There are currently five “Game of Thrones” books with a few more in the works. However, author George R.R. Martin’s original plan was for the series to be a trilogy. 

Redditor TheNextRobin noticed a tweet from UK bookseller Waterstones which contained three photos of a 1993 letter Martin wrote outlining the entire series. The tweet has since been deleted, but not before the images made it to the Internet. 

Variety first picked up on the Reddit post. 

While the letters detail many differences that never ended up occurring in the books and show. The biggest real is the five characters who survive at the end of the entire book series.  

Of course, this could have changed by now, but back in ’93 here’s who Martin listed as surviving “Game of Thrones”: *spoilers* Daenerys Targaryen, Arya Stark, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, and Tyrion Lannister. *spoilers* 

Here are the letters below. 

So you don’t need to squint, I’ve included a typed out transcript of the three letters. There are some omissions because of giant glare marks on the letters. One of the last paragraphs is also blacked out. There are big spoilers below for those who haven't read the books or watched the shows.

First, the images:

Dear Ralph,

Here are the first thirteen chapters (170 pages) of the high fantasy novel I promised you, which I'm calling A Game of Thrones. When completed, this will be the first volume in what I see as an epic trilogy with the overall title, A Song of Ice and Fire. 

As you know, I don't outline my novels. I find that if I know exactly where a book is going, I lose all interest in writing it. I do, however, have some strong notions as to the overall structure of the story I'm telling, and the eventual fate of many of the principle characters in the drama. Roughly speaking, there are three major conflicts set in motion in the chapters enclosed. These will form the major plot threads of the trilogy, [unclear] each other in what should be a complex but exciting (I hope [unclear] tapestry. Each of the [unclear] presents a major threat [unclear] of my imaginary realm, the Seven Kingdoms, and to the live [unclear] principal characters.

The first threat grows from the emnity between the great houses of Lannister and Stark as it plays out in a cycle of plot, counterplot, ambition, murder, and revenge, with the iron throne of the Seven Kingdoms as the ultimate prize. This will form the backbone of the first volume of the trilogy, A Game of Thrones.

While the lion of Lannister and the direwolf of Stark snarl and scrap, however, a second and greater threat takes shape across the narrow sea, where the Dothraki horselords mass their barbarian hordes for a great invasion of the Seven Kingdoms, led by the fierce and beautiful Daenerys Stormborn, the last of the Targaryen dragonlords. The Dothraki invasion will be the central story of my second volume, A Dance with Dragons.

The greatest danger of all, however, comes from the north, from the icy wastes beyond the Wall, where half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything that we would call "life." The only thing that stands between the Seven Kingdoms and an endless night is the Wall, and a handful of men in black called the Night's Watch. Their story will be [sic] heart of my third volume, The Winds of Winter. The final battle will also draw together characters and plot threads left from the first two books and resolve all in one huge climax.

The thirteen chapters on hand should give you a notion as to my narrative strategy. All three books will feature a complex mosaic of intercutting points-of-view among various of my large and diverse cast of players. The cast will not always remain the same. Old characters will die, and new ones will be introduced. Some of the fatalities will include sympathetic viewpoint characters. I want the reader to feel that no one is ever completely safe, not even the characters who seem to be the heroes. The suspense always ratchets up a notch when you know that any character can die at any time.

--

Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The five key players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow. All of them are introduced at some length in the chapters you have to hand.

This is going to be (I hope) quite an epic. Epic in its scale, epic in its action, and epic in its length. I see all three volumes as big books, running about 700 to 800 manuscript pages, so things are just barely getting underway in the thirteen chapters I've sent you.

I have quite a clear notion of how the story is going to unfold in the first volume, A Game of Thrones. Things will get a lot worse for the poor Starks before they get better, I'm afraid. Lord Eddard Stark and his wife Catelyn Tully are both doomed, and will perish at the hands of their enemies. Ned will discover what happened to his friend Jon Arryn, [unclear] can act on his knowledge [unclear] will have an unfortunate accident, and the throne will [unclear] to [unclear] and brutal [unclear] Joffrey [unclear] still a minor. Joffrey will not be sympathetic and Ned [what appears to say] will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Arya escape back to Winterfell.

Each of the contending families will learn it has a member of dubious loyalty in its midst. Sansa Stark, wed to Joffrey Baratheon, will bear him a son, the heir to the throne, and when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue. Tyrion Lannister, meanwhile, will befriend both Sansa and her sister Arya, while growing more and more disenchanted with his own family.

Young Bran will come out of his coma, after a strange prophetic dream, only to discover that he will never walk again. He will turn to magic, at first in the hope of restoring his legs, but later for its own sake. When his father Eddard Stark is executed, Bran will see the shape of doom descending on all of them, but nothing he can say will stop his brother Robb from calling the banners in rebellion. All the north will be inflamed by war. Robb will win several splendid victories, and maim Joffrey Baratheon on the battlefield, but in the end he will not be able to stand against Jaime and Tyrion Lannister and their allies. Robb Stark will die in battle, and Tyrion Lannister will besiege and burn Winterfell.

Jon Snow, the bastard, will remain in the far north. He will mature into a ranger of great daring, and ultimately will succeed his uncle as the commander of the Night's Watch. When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya. Wounded by Lannister riders, they will seek refuge at the Wall, but the men of the Night's Watch give up their families when they take the black, and Jon and Ben jen will not be able to help, to Jon's anguish. It will lead to a bitter estrangement between Jon and Bran. Arya will be more forgiving ... until she realizes, with terror, that she has fallen in love with Jon, who is not only her half-brother but a man of the Night's Watch, sworn to celibacy. Their passion will continue to torment Jon and Arya throughout the trilogy, until the secret of Jon's true parentage is finally revealed in the last book.

--

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wilding encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

Over across the narrow sea, Daenerys Targaryen will discover that her new husband, the Dothraki Khal Drogo, has little interest in invading the Seven Kingdoms, much to her brother's frustration. When Viserys presses his claims past the point of tact or wisdom, Khal Drogo will finally grow annoyed and kill him out of hand, eliminating the Targaryen pretender and leaving Daenerys as the last of her line. Danerys [sic] will bide her time, but she will not forget. When the moment is right, she will kill her husband to avenger her brother, and then flee with a trusted friend into the wilderness beyond Vaes Dothrak. There, hunted by [unclear] of her life, she stumbles on a [something about dragon eggs] a young dragon will give Daenerys [unclear] bend [unclear[ to her will. Then she begins to plan for her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.

