Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty is an American hunting enthusiast, businessman and reality television star with a net worth of $5 million.
Phil Alexander Robertson, 67, is the patriarch of the Robertson family which owns and operates multi-million dollar hunting accessory company Duck Commander.
Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty is an American hunting enthusiast, businessman and reality television star with a net worth of $5 million
He attended Louisiana Tech where he was the starting quarterback and star of the football team.
Phil Robertson actually started ahead of future NFL hall of famer Terry Bradshaw. Upon graduation Phil Robertson had the option to play football professionally but declined because he didn’t want to miss duck hunting season.
In 1973 Phil Robertson invented the Duck Commander Duck Call which eventually became the gold standard duck whistle among professional hunters. He owns and operates the business alongside his four sons, and wife Kay who have all helped turn Duck Commander into the multi-million dollar business it is today.
The Robertson family and their business are so popular that they now have their very own reality show on A&E called Duck Dynasty.
During the 10 week duck hunting season, Phil Robertson has a tradition of not showering or shaving ever to bring him luck.
Michelle Obama snubbed China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan after she announced that she would not be attending the summit with the Chinese leading couple when they meet with President Barack Obama.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan are on a tour of the Americas, which is capped off with a meeting with President Barack Obama in California before they head back to China.
Peng Liyuan, however, will likely be making very few public appearances because Michelle Obama opted out of attending, saying that she needs to be in Washington as her daughters finish up the school year.
The move comes as a slight in the eyes of the Chinese, who are reportedly big fans of Michelle Obama and feel her presence would have given more significance to the visit.
Cheng Li, a Chinese policy expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institute, told The New York Times that Michelle Obama’s decision to stay at home will leave the Chinese “disappointed”.
“They certainly have very high expectations for this meeting…There will be more coverage in China than in the United States.”
Part of that comes as the US and China are at odds on a number of issues over accusations of cyber-hacking, disputes over intellectual property and mounting regional tensions over North Korea and the South China Sea.
As a result of the tense relationship, the meeting is being held in California at Sunnylands, a sprawling desert estate built by billionaire philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg is a place where political powerbrokers once discussed critical issues of the day and where royalty – real and Hollywood – soaked up sun and golfed on a private, nine-hole course.
Michelle Obama snubbed China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan after she announced that she would not be attending the summit with the Chinese leading couple when they meet with President Barack Obama
Even though it was meant as a cushioning factor, the location selection apparently backfired by preventing Michelle Obama from attending.
“First lady diplomacy is also very important and the US side has failed to cooperate,” Chinese political scientist Zhang Ming told The Telegraph.
“According to normal diplomatic etiquette this is very strange. It shouldn’t be like this.”
More than one expert has called for Michelle Obama to provide more of an explanation- and justification- for missing the meeting aside from just pointing to her duties as self-proclaimed “Mom-in-Chief”.
Aside from the slight from the Americans, Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan has received seemingly glowing reviews from the other world leaders that she met during her tour of Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico and Costa Rica.
“She’s a very beautiful person, very warm, and to chat with her in English was very wonderful,” said Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Though this visit gained her a wider international audience, Peng Liyuan is used to greeting screaming throngs of crowds.
Prior to her 1987 marriage to the man who is now the Chinese president, Peng Liyuan made a name for herself as a folk singer.
Her music is very popular in the country and she spent years performing for the state’s military during her youth.
Peng Liyuan also regularly appears on a broadcast New Year’s program .
Set up by President Harry S. Truman in 1953, the National Security Agency (NSA) is the eyes and ears of America across the globe, intercepting 1.7 billion emails, phone calls a day.
The NSA is a secretive body that serves the military and intelligence communities by collecting all forms of foreign communications to prevent attacks on the US.
The agency was prohibited by law from intercepting domestic communications without a warrant until George W. Bush issued a caveat in the wake of 9/11 under the controversial “terrorist surveillance program”.
Nonetheless, over the years the NSA has been engulfed in a number of wiretapping scandals.
President Harry S. Truman set up the National Security Agency in 1953
They include President Richard Nixon’s illegal wiretapping, through the NSA, of five members of his national security staff, two newsmen, and a staffer at the Department of Defense in a bid to uncover who was leaking information about his plans for the Vietnam War.
In 2005 it was revealed George W. Bush had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on Americans calling abroad without warrants in a bid to thwart terrorism. He strenuously denied the allegations until he finally conceded he had committed an impeachable offense.
In 2009, under President Barack Obama, the US Department of Justice acknowledged the NSA had gone beyond its remit in tapping the phonelines of American citizens, including a Congressman but claimed that the acts were unintentional and had since been rectified.
Last month, it was accused of building an $1.2 billion cyber base to keep tabs on American citizens.
The state-of-the-art data centre in the Utah desert – codenamed Bumblehive – is intended to bolster online security efforts.
But former employees say it could be used to monitor people’s private emails.
The NSA branded the allegations “unfounded”, adding that it remained “unwavering” in its respect for U.S. laws and American citizens’ civil liberties, and noted that it was subject to broad oversight by all three branches of government.
President Barack Obama delivered a passionate defense on Friday of National Security Agency (NSA) programs that secretly acquire information about Americans’ phone calls, saying criticism of them is all “hype”.
“My assessment and my team’s assessment was that [the programs] help us prevent terrorist attacks and that the modest encroachments on privacy that are involved in getting phone numbers or duration [of calls] without a name attached… It was worth us doing.”
Barack Obama made the remarks at a press conference in response to revelations about two separate programs used to spy on American citizens and foreign nationals. One program involves the collection of U.S. Verizon customers phone records. The other program – dubbed PRISM – allows the government to scour the Internet usage of foreign nationals overseas who use any of nine U.S.-based internet providers such as Microsoft and Google.
“I think it’s important to understand that you can’t have 100% security and then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience,” the president said.
“We’re going to have to make some choices as a society.”
Barack Obama said the PRISM program does not involve monitoring the email content of U.S. citizens or anyone living in the U.S., and he repeatedly stated that both programs – the phone spying and PRISM – have been approved by Congress.
“You can complain about <<big brother>> and how this is a potential program run amuck,” Barack Obama added.
“But when you actually look at the details, then I think we’ve stuck the right balance.”
Barack Obama said the programs have plenty of checks in place, including repeated authorizations by Congress and approval by the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Court, to assure no abuses by the government.
“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” he said.
“That’s not what this program’s about.”
Barack Obama delivered a passionate defense of NSA programs that secretly acquire information about Americans’ phone calls
If U.S. citizens decide they want to axe the programs, Barack Obama “welcomes” that debate, he said. But at the same time, he expressed concern over the fact that the classified programs were leaked to the media.
