Annette Funicello, one of the original Mouseketeers of the 1950s Mickey Mouse Club and a star of numerous 1960s “beach party” films, died Monday at the age of 70, the Walt Disney Co. announced.
Annette Funicello “died peacefully from complications due to multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled for over 25 years,” at a California hospital, the Disney statement said.
“We are so sorry to lose Mother,” her three children said in a statement.
“She is no longer suffering anymore and is now dancing in heaven. We love and will miss her terribly.”
Annette Funicello, one of the original Mouseketeers of Mickey Mouse Club, died at the age of 70
Annette Funicello was just 13 when she was selected by Walt Disney himself to be one of the original Mouseketeers of the Mickey Mouse Club, the 1950s television variety show aimed at children.
She had a background in dance and quickly became one of the most popular Mouseketeers.
Annette Funicello “was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mouseketeer, and a true Disney Legend”, Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger said.
She remained with Disney after leaving the “Mickey Mouse Club,” appearing in TV shows including Zorro (1957), The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (1958) and starring in the Disney feature films The Shaggy Dog (1959), Babes in Toyland (1961), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) and The Monkey’s Uncle (1965).
The most enduring images of Annette Funicello, though, may be of her in a bikini, her primary wardrobe when she co-starred with teen idol Frankie Avalon in beach party movies in the early 1960s.
Walt Disney saw Annette Funicello dancing the lead in Swan Lake at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank when she was 13. Disney asked her to audition for a new children’s TV series he was developing called The Mickey Mouse Club.
Kim Kardashian shows off her baby bump in a newly-released trailer for Keeping Up With The Kardashians Season 8 aired on Sunday night following the season finale of Kourtney & Kim Take Miami.
Pregnant Kim Kardashian, who last night was seen revealing her baby news to sister Kourtney on their spin-off E! show, takes the stage again.
In this one-minute clip, the hormonal reality star is seen baring her bump, chowing down on junk food, before breaking down during a particularly stressful hospital visit.
The first image of Kim Kardashian’s sonogram will be revealed in Keeping Up With The Kardashians Season 8
The cameras were on hand to capture 32-year-old Kim Kardashian – who is in the midst of a bitter divorce from husband of 72-days Kris Humphries – bursting into tears while etherized on a bed, with mother Kris Jenner squeezing her hand in support.
The first image of Kim Kardashian’s sonogram is also flashed up during the trailer.
Elsewhere Kim Kardashian digs into junk food, along with her brother Rob, who is currently on a slim-down mission after piling on 40 lbs.
The new series looks set to explore Rob Kardashian’s battle of the bulge, with the trailer showing a glimpse of his exercise regime as he hauls himself off on a hike.
Kim Kardashian’s sister Kendall Jenner, 17, is taken to a shooting range by her father Bruce in the clip.
It comes after Bruce Jenner gets into a row with wife Kris for bringing a gun into the house.
Keeping Up With The Kardashians Season 8 airs on E! from June 2.
Spanish singer and actress Sara Montiel died Monday, April 8, at the age of 85.
Considered a legend of Spanish cinema and one of the first to make it to Hollywood, Sara Montiel, whose name was Maria Antonia Abad Fernandez, died at her home in Madrid after suffering a blackout, but so far her cause of death is unknown, according to her biographer, Peter Villora.
Sara Montiel, also known as Sarita Montiel or Saritisima, starred in hundreds of films and was a beauty icon for a generation. She lived a troubled love life and became famous for smoking cigars on stage when she sang.
“She was both actress and singer. But being an actress was her life’s dream,” said Peter Villora.
She began her career in Mexico in the late 40s with such successful films as Women’s Prison.
Sara Montiel soon made the leap to Hollywood, where she shot a supporting role in the legendary western Vera Cruz in 1955 alongside actors like Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.
Sara Montiel died at her home in Madrid after suffering a blackout
Her second film in the US was the musical Serenade, with the tenor Mario Lanza and Joan Fontaine starring as Vincent Price.
“She had the greatest international impact of all Spanish stars in cinema until Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz broke more barriers,” said the Spanish actor Jose Sacristan.
In her native country, where she had enjoyed little success before traveling to Mexico, Sara Montiel rose to stardom with The Last Couplet in 1957, one of the highest-grossing films in the history of Spanish cinema. For her next film, The Violetera, Sara Montiel collected more than a million dollars, something unheard of in those days.
After the death of the dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, Sara Montiel left cinema and appeared in musicals, starring in vaudeville theaters and television.
One of her hallmarks was smoking cigars on stage, a habit that then seemed reserved only for men. Sara Montiel said it was Ernest Hemingway who taught her to smoke.
Sara Montiel was married three times, once to film director Anthony Mann and to two Spanish businessmen. For many years it was rumored she had affairs with Ernest Hemingway and iconic film stars like James Dean.
British chemists have found a new way to halve the fat of chocolate using liquids which does not change the “mouthfeel”.
Low-fat preparations of chocolate are well known, but their textures tend not to match the real thing.
A report at an American Chemical Society meeting described a method using the popular gelling agent agar to make tiny “sponges” that displace fat.
British researchers at University of Warwick said water, fruit juice or even alcohol could replace up to half the fat.
When used with alcohol, Stefan Bon said they were like “tiny vodka jellies”.
British chemists have found a new way to halve the fat of chocolate using liquids which does not change the mouthfeel
What has held up such chemistry is making what is known as an emulsion – a thorough blend of materials that do not tend to mix, such as oil and water.
Normal chocolate gets much of its velvety feel from an emulsion of fat globules suspended within the solid.
Replacing those is tricky – any substitutes have to remain dispersed throughout the chocolate as it is heated and cooled to a solid, and they have to remain small.
Dr. Stefan Bon said that the smooth texture of chocolate requires that the globules be smaller than about 30 millionths of a metre across – about half the width of a human hair.
The Warwick team first published an attempt to crack the problem in a 2012 paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.
That formulation made “armored” spheres of liquid, using two materials – fumed silica, a form of the same material from which sand is made, and chitosan, a compound derived from shellfish.
