Skype, the Microsoft’s online message, phone and video chat service, has denied making changes to its system “in order to provide law officers greater access” to its members’ conversations.
It follows reports suggesting infrastructure upgrades had made it easier to hand on users’ chat data.
Skype has now posted a blog saying the changes were made solely to improve user experience and reliability.
But it added it would pass on messages to law enforcement when “appropriate”.
Concern about Microsoft’s intentions were first raised over a year ago after the Conceivablytech blog revealed the firm had filed a US patent for Legal Intercept – a technology “capable of silently copying the communication between at least two entities” on Voip (voice over internet protocol) calls.
It specifically made reference to “Skype and Skype-like applications” despite being filed in 2009, 17 months before Microsoft paid $8.5 billion to take over the service.
Skype has denied making changes to its system "in order to provide law officers greater access" to its members' conversations
In May 2012 the issue was revived after security researcher Kostya Kortchinsky blogged that the firm had changed its “supernode” policy.
While in the past Skype had relied on users with high-spec systems to help its members’ computers locate each other when a call was made, the firm had now switched to a system in which all such connections were made using in-house servers.
This prompted posts on some blogs linking the move to the earlier surveillance patent which were then followed up by the news site Extreme Tech.
Reports in the mainstream media including articles by Forbes, and The Washington Post followed.
The latter said industry and government officials had told it that Skype “has expanded its co-operation with law enforcement authorities to make online chats and other user information available to police”.
It said its sources had spoken to it “on the condition of anonymity”.
Skype’s blog post said it was “false” to believe the changes it had made allowed it to monitor and record audio and video calls. It said that while its servers helped members locate each other and maintain quality, the actual call data usually bypassed its equipment going directly from one users’ equipment to another.
“Skype to Skype calls do not flow though our data centres and the <<supernodes>> are not involved in passing media (audio or video) between Skype clients,” wrote Mark Gillett, the firm’s chief development and operations officer.
But he added that group calls including more than two parties were an exception, “where a server aggregates the media streams (video) from multiple clients and routes this to clients that might not otherwise have enough bandwidth to establish connections to all our partners”.
The Washington Post article had focused on written instant messages, rather than video/audio calls.
Mark Gillett denied Skype’s moves had been designed to “facilitate law enforcement” but he did acknowledge the company would give the authorities access to messages if “a law enforcement entity follows the appropriate procedures” and the procedure was “technically feasible”.
His post suggested it would be possible to pass on messages in some instances.
“In order to provide for the delivery and synchronization of instant messages across multiple devices, and in order to manage the delivery of messages between clients situated behind some firewalls which prevent direct connections between clients, some messages are stored temporarily on our (Skype/Microsoft) servers for immediate or later delivery to a user,” he wrote.
Skype’s privacy policy acknowledges: “IM messages are currently stored for a maximum of 30 days unless otherwise permitted or required by law.”
Scientists have proposed a new idea in the long-running debate over the Moon formation.
What is certain is that some sort of impact from another body freed material from the young Earth and the resulting debris coalesced into today’s Moon.
But the exact details of the impactor’s size and speed have remained debatable.
In a report online to be published in Icarus, researchers suggest that the crash happened with a much larger, faster body than previously thought.
Such theories need to line up with what we know about the Moon, about the violent processes that set off the creation of moons, and what computer simulations show about the more sedate gravitational “gathering-up” that finishes the job.
In recent years, scientists’ best guess for how the Moon formed has been that a relatively slowly moving, Mars-sized body called Theia crashed into the very young Earth.
What is certain is that some sort of impact from another body freed material from the young Earth and the resulting debris coalesced into today's Moon
That would have heated both of them up and released a vast cloud of molten material, much of which cooled and clumped together to give rise to the Moon.
That would suggest that the Moon is made up of material from both the early Earth and from Theia, which should be somewhat different from one another.
What complicates that story is a number of observations of “isotopic compositions” – the ratios of naturally-occurring variants of some atoms – taken from the Earth and from lunar samples.
While the Moon has an iron core like Earth, it does not have the same fraction of iron – and computer models supporting the Theia impact idea show just the same thing.
However, the ratio of the Earth’s and the Moon’s oxygen isotopes is nearly identical, and not all scientists agree on how that may have come about.
Confounding the issue further, scientists reporting in Nature Geoscience in March said that a fresh analysis of lunar samples taken by the Apollo missions showed that the Moon and the Earth shared an uncannily similar isotope ratio of the metal titanium.
That, they said, gave weight to the idea that the Moon was somehow cleaved from the Earth itself.
Now, Andreas Reufer, of the Center for Space and Habitability in Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues have run computer simulations that suggest another possibility: that a far larger and faster-moving body made an even more glancing blow with the young Earth.
They said this body would have lost only a small amount of material and most of it would have continued on after the “hit-and-run”.
That results in a much hotter disc of debris from the collision, but matches up with what would be needed to make a Moon-sized body.
The authors suggest that since most of what became the Moon would have been liberated by the impact from the Earth, similarities between the isotope fractions should be more pronounced.
More analyses of different elements within lunar samples – and a great deal more computer simulations that result in a Moon like our own – will be needed to settle the debate.
Robert Mood, the former head of the UN observer mission in Syria, says it is “only a matter of time” until President Bashar al-Assad’s government falls.
But Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, who left Syria last week, said Bashar al-Assad’s fall would not necessarily mean an end to the 16-month-old conflict.
Syrian forces renewed their assault on the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city, on Friday.
The US state department says it fears a massacre by Syrian government forces.
The pro-government al-Watan newspaper warned that the “mother of all battles” was about to start.
“In my opinion it is only a matter of time before a regime that is using such heavy military power and disproportional violence against the civilian population is going to fall,” Maj. Gen. Mood told the Reuters news agency.
Separately, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay appealed to both sides to spare civilians, citing concerns of “the likelihood of an imminent major confrontation”.
Navi Pillay said she had received “as yet unconfirmed reports of atrocities, including extra-judicial killings and shooting of civilians by snipers” in Damascus.
Saying she had also received more reports of opposition fighters torturing or executing prisoners, Navi Pillay stated her belief that “crimes against humanity and war crimes have been, and continue to be, committed in Syria”.
Robert Mood, the former head of the UN observer mission in Syria, says it is only a matter of time until President Bashar al-Assad's government falls
An activist based in Fardos in Aleppo said at least 15 people had died on Friday morning during the military’s bombardment of a building.
“We have medical supplies but no doctors or equipment to treat the injured. The situation feels hopeless,” said the activist, identified only as Ramy.
“The people of Aleppo are not coping with this crisis. They are dying. It is a massacre. People can leave their homes and move around the city but who would really want to take the risk of being shot or bombed?”
He insisted that activists would continue to resist the government forces.
