Violent clashes involving anti-government protesters have erupted ahead of Sunday’s elections in Thai capital, Bangkok.
According to local media, several people have been injured by gunfire.
The violence erupted during a stand-off between supporters and opponents of PM Yingluck Shinawatra.
The shots were fired as demonstrators blockaded a building where ballot papers are being stored, in an attempt to prevent their distribution.
Protesters want the government replaced by an unelected “people’s council”.
The opposition has vowed to boycott Sunday’s poll, which is likely to be won by Yingluck Shinawatra.
The incident took place in Bangkok’s Laksi district, a stronghold of the prime minister’s Pheu Thai party.
Thai protesters want Yingluck Shinawatra’s government replaced by an unelected people’s council
A number of people could be seen lying injured on the road, as exchanges of gunfire continued, forcing reporters and passers-by to flee for cover.
It was not immediately clear whether those wounded were government supporters or opponents.
The protest movement has vowed to disrupt the election as much as possible, by preventing ballot papers from reaching polling stations.
The army earlier said it would increase the number of troops deployed in Bangkok for the polls on Sunday. Some 10,000 police will also patrol the streets.
The protests began in November, after the lower house backed a controversial amnesty bill that critics said would allow Yingluck Shinawatra’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, to return.
Yingluck Shinawatra called early elections to quell the unrest, but demonstrators have vowed to block the poll from going ahead.
Correspondents say one election commissioner has predicted that 10% of polling stations will not be able to open at all on Sunday.
Because of disruption to candidate registration, the elections will also not deliver enough MPs for a quorum in parliament, meaning that by-elections will be needed before a government can be approved, extending the instability.
Egypt’s former President Mohamed Morsi has arrived in court in the capital, Cairo, for the resumption of one of the four trials against him.
Mohamed Morsi and 14 other figures from the Muslim Brotherhood are charged with inciting the killing of protesters near the presidential palace in 2012.
At a hearing in another trial four days ago, a defiant Mohamed Morsi shouted that he was still the legitimate president.
The ousted was deposed by the army last year after huge crowds rallied against him.
Mohamed Morsi is now facing four separate criminal trials on various charges.
His Islamist supporters say the charges against him are politically motivated, although officials insist the trials are free and fair.
Mohamed Morsi has arrived in court in the capital, Cairo, for the resumption of one of the four trials against him
Mohamed Morsi was flown in by helicopter on Saturday morning from his prison in Alexandria.
Heavy security has been deployed outside the National Police Academy compound where the hearing is taking place.
On Friday, riot police fired tear gas at hundreds of Mohamed Morsi supporters in Cairo and Alexandria and Fayoum, south of the capital.
Islamists have staged regular protests demanding the reinstatement of Mohamed Morsi but have been met with a heavy crackdown in which hundreds have died.
The Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organization and authorities have punished any public showing of support for it.
Human rights groups have dismissed some of the allegations against Mohamed Morsi as preposterous.
There were chaotic scenes when he first appeared in court in early November for the trial resuming on Saturday.
Mohamed Morsi chanted slogans against the current government and the court. He also refused to recognize the court’s legitimacy or put on the required prison uniform.
California Department of Water Resoucers (DWR) has announced it may for the first time be unable to deliver water to local agencies, amid a worsening drought.
Two-thirds of state residents and 1 million acres (404,500 hectares) of farmland get part or all of their drinking and irrigation supplies from the agency.
A state-wide drought was declared earlier this month, as the largest reservoirs sank to record low levels.
Forecasters have warned 2014 could be California’s driest year on record.
The extreme conditions have already caused a wildfire that destroyed homes in the Los Angeles area.
California Department of Water Resoucers has announced it may for the first time be unable to deliver water to local agencies
Previous extremely dry years led to catastrophic wildfire seasons in California in 2003 and 2007.
It is the first time in the water agency’s history that it has predicted a so-called “zero allocation”, which will affect around 25 million people.
State governor Jerry Brown said the announcement was a “stark reminder that California’s drought is real”.
Jerry Brown urged residents to conserve water, suggesting they avoid flushing toilets unnecessarily and to turn off the tap while shaving.
Meanwhile a spokesman for the state’s farming federation called the news “a terrible blow”.
The water originates from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
It is delivered to local agencies via a vast network of reservoirs, pipelines, aqueducts and pumping stations.
The 29 agencies that draw from the state’s water-delivery system have other sources, AP reports, although these too have been badly hit.
Benjamin Smith was charged on Friday with threatening to kill former President George W. Bush after professing a romantic interest in his oldest daughter, Barbara, prosecutors said.
The New York man was found sitting in a car with a loaded rifle, machete and a container of gasoline.
Benjamin Smith, 44, was arrested in Manhattan by the Secret Service, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
“Bush will get his,” Benjamin Smith screamed as he was taken into custody, according to the complaint. Later, when asked about his marital status, he told agents he was divorced and “working on a relationship with Barbara Bush”.
At a preliminary hearing, Assistant Attorney Andrea Griswold told Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman the government believes Benjamin Smith was referring to the former president’s daughter and not George W. Bush’s mother, who shares the same name.
It is a crime under federal law to threaten a current or former president.
