Asian markets’ reactions are mixed after the European Central Bank (ECB) introduced aggressive easing measures aimed at stimulating the eurozone economy.
The ECB is the first major central bank to introduce negative interest rates, which will see it become cheaper for banks to lend money to businesses.
Japan, Hong Kong and Australian stocks initially rose in reaction before giving up their gains in later trade.
The muted response comes despite a strong rally on Wall Street.
Asian markets’ reactions are mixed after the ECB introduced aggressive easing measures aimed at stimulating the eurozone economy (photo AP)
The S&P 500 and Dow Industrial Average closed at new record highs on Thursday on the new stimulus measures out of Europe.
European stock markets and the euro currency also logged gains on Thursday.
The ECB announcement saw it cut the deposit rate for banks to zero from -0.1% and reduce the benchmark interest rate to 0.15% from 0.25%.
In addition to the interest rate cuts, the ECB will offer a package of cheap long-term loans to banks which are worth up to 400 billion euros.
ECB President Mario Draghi also signaled there may be more easing measures to come.
CMC Markets analyst Max Ho called the ECB’s moves “well-telegraphed”.
“We witnessed history in the making,” he said.
“While this move to cut deposit rates to a negative is considered to be bold and unprecedented, some observers are not convinced that it will have a significant impact on existing bank lending.”
Analysts said Asian investors are now turning their attention to US jobs data due out Friday.
Non-farm payrolls for May are expected to show an improvement in the US employment market and are crucial to the US central bank’s future policy decisions.
Analysts forecast the Federal Reserve may raises interest rates and end its extraordinary stimulus known as quantitative easing (QE) once the jobs market and overall US economy is strong enough.
Concerns about a reduction in QE, or the Fed taper, led to a sell-off in emerging market stocks and currencies in Asia last year.
The entire board of the Vatican’s financial regulator has been dismissed by Pope Francis as he looks to reform the city-state’s banking practices following a corruption scandal.
The move is also reportedly due to infighting among the “old guard”.
The Financial Intelligence Authority’s Italian, five-person board were due to see their terms expire in 2016.
They are being replaced with four international experts from Italy, Singapore, Switzerland and the US.
Pope Francis fired the entire board of the Vatican’s financial regulator
The Vatican said the new directors include Juan Zarate, a former national security adviser to President George Bush, and Joseph Pillay, a civil servant and adviser to the president of Singapore.
The other two board members are Maria Bianca Farina, an executive at the Italian postal service and Marc Odendall, a Swiss financial consultant.
Pope Francis has sought to stamp out corruption and other abuses at the Vatican bank, which handles funds for the Catholic Church.
The Vatican bank is known officially as the Institute for Religious Works and has assets worth more than $8 billion.
However, it became embroiled in a scandal last year after senior cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was arrested by Italian police for allegedly being involved in money-laundering.
Nunzio Scarano and two others face trial for trying to move 20 million euros illegally from Switzerland.
As a result, there has been push to align the Holy See’s finances with international transparency rules.
Pope Francis also issued a decree last year aimed at combating money-laundering and prevent any financing of terrorism.
Police have praised the bravery of a Seattle Pacific University student for disarming a gunman who had killed one person and wounded three others.
The student overcame the gunman on the campus of Seattle Pacific University as he tried to reload, police said. Pepper spray was used to subdue the attacker.
Police said the actions of the student, and others who came to his aid, prevented a more serious tragedy.
The gun suspect has been named as Aaron Ybarra, 26, who is in custody.
Police have praised the bravery of a Seattle Pacific University student for disarming a gunman who had killed one person and wounded three others
Police say he is being investigated for murder. They say he was not a student at the university and was believed to have been acting alone.
He is reported to have been carrying a shotgun and a knife before opening fire after walking into the foyer of the university.
“But for the great response at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) this incident might have been much more tragic,” Seattle police spokesman Paul McDonagh told a news conference.
SPU President Daniel Martin told the Seattle Times that the students who overpowered the gunman “acted without regard to their own safety on behalf of others”.
“We are a community and we care for others,” Daniel Martin was quoted as saying.
“Those that were involved did just that.”
He said that students and university personnel have procedures in place for when a shooting occurs, which was one reason why the gunman was subdued so quickly.
