Facebook has become such a pervasive force in modern society that increasing numbers of employers, and even some psychologists believe people who aren’t on social networking sites are “suspicious”.
The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.
On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don’t use the site.
The common concern among bosses is that a lack of Facebook could mean the applicant’s account could be so full of red flags that it had to be deleted.
German magazine Der Taggspiegel pointed out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles
Slate.com tech reporter Farhad Manjoo wrote in an advice column that young people shouldn’t date anyone who isn’t on Facebook.
“If you’re of a certain age and you meet someone who you are about to go to bed with, and that person doesn’t have a Facebook page, you may be getting a false name. It could be some kind of red flag,” he says.
Farhad Manjoo points out that these judgements don’t apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.
The tech news site Slashdot summed up Der Taggspiegel’s story about social networking as “not having a Facebook account could be the first sign that you are a mass murderer”.
It points out that James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and an unborn child and wounding 58 others at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 people with a car bomb and mass shooting, did not use Facebook and had small online footprints.
Anders Breivik used MySpace and James Holmes was reportedly on the hookup site Adult Friend Finder.
Psychologist Christopher Moeller told the magazine that using Facebook has become a sign of having a healthy social network.
Psychologists have noted that James Holmes, along with several noted mass murderers, have lacked any real friends.
And this is what the argument boils down to: It’s the suspicion that not being on Facebook, which has become so normal among young adults, is a sign that you’re abnormal and dysfunctional, or even dangerous, ways.
Natalie Portman couldn’t stop smiling as she was pictured dancing with her new husband Benjamin Millepied and walking around the grounds of the private residence in the Californian coastal town of Big Sur.
Natalie Portman’s elegant Rodarte gown was a stunning yet simple choice, modest with a high neckline, together with a tea-length cocktail hemline and sheer, full-length sleeves.
An insider told In Touch Weekly: “Her dress was stunning, not overly showy or revealing. Very much her own subtle and pretty personal style – she always has a hippie theme, whatever she does.”
The traditional Jewish ceremony, which took place after sundown on Saturday, was an intimate affair with just 60 of the couple’s family and closest friends in attendance.
Natalie Portman pictured dancing with her new husband Benjamin Millepied and walking around the grounds of the private residence in Big Sur
Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied exchanged vows in a Jewish ceremony under a chuppah in front of celebrity guests Diane Sawyer and director husband Mike Nichols, Ivanka Trump, Macaulay Culkin and Rashida Jones.
Having been a strict vegan since 2009, apart from a brief break during her pregnancy with son Aleph, Natalie Portman threw a vegetarian feast before the newlyweds let loose on the dance floor.
The source, who said the DJ played tunes until 2.30am, added: “Natalie looked so happy and was glowing. It was a beautiful day for her and Benjamin to celebrate with those they hold closest.”
Running alongside the Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur, famous for its links to the Beat poets, is a sparsely populated town where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise from the Pacific Ocean.
Earlier this year a friend told In Touch magazine: “It’s one of Natalie’s favorite places – whenever she needs a break from LA she goes there.
“This wedding is for their closest friends and family. It will be a very relaxed affair. They’re not sending out invites. Natalie may not even buy a new dress.”
Ivanka Trump tweeted pictures of the coastline prior to the ceremony, and one of herself sat at a firepit at the estate, alongside the caption: “Driving to Big Sur with a lunch stop in Carmel. Heaven.”
And after leaving the wedding, she added: “2 weddings on opposite coasts in one weekend! Just landed in NY & am heading straight to ceremony number 2. A lot to celebrate this weekend!”
Natalie Portman, 31, met choreographer Benjamin Millepied, 35, on the set of Black Swan in 2009 and they got engaged in December 2010.
When Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for Black Swan role, she paid tribute to Benjamin Millepied, calling him her “beautiful love” and thanked him for giving her the “most important role of my life”.
Natalie Portman gave birth to their son Aleph in June 2011 and at this year’s Academy Awards there was speculation they had already tied the knot as they both wore bands on their wedding ring fingers.
Influential Australian art critic and writer Robert Hughes has died in New York after a long illness aged 74.
Robert Hughes made major contributions to the world of art and the telling of Australian history.
In 1980, Robert Hughes presented the landmark BBC TV series The Shock of the New – an insight into the development of art since the Impressionists.
The New York Times newspaper once described him as the most famous art critic in the world.
Robert Hughes died in the Bronx’s Calvary Hospital, his wife Doris said in a statement.
Influential Australian art critic and writer Robert Hughes has died in New York after a long illness aged 74
“He had been very ill for some time… Details of the funeral and memorial service will be advised in due course,” the statement added, without giving further details.
Australian lawmaker Malcolm Turnbull, who is married to Robert Hughes’ niece, tweeted shortly afterwards: “Farewell my dear old mate. Rest in peace.”
Born in Sydney, Robert Hughes became part of the 1960s generation that moved to Europe and the United States to seek out excitement and new careers.
He began writing for the Daily Telegraph, Spectator and Times, before moving to New York to become the art critic for Time magazine.
