An anti-austerity protest attended by tens of thousands of people turned violent in Spain’s capital Madrid.
Dozens of youths threw projectiles at police, who responded by charging at them.
Demonstrators were protesting over issues including unemployment, poverty and official corruption.
Protesters want the government not to pay its international debts and do more to improve health and education.
Spanish demonstrators were protesting over issues including unemployment, poverty and official corruption
They travelled from all corners of Spain, many of them making the journey on foot, in order to voice their anger.
For many of them, the cutbacks that Mariano Rajoy’s government has implemented, in particular to health and education, are causing Spain irreparable damage.
Although most of the demonstration took place peacefully, violence broke out later on Friday with a number of arrests and several policeman injured.
Analysts say that Spain came out of recession in the second half of 2013.
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek defends his government’s decision to ban Twitter, accusing the website of failing to comply with court orders.
Turkish government banned Twitter on Friday, after users shared information about allegations of corruption against high-level officials.
Analysts say Twitter users have found many ways of circumventing the ban, which was widely criticized.
Twitter has so far made no public comment on the ban, but the company on Friday posted a message in both English and Turkish telling users how to send tweets via text messages.
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek defends his government’s decision to ban Twitter, accusing the website of failing to comply with court orders
There are estimated to be about 10 million Twitter users in Turkey.
Mehmet Simsek, who accepted that banning social-media sites “doesn’t reflect well” on his government, insisted that the ban was not a crackdown on free speech.
“The Turkish telecommunications watchdog has made a number of statements saying that they have asked Twitter on a number of occasions to remove some content on the back of court orders and Twitter has been refusing to comply,” he said.
“I don’t think any global company, whether it’s a media company, whether it’s an industrial company, it shouldn’t see itself [as being] above the law.”
The minister said it now looked as if Twitter was working with the Turkish authorities to get the ban lifted.
A senior Turkish government official told Reuters that talks with Twitter on ending the ban “were going positively”.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan was said to have been angry that people have used Twitter to spread allegations of corruption about members of his inner circle.
Guinea government officials say the Ebola virus has been identified as the cause of an outbreak of hemorraghic fever now believed to have killed nearly 60 people in the country.
Dozens of cases have been recorded since the outbreak began early last month.
There is no known cure or vaccine for the highly contagious Ebola virus.
Ebola is spread by close personal contact with people who are infected and kills between 25% and 90% of victims.
Ebola virus has been identified as the cause of a deadly outbreak of hemorraghic fever in Guinea
The World Health Organization (WHO) says outbreaks of Ebola occur primarly in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests,.
“We got the first results from Lyon yesterday [Friday] which informed us of the presence of the Ebola virus as the cause of this outbreak,” Sakoba Keita, chief disease prevention officer at the Guinean health ministry, told AFP.
“The Ebola fever epidemic raging in southern Guinea since February 9 has left at least 59 dead out of 80 cases identified by our services on the ground,” he said.
“We are overwhelmed in the field, we are fighting against this epidemic with all the means we have at our disposal with the help of our partners but it is difficult.”
Medical aid charity Medecins sans Frontieres said on Saturday it would strengthen its team in Guinea and fly some 33 tonnes of drugs and isolation equipment in from Belgium and France.
Russian troops backed by armoured vehicles stormed a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea.
Reports say at least one person was injured during the assault on Belbek base, near Sevastopol. The base is now said to be under Russian control.
Earlier, several hundred unarmed protesters seized a Ukrainian naval base at Novofedorivka, western Crimea.
Pro-Russian militia have also been seizing Ukrainian navy ships.
Ukrainian troops in Crimea feel beleaguered and abandoned by their commanders in Ukraine.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalising Russia’s takeover of Crimea from Ukraine, despite fresh sanctions from the EU and the US.
In Belbek, two armoured personnel carriers burst through the wall of the base followed by Russian troops firing weapons in the air.
At least one person was injured during the assault on Belbek base, near Sevastopol
An ambulance was then seen entering the base amid reports that at least one person had been injured.
The Ukrainian soldiers were later gathered at the base main square in front of the heavily armed Russian troops.
The storming followed an ultimatum by the Russians to surrender.
The Belbek base commander earlier told the few dozen troops still there to shoot in the air if they were attacked.
