Six months pregnant Kate Middleton is said to have told a group of Army wives at a recent drinks reception in Aldershot that she has bought a Bugaboo pram in light blue, which some have taken as a clue to her unborn baby’s gender.
It’s been quite a week for Kate Middleton’s baby shopping: not only has she bought her pram, but she’s also chosen a white wicker Moses basket, which she purchased with her mother Carole from luxurious nursery furniture shop Blue Almonds, in South Kensington.
Made by a Dutch company, the Bugaboo quickly became a status symbol for yummy mummies, and, despite a price roughly the same as a small family car, they became a common sight on the streets of Notting Hill and Chelsea.
The top-of-the-range model comes in at just over $1,900.
Popular models such as the Bugaboo Cameleon, which starts at $1,250, even hold their value second-hand.
Kate Middleton is said to have told a group of Army wives at a recent drinks reception in Aldershot that she has bought a Bugaboo pram in light blue
“A pushchair is no longer something you use to push a child from A to B,” said Jo Studholme, who runs online magazine Pushchair Trader.
“They’ve become a status symbol. There are pramaholics out there who snap up the latest models just as they probably bought handbags before they became pregnant.”
While stores such as Mothercare and John Lewis still have a good selection of own-brand prams at the far more reasonable $390, it’s the designer brands that make most money.
Even without Kate Middleton’s endorsement, the rise of the Bugaboo has been meteoric.
What started out as Dutchman Max Barenbrug’s graduation project at design school in 1994 has turned into a global business.
With two daughters, Max Barenburg wanted to come up with a pram that men and women would be happy to push.
Bugaboo employs 800 staff and sells its products in more than 50 countries. The company’s annual revenue has grown from $2.8 million in 2001 to $97 million at the last count.
While sales are undoubtedly boosted by celebrity endorsement, chief marketing officer Madeleen Klaasen insists that quality is the true benchmark of the brand.
“If your product doesn’t perform, you’re gone after the first-year hype,” she says.
Bugaboo fans insist the pram is well-designed and therefore well worth the price-tag – even though it seems to be universally acknowledged that it doesn’t fit into the boot of a small car and is pretty difficult to work out how to open and collapse them.
There are several YouTube videos attempting to show Bugaboo virgins how to fold and unfold them.
“There was a big buzz about which buggy Kate would go for,” says Jo Studholme.
“I think there will be some disappointed manufacturers out there.
“The Bugaboo does have a high price-tag, but it is well-made and is good quality. The customer service is also excellent, so it’s not a surprising choice. But many had hoped she would go for a British brand, like the iCandy, instead.”
At least three people have been killed by an explosion that partly destroyed a block of flats in the northern French city of Reims, officials say.
Reims Mayor Adeline Hazan told BFM TV that the explosion at the four-storey building was probably caused by a gas leak.
Police said another 14 people were injured, including a number of children.
Images show one end of the building has collapsed.
Adeline Hazan told BFM TV the blast – which happened at 11:15 – had been “very strong” and had shattered windows in other buildings.
At least three people have been killed by an explosion that partly destroyed a block of flats in the northern French city of Reims
Two bodies were brought out of the rubble during the morning. A third was found later by search teams. By Sunday evening, two residents were still thought to be missing.
Ten flats were thought to be affected.
The building, in the Wilson area of Reims, is described as social housing dating back to the 1960s.
It was renovated several years ago but residents said that while the front had been re-painted, no change had been made to the interior structure.
A gas explosion in a flat in nearby Witry-les-Reims in early April left four people from the same family dead.
Housing Minister Cecile Duflot has promised a full inquiry.
“It appears the building was well maintained. All the necessary checks were carried out on the appliances,” Cecile Duflot said.
In a statement, President Francois Hollande sent his condolences to the victims’ families and his solidarity to the city of Reims.
A man has been arrested in Italy after he shot two police officers outside the PM’s office in Rome during new government swearing-in ceremony.
One of the officers was shot in the neck and is said to be in a serious condition.
The incident was around a kilometre away from the swearing-in ceremony at the Quirinal Palace.
Democratic Party Deputy Leader (PD), Enrico Letta, becomes prime minister at the head of a “grand coalition” including Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PDL).
The swearing-in signals the end of two months of political deadlock.
Correspondents say the “grand coalition” between Italy’s current main right- and left-wing parties is unprecedented, and will probably prove an uneasy alliance.
A man has been arrested in Italy after he shot two police officers outside the PM’s office in Rome during new government swearing-in ceremony
Silvio Berlusconi had said he would not be a minister, but had pushed for leading figures from his party to be given top posts.
Angelino Alfano, the PDL’s secretary and one of Silvio Berlusconi’s closest political allies, is deputy prime minister and interior minister in the new government.
Among the other key appointments is Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni to head the powerful economy ministry.
The cabinet is to have more women than usual, including former European Commissioner Emma Bonino as foreign minister.
Other women given government jobs include Olympic kayaker Josefa Idem who becomes minister of equal opportunity and sports, and Anna Maria Cancellieri at the ministry of justice.
Since February’s inconclusive poll there has been political stalemate in Italy, which is still plagued by economic woes after becoming one of the first eurozone victims of the global financial crisis of 2008.
President Giorgio Napolitano said on Saturday that the government would have the support of both chambers of parliament.
“I hope that this government can get to work quickly in the spirit of fervent co-operation and without any prejudice or conflict,” the president said.
“It was and is the only possible government.”
President Giorgio Napolitano, who is serving an unprecedented second term in Italy, has suggested he might resign if the new government fails to enact reforms.
Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris grew up without her mother after Debbie Rowe signed away all parental rights to the megastar in 2001, when the girl was just 3-year-old.
However, since Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, mother and daughter are trying to make up for lost time by slowly forging a close relationship.
And the first picture of Paris Jackson and Debbie Rowe together has surfaced, showing Debbie with her arm around Paris as they celebrated the teenager’s 15th birthday at Ahi Sushi in Studio City, California, on April 3, reports Entertainment Tonight.
Paris Jackson appeared serene and content as she leaned in close to her mother, a dermatologist’s nurse, who looked thrilled to be included in her daughter’s birthday celebration.
Paris – the youngest of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe’s two children – showed off her edgy style by wearing her short dark hair swept across her forehead and highlighting her eyes with thick black liner.
The resemblance between them is clear, especially in the color and shape of their eyes and their noses.
Debbie Rowe has reportedly developed an “intense bond” with her daughter and the pair have been spending lots of time together in recent months.
The first public picture of Paris Jackson and Debbie Rowe together, as they celebrated the teenager’s 15th birthday at Ahi Sushi in Studio City, California, on April 3
Michael Jackson’s ex-wife supported Paris, who performed in a dance contest at her school in Los Angeles last weekend, turning up with a bouquet of flowers.
Recently, Paris Jackson revealed that she had also been shopping with her mother, an activity that her grandmother Katherine Jackson was approving of.
The teenager said: “When I’m with my mom, we don’t really have security with us. Which is really nice.”
Paris’ uncle Jermaine Jackson recently said he approved of the pair’s burgeoning relationship.
Jermaine Jackson told TMZ: “I think that’s wonderful. The kids need their mum. I think it’s great. That’s their mother. That’s wonderful. That’s a good thing.’
Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson met when he was a patient at the specialist skin clinic she worked at when he was being treated for his chronic vitiligo.
They were married between 1996 and 1999, and Debbie Rowe gave full custody of her two children with Michael Jackson, Prince and Paris, during their divorce proceedings in 1999.
Debbie Rowe, now 54, later took things one step further in 2001, and relinquished all parental rights to the children, who were just toddlers at the time.
However, after Michael Jackson’s death in June 2009, Debbie Rowe reached an agreement with the megastar’s mother – who became the children’s legal guardian – for supervised visitation rights.
The Daily Mirror previously reported that Paris Jackson had found it “easy” to bond with her mother, and had been interested to know more about the dynamic of her relationship with her late father.
A friend said: “Paris is very inquisitive and found Debbie easy to bond with.”
Meanwhile, it appears Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson’s son Prince is not yet ready to develop a relationship with his mother.
The 16-year-old budding TV presenter allegedly isn’t interested in getting to know his birth mother, but she hopes that they will develop a natural connection much like she did with Paris.
Iceland’s centre-right opposition parties are set for a return to power with nearly all votes counted after Saturday’s parliamentary election.
The Independence party has 26% and the Progressive party 24%, putting them on track to win nearly 40 of the 63 seats.
