According to a Dutch preliminary report, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by “numerous objects” that “pierced the plane at high speed”.
The report released by the Dutch Safety Board said there was “no evidence of technical or human error”.
All 298 people on board died when the plane came down, amid reports it was shot down by pro-Russian rebels.
The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in eastern Ukraine.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 broke up in mid-air after being hit by numerous objects that pierced the plane at high speed (photo EPA)
Dutch aviation investigators relied on information from the black box flight data recorders, air traffic control, satellite images and photos from the scene to compile the preliminary report.
They said the plane “broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-speed objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside.”
The cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation, the experts said.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashed between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the region of Donetsk on July 17.
Ukraine’s government and several Western leaders say there is strong evidence that pro-Russian separatists shot down the plane with an anti-aircraft system known as Buk.
Russia has consistently denied allegations that it had supplied any missiles or weapons to the rebels.
Experts from Germany, Australia, Malaysia, the US, the UK, Ukraine and Russia are collaborating on the case.
The board says it expects the final report to be published within a year.
The European Union has formally adopted new sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.
The new measures include restrictions on large Russian state-owned oil companies raising money on European financial markets.
However, the new measures will come into effect “in the next few days”, not on September 9 as some had expected.
Russia denies accusations by Ukraine and the West that it has been sending troops to help pro-Russian rebels.
EU Council President Herman van Rompuy said the measures were aimed at “promoting a change of course in Russia’s actions destabilizing eastern Ukraine”.
The EU is being deliberately vague about when they will come into force, to allow time to assess the implementation of a cease-fire agreed on September 5.
“Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part,” Herman van Rompuy said.
The new EU measures include restrictions on large Russian state-owned oil companies raising money on European financial markets
The cease-fire appears to be holding, although the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which brokered the deal, described it on September 8 as “shaky”.
Before the truce came into place, pro-Russian separatists made big gains in eastern Ukraine and seized territory a few miles outside the strategic south-eastern port city of Mariupol.
The gas sector is not affected by the latest sanctions. However, major state-owned oil firms are included, such as Rosneft, which is already targeted by US measures.
Russia has warned that it could block international flights through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new measures.
Diplomats say the new package will target Russian oil companies Rosneft and Transneft and the petroleum unit of state gas monopoly Gazprom.
Their access to financial markets will be restricted – a serious matter for Rosneft, which last month asked the Russian government for a $42 billion loan.
Also on September 8, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have released 1,200 prisoners.
The releases followed the cease-fire deal, he said, which included an exchange of prisoners.
He was speaking during a visit to Mariupol, which has come under shelling from pro-Russian rebels in recent days.
Petro Poroshenko said during his visit on Monday that the city’s defenses would be reinforced and that rebels would suffer a “crushing defeat” if they advanced on the city.
Mariupol is the last city in Donetsk region still held by the Ukrainian government and is a strategic port on the route to Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russia in March.
Fighting in eastern Ukraine has left some 2,600 people dead since April.
The sanctions would also expand the visa bans and asset freezes on Russian officials and entities, including separatist leaders in Ukraine.
Earlier Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would respond “asymmetrically” to further sanctions.
A Russian airspace ban “could drive many struggling airlines into bankruptcy”, Dmitry Medvedev told a Russian daily.
Italian soprano Magda Olivero has died at the age of 104 in Milan after a career spanning more than 70 years.
Magda Olivero died on September 8 in hospital after suffering a stroke last month, Italian news agency Ansa reported.
She made her debut in the 1930s but stopped performing after getting married in 1941.
Magda Olivero was coaxed back on to the stage 10 years later and enjoyed renewed stardom in Europe and the US.
She was still performing in public at the age of 99.
Magda Olivero made her debut in the 1930s but stopped performing after getting married in 1941
La Scala opera house in Milan – where Magda Olivero made her earliest performances – asked the public to hold a moment of silence before a performance on September 8.
The opera house described Magda Olivero’s voice as charismatic, her acting as formidable and her intelligence as “ready and cutting until the end”.
Italian daily La Repubblica said even in March 2010 when she performed at the Palazzo Cusani in Milan her voice was still “grandiose”.
The New York Times described Magda Olivero as a soprano who “for decades whipped audiences around the world into a frenzy of adulation that was operatic even by operatic standards – despite the fact that by her own ready admission she did not possess an especially lovely voice”.
