Former Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova say they have been arrested in the Russian resort of Sochi where the Winter Olympics are being held.
Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, who were freed from jail in December, said they had been detained in the centre of the town on suspicion of a criminal offence.
Former Pussy Riot members Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova say they have been arrested in Sochi
They spent two years in prison for a protest song in a Moscow cathedral.
The town of Sochi is some distance from where the Games are taking place.
Thousands of Ukrainian protesters have clashed with police in central Kiev amid tensions over proposed changes to the constitution.
Protesters attacked the ruling-party headquarters and tried to march on parliament, reports said.
Tumultuous scenes have also been reported inside parliament where opposition lawmakers are pushing for a vote on replacing the constitution.
The move is aimed at curbing President Viktor Yanukovych’s powers.
The opposition has repeatedly warned that failure to act will further inflame mass anti-government protests.
Ukraine’s unrest began in November, when Viktor Yanukovych backed away from an association and free trade deal with the European Union, and instead agreed to a loan from Russia.
Moscow wants Ukraine to join the Russia-led customs union, where Belarus and Kazakhstan are also members.
Thousands of Ukrainian protesters have clashed with police in central Kiev amid tensions over proposed changes to the constitution
Both the EU and Russia have accused each other of interfering in Ukraine’s affairs.
Tens of thousands of protesters trying to march on the parliament building have been blocked by lines of police vehicles, according to reports from Kiev.
Some are ripping up cobblestones to throw at police, and others are throwing smoke bombs, while police are responding with stun and smoke grenades and rubber bullets.
Protesters also attacked the headquarters of President Viktor Yanukovych’s ruling party.
Several people have been injured, both protesters and police officers, local media reported.
Inside parliament, reported Interfax-Ukraine news agency, about 50 opposition lawmakers blocked the parliamentary rostrum in protest after parliamentary staff refused to register their resolution on reinstating the 2004 constitution.
The opposition has been pushing for weeks for a return to the 2004 constitution, which would mean President Yanukovych losing some of the powers he has gained since his election in 2010.
The changes would mean that parliament – not the president – would appoint the prime minister and most cabinet members, as well as regional governors.
The move could also lead to snap presidential elections – a key demand of the opposition.
Actor and theatre producer Christopher Malcolm, whose roles included the original Brad Majors in the Rocky Horror Show, has died at the age of 67.
Christopher Malcolm’s death was confirmed by his daughter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm on Twitter.
She wrote: “Today the world lost a beautiful, brilliant man.”
Morgan Lloyd Malcolm added her father “left peacefully and with dignity”.
Christopher Malcolm starred in films such as The Empire Strikes Back, Labyrinth and Highlander
“He will always be my hero,” she wrote.
Christopher Malcolm starred in films such as The Empire Strikes Back, Labyrinth and Highlander.
Having played Brad Majors in the original production of The Rocky Horror Show in 1974 and co-produced the 1990 West End revival, Christopher Malcolm then took charge of producing all productions of Richard O’Brien’s much-loved musical around the world.
At least three people died and dozens injured in violence that erupted as Thai police began clearing protest sites in Bangkok.
Police are trying to retake official sites that have been blocked by demonstrators since late last year.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s anti-corruption body said it would file charges against PM Yingluck Shinawatra over a controversial rice subsidy scheme.
Thailand has been embroiled in anti-government protests since November.
Demonstrators have occupied official sites over the past few months, calling on the government to step down. The government has announced that it wants to retake all the besieged buildings this week.
The prime minister’s office, Government House, has been a focal point for the demonstrators. Thousands gathered outside the building on Monday, cementing the gates shut in a bid to stop officials returning to work.
Early on Tuesday, police started negotiations with the protesters, who over the past few days have come in large numbers to defend protest areas.
Violence then erupted near Democracy Monument in central Bangkok. One police officer and two protesters were shot dead, the Erawan emergency medical services said.
There are also reports of police being injured by grenade attacks and shrapnel from bomb blasts, while police also opened fire on demonstrators.
Clashes erupted in central Bangkok on Tuesday with several protesters and police officers injured
The Erawan centre said that around 60 people were injured, although it did not report the breakdown between police and protesters.
Elsewhere, police reclaimed the besieged Ministry of Energy, with around 100 protesters arrested.
