Former American Idol finalist Michael Johns has died at the age of 35.
Michael Johns’ death was confirmed via Twitter by an administrator of his official fansite.
Michael Johns finished in eight place in American Idol’s seventh season (photo Getty Images)
“It is with a heavy heart and inconsolable sadness that we confirm the passing of our friend Michael Johns. No other details will b avail at this time,” he wrote.
Fellow American Idol finalist Melinda Doolittle also tweeted her condolences.
Michael Johns finished in eight place in American Idol‘s seventh season, which ended in 2008.
According to TMZ, Michael Johns died from a blood clot in his ankle.
Surrogacy campaigners call for clearer regulation after a surrogate mother in Thailand was left with a Down’s syndrome baby when his Australian parents refused to take him.
The boy, whose twin sister was taken to Australia by the unidentified couple, needs urgent medical care.
The surrogate mother in Thailand says she will raise the boy as her own and an online campaign has raised $185,000 for his treatment.
The case has raised fears Australia could ban international surrogacy.
The baby boy, named Gammy, has a congenital heart condition and a lung infection as well as Down’s syndrome. He is currently receiving urgent treatment in a Thai hospital.
Gammy has a congenital heart condition and a lung infection as well as Down’s syndrome (photo ABC)
Pattaramon Chanbua was paid $15,000 to be a surrogate mother for the Australian couple.
The couple asked Pattaramon Chanbua to have an abortion after doctors informed her of the child’s condition four months after becoming pregnant. She refused, saying it was against her Buddhist beliefs.
Australian PM Tony Abbott said it was “an incredibly sad story” and illustrated “some of the pitfalls involved in this particular business”.
It is illegal to pay for surrogacy in Australia so couples have to find a surrogate who is happy to carry the child for no payment beyond medical and other reasonable expenses.
Advocacy group Surrogacy Australia said this “red tape” means many couples choose to go abroad to find a surrogate, with 400 or 500 each year venturing to India, Thailand, the US and other places.
Rachel Kunde, the group’s executive director, said she hoped the case would lead to better regulation by the Australian authorities of international surrogacy, rather than an outright ban.
“Our greatest fear is that Australia is going to ban international surrogacy altogether,” she said.
“We are hoping that the government will make accessing surrogates in Australia easier.”
French President Francois Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Germany’s declaration of war on France on August 3, 1914.
Francois Hollande and Joachim Gauck will make a joint tribute in Alsace to soldiers killed during World War One.
They will also lay the first stone for a memorial at Vieil Armand cemetery.
French President Francois Hollande and German President Joachim Gauck will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Germany’s declaration of war on France on August 3, 1914
On Monday events will be held in Belgium to mark Britain’s declaration of war on Germany.
Some 30,000 men were killed in the mountains around Vieil Armand, known in German as Hartmannswillerkopf.
The cemetery there contains the remains of 12,000 unidentified soldiers.
Francois Hollande and Joachim Gauck will pay tribute to the sacrifice those men made and celebrate the importance of the modern Franco-German relationship in Europe.
They will lay the foundation stone for a Great War memorial and exhibition centre on the site, which is due to open its doors to the public in 2017.
Francois Hollande and Joachim Gauck will meet again on Monday in the Belgian city of Liege, where heads of state from across Europe will mark the escalation of the war after Germany invaded Belgium.
One man died and 20 people were hospitalized due to apparent drug overdoses during a pop and dance music festival in Maryland, authorities said on Saturday.
Tyler Fox Viscardi, 20, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died after being taken to the hospital at 9 PM local time Friday after he attended an all-day Mad Decent Block Party festival in Columbia, about 20 miles southwest of Baltimore, the Howard County Police Department said in a statement.
The Mad Decent Block Party travels throughout the US
Authorities said Tyler Fox Viscardi died of an apparent drug overdose, and investigators are working to determine what type of drugs were in his system.
A 17-year-old Virginia man, who attended the same event, was in critical condition suffering from what appears to be a drug overdose, according to the department.
Another 19 concert-goers were taken to the hospital during the event, also suffering from what authorities believe are drug overdoses.
The Mad Decent Block Party travels throughout the US. Investigators said similar circumstances have unfolded at other Mad Decent Block Party events.
“We were shocked and saddened. … Our hearts go out to everyone impacted,” organizers said in a statement on the event’s website.
Police said they issued 50 under-age drinking citations and made three arrests during the event.
Two American tourists detained in North Korea have pleaded for the US government to help secure their release.
Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Fowle told the AP news agency they expected to be tried soon and given long prison terms.
