an ethnic Ukrainian.
Speaking to the New York Review of Books, Mikhail Allakhverdov’s father said: “We love this country. We never expected anything like this to happen to us.”
Mikhail Allakhverdov confirmed to the New York Review of Books that he knew Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2009 when he lived in Boston but none in the years since.
He declined to elaborate on his relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev and how he became friends – but would not say why he ceased speaking to the Boston bomber.
However, Misha denied that he had ever met any of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s family – which contradicts their claims that he would be seen discussing Islam with the elder Tsarnaev brother late at night at the family’s kitchen table.
He also confirmed he had been interviewed by the FBI and that he has cooperated with the investigation:
“I’ve been cooperating entirely with the FBI. I gave them my computer and my phone and everything I wanted to show I haven’t done anything. And they said they are about to return them to me.
“And the agents who talked told me they are about to close my case.”
An FBI spokesman in Boston declined to comment on an ongoing case – but confirms recent reports that “Misha” is not thought to be connected to the bombings.
Accused by Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of radicalizing his nephew, Mikhail Allakhverdov became known only by the name “Misha” as wild speculation grew as to his identity or even if he was real.
“It started in 2009. And it started right there, in Cambridge,” Ruslan Tsarni told CNN after the attacks.
“This person just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely.”
On Friday the FBI revealed that they now know the identity of the American known as Misha who helped radicalize the Boston bombing suspects.
Family members of dead bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev have described Misha as the guiding influence in the elder bomber developing radicalized views.
Speculation as to who Misha is has varied wildly in the past week, with some suggesting he is the mastermind behind the marathon bombings while others believe he could be a Russian spy – sent to identify and keep tabs on young men like Tamerlan Tsarnaev who are at risk of turning to militant Islam.
Up till Sunday all that was known about Misha is that he is an Armenian man in his 30s with distinctive red beard and that he has disappeared – no longer living in the Cambridge, Massachusetts area.
However, before Sunday’s revelations family members had been telling reporters that in the years before the Boston marathon bombings, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, fell under the strong influence of a new friend, a Christian who converted to Islam and who steered the religiously apathetic young man towards adopting strong Islamic views.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout four days after the bombings on April 15th.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged last Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill, and he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Under the tutelage of a friend known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing and stopped studying music, his family said. He began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and Jews controlled the world.
According to Ruslan, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radicalization happened right under the nose of his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva.
Former NBA champion Michael Jordan married his girlfriend of five years, Cuban model Yvette Prieto, on Saturday, April 27, in a jaw-dropping 40,000 sq ft tent.
According to local realtors Jeff and Cary Lichtenstein, Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto’s venue is the “largest tent in wedding history,” and is actually 5,000 square feet larger than their home. Jeff Lichtenstein, who took the photos of the wedding venue, markets homes in Jupiter and Palm Beach real estate for sale.
Michael Jordan, 50, and his new wife, 34-year-old Yvette Prieto, hosted upwards of 2,000 people at their Palm Beach wedding, according to People magazine.
Yvette Prieto and Michael Jordan got engaged in 2011 after dating for three years. Michael Jordan was previously married to Juanita Vanoy from 1989 to 2006.
The newlyweds’ 40,000 sq ft wedding tent was placed on a golf course and was designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Michael Jordan married Yvette Prieto on April 27, in a jaw-dropping 40,000 sq ft wedding tent in Palm Beach
More than 2,000 guests have been invited to join the couple for their reception at the Bear’s Club golf course in Jupiter, Florida, which is just feet away from Michael Jordan’s sprawling Florida mansion that is 5,000 sq ft smaller than his wedding tent.
Michael Jordan’s enormous home was deemed too small for the couple’s reception so he had to resort to erecting the tents, the size of three football fields, for the wedding revelers.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve been working weddings for a while. It looks like he’s having about 2,000 people over,” and unidentified insider told GossipExtra.
On Thursday, a crew of 50 staffers spent the day on setting up three tents in the backyard.
On Friday, employees set up a sound system for the fete.
The equipment is said to have arrived in four semi-trailers.
Musicians in the wedding band were heard practicing on Friday and golfers who were playing on the course were said to have enjoyed the set list.
The wedding tent allowed guests to enter in a spacious reception area that leads into a dining room.
Connected was a gigantic ballroom and dance floor, darkened with paneling to allow for lighting and effects.
On Friday, the lovebirds and their wedding party descended on the exclusive Bethesda-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach for their rehearsal.
Michael Jordan’s mother was seen headed into the church where her star athlete son is going to get married Saturday afternoon.
Though neither Michael Jordan nor Yvette Prieto were seen in public on Friday, they likely were inside the church as they prepare to wed.
