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A model, wearing a Campbell’s Soup dress in a nod to Andy Warhol’s iconic pop art, stands at the “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal” exhibition currently showing in Shanghai.

American pop artist Andy Warhol poses in a Mao suit — the common attire of men in China during the second half of the 20th century, including Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The photo was taken in a New York studio after his return from China.

During his first and only trip in China, Warhol is pictured in front of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, with its iconic portrait of Chairman Mao in November 1982.

After signing as a model with Ford Agency, Warhol began considering how to pose for the camera. Warhol experimented with poses in front of his friend and personal photographer, Christopher Makos. Here, he imitates the expression of one of the guardian lions in Beijing’s Forbidden City.

In his hotel room in Beijing, Warhol tried poses inspired by the many people he observed practicing tai chi outdoors.

Warhol stands by Chinese citizens on the Great Wall of China.

Warhol also spent a morning at the Great Wall of China. “It doesn’t look like a wall, it looks like a rollercoaster without the roller,” Makos recalls him remarking.

Christopher Makos (L) and Andy Warhol (R) had their picture taken in front of Tiananmen Square by one of the photographers hanging around the area. Back in the U.S., they received the hand-colored photo in the mail a few months later.

Several of Warhol’s “Chairman Mao” portraits from the collection of Gunter Sachs are pictured at the auction preview at Sotheby’s London in May 2012.

A visitor takes photos at the exhibition “Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal” showing at Shanghai’s Power Station of Art from April 28- May 31. The show excluded his iconic portraits of Chairman Mao.

A Christie’s art expert walks by a Mao portrait by Andy Warhol at a press preview in Hong Kong in October 2006. The piece was auctioned to Hong Kong property tycoon Joseph Lau for US$ 17.4 million the following month in New York, setting a world auction record for the artists.

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Hong Kong (CNN) — When American pop artist Andy Warhol visited Beijing in 1982 and was told there wasn’t a McDonald’s, he replied: “Oh, but they will.”

Twenty-six years after his death, Warhol, whose much-lauded prescience extended across visual and consumer culture, has popped up in China once again — and he was right about the fast-food chain.

“Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal,” the first major retrospective of his work in China, recently arrived in Shanghai with the aim of acquainting the Chinese public with the artist who created some of the most famous paintings of the most iconic figure in the country’s history.

Warhol goes to China

While Warhol’s trip to Beijing was his first and only visit to mainland China, his engagement with the country started a decade earlier, inspired by former U.S. president Richard Nixon’s rapprochement with the communist power in 1972.

On China: Contemporary art

On China: Censoring contemporary art

On China: Contemporary art unhindered

Ripping from the headlines, Warhol adopted Chairman Mao as his subject, applying his signature pop aesthetic to China’s paramount leader. His series of portraits went on to become some of his most well-known works.

READ: Can Chinese art be cutting edge?

“Mao was front-page news in America and that was often where Warhol got his biggest inspiration,” said Eric Shiner, director of Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol Museum, which organized the exhibition. He described Mao as “classic Warhol subject matter.”

Warhol relied on a copy of Mao’s portrait photograph in the leader’s Little Red Book of ideological quotations to create his paintings. Little did he know that he would eventually pose for a photo in front of the original portrait hanging in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

His trip to Beijing was an unexpected byproduct of a visit to Hong Kong. The industrialist Alfred Siu had invited him to the city to attend the opening of a night club, decorated with portraits of Britain’s Prince Charles and Princess Diana that he had commissioned from the artist. Upon Warhol’s arrival, Siu announced he had arranged a VIP tour to Beijing for him and his friends.

Artistic inspiration aside, China also provided Warhol with a respite from the pressures of fame. “It was one of the special places,” said Christopher Makos, the artist’s close friend and personal photographer, who accompanied him to China.

READ: Hong Kong’s art explosion

He recalled that Warhol went virtually unrecognized in China, although the artist stood out for his unusual looks. “As Andy would say, he didn’t have to wear his Andy suit. Notoriety and fame is a double-edged sword….you have no privacy.”

China’s communist uniformity, with its blue sea of unisex Mao suits, appealed to Warhol’s aesthetic obsession with repetition. “He was all about multiples…and at the time, China was the ultimate multiple,” Makos said.

The country also provided a source of inspiration for Warhol’s nascent modeling career. Warhol posed for Makos’ camera with gestures he adopted from the tai chi practitioners he observed outdoors — and even adopted the bared-teeth expression of the guardian lion in the Forbidden City in one photo.

Can Warhol make a name in China?

While Warhol is well-known within art and fashion circles in China (Shiner said 600 of these cultural elite attended the exhibition’s pre-opening), he remains unknown to the average Chinese citizen.

Many Chinese are familiar with certain Warhol works, such as the Marilyn Monroe or the Chairman Mao portraits, reproductions of which dot cafes and tourist markets across Beijing. But they are much less likely to connect the work with the artist — or to even have heard of the artist himself.

“If you don’t know who Andy Warhol is, I won’t blame you. But if you say you’ve never seen his Marilyn Monroe portrait, I would have to jump into the Huangpu river and kill myself!” wrote user @Jianisi_yangyang on Sina Weibo. A search on China’s popular Twitter-like platform revealed many posts by users expressing ignorance of whom Warhol was or why he is famous.

Having recently launched a “massive” advertising campaign and sat for dozens of interviews with mainland media outlets, Shiner is hoping to reach the masses.

“One of the reasons why I wanted to do this show is so the general public can learn about the artist behind these iconic works and realize (Mao and Marilyn Monroe) are just a few of thousands of images he made,” he said.

So far, it appears that this education is welcome — and necessary. “For the first time, I learned the charm of pop art,” Weibo user @Yanmingdu wrote about the exhibition, while user @GracieMankedun posted, “Just saw Andy Warhol’s exhibition and I got a little confused. For example, I didn’t understand the Campbell’s soup cans.”

“The curiosity is greater than the awareness,” said John Good, international director for post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s, which is holding its second private sale of Warhol’s work in Hong Kong this week. “We’ve seen a great deal of interest and curiosity (among Chinese) about Western art and international culture. I think Warhol is a perfect artist…to show what Western culture is all about.”

Christie’s first private Warhol sale in Hong Kong last November attracted a mostly Asian demographic and managed to sell nearly half of its lots, Good said.

Censoring Mao in China

However, visitors to the “15 Minutes External” exhibitions in mainland China will not see any Chairman Mao portraits. While Shiner was planning the exhibition with the host venue — the Shanghai Power Station of Art — its staff advised that exhibiting the Mao works wasn’t a “good idea right now.” A staff member told CNN that government authorities would have considered the works “too political.”

“Of course, the primary concern is to get the show there and up and not put anything in a category that would ever question anything,” Shiner said. “Knowing that we would have the censors from the Ministry of Culture, we wanted to make sure… that nothing would put the show in jeopardy.”

An editorial in the state-backed Global Times newspaper suggested that while Warhol may not have had ill intent, the “provocative” blotches of color splattered on Mao’s face suggested that he was wearing make-up — a disrespectful portrayal of the iconic leader.

While Shiner acknowledged the Mao portraits “could be read as a sarcastic or ironic portrayal”, he said Warhol “definitely wasn’t being critical. He always liked to blur the lines on gender, and making colorful men somewhat beautiful was something that he liked to do as an inside joke,” he added.

Once the Chinese public gains a deeper understanding of Warhol’s work, he expects that the Mao works “won’t be as big a deal.”

Influence on Chinese contemporary art

Warhol’s influence on Chinese contemporary art can actually be traced back to 1981, when many contemporary artists, labeled as dissidents, fled the country, Shiner said. While most of them went to Paris and Berlin, two artists “very specifically went to New York because they wanted quite literally to be part of Andy’s universe” — Ai Weiwei and Xu Bing.

Both artists have gone on to become some of the most recognized and celebrated names in Chinese contemporary art, and some would go as far as calling Ai Weiwei “China’s Andy Warhol.”

