A British-Swiss team will use DNA testing to investigate the origins of remains claimed to be from yeti and bigfoot.
The project will examine hair, bone and other material from a collection amassed by a Swiss biologist – and will invite submissions from elsewhere.
Many cultures relate legends of hairy, humanoid creatures that lurk in the wilds, rarely seen.
But material claimed to be from such creatures have never been subjected to modern scientific techniques.
“It’s an area that any serious academic ventures into with a deal of trepidation… It’s full of eccentric and downright misleading reports,” said Prof. Bryan Sykes, from Oxford University.
The researchers will apply a systematic approach and employ the latest advances in genetic testing, aiming to publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
“There have been DNA tests done on alleged yetis and other such things but since then the testing techniques, particularly on hair, have improved a lot due to advances in forensic science,” the Oxford geneticist told Reuters news agency.
A British-Swiss team will use DNA testing to investigate the origins of remains claimed to be from yeti and bigfoot
Modern testing could get valid results from a fragment of a shaft of hair, added Prof. Bryan Sykes, who is leading the project with Michel Sartori, director of the Lausanne Museum of Zoology.
A 1951 expedition to Mount Everest famously returned with photographs of giant footprints in the snow, fuelling speculation about giant Himalayan creatures, unknown to science.
Since then, many eye-witness reports of such creatures have emerged from remote regions of the world.
These humanoid beasties are variously known as the “yeti” or “migoi” in the Himalayas, “bigfoot” or “sasquatch” in North America, “almasty” in the Caucasus mountains and “orang pendek” in Sumatra, but there are many others.
Tests up to now have usually concluded that alleged yeti remains were in fact human. But, said Prof. Bryan Sykes, “there has been no systematic review of this material.”
The project will focus on an archive of remains held at the Lausanne museum that was assembled by Bernard Heuvelmans, a Belgian-French biologist who investigated reported yeti sightings from 1950 up to his death in 2001.
Other institutions and individuals will also be asked to send in details of any possible yeti material.
Aside from the yeti question, Prof. Bryan Sykes said he hoped the project would add to the growing body of knowledge on the interaction between different human species in the past.
“In the last two years it has become clear that there was considerable interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals … about 2% to 4% of the DNA of each individual European is Neanderthal,” he said.
Those who are favorable to the idea of as-yet undescribed creatures say the yeti and orang pendek could represent survivals of Homo erectus, Homo floresiensis (the Indonesian “Hobbit”) or Gigantopithecus – a giant ape that once inhabited the forests of East Asia. The idea has even spawned the term “cryptozoology” to describe the search for such beasts.
Others are highly skeptical of such tales, and consider the subject unworthy of serious scientific investigation.
Asked about the project’s chances of success, Prof. Bryan Sykes said: “The answer is, of course, I don’t know,” adding, “it’s unlikely, but on the other hand if we don’t examine it we won’t know.”
Researchers have found that chimpanzees and orangutans really do have personalities “like people”.
For years experts have debated whether great apes truly display human-like personalities – or if such behavior is simply the anthropomorphic projections of human observers.
The research team used a statistical technique to “remove” any biases apparent in human observers of the apes’ behavior, and they say their findings suggest man and ape really do share “personality dimensions”.
“[Chimpanzees] have the same social problems that we do, they want to make friends and find mates and sort of gain position within their society,” says team member Mark Adams, a researcher who conducted the research while studying for his PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK.
Dr. Alexander Weiss, senior lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, who also worked on the study, agrees that chimpanzee personality is “highly similar” to that of humans.
Researchers categorize human personality into five “dimensions”, sometimes known as “the big five”, he explains.
“Those dimensions are neuroticism, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness.”
Previous studies into non-human primates suggest that chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) share these five dimensions with people, whilst orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus and Pongo abelii) display three of the five: extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness.
These shared personality dimensions are best explained by our genetic similarities, says Dr. Alexander Weiss.
“Humans and chimps share a common ancestor about 4 to 6 million years ago.”
Researchers have found that chimpanzees and orangutans really do have personalities "like people"
The common ancestor for humans and orangutans is thought to have existed fifteen million years ago, which explains why chimpanzees and humans are more similar in personality than orangutans and humans, says Dr. Alexander Weiss.
There is continuing debate amongst experts as to whether scientists should use anthropomorphic projections when studying how animals behave.
Dr. Clive Wynne, professor of psychology at the University of Florida, Gainesville, US describes anthropomorphism as “a mistake” when “trying to understand animal behavior.”
“Human beings have a very natural tendency to project human agency into almost anything that moves,” he says.
“It’s very deeply ingrained into our ways of trying to understand the world around us.”
But despite our inevitable “human perspective” in the way we see the animal kingdom, he says, “since these animals are not us, although it is difficult, we should nonetheless struggle to get our own perspective out of the way and to try and see them for themselves.”
The research team carrying out the study, which features in the journal Animal Behaviour, wanted to test the extent to which human observers of chimpanzee and orangutan behavior might be biased in their reports.
“There’s sort of a fear that human observers and ‘raters’ are projecting their own ideas about personality on to these animals,” says Mark Adams.
But until now, this theory “hasn’t actually really been tested in great apes.”
Members of the research team – who also came from from Kyoto University in Japan and the University of Arizona, Tucson, US – issued questionnaires to around 230 people observing chimpanzees and orangutans in zoos and research centres in the US, Canada, Australia and Japan.
The survey described about 40 to 50 personality “items”, which when grouped together makes personality dimensions.
The human observers – called “raters” – were instructed to rate the apes’ behavior on a one-to-seven point scale for each personality item.
From the questionnaire results, the team determined the type of biases present in the raters’ observations of the animals.
“We used a statistical technique to remove these observer differences before extracting personality traits from the data,” explains Mark Adams.
“What we found is that controlling for these differences among observers made no difference, which suggests that the observers are not projecting their own ideas about personality onto the animals.”
Dr. Alexander Weiss says that the research “vindicates both the view that chimpanzees have personalities and perhaps the more controversial statement that their personalities are quite similar to those of humans.”
• Common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) share 98% of human genes and are mankind’s closest living relative. They are thought to be the most intelligent non-human animal
• Chimpanzees are known to modify sticks, rocks and leaves into “tools” to help the gather food such as ants, nuts and honey
• Orangutans are divided into two species: Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii)
• The word orangutan translates as “people of the forest”
• They are also capable of learning to use “tools” such as sticks to gather termites. This knowledge is then passed down through the generations
What is “animal personality”?
