Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners around the world lifting their animals above their head.
The phenomenon, copying a famous scene from the film The Lion King, follows other such memes as planking, owling and Tebowing.
The videos take their inspiration from the famous scene in the beginning of The Lion King where the wise mandrill Rafiki presents the young Simba to the herd.
In the movie, the Elton John “Circle of Life” song is heard, and many of the online videos have the same music.
“I think that everyone with a cat or a small dog has done it before,” said Jeff Wysaski, a blogger on Pleated-jeans.com who made a viral video of the phenomenon from clips other pet owners had posted on YouTube.
“I checked on YouTube, and, lo and behold, there were a ton of videos of people doing it. I thought it would be funny to put them together.
“I think most people don’t talk about it, but when you bring it up other cat owners, they’re like, <<I do that>>, <<I have done that>.”
Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners around the world lifting their animals above their head
Jeff Wysaski admitted he “Lion Kings” his own tabby cat.
“She’s not too happy about it,” he said.
“A lot of the animals are … just putting up with us and our ridiculousness.”
Lion King-ing is the latest internet phenomenon to join the ranks of planking, Tebowing and owling.
Planking involved people posting pictures of themselves lying flat in random places for no apparent reason.
Tebowing took its name from the Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who dropped to one knee and paused with a hand resting on his forehead as he prayed during a game.
Images soon starting spring up all over the internet of people pulling the exact same pose.
Owling consisted of people crouching on their haunches and staring into the middle distance, like an owl.
Two civilians and at least five police officers have died in a car bomb attack on police headquarters in the city of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.
Other 19 people were wounded in the blast in a car park outside the police building, the local government said.
The blast – thought to have been caused by explosives hidden inside a parked car and detonated remotely – was strong enough to shatter nearby windows.
No-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two civilians and at least five police officers have died in a car bomb attack on police headquarters in the city of Kandahar, southern Afghanistan
Kandahar is the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the province is considered to be the spiritual homeland of the Taliban.
Militants frequently launch attacks against government and military targets in the province, despite intensive efforts by NATO-led forces in recent years to improve security there.
The United Nations said on Saturday that civilian deaths in Afghanistan had risen for the fifth year in a row – with 3,021 deaths in 2011 compared with 2,790 in 2010 and 2,412 in 2009.
Film and Broadway actor Ben Gazzara has died on Friday in New York at the age of 81.
Ben Gazzara was best known for playing tough characters and villains in the films Anatomy of a Murder in 1959 and 1970’s Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
The actor, who had been suffering from pancreatic cancer, later appeared in cult comedy The Big Lebowski, directed by the Coen Brothers.
Ben Gazzara began his career in the theatre, starring in the original Broadway production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Longtime family friend Suzanne Mados said Ben Gazzara died on Friday.
The son of Italian immigrants, Ben Gazzara was a proponent of method acting and it helped him achieve stardom early in his career.
In 1955, Ben Gazzara originated the role of Brick Pollitt, the disturbed alcoholic son and failed football star in the Tennessee Williams’ play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Ben Gazzara left the show after only seven months to take on the role of Johnny Pope, the drug addict in A Hatful of Rain, which earned him the first of three Tony Award nominations.
Film and Broadway actor Ben Gazzara has died on Friday in New York at the age of 81
In 1965 Ben Gazzara starred in the TV series Run for Your Life which saw him twice nominated for an Emmy during the show’s three-year run.
His other films included The Strange One, The Thomas Crown Affair and Opening Night, one of three appearances directed by his friend John Cassavetes.
Ben Gazzara’s marriages to actresses Louise Erikson and Janice Rule, ended in divorce. He married his third wife, the model Elke Krivatand, in 1982.
Fidel Castro, the former Cuban president has made a rare public appearance to launch his memoirs.
The book, “Guerrilla of Time”, is almost 1,000 pages long and relates his childhood and rise to power in the Cuban Revolution.
He said it was every Cuban’s duty to fight until the last moment, for Cuba, the planet, and humanity.
Fidel Castro, 85, had not been seen in public since April last year.
Communist Party newspaper Granma said the launch at the Havana Convention Centre lasted more than six hours.
The two-volume memoir is based on conversations between Fidel Castro and journalist Katiuska Blanco.
It starts with former President Fidel Castro’s earliest childhood memories and takes the reader up to December 1958, the eve of the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by Castro and his followers.
Culture Minister Abel Prieto and Director of the Cuban Writers’ Union Miguel Barnet were among those speaking at the launch.
Miguel Barnet said the memoirs were “as vivid as a 3D film”.
At the event, Fidel Castro spoke about current affairs, praising Latin American students for “standing up for their right to free education”.
Fidel Castro also paid tribute to his friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who “had done more than anyone else for the Venezuelan people”.
It was the first time Fidel Castro had appeared in public since the closing session of the Communist Party Congress in April 2011.
Fidel Castro handed over the presidency to his brother Raul in 2006, and has kept a low profile since, fuelling speculation over his health.
Peter Huybers, a Harvard earth sciences professor, has finally proved the idea that slight shifts in Earth’s axis are enough to trigger the ice ages using computer models to test competing ideas – and finding that earth’s tilting axis is the only one that works.
The finding could have profound implications for our understanding of our planet’s climate and could, its author says, be crucial to “predicting long-term changes in future climate”.
Two “cycles” in the way Earth’s axis spins have an effect on the cycle – one lasting 10,000 years and one lasting roughly 40,000 years.
When they align correctly, ice melts. At the other extreme, glaciers advance.
The idea that these could dictate the cycles of glaciation in Earth’s climate was first proposed by Serbian geophysicist Milutin Milankovitch in the first half of the 20th century.
“These periods of deglaciation saw massive climate changes,” Prof. Peter Huybers said.
“Sea level increased by 130 meters, temperatures rose by about 5 degrees C, and atmospheric CO2 went from 180 to 280 parts per million.
“We ought to understand what caused these massive changes in past climate if we are to predict long-term changes in future climate with any confidence.
“And at least now we know with greater than 99% confidence that shifts in earth’s axis are among the factors that contribute to deglaciation.”