Local police have been ordered to order back up security for the church between the hours of 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Saturday, giving the crew of revelers more than enough time to arrive, attend the ceremony and leave.
Bethesda-By-The-Sea is the same church where Donald Trump married his third wife Melania in 2006.
Earlier in April, it was the venue for the memorial service for socialite designer Lilly Pulitzer, who died on April 7.
Yvette Prieto, Michael Jordan’s new wife, is a Cuban-American model born on March 1, 1979, who has posed for famous designers such as Alexander Wang.
The Cuban-born model went to school for business management and, in 2008, she began dating Michael Jordan, and the two moved in together a year later.
Yvette Prieto, 34, and former NBA champion Michael Jordan, 50, live in Kendall, Florida, a suburb outside of Miami in a three-bedroom house.
Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto got engaged in 2011 and married on April 27, 2013, in a Palm beach lavish ceremony.
Yvette Prieto, Michael Jordan’s new wife, is a Cuban-American model, who has posed for famous designers such as Alexander Wang
Yvette Prieto once dated Julio Iglesias Jr., brother of more famous singer Enrique Iglesias and son of legendary Julio Iglesias.
Julio Iglesias Jr., now 40, once called Yvette Prieto “simple”, saying: “She’s a fantastic girl and I like her. Aside from her beauty, which is obvious, she is loving, simple and very good person.”
According to The Urban Daily, Yvette Prieto and Julio Iglesias Jr. met while “freak dancing at a not-so-sexy club in Miami”.
Yvette Prieto is Michael Jordan’s second marriage. MJ was married to his first wife, Juanita, for 17 years. Forbes magazine reported their divorce settlement was possibly more than $150 million, which, at the time, would have made it the most expensive divorce in entertainment history.
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Yvette Prieto was first registered as a Republican, according to Fox News, then she changed her affiliation to Independent.
Speaking to the June issue of Elle UK magazine, Miley Cyrus insists she and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth are as committed to each other as ever, despite her reluctance to discuss her private life.
Miley Cyrus, 20, admits she has decided to keep their romance away from the spotlight after previously being more open.
Speaking about her June 2012 engagement to Liam Hemsworth, who she has been dating since 2009, Miley Cyrus admitted it felt like a natural progression after moving in together.
The former child star said: “We have a house together and dogs. It just seems right to be wearing this ring and to be committed.
Speaking to the June issue of Elle UK magazine, Miley Cyrus insists she and Liam Hemsworth are as committed to each other as ever
“But we keep our relationship low-key and don’t talk about it anymore.”
Miley Cyrus was previously very open about her emotions on Twitter, but decided to pull back in recent months.
She explained: “We were too nice to the world and gave them too much insight – into my life and my puppies and my house – and I just don’t feel they get that privilege any more.
“Like on my Twitter, I’m much more… not conservative, but you don’t see a picture of my dogs. You don’t get that personal stuff anymore.”
Having found fame as a child star, Miley Cyrus admits it is difficult to find real friends she can trust and who befriend her for her personality, not her celebrity persona.
The actress said: “People who grew up without either (money or fame) can get more of a culture shock and go the wrong way. <<Oh my God, I have all this money! How can I spend it? All these people will like me because I’m famous!>>
“I’ve always had people trying to be my friend for the wrong reasons.”
The June issue of ELLE UK will be on sale starting with 1st of May 2013.
The new issue is available as digital edition through Apple Newsstand.
A massive explosion has damaged a building in the centre of the Czech capital Prague, police say.
Initial reports suggested that some people may be trapped in the rubble. The area around the explosion in Divadelni St has been sealed off by police.
Spokespeople for the fire brigade said that there had been at least one injury from the blast.
A massive explosion has damaged a building in the centre of the Czech capital Prague
Police spokesman Tomas Hulan says it is not immediately clear what caused the blast in Divadelni Street on Monday morning.
A photo, tweeted by RT.com and credited to Digiolli on Twitter, shows the aftermath of the blast.
The street is covered with rubble and has been sealed off by police.
Jirina Ernestova, spokeswoman for the rescue service says rescuers expect some people are buried under the rubble. Firefighters spokeswoman Pavlina Adamcova says at least 13 people have been injured.
Windows in buildings located hundreds of meters from the blast were shattered, including some in the nearby National Theater.
South Korea has decided to pull the last of its workers out of Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, as Seoul announced moves to help affected firms.
A total of 125 South Koreans left the joint Kaesong complex on Saturday, and the remaining 50 were expected to leave on Monday, officials said.
They had been due out at 17:00 local time but were delayed by “details” that needed “ironing out”, officials said.
The move came after North Korea rejected talks on Kaesong industrial park.
Tensions are high following Pyongyang’s third nuclear test in February.
