Chefs pay tribute to 'visionary' Egon Ronay

Egon Ronay, the world famous food critic who has died aged 94, was remembered on Saturday as the man who revolutionised British cooking

Leading chefs paid tribute to the Hungarian gastronome, describing him as a "visionary" with unparalleled influence on the restaurant industry.

Ronay died on Saturday morning at his Berkshire home, near the village of Yattendon, after a short illness. His wife Barbara and his daughters, Edina and Esther, were by his side.

He is regarded as one of the most important figures in transforming British eating habits, whose guides launched the era of restaurant reviews.

The first Egon Ronay guide was published in 1957 and in the following decades it came to be viewed as a "restaurant-goers Bible" with the potential to define whether an establishment failed or succeeded.

While his face may not have been instantly recognisable, the Egon Ronay plaque was displayed in restaurant windows across the country.

Raymond Blanc, the Michelin-starred French chef, said that Ronay had launched his career after giving him an award, which he proudly put up at Les Quat'Saisons, his first restaurant.

"He was the most powerful man in food. To receive an accolade from him was a huge deal," he said.

Mr Blanc said he had "a tremendous amount of respect" for the critic, who he last saw only a few weeks ago.

"He was a visionary. He was the very first critic.

"Great Britain had been described as the worst possible country to eat in and he challenged people's food consciousness. He's part of the revolution we're seeing today in this country with great chefs reconnecting with tradition and producing great food".

Ronay was born in Budapest to the son of a prominent restaurateur, but emigrated alone from communist Hungary after World War II and opened a French restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, called the Marquee.

He was persuaded to write a food column for the Daily Telegraph by Fanny Cradock, the television chef, who became a fan after visiting his restaurant.

Parents of rescued teenage sailor Abby Sunderland accused of risking her life

Sailing experts condemn family for allowing 16-year-old American girl to attempt a solo round-the-world voyage

A teenage girl attempting to sail solo around the world was rescued yesterday in a remote spot of the Indian Ocean, bringing to a successful conclusion the dramatic bid to save her life.

Sixteen-year-old American Abby Sunderland was picked up from her stricken vessel by a dinghy launched from the French fishing boat Ile de la Reunion.

Her father, Laurence Sunderland, speaking to reporters outside their California home, said his daughter was safe and well: "She got out of her vessel with the clothes on her back, and we are just really excited and ecstatic that Abigail is in safe hands. She was in good spirits… she talked to her mother".

However, the same cannot be said of Sunderland's yacht, Wild Eyes. The vessel was apparently pounded by gigantic waves that had destroyed its mast, which in turn knocked out her satellite communications equipment. The yacht was then effectively left floundering midway between Africa and Australia. It is likely to be allowed to sink.

Sunderland had activated an emergency beacon which started a huge search and rescue operation involving Australia, America and France. Numerous ships became involved in the hunt, as well as a chartered jet which spotted the teenager late on Thursday. Sunderland was able to radio the plane and say report that was fit and had food and water supplies.

The rescue itself was not without incident as rough seas saw the captain of the French boat fall into the water. "He was fished out in difficult conditions," said a statement from the French territory of Reunion Island.

Harvard student says he faces deportation from US

BOSTON — An undocumented Harvard University student is facing deportation to Mexico after being detained by immigration authorities at a Texas airport, the student said Friday.

Eric Balderas, 19, who just completed his first year at Harvard, said he was detained Monday by immigration authorities when he tried to board a plane from his hometown of San Antonio to Boston using a consulate card from Mexico and his student ID.

"I’d made it through before so I thought this time wouldn’t be any different," Balderas said Friday in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "But once ICE picked me up I really didn’t know what to think and I was starting to break down".

Balderas, who previously had used a Mexican passport to board planes but recently lost it, said he became despondent and thought he was being deported to Mexico immediately, only to be released the next day. He said he has a scheduled July 6 immigration hearing.

"All I can think about was my family," said Balderas, who doesn’t remember living in Mexico.

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Mark Medvesky, confirmed that Balderas was released and said his hearing will likely be in Boston.

Harvard officials immediately threw support behind Balderas.

"Eric Balderas has already demonstrated the discipline and work ethic required for rigorous university work, and has, like so many of our undergraduates, expressed an interest in making a difference in the world," said Christine Heenan, Harvard’s vice president of public affairs and communications.

The case also sparked a buzz on social media sites and among student immigrant activists who see the Balderas situation as the ideal test case to push the proposed DREAM act — a federal bill that would allow illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship via college enrollment or military service.

Mario Rodas, who was an undocumented student in Chelsea, a small city near Boston, until Sen. John Kerry and the late Sen. Edward Kennedy came to his aid, launched a Facebook page Friday highlighting the Balderas case. "He’s an excellent student and an example of someone this country needs," said Rodas.