Hospital officials in the Washington state city said the person killed was a man in his 20s. A woman is also in a very serious condition with a gunshot wound to her upper body.
The other two injuries were sustained by men in their 20s. One is in a stable condition and the other has minor wounds to the abdomen.
In a statement, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray referred to previous fatal shootings in the city and added: “Once again the epidemic of gun violence has come to Seattle, the epidemic of gun violence that is haunting this nation.”
SPU is a privately run Christian university which has about 4,270 undergraduate and graduate students inside a 40-acre campus about 10 minutes from central Seattle.
The US has recently suffered a spate of shootings in or near colleges.
World heads of state are joining hundreds of veterans in Normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
They will meet at Ouistreham, one of the five beaches where Allied troops landed on June 6, 1944.
French President Francois Hollande will give a speech followed by US President Barack Obama. Queen Elizabeth II and Russian President Vladimir Putin will also go.
World heads of state are joining hundreds of veterans in Normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings
There will be a re-enactment of the landings, which were the start of the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe.
The day’s commemorations began at midnight with a vigil at Pegasus Bridge near Ouistreham, marking the first assault of the D-Day invasion when British soldiers began the first Allied action of the campaign.
At 00:16 on June 6, 1944, six Horsa gliders carrying 181 men from the Glider Pilot Regiment and the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, landed silently to capture the strategically-vital bridge and another nearby.
This paved the way for soldiers landing on the Normandy beaches to move inland and reinforce their airborne colleagues. It also prevented the Germans from repelling the invasion on the coast.
Vladimir Putin will be at the ceremony with Prince Charles, who reportedly criticised the Russian president while speaking to a woman during a tour in Canada.
Ukraine’s President-elect Petro Poroshenko is expected to attend, amid tensions between his country and Russia.
Scientists have discovered the mechanism by which a good night’s sleep improves learning and memory.
The scientific team in China and the US used advanced microscopy to witness new connections between brain cells – synapses – forming during sleep.
Their study, published in the journal Science, showed even intense training could not make up for lost sleep.
Experts said it was an elegant and significant study, which uncovered the mechanisms of memory.
It is well known that sleep plays an important role in memory and learning. But what actually happens inside the brain has been a source of considerable debate.
Sleep plays an important role in memory and learning (photo Tumblr)
Researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School trained mice in a new skill – walking on top of a rotating rod.
They then looked inside the living brain with a microscope to see what happened when the animals were either sleeping or sleep deprived.
Their study showed that sleeping mice formed significantly more new connections between neurons – they were learning more.
And by disrupting specific phases of sleep, the research group showed deep or slow-wave sleep was necessary for memory formation.
During this stage, the brain was “replaying” the activity from earlier in the day.
Further tests showed how significant sleep was.
Mice doing up to an hour’s training followed by sleep were compared with mice training intensively for three hours but then sleep deprived.
The difference was still stark, with the sleepers performing better and the brain forming more new connections.
Canadian police arrested Justin Bourque suspected of killing three officers and wounding two others in Moncton, New Brunswick.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in New Brunswick tweeted that Justin Bourque was arrested just after midnight in Moncton.
News of the arrest came after a huge manhunt went into its second night.
Schools and government offices were closed and residents told to stay indoors during the operation.
Canadian police arrested Justin Bourque suspected of killing three officers and wounding two others in Moncton (photo The Gazette)
Police said residents of Moncton could now leave their homes.
A grainy image purporting to show Justin Bourque being taken into custody was circulating on social media.
The mayor of Moncton, George Leblanc, told CBC: “On the one hand we feel very happy, almost elated that this person has been arrested and this ordeal is over.
“But at the same time we have a great sense of sadness for the losses that our families have suffered.”
Earlier, police said the suspect, who was wearing camouflage gear and carrying rifles, had been spotted several times in north Moncton.
Dozens of police officers were seen scouring the search area with weapons drawn. Armoured security trucks were also visible.
One of the wounded Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers has been released from hospital, and one remains in hospital in a stable condition.
The officers were shot while responding to a report of an armed man at the north-west side of the town at about 20:00 local time on Wednesday.
It was the deadliest attack on Canada’s police force since four officers were killed by a gunman on a farm in the western province of Alberta in 2005.