That solution required that the liquid be slightly acidic, so the team used fruit juices.
“That was exciting because it had the combination of fruit juice and chocolate, and everybody went wild on it,” said Dr. Stefan Bon.
“Then some people – especially in the UK – said: <<but can we do alcohol?>>
“We’ve been working very hard in the lab to make a system that can do that – instead of these armored systems we then thought we could make tiny little vodka jellies.”
The new approach is simpler to carry out and more versatile in the replacements it can employ.
It also avoids any concerns consumers may have with the nano-structured fumed silica, or dietary restrictions on eating shellfish products.
“So you can stick to your fruit juice if you want, but you can also make a vodka-based chocolate bar, which is exciting – obviously not very healthy, but exciting,” Dr. Stefan Bon said.
On a healthier note, Stefan Bon added that using the method with other liquids could lead to significantly reduced sugar content as well.
“It opens the route to different types of confectionery candy that can be placed on the shelf next to everything else that’s out there already,” he said.
A guide to the extraordinary life and career of the first British female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher:
Who was Margaret Thatcher?
Margaret Thatcher, born Margaret Hilda Roberts in Grantham, Lincolnshire on 13 October 1925, was the longest-serving British prime minister in modern times and the first woman to lead a major Western democracy. She won three successive general elections and spent a total of 11 years in Downing Street, from May 1979 to November 1990.
What did Baroness Thatcher achieve?
British society changed almost beyond recognition during the Thatcher years, as heavy industry closed and a new free market economy was born. The political philosophy she established still dominates British politics to this day. But critics say the changes came at the price of a more divided society and the destruction of traditional working-class communities.
Margaret Thatcher was the longest-serving British prime minister in modern times and the first woman to lead a major Western democracy
What about on the international stage?
Margaret Thatcher joined forces with US president Ronald Reagan to pioneer a new form of dynamic free-market conservatism, which has since taken root around the world. Her support for reforming Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev arguably hastened the end of the Cold War and the spread of democracy to former Eastern Bloc states.
What was Margaret Thatcher’s background?
The younger of two daughters, Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in 1925 in Grantham, a small market town in eastern England. Her father, Alfred, owned a grocer’s shop and was involved in local politics. She went to an all-girls grammar school, before studying chemistry at Oxford University. She then trained as a barrister, specializing in tax. She married divorced millionaire businessman Denis Thatcher and had two children – twins Carol and Mark.
How did Lady Thatcher get into politics?
She owed her lifelong passion for politics to father Alfred, who was on the local council in Grantham. At Oxford in the mid 1940s, she became the first female president of the university’s Conservative association. In 1959, at the age of 34, she was elected as an MP, for the north London seat of Finchley, in an era when female politicians were still a rarity.
How did Margaret Thatcher become prime minister?
Margaret Thatcher had a rough ride after Tory leader Ted Heath made her education secretary in 1970. She was dubbed “Thatcher the milk snatcher” after her decision to end free school milk for older primary school pupils. The prospect of her becoming party leader, let alone prime minister, seemed a distant one. But after the Tories lost the second 1974 general election there was a hunger in the party for a different approach and to the surprise of many, herself included, she defeated Ted Heath in a 1975 leadership election. Four years later she was elected prime minister with a Commons majority of 43.
What were the key moments of her early years in power?
Margaret Thatcher was determined to revive Britain’s ailing economy but her choice of medicine – squeezing inflation and clamping down on public spending and borrowing – led to a far worse downturn than most had predicted. Unemployment soared above three million as large chunks of Britain’s manufacturing and heavy industries closed down. England’s inner cities saw riots in 1981. Her refusal to do a U-turn – as her predecessor Ted Heath had done – meant she appeared to be heading for defeat at the next election. The Falklands War – when she sent a naval task force to retake the South Atlantic islands invaded by Argentina – and Labour’s leftward lurch are both credited with helping her win that second election.
What about Margaret Thatcher’s second term?
Margaret Thatcher was re-elected by a landslide in 1983, in a wave of post-Falklands patriotic fervour. But her second term saw more turmoil – including one of the longest and most bitter industrial disputes in British history in the 1984 miners’ strike. In October of that year, with the strike still under way, the IRA attempted to murder Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet by bombing her hotel during the Conservative Party conference in Brighton. The economy improved towards the end of her second term as free market reforms and the sale of state assets gathered pace.
What about her third term?
A second landslide followed in the 1987 general election, with Margaret Thatcher returning to Downing Street with a 102 seat majority, becoming the longest continually serving prime minister since Lord Liverpool in the early 19th Century. Her third term was marked by an increasingly hard line on Europe, and the continuation of economic reforms with privatization and the further growth of home and share ownership.
How did Margaret Thatcher’s premiership come to an end?
In one of the most dramatic episodes in political history, Margaret Thatcher was ejected by her own MPs three years after her 1987 election victory amid public anger over a new tax system for local government, dubbed the poll tax. The resignation of ultra-loyal Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, over her increasingly skeptical stance on Europe, finally triggered her downfall after senior Conservatives told her she would lose a leadership election. She never lost an election.
What were Margaret Thatcher’s key domestic reforms?
Seeking to tame inflation through monetarist economic policy, curbing union power, selling off nationally owned monopolies, liberalizing the stock market and introducing the right-to-buy for council tenants.
What is Margaret Thatcher’s legacy?
Britain would probably be a very different place today without Margaret Thatcher. Her bold free market reforms and curbs on union power – that caused so much controversy in the 1980s – are now accepted as conventional wisdom by all mainstream British political parties. The centre ground of British politics shifted to the right as a result of her time in power.
Margaret Thatcher is, furthermore, a global icon and role model for female politicians and, with Ronald Reagan, one of the towering figures of the political right.
She suffered from poor health for several years before her death.On 21 December 2012, she underwent an operation to remove a growth from her bladder.
Margaret Thatcher died on 8 April 2013 in London following a massive stroke. Her spokesman, Lord Bell, confirmed her death at 12:52 BST (11:52 UTC) by press release.
