In a recent interview, Cissy Houston broke her silence on granddaughter Bobbi Kristina Brown’s condition.
“She’s the same,” Whitney Houston’s mother told New York radio station WBLS 107.5 on March 25.
Cissy Houston, 81, said: “We’ve moved her to a place for rehabilitation. And you know, still not a great deal of hope. [We’re] still praying.”
She also thanked everyone for their endless support, saying she feels “every bit of it”, and revealed that she has already made peace with the devastating situation.
“I don’t pray like that,” she said.
“I give it to God one time, because He’s able. And I cannot change a thing. I’m asking everybody, just pray to the Lord who we know CAN do something about it.”
Cissy Houston continued: “If He works a miracle, thank God. If it happens the other way, I’m alright.”
Bobbi Kristina Brown was recently moved from Emory University Hospital to a rehabilitation center in Atlanta, but still remains in a coma and on life support.
Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson will not direct the movie’s planned two sequels.
Sam Taylor-Johnson said she was “hugely grateful” to have been chosen to adapt E.L. James’s 2011 best-seller.
She then wished “nothing but success to whosoever takes on the exciting challenges of films two and three”.
Fifty Shades or Grey, about a businessman who begins an affair with a young student, has made almost $560 million at the worldwide box office.
Photo Getty Images
E.L. James’s trilogy of Fifty Shades books have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages.
Relations between Sam Taylor-Johnson and the author were said to be strained during its production, prompting speculation the artist-turned-director would not return to continue or complete the film trilogy.
“We battled all the way through,” Sam Taylor-Johnson told Vanity Fair magazine.
“She’d say the same. There were tough times and revelatory times. There were sparring contests. It was definitely not an easy process.”
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson are expected to return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in the next film, scheduled for release in 2017.
Andreas Lubitz was the Germanwings co-pilot who officials say locked out Captain Patrick Sonderheimer from the cockpit and deliberately crashed Flight 9525 into the French Alps, killing all 150 people onboard.
French prosecutor Brice Robin said Andreas Lubitz, 28, locked the doors of the cockpit after the captain went to the restroom and sent the plane into descent with 150 people on board on march 24.
Investigators will now pore over Andreas Lubitz’s background to try and ascertain his exact mental state in the days leading up to the plane crash.
Andreas Lubitz lived with his parents at their home in the western town of Montabaur, which has now become a scene of deep media intrigue.
Police officers have been patrolling the quiet town to keep reporters and photographers away from the front door.
Andreas Lubitz first took to the skies as a teenager, at the LSC Westerwald e.V. glider club in Montabaur.
Photo Twitter
He learned to fly in a sleek white ASK-21 two-seat glider when he was around 14 or 15-years-old, according to the club’s chairman Klaus Radke.
In 2008, Andreas Lubitz was accepted as a Lufthansa trainee, after obtaining his glider pilot’s license, and enrolled at the company’s training school in Bremen.
In 2014, he joined subsidiary airline Germanwings and began working as a co-pilot. He had flown a total of 630 hours before Tuesday’s fatal crash.
“He was 100% fit to fly without any restrictions or conditions,” Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr told reporters in Cologne.
Those who knew Andreas Lubitz have described him as a quiet but affable character who gave no indications he was harboring any harmful intent.
Klaus Radke told the Associated Press that he saw Andreas Lubitz last autumn, when he returned to the club to renew his glider license.
“He seemed very enthusiastic about his career. I can’t remember anything where something wasn’t right,” he said.
Klaus Radke rejected the prosecutor’s claims that the plane was brought down intentionally. He said: “I don’t see how anyone can draw such conclusions before the investigation is completed.”
Peter Ruecker, a long-time member of club, also insisted Andreas Lubitz seemed “very happy” during their last meeting.
“I’m just speechless. I don’t have any explanation for this. Knowing Andreas, this is just inconceivable for me,” he said.
Prosecutor Brice Robin said there were no grounds to suspect that Andres Lubitz had carried out a terrorist attack. He refused to discuss his religious background.
