Good Morning Britain: Positive reviews as Susanna Reid makes ITV debut

Critics and viewers have delivered their verdict on ITV's latest breakfast programme, fronted by Susanna Reid.

Good Morning Britain launched on Monday, with exclusives from Paul O'Grady and One Direction.

The presenters sat at a glass table, rather than Daybreak's sofa, mirroring the style of US TV's morning shows .

Daily Telegraph writer Michael Hogan gave the show three stars out of five, saying: "BBC Breakfast might just have a viable rival".

"Recent big money BBC-to-ITV defectees, notably Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, have struggled in their new home. On this evidence, Reid should settle in more easily," he added.

Digital Spy's Alex Fletcher called the launch show "quite dizzying" but added "everyone has their best smile on and has done their vocal warm-ups".

The Mirror's live-blogger Rob Leigh said: "They're smiling so much their faces will need planning permission for grinny extensions."

Alongside Reid, who is on a rumoured £400,000 contract, the presentation team includes former Sky presenters Ben Shephard, Sean Fletcher and Charlotte Hawkins.

Andi Peters was also on the show, presenting a quiz feature called Wheel of Cash on location from Kirkgate Market in Leeds.

The first edition ran fairly smoothly, although there was a slightly sticky moment when the weather presenter referred viewers to the Daybreak website during the 07:45 update.

Good Morning Britain's main exclusive was with Paul O'Grady - giving his first interview since he was in hospital late last year with recurring heart problems.

Digital Spy's Fletcher wrote: "The first 'big guest' on Good Morning Britain is Paul O'Grady talking about his recovery from his latest heart attack. It's not exactly A-list and it's a strange shift from the fast-paced hard news style of the rest of the show. However, Ben and Susanna are more adept at switching between the desk and the sofa than any of the Daybreak hosts ever were."

Chiles and Bleakley presented their final show in December 2011

Yahoo News said the programme had a "shaky start" and listed "teething issues" that included distracting graphics and quick camera cuts.

Reviewer Rachel MacGregor was particularly unimpressed with the opening sequence, noting: "Reid, Shephard, Fletcher and Hawkins each read a news story directly to the camera before the next presenter jumped in with another headline. The frequent handovers meant that we saw little interaction between the hosts to begin with, so any mention of their 'chemistry' seemed very forced."

However, she added, "as time went on the presenters seemed to become more comfortable with each other".

Stateside comparisons

ITV This Morning presenter, Holly Willoughby, was impressed, tweeting: "Good Morning Britain is looking rather lovely... Good morning y'all!"

Regular viewers on Twitter had mixed feelings, with one writing: "#Good Morning Britain looks like loose women crossed with Nintendo Wii's version of Sky Sports News."

Louise Minchin is currently presenting BBC Breakfast with Bill Turnbull

But former BBC Three and BBC London television presenter, Matt Cooketweeted: "Very slick, fresh US look for @GMB - seems to have far fewer ads than usual ITV morning shows. And @andipeters is back too - hurrah!"

Another viewer, Andrew Trythall, tweeted: "#GoodMorningBritain was a great looking show, fast-paced, fresh and engaging. Great directing @errongordon. Well done to the whole team."

And Helena Cauldon also praised the programme on Twitter: "Loved the new-look Good Morning Britain today - great launch."

Kaine Milner wrote: "I'm definitely a fan of this new "#GoodMorningBritain show @GMB, faster paced news, less adverts and just generally better than dreary BBC."

But Patricia O'Neill wasn't impressed, tweeting: "Thought I was watching the wrong channel!! Bring back the sofa with Kate and Aled!!"

And Margaret Oliver tweeted: "@GMB sorry doesn't do it for me. Bring back Daybreak."

Several commentators likened the look of the new programme to ABC's long-running breakfast show Good Morning America.

"Good Morning Amer... sorry, Britain! Yes, with its four-strong team of presenters - the women clad in primary colours - seated around a big glass desk, and a weather expert who gets to add her two cents to the chat, ITV's new breakfast news show owes a lot to its stateside counterpart," wrote Paul Jones in his Radio Times review.

The Daily Mail, however, was not a fan of the desk, complaining it hid Reid's legs from view.

"Later on the show, however, Susanna moved from behind the desk, giving viewers the chance to catch a glimpse of her enviable pins," it reported.

Good Morning Britain replaces ITV's previous breakfast show, Daybreak, which launched to great fanfare in 2010.

The show, fronted by former One Show hosts Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley, saw a temporary boost in viewing figures, but they soon settled back to previous levels and the presenters were sidelined. The show ran through four editors in its brief lifespan.

The name Good Morning Britain was previously used by ITV from 1983 to 1992, and is chiefly associated with Anne Diamond and Nick Owen.

Louise Minchin has been presenting BBC Breakfast alongside Bill Turnbull since Reid left - an announcement about a permanent replacement is expected in the autumn.

Survivors of Tornado in Mayflower, Arkansas, Recount Ordeal

A survivor of Sunday's deadly tornado outbreak in the Plains and South told of the struggle to hold a cellar door shut as the storm roared overhead.

Becky Naylor, 57, of Mayflower, Arkansas, said her family heard reports of tornado debris falling nearby before rushing to their storm cellar where they were "packed like sardines."Naylor told The Associated Press that there were more than 20 people in the cellar as several passing residents also dived in for shelter.

"Everyone is welcome to come into it," she told the AP. "In fact, people were pulling off the highways and were just running in."

She said the men of the group held shut the cellar doors while the tornado did its best to pull them open.

"It sounded like a constant rolling, roaring sound," she said. "Trees were really bending and the light poles were actually shaking and moving. That's before we shut the door and we've only shut the door to the storm cellar two times."Mark Ausbrooks was at his parents' house in the area when the storm came.

