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Russian President said that the sides were looking at a project for the creation of a transport hub in Cuba and modernization of the Mariel seaport.


Russia and Cuba are creating new conditions for the development of bilateral relations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday after his talks with Cuban President Raul Castro.

“We spoke about development of trade-and-economic ties,” Putin said, adding that the conversation also focused on new projects, such as contracts signed by Russia’s Zarubezhneft, Rosneft and Interao with their Cuban partners. For example, the latter’s project for the construction of four heat plant units was estimated at 1.2 billion euro, the Russian leader noted.

Putin also said that the sides were looking at a project for the creation of a transport hub in Cuba and modernization of the Mariel seaport.

Apart from that, “Russia is interested in placing GLONASS ground stations in Cuba,” Putin said, adding that other promising areas of cooperation included medicine and pharmaceuticals.

He praised the work of the intergovernmental commission and bilateral business councils. The next meeting of the Russian-Cuban intergovernmental commission is scheduled for this autumn.

At the Managua airport, he was welcomed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.


Russian President Vladimir Putin has changed the schedule of his Latin American tour and arrived in Nicaragua for a brief working visit.

On his way from Cuba to Argentina on Saturday, the Russian leader decided to make a stopover in Managua, where he had been officially invited earlier.

At the Managua airport, he was welcomed by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.

‘Much is yet to be done to develop our relations, especially in the area of economy, but we have good base for that,” Putin said, adding that Russia and Nicaragua had long-standing good relations. “We admire out personal courage and the courage of your people,” he told Ortega.

The Russian leader reminded that the year 2014 is a jubilee one for Russia and Nicaragua, which established diplomatic relations 70 years ago.

The Nicaraguan leader called Putin’s visit to his country a historic event. “This is the first-ever visit by the Russian president to Nicaragua, and we are very happy to welcome you here,” he said.

Ortega reassured Putin that Nicaragua supported Russia’s peace efforts. “We are ready to take part in Russia’s initiatives in maintaining peace in the entire planet and in its regions,” he said. “Conflict settlement lies not in bombing but in reasonable approaches. The most vitak thing is to lend an ear to the will of the people.”

The Russian delegation to the talks included Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian president’s aide Yuri Ushakov, and CEO of Russia’s oil major Rosneft, Igor Sechin.

Nicaragua’s delegation included Nicaraguan president’s envoy for trade-and economic and investment cooperation with Russia Laureano Ortega, Deputy Foreign Minister Valdrak Jaentschek, who is a co-chairman of the Russian-Nicaraguan intergovernmental commission on economic and research-technicalcooperation, Commander-in-Cgief of the Nicaraguan Army Julio Cesar Aviles, and President of the energy company Enatrel Salvador Mansell.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend on July 13 the final match of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he will also receive the baton of the hosting nations for the next global football championship to be held in Russia in 2018, a presidential aide said on Friday.

“The president will attend the final match on July 13,” Yuri Ushakov said. “The visit owes to Russia’s organization of the next World Cup.”

Ushakov added that following the final match of the 2014 World Cup, running on June 12-July 13, a special ceremony would be held to pass on the relay of the hosting nations to Russia.

Sepp Blatter, the president of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), earlier stated that he was waiting for President Putin in Brazil to pass him over the baton of the World Cup’s nation and that he also intended to pay a visit to Russia in September to monitor the preparation work for the championship in 2018.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over three years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Following an official ceremony held in September 2012 and attended by Blatter, Russia eventually selected 11 out of the earlier proposed 13 cities, excluding Krasnodar and Yaroslavl. The final list of the 2018 World Cup host cities includes Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

Being rumored to be the highest paid national coach in the world, Italian phenomenon Fabio Capello managed to help the Russian national team to qualify for the current World Cup in Brazil. He celebrated his 68th birthday during the Russia vs. South Korea match on Tuesday, when the game ended with 1-1 draw.

Capello’s squad will next face Russia’s Group H old-time rivals Belgium, which on Tuesday defeated Algeria 2-1 at the Belo Horizonte Stadium. Russia’s game against Algeria is scheduled for June 26.

On the eve of the Russian team’s match against South Korea, the Russian state-run pollster WCIOM provided data showing that 25% of Russians believed that the country’s national football team would battle through to the final match of the 2014 World Cup. 7% said the team would fail to clear the group stage.

Against the background of growing tension in relations with the United States and European Union, the Kremlin attaches special importance to these contacts.


Russian President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday after a regular meeting with the government will depart for the largest tour since the beginning of his third presidential term. The Kremlin reported that he plans to visit three countries of the South American continent: Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.

The Russian head of state is accustomed to long-distance and rather hard trips. In a major tour of Russia in 2010 the president visited within 10 days Tiksi, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Khabarovsk, Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk and during four days was driving a yellow Lada-Kalina car from Khabarovsk to Chita.

