Keeping Up With the Kardashians star Kylie Jenner took to Twitter to deny recent rumors that she had a nose job.
Kim Kardashian’s sister wrote: “These plastic surgery rumors hurt my feelings, to be honest, and are kinda insulting … Just in case anyone forgot … I’m 16.”
Two months ago, Kylie Jenner sparked plastic surgery rumors, and fans of Keeping Up With the Kardashians reality show speculated that she got a nose job after her nose appeared thinner than usual in photos that she posted on Instagram.
In addition to a nose job, reports also claimed Kylie Jenner had gotten botox injections, a cosmetic procedure her older sister Kim Kardashian has admitted to in the past.
Rapper Macklemore has apologized for the Jewish caricature costume he wore on stage in Seattle, which critics said was anti-Semitic.
Macklemore said he didn’t mean to offend anyone but realized the outfit could have looked like a “Jewish caricature”.
“I respect all cultures and all people,” the singer wrote on his website.
Macklemore has apologized for the Jewish caricature costume he wore on stage in Seattle
“I would never intentionally put down anybody for the fabric that makes them who they are. I love human beings, love originality and… happen to love a weird outfit from time to time.”
Macklemore wore the costume at a performance in Seattle on Friday.
He explained that he randomly chose the elements of the outfit so that he could disguise himself and move freely around during the secret show.
“I acknowledge how the costume could, within a context of stereotyping, be ascribed to a Jewish caricature,” he wrote.
“I am here to say that it was absolutely not my intention and unfortunately at the time I did not foresee the costume to be viewed in such regard.”
Pictures from the concert show Macklemore wearing a black wig, beard and a fake hooked nose.
Macklemore added: “I’m saddened that this story, or any of my choices, would lead to any form of negativity.”
His website also now includes a link to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which was formed to fight anti-Semitism.
Along with Ryan Lewis, Macklemore is a Grammy award-winner and has been an advocate for the gay community, as well as tolerance and diversity, especially through the song One Love.
The CIA will no longer use vaccination programs as cover for spying operations, a White House official announced.
The agency used the ruse in targeting Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama’s leading counter-terrorism adviser, wrote to the deans of 13 prominent public health schools last week saying that the CIA had agreed it would no longer use vaccination programs or workers for intelligence purposes.
The CIA also agreed not to use genetic materials obtained through such programs.
Dr. Shakil Afridi offered a program of hepatitis vaccinations in Abbottabad as cover for his CIA-backed effort to obtain DNA samples from children at a compound where Osama bin Laden was later killed during a 2011 raid by US navy Seals.
The doctor was convicted and sentenced by a Pakistani court to 33 years in prison for treason. The sentence was later overturned and Shakil Afridi faces a retrial.
The CIA will no longer use vaccination programs as cover for spying operations
The health school deans were among a group of medical authorities who publicly criticized the CIA’s use of the vaccination program after it was disclosed by media accounts and Pakistan’s arrest of Shakil Afridi as a CIA operative.
In her letter dated May 16, Lisa Monaco said the US “strongly supports the global polio eradication initiative and efforts to end the spread of the polio virus forever”.
Lisa Monaco said the CIA director, John Brennan, committed in August 2013 to “make no operational use of vaccination programs, which includes vaccination workers”. She said the CIA policy “applied worldwide and to US and non-US persons alike,” and that no DNA or genetic material would be used from such programs.
The CIA spokesman Dean Boyd said Brennan “took seriously the concerns raised by the public health community, examined them closely and took decisive action”.
Lisa Monaco’s letter and the CIA statement did not acknowledge any error in the decision to use the Pakistan vaccine program as a spying cover. The letter was first disclosed in a report by Yahoo News.
The public health deans warned last year that the CIA’s use of a vaccination program had played a role in the shootings of several health workers in Pakistan and could hamper anti-polio efforts. “Public health programs should not be used as cover for covert operations,” they said.