Benjamin Smith was charged with threatening to kill former President George W. Bush
On Thursday, Benjamin Smith’s mother called police to report she had found a threatening note in the home she shares with her son and that a rifle was also missing, the complaint said.
“I’m going to work for George W. Bush and the Pentagon,” the note said, according to the government.
“I have to slay a dragon and then Barbara Bush is mine.”
The Secret Service tracked Benjamin Smith using his cell phone to Manhattan, where they arrested him early Friday morning.
It was not clear why Benjamin Smith went to New York City or where the former president and his family were at the time.
Benjamin Smith’s defense lawyer, Peggy Cross-Goldenberg, said the note and Smith’s outbursts did not constitute a “true threat”.
The judge also conceded it was “unclear” a jury would find Benjamin Smith guilty.
“Admittedly, there is some inconsistency in the notion that the way to win Barbara Bush’s affections is to kill her father,” Judge Henry Pitman said.
Amanda Knox was the focus of intense media scrutiny from the start of the highly publicized Meredith Kercher’s murder trial in 2009.
Amanda Marie Knox, born on July 9, 1987, was convicted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, in 2009. She served four years of a 26-year sentence before the murder conviction was overturned on October 3, 2011.
However, on March 26, 2013, Amanda Knox’s acquittal was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court, sending the case back to the lower court for reconsideration.
Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox’s boyfriend at the time of the murder, was also found guilty of the murder but had his conviction overturned by an appeal.
Amanda Knox, now 26, whose pretty face maintained its carefree smile throughout her trial, was the ideal female suspect for an Italian murder – “the face of an angel – but the eyes of a killer,”.
From the images of her kissing her co-accused and erstwhile boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, to her cartwheels in the police station, Amanda Knox’s seemingly innocent insouciance contrasted gratingly with the gory crime and general preconceptions of what a murderer should look like.
One lawyer was reported as accusing Knox of being “dirty inside and out” and described her as “half Maria Goretti and half demon”.
The lawyer added: “Who is the real Amanda Knox? Is it the one we see before us here, simple water and soap, the angelic St Maria Goretti?”
“Or is she really a she-devil, a diabolical person focused on sex, drugs and alcohol, living life to the extreme and borderline – is this the Amanda Knox of 1 November 2007?”
Maria Goretti was a teenager made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church after she was murdered during an attempted rape.
As the trial unfolded the two Amanda Knox vied for acceptance: the hapless student championed by her family and defense lawyers; and the manipulative hedonist described by the prosecution.
And despite her plea in court – “I’m afraid of having the mask of a murderer forced on to my skin” – the latter always seemed to gain the upper hand.
Amanda Knox was the focus of intense media scrutiny from the start of the highly publicized Meredith Kercher’s murder trial in 2009
Details soon began emerging of Amanda Knox’s private life – her “Foxy Knoxy” nickname, the drug-taking and claims she slept with several men after she arrived in Italy.
In letters from his jail cell, co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito wrote: “The Amanda I know… lives a carefree life.”
“Her only thought is the pursuit of pleasure,” he wrote to his father.
“But, even the thought that she could be a killer is impossible for me.”
Reporters descended on Amanda Knox’s home city of Seattle in search of more details of her private life.
They discovered that the University of Washington student had been fined in 2007 for her role in a drunken party that police were called to.
A picture began to be painted of a “party girl” who abused drink and drugs and had an active s** life.
Tabloid interest intensified after it emerged that Amanda Knox had written a short story on a social networking site about a man who drugs and rapes a young girl.
In it, one character remarks: “A thing you have to know about chicks is that they don’t know what they want.”
This was not the daughter known to Amanda Knox’s family – who term themselves “typically American”.
They helped fund their daughter’s year in Italy in order to further her Italian, German and creative writing studies.
And apart from the story on the social networking site, Amanda Knox’s page also portrays a very different young woman.
On it, she describes herself as a non-drinker and non-smoker. Her favorite pursuits include yoga and “backpacking long distances with people I know”.
Among her favorite films are Shrek and The Full Monty and she likes listening to The Beatles and reading Harry Potter books.
It was partly a desire to emphasize this aspect of their daughter’s character, and counter what they term her “misrepresentation”, that led Amanda Knox’s supporters in Seattle to set up a tribute website.
On it, family and friends write about the “joiner” who excelled at sports and school plays; a “smart, fun, affectionate and loyal” girl who bought sandwiches for homeless people and nursed sick friends.
They had been optimistic that she would be freed by the Italian courts.
According to alleged leaks of her prison diary, Amanda Knox was similarly determined to maintain her innocence – and may have been preparing to blame her ex-boyfriend.
She reportedly wrote: “I think it is possible Raffaele went to Meredith’s house, raped her, then killed her and then when he got home, while I was sleeping, he pressed my fingerprints on the knife.”
But neither of their cases were helped by CCTV evidence that found its way into the Italian press, reportedly showing Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito buying underwear together two days after Meredith Kercher’s death.
The case was media gold from the start: a pretty young victim, brutally murdered in mysterious circumstances, whose murderers were both wealthy and attractive.
France and Italy are on flood alert as heavy rain brings chaos to parts of Europe.
Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate their homes in the Italian city of Pisa as the Arno River threatened to burst its banks on Friday.
High seas are expected to cause widespread flooding along France’s Atlantic coast.
Meanwhile, deep snow drifts left dozens of people stranded in Serbia.
Hundreds of people were forced to evacuate their homes in the Italian city of Pisa as the Arno River threatened to burst its banks
Local officials declared a state of emergency and deployed rescue teams to help travelers trapped in their vehicles. Snow storms and strong winds have been sweeping across Eastern Europe.
Italian media said a stretch of medieval wall measuring about 95ft in the town of Volterra, in the province of Pisa, collapsed as a result of heavy rain.
The French department of Finistere, in the west of the country, was placed on red alert as forecasters warned of huge waves and extensive flooding. Ten other French departments were also on alert for rising water levels.
At least two people died and scores had to be airlifted to safety after floods hit south-eastern France earlier this month.
Severe storms have been battering Europe for much of January.
San Francisco — Yahoo alerted users of its free email service Thursday that hackers slipped into accounts to loot information using stolen passwords.
The California company did not disclose the extent of the breach, but said that it is asking those affected to change their passwords.
“Security attacks are unfortunately becoming a more regular occurrence,” Yahoo senior vice president for platforms and personalization products Jay Rossiter said in a blog post.
“We regret this has happened and want to assure our users that we take the security of their data very seriously.”
A malicious computer program armed with Yahoo Mail passwords and usernames apparently slipped into accounts aiming to glean names and addresses from messages that had been sent, according to Rossiter.
Yahoo recently discovered the invasion and suspected that the passwords were snatched from a third-party database that the company did not disclose.
“We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo’s systems,” Rossiter said.
Yahoo said it was working with federal authorities to investigate the breach.
What can the users do?
The company is resetting passwords on accounts that have been affected and is taking steps to allow users to re-secure their accounts. It is sending notification e-mails instructing those users to change their passwords; users may also receive a text message, if they’ve shared their phone number with the company.
It’s a song-and-dance that users may be tiring of, but it is important for Yahoo account holders who were swept up in the attack to change their passwords for immediately.
They should also change their log-in credentials for any account that may share their Yahoo password, particularly if they use their Yahoo e-mail as their username. The same is true if you use a similar e-mail address as the username — it’s not a big leap for hackers to think that you may be both [email protected] and [email protected].
Finally, everyone should also be on the lookout for spam, as the attack also appears to have picked up names and e-mail addresses for the most recent contacts from affected accounts, according to the company’s post.
If you get an odd e-mail from the Yahoo account of someone you know, ignore the message, and do not click on any links in the message. (It’s also be nice to let the person whose account has been hacked know about the fraudulent messages, so they can warn others to avoid the e-mails.)
Syria’s government and opposition have traded insults after a week-long peace conference in Geneva ended with no firm agreement.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the opposition representatives were immature, while the opposition’s Louay Safi said the regime had no desire to stop the bloodshed.
However, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said he had seen some “common ground”, and scheduled more talks for February 10.
The opposition has agreed to take part, but Walid Muallem refused to commit.
“We represent the concerns and interests of our people. If we find that [another meeting] is their demand, then we will come back,” he told reporters.
He railed at the opposition, saying they had tried to “implode the conference” by insisting that the government hands power over.
Louay Safi said the opposition would not sit in talks “endlessly”, and urged the government to “talk seriously about transferring power”.
Opposition leader Ahmed Jarba said he and his colleagues had “stood up to the regime, a regime that only knows blood and death”.
Lakhdar Brahimi is optimistic despite slow progress at Geneva talks on Syria
The two sides discussed humanitarian issues and possible ways to end the violence.
They made some agreements on local ceasefires to allow access for humanitarian workers.
UN aid chief Valerie Amos said the deals had allowed some aid to get through to a few thousand families.
But she said that, so far, an agreed ceasefire in the besieged city of Homs had not had any effect, and no aid has got through.
Parts of Homs have been under government siege for more than 18 months. More than 100,000 people have died in Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
Lakhdar Brahimi said: “Progress is very slow indeed, but the sides have engaged in an acceptable manner. This is a very modest beginning, but it is a beginning on which we can build.”
Though the gap between the two sides was “wide”, they had become used to sitting in the same room, he said.
“There have been moments when one side has even acknowledged the concerns and difficulties of the other side,” he said.
The first round of talks between the government and the opposition National Coalition began last week.
Both sides agreed to use a 2012 document known as the Geneva Communiqué as a basis for discussions, and agreed to meet in the same room.
But neither side could agree on the focus, with the opposition insisting that political transition was the focus, and the government wanting to talk about terrorism.
Diplomats described the atmosphere between the two sides as extremely tense all the way through the conference.
Michael Bloomberg has been appointed as UN special envoy for cities and climate change.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wants the former New York City mayor to “raise political will and mobilize action” on climate change, a UN spokesman said.
Michael Bloomberg will also work to bring “concrete solutions” to a major climate summit in New York in September.
Michael Bloomberg has been appointed as UN special envoy for cities and climate change
As New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg accused politicians of a failure of leadership on climate change.
