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
Pope Benedict XVI has hinted he will withdraw into seclusion after stepping down at the end of this month.
“Even if I am withdrawing into prayer, I will always be close to all of you… even if I remain hidden to the world,” he told a meeting of Roman priests.
Pope Benedict XVI, 85, shocked the world’s biggest Christian Church on Monday when he announced his resignation.
The pontiff cited his advanced age as the reason for resigning.
According to the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, the Pope took the decision to resign after his trip to Mexico and Cuba in 2012.
The Vatican confirmed on Thursday that Pope Benedict had hit his head during the March trip to Mexico, but denied the accident had any role in his decision.
According to a report in Italy’s La Stampa newspaper, the Pope was lightly injured after getting up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar bedroom during the trip, with blood staining his hair and sheets.
Earlier this week, the Vatican said for the first time that Pope Benedict had a pacemaker, and that he had undergone surgery to replace the batteries three months ago.
The Pope appears to be planning a complete retreat from the public eye.
Pope Benedict XVI has hinted he will withdraw into seclusion after stepping down at the end of this month
However, the pontiff is expected to spend his retirement in a monastery at the Vatican and his relationship with his successor as pope is bound to be an endless source of speculation.
A new pope is expected to be elected by cardinals before Catholic Easter, which falls on March 31 this year.
Pope Benedict made his remarks at the Vatican in what amounted to a farewell address to hundreds of priests who serve in the Diocese of Rome, our correspondent says.
He appealed to the spirit of the reformist Second Vatican Council of the 1960s.
“We must work for the realization of the real council and for a real renewal of the Church,” he said.
Speaking earlier, some of the unnamed priests gave their reaction to the pontiff’s decision to resign.
“People are divided, some say that he was right in doing so, since he did not feel able to continue any longer, others on the contrary feel dejected,” said one.
“As for me, I am grieved and I hope and I pray for Benedict XVI, hoping that the Church again finds strength.”
“It was certainly a surprise for everybody,” said another.
“Maybe in this moment we cannot easily understand it since all of us are feeling shocked but it is a sign that our pontiff wanted to act for the good of the Church.
“He steps aside not because he abandons Peter’s boat, but because he wants this boat to be led with the help of the Holy Spirit through a person who is strong.”
Next week Pope Benedict will carry out no public engagements after which he will hold one more public audience on February 27, in St Peter’s Square.
On February 28, the Pope will fly off to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay while Church leaders go through the complicated ritual of choosing a successor.
Michael Le Vell has been charged with a string of sex offences, including raping a child.
Greater Manchester Police said Coronation Street actor is also accused of indecently assaulting a child and sexual activity with a child.
Michael Le Vell, 48, who plays Kevin Webster in the ITV1 soap, faces a total of 19 charges relating to crimes allegedly committed between 2001 and 2010.
Michael Le Vell, whose real name is Michael Robert Turner, is due before magistrates in Manchester on February 27.
Alison Levitt QC, principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said she had reviewed a decision not to prosecute Michael Le Vell following allegations made against him in 2011.
Michael Le Vell has been charged with a string of sex offences, including raping a child
She said: “I have very carefully reviewed the evidence in this case and I have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Michael Robert Turner with a number of sexual offences.
“I have authorized Greater Manchester Police to charge Mr. Turner with 19 offences, including rape of a child.
“Mr. Turner has now been charged with criminal offences and has a right to a fair trial.”
Michael Le Vell, from Hale in Greater Manchester, has played the role of garage mechanic Kevin Webster for 30 years, making him one of the longest-serving performers in Coronation Street.
A meteor shower has exploded over Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, central Russia, injuring dozens and shattering windows.
Brightly burning rocks could be seen for hundreds of kilometres as they crashed into the Ural region.
Chelyabinsk residents reported shaking ground, windows being shattered and car alarms being set off during the shower.
The traces from falling objects could be seen in Yekaterinburg, about 125 miles south-east of Chelyabinsk, a witness told the Reuters news agency.
At least 100 people – many injured by broken glass – have been taken to hospital for treatment, medical officials in the city have said.
A witness in Chelyabinsk told Reuters that a huge blast was heard early on Friday morning and that shockwaves were felt in a 19-storey building in the town centre.
The Interfax news agency said that preliminary reports indicated that four people were injured by flying glass.
People in the Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions reported seeing “burning objects” in the sky, which also fell on the cities of Yekaterinburg and Tyumen – a sparsely populated area of about 310 miles.