North Korea has announced it arrested a third American tourist last month for inappropriate activities.
A report on the KCNA news agency said the man had entered North Korea on April 29, but was detained as he was leaving the country.
The report said he has been questioned, but gave no more details. Japanese agency Kyodo said the tourist was held because he left a Bible at a hotel.
North Korea has announced it arrested a third American tourist last month for inappropriate activities.
If confirmed, North Korea would now be holding three US citizens.
US-Korean missionary Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 and is serving 15 years of hard labour after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government.
In late April, KCNA said an American named Matthew Todd Miller had been taken into custody on April 10.
KCNA said he had torn up his tourist visa, shouting that he had “come to the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] after choosing it as a shelter”.
North Korea uses the arrested Americans as diplomatic bargaining chips.
Duck Dynasty’s Si Robertson stopped by Big Smo on A&E’s Whiskey Bent Saloon at CMA Country Music Association’s CMA Festival in Nashville.
Si Robertson stopped by Big Smo on A&E’s Whiskey Bent Saloon at CMA Country Music Association’s CMA Festival in Nashville (photo Facebook)
You can stop by too! Free swag, live music, and meet and greets with TheRealBigSmo.
Jessica, Jep, and Martin are also at the festival!
Si Robertson performed at Manuel’s in Nashville with his daughter-in-law Marsha Robertson and nephew-in-law Jay Nelson singing their song from his album Would You Marry Me Again.
Kourtney Kardashian and her long-time boyfriend Scott Disick are reportedly expecting baby number three.
Kourtney Kardashian and her long-time boyfriend Scott Disick are reportedly expecting baby number three (photo Life&Style)
The Keeping Up With The Kardashians stars already have Mason Dash, 4, and Penelope Scotland, 23 months, and they’re absolutely adorable parents to them.
It’ll be a busy summer for Kourtney Kardashian, who, along with sister Khloé, has rented a home valued at $14 million to film their latest reality show, Kourtney and Khloé Take the Hamptons.
O.J. Simpson’s attorneys resubmitted an appeal seeking a new trial at Nevada Supreme Court on grounds that the imprisoned former football star was misled by his lawyer and didn’t get a fair trial in his Las Vegas kidnapping and armed robbery case.
The 102-page document asks the seven justices to reconsider whether O.J. Simpson’s lead attorney at the time, Yale Galanter, had advance knowledge of the ill-fated September 2007 confrontation involving Simpson, several other men and two sports memorabilia dealers at a Las Vegas casino hotel.
Evidence at trial “tended to indicate that Yale Galanter was involved in the alleged conspiracy,” current O.J. Simpson lawyers Patricia Palm, Ozzie Fumo and Tom Pitaro say in the appeal.
“Galanter’s personal interest in hiding his pre-incident involvement is sufficiently substantial to indicate the existence of an actual conflict.”
O.J. Simpson is serving nine to 33 years at a Nevada state prison in Lovelock in the Las Vegas robbery case (photo Las Vegas Review Journal)
Patricia Palm declined additional comment about the appeal, which was initially stalled by size and formatting issues after she submitted it May 21. Since last week, Patricia Palm double-spaced the document according to Chief Justice Mark Gibbon’s instructions and re-filed it.
The justices haven’t decided if they will hold hearings on O.J. Simpson’s latest appeal and didn’t immediately set a date for a decision, court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said. The court is Nevada’s only appellate bench and cases can take months or longer to decide.
The high court in September 2010 rejected a previous appeal by Yale Galanter on behalf of O.J. Simpson.
The new effort alleges that Yale Galanter had a conflict of interest that skewed his representation of O.J. Simpson in a trial also tainted by the sports, television and movie star’s notoriety stemming from his acquittal in the June 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.
The 20th anniversary of the slayings is next week.
O.J. Simpson, now 66, is serving nine to 33 years at a Nevada state prison in Lovelock in the Las Vegas robbery case. He’s not eligible for parole until late 2017.
Yale Galanter on Wednesday defended his performance on Simpson’s behalf.
The Miami-based lawyer pointed to Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell’s ruling in November – after five days of hearings last May and several months reviewing the case record – that O.J. Simpson failed to demonstrate how Yale Galanter’s actions led to Simpson’s conviction.