“Activists are prepared to engage in a guerrilla war, from street to street if necessary,” he said.
The Red Crescent has suspended some of its operations in Aleppo because of the heavy fighting.
Rebels have been stockpiling ammunition and medical supplies in preparation for the expected assault.
Syrian troops fired from helicopter gunships on south-western neighborhoods on Friday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told the AFP news agency.
A convoy of tanks from Idlib province, near the border with Turkey, arrived in Aleppo overnight and was attacked by rebels, the Observatory said.
The US State Department said the deployment of tanks, helicopter gunships and fixed-winged aircraft around Aleppo suggested an attack was imminent.
But the US would not intervene, said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, except by continuing to channel non-lethal assistance (such as communications equipment and medical supplies) to the rebels.
A Syrian MP from Aleppo has fled to Turkey, Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency says.
Ikhlas Badawi, a mother of six, said she was defecting in protest at the “violence against the people”.
Meanwhile, another defector, Gen. Manaf Tlas, has put himself forward as a possible figure to unite the fractious opposition.
In an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Asharq al-Awsat, he said: “I am discussing with… people outside Syria to reach a consensus with those inside.”
However, some in the opposition regard Gen. Manaf Tlas – who fled earlier this month – as a compromised figure too close to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
For its part, Turkey has said it will not tolerate the creation of a Kurdish-run region in northern Syria.
This follows reports that Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq had formed an alliance with a Kurdish party across the border in Syria.
Turkey would strike against “terrorists” in northern Syria, warned Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the same way it has attacked bases in northern Iraq used by militants linked to the Kurdistan People’s Party (PKK).
Turkey is concerned that the creation of a Kurdish authority in the north of Syria could provide a sanctuary to Kurdish rebels fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s southeast.
London Olympics opening ceremony is just hours away after seven years of preparations.
The three-hour spectacle in the Olympic Stadium will be viewed by a global TV audience of around one billion people.
The day of celebration began at 08:12 BST with a mass bell ringing. Big Ben rang for three minutes for the first time since King George VI’s funeral.
Lord’s cricket ground has turned away spectators trying to get in to watch archery amid confusion over ticketing.
The London 2012 website advertised the event’s preliminary rounds as “unticketed”, which some members of the public interpreted as open to the public.
But Olympic organizer LOCOG said it had not advertised or sold tickets for the ranking event and had always made it clear preliminary rounds were not open to spectators.
London Olympics opening ceremony is just hours away after seven years of preparations
South Korea later claimed the first two world records of London 2012 in the men’s team and individual archery.
Meanwhile, the Olympic flame has arrived at City Hall on the Queen’s rowbarge Gloriana after first weaving through the maze at Hampton Court Palace and being carried down the Thames on the final day of the torch relay.
Around 50 boats took part in the flotilla, each reflecting London’s waterborne heritage.
The flame’s 70-day nationwide journey ends with the lighting of the cauldron during this evening’s opening ceremony but the identity of the person who will take on the honor remains a mystery.
Five-times rowing gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave and two-times decathlon champion Daley Thompson will take part in the closing stages, although neither is expected to light the flame.
The ceremony is expected to remain dry, but weather forecasters say the jet stream is moving southwards and there will be a return to more unsettled and chillier conditions over the next few days.
There have not been any reports of major transport issues. Network Rail and the Association of Train Operating Companies said most services were running to schedule. Some roads in London were congested around the route of the Olympic torch relay, and in St. John’s Wood where the archery competition began at Lord’s cricket ground.
Prime Minister David Cameron said: “It’s a great opportunity to show the world the best of Britain, a country that’s got an incredibly rich past but also a very exciting future.
“Someone asked me yesterday what face of Britain do we want to put forward – is it Blur or the Beefeaters? – and frankly it’s both.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “What’s so amazing is just the wave of excitement seems to pass from person to person like some benign form of contagion. Everybody is getting it.”
Danny Boyle, the artistic director of the £27 million ($43 million) opening ceremony, dedicated it to the 15,000 volunteers taking part.
“This is a live performance and it’s the actors, and in our case they’re volunteers, who have to get up there and do it.”
Europe’s largest bell will ring inside the Olympic Stadium at 21:00 BST at the start of the extravaganza, said to be a quirky take on British life.
Some 15,000 sq m of staging and 12,956 props will be used, and the event will boast a million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers.
The crowd of about 80,000 will include the Queen and a host of dignitaries and celebrities.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip will host a Buckingham Palace reception for heads of state and government and an opening ceremony celebration concert featuring Snow Patrol, Stereophonics, Duran Duran and Paolo Nutini will be held in Hyde Park.
More than 10,000 athletes from 204 nations will take part in the London Olympics, which has taken £9 billion ($14 billion) of public money to stage.
In other developments:
• Ticketing delays at St James’ Park in Newcastle, which meant some fans missed a men’s football match on Thursday, were unacceptable, a senior 2012 official has said
• Three people due to work as staff at an Olympic venue in Newcastle were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of immigration offences following accreditation checks
• Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt narrowly avoided hitting a group of women with a handbell after it flew off the handle on HMS Belfast during the co-ordinated ringing – he called the moment a “classic”
• American First Lady Michelle Obama, who is in London to lead the US delegation, told the US Olympic team at their Docklands training camp “have fun, breathe a bit, but also win”
• International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge praised the regeneration which has taken place in east London and said the Games would have a “tangible legacy” with, uniquely, “no white elephants”
• London taxis staged a protest at Hyde Park Corner over Olympic traffic lanes. The protest was moved forward by three hours after police said they could not demonstrate on the Olympic Route Network from 16:00 to 03:00 BST.
Facebook shares have fallen to a new low, as concerns about its mobile strategy sparked a sell-off when markets opened on Friday.
Late Thursday, in its first report as a public company, Facebook said it lost $157 million from April to June.
Its shares plunged more than 16% to $22.37 when trading began in New York on Friday, worse than the declines seen in after-hours trade on Thursday.
Facebook shares have fallen to a new low, as concerns about its mobile strategy sparked a sell-off
Facebook shares were priced at $38 when it listed on the NASDAQ in May.
Facebook’s results on Thursday showed that revenue in the second quarter of the year had grown 32% to $1.18 billion, just beating forecasts. But analysts at Piper Jaffray said it appeared investors wanted “more than a slight beat”.
The number of monthly active users (MAUs) rose 29% from the same period last year to 955 million, but some analysts question the reliability of this data given the number of fake profiles on the social network.
The number of people who logged in daily to Facebook’s site from their mobile devices surged 67% year-on-year to 543 million.
But the company has yet to resolve how it generates profits as users move from the computer desktop version to accessing the site via mobile phone.
“We don’t view these results as dramatically good or bad,” said Citi analyst Mark Mahaney.