Until now, police had been reluctant to use force against the protesters. They have previously allowed demonstrators to enter government buildings in a bid to defuse tensions.
Also on Tuesday, Thailand’s official anti-corruption commission said it would file charges against Yingluck Shinawatra over the rice subsidy scheme.
It began investigating Yingluck Shinawatra in January for possible negligence of duty over the scheme, which saw the government buying farmers’ crops for the past two years at prices up to 50% higher than world prices.
The scheme was popular with farmers, but critics say it is too expensive and vulnerable to corruption.
Yingluck Shinawatra leads a government that won elections in 2011 with broad support from rural areas.
The anti-government protesters want her to step down, and her government to be replaced by an unelected “people’s council” to reform the political system.
They allege that money politics have corrupted Thailand’s democracy and that Yingluck Shinawatra is controlled by her brother, ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
Earlier on Tuesday, protest leader and former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban said in an address to police: “We are not fighting to get power for ourselves.”
“The reforms we will set in motion will benefit your children and grandchildren, too. The only enemy of the people is the Thaksin regime.”
In response to the protests, Yingluck Shinawatra called snap elections on February 2, which her government was widely expected to win.
However, the polls were boycotted by the opposition, and voting was disrupted by protesters at around 10% of polling stations, meaning by-elections are needed before a government can be formed.
Florida artist Maximo Caminero is facing criminal charges after deliberately dropping a million dollar vase by dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei in an apparent protest.
Maximo Caminero, 51, was charged with criminal mischief after breaking the $1 million vase on Sunday in Miami.
Police say Maximo Caminero told them he broke the art work in protest at the Perez Art Museum Miami’s failure to exhibit work by local artists.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he did not support artists destroying other artists’ work.
Ai Weiwei – who was detained in 2011 by China during a crackdown on dissent, and whose relationship with the Chinese authorities remains deeply antagonistic – pointed out that his own work is never shown in China.
The Perez Art Museum is holding an exhibition of Ai Weiwei’s work until mid-March. It includes an artwork, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, depicting Ai Weiwei smashing an ancient Chinese vase.
A security guard told police officers that Maximo Caminero picked up a colored vase that was part of a floor installation, and when told to put it down, smashed it on the floor, according to a police affidavit.
Maximo Caminero said he broke the vase inspired by Ai Weiwei’s own art
Maximo Caminero said he would hold a news conference on Tuesday to explain the act. The artist told the Miami New Times that he did indeed destroy the vase in protest.
“I did it for all the local artists in Miami that have never been shown in museums here,” he told the newspaper.
“They have spent so many millions now on international artists.”
Maximo Caminero said he acted spontaneously, inspired by Ai Weiwei’s own art.
The vase he picked up is one of more than a dozen painted in bright colors. They are described by Ai Weiwei as originally made during China’s Han dynasty.
Behind the installation are a series of three black-and-white photos showing Ai Weiwei holding a vase and then letting it drop to the ground, where it smashes into pieces.
“I saw it as a provocation by Weiwei to join him in an act of performance protest,” Maximo Caminero told the New Times.
However, Ai Weiwei said that his own destruction of vases was “a little different”.
“The work I work on [does] not belong to a museum or other people’s property. I never tried to destroy a museum piece – those vases belong to me. He can drop whatever he likes to drop, but not other people’s property,” the artist told BBC in Beijing.
The artist said he could not comment on the choices made by the museum’s curator, and such choices did not justify the destruction of somebody else’s work.
Ai Weiwei pointed out: “I still don’t have a chance to show my work in China or Beijing. I never even think of going to a museum in Beijing to protest – if I [did], I would be punished.”
One person has been killed and 77 injured in violence that followed the escape of asylum seekers from an Australian offshore immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea.
The man died of head injuries on the way to hospital, Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.
Thirteen people suffered serious injuries, including two who are being transferred to Australia for treatment, one with a gunshot wound.
He said the injuries occurred outside the camp, after the men broke out.
Australia sends asylum seekers arriving by boat for detention and processing in offshore camps in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific territory of Nauru.
Conditions in these camps have been strongly criticized by UN agencies and rights groups.
One person has been killed and 77 injured in violence that followed the escape of asylum seekers from an Australian offshore immigration detention center in Papua New Guinea
The violence took place late on Monday night.
