Wentworth Miller Comes Out In Letter To Russia

US actor Wentworth Miller, best known for his role in Prison Break, has come out as gay in a letter declining an invitation to attend a Russian film festival because of Moscow's new anti-gay laws.

Miller, 41, turned down the offer to attend the St Petersburg International Film Festival as a "guest of honour" after posting the letter on the website for GLAAD - a group which monitors media representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people and issues.

"Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes. However, as a gay man, I must decline," Miller wrote to festival director Maria Averbakh.

Miller added he was "deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government," and did not want attend an event in a country where "people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly".

Russia's parliament banned the spread of gay "propaganda" among minors in a law passed in June which has been condemned worldwide.

It also includes fines for people who stage gay pride rallies.

Miller, who played incarcerated structural engineer Michael Scofield in Prison Break from 2005 to 2009, has recently turned his hand to screenwriting, penning the script for this year's dark thriller Stoker, starring Nicole Kidman.

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Thailand: Iranians Jailed Over Failed Bombing

Two Iranian men have been jailed for their part in a botched bomb plot which ended with one of them having his legs blown off.

Saeid Moradi and Mohammad Khazaei also blew off the roof of the house they rented in Bangkok, when one of four bombs Thai authorities believe was designed to harm Israeli diplomats exploded accidentally.

Moradi, who claimed the blast happened when he stumbled across the bombs in a cupboard, grabbed two of the devices and ran into the street.

One of them exploded as he threw it towards a taxi, while the second detonated as he tried to throw it at police, blowing off his limbs and injuring four other people.

He was arrested at the scene, while Khazaei was stopped as he tried to board a flight from Bangkok airport.

The plot has been linked to a car bomb attack on the wife of an Israeli official in India and a third, unsuccessful attack in Georgia.

"This sentence proves once again that Iran is engaged and in proliferation of terror all around the world," Israeli ambassador Simon Roded said.

"I hope that other countries will join Thailand in fighting this terror and bringing terrorists to justice."

Moradi, 29, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, was found guilty of attempted murder and possession of explosive devices and sentenced to life in prison.

Khazaei, 43, was convicted of the latter offence and given 15 years in jail.

Defence lawyer Kittipong Kiattanapoom said neither had indicated whether they would appeal.

"They will initially serve their sentences in Thailand," he said.

"But Thailand and Iran have a prisoner exchange treaty so they could seek to serve their remaining terms in their homeland after a period of time."

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China: Bo Xilai Retracts Bribery Confession

By Victoria Wei, Sky News Producer, in Jinan

Ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai has insisted he was forced into confessing to a bribery charge in the country's biggest political scandal in decades.

He is on trial accused of abuse of power, taking more than $3m (£2.5m) in bribes and embezzlement.

Speaking in court in Jinan, Bo denied receiving payments from Tang Xiaolin, the general manager of an international development corporation in the north-eastern city of Dalian, where he once held key posts.

Details of the trial are being released to the public

He had previously admitted to party investigators that he had accepted money.

"The matter of me taking money on three occasions, as Tang Xiaolin said, does not exist," Bo said.

"During the time I was being investigated by the Central Disciplinary Commission, I once admitted to this matter against my will ... However, at the time, I had absolutely no knowledge of the nature of the matter, my mind was a total blank.

"I hope the judge will reasonably and fairly judge, and judge this according to the laws of our country," Bo was quoted as saying in Twitter and Facebook postings released by the court.

Bo also challenged one major witness, businessman Xu Ming, who allegedly gave Bo and his family 20m yuan's (£2m) worth of properties.

Bo's supporters behind the barriers at the courthouse

He also dismissed his wife, Gu Kailai's earlier testimony which accused him of accepting bribery as "ridiculous".

Prosecutors have given new details of the allegations against Bo and his family, including accusations that Bo used both his wife, and his son, Bo Guagua, as intermediaries.

They also claim Bo instructed an employee to keep quiet about a payment of $800,000 to the Dalian authorities that was diverted into his personal account with the help of his wife.

Once the powerful party boss in the huge city of Chongqing, the charismatic Bo became the most senior leader to fall from power in years after it emerged last year his wife had killed British businessman Neil Heywood.

Gu Kailai and murder victim Neil Heywood

It was a huge embarrassment for the Chinese leadership which has been unusually open about the trial, publishing regular updates of the proceedings.