British housewife Lindsay Sandiford has lost her appeal against her death sentence in Bali for drug trafficking, a Bali High Court spokesman has said.
The Bali High Court upheld the sentence handed down to Lindsay Sandiford in January.
Lindsay Sandiford, 56, from Gloucestershire, UK, says she was coerced into smuggling 4.8 kg (10.6lb) of cocaine.
The housewife was arrested after a flight from Thailand in May 2012 and accused of being at the centre of a drugs ring.
Following her conviction earlier this year, the prosecution recommended 15 years imprisonment but a panel of judges later sentenced Lindsay Sandiford to death by firing squad.
Lindsay Sandiford has lost her appeal against her death sentence in Bali for drug trafficking
The appeal judges ruled the original decision was “accurate and correct,” the court spokesman said, adding that Lindsay Sandiford would be informed of the decision as soon as possible.
The high court, sitting in the island’s capital Denpasar, gave her 14 days to appeal to the Supreme Court starting from the day she is informed of the verdict.
If the Supreme Court rejects her appeal, Lindsay Sandiford can seek a judicial review of the decision from the same court. After that, only the country’s president can grant her a reprieve.
It was not game over for Lindsay Sandiford but it would be a long process, with many death row drug smugglers languishing in jails for up to 10 years.
There are currently 71 prisoners convicted of drug charges on death row in Indonesia and 41 of them are foreigners.
Last month, the authorities in Indonesia carried out their first execution for more than four years. Adami Wilson, a Malawi national convicted of drugs smuggling, was executed by firing squad north of Jakarta.
The British embassy in the Indonesian capital issued a statement: “We are disappointed to hear Lindsay Sandiford’s appeal has been refused by the High Court in Bali. The UK strongly opposes the death penalty and has repeatedly made representations to the Indonesian government on this matter.
“We will continue to provide consular assistance to her at this difficult time.”
At the end of January, Lindsay Sandiford lost a legal bid in the UK to get the British government to fund a lawyer for her appeal in Bali.
It had been said she was urgently in need of funding to pay for an “an adequate lawyer” because her family had exhausted all their available resources.
But the Foreign Office’s policy of not providing legal representation to British nationals overseas was backed by judges.
Lindsay Sandiford’s case has been taken up by the British human rights charity, Reprieve, which said Sandiford was “targeted by drug traffickers who exploited her vulnerability and made threats against her children”.
She is originally from Redcar in Teesside but her last UK address was in Gloucestershire. She was arrested after a flight from Bangkok and was accused of being part of a drugs ring involving three other Britons.
One of the Britons, Julian Ponder, 43, from Brighton, was jailed for six years in January after being cleared of smuggling but convicted of possessing 23 g of cocaine.
The two other Britons were also cleared of trafficking; one received a sentence of four years for possession and the other a one-year term for failing to report a crime.
Margaret Thatcher, UK’s first female prime minister, has died at 87 following a stroke, her spokesman has announced today.
Lord Bell said: “It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning.”
Margaret Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990.
PM David Cameron called Baroness Thatcher a “great Briton” and Queen Elizabeth II spoke of her sadness at the death.
Margaret Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990
Downing Street said Lady Margaret Thatcher would be accorded the same status of funeral as the Queen Mother and Princess Diana, but will not lie in state, in accordance with her own wishes.
Lady Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts, became the Conservative MP for Finchley, north London in 1959, retiring from the Commons in 1992.
Having been education secretary, Margaret Thatcher successfully challenged former Prime Minister Edward Heath for her party’s leadership in 1975 and won general elections in 1979, 1983 and 1987.
Margaret Thatcher’s government privatized several state-owned industries. She was also in power when the UK went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982.
In a statement on the Downing Street Twitter feed, PM David Cameron said: “It was with great sadness that l learned of Lady Thatcher’s death. We’ve lost a great leader, a great prime minister and a great Briton.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “The Queen was sad to hear the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher. Her Majesty will be sending a private message of sympathy to the family.”
Kim Kardashian had another unflattering choice of maternity wear with a salmon pink dress that billowed dramatically at the hips as she attended church with her mother Kris Jenner on Sunday in Los Angeles.
Kim Kardashian, 32, who is six months pregnant, wore a floaty dress with the bottom tapered in.
The reality star showed off ample cleavage in the low-cut frock, while the draping material of her dress concealed her pregnant belly for the most part.
Kim Kardashian completed the look with stylish beige sandals and a brown suede handbag.
Kim Kardashian had another unflattering choice of maternity wear with a salmon pink dress that billowed dramatically at the hips as she attended church with her mother Kris Jenner
She wore her long dark hair straight and loose over her shoulders and shielded her eyes with giant aviator sunglasses.
Kim Kardadshian attended church with her mother Kris Jenner, who opted for a low-key look in black skinny jeans, a white blazer and black trainers.
Kris Jenner and her daughter walked closely together as they chatted while making their way into the church.
Kim Kardashian has received criticism for her unflattering maternity style, which has regularly consisted of either ill-fitting baggy clothing or tight, skimpy attire.
Much of the clothing has made her appear bigger than what she is, which became especially clear when she posted a Twitter snap of her bare baby bump on Saturday.
The star looked surprisingly slender in black leggings and a white T-shirt, suggesting that her weight gain hasn’t been as severe as it has seemed.
Kim Kardashian recently took to her blog to respond to criticism of her maternity style.
“I saw some comments that were so critical!” the reality star wrote on Friday.
“It’s funny because Kourtney warned me that when I get pregnant people’s opinions will be on an all time high and everyone will chime in. So I now see what she means.”
Kim Kardashian added: “I saw some comments that the skirt is too tight for the pregnancy and that’s ridiculous! I bought this skirt a few sizes bigger and there is plenty of room.”
North Korea has announced today it is withdrawing all its workers from the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone and suspending operations there.
The move follows weeks of warlike rhetoric from Pyongyang after it was sanctioned by the UN for carrying out its third nuclear test in February.
Kaesong industrial park was established almost a decade ago and had been a symbol of co-operation between North and South Korea.
However, a North Korean official said it could now be closed permanently.