The violence comes after some of the detainees briefly escaped from the detention centre on Sunday.
In recent months Australia has taken a very tough stance in a bid to halt the flow of asylum seekers, who arrive by boat via Indonesia.
Manus Island is one of two offshore processing camps in which asylum seekers are detained.
Australia has also initiated a policy – aimed as a deterrent – whereby those people found to be genuine refugees will be settled in Papua New Guinea rather than Australia.
Sunday’s break-out is reported to have taken place after detainees were told that they would not be resettled in Australia.
A long-awaited UN report urges the international community to act on evidence that crimes against humanity are being committed in North Korea.
A panel of experts mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council said North Koreans had suffered “unspeakable atrocities”, and that those responsible, including leader Kim Jong-un, must face justice.
The panel heard evidence of torture, political repression and other crimes.
Pyongyang refused to co-operate with the report and rejects its conclusions.
The UN commission said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had failed to respond to an advance copy of the report, and a letter which warned him he could be held personally responsible for abuses.
Testimony given to the panel from defectors included an account of a woman forced to drown her own baby, children imprisoned from birth and starved, and families tortured for watching a foreign soap opera.
Michael Kirby, chairman of the independent Commission of Inquiry, said the report “calls for attention from the international community”.
“At the end of the Second World War so many people said <<if only we had known… if only we had known the wrongs that were done in the countries of the hostile forces>>,” Michael Kirby said at a news conference at UN headquarters in Geneva.
“Well, now the international community does know… There will be no excusing of failure of action because we didn’t know,” he said.
“Too many times in this building there are reports and no action. Well this is a time for action.”
Michael Kirby, chairman of the independent Commission of Inquiry, said the UN report on North Korea calls for attention from the international community
The report is one of the most detailed and devastating ever published by the United Nations.
The “gravity, scale and nature” of the allegations “reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world”, it says.
The UN report reveals that in North Korea:
there is “an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion”
“entrenched patterns of discrimination”, rooted in the state-assigned class system, affect every part of life
discrimination against women is “pervasive in all aspects of society”
the state “has used food as a means of control over the population” and deliberately blocked aid for ideological reasons, causing the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of people
“hundreds of thousands of political prisoners” have died in “unspeakable atrocities” in prison camps in the past 50 years
security forces “systematically employ violence and punishments that amount to gross human rights violations in order to create a climate of fear”
“In many instances, the violations of human rights found by the commission constitute crimes against humanity,” says the report.
“These are not mere excesses of the state; they are essential components of a political system that has moved far from the ideals on which it claims to be founded.”
The UN “must ensure that those most responsible for the crimes against humanity” are held accountable, through a referral to the International Criminal Court, or a UN tribunal.
The United Nations should also adopt targeted sanctions “against those who appear to be most responsible for crimes against humanity”, says the report, and increase its monitoring of rights abuses in North Korea.
North Korea declined to participate in the panel’s investigation, and said it “categorically and totally rejects” the findings.
Its response came in a two-page statement sent to Reuters from its diplomatic mission in Geneva.
“The DPRK [North Korea] once again makes it clear that the <<human rights violations>> mentioned in the so-called <<report>> do not exist in our country.”
Michael Kirby said there was “a very good way to answer the many charges and complaints – and that is to allow the door to be opened” to the international community so they could see the situation for themselves.
Although this information has been in the public domain for years, the UN panel’s inquiry is the highest-profile international attempt to investigate the claims.
South Korea welcomed the report, saying it hoped it would “raise the international community’s awareness”, while the US said it “clearly and unequivocally documents the brutal reality” of the Pyongyang regime.
However China, North Korea’s only ally, said it would “not help resolve the human rights situation”.
The UN panel will formally present its findings next month, when the Human Rights Council will decide which recommendations to support.
However, it remains unclear what action will result. Correspondents say China would be likely to block any attempt to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court.
An ad-hoc tribunal, like those set up for Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Cambodia, would appear unlikely without co-operation from elements within the country.
Jason London and Sofia Karstens have split after almost three years of marriage.
Sofia Karstens filed for divorce on the first week of February, according to TMZ, and the couple has released a joint statement to the website, confirming the split.
Jason London and Sofia Karstens have split after almost three years of marriage
The release reads: “[We] love and respect each other… but feel the breakup is necessary to focus on some growth independently.”