It said that over the years bootleg recordings of Magda Oliver’s voice “passed from hand to covert hand among her legions of acolytes”.
“At live performances, she took the stage to screams of ecstasy and left it to thundering ovations,” the publication said.
Magda Olivero’s signature roles included title parts in Puccini’s Tosca, Umberto Giordano’s Fedora and Luigi Cherubini’s Medea.
The NYPD is investigating the death of Joan Rivers, who passed away on September 4 after reportedly suffering cardiac arrest during a routine surgical procedure the previous week.
Joan Rivers, 81, stopped breathing on August 28 at Yorkville Endoscopy as she underwent an otherwise routine procedure on her vocal chords. The comeddiene was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan later that same day a placed on life support. She died seven days later.
The NYPD is investigating the death of Joan Rivers (photo Getty Images)
A police source told the Hollywood Reporter: “Yes, NYPD is investigating.”
“We investigate all such deaths, meaning <<not by natural causes>>. Although it might end up being ruled natural by the [medical examiner], when it’s not readily apparent, we investigate.”
The New York City’s Medical Examiner’s office said on September 5 that the “cause and manner” of Joan Rivers’ death will “require further studies”.
Yorkville Endoscopy is also under investigation by the New York State Department of Health.
An assault charge against Justin Bieber stemming from an alleged 2013 attack on a limo driver in Toronto has been dropped by the Canadian prosecutors.
A driver who picked up Justin Bieber and his entourage from a nightclub in December 2013 said one of the passengers struck him.
However, a prosecutor said on September 8 the evidence could not prove the singer was the assailant.
Justin Bieber still faces separate assault charges in his native Ontario.
In August, police said Justin Bieber crashed his quad bike into a minivan in Stratford, and was arrested after allegedly getting to a fight with the other vehicle’s driver.
Ontario Provincial Police released him on a promise to appear in court on September 29 on charges of assault and dangerous driving.
Justin Bieber has had multiple legal troubles over the past year but has avoided jail time (photo Getty Images)
His lawyer, Brian Greenspan, has said Justin Bieber’s “peaceful retreat in Stratford this weekend was unfortunately disrupted by the unwelcome presence of the paparazzi”.
“This has regrettably resulted in charges of dangerous driving and assault.”
In the December 2013 case involving the limo driver, prosecutor David Mitchell told a court the Crown had decided to withdraw the charge after a review of the evidence indicated the prosecution would be unable to confirm the assailant was Justin Bieber.
“There were a number of people in the vehicle seated behind the driver at the time of the incident and the Crown is not in a position to establish the identity of the person who came into contact with the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt based on the available evidence,” David Mitchell said, according to the Toronto Sun.
Justin Bieber has had multiple legal troubles over the past year but has avoided jail time.
Last month Justin Bieber pleaded guilty in Florida to careless driving and resisting arrest in a deal that avoided a drugged-driving conviction.
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In July, Justin Bieber pleaded no contest to a vandalism charge in California for throwing eggs at a neighbor’s house.
According to new figures, a surge in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) saw levels of greenhouse gases reach record levels in 2013.
Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere between 2012 and 2013 grew at their fastest rate since 1984.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says that it highlights the need for a global climate treaty.
The WMO’s annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin doesn’t measure emissions from power station smokestacks but instead records how much of the warming gases remain in the atmosphere after the complex interactions that take place between the air, the land and the oceans.
About half of all emissions are taken up by the seas, trees and living things.
According to the bulletin, the globally averaged amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 396 parts per million (ppm) in 2013, an increase of almost 3ppm over the previous year.
“The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that, far from falling, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually increased last year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years,” said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the WMO.
Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere between 2012 and 2013 grew at their fastest rate since 1984
Atmospheric CO2 is now at 142% of the levels in 1750, before the start of the industrial revolution.
However, global average temperatures have not risen in concert with the sustained growth in CO2, leading to many voices claiming that global warming has paused.
“The climate system is not linear, it is not straightforward. It is not necessarily reflected in the temperature in the atmosphere, but if you look at the temperature profile in the ocean, the heat is going in the oceans,” said Oksana Tarasova, chief of the atmospheric research division at the WMO.
The bulletin suggests that in 2013, the increase in CO2 was due not only to increased emissions but also to a reduced carbon uptake by the Earth’s biosphere.