Tyrion Lannister will continue to travel, to plot, and to play the game of thrones, finally removing his nephew Joffrey in disgust at the boy king's brutality. Jaime Lannister will follow Joffrey on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms, by the simple expedient of killing everyone ahead of him in the line of succession and blaming his brother Tyrion for the murders. Exiled, Tyrion will change sides, making common cause with the surviving Starks to bring his brother down, and falling helplessly in love with Arya Stark while he's at it. His passion is, alas, unreciprocated, but no less intense for that, and it will lead to a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.

[The next graph is blocked out.]

But that's the second book ... 

I hope you will find some editors who are as excited about all of this as I am. Feel free to share this letter with anyone who wants to know how the story will go. 

All best,

George R.R. Martin

SEE ALSO: A “Game of Thrones” actor just broke a 1,000 year-old Viking record for strength

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Russia's wealth disparity is off the charts. Just over 100 billionaires hold a third of the country's wealth. 

That's largely down to Russia's chaotic 1990s. Enterprising and ruthless men (and they are practically all men) took hold of huge chunks of the former Soviet Union's rapidly privatised industries, or made millions bringing in highly sought-after exports from the west.

More recently, they haven't limited their interests to Russia. In the past 15 years, a handful of oligarchs have been snapping up companies in the West, too.

On Wednesday night, "NBC Nightly News"anchor Brian Williams apologized on air for his "bungled" story about getting shot down in Iraq. 

Williams said on air, "I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago ... I want to apologize. I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."

Shortly before the broadcast, Mashable editor Brian Ries dug up this video of Williams recalling his story on "The Late Show with David Letterman" in 2013. 

Williams starts telling the tale at the 3:00 minute mark:

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The Greek stock market exploded Tuesday with the Athens Stock Exchange General Index surging 11.3%.

This comes amid rapidly evolving talks over how Greece will climb out of its debt crisis.

At the center of these dealings is Greek finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis. He's the voice and face of the Greece's economic situation today.

His position on what to do about Greek's crushing debt seems to change daily, but that seems to be working to his advantage.

Varoufakis, who describes himself as a libertarian Marxist, became the finance minister after the far-left Syriza party won a resounding victory in Greek elections in January. 

Before being elected to parliament, Varoufakis was an economics professor (and, briefly, a video game company's economist-in-residence). He teaches economic theory at the University of Athens, but for the past two years he has spent time as a visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin. 

He looks the part. In photos of his negotiations with various European leaders over the weekend, he appeared with an untucked shirt and no tie. It seemed to convey a message: I don't play by your rules.

Varoufakis' academic specialty is game theory, the study of strategic decision-making. James Galbraith, a fellow UT Austin professor, told Bloomberg that Varoufakis was as knowledgeable "as anyone on the planet" and would "be thinking more than a few steps ahead" in negotiations with Greece's creditors, known as the troika (the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank, and the European Commission).

But if that's true, Varoufakis doesn't come across as coldly calculating. He comes across as rash. Right out of the gate, Greece declared it would not negotiate with the troika, and Varoufakis wrote a post on his personal blog blasting the media for getting his motives wrong.

At that point, people started worrying that Greece had gone off the rails. Varoufakis seemed to be pursuing what is known in strategy as a madman theory. Basically, if you act crazy enough, your enemy will fear you and give you more of what you want. 

But over the weekend Varoufakis embarked on a trip around Europe in which he met with various leaders and seemed to start doing what he said he wouldn't: negotiating. Or at least pre-negotiating. In France, he gained some support for his cause.

Tuesday morning, Varoufakis proposed a swap instead of a haircut on the debt that is drowning Greece. From the FT:

Attempting to sound an emollient note, Mr. Varoufakis told the Financial Times the government would no longer call for a headline write-off of Greece’s €315bn foreign debt. Rather it would request a "menu of debt swaps" to ease the burden, including two types of new bonds.

The first type, indexed to nominal economic growth, would replace European rescue loans, and the second, which he termed "perpetual bonds," would replace European Central Bank-owned Greek bonds.

This might be appealing to the Germans, who are opposed to a haircut.

It seems as if Varoufakis' strategy — bold, a little crazy, but willing to negotiate — might just get him somewhere. On the other hand, it could backfire spectacularly. Either way, the fate of the euro project seems to be at least partially in the hands of a tieless, bold, radical economist.

Game on. 

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Food prices are out of control in Russia.

Inflation in the country is at its highest level since the financial crisis (about 11.4%), and some say it could get up to 17% around March.

Things have gotten so bad that Russian officials are even thinking about putting a price cap on "essential food products," reports the Moscow Times.

But politics aside, it's the everyday Russian consumers who have been hit the hardest by all of this — especially because it doesn't look as if this will end anytime soon.

And Russians have even taken to social media to express concern (or just to straight-up complain) about the rising prices. 

Может я в этой жизни чего и не понимаю, но как по мне, так кило орехов не может стоить столько же, сколько 200 буханок хлеба. #орех #инфляция #ценырастут #кризис #ашан

A photo posted by Артём Немов (@nem_0ff) on Feb 2, 2015 at 1:07pm PST

Translation: Maybe I just don't understand anything in this life, but it seems that a kilo of nuts can't possibly cost the same as 200 loaves of bread.

2,216.16 rubles = $33.20 for 2.2 lbs of nuts

In the photo below, notice that the store has a fake discount: The price crossed out is the same as the "new" price.

