Oz Wonder Horse Quits While She's Ahead

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

The owners of a horse that came first in every race she ever competed in have announced her retirement.

She won a record 25 consecutive races and won over a nation, but Australian wonder horse Black Caviar is finally hanging up her saddle.

The legendary mare won every race she ever ran but her owners and trainer have decided her racing career should end, disappointing fans around the globe.

"The owners and myself have had a long chat the last couple of days and this afternoon at lunchtime we decided 25 was a great number," trainer Peter Moody said on Wednesday.

Jockey Luke Nolen (r) hugs Black Caviar's trainer Peter Moody after his win

"Collectively, we decided the mare's in great shape. It's the right time to call it a day."

The seven-year-old wonder horse is widely regarded as the world's best sprinter and not only wowed race goers around Australia but last year ran at Royal Ascot, winning the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

There had been talk that Black Caviar might head back to England again for this year's Ascot but instead she will be heading to a pasture to "roll around in mud".

A helicopter pulls a sign above Sydney's Manly Beach in praise of the horse

"We thought long and hard about racing on for another season. We thought about Royal Ascot, we thought about Brisbane and we thought about Adelaide but we believe she has done everything we've asked her to do.

"She couldn't have possibly done any more" Moody said.

Speaking about the decision, Black Caviar's main owner Peter Werrett said simply: "She's told Peter, and Peter's told us."

The horse, nicknamed the Wonder from Down Under, became a huge celebrity in her home country, boasting her own range of merchandise, Facebook page and fan club.

The Queen with Black Caviar's owners at Royal Ascot after last year's win

Whenever she raced tickets sold out, punters waved Black Caviar flags and dressed in her jockey's colours, salmon with black spots.

She won her final race in Sydney last weekend and will now begin a lucrative breeding career, with her foals potentially worth millions of pounds.

Last week, her half-brother sold at auction for Aus$5m (£3.3m) - Aus$2m (£1.3m) above estimates.

"She brought interest to our sport that hasn't been there for decades," said Moody.

"Black Caviars don't come along every day."

The great mare will parade at Melbourne's famous Caulfield racetrack on Saturday to say goodbye to the public.

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Alps Crash: British Driver Dies In Tragedy

A British coach driver has died after a crash in the French Alps left 29 passengers needing hospital treatment.

A crane lifts the charred wreckage of the bus near Alpe d'Huez

The bus was ferrying staff back to Britain following the end of the ski season when it veered off the road near Alpe d'Huez and burst into flames.

Investigations into the crash are ongoing, but early suggestions indicate the vehicle may have had problems with its brakes.

Twenty-three passengers were unharmed, with many escaping the burning wreckage by jumping from windows.

UK travel organisation Abta said the Britons were staff who were on their way home on Tuesday after working for a Brighton-based ski company at Alpe d'Huez and other resorts.

Investigations suggest the bus may have had brake problems

At least four people were said to have been seriously injured with those hurt being treated in local hospitals.

A local police spokesman said: "There was apparently a problem with the coach's brakes.

"The driver seems to have lost control on a steep bend in the road and his vehicle crashed into rocks. It burst into flames but everyone is now out.

"Some passengers escaped by jumping out the windows."

Firefighters sift through the wreckage of the bus

A Skibound spokesman said: "Twenty-nine passengers have been taken to hospitals in the area, four of which are being treated for more serious injuries.

"The other 23 passengers have escaped injury and are now with police and counsellors in a local hotel."

He added: "Our thoughts are with those who have been involved in the accident and their relatives. The names of any injured parties will not be released until all next of kin have been notified."

Abta said there were two drivers and 51 passengers on board the coach, with the passengers having finished the ski season after working for Skibound Holidays in various resorts across the French Alps.

Four people on the bus were reported to be in a critical condition

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the tragic incident involving British nationals in the Isere region of southern France.

"We are in touch with the local authorities and are providing consular assistance."

The route, which has formed part of the Tour de France cycle race, is infamous for its treacherous hairpin bends.

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WhatsApp Has 'More Users Than Twitter'

Smartphone messaging app WhatsApp has more users than Twitter, claims its boss.

Jan Koum says the company processes 8bn inbound and 12bn outbound messages every day.

He did not reveal exactly how many active users the service has, but Twitter officially quotes 200 million per month.

Speaking at the D: Dive Into Mobile conference in New York, Mr Koum said he had no plans yet to cash in on its sizable user base through traditional means.

"We do have a manifesto opposing advertising," said the WhatsApp CEO. "We're proud of that. Who likes advertising?

"We're so bombarded with ads so much in our daily lives and we felt that smartphones aren't the place for that ... You don't want to be interrupted by ads when you're chatting with your loved ones."

