Roswell Police Department has launched an investigation after finding drugs at Bobbi Kristina Brown’s home.
Police is said to have discovered the narcotics shortly after Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21, was discovered unresponsive in a bathtub at her Atlanta home on January 31, family sources have told TMZ.
Bobbi Kristina Brown is currently “fighting for her life” in Emory University Hospital.
Her husband Nick Gordon and her ex-boyfriend Max Lomas were the first to arrive at the scene. According to Fulton County Jail records, Maxwell Lomas, 24, was arrested early last year on suspicion of drug dealing and was charged with possession and intent to distribute cannabis as well as possession of Alprazolam.
Max Lomas was also charged with possessing a firearm or knife while attempting to commit a crime.
While the police department originally reported they had found no traces of drugs in Bobbi Kristina Brown’s home, they have since revealed they believe she may have been under the influence when she was discovered in the bathroom.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, who is thought to have spent minutes underwater, has been placed in a medically-induced coma after being found with “no heartbeat”.
Whitney Houston’s daughter is said to have “opened and closed” her eyes a few times on February 2.
A source close to Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family said she remains on life support in the intensive care unit and doctors have warned that they won’t be able to tell if she has suffered brain damage until the sedatives can be reduced.
Two members of Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family got into a brawl at W Atlanta Midtown Hotel on Friday morning, while Whitney Houston’s daughter remains on life support at Emory University Hospital.
Atlanta police confirmed they responded to a fight call at the W Atlanta Midtown Hotel, Billboard reported.
“Fight call was involving the family members of Pop Star Bobby Brown. One victim Shayne Brown was struck in the head with a bottle by suspect Tina Brown,” Officer Kim Jones told Billboard.
Shayne Brown is Bobby Brown’s cousin; Tina Brown is Bobby Brown’s sister.
“Mr. Shayne Brown chose to drive himself to the hospital,” Kim Jones continued.
“Mrs. Tina Brown left the scene before police arrived. The motive of the fight is unclear at this time. Mr. Shayne Brown received lacerations to his head. “
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21, was found face down in a bathtub over the weekend by Nick Gordon.
Bobby Brown is insisting that doctors at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta keep his comatose daughter Bobbi Kristina on life support, believing that a miracle can save her, TMZ reports.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21, has been in a medically induced coma since she was found submerged in a bathtub in her home on January 31.
But doctors have reportedly told the family there’s nothing more they can do to save Whitney Houston’s daughter.
However, Bobby Brown, 46, was refusing to say farewell to his stricken daughter and was praying for divine intervention, the gossip website said.
Meanwhile family sources told TMZ he could change his mind, but simply wasn’t able to handle making such a tragic decision on his birthday, which was on February 5.
Bobbi Kristina Brown’s cousin Jerod Brown said in an Instagram post that things did not look optimistic.
“Though it seems the odds are against her, though doctors don’t see any hope for change … though it looks impossible for her to stand again STILL PRAY FOR BK,” Jerod Brown said on Instagram, where he posts as yfkennedy.
The painful ordeal involving his only daughter with late pop diva Whitney Houston unfolded against another bit of news for Bobby Brown; his wife, Alicia Etheridge, is four months pregnant.
Bobby Brown and Alicia Etheridge already has one son together, 5-year-old Cassius.
According to E!, Brown and some 20 family members took a brief break from the vigil they were holding at Emory University Hospital on Thursday night to celebrate his birthday and the pregnancy at a nearby restaurant.
According to new reports, Bobbi Kristina Brown might have been submerged for 15 minutes before being discovered in her bathtub.
Whitney Houston’s daughter is currently fighting for her life in an Atlanta hospital, but Roswell police continue to investigate the happenings that took place last Saturday morning that resulted in Bobbi Kristina Brown’s nearly drowning in her bathtub.
The E! News reported that while police aren’t considering this a criminal investigation just yet, they are actively looking into multiple people that might have been connected to Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Whitney Houston’s daughter received a visit on Saturday morning from a Comcast Xfinity cable technician, which prompted Max Lomas and Nick Gordon to go looking for her.
Max Lomas apparently didn’t rush to the bathroom out of fear something was wrong with his friend’s girlfriend, but instead sought her out to get help for the cable guy. He entered when she didn’t respond to his knocks and calls.
“When Max found her he called for Nick,” a source told E! News.
Nick Gordon then proceeded to perform CPR on Bobbi Kristina Brown, 21. The source estimates that it could have been close to half-an-hour before any significant oxygen flow was returned into Bobbi Kristina Brown’s respiratory system when the paramedic arrived.
Max Lomas has told police that he doesn’t recall whether or not the bathroom door was locked at the time. But according to the source, investigators continue to press him on this because initially he had told them that the door was locked. Because he wasn’t sure if it was hard to open or actually locked, he allegedly changed his story to say he didn’t remember.