Although his relationship with his homeland was strained, he never gave up his citizenship.
In 1987, Robert Hughes wrote his international bestseller The Fatal Shore, examining the harsh life of convicts during early European settlement of Australia.
Outspoken, sometimes abrasive, Robert Hughes became a prominent supporter of Australia’s Republican movement.
Images of the surface of Mars taken by the Curiosity rover as it made its historic descent yesterday have now been released.
NASA has provided almost 300 thumbnails from a sequence of pictures that will eventually be run together as a color hi-def movie.
Visible in the timelapse is the heatshield discarded by the vehicle as it neared the ground.
It was the crane that finally settled the robot on to the surface.
A signal confirming the Curiosity rover had landed on Mars was received here at mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at 05:32 GMT (22:32 PDT Sunday).
Curiosity – also known as the Mars Science laboratory (MSL) – put down in a deep equatorial depression known as Gale Crater.
Pictures from the Mars Descent Imager (Mardi), even in their thumbnail form, have now allowed engineers to work out Curiosity’s precise position on the planet – a latitude of -4.5895 and a longitude of 137.4417.
Pictures from the Mars Descent Imager (Mardi), even in their thumbnail form, have now allowed engineers to work out Curiosity's precise position on the planet
The full set of high-resolution pictures from Mardi will take some weeks to downlink.
The mission team has also got its best view yet of Mount Sharp, the 5.5 km-high peak sitting in the middle of Gale.
This comes from a hazard avoidance camera mounted on the lower-front of the vehicle.
Ordinarily, hazcam pictures are very wide-angle in view and therefore distorted, but image processing software has been used to correct the geometry.
The mountain is the ultimate destination for this $2.5 billion mission.
Satellite data has indicated that sediments at the base of Mount Sharp were laid down in the presence of abundant water.
Curiosity, with its sophisticated suite of 10 instruments, will study those rocks to try to determine if ancient environments on Mars were ever favorable for life.
Released earlier on Monday was a spectacular shot acquired not by the rover but of the rover. This came from one of the US space agency’s satellites at the Red Planet – the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
MRO played a key role in Monday’s landing by recording telemetry from the robot as it approached the ground.
But NASA also tasked it with trying to get a picture of the new arrival. The rover is seen when still inside its protective shell.
Moments after this image was acquired, the vehicle would have dropped out of the capsule to ride its rocket-powered crane to the base of the crater. The resolution in the picture is such that it is even possible to pick out the discarded heatshield.
The mission team is now in its first full day of Martian operations (Sol 1). One of the key activities will be to deploy Curiosity’s high-gain antenna. This unit will allow the vehicle to talk direct to Earth, in addition to relaying data via satellites like MRO.
Another action planned for Sol 1 will be to get a color shot from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli).
This camera is mounted on the rover’s tool-bearing turret at the end of its robotic arm. The picture, which should be released on Tuesday, will provide the most detailed view of the rover’s surroundings to date.
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US pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson say they will stop development of Alzheimer’s drug bapineuzumab, because it failed in two late-stage clinical trials.
Bapineuzumab, made by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, was designed to halt build-up of plaque in the brain.
But it failed to improve cognitive or functional performance compared with a placebo in certain patients.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, as well as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
An estimated 36 million people worldwide are believed to have dementia, including Alzheimer’s.
Bapineuzumab, made by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, was designed to halt build-up of plaque in the brain
Both firms announced on 23 July that the first clinical trial of the intravenous (IV) version of bapineuzumab had failed.
In that study, patients with a gene that is associated with a greater risk of Alzheimer’s were tested.
But results with the group were largely the same as with those who did not have the gene, who were tested in the second study.
The second trial’s end means that additional studies on the IV version will not take place; however, Johnson and Johnson said a study of subcutaneous use would continue.
Some had predicted that the IV studies of bapineuzumab would fail because they were treating those whose brains were already damaged.
“One of the strong thoughts in the field is that you really have to treat people before they become demented,” William Thies, chief scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association told Reuters, adding that the announcement did not prevent the drug from being tested as a preventative.
And William Thies said that despite the trial’s failure, data from the experiment could still be useful.
“These studies are terribly important for us to learn about Alzheimer’s disease, and that part of the process is just starting as the data continues to be crunched in a variety of ways.”
Johnson and Johnson had agreed in 2009 to invest up to $1.5 billion in bapineuzumab.
In a statement, Steven Romano, head of Pfizer’s Medicines Development Group said they were “obviously very disappointed” with the trial’s outcome.
“We are also saddened by the lost opportunity to provide a meaningful advance for patients afflicted with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers,” he said.
A similar drug being developed by Eli Lilly, solanezumab, is also considered a long-shot to succeed, but results of the trials will not be available until later this year.
Flooding caused by torrential rain has paralyzed parts of Philippine capital, Manila, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes and closing schools, offices and the stock exchange.
Authorities said half of Manila had been hit by floods, with water up to waist and neck levels in some areas.
There were no new reports of casualties from these floods.
More than 50 people died after Typhoon Saola struck over a week ago, mostly in the north of the country.