A meteor shower has exploded over Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions, central Russia, injuring dozens and shattering windows
About 600 sq m (6,000 sq ft) of a roof at a zinc factory collapsed, the Associated Press quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.
The Chelyabinsk region is Russia’s industrial heartland, an area that has many factories, a nuclear power plant and the Mayak atomic waste storage and treatment centre.
The emergencies ministry said that thousands of rescue workers had been dispatched to the area to provide help to the injured.
Officials say that the shower began after a large meteorite disintegrated above the Urals mountain range and partially burned up in the lower atmosphere – resulting in fragments falling earthwards throughout the Chelyabinsk region.
Warren Buffett is set to buy food giant Heinz in a deal worth $28 billion.
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway company and private equity firm 3G have agreed to take over Heinz, famous for its ketchup and baked beans.
In a statement, Heinz called the deal “historic”, and the largest to date in the food industry.
Shares in Heinz soared nearly 20% in New York to hit the $72.50 price being offered.
And Class A shares in Berkshire Hathaway rose 1% to $149,240 a share – a record closing high.
The takeover has been approved by the company’s board, but still needs to be voted on by shareholders.
“The Heinz brand is one of the most respected brands in the global food industry and this historic transaction provides tremendous value to Heinz shareholders,” said Heinz chairman, president and chief executive William Johnson.
“We look forward to partnering with Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital, both greatly respected investors, in what will be an exciting new chapter in the history of Heinz.”
The deal will marry one of the best-known brands in the food industry with one of the US’s most famous businessmen.
Warren Buffett is one of the richest men in the world, having amassed a multi-billion-dollar fortune over decades of investing. His investment expertise has earned him the nickname “the sage of Omaha”.
“It is our kind of company,” Warren Buffett told CNBC.
“I’ve sampled it many times.”
“Anytime we see a deal is attractive and it’s our kind of business and we’ve got the money, I’m ready to go,” he said.
Warren Buffett is set to buy food giant Heinz in a deal worth $28 billion
3G Capital also owns the fast-food chain Burger King.
The deal will offer shareholders $72.50 a share, a 20% premium on the company’s previous all-time high share price.
Berkshire Hathaway will contribute $12-$13 billion in cash to the deal. In total around $23 billion of the deal will be in cash, with the rest in debt.
Heinz has been operating in the US market since it was founded in Pittsburgh in the late 19th Century.
Heinz says it sells 650 million bottles of its ketchup worldwide every year.
Emerging markets make up around a quarter of its global sales, Heinz said.
At a press conference following the announcement of the deal, 3G Capital’s co-founder Alex Behring assured Heinz employees the 144-year-old business would continue to be headquartered in Pittsburgh. But he said it was too soon to discuss potential cost-cutting measures.
If agreed, the deal would be the latest in a string of big deals announced recently, after merger activity suffered during the global financial crisis.
Earlier American Airlines and US Airways confirmed plans to merge, in an $11 billion deal to create the world’s biggest airline, and last week computer maker Dell announced a planned $24 billion takeover by its founder Michael Dell.
The UK’s Virgin Media is also set to be bought by Liberty Global for $23.3 billion.
US experts say North Korea appears to be upgrading one of its two rocket launch sites, perhaps in a move to test bigger rockets.
“Important progress” had been made at Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground since October 2012, the analysis from the 38 North website said.
Activities around the new launch pad also revealed possible evidence of assistance from Iran, it said.
Pyongyang used a three-stage rocket to put a satellite into space last year.
That launch – condemned by the UN as a banned test of missile technology – took place at the Sohae launch site.
But previous unsuccessful attempts in 2006 and 2009 took place at the Tonghae site, which is also known as Musudan-ri.
The analysis from 38 North, the website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Baltimore, was based on satellite imagery.
Construction of the new launch pad was continuing, it said, with images showing Pyongyang would be able to test rockets “perhaps three to four times the size of the Unha [launched in December 2012] when construction is completed, possibly in 2016”.
Two new design features were similar to those used at the Semnan Launch Complex in Iran, it said.
The images also confirmed activity at the old launch pad.
US experts say North Korea appears to be upgrading one of its two rocket launch sites, perhaps in a move to test bigger rockets
“That activity may be related to another round of modifications intended to support future launches of the Unha rocket or possibly another liquid-fuelled missile,” 38 North said, while cautioning that more information was needed.
North Korea last week conducted its third nuclear test, claiming to have successfully detonated a smaller but more powerful device than in previous tests.
