Jennifer Lopez presents her new video for her single Follow The Leader, a collaboration with Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel.
The new video clip – which was released on Twitter – sees Jennifer Lopez waking up topless in a plush apartment in Acapulco Mexico, when she receives a message saying “Wanna play?” from Wisin.
She shows off two pretty impressive new “tattoos” on her back and chest as she sits topless on the bed.
The fake tattoo shown on J-Lo’s chest as she sits up spells “Lideres”, meaning “leader” in Spanish.
JLo stretches, then puts on a black top and tight trousers, and starts an epic chase around the city with the Winsen and , leaping across the streets and through buildings, offering a Crouching Tuger Hidden Dragon-style tour.
These scenes are interspersed with shots of JLo dancing on a rooftop in plastic black trousers and a gold and black top.
Jennifer Lopez presents her new video for her single Follow The Leader, a collaboration with Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel
At 42 Jennifer Lopez still boasts the same incredible figure, and moves that dancers in their twenties would envy.
Wearing her favorite bronze make-up, with pretty pink lips for a pretty, fresh look, JLo could easily pass for a woman ten years younger.
Of course there was never any question of her stunning looks and talents not stealing the show, considering her boyfriend Casper Smart, 25, directed the shoot.
JLo’ song lyrics certainly show no sign of getting less steamy, including lines such as: “Baby, the way that I’m working my body, Can tell that you already like it, I make you lose your cabeza.”
The superstar is already gearing up for her forthcoming MEGA 2012 Tour tour- and this time she’s bringing her four-year-old twins Max and Emme along with her.
The tour, which will be a joint venture with Enrique Iglesias, will kick off in Montreal, Canada, on July 14 and continue across North America, including stops in Washington, Los Angeles and Miami.
Adlene Hicheur, a French physicist at the prestigious CERN laboratory has been sentenced to five years in prison for plotting terrorist attacks.
Adlene Hicheur was arrested in 2009 after police intercepted his emails to an alleged contact in al-Qaeda.
The emails suggested Algerian-born Adlene Hicheur was willing to be part of an “active terrorist unit”, attacking targets in France.
Defense lawyers argued that their client had never been part of a plot.
Adlene Hicheur, who is a particle physicist, worked as a researcher studying the origins of the universe at CERN.
His father embraced him in the Paris courtroom before he was taken away to prison.
Adlene Hicheur, 35, has already spent two and a half years in jail while awaiting trial.
He came under suspicion when threatening messages were sent to President Nicolas Sarkozy in early 2008.
The security services uncovered a series of email exchanges between Adlene Hicheur and an alleged al-Qaeda member called Mustapha Debchi.
After his arrest in 2009 police found a large quantity of Islamist literature at his parents’ home.
At the start of his trial the scientist admitted that he had been going through a psychologically “turbulent” time in his life when he wrote the emails.
Adlene Hicheur had suffered a serious back injury, for which he had been taking morphine.
But he always denied he intended to carry out any attacks.
His lawyer, Patrick Baudouin, described the verdict as “scandalous”.
“Everything has been done to demonize him,” he said.
Adlene Hicheur has not yet decided whether or not to appeal.
If he decides not to, with time off for good behavior, he should be released soon, Patrick Baudouin said.
French magistrates have asked for a new investigation into alleged rape involving former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The magistrates in Lille are already investigating DSK over his suspected role in a prostitution ring.
A Belgian prostitute has alleged that Dominique Strauss-Kahn and three of his associates gang-raped her in Washington DC in December 2010, French media report.
Prosecutors are now considering whether to expand the current investigation.
French magistrates have asked for a new investigation into alleged rape involving former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn
A second Belgian prostitute has partially confirmed the witness statement alleging gang rape in Washington, but neither has sought to press charges.
Last year DSK abandoned plans to run as the Socialist candidate for the French presidency after he was accused of attempted rape in New York.
Although the criminal case against him was dropped, the affair sank his hopes of becoming president and forced him to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In March 2012, DSK was also placed under formal investigation in France over alleged involvement in a prostitution ring.
DSK has admitted attending parties where the authorities believe prostitutes were provided by a gang, but denies knowing that they were prostitutes.
The three associates named in the Lille investigation along with DSK are businessmen Fabrice Paszkowski and David Roquet and policeman Jean-Christophe Lagarde.
The alleged Washington incident also concerns all four.
There has been no comment yet from Dominique Strauss-Kahn or his lawyers about the latest allegation.
A prosecutor can either dismiss the allegation or order a preliminary inquiry to establish if there is enough prima facie evidence to expand the original investigation, the AFP news agency reports.
Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most travelled monarchs ever, has been to 116 countries on official state visits as Queen, but not Greece.
Queen Elizabeth II has travelled from the tiny island nation of Tuvalu in the Pacific, to Russia, China, Chile, Ghana, Australia and almost everywhere in between.
So it may seem surprising that the Queen has never made the relatively short hop over to the birthplace of her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Prince Philip is a “Greek prince,” says royal historian Hugo Vickers, so it is an “interesting” omission.
The reason, Hugo Vickers believes, is because of the fraught history of the monarchy in Greece, which affected Prince Philip’s immediate family.
“Prince Philip doesn’t like Greece, because they put his father [Prince Andrew] on trial, and he might have been executed,” says Hugo Vickers.
“In 1922, they all had to flee.”
Prince Philip was a baby at the time and rarely returned.
It is not completely true that the Queen has never been to Greece – she did go there at the invitation of King Paul, Prince Philip’s cousin, in 1950, but that was before she became Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1963 King Paul also came to Britain on a state visit but it was “hugely controversial” says Hugo Vickers, because Greece held a number of political prisoners at the time.
Soon after that visit, King Paul died. His successor, King Constantine – Prince Philip’s first cousin once removed – was ousted when the monarchy was abolished in 1973.
King Constantine lives in London, still considers himself king, and has a close personal relationship with the Queen, according to Michael Binyon, foreign affairs specialist at The Times newspaper.
Queen Elizabeth II, one of the most travelled monarchs ever, has been to 116 countries on official state visits as Queen, but not Greece
All of this has “made things difficult” says Hugo Vickers. But he also suspects the Queen may have never been invited by the Greek president to make a state visit.
Prince Philip did go to Athens to visit his mother before she moved to London in the 1960s – but he would travel on his own, says Hugo Vickers.
Israel is another notable omission from Queen Elizabeth’s list of state visits.
Security is a major factor in this case, but, says Michael Binyon, the biggest problem is diplomatic sensitivity over visiting Jerusalem. Israel regards Jerusalem as the capital, but it is not recognized as such by Western nations, who base their embassies in Tel Aviv instead.
“It would create tremendous, intractable problems and the Queen doesn’t want to be included in those,” he says.
Egypt is a surprise omission from the Queen’s travel itinerary, Michael Binyon adds, given its influence in the region, and its potential for business with Britain.
As things stand, Latin America is something of a black spot. The Queen has only been to two countries there – Brazil and Chile.
But the British government has made it clear it wants to boost ties in the region, so that number may go up, with Peru one possible candidate for a future visit, believes Michael Binyon.
Argentina, on the other hand, would be “out of the question” because of the tensions created by the Falklands War 30 years ago, says Michael Binyon.
Prince Philip has, however, visited the country (in 1962). He has also been, without the Queen, to countless other nations around the world, often in his work for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Prince Philip also often attends foreign funerals on the Queen’s behalf.
In many ways, the map of the Queen’s state visits reflects the state of British diplomatic relations with the rest of the world.
“They [state visits] are always done on government advice. They are always done for a reason,” says Hugo Vickers.
Indeed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a panel which approves all state visits, called the Royal Visits Committee.