The app, which allows smartphone users to send free texts, pictures and videos, currently charges 69p per year in the UK and 99 cents in the US.

However, Mr Koum did not rule out extracting more money from the service in the future.

"We're looking forward to a world with billions of phones and once that happens it's going to be extremely easy to monetise," he said.

WhatsApp's meteoric success over the last four years has stoked speculation that Google or Facebook could make a big money move to snap up the company.

However, the firm has denied talking to either of the internet giants.

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Boston Bombs: First Pictures Of Devices

US authorities have released the first pictures of the explosive devices used in the twin blasts which hit the Boston Marathon on Monday.

The images show twisted pieces of a metal container, wires, a battery and a small circuit board which exploded close to the finish line at the race.

In another, a piece of charred wire can be seen attached to a small box and a twisted metal lid with bolts.

The FBI said on Tuesday that a pressure cooker may have been used to build the bombs, with nails, ball bearings and other metal packed around the explosive.

The device may also have been hidden inside rucksacks placed on the ground near the finish line.

Richard DesLauriers, FBI agent in charge said the investigation to find those responsible would be worldwide.

He vowed: "We will go to the ends of the Earth to identify the subject or subjects who are responsible for this despicable crime."

More than 1,000 officers are working on the investigation which agents have said in the largest the Boston bureau has ever worked on. 

Pressure cooker bombs have been used in attacks in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to a July 2010 FBI report.

But the techniques of making them is understood to be known to domestic US extremists.

Officials said that there was no indication that al Qaeda or other foreign extremist organisations were behind the attack, but they added the investigation was still at an early stage.

It is not yet known what was used to set off the devices.

The damage caused by one of the blasts in Boston

Special agent DesLauriers said experts would reconstruct the devices at the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

The FBI also appealed for anyone who was in the area of the marathon or Boston airport in the last few days to send in any pictures they may have taken.

Investigators are already understood to be examining 6,000 movies-worth of CCTV footage from cameras in the area.

Websites and newspapers were already featuring images which they claimed showed people suspected of carrying out the attacks or the devices.

The FBI said it was looking at one sent to a local TV station which appeared to show a bag next to a mailbox in the area where one of the bombs went off.

Jason Pack, FBI spokesman in Boston, said: "We're taking a look at hundreds of photos and that's one of them." 

Three people were killed and more than 170 others injured after the two explosions around four hours into the famous marathon.

Two of those killed were Krystle Campbell, 29, and eight-year-old Martin Richard.

The third is understood to be a Chinese graduate student who has been named locally and in China, but not named officially.

Nine children were among the injured, which were aged between two and 71.

Doctors have revealed the extent of the injuries suffered by those caught in the blasts, including details of a nine-year-old girl who lost her leg and a 10-year-old boy who suffered deep shrapnel wounds.

George Velmahos, of Massachusetts General Hospital, said: "These bombs contained small metallic fragments more consistent with pellets and other small pieces of metal, but also spiked points that resembled nails without heads."

A total of 13 people have had to have limbs amputated and others are at risk of losing legs following the blasts. Seventeen remain in a critical condition.

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PIP Breast Implants: Trial Starts In France

France has launched one of its biggest-ever trials as five managers from the company PIP face charges of selling faulty breast implants that sparked a global health scare.

Hundreds of women who received the faulty implants gathered in a makeshift courthouse in Marseilles, in the south of France.

Jean-Claude Mas, who founded and ran implant-maker Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), is among those on trial.

The now-defunct company had claimed its factory in France exported to more than 60 countries and was one of the world's leading implant makers.

More than 125,000 women worldwide received them until sales ended in March 2010.

Of those, more than 5,000 are joining the trial as victims, saying the executives misled them into believing the implants were safe.

The trial is so big that a convention centre was turned into a courtroom

The executives are charged with aggravated fraud for using industrial-grade silicone in implants, which health officials say are prone to rupture and leaking.

Mas, his deputy Claude Couty, the quality director Hannelore Font, technical director Loic Gossart, and products chief Thierry Brinon face the possibility of five years in prison if convicted.

Some of the defendants, including Mas, have also been charged in separate and ongoing manslaughter and financial fraud investigations into the scandal.

Mas was booed when he took to the stand to state his name and profession at the start of the proceedings in the convention centre, which was turned into a courthouse to host all those participating in the trial.

Nathalie De Michel, who received the implants, said she wanted Mas to acknowledge responsibility.

"I want him at least to recognise that he made mistakes. When you fight against cancer, you fight to survive, and if after they put some garbage in your body, what's the point of fighting for life?"

The vast majority of the implants were for cosmetic reasons, the rest were for breast reconstruction, often following cancer surgery.

PIP breast implants used cheap industrial silicone, officials say

Within France, about a quarter of the implants malfunctioned, most by rupturing and leaking silicone, according to a government tally released this month.