The move drew immediate condemnation from the UN Security Council.
Observers fear North Korea is working towards creating a nuclear device small enough to fit on a long-range missile.
Asteroid 2012 DA14, which is as large as an Olympic swimming pool, will 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.
It will pass closer even than the geosynchronous satellites that orbit the Earth, but there is no risk of impacts or collisions.
Its closest approach will be 19:25 GMT.
For regions in darkness around that time, it will be visible using good binoculars or a telescope.
The asteroid 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 a blistering 7.8 km/s (17,450 mi/hr) – it will come from “under” the Earth and return back toward the Sun from “above”.
As it does, it will pass over the eastern Indian Ocean, making for the best viewing in Eastern Europe, Asia and Australia.
But keen viewers anywhere can find one of several live streams of the event on the internet, including a feed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA, available from 19:00 GMT.
Asteroid 2012 DA14 will race past the Earth on Friday at a distance of just 27,700 km, the closest ever predicted for an object of that size
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”.
They caught sight of the asteroid after its last pass, at a far greater distance.
From their observations, they were able to calculate the asteroid’s future and past paths and predict Friday’s near-miss – which will be the closest the object comes for at least 30 years.
Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast said that it is a scientific opportunity not to be missed.
“When asteroids come this close, it’s very important to try to learn about them – it’s become so bright, so it’s so easy to study,” he said.
“We get an additional insight into these small objects, which are the most likely impactors on Earth.”
Athlete Oscar Pistorius tweeted how he went into “full combat recon mode” after mistaking his washing machine for an intruder, less than three months before his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in the middle of the night.
Oscar Pistorius, 26, was today preparing to spend the night in jail before appearing in court first thing tomorrow morning after being charged with the murder of 30-year-old FHM model Reeva Steenkamp.
Reeva Steenkamp, who had been dating Oscar Pistorius for two months, was shot four times in the head, chest and arm inside his mansion in Pretoria, South Africa at 4.00 a.m.
In a message posted on Twitter on November 27 last year Oscar Pistorius wrote: “Nothing like getting home to hear the washing machine on and thinking it’s an intruder to go into full combat recon mode into the pantry!”
Oscar Pistorius may have killed his girlfriend with a handgun kept next to his bed after a Valentine’s Day surprise went tragically wrong and he thought she was a burglar, sources have said.
Oscar Pistorius tweeted how he went into “full combat recon mode” after mistaking his washing machine for an intruder, less than three months before his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead in the middle of the night
But police say Reeva Steenkamp’s death is being treated as murder, adding that officers had been sent to previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at his address on the exclusive Silver Woods gated estate.
Brigadier Denise Beukes said neighbors were woken by “screaming and shouting” at the time of the shooting and police were “very surprised” by the intruder suggestion, telling reporters: “These allegations did not come from us.”
Oscar Pistorius is in custody and was due in court this afternoon but the hearing has now been delayed to 9.00 a.m. tomorrow to allow forensics more time to work in his home.
Beyonce sat down with Oprah Winfrey for Oprah’s Next Chapter, revealing how she’s mended the relationship with her father.
A 30-second clip of the interview released by Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network shows Beyonce and the media mogul smiling as they sit down and appear to share an “Aha!” moment.
Beyonce severed her professional relationship with her father in 2011, while rumors of family tension ravaged headlines.
Two years later, Beyonce is opening up about “letting go” of her father and former manager, Mathew Knowles, in a candid new interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The energy becomes more serious as the television host questions her once fractious relationship with her father.
“Talk some about letting your father go as your manager,” Oprah Winfrey asks, the clip cutting to Beyonce nodding as she contemplates a question.
Mathew Knowles, and Beyonce’s mother Tina, played a pivotal role in the singer’s career.
He quit his job as a medical equipment salesman to manage Beyonce’s early group, Girl’s Tyme, which eventually morphed into Destiny’s Child in 1990.
Twenty-one years later, in 2011, she ended their professional relationship, while relaying that their personal relationship remained full “of love”.
Rumors circulated about more going on behind-the-scenes than Beyonce let on as Mathew and Tina Knowles headed for divorce.
Ties were after all not easy to sever with Mathew Knowles having producer credits on many of his daughter’s projects and serving as the founder of Music World Entertainment, a label that, through Columbia Records, has released albums by Beyoncé, sister Solange Knowles, Sunshine Anderson, and former Destiny’s Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.