“I don’t welcome leaks, because there’s a reason why these programs are classified,” the president said.
The Washington Post reported Friday that for the past six years, U.S. intelligence agencies have been extracting audio, video, photos, e-mails, documents and other information to track people’s movements and contacts.
The Silicon Valley companies involved in the PRISM program are Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Skype, AOL and the lesser known Internet company PalTalk, which has hosted a lot of traffic during the Arab Spring and the on-going Syrian civil war.
The scandal deepened after it emerged that the Silicon Valley Internet giants have been passing the acquired information on to the UK.
The Guardian reported that GCHQ, the UK’s communications intelligence agency, has had access to data collected through PRISM program since at least June 2010, and last year generated 197 intelligence reports from it.
The newspaper also first reported the phone-spying program, through which the NSA has been collecting information on Verizon customers’ phone calls, including call duration and frequency.
The revelations – which are the largest anti-terror intelligence-gathering operation since 9/11 – have placed massive pressure on Barack Obama, who is already reeling from the recent IRS scandal.
In addition to the names already on the list, the cloud-storage service Dropbox was described as “coming soon” to PRISM.
Twitter, which is known for zealously protecting its users’ privacy, is conspicuous in its absence from the list of Internet companies involved in the data-mining program.
PRISM was launched in 2007 with the blessing of special federal judges under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Post said that several members of the U.S. Congress were made aware of the classified data-gathering program, but were sworn to secrecy.
All forms of wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the NSA requires a warrant from a three-judge court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act passed in 1978.
But former President George W. Bush issued an executive order shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York that authorized the NSA to monitor certain phone calls without permission.
The warrantless wiretapping program remained a secret until 2005, when a whistleblower went to the press to reveal the extent of the surveillance.
And although the NSA has strenuously denied acting beyond its surveillance powers, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have warned that the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) – a bill currently passing through Congress – could dramatically increase the amount of personal data that government agencies have legal access to.
The particulars of today’s revelation were outlined in a top-secret PowerPoint presentation for senior intelligence analysts, which ended up being leaked to The Post and UK’s The Guardian.
According to The Washington Post, the tech companies are knowingly taking part in PRISM, but The Guardian reported than all nine pleaded ignorance of the program.
Tamar Braxton announced the birth of her son on her Twitter account on Thursday.
Tamar Braxton, 36, shared a picture of three blue teddy bears with “baby boy” embossed on the fuzzy paws amidst sunflowers and balloons.
The child’s name is yet to be revealed.
“Friends HE’S finally here!” Tamar Braxton excitedly wrote in the caption.
Her sisters responded with excitable tweets of their own after hearing the baby news.
Singer Toni Braxton was overflowing with love and kind words for her younger sibling, who’s a singer just like she is.
“Congratulations to my beautiful baby sister!!! I have a new nephew!!!!!! Hehe!!! I’m soooooooo excited!!!!!” Toni Braxton tweeted.
Tamar Braxton took to Twitter to announce that she and husband Vincent Herbert welcomed a healthy baby boy
Tamar Braxton’s sister followed up by writing: “The #bfv finale AND @TamarBraxtonHer is a Mommie all in one night!! #epic!!”
Even her mother Evelyn Braxton got in the act by tweeting: “Congratulations to my @TamarBraxtonHer I am so blessed to have another grandbaby Look at GOD!”
Tamar Braxton and her husband Vincent Herbert, a music executive, tied the knot in 2008.
They currently star on the WE television reality show Tamar & Vince, which is a spinoff of Braxton Family Values.
Tamar Braxton and Vincent Herbert have been spotted loving it up at red carpet events throughout Tamar’s pregnancy.
They are also obviously happy to see the second season of their own show premiere in September.
While the pair have yet to release the baby’s name, Tamar Braxton didn’t hold back when describing her pregnancy.
“I have a lot of energy. I’m always upbeat and everyone has to tell me to sit down somewhere, but I feel amazing,” she revealed during a March 13 appearance on Good Morning America.
“I think the one that sticks out the most is be the best mom you can be and always focus on your family first,” Tamar Braxton told Us Weekly.
Lady Gaga has shed 30 lbs and displayed her new bikini body while on holiday in Mexico earlier this week.
Lady Gaga, 27, displayed her toned figure in a floral two-piece while soaking up the sunshine with her friends.
Looking back to her confident best, Lady Gaga smiled widely as she was photographed.
Clearly conscious of the strong sun, Lady Gaga teamed the bikini with a wide-brimmed white hat and sunglasses to protect her pale complexion.
Later, Lady Gaga was seen wearing a pair of wide-legged cream trousers over the bikini as she made her way back to her hotel.
Her footwear choice could have been slightly more sensible, however, as the singer was seen wearing a pair of black heeled court shoes, which she them removed to walk along the sands.
The heels were even more inappropriate considering Lady Gaga’s recent operation on her hip back in February for a labral tear.
Lady Gaga was forced to cancel her Born This Way Ball tour and doctors told her to take six months off.
Lady Gaga has shed 30 lbs and displayed her new bikini body while on holiday in Mexico
She revealed on Twitter that she dealt with chronic pain for several months prior to seeking medical help, but chose to ignore its effects rather than disappoint her fans.
Lady Gaga’s impressive bikini body comes after some unflattering pictures of her on stage in Amsterdam last September led to the singer revealing she had gained 30 lbs.
Following the shots, Lady Gaga admitted in an interview that she had put on weight, telling Stylist magazine: “I don’t really care if people think I’m fat, because, quite honestly, I did gain about 30 pounds.”
Lady Gaga later blamed the weight gain on her restaurant owner father’s cooking.
The singer told radio host Elvis Duran: “I love eating pasta and pizza. I’m a New York Italian girl. That’s why I have been staying out of New York. My father opened a restaurant. It’s so amazing.
“It’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there. So my dad wants me to eat at the restaurant, and I’m, like, I’ve got to go where I can drink green juice.”
Lady Gaga added: “I really don’t feel bad about it, not even for a second. I have to be on such a strict diet constantly. It’s hard because it’s a quite vigorous show, so I tend to bulk up, get muscular, and I really don’t like that. So I’m trying to find a new balance.”
Richard Ramirez – serial killer known as the “Night Stalker” in the 1980’s – has died in hospital in California.
Richard Ramirez, 53, was on death row in San Quentin prison after being convicted in 1989 of 13 murders. The cause of his death has not been made public.
The Night Stalker terrorized Southern California in 1984-5 with a rampage of s**ual assault and murder.