In a statement, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said the decision “cannot be justified in any way and North Korea will be held responsible for all the consequences,” the AFP news agency reports.
Kaesong complex, just over the border in North Korea, employs more than 50,000 North Korean workers but is funded and managed by South Korean firms.
North Korea has announced today it is withdrawing all its workers from the joint-Korean Kaesong industrial zone and suspending operations there
Pyongyang has already banned South Koreans from entering, but during a visit to the site, Kim Yang-gon, secretary of the party’s Central Committee, said North Korea would now “temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it”.
The North’s KCNA news agency quoted Kim Yang-gon as saying that South Korea and the US “insult the country’s dignity and make the zone a starting point of war”.
“How the situation will develop in the days ahead will entirely depend on the attitude of the South Korean authorities,” Kim Yang-gon said.
The statement made no reference to the nearly 500 South Koreans who are in Kaesong as managers.
One South Korean told the Associated Press he had heard nothing about the order from the North Korean government.
“North Korean workers left work at six o’clock today as they usually do. We’ll know tomorrow whether they will come to work,” he said.
Earlier, South Korean officials played down reports that the North could be about to carry out a nuclear test.
A defense ministry spokesman said the widely reported activity detected at the Punggye-ri underground test site appeared to be routine and that there was “no indication that a nuclear test is imminent”.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said such a nuclear test would be a “provocative measure”, and warned that North Korea cannot continue “confronting and challenging the authority of the Security Council and directly challenging the whole international community”.
Russia and China have called for calm and a return to dialogue.
Speaking during a visit to Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that as a neighbor of North Korea his country was “worried about the escalation” of tensions.
Vladimir Putin warned there was a risk of a conflict on the Korean peninsula which would make the Chernobyl nuclear disaster “seem like a child’s fairy tale”.
The UN imposed tough sanctions on North Korea following its third nuclear test on February 12.
Pyongyang has responded by issuing almost daily threats to use nuclear weapons and saying it would restart its nuclear reactor.
North Korea has also shut down an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang.
Last week it warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff after April 10, and that countries should begin evacuating their diplomatic staff.
North Korea’s state media have been broadcasting a continuing diet of war and retribution with programmes about biochemical war, nuclear war and military preparations dominating the listing.
However, some analysts have suggested that the rhetoric is in large part designed to shore up the standing of a young, inexperienced leader, Kim Jong-un.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defence ministry said the country’s armed forces have been ordered to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory.
Over the weekend, the US cancelled a scheduled test of its Minuteman III ballistic missile, citing concerns that it could be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
Kelly Clarkson arrived at this year ACM Awards in a complementary purple fit and flare dress but as she took to the stage at the event, her costume change wasn’t quite as flattering.
The 48th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.
Kelly Clarkson’s light blue mid sleeve mini dress appeared a tad too small on the 30-year-old American Idol star.
Kelly Clarkson’s light blue mid sleeve mini dress appeared a tad too small on the 30-year-old American Idol star
Bunching up around her middle area, the fabric of the attire appeared restrictive.
Nonetheless, Kelly Clarkson beamed as she performed her hit song Don’t Rush at the star-studded awards show.
Earlier Kelly Clarkson arrived at the event on the arm of her fiancé Brandon Blackstock.
She looked pretty in her purple dress which she wore with nude colored tights and a pair of peep toe polka dot platform heels.
Kelly Clarkson accessorized with a black clutch bag and wore her blonde locks out in a straight style.
Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s remains are to be exhumed, forensic experts have announced.
Chilean authorities want to establish whether Pablo Neruda died of cancer or was poisoned on the orders of country’s former military ruler General Augusto Pinochet.
Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize winner who died in 1973, was a member of the Communist Party and a staunch supporter of ousted Chilean president Salvador Allende.
The poet died aged 69 just 12 days after Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s coup against Salvador Allende.
Pablo Neruda’s family maintains that he died of advanced prostate cancer.
Pablo Neruda, a Nobel Prize winner who died in 1973, was a member of the Communist Party and a staunch supporter of ousted Chilean president Salvador Allende
In 2011, Chile started investigating allegations by his former driver and personal assistant, Manuel Araya, that Pablo Neruda had been poisoned.
Manuel Araya says Pablo Neruda called him from hospital, and told him he was feeling sick after having been given an injection in the stomach.
His allegations are backed by the Chilean Communist Party, which says that Pablo Neruda did not exhibit any of the symptoms associated with the advanced cancer he is reported to have died from.
Members of Chile’s Medical Legal Service began to dig up Pablo Neruda’s grave on Sunday.
Pablo Neruda is buried next to his wife Matile Urritia in the garden of their home on Chile’s Pacific coast in Isla Negra, some 75 miles west of the capital, Santiago.
A nephew of Pablo Neruda, Rodolfo Reyes, said the family wanted to know the truth “regardless of whether he died of natural causes or was murdered”.
Pablo Neruda, best known for his love poems, was a close friend of the socialist president Salvador Allende.
After Salvador Allende was toppled in the 11 September 1973 coup, the poet arranged to go into exile in Mexico, where he was expected to join the opposition to the military rule of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Historian Fernando Marin is one of those who thinks Pablo Neruda’s plans to go abroad, and his sudden death, were linked.
“No one doubts that there was a plane waiting for Pablo Neruda at Pudahuel airport when he died,” according to Fernando Marin.
“He had a urinary infection and an adenoma [benign tumor] on his prostate according to the medical tests, but he wasn’t going to die,” Fernando Marin told Reuters news agency.
More than 3,000 people were disappeared and killed under Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military rule between 1973 and 1990.
Wikileaks has published a new collection of more than 1.7 million of US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s.
The documents include allegations that former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi was a middleman in an arms deal and the first impressions of eventual British PM Margaret Thatcher.
The records have not been leaked and are available to view at the US national archives.
Wikileaks says it is releasing the documents in searchable form.
Wikileaks has published a new collection of more than 1.7 million of US diplomatic and intelligence documents from the 1970s
Much of the work has been carried out by the website’s founder Julian Assange while he has been holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Julian Assange took refuge in the embassy last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations that he assaulted two female ex-Wikileaks supporters in 2010.