“Suicide” was also the wrong word to describe actions which killed so many other people, Brice Robin said.
“I don’t necessarily call it suicide when you have responsibility for 100 or so lives.”
Andreas Lubitz, the co-pilot of Germanwings flight 4U 9525 that crashed in the French Alps on March 24, appeared to want to “destroy the plane”, officials said.
Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin, citing information from the “black box” voice recorder, said co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was alone in the cockpit.
He intentionally started a descent while the pilot was locked out.
Brice Robin said there was “absolute silence in the cockpit” as the pilot fought to re-enter it.
He said air traffic controllers made repeated attempts to contact the aircraft, but to no avail. Passengers could be heard screaming just before the crash, he added.
Details are emerging of Andreas Lubitz’s past – although his apparent motives for causing the crash remain a mystery.
Photo Twitter
Andreas Lubitz, 28, had undergone intensive training and “was 100% fit to fly without any caveats”, according to Carsten Spohr, the head of Lufthansa, the German carrier that owns Germanwings.
Carsten Spohr said Andreas Lubitz’s training had been interrupted briefly six years ago but was resumed after “the suitability of the candidate was re-established”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters that Andreas Lubitz’s apparent actions had given the tragedy a “new, simply incomprehensible dimension”.
The Airbus 320 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf hit a mountain, killing all 144 passengers and six crew, after an eight-minute descent.
“We hear the pilot ask the co-pilot to take control of the plane and we hear at the same time the sound of a seat moving backwards and the sound of a door closing,” Brice Robin told reporters.
He said the pilot, named in the German media as Patrick S, had probably gone to the toilet.
“At that moment, the co-pilot is controlling the plane by himself. While he is alone, the co-pilot presses the buttons of the flight monitoring system to put into action the descent of the aeroplane.
“He operated this button for a reason we don’t know yet, but it appears that the reason was to destroy this plane.”
Andreas Lubitz was alive until the final impact, the prosecutor said.
Brice Robin said “the most plausible interpretation” was that the co-pilot had deliberately barred the pilot from re-entering the cockpit.
He added that Andreas Lubitz was “not known by us” to have any links to extremism or terrorism.
Lufthansa has arranged two special flights for families and friends on March 26 – one from Barcelona and one from Duesseldorf – to Marseille, and both groups will travel on by road. Separately, some relatives who did not want to fly are travelling by bus from Barcelona.
The second “black box” – that records flight data – has still not been found.
Oil prices rose by almost 6% after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched air strikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest crude exporter.
The move has raised concerns that the conflict could spread in the oil-rich Middle East and possibly disrupt supplies from the region.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the US benchmark, rallied to about $51 a barrel before falling back.
Brent crude climbed to $59.71 a barrel, but has since dipped to $56.50.
Pressure on the oil price eased slightly as it became clear there was no immediate threat to Middle East oil shipments. However, fears remain that Iran could be drawn into the conflict.
Yemen is located along an important international shipping route for global energy producers. But the country is sliding towards civil war.
Houthi rebels receiving support from Iran have marched on the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, where Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi took refuge after he was forced him to flee the capital, Sanaa.
Saudi Arabia, supported by regional allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait, launched airstrikes on Thursday aimed at halting the rebel advance.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are both members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the group that produces about 40% of the world’s oil. Oil exports to Europe pass through the narrow Red Sea strait between the port of Aden and Djibouti.
However, the current glut in global oil stocks, built up in part thanks to US shale production and plentiful output from Russia and other producers, means there is unlikely to be an acute crisis in supply.
Italy’s Court of Cassation has delayed a decision on whether to uphold the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
The top court will hear from Raffaele Sollecito’s defense team on March 27 before the judges give their verdict.
Former lovers Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted for the second time in 2014.
They have maintained their innocence throughout and have already served four years in prison.
