Stranded Carnival Triumph cruise ship with more than 4,000 people aboard is within sight of land four days after an engine fire knocked out the vessel’s power.
Pulled by tugboats, the Carnival Triumph is due later to reach Mobile, Alabama, although it is still hours from shore.
Buses will be waiting for the vessel’s passengers when they arrive.
Passengers have reported sewage on the floors, poor sanitation and access to toilets, and lengthy queues for food.
Carnival Cruise Lines, which operates the ship, says the Triumph’s 3,000 passengers would have the option of boarding buses to New Orleans or going to Texas.
Galveston, Texas, from where the cruise embarked last Thursday, is seven hours from Mobile. New Orleans, where the firm said it booked 1,500 hotel rooms, is two hours away.
Those staying in New Orleans will be flown on Friday to Houston, Texas.
The powerless vessel is expected to dock between 20:00 and 23:00 local time on Tuesday.
A former cruise terminal was being preparing to help passengers go through customs.
Carnival employees, of whom there are more than 1,000 aboard the ship, will be staying in Mobile.
Mayor Sam Jones said the city had more than enough hotel rooms, as well as two airports near the cruise terminal.
Stranded Carnival Triumph cruise ship with more than 4,000 people aboard is within sight of land four days after an engine fire knocked out the vessel’s power
Passenger Janie Baker told NBC by phone on Thursday that conditions on the ship were “extremely terrible”. There has been no electricity and few working toilets, she said.
Janie Baker described using plastic bags to go to the bathroom and that she had seen a woman pass out while waiting for food.
“It’s just a nightmare,” she said.
Janie Baker said she and her friends slept with their life vests one night because the ship was listing.
Passengers are supposed to get a full refund and discounts on future cruises. Carnival announced on Wednesday they would each get an additional $500 in compensation.
But the firm has disputed the accounts of passengers who describe the ship as filthy, saying employees are doing everything to ensure people are comfortable.
A spokesman, Vance Gulliksen, said the company was choosing to bus passengers to New Orleans because it “offered additional capacity and flexibility, which was important to us given that the complexity of the towing operation creates an uncertain arrival time in Mobile”.
Carnival has cancelled more than a dozen planned voyages aboard the Triumph, while acknowledging that the crippled ship had other mechanical problems in the weeks before the fire.
Vance Gulliksen said Triumph had an earlier electrical problem with the ship’s alternator but that repairs were completed by February 2. He said there was no evidence linking the previous problem to Sunday’s fire.
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the fire.
No-one was injured in the blaze, but one passenger with a pre-existing condition was taken off the ship as a precaution.
“We know it has been a longer journey back than we anticipated at the beginning of the week under very challenging circumstances,” Carnival president and chief executive Gary Cahill said in a statement.
“We are very sorry for what our guests have had to endure.”
French government has announced today that meat processing company Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labelled as beef.
Spanghero’s licence is being suspended while a probe continues, agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll said.
The firm has denied the allegations, saying it only ever dealt in meat it believed to be beef.
A widening scandal over mislabelled horsemeat has affected at least 12 European countries.
In the UK, three people have been arrested on suspicion of fraud in connection with the sale of horsemeat.
Two suspects were detained at a meat processing plant near Aberystwyth in Wales, and a third was arrested at an abattoir in West Yorkshire.
The French government believes that the sale of horsemeat labelled as beef went on for six months and involved around 750 tonnes of meat.
Spanghero imported meat from Romania and sold it on to another company, Comigel, which made frozen ready meals at its factory in Luxembourg.
French consumer affairs minister Benoit Hamon said the meat left Romania clearly and correctly labelled as horse. It was afterwards that it was relabelled as beef.
“From the investigation, it would seem that the first agent or actor in this network who stamped <<beef>> on horsemeat from Romania was Spanghero,” Benoit Hamon said.
There was “no reason to doubt the good faith” of the Romanian abattoir that originally provided the meat, Benoit Hamon added.
French government has announced today that meat processing company Spanghero knowingly sold horsemeat labelled as beef
The investigation says some blame may rest with Comigel, which made the ready meals sold around Europe.
Staff there should have noticed anomalies in the paperwork, and realized from the smell and look of the meat once it was defrosted that it was not beef, Benoit Hamon said.
Spanghero has strongly denied wrongdoing.
“Spanghero confirms having placed an order for beef, having been led to believe it received beef, and having sold back what it thought was beef, properly labelled as such, in line with European and French regulations,” the company said in a statement.
The latest country to be hit by the crisis is Germany, where some supermarket chains have removed frozen lasagne from sale after traces of horsemeat were detected.
The widening scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across the Europe.
The UK has asked the European investigative agency Europol to coordinate a continent-wide investigation into an alleged international conspiracy to pass horsemeat off as beef.
On Wednesday the EU urged member states to conduct random DNA tests for horsemeat in beef products from 1st of March.
EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said the programme of random tests should report after 30 days, but testing should continue for three months.
Tonio Borg was speaking after a meeting in Brussels with agriculture ministers from affected countries.
He said member states should also test for the presence of the veterinary medicine phenylbutazone – known as “bute”.
The painkiller is used to treat horses – particularly racehorses – but is considered potentially harmful to humans.
On Thursday Britain’s Food Standard Agency – the FSA – said that tests found eight horses, killed in the UK, tested positive for bute and six may have entered the food chain in France.
But England’s chief medical officer said the highest level detected posed “very little risk to human health”.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the UK was working closely with the French authorities to track the carcasses.
Laura Wasser, Kim Kardashian’s divorce lawyer, is claiming her client is being held “hostage” by estranged husband Kris Humphries.
Kris Humphries has claimed he is not ready to go to trial due to “uncooperative third parties”.
Laura Wasser has filed a 217 response on behalf of Kim Kardashian, claiming that Kris Humphries’ side has not presented any evidence that they have been met with any opposition.
Kim Kardashian is desperate to get her divorce finalized before the birth of her first child with Kanye West, due in early July.
In court documents filed on February 8, Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries “cannot continue to hold the Court and [Kim Kardashian] hostage through his own lack of diligence in preparing his case for trial”.
Laura Wasser states that Kim Kardashian is ready to be deposed as early as possible, but Kris Humphries is claiming he wants to be present and that due to his busy schedule, this can’t happen until May at the earliest.
Kim Kardashian’s attorney goes on to say that Kris Humphries needs to “put up or shut up”, according to the documents obtained by E! News.
Last month, Kim Kardashian filed a motion to speed up proceedings and get an early trial date, or for the case to be bifurcated so that she can be legally single in time for her baby’s birth.
In the most recent filing, Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries’ camp asked for copies of all of the raw reality footage of the former couple, to which producers of Kim Kardashian’s shows filed an immediate objection.
Laura Wasser, Kim Kardashian’s divorce lawyer, is claiming her client is being held “hostage” by estranged husband Kris Humphries
Kris Humphries apparently did not file a motion compelling the producers to turn over footage, which Laura Wasser states is not their problem.
According to Laura Wasser, Bunim-Murray Productions, which helms the star’s various shows, has not held up things in any way.
Laura Wasser states that Kris Humphries “complains that he was portrayed badly in the television shows he appeared on and is now trying to use this divorce action to establish this by <<exposing>> reality television”.
She adds: “This is a misuse of the judicial process; and one for which my client should not have to bear the costs.”
On Friday a hearing will take place at 8.30 a.m. determining the next course of action for the former couple. Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries in October 2011 after just 72 days of marriage.
