Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has acknowledged he fathered a child with a member of his household staff more than 10 years ago.
"After leaving the governor's office I told my wife about this event, which occurred over a decade ago," Mr Schwarzenegger said in a statement.
Earlier this month the former actor and his wife Maria Shriver said they were separating after 25 years of marriage.
Ms Shriver moved out of their Los Angeles mansion earlier in the year.
In his statement, Mr Schwarzenegger said: "I understand and deserve the feelings of anger and disappointment among my friends and family."
He and Ms Shriver have four children together between the ages of 14 and 21.
The 63-year-old former governor has maintained a high public profile and worked to revive his movie career since finishing a seven-year run as California governor in January.
'Truly sorry'
The name of the former member of Mr Schwarzenegger's household staff with whom he fathered the child has not been made public. But reports said she worked for the family for 20 years and retired in January.
Arnold Schwarzenegger fell out of favour with Californians long before he left office. But political failings aside, today's revelation came as a bolt out of the blue. It will certainly cement the so-called Governator's image as a disgraced public figure.
He had long had a reputation as a womaniser but this affair is tawdry - the fact that his mistress continued to work in the Schwarzenegger household up to January of this year - without his wife knowing what happened.
Mr Schwarzenegger's legacy was already in serious question, thanks to the fallout from his decision (in his final hours in office) to commute a 16-year prison sentence for manslaughter to seven years for the son of a close friend. Last week the San Diego District Attorney filed papers to void the commutation. The scandals swirling around Mr Schwarzenegger must surely kill any changes of a future life in public service. But Hollywood may be more forgiving.
In an interview on Monday, before the former governor issued his statement, the woman told the Los Angeles Times that another man, her husband at the time, had fathered her child.
When the Times informed her of Mr Schwarzenegger's statement later on Monday, the woman declined to comment further.
"I have apologised to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry," Mr Schwarzenegger said.
Ms Shriver supported her husband during his 2003 campaign, following accusations by more than a dozen women who said Mr Schwarzenegger had groped them in the past.
The former governor responded to the accusations by saying he "behaved badly sometimes".
The former first couple of California have been married for 25 years and did not mention a cause for the separation when it was announced last week.
Prior to taking office, Mr Schwarzenegger was best known for starring in the Terminator action films.
Ms Shriver, a member of the Kennedy dynasty, left her job as a TV reporter when her husband was elected as governor.
Emerging economies are expected to battle hard for the top job at the International Monetary Fund, following the arrest of current head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, analysts say.
That could pit the fast-growing markets of Asia and Latin America against Europe.
Developing countries are seeking more influence on the world stage as their economic clout increases.
Mr Strauss-Kahn has been charged with attempted rape in New York.
European officials, however, say the debt problems in the region mean any replacement should come from Europe.
The current structure for leadership at the IMF and the World Bank is one where the former is headed by a European and the latter by an American.
"There is growing disquiet, particularly among emerging nations, about this division of roles," said Jan Randolph, head of sovereign risk analysis at IHS Global Insight.
He says China could use its influence to support an emerging market candidate for the top IMF job.
"China is the biggest new IMF bondholder. Its huge financial contribution in 2008 effectively tripled the size of the IMF's lending power during the financial crisis."
That financial might is coming into focus as developing countries start taking a larger share of the global economy.
Possible successor
Although Mr Strauss-Kahn has not officially resigned, most analysts expect that he will do so.
John Lipsky, who was named as the IMF's acting managing director, has already said he will step down in August, when his term ends.
Names of potential candidates for the top job are already being bandied about.
Singapore's finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, former South African finance minister Trevor Manuel and Kemal Dervis, Turkey's former minister of economic affairs are possible successor, according to former IMF official Eswar Prasad.
The highest profile European candidate for the job is France's finance minister Christine Lagarde, according to the Financial Times.
Reuters news agency has compiled its own list of names which also include Montek Singh Ahluwalia of India and Agustin Carstens of Mexico.
Pressure is mounting on Dominique Strauss-Kahn to step down as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter called on him to consider his position.
Meanwhile, her Spanish counterpart, Elana Salgado, gave her support for the victim of his alleged sexual assault.
Mr Strauss-Kahn has been remanded in custody at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, following his arrest on Saturday for the attempted rape of a hotel maid.
