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South Korea nut rage: Flight attendant Kim Do-hee sues Korean Air and Heather Cho

Clyde K. Valle
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South Korea nut rage: Flight attendant Kim Do-hee sues Korean Air and Heather Cho

South Korean flight attendant Kim Do-hee is suing Korean Air and jailed former executive Heather Cho in the US over what became known as the “nut rage” incident.

Lawyers for Kim Do-hee allege that Heather Cho verbally and physically attacked the flight attendant for the way she served nuts on a plane taking off from New York’s JFK airport on December 5.

Heather Cho, also known as Cho Hyun-ah, later ordered the taxiing plane to offload another flight steward.

Last month, Heather Cho was jailed for one year for obstructing aviation safety.

Cho Hyun-ah was a vice-president overseeing cabin service for Korean Air, and is also the daughter of the airline’s chairman. She is appealing against her conviction.

Photo AFP
Photo AFP

Kim Do-hee’s civil lawsuit, filed in New York City, is seeking compensation for damage to her career, reputation and emotional wellbeing.

It alleges that Heather Cho screamed and hit Kim Do-hee after being served the nuts in their bag not a bowl.

Kim Do-hee’s lawyers said that “the evidence in this case will demonstrate that Cho’s actions were not only humiliating, degrading, and damaging to Kim, but were also emblematic of Cho’s unbridled arrogance and disturbing sense of entitlement”.

The summons also stated the flight attendant was pressured to lie to government investigators to cover up the incident and to appear in public with Heather Cho “as part of an orchestrated effort to try and rehabilitate Cho’s public image”, reported AP.

They said the airline had not responded to Kim Do-hee’s attempt to settle her claim privately.

Earlier reports said that after Heather Cho was served the nuts by Kim Do-hee, she summoned head steward Park Chang-jin and confronted him about the presentation.

Park Chang-jin said in a television interview in December that he was forced to kneel in front of Heather Cho, who then ordered him off the flight.

The case opened a national debate about the Korean business system, which is dominated by family companies known as chaebols.

Some of the families running these businesses have been accused of high-handedness and acting with impunity.

Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal in Rubygate affair confirmed by Court of Cassation

Diane A. Wade
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Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal in Rubygate affair confirmed by Court of Cassation

Italy’s Court of Cassation has confirmed former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s acquittal on charges of abuse of office and paying for an underage prostitute in what is known as “Rubygate”.

Silvio Berlusconi was convicted in 2013 in what became known as the “bunga bunga” case or Rubygate, but won an appeal in 2014.

Italy’s highest court has now rejected prosecutors’ appeals to overturn the acquittal and hold a fresh trial.

The three-time Italian leader remains embroiled in several legal battles.Silvio Berlusconi acquitted in Rubygate affair

Silvio Berlusconi and the 17-year-old dancer involved, Karima El-Mahroug, known as “Ruby the Heartstealer”, denied having had s**.

The judges at the Court of Cassation took more than nine hours to reach their decision, and will issue a written ruling detailing their reasoning with the next 90 days.

The verdict leaves Silvio Berlusconi free to rally his Forza Italia party as it struggles to maintain a leading role in Italian politics, analysts say.

He remains under investigation for allegedly paying off witnesses in the “bunga bunga” case, and is on trial in Naples for alleged political corruption.

Last week Silvio Berlusconi completed a community service sentence for tax fraud, at a care home.

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Blurred Lines verdict: Pharrell Williams copied Marvin Gaye’s hit Got To Give It Up

Sonia Pantiss
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Blurred Lines verdict: Pharrell Williams copied Marvin Gaye’s hit Got To Give It Up

Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines – one of the best-selling singles of all time – copied a Marvin Gaye’s hit Got To Give It Up, a Los Angeles jury has ruled.

Jurors in Los Angeles decided that the 2013 single by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke breached the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit.

The family of the late soul singer has been awarded $7.3 million in damages.

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams denied copying the hit, and their lawyer said the ruling set a “horrible precedent”.

Marvin Gaye died in April 1984, leaving his children the copyright to his music.

His children – Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III – sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in 2013. Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read in court.

“Right now, I feel free,” she told reporters after the ruling.Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke Blurred Lines copied Marvin Gaye hit

“Free from… Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”

In court, Pharrell Williams had told jurors that Marvin Gaye’s music was part of the soundtrack of his youth but he insisted it was not on his mind when he wrote the song.

The musician recognized a likeness between the songs and agreed he was “channeling… that late-70s feeling” when he co-wrote the song.

Robin Thicke testified that he had contributed little to the writing of the song.

“While we respect the judicial process, we are extremely disappointed in the ruling made today, which sets a horrible precedent for music and creativity going forward,” the pair’s lawyer Howard E King said.

“We are reviewing the decision, considering our options and you will hear more from us soon about this matter.”