The Court of Cassation in Rome is due to confirm the guilty verdict or overturn it – either ordering another trial or effectively bringing about an acquittal.
A definitive conviction would trigger complicated attempts to extradite American Knox, who lives in Seattle in the US.
Raffaele Sollecito, from Bari, southern Italy, has remained in the country, and attended the court with his new girlfriend on March 25.
Speaking before the hearing, the Kercher family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, said they hoped the court’s decision would bring an end to the judicial process.
“It’s a case that has gone on for so many years now,” he said.
“They hope that this will be the final stage of this judicial process and they will at last… be able to remember Meredith outside of the court room [process].”
Leeds University student Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon, south London, was found dead in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox, now 27, in Perugia, central Italy, where both women were studying.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, 30, were convicted of the murder by a trial court in Perugia in 2009.
They were freed in 2011 after an appellate court overturned the convictions.
The Court of Cassation rebuked the appellate judge’s reasoning and last year an appeals court in Florence sentenced Amanda Knox to 28 years and Raffaele Sollecito to 25 years.
The latest ruling could confirm that conviction or overturn it – and either order yet another trial or effectively acquit the pair, although legal experts say the last option is unlikely.
Rudy Hermann Guede, born in the Ivory Coast, who opted for a fast-track trial, is serving a 16-year sentence for his role in the murder of Meredith Kercher.
Two elephants have helped prevent a truck from overturning in Louisiana.
When authorities responded to an emergency call about an 18-wheel vehicle stuck in a muddy lay-by, they found the elephants hard at work.
The Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office said the truck had been hauling three elephants from New Orleans to Dallas when it got into trouble.
Officials were “astounded” by what they saw, a spokesman said.
The truck became stuck when it pulled off the highway and onto a lay-by near Powhatan, Louisiana, shortly after 07:00 local time on March 24.
“When deputies arrived on scene, they were astounded to find two elephants keeping the eighteen wheeler from overturning,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
As the truck began to lean towards a ditch, the owner led two of the elephants out of the trailer and corralled them into preventing the truck from falling further.
Recent rains have caused the ground surrounding the highway to become soft, the sheriff’s office said.
Eventually a tow-truck pulled the vehicle to safety, and the elephants were able to rest.
It is not clear who owns the elephants or the truck.
Jon Hamm has completed treatment for alcohol addiction, his publicist has confirmed.
The Mad Men star, who plays hard-drinking advertising executive Don Draper in the hit TV show, asked for “privacy and sensitivity” following the revelation.
It is unclear when Jon Hamm sought treatment, but he did so with the support of his long-time partner, actress and film-maker Jennifer Westfeldt.
Jon Hamm has recently been seen promoting the final season of AMC’s Mad Men.
According to TMZ, which first reported the story, Jon Hamm was treated for 30 days at the Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Jon Hamm, 44, has been asked to compare himself to his Mad Men character several times over the series’ eight-year run.
“I don’t drink as much as Don Draper,” he told the Daily Mail in 2012.
“I would be unconscious if I did.”
Photo AP
However, Jon Hamm also admitted he turned to alcohol after his father died from complications of diabetes in 1991.
Jon Hamm – who was 20 at the time – was left without parents, having lost his mother 10 years earlier.
“It just changed everything,” the actor told GQ in 2014.
“It was just a profound sense of being alone. And that lasted a while.
“I was in college, and I had to start over again. I started drinking; it was a rough time.
“I was at a crossroads. It really could have gone the wrong way.”
Jon Hamm has roles in two high-profile Netflix series: Playing doomsday preacher Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne in Tina Fey’s critically-acclaimed comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; and starring in the upcoming Wet Hot American Summer, a prequel to the 2001 cult indie comedy about a rowdy summer camp.
Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson is facing criticism after a speech that included a story about an atheist family being killed.
Phil Robertson, 68, appeared to be using the imagined story to claim that atheists would not find rape or murder immoral.
Atheist groups denounced the speech, saying it was unlikely Phil Robertson actually knows any atheists.
