A study found that overdue babies, those who were born after 42 weeks, were more likely to suffer behavioral problems such as ADHD in early life.
Women should be aware of the risks of prolonging pregnancy, experts report in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The research was carried out in The Netherlands, where until recently it was commonplace for women to choose not to be induced if they were overdue.
A study of more than 5,000 babies found those born after 42 weeks were more likely to develop behavioral problems than those born around their due date, and had more than twice the risk of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
A study found that overdue babies, those who were born after 42 weeks, were more likely to suffer behavioral problems such as ADHD in early life
Lead researcher Dr. Hanan El Marroun from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Erasmus MC-Sophia in Rotterdam said post-term as well as pre-term births seemed to be associated with long-term health effects.
She said: “Every pregnant woman knows that if the child comes early that’s not good, so why don’t we question the long-term effects of when a child comes too late?”
Complications include a higher risk of stillbirth and difficulties in delivering large babies.
However, a minority of women, dubbed “the 10-month mamas”, believe a baby will come in its own time and avoid medical intervention.
Researchers have found that aspirin could be as effective as more expensive drugs for heart failure patients with a normal heart rhythm.
Their study on more than 2,000 patients, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, said aspirin was as effective as the commonly prescribed drug warfarin.
It said each drug had risks, but they had similar benefits overall.
However, a British cardiologist argued the risks from warfarin were less serious.
Heart failure is a major health problem in many parts of the world. It affects 900,000 people in the UK and six million people in the US. A failing heart struggles to pump blood around the body, meaning even trivial tasks become exhausting.
As the blood is not pumped round the body as efficiently the risk of a blood clot increases, if a clot blocks blood to parts of the brain it will result in a stroke.
Patients are treated with drugs to reduce the risk of a fatal blood clot forming. However, researchers said it was unknown whether aspirin or warfarin was the better treatment in the 75% of heart failure patients who still have a normal heart beat.
Aspirin was as effective as the commonly prescribed drug warfarin, say researchers
Researchers gave 2,305 patients, in 11 countries, either aspirin or warfarin.
The combined risk of death, stroke and major bleeding was the same for each drug, according to the researchers.
Patients taking warfarin had a much lower risk of stroke, but had a high risk of bleeds. They said that after four years there was a “small benefit” with warfarin, but it was “borderline” and of “uncertain clinical significance”.
They concluded: “There is no compelling reason to use warfarin rather than aspirin.”
The lead researcher, Dr. Shunichi Homma, from the Columbia University Medical Center, said: “Since the overall risks and benefits are similar for aspirin and warfarin, the patient and his or her doctor are free to choose the treatment that best meets their particular medical needs.
“However, given the convenience and low cost of aspirin, many may go this route.”
However, Dr. Andrew Clark, from the British Society for Heart Failure and the University of Hull, said: “The study shown here demonstrates that warfarin quite markedly reduces the risk of stroke associated with heart failure compared with aspirin, but at a cost of an increase in major haemorrhage.
“How to interpret that for individual patients means weighing the risk of stroke against the risk of haemorrhage, but also weighting that by importance.
“I would regard a gastrointestinal haemorrhage requiring transfusion as being of less importance than a stroke, so would tend in favor of warfarin.
“I would be more inclined to prescribe warfarin that previously, but the evidence is not overwhelming.”
The British Heart Foundation said both warfarin and aspirin had risks and benefits, but this study showed “neither has an advantage over the other overall in preventing stroke or death in the long term.”
Dr. Walter Koroshetz, who is the deputy director of the US National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, said the study would have “a large public health impact”.
He added: “Patients and their physicians now have critical information to help select the optimum treatment.
“The key decision will be whether to accept the increased risk of stroke with aspirin, or the increased risk of primarily gastrointestinal haemorrhage with warfarin.”
President Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival Francois Hollande have traded insults in their only TV debate of the election campaign.
Nicolas Sarkozy called Francois Hollande a “little slanderer”, while his challenger said the president shirked responsibility.
The president defended his record and said he had kept France out of recession. But Francois Hollande said France was going through a “serious crisis” and was struggling with slow growth.
The run-off vote takes place on Sunday.
It was a long, bad-tempered debate that left the impression that neither candidate liked each other.
There were plenty of angry exchanges, with both candidates accusing each other of lying.
Francois Hollande accused Nicolas Sarkozy of “ruining the French economy”, prompting his rival to say he had been unfairly blamed.
“It’s never your fault,” Francois Hollande responded, to which Nicolas Sarkozy said: “It’s a lie, it’s a lie!”
President Nicolas Sarkozy and his rival Francois Hollande have traded insults in their only TV debate of the election campaign
Analysts said neither candidate landed a knockout blow – which may be to the advantage of Francois Hollande, the favorite for Sunday’s vote.
Opinion polls suggest the Socialist candidate has a lead of seven percentage points.
Francois Hollande said he would work to help those in need, saying that those “with privileges” had been protected under Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I will be a president for justice, because we are going through a serious crisis that hits in particular the most modest of us, the hardest working people, those who are the most vulnerable.”
He accused Nicolas Sarkozy of failing to take responsibility for the economic difficulties that France was suffering, blaming it instead on the global economic crisis.
Francois Hollande said unemployment levels were “a record” and referred to the downgrading of France’s credit rating.
Lashing back at Francois Hollande, President Nicolas Sarkozy said France had done better than other European countries in coping with the economic climate.
“What is the country to not have known recession since 2009 – it is France,” Nicolas Sarkozy said.
He rejected Francois Hollande’s proposed stimulus programmes, insisting that France had to cut spending and debts.
Nicolas Sarkozy also accused Francois Hollande of representing only the unions, rather than all of France.
“It’s all very nice to talk about uniting people, but it has to be put into practice,” he said.
Francois Hollande also said he would be firm on demands made by the Muslim community, saying he supported France’s ban on face-covering veils and would not allow separate hours in swimming pools for men and women.
Nicolas Sarkozy has similarly criticized demands for special treatment from France’s Muslim community.
The debate was broadcast live by several channels and ran over time to nearly three hours.
There has been a huge build-up to the event, billed variously by newspapers as The Last Duel and The Final Confrontation.
About a third of France’s 63 million people were set to watch the live debate.
Nicolas Sarkozy had attacked Francois Hollande for refusing to hold three election debates instead of one, but there has been just one debate per presidential election since 1974, apart from in 2002 when Jacques Chirac refused to debate with the far right’s Jean-Marie Le Pen.
A key moment in Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 debate with Segolene Royal – Francois Hollande’s former partner and mother of his children – came when he told the Socialist candidate to “calm down”. She repeatedly refused to do so, saying some anger was “perfectly healthy”.