Вот он маркетинг! Посмеялись. Это только в одном отделе,в других не обратили внимание. Цены взлетели на многие продукты почти в 2раза. Пришлось урезать список на неделю (( #ценыкусаются #кризисуходи #зпрасти #всебудетхорошо #прорвемся #ребенкукупиливсечтонужно

A photo posted by Екатерина (@batrakovaea_pp) on Jan 16, 2015 at 11:19pm PST

Translation: Well, that's marketing! Had a good laugh. This is just in one store, we weren't paying attention in others. Prices have skyrocketed for most products by almost 2x. We had to cut the [grocery] list for the week. #thepricesbite #goawaycrisis #everythingwillbeok #we'llbreakthrough #bought the child everything that was necessary

Cottage cheese: 69.19 rubles for 220 grams = $1.04 for 0.48 lbs
Cheese: 146.39 rubles for 230 grams = $2.19 for 0.5 lbs

Не думал, что я это буду когда-либо выкладывать у себя на странице, но вот эта покупка стоила мне почти 400 рублей. За чтооо???!!!! Мдашеньки. #самара #ценыкусаются

A photo posted by Denis Zatsepin (@denis_zatsepin) on Jan 28, 2015 at 9:07am PST

Translation: Didn't think that I would ever put this on my page, but this costs me almost 400 rubles. For whaaaat?!??!?! #samara #pricesarebiting

400 rubles for an assortment of cottage cheese, cheese, and a dairy drink

Арбузика?🍉не, не надо🙈как-нибудь без него проживем😳😳😳#арбуз #дорогоеудовольствие #ценыкусаются #благовещкенск #блг #блага #28регион #28rus #blg

A photo posted by Вика (@vika_kalina1985) on Dec 28, 2014 at 3:02am PST

Translation: Watermelon!?!? No, don't need it. Somehow, we'll survive without it. #watermelon #goodpleasure #thepricesarebiting #blagoveshenk #blg #blaga #28region #28rus #blg

2,360 rubles = $35.5 dollars
381.60 rubles per kilogram = $5.72 for 2.2 lbs 

Сыр подорожал #сыр #инфляция #девальвация #санкции #крым #украинскийвопрос #ценыкусаются #деноминация #политика #экономика #сырныйкризис #молочные продукты #рынок #магазин #торговля #вто #экономика #финансы #зарплата #пенсия

A photo posted by Alexander Tchir (@aspenstick) on Oct 15, 2014 at 7:56am PDT

Translation: The cheese got more expensive. #cheese #inflation #devaluation #sanctions #Crimea #theukrainianquestion #thepricesarebiting #denomination #politics #economics #cheesecrisis #dairy products #market #finances #salary #pension

prices from 299 rubles to 900 rubles = $4.5 to $13.48
(Note: this specific photo is from October, so this is before things got really bad.)

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Half of US adults are single.

In his latest monthly chart book, Deutsche Bank economist Torsten Sløk includes the following chart, which shows that not only are half of US adults singe, but this is a trend that has been tearing higher since the '70s.

Said another way, there is a huge bull market in single people in the US. (h/t @TheStalwart)

On Monday, Business Insider's Andy Kiersz took a look at eight reasons to be bullish on the US housing market. Among these were the huge number of 20-something adults in the US and improving consumer sentiment. 

You can add to the list the number of US adults that are looking for someone else with whom they can form a household. 

Valentine's Day is right around the corner. 

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Bata (Equatorial Guinea) (AFP) - Ivory Coast face what is likely to be their sternest test of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations when they tackle Ghana Sunday in what has been dubbed the 'dream' final.

Two of Africa's football powerhouses are in dire need of a continental trophy after long, frustrating waits.

Ghana have won the Cup of Nations four times but their last conquest was 33 years ago, while the Ivorians only triumph was in 1992 and, ironically, it was at the expense of Ghana.

Ivory Coast beat their west African neighbours 11-10 on penalties after 120 minutes of action did not produce any goals in Dakar.

In the absence of defending champions Nigeria and record seven-time winners Egypt, two of the continent’s most consistent teams will clash for African football's biggest prize.

Both started this tournament slowly – the Ivorians needed to win their last group game against Cameroon to reach the knockout stage, while Ghana fought back from an opening-day loss to Senegal to make the final.

Former Nigeria skipper Sunday Oliseh, who won the Cup of Nations in 1994 and came close to another title in 2000, has tipped Ivory Coast to win, but also warned Ghana are capable of causing an upset.

"Ivory Coast is clear favourite to win the final,” said Oliseh on his website.

"Player for player, Ivory Coast has better individuals than Ghana and they are playing better as a team now, especially when not in possession.

"Ghana are quite impressive and, with (Christian) Atsu and the Ayew brothers (Andre and Jordan), are becoming unpredictable and champion material.

"They go into this final as underdogs but with less pressure, unlike Ivory Coast, due to the fact that not many would have bet on them coming this far when the tournament kicked off."

The "new generation" Black Stars have flourished under former Chelsea manager Avram Grant and displayed strong character throughout this campaign.

"The boys do not give up, they have fought till the end of every match," remarked skipper Asamoah Gyan, who remains an injury doubt after sustaining an abdominal injury in the quarter-final against Guinea.

Ivory Coast, on the other hand, have been tactically shrewd and well organised when they do not have the ball.

They have been able to combine talented stars like Yaya Toure and Gervinho with hard-working team-mates.

Gervinho said they are gunning for history against Ghana.

"It has been a long time since we have had a final between Ghana and Ivory Coast and we want to write our history too. This is our chance and we hope to take it," the Roma forward told AFP.

"We are very motivated. From the beginning of this competition, we said we have six games to play -- we have played five and there is one remaining."

Tallo Gadji Celi was born in 1992, the year his uncle Gadji Celi led the Elephants to Cup of Nations glory and now hopes he can write his own name into history.

The Bastia striker said victory in the final will be dedicated to Ivorian legend Didier Drogba, who retired from international football last year.

"Didier Drogba, our model, our strength, we love you. It will also be for you if we make it," said the player who wears the No.11 shirt worn with distinction by Drogba.

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A Raspberry Pi is a cheap, tiny computer that can be used for tech projects and teaching people how to code.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced on February 2 the new Raspberry Pi 2, a more powerful version of the computer that first debuted in 2012.

Early customers of the Raspberry Pi 2 have been testing it out - and they've found a pretty strange problem with it.

It turns out that if you try and take a photo of the Raspberry Pi 2 using a certain type of camera, it crashes and turns off. 

Here's a video that shows the problem:

What's going on here is pretty weird. Any cameras with a Xenon flash trigger a reaction in a chip on the Raspberry Pi. One of the chips on the exposed computer's circuit board seems to be sensitive to light and poorly shielded, so when the camera's flash triggers, it causes the entire device to crash.