In 2013, Phil Robertson was suspended from the show and quickly reinstated following controversial remarks about homos**uality in an interview with GQ magazine.
Phil Robertson has since become a political figure. He recently spoke at CPAC, a large gathering of American conservatives that included presidential hopefuls such as Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.
Duck Dynasty – now in its seventh series – has broken several ratings records on both A&E and cable television as a whole, with Season 4 premiere drawing 11.8 million viewers.
The reality show follows the lives of the Robertson family, a clan with old-fashioned values who live together in West Monroe, Louisiana, running their multi-million dollar family business, Duck Commander – which makes products for duck hunters.
According to new reports, one of the two pilots of the Germanwings crashed plane was locked out of the cockpit.
Early findings from the cockpit voice recorder suggest the pilot made desperate efforts to get back in, sources close to the investigation say.
The Airbus 320 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed in the southern French Alps on March 24 after a rapid eight-minute descent.
Relatives of the 150 passengers and crew who died are to visit the site.
Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, will operate two special flights on March 25 – one from Barcelona and one from Duesseldorf – to Marseille, and both groups will travel on by road.
Germanwings chief Thomas Winkelmann said 72 passengers were German citizens, including 16 high school students returning from an exchange trip.
Spain’s government said 51 of the dead were Spanish.
Other victims were from Australia, Argentina, Britain, Iran, Venezuela, the US, the Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Denmark and Israel.
On March 25, French officials said usable data had been extracted from the cockpit voice recorder but that it was too early to draw any conclusions.
Remi Jouty, director of the French aviation investigative agency, said he hoped investigators would have the “first rough ideas in a matter of days” but the full analysis could take weeks or even months.
However, the New York Times quoted an unnamed investigator as saying that one of the pilots – it is not clear if it is the captain or the first officer – left the cockpit and had been unable to get back in.
Photo AFP/Getty Images
“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door, and there is no answer,” the investigator said, describing audio from the recorder.
“And then he hits the door stronger, and no answer. There is never an answer. You can hear he is trying to smash the door down.”
A source close to the investigation told a similar story to the AFP news agency.
An alarm indicating proximity to the ground can be heard before the moment of impact, the source adds.
Remi Jouty said the second “black box” – the flight data recorder – had not been found and he could not confirm an earlier statement by President Francois Hollande that its casing had been recovered.
The investigator said the plane’s last communication was a routine one with air traffic control.
The plane confirmed instructions to continue on its planned flight path but then began its descent a minute later.
Remi Jouty said controllers observed the plane beginning to descend and tried to contact the pilots but without success.
He ruled out an explosion, saying: “The plane was flying right to the end.”
Remi Jouty said: “At this stage, clearly, we are not in a position to have the slightest explanation or interpretation of the reasons that could have led this plane to descend… or the reasons why it did not respond to attempts to contact it by air traffic controllers.”
Families and friends of the victims are expected to arrive at the crash site at Meolans-Revels later on Thursday.
Separately, a bus carrying 14 relatives of Spanish victims left Barcelona on March 25 for the crash area, because they did not want to fly.
In France, special teams have been prepared to assist the families during their visit.
On March 25, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy visited the crash site.
Francois Hollande told his counterparts: “The French people are here shoulder to shoulder with you during this ordeal. Everything will be done to find, identify and hand back to the families the bodies of their loved ones.”
Both he and Angela Merkel said they would do everything they could to find out the cause of the crash.
Germanwings is a low-cost airline owned by Lufthansa, Germany’s main carrier.
Michigan protesters are demanding that two white two policemen be fired after a video aired showing them beating a black suspect.
Floyd Dent, 57, was arrested during a traffic stop in Inkster in January.
The video shows an officer punching Floyd Dent many times in the head as he is held to the ground.
Recent high-profile cases in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City have made police treatment of black men a major issue in the US.
“I’m lucky to be living. I think they was trying to kill me, especially when they had choked me,” Floyd Dent told WDIV, the TV station that first aired the video on March 24.