“There are always more requests for visits than can be accommodated,” says a spokesperson at the FCO, and a trip’s foreign policy benefit is a key factor when choosing a location.
A state visit by the Queen can sometimes pave the way for politicians and business to move in afterwards. In the 1970s, Queen Elizabeth II went to countries like Saudi Arabia and Brunei. At that time “it was all about oil, money and investments,” says Hugo Vickers.
But more often it works the other way around, with a state visit by the Queen acting as a kind of marker that things have reached a more stable point – for example the Queen’s trip to Ireland last year.
The Queen has made it to every single nation in the Commonwealth, except two of the more recent entrants, Rwanda and Cameroon.
When she had the Royal Yacht Britannia, it was easier for her to get around, especially to far-flung places like the Pacific Islands. Its decommissioning in 1997 has made a tangible difference, says Hugo Vickers.
Age will surely become an increasing consideration. The Queen, though going strong, is 86 years old.
But aside from her state visits, does the Queen ever travel somewhere just on holiday – just to relax?
“The Queen doesn’t really do that sort of thing. She doesn’t have holidays – she goes to Balmoral,” says Hugo Vickers.
But, he says, there is one exception. She loves horses, and has been known to travel to France and the US for the races.
Protocol for a state visit
• The Queen must receive an official invitation, and this comes via the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• The choice of location for a visit is always on the advice of the FCO
• On average, there are two outgoing state visits and two incoming visits per year
• There have been no state visits announced for the Queen this year so far, because of her heavy Jubilee schedule
Researchers at the University of Washington have found that Greenland’s glaciers are losing less ice than scientists once feared.
The loss of ice from the glaciers that cover the island is still about 30% faster than it was a decade ago, said researchers the University of Washington.
That means Greenland’s contribution to future sea level rise would be about 4 inches by the year 2100 if ice loss does not speed up much more, a study author said.
That may not sound like much, but when other causes of sea rise around the globe are added, the total could still be about three feet by the end of the century, researchers said.
“<<Glacial pace>> is not slow anymore,” said study author Twila Moon, a glacier researcher at the University of Washington.
Researchers at the University of Washington have found that Greenland's glaciers are losing less ice than scientists once feared
At the same time, “some of the worst-case possibilities that we had imagined are not coming true at this point” Twila Moon said.
“So it’s not good news, but it’s not bad news.”
The scientists relied on a comprehensive satellite-based survey of about 200 glaciers to make their calculations. Their research was published yesterday in the journal Science.
Compared to some past research the findings are somewhat reassuring. A 2008 study had suggested a worst-case scenario that indicated Greenland’s glaciers might contribute up to 19 inches of sea rise by the end of the century.
The glaciers have been melting under warmer summer temperatures in Greenland that on average are up by about two degrees Fahrenheit (one degree Celsius) over the last decade, study authors said.
One famous glacier on northwestern Greenland called Jakobshavn is now losing ice at a particularly fast pace of seven miles (11.3 km) per year. That means an ice loss of nearly 3 feet (one metre) of ice every hour. If you stare at the glacier for about 20 minutes you can notice it move, said University of California Irvine glacier expert Eric Rignot.
Even so, that pace does not match the predictions laid out in the worst-case laid out in the 2008 study, research that caused alarm about the effects of increasing greenhouse gas emissions that warm the earth.
“We’re not seeing kind of runaway effects,” said study co-author, Ian Joughin.
Eric Rignot said it is unfair to compare this recent study to the more alarming 2008 one, which he said was not designed to be overly realistic. However, he noted that the findings of this new study still exceed computer models and projections by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati, an ice scientist, called the new work a “valuable study that advances our understanding of a very complex wild card of sea level rise”.
Demi Moore has finally dropped Ashton Kutcher’s name on Twitter as she changed Mrs. Kutcher to @justdemi.
Demi Moore, 49, and Ashton Kutcher, 34,who often used the micro-blogging site to post pictures of themselves and proclaim their love for one another, announced the end of their marriage in November.
In April, Demi Moore asked her followers on the site for suggestions for a new Twitter handle.
TV personality Piers Morgan suggested: “How about (at)mrsmorgan?”
Demi Moore said she would “have to get clever” because so many names on the popular site have already been claimed.
The actress wrote yesterday: “So hard finding a name that was fun somewhat playful and available. So for now it will be @justdemi It could grow on me!”
Demi Moore has finally dropped Ashton Kutcher's name on Twitter as she changed Mrs. Kutcher to @justdemi
Demi Moore also thanked fans for helping her find a new name.
“Thanks everyone for your help in finding my new name!” she wrote.
The star has nearly 5 million followers on Twitter.
Demi Moore announced her intention to divorce from Ashton Kutcher last November – although proceedings are yet to be executed by either party.
It followed claims Ashton Kutcher had cheated on her with partygirl Sara Leal during a seedy night in San Diego.
Demi Moore checked out of Utah’s Cirque Lodge in March, where she was allegedly treated for eating disorder issues, exhaustion and substance abuse.
Last month the actress returned to Twitter after a spell away from the social networking site she once so regularly frequented.
Demi Moore uploaded a bizarre picture of herself from an elevated angle with the caption: “Testing….”
She was seen lying on her bed with her shoes on and the snap shows her glasses, nose and chin and her legs.
Meanwhile her estranged husband Ashton Kutcher has been linked to his former That ’70s Show co-star Mila Kunis.
François-Henri Pinault, the billionaire father of Linda Evangelista’s baby, wanted her to abort their son, her lawyer has claimed as the supermodel meets her former boyfriend in court over childcare support.
Taking the stand, François-Henri Pinault admitted he had broken up with Linda Evangelista after discovering she was pregnant four months into their relationship.
“I didn’t even know her,” he said.
The bitter trial, which kicked off on Thursday and is expected to last four days, is set to spell out the childcare obligations of François-Henri Pinault, who is now married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek.
Linda Evangelista gave birth to their son Augie, now 5, after her short relationship with François-Henri Pinault, and has claimed in the run-up to the trial that she wants a staggering $46,000 a month for his care.
The supermodel claimed the vast sum is to cover the youngster’s around-the-clock nanny, at a cost of $7,000 a month, and armed drivers, costing as much as $16,000 a month, the New York Post reported.
François-Henri Pinault had criticized Linda Evangelista for her outlandish demands, suggesting the money was in fact for “mom support”.
The supermodel maintained she was modeling or working on her image at all hours of the day.
In a move that shows they are readying for a bitter feud, Linda Evangelista’s lawyer William Beslow recounted a conversation the former couple shared in January 2006.
“After some initial happiness, he told her he wished she would terminate the pregnancy,” William Beslow told a support magistrate.
Linda Evangelista, who was then in her early 40s, told François-Henri Pinault she would keep the baby, the Post reported.
“She would support the child herself, since he had made it perfectly clear to her that he had no interest in doing so. And she did.”
Arriving at court, Linda Evangelista, 46, looked ready for business, dressed in a smart floral-print shirt, knee-length black skirt and sunglasses, with her hair cut into a sleek bob.
François-Henri Pinault, the billionaire father of Linda Evangelista's baby, wanted her to abort their son, her lawyer has claimed
François-Henri Pinault, who began dating Salma Hayak while Linda Evangelista was pregnant, watched his former girlfriend with a bemused smile, the Post reported.
As he took the witness stand, François-Henri Pinault said he found out she was pregnant in early 2006 and admitted he broke up with her on hearing the news.
“She was so happy to be pregnant,” he said.
“But it was not planned. I decided to stop the relationship at that point.”
François-Henri Pinault added: “We were dating four months and I didn’t even know her very much.”