Blurred Lines, which earned a Grammy nomination, generated more than $16 million in profits and made more than $5 million for Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke.

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Why doing SEO is a good business for students

Ricky Robinson
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It’s always important to know what to expect when choosing career, Search Engine Optimization as a profession has added advantage as compared to other professions and therefore, it doubles as a good business for students. Some of the benefits of search engine optimization are as listed below.

Advantage in Marketing or Advertising, in today’s world things have changed from analogue to digital and this is because the Web has changed ways in which companies carry out their businesses. Therefore, as a student with basic knowledge of SEO or PPC management and wants to become a marketer or advertiser stands a better chance of getting a good job.

Makes Good Money

Why doing SEO is a good business for students
Why doing SEO is a good business for students

It’s important to note that the salary compensation for an employee who has a profession in search engine optimization is higher than most of Web designers and developers. Self Employment, with SEO or PPC as a career someone doesn’t have to go looking for a job since this is a job someone can work on their own. It also generates income for the students since most of the freelance sites have sector services for search engine optimization professionals. Most of the companies pay hourly and students can take advantage of these offers.

High Demand

According to WillBecoded.ca Vancouver Company, websites are growing day in day out and that is a sign that the sites are making a lot of money and as a result it’s becoming reasonable to engage qualified and dedicated search engine optimization specialists. Therefore, demand for skilled SEO is increasingly and continually on the rise.

New Online Programs

When new online programs commence search engine students are far much better understand the programs since they can be able to navigate through them at ease. This can even help them become analyst in a certain field due to their knowledge of SEO.

Said Ismail Musallam: ISIS releases video of Israeli Arab spy execution

Roy Siemens
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Said Ismail Musallam: ISIS releases video of Israeli Arab spy execution

ISIS militants have posted a new video appearing to show the killing of an Israeli Arab man whom they accused of being a spy.

In the video, a 10-year-old boy from ISIS Young Lions is seen apparently shooting a man the militants identified as Said Ismail Musallam.

ISIS said Said Ismail Musallam, 19, had posed as a foreign fighter when he joined the militants in Syria.

It said he later confessed to being a spy for Israel’s Mossad – a charge denied by Israel and by his family.ISIS kills Said Ismail Musallam

They say Said Ismail Musallam went missing after travelling as a tourist to Turkey in 2014.

A few months later an online magazine linked to ISIS carried a long interview in his name in which he confessed he had been sent by Israel to infiltrate the organization.

The video purportedly showing Said Ismail Musallam’s death has not been independently verified.

It is the latest in a series of ISIS propaganda videos appearing to show the killing of hostages.

Last month ISIS militants in Libya released a video showing them beheading 21 Coptic Christians.

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Argentina helicopter crash: French prosecutors open manslaughter investigation

Diane A. Wade
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Argentina helicopter crash: French prosecutors open manslaughter investigation

French prosecutors have opened an investigation after two helicopters crashed in Argentina, killing eight French nationals, including three sports stars.

The collision also claimed the lives of the two Argentine pilots.

President Francois Hollande said it was “a cause of immense sadness”.

Both helicopters were involved in the filming of TV survival show Dropped, which airs on French channel TF1.

On Dropped, celebrities are flown into rough terrain and filmed while they attempt to find food and shelter.

Yachtswoman Florence Arthaud, Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine were the show’s celebrities on board at the time of the crash. They all died.

Other contestants were standing on the ground blindfolded a few hundred meters away when the accident happened near Villa Castelli in La Rioja province, French media said.

Reports in Argentina said French swimmer Alain Bernard, who was also taking part in the show, narrowly escaped the crash after getting off one of the helicopters at the last minute to avoid overloading it.Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat, boxer Alexis Vastine and yachtswoman Florence Arthaud died in the double helicopter crash in Argentina

The five other French nationals killed were said to have worked for Adventure Line Productions (ALP), the company making the show. They were named as Laurent Sbasnik, Lucie Mei-Dalby, Volodia Guinard, Brice Guilbert and Edouard Gilles.

The Argentine pilots were named as Juan Carlos Castillo and Roberto Abate.

Emergency workers had removed all of the bodies from the wreckage by Tuesday afternoon.

Local authorities said they were being taken to a morgue in the capital of La Rioja province, about 200 miles from the crash site.

The cause of the crash is as yet unclear and investigations are under way. The inquiry in France is standard procedure when its nationals die overseas.

President Francois Hollande is sending two investigators and two aeronautical advisors to Argentina to assist in finding out what went wrong.

Tributes have poured in to the dead stars from France and beyond.

“We are shocked by this sad news,” said Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee.

“The world of sport and the Olympic family have lost three of their key members,” he said, calling them champions and role models.