Prof. Peter Huybers has finally proved the idea that slight shifts in Earth's axis are enough to trigger the ice ages using computer models to test competing ideas
When both cycles align “correctly”, the glaciers retreat rapidly.
“When you get that alignment, the radiation that the Northern Hemisphere receives during summer increases by tens of watts per meter squared, and if large Northern ice sheets are present, they tend to disintegrate.
“These statistical findings agree exactly with what Milutin Milankovitch, a Serbian geophysicist, proposed in the first half of the 20th century.”
Prof. Peter Huybers emphasizes that these cycles are only one factor among many.
“It could also be that orbital forcing causes a rise is atmospheric CO2, and that it’s the increased CO2 that drives the loss of ice sheets,” he said.
“In all likelihood, both CO2 and increased summer radiation contribute to deglaciation. They’re both expected to push the climate system toward less ice.”
Ioana Spangenberg, a Romanian model with a waist of just 20 inches, has insisted she eats three square meals a day, including fatty foods such as crisps, pizza and kebabs.
She told The Sun: “No one seems to believe it, but every day I eat three big meals and I snack on chocolate and crisps all the time. I just have a small stomach. It’s a bit like a gastric band, if I eat too much I feel sick.”
Ioana Spangenberg was born a very normal weight of seven pounds, and only saw her body transform into what it is now when she was a teenager.
When she was 13, Ioana would get friends to put their hands completely around her 15 in waist.
Ioana Spangenberg, a Romanian model with a waist of just 20 inches has insisted she eats three square meals a day, including fatty foods such as crisps, pizza and kebabs
Ioana Spangenberg says she has tried to fatten up, eating sweets like Mars bars to do so, but to no avail.
It was only in 2006 when she met her German husband Jan Spangenberg, that she says she finally became comfortable in her own skin.
Her husband encouraged her to become a model after photographs he posted of her online received a fantastic reaction.
“I would still like to gain weight so I don’t look so shocking. And now that I live in Germany I can’t get enough pizza or kebabs.”
More than 200 people were killed by Syrian government forces which bombarded the city of Homs with tank shells and mortars, opposition groups say.
Activists say a massacre has occurred but the government denied attacking, accusing the opposition of propaganda.
But opposition fighters, though outgunned, plan to launch a “general offensive”.
A vote is expected later on a UN draft resolution, despite Syrian ally Russia voicing strong objections.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday the current draft included measures against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, but not against armed opposition groups.
Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had tabled amendments to the text to try and ensure the UN would not appear to be taking sides in a civil war.
Homs appears to have come under a “pretty relentless” bombardment, which targeted areas outside government control.
Funerals have already begun in large numbers, amid reports of a death toll as high as 260.
Russia’s foreign minister said it would be a “scandal” to ask the UN Security Council to vote on the resolution in its current form.
Russia is Syria’s main ally on the council, and has said it will veto any resolution calling on President Bashar al-Assad to stand down.
Moscow has continued to supply weapons to Syria despite the protests.
However, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the Homs assault was a “further step in savagery” and warned against a veto.
“Those who would hinder the adoption of such a resolution would assume a heavy responsibility in history,” he said.
In another blow to the Assad regime, Tunisia’s government said it had begun the process of expelling the Syrian ambassador and withdrawing recognition from the government.
A death toll higher than 200 at Homs would make it by quite a long way the bloodiest day since protests began.
More than 200 people were killed by Syrian government forces which bombarded the city of Homs with tank shells and mortars, opposition groups say
Homs was one of the first cities to join anti-Assad protests, and became one of the focal points of dissent after government forces fired on crowds in April last year. Many army defectors have sought refuge in the city.
Activists said most of the deaths were in the residential area of Khalidiya.
Reports said a hospital had been destroyed in Khalidiya, and residents said more than 30 houses had been wrecked in the barrage.
“We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads,” Khalidiya resident Waleed told Reuters news agency.
Video footage emerged on the internet showing several bodies covered in blood with a voiceover saying the bombardment was still going on.
State media dismissed the Homs casualty reports as a “hysterical campaign of incitement” by armed gangs designed to influence the UN.
“The civilians shown by satellite television stations are citizens who were kidnapped and killed by armed gunmen,” said a report on Sana news agency.
International media outlets are restricted in Syria, making it difficult to verify the claims of either side.
Meanwhile, activists have attacked Syrian embassies around the world
• Around 50 mainly Syrian protesters broke into their country’s embassy in Athens early on Saturday, smashing windows and
• About 20 protesters forced their way into the Syrian embassy in Berlin late on Friday and damaged offices, police said. German TV showed a Syrian resistance flag hanging from one of the windows and graffiti sprayed on the outside of the building
• About 150 demonstrators gathered outside the Syrian embassy in London early on Saturday and five people were arrested after entering the building
• In Cairo, protesters stormed the embassy building, smashing furniture and setting fire to parts of the building
Syria has been gripped by nationwide protests against Bashar al-Assad’s regime for almost a year.
The UN stopped estimating the death toll after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm numbers.
The Syrian government says at least 2,000 members of its security forces have been killed fighting “armed gangs and terrorists”.
A new research by New York’s Stony Brook University and Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California, has found that even after ten years of marriage, the level of love can be as intense as it was at the beginning of the relationship.
The study polled 274 married individuals.
40% of subjects who had been married for over ten years told researchers that they were still “very intensely in love”.
Another 13.4% said they were “intensely in love”, and 26.2% agreed with the statement that they were “very in love”.
The feeling was defined by a combination of behaviors such as thinking positively about the partner, being affectionate with one another, sexual intercourse and general life happiness.
The research has found that even after ten years of marriage, the level of love can be as intense as it was at the beginning of the relationship
The study authors say their results counter the commonly-held belief that feelings of love decline over time.
This is even true for couples married well over a decade, it seems. While the findings showed a drop in very intense feelings of love for those married over 20 years, it rose back up to 40% for couples married over 30 years.
There were some differences between the sexes when it came to behavior that represented intense feelings of love, however.
For men, thinking about their partner at all times was a key marker of a deep love, but the same was not true of women.