He went on to say he believed she had intentionally become pregnant and that he had no part in deciding whether she should keep the baby or not.
He added: “I told her I would recognize the baby, which I did. I would take my responsibility and I did.”
Asked why he didn’t pay Linda Evangelista anything in child support for the first years of Augie’s life, François-Henri Pinault answered: “She didn’t ask and I didn’t offer.”
François-Henri Pinault, 49, is chief executive of PPR, the conglomerate that owns Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Bottega Veneta. He has an annual income as he is heir to an $11.5 billion family estate.
In opening statements on Thursday, William Beslow insisted Linda Evangelista is not hoping to improve her station in life but that she has paid all of his expenses without a single cent from François-Henri Pinault.
“Ms. Evangelista is not looking to piggyback on the lifestyle of Mr. Pinault,” William Beslow added.
“She is looking for a continuation of the reasonable lifestyle of Augie.”
François-Henri Pinault’s lawyer, David Aronson, argued that his client had repeatedly reach out to Linda Evangelista’s prior lawyers about child support payments, only to be met with silence.
David Aronson added: “Most of the expenses do not relate to Augie but they relate to Ms. Evangelista.”
He continued: “These people have more money than a lot of people. But our position is that what we understand is being asked for is just ridiculous.”
Linda Evangelista is due to testify in the trial tomorrow. If she is granted the $46,000 of her demands, it will shatter records for childcare payouts.
“I need to protect him,” Linda Evangelista told Love magazine in February.
Last year a judge questioned the model’s need for full-time nannies, asking how often she worked.
“When I work, it can be a 16-hour day,” the supermodel said.
“On days when I do not work, I am working on my image. I have to hit the gym. I have beauty appointments. I have to work toward my next job and maintaining my image, just like an athlete.”
Linda Evangelista, herself worth $8 million, is also demanding François-Henri Pinault give her son a home similar to the $13 million California mansion he put in a trust for his and Salma Hayek’s four-year-old daughter, Valentina.
François-Henri Pinault’s family estate includes the Christie’s auction house, the Château-Latour vineyard in Bordeaux and the French Premiere League football team Stade Rennais, the Daily News reported.
Earlier this week, Manhattan divorce lawyer Raoul Felder said the eye-watering payout – which comes to $1,500 a day – was unlikely.
He pointed out that judges consider how much it costs to care for a child, rather than the wealth of the parents.
“She’s in for a big surprise. I wouldn’t be counting the money yet,” Raoul Felder told the New York Daily News.
Linda Evangelista is worth $8 million and owns a penthouse in the desirable Chelsea, New York and an apartment near her son’s school on the upper East Side.
The supermodel broke up with billionaire and Hard Rock Cafe co-founder Peter Morton last year and filed her case against François-Henri Pinault shortly after the break up.
Since, François-Henri Pinault has been paying child support – although the amount has not been disclosed.
The couple dated from September 2005 until January 2006, and she was pregnant with Augie when François-Henri Pinault began dating Salma Hayek in April 2006.
François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek married in 2009.
Linda Evangelista had kept the name of Augie’s father secret until it was written in court papers filed in August.
A new study found that men and women who drank a daily glass of pomegranate juice for at least two weeks experienced a surge in the hormone testosterone, which increases sexual desire in both genders.
The latest achievement claimed for pomegranates, which are already acclaimed as a superfood, will be welcome among those who would prefer a natural aphrodisiac.
The study, by researchers from Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, UK, involved 58 volunteers aged between 21 and 64.
By the end of the fortnight both sexes had seen “significantly increased” testosterone levels.
Pomegranates, which are already acclaimed as a superfood, will be welcome among those who would prefer a natural aphrodisiac
For men this affects traits such as facial hair, a deep voice and greater sexual urges.
It is also produced in female adrenal glands and ovaries, raising a woman’s sex drive and strengthening bones and muscles.
As a side effect, increased testosterone can help raise mood and memory and even relieve stress such as “pre-match nerves” or stage fright, said the study.
Previous research on pomegranate juice has found it full of antioxidants which can help ward off heart diseases and help blood circulation.
The superfood’s ingredients also help fight various forms of cancer, alleviate the symptoms of osteoarthritis and cure stomach upsets and even conjunctivitis.
The Edinburgh research measured testosterone levels, blood pressure and, using a scientific scale, levels of 11 emotions including fear, sadness, guilt, shyness and self-assurance.
Testosterone levels increased between 16% and 30% among the subjects, while blood pressure plummeted.
Positive emotions rose and negative feelings fell.
China says activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad, potentially indicating a way out of the diplomatic crisis with the US over him.
A Chinese foreign ministry statement said Chen Guangcheng could “apply through normal channels in accordance with the law”.
The blind dissident fled house arrest last month and spent six days inside the US embassy. He left the embassy but now says he wants to go to the US with his family.
His case has overshadowed high-level US-China talks taking place in Beijing.
“If he wishes to study overseas, as a Chinese citizen, he can, like any other Chinese citizens, process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance to the law,” Xinhua news agency quoted spokesman Liu Weimin as saying
Earlier, China had demanded an apology from the US for sheltering Chen Guangcheng in its embassy.
Despite the apparent change of heart from the government, one human rights lawyer told the Reuters news agency that Chen Guangcheng could still be delayed or prevented from leaving the country.
“This notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is positive news, but how it will play out we don’t know,” Tang Jitian told Reuters.
“For instance, getting the approval for the paperwork to go – there are many potential pitfalls. We can’t be 100% optimistic.”
China says activist Chen Guangcheng can apply to study abroad, potentially indicating a way out of the diplomatic crisis with the US over him
Chen Guangcheng is currently in a Beijing hospital, sealed off by Chinese police. US officials have so far failed to see him.
The deputy head of mission at the US embassy to Beijing was seen arriving at the hospital carrying gifts. He met Chen Guangcheng’s wife Yuan Weijing but was prevented from meeting the dissident himself.
He has been trying to gain access to Chen Guangcheng’s room. The building was ringed by police who prevented as well as lawyers and diplomats, from seeing the dissident.
On Thursday, Chen Guangcheng telephoned a US Congressional hearing in Washington DC, saying he feared for the safety of his family and wanted to meet visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face to face.
Speaking ahead of a meeting on Friday with President Hu Jintao, Hillary Clinton said the relationship was “stronger than it’s ever been”.
“We have developed a very open and honest relationship where we can discuss our differences, and we remain committed to bridging those differences whenever and wherever possible,” she said.
A joint US-China news conference is expected later in the day.
Chen Guangcheng said he had changed his mind about staying in China because he believed Beijing had reneged on an agreement to guarantee his safety.
There is no official confirmation of any such agreement, but media reports from the US suggest that Chen Guangcheng had been promised safety in a university town in China.
Chen Guangcheng, 40, is a lawyer who has campaigned against forced abortions and sterilizations of women under China’s policy of one child per family.
He told the Associated Press news agency his phone calls to American officials “keep getting cut off after two sentences”.
The activist also told AP his wife was being followed and filmed by unidentified men whenever she was allowed to leave the hospital. And he said one of his friends was taken away by state agents and beaten after he tried to visit Chen Guangcheng.
The case has increasing political resonance in the US, where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized the administration of President Barack Obama.
Mitt Romney said that if reports that US officials had persuaded Chen Guangcheng to leave the embassy were true, “this is a dark day for freedom and it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration”.
The Beijing Daily, one of China’s main official newspapers, said Chen Guangcheng was an American pawn and criticized US ambassador Gary Locke as a “backpack-wearing, Starbucks-sipping troublemaker”.