Linda Marie Bell denied O.J. Simpson’s request for release and a new trial. She said also that evidence was overwhelming that O.J. Simpson orchestrated the September 2007 armed kidnapping and robbery at the Palace Station hotel.
“Judge Bell saw through his and his lawyers’ charade and kicked him to the curb,” Yale Galanter said.
O.J. Simpson continues to say he was trying to retrieve items that had been stolen from him after a 1997 civil case put him on the hook for a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment.
He testified last year that he thought he had a right to get his belongings back, and that he never knew any of the men with him were carrying guns.
O.J. Simpson didn’t testify at trial in Las Vegas. He the judge that Yale Galanter advised him not to.
Evidence of the world that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago to form the Moon has been found after researchers analyzed the lunar rock brought back by Apollo astronauts .
Analysis of lunar rock shows traces of the “planet” called Theia.
The researchers claim that their discovery confirms the theory that the Moon was created by just such a cataclysmic collision.
The study has been published in the journal Science.
The accepted theory since the 1980s is that the Moon arose as a result of a collision between the Earth and Theia planet 4.5 billion years ago.
The accepted theory since the 1980s is that the Moon arose as a result of a collision between the Earth and Theia planet 4.5 billion years ago
Theia was named after a goddess in Greek mythology who was said to be the mother Selene the goddess of the Moon. It is thought to have disintegrated on impact with the resulting debris mingling with that from the Earth and coalescing into the Moon.
It is the simplest explanation, and fits in well with computer simulations. The main drawback with the theory is that no one had found any evidence of Theia in lunar rock samples.
Earlier analyses had shown Moon rock to have originated entirely from the Earth whereas computer simulations had shown that the Moon ought to have been mostly derived from Theia
Now a more refined analysis of Moon rock has found evidence of material thought to have an alien origin.
According to the lead researcher, Dr. Daniel Herwartz, from the University of Goettingen, no one has found definitive evidence for the collision theory, until now.
But the difference, some say, could be explained by material absorbed by the Earth after the Moon formed.
Dr. Daniel Herwartz measured the difference in what is called the isotopic composition of the oxygen contained in rocks on Earth and Moon rock. This is the ratio of different forms of oxygen.
Studies of meteorites from Mars and the outer solar system show that these ratios are markedly different -rather like a fingerprint.
One possibility is that Theia was formed very close the Earth and so had a similar composition. If that was the case it raises the possibility that the assumption that each planet in the current Solar System has a markedly different fingerprint that needs to be revisited.
Carrie Underwood has won the top prize at this year’s CMT Music Awards.
It marks the fifth time Underwood has lifted the video of the year award – voted for by the public – taking top honors for her track See You Again.
“I’ve been doing this for nine years but every second of those nine years you guys have been amazing,” she said.
Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line both won two awards, including a joint award for collaboration of the year.
Carrie Underwood has won the top prize at this year’s CMT Music Awards
They won for their collaborative video This Is How We Roll.
Luke Bryan won performance of the year with Lionel Richie, for their CMT Crossroads version of Richie’s 1983 hit All Night Long.
Blake Shelton, a judge on the The Voice, won best male video for Doin’ What She Likes, while Cassadee Pope – whom he mentored to triumph in the third series – won breakthrough video of the year.
“I honestly am shocked to be standing here holding this,” said Luke Bryan, on receiving his award.
“I’m freaking out because Cassadee won, I’m so excited for her, so y’all have made this already an unbelievable night for me.”
Blake Shelton’s wife, Miranda Lambert, won female video of the year for the fifth time in a row, with Automatic.
Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood closed out the show, at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, with their duet Something Bad.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced new measures aimed at stimulating the eurozone economy, including negative interest rates and cheap long-term loans to banks.
The ECB cut its deposit rate for banks from zero to -0.1%, to encourage banks to lend to businesses rather than hold on to money.
It also cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.15% from 0.25%.
The ECB is the first major central bank to introduce negative interest rates.
It has been tried before in smaller economies. Sweden and Denmark, who are both outside the Single Currency, attempted to use negative rates in recent years with mixed results.
