Turkish police have pulled out of Istanbul’s Taksim Square which has become the focus of the largest anti-government protest in years.
Thousands of people are in Taksim Square after days of unrest sparked by plans to redevelop nearby Gezi Park.
In recent days police have fired tear gas and water cannon several times to break up the demonstrations.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said police may have used excessive force but that the park development will go ahead.
Earlier on Saturday, he called for an end to the protests, saying Taksim Square “cannot be an area where extremists are running wild”.
In a defiant speech to the exporters’ union, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted plans to reconstruct an Ottoman era military barracks on the Gezi Park site would go ahead and that a shopping mall “might be built on the ground floor or a city museum”.
The protesters say the park is one of the few green spaces left in Istanbul, and that the government is ignoring their appeals for it be saved.
Their protests initially began as a sit-in in the park, but erupted in clashes on Friday as police fired tear gas to try to clear them out.
Correspondents say that what was initially a local issue has spiraled into widespread anti-government unrest and anger over the perceived “Islamisation” of Turkey.
Thousands of people are in Taksim Square after days of unrest sparked by plans to redevelop nearby Gezi Park
One woman told Agence France-Presse: “They want to turn this country into an Islamist state, they want to impose their vision all the while pretending to respect democracy.”
Another, Oral Goktas, said the protest had brought together people from many different backgrounds.
“This has become a protest against the government, against Erdogan taking decisions like a king,” she told Reuters news agency.
The perception that police had been heavy-handed by firing tear gas and water cannon – a view adopted by many of the country’s mainstream media – also fuelled the unrest. Dozens of people have been injured in the clashes.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper quoted police as saying 138 people were in custody.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there had been “some mistakes, extremism in police response”, while the authorities have insisted that any allegations of abuse of power by the police will be investigated.
In an apparent bid to reduce tensions, police and riot vehicles were withdrawn from the square on Saturday afternoon, and barricades removed, allowing thousands of people to enter the square.
The scene in the central square appeared to be peaceful, with protesters chanting slogans, dancing and waving banners, some calling for the government to resign.
However clashes continued in the Besiktas district of the city to the east.
Police were using tear gas and water cannon to hold back protesters near the Shangri-la hotel.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey have complained that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
His ruling AK Party has its roots in political Islam, but he says he is committed to Turkey’s state secularism.
The US has expressed concern over Turkey’s handling of the protests and Amnesty International condemned the police’s tactics, saying: “The use of violence by police on this scale appears designed to deny the right to peaceful protest altogether and to discourage others from taking part.”
In his speech, Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the “preaching” of foreign governments, saying they “should first look at their own countries”.
Iraqi authorities say they have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons, as well as to smuggle them to Europe and North America.
Iraqi defense ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said five men had been arrested after military intelligence monitored their activities for three months.
Three workshops for manufacturing the chemical agents, including sarin and mustard gas, were uncovered, he added.
Remote-controlled toy planes were also seized at the workshops.
Mohammed al-Askari said they were to have been used to release the chemical agents over the target from a “safe” distance of 1.5 km (0.9 miles).
All of the arrested men had confessed to the plot, and said they had received instruction from another al-Qaeda offshoot, he added.
As the defense ministry spokesman spoke on Iraqi TV, footage was shown of four men with black hoods on their heads, our correspondent adds. Three of them were wearing bright yellow jumpsuits and a fourth was in a brown jumpsuit.
Iraqi authorities have uncovered an al-Qaeda plot to use chemical weapons
Their arrests were possible because of co-operation between Iraqi and foreign intelligence services, Mohammed al-Askari said.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is believed the only offshoot of the Islamist militant network to have used chemical weapons.
It detonated a 16 crude chlorine bombs in Iraq between October 2006 and June 2007.
Chlorine inhalation made many hundreds of people sick, but no deaths resulting from exposure to the chemical were recorded, US officials said at the time. Instead, the bomb blasts are believed to have caused the fatalities.
At the time, US officials said al-Qaeda appeared to want to use debilitating agents like chlorine in their bombs to cause casualties beyond those hit by the initial explosion.
US and Iraqi troops subsequently killed or detained many of the militants who were building the chlorine-laced bombs and seized much of their stockpiled chemicals.
A letter written by the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden five days before he was killed in a US military raid in Pakistan in 2011 urged members of the group’s offshoot in Yemen who he believed were considering using “poison” to be “careful of doing it without enough study of all aspects, including political and media reaction”, according to CNN.
Experts believe a lack of clinical trials aimed at younger breast cancer patients could be partly to blame for longer-term survival problems.
The study, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Wessex Cancer Trust, analyzed nearly 3,000 women under 40 in the UK with diagnosed breast cancer.
It found a rapid rise in relapse after five years in younger patients with a certain type of the cancer.
This contrasts with what normally happens with the disease.
Experts believe a lack of clinical trials aimed at younger breast cancer patients could be partly to blame for longer-term survival problems
The data, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, showed that survival five years after diagnosis was 85%. By the eight-year mark it was 68%.
Breast cancer is mostly diagnosed in post-menopausal women, although those with a diagnosis under 40 represent fewer than 5% of all breast cancers treated in the UK.
The study looked at cases involving oestrogen-receptor-positive disease, whose cancers are fuelled by the female hormone oestrogen.
This form of the disease is usually treated by chemotherapy followed by the drug tamoxifen for five years to block oestrogen receptors.
Researchers suggested that taking tamoxifen for a longer period may help, but they said the underlying problem was that trials needed to involve more younger patients.
Chief investigator Prof. Dianna Eccles said: “This study adds to the evidence that breast cancer can behave very differently when diagnosed in younger women.
“They may require a different approach to treatment, which isn’t necessarily understood from cancer trials in older patients.”
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding’s first novel in 14 years, is to be published later this year.
The novel is Helen Fielding’s third about the hapless singleton, following Bridget Jones’s Diary, which was published in 1996, and sequel The Edge Of Reason in 1999.
The books sold more than 15 million copies in 40 countries and were adapted for the movies starring Renee Zellweger in the lead role, Colin Firth as Mark Darcy and Hugh Grant as Daniel Cleaver.
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, which will be published on October 10, is set in present day London and ‘represents a totally new phase in Bridget’s life’.
An extract released by publishers showed that Bridget Jones is still prone to mishaps.
She writes after sending a text message: “You see, this is the trouble with the modern world. If it was the days of letter-writing, I would never even have started to find his address, a pen, a piece of paper, an envelope, a stamp and gone outside at 11.30 p.m. to find a postbox.
“A text is gone at the brush of a fingertip, like a nuclear bomb or Exocet missile. Dating Rule No 1: Do not text when drunk.”