Richard Ramirez was on death row in San Quentin prison after being convicted in 1989 of 13 murders
Satanic symbols were left at some of the murder scenes by the killer, who broke into victims’ homes at night.
Richard Ramirez was captured by residents in East Los Angeles in 1985 as he attempted to hijack a car.
A horror film based on Richard Ramirez’s life – titled Night Stalker – was released in 2002.
California has not executed a prisoner on death row since 2006.
Former Olympic champion and politician Alina Kabaeva is set to become the future First Lady of Russia, according to recent reports.
Until now, Alina Kabaeva was Russia’s first sweetheart, because from 2008 reportedly she is in a relationship with Vladimir Putin.
Now President Vladimir Putin is officially divorced from his wife Lyudmila Putina and he can live his love with his beautiful lover alina Kabaeva.
So, who is Alina Kabaeva, who drove crazy one of the most powerful man in Europe?
Alina Kabaeva is set to become the future First Lady of Russia
Alina Kabaeva was born in 12 May 1983 in Tashkent, in former Soviet Union’s republic of Uzbekistan and from the beginning showed her love for sports. At the age of 3 she started to play rhythmic gymnastics and soon after showed her talent in it. At 15 she became European champion, as in her career she won 2 Olympic medals, 14 world and 25 European titles.
The daughter of former football star Marat Kabayev, Alina Maratovna Kabaeva retired from the sport in 2007, but showed the world that she won’t stay far from the spotlight. She played in movies, video clips and from the 2007 she is a member of Vladimir Putin’s party – United Russia – managing to enter the Parliament.
In the same year she met Vladimir Putin and they came close. So close that the European press has written quite a few articles about their romance. But this didn’t concern the Russian media, because it is forbidden to all the Russian journalists to refer to their relationship. However, rumours say Vladimir Putin has two children from Alina Kabaeva.
Except for the rhythmic gymnastics, Alina Kabaeva shows great talent in modelling. This has been proven by her photo shoots both in Vogue and Maxim magazines.
There are rumors that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who just announced his divorce from his wife of 30 years Lyudmila Putina, and former gymnast Alina Kabaeva have decided to get married.
But who is Vladimir Putin’s potential new bride?
Alina Maratovna Kabaeva was born on May 12, 1983 in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR of former Soviet Union. Her father is former professional football player Marat Kabayev.
Alina Kabaeva is known for her extreme natural flexibility. She stands at 1.66 m (5’4) and weighs 48 kg (106 lbs).
She is Russia’s most successful rhythmic gymnast to date, and is also one of the most decorated gymnasts in the history of rhythmic gymnastics.
Alina Kabaeva started rhythmic gymnastics in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 1987 at the age of 4. She made her international debut in 1996. In 1998, at age 15, Alina Kabaeva took out the European Championships in Portugal, her victory considered by many to be completely “out of the blue”.
Alina Kabaeva took home a gold medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. She also took a bronze medal at Sydney in 2000.
Former gymnast Alina Kabaeva is Vladimir Putin’s potential new bride
In October 2004, Alina Kabaeva announced her retirement from the sport. However, in June 2005, the Russian head coach Irina Viner announced a possible comeback.
Alina Kabaeva resumed her sport career at an Italy-Russia friendly competition in Genoa, on 10 September 2005. On March 5, 2006, she won the Gazprom Moscow Grand Prix, taking the second and third places. She won the silver medal in all-around at the 2006 European Championships.
The gymnast finished 4th in qualifications at the 2007 World Championships and did not advance into the finals due to the two per country rule with Vera Sessina and Olga Kapranova placing ahead of Alina Kabaeva. She completed her career at the 2007 Season.
Since 2005 Alina Kabaeva has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.
She also appeared briefly in the 2001 Japanese movie Red Shadow, performing her gymnastic routine. Since 2007, Alina Kabaeva has been a member of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, representing the United Russia party. Since February 2008 she has been Chairman of the National Media Group’s Public Council, the media group that controls Izvestia, Channel One and REN TV.
In January 2011, Alina Kabaeva appeared on the cover of Vogue Russia.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle has said in Istanbul that Turkey must investigate the excessive use of force by police against anti-government protesters.
Štefan Füle was speaking ahead of talks on Turkey’s ambition to join the EU.
In response, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan said similar protests in Europe would be dealt with more harshly.
Turkey has seen a week of civil unrest sparked by a police crackdown on a local protest over an Istanbul park.
Štefan Füle and Recep Tayyip Erdogan were both speaking at a conference in Istanbul on Turkey’s relations with the EU.
The EU enlargement commissioner said the EU had no intention of giving up on Turkey’s accession, but Turkey had to maintain values of freedom and fundamental rights.
He urged a “swift and transparent” investigation and those responsible should be held to account.
“Peaceful demonstrations constitute a legitimate way for groups to express their views in a democratic society,” Štefan Füle said.
“Excessive use of force by police against these demonstrations has no place in such a democracy.”
In response, Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the EU of double standards, saying police in Europe and the US used similar methods.
The Turkish government has acknowledged that police used excessive force against the original protest over the planned redevelopment of Gezi Park in Istanbul.
But they say the wider protest movement that ensued in cities across the country has been hijacked by extremists.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle asked Turkey to investigate the excessive use of force by police against anti-government protesters
Last night Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate end to the demonstrations, saying they bordered on illegality.
In a defiant speech to supporters on his return from a four-day tour off North Africa, he accused the protesters of looting and said they had lost democratic credentials.
Turkey’s hopes of EU membership will not be helped by the worst civil unrest for decades.
Turkey formally applied to join in 1987 and started accession talks in 2005.
Human rights concerns have always been an important obstacle to Turkey’s membership bid, along with the division of Cyprus and other issues.
But both France and Germany have recently softened their stance on Turkish accession.
On Thursday night Recep Tayyip Erdogan was welcomed back to Turkey by thousands of cheering supporters who waited at the airport to greet him.
He responded to calls for his resignation by referring to his election victory in 2011 when he took 50% of the vote.
“They say I am the prime minister of only 50%. It’s not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west,” he told the crowd.
It was the first major show of support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a week of protests in which his opponents have called for him to resign.
Four people, including a police officer, are reported to have died since the protests began, with thousands more hurt and hundreds arrested.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler has said that more than 500 police officers are among the injured.
The protesters accuse Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has governed Turkey since 2002, winning successive election victories.
People in Hungary have been warned to prepare for their country’s worst floods ever as the Danube is set to reach record levels this weekend.
“We are facing the worst floods of all time,” said Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Europe’s second longest river is set to hit unprecedented levels in the capital Budapest in the next few days.
A state of emergency has been declared, and thousands of volunteers worked overnight to reinforce the banks of the swelling river.