The ruling Social Democrats are trailing with around 13%.
It is a dramatic comeback for the parties widely blamed for Iceland’s economic meltdown in 2008.
Iceland saw its prosperity evaporate, as the country’s three banks collapsed, and the Social Democrats came to power a year later, with a programme of austerity tailored to international lenders’ requirements.
“The Independence party has been called to duty again,” said leader Bjarni Benediktsson, who looks likely to become prime minister.
“We’ve seen what cutbacks have done for our healthcare system and social benefits … now it’s time to make new investments, create jobs and start growth,” he said.
“I’m very pleased,” said Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, leader of the Progressive party, as results came in.
Iceland’s centre-right opposition parties are set for a return to power with nearly all votes counted after Saturday’s parliamentary election
The centre-right camp has promised debt relief and a cut in taxes.
The two parties are also seen as Eurosceptic, and their poll success could slow down Iceland’s efforts to become a member of the European Union.
The Eurosceptics argue that Iceland already gets most of the benefits of full membership through existing free trade arrangements with the EU and by being part the Schengen visa-free travel zone.
Many Icelanders have become frustrated with the outgoing Social Democrat government, saying that its austerity policies were too painful.
A number of smaller parties have performed well, including Bright Future, which looks set to enter parliament with six seats and the computer activist Pirate party, with three.
The Social Democrats are on course for nine seats and the Left-Greens seven.
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in a small cell with a steel door at a federal medical detention center about 40 miles outside the city, a federal official said Saturday.
Federal Medical Center Devens spokesman John Collauti described the conditions under which 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was being held in the Ayer facility after being moved there from a hospital Friday.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was injured during a police chase in which his brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, also a suspect in the bombing, was fatally wounded.
John Collauti said in a telephone interview that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in secure housing where authorities can monitor him. His cell has a solid steel door with an observation window and a slot for passing food and medication.
The spokesman wouldn’t discuss specific details related to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, but said that typically medical workers making rounds each shift monitor the inmates. He said guards also keep an eye on some cells with video cameras.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is being held in a small cell with a steel door at a federal medical detention center about 40 miles outside Boston
Also, inmates in the more restrictive section do not have access to TVs or radios, but can read books and other materials, he said.
“Really this type of facility is fully capable of handling him and it’s not that much of an inconvenience because it’s more or less business as usual,” John Collauti said.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center where he was controversially treated just yards from the wards containing many of his victims.
His new home is part of the minimum security facility on the decommissioned Fort Devens U.S. Army base.
It treats federal prisoners and detainees who require specialized long-term medical or mental health care.
It has been referred to in the past as “agreeable” and “fairly pleasant”.
It is designated as an administrative facility, which means it has inmates from different security classifications, from white-collar criminals to mobsters and sex offenders.
The medical center currently houses 1,000 inmates with 124 in a minimum-security satellite prison camp. It costs around $157 for each inmate per day.
According to its website, these minimum security prison camps, have dormitory housing, a relatively low staff-to-inmate ratio, and limited or no perimeter fencing.
They are usually work-and-program oriented and inmates help serve the labor needs of the larger institution or base.
Former NYPD officer William Masso, former New Jersey assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt and one time Underworld mafia boss John Franzese, 96, are currently inmates there.
The medical center inmates are often allowed to leave the facility to see outside specialists and for tests and medical procedures not available in the medical center.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is focused on preventing rehabilitation by encouraging inmates to participate in a range of programs that have been proven to reduce repeat offending.
The level of security which Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will be held under depends on his changing circumstances – because he is a pretrial inmate – and he has no set protocol at this time.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will have access to medical and dental care, and the prison’s handbook states that inmates have the right to a healthy, nutritious diet, as well as information about staying healthy while behind bars.
He admitted to his role in the attacks to the FBI this week – but apparently clammed up when finally read his Miranda rights.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had been communicating with law enforcement officials by writing on a pad after suffering an injury to his throat during the frenzied manhunt for him which renders him unable to talk.
However, the moment he was read his rights on Monday – which as a citizen of the United States entitle him to the constitutional right to remain silent and seek a lawyer – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev stopped communicating.
According to a new report, Russian authorities secretly recorded one of the Boston bombers discussing jihad with his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, in 2011 but failed to alert U.S. security agencies.
U.S. officials were told for the first time this week that two calls of note were discovered when the Russian internal security service, the RSB, were bugging calls at the Tsarnaevs family home in Dagestan, according to reports.
The recording picked up a “vague conversation” about jihad between either Dzhokhar or Tamerlan Tsarnaev and their mother Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the Associated Press reported.
It also picked up a phone call between Zubeidat Tsarnaeva and a man under FBI investigation living in Southern Russia.
American security sources anonymously revealed the information to the news agency and said if the calls had been flagged to the FBI, the agency may have conducted a more detailed investigation into the two men.
There was no evidence of a plot against America in the calls, according to the report.
Russian authorities secretly recorded one of the Boston bombers discussing jihad with his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, in 2011 but failed to alert U.S. security agencies
The news comes as the FBI attempts to defend itself against criticism that it failed to fully investigate Tamerlan Tsarnaev that year.
In January, the FBI investigated and interviewed the family after Russian authorities flagged the elder bomber as a possible security threat.
It is not clear why the phone calls would not have been reported to American security officers as part of that briefing and the RSB were unavailable for comment.
Following their probe, the FBI concluded Tamerlan Tsarnaev did not present a threat and ceased monitoring him stating they saw no links to “terrorism activity, domestic or foreign”.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R. South Carolina) said the agency had “dropped the ball” in that probe.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that the Russian government followed up their concerns over Tamerlan Tsarnaev six months later – asking the CIA for whatever information it had on him.
It is not clear what prompted the Russian request but the CIA review agreed with the FBI that Tamerlan Tsarnaev posed no threat.
As a precaution they placed him on a 70,000 name watch-list called the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE).
However, there were mistakes in both the spelling of his name and in his date of birth, so his six month departure from the country in 2012 wasn’t properly identified, according to the Times.
The first Russian request came in March 2011 through the FBI’s office in the United States Embassy in Moscow.
In a one-page request they said Tamerlan Tsarnaev “had changed drastically since 2010” and was preparing “to join unspecified underground groups”.
By June 2011 the FBI said they were satisfied he provided no threat and notified Russia.
They also added Tamerlan Tsarnaev to another watch-list – the Treasury Enforcement Communications System.
According to the Times, the FBI repeatedly went back to Russia to request more detail but they failed to provide any new information.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has come under increasing scrutiny in recent days given her outspoken denial of her sons’ actions and wild accusations of a cover-up.
She has repeatedly said her sons were framed and even claimed blood on the streets, after the bombings, was paint.
On Friday, it emerged agents now consider Zubeidat Tsarnaeva “a person of interest” in their investigation.
“She [Zubeidat Tsarnaeva] is a person of interest that we’re looking at to see if she helped radicalize her son, or had contacts with other people or other terrorist groups,” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said.
Both sons appear to have had a close relationship with their mother.
Just before his death Tamerlan Tsarnaev made a final call to her saying: “Mama I love you.”
She was intending to travel with her husband to the U.S. last week but both delayed those plans.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said any suggestion she has links to terrorist activity are “lies and hypocrisy”.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has suffered a mini-stroke and has been flown to hospital in Paris, the state news agency said.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, had a “transient ischemia” – a temporary blockage of a blood vessel often called a mini-stroke – an official told the APS news agency.
But he said there was “no reason for worry” about the president.
The agency said Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who makes few public appearances – was undergoing tests in Paris.
The Algerian leader is reported to be at the Val de Grace military hospital, commonly used by high-profile patients from France and beyond.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has suffered a mini-stroke and has been flown to hospital in Paris
“An initial investigation has already been opened and his Excellency the president of the republic must observe a period of rest to undergo tests,” Rachid Bougherbal, the director of the National Sports Medicine Centre, was quoted as saying by APS.
PM Abdelmalek Sellal echoed Rachid Bourgherbal’s assurances that there was no need for concern.
But the fact that he has been sent to Paris has prompted questions about the accuracy of the official account, correspondents say.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika underwent surgery in hospital in Paris several years ago. Officially the problem was a stomach ulcer, but a leaked US diplomatic cable suggested he had cancer.
In spite of his age and apparently failing health, there are still those who believe Abdelaziz Bouteflika could stand for a fourth term in office in elections scheduled for next year.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika is part of an ageing leadership which has dominated Algerian politics since the country gained independence from France more than 50 years ago.
Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Maracana stadium has reopened after nearly three years of renovations to prepare it for the World Cup finals in 2014.
Workers who helped with the renovation and their families were treated to an exhibition match between teams of stars past and present.
But leading newspapers reported problems with the new facility.
The reopening follows controversy over delays, costs and the future privatization of the site.
The renovation was completed four months behind schedule.
Days before the test event, seats were still being installed and pavements laid near the venue.
Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Maracana stadium has reopened after nearly three years of renovations to prepare it for the World Cup finals in 2014.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor Eduardo Paes were among the 30,000-strong crowd watching the friendly between teams captained by Ronaldo and Bebeto.
But the Jornal do Brasil said Saturday’s visitors “needed patience to deal with the many problems” at the venue, arising from the rush to complete it.
It highlighted uneven flooring with small gaps and holes, flooding in the VIP area and a dysfunctional lift, and said some staff had tried to prevent journalists taking pictures of the affected areas.
Workers were still finishing building a stadium wall, and ticket offices, turnstiles and gates were not working, said another paper, the Folha de Sao Paulo.
But in a statement quoted by the Folha de Sao Paulo, the Rio de Janeiro state government pointed out that this was a test event, using only 30% of the stadium’s full capacity, and did not represent the full reopening.
It said it was “natural” that some more work remained to be done.
“Maracana will be delivered fully ready on the date set by FIFA: 24 May,” it reportedly said.
Former Brazil star striker Ronaldo, who captained one team for the exhibition match against former teammate Bebeto, said the stadium looked “amazing”.
“I’m happy to see the stadium ready again. The Maracana is a symbol of this country,” he said, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Former Brazil coach and player Mario Zagallo said he had “goose-bumps” when he arrived, AP said.
The first major international test of the facility will be a friendly between Brazil and England on June 2 before the Confederations Cup begins two weeks later.
There has been criticism of the cost of the renovation – nearly $500 million – because the stadium has already seen a number of upgrades.
A Brazilian indigenous group, the Aldeia Maracana (or Maracana tribe), have also protested at the site against their eviction from a former indigenous museum, built in 1862.
Plans to privatize the Maracana have run into controversy too, with demonstrations against the demolition of local facilities to make way for an arena with bars, restaurants and shops.
Critics say privatization will return much less to the government than it invested in the project.
The Maracana is seen as an iconic venue. Nearly 200,000 people watched the 1950 World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay – the largest crowd ever to have watched a football match at a stadium.
This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) saw President Barack Obama in pictures with Michelle-style bangs, quipping about Jay-Z and sideswiping at the media and his political foes.
The traditional send-up speech saw the President earn some laughter at his own expense but also land some funny blows against the media and the Republican Party.
Barack Obama opened with a soft joke about his time in office but increasingly moved onto more controversial territory – even joking about “burning books with Michelle Bachmann”.
The president said his advisers said he should stick to the traditional format and make jokes knocking himself down a peg or two.
Barack Obama added: “After four and a half years how many pegs are there left.”
“I still make rookie mistakes,” he told the 3,000 strong audience.
“Like, I’m out in California, we’re at a fundraiser, we’re having a nice time and I happened to mention that Kamala Harris is the best looking attorney general in the country. As you might imagine, I got trouble when I got back home. Who knew Eric Holder was so sensitive?”
“And then there’s the Easter Egg Roll, which is just supposed to be a nice event with the kids. I got out on the basketball court, took 22 shots, made 2 of them. That’s right, 2 hits, 20 misses. The executives at NBC asked, <<What’s your secret?>>.”
Swipes at the media’s expense are traditional fare at the event and Barack Obama seemed to have plenty of material – knocking CNN for mistakes and poking fun at the revolving door between politics and the media.
Referencing campaign adviser David Axelrod and the fact he is now working for MSNBC, he added: “It’s a nice change of pace because MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod.”
The president referenced his likeness to theSatan actor in The History Channel’s show The Bible saying that maybe the channel didn’t attend because they were too embarrassed for associating him with evil.
He then joked: “That never stops Fox News from turning up. They thought that comparison was not fair … to Satan.”
In another media joke, he added: “I remember when Buzzfeed was something I did in college around 2 a.m.”
Barack Obama wasn’t going to spare the chance to throw in a few barbs about the Republicans and their election campaign either.
“One thing [the Republican Party] agrees on is the need to do a better job of reaching out to minorities. And look, call me self-centered, but I can think of one minority they can start with. [Raises his hand] Think of me as a trial run, see how it goes.”
He spoke about reaching out to Republicans, quipping: “Some folks still don’t think I spend enough time with Congress. <<Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?>> they ask. Really? Why don’t you get a drink with Mitch McConnell?”
Barack Obama vowed to take his “charm offensive” on the road to “a Texas BBQ with Ted Cruz, a Kentucky bluegrass concert with Rand Paul, and a book burning with Michele Bachmann”.
Addressing his re-election campaign, Barack Obama joked about his rivals attempts to discredit him.
This year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner saw President Barack Obama in pictures with Michelle-style bangs
“Did you know that Sheldon Adelson spent $100 million of his own money last year on negative ads? You’ve got to really dislike me to spend that kind of money. I mean, that’s Oprah money. … Sheldon would have been better off offering me $100 million to drop out of the race. I wouldn’t have taken it but I would have thought about it. Michelle would have taken it – you think I’m joking?”
The president made fun about conspiracy theories about his past, joking: “I’m not the strapping young Muslim socialist that I used to be.”
On his appearance, Barack Obama noted his graying hair and also presented a picture of himself photo-shopped with the First Lady’s style bangs.
He said he wanted “a little energy” and a “bit of change” for his second term with the new look.
Another photograph mocked the Bush library, opened earlier this week, and featured the new building alongside a giant “It’s His Fault” sign’.
In the multimedia routine, Steven Spielberg was on-hand to appear in a video mocking a movie on Barack Obama’s legacy.
Steven Spielberg said he called on Daniel Day Lewis to encapsulate the “lame duck, aloof” president.
President Barack Obama then appeared on screen pretending to be the method actor in the role.
In the event which was attacked in recent days for being too celebrity-focused, Barack Obama acknowledged his own controversial celebrity relationships.
He joked: “I’ve got 99 problems and now Jay Z is one.”
The President’s edgier material eased the way for host Conan O’Brien.
“As you all know, the president is hard at work creating jobs,” he joked.
“Since he was first elected, the number of popes has doubled. The number of <<Tonight Show>> hosts has tripled.”
He also leveled a few jokes at the media.
“If HuffPost is here, who’s covering 7 mistakes you’re making with bacon?” he asked.
In a popular topic for ridicule he also mocked CNN, joking: “Tonight’s dinner was halibut and filet, or as John King reported it: Lasagna and couscous.”
“Yes, a lot of online stars are in the room but, unfortunately, Matt Drudge couldn’t make it,” Conan O’Brien said.
“He had a prior commitment to teach a web design class in 1997.”
“Some people say print media is dying, but I don’t believe it,” Conan O’Brien added.
“And neither does my blacksmith.”
“It’s no surprise that Speaker John Boehner isn’t here tonight,” Conan O’Brien said.
“President Obama and John Boehner are kind of like a blind date between Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow. In theory, they understand each other’s positions but, deep down, you know nothing’s ever going to happen.”
NBC veteran Tom Brokaw turned down his invite this year claiming the event had become too tabloid.
One of America’s most respected journalists, Tom Brokaw said, it was last year’s appearance of Lindsay Lohan which was the final straw for him.
“The breaking point for me was Lindsay Lohan,” he told Politico on Friday.
“She became a big star at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Give me a break.”
The red carpet didn’t seem to disprove his point with dozens of celebrities from a-list to z-list lining up in their finest.
However, Conan O’Brien used the small screen attendees to his benefit.
Imagining the casting of a miniseries on Washington, the comedian ran through a series of potential lookalikes from Bob Barker as Vice President Joe Biden; an Easter Island Head as John Kerry; a Furby as Wolf Blitzer and – with one of the biggest laughs of the night – “tan mom” as Boehner.
The tradition of news outlets bringing stars to join their tables began when the cast of Saturday Night Live was brought down from New York to D.C. in the mid-1970s.
This year, celebrities had an Oscars-worthy parade of glamorous designer dresses and stylish suits on show – making it is as much an event for the fashion pack as the usual politicos.