Camille Muffat’s boyfriend, William Forgues, said she was often called “Miss 100%” because “she won everything”.

“She went on this trip so happy. It was her choice to be there,” he told reporters.

Filming for Dropped began late last month at Ushuaia in the deep south of Argentina and had since moved to the mountainous western province of Rioja.

One cast member, figure skater Philippe Candeloro, was said to be “extremely shocked but unharmed”.

The death of the three sports stars and five other French nationals was splashed across every paper, every news bulletin.

French PM Manuel Valls tweeted his “immense sadness” saying “all France is grieving this morning”.

Meanwhile Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin told the BFM-TV news channel that the three athletes were “among the most outstanding ambassadors for our country”.

Well-known musician Benjamin Bioley has criticized what he called a “horrible TV reality show that serves up cardboard stars and then steals three wonderful athletes”.

Officials have said the weather conditions in the mountainous area where the helicopters went down were good.

“An explosion occurred and it’s believed that they must have collided,” said La Rioja Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo.

“Aeronautical experts will have to determine that,” he added.

TF1 said it had postponed the show and the rest of the crew were returning home.

“All TF1 teams come together in this terrible time with the pain of the families and relatives of the victims,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

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Sarah Brightman to sing in space

Sonia Pantiss
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Sarah Brightman to sing in space

Sarah Brightman will perform a song in space later this year.

Sarah Brightman, who is training at Star City near Moscow, is due to blast off on a Russian Soyuz craft on September 1.

She will spend 10 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), 260 miles above Earth.

Sarah Brightman, 54, said singing in space was a “very different” proposition to performing on Earth.

Speaking at a press conference in central London, Sarah Brightman said her team were trying to work out the technical details of performing on the ISS.

“I would like to connect with a choir, or children or another singer or an orchestra on Earth,” she told reporters.Sarah Brightman to perform song in space

Sarah Brightman said she had been working with her ex-husband Andrew Lord Lloyd-Webber to find a song that “suits the idea of space”.

She recorded the song in New York last week and it will appear on a retrospective of her career, out later this year.

“To sing in microgravity is a very different thing to singing down here,” the singer said.

“We use the Earth to ground ourselves when we sing and the air around us.

“This is going to be very different. I’m trying to find a piece that is beautiful and simple in its message, as well as not complicated to sing.”

Sarah Brightman didn’t want to “promise too much” because of the complexity of the idea.

In 2013, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity from the ISS become a huge YouTube hit.

Sarah Brightman is thought to be paying around $51 million to become the eighth space tourist.

She said she had paid for the trip herself, but could not “contractually” say how much it had cost.

Sarah Brightman will be part of a three-person crew travelling to the ISS. The last space tourist to make the trip was Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte in 2009.

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Hillary Clinton holds press conference on email controversy

Diane A. Wade
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Hillary Clinton holds press conference on email controversy

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she conducted government business on a private email account out of “convenience”.

Hillary Clinton said it “would have been better” to have two accounts to separate work and personal emails.

She is seen as a top contender for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.

The state department said it will release her emails, about 55,000 printed pages in total, after a review.

“I thought using one device would be simpler; obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way,” Hillary Clinton said.

Officials’ correspondence is considered government records under federal law.

Hillary Clinton made no clarifying remarks about her potential run for president during the news conference.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

She said no classified material was sent from the private account and said her use of personal email was permitted by the state department.

Hillary Clinton said she and her staff made the decision over what would be considered personal email when the state department asked for records from former secretaries of state.

“I fully complied with every rule,” she said.

She also said she had discarded thousands of personal emails including ones about planning her daughter’s wedding and her mother’s funeral.

Hillary Clinton added the “vast majority” of her emails related to state department business were automatically recorded because they were in correspondence with other government officials.

She used email from a private server set up for her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in their family home in New York which is guarded by the Secret Service.

She told reporters the contents of the server would remain private.

In a separate news conference state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said a review of Hillary Clinton’s emails for publication would likely take months.

Jen Psaki said on March 10 that once the review is complete, the emails will be posted online for the public to see.

Passages revealing anything from trade secrets to sensitive national security information could be redacted, in keeping with open records law guidelines.

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Chad closes schools and universities after deadly helmet protests

Diane A. Wade
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Chad closes schools and universities after deadly helmet protests

All schools and universities in Chad have been closed after deadly protests over new regulations requiring motorbike riders to wear a helmet.

At least three people were killed over several days of student-led protests.

Photo AFP
Photo AFP

Motorbikes are a popular form of transport in Chad, and are frequently used as taxis.

Many people oppose the new safety regulation, arguing that helmets are too expensive, as well as too hot for the climate.

Helmet prices have tripled since the new regulation was introduced earlier this month.

Jeremy Clakson suspended from Top Gear after fracas with producer

Sonia Pantiss
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Jeremy Clakson suspended from Top Gear after fracas with producer

BBC has suspended Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson “following a fracas” with a producer.

