Beyonce appears to have found joy again after the painful miscarriage she suffered two years ago with daughter Blue Ivy in a leaked image from HBO documentary Life Is But A Dream, which is set to air on Saturday night.
Beyonce is shown gazing lovingly at the one-year-old baby girl, who turned one-year-old on January 7.
In the image from the film, Beyonce, 31, looks bare-faced and glowing, her signature blonde mane styled in tight braids.
Beyonce can be seen looking tenderly at her little tyke, who looks adorable with her brown curls and doe-eyed expression.
Life Is But A Dream, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since Blue Ivy was born.
The documentary offers an insider’s look at Beyonce’s career and family life. Part of the film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce’s growing bump and grainy video of the singer posing nude as she neared her due date.
Beyonce also opens up about the miscarriage kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song Glory, released after their daughter’s birth.
Beyonce appears to have found joy again after the painful miscarriage she suffered two years ago with daughter Blue Ivy in a leaked image from HBO documentary Life Is But A Dream
Asteroid 2012 DA14, as large as an Olympic swimming pool, has raced past the Earth at a distance of just 17,200 miles – the closest ever predicted for an object of that size.
The asteroid passed far closer even than the geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth, but there was no risk of impacts or collisions.
Its closest approach was at 19:25 GMT.
For regions in darkness, it should remain visible until about midnight through good binoculars or a telescope.
The asteroid’s arrival was preceded by a damaging meteor event in Russia on Friday – but indications from the meteor’s path suggest that the two events are entirely unrelated – just a “cosmic coincidence”, as Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast said.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 has raced past the Earth at a distance of just 17,200 miles
Asteroid 2012 DA14 orbits the Sun in 368 days – a period similar to Earth’s year – but it does not orbit in the same plane as the Earth.
As it passes – at 17,450 mi/hr – it will come from “under” the Earth and return back toward the Sun from “above”.
The asteroid passed directly over the eastern Indian Ocean, making for the best viewing in Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia.
But keen viewers everywhere used several live streams of the event on the internet, including a feed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA.
2012 DA14 was first spotted in February 2012 by astronomers at the La Sagra Sky Survey in Spain – once a fairly small-scale, amateur effort to discover and track asteroids that has in recent years become a significant contributor to our knowledge of these “near-Earth objects”.
France, Germany and the UK have launched a drive for new global rules to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance.
The three are seeking backing from others at a G20 meeting in Moscow.
A survey carried out by the OECD found that multinational firms could exploit gaps between tax rules in the different countries in which they operate.
Meanwhile, a leaked draft communiqué indicated G20 finance ministers would not chide Japan for weakening the yen.
The finance ministers of France, Germany and the UK – Pierre Moscovici, Wolfgang Schaeuble and George Osborne – said international action was needed to crack down on companies which transfer profits from their home country to another in order to pay lower taxes.
George Osborne decried a global taxation system he said had been guided by principles set out by the League of Nations in the 1920s, with few changes since.
He said: “We want businesses to pay the taxes that we set in our countries. And that cannot be achieved by one country alone.”
Pierre Moscovici said France was “strongly determined to fight against tax fraud, tax avoidance, and tax evasion”.
He added: “We must avoid situations in which some companies use international and domestic law to be taxed nowhere.”
Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) secretary general Angel Gurria said laws had to be changed: “Avoiding double taxation has become a way of having double non-taxation.”
A number of companies, including Amazon, Google and Starbucks, have come under the spotlight for their taxation strategies in recent months.
Another giant international company, Facebook, has now been accused of ducking its tax obligations.
Facebook allegedly paid no corporate income tax in the US last year, and instead reclaimed $451 million in taxes from the Internal Revenue Service, despite recording profits of over $1 billion, US lobby group Citizens for Tax Justice has claimed.
Thanks to tax deductions the social network can claim on stock options granted to its executives as part of its recent listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, the company stands to benefit from a further $2 billion of tax deductions in the future, the lobby group alleged.
France, Germany and the UK have launched a drive for new global rules to clamp down on corporate tax avoidance
The report by the OECD was released earlier this year, and found that:
inconsistencies between different countries’ tax rules enable companies to move their profits to lower tax jurisdictions
the amount of taxable profits in a given country increasingly depends on hard-to-value intangibles such as intellectual property rights, services or brands
international royalties and licence fee payments, mostly paid between different subsidiaries within the same business group, grew 170-fold between 1970-2009
tax rules fail to take proper account of the growing volume of e-commerce, which presents particular problems as to which country has tax jurisdiction
The OECD is also preparing a plan of action, which is to be laid before the G20 in July, assuming that the Moscow meeting gives this plan its blessing.
The action plan will be formulated with the help of three committees.
The UK will chair a committee looking at transfer pricing – how international corporate empires calculate the payments passed between their subsidiaries in different countries, which can be used to shift profits from high-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax ones.
Germany will head a panel looking at the ways in which companies have reduced their tax base – their taxable income and assets – while France and the US will jointly consider the problem of identifying the correct tax jurisdiction for business activities, particularly e-commerce.
Meanwhile, the G20 finance ministers in Moscow are expected to avoid singling Japan out for criticism over recent weakness of its currency, a leaked draft communiqué has indicated.
The government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, elected in December, has pushed the country’s central bank to adopt a much looser monetary policy, including a doubling of its inflation target, in order to help revive the country’s moribund economy.
As part of the monetary easing policy, the Bank of Japan has also expanded its buying of assets.
That has led to a weakening of the yen, which gives Japan’s exporters a price advantage, raising fears of a “currency war” – competitive devaluations by other big exporters.
But George Osborne said the G20 communiqué would echo one adopted by the G7 earlier this week, which ruled out setting targets for exchange rates.
He said: “Currencies should not be used as a tool of competitive devaluation. The world should not make the mistake that it has made in the past of using currencies as the tools of economic warfare.”
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the communiqué would make it “quite clear… that everyone around the table wants to avoid any sort of currency disputes”.
Faraz Shauketaly, a reporter from Sri Lanka’s newspaper Sunday Leader, has been shot by a group of unidentified men at his home near the capital, Colombo.
Faraz Shauketaly, 52, who holds dual British and Sri Lankan citizenship, was rushed to hospital after being shot in the neck.
A doctor who treated Faraz Shauketaly said the journalist was now out of danger.
Rights groups say more than a dozen media employees have been killed in Sri Lanka over the past decade.
None of the murders has been solved.