Leading the perfect combination of the two, Michelle Obama arrived in a sequined black gown while Obama supporter and Vogue editor Anna Wintour opted for a white fur shawl.
Constance Zimmer and Kate Mara, who co-star as reporters in the political series House Of Cards, and Connie Britton, who plays an all-American country singer in Nashville, were some of the stars attending.
The women opted to show their patriotic colors with Constance Zimmer, 42, donning a red floaty frock, Kate Mara, 30, in a white floor-length gown, and Connie Britton, 46, in a blue mermaid-style creation.
It wasn’t only female celebrities invited along for the ride, Piers Morgan brought Gerald Butler along as his plus 1.
Kerry Washington, 36, star of the political drama Scandal, donned a dramatic black-and-white patterned gown.
“Just had my fitting with @Stephendatailor – my awesome go to tailor in DC! – getting EXCITED about tonight. #whcd,” tweeted Kerry Washington earlier in the day.
However, excited celebrities weren’t the only ones taking to Twitter to make their feelings known about the events.
Sarah Palin tweeted: “That WHCD was pathetic. The rest of America is out there working our asses off while these DC assclowns throw themselves a nerd prom.”
When Kate Middleton revealed she had bought a pram in light blue, Royal watchers wondered excitedly if she had dropped the biggest clue yet to the sex of her unborn child.
Kate Middleton – who is six months pregnant – told guests at a recent reception that she had chosen a buggy by designer label Bugaboo, which has celebrity fans including actress Sienna Miller and television presenter Peaches Geldof.
The buggies, which cost from £500 to £1,000 ($800-$1,600) and can operate as either a pushchair or pram, come in a variety of colors and parents who do not know the sex of their baby usually prefer neutral hues such as beige, off-white or black.
Kate Middleton and Prince William have insisted that they do not know if they are having a boy or a girl.
Kate Middleton, who is six months pregnant, told guests at a recent reception that she bought a Bugaboo pram in light blue
But although it is possible to swap some of the buggy’s accessories for those in different colors, including pink, Kate Middleton’s choice of blue will be seen as a clear hint as to her feelings about the gender.
The Duchess of Cambridge has said she would prefer a son while Prince William wants a daughter.
Yesterday, Bugaboo said it had not presented the buggy to the Royal couple after being advised by officials not to send gifts.
So it appears that the duchess, who was seen shopping for a Moses basket in South Kensington last week with her mother, bought the pram herself.
Kate Middleton, 31, revealed the Bugaboo color when she chatted to a group of Army wives at a drinks reception in Aldershot on St Patrick’s Day.
A source has claimed: “She and some of the other girls were talking about prams and one of the girls had her baby in a Bugaboo.
“Kate said she has bought one in light blue. It was a bit of a hint.”
Guardsman Lee Wheeler, 29, who met Kate Middleton at the ceremony, said the Duchess was happily discussing the Royal bump.
He said: “I asked her, <<Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?>> and she said, <<Not yet>>.
“She said, <<I’d like to have a boy and William would like a girl>>. I asked her if she had any names and she said no.”
Since then, however, Kate Middleton and Prince William revealed they have a shortlist of boys’ and girls’ names.
Alexandra and Elizabeth are said to be favorites for a girl, with George in the running for a boy.
Marc Anthony has dumped Topshop heiress Chloe Green just weeks after she moved to the US, according to claims.
Marc Anthony, 44, reportedly told Chloe Green their romance was over and the designer, who at 22 is just three years older than her lover’s oldest daughter, moved her belongings out of their shared Miami house.
Chloe Green, whose father Sir Philip is worth an estimated £3.8 billion ($6 billion), was first spotted out with Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband in February.
It is thought Sir Philip Green, who is good friends with Marc Anthony had given his seal of approval to the union.
Marc Anthony has dumped Topshop heiress Chloe Green just weeks after she moved to the US
A source told The Sun On Sunday: “The pair got serious very quickly and had the blessing of her parents, but it hasn’t worked out.
“It seems to have been Marc’s decision to end it.”
The source added the decision to split was sudden and Chloe Green has now left Miami to go on holiday with friends to recover.
Marc Anthony was married to Jennifer Lopez for 8 years and has twins Emme Maribel Muñiz and Maximillian David Muñiz with the star.
He also has a daughter Ariana from his relationship with former New York police officer Debbie Rosado and two sons with ex-wife former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres.
Sir Philip Green holidayed with Marc Anthony and J-Lo in 2010.
Chloe Green’s exes include Djibril Cisse and Jermain Defoe.
Earlier in the relationship Marc Anthony and his younger girlfriend were believed to have been smitten, with the UK based Chloe Green moving over to the US for her lover.
A source told Grazia magazine: “Chloe and Marc have totally fallen for one another. She’s been looking into getting a place in New York, where they love to hang out, or Miami, where his family are based.”
According to Heat magazine, Sir Philip Green flew out to Miami to spend the Easter weekend with Chloe and Marc Anthony, as well as her mother Tina and brother Brandon, where the group got some dutch courage for the family meeting by drinking Dom Perignon at local club Set.
A deal on the formation of a new government has been reached in Italy, ending two months of political deadlock since the general election.
The agreement was announced after Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano.
The coalition brings together Enrico Letta’s Democratic Party (PD) and the People of Freedom party (PDL) of former PM Silvio Berlusconi.
The swearing-in is to take place on Sunday at 11:30 local time.
Silvio Berlusconi had said he would not be a minister, but had pushed for leading figures from his party to be given top posts.
Angelino Alfano, the PDL’s secretary, will become deputy prime minister and interior minister in the new government.
Among the other key appointments proposed, Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni will head the powerful economy ministry and former European Commissioner Emma Bonino will become foreign minister.
Italian Prime Minister-designate Enrico Letta has agreed new government ending two months of political deadlock
The formation of the new government brings to an end a political deadlock that has unnerved financial markets since February’s inconclusive election.
President Giorgio Napolitano said the government would have the support of both chambers of parliament.
“I hope that this government can get to work quickly in the spirit of fervent co-operation and without any prejudice or conflict,” he said.
“It was and is the only possible government.”
The new government has to deal with a rapidly declining economic situation, rising unemployment – particularly among under the 35s – and lack of growth, despite some draconian austerity measures passed by the previous government of technocrats.
Enrico Letta, 46, is considered a moderate within the PD and is linked to Silvio Berlusconi through his uncle, Gianni Letta, who is one of Berlusconi’s closest aides.
Silvio Berlusconi is still contesting charges of tax fraud and sex with an underage prostitute, but recent opinion polls suggest his popularity has increased, giving him greater bargaining power.
Enrico Letta expressed “sober satisfaction over the team we put together”.
He has said he will shift the focus away from austerity to resolve Europe’s economic problems.
Enrico Letta’s candidacy for prime minister emerged after the PD leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, announced his resignation following a party rebellion over his choice for Italian president and his refusal to work with Silvio Berlusconi.
The third strongest force to emerge from the Italian election, the Five Star movement led by former comedian, Beppe Grillo, has refused to take part in a coalition with the two main parties.
He likened such a coalition to “an orgy worthy of the best of bunga bunga” in a barb directed at Silvio Berlusconi’s renowned private parties.
President Giorgio Napolitano, who is serving an unprecedented second term, has suggested he might resign if a new government fails to enact reforms.
Italian government – proposed posts:
Enrico Letta, 46: Prime minister
Angelino Alfano, 42: Deputy PM and interior minister
Everett Dutschke from Mississippi has been arrested and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Judge Sadie Holland.
Everett Dutschke, 41, was detained at home in Tupelo on Saturday and handed over to US Marshals, police said.
He has been charged with possessing a biological agent with intent to use as a weapon.
Everett Dutschke has links to Paul Kevin Curtis, the man against whom charges were filed and later dropped, as well as the senator and judge.
Ricin is a naturally occurring protein, found in the castor oil plant, which is highly toxic. It is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.
Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton said Everett Dutschke was taken into custody without incident at 01:00 on Saturday. His home had been under surveillance since Friday afternoon.
A law enforcement official told WTVA that Everett Dutschke was being held at the Lafayette County Detention Center.
Everett Dutschke from Mississippi has been arrested and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Judge Sadie Holland
The US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Mississippi said in a press release that Everett Dutschke had been charged with developing, producing and possessing “a biological agent, toxin and delivery system for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin”.
If convicted of the federal charge, he faces a maximum life term in jail and a $250,000 fine.
