NFL Star Aaron Hernandez Charged With Murder

American football player Aaron Hernandez has been charged with murder over the death of another player whose body was found near his home.

Hernandez, 23, was arrested on Wednesday morning at his sprawling home in North Attleborough, Massachusetts.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez in 2010

He is accused of murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-professional player for the Boston Bandits.

Hernandez also faces several firearms violations. He was ordered to be held without bail.

Mr Lloyd's body was found on June 17 in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez's house.

Authorities said he had been shot multiple times in the back and chest.

Mr Lloyd's relatives said he had been dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, adding the two men were friends and both had been out together on the night Mr Lloyd died.

In court on Wednesday, prosecutors said the killing arose from a dispute at a Boston nightclub on June 14.

They said Mr Lloyd was aware Hernandez was upset with him after being picked up by the NFL star in the early hours of June 17.

Media camped out in front of Hernandez's home

Prosecutors said Mr Lloyd sent a text to his sister saying: "Did you see who I am with."

When his sister asked who, Mr Lloyd responded: "NFL."

Within minutes of the text, people working overnight at the industrial park reported hearing gunshots, authorities said.

State police searched Hernandez's home several times in the days before his arrest.

The New England Patriots issued a statement shortly after Hernandez, who joined them from the University of Florida in 2010, was arrested.

"We realise that law enforcement investigations into this matter are ongoing. We support their efforts and respect the process," they said.

"At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do."

Last summer, the Patriots gave Hernandez a five-year contract worth $40m.

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China: Hostage Factory Boss Freed By Workers

A US company boss held hostage by his Chinese workers for nearly a week has been freed after agreeing a new deal on pay.

Chip Starnes said a deal was reached to pay the dozens of workers who had demanded generous severance packages - even though they were not being laid off.

Mr Starnes said he was "saddened" by the experience.

Some workers had said that when they saw equipment being packed up and itemised for shipping to India last week they feared the whole medical supply plant in Beijing was moving to India.

Many also claimed they were owed unpaid wages.

Mr Starnes, a co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said he had been forced to give in to their demands, which were unjustified.

Neither he nor district labour official Chu Lixiang gave details of the agreed compensation.

Ms Chu said all the workers would be fired, and Mr Starnes said some of them would be rehired later.

"It has been resolved to each side's satisfaction," Ms Chu told reporters at a conference room at the plant in late morning.

She said they had been sorting out paperwork until 5am and that 97 workers had signed settlement agreements.

Mr Starnes quietly departed the factory grounds by the time Ms Chu spoke, returning to his hotel in Beijing.

"Yes!! Out and back at hotel," Mr Starnes wrote in a text message. "Showered ... 9 pounds lost during the ordeal!!!!!!"

About 80 workers had started blocking all exits starting last Friday, and Mr Starnes spoke to Sky News through a barred window of his office during his time as a hostage,

He said: "I keep telling myself that I am in a movie or a book. But it's playing out live. It's real and it's surreal."

He described the past several days as "humiliating and embarrassing".

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Missing US Schooner: Fears For Seven On Board

Rescue officials say they have "grave concerns" for seven people aboard a US schooner that has been missing for three weeks between New Zealand and Australia.

Authorities said the Nina, an 84-year-old wooden vessel, is skippered by American David Dyche.

There are two other American men and three American women aboard, aged between 17 and 73, and a 35-year-old British man.

Maritime New Zealand said extensive searches by plane this week had found no sign of the 21m (70ft) schooner.

It set off from the Bay of Islands settlement of Opua on New Zealand's North Island on May 29 bound for the Australian city of Newcastle, north of Sydney.

A New Zealand meteorologist took the last known calls from the crew on board the yacht when it was about 370 nautical miles west of New Zealand.

"The weather's turned nasty, how do we get away from it?" Bob McDavitt was asked when he took a satellite phone call from Nina on June 3.

A storm around at the time saw winds gusting up to 110km/h (68mph) and waves of up to 8m (26ft).

A woman named Evi asked Mr McDavitt how to get away from the weather. 

"She was quite controlled in her voice, it sounded like everything was under control," Mr McDavitt said, adding that the call itself indicated she was worried about the conditions.

The boat left the Bay of Islands and was bound for the port of Newcastle

Mr McDavitt said he spoke only briefly to Evi, advising her to head south and to brace for a storm with strong winds and high seas.

The next day he got a text, the last known communication from the boat, which said: "ANY UPDATE 4 NINA? ... EVI".

Mr McDavitt said he advised the crew to stay put and ride out the storm another day.

He continued sending messages the next few days, but did not hear back.

Friends of the crew got in touch with Mr McDavitt soon after that, and then alerted the authorities on June 14.

Rescue coordinator Kevin Banaghan said the yacht had an emergency beacon, which had not been activated.