The two men said they were in good health and had been treated well but expected conditions to get worse.
They were detained separately in April but both were accused of “committing hostile acts” while in the country.
Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Fowle have pleaded for the US government to help secure their release
Jeffrey Fowle, 56, entered North Korea on April 29 and was detained in early June as he was leaving the country
He is said to have left a bible in the toilet of a restaurant in the northern port city of Chongjin but his family have insisted that he was not on a mission for his church.
North Korean authorities say Matthew Miller, 24, entered the country on April 10 with a tourist visa but tore it up at the airport and shouted that he wanted to seek asylum.
Speaking for the first time since being detained more than three months ago, Matthew Miller said: “The horizon for me is pretty dark. I don’t know what the worst-case scenario would be, but I need help to extricate myself from this situation. I have been requesting help from the American government, but have received no reply.”
It is unclear whether North Korean officials were in the room at the time of the interview or if the men were being coerced.
Authorities say they are preparing to bring them before a court, but the charges or potential punishment have not been specified. The date of the trial has not been announced.
North Korea has in the past been accused of using arrested Americans as diplomatic bargaining chips.
Hadar Goldin, the Israeli soldier reported missing in Gaza on Friday, is dead, Israel’s military says.
Hadar Goldin was believed to have been captured by militants during fighting, leading to the collapse of a ceasefire shortly after it had been declared.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had determined that Lt. Hadar Goldin had died.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said the operation in Gaza will continue until it restores security to Israeli citizens.
AFP news agency quoted Palestinian emergency services as saying 12 Palestinians had been killed early on Sunday but this has not been independently confirmed.
Israeli media also reported fresh militant rocket attacks.
Hamas had denied it was holding the 23-year-old Hadar Goldin captive, saying it did not know the soldier’s whereabouts.
Lt. Hadar Goldin was believed to have been captured by Hamas militants during fighting
The military wing of the Islamist group said it had lost contact with some fighters in the area where Israel said the soldier had been seized.
It said it believed the fighters and possibly Hadar Goldin had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Israel’s defense minister and the chief military rabbi met the soldier’s family at their home in the town of Kfar Saba on Saturday night.
Hundreds of well-wishers had gathered outside their home and there was an outpouring of grief when the military’s announcement was made public.
Confirmation of Lt. Hadar Goldin’s death means 66 Israelis have now died in the fighting, all but two of them soldiers. A Thai worker in Israel also died.
Some 1,700 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since the conflict began more than three weeks ago.
Earlier, PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the Israeli offensive in Gaza until “we achieve our objective of restoring security to you, Israeli’s citizens”.
“Hamas again mistakenly believes that the people of Israel do not have the will and determination to fight them and Hamas again will learn the hard way that Israel will do whatever it must do to protect its people,” he said.
The Islamist group would pay an “intolerable price” for attacks on Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu added.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum dismissed Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments as “confused” and said the group would “continue to resist until we achieve our goals”.
Meanwhile, a UN spokesman in Gaza has warned that a “health disaster of widespread proportions is rapidly unfolding” there after three weeks of intense conflict.
Chris Gunness from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) says Gaza’s medical services are “on the verge of collapse”.
“At least half of all public health primary care clinics in Gaza are closed,” he said, adding that the medical facilities still functioning are overwhelmed.
Chris Gunness also warned that there was a serious risk of an outbreak of waterborne and communicable diseases because of a lack of adequate water and poor sanitation.
Dr. Kent Brantly, who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus in Liberia, has arrived in the US for treatment at a specialized unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.
The US doctor arrived in a specially equipped private plane at a military base before being whisked away to Emory University Hospital.
Fellow infected US aid worker Nancy Writebol is expected to follow shortly.
Ebola has claimed 728 lives in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone this year, killing up to 90% of sufferers.
The virus spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Ebola infected Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol will be treated at a specialized unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta
The US health authorities have warned against travelling to the African states affected and 50 extra American specialists are being sent to affected areas.
The plane carrying Dr. Kent Brantly was outfitted with a special portable tent designed for transporting patients with highly infectious diseases.
After it touched down at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, the patient was collected by an ambulance which drove him to Emory, 15 miles away.
At the hospital a person in protective clothing could be seen climbing down from the back of the ambulance and a second person in protective clothing appeared to take his gloved hands and guide him toward a building, the Associated Press report.
US officials say they are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger.
The specialized unit at Emory University Hospital was opened 12 years ago to care for federal health workers exposed to some of the world’s most dangerous germs.
While it has an isolation unit, health experts say it is not needed for treating a patient with Ebola, as the virus does not spread through the air.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unaware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before.