The current foreign trip that will last for exactly a week is similar in distance and time. In the air alone, Putin will have to spend about two days, exactly 46 hours.

During this time the Russian leader will cover quite a considerable distance. The distance from Moscow to Havana, where on July 11 the presidential program will be started, is 9580 kilometres - 12 hours and 30 minutes of flight. The distance from Havana to Buenos Aires is 6883 kilometres - nine hours of flight. After visiting the Argentine capital, Putin will depart for Brazil where he will spend four busy working days. The distance from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro is 1982 kilometres (three hours), from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia - 930 kilometres (1 hour and 30 minutes), from the Brazilian capital to Fortaleza - 2525 kilometres (two hours and 30 minutes). Due to the peculiarities of his programme, the president will have to cover the last distance twice.

The flight back from Brasilia to Moscow will take about 15 hours. During this time the president will fly 11170 kilometres. As a result, the total distance of the trip will be 35600 kilometres.

It is not the first visit to Latin America for Putin. On November 22, 2004, the Russian leader had for the first time visited Brazil at the invitation of its President then Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He also met the Cuban and Argentine leaders more than once. Against the background of growing tension in relations with the United States and European Union, the Kremlin attaches special importance to these contacts. Russia is interested in deepening its traditionally friendly ties with South America, to which testify dozens of documents on co-operation in various spheres ranging from military-technical and energy co-operation to culture and healthcare that have been prepared for signing during the forthcoming visit.

Putin will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro on July 11.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on the ratification of the agreement that will see Moscow write off 90% of cash-strapped Cuba’s $35.2 billion debt to Russia, the Kremlin press service says.

Russia will write off 90% of that debt and the remaining 10% ($3.5 billion) will be paid over the next 10 years in equal instalments every six months. Cuba's first instalment is scheduled for October 25, 2014, and the final payment will be made April 25, 2024.

The funds are to be transferred to Russia’s state development bank Vnesheconombank's (VEB) account at the National Bank of Cuba. They will be used to finance investment projects in Cuba. Russia’s companies, Zarubezhneft and Inter RAO UES, show interest in the implementation of these projects.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on July 10 that Putin would visit Cuba during the Latin America tour. Putin will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro and leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro. Dozens of documents are expected to be signed on the results of the talks.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro.


Russia and Cuba have signed a package of cooperation documents. The signing ceremony was held on Friday in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro after their talks.

The documents included a bilateral statement on non-placement of weapons in outer space and an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the area of international information security.

Apart from that, the sides signed a number of memorandums, including a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries’ ministries of culture; a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries’ ministries of industry and trade; a memorandum of cooperation between the two countries’ ministries of health in the area of protection of men’s health; a memorandum on the development of a special centre for training fire fighters and rescuers.

The sides also signed a number of documents on practical cooperation. Thus, Russia’s oil major Rosneft and Cuba’s state oil company Cupet signed an agreement on cooperation in the area of increasing production at mature oil fields. The document provides for joint efforts on comprehensive survey at oil fields and wells in Cuba to outline possibilities for the optimization of oil production, increasing efficiency and works to be done to boost reservoir recovery.

Russia’s energy company Inter RAO Export and Cuba's Union Electrica signed a contract for the construction of four 200 megawatt units for the Maximo Gomez power plant. Apart from that, the Russian company signed a memorandum on the production and use of LED-based devices with the electronics group of the Cuban ministry of industry and trade.

Another Russian company, RusHydro, and Cuba’s Union Electrica signed a memorandum of understanding.

After the wreath-laying ceremony, Putin visited the Jose Marti museum and left a note in the Book of Honorary Guests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin who is paying a working visit to Cuba laid a wreath to the monument to Cuba’s national hero Jose Marti on Havana’s Revolution Square on Friday. This is a traditional protocol event for the leaders of foreign countries who visit Cuba.

The memorial is located on Revolution Square, which is the venue for major national events of the Cuban people. It is surrounded by the buildings of the Ministries of Revolutionary Armed Forces; Communications and Internal Affairs; the Jose Marti National Library and the National Theatre.

The Palace of the Revolution is the central building on the square. It is the seat of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party; the State Council (parliament) and the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Cuba.

After the wreath-laying ceremony, Putin visited the Jose Marti museum and left a note in the Book of Honorary Guests.

After that, the Russian head of state headed for negotiations with Raul Castro, chairman of the Cuban State Council and the Council of Ministers.

The unique project allows maintaining the intellectual potential that ensured the creation of the Energia rocket, which has the best technical characteristics in the world.


