McDonald’s has opened its first restaurant in communist-controlled Vietnam.
Hundreds of people queued for the opening of the restaurant in the southern city of Ho Chi Minh, AFP says.
Ho Chi Minh, known as Saigon during the Vietnam War, was where the US-backed government was based until it fell to communist forces 38 years ago.
The first McDonald’s restaurant in Vietnam is being run by the prime minister’s son-in-law.
Henry Nguyen flipped burgers at a McDonald’s restaurant while a teenager growing up in the United States, where his family fled at the end of the war.
The first McDonald’s restaurant in Vietnam is being run by the prime minister’s son-in-law
He said last July, after winning the franchise, it had been his dream to open a McDonald’s since returning to Vietnam more than a decade ago.
The move underlines Vietnam’s hunger for Western consumer brands and the attractions for foreign investors, say observers.
Despite the Vietnamese economy’s recent slowdown, foreign brands are popular among the youthful population whose parents had few of the food and lifestyle options now available in the country.
Starbucks, Subway, Burger King, and KFC all have a presence there.
Henry Nguyen is the founder of travel and food group Good Day Hospitality and managing general partner of investment firm IDG Ventures Vietnam. He is married to the daughter of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
This year’s World Sauna Championships in Finland have ended in tragedy with the death of finalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky.
Russian Vladimir Ladyzhensky and his Finnish rival, Timo Kaukonen, collapsed after suffering severe burns. Vladimir Ladyzhensky later died in hospital.
The event requires participants to withstand 110C (230F) for as long as possible. The men managed six minutes before judges noticed something amiss.
Chief organizer Ossi Arvela said all the rules of the event had been followed.
“All the rules were followed and there were enough first aid personnel. All the competitors needed to sign in to the competition with a doctor’s certificate,” Ossi Arvela told reporters in Heinola, where it was held.
This year’s World Sauna Championships in Finland have ended in tragedy with the death of finalist Vladimir Ladyzhensky
Half a litre of water was added to the stove inside the sauna every 30 seconds, and the last person remaining was the winner. There was no prize other than “some small things”, he told the Associated Press.
“I know this is very hard to understand to people outside Finland who are not familiar with the sauna habit,” he said.
“It is not so unusual to have 110 degrees in a sauna. A lot of competitors before have sat in higher temperatures than that.”
Timo Kaukonen, the defending world champion, had refused to leave the sauna during the final despite appearing sick, Ossi Arvela said. He is now said to be in a stable condition in hospital.
Ossi Arvela said police were already investigating Vladimir Ladyzhensky’s death, which he said had left the organizers grief-stricken.
The event, which had over 130 participants from 15 countries, had been held since 1999. Organizers said the competition would never be held again.
President Vladimir Putin met his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics, officials say.
Neither side would confirm what was discussed during the informal conversation during the opening ceremony in the Russian city of Sochi.
Russia has frozen delivery of a $15 billion bailout program pending the formation of a new government in Kiev.
Mass anti-government protests erupted in Ukraine in late November.
Vladimir Putin met his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics
Under pressure from Moscow, Viktor Yanukovych had refused to sign a far-reaching association and trade agreement with the EU.
Amid continuing protests, Viktor Yanukovych has accepted the resignation of PM Mykola Azarov – widely seen as pro-Moscow – and a new prime minister has yet to be nominated.
The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yanukovych in Sochi on Friday evening was confirmed by senior Russian and Ukrainian officials.
There was no information about what was discussed, but correspondents speculate it was likely to include the suspended Russian financial package – which Ukraine desperately needs in the face of a sliding currency, dwindling foreign reserves and rising borrowing costs.
Viktor Yanukovych’s meeting with Vladimir Putin follows talks in Kiev last Wednesday between Yanukovych and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.
Japanese authorities warned Tokyo residents to stay indoors as a severe snow storm hit the capital.
Correspondents say it is the first such warning for the city in 13 years.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, roads closed and some train services suspended.
Japanese authorities warned Tokyo residents to stay indoors as a severe snow storm hit the capital
Local media has reported that at least 43 people have been injured because of snow-related accidents, with as much as 1.6 in of snow recorded on Saturday morning in Tokyo.
Weather forecasters have warned that with a rapidly developing low pressure front heading towards eastern Japan, more snow can be expected.