He was arrested after boarding a plane, prompting the judge to say that Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, was a flight risk.
He faces seven charges and could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as a favourite in France's 2012 presidential elections, denies the charges.
The defence offered to post $1m (£617,000) bail, with Mr Strauss-Kahn to stay at his daughter's address in New York until the next hearing on Friday. However, Judge Melissa Jackson rejected the application.
'Very serious accusations'
"I don't comment on judicial matters," said Ms Fekter. "But in view of the situation, that bail has been refused, he himself must deliberate on whether he is hurting the institution."
The Spanish finance minister added her voice, saying that the IMF head faced "very serious accusations" but that any resignation "is only a decision that Mr Strauss-Kahn can take".
However, she went on to express sympathy for the alleged victim of the assault: "If I had to show my solidarity and support for someone, it would be towards the woman who has been assaulted, if that is really the case that she has been."
Ms Fekter's comments touched on concerns that, irrespective of the legal outcome, Mr Strauss-Kahn's detention creates a practical obstacle for his role in negotiating rescue loans for Portugal and Greece.
Mr Strauss-Kahn had been due to attend an EU finance ministers' meeting in Brussels to discuss financial bail-outs.
The IMF has played a central role in organising rescue packages for the troubled economies of Portugal and Greece.
However, according to the Portuguese finance minister, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, the IMF head's absence had not been an issue.
Mr Strauss-Kahn received support from the Luxembourg prime minister and eurogroup head, Jean-Claude Juncker, a self-professed close friend.
"I'm very sad and upset," he said. "I didn't like the pictures I've seen on television."
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde described Mr Strauss-Kahn's predicament as "crushing and painful".
Flight halted
The IMF said in a statement that it had been briefed on the charges against its managing director, and that it would "continue to monitor developments".
The charges relate to an alleged assault at the Times Square Sofitel hotel in New York.
Writer Tristane Banon alleges Mr Strauss-Kahn assaulted her in 2002
According to the New York Police Department, a 32-year-old maid told officers that when she entered his suite on Saturday afternoon, Mr Strauss-Kahn emerged from the bathroom naked, chased her and sexually assaulted her.
The woman was able to break free and alert the authorities, a NYPD spokesman added.
Later on Saturday, Mr Strauss-Kahn was detained on board an Air France flight at New York's John F Kennedy airport minutes before take-off.
The IMF chief underwent medical examinations on Sunday. Police were looking for scratches or any other evidence of his alleged assault.
He was later charged with a "criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape". Police say the maid formally identified him in a line-up.
'Thunderbolt'
Until he was arrested, Mr Strauss-Kahn was considered a favourite to become the Socialist candidate for the French presidency next year.
Opinion polls gave him a good chance of defeating President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Socialist party president Martine Aubry described his arrest as a "thunderbolt" but called for Mr Strauss-Kahn to be presumed innocent.
Mr Strauss-Kahn's wife, French TV personality Anne Sinclair, has also protested his innocence.
Meanwhile, another allegation against Mr Strauss-Kahn has emerged. A French writer says she may file a complaint for an alleged sexual assault in 2002.
Tristane Banon, 31, says Mr Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her when she went to interview him for a book she was writing.
"We're planning to make a complaint," Ms Banon's lawyer told AFP news agency. Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have so far not responded to the allegation.
WASHINGTON May 16 - The White House remains confident in the International Monetary Fund and its ability to execute its mission in the wake of the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a spokesman said on Monday.
"We note that the IMF has said that they have appointed an acting director and the IMF remains fully functional. And we remain confident in the institution of the IMF and its ability to continue to execute its mission effectively," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling to Tennessee on Air Force One with President Barack Obama.
Asked if Washington had any concern that Strauss-Kahn's arrest would have any effect on its handling of some European countries' debt problems, Carney repeated: "We're confident that the IMF will continue to function effectively."
Strauss-Kahn appeared in court in New York on Monday for the first time since he was accused of trying to rape a hotel maid in a case that has sent shockwaves through French politics and left the IMF in turmoil.
His lawyers said he would plead not guilt to charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape and unlawful imprisonment.
Twin bomb attacks on a paramilitary force academy in north-west Pakistan have killed 80 people, police say.