Female participants, in contrast, linked those strong feelings to passion for “non-relationship factors”, the study authors revealed.
This idea of women needing space to be happy is echoed in a book by Huffington Post writer Iris Krasnow, “The Secret Lives of Wives: Women Share What It Really Takes To Stay Married”.
Iris Krasnow writes: “In order to keep the promise <<till death do us part>> without killing someone first, a woman must have work and hobbies she loves.”
U.S. company Innovega announced that its iOptik contact lenses which focus 3D screens directly into people’s eyeballs could be on sale as early as 2014.
The tiny “screens” sit directly on users’ eyeballs and work with a pair of lightweight glasses with a built-in translucent screen.
The experience is equivalent to a 240-inch television viewed at a distance of 10 feet, says Innovega’s CEO Steve Willey.
The devices can “pair” with smartphones and portable game devices to deliver up-close video – or switch to a translucent “augmented reality” view, where computer information is layered over the world we know.
The devices can be worn while moving about – previous bulky “VR headsets” have blindfolded their users and can only be used sitting down.
Innovega announced that its iOptik contact lenses which focus 3D screens directly into people's eyeballs could be on sale as early as 2014
The effect could be similar to the lenses worn by Tom Cruise in Minority Report.
Innovega is also developing hi-tech lenses for use by American soldiers, feeding battlefield information directly into their eyes.
DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), thought of as the American military’s “mad scientist” wing, has been funding research on “soldier mounted displays” for some time.
It’s now working on “iOptik” lenses with Innovega.
The lenses, made with nano-scale engineering processes, work as a hi-tech focusing device, which allows Innovega’s glasses to be considerably less bulky than previous devices.
The lenses themselves require no power, and thus can sit safely on the eyeball.
DARPA projects are often oddball technology, but it also has a history of far-sighted technological leaps.
DARPA invented the first virtual reality devices, and one of the precursors of the modern internet.
DARPA says: “Innovega’s iOptiks are contact lenses that enhance normal vision by allowing a wearer to view virtual and augmented reality images without the need for bulky apparatus.
“Instead of oversized virtual reality helmets, digital images are projected onto tiny full-color displays that are very near the eye.
“These novel contact lenses allow users to focus simultaneously on objects that are close up and far away.”
Innovega claims that the devices could become popular rapidly due to the number of contact lens wearers worldwide.
The program seeks to develop novel computational imaging capabilities and explore joint design of hardware and software that give warfighters access to systems that greatly enhance their awareness, security and survivability.
Rumors emerged yesterday that Kim Kardashian and NFL star Mark Sanchez were secretly seeing each other while he was said to be dating Victoria’s Secret model Kate Upton.
Kim Kardashian, 31, had quickly denied that she is dating Mark Sanchez.
She took to her Twitter account to set the record straight.
In fact Kim Kardashian said that she doesn’t even know the sportsman.
She wrote: “Dating rumors are always fun when u don’t even know the people your supposedly linked to! Who makes this stuff up!”
Rumors that Kim Kardashian was moving on following the breakdown of her 72-day marriage to basketball player husband Kris Humphries by dating the New York Jets player emerged yesterday.
Kim Kardashian had quickly denied that she is dating Mark Sanchez; in fact she said that she doesn't even know the sportsman
They came after Mark Sanchez was said to dating Victoria’s Secret Model Kate Upton, 19.
Website Strawberryicecream.com reported that the fact that Mark Sanchez was involved with somebody else didn’t stop him from indulging in secret meetings with Kim Kardashian in New York.
The website claimed a source said: “They are very careful with not being seen together, Mark is seeing someone!”
The source added: “Kim and Mark like to meet in hotels for dinner dates and <<flings>>. Whenever Kim is in New York, they hang out.”
The website also claims that Kim Kardashian and Mark Sanchez were planning a rendezvous for the Super Bowl weekend.
A representative for Kim Kardashian also denied allegations that the reality star is dating the quarterback.
The reports are unlikely to be well-received by Kate Upton, who has been linked to the sports star since December.
According to the New York Post, Mark Sanchez has frequently been spotted arriving at Kate Upton’s home late at night.
A source told the New York Post in December: “They never come in together. He’s always five steps after her.”
The quarterback has dated a string of beauties, including Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Hilary Rhoda, since he rose to fame when joining the New York Jets.
According to the New York Post, Mark Sanchez has frequently been spotted arriving at Kate Upton's home late at night
In the summer of 2011 Mark Sanchez was linked to Heroes star Hayden Panettiere, although the blonde denied they were romantically involved at the time.
Hayden Panettiere told Us Weekly: “I swear I’m not dating him at all. Honestly. I’m a huge Jets fan and became very good friends with him and his buddies.
“There’s genuinely, absolutely nothing going on. I’ve always been that girl who has a lot of dude friends. I’m into sports so we have a lot in common, but no, definitely 100% not dating.”
Kim Kardashian found herself in hot water earlier this month after Amber Rose claimed the reality star was the reason behind her split from Kanye West.
The model claimed that Kim Kardashian, who was dating Reggie Bush at the time, began an affair that led her and Kanye West to break up.
Amber Rose said: “She’s a homewrecker! They were both cheating. They were both cheating on me and Reggie with each other.”
And she said that Kim Kardashian instigated the affair by sending sexy pictures of herself to him as well as calling and texting him.
Amber Rose added: “She was sending pictures, and I was like, <<Kim, just stop. Don’t be that person>>.”
Amber Rose said she also emailed Kim Kardashian asking her for an explanation but was disappointed not to get a reply.
The model said: “I thought at least she’d be woman enough to respond to me. She never responded.
“It’s very important that us women stick together and we don’t f*** each other over like that.”
Scientists at the University of Cambridge suggest that abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts.
The researchers found the same differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters.
The study, published in the journal Science, suggested addiction is in part a “disorder of the brain”.
Other experts said the non-addicted siblings offered hope of new ways of teaching addicts “self-control”.
It has long been established that the brains of drug addicts have some differences to other people, but explaining that finding has been more difficult.
