President Barack Obama told Russia's leader Monday that he would have more flexibility after the November election to deal with the contentious issue of missile defense, a candid assessment of political reality that was picked up by a microphone without either leader apparently knowing.

Obama's Republican opponents pounced on the comment, saying the president has a hidden agenda that could include concessions to the Russians if he is re-elected this fall.

"This is my last election," Obama is heard telling outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev replied in English, according to a tape by ABC News: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir," an apparent reference to incoming President Vladmir Putin.

Obama and Medvedev did not intend for their comments, made during a meeting in Seoul, South Korea, to be made public.

Once they were, the White House said Obama's words reflected the reality that domestic political concerns in both the U.S. and Russia this year would make it difficult to fully address their long-standing differences over the contentious issue of missile defense. Obama, should he win re-election, would not have to face voters again.

"Since 2012 is an election year in both countries, with an election and leadership transition in Russia and an election in the United States, it is clearly not a year in which we are going to achieve a breakthrough," White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said.

Obama's candid remarks Monday illustrated the political constraints that hem in any president who is running for re-election and dealing with a congressional chamber — in this case, the House — controlled by the rival party. Republicans have fought Obama fiercely on health care, taxes and other issues. They are eager to deny him any political victories in a season in which they feel the White House is within reach, although Obama's remarks suggested he feels good about his re-election prospects.

Even if Obama was confiding a political reality in a supposedly private moment, the comments gave the GOP new openings to question his sincerity and long-range plans.

Mitt Romney, the leading Republican contender to face Obama this fall, told a San Diego audience the unguarded comments were "an alarming and troubling development."

"This is no time for our president to be pulling his punches with the American people, and not telling us what he's intending to do with regards to our missile defense system, with regards to our military might and with regards to our commitment to Israel," Romney said.

Just hours after the United States warned that North Korea would achieve nothing with threats or provocations, Pyongyang moved a long-range rocket it plans to test fire to a launch pad Monday, a South Korean defense ministry official said.

The news broke at the start of a two-day nuclear summit in Seoul that is bringing together leaders from the United States, Russia, China and dozens of other nations to discuss how to deal with nuclear terrorism and how to secure the world's nuclear material.

But North Korea's announcement that it plans to carry out a rocket-powered satellite launch in mid-April is overshadowing a message of international cooperation for the summit.

South Korea has said it considers the satellite launch an attempt to develop a nuclear-armed missile, while U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday such a launch would bring repercussions.

"Here in Korea, I want to speak directly to the leadership in Pyongyang. The United States has no hostile intent toward your country," Obama said during a speech to students at Seoul's Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

"But by now it should be clear, your provocations and pursuit of nuclear weapons have not achieved the security you seek. They have undermined it."

If the rocket is launched, South Korea is prepared to "track its trajectory," said the defense ministry official, who did not want to be named.

"There are concerns that parts of the rocket may fall within South Korean territory," he said. "If that were to happen it would threaten lives and cause damage to the economy. To guard against that, they (the military) will be tracking the orbit."

The official did not say what steps South Korea would be forced to take if it determined the rocket was falling within its territory.

The rocket was moved to a launch pad in the northeastern portion of Dongchang-ri, a village in northwest North Korea, the official said.

They may one of the rare long-lasting and relatively low drama celebrity couples, but singer Enrique Iglesias and his girlfriend, tennis player Anna Kournikova, won't be exchanging rings any time soon, if ever.

In a recent interview with Parade, the 36-year-old Latin singer explained why he called Kournikova his "wife" at a concert in Russia last year, yet hasn't popped the big question. He told the magazine, "It was just meant to be sweet in the moment. I honestly didn't mean to confuse people. I thought it'd be easier for the audience to understand than if I said "my girl."

[Related: 17 5-Minute Marriage Makeovers]

But why not make an honest woman out of Kournikova after dating for 11 years? Iglesias admitted, "I've never really thought marriage would make a difference. Maybe it's because I come from divorced parents, but I don't think you love someone more because of a piece of paper. And nowadays, it's not taboo to have kids and not be married. What makes a difference is that you're a good parent, period."

In that case, could children be coming sooner than marriage for the superstar pair? The couple first met when Iglesias hand-picked Kournikova, then 20, to play his love interest in his incredibly steamy 2001 music video for "Escape". Since then, there have been multiple rumors of secret marriage and separation, but despite whatever really happened, the couple is still together today.
READ MORE

The Moscow Times reports that yet another sexual-innuendo-filled video promoting the once and (likely) future president has been released. This time, a doctor talks with a pretty young woman about "protection" during the woman's "first time."

"The main thing is to be sure it's safe," the doctor tells the woman, according to a translation by Agence France Presse. "Especially the first time."

After an official-looking stamp on some paperwork, the scene shifts to a calendar of the current Russian prime minister on the wall, followed by the woman embarking to lose her voting virginity at the polls.

The Moscow Times notes that the advertising group Aldus Adv takes credit for the ads, though it's unclear whether they were commissioned or produced by the agency's own accord.

The goal of the ads is to attract more young people to vote for prime minister in the Sunday's presidential elections, according to AFP, with earlier ads depicting a young couple having sex in a polling booth prior to casting their votes.

As the BBC notes, however, not everybody in Russia agrees with the campaign message. Bloggers were quick to rip the idea, with one Twitter user tweeting:

"Putin. Only for love the first time?" the BBC quoted user @step_42. "Obviously the third time is by force."

Putin has come under intense criticism in recent months, with protesters recently forming a human chain and circling central Moscow in cars to voice their displeasure.

A woman has reportedly died from the shock of coming to life at her own funeral.

Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, 49, was wrongly declared dead by doctors, but she actually died after hearing people pray for her soul in Kazan, Russia, according to the Daily Mail.

She was taken back to a hospital where she was declared dead, this time for good.

"Her eyes fluttered and we immediately rushed her back to the hospital but she only lived for another 12 minutes," her husband, Fagili Mukhametzyanov, said, according to the Daily News.

Mukhametzyanov said he plans to sue the hospital, which says it is conducting an investigation of the incident.

Her final cause of death was heart failure, according to reports. Her "first death" was also heart-related, a suspected heart attack.

This isn't the first time a funeral has taken an unexpected twist. In recent years, a man showed up alive for his own funeral in Brazil and a premature baby declared dead woke up before his own funeral before dying shortly after in Paraguay.

The X-Men series started well in 2000 with two films directed by Bryan Singer, but suffered an ugly mutation with Brett Ratner’s brainless X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and risked extinction with the boring prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009).
Matthew Vaughn’s attempt to revive the franchise is the fifth and best of the lot. It bears the same relationship to the four previous films that J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek did to its predecessors.
It shows how the X-Men came into being as a group rather than as individual mutants, how they were first wooed by the CIA and then incurred the hatred of the authorities.
It casts young actors in familiar roles. The only old-stager to survive from the previous films is Hugh Jackman, and his appearance as Wolverine is no more than a cameo.
One big asset is James McAvoy. He is excellent as the young Professor Charles Xavier (formerly played by Patrick Stewart), the most civilised, reasonable and urbane of the Mutants.
McAvoy plays him with charm and verve, and his lightness of touch rescues Charles from the priggishness that made Stewart’s performance less sympathetic than it was meant to be.
First Class takes Charles from his privileged U.S. childhood to university days in Oxford, and then on to his first confrontation — during the Cuban missile crisis — with his initial friend and then long-term enemy Magneto, formerly played by Ian McKellen and here interpreted with commendable forcefulness and athleticism by Michael Fassbender, who makes a good case for himself as the next James Bond.