Live! Suspect spoke of 'baby parts' after Planned Parenthood shooting

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Sun, 29 November 2015

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22:37 'Gods of Egypt' director, Lionsgate apologize for predominantly white cast

The makers of the forthcoming film "Gods of Egypt" apologized for showcasing a predominantly white cast amid criticism over lack of diversity in a film based on Egyptian mythology.

The fantasy epic, slated for release in February, stars Scotsman Gerard Butler of "300" fame and Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, best known as Jaime Lannister on "Game of Thrones," as warring Egyptian gods. The cast also includes Australian actors Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites and Courtney Eaton, along with African-American actor Chadwick Boseman and French-Cambodian actress Elodie Yung.

The mostly white cast came under scrutiny as soon as shooting started in 2014. "And so, the time-honored tradition of Hollywood whitewashing continues," Australian writer Ruby Hamad wrote at the time.

What moved a man to kill three people and wound nine others at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado has not been disclosed. But the suspect accused of carrying out the shooting spree, Robert Lewis Dear, made remarks about "baby parts" to investigators after his surrender, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Dear, 57, told them he has anti-abortion and anti-government views, but that doesn't mean those opinions were his motive for allegedly shooting up the Colorado Springs clinic on Friday, the official said. It's too early to tell, as investigators are still processing evidence.

After a nearly six-hour bloody standoff that left one police officer dead and five others wounded, the accused shooter dropped his gun after a SWAT team drove up an armored police vehicle, a BearCat, and cornered him, the official said.

Laughing while sat playing with a cuddly toy dog, Princess Charlotte looks pretty in pink in new pictures released to mark her six-month milestone.

The two official images - the first time the fourth in line to the throne has been seen in public since her Christening in July - were taken by her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge.

They were released by Kensington Palace on Sunday to thank fans for the

good wishes sent to the royal couple.

The photographs were taken by Kate at their family home Anmer Hall in Norfolk early in November.

Kate is an accomplished amateur photographer and took a joint portrait of her children George, aged two, and Charlotte a few weeks after her daughter was born on May 2.

In the first picture released, Charlotte is seen to now have a full head of hair as she sits in an armchair with her toy.

She howls with laughter as her mother snaps away with the camera - believed to be the same Canon EOS 5D Mark II she used for previous shots of her children.

Pope Francis brought a message of peace to war-torn Central African Republic today, visiting a sprawling refugee camp and calling for unity in a country plagued by sectarian violence.

"I come to the Central African Republic as a pilgrim of peace and as an apostle of hope," the 78-year-old pontiff said on landing in one of Africa's poorest and most unstable countries, on a 24-hour visit fraught with concerns for his safety.

Cheers and singing erupted as his plane touched down at Bangui's international airport from Uganda on the final leg of his three-country tour of Africa, which he hailed as "the continent of hope." He began his visit Wednesday in Kenya.

For the short ride to the presidential palace in Bangui, the pontiff travelled in his open-topped popemobile, with huge crowds, many of them children and young people, cheering wildly as he passed, some waving branches in a sign of peace.

Eminent jurist Ram Jethmalani today asserted that Indian Parliament "is not sovereign" for its decisions can be challenged in court, as he hit out at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for criticising the Supreme Court

verdict to scrap NJAC Act on appointment of higher judiciary.

National Judicial Appointments Commission Act was the "product of complete unity between the old corrupt government and the new corrupt one", the former BJP member alleged.

Speaking at the 155th anniversary celebrations of Indian Penal Code 1860, organised by Directorate of Prosecution in Kerala, Jethmalani came down heavily on Jaitley for terming "erroneous" the Supreme Court's reason for striking down the NJAC Act and saying "Indian democracy cannot be a tyranny of the unelected".

"Ask any politician, particularly the Prime Minister. He will tell you that Parliament of India is sovereign.

"Every student of the Constitution in the LLB class knows that Parliament of India is not a sovereign body...Parliament of England is sovereign because the judiciary has no power to set aside any legislative Act by the Parliament," Jethmalani said here, referring to the Supreme Court's verdict striking down as unconstitutional the NJAC Act which would have

replaced the collegium system.

Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musliar's controversial remarks against gender equality have triggered a strong reaction from parties and activists who demanded that he withdraw them and apologise.

Opposition CPI(M) and ruling Congress lashed out at the Islamic scholar over his "anti-women" remarks.

Marxist veteran and state Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan alleged that Musliar's remarks were equal to the "anti-democratic" stand of

Sangh Parivar and they should be withdrawn.

"His remarks amount to insulting even his (Kanthapuram's) own mother. The statements were equal to the anti-democratic stand of Sangh Parivar. He should withdraw it and tender an apology to women community," Achuthanandan told reporters here.

KPCC president V M Sudheeran termed Musliar's statements as "unwarranted" and "anti-women" and said he should withdraw them.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today completed 10 years in office, becoming the first non-Congress chief minister in the state to do so, even as his tenures saw challenges like the Vyapam scam and defeat in recently-held Lok Sabha bypoll.

With his two back-to-back terms, Chouhan broke the record of his predecessor and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who ruled the state for two consecutive years from 1993-2003.

The BJP has organised a celebration later today to mark the completion of the period.

The 56-year-old BJP leader was sworn-in as the state's chief minister for the first time on November 29, 2005, after the tumultuous run of the BJP-government that came to power in 2003 which then waded through political turbulence by having two chief ministers in a short span of two years.

In 2003, Union Minister Uma Bharati led a surcharged poll campaign to dethrone the then chief minister Digvijaya Singh, who headed the state Congress government since 1993. Bharati remained at the top post from December 8, 2003 to August 22, 2004.

The Islamic State group has executed more than 3,500 people in Syria, including nearly 2,000 civilians, since declaring its "caliphate" in June last year, a monitor said today.

In the last month alone IS executed 53 people -- including 35 civilians -- in areas it controls in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The new figures from the Britain-based Observatory bring to 3,591 the number of people executed by IS in Syria since it declared its Islamic "caliphate" after seizing control of large parts of the country.

The new toll includes 1,945 civilians, including 103 women and 77 children, with civilians defined as those who are not taking part in the fighting.

Some were executed for alleged witchcraft, homosexuality and collaborating with the US-led coalition that has been bombarding IS in Syria since September 2014.

Members of Sunni Shaitat tribe account for around half of the civilians killed. IS killed 930 members of the clan in the northeastern Deir Ezzor province last year after they opposed the extremist Sunni Muslim group.

In the backdrop of incidents of police violence against black youths in the US, the latest Batman series issue sees the caped crusader battle police

brutality rather than the likes of Joker or Two-Face.

The first issue of The Dark Knight III: Master Race was published on Wednesday, and continues a storyline started 29 years ago by the writer and artist Frank Miller, in his classic The Dark Knight Returns.

The issue came in the week a Chicago police officer was charged with the murder of a black teenager, and a year since riots engulfed Ferguson after officer Darren Wilson killed 18-year old Michael Brown.

The 1986 original saw an ageing Batman battle a Reaganite Superman in a dystopic Cold War Gotham. In the 2002 sequel, The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the two heroes teamed up to defeat Lex Luthor.

In Master Race, Batman appears focused on reforming the criminal justice system - though so far he prefers to enact that reform with his fists.

Issue No 1 opens with a young, unarmed black man fleeing from Gotham cops, who draw their guns to shoot before Batman arrives and - kapow! - knocks them senseless. It ends with the hero being brutally beaten by a group of uniformed officers, the Independent reported.

Sahitya Akademi award-winning author Vikram Sampath has stepped down as one of the directors of Bangalore Literature Festival in the wake of three Kannada writers deciding to boycott the event over his remarks on the return of awards and stance on the Tipu Sultan row.

"I see from media reports and personal conversations in the last few days that several of my fellow authors and speakers have cited these two -- Tipu Sultan and 'award-wapsi' rows -- as the reasons why they are withdrawing from the upcoming edition of Bangalore Literature Festival that I, along with other citizens of Bengaluru, founded in 2012," Sampath told PTI in Bengaluru.