Investigators have interviewed both Maxwell Lomas and Nick Gordon multiple times and have been cooperating with authorities. The investigation has been “thorough and professional.” Police haven’t indicated any reason to believe foul play is involved.
Max Lomas and Nick Gordon partied together at an Atlanta nightclub the night before, but Bobbi Kristina Brown didn’t go with them, the source says. She was home when they returned around 6 a.m. Saturday morning. But police have been trying not only to piece together what happened after they came back but also what Bobbi Kristina Brown was doing and with whom in the hours prior.
Police have left open the possibility that someone was with her at home, and the source says it could have been Max Lomas’ girlfriend. The source also adds that police are skeptical to believe that only the cable guy, Max Lomas and Nick Gordon were in the house that morning, which is why they have been asking nearby employees whether or not they saw anyone hop Bobbi Kristina Brown’s fence.
French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting Russia’s Vladimir Putin to try to end escalating fighting in Ukraine.
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande are taking to Moscow a peace proposal crafted in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on February 5, but details have not been released.
Meanwhile a truce has allowed civilians to leave Debaltseve, at the heart of the latest fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Russia is accused of arming pro-Russian separatists – a claim it denies.
The Kremlin also rejects claims by Ukraine and the West that its regular troops are fighting alongside the rebels in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Clashes have left nearly 5,400 people dead since April 2014, the UN says.
A September ceasefire, signed in Minsk, Belarus, has failed to stop the violence. Since then the rebels have seized more ground, raising alarm in Kiev and among Ukraine’s backers.
Before he left for Moscow on February 6, Francois Hollande said the goal of his visit was not just a ceasefire, but a “comprehensive agreement” – though Angela Merkel said it was “totally open” whether that could be achieved.
Meanwhile Vice-President Joe Biden accused Russia of “continuing to escalate the conflict” and “ignoring every agreement”.
Joe Biden was speaking in Brussels, where he is meeting top EU officials.
He accused Vladimir Putin of continuing “to call for new peace plans as his tanks roll through the Ukrainian countryside”.
He said Russia could “not be allowed to redraw the map of Europe”.
Ukraine is also set to dominate an annual multi-lateral security conference in Munich.
The fighting has intensified in recent weeks after a rebel offensive, and a temporary truce was declared in Debaltseve on February 6, where Ukrainian forces are fighting to hold the town against surrounding rebels.
Convoys of buses travelled to the town on Friday to evacuate civilians who had been forced to shelter underground from the bombing.
They were escorted by monitors from the OSCE security watchdog, Reuters reported.
Washington is considering Ukrainian pleas for better weaponry to fend off the rebels, raising European fears of an escalation in the conflict and spurring the latest peace bid.
On February5, Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel examined the peace proposal with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, without releasing any details.
Moscow says it is ready for “constructive dialogue” – though still denying any direct role in the conflict – while Kiev insists above all that Ukraine must remain united.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin would discuss “the fastest possible end to the civil war in south-eastern Ukraine”.
Some 1.2 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since April 2014, when the rebels seized a big swathe of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Paris authorities have restricted the filming of movie action sequences following last month’s attacks in the French capital.
“There’s a problem with these action-type scenes, as the actors in uniform could be targets for terrorists,” said police commander Sylvie Barnaud.
“Also, the actors could pose confusion for the general public – during this highly sensitive period.”
Sylvie Barnaud said the use of fake weapons and pyrotechnic effects were also banned.
Tensions remain high following the attacks in January which left 20 people dead, including three gunmen. Armed police and soldiers continue to guard sensitive sites, including synagogues, media offices and large shopping areas.
SylvieBarnaud said she did not know how long the filming ban could last, but added it was common sense: “I was shocked to hear witnesses of the Charlie Hebdo attacks say on television <<it seemed like a movie shoot to us>>”.
Paris is a popular destination for film-makers, with its wide boulevards and dramatic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Louvre pyramid.
Official statistics provided by city authorities showed there were 930 film shoots in Paris in 2014, including approximately 20 international productions.
Recent box office hits which were filmed in Paris include Tom Cruise thriller Edge of Tomorrow, Luc Besson’s Lucy – starring Scarlett Johansson – and the first Taken film. Matt Damon’s visceral car chase in his 2002 film The Bourne Identity remains among Paris’ most memorable action sequences.
Agnes Nageotte of the Cinema Mission said the restrictions “could have an impact on the big American productions”.
“It’s not the right moment to do it – even if Steven Spielberg wanted to film a big scene with police and a shoot-out in the streets in January, I’m sure it would not have got made,” she said.
