Teenager Who Sued Parents Loses Court Case

A New Jersey judge has denied the request of a teenager who sued her parents to get financial support.

The judge cautioned that Rachel Canning's attempt could lead to a "potentially slippery slope" of claims by teenagers against their parents.

Ms Canning, a high school senior, claimed that her parents had kicked her out of home around the time she turned 18 in October, and had refused to pay for her education even though she had been accepted by several universities.

She sought immediate relief in the form of $650 (£390) in weekly child support and the payment of the remainder of her tuition at Morris Catholic High School, as well as attorney's fees.

Rachel Canning is a cheerleader and high school senior

Her father insisted she left voluntarily because she refused to abide by reasonable household rules, such as observing a curfew and doing chores.

State Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard denied Ms Canning's motion.

However, he ordered the parties to return to court on April 22 , when they will present evidence and testimony on the over-arching question of whether the Cannings are obligated to financially support their daughter.

Mr Bogaard sounded sceptical of some of the claims in the lawsuit, saying it could lead to teens "thumbing their noses" at their parents, leaving home and then asking for financial support.

"Are we going to open the gates for 12-year-olds to sue for an Xbox? For 13-year-olds to sue for an iPhone?" he asked.

"We should be mindful of a potentially slippery slope."

Ms Canning was dressed in her school uniform as she attended the hearing, as several friends were in the gallery.

She has said that her parents are abusive, contributed to an eating disorder she developed and pushed her to get a basketball scholarship.

The Cannings say they were supportive, helped their daughter through the eating disorder and paid for her to go to a private school where she would not get as much playing time in basketball as she would have at a public school.

Ms Canning has been living at a friend's home, and the court appearance was the first time she had seen her parents in four months, reports said.

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Oscar Pistorius 'Fired Gun In Restaurant'

Oscar Pistorius injured a professional boxer by firing a gun in a restaurant then asked his friend to take the blame, a court has heard.

Cruiserweight fighter Kevin Lerena, giving evidence at his friend's murder trial, said he and several others were dining with the Paralympic star in Johannesburg on January 13 last year.

Mr Lerena said he saw Pistorius' friend Darren Fresco pass a gun to him under the table, shortly before a shot went off.

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He said: "There was blood on my toe. I went to the bathroom. I was shocked.

"Oscar apologised. I remember that I was in shock. I've never been in a confined area where a gunshot has gone off by accident.

"(Pistorius) told Fresco: 'Tell them it was you, I don't want any more media hype around me.'"

Cruiserweight boxer Kevin Lerena gave evidence on camera

Mr Lerena is the first witness to agree to appearing on camera while giving evidence.

He told prosecutor Gerrie Nel that when Mr Fresco handed the gun to Pistorius, he said it was "one up", a term meaning there is one bullet in the chamber.

He said Pistorius removed a bullet from the chamber, and in the "next moment" there was a shot.

The athlete arrived at the Pretoria court flanked by his cousins

Restaurant manager Jason Loupis said he was working that night and heard a bang but "hoped it was a balloon".

"I went over to the table and asked them what had happened," he said. "They all looked at me and I asked them again: 'Guys, seriously what is going on?'

"Fresco then said that the gun had fallen out of his pants. It was serious. Someone could have got hurt."

Pistorius, carrying a briefcase, enters the dock for the third day

Mr Loupis' wife Maria told the court a child was sitting at a nearby table.

Earlier, evidence given by one of the prosecution's key witnesses was repeatedly challenged by Pistorius' defence team during a tense cross-examination.

Charl Peter Johnson's claim that he heard a woman screaming after the final gunshot on the night Reeva Steenkamp was killed was criticised by Barry Roux, because it did not appear in his initial witness statement.

The athlete removed his jacket after entering court

Mr Roux said: "In your evidence you described the woman screaming. You said you could hear the fear. What is significant is that in your wife's (Michelle Burger) testimony, she said she could hear the woman's intense fear in her screams. Yet this is not in your statement.

"When you gave evidence yesterday, it was not stated in your statement but you now speak about the scream after the last shot.

"I think you don't know what you are saying. You are saying all the evidence that your wife gave us yesterday."

Pistorius' sister Aimee looks on during day three of the case

But Mr Johnson said: "I don't think it is strange that we used the same words."

The issue of the sound of a woman screaming is a key point for the prosecution. The claims by neighbours that they heard the screams suggest Pistorius would have known it was Ms Steenkamp, rather than an intruder, as he fired.

At one point, as Mr Roux became increasingly exasperated during his questioning, he turned around and glanced at Pistorius and told Mr Johnson: "A man's life is at stake here."