The UK's elite military unit Special Air Service will be sent to Syria with a hit-list of 20 top high-value ISIS targets, including a British woman dubbed as 'Mrs Terror', according to a media report.

The kill mission is part of renewed efforts to eliminate Islamic State commanders in Syria and will happen regardless of the outcome of Wednesday's vote in parliament, the Daily Express reported.

Sally Jones, a mother of two from Kent, who has made herself invaluable to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria is believed to be among the targets.

Jones' husband Junaid Hussain was killed in a drone strike in the ISIS "capital" of Raqqa, Syria -- the same city where the US also caught up with "Jihadi John" -- in August.

16:46 3 suspected ISIS agents arrested by STF

Three suspected ISI agents arrested by Special Task Force (STF) unit of Kolkata Police.

The body of a Russian pilot killed when his plane was shot down by Turkey last week will be handed over to a Russian representative after being retrieved from Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said today.

"The pilot who lost his life during the air violation was received by us on the (Syrian) border last night," Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul before leaving for a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels.

Davutoglu added that a Russian official would travel "soon" to the southern Hatay region with a Turkish military official to take possession of the body.

The Russian embassy in Turkey told the RIA Novosti news agency that Oleg Peskov's body would be flown today from Hatay in the presence of Russia's military attache to an aerodrome in Ankara where it would be met by the ambassador.

The date and time when the body would be returned to Russia was still to be confirmed, embassy spokesman Igor Mityakov was quoted as saying.

15:50 Australia beats NZ by three wickets

Australia beat New Zealand by three wickets to win the first ever day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

Moderate to rather heavy rains are likely at many places over all districts of coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry tomorrow as a low pressure area would form over Southwest Bay and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal .

"A low pressure area would form over Southwest bay and adjoining Southeast bay during the next 24 hours," Director, Area Cyclone Warning Centre, Regional Meteorological Department, S R Ramanan told PTI.

Yesterday's low trough at mean sea level over southwest bay and neighbourhood now lies over southwest bay and adjoining Sri Lanka coast, he said.

Another low trough lies over Southeast bay and adjoining South Andaman seas and under the influence, a low pressure area would form during the next 24 hours, he said.

Prime Minister David Cameron is set to order Britain's Royal Air Force to target Islamic State militant group leadership in Syria which masterminded the Paris massacre and is now targeting the UK, if his MPs back

his plans of air strikes in the strife-torn country.

ISIS chief Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, a Syrian preacher, will be at the top of Britain's so-called "kill list" when the strikes are launched, The Sunday Times reported.

Al-Adnani is reportedly in charge of the terror group's "international attacks" unit, which is believed to have orchestrated the Paris massacre and has repeatedly targeted the UK for a mass-casualty atrocity.

Adnani's external operations unit in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa is believed to be running a network of jihadists who have returned to Britain after being trained in Syria.

14:54 PM Modi leaves for France

PM Narendra Modi leaves for France to take part in the Climate Conference to be held in Paris.

A high alert has been sounded along the Line of Control in Kashmir Valley as infiltration from across the border has seen a sudden spurt

with terror groups including banned Lashker-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed believed to have sent nearly 20-25 cadres in the last 10 weeks.

The terror activities in Kupwara district over the last eight weeks are suggesting that infiltration from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) has increased and these terror groups want to set up base in North Kashmir where the presence has been weak of both the Pakistan-based terror outfits, official sources said today.

A thorough analysis of intelligence inputs gathered from various agencies indicate that nearly 25 terrorists may have entered into the higher reaches of Kupwara and were trying to find their way into the Valley, the sources said.

LeT and JeM have been directed by the ISI to set up their bases in North Kashmir and mingle with the local public with the help of over ground workers and sympathisers of terror groups,they said.

Snakes lost their limbs when their ancestors evolved to wriggle through burrows, and not in order to live in the sea, according to a new analysis of a 90 million-year-old reptile fossil skull.

Comparisons between CT scans of the fossil and modern reptiles indicate that snakes lost their legs when their ancestors evolved to live and hunt in burrows, which many snakes still do today.