“Key questions remain: the future of Facebook mobile monetization and the future of Facebook user engagement.”
Nick Green, the Australian Olympic team chief, has slammed a newspaper as “disgraceful” for describing triple-gold medallist Leisel Jones as overweight just two days before the start of London 2012.
Swimmer Leisel Jones’s physique was today targeted in the Melbourne Herald Sun, which suggested she may be out of shape as she prepares for her fourth Olympics.
The paper questioned whether Leisel Jones, 26, fits into her swimsuit as well as she did four years ago, while a poll asked readers whether she is fit enough to compete.
A caption under an unflattering photo of Leisel Jones in the athlete read: “The Olympic veteran’s figure is in stark contrast to that of 2008.”
Swimmer Leisel Jones's physique was today targeted in the Melbourne Herald Sun, which suggested she may be out of shape as she prepares for her fourth Olympics
Nick Green has hit out at the paper for treating her in this manner.
He said: “I think it’s disgraceful to be honest. I’m disappointed with the article and it’s extremely unfair on Leisel Jones.
“She is a triple Olympic gold medallist for this country, I think she deserves a lot more respect than she has been given.”
Leisel Jones won the 100-meter breaststroke at Beijing in 2008 and is competing at her fourth Olympics.
Her coach Michael Bohl said he was happy with her condition.
Michael Bohl said: “She’s been doing nine sessions a week, and two gym sessions a week coming into this, and we were really happy with her form.”
Leisel Jones was also supported by former 400 meter track gold medallist Cathy Freeman, who described the comments about the swimmer’s weight “un-Australian”.
Cathy Freeman said: “It’s not very friendly or encouraging at this stage.”
But Leisel Jones denied she was feeling pressure about her weight.
Leisel Jones said: “I’m so relaxed, and I’m just really enjoying everything about these games and the lead-up.”
Former Penn State University football coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly called the boy he was seen raping in a locker room shower and left him two sickening voicemail messages professing his love – ten years after the reported abuse occurred.
Victim 2, whose graphic abuse was the single most shocking revelation of the horrific sex abuse scandal, stepped forward on Thursday to sue the university.
His identity remains a secret, but to prove the truth behind his claims, he released a pair of voicemails from Jerry Sandusky, left just two months before his arrest on dozens of sex abuse charges.
“I would be very firm and express my feelings up front. There’s nothing, really, to hide so…” Jerry Sandusky says in a voicemail left for the alleged victim, now an adult, on September 12, 2011.
He ends with: “Take care, love you, hope you get this message.”
Jerry Sandusky called again September 19 and asks the man whether he wants to go to a Penn State Football game.
Again, the former coach ends the voicemail with “thanks, I love you”.
Former assistant coach Mike McQueary, who was a graduate assistant at the time, testified at Jerry Sandusky’s trial that he saw the victim, a 10-year-old boy, with his hands pinned to a shower wall and Sandusky standing behind him in 2001.
Jerry Sandusky allegedly called the boy he was seen raping in a locker room shower and left him two sickening voicemail messages professing his love
“I heard rhythmic slapping sounds, two or three slaps that sounded like skin on skin,” Mike McQueary testified.
“I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of intercourse with him.”
Jurors convicted Jerry Sandusky of 45 out of 48 counts of sex abuse charges last month. He awaits sentencing.
Despite the horrifying testimony, Victim 2 was never identified by investigators and never testified at trial.
Now, his lawyers say, he is coming forward to hold the Penn State administrators who covered up his abuse accountable.
“Our client has to live the rest of his life not only dealing with the effects of Sandusky’s childhood sexual abuse, but also with the knowledge that many powerful adults, including those at the highest levels of Penn State, put their own interests and the interests of a child predator above their legal obligations to protect him,” the lawyers said in a news release.
The university said it was taking the case seriously but would not comment on pending litigation.
University President Rodney Erickson and the board of trustees “have publicly emphasized that their goal is to find solutions that rest on the principle of justice for the victims”, a school spokesman said.
The statement from the man’s attorneys said Victim 2 suffered “extensive sexual abuse over many years both before and after the 2002 incident Michael McQueary witnessed”.
McQueary, who estimated the boy to be around 10 years old, reported the abuse to school officials, including longtime coach Joe Paterno, but none of them told police.
In a recent report conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and commissioned by Penn State, the investigators excoriated Joe Paterno and the other administrators for not attempting to identify Victim 2, saying it showed “a striking lack of empathy”.
Trustees fired Joe Paterno, who has since died, because he failed to do more about claims against Jerry Sandusky, and the scathing independent review said several top school officials looked the other way because they were afraid of bad publicity. The NCAA has vacated 112 Penn State wins.
Before the trial, defense attorney Joe Amendola said he had met with a man he believed he might be Victim 2 and the man told him he had not been abused by Sandusky. Joe Amendola said he was not convinced and did not intend to subpoena him, but also said Jerry Sandusky himself was insistent they had the right person.
The statement from Victim 2’s lawyers leaves many questions unanswered, including whether he had been in contact with prosecutors before or during the trial, whether he remembers Mike McQueary, and whether he is the same person who met with Joe Amendola.
“Jerry Sandusky’s abuse of Victim 2 and other children is a direct result of a conspiracy to conceal Sandusky’s conduct and the decisions by top Penn State officials that facilitated and enabled his access to victims,” the statement read.
“We intend to file a civil lawsuit against Penn State University and others and to hold them accountable for the egregious and reckless conduct that facilitated the horrific abuse our client suffered.”
The statement did not say when the lawsuit would be filed or contain details on what redress the plaintiff is seeking. The lawyers said they would not have further comment, and messages left for their spokesman were not immediately returned.
Several messages seeking comment from Joe Amendola and Jerry Sandusky’s other lawyer, Karl Rominger, were not immediately returned.
Prosecutors had said on several occasions they did not know the identity of the boy, and they offered no reaction to the lawyers’ announcement Thursday.
“We can’t comment, given both our ongoing criminal prosecutions and our ongoing investigation,” said Nils Frederiksen, spokesman for the attorney general’s office.
The attorneys who released the statement include several based in Philadelphia and in State College, home to Penn State’s main campus – where the shower assault took place. They also represent three other young men Sandusky was convicted of abusing but have not filed any lawsuits.
A second accuser has filed paperwork indicating an additional complaint is in the works, while other lawyers also have indicated they represent young men with potential claims.
This week Penn State’s general liability insurer sought to deny or limit coverage for Jerry Sandusky-related claims.
Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association Insurance argued that Penn State withheld key information needed to assess risk.
In June, after Jerry Sandusky was convicted, the university said it hoped to quickly compensate victims and would reach out to their lawyers. Penn State spokesman Dave La Torre declined to comment on anything related to the victims and any settlement discussions.