Last year parts of northern Japan had as much as 18ft of snow – a record-breaking amount that caused buildings to collapse under its immense weight.
08:00 Ice hockey – women’s group stage. The US and defending champions Canada, expected to be the two women’s ice hockey finalists for the fourth time in five Games, begin their campaigns against Finland and Switzerland respectively. (08:00 US-Finland, 13:00 Canada-Switzerland)
08:45 Snowboard – men’s slopestyle final. Canada’s Mark McMorris and US legend Shaun White were expected to feature in the battle for men’s gold until White pulled out on February 5, citing “the potential risk of injury” on a course where Norway’s Torstein Horgmo had earlier broken his collarbone. That leaves Mark McMorris – himself competing with a broken rib – and fellow Canadian Seb Toutant among the leading contenders for gold.
Sochi Winter Games 2014
11:30 Speed skating – men’s 5,000m.
14:30 Biathlon – men’s sprint.
Also: Figure skating (team event continues), luge (men’s singles, runs one and two), ski jump (men’s normal-hill qualifying).
Princess Cristina of Spain is due to be questioned in court in connection with a corruption scandal involving the business dealings of her husband Inaki Urdangarin.
It will be the first time in history that a member of Spain’s royal family has appeared in court as the subject of a criminal investigation.
Inaki Urdangarin is alleged to have defrauded regional governments of millions of euros of public money.
Infanta Cristina and Inaki Urdangarin deny any wrongdoing, and have not been charged.
Spain’s royal household admits the case has damaged the reputation and credibility of Spain’s royals, and, partly because of this scandal, the popularity of King Juan Carlos has fallen in recent years.
Pro-republican campaigners have vowed to demonstrate near the court.
Princess Cristina of Spain is due to be questioned in court in connection with a corruption scandal involving the business dealings of her husband Inaki Urdangarin
Princess Cristina, 48, will be accompanied by her lawyer as she answers dozens of questions from a judge in a closed-door hearing.
Proceedings are set to start at 10:00 local time at the main court building in Palma de Mallorca, capital of the Balearic Islands.
The judge has named her as a fraud and money-laundering suspect.
The allegations relate to a supposedly not-for-profit organization called Noos, of which Inaki Urdangarin was president.
The foundation staged a series of sporting events for the regional governments of the Balearic Islands and Valencia.
Inaki Urdangarin is accused of organizing the events at hugely inflated prices.
With a former business partner, he is alleged to have received a total of 5.6 million euros ($7.5 million) in public money.
Princess Cristina is suspected of spending some of that money on personal expenses.
There are also questions about what Princess Cristina knew about the alleged wrongdoing of her husband.
Woody Allen is again denying he molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in an open letter published online by The New York Times.
Woody Allen, 78, said Dylan Farrow had been coached to make the claim by his estranged former partner, Mia Farrow.
He wrote in the newspaper that Dylan Farrow had been “used as a pawn for revenge” against him by her mother.
Dylan Farrow wrote last week in the New York Times that Woody Allen abused her in 1992 when she was seven years old in an attic at Mia Farrow’s Connecticut home.
Woody Allen alleges that Mia Farrow orchestrated the “smear” after discovering earlier in the same year that he was having an affair with her other adopted daughter from a previous partner, Soon-Yi Previn.
He began a relationship with Soon-Yi Previn when she was about 19. They wed in 1997 and remain married.
“Not that I doubt Dylan hasn’t come to believe she’s been molested,but if from the age of 7 a vulnerable child is taught by a strong mother to hate her father because he is a monster who abused her, is it so inconceivable that after many years of this indoctrination the image of me Mia wanted to establish had taken root?” Woody Allen wrote.
Woody Allen is again denying he molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in an open letter
He adds: “Of course, I did not molest Dylan. I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter’s well-being.”
Dylan Farrow has previously said she decided to break her silence after two decades when Allen Allen’s latest film, Blue Jasmine, was nominated for an Oscar.
But Woody Allen said in his rebuttal that her allegation includes “creative flourishes that seem to have magically appeared during our 21-year estrangement”.
He wrote that he always kept away from the cramped attic because he suffers from claustrophobia.
“When I was in the blissful early stages of a happy new relationship with the woman I’d go on to marry, that I would pick this moment in time to embark on a career as a child molester should seem to the most skeptical mind highly unlikely,” he wrote.