The French government recommended that women have their PIP implants removed as a precaution.

In Britain, the government left the choice up to women and their doctors, but recommended that the implants be removed if there was a sign of rupture.

Doctors and scientists who have followed the case say medical complications stemming from the ruptures and leaks appear to be limited even when the implants rupture, with rashes and localised pain the most common complaints.

But lawyers for the women say the full effects will not be known for years to come.

The PIP company has gone out of business, and regulators across Europe have called for tighter oversight of medical devices.

Mas has said he is ruined financially.

Mas was in jail for eight months for unpaid bail, but was freed in October

According to various government estimates, over 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, more than 30,000 in France, 25,000 in Brazil and 15,000 in Colombia.

Venezuela, where PIP implants were hugely popular, offered free removals for the estimated 16,000 women with the implants, as did France.

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Free Sandwiches May Have Contained Rat Poison

Twenty employees of a company in Germany have been hospitalised in case sandwiches they were given as a gift turn out to have been poisoned.

The suspicious sandwiches were left on the doorstep of a company near the northwestern town of Vechta on Tuesday with a note saying they were a present.

Police say 25 employees of the company in Steinfeld, Lower Saxony, ate the sandwiches before someone noticed a strange substance on them.

The emergency services were called and a fleet of ambulances took those who had eaten the sandwiches for urgent treatment.

The company and the identity of those who ate them has not been revealed.

Local reports in Germany say the substance is suspected to be rat poison.

Police said those placed in hospital were taken in as a precaution. They are in intensive care, according to local media. 

Area force spokesman Klaus Koesterke said Wednesday that so far none of those hospitalised has shown symptoms of poisoning.

But officials said they are not excluding the possibility of a slow-acting poison.

Uneaten samples of the sandwiches have been sent to a Berlin laboratory for tests.

Officers have also appealed for anyone else who may have eaten the sandwiches to come forward.

It has also not been revealed why the employees thought the rolls were safe to eat.

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Child Caught In Battle Over US Tribal Rights

America's highest court is deciding the fate of a three-year-old girl who was adopted at birth but then forcibly returned to her Native American father.

The case is the first time in 14 years and only the second time ever that the US Supreme Court has been asked to rule on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978.

The law was intended to prevent Native American children from being separated from their families.

Matt and Melanie Capobianco are appealing a 2011 family court decision that annulled their adoption and transferred custody of Veronica, aged two at the time, to Dusten Brown after DNA tests proved his paternity.

He had renounced his parental rights during the pregnancy but changed his mind when he heard about the adoption.

The decision was upheld in July, when the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled with a "heavy heart" in favour of the biological father, a decision the dissenting justices described as a "human tragedy".

Now three years old, Veronica lives with Mr Brown and his new partner in Oklahoma.

The adoptive parents, who are supported by the biological mother, protested to the US Supreme Court.

They argue the ICWA does not apply in 11 other US states where Native American tribes are located.

They say the judgement would have been different if the adoption had taken place elsewhere.

The couple's lawyer, Lisa Blatt, called the situation "absurd" and "Kafkaesque" in arguments on Tuesday before the US Supreme Court.

She said it could effectively ban cross-racial adoption of Native American children.

But the biological father, who is supported by the Cherokee Nation, got an unexpected boost from two of the justices.

"He's the father," said Antonin Scalia.

"If the father's fit, why do you think that the federal statute requires that it be given to a stranger rather than to the biological father?", said Sonia Sotomayor.

The Capobiancos had made seven unsuccessful IVF attempts before the adoption.

They also financed part of the medical costs for the child's birth mother, who was not Native American, attended the September 2009 birth and returned to South Carolina with Veronica when she was just eight days old.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who has two adopted children himself, seemed to lean in favour of the Capobiancos when Mr Brown was described in court as excited about being a father.

"He was excited by it. He just didn't want to take responsibility," the judge said.

A decision is expected in late June before the court ends its session.

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Boston Bombs: Victim's Mother 'Heartbroken'

The mother of one of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings has paid an emotional tribute to her daughter.

Krystle Campbell, 29, was the second of the three people killed in the blasts on Monday to be identified.

She had gone with her best friend to take a picture of the friend's boyfriend crossing the finish line on Monday afternoon when the bombs went off.

An image of one of the mangled pressure cooker bombs

Mother Patty Campbell said: "She was a wonderful person and everyone who knew her loved her.

"She was always smiling and was such a hard-worker in everything she did. This just doesn't make any sense."

It has since emerged that Krystle Campbell's parents were originally told their daughter had been badly injured but would survive.

The New York Daily News reported that doctors had confused Krystle with her friend Karen Rand, who was by chance carrying Krystle's ID. Karen Rand had surgery to a badly injured leg.