Bridget Jones Mad About The Boy, Helen Fielding’s first novel in 14 years, is to be published later this year
A statement from publishers Jonathan Cape said: “Bridget is older, she is still keeping a diary, but she is also immersed in texting and experimenting with social media, with an emphasis on <<social!>>.”
Jonathan Cape publishing director Dan Franklin said: “As a comic writer, Helen is without equal. Over 15 years ago she gave a voice to a generation of young women with the original Bridget book.
“Now they’ve grown up and she’s doing it again….this time with all the joys and complications of social media.”
Bridget Jones, who filled the pages of her diary with her failed efforts to find love and measured her life in the amount of cigarettes she smoked, units of alcohol she drank and number of calories she lost or gained, started life as a weekly column in The Independent in 1995.
Best-selling English author Helen Fielding recently wrote that the dating scene had become even more difficult for women thanks to the advent of email, Twitter, Facebook and texting.
Writing in the margins of her novel Bridget Jones’ Diary for a charity book sale, she said that she thought that finding a partner is “so much worse now”.
Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth recently dashed hopes that a third Bridget Jones film would be hitting the big-screen soon.
“Unfortunately, it might be a bit of a long wait. I wouldn’t say that it’s completely dead in the water, but the way it’s going you might be seeing Bridget Jones’ granddaughter’s story being told by the time we get there,” he quipped.
According to a Scottish research, the cheap inflatable leg wraps may save the lives of patients after a stroke.
The devices regularly squeeze the legs to keep blood flowing and prevent formation of fatal blood clots.
A trial with 2,876 patients, published in the Lancet, showed there were fewer clots with the wraps.
The UK’s Stroke Association said the results were “extremely encouraging” and had the potential to save thousands of lives.
A clot in the leg, a deep vein thrombosis, is normally associated with long flights, but is a problem for hospital patients unable to move.
Doctors at Western General Hospital and the University of Edinburgh said compression socks did not improve survival and clot-busting drugs led to other problems, including bleeding on the brain.
They tested the devices, which fit around the legs and fill with air every minute. They compress the legs and force the blood back to the heart.
They were worn for a month or until the patient recovered and was able to move again.
In the study, 8.5% of patients using the compression device developed blood clots, compared with 12.1% of patients who were treated normally.
According to a Scottish research, the cheap inflatable leg wraps may save the lives of patients after a stroke
Prof. Martin Dennis said: “At last we have a simple, safe and affordable treatment that reduces the risk of deep vein thrombosis and even appears to reduce the risk of dying after a stroke.
“We estimate that this treatment could potentially help about 60,000 stroke patients each year in the UK.
“If this number were treated, we would prevent about 3,000 developing a deep vein thrombosis and perhaps save 1,500 lives.”
He said the system should also be tested in other immobile patients, such as those with pneumonia.
Prof. Tony Rudd, who chairs the Intercollegiate Stroke Guideline Group at the Royal College of Physicians, said: “This study is a major breakthrough showing how a simple and safe treatment can save lives.
“It is one of the most important research studies to emerge from the field of stroke in recent years.”
Dr. Dale Webb, of the Stroke Association charity, said: “The results of this research are extremely encouraging and show that using a compression device on the legs of patients at risk of developing blood clots could be a more effective treatment.
“This new device has the potential to save thousands of lives and we would like to see it incorporated into national clinical guidelines.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to press ahead with controversial Taksim Gezi Park redevelopment that has sparked violent clashes in central Istanbul.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would not yield to “wild extremists” and urged an end to the protests.
Clashes over Taksim Gezi Park in Istanbul began on Friday and continued there and in the capital, Ankara, on Saturday.
Correspondents say the local issue has spiraled into more widespread anger over perceived “Islamisation”.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey have complained that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
His ruling AK Party has its roots in political Islam, but he says he is committed to Turkey’s state secularism.
Last week, Turkey’s parliament approved legislation restricting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks between 22:00 and 06:00.
In a defiant speech to the exporters’ union, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted that the park project would go ahead.
“We will rebuild the [Ottoman era military] barracks [at the site],” he said, without referring to the shopping mall that protesters fear will be located there.
Opponents say Gezi Park in Taksim Square is one of the few green areas left in central Istanbul.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed order would be restored “to ensure the safety of people and their property”.
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to press ahead with Taksim Gezi Park redevelopment that has sparked violent clashes in central Istanbul
He said: “Police were there [Taksim Square] yesterday; they’ll be on duty today and also tomorrow because Taksim Square cannot be an area where extremists are running wild.”
Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused protesters of using the issue as an excuse to create tension and called on them to end their action immediately to avoid “further damage to visitors, pedestrians and shopkeepers”.
He said of the protests: “All attempts apart from the ballot box are not democratic”, adding that he could summon a million pro-government protesters if he wanted to.”
However, the prime minister did admit that the police response may have been “excessive” and that “necessary instructions” had been given to the minister of the interior and the governor of Istanbul.
The protest began on Friday as a sit-in over the redevelopment plans but escalated after police used tear gas. A dozen people were admitted to hospital and more than 60 people detained.
On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators marched over the bridge connecting the Asian and European shores of Istanbul to try to reach the main square.
Police fired tear gas to try to disperse them and some protesters threw rocks.
Police also fired water cannon and tear gas in Taksim Square as demonstrators chanted “unite against fascism” and “government resign”.
Clashes were also reported in the Besiktas district.
One Istanbul resident, who gave her name as Lily, revealed that police had dropped tear-gas canisters from helicopters overnight.
“About half past one the entire city started to reverberate. People were banging on pots, pans, blowing whistles,” she said.
One woman protesting in Istanbul told Agence France-Presse: “They want to turn this country into an Islamist state, they want to impose their vision all the while pretending to respect democracy.”
In Ankara on Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a park, many drinking alcohol in protest at the new restrictions.
Some chanting anti-government slogans tried to march on parliament but were dispersed by police.
Many postings on Twitter have complained angrily about the lack of media coverage of the protests within Turkey.
The US has expressed concern over Turkey’s handling of the protests and Amnesty International condemned the police’s tactics.
In his speech, Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the “preaching” of foreign governments, saying they “should first look at their own countries”.
France’s far right National Front leader Marine Le Pen is facing criminal charges for inciting racism.
The French authorities opened a case against Marine Le Pen in 2011 after she likened the sight of Muslims praying in the streets to the Nazi occupation of France.
As a European Parliament member (MEP), Marine Le Pen enjoyed immunity from prosecution.
However, this protection was removed by a European parliamentary committee in a secret vote this week and it appears the vote to remove her immunity was “overwhelming”.
The vote will need to be ratified by the full parliament, but that’s expected to be a formality.
France’s far right National Front leader Marine Le Pen is facing criminal charges for inciting racism
When the parliament’s legal affairs committee first tried to consider the case, Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far right National Front party, failed to turn up.