The Russian government has ordered to prepare proposals for the further development of the unique floating cosmodrome Sea Launch, Energia Space Corporation President Vitaly Lopota told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

"There are instructions from (Prime Minister Dmitry) Medvedev and (Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry) Rogozin to continue the Sea Launch (project) and prepare proposals for its prospects," he said.

The unique project allows maintaining the intellectual potential that ensured the creation of the Energia rocket, which has the best technical characteristics in the world, he noted.

"We maintain the technologies thanks to the Sea Launch project. Development of future super heavy rockets also largely depends on whether we will be able to maintain it," Lopota stressed.

The Sea Lunch international company was founded in 1995 with the participation of the American company Boeing, Russia's Energia, Norway's Kvaerner and Ukrainian’s design office Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash.

It is the major commercial international project to develop and use a sea-based rocket launch complex. The company and the floating cosmodrome are set up with the aim to fulfil the idea to launch rockets from the equator. As a result of the reorganization of the company in 2010, Energia Oversees Limited (the Energia corporation's subsidiary) received 95% of shares, three percent went to Boeing and two percent to the Norwegian shipbuilding company Eicher Solutions. Energia supplies DM boosters used as rocket stages to carry a payload. The corporation is also the head organization in the rocket sector and a technical controller of missions.

Once their espionage cases are resolved, some former North Korean spies find that life in the South can be pretty good. They write books, land TV gigs, work for think tanks and in general benefit from their new home's fascination with their old homeland.

In this April 11, 2014 photo, Won Jeong-hwa wipes a tear during an interview at her apartment in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea.

Won Jeong-hwa is not one of those spies.

A year after finishing a five-year espionage sentence for using sex to obtain military secrets and plotting to assassinate intelligence officers, Won is a 40-year-old single mother eking out a living on an $800 monthly government subsidy.

Her espionage work is not taken seriously enough in South Korea for her to cash in on her past, yet she's also too notorious to find an ordinary job. She says she has been fired from several waitressing and cleaning jobs after employers learned about her past, which she had attempted to conceal.

"I've thought about killing myself many times," Won said in a recent interview at her small apartment in Gunpo, just south of Seoul.

She has two big strikes against her. There are allegations that she was merely a low-level informant whose deeds were inflated by South Korean officials eager to make Pyongyang look bad, and by reporters digging for a sexy story. Additionally, the sexual nature of her crimes carries a stigma in this conservative country.

Won was imprisoned in 2008 after a court ruled that she posed as an ordinary North Korean defector, then used sex to extract secrets from South Korean military officers. The media began calling her "North Korea's Mata Hari" in reference to an exotic dancer from the Netherlands who used sex to obtain military secrets during World War I.

North Korea accused South Korea of cooking up a spy scandal to tarnish Pyongyang's image and said Won was a criminal.

After Won was released, she was a popular guest on TV talk shows where she spoke about her harsh, elite spy training. She said she disobeyed Pyongyang's orders to assassinate two South Korean army intelligence officers with poison.

She also talked about how she fell in love with a junior army officer — the "man of my life." He was later imprisoned for passing her secrets including a list of North Korean defectors even after learning she was a spy.

The attention caused South Korean media to revisit her case. Some reporters questioned the value of her espionage work, and raised suspicions based on testimony by North Korean defectors who said they knew Won and her family members in the North.

Won's 2008 court verdict said she was trained at a special operations unit in Pyongyang and was a daughter of an agent killed on a spy mission in South Korea in 1974. But Won's stepfather, Kim Dong-soon, who came to South Korea in 2007, said in an interview that Won's biological father was an ordinary laborer who died of a heart attack, and that Won was a high school dropout who had nothing to do with special operations forces. Won denies Kim's allegations.

In the verdict and in interviews, it was said that North Korea first sent Won to South Korea in 2001 to take photos of the exteriors of U.S. military installations and to collect South Korean newspaper editorials about North Korea. People dubious of Won's elite status consider that low-level spy work.

Some defectors who met Won before her 2008 arrest say she was often incoherent and unprofessional and could not have been a highly trained spy.

"I believe that she was exploited as an informant. ... She wasn't even worth being called a spy," said Kim Yong-hwa, a defector-turned-activist. He said he once rejected Won's request to meet with a high-profile North Korean defector because she rambled too much.

A key debunker of Won's espionage record is Won herself. She has said in media interviews that she was pressured by prosecutors to provide false testimony, particularly about her use of sex in spy work.

The trial verdict and an investigation by prosecutors said she slept with numerous men, including South Korean officers and her boss at an agency where she worked. Won said she used sex as a spying tool only once, to steal personnel management-related documents from an army major's home computer.

She said she couldn't resist pressure by prosecutors who gave her alcohol and urged her to confess during questioning. They "manufactured (the story of) my relations with men," she said. "I'm not a Mata Hari."

