Bruce Jenner is expected to make the official announcement to the world that he is undergoing a transition from man to woman in the upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s 20/20.
The former Olympian’s transition has been widely speculated and documented via occasional quotes and photographs.
ABC News has described the two-hour interview as “far-ranging”.
Bruce Jenner’s transition seemed to be confirmed last month by his daughter Kendall in an Us Weekly interview, but the magazine since retracted the story.
The publication originally quoted Kendall Jenner as saying: “He’s a wonderful man. And just because he’s changing shoes now, so to speak, doesn’t make him less wonderful. I will always love my dad, whether he’s a man or a woman.”
However, Kendall Jenner fired back on Twitter: “Shame on US Weekly for making up quotes. I NEVER said those things. I never spoke to them.”
Bruce Jenner – The Interview special will air on Friday, April 24th, at 9/8c on 20/20.
Thousands of Orthodox Christians flock to the Old City of Jerusalem to retrace the last steps of Jesus Christ.
Carrying wooden crosses and singing hymns, worshippers walked in procession along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem, marking Good Friday, retracing what they believe was the route that Jesus Christ took to his crucifixion.
Worshipers who follow the Eastern calendar began the Easter festival of Good Friday eventually make their way to the Holy Sepulchre church where Christians believe Jesus was buried, before rising from the dead three days later.
The annual ritual, in the Old City of Jerusalem, attracts thousands of pilgrims from around the world each year.
Richard Dreyfuss has sued Walt Disney Pictures over his slice of profits made from the 1991 movie What About Bob?.
The case also involves Christine Wagner, whose late husband produced Tom Hanks’ 1989 movie Turner and Hooch.
Both parties have said Disney has refused demands to allow their chosen auditors access to its financial records.
The legal papers have criticized film studio accounting practices in general.
Papers filed by Richard Dreyfuss and Christine Wagner’s lawyer Neville Johnson have been published online by The Hollywood Reporter.
They claim Disney has made it “exceedingly difficult for profit participants to retain the best possible representation and be paid the monies they are due.”
The papers claim their chosen auditing firm Robinson Inc, which they say specializes in Hollywood cases, is “tough, tenacious, and gets results”.
However, they say Disney has instead asked for the audit to be done by one of the nationally recognized “big four” accounting companies.
Richard Dreyfuss co-starred with Bill Murray in What About Bob?, which the legal papers state was the 19th biggest film of 1991, taking more than $63.7 million at the US box office alone.
Christine Wagner says she is entitled to 50% of Turner and Hooch net profits, which starred Tom Hanks as a detective took $167 million worldwide.
The lawsuit have accused film studios of making auditing “as onerous as possible” and claim the wait to examine books at Disney is an “inexcusable and outrageous” three years.
The legal papers claim: “It’s a one-sided world where corporations assert their control over talent who do not have the leverage to otherwise protect themselves.
“What Disney has done is reduce an already very small pool of auditors to a nearly non-existent puddle, and made it exceedingly difficult for profit participants to retain the best possible representation and be paid the monies they are due.”
President Barack Obama is set for a key meeting with his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro in Panama.
Delegations of 35 nations from North, Central and South America are gathering in Panama for what is being billed as a “historic” Summit of the Americas.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro will meet for the first time since a recent thaw in US-Cuba relations.
The two shook hands once before, at Nelson Mandela’s funeral in 2013.
On April 10, Barack Obama and Raul Castro spoke on the phone after arriving in Panama City, according to a Facebook post by Jorge Leganoa, the deputy director of Cuba’s state-run National Information Agency.
He provided no additional details but White House officials confirmed to news agencies the call had taken place.
The White House has been playing coy, saying that while there are no plans for any formal one-to-one meetings between the two presidents, there may well be an opportunity to “meet on the margins”.
Meanwhile, the State Department has recommended Cuba be removed from the US list of countries which sponsor terrorism.
Thirty thousands of cases of hummus produced by Sabra Dipping Co have been recalled due to possible contamination with listeria.
The FDA announced the recall after inspectors discovered listeria during random testing at a Michigan retail store.
Listeria is a food-borne organism which can cause fever and nausea in most cases, and people make full recoveries.
The disease, listeriosis, can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems, and lead to miscarriages among pregnant women.