Last week, Pakistan’s health ministry announced it would require all travelers leaving the country to first get a polio vaccination. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that polio’s spread is an international public health emergency, and identified Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon as nations that have allowed polio to spread beyond their borders.
Pakistan was the only country with reported endemic polio that saw a rise in new cases in 2012, the WHO reported. The country accounted for more than a fifth of all polio cases identified around the world in 2013.
The CIA’s use of a polio vaccine program to spy on Osama bin Laden’s compound undercut Barack Obama’s high-profile speech to the Muslim world in 2009 in which he touted US efforts to slow the growth of polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. With Obama administration assurances, Muslim scholars in two international groups issued religious decrees urging parents to vaccinate their children.
Divorce parties gain popularity in Iran’s major cities as more marriages meet a premature end.
According to the conservative Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper, the parties sometimes require extravagant preparations, complete with black roses and huge cakes.
“You go to a florist to order a bouquet of black roses. Next you come to us to order invitation cards,” one card shop owner tells the publication.
Divorce parties gain popularity in Iran’s major cities as more marriages meet a premature end
“I don’t miss you at all,” says one invitation, quoting the lyrics of a Persian pop hit.
“I swear I will not fall in love again as long as I live. Even if I do, it’s ok, as long as it’s not with you,” the lyrics continue inside the card.
The demand for divorce cards has been going up over the past two years, another shop owner told the Shahr-e Khabar news website.
Officials in the capital Tehran have recently expressed concern about the trend of celebrating divorce, the pro-government Iran newspaper says, and Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi, one of the country’s top conservative clerics, has spoken out over the issue.
Last year, Iran saw a 4.6% rise in divorce cases, and a 4.4% decline in marriage rates. Nearly 20% of Iranian marriages now end in divorce.
Justin Timberlake accepted seven Billboard Music Awards by video while he is on tour, leaving it to a Michael Jackson hologram to steal the show at the ceremony in Las Vegas.
It mimicked Michael Jackson’s famous dance moves while performing Slave to the Rhythm, a song from the late star’s new posthumous album Xscape.
Justin Timberlake’s haul of awards included top artist and Billboard 200 album.
Imagine Dragons won five and Pharrell, Robin Thicke and TI each won four.
Katy Perry was awarded top female artist, while Jennifer Lopez was handed the Icon Award, giving an emotional speech and performing at both the opening and finale of the show.
Justin Timberlake accepted seven Billboard Music Awards by video while he is on tour (photo Billboard)
Many artists performed remotely as they were on tour including Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus, who sang her cover of The Beatles track Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.
Accepting the award for top streaming artist Miley Cyrus thanked her “amazing fans” before sticking her tongue out.
Justin Timberlake appeared on screen dancing with his band to accept the evening’s big prize of top artist.
“All the other finalists, Miley, Imagine Dragons, Bruno, Katy, I love you guys, it’s not a competition, but if it is, I won!” he said.
The biggest moment of the show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena came when the Michael Jackson hologram took over the stage, accompanied by dancers, beaming lights and blasts of fire – the result of several months planning.
Fans voted to give the Milestone Award to Carrie Underwood, who teamed up with fellow country star Miranda Lambert for a performance.
Imagine Dragons were happy to accept their five awards – which included top group and rock artist, in their home town of Las Vegas.
Lorde performed her new hit Tennis Court and was a double winner – taking the prizes for best new artist and rock song for Royals.
Robin Thicke performed a new song Get Her Back and paid tribute to estranged wife Paula Patton as he collected top R&B song for Blurred Lines.
Kendall Jenner fared less well on stage, fumbling her words while introducing Australian boyband 5 Seconds of Summer.
“And now we welcome … One …” Kendall Jenner said, appearing to be about to say One Direction, before explaining: “Guys, I’m the worst reader.”
Ennio Morricone has canceled concerts in New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City due to a back injury suffered earlier this year.
The Italian film composer is renowned for his work on spaghetti westerns such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West.
The show at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on June 15 was set to be his first performance in the city.
