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2014. szeptember 29., hétfő
White House intruder 'made it to East Room'
A new barrier was erected following the security breach
A
man arrested for breaking into the White House earlier this month gained
access to more of the building than previously believed, US media
report.
Omar Gonazalez, 42, made it to the East Room in the highly
guarded home on 19 September, unidentified officials told multiple news
outlets.It was earlier reported he was stopped at the North Portico doors after scaling the building's main fence.
The Secret Service boss will be questioned about the breach on Tuesday.
US lawmakers on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will ask Secret Service Director Julia Pierson to explain this latest lapse.
Mr Gonzalez - armed with a knife - barrelled past a guard posted at the door of the White House and ran into the East Room before being tackled by authorities, unnamed officials told the Washington Post.
The long, ornately decorated room is frequently used for presidential addresses and formal receptions.
The East Room is used for many functions, some hosted by the president
Omar Gonzalez with wife Samantha, in an undated photo
The protective agency has undergone a review of its procedures in the wake of the breach and erected a temporary fence outside the famous US residence.
Mr Gonzalez, meanwhile, has been charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.
The Iraq War veteran was previously stopped by Virginia police in July.
Officers found two powerful rifles, four handguns and other firearms and ammunition in Mr Gonzalez's vehicle along with a map marking the White House.
An unnamed federal law enforcement official earlier told the Associated Press news agency Secret Service agents had interviewed Mr Gonzalez twice during the summer but concluded there was no evidence he was a security threat.
Mr Obama and his family were not at the White House when the intrusion happened, having departed about 10 minutes earlier by helicopter.
The Secret Service has been criticised for the lapse
World wildlife populations halved in 40 years - report
In Nepal, habitat loss and hunting have reduced tigers from 100,000 a century ago to just 3,000
The global loss of species is even worse than previously thought, the London Zoological Society (ZSL) says in its new Living Planet Index.
The report suggests populations have halved in 40 years, as
new methodology gives more alarming results than in a report two years
ago.The report says populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined by an average of 52%.
Populations of freshwater species have suffered an even worse fall of 76%.
Severe impact Compiling a global average of species decline involves tricky statistics, often comparing disparate data sets.
The Living Planet Index tracks more than 10,000 vertebrate species populations from 1970 to 2010
Then they estimated that wildlife was down "only" around 30%. Whatever the numbers, it seems clear that wildlife is continuing to be driven out by human activity.
The society's report, in conjunction with the pressure group WWF, says humans are cutting down trees more quickly than they can re-grow, harvesting more fish than the oceans can re-stock, pumping water from rivers and aquifers faster than rainfall can replenish them, and emitting more carbon than oceans and forests can absorb.
It catalogues areas of severe impact - in Ghana, the lion population in one reserve is down 90% in 40 years.
In West Africa, forest felling has restricted forest elephants to 6-7% of their historic range.
In Nepal, habitat loss and hunting have reduced tigers from 100,000 a century ago to just 3,000.
In the UK, the government promised to halt wildlife decline - but bird numbers continue to fall.
The index tracks more than 10,000 vertebrate species populations from 1970 to 2010. It reveals a continued decline in these populations. The global trend is not slowing down.
'New method' The report shows that the biggest recorded threat to biodiversity comes from the combined impacts of habitat loss and degradation, driven by what WWF calls unsustainable human consumption.
ZSL spokesman
The report notes that the
impacts of climate change are becoming of increasing concern - although
the effect of climate change on species until now is disputed.
WWF is keen to avoid despair. It points to conservation efforts to save species like:- A Gorilla Conservation Programme in Rwanda, promoting gorilla tourism
- A scheme to incentivise small-scale farmers to move away from slash and burn agriculture in Acre, Brazil
- A project to cut the amount of water withdrawn from the wildlife-rich River Itchen in the UK.
A ZSL spokesman explained to BBC News: "For example, if most measurements in a particular region are of bird populations, but the greatest actual number of vertebrates in the region are fish, then it is necessary to give a greater weighting to measurements of fish populations if we are to have an accurate picture of the rate of population decline for species in that region.
"Different weightings are applied between regions, and between marine, terrestrial and freshwater environments. We are simply being more sophisticated with the way we use the data."