This week she sent a fellow French MEP in her place.
The move clears the way for the French authorities to pursue a case against the leader, who steered Marine Le Pen’s party to a record 18% showing in the first round of last year’s presidential election.
Marine Le Pen made the remarks at a party rally in 2010 in the southern French town of Lyon.
She said that Muslims using the streets to pray because mosques were overflowing was an “occupation” of French territory.
Praying in the streets was banned in Paris in 2011 in response to growing far right protests.
By some estimates, as many as six million French people, or just under 10% of the population, are Muslims, with origins in France’s former North African colonies.
Their integration has been a source of political debate in recent years, and earlier this year France became the first EU state to ban the wearing of the Islamic veil in public.
About one in 13 people have flexible ape-like feet, US scientists have discovered.
A team studied the feet of 398 visitors to the Boston Museum of Science.
The results show differences in foot bone structure similar to those seen in fossils of a member of the human lineage from two million years ago.
It is hoped the research, published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, will establish how that creature moved.
Apes like the chimpanzee spend a lot of their time in trees, so their flexible feet are essential to grip branches and allow them to move around quickly – but how most of us ended up with more rigid feet remains unclear.
Jeremy DeSilva from Boston University and a colleague asked the museum visitors to walk barefoot and observed how they walked by using a mechanized carpet that was able to analyze several components of the foot.
About one in 13 people have flexible ape-like feet
Most of us have very rigid feet, helpful for stability, with stiff ligaments holding the bones in the foot together.
When primates lift their heels off the ground, however, they have a floppy foot with nothing holding their bones together.
This is known as a midtarsal break and is similar to what the Boston team identified in some of their participants.
This makes the middle part of the foot bend more easily as the subject pushes off to propel themselves on to their next step.
Prof. Jeremy DeSilva said how we might be able to observe whether we have this flexibility: “The best way to see this is if you’re walking on the beach and leaving footprints, the middle portion of your footprint would have a big ridge that might show your foot is actually folding in that area.”
Another way, he added, was to set up a video camera and record yourself walking, to observe the bones responsible for this folding motion.
Most with this flexibility did not realize they had it and there was no observable difference in the speed of their stride.
In addition, Prof. Jeremy DeSilva found that people with a flexible fold in their feet also roll to the inside of their foot as they walk.
The bone structure of a two-million-year old fossil human relative, Australopithecus sediba, suggests it also had this mobility.
“We are using variation in humans today as a model for understanding what this human creature two million years ago was doing,” added Prof. Jeremy De Silva.
Flextone Game Calls, the maker of special hunting calls, is excited about their new product called the Black Rack™ and it nabbed Si Robertson of Duck Dynasty to be the spokesman on the latest commercial.
The Flextone Black Rack dismantles the traditional method of using one full rack to create a rattling sound of two mature bucks going head-to-head for the right rain king of their doe’s. This rattling noise will attract other nearby bucks to come investigate who is fighting and what the prize is at stack.
Flextone Game Calls is excited about their new product Black Rack and it nabbed Si Robertson to be the spokesman on the latest commercial
Flextone saw this as a flaw in that only using one full rack does not fully create the proper sound that will attract some of the big boys in the woods. To address this problem they developed the Black Rack which is made of two full racks designed for maximum long range sounds. Forged from Bone Core Technology for realistic rattling tone. They chose the color black to conceal movements.
With this new product coming soon to the family of products offered by Flextone, they needed to create some buzz in the media so of course they looked no further than Si Robertson of A&E’s Duck Dynasty to endorse and deliver a powerful message of their new product. “IT’S THE BLACK RACK, JACK!”
Watch below the hilarious video of Uncle Si showing how to rattle deer in the right way with the new Flextone Black Rack. Hilarity ensues with every new saying he comes up with.
Duck hunter and reality television star Si Robertson of Duck Dynasty reality series has a net worth of $2 million, according to reports.
Silas Merritt Robertson is one of the stars of A&E’s newest hit show Duck Dynasty.
Si Robertson of Duck Dynasty reality series has a net worth of $2 million
Uncle Si is the younger brother of family patriarch Phil Robertson who was the original inventor and founder of the Duck Commander company.
Si Robertson is an army veteran who served in Vietnam and was retired in 1993 and went to work full time for Duck Commander where he designs the reeds for all the duck calls.
On Duck Dynasty, Si Robertson can be seen with his nephew Willie Robertson and the entire Duck Commander family.
Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly entered into a debate on working mothers this past Friday.
An argument broke out when Megyn Kelly hosted RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, and fellow Fox host Lou Dobbs, in response to a discussion the two men had on Dobbs’ show.
The initial discussion centered on a recent Pew study finding that 40% of working mothers were now the breadwinners in their family.
Erick Erickson found the study troubling, advocating for women to return to their original role in the family.
“When you look at biology, look at the natural world, the roles of a male and a female in society, and other animals, the male typically is the dominant role,” Erick Erickson said Lou Dobbs Tonight.
“The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complementary role. We as people in a smart society have lost the ability to have complementary relationships in nuclear families, and it’s tearing us apart.”
Megyn Kelly, a working mother herself, had quite the bone to pick with that view during the heated segment.
“What makes you dominant, and me submissive, and who died and made you scientist-in-chief?” Megyn Kelly asked Erick Erickson.
An argument broke out when Megyn Kelly hosted RedState.com editor Erick Erickson, and fellow Fox host Lou Dobbs, in response to a discussion the two men had on Dobbs’ show
Erick Erickson subsequently brings up the fact that three quarters of those surveyed in the poll agreed with his view.
“Just because you have people who agree with you doesn’t mean it’s not offensive,” Megyn Kelly said.
Erick Erickson wrote a follow-up piece in response to his appearance on Lou Dobbs’ show, which Megyn Kelly criticized more. Though she said she doesn’t describe herself as a feminist, Megyn Kelly said she was offended by the piece nonetheless.
“I didn’t like what you wrote one bit,” she said.
Things got especially heated when the conversation turned to Lou Dobbs, who blamed the high divorce rate on working mothers.
“Why are you attributing that to women in the workforce?” Megyn Kelly asked.
“Excuse me, let me just finish what I’m saying if I may, oh dominant one,” Lou Dobbs retorted to a clearly offended Megyn Kelly.
She turned back to Erick Erickson’s blog post where she quoted him writing: “The truth – kids most likely will do best in households where they have a mom at home nurturing them while dad is out bringing home the bacon.”
Megyn Kelly goes on to name four different studies that prove the exact opposite – that children of working mothers turn out just the same as children with stay-at-home mothers.
“I mean, why are we supposed to take your word for it? Erick Erickson’s science instead of all of these experts?”
Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth have not officially confirmed their split but everybody knows their relation is over.