Dr. Kent Brantly’s employer, the aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement that it was evacuating 60 non-essential staff who were healthy back to the US.
An earlier statement said that Dr. Kent Brantly had been offered experimental serum – using blood from a child whose life he saved – but he had insisted that Nancy Writebol should receive it instead.
Dr. Kent Brantly’s wife, Amber, said in a statement she remained “hopeful and believing that Kent” would be “healed from this dreadful disease”.
The National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible Ebola vaccine in September.
Taiwanese petrochemical company LCY has been blamed for a series of deadly explosions that killed 28 people on July 31 in Kaohsiung.
LCY failed to shut off a pipeline despite detecting a drop in pressure, officials said.
The company said it will cooperate with the investigation.
The search for two missing firemen is continuing, though there is little hope that they will be found alive.
Almost 300 people were injured in the explosions, which left a trail of devastation in the centre of the city.
Witnesses reported huge fireballs soaring into the air. Officials said there were at least five blasts.
A statement from Kaohsiung city authorities said that LCY had known about the drop in pressure but had continued to transmit propylene gas.
Taiwanese petrochemical company LCY has been blamed for a series of deadly explosions that killed 28 people on July 31 in Kaohsiung
By the time it shut off the supply, some 100 tons of propylene gas had already leaked into the ground.
Officials added that LCY failed to notify authorities of the leak in time, preventing a complete evacuation of the area.
Chen Chin-der, the director of Kaohsiung’s Environmental Protection Bureau, said authorities were only able to identify the gas minutes before the blasts started.
The CEO of LCY said that the company would accept full responsibility if it turned out to be at fault.
Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou visited the site of the explosion on Saturday, and vowed a full investigation.
“Everyone is concerned about the cause of the incident and the cabinet has set up a task force to investigate and hope to find the cause in the shortest possible time” he said.
“Even though this incident happened in Kaohsiung, every Taiwanese person’s heart is hurt” he added.
Kaohsiung’s mayor, Chen Chu, said the explosions had “shocked residents tremendously”.
“I instructed relevant units to thoroughly inspect the pipelines and call for the central government to review how to properly locate them so residents do not live under invisible threats and to prevent another tragedy,” Chen Chu said in a statement.
Taiwan’s Premier Jiang Yi-huan announced three days of national mourning, to start on August 5.
Flags will be flown at half-mast at government buildings and schools, to mourn both the Kaohsiung blast victims as well as the 48 people who died in a plane crash last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the search for two missing firemen is continuing, our correspondent Cindy Sui reports.
Sniffer dogs and sensor equipment are being used to search the rubble on one of the streets where the explosions took place.
The area where the explosions happened is just a short distance from the Kaohsiung City Hall, the popular Guanghua Night Market, the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store and at least one major hotel.
Eyewitnesses and local residents reported smelling a strong gas odor about three hours before the explosions occurred. Many of them were worried and went outside.
One person wrote online that he called Kaohsiung City’s hotline for residents but was told that firefighters had arrived on the scene and to go back home.
As he expressed anger to the hotline operator, he saw a large explosion. Manhole covers were blown three stories high. Many people lay injured on the street.
Another resident who lived nearby said that he thought it was an earthquake at first and then he heard something like a bomb. The electricity was cut off. He immediately woke up his wife and children and they quickly left their home.
Oscar Pistorius’ brother, Carl Pistorius, has been “badly hurt” in a car accident, his family said.
Local media report that Carl Pistorius is in ICU after a head-on collision near Pretoria.
The incident comes six days before Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial is set to resume.
During his murder trial, Oscar Pistorius denies killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, saying he shot her believing she was an intruder.
Carl Pistorius is in ICU after a head-on collision near Pretoria (photo EPA)
On Friday it was announced that Oscar Pistorius, 27, had sold the Pretoria house where the shooting took place to help cover his legal fees.
The house sold for 4.5-million rand ($418,000), slightly below the estimated value of 5-million rand.
Carl Pistorius, 29, “was badly hurt but we are thankful that he is out of danger” his family said in a statement.
His car had been hit by another vehicle which had swerved from the opposite side of the road, the statement added.
South African media reported that Carl Pistorius sustained multiple fractures and suffered internal bleeding.
He has been a near-constant presence at Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial.
Oscar Pistorius has described how Carl became a “father figure” for himself and his sister after their parents’ marriage broke down and their mother died.
In May last year Carl Pistorius was acquitted of culpable homicide over the death of a motorcyclist in South Africa in 2008.