“Ai Weiwei loves the idea of multiples,” Makos pointed out, noting Ai’s most famous installations, including the 9,000 backpacks representing the schoolchildren killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the millions of porcelain sunflower seeds he poured into the Turbine Hall of London’s Tate Modern museum.

Shiner readily concurred: “He’s really gone on to model his entire art-making process and career on proven Warhol tactics, looking at repetition, multiplication, and critique of consumer culture. When you look at his Coca-Cola works, that’s directly related to Warhol and it’s really amazing how many things he picked up from Andy.” Ai’s similarity to Warhol also lies in his social activism, which aims to change Chinese society through art, he added.

As for Xu Bing, viewers may not immediately see Warhol in his work, Shiner said, but he described the artist as a “huge fan of Warhol” who “loves the idea of repetition — the formal arrangement of Chinese character after Chinese character, an endless array of similar looking imagery.”

Unfortunately, neither artist became acquainted in person with their muse, despite moving to New York for him. Ai once spotted Warhol at a party, but did not approach him, Shiner revealed. “As a young man, he was too shy to actually go and say hello,” he said, recalling that Ai told him his English wasn’t good enough at the time.

Ai and Xu aside, the Warhol aesthetic and vocabulary has deeply influenced Chinese contemporary artists over the past 10-15 years, with its characteristic combinations of social realist imagery with pop culture and iconic brands.

The Shanghai exhibition will run to July 28 and make its way to Beijing later this year. Meanwhile, Makos will also hold an exhibition of his photographs of Warhol next month in Shanghai, including images from their 1982 trip to China.

“His work lives on. Maybe (the Chinese) don’t know him, but they know his work,” Makos said, predicting that Warhol “will get bigger and bigger in China.”

“Andy was the ultimate pop artist. To this day you can still find Campbell soup on the shelf in the grocery store and you can see multiples of them,” Makos said. “As long as that imagery is live and well, Warhol will have this built-in publicity.”

CNN’s Feng Ke contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/china-andy-warhol-exhibition/index.html?eref=edition

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In March this year, the town of Meiktila in central Myanmar was engulfed in deadly sectarian violence that destroyed whole blocks of housing, shops and mosques.

Thidar Hla (right) pictured at home in Meiktila with her two daughters: Hnin Ei Phyu (far left) and Moe Ei Phyu. They are one of thousands of families was forced to flee during clashes between Muslims and Buddhists.

The remains of one of Meiktila’s mosques after it was attacked and destroyed in the March violence.

They family’s modest home survived the unrest, while thousands of other homes were burned to the ground.

Many other families have not been as lucky, with large parts of Meiktila razed to the ground.

Myanmar’s government has said it will replace all of the houses destroyed during the rioting.

As a result, Muslims like Hnin Ei Phyu can only pray at home.

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Meiktila, Myanmar (CNN) — Nineteen-year-old Hnin Ei Phyu is on her knees at home, whispering her prayers. It’s a small sign of normality in a community where things have been anything but normal in recent months.

This young Muslim woman can’t go inside her family’s mosque because it was shut down after being vandalized. And for more than a month, she had to say her prayers from inside a shelter at a nearby sports stadium in Meiktila, a city in central Myanmar.

Fearing for their lives, Hnin Ei Phyu’s family fled their home on March 20 during the first of three days of rioting that tore apart this city of 100,000 people.

A wave of sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people and displaced thousands more, according to the Myanmar government.

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During the clashes, reportedly set off by a dispute between a Muslim gold shop owner and two Buddhist sellers, rioters set fire to houses, schools and mosques, while people were also beaten, doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Many Muslims complain that the police stood by and did nothing during the violence. The rioting was only stopped after President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency and called in the military. By then thousands had fled their homes in terror.

READ: Despite reforms violence continues

Meiktila’s Muslims were heavily outnumbered and suffered the bulk of the casualties. Few remained in their homes because they were either destroyed by rampaging mobs or it simply wasn’t safe for them to stay there.

It wasn’t until earlier this month that Muslims whose houses were not destroyed were able to leave the shelters and return home.

“Tears came out of my eyes when I got back home,” said Hnin Ei Phyu’s mother, Thidar Hla. “I’m extremely happy to be back home.” But the 43-year old said that when she walks down the streets of this predominantly Buddhist city, it’s clear things are not the way they were before the riots. “We (Muslims and Buddhists) don’t interact with each other the way we used too,” she said. “People are keeping a mental distance between each other.”

Thidar Hla and her extended family share a collection of rickety houses along a side street in a modest neighborhood of Meiktila. A security post manned by police and soldiers has been set up just a short walk away.

Similar arrangements are in place in other parts of the city where Muslims live — a sign of the times since March. “There are soldiers and security guards on each end of the street,” Thidar Hla said, before adding that she hopes they can keep her family safe.

But in areas that bore the brunt of the rioting, little has been rebuilt more than two months on. The blackened frames of burned down homes are all that stand in some places.

Metal sheets that once served as roofs now lie in pieces on the ashen ground. The government says it will replace all of the approximately 1,600 homes that were destroyed — an easier task than repairing the trust between Muslims and Buddhists.

READ: Myanmar accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’

“Right now we don’t trust them and they don’t trust us,” said U Aung Khin, a 50-year-old Buddhist man. Aung Khin is married with five kids between the ages of five and 24. He says he has numerous Muslim friends, but things have been strained since the riots.

“After this we don’t really have to talk. It isn’t necessary for us to talk with each other at all,” he said. “I’m afraid to trust them right now.” He said he used to buy meat from a Muslim butcher but won’t now because he’s afraid his food might be poisoned.

Meanwhile, Thidar Hla’s family says they’re playing it safe by buying their food from other Muslims. She has also instructed her daughter to stay close to home. She’s a student at a local university that has not reopened since the riots.

Hnin Ei Phyu says she has several Buddhist friends at school and is hoping her relationships with them go back to normal. But she hasn’t contacted them since the violence and they haven’t been in touch with her.

Though Myanmar is about 90% Buddhist, Muslims have generally coexisted peacefully with the Buddhist majority — their children go to school together and their parents often work together. But as with Meiktila, ethnic fault lines have been exposed in some areas as the country emerges from decades of military repression.

READ: What’s behind ethnic violence?

Last year, at least 110 people were killed in attacks on Muslims in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State. The Muslim Rohingya people are a stateless Muslim minority living in Rakhine — thought to number between 800,000 and one million — who claim they were persecuted by Myanmar’s military during its decades of authoritarian rule.

Myanmar does not recognize them as citizens or as one of the 135 recognized ethnic groups living in the country. Much of this is rooted in their heritage in East Bengal, now called Bangladesh.

Though many Rohingya have only known life in Myanmar, they are viewed by the Buddhist majority as intruders from across the border.

Across the country, a budding movement known as “969″ has been spreading anti-Muslim sentiment by encouraging Buddhists to avoid Muslim-run businesses. “969″ stickers are increasingly found in businesses and taxis in Yangon, the country’s largest and most ethnically diverse city.

Police recently stepped up patrols in Yangon following the Meiktila clashes, though serious fighting has yet to spread there. However, in several communities within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Yangon, Buddhist mobs reportedly vandalized mosques as well as Muslim businesses and houses.

The wave of religious unrest has prompted the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) urge Burmese authorities to allow a delegation to visit Myanmar to discuss the issue — a request the authorities in Naypyidaw have so far rebuffed.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/myanmar-religious-violence/index.html?eref=edition

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(CNN) — There’s fresh evidence that American teenagers may be growing weary of Facebook.

They don’t like the fact that their parents, grandparents and other adults are also there, diluting Facebook’s “cool” factor. They complain about their friends’ oversharing, and about too much “drama” on the site. And they’re increasingly flocking to other social platforms, such as Twitter.

These are some of the findings of a new Pew Research Center survey of U.S. teens’ social media use. Released Tuesday, the survey finds that teens are sharing more personal information on social media, but are also taking a variety of steps to manage their privacy online.