‘Take down your flags’

A ban on flying the England flag during the World Cup has been imposed on furious Cambridge families – as it could be “offensive”.

Patriotic residents of Riverside have been ordered to take down their flags in a move branded “ridiculous”.

Even Prime Minister David Cameron is flying the England colours from 10 Downing Street to help unite the nation behind the team.

But scores of St Bartholomew’s Court residents have been barred from putting up the flag by property managers Atlantis Estates.

A letter to residents from subsidiary estate managers Wherry Housing Association on behalf of Atlantis Estates, said: “It is considered the flags are considered a nuisance and could be offensive to others”.

One resident, Bridie Lenagham, who served in the Army, was ordered to take down her England flag from her balcony ahead of the team’s opening World Cup game against the USA.

But the 32-year-old, who now works for Cambridge City Council’s Streetscene, has hung the flag inside her window which overlooks the River Cam.

She said: “I just think the whole thing is ridiculous. It’s only for a couple of weeks. It’s disappointing the company has done this. They let us put up Christmas trees. Some might say that’s offensive, so why not the England flag?

Shoot-to-kill in Kyrgyz south amid deadly ethnic unrest

Kyrgyzstan's interim government has given security forces shoot-to-kill powers in a bid to stop ethnic fighting which has taken nearly 80 lives.

It also declared a partial mobilisation of the army to combat "destructive forces and criminal elements".

Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have been fleeing what they say are ethnic Kyrgyz gangs in the southern city of Osh.

Almost 1,000 people were also hurt in the worst unrest since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's overthrow in April.

Russia says it does not plan to intervene despite a Kyrgyz request.

And without international assistance there are fears the interim authorities in Kyrgyzstan may struggle to contain the conflict, the BBC's Rayhan Demytrie reports.

The south of Kyrgyzstan, an ex-Soviet Central Asian state of 5.5 million people, is home to an ethnic Uzbek minority of almost one million.

The latest violence has become the biggest challenge for the new government so far.

Flashy New Hardware, Not Consoles, Will Dominate E3

This year’s E3 Expo is about the future of videogames, as always. But it’s also about delaying the future for as long as possible: Instead of rolling out new gaming machines, the big players are adding flashy new tech to systems already on shelves in an attempt to extend existing consoles’ life cycles and attract new players.

E3, aka the Electronic Entertainment Expo, opens Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Microsoft’s E3 focus will be Project Natal, a camera-based device that lets Xbox 360 players control the onscreen action using body movements. (Microsoft introduced Natal at last year’s E3.) Sony will highlight PlayStation Move, its version of the Wii motion controller, and make a big move into 3-D stereoscopic gaming.

It’s arguable that Natal and Move will differentiate Microsoft’s and Sony’s aging consoles more than a faster CPU and better graphics would, anyway.

“What would an Xbox 720 even look like? We’re beginning to hit the point of diminishing returns,” said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter. He says Sony and Microsoft will treat the launches of the new controllers as if they were entirely new machines.

The only company unveiling a new game platform at the show will likely be Nintendo, which will show off its 3-D-enabled portable machine, the Nintendo 3DS. Although the company’s current DS hardware remains a smash success, the portable device is positively geriatric, dating back to 2004. Facing renewed competition from Apple’s game-friendly iPhone and iPod Touch, Nintendo needs to do something radically different.

E3 is back at full size after a few downsized years, and ready to once again serve as a portal into videogaming’s near future. The industry’s grandest trade show, expected to draw over 40,000 attendees, will lure every major publisher to the Los Angeles Convention Center. There, they will show off high-profile titles they plan to release in the next 12 months, and even give some early looks at what the next few years will bring.

It’s great timing, says Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich, because the struggling game industry needs a show of force.

Report: Israel can cross Saudi air space

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, June 12 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia has given the go-ahead to Israel to send bombers through a strip of its air space to bomb nuclear facilities in Iran, defense sources say.

Tests have even been held to guarantee Saudi air defenses would not be activated against Israeli bombers, The Times in London reported Saturday.

"The Saudis have given their permission for the Israelis to pass over and they will look the other way," a U.S. defense source in the Middle East told the Times. "They have already done tests to make sure their own jets aren't scrambled and no one gets shot down. This has all been done with the agreement of the (U.S.) State Department".

Allowing the bombers to cross northern Saudi Arabia could make the difference between success and failure, providing a shorter route, the report said.

Saudi Arabia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations. But both governments dislike and distrust the current regime in Iran, the report said.

India's richest man back in telecoms with Infotel

(Reuters) - Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries made a dramatic return to telecoms, agreeing to buy Infotel Broadband, which was the only company to win a nationwide license in India's broadband wireless spectrum auction.

Infotel's offer of $2.75 billion for the license topped forecasts while U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm and India's biggest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, also won spectrum in parts of India in an auction that saw some of the biggest players in Indian telecoms emerge empty-handed.

