LOS ANGELES, May 3: Jack White scored his first No. 1 album ever on Wednesday as his debut solo “Blunderbuss” topped the Billboard 200, while the record also reigned over music charts in the United Kingdom, Canada and Switzerland in its initial week. “Blunderbuss,” which sold 138,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan, notched seven top ten albums with his former band The White Stripes and side projects the Dead Weather and The  Raconteurs. (agencies)

NEW YORK, May 3:  Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream,” one of the world’s most recognizable works of art, sold for $120 million at Sotheby’s yesterday, setting a new record as the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction. Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern art auction featured top works by Picasso, Dali and Miro, but Munch’s vibrant work from 1895 was the star attraction in a salesroom packed with art collectors, dealers and media. (agencies)

LOS ANGELES, May 3: Scarlett Johansson first joined the Marvel comic book superhero universe when she was introduced as the mysterious Black Widow opposite Robert Downey Jr in the 2010 blockbuster “Iron Man 2.” The action-filled movie role marked a big change for the actress, who’s known more for low-key performances in films like Sofia Coppola’s drama “Lost in Translation” or Woody Allen’s sly comedy “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” (agencies)

WASHINGTON, May 3: Al-Qaeda emir Osama bin Laden, who all his life boasted that he would go down fighting and would ask his bodyguards to shoot him if ever he came near Americans, offered no resistance when US commandos cornered him in his Abbottabad hideout a year ago, claims a new book.
“For all his bluster that he would go down fighting and his bodyguards would shoot him if he were ever found by the Americans, when the moment finally came, bin Laden went out not with a bang but with a whimper,” wrote Peter Bergen, author of the ‘Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden – from 9/11 to Abbottabad’ that hit the bookstores this week.
Director of New America Foundation – a Washington-based think-tank and national security analyst of the CNN, Bergen in his new book provides fresh insight into the last few hours of bin Laden and the successful American operation that killed the most wanted terrorist of the world on May 2 last year.
“The 54-year-old bin Laden may have grown complacent or tired during his decade on the run; he had no real escape plan, and there was no secret passageway out of his house. Perhaps he expected some kind of warning that never came. Or perhaps he knew that a firefight inside the enclosed spaces of his house would likely end up killing some of his wives and children,” Bergan wrote in his book giving a detailed account of what happened when US commandos entered his safe house.
“On a shelf in his bedroom were the AK-47 and Makarov machine pistol that were bin Laden’s constant companions, but he didn’t reach for them. Instead, he opened a metal gate, which blocked all access to his room and could be opened only from the inside, and quickly poked his head out to see what the commotion was. He was immediately spotted by the SEALs, who bounded up the next flight of stairs,” he wrote.
(PTI)

LONDON, May 3: Tiger Hanif, who is wanted in India in connection with two bomb attacks in Gujarat in 1993, has been ordered to be extradited to India by a British judge who called him a “classic fugitive” during a hearing here.
Hanif, whose full name is Mohammed Hanif Umerji Patel, 51, was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, Greater Manchester in March 2010. He is said to be an associate of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
The Westminster magistrates’ court in London yesterday ordered Hanif’s extraditition to India.
Hanif was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in February 2010 on an extradition warrant that alleged conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.
He is wanted in India for his alleged role in a grenade attack on a packed market place which killed an eight-year-old schoolgirl in Surat in 1993.
He is also accused of plotting to carry out a second grenade attack at a crowded railway station which seriously wounded 12 commuters.
Hanif has since been contesting extradition on the ground that he would be tortured by Indian officials, and that confessions of others involved with the bombings had been allegedly gained through torture interrogations.
He can appeal against the extradition ruling, but the final order clearing his extradition will be signed by Home Secretary Theresa May. (PTI)

