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244,211 | c813e603d22bc3218e2e0e6352eb89820d840aaf | Any England fans hoping their Gallic neighbours might provide a pick-me-up of sorts by succumbing to Switzerland were simply placed in a deeper state of disillusion after France produced a ferocious performance that suggested they may remain in Brazil for a good while longer. Goals from Olivier Giroud, Blaise Matuidi, Mathieu Valbuena, Karim Benzema and Moussa Sissoko saw Ottmar Hitzfeld’s team destroyed in Salvador and promoted France to genuine title contenders. It certainly seems a lifetime since Didier Deschamps’s side were 2-0 down to Ukraine in the play-offs for this World Cup and on the verge of missing the tournament altogether. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Karim Benzema talk about playing under pressure . On song: Karim Benzema celebrates his third goal of the World Cup and his team's fourth in the 5-2 win . Carving up: France were irresistible with Benzema among five goal-scorers for Les Bleus . Too strong: Arseal striker Olivier Giroud leaps with dominance from a corner to score France's opening goal . Out of reach: The power of Giroud's header proved too great for Swiss goalkeeper Diego Benaglio . Had it covered?: Full back Ricardo Rodriguez jumps to stop the head but Benaglio's hand got the final touch . Elation: Giroud makes the most of his celebrations as he puts France up 1-0 against the Swiss . France 4-3-3: Lloris . 6.5; Debuchy 6.5, Varane 6.5, Sakho 6.5 (Koscielny 66’ 5), Evra 6.5; . Sissoko 7, Cabaye 7.5, Matuidi 7.5; Valbuena 7.5 (Griezmann 82’), Giroud . 8 (Pogba 63’ 6.5), Benzema 8.5 . Coach: Didier Deschamps 8 . Switzerland 4-2-3-1: Benaglio . 5.5; Lichtsteiner 4.5, Djourou 4, Von Bergen 5 (Senderos 8’ 4), . Rodriguez 5; Inler 5, Behrami 4 (Dzemaili 46’); Mehmedi 5.5, Xhaka 6, . Shaqiri 5.5; Seferovic 5 (Drmic 69’ 5) Coach: Ottmar Hitzfeld 6 . MoM: Benzema . That this brilliant display came four . years to the day since the French squad went on strike in South Africa . throws the result into even sharper relief. This . time everything is clicking and they will win Group E, thus likely . avoiding Argentina in the second round, unless something dramatic . occurs. The only other time France won both their opening games at a . World Cup was in 1998, and we know what happened after that. Switzerland . have long boasted a fine defensive record at World Cups but France tore . them apart with a first half of pace, pressure and poise that left . Hitzfeld’s players looking bewildered. How . much of that was down to Steve Von Bergen’s departure after just eight . minutes with a suspected fractured cheekbone is open to speculation. What is clear is that after he was forced off to hospital, following a . brutal connection with Giroud’s high boot, Switzerland developed more . holes than one of their famous cheeses. New . Aston Villa defender Philippe Senderos arrived to join his ex-Arsenal . team-mate Johan Djourou and both showed why they are no longer in Arsene . Wenger’s ranks. At a corner . in the 17th minute a current resident of north London put France ahead. Yohan Cabaye swung across an out-swinging corner and Giroud rose . unchallenged to power a header at goal. Diego Benaglio got fingers to . the ball but only succeeded in diverting it over the man on the line. Racing away: Blaise Matuidi wheels away after his slick finish for France's second goal . Taking chances: Matuidi picks up the ball on the break from Karim Benzema and finishes with aplomb . Beaten: Swiss keeper Diego Benaglio is too late as Matuidi's shot beats him at his near post . Down and out: Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri's face tells the story as his side go 2-0 down after 18 minutes . It was France's 100th goal at a World Cup finals and reward for Deschamps in restoring Giroud to the starting line-up. Within . 13 seconds of the restart France went had their 101st. Valon Behrami . played a blind pass and Benzema pounced, advancing quickly and releasing . Matuidi down the left channel. The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder . whipped a left-foot shot that beat Benaglio at his near post when it . really shouldn’t have. It . was two goals conceded by Switzerland in 66 seconds, the same amount as . they had allowed in the previous 750 minutes of World Cup action spread . over eight years. In 2006 they were knocked out without letting in one. Hitzfeld’s . team did respond for a brief flicker when Admir Mehmedi ran through . midfield and unleashed a low shot that Hugo LLoris could only palm to . Xherdan Shaqiri. The Liverpool target was denied only by the slenderest . touch by the Tottenham goalkeeper that went undetected by the officials. Stacks on: Matuidi (centre) is swamped by his team-mates as they double their lead within a minute . Tripped: Real Madrid front man Benzema is brought down by Stefan Lichtsteiner in the corner of the penalty area . Picked it: Benaglio goes the right way to save Benzema's spot-kick . Rebound: Yohan Cabaye is first there after the save but his jumping volley only clatters into the crossbar . Dutch . referee Bjorn Kuipers was more alert in the 31st minute when he . correctly awarded France a penalty for a clumsy challenge by Djorou on . Benzema. The Real Madrid striker, who bagged two in the opening game, . stepped up to take the spot-kick but was denied by Benaglio. It seemed . certain Cabaye would put the rebound in as he advanced onto the falling . ball but the ex-Newcastle man curiously chose to volley rather than head . and crashed it against the bar. No . matter, nine minutes later France would have their third in . breath-taking fashion. Switzerland had a corner but 14 seconds and four . passes later the ball was in their net. Benzema . fed Raphael Varane, who produced a sublime pass to the galloping . Giroud. The Arsenal striker squared it to Valbuena at the far post and . the diminutive midfielder applied a finish. It was stunning stuff. Benzema . progress his golden boot chances by scoring midway through the second . half. Paul Pogba, on as a substitute, sliced a lovely ball forward, . Senderos hacked horribly and Benzema fired in his ninth goal in nine . internationals. Body behind it: Benaglio got his whole torso behind the spot kick to avoid going down 3-0, momentarilly . Blood bin: Defender Steve von Bergen (left) goes off bleeding from a wound near his eye . Nightmare start: Von Bergen goes down in the opening minutes of the group E clash after a collision . Piggy-back to last-16?: Mathieu Valbuena (left) jumps on Giroud after extending the lead to 3-0 . Put away: Valbuena latched onto a low cross from Giroud following a slick counter-attack . Gratefully received: Benaglio scrambles but has no chance as France's lead becomes a mountain for the Swiss . On the money: Benzema scored France's fourth with this finish between Benaglio's legs . Another . lovely move 20 minutes from time made it five. Benzema fed Sissoko, . whose first time hit across goal whistled in. Saves from Benaglio and . last-ditch clearances prevented an even bigger rout and Switzerland got . two of their own late on as the French switched off. Nine . minutes from time Blerim Dzemaili fired a low free-kick through a . pathetic French wall to defeat Lloris and then Granit Xhaka got another . back with a superb volley. This group could come down to goal difference . and those strikes could prove important. Benzema . thought he had scored a superb second with the last kick of the game . after curling in from the edge of the area. He ran off celebrating but . Kuipers had already blown up. It is far from the final whistle for this exciting French side however. | France scored three first-half goals against the Swiss in Salvador .
Olivier Giroud's header from a corner opened the scoring .
Blaise Matuidi scored a minute later on the counter attack .
Benzema's penalty was saved had a penalty saved by Diego Benaglio .
Mathieu Valbuena made it 3-0 with a tap-in on 40 minutes .
Benzema and Moussa Sissoko's second-half goals made it 5-0 .
Swiss goals came late through Blerim Dzemaili and Granit Xhaka .
Les Bleus move to six points and the top of group E .
They next play Ecuador, who lost 2-1 to Honduras, on June 25 .
France now have eight goals from their opening two games .
Benzema scored at the death but the full-time whistle had blown . |
120,887 | 28409e9963934518edb930b460a8d65266c41854 | By . Anthony Bond . PUBLISHED: . 11:09 EST, 31 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:39 EST, 31 January 2013 . Fed-up: Husband Stephen Hirst, 53, gave his double amputee wife a potentially lethal dose of morphine to 'shut her up' because he wanted some 'peace and quiet' A fed-up husband gave his double amputee wife a potentially lethal dose of morphine to 'shut her up' because he wanted some 'peace and quiet'. Stephen Hirst, 52, tricked his disabled wife Catherine, 43, into taking six times her normal dose of medication because he could not cope with their constant arguments. Mrs Hirst, who is confined to a wheelchair, needs to take two 10 milligrams morphine tablets every morning. But on September 30 last year her husband swapped her medication for 60 milligram pills - and she swallowed both as usual. The effect of the massive dose knocked Mrs Hirst out for the entire day. Hirst, of Exeter, Devon, admitted unlawfully administering a drug intending to 'aggrieve' his wife and was jailed for 13 months at Exeter Crown Court. Judge Phillip . Wassall told him: 'You deliberately administered a toxic substance which . is a class A drug and that is an aggravating feature. 'We are dealing with the administration of a toxic substance which . carried a risk. You used it simply to shut her up so you could have some . peace and quiet, so it is a serious offence.' After Mrs Hirst woke up she called NHS Direct for advice and paramedics were sent to check on her but medics ruled out any lasting damage and urged her to call the police. Mr David Bowen, prosecuting, said Hirst had been married to his wife . for about five years and he was her full time carer, helping her cope . with the effects of losing both legs. He said: 'She woke up on September 30 and took her tablets which she thought were two 10 mg doses of morphine sulphate. 'The defendant had substituted the 10 mg tablets for 60 mg ones, so she . took a dose of 120 mg instead of the intended 20 mg. She started to feel . unwell. 'She challenged her husband about the over dosage and he admitted what he had done but could not give her a reason. Worried: After Mrs Hirst woke up she called NHS Direct for advice and paramedics were sent to check on her . 'She was so unwell she phoned NHS Direct and they called the police. He . was asked if he had tried to kill her and said no and said she had been . in a lot of pain. 'He admitted what he had done to police and said he required respite . from his caring duties. The victim suffered no long term effects.' Mr David Evans, defending, said Hirst was struggling to cope with his . duties as carer and gave her the drugs to give himself a break from . their constant arguments. He said: 'She had in the preceding months withdrawn from him . emotionally, conversationally and sexually. There were many arguments . between them which could be very wearing for both of them. 'Utterly foolishly, on the Saturday night he changed her medication and . gave her the higher dose hoping to put her to sleep for longer than . usual and some respite. He did not think it through very clearly. 'She spent most of the following day sleeping and the following day rang . NHS Direct to ask if it was safe to take her usual dose. They called . paramedics and the police. 'He apologised to her and admitted what he had done. He was aware he had . done wrong. It has led to the end of his marriage. The divorce is . proceeding and he is living with his 87-year-old mother in Leeds.' Hirst was cleared of a more serious charge of unlawfully administering a drug intending to 'endanger' her life. Speaking from the home they shared in Exeter his wife said she did not want to talk about the case. Hirst was also given another month in prison to run concurrently after police found level one child porn images on a computer at his home. | Stephen Hirst tricked his disabled .
wife Catherine into taking higher dose .
The 52-year-old could not cope with their constant arguments .
The effect of the massive dose knocked Mrs Hirst out of the entire day .
Hirst was .
jailed today for 13 months . |
231,289 | b7767b5aab7a7d70fd0c63c06dad6b1d785a3a9c | Gordon Brown, pictured, has 'no plans' to quit Parliament amid rumours he may step down in 2015. He is pictured here attending the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service, at Westminster Abbey in London in March . Former prime minister Gordon Brown 'will remain' an MP amid speculation that he could stand down as early as next year. Since leaving No 10 Mr Brown has combined his job as a constituency MP with acting as the UN special envoy for global education. Reports have suggested that he would stand down from the Commons at the general election in 2015. But Mr Brown's office said the former Labour leader remained an MP and had 'no plans to make any announcement to the contrary'. His spokesman said Mr Brown was playing an 'active role' campaigning for Scotland to vote No in September's independence referendum. Responding to the claim he would leave the Commons next year, the spokesman said: 'So many people have tried to write this story on so many occasions with no facts. 'Mr Brown has just announced he is playing an active role in the referendum for United with Labour. 'He is giving a major speech next Tuesday and will be delivering a series of lectures on Scotland's future, the dates of which will be announced shortly. 'He is, and will remain, Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath and he has no plans to make any announcement to the contrary.' Last year Mr Brown described himself as an 'ex-politician'. Taking part in a panel discussion at an education summit in Qatar, Mr Brown was asked his views 'as a politician', at which point he interjected "ex-politician". Gordon Brown, pictured after he announced his resignation as Prime Minister in May 2010. His spokesman has now denied rumours he is planning to quit Parliament next year. Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, accompanied by his wife Sarah with their two sons, John and Fraser British Prime Minister Gordon Brown after leaving Number 10 in May 2010 . He was reminded by the host - BBC presenter Mishal Husain - that he was still an MP, which he acknowledged. Mr Brown has in the past faced criticism over the frequency of his speeches in the Commons since returning to the backbenches. Since the 2010 general election, Mr Brown has appeared in the Commons to speak only nine times. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, right, shaking hands with Gordon Brown in his role as United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education earlier this year . | Gordon Brown pledges to 'remain' MP despite quit rumours .
Labour MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath still playing 'active role'
Vow comes despite calling himself an 'ex-politician' last year . |
72,396 | cd3904f3429083cd282f5ee15bfa3efa3112a324 | Dramatic thunderstorms have lashed Brisbane, taking down trees and power lines and leaving thousands without power. There have been major delays to peak hour transport services across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, as strong winds and heavy rains lashed the city. There were reports of 5,440 homes and businesses without power in Brisbane and 4,992 in Ipswich, with reports of further storms expected in Bunderberg and the interior off the state, reports ABC. A dramatic thunderstorm approaches Brisbane from the west, causing major delays to transport across Brisbane . The severe storm took down trees and power lines and left around 17,000 homes without power . Around 17,000 homes were left without power after the storms swept across the southeast, as over 3000 lightning strikes lashed across the city. One wind gust of 93kph was taken at Archerfield airport, 12 km to the south, at 5:45pm. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Meteorology told Daily Mail Australia the storm hit at 6.00PM. ‘There were extremely gusty winds in Brisbane and to the east of Brisbane.' 'There were also reports of hail, but nothing too heavy. The gust was extremely strong, which meant the rainfall was kept at bay. Most places saw between 20 and 20 ml,’ the BoM spokesperson said. 'There are one or two more storm, with scattered warnings in Wide Bay in Burnett, heading towards Bunderberg. There are also warnings over the interior of the state.’ One wind gust of 93kph was taken at Archerfield airport, 12 km to the south of Brisbane . A spokesperson for the Bureau of Meteorology said there are scattered warnings remaining for the interior of Queensland . | Dramatic thunderstorms have taking down trees and power lines .
Major delays to peak hour transport services across Brisbane .
Reports of 5,440 homes and businesses without power in Brisbane .
One wind gust of 93kph was taken at Archerfield airport, south of Brisbane . |
225,350 | afd3514f52d6867606b40aefce90f78a677ddcf2 | (CNN) -- With no way to counter toxic jellyfish that brought intense pain and partial paralysis during an attempted 103-mile ocean crossing from Cuba to Florida, endurance swimmer Diana Nyad said Monday that she will not make another attempt at the feat. "I can't beat those guys. They're too much for me," Nyad said. Nyad, 62, swam 82 nautical miles of the 103-mile crossing before two stings from what her team identified as potentially lethal box jellyfish forced her out of the water Sunday morning. In a frequently emotional news conference in which she removed her shirt to reveal sting marks, Nyad said she initially planned to muscle through the intense pain. But she said she eventually had to give up as the toxins began to cause partial paralysis and made it increasingly difficult for her to breathe. What's a Portuguese man-of-war? Nyad still had a wheeze Monday, said one of her doctors, Clifton Page of the University of Miami. Toxins from the stings also affected members of her crew trying to help her. "This was a life-threatening situation we were in," Page said. Nyad stopped the swim Sunday morning after 40 hours in the water. "It's not easy for me to let go of this dream, and I'm in distress about it," she said. She said it was "naive" of her not to anticipate problems from the jellyfish, which she said are proliferating throughout the world's oceans because of climate change. Unlike sharks, which her team countered with divers and electronic devices, no good tools exist to fend off jellyfish, Nyad said. She said she knows she could complete the crossing were it not for the creatures. She said the last two years of training were not wasted. "It's been a grand, elevating, life-confirming experience these last two years," she said. Nyad began her attempt Friday evening from Havana's Hemingway Marina, expecting to spend about 60 hours in the water. It was her third attempt to complete the swim. Her first, in 1978, was brought to an end by strong currents and bad weather after almost 42 hours in the water. She made a second try in August, but she was pulled from the water after 60 miles and almost 29 hours of swimming. She blamed a shoulder injury she suffered early in the journey and an 11-hour-long asthma attack. She said people inspired by her efforts should continue to train their bodies, test their wills and dream big. And, said said, not being able finish the crossing against such odds was no sign of failure, for her or her team. "There's so much boldness in living life this way, and we did it all, and no one can take it away from us," she said. | Swimmer Diana Nyad says she will not attempt Cuba-to-Florida crossing again .
Nyad says toxic jellyfish are too much to overcome .
"It's not easy for me to let go of this dream," she said . |
244,293 | c828856f29a0f309b554ec9a6c672e0b9795d4f7 | (CNN) -- SPECIAL EDITION REPEAT SHOW . EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE. From the region's largest airport, the largest airline and the largest trade port, in the past two decades, Dubai has created a name for itself in finance, tourism and logistics. The past six months have included a whole different set of challenges. It has restructured $23.5 billion of Dubai World's debt and is now dealing with the debt of other companies. In an exclusive interview, MME sat down with the Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Watch the show this week at the times (GMT) below: . Friday: 0915, 1745 Saturday: 0445 Sunday: 0615,1745 . | Dubai has created a name for itself in finance, tourism and logistics .
Dubai has restructured $23.5 billion of Dubai World's debt .
It's now dealing with the debt of other companies . |
1,398 | 03ff14c0526bbdfb0803967bd7670bdf056786c1 | By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 06:01 EST, 7 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:32 EST, 7 May 2013 . Death row: Willie Jerome Manning will be executed tonight for the murders of two Mississippi students, but the . FBI has now cast doubt on his conviction . A death row inmate is set for execution tonight even after the FBI admitted that expert evidence given during his 1994 murder trial pushed the limits of science and were 'invalid'. Willie Jerome Manning, 44, was convicted and sentenced to die by lethal injection for shooting dead two Mississippi State University students in 1992. His sentence is due to be carried out at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Sunflower, tonight at 6pm local time, after 19 years on death row. If carried out, it will be the first execution in Mississippi this year. But in letters last week to state officials, the FBI and Department of Justice said an FBI examiner had overstated conclusions about a hair found in the car of one of the victims by suggesting it came from an African American. Manning is black and the two victims, Tiffany Miller, 22, and Jon Steckler, 19, were white. The hair sample was the only physical evidence linking Manning to the crime scene. He has always maintained his innocence. 'We have determined that the microscopic hair comparison analysis testimony or laboratory report presented in this case included statements that exceeded the limits of science and was, therefore, invalid,' federal authorities said. Manning's lawyers have asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to halt his lethal injection in light of the revelations, and the Mississippi Innocence Project filed a lawsuit to preserve the hair and other evidence for DNA testing even if Manning is executed. The state Supreme Court refused Manning's earlier requests to delay the execution to allow for DNA testing. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood accused Manning of waiting until the last minute to raise 'this frivolous issue.' 'The Mississippi Supreme Court has held that the evidence is so overwhelming as to Manning's guilt,' said Mr Hood. 'Even if technologies were available to determine the source of the hair, to indicate someone other than Manning, it would not negate other evidence that shows his guilt.' 'Frivolous': Mississippi Attorney General Jim . Hood accused Manning of waiting until the last minute to raise the issue . and said other evidence in the case conclusively proves that he's . guilty of the double murder . According to prosecutors, Manning crossed paths with Miss Miller and Mr Steckler when the couple unwittingly interrupted him stealing items from a car outside a fraternity house they were leaving in December 1992. Manning had a history of theft and other charges and had recently been paroled, prosecutors said. Manning forced the couple into Miss Miller's car, robbed them and shot them, prosecutors said. Their bodies were discovered on a rural road near the university campus in Starkville. Prison: Manning's sentence is due to be carried out at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, Sunflower, tonight at 6pm local time. If carried out, it will be the first execution in Mississippi this year . Manning was arrested after he tried to sell some items belonging to the victims. He also was convicted and given death sentences for the murders of Emmoline Jimmerson, 90, and Alberta Jordan, 60, whose throats were slashed during a robbery at their Starkville apartment a month after the two students' deaths. That case remains on appeal. Miss Miller's mother, Pamela Cole, said Manning's death would bring her peace but no closure. 'It's just 21 years late,' she said. 'Not a day goes by that I realise what I would have missed, all because of this one joker that decided he was going to play God one night.' | Willie Jerome Manning has spent 19 years on death row for double murder .
FBI now says its expert testimony 'exceeded the limits of science'
Manning's lawyers have appealed for a stay of execution .
But Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood says it is a 'frivolous issue' |
202,551 | 923e3f81a4afd466ac6ad1ae5acf1ca27f95a062 | By . Joel Christie . A Brooklyn man who was falsely imprisoned for 25 years for a murder he didn't commit wants one million dollars for the every year the state kept him behind bars and away from his family. Derrick Deacon, who walked free last year after new evidence surfaced in his case, has filed a $25 million lawsuit that he hopes will set a new precedent for how authorities handle investigations and force convictions. The 58-year-old is undergoing therapy to help acclimate to the 'new world' and deal with the loss of family members, including his mother, who died when he was in prison. Deacon was jailed the 1989 for the shooting death of a teenager during a robbery in a Flatbush apartment complex. Quarter of a century lost: Brooklyn man Derrick Deacon, 58, spent 25 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. After walking free in November after a retrial quashed his conviction, he is suing New York for $25 million for what happened to him . However at his retrial in 2012, a witness . recanted her original testimony, saying police or district attorney . investigators had threatened her. Colleen Campbell had told investigators Deacon was not the man she saw fleeing in a stairwell after the shooting, but she was coached to give vague testimony at trial, with authorities threatening to take her children if she didn't cooperate, according to The New York Post. 'These people have to pay for every day they made me suffer behind the wall for no reason,' Deacon told The Post. Deacon's retrial was granted after a Jamaican gang member came forward saying members of a rival gang had killed the victim, 16-year-old Anthony Wynn. Then Campbell took back her statements. '[Police] told Campbell that she was in trouble for leaving the children unattended and that the children would be taken away unless she accompanied them to the District Attorney's Office,' says the suit, filed by Deacon's defense attorney, Glenn Garber. 'Concerned about losing her children, and also afraid that the true killer would seek retribution against her, Campbell did what she was told and falsely testified at trial that she was unsure whether the person she saw was or was not Mr. Deacon.' A Brooklyn Supreme Court jury in November deliberated just nine minutes before acquitting Deacon. Once he was released, Deacon celebrated with a feast of chicken wings and chili at Tribeca's Mudville Saloon . Deacon is now seeing a therapist to cope with being back in what he calls 'the new world'. Integral things like cellphones and internet were all created when he was in prison. He recalled the bittersweet moment he heard the not-guilty verdict. 'I was excited but sad at the same time. 'Sad, in a way, about the one person that I really care about, my mom, my baby's mom and my aunts. 'They all died while I was in there. I missed seeing my kids grow up,' Deacon said, adding he would use any money he was awarded to help his family. 'I got kids, grandkids I want to send to college because I never had the opportunity to do that for my children. 'I have friends behind the wall still suffering, and I'd like to help them, too.' A spokeswoman for the state attorney general declined to comment on the suit. | Derrick Deacon was wrongly convicted in the 1989 shooting murder of a 16-year-old .
He was sentenced to 25 years to life .
In 2012 he was granted a retrial after new evidence surfaced .
A key witness admitted she was bullied by authorities into giving a vague testimony and Deacon was freed .
He has filed a lawsuit for $25 million .
Says he is in therapy trying to adapt to the 'new world' |
132,312 | 371b4edecb6e072ef55c0f855ea5172665f4fac2 | NEW YORK (CNN) -- Saying "the time has come," Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday he will introduce a bill in the state legislature to legalize same-sex marriage in New York. Gov. David Paterson said it's time to to legalize same-sex marriage in New York. "The time has come to act. The time has come for leadership. The time has come to bring marriage equality to the state of New York," he said in a morning news conference. The proposed legislation would allow same-sex couples in the state to enter into civil marriages and enjoy the same rights afforded to heterosexual married couples. He defined the issue as one that would affect families and not just those "walking down the aisle." "Too many loving families right here in New York state have not received legal recognition they actually deserve," Paterson said. "We have an honor and we have a duty to make sure equality exists for everyone." The legislation would give same-sex couples 1,300 to 1,400 rights that don't exist unless a couple is married, he said. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and several federal, state and local lawmakers were present to show their support for both the governor and the proposed legislation. "New Yorkers pride themselves on their ability to practice their individual freedoms," Bloomberg said, "and that includes the right to say what you believe, to practice your own faith and to love whomever you want, and it's time for this state to take the next step and ensure the rights of same-sex couples to marry whom they want." State Sen. Thomas Duane, who will sponsor the bill in the state Senate, added, "I know that Gov. Paterson is going to roll up his sleeves, and he's going to get this done, and we're going to make same-sex marriage a reality in this state." Paterson's announcement comes when his disapproval ratings are at a new high. In a recent survey by Quinnipiac University, 60 percent of New York state voters said they disapproved of Paterson's job as governor, while only 20 percent approved. Regardless, many in the state are backing the effort to provide legal equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in New York. If the legislation passes, New York would be the fifth state in which same-sex marriages are legal, joining Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer introduced the same bill in 2007. It passed in the state Assembly 85-61 but died in the Senate. Passage in the Assembly is again expected, while it remains to be seen whether the bill will get the 32 votes it needs to pass in the Senate. Among the bill's opponents is the Roman Catholic Church. Just hours after his installation Wednesday as the archbishop of New York, the Most Rev. Timothy Dolan said in his first news conference that he wouldn't shy away from the controversy. Many of its supporters, however, are confident. "I absolutely look forward to standing with you, governor, when you sign this wonderful piece of legislation into law," Duane said Thursday morning. And for many, Paterson's announcement represents a hopeful future. David Kilmnick, CEO of Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, was present at the announcement. He said he hopes to marry his partner of eight years, "maybe this year." "It felt like today, for one of the first times, I really mattered, my life really mattered, my family mattered," he said. "I was proud to be a New Yorker today -- to be standing and watching our governor stand up on the side of equality." | David Paterson: "Too long we have pretended" that gay people have equal rights .
Paterson vows to introduce the bill that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer tried to pass .
