Ken Russell, Women In Love director, dies at 84

Film director Ken Russell, who was Oscar-nominated for his 1969 film Women In Love, has died at the age of 84.

His son, Alex Verney-Elliott, said he died in hospital on Sunday following a series of strokes.
During his career, he became known for his controversial films including Women In Love, which featured Oliver Reed and Alan Bates wrestling nude.
He also directed the infamous religious drama The Devils and The Who's rock opera, Tommy, in 1975.
"My father died peacefully, he died with a smile on his face," Mr Verney-Elliott said.

Russell's widow, Elize, said she was "devastated" by her husband's death, which had been "completely unexpected".

She said the director had recently agreed to direct a musical feature film of Alice In Wonderland and had been working on the script and casting.
"He also had just completed an article for The Times on a review of the re-release of his film The Devils, so he was keeping himself very busy," she added.
Glenda Jackson, who gave an Oscar-winning performance in Women In Love and starred in a number of Russell's other films including Music Lovers, told the BBC it was "just wonderful to work with him and to work with him as often as I did".
"He created the kind of climate in which actors could do their job and I loved him dearly."
Jackson added that she believed the director had been overlooked by the British film industry, saying it was "a great shame".
"It was almost as if he never existed - I find it utterly scandalous for someone who was so innovative and a film director of international stature," she said.
'Creative force' Joely Richardson, who starred opposite Sean Bean in Russell's 1993 BBC TV series Lady Chatterley, said: "I will forever feel privileged and honoured to have worked with the great Ken Russell.
"More than that, I was extremely fond of the man himself."
Film-maker Michael Winner hailed Russell's "duplicity of mind", adding he had made an "enormous contribution" to British cinema.
"He pushed the barriers completely and got away with it sometimes and didn't others, but he made some startling movies," said.
"He had an eye for the composition of each image on the screen - a great eye for imagery and then, of course, he had a great idea for the grotesque."

Film-maker Michael Winner pays tribute to the director Ken Russell

Lord Melvyn Bragg, who first worked as Russell's assistant in 1963 on BBC programme Monitor, said he was "an exceptional man".
"He was a glorious director at his best, his best films will be remembered. He was a tremendous ornament to the rather supine British film industry and he was the glory of the television arts industry," he said.
Friend and cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht said: "Among many achievements that spring to mind, he made British cinema less insular and self-referential.
"He was also a leading creative force in the history of British television. He will be widely mourned."
Russell later returned to more small budget, but no less flamboyant fare, including Crimes of Passion, Gothic, Salome's Last Dance and the cult horror-comedy The Lair of the White Worm, starring Hugh Grant.
The director also made an adaptation of DH Lawrence's The Rainbow followed by the gritty film, Whore, and even tried his hand at music videos, making Nikita for Sir Elton John.
Many of Russell's later films were dismissed as too eclectic and by the 1990s he found it almost impossible to get funding for his work.
He returned to the public eye in 2007, when he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.
He lasted just four days before quitting the show after a disagreement with fellow contestant, the late Jade Goody.

Read More

DR Congo votes amid delays and violence

Voters in DR Congo are choosing their leaders in elections marred by violence and logistical difficulties.

At least four people have died after gunmen attacked polling stations in the second city, Lubumbashi, officials say.
Voting has been delayed in some areas because of a lack of ballot papers in polls contested by President Joseph Kabila and 10 other candidates.
It is the second election since the end of successive wars which left some four million people dead.
At least three people were killed on Saturday in election clashes, leading to a police ban on final campaign rallies in this mineral-rich country, which is two-thirds the size of Western Europe.
Ahead of the vote, international organisations appealed for calm.
Etienne Tshisekedi, 78, seen as the strongest opposition candidate, has accused President Kabila, 40, of planning to rig the election.
Some 22,000 UN peacekeepers are stationed around the country and are expected to help prevent any outbreaks of violence.
Helicopter deliveries Election officials have been scrambling to get ballot papers distributed to all 60,000 of the polling stations in this vast country which has very little transport infrastructure.

In many inaccessible areas, voting material was delivered by helicopter.