The charges against Bo also include abuse of power in covering up the murder.

The rare arrangement of publishing court proceedings via social media has attracted vast attention throughout China.

More than 300,000 people follow the court's official Weibo account and more than 100,000 users took part in discussions on the topic.

Some users called the trial "historic and unprecedented", others praised Weibo as the "best tool to beat the tigers", a phrase used by China's new president Xi Jinping when talking about tackling corruption in the country.

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Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe Sworn In As President

Robert Mugabe, Africa's oldest and one of its longest-serving leaders, has been sworn in for a new five-year term as Zimbabwean President.

The ceremony was performed at a stadium packed with thousands of jubilant supporters.

The 89-year-old pledged "to observe, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe" in an oath administered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.

Political opponents and leaders of other countries mostly stayed away from the event amid claims that July's election was deeply flawed.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has given up his legal challenge

Last week, the main opposition party in Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change, dropped a court challenge against the election result because of doubts it would receive a fair hearing.

Britain - the country's former colonial ruler - expressed its disappointment at the MDC's decision.

"I strongly believe that an independent investigation of any allegations of election irregularities would be required for the election result to be deemed credible," Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.

A Mugabe supporter

But Mr Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, remains defiant.

He has told critics of his re-election to "go hang" and has vowed to press ahead with nationalist policies forcing foreign companies to turn over majority stakes to black Zimbabweans.

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Fukushima Toxic Leak: Workers Check 300 Tanks

Workers at Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant say they have found radiation hotspots but no new leaks after checking hundreds of water tanks.

Some 300 tonnes of toxic liquid is believed to have escaped from one of the tanks, which are used to cool the broken reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which operates the plant, warned some of it may have flowed into the Pacific Ocean.

In a statement, the company said: "We have confirmed two spots where radiation doses are high."

However, the levels of water in the plant's 300 tanks have not changed and the ground around them was dry, it said.

Tsuyoshi Numajiri, a spokesman for TEPCO, previously said traces of radioactivity were detected in a drainage stream, adding: "We cannot rule out the possibility that part of the contaminated water flowed into the sea".

On Wednesday, nuclear regulators said the leak represented a level-three "serious incident" on the UN's seven-point International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), which measures radiation accidents.

It is the most serious single event since the plant was declared to be in a "state of cold shutdown" - effectively indicating it was under control at the end of 2011.

The meltdowns at the plant in March 2011, triggered by the earthquake and tsunami, were a level seven on the INES scale.

The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 is the only other incident to have been given the most serious ranking.

TEPCO said puddles of water near the leaking tank were so toxic that anyone exposed to them would receive the same amount of radiation in an hour that a nuclear plant worker in Japan is allowed to receive in five years.

The utility did not have a water-level gauge on the 1,000-tonne container, which experts say would have made it more difficult to detect the problem.

Sky's Lisa Holland, in Fukushima province, said: "People here say they're not about to leave town and the older generation say that, frankly, it's too late. They say that if there are health risks, they'll put up with them.

"Among the younger generation, perhaps those with children, lots of them have families who have lived here for many years. They have jobs and homes here and they simply don't want to relocate to other parts of the country.

"Many people in Japan don't want the kind of testing that people in other countries might call for because they don't want the answers that might bring."

The safety checks at Fukushima come after Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) chairman Shunichi Tanaka voiced concern about the safety of containers at the site.

He said: "We must carefully deal with the problem on the assumption that if one tank springs a leak the same thing can happen at other tanks."

TEPCO, which faces huge clean-up and compensation costs, has struggled to cope with the disaster.

In July, the company admitted for the first time that radioactive groundwater had been leaking outside the plant.

This month it started pumping it out to reduce leakage into the Pacific.

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Syria: Call For 'Force' If Chemicals Proven

France is seeking a reaction with "force" if a massacre in Syria involving chemical weapons is confirmed, its foreign minister has said.

"If it is proven, France's position is that there must be a reaction, a reaction that could take the form of a reaction with force," Laurent Fabius told BFM-TV.

"There are possibilities for responding," he said without elaborating.

He added that if the UN Security Council could not make a decision, one would have to be taken "in other ways".

The Syrian government has been urged to allow UN inspectors to visit the site where it is claimed more than 1,300 people died in a chemical weapons attack.