• Individual animals display different personalities across a range of species, including mammals, fish, birds, insects and molluscs
• These personality traits control whether individual animals are leaders or followers, bold or shy, aggressive or passive, for example. As with people, some animal’s personalities change as they age
• Great tits look for partners that are as outgoing as themselves, while zebra finches with similar personalities make better parents
• Some fallow deer are braver than others, spending less time looking out for predators and being more likely to try new foods
• A fish’s personality may determine how likely it is to be captured – with bold fish more likely to be hooked
US researchers from Stanford University have demonstrated a means to use short sections of DNA as rewritable data “bits” in living cells.
The technique uses two proteins adapted from viruses to “flip” the DNA bits.
Though it is at an early stage, the advance could help pave the way for computing and memory storage within biological systems.
The team reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says the tiny information storehouses may also be used to study cancer and aging.
The team, from Stanford University’s bioengineering department, has been trying for three years to fine-tune the biological recipe they use to change the bits’ value.
US researchers from Stanford University have demonstrated a means to use short sections of DNA as rewritable data "bits" in living cells
The bits comprise short sections of DNA that can, under the influence of two different proteins, be made to point in one of two directions within the chromosomes of the bacterium E. coli.
The data are then “read out” as the sections were designed to glow green or red when under illumination, depending on their orientation.
The two proteins, integrase and excisionase, were taken from a bacteriophage – a virus that infects bacteria. They are involved in the DNA modification process by which the DNA from a virus is incorporated into that of its host.
The trick was striking a balance between the two counteracting proteins in order to reliably switch the direction of the DNA section that acted as a bit.
After some 750 trials, the team struck on the right recipe of proteins, and now have their sights set on creating a full “byte” – eight bits – of DNA information that can be similarly manipulated.
The work is at the frontier of biological engineering, and senior author of the research Drew Endy said that applications of the approach are yet to come.
“I’m not even really concerned with the ways genetic data storage might be useful down the road, only in creating scalable and reliable biological bits as soon as possible,” Dr. Drew Endy said.
“Then we’ll put them in the hands of other scientists to show the world how they might be used.”
As the DNA sections maintained their logical value even as the bacteria doubled 90 times, one clear application would be in using the DNA bits as “reporter” bits on the proliferation of cells, for example in cancerous tissue.
But longer-term integrations of these computational components to achieve computing within biological systems are also on the researchers’ minds.
“One of the coolest places for computing is within biological systems,” Dr. Drew Endy said.
A United States institute has noticed that satellite images show that a ”major upgrade” is underway at North Korea’s rocket launch site Musudan-ri.
Work at the Musudan-ri site showed “rapid progress” since mid-2011, the analysis said.
The report came as Pyongyang accused Washington of trying to ”incite confrontation” over speculation it may carry out a third nuclear test.
North Korea ”never envisaged” such an act, said a foreign ministry spokesman.
The remarks followed a US warning that a nuclear test would lead to a “swift and sure response” from the region.
Glyn Davis, the US special envoy for North Korea policies, said on Monday that any such move by Pyongyang would be “a serious miscalculation”.
The satellite images, taken on 29 April of the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (also known as Musudan-ri) were analyzed by the 38north website of the US-Korea institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University.
A United States institute has noticed that satellite images show that a ''major upgrade'' is underway at North Korea's rocket launch site Musudan-ri
Citing fast progress on upgrading work, the analysis said: ”At the current pace of construction, the facilities should be operational by 2016-17.”
It also noted similarities between the North Korean buildings and those at Iran’s Semnan Missile and Space Center.
”Nevertheless, while the two countries have a long history of missile co-operation, it is too soon to tell whether that co-operation extends to the design and construction of this facility or the new long-range liquid-fuelled rocket,” it added.
Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear ambitions faced increased scrutiny in recent months, following the death of Kim Jong-Il last December and installation of his son Kim Jong-Un.
In the wake of North Korea’s failed rocket launch last month, South Korea also reported that preparations for a third nuclear test appeared to be under way.
In a statement on Tuesday, North Korea hit out at US comments on the possible test, saying the country had told the US that it was ”restraining” itself.
”From the beginning, we did not envisage such a military measure as a nuclear test as we planned to launch a scientific and technical satellite for peaceful purposes,” the ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by KCNA news agency.
There was still room for ”dialogue and negotiation” to resolve ”the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula”, the spokesman added, but this could not happen unless the US ”rolls up its hostile policy” towards North Korea.
”If the US persists in its moves to ratchet up sanctions and pressure upon us despite our peace-loving efforts, we will be left with no option but to take counter-measures for self-defense,” the spokesman said.
The US Department of State declined to comment on the 38north analysis, but responded briefly to North Korea’s statement.
“We’re going to be guided not by what they say, but what they do,” spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a press briefing.
Egyptians are starting to vote in their first free presidential election, 15 months after ousting Hosni Mubarak in the Arab Spring uprising.
Fifty million people are eligible to vote, and queues are forming at some polling stations.
The military council which assumed presidential power in February 2011 has promised a fair vote and civilian rule.
The election pits Islamists against secularists, and revolutionaries against Mubarak-era ministers.
The frontrunners are:
• Ahmed Shafiq, a former commander of the air force and briefly prime minister during February 2011 protests
• Amr Moussa, who has served as foreign minister and head of the Arab League
• Mohammed Mursi, who heads Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party
• Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist candidate.
Egyptians are starting to vote in their first free presidential election, 15 months after ousting Hosni Mubarak in the Arab Spring uprising
Until a new constitution is approved it is unclear what powers the president will have, prompting fears of friction with the military.
Voting began promptly at 08:00 local time, with queues observed at many Cairo polling stations growing longer by the minute.
“It’s a very big day,” said one woman. “This is a real great moment for the Egyptians to change.”
Another, when asked how long she had been waiting to vote, replied, with a laugh: “30 years.”
One man said it was most important for the new president to have his own programme.
“Actually he has to be in the revolution, or he has to be a strong part in the revolution. This is something which is not negotiable,” he said.
Mohammed Mursi was originally the Muslim Brotherhood’s reserve candidate, but he was thrust into the limelight after its first choice, Khairat al-Shater, was disqualified by the Higher Presidential Electoral Commission (HPEC) over an unresolved conviction.
The Brotherhood have nevertheless likened Mohammed Mursi, a US-educated engineer and MP, to an underrated football substitute.
“In any match there is the reserve who plays in the last 10 minutes, scores the goal and wins the match. Mursi is our reserve player,” said cleric Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud while addressing a crowd of Brotherhood supporters on Sunday.
A run-off vote is scheduled for 16 and 17 June if there is no outright winner.
There is also a potential clash waiting to happen with the military, which seems determined to retain its position as the power behind the president’s chair.
And the electorate does not know what powers the new president will have to do his job, as they are still waiting for them to be spelled out in a new constitution.