Members of Egypt’s Olympic team have been given fake Nike gear, Yomna Khallaf, a synchronized swimmer, has alleged.
Yomna Khallaf said her workout bags had a big Nike logo in the front but the zippers had an Adidas branding on them.
The Egyptian Olympic Committee (EOC) secretary general, Motaz Sonbol, said they were shocked to find that the gear was not “directly from Nike”.
Nike said it was “concerned” athletes may have received products that do not meet the company’s quality standards.
Members of Egypt's Olympic team have been given fake Nike gear, Yomna Khallaf, a synchronized swimmer, has alleged
A Nike spokesman said the company was recently made aware that the EOC chose a sports gear vendor who allegedly supplied counterfeit footwear and apparel bearing the Nike trademarks.
The company said it was now in discussions with the EOC to see if a solution could be reached.
But the committee’s chairman, General Mahmoud Ahmed Ali, defended the decision to go for the “counterfeit” gear because of his country’s tight finances, AP reports.
“We signed with a Chinese distributor in light of Egypt’s economic situation,” he said.
Yomna Khallaf tweeted that she had to spend more than $300 of her own money to buy satisfactory gear.
The incident has caused a major controversy on social media, with some users describing it as a disgrace.
Egypt is being represented by 112 Olympians at London 2012.
Japanese women have fallen behind Hong Kong in terms of global life expectancy rankings for the first time in 25 years.
This was partly due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the country in March 2011, said an annual report by Japan’s health ministry.
The expected lifespan for Japanese women dropped from 86.30 years in 2010 to 85.90 years in 2011.
The official life expectancy for women in Hong Kong last year was 86.70 years.
Japanese women have fallen behind Hong Kong in terms of global life expectancy rankings for the first time in 25 years
Japan has topped the women’s rankings for a quarter of a century, with longevity attributed in part to a healthy traditional diet.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 20,000 dead or missing pushed the life expectancy down.
However the report noted that even without the disaster Japanese women would still have dropped behind Hong Kong in the statistics.
Other factors contributing to the dip included a rise in the number of suicides among Japanese women, disease and other natural death causes, the report said.
The life expectancy for men in Japan also declined from 79.55 in 2010 to 79.44 last year.
The men dropped from fourth place in 2010 to eighth last year in the global life expectancy ranking, said Japan’s Kyodo news agency.
A new research suggests that shift workers are slightly more at risk of having a heart attack or stroke than day workers.
An analysis of studies involving more than 2 million workers in the British Medical Journal said shift work can disrupt the body clock and have an adverse effect on lifestyle.
It has previously been linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure and diabetes.
Limiting night shifts would help workers cope, experts said.
The team of researchers from Canada and Norway analyzed 34 studies.
A new research suggests that shift workers are slightly more at risk of having a heart attack or stroke than day workers
In total, there were 17,359 coronary events of some kind, including cardiac arrests, 6,598 heart attacks and 1,854 strokes caused by lack of blood to the brain.
These events were more common in shift workers than in other people.
The BMJ study calculated that shift work was linked to a 23% increased risk of heart attack, 24% increased risk of coronary event and 5% increased risk of stroke.
But they also said shift work was not linked to increased mortality rates from heart problems and that the relative risks associated with heart problems were “modest”.
The researchers took the socio-economics status of the workers, their diet and general health into account in their findings.
Dan Hackam, associate professor at Western University, London Ontario in Canada, said shift workers were more prone to sleeping and eating badly.
“Night shift workers are up all the time and they don’t have a defined rest period. They are in a state of perpetual nervous system activation which is bad for things like obesity and cholesterol,” he said.
The authors say that screening programmes could help identify and treat risk factors for shift workers, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
They add that shift workers could also be educated about what symptoms to look our for, which might indicate early heart problems.
Jane White, research and information services manager at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said there are complex issues surrounding shift work.
“It can result in disturbed appetite and digestion, reliance on sedatives and, or stimulants, as well as social and domestic problems.
“These can affect performance, increase the likelihood of errors and accidents at work, and even have a negative effect on health.”
She said the effects of shift work needed to be well-managed.
“Avoiding permanent night shifts, limiting shifts to a maximum of 12 hours and ensuring workers have a minimum of two full nights sleep between day and night shifts are simple, practical solutions that can help people to cope with shift work.”
Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said the increased risk to an individual shift worker “was relatively small”.
“But many Brits don’t work nine to five and so these findings becomes much more significant.
“Whether you work nights, evenings or regular office hours, eating healthily, getting active and quitting smoking can make a big difference to your heart health.”
The Olympic torch has been welcomed to Buckingham Palace by members of the royal family, including Princes William and Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge.
Large crowds gathered across London to see the flame on the penultimate day of its journey around the British Isles.
The torch relay also passed through Downing Street, where it was greeted by Prime Minister David Cameron.
David Cameron earlier said the London Games would show the world “beyond doubt that Britain can deliver”.
The flame ended the day in Hyde Park where the final torchbearer lit a cauldron in front of 60,000 people who have gathered for a celebratory concert.
London Mayor Boris Johnson wished the crowds a “wonderful” Olympics, and thanked them for their support.
“Are we ready? Yes we are,” Boris Johnson said, in a rallying cry to the audience.
The Olympic torch has been welcomed to Buckingham Palace by members of the royal family, including Princes William and Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge
Meanwhile, Great Britain’s men’s football team is taking on Senegal at Manchester’s Old Trafford ground.
On Friday, the Olympics will be officially opened by the Queen and the torch’s journey will come to an end during the opening ceremony.
A unanimous decision has been made over who will light the Olympic Stadium’s cauldron, LOCOG said, but it will be kept secret until the ceremony.
Earlier, David Cameron told reporters during a news conference at the Olympic Park: “This is a great moment for us. Let’s seize it.”
And he said security was his main concern ahead of the Games – an area he said he takes “personal responsibility for”.
David Cameron described a blunder in which North Korean footballers’ images were shown next to the South Korean flag as an “honest mistake”.
The prime minister called the eve of the Games “a truly momentous day for our country”.
“Seven years of waiting, planning, building, dreaming, are almost over – tomorrow, the curtain comes up, the spectators arrive, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012 can officially begin.”
David Cameron also met the Republican candidate for the US presidency, Mitt Romney, during his campaigning and fundraising visit to London.
Mitt Romney had earlier expressed concerns about “disconcerting” signs of a lack of readiness for the Games.
“The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials – that obviously is not something which is encouraging,” Mitt Romney told a US television station.
It is “hard to know just how well it will turn out”, said Mitt Romney, who managed the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.
David Cameron responded by saying: “Of course, this is a time of some economic difficulty for the UK. Everybody knows that.