"Unfortunately, no sign of the vessel has been found," Mr Banaghan said, adding that conditions were "very rough" when it went missing.

"We do hold grave concerns for the Nina and her crew, but remain hopeful of a positive outcome."

Mr Banaghan said Mr Dyche is a qualified captain and the crew has varying degrees of experience.

Authorities expected it to have arrived in Australia by this week.

Mr Dyche, his wife Rosemary and son David, 17, left Florida on board the Nina in 2008 to circumnavigate the world, according to New Zealand newspaper The Northern Advocate.

They travelled through the Bahamas, Jamaica, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica and French Polynesia before arriving in New Zealand.

A Facebook profile in the name of David Dyche III has pictures of the Nina and a post from May 21 apparently referring to the upcoming voyage to Australia with his son.

"Dave is leaving and going to college in the States in July. This is our last trip together crossing the Tasman Sea," it reads.

On May 26, he said he expected rough weather, posting: "The Tasman Sea is shooting gales out like a machine gun, living up to its reputation.

"We are shooting at leaving out after the first one this week. No doubt we will be dancing with one or two of them."

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Paula Deen: Celebrity Chef Denies She Is Racist

Under-fire American celebrity chef Paula Deen has been dropped by retailer Wal-Mart hours after tearfully denying on TV she was a racist.

Deen, who has styled herself as the queen of Southern cooking, has been criticised over her admission in a sworn deposition that she had used a racial slur in the past.

Speaking to NBC, the 66-year-old, who has built a multimillion-dollar business empire that includes cookbooks, restaurants, kitchen supplies and TV shows, she said she could only recall using the N-word once.

Deen, who has also been dropped by The Food Network, Smithfield Foods, Caesars Entertainment and Home Depot, told the Today programme: "The day I used that word, it was a world ago. It was 30 years ago."

She said she remembered using it when retelling a story about when she was held at gunpoint by a black robber while working in a bank in Georgia in the 1980s.

She said she never intentionally hurt anyone and it was important for her to tell "everyone out there what I believe and how I live my life".

The show's host Matt Lauer asked: "Are you a racist?" She replied: "No, I am not."

Deen has published more than a dozen cookbooks, opened two restaurants in Savannah, Georgia, launched product lines and hosted several television shows.

Deen runs a multi-million pound business empire

The controversy surrounding Deen erupted last week when a deposition was released in transcript form in which she was asked if she had used the "N-word," and responded "Yes, of course".

The lawsuit, brought by an ex-employee, accuses Deen of using the slur when planning her brother's 2007 wedding, saying she wanted black waiters in white coats, shorts and bow ties for a "Southern plantation-style wedding".

Deen said she did not recall using the word "plantation" when planning the wedding and denied using the N-word to describe waiters.

In her Today show appearance, Deen told Lauer she was heartbroken by the controversy.

"I've had to hold friends in my arms while they've sobbed because they know what's been said about me is not true and I'm having to comfort them," she said.

Looking distressed and with her voice breaking, Deen said if there was someone in the audience who had never said something they wished they could take back, "please pick up that stone and throw it as hard at my head so it kills me. I want to meet you. I want to meet you".

It was an apparent reference to the Biblical passage about whether a woman guilty of adultery should be stoned - "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her".

Deen, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year, is known for her love of using butter and frying food.

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Texas Executes 500th Convict Kimberly McCarthy

Texas has carried out its 500th execution since it restored capital punishment in 1982.

Kimberly McCarthy, 52, was put to death by lethal injection for the murder and robbery of her 71-year-old neighbour Dorothy Booth.

She was the first woman to be executed in the US in nearly three years.

McCarthy was pronounced dead at 6.37pm on Wednesday, 20 minutes after officials at the Walls Unit prison in Huntsville began administering a single dose of pentobarbital.

In her final statement, she did not refer to the fact she was the 500th inmate to be executed or acknowledge Ms Booth or her family.

"This is not a loss. This is a win. You know where I'm going. I'm going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love you all," she said.

She looked towards her witnesses - her lawyer, her spiritual adviser and her ex-husband Aaron Michaels, the founder of the New Black Panther Party - as she spoke.

As the drug started to take effect, McCarthy said "God is great" before closing her eyes.

She took hard, raspy, loud breaths for several seconds before becoming quiet. Then, her chest moved up and down for another minute before she stopped breathing.

The victim's friends and family said they were not aware of the milestone and their only focus was on Ms Booth's brutal killing.

"Five hundred is just a number. It doesn't really mean very much," said Randall Browning, Ms Booth's godson.

"We're just thinking about the justice that was promised to us by the state of Texas."

Donna Aldred, Ms Booth's daughter, read a statement to reporters saying her mother "was an incredible person who was taken before her time".

Texas has carried out nearly 40% of the more than 1,300 executions that have taken place in the US since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.