The Oscar Pistorius trial is set to resume on August 7, with both teams expected to present their closing arguments.
If you run a retail store, you depend on the visual presentation of your products to inspire your customers to make purchases. In many ways, visual displays affect customer behavior more than price points, online marketing, sales and other promotions can. From clothing to jewelry, how well or poorly your products are put on view can be either a boon or a death knell for sales. If you’d like to improve the presentation of your store’s wares in order to boost your bottom line, here are six practices, tips and suggestions that should do the trick.
Use High-Quality Displays
Whether you’re displaying records, raincoats, tomatoes or stockings, the quality of your custom POP displays reflects mightily on the quality of your store and products.
If racks, hangers, display cases and shelves appear disheveled or rickety, your customers will judge your business accordingly. Before you try and beef up your store’s display presentations, invest in store fixtures, shelving and showcases — like those at M Fried— that let your customers know your business believes in quality.
Make Use of a Theme
Deciding on a theme or “look” for all of the displays within your store will not only make decisions about multiple displays easier, but a repetitive and consistent theme will unite your merchandise in a way your customers will find pleasing, inspiring and thought-provoking. When you employ a theme, think of it as an umbrella under which every display should fall.
To that end, employ plenty of props and other items you don’t even sell in order to create what will feel like an event and narrative for your customers. You want to tell a story throughout your store that they can envision as their own. For instance, a store’s summer theme could have one display that references the beach, while another could reference a night at the drive-in movie. Still others could utilize camping or gardening storylines. The point is to have different visual presentations that still offer a unifying experience for your customers.
Change Displays Regularly
One of the most important ways to ensure your displays are earning you sales is to change them on a regular basis. When you’re putting a lot of thought and energy into displays, this tip can feel a bit overwhelming, but change doesn’t have to happen every week. So long as you update displays at least every two months (although once a month is better), you should be in good shape.
This continually unique experience will provide your customers with a new experience of your merchandise, encouraging them to consider products they haven’t yet tried when they come into your store. And by all means, any time you receive a new round of products, change those displays to highlight them!
Make Use of a Better Floor Plan Strategy
Where your displays are placed around your store is another important consideration that can hurt or help sales, which is why you need to examine your store’s overall floor plan strategy. With and without displays, your store needs to allow traffic to flow freely and smoothly. Place your largest and most impressive displays in areas that see the most traffic — like right where customers enter and windows, for example. Avoid placing large displays along walls on in corners, as these will be missed by many of your customers.
Add Desire
Desire is the backbone of all successful advertising — it’s why neuromarketing is a real field— and building desire into your visual displays will help them appeal more readily to your customers. To build desire, place your newest, most expensive and most craved-after products in your most prominent displays. Utilize height and depth so your customers can be up close and personal with the items they will want to purchase. By showcasing products you will create a longing that can lead to a purchase.
Lighting! Lighting! Lighting!
Easily overlooked and mightily essential, good lighting is a must for any effective store display. Hopefully, your store lighting is already warm and inviting, but a good display should be lit additionally. Whether you employ showcases and shelving that have built-in lights or you make use of additional ceiling fixtures, wall-mounted fixtures or individual floor lights, add a bit of drama to your displays by lighting them in a way that will draw even more positive attention to the items they feature.
A retail store that makes use of beautiful and effective visual displays has customers who feel like they’re entering a story they can make their own. Follow these tips, and your efforts in your store’s visual field will pay off in a healthy bottom line.
New clashes in eastern Ukraine have forced the international forensics team to halt operations in part of the vast crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Observers had to withdraw from one village when they heard artillery fire although work is still continuing across much of the area.
MH17 went down on July 17 with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew.
The US and Ukraine say pro-Russian rebels probably shot down the jet with a missile but rebels deny the claim.
Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor with the Ukraine mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told AFP a visit to the village of Petropavlivka had been agreed with the rebels and Ukrainian forces.
New clashes in eastern Ukraine have forced the international forensics team to halt operations in part of the vast crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
About 70 Dutch and Australian experts are scouring a site of some 20 sq km.
A spokesman for the Dutch team said it was still focusing on searching for human remains, although security is also a key issue.
Neither the rebels nor Ukrainian forces are in full control of the site.
The Dutch team has flown in from the Netherlands two dogs trained to search for human remains and another two specialist dogs are on their way from Belgium.
The Australian team also has specialist equipment – a mini-drone fitted with a camera – but it has not yet been given permission by the rebels to fly it.
The US and Ukraine say pro-Russian rebels probably shot down the plane with a missile supplied from Russia.
