North Korea has announced it arrested US citizen Pae Jun Ho for unspecified alleged crimes on November 3rd.
Pae Jun Ho entered the country as a tourist, state media reported.
Some reports from South Korea have said the man is a Korean American who operates a travel company and went to the North guiding a group of tourists.
In recent years North Korea has arrested and released several US citizens, including journalists and Christians accused of proselytism.
State media said Pae Jun Ho was subject to criminal proceedings.
North Korea has announced it arrested US citizen Pae Jun Ho for unspecified alleged crimes on November 3rd
“In the process of investigation, evidence proving that he committed a crime against the DPRK was revealed,” state news agency KCNA reported.
“He admitted his crime.”
It also said the man had met officials from the Swedish embassy. Sweden represents US interests in North Korea because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations.
The arrest comes amid tension between the US and North Korea over a recent North Korean rocket launch.
Despite all the predictions of Mayan apocalypse, the world will probably not end by December 22. How will the believers cope when life carries on?
The clock strikes midnight, the hallowed date arrives and, once again, the apocalypse fails to turn up on schedule.
For such a cataclysmic event, the projected end of the world has come around with surprising regularity throughout history.
Each time a group of believers has been left bewildered at the absence of all-consuming death and devastation.
If they’ve taking the warnings seriously enough, they will have sold their homes, abandoned earthly civilisation’s material trappings and braced themselves for the arrival of a new era.
The latest date to herald widespread alarm is December 21, which marks the conclusion of the 5,125-year “Long Count” Mayan calendar.
Around the world, precautions are being taken.
Panic-buying of candles has been reported in China’s Sichuan province. In Russia, where sales of tinned goods and matches have surged, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has urged his countryfolk to remain calm.
Authorities in the French Pyrenees are preparing for an influx of believers to the mountain Pic de Bugarach, where rumors have spread that UFOs will rescue human gatherers.
And one doesn’t have to belong to a sect to find these predictions compelling. Humankind’s ongoing fascination with the apocalypse is evident in mainstream popular culture.
Films like 2012, Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow all packed out multiplexes by depicting threats of global catastrophe. The Left Behind novels about a “post-rapture” world have reportedly sold more than 70 million copies.
If precedent is any guide, however, December 21 is likely to prove an anti-climax. Since the dawn of civilization, humans have often been gripped by certainty that the world was about to end.
The Romans panicked at predictions their city would be destroyed in 634 BC. Millennial fears gripped Europe ahead of the year 1000 AD. During the English Civil War, groups like the Fifth Monarchists believed the end was nigh.
More recent apocalypses have panned out in much the same way. Followers of Nostradamus braced themselves for the arrival of the “King of Terror” in “1999 and seven months”. US television evangelist Pat Robertson forecast that “something like” a nuclear attack would occur in late 2007.
The California radio preacher Harold Camping set a date for the end of the world no fewer than six times, settling on 22 October 2011 – a day which, historians may recall, was distinguished by an absence of fire and brimstone.
Despite all the predictions of Mayan apocalypse, the world will probably not end by December 22
For those who paid heed to their dire warnings, learning that life will in fact carry on as normal might be expected to be a deeply traumatic experience.
Surprisingly, however, groups which predict the end of the world have quite a good record of carrying on after the world is supposed to have ended, says Lorne Dawson, an expert in the sociology of religion at the University of Waterloo.
“The vast majority seem to shrug off the failure of prophecy fairly well,” he says.
Of 75 groups identified by Dawson which predicted the apocalypse, all but six remained intact after catastrophe failed to materialize.
Indeed, many have gone on to flourish. Jehovah’s Witnesses are viewed as having predicted some form of end several times and yet still have more than seven million followers.
The Seventh Day Adventists, who have an estimated 17 million members, grew out of the Millerites, whose failed apocalyptic forecast in 1844 became known as the Great Disappointment.
The seminal study into this phenomenon came in the 1956 text When Prophecy Fails, in which psychologist Leon Festinger recounted how he and his students infiltrated a group who believed the world was about to end with members being rescued by a flying saucer.
When both the apocalypse and the UFO failed to materialize, Leon Festinger found, the leader declared that the small circle of believers had “spread so much light” that God had spared the planet. Her followers responded by proselytizing the good news among non-believers in what Leon Festinger saw as a classic case of cognitive dissonance.
In a similar exercise, psychiatrist Simon Dein spent time with a small community of Lubavitch Hassidic Jews in Stamford Hill, north London. For years many Lubavitchers had believed their spiritual leader Menechem Mendel Schneerson, known as the rebbe, was the messiah.
According to their theology, he would herald the end of civilization and usher in a new age. Their faith was tested, however, when the rebbe passed away in New York in 1994.
“I was there at the time he died,” says Simon Dein.
“They were crying. They were mourning. There was a great sense of denial – he couldn’t die. Would he reveal himself?”
But, Simon Dein says, these Lubavitchers did not give up their belief system. Very quickly, they took up the idea he was still alive and could not be seen, or that he would somehow rise from the dead.
“There are very heated tensions between those who believe he’s alive and those who believe he’s dead, but his death doesn’t seem to have diminished the number of people in the group,” Simon Dein says.
According to Dawson, the 200 Lubavitcher families in Stamford Hill had the most crucial trait necessary to keep a group together after a failed apocalypse – a strong sense of community.
“If the group itself has been pretty cohesive, it’s been free of schism and dissent, they can get through,” he says.
Also important, he believes, is the presence of a decisive leadership who can offer a swift explanation.
“If rationalization comes quickly, the group can withstand ridicule from outside,” he adds.
Some leaders, such as Camping on several occasions, simply offer a new date for the apocalypse. Others apologize to their members for getting the scheduling wrong.
Tragically, some take more drastic action. The bodies of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were found in 1997. They had taken their own lives in the belief they would reach a UFO following the Hale-Bopp comet.
Most, however, find a peaceful way to adjust.
“When you have invested so much in a belief, you have a very strong interest in salvaging something from it,” says Philip Jenkins, a historian of religion at Baylor University in Texas.
For Philip Jenkins, the appeal of leaders preaching the impending apocalypse down the ages has always been about far more than the specifics of their prophecies.
“It’s a kind of rejection of the order of the world as it is,” he says.
“It’s to do with imagining something far better. After it becomes apparent that the new order isn’t going to come, there are ways of adjusting the message.”
For true believers, the saga is only just beginning when the clock hands reach 12.
Thousands of people across the world have been preparing for what they believe will be the end of the world on December 21, according to a Mayan prophecy.
The date is the apparent end of the “long count” calendar of the ancient Mayan civilisation.
Believers have gathered in Mexico near Mayan ruins, and in other supposedly spiritual places around the world.
Chinese police have arrested hundreds of members of a Christian group who apparently believe the prophecy.
Last year, experts said a new reading of the calendar revealed that it did not in fact predict the apocalypse.
Many believe the date in fact marks the start of a new era in the calendar.
However, among some the date is still being taken as heralding the end of the world.
Magical sites for the end of the world
Hundreds of spiritualists gathered in the city of Merida in Mexico, about an hour and a half from the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza.
One spot thought by some to destined to escape the end of the world is the mountain of Bugarach in southern France.