"It turned pitch black," Mark Ausbrooks told the AP. "I ran and got pillows to put over our heads and ... all hell broke loose. My parents' home, it's gone completely."

Mayflower resident Jacci Juniel went to find her son as the storm approached and was caught away from her home when it hit.She told her 96-year-old mother was still in the house and suffered cuts when the storm blew out a window.

"We had to climb over trees and power lines and underneath trees. I was just trying to get home to my mom," Juniel said.

Star Wars The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic succeeded Sony's Star Wars Galaxiesas the main Star Wars MMO, Galaxies went permanently offline shortly before The Old Republic was released in December 2011. Set over three hundred years after the events of the Knights of the Old Republic games, The Old Republic features seventeen fully-explorable planets, eight unique classes divided into the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire factions, and over 1,600 hours of story in addition to over a dozen group Flash points and Operations, and it is the first MMORPG to feature full-scale voice acting. The game features extensive references to pre-existing Star Wars continuity, and introduces thousands of new characters, locations, items, groups, and events to the Star Wars universe as it depicts the conflict between the Republic and the Empire.

Over one million subscribers registered in the first three days following the The Old Republic's release, and over a million had begun to play The Old Republic by December 26, making it the fastest-growing subscription MMORPG in history. The Old Republichas received generally positive reviews from critics, with a score of 85 on the review aggregation website Metacritic, though it has received some criticism by players for the lack of late-game content, which has led the game's developers to focus on the addition of upper-level content in many of their updates. Due to declining subscription numbers during the summer of 2012, The Old Republic introduced a Free-to-Play option in November 2012, and the game's first digital expansion, Rise of the Hutt Cartel, was released in April 2013. As ofFebruary 2014, The Old Republic has received fourteen significant content updates, and the second Digital Expansion, Galactic Starfighter, was released to free-to-play users in February 2014. Galactic Starfighter was released to active subscribers on December 3, 2013, and was released to Preferred Status players on January 14. A third Digital Expansion, Galactic Strongholds, is set for release in the summer of 2014.

Why the U.S. government is 'trolling' jihadists on social media

"We don't negotiate with terrorists," has long been the standard refrain of governments when it comes to
violent extremists.

But these days, in the realm of social media, at least, they are talking to them.

In recent years, the U.S. State Department has launched social media efforts to engage jihadists and their sympathizers online, contesting their claims with the intention of dissuading potential converts to Islamic extremism.

Nasir al-Wuhayshi, head of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in a still from an al Qaeda propaganda video released this week.

"We are actually giving al Qaeda the benefit of the doubt because we are answering their arguments," says Alberto Fernandez, coordinator of the State Department's Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), which runs the program. "The way I see it is we are participating in the marketplace of ideas."That marketplace is now online, and the corners of it dedicated to Islamic extremist talk can be surreal, noisy, sometimes horrifying places.

Jihadist social media: Decapitations, appeals for wives

Like no conflict before, the Syrian war, the prime focus of the world's jihadists, is being discussed, disputed -- and waged, in its propaganda aspects -- on social media.

The content ranges from the shockingly grisly to the bizarre. Combatants post photos of decapitated heads as trophies of battlefield victories, or images of victims from their own side, captioned with vows to avenge them.

Links to grainy phone-camera footage abound, documenting everything from group executions, to a video appeal summoning Muslim women to come to Syria to find a husband among the Islamist rebels. On Twitter, jihadists post their theological quandaries: how to watch football when it means being exposed to men's bare legs?

Often informed by the memes and language of the broader Internet, the content is disseminated swiftly around the world through a diverse network of jihadists and their supporters, journalists, analysts and onlookers.In this way, social media has become a prime conduit for motivating budding extremists to take up arms.

A study just published by researchers at King's College London traces how Western-based radical preachers with strong social media influence have inspired a wave of Western Muslims to fight in Syria, where they are now estimated to account for about a quarter of the 11,000 foreign jihadists in the country.

In response to this threat, the U.S. government has been "messaging" in social media in Arabic, Urdu and Somali for three years now, attempting to penetrate the virtual echo chambers of jihadist thought with contrary points of view.

But it is only since their English-language Twitter feed was launched in December, becoming a pugnacious new voice in the conversation, that their efforts have increasingly drawn attention -- and raised eyebrows -- in the West.

This development has led to the spectacle of the U.S. government publicly bickering with jihadists and their ideological fellow travelers on social media, debating Syria, the War on Terror, "the clash of civilizations" in 140-character bursts.A typical exchange occurred recently when a pro-jihadist Twitter user admiringly posted an image of a desecrated Buddha of Bamiyan, one of the monumental statues in Afghanistan destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The CSCC account tweeted in response: "Destroying ancient culture out of hatred and backwardness are a feature of al Qaeda's ideology."

"Crying about so-called ancient culture when there was no food and children were dying out of hunger," scoffed the Islamist. "The shortage of food in Afghanistan was due to Taliban's disastrous policies," replied the State Department account.

Another user chimed in with a tweet at the State Department: "Al Qaeda just bombed a kindergarten and school with your funding and guns."

Trolling the terrorists?

Some observers have been dismissive of the State Department's efforts, conducted under the banner: "Think Again, Turn Away." Jonathan Krohn, a journalist who, with a colleague, has launched a Twitter account and podcast dedicated to jihadist social media, and sometimes tussles with the State Department account online, describes their activities as "trolling."

"As a psy-op tool, it's pretty laughable," he said. "They target journalists and analysts with as much verve as attacking jihadis."