In a statement Ennio Morricone apologized to fans, saying he was “extremely disappointed”.
Ennio Morricone has canceled concerts in New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City due to a back injury suffered earlier this year
“I was very much looking forward to my first Los Angeles performance and only my second New York City performance,” said Ennio Morricone, who was also scheduled to perform at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on June 13 and in Mexico City on June 18.
“Hollywood has been instrumental in bringing my work to American audiences, and my 2007 performance in New York was one of the high points of my career to date,” he continued.
“I apologize to my fans for having to cancel these shows, and hope that I am able to make it back soon.”
Ennio Morricone was expected to conduct his own 100-piece orchestra during the performances and would have been accompanied by a 75-voice choir in LA.
The singers were informed on Sunday that the show had been cancelled, according to Variety magazine, due to Ennio Morricone’s “serious health issues”.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Ennio Morricone’s lawyer has revealed that the injury prevents him from conducting or flying.
Ennio Morricone previously postponed a series of April dates in Europe with “great disappointment”, following medical advice after a recent “back procedure”.
They were rescheduled for June, July and October, with the first due to take place in Cologne on June 22. It is not yet known if these dates will go ahead.
According to the LA Times, Ennio Morricone had said he would continue to compose while he recovers.
Four people died after a freight train hit a passenger train near Moscow, Russian officials say.
Several carriages were derailed in the crash, said to have occurred at 12:38 local time near Bekasovo 1 station, 37 miles from Moscow.
Injured people were reportedly carried from the train as emergency services rushed to the scene.
Four people died after a freight train hit a passenger train near Moscow (photo AFP)
The passenger train was on its way from Moscow to Chisinau in Moldova.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said at least four people were killed and 15 were injured.
According to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS, several carriages on the freight train came off the rails near the town of near Naro-Fominsk and hit the passenger train.
Several carriages on the passenger train are said to have then derailed, and some of them overturned.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Traffic on the line – which also serves Kiev in Ukraine – was suspended as a result.
Beijing has denounced the US charges against five Chinese army officers accused of economic cyber-espionage.
China says the US is also guilty of spying on other countries, including China, and accuses the US of hypocrisy and “double standards”.
US ambassador in Beijing has been summoned over the incident. China says relations will be damaged.
US prosecutors say the Chinese officers stole trade secrets and internal documents from five companies and a labor union.
China’s defense ministry put out a strongly-worded statement on its website on Tuesday saying that China’s government and its military “had never engaged in any cyber espionage activities”.
It also took aim at the US, saying: “For a long time, the US has possessed the technology and essential infrastructure needed to conduct large-scale systematic cyber thefts and surveillance on foreign government leaders, businesses and individuals. This is a fact which the whole world knows.
“The US’ deceitful nature and its practice of double standards when it comes to cyber security have long been exposed, from the WikiLeaks incident to the Edward Snowden affair.”
Beijing has denounced the US charges against five Chinese army officers accused of economic cyber-espionage (photo FBI)
The defense ministry added that China’s military had been the target of many online attacks, and “a fair number” of those had been launched from American IP addresses.
It said the arrest of the five Chinese army officers had “severely damaged mutual trust”.
According to a Xinhua report on Tuesday, between March and May this year, a total of 1.18 million computers in China were directly controlled by 2,077 machines in the US via Trojan horse or zombie malware.
Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang lodged a “solemn representation” with US ambassador Max Baucus on Monday night, Xinhua reported.
On Monday US Attorney General Eric Holder said a grand jury had laid hacking charges against the Chinese nationals, the first against “known state actors for infiltrating US commercial targets by cyber means”.
Eric Holder identified the alleged victims as Westinghouse Electric, US Steel, Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technologies, SolarWorld and the US Steelworkers Union.
“The alleged hacking appears to have been conducted for no reason other than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China, at the expense of businesses here in the United States,” he said.
In the indictment brought in the western district of Pennsylvania – the heart of the US steel industry – the US named Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui, all officers in Unit 61398 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as the alleged conspirators.