Gary Locke caused a stir in China last year when he was seen carrying his own backpack and ordering his own coffee at Seattle airport, in contrast to Chinese officials who usually travel with an entourage.
Argentina has broadcasted a political advert filmed on the territory of Falkland Islands without authorization.
The advert features an Argentine athlete training in the Falklands ahead of the London Olympics in July.
It ends with the slogan: “To compete on English soil, we train on Argentine soil.”
Falklands legislator Ian Hansen dismissed it as a piece of “cheap and disrespectful propaganda”.
The advert – broadcast in Argentina on Wednesday night – is the latest measure by Argentina to reassert its claim to the British overseas territory it calls the Malvinas.
The advert features an Argentine athlete training in the Falklands ahead of the London Olympics in July
Produced by the Argentine presidency, it is titled Olympic Games 2012: Homage to the Fallen and the Veterans of the Malvinas.
It shows Argentine hockey captain Fernando Zylberberg running and exercising in the Falklands capital Port Stanley, interspersed with shots of penguins and the windswept South Atlantic.
Ian Hansen said the video had been filmed without permission from the islands’ authorities.
He accused Argentina of trying to “politicize the Olympics in service of its territorial ambitions”.
“It is deeply sad to see Mr. Zylberberg clambering over a war memorial. Sadly this illustrates the disrespect the Argentine authorities have for our home and our people,” Ian Hansen said.
“At no stage does the video feature any Falkland Islanders – a clear reflection of Argentina’s policy, which is to pretend that the people of the Falkland Islands do not exist.”
Last month saw the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands War, when Argentine forces invaded the islands before being defeated by a British task force.
Argentina wants the UK to negotiate on sovereignty, but the British government says it will not discuss the issue without the agreement of the Falkland islanders.
According to an American survey, more than one third of U.S. citizens would fail the country’s citizenship test for immigrants.
The study, conducted by the Center for the Study of the American Dream at Xavier University, in Cincinnati, Ohio, found that one in three respondents would fail the civics portion of the test given to those applying for U.S. citizenship.
More than 1,000 Americans over the age of 18 were asked 10 random questions from the civics test, which asks about US history and government topics.
Of those questioned, 35% were unable to answer the pass mark of five correctly.
The most common questions people got wrong revolved around the different functions of government, and how power was distributed between the federal and state governments.
Seventy-five per cent of respondents didn’t know what the judicial branch does, while 71% could not name the U.S. constitution as the “law of the land”.
Furthermore, 57% could not define what an amendment was.
According to an American survey, more than one third of U.S. citizens would fail the country's citizenship test for immigrants
Most of those surveyed did the best on history and geography-related questions.
Despite this, another study found that 60% of Americans believe that being able to pass the government portion of the naturalization exam is a prerequisite for a high school diploma.
There are two parts to the citizenship exam, namely the English test and the civics test.
In the English test, an applicant’s ability to speak, read and write using the language are all assessed.
In the civics portion, the applicant is quizzed on US history and government topics.
According to U.S. News and World Report, 97% of immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship pass the test.
Ten sample questions
The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
We elect a President for how many years?
What is the name of the President of the United States now?
If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
What is the highest court in the United States?
What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
There were 13 original states. Name three.
What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
A newly unveiled report written for wartime British intelligence says Adolf Hitler developed a “messiah complex” towards the end of World War II.
The report, written in 1942 by Cambridge academic Joseph MacCurdy, said Adolf Hitler was turning increasingly to “Jew-phobia” as defeat loomed.
Social scientist Mark Abrams commissioned the report, which came to light as a result of research into his work.
“Hitler is caught up in a web of religious delusions,” Joseph MacCurdy said in the report.
He outlined how Hitler began to focus on the “Jewish poison” as the tide of World War II turned against Germany.
A newly unveiled report written for wartime British intelligence says Adolf Hitler developed a "messiah complex" towards the end of World War II
“The Jews are the incarnation of evil, while he is the incarnation of the spirit of good,” Joseph MacCurdy said.
“He is a god by whose sacrifice victory over evil may be achieved. He does not say this in so many words, but such a system of ideas would rationalize what he does say that is otherwise obscure.”
Cambridge historian Scott Anthony came across the report while researching Joseph MacCurdy’s work.
“MacCurdy recognized that, faced with external failure, the Nazi leader was focusing on a perceived <<enemy within>> instead – namely, the Jews,” Scott Anthony said.
“Given that we now know that the <<final solution>> was commencing, this makes for poignant reading.”
Activist Chen Guangcheng has phoned a US Congressional hearing to plead for help in his attempts to leave China with his family.
Chen Guangcheng said he feared for the safety of his family and wanted to meet visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton face-to-face.
The dissident is in a Beijing hospital sealed off by Chinese police.
He had spent six days at the US embassy but left after initially accepting China’s assurances of his safety.
Chen Guangcheng said that only after leaving the embassy did he fully realize the threats that had been made against his family members.
In his call, broadcast live to the Congressional hearing from a mobile phone, Chen Guangcheng said: “I want to come to the US to rest. I have not had a rest in 10 years.
“I’m concerned most right now with the safety of my mother and brothers. I really want to know what’s going on with them.”
He said villagers who had helped him were “receiving retribution”.
Chen Guangcheng told Rep Chris Smith, who was chairing the hearing at the Congressional commission on China: “I want to meet with Secretary Clinton. I hope I can get more help from her.”
His supporter and friend, Bob Fu, acted as translator.
Chris Smith told Chen Guangcheng that the activist’s friends in the US had expressed “desperate concern” for him.
“We are praying for you and we will be unceasing in our efforts to help,” Chris Smith said.
Chen Guangcheng is in the hospital with his wife and children but the building is ringed by police and he is effectively under detention.
The dissident has expressed repeated concerns about his family members in his home village in eastern Shandong province.
Chen Guangcheng earlier said his wife had relayed to him the extent of the threats there.
“She told me our house has been installed with seven CCTV cameras inside the courtyard. There are people in and outside of our house and on the roof… They just eat and stay in our house, and they plan to build up electric wires around my house.”
Chen Guangcheng has phoned a US Congressional hearing to plead for help in his attempts to leave China with his family
Although he initially said he wanted to stay in China, Chen Guangcheng said he had changed his mind because he believed China had reneged on an agreement to guarantee his safety.
There is no official confirmation about the nature of any such agreement, but media reports from the US suggest that Chen Guangcheng had been promised safety in a university town elsewhere in China.
The case has increasing political resonance in the US.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said if reports that US officials had persuaded Chen Guangcheng to leave the embassy were true “this is a dark day for freedom and it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration”.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was “not concerned about political back-and-forth on this issue”.
Jay Carney said: “He is focused on the need to advance US interests in our broad-based relationship with China… He has and will continue to make a priority in that relationship or a part of that relationship an open and frank discussion of our concerns about human rights.”
The US has said that at no point did Chen Guangcheng ask for asylum and he was never put under any pressure to leave the embassy.
State department spokesman Mark Toner said there had only been telephone access to Chen Guangcheng on Thursday, adding: “It’s our desire to meet with him [on Friday] or in the coming days. But I can’t speak to whether we’ll have access to him. I just don’t know.”
Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are in Beijing for annual bilateral talks, focusing heavily on Syria and North Korea.
As the talks opened, Hillary Clinton did not mention Chen Guangcheng by name but addressed the topic of human rights.
“The United States believes that no state can legitimately deny the universal rights that belong to every human being – or punish those who exercise them,” she said.
Chinese officials on Wednesday accused the US of interference in China’s domestic affairs and demanded an apology for housing Chen Guangcheng at the US embassy.