But others say the efforts appeaFor years, al Qaeda had gotten in the heads of the U.S. government, and the U.S. government had become very sensitive to various al Qaeda talking points," says Will McCants, a scholar of militant Islam at the Brookings Institution, who was involved in setting up the CSCC.

"I felt there's no reason why we can't return that favor... The more you can make them think on these points, the more you can damage their credibility and shape their behavior."

For his part, Fernandez, a former U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, rejects the "State Department troll" label.

"Some people use that because I think it's convenient shorthand for an adversarial relationship," he said. "To me, (a troll) ... is a person who is annoying and obnoxious and stupid. Well, we're none of those things, because we're answering their charges with facts."

But he admits to drawing on the same emotional arsenal as an Internet troll in the center's work.

"People who study the Internet more than I do... mention that the two things that motivate people the most when it comes to social media are comedy and anger," he said. "If you're talking about al Qaeda -- let's face it, it's going to be negative. So it might as well be pointed."

'An ungoverned space'

For the U.S. government, entering the social media fray to argue with terrorists has required a substantial paradigm shift. The default posture had been not to dignify the extremists with a response. But gradually, said Fernandez, the government realized that doing so was simply surrendering ground to their opponents. to having some success at "getting in the heads" of senior Islamic militants.We seek to contest space that previously had been ceded to our adversary," he said. Al Qaeda tends to thrive in "the ungoverned spaces of the world," such as "the Sahara desert, or places in Somalia or Yemen or Syria. The Internet is also an ungoverned space, so it's an area of opportunity for them."

Al Qaeda has long publicly acknowledged the crucial importance of propaganda to their cause, he said, with its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri quoted as saying that "more than half" their battle to win the hearts and minds of Muslims was being waged through media.

"We in the West think kinetic strikes or arresting people or fighting... that's important," said Fernandez. "Media stuff... it's secondary or tertiary. Al Qaeda doesn't see it that way."

The aim was also, broadly, to make "life more difficult for the extremists." "It's very easy if you're out there and able to say whatever you want and nobody contradicts you," said FernandezMcCants said the online space taken up by jihadist chatter has expanded and become much more diffuse in recent years, as it had migrated from discussion boards to social media platforms like Twitter, and been increasingly conducted in English.

"There are many more people talking," he said, adding that while that meant they could be harder to find, "once you find them you really can insert yourself and engage directly. They have to listen to it, at least until they block you."

Fernandez said the CSCC's efforts were aimed not at converting extremists -- although "it would be nice" -- but reaching the wider audience of onlookers that jihadists were trying to influence. "In a way, we're picking a fight with the extremists, because the extremists are there to radicalize other people," he said.

Their "bread and butter" was using jihadists' own content to make the case against them, he said, such as when they recently hijacked a hashtag in Arabic -- "accomplishments of the Islamic state" -- that had been started by supporters of the bloodthirsty Islamist militant group ISIS.The CSCC account used the hashtag on 176 tweets that Fernandez said listed the true achievements of ISIS: "Things like poverty, murder, detracting from the decency of the Syrian revolution, helping the Assad regime by trading oil with them."

Is it working?

Studies have pointed to the potential shortcomings of this kind of work: that the counter-messaging is simply ignored, as Krohn suggests it often is, or stirs up antagonism by providing an opponent for extremists to rally against.

So is the project working well enough to justify its 50 staff and a $5 million a year budget?

Fernandez says feedback had been positive and the work would continue, although it was difficult to quantify results objectively. "We are never going to know ... unless they put up their hand and say 'I saw your stuff and decided not to become a terrorist'," he said. "You're almost never going to get that."

The initiative, already active across Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, would look to branch out to other social media where jihadists were active. "What about Ask.fm? What about Instagram? What about Pinterest?" said Fernandez. "In a way, we're mirroring or shadowing what they do."

McCants said he considered the program "a qualified success," and that criticisms of the work tended not to be data-driven.

"I don't think anyone believes this has been a dramatic blow against terrorism recruitment... But I think on this particular measure of getting inside the heads of terrorist recruiters and leaders -- at least in the al Qaeda orbit -- it has been successful."

He believed jihadist groups had been rattled by certain of the CSCC's claims -- in particular, that the victims of Islamic extremists were predominantly other Muslims. It was possible to tell when messaging had struck a nerve, he said, as jihadist leaders would typically respond "by putting messages out on the discussion boards saying, 'Listen, they're putting these lies out, don't engage them'."

"We got quite good at this during the Cold War, and then we forgot, because as the only superpower, we didn't really have to do it," he said. "(But) the U.S. government is rediscovering its skills in this sort of thing."

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Take a tour of the 'doomsday Disneyland'

Guardian Centers may be a place to practice how to respond to a

disaster, but that doesn't mean real danger is nonexistent.

When we headed over to see its mock subway station, complete with eight cars donated from Washington's Metro system, we were told we had a limited window to view it. The reason -- they were going to be pumping actual toxic gas into the building to simulate a chemical attack.

As smoke rose from chunks of concrete representing an obliterated building, Chris Schaff put it this way: "As soon as you come in here, the pretend goes away."He's a fire and rescue battalion chief with Fairfax County, Virginia, and his words carry a lot of weight. His elite team of urban search and rescue operatives has been deployed to numerous disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and the 2010 Haiti quake.Luis Fernandez, a two-decades-plus veteran of disaster response, agreed the Perry, Georgia, facility passes muster.

"The temperature extremes, the building extremes, the noises, the environment, are incredibly lifelike," said Fernandez, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue chief of staff and.a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.From the aforementioned subway station, to a mock bridge with crushed cars, to a devastated structure made to look like the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, Guardian Centers' 830-acre site is designed to allow a variety of responders to do a variety of drills in one location.

