Casey Kasem's daughter granted visits with ailing radio personality

U.S. television and radio personality Casey Kasem appears on the ''American Top 40 Live'' show in Los Angeles April 24, 2005.

(Reuters) - A Washington state judge ordered that the daughter of Casey Kasem be allowed daily visits with the ailing radio personality as she spars with his wife over his care, a family spokesman said on Friday. Kitsap County Judge Jennifer Forbes ruled on Friday that Kerri Kasem be granted a one-hour visitation each day with her 82-year-old father, beginning on Friday afternoon, spokesman Danny Deraney said. Kasem suffers from Lewy body disease, a form of dementia, and his children have been involved in a legal tussle with their stepmother, Jean Kasem, over visitation and caretaking for the radio personality. Deraney said Friday's visit would mark the first time father and daughter had seen each other since she and her sister filed court papers earlier this month saying they did not know his whereabouts. Several days later, sheriff's deputies in Kitsap County located the former DJ and his wife Jean. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge subsequently ruled that Kerri Kasem could travel to Washington state and make medical decisions on his behalf. A Los Angeles-based attorney for Jean Kasem declined to comment on Friday's court action. Further proceedings are scheduled for late June in the legal battle over care of Kasem, best known for his weekly top 40 countdown show and for being the voice of Shaggy on the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston

Brad Pitt's Ukrainian attacker pleads no contest to battery

Cast member Angelina Jolie and actor Brad Pitt pose at the premiere of ''Maleficent'' at El Capitan theatre in Hollywood, California May 28, 2014.

(Reuters) - The Ukrainian prankster who struck actor Brad Pitt in the face at the Los Angeles premiere of the movie "Maleficent" was ordered to stay away from celebrity events as he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge on Friday. Vitalii Sediuk, a 25-year-old Ukrainian TV personality infamous for pulling pranks on celebrities at events, was charged with four misdemeanor counts of battery, assault, unlawful activity and interference at a theatrical event. He pleaded no contest to battery and unlawful activity, and the rest of the counts were dismissed as part of his plea deal. Sediuk was sentenced to 20 days of community service and 36 months on probation. He was ordered to stay 500 yards (about 460 meters) away from all celebrity events including awards shows and premieres, and to stay away from Pitt and his partner Angelina Jolie, Los Angeles City Attorney spokesman Rob Wilson said. He was also ordered to 52 sessions of psychological counseling. He is due back in court for a hearing on July 8. Sediuk jumped across a fence and onto the red carpet at Wednesday's "Maleficent" premiere in Hollywood, where Pitt had joined Jolie, the film's star, to sign autographs for fans. Police said Sediuk struck Pitt in the face, and was arrested immediately. Pitt was not seriously hurt and continued to sign autographs for fans after the incident, but was issued a restraining order against Sediuk. In previous exploits, Sediuk tried to climb under actress America Ferrera's dress as she posed for photographers at the Cannes Film Festival, stormed the stage during singer Adele's Grammy acceptance speech, and was slapped by Will Smith after kissing the actor at a Moscow premiere. (Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Richard Chang)

Despite opposition, Russia bans smoking in restaurants and bars

A man smokes a cigarette at a cafe in central Krasnoyarsk in Siberia January 24, 2013.