Olivier-Rene Veillon, who heads the Ile de France Film Commission, told the New York Times, there was “no impact on current productions”, adding it was a quiet period and the ban was “perfectly manageable”.
Powerball jackpot may jump to nearly $360 million on Saturday, February 7.
The prize would rank as the seventh-largest Powerball jackpot annuity. The game’s record jackpot is a $590.5 million prize won in Florida in May 2013.
Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing brought luck to someone who stopped in to S&R Market on Second Avenue in Hazelwood and paid $2 for a Powerball ticket and an extra $1 for the Power Play option.
The unknown individual is holding a ticket worth $2 million.
“Usually, people when they hit, they don’t run right to the store,” said Stephen Gombas, owner of S&R Market for 23 years.
“They’ll go to the lottery for instructions on how to handle things.”
Stephen Gombas will receive a $10,000 check for selling that ticket.
The number of jackpots hit each year ranges from 11 to 18, meaning there tends to be a winner every three to four weeks. Drawings are held each Wednesday and Saturday night. But now, the country is in a Powerball dry spell of 10 weeks (19 drawings).
During this stretch, however, Pennsylvania Powerball players have won nearly $11.3 million, including four $1 million prizes from the December 6, December 17 and January 17 drawings and February 4’s mystery winner.
That person correctly matched all five white balls drawn — 24-36-51-52-56 — but not the red Powerball 22.
Luckily, that player chose the Power Play option, and doubled the $1 million prize.
According to black box data from the TransAsia Airlines turbo-prop plane that crashed in Taiwan, power was cut to both engines, investigators say.
Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council said the engines failed to produce enough thrust for two minutes after take-off.
Data suggest that the flight crew tried to stop and restart one of the engines, without success.
Flight GE235 carried 58 passengers and crew, at least 35 of whom died when the plane crashed into a river.
Fifteen people survived the crash.
According to investigators at a briefing in Taipei, the plane ran into trouble just 37 seconds after taking off from Taipei’s Songshan airport.
Thomas Wang, director of the Aviation Safety Council, said the pilot announced a “flame-out”, which can occur when the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted or when there is faulty combustion.
However, Thomas Wang said there was in fact no flame-out, and the right engine had actually shifted into idle mode without the oil pressure having changed.
“The plane flashed a flame-out signal for one of the two engines at 10:53:28 when the plane climbed to an altitude of 1,200ft, triggering a warning,” AFP quoted Thomas Wang as saying.
“Then the other [left] engine was shut down manually. The pilot tried to restart the engines but to no avail.
“That means that during the flight’s final moments, neither engine had any thrust. We heard <<Mayday>> at 10:54:35,” he added.
The plane, which had been bound for Taiwan’s Kinmen Island, crashed into the Keelung River just 72 seconds later.
Pope Francis will be the first ever pontiff to address the US Congress, lawmakers in Washington have announced.
The Pope will make his historic speech on September 24, 2015.
“That day his holiness will be the first pope in our history to address a joint session of Congress,” said House Speaker John Boehner.
“I am very much looking forward to welcoming Pope Francis to the United States,” said President Barack Obama.
Around one in three members of Congress are Catholic, as are both the House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, and Republican John Boehner.
Photo AFP
“We’re humbled that the Holy Father has accepted our invitation and certainly look forward to receiving his message on behalf of the American people,” said John Boehner.
Pope Francis’ trip to the US is expected to include a White House meeting with President Barack Obama.
In addition the pontiff is due to make a speech to the United Nations in New York and attend a Catholic rally in Philadelphia.
Pope Francis has not refrained from airing his political views since being elected head of the Catholic Church in March 2013.
He has made support for immigrants a key plank of papal policy.
The Pope has also taken a traditionally Catholic line on contraception and abortion.
Pope Francis’ views may put him at odds with members of Congress, which is riven by deep political divisions on these and other issues.
The first Pope to visit the US was Paul VI during a 1965 trip at the height of the Vietnam War.
The Metro-North train involved in the rail accident which killed six people near New York City was within the speed limit for that section of track, investigators say.
The train crash happened after a mother-of-three stopped her car on a level crossing north of the city.
She was killed in the subsequent inferno along with five train passengers.
Accident investigators also said there were no problems with the signals or barrier at the site of the collision.
But they remain unaware why the driver, 49-year-old Ellen Brody, became stranded on the crossing at Valhalla, about 20 miles north of New York City.
An official from the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency leading the probe, said on February 5 that a witness in a nearby car had seen Ellen Brody stop on the crossing in the moments before the train approached.
Investigator Robert Sumwalt said that the barrier was seen to come down on the rear of the car, a Jeep Cherokee, at which point Ellen Brody got out and appeared to inspect the damage.
