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Michael Jackson's name has been taken out of Quincy Jones' London show. The music producer's concert was first announced as a night in June celebrating three of Michael Jackson's most iconic albums. The flyer said Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad were going to be performed with a live symphony orchestra. That's now changed to Quincy Jones: Presents Soundtrack of the 80s. Defining Albums and Iconic Songs. Songs by Michael Jackson will still be performed on the night. The show has been described as a world exclusive. Music fans were told there would be back-to-back performances of three of Michael Jackson's albums. Quincy Jones produced Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad and the show in London was supposed to be a celebration of his work. The original flyer said there would also be a feature film of the producer talking about the making of the records. The new flyer now appears to focus on iconic songs and defining albums from the 80s. The names of Mi...

The US has deployed an aircraft carrier to the Middle East to send a "clear and unmistakable message" to Iran. National Security Adviser John Bolton said the administration was acting "in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings". The deployment of the warship was based on claims of a possible attack on US forces stationed in the region, unnamed US officials are quoted as saying. Mr Bolton added that they would counter any attack with "unrelenting force". In a statement, Mr Bolton said: "The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakeable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force." He added: "The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime. But we are fully prepared to ...

Passengers and crew on board a jet that was forced to make an emergency landing at a Moscow airport say it was struck by lightning moments before it crashed. Reports of the strike came as survivors told how they escaped the Aeroflot jet which burst into flames on landing at Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday. Forty-one of the 78 people on board were killed in the accident. Investigators probing the cause of the crash have made no official comment on the claims it was hit by lightning. Modern aircraft are built to withstand lightning strikes, and Russia's national carrier has said only that the plane returned to the airport for "technical reasons". However passengers said the plane, which was heading for the northern Russian city of Murmansk, was struck just after take-off. Some of the five crew members also said lightning appeared to be responsible for a loss of communication with air traffic control. Passengers 'were grabbed by collar' Burning...

MOSCOW (AP) — The plane that burst into flames while making an emergency landing at a Moscow airport, killing 41 of the 78 people on board, was without radio communications because of a lightning strike, Russian news media on Monday quoted the pilot as saying. A flight attendant said there was a sharp flash soon after takeoff Sunday evening from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport as the plane headed to Murmansk. Some of the 37 survivors were seen on video carrying hand luggage as they plunged down an inflatable slide from the plane’s forward section, raising questions about whether grabbing their baggage might have impeded an evacuation in which every second could separate life from death. The plane, a Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by the Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot, had taken off from Sheremetyevo but turned back within minutes, asking for an emergency landing. The plane came down hard on the runway and flames and black smoke burst from its underside. The plane repo...

Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a long list of endorsements from South Carolina on Monday, building on the campaign's strategy in one of the most important early voting states.  Biden has deep connections in South Carolina, which has become a key component in fight to emerge at the top of the constantly growing list of Democratic candidates vying for the Party's presidential nomination.  After finishing his first official swing through South Carolina as a presidential candidate, Biden's campaign released a diverse list of endorsements from current and former state lawmakers, as well as religious leaders. One endorser is State Rep. Billy Clyburn, the cousin of House Majority Whip James Clyburn.  Biden's campaign has already benefitted from high polling compared to the rest of the Democratic field. In South Carolina specifically, Biden is far ahead of the pack, bringing in 38% of support from l...

A report commissioned by British foreign secretary concludes that anti-Christian persecution is nearing genocidal levels. One third of the world suffers from religious persecution, and Christians as the most persecuted of religious groups, are at risk of disappearing. These are were among the grim conclusions of a report commissioned by British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on the extent of global anti-Christian persecution. The Anglican Bishop of Truro, the Right Rev. Philip Mounstephen, who conducted the independent review at the request of the government, found that “evidence shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity. In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN.” Drawing on research conducted by Pew Research, and the NGOs Aid to the Church in Need and Open Doors, the report found that “t...

A mid an absolute mob scene of reporters and camera operators, Michael Cohen made one last statement before reporting to prison for three years on Monday morning. “I hope when I rejoin my family and friends that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country,” he said. “There still remains much to be told, and I look forward to the day that I can share the truth. And thank you all very much.” He then pushed his way through the ocean of bodies and cameras, being buffeted by people trying to get a final question in. He was loaded into a black Escalade and zipped down the midtown Manhattan street on his way to incarceration.

The Trump administration announced a new rule on religious conscience protections for the medical field on Thursday, aimed at protecting religious and moral objectors from participating in or paying for services such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide. The proposal was first unveiled in January 2018.   "Just today we finalized new protections of conscience rights for physicians, pharmacists, nurses, teachers, students and faith-based charities. They've been wanting to do that a long time," Trump said during a National Day of Prayer service at the White House Rose Garden on Thursday.   Some civil rights groups, however, have objected to the new Trump administration's final rule, saying it will negatively affect women's health and that of transgender patients.   The Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights said in a statement on Thursday that this final rule replaces one from 2011 that it deemed "inadequate."...

Another of Donald Trump's picks for a seat on the Federal Reserve has dropped out of the running following fierce criticism of his views.  The US president tweeted that Stephen Moore, "a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process". It follows weeks of attacks on his changing opinions on monetary policy and sexist comments about women. Another Trump pick, Herman Cain, withdrew from consideration in April. Mr Trump had asked Mr Moore, 59, to fill one of two vacant positions on the central bank's seven-member board, but had not formally nominated him. But some lawmakers feared the conservative pundit, a Trump loyalist who supported tax cuts, would threaten the Fed's independence. There were also concerns about his views on interest-rate policy, given as recently as September 2015 he called for eliminating the US central bank. More recently, he said Fed Chairman Jerome Powell should be fired...

The US military has reported a major spike in sexual assaults despite years of efforts to address the problem. Figures show 20,500 instances of unwanted sexual contact occurred in 2018, up from 14,900 in 2016 which is the last time a survey was conducted. Alcohol was involved in one third of cases, and female recruits ages 17 to 24 are at the highest risk of attack. On Thursday, Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan directed the military to "criminalise" sexual harassment. Sexual harassment can fall within other legal violations of military behaviour, but is not yet a "stand-alone" criminal offence. The directive from Mr Shanahan was among a series of other recommendations, released in a memo on Thursday. "Sexual assault is illegal and immoral, is inconsistent with the military's mission and will not be tolerated," he wrote. In the US, sexual harassment is illegal, considered a form of sexual discrimination under Title VII of ...