One spot thought by some to destined to escape the end of the world is the mountain of Bugarach in southern France
However, those preparing for the end of the world were reported to be far outnumbered by journalists.
The Turkish town of Sirince, another site reputed to be safe from the end of the world, saw similar scenes on Thursday.
Hundreds of reporters were wandering aimlessly around the beautiful town of 570 inhabitants, the AFP news agency reported.
However, hotels around the Rtanj mountain in Serbia, a site rumored to have magical powers, were booked out for the big date.
“I do not really believe that the end of the world is coming, but it is nice to be here in case something unusual happens,” Darko, a 28-year-old designer visiting from Belgrade, told AFP.
In China, police have arrested almost 1,000 members of a Christian group which has predicted that Friday will usher in three days of darkness.
The group, called Almighty God, apparently urged its members to overthrow communism.
State media terms Almighty God an “evil cult”, the same description it applies to the banned Falun Gong group.
The belief has gained considerable popularity in China, where the film 2012 was a box office hit.
A farmer in Hebei province, Liu Qiyuan – not a follower of Almighty God – has built seven survival pods which can contain 14 people each.
The pods, made of fibreglass, float on water and can survive storms.
Liu Qiyuan told the AFP news agency: “If there really is some kind of apocalypse then you could say I’ve made a contribution to the survival of humanity.”
To calm anxieties, police in Beijing have posted an online notice telling people that “the so-called end of the world is a rumor”.
Republicans have cancelled a tax vote in the US Congress, less than two weeks before a deadline for budget reform.
Republican House speaker John Boehner proposed the bill, which would have raised taxes on high earners. But right-leaning Republicans rejected it.
Analysts say the rejection has weakened John Boehner’s position in negotiations with the White House.
Politicians need to agree fiscal rules by January 1st 2013, or steep tax rises and deep spending cuts will take effect.
Analysts say the so-called fiscal cliff could take the US into recession.
Despite the failure of the vote, major stock markets were little changed, as most analysts had expected this to be a long, drawn out process. European markets were down in the first half hour of trading, but by less than 0.5%.
John Boehner said he had been unable to garner sufficient votes to secure passage of the bill.
Although it would have ensured a tax cut for 99.8% of Americans, it would have imposed a rise on those earning more than $1 million.
He said in a statement that the bill “did not have sufficient support from our members to pass”.
Shortly after, the White House said President Barack Obama would work with Congress.
The White House statement said it was “hopeful that we will be able to find a bipartisan solution quickly”.
Republicans have cancelled vote on John Boehner’s fiscal cliff Plan B, less than two weeks before a deadline for budget reform
Earlier on Thursday, the House narrowly passed a companion bill that would cut domestic spending while protecting the defence budget.
The House is controlled by the Republicans, but the Senate is Democrat-led.
John Boehner’s plan would have had little chance of passing a Senate vote.
Analysts say it was in effect an effort to tell the US public that the Republicans should not be blamed if a deal could not be reached.
But some believe that the White House has now been strengthened by John Boehner’s failure.
White House spokesman Jay Carney earlier said John Boehner’s plan was a “multi-day exercise in futility at a time when we do not have the luxury of exercises in futility”.
John Boehner announced the bill on Tuesday, saying he would bring forward a measure that extended Bush-era tax cuts for those earning less than $1 million per year – but would not address the automatic spending cuts.
On Wednesday, the Republican leadership added a companion bill that would replace the automatic cuts with a proposal to remove cuts from defence and government operating budgets. They would be offset by reductions elsewhere in the budget.
The proposal would cut food stamps, benefits for federal workers and some social services programmes.
Barack Obama had sought tax rises for the wealthy, but was pushing for a lower threshold of $400,000.
He also offered a change to the way Social Security cost of living adjustments are made for some recipients, cuts from government healthcare programmes and a two-year extension of the debt ceiling.
John Boehner’s office called the proposal “a step in the right direction” but not fully “balanced”.
Analysts have painted a grim picture of the consequences of going over the cliff, with some warning that the impact could push the US back into recession.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its latest economic outlook that the recession from the cliff could become global.
French actress Eva Ionesco is suing her mother Irina Ionesco for taking pictures of her when she was 11-year-old – and passing them to Playboy.
Eva Ionesco was the youngest ever model in Playboy magazine.
Now her photographer mother Irina Ionesco has been ordered to pay 10,000 euros in damages to Eva for taking the pictures of her in the 1970s, when she was between 4 and 12.
The court in Paris also ordered Irina Ionesco to hand over negatives of the pictures to her daughter Eva Ionesco, who said she had suffered a “stolen childhood” because of the photographs.
However, th court rejected Eva Ionesco’s demand for 200,000 euros ($263,000) in damages and for her mother to be barred from profiting from the photographs.
Irina Ionesco was well-known in the 1970s for her photographs, especially the controversial ones of her daughter, which appeared in a number of publications including European editions of magazines Playboy and Penthouse.
The photographs of Eva Ionesco, now 47, were taken in the 1970s between the ages of 4 and 12 by her photographer mother Irina Ionesco.
Eva Ionesco became the youngest model to appear nude in Playboy when she featured aged 11 in an October 1976 edition.
Her photographs as a child were also published in Penthouse. Her lawyer Jacques-Georges Bitoun told the court that the 1970s “were an era when paedophile networks still had a lot of influence”.
“How can one open the legs of a four year old girl and take a snap?” he said.
“If art is photographing a child in these positions, I understand nothing of art,” he said.
Then he added: “The child is never presented as a child but as a disguised prostitute.”
Irina Ionesco’s lawyer Rene-Jean Ullmann argued that the 1970s were a “more permissive” time and spoke of the actress’s alleged “hatred for her mother”.
Eva Ionesco publicized the bizarre details of her relationship with her mother in her 2011 film My Little Princess, starring Isabelle Huppert.
She made her movie debut at the age of 11 in 1976, playing a child in Roman Polanski’s movie The Tenant. In 1977 her mother lost custody of her children and Eva Ionesco was brought up by the parents of footwear designer Christian Louboutin.
Chris Brown further fueled the Rihanna rumor mill on Thursday by posting a loving picture of them together, sparking claims they may have reconciled.
In fact, the picture is believed to have been taken in Paris, just a day before the pair sensationally split after Rihanna heard Chris Brown partied with scantily-clad female models and lunched with ex Karrauche Tran in Dubai.
To add further mystery, to what could be seen as a “forgive me” post, Chris Brown deleted the picture after 15 minutes.
But thousands of Twitter users retweeted the snap, which shows Rihanna wearing a red fur coat, which she was seen wearing on December 10 in Paris, the same day Chris Brown was spotted leaving her hotel room in the City of Lights.
Rumors swirled that the star was trying to elicit forgiveness from his on-again off-again lover after she posted a series of vitriolic Twitter comments about being single.
After weeks of happy texts aimed at Chris Brown and photos of the pair together, Rihanna wrote: “Examine what you tolerate”, “Goodbye muthaf*****”, “You give, you get, then you give it the f*** back” and “Claps for the basic b****** (sic)”.
Chris Brown further fuelled the Rihanna rumor mill on Thursday by posting a loving picture of them together, sparking claims they may have reconciled
In between posting raunchy images of herself, Rihanna followed it up, musing: “Never underestimate a man’s ability to make you feel guilty for his mistakes.”