This kind of "doomsday Disneyland" owes its vision to Geoff Burkart, a telecommunications executive who was in Louisiana in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. During Katrina, he saw "what was being done there, and what was not being done."

From there the idea was born, and a former Cold War missile plant became the location.

The subway station is especially convincing, fashioned from an elongated building originally designed to be an assembly line for the weapons.Open for less than two years, the Centers facility has changed the game for disaster response training. Clients can tell Burkart's team what their specific needs are. If it's a group from the Pacific Northwest, they can request the ground be saturated to simulate the region's heavy rainfall.

Many agencies have "script writers" that work with Guardian Centers on specifications, from smoke to rebar.

"We're primarily just a tool, and we want to be the best tool," Burkart said.

He doesn't want to slight government training facilities but points out the advantages to being privately run.

"We can adapt and provide everything the client needs almost on demand," he said.

And by being able to provide a number of different training types in one place, Burkart says, he's saving the taxpayers money.

Still, the process to create such scenarios takes time. A recent weeklong earthquake response drill for FEMA and the U.S. Agency for International Development took months to plan, according to spokespeople.

And things must always be changed up. A pair of dog handlers from a New Mexico search and rescue team pointed out that the animals are smart enough to remember where the holes in the rubble are.

As for Burkart, he hopes his vision will extend well beyond the rolling hills of central Georgia.

"If we can make this entire campus successful, we would like to put one of these in (each of) the four corners of the United States," he said.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' teaser trailer released

Cowabunga, it's here and it's totally radical! A teaser trailer for Michael Bay's anticipated "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film, starring Megan Fox, has been released.
filming a chaotic fight scene on what appears to be a subway platform with her smartphone, glimpses of what appears to be the experiment that led to the accidental creation of the mutant Turtles, who are hero ninja warriors. We see The Shredder mask and the man who will wear it to become the famed villain, warrior and enemy of the Turtles. Unmasked, he tells April that he and her father were the ones who created them in a bid to make "heroes."

The four turtles -- Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael -- are played by Noel Fisher, known for his role as Mickey Milkovich in the Showtime series "Shameless," Pete Ploszek, who appeared on an episode of the show last year, Jeremy Howard, who portrayed Drew Lou Who in the 2000 film "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and Alan Ritchson, who recently played Gloss in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and portrayed Aquaman on the CW show "Smallville."

William Fichtner, known for roles in films such as "The Dark Knight" and "Black Hawk Down," plays The Shredder and Danny Woodburn stars as his arch nemesis Splinter, a mutant rat who is the Turtles' mentor. "Arrested Development" actor Will Arnett and "SNL" alum Abby Elliott play Vernon Fenwick and Irma Langinstein, who work with O'Neil at her news station, while Whoopi Goldberg plays their editor, Bernadette Thompson -- a nod to a past male counterpart, Burne Thompson.

The is the first big screen adaptation of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird's popular 1980s comic that incorporates live action since the 1993 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III." An animated film, "TNMT," hit theaters in 2007. Several animated TV shows have also aired over the years. In the teaser trailer, Fox sports a yellow jacket. In a 1990s series, O'Neil wore a yellow jumpsuit.

Bay had also directed Fox in the first two "Transformers" films.

Did you know? Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie that was released in 1990, now stars in ABC's "Nashville" as Tandy Hampton, sister of Rayna James, Connie Britton's character.

Watch the teaser trailer for Michael Bay's 2014 movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" below. The movie is set for release on August 8.

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Flight MH370: 122 'new objects' spotted - Malaysia minister

A further 122 objects potentially from missing Malaysian flight have been identified by satellite, Malaysia's acting transport minister has said.

The images, taken on 23 March, showed objects up to 23m (75 ft) in length, Hishammuddin Hussein said.

Some of the objects captured by France-based Airbus appeared bright and were possibly of solid material.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.

The objects were located in a 400 sq km area around 2,557km (1588 miles) from Perth in Western Australia, Mr Hussein said.

The information was handed to the Australian Rescue and Co-ordination Centre in Perth on 25 March, he added.

The area being searched in the southern Indian Ocean has now been split into an east and west section, he said.

"This is another new lead that will help direct the search operation", Mr Hussein said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa), co-ordinating the search, said on Wednesday that flights had resumed and conditions had improved after rough seas and heavy rain forced air and sea operations to be suspended the previous day.

It said seven military and five civilian planes were taking part and a total of six countries were now involved - Australia, New Zealand, the US, Japan, China and the South Korea.

Google tries to NSA-proof Gmail

Google just beefed up the security of Gmail to make mass surveillance of its customers' email nearly impossible. It's not quite NSA-proof, but it's close.

To accomplish the feat, Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) secured how you connect to its servers. Gmail is now strictly using a secure communications protocol called HTTPS, which encrypts your email on its entire journey: from your computer to Google, between Google's servers, and from Google to the person receiving your email.

In a blog post Thursday, top Gmail security engineer Nicolas Lidzborski said the increased security was in response to disclosures about government surveillance made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

"This ensures that your messages are safe ... something we made a top priority after last summer's revelations," Lidzborski wrote. Google is trying to limit the abilities of the U.S. government's secretive PRISM program, which can spy on citizens' communications. The NSA declined to comment for this story.
As the New York Times explained last year, government spies have been tapping the fiber-optic cables between big tech companies' data centers. Data typically travels unencrypted between giant computer server farms, allowing for easy interception.
But by encrypting the flow of data between company servers, Google has made that kind of mass collection technologically unfeasible.