Faraz Shauketaly was on the phone to a colleague at the Sunday Leader on Friday evening at his home in Mount Lavinia when the call was cut.
Shortly afterwards he answered a call and said he had been shot in the neck by three intruders, who had then escaped.
A group of foreign lodgers at his house said he was covered in blood and calling for help.
Faraz Shauketaly, a reporter from Sri Lanka’s newspaper Sunday Leader, has been shot by a group of unidentified men at his home near Colombo
Faraz Shauketaly was taken to intensive care, where doctors pronounced him out of danger and have been working to remove a bullet.
He had voiced fears that his investigative reporting might be putting him in danger, especially after strangers had called at his house recently asking for his whereabouts.
Four years ago, the Sunday Leader’s editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge, was shot dead by a group of masked men on motorbikes.
The case, which has never been solved, highlighted the dismal state of press freedom in the country, analysts said.
The Sunday Leader had long had a reputation for being outspokenly anti-government.
Its profile changed last year when it was bought by a well-connected businessman and retracted some of its articles, but it still does a considerable amount of investigative reporting.
Last month, Sri Lanka was placed 162nd out of 179 in a Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
Fugitive ex-LAPD officer, Christopher Dorner, whose remains were found in a burnt-out cabin after a six-day manhunt, died from a single gunshot wound to the head, authorities say.
Police had launched the manhunt for Christopher Dorner after he killed three people, apparently in revenge for being fired from the LA police in 2008.
Christopher Dorner was cornered near Big Bear Lake and incendiary tear gas was fired in.
Police could not confirm whether the gunshot was self-inflicted.
After a six-hour post-mortem examination, San Bernardino County coroner Kevin Lacy said: “We are not yet able to speak about the manner of death and tell you whether or not it was the result of a self-inflicted wound or another round.
“While we are still assembling the reports and putting it together, the implication seems to be that the wound that took Christopher Dorner’s life was self-inflicted.”
Christopher Dorner had holed up in a flat in Big Bear Lake, a ski resort 80 miles east of Los Angeles, for six days after he killed a couple and a policeman.
San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told reporters that officers had knocked on the door of the condominium during the manhunt.
“Our deputy knocked on that door and did not get an answer, and in hindsight it’s probably a good thing that he did not answer based on his actions before and after that event,” he said.
Christopher Dorner, whose remains were found in a burnt-out cabin after a six-day manhunt, died from a single gunshot wound to the head
When owners arrived to clean the building, Christopher Dorner tied them up and fled in their car, killing a sheriff’s deputy in a shootout and then barricading himself in the remote cabin.
A Swat team fired incendiary tear gas to try to force Christopher Dorner out.
A blaze started and a single gunshot was heard.
Police found a cache of weapons in the cabin, including assault rifles.
Christopher Dorner started his killing spree on February 3 when he shot dead the daughter of a former police captain and her fiancé.
The woman’s father, Randal Quan, had represented Christopher Dorner at a police disciplinary board.
Christopher Dorner was fired in 2008 from the force on a charge of making false statements, after he lodged a complaint against his field training officer, saying she had kicked a suspect during an arrest.
In an online manifesto, Christopher Dorner, who was black, suggested that racism was still rife in the LAPD.
Russia starts a big rescue and clean-up operation involving more than 9,000 workers in the Ural Mountains following Friday’s meteor strike, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov says.
President Vladimir Putin ordered the operation to help some 1,200 people who were injured, including 200 children, mostly by shattered glass.
The shockwave damaged an estimated 200,000 sq m (50 acres) of windows.
Russian officials put the cost of the damage at about 1billionn roubles ($33 million).
A fireball had streaked through the sky on Friday, followed by loud bangs.
A large fragment reportedly landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the Chelyabinsk region. A Russian army spokesman said a crater 6 m (20 ft) wide had been found there.
An emergencies ministry spokeswoman said a group of six divers would inspect the waters for the presence of pieces of a meteorite.
Vladimir Puchkov toured Chelyabinsk city on Saturday to assess the damage.
He said: “We have a special team working… that is now assessing the seismic stability of buildings. We will be especially careful about switching the gas back on.”
More than 9,000 people are working to clear up the damage in the Chelyabinsk region. Most are locals, but some 1,800 people came from neighboring regions.
Vladimir Putin said he had thanked God that no big fragments of the 10-tonne meteor – which was thought to be made of iron and travelling at some 30 km (19 miles) per second – had fallen in populated areas.
It had entered the Earth’s atmosphere and broke apart 30-50 km (20-30 miles) above ground, according to Russia’s Academy of Sciences, releasing several kilotons of energy – the equivalent of a small atomic weapon.
Vladimir Puchkov said there was no confirmation yet that any fragments had been found.
The emergencies ministry urged calm, saying background radiation levels were normal after what it described as a “meteorite shower in the form of fireballs”.
Russia starts a big rescue and clean-up operation involving more than 9,000 workers in the Ural Mountains following Friday’s meteor strike
Some 50 people remain in hospital for treatment – mainly for cuts and bruises from shattered glass.
The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500km east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.
The shockwave blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings in the region.
Regional governor Mikhail Yurevich said damage was estimated at 1 billion roubles but dismissed as a “journalistic spoof” reports in Russian media that people had deliberately shattered windows to claim on meteorite-related insurance.
Many children were in classrooms when the meteor fell at around 09:20 local time.
Video posted online showed frightened, screaming youngsters at one Chelyabinsk school, where corridors were littered with broken glass.
Scientists have played down suggestions that there is any link between the event in the Urals and 2012 DA14, an asteroid which raced past the Earth later on Friday at a distance of just 27,700 km (17,200 miles) – the closest ever for an object of that size.
Such meteor strikes are rare in Russia but one is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (770 sq m) in Siberia in 1908.
Australian senator Nick Xenophon on a fact-finding mission to Malaysia says he has been refused entry because authorities consider him a “security risk”.
Nick Xenophon was detained at Kuala Lumpur airport on Saturday morning and will be deported back to Australia, correspondents say.
He was part of an Australian delegation scheduled to meet Malaysian officials to discuss forthcoming elections.
Nick Xenophon has been an outspoken critic of human rights in Malaysia.
The independent senator from South Australia was taken into custody at Kuala Lumpur airport on Saturday morning and detained apparently under Malaysia’s national security laws.
Immigration officials were polite but acting under orders “from above”, Nick Xenophon told reporters.
“I was told I am a security risk and I can’t be allowed into the country. It’s bizarre and extraordinary,” the senator said.