Athlete Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life.
Prior to their split late last year, Oscar Pistorius spent a year and a half dating Cape Town marketing student Samantha Taylor.
But even while he was with Samantha Taylor, he was linked with numerous other women, including Russian model Anastassia Khozissova.
Oscar Pistorius was first seen with Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in South Africa last November. At the time, the FHM model said the pair were “just friends”.
When it became clear that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were in fact dating, the sportsman’s then ex-Samantha Taylor said: “Oscar has such a way with women. She’s probably not the only one he’s got.”
Samatha Taylor went on to tell South Africa’s City Press newspaper that “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is”.
Oscar Pistorius has a history of risk taking and violence.
In November last year, Oscar Pistorius reportedly “threatened to break the legs” of the friend of a man whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend, who is not Reeva Steenkamp.
According to newspaper reports, Oscar Pistorius approached South African football player Marc Batchelor in the VIP room of a horse racing track and verbally threatened him.
In 2009, Oscar Pistorius spent a night in police cells after a woman complained to police that he had assaulted her during a party at his house.
The incident allegedly occurred at the same Silver Woods home as where Reeva Steenkamp died.
Although Oscar Pistorius was charged with assault, he was eventually released with a warning.
At the time, police spokeswoman Sergeant Marinda Stoltz said the victim, whom Oscar Pistorius had told to leave, banged and kicked his front door.
“He [Oscar Pistorius] told the girl <<this is my house and my friends and you have to leave>>. He then started closing the door when a wooden beam weighing about 1,5kg fell on her leg and injured her.”
Marinda Stoltz said the girl reported the incident hours later.
“The girl then also admitted that she had been drinking,” she said.
Oscar Pistorius’ determination to succeed also seems to be accompanied by a taste for danger.
He has a large collection of sports cars and motorbikes and he routinely sleeps with a pistol next to his bed and a machine gun by a window.
In an interview in the New York Times entitled The Fast Life of Oscar Pistorius, he invited the reporter to a gun range where he taught him how to shoot.
The reporter said: “He [Oscar Pistorius] fetched his 9-millimeter handgun and two boxes of ammunition. We drove to a nearby firing range, where he instructed me on proper technique.
“Pistorius was a good coach. A couple of my shots got close to the bull’s-eye, which delighted him. <<Maybe you should do this more>>, he said. <<If you practiced, I think you could be pretty deadly>>. I asked him how often he came to the range. <<Just sometimes when I can’t sleep>>.”
In 2008, Oscar Pistorius broke two ribs and had 172 stitches in his face when he crashed a boat into a submerged pier on a river south of Johannesburg.
In an interview published last year the sportsman admitted that his got the large tattoo – a quote from Corinthians – on his shoulder on a whim.
“I went into an all-night tattoo parlour,” he told the New York TimesMagazine.
“Some Puerto Rican guy did it. It took from 2 a.m. to about 8:30.
“I think he was falling asleep after a while, which is why it’s a little squiggly at the bottom.”
In the magazine feature, the author concluded that Oscar Pistorius “is more than a little crazy”.
Oscar Pistorius, the world’s most famous Paralympian and the first to compete in the able-bodied Olympics, has a notoriously complex love life
Oscar Pistorius was born 26 years ago into a prominent family in Pretoria without fibulas, the outer of the bones that run between the knee and the ankle.
His parents, Sheila and Henke Pistorius, grappled with information, complied with doctors’ advice, and at 11 months his legs were amputated below the knee.
“It was a hugely emotional decision,” said Dr. Gerry Versfeld, the orthopaedic surgeon who performed the operation.
“It is easier now to convince somebody the right way to go is amputation because Oscar Pistorius is an icon you can point to and say, <<Look, this is possible>>.”
Much of his success is attributed to the fact he was always treated as a “normal little boy”.
By the time he arrived at Constantina Kloof Primary School aged five, Oscar Pistorius had been walking on his rigid glass fibre prosthetic legs for almost four years. Usually he ran.
One of Oscar Pistorius’s first memories is hurtling down a hill on a go-kart with his brother, Carl, who then decided to use one of Oscar’s prostheses as an impromptu brake to stop them crashing.
“My brother was like my hero when I was growing up,” said Oscar Pistorius.
“He’s a year and a bit older. We’re still very close. We stayed on a plot that was near an informal settlement, like a township, and we used to go and play football with the kids there and we used to have so much fun.
“We would build tree houses in the holiday and we had motorbikes on a track in our garden. It’s nice to have someone who pushes you to do things. You’re always trying to compete with him.”
Oscar Pistorius was in high school when he showed up at Jannie Brooks’s garage gym in Pretoria, South Africa, with a group of friends looking to get fitter.
He boxed, skipped and did press-ups until he threw up. It was six months before Jannie Brooks realized he had no legs.
“He was just one of the bunch, doing everything at the same pace as everybody else,” he said.
“Between the classroom and the fields there were two sets of stairs,” said Tessa Shellard, who taught Oscar Pistorius maths and PE.
“I used to cringe because he would always run down. I closed my eyes waiting for him to fall. But he never did.
“His legs would chafe and give him enormous blisters on his stumps but he did rugby, cricket, football and absolutely everything else.
“He wasn’t quick at all because of his heavy legs but in inter-house athletics, Oscar would do the sprints every year knowing full well he would come last.”
His can-do attitude made him popular with classmates. During annual triathlons, one friend would carry him on his back while carrying his legs. When it came to the swimming, he threw his legs on to the side of the pool and dived straight in. At cycling, Oscar Pistorius would do 20 km stretches as a 12-year-old without complaint.
Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a close friend of Oscar Pistorius, said his quick cycling is because his hips are a “huge engine”. This also allows him to reposition his limbs quicker and complete the 400 m, his favored event, in a personal best of 45.07sec, a time never thought possible for an amputee.
At 13, Oscar Pistorius began boarding at Pretoria Boys School.
“During the admissions interview I had concerns about how a legless boy would fare with the rough and tumble of a school of 1500 teenagers,” said Bill Shroeder, headteacher of the school until 2009.
“All his mother could say was, <<Of course he’ll cope>>. That was how she brought him up – to be completely normal.”
Oscar Pistorius went down in school folklore when, during a rugby match, a player from the opposite team tackled him.
“His legs came off in the boy’s arms,” said Bill Shroeder.
“But he carried on running over the line, I think the other kid still has nightmares.”
Oscar Pistorius threw himself into sport following his mother’s death when he was 15, but suffered a knee injury playing rugby in 2003. He did athletics as a form of rehab at the University of Pretoria.
Less than a year later, Oscar Pistorius lit up the Athens Paralympics aged 17, winning gold in the 200 m and bronze in the 100 m in the T44 class, which also includes single below-the-knee amputees.
“Within months he was an icon,” said Bill Shroeder.
“My biggest challenge was keeping a teenager who was the envy of every kid on the straight and narrow.”
He was expected to take home a haul of paralympic golds at London 2012 but failed to deliver.
His first final was in the 200 m, where he finished a shock second to Brazilian Alan Oliveira and accused rivals in an angry outburst, including his young conqueror, of running on blades that were too long.
Then Oscar Pistorius had to settle for fourth place in the 100 m individual event when the glory went to Britain’s new track icon, Jonnie Peacock.
But this defeat and the outburst were followed by a measure of redemption when Oscar Pistorius anchored his country’s 4 x 100 m relay gold in a world record time.