Ukraine’s military chiefs deny this, saying each unit in Crimea has been issued with clear orders on what to do if attacked.
In Novofedorivka, attackers threw smoke bombs at the base.
Pro-Russian militia – backed by Russian forces – have already seized a number of Ukrainian bases in the southern peninsula.
Russian troops have taken over control of Crimea following last month’s overthrow of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after mass street protests.
The Kremlin says it acted to protect its “compatriots” in Crimea from “fascists” moving in from the mainland Ukraine.
Kiev denies the claim, accusing Moscow of “blatant lies” to justify the land grab.
The funeral of L’Wren Scott, following her tragic suicide on March 17, will be held in Los Angeles, opposing the wishes of some of the fashion designer’s family.
With many of L’Wren Scott’s family still based in Utah, it has been unclear until now where her funeral would be held, especially with longtime partner Mick Jagger residing in LA and much of her business and life based in New York. However, it has now been reported that the funeral will be held in LA, according to a report from Page Six. Unfortunately, this decision is mainly in part due to a bitter, unresolved feud that persists in the Scott family.
According to new reports, L’Wren Scott’s funeral will be held in LA at the wishes of her brother and Sir Mick Jagger.
L’Wren Scott’s funeral will be held in LA at the wishes of her brother and Sir Mick Jagger (photo Reuters)
Mick Jagger’s representative said in a statement Thursday that Jagger is in Los Angeles to be with his daughters Karis, Elizabeth, Georgia May and Jade, and his son, James.
L’Wren Scott died Monday at age 49. The New York City medical examiner’s office has ruled her death was a suicide. The statement asked for privacy for Mick Jagger and his family “during this very difficult time”.
Mick Jagger, 70, called L’Wren Scott his “lover and best friend” in a Facebook tribute and said he was struggling to come to grips with her death.
L’Wren Scott had been dating Mick Jagger since 2001.
Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $885 million to settle claims it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities in the US before the financial crisis.
The Swiss bank was accused of misleading US government-backed mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, over the quality of the products.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which received government bailouts in 2008, will be paid $234 million and $651 million respectively.
More than $10.1 billion has been recovered from banks in similar actions.
Credit Suisse has agreed to pay $885 million to settle claims it mis-sold mortgage-backed securities in the US before the financial crisis (photo Reuters)
The Credit Suisse settlement is the ninth that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has reached over some $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities – an investment product at the centre of the global financial crisis.
Since 2011 the FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has filed 18 lawsuits against banks over the products.
Credit Suisse said the settlement resolved its biggest remaining mortgage-related lawsuit.
The settlement covered $16.6 billion of securities sold to the two mortgage companies between 2005 and 2007.
Credit Suisse said it would reduce previously reported 2013 annual earnings by 275 million Swiss francs ($311 million) as a result of the settlement.
Duck Dynasty’s Jase Robertson’s opened up about his daughter Mia’s cleft surgery.
Jase Robertson revealed to Closer magazine that his 11-year-old daughter Mia’s bone graft surgery, done to repair a facial cleft, had him shaking in his boots.
Jase Robertson revealed that his daughter Mia’s bone graft surgery had him shaking in his boots (photo A&E)
“The hardest part was handing her off to the surgeons, knowing she was about to go through a lot of pain and suffering, even though I knew it was for the best,” he said.
Jase Robertson said that Mia has proven herself to be an exceptionally altruistic little girl, and is always thinking of others.
“She is always thoughtful of others who are going through difficult times.
“She actually prays each night for someone who is going through a tough situation.”
Duck Dynasty’s little Mia Robertson has just completed her fifth cleft surgery.
In a new interview with Closer magazine, 11-year-old Mia Robertson opened up about her cleft surgery and revealed that all she wants to do is go to Chick-Fil-A, a fast food restaurant that specializes in chicken.
“We’re driving straight [to Chick-Fil-A] from the doctor’s office,” Jase and Missy Robertson’s daughter told the magazine.
When asked what the scariest part of her surgery was, Mia Robertson said: “Knowing I couldn’t eat chicken strips for 3 months!”
Mia Robertson has just completed her fifth cleft surgery
Mia Robertson was then asked about how she coped with the surgery itself. Surprisingly, she was not scared at all.
“I honestly was never scared about having surgery. It wasn’t the first time, you know?” she admitted.