Beyonce sat down with Oprah Winfrey for Oprah’s Next Chapter, revealing how she’s mended the relationship with her father
Beyoncé has only spoken briefly in the past about the pair’s relationship.
“It took a while for me and my dad to have an understanding,” she once said.
“When I turned 18 and started handling my business more, he went into shock. And we had our issues. I’d say <<No>> to something, and he’d book it anyway.
“Then I’d have to do it because I’d look bad [if I didn’t]. We would fight sometimes, and it took about two years, to when I was 20, for him to realize, <<Oh, she is an adult now, and if she doesn’t wanna do something, I can’t make her do it>>.”
Beyonce and Oprah Winfrey will also apparently touch on the miscarriage the singer kept private for years, her husband, Jay-Z, and their baby daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
The couple married in 2008 but have been notoriously tight-lipped about their relationship.
Since the birth of their first child in January 2012, Beyonce has slowly opened up about her home life.
In a more light-hearted moment, Oprah Winfrey asks: “When you get to the point when you can say, on camera, <<I’m going to make love to my husband… How big is the Carter family going to expand to?”
Beyonce laughs.
“Lord, I’m gonna have me a time,” she says in another clip as the video cuts to the next question.
They also talked about Beyonce’s new HBO documentary, Life Is But A Dream.
The film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since Blue Ivy was born.
The HBO film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce’s growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.
She 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.
In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying: “It was the saddest thing I’ve ever been through.”
“My life is a journey. … I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself … ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself,” she said.
Beyonce has also announced a new album for this year.
The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour – Jay-Z’s real name is Shawn Carter – will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.
Life is But a Dream airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.
Stranded Carnival Triumph cruise ship with more than 4,000 people aboard is within sight of land four days after an engine fire knocked out the vessel’s power.
Pulled by tugboats, the Carnival Triumph is due later to reach Mobile, Alabama, although it is still hours from shore.
Buses will be waiting for the vessel’s passengers when they arrive.
Passengers have reported sewage on the floors, poor sanitation and access to toilets, and lengthy queues for food.
Carnival Cruise Lines, which operates the ship, says the Triumph’s 3,000 passengers would have the option of boarding buses to New Orleans or going to Texas.
Galveston, Texas, from where the cruise embarked last Thursday, is seven hours from Mobile. New Orleans, where the firm said it booked 1,500 hotel rooms, is two hours away.
Those staying in New Orleans will be flown on Friday to Houston, Texas.
The powerless vessel is expected to dock between 20:00 and 23:00 local time on Tuesday.
A former cruise terminal was being preparing to help passengers go through customs.
Carnival employees, of whom there are more than 1,000 aboard the ship, will be staying in Mobile.
Mayor Sam Jones said the city had more than enough hotel rooms, as well as two airports near the cruise terminal.
Stranded Carnival Triumph cruise ship with more than 4,000 people aboard is within sight of land four days after an engine fire knocked out the vessel’s power
Passenger Janie Baker told NBC by phone on Thursday that conditions on the ship were “extremely terrible”. There has been no electricity and few working toilets, she said.
Janie Baker described using plastic bags to go to the bathroom and that she had seen a woman pass out while waiting for food.
“It’s just a nightmare,” she said.
Janie Baker said she and her friends slept with their life vests one night because the ship was listing.
Passengers are supposed to get a full refund and discounts on future cruises. Carnival announced on Wednesday they would each get an additional $500 in compensation.
But the firm has disputed the accounts of passengers who describe the ship as filthy, saying employees are doing everything to ensure people are comfortable.
A spokesman, Vance Gulliksen, said the company was choosing to bus passengers to New Orleans because it “offered additional capacity and flexibility, which was important to us given that the complexity of the towing operation creates an uncertain arrival time in Mobile”.
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.
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 condition was taken off the ship as a precaution.
“We know it has been a longer journey back than we anticipated at the beginning of the week under very challenging circumstances,” Carnival president and chief executive Gary Cahill said in a statement.
“We are very sorry for what our guests have had to endure.”
French government has announced today that meat processing company Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labelled as beef.
Spanghero’s licence is being suspended while a probe continues, agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll said.
The firm has denied the allegations, saying it only ever dealt in meat it believed to be beef.
A widening scandal over mislabelled horsemeat has affected at least 12 European countries.
In the UK, three people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud in connection with the sale of horsemeat.
Two suspects were detained at a meat processing plant near Aberystwyth in Wales, and a third was arrested at an abattoir in West Yorkshire.