Of course, Rihanna can not be with Chris Brown as she is currently holidaying in a luxury beach front villa in Barbados.
It isn’t clear if Chris Brown wants to get back together with Rihanna or simply remind her of the fun they had together. Since they first split in 2009, Rihanna often referred to her ex as her “best friend”.
Meanwhile Karrauche Tran’s best friend Christina Milian, 31, claims Karrueche has always been Chris Brown’s “girlfriend” despite Chris previously announcing they had split last October.
When asked about her friend’s relationship status with the 23-year-old R&B star, The Voice USA star said last week on The Wendy Williams Show on Friday: “You know what, from what I’ve always known, she’s his girlfriend.”
Gerard Depardieu was spotted stocking up on his favorite cheese before flying to Italy – sparking rumors that he has finally left France for good after publicly renouncing his citizenship.
Gerard Depardieu, 63, was wheeled out of Ciampino Airport in Rome after publicly slamming the introduction of a new top rate of tax in France in January 2013.
It is unclear whether the actor famous for his roles as Cyrano de Bergerac and Astérix the Gaul’s sidekick Obélix, is just on a short break in Rome or if he is on his way to Belgium, where it is rumored he will settle.
In an angry letter, published in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Gerard Depardieu said he had been “insulted” by France’s Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault who called him pathetic for wanting to leave France for Belgium to avoid the new 75% top rate of tax.
Gerard Depardieu wrote: “I was born in 1948.
“I started working aged 14, as a printer, as a warehouseman, then as an actor, and I’ve always paid my taxes.”
Gerard Depardieu was spotted stocking up on his favorite cheese before flying to Italy, sparking rumors that he has finally left France for good
Over 45 years, Gerard Depardieu said, he had paid 145 million euros in tax, and to this day employs 80 people.
Last year he paid taxes amounting to 85% of his income.
“I am neither worthy of pity nor admirable, but I shall not be called <<pathetic>>,” he concluded, saying that he was sending back his French passport.
Under French President François Hollande’s tough new budget measures to tackle a €37million deficit, France will tax income over €1million at 75% of January 1.
The Belgian Foreign Minister has given carte blanche to anyone planning to follow in Gerard Depardieu’s footsteps and move to Belgium in an attempt to escape higher French taxes.
“If other French people want to come to Belgium, I’m not at all opposed,” Didier Reynders said in an interview with Le Figaro.
US President Barack Obama has been named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year for 2012, allowing him the honor for the second time in four years.
TIME magazine cited Barack Obama’s historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation’s changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.
“He’s basically the beneficiary and the author of a kind of new America – a new demographic, a new cultural America that he is now the symbol of,”TIME editor Rick Stengel said as he announced the choice on the Today show on Wednesday.
“He won re-election despite a higher unemployment rate than anybody’s had to face in basically 70 years. He’s the first Democrat to actually win two consecutive terms with over 50 per cent of the vote. That’s something we haven’t seen since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”
The “Person of the Year” accolade is given to the person or thing that has most influenced the culture and news throughout the year for good or for ill.
Barack Obama was named as Person of the Year in 2008, with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and The Protester filling the years in between.
Barack Obama has been named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year for 2012, allowing him the honor for the second time in four years
This year, Barack Obama edged out Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls’ education, for the honor. She was named as runner up.
“Since October her message has been heard around the world, from cramped classrooms where girls scratch out lessons in the dirt to the halls of the U.N. and national governments and NGOs, where legions of activists argue ever more vehemently that the key to raising living standards throughout the developing world is the empowerment of women and girls,”TIME wrote in a profile.
Other finalists included Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Higgs boson physicist Fabiola Gianotti.
In its latest edition and cover story, TIME explained its decision to name Barack Obama as the winner.
“We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Barack Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America,” the editors wrote.
“In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.”
In a cover story, TIME‘s White House correspondent Michael Scherer explained the “Obama effect”.
“It could be measured – in wars stopped and started; industries saved, restructured or reregulated; tax cuts extended; debt levels inflated; terrorists killed; the health-insurance system reimagined; and gay service members who could walk in uniform with their partners,” he wrote.
Michael Scherer added that after this year’s election, Barack Obama started working on a “40,000-foot” list of issues to tackle in his second term in the White House.
The list included climate change, the soaring cost of college, electoral reform and prison reform.
Michael Scherer also spoke about his personal attributes – and how Republicans struggled to be negative against him.
“There was almost nothing that would stick to this guy, because they just liked him personally,” Mitt Romney deputy campaign manager Katie Packer Gage told the magazine.
President Obama appears in never seen before pictures as being caught unaware as he walks out of the Oval Office by none other than Spider-Man – or at least a very mini version of Spider-Man.
The intimate photograph taken by White House photographer Pete Souza shows Barack Obama joking around with one of this staffer’s children, who – dressed up as the super hero – pretends to shoot a spider web at the president – who in turn reacts by pretending he is caught up in the imaginary trap.
It is just one of the many behind-the-scenes pictures Pete Souza takes every year which show a more down-to-earth and touching side of the man who has just been named as TIME‘s Person of the Year for 2012. It is the second time he has had the honor in four years.
Barack Obama caught in the web of Spider-Man in never seen before picture
Other pictures released by Pete Souza, some of which have been seen before, show Barack Obama enjoying touching moments with his family – a loving father hugging his daughters Malia and Sasha at this year’s DNC, an affectionate husband pulling his First Lady Michelle tight as they watch a sunset over Chicago city skyline at Lake Michigan and as a big kid running around a swimming pool with a large water gun while daughter Sasha squirts water at him.
Simon Cowell has confirmed he is dating TV presenter and model Carmen Electra.
Simon Cowell – who has been spotted on numerous dates with Carmen Electra – has admitted he is smitten with the 40-year-old beauty but insisted she is not his girlfriend yet.
The 53-year-old music mogul opened up to Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday about their budding romance, saying: “She’s not my girlfriend. We’re people who date. She’s adorable, isn’t she?”
Carmen Electra, who was once married to basketball star Dennis Rodman and rocker Dave Navarro, previously revealed she had fallen for Simon Cowell after she filled in as a guest judge on Britain’s Got Talent.
She said: “He’s so cute. He is adorable. He’s actually a sweetheart… I really liked him. I think he’s really cool.
“Now, obviously, he’s in [Los Angeles] with X Factor and we started to hang out and we became friends … I think he’s a great guy.”
Simon Cowell has confirmed he is dating TV presenter and model Carmen Electra
Simon Cowell’s last relationship was with makeup artist Mezhgan Hussainy, whom he broke off his engagement from last year.
Simon Cowell and Carmen Electra were first spotted enjoying a flirtatious dinner at Los Angeles restaurant Cecconi’s in September.
An onlooker said at the time: “They were getting very cosy. They were holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes – and then they started making out.
“They were with other friends at the restaurant but didn’t seem to mind.”
Family and friends have paid their final respects to Jenni Rivera, ten days after the Mexican-American singer’s death in a plane crash.
Jenni Rivera’s children were among 6,000 mourners who attended the service at Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles.
Jenni Rivera was born in California in 1969 to Mexican parents and sold more than 15 million records of norteno and banda music.
The singer died when the plane she was travelling in came down in northern Mexico on 9 December.