Despite calls for the election to be delayed to give time to improve the preparations, election officials said on Sunday that everything was 99% ready.
Polling stations opened at 0600 local time. Because of the time difference in this continent-sized country, this was 0400 GMT in eastern areas and an hour later in the west.
The BBC's Mamadou Moussa Ba in the south-eastern mining capital of Lubumbashi says gunmen - suspected to belong to a secessionist movement - attacked two polling stations in the city.
But the AFP news agency quotes a military spokesman as saying that two policeman and a civilian were killed and two soldiers wounded.
"The two police were killed at point blank range and a female voter was hit by a deadly stray bullet," the spokesman is quoted as saying.
He also said that some attackers had been killed.
"I can't say how many, we are collecting the bodies."
The governor of the local Katanga province, Moise Katumbi, told Reuters news agency that three attackers had been killed and seven arrested.
Two vehicles carrying election materials were also attacked overnight just outside Lubumbashi, our reporter says.
The attackers wounded one driver and a security officer and set voting material on fire, election officials said.
Our reporter says there are lengthy delays at some polling stations, which had failed to open six hours after voting was due to start, although polling began on time in other areas.
'Serious impediment' The BBC's Christophe Pons in Kinshasa says all the voting material is in place at the polling stations he has visited and the election is proceeding smoothly although not many voters are braving the heavy rains.

However, the AP news agency reports that voting has been delayed due to a lack of ink in some areas, while some voters have told the BBC they have been unable to cast their ballots - either because they cannot find their names on the electoral register, or because someone had already voted in their place.

As well as the 11 presidential candidates, more than 18,000 are vying for seats in the 500-member parliament.
In some areas, the ballot paper runs to several pages and resembles a newspaper because there are so many parliamentary candidates.
This is likely to cause some confusion in a country where one-third of adults cannot read or write.
Following Saturday's violence, police blocked Mr Tshisekedi at Kinshasa airport for seven hours on Sunday to prevent him going ahead with a rally.
The European Union observer mission criticised both the police and the various candidates over the pre-election violence.
Delaying Mr Tshisekedi from leaving the airport had been "a serious impediment" to his right to campaign, the mission said.
The United Nations too, criticised the security forces.
"The security forces should refrain from any acts that could heighten tensions and create any difficulties on the eve of elections," Reuters news agency quoted Mounoubai Madnodje, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, as saying.
The last election, in 2006, was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate, Jean-Pierre Bemba.
A former rebel leader, he is now on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
BBC East Africa correspondent Will Ross says that whether it is peaceful or not this time will depend to a great extent on the behaviour of the candidates and whether the losers are willing to accept defeat.

Read More

The former Penn State coach at the centre of a child abuse investigation that has shocked the US has admitted in an interview showering with young boys, but denies being a paedophile.

Jerry Sandusky told NBC News that he had "horsed around with kids", hugged them and touched their legs, but was innocent of the charges against him.
In a phone interview, he said he should not have showered with the children.
Mr Sandusky, 67, is accused of abusing at least eight boys over 15 years.
According to grand jury testimony, a witness saw him raping a boy as young as 10 in the Penn State showers in 2002.
'Sexually attracted?' In an interview with NBC News' Rock Center programme broadcast on Monday night, Mr Sandusky said: "I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts.
"I have hugged them and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact."
When asked if he had done anything wrong, he said: "I shouldn't have showered with those kids."

Continue reading the main story

Child abuse in America

Every five hours a child dies from abuse or neglect in the US.
The latest government figures show an estimated 1,770 children were killed as a result of maltreatment in 2009.
A recent congressional report concludes the real number could be nearer 2,500.
In fact, America has the worst child abuse record in the industrialised world. Why? The BBC investigates.
 

Asked if he was a paedophile, he said: "No".