Woody Allen points out that a panel of psychologists, appointed by prosecutors, concluded Dylan Farrow had not been molested.
He also wrote that he had passed a lie-detector test over the matter, while Mia Farrow, now 68, declined to take one.
Woody Allen said the article would be “my final word on this entire matter”, concluding: “Enough people have been hurt.”
US citizen Kenneth Bae, who is being held for more than a year in North Korea, has been moved back to a labor camp, US officials say.
State department officials and Kenneth Bae’s sister were quoted as saying the 45-year-old had been returned from a hospital to the camp on January 20.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American, was arrested in November 2012 and sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May.
North Korea says Kenneth Bae used his tourism business to form groups to overthrow the government.
He was taken to hospital last year after suffering dramatic weight loss. His family says he has several health complaints including diabetes and liver problems.
State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Washington had learned about Kenneth Bae’s transfer to the camp from representatives of the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which acts on behalf of the US in North Korea.
Kenneth Bae is being held for more than a year in North Korea
Jennifer Psaki said the Swedish diplomats “have met Mr. Bae 10 times since his detention, most recently on February 7 in a labor camp”.
She added: “We continue to urge DPRK (North Korean) authorities to grant Mr. Bae special amnesty and immediate release on humanitarian grounds.”
Jennifer Psaki did not specify when Kenneth Bae had been forced back to the camp.
However, a US state department official and Kenneth Bae’s sister confirmed the January 20 date.
“He’s back to eight-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week hard labor,” Terri Chung, Kenneth Bae’s sister, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
Pyongyang has so far made no official comment on the reports.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama used the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington to say: “We pray for Kenneth Bae, a Christian missionary who has been left in North Korea for 15 months.”
“His family wants him home, and the United States will continue to do everything in our power to secure his release because Kenneth Bae deserves to be free.”
If confirmed, Kenneth Bay was returned to the camp on the same day as spoke to foreign media in North Korea under heavy prison guard – his first “press conference” since the detention.
Kenneth Bae denied media reports that he had been badly treated and called for US “co-operation” to secure his release.
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and shortening, stirring occasionally until smooth. Holding them by the toothpicks, dip the strawberries into the chocolate mixture.
Insert toothpicks into the tops of the strawberries.
Turn the strawberries upside down and insert the toothpick into styrofoam for the chocolate to cool.
An Ukrainian passenger, who is suspected of making a bomb threat and trying to hijack a plane, demanding to go to the Winter Olympics venue of Sochi, is now in custody in Turkey.
Turkey scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to accompany the Pegasus Airlines plane as it landed at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport after a flight from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov.
Security officials are searching the plane, which had 110 passengers aboard.
Turkey scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to accompany the Pegasus Airlines plane as it landed at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport after a flight from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov
A Ukrainian man sitting in seat 2F said he had a bomb on him and demanded that the flight be diverted to Sochi, Hasip Soluk Habertük, the Turkish Undersecretary of Transportation told reporters.
The crew told him: “Yes, we are directing the flight to Sochi,” according to the transportation official. But then the pilots turned off the in-flight monitors and flew to Istanbul.
Once plane entered Turkish airspace, the plane was escorted by two Turkish F-16s.
The plane is in a secure area at Istanbul’s airport. Passengers and crew are still inside plane.
Meanwhile, Sochi Winter Olympics kicked off with a spectacular opening ceremony.
Despite temperatures below 40 F, Team Bermuda made its appearance at Sochi Winter Games Opening Ceremony rocking the namesake leg garment of their nation.
Despite temperatures below 40 F, Team Bermuda made its appearance at Sochi Winter Games Opening Ceremony rocking the namesake leg garment of their nation
Team Bermuda it’s just one person – Tucker Murphy, a 32-year-old cross-country skier who was born in Dallas.
Tucker Murphy finished 88th in the 15 km event in 2010 in Vancouver.
Sochi has opened the 22nd Winter Olympics with a spectacular ceremony.
More than 2,900 athletes from 87 nations paraded before 40,000 people in the Fisht Stadium before President Vladimir Putin declared the Games open.
The Olympic flame was lit by Russian former triple gold medalists Vladislav Tretiak and Irina Rodnina as fireworks illuminated the night sky.