“I’ve been here before [and] I’ve made statements about the state of Malaysian democracy previously. But on this occasion clearly someone high up in the Malaysian government doesn’t want me here.”
Authorities advised Nick Xenophon he would deported on the next available flight to Australia.
“They have basically told me I am an enemy of the state. They are trying to get me on the next plane out of here and back home,” he told the Australian Sunday Mail newspaper by phone.
Australian senator Nick Xenophon on a fact-finding mission to Malaysia says he has been refused entry because authorities consider him a security risk
Nick Xenophon had flown to Malaysia as part of an Australian parliamentary fact-finding mission to assess whether forthcoming elections would be free and fair.
The delegation was scheduled to hold talks with several Malaysian parties, including opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and officials from the election commission.
A regular visitor to the country, Nick Xenophon last year observed the trial of Anwar Ibrahim, who was acquitted on sodomy charges.
Nick Xenophon was also caught up in anti-government protests and reportedly tear-gassed by riot police at a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur demanding democratic reforms in April last year.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said his government was seeking Nick Xenophon’s immediate release and had raised the issue with the Malaysian government.
“Senator Xenophon’s detention is a surprising and disappointing act from a country with which Australia routinely maintains strong diplomatic relations,” Bob Carr said.
“Our High Commissioner Miles Kupa has now made direct contact with Senator Xenophon at the airport and is seeking his release.”
Other members of the Australian delegation have now pulled out.
Malaysian authorities have not commented on the senator’s arrest.
Tropika Island of Treasure, the reality TV show featuring girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, Reeva Steenakamp, is to be broadcast this weekend as scheduled, despite her tragic death.
Producers of Tropika Island of Treasure said they had decided not to shelve the pre-recorded show, which will premiere on South African TV on Saturday.
Filmed in Jamaica, the celebrity show sees Reeva Steenkamp compete to win the one million rand prize ($115,000).
Reeva Steenkamp was found shot dead in the athlete’s home on Thursday.
“This week’s episode will be dedicated to Reeva’s memory,” a Tropika Island of Treasure producer said.
In a statement, executive producer Samantha Moon said: “As we grieve today with Reeva’s family and friends and struggle to make sense of this shocking tragedy, it has taken much deliberation to come to the decision to continue screening Tropika Island of Treasure 5 as planned.”
A special tribute will be broadcast ahead of Saturday’s show, on SABC1, at 18:30 local time.
Tropika Island of Treasure, now in its fifth series, sees seven South African celebrities and seven other contestants embark on a string of “adrenaline-fuelled” challenges over a period of 10 weeks, while living at two “7-star” villas.
Each week the winner of the challenge can decide who stays and who leaves the island.
Tropika Island of Treasure, the reality TV show featuring girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius, Reeva Steenakamp, is to be broadcast this weekend as scheduled, despite her tragic death
Asked to describe herself in three words for the show, Reeva Steenkamp, 29, said: “Brainy, blonde, bombshell.”
The model and law graduate, was shot dead inside the Pretoria home of Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp had been together since November.
Prosecutors have said they will pursue Oscar Pistorius on a “premeditated murder” charge.
A message on the reality show’s website reads: “We are deeply saddened and extend our condolences to Reeva’s family and friends.”
Richard Collins, a sceenwriter and producer who was blacklisted during the 1940s communist witch-hunts and later “named names” before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), has died in California at the age of 98.
His death in Ventura, California, was confirmed by his son Michael, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Richard Collins was one of 19 Hollywood writers and directors called by HUAC in 1947.
He went on to have a 30-year career as a writer and producer on such TV shows as Bonanza and Matlock.
Richard Collins was not asked to testify in 1947 and was not one of the “Hollywood 10” who were subsequently jailed for refusing to cooperate.
That list included Dalton Trumbo, who wrote the Oscar-winning Stanley Kubrick film Spartacus.
Subpoenaed again in 1951, Richard Collins identified more than 20 colleagues as communist sympathizers – among them Budd Schulberg, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of On the Waterfront, who went on to name names himself.
According to the LA Times, one of those Richard Collins named – his friend Paul Jarrico, with whom he had written the 1944 musical drama Song of Russia – never spoke to him again.
Richard Collins was one of 19 Hollywood writers and directors called by HUAC in 1947
Richard Collins, who would later express regret over his “friendly” testifying, went on to work on such 1950s classics as Riot in Cell Block 11 and Invasion of the Body Snatchers before finding regular employment in television.
He produced 127 episodes of western Bonanza and 108 episodes of legal eagle drama Matlock before retiring in 1992 at age 78.
Between 1939 and 1945 Richard Collins was married to actress Dorothy Comingore – best known for her role as Susan Alexander, the second wife of Orson Welles’s character in Citizen Kane.
Richard Collins married Julie Danson in 1949; she died in 1991.
In addition to his son, Richard Collins is survived by a daughter, two grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
Jesse Jackson Jr., former congressman and son of Chicago civil rights leader the Rev Jesse Jackson, has been charged with spending campaign funds on personal expenses.
Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois is accused of misusing $750,000.
He and his wife Sandi Jackson, who is charged with tax fraud in the matter, intend to plead guilty, media report.
Jesse Jackson, a 47-year-old Democrat, resigned in November after acknowledging he was being treated for bipolar disorder.
“I offer no excuses for my conduct and I fully accept my responsibility for the improper decisions and mistakes I have made,” Jesse Jackson said in a statement.
Jesse Jackson is charged in federal court in Washington DC with conspiracy, fraud, and making false statements. Prosecutors say Sandi Jackson filed false tax forms that underreported how much tax the couple owed.
Jesse Jackson “unlawfully, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated and agreed” to commit offences against the US, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors say that between 2007 and 2009 Jesse Jackson Jr. used funds donated to his re-election campaign to buy a gold-plated Rolex watch worth $43,350, fur capes and parkas worth $5,150, and about $9,588 in children’s furniture.
He is also accused of failing to report $28,500 in gifts and loans to the House of Representatives, where he has served since 1995.
Jesse Jackson Jr., former congressman and son of Chicago civil rights leader the Rev Jesse Jackson, has been charged with spending campaign funds on personal expenses
Jesse Jackson Jr. faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison; his wife faces up to three years, according to federal sentencing guidelines.
But Sandi Jackson’s lawyer said her plea deal “does not contemplate a sentence of that length”.
Other penalties against Jesse Jackson could include a fine of up to $250,000, US media report. In addition, authorities may try to seize more than $60,000 in memorabilia and furs linked to the alleged fraud.