Scientists were unsure whether drugs changed the wiring of the brain or if drug addicts’ brains were wired differently in the first place.
This study, funded by the Medical Research Council, attempted to answer that by comparing the brains of 50 cocaine or crack addicts with the brain of their brother or sister, who had always been clean.
Both the addicts and the non-addict siblings had the same abnormalities in the region of the brain which controls behavior, the fronto-striatal systems.
The suggestion is that these brains may be “hard-wired” for addiction in the first place.
Lead researcher Dr. Karen Ersche said: “It has long been known that not everyone who takes drugs becomes addicted.
“It shows that drug addiction is not a choice of lifestyle, it is a disorder of the brain and we need to recognize this.”
However, the non-addicted siblings had a very different life despite sharing the same susceptibility.
“These brothers and sisters who don’t have addiction problems, what they can tell us is how they overcome these problems, how they manage self-control in their daily life,” Dr. Karen Ersche said.
Dr. Paul Keedwell, a consultant psychiatrist at Cardiff University, said: “Addiction, like most psychiatric disorders, is the product of nature and nurture.
“We need to follow up people over time to quantify the relative risk of nature versus nurture.”
It is possible that the similarities in the sibling’s brains may not be down to genetics, but rather growing up in the same household. Research on the relationship between addiction and the structure of the brain is far from over.
However, many specialists believe these findings open up new avenues for treatment.
“If we could get a handle on what makes unaffected relatives of addicts so resilient we might be able to prevent a lot of addiction from taking hold,” said Dr. Paul Keedwell.
The chief pharmacist for Derbyshire Mental Health Trust, David Branford, said the study, “implies that addiction does not produce noticeable changes to brain structure and function which means that there may be provision for looking at new treatment techniques for addiction”.
Prof. Les Iversen, from the department of pharmacology at the University of Oxford, said: “These new findings reinforce the view that the propensity to addiction is dependent on inherited differences in brain circuitry, and offer the possibility of new ways of treating high-risk individuals to develop better <<self control>>.”
Astronomers at the Paranal observatory in Chile have created the world’s largest virtual optical telescope linking four telescopes, so that they operate as a single device.
The telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) form a virtual mirror of 130 metres in diameter.
A previous attempt to link the telescopes last March failed.
Thursday’s link-up was the system’s scientific verification – the final step before scientific work starts.
Linking all four units of the VLT will give scientists a much more detailed look at the universe than previous experiments using just two or three telescopes to create a virtual mirror.
The process that links separate telescopes together is known as interferometry.
In this mode, the VLT becomes the biggest ground-based optical telescope on earth.
Besides creating a gigantic virtual mirror, interferometry also greatly improves the telescope’s spatial resolution and zooming capabilities.
Astronomers at the Paranal observatory in Chile have created the world's largest virtual optical telescope linking four telescopes, so that they operate as a single device
The VLT is one of several telescopes in the Atacama Desert, set up by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
ESO is an international research organization headquartered in Munich, Germany, and sponsored by 15 member countries.
Even prior to the start of the operation, as the domes of the four VLT units opened on a desert mountaintop in Chile, excitement filled the Paranal observatory’s tiny control room.
It was going to be a special night, said one of the astronomers.
The head of instrumentation at Paranal, Frederic Gonte, called the event a “milestone in our quest for uncovering secrets of the universe”.
“It’s an extremely important step because now we know that we’re ready to do real science,” Frederic Gonte said.
“From now on we’ll be able to observe things we were not able to observe before.”
To link the VLT units, the team of international astronomers and engineers used an instrument called Pionier, which replaces a multitude of mirrors with a single optical microchip.
Although the first attempt to combine the four telescopes happened in March 2011, it did not really work, said Jean-Philippe Berger, a French astronomer involved in the project.
But this time, it was already pretty clear that all the instruments were working correctly, Jean-Philippe Berger added.
“Last time, the atmospheric conditions and vibrations in the system were so bad that the data was just worthless, we stopped after half an hour knowing that it wouldn’t improve,” he said.
“So this attempt is a real first one to carry out observations for several hours straight to test the system in different conditions.”
From now on, the system will be offered to the astronomical community, he added – any astronomer working at Paranal or visiting it will be able to use it.
VLTI, or the VLT Interferometer, has been used since 2002 to link together up to three VLT telescopes, as well as four small auxiliary telescopes that reside beside the big ones on the same platform at Cerra Paranal mountain, at 2,635m altitude.
The main component of an optical telescope is a mirror, and the light coming from a particular object being observed with separate telescopes – such as a star, a nebula or a galaxy – first gets reflected off individual mirrors.
And this is where the interferometer comes into play.
It directs the light underground into tunnels, where specific instruments compensate for the delay that inevitably exists when more than one telescope is used.
Once there is no delay, the light is combined into one single beam – and the image astronomers get is what would have been produced by a single telescope with a gigantic mirror and a much better zoom.
In the case of the VLT, the zooming capability becomes almost 20 times better, said Jean-Philippe Berger.
Jean-Philippe Berger explained that although the biggest “virtual” mirror of 130 m in diameter has already been achieved by linking two farthest from each other telescopes, using all four units gives astronomers several advantages.
“The more telescopes the better – you want to generate a plane to fill that virtual mirror, to increase the efficiency to reconstruct an image, in order to observe more complex objects in the sky,” he said.
“With two telescopes, you typically observe round stars, for which you’re only interested in the diameter, or binary stars, where you can measure the separation between the two stars.
“With four telescopes, you can start thinking about triple stars or young stars surrounded by a protoplanetary disk – a disk of dust and gas that forms planets.”
“Now, the zoo of objects accessible to us will be much bigger.”
Black Sea is frozen near the Romanian coastline and villagers in Serbia and Bosnia were airlifted from their homes after being cut off without food, after the dramatic icy weather hit Europe.
The cold weather in Central and Eastern Europe has caused traffic chaos, power outages and even deaths all over the planet as people battle frostbite and hypothermia.
Meanwhile in Italy, snow fell in Rome today for the first time in 26 years as freezing temperatures took the death toll across Europe to more than 150.