They haven’t been seen together since months and multiple sources have come forward to confirm that Liam Hemsworth, 23, has ended the engagement.
However, Miley Cyrus, 20, was very much displaying her 3.5 carat sparkler on the relevant engagement finger during a photo shoot in L.A. on Thursday.
Miley Cyrus, who was under the watchful eye of manager Larry Rudolph, showed off her enviable figure in a skintight white lycra two piece.
But it was the ring, and the ever present smile that proved to be more eye catching.
Something about Miley Cyrus’ rictus grin seemed to be a bit forced, suggesting that the young singer and actress may be in denial.
Miley Cyrus was very much displaying her 3.5 carat sparkler on the relevant engagement finger during a photo shoot in LA
But choosing to wear the ring sends out a clear message, if Liam Hemsworth has told her it’s over, she wants him to have a rethink.
Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus are said to be still living together at their Los Angeles home but are now sleeping in separate rooms after Liam told his fiancée their relationship was finished for good.
According to Us Weekly magazine, Miley Cyrus confessed to a friend “we’re done” when speaking about Liam Hemsworth.
Speaking about their living arrangements, another source told the publication: “It’s strange.”
Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus first met on the set of their film The Last Song in 2009 and had been together four years, with The Hunger Games hunk popping the question last June.
But their romance hit the rocks in February amidst rumors Miley Cyrus had become jealous of Liam Hemsworth’s close relationship with actress January Jones.
Liam Hemsworth had been urged by his brother, Thor star Chris Hemsworth, to dump Miley Cyrus because they thought the relationship was unhealthy for him because she was so jealous.
The Australian heartthrob eventually made the decision to end things after deciding he couldn’t cope with the constant drama in his romance with the former Hannah Montana star.
Miley Cyrus apparently still has the 3.5 carat Neil Lane engagement ring Liam Hemsworth gave her and it is not known if he wants her to return the expensive sparkler.
A new series of tornadoes has swept through the state of Oklahoma, killing at least five people, including a mother and child, officials say.
The tornadoes struck near the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where 24 people were killed by a violent tornado nearly two weeks ago.
The latest storm struck during Friday’s evening rush hour, trapping many people in cars and causing traffic chaos.
More than 60,000 homes lost power and heavy rain has caused severe flooding.
Many streets were flooded – up to 4 ft in some places.
A police spokeswoman said the mother and child who died were in their car on a major highway – Interstate 40 – near Oklahoma City.
Dozens of lorries were overturned on the highway.
Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said that two of the deaths occurred in Union City and one was in El Reno, west of Oklahoma City.
The tornadoes struck near the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where 24 people were killed by a violent tornado nearly two weeks ago
Dozens of people have been hurt, with five of them in a critical condition.
Among those who took to the roads to flee the storm was 30-year-old Brandi Vanalphen.
“What got me scared was being stuck in traffic with sirens going off,” she said.
“I started seeing power flashes to the north… I started driving on the shoulder. People started driving over the grass.”
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said: “For reasons that are not clear to me, more people took to the roads, more than we expected. Everyone acted differently in this storm, and as a result, it created an extremely dangerous situation.”
“I think we are still a little shaken by what happened in Moore. We are still burying children and victims, so our emotions are still strong,” he added.
Meteorologists said the tornadoes were less severe than those that struck in May.
Oklahoma is in part of the US Midwest known as Tornado Alley. Some 1,200 tornadoes strike each year, though most are relatively small.
A 3D-printed camera mount that can help photographers take fully interactive, 360-degree videos and photos, has been created by a design team from New York.
The 360Heros Plug & Play mount weighs 1.5 lbs (700 g) and is made from ultra high-resolution craft-grade flexible nylon making it weatherproof and strong.
It can hold up to six GoPro cameras, which can be switched on and off by wireless remote control, and is one of the first projects capable of capturing full, spherical 360-degree images in high resolution.
Because the Plug & Play models are printed using 3D printers and craft-grade nylon they come pre-assembled.
The cameras can be slotted in and out of the mount without any screws.
There are six models available and prices start at $395.
Although the GoPro cameras must be bought separately.
The H6 model can be used for all weather conditions and the cameras are protected making it possible to shoot 360-degree video in bad or harsh weather conditions.
The HC Pro6 uses a wireless remote to turn cameras on and off.
The HC Pro6N can be mounted on a helmet or flat surface like the top of a car.
The HC Pro7 and 7HD are just like the Pro 6N but additionally have a camera holder on the underneath, which allows users to create the full spherical view from a wider range of positions.
Most single cameras can only capture 170-degree views horizontally, and the majority of 360-degree cameras can only capture images up to 120-degrees on the vertical.
Because of the angles at which the cameras are mounted into the 360Heros holder, it can capture 180-degree on the vertical making the video and photos fully spherical and panoramic.
The 360Heros project has also developed a range of online tutorial videos.
Michael Kitner from Orlean, New York designed and built the 360Heros mount and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for the project.
The campaign is hoping to raise funds to finish the professional video tutorial series on creating video with all the different holders, and help Michael Kitner and his team finish the manufacturing process of the 360 underwater solutions using the Plug & Play domes.
360Heros camera mounts can hold up to six GoPro cameras
These domes can be attached to the holders making it possible to use the 360-degree cameras safely underwater.
Michael Kitner hopes to raise $750,000 before the campaign ends on June 28.
He said: “Using our new 360 Plug & Play holder it allows you to use GoPro cameras and produce amazing 360 interactive videos.
“Our Plug & Play holders are 3D-printed in an ultra high-resolution craft-grade flexible nylon making it extremely strong.
“Our unique designs give the ability to easily plug and play your GoPro cameras on the fly.
“We don’t worry about each camera being absolutely synced at the point of recording.
“This is because each camera has its own audio and when the video stream is stitched together in the post-processing stage, we can analyse the audio and sync the video at the time of stitching.
“The real advantage of the 3D-printed holder is that you can easily change these cameras, or change the batteries, in a matter of seconds with no screws involved.
“You just plug the cameras in and start shooting.
“This is great for concerts or if you want to get closer to the camera because there’s less parallax between the lens.
“With all these holders, the real advantage is all the different mounting points that let the holders attach to a tripod or similar.
“Every one of them has a series of little tiny fishhook holes so you can actually suspend the mount in air.
“And this really makes people wonder how you shot the 360 video or 360 photo because there’s no way to see how the camera was actually suspended.
360-degree shot taken using the 360Heros mount
“Because you can see a full 360 and 180 all around you, and the camera only weighs a pound and a half [700 g] and it doesn’t require a computer or external storage device, we’ve created a whole new paradigm around 360 media recording.
“This is all possible because we’re using the most versatile camera on the planet today – the GoPro.