He said that, according to both the witness and the train driver, after returning to the car she suddenly drove forward slightly – straight into the path of the oncoming train.
Data retrieved from the train’s recording device suggested it was travelling at 58mph an hour, added Robert Sumwalt – just below the 60mph speed limit for that section of track.
In addition to the six deaths there were 15 injuries, seven of them serious.
The electrified third rail of the track came through the front carriage of the train after the crash, setting it on fire.
Passengers had to escape from the rear carriages.
Metro-North, is the second-busiest rail system in the US, serving about 280,000 passengers a day in New York and Connecticut.
Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board issued rulings on five accidents that occurred on the network in 2013 and 2014, criticizing Metro-North while also finding conditions had improved.
A New York judge is hearing arguments over whether to disclose records of the secret grand jury proceedings in the case of black man Eric Garner who was killed by a white police officer.
The panel declined to bring charges against Officer Daniel Pantaleo for putting Eric Garner in a chokehold that led to his death.
The prosecutor opposes the move, saying it will hamper witness co-operation.
Similar records were released for a Missouri grand jury investigating the death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
St Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch released the records, with witness names redacted, after the jury declined to charge Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson.
Michael Brown and Eric Garner’s death sparked protests across the US about police killings and police relations with black and other minority communities.
Eric Garner, 43, was stopped by police for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes in Staten Island in August and placed in a chokehold by Mr Pantaleo.
In a witness video, Eric Garner, who had asthma, is heard saying “I can’t breathe”. A city medical officer later ruled the death a homicide stemming from the effects of the chokehold.
The US justice department has launched a civil rights investigation in the case.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and other groups who are suing cited the outcry over the Garner grand jury’s decision not to indict despite the video of the incident, as a compelling exception to the normal secrecy of the grand jury.
Disclosure is needed “to restore public confidence in our criminal justice system and to inform the current debate that has begun regarding the role of the grand jury as an instrument of justice or injustice” NYCLU argues in court documents.
The office of Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan said grand jury witnesses in the case came forward to testify “with full assurances of secrecy”.
Making the records public, they argued, would bring an “inevitable result of harassment or retaliation” and a “chilling effect on the very type of witness cooperation that is most desired and the most difficult to obtain”.
Judge William Garnett will hear arguments in the case on Thursday.
The NYCLU cites the decision of Missouri prosecutors to release panel detail in the Wilson case as precedent, but Daniel Donovan says that was also the wrong decision.
News outlets, Daniel Donovan argued, compromised witness anonymity in Missouri by their reporting of the grand jury proceedings and the same could happen in New York.
Maxwell Lomas, the friend of Bobbi Kristina Brown who found her face down in a bathtub last week, had nothing to do with the incident and only wants to see her heal, his attorney says.
Maxwell Lomas, 24, was a frequent house guest of Bobbi Kristina Brown, and discovered the 21-year-old unresponsive in the bathroom of her suburban Atlanta home.
“He’s very upset,” Maxwell Lomas’ attorney, Philip Holloway, told NBC News.
“He wants nothing more than to see Bobbi Kristina open her eyes, wake up and make a full and complete recovery.”
Maxwell Lomas was arrested and charged last month with weapons and drug offenses, and pleaded not guilty, Philip Holloway said. Police have previously said that no drugs were found inside the home Bobbi Kristina Brown shares with her partner, Nick Gordon.
A source close to Bobbi Kristin Brown’s family slammed rumors that they were gathering at the hospital for anything other than to keep vigil at her side, E! reported.
Bobbi Kristina Brown, the 21-year-old daughter of late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, was placed in a medically induced coma and has been breathing with the help of a ventilator, family and friends said.
“She is not brain dead and the Houstons and the Browns are not fighting,” the source told E! on February 5.
Whitney Houston’s only child is now at Emory University Hospital and is still fighting for her life, as a family statement said on February 2.
Nothing has changed, despite reports that are popping up and painting a more serious picture.
Fox News reported on February 4 that the situation is dire.
“It’s now a matter of when the family wants to let go and accept that she’s pretty much not going to make it,” a source told FOX411.
“They’ve left it up to the family as to how long they want to keep her alive.”
People magazine is also reporting that a doctor told Bobbi Kristina Brown’s family on February 6 that nothing more could be done.
“Everyone is coming to the hospital to say goodbye,” said a family member.
The Daily Mail reported that Bobbi Kristina Brown has been taken off life support.
However, her father, Bobby Brown, issued a statement late Thursday denying these reports.
“If we issued a statement every time the media published a false report regarding this matter, that’s all we would be doing 24 hours a day. This is false, just as is the vast majority of the other reporting that is currently taking place,” Bobby Brown said, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
At least 220 people have been rescued after being trapped by snow on roads in northern Spain.