Rome is usually blessed by a moderate climate but the snowfall prompted authorities stop visitors from entering the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome’s ancient emperors.
The last substantial snowfalls in Rome were in 1985 and 1986, though there have been other cases of lighter snow since then, including in 2010.
The director of the Colosseum, Rossella Rea, said the sites were closed out of fears that visitors could slip on ice.
Snow began falling in the late morning Friday, leaving a light dusting on trees and cars and forming slush on the roads. It wasn’t clear if there would be any significant accumulation on the ground.
But the most dramatic situation is in Ukraine, where 101 people have now died as a result of freezing weather in the country since last Friday, the government has announced in Kiev.
Most of the 101 who died were homeless people and 64 of them were found dead on the streets, the emergencies ministry said.
Hundreds of others have been treated in hospital for frostbite, hypothermia and other cold-related conditions.
Temperatures plunged to below -35C in parts of Eastern Europe this week.
At least eight more deaths were reported in Poland on Thursday, bringing the death toll there since last week to 37.
Black Sea is frozen near the Romanian coastline
Cold weather deaths have been reported across Eastern and Central Europe:
• Russia recorded 64 cold weather deaths for the whole of January, Interfax news agency reports, but it is unclear if this is related directly to the hard frosts which began last week
• In Serbia at least 11,000 villagers have been trapped by heavy snow and blizzards in mountainous areas, the Associated Press reports
• In Italy, weather experts said it was the coldest week for 27 years.
• In Romania, 24 people have died because of cold weather during last days.
In Ukraine, more freezing weather was forecast for Friday, with overnight temperatures set to fall to as low as -32C in the north and west.
The authorities closed schools and colleges and set up nearly 3,000 heating and food shelters across the country.
Health officials instructed hospitals not to discharge homeless patients, even after treatment, in order to save them from the cold.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov announced that the country had burnt 1 billion cu m of gas in just three days.
The country’s gas order from Russia for the whole of 2012 is 27 billion cu m.
“It’s a very hard time for the country,” he said, promising that the difficulties would be overcome.
The Russian gas supplier, Gazprom, said Ukraine was exceeding the level of gas consumption envisaged in the contract.
Most Russian gas exports to EU countries transit Ukraine. On Thursday Austria’s energy firm OMV reported a 30% drop in its supply of Russian gas, while Italy’s gas distributor Snam Rete Gas said its Russian gas was down by about 20%.
In the winter of 2009 Russia accused Ukraine of siphoning off gas meant for European customers. Gazprom cut supplies, leaving more than a dozen countries short of Russian gas.
Some, like Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia, are almost completely dependent on supplies via Ukraine and so were left with major shortages, during a very cold spell in Europe.
Ukraine’s Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloga has advised the public to take more exercise as a remedy against the cold.
“You need to get up in the morning, take active exercise and work,” he was quoted by Ukrainskaya Pravda as telling reporters on Wednesday.
“It hasn’t killed anyone yet and only makes a person fitter.”
His personal advice to keep warm, he added, was to “run 8-10km [5-6 miles] every morning and bathe in cold water, all year round”.
The two American women tourists and their Egyptian guide, who were kidnapped in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, have been released, according to officials.
The tourists had been travelling in a bus from St Catherine’s monastery to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh earlier on Friday when it was stopped by gunmen.
According to officials, the kidnappers were Bedouin tribesmen who had demanded the release of recently arrested relatives.
Bedouins kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in northern Sinai earlier this week, but released them unharmed after a day.
They were demanding the release of fellow tribesman who were jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the resort of Taba that killed 31 people.
The US tourists were travelling through the Wadi al-Sual area, about 40km (25 miles) from St Catherine’s, when a vehicle carrying masked men armed with machine-guns forced the bus to stop, officials said.
The gunmen took the tourists’ money and valuables before grabbing the two women and their guide, forcing them into a vehicle and fleeing into the mountains, the officials added.
The three other tourists who had been in the bus were left behind. Their nationalities were not immediately known.
Several hours later, security sources told reporters that the American women and their guide had been released into army custody.
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Naguib, the head of security for southern Sinai, told the Associated Press that the kidnappers were Bedouins who had demanded the release of a number of fellow tribesmen arrested this week on drug-trafficking and robbery charges.
They had agreed to free the women after mediation efforts between officials and tribal leaders, Gen Naguib added.
Egyptian Tourism Minister Munir Fakhri Abdul Nour meanwhile said he had spoken to the Americans, and that they had assured him that they were in good health and had not been mistreated.
Bedouin tribesmen in Sinai have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.
A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though Sinai’s tourist resorts have remained largely secure.
Rumors that Angelina Jolie is pregnant with another set of twins have been spread in recent days.
However, Angelina Jolie certainly hasn’t been rocking a noticeable baby bump at the slew of recent award ceremonies she and Brad have been attending, but the dress she wore at the SAG Awards was a little bit suspicious – it was black and loose-fitting with a draped neckline that hung over her belly. So maybe she really was trying to hide a small tummy bulge.
There have been tons of tabloid rumors lately about Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston being pregnant, but so far none of them have turned out to be true. So is it possible that OK! Magazine’s claim that Angelina Jolie is pregnant with twin boys could be correct?
A source told OK! magazine that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were “thrilled” at how quickly she got pregnant this time and that they believe it was “meant to be”.
Angelina Jolie has stated in the past that she’s open to getting pregnant again, so maybe she decided that sooner is better than later. Right now Maddox is reportedly the only child that knows about the twins, but it’s hard to imagine him being able to keep them a secret from his five other siblings.
A source told OK! magazine that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were "thrilled" at how quickly she got pregnant this time and that they believe it was "meant to be"
Perhaps the pregnancy will give Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt a little break from their kids asking them to get married. Upon hearing the news, Maddox reportedly asked his parents if the new babies meant that they would finally decide to get married. However, once the twins do arrive, all the kids might be temporarily distracted by them and quit asking their dad to put a ring on it (at least for a little while).
The news of Angelina Jolie’s pregnancy also comes at a great time for Brad Pitt – he’s nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor, and the voting ballots are being mailed out to Academy members today.