NEW YORK, May 3: Edvard Munch’s iconic painting ‘The Scream’, considered one of the most recognizable in art world, was sold for over USD 119 million, creating a new record for the highest price ever paid for a work of art at any auction.
The painting, depicting image of a man holding his head and his mouth wide open, was sold for USD 119,922,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby’s at the auction held here yesterday.
The auction house did not release the name or any other details of the buyer. The bidder was participating in the auction through phone.
“A seminal image of the pulsating anguish of modernity, The Scream is among the most recognizable images in the history of art,” Sotheby’s said.
Till now Pablo Picasso’s ‘Nude, Green Leaves and Bust’ was the most expensive painting ever sold. It was bought for USD 106.5 million at a Christie’s auction in 2010.
At over USD 119 million, Munch’s 1895 painting has become the highest-priced artwork to ever sell at auction. The painting was estimated to sell for at least USD 80 million.
Bidding at the packed Sotheby’s auction started at USD 40 million with bidders from the US and China competing for the sunset-colored portrait which is in its original frame.
The painting is one of the four versions that Munch created and the only one still in private hands. The other three are housed in the National Gallery of Oslo and the Munch museum in the Norwegian capital.
The painting is being sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father is believed to have been Munch’s friend and neighbour. (PTI)

GILBERT, ARIZ, May 3: A gunman, identified by local media as a prominent border militia leader and a reputed neo-Nazi, shot dead four people including a toddler girl in Arizona before apparently committing suicide, police said.
The gunman opened fire in a house in Gilbert, a suburb of Phoenix, Gilbert Police Sergeant Bill Balafas said yesterday. He could not immediately confirm the identity of the gunman.
The Arizona Republic newspaper, citing unnamed police sources, identified the suspected shooter as Jason “JT” Ready, a reputed neo-Nazi who founded the US Border Guard, a militia that hunts for drug traffickers near the Mexican  border.
The youngest victim, a girl of between one and two years old, was still alive at the scene, but later died in a hospital, Balafas said. The other dead were two men and two women. Police believe the shooter was among the  dead.
Police recovered two handguns and a shotgun from the scene. However, Balafas said police had been unable to search the house, and confirm the identities of the dead after an unknown liquid was found in two 55-gallon drums outside the house.
“Right now, we have a hold up because we have a potential hazardous chemical situation,” Balafas said.
He declined to comment on whether Ready, who earlier this year set up an exploratory committee to run for the office of sheriff in Arizona’s Pinal County, was among the  dead.
Balafas said officers were interviewing a witness to the shooting, which investigators believe stemmed from a “domestic situation.”
A Facebook page entitled “JT Ready for Sheriff” carried a message from the administrator noting unconfirmed reports that “a cartel assassination squad murdered JT Ready and several of his friends and family this afternoon in Gilbert Arizona.”
A call to the US Border Guard group seeking comment late on Wednesday went unanswered.
Local resident Scott Kirkwood, 43, said neighbors were shocked by the shooting at the home, which he believed was occupied by a family.
“Everyone is shocked and concerned, nothing like this ever happens in this neighborhood, it’s usually very quiet,” he said.
“I heard sirens pulling up in my backyard, when I went to investigate there was like 30 cop cars, five ambulances, a fire truck, a SWAT team, the whole nine yards – it was just blanketing the neighborhood,” he added.
(agencies)