But it was the Facebook stuff that generated the most headlines. According to Pew, focus-group discussions with teens revealed “waning enthusiasm” for Facebook for the reasons cited, including feeling “drained by the ‘drama’ that they described as happening frequently” on the site.

“The stress of needing to manage their reputation on Facebook also contributes to the lack of enthusiasm,” the survey said.

The Pew survey found that 24% of online teens now use Twitter, up from 16% in 2011. Other social platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram (which is owned by Facebook), YouTube and Snapchat also have seen big growth among young users in the past year.

“Those teens who used sites like Twitter and Instagram reported feeling like they could better express themselves on these platforms, where they felt freed from the social expectations and constraints of Facebook,” the Pew survey said. “Nevertheless, the site is still where a large amount of socializing takes place, and teens feel they need to stay on Facebook in order to not miss out.”

Facebook has 1.1 billion users worldwide and remains the most popular social network among U.S. teens.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment specifically Wednesday on the Pew report but pointed to statements by CFO David Ebersman in a recent conference call about quarterly earnings, in which he emphasized Facebook’s popularity among users under 25.

“We continue to have really high penetration rates among that age group, both in the U.S. and globally, and … younger users remain among the most active and engaged users,” Ebersman said. “Younger users are extremely active users of Instagram as well.”

Facebook executives maintain that teen use of their social network has remained steady. They argue that Facebook is not losing users to other platforms — instead, they say, more users are visiting other social media sites in addition to Facebook.

“The urban legend (that Facebook is losing younger users) flows more often than not from surveys people have done of younger users that indicate that they’re using other social services … much of the concern stems from the assumption that this is a zero-sum game, and that’s not how we see it,” Ebersman said. “We think the overall amount of time spent on services that enable you to connect and share is growing and will continue to grow.”

Jeff Hancock, a professor of communication at Cornell University and a frequent social media analyst, mostly agrees.

“Facebook’s attraction to youth is based in part on being connected, but also on being an ‘ingroup’ and ‘cool’ thing. To the degree that the cool of Facebook wears off, we should see some migration of teens to other platforms,” he said.

“People are unlikely to fully leave Facebook but simply to diversify their tools for accomplishing social interaction. Instead of Facebook being the Walmart of social media, it will become just one platform in a big ecology, including photo sharing with Instragram, broadcasting with Twitter, etc.”

Pew’s findings are based on a nationally representative phone survey, run by its Internet American Life Project, of 802 teens ages 12-17. It was conducted between July 26 and September 30, 2012. Pew also conducted two online focus groups of teenagers ages 12-17 in June 2012.

Pew found that the typical (median) teen Facebook user has 300 friends, while the typical teen Twitter user has 79 followers.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/tech/social-media/pew-teens-facebook/index.html?eref=edition

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The Topaz is a fast-attack craft used by the Seychelles coast guard in the fight against piracy.

It is armed with 30-millimeter guns and 25 sailors, but the country has only four such vessels.

Fishing is big business in the Seychelles, but the country’s industry has come under severe threat in recent years as a result of the Somali pirates.

The problem has forced local authorities to change the way they manage the country’s fishing waters. They’ve introduced a newly defined zone which restricts the movements of local fishermen.

Fishing products account for about 90% of the Seychelles’ merchandise exports by value. The sector supplies international markets with an array of items, including canned tuna.

According to a recent report by the World Bank, piracy costs the global economy an estimated $18 billion a year.

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Marketplace Africa is a weekly show covering business trends and focusing on the continent’s key industries and corporations.

Seychelles (CNN) — The pristine waters of the Seychelles, a glittering necklace of coralline and granitic islands scattered on the Indian Ocean, have long beguiled jet-setters and eco-conscious visitors from around the world, turning the idyllic archipelago into a popular travel destination.

But as well as boosting the tiny nation’s tourism revenues, the high seas off the east coast of Africa have also helped create another strategic industry: fishing.

A major economic pillar, fishing is the second biggest contributor to the Seychelles’ finances after tourism. Over the last two decades, the sector’s products have accounted for more than 90% of the country’s merchandise exports by value, supplying international markets with items such as canned tuna, also known as the Seychelles’ “blue gold.”

But in recent years, the fishing industry has come under severe threat as a result of the ongoing risk posed by Somali pirates roaming the waters off the Horn of Africa.

 Map: The Seychelles. Click to expand

Map: The Seychelles. Click to expand

“It’s a big problem,” explains major Jean Attala, deputy operations officer of the Seychelles coast guard. “Anything that disrupts the tourism or fishing industry or the maritime equilibrium is a very big problem for us,” he adds.

Read this: The global cost of piracy

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The cost of piracy

To deal with the threat of piracy, the country’s authorities had to change the way they manage their waters in recent years. As part of this increased security drive, the Seychelles coast guard has intensified its patrolling efforts, with fast-attack armed vessels monitoring a newly defined zone for fishing.

But there are just four such vessels in the Seychelles’ entire fleet. It’s a small nation in terms of landmass, but with its oceans, it is nearly twice the size of France. “This is not adequate to cover such a large area,” says Attala. “We need more assets and build up more our capacity to deal with the issue.”

Local fishermen are restricted from sailing beyond the designated area’s perimeter, several dozen miles outside the main port.

Analysts say that fishing boats are of particular importance to pirates because they can be used as floating bases from which to launch further attacks.

But while the measure seems to be working — there have been no successful attacks in nearly a year — the restrictions on the movement of Seychellois fishermen has created another problem.

“There’s no fish,” explains local fisherman Patrick Pierre. “Every boat is fishing in the same place,” he adds.

Pierre, who’s been casting his nets for 12 years now, says his job was hardest during the worst period of the piracy — in 2007 and 2008. Since then, the Seychelles has been at the forefront of the global fight against piracy but the new rules mean fewer fish and less money.

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Joram Madnack is the general manager of the French-owned Indian Ocean Tuna, one of the world’s largest tuna canneries and the biggest employer in the Seychelles. He says fish intake has fallen nearly 25% in the last five years.

“The impact has been on the price, which for some places has gone up by 70%-80% compared to 2007 prices,” explains Madnack.

According to a recent report by the World Bank, piracy costs the global economy an estimated $18 billion a year. The increased costs come as shippers are forced to change trading routes, sending fuel bills soaring, as well as pay higher insurance premiums and security bills for guards on board.

But the threat of Somali piracy is also damaging the economies of neighboring countries, particularly in the key sectors of tourism and fishing. Since 2006, the year the World Bank report takes as the starting point of piracy, exports of fish products from piracy-hit countries have declined by 23.8%. In Seychelles, the impact has been even greater, with exports collapsing by nearly 30%.

“We now fish where we are allowed to fish,” says Peter Sinon, the country’s minister of natural resources and industry. “It has made the industry more costly in terms of going out there [and] be secure to bring in what usually was our daily supply of protein,” he adds.

Watch video: protecting “blue gold” from pirates

And although many of the pirates have now gone, the fishermen say their industry still hasn’t recovered.

For people like Pierre, the fight against piracy and the introduction of fishing zones has proven to be a double-edged sword.

The protection is still necessary, he says, acknowledging that today he is safer. Yet, he and other local fishermen miss the freedom to sail about and return with a big catch.

“Five years ago, there was a lot of fish,” says Pierre. “We could go anywhere we wanted without the fear of piracy and everything.”

Teo Kermeliotis contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/business/seychelles-fishing-industry-pirates/index.html?eref=edition

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Sharon Stone attends the Cannes premiere of “Behind the Candelabra” on May 21.

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London (CNN) — Security experts are starting to analyze events leading up to the horrific cleaver attack of a man believed to be a British soldier on the suburban streets of London.

One key line of inquiry they’ll be following among the many leads: How does this attack relate to other incidents around the world?