Water levels are set to reach reach 8.85 m (29 ft), some 25 cm (10 in) higher than the Danube’s previous record high in 2006.
Emergency workers have set up camps along the river as residents packed sandbags around their homes amid an atmosphere of concerned expectation.
Kristalina Georgieva, the EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, tweeted: “Hungary well prepared for highest ever measured water levels on Danube. We are monitoring & ready to assist.”
Budapest Danube is set to reach record levels this weekend
Viktor Orban, who spent the night at a military barracks in the flooded western city of Gyor, said recent dry weather in Austria and Germany, as well as a hot forecast for Hungary over the weekend, gave reason to hope that Europe’s worst river floods for more than a decade could soon be over.
The Danube peaked on Thursday in the Slovak capital Bratislava, where the main flood defenses held firm.
In northern Germany, workers piled sandbags along the banks of the River Elbe as waters rose, after widespread flooding further south.
As flood waters receded to the south and east, defense work continued apace near Lueneburg in Lower Saxony.
Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from at-risk areas in Germany, where the flooding is worse than that recorded in 2002.
On Thursday the Elbe flooded parts of Dresden as it peaked nearly 7 m (22 feet) above its normal level, but the city’s historic centre remained unscathed.
Upstream along the Elbe in the Czech Republic, emergency workers used boats to shuttle supplies to stranded people as large areas remained under water.
Widespread flooding in central Europe has inundated swathes of Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, killing at least 15 people.
France’s President Francois Hollande has made an embarrassing slip of the tongue, confusing Japan and China, as he spoke in French at a news conference in Tokyo.
Referring to the Algerian hostage crisis in January, in which 10 Japanese people were killed, he said he had expressed “the condolences of the French people to the Chinese people”.
Francois Hollande has made an embarrassing slip of the tongue, confusing Japan and China, as he spoke in French at a news conference in Tokyo
Francois Hollande did not correct his mistake.
Relations between Japan and China are often frosty, colored by history and by more recent territorial disputes.
Polls in both countries suggest a mutual distrust and neither side’s nationals like to be confused with the other.
The interpreter did make a correction, in her simultaneous translation.
But at least one Japanese journalist picked up on the error.
Francois Hollande is on a three-day state visit to Japan, the first by a French president in 17 years.
Paris Jackson is currently at West Hills hospital in Los Angeles, recovering from a suicide attempt after reportedly taking an overdose and cutting herself with a cleaver.
But what’s the cause of Paris Jackson crisis?
Some reports said that as well as being in the middle of school exams, Paris Jackson was upset this week after being banned by her family from going to a concert by goth rocker Marilyn Manson, who appeals to troubled teenagers with songs such as Misery Machine and Leave A Scar.
One cause may be the battle royal that is raging over who is to take on the role of her mother. Paris Jackson – who at Michael Jackson’s express behest never had a mother figure – has been reaching out to the woman who gave her up as a baby, Debbie Rowe.
Paris Jackson has mused publicly about their emotional and even their physical similarities. Although the teenager is as thin as a whip and Debbie Rowe is overweight, they have the same tip-tilted nose and pixie-chin, and the same slightly slanting blue-green eyes.
She wrote with pride on her website this spring: “So glad I bonded with my mother. It’s like we have this really strong relationship and did I mention, I kind of look like her. It was so amazing to see my mother after all these years. Love her.”
Paris Jackson pictured with her biological mother Debbie Rowe as she celebrated 15th birthday anniversary
The renewed contact, though, has left her at loggerheads with her grandmother Katherine Jackson, 83. It’s no secret among the Jacksons that Michael’s mother mistrusts Debbie Rowe.
Recent reports suggest that Paris Jackson has been “depressed” and prone to screaming tantrums in recent weeks.
A source in the Jackson household told Entertainment Tonight this week that Paris “calls all the shots” at home and is used to getting her way and doing things as she sees fit – part of the reason her aunt, the singer Janet Jackson, attempted to take her mobile phone during a highly-publicized altercation outside the Jackson family compound last year.
Paris Jackson is also said to be terrified by the prospect of testifying at the ongoing “wrongful death” lawsuit the Jacksons are bringing against concert promoters AEG Live. Michael Jackson was signed to perform a series of gigs which the family argues he was in no fit state to perform. Paris Jackson can expect to be asked about her father’s health and state of mind before he died, and the events of the day he died.
Meanwhile AEG Live claimed it has a further bombshell – it claims to have “irrefutable” proof that Michael Jackson is not the biological father of Prince or Paris, which they wish to bring to court.
Jackson family lawyers argue that the issue is irrelevant, and AEG Live is just seeking to embarrass the family.
A newly released preview from Keeping Up With The Kardashians shows Brody Jenner accusing Bruce Jenner for being an absentee father.
“I think Bruce is an incredible human being and I think that Bruce is a great father, he just wasn’t a great father to me,” Brody Jenner says in a promotional video for the episode.
Bruce Jenner and Brody’s mother Linda Thompson had a “messy divorce” and as a result the 29-year-old has a distant relationship with his father.
Brody Jenner said he was raised with stepfather David Foster and Bruce Jenner often skipped birthdays growing up.
“I resent him for that,” Brody Jenner said.
Former Olympics champion Bruce Jenner also is a father to adults Burt, Casey and Brandon and teenage girls Kendall and Kylie.
He’s also, of course, stepfather to Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Rob Kardashian and married to their momager Kris.
“The way I see Bruce with Kendall and Kylie and Brandon, I’m actually so happy for them,” Brody Jenner said in the video after spending a day on the beach with his father and siblings.
After seeing Bruce Jenner playfully put Kylie on his shoulder and engage in easy conversation with Brandon, Brody confronted his father.
A newly released preview from Keeping Up With The Kardashians shows Brody Jenner accusing Bruce Jenner for being an absentee father
“It’s interesting to watch how you are with the girls,” Brody Jenner told his father.
“Because it’s like, something I’m not really used to.
“You weren’t around since I was a kid and it’s like …,” Brody Jenner said before he was cut off by his father.
“Now’s not the time to talk about it,” Bruce Jenner said.
Brody Jenner created, produced and starred in The Princes of Malibu reality show alongside his brother Brandon.
He dated The Hills stars Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari and was heavily featured on the show.
Brody Jenner previously was romantically linked to Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan and formerly dated Canadian singer Avril Lavigne.
Keeping Up With The Kardashians will air on Sunday night on the E! network.
The video of the moment when activist Ellen Sturtz heckled First Lady Michelle Obama was caught on tape and has now been released to show the tense exchange.
After she was interrupted, Michelle Obama threatened to leave the Democratic National Committee fundraiser unless Ellen Sturtz was removed.