Jason London, 41, was previously married to Charlie Spradling. Their divorce was finalized months before he wed Sofia Karstens in 2011.
Paris Hilton turns 33 today but she celebrated her birthday by throwing a huge party in LA over the weekend.
Paris Hilton marked her milestone in a bash at the Greystone Manor nightspot in Los Angeles on Saturday night, even playing a DJ set during the bash.
Paris Hilton marked her milestone in a bash at the Greystone Manor nightspot in Los Angeles
The hotel heiress was presented with a pink and gold tiered cake topped with her picture and she documented her party in a series of posts on her Twitter page.
Paris Hilton shared photos of her friends enjoying the fun and pictures of her pink-themed “Barbie” outfit, writing: “So much fun celebrating my birthday … with my girls … Yes, my dress was a lil revealing. But it’s my birthday & it’s a dress straight off the runway … Birthday Barbie … Such an amazing birthday party! Incredible memories! I [love] LA.”
Drake has been defended by Kanye West after becoming embroiled in a feud with Rolling Stone magazine editors over their decision to drop him from the cover in favor of a Philip Seymour Hoffman tribute.
The rapper hit headlines last week when he called Rolling Stone editors “evil” for ditching his picture from the front of the publication in favor of Philip Seymour Hoffman following his sudden death.
Drake also claimed the magazine misinterpreted his comments about Kanye West, after he criticized the fellow rapper’s last album Yeezus.
Drake has been defended by Kanye West after becoming embroiled in a feud with Rolling Stone magazine editors
Kanye West has now stepped in to defend his friend following the outburst. Speaking at his concert in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night.
Kim Kardashian’s fiance told the crowd: “They keep on talking about Drake and s**t, but I’m gonna tell what it is and isn’t with the magazines. They always be trying to pit n**gas against each other, and that ain’t going down no more. So tonight it ain’t none of that. We love Drake… If anything we’re gonna go after the motherf****** writing that negativity. Before they print some s*** like that, they need to check with me and him to see if it’s okay before they get ran up in they (sic) motherf****** office. It only costs 250 (dollars) to beat your a**.”
Author JK Rowling will publish another crime novel this summer, the second to be written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
Published on June 19, The Silkworm will again feature Cormoran Strike, the private detective JK Rowling, 48, introduced in 2013’s The Cuckoo’s Calling.
The Silkworm is JK Rowling’s second crime novel to be written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith
The author’s pseudonym was unmasked last year after the information was leaked by a member of her legal team.
The new novel sees Cormoran Strike on the trail of a novelist’s murderer.
Along with his assistant Robin Ellacott, Cormoran Strike will probe the death of a writer whose latest manuscript would have ruined several lives had it been published.
It has also been announced that JK Rowling will discuss her new career as a crime writer at a literary festival in North Yorkshire.
Muppets creator Jim Henson’s son John Henson has died of a heart attack at the age of 48.
John Paul Henson died at home on February 14, representatives for the Jim Henson Company said.
He was a shareholder and board member of the Jim Henson Company and was a puppeteer for The Muppets, playing the role of Sweetums between 1992 and 2003.
Jim Henson died in 1990 at age 53, and his wife Jane Henson, who helped create the Muppets, died last year.
Muppets creator Jim Henson’s son John Henson has died of a heart attack at the age of 48
Sweetums was an ogre who appeared in several films including Muppet Treasure Island and It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
In a statement, the company said John Henson was with one of his daughters when he died.
He is survived by four siblings, his wife and two daughters, aged 15 and 10.
A private funeral service is being planned.
On the Jim Henson Company Facebook page, John Henson’s family wrote: “John had the deepest soul of any man alive; sensitive, artistic, and extremely compassionate, there was no limit to his love.”
John Travolta has described the death of his teenage son Jett as “the worst thing” that’s ever happened in his life.
During an on-stage interview at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, John Travolta said: “The truth is, I didn’t know if I was going to make it.
“Life was no longer interesting to me, so it took a lot to get me better.”
Jett Travolta died at the age of 16 in January 2009 from a seizure during a family holiday in the Bahamas.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston have since confirmed their eldest son was autistic and had a history of seizures.