Jeremy Clarkson, 54, had been suspended “pending an investigation”, the broadcaster said.

“No one else has been suspended. Top Gear will not be broadcast this Sunday,” it said.

Jeremy Clarkson was given what he called his “final warning” last May after claims he used a racist word while filming the popular motoring show.Jeremy Clarkson suspended from Top Gear

At the time, Jeremy Clarkson said the BBC had told him he would be sacked if he made “one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time”.

The broadcaster gave no further details on the current incident involving Jeremy Clarkson, and said it would not be making any further comment at this time.

This weekend’s episode of Top Gear was set to feature Jeremy Clarkson – who has fronted the show since 2002 – along with regular co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May at a classic track day.

Former footballer and pundit Gary Lineker was also to appear as the “star in a reasonably priced car”.

Jeremy Clarkson has courted controversy on several occasions during his time hosting Top Gear.

Top Gear‘s executive producer, Andy Wilman, described last year as “an annus horribilis” for the show.

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Wikimedia Foundation sues NSA and DoJ over secret surveillance program

Nancy Clayson
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Wikimedia Foundation sues NSA and DoJ over secret surveillance program

Wikimedia Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency alleging its mass surveillance program violates US laws on freedom of speech.

The legal action has also been filed against the US Department of Justice.

The legal action, co-signed by eight other organizations, seeks to end the NSA’s large-scale surveillance efforts.

The Foundation is the non-profit group that oversees the running of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia.

The Wikmedia Foundation said it was taking action against the NSA’s so-called “upstream” surveillance work which targets communication with people not in the US.

Such spying violates US laws on free speech and those that govern against unreasonable search and seizure, it said.Wikipedia sues NSA and DoJ

The scale of the monitoring carried out by the NSA has been revealed in documents made public by whistleblower Edward Snowden over the last two years. Some of those papers show the NSA tapped the net’s backbone network to siphon off data. The backbone is made up of high-speed cables that link big ISPs and key transit points on the net.

“By tapping the backbone of the internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy,” said Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, in a blogpost announcing the legal action.

Targeting the backbone means the NSA casts a “vast net” and inevitably scoops up data unrelated to any target and will also include domestic communications, violating the rules governing what the NSA can spy on, said Lila Tretikov.

Information in the Snowden papers revealed that Wikipedia has been explicitly targeted, said the blogpost.

“By violating our users’ privacy, the NSA is threatening the intellectual freedom that is central to people’s ability to create and understand knowledge,” said Lila Tretikov.

In an accompanying editorial published in the New York Times, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said he hoped the lawsuit would bring an “end to the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of Internet traffic”.

Other organizations joining the lawsuit include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Global Fund for Women.

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Angela Merkel meets ASIMO at Tokyo museum

Nancy Clayson
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Angela Merkel meets ASIMO at Tokyo museum

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met Honda Motor’s humanoid robot ASIMO while touring Tokyo’s National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Japan.Angela Merkel and humanoid robot ASIMO

ASIMO also met President Barack Obama when he visited Tokyo in April 2014.

Angela Merkel arrived in Japan on March 9 and is scheduled to meet Emperor Akihito and PM Shinzo Abe during her two-day stay. This is her first visit to Japan since 2008.

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New Zealand: Fonterra and Federated Farmers received 1080 infant formula threat

Kathryn R. Bown
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New Zealand: Fonterra and Federated Farmers received 1080 infant formula threat

A New Zealand farming body and dairy giant Fonterra have received letters threatening to poison milk formula with pesticide 1080.

Federated Farmers and Fonterra received the anonymous letters in November, said officials, along with sachets of contaminated product.

The letters appeared to be a protest over the use of the pesticide 1080 in agriculture.

New Zealand’s PM John Key said milk formula was still safe to be consumed.

Officials said the person or group who sent the letters had threatened to carry out and publicize their threat unless New Zealand stopped using 1080 by the end of March.

At a news briefing at parliament on Tuesday, PM John Key said the news was being announced now because of increasing media enquiries.Fonterra 1080 infant formula threat

He said there was “a low likelihood of the threat being carried out, but because of the nature of it, both the police and ministers have taken the treat seriously”.

“I want to reassure parents that every step possible has been taken to respond to the threat, to ensure the ongoing safety of our food products.”

John Key called the threat “a form of ecoterrorism, without doubt”, reported the New Zealand Herald.

Police Deputy Commissioner of National Operations Mike Clement said the threat was possibly a hoax but that police were treating it as blackmail. He said a team had been investigating it since November.

“The letter writer may not have really considered the implications of their actions when this communication was drafted,” he said.