He denies the allegations, and has said they are politically motivated and part of a smear campaign against him and his whistle-blowing website.
Wikileaks made headlines around the world in 2010 after it released more than 250,000 leaked US cables.
Julian Assange told Britain’s Press Association that the latest collection, entitled the Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD), reveal the “vast range and scope” of US diplomatic activity around the world.
The data comprises diplomatic cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence running from the beginning of 1973 to the end of 1976.
Much of the correspondence is either written by or sent to Henry Kissinger, who was US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser during that period.
It includes claims, being widely reported by the Indian media, that Rajiv Gandhi – of India’s most famous political family – was employed by the Swedish firm Saab-Scandia as it tried to sell its Viggen fighter jet to India.
Rajiv Gandhi was working as a commercial pilot and not in politics himself at the time.
A US diplomat is quoted in a February 1976 cable as saying: “We would have thought a transport pilot is not the best expert to rely upon in evaluating a fighter plane, but then we are speaking of a transport pilot who has another and perhaps more relevant qualification.”
Rajiv Gandhi became India’s prime minister in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991.
Saab-Scandia did not win its bid to sell Viggen fighter jets to India; the contract went to Britain’s Jaguar planes.
Another cable, dated February 1975, from London sets out “some first impressions” of new leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher.
The diplomat wrote that “she has a quick, if not profound, mind, and works hard to master the most complicated brief”.
Margaret Thatcher is “crisp and a trifle patronizing” with the media, but “honest and straight-forward” with her colleagues, “if not excessively considerate of their vanities”, the diplomat wrote.
“The personification of a British middle class dream come true,” she is the “genuine voice of a beleaguered bourgeoise [sic], anxious about its eroding economic power and determined to arrest society’s seemingly inexorable trend towards collectivism”, the cable said.
The diplomat noted she had “acquired a distinctively upper middle class personal image”, which might damage her chances of becoming prime minister, but said she should not be underestimated.
US scientists say carnitine, a chemical found in red meat, helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart.
Their work has been published in the journal Nature Medicine and showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut.
This kicked off a chain of events which resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease.
Dieticians also warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements.
US scientists say carnitine, a chemical found in red meat, helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart
There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.
Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story.
“The cholesterol and saturated fat content of lean red meat is not that high, there’s something else contributing to increases in cardiovascular risk,” said lead researcher Dr. Stanley Hazen.
Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine.
Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO.
In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, from the Cleveland Clinic, said TMAO was often ignored: “It may be a waste product but it is significantly influencing cholesterol metabolism and the net effect leads to an accumulation of cholesterol.
“The findings support the idea that less red meat is better.
“I used to have red meat five days out of seven, now I have cut it way back to less than once every two weeks or so.”
He said the findings raised the idea of using a probiotic yogurt to change the balance of bacteria in the gut.
Reducing the number of bacteria that feed on carnitine would in theory reduce the health risks of red meat.
Vegetarians naturally have fewer bacteria that are able to break down carnitine than meat-eaters.
A Vajacial is a beauty treatment of the bikini area that serves up an anti-bacterial cleanser, an exfoliating treatment, a mask for a specific skin concern and a slathering of lightening cream to undo any hyper pigmentation caused by in-growns.
San Francisco Stript Wax Bar owner Katherine Goldman said that demand for Vajacial has increased 30% each year since she started offering it in 2010.
Katherine Goldman’s wax bar offers the “key needs” of the modern waxed woman.
A Vajacial is particularly beneficial after a Brazilian wax, to make sure the area looks perfect after the heavy-duty procedure
Apparently this requires a papaya enzyme mask, a cleanse and extraction of ingrown hairs with a pair of tweezers.
All in all the treatment takes 50 minutes of focused cleansing and smoothing.
They are particularly beneficial after a Brazilian wax, to make sure the area looks perfect after the heavy-duty procedure.
At the Stript Bar one of three options is available: anti-freckle, anti-acne or calming to reduce redness.
Vajacial is a term that Stript Wax Bar has now trademarked.
However, other salons around the US offer the service under different names. One New York salon calls it a Peach Smoothie.
Alexis Wolfer, editor of TheBeautyBean.com told ABC News, that the Vajacial and its spinoffs result from “the trend of women hyper-focusing on every last flaw in themselves”.
Fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer died at her home Sunday at the age of 81, according to Quattlebaum Funeral and Cremation Services.
Lilly Pulitzer’s tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s when then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who attended boarding school with Pulitzer, wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread.
The colorful revolution came as fashion shed its reliance on neutrals, and Lilly Pulitzer’s stuff was almost the housewife version of the more youthful mod look that was migrating from London.
To this day, the Lilly Pulitzer dress remains a popular, if not a necessary, addition to any woman’s closet.
Lilly Pulitzer’s tropical print dresses became a sensation in the 1960s when then-first lady Jacqueline Kennedy wore one of the sleeveless shifts in a Life magazine photo spread
“I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy… fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! I entered in with no business sense. It was a total change of life for me, but it made people happy,” she told The Associated Press in March 2009.
Lilly Pulitzer’s dresses hung behind her juice stand and soon outsold her drinks.
The line of dresses that bore her name was later expanded to swimsuits, country club attire, children’s clothing, a home collection and a limited selection of menswear.
In 1966, The Washington Post reported that the dresses were “so popular that at the Southampton Lilly shop on Job’s Lane they are proudly put in clear plastic bags tied gaily with ribbons so that all the world may see the Lilly of your choice. It’s like carrying your own racing colors or flying a yacht flag for identification”.
But changing taste brought trouble. Lilly Pulitzer closed her original company in the mid-1980s after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The label was revived about a decade later after being acquired by Pennsylvania-based Sugartown Worldwide Inc. Lilly Pulitzer was only marginally involved in the new business but continued reviewing new prints from Florida.
Lilly Pulitzer retired from day-to-day operations in 1993, although she remained a consultant and a muse for the brand.
