Kanye West took the microphone from Taylor Swift during her speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

The reaction to Kanye West’s hijacking of the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards came quickly and unequivocally.

Kanye West took the microphone from Taylor Swift during her speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

Celebrities and fans alike expressed their disapproval of West interrupting Swift’s win for Best Female Music Video to tout his appreciation of nominee Beyonce.

“Taylor, I’m really happy for you,” West said after grabbing the microphone from a clearly stunned Swift. “I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”

Elliott Wilson, founder and chief executive officer of Rap Radar, sat in front of members of West’s entourage at the live Sunday night awards show and said the mood quickly turned from one of surprised amusement to anger.

“At first, people weren’t sure if it was kind of like a gag,” Wilson said. “You could feel everybody being nervous and not knowing if it was a prank or something. Then people started booing him really loud.”

Wilson said he believes that West — who he said bounded on stage from his seat in the front row near Beyonce — intended to have his say before allowing Swift to continue but said the rapper became angered by the crowd response in a moment that wasn’t captured by the MTV cameras.

“The reaction to his tantrum was so strong … and what happened was, he gave everybody the finger,” Wilson said.

Stars taking to Twitter returned the sentiment with some harsh words for the sometimes mercurial rap star.

Singer Pink tweeted, “Kanye West is the biggest piece of [expletive] on earth. Quote me,” and Joel Madden of the band Good Charlotte tweeted, “All i’m saying is Taylor Swift is a young chic and you just walk up and grab the mic.”

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton said via Twitter that “Taylor Swift deserved that award, damnit. It is what THE PEOPLE voted! My heart broke for her, she looked so sad at the end of that moment.”

Singer Katy Perry weighed in with “F— u Kanye. It’s like you stepped on a kitten.”

VMA nominee Kelly Clarkson took to her blog to publish an open letter to West. “What happened to you as a child?? Did you not get hugged enough??” she asked.

On Monday, “Taylor Swift,” “VMAs,” “Kanye’s” and “Beyonce were top trending topics on Twitter.

Sir Elton John cannot adopt a 14-month-old boy because he is not married and too old, a Ukrainian minister has said.

The star, 62, said on Saturday that he hoped to adopt a boy, named Lev, whom he met while visiting an orphanage.

But government minister Yuriy Pavlenko told the Associated Press that the age difference between an adoptive parent and a child must be 45 years or less.

Sir Elton’s civil partnership with David Furnish would not be recognised as a marriage in Ukraine, he added.

“Foreign citizens who are single have no right to adopt children… and the age difference between the adopter and the child cannot be more than 45 years,” family, youth and sports minister Mr Pavlenko said.

“The law is the same for everybody - for a president, for a minister, for Elton John.”

However, the BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse in Kiev says the question of whether Sir Elton’s civil partnership can be recognised in Ukraine could still depend partly on politics.

Ukraine is entering election season and the issue of foreign adoptions is a sensitive one, he says.

If Sir Elton decides to proceed in the face of government opposition, the presidential candidates in next January’s race could still sink his bid, he adds.

On Saturday, Sir Elton said at a press conference in Ukraine that the boy - whom he met at an orphanage for children whose lives had been affected by Aids and HIV - had “stolen my heart”.

He and partner Furnish, 46, had always “talked about adoption”, he said.

“David always wanted to adopt a child and I always said ‘no’ because I am 62 and I think because of the travelling I do and the life I have, maybe it wouldn’t be fair for the child.

“But having seen Lev today, I would love to adopt him. I don’t know how we do that but he has stolen my heart.

“And he has stolen David’s heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home. I’ve changed my mind today.”

Sir Elton and filmmaker Furnish toured the orphanage as part of the singer’s work with the Elton John Aids Foundation.

Investigators probing the suspected killing of a Yale student might have the results of an autopsy Monday on a body found over the weekend, a source close to the investigation told CNN.