WASHINGTON, May 3: The newly discovered glass dune fields on Mars may be hotspots for life, as they are likely to have formed from interactions between magma and ice, or water, scientists have claimed.
The fields are spread across almost a third of the Red Planet’s northern hemisphere. But dark sediments in the region have puzzled planetary scientists.
Now, researchers from Arizona State University, who used the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter to re-examine light radiated from the Martian plains, determinded that the strange readings were caused by sand composed of glass.
“We’re actually seeing glass particles, like glass sand,” researcher Briony Horgan was quoted as saying by Astrobiology Magazine, a NASA-sponsored popular online science magazine.
“The only way to create an extensive glassy deposit like that is through explosive volcanism. This is the first direct evidence on Mars for explosive volcanism on a planetary scale,” Horgan said.
When a Martian volcano erupts, the researchers said, the thin atmosphere and difference in pressure should make for some great pyrotechnics. But a fiery eruption alone won’t guarantee glass. It takes an interaction with water or ice to manage that, they said.
“When lava or magma interacts with ice or water, it is quenched, which means it rapidly cools and solidifies,” said Claire Cousins of the University of London.
“This rapid cooling prevents any crystals from growing, and so a volcanic glass is produced,” said Cousins, who was not involved in the new research but has studied volcanic environments in Iceland and Antarctica as Martian analogues.
The glassy plains also show evidence of water-related weathering. As ice melted across the lowlands, it mixed with the strange sand to form an acid.
With enough exposure to the iron inside the sand, the chemicals would neutralise, which means that only a constantly renewed water source, like melting ice or snow, could cause the leaching the team saw.
Details on the newfound Martian landforms were published online in the journal Geology.
The glassy expanse may not be the best location to search for life. But it could lead to more promising environments, the researchers said.
“We know searching for organisms in the northern lowlands is difficult. I think the better place to go would be those source regions, the ice-magma interactions,” Horgan said.
Referring to hydrothermal systems and subglacial lakes, she said, “Those have been identified as places where biosignatures could have been preserved.”
If a volcano erupts beneath a glacier, the heat could form huge subglacial lakes. “It’s the perfect place for microbes. “A nice, warm, safe place for microbes to hang out, with lots of chemicals around to munch on,” Horgan said. (PTI)

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3: Several Chinese newspapers in Malaysia “went black” to mark World Press Freedom Day today as a protest against the violence towards journalists during a recent opposition backed rally on electoral reforms.
Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Guang Ming Daily and Oriental Daily printed their front pages in black and white to remind readers and authorities of the struggles journalists face while carrying out their duties, especially during rallies.
Sin Chew Daily editor-in-chief Pook Ah Lek said the paper decided to do so because many pressmen, including photographers, had been beaten during the rally.
Pook, also Editors of Chinese Medium Malaysia Association president, said the Chinese Newspaper Photographers Association had also initiated a call for journalists and photographers to don black and wear a yellow ribbon.
Nanyang Siang Pau editor-in-chief Chong Choong Nam hoped the authorities would be reminded that media personnel should be given protection by the police.
Meanwhile, the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry has encouraged the screening of video recordings of Saturday’s rally to give the public an overall picture of what had happened.
Minister Rais Yatim said the ministry had asked television stations to look at the video recordings to show the rally participants’ behaviour.
“There were participants who smashed police patrol car windscreens. They should watch this video, while there are also videos showing policemen acting inappropriately.”
Home minister Hishammuddin Hussein has said an independent panel will be set up to investigate claims of police brutality against journalists covering Bersih 3.0 rally last Saturday.
Hishammuddin expressed regret that some journalists were allegedly treated badly.
“We have no qualms about doing that (forming the panel), and the IG police wants it to be transparent, even if it involves the police,” he said.
“I have to remind you that the worst case (of violence) involved a journalist, Mohamad Azri (Salleh) from Al-Hijrah (TV), who was set upon while trying to save a police (officer).
“It was not the police who set on him, so please be fair in that context,” he said.
Hishammuddin noted that the Cabinet had ordered the police and the Attorney-General to expedite investigations and charge those responsible for turning the rally into a riot. (PTI)

ISLAMABAD, May 3: At least 15 people, including two policemen, were killed and over 20 injured today when a speeding bus fell into a deep ravine near Kohistan in northern Pakistan, officials said.
The bus was travelling from Rawalpidi to Gilgit when it fell into the ravine while negotiating a turn in a mountainous area, officials said.
They said the driver lost control of the vehicle as he was driving too fast.
The injured were taken to a nearby hospital.
The dead included two policemen, two women and three children, officials said. (PTI)