'Hackman Slaps Homeless Man In Self-Defence'

Gene Hackman acted in self-defence when he slapped a homeless man who became aggressive with the actor and his wife, police have said.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the incident occurred yesterday in the centre of Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the couple have a home.

Police did not immediately provide any additional details and Mr Hackman's publicists at Guttman Associates in Beverly Hills have not provided any comment.

The 82-year-old actor has won two Academy Awards and been nominated for three others over a career that has spanned five decades.

Hackman took the Best Actor trophy for his portrayal of Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection in 1971, and the Best Supporting Actor award for Unforgiven in 1992.

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Teenager Lured Men To Deaths With Fake Jobs

A teenager has been found guilty of aggravated murder for his role in a plot to lure men to a non-existent farm with fake job offers and rob them.

Authorities said Brogan Rafferty, 17, lured four victims with bogus job vacancies on Craigslist - a classified advertisements website - to the non-existent cattle farm in southeast Ohio.

His alleged accomplice Richard Beasley, 53, allegedly shot and killed three of the men. The fourth victim was shot in the arm and survived.

During the trial, prosecutors painted Rafferty as a "student of violent crime" who was a willing participant in the three murders while the defence argued he was acting under the duress of Beasley, a self-styled chaplain depicted as a mentor.

The man who survived, 49-year-old Scott Davis of South Carolina, had testified as the prosecution's star witness, identifying Rafferty as Beasley's accomplice.

Mr Davis told the court he had responded to a Craigslist advertisement to work as a farmhand. He met a man calling himself "Jack" for breakfast before driving to an isolated Noble County farm.

Prosecutors say that "Jack" was actually Beasley, and that he urged Mr Davis into a wooded area to look for farm equipment.

Mr Davis said he heard a gun cock and turned around to find himself face to face with a handgun. He said he pushed the weapon aside, was shot in the arm and fled as "Jack" fired at him. Mr Davis said he eventually climbed to a hilltop, found a house and asked to call police.

Authorities said all the men were targeted because they were older, single and out of work with backgrounds that made it unlikely their disappearances would be noticed right away.

All the victims were robbed of items including personal possessions, a truck and a weapon, prosecutors said.

Rafferty stood with his hands clasped behind his back and showed no emotion as he was convicted of three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder.

He had testified that he did not want to be involved in violence and said he went along with the plan only because he feared for his life.

Rafferty was tried as an adult but faces a maximum potential sentence of life in prison because he is a juvenile. His sentencing is set for November 5.

Beasley has pleaded not guilty and could face the death penalty if convicted at his separate trial.

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Star Wars Given New Hope In £2.5bn Disney Deal

Disney has agreed a deal to buy Lucasfilm from its founder George Lucas and says it will make a new series of Star Wars movies.

The US entertainment giant, which already owns brands such as Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, announced it is paying $4.05bn (£2.52bn) for the production company.

It also confirmed it is making Star Wars Episode 7, which is scheduled to be released in 2015.

Disney said the project would be the first in a new series of Star Wars films, with a new movie being released every two to three years.

The last Star Wars picture was Revenge Of The Sith in 2005, and Lucas had previously suggested there were no plans for any more.

The deal also includes the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise, although Disney did not reveal if it planned to revive the films featuring the action hero, played by Harrison Ford.

Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become its president and report to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn.

Analyst Matthew Harrigan, from Wunderlich Securities in the US, said the deal was a good one.

The deal could also spell a return for Harrison Ford's Han Solo

"Lucas wanted Luke and Darth to be in safe hands, and now they will be," he told Sky News.

He said there was room for growth in both the film and merchandising aspects of the franchise - given the popularity of 3D films and Imax cinemas, and video and social games.

But Mr Harrigan warned that Disney must be cautious about the number of Star Wars films it releases.

"The last Star Wars movie did OK internationally - but not as good as James Bond," he said.

"There's certainly scope to grow, but Disney must be careful not to burn the franchise out.

"Releasing a film every two to three years sounds about right."

Lucas, who created the Star Wars fictional universe and with it one of the most lucrative box office draws of all time, will be creative consultant on the new films.

After the deal was announced he said: "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.