Pistorius leans over the dock to talk to members of his legal team

Pistorius showed no emotion as he - surrounded by his cousins - entered the court in South Africa's administrative capital at the start of the day.

There were shouts and whistles from onlookers as he made his way through the crowd towards the court's entrance.

Mr Johnson started his evidence by saying his phone number had been read out in court on Tuesday, and he had received phone calls from members of the public as a result.

Pistorius is pictured outside court after the third day of the trial

He said: "I feel that my privacy has been compromised."

He said one caller left a voicemail message saying: "Why are you lying in court? You know Oscar didn't kill Reeva. It's not cool."

He will return to court on Thursday to continue giving evidence. In the meantime the defence will pore over notes he revealed that he made about the night of the killing.

Pistorius faces four charges: the premeditated murder of Ms Steenkamp, the illegal possession of ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

Pistorius says he mistakenly thought Ms Steenkamp was an intruder

The athlete, known as Blade Runner, denies all of the charges, including the allegation he deliberately killed his girlfriend after a jealous row.

He maintains he shot Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder.

The trial is scheduled to last for three weeks and will hear from more than 100 witnesses.

If he is found guilty Pistorius could be jailed for at least 25 years. His fate will be decided by Judge Thokozile Masipa because South Africa does not have a jury system.

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Fukushima-Based Movie Hits Japanese Cinemas

The first film set in Fukushima has opened in cinemas across Japan just three years after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years made the area famous.

The movie, called Leji in Japanese, meaning "Homeland", features some scenes shot in neighbourhoods once declared no-go zones by the government due to dangerous radiation levels.

Leji tells the tale of a farming family forced from their home by the disaster, living in cramped temporary accommodation while they wait for permission to return to their land.

Shown at the Berlin Film Festival last month, the film's director Nao Kubota said he wanted to tell a human story.

"This film does not dare to present any answers. It is a timeless story of one family," he said at the film's premiere.

An aerial view of the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant

There is widespread debate in Japan about whether the nation's reactors, all of which were shut down after the disaster, should be restarted or scrapped for good.

On March 11, 2011, a massive offshore earthquake sent a tsunami tearing through villages in northeastern Japan, setting off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant that irradiated a wide swathe of countryside and forced more than 150,000 people from their homes.

The empty streets of an area once declared an off-limits exclusion zone by the government due to high radiation levels feature in the film.

Kubota contrasts the open space and silence of the zone with other scenes filmed in a noisy, barracks-like line of temporary housing.

Towns were left devastated after the quake and tsunami

"It's not like you can smell anything or see any different colours, you can't see or physically feel anything new. Nothing's really changed, but there's a sort of menacing fear," he said.

"And then on the other hand, the temporary homes are packed in there and you wonder whether people can really live in that cramped space.

"I wanted to stop the situation fading from our minds, I wanted to make a film that would be relevant for a long time to come, that people could watch in 10, 20, 50 or even 100 years and see that this sort of claustrophobic situation came about. That's what I want everyone to feel, and it's for that reason it's not anti-nuclear," he added.

When asked if his views on nuclear power had changed after starring as Jiro in the film, actor Ken'ichi Matsuyama did not enter into the debate.

"The movie's neither positive nor negative about nuclear power," he said.

"And as an individual, I don't think I should comment on whether the film made me think it's a bad thing or not. It's a very difficult issue. Personally I'm not really thinking about it at all."

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Ukraine: Russian Forces Take Over Naval Base

Ukraine: Sanctions On Russia Would Be Effective

Updated: 8:31pm UK, Tuesday 04 March 2014

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

There is an assumption out there - one reflected in the briefing document inadvertently flashed to photographers by an official outside Downing Street - that economic sanctions on Russia would not be worthwhile.

The rationale has two strands: first, that any bar on trade and finance with Russia would end up being worse for Britain than for Russia, and second, that Russia, with its experience of illicit financial flows would be able to circumvent the sanctions anyway.

Both of these arguments are bogus. There is reason to believe that sanctions on Russia would be more effective now than at any time in recent years.

In order to understand why, one must first of all examine the economic linkages between the UK and Russia.

This is no mean feat as much of the cash flow between the two countries is thought to be illicit, and therefore flies beneath the radar.

But with the use of one or two big numbers, one can, at the very least get an idea.

The first thing to remember here that when one talks about economic sanctions, there are two main elements: first, bars on trade and second, bars on financial flows.

The impact of the trade barriers are relatively predictable, because we have a far better idea of how many goods pass between our two countries.