(Reuters) - Russia risks igniting the ire of its 44 million smokers when it extends bans on cigarettes to restaurants and bars on Sunday as part of a battle to break the habit in one of heaviest-smoking countries in the world. The ban is the latest measure under President Vladimir Putin to promote healthy lifestyles - which goes hand in hand with his support for what he calls traditional values - and stem a population decline that began after the Soviet breakup. Putin's government hopes to reduce the share of the adult population that smokes from 39 percent, one of the highest rates in the world, to 25 percent by 2020. "Thanks to this law people understand that smoking is bad and that smoking around others is a crime," said Sergei Kalashnikov, head of the Public Health Committee in the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament. "The point has been forcefully made and people will be punished for ignoring the law," said Kalashnikov, who represents the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party. Russia began introducing tougher controls on smoking last summer, banning smoking in government buildings and advertising by tobacco companies. From June 1, smoking will also be banned in bars, restaurants, hotels and on trains, and cigarettes will no longer be on display in shops or sold in kiosks. Many other nations already have similar restrictions. "We relied on U.S. and European research for this law. In this respect, we completely trust our colleagues in the West," Kalashnikov said, adding that foreign tobacco firms - which control about 90 percent of the $20 billion Russian market - had lobbied intensely against the law. STRINGENT REGULATION International tobacco companies, whose dwindling sales in Western markets have been offset for years by hefty Russian consumption, say the new rules go too far. Alexander Lyuty, communications director at British American Tobacco in Moscow, said data showing that Russia's tobacco market shrank 7 percent last year failed to take account of surging contraband imports from other Soviet republics. "Cigarette prices are rising faster than consumers' disposable incomes. This triggers an inflow of contraband and reduces sales of legal cigarettes in the market," he said. Kalashnikov said the government was planning a further hike in excise taxes, which have already risen sharply this year, to increase pressure on smokers to quit. Excise taxes typically account for 60 percent of the price of a pack of cigarettes in Europe, while in Russia they still only make up 17 percent of the cost, he said. Roman Grinchenko, an analyst at Investcafe, said tougher regulation was likely to apply "significant pressure" to tobacco producers but that its financial impact was hard to quantify. FEWER CUSTOMERS Bar and restaurant owners are fiercely opposed, fearing bans will cut business. Egor, 24, a barman working in central Moscow, said: "People are going to think: Why should I go to bars if they're not going to let me smoke there?" According to a recent poll by independent Russian pollster Levada Centre, 82 percent of Russian restaurateurs expect customer numbers to drop from Sunday. The World Health Organization says that smoking kills 5.4 million people worldwide every year. But for Russia's hardened smokers, the ban is nothing short of discrimination. "I can understand those who want to prevent young people smoking. But when a law is passed which is in essence a law on the genocide of smokers - that I can't understand," said Mikhail Barshchevsky, a lawyer, at a recent smokers' rights conference. "The law is senseless and won't be observed." (Reporting by Alexander Winning; editing by Steve Gutterman and Alister Doyle)

In Damascus, reminders of lurking war on the dinner table

A boy looks up at his friends while digging a well in Arbeen, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta, May 6, 2014.

(Reuters) - As Syria approaches a surreal presidential election in the midst of civil war, the capital has avoided the worst of the conflict but reminders are increasingly coming out the water taps and appearing on the dinner table, to the dismay of Damascenes. Before the war, the government of President Bashar al-Assad maintained tight control on food prices and quality. Distracted by war, its grip has slackened and shady business practices have flourished to the detriment of water and food supplies. Rushing to the kitchen sink the other day to fill up a container with water, Mayada, a Damascene, wanted to store as much water as possible. “I must hurry, because sometimes the water cuts off in an hour," she said. “And look at all this sand. We can’t drink the water anymore without filtering it first." She pointed to black and brown grains sinking to the bottom of her freshly filled water jug. "And God knows what else is floating in there that I can’t see." Residents say the quality of food is also deteriorating, coupled with price rises, especially fast food favorites like shawarma and falafel as well as "farouj", or roast chicken. “Taste the falafel and you’ll know they add bread crumbs to it to save on chickpeas,” said Issam, a restaurateur in central Damascus, referring to the main ingredient in falafel. “You can easily tell the difference. Today’s ‘fake’ falafel is greasier and darker and just looks wrong all around. People eat it because it’s cheap, but everyone is complaining.” Shawarma, cut from a giant rotating hulk of meat, is also under scrutiny. “Only God knows what meat they’re using these days. Is it even beef? All I know is it doesn’t taste the same as before,” said Lamia, 32. As for poultry, the birds look either skinnier than usual or unusually plump but without taste, prompting many Damascenes to wonder what poultry farmers might be feeding the chickens. “Is it hormones? Animals protein? Garbage? Sewage? We cannot know,” said Marwan, who considers himself an amateur nutritionist. “Back in the good days, poultry farmers got away with dubious practices. Now? I hate to even think about it.” Damascenes anxiously await the presidential election on June 3 which Assad looks certain to win, given that voting will be held only in state-controlled areas, but which they fear will be marked by a fierce mortar barrage from rebel-held suburbs. The government, however, is waging a "Together, We Rebuild" campaign that now peppers the capital's streets with posters that feature hands clasped together - despite Syria's widespread fragmentation into sectarian and tribal enclaves. Damascenes have been luckier than Syrians living in areas of the country beyond government control, bombed daily and cut off by prolonged but inconclusive army sieges. Some 160,000 people have died in the conflict, which started in March 2011 with street protests against decades of Assad family rule but turned into an insurgency following a security crackdown on peaceful demonstrators. Malnutrition is rampant and doctors say children have starved to death in besieged zones. PRICE RISES In Damascus, people notice the small changes - daily staples soaring in price, sometimes selling at three or four times what they used to be, with the quality plummeting. "Almost every single dairy maker these days is adding water to milk and to cheese and yoghurt,” said Abu Mustafa, a dairy shop owner in the middle-class neighborhood of Mazraa. He denies that he does it himself. Before the war, the authorities kept a close watch on dairy makers to deter cheating and enforced fixed prices, forcing the dairy makers to compete with each other based solely on quality and taste. Now there is hardly any oversight. White Syrian cheese, a daily must-have in every Syrian household, used to sell for 250 Syrian pounds ($1.60) per kilo. Now, it varies between 400 SP to 1,300 SP ($8.70), the latter closer to Abu Mostafa’s prices. Marwan is a regular customer at Abu Mostafa’s, though he privately complains about the prices. “I don’t know what it is, but everything is starting to taste terrible. Dairy, bread, even the meat we buy these days. It’s the same cut and everything as I’ve always purchased, and from the same neighborhood butcher, but it now tastes like rubber,” he said. The outlying district of Ghouta was long one of the main food supply sources for Damascus but it has been in rebel hands for almost two years, rendering most of its produce, poultry and meat inaccessible to Damascenes. Much of Ghouta’s farmland has also turned into danger zones as Syrian warplanes routinely bombard it and government snipers prevent farmers from tending to their crop. A dairy supplier who was unloading merchandise at Abu Mostafa’s said he had been unable to access Ghouta for months, but instead now supplies them from Quneitra 45 miles (73 km) away in the Golan Heights near the Israeli border. “They still have good farms there, cattle and poultry and everything, though it’s not always easy for us to transport the goods into the city.” (Editing by Oliver Holmes and Mark Heinrich)