In this debate, Nicolas Sarkozy came across as the more aggressive participant, leaning forward and raising his voice more often, analysts say.
It was presented by two French TV anchors, Laurence Ferrari of TF1 and David Pujadas of France 2.
The Scream, the iconic artwork of Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, has become the most expensive item sold at auction, after it fetched $119.9 million.
The 1895 pastel was bought by an anonymous buyer at Sotheby’s in New York. Bidding lasted 12 minutes.
The work is one of four in a series by Edvard Munch and was the only one still owned privately.
Proceeds of the sale are to go towards founding a new museum, hotel and art centre in Norway.
Seven bidders were competing for the work, which had a starting price of $40 million. The crowd broke into applause, following the sale on Wednesday.
The sale price includes the buyer’s premium.
The Scream, the iconic artwork of Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch, has become the most expensive item sold at auction, after it fetched $119.9 million
The previous record for an artwork sold at auction was for Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold for $106.5 million in 2010.
The other three versions of The Scream are all owned by Norwegian museums, but Sotheby’s say the version they sold is the most colorful.
It is also the only one to include a poem by Edvard Munch on the frame, which talks of the inspiration behind the series of works.
It reads: “I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city.
“My friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”
The piece was sold by businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was friendly with the Norwegian artist.
Earlier this year, Petter Olsen spoke of his decision to sell The Scream.
“I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time,” he said.
“Now, however, I feel the moment has come to offer the rest of the world a chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work.”
The Scream has become one of the famous works of art in popular culture.
“Together with the Mona Lisa, it’s the most famous and recognized image in art history,” Michael Frahm, an art adviser with Frahm Ltd., told the Associated Press news agency.
He added that it has been “used by everyone from Warhol to Hollywood to cartoons to teacups and T-shirts”.
Two of the other versions of The Scream were stolen, in 1994 and 2004 respectively. Both were later recovered.
The European Space Agency is to mount Juice probe, a billion-euro mission, to Jupiter and its icy moons.
Juice probe has just been approved at a meeting of member state delegations in Paris.
It would be built in time for a launch in 2022, although it would be a further eight years before it reached the Jovian system.
The mission has emerged from a five-year-long competition to find the next “large class” space venture in Europe.
Juice stands for JUpiter ICy moon Explorer. The concept proposes an instrument-packed, nearly five-tonne satellite to be sent out to the Solar System’s biggest planet, to make a careful investigation of three of its biggest moons.
The spacecraft would use the gravity of Jupiter to initiate a series of close fly-bys around Callisto and Europa, and then finally to put itself in a settled orbit around Ganymede.
Emphasis would be put on “habitability” – in trying to understand whether there is any possibility that these moons could host microbial life.
Callisto, Europa and Ganymede are all suspected to have oceans of water below their icy surfaces. As such, they may have environments conducive to simple biology.
“People probably don’t realize that habitable zones don’t necessarily need to be close to a star – in our case, close to the Sun,” explained Prof. Michele Dougherty, a Juice science team member from Imperial College London, UK.
“There are four conditions required for life to form. You need water; you need an energy source – so the ice can become liquid; you need the right chemistry – nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen; and the fourth thing you need is stability – a length of time that allows life to form.
“The great thing about the icy moons in the Jupiter system is that we think those four conditions might exist there; and Juice will tell us if that is the case,” she said.
The European Space Agency is to mount Juice probe, a billion-euro mission, to Jupiter and its icy moons
The mission will cost ESA on the order of 830 million Euros ($1.1 billion) over its entire life cycle. This includes the cost of manufacturing the spacecraft bus, or chassis, launching the satellite and operating it until 2033.
This sum does not however include Juice’s 11 instruments. Funding for these comes from the member states. When this money is taken into account, the final budget for Juice is expected to be just short of 1.1 billion Euros.
It has not yet been decided which European nations will provide which instruments. An Announcement of Opportunity will be released this summer with a view to identifying the instrument providers by the start of next year.
The final and formal go-ahead for Juice should be given in 2014. In ESA-speak, this stage is referred to as “adoption”.
It is the moment when all the elements required to build the satellite are in place and the full costs are established.
It is also the point at which any international participation is recognized.
At the moment, Juice is a Europe-only venture, but there is every possibility that the Americans will get on board.
The US space agency (NASA) walked away from the idea of producing a companion satellite to Juice – a spacecraft that would orbit Europa rather than Ganymede – due to programmatic differences and budget concerns.
Nonetheless, there is a strong desire among the American scientific community to have some involvement in Juice, especially in those aspects that concern Europa.
Dr. Britney Schmidt from the University of Texas at Austin is excited that Europe has chosen to fly Juice, and expects the probe’s data to resolve many outstanding questions at the icy moon.
“We know that ice is a really good place [for life] to do business on Earth,” she said.
“There’s plenty of microbial and even some macroscopic organisms that use ice to make a living. It’s not so hard to imagine that life like that which lives in Antarctica and in the Arctic might be very possible on Europa.”
The ESA executive has put down 68 million Euros as a kind of placeholder, to give some idea of how much NASA might like to contribute. The sum is roughly the equivalent of two instruments. However, it should be said that no explicit discussions between ESA and NASA have taken place concerning which specific instruments might come from across the Atlantic.
One further issue needs to be resolved: the name of the mission. The “Juice” label was dreamt up by the science team who devised the mission concept, but the researchers acknowledge there was a touch of humor in its creation.
They would like to use the name Laplace, after the great 18th/19th-Century French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace. A number of commentators would like to see ESA run a public competition to find a suitable mission name.
The Juice proposal was chosen over two other ideas – Athena, which envisages the biggest X-ray telescope ever built, and NGO, which would place a trio of high-precision satellites in space to detect gravitational waves.
These defeated concepts will probably now be entered into the next competition, due to be announced next year or the year after.
Kodak Theatre, the Hollywood venue that hosts the Oscars, has been renamed the Dolby Theatre in a new sponsorship deal.
The 3,400-seater building, which has been home to the annual Academy Awards ceremony since 2002, was previously known as the Kodak Theatre.
Earlier this year a judge granted Eastman Kodak permission to end the $74 million, 20-year naming rights deal it signed in 2000.
Kodak Theatre, the Hollywood venue that hosts the Oscars, has been renamed the Dolby Theatre in a new sponsorship deal
Dolby has agreed a 20-year contract with theatre owners the CIM Group.
“The Academy’s Board of Governors believes that the home for our awards is in Hollywood,” said Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“It is where the Academy and the motion picture industry are rooted. We are pleased to have a new agreement with CIM that will continue our long-standing partnership.”