Jesse Jackson has also been under investigation by the House ethics committee over his dealings with imprisoned ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell an appointment to President Barack Obama’s former US Senate seat and other corruption charges.
Jesse Jackson resigned from office on November 21, just weeks after winning re-election.
NASA’s Messenger probe to Mercury has shown off a stunning new color map of the planet.
The map comprises thousands of images acquired by the spacecraft during its first year in orbit.
This is not how we would see Mercury, which would look like a dull, brownish-grey globe to our eyes.
Rather, the map represents an exaggerated view of Mercury that is intended to highlight variations in the composition of its rock.
“Messenger’s camera has filters that go from the blue to the near-infrared of the spectrum, and we are able to use computer processing to enhance the very subtle but real colour differences that are present on Mercury’s surface,” explained Dr. David Blewett from theJohns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab.
“The areas that you see that are orange – those are volcanic plains. There are some areas that are deep blue that are richer in an opaque mineral which is somewhat mysterious – we don’t really know what that is yet.
“And then you see beautiful light-blue streaks across Mercury’s surface. Those are crater rays formed in impacts when fresh, ground-up rock is strewn across the surface of the planet,” said David Blewett.
Dr. David Blewett displayed the map here in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
He was giving a sneak preview of the data that is about to be deposited in NASA’s planetary archive.
This will include a black-and-white, or monochrome, map of the entire surface of Mercury at a resolution of 200 m per pixel (the color map has a resolution of 1 km per pixel and is just short of 100% coverage).
NASA’s Messenger probe to Mercury has shown off a stunning new color map of the planet
The mission so far has been a triumph, which ought to make the current request to NASA management for an operational extension a very easy case to make.
Messenger’s observations have thrown up many surprises and challenged a lot of assumptions.
The probe has revealed Mercury’s rich volcanic history. It has confirmed the existence of great lava plains, but also uncovered evidence for explosive volcanism.
We know now, too, that the planet has ice in shadowed craters.
“It’s got polar ice caps. Who’d have thought that?” said Dr. David Blewett.
In addition, the probe’s instruments have detected relatively high abundances of sulphur and potassium in surface materials.
These are volatile elements that should not really be present on such a scale on a planet that orbits so close to the Sun with its searing heat.
But these elements may help explain many puzzles, like the nature of those opaque terrains. These could get their dark hue from the presence of sulphides.
The compounds could also lie behind the intriguing “hollows” that pockmark great swathes of Mercury’s surface.
Shallow with irregular shapes, the depressions often have bright halos and bright interiors. When scientists look around the Solar System for similar phenomena, the best comparison would appear to be the depressions that form in the carbon dioxide ice at the poles of Mars.
Those features are thought to arise when the CO2 ice sublimates away – that is, when it transforms directly from a solid state to a gaseous state.
“Well, Mercury’s surface isn’t made of ice – it’s scorching hot next to the Sun. But it seems that there is some sort of sublimation-like loss in the solid, silicate rocks that is causing these hollows to initiate and enlarge.
“It may be that a combination of high temperatures and what’s called severe space weathering destroys sulphide minerals in the rocks, causing them to crumble and open up a depression.”
Messenger is in great shape should NASA management agree to a mission extension. The probe is thought to have enough fuel to operate until 2015.
And by then, new spacecraft will be on their way to Mercury. Under a joint venture known as BepiColombo, Europe and Japan are sending two satellites that should arrive at the innermost world in 2022.
North Korea has commemorated late leader Kim Jong-il’s 70th birthday with a military parade, pledges of loyalty to his son, Kim Jong-un, and thousands of red “kimjongilia” begonias.
Kim Jong-un, wearing a dark Mao suit and a solemn expression, bowed deeply before a large portrait of his smiling father. Hundreds of senior officials, military leaders and citizens followed to pay their respects.
Outside the palace, thousands of North Korean soldiers lined up in neat rows on a sunny but cold day, listening to speeches praising the Kim family. Later, Kim Jong-un and other officials watched as a parade of goose-stepping soldiers marched by followed by military jeeps and trucks carrying artillery guns and rocket launchers. Fireworks exploded, military music boomed and people waved artificial pink and red flowers.
Events on Wednesday included an international skating show and synchronized swimming. Both opened with mournful odes to Kim Jong-il and ended with a new song for his son: “We Will Defend General Kim Jong-un at the Risk of Our Lives.”
Kim Jong-il ruled for 17 years, a period that included a famine in the 1990s, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, and protracted tensions over the nation’s drive to build nuclear weapons. Food shortages persist in North Korea and relations with South Korea are at their lowest point in years. But since Kim Jong-il’s death, expressions of mourning and adoration have been common in Pyongyang.
North Korea has commemorated late leader Kim Jong-il’s 70th birthday with a military parade, pledges of loyalty to his son, Kim Jong-un, and thousands of red “kimjongilia” begonias
Composers have crafted new odes to Kim Jong-il, while sculptors have chiseled slogans honoring him into the sides of mountains. His birthday was renamed “Day of the Shining Star,” and this week he was accorded a new title: Generalissimo.
At Kim Il-sung Square, the main plaza in the capital, North Koreans bowed and laid flowers, including red “kimjongilia” begonias, at a portrait of Kim Jong-il hanging on the Grand People’s Study House. Among them was Paek Won-chol, who described himself as a “soldier and disciple” of Kim Jong-il.
“I will devote my all for the building of a powerful and prosperous nation” under Kim Jong-un, Paek Won-chol said.
Thursday’s parade could serve as closure to North Korea’s mourning as the country prepares for important nuclear talks next week with the United States, said John Delury, an assistant professor at Yonsei University’s graduate school of international studies in South Korea.
Kim Jong-il’s death halted discussions between Pyongyang and Washington on much-needed food aid in exchange for nuclear disarmament. A US envoy will hold talks with North Korea on its nuclear programme in Beijing next week, the first such negotiations since Kim Jong-il’s death.
One girlfriend used Valentine’s Day to break up with her boyfriend – with a cold-hearted message on a petrol station’s advertising board.
“Laura” paid to display the message at an Esso garage in Manchester because she knew her boyfriend went there every day for his lunch so he would see it.
Not only did she announce that she was breaking up with her partner, she also informed him that she was leaving him for another man.
The cowardly message reads: “I’m leaving you for Gary. Your clothes are at your mum’s. I’ve change the locks.
“Sorry to do this on Valentine’s Day. Laura.”