The findings from University of Edinburgh in the UK show that snakes did not lose their limbs in order to live in the sea, as was previously suggested.

Scientists used CT scans to examine the bony inner ear of Dinilysia patagonica, a 2-metre long reptile closely linked to modern snakes.

These bony canals and cavities, like those in the ears of modern burrowing snakes, controlled its hearing and balance.

They built 3D virtual models to compare the inner ears of the fossils with those of modern lizards and snakes.

China's top leadership has pledged resolute measures to lift the remaining 70 million poor people above poverty line by 2020 which amounted a million a month.

A two-day high-profile conference on poverty alleviation and development acknowledged here that major tasks for governments over the next five years will include ensuring the poverty-stricken people to have enough to eat and wear, and to enjoy compulsory education, health service and housing.

Identifying poverty alleviation still "an arduous task," President Xi Jinping said that "no single poor region nor an individual living in poverty will be left behind" when the country accomplishes the goal of "building a moderately prosperous society" by 2020.

Just in: All the 13 SSB personnel, detained by Nepalese border guards, released and are back in Indian territory.

The SSB personnel had crossed over the border while pursuing suspected smugglers.

12:33 Want 'Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat' scheme: PM

Amid the 'intolerance' debate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he proposes to put in place 'Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat' scheme aimed at

strengthening the country's unity and harmony and invited suggestions in this regard.

"Internal vigilance is the prize of liberty. Unity of the nation -- this culture should continue... On the occasion of Sardar Patel's anniversary on October 31, I had talked about 'Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat (One India, Supreme India)'... I want to give 'Ek Bharat, Shresht Bharat' the shape of a

scheme," he said in his monthly radio programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

He asked people to give suggestions on the portal MyGov.com as to what should be its structure, the logo and how to increase public participation in it.

12:23 Pope Francis slams 'new forms of colonialism'

Pope Francis begins his first full day in Uganda on Saturday -- a country whose legal stance against homosexuality does not mirror his message of tolerance.

On homosexuality: Uganda's religious leaders

Francis began, unsurprisingly, on a positive note.

"The world is witnessing an unprecedented migration of peoples," he tweeted. "I want to thank Uganda for its generosity in welcoming refugees."

Ugandans are expected to gather at a shrine Saturday, where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass for martyrs killed in the l800s for refusing to renounce their faith.

An entire patrol of 13 SSB jawans were detained by the Nepalese border guarding force APF along Indo-Nepal border early Sunday morning.

According to sources, the SSB jawans were pursuing cross border smugglers when they passed over the border.

"A meeting on between officials of SSB and Nepal's border guarding force for safe return of the two Indian jawans," SSB DG B D Sharma.

Hours after former Finance Minister P Chidambaram termed the ban on Salman Rushdie's book Satanic Verses as wrong, the author today asked how many more years it would take to correct the "mistake".

Rushdie's remarks was prompted by Chidambaram's admission that the Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban the controversial novel was a mistake.

Chidambaram, who was minister of state for home affairs when the ban was imposed in October 1988, had said at the Times LitFest yesterday that he had "no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie's book was wrong."

Rushdie took to Twitter to say, 'This admission just took 27 years. How many before the 'mistake' is corrected?'

10:02 4 policemen killed in IS attack in Egypt

At least four policemen were killed this morning when motorcycle-borne militants attacked a checkpoint in Egypt's southwestern Giza city in an assault claimed by the Islamic State terror group.

The masked militants riding a motorcycle attacked the police checkpoint in the touristic area of Sakkara, a security official said.

The police are currently searching for the attackers, the official said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to US monitors SITE Intelligence Group.

Actress Priyanka Chopra feels one is entitled to his or her opinion, but in the last few years people in India have been "bashed" for expressing their point of view.

When asked about the criticism superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan have received for expressing their views on 'intolerance' recently, Priyanka said, "It is not just about this. I think everyone has an opinion about it. We are supposed to be the greatest democracy in the world."

"There have been many incidents that have happened in the last few years where people have been bashed for giving their opinions. Everybody has an opinion. We are in a democracy. Our forefathers fought for freedom of speech and being Indian," the actress said in an interview in Mumbai.

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