Xenon flashes are stronger than normal flashes, so they don't appear in many smartphones. But one poster on the official Raspberry Pi forum has discovered that a Samsung K zoom has a Xenon flash that triggers the glitch.

The flash glitch wasn't present in older models of the Raspberry Pi. It looks like it's a new problem found only in the Raspberry Pi 2 that went on sale this month. Right now the only way to get around this is to cover the U16 chip up with something (most people are using Blu-Tack.)

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Los Angeles (AFP) - Fresh-faced Sam Smith could make history Sunday at the Grammys with a chance to sweep top categories, but the music industry's big night could also coronate Beyonce or Pharrell Williams.

The 22-year-old Smith, who a few years ago was bartending in London, has enjoyed a phenomenal rise with "Stay With Me" -- a ballad about a one-night stand marked by rich, soulful tenor voice.

Smith, who will also perform at the ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, said the sensation of appearing before a global audience was "indescribable" and recalled attending the year before.

"I was in the back -- the very, very back. And I couldn't go to a party afterward because I had to record something in my label's building the next day," he said.

Smith is up Sunday for Grammys in the four most closely-watched categories -- Album of the Year; Record of the Year, which honors the top tune; Song of the Year, which recognizes the composer; and Best New Artist.

Only one artist has previously won all four categories at once -- Christopher Cross, whose 1981 triumph heralded a decade of soft rock as he controversially beat out Pink Floyd's now-classic "The Wall".

- New recognition for Beyonce or Pharrell? -

But Smith is tied with two big names for a total of six nominations -- Beyonce and Williams.

A Grammy victory for Williams would serve as vindication for the 41-year-old producer who achieved success in his own right with the globally viral song of optimism, "Happy".

In a forum on Twitter, Williams said that he recorded nine versions of "Happy" that were rejected before he came up with his hit.

"I had to change my approach to writing it -- stop thinking and start feeling instead," Williams wrote.

Williams last year enjoyed Grammy nominations for his work both on Robin Thicke's lustful "Blurred Lines" and with the French electronic duo Daft Punk, who were 2014's big winners.

In June, Williams is joining former vice president Al Gore in Live Earth global concerts aimed at building momentum for a climate change agreement later this year at talks in Paris.

Beyonce has already won 17 Grammys but never the most prestigious Album of the Year.

The 33-year-old singer offered some of her most personal work on her latest, self-titled album, which she recorded in secret and released with no previous publicity in December 2013.

The former teen star with R&B band Destiny's Child notably explores sexuality on "Beyonce", which includes the ode to marital bliss "Drunk in Love" sung with her husband Jay-Z.

A dark horse for Album of the Year is "Morning Phase" by Beck, the innovative Los Angeles rocker who for two decades has enjoyed critical acclaim and a cult following, if not the mainstream appeal usually recognized by the Grammys.

Also up for Album of the Year is "X" by Ed Sheeran -- like Smith, a British singer and relative newcomer -- who previously worked with pop giants such as Taylor Swift and boy band One Direction.

- Rap feud -

Another new star in contention is Iggy Azalea, who could be the first solo woman to win for Best Rap Album.

Azalea, who is also up for Best New Artist and Record of the Year, has become a cultural flashpoint as the white Australian raps in an accent that is markedly African American.

Her most prominent critic has been rapper Azealia Banks, who has accused Azalea of exploiting African American culture and regretted that the music industry does not offer more space to women of color.

Azalea is up against a packed field for Best Rap Album, including five-time winner Eminem. Other nominees for Best New Artist include alternative country singer Brandy Clark and three-sister rock band Haim.

The Grammys are known for elaborate, surprise-filled shows meant to pull in television viewers.

This year's performers will include Madonna, who made an unannounced appearance at the 2014 Grammys as part of a mass wedding set to "Same Love", the gay rights anthem by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

The last Grammys also featured a reunion of sorts of the Beatles, with surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joined by relatives.

McCartney will return to perform Sunday -- this time to showcase a very different venture, his collaboration with R&B singer Rihanna and hip-hop star Kanye West.

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Sydney (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday he will bring forward a party bid to oust him by 24 hours, as the country potentially faced a change in leadership for the fourth time in five years.

Abbott has been fighting for his job after poor poll ratings and a series of policy backflips spurred his own conservative Liberal Party MPs to openly attack him, calling for a leadership "spill" on Tuesday.

The motion aims to declare the positions of leader and deputy leader of the party -- currently occupied by Abbott and Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop -- vacant so the party room, or members of both houses of parliament, can vote for new candidates.

But a defiant Abbott declared on Sunday he wanted the vote over and done with as soon as possible.

"The last thing Australia needs right now is instability and uncertainty," he told reporters.

"On reflection, and after talking to my colleagues, I've decided that the best thing we can do is deal with the spill motion as quickly as possible and put it behind us."

The meeting of the governing Liberal Party will be held on Monday morning, 24 hours before the previously scheduled spill motion, the Australian leader said. 

"The only question for our party is do we want to reduce ourselves to the level of the Labor Party in dragging down a first-term Prime Minister," he added.

Abbott was highly critical of Labor when the party switched leaders twice during its time in power from 2007 to 2013. 

Prime minister Kevin Rudd was ousted by his deputy Julia Gillard in 2010, later returning the favour and storming back to power in 2013 shortly before losing the election to Abbott's coalition.

- Contenders mum on leadership plans -

Abbott's comments came just hours after Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull, seen as one of the main contenders for the prime ministership, broke his silence on the challenge early Sunday.

"I'm in the cabinet, I support the prime minister," Turnbull, who once lost a leadership tussle with Abbott by one vote when the Liberals were in opposition, told a Channel Ten reporter.

"You don't have to keep on saying that all the time."

But Turnbull did not say if he would stand as a candidate if the spill motion was successful and the leader's position declared vacant.

Similarly, another potential candidate -- Abbott's deputy Bishop, who is also the foreign minister -- said last week she would be against a spill but did not add what she would do if the motion was successful.

"I'm talking to my colleagues today," Bishop would only say Sunday when questioned by reporters about her plans.

Abbott's decision was welcomed by Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who said it would provide "a certainty for the party and for the country".