Prosecutors have dismissed Won's claims.

South Korea has a history of forgiving former spies and assassins, though they are still sometimes ostracized. Their careers in the media often depend on whether they were involved in high-profile cases that captured global attention, and whether they followed Seoul's propaganda line against the North.

Won said a prosecutor told her during her questioning that she could make a new start in the South by following in the footsteps of Kim Hyon-hui, a North Korean agent sentenced to death for bombing a South Korean jet in 1987, killing all 115 passengers aboard. Kim was later pardoned and wrote a best-selling autobiography. She often appears on TV to speak critically of North Korea.

Several other North Koreans who once attacked the South now embrace it. One of the 31 North Korean commandos who launched a brazen mission to assassinate South Korea's president in 1968 is now a Christian pastor who lectures about the North. A North Korean crew member of a submarine that ran aground in the South, and who was captured alive after a massive manhunt that left 25 other comrades dead or missing, is a lecturer for the South Korean navy. A spy arrested after a deadly shootout in 1995 works for a think tank run by the South's spy agency and wrote a book about his mission.

Won, on the other hand, feels trapped. No South Korean TV station wants her as an expert because of reports that she may not have been an elite spy. Finding work unrelated to her past is also impossible, she said, because no one wants to hire an unskilled woman with a criminal espionage record.

One of the jobs she gained and quickly lost was at a noodle restaurant. She said a former colleague later told her the boss had been worried she would poison the food.

The army officer Won fell in love with has been released, but they are no longer in touch. Nor is the father of her 12-year-old daughter in the picture: She said he is a South Korean businessman she met in China, where she had been assigned to find and repatriate North Korean defectors before she was sent to South Korea.

Won said the government assistance she gets was not enough for her to even buy a school uniform for her daughter. A center that helps female ex-inmates gave one to her.

Many defectors shun her. She said her neighbors once asked that she move, and that her daughter's friends have been told by their parents to stay away from the girl.

"I've told my daughter she should go to an orphanage because she'd be happier living there," Won said, sobbing. "I want to move to a country where no one knows me."

Police are investigating another body part found in a Long Island town.

The discovery Thursday comes a day after authorities found a severed arm in the yard of a Hempstead home.

Homicide detectives in Nassau and Suffolk counties are investigating.

They're trying to determine if the body parts are connected to a partially dismembered body found Tuesday in a municipal parking lot in Bay Shore, about 25 miles east of Hempstead.

Those remains were found by two people who were walking to the Fire Island ferry terminal about a half-mile away.

Tuesday's discovery led Suffolk County police to search the nearby Gilgo Beach area where 10 sets of human remains were found in 2011.

Police say there are no known links between the Bay Shore body and Gilgo, but they're investigating as a precaution.

Twice last year, Alix Tichelman found herself alone with a man suffering from a drug overdose. The first time she called 911. The second time, police say, she just walked away.

Alix Tichelman, left, of Folsom, Calif., confers with public defender Diane August during her arraignment in Santa Cruz Superior Court in Santa Cruz, Calif., July 9, 2014.

Tichelman, 26, faces manslaughter charges in California after police say the alleged high-priced prostitute calmly collected her things and left as Google executive Forrest Hayes lay dying on his yacht in November following a heroin overdose. About two months earlier in Georgia, she made a panicked call to 911 as her boyfriend Dean Riopelle, owner of a popular Atlanta music venue, suffered an overdose in their home.

Tichelman was never charged in Riopelle's death, but police said Thursday they're going to re-examine that case.

"Both subjects in these cases died of heroin overdoses so there's just several factors we want to look at to make sure that we didn't miss anything," Milton police Capt. Shawn McCarty said.

Police in California say Tichelman had many clients in the wealthy Silicon Valley, but it wasn't clear how long she may have been involved in prostitution. Police there also said that, after Hayes' death, she had done online searches for how to defend herself legally after administering a lethal dose of heroin.

No one answered the door Thursday at the two-story home in the upscale Folsom, California, neighborhood listed as the address for Tichelman's father. The front door was damaged, with a broken door handle and scuff marks on the wood.

A message taped to the door and dated July 8 read, "Please no visitors or media or other contact with the residents, respect our privacy and our property."

Neighbor Brad Parks, who lives three doors down, said the family moved in a year or two ago. He said he didn't know much about the parents and had seen Alix Tichelman just two or three times, most recently about two weeks ago.

Numerous social media postings, photos and other articles online suggest Tichelman was pursuing a career as a fetish model and a life with Riopelle — one photo posted on her Facebook page shows her displaying a diamond "promise ring" given to her by Riopelle.

Riopelle and Tichelman had been dating for about two and a half years and lived together, said Riopelle's sister, Dee Riopelle.