The election is being hailed as a landmark for Egyptians, who have the opportunity to choose their leader for the first time in the country’s 5,000-year recorded history.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), worried about potential post-election unrest, has sought to reassure Egyptians that it will be the voters themselves who decide who will be the next president.
“It is important that we all accept the election results, which will reflect the free choice of the Egyptian people, bearing in mind that Egypt’s democratic process is taking its first step and we all must contribute to its success,” it said in a statement on Monday.
The 15 months since Hosni Mubarak was forced from power has been turbulent, with continued violent protests and a deteriorating economy.
Foreign direct investment has reversed from $6.4 billion flowing into the country in 2010 to $500 million leaving it last year.
Tourism, a major revenue generator for the country, has also dropped by a third.
The new president will also have to reform the police to deal with the rash of crime that followed the uprising.
As many as a third of voters are reported to be undecided about which candidate to choose.
The Arab Spring began in Tunisia last year when weeks of protests forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power, inspiring pro-democracy activists across the Arab world.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in power for three decades, resigned on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of protests in Cairo and other cities.
Hosni Mubarak is on trial for his alleged role in the deaths of protesters, and a verdict in the case is due on 2 June.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, a senior Ukrainian Olympic official, has been suspended after a BBC investigation showed he was willing to unofficially sell 2012 tickets for cash.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to sell.
It is a criminal offence, punishable by fines of up to £20,000 ($32,000), to sell London 2012 tickets to touts.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko claimed he had “never planned to sell tickets in the UK”.
Ukrainian Olympic chief Sergei Bubka said he called Volodymyr Gerashchenko in Kiev on Tuesday to tell him he was suspended pending an investigation.
Strict rules, applying to countries outside the European Union, say tickets can only be sold to those who are resident within that country to stop tickets entering the black market.
BBC London has previously uncovered how some official ticket resellers were flouting the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act, designed to stop Olympic tickets entering the black market.
After receiving information that someone from Ukraine’s national Olympic committee might be prepared to sell tickets, a BBC reporter posing as an unauthorized ticket dealer from the UK spoke to Volodymyr Gerashchenko who confirmed he would be prepared to sell tickets.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, who has been general secretary of his national Olympic committee since 1997, told an undercover reporter: “I understand you’re a dealer – that’s why for me, you are priority number one, the top, the person, in case we have extra tickets to contact you, we contact you.”
Volodymyr Gerashchenko, of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee (NOC), told a reporter posing as a UK tout he would have up to 100 tickets to sell
During a subsequent meeting at a hotel near the Olympic Park in east London, Volodymyr Gerashchenko explained he was in the process of distributing tickets to Ukrainian fans, coaches and officials.
However, once this process had finished, he would be prepared to sell up to 100 spare tickets.
Asked by the undercover journalist if payment could be made by bank transfer he replied: “I think it is when it comes, better cash. Possible?
“Better cash and finished with it. I hope to arrive 10 July.”
When asked by the BBC why he was prepared to break Olympic rules and UK law in offering his country’s Olympic tickets on the black market, Volodymyr Gerashchenko claimed he had “never planned to sell tickets in the UK” and had been making “diplomatic talk to satisfy the persistent interest of the ticket dealer”.
Volodymyr Gerashchenko said: “We have more demand than the number of tickets so we will use all tickets allocated to the NOC of Ukraine. We will need more tickets and we will try to find them on the LOCOG Exchange page.”
He said that the meeting with the undercover reporter “was unofficial, with no intention to make any real deal”, either in writing or verbally.
Adding: “All points that [the reporter] mentioned were not [the] subject of any deal. I have nothing to propose. I did not have real tickets to sell.
“I agreed to do this meeting only for the reason not to offend the person from the host-country who asked me several times for a meeting.”
Former Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell MP has now called for an investigation.
“I think it’s shocking, here’s somebody who’s exploiting the system and if the charge against them is proven, the sanctions are very heavy,” she said.
A spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said: “We take these allegations very seriously indeed. If proven we will not hesitate to impose tough sanctions.”
Jeremy Summers, an expert in sports law who provided legal counsel at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, said the latest revelations were particularly embarrassing for the IOC.
“The IOC tried to sharpen its act for itself and the various other Olympic committees, following the scandals of the late 1990s (namely, allegations of bribery to win the right to host the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City).
“We’ve given a higher allocation of tickets to the NOCs than we’ve ever done before. It looks like it stinks. It’s something you shouldn’t be seeing happening.”
Olympic organizers, LOCOG and officers from the Metropolitan Police’s dedicated Operation Podium team have vowed to clamp down on unauthorized ticket reselling, which is expected to soar after the last remaining tickets go on sale to the public this week.
A London 2012 spokesperson said: “We take these allegations extremely seriously. We have asked the BBC for full access to the evidence and we will investigate straight away.
“If these allegations are true, we are prepared to take tough and immediate action.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We have made contact with BBC London as we would like to see all of the material which they have so that we can carry out a full assessment of it.”
Scotland Yard added: “The safest way for the public to purchase tickets for the Olympic and Paralympic Games is from the London 2012 website.
“If you buy from an unofficial site or from a tout, you risk paying over the odds for a ticket that may not exist, may not be genuine and you risk not getting to see the Games. Your personal details could even be used in other crimes.”
Ukraine secured 27 medals at the Beijing games, ranking the country at number 11 in the world in terms of medal achievement.
Israeli scientists say they have managed to turn patients’ own skin cells into healthy heart muscle in the lab.
Ultimately they hope this stem cell therapy could be used to treat heart failure patients.
As the transplanted cells are from the individual patient this could avoid the problem of tissue rejection, they told the European Heart Journal.
Early tests in animals proved promising but the experimental treatment is still years from being used in people.
Experts have increasingly been using stem cells to treat a variety of heart problems and other conditions like diabetes, Parkinsons disease or Alzheimer’s.
Israeli scientists say they have managed to turn patients' own skin cells into healthy heart muscle in the lab
Stem cells are important because they have the ability to become different cell types, and scientists are working on developing ways to get them to repair or regenerate damaged organs or tissues.
Researchers are looking at ways of fixing the damaged heart muscle.
In the latest study, the team in Israel took skin cells from two men with heart failure and mixed the cells up with a cocktail of genes and chemicals in the lab to create the stem cell treatment.
The cells that they created were identical to healthy heart muscle cells. When these beating cells were transplanted into a rat, they started to make connections with the surrounding heart tissue.
Lead researcher Prof. Lior Gepstein, said: “What is new and exciting about our research is that we have shown that it’s possible to take skin cells from an elderly patient with advanced heart failure and end up with his own beating cells in a laboratory dish that are healthy and young – the equivalent to the stage of his heart cells when just born.”
The researchers say more work is needed before they can begin trials in humans.