“I mean, I was on my last breath. I kept telling the officer, <<Please, I can’t breathe>>,” he said.
A long time employee of the Ford Motor Company, Floyd Dent said he spent two days in hospital for injuries to his face and head.
Police initially charged him with assault, resisting arrest, and possession of cocaine, insisting they found cocaine beneath the passenger seat of his Cadillac. Floyd Dent says police planted the drugs at the time of his arrest.
The assault and resisting arrest charges were later dropped. Floyd Dent has no prior criminal history.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Inkster police pulled Floyd Dent over after he ran a stop sign.
In their initial report the officers wrote that Floyd Dent struggled and bit them when he left his vehicle, but the video appears to refute that account.
Inkster Police Chief Vicki Yost said Michigan State Police were investigating and that the officers had been sent on leave.
“Again, we’re going to let the investigation play out,” Vicki Yost said.
“We’re going to act accordingly. We’re not hiding from this.”
Inkster, a Detroit suburb of about 25,000 people, is 73% black.
Zayn Malik has left One Direction, the band have confirmed in a statement.
Zayn Malik said: “My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined. But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band.
“I’d like to apologize to the fans if I’ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right.”
One Direction will continue their world tour as a four piece and record a fifth album later this year.
Last week, Zayn Malik walked away from the band’s world tour last week after being signed off with stress.
He returned to the UK shortly after being forced to defend his relationship with his fiancée, Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards.
A photo had earlier emerged of Zayn Malik holding another woman around the waist.
A second photo, taken from behind, showed Zayn Malik standing close to the woman. Their hands and arms looked as though they were linked.
In a statement, the rest of the group said: “We’re really sad to see Zayn go, but we totally respect his decision and send him all our love for the future.
“The past five years have been beyond amazing – we’ve gone through so much together, so we will always be friends.
“The four of us will now continue. We’re looking forward to recording the new album and seeing all the fans on the next stage of the world tour.”
Simon Cowell, who discovered the boyband on The X Factor, said: “I would like to say thank you to Zayn for everything he has done for One Direction.
“Since I first met Zayn in 2010, I have grown very, very fond – and immensely proud – of him. I have seen him grow in confidence and I am truly sorry to see him leave.
“As for One Direction, fans can rest assured that Niall, Liam, Harry and Louis are hugely excited about the future of the band.”
Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson signed with Simon Cowell’s record label Syco Records in 2010 after finishing third on The X Factor.
Duck Dynasty‘s Mia Robertson is undergoing yet another surgery later on Friday, March 27, to repair a cleft palate and lip.
Mia Elaine Robertson, 11, was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate.
Her family asks for prayers on Duck Commander Facebook page: “On March 27, our sweet Mia will have another surgery. It will be a major surgery which will involve breaking her jaw. We ask that you please start praying for her now and continue for 6-10 weeks after. It’s a long recovery with a liquid diet.
Missy has a necklace that she is selling to benefit MiaMoo fund and we ask that you wear it for her now and until after the surgery. Below is the link for the necklace. #BeBraveAndKeepGoing http://www.missyrobertson.com/mia-moo-jewelry.”
Uncle Si Robertson asks his fans to pray for little Mia. He wrote on his Facebook page: “Hey, Mia needs your prayers. She’ll be going into surgery on Friday. She’s also selling some necklaces to help other children with cleft palate surgeries.”
Jeremy Clarkson has been dropped from Top Gear after an “unprovoked physical attack” on producer Oisin Tymon, BBC director general Tony Hall has confirmed.
Tony Hall said he had “not taken this decision lightly” and recognized it would “divide opinion”.
However, Tony Hall added “a line has been crossed” and he “cannot condone what has happened on this occasion”.
Jeremy Clarkson, 54, was suspended on March 10, following what was called a “fracas” with Oisin Tymon.
The row, which took place in a Yorkshire hotel, was said to have occurred because no hot food was provided following a day’s filming.