Books and memorabilia of heroes from Nelson Mandela to Iron Mike Tyson, from Sir Bobby Charlton to Valentino Rossi, now fill the shelves and walls of his Pretoria home, a sprawling mansion on the Silverwoods Golf Estate, where he allegedly shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at 4:00 a.m. this morning.
Oscar Pistorius allegedly shot her four times in the head, chest and arms with a 9 mm handgun.
Local media have claimed Oscar Pistorius did so either by accident in a Valentine’s Day surprise gone wrong or having mistaken Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder.
Neither claim has been confirmed.
Oscar Pistorius’ father Henke, meanwhile said: “If anyone makes a statement, it will have to be Oscar. He’s sad at the moment.”
His publicist, Peet van Zyl, said: “Oscar is a humble person and lovely guy – am sure what’s happened was terrible mistake.”
Oscar Pistorius’ sporting trophies, including the first award he won as a 12-year-old wrestler and that famous TV camera that marks him out as a recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award for remarkable courage in the face of adversity, take up the space next to the whisky cabinet and pictures of his racehorses.
The sportsman, once voted South Africa’s sexiest celebrity now earns more than $1.5 million a year in deals to promote everything from perfume to groceries and telecommunications.
If Oscar Pistorius is charged and convicted with murder, he is unlikely to serve life in prison as the country’s full term imprisonment rule only kicks in for premeditated murder.
But there is also a chance he may escape punishment.
In 2004 charges against a South African rugby player who shot and killed his daughter were dropped when the country’s prosecuting agency decided he had suffered enough.
Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was today charged with murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead at his mansion in Pretoria, South Africa.
Reeva Steenkamp, 29, a former FHM model who had been dating the 26-year-old for two months, was shot four times in the head, chest and arm inside his home at 4:00 a.m.
Oscar Pistorius may have killed Reeva Steenkamp with a handgun kept next to his bed after a Valentine’s Day surprise went tragically wrong and he thought she was a burglar, sources have said.
But police say Reeva Steenkamp’s death is being treated as murder, adding that officers had been sent to previous incidents of a “domestic nature” at Oscar Pistorius’ address on the exclusive Silver Woods gated estate.
Brigadier Denise Beukes added police were “very surprised” by the intruder suggestion, telling reporters: “These allegations did not come from us.”
Oscar Pistorius was due in court this afternoon but the hearing has now been delayed to 9:00 a.m. and the sprinter is in custody.
Oscar Pistorius was today charged with murder after allegedly shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead at his mansion in Pretoria
Police were called to his home in the upmarket Silver Woods gated compound on the outskirts of South Africa’s administrative capital in the early hours of Thursday morning.
They found paramedics treating a 29-year-old woman with four gunshot wounds to the head and upper body. Reeva Steenkamp died at the scene, and officers recovered a 9 mm pistol.
Early reports suggested Oscar Pistorius might have mistaken his girlfriend for an intruder.
Police say neighbors heard screaming and shouting around the time of the shooting, and that they had been called to investigate incidents of a domestic nature at the same house in the past.
They also said that they would oppose any bail application.
Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who dressed Kim Kardashian for her recent fashion shoot in Elle magazine’s latest issue, has revealed how designers refused to lend the reality star their clothes.
Nicola Formichetti, 35, the stylist behind Lady Gaga’s masterful wardrobe, admitted that calling in high-end samples for Kim Kardashian posed “a challenge” for him.
“People wouldn’t lend me the clothes,” Nicola Formichetti explained to the magazine.
“But that’s fashion snobbery.”
Nicola Formichetti, who is the creative director of Mulgar and fashion director of Uniqlo, said he approached several designers who all declined in having their clothes worn by Kim Kardashian with “less-than-model-like-proportions”, as Elle described her five-foot-two-inch frame.
“She’s not the It Girl yet, but she will be,” he said.
Nicola Formichetti said the duo worked with what they were given, including several Tom Ford pieces, as well as Roberto Cavalli, and Victor and Rolf, and managed to put together several looks.
Nicola Formichetti, the stylist who dressed Kim Kardashian for her recent fashion shoot in Elle magazine’s latest issue, has revealed how designers refused to lend the reality star their clothes
On Twitter on Thursday, Nicola Formichetti backed away from the remarks, claiming his words had been twisted.
“Taken out of context again..Working with @kimkardashian was amazing we had more than enough options for @ellemagazine !!” he wrote, adding that he was looking forward to working with Kim Kardashian again.
Kim Kardashian meanwhile gushed to the stylist in a behind-the-scenes video: “I love being transformed and I love, like your, vision of who you think I am. That’s always so inspiring to me and so interesting to see someone else’s take on me.”
She added that no matter what clothes Nicola Formichetti had to work with, most importantly he “understands a woman’s body”.
“When I work with someone that I really respect, I work with trust,” Kim Kardashian said to Nicola Formichetti.
“So even if I’m not comfortable in something; I trust, like, your vision to push me a little bit.”
However, Kim Kardashian admits she was “really nervous” to take part in the shoot as working with Formichetti was “just a dream come true”.
A new report claims that Kris Jenner allegedly cheated on Bruce Jenner with former love Todd Waterman at the start of their relationship in the early 1990s.
Kris Jenner is reported by In Touch magazine to have cheated with Todd waterman even after she began living with Bruce Jenner.
Although Kris Jenner denies cheating on her husband, the magazine alleges Todd Waterman told them last year that he and Kris were having sex after she was dating the former decathlete.
“We were still sleeping together when she started dating Bruce,” Todd Waterman said then about their relationship, claiming they “hooked up” after Bruce Jenner had moved into her Beverly Hills home.
Todd Waterman was speaking to In Touch six months before appearing in Keeping Up With the Kardashians last year, for which he received a payment of $15,000 to $20,000 and a contract restricting him from talking about the famous family.
“I really wish I could talk to you, but I can’t because I’m under contract with the family to not talk about them,” Todd Waterman is alleged to have told the magazine.
Todd Waterman and Kris Jenner’s relationship is said to have ended after she met Bruce on a blind date in 1990 – they married in 1991 and went on to have daughters Kendall and Kylie.
A new report claims that Kris Jenner allegedly cheated on Bruce Jenner with former love Todd Waterman at the start of their relationship in the early 1990s
However, an insider alleged to the magazine that Kris Jenner and Todd Waterman’s relationship did not end there.
“He was always around, and Bruce was completely in the dark,” the source said.
“He was the Camilla in the Charles-Diana relationship.”
Kris Jenner originally had an affair with Todd Waterman while married to Robert Kardashian, and has called the fling her “biggest regret”.
The Kardashian matriarch and Bruce have recently been dogged by divorce rumors, but last year Kris Jenner told Entertainment Tonight that the reports are “crazy” since “life is so good right now”.
Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, had her promising young life cut tragically short today after she was allegedly shot dead by the Paralympian at his mansion.
Reeva Steenkamp, 29, was about to embark on the next stage of her dynamic and varied career as a TV star when she was killed in what may have been a Valentine’s Day surprise that went horribly wrong.
She was shot in the head, the chest and the arm at around 4:00 a.m. this morning, South African police have said.
Oscar Pistorius, who reportedly may have mistaken her for a burglar, will appear in court charged with her murder later this morning.
Reeva Steenkamp’s publicist, Sarit Tomlinson, said the couple had been together for a “couple of months” in what had been a “healthy, fabulous relationship”.