At a cost of $50 billion, the Sochi Games is the most expensive Olympics in history.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach used his welcome speech at the ceremony to promote Olympic values of diversity and non-discrimination.
“The Olympics are about building bridges to bring people together,” Thomas Bach said.
“They are not about erecting walls to keep people apart. Embrace human diversity and unity.”
President Barack Obama and UK’s PM David Cameron stayed away from the ceremony, which was attended by 44 heads of state.
Vladimir Putin avoided making a political statement as he stuck to protocol by using a single sentence to declare the Games open.
Sochi has opened the 22nd Winter Olympics with a spectacular ceremony
Spectators inside the stadium and television viewers worldwide were treated to a glittering show lasting nearly three hours and featuring 22 tonnes of fireworks.
In a grand finale, tennis star Maria Sharapova, who grew up in Sochi, carried the Olympic flame into the stadium before it passed through the hands of pole vault world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, wrestler Aleksandr Karelin and gymnast Alina Kabaeva,
It was carried out of the arena by former figure skater Irina Rodnina and ice hockey player Vladislav Tretiak, who lit the cauldron in the middle of the Olympic park while Igor Stravinksy’s Firebird Suite filled the stadium.
In a break from Olympic tradition, the teams had earlier entered in the order of the Russian alphabet, with the host nation coming in last to deafening cheers.
Athletes from the competing nations appeared to emerge from their country’s map courtesy of a dazzling light show.
While some nations – including Nepal, Mexico and Pakistan – are sending only one competitor, the US team of 230 athletes is the largest in the history of the Winter Games.
The US have never appeared at an Olympics on Russian soil having boycotted the Moscow summer Games in 1980.
The ceremony featured a colorful journey through Russian history, celebrating the country’s rich heritage in art, music and ballet, with 3,000 performers and 2,000 volunteers taking part.
In a moving sequence the lights were lowered as performers, dressed in white to symbolize peace, danced to the strains of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Hosting an Olympics for the first time since 1980, Russian athletes are under pressure to improve on the embarrassment of 11th place at the last Winter Games in Vancouver.
Russia has devoted $940 million to elite winter sport since winning the bid to host these Games seven years ago.
The first medals of the Games will be decided on Saturday with five golds up for grabs in biathlon, cross country skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding and speed skating.
Sochi Winter Games kicked off with a little girl named Lubov walking us through Russian history and culture in an eye-catching opening sequence.
When it was over, five giant illuminated snowflakes appeared suspended inside the Fisht Olympic Stadium, looking like something straight out of a child’s Spirograph.
Sochi Winter Games 2014 opening ceremony kicked off with Olympic ring glitch
The snowflakes morphed into the five Olympic rings. Except for that pesky last snowflake.
Vancouver had its own issues during the Opening Ceremonies back in 2010, when the elaborate cauldron failed to fully form, leaving Wayne Gretzky hanging.
Philip Seymour Hoffman will be digitally recreated for at least one scene in TheHunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, according to the New York Post.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died last week at the age of 46, played gamesmaker Plutarch Heavensbee in the film.
He had only a week left of filming for the franchise’s final film when he died of an apparent overdose on Sunday.
Philip Seymour Hoffman will be digitally recreated for at least one scene in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2
Instead of rewriting the script, the film’s editors will use computer effects and camera tricks to digitally insert Philip Seymour into at least one major emotional scene, according to New York Post’s Page Six.
“You can do digital things, you can have conversations where you’re not focusing on him but the people he’s talking to,” a source tied to the films told The Hollywood Reporter.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 will be released in November 2014.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part2 is set for November 2015.
Bosnia-Herzegovina protesters have set fire to government buildings as violent protests continue across the country for a third day.
Police have used rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters in the capital Sarajevo and the northern town of Tuzla.
Black smoke could be seen gushing from the presidency building in Sarajevo.
The protesters are unhappy about the lack of economic and political progress in the Balkan country.
About 40% of Bosnians are unemployed. The unrest is the worst since the end of the Bosnian war.
Bosnia-Herzegovina protesters have set fire to government buildings as violent protests continue across the country for a third day
At least 100 people have been injured in Friday’s protests in the capital.