So maybe they’ll see the news and have Brad on the brain while they’re voting.
Of course it’s possible that this is just the latest in a long line of rumors about Angelina Jolie being pregnant. Another set of twins is almost too good to be true, and the timing is just too perfect – if she wanted to, Angelina Jolie could pull a Beyonce and steal the show at the Oscars by wearing something that shows off her bump.
David Peaston, R&B and gospel singer, best known for the tracks Two Wrongs (Don’t Make it Right) and Can I?, has died at 54.
David Peaston’s niece Neuka Mitchell, said the star passed away on Wednesday from complications of diabetes.
The singer, who had a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s, came from a family of successful singers.
David Peaston’s mother Martha Bass sang with the Clara Ward Singers and sister Fontella Bass had a top-10 song in 1965.
The musician kick started his career after winning several competitions on the Showtime at the Apollo TV show in the 80’s.
David Peaston’s niece Neuka Mitchell, said the star passed away on Wednesday from complications of diabetes
Two Wrongs was his highest charting single, reaching number three in 1989.
In 1990, David Peaston beat off competition from the likes of Soul II Soul to win a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist.
In 2006, after a period of ill health caused by his illness – which led to both his legs being amputated, he returned to music with the album, Song Book: Songs of Soul & Inspiration.
David Peaston is survived by his wife and two sons.
Anonymous has released a recording of a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard in which they discuss efforts against hacking.
The conference call, said to have taken place last month, covers the tracking of Anonymous and similar groups, dates of planned arrests and evidence details.
Anonymous also published an email, apparently from the FBI, showing the email addresses of call participants.
The FBI confirmed the intercept and said it was hunting those responsible.
“The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible,” it said in a statement.
Scotland Yard said the matter was being investigated but that no operational risks had been identified.
Anonymous has released a recording of a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard in which they discuss efforts against hacking
A comment on one of the Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous, AnonymousIRC, said: “The FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.”
According to the alleged email, the 17-minute phone call took place on 17 January. It was unclear how Anonymous had managed to obtain the recording.
The email was sent to law enforcement officials in the US, UK, Sweden, Ireland and other countries, inviting them to “discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous, Lulzsec, Antisec, and other associated splinter groups”.
In the call, British and American voices, said to be those of police and FBI agents, discuss the names of some of the people they were tracking and plans for legal action.
Usernames are included but some of the real names of people being investigated appear to have been bleeped out.
Among those discussed are several British men accused of being behind cyber attacks in the US and UK, including Jake Davis and Ryan Cleary who were arrested last year.
The police also refer to a 15-year-old who claims to have been behind an attack on online gaming site Steam, where the identities and credit card details of thousands of users were accessed.
A Twitter user going by the same name has since tweeted: “lol.. Still I never got arrested lol.”
One of the British voices on the recording says UK police have made mistakes in previous investigations.
Anonymous is a loose collective of hackers, anarchists and pranksters who have targeted the websites of a range of governments, companies, law enforcement agencies and individuals in recent years.
Also on Friday, hackers operating under the Anonymous name took over the website of Greece’s justice ministry, prompting officials to take the site down.
The hackers said the action was a protest against Greece’s signing of a global copyright treaty and the government’s handling of the economic crisis.
The website was replaced with a video of a figure wearing the symbolic white mask of Anonymous supporters, saying: “Democracy was given birth in your country but you have killed it.”
Two American women tourists have been kidnapped by gunmen in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, according to security sources.
The American tourists were travelling in a small bus with three other tourists from St. Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh when it was stopped by the gunmen.
One official told the Reuters news agency that the men wanted a ransom.
Bedouins kidnapped 25 Chinese workers in northern Sinai earlier this week, but released them unharmed after a day.
They were demanding the release of fellow tribesman who was jailed after the 2004 bomb attack at the resort of Taba that killed 31 people.
The Americans were reportedly travelling through the Wadi al-Sual area of Sinai, about 40 km (25 miles) from St. Catherine’s, when a vehicle carrying masked men armed with machine-guns forced the bus to stop.
The gunmen took the tourists’ money and valuables before grabbing the two women, forcing them into a vehicle and fleeing into the mountains.
Their Egyptian tour guide was also kidnapped, AFP news agency said.
The three other tourists who had been in the bus were left behind.
Police teams assisted by a military plane are searching for the Americans, state television reported.
One officer believed the kidnappings were meant to pressure the authorities to release Bedouins detained for their role in kidnapping the Chinese workers; others said the motive was financial.
Tribesmen in Sinai have been involved in a series of confrontations with security forces in recent months.
A gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel has also repeatedly been sabotaged, though Sinai’s tourist resorts have remained largely secure.
An image of a “barred spiral” galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way has been captured by Hubble space telescope.
Most of the known spiral galaxies fall into this “barred” category – which are defined by the pronounced bar structure across their centres.
The presence of this structure may be an indication of a galaxy’s age.
Two-thirds of nearby, younger galaxies have the bar, while only a fifth of older, more distant spirals have it.
An image of a "barred spiral" galaxy that could help us better understand our own Milky Way has been captured by Hubble space telescope
The new picture also continues the Hubble space telescope’s long heritage of striking astronomical images.
In the upper left of the image is a cluster showing recent star formation that is just visible to Hubble’s cameras.
But it is a bright source in X-ray light; astronomers believe that this IXO-5 X-ray source is actually a “binary” system comprising a star and a black hole in mutual orbit.
La-Fleu Mohamed, a Muslim woman from Florida, who is wearing a full face veil, has claimed she was refused service at a Chevron gas station.
La-Fleu Mohamed said the cashier refused to accept her business unless she could see her face.
The Muslim woman claimed she was told to leave the gas station in Boca Raton, Florida, and was left “humiliated”.
Chevron, owners of the gas station, said they have launched an investigation into the incident after La-Fleu Mohamed said she was the victim of religious discrimination.
A spokesman for Chevron confirmed the incident took place around Halloween.