The office said Everett Dutschke was expected to appear in a district court in Mississippi on Monday.
Agents from the FBI and the US Capitol Police, as well as members of an anti-terrorist response team from the Mississippi National Guard, had searched Everett Dutschke’s home on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the premises of a former martial arts studio he ran in Tupelo.
Attention turned to Everett Dutschke after charges were dropped on Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, a local Elvis impersonator.
A search of Paul Kevin Curtis’ home in nearby Corinth revealed no evidence to suggest he had sent the ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi Judge Sadie Holland, officials said.
Hal Neilson, a lawyer for Paul Kevin Curtis, said Everett Dutschke’s name had been submitted on a list of people who might have had a reason to hurt his client.
Paul Kevin Curtis said he had worked with Everett Dutschke several years ago, and that they had discussed publishing a book called Missing Pieces, about an alleged conspiracy to sell body parts on the black market. Everett Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Paul Kevin Curtis added.
But Everett Dutschke told the Associated Press that he did not know Paul Kevin Curtis well, and that the last time they had contact was in 2010.
Judge Sadie Holland’s family is reported to have confronted Everett Dutschke at a political rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when he ran as a Republican against her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative. Steve Holland said Everett Dutschke had made a derogatory speech about the Holland family, and that his mother had forced him to apologize.
Everett Dutschke said Steve Holland had exaggerated the incident, telling AP: “Everybody loves Sadie, including me.”
Jean Henry, who worked at Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver’s office, was accused of bringing her husband in to gawk at the body of Newtown school shooter Adam Lanza and has been fired.
Dr. H. Wayne Carver dismissed Jean Henry, a processing technician, in a letter released Friday.
Jean henry was accused of showing Adam Lanza’s body to her husband on December 16, 2012.
Two days earlier, Adam Lanza killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and then turned a gun on himself.
It was reported in January that Jean Henry was put on administrative leave pending an investigation into the matter.
Morgue worker Jean Henry was accused of bringing her husband in to gawk at the body of Adam Lanza and has been fired
At that time, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy said he was informed of the investigation, which the University of Connecticut Health Center conducted as the agency that handles personnel matters for the medical examiner’s office.
“I hope that was not true. The investigation is ongoing,” Dannel P. Malloy said
“I would be deeply disappointed if proven to be true and would expect, if proven to be true, that whatever steps are appropriate would be taken.”
The Hartford Courant first broke the story.
Dr. H. Wayne Carver wrote that, in bringing her husband into the morgue, Jean Henry violated the agency’s ethical mission and showed “extremely poor judgment”.
Chris DeFrancesco, a University of Connecticut Health Center spokesman, says a grievance process is underway and no further information is available.
The center handles personnel matters for the medical examiner’s lab.
Frugal billionaire Mark Zuckerberg continues to enjoy his budget holiday in Hawaii with his wife Priscilla Chan, while it has been revealed he is even richer than previously thought.
Mark Zuckerberg, 28, gained $2.3 billion from selling 60 million stock options just before Facebook’s initial public offering last year.
Facebook’s CEO and his Harvard-educated doctor wife are also rumored to be on the lookout for real estate in Hawaii.
Despite his latest windfall, sport-shorts wearing Mark Zuckerberg remains focused on the simple things in life. Rather than indulging in lavish dinners and extravagant outings, he has been spotted eating burgers and surfing in recent days.
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the first frugal billionaire, Warren Buffet is another who would prefer to keep his wealth in the bank rather than spend it on extravagant purchases. He famously still lives in the same modest home he bought in 1958 for $31,500.
Facebook’s CEO has another reason to keep his vacation cheap and cheerful. According to regulatory documents filed Friday, he has also been saddled with a massive $1.1 billion tax bill. Money he raised by selling 30.2 million Facebook shares for $38 apiece in the IPO.
Frugal billionaire Mark Zuckerberg continues to enjoy his budget holiday in Hawaii with his wife Priscilla Chan, while it has been revealed he is even richer than previously thought
Facebook’s stock hasn’t closed above $38 since the IPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71 cents Friday to close at $26.85.
The 29% decline from Facebook’s IPO price has cost Zuckerberg nearly $7 billion on paper, based on the 609.5 million shares of company stock that he owned as of March 31, according to the regulatory filing. His current stake is still worth $16.4 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has indicated he has no immediate plans to sell more stock.
The proxy statement filed to announce Facebook’s June 11 shareholder meeting is the first time that the magnitude of Mark Zuckerberg’s stock option gain had been quantified.
The proxy also revealed that Mark Zuckerberg’s pay package last year rose 16% because of increased personal usage of jets chartered by the company as part of his security program.
Mark Zuckerberg’s compensation last year totaled nearly $2 million, up from $1.7 million last year. Of those amounts, $1.2 million covered the costs of his personal air travel last year, up from $692,679 in 2011.
If not for the spike in travel costs, Mark Zuckerberg’s pay would have declined by 17%. His salary and bonus totaled $769,306 last year versus $928,833 in 2011.
But despite being worth $13.3billion, Mark Zuckerberg enjoys life’s simple pleasures. Earlier this week he and his wife were spotted chatting with friends at picnic tables while snacking on Kauai’s famous Bubba burgers and smoothies.
The couple, who are notoriously down-to-earth, sported casual wear and Mark wore his now-famous sandals, which are parodied by Jesse Eisenberg in the film about Facebook, The Social Network.
Bangladeshi police has arrested two owners of garment factories in the building that collapsed on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka this week killing at least 336 people.
Owners Mahbubur Rahman Tapas and Balzul Samad Adnan are suspected of forcing staff to work in the eight-storey building, ignoring warnings about cracks.
At least 336 people are known to have died after the Rana Plaza in the suburb of Savar collapsed on Wednesday.
On Saturday morning, at least 24 more people were rescued from the rubble.
Rescuers and volunteers, who worked through the night, cheered as they were brought to safety.
Earlier, rescue teams said they had located about 40 survivors on the collapsed third and fifth floors of the building.
Officials said they were working to extricate the remaining survivors and had passed oxygen cylinders and water to those still trapped.
Among those pulled out alive after three days in the rubble was Marina Begum, 22, now recovering in hospital.
Bangladeshi police has arrested two owners of garment factories in the building that collapsed on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka this week killing at least 336 people
“It felt like I was in hell,” she said.
“It was so hot, I could hardly breathe, there was no food or water. When I regained my senses I found myself in this hospital bed.”
More bodies of victims were also retrieved overnight and on Saturday morning.
Some 3,000 people are believed to have been working in the building at the time of the collapse and about 600 are still missing. Rana Plaza housed three garment factories, a bank and a number of shops.
Watching the operation are hundreds of relatives of those still missing, many clutching photographs of their loved ones.
Abul Basar wept as he awaited news of his wife who worked in one of the garment factories.
“My son says that his mother will come back some day, she must return,” he cried.
Mahbubur Rahman Tapas and Balzul Samad Adnan, the owners of the New Wave Bottoms and New Wave Style factories, were remanded in custody for 12 days by a court on Saturday. They were arrested earlier in the day after turning themselves in.
Deputy chief of Dhaka police Shyami Mukherjee said the two were accused of causing “death due to negligence”.
The owners reportedly told their employees to return to work on Wednesday, even though cracks were visible in the building a day earlier.
Three other clothing factories were reportedly operating in the building.
Police are also questioning two municipal engineers who are reported to have approved the safety of the building a day before it collapsed.
The owner of Rana Plaza, Mohammed Sohel Rana, is said to have gone into hiding.
“Those who’re involved, especially the owner who forced the workers to work there, will be punished,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told lawmakers on Friday.
“Wherever he is, he will be found and brought to justice,” the prime minister added.
There is widespread anger in Bangladesh over the disaster and fresh clashes between police and protesters erupted again on Saturday.
On Friday, police used tear-gas and rubber bullets to break up crowds that had blocked roads, set fire to buses and attacked textile factories.
Protesters are demanding that the government arrests all those responsible for the disaster and improves conditions for garment workers.
Police are guarding other garment factories in the area.
Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing cheap clothing for major Western retailers that benefit from its widespread low-cost labor.
But the industry has been widely criticized for its low pay and limited rights given to workers and for the often dangerous working conditions in garment factories.
Primark, a clothes retailer with a large presence in Britain, confirmed that one of its suppliers was on the second floor of the Rana Plaza, and said it would work with other retailers to review standards.
Labor rights groups say the companies have a moral duty to ensure their suppliers are providing safe conditions for their employees.