The severity of the rain since Monday afternoon – in an already saturated city – has led officials to issue the highest level of alert.
Half of Manila had been hit by floods, with water up to waist and neck levels in some areas
Weather officials warn that the floods could get worse as the overflowing La Mesa dam, which holds back Manila’s main reservoir, spills more water.
“If we put it in a percentage, at least 50% of Metro Manila is flooded,” Jean Navarez, from the state weather service, was quoted by Agence-France Presse news agency as saying.
“There will be heavy rainfall for the next 24 hours. The floods will increase.”
For many Manila residents, these rains will be a reminder of the deadly floods caused by Typhoon Ketsana in 2009, which killed more than 400 people.
Residents living in slums and shanty-towns on low ground have taken shelter in community buildings.
Several key roads were impassable and power had also been cut in some areas, mostly as a precaution, officials said.
Rescue efforts are now underway to help stranded residents.
“As of now, it’s difficult to rescue the trapped residents, as we are battling strong currents with our life crafts,” police rescuer Eric Baran told Reuters news agency.
Sustained rains from Typhoon Saola have forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homes across the country, according to officials from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
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Ashley Gill-Webb has been charged with a public order offence after a bottle was thrown at the start of the men’s Olympic 100 metres final on Sunday night.
Ashley Gill-Webb, 34, from South Milford, near Leeds, will appear in custody at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday afternoon.
A police spokesman said he was charged with intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress under section 5 of the Public Order Act.
Ashley Gill-Webb, who is reportedly a father-of-two and a member of a local football team in South Milford, was arrested after the incident last night at the Olympic Stadium.
Dutch world judo champion Edith Bosch intervened after the incident.
She was standing close by when a green plastic drink bottle was thrown from the stands behind the start line.
Ashley Gill-Webb has been charged with a public order offence after a bottle was thrown at the start of the men's Olympic 100 metres final on Sunday night
Edith Bosch told Dutch television station NOS TV: “I had seen the man walking around earlier and said to people around me that he was a peculiar bloke.
“Then he threw that bottle and in my emotion I hit him on the back with the flat of my hand.
“Then he was scooped up by the security. However, he did make me miss the final, and I am very sad about that.
“I just cannot understand how someone can do something like that.”
Edith Bosch’s involvement was brought to public attention on Twitter, where she wrote: “A drunken spectator threw a bottle onto the track! I HAVE BEATEN HIM… unbelievable.”
LOCOG chairman Lord Sebastian Coe said it was “poetic justice” that the man happened to be sitting next to the Dutch judo star.
He said: “I’m not suggesting vigilantism but it was actually poetic justice that they happened to be sitting next to a judo player.”
He added: “Throwing a bottle on to the field of play is unacceptable. It’s not just unacceptable at an Olympic Games but at any sporting event and anybody who does that will be removed.
“There is zero tolerance for anything like that.”
A man had been heard shouting abuse before the bottle was thrown just as the runners were lined up in the starting blocks.
Speaking after the race, US sprinter Justin Gatlin, who won bronze, said: “It was a little distraction and I didn’t know what it was.
“But when you’re in those blocks and the whole stadium’s quiet you can hear a pin drop.”
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who won the race, said he had been unaware of the incident.
He said: “No, I keep hearing that. I don’t know who would have done that.”
Fellow Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake said: “I was so focused I didn’t see anything. I was so focused on just running to the line.”
Justin Gatlin said the incident had not affected the race: “You just have to block it out and go out there and do what you got to do.
“You can’t complain about that, the race went on and it was a great race.”
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Victoria Beckham is often seen in over-sized sunglasses but never steps out in glasses she needs for being near-sighted because she feels too self-conscious about how they look.
“I do need to wear glasses but I haven’t found glasses that suit me or that I particularly like,” Victoria Beckham told WWD.
But fashion designer Victoria Beckham has now got round this problem by designing a range of glasses herself.
“I’ve always been quite self-conscious, so that’s why I’ve decided to do them myself,” she said.
Victoria Beckham launched her optical collection for spring/summer 2013 today.
Each piece in the collection is handcrafted in Italy and is distinctive as a Victoria Beckham design by a “V” tip at the end of each arm
The six styles, manufactured in partnership with Cutler and Gross, will go on sale at retailers at Silmo Paris from January 2013 costing from $470-$540.
The range will include aviator styles and large dark frames, some of which are unisex and others that are more feminine.
Victoria Beckham said her husband David is a fan of the heavy square frames which she also favors herself.
Each piece in the collection is handcrafted in Italy and is distinctive as a Victoria Beckham design by a “V” tip at the end of each arm.
Victoria Beckham, who is set to reunite with the Spice Girls for a special performance at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, already sells sunglasses as part of her fashion label but this is her first venture into prescription glasses.
She said she’ll wear products from her own range from now on, joking “it’ll be nice to see where I’m going for once”.
Macaulay Culkin attended the wedding of Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied in Los Angeles on the weekend, it has been claimed.