The national recall applied to Sabra Classic Hummus brand of the blended chickpea snack – five of its 60 products – although no illnesses have so far been reported.
The contamination was discovered on March 30 at a Kroger grocery store in Port Huron, Michigan.
This is the second food recall related to listeria in the US this week.
On April 9, Blue Bell Creameries expanded an earlier recall after an additional three people in Texas were made ill by its products, according to the CDC.
Three people in Kansas have already died from listeria outbreak.
Hillary Clinton is to announce her 2016 presidential bid on Sunday, April 12, according to Democrats sources.
The forms secretary of state’s announcement will most probably come via social media, including a video message. Early state visits could come as soon as next week with Iowa the most likely first stop.
Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid marks the second time she has tried to become the first female to win the White House.
After her defeat at the hands of Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton firmly said “no” when asked whether she would ever run for president again. However, since then, her position has evolved.
In recent months, Hillary Clinton has been gearing up for her campaign. Behind the scenes, she has hired a robust team, including many of Barack Obama’s former advisers and strategists.
Her team also recently signed a lease for a new office space in Brooklyn, New York, which will serve has her campaign headquarters.
Hillary Clinton will enter the race as the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, and is leading all her possible Republican opponents in early polls.
Lacey Spears has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for making her 5-year-old son sick and eventually killing him to gain attention online.
The 27-year-old New York mother administered salt into her son Garnett’s feeding tube from infancy while writing a blog about his illness.
Prosecutors described Lacey Spears’ actions as evil, inhuman and despicable.
The judge said Lacey Spears was suffering from a rare mental disorder and so was spared the maximum 25-year sentence available.
The boy died in 2014 at Westchester Medical Centre after he was treated for gastrointestinal symptoms that his mother had induced.
Garnett’s feeding tube had been in place since infancy when Lacey Spears told doctors he could not keep food down.
When she took him to hospital saying he was having seizures, doctors found his sodium levels to be extremely high.
The prosecution said that having administered him salt at their home in suburban New York, Lacey Spears twice took the boy into a bathroom at the hospital to do the same.
They said she posted pictures of Garnett dying on her Facebook account.
Acting state supreme court justice Robert Neary called Lacey Spears’ crime “unfathomable in its cruelty”, bringing Garnett “five years of torment and pain”.
Assistant district attorney Doreen Lloyd said: “She continued to portray him as a sick child for her own bizarre need for attention.
“She used that feeding tube as a weapon to kill him.”
Lacey Spears had told investigators that her son, whose father was killed in a car accident, suffered from a number of medical problems from Crohn’s disease and Celiac diseases to ear abnormalities.
The judge described her as mentally ill and identified her condition as Munchausen by proxy syndrome, in which a person, usually a parent, sickens a child to gain attention from the child’s plight.
Lacey Spears’ defense lawyers had refused to raise the disorder as a defense and said she had not been diagnosed with any mental illness.
They had asked for the minimum sentence of 15 years. They have filed an appeal against her conviction.
Mumbai attack suspect Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has been released on bail from a Pakistani jail, officials say.
Jail officials in Rawalpindi said Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was released on April 10.
India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh has called the release “unfortunate and disappointing”, India media reports say.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, who is the suspected mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, had been granted bail in December, but was kept in detention under public order legislation.
He is one of seven men facing trial over the attacks, which left 165 people dead and damaged peace efforts between the two countries.
The violence was blamed on militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group (LeT) which Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was accused of heading.
Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi was arrested by Pakistan on December 7, 2008, four days after he was named by Indian officials as one of the major suspects.
John Singleton has decided to pull out of the forthcoming biopic of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
Writing on Instagram, the 47-year-old Oscar-nominated director accused people involved in the movie for having a lack of respect towards Tupac Shakur’s legacy.
John Singleton wrote: “Tupac was much more than a hip hop artist… He was a black man guided by his passions.”
He has been replaced by Carl Franklin.
Tupac Shakur was one of the most popular hip hop artists of all time, selling millions of records around the world.
The rapper also appeared in several films, including Poetic Justice directed by John Singleton.
Tupac Shakur died in September 1996 in Las Vegas after being shot four times by an unidentified assailant.
John Singleton said he now planned to make his own rival movie about Tupac Shakur.
“The reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren’t really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur,” John Singleton said.