The ad, which has become a social media hit, was spotted by Jordan Wilson who posted it on Twitter with the caption: “This has to be the meanest dump ever.
“Not such a great Valentine’s day for the man in question here.
“To get dumped is bad enough, but the humiliation of seeing it displayed at your local petrol station is just one step too far.”
Laura paid to display the message at an Esso garage in Manchester because she knew her boyfriend went there every day for his lunch so he would see it
The Amscreen board, upon which the cruel message was displayed, usually advertises snack deals.
But could this Valentine’s break-up just be an elaborate hoax?
It transpires that Amscreen is a company that specializes in selling advertising space on digital signage screens and is run by none other than entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar and his son Simon.
Lord Alan Sugar tweeted a snap of the ad out to his 2.7 million followers with the caption: “Have a look at the advert someone took out on one of our screens today… Poor bloke! #Valentines #Amscreen.”
Simon Sugar then added: “The world’s media seemed to have loved Laura’s ad. You can rent out a screen via…”
Jordan Wilson, who first posted the photo spurring the internet frenzy, is a digital account manager at PushON.
After posting the photo, Jordan Wilson added: “It seems the #amscreen pic has reached Australia judging by the recent RT’s…”
Nigerian pop singer Susan Oluwabimpe “Goldie” Harvey, has died after a sudden illness, her manager says.
Her record label said Goldie Harvey, 31, had complained of a severe headache shortly after returning to Nigeria from the US where she had attended the music industry’s Grammy Awards.
Goldie Harvey was rushed to a hospital in Lagos, where she was pronounced dead.
The singer had won several industry awards and appeared in last year’s celebrity Big Brother Africa TV show.
The programme stirred controversy with some Nigerians who said Goldie Harvey did not portray the country’s culture in a positive light as she came across as too Western.
Others criticized the singer for her on-off romance with a fellow housemate, the Kenyan rapper Prezzo – but she remained hugely popular with young audiences.
Nigerian pop singer Susan Oluwabimpe “Goldie” Harvey, has died after a sudden illness
A message posted on her Facebook page on Thursday evening said: “It is with heavy heart that I have to inform you all that Goldie passed this night shortly after arriving Lagos from LA. May her soul rest in the eternal peace of the Lord – Amin.”
Kenny Ogungbe, the head of her music label, Kennis Music, said she had “an abundance of talent” and it was a “gloomy moment” for Nigeria’s music industry.
Goldie Harvey was also enjoying popularity across Africa, he said in a statement.
Her three latest singles from a forthcoming album, African Invasion, were “presently enjoying heavy rotations on radio and TV stations across the continent”, Kenny Ogungbe said.
Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper reports that Prezzo was already on his way to Nigeria to visit Goldie Harvey on Thursday.
Oscar Pistorius has strongly rejected a charge that he murdered his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, was shot dead at South African Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius’s home near Pretoria on Thursday.
Appearing in court in Pretoria, Oscar Pistorius, 26, wept as prosecutors vowed to pursue a charge of premeditated murder.
An application for bail was postponed until next Tuesday and the athlete will remain in police custody.
Dubbed “blade runner”, he made history last summer by becoming the first double-amputee track athlete to run in an Olympic Games.
“The alleged murder is disputed in the strongest terms,” said a statement released by Oscar Pistorius’s family and management company after the court hearing.
“Our thoughts and prayers today should be for Reeva and her family – regardless of the circumstances of this terrible, terrible tragedy,” it said.
They were the first words released on behalf of Oscar Pistorius since Reeva Steenkamp was found fatally wounded at his home in the gated Silver Woods development outside the South African capital.
But they gave no explanation of what had happened.
Hours earlier, Oscar Pistorius sobbed audibly during his initial appearance at Pretoria Magistrates Court.
Dozens of reporters witnessed the hearing, where chief magistrate Desmond Nair was presiding.
The defendant cut a lonely figure in a crowded court, with his hands clenched and his neck muscles twitching, before he held his head forward, breathing heavily through tears.
When Prosecutor Gerrie Nel argued for the graver charge of “premeditated murder”, Oscar Pistorius slumped forward at the mention of the words.
If convicted of premeditated murder, Oscar Pistorius will face a life term in prison. But his defence is seeking a lesser charge, possibly culpable homicide, which is defined in South African law as unlawful, negligent killing.
Oscar Pistorius has strongly rejected a charge that he murdered his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp
Media access was discussed at the 40-minute session and the magistrate ruled that there should be no live recording of the bail hearings.
Oscar Pistorius’s team had argued against such coverage and cited his “extremely traumatized state of mind”.
Both prosecution and defence agreed Oscar Pistorius could remain in custody at a police station and not in prison.
Members of Oscar Pistorius’s family, including sister Aimee, brother Carl and father Henke, were in the courtroom.
His brother and father, sitting behind the athlete, reached forward to touch his shoulder during the proceedings.
Oscar Pistorius had earlier arrived at court in the back of a police vehicle, hiding his face with a jacket and notebook.
Forensic scientists are expected to continue examining the house in the Silver Lakes area on the outskirts of South Africa’s administrative capital where Reeva Steenkamp died.
Correspondents say the athlete’s arrest has stunned the country where he is considered a national hero.
Oscar Pistorius is known as “blade runner” because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in. He was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.
Police were called to his home in the early hours of Thursday morning.
They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9mm pistol.
A post-mortem examination was carried out on Friday but the results would not be made public, police said.
Reeva Steenkamp’s body is due to be flown home to Port Elizabeth for a memorial service next Tuesday, South African media report – the same day that Oscar Pistorius is next expected in court.
They had reportedly been dating since November.
Model Reeva Steenkamp was already well known in South Africa but was seen as being on the verge of a new career, with her appearance in a pre-recorded reality TV show set to start on Saturday.
The producers of Tropika Island of Treasure said they were going ahead with the programme, filmed in Jamaica, after “much deliberation“.
“Every episode that she is in, every frame that she so ably dominates – shines with her light and her laughter echoes in every conversation, and we want to share these special memories with the rest of South Africa,” the programme said.
Meanwhile, world athletics figures spoke of their shock at what had happened.
His training partner, UK 400 m runner Martyn Rooney, released a statement saying his “thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those involved”.
“I’ve not heard what he has to say. I wouldn’t want to be in his situation, but I hope that, at the end of it all, justice will prevail,” said Jamaica’s Olympic women’s 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.
Oscar Pistorius dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games, but in 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades – which critics said gave him an unfair advantage – with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.