Hundreds of cars were stuck for up to 17 hours overnight on roads between Cantabria and the province of Palencia.
Local media report temperatures of -15C (5F) and up 40cm (1.3ft) of snow.
Spanish police rescued several stranded in their vehicles shortly after arrival in Santander by ferry from Portsmouth.
Many tourists had come to Spain hoping for a warm-weather holiday, but ended up having to spend the night in the sports hall of a local school and the dining room of a hotel.
Spain is in the middle of a cold spell that is expected to worsen over the next three days, with cold weather alerts issued for 20 provinces.
Its national weather service said in a statement that the unusually cold temperatures would last until February 10.
A large area of central Spain has seen an unusually high amount of snowfall in recent days.
Abandoned cars and overturned trucks have piled up on main roads near Santander.
Spanish police said that dozens of military vehicles and snow ploughs are being used to clear the area.
Local media said that many schools in northern Spain had been closed and that there had been numerous power cuts.
El Pais newspaper reports that at least four towns in the region of Cantabria were still without power on February 5.
Meanwhile, in Catalonia, winds of over 75mph have disrupted railway services.
Snowfall has also closed roads as far south as in Andalucia.
The freezing conditions are set to continue for several days, with the coldest temperatures expected on February 6 and 7, warned the national weather service.
Sony Pictures’ co-chair Amy Pascal has decided to step down following a debilitating cyber attack that revealed her private emails.
Amy Pascal will start a production company that will launch in May 2015.
She has already apologized for certain revelations that came as a result of the leaked emails.
Last month, Sony condemned the “vicious” attack, which led it to suspend the release of the film The Interview.
“I have spent almost my entire professional life at Sony Pictures and I am energized to be starting this new chapter based at the company I call home,” said Amy Pascal in a statement.
She added that her transition to a production role had been discussed “for some time”.
As part of the agreement, Sony will fund Amy Pascal’s production company for at least the next four years, and it will retain distribution rights.
Sony did not immediately name a successor to Amy Pascal, leaving Michael Lynton as the sole head of one of Hollywood’s biggest production studios.
Amy Pascal was one of the highest profile Sony names whose emails were leaked as part of the hack.
She reportedly commented on the viewing habits of President Barack Obama in a derogatory manner in an email to producer Scott Rudin.
Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin both subsequently apologized for the emails, with Amy Pascal saying in a statement at the time: “The content of my emails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am.
“Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
On November 24, Sony revealed that it had been the subject of a hack by a group calling themselves Guardians of Peace (GOP).
GOP was later traced back to North Korea, who US authorities believe instituted the attack in retaliation for Sony’s decision to produce The Interview, in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is killed.
The group gained access to the company’s network and stole huge amounts of internal information, including emails and copies of films, such as Annie, that had not yet been released.
Although Sony did withdraw The Interview before its planned release, it ultimately made it available to view online and allowed it to be shown at some cinemas.
The Interview made about $15 million through downloads alone over its first three days of distribution.
Jordan’s warplanes have carried out their first air strikes on Islamic State (ISIS) targets since the militants released a video showing the killing of captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
On their way back, the planes flew over the village of Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
Their flight coincided with a visit to the village by King Abdullah II, who was meeting the pilot’s family.
King Abdullah II has vowed to the step up the fight against ISIS. Jordan is part of a US-led coalition bombing the militants.
Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured by the militants last year after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. ISIS this week released a video showing the pilot being burned alive in a cage, sparking outrage and calls for revenge in Jordan.
State television pictures on February 5 showed the king sitting somber-faced with Saif al-Kasasbeh, the pilot’s father, at a gathering in Aya village, near the city of Karak, south of the capital Amman.
The king gestured to the skies as the warplanes flew overhead, the Associated Press news agency said.
Saif al-Kasasbeh told mourners that the aircraft were returning from a raid on Syria’s Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants’ self-declared caliphate, which spans territory in Iraq and Syria.
While Jordan did not specify the location of the air strikes, a security official quoted by Reuters said they had targeted ISIS in Syria.
However, anti-ISIS activists in Raqqa said there were no coalition air strikes in the city on February 4.
“The response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” King Abdullah said, after cutting short a trip to the US this week.
Jordan responded to the release of the gruesome video, which depicted the caged pilot engulfed in flames, by executing two convicts, including Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed female suicide bomber.
Jordan had earlier sought to secure the pilot’s release in a swap involving Rishawi.
However, it is now believed that IS had killed the pilot a month ago.
Saif al-Kasasbeh praised the king and condemned the militants.
“You are a wise monarch,” the Reuters quotes him as saying.
“These criminals violated the rules of war in Islam and they have no humanity. Even humanity disowns them.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kiev to present a new peace initiative.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who is also in Kiev, said the US wanted a diplomatic solution, but would not close its eyes to Russian aggression.
Fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels has killed more than 5,000 people since last April.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of arming rebels in eastern Ukraine and sending regular troops across the border.
Russia denies direct involvement but says some Russian volunteers are fighting alongside the rebels.
Speaking at a joint news conference with John Kerry, Ukrainian PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk said: “We need to get peace. But we will never consider anything that undermines territorial integrity… of Ukraine.”
John Kerry accused Russia of violating Ukraine’s sovereignty, saying that Russia had been acting with “impunity”, crossing the Ukrainian border “at will with weapons [and] personnel”.
“We are choosing a peaceful solution through diplomacy – but you cannot have a one-sided peace,” he said.
John Kerry added that President Barack Obama was still “reviewing all options”, including the possibility of providing “defensive weapons” to Ukraine, due to the dangerous escalation in violence.
Photo Reuters
The US is currently only providing “non-lethal” assistance.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said any decision by the US to supply weapons to Ukraine would “inflict colossal damage to Russian-American relations”.
Several senior Western officials have also expressed concern at the prospect of US arms being sent to Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier likened the option to “throwing more weapons on the bonfire”, while NATO commander Philip Breedlove said governments must take into account that the move “could trigger a more strident reaction from Russia”.
Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel arrived in Kiev on February 5, in what appeared to be a speedily arranged visit.
They met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who thanked them for their visit at “a very urgent time”.
Francois Hollande had said that he and Angela Merkel would present a new peace proposal based on the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine, which could be “acceptable to all”.
However, he warned that diplomacy “cannot go on indefinitely”.
Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on February 6.
A spokesman for the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin would discuss “the fastest possible end to the civil war in south-eastern Ukraine”.
Correspondents say it is not clear how the latest attempt will differ from previous, aborted peace efforts – but there is speculation that Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel hope to discourage the US from supplying Ukraine with weapons.
The talks in Kiev come as NATO unveils details of a plan to bolster its military presence in Eastern Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis.
A new rapid reaction “spearhead” force of up to 5,000 troops is expected to be announced, with its lead units able to deploy at two days’ notice.
NATO is also establishing a network of small command centers in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, officials said on February 5 that the European Union is adding 19 people, including five Russians, to its sanctions list over the Ukraine crisis.
Nine “entities” will also be targeted by the sanctions, which were reportedly agreed at an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers last week.
Fighting has intensified in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks amid a rebel offensive.
The fiercest fighting has been near the town of Debaltseve, where rebels are trying to surround Ukrainian troops. The town is a crucial rail hub linking the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Some 1.2 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since last April, when the rebels seized a big swathe of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Juliette Binoche’s Nobody Wants the Night will open the 65th Berlin Film Festival on February 5.
Nobody Wants the Night, starring Juliette Binoche as an Arctic explorer, is one of 19 films vying for the Golden Bear, the festival’s top prize.
Other films in contention include Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell and Robert Pattinson as TE Lawrence.
Kenneth Branagh’s live action version of Cinderella – starring Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother – will screen out of competition, as will the long-awaited film adaptation of E.L. James’ best-seller 50 Shades of Grey.
Ian McKellen’s take on an ageing Sherlock Holmes will also play out of competition. Mr. Holmes, directed by Bill Condon, focuses on the enigmatic detective in retirement. Ian McKellen previously worked with Bill Condon on the 1998 film Gods and Monsters.
There will be a special gala screening of Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren as the late Maria Altmann, who successfully fought the Austrian government in her bid to reclaim the Gustav Klimt paintings stolen from her family by the Nazis.
Woman in Gold, directed by Simon Curtis, co-stars Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes and Daniel Bruhl.
Spanish director Isabel Coixet is only the second woman to open the festival and one of three female directors in competition at the Berlinale – Europe’s first major film event of the year.
This year’s competition selection is considered more populist than previous years. Two German film-makers who have found international success compete for the Golden Bear with their latest offerings.
Wim Wenders directs James Franco in Everything Will Be Fine, about a man who knocks down a child in his car and Oliver Hirschbiegel will be hoping to overcome the humiliation of his Princess Diana biopic with Elser – also known as 13 Minutes – about the man who tried to kill Hitler in 1939.
Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups stars Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Christian Bale in a story of disillusionment in Hollywood, while Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein in Guanajuato follows Russian film-maker Sergio Eisenstein “who travels to Mexico filled with the hubris of being an internationally celebrated star director”.
Andrew Haigh directs Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling in 45 Years, about a long marriage challenged by an unexpected event.
From China comes Gone with the Bullets. Directed and starring Jiang Wen, the movie is the sequel to Chinese comedy hit Let the Bullets Fly. Dissident director Jafar Panahi will present Taxi, the Iranian third film since he was slapped with an official filmmaking ban in 2010.