Officials said that security measures by players in the supply chain had been significantly tightened since the threats began, and that no traces of 1080 had been found in milk formula. About 40,000 tests have been conducted on products.

“The ability for anybody to deliberately contaminate infant and other formula during manufacturing is extremely low,” said Scott Gallagher, the deputy director general for the ministry for primary industries.

Fonterra chief Theo Spierings called the threat “despicable”.

In a statement, Fonterra said the entire dairy industry had been targeted, but that it could assure its customers that “all of our milk and products are safe and of high quality, and our supply chain continues to be secure and world-class”.

Police are appealing to the public to report anyone who had strong views about 1080 and had made threats before.

Government officials are also asking the public to step up vigilance and check packaging for signs of tampering.

New Zealand is the world’s largest dairy exporter, and Fonterra products are popular in Asia, in particular China.

Fonterra faced a food scare in 2013 when it said contaminated products that could cause botulism had been exported overseas.

It was later found to have been a false alarm, but the scare led to many countries blocking imports of those particular products. China lifted its ban last October.

Myanmar student protests: Riot police clashes with protesters in Letpadan

Diane A. Wade
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Myanmar student protests: Riot police clashes with protesters in Letpadan

Students protesting in Myanmar have clashed with riot police in Letpadan, 90 miles north of Yangon, the country’s largest city and former capital.

Several hundred students began trying to break through police lines which prevented them continuing a march south.

Police are reported to have hit the students with batons and detained some.

The students say they want changes to be made to a new bill which they say centralizes control over higher education.

Tensions have been rising in Letpadan since last week, after police gave them a deadline to disperse.

There had been reports of negotiations between the two sides, and earlier on Tuesday a breakthrough agreement was announced, granting the students permission to continue on their journey to their final destination – Yangon.Myanmar student protests 2015

Myanmar’s Irrawaddy newspaper reported that despite this deal, conflict broke out when authorities refused to allow student flags to be hoisted.

Some 200 students attempted to push through several hundred police officers and several fainted or cut themselves on the barbed wire barricades, the newspaper said.

Several were dragged into trucks, AP reported. Some were chased into a Buddhist monastery where they have been taking refuge, according to Reuters.

“Many have been beaten and some have been arrested, including many female students,” one student protester, Honey Oo, told AP.

The changes to the new education law that the students are calling for include decentralizing the school system, giving students the right to form unions and teaching in ethnic minority languages.

The group began their march in Mandalay in January and has been halted in Letpadan for more than a week where police blocked their path with vehicles and barbed wire barricades.

Some of the protesters and their supporters were also arrested earlier in the week. Five students were reportedly detained in Letpadan on March 6 but have since been released, and eight were detained and later freed in Yangon.

Young Burmese have been at the forefront of several protests in Myanmar over the years, including a notorious 1988 uprising against the former ruling junta.

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Solar Impulse 2 crosses Arabian Sea in second leg of round the world flight

James J. Williams
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Solar Impulse 2 crosses Arabian Sea in second leg of round the world flight

Solar Impulse 2 is crossing the Arabian Sea in the second leg of its historic attempt to fly around the world.

After the briefest of lay-overs, the solar-powered plane took off from Muscat in Oman at 06.35local time.

It is heading across the Arabian Sea to Ahmedabad in India.

Project chairman, Bertrand Piccard, is now at the controls, having taken over from Andre Borschberg, who flew the first leg on March 9 from Abu Dhabi to Muscat.

The second leg will cover about 1,465km (791 nautical miles), and should take about 16 hours.

Live coverage of Tuesday’s leg is being relayed on Solar Impulse 2 website.Solar Impulse 2 Oman

It is expected to take five months in total for the single-seater Solar Impulse 2 aircraft to cross the continents, passing over both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.

The Solar Impulse project has already set a number of world records for solar-powered flight, including making a high-profile transit of the US in 2013.

However, the round-the-world venture is altogether more dramatic and daunting, and has required the construction of an even bigger plane than the prototype, Solar Impulse-1.

Operating through darkness will be particularly important when the men have to cross the Pacific and the Atlantic.

The slow speed of their prop-driven plane means these legs will take several days and nights of non-stop flying to complete.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg – they take it in turns to fly solo – will have to stay alert for nearly all of the time they are airborne.

They will be permitted only catnaps of up to 20 mins – in the same way a single-handed, round-the-world yachtsman would catch small periods of sleep.

Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg will also have to endure the physical discomfort of being confined in a cockpit that measures just 3.8 cubic meters in volume – not a lot bigger than a public telephone box.

Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon dies of colon cancer at 59

Sonia Pantiss
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Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon dies of colon cancer at 59

The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon has died of colon cancer at the age of 59, his agent announced on March 9.

Sam Simon won seven Emmy awards for his work as a writer, director and executive producer for the longest-running sitcom on American television.