At least 120 people were wounded in the blasts at the training centre for the Frontier Constabulary in Shabqadar, Charsadda district.
After early suspicions that one of the bombs was planted, police said both blasts were suicide attacks.
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack to avenge the death of Osama Bin Laden earlier this month.
The al-Qaeda leader was killed during a US commando raid in the northern Pakistani town of Abbottabad on 2 May.
'Deadliest attack'
The bombings happened as newly trained cadets from the Frontier Constabulary were getting into buses for a short period of leave after completing their course.
The Frontier Constabulary is used to police the regions bordering Pakistan's tribal areas.
The attack on this paramilitary police academy comes days after the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and in the wake of Taliban threats to avenge him. But regular and tribal police forces have been a target of Taliban militants based in the nearby Mohmand tribal region since 2007.
Together with its northern neighbour, Bajaur, Mohmand has been home to local militants claiming allegiance to an anti-Pakistan Taliban group called TTP. At the same time, the area is home to militant groups close to al-Qaeda's thinking, such as the one led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
After 9/11, Bajaur served as the first sanctuary for foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. In May 2009, security forces in Mohmand captured five Arab fighters and had to fight a three-hour long gun battle with local Taliban to prevent them from freeing the Arabs.
But al-Qaeda does not have any military capability in the area and is dependent on support from local militants. Analysts expect these militants to use Bin Laden's killing as an excuse to launch similar attacks in coming days
"Both attacks were suicide attacks," said the police chief of Charsadda district, Nisar Khan Marwat.
"The first suicide bomber came on a motorcycle and detonated his vest among the Frontier Constabulary men," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.
"When other [Frontier Constabulary] people came to the rescue to help their colleagues, the second bomber came on another motorcycle and blew himself up."
At least 66 of the dead were recruits, but there were also civilian casualties, officials say. A number of vehicles were destroyed in the blast.
"I was sitting in a van waiting for my colleagues. We were in plain clothes and we were happy we were going to see our families," Ahmad Ali, a wounded paramilitary policeman, told AFP.
"I heard someone shouting 'Allahu Akbar' [God is great] and then I heard a huge blast. I was hit by something in my back shoulder.
"In the meantime, I heard another blast and I jumped out of the van. I felt that I was injured and bleeding."
Security forces sealed off the area and the wounded were taken to a hospital in nearby Peshawar.
Lady Reading hospital in Peshawar has been inundated with casualties and doctors said they were fighting to save the lives of 40 critically injured cadets.
"It's the first revenge for the martyrdom of... Bin Laden. There will be more," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the Reuters news agency by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Shabqadar lies on the border with Afghanistan, about 35km (22 miles) north-west of Peshawar, not far from the militant stronghold of Mohmand.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in Islamabad, says the security forces have often been the target of such attacks as they fight the Pakistani Taliban across the north-west of the country, but Friday's bombing is the deadliest attack this year.
He adds that the Pakistani army - which has come under intense scrutiny and criticism over the Bin Laden affair - is likely to point out that this attack is an illustration of the sacrifices it has made in the so-called "war on terror".
Army chiefs are appearing before parliament to explain their actions over the death of Bin Laden.
Our correspondent says many politicians and members of the public appear to be less concerned about Bin Laden's presence in Pakistan and more about the way the US was able to carry out its raid without official permission.
The US gives billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to Pakistan, but has questioned its reliability as an ally in combating the militants.
In recent years, Taliban militants have killed hundreds of people in bombings and other attacks across Pakistan.
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The US Supreme Court has been hearing evidence on whether the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in American history should go ahead.
A group of women is suing the world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, claiming they were held back because of their gender.
They want to bring a class action suit on behalf of more than a million women.
Wal-Mart denies the allegations and says it promotes women employees and pays them well.
The group bringing the lawsuit says Wal-Mart systematically discriminated against women in stores across America.
But lawyer Theodore Boutrous Jr, for Wal-Mart, said on Tuesday the class action nature of the legal action deprived the company of legal rights as it was forced to defend the treatment of women regardless of the jobs they held or their place in the Wal-Mart chain.
This is the first step in what those bringing the case hope could become a landmark legal moment. What started out as a grievance over pay and promotion among a handful of women could turn into the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in America.