In contrast, backbencher Arthur Sinodinos -- a former assistant treasurer before his resignation late last year -- said he was unhappy.

"I will vote for a spill as that will help precipitate a discussion," Sinodinos told The Sydney Morning Herald.

His views about the move was echoed by some other backbenchers on and off the record to local media Sunday amid frustration that MPs were not being given sufficient time to discuss the challenge.

- Public's frustrations -

Since being elected in September 2013, Abbott's government has sealed free trade deals with China, South Korea and Japan.

It killed off controversial carbon and mining taxes brought in by the previous Labor administration and sharply reduced the number of asylum-seeker boats arriving in Australia.

The government announced savings across the board to rein in a growing budget deficit, but critics have slammed some of the measures to cut health and education spending while tightening welfare as too harsh.

Abbott's leadership has also been criticised for changed positions on several issues, including paid leave for new parents, and for awarding Britain's Prince Philip a knighthood last month.

An opinion poll published Sunday by News Corporation newspapers found that 55 percent of voters wanted Abbott to stand down as prime minister, with just 35 percent saying he should stay on. Some 10 percent were undecided.

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Beijing (AFP) - China's trade surplus rose 88 percent to reach 367 billion yuan in January, as the country's imports declined more rapidly than its exports, official data said on Sunday.

Exports from the world's second-largest economy fell 3.2 percent year-on-year to 1.23 trillion yuan in January, while imports decreased 19.7 percent to 860 billion yuan, the General Administration of Customs said on its website.

The latest figures come after China's trade surplus soared 47.2 percent in 2014 to a record $382.46 billion. In December alone, the surplus nearly doubled to $49.6 billion, though fell short of November's all-time monthly high of $54.47 billion.

China's huge trade surpluses were long a source of friction between Beijing and Washington, as the workshop of the world pumped out manufactured goods and US debt mounted, but the issue has receded in more recent years.

Official data showed last month that China's economy grew 7.4 percent in 2014, its weakest for almost a quarter of a century, and slower than the 7.7 percent in 2013.

Growth in gross domestic product (GDP) during the final quarter of last year was 7.3 percent year-on-year, matching the previous three months.

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Paris (AFP) - UN negotiations resume in Geneva on Sunday to streamline the bloated draft for a climate pact that nations, still at odds over key elements, must sign in Paris in December.

The six-day meeting is one of three special sessions added to this year's schedule of talks meant to culminate in the French capital with a historic deal to curb global warming.

On the table is a sprawling 37-page blueprint stuffed with options that reflect conflicting country interests and demands on many fundamental points.

The goal in Geneva will be to trim the document down to a workable draft to be adopted at the close of the talks next Friday as an official "negotiating text" to guide the process through to December.

"This is a critical stage," negotiator Maesela Kekana of South Africa's foreign affairs department told AFP.

"This will be the last opportunity to refine the elements that will inform the negotiation text."

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres said Thursday the February 8-13 talks in Geneva were by no means expected to deliver a polished, finalised draft, but hopefully something that reflects more common ground.

"We're hoping that governments will be able to work with each other for a more manageable text. That is never a guarantee," she told reporters via webcast.

"Of course there is always the possibility that some governments may feel that their views are currently not included and that they would want to include their views. Whether we end up with more pages or less pages still remains to be seen."

The much-touted accord is set to enter into force in 2020 to further the UN goal of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.

As part of the process, countries must submit carbon-cutting pledges in the months leading up to the Paris meeting.

- 2014 'hottest year' -

Scientists warn that on current greenhouse gas emission trends, Earth is on track for twice the 2 C target -- a recipe for catastrophic droughts, storms, floods and rising seas.

On Monday, the World Meteorological Organisation said 2014 was the hottest year on record -- part of a "warming trend" set to continue.

Despite the urgency, the UN process remains divided roughly between the interests of rich and developing nations -- as reflected in the unwieldy draft that emerged from the annual ministerial-level talks in Peru last December.

One of the biggest disagreements is centred around demands that rich nations spell out their financial commitments to the developing world for climate mitigation and adaptation actions.

Even the legal form of the agreement itself is in dispute and countries are split on the issue of "differentiation" -- how to divide responsibility for carbon cuts between rich and poor nations.

Procedure requires that an official draft text must be submitted by the end of May this year -- six months before the next Conference of Parties in Paris that will adopt the final version.

"As the Geneva session is the only negotiating session planned before May 2015, its objective is to deliver this negotiating text on 13 February," according to a note by the joint chairmen of the talks.

Observers and parties are hopeful the Geneva meeting will yield signs that the 195 nations gathered under the UN banner are willing to compromise. 

"This is going to force parties to really buckle down... to figure out what's important to them to keep, what consolidation or streamlining they can live with and what they can't," said veteran commentator Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

As the talking continues, many are pointing to the importance of carbon-cutting initiatives by countries, companies and cities outside of the official UN process.

"It would be a fundamental misinterpretation or misunderstanding of the complexity of what we're dealing with to even imagine that an agreement in Paris would in and of itself... miraculously solve climate change," said Figueres.

"What Paris is meant to do is to chart the course that can be followed by governments and by business... toward that two-degree pathway."

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Paris (AFP) - Champions Paris Saint-Germain can reclaim the top spot in Ligue 1 on Sunday, but they need to beat current leaders Lyon away from home to do so.

It's a tough assignment for Laurent Blanc's men, but they were boosted by a 1-0 win over Lille in midweek that took them into the French League Cup final.

With the Cup behind them and the Champions League clash against Chelsea coming up, the Ligue 1 giants need to focus on improving their league ranking.

"It's not a final but it could be the turning point of the season", admitted Blaise Matuidi.

"We've got a lot of avenues open to us and we want to do well in all the different competitions."

With 15 games to go, PSG have little margin for error. The defending champions have yet to hit their stride during a mediocre campaign but maximum points at Gerland would take PSG ahead of their rivals in the table.

The Ligue 1 title race has effectively become a three-way tussle between current leaders Lyon on 49 points with Marseille and PSG hot on their heels on 47.

And PSG have no choice in Lyon, as Thiago Motta explained. "If we lose on Sunday in Lyon, people will talk about a crisis at PSG. Our aim is to win and reclaim the top spot", said the Italian midfielder.