Kevin Yeaman, of British-founded audio technology specialists Dolby, said the partnership “allows the theatre to be not only the world stage for the Academy Awards, but for Dolby innovations for decades to come”.
Eastman Kodak entered bankruptcy protection from its creditors in January this year after failing to keep up with competitors.
The 133-year-old company announced it was to stop making digital cameras in order to focus on more profitable divisions.
Bobby Brown has spoken out for the first time since Whitney Houston’s death in an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show.
Bobby Brown, 43, told Matt Lauer he was “hurt” by suggestions that he played a role in Whitney Houston’s demise.
“I was hurt. I was hurt… because, you know, me being off of narcotics for the last seven years, I felt that she was… I didn’t know she was struggling with it still,” Bobby Brown told Matt Lauer in a new sitdown interviewing, aired Wednesday on The Today Show.
“But at the same time… listen, it’s a hard fight. It’s a hard fight to… maintain sobriety that way.”
Matt Lauer asked Bobby Brown if he thought Whitney Houston’s cocaine use shortly before her death (the coroner’s reported indicated she had the narcotic in her system at the time of her death in February) led to the pop star’s death, and the recovering addict said he believed it did.
“From what I feel and… how I saw her, the last time I saw her, it had to be that particular day… It had to be that one, because that’s all it takes… One hit, you know, and… it could definitely take your life away from you,” Bobby Brown said.
“And – unfortunately – that was it.”
Bobby Brown has spoken out for the first time since Whitney Houston’s death in an interview with Matt Lauer on The Today Show
Many fans blamed Whitney Houston’s early descent into drug addiction on her relationship with Bobby Brown, and the singer said those thoughts are still upsetting.
“It makes me feel terrible. But… I know differently. I think if anyone ever knew us, if anybody ever spent time around us instead of time lookin’ through the bubble – they would know how we felt about each other, they would know how happy we were together… And the reality show gave us a wakeup, because… we looked at the bubble and saw ourselves,” the singer said, referring to Being Bobby Brown.
“We [were] able to see what other people were saying about us… We [were] able to see that our drug use had affected our relationship, had affected the love that we felt for each other.”
Pushed more by Matt Lauer over the rumor, Bobby Brown said: “No, that’s not true. I didn’t get high before I met Whitney.”
“I smoked weed, I drank the beer, but no, I wasn’t the one that got Whitney on drugs at all,” he added.
Asked if drugs were a part of Whitney Houston’s life before their relationship, Bobby Brown claimed that they were.
“It’s just – it’s just unexplainable – how one could, you know, [say that I] got her addicted to drugs. I’m not the reason she’s gone,” he said.
“And it’s not revisionist history? It’s not a chance of, after the fact, setting the record straight in Bobby Brown’s way?” matt Lauer asked.
“No. I can honestly say that I love that woman with everything that I am… And I believe she loved me the same way,” he replied.
“We wouldn’t have been able to make the most beautiful girl in the world without love. And that’s the truth.”
The death of Whitney Houston hasn’t diminished the marketing value of her ex-boyfriend Ray J as he just inked a major deal – to fight the war on ingrown hairs.
Ray J is officially the new face of Prince Reigns shaving serum and, according to the singer’s rep, the deal is worth up to $1 million though the rep wouldn’t divulge the exact terms of the contract.
Ray J is officially the new face of Prince Reigns shaving serum
A rep for the company told TMZ that Sophie Monk signed a similar deal.
Ray J’s former sex tape partner Kim Kardashian has also dabbled in the body hair removal business inking a deal of her own with the TRIA laser hair removal system a few years ago.
Activision has released the first details of Black Ops 2, the latest installment in its best-selling Call of Duty series.
Black Ops 2 is set in 2025 and centres on “the enemy” taking control of the US army’s unmanned weapon systems.
The title is being developed by the firm’s Treyarch studio and is due for release on 13 November.
That will pitch it against the return of Microsoft’s Halo series. The science fiction first-person shooter launches a new trilogy a week earlier.
Activision said the last title in the Call of Duty series, Modern Warfare 3, broke sales record grossing $775 million on its first five days on sale.
Black Ops 2 is set in 2025 and centres on "the enemy" taking control of the US army's unmanned weapon systems
However, news site Gamasutra recently reported that analysts at Macquarie Equities had suggested that since its debut the title had underperformed its predecessor.
According to their numbers, by March the number of copies of MW3 sold was 4.2% behind where the first Black Ops title had been at the same time a year earlier.
Postings on site forums suggested that some players might have begun tiring of the format.
Video game website IGN said that a decision to develop a topical plot centred on cyber-terrorism in conjunction with Batman Begins scriptwriter David Goyer and the Brookings Institution think tank was designed to bolster interest.
“The decision to move Black Ops forward in time is a response to market saturation – there is an abundance of military shooters around – and a way to reinvigorate the genre,” said games writer Daniel Krupa.
“But it isn’t a strikingly original move. Ubisoft’s long-running Ghost Recon series is also making a leap forward in time this year. Halo is a military shooter set in the distant future.
“Ultimately, the real future of the first-person shooter won’t lie in the trenches of conflicts past or present, but in other settings with stronger narratives.”
UEFA has confirmed that yellow cards rules used by the Champions League will not be changed for at least three years.
Seven players are suspended for the Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich final after six were cautioned in the semi-finals.
The rules are different for Euro 2012 when UEFA will wipe the slate clean for yellow cards after the quarter-finals.
A UEFA spokesman said: “Different rules can apply in different competitions. The rules are a result of careful, democratic procedure.”
UEFA has confirmed that yellow cards rules used by the Champions League will not be changed for at least three years
International players’ union FIFPro had made a plea for the six players who are suspended to be allowed to play, which was rejected.
Chelsea’s captain John Terry will also be suspended after being sent off against Barcelona in the semi-final second leg at the Nou Camp.
Michael van Praag, head of UEFA’s Champions League Rules group, was quoted on FIFPro’s website saying: “We have just had three sessions with representatives of the European Clubs’ Association and others, in which we confirmed the rule for the coming three years.
“We did not receive any request whatsoever concerning the yellow card rule, not even from the representative of Bayern Munich. And so we will be continuing the rule for the next three years.”
Before that announcement, Simon Barker – a spokesman for FIFPro – had said: “Anybody committing a serious offence in the semi-final should be awarded a red card and miss the final, but the offences that result in a yellow card do not justify the serious punishment of missing the match of your life.
“Some people say this will give players the licence to kick all and sundry during the semi-final, but that is utter nonsense.
“Any serious offence will result in a red card and that still means exclusion from the final.”
At Euro 2012, only players sent off in the quarter-final or semi-final will be banned from the final in Kiev.