“To Pac’s real fans just know I am still planning a movie on Tupac. It doesn’t matter what they do mines (sic.) will be better… Of most importance was his love of black people and culture… Something the people involved in this movie know nothing about.”
Shooting is expected to begin in August or September, according to Greg Mielcarz, a spokesman for producers Morgan Creek.
Greg Mielcarz told Variety that John Singleton left the project over creative differences several months ago.
Jeremy Clarkson has decided to pull out of BBC’s Have I Got News For You.
The former Top Gear host had been due to appear on April 24 in his first BBC appearance since being dropped from the motoring show, following an attack on a producer.
Jeremy Clarkson, 54, has hosted Have I Got News For You on numerous occasions.
Jimmy Mulville, managing director of show producers Hat Trick Productions, said he expected Jeremy Clarkson to be available for a show later in the year.
He said: “On reflection, Jeremy Clarkson has decided not to host Have I Got News For You. We fully expect him to resume his hosting duties later in the year.”
Jeremy Clarkson was suspended by the BBC on March 10 following what was described at the time as a “fracas” with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon in a hotel in North Yorkshire.
Following an internal investigation, on March 25 the broadcaster announced Jeremy Clarkson’s contract on Top Gear would not be renewed.
The BBC has announced Top Gear will continue without Jeremy Clarkson, however it is unclear whether co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond will remain.
The new series of Have I Got News For You begins on April 10 with Daniel Radcliffe as the guest host.
British low-cost airline EasyJet has cancelled hundreds of flights as the second day of strike action by French air traffic controllers took its toll.
The airline did not operate 331 flights after cancelling 248 on April 8.
Some passengers have been stranded in European cities after Easter breaks, prompting Easyjet to operate five “rescue” flights on April 10.
The additional flights will run from London’s Luton to Paris, Paris to Barcelona, Barcelona to Luton, London’s Gatwick to Madrid, and Marrakech to Gatwick.
EasyJet says it will put larger aircraft on routes that have been most affected to allow more passengers to get home.
A spokesman said the “unnecessary” strike had caused “considerable and disproportionate disruption for passengers and airlines across Europe”.
Rival Ryanair said it had been forced to cancel more than 500 flights over the last two days.
“We again call on the EU [European Union] and French authorities to act now and prevent thousands of travelers being held to ransom by these French [air traffic control] workers,” the Irish low-cost airline said.
Air France said it was operating one-in-four flights to and from Orly airport in Paris, about 40% to and from cities in the rest of France, and 50% of medium-haul flights to and from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
No long-haul Air France flights were affected on April 9.
Air traffic controllers are planning further industrial action from April 16 to 18 and from April 29 to May 2 – both key holiday periods.
Roger Rousseau, head of the SNCTA union that represents French air traffic controllers, said: “We can assure our passengers that we are doing everything possible to limit the inconvenience of this strike on them.”
Among the issues upsetting members is that the retirement age will be raised from 57 to 59.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and Secretary of State John Kerry held closed-door discussions in Panama, in the highest level meeting between the two countries in more than half a century.
Meanwhile, the US state department has reportedly recommended that Cuba be removed from its list of states said to sponsor terrorism.
Such a move could pave the way for the two countries re-opening embassies.
President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro are also due to hold their first formal meeting at the Summit of the Americas in Panama over the coming days.
Few details have emerged from the meeting between John Kerry and Bruno Rodriguez. The last comparable high-level meeting was in 1959, when Fidel Castro met then Vice-President Richard Nixon.
Diplomatic ties froze two years later, but last year Barack Obama announced that a “new chapter” in relations would commence.
Meanwhile Senator Ben Cardin, a leading member of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US State Department had recommended removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The move was “the result of a months-long technical review” and would be “an important step forward in our efforts to forge a more fruitful relationship with Cuba”, he said.
Cuba is one of four countries still on the US list of countries accused of repeatedly supporting global terrorism; Iran, Sudan and Syria are others.
The communist country was first put on the list in 1982 for offering sanctuary to militant ETA Basque separatists and Colombian Farc rebels.
Removing Cuba from the list could lead to the easing of financial restrictions on Cuba’s access to loans and aid.
If Barack Obama opts to accept the state department’s recommendations, Congress would have 45 days to decide whether to override him.