The bill would legalize same-sex marriage in the state of New York . |
81,934 | e8320238f715266d78529f1813bed546517879b7 | (CNN) -- When I was 48, I was working at Boston College, at the pinnacle of my career and raising the family we had waited for so long to start. The last thing I was ready for was being told I had Parkinson's. There we were, being warned that our lives were changing forever. Maura, my wife, didn't blink an eye. When we spoke of the disease, we were always positive and stayed strong. In hindsight, I realize how scared both of us silently were. My daily activities didn't change. I worked, as all coaches do, extremely long days, but looming in the back of my mind was the disease and its progression. To thwart the development I was able to stay active, something I had always been; however, I started to notice small changes, and the inability on some days to complete the simple tasks I had always done. That would come and go; it wasn't consistent. One day I was able to change a light bulb and the next time I would try, my hands would fail me. Afraid to admit the decline was beginning, I never mentioned it to Maura, but I know she was watching, waiting to step in. Parkinson's didn't stop his space walk . Maura started to notice my good days and bad days, and I would see her instinctively change our plans and schedule. She and the kids would jump in and help me the same way that my players had each others' backs on the field. I fondly remember the loving moments of my two girls helping me button my shirt in the morning, though those moments were bittersweet. Shouldn't I be helping them? My newfound clumsiness was beginning to be the elephant in the room, and the locker room was where it decided to expose itself. We had just lost a well-fought game and had to catch the team plane. I had spent all of my energy on the field, and there was nothing left my body would give me. With my hands unable to steady themselves, I couldn't button my shirt. A task so simple, mastered at age 5, was now gone. My weaknesses were completely exposed, and there I was, unable to get dressed on my own. One of my college players, Russell Wilson (now the Seattle Seahawks' starting quarterback), noticed. He came over and helped me in silence, the way Maura or the girls would. I didn't really realize that my players had watched this painful process I was going through. Players were always a part of our family, but here I realized that now I was a part of theirs. This moment was the turning point in my life and changed how I was going to address my condition. NASCAR driver races to stop diabetes . My pride was out the window. I was hoping to make a difference in my players' lives, and now they were watching this unfold. Would they still respect me? Would I still have a job? All those fears that I had pushed to the back came flooding to the surface. I was afraid to tell Maura, afraid that she would think less of me as her husband, less of me as a parent. Instead, everyone dug in and helped secure my dignity in their own ways. All the years of preaching perseverance was paying off. My disease continues to progress despite the fight we rally. I cannot count the things I've lost. That list is extensive, but I prefer to take the lead from another coach, the legendary Tom Landry -- "I've learned that something constructive comes from every defeat" -- and now, I am blessed with the things that I have gained. My path may have changed course from where I started, but I am grateful that it has not hit a dead end. | Coach Don Horton was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at 48 .
He found himself in the locker room, unable to button his own shirt .
He calls the moment a "turning point in my life" |
132,834 | 37c5661bc5400b3f1ad845bffa9ceff8a93f3d44 | (CNN) -- Sumo grand champion Asashoryu held a tear-filled press conference to announce his retirement on Thursday in the wake of allegations about his drunken assault on a man outside a Tokyo nightclub last month. The 29-year-old, who became the first Mongolian to earn the highest ranking in Japan's most revered sport in 2003 and only the third non-Japanese, apologized in a statement broadcast on television. "I am taking responsibility for having caused so much trouble," he said. "I have caused a lot of trouble for so many people. I decided to step down to bring this to a closure. "I have no regrets about sumo. There was a big difference about what was reported in the media about the incident and what actually happened." Asashoryu, real name Dagvadorj Dolgorsuren, is the third most successful wrestler in sumo's 2,000-year history but also one of the most controversial. He won his 25th Emperor's Cup title last month but during that tournament he allegedly attacked a man in the early hours of January 16 after a night of drinking, leaving him with a broken nose and other facial injuries according to Japanese media reports. In 2007 he became the first grand champion, or Yokozuna, to be suspended after pulling out of a tournament due to a cited injury and then being filmed playing in a charity soccer match. Asashoryu, who divorced from his wife last year, was also the first Yokozuna to be disqualified from a bout after he pulled the top knot of an opponent in 2003. Police have yet to indicate whether they will take action over the latest incident, which initially saw one of Asashoryu's managers say he had been the victim before an unnamed nightclub worker came forward. Japan Today's Web site reported that the two parties had reached a settlement and made a report to the police on Tuesday. The Japan Sumo Association met on Monday to investigate the incident. ''He felt compelled to resign for misconduct which was inexcusable, and the board accepted it," its chairman Musashigawa said in a statement. "I want to apologize to all of the fans and to the person injured in the incident. We will work together to make sure there is no recurrence of this.'' Sumo wrestlers are seen as almost God-like figures in Japan, but the sport's image has been hit recently. In 2008, Russian wrestler Wakanoho was arrested for possessing the illegal drug marijuana and three others were taken away by police over allegations they beat a 17-year-old trainee to death. | Sumo grand champion Asashoryu announces his retirement at tear-filled news conference .
The 29-year-old apologizes in wake of allegations about a drunken assault on a man .
He is first Mongolian to become grand champion and third-most successful sumo .
Japan's most revered sport has suffered from a series of scandals in recent years . |
217,552 | a5a597464c5bec541cc3035212e342770503da17 | Libby Alvarez Phelps is the daughter of Fred Phelps, who founded the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church and believes homosexuality is the root of all evil . She hasn't spoken to her family since she left the church four years ago, but can see them on their daily walks holding up 'God Hates F**s' signs . By . Catherine Townsend . PUBLISHED: . 12:34 EST, 16 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:51 EST, 16 April 2013 . As a member of the fundamentalist anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, Libby Phelps Alvarez spent her childhood picketing funerals of servicemen with signs like 'God Hates Dead Soldiers'. Now she has left the group founded by her grandfather Fred Phelps, and is working for a nonprofit organization that celebrates homosexuality. According to the New York Post, Alvarez has agreed to work on anti-bullying initiatives with Planting Peace, based inside the rainbow-colored Equality House that sits across the street from her family's church headquarters. Peaceful protest: Planting Peace founder Aaron Jackson (left) will be working with Libby Phelps Alvarez (right) in the rainbow-colored Equality House . Alvarez was showing a cousin the colorful house when Planting Peace co-founder Aaron Jackson walked outside and introduced himself. Jackson, 31, says that he painted the house to protest the . Westboro clan's outspoken anti-gay preaching. Over the years, Alvarez had gone from scrunching her nose at homosexual couples to an attitude of acceptance. 'I don’t really care if somebody is gay,' Alvarez says. 'I still believe in God. I just think that he’s more forgiving.' Over dinner, she decided to become involved . with his anti-bullying campaign - even though this would mean working across the street from her parents, whom she hadn't seen in four years. But she doesn't bother to approach them, because she knows that she has been frozen out for her view. Painting protest: Aaron Jackson painted the two-bedroom rainbow-colored house across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church to protest the church's actions . Facing conflict: Libby Phelps shows off her skills while helping paint the nonprofit charity organization, which is located across the street from the Westboro Babtist Church headquarters . Alvarez's upbringing was surreal. 'Gramps, as I called him, is a Southern gentleman,' Alvarez told . reporter Sara Stewart. 'You just want to be in . his orbit. But with Gramps and my dad - Fred Phelps Jr - the only way to get . their . love and affection was to talk about hell.' 'I remember sitting by the . pool in the backyard when I was young, writing in my pink notebook about . hell and the descriptions of it. Gramps came up to me and kissed me on . the forehead and said, "I love you, I love you, I love you" three times in a row.' The Westboro Baptist Church, which is . believed to have just a few dozen members, was founded in Topeka, Kansas in 1955 by Fred Phelps. But Alvarez says he wasn't always a fundamentalist. Back in the 1980s, Phelps was a Democrat and civil . rights lawyer who, at one point, ran for governor and entertained Al Gore at home. When Alvarez was eight, she says her . grandfather visited a park and . claimed that gay men had propositioned her cousins. Counter protest: Planting Peace, which supports orphanages in the developing world, has attracted support from activists across the country . After . that, he became fixated on homosexuality as the root of all evil. Over . poached eggs in the morning, she would hear about how gay people are . 'dooming the nation'. Then . the family started picketing: First every weekend, and eventually every . day. The women were required to submit and cover their heads during . sermons, which would always come back to the subject of how gay people . were 'dooming' the nation. 'With Gramps and my dad - Fred Phelps Jr - the only way to get . their . love and affection was to talk about hell' Holidays like Christmas and Easter were . deemed 'too pagan', so the Westboro kids were only allowed to celebrate . birthdays. They attended public school, but since they weren't allowed . to go to dances their social lives largely revolved around picketing. 'We would use it to go on . vacations. You go, you picket, you do some fun stuff. I have a picture . of me in Hawaii with two signs: “God hates f **s” and “God hates . Hawaii,"' Alvarez says. 'Why does he hate Hawaii? Because we wanted to go there!' After 9/11, Alvarez says she was horrified - until she came home and found everyone 'celebrating, like "This is awesome! God is punishing this nation!"' Bible Baptist: Pastor Fred Phelps founded the Westboro Baptist Church and believes that homosexuality is the root of all evil in America . In . 2008, she graduated from the University of Kansas Medical Center with a . doctorate in physical therapy. One of her first patients was a man . named Logan. She thought he was cute, but in order to avoid being . accused of 'lusting', kept her crush a secret. Then . in 2009, Alvarez took a photo of herself and her sister Sara while . picketing Puerto Rico. When she showed her grandfather, he said the . girls looked 'like models'. But the reaction from the family was immediate: 'I showed up, and 30 church members had filled up the big game room. Like a show was being put on or something,' Alvarez recalls. 'And they started in: The . initial issue was the bikini, but the bigger problem was the way I was . reacting. Because I had stood up for myself.' Going abroad: Since leaving Westboro Libby Phelps Alvarez has been on several trips with her husband Logan, since church members were not allowed to leave the country . Alvarez left the church on Friday the 13th. The next few months traumatic:She got a haircut for the first time in her life, but also believed that the plane she got on may crash because God wanted her to die. She ran into the cute former patient Logan on the street, and once they started dating he told her he didn't care about her past. They married in 2011 in Cozumel, and since her parents weren't at the wedding she walked herself down the aisle. 'I felt lonely - everybody wants their dad to walk them down the aisle - and I could have asked a cousin,' she says, 'but I figured, I’ll be a strong . independent woman and do this by myself.' 'I want my cousins and my nieces and nephews to see that the world isn’t . mean and hateful and evil and full of vicious people' In the past few years, around 20 church members have left - most in their teen and early twenties. Alvarez knows that her parents will see her interviews, and holds out hope that they may leave as well. She also says that her views on homosexuality have changed - now she doesn't care as long as they are good people. And she still believes in God, but now sees him as more forgiving. 'I want my cousins and my nieces and nephews to see that the world isn’t . mean and hateful and evil and full of vicious people. We were told . there’s going to be heartache and sorrow and disease and sadness in the . world outside the church,' she says. 'But . overall, it’s a fun adventure.' | Libby Alvarez Phelps is the daughter of Fred Phelps, who founded the fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church and believes homosexuality is the root of all evil .
She hasn't spoken to her family since she left the church four years ago, but can see them on their daily walks holding up 'God Hates F**s' signs . |
228,700 | b420397d7451ad81d8aeb1d7a47fc0f07442c48f | By . Steve Nolan . PUBLISHED: . 17:30 EST, 11 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:57 EST, 11 February 2013 . It's the one day of the year when receiving a dozen red roses or a bunch of her favourite flowers as a romantic surprise is an expectation for any woman with a man in her life. So it's little wonder that florists in Amsterdam are working flat out to ensure that the UK's florists are well stocked in time for Valentine's Day and that millions of men spend the most romantic day on the calendar smelling of roses and not stuck in the doghouse. An army of 4,000 workers at FloraHolland have been racing around making final preparations to ship a staggering £17million worth to the UK alone - that's an incredible 32million flowers and plants. Scroll down for video . Tulips from Amsterdam: Staff at FloraHolland in Aalsmeer race around in an attempt to make sure that UK florists are stocked up with a variety of flowers in time for Valentine's Day . Coming up smelling of roses: Just a handful of more than 32million flowers that will be shipped from FloraHolland to the UK in time for February 14 . Chaotic operation: FloraHolland, the world's biggest flower auction in Aalsmeer, expects sales to jump leading up to Valentine's Day . Big business: Crates of roses are taken to large trucks to be shipped to the UK - one of the company's largest exporters . But the trucks carrying that special cargo could now face an uncertain journey with snow blanketing much of the UK. In total the Aalsmeer auction house will sell 100million roses, the same number of tulips and more than 100 million other flowers in time for February 14. Many of the specialist roses and tulips are grown nearby in Holland while many others are flown in from Kenya before reaching Aalsmeer. Around 1,200 people are employed on FloraHolland's auction room floor alone with hundreds chaotically racing around on tractors and scooters. There are four amphitheatres full of buyers, who bid on the blooms using laptops as they pass through the auction room. Flowers are sold using an 'auction clock', with prices starting high and dropping, with the current price displayed on a giant clock-type face along with information about the lot. Getting ready for the big day: Flowers line up alongside bicycles which belong to some of the 4,000 strong army of staff employed by the company . Giant warehouse: The huge FloraHolland factory is the equivalent of 400 football pitches in size . Flower power: A worker at the warehouse drags a giant train of crates through the factory for auction . Quick workers: Around 1,200 people are employed on FloraHolland's auction room floor alone with hundreds chaotically racing around on tractors and scooters . Buyers press a button when they wish to stop the auction. The buyer who has hit the button is offering the highest price and therefore wins the lot. The giant warehouse is a staggering 2.6million square metres in size, the equivalent of 400 football fields. FloraHolland ships over 12.5billion items to customers a year and stocks a variety of 20,000 different plants and flowers. The company has been showcasing its Valentine's products for more than a month. Roaring trade: FloraHolland ships some 12.5billion items every year . Busy: Valentine's Day is the firms busiest time of the year by far . Auction: Buyers sit in giant amphitheatre style auction rooms where prices start high and are allowed to fall before a bidder presses a button to stop it . Ready to be shipped: In total the Aalsmeer auction house will sell 100million roses, the same number of tulips and more than 100 million other flowers in time for February 14 . | Staff at FloraHolland have been working flat out to ensure that florists around Europe are well stocked .
A staggering £17million worth of a variety of 20,000 flowers will be exported to the UK alone .
But the trucks carrying the special cargo could now face an uncertain journey with snow blanketing much of the UK . |
253,987 | d4b6dcd2dfe65809f67c4f8eb988435c31bbea20 | (CNN) -- Airborne for white, sandy beaches, turquoise Cuban waters and swaying palms, two women apparently broke out their duty-free booze on Wednesday and partied hearty in a passenger jet bathroom. So terribly hearty, that they got Sunwing Flight 656 a military jet escort back to the Canadian airport from which it departed. Prosecutors on Thursday charged Melana Muzikante, 26, and Lilia Ratmanski, 25, each with two counts of mischief, one count of smoking on an aircraft, one count of endangering the safety of an aircraft and with uttering a threat to cause death or bodily harm, according to Constable Lillian Fitzpatrick of Peel Regional Police. A judge released them on $2,500 bail each after they spent a night in a Canadian jail, but Fitzpatrick said Muzikante's surety won't arrive until Friday, meaning she'll spend Thursday night behind bars. It was not clear late Thursday who her attorney was; attempts to reach Ratmanski were unsuccessful. From champagne to swill . Sunwing Airlines flies North Americans south and advertises its low-cost holiday voyages with "Champagne Service." It welcomes aboard vacationers departing from Canada for Latin America and the Caribbean with a glass of bubbly. On Flight 656, passengers were toasting their forthcoming R&R at their destination of Varadero on Cuba's Florida-facing shore. Apparently, it wasn't enough for two passengers. Out came the duty-free spirits, and to go with them, the ladies allegedly lit up a cigarette in the lavatory, the airline said in a statement. Then the bathroom smoke detector ratted them out. Fight, threats, jail . Their moods swung, and their fists may have, too, as the two women got "into a physical altercation with each other," the airline said. They also threatened to do something to the plane. The crew didn't believe that they could, "given their condition," Sunwing said, but procedure called for them to make a U-turn and head back for base. The North American Aerospace Defense Command diverted two CF-18 fighter jets to escort the plane to Toronto's airport. "Those two females were brought off that aircraft by our officers here at the airport division," Tudo said. The other passengers received free meal vouchers and an apology, Sunwing said. Judge grounds partying . Muzikante and Ratmanski are due back in court September 29, according to Fitzpatrick. Until then, they will have to keep any revelry at lower altitudes: Fitzpatrick said the judge ordered the two to stay away from each other, from booze and from any airport. | NEW: Five charges each for two Canadian passengers .
Airline: Apparently the two women drank a good bit in the bathroom .
The women got into a "physical altercation," made threats against the plane .
NORAD escorted flight back to Toronto . |
64,692 | b7bb4a8aeafa53cea6adaca645356be01b90e869 | [Breaking news update 11:35 p.m.] . Diana Nyad has broken swimmer Penny Palfrey's 2012 distance record in the Cuba to Florida swim, putting her closer to Key West than anyone has ever swum without a shark cage. [Original story last posted at 10:18 p.m.] . Diana Nyad better than halfway through Cuba-to-Florida swim . Endurance swimmer Diana Nyad was better than halfway across the strait separating Cuba from the Florida Keys on Sunday on her fifth attempt to make it across the channel, her support team reported. After more than 30 hours in the water, the 64-year-old Nyad was more than 63 miles north of the marina where she began Saturday morning. "This is farther than she has gone in any previous attempt," team navigator John Bartlett wrote on Nyad's website. "Her path is only 5 miles to the east of a straight line from Marina Hemingway to Key West, thanks to a favorable Gulf Stream." Nyad was still "swimming strongly" at just over 1.5 mph -- but averaging about 2 mph thanks to that favorable current, Bartlett wrote. Later, her handler said that Nyad was feeling strong and coherent. "She is joking for the first time all day," wrote Bonnie Stoll on the same website. "The only concern is that she is throwing up everything she eats. She's quite nauseous from sea salt, but that's to be expected," said Stoll. "We're giving her enough calories and nutrition. We're just going to keep feeding her, and we hope that some of it is going down. She's not weak. Her stroke count hasn't changed." Nyad is attempting to become the first person to swim the 103 miles without the benefits of a shark cage, flippers or wet suit. She's said it will be her last attempt at that mark, after previous attempts that were thwarted by dehydration, ocean currents and excruciating jellyfish stings to her tongue. This time, she's wearing a specially designed prosthetic face mask to prevent the jellyfish stings. "It took us a year; we made mold after mold," Nyad said of the mask, adding it was the kind used to protect people who had suffered injuries to their faces. "It's a two-edged sword for me. It's cumbersome, it's difficult to swim with, but it doesn't matter. I am safe. There's no other way." She jumped into the water at 8:59 a.m. Saturday. Were Nyad to swim the 103 miles, it would validate her attempts, which have spanned 35 years. In 1997, Australian endurance swimmer Susie Maroney, then 22, completed the swim from within a shark cage. Along with the protection the cage offers against toothy predators, swimmers say the cage provides a barrier against waves and other weather hazards. Since Maroney's swim, some of the world's best endurance swimmers have tried to cross the straits of Florida without using a cage. All have been turned back, though Australia's Penny Palfrey made it 80 miles in 2012 before unfavorable currents forced her to quit. But few have done so as persistently or as colorfully as Nyad. The Los Angeles resident says she feels a special bond with Cubans and hopes her repeated efforts to swim between the two countries will help improve the still-tense relations between Havana and Washington. Nyad is being accompanied by a 35-member crew aboard two sail boats. They monitor her health, update her progress on social media and try to ward off sharks that might view her as a potential snack. If all goes as planned, Nyad said, the swim will take her three days to finish. | Diana Nyad is "feeling strong ... joking for the first time all day," says her handler .
She hopes to swim the 103 miles from Havana to the Florida Keys .
It's her fifth attempt in 35 years and will be her last, she says .
If she's successful, she'll be the first person to do so without a shark cage, flippers or wet suit . |
212,770 | 9f81d53917dcefc2d2b0915cf718794fa3156754 | By . Jonathan O'Callaghan . In 2011 Japan was rocked by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the most powerful in the country’s recorded history, which together with a tsunami killed more than 15,000 people and caused upwards of £20.2 billion ($34.6 billion) in damage. But it seems the effects of the earthquake are not over yet, as the huge tremor may have disrupted Mount Fuji and placed it in a critical condition. The result could be an eruption that mimics the last in 1707, which bathed vast swathes of Japan in ash and caused untold damage, at a time when the country was much less populated. French and Japanese scientists say that Mount Fuji is at higher risk of eruption. Its last major eruption was in 1707, at a time when the country was much less populated. In the modern day, just 60 miles (100 kilometres) south west of Tokyo (pictured), an eruption could be catastrophic . The research was carried out by scientists at the Institute of Earth Sciences in Grenoble, France and the Institute of Global Physics in Paris, working in collaboration with Japanese scientists. At an elevation of 3,776 metres (12,388 feet), Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan. It is an active stratovolcano found on Honshu island that last erupted in December 1707. Known as the Hoei eruption, this is thought to have expelled a billion cubic metres of ash and debris. Mount Fuji lies 60 miles (100 kilometres) south west of Tokyo, which in 1707 was called Edo. On 22 June 2014 Mount Fuji was added to the World Heritage List as a Cultural Site, one of Japan’s ‘Three Holy Mountains’. For the first time they observed the response of Japanese volcanoes to seismic waves produced by the Tohoko earthquake of 2011. Their conclusions, published in Science, reveal how earthquakes can impact volcanoes and should help to assess the risk of massive volcanic eruptions worldwide. 'Our work does not say that the volcano will start erupting, but it does show that it's in a critical state,' Dr Florent Brenguier, lead author of the publication, told The Guardian. After the giant Tohoku-oki earthquake of 2011, the researchers analysed over 70 terabytes of seismic data from the network. For the first time, they showed that the regions where the perturbations of the Earth's crust were the greatest were not those where the shocks were the strongest. They were in fact localised under volcanic regions, especially under Mount Fuji. The reason for this is likely due to fluids trapped under the volcano such as boiling water and liquid magma. ‘Essentially the idea is that before this study we had very few methods to know the state of pressure of the volcano at depth,’ Dr Brenguier tells MailOnline. ‘With this new method, we are able to get insights on how the interior of the volcano, the part between the magma chamber and the surface, is affected. ‘We think that these are important in the preparation of eruption.’ The new research shows how volcanoes can be affected, or induce, earthquakes. Previous research suggests Mount Fuji, which is found on Honshu Island, may be sitting on a active fault 19 miles (30 kilometres) wide that could be capable of causing magnitude 7 earthquakes, possibly enough to cause an eruption . The crustal seismic velocity drop induced by the Tohoku earthquake highlights a large anomaly below Mt Fuji volcano, as seen here in this 3D rendering released by the researchers . The researchers found a high anomaly beneath the volcano, despite it being 310 miles (500 kilometres) from the epicentre of the 2011 earthquake, suggesting pressure was building. However, Dr Brenguier adds: ‘It is not possible within our results to know when an eruption will occur or what size it will be. ‘We were just able to map the fact there is an anomaly in the partly pressurised region, so the volcanic risk in that region is higher.' ‘I can’t tell about future eruptions, but what I can say is we are expecting a new earthquake rather close to Mount Fuji. ‘Within 100 kilometres a large earthquake is expected. ‘If there were this large earthquake close, again the risk would be very high of having an eruption.’ In 2011 Japan was rocked by a magnitude 9 earthquake named Tohoko, the most powerful in the country's recorded history, which together with a tsunami killed more than 15,000 people and caused upwards of £20.2 billion ($34.6 billion) in damage . The last time Mount Fuji erupted was on 16 December 1707, and that eruption was preceded by the violent 8.7-magnitude Hoei earthquake 49 days before. It spread ash of varying levels across east Japan (shown). The researchers say no eruption is imminent at the moment, however . The findings were made using 800 seismic sensors and recording fluctuations underground that can map geological disturbances. The new method thus enabled the scientists to observe the anomalies caused by the perturbations from the earthquake in volcanic regions under pressure. Mount Fuji, which exhibits the greatest anomaly, is probably under great pressure, although no eruption has yet followed the Tohoku earthquake. The last time Mount Fuji erupted was on 16 December 1707, and that eruption was preceded by the violent 8.7-magnitude Hoei earthquake 49 days before. With regards to the 2011 earthquake on 11 March, it was followed by a 6.4 magnitude quake four days later. This confirmed the criticial state of Mounti Fuji to the researchers. They add, however, that there is no need for evacuation or any other drastic measures in Japan yet, although caution must be taken. ‘All we can say is that Mount Fuji is now in a state of pressure, which means it displays a high potential for eruption,’ Dr Brenguier added to the Guardian. ‘The risk is clearly higher.’ The researchers showed for the first time that the regions where the perturbations of the Earth's crust were the greatest after the 2011 earthquake were not those where the shocks were the strongest, but under volcanic regions, especially under Mount Fuji (pictured from space) The ‘critical’ nature of the volcano comes from the state of . the magma stored 3.1 miles (five kilometres) beneath the surface in the rock mass. ‘This part of the crust is kind of . critical in a sense that perturbation from seismic waves generated by an . earthquake will generate quite significantly in the crust,' Dr Brenguier tells MailOnline. ‘It is critical in fracturation of the rock mass below the volcano. ‘This could eventually lead to transport of magma to the surface. ‘We can say that there is a high risk, there is a zone, an area that we image, that shows an anomaly of pressure.‘There were theories that the magma should be quite pressurised because the last eruption was 300 years ago. ‘For the first time we made a direct observation of this kind of critical stage. But he adds it is not possible within their results for the researchers to give an exact timescale for when an eruption might occur. | French and Japanese scientists say Mount Fuji is at higher risk of eruption .
Pressure beneath the volcano was increased by the 2011 earthquake .
The researchers used an array of 800 seismic sensors to make findings .
And they found it mimics conditions from last eruption of Fuji in 1707 .
While an eruption is not imminent the 'risk is clearly higher' they say . |
91,223 | 0158777ec0e1e1288e910c5fbf63de786f47a283 | (CNN) -- A U.S. Navy minesweeper remained stuck in a reef teeming with endangered marine life off the Philippines on Sunday, prompting an American commander to apologize and promise stepped-up efforts to prevent further damage. The USS Guardian ran aground early Thursday in the Tubbataha Reef, about 80 miles east-southeast of Palawan Island in the Sulu Sea, the U.S. Navy reported. All 79 sailors were evacuated from the 224-foot ship. Hazardous weather and rough seas have hindered efforts to survey the empty Guardian and the surrounding area, though the Navy acknowledges damage to the reef. "As a protector of the sea and a sailor myself, I greatly regret any damage this incident has caused the Tubbataha Reef," said Vice Adm. Scott Swift, the U.S. 7th Fleet commander, in a report posted Sunday on a Navy website. "We know the significance of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and its importance as a World Heritage Site. Its protection is vital, and we take seriously our obligations to protect and preserve the maritime environment." The Guardian, an Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship based in Japan, was heading from Subic Bay to its next port call in Indonesia when it struck the reef's south atoll, the Navy said. The incident remains under investigation. Initial efforts to free the ship failed and its crew was transferred by small boats to other U.S. ships. The U.S. Navy reported no signs of oil slicks in the area. Philippine Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Favic -- in a report on the official Philippines News Agency (PNA) -- similarly indicated no evidence of oil. Three Philippine naval ships were in the area, along with a number of U.S. ships, according to Sunday's PNA report. The U.S. Navy will step up efforts on Monday when Rear Adm. Thomas Carney takes over as on-site commander on the destroyer USS Mustin. The focus is "preventing any further environmental damage to the reef and surrounding marine environment," according to the Navy report. Home to a vast array of sea, air and land creatures, as well as sizable lagoons and two coral islands, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. About 500 species of fish and 350 species of coral can be found there, as can whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles and one of the last surviving colonies of breeding seabirds in the region, according to UNESCO. CNN's Brad Lendon contributed to this report. | A U.S. Navy minesweeper got stuck Thursday in a sensitive reef off the Philippines .
It remained there Sunday, with no sailors aboard and its damage still not surveyed .