The pressure is thus on Laurent Blanc and his men. Bernard Lacombe, special advisor to Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, knows that and cunningly added to their burden.

"PSG will be champions. At one point, the Parisian players are going to rebel. Let's hope it'll be as late as possible", Lacombe told Radio Scoop.

Lyon, who are surprise leaders at this point in the season, are on eight-match unbeaten run, having only dropped points at Monaco.

But, just as they did in the Principality, Lyon will have to do without their number one striker Alexandre Lacazette (21 league goals).

Fixtures (all times are 1900GMT unless stated)

Sunday

Guingamp v Monaco (1300), Nice v Nantes (1600), Lyon v Paris Saint-Germain (2000)

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Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Western leaders challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday to prove he wants peace in Ukraine, warning both sides a new Franco-German peace drive may be a "last chance" to stop all-out war.

In a dramatic gesture at a gathering of world leaders in Germany, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko brandished passports and military ID cards he said were seized from Russian soldiers deep inside his territory, offering what he said was "evidence" of Russia's presence in the country.

"Today a former strategic partner is waging a hidden war against a sovereign state," he said at the Munich Security Conference.

Poroshenko was due Sunday to discuss the last-ditch peace bid in a phone call with German, French and Russian leaders, as fresh fighting in the former Soviet republic claimed 12 more lives and Kiev warned the Russian-backed separatists were planning a new offensive.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel set the conference agenda in Munich as she championed the peace plan that she and French President Francois Hollande took to Putin in Moscow late Friday.

"It is uncertain whether it will lead to success, but from my point of view and that of the French president it is definitely worth trying," she said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told national television the fate of the join European push would be known in "two or three days".

US Vice President Joe Biden voiced both support for the peace plan and scepticism, saying: "Given Russia's recent history, we need to judge its deeds not its words. Don't tell us, show us, President Putin!"

- 'Allow Ukraine to defend itself' -

A senior State Department official said the plan is based on a widely flouted ceasefire deal reached in Minsk in September, but they admitted the initiative was still "very much in flux and evolution".

Hollande told French TV station France 2 that the proposal includes the creation of a 50- to 70-kilometre (31- to 43-mile) demilitarised zone based around the current frontline.

But this idea appeared to face opposition from the Ukrainian president, who has lost territory to the rebels since the Minsk deal. "There is only one line, and that's the line from the Minsk agreement," Poroshenko said.

Hollande said the stakes could not be higher, warning that the renewed peace plan was "one of the last chances" to halt the 10-month-old conflict.

"If we fail to find a lasting peace agreement, we know the scenario perfectly well -- it has a name, it is called war."

While Western leaders were united in condemning Russia for supporting the rebels, they differed on whether to back Ukraine's beleaguered army with weapons, although a US official denied to reporters that there was any split between the transatlantic allies. "There is not a rift about this," the official told reporters.

Momentum has built in Washington for giving Kiev high-tech military equipment, but Merkel insisted such a step would only make matters worse.

"I can't conceive of a situation where better armaments for the Ukrainian army would so impress President Putin that he believes he will militarily lose," she said.

Biden, however, insisted Ukraine had the right to defend itself and pledged that Washington, which has so far provided non-lethal military equipment such as armoured vests and helmets, would stick by Kiev.

"We will continue to provide Ukraine with security assistance. Not to encourage war but to allow Ukraine to defend itself," he said.

"Let me be clear: we do not believe there is a military solution in Ukraine. But let me be equally clear: We do not believe Russia has the right to do what they're doing."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the US is weighing "additional" assistance to Ukraine, while stopping short of saying Washington would send arms.

- 'There's no war' -

Putin, meanwhile, said Russia is not at war and does not want war with anyone, but lashed out at Western sanctions imposed as the Ukraine crisis has deepened.

"There's no war, thank God. But there is definitely an attempt to curb our development," Putin said in a TASS news agency report.

In Munich, his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he believed the new peace plan could help end the conflict, all the while charging the US and EU with having escalated the conflict at every turn.

"These talks will continue as you know; we believe there is every possibility that we will reach a result and agree the recommendations that will allow the sides to really untie this knot of a conflict," Lavrov said.

Far from the diplomatic exchanges, fighting raged in eastern Ukraine, where some 5,400 people have been killed since the start of the conflict in April.

Rebels are "accumulating forces for further offensive operations on Debaltseve and Mariupol," the Ukrainian government said.

It said the separatists were sending fresh tanks, armoured personnel carriers and multiple rocket launcher systems to the Debaltseve region and Granitne, around 35 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of the city of Mariupol.

The town of Debaltseve -- mid-way between rebel centres Donetsk and Lugansk -- has been the focus of fierce fighting for over a week as insurgents try to encircle government troops holding the strategic railway hub.

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Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistani exports to the European Union increased by more than a billion dollars after a landmark trade deal last year which made its products more competitive, the commerce minister told AFP.

The EU signed a law in late 2013 granting Pakistan so-called "GSP-plus" status, which means firms pay no tax on certain categories of goods exported to the 27-nation bloc for 10 years.

The EU makes GSP-plus conditional on implementing international conventions on human and labour rights, and there have been fears Pakistan's decision to end a moratorium on executions could affect the deal.

Pakistan's key textile industry in particular welcomed the agreement, which came into force in January 2014, and in an interview with AFP commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan hailed its impact.

"As a result of GSP-plus, Pakistan's exports to the EU have increased by $1.08 billion during the period January to October 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013," Khan said. 

Exports to the EU in January-October 2014 totalled $6.38 billion, up by just over 20 percent from the $5.3 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 2013, he said.

Before GSP-plus, textile exports faced customs tariffs of between 6.4 and 12 percent and leather goods and footwear up to six percent, he said.

The textile industry is the backbone of Pakistan's exports, making up more than 50 percent of the country's total overseas shipments.

"Now these exports have duty-free access in EU and it has helped Pakistani products to become more competitive vis-a-vis its competitors, including Bangladesh, India and Vietnam," he said.

- Rights concerns -

Khan played down the possibility that resuming executions could threaten GSP-plus status.

"There is no legal obligation to EU regarding death penalty, though they have expressed concern over it," Khan said.