Dressed in white, Jenni Rivera’s family led the memorial service as images of the singer played on three large screens.
“We’re not here to mourn the death,” her son Michael, 21, told more than 6,000 mourners who packed the theatre for the service lasting nearly two-and-a-half-hours.
“We’re here to celebrate the life and graduation of a singer, an entertainer, a diva, a fighter, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and more than anything, a mother – the best mother.”
Michael Rivera then called for 27 seconds of silence for the victims of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.
Family and friends have paid their final respects to Jenni Rivera, ten days after the singer’s death in a plane crash
The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Jenni Rivera was known as the “diva de la banda”. She sold about 15 million albums and earned a slew of Latin Grammy nominations during her 17-year career.
Most of her music was about her misfortunes in love and she was especially well-loved by her fans for the way she talked openly about her troubles.
“Jenni made it OK for women to be who they are,” said her manager, Pete Salgado.
“Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing, with the hopes of being something.”
Jenni Rivera’s second husband, Juan Lopez, died in 2009, six years after the couple divorced in 2003.
Their youngest child, 11-year-old Johnny, said: “Mama, I’ve been crying so much these last few days. I miss you so much.
“I hope you’re taking care of my dad and I hope he’s taking care of you, too.”
Among the mourners to attend the service were Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solis and Ana Gabriel and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate del Castillo.
Thousands of fans lined up to lay white roses on top of Jenni Rivera’s bright red coffin at the end of the service.
One fan, Veronika Flores, drove nearly eight hours from her home in Woodland, California, to be united with other fans at the service.
“I just came to say goodbye to a Latina woman, La Gran Senora,” she said, using the name of one of Rivera’s popular songs.
The family asked that Latin radio stations play Jenni Rivera’s song La Gran Senora at noon Thursday in her honor.
Jenni Rivera recently divorced her third husband, Esteban Loaiza, a professional baseball player who has played for the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The plane crash in Nuevo Leon on December 9 which killed Jenni Rivera and six others remains under investigation.
President Vladimir Putin has defended a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, which has been proposed by the Russian parliament.
Vladimir Putin said the bill, a response to the US Magnitsky Act which bars entry to Russian alleged human rights violators, was “appropriate”.
Russian officials, he said, were not allowed to sit in on US cases involving the mistreatment of Russian children.
In a marathon news conference, Vladimir Putin also restated his views on Syria.
The president also spoke about relations with fellow ex-Soviet states Ukraine and Georgia and sought to dispel speculation about his health.
A number of cases where Russian children have apparently been mistreated by US adoptive parents have made headlines in Russia.
Vladimir Putin said he still needed to read the Russian bill in detail, though he backed it in principle.
The rate of adoption in Russia is low. Some 3,400 Russian children were adopted by foreign families in 2011, nearly a third of them by Americans.
“The State Duma’s response may be emotional, but I consider it to be appropriate,” Vladimir Putin said, referring to Russia’s lower house.
Vladimir Putin called the Magnitsky Act “unfriendly”. The act replaced the US Jackson-Vanik amendment, which dated back to the Cold War.
President Vladimir Putin has defended a ban on Americans adopting Russian children, which has been proposed by the Russian parliament
“They have replaced one anti-Soviet, anti-Russian law with another… That is very bad. This, of course, in itself poisons our relations,” Vladimir Putin said.
He said the US had its own human rights abuses to address, pointing to mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo in Cuba and Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
Moscow, Vladimir Putin said, had “practically no interests” in Syria but did not want to see “mistakes” made in Libya repeated. Libya, he said, was “falling apart” as a result.
In 2011 Libyan rebels supported by Western air strikes ousted Col Muammar Gaddafi. The campaign was backed by a UN resolution, but Russia, a longstanding ally of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, has blocked a similar resolution on Syria.
Vladimir Putin said Syrians themselves needed to agree how to live in the future, and a military intervention would be “inappropriate”.
Asked about relations with Georgia, Vladimir Putin said he had seen “positive signals, very restrained so far” from the new coalition government led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, which defeated allies of President Mikheil Saakashvili at elections.
Russia, however, would not revoke its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, Vladimir Putin said.
Asked to explain a last-minute decision by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to cancel a trip to Moscow on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said there were some economic problems to be resolved such as disagreement over import quotas.
But he denied that at issue was Ukraine’s reluctance to join a Moscow-led Customs Union linking Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Vladimir Putin insisted that Russia’s long-term gas contract with Ukraine was not in dispute now but he said Ukraine had made a “strategic mistake” by refusing to lease its gas pipeline network to Gazprom and other European operators.
He pointed out that Russia was now developing gas export infrastructure outside Ukraine: the Nord Stream pipeline in the North Sea, Blue Stream in the Black Sea and the recent launch of the South Stream undersea pipeline project, which will deliver Russian gas directly to the Balkans.
Vladimir Putin, 60, dismissed media reports about the state of his health.
“I can give a traditional answer to the question about my health: dream on,” he said.
Last month there were reports that Vladimir Putin, a keen sportsman, was suffering from a bad back.
He dismissed suggestions he was “authoritarian”.
“Had I considered a totalitarian or authoritarian system preferable, I would simply have changed the constitution, it was easy enough to do,” Vladimir Putin said.
Zero Dark Thirty, the new film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, is “inaccurate” for suggesting torture helped lead to his discovery.
That is according to three US senators who outlined their objections to Zero Dark Thirty in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-tipped drama, their letter claims, is “perpetuating the myth that torture is effective”.
In a statement, Kathryn Bigelow said her film depicts “a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods”.
According to the director and Zero Dark Thirty screenwriter Mark Boal, no single method was responsible in the successful manhunt for the terrorist leader.
The letter, made public on Wednesday, was co-signed by Dianne Feinstein, Carl Levin and former Presidential candidate John McCain.
Zero Dark Thirty, the new film about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, is considered inaccurate for suggesting torture helped lead to his discovery
The trio, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence committee, said that Sony and its CEO, Michael Lynton, had an obligation to alter the movie.
“The fundamental problem is that people who see Zero Dark Thirty will believe that the events it portrays are facts,” the three senators wrote.
“The film therefore has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner.”
The senators said the “use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America’s values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged”.
The makers of Zero Dark Thirty, they went on, had “a social and moral obligation to get the facts right”.
Earlier this year Kathryn Bigelow’s film was accused of being a propaganda tool intended to assist President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
The release of the film was subsequently put back until after November’s election.
It was also claimed Mark Boal, who previously worked with Bigelow on Oscar-winning drama The Hurt Locker, had been granted access to classified information, an allegation he denied.
Olivia Culpo, a 20-year-old Boston University sophomore and a self-described “cellist-nerd”, brought the Miss Universe crown back to the United States for the first time in more than a decade when she won the televised contest Wednesday.
Olivia Culpo beat out 88 other beauty queens to take the title from Leila Lopes of Angola during the two-hour competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
She wore a tight navy blue mini-dress with a sequined bodice as she walked on stage for the competition’s opening number. Later in the night, she strutted in a purple and blue bikini, and donned a wintery red velvet gown with a plunging neckline.
Olivia Culpo’s coronation ends a long losing spell for the U.S. in the competition co-owned by Donald Trump and NBC. An American had not won the right to be called Miss Universe since Brook Lee won the title in 1997.