CNN Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank says the precedents are not hard to detect. “It’s early in the investigation in terms of looking at the culprit and motivation but there’s a track record of Islamist extremists inspired by al Qaeda ideology targeting soldiers in the West,” he said.

READ: Victim hacked to death

Other areas the security services would look at, he added, would include which groups — if any — were behind the attack and whether it was home-grown.

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Cruickshank said that there had been plots in the past when attackers had tried to target military personnel: the fact that Wednesday’s murder happened near a military barracks in southeast London was significant.

“It’s not clear if this particular officer was specifically targeted or he just happened to be walking through this area and was a target of opportunity,” said Cruickshank, “but it seems that more than one individual was part of this attack, so this could well have been planned. We just don’t know.”

CNN affiliate ITN has broadcast a video showing a man at the scene of the attack with bloody hands and holding a meat cleaver, saying: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.” He then continues: “The only reasons we killed this man this is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.”

READ: Attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier

Cruickshank cited the plot, uncovered in 2007, to kidnap and murder a Muslim British soldier. Four men plotted to kidnap a solider on leave and then decapitate him in a garage. Parviz Khan, the leader of the plotters, planned to behead the soldier “like a pig” and then post film of the killing online. It is not known if there are any links between this plot and the attack.

Leading al Qaeda clerics have called those who target soldiers in the West “heroes,” Cruickshank said. “These are people inspired by al Qaeda ideology in the West,” Cruickshank said.

“Hero” was the term militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — who was born and raised in the United States — had used to describe Nidal Hasan, an American Muslim soldier based at Fort Hood, Texas. In November 2009 Hasan shot and killed 13 U.S. soldiers at the military base in November 2009.

Hasan and Al-Awlaki had communicated on the internet before the shootings at the military base, used at the time by soldiers about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, Cruickshank said. Al-Awlaki himself was killed by a U.S. drone strike in in Yemen in September 2011.

“The motivation in these past attacks has been the war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Cruickshank said. “For a generation of Islamist extremists in the UK, Iraq and Afghanistan were their formative experiences.”

In 2012, Mohammed Merah, a 23-year-old French-Algerian, went on a killing spree that terrorized France and left seven people dead, including three soldiers. Three children were killed when he attacked a Jewish school. He was eventually tracked down to his apartment in Toulouse, southern France, where he was besieged for 32 hours before being killed as security forces stormed the building on March 22.

During that siege Merah told negotiators that he was acting on behalf of al Qaeda. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official later told CNN that Merah was believed to have linked up with Jund al Khilafah, an obscure Kazakh Jihadist group with ties to al Qaeda, just months before the attacks. ]

Cruickshank said the fact that such killings had occurred since foreign troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan had been scaled back was irrelevant to the attackers.

“The Iraq War is still very much an issue for these people. A significant number of these have been energised by watching beheading videos put out by groups like al Qaeda in Iraq.”

Monica Sarkar contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/europe/britain-london-attack-soldiers/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/uyh15aULs4g/are-uk-soldiers-targets-at-home

(CNN) — Deceased Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 gruesome triple homicide outside Boston along with a Chechen killed early Wednesday during a confrontation with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police in Orlando, Florida, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.

Ibragim Todashev, who died during the interview with authorities, not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in Waltham, Massachusetts, but also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths, the official said Wednesday.

Todashev was being questioned about the slayings and his acquaintance with Tsarnaev.

Todashev attacked an FBI agent, who shot him dead, a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case told CNN.

From left, Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev went with Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to Times Square in this photo taken from the social media site VK.com. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were arrested on Wednesday, May 1, on charges they tried to throw investigators off Tsarnaev’s trail. See all photography related to the Boston bombings.

Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen, was also arrested on May 1. He has been charged with lying to federal agents about the bombing, according to court papers.

Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are accused of removing items from Tsarnaev’s dorm room after the April 15 bombings. The items they took included a backpack containing fireworks that had been “opened and emptied of powder,” according to the affidavit.

Kadybayev, left, poses with Dzhokhar Tsamaev in a picture taken from the social media site VK.com.

The FBI released photos and video on April 18 of two men identified as Suspect 1 and Suspect 2 in the deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon. They were later identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26.

Authorities say Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, identified as Suspect 2, was captured in a Boston suburb on April 19 after a manhunt that shut down the city.

Police say the dead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, is the man the FBI identified as Suspect 1. He was killed during the shootout with police in Watertown, Massachusetts, early April 19. He is pictured here at the 2010 New England Golden Gloves.

Boston Police released surveillance images of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at a convenience store on April 19.

The FBI tweeted this photo on April 19 and urged Watertown residents to stay indoors as they searched for the second suspect.

The FBI released photos and video on April 18 of two men it called suspects in the deadly bombings and pleaded for public help in identifying them. The men were photographed walking together near the finish line.

A man identified as Suspect 2 appeared in this photograph by bystander David Green, who took the photo after completing the Boston Marathon. Green submitted the photo to the FBI, he told Piers Morgan in an interview.

The man identified as Suspect 2 appears in a tighter crop of David Green’s photo.

Authorities later identified Suspect 1 as Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Suspect 2 was identified as Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 1 walks through the crowd.

Both suspects are seen walking through the crowd.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd.

A photo released by the FBI highlights Suspect 2.

A photo released by the FBI highlights Suspect 2.

Suspect 2 walks through the crowd. See all photography related to the Boston bombings.

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Photos: Suspects tied to Boston bombings

Police: Man linked to Tsarnaev shot

“He used some kind of weapon,” the official said, and that prompted the FBI agent to shoot the suspect.

A second law enforcement official confirmed Todashev made the confession.

The unsolved triple murder received renewed interest after it was learned that Tsarnaev was sparring partners at a local gym with one of the victims.

Source: 2011 slayings of Tsarnaev friend, 2 others revisited

Investigators of the crime reported at the time that the heads of the three victims were pulled back and their throats slit ear to ear with great force. Marijuana was spread over the bodies in a “symbolic gesture,” and several thousand dollars in cash was found at the scene.

Todashev told investigators the men were killed during a drug ripoff because he and Tsarnaev were afraid they would be able to identify them and tell police what happened, according to a law enforcement source.

So far, no link has been found between Todashev and the Boston Marathon bombings. However, the FBI is looking into the many connections between Todashev and Tsarnaev, whose radicalization allegedly led to the Boston bombings.

A federal law enforcement official has told CNN they were initially led to Todashev because they learned he knew Tsarnaev and his younger brother, Dzhokhar. They also said cell phone records connected Tamerlan and Todashev.

Todashev was being interviewed in the kitchen of his Florida home. He grabbed a knife, which is why fatal force was used, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation.

“Preliminary information indicates the agent took actions to defend himself,” said a federal law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the case.

“The agent sustained non-life-threatening injuries,” FBI spokesman Jason Pack said.

Investigators are awaiting test results to determine whether Todashev’s DNA was found at the Massachusetts triple murder scene and whether the DNA of Tamerlan Tsarnaev also was found there.

Todashev and Tsarnaev were acquainted through a mixed martial arts center near Boston, said a source briefed on the bombing investigation.

In Orlando, an FBI team is reviewing the circumstances of the shooting, a procedure that follows any FBI shooting.

Todashev had an impending flight from Orlando, via New York and Moscow, to Chechnya, when investigators sought to interview him, according to a source briefed on the ongoing investigation. He was told not to take the flight, the source said.

Details emerged Wednesday about how Todashev had Tsarnaev’s phone number in his cell phone, said the source.

Both men were members of the mixed martial arts forum Sherdog.com, along with Russian-Canadian boxer-turned-jihadist William Plotnikov, the source said.

Last month, CNN reported that Plotnikov and six others died in a July 2012 firefight with Russian forces in the southwestern republic of Dagestan, while Tsarnaev was visiting the region, according to a source briefed on the investigation.

Todashev, 27, knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, also a suspect in the April 15 bombings, the official said. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, injured and captured after a manhunt, is being held by authorities. His brother died in a shootout with police.

Todashev was from the Chechnya region, as were the Tsarnaev brothers, the source said.