An internal investigation began last week, led by Ken MacQuarrie, the director of BBC Scotland.
It found that Oisin Tymon took himself to hospital after he was subject to an “unprovoked physical and verbal attack”.
“During the physical attack Oisin Tymon was struck, resulting in swelling and bleeding to his lip.”
It lasted “around 30 seconds and was halted by the intervention of a witness,” Ken MacQuarrie noted in his report.
“The verbal abuse was sustained over a longer period” and “contained threats to sack” Oisin Tymon, who believed he had lost his job.
Oisin Tymon did not file a formal complaint and it is understood Jeremy Clarkson reported himself to BBC bosses following the incident.
After that, the BBC’s director of television, Danny Cohen, felt he had no choice but to suspend the presenter pending an investigation.
The decision caused an outpouring of support from Top Gear fans, with more than a million people signing an online petition to reinstate him.
Announcing his decision, Tony Hall said Jeremy Clarkson’s dismissal was unavoidable.
“For me a line has been crossed. There cannot be one rule for one and one rule for another dictated by either rank, or public relations and commercial considerations.”
However, he added: “This decision should in no way detract from the extraordinary contribution that Jeremy Clarkson has made to the BBC. I have always personally been a great fan of his work and Top Gear.”
In a statement, Oisin Tymon thanked the BBC for a “thorough and swift investigation into this very regrettable incident”.
“I’ve worked on Top Gear for almost a decade, a program I love,” he continued.
“Over that time Jeremy and I had a positive and successful working relationship, making some landmark projects together. He is a unique talent and I am well aware that many will be sorry his involvement in the show should end in this way.”
North Yorkshire police have asked to see the BBC’s internal report, saying it will be “assessed appropriately and action will be taken… where necessary”.
Kraft Foods Group and Heinz are to merge creating what the companies say will be the third-largest food and beverage company in the US.
The deal was engineered by Heinz’s owners, the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital, and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Current Heinz shareholders will own 51% of the combined company with Kraft shareholders owning a 49% stake.
The combined company’s brands will include Kraft, Heinz, and Oscar Mayer.
Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway chief executive, said: “I am delighted to play a part in bringing these two winning companies and their iconic brands together.
“This is my kind of transaction, uniting two world-class organizations and delivering shareholder value. I’m excited by the opportunities for what this new combined organization will achieve.”
Alex Behring, chairman of Heinz and the managing partner at 3G Capital, said: “By bringing together these two iconic companies through this transaction, we are creating a strong platform for both US and international growth.”
3G and Berkshire Hathaway bought Heinz two years ago for $23 billion and took the company private in 2013.
Kraft shareholders will receive a special cash dividend of $16.50 per share as part of the deal.
A special dividend payment of approximately $10 billion is being funded by Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital.
Rescue teams have returned to Germanwings flight 4U 9525 crash site in the southern French Alps for search and recovery operations.
The Airbus A320 crashed on March 24 with 150 people on board.
Officials warn the operation could last for days in a remote mountain ravine between Digne and Barcelonnette.
The leaders of Germany, France and Spain are due to visit the crash site.
Germanwings flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf crashed after an 8-minute rapid descent, officials say. There were no survivors.
Officials believe 67 of the 144 passengers were German citizens, including 16 high school students returning from an exchange trip.
A day of mourning was being held at the Joseph-Koenig-Gymnasium school in Haltern-am-See, north-west Germany, where the students were from.
More than 40 passengers were believed to be Spanish and the flight was also carrying citizens of Australia, Japan, Colombia, Turkey, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK.
The plane’s cockpit voice recorder – recovered by a helicopter team on Tuesday – was damaged but could still provide information, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
Finding the second “black box” – the flight data recorder – will be a key aim of Wednesday’s search operation.
A team of police officers spent the night on the mountain, securing the site.
French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy are expected to visit the crash scene later.
Mariano Rajoy has already declared three days of national mourning in Spain.