Sarajevo-based newspaper Dnevni Avaaz says that police used water to disperse protesters who were throwing stones at the presidency building.
On Thursday, clashes between police and demonstrators in Tuzla injured more than 130 people, mostly police officers.
The unrest began in Tuzla earlier in the week, with protests over the closure and sale of factories which had employed most of the local population.
Demonstrators in other towns, including Mostar, Zenica and Bihac, supported the Tuzla workers and criticized the government for failing to tackle the rampant unemployment.
Hundreds of people also gathered in support in the Bosnian Serb capital, Banja Luka.
Local media are reporting that the premiers of two of Bosnia’s cantons – Sead Causevic of Tuzla canton and Munib Husejnagic of Zenica-Doboj canton – are to resign.
Ellen DeGeneres took some time out of her talk show on Wednesday to address rumors that have surfaced in the last several months suggesting she and Portia de Rossi are split-bound.
“The other day I was at the hair salon getting these extensions put in,” Ellen DeGeneres joked.
“And there were tabloids all over the hair salon… and on one of them, Portia and I were in the top right-hand corner. And I thought, <<Oh that’s so sweet, they’re honoring us>>. But then I read the headline underneath. And it said, <<Ellen and Portia Marriage Crumbles>>. And I was like, <<Oh, what happened? They seemed so happy>>. And then I was like, <<Wait, I’m Ellen>>. And I should know if that was happening.”
Ellen DeGeneres took some time out of her talk show to address rumors suggesting she and Portia de Rossi are split-bound
Ellen DeGeneres’s monologue took a more serious turn when she shot down the rumors.
“It’s so ridiculous to me. There’s not one ounce of truth to any of it. I’m very happily married. In fact, the only thing we ever argue about is who loves who more. That is all. It really is true,” she said.
“And we argue if we’d let a kangaroo carry us around in its pouch for a year. I would. She wouldn’t. She’ll change her mind. Who wouldn’t want to be in the pouch of a kangaroo for a year? Hopping around. And she’s like ‘no’ but anyway.”
And if an announcement about some big change in her life ever needs to be made, Ellen DeGeneres, 55, promised: “I’ll announce it here first.”
Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi married in August 2008 after 4 years of dating.
Duck Dynasty ratings took another drop last night.
After scoring a healthy 3.0 rating in the crucial 18-49 year old age group last week, the redneck reality show dipped back down to 2.5 for the February 5 episode.
However, the rating was enough to lead Duck Dynasty reality show to another Wednesday night victory among all cable shows.
Duck Dynasty topped the night as it has each of the four weeks so far in Season 5.
Duck Dynasty ratings took another drop last night
The Mark Wahlberg-generated reality series, Wahlburgers, also took a dip, likely suffering from the weaker Duck Dynasty lead-in. But in the absence of usual second-pace finisher American Horror Story, Wahlburgers managed to squeak into the second-ranked cable spot last night, with a 1.5 rating, down somewhat from its 1.7 of the previous week.
Wahlburgers, similar to Duck Dynasty, follows a wealthy family as they try to keep a business running smoothly.
Duck Dynasty also pulled in more than 6.5 million sets of eyeballs last night, almost twice as many as Wahlburgers, which had just under 3.5 million viewers.
Oprah Winfrey is in talks to make her Broadway debut in a revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Night, Mother, the New York Times reported.
George C. Wolfe is expected to direct the production, which will star fellow Tony Award winner Audra McDonald as a mother desperate to prevent her daughter from killing herself.
Scott Sanders is among the producers, who are reportedly aiming for the 2015-16 Broadway season.
‘Night, Mother is a 1983 play by Marsha Norman about a daughter, Jessie, and her mother, Thelma.
Oprah Winfrey is in talks to make her Broadway debut in a revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play ‘Night, Mother
Marsha Norman worked with Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders as the book writer on The Color Purple.
“Oprah has had a longstanding desire to act on Broadway,” Scott Sanders told the New York Times.
“She understands how unique and challenging performing live on stage will be as an actress. She and I have been looking at a number of plays and roles in order to find material and a character that truly resonate with her. We’ve recently read something that we’re both excited about but are not yet ready to officially announce the specifics.”
Oprah Winfrey and Audra McDonald are believed to have participated in a reading of ‘Night, Mother last year with George C. Wolfe at Scott Sanders’ apartment.