A U.S. navy official says, " I greatly regret any damage this ... caused the Tubbataha Reef"
The reef, a World Heritage Site, contains threatened and endangered marine species . |
29,434 | 53a41f037bed7491b5642490a5ff1a6a21286ba0 | The missing plane MH370 could have been 'cyber-hijacked' using advanced electronic warfare technology, a new book co-written by a former lead Law and Order: SVU actor suggests. The controversial theory is one among several canvassed in the new 257-page essay Someone Is Hiding Something, which also asks whether UFOs could be responsible for its disappearance. The book was co-written by actor Richard Belzer - better known as detective John Munch in the syndicated fictional crime drama - radio host George Noory and author David Wayne. It's the latest in a series of publications and documentaries published since the plane went missing, with some aviation experts writing off the 'cyberhijacking' theory as 'far fetched'. On the hunt: Actor Richard Belzer is one of three authors of a new book examining various theories about the fate of missing flight MH370 . Actor and author Richard Belzer (pictured as Detective John Munch in Law and Order) has turned his attention to the hunt for missing flight MH370 . No wreckage of the missing plane has been located by official search parties. The Boeing 770-300 vanished on March 8 2014 . But Perth widow Danica Weeks, whose husband Paul was on board, said that while she has been 'bombarded' with theories brought about by a slew of books, she has now become 'numb' to them. 'Someone's got to be right,' she said. 'I myself can't explain how such a sophisticated plane can just disappear.' The current phase of the MH370 search will conclude in May, with the head of Australian Transport Safety Bureau saying he is hopeful the wreckage will hopefully be found in the next few months. The head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has said he is optimistic the plane will be found by May . 'POSSIBLE THEORIES' PUBLISHED IN THE BOOK . 'CYBERJACKING' The authors believe the idea the plane was downed by 'cyberjackers' is among the more credible possibilities. 'Cyber hijacking is about the only possibility that fits the above circumstances insofar as the known evidence regarding the actions of the plane,' the book said. 'We’re not saying that’s what happened. The evidence, at this juncture, is inconclusive. 'We are saying that the official version of “We lost the plane and it may never be found” is an obvious ruse and a very weak one at that. 'What we keep hearing as the official explanation of this case has got more holes in it than Swiss cheese—and a pretty “holey” batch of Swiss cheese.' Investigators searching for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 say they could finish scouring the priority zone by May, more than a year after it vanished, if there are no delays . 'LANDED AT A MILITARY BASE' One of the most popular theories circulated online is that the flight was diverted to a U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean, on the island of Diego Garcia. It's a theory that still 'cannot be ruled out', the authors contend. 'All in all, the evidence indicates that diverting Flight 370 to Diego Garcia, by whatever means, for whatever reasons, cannot be ruled out as a possibility. 'And we’re not saying that we know what those reasons are, or that that is definitively what happened to Flight 370. 'But we are saying that diversion to Diego Garcia cannot currently be eliminated as a possibility,' they write. The initial international search effort involved more than a dozen planes and at least nine ships . 'MISSILE SHOOT DOWN' An 'accidental or intentional' strike followed by 'surreptitious debris retrieval' is highlighted as another theory by the authors. Given the widespread debris that would such an attack would cause, the authors suggest that the enormous search afterwards was 'actually part of a larger plan to discreetly recover and destroy what little evidence of the aircraft remained after the strike'. Search team: International search crews have been unable to locate the missing flight in the Indian Ocean . 'ALIEN CONTACT' Co-author George Noory, who runs a US radio show that examines 'unexplained phenomena', told the Nine Network on Wednesday the possibility of alien intervention was 'fantastic, but possible'. In the book itself, the authors admit the eyebrow-raising possibility is rather unlikely, noting there is 'no evidence' so far. But the truth is out there, they write. 'So, how does the possibility of alien life relate to Malaysia Flight 370, one might ask? That’s a damn good question. We have no idea. 'It’s just that it’s something that a discernible percentage of the population actually believes in and - if it is true - it’s an unknown that some apparently believe could possibly explain many otherwise unexplainable things, including the bizarre circumstances of Flight 370. The ADV Ocean Shield (pictured), an Australian vessel, was involved in the initial search for the downed plane . USE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES . The book posits that an advanced kind of electronic warfare technology could be deployed to 'hide' the missing plane. 'Today’s electronic warfare (EW) capability includes weaponry that can hide planes,' the authors write in one passage. Despite the lack of any evidence indicating sabotage, the book concludes the use of a 'cloaking technique' 'remains possible'. Someone Is Hiding Something: What Happened to Flight MH370 by Richard Belzer, David Wayne and George Noory is published by Nero and on sale now. | New book co-written by Law and Order star suggests 'cyber-hijacking' a plausible theory .
The Malaysia Airlines flight has been missing for nearly a year after it vanished on March 8 .
Authorities believe it most likely crashed into an arc of the Indian Ocean, west of Australia .
'Fantastic, but possible,' one of the authors told the Nine Network of the possibility of alien interference - to some scepticism . |
279,072 | f58eca9d9307326bcb28ca03f5b71a5330c588e4 | When their older brother Jeremy died in Afghanistan, Ben and Beau Wise did what loyal brothers and soldiers do. They stood solemnly in uniform at his memorial, laid red roses in front of his picture, and Ben spoke bravely to a chapel full of loved ones who came to mourn. Soldiers themselves, Ben and Beau knew what their fallen brother had experienced and seen. They knew the difficulties of being a warrior and a devoted husband, and what a testament it was to Jeremy's character that he had excelled at both. Band of brothers: From left, Ben, Beau and Jeremy Wise, deep in conversation. Ben and Jeremy died while serving their country in Afghanistan . 'Jeremy, I miss you and I love you, brother,' Ben said. 'And see you again.' Two . years later, Ben died at a hospital in Germany after an insurgent . attack left him with injuries that first cost him his legs, then his life. He was . 34, a year younger than Jeremy was when a suicide bomber killed him at a . CIA base where he was working as a defense contractor. For a family that had already paid the highest price of war, it was time for another funeral, another eulogy, another grave. The . eldest Wise boys are two of the thousands of Americans who have died . since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan began. But they share a link . that most do not: They were brothers. 'They laid down their lives, both of them, so that others could live,' their mother, Mary Wise, said. Jeremy, Ben and Beau played with soldiers long before they became soldiers themselves. Devastating loss: The Wise family in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mother Mary Wise (right) poses with her children, from left, Beau, Heather, Ben and Jeremy . Playtime was something of a . battlefield rehearsal. When the G.I. Joes were idle, their toys morphed . into land mines, waiting to be stepped on in the carpet at the family's . home in southern Arkansas. The . three Wise boys and their sister, Heather, grew up in a small town . called El Dorado. It wasn't a far drive from the country, where their . father, Jean, taught the boys to hunt squirrels and deer when he wasn't . treating patients as an ear, nose and throat doctor. The . house was always full of something: the smell of mom's venison fried up . with lemon pepper, the sound of the kids riffing on guitars or banging . on drums. Amid the . chaos, though, was harmony. A friend once asked why they didn't have . cable. Ben looked at him and said: 'We've got each other.' At . night, when Beau was tucked into bed, the big kids would have story . time. Ben and Heather would sit with legs crossed and listen to Jeremy, . who even as a teenager, saw himself as a protector: sword in hand, clad . in armor, crossing bridges to battle monsters with glowing eyes and . yellow breath. Hero: Army Sgt Ben Wise died on January 15, 2012, in a hospital in Germany after being wounded in Afghanistan . Courage: Navy Seal Jeremy Wise on the cover of a video of his 2009 memorial service and a newspaper obituary kept by his sister in Prescott, Arkansas . 'In the story, of course, he's always the hero,' their sister Heather Skaleski said. As they grew older, military dreams turned into career plans. Ben aired his by the time he was in Sunday school. Most of his classmates raised their hands when a teacher asked what they wanted to do when they grew up. Not Ben. He got up from his seat and drew a picture of a soldier on the board. Years later, in 2000, he enlisted in the Army - and then told his mother. 'I was indignant because I was Mommy and I thought he should talk with me, which I realize now was laughable,' his mother said. Jeremy signed up next, dropping out of medical school to become a Navy SEAL. The last to join the military was Beau. Determined to keep her last son out of harm's way, his mother refused to cook for him for two weeks when he announced he was going to become a Marine. Pride: Beau Wise in his U. S. Marine Corps uniform - he lost two brothers in Afghanistan . 'I was just so mad because I wanted to protect him,' Mary Wise said. Her protests didn't work. He followed his brothers. Once the deployments began, they seemed constant. Beau shipped off to Afghanistan for the first time in 2009. Ben had finished a deployment earlier that year and was preparing for another with his Special Forces unit in 2010. 'One was always coming or two were there and one was home,' their mother said. Jeremy had just retired as a Navy SEAL and was working as a defense contractor in Afghanistan. He thought he could spend more time with his family that way and still serve his country. When he was home in Virginia, he played ninjas with his stepson, Ethan, and hung around his wife, Dana, even if she was doing something as mundane as laundry. 'He loved us almost suffocatingly so,' she said. When he was working in Afghanistan, Jeremy called home often and made the adventure sound like a vacation. He talked about the food, the hotels - not the danger. 'He wouldn't tell me anything about it because he didn't want me to worry,' his sister, Heather, said. The risk became real at the end of 2009, when the Wise parents were celebrating the birth of Ben's baby boy in Washington state. Amid the celebration, word came from overseas: A suicide bomber had killed Jeremy at a CIA base in Afghanistan. His family met his remains in Dover, Delaware. It was a cold, gray day and the family waited inside a bus that felt like a funeral parlor, Heather recalled. Ben took Heather's hand in his and they whispered memories about their brother. Deployments were harder after that. Ben and Beau headed back overseas not long after the funeral. The war started wearing on Ben, a medic who repaired the wounds that men inflict on each other. He worried about his younger brother serving in another part of Afghanistan. 'I was just so mad because I wanted to protect him.' Mary Wise, mother . '(Beau's) heading home here in the next few days, which is a huge load off my mind,' Ben wrote in a Facebook message to a friend. He waited for his own homecoming. During his final deployment, Ben would tell his sister stories about his son, Luke. Then he would cut himself off, unable to talk about the baby boy he couldn't hold in his arms. 'The pain comes in when you have to think about home, think about the people you love and then just try to block it out ... for your family and for your fellow soldiers,' Heather recalled him saying. He prayed. He had faith that he would come home. So much faith that he turned down a friend's offer to ship him a care package in December, telling him that he would be packing up by the time it arrived. The next month, an insurgent shot Ben after he and his fellow soldiers saved a number of women and children in Afghanistan. A medic unto the end, he helped tend to his own wounds before he was flown to a hospital in Germany. Beau caught a flight and accompanied Ben's wife to the hospital, where she saw her husband for the last time. Ben fought to stay alive, even after doctors cut off his legs, even as his body failed, even as his organs started shutting down. He died on January 15, shortly before his parents arrived to say goodbye. Beau called Heather. 'We were crying and I said, ''It's just you and me now, bro,'" she said. 'Just us two.' Again, the family found themselves in the same chapel, the same veterans cemetery, to say goodbye.They moved Jeremy's grave so that the brothers could lie side by side in Suffolk, Virginia. 'To lose Jeremy was devastating,' his widow, Dana, said. 'To lose Ben was just ... you throw your hands up in the air.' Each brother's tombstone cites part of the Bible. Jeremy's points to a chapter that's often read at happier times: 1 Corinthians 13. Part of it reads: 'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.' The family still calls them boys. The youngest, Beau, is planning to move closer to Ben's family. Later this year, his mother says, he'll transfer from his base in Hawaii to one on the mainland. He'll remain in the military, at least for now. He will not deploy for war again. Though the Marines will not talk specifically about Beau's case, the military has policies in place to protect surviving sons like Beau and families like the Wises. It's rare for brothers to die in the same war, but not unheard of. One of the most famous cases of siblings dying in war is the five Sullivan brothers, who died together at sea during a battle in World War II. Mary Wise said the military assured her that Beau won't be sent into conflict again. Their family has sacrificed enough. | Jeremy Wise, 35, killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in 2009 .
Two years later, Ben Wise died in hospital following insurgent attack . |
222,626 | ac3578432d8bb39d2c20bebbc1fc38b917aa21e5 | By . Hugo Gye . PUBLISHED: . 00:39 EST, 19 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:46 EST, 1 August 2012 . A teenage girl has allegedly been starved to death by her mother, who was said to have joined a 'pro-hunger' group. Markea Blakely-Berry, who was mentally disabled, weighed just 40lb at the time of her death - and relatives claims she was routinely 'punished' by her mother Ebony Berry. Berry, 38, faces charges of murder and first-degree child cruelty after 16-year-old Markea was found dead at her home in Georgia. Tragic: Markea Blakely-Berry, pictured left as a young girl, has died after apparent neglect from her mother Ebony Berry, right, who is said to be involved with a 'pro-hunger' group . Happy family: Markea, left, plays with a relative at a family gathering before her abuse began. The teenager was told not to speak with 'outsiders' Markea's other relatives have now revealed their suspicions that she was being abused and underfed throughout her short life. 'She hated her,' said the girl's grandmother Cheryl Goree. 'She punished her daughter. She didn't have to kill my grandbaby like that.' After Berry's arrest, Markea's family noticed that she had links via Facebook to a group which encourages hunger, according to WOOD. Ms Goree described how Markea had sent her a haunting drawing of Thanksgiving dinner - with a table heaped with food, but completely empty plates. Markea's father Mark Blakely said he was shocked at the apparent abuse. 'I can't even understand it,' he said. 'How could anybody do that to somebody? You wouldn't even do your worst enemy that way.' Haunting: This image of Thanksgiving dinner drawn by Markea shows the family with empty plates . Well-stocked table: But Markea was once so hungry she ran away from home and stole food from Walmart . The girl was born prematurely, which led to her having a mental disability - the origins of her mother's hostility towards her, according to relatives. The family lived for many years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Berry was investigated by child protective services several times. Mr Blakely told WOOD that his ex moved to Atlanta to evade officials: 'She ran to do wrong,' he said. 'Nobody helped, nobody tried to stop her.' When Markea and her mother were living in Georgia, she ran away from home and was found stealing food from a branch of Walmart. Neighbours told WSB-TV that they had never seen the girl or her siblings go to school. Devastated: Markea's father Mark Blakely, left, and grandmother Cheryl Goree, right, spoke of their grief . Berry's father Larry Stewart described the harrowing moment she phoned him to report that Markea had passed out. 'I got her off the phone,' he said. 'I said, "You dial 911. Don't call me. Call me back and let me know what's going on with the child."' The girl was dead by the time emergency services arrived at her home. Markea's family paid tribute to the teenager. Ms Goree told WOOD: 'She always said, "Grandma, I want to be in an angel costume." 'You're already an angel, baby.' | Ebony Berry was linked to 'pro-hunger' group on Facebook .
Disabled daughter Markea drew haunting pictures of empty plates and once ran away from home to steal food .
Mother charged with murder and child cruelty after girl's death . |
194,536 | 87d3b9f61af88241a34f0130b07d8b5007d5f345 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 05:28 EST, 12 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:08 EST, 12 September 2012 . He has proved he is absolutely brilliant with a tennis racket but when it comes to dealing with the luggage, Andy Murray leaves that to his girlfriend Kim Sears. The US Open champion has arrived back on British soil to cheers following his historic win in New York on Monday night and was mobbed by fans. The tennis ace flew into Heathrow’s Terminal 5 at around 9am with girlfriend Kim and was greeted by British Airways staff and excited members of the public. Murray, dressed in jeans and a hooded . top, was photographed by waiting media and posed for pictures with . holidaymakers and airport staff as he collected his luggage. Coming through! Kim Sears is left to struggle with Andy Murray's luggage trolley as the pair arrive back into Heathrow Airport this morning after his sensational US Open win . But it was left to Kim to wheel the trolley while the Scot took the plaudits for becoming the first British man in 76 years to win a major singles title when he beat Novak Djokovic over five sets in the US Open final. However, it is claimed that his loyal girlfriend's love and support over the past seven years will be rewarded, as Andy could be set to propose. A source close to Murray said he would be taking a few days out following his arrival in London. He will take some time to rest and 'get his head right' before deciding what to do next, the source said. Champion: Murray arrives back at Terminal 5 and was mobbed by fans and journalists keen to speak to him . Murray admitted before leaving New York that he was not sure what reaction his new status would bring on his return. He said: 'It's something that will probably take a bit of getting used to. It's not something I've always been that comfortable with. 'I spoke to (coach) Ivan (Lendl) a couple of times during the year and he asked me, 'What worries you?'. 'I said that I worry what might happen if I win a major, how my life might change, because I want it to be the same. 'He said he felt the same thing but all that happens is you get more people congratulating you and you get nicer tables in restaurants and to play on all the good golf courses for free.' VIP: The British number one was tackled as soon as he landed to find out how he feels to be home . Slam winner: Andy left Kim with the luggage, right, as he was surrounded on the concourse of terminal 5 . Murray has laughed off talk of a knighthood but the question of how Britain will honour the champion remains. A golden post box already stands in his hometown of Dunblane following his victory at the Olympics, and his local authority is in talks to offer him the Freedom of the City of Stirling . 'The whole community will want to congratulate Andy on his first gland slam title and on the glorious, warrior-like way he won it,' said Stirling Provost councillor Mike Robbins. The Scot's odds of becoming BBC Sports Personality of the Year have, meanwhile, been slashed.Murray will next compete at the Japan Open on October 1, according to the schedule on his official website. He will be defending the title after beating Spaniard Rafael Nadal in Tokyo last year, where he also took a victory in the doubles tournament alongside older brother Jamie. Proud: Kim Sears looks at hero Andy, who is rumoured to be about to propose to his long-term girlfriend . The US win completed a successful few months for the 25-year-old, who followed a Wimbledon final with Olympic gold. Following his US victory Murray hailed the effect Britain’s magical sporting summer has had on the country. He said yesterday: “Being around the Olympics and seeing how the nation came together, from the public to the athletes to the press, everyone was just right behind it. 'Sport has been this huge part of my life since I was a kid and it’s been the best summer of sport in my lifetime and I’m sure in most people’s. It’s been so much fun and I’m just happy I was able to contribute towards it.' Wedding bells? Andy Murray stayed on soft drinks as he and girlfriend Kim Sears celebrated his victory with a meal at New York's Hakkasan restaurant . It is not yet known whether Murray will take part in a parade for Scotland’s Olympic athletes in Glasgow on Friday. With his thrilling five-set US Open victory, Andy Murray is assured of a place in the tennis history books. His epic triumph also brings the promise of more immediate material rewards, however. Experts yesterday predicted that by ending the nation's 76-year wait for a Grand Slam men's singles champion, Murray's career earnings could now top £100million – making him one of Britain's richest sports superstars. In love: Andy Murray with his girlfriend Kim Sears and the trophy at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighbourhood of New York . Andy Murray kisses Kim Sears after Murray defeated Roger Federer at the 2012 Summer Olympics . His four-hour, 54-minute win over Novak Djokovic was worth almost £1.2million in prize money alone. But that will be dwarfed by the riches set to flood into the 25-year-old's bank account. Coupled with his Olympic Gold medal-winning defeat of Roger Federer last month, the US Open result will see major international sponsors clamour for a piece of 'Brand Murray'. The importance of Murray's commercial interests was clear to see immediately after the match had concluded, when Murray looked agitated as he tried to find a watch provided by one of his sponsors. On-court microphones caught the British number one saying 'I don't have it, I don't have it' as he pointed at his wrist. You can do it! Kim Sears urges on Murray during his epic five setter . Kim hugs Judy Murray and Andy Murray's agent as they celebrate his win at the US Open . Limping in pain, he called out from the court to his girlfriend Kim Sears, who was wearing an expensive-looking timepiece herself: 'Have you got my watch? I don't have my watch.' Luckily for the tennis star, the watch - a Rado D-Star Automatic Chronograph worth £2,580 - was found in time for him to wear it as he received the trophy. Only three months ago, he was announced as an ambassador for watchmakers Rado - a sponsorship deal reportedly worth a seven-figure sum. Speaking after the match, Murray was full of relief. Despite his Olympics triumph in London last month, the boy from Dunblane was the underdog heading into the match, having lost in four Grand Slam tournament finals. Brilliant: At the fifth attempt in a grand slam final Andy Murray won the US Open and changed his life . Glittering prize: Andy Murray became the first British grand slam winner in 76 years, beating Novak Djokovic at the US Open on Monday . In action: Murray returns a shot to Serbia's Djokovic during the championship match on Monday, which he won in five sets . 'Right now, there's a lot of relief and I'm still buzzing a bit from the match - the atmosphere out there was unbelievable,' he said. 'It would have been a tough one to lose so I'm so, so happy I managed to pull though in the end. 'The body's hurting a bit but it was worth it.' The windy conditions helped Murray in the early stages but Djokovic fought back once it had started to die down. However, the Scot revealed he took a toilet break before the start of the decider to regain his composure. Champion: U.S. Open tennis men's singles champion Andy Murray posing with the trophy in Central Park . Minted: After a long wait Andy Murray broke his grand slam duck and looked like he doesn't plan to let the US Open trophy go . Busy boy: Andy stands with the trophy in Manhattan before an interview on the NBC Today Show . Touching: Andy Murray hugs his mother Judy after a photo session in Central Park following his US Open victory . 'The wind calmed down towards the end of the second set and I had to change the way I was playing a bit because he was then dictating more of the points and he started going for it a bit more. 'I was still playing the same way as when it was windy and I was kind of guiding the ball a little bit and was only reaching the middle of the court. 'At the beginning of the fifth set I went to the toilet and I said to myself: "For one set, just give it everything you've got". 'I got lucky in the first game with a net on the break point but I settled down after that.' His early considerable lead, and a chance at history, slipping away, Murray dug deep for stamina and mental strength in an effort to outlast his Serbian rival. 'Novak is so, so strong. He fights until the end in every single match,' Murray said. 'I don't know how I managed to come through in the end.' | Britain's first grand slam winner for 76 years was mobbed when he landed at Terminal 5 this morning .
While he dealt with the attention, Kim Sears was left to steer the heavy trolley . |
224,380 | ae8a25bc43bbb2ff378891b571eddd9c4135d780 | (CNN) -- Bayern Munich will enjoy home advantage when they play Chelsea in the European Champions League final after defeating Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu following Wednesday's dramatic penalty shootout. Bastian Schweinsteiger struck the winning penalty kick after nine-time champions Madrid won the second leg semifinal 2-1, leveling the tie 3-3 on aggregate, and forcing the match into extra time. After a goalless 30 minutes, the match went to penalties. Bayern won the shootout 3-1 and booked their place in a final that is to be hosted at the German club's Allianz Arena stadium on May 19, where home fans will be hoping for a fifth European crown and first since 2001. "That was a magical night," said Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who in 1998 led Real to the European title for the first time in 32 years before being sacked after only one season in charge. "We were in real trouble in the first 15 minutes, but after that we played outstanding football for long periods. I'm specially delighted for my players and the club management." Madrid started in explosive fashion, dominating the opening exchanges, and quickly won a controversial penalty when Bayern defender David Alaba was adjudged to have handled the ball even though it had been blasted at him from close range. Cristiano Ronaldo converted the penalty, leveling the tie almost as soon as it had begun. And things got worse for Bayern when Madrid's German play maker Mesut Ozil slide a perfect pass into the path of Ronaldo who coolly slotted home his, and Madrid's, second. Incredibly the two goals were Ronaldo's 55th and 56th of the season. But even with a two-goal cushion Madrid never looked particularly comfortable following their exertions defeating arch-rivals Barcelona in the Spanish league last Saturday. "The final will be disputed between the fifth team in the Premier League and the runners-up in the Bundesliga," Real coach Jose Mourinho said after failing to set up a clash with his former club Chelsea. "Both used their reserve players this weekend, while Real Madrid and Barcelona faced each other in the most important match of the season in the Spanish league. People listened to me when I said the calendar had to be adjusted in these circumstances in Italy, and it made me happy. "I don't have that power or enjoy such respect for my opinions here in Spain. We've started the most important month of the season with midweek games and it's resulted in yesterday's and tonight's results. Bayern won and were luckier than us." The Portuguese coach lifted the trophy with Porto in 2004 and led Inter Milan to victory over Bayern in the 2010 final but has fallen at the last-four stage in his two seasons with Real -- and could also take Chelsea no further than the semis. With Germany international Mario Gomez causing Madrid's static defense problems and former Real and Chelsea player Arjen Robben using his pace to good effect, Bayern carved out chance after chance. It was to be another, less controversial penalty decision that would throw the visitors a lifeline when Portugal defender Pepe bundled over Gomez. Robben dispatched the penalty kick even though Iker Casillas got a hand to the ball. It wouldn't be the last time he would get his hand to a penalty kick. That goal meant that even though Madrid led 2-1 by halftime, the tie was level 3-3 on aggregate following Bayern's 2-1 first leg victory in Munich last week. Perhaps unsurprisingly the second half was a tense affair devoid of the fluidity that had marked the first period. The game ground down to an attritional stalemate as the final whistle was blown and the match went to extra time. Again the two teams couldn't be separated and the match went to penalty kicks. Ronaldo approached to take Madrid's first, having not missed a penalty all season with 13 goals from the spot. But sensationally his kick was saved by Bayern's Manuel Neuer. When Kaka saw Madrid's second penalty clawed away by an even better Neuer save, the home side seemed dead and buried. But Iker Casillas pulled out two stunning saves of his own to level the shootout. It wasn't to last. Sergio Ramos blasted over and Schweinsteiger stepped up to send the Germans home. | Bayern Munich will play Chelsea in the Champions League final .
The German team lost to Real Madrid 2-1, but drew 3-3 on aggregate .
The match went to penalties; Ronaldo missed Madrid's first .
Bayern won through 3-2 and will enjoy home advantage in the final . |
236,864 | be957290ad471b267a9bc9c5f956d5c7ad9f5be3 | By . Hugo Gye . PUBLISHED: . 07:17 EST, 1 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:29 EST, 1 November 2013 . The BBC has apologised over a controversial joke which suggested Prince Harry takes cocaine - but only for getting the name of a friend of the Royals wrong in the gag. Comedian Jo Brand said on Have I Got News for You: 'George's godparents include Hugh van Cutsem - I presume that’s a nickname as in Hugh van cuts 'em and Harry then snorts 'em.' In fact, Prince George's godfather is William van Cutsem, whose brother and late father are both called Hugh, and the BBC has now apologised to Clarence House for the error. Controversy: Jo Brand, left, made a joke on Have I Got News for You which implied that Prince Harry took drugs . However, the corporation has stood by the satirical suggestion that Harry takes drugs, saying that it was 'clearly tongue-in-cheek'. The joke was made on last Friday's edition of the comedy news quiz by Ms Brand, a member of the anti-monarchist organisation Republic. Panellists were discussing the christening of Prince George when she made the quip, which was written by producers and appeared on the host's autocue. There is no evidence that Prince Harry, a serving Army officer, has ever taken Class A drugs, although he is said to have smoked cannabis as a teenager. Error: Ms Brand also referred to Prince George's godfather William van Cutsem, pictured with his wife Rosie, as 'Hugh', the name of hsi brother and late father . The error about Mr van Cutsem's name added to the outrage expressed by many viewers. It was considered particularly insensitive as the elder Hugh van Cutsem, a close friend of Prince Charles, died just two months ago. The BBC wrote to Kensington Palace apologising for the mistake after Royal aides apparently contacted the corporation to complain. A BBC spokesman said: 'We apologise for the factual inaccuracy in last Friday's programme and have edited iPlayer and future repeats accordingly.' Shock: Fellow panellist Ian Hislop asked, 'Have we lost the lawyers?' after Ms Brand's joke . Honourable: The fourth in line to the throne has served on two tours of duty to Afghanistan as an Apache pilot . But the corporation has refused to budge from its previous argument that the drug reference was nothing more than a joke which should not be considered offensive. 'Have I Got News For You is a satirical news quiz and the audience is used to the often irreverent humour,' a spokesman said this week. 'This was clearly a tongue-in-cheek comment.' Ms Brand, 56, also said she would not apologise, pointing out that she did not write the joke but adding: 'I thought it was funny. I don’t really understand what the fuss is about.' After she made the crack, fellow panellist Paul Merton looked shocked, while Ian Hislop said: 'Have we lost the lawyers?' Lord Dannatt, former head of the Army, later said that the suggestion was 'outrageous' and 'most inappropriate'. Defence minister Anna Soubry added: 'That is disgraceful, shoddy, appalling and out of order. Prince Harry does an outstanding job in the Army and always goes the extra mile to help wounded service personnel and veterans.' | Jo Brand implied that Harry 'snorts' cocaine on Have I Got News for You .
Also called Prince George's godfather William van Cutsem 'Hugh', the name of his brother and late father .