“But look at what we’re capable of achieving as a nation, even at a difficult economic time.”
Mitt Romney, who also met Labour leader Ed Miliband, later said outside Number 10: “I expect the Games to be highly successful.”
In other developments:
• Long queues outside St James’s Park in Newcastle meant some football fans missed the start of Mexico v South Korea
• The PM met David Beckham at Downing Street to discuss how to tackle world hunger. It came ahead of a “hunger summit” on the final day of the Games, Sunday 12 August
• A planned strike by East Midlands Trains (EMT) during the Games was called off after a pensions dispute was settled
• LOCOG apologized after an official football programme listed Welsh footballer Joe Allen as English. It said the error would be corrected for Team GB’s next match
• A global investment conference in London kicked off a series of business summits intended to showcase the UK and attract investment during the Games
• A new record for arrivals at Heathrow is expected to be set on Thursday, with up to 125,000 incoming passengers
Security researchers have shared at the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas a way to replicate a person’s eye to bypass iris-scanning security systems.
A team at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid was able to recreate the image of an iris from digital codes of real irises stored in security databases.
It raises doubts over what is considered to be one of the most secure methods of biometric security.
Researcher Javier Galbally and his team, which included researchers from West Virginia University, were able to print out synthetic images of irises.
In one experiment, the researchers tested their fake irises against a leading commercial-recognition system. In 80% of attempts, they said, the scanner believed it was a real eye.
While researchers have been able to create realistic iris images for some time, it is thought that this is the first instance where the fake image can be generated from the iris code of a real person – a method which could be used to steal someone’s identity.
A team at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid was able to recreate the image of an iris from digital codes of real irises stored in security databases
An iris code is the data stored by recognition systems when it scans a person’s eye. It contains around 5,000 different pieces of information.
The research was explained to an audience at the annual Black Hat conference, a meeting of the leading figures in IT security from across the world.
Shawn Henry, the former head of the FBI’s cybercrime unit, gave a key speech at the event.
He urged security experts to counter-attack in their attempts to stamp out criminal activity.
“We need warriors to fight our enemies, particularly in the cyber world right now,” he told his audience.
“I believe the threat from computer network attack is the most significant threat we face as a civilized world, other than a weapon of mass destruction.”
He called on the computer security industry to begin looking at ways of gathering intelligence on possible attacks and attackers, rather than seeking simply to block them when they happen.
“It is not enough to watch the perimeter,” Shawn Henry said.
“We have to be constantly hunting, looking for tripwires.
“Intelligence is the key to all of this. If we understand who the adversary is, we can take specific actions.”
For the first time, Apple representatives will be speaking at the Black Hat event.
The company is expected to outline security features in the coming release of its latest mobile operating system, iOS.
The appearance comes at a crucial time for Apple. Earlier in the year, the company’s Mac range suffered a malware attack, with more than 500,000 machines infected.
The fallout put a dent in Apple’s reputation for producing computers that were safe from the kind of attacks which are common on PCs.
According to Black Hat’s general manager Trey Ford, Apple was scheduled to appear at the event in 2008, but pulled out after the company’s marketing team intervened.
“Bottom line – no-one at Apple speaks without marketing approval,” Trey Ford wrote in an email quoted by Bloomberg.
“Apple will be at Black Hat 2012, and marketing is on board.”
Parts of Twitter became inaccessible today, in the eve of Olympic Games opening, before thousands of fans are expected to start tweeting.
The Twitter.com site was unreachable for almost an hour, and continued to suffer intermittent faults thereafter.
The service was still accessible via its mobile site and other applications.
In a message to users, the company said: “Howdy folks, looks like we’re experiencing a small interruption of Twitter.com and some mobile clients.“
On its network status page, the company wrote: “Our engineers are currently working to resolve the issue.”
The Twitter.com site was unreachable for almost an hour, and continued to suffer intermittent faults thereafter
It is not yet known what caused the fault. Users that could access the service reported that shortened URL links included in tweets were not working properly.
Twitter is expected to be one of the main social networks to be used by both fans and athletes during the Games.
Sporting events regularly attract the service’s biggest audience.
During Spain’s Euro 2012 win, there were over 15,000 tweets every second.
For London 2012, there are over 2,000 verified Olympians – past and present – that are signed up to use the service.
Downtime plagued Twitter during its early years, but subsequent investment meant the site has become more reliable.
Last month, Twitter blamed a “cascading bug” for causing “turbulence” on the service which made the site slow or inaccessible for about two hours.
At the time, Mazen Rawashdeh, the site’s vice president of engineering, apologized to users but praised the site’s recent reliability record.
“For the past six months, we’ve enjoyed our highest marks for site reliability and stability ever: at least 99.96% and often 99.99%.
“In simpler terms, this means that in an average 24-hour period, twitter.com has been stable and available to everyone for roughly 23 hours, 59 minutes and 40-ish seconds.”
Mike du Toit, the mastermind of a white supremacist plot to kill Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, has been convicted of treason.
A Pretoria court ruled that Boeremag group leader Mike du Toit was behind the nine bombings in Johannesburg’s Soweto township in 2002.
Mike du Toit is the first person to be convicted of treason in South Africa since white minority rule ended in 1994.
Analysts say race relations in South Africa are still tense.
However, white extremist groups like Boeremag, which means Afrikaner Power in Afrikaans, have very little support, they say.
Mike du Toit, the mastermind of a white supremacist plot to kill Nelson Mandela, has been convicted of treason
The Pretoria High Court handed down its verdict against Mike Du Toit, a former academic, following a nine-year trial.
Judge Eben Jordaan said Mike Du Toit had authored a blueprint for revolution intended to evict black people from most of South Africa and to kill anyone who got in the way, the South African Press Association reports.
Witnesses told the court that Boeremag had carried out a spate of bombings in Soweto in 2002, killing one person.
The Boeremag had also planned to stage a coup and assassinate Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison before being elected president in 1994 and acted as a unifying force after decades of white-minority rule.
The group also intended to shoot whites who opposed their vision of a racially pure nation, the witnesses said.
More than 20 other suspects were on trial with Mike Du Toit, but the court has not yet ruled on their fate.
Nearly 200 people gave evidence for the state – including police informants within Boeremag.
Nelson Mandela stood down as South Africa’s president in 1999 after serving one term, handing over to Thabo Mbeki.
Samsung has admitted it made a mistake in releasing a software update that removed the search function from international versions of its Galaxy S3 smartphone.
The “stability update” disabled the Galaxy S3’s ability to search the web, contacts, apps and other on-device material through a single interface.
The move had been thought to be linked to Apple’s claim that the innovation infringed one of its US patents.
Samsung said a fix was imminent.
“The most recent software upgrade for the Galaxy S3 in the UK included the inadvertent removal of the universal search function,” it said in a statement.