This drone can hack your phone

"That should be effective," said Mikko Hypponen, a top security researcher in Finland. "By protecting the connection between you and Google servers, they protect you against tons of attackers." Hypponen explained that the HTTPS encryption method is essentially uncrackable at the moment.
That doesn't stop the federal government from eventually worming its way into your personal data, though. The FBI could still send Google a National Security Letter demanding client records -- something it does all the time. In 2012 alone, Google received Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requests on the content of 20,000 to 22,000 users' communications.
Google is taking the kind of approach to combating surveillance that top privacy researchers advocate: Make mass collection unfeasible by making it more difficult and more expensive to accomplish. "I wouldn't call it NSA-proofing," Eugene H. Spafford, a computer science professor at Purdue University. "But they're doing something reasonable to protect against that and any other similar kind of eavesdropping."
That includes hackers that routinely spy on unsecured Internet connections, including hackers that lurk on public Wi-Fi connections and employers that snoop on workers in the office.
Privacy experts say Google's encryption is long overdue.
"This is something they could have done years ago," Spafford said. "It was a known problem with known solution. They and others have been very slow to adopt it."
The solution also only works if the email stays within Google's walls. The fix won't work if a Gmail user emails someone with a Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) or Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) account, because those companies don't yet support encryption between email providers, according to Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Why haven't they made the change yet?
"Because they're lazy," Soghoian said. "It takes engineers. And these are not features that are salient to regular users. Companies prioritize features that users notice."
In November, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said her company is working on encrypting information that moves between Yahoo servers and its users. She made no mention of that working with outside email providers. But Microsoft is working on all of the above, according to a December blog post from its top attorney, Brad Smith.

Westboro church founder Fred Phelps dies

Fred Phelps -- the founding pastor of a Kansas church known for its virulently anti-gay protests at public events, including military funerals -- has died, the church said Thursday.

The 84-year-old died of natural causes at 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to church spokesman Steve Drain.

Phelps founded Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, in 1955 and molded it in his fire-and-brimstone image. Many members of the small congregation are related to Phelps through blood or marriage.

In a statement Thursday, the church chided the "world-wide media" for "gleefully anticipating the death."

God forbid, if every little soul at the Westboro Baptist Church were to die at this instant, or to turn from serving the true and living God, it would not change one thing about the judgments of God that await this deeply corrupted nation and world."

According to Westboro, the church has picketed more than 53,000 events, ranging from Lady Gaga concerts to funerals for slain U.S. soldiers. Typically, a dozen or so church members -- including small children -- will brandish signs that say "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Phelps was often called "the most hated man in America," a label he seemed to relish.

"If I had nobody mad at me," he told the Wichita Eagle in 2006, "what right would I have to claim that I was preaching the Gospel?"

Under Phelps' leadership, Westboro members have preached that every calamity, from natural disasters to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, is God's punishment for the country's acceptance of homosexuality. Phelps had advocated for gays and lesbians to be put to death.

"Fred Phelps will not be missed by the LGBT community, people with HIV/AIDS and the millions of decent people across the world who found what he and his followers do deeply hurtful and offensive," the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said in a statement.

Phelps began his anti-gay protests in Wichita in 1991 after complaining that the city refused to stop gay activities in a public park. He rose to national notoriety in 1998, when Westboro members picketed at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming man who was tortured and murdered because he was gay. Phelps and his church carried signs that said Shepard was rotting in hell.

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Westboro Baptist Church "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America."

In 2011, the Supreme Court upheld Westboro's right to picket military funerals on free speech grounds. Congress and several states, though, have passed laws aimed at keeping church members at a distance from funerals.

In 2013, more than 367,000 petitioners called on the White House to legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group. The White House called Westboro's protests "reprehensible" but said that "as a matter of practice, the federal government doesn't maintain a list of hate groups."

Born in Meridian, Mississippi, on November 29, 1929, Phelps had his sights set on West Point before he attended a Methodist revival. He said the sermon inspired him to enter the ministry.

"I felt the call, as they say, and it was powerful," Phelps told the Topeka Capital-Journal in 1994. "The God of glory appeared." Later, Phelps was ordained by a Southern Baptist church in Utah.

He bounced around several Christian colleges as his preaching and his theology took a hard right turn.

A Time magazine article from 1951 describes Phelps as a "craggy-faced engineering student" who harangued fellow students about the dangers of promiscuity and profanity.

Tim Miller, a professor of religious history at the University of Kansas who has studied Westboro Baptist Church, said Phelps liked to consider himself a "primitive Baptist preacher who held to the old ways."

Despite its "Baptist" name, Westboro is not affiliated with any larger church denomination. Most Christians criticize the congregation's harsh anti-gay rhetoric and penchant for pursuing the limelight at inappropriate moments.

Phelps married his wife, Marge, who survives him, in 1952. The couple moved to Topeka on May 4, 1954, the day the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools.

Phelps interpreted that as a sign and soon began a law career that centered on civil rights, winning awards for his work and praise from local leaders.

"Most blacks -- that's who they went to," the Rev. Ben Scott, president of the NAACP's Topeka branch, told CNN in 2010. "I don't know if he was cheaper or if he had that stick-to-it-ness, but Fred didn't lose many back then."

Phelps was disbarred from practicing law in state courts, however, after being accused of badgering a witness and making false claims in court affidavits. The Kansas Supreme Court said that Phelps "has little regard for the ethics of his profession."

Phelps surrendered his license to practice law in federal courts in 1989, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal, after nine U.S. District Court judges filed disciplinary complaints against him.

Most of the members of Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church are members of his large family. Phelps has 13 children; 11 are attorneys. One son, Nathan, is estranged from his father and from organized religion. He is an atheist.

Nathan Phelps posted a Facebook message March 15 saying that his father had been excommunicated from the church. Later, though, Nathan Phelps said it was "unclear" whether his father had been expelled from Westboro.