The president faces fierce critics of his Cuban policy at home, such as from Cuban-American Ted Cruz, who is a Republican presidential candidate.
Correspondents say removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism will throw a stark light on the US’s relations with Venezuela.
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hopes to bring a petition signed by 10 million of his citizens urging Barack Obama to remove an order imposing sanctions against seven Venezuelan officials accused of human rights abuses in an opposition crackdown.
Venezuela has many friends at the summit and other Latin American nations have criticized the order, which calls Caracas a US national security threat.
Barack Obama has tried to reduce tensions with Venezuela ahead of the summit, saying the US did not perceive the country as a threat.
A new video showing the moments before Officer Michael Slager killed unarmed Walter Scott by shooting him in the back has been released by South Carolina police.
The new footage shows Walter Scott’s car being pulled over and Officer Michael Slager asking for his paperwork.
After Michael Slager returns to his police vehicle, Walter Scott opens his door and runs, leaving a passenger in the car.
Michael Slager was arrested on murder charges after another video showed him shooting at Walter Scott as he fled.
The newly released video from the officer’s dashboard camera shows Michael Slager pulling over Walter Scott’s Mercedes sedan due to a broken tail light, and asking for his driving license and registration.
Walter Scott explains that he is in the progress of purchasing the vehicle and does not have the correct paperwork with him.
Although the video does not capture Michael Slager firing eight shots, gunshots and shouting are heard off-screen.
“Get on the ground now!” Michael Slager is heard shouting.
Later in the video, another police officer questions the passenger in the car and releases him. Lawyers for Walter Scott’s family told CNN that they are looking for the passenger.
After the first video of the incident emerged on April 7, protesters held rallies in North Charleston, chanting “no justice, no peace”.
They are the latest protests about police use of lethal force, which began after the killing of Michael Brown, a teenager in Ferguson, by a police officer who was not charged for his death.
Feidin Santana, who filmed the first video on his mobile phone, said he turned over the footage after reading the police report’s description of the killing.
“It wasn’t like that, the way they were saying,” Feidin Santana said.
Michael Slager, who is being held in jail without bond, was fired on April 8 from the North Charleston Police Department.
It has also emerged that Michael Slager had a prior complaint made against him about using force.
According to the largest and most precise research, being overweight cuts the risk of dementia.
British researchers admit they were surprised by the findings, which run contrary to current health advice.
The analysis of nearly two million people, in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, showed underweight people had the highest risk.
Dementia charities still advised not smoking, exercise and a balanced diet.
Dementia is one of the most pressing modern health issues. The number of patients globally is expected to treble to 135 million by 2050.
Photo AP
There is no cure or treatment, and the mainstay of advice has been to reduce risk by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
The team at Oxon Epidemiology and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analyzed medical records from 1,958,191 people aged 55, on average, for up to two decades.
Their most conservative analysis showed underweight people had a 39% greater risk of dementia compared with being a healthy weight.
Those who were overweight had an 18% reduction in dementia – and the figure was 24% for the obese.
Any explanation for the protective effect is distinctly lacking. There are some ideas that vitamin D and E deficiencies contribute to dementia and they may be less common in those eating more.
Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, some cancers and other diseases are all linked to a bigger waistline.
March 2014:James Boyd, an unarmed homeless man camping in Alberquerque, is shot dead by two officers. Video of the incident leads prosecutors to say the officers acted with “deliberate intention” and they are charged.
July 2014:Eric Garner, an asthma sufferer, is stopped by police in New York and placed in a chokehold after refusing to be handcuffed. He dies despite repeatedly telling officers he cannot breathe. No police are charged.
August 2014: Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, is shot dead by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting leads to protests, first in Ferguson and later nationwide. A grand jury decides not to charge Darren Wilson.
November 2014:Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy, is shot dead in a playground by Cleveland police after a local resident reports he is pointing a gun at passers by. The gun turns out to be a toy. A grand jury will decide whether police will face charges.
December 2014: Jerame Reid, 36, is shot dead during a routine traffic stop in New Jersey. An officer claims Jerame Reid was reaching for a gun, but video footage seems to suggest he was attempting to step out of the car, hands raised.
April 2015: Walter Lamer Scott, 50, is shot eight times in South Carolina as he runs away from Officer Michael Slager. Walter Scott dies at the scene. The shooting is captured on video and Michael Slager is charged with murder.