“It felt like she was within a few inches – in my face,” Ellen Sturtz told ABC News, in an account that several witnesses have corroborated.
The video, obtained by CNN, shows how Michelle Obama got down from her platform and went directly over to the heckler and told her to stop or else she was going to leave and allow her to finish.
The crowd cheered for Michelle Obama and told the heckler to stop talking.
The First Lady then walked aside, going over to talk to other supporters briefly- as if to shake off the incident- before returning to the lectern.
Moments before the confrontation, Ellen Sturtz had interrupted Michelle Obama to demand that her husband sign an executive order barring discrimination by federal contractors based on s**ual orientation.
“One of the things I don’t do well is this,” Michelle Obama replied to loud applause, according to a pool report.
“Listen to me or you can take the mic, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.”
The crowd urged the first lady to stay, and she returned to the podium to continue speaking. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney later said that Michelle Obama handled the interruption “brilliantly”.
Ellen Sturtz described herself to ABC News as an “old, grey-haired lesbian” and said she felt compelled to interrupt Michelle Obama because she doesn’t feel she has the time to wait around for action on gay rights.
“I’m too old to wait for it,” she said.
“I don’t want to see us continue to be second-class citizens.”
Ellen Sturtz is an activist for the pro-LGBT rights group GetEQUAL and she was one of four protestors at the event.
The moment when activist Ellen Sturtz heckled First Lady Michelle Obama
But when the White House’s transcript arrived, The Daily Caller reported Tuesday night, it didn’t include any indication of an acrimonious exchange – and was missing Michelle Obama’s threat to leave the event.
The only indication in that transcript that anything was amiss is a note about an “(Inaudible audience interruption.)”
“I lived and worked in the closet, hiding who I was in order to earn a living,” Ellen Sturtz said in a statement late Tuesday night.
“I had planned to speak tonight with DNC officials but, as the First Lady was talking about our children’s future and ensuring that they have everything they need to live happy and productive lives, I simply couldn’t stay silent any longer.”
“I’m looking ahead at a generation of young people who could live full, honest, and open lives with the stroke of the President’s pen,” Ellen Sturtz insisted.
The home where the heckling happened belongs to power couple Karen Dixon and Nan Schaffer, formerly of Chicago, who have hosted fundraisers for the Obamas in the past, including one that raised $1.4 million for the president’s reelection campaign in February 2012.
Karen Dixon is an attorney who serves on the national board of Lambda Legal, an organization working for LGBT rights.
Her spouse, Nan Schaffer, is a veterinarian who works to preserve the rhino population through artificial insemination.
She is also a minority shareholder in Windy City Media Group and founded Outlines, a Chicago newspaper, in 1987.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But White House Press Secretary Jay Carney took an oddly coincidental question earlier in the day during his regularly scheduled briefing about the same discrimination issue that had Ellen Sturtz shouting at the top of her lungs.
Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina have announced that they have separated and their marriage is over.
The 60-year-old Russian president and his 55-year-old wife broke the news of the end of the 29-year marriage in an obviously staged TV interview after a night at the ballet that made no mention of Vladimir Putin’s alleged mistress, former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 30.
Asked on Rossiya-24 television about longstanding rumors that the Putins no longer lived together, Vladimir Putin said: “That is true.”
Lyudmila Putina said it had been “our common decision. And our marriage is over due to the fact that we barely see each other”.
Asked whether they were divorced, Lyudmila Putina said it was a “civilized divorce”.
But neither clarified whether they were legally divorced and Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he did not know.
The obviously staged interview made no mention of Alina Kabayeva, a 30-year-old former gymnast who is rumored to have been Vladimir Putin’s mistress for years.
Alina Kabaeva, who is alleged to have given birth to Vladimir Putin’s lovechild, is now a politician after retiring from a glittering career in gymnastics in which she represented her country at the Olympics twice.
Rumors about Vladimir Putin’s alleged affair with Alina Kabaeva first surfaced five years ago when a Russian newspaper owned by the oligarch Alexander Lebedev reported that Putin wanted to marry his gymnast mistress.
Vladimir Putin angrily denied the story, and the newspaper was closed down shortly afterwards, which many attributed to Putin’s rage. Further stories later emerged claiming that Alina Kabaeva had had a baby by the president, but both sides denied them.
Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Putina had last been seen in public together at Putin’s inauguration to his third presidential term on May 7, 2012.
Married just a few weeks short of 30 years, the Putins announced the decision on state television after attending a ballet performance Thursday evening in the Kremlin.
Lyudmila Putina has rarely been seen in public during her husband’s long tenure at the top of Russian politics.
Alina Kabaeva, who is alleged to have given birth to Vladimir Putin’s lovechild, is now a politician after retiring from a glittering career in gymnastics in which she represented Russia at the Olympics twice
“I don’t like publicity and flying is difficult for me,” she said.
In the televised announcement of their divorce, Vladimir Putin appeared reserved and Lyudmila Putina smiled tentatively.
“We practically never saw each other. To each his own life,” Vladimir Putin said.
Lyudmila Putina said: “We will eternally be very close people. I’m thankful … that he supports me.”
There were no immediate indications of how the move would be perceived by the public. Divorce is common in Russia, and nearly 700,000 pairs dissolved their marriages in 2009, according to UNICEF.
Russian leaders, unlike their counterparts in the West, generally keep their personal lives well out of public view. Mikhail Gorbachev’s wife Raisa raised many Russians’ hackles by her visibility, flair for fashionable dress and forthright comments.
But Vladimir Putin also has made a point of supporting traditional social values and appearing at holiday masses of the Orthodox Church.
The church permits divorce under some circumstances; it is not clear if the Putins sought pastoral advice or permission before the split.
The couple, who married in 1983 and have two daughters, recently attracted attention after they were never seen in public together.
An official family portrait has been issued, and photographs of their daughters Maria, 27, and Yekaterina, 26, have never been printed by the Russian media.
In April speculation was mounting as to why the first lady of Russia was rarely seen by the president’s side.
Unfounded rumors suggested Vladimir Putin had an affair with spy-turned-lingerie model Anna Chapman, which has been strongly denied, was behind the former Aeroflot-hostess’ disappearance from public view.
In October 2010 the Putins tried to quell rumors they had divorced by posing for pictures as they jointly answered questions for the national census.
Vladimir Putin has been a constant fixture in leading the country.
He was re-elected to the role of President in May last year, and he previously held the post from 2000 to 2008.
In between his these offices, Vladimir Putin was Prime Minister of Russia from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012.