He later hinted at a link between Hurricane Sandy and global warming.
Samantha Power, US ambassador to the UN, welcomed Michael Bloomberg’s appointment, posting on Twitter: “Mayor @MikeBloomberg knows how to get things done. We need more leaders like him here @UN.”
Michael Bloomberg, a former news tycoon, made combating climate change a major focus of his 12 years as mayor of New York City.
Canada’s electronic spy agency, Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), collected data from travelers passing through a major airport, the CBC reports.
The CSEC collected information captured from unsuspecting passengers’ wireless devices by the airport’s free Wi-Fi system over two-weeks, the report says.
The revelations come from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, CBC says.
The CSEC is prohibited by law from targeting Canadians or anyone in Canada without an appropriate warrant.
Its primary mission is to collect foreign intelligence by intercepting overseas phone and internet traffic.
The CSEC, in a statement to CBC, reiterated that it is “mandated to collect foreign signals to protect Canada and Canadians.
“And in order to fulfill that key foreign intelligence role for the country, CSEC is legally authorized to collect and analyze metadata.”
Canada’s electronic spy agency collected data from travelers passing through a major airport
Metadata is the information about a communication – such as the date and location of a call or email – rather than the details of what was actually said or written.
The leaked document indicates the 2012 passenger tracking operation was a trial run of a powerful new software program being developed jointly with the National Security Agency (NSA), CBC reports.
It is now fully operational, CBC News quotes sources as saying.
Experts told the broadcaster that information captured from travelers’ devices would have enabled the agency to track them for a week or more as they showed up in other Wi-Fi “hot spots” around Canada, such as other airports, hotels or restaurants.
Such was the volume of data that CSEC could even track the travelers’ movements back to the days before they arrived at the airport, the experts say.
The document does not specify which airport was targeted or explain how CSEC was able to access the data.
Two airports – Vancouver and Toronto – and Boingo, an independent supplier of Wi-Fi services at other Canadian airports, have denied any involvement in supplying Wi-Fi information.
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is currently living in Russia having fled the US in May 2013 after leaking thousands of documents that revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by the US and other intelligence services.
According to a new research, the high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka.
The study findings, published in The Lancet, show that 25% of Russian men die before they are 55, and most of the deaths are down to alcohol.
Causes of death include liver disease and alcohol poisoning. Many also die in accidents or after getting into fights.
The study is thought to be the largest of its kind in the country.
Researchers from the Russian Cancer Centre in Moscow, Oxford University in the UK and the World Health Organization International Agency for Research on Cancer, in France, tracked the drinking patterns of 151,000 adults in three Russian cities over up to 10 years.
During that time, 8,000 of them died. The researchers also drew on previous studies in which families of 49,000 people who had died were asked about their loved ones’ drinking habits.
Study co-author Prof. Sir Richard Peto, from the University of Oxford, said: “Russian death rates have fluctuated wildly over the last 30 years as alcohol restrictions and social stability varied under Presidents Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin, and the main thing driving these wild fluctuations in death was vodka.”
In 1985, the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev drastically cut vodka production and did not allow it to be sold before lunch-time.
The high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka
Researchers say alcohol consumption fell by around a quarter when the restrictions came in, and so did overall death rates. Then, when communism collapsed, people started drinking more again and the death rates also rose.
Richard Peto said: “When President Yeltsin took over from President Gorbachev, the overall death rates in young men more than doubled. This was as society collapsed and vodka became much more freely available.
“There was a huge increase in drinking and they were drinking in a destructive way. They were getting drunk on spirits and then buying and drinking more, producing a big risk of death.”
The consumption rates for women also fluctuated according to political events, but they drank less so mortality rates were also lower.
Most drinkers were smokers as well which researchers say “aggravated” the death rates.
Russia brought in stricter alcohol control measures in 2006, including raising taxes and restricting sales.
Researchers say alcohol consumption has fallen by a third since then and the proportion of men dying before they reach 55 years old has fallen from 37% to 25%.
Half a litre of vodka costs around $5.00 (150 roubles). Heavy drinkers in this study were getting through at least a litre and a half of vodka a week.
In 2011, each Russian adult drank on average 13 litres of pure alcohol every year, of which eight litres was in spirits, mainly vodka.
Researchers say the key problem driving the high death rate is the way Russians drink alcohol.
Researcher Prof. David Zaridze, from the Russian Cancer Research Centre, said: “They binge drink. That’s the main problem. It’s the pattern of drinking not the per-capita amount they are drinking.”
“Russians have always drunk a lot. They sometimes say it’s because of the cold weather but this is just an excuse. This is the nation’s lifestyle that needs to change.
“Since the average life expectancy from birth for men in Russia is still only 64 years, ranking among the lowest 50 countries in the world, more effective alcohol and tobacco policy measures are urgently needed.”
Wednesday’s episode of Duck Dynasty showed Willie Robertson and the Duck Commander crew preparing for an all-nighter to fill a shipment order at the warehouse.
“Why aren’t y’all working?” Willie Robertson asked when he saw that the duck call crafters were goofing off, again, during work hours.
“The point is we’ve got to get the work done then we can play.”