According to the Pink Book, the definitive annual ONS survey of trade flows, Russia is a relatively important trade partner for Britain - the 12th biggest destination for UK goods exports and the 25th biggest destination for services exports.

It is the 14th biggest source of UK goods imports and the 29th biggest source of UK services imports, which puts it behind Cyprus and a touch ahead of Austria.

In other words, in trade terms, Russia is no minnow, but neither is it as essential a trade partner as the US, Germany or France.

The interesting bit comes when one considers the flow of cash between the two countries.

Let's focus first of all on Russian cash heading into the UK. Pinning down just how much there is tricky.

We know that a lot of money has escaped from Russia in the past few years. The central bank quoted a figure of $56bn (£33bn) of outflows in 2012 alone, two-thirds of which it believes may be illicit.

Parsing International Monetary Figures to try to get a sense of outflows, the total between 2005 and 2013 is a touch more conservative at about $103bn (£62bn).

Either way, these are big numbers, and reflect cash that has simply left the country for other shores.

There is no definitive measure of how much of this flow has come into the UK, but based on the country's international investment position - a measure of how many assets Russians hold in the UK (and vice versa) - the answer is likely to be, an awful lot.

According to the latest numbers, a quarter of the Russian banking sector's entire foreign assets are in the UK. The total ($27.6bn) is greater than is in any other country worldwide.

The flow in the other direction is equally important.

According to figures Sky News has analysed from the Russian central bank, Britain has, in recent years, become the biggest provider of loans to Russian businesses.

Now, to some extent, both this and the previous numbers are a reflection of the fact that London is the world's premier centre of finance; much of this cash will originate in other countries and simply flow through the UK.

Nonetheless, this underlines that Russia has been highly reliant on flows of money through the UK in recent years and remains so today.

In other words, were there to be financial sanctions on the country, they would have more impact if levied by the UK than by any other country in the world.

The flipside, of course, is that would also represent a significant financial blow for the City which, on the basis of these numbers, has become quite reliant on Russian business as well.

But the evidence above underlines that far from having little impact, a ban on financial links with Moscow would make an enormous difference.

This impression is reinforced when one recalls that Cyprus, which used to provide the bulk of finance to Russia, is much less likely to be able to given it is still yet to remove the capital controls it imposed during its euro crisis last year.

In other words, while there may well be alternative sources of finance for Russian businesses, they may not be big and liquid enough to replace the City of London.

Finally, it so happens that this is a moment of particular vulnerability for the Russian economy. The past couple of years have been tepid in terms of economic growth. The central bank's decision to raise interest rates by a full 1.5% this week comes at about the worst possible time.

The collapse in the stock market on Monday is a further signal of financial stress. Though there are perpetual fears that the country might turn off the gas pipelines into Europe, it's worth remembering that this is something the country has never fully gone ahead with - not during the previous Ukraine crises, not even during the dying days of the Cold War.

What's remarkable, actually, is how little Russia's gas production levels have changed over the past quarter of a century. And there's a good reason for this: it is deeply reliant on that gas revenue.

All of which makes President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine even more of a gamble. The country is extremely sensitive to sanctions - both financial (primarily London) and trade (primarily those countries which consume lots of Russian gas, such as Germany, Ukraine and Turkey).

Beneath the bluster, Mr Putin will be hoping desperately that the G7 governments remain too wary to impose them at all.

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Maori King Snubs William And Kate Royal Visit

New Zealand's indigenous Maori king has refused to meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during next month's visit, saying the royal party is not allowing enough time for the meeting.

The Maori king has a ceremonial position but does not have any statutory powers.

Officials had offered up to 90 minutes for William and Kate to visit King Tuheitia at his sacred meeting ground, the Turangawaewae Marae.

But elaborate Maori protocol dictates that important welcoming ceremonies can often last several hours.

The king (centre) arrives in a waga for a ceremonial anniversary in 2012

In a statement, King Tuheitia said one Maori leader had noted that Maori royalty was "not some carnival act to be rolled out at the beck and call of anyone".

Tuheitia said he estimated there would have been just seven minutes for the royal couple to mingle and meet people on the marae after the ceremonial greetings were completed.

The refusal was criticised by New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, who said that 90 minutes seemed "generous" given the royal couple's busy schedule.

Prince George will be going with his parents for the trip

Royal officials in London did not directly comment, but said the programme for the trip had been signed off by the New Zealand government and that several events would "recognise the significance of Maori culture".

William and Kate's son, seven-month-old Prince George, will also be going on the three-week trip around Australia and New Zealand.

The couple's plans include jet boating and sailing as well as the more traditional rounds of meetings, events and memorials.