Katy Perry and Russell Brand have never confirmed the reasons for the dissolution of their marriage in anything but the vaguest terms, but all that could change in the wake of a new film that will feature their doomed union.
Katy Perry, 27, opened up to Ellen DeGeneres on her show about her new film, Part of Me, and how she decided to show a realistic account of her life in the feature, including her relationship with Russell Brand.
The singer’s news comes just a week after Russell Brand, 36, told Ellen DeGeneres that he still loves his estranged wife.
Ellen DeGeneres asked Katy Perry about the 3D documentary, saying to her: “Of course, you got married during that time and that didn’t turn out to last, is part of it still in there?”
Katy Perry opened up to Ellen DeGeneres about her new film, Part of Me, and how she decided to show a realistic account of her life in the feature, including her relationship with Russell Brand
Katy Perry told Ellen: “I thought it was important to show everything in between.
“I think sometimes people think that we’re perfect and we know we’re not perfect, at all.”
“I think it’s important to start breaking down the idea that to achieve your dream you always have to be perfect or flawless or live in some kind of fantasy world. So that’s why I decided to put everything into the film,” Katy Perry said.
“In the most tasteful way. But mostly it’s about how I go there and the ride along the way which can be bumpy but mostly it was extremely fun.”
Some reports suggested that Katy Perry had cut Russell Brand from the footage, but this interview finally lays those rumors to rest.
The couple have been granted go ahead for a divorce but it will not be finalized until July, because California law requires a waiting period of six months.
They split just two months after their first wedding anniversary.
Katy Perry was said to have been “blindsided” when Russell Brand filed for divorce just after Christmas.
The move came after the pair enjoyed separate holidays over the festivities, Katy Perry in Hawaii and Russell Brand in his native England.
They have both moved on, Russell Brand has been linked to Brazilian artist Oriela Medallin and David Hasselhoff’s ex Anouska De Georgiou, while Katy Perry has had flings with Baptiste Giabiconi and Florence the Machine guitarist Robert Ackroyd.
Brad Pitt has revealed that despite the recent announcement of his engagement to Angelina Jolie they have not set a date yet.
While it was widely rumored Brad Pitt planned to wed Angelina Jolie this year, at the photocall for new film Killing Them Softly he was quick to dispel talk.
“We truly have no date. I’m still hoping we’ll figure out our marriage equality in the States before then,” Brad Pitt, 48, said referring to the debate in the US over same sex marriage.
And he hinted that part of the reason may lay in Angelina Jolie’s filming commitments.
When Brad Pitt was asked about the whereabouts of Angelina Jolie, he explained she was away preparing for a new film role.
Brad Pitt has revealed that despite the recent announcement of his engagement to Angelina Jolie they have not set a date yet
Angelina Jolie was expected to wow the red carpet last night at the gala screening of Brad Pitt’s film Killing Them Softly, which premieres today.
Brad Pitt looked the epitome of cool as he showed up in a youthful look, which consisted of light summer suit, which he matched with a white T-shirt and white pumps.
He showed off his longer hair style, which has now grown to just above his shoulders, while he wore his facial hair in a goatee style.
Brad Pitt drew the crowds as he showed up in his effortless style while hordes of fans tried to get a glimpse of the actor.
The actor happily posed for photographs as he arrived in his chauffeur driven car while he wore sunglasses on his face.
Brad Pitt smiled during the photo call, before he was spotted taking a break as he chatted to friends.
It marked a rare break for Brad Pitt from his brood, as he stepped out minus partner Angelina Jolie and their six children.
But he obviously wanted to get to work promoting the Andrew Dominick film, in which he will play a contract killer alongside stars including Scoot McNairy, Ray Liotta, Vince Curatola, and Ben Mendelson.
Although Brad Pitt said he wasn’t troubled by violence in movies.
The actor was speaking at a press conference after the world premiere screening of the film and said that violence is an accepted part of the gangster world and noted that violence goes hand in hand with crime.
Brad Pitt said he would have little problem with his children watching violent movies when they’re older.
“I would find playing a racist more unsettling than playing someone who shoots someone in the face,” he declared.
“We live in such a violent world,” Brad Pitt said and then asked people who love hamburgers to think about the killing involved in creating that burger.
“I don’t see a world without violence,” he added.
The film Killing Them Softly suggests that murder in a gangland setting is acceptable. One of the movie’s key moments has Brad Pitt and a Mob lawyer, played by Richard Jenkins, discussing the execution of some robbers as a simple business transaction.
Indeed one line in the film is sure to become much quoted. Brad Pitt’s character says to Richard Jenkins: “America’s not a country, it’s just a business.”
Killing Them Softly was having its gala screening in Cannes tonight.
It uses the gangster genre, and humor, to make larger points, not always successfully, about the state of the economy.
Ray J has been hospitalized seeking treatment for “exhaustion and jet lag” after Billboard Music Awards.
Ray J, 31, is also believed to have had a run-in with Whitney Houston’s family at the Billboard Awards on Sunday night which may have thrown him off course.
The singer and producer, who was dating Whitney Houston in the months before her death, was reportedly left “extremely upset” following a confrontation with Pat Houston.
Despite remaining for the star-studded event – and later hosting a party with Sophie Monk – it was the following morning that he was found.
Ray J has been hospitalized seeking treatment for “exhaustion and jet lag” after Billboard Music Awards
TMZ report that someone ventured into Ray J’s hotel room on Monday morning and discovered he was “out of it” and couldn’t get out of bed.
He was said to have been “extremely disoriented” before whisked away by ambulance.
However, Ray J’s publicist is blaming the medical attention on the fact he’s been lacking a few nights of 40 winks recently.
The statement said: “Ray J has been in a Las Vegas area hospital since the early morning of Monday and will remain there for treatment for exhaustion and jet lag.
“Ray J was in Las Vegas hosting a launch party (with Sophie) for the product he is endorsing, Prince Reigns Hair Serum, and to attend the Billboard Music Awards.
“Ray J had just returned to the US from a quick 32-hour round trip from China where he performed a concert and had meetings regarding a new business.
“Upon landing, he immediately drove four hours to Las Vegas for the two events.”
Ray J has not tweeted since last Friday, when he told fans: “I’m in the Las Vegas of HongKong (sic).”
Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney Houston’s daughter, is being probed for alleged underage gambling in Las Vegas.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 19, was apparently caught on video at a slot machine in the MGM Grand Resort and Casino with her boyfriend Nick Gordon, 23, the Daily Star reported.
The legal age for gambling in Nevada is 21.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, Whitney Houston’s daughter, is being probed for alleged underage gambling in Las Vegas
The MGM Grand launched an internal investigation after celebrity news site TMZ.com posted the footage.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board is also investigating and its chairman Mark Lipparelli said they were also looking into whether casino employees let her gamble.