FBI officials said the hacking – between 2006 and 2014 – caused “significant losses” at the companies and that there were likely to be many more victims.
Last year, cyber-defense company Mandiant published a report on a Chinese military unit the firm said was behind the vast majority of significant attacks on American federal agencies and companies.
In March, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Pentagon planned to more than triple its cyber-security capabilities in the next few years to defend against such internet attacks.
Paul McCartney has canceled the rest of his tour of Japan due to illness, organizers have said.
Paul McCartney, 71, is believed to have contracted a virus.
The former Beatle is still scheduled to perform a concert in Seoul, South Korea, on May 28 followed by 19 performances in the US.
A message on his website said that doctors have ordered him to have a “complete rest” and that he “hates to let people down”.
The announcement means that Paul McCartney will not play the remaining two gigs of his Out There Japan Tour 2014.
Paul McCartney has canceled the rest of his tour of Japan due to illness
Fans will now not get to see Paul McCartney perform at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo, which is where the Beatles performed during their first Japanese tour in 1966.
Organizer Kyodo Tokyo said in a statement that Paul McCartney “will regrettably have to cancel the remaining Japanese shows. Paul is still not feeling better and this cancellation is unavoidable”.
A quote from the singer on his website said: “Thank you so much for your kind messages of support.
“I’m so very touched. Unfortunately my condition has not improved overnight. I was really hoping that I’d be feeling better today. I’m so disappointed and sorry to be letting my fans down.”
Paul McCartney had already cancelled Saturday’s appearance and later his Sunday show, both due to have taken place at Tokyo’s National Stadium, saying that the decision was in his doctor’s hands.
He also told fans: “Thank you for such a beautiful and warm welcome to your country.”
The shows were the latest leg of the Out There tour, which started back in May 2013, and followed a series of Japan dates last November.
Paul McCartney and his band recently completed a tour of Latin America which included shows in Peru and Uruguay.
The forthcoming South Korea date will be the first time Paul McCartney has played in the country.
It will be followed by a series of US concerts in places including New Orleans, Atlanta, Nashville, Fargo and Kansas City between June and August.
They were announced by Paul McCartney’s team earlier this year on the social media site Instagram
Oscar Pistorius has been ordered to start daily tests on Monday to assess his mental state when he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Judge Thokozile Masipa at Oscar Pistorius’ trial told him to attend Weskoppies psychiatric hospital in Pretoria as an outpatient for a month.
It comes after a defense witness said the double amputee was suffering from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Oscar Pistorius, 27, denies intentionally killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Oscar Pistorius has been ordered to start daily tests to assess his mental state
He says he accidentally shot his girlfriend through the toilet door on Valentine’s Day last year in a state of panic, mistaking the 29-year-old model and law graduate for an intruder.
The prosecution had argued the tests were essential after forensic psychiatrist Merryll Vorster told the court in Pretoria the double amputee was “a danger to society”.
But the defense vigorously opposed the move.
Judge Thokozile Masipa said on Wednesday that four appointed psychiatrists would “inquire into whether the accused by reason of mental illness or mental defect was at the time of the commission of the offence criminally responsible for the offence as charged”.
She said the team would decide whether he was “capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act”.
Court proceedings were adjourned until June 30.
Legal experts say that the case may well hinge on the judge’s understanding of the athlete’s state of mind when he pulled the trigger.
They say the prosecution is keen to show that the defense keeps changing its reasons why Oscar Pistorius fired his gun – from putative self-defense, to accidental shooting, and now to something linked to his anxiety disorder.
Last week Judge Thokozile Masipa said that the criminal code stipulates that if an accused person is alleged not to be criminally responsible or is alleged to be mentally ill, he should be evaluated.
Credit Suisse has pleaded guilty to helping some American clients avoid paying taxes to the US government and agreed to pay a $2.6 billion fine.
It is the biggest bank to plead guilty to criminal charges in the US in more than 20 years.