The Simpsons, which chronicles the life of a clumsy father and his dysfunctional family, first aired in 1989.

Sam Simon led the show’s writing staff and is credited with developing the characters that feature in the show.Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon dies of colon cancer at 59

He left The Simpsons after four seasons, but continued to receive between $20 million to $30 million each year after striking a deal that gave him a part of the show’s future earnings.

After his diagnosis, Sam Simon said he wanted to donate all of his fortune to charity.

Sam Simon gave much of his money to social causes, especially those working on animal welfare issues.

In 2002, he founded the non-profit Sam Simon Foundation which is devoted to rescuing dogs from shelters and training them to assist the disabled.

Sam Simon also worked as a writer for a number of hit sitcoms including Taxi and Cheers.

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Argentina helicopter crash kills three French sports stars

Diane A. Wade
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Argentina helicopter crash kills three French sports stars

Ten people, including three French sports stars, have been killed in a helicopter crash in Argentina, the French presidential office confirms.

Eight French nationals and their two Argentine pilots died when two helicopters collided in La Rioja province in the country’s north-west.

Yachtswoman Florence Arthaud, Olympic swimmer Camille Muffat and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine all died.

The helicopters were involved in the filming of TV survival show Dropped.

“The sudden death of our fellow French nationals is a cause of immense sadness,” said a statement from French President Francois Hollande.

They crashed near Villa Castelli, about 720 miles from Buenos Aires, according to local officials.

The helicopters were filming Dropped, a popular celebrity show on the channel TF1.Argentina Dropped helicopter crash 2015

The show flies celebrities into rough terrains by helicopter and films their attempts to find food and shelter.

One of the contestants, former France and Arsenal footballer Sylvain Wiltord, tweeted: “I’m sad for my friends, I’m trembling, I’m horrified, I have no words, I don’t want to say anything.”

Another cast member, figure skater Philippe Candeloro, was said to be “extremely shocked but unharmed”.

The cause of the crash is unclear. Officials have said the weather conditions in the mountainous area where the helicopters went down were good.

“An explosion occurred and it’s believed that they must have collided,” said La Rioja Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo.

“Aeronautical experts will have to determine that,” he added.

“We learn with great sadness about the accident during the filming of the Dropped show,” said a statement issued by TF1.

“All TF1 teams come together in this terrible time with the pain of the families and relatives of the victims.”

TF1 says the show will be postponed and the rest of the crew is returning home.

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Simone Gbagbo trial: Ivory Coast’s former first lady sentenced to 20 years in jail

Diane A. Wade
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Simone Gbagbo trial: Ivory Coast’s former first lady sentenced to 20 years in jail

Ivory Coast’s former First Lady Simone Gbagbo has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found responsible for the 2010 post-election tragedy.

Simone Gbagbo, 65, had been charged with undermining state security.

Her husband, Ivory Coast’s former President Laurent Gbagbo, is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

More than 3,000 people died in the violence that followed the presidential poll after ex-leader Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept defeat to Alassane Ouattara.

Simone and Laurent Gbagbo were arrested in 2011 after troops stormed a bunker where the pair had taken refuge in the main city, Abidjan.Ivory Coast's former First Lady Simone Gbagbo jailed

It was in the same city where Simone Gbagbo – once called the “Iron Lady” – faced trial. She was also accused of disturbing public order and organizing armed gangs.

The court unanimously sentenced her to 20 years, twice as long as the prosecutors had asked for.

Simone Gbagbo’s lawyer said they would appeal.

Laurent Gbagbo, is facing four charges at the ICC in The Hague, including murder, rape and persecution.

The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Simone Gbagbo too, but this was dismissed by the Ivorian government.

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Barack Obama emailed to Hillary Clinton’s private address, White House confirms

Diane A. Wade
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Barack Obama emailed to Hillary Clinton’s private address, White House confirms

President Barack Obama emailed with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but was unaware of how her personal email address was set up, the White House said on March 9.

Josh Earnest told reporters that Barack Obama emailed to Hillary Clinton’s private address and did not know how the secretary of State planned to comply with the Federal Records Act with regards to private emails about official State Department business.

“The president did email with Secretary Clinton,” Earnest said, who said the number of emails was not large. 

“The president did, as I think many people expected, did over the course of his first several years in office exchange emails with his secretary of state,” the White House press secretary said.

Barack Obama emailed to Hillary Clinton’s private address (Photo AP)
Barack Obama emailed to Hillary Clinton’s private address (Photo AP)

All exchanges between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were maintained by the White House under the Presidential Records Act, Josh Earnest said.

The comments come amid a budding controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email address hosted on a home server while serving as the nation’s top diplomat. The email controversy has cast a shadow over her all-but-certain presidential bid and provoked questions about tensions between her and the Obama administration.