MGM Resorts spokesman Gordon Absher said the company would “co-operate fully with the Gaming Control Board”.
Underage gambling is an offence in Nevada, punishable by up to six months in jail or a fine.
Robin Gibb was the gaunt Bee Gee, the one with the tombstone teeth and extraordinary voice, a high, plaintive tenor.
But Robin Gibb’s voice and song-writing abilities, allied with the musical talents of his twin Maurice and older brother Barry, were to sell more than 220 million Bee Gees records in a career that was to last for nearly half a century.
As a song-writing partnership, the Gibb brothers were prolific, second only to John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their success. Not only did they write numerous hits for themselves, they also created hits for many other artists.
Even though after the death of Maurice, Robin Gibb never recorded again as a Bee Gee with Barry, he didn’t stop writing and recording.
A complex, often contradictory character, one of his passions was to highlight Britain’s debt to the country’s troops. Last year, he recorded a charity version of Gotta Get A Message To You with soldiers for the Poppy Appeal. Robin Gibb was also a major supporter and fund-raiser for the Bomber Command Memorial being built in London’s Green Park.
Barry Gibb would always be perceived as the leader, but the strength of the Bee Gees’ partnership lay in their musical equality. The three brothers complemented each other perfectly.
The Bee Gees in 1975
Yet their father, the leader of a small seaside hotel band, didn’t immediately spot the boys’ talents.
Barry Gibb once said: “One day, our parents heard us singing in harmony. They thought the sound must be coming from the radio.”
Robin Gibb explained: “Neither of our parents were aware we could harmonize instinctively. The only thing my brothers and I cared about was composing. We didn’t have any friends or many interests except music.
“In a way we were like the Brontes, complete in ourselves. We didn’t need outsiders. Composing made us happy. We loved it. It was never about money; it was about being recognized and liked.”
Robin and Maurice Gibb were just eight when they made their first public appearance at a children’s competition at the Gaumont Cinema in Manchester in 1957.
They’d planned to mime to an Everly Brothers record, but having dropped and broken it on their way to the cinema, they decided to sing live.
The output of original Gibbs’ songs was prodigious and astonishingly mature. Always highly sensitive, fastidious and reclusive, some of the subjects Robin Gibb chose to write about were very dark for a teenager.
Gotta Get A Message To You was inspired by a news story about a man about to be executed in the U.S. for murdering his wife’s lover.
The Bee Gees’ first British No 1, Massachusetts, was written on their first visit to New York.
“Ninety per cent of it is mental telepathy,” Robin Gibb explained.
“I’d had this line <<The lights all went out in Massachusetts>> in my head all day, and I mentioned it to Barry.
“He said <<I’ve already got the tune for it>> – so we wrote it that night. Maurice did the arrangement.”
The magic really struck in 1977. They were recording in Florida with U.S. producer Arif Mardin and had just come up with Jive Talkin’, an anthem for the disco craze, when their manager Robert Stigwood decided to produce the film Saturday Night Fever.
Within a few weeks, the brothers had recorded five classics – How Deep Is Your Love, Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, If I Can’t Have You and More Than A Woman. It became one of the most popular movie soundtracks of all time.
The result was the reinvented Bee Gees of legend: the Florida tanned boys with the big hair, dazzling white teeth and suits, and Barry Gibb’s new, breathy falsetto.
In what were jokingly called the “helium years”, their success couldn’t have been greater.
Robin Gibb was an unusual pop star. He was more serious than his brothers and could be withdrawn. But as TV appearances in the last few years showed, he was political (a supporter of the Labour Party), intelligent, articulate and an enthusiastic charity fund-raiser.
Always his own man, the many songs he and his brothers created will outlive him by generations.
Robin Gibb never had much time for the real world and he preferred to live in his own musical never-never land, which, for him, transcended the vagaries of everyday life.
“I’m at my happiest when I’m absorbed in the creative process,” Robin Gibb once said.
“Art is about for ever, beauty and immortality. I don’t think of death. That’s for other people.”
Sadly, it wasn’t.
Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees’ brilliant lyricist, died on Sunday at the age of 62 after contracting pneumonia while battling against cancer of the colon and subsequently of the liver.
His wife Dwina, 59, daughter Melissa, 37, and sons Spencer, 40, and Robin-John, 29, were with him.
The sad irony of the timing of Robin Gibb’s death will not have been lost on his family. Over the past year he had worked feverishly to complete his first classical work, the Titanic Requiem, to mark the centenary of the sinking of the doomed ship. He fell into a coma in hospital on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
“I think it’s one of my best pieces. I’m very proud of it,” he said when he played the piece before its release.
Intense and fast-talking, Robin Gibb abhorred rules and for the most part lived outside them in his 11th- century former monastery home in Thame, Oxfordshire, where the tennis court had been ripped up and replaced with a druidic stone circle.
Robin Gibb drew a sense of calm from the property’s history. But his mind was rarely at rest.
With his twin Maurice (35 minutes his junior), who died from a ruptured intestine in 2003, and older brother Barry, the Bee Gees’ fertile imaginations gave us such pop classics as Stayin’ Alive, How Deep Is Your Love and Night Fever.
Robin Gibb once said: “An artist is someone who uses art to run away from reality. There are no rules and regulations in the creative world.”
Nor, it seems, in his 28-year marriage to bisexual Dwina, 59, a member of the Daughters of Brahma (a Hindu sect that teaches celibacy) and patroness of the order of the druids.
Three years ago, Robin Gibb fathered a daughter, Snow Robin, during an affair with the family’s housekeeper, Claire Yang. Not surprisingly, the child’s birth made headlines when it was made public.
Last night a friend said: “Robin adored all his children and there is no question that Snow Robin will continue to be cared for.”
The little girl and her mother were originally relocated to a luxury converted barn four miles from the Robin Gibbs’s mansion.
They then moved to a £1.5 million ($2.4 million) Tudor-style detached house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, for which Robin Gibb paid the £2,590 ($4,100)-a-month rent, but are believed to be living in a converted barn on Gibb’s Oxfordshire estate.
Following the revelations, Dwina was painted colorfully with talk about her sexuality, reading fortunes with tarot cards and a belief in reincarnation. She spoke about little orbs she’d seen around the house, believing them to be spirits from another life.
Robin Gibb and his wife Dwina Waterfield in 1983
However, Robin Gibb didn’t share her beliefs.
“I don’t have a faith in an after-life,” he said.
“This is it. You’ve got to grab life.”
Indeed, Robin Gibb had set out to live his as colorfully as possible, creating with his brothers a world of music to escape a childhood of genuine, tummy-rumbling poverty.