"I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."

Lucas will become the second-largest individual holder of Disney shares, with a 2.2% stake.

Disney will pay about half the purchase price in cash and issue about 40 million shares to complete the deal.

Chief financial officer Jay Rasulo said the deal would lower Disney's earnings per share by a low single-digits percentage in 2013 and 2014.

He also said Disney would repurchase all of the issued shares on the open market within the next two years, on top of planned buybacks.

The deal marks the third time in less than seven years that Disney has signed a massive deal to take over iconic studios or characters, part of its strategy to acquire brands that can be stretched across TV, movies, theme parks and the internet.

In early 2006, Disney struck a deal to acquire Toy Story creator Pixar, and in the summer of 2009 it bought the comic book powerhouse Marvel Entertainment.

Mr Harrigan added: "This deal is not a slam dunk like Marvel, but it is as good as - if not better than - Pixar."

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Sandy: Dramatic Footage Of Air Rescue

Dramatic footage has been released of people being plucked from their flood-hit homes by helicopter.

Video shows New York Police Department rescue teams loading people onto a helicopter winch to safety, as flood waters rose.

But many people were not as fortunate, and details are emerging of the circumstances surrounding some of those who were killed.

An off-duty police officer drowned in his basement while rescuing his family from superstorm Sandy, police have confirmed.

The unnamed man is reported to have helped his father, girlfriend and baby into the attic of their home on the southern end of Staten Island, New York.

Falling trees have proved particularly deadly

He then went downstairs and never returned. Fellow officers found him in the basement at about 5am on Tuesday.

"Somehow he got trapped in his basement and he drowned in the basement," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

At least 55 people died across the US and Canada, and many are still missing, including two boys aged two and four.

New York was the worst-hit city in the US. In Queens, a 23-year-old woman was electrocuted after stepping on a live wire while taking photographs of a power line that had caught fire.

"She couldn't move. She didn't have a chance," said neighbour Renny Bhagretta, 44.

In Brooklyn, a teacher and student were crushed in the street by giant trees that came crashing down during the height of the storm.

Their bodies were discovered the next morning.

A 75-year-old Manhattan woman was reported to have died after her oxygen machine lost power.

Her grandson ran to nearby Bellevue Hospital for a manually operated tank, but the woman had already gone into cardiac arrest by the time paramedics arrived.

A 13-year-old girl was found dead under a pile of debris in the Tottenville area of Staten Island where four beach front homes were washed away.

Her mother, a church worker, was critically injured and her father, a plumber, was missing, neighbours said.

"They wanted to stay. We tried to convince them to leave. They said they didn't think it would be that bad," said neighbour John Alleva, 47.

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Sandy Uncovers Bomb At Guantanamo Bay

The US military has had to close down a ferry landing at Guantanamo Bay after Hurricane Sandy uncovered an old bomb.

The 500lb (227kg) object was discovered several days after the hurricane - later downgraded to a superstorm - hit the Cuban island.

Officals at the US naval base evacuated the area around the bomb and flew in a disposal crew.

It was later discovered that the device was "inert" and not a threat.

The island was once used as the US Navy's Atlantic fleet training centre.

Sandy was classed as a hurricane when it hit the Cuban island

Workers are still cleaning up the damage from last week's hurricane, which blew the roof off the base.

It is unclear if the state-of-the-art courtroom that beams proceedings to special viewing sites on US soil was damaged.

The site holds 167 detainees who the US believes are linked to conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The death toll in the Caribbean stands at 69, with thousands of people left homeless.

Sandy took the lives of 52 people in Haiti, 11 in Cuba, two in the Bahamas, two in the Dominican Republic, one in Jamaica and one in Puerto Rico.

Haiti is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that killed 316,000 people.

The UN said the latest disaster has pushed back the country's progress.

"Haiti is trying to get its house in order, but each time disaster strikes, the progress is interrupted," said Johan Peleman from the UN.

"This country is exposed to devastating consequences by each storm. With every burst of rain, entire mountains are washed away."

The regions most affected were the south and west, where many communities remain cut off due to the destruction of roads and bridges, authorities said.