The Russian office of first lady demands the attendance of many official ceremonies and functions of state – either by the side of the president or to represent him.
Russia heavily frowns upon the First Lady holding outside employment while occupying the office.
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for protests across the country to end immediately.
At Istanbul airport Recep Tayyip Erdogan told crowds of supporters who were welcoming him home from a four-day North Africa tour that the protests bordered on illegality.
As he spoke, thousands of anti-government protesters were also rallying in Istanbul’s Taksim Square.
The unrest began as a local protest over a park in Istanbul but spiraled into nationwide demonstrations.
An estimated 10,000 supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party descended on the airport to welcome him home in the early hours of Friday.
Standing alongside his wife and government ministers on an open-top bus, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the crowd: “These protests that are bordering on illegality must come to an end as of now.”
At times Recep Tayyip Erdogan was almost drowned out by the cheering and chanting of his supporters.
“We have never been for building tension and polarization, but we cannot applaud brutality,” he said.
Some of his supporters chanted: “Let us go, let’s crush Taksim.”
However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged them to “go home” peacefully.
“You have remained calm, mature and showed common sense,” he said.
“We’re all going to go home from here.”
Turkey’s PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for protests across the country to end immediately
Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to calls for his resignation by referring to his election victory in 2011 when he took 50% of the vote.
“They say I am the prime minister of only 50%. It’s not true. We have served the whole of the 76 million from the east to the west,” he told the crowd.
It was the first major show of support for Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a week of protests in which his opponents have called for him to resign.
The divisions in Turkey look set to deepen in the days ahead and could be very dangerous indeed.
The original sit-in at Gezi Park last Friday spiraled into mass protests after police cracked down on activists defending the green space near Taksim Square from developers.
Correspondents in Taksim Square say the atmosphere is good-natured, with protesters dancing and chanting political slogans.
Many are part of a secular, well-educated middle class which feels that Turkey lacks a proper, free political culture.
One protester in the square, named as Deniz, told reporters: “He [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] cannot take the park, there is no way. You know what? He will cause a war inside the country. We will keep resisting.”
Protesters accuse Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
His Justice and Development Party (AKP) has governed Turkey since 2002.
Speaking in Tunis earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan acknowledged that police had used “excessive force” against activists at the original sit-in. But he said that a small group was now manipulating what had started as an environmental protest.
“Among the protesters there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism,” he told reporters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also defended the urban development plan for Gezi Park.
Turkey’s stock market dropped nearly 5% after his remarks.
Amid growing international concern at the unrest, the US has urged Turkish officials to refrain from “unhelpful rhetoric” and France has condemned the heavy-handed police response.
Four people, including a police officer, are reported to have died since the protests began, with thousands more hurt and hundreds arrested.
Interior Minister Muammer Guler has said that more than 500 police officers are among the injured.
The protests come as Turkey prepares to host an international conference focused on its relations with the EU on Friday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to make the opening speech at the event.
Negotiations with the EU have stalled in recent years amid concerns over Turkey’s freedom of speech, treatment of religious minorities, women’s and children’s rights, civilian control of the military and long-running tensions over Cyprus.
Lynne Rosen and John Littig, a couple who hosted a radio show called The Pursuit of Happiness, took their own lives by asphyxiation, US authorities say.
John Littig, 47, and Lynne Rosen, 45, were found in their New York home on Wednesday.
They both left notes. John Littig said they wanted to die together and Lynne Rosen apologized to her family, police said.
Radio station WBAI tweeted: “RIP Lynne Rosen + John Littig. Partners on the air and in life.”
The station aired Lynne Rosen’s monthly radio show The Pursuit of Happiness, on which John Littig would regularly appear.
The couple were partners in a self-help venture called Why Not Now, their website says.
Lynne Rosen and John Littig, who hosted radio show The Pursuit of Happiness, took their own lives by asphyxiation
It says Lynne Rosen was a life coach, speaker and consultant, while John Littig was described as a motivational speaker, workshop facilitator and life coach.
It is not clear why the couple, who were known for giving advice and life lessons, decided to kill themselves.
In one YouTube clip, they can be seen discussing a quote attributed to former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt: “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
“People get scared to make changes and step outside of that comfort zone, right, John?” Lynne Rosen says.
John Littig responds: “Stepping outside your comfort zone is very important. Or alternatively, you can start to get comfortable with change.”
North Korea has announced it will restore the key hotline with South Korea at Kaesong Industrial Complex, as the two countries discuss where to hold talks on the jointly-run industrial zone.
Pyongyang said it would reopen a Red Cross hotline which it cut in March.
It also invited officials to come to Kaesong for talks on Sunday on restarting operations at the factory zone, after the two sides agreed in principle to talks on Thursday.
Work at Kaesong has been halted since April, amid high regional tensions.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated earlier this year in the wake of the North’s 12 February nuclear test.
North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are expected to be on the table when the US and Chinese presidents meet in California later on Friday for an informal summit.
The Kaesong factory complex is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation. Around 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there by more than 120 South Korean factories.
The zone is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade.
North Korea has announced it will restore the key hotline with South Korea at Kaesong Industrial Complex
However, Pyongyang withdrew its workers in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.
It had already cut a military hotline with South Korea, and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas, in addition to the Red Cross hotline.
On Thursday, however, it offered talks with the South on the resumption of operations and said it would reconnect the Red Cross hotline if Seoul – which had been seeking such talks – agreed.
Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said the Red Cross link would be restored from 14:00 local time, AFP news agency said.
The two sides are still working out details of the talks on the industrial zone. The South suggested ministerial-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday, but North Korea has asked for lower-level talks on Sunday in Kaesong, which is located just inside North Korea.
In a statement, Pyongyang said that working-level talks were needed first, “in the light of the prevailing situation in which the bilateral relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity”.
Kaesong Industrial Complex:
Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
Complex as a whole produced $470 million worth of goods in 2012 – the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
South Korean companies pay more than $80 million a year in wages to North Korean workers
James Clapper, director of US National Intelligence, has strongly defended government surveillance programmes after revelations of phone records being collected and internet servers being tapped.
Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper said disclosure of a secret court document on phone record collection threatened “irreversible harm”.
Revelations of an alleged programme to tap into servers of nine internet firms were “reprehensible”, he said.
Internet firms deny giving government agents access to their servers.
The director of US national intelligence issued a strong-worded statement late on Thursday, after the UK’s Guardian newspapersaid a secret court order had required phone company Verizon to hand over its records to the National Security Agency (NSA) on an “ongoing daily basis”.
That report was followed by revelations in both the Washington Post and Guardian that US agencies tapped directly into the servers of nine internet firms to track people in a programme known as Prism.
