A Twitter account purported to be linked to the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch has turned out to be bogus.Photo / AP

A Twitter account purported to be linked to the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch has turned out to be bogus.

Twitter spokeswoman Rachel Bremer said Tuesday that the popular micro-blogging site “mistakenly verified” the “Wendi_Deng” account as genuine for a short time. She said the company apologises for the confusion.

Bremer said Twitter would not discuss its verification procedures, which are put in place to prevent hoaxes.

The person who opened the “Wendi_Deng” account tweeted Tuesday that it had been a spoof.

News International spokeswoman Daisy Dunlop said while the account was fake, the Twitter account opened over the New Year’s weekend by News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch was genuine. Murdoch has used the account to offer political and literary views in the last few days.

The Associated Press and other news organisations including the Guardian and the Telegraph newspapers quoted the “Wendi_Deng” account in earlier stories.

The tweets under the account appeared to be lighthearted and didn’t raise substantive doubts.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the person set the hoax, but late Monday said they hoped Murdoch and his wife would have a better 2012.

The last year has seen Murdoch, 80, embroiled in a British phone hacking scandal that has threatened his global media empire.

His wife was by his side when he testified about the scandal before Parliament in July, and she stepped in to slap down a protester who tried to douse Murdoch with a cream pie.

Deng’s quick action to protect her husband was captured on video and distributed on websites throughout the world.

-AP

Photo / Thinkstock

A toddler found floating in a family pool in Sydney’s northwest is in a critical but stable condition.

The 3-year-old was discovered by his mother and older brother face down at the bottom of the pool at their Galston home.

Police said he was believed to have been in the water for up to 10 minutes. The little boy was pulled unconscious from the water and given CPR and then airlifted to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.

Youssou N’Dour. Photo / Supplied

World-renowned Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour, 52, says he will run for President against incumbent Abdoulaye Wade in February 26 elections.

“I am a candidate,” the country’s most famous export declared on his privately-owned television station after weeks of speculation about his plans.

Firefighters work in an area of the Torres del Paine national park in Torres del Paine, Chile. Photo / AP

A new forest fire has claimed one life in southern Chile just hours after firefighters tamed a huge blaze that consumed 13,000ha in Patagonia.

The new inferno already has consumed some 8000ha in the commune of Quillon in southern Chile’s Biobio region, according to officials.

A 75-year-old man who refused warnings to leave his home died yesterday.

Photo / Thinstock

Concerned that heavier occupants might cause commercial vessels to capsize or sink, US Coast Guard officials have added 12kg to the weight of the “average” person used to calculate how many people a ship is licensed to carry.

In the past, stability tests have worked on the basis that the average man, woman or child who sets foot on board would weigh 72kg.

Under the new rules, that has jumped to the more robust figure of 84kg.

Stephen Lawrence’s mother Doreen Lawrence speaks to the media following the conviction of Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris for the racist murder of her teenaged son in 1993. Photo / AP

In a case that exposed racism and incompetence in Scotland Yard and took nearly two decades to bring anyone to justice, a jury found two men guilty Tuesday of brutally stabbing a black teenager to death.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were convicted of killing 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence as he waited for a night bus in southeast London in 1993. The pair will be sentenced Wednesday and face life in prison.

“Had the police done their job properly, I would have spent the last 18 years grieving for my son rather than fighting to get his killers to court,” said Lawrence’s mother, Doreen, who said Tuesday’s verdict was tinged with sadness.

The investigation which has seen multiple court appearances by suspects over the years but no convictions until now led to strong criticism of London’s Metropolitan Police and resulted in an investigation that found the force was “institutionally racist” and had bungled evidence-gathering. It also led to a change in Britain’s double jeopardy rules.

It has been one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in Scotland Yard’s recent history and police admit the investigation isn’t over yet.

Lawrence, who had wanted to study architecture, was stabbed twice and bled to death as he stood at a bus stop with his friend Duwayne Brooks. He was attacked by a gang of youths and police say they believe others were involved in the stabbing.

“I do not think I’ll be able to rest until they are all brought to justice,” Lawrence’s father Neville said in a statement read out by his lawyer after the verdict.

Arrests weren’t made until two weeks after the murder. Then in 1996 three of the suspects Neil Acourt, Luke Knight and Dobson were acquitted.

Tireless campaigning from Lawrence’s family and a change of government in 1997 helped keep the case alive, with Britain’s left-leaning Labour Party commissioning a public inquiry into the murder and the police investigation.

The resulting report, written by William Macpherson, found that the police were “institutionally racist” and had failed to investigate Lawrence’s murder carefully because he was black.

The Macpherson report led to a sea change in British race relations and breathed new life into the prosecution after authorities relaxed England’s rules on double jeopardy, which say that a person cleared of a crime cannot be retried for the same offense.

Still, obstacles remained.

In 2004, prosecutors announced there was “insufficient evidence” to pursue anyone for the murder amid allegations of police corruption.

But new forensic evidence uncovered in 2007 helped save the case.

Scientists subjected the evidence to months of careful tests, retrieving fibers from clothing taken from the suspects. They found a single hair matching Lawrence’s DNA and a microscopic blood stain invisible to the naked eye.

In 2011, a new trial was set up at London’s Central Criminal Court.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday he hoped the conviction would offer some comfort to Lawrence’s family.

He said the verdict would not “ease the pain of losing a son, but … I hope that it brings at least some comfort after their years of struggle.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband said he believed the Lawrence case would leave a powerful legacy for Britain.