Attorney general Eric Holder said Credit Suisse helped American “tax cheats dodge US taxes”.
The Swiss banking giant said in a statement it deeply regretted the past misconduct.
Credit Suisse has pleaded guilty to helping some American clients avoid paying taxes to the US government and agreed to pay a $2.6 billion fine
Credit Suisse said the settlement would reduce its second-quarter net profit by 1.6 billion Swiss Francs ($1.8 billion).
However, as part of the agreement with US regulators, the bank will not lose its banking license in the US.
Credit Suisse’s chief executive, Brady Dougan, said: “Having this matter fully resolved is an important step forward for us. We have seen no material impact on our business resulting from the heightened public attention on this issue in the past several weeks.”
Eric Holder told a press conference: “The bank went to elaborate lengths to shield itself, its employees, and the tax cheats it served, from accountability for their criminal actions.”
“They subverted disclosure requirements, destroyed bank records, and concealed transactions involving undeclared accounts by limiting withdrawal amounts and using offshore credit and debit cards to repatriate funds.”
He added that the tax evasion schemes went back decades, saying that in one case, the practice of using sham entities began more than 100 years ago.
However, according to US media reports, neither Credit Suisse chairman Urs Rohner, nor chief executive Brady Dougan are expected to lose their jobs as a result of the agreement.
US authorities have already indicted eight Credit Suisse employees who helped clients evade taxes.
Credit Suisse is not alone. US prosecutors are chasing more than a dozen other Swiss banks for allegedly helping wealthy Americans dodge US taxes, and at the press conference, they hinted that there would be more settlements to come.
Thailand’s army has imposed martial law amid a political crisis “to preserve law and order”.
The surprise announcement also granted the army wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision.
The military insisted that its assumption of responsibility for national security was not a coup.
Martial law comes amid a long-running political crisis, and months of escalating tensions between the government and the opposition.
Correspondents say the move could enrage supporters of the government, especially if it is seen as amounting to a coup. The army has staged at least 11 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.
Roads in the capital, Bangkok, have been blocked off by tanks.
Thailand’s army has imposed martial law amid a political crisis to preserve law and order
The military has taken over TV and radio stations, and ordered media censorship in the interests of “national security”.
Soldiers have also moved into the main government building, which has been unoccupied following months of violent demonstrations by opponents who want to be rid of an administration they say is corrupt.
Both pro and anti-government protesters have been told not to march anywhere in order to prevent clashes.
An announcement on military-run TV said martial law had been imposed “to restore peace and order for people from all sides”.
“The public do not need to panic but can still live their lives as normal,” it said.
The military statement was signed by army chief Prayuth Chan-Ocha, citing a 1914 law that allows it to intervene during times of crisis.
The chief security advisor to the interim prime minister said the government had not been consulted about the army’s decision, but says it remains in office.
“Everything is normal except the military is responsible for all national security issues,” said Paradorn Pattanatabut.
An army spokesman also insisted the imposition of martial law would have no impact on the caretaker government.
Observers say the deadlock in south-east Asia’s second-largest economy has got worse since Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved the lower house of parliament in December, and a court ordered her removal earlier this month for abuse of power.
On Monday, acting PM Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan insisted his government would not resign, resisting pressure from anti-government protesters.
Rupesh Paul has revealed he is making a movie about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Speaking at this year’s Cannes film festival, the Indian film director told the Hollywood Reporter the drama – titled TheVanishing Act – “will not affect any passengers’ families”.
The search is continuing for the Boeing 777 plane, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.
Rupesh Paul’s movie about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, The Vanishing Act, has been promoted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (photo YouTube)
The film is expected to be ready for an autumn release date. Rupesh Paul insisted he was not exploiting the ongoing search.
“The controversy will help indirectly, but we are not cashing in on the flight,” he said.
Rupesh Paul added there had been a lot of interest in the film, particularly from Asian markets.
The director is in Cannes to promote several of his films.