William Campbell Jr, 56, said: "We had the doctors come out and tell us everything they did (on the survivor) - and it wasn't our daughter."

Krystle Campbell was with a friend at the race

Boston University said the third victim was a graduate student who was watching the race with friends at the finish line, close to the university.

The Chinese consulate said the victim was an exchange student, but has not identified them.

The first victim to be identified, eight-year-old Martin Richard, was waiting with his family to give his father a hug at the finish line when he was killed.

His sister Jane lost a leg and his mother Denise, 43, is understood to have undergone surgery for a serious head injury after they were also caught in the blast.

President Obama will visit Boston on Thursday and will attend an interfaith service in memory of those killed.

Eight-year-old Martin Richard was killed in one of the blasts

On Tuesday, he branded the bombings an act of terrorism, but said investigators did not know whether they were carried out by a solo bomber or a group.

The FBI also vowed to "go to the ends of the Earth" to find out who carried out the attacks.

More than 24 hours since the twin blasts, the FBI has few breakthroughs to report and no apparent motive.

Forensic investigators work at the scene of one of the bomb blasts

Special agent Rick DesLauriers said that specialists in Virginia will "reconstruct the device".

Doctors have revealed the extent of the injuries suffered by those caught in the blasts, including details of a nine-year-old girl who had lost her leg and a 10-year-old boy who suffered deep shrapnel wounds.

Several people have had to have limbs amputated and others are at risk of losing legs following the blasts that ripped through crowds during the city's marathon.

People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the attacks

The explosive devices involved pressure cooker bombs hidden inside duffel bags packed with nails, shards of metal and ball bearings, placed on the ground around 100m apart along the finishing stretch of the Boston Marathon route.

Seventeen people remain in a critical condition after the blasts.

Security has been stepped up in Washington and New York, and Boston remains on high alert, although there have been no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack.

Police are said to have questioned a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian man who is being treated for injuries at a hospital in Boston.

Officers have searched his apartment in Revere, according to his flatmate.

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Israel's Eilat Hit By Rocket Attack From Egypt

Two rockets fired from Egypt's Sinai peninsula struck Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat on Wednesday.

Responsibility was claimed by a militant Islamist group in a move that alarmed Israeli analysts. No one was injured.

Militant groups are thought to have stepped up their activities in Sinai since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's downfall in 2011.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said two rockets were launched from Sinai and both hit open areas.

One of the rockets is said to have exploded near the courtyard of a house.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the remains of two Grad-style rockets had been found and bomb experts were looking for more.

In a statement posted on its website, the Islamist militant group Magles Shoura al-Mujahddin said it had targeted Eilat with two Grad missiles and then withdrawn safely.

Egyptian security sources said the rockets had probably been fired from Sinai but it needed to investigate further.

A senior military official told AFP: "We are still investigating to see if they were delivered from Egyptian territories but nothing is confirmed yet."

The Egyptian presidency stressed that Egypt rejects any attack against any country.

Magles Shoura al-Mujahddin is said to share the same ideology as al Qaeda and recruits its members from Egypt and Palestine, among others.

The group said it was retaliating for what it described as Israel's attack on protesters demonstrating over a Palestinian prisoner's death.

Two weeks ago, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian youth in the occupied West Bank during confrontations with protesters angered by the death in prison from cancer of 64-year-old Maysara Abu Hamdeya.

Palestinian officials said he had been denied timely medical care. Israel denied any negligence.

Israel deployed an Iron Dome anti-rocket battery in Eilat some two weeks ago, a period coinciding with the Jewish Passover holiday when the city at the tip of Gulf of Aqaba is packed with vacationers.

But on Wednesday, the system did not intercept the incoming missiles "for operational reasons", the spokeswoman said, without elaborating. The attack was carried out a day after Israel celebrated its 65th anniversary.

Rockets last struck Eilat in November, causing no injuries or damage.

Until the deployment of its missile defence shield in the south of the country, Israel came under regular attack from a variety of improvised and illegally smuggled weaponry, mainly from Gaza.

Islamic militant groups, some believed to be affiliated with the al Qaeda terror network, have taken advantage of a power vacuum in the lawless Sinai since Mubarak was ousted and have carried out a string of rocket attacks along the border.

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'Suspicious Substance' Sent To Obama

A letter with a "suspicious substance" has been sent to President Barack Obama, says the US Secret Service.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the letter was intercepted at a facility away from the White House. He says the letter was received Tuesday.

The development comes a day after lawmakers said a separate letter was mailed to a US senator that tested positive for poisonous ricin. Another senator said police have a suspect in mind.

Tensions have been high in Washington and across the US since the deadly bombings on Monday at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 170.

More follows...

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