A church statement issued on March 16 said that "membership issues are private" and that eight unnamed elders lead the congregation.

On Thursday, the church added, "Listen carefully; there are no power struggles in the Westboro Baptist Church, and there is no human intercessor -- we serve no man, and no hierarchy, only the Lord Jesus Christ."

For years, Phelps joked about the possibility that his own funeral would draw protests. During a sermon in 2006, he said a CNN reporter once asked how he would feel if that occurred.

"I'd love it. I'd invite them," Phelps told the reporter, according to the Wichita Eagle. "I said: 'I'll put in my will to pay your way. But not first class.' "

But Shirley Phelps-Roper, Phelps' daughter, said Westboro will not hold a funeral.

Truck in Amber Alert Found in Md.; Search for 8-Year-Old Relisha Tenau Rudd Continues

Police have found the vehicle described in an Amber Alert for an 8-year-old girl, but there's still no sign of the missing girl or the man police believe may have her.

Relisha Tenau Rudd was last seen Feb. 26 at the D.C. Shelter for Families on the grounds of the old D.C. General Hospital in Southeast. Police think she is in the company of 51-year-old Kahlil Malik Tatum, who works as a janitor at the shelter.

Police found the white 1976 GMC truck they believed the two were traveling in Thursday night in Hyattsville, Md.

Earlier in the day, Prince George's County Police found the body of a woman who appeared to have been beaten in a room at the Red Roof Inn in Oxon Hill. Sources say that woman has been identified as Tatum's wife. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

Relisha was reported missing Wednesday by her school because she hadn't been in class for weeks. Sources tell News4 that her mother, Shamika, refused to file a missing persons report. 

Family members say Shamika had told them her daughter was on a school trip to Georgia.

Relisha is four feet tall and weighs 70 to 80 pounds. She has black hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion. Police said she may be in need of medication.

An Amber Alert was issued Thursday for Relisha.

Tatum is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds. Police say he has brown eyes and black hair. 

Sources tell News4 that a witness told police Relisha may have been spotted in D.C. Thursday morning with an unidentified woman.

If you've seen Rudd or Tatum, call police at 202-727-9099 or 911.

Lives, not numbers: Snapshots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passengers

Amid the void of information on their fates, it seems at times the passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines
Flight 370 have been reduced to a number.

Two hundred and thirty-nine.

Yet, as their families and others who love and miss them can attest through their anguish, they are so much more. Hailing from at least a dozen nations, they represent a vast gamut of humanity.

The youngest is 2, the oldest 76. Five passengers haven't seen their fifth birthdays.

They are engineers, an artist and a stunt man, along with Buddhist pilgrims, vacationers and commuters. To those who wait for them, they are fathers, mothers, children, soulmates and the dearest of friends.

As could be said of any large, random group, they are many things, individuals with 239 unique backgrounds, idiosyncrasies and lives.

Here are a few of their stories:

Puspanahtan Subramaniam

The 34-year-old information technology specialist and father was leaving his home to board Flight 370 when his two young children clung to his legs and didn't want him to go. He had to promise them to bring chocolates and presents when he returned from his trip to Beijing, said his father, Gurusami Subramaniam.

"He was responsible for everything, these clothes I'm wearing even. Whatever country he was in, he would call. Once a week, he would come see us with the whole family. He really took care of us."

Gurusami Subramaniam says he worked 20 years as a security guard to put his only son through college.

Ju Kun

Ju's social media account has been flooded with well-wishers praying for his safe return. Many know the 35-year-old martial arts expert from his stand-ins as a stunt man in films like "The Grandmaster" and "The Forbidden Kingdom." The latter starred genre luminaries Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Ju was slated to begin filming on the Netflix series, "Marco Polo" in coming weeks.

Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi wrote on Weibo that Ju "is a sincere, kind and hardworking man," while Netflix said he is "an integral part of our production team and a tremendous talent."

Chandrika Sharma

K.S. Narendran considered going to Kuala Lampur for more information on his wife, but ultimately he didn't see the point. No information in Chennai, India, is the same as no information in Kuala Lampur, so he'd prefer to be "surrounded by family and friends."

Sharma, the executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, was en route to Mongolia for a U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization conference. Narendran says he's received little information from authorities and, like most of the world, has relied on news reports, which "thus far amounted to nothing," he said.

Paul Weeks

Weeks left his wedding ring and watch at home when he took a mining job in Mongolia. The New Zealander instructed his wife, Danica, to pass them on to his two sons "should anything happen."

Danica clutched her husband's wedding ring and fought back tears as she explained that her husband was aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, en route to Mongolia. She describes him as "the most amazing husband and the most amazing father," who always spends time with his boys. She says the hardest part is the cruel mystery: not knowing what happened to the plane.

"He had strength, character. He's just so much. He's my best friend and my soulmate, and I just can't wait for him to come back. I hope. I hope."

Mohammed Khairul Amri Selamat

The 29-year-old Malaysian civil aviation engineer works for a private jet charter company. Police are investigating all passengers and crew, but he is likely to be of particular interest because of his aviation knowledge. "I am confident that he is not involved," his father told . "They're welcome to investigate me and my family."

Gu Naijun and Li Yuan

Gu, 31, uses her Weibo account to keep her oft-traveling husband, Li, 32, apprised of the goings-on of their two "princesses," whether the daughters are swimming, playing on the slide, dressing in frilly costumes or just enjoying a lunch outing, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Chinese couple fell in love in Sydney, Australia, and moved to its suburbs. They had recently sold their Sylvania home and were spending most of their time in China, the paper reported. Li, who went by Carlos, is a partner with Beijing Landysoft Technology, where one longtime employee said he and his coworkers were shocked. "He's a good boss, kind, and extremely hard-working,'' the employee said.

Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai

Mukherjee, 42, is vice president of China operations for Xcoal Energy & Resources. He and his wife, Xiaomo Bai, 37, who broadcaster CTV identified as Canadians who once lived in Montreal, left their two young boys with Bai's mom in Beijing while they went on vacation in Vietnam, according to Bai's Facebook page.

Matthew McConkey, a friend of the couple's, said Mukherjee "was very much in love with" Bai, and "as parents nothing was more important to them than those kids."

Mao Tugui

Hu Xianquan last spoke to her husband, Mao, a painter, March 2, as he was boarding a plane to attend an exhibition for his work. Like Danica Weeks, she finds the dearth of information frustrating, and her grief has morphed to agonizing frustration.

Mohd Sofuan Ibrahim and Ch'ng Mei Ling

Hasif Nazri, 33, was doubly sad upon learning of the plane's disappearance. Not only did he live in the same dorm as the 33-year-old Ibrahim during their school days in Malaysia, but Mei Ling, also 33, is another former classmate.

While Nazri acknowledges losing hope as the days drag on, he has fond memories of his old friends. Ibrahim, who posted a Facebook photo before boarding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, was traveling to Beijing to begin work for Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry. A good student and speaker, Ibrahim is also "a good, kind-hearted friend, very helpful, cheerful and definitely no wallflower," Nazri said.

Nazri remembers Mei Ling, meanwhile, as a funny woman with an infectious laugh. She's a "very cheerful girl." Mei Ling works for Flexsys America LP, an Ohio-based manufacturer of chemicals for the rubber industry, and has lived in Pennsylvania since 2010. She "was very adaptable," Nazri recalled from his days doing course work with her

Swawand Kolekar

In Mumbai, India, Archit Joshi, 23, desperately sought information on his classmate, Kolekar, whose family in Beijing was also desperate for any information on his whereabouts.

Joshi described Kolekar as "very reserved but very, very intelligent ... a bit of a techno-freak and he made a lot of circuits and projects at engineering college."

"He didn't have many friends -- he was a bit of a loner -- but he had all the attributes a good friend should have."

Li Yan

Li's aunt, Zhang Guizhi, traveled from central China to Beijing and was hoping to obtain a passport to travel to wherever the plane is found. She wasn't sure how to go about the process and began weeping when she explained Li, 31, had traveled with her husband and four friends to Malaysia for vacation.

Philip Wood

The 51-year-old father of two graduated from Oklahoma Christian University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science in math and computer science, said school spokeswoman Risa Forrester. On the school's Facebook page, a man wrote that Wood, an IBM executive, is "gentle, kind, had great taste in music and was a wonderful artist."

"His word was gold," his family said in a statement. "Incredibly generous, creative and intelligent, Phil cared about people, his family, and above all, Christ."

Mary and Rodney Burrows

Neighbors Mandy Watt and Don Stoke say the Burrowses are the hard-working parents of three "successful, all happy" adult children -- two daughters and a son. Rodney Burrows had planned his trip to China after being laid off last year, the Australian Associated Press reported.

Watt further said of the Middle Park, Australia, couple, "I hate to use the cliche, but they were soulmates."

Catherine and Robert Lawton

The Lawtons, a Springfield Lakes, Australia, couple, in their mid-50s, are passionate travelers

, parents to three daughters and doting grandparents, according to the Australian Associated Press.

Robert's brother, David, described him as a "very good father, such a good person." Robert's sister-in-law said the Lawtons had planned their trip with their good friends, the Burrowses. Cathy's last Facebook post before leaving was, "Off to China."

Russia lawmakers vote to annex Crimea; U.S. steps up sanctions

Russia's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a treaty Thursday to annex the Black Sea
peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine, prompting tougher sanctions from the United States.

Russia responded with its own sanctions against a list of U.S. officials and lawmakers.

After Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had presented the treaty and urged lawmakers to accept the region as a part of the Russian Federation, the document was approved on a vote of 443 to 1.

Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of the parliament, will hold a similar vote Friday, completing ratification of a treaty that was signed by President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Speaking "on behalf" of Putin, Lavrov had told the State Duma that folding Crimea into Russia was needed to protect ethnic Russians there.

"I am certain that passing the document will become a turning point in the destiny of multi-ethnic nations of Crimea and Russia, who are related with close ties of the historical unity," Lavrov said.

Russia's moves to annex Crimea have turned a confrontation with Europe and the United States into the biggest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.

Approval of the treaty in the State Duma was in no doubt as Russia has stood defiant despite Western leaders denouncing Moscow's actions as a violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and a breach of international law.

European Union leaders said Thursday they will sign a political association agreement with Ukraine and add 12 more people to the list of individuals targeted for sanctions.

EU member states also are threatening possible tougher targeted measures if Russia escalates the situation in Ukraine, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy told reporters.

"We all must remain cool-headed," he said.

U.S. and EU officials had already imposed sanctions on more than two dozen Russian and Crimean officials, and urged Russia to avoid escalating the crisis -- a call Moscow has ignored.

But U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday announced more sanctions on individuals and one bank in response to Russia's annexation moves.

He also signed a new executive order that authorizes possible further sanctions on what he called "key sectors" of the Russian economy if Moscow does not act to deescalate the situation.

"This is not our preferred outcome. These sanctions would not only have a significant impact on the Russian economy, but could also be disruptive to the global economy," he said. "However Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community."

Russia must respect "basic principles" of sovereignty and territorial integrity, he said, adding that the United States should also provide financial support for Ukraine's government and people.