The reports about Prism will raise fresh questions about how far the US government should encroach on citizens’ privacy in the interests of national security.
The NSA confirmed that it had been secretly collecting millions of phone records. But James R. Clapper said the “unauthorized disclosure… threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation”.
The article omitted “key information” about the use of the records “to prevent terrorist attacks and the numerous safeguards that protect privacy and civil liberties”.
He said reports about Prism contained “numerous inaccuracies”. While admitting the government collected communications from internet firms, he said the policy only targets “non-US persons”.
Prism was reportedly developed in 2007 out of a programme of domestic surveillance without warrants that was set up by President George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks.
Prism reportedly does not collect user data, but is able to pull out material that matches a set of search terms.
James Clapper, director of US National Intelligence, has strongly defended government surveillance programmes after revelations of phone records being collected and internet servers being tapped
James Clapper said the communications-collection programme was “designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-US persons located outside the United States”.
“It cannot be used to intentionally target any US citizen, any other US person, or anyone located within the United States,” he added.
James Clapper said the programme, under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, was recently reauthorized by Congress after hearings and debate.
“Information collected under this program is among the most important and valuable foreign intelligence information we collect, and is used to protect our nation from a wide variety of threats,” he added.
But while US citizens were not intended to be the targets of surveillance, the Washington Post says large quantities of content from Americans are nevertheless screened in order to track or learn more about the target.
The data gathered through Prism has grown to become a major contributor to the president’s daily briefing and accounts for almost one in seven intelligence reports, it adds.
The Washington Post named the nine companies participating in the programme as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple.
Microsoft said in a statement that it only turned over customer data when given a legally binding order, and only complied with orders for specific accounts.
“If the government has a broader voluntary national security program to gather customer data we don’t participate in it,” Microsoft said.
Meanwhile, Yahoo, Apple and Facebook said they did not give the government direct access to their servers.
In a statement, Google said: “Google does not have a <<back door>> for the government to access private user data.”
On Wednesday, it emerged that the NSA was collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans, after the Guardian published a secret order for the Verizon phone company to hand over its records.
A senior congressman, House intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers, told reporters that collecting Americans’ phone records was legal, authorized by Congress and had not been abused by the Obama administration.
He also said it had prevented a “significant” attack on the US “within the past few years”, but declined to offer more information.
The order requires Verizon – one of the largest phone companies in the US – to disclose to the NSA the metadata of all calls it processes, both domestic and international, in which at least one party is in the US.
Such metadata includes telephone numbers, calling card numbers, the serial numbers of phones used and the time and duration of calls. It does not include the content of a call or the callers’ addresses or financial information.
According to a fossil study, a Neanderthal living 120,000 years ago had a cancer that is common today.
A fossilized Neanderthal rib found in a shallow cave at Krapina, Croatia, shows signs of a bone tumor.
The discovery is the oldest evidence yet of a tumor in the human fossil record, say US scientists.
The research, published in the journal PLOS One, gives clues to the complex history of cancer in humans.
A fossilized Neanderthal rib found in a shallow cave at Krapina, Croatia, shows signs of a bone tumor
Until now, the earliest known bone cancers have been identified in ancient Egyptian remains from about 1,000-4,000 years ago.
“It’s the oldest tumor found in the human fossil record,” said Dr. David Frayer, the University of Kansas anthropologist who led the US team.
“It shows that living in a relatively unpolluted environment doesn’t necessarily protect you against cancer, even if you were a Neanderthal living 120,000 years ago.”
The fossil was uncovered from an important archaeological site that has yielded almost 900 ancient human bones, along with stone tools.
The cancerous rib is an incomplete specimen, so the overall health impact of the tumor on the individual cannot be established.
The tumor was diagnosed by a medical radiologist from X-rays and CT scans.
Although efforts to extract ancient DNA from the Neanderthal fossil have proved unsuccessful, the researchers hope other fossils may shed light on cancer in prehistoric humans.
Actress Esther Williams has died in Los Angeles aged 91.
The swimming champion-turned-movie star’s spokesman said Esther Williams died peacefully in her sleep. She had been in declining health due to old age.
A national swimming champion by the time she was 16, Esther Williams’ success led to a career in Hollywood “aqua-musicals” designed just for her, in the 1940s.
She became known as Hollywood’s Mermaid, starring in films including Dangerous When Wet and Easy to Wed.
Esther Williams became one of cinema’s biggest box-office stars in the 1940s and 1950s, famously appearing in spectacular swimsuits that capitalized on her physical beauty.
Her films were typically lavish song-and-dance affairs, following the same formula of romance, music and comedy – held together by a lightweight plot that provided infinite excuses for the actress to get into the water.
Esther Williams has died in Los Angeles aged 91
Finales usually featured Esther Williams diving into a pool or lagoon and surfacing to a crescendo of music, with water glistening on her beaming face.
Her string of successful films included Thrill of a Romance, Fiesta, On an Island With You and Duchess of Idaho.
Co-stars included Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Ricardo Montalban and Howard Keel.
“I look at that girl and I like her,” Esther Williams said on watching her films decades later, Reuters reports.
“I can see why she became popular with audiences. There was an unassuming quality about her. She was certainly wholesome,” she said.
In the 1950s she attempted to branch out into non-swimming roles, but met with little success.
“I guess what MGM found was that my audience wanted that bathing suit,” Esther Williams said, when her autobiography was released in 1999.
“And you know, when Cinemascope came in and you’ve got that water all wrapped around you and they’d do big close-ups of me… I think it had too much pleasure connected with it for them to change it.”
Esther Williams retired from the movies in 1962, following her marriage to her third husband, Hollywood playboy Fernando Lamas.
In her later years Esther Williams hosted swimming events for ABC-TV’s coverage of the 1984 Olympic Games and turned her attention to business, launching her own line of swimwear.
Esther Williams was married to Fernando Lamas for 20 years until his death in 1982. She and her last husband Edward Bell lived in Los Angeles’ Beverly Hills.
Her autobiography also told of many romances, including one with actor Jeff Chandler.
According to Esther Williams, she discovered he was a cross-dresser and walked out, explaining: “Jeff, you’re too big for polka dots.”
Several of Jeff Chandler’s colleagues denied Esther Williams’ claims when the book was published.
Prince Philip has been admitted to hospital for an exploratory operation, Buckingham Palace has said.
The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to the London Clinic “following abdominal investigations” and is expected to stay in the hospital for up to two weeks.
The operation will take place on Friday under general anaesthetic. It is a planned, not an emergency, admittance.
Prince Philip, who will be 92 on 10 June, pulled out of an official engagement earlier this week.