Born on the Isle of Man, the Gibbs moved around Britain as their father, a struggling musician, sought work to feed his five children: daughter Lesley, Barry, Maurice, Robin and the youngest son, Andy.
Talking about the bond he shared with Barry and Maurice, Robin Gibb said: “The real world was just too real – and we didn’t want to be a part of normal life. We wanted to create a magical world for the three of us, and the only way we could do that was to lock ourselves away and be creative.”
Maurice and Robin Gibb started singing harmonies at the age of six, practicing in the bathroom. In 1958, the family emigrated to Australia, where the three elder brothers launched their recording career.
They sang on local radio and TV stations and were soon making records. Their song Spicks And Specks became a huge hit in Australia. Before long, they were supporting their entire family, and moved back to England in 1967.
After a first flurry of success, their popularity waned and they were reduced to touring northern working men’s clubs. By 1974 they thought they were finished.
Then they experimented with a new sound – the emphasis being on dance rhythms, high harmonies and a funk beat.
Barry Gibb sang falsetto for the first time, and with Jive Talkin’ they suddenly found audiences in love with their music. It shot to No. 1 and was the first of many hits.
Their songs brought them enormous wealth. Robin Gibb was worth £140 million ($225 million) and he owned a £3 million ($4.8 million) mansion in Florida, which he loaned to Tony and Cherie Blair for a holiday in 2006.
Personal happiness, however, was to prove more elusive.
Aged 18, Robin Gibb married his first love, Molly Hullis, a secretary in the office of The Beatles’ first manager, Brian Epstein. While courting, the couple survived the 1967 Hither Green train crash in South-East London, which killed 49 people.
Robin Gibb later recalled: “I remember it vividly – children were trapped, passengers were being given anaesthetics to have their limbs removed. It was horrendous, like Dante’s Inferno.”
The tragedy left him with the view that “the past is just a memory and tomorrow is only what we imagine”.
By the time Robin Gibb was in his early 20s, he and Molly Hullis – who was three years his senior – had two children. But he had become increasingly dependent on amphetamines to stay up all night recording.
He wasn’t eating or sleeping and his ‘medication’ made him increasingly paranoid and unpredictable. He was anxious about being mobbed by fans and ranted about erecting crush barriers everywhere that he and his brothers went.
His marriage began to fall apart. He admitted he hadn’t spent as much time with Molly as he should have done.
“She wanted more of a home and roots. Because of my nature and work, I needed to keep changing my environment.”
Robin Gibb later blamed his infidelity on his high sex drive.
“I didn’t have sex for love, just for fun,” he admitted
In a radio interview, he joked about having had threesomes and “cruising” for sex, not realizing it would make headlines around the world. (He would later give second wife Dwina a blue Jaguar sports car by way of an apology for causing her such embarrassment).
While Molly Hullis raised their two young children at their home in Surrey, Robin enjoyed countless one-night stands in America – more than 100 by his own estimation.
Robin Gibb recalled: “They were mostly a distraction – almost like notches on a belt.”
The couple’s divorce was acrimonious and a bitter custody battle resulted in Robin Gibb being banned by a court from seeing his children.
The singer shut himself away for two years, cried, slept all day and hit the bottle.
“At times, I felt as though I was going to die from complete misery. I felt I was on the verge of madness,” he said.
“Looking back, I realize I might not have come out of it alive. But I never took serious drugs like LSD or cocaine. I was scared stiff of them.”
Eventually Robin Gibb met Dwina, someone who did understand his need for space within a relationship.
He controversially claimed she had given her “blessing” to his many affairs.
“We don’t go round joined at the hip because we’re married. We’ve been liberal-minded, but I don’t think we’ve actually used the phrase open marriage,” Robin Gibb said.
“She gives me my individual freedom and space to be creative.”
The couple also indulged in voyeurism, with Robin Gibb watching as Dwina made love to lesbian partners. Robin Gibb once said: “I was thinking as I lay in bed last night, with my wife and her lover on either side of me, that I’m thoroughly spoiled.”
Dwina was understanding when he admitted to having had affairs with some of her friends, but he is believed to have hurt her deeply by fathering Snow Robin with their housekeeper.
For her part, Dwina has always refused to talk publicly about what happened, and stayed with Robin Gibb only after much soul-searching.
In fact, Robin Gibb would have crumbled without her. After all, she had supported him through the deaths of his younger brother Andy – a singer who died in 1988 aged 30 from a heart condition following years of drink and drug abuse – and his twin Maurice in 2003.
Pole axed by his final illness, Robin Gibb was someone who wanted desperately to live.
Despite his previous addiction to amphetamines, he had given up cigarettes, didn’t drink and ate more healthily, though he remained painfully thin.
In his last years, Robin Gibb sweated out toxins for 20 minutes a day in a detoxification hut.
“How does anyone protect themselves against illness?” he asked.
“I only smoked about three cigarettes a day.
“You can have the best lifestyle, do all the right things and still have these things happen to you.
“You get people who drink like a fish, eat rubbish food and they live long into their 90s without any problem.”
As the cancer began to take hold, he spent more and more time in his musical never-neverland with youngest son Robin-John and Dwina.
“I don’t think about the physical world and having a good time,” he said.
“I have a good time creating. The most important thing in life is to be what you want to be.”
Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of phone maker Motorola Mobility has been completed days after it received approval from the Chinese government.
Chinese authorities said Google must keep its mobile software, Android, free for other device makers for up to five years.
The acquisition is Google’s biggest to date.
The internet search giant has also named a new management team for the phone handset maker.
Motorola is a leading manufacturer of smartphones and other devices.
Google's $12.5 billion purchase of phone maker Motorola Mobility has been completed days after it received approval from the Chinese government
Google’s takeover of the business allows it to move into the manufacturing of phones and tablet computers for the first time.
Google’s chief executive, Larry Page, said in a blog post that there were people using devices now who may never use a desktop machine: “The phones in our pockets have become supercomputers that are changing the way we live. It’s now possible to do things we used to think were magic, or only possible on Star Trek- like get directions right from where we are standing; watch a video on YouTube; or take a picture and share the moment instantly with friends.”
Larry Page added that Motorola had a long history in technological development: “Motorola is a great American tech company that has driven the mobile revolution, with a track record of over 80 years of innovation, including the creation of the first cell phone.”
He said he saw the new business producing “the next generation of mobile devices that will improve lives for years to come”.
The purchase gives Google access to more than 17,000 of the company’s valuable patents.
The Chinese authorities cleared the deal on condition that Google keeps its mobile software, Android, free for other device makers for up to five years.
The European Commission also approved the deal, but it did not conclude there was an issue with Android, saying it was unlikely that Google would restrict the use of Android solely to Motorola, which is a minor player in the European Economic Area.