Oprah Winfrey is currently working with Scott Sanders on a stripped-down Broadway revival of the musical The Color Purple, having previously teamed to produce the original Color Purple production in Broadway in 2005.
According to a New Zealand study, first-born children may be more likely than second-borns to be overweight in later life.
A small study of middle-aged men living in New Zealand found children born first into their family were about 14 lbs heavier and had a bigger BMI than second-borns.
They also had more insulin resistance, which can lead to health problems.
Birth order may affect the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, say researchers.
Larger studies are needed to fully evaluate this link, they add.
First-born children may be more likely than second-borns to be overweight in later life
There is some evidence to suggest birth order may influence the body’s fat make-up and metabolism, from infancy to the teenage years.
However, the potential impact in mid-life is unknown.
Prof. Wayne Cutfield and colleagues at the University of Auckland studied 50 overweight but otherwise healthy men between the ages of 40 and 50.
“First-born men were heavier and had lower insulin sensitivity than second-borns,” they report in the journal, Scientific Reports.
“Thus, first-born adults may be at a greater risk of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.”
Prof. Wayne Cutfield said the risk of developing obesity or diabetes occurs when enough risk factors come together.
“Being first born is one such risk factor, it does not mean first-borns will become overweight or diabetic, being first-born simply increases the risk.”
The researchers say the study needs to be repeated in pairs of siblings and with more subjects.
According to official figures, the US economy added 113,000 jobs in January, weaker than expected for a second consecutive month.
Economists had predicted an increase of about 180,000 new jobs last month.
However, the unemployment rate fell to 6.6%, the lowest level since October 2008, as more people began looking for work.
The US economy added 113,000 jobs in January, weaker than expected for a second consecutive month
The jobless figures will raise concern that, after a strong second half of 2013, growth in the US economy is beginning to lose its steam.
Earlier this week an unexpectedly weak manufacturing report raised concerns about the strength of the US economy and sent the Dow Jones tumbling by 326 points.
December’s surprisingly weak figure was revised up only modestly to 75,000, from 74,000.
The construction industry, most vulnerable to the impact of bad weather, added 48,000 in January indicating that while the weather may been responsible for December’s weak figures, it does not appear to have been a factor in January.
Sleepwalker – a lifelike sculpture of a man walking in snow – has drawn a mixed reaction from students at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
The artwork depicts a somnambulant in nothing but underwear at Wellesley College.
Nearly 300 people have signed a petition to have the statue removed.
Sleepwalker lifelike sculpture has drawn a mixed reaction from students at Wellesley College in Massachusetts
The work, on campus to promote a forthcoming exhibition, is designed to trigger “unexpected new ideas”, the college president said.
The sculpture – by New York-based Tony Matelli – was placed in a busy area of the Wellesley College campus days before the opening of an exhibition of the artist’s work there.
Students have reported feelings of apprehension and fear after witnessing the sculpture, and have called for it to be removed.
The art exhibition at the college’s Davis Museum runs from February 6 to July 20.
More than 80% of tickets to Sochi Olympic events have been sold, the organizers say.
Russian spectators, who were allocated 70% of the total available, have faced lengthy lines in Sochi to collect their tickets.
More than 80 percent of tickets to Sochi Olympic events have been sold
Ticket collection points are operating at the airport, at railway stations in downtown Sochi and at the Olympic Park in the borough of Adler. Tickets can also be collected in Moscow.
A ticket for this evening opening ceremony costs 20,000 rubles ($578).
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said a US official’s apparent insult of the EU’s efforts to mediate in the Ukraine crisis is “totally unacceptable”.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland has apologized after a voice resembling hers used a graphic swear word in a conversation said to be with the US ambassador to Ukraine.
A recording of the apparently bugged conversation was posted online, with the US hinting at Russia’s involvement.
The EU and the US are involved in talks to end months of unrest in Ukraine.
After meeting Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, Victoria Nuland said she would not make a public statement on the matter.
“I will not comment on a private diplomatic conversation,” she told reporters.
Mass anti-government protests erupted in Ukraine in late November after President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign a far-reaching association and trade agreement with the EU – under heavy pressure from Moscow.
After meeting Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev, Victoria Nuland said she would not make a public statement on the matter
Russia has been widely accused of using its economic clout to persuade Viktor Yanukovych not to pursue closer ties with Brussels.