Sarit Tomlinson told Sky News: “She was the sweetest human being and an absolute angel on earth. She was the kindest, most unbelievable girl.
“At the moment it’s shocking. No-one knows what’s happened. She was a rising star. There was so much in the pipeline for her: she was just about to explode into the media.
“She was a very talented, very bright young girl. It’s too shocking for words. It is a huge loss for everyone and our condolences go out to her family. It is about them right now.”
Just yesterday, Reeva Steenkamp spoke excitedly on Twitter about her plans for Valentine’s Day.
She said: “What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow??? #getexcited #ValentinesDay.”
Replying to a follower, Reeva Steenkamp later added: “That sounds amazing! Wow that’s what it’s all about! It should be a day of love for everyone 🙂 may it be blessed!”
Just last Sunday Reeva Steenkamp was quoted in a local newspaper as saying that Oscar Pistorius was “an impeccable man who always has her best interests at heart”.
And on February 1, Reeva Steenkamp tweeted to Oscar Pistorius telling him he was “beautiful”.
She wrote: “He certainly doesn’t need more followers but he’s beautiful to look at & says some smart stuff too ;)”
This weekend, Reeva Steenkamp was set to star in South African reality television series Tropika Island Of Treasure, in which celebrities and ordinary people compete in remote, exotic locations in a variety of daily challenges.
On the show’s website, a tribute to Reeva Steenkamp says: “We are deeply saddened and extend our condolences to Reeva’s family and friends.”
Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius, had her promising young life cut tragically short today after she was allegedly shot dead by the Paralympian at his mansion
Reeva Steenkamp was born in Cape Town on August 19, 1983, and moved to Port Elizabeth as a child.
She graduated with a law degree, but made a dynamic career change after being scouted and named the first face of cosmetics giant Avon South Africa.
Reeva Steenkamp moved to Johannesburg six years ago and since then has travelled between the city and Cape Town to film and shoot some of South Africa’s leading campaigns and commercials.
Toyota, FHM, Clover and Italian brand Zui are some of the more prestigious clients she has worked for.
With a background in TV presenting – she was once the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa – Reeva Steenkamp had recently been working on some major projects that include smaller TV roles as well as a lead in a new reality TV show.
According to her Facebook page, Reeva Steenkamp had a passion for cars and cooking and prefers to read a book on her off days and spend quality time with friends and family.
She described herself on Twitter as “SA Model, FHM Cover Girl, Tropika Island of Treasure Celeb Contestant, Law Graduate, Ambassador, Child of God”.
Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were first spotted at the South African Sports Awards last year.
At the time, she claimed she and Oscar Pistorius were just friends.
The Johannesburg-born sportsman was born without fibulas in his legs and had his limbs amputated below the knee when he was just 11 months old.
But he has become one of the worlds’ most recognizable sportsmen. His trademark carbon-fibre running blades mean he revels in the moniker “the fastest man on no legs”.
Oscar Pistorius is first double amputee to run in the Olympics and to reach the 400 semi-finals in London 2012.
Perhaps due in part to his sudden financial and sporting success, Oscar Pistorius has a notoriously complex love life.
Before he got together with Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius had spent a year-and-a-half dating Cape Town marketing student Samantha Taylor.
But even while he was with Samantha Taylor, he was linked with numerous other women, including Russian model Anastassia Khozissova.
Oscar Pistorius was first seen with Reeva Steenkamp at an awards ceremony in South Africa last November. At the time, the FHM model said the pair were “just friends’.
But when it became clear that Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp were in fact dating, the sportsman’s then ex Samantha Taylor said: “Oscar has such a way with women. She’s probably not the only one he’s got.”
Samantha Taylor went on to tell South Africa’s City Press newspaper: “Oscar is certainly not what people think he is.”
Oscar Pistorius, 26, has a history of risk taking and also, reportedly, of violence.
In November last year, the sportsman reportedly “threatened to break the legs” of the friend of a man whom he believed had slept with his then girlfriend, who is not Reeva Steenkamp.
According to newspaper reports, Oscar Pistorius approached South African football player Marc Batchelor in the VIP room of a horse racing track and verbally threatened him.
Donald Trump slammed Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance as “ridiculous” and “inappropriate”.
Appearing on the Howard Stern Show, Donald Trump, 66, said Beyonce was too “suggestive” for a national audience.
“When Beyonce was thrusting her hips forward in a very suggestive manner, if someone else would have done that it would have been a national scandal,” Donald Trump said.
“I thought it was ridiculous … I thought it was not appropriate.”
Beyonce’s performance was heavily praised by music critics, despite the unflattering photographs that emerged afterwards of her making particularly aggressive faces while she danced.
Donald Trump said he thought it was strange that no one else has criticized her for her scandalous dance moves.
“There’s been no mention of it,” the media mogul said.
“So obviously, it must not have been so bad. She gets a pass.”
Donald Trump slammed Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance as ridiculous and inappropriate
Donald Trump isn’t shy about making his opinions known on other celebrities and well-known personalities.
His targets in the past have included actress Kristen Stewart and Huffington Post President Arianna Huffington.
“Robert Pattinson should not take back Kristen Stewart,” Donald Trump wrote on Twitter in October.
“She cheated on him like a dog & will do it again – just watch. He can do much better!”
Donald Trump called Arianna Huffington “unattractive inside and out”.
“I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man – he made a good decision,” Donald Trump wrote on Twitter in August.
American Airlines and US Airways are to announce their official merge to become the world’s biggest airline after the boards of both companies approved the deal late Wednesday.
The new carrier will keep the American Airlines name but will be run by US Airways CEO Doug Parker. American Airline’s CEO Tom Horton will serve as chairman of the new company until mid-2014.
The merger caps a turbulent period of bankruptcies and consolidation that will leave the U.S. airline industry dominated by four big carriers – American, United, Delta and Southwest.
Together the four companies will control almost 75% of U.S. airline traffic.
The deal has been in the works since August, when creditors forced American to consider a merger rather than remain independent.
American has been restructuring under bankruptcy protection since late 2011. Creditors and possibly the shareholders of AMR, American Airline’s parent company, will own 72% of the stock, and US Airways Group Inc. shareholders will get the rest.
A formal announcement is expected Thursday morning.
Travelers on American and US Airways won’t notice immediate changes.
It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined.
When that happens, American’s presence will grow in key East Coast markets including New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Washington’s Reagan National Airport.
The merger will add US Airways hubs in Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix to American’s in Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
US Airways would boost American’s service to Europe and the Latin America-Caribbean market but wouldn’t fix American’s weakness on routes to Asia.
American Airlines and US Airways are to announce their official merge to become the world’s biggest airline after the boards of both companies approved the deal late Wednesday
Just five years ago, American was the world’s biggest airline.
It boasted a history reaching back 80 years to the beginning of air travel. It had popularized the frequent-flier program and developed the modern system of pricing airline tickets to match demand.
But years of heavy losses drove American and parent AMR Corp. into bankruptcy protection in late 2011. The company blamed bloated labor costs; its unions accused executives of mismanagement.
The merger is a stunning achievement for Doug Parker and his management team at US Airways, based in Tempe, Arizona.
Just a few years ago, they were running a mid-sized carrier called America West Airlines when they bought the old US Airways out of bankruptcy.
Doug Parker’s airline is only half the size of American and is less familiar around the world, but he prevailed by driving a wedge between American’s management and its union workers and by convincing American’s creditors that a merger made business sense.