“Samsung will provide the correct software upgrade within the next few days.”
The "stability update" disabled the Galaxy S3's ability to search the web, contacts, apps and other on-device material through a single interface
Users who downloaded the update had not been warned that it would remove the advanced search function when the software was installed on GT-i9300 (S3) models available in the UK and other places outside the US.
It appears the firm meant only to prevent some US models from being able to use a Google-powered search tool to show information sourced from within the phone’s memory in its results.
Apple has claimed the technology infringed its patent to a unified search interface which it uses in its Siri app to collate results from a range of sources.
The iPhone maker has launched a lawsuit over the matter in the US and had briefly secured a sales ban of another Samsung handset – the Galaxy Nexus – on the basis that the inclusion of the feature threatened “irreparable harm”.
A Washington-based court will review the case on 20 August.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has made a seemingly impromptu address at a Revolution Day ceremony and said he is willing to hold talks with the US.
Raul Castro, who had not spoken at the event for the past two years, grabbed the microphone to address the crowd in the eastern province of Guantanamo.
The president said he would hold talks with the US, as long as it was “a conversation between equals”.
The two countries have not had diplomatic relations for five decades.
Raul Castro said the offer had already been made through diplomatic channels and that no topic was off limits.
“Any day they want, the table is set,” Raul Castro said.
Cuba’s President Raul Castro has made a seemingly impromptu address at a Revolution Day ceremony and said he is willing to hold talks with the US
He said he was prepared to discuss “the problems of democracy, human rights etc. But on equal terms because we are no-one’s colony”.
Cuba would remain independent and free, he said, and nothing like the uprisings in Libya or Syria, backed by foreign forces, would happen in the country.
If the US wanted confrontation, he quipped, then it should be in baseball or some other sport.
“Preferably baseball when sometimes they win, sometimes we do,” he said.
Turning to internal matters, he said that social and economic reforms within Cuba would go on “little by little”.
The annual ceremony marks the 59th anniversary of the failed storming of the Moncada military barracks, often considered the beginning of the revolution led by his brother Fidel Castro.
Fidel Castro frequently used Revolution Day addresses to make major policy announcements.
This year’s main celebration began at dawn with music and speeches.
First Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura said in a keynote address that Havana would continue efforts to shut down the US naval base there.
“We will continue to fight such a flagrant violation… we will never stop trying to recover that piece of ground,” he said.
Gabe Newell, Valve Software’s boss, has said that OS Windows 8 will be a “catastrophe” for PC game makers.
Speaking at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, Gabe Newell said the next version of Windows could mean big changes to the PC market.
Many took his comment as a criticism of the changed user interface in Windows 8 as well as its built-in Windows Store.
The Windows Store could dent the success of Valve’s own online market, Steam, through which players buy games.
Gabe Newell, who worked for Microsoft for 13 years on Windows, said his company had embraced the open-source software Linux as a “hedging strategy” designed to offset some of the damage Windows 8 was likely to do.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well,” said Gabe Newell.
“Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.”
Gabe Newell, Valve Software's boss, has said that OS Windows 8 will be a "catastrophe" for PC game makers
The arrival of Windows 8 would be likely to drive some PC makers and others out of the business because it put so much pressure on their sales margins, Gabe Newell added.
He said the success of Valve, known for its Half Life, Left4Dead and Portal titles, had been down to the open nature of the PC.
“We’ve been a free rider, and we’ve been able to benefit from everything that went into PCs and the internet,” he told the conference.
“And we have to continue to figure out how there will be open platforms.”
However, he added, the openness that helped Valve as well as firms such as Google and Zynga could disappear with Windows 8.
“There’s a strong temptation to close the platform because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors’ access to the platform, and they say, <<That’s really exciting>>.”
This is seen by commentators to be a reference to the inclusion of a Windows Store in the Microsoft operating system.
This is a shop through which users will be able to buy apps for their Windows 8 device.
On some versions of Windows 8, it will be the only way to get downloadable software such as games.
Microsoft takes a cut, up to 30%, of every sale made through this store.
This could be a significant threat to the massively successful Steam online game store that Valve runs and which gives it a commission on every title sold through the online market.
A Windows Store closed to everyone but Microsoft might reduce the range of games available for sale through Steam.
Windows 8’s links with Microsoft’s Xbox Live online game service could also dent the appeal of Steam for many people.
Gabe Newell said Valve was preparing for the future in other ways. In particular, he said, it was trying to make tools and services that players could use to make games and gaming more fun for everyone.
“We think the future is very different [from] successes we’ve had in the past,” he said.
“When you are playing a game, you are trying to think about creating value for other players, so the line between content player and creator is really fuzzy.”
One harbinger of this future was perhaps found, he said, in the success of one Team Fortress player in Kansas who was earning $150,000 a year making virtual hats.
“This isn’t about video games,” he said.
“It’s about thinking about goods and services in a digital world.”
More details are emerging in South Korea about Ri Sol-Ju, the woman identified as the wife of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
A lawmaker, quoting intelligence officials, said they believed Ri Sol-Ju had visited South Korea in 2005 and had studied singing in China.
Other news reports suggest that Kim Jong-Un may have spotted her at a musical performance.
North Korea has not given any details beyond saying she was Kim Jong-Un’s wife.
There had been speculation about Kim Jong-Un, who took over as leader of the country after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il last year, after he was seen with a woman on various occasions since June.
State media confirmed for the first time on Wednesday that leader Kim Jong-Un was married.
A lawmaker, quoting intelligence officials, said they believed Ri Sol-Ju had visited South Korea in 2005 and had studied singing in China
An eight-minute report on North Korean radio mentioning Ri Sol-Ju’s name was broadcast at 20:00 local time on Wednesday.
South Korean lawmaker Jung Chung-Rai told reporters following a briefing by intelligence agents that Ri Sol-Ju was from an ordinary family in Pyongyang.
Ri Sol-Ju may have visited South Korea in 2005 as part of the North’s cheerleading team for the Asian Athletics Championships, Jung Chung-Rai said.
The cheerleaders are seen wearing red baseball caps, twirling umbrellas and dancing in the stands with tambourines, television footage of the event shows.
Ri Sol-Ju is also likely to have “participated in several inter-Korean exchange programmes”, reports South Korean news ageny Yonhap.
The paper cited three separate events between 2003-2005 attended by someone from North Korea with the same name as Ri Sol-Ju, including the championships.
It remains unclear when the couple got married. Most South Korean reports suggest that Ri Sol-Ju may have been a singer who caught Kim Jong-Un’s attention during a performance.
A source told The Choson Ilbo newspaper that a singer with the same name as Ri Sol-Ju had performed with the Eunhasu Orchestra until last year.