This year’s Berlin Film Festival jury will be headed by director Darren Aronofsky.
The U.S. government just gave first-time homebuyers and other budget-minded house shoppers a big boost with a sweeping rule change that provides federal backing to mortgages with down payments as low as 3 percent. The change manifests in two parallel programs: Fannie Mae’s My Community Mortgage and Freddie Mac’s Home Possible Advantage.
The programs both offer fixed-rate loans for candidates’ primary residences. My Community Mortgage, which opened to buyers and owners in early December, offers loans to applicants with credit scores as low as 620. Its refinancing component will initially be limited to candidates who currently hold Fannie mortgages. Home Possible Advantage, which begins in March, may be open to buyers with even lower credit scores and includes a no-cash-out refinancing program open to all mortgage holders, not just current Freddie customers. It also doesn’t establish a hard credit score floor for purchase loans, broadening the pool of potential borrowers.
First time buying a home? You just got a huge boost from the U.S. government
These programs represent the government’s latest effort to assist first time homebuyers and other qualified borrowers to enter the market and become homeowners, but they’re not exactly groundbreaking. Private companies like Prospect Mortgage, a leading national independent mortgage banker led by Fannie Mae veteran (and former CEO) Michael Williams, have offered HUD eligible purchase and refinancing products with low down payments for years.
During Williams’ tenure, Fannie Mae faced down an existential crisis—the quarter prior to his tenure saw a shocking loss of more than $23 billion—and emerged with its strongest balance sheet and loan pipeline in years. After serving as Board Chairman for over a year, Mr. Williams took on the additional role of CEO at Prospect Mortgage in mid-2014) shortly after returning Fannie to a $5 billion quarterly profit, cementing his reputation as a fearless reformer.
The new Fannie and Freddie programs build on the foundation Mr. Williams laid during his tenure as Fannie CEO. Both promise to reduce barriers to entry for first time homebuyers currently priced out of the housing market.
Despite surging profits at Fannie and Freddie, the housing market recovery remains patchy, disproportionately favoring higher-income buyers and those who already own a home. According to the New York Times, the U.S. homeownership rate currently sits near 64 percent, a multi-year low. And first time homebuyers make up just 29 percent of the pool of prospective buyers, far below the 40 percent historic average.
Structural factors, such as stagnating wage growth at the lower end of the income scale, account for some of the discrepancy. But other factors, including traditional mortgage issuers’ overly strict lending criteria and onerous down payment requirements for first-time buyers and refinancing candidates, are a direct legacy of the recent housing bust.
My Community Mortgage and Home Possible Advantage could significantly improve buyer access at the lower end of the income scale, though experts are divided on just how much help they’ll provide. And Andres Carbacho-Burgos, a respected Moody’s economist, warned that any broadening of access would have to be accompanied by a renewed focus on mortgage monitoring and buyer counseling programs to safeguard against a rise in default rates.
Visit Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac online to learn more about their respective programs for first time homebuyers and refinancing candidates.
Suge Knight has been released from hospital and taken back in to police custody.
Marion “Suge” Knight, 49, complained of chest pains on February 3 about an hour after pleading not guilty to murder and attempted murder.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Kelvin Moody said Suge Knight was released and taken into custody around 09:00 local time on February 4.
The music producer is accused of intentionally running down and killing a friend on January 29.
Suge Knight, who founded Death Row Records, which featured Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur as its top artists, faces a total of four charges under his real name Marion Hugh Knight and faces life in prison if convicted.
It is alleged a truck Suge Knight was driving hit and killed his friend Terry Carter, 55, in the incident in the suburb of Compton last week.
Another man, Cle “Bone” Sloan, 51, was injured.
Suge Knight’s lawyer said his client was trying to escape an attack at the time.
On February 2, a court commissioner revoked the $2 million bail after police said the defendant had a violent past and could intimidate witnesses.
Suge Knight founded Death Row Records in the 1990s but later declared bankruptcy and the company was sold at auction.He has previously been convicted of armed robbery and assault with a gun.
Arthur Neal Jr., an 86-year-old man from Detroit whose family said he disappeared a day after winning $20,000 in the lottery in December was found stabbed to death in a vacant house, authorities said on February 4.
Arthur Neal Jr., who went missing on December 20, was found dead on Sunday afternoon, said Officer Nicole Kirkwood, a Detroit police spokeswoman.
The man was reported missing on December 28, Nicole Kirkwood said.
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Family members told local media that Arthur Neal Jr. won $20,000 in the lottery on December 19. Police have not confirmed the lottery win, Nicole Kirkwood said.