She was good enough during preliminary competitions to be chosen as one of 16 semifinalists who moved on to compete in the pageant’s finale. Her bid lasted through swimsuit, evening wear, and interview competitions that saw cuts after each round.
Olivia Culpo won over the judges, even after tripping slightly during the evening gown competition. Telecasters pointed it out but also noted her poised recovery.
Minutes before the middle child of five was crowned, she was asked whether she had she had ever done something she regretted.
“I’d like to start off by saying that every experience no matter what it is, good or bad, you’ll learn from it. That’s just life,” Olivia Culpo said.
“But something I’ve done I’ve regretted is probably picking on my siblings growing up, because you appreciate them so much more as you grow older.”
Miss US Olivia Culpo won Miss Universe 2012 crown
Miss Philippines, Janine Tugonon, came in second, while Miss Venezuela, Irene Sofia Esser Quintero, placed third.
All the contestants spent the past two weeks in Sin City, where they posed in hardhats at a hotel groundbreaking, took a painting lesson, and pranked hotel guests by hiding in their rooms.
Olivia Culpo was the first Miss USA winner from Rhode Island when she took the national crown in Las Vegas in June.
She grew up in Cranston with two professional musicians for parents and has played the cello alongside world-renowned classical musician Yo-Yo Ma. On her Miss Universe page, she said she hopes to pursue a career in film or television, and cites Audrey Hepburn as a role model because of her “generosity, intelligence and grace.”
With Olivia Culpo’s promotion, Miss Maryland Nana Meriwether becomes the new Miss USA.
The Miss Universe pageant was back in Las Vegas this year after being held in Sao Paulo in 2011. It aired live on NBC and was streamed to more than 100 countries.
Organizers had considered holding the 61st annual Miss Universe in the popular Dominican Republic tourist city of Punta Cana, but Miss Universe Organization President Paula Shugart said that country’s financial crisis proved to be too much of an obstacle.
The panel of 10 judges included singer Cee Lo Green, “Iron Chef” star Masaharu Morimoto and Pablo Sandoval of the San Francisco Giants.
Asked on the red carpet whether he found playing in the World Series or judging the beauty pageant to be more difficult, Pablo Sandoval said both were hard.
Sharply dressed women and men, including a large contingent from South America, held banners and cheered on their favorite contestants.
The pageant started as a local revue in Long Beach, California, organized by Catalina Swimwear. It is not affiliated with the Miss America pageant and unlike that contest, does not include a talent section.
Contestants in the pageant cannot have been married or have children. They must be younger than 27 and older than 18 by February 1 of the competition year.
As Miss Universe, Olivia Culpo will receive an undisclosed salary, a wardrobe fit for a queen, a limitless supply of beauty products, and a luxury apartment in New York City.
One in ten of us is said to be anxious that December 21st marks the end of the world. The Ancient Mayans predicted this doomsday, and the press is eating it up. But where are all the believers?
That the world will end in 2012 is the most widely-disseminated doomsday tale in human history, thanks to the internet, Hollywood and an ever-eager press corps.
Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us – all “proof” of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012.
According to a Reuters global poll, one in ten of us is feeling some anxiety about this date.
Russians have been so worried that the Minister of Emergency Situations issued a denial that the world would end.
Authorities in the village of Bugarach in the South of France have barred access to a mountain where some believe a UFO will rescue them.
And survivalists in America – many of whom use the term “prepper” – have been busy preparing for all manner of cataclysm.
In 1987, Jose Arguelles, a man who devoted much of his life to studying the Mayan Calendar, organized what was called the Harmonic Convergence, a sort of post-hippy Woodstock. It attracted tens of thousands around the globe.
The event was an attempt to “create a moment of meditation and connection to the sacred sites around the earth,” says Daniel Pinchbeck, author of 2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy.
It was also the beginning of what many in the loosely-defined New Age movement regard as a process in the transformation of our consciousness – a transformation that goes into full effect at the end of this year.
Daniel Pinchbeck calls 21/12/12 the “hinge point” of the emergence of a new, more enlightened age – not an ending point for all civilization.
“It is quite clear that the Mayan system envisages a new cycle of the calendar beginning on the 22 December 2012,” says Graham Hancock, author of Fingerprints of the Gods, and something of a rock star in the world of ancient mysteries enthusiasts.
He says the ancient Mayan culture was a shamanic one. Those who left us the calendar were visionaries who were providing clues to this ending of one cycle and the beginning of another.
Recent hurricanes, unrest in the Middle East, solar flares, mystery planets about to collide with us, all proof of what the ancient Mayans knew would come to pass on 21 December 2012
That is not to say that New Agers do not see catastrophic events as necessary in some way to this new birth.
In fact they tend to embrace eastern faiths and native cultures with their cyclical views of time. In these visions, the world has been and will be destroyed – to some degree – and we start anew.
Accordingly, some believe the Mayans were sending us a warning for 2012.
“We may see a lot of destruction,” says Daniel Pinchbeck. He points to Hurricane Sandy, which recently hit his home city of New York.
Many, including the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, linked that hurricane to global warming, which tends to be seen by New Agers as the main threat to our planet.
However, the New Age movement is full of optimists. Crucially, they say we have a choice in how this story ends.
“We do not have to step over the edge of the abyss into darkness and destruction,” Graham Hancock says, calling this point in time a “cusp moment.”
“It’s up to us. It’s totally up to us.”
Morandir Armson, the Australian scholar, says the belief that 2012 marks a positive shift is one also shared by UFO groups, such as the Ashtar Command and the Ground Crew. These groups have no headquarters but for internet sites.
He says they refer to themselves as “lightworkers” who believe a fleet of alien space ships hover around our solar system.
“By doing good works on earth [they believe] you can speed up the consciousness of our humanity,” says Morandir Armson.
In many ways, they emphasize the more positive aspects of the traditional Christian Apocalypse. The fire-and-brimstone part gets downplayed in favor of the glorious Kingdom to come.
Some 20% of Americans believe we are in the end times, and that they will see the return of Jesus Christ in their lifetime.
This month marks Advent in the Christian Calendar, during which Christians are encouraged to read from the Book of Revelation, the apocalyptic vision of St John the Divine.
“It’s full of gory and grotesque detail of how the wicked are going to be punished,” says Ted Harrison, author of Apocalypse When: Why We Want to Believe there Will Be No Tomorrow.
The twenty-first of December, however, is not on the biblical calendar and few, if any, believers in the traditional Book of Revelation are attached to this date.
The supposed date of the coming apocalypse, 21 December, also marks the Winter Solstice, symbolic in many cultures of the end of darkness and the renewal of the light.
It might, suggests Harrison, focus our minds on how we have been treating the planet and those on it, and how we could mend our ways.
In this respect, he says: “It might become a self-fulfilling prophecy. That’s one hope. A remote one, but it is one hope.”
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a “grave” security challenge from North Korea but called for “trust-based dialogue”.
Park Geun-hye, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate, defeated her liberal rival Moon Jae-in in Wednesday’s election.
Speaking after a visit to honor late leaders, she pledged again to “open a new era” on the Korean Peninsula.
The North has not yet commented on her victory, but earlier labeled the Saenuri Party “maniacs”.