BBC has apologised for the mistake but says the joke is 'tongue in cheek' |
284,781 | fd0144414c5259f4550e49753f0f80b370e840c6 | (CNN) -- English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur crushed Scottish outfit Heart of Midlothian 5-0 in the qualifying round of UEFA's Europa League. Tottenham, who had their opening Premier League clash against Everton postponed due the recent London riots, nevertheless looked much the sharper as they raced into a 3-0 lead by half time. It took just five minutes for Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart to take advantage of some calamitous defending to poke Tottenham 1-0 in front before Jermain Defoe and 21-year-old Jake Livermore, scoring his first goal for his club, put the tie beyond the Edinburgh club. Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon completed the rout. It was a great night for English clubs as Fulham beat Ukraine's Dnipro 3-0 thanks to a brace from U.S. international Clint Dempsey, Stoke City -- playing their first European tie in nearly 40 years -- snatched a 1-0 victory against FC Thun in Switzerland whilst second division Birmingham City held Nacional to a 0-0 draw in Portugal. Elsewhere Europe's leading clubs fared badly. Helsinki pulled off arguably the biggest shock of the night by beating German side Shalke 2-0 in Finland. Shalke was missing talismanic Spanish striker Raul after he was left out of their Europa League squad. AS Roma also face a tough second leg after Slovan Bratislava beat them 1-0 in Slovakia. The second leg ties all take place August 25th. | Tottenham Hotspur smash Hearts 5-0 in the Europa League .
Good night for English clubs as Fulham and Stoke City win .
Shalke 04 and AS Roma both lose .
Second leg of qualifying round takes place August 25th . |
266,675 | e56aaf044f44468871ca84196628a01920bcfd55 | By . Deborah Arthurs . PUBLISHED: . 10:14 EST, 3 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 13:19 EST, 3 June 2012 . The Middleton family dressed in their finest today as they boarded the Elizabethan paddle to join the 1,000 strong Royal Jubilee flotilla on the river Thames today. For this auspicious occasion, Pippa chose a chic navy skirt and matching jacket with cream trim bearing neat covered buttons down the front by Irish designer Orla Kiely, a label sister Kate has worn many times in the past. Her mother Carole looked as neat and sophisticated as ever in a cream dress and jacket. The two, flanked by Mr Middleton on their left, and brother James on their right, waved as their vessel - a recreation of a 19th-century stern-wheeled paddle steamer - wended its way down the river. Scroll down for video . Chic: Pippa Middleton wore a classic navy and cream skirt suit for her appearance on the Elizabethan paddle steamer for today's flotilla. Pippa waved to crowds gathered on Battersea bridge as her boat passed underneath . Family affair: Pippa was flanked by her father Michael, left, and her brother James, left, on the boat today . Party boat: The Middletons were joined on the Elizabethan by Lord Sebastian Coe and his wife, as well as Michael Fawcett, Prince Charles' one-time servant who went on to become his party organiser. On the lower deck the boat is fitted with a bar and dance floor . Enjoying the view: The Middleton family spent the day sipping champagne and admiring the majesty of the royal pageant from their excellent vantage point . The fact that they have been included in the Royal Squadron – a handful of boats sailing behind the Queen – is a strong sign of the monarch's cordial relations with Kate’s family. Shortly before last year’s royal wedding she invited Mr and Mrs Middleton, who run a company selling children’s party goods, to dine with her privately at Windsor Castle and subsequently included them in her carriage procession at Royal Ascot. Sources say the Queen appreciates how close her new granddaughter-in-law is to her family and feels their relationship continues to give her enormous stability. Other VIP guests on the vessel include Lord Coe, chairman of the London 2012 Olympic organising committee, and his wife, Lady Carole. 'Michael and Carole’s inclusion on Elizabethan took a lot of people by surrprise, but the Queen is incredibly supportive of the duchess and her family,’ said a palace source last month. Red, white and blue: The Middletons looked to have honoured the colours of the Union flag as they arrived at Imperial Wharf, Chelsea, earlier today to board the vessel . Orderly fashion: The Middletons queue up before boarding the boat . 'Boats travelling in the Royal Squadron are solely reserved for special guests of the Queen, which demonstrates just how far the Middletons have come.' One of the largest charter boats in London, the Elizabethan has the interior of a modern restaurant and nightclub. The 235-seater vessel also has an upper-deck walkway which offers the largest outside area of any Thames riverboat and will provide its occupants with an unrivalled view of events on the day. The normal cost of a charter for the privately owned boat is £650 an hour. The £10.5million pageant has seen a flotilla of 1,000 boats and more than 20,000 participants take to the water in the largest celebration to be staged on the Thames for more than 300 years. Stretching more than seven miles, the cavalcade – which includes a remarkable floating belfry and several orchestras and choirs, is en route down the Thames from Battersea to Tower Bridge, with an estimated worldwide audience of a billion. Majestic: The 1,000-strong flotilla started its journey at Battersea bridge and will draw to a close at Tower Bridge, where the Royals will have disembarked to watch the grand finale . Have . you taken any pictures of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations? From The Thames to your town, we want to see them. Send them for . publication to the Mail Online on the email address: . [email protected] . | Middleton family joined pageant on the Elizabethan, a replica of a 19th-century stern-wheeled paddle steamer .
Pippa was joined by her father, mother and brother James . |
142,130 | 43caf920469c85a69957c165dfc0fbca46ed18f8 | By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 12:39 EST, 20 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:12 EST, 20 February 2013 . The collective behaviour of moshers at heavy metal rock concerts is similar to the way particles move in a disordered 2D gas, new research reveals. Physicists at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who studied the movements of concert-goers caught up in chaotic-looking mosh pits found they actually follow a certain logic. They say their insights could help to predict how crowds behave in emergencies, and could lead to more effective evacuation strategies. Like molecules in a disordered 2D gas: Revellers . clash in the mosh pit as U.S. heavy metal group Anthrax performs at the . Sonisphere rock festival in Knebworth in 2009 . The Cornell University team's mosh pit . simulator: Play around. The buttons above set up interesting initial . conditions while the sliders allow you to control the parameters of the . model. The keys WASD allow you to apply external forces to active . moshers. The graphs, as listed from the left, are a time average of the . angular momentum, the current angular momentum, and the speed . distribution. (Source: http://mattbierbaum.github.com/moshpits.js/) 'The goal of the project was to . figure out how humans behave in extreme social conditions, like those . found during riots and protests,' said Jesse Silverberg, study . co-author, in a blog for the Huffington Post. 'Over the years, experiments and computer simulations have helped scientists work out the basic rules of pedestrian traffic moving down the street. 'However, we don't know much about the collective behaviour that emerges from panicked crowds - it's not exactly ethical to start a riot for the sake of science.' Crowds at heavy metal concerts often firm circles called mosh pits where they violently lunge and bounce off one and other with their arms flaying and their legs kicking. 'Often resulting in injuries, the collective mood is influenced by the combination of loud, fast music (130 dB, 350 beats per minute), synchronised with bright, flashing lights, and frequent intoxication,' the study notes. However, while the movements appear to be chaotic and random, Mr Silverman and his colleagues claim that there is actually a logic which enables them to statistically predict the ways in which moshers move. Upended at Coachella: Physicists at Cornell University, New York, who studied the movements of concert-goers caught up in mosh pits found they actually follow a certain logic . It is a feeling we have all experienced - an irritating song that just will not leave your head. But despite the widely help opinion that only the most infuriating songs get buried in your head, research has suggested we might actually like the songs that push us close to migraines. Using songs by artists such as Lady Gaga, scientists proved that songs people know and like frequently become more intrusive than songs people dislike. Psychologists at Western Washington University found that if a song continues to play in someone's head immediately after listening, it is likely to come back as an intrusive thought in the next 24 hours. Their findings could explain why some pop songs and TV theme tunes go round in people's heads, despite finding them annoying. Researchers also found songs are more likely to get stuck in your mind during challenging mental activities. Inspiration for the study came after . Mr Silverberg, a graduate student at Cornell, took his girlfriend to her . first heavy metal concert several years ago, where he had a chance to . witness the movements of moshers from the outside. 'I didn't want to put her in harm's way, so we stood off to the side,' he told New Scientist. 'I'm usually in the mosh pit, but for the first time I was off to the side and watching. I was amazed at what I saw.' He told NBC News that as the band played louder and the moshers got more inebriated, he realised there was a ripple-like pattern to the movements caused after one person bumped into another. 'The collision went from one side to the other,' he said, adding it looked as if moshers were following the rules of collective motion. 'I had a hard time focusing on the music for the rest of the evening.' To study the phenomenon, Mr Silverberg and his colleagues collected their data from mosh pit videos on YouTube featuring crowds of between 100 and 100,000 people. They corrected for camera shake and distortions in perspective, then used particle image velicometry techniques to measure the collective motion of those involved, The Physics arXiv Blog reported. After analysing their findings, they discovered that the speed distribution of moshing metalheads bears a remarkable resemblance to the movements of molecules in a 2D gas at equilibrium. To deepen their understanding of the movements of moshpits, Mr Silverman enlisted the help of fellow grad student Matt Bierbaum to build a computer simulation of a mosh pit with a few basic rules. Their virtual moshers bounced off each other when they collided, they are able to move independently, and they can follow each other to varying degrees in a behaviour the researchers dubbed 'flocking'. Finally, the team added a variable amount of statistical noise to their model, which, Mr Bierbaum told New Scientist, is 'to mimic the effects of the inebriants that the participants typically use.' They found that they could quite accurately reproduce the characteristics of a mosh pit when the self-propulsion and flocking variables were dominated by noise. On the other hand, when they adjusted the flocking variable to dominate their computer generated moshers' behaviour, they found their simulation mimicked another phenomenon seen at metal concerts known as a circle pit. The researchers said that although moshers are self-propelled, and the collisions between them dissipative, they move in a similar way to a disordered gas. 'These findings offer strong support for the analogy between mosh pits and gases,' they concluded in their paper, Collective Motion of Moshers at Heavy Metal Concerts, published on Cornell's online open-access journal arXiv. Mr Silverman elaborated in his Huffington Post article: 'Just like moshers bouncing around in a pit, it's near impossible to tell where molecules of air in a room are going to be in the future. 'To deal with this problem, physicists started describing molecular gasses with statistical mechanics over a hundred years ago. As the researchers discovered, mosh pits have the same statistical character, and hence the analogy.' The team behind the research believe that it could have important implications for understanding how crowds behave when they are panicked. 'When you have earthquakes or buildings on fire, people tend to panic when they escape. We don't have a good way of experimentally seeing what's going on,' Mr Silverberg told New Scientist. 'By going to these heavy-metal concerts, we're able to ethically and safely observe how humans behave in these unusual excited states.' | Behaviour of metalheads in a mosh pit closely resembles particle movement in a disordered 2D gas, study claims .
Researchers from Cornell University develop 'mosh pit simulator' to help them study the phenomena .
The say their findings could help to predict the ways that crowds behave in emergency situations . |
51,190 | 90dd180c15bdad1d6eeceb71fbcda00871f5f948 | (CNN) -- After it spent decades buried in library archives, a newly discovered story from playwright Tennessee Williams was published this month. The story, titled "Crazy Night," appears in the new issue of The Strand mystery magazine released March 25, and coincides with the 70-year anniversary of Williams' classic play "The Glass Menagerie." Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand, recently uncovered the 14-page manuscript at the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center. Gulli says he was researching the Mississippi-born writer when he came across what he describes as a "treasure trove" of Williams' personal papers and documents. Williams is one of America's best-known and most revered playwrights. During the peak of his career in the 1940s and '50s, he was praised by critics and scorned by social conservatives for tackling taboo subjects of the time, including rape, incest and homosexuality. Many of his plays were turned into hit movies featuring Hollywood stars such as Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor. Williams twice won the Pulitzer Prize and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Williams died in 1983. Gulli was initially skeptical that the story had never before been published, but several experts, including an agent for Williams' literary estate, said they'd never heard of it. "I thought it was captivating," Gulli says. "It's raw but has a fresh voice and shows a great deal of maturity for his age." Williams, who was born in 1911, wrote "Crazy Night" in his early 20s, years before his Broadway success with plays such as "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." In the semi-autobiographical story, a troubled college freshman faces flunking out of school on the last night of spring term. It explores themes of love and deceit and includes a thinly veiled reference to Williams' romance with one of his college classmates. "To me, it's a great highlight to find something new from somebody I grew up revering," Gulli says. Gulli has a knack for finding long-lost works. In the last five years, he's discovered previously unpublished stories and essays from authors including Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, H.G. Wells and Mark Twain. But Gulli says he has a soft spot for Williams. "To me he's as relevant today as he was when his works were first published," Gulli said. Indeed, many of Williams plays are still performed today. "The Glass Menagerie" first premiered in New York on March 31, 1945, and a revival recently wrapped a successful run on Broadway. What's your favorite Tennessee Williams play? Share your favorites in the comments below, on Twitter @CNNLiving or on CNN Living's Facebook page. | A long-lost Tennessee Williams story was recently discovered at the University of Texas .
The never-before-published story, "Crazy Night," was buried in the authors' personal papers .
The story was written before Williams found success as a Broadway playwright .
Williams' fans are celebrating the 70th anniversary of his first hit play, "The Glass Menagerie" |
172,951 | 6bd39bdb8af6048291ee2251475ee0db30e4c002 | By . Mark Duell and Mario Ledwith . PUBLISHED: . 11:47 EST, 18 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:53 EST, 18 December 2012 . Recovering: Nelson Mandela is recovering from an operation to remove gallstones, carried out in a private clinic in Pretoria . Doctors are keeping Nelson Mandela in hospital but insisted today that there is 'no crisis'. The former South African President is recovering in hospital after having an operation to remove gallstones, and a presidential spokesman said he is 'looking much better'. The 94-year-old, who was South Africa's first black president, underwent the surgery at a private clinic in Pretoria. President Jacob Zuma said Mr Mandela needed 'extraordinary care' because of his age, and added: 'If he spends more days in hospital, it is because that necessary care is being provided.' He had previously been hospitalised on December 8, suffering from a lung infection. 'Doctors are satisfied that the progress he is making is consistent with his age. They say there is no crisis, but add that they are in no hurry to send him home just yet until they are satisfied that he has made sufficient progress,' presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj said. South Africans have been worried about . Mr Mandela's health since he was airlifted to the clinic from his home . in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. While in hospital, tests revealed the . presence of gallstones and it was decided the operation would be carried . out after he had recovered. Gallstones are an accumulation of . crystals in the gall bladder. The condition can become life-threatening . because of the risks of secondary infections such as pancreatitis. Mr Madela's wife previously caused concern when she said his trademark 'spirit and sparkle' was waning. Graca Machel told a South African television news channel that it was painful to see her 94-year-old husband 'fading.' Scroll down for video . Smiling: Mr Mandela made his last public appearance alongside his wife Graca Machel at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium during the closing ceremony for the 2010 World Cup . 'I mean, this spirit and this sparkle, you see that somehow it's fading,' she told eNews Central Africa. Mr Mandela's grand-daughter Ndileka told the same news channel that the anti-apartheid icon has come to accept his condition. 'He . has come to accept that it's part of growing old, and it's part of . humanity as such', she said. 'At some point you will dependent on . someone else, he has come to embrace it'. The pair's comments were the first official remarks by his family since the former President was rushed to hospital. The anti-apartheid leader is particularly susceptible to illness because of his age and his 27 years in prison, though medics say he is responding well to treatment. He fought off a similar lung infection in 2011 and once contracted tuberculosis while imprisoned. Medical experts say respiratory . illnesses like pneumonia striking a man his age are a serious matter . that require care and monitoring. His ongoing hospitalisation . has caused growing concern in South Africa, a nation of 50 million . people that largely reveres him for being the nation's first . democratically elected president who sought to bring the country . together after centuries of racial division. Tests at 1 . Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria, detected the . lung infection, presidential spokesman Mr Maharaj previously said in a statement. Public concern: Broadcast vans parked near the 1 Military Hospital where South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is hospitalised . Security: South African military police officers check cars entering the 1 Military Hospital . 'Madiba is receiving appropriate . treatment and he is responding to the treatment,' Maharaj said, . referring to Mr Mandela by his clan name as many do in South Africa as a . sign of affection. In January 2011, Mr Mandela was . admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially . described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory . infection. The chaos that followed his stay at . that public hospital, with journalists and members of the public surrounding it . and entering wards, saw the South African military take charge of his . care and the government control the information about his health. In recent days many in the press and . public have complained about the lack of concrete details that the . government has released about the former president's condition. They had not divulged why he had been . flown over 500 miles from his rural home to undergo the urgent tests . prompting many to fear the worst. Over the weekend the South African . Sunday Times newspaper quoted a source as saying 'he has not been . talking. He is not looking good'. The country's defence . minister visited the Nobel Peace Prize winner at the Pretoria military . hospital in which he is being treated. Afterwards Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula . echoed the official, placatory message, telling reporters that Mr . Mandela was 'doing very, very well'. Rallying round: Worshippers pray at the Regina Mundi Church in Soweto. Calls for prayer have been made for former president Nelson Mandela . Bated breath: The nation has been eagerly awaiting news of his condition . She added: 'It is important to keep . him in our prayers and also to be as calm as possible and not cause a . state of panic because I think that is not what all of us need.' Mr Mandela has a history with lung . problems. He fell ill with tuberculosis in 1988 toward the tail-end of . his prison years, after he had been moved from the notorious Robben . Island and to another jail to ease the apartheid government's efforts to . negotiate with him about a possible release. After being taken to a Cape Town hospital, a doctor told him he had water in his lungs. Mr Mandela initially refused to believe the doctor, he wrote in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. ‘With a hint of annoyance, (the . doctor) said, “Mandela, take a look at your chest,”’ Mr Mandela . recounted. ‘He pointed out that one side of my chest was actually larger . than the other.’ Surgeons immediately cut into his . chest and removed two litres (half a gallon) of liquid from his lungs, . which tested positive for tuberculosis. Doctors at the time suggested Mr Mandela contracted the disease from his damp prison cell. About 1.4 million people worldwide . die each year from tuberculosis, a bacterial infection which can stay . dormant for years. It also can cause permanent lung damage, though in . his autobiography Mr Mandela says doctors caught it in time. Relations: Mr Mandela's last foreign visitor is believed to have been US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had lunch with him and his wife, Graca Machel, at their Qunu home in August . However, tuberculosis can return to . trouble those previously infected, properly treated or not, and previous . damage could have been missed, Openshaw said. Openshaw, who has not seen Mr . Mandela's medical records and spoke generally about treating patients, . said pneumonia is the most likely respiratory illness to affect an . elderly person, though others can strike as well. Mr Mandela was a leader in the . struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and once he emerged . from 27 years in prison in 1990, he won worldwide acclaim for urging . reconciliation. He won South Africa's first truly . democratic elections in 1994, serving one five-year term. The Nobel . laureate later retired from public life to live in his remote village of . Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, and last made a public appearance when his . country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. Mr Mandela disengaged himself from . the country's politics over the last decade but continued campaigning . against AIDS. He has grown increasing frail in recent years. He went seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer in 2001, ultimately beating the disease. In February he underwent minor surgery to determine the cause of abdominal pain. Mr Mandela's last foreign visitor is believed to have been US Secretary . of State Hillary Clinton, who had lunch with him and his wife, Graca . Machel, at their Qunu home in August. In 2011 Mr Mandela's close friend Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu described him as being 'frail'. The churchman said: 'We want him to remain forever, but you know... anything can happen.' | 94-year-old had previously been admitted to hospital with lung infection .
Doctors say the former South African president will be kept in hospital . |
8,859 | 18f8ba8cecf772f71c3228291ef99f45b614eb7a | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:00 EST, 5 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:39 EST, 5 October 2013 . This is the moment an entire train carriage was taken over by drunken students who can be seen jumping on seats and banging on the roof as they sing 'We love drinking in the morning'. Up to 30 revellers, the majority of them female, appeared to simply take over the carriage on the train as it made its way from Richmond to London Waterloo. Passengers on adjacent carriages were left confused when they first heard singing on the train, and even thought it was drunk rugby fans at nearby Twickenham. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Female students jump on seats and bang on the roof of the train as they appear to take over an entire carriage . Passengers on adjacent carriages at first thought the singing was coming from drunk rugby fans outside . The revellers can be heard singing 'We love drinking in the morning' on the train as it makes its way into central London . But as the train continued past the stadium it became clear the noise was coming from the train itself. Sean O'Hare, from Teddington, south west London, was on his way home from football practice at about 10pm on Wednesday when he heard the singing on the train. He said: 'I thought it was coming from outside at the time - we were at Twickenham and I thought it was a load of drunk rugby fans, but then the train started moving forward and I thought "hang on, it's actually coming from the carriage in front". 'So I got up, I went forward and looked through the window between the connecting carriage doors and it was full of all these girls on the seats, banging on the roof of the train and singing at the tops of their voices "We love drinking in the morning". 'They were obviously having a right gay old time.' Mr O'Hare said it seemed as if the entire carriage had been taken over by the partygoers. The young men and women can be seen to be banging on the roof of the train . Passengers on other carriages were left 'stunned and looking at each other in bewilderment' He said: 'There must have been about 30 of them. There didn't seem to be any other passengers, they seemed to have taken over the whole of the carriage. 'You would have thought it was some sort of private function - I've never seen anything like it. 'At first nobody really knew where it was coming from because it was so loud and you just don't expect that. 'Everyone was stunned and looking at each other in bewilderment.' | Up to 30 revellers appeared to simply take over the carriage of the train .
Train was making its way into central London when scene was captured .
Passengers on other carriages at first thought singing was by rugby fans . |
200,397 | 8f66686ea7c2bea98b05106d150cac70a8380327 | By . Mark Prigg . Amazon.com has launched a competitor to Paypal, allowing consumers to pay for goods they use online with the credit card information Amazon has on file for them. The service, which launches today across the globe, allows the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription. Amazon then charges a fee on each transaction, boasting 'your shipping and payment information is safely stored with Amazon and accessible on thousands of sites where you love to shop.' The Amazon Payments service, which launches today, allows the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services . Amazon Payments allows the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription. The service can also be used to transfer money between personal users. 'When you log in and pay with Amazon, you can use the information stored in your Amazon account to login and pay conveniently on thousands of sites other than Amazon.com,' the firm says. There's no recurring fee for retailers to use the platform, though Amazon plans to take a standard cut of 2.9% from those businesses, plus $0.30 for each transaction of $10 or more. EBay Inc's PayPal has long dominated online payments services but Amazon sees plenty of scope to push into new areas. The new service broadens Amazon's profitable role as a middleman for third-party sellers, which account for 40 percent of its sales and extends its influence beyond its website. It also comes ahead of June 18 unveiling by Chief Executive Jeff Bezos of what is widely expected to be a smartphone key to expanding Amazon's role in mobile payments. 'You should see it as one of many things that we'll do to expand where people might think about Amazon helping them,' Amazon vice president of seller services Tom Taylor said in an interview. Amazon has been testing the new service over the last several months with start-ups including Ting, a mobile phone company that is part of Tucows Inc. Those who used recurring payments by Amazon spent 30 percent more on Ting's website, product manager Justen Burdette said in an interview arranged by Amazon. Some analysts have said Amazon has been held back in payments because merchants are wary of handing over customer data to the company, which has a record of rapidly expanding into new areas and competing with sellers. The payments system is the latest in a the latest in a series of moves that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (pictured) has made into PayPal's territory . But Taylor said the only details collected by Amazon as part of the new service is the dollar amount of each transaction and not any 'item-level information.' He added that the service would encourage Amazon users who might otherwise be leery of handing over their credit card details to a fledgling companies to try out them out. 'If you think about giving a merchant that you may not know very well the right to continue to charge your credit card in the future, you really want to know that a good relationship with Amazon stands behind that,' Taylor said. 'We hope whoever the next Spotify out there is thinking about Amazon,' he added, referring to the privately held, popular digital music subscription service. | Service available to company's more than 240 million active users around the world .
Can use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription .
Comes ahead of smartphone unveiling later this month .
Amazon takes 2.9% cut of transactions . |
237,522 | bf68c77c30bb80dff1eed4d7761f362a498f03e0 | The number of children in Britain who have been snatched has increased with almost 900 youngsters taken by strangers or their parents in the last year, a new report reveals. Figures gathered by police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the charity Parents and Abducted Children Together (Pact) show that child kidnappings have increased by almost a fifth. During 2013-14, kidnappings and abductions of children under 18 rose by 13 per cent since the previous year. Five-year-old April Jones, who was abducted after being seen getting into a car near her home in Wales in October 2012. Mark Bridger, 46, was later found guilty of abduction and murder . Kidnappings alone, which are defined as using force or fraud to remove a child, increased at a faster rate, rising by 18 per cent over the same period. Most abductions, 401 out of 559, were carried out by people other than the children's parents, while 321 were kidnapped. The number of children being abducted by parents was 158, up by six per cent on the previous year. And the charity believe the increase in numbers since 2012-13 could be down to a different attitude in recording such crimes in the light of the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal. Alice Gross, left, who was abducted and murdered by Latvian builder Arnis Zalkalns last year. Right, Talia Belaid, who was kidnapped by her father and taken to Libya in 2012 at two weeks old . Shannon Matthews, who was abducted by her mother Karen and her partner's uncle in Dewsbury in 2008. She was found alive 24 days after going missing . Natalie Horrell, left, who was taken from her mother aged five months in May 1988. She was found 200 miles away. Right, Alex Griffiths, who was snatched from St Thomas' Hospital in London in 1990 by a woman posing as a health visitor. She was found two weeks later . Pact's director of research Geoff Newiss said: 'I would imagine that (Rotherham) is something to do with it. 'I wouldn't be surprised if forces are more sensitive now to the need to record what comes their way.' The highest rate of child abduction and kidnap was in Northern Ireland, with 11.6 offences per 100,00 children in the last year. Meanwhile the lowest was in Wales where there were 4.5 offences per 100,000 children. The largest forces such as the Metropolitan Police recorded the highest number of cases, while kidnapping and abduction offences in Lancashire doubled and there were also significant increases in Kent, North Yorkshire and Northumbria. Mr Newiss added: 'Our analysis shows quite alarming rises in child abduction and kidnapping over the last two years. Vishal Mehrotra, left, was abducted from Putney, west London in 1981 aged eight and murdered. Right, Martin Allen who was last seen at King's Cross station in November 1979 aged 15. He has never been found . 'However, it's difficult to say whether this is a consequence of victims being more likely to report crime, changes in the way police record it, or a genuine increase in offending. 'It is important to stress that child abduction or kidnapping is relatively rare. 'However, we know that many incidents go unreported to, or unrecorded by, the police.' While Susannah Drury, Director of Policy for Missing People, said: 'The report has uncovered worrying increases in child abductions and kidnapping offences - highlighting the importance of a quick and effective national response to these crimes. ' The Association of Chief Police Officers say there has been a significant increase in the recording of these kinds of crimes due to a 'considerable focus' on improving crime-recording practices. | Number of child kidnappings in Britain increased by a fifth in the last year .
Kidnappings and abductions of children under 18 rose by 13% in 2013-14 .
The vast majority of abductions, 401 from 559, carried out by strangers .
Number of children being abducted by parents was also up by six per cent .
Figures were compiled by charity Parents and Abducted Children Together .