“Its many features such as the wireless remote, resolutions as high as 4K, shooting in Pro-Tune or RAW allows us to create 360-degree video, and 1-click 360 panoramic photos with resolutions as high as 6,000×3,000 pixels and in full spherical view.”
Once someone buys a 360Heros mount there are online video tutorials to teach owners how to use the system.
The series shows how to set up the 360 content, how to create tours, manage camera files, use the different holders, stitch and sync a video and how to host the content online.
360Heros has also partnered with various companies to create mobile apps, to create interactive mobile viewing on an iPad or other tablet.
Michael Kitner said: “This tool gives such an immersive experience and it’s amazing just to watch the joy and awe in people’s faces when they see 360 video for the first time on the web or mobile devices.”
Over the past three months, 360Heros has been used in various projects including the filming of a Chris Milk gig, hand gliding over Santa Barbara with GPS tracking and Google Earth images.
The team have going skiing on volcanic slopes in Oregon, flew over landmarks and skate parks, rode the zip line down Fremont Street in Las Vegas and went scuba diving in Belize using underwater 360 video solution.
One of the most recent projects that 360Heros took part in was using the mounts to film a gig.
Musician Beck worked with director Chris Milk to create a groundbreaking new interactive site to let viewers see and hear a gig from his point of view.
The Hello, Again site lets you move your point of view so it feels as if you are standing anywhere in the room – whether it’s among the crowd, next to the band or even up on stage with Beck.
And thanks to a bank of specially designed microphones that were dotted around the venue, you hear the music in 3D surround sound, so it comes at you from the direction of the performers.
The special gig was funded by car maker Lincoln as part of an advertising campaign.
“Musicians have been covering, remaking, and remixing classic songs for as long as we’ve been listening,” it said.
“Yet what Beck is doing with David Bowie’s 1977 classic, Sound And Vision, is something well beyond a cover,” the organizers claim.
Over 160 musicians took part in the recording, including an orchestra, a drum line, a row of electric guitarists, a musical saw, modular synthesizers, a Theremin player, a yodeler, 2 different choirs, a harpist, a range of percussionists from around the world, and the Dap-Kings.
Led by conductor David Campbell [Beck’s father], they backed the singer, who was at the centre of the room on a small circular stage.
Three panoramic cameras were mounted around the venue on 360Heros mounts, along with specially built “heads” to capture sound in 3D.
“From the way we arranged the song down to the live performance, we were focused on the idea of immersing the live and online audiences’ audio senses by having the music come at them from every direction,” said Beck.
“It’s difficult to re-create a live concert, but by using this 360-degree approach, it opens up an entirely new kind of experience that will surprise people.”
Working alongside concert production designer Willo Perron, Director Chris Milk transformed Stage 14 at Fox Studios in Los Angeles into a circular, rotating music hall in which the stage surrounds the audience.
As more than 160 different musicians fill the circular stage, they’ll literally rotate around the crowd, creating an immersive sound experience unlike any other.
There are three locations for 360 video and audio, and on the website you can select them and hear exactly what you’d hear if you were there.
360Heros mount prices:
H3Pro 6 and H3Pro6N costs $645 H3 Pro7 and H3Pro7HD costs $745 360H6 (with screws) $395
It was a tough week for Honey Boo Boo as her father, Mike “Sugar Bear” Thompson, was recently hospitalized and the family’s pet dog, China, was struck and killed by a vehicle.
Sugar Bear, 40, collapsed late last week after getting dizzy and was taken to a hospital.
“Mama” June Shannon, 33, said in a Facebook update on May 25 that doctors were “running a lot of tests on his brain”, without any conclusive results.
The posting included the hashtag “#prayforsugarbear” and warned that it could be a “very serious” medical condition.
On Monday, June Shannon posted a message on Facebook saying that China, the family’s pet Chihuahua, was found by older daughter Lauryn, known as “Pumpkin”, and a security staffer when they went to retrieve clothes for the hospitalized Sugar Bear.
China “had been recently hit and left to die” and was suffering spasms when she was found, Mama June wrote.
The family rescued the friendly dog six years on Craigslist.
Honey Boo Boo and her late dog China
“She will b greatly missed alana loved her a lot as all us did,” June Shannon wrote.
In better news, Sugar Bear was released from the hospital and returned home after doctors determined what made him pass out.
Sugar Bear has been ordered to relax and will remain home, June Shannon said in a Facebook posting on Thursday.
Back in September, Sugar Bear had emergency surgery to treat an infection following a mud boggin’ accident.
He also had a quad bike accident last year and paramedics were called when he fell ill during the family’s Christmas toy drive after suffering from high blood pressure.
Sugar Bear was released from a week-long hospital stay in early March after suffering chest and stomach pains and was diagnosed pancreatitis.
Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is the popular reality television programme on TLC that chronicles the life of 7-year-old child beauty pageant Alana Thompson and her family in rural McIntyre, Georgia.
Willie Jess Robertson is the CEO and resident prankster of Duck Commander and is best known for his appearances on the hit TV show Duck Dynasty.
He lives in West Monroe, Louisiana, with his wife Korie Robertson and their five children.
Willie was born on April 22, 1972 to Phil Robertson and Marsha Kay Robertson. He is the third oldest brother of Jase, Jep, and Alan Robertson.
As the only one with the business degree, Willie Robertson took the company from a living room operation down by the river to a premiere destination for all things outdoors. He says he honed his skills as a salesman by selling his freshly caught fish at the market with his mom as a young boy. Even then he was always working to negotiate the best price. While Willie Robertson says “being a redneck millionaire has its perks,” including buying new trucks, gadgets and swanky suits, working with kin can be a headache.
As a child, Willie Robertson grew up around hunting and the great outdoors, as well as a small business ran by his father, Duck Commander. As a boy, Willie Robertson handled a myriad of tasks at the company, including building duck calls, and even handling business calls.
Ever since childhood Willie Robertson and his brothers have been interested in the family business started by their father Phil Robertson.
Willie Jess Robertson is the CEO and resident prankster of Duck Commander
Willie Robertson used his business degree from Harding University to take Duck Commander from a family business to a multi-million dollar empire. Duck Commander is the company that generated a great portion of the wealth that he has acquired, and also generated the interest to start the TV show, Duck Dynasty. In 2006, Willie Robertson started another pursuit when he started the company Buck Commander. This company has also created the Buckmen series of DVD’s and the television show Buck Commander: Protected by Under Armour on the Outdoor Channel.
On Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson is one of the main characters of the show, alongside his brothers Jase, and Jep, his father Phil, and uncle Silas. He is main narrator, and often is the peacekeeper of his business.
Willie Robertson tries to see that as much business gets as done as possible, only to be challenged by his brothers and uncle. His brothers and Uncle Si chastise him for being too busy, but he sees it as necessary for their way of life. From time to time, however, Willie Robertson will participate in the mischief of his coworkers and family.