Chen Guangcheng had been at the embassy for almost a week after escaping from house arrest in his village in Shandong.
He had planned his escape from house arrest for months. On 27 April, Chen Guangcheng scaled the wall the authorities had built around his house and was then driven hundreds of miles to Beijing.
ABC News quoted US officials as saying an embassy vehicle drove out to meet a car carrying Chen Guangcheng, but the staff realised they were being followed. The two cars met hurriedly in an alleyway and Chen Guangcheng was bundled into the US car and driven back to the embassy, ABC said.
Several people involved in Chen Guangcheng’s escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days.
He has spent seven years in prison or under house arrest after he exposed human rights abuses, including the way thousands of women were forced to have abortions under China’s “one-child-policy”.
Osama Bin Laden’s documents seized during the raid on the Abbottabad compound were posted online by the research wing of the US military academy, West Point.
The newly released papers reveal a frustrated Osama Bin Laden struggling to control an unruly network, the US military says.
The papers show al-Qaeda leader was unhappy with affiliates’ attacks on fellow Muslims, urging them to target the US instead.
Seventeen documents were released from a cache of more than 6,000.
The 175-page cache was posted online by the US Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center – in the week marking a year since Osama Bin Laden’s death.
The papers date from September 2006 to April 2011 and include letters from other al-Qaeda leaders.
Osama Bin Laden’s documents seized during the raid on the Abbottabad compound were posted online by the research wing of the US military academy, West Point
Some documents suggest that the group had a strained relationship with Iran.
Letters reveal al-Qaeda’s exasperation with the way Tehran handled the release of detainees, including members of Osama Bin Laden’s family, expressing annoyance that the Iranians “do not wish to appear to be negotiating with us or responding to our pressures”.
Meanwhile, there is no explicit reference to any institutional support from Pakistan, where Osama Bin Laden lived for nine years.
The papers make mention of “trusted Pakistani brothers”, but one reference suggests Osama Bin Laden was wary of Pakistani intelligence.
He gave instructions to family members travelling to Pakistan to make sure they were not followed – in case the local intelligence chief trailed them to his location.
The documents also shed light on Osama Bin Laden’s concerns that Muslims were being alienated by the ideology of jihad.
In a letter from 2010, Osama Bin Laden wrote of “starting a new phase to correct [the mistakes] we made”.
“In doing so, we shall reclaim, God willing, the trust of a large segment of those who lost their trust in the jihadis,” he wrote.
In its executive summary on the documents, the US military says they reveal Osama Bin Laden’s frustration with affiliated organizations and his powerlessness to control their actions, including:
• Osama Bin Laden was advised by his California-born media adviser Adam Gadahn to distance his network from al-Qaeda in Iraq because of the latter’s perceived failures
• His lieutenants threatened to take measures against the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban for their “vile mistakes”, including indiscriminate attacks on Muslims
• Osama Bin Laden wrote a strongly worded letter to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula urging them to focus on attacking the US, instead of the Yemeni government or security forces
• Osama Bin Laden saw little to gain from a pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda from the Somali radical insurgent group al-Shabab, which he viewed as poorly organized
The letters reveal that Osama Bin Laden was also skeptical of so-called lone wolf missions by homegrown jihadists.
He urged his associates “not to send a single brother on a suicide operation; they should send at least two”.
Osama Bin Laden added that in cases when only one militant undertook an operation the “percentage of success was low due to psychological factors that affect the [designated] brother in such a situation”.
Other papers suggest Osama Bin Laden ordered his militants to look out for opportunities to assassinate President Barack Obama or David Petraeus during any of their visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan. David Petraeus, now CIA director, formerly commanded international forces in Afghanistan.
But Osama Bin Laden warned them not to bother targeting Vice-President Joe Biden because “Biden is totally unprepared for that post [of president], which will lead the US into a crisis.”
In a letter from April 2011, the al-Qaeda leader discusses the Arab Spring, calling it a “formidable event” in the history of Muslims and expressing hope they can influence events through media outreach and “guidance”.
The correspondence suggests that Osama Bin Laden’s inner circle closely monitored US news media.
Al-Qaeda media adviser Adam Gadahn described ABC News as “all right, actually it could be one of the best channels as far as we are concerned”, but he said Fox News “falls into the abyss” and “lacks neutrality”.
Adam Gadahn also felt al-Qaeda had not been given credit for America’s economic downturn, according to documents from 2010.
“All the political talk in America is about the economy, forgetting or ignoring the war and its role in weakening the economy,” wrote Adam Gadahn.
Earlier this week, White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said Osama Bin Laden’s papers reinforced the view that the US was safer without him.
New reports suggest Lindsay Lohan and her ex-girlfriend Samantha Ronson have reignited their former flame, two years since they broke up their romantic union.
Lindsay Lohan, 25, reportedly cosied up to Samantha Ronson in a club in New York on Tuesday evening.
Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson sparked speculation they’ve reunited after they were reportedly spotted leaving Le Baron hand in hand.
A source told X17Online.com: “Lindsay and Sam were whispering and laughing and they left the club holding hands.
“They didn’t care who saw them, and they definitely seem to be back on. It was just like the old days — they couldn’t get enough of each other!”
Lindsay Lohan was spotted leaving her hotel room in the Big Apple the following day looking fresh and happy in her sleek get-up, sparking speculation she was glowing from her evening out the night before.
Lindsay Lohan reportedly cosied up to Samantha Ronson in a club in New York on Tuesday evening
They’re evening together came just hours after Samantha Ronson appeared on American TV breakfast show Live With Kelly.
The DJ visited the set with her band Samantha Ronson & The Undertakers to perform her new single Summer of Sam.
And she must have felt the performance went well as she celebrated with Lindsay Lohan afterwards.
Samantha Ronson wrote on Twitter ahead of the appearance: “Super excited to perform Summer of Sam on @LiveKelly tomorrow morning. Hope you all tune in 9am est on abc.”
But it will be a surprise move for Samantha Ronson if she has reignited her romance with Lindsay Lohan, because she recently opened up about their relationship the first time around.
Samantha Ronson, 34, likened the experience to that of being “held hostage” and admitted it wasn’t a “healthy relationship”.
She appears to be opening up about her time with Lindsay Lohan in the lyrics to her track Sometimes When You Win, You Lose.
Samantha Ronson sings: “I just wanted to find some peace with you / You needed the noise as proof / And we started this war on the same side / Now I feel just like a hostage in the room / But I’m trying to find a way out alive.”
When she was told by the Daily Beast that many fans will presume it’s about Lindsay Lohan, she replied: “Maybe they’d be right. Maybe they’d be wrong. I wrote that song when I was with the person that it’s about. They knew what it was about when I wrote it. Yeah, it’s a little tough on that one.”
And when Samantha Ronson was asked if she was held “hostage” by the relationship, she added: “Most people would assume that it’s figurative, that it’s about emotions. But maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s actually literal. It was not a healthy relationship.”
Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson started dating in 2008, before they went their separate ways in 2010.
Samantha Ronson has since been linked to blonde Erin Foster.
While Lindsay Lohan appears to have gone back to her old ways by dating her former girlfriend, it appears she’s also gone back to other familiar territory.
The actress, who has endured a number of legal woes over the last few years, is having to face up to a case over an alleged hit-and-run she reportedly committed in March.
According to TMZ.com, the manager of the Hookah Lounge in Hollywood Boulevard has claimed Lindsay Lohan struck him with her car before allegedly driving off without leaving any information.
Officers at LAPD have reportedly finished their investigation and sent it to the District Attorney’s office for review, but the website reports there is not much evidence to support the accuser’s claims.