In 1997, Ms Booth had agreed to give McCarthy a cup of sugar before she was attacked with a butcher's knife and candelabra at her home in Lancaster, south of Dallas.

Officials said McCarthy cut off Ms Booth's finger to remove her wedding ring.

Prosecutors said she stole the victim's Mercedes and drove to Dallas, pawned the ring for $200 and went to a crack house to buy cocaine.

Evidence also showed she used Ms Booth's credit cards at a liquor store.

McCarthy blamed the crime on two drug dealers, but there was no evidence either existed.

Her ex-husband Mr Michaels testified on her behalf. They had separated before Ms Booth was murdered.

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Son Shops Bank Robber Mum Caught On CCTV

A woman has been charged with robbing a US bank after her son recognised her in CCTV images of the raid and called police, the FBI said.

The man contacted officers to let them know her identity and also told police where they could find her - at his home.

Dee Ann Sanders, 53, is set to appear in court accused of robbing a branch of Bank of America in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 18.

A member of staff at the bank told police a robber approached her and handed her a note demanding $2,500 for her children and grandchildren.

The robber got away with $1,092, court records said.

Surveillance photos showed a woman wearing a bright red T-shirt with a large American flag on the front.

Soon after the photos were released to media, the son and several other callers identified Sanders as the robber, FBI special agent Adam Van Deuren.

Police found her near her son's house on Festival Drive, less than a mile from the robbery.

Sanders admitted to robbing the bank during an interview with the FBI and a Kent County sheriff's detective, Mr Van Deuren said.

"Sanders further stated that she was stressed about problems with her husband, causing her to have crack-cocaine addiction-related urges," he added.

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India Floods: Journo Fired Over 'Inhuman' Report

A TV journalist in India has been sacked after delivering his report on floods in the north of the country while sitting on the shoulders of a man who had lost everything.

Narayan Pargaien's behaviour was "inhuman" his former employer News Express said in a statement, and he was guilty of "grave misconduct".

What he had done was "not just inhuman but was also against the culture" of the channel.

"You cannot ride on someone's back for a story. We terminated him on Tuesday," the head of News Express said later.

While the video was not broadcast by the TV station, it was anonymously uploaded onto YouTube where it has been viewed thousands of times.

Mr Pargaien insisted the man had been paid and had wanted him to show the damage to his home.

And while the journalist admitted his part in the filming, he was also keen to pass some of the blame onto his cameraman.

He said the cameraman had not done his job properly because the report was only supposed to show him from the chest up. The villager was not meant to be in shot.

More than 1,000 people are believed to have lost their lives in the heavy flooding in Uttarakhand state.

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James Gandolfini: Stars Gather For Funeral

Friends, family and fans gathered for the funeral of Sopranos star James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack last week.

The 51-year-old actor, best known for his role as burly mob boss Tony Soprano in the long-running TV show, collapsed in the bathroom of his hotel room.

He had been on holiday in Italy with his 13-year-old son Michael.

Some 15,00 people were expected to attend the ceremony in a cathedral in New York.

Among those there were actor Steve Buscemi and actress Aida Turturro, who played Gandolfini's sister in the show.

"He was just so friendly and sweet and humble," said actress Laila Robins, who played his mother as a young woman in the early seasons of the show.

"He had an acting coach on set back then because he just wanted to do a good job.

"That was so sweet, and I remember that about him the most - just how badly he wanted to do a good job. He worked so hard."

Gandolfini's coffin is carried into church

The programme's creator David Chase was one of four people who will give a remembrance during the ceremony at Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

The others were his second wife, Deborah Lin Gandolfini, and two family friends Thomas Richardson and Susan Aston.

Police set up barricades in front of the church in upper Manhattan as fans waited to get a glimpse of mourners.

Gandolfini had been scheduled to attend the closing of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily when he died. His body was flown to the US on Sunday.

A private family wake was held for the actor on Wednesday in New Jersey and Broadway theatres paid tribute to him by dimming their lights that night.

Actor Steve Buscemi arrives for the funeral service

Gandolfini's portrayal of a gangster who ordered hits on his enemies and saw a therapist to talk about his insecurities was his signature role.

And it won him three Emmy Awards as best actor in a drama series. The show ran for six seasons.

Gandolfini was also nominated for a Tony Award in 2009 for his role in the play God of Carnage.

He and his second wife had a daughter Liliana, who was born last year. The actor is also survived by his first wife, Marcy Wudarski, who he divorced in 2002.

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Mandela 'Stable' And 'Trying To Open Eyes'

Nelson Mandela's daughter has hit out at "racists" and "vultures" in the media, as the presidency says the anti-apartheid icon has improved overnight.

After visiting him in his Pretoria hospital, Makaziwe Mandela said her father - who is reportedly no longer able to breathe unassisted - is still "very critical".