“Besides, I had my mom and dad with me, and I knew God would be with me the whole time.”
Mia Robertson has been forced to replace chicken and her mother has been preparing her a wide variety of soups.
“She cooked a lot of different soups that I could pick from,” says Mia Robertson.
“My favorite was her homemade spaghetti sauce soup! I take it to school every day for lunch.”
Duck Dynasty Season 5 finale will air next week Wednesday and will feature Mia Robertson’s cleft surgery.
Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) unveiled the biggest sports video board in the world on Wednesday night when the 12-story Big Hoss TV made its debut.
“There’s nothing like attending a live sporting event,” TMS president Eddie Gossage said.
“With this, you don’t miss a thing. To me, it’s the ultimate fan amenity. To have the biggest one in the world, that’s just another one of those ‘everything’s bigger in Texas’ stories that we’re really proud to be a part of.”
The 20,633-square foot screen constructed by Panasonic is 79% larger than the monitor that hangs over the playing surface at AT&T Stadium. Jerry Jones’ two-sided screen cost $40 million. Eddie Gossage declined to give the total amount of the TMS board.
The Big Hoss TV is designed to hold its own against winds up to 130 miles per hour. The strength of the LED bulbs has been tested by having golf balls hit off the screen to simulate hail.
Texas Motor Speedway’s Big Hoss TV unveiling included a showing of the newest episode of Duck Dynasty
Helio Castroneves, a four-time Verizon IndyCar Series winner at TMS, said the screen’s size could be distracting for drivers during the race.
“The good news is that it’s so fast on the back straightaway that it would be hard for us to try to look,” said Helio Castroneves, who is scheduled to be part of the IndyCar field at TMS on June 7.
“Hopefully when we come back here in June, I can see myself in the victory circle on that big TV.”
The unveiling included a showing of the newest episode of A&E’s Duck Dynasty. Duck Commander, the company the show is centered around, is the sponsor of the NASCAR Sprint Cup race on April 6.
Duck Dynasty’s Willie and Korie Robertson were on hand and were presented with custom-painted racing helmets.
“I think a lot of these guys and gals watch the show, so it’s a good combination for us,” Willie Robertson said.
“We were thrilled to put our name on it. If you told me we were going to do this a couple years ago, I would’ve never believed it.”
Last Wednesday’s episode of Duck Dynasty reality show averaged only 4.7 million viewers, down from a high of 11.7 million viewers.
Last Wednesday’s episode of Duck Dynasty reality show averaged only 4.7 million viewers, down from a high of 11.7 million viewers
Duck Dynasty has lost 6.7 million viewers since the show’s season premiere, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The site’s analysts felt that Duck Dynasty‘s ever-lower ratings was as much due to the public’s burn-out on the show as much as to the anti-gay, pro-Jim Crow South and controversial comments about women made by patriarch Phil Robertson.
Paul McCartney has succeeded to ban the sale of mementos by the family of his former nanny, Rose Martin.
Rose Martin, who looked after Paul McCartney’s children, was reportedly gifted a number of collectable items by the Beatles star’s late wife Linda, including a suit, a cape and handwritten lyrics.
The late nanny’s family decided to put the collection up for auction following her death last year, but they have now been withdrawn from sale following a complaint from Paul McCartney’s attorneys.
Paul McCartney prevents the family of his late nanny selling off his old clothes in Liverpool amid a dispute over ownership (photo Getty Images)
Omega Auctions representative Paul Fairweather told Daily Telegraph: “Unfortunately, the lawyers have claimed that Paul would never have given any clothing away.”
“Rose always told the family that it was Linda that had given them to her but as both have unfortunately passed away, neither story can be corroborated … At the end of the day we’ve got to make sure that according to the law we give them back to their rightful owner, be that Rose’s family or Sir Paul McCartney and MPL Communications [McCartney Productions Ltd]. We can only apologize to any buyers who were hoping to bid on these items.”
The collection was expected to fetch as much as $48,000 at auction and Rose Martin’ family had hoped to distribute the cash to her grandchildren.
Paul McCartney previously paid tribute to Rose Martin following her death, calling her a “dear friend” and “fiercely loyal”.
JRR Tolkien’s translation of the Old English poem Beowulf is to be published for the first time, nearly nine decades after it was completed.