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Steve Jobs' Super Yacht Takes To The Water

A super yacht designed by Apple founder Steve Jobs has taken to the water a year after his death.

The Venus, named after the Roman Goddess of Love, could well be one of the last Jobs designs the world will see.

The 256ft (78m) vessel was a collaboration between Jobs and the French designer Philippe Starck and was apparently dreamed up after a day-long discussion between the two.

The Venus was designed to have 40ft (12m) long walls of glass

It is, perhaps unsurprisingly, powered by a bank of seven 27-inch screen iMacs that sit on the bridge.

The yacht, which was built by shipbuilders Feadship, took to the water at the firm's yard in Aalsmeer, just south of Amsterdam.

Jobs' wife Laurene and his children Reed, Erin and Eve were there for the event and gave those involved in the project thank you notes and iPod Shuffles with the yacht's name on the back.

Philippe Starck was asked to work on the project in 2007

According to Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson, the vessel, which is made of exceptionally long aluminium panels, was just as Jobs had envisioned it.

In his biography, Mr Isaacson wrote: "The planned yacht was sleek and minimalist. The teak decks were perfectly flat and unblemished by any accoutrements.

"Like an Apple store, the cabin windows were large panes, almost floor to ceiling, and the main living area was designed to have walls of glass that were 40 feet long and 10 feet high."

The yacht at Aalsmeer, south of Amsterdam

According to Mr Isaacson, Jobs had said: "I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat. But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."

Jobs died on October 5 last year, aged 56, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

The vessel also features a "revolutionary" design of large glass windows at a 90-degree angle, rather than sloped, which is usual to help deal with the winds.

A man working by the aluminium vessel

Jobs even enlisted the help of the chief engineer of the Apple stores to design a special glass that would provide structural support.

The Venus is just under half the length of the world's largest yacht, the 538ft (164m) Eclipse owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Starck was asked to help design the Venus in 2007. A statement from his design house said: "The project never changed during the process of five years dedicated to a rigorous work on details, driven by the famous eye and genius of Steve Jobs."

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GM Slashes Jobs Amid Europe Car Downturn

General Motors has announced European job cuts amid the sales downturn in the foreign car market.

The US parent firm of Britain's Vauxhall said it would aim to make $500m (£310m) in fixed-cost savings between 2013 and 2015.

It added the company was planning further job cuts in Europe as it seeks to break even on the continent by the middle of the decade.

GM said it will cut the shifts at its Opel plant in Eisenach, Germany, from three to two next year, according to a presentation made after the firm revealed its third quarter earnings.

The Detroit-based car maker, which needed a US bailout after the global financial crisis, posted a surprisingly strong Q3 profit.

However, it said the break even target in Europe comes as it plans to save as much as $1.8bn (£1.11bn) there this year.

The proposed cuts come days after Ford announced major job losses as part of its plans to reduce production in Europe.

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Minerals Find Gives New Clues To Life On Mars

Nasa has discovered the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to balsatic, weathered soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii.

The minerals were found in the first sample of soil collected recently by Mars rover Curiosity using its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin), said Nasa on its website.

The identification of minerals in rocks and soil is crucial for the mission's goal to assess past environmental conditions. Each mineral records the conditions under which it formed.

Until now scientists had an incomplete understanding of the mineralogical make-up of the dust and fine soil widespread on Mars.

Wind-blown martian sand deposit dubbed "Rocknest" (Pic: NASA)

David Blake of Nasa Ames Research Centre said: "Our quantitative results provide refined and in some cases new identifications of the minerals in this first X-ray diffraction analysis on Mars."

David Bish, CheMin co-investigator with Indiana University in Bloomington, said: "We now know it is mineralogically similar to basaltic material with significant amounts of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine, which was not unexpected.

"Roughly half the soil is non-crystalline material, such as volcanic glass or products from weathering of the glass."

Bite mark where rover scooped up Martian soil (Pic: NASA)

CheMin used X-ray diffraction, standard practise for geologists on Earth, which reads minerals' internal structure by recording how their crystals interact with X-rays.

This method provided a more accurate detection of minerals than any previously used on Mars.