Macaulay Culkin, 31, was allegedly present at the pair’s starlight ceremony, days after sensational reports emerged from the National Enquirer that the Home Alone star was a drug addict and “hooked on hillbilly heroin”.
Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied exchanged vows in a Jewish ceremony under a chuppah at 8:00 p.m.
Macaulay Culkin attended the wedding of Natalie Portman and Benjamin Millepied in Los Angeles on the weekend
According to Us Weekly, Natalie Portman and Macaulay Culkin have been “friends for years”.
Natalie Portman also co-starred in Black Swan with Macaulay Culkin’s former girlfriend Mila Kunis.
Macaulay Culkin’s trip to the coastal town comes as representatives were forced to issue a fiercely-worded denial over claims the Home Alone star has a $6,000-a-month drug habit this week.
Italian newspaper Il Giornale, owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has caused controversy by printing a front page headline which said “Fourth Reich” above a picture of German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The picture in Il Giornale also showed Chancellor Angela Merkel raising her right arm in salute, a gesture associated with the Nazi salute used by Hitler’s followers.
The article, which was published on Friday, has heightened a bitter war of words between Italy and Germany over the handling of the ongoing Euro crisis.
The angry article attacked tough talking Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that her intransigence had brought “us and Europe to its knees” adding that “Italy is no longer in Europe but in the Fourth Reich.”
It went on to say: “In the First Reich, Germany also wanted the title Emperor of Rome and in the next two they used their own means again against the states of Europe, two world wars and millions of dead, obviously this was not enough to quieten German egomania.
“Once again it has surfaced but this time not with the use of cannon, this time it’s the Euro.
“The Germans believe it’s theirs and we have to submit, surrender, hand ourselves over to the new Kaiser Angela Merkel who wants to rule in our own house.”
Il Giornale, owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has caused controversy by printing a front page headline which said “Fourth Reich” above a picture of German chancellor Angela Merkel
It is not the first time that Il Giornale has been at the centre of controversy with Germany – two months ago after Italy beat Germany in the Euro 2012 semi final they printed a picture of Chancellor Angela Merkel below the headline: “Ciao, ciao culona” which translates as “Bye bye lard arse.”
Last year it was alleged that Silvio Berlusconi, who stepped down as prime minister last November, had been taped calling the German leader “culona” although he has insisted they had a good working relationship and are still in touch – claims which have been denied in Berlin.
Germany has been at loggerheads with Italy over the handling of the ongoing Eurozone crisis and accusing Rome of not doing enough to get its finances in order to resolve the single currency problem which has been dragging on for two years.
Newspapers in Germany have repeatedly attacked the southern European economies of Greece, Spain and Italy for their poor performances and bail outs offered to them.
Il Giornale has repeatedly accused current Italian technocrat prime minister Mario Monti, of not doing enough to stand up to Germany, comparing him to Neville Chamberlain who famously declared in 1938 he had “secured peace in our time” after holding talks with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler only for war to break out the following year.
In an interview with Germany weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, Mario Monti called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to show greater flexibility on how the European Union tackles the eurozone crisis and suggested there could be a backlash if this does not occur.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly argued that the only way to restore confidence in the under-fire single currency in the long term is for eurozone countries to show budget discipline and concede sovereignty to achieve greater fiscal integration.
But Mario Monti said that “more flexibility” had to be given to eurozone countries who are trying to put their economic houses in order for Italy’s current policy of rigor and tough economic reforms to “have a future”.
He added that he had told Chancellor Angela Merkel he was very worried about “the growing resentment in the Italian parliament against Europe, against the euro and against the Germans”.
Mario Monti also added that leaders should not let themselves be tied down by the domestic agendas of their national parliaments in EU negotiations and said: “If governments let themselves be bound completely by the decisions of their parliaments without maintaining their own scope for negotiation, Europe is more likely to break up than it is to see closer integration.”
But within hours of the interview Chancellor Angela Merkel and German MPs hit back at Mario Monti.
Georg Streiter, a spokesman for the German leader, said: “The chancellor’s opinion is that we in Germany have always done well with the right balance between parliamentary support and the participation of parliament.”
While Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, said: “Parliamentary checks on European policy are beyond any debate. We need to strengthen, not weaken, democratic legitimization in Europe.”
Mario Monti is due to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel later this month in Berlin to again discuss the Eurozone crisis and today markets were positive as the spread between German and Italian bonds dropped.
Wikipedia was knocked offline on Monday due to two accidentally cut cables near a data centre in Florida.
The online encyclopedia and various associated services were inaccessible or extremely sluggish for over two hours on Monday.
A status web page showed various parts of the Wikimedia network as suffering performance issues.
Wikipedia ruled out any suggestion of malicious intent being behind problem.
Wikipedia was knocked offline on Monday due to two accidentally cut cables near a data centre in Florida
The two cables, which stretched between Tampa and Virginia, were broken for an hour and six minutes, the site said.
After the cables were repaired, it took another hour for basic service on Wikipedia to be restored.
Its mobile site appeared to unaffected, although the service’s API – application programming interface – continued to suffer problems even when the main site had been restored.