John Travolta has described the death of his teenage son Jett as “the worst thing” that’s ever happened in his life
The couple has two other children: 13-year-old daughter Ella Bleu and three-year-old son Benjamin.
John Travolta, 59, said he “didn’t want to wake up” following Jett’s death and that the Church of Scientology had been pivotal to his recovery in the weeks and months afterwards.
“I will forever be grateful to Scientology for supporting me for two years solid, I mean Monday through Sunday,” he continued.
“They didn’t take a day off, working through different angles of the techniques to get through grief and loss, and to make me feel that finally I could get through a day.”
The actor has been a follower of the controversial religion since the 1970s and said it had “saved his life” on more than one occasion.
John Travolta’s 90-minute appearance saw him field questions about various aspects of his life, career and keen interest in aviation.
Also addressed was the mid-career slump that followed his appearances in Saturday Night Fever and Grease, a downturn that was only arrested when Quentin Tarantino cast him as a heroin-abusing hitman in 1994’s Pulp Fiction.
Sunday’s event, held near to, and at the same time as, this year’s BAFTA Film Awards, came two days before the actor’s 60th birthday and ended with him being presented with a cake shaped like an airplane.
Members of the audience were invited on stage at one point for an impromptu dance lesson, while a discussion on James Bond led to the star impersonating Scottish icon Sean Connery.
John Travolta’s appearance followed similar “evenings with” Al Pacino and Sylvester Stallone in London.
Three Greek diplomats and other five people are facing charges in Greece in connection with an alleged fraud involving an anti-landmine charity.
The former head of the unnamed charity and his wife are among those involved in the long-running inquiry.
The charges relate to 9 million euros ($12 million) given to the NGO between 2000 and 2004 by the Greek foreign ministry.
Police allege the funding, given to clear mines in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq and Lebanon, was obtained illegally.
Three Greek diplomats and other five people are facing charges in Greece in connection with an alleged fraud involving an anti-landmine charity
Investigators believe the organization did not fulfill the funding requirements.
Senior officials who were working at the time in the Greek foreign ministry and other ministries have been caught up in the scandal, according to Greek news agency ANA-MPA.
The eight suspects face charges of obtaining taxpayers’ money improperly.
Under Greek rules, 25% of the funds for development projects should be met by charities to enable the government to cover the remaining sum.
But police told reporters that staff working on the eight projects were allegedly told to give back 20-30% of their salaries as contributions, to ensure funding continued.
Correspondents in Athens say there is public pressure on the Greek authorities to take action against fraud, as many ordinary people feel that while they have to tighten their belts as part of the austerity drive, the political class remains corrupt.
Ten illegal gold miners have been arrested after emerging from an old South African mine, with more still underground.
Some of the men came out after being told there were no police around.
The miners are reported to have been trapped by a rival group.
Those underground are once more refusing to leave the mine shaft for fear of being arrested.
The landscape around the abandoned mine near Johannesburg is dotted with similar abandoned shafts – attracting men from around the region with the promise of remaining gold deposits.
Some men may also be resisting coming to the surface of the mine because they fear losing any gold they have found, say correspondents.
Previous reports suggested as many as 200 fellow miners remained underground, but the latest estimates put the figure far lower, at about 15.
One man came halfway up the shaft and then turned round when he saw the cameras.
Ten illegal gold miners have been arrested after emerging from the old South African mine
Notices warning miners that they face arrest and that the mine will be sealed in two weeks’ time have been thrown down the shaft.
Many of the miners are from Lesotho, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, officials say.
The official rescue operation was suspended on Sunday after 11 miners agreed to come out. All 11 face charges of illegal mining, police say.
Other trapped miners refused to leave after discovering they faced arrest.
Rescue personnel were seen negotiating with the men and those emerging were not immediately arrested.
It appears police “allowed” one miner to walk away – as a tactic to convince others to come out.
The 10 men are all said to be in good health.
The men are believed to have become trapped because a rival group of miners stole some of their gold haul and then blocked the shaft with rocks to prevent a pursuit.
The miners are believed to have been trapped since Saturday morning in an open field near the town of Benoni.
The men used an old ventilation shaft to access the mine – one of many such holes in the area.
Police heard cries for help when they were patrolling the area on Sunday morning.