A dispatch from state media outlet KCNA, released on Wednesday, accused the party of escalating tension on the peninsula during President Lee Myung-bak’s time in office.
“All facts prove that the Saenuri Party is a group of traitors who stoop to any infamy to realize its ambition to seize power,” the story said.
The North launched a rocket that put a satellite into orbit last week, a move condemned by the international community as a banned test of missile technology.
Park Geun-hye, daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, will become South Korea’s first female president.
President Barack Obama congratulated her, calling South Korea “a lynchpin” of security in Asia.
“Our two nations share a global partnership with deep economic, security and people-to-people ties,” Barack Obama said in a statement.
South Korea’s new elected President Park Geun-hye spoke of a grave security challenge from North Korea but called for trust-based dialogue
The election race saw high turnout, with 75.8% of the electorate casting their ballots. With more than 99% of the vote counted, Park Geun-hye had won 51.6% of the vote to Moon Jae-in’s 48%.
Economic issues including welfare spending, job creation and inequality had dominated campaigning, while the national security focus fell on North Korea.
“The launch of North Korea’s long-range missile symbolically showed how grave the security situation facing us is,” Park Geun-hye said after a visit to the National Cemetery to pay her respects to former leaders.
“I will keep the promise I made to you to open a new era on the Korean peninsula, based on strong security and trust-based diplomacy.”
Relations with North Korea under Lee Myung-bak – who linked the provision of aid to progress on denuclearization – have been poor.
Park Geun-hye has promised greater engagement than her predecessor and the possible resumption of aid, but also a robust defence.
South Korea is also one of several nations currently seeking a strong response to North Korea’s recent rocket launch in the UN Security Council.
On the economy, the president-elect said she would work “to make the society share economic benefits without anybody isolated from the fruits of the economic growth”.
Economic growth has fallen to about 2% after several decades in which it averaged 5.5%.
And in an apparent nod to tensions with Japan over a territorial dispute and historical issues, she said she would work for ” greater reconciliation, co-operation and peace in North East Asia based on correct perception of history”.
Park Geun-hye’s defeated rival, former human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, also offered his congratulations, saying he accepted the outcome of the polls.
“I feel so sorry and guilty that I have failed to accomplish my historic mission to open a new era of politics,” he said.
Park geun-hye’s campaign was both bolstered and dogged by the legacy of her father, who built South Korea’s economy while crushing dissent.
With the country having split almost equally along party lines, Park Geun-hye will have to work hard to improve relations with her detractors.
Who is Park Geun-hye?
Daughter of former President Park Chung-hee
Served as South Korea’s first lady after her mother was murdered by a North Korean gunman in 1974
First elected to the national assembly in 1998; first bid for the presidency in 2007
Has promised to redistribute wealth, reform big conglomerates and seek greater engagement with North Korea
US security chief Eric Boswell has quit and three others are suspended after a damning report into a deadly attack on a US mission in Benghazi.
The state department said diplomatic security chief Eric Boswell resigned and three other unnamed officials had been put on administrative leave.
US envoy to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other officials were killed in the attack on September 11.
An internal report said “grossly inadequate” security led to the deaths.
However, the report did not suggest disciplinary action be taken against any individuals.
“The Accountability Review Board identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Asia Affairs,” state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.
“The secretary has accepted Eric Boswell’s decision to resign… The other three individuals have been relieved of their current duties.”
US media have named one of Eric Boswell’s deputies, Charlene Lamb, and Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary for the Maghreb, among those relieved of their duties.
US security chief Eric Boswell has quit and three others are suspended after a damning report into a deadly attack on a US mission in Benghazi
Christopher Stevens died of smoke inhalation when he was trapped alone in the burning building after armed men had stormed the compound.
Days after the attack, US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said the attack seemed to have developed out of protests over an anti-Islamic film.
But later intelligence reports suggested it was a planned attack by Islamist gunmen.
Susan Rice was forced to pull out of the race to be the next secretary of state after being subjected to widespread criticism.
The board’s report found “a lack of transparency, responsiveness, and leadership” among certain senior state department officials.
But the review found no “reasonable cause” that any specific individuals had “engaged in misconduct or willfully ignored” their responsibilities.
It also said there had been “no immediate, specific” intelligence about the September 11 attack or threats to the consulate.
The probe concluded that the US personnel had “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation”.
But the Benghazi mission had nevertheless been hampered by a lack of resources.
Its reliance on armed “but poorly skilled” local militiamen and contract guards was “misplaced”, the report said.
In a letter to Congress, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she accepted all 29 of the recommendations put forward in the report.
Hillary Clinton outlined some steps the agency would take, including sending hundreds of US Marines guards to missions abroad and assigning a state department official to oversee “high-threat posts”.
In addition, Hillary Clinton said the state department would request more funding from Congress to make improvements to security.
Benghazi report: Key findings
There were “systematic failures at senior levels” within two bureaus of the state department, but no individual official ignored their duties
Reliance on armed “but poorly skilled” local militiamen and contract guards was “misplaced”
US personnel had “performed with courage and readiness to risk their lives to protect their colleagues in a near-impossible situation”
There was “no immediate, specific” intelligence about the September 11 attack or threats to the consulate
The Libyan government’s response to the attack was “profoundly lacking”
Qantas Airways has been given initial approval from Australia’s competition authority for its proposed alliance with Dubai-based Emirates.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the benefits of the tie-up – such as co-ordinating ticket prices and schedules – would outweigh the reduced competition.
It will make a final decision in March.
Qantas and Emirates announced their alliance plans back in September. Neither is investing in the other.
“The ACCC considers that the alliance is likely to result in material, although not substantial, benefits to Australian consumers,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.
“The main benefit arising from the alliance is an improved product and service offering by the two airlines to their customers.”
Qantas Airways has been given initial approval from Australia’s competition authority for its proposed alliance with Dubai-based Emirates
Qantas is seeking the alliance as it aims to turnaround its loss-making international service.
“A key objective is to make Qantas International strong and viable, and bring it back to profitability,” said Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas.
“This partnership will help us do that.”
The tie-up with Emirates will see Qantas end its existing relationship with British Airways.
Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani is flying to Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke.
German doctors have assessed 79-year-old Jalal Talabani and decided his condition has improved sufficiently to permit travel.
A presidential statement said: “Treatment has allowed suitable conditions for his Excellency to be transferred outside the country.”
The president has struggled with his health in recent years and has often been treated abroad.
Jalal Talabani was reportedly rushed to the Baghdad Medical City on Monday evening.
Iraqi officials conceded in private that his condition was serious and state television reported that he had suffered a stroke.
Iraq’s President Jalal Talabani is flying to Germany for further treatment after a reported stroke
A veteran of the Kurdish guerrilla movement, Jalal Talabani is Iraq’s first president from the ethnic group.
His illness comes at a time of heightened political tensions between Iraq’s Arab-led central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north.
In recent weeks, he has been mediating in the dispute triggered by the government’s attempt to take greater control of security in oil-rich territory around the city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by both Arabs and Kurds.
Kurdish forces have been deployed in the region since 2003.
A deal brokered by Jalal Talabani called on both sides to withdraw troops from the contested areas, though no deadline was set.