Analysts said in Sweden it had little discernible impact; in Denmark it did have the effect of lowering the value of the currency, the Krone, but according to the Danish Banking Association it also hit the banks’ bottom line profits.
The ECB’s president, Mario Draghi, also announced other measures.
Long term loans are to be offered to commercial banks at cheap rates until 2018. These loans would be capped at 7% of the amount that the individual banks in question lend to companies. Thus, the more the banks lend to companies, the more money they can borrow cheaply from the ECB.
The ECB cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.15 percent from 0.25 percent
It is also doing preliminary work that could lead to buying bundles of loans that are made to small businesses in the form of bonds. This is being seen as a step towards providing companies with credit through the financial markets.
Mario Draghi said the ECB’s policymakers unanimously agreed to consider more unconventional measures to boost inflation if it stays too low. The ECB stopped short of instituting a large asset-buying program like the quantitative easing (QE) undertaken by the US Federal Reserve. However. Mario Draghi insisted that more would be done, if necessary.
“Are we finished? The answer is no. We aren’t finished here. If need be, within our mandate, we aren’t finished here.” he said.
Mario Draghi said that the whole package of measures was aimed at increasing lending to the “real economy”.
“Now we are in a completely different world,” he said.
Even though some of the measures, like the more to negative rates on deposits, were expected European shares moved higher on the ECB announcement.
The benchmark German DAX 30 index jumped above the 10,000 level for the first time. The CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.8% shortly after the ECB’s comments.
Meanwhile, the euro fell to $1.3558, its lowest level in four months.
Although the danger of deflation in the eurozone is limited, the ECB is concerned that growth is very sluggish and bank lending weak – both of which could potentially derail the fragile economic recovery.
The eurozone economy grew by just 0.2% in the first quarter of the year. Consumer spending, investment and exports are all growing at a slower pace than this time last year.
Inflation in the eurozone fell to 0.5% in May, down from 0.7% in April. This is well below the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2%.
If the eurozone slips into deflation, the fear is that consumers might spend even less because they would expect prices to fall in future months. For the same reason investors could stop investing.
Growth would then be hit and demand would be severely constrained. The large debts amassed by the eurozone’s countries, companies and banks would take longer and be harder to pay off.
Unemployment, which is already at nearly 12% in the eurozone, and much higher in places like Spain, Portugal and Greece, could get even worse.
Mario Draghi emphasized that recovery in the eurozone was not just in the hands of the ECB, but also in the domain of the banks and the governments. He said the banks needed to play their part by increasing lending and reforms by national governments should be carried through.
“In order to strengthen the economic recovery, banks and policy-makers in the euro area must step up their efforts. Banks should take full advantage of this exercise to improve their capital and solvency position, thereby contributing to overcome any existing credit supply restriction that could hamper the recovery.”
“At the same time, policymakers in the euro area should push ahead in the areas of fiscal policies and structural reforms,” he added.
An AV-8B Harrier jet from the Yuma air base in Arizona has crashed into homes in the California desert, about 90 miles east of San Diego.
TV footage showed at least one home on fire on a residential street in the city of Imperial, following the crash on Wednesday evening.
The AV-8B Harrier jet from the Yuma air base in Arizona has crashed into homes in the California desert
The pilot of the military jet ejected safely, and has been taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The US Marine Corps said eight homes had been evacuated but no-one on the ground was hurt.
An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the crash, it said in a statement.
It was the second crash in a month of a Harrier jet from the Yuma air base in Arizona, AP news agency reported.
On May 9, a pilot ejected safely before his plane crashed in a remote desert area near the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, south of Phoenix. No-one was hurt.
ASOS shares have plunged by 30% after it issued a second profit warning in three months.
The UK’s online fashion retailer blamed the strength of the pound, which hurt overseas sales and forced it to launch a series of promotions.
International revenues in the three months to the end of May grew by just 17%, against 48% a year earlier.
Chief executive Nick Robertson admitted the retailer’s performance was “not what we had hoped for”.
The pound has risen 10% in value over the last year.
ASOS cut its forecast on profit margins to 4.5% from 6.5% on a sales target of £1 billion ($1.6 billion) for the current financial year.
ASOS shares have plunged by 30 percent after it issued a second profit warning in three months
That would imply a fall in profits to £45 million ($72 million) from a previous forecast of £65 million ($105 million).