The first claims of women being passed up for promotion at Walmart stores surfaced 11 years ago, but the six women pursuing this case do not want their grievances to be heard separately.
Instead, they are pushing for the case to be heard as a class action - to include all female store employees since 1998 - because they claim there is a wider culture of sex discrimination in the company. It is up to America's highest court to decide whether this is how the case should proceed.
Walmart denies the charges, but if a class action goes ahead, the company faces the prospect of a billion-dollar payout, as well as a dent to its reputation.
"There is absolutely no way there can be a fair process here," Mr Boutrous said.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the issue at stake at this early stage in the process was not proving discrimination, but showing enough evidence to go forward.
"We're talking about getting a foot in the door," Justice Ginsburg said
Meanwhile, Justice Anthony Kennedy remarked that he was unsure "what the unlawful policy is" that Wal-Mart engaged in.
A decision on whether the class action suit should go forward is expected by summer.
'Lost pay'
Christine Kwapnowski, one of six women named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, says she was passed over for pay and promotion in favour of male colleagues.
"I asked what I needed to do to get promoted and my manager said I should 'doll up and blow the cobwebs off my make-up,'" she told the BBC.
The six plaintiffs bringing the lawsuit are making their claim under the 1964 Civil Rights Act, arguing "the policies and practices underlying this discriminatory treatment are consistent throughout Wal-Mart".
The women, who are seeking lost pay and damages, want the US Supreme Court to allow the case to proceed as a class action lawsuit against the company.
A class action suit would cover any woman who has worked for, or works for, one of more than 3,400 Wal-Mart stores in the US since December 1998.
A group of women demonstrated outside the court on Tuesday, chanting for "fair pay now"
Two lower courts have allowed the suit to proceed as a class action; Wal-Mart appealed to the Supreme Court. A decision is not expected until June.
Wal-Mart denies the claims, and notes the company has won awards for its women-friendly working practices.
"Wal-Mart has had - for many years - strong policies against discrimination and these policies are there to ensure women are promoted and paid well," company spokesman Greg Rossiter said.
After the hearing Ms Kwapnoski said she was confident about the outcome.
"Ten years has been how long this has been going on," she said. "And it's a fight worth fighting and we'll keep fighting it until the end."
LATAKIA, Syria — Gangs of young men, some armed with swords and hunting rifles, roamed Sunday through the streets of a Syrian seaside city, closing alleys with barricades and roughly questioning passersby in streets scarred by days of anti-government unrest.
The scenes in Latakia, a Mediterranean port once known as a summmer tourist draw, were a remarkable display of anarchy in what had been one of the Mideast's most tightly controlled countries.
Syria has been rocked by more than a week of demonstrations that began in the drought-parched southern agricultural city of Daraa and exploded nationwide on Friday, with security forces opening fire on demonstrators in at least six places and killing dozens.
The government has also tried to calm the situation with concessions, and President Bashar Assad is expected to announce Tuesday that he is lifting a nearly 50-year state of emergency and moving to annul other harsh restrictions on civil liberties and political freedoms.
Member of Parliament Mohammed Habash told The Associated Press that lawmakers discussed the state of emergency during a Sunday night session and Assad would make an announcement about the issue on Tuesday. He offered no further details.
Ammar Qurabi, an exile in Egypt who heads Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said there appeared to be divergent views within the Syrian leadership, with one branch that believes in a crackdown and another that believes in dialogue.
He said Assad must address the people and show some transparency as quickly as possible.
"People are asking themselves, where is he? why doesn't he make an appearance?" Qurabi said. "Assad must choose whether he wants to go the way of the Moroccan king, who has pledged to sponsor broad constitutional reforms, or the Gadhafi way. Which is it going to be?"
A top adviser to Assad offered the first hint of reforms in an announcement Thursday, saying the government had begun studying change to the emergency law and other measures. That pledge did not stop protests from erupting in cities across Syria the following day.
Some of the worst violence appears to have taken place in Latakia, a coastal city that is a mix of Sunnis living in its urban core and members of Assad's minority Alawite branch of Shiite Islam in villages on its outskirts, along with small minorities of Christians, ethnic Turks and other groups.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that large, religiously mixed crowds took to the steets of Latakia on Friday to express sympathy with protesters in the southern city of Daraa and demand greater civil liberties and political freedoms and an end to official corruption.