The rebels say it could have been brought down by a Ukrainian fighter jet.
Most of those who died were Dutch nationals.
More than 220 coffins have now been sent back to the Netherlands.
Separately, a senior adviser to the rebels confirmed that extrajudicial killings had been carried out in eastern Ukraine “to prevent chaos”.
World Health Organization head Margaret Chan has said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is spreading faster than efforts to control it.
The WHO director general told a summit of regional leaders that failure to contain Ebola could be “catastrophic” in terms of lives lost.
She said the virus, which has claimed 729 lives in four West African countries since February, could be stopped if well managed.
Ebola kills up to 90% of those infected.
It spreads by contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs – or contaminated environments. Patients have a better chance of survival if they receive early treatment.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.
Dr. Margaret Chan was meeting the leaders of the worst-affected countries – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – to launch a new $100 million Ebola response plan.
Ebola virus has claimed 729 lives in four West African countries since February
The plan includes funding the deployment of hundreds more health care workers to affected countries.
“This meeting must mark a turning point in the outbreak response,” Margaret Chan said at the summit in Guinea’s capital, Conakry.
“Cases are occurring in rural areas which are difficult to access, but also in densely populated capital cities,” she said, explaining that the outbreak was the world’s deadliest and largest in terms of geographical areas.
“It is taking place in areas with fluid population movements over porous borders, and it has demonstrated its ability to spread via air travel, contrary to what has been seen in past outbreaks,” she said.
In her comments – also published on the WHO website – Dr. Margaret Chan said the virus was affecting a large number of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who have an essential role in curtailing the outbreak.
“To date, more than 60 health care workers have lost their lives in helping others. Some international staff are infected. These tragic infections and deaths significantly erode response capacity,” she said.
Dr. Margaret Chan said that while the situation in West Africa “must receive urgent priority for decisive action at national and international levels, experiences in Africa over nearly four decades tell us clearly that, when well managed, an Ebola outbreak can be stopped”.
She pointed out that medics are not fighting an airborne virus – transmission requires close contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.
“Apart from this specific situation, the general public is not at high risk of infection by the Ebola virus,” Margaret Chan said.
“At the same time, it would be extremely unwise for national authorities and the international community to allow an Ebola virus to circulate widely and over a long period of time in human populations.”
Helmut Kohl has won a legal battle to keep 200 tapes recording his political life.
A court in Cologne ruled against Helmut Kohl’s former ghost-writer, Heribert Schwan, who claimed copyright ownership of the tapes.
Helmut Kohl was Germany’s chancellor when the Cold War ended and he played a key role in German reunification in 1990.
The tapes, recorded in 2001, formed the basis of Helmut Kohl’s memoirs. They do not chronicle a big party funding scandal.
Heribert Schwan, a journalist, recorded a total of 630 hours with the former chancellor and published three volumes covering Helmut Kohl’s life and political career from 1930 to 1994.
Helmut Kohl has won a legal battle to keep 200 tapes recording his political life
But before the final volume could be finished the two men fell out, after Heribert Schwan released a book about Helmut Kohl’s first wife, Hannelore. As a result, Helmut Kohl’s memoirs detailing the last four years of his political career, until he lost power in 1998, have never been published.
This is a seen as a crucial period, because of the financing scandal which rocked his centre-right Christian Democrat (CDU) party, scarring its reputation for years.
The slush fund scandal was uncovered in 1999, when it was revealed that through the 1990s the CDU had received donations illegally under Helmut Kohl’s leadership. Secret bank accounts and illegal wire transfers from foreign banks had boosted CDU coffers.
Amid the public outrage, the party’s leaders were forced to step down, allowing Angela Merkel to take over as CDU leader. In 2005 she became Germany’s first female chancellor.
The tapes are valuable also because Helmut Kohl now has difficulties speaking, after a stroke and accident six years ago.
Helmut Kohl was modern Germany’s longest-serving chancellor, with a 16-year tenure, which coincided with the peaceful end of the Cold War.
His memories of that turbulent period in German history are viewed as historically crucial source material.
Although the judge ruled in favor of Helmut Kohl there was also an indirect criticism of him. In the judge’s view, the tapes are too important to be stored in someone’s cellar, but rather should be stored safely in a public archive.
The video of a 5-year-old girl crying uncontrollably because she doesn’t want her little brother to grow up has been viewed online over 14 million times in 5 days.
Sadie doesn’t want her little brother to grow up
In the footage, Sadie cries: “I don’t want him to get bigger…. I love his cute little smiles! He’s so cute!”