Todashev was granted political asylum in 2008, but he came to the United States some time before that, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. Todashev had been living in the United States as a legal resident because of that asylum claim.

In the 2011 Massachusetts triple homicide, the Middlesex County district attorney’s office said at the time that the victims and two unknown perpetrators appeared to know each other and that it was not a random crime. No suspects were named then.

Suspect: Bombing was payback for hits on Muslims

A source said that the FBI had been investigating Todashev for about a month.

The FBI had followed Todashev for days, his friend told CNN affiliate Central Florida News 13.

Todashev “wasn’t like real close friends (with Tsarnaev), but he just happened to know him,” Khasuen Taramov told the TV station. “But he had no idea that they were up to something like that, like bombings and everything, you know what I mean?”

He told CNN affiliate WESH that Todashev and Tsarnaev had spoken by telephone about a month before the bombings.

“It was a complete shock to him,” Taramov said.

The two met a couple years ago in Boston, where Todashev had lived and where there is a small, close-knit community of Chechens, said Taramov.

Their telephone conversation before the bombings contained nothing but routine pleasantries, he said. “It was ‘How are you doing; how’s your family?’ That’s all.”

Taramov said he himself was questioned by the FBI for three hours Tuesday night. Asked what he was asked, Taramov said, “Different kind of questions like ‘what do you think about bombings,’ ‘do you know these guys,’ blah blah blah, what is my views on certain stuff.”

He said Todashev was not a radical. “He was just a Muslim. That was his mistake, I guess.”

Taramov said his friend had told him he had a bad feeling about the direction the investigation was heading.

“He felt like there’s going to be a setup … bad setup against him. Because he told me, ‘They are making up such crazy stuff, I don’t know … why they doing it. OK, I’m answering the questions, but they are still making up some, like, connections, some crazy stuff. I don’t know why they are doing it.’ “

Before meeting with the FBI for a 7:30 p.m. interview Tuesday, Taramov said, his friend asked him to take his parents’ telephone numbers. “He just told me, ‘Take the numbers, in case something happens, if I get locked up, or whatever, call them.’ You know what I mean?

“We were expecting to get him locked up, but not getting him killed. I can’t believe it.”

Todashev was unemployed and had been living on insurance money he received after surgery for an accident. “He used to be a fighter, MMA fighter,” Taramov said, in a reference to mixed martial arts.

Todashev was arrested this month on a charge of aggravated battery after getting into a fight over a parking spot with a man and his son outside an Orlando mall. The son was taken to a hospital with head injuries, a split upper lip and several teeth knocked out of place, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a report.

“Todashev said he was only fighting to protect his knee because he had surgery in March,” the report said. He told the police that he was a former mixed martial arts fighter, it said.

Todashev, described as 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds, was released on $3,500 bond.

Asked about the incident, Taramov downplayed it. “He had a fight in the parking lot, the two guys jumped on him … pretty much he just defended himself against two,” he told WESH. “The only mistake: he did kick their ass and left.”

Todashev had recently gotten his green card and had been planning to visit his parents in Chechnya and then return to the United States, but canceled the plans, Taramov said.

Now, he added, he was planning to call his friend’s parents.

Former Chechen rebel: ‘I have nothing to do with’ Boston bombings

CNN’s Michael Martinez, Jason Hanna and MaryLynn Ryan contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/justice/florida-fbi-shooting-boston/index.html?eref=edition

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Imran Khan, head of Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, leaves the hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, on Wednesday, May 22. Khan suffered spinal fractures and a head injury when he toppled from a forklift that was raising him up to a stage as he campaigned in Lahore for elections held on May 11. Victory in the elections went to Nawaz Sharif, a two-time former prime minister, and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League.

Pakistani supporters of Imran Khan take part in a protest on Monday, May 20, against the killing of Zohra Hussain in Karachi. Hussain, a politician who had alleged vote-rigging in the May 11 elections, was shot dead on Saturday, May 18. There was a re-poll on Sunday, May 19, after accusations of vote-rigging.

Pakistan’s incoming prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, speaks in Lahore on May 20.

Voters and army troops gather outside a polling station during a revote in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sunday, May 19. A new vote was ordered after allegations of vote rigging in the May 11 elections, which former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party appears to have won.

A Pakistani woman casts her ballot in Karachi on May 19.

Members of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party mourn the death of Zahra Shahid Hussain, vice president of the party, outside a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, on Saturday, May 18. Hussain had alleged vote-rigging in the May 11 elections.

Pakistani rescuers carry Hussain’s body on May 18 after she was killed in what was described as an execution-style attack.

Pakistani tanks deploy near a voting station on May 18 ahead of a new vote in Karachi, where complaints of rigging and irregularities were reported in the general election May 11. The army is set to be deployed at 43 polling stations ahead of voting on May 19, a media report said.

Female supporters of Pakistani Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif offer special prayers for the victory of their party in Peshawar on Friday, May 17.

Supporters of politician Imran Khan shout slogans over allegations of election fraud during a protest in Hyderabad, Pakistan, on Monday, May 13.

Supporters of Nawaz Sharif dance and eat sweets as they celebrate the party’s win in Lahore on Wednesday, May 15.

Khan’s supporters stage a protest in Karachi on Sunday. Khan said his party would submit a report on alleged vote-rigging.

Supporters of Imran Khan shout slogans during a protest on May 12. Across the country, 29 people were killed in Election Day violence on May 11.

Khan supporters carry their party flags in a rally in Rawalpindi on May 12.

Supporters of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, Nawaz Sharif’s party, celebrate election results in front of a party office in Lahore on election night, Saturday, May 11.

Sharif’s supporters celebrate May 11 in Lahore.

Soldiers cordon off the site of a bomb explosion in Karachi on Saturday, May 11. Four blasts hit Karachi as people voted, causing 14 deaths and dozens of injuries.

A bomb disposal expert examines the site of a detonation in Karachi, Pakistan on May 11.

Men move a stretcher carrying an injured man at a hospital, following a bomb explosion in Karachi, Pakistan on May 11.

Volunteers move an injured boy to a hospital following a bomb explosion in Karachi on May 11.

Volunteers gather beside the bodies of blast victims outside a hospital on May 11.

Election officials count ballot papers at the end of polling in Quetta, Pakistan on May 11.

Pakistani supporters of Islamic party Jammat-e-Islami stage a protest in front of a provincial election commission office in Karachi on May 11.

Voters line up for their turn to vote as gaurds stand watch at a polling station in Karachi on May 11.

A Pakistani election official marks a voter’s thumb at a polling station during the general election in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on May 11.

Pakistani women jostle to receive their ballot papers prior to casting their ballot at a polling station on May 11, in the Old City of Lahore, Pakistan.

Voters in Rawalpindi gather around an election presiding officer to cast their ballots on May 11, 2013.

Pakistani voters queue for their turn to cast their ballots outside a polling station in Karachi on May 11, 2013.

Pakistani army soldiers stand guard outside a distribution center for election materials in Karachi on May 10, 2013. The nation’s military will have 75,000 troops out around the country.

Supporters of former PM Nawaz Sharif turned out for one final rally in Lahore ahead of Pakistan’s parliamentary elections on May 11. It’s the first time in the country’s history that an elected government will take over from another elected administration.

Another frontrunner for prime minister, Imran Khan, has been campaigning from his hospital bed after he was injured falling from a lift at a campaign rally on May 7.

Khan, a charismatic former cricketer, has proved a popular candidate among Pakistan’s young, urban middle class.

Politics is a bloody affair in Pakistan, and this leadership struggle is no exception. Dozens have been killed in attacks in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s election.

The most deadly attack, an explosion during a rally in the Kurram tribal district on May 6, killed 18 people and wounded 55.

Ali Haider Gilani, a son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, was kidnapped by gunmen while canvassing for votes in Multan on the final day of campaigning.

The leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, has been absent from rallies in the lead-up to the elections. The 24-year old, who became chairman after his mother, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated, is not yet old enough to run for parliament.

Former president Pervez Musharraf announced plans to run in the elections after returning from exile last month, but was disqualified from the race amid claims he illegally placed senior judges under house arrest during his rule.

For the first time, women in tribal regions are running for office. 43-year-old Nusrat Begum is challenging the Taliban for a seat in Lower Dir.

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Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan’s former cricket star turned politician, Imran Khan, has returned home after hospital treatment for injuries suffered in a dramatic fall two weeks ago, he said Wednesday via Twitter.

Khan suffered spinal fractures and a head injury when he toppled from a forklift that was raising him up to a stage as he campaigned in Lahore for elections held on May 11.

“By the grace of Allah I am now home. Want to thank everyone 4 their prayers,” Khan tweeted Wednesday.

Khan, who heads the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, added that he hoped to continue political meetings to “plan future strategies.”

Imran Khan injured in dramatic fall

Sharif claims win in Pakistan

The party’s information secretary, Shireen Mazari, told CNN that Khan had left the hospital Wednesday morning and was now at home with his family in Lahore.

“He is walking around on and off, however he still needs a lot of rest,” she said.

Khan is wearing a back brace for support and is hopeful he will make a full recovery very soon, Mazari said.

The party said Tuesday that Khan had been able to stand unsupported and walk for the first time since the injury two weeks ago with the help of the specially fitted back brace.

X-rays showed his spine was healing well, the PTI statement said.

“He will continue to receive regular physiotherapy and is likely to need to wear the spinal support for some weeks to come,” it said. “Imran will gradually increase physical activity over the next few weeks with a return to his full functional capacity expected in approximately six to eight weeks.”

Victory in the elections went to Nawaz Sharif, a two-time former prime minister, and his party, the Pakistan Muslim League.

CNN’s Shaan Khan reported from Islamabad and Laura Smith-Spark wrote in London. CNN’s Stefan Simons contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/pakistan-politician-imran-khan/index.html?eref=edition

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Katherine Jackson: Michael’s mother, 82, was deposed for nine hours over three days by AEG Live lawyers. As the guardian of her son’s three children, she is a plaintiff in the wrongful death lawsuit against the company that promoted Michael Jackson’s comeback concerts.

Prince Jackson: Michael’s oldest son is considered a key witness in the Jacksons’ case against AEG Live, since he is expected to testify about what his father told him about the concert promoter in the last days of his life. Prince, who turned 16 in February, is becoming more independent — he now has a driver’s license and jobs.

Paris Jackson: Michael’s daughter, who turns 15 on April 3, is on the list of witnesses and was questioned by AEG Live lawyers for several hours on March 21 about her father’s death. Paris is an outspoken teen who often posts messages to her 1 million-plus Twitter followers.

Blanket Jackson: Although AEG Live asked the judge to order Blanket, 11, to sit for a deposition, and he is one of the four plaintiffs suing them, Michael’s youngest son will not be a witness in the trial. His doctor submitted a note to the court saying it would be “medically detrimental” to the child.

Kevin Boyle: The Los Angeles personal injury lawyer is leading the Jackson team of at least six attorneys in the wrongful death suit against AEG Live. One of his notable cases was a large settlement with Boeing on behalf of two soldiers injured when their helicopter malfunctioned and crashed in Iraq.

Perry Sanders, Jr.: Katherine Jackson’s personal lawyer is helping steer the Jackson matriarch through her relations with her son’s estate, probate court and the wrongful death suit. He is also known for representing the family of Biggie Smalls in their suit against the city of Los Angeles over the rapper’s death investigation.

Marvin Putnam: He’s the lead lawyer for AEG Live, defending against the wrongful death suit. The primary focus of his legal practice is “media in defense of their First Amendment rights,” according to his official biography.

Philip Anschutz: The billionaire owner of AEG, parent company of AEG Live, is on the Jacksons’ witness list. He is the force behind the effort to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles to lure a National Football League team to the city. He recently pulled his company off the market after trying to sell it for $8 billion.

Tim Leiweke: He was recently fired as AEG’s president as Philip Anschutz announced he was taking a more active role in the company. The Jackson lawyers say Leiweke’s e-mail exchanges with executives under him concerning Michael Jackson’s health are important evidence in their case.

Joe Jackson: Michael’s father, 84, is on the witness list for the trial and may testify. The Jackson family patriarch, who lives in Las Vegas separately from his wife, has suffered several ministrokes in the last year, which some close to him say have affected him.

Randy Phillips: He’s president of AEG Live, the concert promoter that contracted with Michael Jackson for his “This Is It” comeback shows set to start in London in July 2009. The Jackson lawsuit says Phillips supervised Dr. Conrad Murray’s treatment of Jackson in the weeks before his death, making the company liable for damages. E-mails between Phillips and other executives showed they were worried about Jackson’s missed rehearsals and sought Murray’s help getting him ready.

Paul Gongaware: The AEG Live co-CEO worked closely with Michael Jackson as he prepared for his comeback concerts. He testified at Dr. Conrad Murray’s criminal trial that he contacted the physician and negotiated his hiring at the request of Jackson. AEG lawyers say it was Jackson who chose, hired and supervised Murray. Gongaware knew Jackson well, having been tour manager for the singer in previous years.

Kenny Ortega: He was chosen by Michael Jackson and AEG Live to direct and choreograph the “This Is It” shows. Ortega, who choreographed for Jackson’s “Dangerous” and “HIStory” tours, testified at Dr. Conrad Murray’s criminal trial that “Jackson was frail” at a rehearsal days before his death.

Dr. Conrad Murray: He was Michael Jackson’s personal physician in the two months before his death, giving him nightly infusions of the surgical anesthetic that the coroner ruled led to his death. Murray, who is appealing his involuntary manslaughter conviction, has sworn that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment protection from self-incrimination and refused to testify in the civil trial. There is a chance that Murray will be brought into court from jail to testify outside the presence of the jury to allow the judge to determine if he would be ordered to testify.

John Branca: He’s one of two executors of Michael Jackson’s estate. Branca was Jackson’s lawyer until about seven years before his death. He said Jackson rehired him just weeks before he died.

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Los Angeles (CNN) — Every issue in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial is so disputed that even giving candy to jurors caused an argument.

AEG lawyers gave a bag of peppermint candy to the bailiff to hand out to the jury this week. Even Katherine Jackson — the pop icon’s mother — enjoyed the treat.

But Jackson’s lawyer raised an objection Tuesday afternoon, suggesting jurors might be influenced if they realized the source of the sweets.

A compromise was reached. Each side can provide snacks for jurors, but they’ll be placed at the bailiff’s desk before jurors enter court so they have no clue who brought it.

The death in 2009 of superstar Michael Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest at the age of 50, sent shockwaves around the world.

The Jackson 5 perform on a TV show circa 1969. From left, Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Jermaine Jackson.

Michael Jackson quickly became the stand out star of the Jackson 5. Here he performs onstage circa 1970.

Michael Jackson poses during a portrait session in Los Angeles in 1971.

Michael Jackson performs with The Jacksons in New Orleans on October 3, 1979.

Jackson achieved superstardom with his solo career in the 1980s. Here Jackson is shown on stage in Kansas in 1983.

Michael Jackson performs on stage circa 1990.

Jackson broke a world record during the Bad tour in 1988 when 504,000 people attending seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in London.

Jackson perfoms in concert circa 1991 in New York City.

Known for his dance moves, Jackson is seen here jumping in the air while performing during the Dangerous tour in 1992.

Michael Jackson performs in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Jackson performs with his brothers.

Jackson performs during the Bad tour at Wembley Stadium in London.

Jackson performs during the taping of “American Bandstand’s 50th: A Celebration” in 2002.

Michael Jackson earned the Legend Award during the MTV Video Music Awards in Tokyo in 2006.

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Photos: Michael Jackson, King of Pop

A look back at those we have lost in 2013.