The French government believes that the sale of horsemeat labelled as beef went on for six months and involved around 750 tonnes of meat.
Spanghero imported meat from Romania and sold it on to another company, Comigel, which made frozen ready meals at its factory in Luxembourg.
French consumer affairs minister Benoit Hamon said the meat left Romania clearly and correctly labelled as horse. It was afterwards that it was relabelled as beef.
“From the investigation, it would seem that the first agent or actor in this network who stamped <<beef>> on horsemeat from Romania was Spanghero,” Benoit Hamon said.
There was “no reason to doubt the good faith” of the Romanian abattoir that originally provided the meat, Benoit Hamon added.
French government has announced today that meat processing company Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labelled as beef
The investigation says some blame may rest with Comigel, which made the ready meals sold around Europe.
Staff there should have noticed anomalies in the paperwork, and realized from the smell and look of the meat once it was defrosted that it was not beef, Benoit Hamon said.
Spanghero has strongly denied wrongdoing.
“Spanghero confirms having placed an order for beef, having been led to believe it received beef, and having sold back what it thought was beef, properly labelled as such, in line with European and French regulations,” the company said in a statement.
The latest country to be hit by the crisis is Germany, where some supermarket chains have removed frozen lasagne from sale after traces of horsemeat were detected.
The widening scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across the Europe.
The UK has asked the European investigative agency Europol to coordinate a continent-wide investigation into an alleged international conspiracy to pass horsemeat off as beef.
On Wednesday the EU urged member states to conduct random DNA tests for horsemeat in beef products from 1st of March.
EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said the programme of random tests should report after 30 days, but testing should continue for three months.
Tonio Borg was speaking after a meeting in Brussels with agriculture ministers from affected countries.
He said member states should also test for the presence of the veterinary medicine phenylbutazone – known as “bute”.
The painkiller is used to treat horses – particularly racehorses – but is considered potentially harmful to humans.
On Thursday Britain’s Food Standard Agency – the FSA – said that tests found eight horses, killed in the UK, tested positive for bute and six may have entered the food chain in France.
But England’s chief medical officer said the highest level detected posed “very little risk to human health”.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the UK was working closely with the French authorities to track the carcasses.
Laura Wasser, Kim Kardashian’s divorce lawyer, is claiming her client is being held “hostage” by estranged husband Kris Humphries.
Kris Humphries has claimed he is not ready to go to trial due to “uncooperative third parties”.
Laura Wasser has filed a 217 response on behalf of Kim Kardashian, claiming that Kris Humphries’ side has not presented any evidence that they have been met with any opposition.
Kim Kardashian is desperate to get her divorce finalized before the birth of her first child with Kanye West, due in early July.
In court documents filed on February 8, Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries “cannot continue to hold the Court and [Kim Kardashian] hostage through his own lack of diligence in preparing his case for trial”.
Laura Wasser states that Kim Kardashian is ready to be deposed as early as possible, but Kris Humphries is claiming he wants to be present and that due to his busy schedule, this can’t happen until May at the earliest.
Kim Kardashian’s attorney goes on to say that Kris Humphries needs to “put up or shut up”, according to the documents obtained by E! News.
Last month, Kim Kardashian filed a motion to speed up proceedings and get an early trial date, or for the case to be bifurcated so that she can be legally single in time for her baby’s birth.
In the most recent filing, Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries’ camp asked for copies of all of the raw reality footage of the former couple, to which producers of Kim Kardashian’s shows filed an immediate objection.
Laura Wasser, Kim Kardashian’s divorce lawyer, is claiming her client is being held “hostage” by estranged husband Kris Humphries
Kris Humphries apparently did not file a motion compelling the producers to turn over footage, which Laura Wasser states is not their problem.
According to Laura Wasser, Bunim-Murray Productions, which helms the star’s various shows, has not held up things in any way.
Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries “complains that he was portrayed badly in the television shows he appeared on and is now trying to use this divorce action to establish this by <<exposing>> reality television”.
She adds: “This is a misuse of the judicial process; and one for which my client should not have to bear the costs.”
On Friday a hearing will take place at 8.30 a.m. determining the next course of action for the former couple. Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries in October 2011 after just 72 days of marriage.
Athlete Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life.
Prior to their split late last year, Oscar Pistorius spent a year and a half dating Cape Town marketing student Samantha Taylor.
But even while he was with Samantha Taylor, he was linked with numerous other women, including Russian model Anastassia Khozissova.