"Applying the new method to the 2008 dataset we find that things were considerably worse than what we thought at the time. It is clear that we are seeing a significant long-term trend in declining species populations."
Netflix to release first full-length film in 2015
Netflix says it now has 50 million users in over 40 countries worldwide
The
video streaming site Netflix will release its first feature-length film
in 2015, after striking a deal with the Weinstein Company, reports say.
The sequel to Ang Lee's Oscar-winning martial arts drama,
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, will be shown on Netflix and in Imax
cinemas around the globe.Netflix has over 50 million subscribers, in more than 40 countries.
The firm already produces its own TV programmes, notably the politically themed House of Cards.
The entertainment company, which started in 1997 as a postal DVD rental service, has seen its profits surge in recent months.
In July, it reported profits of $71m (£43.8m) for the second quarter of 2014.
Last year, Netflix's original programming was nominated for 14 Emmy TV awards, winning three, and this year its programming garnered a record 31 nominations.
Last week, the US firm bought the rights to historical drama Peaky Blinders, first aired on the BBC, in a separate deal with the Weinstein Company and production group Endemol.
However, Netflix has suffered some setbacks in the US, and is engaged in a battle with internet service providers (ISPs) such as Verizon over who should pay for the increasing strain that streaming video puts on download speeds.
Leonardo Da Vinci 'painted three Ermine portraits'
Three different versions of the painting were produced
A
French scientist has revealed a major new discovery about one of
Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings, shedding new light on his
techniques.
Engineer Pascal Cotte has spent three years using reflective light technology to analyse The Lady with an Ermine.Until now, it was thought the 500-year-old painting had always included the ceremonial animal.
Mr Cotte has shown the artist painted one portrait without the ermine and two with different versions of the fur.
Leonardo experts have described the new findings as "thrilling" and said the discovery raises new questions about the painting's history.
The BBC's Roya Nikkhah: "The history of Leonardo's masterpiece is now being rewritten"
'Changing his mind' It is believed to have been painted between 1489 and 1490.
The Duke was Leonardo's main patron during his 18 years in the city, and he was nicknamed "the white ermine".
This red chalk drawing circa 1509 is widely accepted as a Leonardo self-portrait
Mr Cotte, who is a co-founder of Lumiere Technology in Paris,
has pioneered a new technique called Layer Amplification Method (LAM).It works by projecting a series of intense lights on to the painting. A camera then takes measurements of the lights' reflections and from those measurements, Mr Cotte is then able to analyse and reconstruct what has happened between the layers of the paint.
Following the discovery, new theories have now been applied to the well-known portrait, including a suggestion the artist may have introduced the ermine into the painting to symbolise Gallerani's lover, later enhancing the animal to flatter his patron.
Another theory is that Gallerani asked the artist to add the animal into the painting, so that the Milanese court was made fully aware of her relationship with the Duke.
Polish home Mr Cotte said: "The LAM technique gives us the capability to peel the painting like an onion, removing the surface to see what's happening inside and behind the different layers of paint.
"We've discovered that Leonardo is always changing his mind. This is someone who hesitates - he erases things, he adds things, he changes his mind again and again."
Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford, said: "What Pascal Cotte is revealing in France is remarkable.
"It tells us a lot more about the way Leonardo's mind worked when he was doing a painting. We know that he fiddled around a good deal at the beginning, but now we know that he kept fiddling around all the time and it helps explain why he had so much difficulty finishing paintings.
"Leonardo is endlessly fascinating, so getting this intimate insight into his mind is thrilling."
The painting belongs to the Czartoryski Foundation and is usually on display at the National Museum in Krakow, Poland. It is currently hanging in nearby Wawel Castle while the Museum undergoes renovation.
The Lady with an Ermine was one of the star attractions at the National Gallery's 2011 exhibition, Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan.
The painting has previously undergone several examinations using X-ray and infra-red analysis.
Aldi supermarket chain posts big rise in pre-tax profit
Aldi,
the discount supermarket chain, has posted a big rise in full-year
profits as its share of the British grocery market continues to grow.
The company said pre-tax profits rose 65.2% to £260.9m for the year to 31 December 2013.Group turnover rose 35.7% to £5.27bn over the period.