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Intoxicated Teen Killer's Arrest Video Released

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

A gun-wielding teenage boy who was high on a cocktail of drink and drugs when he shot an 18-year-old dead has been jailed for at least 24 years.

In a rare move at the sentencing hearing in Adelaide, Australia, the judge allowed Liam Humbles to be named, as well as allowing shocking video taken at the time of his arrest to be released.

The disturbing police video shows the shirtless Humbles face down on the bonnet of a police car, barely coherent as he answers questions from an officer.

A second video shows the teenager in a police interview room staring at the floor as a police officer reads to him the reasons for his arrest and the charges being put to him

Humbles had previously been found guilty of murdering Lewis McPherson, 18, and the attempted murder of Liam Trewartha and James Lamont.

The friends were walking to a party on December 31, 2012, when they came across Humbles, a 17-year-old acquaintance, who fired shots at them.

Humbles then fired a shot at a passing car.

As Justice Michael David sentenced Humbles there were gasps form the public gallery and friends and family of the dead teenager hugged each other.

Mr McPherson was about to start university and his father previously told the court of their last contact when he sent a text saying: "Hi mate, please stay safe tonight, love dad".

At Humbles' sentencing hearing, Mr Lamont stared at the killer in the dock, telling him he had no idea of the misery and grief he had caused.

"No one else in this room knows this besides you and me - Lewis never judged you for anything you did," he said.

"He would often tell me you would some day be good to this earth."

The judge said psychological reports had shown Humbles had expressed little remorse for his actions.

He added: "This was an appalling, wanton crime. Disastrous as it was, it could have been even worse and three, perhaps four people could have been killed that evening."

Speaking outside court, the dead victim's father Mark McPherson said: "I feel for her (the killer's mother) but not for him ... I will never forgive him.

"His lack of contrition is disturbing and hurtful ... I just don't know what goes on in his head."

The court heard Humbles regularly used alcohol and cannabis and slept on various friends' sofas after being kicked out of the family home 10 months before the shooting.

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Clinton Heckled During Northern Ireland Speech

The former US president Bill Clinton has been heckled over Iraq during a speech in Northern Ireland.

Speaking about the ongoing peace process, Mr Clinton was interrupted as he spoke about how the world had been "good to some" in recent years but "rough to others and it's been rough on you the past few years".

A man from the crowd was heard to shout: "What about the Iraqis?"

As he continued his heckling, Mr Clinton responded with: "You wanna give this speech?"

The 67-year-old statesman added: "The Iraqi problem is that they don't have an inclusive government either and if they did, if they followed your lead, they would've been in better shape."

Mr Clinton was on a one-day visit that will culminate with him opening a new leadership institute at Queen's University in Belfast that has been named after him.

The steadfast supporter of the peace process in Northern Ireland was also due to meet with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to discuss current challenges.

His visit comes after the political crisis triggered by the collapse of the trial of the Hyde Park bombing suspect John Downey last week.

Mr Robinson threatened to resign after it was disclosed in court that Mr Downey had wrongly been sent a letter by Northern Ireland police saying he would not be arrested, despite a Metropolitan Police arrest warrant for the attack.

It transpired that 187 letters had been sent to "on-the-run" Republican paramilitaries effectively giving them immunity from arrest and therefore prosecution.

Mr Robinson claimed he had been "kept in the dark" over a secret deal between Sinn Fein and the British Government which led to the letters being sent.

He withdrew his resignation threat when David Cameron agreed to his call for an independent review.

Mr Clinton began his day by crossing a symbolic peace bridge linking the divided communities in Londonderry accompanied by the former SDLP leader and Nobel Laureate John Hume.

Mr Hume, who has known the former president for 22 years, said: "Pat and I are delighted that Bill Clinton is here in Derry, a town and its people transformed by peace and which we are all so proud of."

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Former Black Panther Leader Freed From Jail

A former leader of the Black Panthers, who was convicted of killing a cop, has walked free after spending more than four decades behind bars.

Human rights groups expressed relief after Marshall "Eddie" Conway, 67,  was released from the prison in Jessup, Maryland.

A recent rally of the Black Riders, a new generation of the Black Panthers

"It just shows you that things can come right after a wrong," Tessa Hill-Aston, the president of the Baltimore chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told CBS.

Conway was convicted in 1971 of fatally shooting 35-year-old Donald Sager as he and another officer sat in a marked patrol car.

He has always denied any participation in the attack.

His supporters said that Conway, a leading member of the controversial group, did not get a fair trial.

His release has angered the Baltimore City police union.