The scientists at the WMO are puzzled by this development. That last time there was a reduction in the biosphere’s ability to absorb carbon was 1998, when there was extensive burning of biomass worldwide, coupled with El Nino conditions.
“In 2013 there are no obvious impacts on the biosphere so it is more worrying,” said Oksana Tarasova.
“We don’t understand if this is temporary or if it is a permanent state, and we are a bit worried about that.”
“It could be that the biosphere is at its limit but we cannot tell that at the moment.”
The WMO data indicates that between 1990 and 2013 there was a 34% increase in the warming impact on the climate because carbon dioxide and other gases like methane and nitrous oxide survive for such a long time in the atmosphere.
For the first time, the bulletin includes data on the acidification of the seas caused by carbon dioxide.
Every day, according to the WMO, the oceans take up about 4kg of CO2 per person. They believe the current rate of acidification is unprecedented over the last 300 million years.
The evidence of the atmosphere and oceans underlines the need for urgent, concentrated political action to tackle the problem says Michel Jarraud.
“We have the knowledge and we have the tools for action to try keep temperature increases within 2C to give our planet a chance and to give our children and grandchildren a future,” he said.
“Pleading ignorance can no longer be an excuse for not acting.”
The world’s political leaders will gather in New York on September 23 for a special summit called by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
The hope is that this meeting will kick-start longstanding negotiations that aim to deliver a new international climate change by the end of 2015.
The exact legal nature of this agreement is still the subject of contentious debate.
Gavin and Stacey star James Corden has been confirmed as Craig Ferguson’s successor as host of CBS’ The Late Late Show.
“I can’t wait to get started,” said James Corden.
The British comedian said he was “thrilled and honored” to follow the “brilliant” Craig Ferguson and that it was “hugely exciting… to host such a prestigious show”.
James Corden, 36, will take over next year from Ferguson, who has been hosting the late-night talk show since 2005 and is stepping down in December.
James Corden has been confirmed as Craig Ferguson’s successor as host of CBS’ The Late Late Show
His appointment was widely rumored last month but has only now been confirmed by the CBS network.
James Corden’s previous hosting experience includes four stints at the Brit Awards and his presenting role on the Sky panel show A League Of Their Own.
He was recently seen alongside Keira Knightley in the musical romance Begin Again and has a role in big-screen musical Into the Woods, out at Christmas.
In a statement, James Corden said he would do his best “to make a show America will enjoy”.
G.R.L. has entered the UK singles chart at No 11, two days after its member, Simone Battle, was found dead at her home in Los Angeles.
Simone Battle, 25, who joined G.R.L. after being a finalist on The X Factor USA in 2011, was found dead at her home on September 5.
Her death, which has since been ruled a suicide, came as their full debut track Ugly Heart is starting to take off.
G.R.L.’s only previous UK chart appearance was as guest performers on Pitbull’s number six hit Wild Wild Love in May.
G.R.L. has entered the UK singles chart at No 11, two days after Simone Battle was found dead
The four remaining members of the group said in a statement that “words cannot express the depth of our loss” and “we will carry her memory with us in everything we do”.
Meanwhile, X Factor judge Simon Cowell said Simone Battle’s death was “such a loss”.
G.R.L. were put together by Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin and were originally intended to be a new version of the Pussycat Dolls after that group split up.
Simone Battle’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging by Los Angeles authorities on September 7.
Guardians of the Galaxy has topped the North American box office again after one of the slowest weekends of the cinema-going year.
The Marvel release took $10.2 million between Friday and Sunday, swelling its overall takings in the US and Canada to more than $294 million.
Overall, though, ticket receipts were down 23% on this time last year.
With no new entries in the Top 10, the highest ranking new release could only muster an 11th place debut.
The Identical, a faith-based musical drama about twin boys separated at birth, took just $1.9 million on what is traditionally a sluggish weekend for North American cinemas.
Guardians of the Galaxy, about a wise-cracking team of renegade heroes, has now claimed the number one spot four times in its six weekends on release in the US and Canada.
Guardians of the Galaxy has topped the North American box office again after one of the slowest weekends of the cinema-going year
The film’s worldwide takings now stand in excess of $586 million, making it the sixth most financially successful production to emerge from Marvel’s comic book universe.