Officer Michael Slager, who is charged with murder after shooting Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, had a prior complaint made against him about using force.
The police are re-investigating Michael Slager’s use of a stun gun on Mario Givens in 2013.
Michael Thomas Slager was charged with the murder of Walter Scott, 50, after a video of Saturday’s fatal shooting emerged.
The witness who shot the video says he saw the two men having a scuffle on the ground before Walter Scott ran away.
Michael Slager was fired by the North Charleston police department following the murder charge.
He has been held without bail and faces up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
The video, shot by bystander Feidin Santana, shows Michael Slager firing multiple times as Walter Scott runs away.
Michael Slager claimed Walter Scott, a black father of four and former Coast Guard, had taken his stun gun and he had shot in fear of his life.
However, Feidin Santana told NBC News he didn’t see Walter Scott take the stun gun and he turned over the footage after reading the police report’s description of the killing.
“It wasn’t like that, the way they were saying.”
Feidin Santana added that before he starting recording, Walter Scott and the officer were on the ground and Scott was trying to get away.
A stun gun was also at issue in the 2013 complaint Mario Givens filed against the police officer.
Mario Givens said Michael Slager had pushed into his home after coming to his door.
“Come outside or I’ll tase you,” he quoted Michael Slager as saying, adding he then raised his arms over his head but was then stunned in the stomach.
Michael Slager was investigating a complaint against Mario Givens’ brother and apparently mistook Givens for his sibling.
Charges were dropped and Michael Slager was exonerated by a police investigation into the incident.
North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said the department plans to review the case to see whether its decision was correct.
Suspect Claudio Giardiello has been arrested in Milan, Italy, after he shot dead three people at the Palace of Justice.
A fourth person was found dead at the court, from an apparent heart attack.
Claudio Giardiello was reportedly a defendant in a bankruptcy case. He was arrested in a Milan suburb after fleeing the scene on a motorbike.
The dead are said to include his former lawyer and a bankruptcy court judge. The shooting has prompted scrutiny of security procedures at the courthouse.
Questions are being asked about how Claudio Giardiello managed to smuggle a weapon into a well-guarded building, use it several times and escape.
He was arrested by carabinieri officers in Vimercate, about 15 miles north-east of central Milan, near the town of Monza.
Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said the “presumed assassin” was now being held at a military police barracks in the Milan area.
Citing officials and witnesses, the newspaper La Repubblica reported that Claudio Giardiello had been attending a bankruptcy hearing when a fight broke out inside the third floor courtroom.
Claudio Giardiello pulled out a weapon and shot the lawyer, named as Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani, as well as another man, who is said to have been a co-defendant in the case.
According to La Repubblica, Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani was a former lawyer for Claudio Giardiello who was acting as a witness in the case.
The gunman then left the courtroom and headed to the office of appeals court judge, Fernando Ciampi, shooting him dead.
It is not known if Claudio Giardiello had any links to the judge.
A fourth person was found dead inside the building after apparently suffering a heart attack.
Another two people were wounded and are being treated at a hospital.
After hiding inside the Palace of Justice for more than an hour, Claudio Giardiello fled on a motorbike, according to La Repubblica.
Claudio Giardiello was described as “aggressive” and “a little paranoid” by his former lawyer, Valerio Maraniello, in comments quoted by AFP news agency.
Visitors to the Palace of Justice have to pass through metal detectors.
Lawyers and courthouse employees with official identification are, however, regularly waved through, according to the Associated Press.
ANSA reported that one of the metal detectors was broken on April 8.
Italian PM Matteo Renzi described the attack as “a moment of great pain, of sadness”.
Matteo Renzi praised the police who arrested the gunman but said it was “unthinkable” that someone could enter a court with a weapon, and promised an inquiry into the incident.
The Palace of Justice is in the centre of Milan, only a few streets away from the city’s cathedral and main shopping district.
Protests have been held in North Charleston, South Carolina, following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer.
Officer Michael Slager was charged with murder and sacked after video emerged of him shooting Walter Scott multiple times in the back following a scuffle.
Michael Slager was arrested when authorities reviewed mobile phone video of the shooting, which took place on April 4.
The incident has been widely condemned, and the US Department of Justice and the FBI are investigating.