In a 2012 interview with a fetish magazine, fIXE, under the pseudonym AK Kennedy, Tichelman describes herself as a model, writer and makeup artist.

She also said she was interested in bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism, or BDSM. She said she and Riopelle would go to clubs, with her wearing a collar and leash.

Photos that accompany her interview show her in sexually suggestive poses wearing a variety of skimpy outfits, including a studded leather jacket with thigh-high fishnet stockings.

Riopelle was the lead singer of a rock 'n' roll band called the Impotent Sea Snakes, known for its wild stage shows and sexually explicit lyrics. Online videos show the band performing at a massive music festival in Germany, with members dressed in drag. Riopelle, under the stage name "13," is wearing a long, pink wig, a leopard-print jacket, platform boots and tight pants.

Back in Georgia, Riopelle also was known for owning the Masquerade, an Atlanta music venue that is a popular destination for rock, punk and metal acts. Housed in a former mill, the venue is composed of three levels: "heaven" upstairs; "purgatory" on the main floor; and "hell" downstairs.

He was also known for his love of monkeys, as evidenced by his well-kept property in Milton. Just to the right of Riopelle's home stand large animal enclosures, which include a barrel strung up by rope and fencing extending to the top.

Riopelle went to the University of Florida and got a degree in construction engineering. But when he was told by a boss to cut his hair and wear a bigger tie, he decided engineering wasn't for him, his sister said. He opened his first bar, also called the Masquerade, in the historic Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida, his sister said. About 25 years ago, he moved to Atlanta and opened the Masquerade there.

Over the years, he also opened several sports bars and a fetish bar, his sister said.

"He was very, very wise when it came to business sense," Dee Riopelle said. "Everything Dean touched turned to gold."

In September, however, he and Tichelman's lives took a dark turn. On Sept. 6, a drunken Tichelman called police, saying Riopelle threw her to the ground, according to a police report. Riopelle told officers that she had taken pills and drank alcohol, and had been stage diving and exposing her breasts that night at the Masquerade. He said he took her home because he did not approve.

Riopelle also told officers that she bit him on the finger and threatened to hit herself and tell police Riopelle had beaten her. A neighbor confirmed hearing Tichelman say that. She was charged with battery and arrested; Riopelle was not.

Less than two weeks later, a panicked Tichelman called 911, saying her boyfriend had overdosed on something and wouldn't respond. She told a dispatcher that his eyes were open but that he was unconscious, describing his breathing as "on and off." In the 911 tapes released Thursday, she can be heard saying, "Hello, Dean? Dean, are you awake?"

Tichelman tried for five minutes to revive him before calling 911, according to a police report. She said she had been in the shower when she heard a crash and came out to find Riopelle unconscious. Tichelman said she did not know how much drugs Riopelle had taken, but that he had been on a "bender the last few days," according to the police report.

Riopelle died at a hospital a week later. An autopsy report listed his death as an accidental overdose of heroin, oxycodone and alcohol. Tichelman had told the dispatcher that he had been taking painkillers and drinking.

Police say surveillance video from the Google executive's yacht shows Tichelman's next deadly encounter with heroin in California, on Nov. 23.

Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark gives the following account from the video:

Tichelman prepares the heroin to a liquid and injects it into Hayes' arm. Shortly after, Hayes clutches his chest, near his heart. Tichelman tries to prop him up, but he then loses consciousness.

Tichelman then starts picking up her belongings, including the needle, and cleans up a counter while stepping over Hayes several times. During that time, Tichelman calmly drinks a glass of wine and surveys the scene.

Tichelman then goes outside the cabin of the boat on the dock, looks back inside, then pulls down a window blind, closes a door and leaves.

"Never does she call 911 or call out to others in nearby boats for help. She never tries to administer any aid to him," Clark said. "She is more concerned about getting herself out and concealing evidence than helping Mr. Hayes."

Clark said that investigators learned that Tichelman later did online searches "on how to defend herself after giving a lethal dose of heroin."

Investigators also learned Tichelman planned to leave California late last month, possibly for Georgia, and maybe even leave the country, Clark said.

A suburban Atlanta man jailed on charges he murdered his 22-month-old son by intentionally leaving the child strapped in an overheated car to die has been fired from his job at Home Depot Inc, the company said Thursday.

Justin Ross Harris looks on at the Cobb County Magistrate Court in Marietta, Georgia, July 3, 2014.

A spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based home improvement chain confirmed that Justin Ross Harris, 33, of Marietta, Georgia, had been terminated from the company, which had employed him as a computer specialist.

But the spokeswoman, Catherine Woodling, declined to give a reason for the company's action.

“We don't discuss the details of individual personnel matters,” Woodling said.