Comic book reboot Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came second in this week’s countdown after selling $6.5 million in tickets on its fifth weekend on release.
Teenage drama If I Stay claimed third place with takings of $5.8 million, ensuring this week’s top three titles were identical to those of the previous weekend.
Former US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad is being investigated for alleged money-laundering through his wife’s bank account in Vienna, reports from Austria say.
Zalmay Khalilzad is accused of transferring $1.4 million to his wife’s account, Profil magazine reported.
The money is said to be linked to activities involving companies in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Zalmay Khalilzad was US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2007.
Zalmay Khalilzad was US ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan between 2003 and 2007
According to court documents from May 2013 obtained by Profil magazine, Austrian authorities froze several Vienna-based accounts of his American-Austrian wife, the social scientist and author Cheryl Benard.
Cheryl Benard’s lawyer, Holger Bielesz, says the US authorities have yet to produce any “concrete evidence” against his client.
A decision on Cheryl Bernard’s appeal for her account to be unfrozen is expected soon.
A small meteorite hit the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, on September 6, government officials say.
Residents reported hearing a loud bang and feeling the impact, which left a crater 40ft wide and 16ft deep.
Government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said the meteorite seemed to have broken off an asteroid which was passing close to Earth.
Rosario Murillo said international experts had been called in to investigate further.
No-one was hurt when it hit the wooded area near the international airport and an air force base.
An adviser to Nicaragua’s Institute of Earth Studies (INETER), Wilfried Strauch, said he was “convinced it was a meteorite” which caused the impact.
A small meteorite hit Managua on September 6
Experts studying the crater said it was not clear whether the meteorite had disintegrated upon impact or had been blasted into soil.
Locals said they heard a large blast just before midnight local time and reported a burning smell.
“We thought it was a bomb because we felt an expansive wave,” Jorge Santamaria told Associated Press news agency.
INETER scientist Jose Millan said that “we need to celebrate the fact that it fell in an area where, thank God, it didn’t cause any danger to the population”.
Managua, which has more than a million inhabitants is densely populated.
“All the evidence that we’ve confirmed at the site corresponds exactly with a meteorite and not with any other type of event,” he said.
“We have the seismic register which coincides with the time of impact, and the typical characteristic that it produces a cone in the place of impact,” he added.
Astronomer Humberto Saballos said the meteorite could have broken off from the 2014RC asteroid which passed Earth at the same time.
2014RC, which is the size of a house, came closest to earth at 18:18 GMT on Sunday, when it passed over New Zealand at a distance of about 25,000 miles.
The asteroid was first discovered on 31 August and, at its closest approach, was about one-tenth of the distance from the centre of Earth to the Moon, NASA said in a statement.
It is expected to orbit near Earth again in the future.
In February 2013, a meteorite exploded over Chelyabinsk in Central Russia, injuring more than 1,000 people.
NASA currently tracks more than 11,000 asteroids in orbits that pass relatively close to Earth.
Kate Middleton and Prince William are “thrilled” that they are expecting their second child.
Kensington Palace said that – as when the duchess was pregnant with Prince George – she was suffering from “very acute morning sickness” and was being treated by doctors at the palace.
Kate Middleton and Prince William are thrilled that they are expecting their second child
Kate Middleton and Prince William’s second baby will become fourth in line to the throne, behind older brother Prince George, who is 13 months old.
Oliver Struempfel set a new world record in beer-mug-carrying on September 7, less than two weeks before the start of Munich’s famous Oktoberfest.
Oliver Struempfel, a 38-year old tax inspector from Abensberg, Bavaria, managed to carry 27 full one-liter beer mugs – or “mass” as they are known in German – over 130 feet.
He works at the Gillemoos festival in Abensberg and took on the beer-carrying challenge after months of training.
Oliver Struempfel set a new world record in beer-mug-carrying at the Gillemoos festival in Abensberg
“I have worked here in the beer tent for the past 17 years, so I have lots of training,” Oliver Struempfel told Reuters after winning the competition at the local Gillamoos beer festival.
Oliver Struempfel admitted that he could not do without “training in a fitness center, especially in winter time.”
Scientists say that vaccinated monkeys have developed “long-term” immunity to the Ebola virus, raising a prospect of successful human trials.
The experiments by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) showed immunity could last at least 10 months.