In an error message posted to the site, the Wikimedia Foundation reiterated its reliance on donations to fund its continued operation.
“The Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit organization which hosts some of the most popular sites on the internet,” the message read.
“It has a constant need to purchase new hardware. If you would like to help, please donate.”
Despite its limited funding, the site is considered to have impressive reliability. Its last significant down time was deliberate – the site went “offline” for 24 hours in protest at proposed anti-piracy bills in the US.
The US government has settled its legal case against the iconic Gibson Guitar company over use of illegal timber from Madagascar in its instruments.
Nashville-based Gibson, whose products are used by artists in every genre of music, will pay a $300,000 fine and a $50,000 community payment.
Gibson admitted violating the Lacey Act, which requires firms to know that timber they use is legally obtained.
Deforestation is a huge issue affecting Madagascan wildlife such as lemurs.
Gibson’s premises were raided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in 2010 and 2011, with agents impounding ebony and rosewood imported from Madagascar and India.
The US government has settled its legal case against the iconic Gibson Guitar company over use of illegal timber from Madagascar in its instruments
The FWS found evidence that an employee had told Gibson two years previously that its Madagascan imports might be illegal, but that the company had nevertheless ordered further stocks.
“As a result of this investigation and criminal enforcement agreement, Gibson has acknowledged that it failed to act on information that the Madagascar ebony it was purchasing may have violated laws intended to limit overharvesting and conserve valuable wood species from Madagascar, a country which has been severely impacted by deforestation,” said Assistant Attorney General Moreno following the settlement.
The ebony was mainly in the form of strips that would be fashioned into fretboards for guitars, mandolins and banjos.
Following the raids, environment groups urged the US Department of Justice to press its case and make a high-profile example of the guitar manufacturer.
But Gibson boss Henry Juszkiewicz said the issue was an example of the “over-reach” of government.
The case became a cause celebre in Tea Party circles, with right-wing politicians saying a US company should not be treated this way over environmental concerns.
The US Congress amended the Lacey Act in 2008 to tackle the continuing demand for hardwoods such as ebony in the face of evidence that much of the international trade was illegal.
The act is now one of the world’s toughest laws on the issue.
In March, the World Bank published a report indicating that the illegal timber trade was worth $10-15 billion per year globally.
Illegal logging in Madagascar became much more severe after the 2009 coup that brought Andry Rajoelina to power.
Conservation groups working in the country say enforcement of logging laws is virtually non-existent in many areas.
In addition to the payments, Gibson is withdrawing its claim to wood seized by the FWS, estimated to be worth more than $320,000.
The company has not yet commented on the settlement.
Take That singer Gary Barlow has confirmed that his fourth child with wife Dawn has died at birth.
In a statement, Gary Barlow, 41, said: “Dawn and I are devastated to announce that we’ve lost our baby. Poppy Barlow was delivered stillborn on August 4 in London.
“Our focus now is giving her a beautiful funeral and loving our three children with all our hearts.
“We’d ask at this painful time that our privacy be respected.”
Gary Barlow has confirmed that his fourth child with wife Dawn has been delivered stillborn
Gary Barlow and his 42-year-old wife, a former dancer, have been married for 12 years and have three other children – Daniel, 11; Emily, 10; and Daisy, three.
As a member of Take That, Gary Barlow has been part of one of Britain’s most successful pop bands, and also recently organized the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace.
Take That had been rumored to be taking part in the Olympic Games closing ceremony on Sunday.
Lamb of God’s frontman Randy Blythe has vowed to “fight to clear [his] good name” after being released on bail from a Prague jail.
Randy Blythe, 41, was in prison for a month while police investigated his role in the death of a fan who fell off the stage at a gig in the Czech capital in 2010.
On returning to the US, Randy Blythe said: “If it is deemed necessary for me to do so, I WILL return to Prague to stand trial.”
The rock singer said it would be “irresponsible and immoral” not to return for any trial.
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In a statement Randy Blythe said: “While I maintain my innocence 100%, and will do so steadfastly, I will NOT hide in the United States, safe from extradition and possible prosecution.”
Randy Blythe added that he sympathized with the family of the fan, to whom he referred as Daniel N, who had suffered “the indescribably tragic loss of their child”.
“I am a man,” he continued.
“I was raised to face my problems head on, not run from them like a petulant child.
“I feel VERY STRONGLY that as an adult, it would be both irresponsible and immoral for me not to return to Prague if I am summoned.”
Randy Blythe also thanked his supporters after being released on bail of 8 million Czech koruna.
The prosecution had requested that he be banned from leaving the country.
Randy Blythe was arrested when the band flew into Prague to play a gig, apparently unaware that there was an outstanding warrant for the singer’s arrest.
He was accused of pushing the teenage fan off the stage at the concert in 2010. The fan hit his head when he fell to the concrete floor and died of his injuries 14 days later.
Kim Kardashian’s latest get in shape plan is an invention all of her own – the “sex diet”.
As Kim Kardashian showed off her beach ready curves in Miami it emerged that she had honed them with the help of boyfriend Kanye West.