Oscar Pistorius was first seen with Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in South Africa last November. At the time, the FHM model said the pair were “just friends”.
When it became clear that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were in fact dating, the sportsman’s then ex-Samantha Taylor said: “Oscar has such a way with women. She’s probably not the only one he’s got.”
Samatha Taylor went on to tell South Africa’s City Press newspaper that “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is”.
Oscar Pistorius has a history of risk taking and violence.
In November last year, Oscar Pistorius reportedly “threatened to break the legs” of the friend of a man whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend, who is not Reeva Steenkamp.
According to newspaper reports, Oscar Pistorius approached South African football player Marc Batchelor in the VIP room of a horse racing track and verbally threatened him.
In 2009, Oscar Pistorius spent a night in police cells after a woman complained to police that he had assaulted her during a party at his house.
The incident allegedly occurred at the same Silver Woods home as where Reeva Steenkamp died.
Although Oscar Pistorius was charged with assault, he was eventually released with a warning.
At the time, police spokeswoman Sergeant Marinda Stoltz said the victim, whom Oscar Pistorius had told to leave, banged and kicked his front door.
“He [Oscar Pistorius] told the girl <<this is my house and my friends and you have to leave>>. He then started closing the door when a wooden beam weighing about 1,5kg fell on her leg and injured her.”
Marinda Stoltz said the girl reported the incident hours later.
“The girl then also admitted that she had been drinking,” she said.
Oscar Pistorius’ determination to succeed also seems to be accompanied by a taste for danger.
He has a large collection of sports cars and motorbikes and he routinely sleeps with a pistol next to his bed and a machine gun by a window.
In an interview in the New York Times entitled The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius, he invited the reporter to a gun range where he taught him how to shoot.
The reporter said: “He [Oscar Pistorius] fetched his 9-millimeter handgun and two boxes of ammunition. We drove to a nearby firing range, where he instructed me on proper technique.
“Pistorius was a good coach. A couple of my shots got close to the bull’s-eye, which delighted him. <<Maybe you should do this more>>, he said. <<If you practiced, I think you could be pretty deadly>>. I asked him how often he came to the range. <<Just sometimes when I can’t sleep>>.”
In 2008, Oscar Pistorius broke two ribs and had 172 stitches in his face when he crashed a boat into a submerged pier on a river south of Johannesburg.
In an interview published last year the sportsman admitted that his got the large tattoo – a quote from Corinthians – on his shoulder on a whim.
“I went into an all-night tattoo parlour,” he told the New York TimesMagazine.
“Some Puerto Rican guy did it. It took from 2 a.m. to about 8:30.
“I think he was falling asleep after a while, which is why it’s a little squiggly at the bottom.”
In the magazine feature, the author concluded that Oscar Pistorius “is more than a little crazy”.
Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life
Oscar Pistorius was born 26 years ago into a prominent family in Pretoria without fibulas, the outer of the bones that run between the knee and the ankle.
His parents, Sheila and Henke Pistorius, grappled with information, complied with doctors’ advice, and at 11 months his legs were amputated below the knee.
“It was a hugely emotional decision,” said Dr. Gerry Versfeld, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed the operation.
“It is easier now to convince somebody the right way to go is amputation because Oscar Pistorius is an icon you can point to and say, <<Look, this is possible>>.”
Much of his success is attributed to the fact he was always treated as a “normal little boy”.
By the time he arrived at Constantina Kloof Primary School aged five, Oscar Pistorius had been walking on his rigid glass fibre prosthetic legs for almost four years. Usually he ran.
One of Oscar Pistorius’s first memories is hurtling down a hill on a go-kart with his brother, Carl, who then decided to use one of Oscar’s prostheses as an impromptu brake to stop them crashing.
“My brother was like my hero when I was growing up,” said Oscar Pistorius.
“He’s a year and a bit older. We’re still very close. We stayed on a plot that was near an informal settlement, like a township, and we used to go and play football with the kids there and we used to have so much fun.
“We would build tree houses in the holiday and we had motorbikes on a track in our garden. It’s nice to have someone who pushes you to do things. You’re always trying to compete with him.”
Oscar Pistorius was in high school when he showed up at Jannie Brooks’s garage gym in Pretoria, South Africa, with a group of friends looking to get fitter.
He boxed, skipped and did press-ups until he threw up. It was six months before Jannie Brooks realized he had no legs.
“He was just one of the bunch, doing everything at the same pace as everybody else,” he said.