UK fashion designer Katharine Hamnett has called on fashion brands to insist on safer working conditions for garment workers internationally.
“The price of clothes may be low but they are paid for with human lives,” she is reported to have said at the Vogue Festival in London on Saturday.
“We should demand credible, certifiable inspections on building structures and industry standards.”
She added: “This is a very dark day for the clothing industry.”
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Communist Party and left-leaning Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal party have called a general strike on May 2 to demand punishment for those found responsible for the deaths.
Kim Kardashian showed off a bare baby bump as she got time to relax with her family on holiday in Greece.
The Kardashian clan arrived on the Greek island on Mykonos on Thursday and it wasn’t long before Kim Kardashian was relaxing in a sarong.
However, it wouldn’t be the same relaxation one would expect on a normal holiday as the E! camera crews were also in town, capturing the trip for the new series of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
With her brunette hair in plaits, Kim Kardashian, 32, was spotted walking around the grounds of her villa in a green printed sarong with her large baby bump protruding from her green sarong.
While Kim Kardashian was happy to stay on dry land, her sisters Kourtney, 34, and Khloe, 28, were stripping down to their swimsuits for a boat trip, complete with a camera crew.
Earlier back at their resort, Khloe Kardashian was also spotted chatting to her 3-year-old nephew Mason Disick outside.
Kim Kardashian showed off a bare baby bump as she got time to relax with her family on holiday in Greece
Later, Kourtney Kardashian was seen carrying her daughter Penelope while keeping an eye on Mason as he played in the pool.
Also on the island is Kourtney Kardashian’s half-sister Kendall Jenner and step-brother Brody Jenner.
Missing out on the trip was Kim Kardashian’s boyfriend Kanye West and Khloe’s husband Lamar Odom.
The Kardashian clan arrived in Mykonos on Thursday after flying via the Greek capital Athens.
The family have rented a series of luxury villas at the My Mykonos Retreat, which come with stunning views of the South Aegean Sea.
Local media claim the Kardashians are expected to remain on the island for 10 days, capturing the action for their reality show.
Even though the Kardashians were probably expecting boiling sunshine, the forecast is relatively mild, hovering just around 20C all week.
In fact, they’ll find it’s actually many degrees hotter back home in their native Los Angeles.
However, with Kim Kardashian being in her third trimester, she’ll probably be grateful of the cooler temperatures
Mykonos belongs to the Cyclades islands, located in the South Aegean, and includes over 10,000 inhabitants.
No doubt, the Kardashians’ wealth and their love of shopping will give the island a boost in tough financial times for Greece.
Other celebrities to have holidayed on the island in the past few years include John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Bar Refaeli, Tamara Ecclestone and Kelly Brook.
Smart interactive pajamas which, when scanned with a camera phone or tablet, can tell bedtime stories, have been invented by Juan Murdoch, a father-of-six from Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The pajamas are adorned with 47 clusters of dots that act like barcodes. When a child scans each cluster with a tablet or smartphone camera, a different bedtime story or lesson about an animal is launched.
“Kids have a patience level of about ten seconds,” inventor Juan Murdoch, whose own children range in age from six to 18, told Today.com.
“The nice thing about these is they’re instant.”
There are currently two apps that sync with his invention, called Smart PJs.
Smart interactive pajamas which, when scanned with a camera phone or tablet, can tell bedtime stories, have been invented by Juan Murdoch, a father-of-six from Idaho Falls
The Smart PJ Stories app contains 47 different bedtime tales including Mother Goose classics and tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.
The original Smart PJ app provides lessons about 47 different animals, accompanied by five pictures of each of the creatures that are launched to the tablet or smartphone.
The stories and lessons are written in text and narrated out loud, but they can also be muted so children can read along on their own.
Reactions to the futuristic sleepwear have been mixed though, with some parents claiming it is an “unnecessary” use of technology.
Juan Murdoch, 46, says his own children are big fans.
“Pajama day at school was a fun day,” he explained.
The inventor also asserted that Smart PJs – which won the award for Boise’s Hottest Showcasing Startup – are intended to be enjoyed by the whole family, not just a lone child.
“We purposely created Smart PJs with the scannable dot patterns all over them so that parents can help the child scan the stories on their backs where they can’t reach,” he told Tech Cocktail.
Juan Murdoch, who works a realtor, said he came up with the idea during a briefing at his office about QR codes – the black-and-white squares that smartphones can scan to lead them to different websites.
He initially tried using QR codes on the pajamas, but the patterns did not show up well on fabric.
So Juan Murdoch enlisted a developer and together they invented an entirely new form of dots, similar to Braille, that was more easily scanned from fabric.
When the product proved functional, Juan Murdoch said he was “blown away”, and so were his children.
Now says he has plans to create six more apps for the interactive sleepwear by Christmas. “The pajamas stay the same, the content changes,” he said of the upcoming apps, which will include a holiday-themed one and others involving songs and games.
Part of the appeal for children, says Juan Murdoch, is the unpredictable factor, since children don’t know what story will pop up until they scan the dots.
“It’s the element of surprise there that makes it fun,” Juan Murdoch explained.
Smart PJs are available in kids sizes one to seven, for $25 a set, on SmartPJs.com.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was put on the CIA terrorist watchlist 18 months before the tragedy, US officials said on Friday.
Two lawmakers revealed Zubeidat Tsarnaeva is now considered a “person of interest” in the federal investigation into the Boston attack.
The lawmakers said that investigators have traveled to Dagestan, Russia, to learn more from close associates who knew the suspects’ mother.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva shot back, saying that claims that she had ties to terrorist activity were “lies and hypocrisy”.
In a series of bizarre media interviews, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has staunchly defended her sons Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who are accused of the terrorist attack on April 15 that left 3 dead and more than 260 injured.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, 45, has sparked outrage for her incendiary comments to the media and now officials say they are probing her possible involvement in the tragedy.
“She [Zubeidat Tsarnaeva]is a person of interest that we’re looking at to see if she helped radicalize her son, or had contacts with other people or other terrorist groups,” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Friday.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said investigators are looking into whether the mother encouraged her son, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to embrace Islam extremism.
“The mother in my judgment has a role in his radicalization process in terms of her influence over him (and) fundamental views of Islam,” the Texas Republican told reporters.
Michael McCaul added that a team of US investigators had traveled to the Chechen region to interview sources who knew the family.
Unnamed officials have also reveled that the CIA asked for the Boston terror suspect and his mother to be added to a terrorist database in the fall of 2011, after the Russian government contacted the agency with concerns that both had become religious militants, according to officials briefed on the investigation.
About six months earlier, the FBI investigated Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, also at Russia’s request, one of the officials said.
The FBI found no ties to terrorism.
The revelation that the FBI had also investigated Zubeidat Tsarnaeva and the CIA arranged for her to be added to the terrorism database deepened the mystery around the family.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva slammed officials who are trying to implicate her.
“It’s all lies and hypocrisy,” she told The Associated Press from Dagestan.
“I’m sick and tired of all this nonsense that they make up about me and my children. People know me as a regular person, and I’ve never been mixed up in any criminal intentions, especially any linked to terrorism.”
A former official of the Russian government told Congress on Friday that Cold War-era distrust may have made American officials less inclined to act on tips from Russian security services about one of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers.
Andranik Migranyan, a former member of the President Council of the Russian Federation, told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Friday that Russia and the United States have long viewed each other warily.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was put on the CIA terrorist watchlist 18 months before the tragedy
Because of that, he said, American officials, in his words, “just didn’t pay enough attention” when Russian agencies asked the FBI and CIA to look into bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
The Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens from southern Russia who immigrated to the Boston area in the past 11 years.
This new revelation shows that both major intelligence agencies were aware of his possible terrorist ties, as it has been reported that the Russians contacted the FBI about Tamerlan Tsarnaev earlier that year.
The FBI conducted an investigation and did not find he had any terror connections.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was listed on the US government’s highly classified central database of people it views as potential terrorists.
But the list is so vast that authorities did not automatically keep close tabs on him, sources close to the bombing investigation said on Tuesday.
The details come as it’s revealed that Russian authorities had contacted the US government repeatedly about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s suspected ties to radical Islam, according to senators briefed on the FBI investigation.
The FBI has previously said that it was only contacted once regarding a potential threat posed by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but after an investigation, found nothing of concern.
Following a closed briefing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican representing North Carolina, said he believed that Russia alerted the United States about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in “multiple contacts”.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed in a police shootout early on April 19, while his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, was captured later that day.