He reached the 40 0m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200 m, gold in the 4×100 m relay and gold in the T44 400 m, setting a Paralympic record.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.
But gun ownership is strictly regulated and it is not easy to obtain a licence.
The meteor crashing in Russia’s Ural Mountains has injured at least 985 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings.
Most of those hurt, in the Chelyabinsk region where the meteor fell, suffered cuts and bruises but at least 46 remain in hospital.
A fireball streaked through the clear morning sky, followed by loud bangs.
President Vladimir Putin said he thanked God no big fragments had fallen in populated areas.
A large meteor fragment landed in a lake near Chebarkul, a town in Chelyabinsk region.
The meteor’s dramatic passing was witnessed in Yekaterinburg, 200 km (125 miles) to the north, and in Kazakhstan, to the south.
Officials say a large meteor partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in fragments falling earthwards.
Thousands of rescue workers have been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured, the emergencies ministry said.
The Chelyabinsk region, about 1,500 km (930 miles) east of Moscow, is home to many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.
One Russian politician said the event was not a meteor shower but a US weapons test, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
The meteor crashing in Russia’s Ural Mountains has injured at least 985 people, as the shockwave blew out windows and rocked buildings
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying: “Meteors are falling. Those are not meteors, it is Americans testing their new weapon.”
Chelyabinsk’s health department said 985 people had sought medical treatment, including 204 children, Interfax reported. Two people in the town of Kopeysk were in a serious condition, it added.
The governor of Chelyabinsk region, Mikhail Yurevich, was quoted elsewhere as saying 950 people had been hurt, two seriously.
Vladimir Putin promised “immediate” aid for people affected, saying kindergartens and schools had been damaged, and work disrupted at industrial enterprises.
Many children were at lessons when the meteor fell at around 09:20.
Video posted online showed frightened, screaming youngsters at one Chelyabinsk school, where corridors were littered with broken glass.
The Russian Academy of Sciences estimates that the meteor weighed about 10 tonnes and entered the Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 km/h (33,000mph).
It would have shattered about 30-50km (18-32 miles) above ground, with most of the meteor burning up.
Scientists have played down suggestions that there is any link between the event in the Urals and 2012 DA14, an asteroid expected to race past the Earth on Friday at a distance of just 27,700 km (17,200 miles) – the closest ever predicted for an object of that size.
Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons, of the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, said there was “almost definitely” no connection.
“One reason is that 2012 DA14 is approaching Earth from the south, and this object hit in the northern hemisphere,” he said.
“This is literally a cosmic coincidence, although a spectacular one.”
Such meteor strikes are rare in Russia but one is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (1,250 m) in Siberia in 1908.
The first images of President Hugo Chavez after cancer surgery have been broadcast by the Venezuelan government.
Hugo Chavez, 58, is shown smiling as he lies in bed reading a newspaper, with his two daughters at his side.
He has not been seen in public since he went to Havana for surgery last year, on 11 December.
It was his fourth operation in an 18-month period for cancer first diagnosed in mid-2011.
Hugo Chavez is shown looking at Thursday’s issue of the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma in some of the photos, broadcast on television by his son-in-law, Science Minister Jorge Arreaza.
The government said the photos were taken on Thursday night.
Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said that as the Venezuelan leader was breathing through a tracheal tube, it was difficult for him to speak.
However, he said he was writing down orders.
The first images of President Hugo Chavez after cancer surgery have been broadcast by the Venezuelan government
There has been widespread speculation in Venezuela about Hugo Chavez’s condition, with some students holding protests outside the Cuban embassy in Caracas, demanding to know his state of health.
Hugo Chavez has been at the helm for 14 years and was re-elected for another six-year term in October 2011.
Shortly before making his most recent journey to Havana, Hugo Chavez suggested that his supporters should consider naming his Vice President, Nicolas Maduro, as his successor.
Nicolas Maduro has made frequent visits to Havana to see Hugo Chavez.
The Venezuelan leader is reported to have had tumors removed from his pelvic region, and has also undergone prior rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Though there have been few details about Hugo Chavez’s exact treatment, Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday that they had been “extremely complex and tough”.
Chris Brown and Rihanna’s romance appears to have soured just days later after they looked happy at the Grammys.
It appears that the couple refused to acknowledge one another after both arriving at the Playhouse Nightclub in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Rihanna didn’t know that Chris Brown was expected at the same event, revealed the source.
When VIP hosts asked Rihanna if she would like to be seated with her boyfriend, she declined and demanded to be put somewhere else.
“Rihanna refused to sit with or even near Chris – and when Chris noticed she was there, he made a huge show of rubbing his presence in her face,” said a source.
“He promptly ordered three more bottles of ace of spades which came out with in a procession of sparklers and scantily clad cocktail waitresses, causing a spectacle, which he clearly wanted Rihanna to see.”
Rihanna and Chris Brown had arrived separately at the Popular Demand’s 1 Year Anniversary event, and left without each other at the end of the night.
Chris Brown arrived at the celebrity hotspot around midnight, armed with a crew of around 20 people.
Rihanna entered the club half an hour later, accompanied by her group of bodyguards.
The singers never once communicated with each other during the course of the evening as they sat across the room from one another, said the source.
Rihanna and Chris Brown refused to acknowledge one another after both arriving at the Playhouse Nightclub in Los Angeles
Chris Brown left the club around 2.15 a.m. in a metallic grey Lamborghini, wearing his hoodie over his baseball cap.
Rihanna made it a late night, leaving closer to 3 a.m.
The chilly atmosphere between the stars is a far cry from their loved-up appearance as they sat side by side in the front row at the Grammys.
Then the two snuggled up to each other, smiling and laughing together as they took in the show.
Rihanna also wore a diamond ring on her left ring finger during her performance onstage, fueling speculation that the pair plan to tie the knot.
But their reconciliation has not been without drama.
Rihanna’s former best friend Katy Perry has reportedly stopped speaking to her following her reconciliation with Chris Brown, who is still on probation for beating her in 2009.
It didn’t look like Britney Spears was too lonely for Valentine’s Day after her recent split from fiancé Jason Trawick as she was spotted dining out with a mystery man in Calabasas on Thursday night.
Dressed in a cream blouse, black blazer and jeans, Britney Spears was spotted arriving at Banzai Sushi for dinner with an unidentified male.
Although it could have been her bodyguard, her decision to dine out with a man on Valentine’s Day will prompt speculation there could be something more going on.
Ahead of her dinner date, Britney Spears was seen shopping with her mother Lynne at Bed, Bath & Beyond in Malibu.