He is also known for his Christian Faith, and goes about preaching and bringing people to Christ. He is also almost always seen wearing a bandana in the pattern of an American flag on his head, and often wears a white jacket to look more professional.
Willie Robertson is estimated to be worth about $10 millions and is also well known for his ZZ Top style beard.
A new research sheds light on how turtles’ hard shells were formed.
Scientists say the ancient fossil skeleton of extinct South African reptile Eunotosaurus has helped bridge a 30 to 55-million-year gap.
Eunotosaurus, the ancestor of the modern turtle, is thought to be around 260 million years old.
It had significant differences to a recently found fossil relative.
Eunotosaurus was discovered over a century ago but new research in the journal Current Biology has only now analyzed its differences to other turtle fossils.
A turtle’s shell is unique in that it is made up of around 50 bones, with ribs, shoulder bones and vertebrae fused together to form a hard external shell.
How it forms today can be observed in a developing turtle embryo. Ribs broaden first followed by the broadening of vertebrae. The final state is the development of an outer layer of skin on the perimeter of the shell.
“The turtle shell is a complex structure whose initial transformations started over 260 million years ago in the Permian period,” said lead author of the study, Dr. Tyler Lyson from the Smithsonian Institution and Yale University.
Ancient fossil skeleton of extinct South African reptile Eunotosaurus has revealed how turtle’s shell was developed
“The shell evolved over millions of years and was gradually modified into its present-day shape.”
A turtle fossil 210 million years old had a fully developed shell similar to those today, but 10 million years earlier, a fossil discovered in China, named Odontochelys semitestac, had an incomplete top shell, called a carapace.
This fossil has now helped Dr. Tyler Lyson and colleagues compare the modern turtle with its ancestor Eunotosaurus.
Like turtles today, Eunotosaurus had nine pairs of T-shaped ribs. This ancient creature however did not have broad spines on its vertebrae, which both Odontochelys and modern-day turtles do have.
It also lacked intercostal muscles, which are the group of muscles that run between the ribs, and did not have osteoderms – bony scales.
“Eunotosaurus is a good transitional fossil which bridges the morphological gap between turtles and other reptiles,” said Dr. Tyler Lyson.
The evidence between fossil and developmental data shows that first the ribs broadened, then the neural spines of the vertebrae broadened, and finally osteoderms on the outer side of the shell formed. These all sutured together to form the modern-day turtle shell, he added.
“One of the direct consequences of forming a protective shell by broadening and locking their ribs is that turtles cannot use their ribs to breathe.
“Instead turtles have developed a unique abdominal muscular sling that wraps around their lungs and organs to help them breathe.”
Judith Cebra-Thomas, assistant professor from the department of biology at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, who was not involved with the study, said the research was very important in terms of understanding the turtle shell’s evolution.
“The turtle shell is considered an evolutionary novelty, which means that there are no closely analogous structures in related animals.
“That leads to the notion that such things cannot occur through normal evolutionary processes. But, when you examine it in detail, you can see the series of steps, each of them explainable through small changes that gradually add up to the novel structure.”
Turtle’s shell:
The shell’s main function is protection but it can also help a turtle live underwater for longer than any other vertebrate
This is because it stores potassium and magnesium which can help protect it from a buildup of lactic acid
Other animals such as armadillos or various lizards, all form a shell via the acquisition of more and more osteoderms (ossified scales)
Scientists have found definitive proof that many of the landscapes seen on Mars were indeed cut by flowing water.
The valleys, channels and deltas viewed from orbit have long been thought to be the work of water erosion, but it is NASA’s latest rover, Curiosity, that has provided the “ground truth”.
Researchers report its observations of rounded pebbles on the floor of the Red Planet’s 100 mile-wide Gale Crater.
Their smooth appearance is identical to gravels found in rivers on Earth.
Rock fragments that bounce along the bottom of a stream of water will have their edges knocked off, and when these pebbles finally come to rest they will often align in a characteristic overlapping fashion.
Curiosity has pictured these features in a number of rock outcrops at the base of Gale Crater.
It is confirmation that water has played its part in sculpting not only this huge equatorial bowl but by implication many of the other landforms seen on the planet.
“For decades, we have speculated and hypothesized that the surface of Mars was carved by water, but this is the first time where you can see the remnants of stream flow with what are absolutely tell-tale signs,” said Dr. Rebecca Williams from the Planetary Science Institute.
Mars valleys, channels and deltas viewed from orbit have long been thought to be the work of water erosion
NASA first announced the discovery of the pebbles in September last year, barely seven weeks after Curiosity had landed in Gale.
Researchers have since been studying the robot’s pictures in more detail and have now written up a report for Science magazine – the first scholarly paper from the surface mission to make it into print; and the study reinforces the initial interpretation.
It describes the nature of the outcrops, and estimates the probable conditions in which their sediments were laid down.
The pebbles range in size from about two to 40 mm in diameter – too big to have been blown along by the wind.
These clasts, as scientists will often call them, are cemented together in a sandy matrix to make a rock type referred to as a conglomerate.
In many places, the clasts are touching each other, and the pictures show examples of so-called imbrication – an arrangement where elongated pebbles stack like a row of toppled dominos. It is a classic sign of past river activity.
Precisely dating landforms on Mars is not possible, but the rock outcrops seen by the rover are almost certainly more than three billion years old.
Curiosity’s pictures have enabled the team to make some informed statements about the speed and depth of the water that once flowed across the crater floor.
The pebbles come in a variety of dark and light shades, further indicating that they have been eroded from different rock types and transported from different locations.
Using its Chemcam remote-sensing laser, the rover was able to detect feldspar in the lighter toned clasts.
Feldspar is a common mineral on Earth that weathers quickly in the presence of water.
This suggests past conditions were not overly wet and that the pebbles were carried only a relatively short distance – probably no more than 10-15km.
This fits with satellite observations of what appears to be a nearby network of old rivers or streams spreading away from the mouth of a channel that cuts through the northern rim of Gale Crater.
This valley – or Peace Vallis as it is known – is the probable route down which the water flowed and later dumped its load of rounded gravels.
Curiosity is due to drive back on itself in the coming weeks as it makes for the big peak, Mount Sharp, at the centre of the crater.
Scientists hope this will take the vehicle past similar rock outcrops so that additional pictures can be obtained.
Huge asteroid 1998 QE2, that measures nearly 1.7 miles across, is set to fly past the Earth.
The space rock is so large that it is orbited by its own moon.
It will make its closest approach to our planet at 20:59 GMT, but scientists say there is no chance that it will hit.
Instead it will keep a safe distance – at closest, about 3.6 million miles.