The State Department did not initially retain records of Hillary Clinton’s personal emails.

Hillary Clinton’s team recently selected and turned over 55,000 pages of emails in response to a State Department request.

Barack Obama told CBS News on March 8 that he learned of Hillary Clinton’s use of her personal email address for official business “the same time everybody else learned about it through news reports”.

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Sean Penn refuses to apologise for Oscars green card joke

Sonia Pantiss
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Sean Penn refuses to apologise for Oscars green card joke

Actor Sean Penn says he has “absolutely no apologies” to make over his controversial green card joke at this year’s Oscars.

Before announcing the best picture winner at last month’s Academy Awards, Sean Penn joked: “Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?”

Sean Penn, 54, was referring to Birdman‘s Mexican director, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a long-time friend of the actor who directed him in 21 Grams, said he found it “hilarious”. But some pundits were less impressed.

Entertainment Weekly‘s Nina Terrero tweeted she would never see a Sean Penn film again, saying she was “shocked, angry [and] upset” at his “disgusting” comment.Sean Penn Oscars 2015

The Washington Post‘s Elahe Izadi accused Sean Penn of insensitivity: “Hey congrats on winning the award of your life here’s a green card joke to announce it.”

“I’m always surprised by flagrant stupidity. I keep having more hope,” said Sean Penn on March 7 in Los Angeles during a promotional tour for his new film The Gunman.

“I have absolutely no apologies. In fact, I have a big … you for anybody who is so stupid not to have gotten the irony when you’ve got a country that is so xenophobic.

“If they had their way, you wouldn’t have great film-makers like Alejandro working in this country. Thank god we do.”

The actor went on to explain that his comment had been intentional.

“There’s a little inside humor with he and I where I know, and wanted to know, that he would be the first person in that room to know that his film won,” Sean Penn said.

Speaking backstage after this year’s Oscar ceremony, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said he and Sean Penn have “that kind of brutal relationship where only true friendship can survive”.

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MacBook Air 12 inch Retina: Apple unveils thinnest laptop to date

Nancy Clayson
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MacBook Air 12 inch Retina: Apple unveils thinnest laptop to date

After announcing its Watch collection prices and release date, Apple has unveiled a new 12in-screened “retina” class laptop.

The new laptop has a higher resolution screen than its MacBook Air range, which remains on sale.

Apple said the new model was the “world’s most energy efficient notebook”.

The company added that it was its thinnest laptop to date, measuring 0.52in at its thickest point, thanks in part to it no longer needing an internal fan.

It is also Apple’s first laptop to provide vibration feedback via its trackpad, and be sold in a gold-colored option.

However, it only features a single port – called USB-C – which it uses to provide the machine with power, data and output to an exterior monitor or TV.

Apple suggested that users could also use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to link the machine to other kit, but some users are likely to miss the ability to easily connect older peripherals such as an external hard disk or mouse.MacBook Air 12 inch Retina

The basic version will cost $1,299, making it a mid-range model for the company.

Apple also unveiled a new software product – called ResearchKit – for its iPhones that can be used by medical researchers to gather data from volunteers without the information ever being shared with Apple itself.

The tech giant revealed that the University of Oxford had already developed an app using the facility to help it investigate the causes of heart disease and New York’s Mount Sinai hospital is using it to study irritants that might cause asthma.

The move could potentially pave the way for Apple to seek regulators’ approval for its products to be used as diagnostic tools in the future.

ResearchKit will be open source – meaning any company or developer should be able to work with the platform.

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Apple Watch: Release date and prices range

Nancy Clayson
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Apple Watch: Release date and prices range

Apple has unveiled that its Watch collection will range in price from $349 to $17,000 depending on the metals they are made from and the straps they are bought with.

The larger 1.7in models of the Watch will cost about $50 more than the 1.5in versions in the lower-priced ranges.

Apple also revealed that the devices are due to go on sale on April 24.

Competition’s smartwatches have only seen limited sales to date.

A press event held in San Francisco held few surprises about the wearable tech beyond the fact that the mid-range stainless steel edition would start at $549 and go up to $1,099 in the US.

There had been speculation that Apple would seek a bigger price gap between the model and the basic aluminum-based Sport-branded version – something that would have restricted its appeal.

Apple’s website lists a total of 38 models, which might pose a challenge to how it markets them.

The company did not announce any difference in specifications between the aluminum, steel and gold-cased versions – there had been speculation that the higher-end editions might have more storage or allow some of their parts to be upgraded at a later point.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Watch would typically last owners 18 hours between charges, providing a day’s worth of use.Apple Watch collection

Its website adds that the models take 2.5 hours to charge from 0% to 100%, and that the larger model has longer battery life.

Apple also reveals that a Power Reserve facility means that the Watch should continue to show the time for “up to 72 hours” after other functions are turned off.