They believe there is a different attitude to reporting such crimes in wake of Rotherham scandal . |
239,037 | c175388e6f383d1e9178da2aa270c20a73cfb825 | A mother is claiming she was duped under false pretenses into giving up her child for adoption to the son of the former mayor of Oklahoma City and now wants her baby back. Heather Bazzle says she gave up her son, Max, to Lance Norick and his wife Darcy in September, but before the adoption was finalized she discovered the couple were getting a divorce. The couple have since split to live in Arizona and Oklahoma while Max is now living with former mayor Ron Norick - a situation which Bazzle calls a 'failed adoption'. Scroll Down for Video . Teary: Heather Bazzle wants her son Max back from Lance and Darcy Norick because they divorced and did not tell her their marriage was in trouble during the adoption process . Bazzle, who is already the mother of three, decided to give up her unborn son because she could not financially support him. She told KFOR.com that she remembers thinking, 'How am I going to give this child everything I can?' A meeting with an adoption attorney led to the recommendation of Lance and Darcy Norck, who then both lived in Arizona. Bazzle said, 'They seemed like the perfect couple', and they were both present for Max's birth. Custody battle: Lance and Darcy Norick (left) do not currently have custody of Max (right) despite taking him from Heather Bazzle in September . First Christmas: The Noricks with Max before they separated and moved apart to Arizona and Oklahoma City . However, before the final paperwork went through, Bazzle discovered they were to split and she filed her emergency custody application because she believes the couple misrepresented themselves. 'That’s my baby. I love him,' Bazzle said. 'I’m trying to do what’s best for him, and even though I may have made a mistake placing him for adoption, I feel like God’s giving me a chance now to fix that and to be there for him.' However, an adoption expert in Oklahoma City told KFOR.com that the process Bazzle would have gone through would have been very specific. Determined mother: Heather Bazzle already has three children - and felt she couldn't financially support a third so gave Max up for adoption . Happy: The Norick's were there at Max's birth and took him home to Arizona afterwards . 'The judge asks, 'you understand that forever is a long time?' said Jim Ikard, . 'The mothers say, 'Yes, I do.' He added that it would be up to Bazzle to prove fraud had taken place - which he said would be very difficult. In addition, the fact that they had legally declared their custody originally to not be in the 'best interests' of the child would hinder any future claims. 'And so the question gets to be, if you don’t like this couple, it’s not a matter of you getting the child back. It’s finding another couple,' Ikard said. Bazzle said, 'I don’t feel like I can give my son to anybody and trust anybody with him anymore.' Primary care: While his son and daughter-in-law work out their marriage problems, former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick holds custody of baby Max . | Oklahoma City mom, Heather Bazzle, wants her son Max back from Lance and Darcy Norick .
Lance, who is the son of former Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick - is divorcing Darcy .
Bazzle claims that they did not reveal they were having marriage problems during the adoption process .
Baby Max was handed over to the Norick's in September .
Bazzle wants emergency custody granted to her and not Ron Norick . |
102,043 | 0f8383e45bd56fc8f633446e286614e40c0101ee | By . Ryan Gorman . A well-known Oklahoma pastor has been jailed in the . Philippines after being accused with child molestation and trying to cover up a . sex abuse problem among orphanages he runs in the country. Almost 20,000 people have joined a Facebook page pleading . for the release of Pastor Tom Randall. Prosecutors have yet to file charges, . but also jailed two of his colleagues in the country. They could be put to . death if convicted. Mr Randall is known most widely as the PGA Champions Tour . minister, but also for running several charities and touring the world with his . missionary basketball teams, according to his ministry's website. Behind bars: Pastor Tom Randall (right) has been jailed while authorities sort out if they will charge him with child molestation . Posts to the Facebook page update supporters to the state of Mr Randall and his wife Karen. She has traveled to Manila and visits him daily. Ms Randall is also attending his hearings and lobbying American officials in the country to help free her husband, so far without luck. The Pastor is in the Philippines tending to the four orphanages he runs in the country that help homeless . children, according to the page. He was also set to tour the country for a series of basketball exhibitions before his jailing. He and two local men identified only as Toto and Jake were . arrested Sunday and accused of both child molestation and trying silence their . victims. Popular: Mr Randall (circled) is well-known in the country for his charity work, he runs four orphanages for homeless children . Better times: Mr Randall (in yellow) pictured with his wife Karen (second from left) and others at one of his Philippine orphanages . Beloved: Almost 20,000 people have joined a Facebook page in support of the pastor's release . The basketball playing missionary: Mr Randall's teams travel the world playing trick-filled exhibitions . Mr Randall’s problems began when a rival missionary made . accusations against the popular pastor and authorities started investigating . the claims, according to NewsNet 5. He was cleared in that investigation, but the missionary . kept pressing authorities until Mr Randall was jailed. In the time since their jailing, Mr Randall’s health has . declined, according to posts on the Facebook page. ‘Yesterday was a difficult day health wise and so they . finally started him on a glucose drip in the evening,’ his wife Karen wrote. ‘I think he . probably would have been okay to go to the hospital but he didn't want to leave . Toto and Jake.’ Pastor Joe Coffee, a friend has also provided many updates to the page. One details an afternoon in which Mr Randall was juggling for prison guards before passing out. Others give day to day updates plead with fans to call the U.S. Embassy in Manila, as well as local officials in the country, begging for the pastor's release. Video Source FOX8 . All about the children: A friend says that Mr Randall went back to the Philippines for the children despite previous issues with a rival pastor . Always surrounded by children: Mr Randall is seemingly surrounded by children everywhere he goes in the Philippines . Mr Randall performs many tricks and often involves students . from his orphanages in the exhibitions, according to his website. It was not the first time the pastor has had problems in the . country. ‘He once told me there was people that didn’t like him . there, that wanted him dead,’ PGA Tour pro, and friend, Jim Woodward told KFOR. ‘I always said, 'Why do you go back?' That’s how strongly he felt about those . children.’ The government said a decision whether or not to prosecute . may come as soon as Wednesday, his wife wrote. The maximum penalty in the . country for such crimes is death. | Pastor Tom Randall runs four orphanages in the Philippines .
A rival minister reportedly made the child abuse and cover up claims .
A Facebook group started only days ago has almost 20,000 members calling for his release .
Philippine authorities may decide to prosecute or drop charges as soon as this week - he could be put to death if convicted . |
190,998 | 835919fa47d9ea4ba2858916801fbb1473d201e9 | (CNN) -- Victoria Azarenka reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the first time after battling past defending champion Samantha Stosur in three sets Tuesday. The world No. 1 lived up to her status with a 6-1 4-6 7-6 (7-5) victory over the seventh seed from Australia in a match disrupted by a 75-minute rain delay. "We both showed some excellent tennis," said Azarenka, who has the best record on hard courts this season with a 30-2 winning margin in WTA Tour events. "You could feel the pressure all the time. We really both gave it all. We fought really hard, making each other run like crazy." She will play either French 11th seed Marion Bartoli or Maria Sharapova of Russia, who started playing the second quarterfinal before rain ended the rest of Tuesday's schedule. "To be in the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the first time is incredible. I don't want to stop. I want it bad. I'm going to do absolutely everything I can here," said Azarenka, who had beaten Stosur in straight sets in their previous six meetings. "She really pushed me to dig deep. She kept coming back really strong and keeping me back, and I wasn't getting as many opportunities -- I just kept telling myself, 'Don't be a chicken, come on, just go, go for your shots.' " Azarenka was two breaks ahead in the first set when the showers hit Flushing Meadows, but did not take long to close it out when the players returned. But Stosur, who sensationally beat Serena Williams in last year's final, was not going to relinquish her crown easily and gained an early break in the second set. Belarus star Azarenka broke back immediately, but dropped her service gain to trail 4-3 and could not recover. It was the first set she had lost in the final grand slam of the season. The final set saw Azarenka twice lead after breaks, but with tension mounting Stosur twice retrieved the breaks to set up a tiebreaker. Again Azarenka pulled ahead to a 4-0 lead, but showing signs of nerves she gave up the advantage as the champion leveled at 5 points each. But a clever drop volley on the next point set up Azarenka for match point and she was soon celebrating victory after nearly two and a half hours of quality tennis as Stosur hit a return wide. Third seed Sharapova will need to show the resilience she displayed in her previous match against Nadia Petrova if she is to progress to the semifinals in New York since she won the title in 2006. The French Open champion dropped her serve twice against Bartoli to trail 4-0 when play was halted. However, she has won 23 of 24 matches that have gone to three sets since the start of 2011, including 11 this year. Bartoli, who beat former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the previous round, has never got this far in the tournament in 10 previous attempts, with her best showing having been reaching the fourth round in 2007 and 2008. Wednesday's remaining last-eight clashes will see Wimbledon and Olympic champion Williams take on fellow former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia and an all-Italian clash between Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. French Open singles finalist Errani will become the world's top-ranked doubles player on Monday, while her partner Vinci will be the new No. 2 after they reached the semifinals with victory against Germany's Julia Gorges and Czech Kveta Peschke. They will replace former joint No. 1s Lizel Huber and Lisa Raymond of the U.S. -- whose title defense ended in round three. Errani and Vinci are battling for the honor of being the first player from their country to reach a singles semifinal at a grand slam other than the French Open. | Victoria Azarenka battles past defending U.S. Open champion in New York .
World No.1 Azarenka wins deciding tiebreak against Samantha Stosur .
First time in the last four at Flushing Meadows for Belarus star .
She will play Maria Sharapova or Marion Bartoli, whose match was halted by rain . |
275,717 | f12b2293dd1351160f08b5484f0d5ca2d6aa1aef | CLICK HERE to read Matt Lawton assessment of Roy Keane's explosive press conference . Gordon Strachan will exercise his right of reply to Roy Keane's book comments after Scotland's 2016 European Championship qualifying double-header against Georgia and Poland. In his explosive new autobiography, the Irishman said defiance underpinned his move to Celtic in January 2006, as he claimed that then Hoops boss Strachan was less than enthusiastic. VIDEO Scroll down to see what happened when a phone interrupted Keane's book launch . Gordon Strachan (L) and Roy Keane pose with the shirt after midfielder signed for Celtic in 2006 . Keane has claimed in his autobiography that he only signed for the Hoops to defy manager Strachan . Keane retired from playing six months after joining Celtic and collecting a domestic double . Keane said: 'I met Gordon Strachan in London at Dermot Desmond's (Celtic majority shareholder) house. 'Gordon told me 'I'm not really worried if you sign for us or not. We're okay without you'. 'He was letting me know he wasn't desperate for me; he was being a bit coy. But there was a bit of defiance from me.' However, at his media conference ahead of the Group D game against Georgia at Ibrox on Saturday, Strachan laughed when asked what he thought about the Aston Villa assistant manager's comments. He said: 'I think he is fantastic. I get on great with him. Keane sits at the Aviva stadium in Dublin for the launch of his autobiography, The Second Half . Despite claims from the book, Strachan insists he has a 'smashing' relationship with Keane . 'I have no idea what he said in his book, I am sure I will have a look but we get on smashing together. 'But this is not the right time to talk about his book. Come and see me in two weeks' time and we can talk about it when I have had time to read it. 'But I am sure it is interesting reading. 'It is always good fun and also it is a bit tongue in cheek with Roy at times.' | Roy Keane's latest autobiography, The Second Half, has caused controversy .
Former Manchester United star signed for Gordon Strachan's Celtic in 2006 .
Aston Villa assistant claims he only joined to defy the now Scotland boss . |
149,952 | 4ddcc5896aaaaeb3512c5dfe91cd980369ca99e7 | An in-form Simona Halep stands between Serena Williams and a third successive WTA Finals crown after both players booked their place in Sunday's title decider in contrasting manner. Williams fought back from a set down and a break in the third set against Caroline Wozniacki to win 2-6 6-3 7-6 (8/6) in two hours and 13 minutes, while Romanian Halep needed just 67 minutes to despatch Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-2. Williams and Halep will meet in Sunday's showpiece at the Singapore Indoor Stadium four days after Halep hammered the world number one 6-0 6-2 in a round-robin fixture, which prompted Williams to declare herself embarrassed. Serena Williams is targeting her third successive WTA Finals crown ahead of Sunday's final in Singapore . Williams defeated Caroline Wozniacki 2-6 6-3 7-6 (8/6) in the semi-finals to progress . Another comprehensive defeat appeared to be on the cards for the 18-time Grand Slam singles winner on Saturday morning as Wozniacki made a blistering start to the last-four encounter, holding serve twice after breaking Williams' opening service game to race into a 3-0 lead. Williams regained her composure, but, although she held her next two service games, Wozniacki did too. Williams' frustration boiled over in the seventh game when she smashed her racquet after missing a break-point chance and her Danish opponent poured salt in her good friend's wounds by then breaking to win the first set 6-2. The American star showed her frustration during her game against Wozniacki when she smashed her racket . Wozniacki made a decent start to the second set and won her first two service games, but Williams drew on all her experience to break twice to win the set 6-3 and force a decider. All the American's hard work had seemingly gone to waste when Wozniacki broke to take a 5-4 lead and serve for the match, but the Danish world number eight could not close it out and the decider went to tie-break when both players held the subsequent service games. Williams sent down her 12th ace to set up match point and she duly sealed the win when Wozniacki had no answer for one of her trademark thunderous forehand ground strokes. Speaking in a post-match courtside interview shown on BT Sport 1, Williams paid tribute to the crowd for helping her to seal a comeback victory. Simona Halep made light work of Agnieszka Radwanska needing just 67 minutes to close out the match . 'I just kept thinking, 'Well, if I lose I get to go home, but if I win I get to stay in front of this amazing crowd',' she said. 'I heard so many fans out here today and after I lost the first set you guys were so behind me and it's the only reason I was able to pull through, so thank you so much Singapore.' Williams, who clinched the year-end world number one ranking without playing on Friday after Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the tournament, was quick to pay tribute to her opponent. Radwanska struggled to match her Romanian opponent's intensity as she crashed to a 6-2 6-2 defeat . She added: 'I have to say Caroline played a great match. It was really difficult today. I felt really bad because she's so amazing and she's so nice and she's the only one who hadn't lost in this tournament, she really deserved to win. 'Just congrats to her and I love you and thank you for playing so well.' World number four Halep, meanwhile, also raced into a 3-0 lead in her semi-final encounter against Radwanska and dropped just one point on her first serve as she took the first set 6-2 without breaking sweat. Halep then broke her opponent's first two service games in the second and held her own for another 3-0 lead before Radwanska finally registered in the second set by breaking her opponent at the sixth attempt. The Polish world number six then undid all her hard work by dropping her next service game before Halep held her own to carve out a 5-1 lead. Radwanska delayed the inevitable by finally holding her serve in the second but Halep soon brought an end to the match by breezing through her next service game to wrap up victory in a little over an hour. 'I'm very excited to be in the final,' Halep said afterwards in a brief courtside interview broadcast on BT Sport 1. 'I've played my best tennis here this week.' | Serena Williams fought back from a set down to defeat Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals .
Romanian Simona Halep needed just 67 minutes to despatch Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2 6-2.
Williams and Halep will meet in Sunday's showpiece at the Singapore Indoor Stadium . |
207,988 | 99469aaba21b10ab684566d15bca544d81a835ba | (CNN) -- They are the parents who canceled Christmas. John and Lisa Henderson of Hurricane, Utah, had finally had enough of their little hurricanes. For months, the couple had been trying to teach their three boys, ages 11, 8 and 5, to stop being disrespectful and acting entitled. "We gave them good warning, either it was time for their behavior to change or there would be consequences," wrote Lisa Henderson, co-founder of the Over the Big Moon blog, in a recent post. "We patiently worked with them for several months and guess what, very little changed. One day after a particularly bad display of entitlement John said, 'We should just cancel Christmas.' " And that's what they did. Santa isn't coming to the Henderson house this year. The family is taking the money that would have been spent on gifts and using it for service projects and helping other people. It's not like her children suffer from a lack of toys, Lisa Henderson wrote. The family will still decorate and celebrate Christmas as the birth of Christ, and the children will still get presents from other family. Though they're taking some heat from critics who call them Scrooges, the gifts these parents are giving their children are so much more important than the latest popular "Star Wars" figure or electronic gadget soon relegated to the dustbin. These gifts will last a lifetime. The gift of consequences . How many times do parents threaten to take away the television/iPad/favorite toys unless their children start to behave? If the threats continue but there's never any follow-through, children come to believe that there aren't any consequences. They also learn that their parents can't be trusted to tell the truth. And they develop a nasty habit of manipulating to get what they want. The Henderson children will probably never doubt their parents' word again. The gift of perspective . Henderson knew that her children had plenty to be grateful for, including good food, a nice home and too many toys to count. What they needed was a dose of perspective, which they got. They used the Santa money to start a clothing drive for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and ship the goods overseas. They are also considering participating in an Adopt-a-Grandparent program. The gift of imagination . The boys aren't sitting around feeling sorry for themselves. Besides organizing as a family to do good works for others, the boys have responded by making gifts for each other and sneaking them into each child's stocking. "They are learning exactly what we wanted them to learn, because they are not moping around feeling sorry for themselves," she wrote. "They are thinking of others." The gift of family . Christmas hasn't been completely canceled in the Henderson household. What's been canceled is an overwhelmingly commercial Christmas. Instead of a race to the tree to see what Santa brought, the focus on Christmas morning will be on spending time together with Lisa's cinnamon rolls, their faith, family games and the opportunity to "truly enjoy the few presents they did get" from grandparents and others. "While this may not be the best choice for everyone, it feels right for our family right now," she wrote. "Our kids get to focus on that feeling. I am almost certain this will be the best Christmas they ever have!" | Months of disrespectful behavior led John and Lisa Henderson to a drastic decision .
Their children are using gift money to help others and get perspective .
The Hendersons hope their children will get many intangible gifts this year . |
73,069 | cf33bfc5f71f300edb6fbd30a8b6fad12daccfd2 | By . Luke Salkeld . PUBLISHED: . 04:19 EST, 11 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:40 EST, 11 May 2012 . A mother whose eyes were gouged out by her lover told yesterday of her determination to ‘get on with life’ for the sake of her children. Shane Jenkin subjected Tina Nash to a 12-hour attack in which he broke her jaw, throttled her until she was unconscious and blinded her. Miss Nash said she felt ‘nothing’ toward her attacker who was given an indeterminate sentence yesterday, which he will serve in a mental hospital. Scroll down for video . Moving forward: Tina Nash arrives at Truro Crown Court in Cornwall, where her former partner Shane Jenkin was jailed indefinitely for GBH . Thug: Jenkin strangled and blinded his then-girlfriend in a sickening 12-hour attack . The 32-year-old had already told of . her heartache at knowing she will never again see her two sons and said . losing her sight felt like being buried alive. Now she says she has turned a corner and is learning to deal with her devastating injuries. She is starting to feel her way around her house and arranging her wardrobe so she knows which clothes are kept where. ‘I just woke up and thought I have . got to get on with my life,’ she said. ‘That’s what I did, I got up, . sorted out my clothes and just got on with it. ‘I am trying to do everything, I am . having a good go. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me because I . don’t feel sorry for myself.I feel stronger. I am ready to take on new challenges. ‘I feel a lot more confident, definitely. I am getting the old me back. I don’t think I am brave. I am surviving. ‘You only get one life so I am not going to let him ruin it.’ She said her children did not treat her differently and she just wanted to make them proud. Jenkin, 33, did not attend court . yesterday to hear the judge hand down a sentence of a minimum of six . years less the one year he served awaiting trial. He attacked Miss Nash while she slept following a night out with friends near her home in Hayle, . Cornwall. Ignoring her desperate . pleas to call an ambulance, Jenkin kept her imprisoned for 12 hours and . throttled her into unconsciousness before blinding her. The night before the appalling – and . unexplained – attack, he had watched a horror film with Miss Nash that . featured a woman having her eyes gouged out. Jenkin, who is 6ft 4in, had . attacked Miss Nash before. Devastated: Tina Nash, pictured left speaking last month, and right before the assault, said she missed 'the things people take for granted' like seeing the sea and sky . Freedom: Tina Nash (centre) leaves Truro Crown Court with two police officers following Jenkin's sentencing . No more tears: Miss Nash listens as a police officer reads a statement on her behalf outside the court . The court heard he owned a book about . deranged killer Raoul Moat and had once told Miss Nash: ‘If I am going . down, I am going down for something worthwhile.’ Judge Christopher Clarke said Jenkin, . who admitted grievous bodily harm with intent, had committed a truly . terrible crime of extreme violence. ‘That violence has left Tina Nash permanently blind. She has lost the precious gift of sight,’ he told Truro Crown Court. ‘She will never again be able to see her family or her friends or the beautiful coast and countryside of this county. ‘For the people who can see the world . around them it is almost impossible to imagine having one’s sight being . removed by the brutal act of another human being. ‘It is almost to impossible to . imagine the despair and distress Miss Nash must feel at never being able . to watch her two sons growing up.’ Describing the assault last April, . Judge Clarke said that Jenkin ‘repeatedly held her tightly around the . neck and, as he continued to strangle her, she lost consciousness and . from time to time she hallucinated’. Suffering: Ms Nash is led into Truro Crown Court by a police officer last year, her damaged eyes covered by sunglasses . Beaten: Miss Nash before the horrific attack, in which her nose and jaw was broken and her sight destroyed . He added: ‘At some point during this . attack when she was unconscious, the defendant gouged out her eyes with . his fingers or thumbs.’ The judge said it could be ‘many, . many years’ before parole is granted and described Jenkin as ‘a very . dangerous man from which the public needs to be kept safe’. Since the attack last April, Miss . Nash has moved to be near her sisters, where she lives with her sons, . aged four and 14, and their dog. Asked about Jenkin after yesterday’s . sentencing hearing, she said: ‘To be honest I feel nothing towards him – . nothing – because that’s a feeling and I don’t want to have any . feelings towards him. So, no, I’m not going to waste my time. He never . existed.’ Urging other victims of domestic . abuse to seek help, she said: ‘Shane was not mentally ill when he . attacked me, he was not drunk or under the influence of drugs. ‘It was a silent prolonged attack. Shane knows what he did to me that night and he has to live with that . for the rest of his life. My life changed for ever that night and will . never be the same but I am now able to move on, start my treatment and . rebuild my life. Abusive relationship: Jenkin, left, had attacked his girlfriend, right, on numerous occasions - but she had always believed he would change and even helped him to get out of jail . ‘I have a future and want to provide a future for my kids and be a good mum. ‘I urge anyone out there suffering . domestic abuse to contact the police before it is too late. Don’t be . frightened or embarrassed.’ Miss Nash said last month that she . missed ‘the things which people take for granted the most, such as . seeing the sky and the sea’. She said she was left feeling ‘buried alive, claustrophobic and not in control of my life’ by the assault. ‘I actually look forward to going to sleep because in my dreams I have sight. It’s when I wake up that the truth hits home.’ Jenkin had been repeatedly banned . from his local pubs in Penzance for violence, and three months before he . blinded Miss Nash he was reportedly charged with breaching bail . following an assault charge. Vile: Shane Jenkin, 33, assaulted his girlfriend in a 'premeditated and vicious attack' Callous Shane Jenkin could turn like 'flicking a switch' and was on a five-year pub ban for violence. The 6ft 4in thug was banned from pubs several times but excluded again in 2010 after punching a policeman, a pubwatch chairman said. Jenkin, who was jailed today for blinding his then-girlfriend Tina Nash, struck fear into fellow drinkers who knew his volatile temper could erupt with little warning. One Penzance barman said Jenkin had previously tried to gouge out a man's eyes during a brawl. 'I and several others have had run-ins . with him and would say he is generally a nasty piece of work,' said the . barman, who asked not to be named. 'What he did to Tina he tried to do to . other people - I know someone else he had a fight with and tried to do . that to him but he was 6ft 4in and could defend himself. 'He could just turn and go from being nice and polite and jovial then bang, it was like flicking a switch. I saw it on several occasions.' 'I have seen him talking to people, having a laugh to stamping on them on the floor. 'There have been various violent crimes and he has been to jail but he always pulled the mental health card - he says he isn't responsible for his actions and has mental health issues. 'He once dragged someone outside, up the road, put a bench on his head and started jumping on it. 'He ended up with a fractured skull and brain damage and I think he did some prison time for that but played the diminished responsibility card and was out in about 10 months. This was several years ago in his mid-twenties.' Devon and Cornwall Police would not confirm details of their previous dealings with Jenkin - who has the word 'Outlaw' tattooed on his forearm and a scorpion on his chest. Helen Cadman, Penzance pubwatch chairman and owner of the Sportsmans Arms in Heamoor, Penzance, said: 'He was put on the pubwatch scheme several times before but was put on it again in March 2010 for assaulting, punching a policeman outside a nightclub out of hours. 'He was on it previously for more minor offences.' One landlord, who did not want to be named, said Jenkin was a well-known troublemaker. 'I have certainly thrown him out of a few pubs over the last decade,' he said. 'He was on the pubwatch scheme for violence and general drunken behaviour, just generally obnoxious. Ms Cadman said she noticed he was 'quite aggressive' and that smaller members of staff became intimated by him and that he 'wasn't the full ticket.' 'He was on the pubwatch scheme serving a ban until 2015, a five-year ban. He was a general trouble maker, he'd start fights and get drunk,' she added. Three months before the 33-year-old gouged out his girlfriend's eyes he was charged with breaching bail conditions by failing to observe a curfew, it was reported. At the time he was allegedly on bail for an alleged domestic assault causing actual bodily harm. | Tina Nash was subjected to 'sickening' 12-hour ordeal at her home .
She was also left with a broken nose and jaw in an assault described as 'the most harrowing' police had seen .
The 32-year-old said the worst thing was not being able to see her children .
Abusive Shane Jenkin jailed indefinitely for GBH today .
He will be detained at a secure psychiatric hospital .
Mother of two said she is stronger than ever and ready to move on with life .
She had helped her violent partner get out of jail on several occasions .
He attacked her nine times in the year leading up to him blinding her . |
17,074 | 305d8231ecff5f407361095051f2ea7d4dbdec75 | By . Alex Ward . PUBLISHED: . 03:47 EST, 18 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:46 EST, 18 October 2012 . A father and son who rejected a £50,000 offer for their wheelbarrow invention on Dragons’ Den were celebrating yesterday after netting over £1million in orders during its first year on sale. Mike and Joe Smith turned down offers by 'dragons' Duncan Bannatyne and Hilary Devey who offered them £50,000 for 50 per cent of their Wheelbarrow Booster business on the hit BBC show for entrepreneurs. In one of the most heated exchanges seen . on the show, the dragons criticised the Smiths' attitude before they . declared themselves out. But now the pair are struggling to keep up with demand, predicting sales of 100,000 units a year for their invention, a canvas product which increases the capacity of a wheelbarrow by 300 per cent. Scroll down to see the million pound invention... Father and son: Mike and Joe Smith on Dragons' Den did what many before them had not - turned down the panels' offer but it was 'the right call,' Joe said . DIY giant Homebase has placed an order of 5,000 units, Tesco Direct is also listing the product and there has been significant interest from companies as far away as Australia, New Zealand, America and Brazil. Endorsed by professional gardener and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh, the product costs £12.99. Rejected: 'Dragons' Duncan Bannatyne (pictured) and Hilary Devey offered £50,000 for 50 per cent of the Smiths' company but the pair have gone on to accept orders from Homebase and is listed on Tesco Direct . Selling out: Mike Smith demonstrates invention Wheelbarrow Booster which the panel on TV show the Dragons' Den offered just £50,000 for. They now expect to net £1.3m in sales next year alone . When the father and son went on Dragons’ Den in March, which aired last month, they were offered £50,000 for half their gardening company GreanBase but the ‘dragons’ were left reeling when Mike, 54, bluntly refused, telling them he would give away no more than 11.5 per cent of the company. Joe, 32, said: ‘I guess it could be seen as a mistake on our part but then again it may turn out to be the best thing we have done. ‘Not many people turn down the dragons, but we made the right call. ‘We had been in front of the dragons for two hours and I think my dad had just had enough of it. Selling 100,000 units a year: The Wheelbarrow Booster is a canvas product which increases the capacity of a wheelbarrow by 300 per cent . ‘He only agreed to go on the show after I asked him, he thought Sir Alan Sugar was on it! ‘For the projections we gave them, we only needed to have sold 25,000 units for them to get their money back. They really undervalued it.’ After starting off with 1,000 in stock which quickly sold out, Mike and Joe, based in Northampton, are getting orders faster than they can produce them. Joe said: ‘We have self-financed it so far but will need outside investment when we take it to more and more countries. Stuck to his guns: Mike Smith (right) was lectured by the panel including Deborah Meadon (left) for their attitude towards the offer . 'Undervalued': The pair demonstrating their invention on the Dragons' Den believed they only needed to sell 25,000 units for the 'dragons' to get their money's worth . ‘We can't keep up with demand, to a point. This week I had enquiries about how much we would charge for 25,000, then how much for 50,000.’ The Dragons’ Den features entrepreneurs who pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists or ‘dragons’ to secure investment finance. The panel then judge how much money, if any, to invest in the invention in return for a percentage of the inventor’s company. But the ‘dragons’ do not always get their judgement right. Endorsement: The product (left) which costs £12.99 per unit, has been endorsed by professional gardener and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh . Andrew Gordon, who appeared on the show in 2009 pitched his StableTable idea which was branded a ‘ridiculous idea’ by ‘dragon’ Rachel Elnaugh. The invention which stops tables wobbling went on to become a success and Mr Gordon has just signed a deal to distribute the StableTable in America. A buoyancy aid for children, shaped like a shark’s fin was laughed off the show in 2006, deemed ‘dangerous’ and ‘silly’ but inventor Kevin Moseley ignored their advice and registered worldwide patents and started Swimfin Ltd from his home garage. In its first year of trading, Swimfin sales reached £70,000 across nearly 50 countries and were popular particularly in Australia where it was exhibited at the AustSwim Conference. | Mike and Joe Smith rejected an offer for invention on Dragons' Den .