As usual, the guys completely ignored their boss and went on to deal with more important things such as is Uncle Si just like MacGyver.
“Everybody knows [MacGyver] was the ultimate redneck,” said Si Robertson.
Jase Robertson got his payback when Willie fell asleep and they drew think eyebrows with permanent marker on the CEO’s face
“Kind of like me.”
“It’s borderline embarrassing the real reason Willie is volunteering his help is because he feels like the odd one out,” Jase Robertson said in frustration at his younger brother’s need to fit in with the group.
“Having [Willie Robertson] around here, it’s like having your mom at the prom. It’s cramping my style.”
Jase Robertson got his payback when Willie fell asleep and they drew think eyebrows with permanent marker on the CEO’s face.
“Willie missed out on a fey key developments while he was asleep,” joked Jase Robertson.
“When you fall asleep bad things happen.”
“People always say be careful what you wish for, you might just get it,” Willie Robertson said.
“Lucky for us, Robertsons have extremely thick skin.”
“So it doesn’t matter if you end being the butt of the jokes you want to be a part of,” he continued.
“Or your scary story plan backfires into some whip cream into your face. You’ve got to find the humor underneath.”
“As long as everyone including you gets a good laugh out of it, the wish wasn’t completely wasted.”
Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson revealed he might have faith in something a bit more supernatural.
“Once upon a time a long time ago, I was in the dark woods and I heard this sound,” Phil Robertson told his granddaughters in effort to scare them to sleep during a sleepover.
“It sounded like a big animal and I could growls and grunts.”
“Was it Bigfoot?” Miss Kay Robertson interjected.
“I didn’t know at the time but whatever it is it sounds very, very bad,” Phil Robertson continued.
“So I get my gun ready and you know what it was? It was Uncle Si.”
Although the story frightened the girls, they refused to go to bed and it wasn’t long until Phil Robertson dozed off himself.
Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson revealed he might have faith in something a bit more supernatural
In true redneck spirit, Miss Kay Robertson and her granddaughters, Mia and Priscilla, sprayed whip cream all over their sleeping grandfather.
While Phil Robertson was able to forgive the girls for their prank, he was upset to see them painting their nails.
“That’ll rot your brain,” he told Mia and Priscilla.
“You’ve ever seen a dead animal in the road? That’s the way your brain looks.”
“Don’t call our grandkids road kill please,” Miss Kay Robertson said.
“When you have a chemical concoction that you’re putting on your fingernails, I would be a little suspect of moving that fingernail towards a booger.”
While Phil and Miss Kay Robertson had their hands full with restless grandchildren, Willie and the Duck Commander crew were preparing for an all-nighter to fill a shipment order at the warehouse.
The 1980s time travel film Back to the Future is set to become a musical on London’s West End stage in 2015.
Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote and directed the 1985 Michael J. Fox film, will reunite with co-writer Bob Gale to pen the book for the stage adaptation.
Back to the Future saw Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travel back to 1955 at a crucial point in his parents’ high school relationship.
According to Bob Gale, the musical will be “true to the spirit of the film without being a slavish remake”.
“We intend to use music from the movie along with brand new songs to make a version of Back to the Future that is fresh, entertaining and takes advantage of all the amazing things that can now be done on stage,” he said.
Back to the Future is set to become a musical on London’s West End stage in 2015
“We can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film.”
The comedy adventure, which co-starred Christopher Lloyd, was a huge hit for Robert Zemeckis and spawned two sequels.
Composer Alan Silvestri – who scored many of Robert Zemeckis’s films, including Romancing the Stone, Forrest Gump and Cast Away – will co-author the music and lyrics for the show with songwriter Glen Ballard.
Glen Ballard, a six-time Grammy winner, co-wrote and produced Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album and co-wrote the music for the stage adaptation of Ghost.
Jamie Lloyd – who directed James McAvoy last year in a sell-out production of Macbeth at London’s Trafalgar Studios – will direct the production.
The 33-year-old’s other credits include a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac, The Duchess of Malfi at the Old Vic and She Stoops to Conquer at the National Theatre.
Back to the Future joins a number of hit films from the 1980s that have spawned stage musicals, among them Dirty Dancing, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Ghost.
Zynga has announced the purchase of UK game-maker NaturalMotion for $527 million.
Oxford-based NaturalMotion has had a string of mobile game hits, such as CSR Racing and Clumsy Ninja. Its purchase gives Zynga an entry into the lucrative mobile games market.
As news of the deal emerged, Zynga also reported a loss of $25 million for the fourth quarter.
It said it would trim its workforce by 15% – equivalent to about 314 jobs.
“We believe that bringing Zynga and NaturalMotion together is the right step at the right time,” said Zynga chief executive Don Mattrick in a statement.
“Our acquisition of NaturalMotion will allow us to significantly expand our creative pipeline, accelerate our mobile growth and bring next-generation technology and tools to Zynga that we believe will fast-track our ability to deliver more hit games.”
In a note to employees, Don Mattrick highlighted that with the acquisition, Zynga will now have five top gaming brands: Farmville, Casino, Words with friends, CSR Racing and Clumsy Ninja in the “people” category.