She also faces her own mortality: “I don’t wanna die when I’m a hundred!”
Alex Miller posted this YouTube video of the adorable Sadie.
Thousands of visitors have been attracted by a mysterious crop circle since it was spotted in a Bavarian wheat field last week.
The circle in Raisting, upper Bavaria, has a diameter of 246ft and is formed of three rings.
It was discovered last week by hot air balloonists and word quickly spread through internet forums of the find.
The circle in Raisting, upper Bavaria, has a diameter of 246ft and is formed of three rings
“They sang, danced, played guitar… and slept in the field,” a woman who lives nearby said of the area’s new visitors to the site, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.
Farmer Christoph Huttner, who owns the wheat field near Weilheim, told the dpa news agency Tuesday he didn’t create the circle himself.
Christoph Huttner suggests students on summer holiday may have cut the image into his field.
The news agency says thousands of visitors have come to sing, dance and even swing pendulums in the giant image.
Christoph Huttner says he’s not yet sure whether he will leave the circle in his field.
Dutch and Australian forensic experts have found human remains at the site of the flight MH17 crash in east Ukraine.
They made their discovery on their first full day of searching at the site, an area of some 13.5 sq miles inside the conflict zone.
Local search parties found 227 of the 298 victims earlier and they were flown to the Netherlands for identification.
Fighting still rages, with 10 Ukrainian soldiers killed nearby on Thursday.
Dutch and Australian forensic experts have found human remains at the site of the flight MH17 crash in east Ukraine
The fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had previously prevented the investigators reaching the area.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner came down on July 17 with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
After Ukraine’s military declared a unilateral one-day suspension of operations against the rebels in Donetsk region on Thursday, an exploratory visit was made by the forensic experts, followed by the full deployment on Friday.
It is now unclear whether Ukraine’s army or separatist forces control the site, as fighting continues nearby.
The head of the search mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, announced that it had completed its first day of work and had recovered human remains which would be sent to the Netherlands.
He said the mission was moving to a new base in the Donetsk town of Soledar.
The investigators had travelled in 16 vehicles to the crash site, outside the village of Grabove, along with monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Artillery fire could be heard periodically somewhere in the distance during the work on Friday, AP news agency reports.
The US economy added 209,000 jobs in July bringing the unemployment rate to 6.2%, latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown.
The biggest job gains were in professional business services and manufacturing jobs.
On Wednesday, the Commerce Department said the US economy grew by a better-than-expected 4% during the April-to-June period.
In an encouraging sign, the number of people in the US labor market increased slightly, meaning that workers who may have given up looking for a job have now begun to re-enter the jobs market.
The May and June jobs data were also revised upwards to show that the US economy added 15,000 more jobs.
Some economists had been expecting even larger figures, and US stock markets were down on the less-than-expected gains.
The US economy added 209,000 jobs in July bringing the unemployment rate to 6.2 percent
The Dow dropped nearly 80 points, following steep losses the day before.
Nonetheless, most analysts agreed that there was nothing obviously negative about the report.
July is often one of the weaker months for jobs growth, which is one possible reason for the uptick in the unemployment rate.
However, the figures are encouraging, as the US economy needs to add at least 150,000 jobs each month simply to keep up with population growth.
This is the sixth straight month that the US economy has added more than 200,000 jobs.
Yet there are still reasons to be concerned: wage growth remains flat and the number of long-term unemployed – those out of work for longer than six months – was essentially unchanged at 3.2 million, or a third of those looking for work.
US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen recently highlighted that while the employment data is certain better than in the aftermath of the 2008-2009 recession, challenges remain.
Israeli forces say one of its soldiers is believed captured, as a 72-hour truce with Hamas in Gaza collapsed just hours after it had begun.
The soldier, named as Hadar Goldin, 23, disappeared when Israeli forces trying to destroy a suspected militant tunnel were attacked, Israel’s military said.
Two soldiers died in firefight in southern Gaza Strip at 9:30 local time.
The Gaza health ministry said dozens were killed by Israeli shelling in the area shortly after the incident.
In 2006 Palestinian militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and held him for five years.
Israeli forces say one of its soldiers is believed captured, as a 72-hour truce with Hamas in Gaza collapsed just hours after it had begun
Gilad Shalit was released in November 2011 in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas has not confirmed or denied capturing a soldier.
Some 1,460 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the latest conflict and 63 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
The ceasefire had been brokered by the US and UN to give civilians a reprieve from the violence, and had been seen as an unforeseen breakthrough after days of diplomatic deadlock.