The men do not want to relinquish the gold they have found. They are leaving gold underground because they know they will face a harsher jail term if found in possession of illegally mined gold.
Mining is a vital part of the South African economy and the country is the fourth-biggest gold exporter.
At least three people have been killed and dozens of university students are reported to be trapped in a building collapse in Gyeongju, South Korea.
Fire services told AFP that part of the ceiling of an auditorium collapsed at the resort complex, during an orientation event for first-year students.
It appears to have been caused by heavy snow on the roof, they said.
Local media reports say the collapse happened at around 21:15 local time, though there is confusion over the number of students in the hall at the time, with some reports saying 100 and others as many as 450.
Rescue workers with heavy equipment are at the scene but heavy snow around the mountain resort is thought to be slowing access.
Dozens of university students are reported to be trapped in the building collapse in Gyeongju
Around 1,000 students from Busan University of Foreign Studies were at the resort, said an official. Many managed to get out from the damaged building by themselves, he said, and about 20 have been rescued and taken to hospital.
Yonhap news agency reported the students were attending a concert in the auditorium when the roof fell in.
The area has experienced exceptionally heavy snowfall over the past week.
South Korea was the site of one of the world’s worst peacetime building collapses in June 1995, when Seoul’s Sampoong Department Store collapsed, killing hundreds.
Canadian speedskater Brittany Schussler posted a selfie with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Twitter, saying she should have asked him to be her Valentine.
After a barrage of tweets from LBGT advocates taking her to task for posing with Vladimir Putin, Brittany Schussler removed the tweet, but the damage was done.
Brittany Schussler posted a selfie with Vladimir Putin on Twitter, saying she should have asked him to be her Valentine
Vladimir Putin and the Russian government have been roundly criticized for their anti-gay stance leading up to and during the Sochi Games.
Brittany Schussler took the selfie on Friday night, when Vladimir Putin visited both the American and Canadian houses. Both countries were criticized for allowing Vladimir Putin to visit.
Matteo Renzi, the mayor of Florence, has been asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new government in Italy.
Enrico Letta resigned as prime minister on Friday, after he was ousted in a vote called by Matteo Renzi at a meeting of their centre-left Democratic Party.
Matteo Renzi, who has never been elected as MP, will now have to come to a deal with Enrico Letta’s former coalition partners.
He will begin talks on Tuesday and could be sworn in on Thursday.
Matteo Renzi would become Italy’s youngest ever prime minister, two months younger than Benito Mussolini when he came to power in 1922.
In a separate development on Monday, Italy’s borrowing costs dropped to their lowest rates for almost eight years. Ten-year debt bonds fell to 3.64%, seen as an apparent nod from the markets towards Matteo Renzi’s plans for economic reform.
Matteo Renzi, the mayor of Florence, has been asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new government in Italy
Matteo Renzi, the Democratic Party leader, spent some 90 minutes in talks with President Giorgio Napolitano in Rome on Monday morning.
Constitutional changes would be put forward by the end of February, labor reforms by March and improvements to bureaucracy the following month.
“The most pressing emergency, which concerns my generation and others, is the emergency of labor, of unemployment and of despair,” Matteo Renzi told reporters.
Democratic Party colleague Maria Elena Boschi said it would take several days to form a new administration.
After being sworn in by the president, Matteo Renzi would need to win votes of confidence in both houses of parliament.
Matteo Renzi, 39, helped to engineer Enrico Letta’s ousting as prime minister after questioning the performance of his coalition government and accusing him of failing to implement promised reforms of what is seen as an often corrupt and wasteful bureaucracy.
Enrico Letta had come under increasing pressure over Italy’s poor economic performance and Matteo Renzi argued that a change of government was needed to end “uncertainty”.
French prosecutor Patrick Quincy investigating Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident says he has found no evidence of wrongdoing and has closed the probe.
Patrick Quincy said that the markers and information given at the Meribel resort where the accident happened conformed to French laws.
Michael Schumacher, 45, legend has been in intensive care since the incident on December 29.
The former Formula 1 champion was skiing off-piste when he fell and hit his head on a rock.
French prosecutor Patrick Quincy investigating Michael Schumacher’s skiing accident says he has found no evidence of wrongdoing and has closed the probe
Investigators found that the rock which caused Michael Schumacher to fall was 34 ft away from the rock on which he hit his head.