Duncan Bannatyne and Hilary Devey offered them £50,000 for 50 per cent of their Wheelbarrow Booster business . |
41,608 | 755b0041de53add59fbf09161285ce685f200be1 | By . Victoria Woollaston . PUBLISHED: . 05:17 EST, 6 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:46 EST, 6 May 2013 . The moment when a peregrine falcon swoops down and kills a duck in mid-air has been captured on film. The breathtaking footage taken by a small camera attached to the bird's back shows Dora the falcon flying through the air, spotting the duck, swooping down and grabbing it in its talons. Dora then carries her prey to a safe spot where she lands and is seen eating the fresh catch. Scroll down for video . Dora the peregrine falcon flies through the air with a small camera attached to her back on a Marshall back pack harness. She spots the duck by a stretch of water and swoops in, catching it in her talons and killing it in mid-air . During the seven-minute clip, you can hear the wind whistling passed the microphone as Dora surveys the landscape. When she spots the duck she swoops down and grabs it in her talons. This is the last frame where the duck is clearly visible before becoming a mass of feathers . After catching and killing the duck, the camera shows Dora looking to her right. She then swoops back on herself and finds a safe spot to land in order to eat her freshly caught prey . In 1908, Dr Julius Neubronner patented the 'pigeon-cam', which could be activated by a timing mechanism. The 'pigeon-cam' were made up of mini Ticka watch cameras and were attached to pigeons in order to take aerial photos. To . take an aerial photo, Dr Neubronner carried a pigeon to a location up . to about 60 miles (100km) from its home, where it was equipped with a . camera and released. The . bird, keen to be relieved of its burden, would typically fly home on a . direct route, at a height of 160 to 330ft (50 to 100metres). A pneumatic system in the camera controlled the time delay before a photograph was taken. To accommodate the burdened pigeon, the dovecote had a spacious, elastic landing board and a large entry hole. The video was shot and and uploaded to YouTube by Drhodie. In the video called Dora's BackCam - Peregrine taking a Duck, Dora is shown grabbing the duck at 2 minutes 56. More... YouTube to charge for watching videos: Monthly subscription channels set to launch this week to take on TV . Now that's a bird's eye view: Amazing aerial photos from 1908 taken by fitting mini cameras to PIGEONS . Drhodie, then slows the clip down to half speed so you can see the kill more clearly. Drhodie explains in the video's description that Dora is a Peales/Anatum peregrine falcon. The camera is dubbed the BackCam or FalCam and clips into a standard Marshall back pack then attached to Dora. The microphone is taped over but you can still make out the wind whistling as Dora flies through the air. There is also a thud sound when she grabs the duck. Other Dora BackCam videos on Drhodie's YouTube channel show Dora stooping from 1500 feet, and another taken as the sun sets. VIDEO: A falcon kills a duck in mid-air . At various points during the clip, Dora the peregrine falcon turns her head and you can see her full profile filmed on the camera attached to her back by a Marshall back pack. When she lands to eat her prey you can spot a small amount of blood on her beak . | A 'FalCam' is attached to Dora the peregrine falcon using a Marshall back pack .
Clip shows Dora catching the duck, landing and then eating her freshly caught prey . |
245,097 | c93a1857ebcb3172ab08568dbc18c44270a57d13 | Italian international midfielder Sebastian Giovinco joined Major League Soccer side Toronto FC on Monday as the club continued its closed season shakeup by bringing in yet another high-priced designated player. Giovinco's signing comes three days after the team announced United States striker Jozy Altidore had completed his move from Sunderland to Toronto as part of a deal in which former England forward Jermain Defoe moved in the opposite direction. Altidore, 25, and Giovinco, 27, will team up with United States international Michael Bradley, 27, who last year moved back from Europe for a big-money deal, giving the Canadian club a trio of young talents to build around. Italian international Sebastian Giovinco has joined Toronto FC in the MLS . Toronto have been in MLS for eight seasons but have yet to reach the playoffs despite investing heavily in players and coaching staff. 'Seba is in the prime of his career and he has chosen to join Toronto FC and MLS at a time when many of the top clubs in the world were pursuing him,' Toronto FC General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko said in a statement. Giovinco, known as the 'Atomic Ant' because of his speed and diminutive stature, will join Toronto FC, whose season starts in March, at the conclusion of the Italian Serie A season. Jermain Defoe recently left Toronto the rejoin the Premier League in a move to Sunderland . Defoe made his debut for Sunderland against Tottenham after his move from the MLS . He is currently in his sixth season at Juventus, where he has made a combined 130 appearances, scoring 20 goals with 23 assists helping the club to back-to-back Serie A crowns in 2013 and 2014. The former Parma player has been out of favour at Juve under coach Massimiliano Allegri, appearing in only six league games with two starts. 'I have heard so many great things about Toronto over the years and I know that it will be a city that I feel right at home in,' said Giovinco. 'Until then, I have many things I still want to accomplish for Juventus and our fans. I will always give my heart and soul for Juve until I change shirts this summer.' | Toronto FC sign Italian midfielder Sebastian Giovinco .
Giovinco is another high-profile signing for MLS side after Jozy Altidore .
Jermain Defoe left Toronto for Sunderland earlier this month . |
230,154 | b605fa21cb6a94989ca1e13e30579c14459d0ff8 | An Alaskan man is extremely lucky to be alive after being forced to spend three days in the wilderness battling not only sub-zero temperatures but also the advances of a hungry wolverine. Craig Johnson from Barrow was halfway through an 80-mile trek through remote Alaska to visit family for the holidays in Wainwright when his snowmobile fell through the ice on December 15. As his snowmobile sank, Johnson, 38, was submerged in freezing water up to his chest before he managed to crawl back to a thicker part of the ice. Scroll down for video . Craig Johnson, 38, is extremely lucky to be alive after being forced to spend three days in the Alaskan wilderness battling sub-zero temperatures and the advances of a hungry wolverine . Johnson sought refuge from the subzero conditions and the wolverine by climbing inside this wooden box . 'I almost gave up... But I couldn't give up. I had to do it for my boys, my family,' he told ABC News. 'I think it's a miracle that I'm alive.' In his frozen clothes and enduring subzero temperatures with a windchill estimated at 35 below zero, Johnson walked 30 miles searching for help before a wolverine started to stalk him. 'You could hear it on the ice, just playing with me, toying with me,' he said. After failing to shoot the animal and then running out of bullets, Johnson was forced to use a stick to defend himself. Fortunately Johnson stumbled upon a wooden box that he was able to use as shelter. Unfortunately the down side of being stuck in the box was that it made it even more difficult for several rescue helicopters that flew past to try and find him. For more videos, please go to ABC GMA . After failing to shot the wolverine with his gun, Johnson was forced to use a stick to defend himself . 'That third night when they passed right by me - not even 200, 300 yards - that's when I lost hope,' Johnson said. 'I just laid back down in that box I was in. It just felt like that was an open grave for me.' With temperatures of -35 degrees, a search team led by Johnson's cousin desperately hunted for him. The wind and snow had erased almost all signs of Johnson and was only rescued when his cousin heard his desperate screams. 'I've never heard someone yell like that anywhere,' said Benson. 'If Clifford didn't saw me, that was going to be my last night,' said Johnson. They were going to bring me home in a body bag.' Johnson, who suffered severe frostbite, hypothermia, dehydration and internal injuries from the snowmobile crash, is currently recovering at an Anchorage hospital. He said his will to survive was partly fueled by his father's death in 1998 when he had fallen through the ice and drowned. | Craig Johnson, 38, is extremely lucky to be alive after being forced to spend three days in the Alaskan wilderness battling sub-zero temperatures .
He was making an 80-mile trek through the wilderness when his snowmobile fell through the ice .
Johnson also had to defend himself against the advances of a hungry wolverine - using a stick after he ran out of bullets .
'I almost gave up... But I couldn't give up. I had to do it for my boys, my family,' he said .
He suffered severe frostbite, hypothermia, dehydration and internal injuries from the crash, but is recovering at an Anchorage hospital . |
75,652 | d68cb1fd225b5a64e252757ae58a8cab62449495 | After some of the world's biggest corporations such as Apple and Google have come under pressure over aggressive tax avoidance strategies, now its FIFA's turn to defend its lucrative financial arrangements with 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil. The relationship of football's world governing body with Brazil is under scrutiny following the protests that have gripped the country as the South American country stages June's Confederation Cup -- a test run for the main event next year. Initially disgruntlement of the protesters centered on a 20 centavos (10 cents) rise in bus and train fares. But a violent response from the police, prompted Brazilians of all ages took to the streets. Suddenly the issue was about corruption, poor public services, increasing inflation, lack of security and whether the money being spent on the World Cup might be better invested elsewhere. With a subtext of the rich lining their pockets, while the poor pay more to use crumbling public services, the Brazilian government was left scrambling to deal with what some have dubbed the "Tropical Spring." FIFA president Sepp Blatter, for one, was askance at the protests. "I can understand that people are not happy, but they should not use football to make their demands heard," Blatter told Brazil's Globo TV. Tax exemptions . While FIFA argues that Brazil, as well as Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022, will gain benefits from infrastructure development and tourism as well as the kudos of staging a global sporting event, the World Cup is key for the world governing body -- the event is its major source of revenue. "The exact number I do not know but around $4 billion," said FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke earlier in June, referring to what the 2014 World Cup will generate financially for the Swiss-based organization. However, that is a conservative estimate with consultants suggesting the amount could reach $5 billion. "Of course it's not all profit, it is commercial revenue related to the cycle of not just the World Cup, but the cycle between the 2010 Cup and 2014," added Valcke. Three years ago the World Cup in South Africa raised $3.6 billion, incurring expenditures of $1.298 billion. For its latest results, FIFA reported a profit of $89 million for 2012, with reserves of $1.378 billion. The organization had a revenue of $1.166 billion last year and spending of $1.077 billion. As a not-for-profit association in Swiss law, FIFA pays no tax on commercial income from the World Cup. But some critics question whether the relationship between FIFA and its World Cup hosts is mutually beneficial, notably with regard to the lucrative tax exemptions World Cup organizers are prepared to offer for the right to stage the biggest single-event sporting competition in the world. According to Brazil's Internal Revenue Service the tax exemptions will cost $248.7 million, though other reports estimate the figure could be as twice as high for the period between 2011 and 2015. The International Olympic Committee will receive similar exemptions when the South American country hosts the Olympics in 2016. Proponents argue hosting the World Cup brings billions more dollars into the Brazilian economy, but $250 million buys a lot of bus tickets. Brazil in "FIFA's hands" Ex-Brazilian star Romario -- now a Brazilian politician -- is one that argues that the money spent on building stadiums would be better spent on constructing houses and schools. "FIFA will make a profit of four billion reais ($1.8 billion) which should provide one billion ($450 million) in tax, but they will not pay anything," Romario said in a video posted on the websites of several Brazilian newspapers. "They come, set up the circus, they don't spend anything and they take everything with them. "The real president of our country is FIFA," added Romario. "FIFA comes to our country and sets up a state within a state." Another critic -- academic and journalist Christopher Gaffney, who lives in Rio -- believes that FIFA's much vaunted "Fair Play" slogan should not just apply to on-field behavior. "FIFA should be obliged to follow the pre-existing tax laws in the host countries that apply to international sports non-governmental organizations and their corporate partners," said Gaffney. "We saw a response in the lead up to London 2012 that the British were revolted that the International Olympic Committee's partners were not going to pay taxes. "A boycott ensued and the companies agreed to pay taxes on their Olympic related profits. "There are, of course, always government subsidies to attract businesses, but legislative elements like the General Law of the World Cup in Brazil go far beyond this and effectively redirect public money into Swiss bank accounts." That analysis drew a swift response from football's world governing body. "FIFA obtains none of its revenue from public funds of the host country," a FIFA spokesman told CNN. "The host country provide the general infrastructure for the event, which remains as a legacy in the country such as transportation, IT, upgrades on airports. "Therefore, it is not true that money is generated in the host country for FIFA and that it will go then to accounts in Switzerland." But the exemptions FIFA insist upon, has surprised one leading European taxation expert, Professor of European Tax Law Han Kogels, who is based in Rotterdam. In bidding for the 2018 World Cup, Russia was up against three other bidders -- England, Netherlands-Belgium and Spain-Portugal. "In that bid book model of the FIFA as commercial organization, it claimed a privilege of 100% tax freedom (no corporate tax, no income tax, no VAT, no excise duties, no local tax, not any other taxes), irrespective of regular national tax law, European tax law and international tax law," said Kogels after examining the Netherlands part of the bid. "I was (and still am) not aware of any other international commercial sport event being subsidized through full tax exemption at the cost of (other) taxpayers, and did not see any justification for such unequal treatment of FIFA." Economic benefits . FIFA insisted that tax exemptions needed to be viewed in relation to the overall economic benefits that next year's World Cup potentially might bring Brazil. The world governing body quoted a study by Ernst & Young Terco that estimated that the event would inject R$ 112.8 billion ($50 billion) into the Brazilian economy by 2014, with R$ 28 billion (12.4 billion) spent on infrastructure, generating R$ 63.5 billion ($28 billion) in income for the population. "It is important to note that tax exemptions are only related to certain areas of the organization, in particular for temporary use of goods and services during the event," FIFA told CNN. "Examples include IT equipment for broadcasters as well as other material mainly broadcasters and participating teams bring with them, the cars used for the official transport, uniforms for volunteers. "Amongst others the prize money of the FIFA World Cup is taxable in Brazil." "Overall, according to the Ernst & Young Terco study it is estimated that the host country will obtain an additional tax revenue of R$ 18.1 billion ($8 billion). "It should be noted that FIFA also bears the costs related to hosting and staging of the FIFA World Cup, including and not limited to the costs of the Local Organising Committee. This means over $1.3 billion in costs for FIFA." Cynicism . However, in much the same way that the Group of Eight economies attempted to bring coherence to the issue of closing global tax loopholes earlier this month, Professor Simon Chadwick called on governments and sporting organizations to adopt a more systematic approach to tax. "One of the problems in Brazil, Britain and, indeed, in many countries across the world is that there is no coherent strategy or policy in place regarding taxation and sport," said Chadwick. "For example, players in this year's Champions League final at Wembley were given exemption from paying tax on revenues earned from the game. "Whereas in 2015, players in the rugby union World Cup final will not be given the same exemption. Such a lack of strategy, clarity, consistency and openness creates a climate in which confusion, contradiction and cynicism begin to develop." Given the scale of the protests in Brazil, does the South American country want to renegotiate the tax exemptions? "Holding a FIFA World Cup involves agreements that are signed between the organization and the host country in order to receive the event.," said the Brazil Finance Ministry. "The FIFA World Cup has always been seen by Brazil as a major opportunity to spur investments in infrastructure and services and to modernize football management in Brazil." | Questions raised over what Brazil really gets out of 2014 World Cup .
Should money be spent on football stadiums or health and education?
FIFA receives tax exemptions from Brazil .
Romario says: "FIFA comes to our country and sets up a state within a state" |
28,169 | 4fd6e33ee2428b24994224fc26576467226deddd | New York City police arrested a man for allegedly flying a drone inside the U.S. Open venue Wednesday night. Serena Williams and Flavia Pennetta were battling for a spot in the semi-finals on another court when police spotted the drone around 9 p.m. Wednesday near courts 16 and 17, which were empty at the time, according to New York City Police detective Martin Speechley. By the time Williams beat her opponent in straight sets that night, the alleged drone-flying intruder was already in police custody. Police said the drone was piloted by Daniel Feighery of Yonkers, New York, who was arrested 50 yards outside U.S. Open grounds. Feighery, 36, was charged with reckless endangerment, violation of a local law, and failure to comply with a sign. It's not known what the sign said. Police also took custody of the drone, Speechley said. Feighery could not be reached for comment. The U.S. Open fly-by is the latest in a string of recent incidents involving drones. Last month, a tourist crashed a drone into the Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, prompting an investigation. The tourist approached a park employee about getting the drone back after losing it in the almost 200-feet deep hot spring. The employee let the tourist go without initially reporting the incident to authorities. Drones are banned in national parks. The National Park Service announced in June that it was prohibiting unmanned aircraft from all park service-controlled lands and waters, totaling about 84 million acres throughout the country. Visitors watching the sunset over the Grand Canyon were interrupted by a loud drone in April. And volunteers reported that a herd of bighorn sheep at Zion National Park in Utah scattered after being harassed by a drone. Also, a Seattle woman called police in June to report a "peeping Tom" drone. The drone was hovering outside of her high-rise window, and the woman saw operators on the ground below with camera equipment. The Federal Aviation Administration predicts some 10,000 civilian drones will be in use in the United States within five years, including those for law enforcement and commercial means. In August, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer called on the FAA and the Commerce Department to establish drone regulations by the end of the year. "New York City has become the wild, wild west for commercial and hobby drones," Schumer said. Although 35 states have considered drone legislation, only five have passed laws to regulate drones. Schumer told CNN that a national law for the skies is key. Drones "serve many useful purposes," he said. "Smart regulation can save the baby and throw out the bathwater." | Daniel Feighery, 36, is arrested for flying a drone over the U.S. Open .
Feighery was picked up 50 yards outside U.S. Open grounds .
Police also seized his drone .
The fly-by is the latest in a string of recent drone incidents . |
58,634 | a64de5a8786a87fee675bb6c29b421fe95e3ad34 | The immigration boom under Labour led to the face of Britain changing faster than any major nation except Italy, a study by an Oxford University think tank revealed. During the five-year peak of the influx, the UK’s migrant population soared by 22 per cent – double the average of G8 countries, figures from the Migration Observatory show. Over the past two decades, Britain’s foreign-born population has increased from 3.8million – or 7 per cent of the total population - in 1993 to almost 7million, or 12 per cent per cent in 2010. Changing faces: Britain has become increasingly multicultural in the past two decades. The number of immigrants in the country rose by 22% in five peak years between 2000 and 2005 . During the same period, the number of foreign-born residents without British citizenship doubled from just under two million (4 per cent of the population) to over four million (7 per cent). Net-migration – the number arrivals minus those leaving - increased from 564,000 during the five years from 1996-2000, to 923,000 in 2001-2005 and 1,044,000 during 2006-2010. In 2010, net-migration reached 252,000, its highest level for a single calendar year on record. But it is the period between 2000 and 2005 – a period of an open border policy during and rapid expansion of the EU - that immigration really spiked. Leap: The graph shows migration soared by 22% in Britain between 2000 and 2005. Only Italy saw its foreign-born population rise faster (44.6%). France's rose only by 3.2% during the same period . Ahead: Britain's immigrant growth rate has remained above the averages of the original 15 EU member states, the G8 group of major industrial nations and the world for most of the last decade . Only Italy, which experienced a 44.6 per cent rise in immigration, saw a higher rate in the developed world. But, . after more restrictions were introduced in 2005, the growth rate of the . migrant population in the UK was just over 10 per cent. It was still higher than the G8 . average – but somewhat lower than 14 per cent rate of the 15 EU . countries that existed prior to 2004. This group – with 21.4 per cent rise - had only a slightly lower level of immigration growth that the UK between 2000 and 2005. Queues: People in lines for European Passport holders at Heathrow. Relaxed immigration rules and an expansion of the EU mean that the number of people entitled to live in the UK has rocketed over the last two decades . Although, experts believe Italy’s enormous spike has skewed these figures. Criticism: Alp Mehmet, from MigrationWatch, said Jamie Oliver is 'simply wrong' about British workers . For . example, France saw only a 3.4 per cent rise in immigration during the . period, according to data obtained by the United Nations. Russia's immigration growth rose only by 1.6 per cent. Figures . also show that as the global population has increased considerably in . the last two decades, so too has the number of international migrants. The number has increased from 156million in 1990 to 214million in 2010. The comparison with G8 countries compares other high-income nations this group, which also includes Russia, Italy, France, Canada, the U.S. Germany and Japan. For all the G8 countries, with the exception of Japan, migrants are defined as foreign-born residents in the data. In the data for Japan, migrants are defined as foreign citizens. Alp Mehmet, of pressure group Migration Watch, told Mail Online: ‘This underlines what we have been saying about Labour’s mass immigration policy. ‘It also shows why it will be so difficult to get immigration back down to sensible levels’ | Immigrant population soared by 22% during Labour's open door policy .
During past two decades number of foreign-born residents has doubled .
Only Italy - with rise of 44.6% over same period - recorded bigger rise .
Watchdogs say figures show why it will be hard to reduce immigration . |
72,841 | ce8f72fdf05acafa7d3f31f4a64083dcef5fa10b | By . Bianca London for MailOnline . It's the world famous derrière that garnered 11m Youtube views in just 24 hours - and now the secret behind Jennifer Lopez's honed bottom has been revealed. The 45-year-old, who can be seen jiggling her behind up against Iggy Azelea in their raunchy new music video - aptly called Booty - has had a helping hand. According to Page Six, the mother-of-two has been working with A-list celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson, who she even flew out to LA to whip her bottom into shape while filming the video. Scroll down for video . What's your secret? Jennifer Lopez, 45, can be seen showcasing her famous bottom in raunchy new music video Booty - and now it's been revealed how she honed it into shape . Tracy Anderson, a former dancer and business partner of Gwyneth Paltrow, has produced four exercise DVDs - each of which has sold in excess of 20,000 copies in Britain alone - and a book, Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method. Tracy trains Jennifer for one hour every day and they mix it up with 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of muscular structure. 'Her workouts have to give her the ability to have endurance for the show. We don’t want to change her sexy body and wanted to design a workout to keep her sexy butt toned,' Tracy told Hollywood Life. That bottom! J-Lo can be seen jiggling her famous bottom up against Iggy Azelea in their raunchy new music video, which has had millions of hits . Secret weapon: Jennifer reportedly flew Tracy Anderson, a former dancer and business partner of Gwyneth Paltrow, into Los Angeles to whip her into shape for her musical comeback . Her secret? Tricking Jennifer's muscles. 'We change the workout every 10 workouts,' she said. 'That’s the secret. We can only stay on a movement every 10 days.' Tracy also revealed that the singer can’t go two days without a workout for risk of losing her toned physique. Tracy is loved among the Hollywood set and her best friend and business partner Gwyneth Paltrow credits the trainer with 'completely changing her body'. She said: 'Still, when I first started working with Tracy, finding motivation was hard. She advised me to think of exercise as an automatic routine, no different from brushing your teeth, to avoid getting distracted. Now it is part of my life.' Other famous fans of Tracy include Madonna, Shakira and Nicole Ritchie and J-Lo isn't the only pop star who can thank her for getting her back into shape for her musical comeback. Cheryl Fernandez-Versini followed Tracy's method, telling Glamour magazines: 'I do the Tracy Anderson method. I've been doing it for a long time now. It's not easy but if you push yourself through, I love it.' It takes more than a few squats to look this good: Tracy revealed that J-Lo can't go two days without a workout for risk of losing her toned physique . Famous fans: Cheryl Fernandez-Versini credits Tracy Anderson's method with helping her get into shape for her pop comeback and Shakira, right, also works out with her . | J-Lo been working out with Tracy Anderson .
Trainer is Gwyneth Paltrow's best friend and business partner .
Changes exercise pattern every 10 workouts .
Cheryl Fernandez-Versini also uses her method . |
249,633 | cf14380cfd35b2ed04565cd8b915f6bcb7cb8075 | By . James Daniel . PUBLISHED: . 17:58 EST, 15 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:20 EST, 16 July 2013 . There's nothing quite like mom's cooking, and it would appear that one of the country's biggest fast food chains agrees. Last year, Wendy's unveiled its first new logo since 1983. The burger chain shelved the boxy old Western lettering in favor of a sleeker, modern take on the Wendy's icon coupled with breezy handwritten lettering. If you look carefully, the word 'mom' can be found in Wendy's collar. Everything becomes clear: The word 'mom' is really obvious when the new logo is seen in certain situations, such as this paper cup . Do you see it? The new logo was unveiled in March of this year. It has proved to be a popular refresh, but some have claimed the word 'mom' is written beneath Wendy's collar . Old logo: On this logo from 1983 which was used until this year, Wendy is seen to be wearing a collar. The company say the new logo is simply an update on the tried and tested brand . The word becomes really obvious in single-color versions of the logo, which are used on Wendy's Styrofoam cups. The logo has been steadily rolled out for the last four months and some have noticed a subliminal message in the new logo. Wendy's say that they didn't realize the hidden message within their logo. 'We are aware of this and find it interesting that it appears our Wendy cameo has 'mom' on her ruffled collar. We can assure you it was unintentional,' said a spokesperson from the company. One logo-blogging website . believes there is more to the logo than the fast food chain is letting . on and believe the company are playing off a simple fact that most of us . love the taste of home. A closer look: When the logo is seen in monochrome, the word 'mom' becomes very apparent . A taste of home: Wendy's says it is not aware of the word 'mom' in its new logo... well, until now that is! 'When growing up our brains learn to love what's on the menu at home. Most of us also associate home cooked meals with a safe and loving environment. Most people have a sentimental attachment to at least a few of the dishes their Mother's used to make,' write Stocklogos. 'It should not be a surprise to see the fast food restaurant, Wendy's associating their refreshed brand with Mom's cooking. This is something you may not notice consciously for years, but unconsciously it will leave an imprint on your brain and you will associate it with the brand.' Wendy's say the new logo is being fanned out across its 6,000 North American locations. Restaurants that have already undergone the makeover have said they're experiencing a 25 percent increase in sales. | Refreshed logo unveiled four months ago after 29 years .
The word 'mom' appears in the logo in certain conditions .
Wendy's said that such a design was unintentional .