In the past week, the duke has been having unannounced “abdominal investigations” at the hospital in central London, said BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt.
The Palace said in a statement that “further updates will be issued when appropriate”.
On Monday, Prince Philip pulled out of an engagement for the Royal National Institute of Blind People after becoming unwell ahead of last week’s service marking 60 years since the Queen’s coronation.
Prince Philip attended the service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday and was present at a garden party attended by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Thursday afternoon.
Guests said he gave no signs of being unwell.
Prince Philip was driven to the clinic after the party and walked in unaided.
Prince Philip has been admitted to hospital for an exploratory operation
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: “He is in very good health.”
She added: “He felt unwell on Monday and missed an engagement, but that was down to the fact he had temporarily lost his voice.”
A Palace spokesman at the London Clinic described the Duke of Edinburgh as being in good spirits.
The spokesman stressed it was not an emergency admission and the decision was taken by the duke’s doctors to carry out the exploratory operation after investigations and tests last week.
Police officers were standing guard outside the hospital ahead of Philip’s operation.
In April, Buckingham Palace played down fears about the Duke of Edinburgh’s health after he was pictured with purplish skin round his eye in Canada. It said he did not fall and simply woke up with the discoloration.
Prince Philip, 91, has been admitted to hospital three other times in the past two years after suffering health scares.
In August 2012, he was treated at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for a bladder infection.
The Duke of Edinburgh spent four days in hospital over Christmas 2011, following an operation to clear a blocked heart artery.
After attending events to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June, he was admitted to hospital for five nights missing several days of festivities after sustaining a bladder infection.
Writing on Twitter, PM David Cameron said: “My best wishes to the Duke of Edinburgh who is in hospital tonight. I hope he has a swift recovery.”
On Friday, Prince Philip was due to accompany the Queen when she officially opens the BBC’s New Broadcasting House building in central London. The Queen will now undertake the visit alone.
Prince Philip was at the Queen’s side at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday for the coronation service and on Wednesday toured a Victorian steamship, the SS Robin, in London’s East End.
Ahead of the garden party, Queen Elizabeth II invested her husband with New Zealand’s highest honor to mark the Diamond Jubilee making him an additional member of the Order of New Zealand.
The Duke of Edinburgh would miss the Trooping the Colour parade on June 15, marking the Queen’s official birthday.
Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina have announced their marriage is over.
The Russian president and his wife, who had been married for 30 years, made their divorce public on Russian state television after attending a ballet performance.
“It was a joint decision: we hardly see each other, each of us has our own life”, Vladimir Putin said.
Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Putina had rarely been seen in public in recent months, prompting much speculation in Russian media.
She is known to dislike publicity, and told the TV reporter that flying was difficult for her.
The divorce was “civilized” and the couple would “always remain close”, she said.
“I am very grateful to Vladimir… that he still supports me. And the children, he really cares for them and the children feel this,” Lyudmila Putina added.
Vladimir Putin confirmed on TV that the two were no longer living together.
Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila Putina have announced their marriage is over
Vladimir Putin and Lyudmila Shkrebneva were married in 1983. They have two daughters, Maria and Yekaterina, both in their 20s.
“Our children have grown up; they have their own lives,” Lyudmila Putina added.
She and Vladimir Putin were last seen together at his inauguration for his third term as president on 7 May 2012.
Neither clarified whether or not their marriage had been legally dissolved.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: “They separated a long time ago. I don’t know if the divorce has been formalized but I can confirm that we are talking about a civilized divorce.”
The announcement came after the couple had gone to see the ballet Esmeralda at the Kremlin Palace – they left after the first act.
Thursday’s announcement confirms what had been rumored for years, that the Putins were having marital problems.
But the news has still come as a shock to many Russians, who are not used to their leaders getting divorced.
The Putins’ marriage has been the subject of speculation before.
In 2008, Vladimir Putin denied rumors that he had secretly divorced and was planning to remarry former Olympic gymnast Alina Kabayeva.
Thousands of anti-government protesters are gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, ahead of the return of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a North African tour.
Protesters are calling for Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s resignation, correspondents in the square say.
Earlier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press ahead with controversial plans to redevelop a park in Istanbul.
A local environmental protest against the proposal spiraled into nationwide political unrest seven days ago.
The original sit-in at Gezi Park mushroomed after police cracked down on activists defending the green space near Istanbul’s Taksim Square from developers.
For days, demonstrators in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities have been calling for the three-term prime minister to quit.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to return from Tunisia on Thursday evening after a four-day visit to North Africa.
Speaking in Tunis earlier, he acknowledged that police had used “excessive force” against activists at the original sit-in. But he said that a small group was now manipulating what had started as an environmental protest.
“Among the protesters, there are extremists, some of them implicated in terrorism,” he told reporters.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan also defended the urban development plan for Gezi Park.
“The project respects [Turkey’s] history, culture and environment,” he said.
“What we are doing is to protect the rights of the majority and to preserve the beauty of Istanbul.”
Thousands of anti-government protesters are gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, ahead of the return of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan from a North African tour
The economic response to the remarks was swift, with the stock market dropping nearly 5% after the prime minister’s announcement.
Since the protests erupted, four people including a police officer are reported to have died, thousands have been injured and hundreds arrested in the unrest.
Among those detained were seven foreigners from France, Germany, Greece, Iran and the US, Turkey confirmed on Thursday.
Protesters accuse Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government of becoming increasingly authoritarian and trying to impose conservative Islamic values on a secular state.
His ruling Justice and Development Party has governed Turkey since 2002, winning a series of election victories.
Earlier this week, Deputy PM Bulent Arinc apologized for police violence in the original protest at Gezi Park.
He also met representatives from a protest group calling itself the Taksim Solidarity Platform (TSP).
The collective presented a list of demands, which included the dismissal of police chiefs, a ban on the use of tear gas, the release of detained protesters, the sacking of Istanbul’s governor, and the scrapping of the plans for the redevelopment of Gezi Park.
Opponents of the plan say the park is one of the few green areas left in central Istanbul.
But Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said the project would go ahead, and that the historic Ottoman-era military barracks would be rebuilt on the site as planned.
The protests come as Turkey prepares to host an international conference focused on its relations with the EU on Friday.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to make the opening speech at the event, which will be attended by the EU’s Commissioner for enlargement, Stefan Rule, British ex-foreign minister Jack Straw and representatives from other member states.
France earlier condemned Turkey’s heavy-handed police response to the protests.
Negotiations with the EU have stalled in recent years because of concerns over freedom of speech, treatment of religious minorities, women’s and children’s rights, civilian control of the military and long-running tensions with Cyprus.