Motorola Mobility has been granted an injunction against the distribution of key Microsoft products, Xbox 360 games console, Windows 7 system software, Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player, in Germany.
The court’s decision follows a ruling that Microsoft had infringed two patents necessary to offer H.264 video coding and playback.
A US court has banned Motorola from enforcing the action until it considers the matter next week.
The handset maker is in the process of being taken over by Google.
This is just one of several cases involving about 50 intellectual properties that the smartphone maker has claimed that Microsoft should have licensed.
Motorola Mobility has been granted an injunction against the distribution of Xbox 360 games console in Germany
Microsoft has said that if it met all of Motorola’s demands it would face an annual bill of $4 billion. Motorola disputes the figure.
A statement from Motorola said: “We are pleased that the Mannheim Court found that Microsoft products infringe Motorola Mobility’s intellectual property. As a path forward, we remain open to resolving this matter. Fair compensation is all that we have been seeking for our intellectual property.”
Microsoft said it planned to appeal the German ruling.
“This is one step in a long process, and we are confident that Motorola will eventually be held to its promise to make its standard essential patents available on fair and reasonable terms for the benefit of consumers who enjoy video on the web,” a spokesman said.
“Motorola is prohibited from acting on today’s decision, and our business in Germany will continue as usual while we appeal this decision and pursue the fundamental issue of Motorola’s broken promise.”
Microsoft moved its European software distribution centre from Germany to the Netherlands last month ahead of the verdict to minimize potential disruption.
However, Motorola cannot enforce the ruling until a Seattle-based judge lifts a restraining order.
The restriction was put in place after Microsoft claimed that Motorola was abusing its Frand-commitments – a promise to license innovations deemed critical to widely-used technologies under “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” terms.
A hearing is scheduled for 7 May, although the judge may issue his ruling at a later date.
The German case is also likely to be considered by the European Commission.
It is carrying out two probes into whether Motorola’s Frand-type patent activities amount to “an abuse of a dominant market position”.
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has left the US embassy in Beijing, a week after seeking shelter following his escape from house arrest.
State news agency Xinhua said Chen Guangcheng left “of his own volition”. He is having a check-up at a Beijing hospital. His lawyer said he was “happy” and “free”.
The announcement came as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in China for high-level annual talks.
Hillary Clinton said Chen Guangcheng’s departure “reflected his choices and our values”.
“The United States government and the American people are committed to remaining engaged with Mr. Chen and his family in the days, weeks, and years ahead,” Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
Chen Guangcheng’s case threatened to overshadow the talks, which are due to focus on issues like Syria and trade.
US officials were said to have been in talks with their Chinese counterparts ahead of the announcement.
Chen Guangcheng is having a check-up at a Beijing hospital after he left US embassy
After leaving the US embassy, the Chinese dissident had a telephone call with Hillary Clinton in which he said: “I want to kiss you.”
Chen Guangcheng’s lawyer Li Jinsong said he had spoken to his client on the phone. He said Chen Guangcheng was “very happy and wants to hug all his friends”. Li Jinsong said the dissident had told him he now had “true freedom”, his rights were now protected by the national law and he was “a free citizen”.
Chen Guangcheng’s wife said she and their two children were well.
A US official said Chen Gunagcheng was to stay in China where he had been promised a “safe” place.
Neither Beijing nor Washington had confirmed Chen Guangcheng’s whereabouts.
The US official, who wanted to remain anonymous, said the dissident had gone into the embassy because he needed medical care and had not requested political asylum.
“China acknowledged that Mr. Chen will be treated humanely while he remains in China,” the official said.
“When he leaves the hospital, the Chinese authorities have stated that Mr. Chen and his family will be relocated to a safe environment so that he may attend a university to pursue a course of study,” he said.
“This was an extraordinary case involving exceptional circumstances, and we do not anticipate that it will be repeated,” the official said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin earlier said Chen Guangcheng had been taken into the US embassy “via abnormal measures” and the Chinese authorities were “strongly dissatisfied”.
Chen Guangcheng, who has been blind since childhood, has long been a high-profile figure and international rights groups have frequently expressed alarm at the treatment of him and his family.
He was placed under house arrest in 2010 after spending more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property.
Chen Guangcheng exposed how local authorities in Linyi, in Shandong province, forced thousands of women to have abortions or be sterilized as part of China’s one-child policy
His colleagues said the escape from house arrest had taken months to plan, and was carried out with the help of a network of friends and activists.
Chen Guangcheng scaled the wall that the authorities had built around his house, and was driven hundreds of miles to Beijing, where activists say he stayed in safe houses before fleeing to the embassy.
Several people involved in Chen Guangcheng’s escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s twins, Moroccan and Monroe, celebrated their first anniversary in Paris with a get together most parents couldn’t even afford to dream of for their toddlers.
Mariah Carey, 42, and her husband, Nick Cannon, 31, held a luxury bash inside Plaza Athenee decking out the kids – known affectionately as “dem babies”- in angelic outfits.
While their little girl, Monroe donned a silky white dress with floral pattern detail and a bow in her hair, their son Moroccan channeled his father’s attire.
Despite his young age Moroccan was already looking handsome as he wore a smart ivory suit just like his daddy.
In a snap released by their star parents, both tots looked well behaved at the gathering as they were toted around in the arms of their guardians with pacifiers in their mouths.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s twins, Moroccan and Monroe, celebrated their first anniversary in Paris
The set-up seemed to be an extravagance, with blue and pink star-shaped balloons in the background and wine glasses on the tables of the hotel suite.
Plastic cups would be more appropriate at a get-together for children but it was only the best treatment for Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s offspring.
Custom-made French pastries, plenty of toys and confetti were present on Sunday, according to People magazine.
It’s not entirely a surprise that they went all out for precious duo.
Nick Cannon told the publication last month that they planning something big.
He said: “We’re going away. We’re taking a break. It’s going to be exciting. We’re doing something special and something unique.”
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon made their trip to Europe a double celebration as the event also fell on their April 30 anniversary.
The couple renewed their vows on Friday for the fourth time in the City of Love, heading for the Eiffel Tower and donning white again to do so.
Maxwell Drew Johnson, Jessica Simpson’s newborn baby, is already getting a taste of the high life thanks to the $4,000-a-day hospital suite she was birthed in.
Baby girl Maxwell Drew Johnson weighed in at a sizeable 9lbs 13oz after being born yesterday at a luxury wing of the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.
Members of the Jessica Simpson’s family were spotted arriving at the hospital with her mother Tina and sister Ashlee, along with the parents of her fiancé Eric Johnson, seen with excited looks on their faces.