The National Coalition claims toxic gas was used by President Bashar al Assad's forces during a bombardment of rebel-held areas outside Damascus.

It said the death toll was likely to rise after a neighbourhood with many casualties was discovered in Zamalka.

Government officials said the claims were "totally false" and the international news organisations reporting them were "implicated in the shedding of Syrian blood and support terrorism".

The attacks are alleged to have taken place in Ein Tarma and Zamalka

A spokesperson from the British Foreign Office said: "Our immediate priority is to verify the facts and ensure the UN  team is granted access to investigate these latest reports.

"We believe a political solution is the best way to end the bloodshed. However, the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have said many times we cannot rule out any option, in accordance with international law, that might save innocent lives in Syria."

But Turkey's deputy prime minister has said only the government is in possession of the type of chemical weapons the opposition claim were used in the attack.

Its foreign minister said "a red line" had been crossed.

Iran, Syria's chief regional ally, has rejected claims that the regime was responsible, saying if such an attack was proven it would be down to the rebels, IRNA news agency said.

The incident comes just days after a 20-strong team of UN weapons inspectors arrived in the capital to investigate whether chemical weapons have been used in the conflict.

A survivor rests inside a mosque near Damascus

And following an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson, said: "We very much hope that we will be able to conduct the investigation.

"Dr Sellstrom and his team are in place in Damascus.  We hope that they will be given access to the area by the government  - it's a requirement of consent in situations like this.

"And that also the security situation will allow them to enter the area.

"The Secretary-General has already expressed his preparedness to conduct the investigation.

"We are in contact with the Syrian government - we hope that all other parties will co-operate so that we conduct the investigation and we hope that everybody realises the importance of ceasing hostilities."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged international supporters of the Syrian regime to "wake up to ... its murderous and barbaric nature" ahead of the UN meeting.

However Russia, which has supported the regime and vetoed past attempts to secure a tough UN resolution, suggested the attack could be a "premeditated provocation" by opposition forces.

Officials from Russia and China are reported to have blocked a stronger press statement supported by Britain, France, the US and others.

Earlier, Mr Hague said that if verified, the attack "would mark a shocking escalation in the use of chemical weapons in Syria".

He added: "Those who order the use of chemical weapons, and those who use them, should be in no doubt that we will work in every way we can to hold them to account."

Unverified footage of casualties, including children, in makeshift hospitals suffering convulsions and breathing difficulties was circulated on YouTube.

Syria is thought to have some of the world's largest stocks of chemical weapons, including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin, but the government in Damascus refuses to confirm this is the case.

On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed government forces carried out air raids and shelling in an area near where the alleged chemical attack was launched.

"Warplanes carried out several raids this morning on Khan al Sheikh and Zamalka, wounding several people" and sparking fierce clashes, the monitoring group said.

Their claims have not been independently verified.

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Lopez 'Stalker' Found Living In Her House

Police have arrested an intruder who was living in Jennifer Lopez's pool house for a week while the singer and actress was away.

Police said the mother-of-two already had an order of protection against 49-year-old John Dubis, of Rhode Island.

It is not known why the order was obtained.

According to Newsday, workers found Dubis on the Water Mill property on August 8 and called police.

He was arraigned the following day on charges of burglary, criminal contempt, stalking and possession of burglar tools. He is due in court August 28.

It is unclear how he gained access to the property but neighbours reportedly thought he was one of Lopez's staff members.

Dubis is being held on $100,000 (£64,000) bail.

There has been no comment from Lopez.

The 44-year-old, who may return to American Idol as a judge, bought the three-acre Water Mill mansion in May.

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Manning Says He Wants To Live As Woman

Bradley Manning, the US soldier sentenced for leaking classified documents, has said he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman.

"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me.

"I am Chelsea Manning. I am female," Manning said in a statement to NBC.

"Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.

"I hope that you will support me in this transition.

Manning will serve his sentence in a military prison

"I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility)," the statement read.

Manning, 25, signed the letter "Chelsea E. Manning".

The US Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery, a spokeswoman said.

Military inmates have access to mental health professionals, including a psychiatrist, psychologist, social workers and behavioural science specialists, she said.

The confession came a day after Manning was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for turning over classified files to WikiLeaks in the biggest breach of secret data in US history.