Rupesh Paul wrote the screenplay in 20 days based on a Malaysian journalist’s theory about what happened.
The journalist is one of the film’s investors and wants to remain anonymous for now.
Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob has played down a backlash in Iran after he kissed Iranian actress Leila Hatami on the cheek.
Leila Hatami is one of five women members on the Palme d’Or prize jury, which includes actress Carole Bouquet and directors Sofia Coppola and jury president Jane Campion.
Gilles Jacob said it was “a usual custom in the West” after Iranian media claimed it was an affront to the “chastity” of women in Iran.
“I kissed Mrs. Hatami on the cheek,” Gilles Jacob tweeted.
Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob has played down a backlash in Iran after he kissed Iranian actress Leila Hatami on the cheek (photo Canal+)
“At that moment, for me she represented all Iranian cinema, then she became herself again.”
“The controversy over a usual custom in the West has therefore no reason to be,” he added.
However, Iranian deputy minister of culture, Hoseyn Nushabadi, said that Leila Hatami’s appearance in Cannes was “in violation of religious beliefs”.
Born into a family with a film background, Leila Hatami gained worldwide recognition for her role in Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, which won the 2012 Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Leila Hatami still lives in Iran with her husband, actor Ali Mosaffa.
The conservative Young Journalists’ Club, operated by Iran’s state broadcaster, wrote that “extending her [Leila Hatami’s] hand to Jacob was unconventional and improper behavior”.
Leila Hatami was wearing a scarf around her head but her neck was uncovered. Both her dress and the kiss are unacceptable in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Tulisa Contostavlos hit celebrity blogger Savvas Morgan in the eye during last year’s V Festival, a court has heard.
Savvas Morgan (Vas J Morgan) said his eye swelled after the alleged altercation on August 18, 2013.
Former X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos, 25, denied assault by beating at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court in Essex.
Tulisa Contostavlos hit celebrity blogger Savvas Morgan in the eye during last year’s V Festival
The former N-Dubz singer’s assistant Gareth Varey, 28, is also accused of threatening behavior, which he denied.
The court heard they were in a VIP area of the festival at its Chelmsford site when the alleged assault took place.
Prosecutor Matthew McNiff said Tulisa Contostavlos accused Savvas Morgan of stalking her and swore at him.
He added: “She saw the opportunity to hit him and hit him in the eye.”
The court also heard from Savvas Morgan, who said Tulisa Contostavlos, of Friern Barnet, north London, raised her fist in the air and was swinging her arms.
He said: “Everyone was jumping around trying to get at me, there was a lot going on.”
Tulisa Contostavlos’s arms were closest to him, the court was told.
The blogger was escorted away by security following the alleged attack.
Savvas Morgan said he was told by a guard: “There’s one of you and 15 of them and we don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Godfather cinematographer Gordon Willis has died at the age of 82.
Gordon Willis received an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 2010 and was nominated for his work on Woody Allen’s Zelig and The Godfather: Part III.
Gordon Willis received an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 2010 and was nominated for his work on Woody Allen’s Zelig and The Godfather: Part III
He was known in the industry as “the prince of darkness”, due to his unique lighting technique which created lots of shadows.
Gordon Willis was renowned for his striking imagery in films such as Woody Allen’s Manhattan – he made eight films with Allen – and All the President’s Men.
He was also the cinematographer on Alan J. Pakula’s Klute, for which Jane Fonda won her first Oscar.
Gordon Willis worked on several other Alan J. Pakula thrillers including The Devil’s Own, his final film in 1997, which was also Pakula’s last directorial outing.
Deutsche Bank is planning to raise 8 billion euros ($11 billion) of capital.
The German bank has sold a stake worth 1.75 billion euros to an investment company controlled by a member of the Qatari royal family.
It will raise a further 6.3 billion euros through a rights offer to existing shareholders, the bank said.
Deutsche Bank is planning to raise $11 billion of capital
Authorities across Europe are demanding lenders hold more capital to absorb potential losses and make banks less likely to fail.