ASOS, which achieves a high proportion of revenues from womenswear, recently launched a series of promotions.
These normally represent 3% of sales but rose to 8% in its third quarter.
But the discounts were not enough to offset the decline in its overseas sales, which account for 60% of the retailer’s total revenues.
ASOS warned in March that the costs of new warehousing in the UK and Germany, as well as start-up expenses in China would hit earnings.
Half-year pre-tax profits fell 22% to £20.1 million ($32 million).
Nick Robertson said sales in the three months to the end of May were strong, up 25% across the group and 43% in the UK.
But overseas growth has been slowing in each quarter for the past year.
US sales were up 17% compared with 59% a year ago, while sales growth across Europe of 37% compared with a 56% rise a year earlier.
For the rest of the world, sales slowed to a trickle of 1% compared with 38% the year before.
Nick Robertson said the result was a higher proportion of sales came from the UK and Europe, where margins are lower.
ASOS, which stands for As Seen on Screen, is targeting annual sales of £2.5 billion ($4 billion).
It reported total sales of £754 million ($1.2 billion) in its last set of full year results to the end of August 2013 a rise of 40% on the year before.
Its share price soared to 7111p earlier this year, more than doubling the company’s value on the year before, but has since slumped amid profit concerns.
Nick Robertson said: “Whilst our profit performance for this financial year is not what we had hoped for due to an unusual combination of factors, our accelerated investment in technology and infrastructure to support our £2.5 billion [$4 billion] sales ambition is progressing.
“We are totally focused on rolling out the Asos business model globally as the world’s leading online fashion destination for 20-somethings.”
GM has accepted the findings of a “brutally tough, deeply troubling” report into recalls of its Chevrolet Cobalt over ignition problems which have been linked to 13 deaths.
The carmaker also said it would launch a compensation fund for crash victims and their families.
CEO Mary Barra said the report, which was carried out by former US Attorney Anton Valukas, found “the Cobalt saga was riddled with failures”.
She said 15 employees have been fired.
Five other workers who acted “inappropriately” have been disciplined.
To date, GM has recalled 2.6 million cars with the defective switch.
GM has accepted the findings of a troubling report into recalls of its Chevrolet Cobalt over ignition problems
It took the carmaker more than a decade to report the ignition switch failures, in which the switch can slip out of the “run” position and effectively shut down the car, causing the driver to lose control.
Although the problem has been linked to 13 deaths so far, lawyers for victims put the total at closer to 60.
Mary Barra, in announcing the results of Anton Valukas’s report which involved over 200 employee interviews and more than 40 million documents, promised to “fix the failures in our system”.
However, in a statement, GM emphasized that the report had found no conspiracy or cover-up.
“The Valukas report confirmed that Mary Barra, [and other GM executives] Mike Millikin and Mark Reuss did not learn about the ignition switch safety issues and the delay in addressing them until after the decision to issue a recall was made on January 31, 2014,” GM chairman Tim Solso said.
Last month, GM paid a $35 million fine – the maximum allowed by US law – for its failure to report the ignition switch problems in a timely manner.
Analysts said that GM was hoping this report would be the final word on the matter.
The compensation fund will be run by Kenneth Feinberg, who also led claims processing in the wake of September 11 and the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I will be spending the next few weeks seeking advice and input from all interested parties as to the terms and conditions of such a program,” said Kenneth Feinberg in a statement.
He said the fund would start taking claims on August 1.
GM shares barely budged in the wake of the report. Earlier this week, it reported its best May sales in seven years.
Moncton remains on lockdown as Canadian authorities hunt for suspect Justin Bourque accused of shooting five police officers, killing three, on Wednesday.
Officials say Justin Bourque, 24, was spotted multiple times early on Thursday morning.
They have warned people to stay inside and lock their doors.
The two wounded Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers are undergoing surgery in hospital and their conditions remain unknown.
“We have an armed and dangerous individual and we do not know where he is,” RCMP Commanding Officer Roger Brown told reporters, asking citizens to remain “vigilant”.
Moncton remains on lockdown as Canadian authorities hunt for suspect Justin Bourque
RCMP Supt. Marlene Snowman warned that the suspect was armed with high-powered firearms.