According to the witnesses and footage posted on social networking sites, shooting erupted after nightfall Tuesday that protesters blamed on security forces, and unrest erupted that continued until Saturday. Syrian officials said the government moved the army into Latakia in heavy numbers by early Sunday.
Syrian officials said 12 people had died in the city, and blamed the deaths on unidentified gunmen firing from rooftops.
An Associated Press photographer saw traces of what appeared to have been a serious battle in Latakia's main Sheik Daher square. Two police cars had been smashed and rocks and telephone cables torn from overhead poles were strewn across the streets and sidewalks.
The offices housing SyriaTel, the mobile phone company owned in large part by a cousin of President Bashar Assad, had been burned.
At one of the city's two hospitals, officials said they had treated 90 wounded people on Friday. The photographer saw many suffering from gunshot wounds to the hands or feet. Others were in critical condition.
Few cars or people were on the streets and shops were closed. Soldiers patrolled in heavy numbers, stopping virtually anyone seen carrying a bag. They pulled drivers to the side of the road to ask for identification papers and search their vehicles.
Just before sundown, gangs of 10 to 15 young men began roaming the streets, many armed with sticks and a few carrying guns or swords. Some of the gangs could be seen closing streets and alleys with metal barricades and large rocks.
Their allegiances could not be immediately determined, but pro-government groups of men in civilian clothes and armed with hunting rifles and other firearms also could be seen pulling over drivers, asking them for identification and the reason for their presence in Latakia.
The Baath party's office in Latakia did not appear to be burnt, despite reports from activists Saturday that it had been set ablaze, which the government had denied.
The Reuters news agency reported that two of its staffers had been missing in Syria since Saturday night, saying Beirut-based producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji had been expected to cross into Lebanon by road and be picked up by a taxi.
Reuters said it had asked for Syrian officials' help in securing the journalists' safe return.
Syria's state of emergency has been in force since Assad's Baath party took power on March 8, 1963. It lets the government detain suspects without trial and exercise strict control over the media.
It also allows civilians to be tried in military courts.
Assad's decisions are effectively law but the state of emergency would have to be formally canceled by a presidential decree requiring approval of the cabinet. The decree would then be referred to a parliamentary committee for approval before actually going into effect.
The next scheduled cabinet meeting is Tuesday.
Habash, the lawmaker, told the AP before the parliament session Sunday that it might vote on a section of the constitution that mandates Baath party leadership of the nation. The amendment of the constitution's section 8 would open the way for the formation of parties besides the Baath and 11 other closely associated parties known as the National Progressive Front.
There was no word of such a vote after the session.
(This version corrects that activists, not the Syrian government, said Latakia Baath offices were burnt.)
PARIS — Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's party has taken a drubbing and the rival Socialists have gained groun in local elections that have been seen as a test ahead of the presidential vote next year.
The far-right National Front also claimed victory but it is unclear from Interior Ministry partial results whether the party will get its first official footprint in France's smallest administrative districts.
Results showed Sarkozy's UMP party taking 18.9 percent of the vote in Sunday's second-round balloting in the nation's cantons. It is the last national vote before next year's presidential elections.
The Socialist Party has 35 percent of the vote so far and the National Front more than 10 percent, down from 15 percent in last week's first-round vote.
The turnout in the areas counted so far was 44 percent.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PARIS (AP) — Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy's popularity is up for a test in local elections that could give the far-right National Front party its first official footprint in France's smallest administrative districts.
Sunday's second-round vote in the nation's cantons is the last national ballot before presidential balloting next year.
In last week's first-round balloting, the rival Socialist Party led with 25 percent of the vote, way ahead of Sarkozy's UMP party with 17 percent and just ahead of the National Front's 15 percent.
The far right, resurgent under Marine Le Pen's leadership, threw Sarkozy's party into disarray. Of the 1,566 cantons still up for grabs, the National Front is vying in 394 of them.
The big unknown is the abstention rate — 55.6 percent last week.
US & Canada 
Mr Schwarzenegger and Ms Shriver jointly announced their separation last week 
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