Russia has itself accused Washington and the EU of meddling in Ukraine.
German spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said Angela Merkel fully supported the work EU policy chief Catherine Ashton had been doing to find a solution to the crisis.
“The chancellor finds these remarks totally unacceptable and wants to emphasize that Mrs. Ashton is doing an outstanding job,” Christiane Wirtz said.
The alleged conversation between Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, appeared on YouTube on Thursday.
The 4min 10sec video was entitled “Maidan’s puppets” in Russian – a reference to the square in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, where pro-EU protests have been held for months. A transcription of the whole conversation was also posted in Russian.
At one point, the female speaker mentions the UN and its attempts to find a solution to the Ukraine stand-off.
She says: “So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the UN help glue it and you know…” she then uses the swear word about the EU.
The Grand Budapest Hotel has opened this year’s Berlin Film Festival to rave reviews.
A notable absentee from Berlin is the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died on Sunday of a suspected drug overdose.
Philip Seymour Hoffman had been due to attend the festival to promote his film God’s Pocket.
Instead, a screening of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning performance in the film Capote will be screened in tribute on Tuesday.
“He was one of the greatest actors we had in the world,” festival director Dieter Kosslick told the Reuters news agency.
The Grand Budapest Hotel has opened this year’s Berlin Film Festival to rave reviews
Wes Anderson’s latest movie The Grand Budapest Hotel stars British actor Ralph Fiennes as the famous concierge Gustave H, who woos octogenarian blonde widows at an Alpine hotel. When one dies in mysterious circumstances and leaves him a valuable painting, it sets in motion a chain of murder and mayhem.
It co-stars an enviable line-up of actors including Anderson regulars Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Jude Law and Tom Wilkinson.
Wes Anderson is a European festival favorite. His last film, Moonrise Kingdom, opened the Cannes Film Festival in 2012 and earned him an Oscar nomination for best screenplay.
His previous films include The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Royal Tenenbaums.
The eight-member jury, chaired by Brokeback Mountain producer James Schamus includes Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz and actress Greta Gerwig.
It will announce the winner of the prestigious Golden Bear and other prizes on February 15.
Other films screening out of competition include Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac and Calvary, a black comedy drama starring Brendan Gleeson and Chris O’Dowd.
Eurovision organizers have announced that countries found to be vote-rigging at the song contest will face bans of up to three years.
The announcement follows an investigation into attempts to influence the voting in favor of Azerbaijan during last year’s contest.
Organizers confirmed rigging attempts were detected by its security systems, but the votes were declared invalid.
It added there was no evidence to link Azeri broadcasters to the activity.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said as there was also no evidence to suggest Ictimai TV was aware of the attempt, no sanctions would be made.
Allegations of vote-fixing arose after Azerbaijan failed to award any points to neighboring Russia.
Eurovision organizers have announced that countries found to be vote-rigging at the song contest will face bans of up to three years
It prompted Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to order an inquiry, as traditionally ex-Soviet republics have regularly given each other top marks.
There were also claims of attempts in Lithuania to buy votes for Azerbaijan’s entry.
It is hoped tightening rules will “strengthen the credibility of the voting and protect the Eurovision Song Contest brand”.
The contest’s governing body, known as the Reference Group, said if voting irregularities are detected before, during or after the contest in favor of any country, it would automatically initiate procedures against the country’s broadcaster.
“Just as football clubs are, in principle, accountable for the behavior of their fans, we will hold – on a case-by-case basis – participating broadcasters accountable and make them responsible to prevent voting irregularities in favor of their entry,” said Dr. Frank Dieter Freiling, chairman of the Reference Group.
EBU executor Jon Ola Sand added: “It’s our goal to do the best we can to assure a fair and correct result.
“We know that audiences in Europe want a fair result and vote with their best intentions, but in nearly every competition, there are attempts to cheat. It’s our job to spot and stop these attempts.”
The new rule follows the announcement last September that each country’s jury will now be revealed ahead of each year’s contest in an effort to increase openness and accountability.
Previously, the identity of jury members – whose votes account for 50% of the total score awarded to competing countries – was not disclosed until after the final.
Eurovision Song Contest 2014 will take place in Copenhagen on May 10.
