Fighting for Schumacher life and privacy

Since the day last December when he suffered serious head injuries in a skiing accident, the slightest mention of Michael Schumacher has attracted worldwide attention.

The former Formula 1 star, the most successful racing driver in the world, has been in hospital ever since his crash into rocks just off the marked ski slopes, but information about his actual condition has been sparse.

When news of his accident first emerged, hundreds of journalists and television crews from all over the world set up outside the hospital in Grenoble, crowding his family as they tried to visit him.

Some members of the media managed to get rooms in the same hotel as the Schumacher family; one tabloid journalist even disguised himself as a priest in an attempt to gain access to the ward in which Michael Schumacher was being treated.

Throughout, the family has pleaded for respect and privacy, while from time to time offering small nuggets of information.

At the beginning, the medical team in Grenoble gave terse press conferences, announcing that Michael's condition was life threatening, then that it had stabilised.

He was in an induced coma, and would, it was explained, gradually be woken from it at some point.

Never, though, did his doctors offer a prognosis of what kind of recovery Michael Schumacher was likely to make, neither did his family comment.

Read more »

Germany bolsters David Cameron's reform push

"Come on prime minister, what are you going to get?" That's been the question pursuing David Cameron since he promised to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Europe and put the package to an in/out referendum by the end of 2017 if the Conservatives win next year's general election.

And now, helpfully sandwiched between the Nick Clegg/Nigel Farage debates and two months before the European elections, comes a very helpful intervention from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
Berlin is driving efforts to bind countries using the euro closer together. A swift, surgical change to Europe's treaties is Chancellor Angela Merkel's preference. And Germany has now made clear that any treaty change must "guarantee fairness" to the 10 EU countries outside the eurozone - including Britain.
In other words, there must be legal safeguards in place to make sure the single market works in the interests of all European Union countries, not just those with the single currency.
Diplomatic push Britain has lavished huge diplomatic attention on Germany and it's clearly paying off. Berlin understands that David Cameron needs answers to that key question and is willing to help.
On the doorstep in the European elections, Conservative candidates will now point to this as evidence that Britain's interests within the EU can be protected.
The City of London too, will be reassured.
But these are early days. Soon there'll be a new set of MEPs, a new European Commission and the UK general election is more than a year away. And not all of Europe - particularly France - shares Germany's enthusiasm for treaty change.
Nor will this be enough on its own to satisfy Conservative MPs, who have been promised a return of powers from Brussels to London. Persuading Germany to agree to that - let alone the rest of the EU - by 2017 is a much tougher ask.

Read more »

National Front rattles French elite

The first round of the municipal elections may have been a high-point for France's anti-EU National Front (FN), but it probably won't be the high-point of 2014.

That's more likely to be at May's European elections.
The town hall elections have proved that Marine Le Pen's twin strategy of "de-demonisation" and grassroots implantation is working. The second round is this Sunday.
Normally, the municipal vote is the one the FN does worst in. Marine's father Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party founder, was fixated with the presidential race.
He rather despised the rank-and-file, and little was done to train up local cadres.
That has changed. And the party has successfully rebranded itself. The look and language are more professional. The nasty element has been sidelined.
The result is that the party is well on the way to building up a nationwide structure, with influence beyond its traditional bases in the north and south-east.
And if it all came together for the town hall elections, how much more likely that the Europeans will prove an even greater success.
Anti-establishment force The Europeans are elections in which people have always felt free to register a protest. On top of that, the EU is one of the FN's recurring themes.
Plus there is the fact that (unlike other French elections) the Europeans are conducted under proportional representation - which for once allows the FN to win a number of seats that reflects its national score.
Opinion polls suggest the FN and centre-right UMP will vie for top place in May.
More than likely, many people who normally vote Socialist will abstain (as they have done in the municipals) or even vote for the FN.
As many have pointed out, the FN is becoming the new party of the working class. Arguably it is taking the place of the old Communist Party, which back in the 60s was a genuine third party challenging mainstream left and right.
With 20-25% of the vote the FN could get 15 to 20 MEPs, and it would be a short step to creating a parliamentary group with allies from other countries.
But more to the point, if the party comes first in May - which it could well do - it would be a political earthquake.
The National Front: France's most popular party!
If it happens, Marine Le Pen has said she will call for France's National Assembly to be dissolved - and new elections to reflect the new reality.

Read more »

Flight MH370: 'Objects spotted' in new search area

Five planes have spotted "objects" in the new area of the Indian Ocean being searched for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Australian officials say.

The sightings would need confirmation by ship, possibly on Saturday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.
Earlier it was announced the search would now focus on an area 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone.
The Beijing-bound airliner disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion first spotted "a number of objects white or light in colour and a fishing buoy", Amsa said.

Continue reading the main story Did previous photos show plane debris?