That is about 200 times more distant than the asteroid “near-miss” that occurred in February – but Friday’s passing space rock is more than 50,000 times larger.
Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “It’s a big one. And there are very few of these objects known – there are probably only about 600 or so of this size or larger in near-Earth space.
“And importantly, if something this size did hit us one day in the future, it is extremely likely it would cause global environmental devastation, so it is important to try and understand these objects.”
Huge asteroid 1998 QE2, that measures nearly 1.7 miles across, is set to fly past the Earth
This fly-by will give astronomers the chance to study the rocky mass in detail.
Using radar telescopes, they will record a series of high-resolution images.
They want to find out what it is made of, and exactly where in the Solar System it came from.
Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons said: “We already know from the radar measurements, coupled with its brightness, that it appears to be a relatively dark asteroid – that it’s come from the outer part of the asteroid belt.”
Early analysis has already revealed that the asteroid has its own moon: it is being orbited by another smaller piece of rock that is about 2,000 ft across.
About 15% of asteroids that are large are “binary” systems like this.
This celestial event will not be visible to the naked eye, but space enthusiasts with even a modest telescope might be able to witness the pass.
After this, asteroid 1998 QE2 will hurtle back out into deep space; Friday’s visit will be its closest approach for at least two centuries.
Researchers are becoming increasingly interested in potential hazards in space.
So far they have counted more than 9,000 near-Earth asteroids, and they spot another 800 new space rocks on average each year.
Turkish police have used tear gas and water cannon against protesters occupying Gezi Park in central Istanbul.
Scores of people have suffered injuries, several of them when a wall collapsed during a police chase.
Demonstrators had been camping since Monday in Gezi Park, angry at plans to develop it as part of a revamp of Taksim Square, in which it is situated.
Many protesters also expressed discontent with the government of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey feel that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
Last week, Turkey’s parliament approved legislation restricting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
The regulations would prohibit retail sales between 22:00 and 06:00, ban all alcohol advertising and promotion, and stop new shops and bars from opening within 100 m (330 ft) of schools and mosques.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted to stop young Turks from “wandering about in a state of inebriation” and was not trying to impose Islamic values.
Turkish police have used tear gas and water cannon against protesters occupying Gezi Park in central Istanbul
The prime minister’s Justice and Development (AK) Party has its roots in political Islam, but he says he is committed to Turkey’s state secularism.
Opponents to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to re-develop Gezi Park say it is one of the few green areas left in central Istanbul.
One banner at Friday’s protest included a cartoon of Recep Tayyip Erdogan dressed as an Ottoman sultan with the slogan: “The people will not bow down to you.”
“We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan,” political scientist and protester Koray Caliskan told the Reuters news agency.
“They are not listening to us,” he added.
“This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.”
Hurriyet Daily News reported that seven of those wounded in the clashes with police had serious injuries, including a broken leg and head injuries.
A journalist was hit in the head with a tear-gas canister and Hurriyet‘s own photographer was injured, it added.
Amnesty International condemned the use of what it called “excessive force” against “peaceful protesters”.
People who are taking antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics at the same time, a review of evidence shows.
Scientists at the organization Cochrane Collaboration say taking the supplements could prevent diarrhoea – a common side-effect of many antibiotics.
They looked specifically at cases of diarrhoea caused by the potentially dangerous Clostridium difficile bug.
Experts say probiotics could be a “pre-emptive strike” to ensure a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut.
Antibiotics can disturb the ecosystem of organisms normally present in the digestive system, allowing bacteria such as C. difficile to overwhelm the gut.
And people infected with the bug can suffer from diarrhoea, an inflamed and painful bowel or even death.
People who are taking antibiotics may benefit from taking probiotics at the same time
Researchers worldwide have been investigating whether probiotics – cocktails of micro-organisms – can keep gut bacteria in check by competing with more harmful bugs.
Scientists from the independent Cochrane Collaboration looked at data from 23 trials involving 4,213 patients who were on antibiotic treatment for a variety of reasons.
The researchers found 2% of patients given probiotics developed C. difficile-associated diarrhoea compared with 6% of patients who were taking placebos.
The authors suggest probiotics could be particularly useful when there are outbreaks of C. difficile.
Dr. Bradley Johnston, part of the Cochrane team, said: “Implementing the appropriate dose and strains of probiotics in hospitals could provide cost savings and improve quality of life.”
And the review showed that people taking probiotics had fewer unwanted side-effects than those on placebos, including stomach cramps, nausea and taste disturbances.
The authors say more work needs to be done to to pinpoint exactly which types of probiotics work best.
And though probiotics were seen to prevent diarrhoea associated with the bug, they note they did not prevent infections with C. difficile.
They suggest this property needs further investigation to help them understand more about how probiotics work.
Express Solicitors have begun legal proceedings against British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline after a number of individuals have been seriously affected by the drug Avandia.
The diabetes drug Avandia was first introduced on to the NHS in the year 2000 and was used primarily to treat people with type 2 diabetes whose glucose levels were not being kept properly under control by the everyday, already in use drugs – a sulphonylurea drug and metformin. Avandia was created to lessen the body’s resistance towards insulin and could be used alone or together with metformin, which is also known as Avandamet.
The drug was banned in 2010 after ten years, due to very serious health concerns surrounding it. The health concerns connected with the drug were issues such as heart failure and heart attacks after a US scientist carried out clinical trials on 28,000 different people.
Avandia tablets
GSK (a company who produces and sells a large range of prescription and over the counter medicines) faces legal action due to a number of instances where the drug Avandia was prescribed to patients eight weeks subsequent to the European medicines regulator ordering it to be removed. The pharmaceutical firm also admitted to covering up any data which showed the drugs damaging side effects.
The National Health Service is too facing difficulties of the same sort for the marketing and sale of the drug even after its ban in Europe.
Since the discovery of Avandia’s side effects, thousands of families have come forward demanding compensation for the death or harm of a close relative but only the US claimants have prevailed. GSK have agreed since to pay out billions of dollars to the US government to cover and settle any claims from people in the US.
However, despite the pharmaceutical company being of British origin, UK families may not be quite as well off, as GSK are not prepared to pay out without a fight to defend themselves. Whilst claimants in the US got it relatively easy, fighters in the UK will be faced with having to produce evidence such as medical expert opinions and reports to stand up in court.
Express Solicitors in Manchester are at present representing four families, with a further 15 on its books and are offering a “no win, no fee” basis for anyone affected by the drug.
The bathroom where Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been pictured for the first time.
The pictures show inside Oscar Pistorius’ house in Pretoria, South Africa, where Reeva Steenkamp was killed in the early hours of Valentine’s Day.
Big spots of bl**d cover the toilet and floor of the room, with police tape marking the holes where bullets flew through the bathroom door, which is missing a panel.