Its market share grew from 3.1% to 4% in 2013, according to Kantar Worldpanel, and is now 4.8% after a continued strong performance in 2014.
"We keep prices constantly low while keeping product quality consistently high, which is exactly what shoppers want," said Roman Heini, Aldi's UK group managing director.
"They had become used to thinking you have to pay more for better products. We've shown them this doesn't have to be the case."
Aldi said operational cost savings were used to keep prices low rather than boost profit margins - a philosophy that is proving increasingly popular with customers and encouraging the firm to expand further.
It opened 42 new stores in 2013 and is due to open 54 this year, with another 60 to 65 planned for next year. This would take the total number of UK stores to more than 600, the company said.
Matthew Barnes, Aldi group managing director, said: "We're investing over £600m in our operations over the next two years to support this growth."
Mr Barnes also said that growth in the first half of 2014 had been stronger than in the same period last year.
Aldi's bullish results and comments come in stark contrast to the fortunes of rival Tesco, currently reeling from an accounting scandal and recent boardroom resignations
Denzel Washington tops US box office in The Equalizer
Washington has won two Oscars for Training Day and Glory
Denzel
Washington's latest film The Equalizer has debuted at the top of the
North American box office, taking $35m (£21.5m), according to early
estimates.
It marked a strong opening for the film, in which Washington
plays a former commando who finds himself in a battle with the Russian
mafia.The film has reunited Washington with director Antoine Fuqua, who also directed 2001's Training Day.
The movie is based on the 1980s TV series, starring Edward Woodward.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, called Washington "the very model of box-office consistency."
"I can't think of another star that's this consistent, that remains this rock solid over the course of three decades," he added.
Last week's top film, The Maze Runner, slid to second with $17.5m (£10.7m).
The animated movie The Boxtrolls opened in third, just behind The Maze Runner with $17.3m (£10.6m).
It has marked the US animation studio Laika's best opening yet - its previous films include the Oscar-nominated Coraline and Paranorman.
The Boxtrolls was made using stop-motion technology, where each scene is set up with puppets placed on miniature sets. The 3D film features the voices of Sir Ben Kingsley and Elle Fanning.
The comedy This is Where I Leave You took $7m (£4.3m), putting it into fourth place with Dolphin Tale 2 rounding out the top five.
Top five films in US and Canada |
|---|
| Source: Rentrak |
| 1. The Equalizer - $35m (£21.5m) |
| 2. The Maze Runner - $17.5m (£10.8m) |
| 3. The Boxtrolls - $17.3m (£10.6m) |
| 4. This Is Where I Leave You - $7m (£4.3m) |
| 5. Dolphin Tale 2 - $4.8m (£2.9m) |
2014. szeptember 28., vasárnap
Islamic State crisis: Coalition bombs Syria refineries
Jets from the USS George HW Bush in the Gulf have been involved in air strikes this week
US-led
coalition aircraft have targeted four makeshift oil refineries under
Islamic State (IS) control in Syria, as well as a command centre.
Early indications were that the attacks by US, Saudi and UAE planes were successful, US Central Command said.Explosions at a refinery at Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, lit up the night sky, an eyewitness watching from across the frontier said.
Meanwhile further fighting was reported in the besieged border town of Kobane.
A resident in the town, which has been under attack from Islamic State for more than a week, told the BBC that five shells had fallen there and two over the border in Turkey.
There was no repetition on Sunday of coalition air strikes on IS positions in the area, where Syrian Kurd fighters have been holding out against the militants.
The IS advance in the area sent about 140,000 civilians fleeing towards Turkey.
According to the Pentagon, small-scale mobile refineries used by IS in Syria generate up to $2m (£1.2m) per day in revenue for the militants.
The US-led coalition of about 40 countries, including Arab states, has vowed to destroy IS, which controls large parts of north-eastern Syria and northern Iraq.
The group's brutal tactics, including mass killings, beheadings and abductions of members of religious and ethnic minorities, triggered the international intervention.
Al-Nusra Front, a fellow Islamist militant group in Syria, has denounced the air strikes as "a war against Islam" and called on jihadists around the world to target Western and Arab countries involved.