Ashlee Simpson told People magazine yesterday: “Bronx and I are in love with Maxwell already! Jessica has wanted to be a mom since we were little girls and I couldn’t be more excited for her and Eric!”
Jessica Simpson’s suite comes complete with flat screen televisions, chilled juices on ice, muffin baskets, manicures and pedicures and a private dinner for two post-labor.
According to TMZ, the most expensive suite in the hospital costs $3,784 a day and comes complete with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Maxwell Drew Johnson, Jessica Simpson's newborn baby, is already getting a taste of the high life thanks to the $4,000-a-day hospital suite she was birthed in
Jessica Simpson, 31, announced the arrival of Maxwell Drew Johnson via a banner on her official website.
She wrote: “Eric and I are elated to announce the birth of our baby girl, Maxwell Drew Johnson.
“We are so grateful for all the love, support and prayers we have received. This is been the greatest experience of our lives.”
Maxwell Drew Johnson apparently takes her middle name from Jessica Simpson’s mother Tina, whose maiden name is Drew.
While Drew pays tribute to Jessica Simpson’s side of the family, Maxwell is Eric Johnson’s middle name.
Jessica Simpson was last spotted out and about on Sunday, when she went for a drive with her fiancé.
She has looked ready to pop for several weeks now and the star’s due date was April 21.
A year on from the death of Osama Bin Laden, two Pakistani men tell how they came to host the then leader of al-Qaeda.
Late one night in the summer of 2010, on the fringes of the Waziristan region in north-western Pakistan, half a dozen men of a local tribal family waited nervously for the arrival of a guest whose identity they didn’t know.
They had been alerted to this visit weeks earlier, by someone they describe simply as an “important person”. They were not given any names, and the exact time of the guest’s arrival was conveyed to them just a few hours in advance.
At about 23:00, when the world around them was in deep sleep, they heard the rumble of the approaching vehicles.
“A dozen big four-wheel drive jeeps drove into the compound,” recalls one family elder.
“They seemed to converge from different directions.”
One of the 4x4s drove up close to the veranda, and from its back seat emerged a tall and frail-looking man. He wore flowing robes and a white turban.
The waiting men couldn’t believe their eyes. Standing before them was none other than Osama Bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world.
“We were dumb-struck,” says the elder.
“He was the last person we’d expected to turn up at our doorstep.”
He stood beside the vehicle for a while, shaking hands. The elder says he kissed Osama Bin Laden’s hand and pressed it against his eyes in a gesture of reverence.
Then, putting his hand lightly on the shoulder of one of his assistants, Osama Bin Laden walked into the room they’d set up for him. The villagers didn’t follow him in. Only a couple of his own men kept him company.
A year on from the death of Osama Bin Laden, two Pakistani men tell how they came to host the then leader of al-Qaeda
This happened exactly one year before Osama Bin Laden was killed in a secret operation of the US Navy Seals in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, located some 300 km (186 miles) to the north-east of this remote tribal compound.
The shock of his death prompted one of his former hosts to tell close friends about this unexpected visit.
Two of the men who’d met Osama Bin Laden on that occasion agreed to speak about that meeting. Both requested that their names and locality be kept secret.
During the three hours Osama Bin Laden spent with them, they said he offered prayers, rested, and ate the lamb chops, chicken curry and rice they’d prepared for him and his entourage.
All that time, his hosts weren’t allowed to leave the compound, or let anyone in. Armed men took positions at the main gate, along the walls and on the roof.
There was a slight commotion among the guards when one of the hosts requested that his 85-year-old father be allowed to see Osama Bin Laden.
“Consider this to be his dying wish,” he pleaded. The message was passed to Osama Bin Laden, who agreed to see the old patriarch.
Four armed men escorted the son home to fetch his father. The old man was only told about Osama Bin Laden’s presence once they were back inside the compound.
They said the old man spent 10 minutes with Osama Bin Laden, pouring out his admiration and prayers for him, and offering time-tested advice on tribal warfare, all in his native Pashto language, which Osama Bin Laden apparently didn’t understand.
This brought smiles to the faces of Osama Bin Laden’s hosts and his guards, they say.
Osama Bin Laden and his men departed in just the same way as they’d come – their 4x4s leaving the compound in a bustling confusion – and heading out in different directions, giving his hosts little chance to determine which way Osama Bin Laden’s vehicle went.
While they were quite open about the details of the visit, they didn’t want to discuss the identity of the “important man” who had asked them to host Osama Bin Laden. They were also reluctant to share information on who else was in the entourage.
Following Osama Bin Laden’s death a year later, both Pakistani and American officials had insisted that the al-Qaeda chief had lived in total seclusion for nearly five years, without once leaving his Abbottabad compound.
That would seem not to be the case. And many questions remain unanswered.
The area where he showed up in 2010 is in the middle of a vast tribal hinterland which was, and to an extent still is, the focus of a number of military operations against militants. Troops stationed there were on high alert and had set up dozens of security checkpoints to monitor commuters along both regular and rarely frequented routes.
How did he get past those posts undetected?
The Pakistanis have always denied having any knowledge of his whereabouts or providing any support to Osama Bin Laden.
There’s also the question of who was planning his itinerary, what was the purpose of his visit and, above all, how frequently did he pay midnight visits to unsuspecting hosts?
Researchers have found red blood cells around the wounds of Oetzi, the 5,300-year-old caveman found frozen in the Italian Alps in 1991.
Blood cells tend to degrade quickly, and earlier scans for blood within Oetzi’s body turned up nothing.
Now a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface shows that Oetzi’s remarkable preservation extends even to the blood he shed shortly before dying.
The find represents by far the oldest red blood cells ever observed.
It is just the latest chapter in what could be described as the world’s oldest murder mystery.
Since Oetzi was first found by hikers with an arrow buried in his back, experts have determined that he died from his wounds and what his last meal was.
Researchers have found red blood cells around the wounds of Oetzi, the 5,300-year-old caveman found frozen in the Italian Alps in 1991
There has been extensive debate as to whether he fell where he died or was buried there by others.
In February, Albert Zink and colleagues at the Eurac Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy published Oetzi’s full genome.
An earlier study by the group, published in the Lancet, showed that a wound on Oetzi’s hand contained haemoglobin, a protein found in blood – but it had long been presumed that red blood cells’ delicate nature would have precluded their preservation.
Prof. Albert Zink and his colleagues collaborated with researchers at the Center for Smart Interfaces at the University of Darmstadt in Germany to apply what is known as atomic force microscopy to thin slices of tissue taken from an area surrounding the arrow wound.
The technique works using a tiny metal tip with a point just a few atoms across, dragged along the surface of a sample. The tip’s movement is tracked, and results in a 3-D map at extraordinary resolution.