Restaurants with the new design are seeing a 25 per cent increase in sales . |
97,792 | 09e7634c3b4af60857a0a66027fa15f261847f32 | By . Claire Bates . PUBLISHED: . 06:18 EST, 10 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:28 EST, 12 December 2012 . For most children, December is an exciting time when they enjoy decorating the Christmas tree and tuck into festive goodies. But for one school boy and his mother it can be somewhat of an annual nightmare. Theo Lester, six, suffers from a range of extreme allergies, which means he can't go anywhere near a real pine tree or bite into a mince pie or Christmas pudding. A bite into one would trigger anaphylactic shock causing his airways to close. Theo and mother Bree with a fake Christmas tree. Both could go into anaphylactic shock if exposed to real pine needles . His mother Bree, from Costessey, Norfolk, suffers from the same allergies. The 37-year-old said: 'Everything kicks off this time of year with both of us. 'Touching a real tree is something he has never done. I would love for him to be able to experience it one day like other kids. 'Having a proper tree is such a lovely thing at Christmas, but unfortunately it is something we will never be able to do. 'I miss them. They are so much nicer than normal ones, and Theo has always wanted to have one, but we can't.' Mrs Lester discovered she had an extreme aversion to pine needles aged ten, while decorating her parents' Christmas tree for the first time. She came out in rashes, her eyes and nose watered heavily and she struggled to breathe as she put the tinsel and baubles up. Over the years she developed extreme asthma and eczema, which is triggered by all manner of household items. Theo and Bree can't go near real Christmas trees and must make their own mince pies as they are allergic to nuts . When Theo was born Mrs Lester and husband Stephen, 39, had him tested for a host of allergies and discovered he had inherited his mother's problems. He could go into anaphylactic shock if he walks into a room where someone was cracking a bowlful of nuts. Little Theo also can't enjoy bonfire night as the smokey atmosphere makes him wheeze if he goes outside. Mrs Lester, a housewife, added: 'I realised he was going to be exactly like me so we had him tested for lots of different things and that's when we found out about the problems he was going to have at Christmas. 'Before he goes round to a friend's house for tea I have to make sure they only have a fake tree. 'He can't eat Christmas pudding or mince pies at school or with his friends because of the nut allergy. We have to make our own. 'He always has an epipen, nebuliser and inhaler with him in case the worst happens and someone has a tree or nuts in their house but we don't want him to be treated differently to any other child.' Mrs Lester and her son dose themselves up on anti-allergy tablets and make sure the heating is off as warmth makes their allergic reactions worse. Little Theo understands why he can't have a real tree at home but still hopes one day he will overcome his allergies and be able to have one. He said: 'I would like a real tree but they make me feel poorly. They make me wheezy, sneezy and itchy.' Father Steve, said: 'Christmas is what you make of it and we always have a special day. 'We make a real event of decorating the (fake) tree and Theo gets plenty of presents. We make sure every December 25 is a happy one.' | Both Theo and his mother suffer from a range of extreme allergies, which make celebrating Christmas a bit of a chore .
They could go into anaphylactic shock if they accidentally consumed nuts or went too near a real pine tree . |
82,360 | e980d98c72f53e852b61528bfb30da7cae99c799 | Some 50 million Americans still lack health insurance. That will change for the greater majority when the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, as it's more commonly known, rolls out over the next couple of years. While the bulk of the law goes into place in 2014, you'll see a few changes this year. However, much of 2013 will be dedicated to health facilities and government offices getting ready for the larger changes coming down the road. On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services conditionally approved eight more states' plans to set up their own health insurance exchange programs. The conditional approvals mean a total of 19 states plus the District of Columbia have the initial thumbs-up on their plans. Two others, Arkansas and Delaware, have the go-ahead to run an exchange in partnership with the federal government. Decision day for states on health insurance marketplaces . States can decide to set up an exchange at any time, but the clock is ticking. States that plan to partner with the federal government need to do so by February 15. People not living in a state with an exchange have access to a federal program. All the exchanges are supposed to be up and running by October 1 of this year. In a conference call with reporters Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she was encouraged by the progress states have made so far. "From the beginning, this process has been guided by our belief that states know their own needs better than anyone else," Sebelius said. "That's why we have worked so hard to give states the flexibility and resources to create and participate in marketplaces that work best for their citizens, and it's encouraging to see so many states moving forward to do just that." What these exchanges will do is give the uninsured a better chance to shop for insurance in a way that's supposed to take the mystery out of buying a plan. Think of it like an online travel site that pulls information from hundreds of companies, allowing customers to compare the costs of flights or hotels on one easy-to-read screen. Another advantage to the exchange may be a lower cost for health insurance, according to Jay Angoff. He is the former director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight at HHS, the office responsible for implementing Obamacare. "The key issue is not if the state or the fed runs the exchange," Angoff said. "The key is: Will it be a strong or weak exchange, and will it use the bargaining power that it has to standardize the benefit packages and establish a real competitive bidding process that can really drive down rates? "If the exchanges allow insurance companies to sell whatever they want, if (the state) doesn't negotiate or establish competitive bidding process, it's another case," he said. Obamacare to flesh-eating bacteria: Top 2012 health stories . Here are some other parts of Obamacare taking effect in 2013: . Preventative services . The federal government is sending more money to state Medicaid programs that offer preventative services for free or at little cost. Services include tests for high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol; many cancer screenings including colonoscopies and mammograms; counseling to help people lose weight, quit smoking or reduce alcohol use; routine vaccinations; flu and pneumonia shots; and others. Increased Medicaid payments . Doctors that take Medicaid patients get a pay raise. Starting January 1, Medicaid payments in every state were brought up to the same level Medicare pays doctors. Some experts say the Medicare rate is too low, but Medicaid paid even less. While it varies from state to state, primary care physicians see on average a 73% pay bump according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A pilot program for bundling services . The law sets up a national pilot program that will encourage medical providers to coordinate patient care. Rather than have each service billed separately under Medicare, a flat rate would be paid for an episode of care. Justices won't block Obamacare's required emergency contraception coverage . Medicare tax increase . The wealthy face a 0.9% tax increase on the income they earn in excess of $200,000 (for couples filing jointly, it will hit those that make in excess of $250,000). This will help boost the Medicare trust fund. Medical device tax . A new 2.3% tax goes on the price of medical devices. This doesn't include hearing aids or corrective lenses, but does include devices like defibrillators, pacemakers, artificial joints and others. Medical deductions . Up until now, Americans got a tax deduction if all their total medical expenses added up to more than 7.5% of what they earn (minus deductions and exceptions). Those expenses now will have to add up to 10% or more for most tax filers. Cap on FSAs . Flexible Spending Accounts now have a cap. Up until now, employers set the limit on how much employees could set aside from their paychecks tax free to pay for medical expenses not covered by their insurance. The majority of companies set an FSA limit of around $5,000. The government is now limiting FSA's to $2,500. Health benefits spelled out . W-2 tax forms issued this year for wages paid in 2012 must now include a line on the form showing the benefit employees receive from their employer-sponsored health care. This is supposed to help you understand your benefits better and make health care spending more transparent. | 8 more states conditionally approved for health insurance exchange programs .
All the exchanges should be up and running by October 1 .
Changes in 2013 include preventative services, medical deductions and a cap on FSAs . |
155,430 | 54e517d312bc937abef6428916b2bea88921a431 | By . Mail On Sunday Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 17:12 EST, 15 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 17:12 EST, 15 February 2014 . As a relaxed Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith left his £1.5million London home for work on Friday amid more storm chaos, he could be comforted by the knowledge that his weekend retreat in a remote Highlands hamlet has its own flood defences. What’s more, the village was named yesterday as one of the driest places in the UK. Lord Smith is a frequent visitor to the four-bedroom property in the village of Alligin, which has seen 50 per cent less rain than its normal seasonal average. Environment Agency chairman Lord Chris Smith heads to work on Friday . Safe: This is Lord Smith's Highlands retreat, named as one of the driest places in the UK yesterday . And should the Highland weather take a turn for the worse, Lord Smith’s home is protected from the waters of the nearby loch by its own flood defence scheme – a sturdy stone wall built specifically for that purpose. Lord Smith would not comment on his Scottish retreat last night. Elsewhere, areas of southern England, including Henley-on-Thames (pictured), are experiencing heavy flooding . | Lord Smith's weekend retreat in the Highlands has its own flood defences .
The village was named yesterday as one of the driest places in the UK . |
261,301 | de6735870d7c1768cac4d8cbde3f53a3bdc9283b | San Francisco police arrested a man on suspicion of murder Saturday in connection with a suitcase found on a downtown street stuffed with dismembered human remains. Mark Andrus, 59, had been spotted on surveillance footage near where the suitcase was discovered and was booked into county jail hours after he was detained as a 'person of interest,' Officer Grace Gatpandan said. The bag was discovered Wednesday in the city's SOMA neighborhood and contained a male's body's parts, though not his head or hands. Scroll down for video... Grisly: Mark Andrus was seen in news footage Friday covered in a bed sheet as he was led away by San Francisco street following an arrest on charges he murdered a man then stuffed his dismembered body into a suitcase . Pictured: Gatpandan said she could not comment on exactly how police linked Andrus to the body, but said they were aided by the surveillance footage and witness statements . Police said other body parts were found in a nearby trash can. Gatpandan said she could not comment on exactly how police linked Andrus to the body, but said they were aided by the surveillance footage and witness statements. She did not have any additional information about Andrus, the body parts found in the suitcase or a possible motive. According to WPTV, police acted on an anonymous tip. Andrus' family told the San Francisco Chronicle he had run-ins with the law, kept to himself and drifted so far from them that they didn't know where he was or how to reach him. 'We haven't heard from him in, oh my gosh, years and years and years,' said Helen Andrus of Spokane, Wash., who is married to Mark Andrus' older brother, Jon. Horrific: Police in San Francisco last week found body parts in a suitcase and a trash can in the city's SOMA neighborhood . 'My husband at one point tried to reach out and find him, but I'm guessing it's been 20 years now since we last saw him.' The newspaper said Andrus had arrests in Missoula, Montana, in the 1980s and '90s for suspected drug possession, theft, burglary and jumping bail. Police received a call on Friday night on the department's anonymous tip line that a 'person of interest' in the suitcase incident had been spotted in the city's Tenderloin neighborhood, Gatpandan said. They responded and detained two people, including Andrus. Police had released photos of Andrus from the surveillance footage earlier in the day showing him in a striped baseball cap, light blue jeans and a blue and orange jacket. Video evidence: Homicide detectives were on the scene and trying to recover surveillance footage from nearby businesses . The suitcase was found Wednesday afternoon outside a Goodwill thrift store in the city's South of Market neighborhood. More body parts were found in a trash can nearby. The San Francisco medical examiner determined that the remains belong to an unidentified light-skinned man. Authorities will now turn to a DNA laboratory to identify him. The condition of the man's torso had police considering the possibility that organized crime or a gang was responsible for the remains, Officer Albie Esparza told the Chronicle before the announcement of Saturday's arrest. He did not elaborate in the story. Gatpandan said she did not know whether the second person who was detained remained in custody Saturday. Missing parts: Police spokeswoman Officer Grace Gatpandan says officers discovered a suitcase on the sidewalk that contained 'dismembered body parts of a human being' though not the head or hands . | Police on Saturday arrested 59-year-old Mark Andrus for murder following Wednesday's gory discovery .
The suitcase was found in front of a SOMA neighborhood Goodwill store -- inside a body was missing both its head and hands .
Surveillance footage in the area allegedly pins Andrus to the body drop-off .
He was seen being led away from an SFPD station sheathed in a bed sheet . |
264,887 | e31b2ff55e1df95422c0d44d14a28dfeae1117ca | By . Becky Evans . PUBLISHED: . 09:51 EST, 5 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:37 EST, 6 August 2013 . A mother in China whose newborn baby was sold to human traffickers by a doctor has been reunited with her son. Dong Wan, 31, wept as she held the boy at a hospital in Fuping, following the arrest of obstetrician Zhang Lin for allegedly trying to sell him to human traffickers. The doctor apparently told Ms Dong, 31, that her son was born with severe health problems and would soon die. Emotion: Dong Wan cries as she holds her newborn son after being reunited with him in hospital . Joy: Ms Dong, 31, is handed her baby after he was recovered from human traffickers . She is accused of persuading the . mother to sign the baby over to the hospital before selling the boy to . traffickers for £3,000 ($4,600). Police in Shaanxi province say the doctor has now been arrested and fear the sale may be the tip of the iceberg. Officers are investigating at least seven similar cases in the region. The healthy baby boy was tracked down by investigators after Dong became suspicious. Relief: The mother had been tricked by her obstetrician into handing over her son to him . Crime: Ms Dong spoke of her pain at being tricked by the doctor she had previously trusted . The . mother said: 'I was told the baby would not survive and the best thing . for me would be to let the hospital take care of it so I did.' After signing the documents at The . Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital <s Dong changed . her mind and begged her husband, Lai Guofeng, to call the police. The . baby was tracked down hundreds of miles away in neighbouring Henan . province where the original traffickers had sold him on for a profit. Dong Wan's baby son (pictured) was sold to human traffickers in China after she was allegedly told by doctor Zhang Lin that he was born with severe health problems and would not survive . The baby's heartbroken father Lai Guofeng (left in both pictures) and mother Dong Wan (right in both pictures) became suspicious after doctors said their son was too ill to live and called police . Dong Wan said she was told that it was in the baby's best interests to let the hospital take care of him . Police investigators say Zhang and two suspected accomplices are under arrest. Local . deputy director Chen Jainfeng said: 'The suspects told us where the . baby was and with the help of local police we found the child. 'The baby is undergoing medical tests and is on his way home.' The baby's father Lai Guofeng holds up his son's clothes and a relative sobs over a picture of the boy . Zhang Lin, an obstetrician at The Fuping County Maternal and ChildHealth Care Hospital (pictured), has been arrested and police say they are investigating a further seven similar cases . | Obstetrician Zhang Lin has been arrested in Shaanxi province .
Allegedly sold the baby to human traffickers for £3,000 .
Police found the boy after his mother Dong Wan became suspicious .
Officials investigating at least seven similar cases in the region . |
147,466 | 4aa7889d1419b210335b74100d2f7de8178345ca | She one of the world’s richest sportswoman worth £60million But that hasn’t stopped Serena Williams walking off with scores of the distinctive purple and green towels provided to players at Wimbledon. The five-times singles champion, who suffered a surprise defeat in this year’s quarter finals, takes up to eight towels with her after matches. She is said to stuff them into her kitbag after arriving on court and then ask for more from court attendants. Mementos: Serena Williams reportedly can't have too many Wimbledon towels . Her sister Venus, who has not played this year because of injury, is said to be similarly keen on picking up a towel in previous appearances at the All England Club. ‘The Williams sisters have been seen to put towels in their bags as soon as they get on the court,’ an observer said. Sister Venus, who is not competing at the championships this year, is also said to be fond of the towels . ‘There have been games where Serena has probably left with more than eight.’ Traditionally, players have two towels . laid neatly on their chairs at the side of the court at the start of a . match. Some will then ask for more. Another couple of towels are set down whenever a tie resumes following a rain delay. The benevolent All England Club has a policy of not demanding towels back from any players who want to keep them. However, some players - notably world number one Novak Djokovic - always hand back their towels at the end of every clash. For a visitor to the grounds, a large towel emblazoned with the Wimbledon logo, costs £28 at shops at the grounds. Rising British star Laura Robson, 19, she took a generous approach, leaving two children speechless with delight as she handed them her towel as she left court after her third round win. At the end of Andy Murray’s quarter final clash on Wednesday he threw his towel into the crowd, prompting a near scuffle between two fans who both grabbed an end of it. This year observers have noticed growing trend for players to ask for a towel to mop their brows between points In the ladies quarter-finals, the worst offender was Na Li, who stopped 16 times in one set, and 35 during the entire match, which she lost. One of Andy Murray’s former coaches suggested that ‘towel breaks’ are a ploy to buy time. Former British player Mark Petchey, who . coached Murray into the top 50 of the world rankings, said: ‘It is . certainly not that hot at a lot of these tournaments - it hasn’t been at . London or Paris for the last two Grand Slams. The benevolent All England Club has a policy of not demanding towels back from any players who want to keep them . ‘It’s part of players’ routine, like bouncing the ball three times. It’s all a bit of a nervous tic. All players look for their comfort zone. A lot of it is all about composing yourself.’ He suggested that former British number one Greg Rusedski had started the trend. A spokesman for Wimbledon said: ‘The players are requested to give the towels back but can keep them if they want to.’ | The five-times champ is said to stuff them into her bag after arriving on court .
Sister Venus is said to be similarly keen on picking up the momentos . |
140,911 | 4237d26ac96084f1ca55cfbdefac05d3df55e7f1 | (CNN)Michael Brown's gunshot wounds included a shot in the hand at close range, his official autopsy shows, according to an analysis reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A county official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN the autopsy document that the Post used to do its report is authentic. The detail could lend credence to Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson's account that he and the unarmed black teenager scuffled at his patrol car before Brown was shot and killed. Wilson told investigators that during a struggle for his pistol inside a police SUV, Brown pressed the barrel of Wilson's gun against the officer's hip, the Post-Dispatch reported, citing a source with knowledge of his statements. The officer tried to prevent Brown from reaching the trigger, the source told the newspaper, and when he thought he had control he fired. But Brown's hand was blocking the mechanism, the Post-Dispatch reported. Wilson said he fired two shots, and Brown was hit in the hand and ran. He told investigators that he fired again when Brown turned back and charged at him, according to the paper. Earlier, a private autopsy conducted for the Brown family showed the teen had been shot at least six times, including twice in the head. The official autopsy, as published by the Post-Dispatch, said Brown sustained six gunshot entrance wounds. New details leak, stoke protests . Friend gives different story . Dorian Johnson, who was walking with Brown on the street when the shooting occurred, told CNN that the officer pulled up and told them to get on a sidewalk. They told him they were almost home and would be off the street shortly. Still in his car, the officer grabbed Brown by his neck, but he tried to pull away as the officer pulled him toward him, Johnson said. The officer drew his weapon and fired, hitting Brown, Johnson said. A bloodied Brown took off running, but the officer followed him and fired, according to Johnson. Brown turned around with his hands up and told the officer he was unarmed, but the officer fired and the teen hit the ground, Johnson said. Complete coverage of the events in Ferguson . More details revealed . Brown's blood was found on the officer's uniform and inside his police car, law enforcement sources told CNN earlier this week. Those sources corroborated details first reported by The New York Times. At least one of the wounds Brown suffered is consistent with a struggle and appeared to be fired at close range, according to a different source with first-hand knowledge of the investigation. "That tends to support any testimony that there was some kind of scuffle in the police car," CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos said. "And if so, that tends to support Officer Wilson's testimony and his justification for using deadly force." But Cevallos said the details about Brown's blood on the officer's gun and on his uniform might only go so far in helping the officer's case. "Ultimately, that officer will have to come up with justification not for firing his gun the first time, but for each and every bullet that came out of his firearm -- whether at the car or away from the car," he said. Brown's death is the subject of two inquiries: one by a St. Louis County grand jury considering whether Wilson should be charged, and the other by federal investigators looking into whether any civil rights violations occurred. Day of protests . Under the name Ferguson October, activists demanding justice for Brown will host a protest in the Missouri town Wednesday. Numerous other protests are also expected in cities across the country -- in Sacramento, California; San Francisco; New York City; Philadelphia; Athens, Ohio; and Greensboro, North Carolina, among others. CNN's Evan Perez, Sara Sidner and Pamela Brown contributed to this report. | Official autopsy: Brown sustained 6 gunshot entrance wounds .
Sources told CNN that Brown's blood was on the officer's uniform and in his car .
Legal analyst: The officer will still have to explain why he fired all the shots . |
41,084 | 73e236111fdbb4fed5c687e9bceafc2afe1e4499 | Detectives are investigating claims that former Conservative Home Secretary William Whitelaw ordered police to drop an investigation into a VIP paedophile ring. Whitelaw allegedly told a senior Metropolitan Police boss to quash a year-long investigation into a gang accused of abusing 40 children, the youngest of whom was six. The alleged intervention came in 1980 after a newspaper revealed the country’s chief prosecutor was considering 350 offences against the gang, including allegations it ‘obtained young boys for politicians, prominent lawyers and film stars’. Scroll down for video . Whitelaw pictured with Margaret Thatcher in 1964. A journalist has now claimed Whitelaw told a Metropolitan Police boss in 1980 to quash a year-long investigation into a gang accused of abusing 40 children . The report, published on July 7 that year in the Evening News – a daily London newspaper – revealed police had passed evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and that up to 12 men could face trial for procuring boys and sexual assault. Jeff Edwards, the journalist who wrote the story, claims that just days after it was published he was summoned by police to an interview and threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act. Mr Edwards also claims his source, a serving police officer, was disciplined and fined six months’ wages for leaking the story. He also says he was told by his police source that Whitelaw called a senior police boss and told him to halt the inquiry. Mr Edwards said: ‘My source told me the Home Secretary had spoken to a senior Met Police boss and demanded action was taken to make sure nothing more was printed about the affair and that the investigation be dropped.’ The Mail on Sunday can reveal Mr Edwards has spoken to senior detectives working on the Met’s Operation Midland about the incident, but the Met would not confirm this. Midland was set up last month to investigate sensational claims that boys were murdered and abused by Conservative politicians at parties held in Dolphin Square, an upmarket block of flats close to Westminster popular with MPs, in the 1980s. Mr Edwards said he had been invited to give a statement to detectives in the next few weeks and hopes to give evidence to the upcoming Home Office inquiry into historic sexual abuse. Last night, campaigning MP Simon Danczuk described the allegations as ‘a breakthrough’ in the Westminster child abuse scandal and suggested it was strong evidence there was a paedophile network operating at the heart of the Establishment. The article, unearthed by The Mail on Sunday from newspaper archives, provides a fresh line of inquiry for police probing claims a paedophile network with links to Westminster. Reporter Jeff Edwards (pictured) was threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act after he wrote a story about the 1980 investigation . It revealed six officers in a special unit were conducting the operation from Arbour Square police station in East London. Police had taken statements from 40 youngsters, it said, and established the gang had links between London and Liverpool. It said 12 children in Liverpool from schools for the ‘educationally subnormal’ had given police information. Mr Edwards told The Mail on Sunday his police contact, an experienced detective sergeant who was part of the Arbour Square team, told him when the story broke it ‘caused an eruption at the top in Scotland Yard’. ‘My friend told me the anti-corruption squad, then known as A10, had been told to carry out an urgent investigation about how this matter had got in the press,’ he said. ‘He told me he had been threatened with demotion. Within a day or two I was summoned to the anti-corruption branch HQ at Tintagel House in Vauxhall [South London]. At the end of the interview, which went on for two hours, I was told I could be in breach of the Official Secrets Act and the matter would be formally reported to the DPP to consider whether I should be prosecuted.’ Mr Edwards, who is president of the Crime Reporters Association and was chief crime correspondent on The Mirror, said he heard nothing more from police or the DPP. The Mail on Sunday asked Scotland Yard whether Mr Edwards’s police source, who is now in his 80s and in a care home, was disciplined. It refused to answer questions and claimed it was ‘unable to pursue such historical inquiries’. The Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough information in Mr Edwards’s article to search DPP records. Viscount Whitelaw, who was Deputy Prime Minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government from 1979 to 1988, died in 1999. Mr Edwards’s claims come amid a flurry of allegations politicians were involved in a VIP paedophile ring. Operation Midland was started after a man came forward to say he witnessed a Tory MP murder a boy at a party. The man also claimed that a different Tory MP watched as a boy was sexually abused. The Met’s Operation Fernbridge is looking into claims that politicians, lawyers and pop stars abused children at the Elm Guest House in Barnes, South-West London, in the 1980s. Police have confirmed disgraced former Liberal Democrat MP Sir Cyril Smith was a visitor and this year The Mail on Sunday interviewed a boy he abused. Last night, Mr Danczuk said: ‘This is the strongest evidence yet that there was a paedophile network operating at the heart of the Establishment. The fact we now know hundreds of child abuse offences linked to politicians and other prominent people were being examined by the DPP is a breakthrough. ‘That Cabinet Ministers and police helped shut this investigation down through collusion and cover-up is something the Government’s child sex abuse inquiry must look at.’ | Detectives investigating claim that Whitelaw ordered police to drop inquiry .
He allegedly told a senior Met Police boss to quash year-long investigation .
It came following revelation CPS prosecutor was considering 350 offences .
The revelation provides new line of inquiry for investigation into VIP gang . |
146,952 | 4a0884409f896c856e012b377c85c3c14340faf1 | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two U.S. Air Force F-15s escorted two Russian Bear long-range bombers out of an air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, U.S. military officials said Wednesday. Two U.S. Air Force F-15s were dispatched to meet the Russian bombers. U.S. radar picked up the Russian turbo-prop Tupolev-95 planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast. The U.S. fighters from Elmendorf Air Force Base were dispatched to meet the bombers and escorted them out of the area without incident, the officials said. The United States maintains the air exclusion zone off the coast of Alaska, barring unidentified aircraft or aircraft that don't file flight plans inside that area. The last case of Russian aircraft approaching the U.S. coastline or ships in the Pacific was in February. Then, four Bear bombers flew near the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, with one of them flying about 2,000 feet from the Nimitz's deck. Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time there was no violation of flight regulations during the incident. A ministry official described the flights as standard operating procedure for air force training. Meanwhile, U.S. military officials say the incidents are not a concern. They say it's the Russian military flexing its ability and presence. E-mail to a friend . | U.S. radar picks up the Russian planes about 500 miles off the Alaska coast .
The Russians entered an air exclusion zone .
They are escorted out of the area without incident .
Russian planes last came near the U.S. coastline in February . |
198,586 | 8d0d1c8b953a9723f24c0fd77f0dbc9508cec5ce | Chelsea's £40million-a-year club record shirt sponsorship deal with The Yokohama Rubber Company, announced on Thursday evening, will help to guarantee that the Premier League’s shirt deals are collectively worth twice as much as those in the next most lucrative league, Germany’s Bundesliga. Chelsea have signed a five-year deal worth £200m with the Japanese tyre giants, meaning they now have the second highest shirt sponsorship deal in England, indeed in the world, after Manchester United. United’s deal with Chevrolet was agreed and signed in 2012 on terms of $559m (£332.6m) over seven years, starting with this season, 2014-15. At the exchange rates applicable at the time of the deal, that makes United’s deal worth £47m-a-year. Chelsea revealed their club record sponsorship deal with The Yokohama Rubber Company on Thursday . Manchester United take £47m a year from Chevrolet - here Angel di Maria is pictured with one of the cars . Liverpool's shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered is worth around £20m a year . Chelsea’s deal with Yokohama is even more massive than the deals currently in place at Europe’s biggest, richest and most financially savvy clubs - Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. That trio have current agreements respectively with Emirates, Qatar Airways and Deutsche Telekom each worth around €30 million per year, or about £25m a year at the exchange rates in place at the time. The upshot of the Chelsea deal is that the 20 current Premier League clubs have shirt sponsorship deals in place or upcoming collectively worth a staggering £216.35m, according to exclusive analysis by Sportsmail. That means the average deal is worth more than £10m a year, or £10.8m per club to be precise. Of course within the division there are huge variations. After United and Chelsea, Arsenal make £30m a year from Emirates, Liverpool make £20m a year from Standard Chartered and Manchester City make £20m a year from Etihad. At the other end of the scale, Crystal Palace’s deal with Neteller is worth not quite £1m and Southampton, Burnley and Leicester have deals worth £1m a year - although those will grow if in the Premier League next season. According a new authoritative study published this week by industry analysts Repucom, the 18 clubs of the Bundesliga have shirt deals worth £101m collectively - or less than half the Premier League levels when Chelsea’s new deal is factored in. That works out at £5.6m per Bundesliga club per season. Repucom’s European Football Jersey Report looks at shirt deals across Europe’s major leagues and shows that the La Liga clubs in Spain collectively have deals worth £82m, with more than half that sum at Barca and Real Madrid alone, and the equivalent sums elsewhere are £70m in France’s Ligue 1, £60m in Italy’s Serie A and £31m in the top flight in the Netherlands. Cheslea's Yokohama Rubber deal is even more valuable than Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona's . Manchester City make £20m a year from Etihad - who also sponsor their stadium . Chelsea’s new deal shows the staggering earning potential for ‘super clubs’ with genuine global followings, and highlights the global nature of the Premier League as so many foreign companies seek to use English football to sell their wares to an international audience. This season 14 shirts feature overseas-based companies, compared to 10 last season. Companies from the United Arab Emirates, South Korea (Samsung, to be replaced by Yokohama), the US, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and China are represented. Despite a football-wide ban on betting, gambling companies continue to feature prominently in the Premier League. This season five shirts feature gambling companies: those at Aston Villa (Dafabet.com), Stoke (Bet365), Hull (12Bet), Burnley (Fun88) and West Ham (Betway) – compared to three last season. The total value of the Premier League’s shirt deals have doubled in five seasons. In 2010-11 (details here) they were worth £100.45m. Gambling companies continue to feature prominently in the Premier League with Bet365 sponsoring Stoke . Arsenal: Renewed their sponsorship deal with major airline Fly Emirates in 2012, with the brand continuing to sponsor the stadium, too. Aston Villa: Entered two-year agreement with Dafabet, a leading Asian online betting website, in 2013. Burnley: Previous shirt sponsor in 2010/12 Fun 88 brought back this season, described as Asia’s leading online gaming brand. Chelsea: The Blues' huge new shirt sponsorship deal with The Yokohama Rubber Company is the second highest kit deal ever signed by a Premier League club. Crystal Palace: Neteller, a leading global online payments provider,will be official sponsor for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons. Everton: Hold longest-running shirts sponsorship with Chang Beer, a Thai brand, with the relationship having started 10 years ago. Hull City: Global sports betting brand 12Bet confirmed on two-year deal at the start of the season. Leicester City: King Power, who also sponsor the stadium, are the 'King of Duty Free' and have held a partnership with the Foxes since 2010. Liverpool: Extended deal with bank Standard Chartered until the end of 2015/16 season in 2013. Manchester City : Announced largest sponsorship deal of its kind back in 2011 after agreeing 10-year deal with Arab airline Etihad. Manchester United: Old Trafford club signed a seven-year shirt sponsorship with the American car giants Chevrolet that started this season. Newcastle: Controversial pay-day loans company Wonga have sponsored the north east club since 2012 after singing four-year-agreement. QPR: Low-cost airline AirAsia, owned by QPR owner Tony Fernandes, extended their shirt sponsorship deal with the club last summer. Southampton: Global consumer electronics company Veho signed a two-year deal with the south coast club in 2014. Stoke City: Mark Hughes' side is coming to the end of their three-year shirt sponsorship deal with betting company Bet365 . Sunderland: North east club signed four-year shirt sponsorship deal with national food service company Bidvest at the start of this season. Swansea: The Swans extended their deal with online trading company GWFX for another two years, the biggest deal in the club's history. Tottenham Hotspur: Spurs signed a five-year deal with insurance services provider AIA ahead of this season after they were the shirt sponsor for cup games last campaign. West Ham: Hammers announced deal with gaming company Betway earlier in February a month after previous sponsor Alpari went bust. West Brom: Intuit QuickBooks, a leader in small business accounting software, teamed up with the Baggies last summer after agreeing one-year deal. | Chelsea reveal shirt sponsorship with The Yokohama Rubber Company .