Reeva Steenkamp was killed in Oscar Pistorius’ bathroom in the early hours of Valentine’s Day
It is thought that the low position of the bullet holes will be used by Oscar Pistorius’ defense team to argue that he was not wearing his prosthetic legs at the time of the shooting, so could not have planned the murder.
Oscar Pistorius, 26, claims he shot Reeva Steenkamp, 29, by accident because he believed a burglar had entered their home while they slept.
The pictures, obtained by Sky News, also show trails of bl**d leading from the bathroom and down the stairs of the house, from Oscar Pistorius carrying Reeva Steenkamp’s body as he called for help.
In one poignant scene, a Valentine’s gift for Oscar Pistorius, 26, from his girlfriend remains unopened.
A card bearing the nickname “Ozzy” and a packet of heart-shaped sweets lie on top of a parcel wrapped in striped paper.
Oscar Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder for the shooting of his model girlfriend.
He is due in court on Tuesday for a brief hearing while the police investigation continues.
The Sky footage also shows bl**died footprints – thought to have been caused by investigating officer Hilton Botha walking into the house without protective covers on his shoes.
The investigation into Reeva Steenkamp’s death has been heavily criticized.
Officer Hilton Botha was then forced to step down when it emerged he faced seven charges of attempted murder for a 2011 case in which he and two other officers fired on a vehicle in an attempt to make it stop.
Sources told Sky News that other officers in the case are being investigated for the disappearance of a watch belonging to Oscar Pistorius.
Today, his uncle Arnold Pistorius described what life is like for the athlete while he waits for his trial to begin.
He told CNN: “He is housebound. He doesn’t go out in public places.
“But he’s not keen to go out. This fits him at the moment.
“He’s got photos [of Reeva Steenkamp] in his room, he’s got photos all over the places.
“If the person you love the most died and you were the instrument, how would you feel? It’s unthinkable.
“[His life] won’t be the same again. He will have to cope with it somehow.”
Earlier this week, Oscar Pistorius was fined about $95,000 for not paying his taxes in South Africa.
The fine came after he was forced to declare his assets during his bail hearing in February.
Oscar Pistorius declared in an affidavit during his application that he earned around $660,000 a year and owned three houses and land in South Africa with a combined value of nearly $950,000.
Media reports in South Arica suggested that he also owned another property, in Johannesburg, which was bought for around $950,000 this year.
That house was not declared as part of his assets in his affidavit.
The seasonally-adjusted rate for April 2013 was 12.2%, up from 12.1% the month before.
An extra 95,000 people were out of work in the 17 countries that use the euro, taking the total to 19.38 million.
Both Greece and Spain have jobless rates above 25%. The lowest unemployment rate is in Austria at 4.9%.
The European Commission’s statistics office, Eurostat, said Germany had an unemployment rate of 5.4% while Luxembourg’s was 5.6%.
The highest jobless rates are in Greece (27.0% in February 2013), Spain (26.8%) and Portugal (17.8%).
In France, Europe’s second largest economy, the number of jobless people rose to a new record high in April.
“We do not see a stabilization in unemployment before the middle of next year,” said Frederik Ducrozet, an economist at Credit Agricole in Paris.
“The picture in France is still deteriorating.”
Eurozone unemployment rate has reached another record high in April 2013
Youth unemployment remains a particular concern. In April, 3.6 million people under the age of 25 were out of work in the eurozone, which translated to an unemployment rate of 24.4%.
Figures from the Italian government showed 40.5% of young people in Italy are unemployed.
“We have to deal with the social crisis, which is expressed particularly in spreading youth unemployment, and place it at the centre of political action,” said Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano.
In the 12 months to April, 1.6 million people lost their jobs in the eurozone.
While the jobless figure in the eurozone climbed for the 24th consecutive month, the unemployment rate for the full 27-member European Union remained at 11%.
The eurozone is in its longest recession since it was created in 1999. At 1.4%, inflation is far below the 2% target set by the European Central Bank (ECB).
Consumer spending remains subdued. Figures released on Friday showed that retail sales in Germany fell 0.4% in April compared with the previous month.
Earlier this week, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicted that the eurozone economy would contract by 0.6% this year.
According to Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING, in the past, the eurozone has needed economic growth of about 1.5% to create jobs.
Some consider that the ECB needs to do more than simply cutting interest rates to boost economic activity and create jobs.
Earlier this month, the ECB lowered its benchmark interest rate to 0.50% from 0.75%, the first cut in 10 months, and said it was “ready to act if needed” if more measures were required to boost the eurozone’s economic health.
In its report earlier this week, the OECD hinted that the ECB might want to expand quantitative easing (QE) as a measure to encourage stronger growth.
The European Central Bank is due to meet next week.
Football teams could be relegated or expelled from competitions for serious incidents of racism after tough new powers were voted in by FIFA.
First or minor offences will result in either a warning, fine or order for a match to be played behind closed doors.
Serious or repeat offences can now be punished by a points deduction, expulsion or relegation.
Jeffrey Webb, head of FIFA’s anti-racism task force, said the decision was “a defining moment”.
He added: “Our football family is fully aware that what is reported in the media is actually less than 1% of the incidents that happen around the world.
“We’ve got to take action so that when we look to the next 20 or 50 years this will be the defining time that we took action against racism and discrimination.”
FIFA, world football’s governing body, passed the anti-racism resolution with a 99% majority at its congress in Mauritius.
Jeffrey Webb said of the vote against the measures: “I would like to think it was a mistake but I’m glad it wasn’t the other way. I’m glad only 1% went that way.”
Nonetheless, FIFA president Sepp Blatter accepted more must be done to eradicate racism.
Football teams could be relegated or expelled from competitions for serious incidents of racism after tough new powers were voted in by FIFA
He said: “We need zero tolerance and strict punishments everywhere. We must lead. We must set a tough, uncompromising example.
“We can make a difference. We can send a strong signal to the racists that their time is up.”
FIFA commissioned a task force to address the issue of racism after a friendly game between AC Milan and Pro Patria was abandoned due to racist chanting.
Their verdict includes putting an official inside the stadium to identify potential acts of racism and ease the pressure on the match referee.
The new rulings standardise punishment across the members, meaning federations will lose the power to impose their own judgements.
Further to the regulations that relate to clubs or international teams, the new measures will see any individual who commits a racist offence banned from stadiums for a minimum of five matches.
The five-match suspension is one that has been introduced by the Football Association, whose chairman David Bernstein sat on the task force in Mauritius.
Also on the task force was Kevin-Prince Boateng, the AC Milan player who led the walk-off in the game against Pro Patria in January.
Former England international striker Luther Blissett, an ambassador for anti-racism charity Show Racism The Red Card, admitted to reservations about the new measures.