Sugartown Worldwide was bought by Atlanta-based Oxford Industries in 2010.
Sales of the Lilly Pulitzer brand were strong in the earnings period that ended February 2.
The brand’s revenue increased 26% to $29.1 million, according to Oxford Industries’ earnings report.
The company said last week it planned to add four to six new stores each year for its Lily Pulitzer brand.
Lilly Pulitzer was born Lilly McKim on November 10, 1931, to a wealthy family in Roslyn, New York.
In 1952, she married Pete Pulitzer, the grandson of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, whose bequest to Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prize.
Lilly Pulitzer had three children in quick succession.
The Pulitzers divorced in 1969. Lilly Pulitzer’s second husband, Enrique Rousseau, died in 1993. She also had three grandchildren.
The Japanese yen has reached its lowest level since 2008 against the US dollar after the central bank began the latest round of its stimulus programme.
The yen fell as low as 98.85 against the dollar, before rebounding slightly.
Investors said the Bank of Japan’s plan to buy assets worth trillions of yen, which has government backing, would continue to weaken the currency.
As a result, the yen may break through the 100 mark against the dollar as early as this week.
The Japanese yen has reached its lowest level since 2008 against the US dollar after the central bank began the latest round of its stimulus programme
“This has really shaken up many people’s attitudes toward the Bank of Japan and the new government,” said Andrew Wilkinson, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak and Co in New York.
“It feels like it’s gathered a whole new momentum behind it, as the doubters have joined the bandwagon and it’s becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Last week, the BOJ said it would double the supply of the currency in the market.
The central bank added that it would be much more aggressive in pursuing a 2% inflation target to boost growth.
A weak yen helps Japanese exporters keep their products competitive, as well as boosting profits earned overseas.
On Monday, exporters helped push the main Nikkei 225 stock index 3.1% higher, before the gains were pared back in later trading.
North Korea appears to be preparing for a fourth nuclear test, according to South Korean officials.
South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae told lawmakers there were signs of increased activity in North Korea’s main nuclear test site.
North Korea has stepped up its habitual fiery rhetoric against the US and South Korea in recent weeks.
Correspondents say it is unclear whether a test is being prepared or it is a ruse to boost the sense of crisis.
Ryoo Kihl-jae did not elaborate on the specific intelligence which led South Korea to suspect the North was set to carry out its fourth nuclear test.
North Korea appears to be preparing for a fourth nuclear test, according to South Korean officials
But when asked about a news report that North Korea had stepped up activity at the underground site it has used in previous tests, he said “there are such signs”.
Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for South Korea’s defense ministry, said it was possible that the North could fire a ballistic missile and conduct a nuclear test at the same time.
But South Korean official Yonhap news agency quoted him as playing down the threat of an imminent test, saying there were several facilities at the nuclear test site so the movement of vehicles and people there was expected.
“Currently, there is no new movement to add on to the previous briefing,” he said.
Newspaper JoongAng Ilbo quoted an unnamed South Korean official as saying that South Korean intelligence had detected “increased activity of labor forces and vehicles” at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the country’s north-east.
“We are closely monitoring the ongoing situation, which is very similar to the situation ahead of the third nuclear test,” the official told the newspaper.
“We are trying to figure out whether it is a genuine preparation for a nuclear test or just a ploy to heap more pressure on us and the US.”
The UN imposed tough sanctions on North Korea last month following its third nuclear test. Pyongyang responded by stepping up angry rhetoric, including threats to use nuclear weapons and restarting its nuclear reactor.
In recent weeks, North Korea has shut down an emergency military hotline between Seoul and Pyongyang, stopped South Koreans from working at the Kaesong joint industrial complex and warned it would not be able to guarantee the safety of foreign embassy staff in the event of a war.
On Monday, the North Korea’s state news agency said a senior official had visited the Kaesong complex and told workers there to prepare for all possible developments.
Analysts have suggested that the rhetoric is in large part designed to shore up the standing of a young, inexperienced leader, Kim Jong-un, in the eyes of his own people.
North Korea’s state media have been broadcasting a continuing diet of war and retribution with programmes about biochemical war, nuclear war and military preparations dominating the listing.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defense ministry said the country’s armed forces have been ordered to shoot down any North Korean missile headed towards its territory.
Over the weekend, the US cancelled a scheduled test of its Minuteman III ballistic missile, citing concerns that it could be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
North Korea released a bizarre video of military dogs attacking an effigy of South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin and again threatened to attack their South neighbors.
The new propaganda clip was shown on state television on Sunday.
The animals can also be seen jumping through a flaming hole as they are put through their paces in training.
North Korea released a bizarre video of military dogs attacking an effigy of South Korean defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin and again threatened to attack their South neighbors
The new video was released as the US delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test planned for next week amid fears it will be misinterpreted by Pyongyang.
In the same video troops can also be seen using the South Korean defense minister’s face as target practice.
At the very end of the clip the effigy is destroyed with a rocket launcher.
It is unclear when and where the video, released by North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, was filmed.
An unidentified North Korean soldier warns that they are ready to attack South Korea as soon as the order is given.
“On the Korean peninsula, it is not a matter of whether we will have a war or not but whether it will take place today or tomorrow,” he said.
“This is a situation like being on the eve of a big explosion. Every minute, every second counts. We are right now set to march, once the order is given.”
The claim follows weeks of ever-increasing threats from North Korea which claims to have missiles capable of hitting the US.
Portugal’s PM Pedro Passos Coelho has said a court ruling striking down parts of his government’s budget means it will have to make other deep spending cuts.
Pedro Passos Coelho said social security, health, education and public enterprises would have to be cut.
This would allow the country to avoid a second eurozone bailout, he said.
The European Commission warned it not to depart from the bailout terms, and said carrying out the agreed programme was a precondition for further help.
Portugal’s PM Pedro Passos Coelho has said a court ruling striking down parts of his government’s budget means it will have to make other deep spending cuts
“Any departure from the programme’s objectives, or their re-negotiation, would in fact neutralize the efforts already made and achieved by the Portuguese citizens,” it said in a statement.