The team found that the sample from Oetzi contained structures with a tell-tale “doughnut” shape, just as red blood cells have.
To ensure the structures were preserved cells and not contamination of some kind, they confirmed the find using a laser-based technique called Raman spectroscopy – those results also indicated the presence of haemoglobin and the clot-associated protein fibrin.
But the fibrin levels were much lower than would be expected in fresh wounds.
“Because fibrin is present in fresh wounds and then degrades, the theory that Oetzi died straight after he had been injured by the arrow, as had once been mooted, and not some days after, can no longer be upheld,” Prof. Albert Zink remarked.
The team also suggests that their methods may prove to be of use in modern-day forensics studies, in which the exact age of blood samples is difficult to determine.
President Barack Obama has pledged to “finish the job” and end the Afghan war, addressing the US public live from a military base in Afghanistan.
Speaking a year after Osama Bin Laden’s death, Barack Obama thanked US troops and hailed plans to end combat operations.
He arrived in Afghanistan on a publicly unannounced visit to sign an agreement on future Afghan-US ties with President Hamid Karzai, ahead of a NATO summit.
Hours after his speech, at least seven people died in an attack in Kabul.
Afghan officials said at least two suicide bombers targeted a guesthouse popular with foreigners in the eastern part of the capital.
They said at least four of the victims were civilians – children from a nearby school. Seventeen people were wounded.
The Taliban later claimed responsibility for the attacks.
President Barack Obama has pledged to "finish the job" and end the Afghan war
A spokesman for the NATO lead force praised the Afghan security forces for “taking the lead in putting down another desperate attack by insurgents”.
Earlier, Barack Obama said signing the pact with President Hamid Karzai was “a historic moment” for both nations.
His visit and TV address come as correspondents say public patience with the war in Afghanistan is wearing thin.
In the speech, beamed back to prime-time evening audiences in US, the president said that at the upcoming NATO summit, to be held in Chicago, the alliance would “set a goal for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations across the country next year”.
NATO has already committed to withdrawing from combat operations in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
“I will not keep Americans in harm’s way a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security,” Barack Obama said.
“But we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly.”
Barack Obama’s words appear to be aimed at showing American voters he is pursuing a strategy to wind down the war, while reassuring Afghans in the face of a continuing Taliban insurgency.
About 23,000 of the 88,000 US troops currently in the country are expected to leave Afghanistan by the summer, with all US and NATO troops out by the end of 2014.
“It is time to renew America,” Barack Obama said towards the end of his remarks.
“My fellow Americans, we have travelled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon,” he said.
“The Iraq war is over. The number of our troops in harm’s way has been cut in half, and more will be coming home soon. We have a clear path to fulfil our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al-Qaeda.”
During the speech, Barack Obama outlined the agreement he had just signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Twenty months of negotiation finally produced an agreement after differences over night raids by special forces and the handling of prisoners were ironed out.
According to the US president, the document outlines plans for training Afghan forces and supporting counter terrorism efforts, as well as “Afghan commitments to transparency and accountability”.
Barack Obama also spoke of a “negotiated peace” with the Taliban, saying that if insurgents break with al-Qaeda, and follow the “path to peace”, there can be reconciliation.
He said that ahead of the Chicago meeting of NATO, he had made it clear to Pakistan that it could be an “equal partner in the process”.
Pakistan and US relations soured after Barack Obama launched the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden inside the country’s border.
“In pursuit of a durable peace, America has no designs beyond an end to al-Qaeda safe-havens, and respect for Afghan sovereignty.”
Barack Obama also rejected calls to leave Afghanistan before the 2014 NATO timeline, saying “we must finish the job we started in Afghanistan, and end this war responsibly”.
In the wake of the agreement, the US is to designate Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally, US officials are quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
President Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan on a previously unannounced visit.
Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have signed a 10-year accord charting future relations between the countries.
The agreement outlines the US role in Afghanistan after 2014, when most NATO combat forces are due to pull out.
Barack Obama is also due to give a TV address to Americans back home. The visit comes on the first anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s killing.
It was a year ago that US special forces carried out a raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the leader of the al-Qaeda network.
President Barack Obama has arrived in Afghanistan on a previously unannounced visit
After Barack Obama’s arrival, Hamid Karzai said a post-war agreement would seal an “equal partnership” between Afghanistan and the United States, reports say.
Barack Obama added the costs of war had been great for both nations, adding he looked forward to “a future of peace”.
He acknowledged there would be difficult days ahead for Afghanistan, but said the Afghan people were taking control of their own future.
The US is to designate Afghanistan as a major non-NATO ally, US officials are quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Barack Obama will not make specific decisions on further reductions of US forces in Afghanistan until the autumn of 2012, the officials added.
The president is due to make his TV address from Bagram air base at 23:30 GMT.
The agreement is a first, symbolic step towards setting out a long-term relationship.
It is designed to reassure the people of Afghanistan that they are not about to be abandoned when NATO ends its operations there in 18 months.
It is also meant to send a signal to the Taliban that it cannot simply expect to take over again when the Americans leave, our correspondent adds.
This is President Barack Obama’s third trip to Afghanistan since taking office.
The largest exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of the human body goes on display in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace in UK this week.
During his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of pages of notes and drawings on the human body.
Leonardo da Vinci wanted to understand how the body was composed and how it worked. But at his death in 1519, his great treatise on the body was incomplete and his scientific papers were unpublished.
Based on what survives, clinical anatomists believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s anatomical work was hundreds of years ahead of its time, and in some respects it can still help us understand the body today.
So how do these drawings, sketched more than 500 years ago, compare to what digital imaging technology can tell us today?
From a notebook dated 1489, there are a series of meticulous drawings of the skull.
Leonardo da Vinci has cut off the front of the face to show what lies beneath. It is difficult to cut these bones without damaging them. And elsewhere in his papers, he left a drawing of the knives he used.
According to Peter Abrahams, professor of clinical anatomy at Warwick University in the UK, Leonardo da Vinci’s image is as accurate as anything that can be produced by scientific artists working today.
“If you actually know your anatomy, you can see all the tiny little holes that are in the skull,” says Prof. Peter Abrahams.
“Those are absolutely anatomically correct. Leonardo was a meticulous observer, and a meticulous experimental scientist. He drew what he saw, and he had the ability to draw what he saw absolutely perfectly.”
According to Prof. Peter Abrahams, the upper half of the drawing of a torso is a fairly accurate observation of the body. The liver, for example, is correctly placed not far below the woman’s right breast. Its size suggests that the woman may have suffered from liver disease.