Authorities have not positively tied the remains to Annie Le, 24, but they say they’re assuming they are hers.

The body, which has not been identified officially, has been removed from a wall in the Yale laboratory building where it was found, the source said.

After announcing Sunday night that the body of a woman had been found, Peter Reichard, assistant police chief in New Haven, Connecticut, said, “We are assuming that it is her at this time, so we are treating it as a homicide investigation.”

The remains were found inside a basement wall in the medical research building. Annie Le, a 24-year-old graduate student in pharmacology, was last seen entering the building Tuesday morning.

Authorities might also have the results Monday of tests on blood-stained clothing found in the same building, state police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance said.

Teams at a Connecticut State Police lab worked through the weekend processing and examining the clothes, which were found hidden above tiles in a drop ceiling.

Authorities have not described the clothes that were found, nor have they said whether they may have belonged to Le.

No dangerous chemicals have found in blood samples from the victims of recent needle attacks in China’s Xinjiang region, state media have said.

Rumours had been rife that the needles contained radioactive substances, poison or even HIV.

Blood samples from 250 reported victims were examined in a Beijing lab, said state-run Xinhua news agency.

The syringe attacks began in August, a month after riots between ethnic Uighur and Han Chinese left about 200 dead.

Three people have received jail sentences over the needle attacks.

The wave of attacks has raised tension in the region, amid long-standing animosity between the Uighur and Han communities.

Security fears

A total of 531 people reported being attacked with hypodermic needles, with 171 showing “obvious syringe marks”, according to Xinjiang officials.

The head of disease control at China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences said no traces of radioactive substances, toxic chemicals, HIV or other poisonous or viral substances were found in the samples they checked, Xinhua reported.

Thousands of angry residents of Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, protested earlier this month, demanding better security over the needle attacks and swifter legal action after July’s riots.

At least five people were killed in unrest around these latest protests.

The Chinese government has been struggling to restore calm in Xinjiang since the July riots, the worst ethnic unrest in the country for decades.

A number of people have been arrested and charged over the violence, but no one has been tried yet.

Three Uighurs were sentenced on Saturday to jail terms ranging from seven to 15 years for syringe stabbings or threats to use needles in robberies.

Osama bin Laden is seen in an image taken from a videotape that aired on Al-Jazeera in September 2003.

An audio message purportedly from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has accused President Barack Obama of being unable to fulfil his election pledge to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Osama bin Laden is seen in an image taken from a videotape that aired on Al-Jazeera in September 2003.

The tape emerged on radical Islamist Web sites, just two days after the United States marked the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

“To the American people, this is my message to you: a reminder of the reasons behind 9/11 and the wars and the repercussions that followed and the way to resolve it,” the message said.

“From the beginning, we have stated many times … that the cause of our disagreement with you is your support of your allies, the Israelis, who are occupying our land in Palestine. Your stance along with some other grievances are what led us to carry out the events of 9/11.”

The video plays the audio over a undated photograph of bin Laden. The video also shows a banner with the American flag as the backdrop and an image of the New York City skyline with the twin towers of the World Trade Center — destroyed in the 9/11 attack — still standing, said terrorism analyst Laura Mansfield.

CNN could not independently authenticate bin Laden as the speaker in the 11-minute video posted on Sunday by As-Sahab Media — al Qaeda’s production company.stead he will drag it to the maximum possible extent,” the message said.

Though U.S. troops no longer patrol Iraq’s major cities and a large number have left, tens of thousands remain in the country and are expected to stay for years to come.

The message claims that the Obama administration is under the influence of the Republican White House it replaced, pointing out that the president kept Robert Gates as defense secretary — a holdover from the Bush administration.

“Prolong the wars as much as you like. By God, we will never compromise on it (Palestine), ever,” the message continued.

Mansfield noted that the video brings no new images of the elusive bin Laden, who was last seen in footage two years ago on the sixth anniversary of the terror attacks.

Bin Laden has released audio messages since then, most recently on June 9