The specific sample was scooped up at a patch of dust and sand that the team named Rocknest. The sample was processed through a sieve to exclude particles larger than 150 micrometres - roughly the width of a human hair.

Soil sample on CheMin instrument (Pic: NASA)

The sample had at least two components: dust distributed globally in dust storms and fine sand originating more locally.

Unlike rocks Curiosity investigated a few weeks ago, which are several billion years old and indicative of flowing water, the soil material CheMin has analysed points to modern processes on Mars.

These Nasa technological advances have led to other applications on Earth including compact and portable X-ray diffraction equipment for oil and gas exploration, analysis of archaeological objects and screening of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

During a two-year period researchers will use Curiosity's 10 instruments to probe whether areas in Gale Crater ever offered environmental conditions favourable for microbial life.

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Sandy: President Obama Visits Emergency HQ

President Barack Obama is visiting rescue workers ahead of his trip to New Jersey to see the damage done by superstorm Sandy.

At least 55 people have been killed across the US and Canada. The worst of the damage is focused on New York and New Jersey, where Mr Obama will head later.

He described the disaster as "heartbreaking for the nation".

It was Mr Obama's second visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in four days. On Sunday, he met with officials and told reporters the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the massive storm made landfall.

The superstorm wreaked havoc across the east coast of America

The President is fighting a close race with Republican rival Mitt Romney and the White House has been keen to portray him as a strong leader ahead of election day on November 6.

Mr Romney is currently campaigning in Florida, where he said people had "come together" to help each other following the storm.

More than eight million homes have been left without electricity by the biggest storm to hit the country in generations, which swamped parts of New York's subways system and Lower Manhattan's financial district.

It is feared it could be days before electricity is restored to some of those cut off.

Floodwaters surround a car parked on a street in Hoboken, New Jersey

Forecasters predict the storm could end up causing around $20bn (£12bn) worth of damages in the US.

While the storm has now passed the worst-hit area, Sky News weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar said the bad weather will continue.

"The storm is still reacting with cold air from the west, so there will be further heavy snowfall as well as inland flooding," she said.

"Rainfall totals could reach around 6-8 inches, and winds will remain gale force in strength.

The Empire State Building seen through the flooded Erie-Lackawanna Park

"The forecast suggests that the centre of the low will move northwards from western Pennsylvania into the west of New York and then into Quebec by Thursday."

More than 80 homes in New York City's borough of Queens were destroyed in a fire caused by the storm.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who toured the area, said: "To describe it as looking like pictures we've seen of the end of World War Two is not overstating it. The area was completely levelled."

Neighbour John Frawley, 57, said: "I stayed up all night. The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."

Falling trees proved to be particularly deadly during the storms

Subways were flooded, public transport suspended, and flights disrupted.

However as the rain and wind eased, JFK and Newark airports were reopened. Laguardia airport remains closed.

In New Jersey, businesses and homes along the shore were wrecked and communities were submerged under floodwater.

But talk in the state quickly turned to rebuilding and recovery.

Areas along the shoreline were badly damaged

"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, said as he returned to his house in the coastal community to survey the damage.

"You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."

Some newspapers had suggested that Tuesday's election could be delayed, but Sky News' Political Editor Adam Boulton said that was unlikely.

"No-one is talking about that. In Manhattan they haven't even called off the marathon this weekend."

More follows...

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Wall Street Opens Higher After Sandy Shutdown

New York's Dow Jones opened up 0.4% after Hurricane Sandy's arrival on the East Coast forced a two-day market closure.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, while the Nasdaq fell slightly in early trading.

US stock markets were closed on Monday or Tuesday as Sandy tore through the city, flooding the financial district and subway system and causing widespread power cuts.

But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wednesday, signalling Wall Street was open for business again.

To ensure a smooth start, the NYSE invoked a condition to trading known as Rule 48 which helps stop extreme market volatility. 

But the exchange is currently without an internet connection or electricity, as are large parts of Manhattan, and is running on backup generators.

The majority of floor traders at the NYSE managed to get to work, despite the closure of the city's subways and train networks.

But trading was expected to be volatile following two days of inactivity and in low volumes, with the power outages preventing some traders from working from home.

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