• Satellite images so far could show anything from lost shipping containers or drifting garbage to fragments of Flight MH370
• Among ocean experts, opinion differs over how much non-plane debris is in the area
• Southern Indian Ocean is one of world's least researched areas
• In absence of better data, retrieving floating debris can help narrow search for "black box" recorders
• But shortage of live satellite data, turbulence and passage of time since flight's disappearance hamper search for debris

• Aircraft debris - or a load of rubbish?

An Australian plane then went to relocate the items and spotted "two blue/grey rectangular objects", and three other planes reported similar sightings.

The Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 is in the search area and will be despatched to relocate the objects on Saturday, Amsa said.
Earlier, the Australian and Malaysian governments said the focus on the new search area was based on further analysis of radar data that showed the plane had been travelling faster, thus burning more fuel.
Search efforts had until Friday morning focused on an area some 2,500km (1,550 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

Read more »

PR officer loses job over racist twitter comment

A US public relations executive has lost her job with the media company IAC, after tweeting a racist

message about Aids in Africa.
Justine Sacco provoked an internet storm when she tweeted: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white."
IAC said the company and Ms Sacco had now parted ways.
Ms Sacco has yet to publicly comment on the issue, but her Twitter account has been deleted.
In a statement, IAC said: "The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC. We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question."
It said there was "no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made".
But the company added that it hoped "time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."
IAC is the parent company of Match.com, The Daily Beast, Dictionary.com and BlackPeopleMeet.com, a dating site for African-Americans.

Read more »

50 Shades of Grey film with trilogy

Sam Taylor-Johnson said the book's characters were "under my skin"

Continue reading the main story

Sam Taylor-Johnson has been chosen to direct the big screen version of the smash hit erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey.

It will be the second feature film for the director, who rose to fame under her maiden name, Taylor-Wood.

She previously helmed 2009's Nowhere Boy, the account of John Lennon's youth starring her husband Aaron Johnson.

The 50 Shades trilogy by author EL James has sold more than 70 million copies around the world.

The novels tell the story of the sadomasochistic relationship between billionaire businessman Christian Grey and "unworldly, innocent" literature student Anastasia Steele.

The 50 Shades trilogy took the top three spot's in the UK's book sales chart for 2012

"I am excited to be charged with the evolution of Fifty Shades of Grey from page to screen," Taylor-Johnson said.

"For the legions of fans, I want to say that I will honour the power of Erika's book and the characters of Christian and Anastasia. They are under my skin too."

Producer Michael De Luca praised the director's "unique ability to gracefully showcase complex relationships dealing with love, emotion and sexual chemistry".

"EL James's characters and vivid storytelling require a director who is willing to take risks and push the envelope where needed and Sam is a natural fit," he said.

Taylor-Johnson is also making a movie adaptation of Robert Goolrick's bestselling novel A Reliable Wife.

Before moving into movies, the British director was known as a visual artist and was nominated for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1998.

The script for 50 Shades of Grey is being written by Kelly Marcel, who created the US TV series Terra Nova. BBC

Read more »

Flying Bike make it's debut

Flying cars are yet to take off - could bikes have a better chance?

Researchers in the Czech Republic have unveiled a 95kg (210lb) remotely-controlled bicycle that can hover a few metres above ground for five minutes.

Carrying a dummy rider, the electric prototype successfully took off, flew around and landed inside an exhibition hall in Prague.

The bike is powered by two battery-run propellers on the front, two on the back and one on each side.

The machine could help two-wheeled commuters avoid zigzagging through traffic jams - but it is not quite ready to hit the road - or the air above it - just yet.

The batteries only allow for a few minutes of flight before needing to be re-charged.

This is not the first attempt to make a bicycle fly.

"Because the capacity of batteries doubles about every 10 years, we can expect that in the future the capacity would be enough for the bike to used for sports, tourism or similar things," said the technical director of Duratec Bicycles, Milan Duchek.

The Flyke has to have a parachute opened at all times in the air

To create the bike, Duratec worked together with two other Czech firms, Technodat and Evektor.

An IT teacher John Carver from Oxfordshire constructed what he called the "Flyke" - a flying tricycle - and flew it across the UK, from Lands End to John o'Groats, for charity.

Registered with the Civil Aviation Authority, Mr Carver's machine is powered by a two-stroke twin propeller motor with a paraglider canopy and is equipped with a parachute, always open when the bike is in the air.

The bike has to be refuelled about every two hours, is able to carry up to 25.4kg (56lb) of luggage, and can reach a flying speed of about 32km/h (20mph). According to Mr Carver's website, the device is now for sale.

Companies such as Para-Cycle sell similar devices as well, but a huge parachute may prove cumbersome for the city commuter.

And in the early 20th Century, among the very first "flying machines" were bicycles with wings attached to the frame - what became known as aviettes.

They did not really fly, but rather hopped above ground, or glided, having been first powered by fierce pedalling.

Read more »