Despite its smaller size, US Airways has prospered in the last several years, earning a record profit of $637 million last year.
American Airlines’ Tom Horton professed no interest in thinking about a merger until his company was out of bankruptcy court, but his creditors pressured him to reconsider.
American Airlines lost more than $12 billion between 2001 and 2010.
It has lost another $2.8 billion since it filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2011 – a period in which US Airways earned about $650 million. Some analysts and creditors called for new management at American Airlines.
Bob Herbst, a financial analyst who studies airlines, said American Airlines has failed to adapt to changes in the industry since consolidation began in the middle of the last decade. He said American Airlines was fixated on gaining market share rather than on profitability.
Lady Gaga has decided to cancel the rest of her Born This Way Ball tour to undergo emergency surgery.
Lady Gaga, 26, has been forced to cancel all 25 remaining U.S. dates, after suffering a severe injury to her right hip that has been causing her chronic pain.
A statement was posted on Lady Gaga’s official website on Wednesday saying: “Live Nation Global Touring has confirmed that the remainder of the Lady Gaga Born This Way Ball performances have been cancelled.
“After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip. She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict down time to recover.
“This unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour, so she can heal. Refunds for the cancelled performances will be available at point of purchase starting Feb 14, 2013.”
The announcement came just one day after Lady Gaga issued a public apology after initially cancelling four shows due the injury and revealed she can barely walk due to the inflammation of her joints, known as synovitis.
Lady Gaga has decided to cancel the rest of her Born This Way Ball tour to undergo emergency surgery
The singer said: “I barely know what to say. I’ve been hiding a show injury and chronic pain for some time now, [and] over the past month it has worsened. I’ve been praying it would heal.
“I hid it from my staff. I didn’t want to disappoint my amazing fans. However, after last night’s performance I could not walk and still can’t.”
Lady Gaga admitted she is “devastated” about the cancellation and sought forgiveness from her fans, saying: “I hope you can forgive me, as it is nearly impossible for me to forgive myself. I’m devastated & sad. It will hopefully heal as soon as possible. I hate this. I hate this so much. I love you and I’m sorry.”
Lady Gaga world tour began in Seoul, South Korea on April 27, 2012 and was originally due to end in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 20, 2013.
Horsemeat has been detected in frozen lasagne on sale in Germany and supermarkets have started removing the product from their shelves.
Real supermarket chain said it had withdrawn TiP frozen lasagne – the latest tainted processed food to figure in a Europe-wide scandal.
Other German retailers including Tengelmann and Rewe are now checking their processed beef products too.
The EU Commission is urging member states to conduct random tests for horsemeat.
All EU members should carry out DNA tests on processed beef for traces of horsemeat for three months from March 1, the health commissioner said on Wednesday.
Horsemeat has been detected in frozen lasagne on sale in Germany and supermarkets have started removing the product from their shelves
Particle accelerator Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has turned off its particle beams ahead of a shut-down period that will last two years.
The LHC is best known for its role in spotting the Higgs boson in late 2012.
But following technical faults shortly after it first switched on, the machine has never been run at the full energies for which it was designed.
A programme of repairs and upgrades should allow that in late 2014.
The LHC’s beams were “dumped” early on Thursday morning, but it will take until Saturday morning for the machine’s 1,734 magnets to warm up to room temperature.
Then an unprecedented period of upgrade and repair – dubbed “Long Shutdown 1” – will begin.
The machine ran at particle energies of 8 trillion electron-volts (TeV) in 2012, up from the prior high point of 7TeV in 2011. But when the shutdown concludes, slated for the end of November 2014, it should be set to run at 13TeV – far and away the highest-energy collisions ever attempted by scientists.
The LHC is best known for its role in spotting the Higgs boson in late 2012
The major work required is to upgrade the connections between the magnets, such that they can handle the enormous electrical currents that may pass through them at higher particle energies and in the event of faults such as the one in 2008.
But the shutdown maintenance schedule also includes upgrades to all four of the LHC’s detectors, the shielding of electronics – even the ventilation system of the 27 km-long tunnel that houses the main accelerator ring.
The shutdown is due to conclude in late November 2014, after which the system will be put through its paces and experiments are expected to resume in February or March 2015.
South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, aka blade runner, has been arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria, local media say.
Police said a 26-year-old man, who they have not named, was in custody and a case of murder was being investigated.
The precise circumstances surrounding the incident are unclear. Reports say he may have mistaken her for a burglar.
Oscar Pistorius, 26, is known as the “blade runner”, and was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics.
The suspect is expected to appear in court later on Thursday, reports say.
The news that he may have killed his girlfriend will shock the country as Oscar Pistorius is regarded as one of South Africa’s national icons.
The incident is said to have taken place between 04:00 and 05:00 local time.
South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, aka blade runner, has been arrested over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria
A police statement said that a 30-year-old woman was “fatally wounded” in the early hours of Thursday morning at a home in the Silverlakes complex in the Boschkop area of the capital.
Reeva Steenkamp had been wounded in her head and upper body. Paramedics were at the house when police arrived, but she died at the scene. A 9 mm pistol was recovered.
Police gave no further details about the woman’s alleged relationship with Oscar Pistorius.
Reeva Steenkamp, 30, a former FHM model who has been dating Oscar Pistorius for two months.
Reeva Steenkamp, 30, a former FHM model who has been dating Oscar Pistorius for two months
South Africa has among the highest rates of crime in the world and many residents keep weapons to protect themselves against intruders.
But the country also has a careful vetting process before awarding gun licences, said Erika Gibson of Beeld newspaper.
Oscar Pistorius races wearing carbon fibre prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs and had both legs amputated below the knee before his first birthday.
He reached the 400 m semi-finals in the London 2012 Olympics. At the Paralympics he won silver in the T44 200 m, gold in the 4×100 relay and gold in the T44 400 m, setting a Paralympic record.
For years he dominated in his category at successive Paralympic Games.
In 2008 Oscar Pistorius won a legal battle over his blades with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the right to compete in able-bodied competitions.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee said it had been inundated with questions over the incident, but was in no position to comment.
The International Paralympic Committee also declined to comment on the matter as a police investigation was under way.
South Korean experts have not detected any radioactive isotopes from North Korea’s nuclear test, hampering efforts to assess the device.
Eight samples had been analyzed but nothing found, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said.
Finding certain isotopes – xenon gases in particular – would help experts determine whether a plutonium or uranium-based device was used.
But a well-contained test could yield no radioactive isotopes, experts say.
South Korean planes and ships were sent out immediately after the test to collect samples, as was a Japanese plane.
“Two days since the North’s nuclear test, the commission has completed analyzing eight samples, but no radioactive isotopes have been discovered as of 15:00 Thursday,” the commission said.
No changes had been recorded at 122 unmanned radiation monitoring systems across the country, it added.
North Korea said on Tuesday that it had carried out an underground nuclear test, which it claimed involved a miniaturized but more powerful device.
Seismic activity triggered by the test at the Punggye-ri site in the north-east of the country was detected by several nations.
The UN Security Council has condemned the test – North Korea’s third, following tests in 2006 and 2009 – and promised action.
Xenon isotopes were detected after the first test but not after the second. Experts say finding it can be a matter of luck and has to be done quickly because it decays rapidly.
North Korea’s first two tests involved plutonium, but it is believed to have a uranium-enrichment programme.
While it has depleted its stocks of “reactor-grade” plutonium needed to make the weapons-grade variety, the country has plentiful reserves of uranium ore.