JRR Tolkien’s estate has signed a deal with HarperCollins to release it as a book in May.
JRR Tolkien’s translation of the Old English poem Beowulf is to be published for the first time, nearly nine decades after it was completed
The new work Beowulf: A Translation And Commentary has been edited by his son Christopher Tolkien.
It is the latest posthumous publication for the author, following his poem The Fall Of Arthur last year.
Beowulf is the longest epic poem in Old English, the language spoken in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest.
It tells the story of a struggle between the hero, Beowulf, and a bloodthirsty monster called Grendel.
JRR Tolkien completed his translation in 1926 – and the new publication will be accompanied by further thoughts on the text, which Tolkien prepared for a series of lectures given at Oxford during his academic career.
The author died in 1973, having seen The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings achieve literary success, but leaving behind many unpublished works.
Christopher Tolkien said: “The translation of Beowulf by JRR Tolkien was an early work, very distinctive in its mode, completed in 1926.
“He returned to it later to make hasty corrections, but seems never to have considered its publication.
“This edition is twofold, for there exists an illuminating commentary on the text of the poem by the translator himself, in the written form of a series of lectures given at Oxford in the 1930s, and from these lectures a substantial selection has been made, to form also a commentary on the translation in this book.”
According to Malaysian officials, China is investigating new satellite images of debris in the southern Indian Ocean, potentially from missing flight MH370.
Malaysia’s Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein read out the news as he was handed it during at his daily briefing, saying one element of debris was 30m by 22m.
He said the Chinese government would give more details on Saturday.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 dropped out of contact an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 carrying 239 people.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 dropped out of contact an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 carrying 239 people
Hishammuddin Hussein broke off the question and answer segment of his briefing in Kuala Lumpur to say: “The news that I just received is that the Chinese ambassador received satellite image of floating objects in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to verify.”
He added: “Beijing is expected to make an announcement in a few hours.”
China is one of 26 nations involved in the search for flight MH370. Most of those on board the plane were Chinese nationals.
Planes and vessels are already searching the southern Indian Ocean following earlier satellite images this week that detected possible debris 1,550 miles south-west of Perth in Australia.
One hundred international monitors will be sent to Ukraine, after Russian diplomats dropped their objections.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), will send advance teams within 24 hours to areas including the violence-hit south-eastern areas.
But the monitoring team is not expected to go to Crimea, which was taken over by Russia last month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law formalizing Crimea’s annexation on Friday, despite EU and US sanctions.
The 57-member OSCE reached a deal on Friday evening.
The Vienna-based group said that initially 100 civilian observers would deploy for six months in nine regions of Ukraine.
Up to 400 extra personnel could be deployed if necessary.
The areas the monitors are due to visit include Odessa, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, and Luhansk, which have been recently rocked by clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists.
The situation remains tense on the long Ukrainian-Russian border
“The decision itself calls for monitors to be deployed within 24 hours,” said Daniel Baer, the US ambassador to the OSCE.
The US said in a statement that “it is clear that with the adoption of this decision this mission has a mandate to work in Crimea and in all other parts of Ukraine”.
But Russian envoy Andrey Kelin responded by saying that Crimea had now become part of Russia and therefore the mission had “no mandate” to go there.
Western diplomats had blamed Russia for several failed attempts to agree such a mission in recent days.
Earlier this month OSCE monitors had to abandon their visit to Crimea after warning shots were fired at the border.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Friday’s deal was “not the end of the crisis”.
Earlier on Friday, the EU added 12 people to an existing list of 21 officials involved in Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
They include Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin and two close aides of Vladimir Putin, Sergey Glazyev and Vladislav Surkov.
The speakers of Russia’s two houses of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko and Sergei Naryshkin – both at Vladimir Putin’s side as he signed the Crimea law – were also included.
While the list targets several figures close to Vladimir Putin, it does not hit his inner circle as hard as the sanctions announced by the US on Thursday.
In retaliation, Russia ordered travel bans and asset freezes for nine prominent US officials and lawmakers.
Senator John McCain, one of those targeted, joked in a tweet that he would have to cancel his spring break in Siberia.
Vladimir Putin said Moscow would not retaliate for the latest EU sanctions – although the Russian foreign ministry said there would be a response.
In Crimea itself, forces allied to Russia have been seizing Ukrainian ships and taking over military bases.
The new authorities in Crimea have invited those serving in the Ukrainian forces on the peninsula to switch sides and join Russian forces.
US scientists have discovered that the human nose can detect one trillion different odors, far more than we previously thought.
Until now, the long-held belief was that we can sniff out about 10,000 smells.
New estimates published in Science suggest the human nose outperforms the eye and the ear in terms of the number of stimuli it can distinguish between.
Researchers at the Rockefeller University say we use only a tiny part of our olfactory powers.
The human eye uses three light receptors that work together to see up to 10 million colors, while the ear can hear almost half a million tones.
Until now it was believed the nose, with its 400 olfactory receptors, could detect only about 10,000 different odors.
Scientists at the Rockefeller University in New York, set out to test the idea, which dates back to 1927 and was never scientifically investigated.
Human nose can detect one trillion different odors, far more than we previously thought (photo Thinkstock)
They devised experiments to see how good people are at distinguishing between cocktails of 128 different odor molecules, representing a large range of smells from grass to citrus.
The molecules were mixed randomly in groups of 10, 20 or 30 to create unfamiliar smells.
The 26 people were then asked to identify a scent from three samples – two that were the same and one that was different.
Based on these results, the researchers used theory to extrapolate how many different scents the average person would be able to discriminate if they were presented with all the possible mixtures that could be made from the 128 molecules.
They estimated that the average person can discriminate between at least one trillion different odors with the nose, far more than can be detected by the eye or ear.
This is probably an underestimate, they say.
The conventional wisdom on how well we can smell was based on little more than “urban legend”, said co-author Dr. Leslie Vosshall.
“It’s the first real test of how good humans are. People assume animals are much better smellers than us. Humans are remarkably good at smelling things,” Dr. Leslie Vosshall said in an interview with BBC.
She said animals remain two or three times better than us at smelling, as they devote more of their brain to the sense of smell.
However, the power of the human sense of smell should not be underestimated.
“You can push the sense of smell to work harder – you can get bigger and crazier, more intense perfumes,” Dr. Leslie Vosshall added.
“We are using a tiny part of our olfactory powers.”
Five skydivers have been killed after their light plane crashed at an airfield in Queensland, eastern Australia.
The Cessna 206 hit the ground and burst into flames shortly after take-off on Saturday at Caboolture Airport, north of Brisbane.
The Cessna 206 hit the ground and burst into flames shortly after take-off on Saturday at Caboolture Airport (photo Channel Nine News)
The pilot, two skydiving instructors and two skydiving customers were killed, police said.
Family members witnessed the crash from the ground, they said.
The flight was operated by Adrenalin Skydivers Bribie, also known as Skydive Bribie Island, a spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald, which carried pictures of the crash site.
“We received a call from the airfield and sent three crews to a light plane that had crashed,” a Queensland Fire and Rescue Service official told Agence France-Presse.
Caboolture is about 31 miles north of Brisbane.
The airport was closed after the crash.
The Sydney Morning Herald says the airport has only grass strips and operates gliders, helicopters and light aircraft.
Xi Jinping will arrive in the Netherlands later today for his first trip to Europe as China’s president.
President Xi Jinping’s tour will include France, Germany and Belgium as well as the headquarters of the EU in Brussels.
A 200-strong business delegation will join him on a trip that is expected to be dominated by trade – possibly including an order for 150 Airbus jets.
Xi Jinping is also likely to face pressure from Western powers to be firmer with Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
China usually supports Russia in foreign-policy issues, but last week declined to fully back its ally over Ukraine.
Beijing abstained from a vote at the UN that would have condemned Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region.
Xi Jinping will arrive in the Netherlands later today for his first trip to Europe as China’s president (photo Reuters)
A tit-for-tat trade dispute, with China targeting French wine after the EU imposed tariffs on Chinese solar panels, was only resolved on Friday.
Xi Jinping will be welcomed by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at the start of his state visit to the Netherlands.
He arrives in advance of a G7 meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in The Hague next week.
Xi Jinping is expected to discuss the situation in Ukraine with President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the summit.
Correspondents say the Chinese president is likely to repeat Beijing’s call for “calm and restraint” in the crisis.
The Chinese leader will also meet French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on his trip, which ends in Belgium on April 1.
One side issue of note from the visit comes from reports in the German press suggesting that the Chinese delegation had asked for an official visit, accompanied by Chancellor Angela Merkel, to a Holocaust memorial.
Berlin is said to have refused, fearing that it would be used by China as propaganda to highlight its complaint that Japan has not done enough to atone for its militaristic past.
Der Spiegel reports that the Chinese delegation has been told that President Xi Jinping is free to visit memorials in his own time.
Pope Francis warned gangsters that they will go to hell unless they repent and stop doing evil as he is launching a stinging attack on the mafia.
“Blood-stained money, blood-stained power, you can’t bring it with you to your next life. Repent,” the pontiff said.
Pope Francis was speaking at a prayer vigil for relatives of those killed by the mafia.
The Pope has spoken out frequently about the evils of corruption and wrote a booklet on the subject in 2005 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The meeting near Rome on Friday – organized by a citizens’ group called Libera – was aimed at demonstrating the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to organized crime, rejecting historic ties with mafia bosses claiming to be good Catholics.
Pope Francis was speaking at a prayer vigil for relatives of those killed by the mafia
The vigil was filled with those who have suffered at the hands of the mafia, including people whose family members and loved ones had been killed.
As the names of those murdered were read out, the Pope listened, deep in somber thought.
After expressing solidarity with the 842 people at the vigil, he said that he could not leave the service without addressing those not present: The “protagonists” of mafia violence.
“This life that you live now won’t give you pleasure. It won’t give you joy or happiness,” he said.
“There’s still time to not end up in hell, which is what awaits you if you continue on this path.”
There is a long list of brave priests in Italy who have stood up to the mafia, and some have paid with lives.
Anti-mafia activists hope that Pope Francis’ words are a signal that he is on their side.
Roy Orbison’s sons have helped produce an unreleased song by their father.
The Way Is Love was pieced together by Wesley, Alex and Roy Orbison Jr. after finding an old vocal recording on a home tape machine.
They reclaimed it using technology which was specifically developed to accomplish the task.
The track will appear on the 25th anniversary edition of Roy Orbison’s final album, Mystery Girl.
Roy Orbison died of a heart attack in December 1988
Roy Orbison died of a heart attack in December 1988, aged 52, two months before the record was originally released.
A total of nine previously unheard songs will be added to the deluxe edition, which is due on May 20.
The Orbison brothers added new instrumental recordings to The Way Is Love with the help of another offspring of a music legend, co-producer John Carter Cash.
Mystery Girl included contributions from Tom Petty, Bono and the Edge of U2, and Elvis Costello.
Paris authorities are investigating an Indian couple for neglect after their three small children were found living in appalling conditions in their apartment.
An inquiry began after the mother’s indifferent attitude to the birth of her baby girl on New Year’s Day aroused suspicion among medical staff.
French social services found her brothers, aged 2, 5 and 6, living in the apartment in a suburb of northern Paris.
French social services found the children living in an apartment in a poor suburb of northern Paris
It seems the boys had never left the flat in all their lives.
The two eldest had developmental problems, could not speak properly and had difficulty walking, as well as being undernourished.
They had simple mattresses for beds and there was no furniture, let alone toys, a judicial source told French daily Liberation.
All four children were taken into care in February.
The father, 33, and the mother, aged 27, are in custody being investigated on suspicion of depriving their children of care – a charge which could see them jailed for seven years and fined 100,000 euros ($138,000).
News of the children being found has emerged in the French media only this week.
It appears that none of the boys attended school or received vaccinations or any other medical attention.
Neither parent worked but they received child benefit, Liberation newspaper reports.
It seems the family had been living in the seventh-floor flat in the deprived district of La Courneuve in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris for six years.
Neighbors in the block of flats said they had never seen the elder boys.
Foster parents are now taking care of the two youngest children while the eldest are receiving specialist care.
New York City police have arrested a 14-year-old boy after allegedly firing a gun inside a bus in a suspected gang dispute, killing an innocent bystander.
Kahton Anderson, 14, charged with second degree murder for the shooting that tragically killed Angel Rojas, 39 — and may be tried as an adult, say sources.
Kahton Anderson was charged with second degree murder for the shooting that tragically killed Angel Rojas (photo New York Daily News)
The victim leaves behind a wife, two children and a grieving family.
Angel Rojas, reportedly a Dominican immigrant, was shot in the head.
Authorities have not located the intended target of the shooting, but have apprehended a teenager and the weapon he allegedly used.
New York City’s homicide rate fell to a record low last year.
The shooting occurred on a bus in Brooklyn on Thursday evening.
As passengers fled, the suspect got off the bus, in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district, and fired five more shots at a person running away.
Angel Rojas was rushed to a local hospital, but died a short time later.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law formalizing the takeover of Crimea from Ukraine, despite fresh sanctions from the EU and the US.
The EU’s latest measures target 12 people involved in Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Earlier, Ukraine and the EU signed an accord forging closer political ties.
Separately, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has agreed to send monitors to Ukraine, after Russia dropped objections.
The six-month mission will initially consist of 100 international civilian monitors, who will be employed in nine regions of Ukraine – including the south-eastern areas rocked by violence between pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian activists.
Vladimir Putin has signed a law formalizing the takeover of Crimea from Ukraine (photo Reuters)
The observers will not go to Crimea but German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the decision was “a step that helps to support our de-escalation efforts”.
Western diplomats had blamed Russia for several failed attempt to agree such a mission to help defuse the tense situation.
In Brussels, EU leaders also said they would step up efforts to reduce energy dependency on Russia.
The EU’s new sanctions add to an existing list of 21 officials affected by travel bans and asset freezes.
They include Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin and two close aides of Vladimir Putin, Sergei Glazyev and Vladislav Surkov.
The speakers of Russia’s two houses of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko and Sergei Naryshkin – both at Vladimir Putin’s side as he signed the Crimea law – are also included.
While the list targets several figures close to the Russian president, it does not hit his inner circle as hard as the sanctions announced by the US on Thursday.
MasterCard and Visa have decided to block credit card services to some Russian bank customers as a result of US sanctions.
Four banks are so far affected, all of which have links to Russians blacklisted by the US.
Visa and MasterCard are forbidden from having any dealings with those targeted by the sanctions.
The banks, which said card services stopped without warning, have described the move as unlawful.
One of the banks affected, Bank Rossiya, is described by the US as Russia’s 15th largest, with assets of $12 billion.
Bank Rossiya has been singled out by Washington as the personal bank for senior Russian officials. US officials said it would be “frozen out” from the dollar.
MasterCard and Visa have decided to block credit card services to some Russian bank customers as a result of US sanctions (photo AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Bank Rossiya had nothing to do with events in Crimea and promised to transfer his wages there.
“I personally don’t have an account there, but I certainly will open one on Monday,” he told a meeting of Russia’s Security Council.
Vladimir Putin also instructed the Russian central bank to step in, if needed, but the latter said the sanctions on Bank Rossiya did “not have a serious bearing on the lender’s financial stability”.
Visa and MasterCard also confirmed they had stopped providing services to SMP Bank, which is controlled by US-blacklisted brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.
The bank, which is Russia’s 39th biggest with $5 billion in assets, called the actions “illegitimate” because its owners, rather than the bank itself, were the subject of sanctions.
Bank Rossiya’s affiliate banks, Sobinbank and InvestKapitalBank, were also affected.
But Visa said more than 99% of its business in Russia was untouched by sanctions.
Russian shares fell sharply on Friday as investors weighed the impact of western sanctions over Ukraine.
The MICEX index, which is priced in roubles, fell as much as 3% and the RTS, which is priced in dollars fell 3.6%.
Stocks slumped after President Barack Obama said sanctions might be extended to key parts of the Russian economy if Russia took further action in Ukraine.
Lufthansa pilots have voted to strike in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions.
The pilots’ union, Vereinigung Cockpit (VC), said more than 90% of its members voted in favor of the industrial action.
Vereinigung Cockpit, which represents more than 5,000 pilots, said it would give the public at least 48 hours notice before any strike.
Lufthansa pilots have voted to strike in a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions (photo Reuters)
The union says no walkouts are planned, as yet, for the Easter period.
The pilot’s chief negotiator, Thomas Sturm told journalists: “None of us really wants to strike and we’ve been negotiating very patiently, but our patience has run out.”
Lufthansa, which is under pressure to cut costs, has already agreed pay deals with ground staff and cabin crew.