Human trials of the Ebola vaccine started this week in the US and will extend to the UK and Africa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 2,000 people have now died in the outbreak in West Africa.
Several experimental treatments are now being considered to help contain the spread of Ebola.
Human trials of the Ebola vaccine started in the US and will extend to the UK and Africa
This includes a vaccine being developed by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
It uses a genetically modified chimp virus containing components of two species of Ebola – Zaire, which is currently circulating in West Africa, and the common Sudan species.
The viral vaccine does not replicate inside the body, but it is hoped the immune system will react to the Ebola component of the vaccine and develop immunity.
Animal research, on which the decision to begin human trials was based, has now been published in the journal Nature Medicine.
It shows four crab-eating macaques all survived what would have been a fatal dose of Ebola virus five weeks later.
However, only half survived an infection 10 months after immunization.
For now this is the best evidence available on how successful such a vaccine would be in people.
The first patient, a 39-year-old woman, was given the vaccine last week as human trials got under way.
There will also be separate trials of the vaccine against just the Zaire Ebola species.
These will take place in the US, the University of Oxford in the UK as well as in Mali and Gambia.
The WHO said safety data would be ready by November 2014 and, if the vaccine proved safe, it would be used in West Africa immediately.
Healthcare workers and other frontline staff would be prioritized for vaccination.
The number of doses currently available is between 400 – if a lot of vaccine is needed for immunity – and 4,000 if smaller amounts are sufficient.
As with all experimental therapies, the WHO has warned hopes of a vaccine must not detract from the proven methods of infection control which have defeated all previous outbreaks.
James Gandolfini’s final movie, The Drop, has premiered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.
The Drop sees James Gandolfini playing a Brooklyn bar owner who facilitates the criminal underworld’s money-laundering.
James Gandolfini died in June 2013 after suffering a heart attack, shortly after shooting the film.
Co-star Tom Hardy paid tribute to James Gandolfini on the red carpet, saying he was “very grateful to have the privilege of working with him”.
“There’s very few people who have a very specific ability and talent and he’s a brilliant actor,” he told reporters.
The Drop sees James Gandolfini playing a Brooklyn bar owner who facilitates the criminal underworld’s money-laundering
The Drop is based on the short story Animal Rescue by author Dennis Lehane, who also wrote previous crime novels Gone Baby Gone and Mystic River.
Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, said that when James Gandolfini was cast he wanted to include more dialogue “because of how [he] can turn street speech into a symphony”.
James Gandolfini’s ex-wife Marcy attended the premiere along with their 14-year-old son Michael, who said he was “really proud” of his father.
“He loved acting. He loved being an actor. I know how hard he worked and I love how hard he worked,” Michael Gandolfini said.
“I want the world and everyone just to know that he was more than just an actor.
“He didn’t want to be Tony Soprano; he wanted to go on and push himself more, try to get harder, get different.”
Another James Gandolfini film released after his death, the romantic comedy Enough Said co-starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, also premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year.
Serena Williams has won her sixth US Open and 18th Grand Slam title after beating Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets, 6-3 6-3, at Flushing Meadows in New York.
After a poor start from both players, Serena Williams steadied herself to take the first set and found something approaching her best form to dominate the second.
The victory moves her to joint-fourth in the all-time list of major winners, alongside Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.
Serena Williams, 32, has now won three successive titles at the US Open, the scene of her first Grand Slam triumph 15 years ago.
Serena Williams has won her sixth US Open and 18th Grand Slam title (photo Getty Images)
“It was a really wonderful feeling,” said Serena Williams, who was joined by Navratilova and Evert for the trophy presentation, when she also collected $4 million in prize money.
“I couldn’t have finished things in a better way. It is a pleasure for me to win here, I am really emotional. I couldn’t ask to do it at a better place.”
Caroline Wozniacki, a close friend of Serena Williams, said: “Congratulations to Serena. She really deserved it today and played better than me.
“She is an inspiration to me on and off the court and an unbelievable friend – and you definitely owe drinks later!”
Serena Williams arrived in New York having failed to make it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam in 2014, but the American looked a class apart throughout the two weeks at Flushing Meadows.
Family, friends and stars, including radio host Howard Stern, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, mogul Donald Trump, comic Kathy Griffin and Whoopi Goldberg, have attended Joan Rivers’ funeral service in New York.