South Korean experts have not detected any radioactive isotopes from North Korea’s nuclear test, hampering efforts to assess the device
North Korea’s neighbors and the US, meanwhile, are working to coordinate a response to the test.
On Thursday South Korea’s military conducted exercises on both coasts, Yonhap news agency said, while the defence ministry unveiled a missile that it said could hit “precise targets” like “windows of a North Korean command office”.
The National Assembly also adopted a resolution condemning the nuclear test. The two Koreas are still technically at war following the armistice of 1953 that ended armed conflict on the Korean peninsula.
Amid a flurry of diplomatic activity over the issue, US President Barack Obama spoke on the phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for about 20 minutes, according to Kyodo news agency.
“They pledged to work closely together to seek significant action at the United Nations Security Council and to co-operate on measures aimed at impeding North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes,” the White House said in a statement.
The Australian government, meanwhile, has also decided to postpone a visit by North Korean diplomats exploring the possibility of reopening an embassy in the capital, Canberra, this weekend, because of the test.
“We postponed the arrival of North Korean diplomats in Australia as a gesture following this detonation,” Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said.
Bob Carr, however, added that there are still plans to re-establish the embassy, saying that “there’s value in having a North Korean diplomatic presence here”.
North Korea closed its embassy there in 2008 due to financial issues.
Israel has confirmed it imprisoned Prisoner X, an Australian-Israeli man under a false identity, for security reasons, and that he died in custody.
The justice ministry did not name the man – previously known as Prisoner X, and recently identified by Australian media as Ben Zygier – but said his family was notified of his detention.
Ben Zygier was held following a court order and his rights were upheld, it added.
The ministry also stated that the man killed himself inside his cell in 2010.
On Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr ordered a review of how diplomats handled the detention of Mr Zygier, who is believed to have worked for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
On Thursday, Bob Carr told a parliamentary committee that Canberra had been informed of Ben Zygier’s detention in February 2010.
Australia was told through intelligence channels that he had been detained “in relation to serious offences under Israeli national security legislation”.
He “would be treated in accordance with his lawful rights as an Israeli citizen”, Australia was told. No request for consular support was received, Bob Carr said.
Speculation about the existence and identity of Prisoner X has been rife since reports of his death broke in the Israeli media two years ago, despite strict reporting restrictions imposed by the Israeli authorities.
The statement published by the Israeli justice ministry on Wednesday evening gave only a few new details about the case.
“For security reasons, the prisoner was held under a pseudonym, but his family was notified of the arrest immediately,” it said.
“The prisoner was held in jail under a warrant issued by a court. The proceedings were overseen by senior officials in the justice ministry and he was duly represented in all the proceedings against him.”
The statement added that he “was found dead in his cell two years ago” and that a closed-door inquiry into the death was ordered at the time.
The justice ministry said the investigation concluded six weeks ago that the cause of the prisoner’s death was suicide, but that the judge recommended that the state “pursue a negligence investigation”.
“National security prevents the release of any other details in this case.”
Israel has confirmed it imprisoned Prisoner X, an Australian-Israeli man under a false identity, for security reasons, and that he died in custody
The identity of Prisoner X was revealed on Tuesday by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which named him as Ben Zygier.
According to its report, he was an active member of Melbourne’s Jewish community before emigrating to Israel in 2000 and serving in the army.
At the time of his death, Ben Zygier was 34 and married to an Israeli woman and had two children.
He is known to have gone by the Hebrew name of Ben Alon in Israel and also carried an Australian passport bearing the name Ben Allen. Fairfax said he had also called himself Benjamin Burrows.
The reason for Ben Zygier’s arrest and imprisonment in Israel is not known, but ABC said it understood he had been recruited by Mossad.
Australia’s Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday that months before he was arrested in Israel, Ben Zygier was being investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) on suspicion of fraudulently using his passport for espionage purposes.
Ben Zygier was found hanged in a cell on 15 December 2010, months after he “disappeared”, and his body was flown to Melbourne for burial the following week, ABC added.
When the story about Prisoner X first emerged, Israeli media said the unidentified man was being held incommunicado at Ayalon Prison, a maximum security facility in central Israel.
ABC said his cell was fitted with surveillance cameras designed to prevent suicide.
The reason for his detention was not disclosed and his identification was so secret that even his guards did not know who he was, it reported.
An Israeli opposition MP said he agreed that the government’s actions were likely to have been in the interests of national security.
“In general I understand it, but practically I think the government took some steps that may irritate anyone who cares for freedom of expression,” Nachman Shai of the Labour party added.
Apple does not have exclusive rights to use the “iPhone” trademark in Brazil, local regulators have ruled today.
Apple has already lodged an appeal against the decision with the Brazilian regulators.
The ruling is the result of a local company, Gradiente Eletronica, registering the name in 2000, seven years before the US firm.
Apple can continue to sell iPhone-branded handsets in Brazil.
But the decision means that Gradiente has an option of suing for exclusivity in Latin America’s biggest market.
The Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) said its decision only applied to handsets, and that the California-based company continued to have exclusive rights to use the iPhone name elsewhere including on clothing, in software and across publications.
INPI added that Apple had argued that it should have been given full rights since Gradiente had not released a product using the iPhone name until December 2012.
Gradiente Eletronica registered iPhone name in Brazil in 2000, seven years before Apple
Apple is asking the INPI to cancel Gradiente’s registration through expiration – it is arguing that the Brazilian firm did not use the name between January 2008 and January 2013.
The Manaus-headquartered company now sells its Android-powered iPhone Neo One for 599 reals ($304).
Bloomberg previously reported that the chairman of Gradiente had said: “We’re open to a dialogue for anything, anytime… we’re not radicals.”
Apple’s most recent financial results revealed its cash reserves had grown to $137 billion.
The company’s manufacturing partner, Foxconn, currently produces iPhones and iPads among other equipment at its facilities in Brazil.
John Galliano made his return to the fashion world yesterday with an outfit that resembled Hasidic Jewish clothing at Oscar de la Renta’s New York Fashion Week show.
John Galliano, who was fired from Christian Dior in March 2011 after several notorious drunken outbursts and anti-Semitic remarks in a Paris cafe, was seen in a long black jacket, charcoal homburg-style hat and twirled peyos – long sidelocks grown to demonstrate faith.
His outfit, seen en route to Oscar de la Renta’s design studio, where he has been helping the designer prepare for last night’s fall 2013 collection, shocked New York’s Jewish community.
Williamsburg community leader Isaac Abraham told the New York Post: “He’s trying to embarrass people in the Jewish community and make money on clothes [while] dressed like people he has insulted.
“It looks like the hairstyle he added was done purposely to insult.”
“I would invite Mr. de la Renta and Galliano to come to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, so I can show them some Holocaust survivors and the clothes they [wear].”
Meanwhile rabbi and fashion designer Tobi Rubinstein Schneier commented: “This was not very smart, unless he really wants attention. I’m hoping that this is not in any way a mockery through this attire.”
John Galliano made his return to the fashion world yesterday with an outfit that resembled Hasidic Jewish clothing at Oscar de la Renta’s New York Fashion Week show
Musician Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, has admitted she was abused as a child.
In a video to support a global campaign to end violence against women – One Billion Rising – Anoushka Shankar said the abuse had been by “a man my parents trusted”.
Anoushka Shankar said she had suffered “groping, touching and verbal abuse”.