At a preliminary court hearing last week, a police detective testified that Harris was exchanging nude pictures over the Internet with women other than his wife while his son, Cooper, was strapped in a car seat on June 18 in the Home Depot parking lot, dying from the heat.

Harris told police he forgot to drop Cooper off at the daycare center on his way to work and only discovered the child after he left the office that afternoon and was driving to a movie theater.

Prosecutors, however, said Harris deliberately left Cooper in the car to perish because he wanted to live a “child free life.” A judge ordered Harris to remain jailed without bond, ruling there was probable cause for felony murder and child cruelty charges against him.

Harris’ wife, Leanna, has not been charged in the case, but Atlanta attorney Lawrence Zimmerman confirmed to Reuters Thursday that he has been retained to represent her. Zimmerman declined further comment.

Cobb County police spokesman Michael Bowman would neither confirm or deny on Thursday that Leanna Harris is a suspect.

“She has been interviewed, and this case is still active and fluid,” Bowman said.

Authorities said Cooper Harris died of heat stroke. Results of toxicology tests on the child were normal, police said Thursday.

A man accused of killing six members of his ex-wife's family, including four children, after forcing his way into their suburban Houston home collapsed in court twice Friday as a prosecutor read out details of the crime.

Ronald Lee Haskell appears in court on Friday, July 11, 2014, in Houston.

A shackled Ronald Lee Haskell was standing before a state district judge during a probable cause hearing when he fell to the ground. Deputies lifted him to his feet and the 33-year-old Haskell stood for about another minute before collapsing again.

He was then lifted into a chair and wheeled from the courtroom.

"His face, he obviously lost blood in his face, and his knees buckled," said Haskell's attorney, Doug Durham. "He's scared. I think he has a limited mental capacity of what's going on."

Before the collapses, Haskell had acknowledged with a quiet "Yes" a couple of questions put to him by State District Judge Mark Kent Ellis about his legal rights. Ellis ordered Haskell held without bond.

"Maybe reality is finally setting in," said Tammy Thomas, the lead Harris County assistant district attorney in the case. "It's not television, this is not fiction. He is facing his consequences."

Thomas said she expected a grand jury to issue a capital murder indictment as a result of Wednesday's fatal shootings of Stephen and Katie Stay and four of their children, ranging in age from 4 to 14.

Authorities have said Haskell was searching for his ex-wife, Katie Stay's sister, when he came to the home in the northern Houston suburb of Spring.

He tied up the family and put them face-down on the floor before shooting each in the back of the head, according to investigators. The family had refused to say where Haskell could find his ex-wife.

The couple's 15-year-old daughter survived by playing dead after she was shot and told police Haskell was planning to shoot other relatives, according to court documents. She suffered a fractured skull when a bullet grazed her head but was able to call 911 and provide Haskell's identity and description.

Police located Haskell's car and took him into custody after a three-hour standoff.

Durham, appointed by the court to represent Haskell, said his focus will be Haskell's mental condition "and whether he was legally responsible at the time of his conduct."

"I think the evidence is going to show ... he is a troubled individual and he has a history of mental illness," Durham said. "Unfortunately, the delivery of the health care has failed in this system."

Thomas said that strategy was not surprising, "because there aren't many explanations otherwise for him to grasp." But she said the probable cause in the case showed a "determined effort involved, the planning, the conscious decisions."

She said she would present evidence to a grand jury to seek a capital murder indictment and a decision on the death penalty would be made later by elected District Attorney Devon Anderson.

Katie Stay's father, Roger Lyon, said in a statement issued Thursday through the Harris County Sheriff's Office that his hospitalized granddaughter was expected to make a full recovery.

Stephen Stay was a real estate broker. Katie Stay was a helpful presence around the neighborhood, planning Halloween and Christmas parties for children, said neighbor Viri Palacios. Katie Stay also went to Utah last fall to help her sister escape her relationship with Haskell, neighbors said.

A divorce decree issued in February shows Haskell and Melanie Kaye Haskell were married in California in 2002. They separated in 2013.

Haskell had been jailed in 2008 on charges of assault and domestic violence in Logan, Utah. Those charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal, according to Logan authorities. Last year, Haskell was served with a protective order from his ex-wife. It was dismissed after the couple filed for divorce, online court records show.

Haskell's mother also had reported an argument with her son July 2 at her home in San Marcos, California, during which Haskell physically restrained her when she tried to leave the house to call for help, the San Diego County sheriff's office said Thursday. Haskell left after a few hours, and his mother contacted 911, the statement says. She later obtained a restraining order against her son, according to the statement.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel's massive air campaign in Gaza topped 100 people Friday as rockets fired by militants reached deeper into Israel — and for the first time in the fighting, struck from neighboring Lebanon.