Night strikes "Although we continue to assess the outcome of these attacks, initial indications are that they were successful," US Central Command said after Sunday's strikes.
They continued for two hours, rocking the building from which he was watching, Mr Ozer said.
Both the refinery and the local IS headquarters were bombed, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.
Strictly Come Dancing beats X Factor in ratings battle
Singer Pixie Lott performed her first dance routine on Friday night's Strictly Come Dancing, the debut show of the 2014 series
Strictly
Come Dancing has beaten X Factor in their weekend ratings battle,
drawing thousands more viewers on both Friday and Saturday than its
rival.
BBC One's Strictly had a Friday average of 6.5m viewers as it went head-to-head with the ITV show, which drew 5.8m.On Saturday, the shows again had an overlap, though only of half an hour, but Strictly had an average audience of 8.1m, while X Factor drew 7.7m.
Friday's X Factor audience was one of the smallest since it launched in 2004.
However, it was still double ITV's usual figure for that time on a Friday.
And Strictly's Saturday show was down by more than a million on the 9.2m who tuned in to see the second instalment of the series' launch last year.
X Factor was screened on a Friday for the first time.
ITV said it had broadcast a Friday edition of the show because its Sunday schedule was "too full" to show the full "boot camp" stage.
The programme is now being screened over three consecutive nights.
Downward trend The channel said when viewers from its +1 catch-up channel were taken into account, its peak was 6.6 million on Friday. Its Saturday audience of 7.7m includes those watching on catch-up.
Simon Cowell and Cheryl
Fernandez-Versini's return to the X Factor judging panel, along with the
addition of Mel B, were anticipated to boost the show's fortunes
The show was making its debut for 2014 after a preview launch show three weeks ago.
The celebrity couples were split into two groups over Friday and Saturday to perform their first routines of the series.
No-one was eliminated this first week, but the judges' scores will be carried over to those next weekend when the lowest scoring couple will be the first to go.
This year's X Factor figures have continued a downward trend for the show over the past three years, despite the return of lead judge Simon Cowell and promising ratings of an average 8.9m for its 2014 opening episode.
The two shows, which have always had a rivalry, were also up against the launch of a new series of Channel 4's hit Gogglebox on Friday, which pulled in 2.7 million viewers.
One show not to have suffered a ratings hit over the weekend was cult sci-fi series Doctor Who, which was shown an hour later than usual on Saturday to accommodate the start of Strictly.
The usual average of 4.8m viewers tuned in to catch up with the adventures of new Doctor Peter Capaldi.
Robin Williams is remembered at private tribute
Robin Williams had been battling severe depression, said his publicist
The life of Robin Williams has been celebrated at a private tribute ceremony attended by family and friends.
The ceremony took place on Saturday at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, according to Hollywood Reporter. Hundreds of guests attended, including Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg, and Williams's wife and children.
Williams, 63, killed himself at his home in California last month. He had been treated for depression.
At the ceremony, there was music and video tributes.
Stevie Wonder performed, accompanied by the Glide Ensemble and Change Band from the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco.
Other attendees included close friends, one-time co-stars and directors including Bette Midler, Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, George Lucas, Danny De Vito, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gus Van Sant, Jeff Bridges and Eddie Izzard.
Following the tribute, guests went to the nearby Westin St Francis Hotel for a reception.
After Williams's death, his publicist said he had been "battling severe depression", and his wife said he had been in the early stages of degenerative neurological disorder Parkinson's disease.
Williams was famous for such films as Good Morning Vietnam and Dead Poets Society and won an Oscar for his role in Good Will Hunting.
The actor was first known for his zany portrayal of an alien in the 1970s TV show Mork and Mindy, a character first seen in the sitcom Happy Days.
He was a regular stand-up comedian while continuing to act in such films as Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poets Society, Mrs Doubtfire and as the voice of the genie in Aladdin.
While many of his roles were in comedies, Williams won the Oscar in 1998 for best supporting actor as a therapist in Good Will Hunting.
Film star George Clooney marries in Venice
Hollywood
star George Clooney has married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in
Venice, in one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the
showbusiness year.