There has been growing outrage in India at the treatment of women after the fatal gang rape of a woman in December.
The One Billion Rising movement was started by American playwright and feminist Eve Ensler to mark the 15th anniversary of the V-day campaign to end violence against women.
A number of events have been organized in India on 14 February – the day the campaign is calling for one billion people around the world to rise up against gender-based crimes.
Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, has admitted she was abused as a child
In the video, recorded in her London home, Anoushka Shankar, 31, appealed for people to support the campaign in memory of the 23-year-old gang rape victim.
The brutal attack on the physiotherapy student on a Delhi bus led to weeks of protests by thousands of people across India and the world.
“As a child I suffered sexual and emotional abuse for several years at the hands of a man my parents trusted implicitly,” she said.
Anoushka Shankar added that she was taking part in the One Billion Rising movement “for the child in me who I don’t think will recover from what happened”.
Anoushka Shankar grew up in London, Delhi and California and began learning to play the sitar from her father at the age of nine. Ravi Shankar, 92, died in a hospital in California in December after an illness.
The EU has outlined an “intensive monitoring plan” to tackle the widening scandal over mislabeled horsemeat.
All members would be asked to carry-out random DNA tests on beef products for traces of horsemeat for the next three months, the health commissioner said.
He was speaking after a crisis meeting with ministers from the UK, France and other affected countries in Brussels.
“This is a Europe-wide issue that needs a Europe-wide solution,” Irish Farm Minister Simony Coveney said.
“This is about someone in the food supply chain selling horsemeat as beef and making money in a fraudulent way by doing that,” Simony Coveney added.
EU Health Commissioner Tonio Berg also said a separate programme of random tests should be carried out on horsemeat to check for the presence of the veterinary medicine phenylbutazone – known as bute.
The measures follow the discovery that meat sold in up to 16 European countries labeled as beef contained horsemeat.
The scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across the 27-member EU bloc, with a number of supermarket chains withdrawing frozen beef meals.
In the UK, the supermarket giant Tesco, frozen food firm Findus and budget chain Aldi received horsemeat-tainted mince from Comigel, based in north-eastern France.
The EU has outlined an “intensive monitoring plan” to tackle the widening scandal over mislabeled horsemeat
Horsemeat has now been confirmed in some frozen lasagne on sale in France too.
In Germany, officials announced that a shipment of frozen lasagne suspected of containing horsemeat had arrived in the country. They were notified of the delivery by authorities in Luxembourg on Tuesday.
Comigel denied wrongdoing, saying it had ordered the meat from Spanghero, a firm in southern France, via a Comigel subsidiary in Luxembourg – Tavola.
The supply chain reportedly led back to traders in Cyprus and the Netherlands, then to abattoirs in Romania.
There are now calls for more specific labeling on processed meat products in the EU, to show country of origin, as in the case of fresh meat. But the cost of doing that may trigger opposition from food manufacturers.
Romania has denied claims that it was to blame for the mislabeling of horsemeat.
“There are plants and companies in Romania exporting horsemeat but everything was according to the standards, and the source and the kind of meat was very clearly put as being horsemeat,” said Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.
Pope Benedict XVI has held his last Mass as Pope in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome following the shocking announcement of his resignation.
The pontiff presided over an Ash Wednesday ceremony marking the start of the Roman Catholic Church’s season of Lent.
It came two days after the surprise announcement that Pope Benedict XVI, 85, was to retire at the end of the month.
In his homily, Pope Benedict implicitly criticized recent infighting among clerics inside the Vatican.
He said the face of the Church had been marred by divisions and rivalry among the clergy.
Looking tired, the pontiff anointed the foreheads of the faithful with ashes in a service attended by cardinals, bishops, monks, friars and pilgrims.
The season of Lent is marked by fasting and acts of penitence for past sins, with worshippers marking a cross on their foreheads with wood ash to symbolize human mortality.
It is the most solemn season in the Church calendar that ends with Holy Week and Easter Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Pope Benedict held his last but one general audience inside the Vatican, his first public appearance since he stunned the Church and wider world by saying he would retire at the end of the month.
He said he had made his decision only after long reflection.
“I am conscious of the gravity of my action,” he said, receiving a standing ovation from 8,000 pilgrims from around the world gathered in the Vatican’s main audience hall.
“Thank you for the love and prayer with which you have accompanied me… Keep praying for me, for the Church and for the future pope,” he said.
Pope Benedict XVI has held his last Mass as Pope in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome following the shocking announcement of his resignation
Next week Pope Benedict will carry out no public engagements. He will enter a spiritual retreat and pray inside the Vatican.
The pontiff had originally been scheduled to celebrate Ash Wednesday at the small Sant’ Anselmo church, then lead a procession to Santa Sabina Basilica on Rome’s Aventine Hill.
But the Mass was relocated to St Peter’s to accommodate the crowds, the Vatican said. The change also saved the Pope the effort of the procession.
The pontiff will continue with his usual agenda until the day he officially retires at the end of February, Vatican officials say.
By the end of Lent, in six weeks’ time, there is expected to be a new pope.
Pope Benedict is anxious to ensure a smooth transition of power to his successor, and does not want to go down in history as a pope who abandoned his ministry without sufficient cause.
The pontiff’s daily diary until his departure from the Vatican at the end of the month is already full.
The Vatican holds a Lenten retreat from 17 to 23 February. The Pope will hold one more Wednesday audience on February 27, again in St Peter’s Square.
On February 28, Pope Benedict will fly off to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo, where he will stay while Church leaders go through the complicated ritual of choosing a successor.
The secret process of selecting a new pope is known as a Conclave, governed by rules which have evolved over centuries.
The behind-the-scenes battle for the succession has already begun.
At 78, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was one of the oldest popes in history at his election.
He took the helm as one of the fiercest storms the Catholic Church has faced in decades – the scandal of child sex abuse by priests – was breaking.
The pontiff said in his resignation statement on Monday: “After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.”
The European Union and the US will begin formal talks on a free-trade agreement, paving the way for the biggest trade deal in history.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made the announcement following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
A deal would bring down trading barriers between the two biggest economies in the world.
EU-US trade is worth around 455 billion euros ($613 billion) a year.
Barack Obama announced US support for talks as part of his annual address to Congress on Tuesday, saying a free-trade deal would “boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia”.
In a joint statement, US and EU leaders said trade between the US and EU supported millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We are committed to making this relationship an even stronger driver of our prosperity,” the statement said.
The EU estimates that a “comprehensive and ambitious agreement” will boost annual GDP growth by 0.5%.
It is not clear how long the talks will take, but similar trade deals have involved years of negotiations.
The idea was discussed following the formation of a working group in 2011, and the formal talks may begin in the summer, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.
He said the deal would focus on bringing down remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade, and standardise technical regulations, standards and certifications.
The European Union and the US will begin formal talks on a free-trade agreement, paving the way for the biggest trade deal in history
Free trade between the US and the EU has been under informal discussion for years.
Previously politicians have been discouraged from pursuing free trade deals for fear of exposing domestic industries to greater competition from abroad.
But Steve Davies from the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank, said the economic crisis in Europe has injected more urgency into the talks.
“It’s happening now because there has been seriously depressed growth in the EU, and this will be good news for economic growth,” he said.
“On the American side, the critical factor is that Obama is now in his second term, so he doesn’t have the protectionist pressures from US businesses to worry about.”