U.S. and China square off at Asia security forum

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (L) listens to Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong, deputy chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, during the start of their meeting in Singapore May 31, 2014.

(Reuters) - The United States and China squared off at an Asian security forum on Saturday, with the U.S. defense secretary accusing Beijing of destabilizing the region and a top Chinese general retorting that his comments were "threat and intimidation". Using unusually strong language, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel took aim at Beijing's handling of territorial disputes with its Asian neighbors. "In recent months, China has undertaken destabilizing, unilateral actions asserting its claims in the South China Sea," Hagel said. He warned Beijing that the United States was committed to its geopolitical rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region and "will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged". Hagel said the United States took no position on the merits of rival territorial claims in the region, but added: "We firmly oppose any nation's use of intimidation, coercion, or the threat of force to assert these claims." His speech at Singapore's Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia biggest security forum, provoked an angry reaction from the deputy chief of staff of the Chinese Army, Lieutenant-General Wang Guanzhong. "I felt that Secretary Hagel's speech is full of hegemonism, threat and intimidation," he told reporters just after the speech. Wang said the speech was aimed at causing trouble in the Asia-Pacific. Hagel's comments followed the keynote address by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the same forum on Friday evening, who pledged "utmost support" to Southeast Asian countries, several of which are locked in maritime disputes with China. "I felt that they were just trying to echo each other," Wang said. Hagel later held a bilateral meeting with Wang, where the Chinese military leader expressed his surprise at the U.S. defense secretary's speech. "You were very candid this morning, and to be frank, more than our expectations," he said. "Although I do think those criticisms are groundless, I do appreciate your candor … likewise we will also share our candor." A senior U.S. defense official said that, despite Wang's opening remarks, the tone of the meeting had been "businesslike and fairly amicable". While Hagel went over ground he covered in his speech, Wang spent most of the meeting talking about U.S.-China military-to-military contacts, including Chinese participation in forthcoming military exercises, the official said. The U.S. official said Hagel's speech had been well received by other Asian delegations with the exception of China. ONLY IF PROVOKED In Beijing, President Xi Jinping said China would not initiate aggressive action in the South China Sea but would respond if others did, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "We will never stir up trouble, but will react in the necessary way to the provocations of countries involved," Xinhua quoted Xi as saying in a meeting on Friday with Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia. China claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Seas, and dismisses competing claims from Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Japan also has a territorial row with China over islands in the East China Sea. Tensions have surged in recent weeks after China placed an oil rig in waters claimed by Vietnam, and the Philippines said Beijing could be building an airstrip on a disputed island. Japan's defense ministry said Chinese SU-27 fighters came as close as 50 meters (170 ft) to a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane near disputed islets last week and within 30 metres of a YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said Tokyo perceived an "increasingly severe regional security environment". "It is unfortunate that there are security concerns in the East and South China Seas," he said. "Japan as well as all concerned parties must uphold the rule of law and never attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force." On Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pitched his plan for Japan to take on a bigger international security role and told the Singapore forum that Tokyo would offer its "utmost support" to Southeast Asian countries in their efforts to protect their seas and airspace. In a pointed dig at China, he said Japan would provide coastguard patrol boats to the Philippines and Vietnam. JAPAN OFFER SNUBBED Wang, China's deputy chief of staff, also snubbed an offer for talks with Japan made by Defence Minister Onodera, the semi-official China News Service said. "This will hinge on whether the Japanese side is willing to amend the erroneous policy towards China and improve relations between China and Japan," he said. "Japan should correct its mistakes as soon as possible to improve China-Japan ties." The strong comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue come as Abe pursues a controversial push to ease restrictions of the post-war, pacifist constitution that has kept Japan's military from fighting overseas since World War Two. Despite memories of Japan's harsh wartime occupation of much of Southeast Asia, several countries in the region may view Abe's message favorably because of China's increasing assertiveness. Hagel repeatedly stressed Obama's commitment to the Asia-Pacific rebalance and said the strong U.S. military presence in the region would endure. "To ensure that the rebalance is fully implemented, both President Obama and I remain committed to ensuring that any reductions in U.S. defense spending do not come at the expense of America’s commitments in the Asia-Pacific," he said. (Additional reporting by Rachel Armstrong and Masayuki Kitano in Singapore and John Ruwitch in Shanghai; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)