Both the rocks were more than 4m from the edge of the piste.
The seven-time world racing champion remains in hospital in Grenoble.
His spokeswoman said on January 30 that the medical team was reducing his sedation to prepare to gradually bring him out of a coma.
Michael Schumacher retired from racing in 2012 after a 19-year career.
According to Swiss police, the co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva.
The hijacker – who has been arrested – waited for the pilot to go to the toilet to lock himself in the cockpit. He was unarmed. He has requested asylum in Switzerland.
The airline said in a statement that all 202 passengers and crew were safe.
Geneva airport, which was closed for a time, has now reopened.
The 30-year-old co-pilot has sought asylum due to fear of persecution in Ethiopia, police said at a news conference.
After locking himself in the cockpit, he asked to refuel at Geneva, landed the plane, climbed down from the cockpit window using a rope (available in the cockpit), and gave himself up to police.
He was unarmed and there was no risk at any time to crew or passengers, police said.
The co-pilot of the Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome has hijacked the aircraft and landed in Geneva
The situation inside the plane remained calm throughout.
The co-pilot himself alerted the authorities to the plane’s hijacking, officials added – and passengers on the plane were unaware it had been hijacked.
The only possible offence the co-pilot could be charged with is that of hostage-taking, for which he could face up to 20 years of imprisonment, a Geneva prosecutor said at the news conference.
Flight 702 was scheduled to leave the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, at 00:30 local time, and arrive in Rome at 04:40 local time.
The Boeing 767-300 made an unscheduled landing in the Swiss city at 06:00.
The evacuation of passengers began at about 07:25; they were all searched twice and have been questioned by police.
The hijacking began over Italy, and two fighter jets – probably Italian – were scrambled to accompany the plane, Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon said at the news conference.
The last hijacking to take place at Geneva airport was that of an Air Afrique plane in 1985.
The UN inquiry into rights abuses in North Korea is due to be published, and is expected to urge punishment for systematic violations by the state.
A panel of experts mandated by the UN’s Human Rights Council said North Koreans had suffered “unspeakable atrocities”.
The panel heard evidence of torture, enslavement, sexual violence, severe political repression and other crimes.
It is expected to recommend an inquiry by an international court or tribunal.
Testimony to the panel has included an account of a woman forced to drown her own baby, children imprisoned from birth and starved, and families tortured for watching a foreign soap opera.
The full report is expected to contain hundreds of pages of further evidence of a nationwide policy of control through terror, says our correspondent.
The Associated Press quoted from a leaked version of the panel’s report, which accuses the regime of taking decisions aimed at maintaining its own rule “in full awareness that such decisions would exacerbate starvation and related deaths amongst much of the population”.
For years, North Korean defectors have detailed harrowing accounts of life under the brutally repressive Kim dynasty.
The UN inquiry into rights abuses in North Korea is expected to urge punishment for systematic violations by the state
The regime keeps tens of thousands of political prisoners in camps, and divides the population up in terms of presumed loyalty to the regime.
Civilians live under a system of neighborhood surveillance where they are encouraged to denounce each other, according to defectors.
Although this information has been in the public domain for years, the panel’s inquiry is the highest-profile international attempt to investigate the claims.
North Korea refused to participate and has rejected any claims of rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Jared Genser, an international human rights lawyer who has campaigned to stop crimes against humanity in North Korea, said the findings were both ground-breaking and unremarkable.
“They’re ground-breaking in that it’s the first time that the United Nations as an institution has found that crimes against humanity are being committed against the people of North Korea,” he said.
“Of course, it puts a huge burden on the United Nations to then take the next set of steps.”
“But of course it’s also unremarkable in the sense that those of us who have worked on North Korea human rights for many, many years are aware of the sheer weight of evidence coming out of North Korea over decades now… And so the real question now is, what next?”
According to AP, which has seen an outline of the report’s findings, the document will conclude that the testimony and other information it received “merit a criminal investigation by a competent national or international organ of justice”.
However, China would be likely to block any attempt to refer the North to the International Criminal Court.
And an ad-hoc tribunal like those set up for Rwanda, Sierra Leone or Cambodia would appear unlikely without any co-operation from elements within the country.
The UN panel will formally present its findings in March, when the Human Rights Council will decide which recommendations to support.