Steve Davies said agriculture was likely to be particular area of contention, along with intellectual property, which could lead to political wranglings on both sides of the Atlantic.
Uniunea Europeana și SUA încep tratativele pentru acordul de liber schimb, care va duce la crearea celui mai mare acord comercial din istorie.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made the announcement following President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.
A deal would bring down trading barriers between the two biggest economies in the world.
EU-US trade is worth around 455 billion euros ($613 billion) a year.
Barack Obama announced US support for talks as part of his annual address to Congress on Tuesday, saying a free-trade deal would “boost American exports, support American jobs and level the playing field in the growing markets of Asia”.
In a joint statement, US and EU leaders said trade between the US and EU supported millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We are committed to making this relationship an even stronger driver of our prosperity,” the statement said.
The EU estimates that a “comprehensive and ambitious agreement” will boost annual GDP growth by 0.5%.
It is not clear how long the talks will take, but similar trade deals have involved years of negotiations.
The idea was discussed following the formation of a working group in 2011, and the formal talks may begin in the summer, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.
He said the deal would focus on bringing down remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade, and standardise technical regulations, standards and certifications.
The European Union and the US will begin formal talks on a free-trade agreement, paving the way for the biggest trade deal in history
Free trade between the US and the EU has been under informal discussion for years.
Previously politicians have been discouraged from pursuing free trade deals for fear of exposing domestic industries to greater competition from abroad.
But Steve Davies from the Institute of Economic Affairs, a think tank, said the economic crisis in Europe has injected more urgency into the talks.
“It’s happening now because there has been seriously depressed growth in the EU, and this will be good news for economic growth,” he said.
“On the American side, the critical factor is that Obama is now in his second term, so he doesn’t have the protectionist pressures from US businesses to worry about.”
Steve Davies said agriculture was likely to be particular area of contention, along with intellectual property, which could lead to political wranglings on both sides of the Atlantic.
Kate Middleton and Prince William faced fresh anguish over privacy today after Italian and Australian magazines published photographs of the pregnant duchess in a bikini and more publications round the world lined up to do the same.
Palace sources condemned the “violating” pictures, which show the couple walking along a beach while holidaying on the secluded Caribbean island of Mustique.
Chi magazine, which caused outrage when it published a photograph of Princess Diana as she lay dying, splashed pictures of Kate Middleton and her growing baby bump across its front page.
Australian magazine Woman’s Day has also printed the pictures, as well as photographs of Kate Middleton’s sister Pippa in a bikini, claiming they were taken by a member of the public on a public beach.
Editor Fiona Connolly said the royal couple are not a ‘protected species’ outside Britain adding: “This is not a hard decision. Kate’s on a public beach, there are other holiday-makers there and she looks fabulous.”
However, Mustique is a private island and there is an expectation of privacy for anyone holidaying there because the paparazzi is banned.
Kate Middleton, who is about four months pregnant, is wearing a bright blue halter-neck bikini with her slightly rounded stomach clearly visible.
Her arm is draped over her husband’s shoulders while Prince William, who is wearing blue baggy shorts and sunglasses, has an arm protectively around his wife’s back.
Chi magazine, which caused outrage when it published a photograph of Princess Diana as she lay dying, splashed pictures of Kate Middleton and her growing baby bump across its front page
The headline on the front of Chi magazine, which goes on sale today, reads: “Kate and William – honeymoon for three.”
Woman’s Day editor Fiona Connolly said she had no qualms about running the pictures, insisting they were taken by a fellow tourist on Mustique – and not a paparazzo.
They have published a poster today showing pictures of Kate Middleton to promote their next edition, which is out on Monday.
“She is on a public beach and she was mingling with holiday makers,” she said.
“There is no photographer hiding in the bushes and she is not inside a private villa,” said Fiona Connolly.
St James’s Palace has angrily hit out at the impending publication of the photos in Europe as “a clear breach of the couple’s privacy”.
But Fiona Connolly said Australians did not view the royal family as a “protected species” like the British.
“The British have a great deal more sensitivity to royals than we do here in Oz,” she said.
“As Australians, we see this every day. We see pregnant women in bikinis on the beach – and a public one at that – so we are a lot less sensitive here.
“Our readers are going to love these photos. I don’t expect any backlash at all really. I think she’s looking fabulous and healthy and (with) a beautiful bump, like we haven’t seen her before.”
Global sales of mobile phones went into reverse in 2012 compared with the previous year, according to a report from research company Gartner.
The report said 1.75 billion handsets had been bought, marking a 1.7% decline.
Analysts at the firm suggested “tough economic conditions” had been partly responsible for the drop.
It follows official data from Spain indicating its number of mobile telephone and datacard subscriptions fell by 5% over the same period.
A report by the Spanish regulator CMT said there were nearly 2.8 million fewer such contracts at the end of the year than at the beginning, with Telefonica’s Movistar unit and Vodafone bearing the brunt of losses in December.
Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 1.3% in 2012, according to its central bank.
Gartner’s data suggests weakening demand for feature phones – lower-end devices with limited functionality – led to the drop. It said that in the final three months of the year, 264.4 million such devices had been sold – 19.3% fewer than over the same period in 2011.
Although smartphones had seen a 38.3% year-on-year gain over the fourth quarter, they had still remained in the minority with 207.7 million units sold, the study said.
Global sales of mobile phones went into reverse in 2012 compared with the previous year
Gartner added that Apple and Samsung had dominated the smartphone market, with a combined 52% share in the October-to-December quarter.
“There is no manufacturer that can firmly lay claim to the number three spot,” said the company’s principal research analyst Anshul Gupta.
“Their direct competitors, including those with comparable products, struggle to achieve the same brand appreciation among consumers.”
Anshul Gupta added that the overall fall in sales marked the first time the market had contracted since 2009.
Gartner’s data also indicated that in the fourth quarter, Android had powered 69.7% of all smartphones sold, while iOS had accounted for 20.9% of devices.
For the year, that marked a gain in share for Google’s operating system, but a decline for Apple’s – although in terms of units sold, both firms made gains.
EU agriculture ministers are to hold talks on the horsemeat scandal that has reportedly affected up to 16 countries.
Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney will chair the Brussels talks, which will seek ways to restore consumer confidence in meat products.
This comes after the discovery that meat sold in Europe labeled as beef contained horsemeat.
On Tuesday, a slaughterhouse and a meat firm were raided by police in the UK probing alleged horsemeat mislabelling.
UK Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said it was unacceptable if British firms were defrauding the public.
The scandal has raised questions about the complexity of the food industry’s supply chains across the 27-member EU bloc, with a number of supermarket chains withdrawing frozen beef meals.
Meanwhile, Romania has proved that it was not the source of the mislabeling of horsemeat. Bucharest says horsemeat that leaves the country has not been minced, and is labeled as horse.
The ministers from the UK, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania and Sweden are expected to take part in the talks in Brussels, along with European Commission officials.
EU agriculture ministers are to hold talks on the horsemeat scandal that has reportedly affected up to 16 countries
The meeting goal is to exchange ideas on where the problem might have originated and how to stop it in the future.
Tighter restrictions for the labeling of processed food are now in the pipeline.
“We are looking at whether [such labeling] is possible… but nothing is fixed yet,” said a spokesman for EU Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Tonio Borg.
There are growing concerns that that a drug used to treat horses – and which is harmful to humans – could be in the food chain.
But EU officials say public health is not at stake, and the problem is instead one of mislabeling.
They say it is up to national regulators to take action.