Lindsay Lohan has reportedly denied her car went anywhere near the man and insists he’s making it up.
Samsung has unveiled its Galaxy S3, the handset with a 4.8 inch (12.2 cm) screen, an increase on the 4.3 inch screen of its predecessor.
Samsung described Galaxy S3 as the “best in class” Android-based smartphone on the market.
Analysts say the popularity of the previous Galaxy – the S2 – was a major factor in Samsung overtaking Nokia to become the world’s best-selling mobile phone maker.
The firm said that the new Super AMOLED display was 22% larger than its predecessor, but the actual device was not much wider since it had shrunk the size of the bezel.
The development allows Samsung to boast it has a slightly larger screen than the 4.7 inch dimensions of the HTC One X, the top of the range model from its Taiwanese rival.
Samsung Galaxy S3 is also significantly bigger than the 3.5 inch display of Apple’s iPhone 4S and the 4.3 inch screen of Nokia’s Lumia 900.
It added that a mix of “intelligent camera features” and face recognition technology should offer owners a more natural experience.
For example, it said that the front camera would identify the user’s eyes and would not go dark or lock so long as they were looking at it.
Other features on the S3 include an 8 megapixel camera on the rear, and a 1.9 megapixel front camera for video calls.
Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available from the end of May in Europe
The phone also uses what is described as a “natural language user interface” dubbed S Voice. The South Korean company said it was a major improvement on the voice control features it included on earlier models.
“It is more like a good friend and listens intently and responds effectively to you,” a spokesman said at the launch event in London.
The facility can be used to command the phone to play songs, adjust the volume, send texts or emails and take photographs.
The function is likely to be compared to Apple’s Siri software.
Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available in two colors, pebble blue and marble white, and the firm says that other options will be available at a later date.
One analyst attending the launch event said that the advances Samsung had made should help Google’s Android continue to be the most used smartphone operating system.
“The importance of the Galaxy S3 to Samsung cannot be underestimated,” said Adam Leach, principal analyst at Ovum.
“The company has built its reputation on producing the <<must-have>> Android smartphone and in the process has become the poster child for the Android platform.
“However, Samsung’s Galaxy S3 not only needs to stand out amongst a plethora of other Android-based smartphones, it will also go head-to-head with the next iteration of Apple’s flagship smartphone, the iPhone.”
Adam Leach added that Apple was not expected to release its new handset until much closer to the end of the year.
Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available from the end of May in Europe. Launches in Asia, the Middle East and Africa will follow.
A 4G version will go on sale in the US and South Korea in the summer.
Khloe Kardashian has never made a secret of her battle with her weight, speaking openly about her desire to shed the pounds in various interviews.
Now Khloe Kardashian, 27, has spoken of her delight after losing an astonishing 20lbs in just 20 days.
The reality TV star, seen posing in a dark purple two-piece on the cover of Life & Style Weekly magazine, underneath the headline How I got thin fast!
It is believed that the main reason Khloe Kardashian has managed to slim down is the fact that she has been having healthy, easy meals cooked for her by a personal chef.
Khloe Kardashian has spoken of her delight after losing an astonishing 20lbs in just 20 days
Khloe Kardashian, who is 5ft 10in, has also apparently been working out alongside her basketball player husband Lamar Odom, and his personal trainer, in a bid to shape up.
She has spoken before about how difficult she finds it to be compared to her more petite sisters, Kim and Kourtney.
Khloe Kardashian told Us Weekly magazine last year: “They are 5-foot and 5-foot-2, so I look massive next to them. Everyone expects me to be 9 feet tall and weigh 200 pounds when they meet me.”
She has also said in the past: “My weight is always going up and down. I’m always fighting that and I feel like no matter what I do, I don’t look good enough to everybody else.
“My weight is my biggest lifetime struggle. It’s not the biggest thing in life, but it does get you down sometimes.”
Apparently the difficulty in Khloe Kardashian’s relationship with husband Lamar Odom has been to blame for her recent weight gain.
But the news that they are taking a break from their reality TV career will also help Khloe Kardashian maintain her new slim line figure.
Khloe Kardashian told People magazine yesterday: “We just wanted to prioritize a little; we just wanted a little pause. Part of being married is knowing when your husband needs your support.”
Astronomers say the moon will go “super” this weekend, but that will mean bad news for the meteor shower watchers.
The Super Moon, or the year’s biggest full moon, will delight all on 5th of May, 2012, starting from 23:35 EST (or 03:35 GMT on May 6th). Even though the moon will be at its biggest for just a few hours, the full moon will appear to last for a full three days starting on 4th May till 6th May.
Unfortunately, the bright moon will wipe out the faint Eta Aquarids, the meteor shower from the debris of the Halley comet. However, given that the Eta Aquarids register at a high count of 60 meteors per hour, one shouldn’t lose all hope. Let’s just say that it won’t be seen in its usual self. Meteor shower enthusiasts will agree that the Aquarids are not really that bad a miss.
The Super Moon happens at the full moon when the moon is closest to the Earth. The 2011 Super Moon was spectacular – the moon won’t be that close to the Earth in another 18 years.
The Super Moon, or the year’s biggest full moon, will delight all on 5th of May, 2012, starting from 23.35 EST
This year’s Super Moon won’t be that great, but it will still be quite a sight, with the moon appearing 14% bigger and 28% brighter than usual full moon nights.
Photo enthusiasts interested in sky watching should definitely aim at photographing the Super Moon. Last year’s was a bumper catch and this time too people are optimistic. A tripod is not necessary, as you’ll require really small exposure time for the moon, but getting to a place with a clear sky will definitely mean a lot for the clarity of the photo. Unlike other night photos, you will be well-advised to keep the ISO of your camera sensor low.
And as for the Eta Aquarids, we aren’t very optimistic, especially if you were planning to photograph them. Living in the Southern Hemisphere will give you a slight advantage and you’ll be lucky to see a few good and bright streaks. The fact that you won’t be able keep your camera shutter open for most of the area in the sky, due to the bright moon, will not help your cause.
Ukraine denounces a threatened EU boycott of next month’s Euro 2012 football championship as “destructive”.
In a statement, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the move would undermine the image of the tournament and be detrimental to millions of Ukrainians and Poles.
Poland – which is co-hosting Euro 2012 – has also criticized any boycott.
Several European leaders are considering cancelling their trips to Ukraine, in protest over the treatment of jailed former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
Yulia Tymoshenko, who is on hunger strike, alleges she was beaten by prison guards.
The statement from the Ukrainian foreign ministry said sport events were designed to bring unity, and criticized what it said were attempts to politicize them.
“We view as destructive attempts to politicize sporting events, which since ancient times have played a paramount role in improving understanding and agreement between nations,” the statement said.
“A successful championship will be a victory not for politicians, parties or ideologies, but for all Ukrainians and Poles. Its failure will be a loss for millions,” it said.
Ukraine denounces a threatened EU boycott of next month's Euro 2012 football championship as "destructive"
Austria has said it will boycott all the matches in Ukraine, while the Netherlands said it will not attend unless Yulia Tymoshenko’s treatment improves.
On Thursday, EU officials said European Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso would not be attending.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also reported to be considering boycotting the event, while the UK says it is undecided on whether to attend.
Meanwhile, five European presidents – from Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Slovenia – have said they will not attend a Ukrainian summit of Central and East European leaders next week in Yalta.
In an attempt to ratchet up the pressure further, Germany earlier said the EU is prepared to delay a trade agreement with Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that “with our EU partners we are unanimous that the EU Association Agreement with Ukraine cannot be ratified as long as the rule of law in Ukraine does not develop in the right direction”.
But Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has said Euro 2012 is on track and UEFA – European football’s governing body – had not complained.
“The tournament is ready and on 11 May we will be transferring the control of the four stadia to UEFA.”
Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, was jailed last year for abuse of office, in a trial condemned by the West as politically motivated.
She is an arch-rival of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych, who beat her to the presidency in February 2010, avenging his defeat in the 2004 Orange Revolution.
The opening games of the month-long Euro 2012 will be played on 9 June.
After yesterday’s Today show interview was focused on Whitney Houston, its second part turned this morning to Bobby Brown’s on-going relationship with daughter Bobbi Kristina.
According to Bobby Brown, 43, he and his daughter Bobbi Kristina share a very open, healthy relationship as he tells Matt Lauer: “I am her father, she talks to me about everything.”
When asked if the rumors of Bobbi Kristina’s substance abuse were accurate, Bobby Brown said that he was not concerned about that right now.
“I know what she is actually doing,” he said.
“I think people are making assumptions of what my daughter is [because of] how strong she is. People tend to want to control strong willed people.”
Bobby Brown says he and his daughter Bobbi Kristina share a very open, healthy relationship
Given their close relationship, Matt Lauer then asked if Bobbi Kristina Brown was dating her stepbrother, Nick Gordon, as rumors have alleged.
“Nick’s a good kid, I have nothing against Nick,” Bobby Brown said before being pushed by the host to make a declarative statement that they are not dating.
Bobbi Kristina is a strong girl, according to her father.
“Her mom taught her well. I think we raised her really well. She’s fine, she knows her mom is gone and she knows she has to live.”
Bobby Brown attempts to clear his name by dispelling the age-old rumors that he was the cause of Whitney Houston’s addiction in his interview with Today’s Matt Lauer.
In addition to recounting how well Whitney Houston looked the week prior to her death, Bobby Brown, 43, told Matt Lauer that he still asks himself if he could have helped her more.
“Maybe I could have done something different. You know?” Bobby Brown said.
“To ensure she had a longer life. But you have to want it.”
Although happily engaged, Bobby Brown had no qualms expressing the love he had for Whitney Houston, his ex-wife of 14 years.
Although happily engaged, Bobby Brown had no qualms expressing the love he had for Whitney Houston, his ex-wife of 14 years
Bobby Brown’s perception is that the couple had a great and “beautiful” relationship.
“I can honestly say that I loved that woman with everything that I am,” he admitted.
“I truly and genuinely love that woman. And I still love her to this day.”
Bobby Brown said it’s no secret (not even to his fiancée) how he felt about Whitney Houston.
“I was in love with her deeply,” he says of his late ex.
It’s commendable for Bobby Brown to take the high road by only having good things to say about Whitney Houston. From the outside looking in the couple may have appeared to be a little rough around the edges. But that’s not to say the love they had for each other wasn’t real. Take a look at the couple during the happier times of their marriage.
Ubuntu has some obvious advantages over other operating systems: is free of charge, free of viruses and designed to outpace its rivals on low-end systems.
Ubuntu claims 20 million people use it a day. Not an insignificant number, but still a drop in the ocean compared to Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s OS X.
Even so, lead designer and one-time astronaut Mark Shuttleworth hopes that last week’s major upgrade to the Linux-based project will produce an outsized splash and increase the size of its somewhat divergent customer-base.
“In terms of our user, they would split into two sorts of camps,” Mark Shuttleworth says.
“One, not very tech savvy, that has an old PC lying around and Windows is getting difficult because of the computer’s age or viruses, and Ubuntu gives them a nice basic all-purpose PC with a great web experience.
“The other group tends to be the next generation of tech entrepreneurs – people who are passionate about technology and want to do amazing things with it.”
Mark Shuttleworth counts Wikipedia and Facebook’s Instagram photo app among his clients.
A third class of users is also attracted to the system – public bodies looking to cut their IT bills. The Dutch ministry of defense, part of France’s police force and schools across the south of Spain have all opted to switch thousands of their PCs to the software.
Ubuntu is able to offer itself as a free download thanks to coders across the world volunteering to develop the open-source project.
Mark Shuttleworth’s London-based company, Canonical, manages and funds the endeavor and makes money back by offering support, training and online storage.
The system may remain niche so long as it lacks native versions of big name software like Photoshop, iTunes and Microsoft Office – despite alternative products – but it may still shake up the wider industry thanks to efforts to incorporate innovative technologies.
The adoption of a head-up display (HUD) in the upgrade is a case in point.
It aims to replace increasingly overloaded point-and-click menu systems with a panel into which users type what they want the computer to do. The computer then tries to offer up a list of functions that match their request.
“The core idea is that instead of hunting for some functionality in a menu you can simply express what you want,” Mark Shuttleworth says.
“You can say I want to send that to grandma, or I want to back this up.
“It’s driven by the idea that search or expressing your intent has become really powerful. If Google can turn the whole internet into one page of likely results just based on the one sentence you give it, why can’t we do that with your email or graphics application?”
Ubuntu has some obvious advantages over other operating systems, is free of charge, free of viruses and designed to outpace its rivals on low-end systems
For now the innovation remains optional. The software designer admits it still needs “a great deal of work”, but he adds that it is only one of many steps he hopes to take towards a more intuitive, multi-sensory experience.
“You could imagine having the device track your eyeballs so it knows what you are looking at – so you could look at a movie and say <<I want to watch that>>.
“You can get away from the designer of the application having to provide a cumbersome way to express all the things you can do which you have to navigate, and just let you just say what you want to get done – whether that’s by talking, pointing or by touch interface – all of these things have to come together to make it feel more human.”
Delivering these ambitions will take years, perhaps decades.
In the shorter term, Ubuntu’s fans have been excited by a job posting which discussed creating a Ubuntu smartphone system.
Mark Shuttleworth refuses to reveal any details, beyond hinting that it will be a closer relation to the firm’s core product than some of its rivals’ mobile systems are to their desktop equivalents.
“You know you wouldn’t want to run Mac OS X nor Windows 8 on a phone,” he says.
“Those companies have quite different sorts of interfaces. We think we have found a way to have a more harmonious portfolio… we will be judged on what we ship.”
The firm’s smartphone efforts are also concentrated on “Ubuntu for Android” – an app that makes high-end phones act like a PC when docked with a monitor and keyboard, which is due out later this year.
The firm suggests businesses could ultimately cut costs by only having to buy a single device for each of their employees.
It is a radical proposition, and also a bit of a philosophical challenge.
“There are two counter-balancing forces – one force saying everyone should have fewer CPUs [central processing units] as their phone can replace other devices,” says Mark Shuttleworth.
“But then you have exactly the opposite trend which is saying that anything that could have a screen can also have a brain, a memory and a personality – printers with touch-screens, desk phones that deliver your mail. And those are two completely contradictory forces.
“Holding those two opposing ideas in our head at the same time is what’s really exciting.”
Other ambitions include the roll-out of the first Ubuntu powered television sets and perhaps support for mark two of the Raspberry Pi stripped-back computer, whenever it launches.
“We just couldn’t connect all the dots in the first version… I’d be delighted if a future version worked with us,” Mark Shuttleworth adds.
But as his firm rushes to release new innovations, one major cloud looms: the threat of a patent dispute.
Although Canonical has avoided becoming involved in one of the rising number of lawsuits sucking up time and brainpower at its competitors, it is an ever-present concern.
“We know that we are sort of dancing naked through a minefield and there are much bigger institutions driving tanks through,” Mark Shuttleworth says.
“It’s basically impossible to ship any kind of working software without potentially trampling on some patent somewhere in the world, and it’s completely impossible to do anything to prevent that.