The company’ spokesman Brent Tippen said: “We spoke with our employee cashier and reviewed the store surveillance tape. The incident occurred within a few days of Halloween – a time when retailers are prone to increased theft from persons wearing masks and other facial coverings.
“In light of this concern, we acknowledge that our employee did ask Ms Mohamed to remove her veil for security purposes; when she refused, she was denied service.
“We fully believe that our employee acted without the intent to violate Ms Mohamed’s religious principles and any suggestion that discrimination is acceptable at Chevron is completely false.
“Chevron employs 60,000 people from countries across the globe. Our Human Rights policy requires that we treat all people with respect and dignity.
“Regardless, we regret the misunderstanding. We have apologized twice to Ms Mohamed and encouraged our employees to be more aware of potential diversity issues.”
La-Fleu Mohamed said the cashier refused to accept her business unless she could see her face
La-Fleu Mohamed, who was wearing a niqab, or full face veil, claims she wanted to buy $20 worth of gas.
When she approached the cashier to hand over her money she said she was told “you can’t come in here dressed like that”.
La-Fleu Mohamed said: “I was very shocked.
“I said <<this is my religious right>> and she said <<well, I need to see your face>>.”
La-Fleu Mohamed said she asked the cashier again for gas and the woman “just threw my money back at me”.
The woman left the store after she said she was “humiliated” and called 911.
When police arrived she was escorted back inside, but was still refused service.
The South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations have taken up her case and submitted a complaint to the Florida Commission on Human Rights.
La-Fleu Mohamed, who came to the United States from the Caribbean in the 80’s, said she converted to Islam 12 years ago.
“I’m a very polite person, I always say hi to everyone I see,” La-Fleu Mohamed said.
Kim Kardashian is in Miami to sound out premises for a new D-A-S-H shop, but she is squeezing in a bit of pleasure into her work schedule.
Kim Kardashian, 31, stepped out for dinner in Miami tonight showing off every inch of her voluptuous figure in a tight bandage dress.
The nude pink ensemble highlighted the reality star’s curves to perfection as she stepped out for dinner at Zuma with her best friend Jonathan Cheban by her side.
Kim Kardashian has been pictured hitting the gym frequently in recent weeks and it appears whatever she is doing is working.
The 31-year-old teamed the dress with matching peep toe heels and a hard clutch bag and had her newly-dyed tresses tumbling down around her shoulders.
Kim Kardashian showed off a fake tan disaster earlier in the day when she stepped out with patched on her hands.
Ahead of her dinner Kim Kardashian tweeted a picture of herself to her Twitter claiming she took it to check on her make-up.
The reality star drew attention to an apparent white spot on her face which appeared in the photo but not in real life she claimed.
Kim Kardashian stepped out for dinner at Zuma in Miami with her best friend Jonathan Cheban by her side
While Kim Kardashian has been spending increasing time with Jonathan Cheban whose sexuality was questioned on her reality TV show, it has been claimed that she is secretly dating NFL star Mark Sanchez.
According to Strawberryicecream.com, Kim Kardashian and Mark Sanchez are hooking up in secret.
The website claims a source said: “Kim and Mark like to meet in hotels for dinner dates and <<flings>>. Whenever Kim is in New York, they hang out. They are very careful with not being seen together, Mark is seeing someone!”
According to Strawberryicecream.com, Kim Kardashian and Mark Sanchez are hooking up in secret
The source website also claims that Kim Kardashian and Mark Sanchez are planning a rendezvous for the Super Bowl weekend.
Since splitting from Kris Humphries last year just 72 days after her lavish wedding in August, Kim Kardashian has said to have been in contact with her ex Reggie Bush with some outlets claiming she was dating Tim Teebow.
However, Kim Kardashian , who has yet to be pictured on a “date”, has kept quiet on the rumors.
A spokesperson for Kim Kardashian failed to comment on the story earlier today.
While others might be speculating about her next boyfriend, Kim Kardashian will no doubt be focusing on finalizing her divorce.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are said to be heading for a public divorce trial which could see their friends and family interviewed.
According to HollywoodLife.com, a source close to Kris Humphries said: “There are no divorce settlement talks going on.”
That means that the former couple and friends and family, will have to speak out in court and reports claim the legal wrangling could not only be on TV but may go on for weeks.
A quick test that tells if your loved one is at risk of Alzheimer’s disease has been devised by Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Arizona, which specializes in the disease.
The 21-question test distinguishes between normal absent-mindedness and the more sinister memory lapses that may signal the early stages of dementia.
The questions are designed to be answered by a spouse or close friend.
The Alzheimer’s Questionnaire, which is almost 90% accurate, measures mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the slight memory lapses that can be a precursor of the disease.
Up to 15% of people with MCI develop Alzheimer’s within the next year.
The lack of a cure for dementia means that some may not want to take the test.
Some questions, including one about making the same statements over the course of a day, known as repetitiveness, were found to be particularly valuable.
The 21-question test distinguishes between normal absent-mindedness and the more sinister memory lapses that may signal the early stages of dementia
The 21 questions are answered with a simple “yes” or “no”. A “yes” is given a score of one or two and a “no” always scores zero, giving a maximum possible score of 27.
Someone who scores under 5 is advised that there is no cause for concern. A score of 5 to 14 suggests mild cognitive impairment (MCI)– or memory lapses that could be the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
Any higher than this and the person may already have it. Writing in the journal BMC Geriatrics researcher Michael Malek-Ahmadi said: “As the population ages, the need for a quick method of spotting the disease early will grow.”
Demi Moore has been visited by Ashton Kutcher yesterday and just hours later her other ex husband, Bruce Willis, was also spotted checking in on her.
Bruce Willis visited the LA home Demi Moore shares with their three daughters Rumer, 23, Scout, 20, and Tallulah, 17.
Bruce Willis is said to have pleaded with Demi Moore to seek help before she announced she was divorcing Ashton Kutcher in November, but his advice fell on deaf ears, it has been reported.
A source told People magazine: “He was worried about her and wanted her to get better. Many of her friends did the same thing, but she just wouldn’t listen.”