"We want the Ukrainian people to determine their own destiny and have good relations with the United States, Russia, Europe -- anyone they choose," he said, calling for continued diplomatic efforts.

Sanctions lists

The new U.S. sanctions target 20 officials, including senior Russians and "cronies" who hold significant influence in the Russian system, as well as one bank that holds "significant" resources, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters.

That bank was listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as Bank Rossiya.

The individuals named by the Treasury include major Putin allies, both in the Kremlin and in business. Among the 16 government officials listed are Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov; the speaker of the State Duma, Sergey Naryshkin; and Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Security and Defense Committee of the Russia parliament's upper house.

Four others were named as members of the government's inner circle. They are financier Yuri Kovalchuk, labeled Putin's personal banker by a senior U.S. administration official; magnate Gennady Timchenko, whose activities in the energy sector have been directly linked to Putin, according to the Treasury; and businessmen Arkady and Boris Rotenberg.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told  that the new round of U.S. sanctions would be "significantly more powerful than the first one."

The latest round "hits significant economic interests that are fairly close to the ruling circles in Moscow. It will be noticed," he said.

Russia responded with sanctions against nine U.S. officials and lawmakers, including speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and Sens. John McCain, Robert Menendez, Daniel Coats and Mary Landrieu, according to a list published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, said the lawmaker was "proud to be included on a list of those willing to stand against Putin's aggression."

McCain responded, "I guess this means my spring break in Siberia is off, my Gazprom stock is lost, and my secret bank account in Moscow is frozen. Nonetheless, I will never cease my efforts on behalf of the freedom, independence, and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea."

The U.S. Treasury said Bank Rossiya is controlled by Yuri Kovalchuk and is the 17th-largest bank in Russia.

It has $10 billion in assets and handles the accounts of some top government officials, the Treasury said, adding that the bank has relationships with banks in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. The bank also provides services to the oil, gas and energy sectors, it said.

"As a result of Treasury's action, any assets of the persons designated today that are within U.S. jurisdiction must be frozen," the Treasury said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters at the EU Heads of State or Government summit there would likely be more asset freezes and travel bans.

Finland's Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb told more names would be added Thursday.

"There will probably be over 10 new names on the list and then of course people are going to argue, are these people good to be on the list, bad to be on the list are they to be taken seriously and so on, but there will be more names," Stubb said.

Lavrov told lawmakers that sanctions "have never brought any positive results" and that there were no legal grounds for them.

Kiev defiant

Russia's defense minister assured U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in phone call Thursday that Russian troops on the Ukraine border do not intend to cross the border or take aggressive action, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said.

Hagel made it clear in the lengthy and sometimes "direct" talk with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu that the Russians bear responsibility for what happens in Crimea, including the recent violence, since they are in control there, Kirby said.

While Russia insists its actions are legitimate, Ukraine's parliament said Thursday that Kiev will never stop fighting for Crimea, even if the country's new leaders have discussed evacuating military personnel from the region.

In a declaration published online, the Kiev parliament said "Crimea was, is and will be part of Ukraine."

"The Ukrainian people will never, under no circumstances, stop fighting for the liberation of Crimea from the occupants, no matter how hard and long it is."

Putin announced the annexation of Crimea after voters in the semi-autonomous territory approved a hastily called weekend referendum on separating from Ukraine.

Kiev officials unveiled new measures against Russia and the "self-proclaimed" authorities in Crimea.

In a televised briefing, Andriy Porubiy, secretary of the national defense and security council, said that if the United Nations designates Crimea a "demilitarized zone," Ukraine is prepared to evacuate its military personnel and family members. Ukraine has facilities ready to accommodate 25,000 evacuees.

A statement on the Ukrainian presidential website said former Presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma had asked Turchynov to redeploy soldiers who are still in Crimea to the mainland.

The call was "to protect and save lives of Ukrainian servicemen who bear service in difficult and dangerous conditions in Crimea," the statement said.

Porubiy had also said the measures included a full-scale visa system for Russians.

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Kiev was in no hurry to impose a visa regime on Russia, since it could negatively affect Ukrainians living in the predominantly Russian-speaking east of the country.

Yatsenyuk is in Brussels to sign the political part of an association agreement with the European Union.

Lavrov said the intention to introduce visa regulations was "surprising and regrettable."

As diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis continue, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Russia Thursday, where he met Putin and Lavrov. He will then head to Kiev where he will meet acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov and Yatsenyuk on Friday.

Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Ban as saying during a meeting with Putin that he was "deeply concerned" by the situation involving Ukraine and Russia.

Navy chief released

Ukraine's navy commander, detained when supporters of Russia took over the naval headquarters in Crimea, was released, the presidential website said Thursday.

Amid signs the uneasy standoff between pro-Russian and Ukrainian forces could ignite into bloody conflict, about 300 armed men stormed the naval base in Sevastopol on Wednesday. They took away Ukrainian navy chief Sergey Gaiduk.

Turchynov issued a 9 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) deadline for Crimea to release all hostages and stop all provocations. Kiev's new leaders had warned that if all hostages, including Gaiduk, were not released by then, authorities would take action of "technical and technological character," probably meaning turning off utilities.

A statement on the presidential site said Gaiduk and several other hostages had been freed. They were released during the night and were on their way to Kiev Thursday.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu had asked authorities in Crimea to free Gaiduk and allow him safe passage out of the region. The incident at the navy headquarters came a day after one member of the Ukrainian military was killed when masked gunmen seized their base near the Crimean regional capital, Simferopol.

After that fatality -- the first Ukrainian military death since the Crimean crisis erupted about three weeks ago -- Ukraine's Defense Ministry authorized its forces to open fire in self-defense.