Ray Manzarek, keyboardist and founding member of The Doors, passed away of cancer on Monday, May 20. He was 74.

NASCAR legend Dick Trickle died on May 16 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 71.

Popular American psychologist and television personality Dr. Joyce Brothers died at 85, her daughter said on May 13. Brothers gained fame as a frequent guest on television talk shows and as an advice columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine and newspapers throughout the United States.

Jeanne Cooper, who played Katherine Chancellor, the “Dame of Genoa City,” on “The Young and the Restless,” died on May 8. She was 84.

Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation and special-effects master whose work influenced such directors as Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and George Lucas, died on May 7 at age 92, according to the Facebook page of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation.

Grammy-winning guitarist Jeff Hanneman, a founding member of the heavy metal band Slayer, died on May 2 of liver failure. He was 49.

Chris Kelly, one-half of the 1990s rap duo Kris Kross, died on May 1 at an Atlanta hospital after being found unresponsive at his home, the Fulton County medical examiner’s office told CNN.
Kelly, right, and Chris Smith shot to stardom in 1992 with the hit “Jump.”

George Jones, the country music legend whose graceful, evocative voice gave depth to some of the greatest songs in country music — including “She Thinks I Still Care,” “The Grand Tour” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” — died on April 26 at age 81, according to his public relations firm.

Actor Allan Arbus poses for a portrait with his daughter photographer Amy Arbus in 2007. Allan Arbus, who played psychiatrist Maj. Sidney Freedman in the M*A*S*H television series, died at age 95, his daughter’s representative said April 23.

Folk singer Richie Havens, the opening act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, died on April 22 of a heart attack, his publicist said. He was 72.

Australian rocker Chrissy Amphlett, the Divinyls lead singer whose group scored an international hit with the sexually charged “I Touch Myself” in the early 1990s, died on April 21 from breast cancer and multiple sclerosis, her husband said. She was 53.

Pat Summerall, the NFL football player turned legendary play-by-play announcer, was best known as a broadcaster who teamed up with former NFL coach John Madden. Summerall died April 16 at the age of 82.

Comedian Jonathan Winters died on April 11 at age 87. Known for his comic irreverence, he had a major influence on a generation of comedians. Here he appears on “The Jonathan Winters Show” in 1956.

Sir Robert Edwards, a “co-pioneer” of the in vitro fertilization technique and Nobel Prize winner, died April 10 in his sleep after a long illness, the University of Cambridge said. He was 87. He is pictured on July 25, 1978, holding the world’s first “test-tube baby,” Louise Joy Brown, alongside the midwife and Dr. Patrick Steptoe, who helped develop the fertility treatment.

Annette Funicello, one of the best-known members of the original 1950s “Mickey Mouse Club” and a star of 1960s “beach party” movies, died at age 70 on April 8. Pictured, Funicello performs with Jimmie Dodd on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in1957.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, died at the age of 87 on Monday, April 8.

Designer Lilly Pulitzer, right, died on April 7 at age 81, according to her company’s Facebook page. The Palm Beach socialite was known for making sleeveless dresses from bright floral prints that became known as the “Lilly” design.

Film critic Roger Ebert died on April 4, according to his employer, the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 70. Ebert had taken a leave of absence on April 2 after a hip fracture was revealed to be cancer.

Jane Nebel Henson, wife of the late Muppets creator Jim Henson and instrumental in the development of the world-famous puppets, died April 2 after a long battle with cancer. She was 78.

Shain Gandee, one of the stars of the MTV reality show “Buckwild,” was found dead with two other people in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on April 1. He was 21.

Music producer and innovator Phil Ramone, right, with Paul Shaffer, left, and Billy Joel at the Song Writers Hall of Fame Awards in New York in 2001. Ramone died March 30 at the age of 72.

Writer/producer Don Payne, one of the creative minds behind “The Simpsons,” died March 26 at his home in Los Angeles after losing a battle with bone cancer, reports say. He was 48.

Gordon Stoker, left, who as part of the vocal group the Jordanaires sang backup on hits by Elvis Presley, died March 27 at 88.

Deke Richards, center, died March 24 at age 68. Richards was a producer and songwriter who was part of the team responsible for Motown hits such as “I Want You Back” and “Maybe Tomorrow.” He had been battling esophageal cancer.

Legendary publisher, promoter and weightlifter Joe Weider, who created the Mr. Olympia contest and brought California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the United States, died at age 93 on March 23.

Playboy magazine’s 1962 “Playmate of the Year,” Christa Speck Krofft, died March 22 of natural causes at the age of 70.

Rena Golden, who held top positions at CNN, died at age 51 after battling lymphoma for two years on March 21.

Harry Reems, the porn star best known for playing Dr. Young in the 1972 adult film classic “Deep Throat,” died March 19, according to a spokeswoman at a Salt Lake City hospital. Reems, whose real name is Herbert Streicher, was 65.

Bobbie Smith, who as a member of the Spinners sang lead on such hits as “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love,” died on March 16 at age 76. Pictured clockwise from left, Spinners band member Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, Jonathan Edwards, Bobbie Smith and Henry Fambrough, 1977.

Sweden’s Princess Lilian, the Welsh-born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married, has died at the age of 97, the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement.

Alvin Lee, the speed-fingered British guitarist who lit up Woodstock with a monumental 11-minute version of his song “I’m Going Home,” died on March 6, according to his website. He was 68.

Hugo Chavez, the polarizing president of Venezuela who cast himself as a “21st century socialist” and foe of the United States, died March 5, said Vice President Nicolas Maduro.

Bobby Rogers, one of the original members of Motown staple The Miracles, died on Sunday, March 3, at 73. From left: Bobby Rogers, Ronald White, Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore circa 1965.

Actress Bonnie Franklin, star of the TV show “One Day at a Time,” died at the age of 69 on March 1 of complications from pancreatic cancer.

Actor Dale Robertson, who was popular for his western TV shows and movies, died at age 89 on Thursday, February 28.

Richard Street, former member of the Temptations, died at age 70 on February 27. Street, second from the left, poses for a portrait with fellow members of the Temptations circa 1973.

Van Cliburn, the legendary pianist honored with a New York ticker-tape parade for winning a major Moscow competition in 1958, died on February 27 after a battle with bone cancer, his publicist said. He was 78.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop died on February 25. He was 96. Koop served as surgeon general from 1982 to 1989, under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Damon Harris, former member of the Motown group the Temptations, died at age 62 on February 18. Harris, center on the stool, poses for a portrait with fellow members of The Temptations circa 1974.

Lou Myers, a stage, film and TV actor who memorably portrayed Mr. Gaines on the comedy “A Different World,” died on February 19 at the age of 75.

Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss died February 18 at age 80. Buss, who had owned the Lakers since 1979, was credited with procuring the likes of Earvin “Magic” Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. The Lakers won 10 NBA championships and 16 Western Conference titles under Buss’ ownership.

Country singer Mindy McCready was found dead on February 17 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said. She was 37. During her career, McCready landed 14 songs and six albums on the Billboard country charts.

Ed Koch, the brash former New York mayor, died February 1 of congestive heart failure at 88, his spokesman said.

Patty Andrews, center, the last surviving member of the Andrews Sisters, died at her Northridge, California, home on January 30, her publicist Alan Eichler said. She was 94. Patty is seen in this 1948 photograph with her sisters Maxene, left, and Laverne.

Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals great Stan Musial died on January 19, according to his former team. He was 92.

Baseball Hall of Fame manager Earl Sidney Weaver, who led the Baltimore Orioles to four pennants and a World Series title with a pugnacity toward umpires, died January 19 of an apparent heart attack at age 82, Major League Baseball said.

Pauline Phillips, better known to millions of newspaper readers as the original Dear Abby advice columnist, has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. She died January 16 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at age 94.

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who co-wrote the initial specification for RSS, committed suicide, a relative told CNN on January 12. He was 26. Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, a political action group that campaigns against Internet censorship.