Gaza militants already have fired more than 550 rockets against Israel in the offensive. The Israeli military says it has hit more than 1,100 targets, mostly what it identified as rocket-launching sites, bombarding the territory on average every five minutes.

In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike Friday hit the home of a well-known Islamic Jihad leader. Gaza health officials said strikes overnight killed a total of eight people, raising the death toll to at least 98. A later strike pushed the tally over 100 to go along with some 670 wounded, officials said.

In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, residents sifted through the remains of a four-story building that was struck and scattered for cover as another airstrike landed nearby.

Rocket fire continued in earnest from Gaza toward various locations in southern and central Israel, including toward Israel's international airport. The commercial center of Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion airport also heard warning sirens Friday but these rockets were intercepted and there was no disturbance to Israel's air traffic. Hamas says it intends to fire rockets at the airport and warned foreign airlines to stop flying to Israel.

Israel has shot down at least 110 incoming rockets thus far with its "Iron Dome" defense system.

According to media reports, the Uruguayan player’s transfer fee stands at about €88 million

Spanish football club Barcelona has agreed to sign a 5-year contract with Liverpool striker Uruguayan Luis Suarez, the official websites of the football clubs said on Friday.


Next week Suarez will fly to Barcelona for a medical examination, and later sign a contract. The footballer will play under number 9 in the Spanish football club.

“It is with a heavy heart that I leave Liverpool for a new life and new challenges in Spain,” Suarez said. “Both me and my family have fallen in love with this club (Liverpool) and with the city, but most of all I have fallen in love with the incredible fans. You have always supported me and we, as a family, will never forget it. We will always be Liverpool supporters,” the footballer added.

“I hope you can all understand why I have made this decision. This club did all they could to get me to stay, but playing and living in Spain, where my wife’s family live, is a lifelong dream and ambition. I believe now the timing is right,” Suarez said.

According to media reports, the Uruguayan player’s transfer fee stands at about €88 million. Suarez is currently serving a four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini during the World Cup match.

This would not include areas that immediately affected German security interests such as security of the nation's soldiers in Afghanistan or terrorist threats.

German government authorities charged with secret service operations have ordered state intelligence services to reduce co-operation with American opposite numbers after an embarrassing spy scandal souring relations between Berlin and Washington.

Germany's popular tabloid newspaper Bild reported on Friday a new directive that co-operation would be cut to the minimum. This would not include areas that immediately affected German security interests such as security of the nation's soldiers in Afghanistan or terrorist threats, Bild said, quoting intelligence service officials in Berlin.

The directive was “a direct response” to a deepening transatlantic espionage scandal in which two German state employees are suspected of having spied for the US, the newspaper said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government on Thursday expelled the top US intelligence official in Berlin over allegations of espionage - a move described by experts as being similar to “capital punishment” in diplomatic relations between allied countries.

The US embassy official was asked to leave after the Federal Prosecutor began investigating spying practices, according to a statement from Merkel’s Chancellery.

Uproar escalated when officials confirmed a second probe into espionage, compounding a rift over allegations that the US National Security Agency had conducted mass surveillance and hacked Merkel’s mobile phone. Expulsion followed repeated demands by Germany for the US to co-operate in solving the cases.

German lawmakers were briefed by investigators in Berlin on two cases of suspected espionage, the first involving a 31-year-old employee of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, charged with passing classified documents. The second involved a suspect identified as a Defense Ministry employee.

Merkel, speaking in China on July 7, called the 31-year-old's arrest a “serious case” that, if true, violated “trusting co-operation” between allies.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Cuba on an official visit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Fidel Castro in Havana in 2000

Putin will have talks with leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro and Cuban President Raul Castro. A package of documents is planning to be signed after the talks.

Putin is also expected to lay wreaths at the Memorial to the Soviet Internationalist Soldier and to the monument of Jose Marti, Cuba’s national hero.

This is the Russian president’s second visit to Cuba. Earlier, he visited the Island of Freedom in December 2000.

Havana will be the first stopover of Putin’s Latin America tour. Upon completion of the visit to Cuba he will leave for Buenos Aires for talks with the Argentine leadership. Putin will visit Rio de Janeiro to attend the closing ceremony of 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and take up the baton of 2018 World Cup in Russia. The Russian president will hold talks with Brazil’s leadership and the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit in Fortaleza.

The Russian ministry assesses the incident as “Washington’s another unfriendly step” and expects explanations from the US.

Russian consul in San Francisco should visit suspected Russian hacker being held on Guam

Russian diplomats will visit Roman Seleznyov who is under custody on the US island Guam delivered there by the US special service from the Maldives, on July 13-14, twitted Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Konstantin Dolgov.