Leonardo da Vinci's image is as accurate as anything that can be produced by scientific artists working today, say experts
The problems with the image start lower down, however. Clinical anatomist Prof. Peter Abrahams says that the uterus is wrong. This image, he suggests, is reminiscent of what we see in animals such as cows.
It is possible that given the difficulty of getting hold of female corpses, Leonardo da Vinci used the knowledge that he had gained from dissecting animals to help him understand the human body.
On the right arm, there is a finger print which has smudged the line of the drawing. It could very well be Leonardo da Vinci’s own.
The spinal column shown here is thought to be the first accurate depiction in history.
Leonardo da Vinci’ spinal column drawing is thought to be the first accurate depiction in history
According to Prof. Peter Abrahams, Leonardo da Vinci perfectly captured the delicate curve and tilt of the spine, and the snug fit of one vertebra into another.
This drawing by itself would have secured Leonardo da Vinci a place in history. As far as two-dimensional images go, it is as good as anything produced today.
But it is just one of a series of drawings in which he pushed forward the frontiers of science. He dissected and wrote up his investigations into every bone in the human body, except the skull.
Prof. Peter Abrahams suggests that it was Leonardo’s skill as an architect and engineer that gave him the insight in to how the body actually works.
“This mechanistic approach, this engineering-approach, has only become really popular in the field of surgery within the last 50 or 60 years,” says Peter Abrahams.
“There are still many people doing research on all these little ligaments and pulleys to this very day all over the world.”
Despite his desire to draw the body accurately, Leonardo da Vinci was still wedded to certain ideas that he had inherited from Middle Ages. He still, for instance, thought of the human reproductive system as in some way analogous to that of plants.
“All seeds have an umbilical cord which is broken when the seed is ripe,” writes Leonardo da Vinci.
“Likewise they have a uterus and membranes, as herbs and all seeds that are produced in pods demonstrate.”
Below his embryo, Leonardo da Vinci sketched the uterus opening like the petals of a flower.
When he died, the treatise he planned to write was left incomplete. His detailed drawings were left to his assistant Melzi. Ground-breaking observations including the flow of blood in to the heart were lost to science.
Anatomists such as Prof. Peter Abrahams believe that Leonardo da Vinci’s work was some 300 years ahead of its time, and in some ways superior to what was available in the 19th Century Gray’s Anatomy.
They say it is only recently with 3D, digital technology and moving images that we have been able to take a decisive step beyond what Leonardo da Vinci’s hand and eye were able to achieve.
Norwegian Swimming Federation announces that champion Alexander Dale Oen has died in the US, aged 26.
Alexander Dale Oen was found collapsed in a shower late on Monday after training in Flagstaff, Arizona, Norwegian media say. Officials said he had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Emergency services arrived at the scene within minutes but were unable to revive him.
Alexander Dale Oen won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in Shanghai in July 2011.
His triumph came just days after the attack in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik which killed 77 people.
Alexander Dale Oen was found collapsed in a shower late on Monday after training in Flagstaff, Arizona
Norwegian Swimming Federation President Per Rune Eknes said the swimmer had suffered a cardiac arrest. Friends said he had appeared healthy earlier.
Doctors at the Flagstaff Medical Center declared the world champion swimmer dead at 21:00 local time on Monday after all efforts to resuscitate him failed.
Per Rune Eknes told national broadcaster NRK that it was the blackest day in the history of Norwegian swimming.
“We are all in shock… our thoughts go primarily to his family who have lost Alexander way too early,” said Norwegian Coach Petter Loevberg.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg expressed his sorrow at the death of the swimmer.
“Alexander Dale Oen was a great athlete for a small country. My thoughts go to his family and friends,” he said.
Alexander Dale Oen’s last tweet on Monday, as he was coming to the end of training in the US, said: “2 days left of our camp up here in Flagstaff, then it’s back to the most beautiful city in Norway #Bergen”.
Alexander Dale Oen was born in Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, and began swimming at the age of four. He got his international breakthrough in 2005 when he came seventh in the 100m breaststroke during the World Aquatics Championships in Montreal, Canada.
He won silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Norway’s first Olympic swimming medal, and was considered a strong hope for this summer’s London Games.
After winning his gold medal in Shanghai, Alexander Dale Oen said that the murders of 77 people in Oslo and on the island of Utoeya had affected him deeply.
“We can’t let this guy ruin the future for us,” he said.
US Navy SEAL has slammed President Barack Obama for taking the credit for killing Osama bin Laden and accused him of using Special Forces operators as “ammunition” for his re-election campaign.
In his newly released re-election campaign, President Bill Clinton is featured saying that Barack Obama took “the harder and the more honorable path” in ordering that Osama bin Laden be killed. The words “Which path would Mitt Romney have taken?” are then displayed.
Besides the ad, the White House is marking the first anniversary of the SEAL Team Six raid that killed bin Laden inside his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan with a series of briefings and an NBC interview in the Situation Room designed to highlight the “gutsy call” made by the President.
Barack Obama used a news conference yesterday to trumpet his personal role and imply that his Republican opponent Mitt Romney, who in 2008 expressed reservations about the wisdom of sending troops into Pakistan, would have let Osama bin Laden live.
“I said that I’d go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him, and I did,” Barack Obama said.
“If there are others who have said one thing and now suggest they’d do something else, then I’d go ahead and let them explain it.”
Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: “The decision was a no brainer. I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.
“I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice – it was a broader team effort.”
Ryan Zinke, who is now a Republican state senator in Montana, added that Barack Obama was exploiting Osama bin Laden’s death for his re-election bid. “The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.”
Barack Obama has faced criticism even from allies about his decision to make a campaign ad about the Osama bin Laden raid. Arianna Huffington, an outspoken liberal who runs the left-leaning Huffington Post website, roundly condemned it.
Arianna Huffington told CBS: “We should celebrate the fact that they did such a great job. It’s one thing to have an NBC special from the Situation Room… all that to me is perfectly legitimate, but to turn it into a campaign ad is one of the most despicable things you can do.”
US Navy SEAL accuses Barack Obama of using them as ammunition for his re-election campaign
Campaigning in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney responded to a shouted question by a reporter by saying: “Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order.”
A serving SEAL Team member said: “Obama wasn’t in the field, at risk, carrying a gun. As president, at every turn he should be thanking the guys who put their lives on the line to do this. He does so in his official speeches because he speechwriters are smart.
“But the more he tries to take the credit for it, the more the ground operators are saying, <<Come on, man!>>. It really didn’t matter who was president. At the end of the day, they were going to go.”
Chris Kyle, a former SEAL sniper with 160 confirmed and another 95 unconfirmed kills to his credit, said: “The operation itself was great and the nation felt immense pride. It was great that we did it.