Claude Nobs, the founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, died aged 76 following a skiing accident.

Richard Ben Cramer, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose 1992 book “What It Takes” remains one of the most detailed and passionate of all presidential campaign chronicles, died January 7, according to his longtime agent. He was 62.

Director and stuntman David R. Ellis died on January 7. He directed “Snakes on a Plane.”

Tony Lip, who played mob figures in the hit cable show “The Sopranos” and several critically acclaimed movies, died January 4, a funeral home official said. Lip, whose real name was Frank Vallelonga, was 82.

Character actor Ned Wertimer, known to fans of “The Jeffersons” as the doorman Ralph Hart, died on January 2. He was 89.

Pop-country singer Patti Page died on January 1 in Encinitas, California. She was 85. Born Clara Ann Fowler, Page was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s and had 19 gold and 14 platinum singles.

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Photos: People we lost in 2013

Van Halen on Michael Jackson: Sweet guy

Jackson wrongful death trial under way

While the candy controversy might seem trivial, the stakes are high for AEG Live. The promoter and producer of Michael Jackson’s comeback concerts could be found liable for billions of dollars in damages if the jury decides the company is responsible for the star’s death.

AEG execs face questions about Jackson’s death

Jackson’s mother and three children are suing AEG Live for the negligent hiring, retention or supervision of Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death.

The candy argument may be the most interesting thing about Tuesday’s proceedings, unless you are a student of employment law and budgeting.

AEG Live Senior Vice President/General Counsel Shawn Trell was on the stand for a second day hoping to give testimony that would convince the jury that Murray was chosen, hired and supervised by Jackson — not his company.

Murray never had an executed contract with AEG Live, although one had been negotiated. The doctor signed it and returned it to the company on June 24, 2009, but the AEG Live executive decided not to sign it after Jackson died the next day.

Jackson lawyers contend Murray was already on the job, working under an oral agreement confirmed by a series of e-mails that promised him $150,000 a month to be Jackson’s full-time physician.

With Trell on the stand, Jackson lawyer Brian Panish played part of an interview that AEG Live President Randy Phillips gave to Sky News television soon after Jackson’s death.

“This guy was willing to leave his practice for a very large sum of money, so we hired him,” Phillips said.

Panish also showed jurors an e-mail between AEG lawyers suggesting that Phillips told other interviewers AEG Live “hired” Murray.

Jackson’s manager’s e-mails found, could be key in AEG trial

Trouble at the Front

The Jackson lawyers argue that AEG Live executives ignored a series of “red flags” that should have alerted them that Jackson needed help as he prepared for his comeback concerts.

Earlier testimony from Jackson’s makeup artist, choreographer and an associate director described his failing health and mental condition in the last two weeks of his life.

Panish asked Trell about e-mails titled “trouble at the Front” between AEG executives and people working on the production starting on June 19, 2009 — a night that show director Kenny Ortega sent Jackson home because of his strange behavior.

“He was a basket case and Kenny was concerned he would embarrass himself on stage, or worse yet — get hurt,” production director John “Bugsy” Houghdahl wrote to AEG Live top execs Randy Phillips and Paul Gongaware. “The company is rehearsing right now, but the DOUBT is pervasive.”

Phillips forwarded the e-mail to his boss — Tim Leiweke — at AEG Live’s parent company, with the comment: “We have a real problem here.”

Jackson had missed a number of rehearsals and the “This Is It” tour debut was just three weeks away in London.

Wade Robson calls Jackson ‘a pedophile’

Ortega, in an e-mail previously reported, told Phillips that same morning — five days before Jackson died — that he did not think he would be ready for the shows.

“I honestly don’t think he is ready for this based on his continued physical weakening and deepening emotional state,” he wrote. Ortega described seeing “strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behavior” with Jackson. “I think the very best thing we can do is get a top psychiatrist to evaluate him ASAP.”

Even John Branca, a former Jackson advisor and lawyer who had just been rehired, weighed in with advice in an e-mail: “I have the right therapist/spiritual advisor/substance abuse counselor who could help (recently helped mike tyson get sober and paroled) … do we know whether there this is a substance issued involved (perhaps better discussed on the phone.)”

Does Trell consider that exchange a “red flag” that AEG Live should have noticed, Panish asked.

“I would take it seriously, as I believe Mr. Phillips did,” Trell answered. “I don’t know I would use the word ‘red flag.’”

Phillip called a meeting the next afternoon with Murray at Jackson’s home.

Afterward, he sent this e-mail to Ortega:

“Kenny, it is critical that neither you, me, or anyone around this show become amateur psychologists or physicians. I had a lengthy conversation with Dr. Murray, who I am gaining immense respect for as I get to deal with him more. He said that Michael is not only physically equipped to perform and that discouraging him to, will hasten his decline instead of stopping it. Dr. Murray also reiterated that he is mentally able to and was speaking to me from the house where he had spent the morning with MJ. This doctor is extremely successful (we check everyone out) and does not need this gig so he totally unbiased and ethical.”

The Jacksons’ lawyer called this e-mail “a flat out lie,” since AEG Live had not done a background check on Murray before hiring him — and if they had it would have disclosed that he was in deep debt and not a successful doctor.

“We did not do a background or credit check on Dr. Murray,” Trell conceded.

Witness: ‘Everybody was lying’ after Jackson died

No due diligence

The Jackson lawyers contend that AEG Live is liable for his death because they did not do their “due diligence” by checking Murray’s background and credentials.

If they had done so, they would have realized that Murray had a major conflict of interest that made him vulnerable to break rules in his treatment if Michael Jackson, they argue.

Murray needed the high-paying job because he was more than $1 million in debt, his home was being foreclosed on, he was being sued for unpaid child support and delinquent taxes, and his cardiology clinic in Las Vegas faced eviction. His $150,000 a month job would end if Jackson’s shows were canceled or delayed, according to the terms of his contract.

AEG Live failed to conduct the background check, which the company’s own expert witness said would between cost between $40 and $125.

“I am not familiar with the process of doing background checks,” Trell said. “No training.”

Trell is back on the witness stand Wednesday for questioning by AEG Live lawyer Jessica Stebbins Bina.

The trial, which is in its fourth week in a Los Angeles courtroom, is expected to last through July.

Choreographer: AEG considered ‘pulling the plug’ on Jackson’s comeback

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/showbiz/jackson-death-trial/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/h_8UqqL-SRk/jackson-trial

A mockup of the PS4.

(Credit:
Andy Gilleand)

When Sony has a secret up its sleeve, the company loves to tease. If you missed last week’s video enigma, Sony revealed very brief pictures of the mysterious PlayStation 4 hardware, leaving gamers in the dark about what the highly anticipated gaming console will look like.

Luckily, graphics guru Andy Gilleand has the imagination (and skills) to piece together Sony’s puzzle, and created a general conceptual rendering of the
PlayStation 4.

While Gilleand’s interpretation will have most Sony purists crying foul, the render does align with the general shape and accents seen in the official teaser videos. It’s widely expected that Sony will finally show off the PlayStation 4 during a company press event at E3 2013 on June 10.

Another angle showing what the front of the PS4 could look like.

(Credit:
Andy Gilleand)

A rear angle.

(Credit:
Andy Gilleand)

Based on what’s been shown so far, Gilleand believes the top of the console contains three different shades — a monochromatic spectrum ranging from black to gray — while the lower portion appears dark gray. A ventilation strip wraps around most of the console, while the front contains a disc slot front and center with rows of ventilation ports nearby. A previous PS4 mockup drawing emits a similar vibe.

Gilleand added the circular fan based on what was shown in the video, but even he notes that it may have been part of an accessory and not the actual hardware. Gilleand added the buttons, LEDs, and USB ports in logical areas as those items weren’t shown in the video.

What do you think about this conceptual mockup of the PlayStation 4?

A rear shot. Circular exhaust likely to change, says Gilleand.

(Credit:
Andy Gilleand)

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/kiJCY_SOr6w/