Pyongyang has been angered by tightened UN sanctions imposed after its February 12 nuclear test and by joint US-South Korea military drills, which are scheduled to end on Tuesday.
A total of 125 South Koreans left the joint Kaesong complex in North Korea on Saturday, and the remaining 50 were expected to leave on Monday
Kaesong Industrial Complex, which was launched in 2003 to boost inter-Korean ties, is a factory park situated just inside North Korea.
It is home to 123 South Korean companies which employ North Korean workers, and provides the North with much-needed hard currency.
Earlier this month, North Korea blocked South Korean workers from entering the zone. It withdrew its 53,000 workers from the industrial park a few days later.
Although the North has restricted entry to Kaesong Industrial Complex in the past, this would be the first time that all South Korean workers had withdrawn.
The remaining 50 workers had been expected to cross the border back into South Korea at 17:00.
“The two sides are currently in the process of ironing out some details, with most of the outstanding issues having been worked out,” a spokesman at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
He still expected the workers to return on Monday, South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted him as saying.
Earlier on Monday, the Ministry told reporters that North Korea had not yet approved the passage of the workers across the border. Pyongyang said last week it would not hinder those leaving the Kaesong complex.
Some of the workers were reportedly reluctant to leave Kaesong, fearing that company assets would be seized.
Han Jae-kwon, chairman of the Association of Kaesong companies, said: “Those remaining workers are there to take charge of products owned by our customers and raw materials, so we want detailed measures to protect them after the workers have been pulled out.”
The South Korean government said it had set up a taskforce to help companies who had been forced to halt operations at Kaesong.
The taskforce would “assess damages suffered by the firms with factories at Kaesong and… devise comprehensive and practical supportive measures,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
The South Korean government had discussed a variety of support measures, including the possibility of offering businesses loans from the inter-Korean co-operation fund, the statement added.
Meanwhile, North Korea seems to be gearing up for a major land and air military exercise, Yonhap said on Sunday, citing a government source.
A US citizen is also due to be tried soon on charges of attempting to overthrow the North Korean government, according to the North’s official news agency KCNA.
Pae Jun-ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist.
No date for the verdict has been confirmed, and it is not clear what sort of sanction Kenneth Bae might face, although North Korea’s criminal code provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for similar offences.
Paris Jackson and her biological mother Debbie Rowe were spotted enjoying quality time together as they headed to lunch together once again in California on Sunday.
Looking like any other mother and daughter, 15-year-old Paris Jackson looked in high spirits as she left Fire Island Grill accompanied by Debbie Rowe.
Dressed in a pair of cut-off denim shorts, with Dr. Martens and camouflage jacket, Paris Jackson flashed the rock sign and a smile to waiting photographers.
Completing her edgy look the teenager wore a Kurt Cobain T-shirt, while her cropped hair fell over her eyes.
Debbie Rowe and Paris Jackson celebrating the teenager’s 15th birthday at Ahi Sushi in Studio City, California on April 3
While Debbie Rowe, 54, may not have the same rock chic style, simply opting for a pair of jeans and T-shirt, she too looked comfortable and at ease.
Paris Jackson jumped into her mother’s car on the passenger seat showing that despite her rather unconventional upbringing she’s still an average teenage girl.
Debbie Rowe and her daughter have plenty to catch up on as they have only been in touch once again since Michael Jackson tragically passed away in 2009.
The lunch trip comes just a few days after the first picture of Paris Jackson with her biological mother Debbie Rowe surfaced.
The touching photo, revealed by Entertainment Tonight, shows Debbie Rowe with her arm around Paris Jackson as they celebrated the teenager’s 15th birthday at Ahi Sushi in Studio City, California on April 3.
Syrian PM Wael al-Halqi has survived a car bomb attack targeting his convoy in western Mazzeh district of Damascus, state television said.
There are also reported to be a number of casualties.
UK-based activist group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said Wael Halqi’s bodyguard had been killed, AFP news agency reported.
The blast is believed to have been a suicide attack.
Syrian PM Wael al-Halqi has survived a car bomb attack targeting his convoy in western Mazzeh district of Damascus
Syrian state television said the explosion happened at a busy intersection. A picture which activists said was of the scene after the attack showed a large plume of black smoke rising into the air near a road and a high-rise building.
Activist groups said a bus and a car had been set on fire.
Mezzeh is a government-controlled quarter housing a military airport which is vital to the regime’s defenses.
Syrian forces and rebels have been fighting around Damascus for months but with neither side gaining an upper hand.
Monday’s attack is the latest bombing inside government-controlled areas.
Late last year there was a suicide bomb attack on the interior ministry. The state media said top officials had escaped unhurt, but it later emerged that the minister himself had been badly injured.