At least two newspapers, including the Choson Ilbo, say that Ri Sol-Ju has been groomed as the first lady, possibly studying at Kim Il-Sung University.
Ri Sol-Ju’s Western-style dress and short cropped hair have led to speculation over whether Kim Jong-Un has a less traditional, more international outlook than his father.
Susanne Lothar, one of German best-known film actresses with roles in such international hits as The Reader and The White Ribbon, has died aged 51.
A lawyer for Susanne Lothar’s family announced the actress had passed away on Wednesday, without specifying the cause of death.
Many associate her with the dark films of Austrian director Michael Haneke, such as Funny Games and The Piano Teacher, as well as The White Ribbon.
Susanne Lothar’s late husband, Ulrich Muehe, starred in The Lives of Others.
In a press statement, lawyer Christian Schetz said the family would give no details of the actress’s death “for understandable reasons”.
Susanne Lothar, one of German best-known film actresses with roles in such international hits as The Reader and The White Ribbon, has died aged 51
The Hamburg-born actress was one of the most celebrated German character actors of her generation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
At the German Film Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, Susanne Lothar received four best actress nominations, and won once, in 1983, for her debut performance in Tankred Dorst’s film Eisenhans.
The White Ribbon (2009) garnered the Palme d’Or and Stephen Daldry’s The Reader (2008) won an Oscar.
On stage, Susanne Lothar acted at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg for many years.
A tribute in Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine by journalist Matthias Matussek, who knew her, describes her as “an actress who sought extremes both on stage and in front of the camera”.
“The theatre and cinema will be at a loss to know to whom they can now confide internal conflict, bravura, infinite vulnerability…” Matthias Matussek added.
Susanne Lothar and her husband Ulrich Muehe, who died in 2007 just a year after the release of the Oscar-winning Lives of Others, had two children.
Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai, has been charged with murder, state news agency Xinhua has reported.
Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, employed at Bo Xilai’s home, were “recently” prosecuted by a Chinese court, Xinhua said, without giving further details.
She has been questioned over the suspected murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai, has been charged with murder
Neil Heywood was found dead in a hotel in Chongqing on 15 November 2011.
Local officials initially said he died of excessive drinking, but the government announced in April it was investigating Bo Xilai’s wife in connection with the case.
The two are accused of poisoning Neil Heywood, Chinese media report.
Bo Xilai, the former high-flying leader of the south-western Chinese mega-city of Chongqing, was sacked in March and is under investigation for allegedly flouting Communist Party rules.
Bo Xilai’s downfall was triggered when his police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate, reportedly to seek asylum after falling out with Bo over his investigation into the death of Neil Heywood.
Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel creative head, last night joined in with the countdown to London Games as he launched a new collection at Selfridges with a glittering bash.
He unveiled three collections under the Karl Lagerfeld brand: Karl and the premium line Karl Lagerfeld Paris, and a pop-up store selling unique designs created especially for Selfridges customers in honor of the Olympics under the moniker Team Karl.
But despite opening a store in time for the Games, Karl Lagerfeld said he would not be one of the billions from around the world tuning in to the event when it kicks off this week.
“I like the idea, I like the people, but the performances, they are something of a little unhuman now,” he said last night.
“I like the image and the idea better than to watch it.”
Highlights of the collection include gold, silver and bronze logos on T-shirts with Karl Lagerfeld's name on them, sunglasses in medal hues, and metallic trims in the form of glittering gold collars
The logo for the Team Karl range shows the designer standing in the traditional discus pose – an arm swung back about to throw the disc – but still wearing his trademark suit and powdered hair.
Highlights of the collection include gold, silver and bronze logos on T-shirts with Karl Lagerfeld’s name on them, sunglasses in medal hues, and metallic trims in the form of glittering gold collars.
“It’s a collection of today,” he said.
“So it’s the mood the way I see things, with a touch of humor and lightness in it.”
Dozens of tourists who shelled out $350 for an exclusive African safari at Walt Disney World in Orlando were sickened with a debilitating stomach virus that left them vomiting for days.
Health officials in Orlando, Florida, are working to track down the source of the mysterious bug, but they have not been able to determine what has made so many people ill.
The tourists were on the Wild Africa Trek, a VIP tour of Disney’s Animal Kingdom wildlife park that allows VIP guests to see hippopotamuses, crocodiles and other exotic animals up close as they sample food from Africa.
Disney has responded to the outbreak by making sure its employees are washing their hands more often and giving the tour a “deep clean” – scrubbing down any surfaces guests are likely to touch. The park is also encouraging them to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The Wild Africa Trek is a pricy tour Disney added 18 months ago to give some guests the opportunity to have a more personalized view of the Animal Kingdom
The Wild Africa Trek is a pricy tour Disney added 18 months ago to give some guests the opportunity to have a more personalized view of the Animal Kingdom.
Groups are no larger than 12 and tours last three hours.
A ticket to the safari costs up to $250, the Sentinel reports. That’s on top of the $100 ticket price just to enter Walt Disney World.
“The expedition is a true encounter with African creatures in their native habitat,” Disney touts on its website.
It includes a jaunt over a rickety rope bridge that crosses a river filled with crocodiles. Tour members are also suspended on an overhead track that gives them an aerial view of several of the sights in the park.
Some of the sickened customers said stomach cramps and vomiting for up to a week. A few said they had to be admitted to the emergency room to treat the horrible pain and nausea.
Most of the sickened tourists, though, said the virus passed within a few days and they thought little of it at the time.
Investigators with the health department are still trying to track down the source, though some of the tourists have said they were zeroing in on an infected pair of binoculars the tour members shared on the trip.
New revelations about a seedy, criminal past of Scott Disick could see him sent from the flock for good.
It’s being alleged that Scott Disick videotaped girls he had sex with when he was a teenager, and that he would also steal from them.
Model Brittany Reichek told Star magazine: “It’s true that Scott began videotaping himself having sex with girls when he was in his late teens, and then he’d steal from them!”
Brittany Reichek is a former friend of Scott Disick, who dated one of his closest friends for five years, she claims they were in the same social group.
It's being alleged that Scott Disick videotaped girls he had sex with when he was a teenager
“Scott and one of his buddies had a system,” Brittany Reichek, 29, told the magazine.
”They would pass themselves off as wealthy stockbrokers, pick up girls in the clubs in the Hamptons, get drunk with them, then take them back to their parents’ homes and claim the houses were their own.”
“When the time was right, Scott and his friend would go through their handbags and steal just about anything they could get their hands on,” including cell phones, camera, cash and even credit cards, she alleged.
Star continues to add that a representative for Scott Disick, 29, denies the claims but Brittany Reichek says that Scott and his friend “videotaped girls and stole from them more than 50 times in the years I was around him”.