A close friend told the National Enquirer: “We jokingly refer to it as the sex diet. When one of us is having regular sex, that tends to burn calories and kill the appetite.
“Losing seven pounds in seven days means being a very naughty girl.”
Kim Kardashian showed off her beach ready curves in Miami
Kim Kardashian, 31, showed the results of her special workout as she stepped onto the beach in Malibu last week.
With her publicicst friend Jonathan Cheban at her side, Kim Kardashian walked in a black sarong, tied over a black and bright orange strappy bikini.
Kim Kardashian then shed the sarong for a dip in the azure waves, with Jonathan Cheban holding her belongings as he waited on shore. After her dip she showed him a few workout moves, doing some stretches on the beach.
Kim Kardashian’s weight has fluctuated over the years, with the petite 31-year-old oscillating between a gym honed taught figure and her more natural curvy shape.
Recent pictures of her in form fitting outfits have sparked speculation that she has added weight to her curves.
And according to the source that is just what she is aiming for.
“Kanye loves her curves and has told her repeatedly that she shouldn’t get too skinny,” they said.
“He’s always encouraging her just to be happy and healthy and do things for herself and not give in to peer pressure, which is why he doesn’t think she should lose weight.
“Kim was speechless, especially when he told her he missed her love handles. Kanye can’t understand why she has lost weight when she knows it’s not the look he likes.
“He thinks Kim should be doing everything to please him – not herself.”
Greek police has announced that more than 1,600 illegal immigrants will be deported following a major crackdown in Athens in recent days.
More than 6,000 people have been detained, though most were released.
Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias defended the crackdown. He said Greece’s economic plight meant it could not afford an “invasion of immigrants”.
He called the immigration issue a “bomb at the foundations of the society and of the state”.
“Unless we create the proper structure to handle immigration, then we will fall apart,” he said.
Greek police has announced that more than 1,600 illegal immigrants will be deported following a major crackdown in Athens in recent days
Some 88 illegal immigrants were sent back to Pakistan on Sunday.
The Greek authorities have increased the number of guards at the border with Turkey amid fears there may be a sudden influx of refugees entering Greek territory as the situation in Syria deteriorates.
More than 80% of migrants entering the European Union do so through Greece, which is in the grip of its worst recession in decades.
Some Greek politicians have called for the government to adopt a harder line on illegal immigration.
In the recent election, the far-right Golden Dawn party won enough votes to enter parliament.
Last week the party distributed free food to needy people outside the Greek parliament – but only if they proved they were Greek citizens and submitted important personal information including their blood type, the Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.
Greece has frequently come under criticism for its handling of immigrants. Amnesty International accused it of treating asylum seekers like criminals and holding them in detention centres.
Greece has frequently called on other European nations to do more to help tackle illegal migration into the EU, arguing that it bears a disproportionate burden.
Standard Chartered bank illegally “schemed” with Iran to launder as much as $250 billion for nearly a decade, a US regulator says.
The New York State Department of Financial Services said that the bank hid 60,000 secret transactions for “Iranian financial institutions” that were subject to US economic sanctions.
Standard Chartered bank illegally "schemed" with Iran to launder as much as $250 billion for nearly a decade
Standard Chartered then covered up its transgressions, it said.
HSBC was recently accused by the US Senate of allowing money laundering.
HSBC has set aside $700 million to deal with those allegations.
The gunman suspected of shooting six people dead at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday has been identified as Wade Michael Page, a former US serviceman.
Wade Michael Page, 40, was shot dead by police during the attack in a Milwaukee suburb, police said.
US officials said Wade Michael Page had been discharged from the military after being demoted.
Police will hold a press conference at 11:00 EDT.
A civil rights group, the Southern Poverty Law Center, has described Wade Michael Page as a “frustrated neo-Nazi”.
The gunman suspected of shooting six people dead at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin on Sunday has been identified as Wade Michael Page, a former US serviceman
The organization added that in 2010 Wade Michael Page said in an interview with a white supremacist website that he had been a member of the white-power music scene in 2000, and created a band called End Apathy, the Associated Press reports.
The gunman, described by witnesses as a bald, white man, entered the Wisconsin Sikh Temple in Oak Creek on Sunday morning and opened fire.
He killed six people and critically injured three people, including a policeman, before another officer shot the attacker dead.
The wounded police officer was shot eight or nine times in the face and extremities at close range with a handgun. But he was expected to make a full recovery, police said.
Authorities said the gunman had used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, which was recovered at the scene.
Wade Michael Page reportedly served in the US Army between April 1992 and October 1998, ending his career at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
A federal official told the Associated Press news agency that Wade Michael Page was discharged after being reduced in rank from sergeant to specialist, although the official did not give a reason for the demotion.
According to US media, Wade Michael Page was a psychological operations specialist and a Hawk Missile System repairman.
He was reportedly disciplined in June 1998 for being drunk on duty, and discharged for “patterns of misconduct”.
Police said on Sunday they were treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism.
But FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Milwaukee division, Teresa Carlson, said on Sunday night: “While the FBI is investigating whether this matter might be an act of domestic terrorism, no motive has been determined at this time.”
On Sunday night a warrant was issued allowing the authorities to search Wade Michael Page’s house in the town of Cudahy, a few miles from the temple.
Special Agent Thomas Ahern, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, told ABC News that Wade Michael Page had tattoos which might suggest the attack was a hate crime.
But a member of the temple told CNN the attacker had a 9/11 tattoo on one arm.
The names of the victims have not yet been made public, although the president of the congregation and a priest were reportedly among the victims.
The temple in Oak Creek was founded in 1997 and is said to have a congregation of about 400 worshippers.
Wisconsin, which passed a law in 2011 allowing citizens to carry a concealed weapon, has some of the most permissive gun laws in the US.
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Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab has defected from President Bashar al-Assad’s government, the Jordanian government says.
Riyad farid Hijab was appointed less than two months ago and his departure is the highest-profile defection since the uprising began in March 2011.
Syrian Prime Minister Riyad Farid Hijab has defected from President Bashar al-Assad's government
His family is reported to have fled Syria with him.
A Sunni Muslim, Riyad Farid Hijab comes from the Deir al-Zour area of eastern Syria which has been caught up in the revolt.
A new study suggests that chemotherapy can undermine itself by causing a rogue response in healthy cells, which could explain why people become resistant.
The treatment loses effectiveness for a significant number of patients with secondary cancers.
Writing in Nature Medicine, US experts said chemo causes wound-healing cells around tumors to make a protein that helps the cancer resist treatment.
An UK expert said the next step would be to find a way to block this effect.
Around 90% of patients with solid cancers, such as breast, prostate, lung and colon, that spread – metastatic disease – develop resistance to chemotherapy.
A new study suggests that chemotherapy can undermine itself by causing a rogue response in healthy cells, which could explain why people become resistant
Treatment is usually given at intervals, so that the body is not overwhelmed by its toxicity.
But that allows time for tumor cells to recover and develop resistance.
In this study, by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle looked at fibroblast cells, which normally play a critical role in wound healing and the production of collagen, the main component of connective tissue such as tendons.
But chemotherapy causes DNA damage that causes the fibroblasts to produce up to 30 times more of a protein called WNT16B than they should.
The protein fuels cancer cells to grow and invade surrounding tissue – and to resist chemotherapy.
It was already known that the protein was involved in the development of cancers – but not in treatment resistance.
The researchers hope their findings will help find a way to stop this response, and improve the effectiveness of therapy.
Peter Nelson, who led the research, said: “Cancer therapies are increasingly evolving to be very specific, targeting key molecular engines that drive the cancer rather than more generic vulnerabilities, such as damaging DNA.
“Our findings indicate that the tumor microenvironment also can influence the success or failure of these more precise therapies.”
Knight Capital is reported to be close to reaching a $400 million rescue deal with a group of investors, which would allow it to open its doors on Monday.
An IT glitch on Wednesday caused its trading to go haywire, losing it $440 million.
Knight Capital is a major market-maker on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which means it helps make sure there is a market for particular shares if investors want to buy or sell.
The rescuers are reported to include Blackstone Group and TD Ameritrade.
Knight Capital is reported to be close to reaching a $400 million rescue deal with a group of investors, which would allow it to open its doors on Monday
The Chicago-based market-maker Getco and financial services companies Stifel Nicolas, Jefferies Group and Stephens Inc are also reported to be involved.
The consortium is expected to end up owning between 70% and 75% of Knight Capital.
TD Ameritrade is the biggest volume brokerage in the US, carrying out much of its futures, foreign exchange and bond trading through Knight Capital’s systems, which means it would be very inconvenient for it if Knight were to stop trading.
But even if the trader manages to resume operations on Monday, it will still have to persuade clients to return to it.
TD Ameritrade and Scottrade said they would be returning their business to Knight, but others such as Vanguard said they were not yet ready to trade with Knight again.
The market-maker may also face legislation from its shareholders, who have seen the value of their holdings plummet since Wednesday and will probably have to put up with further dilution if the rescue goes ahead.
Knight Capital said that a faulty upgrade to its trading software had caused numerous erroneous trades to be sent.
It is thought that the firm racked up its loss, equivalent to half of the value of its equity, in the space of just a few minutes.
The software glitch is thought to have affected Knight’s trading algorithms, which are computer programmes that automatically and speedily send out buy and sell orders based on market data and client requests.
Syrian television reports that a bomb has exploded on the third floor of the state TV and radio building in the capital, Damascus.
Three people were reported wounded and the explosion caused some damage but state TV continued broadcasting.
Rebel forces took over several areas of Damascus in recent weeks, but the army has since regained control of the city.
More than 20,000 troops are now aiming to wrest control of the country’s second city, Aleppo, from the rebels.
A bomb has exploded on the third floor of Syrian state TV and radio building in the capital, Damascus
The explosion in Umawiyeen Square in central Damascus had “ripped the floor” but had left the transmission of the three Syrian channels unaffected.