The Portuguese Constitutional Court struck down more than 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of savings that the right-of-centre government had said were needed to meet the terms of its existing bailout.
In a statement to the nation on Sunday evening, Pedro Passos Coelho repeatedly used the phrase “national emergency” to describe Portugal’s situation.
He said the ruling striking down the budget’s suspension of holiday bonuses for public sector workers and pensioners – about 7% of their annual income – meant it must find alternative savings or seek a second bailout.
The government would, he said, do everything in its power to avoid having to ask its European partners for more aid.
Since tax increases were out of the question after the unprecedented increases already in the budget, he said, the only option was to cut back on other public services.
“Today, we are still not out of the financial emergency which placed us in this painful crisis,” he said.
“After this decision by the Constitutional Court, it’s not just the government’s life that will become more difficult, it is the life of the Portuguese that will become more difficult and make the success of our national economic recovery more problematic.”
Opposition leaders have accused Pedro Passos Coelho of using the court ruling as an excuse to press ahead with cuts to public services that he was planning anyway.
They say the government must resign, having lost credibility after two budgets in two years were ruled unconstitutional.
Rumer Willis showed off her trim figure in a barely-there black triangle bikini as she attended the opening weekend celebration at the Marquee Dayclub in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Rumer Willis’outfit was oddly paired with a very Vegas-style sparkling silver sequinned mini skirt and strappy black leather sandals.
The mismatching items made the outfit standout for all the wrong reasons, with Bruce Willis and Demi Moore’s daugheter better off sticking to one trend instead.
Meanwhile, Rumer Willis proudly displayed her freshly dyed ombre locks, which were brightly offset against her long black knit cover-up.
Rumer Willis and Jayson Blair at Marquee Dayclub opening weekend celebration in Las Vegas
The 24-year-old finished off her bohemian style with a pair of vintage-inspired tortoise shell sunglasses and a delicate silver bracelet and ring combo.
Rumer Willis was beaming as she posed hand in hand in the sunshine next to her boyfriend, Jayson Blair, 28.
Jayson Blair, who stars in the NBC sitcom The New Normal, looked a bit less ready for a dip in a pink short-sleeved top, blue seersucker shorts and grey high top trainers.
Rumer Willis and Jayson Blair marked the opening weekend for the luxurious dayclub, which features infinity pools, in water private and ample dance space for those attracted to the popular DJ scene.
The poolside weekend is a welcome break for Rumer Willis, who just finished shooting the romantic comedy, There’s Always Woodstock, with Katey Sagal and Jason Ritter.
Rumer Willis will also be seen starring in this year’s drama, The Odd Way Home.
Lamar Odom was reportedly shocked by Ray J’s new single I Hit It First, which describes the rapper’s relationship with Kim Kardashian.
Lamar Odom, Kim Kardashian’s brother-un-law, was disgusted when he heard Ray J’s new song, HollywoodLife.comreported.
“His reaction was that he thought, <<It is totally f**ked up!>>” a source close to Khloe Kardashian’s husband told the website.
“He saw it and thought it was in bad taste.”
Lamar Odom was reportedly shocked by Ray J’s new single I Hit It First, which describes the rapper’s relationship with Kim Kardashian
Ray J’s I Hit It First references to the rapper and Kim Kardashian’s 2007 tape and includes lines like: “I had her head going North and her ass going South/But now baby chose to go West.”
However, Lamar Odom isn’t going to let a petty publicity grab by Ray J blossom into a full-blown feud as the NBA player is just focusing on his game.
It appears that Kim Kardashian’s beau Kanye West had a similar reaction of initial anger followed by the realization that Ray J doesn’t deserve the time of day.
”Kanye doesn’t condone broke ass, jealous [guys] who be trying to bite off he and Kim’s fame just to stay, wait, just to become relevant,” another source told the website.
Kanye West also described Ray J’s attention-hungry song “sad,” according to the same source.
Marvin LaFontaine, a friend of Adam Lanza’s mother, has said the Sandy Hook gunman may have launched his murder spree as an “act of revenge” after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school.
Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one of the worst school shooting in America’s history, had been harboring resentment towards the Connecticut school for years.
The family friend also said mother Nancy Lanza was so angered by the school’s inability to protect Adam, she would sometimes sit in his class to make sure nobody touched him.
Marvin LaFontaine, who was also Adam Lanza’s Cub Scout leader when he was a young boy, told the New York Daily News:“I think Adam felt betrayed by the school and this was his act of revenge.”
He said he was told by Nancy Lanza that Adam was picked on at school.
Marvin LaFontaine said: “Adam was an easy target. He was quiet and he would never fight back.”
On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother then went on to spray 155 bullets at innocent children and educators during a five-minute bloody rampage that ended with 20 dead school children and 6 dead staff members before he shot and killed himself.
Adam Lanza launched Sandy Hook murder spree as an act of revenge after suffering years of bullying as a student at the Connecticut school
Marvin LaFontaine said Adam Lanza’s childhood experience of Sandy Hook centered on bullying.
The family friend said this angered Nancy Lanza, who would sometimes attend the school unannounced to act as her son’s “bodyguard”.
“Adam didn’t like her showing up,” Marvin LaFontaine said.
“She would sometimes sit in the back of the class and make sure no one would touch him.”
Nancy Lanza also moved Adam in and out of the school and sometimes home schooled him, according to the report.
At the same time, Adam Lanza’s mother was amassing an arsenal of weapons at the house, where investigators found more than 1,600 rounds of ammunition, two rifles, a BB gun, a starter’s pistol, nine knives, a 7-foot spear, a bayonet and three samurai swords.
Documents released as part of the investigation noted that Nancy Lanza may also have been facilitating her son’s fascination with weapons.
Nancy and Adam Lanza reportedly “bonded” during several sessions spent together at a shooting range.
According to the investigation, which is ongoing and may not be complete until June or later, each of the weapons used in the attack was legally licensed to Nancy Lanza.