Prosecutors say the brothers, ethnic Chechens who had been living in the United States for more than a decade, planted two bombs that exploded near the finish line of the marathon on April 15.
Sources said Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s details were entered into the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) list, a database maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, because the FBI spoke to him in 2011 while investigating a Russian tip-off that he had become a follower of radical Islamists.
The FBI found nothing to suggest he was an active threat, but all the same placed his name on the TIDE list. The FBI has not said what it did find about Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
But the database, which holds more than half a million names, is only a repository of information on people who US authorities see as known, suspected or potential terrorists from around the world.
Because of its huge size, US investigators do not routinely monitor everyone registered there, said officials familiar with the database.
As of 2008, TIDE contained more than 540,000 names, although they represented about 450,000 actual people, because some of the entries are aliases or different name spellings for the same person.
Fewer than 5% of the TIDE entries were US citizens or legal residents, according to a description of the database on the NCTC website.
The TIDE database is one of many federal security databases set up after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The database system has been criticized in the past for being too cumbersome, especially in light of an attempted attack on a plane in 2009. Intelligence and security agencies acknowledged in Congress that they had missed clues to the Detroit “underpants bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Officials said after the incident that he had been listed in the TIDE database.
Republican Senator Susan Collins said there were problems in sharing information ahead of the Boston bombings, too.
“This is troubling to me that this many years after the attacks on our country in 2001 that we still seem to have stovepipes that prevent information from being shared effectively,” she said.
Susan Collins was speaking after the FBI gave a closed-door briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, but she did not elaborate.
However, in the case of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the issue appeared to be that because he was not deemed an active threat, his name was only briefly on a list that would have triggered monitoring.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was not put on the “no-fly” list that would have banned him from boarding an airplane in the United States. Neither was he named on the Selectee List, which would have required him to be given extra security screening at airports.
Another list, the Terrorist Screening Database, is a declassified version of the highly classified TIDE with fewer details about terrorist suspects. One source said Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on this list, too.
After being put in the TIDE system, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s name was entered in another database, this one maintained by the Homeland Security Department’s Customs and Border Protection bureau which is used to screen people crossing US land borders and entering at airports or by sea.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was flagged on that database when he left the United States for Russia in January 2012 but no alarm was raised, presumably because the FBI had not identified him as a threat after the interview.
When he returned from Russia six months later, Tamerlan Tsarnaev had already been automatically downgraded in the border database because there was no new information that required him to continue to get extra attention.
So he did not get secondary inspection on his re-entry at New York’s JFK Airport. It was unclear exactly what the procedure was for such a downgrade.
Sean Joyce, deputy director of the FBI, defended the FBI’s performance in the Boston bombings at two closed hearings in Congress on Tuesday.
While government agencies declined to publicly discuss how the watch list system handled Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano disclosed some details at a separate, open hearing on immigration on Capitol Hill.
“Yes, the system pinged when he was leaving the United States. By the time he returned, all investigations – the matter had been closed,” Janet Napolitano told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
The FBI has identified the American known as Misha who helped radicalize the Boston bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Family members of 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.
To date all that is 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, family members have 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.
“It started in 2009. And it started right there, in Cambridge,” said Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s uncle Ruslan Tsarni to CNNfrom his home in Maryland.
“This person just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely.”
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed in a police shootout Friday, April 19. His younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged 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 Tsarni, Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s radicalization happened right under the nose of his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva.
Ruslan Tsarni said that Misha was around 30-years-old and that he was an Armenian who, unusually for such a largely Christian people, had converted to Islam.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s relationship with Misha could be a clue in understanding the motives behind his religious transformation and, ultimately, the attack itself.
Although The Daily Beast claims that now officials know more about Misha he might be a less important part of the case than previously thought.
During his hospital room interrogation, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told FBI agents this week that he and his brother were influenced by the internet sermons of Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born preacher who was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.
There is a long trail of hardened terrorists who have acknowledged coming under his sway. Among them are Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistani-American who attempted to set off a car bomb in Times Square in May 2010, and Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army officer who killed 13 people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood in 2009.
The charismatic cleric was seen by the Obama administration as a uniquely dangerous terrorist because of his sermons, his intuitive grasp of US culture, and a burning desire to strike his birth nation.
As authorities try to piece together that information, they are touching on a question asked after so many terrorist plots: What turns someone into a terrorist?
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev emigrated in 2002 or 2003 from Dagestan, a Russian republic that has become an epicenter of the Islamic insurgency that spilled over from the region of Chechnya.
They were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion’s largest sect. They were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, said Elmirza Khozhugov, 26, the ex-husband of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s sister, Ailina.
Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan Tsarnaev met Misha, a slightly older, heavyset bald man with a long reddish beard. Elmirza Khozhugov didn’t know where they’d met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.
The FBI has identified the American known as Misha who helped radicalize the Boston bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Misha was an Armenian native and a convert to Islam and quickly began influencing his new friend, family members said.
Once, Elmirza Khozhugov said, Misha came to the family home outside Boston and sat in the kitchen, chatting with Tamerlan Tsarnaev for hours.
“Misha was telling him what is Islam, what is good in Islam, what is bad in Islam,” said Elmirza Khozhugov, who said he was present for the conversation.
“This is the best religion and that’s it. Mohammed said this and Mohammed said that.”
The conversation continued until Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s father, Anzor, came home from work.
“It was late, like midnight,” Elmirza Khozhugov recalled.
“His father comes in and says, <<Why is Misha here so late and still in our house?>> He asked it politely. Tamerlan was so much into the conversation he didn’t listen.”
Elmirza Khozhugov said Tamerlan’s mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, told him not to worry.
“Don’t interrupt them,” Elmirza Khozhugov recalled the mother saying.
“They’re talking about religion and good things. Misha is teaching him to be good and nice.”
As time went on, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his father argued about the young man’s new beliefs.
“When Misha would start talking, Tamerlan would stop talking and listen. It upset his father because Tamerlan wouldn’t listen to him as much,” Elmirza Khozhugov said.
“He would listen to this guy from the mosque who was preaching to him.”
Anzor Tsarnaev became so concerned that he called his brother, Ruslan Tsarni, worried about Misha’s effects.
“I heard about nobody else but this convert,” Ruslan Tsarni said.
“The seed for changing his views was planted right there in Cambridge.”
It was not immediately clear whether the FBI has spoken to Misha or was attempting to.
While Misha is a very common name across the former Soviet Union, Dan Amira makes the point that “there can’t be that many bald, red-bearded Armenian Muslims in Boston”.
Respected national security writer Laura Rozen took to Twitter to speculate that Misha could be “the kind of mole Russia plants to keep on eye on émigré communities of concern”.
Indeed, she theorizes that Misha could even be the source that tipped off Russian security services to Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s conversion to radical Islam in 2011.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev became an ardent reader of jihadist websites and extremist propaganda, two US officials said. He read Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.
The young man loved music and, a few years ago, he sent Elmirza Khozhugov a song he’d composed in English and Russian. He said he was about to start music school.
Six weeks later, the two men spoke on the phone. Elmirza Khozhugov asked how school was going.
“I quit,” Tamerlan Tsarnaev said.
“Why did you quit?” Elmirza Khozhugov asked. “You just started.”
“Music is not really supported in Islam,” he replied.
“Who told you that?”
“Misha said it’s not really good to create music. It’s not really good to listen to music,” Tamerlan Tsarnaev said, according to Elmirza Khozhugov.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev took an interest in Infowars, a conspiracy theory website. Elmirza Khozhugov said Tamerlan was interested in finding a copy of the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the classic anti-Semitic hoax, first published in Russia in 1903, that claims a Jewish plot to take over the world.
“He never said he hated America or he hated the Jews,” Elmirza Khozhugov said.
“But he was fairly aggressive toward the policies of the US toward countries with Muslim populations. He disliked the wars.”
One of the Tsarnaev brothers’ neighbors, Albrecht Ammon, recently recalled an encounter in which Tamerlan argued about US foreign policy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and religion.
Albrecht Ammon said Tamerlan Tsarnaev described the Bible as a “cheap copy” of the Quran, used to justify wars with other countries.
“He had nothing against the American people,” Albrecht Ammon said.
“He had something against the American government.”
Elmirza Khozhugov said Tamerlan Tsarnaev did not know much about Islam beyond what he found online or what he heard from Misha.
“Misha was important,” he said.