“The murder of Stephen Lawrence was not only a tragedy for a talented young man and his family, it was a wake-up call to all of us who believe Britain is and always must be a country where everyone is shown respect irrespective of race, culture or faith.”

Dobson and Norris had both denied the charges. After the verdict, Dobson said as he was leaving the court: “You have condemned an innocent man here, I hope you can live with yourselves.”

-AP

Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters extinguishes numerous cars on fire in a carport in the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of Los Angeles. Photo / AP

The mother of a German man accused of setting numerous fires in Los Angles has been charged in Germany with 19 counts of fraud.

Court documents unsealed Tuesday say Dorothee Burkhart was charged in Frankfurt in a case in which she is accused of not paying for a 2004 breast-augmentation surgery.

Her son Harry Burkhart was arrested early Monday for investigation of the outbreak of arson late last week. Dorothee Burkhart was arrested Dec. 28 on a warrant from Germany.

Dorothee Burkhart made a brief appearance in federal court, seeming perplexed and repeatedly asked a magistrate judge where her son was.

She wondered aloud if he was dead or had disappeared, and at one point she stated that he is mentally ill.

-AP

Photo / Thinkstock

The owners of a cat that went missing four years ago were reunited with her the day after Boxing Day. Willow, who is now 10 years old, disappeared after being let out to play from her home in Princetown, Devon in 2007.

Willow was finally found in Plymouth, identified by an implanted microchip.

“It’s really only sinking in now, but it’s the best Christmas present ever,” owner Cristel Worth said.

A stray cat has survived two attempts by a Utah shelter to put her down.Photo / Thinkstock

A stray cat has survived two attempts by a Utah shelter to put her down.

Andrea the cat had not been adopted for 30 days, so officials at a West Valley City shelter put her in a gas chamber in the first attempt to euthanise her in October. She survived, so they gassed her again.

Shelter officials presumed she was dead when they put her in a plastic bag in a cooler. She was later found alive.

Andrea has since been adopted. But her case has led animal shelter volunteers to try to change the euthanasia procedure to lethal injection.

Volunteers are expected to argue for the change at a city council meeting Tuesday night.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that shelter officials aren’t sure why the gassing failed.

- AP

Firefighters scramble to put out more than 40 blazes in Hollywood and neighbouring West Hollywood as an arsonist makes a scene. Photo / AP

A German man was identified as a suspect in the Los Angeles arson spree because his mother was the subject of an arrest request by Germany, a US State Department official said Tuesday .

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations are ongoing, the official told The Associated Press that authorities learned about Harry Burkhart while working on the mother’s case and recognized him in security video of the arson suspect.

“When they saw the security footage, they recognized him and they contacted the arson task force,” the official said.

The official said the footage was seen on Sunday and Los Angeles authorities were alerted immediately. Burkhart was picked up on Monday, the official said.

The official didn’t know the status of Burkhart’s mother, Dorothee, or what type of visa the pair had entered the US on. As German citizens, they would be eligible to come to the US without a visa for 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program.

A federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the case, said Burkhart was present when his mother was arrested Dec.

28 by deputy US marshals and Los Angeles police on the provisional arrest warrant.

It’s not known why Germany sought the mother.

Provisional arrest warrants are normally issued when there are outstanding criminal charges pending overseas against someone. Ordinarily, US authorities then obtain a US arrest warrant through the State Department and the Justice Department.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the German consulate general in Los Angeles was in contact with American authorities regarding the case, but declined to comment further on the matter.

The dozens of arson fires appeared to have halted with Burkhart’s arrest. The 52 blazes caused more than $3 million in damage and put Los Angeles residents on edge during the long holiday weekend.

Police have said nothing about a possible motive in the fires set across Hollywood, neighboring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

“We are very confident in this arrest, but we have a long way to go,” said Police Chief Charlie Beck.

Harry Burkhart was being held without bail. Authorities didn’t know how long he’s been in the United States and said he isn’t cooperating with them.

Sheriff Lee Baca called him the “most dangerous arsonist in Los Angeles County that I can recall.”

The intentionally set fires kept residents anxious over the holiday weekend in some of the most densely populated areas of the city. Hundreds of investigators, police officers and firefighters raced to deal with the blazes.

The fires forced many apartment dwellers from their homes. But there were no serious injuries one firefighter was hurt in a fall from a ladder, and another person suffered smoke inhalation.

Authorities had been looking for a man with shoulder-length ponytail seen on a surveillance video near where a car fire was reported.

Five hours later, Burkhart was pulled over by a reserve sheriff’s deputy and later booked for investigation of arson of an inhabited dwelling.

While the investigation is ongoing authorities haven’t ruled out the possibility that others may be involved Burkhart’s arrest was a relief to anxious residents.

“Our long four-day nightmare is over,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

Galina Illarionova, who lives in the same apartment complex as the suspect, told reporters through a Russian translator that an agitated Burkhart visited her Sunday and said his mother was having some kind of legal problems. He told her his mother was in trouble with authorities and wanted Illarionova to attend a legal hearing with him, but he later said he didn’t need her help.

Most of the fires began in cars, and authorities have not said how they were started.

One of Saturday’s fires occurred at the Hollywood and Highland entertainment complex, a popular tourist destination bordered by the Walk of Fame in a neighborhood that includes Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Damaged buildings included a former home of Doors singer Jim Morrison in Laurel Canyon.

- AP