A Michigan Lottery representative could not be reached immediately for comment.
An autopsy determined that Arthur Neal Jr. died from multiple stab wounds, the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Taiwanese rescue teams are continuing to search for the 12 people who remain unaccounted for after a plane crashed in a river.
Thirty-one people are now known to have died when the TransAsia ATR-72 plane came down in Taipei’s Keelung River on February 4.
Fifteen survivors were pulled from the wreckage, including a two-year-old boy.
Taiwan’s aviation regulator has ordered all operators of ATR planes to conduct “special checks”.
Many of the passengers were Chinese tourists and China will reportedly participate in a probe into the crash.
The death toll was expected to rise as rescue teams searched the river for the missing passengers.
“This morning we have some 60 divers going underwater to search” in addition to 20 boats scouring the river, said Liu Yung-chou, from the national fire agency which is leading the rescue operation.
Aviation authorities in Taiwan said the pilot and co-pilot were among the dead.
The ATR-72 turbo-prop plane had just taken off from Taipei Songshan Airport and was heading to the Kinmen islands, just off the coast of the south-eastern Chinese city of Xiamen.
Dramatic video footage shot from inside a passing car showed the plane banking sharply before clipping a taxi and the edge of the elevated road with its wing.
The final communication from the pilots to air traffic control was “Mayday, mayday, engine flame out”, aviation officials confirmed on February 5, after an audio snippet was widely broadcast by local media.
The cause of the crash has not been identified, but the message indicates that one of the engines had stopped working – one propeller appeared from the footage to be not turning.
The aircraft ended up mostly underwater in the river, broken into several pieces. Rescue teams in dinghies ferried survivors to safety, but many of those on board were trapped inside the sunken wreckage.
Overnight, a crane hauled the half-submerged fuselage from the river.
Local media have reported the story of one escape, by a couple and their two-year-old son.
Lin Ming-wei was seated next to where the fuselage broke apart, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) reported. Unhurt, he acted quickly to get out of his seat and help his wife scramble out of the opening.
He found his son in the water and the boy was later resuscitated. Lin Ming-wei’s wife and son are recovering in hospital, CNA reported.
TransAsia is a Taiwan-based carrier that operates domestically and on some international routes from Taiwan. Its director, Peter Chen, said the aircraft was “the newest model. It hadn’t been used for even a year”.
The plane’s flight data recorders, also known as black boxes, have been recovered.
Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration said in a statement that all 22 ATR planes being operated in Taiwan had to undergo a variety of checks including on the engines, fuel control systems and propeller systems.
The guitarist of Australian band INXS, Tim Farriss, may never play the guitar properly again after severing his finger in a boating accident.
Tim Farriss, 57, caught his left hand while operating a winch on his boat in Sydney last month, severing his ring finger.
He has undergone surgery twice to try to reattach the finger but has been left with permanent hand damage.
In an email to his brothers and bandmates, Tim Farriss reportedly said the situation was “horrific”.
“I don’t know if I will be able to play properly again,” local media quoted him as saying.
The band’s manager, Chris Murphy, said Tim Farriss was now home and undergoing physiotherapy to help him regain some movement
“He is getting the best possible care and we hope with time he will regain movement in his finger. This was a terrible accident, we are all here to support him.”
Tim Farriss has since thanked fans for their messages, posting on Facebook that he was “overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and well wishes”.
“Thank you all, I’m feeling the love and it’s really helping me get through this nightmare.”
Tim Farriss is a founding member of INXS, which was one of the world’s biggest bands in the 1980s and 1990s.
NBC’s Brian Williams has apologized after a story he repeatedly told about coming under fire in Iraq was revealed to be untrue.
Brian Williams, one of America’s most famous news anchors, said he was on a helicopter forced down in 2003, but veterans have now disputed his account.
Brian Williams, the longest-serving network anchor in the US, has often recounted his experience, but now blames the “fog of memory”.
“I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” he said.
“I want to apologize. I said I was travelling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG [rocket-propelled grenade] fire. I was instead in a following aircraft.”
Brian Williams said his account was “a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran and by extension our brave military men and women, veterans everywhere, those who have served while I did not”.
He repeated the story as recently as January 30, describing his ordeal on TV while paying tribute to a retired soldier who helped protect the grounded aircraft and crew.
Brian Williams’ apology came after veterans who were on the helicopter that was hit posted comments on the broadcaster’s Facebook page.
One wrote: “Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft.”
Flight engineer Lance Reynolds, who was on the chopper that was hit, told military newspaper Stars and Stripes: “It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I know how lucky I was to survive it.”
“It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”
Some in the US media say the admission by Brian Williams may harm his career.
NBC has not said whether Brian Williams will face disciplinary proceedings, the Washington Post reports.