"They understand our situation that GSP-plus would help us create jobs and when we create jobs, it keeps young men and women away from terrorism."

Pakistan has executed 22 convicts since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted a six-year death penalty moratorium in the wake of a Taliban massacre at a school.

Heavily-armed gunmen murdered 153 people, including 134 children, at the school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in Pakistan's deadliest ever terror attack.

Opposition to the death penalty is a key EU policy and the bloc's mission in Islamabad condemned the resumption of executions in December.

But EU diplomats in Islamabad have said that while they are concerned about the return to hangings, the development was unlikely to affect the GSP-plus arrangement immediately.

Improving the economy after years of drift and sluggish growth under the last Pakistan People's Party government was a key pledge in Sharif's election campaign in 2013, when he was swept to power for a third term.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said this week the government's reform programme -- tied to a $6.6 billion loan from the Washington-based lender -- was on track.

"Economic activity and the external position continue to improve, driven by prudent monetary and fiscal policies and helped by lower oil prices and robust remittances," IMF mission chief Jeffrey Franks said.

Growth for 2014-15 is expected to hit 4.3 percent and the budget deficit for end-December was below the target, the IMF said.

But the government has so far struggled to improve a long-running energy crisis, with hours-long electricity blackouts still a near-daily reality.

Power and gas shortages have hampered industry and held back GDP growth, which experts say needs to hit seven percent in order to provide enough jobs for new entrants to the workforce.

Projects to boost electricity production are in the pipeline, including a 6,600-megawatt coal-fired energy park along the Arabian Sea coast west of Karachi, but these have yet to yield results.

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Munich (Germany) (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry Sunday met for surprise talks with his Iranian counterpart in new discussions on Iran's nuclear programme on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich.

Kerry huddled with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif for the second time during their stay in the southern German city, as global powers grapple for a political accord to rein in Iran's atomic ambitions ahead of a March 31 deadline. Kerry was due to fly back to Washington later in the day.

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New York (AFP) - With one year under his belt, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has made strides in changing the focus of the technology giant that some feared was turning into a dinosaur.

Nadella, who took over from Steve Ballmer in February 2014, has been moving to make Microsoft more relevant in the new tech world led by mobile-focused rivals such as Apple and Google.

Microsoft, which can no longer rest on its PC dominance with its Windows operating system, has taken a page from the playbook of the late Steve Jobs at Apple -- providing software like Office for free on rival devices like the iPad and Android-powered tablets.

Nadella also managed to surprise and wow people with Microsoft's HoloLens goggles, delivering holograms and hitting a sweet spot between Google Glass and virtual reality headgear.

"He hasn't solved all problems, but he's made moves in the right direction strategically," said J.P. Gownder, analyst at Forrester Research.

Even though many of the new things unveiled were in the works for years, Nadella appears to have injected new energy into the Redmond, Washington-based tech powerhouse.

Gownder said it was "a wise move" to bring popular Microsoft programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint to Android and Apple devices, because Windows has been slow to gain traction in the mobile universe.

"When you have software, you have to run that software where the customers are," instead of using it as "a weapon" in a war of operating systems, he said.

In a move aimed at reaching a younger tech user base, Microsoft agreed in September to buy the Swedish group behind the hugely popular video game "Minecraft" for $2.5 billion, bolstering its gaming division.

The deal for Mojang gives Microsoft one of the best-known video games of all time -- one which is played on game consoles as well as PCs and mobile devices.

- 'A different company' -

"Microsoft is a different company now. Microsoft is not making stupid mistakes," said Trip Chowdhry, at Global Equities Research.

"This year is more of a reinvention and restrategizing year. 2015 will be when the company may have some progress on initiatives like mobile and cloud."

Nadella has made some missteps, notably in comments suggesting working women should trust "karma" when it comes to securing pay raises, but quickly moved to back away from the controversy.

He ordered the biggest reorganization in Microsoft's history, cutting some 18,000 jobs -- or 14 percent of the workforce -- under a plan aimed at simplifying the corporate structure and integrating the mobile division of Finland's Nokia.

Wall Street has been happy with the new leadership -- Microsoft shares gained 36 percent in Nadella's first eight months, but pulled back in early 2015.

- Windows 10 test -

Nadella, 47, has been pressing cloud and mobile computing since taking the reins, and is seeing some progress in areas like the Azure cloud platform for business.

But Microsoft still faces a big test with its upcoming Windows 10 platform, which aims to keep PC users while also powering mobile phones and tablets.

Some 1.5 billion people around the world use Windows-powered computers, and Microsoft is intent on renewing its relevance in an age of mobile computing; the new platform is being designed with feedback from millions of "insiders" testing early versions of the operating system.

Microsoft needs to remake its business, which had been based on one-time Windows license sales, to a new model for the mobile world, say analysts.

Colin Gillis at BGC Partners said the plan appears to be working.

"We remain positive on the efforts to reshape Microsoft into a recurring revenue, subscription-based business," he said.

Gillis said this means some "turbulence" as higher-margin software license sales are replaced with lower-margin subscriptions.

Windows 10 will be crucial for Microsoft, which is hoping to win over developers as well as users with a platform that works on mobile devices as well as PCs.

According to Gownder, Windows 10 is "the best opportunity yet for Microsoft to come back in the game in mobile."

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Berlin (AFP) - As Bayern Munich steam towards an inevitable 25th German league title, Pep Guardiola wants a return to "tiki-taka" football in the Bavarian giants' assault on the much-coveted Champions League title.

"We're not perfect, I know that. We have to improve," said Bayern's perfectionist Spanish coach after Saturday's routine 2-0 league win at bottom side VfB Stuttgart.

Under Guardiola, Barcelona dominated Spanish football by winning 14 titles from 2008 until 2012, with their fast-paced passing, dubbed "tiki-taka", to keep the ball away from the opposition.

Bayern are used to enjoying around 70 percent possession under Guardiola, are eight points clear in the Bundesliga and on course for a third straight league title.

But after three below-par domestic performances so far in 2015 by Bayern's own lofty standards, the Spaniard will use this week for some fine-tuning before their European assault recommences.

The 2013 Champions League winners travel to Lviv on February 17 to face Shakhtar Donetsk, due to the political situation in Ukraine, in their last 16 first leg clash.