“He’s not known to us, he’s a young person,” she said.
“We’re doing a complete investigation to learn as much as we can about him, about his history, what may have sparked this.”
New Brunswick Premier David Alward said he felt “incredible grief” stemming from the incident.
The officers were shot while responding to a report of an armed man at the north-west side of the town at about 20:00 local time on Wednesday,
Police established road blocks in an effort to seal a perimeter around the residential area and combed nearby woods, searching through the night and into the morning.
Schools in the town are closed, buses are not running, and postal service has been suspended.
Pedestrians and motorists have been asked to stay away from the area.
Justin Bourque was spotted after daylight, but Marlene Snowman warned he was “very mobile”.
“There’s no question that we’re going to continue this search in order to apprehend him,” she said.
Justin Bieber has issued a second apology after claims he used the n-word and joked about joining the Ku Klux Klan.
The 20-year-old said he needed to “take responsibility” for his mistakes and “not let them linger”.
Justin Bieber then posted Bible verses on Instagram, which apparently ask for forgiveness.
Earlier this week Justin Bieber said sorry for another video in which he made a racist joke that he called a “childish and inexcusable mistake”.
Justin Bieber’s apology comes after The Sun published a clip where he changed the words of his hit One Less Lonely Girl to include the n-word.
Justin Bieber has issued a second apology after claims he used the n-word and joked about joining the Ku Klux Klan (photo Getty Images)
Speaking to The Sun from Mexico, Justin Bieber said that facing up to the mistakes of his past was one of the hardest things he had ever had to deal with.
He said he did not want his fans to think he was condoning racism.
“I just hope that the next 14-year-old kid who doesn’t understand the power of these words does not make the same mistakes I made years ago,” he said.
“At the end of the day I just need to step up and own what I did. Once again, I am sorry for all those I have let down and offended.”
The Bible verses he posted on Instagram included 1 John 1:7, which reads: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
The most recent 24-second clip reportedly showed Justin Bieber giggling several times as he changes the words of the song One Less Lonely Girl, which he co-wrote with Usher.
He also referred to joining the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group based mainly in the US.
It’s claimed that the sound of girls laughing can be heard during the video, which is said to have been filmed shortly after Justin Bieber was signed to the Raymond Braun Media Group.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the decision to strike a deal with the Taliban for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was unanimous in the White House.
Barack Obama’s administration had to act quickly and without first consulting Congress, he added.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the decision to strike a deal with the Taliban for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was unanimous in the White House
Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was freed after five years in captivity, in exchange for five Taliban figures from Guantanamo Bay.
The White House is required to notify Congress 30 days before transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay but thought waiting was too risky.
Chuck Hagel was speaking the day after a welcoming party in Sgt Bergdahl’s home town of Hailey, Idaho, was cancelled, and amid suspicions that he deserted his post.
Organizers said the event was called off because of a large increase in the number of expected attendees.
Several commentators and soldiers have branded Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl a deserter and called for him to be punished.
D-Day veterans are returning to the Normandy “killing field” ahead of Friday’s 70th commemoration attended by world leaders in France.
More than 650 British veterans are expected at the Sword Beach ceremony on Friday, and many will sail on HMS Bulwark from Portsmouth to Normandy on Thursday.
Former troops, cadets and serving members of the armed forces will earlier parade in Portsmouth.
In France, Prince Charles is to attend a memorial service to mark the taking of the strategic Pegasus Bridge.
D-Day veterans return to Normandy killing field on 70th anniversary (photo Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh will mark the D-Day anniversary during a state visit to France which begins later in Paris.
The towns may have French names, but the five Allied landing beaches are still known as Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword.
It is 70 years since D-Day, the biggest amphibious assault in military history.
On Thursday, Prince Charles will be at Pegasus Bridge, a strategic crossing which British troops captured within minutes of landing in gliders just after midnight on June 6, 1944. A mass parachute drop will take place in Ranville, the first village to be liberated.
On the anniversary itself, the Queen will head an international service of commemoration attended by royals, presidents and prime ministers.
Hundreds of veterans are here, but their numbers are dwindling. The youngest are well into their 80s. This will be the last significant anniversary most will witness.
Their stories of heroism and sacrifice, success and disaster will soon fade from living memory.