"Anything is imminent, but I want to emphasise again that it is only God who knows when the time to go is," she told the public broadcaster SABC.

"I won't lie, it doesn't look good. But as I say, if we speak to him, he responds and tries to open his eyes.

"He's still there. He might be waning off, but he's still there."

She also criticised the "crass" media frenzy, likening the media to vultures.

Balloons were released outside the hospital

"It's like truly vultures waiting when a lion has devoured a buffalo, waiting there you know for the last carcasses, that's the image that we have as a family," she said.

"And we don't mind the interest but I just think that it has gone overboard."

She also accused the foreign media of "a racist element" by crossing cultural boundaries.

"They violate all boundaries," she said.

"Is it because we're an African country that people just feel they can't respect any laws of this country, they can violate everything in the book? I just think it's in bad taste, it's crass."

Mandela pictures are hung up at a mass prayer meeting at a Cape Town school

Her comments come as South African President Jacob Zuma also visited Mr Mandela, saying the ailing former leader remained critical but stable.

"He is much better today than he was when I saw him last night. The medical team continues to do a sterling job," Mr Zuma said in a statement.

The President abruptly cancelled a trip to Mozambique after making a late night visit to the revered former leader.

It is the first time Mr Zuma has scrapped a public engagement since Mr Mandela entered hospital on June 8.

South Africans have been praying, singing and dancing outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital, where the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader was taken with a recurring lung infection.

Crowds have been singing and dancing outside the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital

Sky News Correspondent Alex Crawford, who is outside the hospital, said the mood is celebratory.

A group of children released 95 white balloons after praying for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"There seems to be a determined effort to actually celebrate what Nelson Mandela has achieved throughout his life and pay homage to the fact that he is engaged in yet another fight right to the end," Crawford said.

US President Barack Obama, who is in Senegal for his first significant tour of Africa, has paid tribute to Mr Mandela, saying he is a "hero for the world"  whose legacy will live on throughout the ages.

Mr Obama is planning to visit South Africa on Friday as part of his African tour.

Mr Obama says Mr Mandela is a "hero for the world"

The White House has said that it will defer to Mr Mandela's family over whether the President would visit his political hero in hospital.

The two men met in 2005 when Mr Obama was a newly elected senator and  the former South African president was in Washington and have spoken by telephone since.

They have not met in person since then, although Michelle Obama met with Mr Mandela during a trip in 2011.

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Snowden: Obama Rules Out Whistleblower Deal

US President Barack Obama says he will not do any "wheeling, dealing and trading" to secure whistleblower Edward Snowden's extradition.

He also said he was not considering sending jets to intercept Mr Snowden when he eventually leaves Russia.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor is understood to still be in a transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport.

Mr Snowden fled the US after leaking details of American telephone and internet surveillance programmes and has been charged with spying offences.

Speaking from Senegal, where he is starting a three-country tour of Africa, President Obama sought to downplay the diplomatic tension over Mr Snowden.

"I have not called President Xi personally or President Putin personally and the reason is ... number one, I shouldn't have to," he said.

"Number two, we've got a whole lot of business that we do with China and Russia.

Mr Snowden fled from Hawaii to Hong Kong on May 20

"I'm not going to have one case of a suspect who we're trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I've got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues, simply to get a guy extradited so he can face the justice system."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country will not hand over Mr Snowden, who flew into the country from Hong Kong on June 23.

The former CIA technician is seeking asylum in Ecuador but the country's government said it has not yet processed his request because he has still to reach one of its diplomatic premises.

Another flight left Moscow for Havana today without the whistleblower on board. A connecting flight from Cuba is thought to be his likely route to Ecuador.

President Obama called Mr Snowden's extradition "not exceptional from a legal perspective" and said the US had had "useful discussions" with Moscow over the matter.

US authorities have filed criminal charges against the 30-year-old

"My continued expectation is that Russia or other countries that have talked about potentially providing Mr Snowden asylum recognise that they are a part of an international community and they should be abiding by international law," President Obama said.

The US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia and President Putin has called him a "free man".

President Obama also told reporters in Senegal that he understood why people are interested in the case.

"I get why it's a fascinating story," he said. "I'm sure there will be a made-for-TV movie somewhere down the line."

Mr Snowden became a target for US authorities after he revealed the existence of a surveillance system called Prism that was set up by the NSA to track the use of the internet directly from ISP servers.

The NSA and FBI have said that the secret programme provided "critical leads" in preventing "dozens of terrorist events" - although some terror experts dispute the claims.

The Prism revelations sparked outcry in the UK when The Guardian reported that the GCHQ eavesdropping agency had been accessing information about British citizens through Prism.

Mr Snowden originally fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after copying the last set of documents he intended to disclose at the NSA's office in Hawaii.

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