Venezuela is expelling three US consular officials, accusing them of meeting students involved in anti-government protests.
The country has seen growing political tension and rallies, with three protesters dying in clashes last week.
An arrest warrant has been issued for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has pledged to lead a march in the capital Caracas on Tuesday.
The US has expressed concern about arrests of opposition protesters.
President Nicolas Maduro did not name the US officials being expelled, when he made the announcement in a national TV broadcast, but said the foreign ministry would give details later.
“It’s a group of US functionaries who are in the universities. We’ve been watching them having meetings in the private universities for two months. They work in visas,” the president said.
“Venezuela doesn’t take orders from anyone!” he added.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry issued a statement expressing concern about the rising tensions in Venezuela.
Venezuela is expelling three US consular officials, accusing them of meeting students involved in anti-government protests
“We are particularly alarmed by reports that the Venezuelan government has arrested or detained scores of anti-government protestors and issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez,” read the statement.
The main opposition grievances are high inflation, crime and the shortage of some staples.
The government has blamed the shortages on “saboteurs” and “profit-hungry corrupt businessmen”.
Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was last seen on Wednesday, when three men were shot dead at the end of opposition protests in the capital.
President Nicolas Maduro says an arrest warrant was issued against Leopoldo Lopez shortly after the incidents.
Nicolas Maduro has accused Leopoldo Lopez of inciting violence as part of a coup plot against his left-wing government.
The opposition says they were killed by pro-government militias known as “colectivos”.
Leopoldo Lopez, 42, is a former mayor of Chacao district, in eastern Caracas. He organized the recent protests against the government.
On Sunday morning, Venezuelan police searched the houses of Leopoldo Lopez and his parents.
Hours later, he posted a new message on Twitter and a three-minute long video. He said he had not committed any crime and challenged the authorities to arrest him at the next protest.
“I want to invite all of you to join me on a march on Tuesday from Venezuela Square [in central Caracas] towards the Justice Ministry building, which has become a symbol of repression, torture and lies,” Leopoldo Lopez said on the video.
He called on his supporters to dress in white, “to reaffirm our commitment to peace”.
“I will be there to show my face. I have nothing to fear. I have not committed any crime. If there is any order to illegally arrest me, well, I will be there,” added Leopoldo Lopez.
For his part, President Nicolas Maduro called on oil workers from the state company PDVSA to march to the presidential palace on Tuesday.
According to new documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the Australian secret services tapped a US law firm representing Indonesia in a trade dispute with the US.
The 2013 document obtained by the New York Times does not identify the US law firm, but says the Australians offered the intercepts to their allies at the National Security Agency (NSA).
Previous allegations of Australian spying on Indonesia has led to worsening ties.
Last month, Edward Snowden alleged that the NSA conducted industrial espionage.
In an interview with Germany’s ARD TV channel, Edward Snowden said the agency would spy on big German companies that competed with US firms.
The February 2013 document says the Australian Signals Directorate monitored a US law firm used by the government of Indonesia for trade talks, according to the New York Times.
The Australians said that “information covered by attorney-client privilege may be included” in the intelligence they offered to share with the NSA, it says.
Last month, Edward Snowden alleged that the NSA conducted industrial espionage
It is not clear which trade talks were involved.
Indonesia has recently been embroiled in a number of disputes with the US – one over the US ban of clove cigarettes, another centering on the exports of prawns which the US alleged were being sold at below-market prices.
Chicago-based firm Mayer Brown was identified by the newspaper as having advised the Indonesian government at the time. The firm has not commented, nor has the Indonesian government or the NSA.
Australian PM Tony Abbot refused to confirm the alleged document, adding that intelligence-gathering was used “to protect our citizens and the citizens of other countries”.
“We certainly don’t use it for commercial purposes,” Tony Abbot said.
In November, Indonesia suspended co-ordinated military co-operation with Australia amid an ongoing row over reports that Canberra spied on Jakarta officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The suspension included operations to stop people-smuggling, joint military exercises and intelligence exchange.
The NSA is prohibited from targeting Americans inside the US without warrants, but it can intercept the communications of Americans if they are in contact with a foreign intelligence target abroad.
In August last year, Russia granted Edward Snowden asylum for one year, after he leaked details of US electronic surveillance programs.