Pro-government TV channel al-Ikhbariya showed pictures of staff looking after an injured colleague. In June, gunmen attacked its offices, south of Damascus, killing seven people, including journalists and security guards.
Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi told Syrian TV that national media had been targeted in the “desperate and cowardly” attack. An investigation was under way to find out who planted the bomb inside the building, he added.
State TV’s buildings have also been attacked in many provincial cities, most recently in Aleppo.
The army has surrounded Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, and tanks have tried to push into two key rebel-held areas, Salah al-Din and Saif al-Dawla, which lie on the main road into the city.
A rebel commander was one of nine people killed in Salah al-Din on Monday, according to British-based group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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NASA’s Curiosity rover has just landed on Mars.
The one-ton vehicle was reported to have landed in a deep crater near the planet’s equator at 06:32 BST (05:32 GMT).
It will now embark on a mission of at least two years to look for evidence that Mars may once have supported life.
A signal confirming the rover was on the ground safely was relayed to Earth via NASA’s Odyssey satellite, which is in orbit around the Red Planet.
The success was greeted with a roar of approval here at mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The mission has even already sent its first low-resolution images – showing the rover’s wheel and its shadow, through a dust-covered lens cap that has yet to be removed.
A first color image of Curiosity’s surroundings should be returned in the next couple of days.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has just landed on Mars
Engineers and scientists who have worked on this project for the best part of 10 years punched the air and hugged each other.
The descent through the atmosphere after a 570-million-km journey from Earth had been billed as the “seven minutes of terror” – the time it would take to complete a series of high-risk, automated manoeuvres that would slow the rover from an entry speed of 20,000 km/h to allow its wheels to set down softly.
The Curiosity team had to wait 13 tense minutes for the signals from Odyssey and the lander to make their way back to Earth.
After the landing, the flight director reported that Curiosity had hit the surface of Mars at a gentle 0.6 metres per second.
“We’re on Mars again, and it’s absolutely incredible,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden.
“It doesn’t get any better than this.”
The mission team will now spend the next few hours assessing the health of the vehicle (also referred to as the Mars Science Laboratory, MSL).
This is the fourth rover NASA has put on Mars, but its scale and sophistication dwarf all previous projects.
Its biggest instrument alone is nearly four times the mass of the very first robot rover deployed on the planet back in 1997.
Curiosity has been sent to investigate the central mountain inside Gale Crater that is more than 5 km high.
It will climb the rise, and, as it does so, study rocks that were laid down billions of years ago in the presence of liquid water.
The vehicle will be looking for evidence that past environments could have favored microbial life.
Scientists warn, however, that this will be a slow mission – Curiosity is in no hurry.
For one thing, the rover has a plutonium battery that should give it far greater longevity than the solar-panelled power systems fitted to previous vehicles.
“People have got to realize this mission will be different,” commented Steve Squyres, the lead scientist of the Opportunity and Spirit rovers landed in 2004.
“When we landed we only thought we’d get 30 sols (Martian days) on the surface, so we had to hit the ground running. Curiosity has plenty of time,” he said.
Initially, the rover is funded for two years of operations. But many expect this mission to roll and roll for perhaps a decade or more.
Natalie Portman married Benjamin Millepied in a nighttime ceremony at Big Sur.
Natalie Portman wed the father of her child in the grounds of a private home in the dramatic cliffside California coastal town of Big Sur.
The two exchanged vows in a Jewish ceremony under a chuppah at 8:00 p.m., according to Us Weekly.
Running alongside the Pacific Coast Highway, Big Sur, famous for its links to the Beat poets, is a sparsely populated town where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise dramatically from the Pacific Ocean.
Natalie Portman married Benjamin Millepied in a nighttime ceremony at Big Sur
Earlier this year a friend told America’s In Touch magazine: “It’s one of Natalie’s favourite places – whenever she needs a break from LA she goes there.”
Just 60 guests were invited to the ceremony as the couple wanted the event to be as laid-back as possible.
The friend added: “This wedding is for their closest friends and family. It will be a very relaxed affair. They’re not sending out invites. Natalie may not even buy a new dress!”
Natalie Portman, 31, met choreographer Benjamin Millepied, 35, on the set of Black Swan in 2009 and they got engaged in December 2010.
When Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for the film, she paid tribute to Benjamin Millepied, calling him her “beautiful love” and thanked him for giving her the “most important role of my life”.
Natalie Portman gave birth to their son Aleph in June 2011 and at this year’s Academy Awards there was speculation they had already tied the knot as they both wore bands on their wedding ring fingers.
At least 13 Egyptian policemen have been killed by unidentified gunmen who attacked a checkpoint on the Egyptian-Israeli border, officials say.
Israel said the attackers, who were in two vehicles, then tried to smash their way across the border.
At least 13 Egyptian policemen have been killed by unidentified gunmen who attacked a checkpoint on the Egyptian-Israeli border
The Israeli military said one vehicle was destroyed from the air, while the other blew up at the crossing.
It is not clear who carried out the border raid. Egyptian state television blamed Islamist militants.
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