Zynga has announced the purchase of UK game-maker NaturalMotion for $527 million
NaturalMotion’s Clumsy Ninja has been rated more than 78,000 times in the US and UK version of Apple’s App Store – the vast majority of them positive.
Don Mattrick also told employees the acquisition gives Zynga access to NaturalMotion’s Euphoria technology, which helps create realistic motion for characters in movies and games.
The takeover of the 13-year-old firm is being interpreted by some as Don Mattrick’s bet on character-driven intellectual property.
As part of the terms co-founder of NaturalMotion, Torsten Reil, will stay on and report to Don Mattick, and new games will continue to be released under the NaturalMotion brand.
Zynga has struggled to replicate the success it has had with desktop games Farmville and Mafia Wars and has been unable to generate new hits on smartphones.
This is seen as a crucial weakness, as more and more consumers play games on their phones.
NaturalMotion is the biggest acquisition for the firm, and it comes after Zynga bought OMGPOP for $180 million in 2012, only to see that firm’s flagship game, Draw Something, shed users.
In June, Zynga announced it would cut 18% of its workforce and then a month later, it was announced that Don Mattrick would take over from the company’s founder Mark Pincus.
The $25million loss actually represents good news for Zynga: it is 43% lower than the same period last year.
Amanda Knox said on Good Morning America she will fight the reinstated guilty verdict against her in the 2007 murder of British roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy.
She also vowed to “never go willingly” to face her fate in Italy’s judicial system.
“I’m going to fight this to the very end,” Amanda Knox said in an interview with Robin Roberts on ABC’s GMA.
Amanda Knox, 26, said she has written a letter to the family of Meredith Kercher expressing sympathy for the legal ordeal that continues more than six years after she was killed.
“I want them to know I understand this is incredibly difficult. They also have been on this never-ending thing. When the case has been messed up so much, a verdict is no longer a consolation for them,” Amanda Knox said during Friday’s interview.
“And just the very fact that they don’t know what happened is horrible,” she said.
Amanda Knox said on Good Morning America she will fight the reinstated guilty verdict against her
“They deserve respect and the consolation of some kind of acknowledgement,” Amanda Knox said.
“I really wish them the best.”
Meredith Kercher’s sister Stephanie and brother Lyle were in the courtroom in Florence for Thursday’s verdict.
Amanda Knox’s former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, has been prohibited from leaving Italy while the case continues.
“I don’t know what I would do if they imprisoned him. It’s maddening,” Amanda Knox told GMA.
And she is not ready for the possibility she could be extradited to Italy to serve a 28-year prison sentence.
“This really, it hit me like a train. I didn’t expect this to happen. I really expected so much better from the Italian system. They found me innocent before; how could they say beyond a reasonable doubt?” Amanda Knox told GMA.
During the trial, Amanda Knox remained in Seattle, where she is a student at the University of Washington.
The court reinstated a guilty verdict first handed down against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in 2009. The verdict was overturned in 2011, but Italy’s supreme court vacated that decision and sent the case back for the third trial in Florence.
“I just really hope that people try to understand that (when you have) overzealous prosecutors and when you have a biased investigation and coercive interrogation these things happen. And I’m not crazy,” Amanda Knox told GMA.
Parts of Chelyabinsk meteorite will be embedded in special commemorative medals that will be given to the 10 gold medalists at the Sochi Olympics on February 15.
The winter sports stars will get their extra medals exactly one year after a huge chunk of space rock crashed into a lake in the Urals, central Russia.
The 5ft-long rock was later hauled up from icy Lake Chebarkul.
Nearly 40 more of the meteorite medals will be sold to private collectors.
Parts of Chelyabinsk meteorite will be embedded in special commemorative medals that will be given to the 10 gold medalists at the Sochi Olympics
The asteroid explosion over Russia released as much energy as an estimated 500,000 tonnes of TNT, sending a shockwave twice around the globe. It caused widespread damage and injured more than 1,000 people in the Chelyabinsk area.
A meteorite chip is being embedded in the centre of each commemorative medal by specialists at a workshop in Zlatoust, in the Chelyabinsk region, Russian media report.
Russian TV news showed the medals being made in a video report.
The local news website Novyy Region says the medal-crafting technique dates back to 1815 and is very laborious.
The special medals will have a protective nickel coating and will also be adorned with gold and silver.
In total 1,400 medals will be awarded at the Sochi Games, which start next week, and about 100 more will be kept at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, Radio Golos Rossii reports.
According to Global NCAP, five of India’s most popular small cars have failed crash tests.
The tests by Global NCAP showed that if involved in a crash, fatalities or serious injuries could result.
Among the cars tested was India’s talismanic Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, as well as models made in India by Ford, Volkswagen and Hyundai.
The cars were apparently stripped of safety features to make them cheaper for Indian buyers, correspondents say.
The five models accounted for 20% of all sales in the country last year. Estimates say that about 80% of the cars sold in India have price tags of under $8,000.
“It’s worrying to see levels of safety that are 20 years behind the five-star standards now common in Europe and North America,” said the head of NCAP Global, Max Mosley, the former chief of international motorsport.
Those car manufacturers who have spoken out since the safety tests have insisted that safety is of paramount importance and that they will be reviewing the NCAP’s test results.