He had been found guilty of 20 charges ranging from espionage to theft for leaking more than 700,000 documents to the whistle-blowing website while working in Iraq in 2010.

Julian Assange has called the sentence a 'tactical victory'

The prosecution had sought to portray him as a traitor, asking for at least a 60-year term.

But he was not convicted of the more serious crime of aiding the enemy, which could have carried a life sentence without parole.

Manning will be eligible for parole within nine years.

His lawyers argued during the trial that Manning suffered extreme inner turmoil over his gender identity - his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body - while serving in the macho military, which at the time barred gays from serving openly.

Among the evidence was a photo of him in a blonde wig and lipstick.

Manning supporters have called for his release

The defence team also maintained he was an idealistic soldier who wanted to expose brutal truths about America's military and diplomatic corps, and generate debate over the wars and US policy.

During the sentencing phase, he apologised for the damage he caused, saying: "When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people."

His lawyer said after the sentencing that Manning plans to send a letter to Barack Obama to request a presidential pardon.

"If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society," said the text of the letter.

"I will gladly pay that price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal."

Manning is to serve his sentence in Fort Leavenworth, home to the American military's most famous prison.

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Four Rockets Fired At Israel From Lebanon

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "strike anyone who tries to harm us" after four rockets were fired towards northern Israel from Lebanon.

None of them landed in the territory, according to military officials, and no-one was hurt.

"Anyone who harms us, or tries to harm us, should know - we will strike them," the PM said in a televised address.

Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said the rockets were from a location south of the Lebanese port city of Tyre.

And one of them was intercepted by Israel's "Iron Dome" defence system.

He said the others did not land in Israel. Earlier reports said two rockets came down in an open area near the border town of Nahariya.

There was some minor damage to a vehicle and a street.

Mr Lerner said that was probably caused by falling debris from the rocket defence system.

Witnesses reported hearing explosions and sirens wailing close to Nahariya.

Keinan Engel from the town told Israel Radio he heard a siren following a loud boom nearby.

Mr Netanyahu warned of retaliation

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Israeli military said it was investigating and officials accused "global jihad" elements of being behind the attack, referring to groups either linked to or inspired by al Qaeda.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines.

South Lebanon, the scene of bitter fighting between Israel and Lebanese militant Hizbollah guerrillas in 2006, is considered a Hizbollah stronghold

There are also Palestinian radical groups and Islamic militants that could also provoke a border incident. Several such incidents in the past were claimed by radical Palestinian groups.

The Israel-Lebanon border has remained very quiet since Israel and Hizbollah militants fought each other in a month-long war seven years ago.

Sporadic incidents of rocket fire have taken place since.

But tensions have remained high, especially as Hizbollah has become increasingly involved in the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Israel fears that Syria will transfer sophisticated weapons to Hizbollah.

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Egypt: Hosni Mubarak Released From Prison

Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has been released from prison and flown by helicopter to a military hospital.

Television pictures showed him leaving Tora prison on the southern outskirts of Cairo and landing minutes later in the nearby suburb of Maadi.

It comes after a court ordered his release in relation to charges of receiving gifts from a state-owned newspaper.

He is expected to be placed under house arrest at the hospital on the orders of Egyptian prime minister Hazem el Beblawi - a decision made under a month-long state of emergency declared when police stormed protest camps in Cairo.

Mubarak could not be seen as his stretcher was taken from the helicopter and loaded into an ambulance, which was heavily guarded as it made the short journey to the military hospital.

Mubarak's supporters celebrate his release from Cairo's Tora prison

His supporters, many of whom gathered outside the prison where he was detained, celebrated the release of their former leader.

"We love Mubarak," said Mohamed Hussein.

His sister Fatheya added: "Isn't it enough that for 30 years he did not drag us into a war and let us live in dignity?"

However, some Egyptians expressed their disappointment at his release.

"He should stay in prison," said Hoda Saleh, whose brother is an inmate at Tora. "The country is facing obstacles so people are turning back to Mubarak. They don't know what they are doing."

Mubarak, 85, is believed to be suffering from a heart condition, although the severity of his health problems is disputed by critics who claim he is trying to gain public sympathy and court leniency.

He was sentenced to life in prison last year for failing to prevent the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his downfall.

However, a court accepted his appeal earlier this year and ordered a retrial, which is expected to resume next week.

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