Also on Thursday, Britney Spears responded to an accusation she didn’t sing on her Will.i.am duet Scream And Shout.
The claims came as the remix video for the single was released online 24 hours earlier than planned.
It didn’t look like Britney Spears was too lonely for Valentine’s Day after her recent split from fiancé Jason Trawick as she was spotted dining out with a mystery man in Calabasas
Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 liquid soap is a cheap beauty weapon used by stars like Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore.
The product promises to clean your body, your mouth and teeth with the curious product – you can even use it to wash your fruit and vegetables, toilet, clothes and even your pets.
Formulated with pure, high potency organic oils, the soap comes in nine main varieties, and the most famous is the original Peppermint offering.
Lady Gaga was snapped by legendary photographer Terry Richardson bathing in Dr. Bronner’s Magic Organic Almond Liquid Soap following a cupping session.
As the number one selling organic soap brand in the U.S., Dr. Bronner’s also counts Sandra Bullock, Drew Barrymore, make-up artist Bobbi Brown and Kristin Bell as fans.
Proving that it’s not just for girls, Eminem swears by the product too.
The intriguing soap has a rich history so it comes as no surprise that activist Lady Gaga is a fan.
The soap was created by philosopher and activist Dr. Emanuel Bronner.
Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 liquid soap is a cheap beauty weapon used by stars like Lady Gaga, Gwyneth Paltrow and Drew Barrymore
Born in 1908 to a Jewish family that had been making soap since 1858, Emanuel Bronner was the third generation certified as a master-soapmaker under the guild system of the time.
In 1929, he brought his formulas for high-quality liquid and bar soaps to America, starting Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps in its current form in 1948.
Emanuel Bronner was a self-styled philosopher, alarmed by the rise of the Nazis and his strong views on hate and war landed him in a mental asylum in Chicago in 1948.
But, eight months later, Emanuel Bronner escaped and continued spreading his message of peace around California whilst making the peppermint liquid soap.
To preach his message, he started writing his philosophy on the bottles of his soaps in a tiny script, which is still used on Dr. Bronner’s packaging today.
Apple has announced a software update for its latest mobile operating system iOS 6.1 after hackers published a video showing how to unlock any iPhone running it.
The YouTube video and an accompanying explanation details a relatively simple combination of button presses which can quickly bypass the phone’s password screen.
Once entered, it opens the main phone screen where any thief or snoop would be able to make calls, read and send messages, edit contacts, and go through stored data like photos and apps.
In a response to tech siteAllThingsD, Apple spokesman Trudy Miller aknowledged the vulnerability and said the company was working on a quick fix.
“Apple takes user security very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update,” she said.
It is the latest embarrassment for the Silicon Valley tech company after another recent bug in the same operating system, iOS 6.1, was found to overload corporate email servers.
Business users trying to sync their contacts, mail and other content found themselves kicked off their company’s Microsoft Exchange servers, and Apple is yet to publish a fix for the problem.
Prior to that, a third bug in the .1 update to iOS 6 was found to cause problems with 3G network performance on the iPhone 4S. That was quickly fixed with a 6.1.1 update released exclusively to users of the 4S.
Apple has announced a software update for its latest mobile operating system iOS 6.1 after hackers published a video showing how to unlock any iPhone running it
The video detailing the iPhone 5 passcode hack was published onto YouTube by videosdebarraquito at the end of January and has already been viewed nearly 350,000 times.
It tells how a rapid combination of emergency call, keypad, power button and cancel button taps will bypass the phone’s security, leaving it accessible to anyone.
In text accompanying the video, the user describes it as an “[e]asy trick that allows bypass an iPhone’s passcode and get full access (see and edit) to contacts list, list of recent calls, favorite contacts, and even make a call to any phone number on the hacked device and erase the log”.
The text details the precise combination of actions to carry out to exploit the vulnerability.
The user adds that you can use it “[f]or prank your friends. For a magic show… Use it as you want, at your own risk, but… please… do not use this trick to do evil !!!”.
It is not the first time Apple’s devices have been found to be vulnerable to such a trick. A similar bug allowed the same kind of access in gadgets running iOS 4.1, Gizmodo reported.
It took a month for Apple to release the .2 update to that operating system which removed the vulnerability.
All 3,200 passengers have now disembarked from crippled Carnival Triumph cruise ship that reached the US coast four days after an engine fire knocked out power.
The Carnival Triumph docked in Mobile, Alabama, at 21:15 on Thursday.
Disembarking the passengers took more than four hours and many still face a long bus journey home or to the port of departure, Galveston.
Passengers had reported sewage on the floors, poor sanitation and access to toilets, and lengthy queues for food.
Some lined the decks as the 900-ft ship docked, waving and cheering at people on shore.
Chants of “Let me off, let me off!” could be heard coming from the ship as they waited to disembark.
One homemade sign read: “Sweet Home Alabama!” and another: “The ship’s afloat, so is the sewage.”
Disembarking passenger Brittany Ferguson said: “I’m feeling awesome just to see land and buildings. The scariest part was just not knowing when we’d get back.”
Carnival Corp which operates the ship, was also the owner of Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast and sank last year, killing 32 people.
The Carnival Triumph took six hours to be towed through the 30-mile channel to the docks at Mobile – the largest ship ever to dock there.
The passengers are being taken by bus either to Galveston in Texas, which is about seven hours away, or to New Orleans, where the firm said it had booked 1,500 hotel rooms. New Orleans is two hours away.
All 3,200 passengers have now disembarked from crippled Carnival Triumph cruise ship that reached the US coast four days after an engine fire knocked out power
Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologized again for the “very poor” conditions on board.
“We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case,” he said.
Hospitality staff will be sent on early holiday with full pay or transferred to other ships, depending on the length remaining in their contracts, senior vice-president Terry Thornton said.
Passenger Janie Baker told NBC by phone on Thursday that conditions on the ship were “extremely terrible”. There was no electricity and few working toilets, she said.
Janie Baker described using plastic bags to go to the toilet and that she had seen a woman pass out while waiting for food.
The stench from overflowing toilets and drainpipes made some cabins uninhabitable and many people slept in corridors, while others took bedding out into the open to escape the heat and foul smell.
Passengers will be offered a full refund and discounts on future cruises. Carnival announced on Wednesday passengers would each get an additional $500 in compensation.
But the firm has disputed the accounts describing the ship as filthy, saying employees were doing everything they could to ensure people were comfortable.