The car safety watchdog put five models through crash tests, including the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, the Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo.
India Hyundai i10 scores zero stars in Global NCAP crash tests
None of these entry-level cars sold in India are fitted with air bags. They also lack the safety standards that the same models have when sold in North America and Europe, according to the watchdog.
“Poor structural integrity and the absence of airbags are putting the lives of Indian consumers at risk. They have a right to know how safe their vehicles are and to expect the same basic levels of safety as standard as customers in other part of the world,” Max Mosley added.
As a result of the tests, Volkswagen has withdrawn its Polo model without airbags.
Volkswagen also said the airbags, as well as anti-lock brakes, would become standard from 1 February along with a 2.7% price increase to offset the costs, the Associated Press reports.
“We are proud to be leading the cause of driver safety,” Arvind Saxena told AP.
Tata has said it is looking at the Nano’s structure for ways to improve its strength, having already added power steering and other features, AP adds.
India also has more road accident deaths than any other country – put down to bad roads, poor driving but also it appears unsafe cars.
Every year, tens of thousands of people are killed on the country’s roads and the numbers have been rising steadily – nearly 140,000 people were killed in 2012, according to the government’s National Crime Records Bureau.
According to NCAP, it is estimated that 17% of these deaths are of car passengers.
Ukraine’s leading activist Dmytro Bulatov, who vanished for eight days, says he was abducted and tortured before being left to die in the cold.
Dmytro Bulatov, who organized car protests for the opposition camped out in Kiev, is being treated in hospital after being found near the capital.
Police have confirmed Dmytro Bulatov, 35, received an ear injury and bruising.
In another development, the army called on President Viktor Yanukovych to take “urgent steps” to ease the crisis.
Three protesters and three police officers have been killed, and scores injured on both sides, since the protests turned violent on January 22.
Opposition to Viktor Yanukovych spilled into the streets in November after he abandoned a trade deal with the EU in favor of closer economic ties with Russia.
President Viktor Yanukovych accused the opposition of seeking to “inflame” the situation on Thursday by continuing the protests despite moves by the government and parliament to ease the stand-off.
Ukraine’s leading activist Dmytro Bulatov, who vanished for eight days, says he was abducted and tortured before being left to die in the cold
Parliament voted to annul a recently enacted law restricting protests and passed a law giving amnesty to detained protesters, under the condition that occupied buildings were vacated.
Anti-government demonstrators remain in their camp in Independence Square (Maidan) with no sign of the political crisis in the country coming to an end.
President Viktor Yanukovych, 63, has gone on sick leave, with his staff reporting he has a respiratory illness and a high fever.
Dmytro Bulatov says he was left to die by his captors after being kidnapped, repeatedly beaten and “crucified”. He was, he said, hung up by his wrists.
“They crucified me, so there are holes in my hands now,” he said.
“Other than that – they cut off my ear, cut up my face. My whole body is a mess. You can see everything. I am alive. Thank God for this.”
Dmytro Bulatov reportedly said he did not know who had abducted him but his abductors had spoken with Russian accents.
According to the Ukrainian news website Gazeta.ua, doctors found no damage to his internal organs or his skull.
Police in Kiev have confirmed Dmytro Bulatov was bruised and received a cut to one of his ears, Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainskaya Pravda reports.
Police have opened an investigation and posted guards at the hospital where he is being treated.
According to the paper, they also expressed indignation that Dmytro Bulatov had not phoned them after his release.
Dmytro Bulatov is a prominent anti-government activist as one of the leaders of the organization Automaidan, a group that has patrolled streets around Independence Square.
It has also driven in convoys to protest outside government ministers’ homes.
Vitali Klitschko, one of the most prominent leaders of the protesters, visited Dmytro Bulatov in hospital.
Members of Meredith Kercher’s family have said they “are still on a journey to the truth” and may never know what happened to her.
It comes after guilty verdicts were reinstated against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for Meredith Kercher murder in 2007.
An Italian court sentenced Amanda Knox to 28 years and six months, and Raffaele Sollecito to 25 years, on Thursday, with their lawyers saying they would appeal.
Amanda Knox, 26, remains in the US and Meredith Kercher’s family called for her to be extradited.
Reports suggest her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffele Sollecito is being held by police after he was found in Udine, near the Slovenian and Austrian borders.
Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsdon in south London, was stabbed to death in the flat she shared with Amanda Knox in the college city of Perugia.
Members of Meredith Kercher’s family have said they “are still on a journey to the truth” and may never know what happened to her
Her sister, Stephanie, told a press conference in Florence on Friday: “I think we are still on a journey for the truth and it may be the fact that we don’t ever really know what happened that night, which is obviously something we’ll have to come to terms with.”
She added: “We hope that we are nearer the end so that we can just start to remember Meredith for who she was and draw a line under it, as it were.”
Meredith Kercher’s brother, Lyle, said he believed extradition would be appropriate “if someone has been found guilty and convicted of a murder, and if an extradition law exists between those two countries”.
Amanda Knox has said she will only be extradited to Italy from the US “kicking and screaming”.
In a statement after the case concluded, she said she was “frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict”.