“Between the classroom and the fields there were two sets of stairs,” said Tessa Shellard, who taught Oscar Pistorius maths and PE.
“I used to cringe because he would always run down. I closed my eyes waiting for him to fall. But he never did.
“His legs would chafe and give him enormous blisters on his stumps but he did rugby, cricket, football and absolutely everything else.
“He wasn’t quick at all because of his heavy legs but in inter-house athletics, Oscar would do the sprints every year knowing full well he would come last.”
His can-do attitude made him popular with classmates. During annual triathlons, one friend would carry him on his back while carrying his legs. When it came to the swimming, he threw his legs on to the side of the pool and dived straight in. At cycling, Oscar Pistorius would do 20 km stretches as a 12-year-old without complaint.
Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a close friend of Oscar Pistorius, said his quick cycling is because his hips are a “huge engine”. This also allows him to reposition his limbs quicker and complete the 400 m, his favored event, in a personal best of 45.07sec, a time never thought possible for an amputee.
At 13, Oscar Pistorius began boarding at Pretoria Boys School.
“During the admissions interview I had concerns about how a legless boy would fare with the rough and tumble of a school of 1500 teenagers,” said Bill Shroeder, headteacher of the school until 2009.
“All his mother could say was, <<Of course he’ll cope>>. That was how she brought him up – to be completely normal.”
Oscar Pistorius went down in school folklore when, during a rugby match, a player from the opposite team tackled him.
“His legs came off in the boy’s arms,” said Bill Shroeder.
“But he carried on running over the line, I think the other kid still has nightmares.”
Oscar Pistorius threw himself into sport following his mother’s death when he was 15, but suffered a knee injury playing rugby in 2003. He did athletics as a form of rehab at the University of Pretoria.
Less than a year later, Oscar Pistorius lit up the Athens Paralympics aged 17, winning gold in the 200 m and bronze in the 100 m in the T44 class, which also includes single below-the-knee amputees.
“Within months he was an icon,” said Bill Shroeder.
“My biggest challenge was keeping a teenager who was the envy of every kid on the straight and narrow.”
He was expected to take home a haul of paralympic golds at London 2012 but failed to deliver.
His first final was in the 200 m, where he finished a shock second to Brazilian Alan Oliveira and accused rivals in an angry outburst, including his young conqueror, of running on blades that were too long.
Then Oscar Pistorius had to settle for fourth place in the 100 m individual event when the glory went to Britain’s new track icon, Jonnie Peacock.
But this defeat and the outburst were followed by a measure of redemption when Oscar Pistorius anchored his country’s 4 x 100 m relay gold in a world record time.
Books and memorabilia of heroes from Nelson Mandela to Iron Mike Tyson, from Sir Bobby Charlton to Valentino Rossi, now fill the shelves and walls of his Pretoria home, a sprawling mansion on the Silverwoods Golf Estate, where he allegedly shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at 4:00 a.m. this morning.
Oscar Pistorius allegedly shot her four times in the head, chest and arms with a 9 mm handgun.
Local media have claimed Oscar Pistorius did so either by accident in a Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong or having mistaken Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.
Neither claim has been confirmed.
Oscar Pistorius’ father Henke, meanwhile said: “If anyone makes a statement, it will have to be Oscar. He’s sad at the moment.”
His publicist, Peet van Zyl, said: “Oscar is a humble person and lovely guy – am sure what’s happened was terrible mistake.”
Oscar Pistorius’ sporting trophies, including the first award he won as a 12-year-old wrestler and that famous TV camera that marks him out as a recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award for remarkable courage in the face of adversity, take up the space next to the whisky cabinet and pictures of his racehorses.
The sportsman, once voted South Africa’s sexiest celebrity now earns more than $1.5 million a year in deals to promote everything from perfume to groceries and telecommunications.
If Oscar Pistorius is charged and convicted with murder, he is unlikely to serve life in prison as the country’s full term imprisonment rule only kicks in for premeditated murder.
But there is also a chance he may escape punishment.
In 2004 charges against a South African rugby player who shot and killed his daughter were dropped when the country’s prosecuting agency decided he had suffered enough.
Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was today charged with murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead at his mansion in Pretoria, South Africa.
Reeva Steenkamp, 29, a former FHM model who had been dating the 26-year-old for two months, was shot four times in the head, chest and arm inside his home at 4:00 a.m.
Oscar Pistorius may have killed Reeva Steenkamp with a handgun kept next to his bed after a Valentine’s Day surprise went tragically wrong and he thought she was a burglar, sources have said.