They also found that Adam Lanza possessed articles on other shootings and a holiday card containing a check made out to him for the purchase of a firearm, authored by Nancy Lanza
Documents indicate that authorities found Nancy Lanza’s gun safe open with shotgun shells and numerous boxes of bullets.
A family friend told the Daily News that, in the months leading up to the shooting, Adam Lanza would dress up in military camouflage and target shoot in his basement with a pellet gun.
The family friend also said Adam Lanza’s dream was to become a Marine like his uncle Jim.
However, a man with mental health issues as marked as Adam Lanza’s is all but guaranteed to be turned away from serving in the armed forces.
That may have also contributed to an emotional break in the young man that led to his killing spree.
“I think that when he found out he couldn’t be a Marine because of his condition, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” the source told the Daily News.
At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence.
Coptic mourners leaving Cairo’s main cathedral are said to have clashed with local residents.
Police fired tear gas to break up the violence.
The head of Egypt’s national ambulance service, Mohammed Sultan, said one person had died of birdshot wounds.
Mourners inside the church had earlier chanted slogans against Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohamed Morsi.
Witnesses told local TV stations that the violence started when a mob attacked mourners as they exited the cathedral, pelting them with rocks and petrol bombs.
At least one person has been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes outside Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral following the funerals of four Coptic Christians killed in religious violence
The Christians responded by throwing rocks back, the witnesses said, until police arrived and attempted to quell the unrest.
Egypt’s state news agency said the streets around St Mark’s Cathedral had seen “on-and-off” clashes between Christians and “unidentified persons”.
It was reported that a fire had started in a building adjacent to the Cathedral, but the blaze had since been extinguished.
Pope Tawadros II, the head of the Coptic Christian church, appealed for calm and the preservation of national unity.
Speaking on Sunday evening, he said he was in contact with government officials.
Egypt’s minority of Coptic Christians, who make up about 10% of the population, have accused the government of failing to protect them, following the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Clashes between Muslims and Coptic Christians have been seen numerous times since then, but this weekend’s violence was the worst seen in several months.
Police said five deaths – four Copts and one Muslim – occurred on Saturday in Khosous, about 10 miles north of Cairo, after inflammatory symbols were drawn on an Islamic institute, provoking an argument.
The dispute escalated into a gun battle between Christian and Muslim residents, while Christian-owned shops were also attacked.
Violence there flared again on Sunday, with police reporting more sectarian fighting on the streets and clashes between police and youths.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s top judicial body has urged the chief prosecutor appointed by Mohamed Morsi to step down.
Talaat Abdullah, who was named to the post by President Mohamed Morsi in December, has provoked anger by demanding the arrest of several high-profile political activists.
In a statement on Sunday, Egypt’s Supreme Judiciary Council urged Talaat Abdullah to return to his previous job as a judge.
Last week a court annulled the presidential decree that appointed him, but Talaat Abdullah continued to carry out his duties, including issuing arrest warrants for activists accused of insulting President Mohamed Morsi and Islam.
Up to 12 Afghan civilians, 10 children and two women, have been killed in a NATO air strike in Shigal district.
A further six women are believed to have been injured in the incident in Shigal district from Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan.
NATO confirmed that “fire support” was used in Shigal after a US civilian adviser died in a militant attack, but said it had no reports of deaths.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings.
Up to 12 Afghan civilians, 10 children and two women, have been killed in a NATO air strike in Shigal district
A statement issued by Hamid Karzai’s office said the president had already issued a decree banning aerial attacks on civilian areas.
Villagers and local officials said the casualties were inside their homes when they died.
Photographs apparently sent from the scene to international news agencies appeared to show the bodies of several dead young children, surrounded by Afghan villagers.
A local official said eight Taliban insurgents had also died in the air strike on Saturday, which is reported to have caused the roofs of several houses in three villages to collapse.
He said the strikes were called in to support a major operation by US and Afghan government forces targeting senior Taliban commanders and a local weapons cache.
Tribal elder Haji Malika Jan said: “The fighting started yesterday morning [Saturday] and continued for at least seven hours. There were heavy exchanges between both sides.
“The area is very close to the Pakistani border and there are hundreds of local and foreign fighters, mostly Pakistanis, in the area.”
In a statement, the NATO-led International Security Assistant Force (Isaf) said: “We are aware of an incident yesterday in Kunar province in which insurgents engaged an Afghan and coalition force.
“No Isaf personnel were involved on the ground, but Isaf provided fire support from the air, killing several insurgents. We are also aware of reports of several civilians injured from the engagement, but no reports of civilian deaths. Isaf takes all reports of civilian casualties seriously, and we are currently assessing the incident.
“The air support was called in by coalition forces – not Afghans – and was used to engage insurgent forces in areas away from structures, according to our reporting.”
A statement issued on behalf of President Hamid Karzai strongly condemned the NATO attack, and “military operations in residential areas that cause civilian deaths”.
“The president also strongly condemns the Taliban’s tactic of using civilians and their homes as their shields,” it said.
International forces are preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Civilian deaths in Western military operations have been a source of tension between the Afghan government led President Hamid Karzai and the US and its NATO allies.
In February 2012, at least 10 civilians, mostly women and children, were killed in a NATO air strike in the same area.
In February this year, President Hamid Karzai ordered a complete ban on Afghan security forces calling in air strikes in residential areas.
Jockey Ryan Mania has been airlifted to hospital after suffering neck and back injuries in a fall at Hexham.
Grand National-winning Ryan Mania, who steered Auroras Encore to a famous 66-1 success at Aintree on Saturday, fell in the 15:10 St John Lee Handicap Hurdle.
Ryan Mania, 23, was riding for National-winning trainer Sue Smith on Stagecoach Jasper.
Jockey Ryan Mania has been airlifted to hospital after suffering neck and back injuries in a fall at Hexham
The Scottish jockey was said to be in a stable condition after being treated by medics for over half an hour before leaving the track.
A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance said: “Mr. Mania has received neck and back injuries. He came off the horse at high speed and may have been hit by another horse while he was on the ground.
“He has been given extensive painkillers and is currently in a stable condition. He has been taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.”