Bereaved relatives are also expected to visit the scene on March 25. The mayor of Seyne-les-Alpes, the town nearest the crash site, said local families were offering to host them.
Footage shot from a helicopter on March 24 showed plane parts scattered on the rocky mountainside.
“The site is a picture of horror,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after being flown over the ravine.
“Everything is pulverized. The largest pieces of debris are the size of a small car,” Gilbert Sauvan, president of the general council Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, told the Associated Press.
Germanwings, a low-cost airline owned by Germany’s main carrier Lufthansa, said some crew members were unfit for service on March 25 “due to emotional distress”.
The airline said one flight was being cancelled but remaining flights would be according to schedule.
Lufthansa and Germanwings staff held a minute’s silence on Wednesday morning.
The body of Singapore’s late statesman Lee Kuan Yew has been transferred for lying in state at Parliament House.
Thousands of people are queuing to pay tribute to the father of the city-state.
Lee Kuan Yew’s body was moved by gun carriage on Wednesday morning from his official residence and through the city.
He died in hospital on March 23 at the age of 91.
Lee Kuan Yew led the city-state to independence and served as its prime minister for 31 years.
Singapore is observing a week of mourning ahead of Sunday’s funeral.
Lee Kuan Yew’s body has been resting at the Istana – the compound which houses the president’s official residence and the prime minister’s office – for a private family mourning period. Thousands have already left flowers and message at its gates and signed books of condolence.
His flag-draped coffin, accompanied by representatives of the military and government, was then carried from the Istana through the main shopping and business districts, before arriving at Parliament House.
Many organizations and businesses are giving employees time off to pay their respects. By midday, huge queues had formed in the area around parliament. The first in line had begun queuing the night before.
Visiting hours have been extended until midnight in response to the turnout.
On Tuesday, Singapore’s current prime minster, Lee Kuan Yew’s son Lee Hsien Loong, thanked all who had paid tribute, via his Facebook page.
He also announced that a new orchid – Singapore’s national flower – had been named after his father. The orchid, named Aranda Lee Kuan Yew, is on display at Parliament House.
Lee Kuan Yew – widely known as LKY – oversaw Singapore’s independence from Britain and separation from Malaysia and co-founded the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since 1959.
He was the architect of Singapore’s transformation from a dependent, port city to a stable, prosperous independent state and a global financial hub.
However, he also introduced tight control. One of his legacies was a clampdown on the press – tight restrictions that remain in place today – while measures such as corporal punishment have been criticized as repressive.
Today, PAP remains firmly in control. There are currently six opposition lawmakers in parliament.
Lee Kuan Yew was widely admired by world leaders, but criticized what he saw as the overly liberal approach of the US and the West.
Italy’s Court of Cassation is to decide whether to uphold the convictions of Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were convicted for the second time in 2014.
The Italian top court must now choose whether to confirm the conviction or order a retrial.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have maintained their innocence throughout and have already served four years in prison.
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found dead in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox, now 27, in Perugia, central Italy, where both women were studying.
Her body was found under a duvet in her bedroom, which had been locked from the inside.
Prosecutors claimed Meredith Kercher was killed by Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, 30.
They were convicted of murder in 2009 after a trial in Perugia.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were freed in 2011 after an appellate court overturned the convictions.
The Court of Cessation rebuked the appellate judge’s reasoning and last year an appeals court in Florence sentenced Amanda Knox to 28 years and Raffaele Sollecito to 25 years.
Raffaele Sollecito, from Bari, southern Italy, has remained in the country, but a definitive conviction would trigger attempts to extradite Amanda Knox who lives in Seattle.
Rudy Hermann Guede, born in the Ivory Coast, who opted for a fast-track trial, is serving a 16-year sentence for his role in the murder.
The high-profile case has inspired books and at least two movies, and Kercher’s family has said Meredith, the real victim, risked being forgotten.
Originally portrayed as a fast-living partygoer, Amanda Knox came to be seen in much of her home country as a victim of a botched investigation and an unwieldy justice system.