But police say Reeva Steenkamp’s death is being treated as murder, adding that officers had been sent to previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at Oscar Pistorius’ address on the exclusive Silver Woods gated estate.
Brigadier Denise Beukes added police were “very surprised” by the intruder suggestion, telling reporters: “These allegations did not come from us.”
Oscar Pistorius was due in court this afternoon but the hearing has now been delayed to 9:00 a.m. and the sprinter is in custody.
Oscar Pistorius was today charged with murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead at his mansion in Pretoria
Police were called to his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa’s administrative capital 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. Reeva Steenkamp died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9 mm pistol.
Early reports suggested Oscar Pistorius might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder.
Police say neighbors heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.
They also said that they would oppose any bail application.
Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who dressed Kim Kardashian for her recent fashion shoot in Elle magazine’s latest issue, has revealed how designers refused to lend the reality star their clothes.
Nicola Formichetti, 35, the stylist behind Lady Gaga’s masterful wardrobe, admitted that calling in high-end samples for Kim Kardashian posed “a challenge” for him.
“People wouldn’t lend me the clothes,” Nicola Formichetti explained to the magazine.
“But that’s fashion snobbery.”
Nicola Formichetti, who is the creative director of Mulgar and fashion director of Uniqlo, said he approached several designers who all declined in having their clothes worn by Kim Kardashian with “less-than-model-like-proportions”, as Elle described her five-foot-two-inch frame.
“She’s not the It Girl yet, but she will be,” he said.
Nicola Formichetti said the duo worked with what they were given, including several Tom Ford pieces, as well as Roberto Cavalli, and Victor and Rolf, and managed to put together several looks.
Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who dressed Kim Kardashian for her recent fashion shoot in Elle magazine’s latest issue, has revealed how designers refused to lend the reality star their clothes
On Twitter on Thursday, Nicola Formichetti backed away from the remarks, claiming his words had been twisted.
“Taken out of context again..Working with @kimkardashian was amazing we had more than enough options for @ellemagazine !!” he wrote, adding that he was looking forward to working with Kim Kardashian again.
Kim Kardashian meanwhile gushed to the stylist in a behind-the-scenes video: “I love being transformed and I love, like your, vision of who you think I am. That’s always so inspiring to me and so interesting to see someone else’s take on me.”
She added that no matter what clothes Nicola Formichetti had to work with, most importantly he “understands a woman’s body”.
“When I work with someone that I really respect, I work with trust,” Kim Kardashian said to Nicola Formichetti.
“So even if I’m not comfortable in something; I trust, like, your vision to push me a little bit.”
However, Kim Kardashian admits she was “really nervous” to take part in the shoot as working with Formichetti was “just a dream come true”.
A new report claims that Kris Jenner allegedly cheated on Bruce Jenner with former love Todd Waterman at the start of their relationship in the early 1990s.
Kris Jenner is reported by In Touch magazine to have cheated with Todd waterman even after she began living with Bruce Jenner.
Although Kris Jenner denies cheating on her husband, the magazine alleges Todd Waterman told them last year that he and Kris were having sex after she was dating the former decathlete.
“We were still sleeping together when she started dating Bruce,” Todd Waterman said then about their relationship, claiming they “hooked up” after Bruce Jenner had moved into her Beverly Hills home.
Todd Waterman was speaking to In Touch six months before appearing in Keeping Up With the Kardashians last year, for which he received a payment of $15,000 to $20,000 and a contract restricting him from talking about the famous family.
“I really wish I could talk to you, but I can’t because I’m under contract with the family to not talk about them,” Todd Waterman is alleged to have told the magazine.
Todd Waterman and Kris Jenner’s relationship is said to have ended after she met Bruce on a blind date in 1990 – they married in 1991 and went on to have daughters Kendall and Kylie.
A new report claims that Kris Jenner allegedly cheated on Bruce Jenner with former love Todd Waterman at the start of their relationship in the early 1990s
However, an insider alleged to the magazine that Kris Jenner and Todd Waterman’s relationship did not end there.
“He was always around, and Bruce was completely in the dark,” the source said.
“He was the Camilla in the Charles-Diana relationship.”
Kris Jenner originally had an affair with Todd Waterman while married to Robert Kardashian, and has called the fling her “biggest regret”.
The Kardashian matriarch and Bruce have recently been dogged by divorce rumors, but last year Kris Jenner told Entertainment Tonight that the reports are “crazy” since “life is so good right now”.