Thai oil tanker may have been hijacked: authorities

(Reuters) - A Thai diesel oil tanker with 14 crew members en route from Singapore to Indonesia is believed to have been hijacked, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Saturday, the second major case in months on one of the world's busiest waterways. "It could be a hijacking. We have sent signals for ships in the area to keep a lookout and the authorities have been alerted," Noel Choong, the head of IMB's Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Center, told Reuters on Saturday. Authorities lost contact with the MT Orapin 4 after it departed from a terminal in Singapore on May 27, according to a report by the IMB. It was headed for Pontianak, Indonesia. Pirates raided a tanker off the coast of Malaysia in late April, taking 3 million liters of diesel from the tanker Previous tanker hijackings and cargo thefts have taken place closer to Singapore, with five such incidents between 2011 and 2013, according to the government-to-government body, Regional Co-operation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). There were eight armed attacks in the Malacca Strait and around Singapore in the first quarter this year, compared with one in the same period last year, Singapore-headquartered ReCAAP said, although most were small thefts. (Reporting By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah; Editing by Matt Driskill)

New Indian government fights power cuts in Delhi, biggest state

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes his oath at the presidential palace in New Delhi May 26, 2014.

(Reuters) - India's new energy minister pulled an all-night work session to tackle power cuts caused by a dust storm in New Delhi on Friday and provide more electricity to the country's largest state that is suffering outages in sweltering summer heat. The power crunch is a test of whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in power for less than a week, can live up to the reputation for reliable services he built during more than a decade as chief minister of Gujarat. Uttar Pradesh, where one in six Indians live, has been hit by blackouts of up to 12 hours a day as temperatures soared and were expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the state capital of Lucknow on Saturday. Piyush Goyal, minister of state for power, coal, and new and renewable energy, said in a series of overnight tweets that he would ensure that a request from Uttar Pradesh for an extra 325 megawatts of power would be met by Saturday morning. Peak demand for power in Uttar Pradesh is around 12,700 MW, around 2,000 MW in excess of supply that has been available until now due to power station shutdowns and delays in buying coal stocks, the government says. Goyal also said action was being taken to address power disruptions in the capital. Friday's sudden dust storm caused widespread damage, halted the city's metro and, according to news reports, killed at least nine people. "We will do an all-nighter to monitor the situation & expedite restoration work. Ours is a 24x7 government," he wrote in a tweet. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Matt Driskill)