The former defensive co-ordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions was also asked if he felt sexual attraction to underage boys.
"Sexually attracted?" Mr Sandusky said. "You know, I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. But no, I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."
In an interview with CNN on Monday evening, Mr Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, described his client as a "big overgrown kid" and said athletes have a culture of showering together.
Mr Amendola said his client had been "destroyed" by the charges - that bricks had been thrown through the windows of his home.
The lawyer added: "We have an answer for every allegation."
Mr Sandusky was formerly assistant to Penn State head coach Joe Paterno, who was fired last week amid criticism he did not do enough about the allegations.
On Monday, Mr Paterno's name was taken off the Stagg-Paterno Championship Trophy, also known as the Big Ten.
Meanwhile, the president of Mr Sandusky's charity for disadvantaged children resigned. Jack Raykovitz said he hoped his exit would help restore faith in the organisation.
Mr Sandusky - who was arrested a week ago - allegedly groomed victims through the Second Mile, which he founded in 1977.
He retired from Penn State in 1999, but continued to use the university's facilities for his work with the charity.
It emerged on Sunday that the judge who granted Mr Sandusky unsecured bail had donated to the charity and worked as a volunteer for the group.
State College District Judge Leslie Dutchcot did not immediately respond to questions about whether she would recuse herself from the case.
The Penn State scandal also claimed the job last week of the university's president, Graham Spanier.
Meanwhile, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and senior vice-president Gary Schultz deny charges they covered up the alleged abuse.

Read More

Libyan factions in deadly clashes near Zawiya

Several days of fighting between rival factions near the Libyan coastal city of Zawiya have left at least seven people dead, reports say.

The BBC's Karen Allen in Libya says rival communities have been fighting for an area previously controlled by Gaddafi loyalists.
The interim government said the fighting had been resolved.
However analysts say the violence raises questions about stability in post-Gaddafi Libya.
The country is still awash with weapons and armed groups following the rebellion that led to the collapse of Col Muammar Gaddafi's rule.
Interim Libyan leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said the ruling ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) had brought together elders from the feuding areas - Zawiya and the nearby tribal lands of Warshefana - and that the dispute has been resolved over the weekend.
"I want to assure the Libyan people that everything is under control," he said on Sunday.
However, witnesses said some fighting was still taking place as he spoke.
Reports said trouble flared up on Thursday when fighters from Warshefana set up a checkpoint on a highway near Zawiya, challenging fighters from the city.
Fighters from Zawiya reportedly accused their Warshefana counterparts of having links to the old government.

A fighter from the capital Tripoli, quoted by AP news agency, said the two sides had been battling for control of a military camp of the ousted government on the main road between Tripoli and Zawiya.
Witnesses reported hearing heavy gunfire and the explosions of rocket-propelled grenades.
At least seven people were killed although one report quoting medics in the Warshefana region put the toll at 13 - four from Zawiya and nine from Warshefana.
Mr Abdul-Jalil said the trouble had been started by "young men behaving irresponsibly" and that the NTC had established a committee to address the grievances of both sides.
NTC leaders have said they cannot quickly disarm the various armed factions across the country.
Mr Abdul-Jalil said there was high unemployment among the armed men and that the new government had to offer alternatives such as jobs, education and training.

Read More

Australia's Gillard urges U-turn on India uranium sales

Australia's prime minister has called for the country's ban on selling uranium to India to be overturned.

Julia Gillard wrote in a newspaper column that it made no sense to sell nuclear material to China, Japan and the US, but not to India.
Ms Gillard's Labor Party introduced the ban in 2008 because India had not signed the non-proliferation treaty.
Australia holds about 40% of the world's proven reserves of uranium and supplies about 20% of the world market.
The country has no nuclear power facilities itself but allows the export of uranium for peaceful purposes.
'Dynamic, democratic India' India has a long-standing nuclear power programme, but also has nuclear weapons.
Delhi has refused to sign the non-proliferation treaty, arguing that it is discriminatory because only countries that had tested nuclear weapons before 1967 are allowed to legally possess them.
Despite this, the US recently signed a deal with New Delhi to co-operate on its civil nuclear programme.
Ms Gillard, writing before the Labor Party conference next month, urged her colleagues to drop their support for the ban, describing India as a close partner.
"It is time for Labor to modernise our platform and enable us to strengthen our connection with dynamic, democratic India," she wrote.
"We must, of course, expect of India the same standards we do of all countries for uranium export - strict adherence to International Atomic Energy Agency arrangements and strong bilateral undertakings and transparency measures that will provide assurances our uranium will be used only for peaceful purposes."
She said lifting the ban would bring jobs and growth to Australia.
Analysts say Ms Gillard's plan is likely to face stiff opposition from politicians on the left of her party, but she is likely to have enough support to force the issue through.
India is planning to build some 30 reactors in the next 30 years and is aiming to get a quarter of its electricity from nuclear energy by 2050.

Read More