The company said on stage that thousands of new apps had already been developed for the Watch ahead of it going on sale.

The social networks Facebook and Instagram, the car pick-up service Uber and the Chinese messaging app WeChat are among those confirmed to have developed software for the device.

Apple also highlighted that its wrist-worn device could be used to make touchless payments and receive phone calls.

Other functions demonstrated by Apple included:

  • using the Watch as a means to open a compatible hotel room lock as an alternative to a key card
  • checking the name of a song via the app Shazam
  • opening an internet-connected garage door remotely

To provide many of its functions – including GPS tracking, receiving phone calls and transmitting messages – the Watch requires its owner to have an iPhone 5 or more recent Apple handset, limiting its potential audience.

Even so, one expert believes sales will be strong – at least initially.

CCS Insight forecasts 20 million units will be sold by the end of this year – representing about 7% of the compatible iPhones currently in use.

However, other analysts range widely in their predictions, forecasting sales as low as eight million units to as high as 60 million in 2015.

For comparison’s sake, the iPad sold 14.8 million units in the first nine months after its launch, more than double Wall Street’s most optimistic estimate.

The UK, US, France, Germany, Japan, Australia and Canada are among the first wave of countries where Apple Watch will be sold.

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ISIS kidnaps nine foreign oil workers in Libya raid

Roy Siemens
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ISIS kidnaps nine foreign oil workers in Libya raid

ISIS militants have reportedly kidnapped nine foreign oil workers in a raid in Libya after beheading eight guards.

Four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Bangladeshi, a Czech and a Ghanaian were taken with an unidentified ninth foreigner, Austrian officials say.

The foreign ministry in Vienna said ISIS had attacked the al-Ghani oil field.

The al-Ghani oil field, 440 miles south-east of Tripoli, had been attacked on March 6.ISIS kidnaps nine foreign oil workers in Libya raid

The foreigners were working for oilfield management company Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) at the field.

VAOS said it did not know which militants had carried out the attack or where the oil workers had been taken.

It insisted that none of its employees had “died or were physically harmed in the attack”.

Confirming that four of the missing workers were their nationals, the Philippines said it brought to seven the number of Filipinos now missing in Libya.

Last week, ISIS militants were reported to be behind an attack on two oil fields in Bahi and Mabruk.

Rival militias have been fighting for control in Libya since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011.

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St. Patrick’s Festival 2015: Dublin to celebrate Ireland’s national holiday on March 14-17 weekend

Sonia Pantiss
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St. Patrick’s Festival 2015: Dublin to celebrate Ireland’s national holiday on March 14-17 weekend

St. Patrick’s Festival 2015 celebrating Ireland’s national holiday will be held in Dublin from March 14 to March 17.

The theme of the parade this year “Celebrate Now” will see leading street theatre and pageant companies draw inspiration for their artistic creations from Ireland’s present, embracing “nowness” and savoring the moment.

Amidst the colorful pageantry, bands from the USA, Mexico, Germany and Ireland will deliver uplifting scores and inspiring rhythms. This spectacular procession will wind its way through the heart of Dublin city, bursting with color and theatrics.St. Patrick’s Festival 2015

Highlights to look forward to include the return of the Festival’s hugely popular and distinguished cultural program, I Love My City, the Festival Treasure Hunt in association with Ethiopian Airlines, Céilí House Live presented by RTÉ Radio 1, the Festival Big Day Out in Merrion Square, and of course the Parade which will feature pageants, bands and music from around the world.

Last year’s Festival Parade theme, “Let’s Make History” drew on “the past” and was the first step on this exciting, creative journey. 2016 will explore “the future”, asking the question, “who do we aspire to be in the next 100 years?”, completing the three-year theme and narrative of “past, present and future”.

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Solar Impulse 2 completes first leg of its round the world journey

James J. Williams
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Solar Impulse 2 completes first leg of its round the world journey

Solar Impulse 2 has completed the first leg of its round the world flight in Oman.

The solar-powered plane took off from Abu Dhabi, heading east to Muscat in Oman.

With businessman and pilot Andre Borschbeg at the controls, the aircraft touched down in Oman at 16:14 GMT after a 12-hour flight.

Over the next five months, Solar Impulse 2 will skip from continent to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.Solar Impulse 2 arrives in Oman

“And there we are… confirmation we’re down. Solar Impulse has touched the ground,” a flight controller said as the plane’s wheels touched the tarmac.

The single-seater vehicle took off at 07:12 local time from Abu Dhabi.

Andre Borschberg will share the pilot duties in due course with fellow Swiss, Bertrand Piccard.

The plane will stop off at various locations around the globe, to rest and to carry out maintenance, and also to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies.

Today’s leg to Oman covered about 400km. Details of the journey are being relayed on Solar Impulse 2 website.

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