Raffaele Sollecito’s lawyer, Luca Maori, said his client had heard the verdict on TV and looked “annihilated”.
He had earlier been at the Florence court, which imposed a travel ban on the 29-year-old and ordered that his passport be revoked.
The court noted that there was a “real and actual the danger that Raffaele Sollecito could escape Italian justice” – but he is free to move in Italy until the verdict is confirmed.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were also ordered to pay damages to Meredith Kercher’s family as part of the ruling.
The Kercher family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, called the verdict “justice for Meredith and the family”.
Raffaele Sollecito, Amanda Knox’s Italian ex-boyfriend, has been stopped by police near the Austrian border following the reinstatement of his guilty verdict for the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher in 2007.
Raffaele Sollecito was stopped between Udine and Tarvisio, near the Slovenia and Austria borders, Italy’s Rai News said.
He was given 25 years and American ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox 28 years and six months in Thursday’s ruling.
The Kercher family lawyer said that justice had been done.
Raffaele Sollecito has been stopped by police near the Austrian border following the reinstatement of his guilty verdict for the murder of Meredith Kercher
A travel ban was part of the verdict handed down on Raffaele Sollecito.
He had been in court earlier in the day on Thursday but was not there for the ruling.
Raffaele Sollecito’s lawyer, Luca Maori, said his client had heard the verdict on TV and looked “annihilated”.
Lawyers for both Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito have said they will appeal to the supreme Court of Cassation.
Italian police recovered a stolen gold and glass case that once contained the blood of the late Pope John Paul II, only to find the cloth stained with the blood itself was missing, officials said.
Pasquale Corriere, head of the association that looks after the small church in the mountains east of Rome from which the reliquary was stolen, said two men had been detained by police in the regional capital, L’Aquila.
The men took the police to the site where they had dumped the reliquary, but the cloth stained with the blood of the pope, who died in 2005, was no longer inside, Pasquale Corriere said.
Italian police recovered a stolen gold and glass case that once contained the blood of the late Pope John Paul II
Police were interrogating the men, who they believed to be drug addicts, and searching their apartment, Pasquale Corriere said. A small crucifix stolen along with the reliquary from the church of San Pietro della Ienca last weekend was also recovered.
The blood-soaked cloth was a fragment of the cassock that John Paul was wearing on May 13, 1981, when he was shot in an assassination attempt.
Relics of saints and other holy figures are often displayed in reliquaries to be venerated by the Catholic faithful.
The late pope, who is due to be declared a saint on April 27, loved the mountains in the Abruzzo region because they reminded him of those in his native Poland, and he would slip away secretly from the pressures of the Vatican to hike and ski there in the early years of his papacy.
Toyota has asked US dealers to stop sales of some of its cars that are equipped with seat heaters.
The Japanese car maker said that a portion of the seat fabric in the affected models could burn at a rate faster than allowed by US regulations.
The models affected by the move include the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Sienna, Tacoma and Tundra.
Toyota said no fires or injuries had been reported due to the issue.
The firm said that nearly 36,000 vehicles currently with dealers – about 13% of their inventory – would be affected by the decision.
Toyota has asked US dealers to stop sales of some of its cars that are equipped with seat heaters
However, that number does not include vehicles that may have already been sold or those in transit to the dealers.
The move by Toyota comes at a time when parts of the US are facing record low temperatures.
Some analysts said that given the extreme winter conditions, demand for vehicles with heated seats was growing and the latest move may put Toyota at a disadvantage to its rivals.
The company is trying to rebuild its reputation after a series of recalls in recent years due to a variety of reasons.
Just over the past two years, Toyota has called back nearly 20 million vehicles globally.
Amanda Knox said today that she is “frightened and saddened” after being re-convicted in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher when they were students in Italy in 2007.
A panel of judges and jurors set a sentence of 28 years and six months for Amanda Knox, who returned to the US after an earlier conviction was reversed.
The jury also convicted her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, sentencing him to 25 years in jail and banned him from traveling.
“I am frightened and saddened by this unjust verdict,” Amanda Knox, 26, said in a written statement from her home in Seattle, where she returned after spending four years in prison.
“Having been found innocent before, I expected better from the Italian justice system.”
Now it’s unclear what will happen to Amanda Knox, who is certain to appeal – a process that could take a year or longer. Even if the high court confirms the new conviction, Italy still would have to seek her extradition.
Amanda Knox said today that she is “frightened and saddened” after being re-convicted in the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher
Amanda Knox has vowed not to return.
Raffaele Sollecito’s lawyers said they were stunned by the latest twist in a whiplash-inducing case that has made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic for six years.
“There isn’t a shred of proof,” attorney Luca Maori said.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were arrested after British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in their apartment in the university town of Perugia.
In 2011, an appeals court reheard the case and acquitted Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito after independent experts said crucial DNA evidence had been contaminated by police.
But in March, Italy’s highest court dismissed that acquittal – slamming the lower court for “contradictions and inconsistencies” in its decision – and ordered a new trial.
Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito say that only one person is responsible for Kercher’s death: small-time drug dealer Rudy Hermann Guede. The Ivory Coast-born man is serving 16 years in jail, but a court found that he did not commit the crime alone.