Also on Friday, Palestinian and Israeli delegations arrived in Cairo, Egypt, with the hope of negotiating a longer-term cessation of hostilities, but Egyptian officials said the talks had now been postponed.
A senior Israeli official said Hamas had breached the ceasefire and Israel’s response would be “crushing”.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun said: “The Israelis are the ones who breached the ceasefire, and the Palestinian resistance acted in a way that ensures its right of self-defense.”
Another Hamas official said the announcement of the soldier’s capture was “a justification for Israel retreating from the truth and a cover-up for massacres”.
Palestinian media reported that Hamas had called for a “day of anger” across the West Bank.
Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves worn during his 1971 fight with Joe Frazier have been sold at a Cleveland auction for $388,375.
The boxing gloves have been bought by an anonymous bidder.
Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali by a unanimous decision to become the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion in 1971
The bout, dubbed the “Fight of the Century”, saw Joe Frazier beat Muhammad Ali by a unanimous decision to become the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion.
Muhammad Ali later beat Joe Frazier in 1974 and 1975, cementing his reputation as the greatest boxer of all time.
The fight was laden with political as well as sporting significance, as Muhammad Ali had been stripped of his title for refusing to enlist in the US Army during the Vietnam War.
A previous pair of gloves worn by Muhammad Ali in his first World Championship fight were sold for $836,500 by the same auction house.
Russia has banned the imports of fruit and vegetables from Poland, depriving it of a major export market.
Russia’s food hygiene authorities said the imports had unacceptable levels of pesticide residues and nitrates.
They earn Poland more than 1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) annually.
Russia is Poland’s biggest market for apples.
The move follows EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine – and Poland has condemned Russian actions there.
Russia has banned the imports of fruit and vegetables from Poland, depriving it of a major export market
Poland and some other former communist bloc countries are among the most vocal critics of Russia in the current crisis, accusing Moscow of supplying the separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine with arms and volunteers.
The cost to Poland of the import ban is likely to be 0.6% of GDP (national output) by the end of the year, Polish Deputy PM Janusz Piechocinski was quoted as saying.
Agriculture accounts for about 3.8% of Poland’s total GDP. Polish growers plan to seek compensation from the EU for the loss of earnings.
Poles have been posting images of apples on social media as a way of protesting against Russia.
On Thursday Russia announced a ban on more imported Ukrainian food: soy products, cornmeal, sunflowers and fruit juice.
Earlier Russia banned Ukrainian dairy produce and canned fish and vegetables. Last year it banned Ukrainian Roshen chocolate, produced by billionaire businessman Petro Poroshenko, who is now Ukraine’s president.
Previously Russia also imposed such boycotts on Georgia and Moldova – former Soviet republics, like Ukraine, whose pro-Western policies have angered the Kremlin.
Russia is an important export market for Georgian and Moldovan wine. Currently Russia is blocking imports of Moldovan fruit. In each case the Russian authorities say they have public health reasons for imposing a ban.
In January – before its March annexation of Crimea – Russia also imposed a ban on imports of pigs and pork from the EU.
The European Commission says that move was “disproportionate”, closing a market worth 25% of total EU pig and pork exports. In 2013 those exports to Russia totaled 1.4 billion euros.
Rolf Harris has applied for permission to appeal against his assault conviction, a spokesman for the Judicial Office says.
The 84-year-old entertainer was jailed in July for five years and nine months for 12 assaults.
The Judicial Office said his lawyers had lodged papers at the Court of Appeal.
A judge will now decide if his appeal bid should progress to a full hearing.
Rolf Harris has applied for permission to appeal against his assault conviction (photo Getty Images)
On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeremy Wright decided not to refer Rolf Harris’s sentence to the Court of Appeal despite 150 complaints over its “leniency”.
Jeremy Wright said he did not think judges would find it to be unduly lenient and increase it.
Rolf Harris, an artist, TV presenter and musician, was found guilty of all 12 assaults of which he was accused in his trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.
His victims included a young autograph hunter, two girls in their early teens and a friend of his daughter’s against whom he committed a catalogue of abuse over several years.
The offences took place between 1968 and 1986.
Rolf Harris has been stripped of a Bafta fellowship and accolades in his native Australia. He also faces losing his CBE.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed it has received “a number of allegations” about Rolf Harris since his conviction, which are being investigated.
Israel’s military is resuming its operations in Gaza, saying Hamas broke planned 72-hour ceasefire just hours after it had begun.
The army said it had warned residents to stay indoors.