Deutsche Bank has been to shareholders twice before in recent years, raising 10.2 billion euros in 2010 and 3 billion euros in 2013.
Those increases in capital were not seen by investors as enough amid stiffer demands from regulators.
The 1.75 billion euro-stake was sold to Paramount Holdings Services, an investment vehicle owned by Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabor Al-Thani of Qatar.
“These measures enable Deutsche Bank to position itself for long-term, sustainable success in a time of historic change in the global banking industry,” Deutsche Bank’s chief executives, Juergen Fitschen and Anshu Jain, said.
Last month, Anshu Jain said the bank “would not rule out any option” to strengthen its capital base.
Deutsche Bank said it would hire bankers in the US, invest 200 million euros in Germany and Europe, hire up to 100 advisers to help its biggest corporate clients and expand its wealth management team in some markets by 15% in the next three years.
Five Chinese army officers have been charged in US with hacking into private-sector American companies in a bid for competitive advantage, in the first cyber-espionage case of its kind.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the alleged breaches were “significant” and demanded “an aggressive response”.
US prosecutors say the Chinese officers stole trade secrets and internal documents from five companies and a labor union.
China denied the charges and warned the case would harm US-China relations.
Eric Holder said a grand jury had laid hacking charges against the Chinese nationals, the first against “known state actors for infiltrating US commercial targets by cyber means”.
He identified the alleged victims as Westinghouse Electric, US Steel, Alcoa Inc, Allegheny Technologies, SolarWorld and the US Steelworkers Union.
“The alleged hacking appears to have been conducted for no reason other than to advantage state-owned companies and other interests in China, at the expense of businesses here in the United States,” Eric Holder said.
In response, the Chinese government said its “stance on the issue of internet security is consistent and clear”.
Eric Holder said the US government categorically denounces economic espionage as a trade tactic
Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the allegations were “made up” and would “damage Sino-American cooperation and mutual trust”.
“China is a staunch defender of network security, and the Chinese government, military and associated personnel have never engaged in online theft of trade secrets,” he said.
In an indictment in the western district of Pennsylvania, the heart of the US steel industry, the US named Wang Dong, Sun Kailiang, Wen Xinyu, Huang Zhenyu, and Gu Chunhui, all officers in Unit 61398 of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as the alleged conspirators.
FBI officials said the hacking in the years 2006-14 caused “significant losses” at the companies and that there were likely many more victims.
Eric Holder said the US government “categorically denounces” economic espionage as a trade tactic.
“As President Obama has said on numerous occasions, we do not collect intelligence to provide a competitive advantage to US companies, or US commercial sectors,” he said.
The move is seen as largely symbolic, as five men accused are unlikely to be extradited to the US to faces the charges in court.
John Carlin, head of the justice department’s national security division, said: “For the first time, we are exposing the faces and names behind the keyboards in Shanghai used to steal from American businesses.”
“While the men and women of our American businesses spent their business days innovating, creating, and developing strategies to compete in the global marketplace, these members of unit 61398 spent their business days in Shanghai stealing the fruits of our labor,” he said.
Last year, cyber-defense company Mandiant published a report on a Chinese military unit the firm said was behind the vast majority of significant attacks on American federal agencies and companies.
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is to sue director Abel Ferrara for defamation over Welcome to New York movie.
“My client finds the film’s accusations of rape intolerable,” DSK’s lawyer said.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was disgusted and frightened by Welcome to New York, which stars Gerard Depardieu in the lead role
Welcome to New York, screened at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, is about a French banker who assaults a maid at a New York hotel.
DSK, 65, quit as head of the IMF in 2011 after facing similar allegations.
He was arrested in New York three years ago when a hotel maid at New York’s Sofitel accused him of trying to rape her.
The charges were eventually dropped, and DSK subsequently reached a settlement with the maid, Nafissatou Diallo.
DSK’s laywer, Jean Veil, said the former IMF boss would take legal action for “defamation over the accusations of rape and the insinuations made throughout the movie”.
He added that Dominique Strauss-Kahn was “disgusted and frightened” by the film, which stars Gerard Depardieu in the lead role.
According to a new assessment from ESA’s CryoSat spacecraft, Antarctica is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean – twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed.
The CryoSat spacecraft has a radar instrument specifically designed to measure the shape of the ice sheet.
The melt loss from the White Continent is sufficient to push up global sea levels by around 0.43 mm per year.
Antarctica is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean
Scientists report the data in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The new study incorporates three years of measurements from 2010 to 2013, and updates a synthesis of observations made by other satellites over the period 2005 to 2010.
CryoSat has been using its altimeter to trace changes in the height of the ice sheet – as it gains mass through snowfall, and loses mass through melting.
The study authors divide the continent into three sectors – the West Antarctic, the East Antarctic, and the Antarctic Peninsula, which is the long finger of land reaching up to South America.
Overall, CryoSat finds all three regions to be losing ice, with the average elevation of the full ice sheet falling annually by almost 2cm.
In the three sectors, this equates to losses of 134 billion tonnes, 3 billion tonnes, and 23 billion tonnes of ice per year, respectively.
The East had been gaining ice in the previous study period, boosted by some exceptional snowfall, but it is now seen as broadly static in the new survey.
As expected, it is the western ice sheet that dominates the reductions.
Scientists have long considered it to be the most vulnerable to melting.
It has an area, called the Amundsen Sea Embayment, where six huge glaciers are currently undergoing a rapid retreat – all of them being eroded by the influx of warm ocean waters that scientists say are being drawn towards the continent by stronger winds whipped up by a changing climate.
About 90% of the mass loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is going from just these few ice streams.
At one of them – Smith Glacier – CrysoSat sees the surface lowering by 9 m per year.
Serbia and Bosnia call for international help to rescue people from flooded areas after the worst flooding since modern records began.
Waters are now beginning to recede, but officials say dangers remain.
They say that the threat of landslides is an ever-present problem as are the difficulties caused by unexploded landmines in Bosnia and river surges.
Serbia’s main power plant is still at risk of flooding. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes.
Bosnian Refugee Minister Adil Osmanovic described the flooding as “catastrophic”.
Officials say that three months’ worth of rain has fallen on the Balkans in recent days, producing the worst floods since rainfall measurements began 120 years ago.
At least 35 people have died – with more casualties expected.
Serbia and Bosnia call for international help to rescue people from flooded areas after the worst flooding since modern records began
A large international aid operation is underway, with rescue helicopters from the European Union, US and Russia evacuating people from affected areas.
Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia now needed further help, particularly deliveries of food, clothing and bottled water.
The rain caused more than 2,000 landslides in hilly Bosnia, officials say, enveloping roads, homes and whole villages.
Rescuers are urging people to go to the balconies or rooftops of their houses with bright fabric to make themselves visible.
The north-eastern part of Bosnia is reported to be especially badly affected, with houses, roads and rail lines submerged.
Officials say that about a million people – more than a quarter of the country’s population – live in the worst-affected areas.
The floods and landslides have raised fears about the estimated one million land mines planted during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.
Nearly 120,000 of the unexploded devices remain in more than 9,400 carefully marked minefields, officials say.
But the weather dislodged warning signs and in many cases loosened the mines themselves.
The flooding and landslide threat in Serbia is equally serious, made worse by the constant threat of surging river levels.
Residents spent the weekend piling up sandbags in riverside towns – including Belgrade.
Serbia’s state-run EPS power company said crews were doing all they could to prevent further damage to the Tesla power plant.
Parts of the plant and a nearby mine that provides its fuel were underwater. Damage to the mine alone is estimated at more than $137 million.
Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has joined calls for help.
“Support and solidarity for my people in Serbia!” he wrote on Twitter.
Large parts of eastern Croatia are also underwater, with villages still cut off and hundreds forced to escape the flooded zone in boats and trucks.