“Tamerlan was searching for something. He was searching for something out there.”
However, the Boston bombers mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, denied reports that her sons had been radicalized by a mysterious convert to Islam named Misha.
“Nonsense. He was just a friend,” Zubeidat Tsarnaeva told ABC News by phone today shortly before she sat down with FBI investigators for a second day of interviews here in the restive region of Dagestan, in southern Russia.
Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said Misha knew a lot about Islam and that it was interesting to learn from him, but denied his views were extreme.
She said their relationship with Misha, an Armenian with a red beard whose identity and full name remain a mystery, was short because he moved to another part of the United States since. She would not say where.
Throughout his religious makeover, Tamerlan Tsarnaev maintained a strong influence over his siblings, including Dzhokhar, who investigators say carried out the deadly attack by his older brother’s side, killing three and injuring 264 people.
“They all loved Tamerlan. He was the eldest one and he, in many ways, was the role model for his sisters and his brother,” said Elmirza Khozhugov.
“You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, <<Tamerlan said this>>, and <<Tamerlan said that. Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say.”
“Even my ex-wife loved him so much and respected him so much,” Elmirza Khozhugov said.
“I’d have arguments with her and if Tamerlan took my side, she would agree: <<OK, if Tamerlan said it>>.”
Elmirza Khozhugov said he was close to Tamerlan when he was married and they kept in touch for a while but drifted apart in the past two years or so.
He spoke to the AP from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A family member in the United States provided the contact information.
“Of course I was shocked and surprised that he was Suspect No. 1,” Elmirza Khozhugov said, recalling the days after the bombing when the FBI identified Tamerlan Tsarnaev as the primary suspect.
“But after a few hours of thinking about it, I thought it could be possible that he did it.”
US citizen Pae Jun-Ho, aka Kenneth Bae, will be tried soon on charges including attempting to overthrow North Korea’s government, state news agency KCNA says.
According to KCNA, Pae Jun-Ho has admitted the charges, without specifying when the verdict will be handed down.
Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist.
Kenneth Bae’s case comes at a time of high tension between Pyongyang and Washington.
This follows North Korea’s third nuclear test on February 12.
“The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun-Ho closed,” the KCNA said in a report on Saturday.
“In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] with hostility toward it.”
“His crimes were proved by evidence,” the report added.
“He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgement.”
It is not clear what sort of sanction Pae Jun-Ho, 44, might face, although North Korea’s criminal code provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for similar offences.
Pae Jun-Ho, who is known in the US as Kenneth Bae, was held last year after entering North Korea as a tourist
North Korea has arrested several US citizens in recent years, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism. They have been released after intervention by senior American public figures.
Pae Jun-Ho, believed to be a tour operator of Korean descent, is the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009.
Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter as well as former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson have all been involved in mediation efforts to gain the release of previous American detainees.
In one of the most high-profile cases, Bill Clinton negotiated the release in 2009 of two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been found guilty of entering North Korea illegally.
“For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the US,” Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul told Associated Press news agency.
“The North will use him in a way that helps bring the US to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue,” he said.
Pae Jun-Ho was reportedly arrested in November after arriving in Rason – a special economic zone in the north-east of the country near the Russian border.
Washington has so far not publicly commented on the latest development.
The US and North Korea do not have diplomatic relations. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang represents the US.
In a further sign of the continuing tension on the Korean peninsula, South Korea has begun withdrawing its remaining workers from the Kaesong joint industrial zone in North Korea.
Kaesong Industrial Complex, once considered a symbol of reconciliation, lies just north of the military demarcation line dividing the two Koreas.
South Korean officials said 126 people had left, with the final 48 expected home by Monday.
North Korea has already withdrawn its 53,000 workers and blocked access to the zone in response to joint South Korean and US military exercises.
Justin Bieber has shared an intimate moment with Selena Gomez confirming that they are very much back together.
Justin Bieber, 19, uploaded a picture to his Instagram that shows Selena Gomez, 20, cuddling his bare torso from behind and he’s handily added dialogue so we know exactly what’s going on.
The teen idol added the caption: “<<You’ve been makin’ music for too long baby come cuddle me>> – her.”
The moment all Beliebers and Selenators have been waiting for arrived earlier this week.
Justin Bieber has shared an intimate moment with Selena Gomez confirming that they are very much back together
On Sunday, Justin Bieber tweeted a picture of himself and his ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez suggesting that the two lovebirds have rekindled their romance once again.
In the snapshot, Selena Gomez is leaning in towards Justin Bieber, appearing as if she’s about to plant a big kiss on his cheek.
Her fingers are running through her silky strands, pulling her hair out of her face, as Justin Bieber gazes at the camera in his backwards baseball cap.
He deleted the photo immediately after he posted it, but the duo already sparked rumors of a reunion a few days ago.
On Thursday night, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber were spotted kissing in Oslo, Norway.
A century-old US five-cent coin, once branded a fake, has been sold for $3.17 million at a Heritage auction in Chicago.
The 1913 Liberty Head nickel, one of only five such coins, had a pre-sale estimated price of $2.5 million.
The coin’s intriguing provenance – it was illegally cast, found in a car crash, deemed a forgery and abandoned for decades – explains its high value.
It was located after a nationwide search and put up for sale by four siblings in the state of Virginia.
The 1913 Liberty Head nickel, one of only five such coins, has been sold for $3.17 million at a Heritage auction in Chicago
“Not only is it just one of only five known, genuine 1913-dated Liberty Head design nickels, this particular one was off the radar for decades until it literally came out of the closet after a nationwide search,” said Todd Imhof, vice-president of Heritage Auctions, where the coin was sold.
The nickel was forged at the mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1912 – the final year the Liberty Head was cast – but with the year 1913 cast on its face.
It is believed that a mint worker named Samuel Brown made the coin, managing to change the die in order to create a coin bearing a bogus date.
The set of coins’ existence was unknown until Samuel Brown sold them in 1920, and they remained together – although with various owners – until 1942.
A coin collector based in the state of North Carolina, George Walton, had the coin with him when he died in a 1962 car accident. It was found at the scene of the crash among hundreds of coins scattered over the wreckage.
The nickel passed to George Walton’s sister, Melva Givens, after experts said the odd date on the coin suggested it was a fake.
She placed the 5-cent piece in a box containing other family items, where it remained for the following four decades.
The nickel was rediscovered after Melva Givens’ death.
In 2003, Melva Givens’ children brought it to the American Numismatic Association’s World Fair of Money, where the other four Liberty nickels were on display. Experts determined it must be the long-missing fifth coin in the set.
Since then, the nickel has been on display at the association’s Money Museum in Colorado.
The coin’s new owner, Jeff Garrett of Lexington, Kentucky, said: “This is one of the greatest coins at that price range.”
He is understood to have bought the coin in partnership with a man from Panama City, Florida.
The US state department has revealed the annual list of gifts received by President Barack Obama from foreign governments in 2011.
Among the gifts from the British Royal Family and UK PM David Cameron to President Barack Obama were a china tea set, an eagle tapestry and a dog toy.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave the Obamas an array of luxury goods valued at $41,676.
Following US custom, the First Family and other US public officials seldom keep gifts from foreign leaders.
They are instead deposited with the US National Archives.
The US state department has revealed the annual list of gifts received by President Barack Obama from foreign governments in 2011
The gifts were reported in an annual filing by the US state department’s protocol office.
Queen Elizabeth II gave Barack Obama a red leather-bound volume entitled A Selection of Papers From the Royal Archives 1834-1897, signed photos of herself to several senior White House aides, and a brooch with gold leaves and coral flowers to First Lady Michelle Obama.
Prince Charles gave the Obamas a 15-piece china tea set.
British PM David Cameron gave the family a large tapestry with an eagle and American flag design by the Rug Company, silver bracelets for daughters Sasha and Malia, and a “bone-shaped chew toy with United Kingdom flag”, presumably for Bo, the family’s four-year-old dog.
The gifts from the Royal Family and David Cameron total about $7,137.
Canadian PM Stephen Harper gave Barack Obama a ball signed by the 2011 Toronto Raptors professional basketball team, as well as a “golden-framed 19th Century antique map of North America, surrounded by drawings of North American Indians, beavers”.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy presented the Obama family with an array of gifts on several occasions in 2011, among them a glass sculpture of Bucephalus, Alexander the Great’s horse, several Hermes bags, a 200 euro souvenir coin and a reusable grocery tote.