“We’ll insist on considering his lawful rights and interests, including procedural rights as a Russian citizen,” said Dolgov.

The Ministry earlier reported Seleznyov had been detained on July 5 at the international airport in the capital of the Maldives, Malй. On the same day, he was put on a private plane by the U.S. Secret Service and delivered to Guam. The fact has been confirmed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Russian ministry assesses the incident as “Washington’s another unfriendly step” and expects explanations from the US.

The US investigators suspect the Russian citizen of stealing and selling data about the US citizens’ credit cards from October 2009 to February 2011. In March of 2011, Washington court pressed 29 charges in absentia that can face Seleznyov with a several-decade imprisonment and million-dollar fines. Besides, Nevada initiated a criminal case on suspicion of participating in a criminal group of blackmailers.

Earlier on Friday, Seleznyov’s father, the Duma deputy Valery Seleznyov, told  the Russian Consul in San Francisco would visit Roman on July 13.

President Vladimir Putin Russia was interested in strong, economically stable and politically independent, united Latin America that is becoming an important part of the emerging polycentric world order.

“In this region, the traditions of love of freedom and respect for other nations and cultures are strong, and there are practically no serious intergovernmental conflicts or the wish to pursue the divide and rule policy. On the contrary, nations in the region are ready for joint action to protect their shared Latin American home,” Putin said in an exclusive interview to the Latin American news agency Prensa Latina ahead of his South American tour, during which he will visit Cuba, Argentina and Brazil.

He believes that “integration processes in Latin America reflect to a large extent the worldwide regional integration tendencies and indicate the pursuit of political consolidation in the region and reinforcement of its influence on global affairs.”

Putin highlighted the role of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). “It is meant as a union of all the countries on the continent, and its aim is to become a major forum for dealing with regional issues without the participation and obtrusive interference of external forces. We welcome the CELAC’s readiness to establish connections outside the region, including with Russia,” he said.

The president recalled that “last year, Moscow saw the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia and the CELAC's extended troika. Now it is important to define concrete areas of cooperation. We are ready for this work.”

Putin said that the establishment of contacts between CELAC and the countries taking part in the Customs Union and Common Economic Space would open up many new opportunities. “Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are deepening the integration process. In May, we signed the Agreement on Establishing the Eurasian Economic Union, which will come into force on January 1, 2015,” he said.

In his opinion, this will create one of the world’s biggest common markets with a population of almost 170 million and free movement of capital, goods, services, and labour. This market operates on the basis of universal principles and WTO norms and rules. “This will make it a lot easier to do business in the Eurasian region and broaden opportunities for developing mutually advantageous business contacts with foreign partners,” he said.

He reaffirmed that Russia is open to substantive interaction with all integration formations in the Latin American region. That includes the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the Pacific Alliance, the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

“It is vital that all these associations, as they develop their external relations, should work towards the unity of Latin American countries, and not for their separation, both politically and ideologically. We hope that consolidation of multilateral cooperation will be an additional factor in the successful development of our bilateral relations with Latin American partners,” Putin said.

President Vladimir Putin said athletes, coaches, referees and fans would be able to enter Russia without visas during the next World Cup to be hosted by Russia in 2018.

“Russia plans to take the FIFA World Cup a step further in some areas. For example, we passed a federal law establishing a special visa regime for foreigners who help organise the 2018 Championship, and enabling not only the official participants, such as the athletes, referees, coaches and others, but also the fans to visit Russia without visas right before and during the competition. The history of football championships has never seen anything like this before,” Putin told ITAR-TASS ahead of his Latin American tour beginning on Friday, July 11.

“In 2018, Russia will host this most popular global sporting event for the first time in its history,” the president said and promised that the authorities would “do everything possible to give the world an unforgettable football celebration and show genuine Russian hospitality”.

He recalled that “in February-March, we successfully hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi and know exactly what a challenge it is to organise such a huge event. We are analysing Brazil’s experience very carefully” and the relevant Russian ministries and agencies were in constant contact with their Brazilian colleagues.

“Representatives of several ministries and organisations, including the Ministry of Sports and the Russia-2018 Organising Committee, are in constant contact with Brazilian colleagues. They have already visited Brazil and I am sure they will go there again more than once,” he said.

Putin expressed confidence that the “the World Cup in Brazil will be a bright page in the history of football” and wished the Brazilian organisers “every success in completing it”.

The president said was trying to follow the World Cup Cup “as far as my work schedule allows”.

“The Latin American countries’ teams have put on a display of football that has real flare and talent. Unfortunately, our team did not leave the group, but, in my opinion, they tried their best,” he said.

At the invitation of Brazil and FIFA Presidents, Putin will visit the final match of the Championship to attend the ceremony of passing the baton from Brazil to Russia.