About 160,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel in the initial D-Day assault on June 6, 1944, paving the way for the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Heads of state from 17 nations are to attend the international ceremony at Sword Beach on Friday, the easternmost of the five landing sites.
Donald Sterling has agreed to sell LA Clippers for $2 billion and drop his lawsuit against the NBA, his lawyer says.
Donald Sterling’s lawyer, Maxwell Blecher, told reporters his client had “made an agreement with the NBA to resolve all their differences”.
Former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer is set to buy LA Clippers in a record sale.
Donald Sterling was fined $2.5 million and banned for life from the league after racist comments he made became public.
Donald Sterling has agreed to sell LA Clippers for $2 billion and drop his lawsuit against the NBA
The NBA announced the ban and fine soon after an audio recording of Donald Sterling emerged in the US media in April, in which he was heard asking a woman not to associate in public with black people nor to bring them to games.
In a subsequent interview with CNN, he said he apologized for a “terrible mistake” and insisted he had been “baited” into making the remarks.
But last week he sued the NBA in federal court, alleging it had violated his constitutional rights by relying on information from an “illegal” recording.
He also sued for damages for the forceful termination of his ownership, but Maxwell Blecher said on Wednesday this lawsuit was now dismissed.
The other team owners in the league will vote on this proposed sale in mid-July, Donald Sterling’s legal team said.
If they approve the sale, it will be a record sum for a team that cost Donald Sterling about $12 million in 1981.
Last week, Steve Ballmer said in a statement he was honored to have his name put forward to the NBA for approval.
Three police officers were shot dead and two wounded in the Canadian city of Moncton.
Police said they were searching for Justin Bourque, 24, who was “armed and dangerous”, and tweeted a picture of a suspect with weapons.
Officials have warned people to stay inside and lock their doors.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the officers were shot responding to reports of an armed man wearing camouflage clothing.
That initial call was at 19:20 local time.
Moncton police said they were searching for Justin Bourque who is armed and dangerous
The two wounded Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, a police spokesman said.
Mayor George LeBlanc said: “This is a terrible loss and a tragedy for the families.”
Officers have blocked off a number of roads in Moncton and traffic is reported to be backed up on major routes across the city.
Drivers have been asked to stay away from the area.
In a statement, New Brunswick Premier David Alward said he was “shocked and saddened”.
“I would ask New Brunswickers, particularly in those areas identified by police, to follow the situation as it develops and to listen to the advice of police,” he said.
Witnesses said they heard the first shots in north-west Moncton at about 20:00 local time. More shots were reported about two hours later.
Correspondents say such violence is rare in Canada, particularly on the east coast.
Rihanna and Drake turned up at New York’s VIP Room late Sunday night but avoided making contact.
“They really did not interact at all,” a source told E! News.
Rihanna and Drake turned up at New York’s VIP Room late Sunday night but avoided making contact
“She looked at him a few times and would smile, but they didn’t speak or even come near each other. Both stayed late, until around 4 a.m., but they did not leave together. Both went their separate ways.”
Drake, who had just performed at the Hot 97 Summer Jam concert, was spotted in the DJ booth as Rihanna sat at a nearby table.
Rihanna and Drake’s on-off romance hit the skids earlier this month after a purported argument.
“He is too in love with her, which has always been the problem,” an insider explained to Us Weekly.
“They have been fighting, but that could all change any day now. It is how it always is with them.”
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to a $105 million settlement with 44 US states and the District of Columbia over allegations it mispromoted three drugs.
The drugs are asthma medication Advair and anti-depressants Paxil and Wellbutrin.
GSK has agreed to a $105 million settlement with 44 US states and the District of Columbia over allegations it mispromoted three drugs (photo Alamy)
The pharmaceutical giant did not admit any wrongdoing, and said the charges came from past issues.
As part of the settlement, GSK must extend its Patient First Program until 2019, which prohibits financial incentives to its sales people, and it is prohibited from paying doctors to speak about GSK’s products or attend conferences.
“This settlement requires GSK to pay a significant penalty and imposes strong new rules designed to prevent future misrepresentations of GSK products,” said California attorney general Kamala Harris in a statement.
GSK insists that many of these practices are already in place.