“But bin Laden was just a figurehead. The war on terror continues. Taking him out didn’t really change anything as far as the war on terror is concerned and using it as a political attack is a cheap shot.
“In years to come there is going to be information that will come out that Obama was not the man who made the call. He can say he did and the people who really know what happened are inside the Pentagon, are in the military and the military isn’t allowed to speak out against the commander- in-chief so his secret is safe.”
Senior military figures have said that Admiral William McRaven, a former SEAL who was then head of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) made the decision to take bin Laden out. Tactical decisions were delegated even further down the chain of command.
Chris Kyle added: “He’s trying to say that Romney wouldn’t have made the same call? Anyone who is patriotic to this country would have made that exact call, Democrat or Republican. Obama is taking more credit than he is due but it’s going to get him some pretty good mileage.”
A former intelligence official who was serving in the US government when bin Laden was killed said that the Obama administration knew about the al-Qaeda leader’s whereabouts in October 2010 but delayed taking action and risked letting him escape.
“In the end, Obama was forced to make a decision and do it. He knew that if he didn’t do it the political risks in not taking action were huge. Mitt Romney would have made the call but he would have made it earlier – as would George W. Bush.”
Brandon Webb, a former SEAL who spent 13 years on active duty and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said: “Bush should get partial credit for putting the system in place.
“Obama inherited a very robust package with regards to special ops and the intelligence community. But Obama deserves credit because he got bin Laden – you can’t take that away from him.
“My friends that work in Special Operations Command (SOCOM) that have been on video teleconferences with Obama on these kill or capture situations say that Obama has no issue whatsoever with making decisions and typically it’s kill. He’s hitting the kill button every time. I have a lot of respect for him for that.”
But he said that many SEALs were dismayed about the amount of publicity the Obama administration had generated about SEAL Team Six, the very existence of which is highly classified.
“The majority of the SEALs I know are really proud of the operation but it does become <<OK, enough is enough – we’re ready to get back to work and step out of the limelight>>. They don’t want to be continuously paraded around a global audience like a show dog.
“Obama has a very good relationship with the Special Operations community at large, especially the SEALs, and it’s nice to see. We had the same relationship with George W. Bush when he was president.”
It was “stretching a little much” for Barack Obama to suggest only he would have made the decision.
“I personally I don’t think Romney would have any problem making tough decisions. He got a very accomplished record of making decision as a business professional.
“He may not have charisma but he clearly has leadership skills. I don’t think he’d have any problem taking that decision.”
Clint Bruce, who gave up the chance of an NFL career to serve as a SEAL officer before retiring as a lieutenant after nine years, said: “We were extremely surprised and discouraged by the publicity because it compromises the ability of those guys to operate.
“It’s a waste of time to speculate about who would and wouldn’t have made that decision. It was a symphony of opportunity and intelligence that allowed this administration to give the green light. We want to acknowledge that they made that decision.
“Politicians should let the public know where they stand on national security but not in the play-by-play, detailed way that has been done recently. The intricacies of national security should not become part of stump speeches.”
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has vowed to cast a blank vote in Sunday’s French presidential poll run-off.
Marine Le Pen told a rally of her National Front party that she could back neither incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist Francois Hollande and told supporters to follow their conscience.
Marine Le Pen won 6.5 million votes – 17.9% – in the first round of the election.
The latest opinion polls suggest Francois Hollande has a six to 10 point lead over President Sarkozy.
Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy will go head-to-head in the sole televised election debate on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Marine Le Pen led her National Front party’s annual rally to its climax at the Place de l’Opera in the French capital.
Marine Le Pen was addressing supporters after winning a record number of votes for her party in the first round of the presidential election and after taking over from her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, just over a year ago.
“On Sunday, I will vote blank,” she told the rally.
“I have made my choice. Each of you will make yours.”
Marine Le Pen told a rally of her National Front party that she could back neither incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy nor Socialist Francois Hollande and told supporters to follow their conscience
Marine Le Pen praised the campaign her party had run, saying it had touched the spirit of the French people.
“We have become the centre of gravity for French politics,” she said.
Marine Le Pen said a “great project of emancipation” had begun and nothing would be the same again.
She rounded on both Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
Marine Le Pen said Nicolas Sarkozy’s recent policy switches had contradicted his actions over his five-year term and he was not fit to be president.
Opinion polls suggest about 50% of National Front voters will back the president, about 30% will abstain and about 15% will support Francois Hollande.
Nicolas Sarkozy is holding a large rally on Tuesday in Trocadero Square, Paris, which he says is a showcase of “real work”.
This has irritated unions as it carries the implication that Left-wing unions – who are holding their own May Day rally – do not understand the value of work.
Meanwhile, Francois Hollande told supporters in the central town of Nevers: “French people want change.”
He added that now he was no longer the candidate of the Socialist Party but the candidate of “the whole united Left”.
After the first round on 22 April, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon – who polled 11% of the vote – told his supporters to rally behind Francois Hollande in the second round.
Francois Hollande has chosen not to attend the unions’ rally at the Bastille, which will be addressed by Socialist Party secretary Martine Aubry.
Large numbers of workers and union members are marking May Day with marches and rallies across the country.
Nicolas Sarkozy continued to court far-right voters on Tuesday in an interview on the RMC radio station, saying France had too many immigrants.
He said: “Our system of integration doesn’t work. Why? Because before we were able to integrate those who were received on our territory, others arrived. Having taken in too many people, we paralyzed our system of integration.”
Indian divers and rescue workers are looking for survivors on the Brahmaputra river in Assam state, where a ferry capsized during a storm on Monday, killing at least 103 people.
Police said about 150 people had been rescued or swam to safety while at least 100 more were missing.
The death toll was likely to rise, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said.
Lax safety standards mean ferry accidents are common on the river, but this is one of the worst disasters.
The accident happened in the remote district of Dhubri, about 350 km (215 miles) west of Assam’s main city, Guwahati.
The ferry capsized and broke into two pieces during the storm, police said.
Many of Indian boats are overcrowded with poor or minimal safety features
Witnesses said many passengers were swept away by the river’s strong current after the boat broke up.
A passenger, Hasnat Ali, told local TV channels that about 200 people were travelling inside the boat along with cargo.
Hasnat Ali said he was riding on the top of the ferry with 150 other people when the storm hit, throwing off many of them.
He said he managed to hold on to a log and was rescued by villagers.
The ferry carried no lifeboats or life jackets and was overloaded with people and goods, according to a police officer quoted by Reuters news agency.
Boats are a common mode of transport in the area, which is dotted with small islands and villages along the banks of the river.
Many of the boats are overcrowded with poor or minimal safety features.