Hamburg are Bayern's next domestic opponent in Munich on Saturday in their final warm-up, but Guardiola wants to show the north Germans no love on Valentine's day.

"We have to find our game, that is our goal for the next few games," said Guardiola.

"The key is less running and more play, make the pass as quickly as possible."

An Arjen Robben first-half goal and a wonderful free kick from defender David Alaba gave Bayern three more league points in Stuttgart, but Guardiola wants more.

"The win was important for the psyche, but also for (our place in) the table," said Guardiola.

"The result was important for our preparations against Hamburg and Donetsk, but we have to improve to reach our level."

There has been a nervous energy to Guardiola since Bayern were thrashed 4-1 at second-placed Wolfsburg on their return from the winter break at the end of January.

Guardiola sailed close to the wind in the 1-1 draw at home to Schalke last Tuesday by storming out of his technical area to remonstrate with assistant referee Markus Hacker after a Robert Lewandowski goal was disallowed.

- Great expectations -

He later hugged the fourth official when Arjen Robben gave Bayern the lead but escaped any sanction from referee Bastian Dankert.

Guardiola regularly bemoans the expectations from Bayern's board and fans alike for his side to win every match by a significant scoreline and a convincing performance.

Having wrapped up last season's Bundesliga title in April with a record seven matches to spare in his first season, Guardiola is now under pressure to deliver another Champions League crown.

Especially with this year's final to be held in Berlin on June 6.

Bayern are still smarting from losing the last final on German soil when they were beaten by Chelsea in 2012 at their own Allianz Arena.

Having been well-beaten by Real Madrid in last season's semi-finals, Guardiola is eager to win a third Champions League title, having lifted the trophy twice as Barcelona coach.

But he insists his side are far from the finished article.

"We need a bit more time, (January's) winter break wasn't so good for us - you can't play for eleven months at this level and always win, win, win," he insisted.

It's Guardiola's desire for constant improvement which has pushed Bayern to new heights -- according to France legend Zinedine Zidane.

"FC Bayern were always good, but the club is now one of the top sides in the world," the 42-year-old, who now coaches Real's reserves, told German daily Bild on Sunday.

"That's down to Pep, he has given the club an extra kick and has brought his own touch to their game, which makes the difference.

"They always played fast, attacking football, but under Guardiola they have added a bit extra."

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Switzerland is famous, or perhaps infamous, for its extremely secretive banking business.

It's for that reason, private Swiss bank accounts are popularly seen as belonging to only tax dodgers and, well, Swiss nationals.

Indeed, when newly leaked HSBC documents named musicians David Bowie, Phil Collins and Tina Turner as being tied to Swiss bank accounts, it wasn't a big deal because all three are actually legal residents of Switzerland or living in Switzerland.

But the story's a tiny bit less clear for actor John Malkovich, fashion designer Diane Von Fürstenberg, and soccer star Diego Forlán.

On Sunday, the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists along with news outlets the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama, and CBS's 60 Minutes published what they found in HSBC’s Swiss private bank documents stolen and leaked by whistleblower Hervé Falciani. The journalists conclude that among other things, HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped clients evade taxes. The leaked files date 2005-2007.

Without establishing any clear connection to illegal activity, the journalists went ahead and revealed the names of a bunch of celebrities whose names appeared.

Here's a summary of names and what the journalists found:

John Malcovich (actor): "Hollywood actor John Malkovich, for instance, said through a representative that he knows nothing about an account listing his name and conjectured that it might have to do with Bernard Madoff, the former stockbroker convicted of fraud who handled some of his finances."

Joan Collins (actress): "A representative for the British actress Joan Collins told ICIJ: 'In 1993 my client deposited funds into a bank account in London and subsequently discovered that, without her instructions, the money had been transferred to the Swiss account referred to in your letter.' The representative added that no tax was avoided."

Christian Slater (actor): "Christian Michael Slater was linked to an HSBC client account named "Captain Kirk,” after the Star Trek character. It was opened in 1996 and closed in 1997. The account listed two postal addresses: one in the United States, associated with ERNST & YOUNG LLP, and one in the United Kingdom. The leaked files do not specify the exact role Slater had in relation to the account."

Diane Von Fürstenberg (fashion designer): "Diane Von Fürstenberg's was linked to four HSBC client accounts: two numbered that were opened in 1988 and later closed in 1996 and 2002. There was another account under the name “Thunderbird Investments Ltd,” in which she showed up as beneficial owner, opened in 1994 and closed in 2002 and one account for “Licom Ltd,” where at one point she was listed as “Attorney B.” Two family members were also linked to the client account. Her mother was listed as beneficial owner of the account and then stricken. “Licom Ltd” listed seven bank accounts that together held as much as $6,268,217 in 2006/2007 ... A spokeswoman told ICIJ that von Fürstenberg inherited Thunderbird Investments Ltd. from her parents, who were not American tax residents, and that she never received anything from Licom Ltd. Von Fürstenberg 'made all necessary US tax filings and insisted that the assets be domesticated to the United States more than 10 years ago.'"

Diego Forlán (soccer player): "Diego Forlán became an HSBC client in 2006, while he was playing in Spain for Villarreal. He was connected to two client accounts that together listed four bank accounts. Two of them were associated with the account Rosario Trading Company S.A where he was listed as “Attorney C,” and two were associated to numbered account 12661 ZDF. Together the accounts held as much as $1.4 million in 2006/2007. The leaked files do not specify the exact role that Forlán had in relation to the numbered account."

Elle MacPherson (model): "Elle MacPherson was connected to seven HSBC client accounts. She was beneficial owner of five of them. The other two, under the names of “Elle MacPherson Capital A/C” and “Elle MacPherson income A/C” do not specify the exact role that she had in relation to the accounts. The four client accounts still operative in 2008 were linked to 25 bank accounts that together held as much as $12.2 million in 2006/2007. Three of the accounts for which she was the beneficial owner were closed in 2000, 2001 and 2004."

It's quite possible that all of these celebrities' accounts were legit and legal.

Unfortunately, their names are appearing next to alleged blood diamond traffickers and illegal arms dealers.

Read more about all of this at ICIJ.com.

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