Soon after the winners were announced, conglomerate Reliance Industries, India's biggest company by market capitalization, said it would acquire unlisted Infotel, paying about 48 billion rupees ($1.02 billion) for fresh equity in the firm to get a 95 percent stake.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter said Reliance Industries would also pay New Delhi-based Infotel's spectrum license fee.

Mukesh Ambani, the world's fourth-richest man, was freed to enter the telecom sector last month when he ended a pact with his long-estranged brother Anil Ambani that prevented them from competing on each other's turf. When the brothers split up the family empire in 2005, Anil Ambani got control of Reliance Communications, India's second-biggest mobile phone operator.

Mukesh Ambani, who ran Reliance Comm before the split, had been widely expected to return to the telecom market.

"Telecoms has always been Mukesh's baby, but he had to give it up five years back," said Arun Kejriwal, strategist at research firm KRIS.

Gadaffi to pay £2bn to victims of IRA bombs

THE Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi is to pay up to £2 billion to victims of Irish terrorism for his role in supplying shiploads of explosives to the IRA.

About £800m will go directly to victims of the violence. First in line will be the 147 families of those caught in atrocities in which Semtex, the plastic explosive supplied by Libya, was used.

Libya’s insistence that it will not acknowledge specific liability means the thousands of others affected by the Troubles will come forward for a share of the cash.

A trade deal between Britain and Libya is also expected to be part of the historic settlement. Gadaffi is seeking to present the payment as a goodwill gesture and is not expected to admit liability.

Semtex supplied by Gadaffi’s regime was used by the IRA in at least 10 atrocities, including the bombing of Harrods in 1983 and Enniskillen in 1987. The Real IRA used it at Omagh in 1998, killing 29 people and injuring 220. It was used in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 at Lockerbie, when 270 were killed, for which Libya has paid over £5m to each family.

The negotiations were given new impetus last September when The Sunday Times revealed that Gordon Brown was refusing to put Britain’s diplomatic muscle behind the victims’ claim against Libya for fear of harming trade.

A source close to the talks said: “Gadaffi can now make a major humanitarian gesture which will end the legal actions and build diplomatic and business relations with the UK”.

Experience: Cancer brought me love

'We were in the same boat – trying to pick up our lives and make up for lost time'

My cancer came from nowhere – within a few weeks of noticing an ache in my leg, doctors had x-rayed the area and I was warned that it may be a bone tumour. There was no history of it in my family, I had been a healthy child, so it came completely out of the blue.

A month later, on my 17th birthday, I was told the cancer was in my left leg and my lungs. While all my friends were going out to clubs and getting boyfriends, I was stuck in a hospital bed in London undergoing eight rounds of chemotherapy and extensive surgery.

I can remember my mother in tears, and my father shocked into silence. But I didn't get upset, I just wanted to get on with the treatment. Within a few months of chemotherapy, the doctors told me that, thankfully, they had caught my cancer in time – for now I was in remission. My hair grew back and I felt more confident.

Before I went into hospital, I was one of those quiet girls who blend into a crowd. Being ill changed that. I became more outspoken about my illness and how it felt to be a teenager coping with a potentially terminal diagnosis. So much so, I agreed to be a mentor at a Teenage Cancer Trust concert, talking to patients and helping them to make friends. It was there I met Neil. He was 23, four years older than me, and had been going through treatment for cancer in his head and neck. He seemed so confident, I thought he was one of the cancer nurses. He later admitted he thought I worked for the charity. But actually we were in the same boat – trying to pick up our lives and make up for lost time. There was an instant attraction.

We exchanged phone numbers and began texting every day, even though I lived in Kent and he was in Chesterfield. Six months later, we were serious about each other, tentatively starting to plan for the future. Then we got the news Neil had always dreaded – his cancer had come back. "If you don't want to go on with the relationship, I'll understand," he said. Within a few hours, I'd packed the car and was on the motorway heading north. I stayed for six months.

Bangor cocaine addict guilty of killing lover at party

A former cocaine addict who stabbed his girlfriend nine times in a frenzied attack in front of guests at a house party later told a friend he had been thinking of “butchering” her for weeks, a court has heard.

Flowers at the scene at Park Avenue in Bangor where Mark Wallace stabbed Katie Hughes at a party.

Mark Wallace, aged 26, from Elmwood Drive in Bangor, has pleaded guilty to the murder in April last year of single mother Katie Hughes, who would have been 23 yesterday.

A judge will tell Wallace next Friday how much of a life sentence he will have to serve before he is considered eligible to apply for parole. It is expected that Mr Justice Hart will set a minimum tariff of at least 16 years.

A prosecution lawyer told Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, that Wallace, who was once forced to leave Northern Ireland by paramilitaries because of drugs debts, became jealous after hearing Ms Hughes talking to a friend at the party about a previous relationship.