Crowds of fans and media also gathered outside Manhattan’s Temple Emanu-El.
Joan Rivers, who died on September 4, wrote in 2012 about how she wanted her funeral to be “a huge showbiz affair”.
The comedienne died a week after suffering a cardiac arrest while having a routine medical procedure. She was 81.
Howard Stern delivered the eulogy, describing Joan Rivers as “the best friend in the world… a big sister… a crazy aunt at a bar mitzvah”, according to People magazine.
Other speakers included Joan Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, Deborah Norville, friend Margie Stern and New York Post columnist Cindy Adams.
Hugh Jackman delivered a rendition of the song Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on Stage, from his musical The Boy From Oz, and Broadway actress Audra McDonald sang Smile.
The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus opened the ceremony with a series of Broadway hits, while bagpipers from the New York City Police Department performed New York, New York.
Joan Rivers wrote in 2012 about how she wanted her funeral to be a huge showbiz affair (photo Getty Images)
Other mourners included Joan Rivers’ former Fashion Police co-star Kelly Osbourne, actors Alan Cumming and Tommy Tune, music producer Clive Davis and fashion designers Carolina Herrera and Michael Kors.
TV personalities including Barbara Walters, Geraldo Rivera, Diane Sawyer, Kathie Lee, Hoda Kotb and Andy Cohen also paid their respects.
Joan Rivers wrote in 2012 about her funeral plans: “I want paparazzi and I want publicists making a scene!”
“I want it to be Hollywood all the way. I don’t want some rabbi rambling on; I want Meryl Streep crying, in five different accents.”
Hundreds of fans gathered to observe proceedings outside the temple.
In what The Sunday Times billed as her final interview, Joan Rivers said she had given her daughter Melissa strict instructions on who should not be allowed to attend her funeral – but did not say who was on the list.
Joan Rivers also said she had been preparing Melissa for her death.
“It’s like, God, I’m in my 80s,” she said.
“Nobody, when I die, is going to say, <<How young?>> They’re going to say, <<She had a great ride>>. “
After her passing, tributes for Joan Rivers flooded in from figures including David Letterman, Ellen DeGeneres and Prince Charles, who praised her “unstoppable sense of humour and… enormous zest for life”.
Senior Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson, who conducted the service, said beforehand in a statement: “We mourn with her family, friends and all those millions to whom she brought laughter and joy.”
Joan Rivers stopped breathing during a procedure on her vocal cords at an outpatient clinic on August 28. The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office said that after an initial examination, further tests would be carried out to determine the cause of death.
G.R.L. member Simone Battle was found dead in the bedroom of her apartment in a West Hollywood neighborhood.
She was only 25 years old.
Simone Battle’s father told TMZ the singer’s home was a guest house in a larger residence.
Her death appears to be a suicide, a law enforcement source told TMZ.
Simone Battle’s death appears to be a suicide (photo Getty Images)
According to new reports, Simone Battle was found hanging in a closet in her bedroom around 8:30 a.m. on September 5.
An autopsy is planned for Simone Battle but hasn’t been completed yet.
A close friend who declined to be named told E!: “It’s shocking. Simone was full of life. Accomplishing all of her goals and dreams.
“She was so talented, a star in every sense of the word. I’ve never encountered such fierce drive. You just knew she would be a star, and she was so gracious. It’s hard to grasp she’s gone. She will be incredibly missed.”
Simone Battle’s father told to the Daily Mail: “She will be greatly missed and loved. She was an exuberant person and a very loved person.”
G.R.L’s singer and former X Factor contestant Simone Battle has died at the age of 25.
Simone Battle’s death was confirmed in a joint statement from Reign Deer Entertainment, Robin Antin, Kemosabe Records, and RCA Records.
The statement read: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the loss of Simone Battle of G.R.L.
“Simone was an exceptional young talent and human being, and we are all devastated to learn of her passing.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones at this time.”
G.R.L’s singer and former X Factor contestant Simone Battle has died at the age of 25 (photo Getty Images)
The cause of Simone Battle’s death is not yet known and there’s so far been no word from her bandmates. She was found dead at her West Hollywood home.
Simone Battle was originally part of the line-up for the new version of the Pussycat Dolls, put together by the Dolls’ original creator Robin Antin.
However, after a few line-up changes, that group eventually became G.R.L.