Palestinian sources said at least 27 people had been killed in an Israeli attack in Gaza. Israel said it was in response to rocket fire from Hamas.
Some 1,460 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict and 63 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Israel is resuming its operations in Gaza, saying Hamas broke planned 72-hour ceasefire just hours after it had begun
The ceasefire had been brokered by the US and UN to give civilians a reprieve from the violence, and had been seen as an unforeseen breakthrough after days of diplomatic deadlock.
Palestinian and Israeli delegations have arrived in Cairo, Egypt, with the hope of negotiating a longer-term cessation of hostilities, but the fate of the talks now seems unclear.
During the morning life appeared to be returning to some kind of normality in Gaza, with many Palestinians heading towards heavily shelled areas to see if their homes were still intact.
But the Gaza health ministry reported that at least 27 Palestinians were killed and 100 injured in an Israeli attack near the southern town of Rafah after the ceasefire began.
AFP news agency said the artillery barrage was continuing, preventing medics from recovering dead and wounded from the site.
Emory University Hospital in Atlanta is preparing to receive a US aid worker infected with the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.
The unnamed patient will be flown to the US in the next few days for treatment at a high-security ward at Emory University Hospital, medics said.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has swept through the region, killing 729 people.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said her agency was working on the transfer with the US State Department.
Barbara Reynolds said she was not aware of any Ebola patient ever being treated in the US before.
The worst Ebola outbreak in history has swept through West Africa, killing 729 people
In a statement, the Atlanta hospital said it has an isolation unit which is specially equipped to deal with this kind of infection.
On Friday, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and leaders of West African nations affected by the Ebola outbreak are expected to announce a joint $100 million response plan.
Sierra Leone’s president has declared a public health emergency over the outbreak after 233 people died there.
Ebola spreads through human contact with a sufferer’s bodily fluids.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external hemorrhaging from areas like eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure. It kills up to 90% of those infected.
The US health authorities have warned against travelling to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as they strive to tackle the Ebola outbreak, and 50 extra American specialists are being sent to affected areas.
American Dr. Kent Brantly with Ebola in Liberia has taken a “slight turn for the worse”, the Samaritan’s Purse aid agency said on Thursday.
Kent Brantly and another American worker, Nancy Writebol, “are in a stable but grave condition”, the agency said in a statement.
The statement said that Dr. Kent Brantly had been offered experimental serum – using blood from a child whose life he saved – but he had insisted that Nancy Writebol should receive it instead.
Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health in the US has said it will begin testing a possible vaccine in September.
Siegfried Sassoon’s war diaries are being published online for the first time.
The archive of 23 journals and two notebooks of poetry have been digitized by the Cambridge University Library, which bought the collection in 2009.
Until now only Siegfried Sassoon’s official biographer – Max Egremont – has had access to the complete 4,100-page archive due to its fragile state.
Librarian Anne Jarvis said the war diaries were of “towering importance”.
The journals, which are made freely available online from Friday, offer a unique insight into life on the front line during World War One.
Writing in a “distinctive” but clear hand, the war poet describes life in the trenches, including the moment he was shot by a sniper at the Battle of Arras, and his depiction of the first day of the Battle of the Somme as a “sunlit picture of hell”.
Siegfried Sassoon’s writing was inspired by his first-hand experience as a serving officer in the Great War (photo Wikipedia)
Siegfried Sassoon’s observations are often accompanied by pencil or ink sketches, notes on military briefings, and diagrams of the trenches – and bear the ravages of war, including mud and candle wax on the pages and binding.
“From his <<Soldier’s Declaration>> to his eyewitness accounts of the first day of battle on the Somme, the Sassoon archive is a collection of towering importance, not just to historians, but to anyone seeking to understand the horror, bravery and futility of the First World War as experienced by those on the front lines and in the trenches,” said Anne Jarvis.
“We are honored to be able to make them available to everyone, anywhere in the world, on the 100th anniversary of the First World War,” she added.
English poet Siegfried Sassoon, whose writing was inspired by his first-hand experience as a serving officer in the Great War, is now recognized as a leading war poet of his generation.
Poems included in the collection include previously unpublished material, such as Absolution, understood to be his war poem, written before he was posted to the front line. There are also early drafts of some of his best-known works such as The Dug-Out – with an additional verse which Siegfried Sassoon later removed.
The journals, which intersperse both prose and poetry, cover both the war years – when Siegfried Sassoon was stationed on the Western Front and in Palestine – and post-war years up to 1927, and from 1931-1932.
Whether you’re displaying records, raincoats, tomatoes or stockings, the quality of your 