Cries of “Black lives matter!” rang out as about 50 protesters joined local politicians outside City Hall in North Charleston on April 8.
Appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, Walter Scott’s mother described the video as “the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen”.
“I almost couldn’t look at it to see my son running defenselessly, being shot. It tore my heart to pieces,” Judy Scott said.
Other members of the family said they were grateful the video came to light and the authorities had acted quickly in response.
Michael Slager was fired from the force on Wednesday, as North Charleston Police Chief Eddie Driggers said he was “sickened” by the video.
The incident on April 4 began after Walter Scott’s car was stopped for having a broken rear light, local media reported.
A video of the incident published by the New York Times shows a brief scuffle before Walter Scott begins running away.
The video then shows the officer firing several shots at Walter Scott, who falls to the ground.
Michael Slager said at the weekend, through his lawyer, that he feared for his safety as Walter Scott had tried to grab his stun gun.
The same lawyer, David Aylor, told the Daily Beast he dropped Michael Slager as a client after the video become public.
Michael Slager appeared without a lawyer at his first court hearing on April 7. He could face up to life in prison if convicted of murder.
Walter Scott had four children, was engaged and had been honorably discharged from the US Coast Guard.
According to the Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston, Walter Scott had been arrested about 10 times, mostly for failing to pay child support or not showing up for court hearings.
B Ramalinga Raju, the former chairman and founder of Satyam Computer Services, and nine others have been found guilty in one of India’s biggest ever corporate scandals, a Hyderabad court has ruled.
Byrraju Ramalinga Raju, who founded the software services giant, denied charges of conspiracy, cheating and forgery but admitted to accounting malpractices.
The special court in Hyderabad is expected to pass sentences on April 10.
The collapse of Satyam Computers in 2009 cost shareholders more than $2 billion and rocked India’s IT industry.
It is the biggest fraud at a listed company in India; its collapse was called India’s Enron.
Satyam Computers was one of the biggest players in the booming Indian software market. The jobs of 50,000 Satyam workers were only saved after the government intervened.
Another Indian company, Tech Mahindra, bought a controlling stake in Satyam in April 2009.
“All the accused have been convicted of almost all charges,” prosecutor K Surender told reporters outside court.
All 10 people accused in the case were convicted – they include two brothers of B Ramalinga Raju and seven others. B Ramalinga Raju could face life in prison, prosecutors say.
The scandal emerged in January 2009 when B Ramalinga Raju, one of the pioneers in the Indian IT industry and Satyam’s founder and then chairman, confessed to manipulating his company’s accounts and inflating profits over many years to the tune of about $1.15 billion.
In a letter to the board B Ramalinga Raju claimed he had fudged the numbers in order to be in the top four of the Indian IT industry.
“The concern was that poor performance would result in a takeover,” he told shareholders.
“It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.”
Prosecutors say that when the scam unraveled, it cost shareholders $2.3 billion at today’s rates.
The scam had been going on for nine years and the confession sent shockwaves across the industry.
Court papers filed by India’s stock market regulator said that B Ramalinga Raju along with 13 other friends and family made about $400 millio in illegal wealth in the scam – by cashing in on a surging share price – offloading stakes in the company at a high price and making substantial profits despite knowing that accounts were overstated.
B Ramalinga Raju was arrested in January 2009 and jailed before being bailed two years later. He also spent nearly a year in hospital being treated for hepatitis.
Satyam had been one of the biggest players in the booming Indian IT software market, supplying back-office services to companies from around the world, including General Electric and Qantas Airways.
At least two people, including a judge, have been shot dead by a gunman at Milan’s Palace of Justice in Italy, officials say.
Appeals court judge Giovanni Canzio told the official ANSA news agency that a defendant in a bankruptcy case opened fire at the entrance to a courtroom.
Bankruptcy court judge Fernando Ciampi was one of those killed, ANSA reported.
The gunman has been identified as Claudio Giardiello.
He is believed to still be at large inside the Palace of Justice.
The building was being evacuated, with women allowed to leave first, the Associated Press reported. Men are being let out after having their identification checked.
The sound of gunfire inside the Palace of Justice reportedly sparked panic, with hundreds of people pouring down stairways towards the exits while police and military police officers searched for the gunman.
Sky TG24 reported that the gunman was barricaded in an upper-floor room.