A host of fellow stars descended on the Italian city's canals
for the union between the film world's most eligible bachelor, 53, and
Ms Alamuddin, 36.The ceremony was celebrated in a hotel overlooking the famous Grand Canal.
Clooney's agent broke the news to journalists in a brief statement.
According to AP news agency, that will be the only communication on the wedding.
Amal Alamuddin arriving in Venice on Friday
Clooney with his then-fiancee on Friday in Venice
Guests include Cindy Crawford, Bill Murray, Matt Damon and the U2 singer Bono.
Clooney's boat was momentarily blocked by a passing cruise liner and then by a water bus, giving time for dozens of boats carrying photographers to catch up, AP writes.
Bill Murray was among the guests
So was Matt Damon
A wave from US model Cindy Crawford (L), flanked by her husband, businessman Rande Gerber
Bono (in dark glasses) joked with a concierge as he boarded his taxi boat
Ms Alamuddin was last seen publicly on Friday riding in a water taxi down the Grand Canal with Clooney's arm round her.
Assange defender The couple were engaged in April.
Clooney was previously married to Talia Balsam, who he divorced in 1993.
One of the world's most recognisable actors, the American has two Oscars to his name: for best supporting actor in Syriana (2006) and for best picture as producer of Argo (2013).
Other than his film work, he has embraced human rights causes such as the Darfur crisis in Sudan.
Lebanese-born British lawyer Amal Alamuddin has defended Julian Assange of Wikileaks and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko among others.
She met Clooney through her work.
People in her native village in Lebanon, Baakline in the Chouf district, welcomed news of her impending marriage, AP reports.
"We congratulate them and we hope that the happiness will be international," said shopkeeper Ghassan Bou Hatoum.
The couple's choice of Venice for the wedding is apt as Clooney is a frequent visitor to its film festival. He also owns a villa on Lake Como, north of Milan.
Despite the long build-up to the wedding, interest still abounded on social media at news of the knot being tied.
"George Clooney is married," wrote one tweeter. "Heterosexual men of earth release a collective sigh of relief. Everyone else mourns."
2014. szeptember 26., péntek
How hard is it to climb Mount Kilimanjaro?
Kilimanjaro is a whopping 5,891m high
Altitude is the key, says Simon Mtuy, who as well as leading trips up the mountain holds the record for the quickest ascent and descent, managing in eight-and-a-half hours what takes the tourists six days. "It is a very high mountain. Normally people take five or six days. Travelling 1500-2000m in a day is a lot for one person who lives at sea level." And the consequence of climbing too high, too quickly, is altitude sickness. Climbers get headaches, suffer vomiting and struggle with their digestive system.
The essence is not bounding ahead enthusiastically, says Jon Garside, training officer of the British Mountaineering Council, who led a party of teenagers up the mountain in 2002. "It is nothing that a reasonably fit person shouldn't be able to do. The path is a pretty gentle gradient. It is not technically challenging. "But you get very high very quickly. That affects the body. You have got to walk so incredibly slowly. Imagine an arthritic 90-year-old walking backwards - that's probably too fast.
Some people take aspirin or diamox, a drug to treat the symptoms of altitude sickness, although this is not always recommended. People must always drink plenty of water. "Chris Moyles is probably used to drinking lots of beer," says Mr Garside. "If he drinks water to the same amount he will be fine." The Comic Relief party are doing the ascent and descent in eight days meaning they are likely to find it a bit easier than the tourists who try to do it in five and struggle to acclimatise.
Mr Mtuy runs expeditions using the Lemosho trail which take seven days up and four days down and says with this gentle programme he manages to achieve a 95% success rate. And whichever route you're doing whether it's the touristy Marangu route, the more scenic Machame, the longer Lemosho or any of the others the key thing is mental strength.
"Sleeping on the ground for five or six days is hard. You need the determination. You have a head ache your body is aching, you are struggling." And of course if you do make the ascent, as well as the layers of wildly differing vegetation you are guaranteed a spectacular view. "It is really amazing when you get to the crater rim and you see this lunar landscape. It is a very beautiful mountain to climb," says Mr Garside. 
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You have got to walk so incredibly slowly; imagine an arthritic 90-year-old walking backwards - that's probably too fast
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