Bruce Willis visited the LA home Demi Moore shares with their three daughters
Demi Moore, 49, is recovering from her recent collapse and her girls are understood to be in struggling in the wake of their mother’s dramatic downward spiral.
The actress, who was barely eating, partying and struggling with insecurities, has particularly been leaning on her eldest daughter for comfort and companionship in recent months.
Bruce Willis looked concerned as he pulled into the property in his black SUV.
The actor, who is expecting another child with his new wife Emma Hemming, has stayed on good terms with Demi Moore since their split in 2000.
In fact, Bruce Willis regularly joined Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher at red carpet events and on family holidays.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Demi Moore is feeling “despondent” about her acting career.
The actress is reportedly “very, very unhappy” about the path her acting career has taken in the last 18 months and it is thought she has tried to increase her chances of landing a hit movie role by spending time with Rumer and her friends.
A source close to Demi Moore – who has starred in Ghost, Indecent Proposal, Striptease and Charlie’s Angels – told RadarOnline: “Demi is despondent because she feels that her career has stalled. It’s been a very long time since Demi was the marquee star that would open a movie.
“One of the reasons that Demi is obsessed with being young is that she feels if she is seen out with her daughter and Rumer’s friends that might help increase her chances of being offered a role that might go to a younger actress.”
Demi Moore, who split from Ashton Kutcher in November amid speculation he had cheated on her, finished filming her latest movie LOL last year, but insiders believe she doesn’t have “any future projects lined up”.
Following her hospitalization last week, Demi Moore opted to pull out of starring as feminist Gloria Steinem in “Lovelace” – a movie about real-life porn actress Linda Lovelace – and she has since been replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker.
It has also been claimed that Demi Moore has refused to enter rehab, despite being urged by daughters to seek help after she suffered a seizure.
Hans Feldmeier, a German pensioner who received a tin of American lard 64 years ago in an aid package, has only just tasted it, after discovering that it is still edible.
“I just didn’t want to throw it away,” said Hans Feldmeier.
Hans Feldmeier, 87, tasted the lard along with scientists in a lab.
Food safety experts in Rostock, his home town on Germany’s Baltic coast, said the pig fat was still safe to eat.
Hans Feldmeier, a German pensioner who received a tin of American lard 64 years ago in an aid package, has only just tasted it, after discovering that it is still edible
Hans Feldmeier, now a retired pharmacist, was a student in 1948 when the US was running a huge aid programme to rebuild war-ravaged Germany. He kept the tin of lard for emergencies.
He decided to get the lard tested because of the debate about expiry dates and food safety.
A food expert, Frerk Feldhusen, said the lard was rather gritty and tasteless and hard to dissolve, though quite edible. Hans Feldmeier provided some black bread to go with it.
The red, white and blue tin of Swift’s Bland Lard bore no expiry date.
Frerk Feldhusen said the test result might make some consumers think twice before discarding food immediately after the expiry date.
Two people have been shot dead by police and more than 400 injured in protests across Egypt sparked by the deaths of 74 people after a football match.
The two killed were shot by police trying to disperse angry crowds in the city of Suez, medical officials said.
In the capital Cairo, thousands of protesters remained on the streets following a day of clashes with police.
Thousands marched to the interior ministry, where security forces fired tear gas to keep them back.
Earlier, the Egyptian prime minister announced the sackings of several senior officials.
Funerals of some of the 74 victims took place in Port Said, where the football match had taken place on Wednesday.
The deaths came when fans invaded the pitch after a fixture between top Cairo club al-Ahly and the Port Said side al-Masry.
As night fell in Cairo, several thousand demonstrators remained in the streets around the interior ministry, witnesses said.
Two people have been shot dead by police and more than 400 injured in protests across Egypt sparked by the deaths of 74 people after a football match
In Suez, health official Mohammed Lasheen said two people had been shot dead early on Friday.
A witness quoted by Reuters said: “Protesters are trying to break into the Suez police station and police are now firing live ammunition.”
Throughout Thursday, al-Ahly supporters gathered outside the club’s stadium in Cairo. A series of protest marches moved towards Tahrir Square, and then on to the ministry of interior.
Some chanted slogans against Egypt’s military rulers, while others threw stones.
“Our army must choose between the military council and the revolutionaries,” they chanted.
Police fired tear gas to keep the thousands of protesters away from the ministry, which is protected by concrete barricades.
Motorcycles ferried the injured from the scene as ambulances were often unable to get through.
At one point, ambulances intervened to rescue riot police whose vehicle mistakenly turned into a street full of protesters, Reuters reported.
Egyptian state news agency Mena quoted a health ministry official as saying 388 protesters were injured. Most of them were suffering from tear gas inhalation as well as bruises and broken bones from rocks.
A section of Al-Ahly supporters known as the “ultras” played a prominent role in last year’s street protests which led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
The ultras believe they were targeted for their support for the revolution over the past year.
They accuse the police of deliberately allowing al-Masry fans to attack them.
“It’s like war, you can’t believe it. What happened yesterday [Wednesday] was war, it’s not football. To kill without any feeling… is not normal,” said former al-Ahly player Hani Seddik.
There were also protests in Port Said, Associated Press news agency reported.
Earlier on Thursday, parliament met in emergency session, beginning with a minute’s silence.
Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri told MPs the head of Egypt’s football association had been sacked and the board dissolved, with its members referred to prosecutors for questioning.
Port Said’s director of security and the head of investigations were suspended and are now in custody, Kamal al-Ganzouri said.
The government has come under renewed attack over its handling, both of the football game, and of the way it is handling the transition to democracy, our correspondent says.
The president of al-Ahly, Hamid Hamdy, said his club would not take part in league games.
“I hope that the world understands the position of al-Ahly club, that we are going through a very difficult time as a result of all of those martyrs that we lost yesterday,” he told a news conference.
“People should feel that there is a tragedy and a disaster which has happened in Egyptian sports, and for al-Ahly.”
Police in Egypt have been keeping a much lower profile since last year’s popular protests.
The Muslim Brotherhood – which has emerged as Egypt’s biggest party in recent elections – blamed ex-President Mubarak’s supporters for the violence.