The president, whose powers are limited, is seen as a unifying figure who has helped prevent the disintegration of Iraq’s fragile national unity government, which includes Shia and Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds.
According to a BMJ Open report, successful solo artists are twice as likely to die early compared to those in bands.
The study looked at the careers of 1,400 European and North American rock and pop stars who were famous between 1956 and 2006.
The chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 – and twice as likely for those in North America.
Experts suggest that peer support from band mates may be protective.
The cut-off point of the study was February 20, 2012 – at which point 137 performers had died prematurely.
These included solo artists like Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, rapper 2Pac, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston.
And band members like Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Sid Vicious from the punk group Sex Pistols and Stuart Cable from Stereophonics.
The stars’ achievements were determined from international polls and top 40 chart successes, while details of their personal lives and childhoods were drawn from a range of music and official websites, published biographies and anthologies.
The average age of death was 39 years for European stars, with those from North America being six years older on average.
Solo performers were about twice as likely to die prematurely compared to those in a band, irrespective of whether they were European or Northern American.
And while the chances of a European solo artist dying young was one in 10 – it was double that for American solo artists at one in five. The authors speculate this may be due to longer tours in North America plus variations in access to health care and exposure to drugs.
Solo performers were about twice as likely to die prematurely compared to those in a band, irrespective of whether they were European or Northern American
Honey Langcaster-James, a psychologist who specializes in celebrity behavior, believes the support of a band may be protective.
She said: “Solo artists in general approach life in a solitary manner – deliberately choosing to go it alone.
“They can find themselves in a situation where everyone around them are paid employees – the PR guru, their manger – all interested in them from a financial point of view and not in their personal needs – it’s hard for the artist to know who to trust.
“They travel a lot, are away from friends and family for long periods of time and only seen for their public image, not their real self – which can make them feel inferior, isolated and invalidated.
“Even for the general population, psychology research has found that people with support have increased lifespan – and those in a band may benefit even more from this – they are all in the same boat.
“It is easier to know who to trust – other members can stop an individual spiralling into self-destruction and pull them back into the group – both because of concern for the band mate, but also because they are all in it together.”
The study also found that while gender and the age at which fame was reached did not influence life expectancy, ethnicity did – with those from non-white backgrounds more likely to die early.
And those that died of drug and alcohol problems were more likely to have had difficult or abusive childhood than those dying of other causes.
The authors of the study suggest that a music career may be attractive to those escaping an unhappy childhood, but it may also provide the wealth and access to feed a predisposition to unhealthy and risky behavior.
In the paper they write: “Pop/rock stars are among the most common role models for children, and surveys suggest that growing numbers aspire to pop stardom.
“A proliferation of TV talent shows and new opportunities created by the internet can make this dream appear more achievable than ever.
“It is important they [children] recognize that substance use and risk taking may be rooted in childhood adversity rather than seeing them as symbols of success.”
Scientists say it won’t happen, at least not on Friday, December 21, but in the event the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world is right, they have foretold a raft of bloody and catastrophic fates for us all.
Dark comets, famine, super-volcanoes, catastrophic climate change, and a plague of cancers are just some of the ends that could fulfill the prophecy.
Astrophysicist Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered pulsars, believes the most likely disaster that could pencil Doomsday into Friday’s diary is a black comet.
Such an end would match that of the dinosaurs who after walking the planet for about 165 million years – homo sapiens has been around for a mere 200,000 years – were killed off by a 10 km asteroid or comet that slammed into the planet.
Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell believes if the world as we know it is to end on December 21 it would have to be a dark comet that strikes.
Dark comets have little of the ice and snow that most comets have, and a lot more dust which makes it much more difficult to spot them as they speed through Space.
“Comets normally are big, dusty snowballs. A dark comet has not much snow and a lot of dust. They are much harder to get a handle on,” shesaid.
The collision itself, except for those near the point of impact, would be unlikely to be fatal to the world’s population but it would throw up so much dust into the atmosphere that billions of people could expect a slow death.
Huge quantities of dust would bring on an “eternal winter” in which the sun would be obscured and crops around the world would fail, leading to mass famine.
Dr. Dave Rothery, a volcanologist at the Open University, foretells a similar end but he thinks the death-bringing dust would be put into the atmosphere by a supervolcano.
More than 240 cubic miles of molten rock and debris are blasted into the sky by super-volcanoes.
Much of it would remain in the atmosphere as volcanic dust which would, just as with a massive asteroid or comet, block out the sun and cause famine.
“It would put so much ash and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere that photosynthesis may break down,” he warned.
In the event the Mayan prophecy of the end of the world is right, scientists have foretold a raft of bloody and catastrophic fates for us all
A similar, albeit less devastating, even took place in 1816 when a volcano in Indonesia erupted and put so much dust into the atmosphere that it became known as “the year of no summer”.
Other scientists asked by The Times what cataclysms could bring on the end of the world on Friday, in line with what many people believe is foretold by the ancient Mayan prophecy, included Bryan Lovell, a former president of the Geological Society.
His favorite Doomsday scenario was a vast escape of methane caused by an undersea landslide.
Methane is a greenhouse gas but it is about 20 times more powerful in warming the world than is carbon dioxide.
Dr. Bryan Lovell said a huge release of sub-sea methane deposits would accelerate man-made climate change and lead to “catastrophic climate change not too many Fridays from now”.
But it is not just scientists who are putting forward theories as to how the world will end and they range from the unlikely to the fantastical.
Among the favorites is that a rogue planet, Nibiru, which has long been inhabiting the far reaches of the solar system, beyond even Pluto, is now on a collision course with Earth.
Scientists have dismissed the theory as ridiculous not just because no one has ever managed to detect it in the outer reaches of the solar system but because if such a large object was heading this way it would have been spotted by now
Skepticism on the part of experts, however, has done little to diminish the determination of thousands of people to find a safe haven from disaster.
In France the authorities have had to bar New Age followers from travelling to Bugarach, a tiny village home to fewer than 200 people, and the “mystical mountain” where it is located.
Doomsday fanatics have identified Bugarach as a place of safety on the grounds that aliens live hidden within the mountain and are waiting for the end of the world when they will rescue humans in the area.
“I have issued an order barring anyone from climbing the mountain. And those trying to get into the village will be stopped and asked what their business is,” said Regional prefect Eric Freysselinard.
The village and the mountain will only be re-opened to outsiders two days after the end of the world is scheduled to have taken place.
The Doomsday prophecy is based on an ancient calendar from the Mayan civilization that was based in what is now Guatemala in Central America.
The calendar lasts for more than 5,000 years but comes to an end on Friday, which has prompted fears it forecasts the end of the world.
Other favorite Doomsday scenarios include a vast solar storm which will flare out from the Sun and engulf the Earth.
An alternative doom-laden theory is that a rogue black hole will swallow up the Earth, or that a quirk of galactic alignments will trigger a disastrous reversal of the Earth’s magnetic field.
Vivienne Parry, a former presenter of Tomorrow’s World, suggested a cancer that starts in foxes but can be transmitted to humans.
Dogs, she suggested, would cease to be man’s best friend and instead become man’s worst enemy because the cancer would be transmitted through them.
Foxes would bite the dogs, transmitting the cancer to them, and they would bite their human owners.