G.R.L. is on course to enter the top five of the UK’s Official Chart with their single Ugly Heart.
In 2011, Simone Battle appeared on the first series of The X Factor USA, performing in front of judges including Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.
She progressed to the live finals of the show.
Cheryl Cole’s among those who’ve paid tribute. She tweeted: “Such tragically sad news to hear of the passing of Simone Battle. My thoughts and prayers are with her loved ones.”
Another tribute came from former member of the Pussycat Dolls Kimberley Wyatt who tweeted: “In disbelief… My heart hurts for her friends, family, and bandmates.”
One of Simone Battle’s friends, Derek Butler, posted a picture of her on Instagram with the comment: “I’m still in shock and in disbelief to have confirmed the death of my childhood friend Simone Battle.
“Her heart was pure gold and her star power limitless.”
President Barack Obama will delay taking executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections in November, White House officials said on September 6.
The president bows to pressure from fellow Democrats who feared that acting now could doom his party’s chances this fall.
In June 2014, Barack Obama promised to use executive orders that were expected to change visa rules, boost border security and give a path to citizenship for some 11 million US-based illegal immigrants.
Each year tens of thousands try to get into the US from Mexico.
President Barack Obama will delay taking executive action on immigration until after the midterm elections in November
Many are unaccompanied children, and Barack Obama has called the situation a “humanitarian crisis”.
Barack Obama has spent years promising immigration reform, but has been thwarted by Republicans in Congress.
White House officials said that the Republicans’ “extreme politicization of this issue” meant it would be harmful to the long-term prospects for reform to take action before the election.
Officials said immigration reform would still be forced through before the end of the year.
Analysts say the move is likely to benefit some Democrats up for re-election in November in closely fought seats.
Immigration advocacy group United We Dream called the delay a “slap to the face of the Latino and immigrant community”.
Egypt’s ousted President Mohamed Morsi is being charged with handing over national security documents to Qatar, the state prosecutor says.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar have been strained since the military ousted Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 after protests against his one-year rule.
Qatar supports the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group to which he belongs.
He faces several trials for charges including espionage. He has called the court illegitimate.
Several other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, as well as hundreds of ordinary members, have already been sentenced to death.
A crackdown by the authorities over the past year has seen more than 1,400 people killed and 16,000 others detained, rights activists say.
Mohamed Morsi is being charged with handing over Egypt’s security documents to Qatar
Mohamed Morsi will be tried for having “handed over to Qatari intelligence documents linked to national security… in exchange for $1 million”, the prosecutor said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.
He was accused of passing on the files via Doha-based TV network Al Jazeera.
When the allegations emerged in August, Al Jazeera told Reuters: “Any information Al Jazeera receives is handled with the highest standard of journalistic ethics. We do not therefore comment on sources, or pass information to governments.”
Last June, a court in Egypt sentenced three Al Jazeera English journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison after convicting them charges including of spreading false news.
The three journalists have strenuously denied the charges and plan to appeal.
The court decision was criticized by journalists and human rights groups, who have campaigned for their release.
A private jet on a flight from New York to Florida crashed off Jamaica on September 5 after the two people on board apparently lost consciousness.
The Jamaican Defense Force said the plane went down about 14 miles north-east of Port Antonio.
Two F-15 fighter jets were launched from a US base to investigate the aircraft, after it veered from its flight path and was detected over the Caribbean.
The two people known to be on board have been named as Larry Glazer, a property developer from Rochester, New York, and his wife Jane. Larry Glazer was the CEO of Buckingham Properties.
Larry and Jane Glazer were both licensed pilots.
The plane’s pilot had indicated there was a problem and twice asked to descend to a lower altitude before permission was granted, according to a recording of the radio conversation with US traffic controllers.
Contact with the plane was lost a short time later.
Major Basil Jarrett of the Jamaican Defense Force told reporters that an oil slick had been spotted about 14 miles north-east of the coastal town of Port Antonio but there was no sign yet of any wreckage.
He said search and rescue teams were scouring the waters for possible survivors.
Larry and Jane Glazer were both licensed pilots
As darkness fell, Jamaica suspended the search until first light on September 6.
The plane, a Socata TBM-700 built in 2014, took off from Rochester at 08:26 en route to Naples, Florida.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) was alerted to the unresponsive plane about an hour into its flight and sent two fighter jets to monitor it.