"It's a difficult thing to learn after all these years that he's not going to fulfil the sentence he was given, which was death," Gene Ryan, the vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police, told the Baltimore Sun.

Conway is one of dozens of inmates who have been released after Maryland's Court of Appeals ruled in 2012 that judges had given improper instructions to juries before 1980.

The Black Panther Party gained notoriety, and made enemies, as a prominent Black Power movement in the US in the 1960s and 1970s. 

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Ukraine: Russia 'Wants To Prevent Bloodshed'

Moscow has said it will do "everything to prevent bloodshed" in Ukraine, despite reports of confrontations between forces loyal to Kiev and pro-Russian armed groups.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov struck the conciliatory tone before he was due to meet face-to-face with US Secretary of State John Kerry for the first time since the stalemate began.

Speaking at a news briefing with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in Madrid, he said it was important for Russia to continue talks with Nato and EU leaders.

Mr Lavrov also said Moscow would like to see a de-escalation in tensions, sparked by Russian intervention in Ukraine's Crimea region.

But he added that "nobody has the right to be angry with Russia".

Sky's Andrew Wilson, in Perevalnoe, Ukraine, said Mr Lavrov is an "experienced, old hand at this" and "is mapping out a slightly clearer position than we've seen from Mr Putin."

Mr Lavrov answers journalists' questions in Madrid

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin told his cabinet he did not want the tensions to detract from economic co-operation with Moscow's "traditional partners".

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned there would be "costs and consequences" for Russia if it did nothing to ease the crisis in Ukraine.

He told Prime Minister's Questions the situation should not be a "tug of war" between Russia and the West.

Troops, believed to be Russian soldiers, march outside a Ukrainian base

Donald MacLaren, a former British ambassador to Georgia, told Sky News the West needs to "reshape its relationship" with Russia.

He said: "The lessons the Russians have learned from that (recent negotiations) is we cannot only stay where we wanted to be, but go beyond that, and still be welcome in Western and global institutions - very bad negotiation."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the EU was ready to provide 11bn euros (£9.2bn) of financial support to Ukraine over the next couple of years.

US Secretary of State John Kerry in Kiev with Ukraine's leaders

The EU also said it could vote on Russian sanctions on Thursday if there is no de-escalation in the stand-off before then.

Mr Putin has previously said any Western sanctions against Moscow would be counter-productive.

America has already threatened sanctions, with a senior US official saying Washington is ready to impose them in days rather than weeks.

Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov are due to meet in Paris this afternoon to discuss the ongoing tensions.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about a plan to end the stalemate.

Troops in Belbek relax after a stand-off with the Russian military

Under the proposal, Russia would pull back its forces in Crimea to their bases in the peninsula and limit troop numbers to a Ukraine-agreed maximum of 11,000.

However, Mr Lavrov said that pro-Russian armed groups operating in Crimea were "self-defence" forces who do not answer to Moscow.

He added that Russian naval personnel in the region were in their normal positions.

A senior American official has said the plan would also see international monitors allowed in to ensure the human rights of ethnic Russians are protected.

People watch the latest news on a TV screen at Independence square, Kiev

Seen as an effort to offer Mr Putin a way out of the crisis without losing face, the plan would pave the way for direct talks between Moscow and the new Ukraine government with the potential for some international mediation.

The proposal would also see planned elections in Ukraine this May go ahead.

But Mr Obama sounded a cautious note when commenting on the crisis at a fundraiser on Tuesday night.

"We may be able to de-escalate over the next several days and weeks," he said. "It's a serious situation and we are spending a lot of time on it."

The US official added that Mr Obama had made clear to Ms Merkel that he would not attend a G8 summit scheduled for June in Sochi, Russia, if the situation in Ukraine had not changed.

Preparatory meetings about the summit have already been suspended.

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Sydney Storm 'Wave' Causes Rush Hour Floods

A huge storm cloud cast a dark shadow over Sydney as it dumped 30mm of rain on the city in just half an hour.

The dramatic dark clouds that rolled in brought thunderstorms that caused chaos for rush hour commuters as roads and rail lines were flooded.

Buildings in central business district shook as the storm hit, local media reported.

The state's emergency service advised people to keep clear of fallen power lines, creeks and storm drains and urged people to avoid riding their bikes or driving through flood water.

Flights were diverted to other major airports until the thunderstorm - which brought winds of up to nearly 40mph (60kph) - passed.

Social media was awash with images of the spectacular storm as Sydney residents described the clouds as rolling in like a "wave".

The day had been warm and sunny for the most part until the clouds rolled in.

Although forecasters have now downgraded the risk, they say there is storm potential for the next few days.

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