She added: “I think Scott got as good a high just from the actual things he stole.”
It’s a terrible time for the accusation, as Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian are struggling to make their relationship work despite their daughter Penelope’s birth on July 8.
Two weeks after his second child’s birth Scott Disick enjoyed party weekend that included models not the mother of his children.
On Saturday July 21 Scott Disick started off in Malibu with a party for Camacho Cigars Beach House and the next day headed off to Miami where he spent the day with bikini clad girls in a VIP poolside cabana at the Delano Hotel.
Scott Disick was spotted drinking at the Setai bar then partying at nightclub LIV with friends and models until 4:00 a.m.
Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s mother, has broken her silence after “deserting” her grandchildren for ten days – to claim she “wasn’t kidnapped” and “just needed a rest”.
Following days of escalating tensions amongst her feuding family Katherine Jackson, 82, was filmed by ABC News claiming: “There are rumors going around about me that I have been kidnapped… I am here today to let everybody to know that I am good and fine.
“My children would never do anything to me like that. It’s stupid.”
In a bizarre show of unity her children Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie stood close around an anxious Katherine Jackson as she read out a prepared statement at the luxury resort where she has been staying.
Katherine Jackson seemed confused at times, calling grandson Prince “my nephew”.
Earlier Katherine Jackson had lost custody of her late son Michael’s three children after a judge awarded temporary guardianship of the trio to their cousin Tito Jackson Jr., also known as TJ.
Michael Jackson’s children, Prince, 15, Paris, 14, and Blanket, 10, will be cared for by their 34-year-old cousin who had been staying with them in their grandmother’s absence.
Katherine Jackson said: “I am devastated that while I’ve been away, my grandchildren have been taken away from me and I’m coming home.”
And she claimed the move was “based on a bunch of lies”.
But Katherine Jackson failed to explain why she hadn’t notified her three wards of her intention to take a “short vacation and rest”.
“One reason I didn’t call is I just gave up my phone and I didn’t want to have any phone calls while I was here,” Katherine Jackson said.
She also confirmed that she had left her grandson TJ in charge.
The film crew was told they were not to ask Katherine Jackson any questions as she read the statement.
At one stage Janet and Jermaine Jackson exchanged glances and whispered.
Katherine Jackson also explained that her assistant had been in contact with her grandson Prince.
“He said everything was going fine back home,” she said.
“Still I think about the children… worry about them but they’re fine.”
Katherine Jackson then confirmed reports that she had spoken to her grandchildren after ten days without contact.
“I told them I would come home today and they’re waiting for me to come,” she said.
Bizarrely Katherine Jackson also repeatedly thanked the resort where she had been staying, adding: “I had a very good time here – and if anyone wants to rest I think they should come here.”
The latest feud between the Jacksons is said to have been stemmed from a dispute over Michael Jackson’s $500 million will.
Michael Jackson died in June 2009 at age 50 and left his estate to care for his mother and three children. He left nothing to his father or siblings, who have repeatedly tried to intervene in the estate.
Several have expressed doubts about the validity of his will, although the courts have rejected this.
Following yesterday’s ruling TJ, the son of Michael’s brother Tito, will now get access to funds from the estate in order to care for the children, who are said to be in favor of him being their temporary guardian.
Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie stood close around an anxious Katherine Jackson as she read out a prepared statement at the luxury resort where she has been staying
Katherine Jackson’s statement to ABC News
On the “kidnapping”:
“There are rumors going around about me that I have been kidnapped and held against my will.
“I am here today to let everybody know that I am fine and I am here with my children, and my children would never do a thing to me like that, holding me against my will.
“It’s very stupid for people to think that.”
On the loss of custody of her grandchildren:
“I am devastated that while I’ve been away, that my children, my grandchildren, have been taken away from me, and I’m coming home to see about that, also.”
Who was looking after her grandchildren?
“Before I left I put everything in order with the appropriate people to take care of my children for me and it’s really bad to hear that what’s going on at home, and the children have been taken away – but I know that… I’ll get there in time to get them back.
“And after I finish this, I will be on my way home.”
Where did she go?
“I am grateful for my children that they saw that I needed rest and they wanted to take me away for a while, just a short vacation and rest up.
“They have taken good care of me and have made sure that I got the rest that I needed.”
Why didn’t she call?
“One reason I haven’t called is I just gave up my phone and I didn’t want to have any phone calls while I was here.”
The $500 million fight for Michael Jackson’s fortune:
What’s at stake:
A recent financial summary showed that Michael Jackson’s estate has earned almost $500 million in gross profits since his death, and many of his major debts have either been resolved or are no longer delinquent.
Key players:
Katherine Jackson
• Beneficiary of Michael’s Jackson’s estate and legal guardian of his three children. She was reported missing over the weekend but later found to be with her daughter Rebbie and other relatives in Arizona.
• Her lawyer claims a plan has been in place for the last three years to remove Katherine Jackson from her home and her beloved grandchildren. Last reported whereabouts – an Arizona spa.
Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket
• Michael Jackson’s three children are set to inherit his $500 million estate when Katherine Jackson dies. None of Michael Jackson’s eight siblings were named in will. Michael Jackson’s kids are seeking contact with their grandmother Katherine, who they have not spoken to in nine days.
• Targeted in an “ambush” by uncles and aunt (Janet, Jermaine and Randy) last night.
Janet, Randy, Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson
• Claim that the King of Pop’s will was a fake and that the executors of his lucrative estate should step down.
• Pressuring Katherine Jackson to seek permission from a judge to investigate the will’s validity.
• Letter penned by siblings on July 17 claims Katherine Jackson was being manipulated by the executors, John Branca and John McClain, her health had been affected, and she suffered a mini-stroke.
• Randy and Jermaine had both previously asked their brother Michael Jackson’s estate to pay their child support, hinting at financial motives behind plot. The request was denied.
Tito Jackson
• He also signed the July 17 letter but has today backed out of plot and says he’s renounced any intention to challenge validity of his brother’s will.
Marlon Jackson
• Not part of plot to challenge brother’s will. Claims he has been cut off from contacting Katherine Jackson and in an interview with The Insider today he declared: “I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”
On the fence
• Michael Jackson’s father Joe Jackson and remaining siblings La Toya and Jackie Jackson have not made their allegiances clear. Although sources say Jackie is “furious” at his squabbling siblings
Tito Junior, son of Michael Jackson’s brother Tito
• Tito Jr., also known as TJ, has been awarded temporary custody of Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket while Katherine Jackson is away. The 34-year-old is married and used to date Kim Kardashian.
Trent Jackson, Joe Jackson’s nephew
• He has sided with his young cousins Paris, Blanket and Prince Michael. Involved in alleged physical altercation with Jermaine and Randy at Calabasas compound last night.