The US state department has said officials are monitoring the case.
James Corden’s debut on CBS’ The Late, Late Show has been praised by fans and critics.
British James Corden, 36, a relative unknown in the US, was joined by Tom Hanks and Mila Kunis for the first show in LA on March 23.
He introduced himself to the audience, saying: “However shocked you are that I am doing this job, you will never be as shocked as I am.”
A raft of A-listers also joined forces to record videos for his first show.
“I’m sure lots of people are wondering how I ended up in this seat, and I include myself in that too, but rather than tell you we thought we would show you this,” James Corden said, introducing a Charlie And The Chocolate Factory-themed sketch.
It included appearances from Simon Cowell, Eddie Redmayne and Chris Rock all devastated or furious after opening chocolate bars without the golden ticket inside, before James Corden finds the winning ticket in the street.
Further cameos from Meryl Streep, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jay Leno put James Corden through his paces.
James Corden, who was not widely known in the US before, was praised for his likeability.
The X-Files is to return to TV after a 13-year hiatus with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprising their roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.
Chris Carter, the original creator of the cult sci-fi show, will be at the helm when production starts this summer.
It is not yet known when it will air on TV.
The X-Files, which ran for nine seasons from 1993-2002, saw Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate unsolved mysteries and paranormal cases.
More than 200 episodes of The X-Files were made, making it the longest-running sci-fi series in US network TV history. Two feature films were also made – in 1998 and 2008.
Chris Carter said: “I think of it as a 13-year commercial break.
“The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.”
Dana Walden and Gary Newman, of Fox Television Group, said: “We had the privilege of working with Chris on all nine seasons of The X-Files – one of the most rewarding creative experiences of our careers – and we couldn’t be more excited to explore that incredible world with him again.
“The X-Files was not only a seminal show for both the studio and the network, it was a worldwide phenomenon that shaped pop culture – yet remained a true gem for the legions of fans who embraced it from the beginning.
“Few shows on television have drawn such dedicated fans as The X-Files and we’re ecstatic to give them the next thrilling chapter of Mulder and Scully they’ve been waiting for.”
The “black box” flight recorder of Germanwings plane that crashed in the French Alps with 150 people onboard, has been found, the French interior minister says.
The Airbus A320 – flight 4U 9525 – went down between Digne and Barcelonnette. There are no survivors, officials say.
The German aircraft was on its way from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.
The cause of the crash is not known and the plane did not send a distress signal.
Among the passengers were 16 German students returning from an exchange trip.
Germanwings, a low-cost airline owned by Germany’s main carrier Lufthansa, has an excellent safety record.
A recovery team reached the site, in a remote mountain ravine, earlier on Tuesday. Their work was called off in the evening and will resume at first light on Wednesday, the French interior ministry said.
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Bruce Robin, a prosecutor from Marseille, told the Reuters news agency that he had seen the wreckage of the aircraft from a helicopter.
“The body of the plane is in a state of destruction, there is not one intact piece of wing or fuselage,” he said.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was also flown over the crash site and described it as “a picture of horror”, the Associated Press news agency says.
Most of the dead are believed to be German or Spanish citizens.
The plane began descending one minute after it reached its cruising height and continued to lose altitude for eight minutes, Germanwings managing director Thomas Winkelmann told reporters.
Thomas Winkelmann said the aircraft lost contact with French air traffic controllers at 10:53 at an altitude of about 6,000 feet.
The plane did not send out a distress signal, officials said. Earlier reports of a distress call, quoting the French interior ministry, referred to a message from controllers on the ground.
The White House has said there is no evidence so far of a terror attack. A Lufthansa official said they were assuming for the time being that the crash had been caused by an accident.
Spain’s King Felipe, on a state visit to France, thanked the French government for its help and said he was cancelling the rest of his visit.
The Airbus A320 is a single-aisle passenger jet popular for short- and medium-haul flights.