Carnival has cancelled more than a dozen planned voyages aboard the Triumph, while acknowledging that the crippled ship had other mechanical problems in the weeks before the fire.
Spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Triumph had an earlier electrical problem with the ship’s alternator but that repairs were completed by February 2. He said there was no evidence linking the previous problem to Sunday’s fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the fire.
No-one was injured in the blaze, but one passenger with a pre-existing medical condition was taken off the ship as a precaution.
EU food safety experts are due to meet in Brussels to address the scandal over mislabelled horsemeat.
The EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain will draw up plans for large-scale testing of beef products to check if they contain horse DNA.
On Thursday the French government suspended the licence of processing firm Spanghero, saying it had “knowingly” sold horsemeat as beef.
In the UK three people were arrested for suspected fraud in meat sales.
The widening scandal has affected at least 12 countries and raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across Europe.
The previously little-known committee is suddenly the focus of attention, and the plans it comes up with could eventually have a huge impact on consumer confidence in the food being eaten in Europe.
The experts from all 27 EU countries will try to devise accurate random tests to determine the scale of the mislabelling of horsemeat.
They will also draw up plans for separate tests to assess the scale of contamination with phenylbutazone or “bute” – a veterinary medicine considered potentially harmful to humans.
Their proposals will still have to be approved by EU ministers.
EU food safety experts are due to meet in Brussels to address the scandal over mislabelled horsemeat
The scale of the crisis was underlined on Thursday in France, where ministers said they believed the sale of horsemeat labelled as beef went on for six months and involved about 750 tonnes of meat.
The French government accused meat processing firm Spanghero of knowingly mislabelling horsemeat as beef and suspended its licence pending further investigation.
The company has strongly denied the allegation, saying it only ever dealt in meat it believed to be beef.
Spanghero imported meat from Romania, which was correctly labeled, and sold it on to another company, Comigel, which made frozen ready meals at its factory in Luxembourg for further distribution.
Millions of processed meat products have been withdrawn from supermarket shelves across the EU.
The UK has asked the European investigative agency Europol to co-ordinate a continent-wide investigation into an alleged international conspiracy to pass horsemeat off as beef.
Oscar Pistorius is appearing in court to face a murder charge after his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, was shot at his mansion near Pretoria.
South African Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius held his head in his hands and was in tears as the murder charge was formally read out in the magistrates’ court.
A decision will be taken on whether the athlete should be granted bail.
Prosecutors will argue that Oscar Pistorius should remain in custody.
Dozens of photographers are in the courtroom in Pretoria, where chief magistrate Desmond Nair is hearing the bail application.
The defendant cut a lonely figure, with his head forward and breathing heavily through tears.
It is likely that some details of both the case against the 26-year-old, and his defence, will be revealed.
Television cameras have been allowed in court for the hearing and media access is now being discussed. Members of Oscar Pistorius’s family, including his sister and father, are in the courtroom.
Oscar Pistorius has undergone medical and DNA tests. His lawyer, Kenny Oldwage, earlier said that his client was “very well, obviously emotional, but fine”.
The defence is expected to argue that Oscar Pistorius is not a flight risk and should be given bail.
Forensic experts are expected to continue examining the house in the upmarket Silver Woods gated community on the outskirts of South Africa’s administrative capital where Reeva Steenkamp, 29, died.
Correspondents say the athlete’s arrest has stunned the country where Oscar Pistorius is considered a national hero.
Oscar Pistorius is appearing in court to face a murder charge after his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, was shot at his mansion near Pretoria
Oscar Pistorius made history in London last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.
He is known as the “blade runner” because of the carbon fibre prosthetic blades he races in. He was born without a fibula in both legs and had his legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.
Police were called to Oscar Pistorius’ home in the early hours of Thursday morning.
They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. She died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9mm pistol.
Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp had reportedly been dating since November.
The athelete dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games, but in 2008 he won a legal battle over his blades – which critics said gave him an unfair advantage – with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.
Oscar Pistorius reached the 400m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200m, gold in the 4×100 relay and gold in the T44 400m, setting a Paralympic record.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.
But gun ownership is strictly regulated and it is not easy to obtain a licence.
A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest installment in Bruce Willis’s Die Hard action franchise, has received a largely frosty response from critics.
“Last is least,” bemoaned the Hollywood Reporter, while The Scotsman called it a “limp parody” of the 1988 original.
“The sense of exhilaration and fun that marked the best of the series has gone unaccountably AWOL,” opined Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times.
A Good Day to Die Hard, the plot of which sees Bruce Willis’s John McClane travel to Russia, is out now in the US and UK.
Reviews were not published until the day of release at the request of 20th Century Fox, the film’s distributor.
Bruce Willis has reprised his signature character, a wise-cracking New York cop with a talent for foiling complex criminal schemes, on four occasions since his introduction in the original Die Hard movie.
His latest outing, directed by Ireland’s John Moore, sees him join forces with his adult son Jack (Jai Courtney) to protect a Russian whistleblower with links to a nuclear conspiracy.
According to USA Today’s Claudia Puig, the “obnoxious, over the top and often dull” result constitutes “a feeble attempt to rehash action-hero glories”.
“Opening this bullet-riddled snoozefest on Valentine’s Day [14 February] seems particularly wrong-headed,” the reviewer continued.
“A trip outside the US does the franchise few favors,” wrote Empire‘s Kim Newman, saying the film’s “few reasonable action sequences are mired in family soap”.
A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest installment in Bruce Willis’s Die Hard action franchise, has received a largely frosty response from critics
Yet the film did get a kinder reception from the Daily Telegraph’s Robbie Collin, who singled out “a roaringly silly car chase which lasts around 15 minutes” for qualified praise.
“The special effects sequences are put together with some ingenuity,” agreed The New York Times‘ A O Scott.
“But everything that made the first Die Hard memorable – the nuances of character, the political subtext, the cowboy wit – has been dumbed down or scrubbed away entirely.”
While promoting the film in London last week, Willis confirmed he would be back for a sixth installment but would not be drawn on plot details.
“I heard there is a group of bad guys that hang out in the Seychelles,” he joked to reporters.
“So we should go there and just get a tan.”
Die Hard films to date:
Die Hard (1988), directed by John McTiernan, with Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), directed by Renny Harlin, with Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler
Die Hard: With A Vengeance (1995), directed by John McTiernan, with Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, Jeremy Irons
Die Hard 4.0, aka Live Free Or Die Hard (2007), directed by Len Wiseman, with Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013), directed by John Moore, with Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch
