Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness has admitted in court to defrauding Germany’s tax authorities of 18 million euros ($25 million).
Prosecutors had earlier accused Uli Hoeness, 62, of evading a far smaller sum of 3.5 million euros in taxes and are seeking a jail term.
The former Germany forward kept the funds in a secret Swiss bank account.
He told the court he deeply regretted “my wrongdoing”.
“I will do everything necessary to ensure that this depressing chapter for me is closed,” Uli Hoeness said.
Uli Hoeness, who helped the national team win the 1972 European Championship and then the World Cup two years later, came clean about his secret bank account last year, filing an amended tax return in the hope of an amnesty in return for paying the tax he owed.
But prosecutors say he did so because investigators were already on his case.
The penalty for tax evasion can be 10 years in jail, though the prosecution says it will seek a seven-year sentence. A verdict is expected on Thursday.
Uli Hoeness has admitted in court to defrauding Germany’s tax authorities of 18 million euros
Munich state prosecutor Achim von Engel read out the indictment against Uli Hoeness shortly after the start of the trial, described as one of the most spectacular of the year by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
He alleged that the defendant had failed to declare the income he held at Vontobel bank in Switzerland.
Giving evidence later, Uli Hoeness said he had used the money for large-scale gambling on the foreign currency markets, losing far more than he ever gained.
“Between 2002 and 2006 I really gambled with sums that today I find difficult to grasp. For me it was a kick; pure adrenalin,” he said.
It was while Uli Hoeness was having lunch with Chancellor Angela Merkel on January 15 in Berlin last year that he was made aware of press interest in his finances, he told the court. Vontobel phoned him, he said. warning him that journalists from Stern magazine were making inquiries.
Before the scandal emerged, Uli Hoeness was considered to be on good terms with Angel Merkel, who has since said she is disappointed with him.
Uli Hoeness said he had already decided to come clean about his taxes to the authorities.
Eighty men and women recorded their weight every morning before breakfast for nearly a year. When researchers examined the numbers, they identified a distinct trend for weight gain on weekends and weight loss during the weeks.
However, researchers found that what sets people who ultimately lose weight throughout the year apart from those who gain is that losers shed more pounds during the weekdays. They are also more likely to adhere to this pattern than those who gain – losers hit their lowest weight around Friday 74% of the time.
The web accounts of Mark Karpeles – boss of the troubled MtGox Bitcoin exchange – have been attacked by hackers.
The attack on Mark Karpeles accounts seems to have been motivated by growing frustration over the actions of MtGox.
Last month MtGox stopped trading and filed for bankruptcy after finding out that $465 million in Bitcoins had been lost via a security bug.
Many have called on the exchange to release more information about what happened to the lost Bitcoins.
The attacks were mounted on the personal blog and Reddit account of Mark Karpeles and left the hackers in charge of both social media accounts.
The attack on Mark Karpeles accounts seems to have been motivated by growing frustration over the actions of MtGox
Hackers used their access to grab detailed information about trading activity at MtGox. They then shared their findings by posting a 716MB file containing much of what they had found.
The material posted included an Excel spreadsheet of more than one million trades, entries from MtGox’s business ledger and information about its back-office administration software.
“It’s time that MtGox got the Bitcoin community’s wrath instead of [the] Bitcoin community getting Goxed,” wrote the hackers in a message accompanying the data dump. The word “Goxed” has been used to describe the sudden interruptions in trading MtGox imposed when it was going through technical problems before its final closure.
According to Forbes writer Andy Greenberg, although $465 million in Bitcoins (approximately 744,000 coins) had supposedly gone astray from MtGox, no activity suggesting they had been traded had been seen in the blockchain – the central list of buying and selling that underpins the entire Bitcoin network.
Double-amputee Oscar Pistorius vomited in court while a pathologist testified at his murder trial on Monday.
A bucket was placed in the dock before Professor Gert Saayman, who carried out an autopsy on the Paralympic champion’s slain girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, took the stand.
Earlier the judge banned all live broadcast of the autopsy evidence.
Pathologist Gert Saayman successfully argued that broadcasting the details of the report could compromise the “dignity of the deceased”.
Reporters at the scene said Oscar Pistorius was seen “breaking down, loudly gagging, retching” as Gert Saayman spoke and later he threw up.
Oscar Pistorius denies intentionally killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp
The Paralympic champion, on trial for murder, denies intentionally killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Oscar Pistorius fired four shots at Reeva Steenkamp through the bathroom door. He says he mistook the 29-year-old model and aspiring lawyer for an intruder.
Gert Saayman used the following arguments to persuade Judge Thokozile Masipa to ban broadcasts of his autopsy report:
“Very personal nature of the findings”
“Details of the injuries have the potential to compromise the dignity of the deceased”
It may “harm the rights” of friends and family of the deceased
“Goes against the morals of society”
The judge also banned coverage of the details of the autopsy report through Twitter and other social media.
Malaysian authorities have been urged by China to “step up its efforts” in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared on Saturday.
Most of the passengers on board of flight MH370 were Chinese nationals.
Nearly three days after the aircraft went missing, an international effort has still not found the plane’s wreckage.
None of the debris and oil slicks spotted in the water so far have proven to be linked to the disappearance.
Flight MH370 vanished from radar almost three days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 people on board.
Relatives of the missing passengers have been told to prepare for the worst.
China said the Malaysian authorities needed to “step up their efforts” to find the missing airliner, which had more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.
“We … have a responsibility to demand and urge the Malaysian side to step i[ search efforts, start an investigation as soon as possible and provide relevant information to China correctly and in a timely manner,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang.
Earlier, the Global Times, a prominent Communist Party newspaper, issued a sharply worded editorial arguing there were “loopholes” in the work of Malaysian airlines and security authorities, noting that “until yesterday [Sunday], the Malaysian government could not even ensure accurate information about the [plane’s] passengers”.
The Malaysian authorities are attempting to address Chinese concerns – they have reissued a pledge to fly worried family members to Kuala Lumpur so they can be closer to the search efforts, our correspondent adds.
But one victim’s relative – Guo Qishun, whose son-in-law was on the plane – said he did not see the point of flying to Malaysia.
“We don’t want to go to Malaysia now. There is no result from the search operation yet. If we go to Malaysia, we can do nothing but wait, just like what we are doing in Beijing now. If we go to Malaysia, who can we rely on? Most of us don’t speak English,” he told the Associated Press news agency.
Malaysian authorities have identified one of the two men travelling on the missing plane on stolen passports.
Flight MH370 vanished from radar almost three days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur
Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said they could not reveal his identity, but confirmed the man was a non-Malaysian.
Malaysia’s acting transport minister, Hishamuddin Hussein, said all of the relevant information concerning those two passengers had now been passed on to the various national intelligence agencies which were investigating the matter.
International police agency Interpol has confirmed the passengers were travelling with Italian and Austrian passports stolen in Thailand years ago.
The search area has been widened to include waters in the Strait of Malacca.
Commander William Marks from the US Seventh Fleet, which is taking part in the search, says he expects the plane’s flight recorders to be floating in the water.
“In calm seas, if there were a soccer ball [football] or a basketball floating in the water, the radar could pick it up. They [flight recorders] typically have a radio beacon and so for example our P3 [radar] – if they are flying within a certain range of that – will pick up that radio beacon. We have not yet picked up anything, but that’s typically what those black boxes contain.”
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia.
US Navy officials earlier said their aircraft had not seen any debris associated with commercial aircraft wreckage.
Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing at 00:41 local time on Saturday. But radio contact was lost at 01:30, somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Officials say they still have no idea what went wrong.
Malaysian military officials said on Sunday they were widening the search area because of indications the plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, may have turned back from its scheduled route shortly before vanishing from radar screens.
Investigators are looking at all angles, including a possible terror attack. Counter-terrorism agencies and the FBI are involved in the operation.
Five passengers booked on the flight did not board, and their luggage was consequently removed.
The passengers on the flight were of 14 different nationalities. Two-thirds were from China, while others were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.
Malaysia Airlines is the country’s national carrier, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.
On Monday, shares in Malaysia Airlines fell 18% to a record low.
Peter Lanza, the father of the Newtown school killer Adam Lanza spoke publicly for the first time saying he wishes his son had never been born.
Peter Lanza opened up about his son in one of a series of interviews with The New Yorker that began in September.
Adam Lanza, 20, killed his mother, Nancy, before gunning down 20 students, six staff members and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012.
His father said: “You can’t get any more evil. How much do I beat up on myself about the fact that he’s my son? A lot.”
Peter Lanza, a vice president for GE Energy Financial Services, was divorced from Adam’s mother since 2009 and hadn’t seen his son for more than two years at the time of the killings, he told the magazine.
The New Yorker writer Andrew Solomon said Peter Lanza approached him in September.
Adam Lanza’s father spoke publicly for the first time saying he wishes his son had never been born
Peter Lanza was quoted as saying: “I want people to be afraid of the fact that this could happen to them.”
“With hindsight, I know Adam would have killed me in a heartbeat, if he’d had the chance,” Peter Lanza said.
“I don’t question that for a minute. The reason he shot Nancy four times was one for each of us: one for Nancy; one for him; one for [his brother] Ryan; one for me.”
Peter Lanza says that by the time his son entered middle school, “it was crystal clear something was wrong.”
Adam Lanza was socially awkward, anxious, unable to concentrate and afflicted with insomnia.
The family thought they’d gotten an answer when Adam Lanza was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, at age 13. But after a severe reaction to the anti-anxiety drug escitalopram, he refused to take any psychotropic drugs thereafter – behavior that profoundly concerned a psychiatric specialist who treated him.
Still, Peter Lanza says he is convinced the Asperger’s diagnosis had little to do with the mass killings. Instead, he said Asperger’s may have been masking schizophrenia.
“Asperger’s makes people unusual, but it doesn’t make people like this,” he told the magazine.
Meanwhile, Peter Lanza refuses to talk about a lingering mystery: where or how his son’s body was disposed of.
300: Rise of an Empire topped the North American box office this weekend, earning $45.1 million in the US and Canada.
The sequel to 2006 hit 300 also took $87.8 million worldwide.
300: Rise of an Empire did not equal its predecessor’s first weekend tally of $70.9 million in North America, but still performed far above expectations.
Set in ancient Greece, the movie depicts a sea battle between Greeks and Persians.
The film only briefly features 300 star Gerard Butler as King Leonidas – leader of the Spartan army who famously held off a vastly superior Persian force – concentrating instead on a female warrior played by Casino Royale‘s Eva Green.
Eva Green’s participation is understood to have boosted the female audience for this male-skewed release to 38% – a 9% increase on the original’s 29%.
300: Rise of an Empire topped the North American box office this weekend, earning $45.1 million in the US and Canada
Outside North America, the film was also the top draw in Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK.
Some $12 million of its opening weekend tally from the 58 markets in which it played came from 3D Imax screenings.
In the US and Canada, Noam Murro’s follow-up to Zack Snyder’s comic book-inspired original comfortably saw off Mr. Peabody & Sherman, its nearest competitor.
The animated title about a time-travelling dog and his human son took $32.5 million between Friday and Sunday, according to studio estimates.
Liam Neeson’s airborne action film Non-Stop – last week’s number one – fell to three in this week’s chart, taking $15.4 million in the US and an additional $12 million worldwide.
Toy spin-off The Lego Movie and the Christianity-themed Son of God rounded out this week’s top five, according to box office tracking firm Rentrak.
The US Geological Survey reported that a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California on Sunday night.
The epicenter was 48 miles west-northwest of Ferndale and 50 miles west of Eureka at a depth of 4.3 miles, the USGS said.
The quake, which occurred at 1:18 a.m. ET, was initially reported as magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale, but seismologists revised it upward to 6.9. It was followed by about a half-dozen aftershocks, including one of magnitude 4.6.
There were no reports of any damage or injuries though the quake was felt widely and strongly, according sheriff’s and fire officials in Humboldt County, which includes most of the populated areas near the epicenter.
The earthquake epicenter was 48 miles west-northwest of Ferndale and 50 miles west of Eureka at a depth of 4.3 miles
Police in Eureka said the shaking lasted between 20 and 30 seconds.
Earthquakes are very common in Eureka, a city of about 27,000 people about 270 miles northwest of San Francisco and 100 miles south of the Oregon state line.
The probability of a “strong and possibly damaging aftershock” of magnitude 5.0 or greater in the next seven days was 90 percent, the USGS warned, adding that there was a 5 percent to 10 percent of another quake as large as or larger than the initial one in the next week.
No destructive tsunami was expected, and no tsunami advisory was issued, The West Coast/Alaska and Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers said.
Syrian rebels have released a group of Greek Orthodox nuns, who were kidnapped in the Christian town of Maaloula in December.
The 13 nuns and their three helpers were said to have been freed as part of a prisoner exchange.
The women have been taken to the town of Judaydat Yabus on the Syrian-Lebanon border, Lebanese state media reported.
Rights groups say kidnappings by both rebel groups and government forces have become increasingly common.
The capture of the nuns had raised fears that Christians were becoming a target for the rebels.
Opposition fighters, including members of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, seized the women from the Greek Orthodox convent of Mar Takla when fighters overran Maaloula, about 40 miles north-east of Damascus, in December, the Associated Press reports.
The Greek Orthodox nuns were kidnapped in the Christian town of Maaloula in December
The nuns, who are believed to be mostly Syrian and Lebanese, worked in the convent’s orphanage, the agency said.
They were reportedly held for at least part of their captivity in the rebel stronghold of Yabroud, now the target of heavy government bombardment.
The women reached the Syrian town of Judaydat Yabus overnight after a nine-hour journey.
“We arrived late, and we arrived tired,” the Associated Press quoted Mother Superior Pelagia Sayaf, the head of the Maaloula convent, as saying.
She said the women were mostly well treated by their captors.
“God did not leave us,” she said.
“The [Nusra] Front was good to us … but we took off our crosses because we were in the wrong place to wear them.”
About 150 female prisoners are to be released in exchange for the group’s freedom, Lebanese security chief General Abbas Ibrahim told Syrian television.
The sixth day of Oscar Pistorius trial has begun with the questioning of Pieter Baba, a security guard at the Paralympic champion’s home.
Pieter Baba said he had phoned Oscar Pistorius and not the other way round, as the defense team had suggested.
Later on Monday the trial expects to hear from Professor Gert Saayman, a specialist in forensic medicine and the trial’s first expert witness.
On Friday Pieter Baba, a security guard working at Oscar Pistorius’ gated community, spoke of his shock at seeing the athlete carrying a dying Reeva Steenkamp down the stairs at his villa.
Oscar Pistorius could face life imprisonment for killing Reeva Steenkamp
Pieter Baba said he had called Oscar Pistorius in response to neighbors’ reports of gunfire from the house in the early hours of the morning.
The guard said Oscar Pistorius had told him: “Everything is fine,” before calling him back a few minutes later and crying down the phone.
On Monday, Oscar Pistorius’ defense lawyer suggested the athlete had called Pieter Baba first and not the other way round, but the witness stuck to his testimony.
Oscar Pistorius’ lawyer, Barry Roux, then suggested his client had said: “I am fine,” and not: “Everything is fine,” but again the witness said this was not true.
“My Lady, what I just told the court is the truth” Pieter Baba told Judge Thokozile Masipa.
Kim Jong-un has been elected to North Korea Supreme People’s Assemblywith an unanimous vote from his district, state media say.
Meanwhile, state media on Sunday identified a woman accompanying Kim Jong-un to a polling station.
Kim Yo-jong, who state media described as a “senior official”, is thought to be the younger sister of Kim Jong-un.
Various reports say Kim Jong-un’s sister may be 26 or 27 years old.
Kim Yo-jong accompanies her brother Kim Jong-un on touring campus of Kim Il-sung University of Politics in east Pyongyang
It was not her first appearance, Kim Yo-jong, who is believed to be 26 years old, was seen at her father Kim Jong-il’s televised funeral in 2011, and occasionally accompanying her brother on his “field guidance trips.”
In 2012, state TV showed Kim Yo-jong with her aunt, Kim Kyong-hui, riding a white horse, the representation of a symbol associated with the Kim family, AFP says.
In her latest appearance, Kim Yo-jong was seen in a black skirt suit, closely walking behind her brother, and casting her vote.
She is believed to be the events director in Kim Jong-un’s Secretariat office, but her price position was never detailed.
The Kim family has ruled the country for over six decades.
Kim Jong-un has been elected to North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament with a unanimous vote from his district, state media say.
Kim Jong-un’s 100% approval from his Mount Paektu constituency reflects the “absolute support” of people in the country, KCNA news agency says.
The elections for the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday had just one name on the ballot for each district.
It was the first time such a poll had been held since Kim Jong-un assumed power.
He became leader of North Korea following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011.
North Korea usually votes once every five years to approve members of the highest legislative body, the Supreme People’s Assembly.
Each of the 687 districts had only one candidate running for office, with voters required to write “Yes” or “No” on the ballot paper.
Kim Jong-un has been elected to North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament with a unanimous vote from his district (photo AFP)
KCNA said of Kim Jong-un’s victory: “This is an expression of all the service personnel and people’s absolute support and profound trust in Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un as they single-mindedly remain loyal to him.”
The results of the other districts have yet to be announced.
Kim Jong-un holds many titles, including Supreme Commander of the armed forces.
Analysts say that the only real value in these polls is in watching for any signs of change in the list of state-approved candidates.
The democratic duty for voters in these elections is not so much deciding who they want to represent them, but whether they agree with the ruling party’s choice.
In the election held in 2009, turnout was 99%, with 100% of votes in favor of the named candidates.
Meanwhile, state media on Sunday identified a woman accompanying Kim Jong-un to a polling station.
Kim Yo-jong, who state media described as a “senior official”, is thought to be the younger sister of Kim Jong-un. Various reports say she may be 26 or 27 years old.
Kim Yo-jong was seen on state television riding a horse in 2012, and beside Kim Jong-un as they attended Kim Jong-il’s funeral in 2011, AFP news agency says.
William Clay Ford Senior – the last surviving grandson of Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company – has died at the age of 88.
William Clay Ford Sr. was a director at the company for almost six decades and owner of the National Football League’s Detroit Lions.
In a statement, the Ford Motor Company said that he was instrumental in influencing the designs of vehicles the company made.
William Clay Ford Sr. died of pneumonia at his home in a suburb of Detroit.
William Clay Ford Senior was the last surviving grandson of Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company
“My father was a great business leader and humanitarian who dedicated his life to the company and the community,” William Clay Ford Junior, the executive chairman of Ford Motors, said in a statement.
“He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him, yet he will continue to inspire us all.”
William Clay Ford Sr. was a director at Ford for 57 years and Forbes magazine put his fortune at $1.35 billion.
US researchers have discovered that a blood test can accurately predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists at Georgetown University in Washington DC showed that testing levels of 10 fats in the blood could predict – with 90% accuracy – the risk of the disease coming on in the next three years.
Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, will now be tested in larger clinical trials.
Experts said the results needed to be confirmed, but such a test would be “a real step forward”.
The number of people living with dementia stands at 44 million around the globe and is expected to treble by 2050.
The disease silently attacks the brain for more than a decade before any symptoms emerge. Doctors think drug trials are failing because patients are simply being treated too late to make a difference.
Georgetown University researchers have discovered that a blood test can accurately predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease
This is why discovering a test that predicts the risk of dementia is a major priority for the field.
Researchers analysed blood samples from 525 people over the age of 70 as part of a five-year study.
They took 53 of them who developed Alzheimer’s or mild cognitive impairment and compared their blood with 53 who stayed mentally agile.
They found differences in the levels of 10 lipids, or fats, between the two groups.
And when the research team looked in the other blood samples, those 10 markers of Alzheimer’s could predict who was likely to enter mental decline in the following years.
The full power of the test has not been investigated either. So far they know a diagnosis of dementia can be predicted three years ahead of time, but the researchers are now investigating whether the test works even earlier.
It is not clear exactly what is causing the change in fats in the blood, but it could be a residue of the early changes in the brain.
One of the most alarming pieces of information to come out of Malaysia Airlines plane mystery is how easy it may be to use a stolen passport to board an international flight.
Two passengers using passports on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight were recorded in Interpol’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database, the international police organization confirmed on Sunday.
Vietnam’s navy planes have spotted possible debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared almost two days ago.
Officials said it was too dark to be certain the objects were from Flight MH370, which had 239 people on board.
A multinational team is searching for wreckage and ships will try to confirm the find after dawn.
Investigators are also checking CCTV footage of two passengers who were travelling on stolen passports.
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search for the missing plane in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia.
Other teams are investigating the identities of some of the people onboard.
Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said five passengers booked on the flight did not board and their luggage was consequently removed.
It has also been confirmed that two passengers were travelling on stolen passports.
The passengers – travelling with Italian and Austrian passports that had been stolen in Thailand – purchased their plane tickets at the same time, and were both booked on the same onward flight from Beijing to Europe on Saturday.
Luigi Maraldi’s passport went missing in Thailand last year and was reported shortly thereafter (photo EPA)
Both had purchased their tickets from China Southern Airlines, which shared the flight with Malaysia Airlines, and they had consecutive ticket numbers.
Both tickets were bought at identical prices in Thai currency, according to China’s official e-ticket verification system.
European authorities on Saturday confirmed the names and nationalities of the two stolen passports: One was an Italian-issued document bearing the name Luigi Maraldi, the other Austrian under the name Christian Kozel.
A telephone operator on a China-based KLM hotline on Sunday confirmed to Reuters “Luigi Maraldi” and “Christian Kozel” were both booked to leave Beijing on a KLM flight to Amsterdam on March 8.
“Luigi Maraldi” was then to fly to Copenhagen on KLM on March 8, and “Christian Kozel” to Frankfurt on March 8. She said the pair booked the tickets through China Southern Airlines so she had no information on where they bought them.
“Whilst it is too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, it is clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol databases,” the Secretary General of international police agency Interpol, Ronald Noble, said in a statement.
Ronald Noble said no checks of Interpol’s database had been made for either passport between the time they were stolen and the departure of the flight, and expressed frustration that few of Interpol’s 190 member countries “systematically” search the database.
Given their travel itinerary, it’s just as possible that the misidentified flyers were drug mules as terrorists.
The passport of the Italian man was stolen last year. Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss said the passport of the Austrian man was stolen two years ago. Both documents went missing in Thailand and were reported shortly thereafter, according to Interpol.
Passports reported lost or stolen are invalidated and, technically, can no longer be used for travel – yet individuals, including members of terrorist organizations, still manage to get across international borders with falsified travel documents.
Such documents are often obtained on the black market and put to use after a photograph swap. Investigations into the operations of terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda showed that operatives traveled with falsified travel documents.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said all angles were being examined in the search for the what happened, but he added: “The main thing here for me and for the families concerned is that we find the aircraft.”
The passengers on the flight were of 14 different nationalities. Two-thirds were from China, while others were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.
Malaysia Airlines is the country’s national carrier, and one of Asia’s largest fleets, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.
Correspondents say the route between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing has become more and more popular as Malaysia and China increase trade.
New details have emerged about some of 227 passengers and 12 crew on board Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that has been missing since early Saturday.
There were 14 different nationalities on the Boeing 777 that mysteriously vanished south of Vietnam without sending a distress call.
Among them was a 19-member group of prominent artists, who were returning home after an exhibition in the Malaysian capital.
Everyone in the group, led by Hou Bo, was “very famous in China”, exhibition organiser Daniel Liau was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper.
Some were China’s leading calligraphy artists, he added.
Another eight Chinese nationals as well as 12 Malaysians were employees of America’s Freescale Semiconductor company.
It is also known that five children – aged two to four – were on board the plane: three Chinese and two Americans.
There were 14 different nationalities on Malaysia Airlines flight that mysteriously vanished south of Vietnam
The third American was identified as Philip Wood – a 51-year-old IBM employee from Texas.
The oldest person on the board the plane was 79.
The pilot, who led the 12-member crew, was named by Malaysia Airlines as Zaharie Ahmad Shah.
Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, joined the carrier in 1981 and had 18,365 hours of flight experience.
But, perhaps, the most puzzling questions remain over the true identities of two people registered as Austria’s Christian Kozel and Luigi Maraldi of Italy.
The foreign ministries in Vienna and Rome later said the two men were not in fact on the plane.
It is understood that their passports have either been stolen or lost in Thailand in recent years.
Malaysian officials say international counter-terrorism agencies from a number of countries have joined an investigation and all angles are now being examined.
Manifest for Flight MH370
153 Chinese
38 Malaysians
7 Indonesians
6 Australians
5 Indians
4 French
3 Americans
2 each from New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada
One each from Russia, Taiwan, Italy, Netherlands and Austria (although both Italy and Austria deny any of their nationals were onboard)
According to new reports, Vietnamese navy planes have spotted possible debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared almost two days ago.
Officials said it was too dark to be certain the objects were from Flight MH370, which had 239 people on board.
A multinational team is searching for wreckage and ships will try to confirm the find after dawn.
Investigators are also checking CCTV footage of two passengers who were travelling on stolen passports.
Malaysian military officials said on Sunday that the plane may have turned back from its scheduled route shortly before vanishing from radar screens, further deepening the mystery surrounding its fate.
Relatives of the missing passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight have been told to prepare for the worst
Relatives of the missing passengers have been told to prepare for the worst.
Flight MH730 left Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, at 00:41 local time on Saturday. But radio contact was lost at 01:30, somewhere between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Late on Sunday, the Vietnamese authorities said possible debris from the plane had been spotted in the sea off south Vietnam.
“We received information from a Vietnamese plane saying that they found two broken objects, which seem like those of an aircraft, located about 50 miles to the south-west of Tho Chu Island,” an unnamed official from the National Committee for Search and Rescue told AFP news agency.
“As it is night they cannot fish them out for proper identification. They have located the position of the areas and flown back to the land,” he added.
The potential debris was in a similar area to a possible oil slick seen by Vietnamese navy planes on Saturday, but officials have cautioned that this too may be nothing to do with the disappearance of Flight MH370.
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search for the missing plane in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia.
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have held rival pro-unity and pro-Russian rallies, as Moscow continues to strengthen its grip on Crimea.
Pro-Russia supporters beat up their opponents in Sevastopol, Crimea.
In the eastern city of Luhansk, pro-Russian activists seized regional offices forcing the governor to resign.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK’s PM David Cameron telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge him to pull back from Crimea. The region is to vote to secede on March 16.
Addressing a huge crowd in Kiev to mark the 200th birth anniversary of national poet Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine’s PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk pledged not to give a “single centimetre” of Ukrainian land to the Kremlin.
Ukraine’s defence minister has said Kiev has no plans to send the army to Crimea.
In the eastern city of Donetsk, pro-Russian protesters take down a Ukrainian flag near the regional government building, replacing it with a Russian flag.
Pro-Russian rally in Simferopol, Crimea
In Kharkiv, also in the east, some 10,000 people reportedly march to support Ukraine’s unity, chanting “No to war!” and “Ukraine, Kharkiv, Crimea!”.
Russia’s ex-tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent a decade behind bars, accuses Moscow of being complicit with Ukraine’s ousted government in using deadly violence against protesters
In Yevpatoriya, western Crimea, pro-Russian forces threaten to storm the command point of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile unit if the personnel there do not surrender their weapons.
In Sevastopol, the violence erupted when pro-Russian groups attacked dozens of people guarding a rally to commemorate Taras Shevchenko.
The crowd threw missiles at a car as the activists tried to flee the scene, smashing windows.
Some of the attackers were Russian Cossacks with whips.
The rally was attended by about 200 people.
A rival pro-Russian demonstration was also staged in the city – the base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has told visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton that a nuclear deal could come in the next four months.
Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks lasting more than an hour with Baroness Catherine Ashton, who is making her first visit to Tehran amid a thaw in relations.
“We can do it in four or five months and even shorter,” Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
Catherine Ashton cautioned there was “no guarantee” her talks would lead to a comprehensive agreement.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton
World powers want Iran to scale back its nuclear work to ensure it cannot assemble a nuclear weapon.
The election of Iranian moderate Hassan Rouhani as president last year led to an improvement in ties between the Islamic Republic and the EU.
In November, Baroness Catherine Ashton helped broker a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in return for limited sanctions relief.
Analysts say the war in Syria is also expected to be discussed, as Iran is a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad.
It is the first visit to Iran by an EU policy chief since 2008.
Madrid’s Teatro Royal director Gerard Mortier has died from cancer at the age of 70.
Gerard Mortier, who was born in Belgium, spearheaded an operatic production of Brokeback Mountain at the Spain’s opera.
In a career spanning more than three decades, Gerard Mortier was also head of the Paris Opera from 2004 to 2009 and ran the Salzburg Festival from 1990 to 2001.
Gerard Mortier spearheaded an operatic production of Brokeback Mountain at Teatro Royal in Madrid
His tenure at Teatro Royal had come to an end the previous September when he announced that he was being treated for cancer and urged the institution to consider a list of non-Spanish successors.
In a statement, Teatro Royal said Gerard Mortier “contributed to promoting Spain’s operatic and cultural landscape and placing the Teatro Real among the world’s leading international opera houses”.
Gerard Mortier was due to become director of the New York City Opera (NYCO) in 2008 but resigned before he took up the post over budgetary constraints.
The Office star Jenna Fischer showed off her bare baby bump while celebrating her 40th birthday at the beach on Friday.
Jenna Fischer tweeted: “Thanks for all the sweet birthday messages.”
Jenna Fischer showed off her bare baby bump while celebrating her 40th birthday at the beach (photo Twitter)
“I think I found a good place to celebrate!”
The actress posed near the beach with her hands on her hips. She wore tight-fitting white pants and flaunted her growing belly in a blue bikini top.
Jenna Fischer and her husband Lee Kirk are expecting their second child. They married in 2010 in Malibu, California, and are already parents to son Weston, 2.
Miley Cyrus is posing for the Marc Jacobs Spring 2014 ad campaign.
The 21-year-old singer looks lost in thought as she pouts her way through the images, taken by legendary photographer David Sims.
Miley Cyrus, whose somber face first made its debut on the Internet back in January, looks fierce in brand new campaign photos released on February 28.
The star of Marc Jacobs’ spring ad campaign is joined by two models, who in the other photos, serve as props in the backdrop.
Miley Cyrus features Marc Jacobs Spring 2014 ad campaign (photo Marc Jacobs/David Sims)
The images show a different and softer side of Miley Cyrus, who has been inciting controversy in the last year for her wild onstage antics.
As previously reported, Marc Jacobs revealed that his typical go-to photographer Juergen Teller refused to shoot Miley Cyrus for the spring 2014 ad campaign.
“He just didn’t want to shoot her,” Marc Jacobs told WWD in January.
“There’s nothing I don’t like about her. She is just genuine and very natural,” Marc Jacobs said of Miley Cyrus.
US authorities are trying to figure out how LSD got into a Wal-Mart steak that sent a nine-months-pregnant Florida woman, her two daughters and her boyfriend to the hospital.
All four were doing fine after the incident Monday night.
While being treated at the hospital, Jessica Rosado gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor said at a news conference Friday there was no indication that Jessica Rosado, 31, her boyfriend, Ronnie Morales, 24, or her daughters – Elyana Serrano, 7, and Rayna Serrano, who celebrated her sixth birthday Friday – had any idea that the bottom round steak they ate Monday night was contaminated with the hallucinogen.
According to a Tampa police report, Ronnie Morales started feeling ill and called 911, but as he got sicker, Jessica Rosado decided to take him to St. Joseph’s Hospital.
Authorities are trying to figure out how LSD got into a Wal-Mart steak that sent a Tampa family to the hospital
Once at St. John’s, Jessica Rosado also started feeling ill. Then her daughters started hallucinating.
Ronnie Morales and the girls were released Wednesday in good condition. Jessica Rosado went home Thursday with a healthy new son.
Police retrieved what remained of the steak and yanked the oven out of the family’s home for forensic tests — which the Hillsborough County medical examiner said Friday showed the presence of LSD.
The steak was traced to a Tampa Wal-Mart, which turned over all of its meat of that type for testing.
Police praised Wal-Mart for its cooperation and said that “at this point, it appears this is an isolated incident.”
Dianna Gee, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart, said it wasn’t clear where or how the meat was tampered with or whether it was contaminated before or after it was bought. She confirmed that the company had “pulled the remaining product from the store”.
Wal-Mart is “deeply disturbed about this situation” and is “committed to working with officials to get to the bottom of this,” Dianna Gee said.
A 71-year-old South California woman is believed to have suffered about 1,000 stings after being attacked by a swarm of killer bees that covered her entire body.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mark Williams says the woman was expected to recover after Thursday’s attack in Palm Desert. He said five firefighters were also hospitalized for stings.
The woman is believed to have suffered about 1,000 stings after being attacked by a swarm of killer bees that covered her entire body (photo National Geographic)
A bee removal specialist told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that up to 80,000 Africanized honey bees found in an underground electrical vault stung a Verizon employee who opened the vault. Lance Davis said the bees then attacked the woman, who had just gotten out of a car nearby.
He said her relatives tossed a blanket over her and rushed her indoors.
Lance Davis said he removed the bees and planned to donate them to farmers.