He went into the kitchen of the house in Park Avenue in Bangor and returned to a sofa to sit beside Ms Hughes, who has a four-year- old child, before attacking her with a knife he had got from a drawer.

India tsunami centre expects mild sea surge, 'not alarming'

NEW DELHI: India's tsunami centre warned Sunday a major quake under the Indian Ocean would generate a 50-centimetre high (20-inch) surge in sea levels on the nearest islands, adding this was "nothing alarming".

"We have sounded a 'tsunami watch' for 10 to 15 island locations where expected water level could be around 0.5 metres in the next 30 to 60 minutes," Sriniwas Kumar, a spokesman from the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, said. 

"This is nothing alarming but just a watch," he added by telephone from the headquarters of the state-run agency in the city of Hyderabad.

Nitish Kumar snubs BJP leaders for ad, cancels dinner

Patna In a clear snub to its coalition partner, an angry Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar cancelled a dinner for the top brass of the BJP in disapproval of an advertisement featuring him with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and another on Gujarat's aid during the floods two years ago.

There was bad blood between the two sides, which run a coalition government for the last nearly five years, after Kumar attacked those who released an advertisement featuring him with Modi, about whom he was always uncomfortable as a political ally.

The JD(U) leader, who has an eye on Muslim votes, has fashioned himself as a secular leader and in the past had avoided sharing any dias with Modi in Bihar.

Bulgaria prioritizes Nabucco over South Stream gas pipeline

The European Nabucco gas pipeline project is more important for Bulgaria than the Russia-backed South Stream project, Bulgaria's deputy foreign minster said.

Bulgarian media cited Marin Raykov as saying on Saturday that the Russian project "raises a lot of questions," while the Nabucco is an innovative project, which may serve as an example of an efficient state-private partnership in energy sphere.

"Bulgaria will work with its European partners to complete by the end of 2010 all the procedures necessary to start the construction [of the Nabucco pipeline]," Raykov said.

The diplomat added that his country would strive to become "independent and efficient" in its energy policy.

The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline construction project is estimated at $7.9 billion, and will transfer natural gas from the Caspian region through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Austria, bypassing Russia. The pipeline is to pump 20-30 billion cubic meters of gas annually.

Ark. campers had only seconds to escape from flood

OUACHITA NATIONAL FOREST — Some people awoke to roaring floodwaters. Others were roused by panicked banging on their cabin doors. At least a few got out of bed and were plunged almost immediately into deep, churning water.

Vacationing families camped in a remote Arkansas valley had only a moment or two in the darkness to escape from the worst flood to hit this area in nearly 30 years. For at least 18 people, it wasn't enough.

The deadly wall of water that rushed through a region southwest of Little Rock struck with such force that witnesses could hear trees being ripped apart and lumber buckling in homes that had been smashed.

Terry Whatley was staying at the Albert Pike Recreation Area with a group of about 35 friends and relatives. Around 3:30 a.m. Friday, someone pounded on the door of his camper to warn of the rising water.

He gathered everyone and got out into ankle-deep water. Soon it rose to up to their chests as they tried to reach higher ground.

"I just started thinking to myself, 'This is a bad way to die,'" said Whatley, whose group included three people who were confirmed killed in the flash flood.

The raging floodwaters killed at least 18 people before dawn Friday and left in their wake a path of destruction marked by cars hurled into trees, heavily damaged or destroyed cabins, even pavement that had been peeled off roads and bark off trees.

Vacationers were drawn by the campground's rustic landscape: a lush valley ringed with mountains on the southern edge of the Ouachita National Forest. But by the early Friday, heavy rains had turned the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers into lethal torrents.

Turkey no longer 'only a loyal ally in US shadow'

The president of the Washington-based American-Turkish Council says, 'Turkey is expanding its interests, rather than isolating itself.' The United States needs to adjust to the fact that Turkey is now much more than just a loyal ally standing in America’s shadow, says retired Ambassador James Holmes

Turkey is not isolating itself but expanding its interests, and the United States needs to understand that it is more than a mere loyal ally in America’s shadow, according to the president of the American-Turkish Council.

“For 45 years, when somebody asked where Turkey is, we knew exactly where Turkey was. It was in the West right behind the U.S., but over the last four or five years Turkey began to feel confident about its own role and to expand much more in the region,” retired Ambassador James Holmes told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in a telephone interview Friday.

“Turkey is expanding its interests rather than isolating. Some of that broadening is not to America’s liking, but that is life. Those are Turkey’s interests, and the United States needs to adjust to the fact that Turkey is no longer only a loyal ally standing in America’s shadow. It is much more than that now,” said Holmes.

Turkey’s “no” vote this week on a sanctions resolution for neighboring Iran has caused disquiet in Washington.