A spokesman said it was not possible for the fighter pilots to see inside the plane as the windows were frosted or fogged over.
A tweet from NORAD suggested the pilot or pilots could have been be unresponsive due to “possible hypoxia” – oxygen deprivation.
On a recording made by LiveATC – a website that monitors air traffic control recordings – and quoted by the Associated Press, the pilot can be heard saying: “We need to descend to about (18,000 feet). We have an indication that’s not correct in the plane.”
A controller replies: “Stand by.”
After a pause, the controller tells the pilot to fly at 25,000ft.
“We need to get lower,” the pilot responded.
“Working on that,” the controller says.
Controllers then clear the plane to descend to 20,000ft and the pilot acknowledges the command.
Minutes later a controller asks the plane to identify itself. There is no response.
According to FlightAware, the plane never carried out the last descent to 20,000ft.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo paid tribute to the couple.
“The Glazers were innovative and generous people who were committed to revitalising downtown Rochester,” he said.
The couple’s three children said in a statement they were “devastated”.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said it co-operated with Cuba air traffic control in monitoring the plane, despite the countries not having full diplomatic relations for more than half a century.
Cuba said it had authorized the US military to fly a C-130 cargo plane and two fighter jets over its airspace to investigate the incident.
A number of long-forgotten deadly microbes have been uncovered in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratories in recent weeks, including the deadly toxin ricin and the bacteria that cause plague.
The highly poisonous substances were found in a hunt triggered by the accidental discovery in July of vials of smallpox at a lab near Washington.
They included vials of ricin and pathogens that cause botulism, the plague and a rare tropical infection.
The substances, some dating from nearly a century ago, have now been destroyed.
Officials from the NIH said some of its laboratories were cleared to use poisonous substances and were checked regularly.
A number of long-forgotten deadly microbes have been uncovered in the NIH laboratories in recent weeks
However, the recent finds were from historical collections that were once allowed to be stored without regulation.
They included a bottle of ricin, a highly poisonous toxin, found in a box with microbes thought to be 85 to 100 years old.
“NIH takes this matter very seriously. The finding of these agents highlights the need for constant vigilance in monitoring laboratory materials in compliance with federal regulations on biosafety,” a memo from the agency said.
The authorities said the newly discovered toxins had been improperly stored but were in sealed containers and no employees were in danger of infection.
The search for unregulated toxic substances was initiated after the discovery of long-forgotten vials of smallpox in July.
The virus, believed dead, was located in six freeze-dried and sealed vials. It was said to be the first time unaccounted-for smallpox has been discovered in the US.
The smallpox disease was officially declared eradicated in the 1980s.
Former U.S. Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she won’t make a decision about a 2016 presidential bid before the end of 2014.
On September 5, Hillary Clinton said she will decide whether to run for presidency around the beginning of 2015.
“I do have a unique vantage point and set of experiences about what makes the United States operate well and what doesn’t and what a president can do and should be doing,” she said.
“So I am going to be making a decision around, probably after the first of the year, about whether I’m going to run again or not.”
Hillary Clinton, 66, first ran for president in 2008, but she was defeated in the Democratic primary by then-Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill.
She was asked about her intentions for the next presidential cycle on September 5 at an event in Mexico City honoring thousands of scholarship students supported by the Telmex Foundation, one of several charitable organizations under the umbrella of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.
Hillary Clinton won’t make a decision about a 2016 presidential bid before the end of 2014
Hillary Clinton would only speak “hypothetically” about a possible presidential bid. She added she would have to have a clear vision of what she wants to achieve, and as well as how she would lead politically to realize that vision.
“I think the most important question anybody should ask who’s thinking about it is not whether you’re going to run or whether you’re going to win – it is what’s your vision for the country and can you lead us there?” she explained.
“And I will have to be convinced that I have a very clear vision with an agenda of what I think needs to be done, and that I have the experience and know-how to lead – not just those who agree with me, but those who disagree with me, to try to achieve those goals. It’s a very serious undertaking, so obviously I’m thinking about it, but I have not made a decision yet.”
Polls have shown Hillary Clinton all but running away with the Democratic nomination and performing strongly against most of her GOP challengers, though her lead in general election polls has recently diminished, according to some surveys.