It was unclear how he managed to bring a weapon into the Palace of Justice, as visitors have to pass through metal detectors.
The building is in the centre of Milan, only a few streets away from the city’s cathedral and main shopping district.
Chinese TV anchor Bi Fujian has been taken off air after a video emerged of him criticizing Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China.
Bi Fujian was filmed singing a parody song in which he said Chinese people had suffered under Mao Zedong’s leadership.
CCTV said Bi Fujian’s comments had had a “serious social impact”, but many in China have defended him.
Mao Zedong, who led China through the Cultural Revolution and devastating famine, is the subject of much historical debate.
Bi Fujian hosts CCTV’s annual New Year variety show, the most-watched television program in the world.
In the video, filmed at a private banquet, Bi Fujian is seen singing a song from a Mao-era opera, Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy.
He changes the lyrics to say “we’ve suffered enough” and calling Chairman Mao “that old son of a bitch”, prompting fellow guests to laugh.
Bi Fujian has been taken off air for four days, state media report.
CCTV said in a statement it would “seriously handle the matter in line with related regulations and based on careful investigation”.
The China Digital Times, which monitors Chinese media from abroad, reported that all websites had been ordered to take down the video and “stop hyping the story”.
Mao Zedong ruled China between 1945 and 1976, building a personality cult around himself and generating mass social upheaval to recreate the country.
He initiated the Great Leap Forward – an industrial revolution which resulted in massive famine killing tens of millions of people – and the Cultural Revolution, a crackdown on perceived bourgeois elements which led to mass imprisonments and executions, as well as the widespread destruction of China’s cultural history.
While China officially acknowledges there were faults in Mao Zedong era and the personality cult which surrounded him – generally he is seen as 70% good and 30% bad – he remains hugely respected, and insulting him and other leaders is a taboo.
Mao Zedong’s legacy is also growing in popularity among those who feel China has moved too far away from his communist ideals.
Commentators online and in the media were divided over whether Bi Fujian should be disciplined. Some argued that he was being punished because he is a public figure and that it was a sign of the lack of free speech in China.
President Barack Obama has visited the Bob Marley museum in Jamaica.
Barack Obama became the first US president to visit Jamaica since 1982.
To the strains of the late reggae star’s One Love, Barack Obama was shown around the sprawling house in Kingston that was Bob Marley’s final home.
Barack Obama said he was a fan of Bob Marley, telling his museum guide: “I still have all the albums.”
The president is in Jamaica to meet the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc.
Barack Obama’s first stop after landing in Kingston was the old Victorian-style house that Bob Marley called home between 1975 and his death in 1981.
The president spent 20 minutes in the museum, which now houses artifacts from Bob Marley’s life including gold records and his Grammy Lifetime Achievement award.
Barack Obama’s arrival aboard Air Force One on April 8 made him the first sitting US president to set foot in Jamaica since Ronald Reagan visited 33 years ago.
He was greeted by Jamaican PM Portia Simpson-Miller and the US Ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Moreno.
Barack Obama will meet representatives of the 15 countries in the Caribbean Community group on the three-day trip to Jamaica and Panama, and is expected to discuss energy and security issues.
North Korea has expelled US aid worker Sandra Suh after accusing her of engaging in “plot-breeding and propaganda”.
Sandra Suh frequently visited North Korea over the past 20 years.
According to North Korea’s state media, Sandra Suh had traveled to North Korea “under the pretense of ‘humanitarianism”, but that she had secretly produced and directed anti-North Korean videos and photos because of her “inveterate repugnancy” toward Pyongyang.
Sandra Suh arrived on a flight to Beijing on April 9 but made no comments to reporters there.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf in Washington said on April 8 she could not confirm any of the details that have been reported about Sandra Suh.
North Korea has occasionally detained Americans and other foreigners for what it considered missionary work or “anti-state” activities that it sees as attempts to bring down its authoritarian government.
Analysts say past detentions have been attempts to wrest outside concessions out of Washington. Authorities in Pyongyang have also in the past staged news conferences, during which foreign detainees appeared before the media and made statements that they then recanted after their releases.
However, the KCNA report appeared to be the first word about Sandra Suh.
Pyongyang said it decided to deport Sandra Suh because of her “old age” and after she apologized and admitted that she’d “seriously insulted” its citizens’ trust in leader Kim Jong-un.