She said that were all dogs to be destroyed as soon as people realized they were passing on an untreatable cancer the end of the world for humans could be postponed.
But she suspects man’s love of his canine companions would seal his fate because putting down every dog would be too much to ask.
Use this method the next time you want to share a bottle of Champagne with a date.
Prepare the Champagne bottle
The first thing to do is remove the packaging foil around the neck of the bottle. There should be a small tab to get you started. Next, untwist the wire around the cork and remove it.
Aim the bottle safely
Here is a quick safety tip – make sure the bottle is not pointed toward anyone or anything breakable when you go to open it.
How to open a Champagne bottle
Remove the Champagne bottle cork
Grip the neck of the bottle firmly in one hand and the cork in the other. Using slow but firm motions, gently twist the cork up and out of the bottle. You should hear a satisfying pop, but there will be no dangerous explosion.
All that is left to do now is pour your Champagne into a couple of flutes and enjoy.
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Nails Inc. leather-look nail polish Bling It On Rebel Kit sold out in seconds after going on sale in the U.S. yesterday.
The Nails Inc. product, which was sold exclusively in Sephora stores and on its website, was the subject of attention earlier this month after Alexa Chung got her hands on a sample bottle before it was released to the public.
Alexa Chung tweeted a picture of her manicured hands before the British Fashion Awards, along with the caption “thanks @nailsinc for my leather nails! #kinky”, which prompted an 800-strong waiting list in the UK.
According to She Finds, there was only a “two second shopping window” to buy the edgy polish as it launched in America on Tuesday.
Individual bottles of the varnish haven’t yet been released, and customers must purchase a $25 set called Bling It On Rebel Kit, that includes crystal and skull embellishments.
Nails Inc leather-look nail polish Bling It On Rebel Kit sold out in seconds after going on sale in the US yesterday
On the Sephora website the sets are no longer available, but the retailer states that new stock will be ‘coming soon’. A spokesperson for the beauty chain declined to comment on in-store sales.
Just like matte polishes, the polish appears glossy at first but dries with a leather look texture.
The London-based company Nails Inc. said it was “inspired by the leather trend that we spied at Fashion Week”.
Sam Heath, Nails Inc. marketing manager, said that the company was expecting record sales.
She said: “We presented the kit to press at our press showcase a few weeks ago and it started a social media frenzy as they all loved it so much.
“Then we also presented to the US press and had a similar reaction.”
The leather effect polish is now available on the Nails Inc. website and will launch at Selfridges in the UK on Thursday.
Two Texas women are suing after state troopers subjected them to a humiliating and invasive “roadside body cavity search” that was caught on video.
Trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24, in front of passing cars.
The women, who claim trooper Kellie Helleson used the same rubber glove for both of them, were initially stopped by Helleson’s colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving after he saw one of them throw a cigarette butt out the window.
David Farrell can be heard in the disturbing video questioning the pair about marijuana though he failed to find any evidence of the drug in the vehicle.
However, he requested the women be searches after allegedly claiming they were “acting weird”.
The lawsuit states he then tried to “morph this situation into a DWI investigation”, according to the Dallas Morning News.
Trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs and her niece Ashley Dobbs in front of passing cars
Angel Dobbs passed a roadside sobriety test and the women were given warnings for littering.
Angel Dobbs said Kellie Helleson irritated an anal cyst she suffers from during the search, causing her “severe and continuing pain and discomfort”.
The suit said: “Angel Dobbs was overwhelmed with emotion and a feeling of helplessness and reacted stating that Helleson had just violated her in a most horrific manner.”
The two women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, who they claim ignored previous complaints about “unlawful strip searches, cavity searches and the like”.
The Dobbs’ lawyer Scott H. Palmer said the shocking incident, which was filmed on one of the trooper’s dash-mounted cameras, was a roadside “sexual assault”.
He said the Texas Rangers investigated his clients’ complaints but failed to take any action against the troopers.
“You can see what’s happening clearly,” he told the Dallas Morning News of the video.
“No one’s ever seen the likes of this. We can’t let them get away with it.”
Kate Middleton was said to have cancelled all engagements this month so she could rest and recover from the bout of severe morning sickness that left her hospitalized.
But there are some events that not even a convalescing Duchess of Cambridge can get out of – Firm (a nickname for the British Royal Family) commitments.
Kate Middleton, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen today arriving at Buckingham Palace today to enjoy a pre-Christmas lunch with other members of the Royal family.
Fortunately Kate Middleton seems to have put the worst of her illness behind her and looked in good health for the annual event hosted by the Queen to ensure those family members she doesn’t have enough room for at Sandringham still get a chance to celebrate in style.
Christmas itself is spent at the private Norfolk estate where her immediate family celebrates the festive season each year.
Unusually, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived for today’s gathering separately, Prince William hitching a ride with his cousin Lord Linley.
Sources said it was more than likely because they had come from different venues that morning – perhaps Prince William was picking up some last minute Christmas presents at Linley’s eponymous Pimlico shop.
The couple were later seen being driven away together.
Kate Middleton, who is less than 12 weeks pregnant, was seen today arriving at Buckingham Palace today to enjoy a pre-Christmas lunch with other members of the Royal family
Yesterday the couple made a surprise appearance at their office Christmas party at a restaurant in London’s Notting Hill, showing that the pregnant Kate Middleton is clearly on the mend after being hospitalized for three days with hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition which causes severe sickness in pregnant women, earlier this month.
Prince William, like the other male members of the Royal Family, was suited and booted to within an inch of his life.
Prince Charles arrived with his beaming wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. Only his younger son, Prince Harry, was absent as he will spend Christmas fighting on the frontline in Afghanistan as an Apache attack helicopter pilot.
Princess Beatrice, wearing a floral dress, drove herself in without fanfare – although she still, contrary to reports, had a police protection officer in tow – as did her sister, Princess Eugenie.
Their father the Duke of York was also present but not, unsurprisingly, their mother Sarah, Duchess of York, who has been barred from family events for several years following a series of scandals.
Princess Michael of Kent, who celebrates her 68th birthday in January, looked astonishingly youthful as she smiled for the camera.
The royal, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, has admitted using botox in the past and once joked that “toyboys keep me young”.
Also present were the Earl and Countess and Wessex and their elder daughter, Lady Louise, a particular favorite of the Queen who even watches the children’s television channel CBeebies with her.
Princess Margaret’s daughter, Lady Sarah Chatto was there with her brood, as was the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra.
The reclusive Duchess of Kent did not appear to have accepted an invitation but her glamorous daughter, Lady Helen Taylor, was there with her art dealer husband Timothy.
The lunch lasted two hours with Prince William and Kate Middleton leaving together this time. Eugenie was the first to head off with Charles and Camilla following shortly afterwards.
The Queen is expected to leave for Sandringham, one of her favorite residences, after the lunch for an extended Christmas break with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Hopefully this year will be happier than the last, when elderly Philip was rushed to hospital for heart surgery shortly before his family was due to arrive.
In line with their German roots – and the fact that the Queen regards Christmas Day as a religious festival – the royals swap presents on Christmas Eve.
Everyone gathers in the White Drawing room at around 4pm where the Queen and the younger members of the family put the finishing touches to a Norfolk spruce cut from the 1,000-acre estate before exchanging gifts.