Henry River Mill Village, the American village used to portray District 12 in the film version of The Hunger Games, is going up for sale.
The run-down, coal-mining area is an abandoned textile mill from the 1920s called Henry River Mill Village in North Carolina.
The Profiles in History auction house says it will be sold for at least $1.2 million in July.
District 12 is home to the heroes of The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark and Gale Hawthorne.
The 72 acres of land includes 22 buildings, woodlands, hills and a pond.
It is being sold by its owner, 83-year-old Wade Shepherd, who said he had become overwhelmed when the property turned into a hot spot for Hunger Games fans coming to see the Everdeens’ shanty home and the Mellark family bakery.
Henry River Mill Village, the American village used to portray District 12 in the film version of The Hunger Games, is going up for sale
Profiles in History, which specialises in auctioning Hollywood memorabilia, says its estimate is based on the land’s value and doesn’t include any mark-up based on its ties with the film.
“It’s a really unique opportunity to take people behind the scenes of the film and book,” said auctioneer Joe Maddalena.
“When Lionsgate came to film, they didn’t have to change a thing.
“The buildings are identical and it’s really eerie when you’re there, standing in Katniss’ house.”
The uninhabited village is listed as a private property on North Carolina’s official tourism site, which promotes a four-day Hunger Games tour that includes a visit to District 12.
Visitors, however, are not allowed to explore the land on their own.
The Hunger Games is based on the first book of a science-fiction trilogy by Suzanne Collins.
It sees 24 children sent to fight to the death in an annual televised event in future nation of Panem, in which Katniss Everdeen becomes an unlikely heroine for the oppressed.
The film, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, broke box office records after its release in March.
District 12 also plays a key role in the second book of the trilogy, Catching Fire.
The auctioneer said future owners of the village may have the opportunity to work with Lionsgate for shooting the next film.
Jose Mourinho has signed a new four-year contract to remain as manager of Real Madrid until 2016.
Jose Mourinho, 49, took over at Real in 2010 and guided his team to success in the Copa del Rey in his first campaign in charge.
This season, the Portuguese led Real Madrid to their first league title in four years.
Jose Mourinho has signed a new four-year contract to remain as manager of Real Madrid until 2016
Jose Mourinho won the Premier League twice with Chelsea and has won domestic and Champions League titles with both Porto and Inter Milan.
Real went out of their domestic cup competition at the quarter-final stage this season, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Barcelona and lost on penalties in the Champions League semi-finals to defeated finalists Bayern Munich.
But they won La Liga by nine points, their 32nd title in all but their first since 2007-08. Their totals of 100 points and 121 goals were new Primera Division records.
A man in his 40s survived and was lifted to safety during a harrowing rescue after he plunged at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt.
The unidentified man was only the third person known to have gone over the falls without a safety device and lived.
Niagara Parks Police say witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing at 10:20 a.m. on Monday and “deliberately jump” above Horseshoe Falls and into the Niagara River.
Parks police Sgt. Chris Gallagher, the first rescuer to reach the man, told the Toronto Sun: “We have confirmed reports from witnesses that he entered [the water] above the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and was swept over the falls.”
A man in his 40s survived and was lifted to safety during a harrowing rescue after he plunged at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt
He surfaced in the river basin near an observation platform.
“He waded ashore,” said Platoon Chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Department.
“He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.”
“That’s another stroke of luck,” Dan Orescanin said.
“If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river.”
Dan Orescanin said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He appeared to have chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung, Dan Orescanin said.
Breathtaking images showed the victim and his rescuer dangling high above the falls by an aerial fire truck.
A waiting helicopter flew him to a hospital, where a spokeswoman said he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries, which was echoed by rescue personnel.
Dan Orescanin told the Sun: “He had some abrasions to the head and rest of his body. He was in good condition, considering.”
Niagara Parks Police say it appears the jump was a suicide attempt.
It was the first time since March 11, 2009 that someone survived a jump into the falls.
On that day, the 30-year-old Canadian man, who was never identified, survived after he plummeted into the water, but suffered from a contusion on his head and severe hypothermia.
Kirk Jones of Michigan became the first person to survive the leap on October 20, 2003, suffering only bruises, scrapes and battered ribs.
Whitney Houston’s final record, a duet with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, has been released.
The disco-inspired track, Celebrate, came out on Monday ahead of the late singer’s upcoming film, Sparkle.
Sparkle, which tells the story of three sisters who become Motown stars, is a re-make of the 1976 film of the same name.
Whitney Houston plays Jordin Sparks’s mother in the movie, which will be released in August in the US.
Whitney Houston's final record, a duet with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, has been released
The film also stars singer Cee Lo Green.
Jordin Sparks paid tribute to Whitney Houston at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, with a rendition of I Will Always Love You.
She presented a posthumous award to Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Whitney Houston’s last big movie was The Preacher’s Wife in 1996.
She also had leading roles in Waiting to Exhale and The Bodyguard, opposite Kevin Costner.
Whitney Houston, one of the world’s best known singers in the ’80s and ’90s, was found dead in a Los Angeles hotel room on the eve of the Grammy Awards in February.
The European Commission has said Google has “a matter of weeks” to allay concerns it is abusing its dominant position in the search engine market.
An investigation by Europe’s antitrust head Joaquin Almunia looked at whether Google gave preferential treatment to its own services in its search results.
Joaquin Almunia said the company must now “offer remedies” swiftly.
A Google spokesman said the company disagreed with the conclusions, but would work to resolve the matter.
“We’re happy to discuss any concerns they might have,” Google spokesman Al Verney said.
“Competition on the web has increased dramatically in the last two years since the commission started looking at this and the competitive pressures Google faces are tremendous.”
An investigation by Europe's antitrust head Joaquin Almunia looked at whether Google gave preferential treatment to its own services in its search results
The commission had been investigating Google since November 2010 following complaints from several rivals.
In a statement, Joaquin Almunia said Google had the chance to outline steps to address the claims, rather than face formal action.
“Should this process fail to deliver a satisfactory set of remedies, the ongoing formal proceedings will of course continue,” he said.
The investigation outlined four areas where Google’s practices “may be considered as abuses of dominance”, Joaquin Almunia said.
Those practices are:
• The manner in which Google displays “its own vertical search services differently” from other, competing products.
• How Google “copies content” from other websites – such as restaurant reviews – to include within their own services.
• The “exclusivity” Google has to sell advertising around search terms people use.
• Restrictions surrounding portability of advertising content which prevents “seamless transfer” to other non-Google platforms.
Joaquin Almunia said he had outlined these concerns in a letter to Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
The body of climber missing on Mountain Everest has been found today, bringing the death toll from the weekend to four, Nepali officials say.