“The patents system is being used to slow down a lot of healthy competition and that’s a real problem. I think that the countries that have essentially figured that out and put hard limits on what you can patent will in fact do better.”
Two men from UK, who have been totally blind for many years, have had part of their vision restored after surgery to fit pioneering eye implants.
The men are able to perceive light and even some shapes from the devices which were fitted behind the retina.
The patients are part of a clinical trial carried out at the Oxford University Eye Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London.
Professor Robert MacLaren and Dr.Tim Jackson are leading the trial.
The two patients, Chris James and Robin Millar, lost their vision due to a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa, where the photoreceptor cells at the back of the eye gradually cease to function.
The wafer-thin, 3 mm square microelectronic chip has 1,500 light-sensitive pixels which take over the function of the photoreceptor rods and cones.
The surgery involves placing it behind the retina from where a fine cable runs to a control unit under the skin behind the ear.
When light enters the eye and reaches the chip it stimulates the pixels which sends electronic signals to the optic nerve and from there to the brain.
The chip can have its sensitivity altered via an external power unit which connects to the chip via a magnetic disc on the scalp.
The wafer-thin, 3 mm square microelectronic chip has 1,500 light-sensitive pixels which take over the function of the photoreceptor rods and cones
Chris James from Wroughton in Wiltshire said there was a “magic moment” when the implant was switched on for the first time and he saw flashing lights – showing that the device was functional.
“I am able to make out a curve or a straight line close-up but I find things at distance more difficult. It is still early days as I have to learn to interpret the signals being sent to my brain from the chip.”
Chris James, a motor-racing enthusiast, says his ambition is to be able to make out the silhouettes of different cars on the race-track.
Prof.Robert MacLaren, who fitted the first implant in the UK at the Oxford Eye Hospital, said:
“It’s the first time that British patients who were completely blind have been able to see something.
“In previous studies of restorative vision involving stem cells and other treatments, patients always had some residual sight.
“Here the patients had no light perception at all but the implant reactivated their retina after more than a decade.”
The chip results in the brain receiving flashes of light rather than conventional vision – and it is in black and white rather than color.
But in an unexpected development, the other British man to have the implant says he is now able to dream in color for the first time in 25 years. Robin Millar says he is also able to stand in a room and detect light coming through windows.
Prof. Robert MacLaren said the results might not seem extraordinary to the sighted, but for a totally blind person to be able to orientate themselves in a room, and perhaps know where the doors and windows are, would be “extremely useful” and of practical help.
In 2010 a Finnish man who received the experimental chip was able to identify letters, but his implant worked only in a laboratory setting, whereas the British men’s devices are portable. The implant was developed by a German company, Retina Implant AG.
Dr. Tim Jackson, eye surgeon at King’s College Hospital who has also fitted one of the devices, said:
“This pioneering treatment is at an early stage of development, but it is an important and exciting step forward, and may ultimately lead to a much improved quality of life for people who have lost their sight from retinitis pigmentosa.
“Most of the people who receive this treatment have lost their vision for many years, if not decades. The impact of them seeing again, even if it is not normal vision, can be profound, and at times quite moving.”
Both surgeons stress that the chip is not a treatment but part of a clinical trial. Up to a dozen British patients will be fitted with the implants.
Although it could ultimately benefit patients with the most common form of progressive blindness, age-related macular degeneration, they are not eligible for the study at present.
Nor are patients with glaucoma or optic nerve disease.
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng says he has been unable to meet US officials to discuss his desire to leave the country.
The blind dissident, in hospital in Beijing, says he believes Chinese officials were preventing US envoys from visiting him on Thursday.
After he escaped house arrest last week, Chen Guangcheng spent six days in the US embassy before emerging on Wednesday.
The issue continues to overshadow key talks between the US and China.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Beijing to attend talks focusing on North Korea and Syria.
As the talks opened, Hillary Clinton did not mention Chen Guangcheng by name but addressed the topic of human rights.
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng says he has been unable to meet US officials to discuss his desire to leave the country
Earlier, the US ambassador to China, Gary Locke, rejected the suggestion that Chen Guangcheng had been pressured into leaving the US embassy.
“I can tell you unequivocally that he was never pressured to leave. He was excited and eager about leaving,” he said.
However, Chen Guangcheng says since he left he has been made aware of threats made to his wife and family while he was in the embassy.
“She told me our house has been installed with seven CCTV cameras inside the courtyard. There are people in and outside of our house and on the roof…They just eat and stay in our house, and they plan to build up electric wires around my house,” he said.
Although he initially said he wanted to stay in China, Chen Guangcheng changed his mind because he believes China has reneged on an agreement to guarantee his safety.
There is no official confirmation about the nature of any such agreement, but media reports from the US suggest that Chen Guangcheng had been promised safety in a university town elsewhere in China.
Chen Guangcheng also said that US officials had been to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment, but he had not seen them. He believes Chinese foreign ministry officials are not letting them in.
“Yesterday afternoon I thought they [US officials ] left. I looked for them, but couldn’t find them…Today I got to know that they were prevented from coming in, not that they are not coming in,” he said.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he had “no information” on Chen Guangcheng’s request to leave China.
Both Hillary Clinton and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are attending the annual two-day talks, which had been expected to focus on North Korea and Syria.
Hillary Clinton has previously expressed her support for Chen Guangcheng, who has been held under house arrest for almost two years.
As the talks opened, she addressed the topic of human rights.
“The United States believes that no state can legitimately deny the universal rights that belong to every human being – or punish those who exercise them,” the top US diplomat said.
President Hu Jintao, also speaking at the start of the talks, said it was not possible for China and the US to see “eye to eye on every issue”.
Chinese officials on Wednesday accused the US of interference in their domestic affairs and demanded an apology for housing Chen Guangcheng at the embassy.
Chen Guangcheng had been at the US embassy for almost a week after escaping from house arrest in his home village in the eastern province of Shandong.
He had planned his escape from house arrest for months. On 27 April, he scaled the wall the authorities had built around his house and was then driven hundreds of miles to Beijing.
The activist spent seven years in prison or under house arrest after he exposed human rights abuses, including the way thousands of women were forced to have abortions under China’s “one-child-policy”.
Several people involved in Chen Guangcheng’s escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days.
Carry-on baggage fee will soon cost some Spirit Airlines passengers $100, which is more than they may have paid for their flight.
The Miramar, Florida, airline currently charges $45 at the gate for a carry-on bag.
As of November 6, just days before Thanksgiving, customers who wait to pay the carry-on baggage fee at the boarding gate will have to fork over $100.
Any bag that needs to fit in the overhead bin is considered a carry-on.
Luckily, a small bag that fits under the seat is still free.
Carry-on baggage fee will soon cost some Spirit Airlines passengers $100, which is more than they may have paid for their flight
The price for a carry-on bought at an airport kiosk will increase to $50 from $40.
Larger pieces of luggage checked at the airport will cost between $8 and $10 more, while the fee for bags checked online will rise by between $2 and $5.
Spirit Airlines will also increase a handful of other fees by between $2 and $10.
Spirit is one of two airlines that charge for carry-ons; Allegiant is the other.
In the first quarter, Spirit’s average revenue from fees per passenger on a round-trip flight topped $100 for the first time.
“Despite achieving among the best first quarter results in the industry, we will not relax our vigilance toward further improving our cost structure,” Ted Christie, Spirit’s Chief Financial Officer said in a statement on May 1.
He said that Spirit would have to make certain adjustments to remain profitable.
“However, we must remain focused on offsetting cost headwinds, including rising jet fuel prices and aircraft maintenance expenses, in order to maintain our competitive advantage.”