The body of Chinese climber Ha Wenyi, 55, was spotted close to where three others died at the weekend, mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha told news agency AP.
The three were from South Korea, Germany and Canada.
All died while returning from the mountain’s summit, officials say.
The body of climber missing on Mountain Everest has been found today, bringing the death toll from the weekend to four
Ha Wenyi’s body was found by climbers in an area near the top of the 8,848-metre peak where Nepali-born Canadian Shriya Shah, 32, German Eberhard Schaaf, 61, and South Korean Song Won-bin, 44, also died.
But a Nepalese guide who was previously reported missing had reached the base camp, Gyanendra Shrestha said.
More than 300 climbers belonging to 33 different teams have received official permits to climb the mountain from the Nepali side this season, said mountaineering official Dipendra Poudel.
That figure does not include local Nepalese who are assisting the climbers, working as porters or helpers.
The mountain’s worst-ever climbing season was in 1996, when 15 climbers died, eight of them in one day.
A key US Senate committee has reported a vast numbers of counterfeit Chinese electronic parts are being used in the country’s military equipment.
A year-long probe found 1,800 cases of fake parts in US military aircraft, the Senate Armed Services Committee found.
More than 70% of an estimated one million suspect parts were traced back to China, the report said.
The report blamed weaknesses in the US supply chain, and China’s failure to curb the counterfeit market.
The failure of a key part could pose safety and national security risks and lead to higher costs for the Pentagon, the committee said.
US servicemen rely on a variety of “small, incredibly sophisticated electronic components” found in night vision systems, radios and GPS devices and the failure of a single part could put a soldier at risk, the report said.
It highlighted suspect counterfeit parts in SH-60B helicopters used by the Navy, in C-130J and C-27J cargo planes and in the Navy’s P-8A Poseidon plane.
A key US Senate committee has reported a vast numbers of counterfeit Chinese electronic parts are being used in the country’s military equipment
After China, the UK and Canada were found to be the next-largest source countries for fake parts.
The committee criticized China for failing to shut down counterfeit manufacturers and said that committee staff wanting to travel to China for the investigation had not been granted visas.
“Counterfeit electronic parts are sold openly in public markets in China,” the report said.
“Rather than acknowledging the problem and moving aggressively to shut down counterfeiters, the Chinese government has tried to avoid scrutiny,” it added.
But the report said that use of Department of Defense programmes such as the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP), designed to log suspected fake parts, were “woefully lacking”.
Between 2009 and 2010 the GIDEP only received 217 reports relating to suspected fake counterfeit components, the majority of which were filed by just six companies, it said. Only 13 reports came from government agencies.
The report also said that in some cases the US defense department had reimbursed contractors for the costs they incurred as a result of their failure to spot fake components in their own supply chain – giving companies no incentive to weed out counterfeits themselves.
But it praised the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law on 31 December 2011 by President Barack Obama, which aims to stop counterfeit parts from entering the country and would cut down on sourcing components from unknown suppliers.
The report’s focus on China comes as the US is beginning the task of “pivoting” its defense strategy towards the Asia-Pacific region.
The Pentagon is also preparing to absorb about $450 billion of cuts over the next decade.
But it could face cutbacks of a further $500 billion if mandatory across-the-board spending cuts come into effect at the end of 2012, after Congress failed to reach a deficit reduction plan last year.
SpaceX has successfully launched Dragon mission to re-supply the space station, the first cargo delivery to the orbiting outpost by a private company.
The firm’s Falcon rocket, topped by an unmanned Dragon freight capsule, lifted clear of its Florida pad at 03:44 EDT.
The initial climb to an altitude some 340 km above the Earth lasted a little under 10 minutes.
Within moments of being ejected, Dragon opened its solar panels.
SpaceX has successfully launched Dragon mission to re-supply the space station, the first cargo delivery to the orbiting outpost by a private company
It will take a couple of days to reach the station. The plan currently is for the vessel to demonstrate its guidance, control and communications systems on Thursday, at a distance of 2.5 km from the International Space Station (ISS).
If those practice proximity manoeuvres go well, Dragon will be allowed to drive to within 10 m of the station on Friday. Astronauts inside the platform will then grab the ship with a robotic arm and berth it to the 400 km-high structure.
They will empty Dragon of its 500 kg of food, water and equipment, before releasing it for a return to Earth at the end of the month.
The mission has major significance because it marks a big change in the way the US wants to conduct its space operations.
NASA is attempting to offload routine human spaceflight operations in low-Earth orbit to commercial industry in a way similar to how some large organizations contract out their IT or payroll.
The carriage of freight will be the first service to be bought in from external suppliers; the transport of astronauts to and from the station will be the second, later this decade.
The US agency hopes these changes will save it money that can then be invested in exploration missions far beyond Earth, at destinations such as asteroids and Mars.
SpaceX has many new systems it has to demonstrate in the coming days, and has tried to lower expectations ahead of the mission.
NASA has set the California company a series of development milestones. Only when those have been met fully will a $1.6 billion ISS re-supply contract kick in.
The agency is also looking to engage a second cargo partner. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Virginia is slightly behind SpaceX in its development schedule, although it started work on its Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule system later. Orbital expects to fly a first mission to the vicinity of the ISS later this year or early in 2013.
Ronald Reagan Foundation has expressed outrage after a vial said to contain the former US president’s blood was put on sale in an online auction.
British-based PFC Auctions says the blood sample was taken from Ronald Reagan after the failed 1981 assassination attempt against him.
The PFC website put the latest bid for the vial at £6,270 ($9,910) on Tuesday.
John Heubusch, executive director of the foundation, said that, if true, it would fight to stop “this craven act”.
“If indeed this story is true, it’s a craven act and we will use every legal means to stop its sale or purchase,” he said.
British-based PFC Auctions says the blood sample was taken from Ronald Reagan after the failed 1981 assassination attempt against him
John Heubusch said the hospital where Ronald Reagan had been treated had assured the foundation that an inquiry was under way into “how something like this could possibly happen”.
PFC Auctions, based on Guernsey in the British Channel Islands, displayed a picture of the vial on its website bearing a label showing the president’s name.
The lot includes a letter of provenance from the seller who says their late mother worked at the laboratory which carried out blood testing for George Washington University Hospital after Mr Reagan was shot.
“These articles have actually been in my family’s possession since… the day that President Reagan was shot in Washington DC,” the letter reads.
Ronald Reagan suffered a punctured lung and internal bleeding when he was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton Hotel.
John Hinckley Jr. was later found not guilty by reason of insanity and is being treated at a psychiatric hospital.
Ronald Reagan, who went on to serve two terms as president, died at the age of 93 in 2004.