Blues sign five-year deal worth £200m with the Japanese tyre giants .
Manchester United top in world football with £47m-a-year Chevrolet deal .
Chelsea top Arsenal (Fly Emirates) and Liverpool (Standard Chartered)
Premier League shirt deals worth twice as much as those in the Bundesliga . |
230,453 | b66ded566f53da99029147dc40c37c9a7548fdd4 | Last year she was hailed as one of the most influential people in the world - a defender of women's rights as Afghanistan's only female head prosecutor. Ms Bashir has been lauded by both . Michelle Obama and Hilary Clinton - and she was one of ten women to receive a 'Women of Courage' Award in Washington last year. But Maria Bashir's reputation is now in doubt after the Times revealed that Ms Bashir is also the most prolific prosecutor of women for Afghanistan's so-called 'moral' crimes, such as adultery. While Ms Bashir campaigns against abuse husbands, more than half of the 172 women jailed in Afghanistan for sex outside of marriage (known as 'zina') have come from her province. Defender or jailer? Maria Bashir, pictured with with First Lady Michelle Obama U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has jailed more than 100 women for adultery in Afghanistan . The Herat province's population stands at an estimated 1.7million, and Afghanistan as a whole has a population of 35million. Last week Ms Bashir, who became lead prosecutor in 2006, and has prosecuted nearly a thord of the 78 women jailed for murder in Afghanistan, was promoted to become Herat's attorney-general. The Times said diplomats are 'shocked' by the extraordinary tally of women imprisoned for adultery. It further says that 101 out of 136 women serving in Herat's women jail are there for adultery, one of the moral crimes which campaigners for women's rights are trying to remove from Afghanistan. Two sides: Maria Bashir, attorney general of Herat comforting Arefa, a victim of domestic violence, in Herat, Afghanistan, last year . When she received her award, the two presidential wives said: 'Ms Bashir has waged a determined campaign against crime and corruption. 'She stands out as a champion of judicial transparency and women's rights, and exemplifies the resilience of Afghan women.' When the Times contacted Ms Bashir, she said she was unaware that her prosecution rate was so much higer than other provinces, but blamed it on her province's closeness to the border with Iran. She said: 'If it is higher it's because we are bordered with Iran, which culturally influences Afghans.' | More than 50% of women jailed for adultery in Afghanistan come from province prosecuted by Ms Bashir - which holds just 20% of the population . |
64,163 | b63cb06e052528fe2e7e143c3007f204e0a60b18 | Washington (CNN) -- A federal safety board called Tuesday for a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones and text messaging devices while driving. The recommendation is the most far-reaching yet by the National Transportation Safety Board, which in the past 10 years has increasingly sought to limit the use of portable electronic devices -- recommending bans for novice drivers, school bus drivers and commercial truckers. Tuesday's recommendation, if adopted by states, would outlaw non-emergency phone calls and texting by operators of every vehicle on the road. It would apply to hands-free as well as hand-held devices, but devices installed in the vehicle by the manufacturer would be allowed, the NTSB said. The recommendation would not affect passengers' rights to use such devices. Study: Distracted drivers in denial . NTSB members say the action is necessary to combat a growing threat posed by distracted drivers. While distracted driving has been a problem "since the Model T," in the words of NTSB Chairwoman Deborah Hersman, authorities say it has become ubiquitous with the explosion in the number of portable smart phones. At any given daylight moment, some 13.5 million drivers are on hand-held phones, according to a study released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some 3,092 roadway fatalities last year involved distracted drivers, although the actual number may be far higher, NHTSA said. "This (distracted driving) is becoming the new DUI. It's becoming epidemic," said NTSB member Robert Sumwalt. Accident investigators routinely seek protective orders to preserve smart phones for use as evidence in accident investigations, Hersman said. But because distracted drivers sometimes do not own up to their actions, or because they die during the crash, determining whether distraction was a factor in an accident can be difficult. That was the case in a 2010 chain-reaction accident near Gray Summit, Missouri. During the 11 minutes prior to that incident, the driver of a pickup truck received five text messages, and sent six, and he was seen leaning over just before the accident, leading investigators to believe the driver was likely distracted when his truck plowed at 55 mph into the rear of a tractor trailer, which had slowed or stopped because of a highway work zone. Two school buses then plowed into the wreckage. Two people -- including the pickup truck driver and a bus occupant -- were killed; 38 other people were injured. The driver of the pickup truck was 19 years old, and was in violation of a Missouri law prohibiting drivers under the age of 21 from texting while driving. But the safety board focused little on the age of the driver, casting "distracted driving" as epidemic among people of all ages. Time: How dangerous is it, really? The NTSB said cell phone laws alone would not solve the problem, but must be accompanied by aggressive educational campaigns and strict enforcement. The Missouri State Highway Patrol had issued only 120 citations for texting in a two-year-period, the NTSB said. Currently, a patchwork of laws governs cell-phone usage by drivers. Some 35 states ban text messaging while driving, 30 states ban cell-phone use by novice drivers, and 10 ban all use of hand-held cell phones, according to the NTSB. The safety board also recommended the electronics industry develop phones that would discourage their use by drivers, but could identify a car occupant's location so that passengers could use the devices. A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study of commercial drivers found that a safety-critical event is 163 times more likely if a driver is texting, e-mailing or accessing the Internet. The NTSB's action is a recommendation only, but the board has been instrumental in leading for changes in other areas of transportation safety. Chairwoman Hersman said the ban may inconvenience motorists, but would save lives. "Needless lives are lost on our highways, and for what? Convenience? Death isn't convenient," Hersman said. "So we can stay more connected? A fatal accident severs that connection." The NTSB's investigation of the August 5, 2010, Missouri crash also exposed numerous other safety shortcomings. Although Missouri requires school bus inspections twice a year -- one by the highway patrol and a second by a certified inspection station -- an inspection 10 days before the accident did not reveal faulty brakes on one of the buses, the NTSB said. The faulty brakes were not a factor in the accident, the NTSB said, because the driver said she did not hit the brakes before the crash. But the NTSB criticized the service station that inspected the brakes, the contract owner of the school buses, and the highway patrol. The highway patrol gave the bus company a "Total Fleet Maintenance Award" before the accident because 100% of its buses had passed inspection. In an unannounced inspection following the tragedy, the pass rate dropped to 60%, the NTSB said. The NTSB said both the inspection station and the highway patrol performed inadequate inspections. Read featured comments from this story . | NTSB has been trying to limit the use of portable electronic devices in vehicles .
The recommendation for a total ban includes hands-free devices .
Study: At any given daylight moment, 13.5 million drivers are on hand-held phones .
Some 3,092 roadway fatalities last year involved distracted drivers . |
208,253 | 999b78c9f0b331f51cf432b2b0d83beeffc356ab | By . Daniel Martin . The MP who first raised the alarm against Nigel Evans last night warned that Westminster was 'turning a blind eye' to sexual harassment in the corridors of power. Sarah Wollaston, Tory MP for Totnes, said she had faced 'rank hostility' from colleagues whom she accused of turning on her over her decisions to report allegations against Mr Evans. She said senior political figures have many 'questions to answer' over the culture of the Houses of Parliament, dubbed the 'Palace of Sexminster'. The MP spoke out days after fellow Conservative Mr Evans, the former Commons deputy speaker, was cleared of eight charges of sex attacks on young men, including one of rape. Speaking out: Sarah Wollaston said she had faced 'rank hostility' from colleagues whom she accused of turning on her over her decisions to report allegations against Nigel Evans . The case went to court after Dr Wollaston raised allegations she had heard from an alleged victim with the Commons Speaker John Bercow. Mr Evans said he had been the victim of a Machiavellian plot and said Dr Wollaston had 'decided to have it in' for him. But last night he claimed he bore no ill will towards Dr Wollaston. '[If I met her] I'd say, "Hello Sarah, let's have a chat", and no doubt at some stage we will,' he told LBC radio. 'It's difficult for anybody to be put in the position that Sarah Wollaston was put in, and then to think, "What would you do if somebody came to you with something like that?", and so I don't blame her.' It emerged last night that former Tory leadership contender David Davis had organised a welcome back to Parliament party for Mr Evans, the MP for Ribble Valley, to be held next week. After Mr Evans's acquittal a survey for Channel 4 News uncovered evidence of a culture of excessive drinking between some MPs and young male researchers in Commons bars. Writing for the Telegraph's website, Dr Wollaston said: 'This process was never going to be easy. But I have been truly shocked by the rank hostility since Mr Evans's acquittal, from those who seriously feel I should have done nothing. How can it be acceptable for a third of the 70 researchers interviewed by Channel 4 News to have experienced sexual harassment at Westminster? 'The people who truly have questions to answer are those who have for so long turned a blind eye to the reports of such harassment. I didn't, and don't, want to be one of them.' One of the alleged victims in the case spoke to police last May after telling Dr Wollaston what he claimed had happened. She informed Mr Bercow, who said it was a police matter after being told another young man had accused Mr Evans of rape. In court, Mr Evans said that the alleged rape had been consensual sex, and accused other complainants of telling 'absurd' stories as part of a co-ordinated effort to wreck his political career. Dr Wollaston wrote: 'Following his acquittal on nine charges of rape and sexual assault, Nigel Evans – the former Deputy Speaker – has claimed that I "had it in for him". 'Others have demanded that I apologise, and reflect on my role in the case. 'To them, I ask: What would you do if, in a social setting, someone told you that they had been sexually assaulted by one of your most popular colleagues? 'Would you have laughed off the allegation, or brushed it aside? I did not.' She revealed that since the verdict, she had spoken to the young men and 'offered to stand down as an MP if they feel that I pressured them to take the complaint forward'. 'Both are clear that I did not do so, and that I discussed with them the risks of doing so as well as their own concerns about protecting others,' she said. And she also rejected Mr Evans' argument that rape suspects should be given anonymity. 'Few cases make it to a courtroom and fewer still result in a conviction,' she said. 'Changing the rules on anonymity would slash reporting rates even further.' Dr Wollaston, who is a GP, said she felt she had to pass on the allegations because she was a member of the Commons health select committee which has called for doctors to be struck off if they fail to report serious allegations about colleagues. 'It would have been rank hypocrisy to demand that standard from my fellow doctors, while failing to be prepared to do so myself,' she said. | Sarah Wollaston said she faced 'rank hostility' after reporting allegations .
She said there are 'questions to answer' over sexual harassment . |
88,483 | fb1fab85cb902a5b1c3e39b7c891325a8b509bb6 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 06:19 EST, 28 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 09:26 EST, 28 September 2012 . Whoops: Boris said that the PM got his Letterman question wrong to look less clever before making a glaring error himself . Boris Johnson today accused David Cameron of pretending not to know what Magna Carta meant before embarrassingly getting an easy question wrong himself. The London Mayor said the Prime Minister was trying to hide how clever he was just before he failed to name who scored a hat-trick for England in the 1966 World Cup final. Mr Johnson should have answered Geoff Hurst, but was miles off when he said it was centre back and captain Bobby Moore. Tellingly his claim the Tory leader feigned ignorance exposes the growing rift between the Prime Minister and the outspoken London Mayor, seen as his main rival to lead the Conservatives. Mr Cameron was widely mocked for his appearance on American television’s The Late Show with David Letterman earlier this week after the US host quizzed him on British history. The grilling included being asked what Magna Carta meant and who composed Rule Britannia. The Prime Minister fluffed both questions, but his fellow Old Etonian and Oxford University contemporary Mr Johnson today claimed Mr Cameron really knew Magna Carta meant Great Charter and faked the apparent knowledge gap to appear more down-to-earth. Classics scholar Mr Johnson said: 'I think he was only pretending. I think he knew full well what Magna Carta means. 'It was a brilliant move in order to show his demotic credentials and that he didn’t have Latin bursting out of every orifice.' Terrible mistake: Boris plumped for captain Bobby Moore, centre, rather than the man to his right, hat trick hero Geoff Hurst . Was it over? Geoff Hurst (out of picture) famously scored three in the World Cup Final on July 30, 1966 at Wembley - including this one where the ball hit the bar and bounced down . Quizzed on more modern British history during an appearance on LBC 97.3 radio, Mr Johnson failed to correctly identify Geoff Hurst as the scorer of a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final victory over West Germany, the only time England have ever been world champions. Mr Johnson claimed defender Bobby Moore netted three. In fact, Moore was the captain who held aloft the Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley. Perhaps realising the revelation could damage his dreams of claiming the keys to No 10 Downing Street, the 48-year-old mayor protested: 'I was only two!' Interview: David Cameron's appearance on Letterman was overshadowed by his failure to get a few questions about Britain right - but Boris says he did it to look less clever . Rivals: Mr Cameron and Mr Johnson could soon be fighting for leadership of the Tory party . In a wide-ranging interview and phone-in with presenter Nick Ferrari, Mr Johnson faced the anger of London taxi drivers frustrated by transport arrangements during the Olympics. He apologised to businesses whose trade was hit by the summer spectacle, but denied claims the capital became a 'ghost town'. Mr Johnson said: 'I’m not going to pretend it was a bonanza for everybody and for those that feel hard done by, I’m sorry for the losses or low takings they had. 'But the overall economic benefit to London of people around the world seeing a city that can deliver an amazing event like that so successfully was incredibly positive.' The mayor admitted trade was 'patchy', but claimed the Games were “overwhelmingly for the benefit of the city'. He added: 'If you look at the spend by tourists in the city, it was up overall. 'The economic impact of the Games is estimated to be massively positive.' | The Mayor of London answered Bobby Moore then blamed his age for getting it wrong .
He also said David Cameron got answers incorrect to make himself look less clever . |
42,190 | 7716b9b19136eaf044fee911bbbbd3d9fef25013 | The man who fired Borussia Dortmund to the Champions League final just two seasons ago says he expects his former side to be back in Europe's elite next season. Robert Lewandowski scored against his old club as Bayern Munich came from behind to beat Jurgen Klopp's struggling side. But the Polish striker insists Dortmund, who are currently in the relegation zone after losing five of their previous six Bundesliga games, will catch up with their rivals. Robert Lewandowski shakes hands with his former manager Jurgen Klopp after Bayern Munich's win . Lewandowski points to the sky after scoring against his old club, but says it wasn't a celebration . Dortmund are struggling in the Bundesliga this season, but Lewandowski has backed them to turn it around . 'I know BVB are still a great team,' said Lewandowski after the game. 'They're struggling at the moment. 'But I expect them to come catch up again and I know they will play in the Champions League again next season.' Lewandowski's goal, which cancelled out Marco Reus' first-half header, was his first against Dortmund since joining German champions Bayern this summer. Despite the tough start, Lewandowski thinks his former club will make next season's Champions League . Arjen Robben's penalty inflicted a fifth defeat in six league games on Klopp's relegation-threatened side . Marco Reus had given the visitors the lead in the first half with this excellent header . And while the striker pointed to the sky after finding the net he insisted it was not a celebration against his former employers. 'It was not an easy game - for me, either,' he said. 'I did not celebrate but it was an important goal and it was a goal for my dad. 'We were not perfect during the first half but the only important thing is that we got the three points.' | Borussia Dortmund have lost five of their last six league games .
Jurgen Klopp's side in relegation zone after 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich .
Former Dortmund striker Lewandowski scored Bayern's equaliser .
Lewandowski says he did not celebrate the 'important' goal .
But Polish striker insists his former club will bounce back . |
27,513 | 4df841f0b387448771a1dc24d8c358e2f347b94f | (CNN) -- An audio message reportedly from al Qaeda's deputy chief vows revenge for Israel's air and ground assault on Gaza and calls the Jewish state's actions against Hamas militants "a gift" from U.S. President-elect Barack Obama. Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri is said to address Muslims in Gaza in an audio message released Tuesday. The speaker, identified as Ayman al-Zawahiri, addresses Muslims in Gaza. He said the violence "is one part of a series of a crusade war against Islam and these air strikes are a gift from Obama before he takes office, and (Egyptian President) Hosni Mubarak, that traitor, is the main partner in your siege and killing." The message, posted Tuesday on various Islamist Web sites with a picture of al-Zawahiri next to an image of a wounded child, urges militants to rally against Israel. "My Muslim brothers and mujahedeens in Gaza and all over Palestine, with the help of God we are with you in the battle, we will direct our strikes against the crusader Jewish coalition wherever we can." The 10-minute message also address Muslims worldwide, claiming that Obama was portrayed as "the savior who will come and change American policy" during the U.S. election but is now "killing your brothers and sisters in Gaza without mercy or even pity." Obama's transition team did not immediately respond to the message. Earlier Tuesday, the president-elect said he was "deeply concerned" about the loss of life in Gaza and Israel, and he promised to make the issue a top priority in his administration. It was Obama's first public reaction to the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which began with Israeli air strikes 11 days ago. He reiterated that only one president can speak for the United States at a time. "Starting at the beginning of our administration, we are going to engage effectively and consistently to try to resolve the conflicts that exist in the Middle East," Obama said. CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson said the al Qaeda message speaks to al-Zawahiri's cause in two ways: It bashes the new U.S. president before he takes office and it criticizes Mubarak, who has drawn al-Zawahiri's ire for not allowing goods and aid through Egypt's border with Gaza. Al-Zawahiri is a native of Egypt who has served jail time there. Robertson, who is reporting from the Israeli-Gaza border, noted on CNN's "Situation Room" that al-Zawahiri got the message out quickly -- "within 12 days, that's very fast." He said that indicated "there's many issues there that are dear to him." | Ten-minute message delivered by Ayman al-Zawahiri, a native of Egypt .
In address, al-Zawahiri says violence a "gift" from Obama before he takes office .
The message, on various Islamist Web sites, urges militants to rally against Israel .
In Obama's first public reaction to the violence, he says he is "deeply concerned" |
7,140 | 1436f93b55a1053a1902a267e927fb0890022c2e | Stalking along the backstreets and failing miserably to blend into the background, the sight of this emerald-coloured stray has caused uproar in a Black Sea resort town. Locals in Varna, Bulgaria, assumed the cat was the victim of a cruel prank by vandals and set up a Facebook group called 'Punishment to the the perpetrator of this criminal act'. But it has now been revealed that the cat has developed a green hue because it usually sleeps on an abandoned heap of synthetic green paint in a garage. Scroll down for video . Green with envy: The sight of this stray roaming the backstreets in Varna, Bulgaria has caused uproar . Feline jealous? A video has appeared on which shows the emerald-green feline playing with a ginger cat . This has been backed up by reports which say the stray cat becomes more green each day. A video has appeared on YouTube which shows the feline playing with a ginger cat, whose marmalade-coloured coat stands in stark contrast to the bright-green fur. Varna is a popular tourist destination as it is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The RSPCA has warned that dyeing or painting animals for cosmetic reasons could have 'potentially fatal consequences'. Eye-catching: Locals in the Black Sea resort town assumed the cat was the victim of a prank by vandals . But it has been revealed that the cat usually sleeps on an abandoned heap of synthetic green paint . This has been backed up by reports which say the stray cat becomes more green each day . Blending in: Varna is a popular tourist destination as it is the largest seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast . Locals set up a Facebook group called 'Punishment to the the perpetrator of this criminal act' They were calling for vandals to be taken to court and punished for the act of animal cruelty . The RSPCA has warned that dyeing or painting animals for cosmetic reasons could have 'potentially fatal consequences' | A bright green cat has been seen roaming the streets in Varna, Bulgaria .
Many assumed the stray was the victim of a cruel prank by vandals .
But the cat actually sleeps on a heap of synthetic green paint in a garage . |
12,819 | 245383ede60735d2e67c84ba36c9672bd3c73a58 | By . James Chapman . UPDATED: . 05:53 EST, 3 October 2011 . Insistence: Iain Duncan Smith has said the policy of tax breaks for married couples must be implemented and will use his conference speech today to remind the Prime Minister . Tax breaks for married couples must be implemented before the next election as David Cameron promised, Iain Duncan Smith will insist today. The Work and Pensions Secretary will use his conference speech to remind the Prime Minister about the policy, which MPs fear has slipped down the agenda thanks to the power-sharing deal with the Lib Dems. Mr Duncan Smith, the leading Cabinet champion of the policy, will also insist the Government must do more to reverse the bias against couples in the tax and benefit system. And he will signal new sanctions for benefit claimants who refuse to take jobs, promising a new ‘contract’ which will ‘bring to an end the something-for-nothing culture’. ‘Fail to seek work, take work, stay in work or co-operate, and you will lose your benefits,’ he will say. A poll for the think tank Mr Duncan Smith set up in opposition has identified overwhelming support for a recognition in the tax system for marriage. The YouGov survey for the Centre for Social Justice found two-thirds of voters support the idea, suggesting it enjoys support well beyond those who have tied the knot. The CSJ today publishes a ‘manifesto for the family’, which is designed as a wake-up call to the Government on the issue of family breakdown and the need for tangible support for marriage. It calls for ministers to speak up more clearly in support of the institution of marriage, remove the penalty against couples in the benefits system, and reject plans to make divorce easier. Clear pledge: David Cameron has previously said that he will recognise marriage in the tax system and do so before the end of this Parliament . Mr Duncan Smith will tell the conference that the role of the family is ‘one of the most important issues for our country’. ‘This isn’t about government interfering in family life; it’s about government recognising that stable two-parent families are vital for the creation of a strong society,’ he will say. ‘It’s about parents taking responsibility for their children. It is about government realising that we have to create a level playing field for the decisions people make about family. ‘This means reversing the biases against stability we’ve seen in recent years, including the damaging financial discouragement to couple formation, despite the evidence of its stable outcomes for children. ‘We also need to make sure that support is available when families most need it. That’s why I intend for our welfare reforms to make an impact on the couple penalty where it matters most – amongst families on the lowest incomes. ‘Furthermore, the Prime Minister has made it clear that in this Parliament the Government will recognise marriage in the tax system.’ Right signal: Gavin Poole said that the introduction of a tax break would show society that marriage is a stabilising factor and contributes to the welfare of both adults and children . Before the election, the Tories proposed a transferable allowance which would apply to all married couples – and gay couples in civil partnerships – who pay the basic rate of income tax. Spouses not using all of their tax-free personal allowance – either because they stay at home or work part-time and earn less than £6,600 – were to be able to transfer £750 of their benefit to their working partner. Eligible couples where one partner is not using all the tax-free personal allowance and the other earns between £6,600 and £44,000 would be up to £150 a year better off. But the issue went on the back burner in coalition talks with the Lib Dems, who fiercely oppose special recognition for marriage. Mr Cameron has said since the election that he intends to honour the pledge before 2015, but Chancellor George Osborne suggested last week there would be no room for tax cuts before the election. As well as identifying strong support for marriage tax breaks, the poll for the CSJ found that, in the wake of the summer riots, more than 80 per cent say they regard family breakdown as a ‘serious’ problem facing society. Gavin Poole, CSJ executive director, said: ‘Restoring a tax break for marriage would provide help to families and send a signal right through society that marriage is a stabilising factor and contributes to the welfare of adults and children alike.’ She may once have been dubbed the Tory Party’s ‘secret weapon’, but Samantha Cameron is not known for her deep interest in politics. And yesterday she underlined the point by making a discreet exit from the Conservative Party conference three hours before it had even started. Discreet exit: Samantha Cameron posed for photos with her husband but just minutes later was returning to London to look after their children. She will return to the conference on Tuesday . Mrs Cameron travelled to Manchester on Saturday and accompanied her husband while he did a round of television interviews yesterday morning. She posed for pictures with him outside the conference hotel, in a £220 beige Nicole Farhi jacket teamed with a black £15.99 top from the high street store Zara and black cropped trousers from Joseph costing £165. But minutes later she was packing her bags and heading back to London to look after the couple’s children. On her arrival in Manchester, she wore £39.99 orange trousers and a £19.99 grey top both from Zara. High street chic: Samantha Cameron teamed orange trousers and a grey top, both from Zara, for her arrival at the conference with her husband . Today, while her husband puts the finishing touches to his speech, she is expected at work at the upmarket stationery firm Smythson where she is a part-time consultant. Sources suggested she would return on Tuesday, on the eve of the Prime Minister’s speech to conference. She was not the only political wife to bow out of Manchester yesterday – William Hague’s wife Ffion departed shortly after the Foreign Secretary addressed the conference. | Work and Pensions Secretary will remind Prime Minister about pledge in conference speech . |
109,482 | 191a4767f10fa7bc31945611342c327b2f174fe8 | David Cameron yesterday tried to defend his decision to pose for a light-hearted ‘selfie’ in the middle of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service – by claiming he was only being polite. The Prime Minister attempted to laugh off the storm of criticism he provoked after larking around with Barack Obama and Denmark’s prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt. He joked he was being ‘polite’ by agreeing to pose for a picture with Miss Thorning-Schmidt, the glamorous daughter-in-law of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock. Scroll down for video . The polite thing to do: David Cameron has defended posing for this selfie during Nelson Mandela's memorial service, saying it was proof the late leader was still 'bringing people together' All smiles: Mr Cameron posed for the snap with Barack Obama and Danish leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt . Is that appropriate? Images of the three leaders taking the group photo prompted outrage online . Mr Cameron was challenged over the . photo at Prime Minister’s Questions by Liberal Democrat MP Martin . Horwood, who asked him: ‘Has the Prime Minister had the opportunity to . discuss international mobile phone usage with any other European heads . of government over the last day or so?’ To laughter from MPs, Mr . Cameron replied: ‘You could say, in a roundabout way. Perhaps in my . defence, you should always remember that the television cameras are . always on. ‘But in my . defence I would say that Nelson Mandela played an extraordinary role in . his life and in his death in bringing people together. 'So of course when . a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it . was only polite to say yes.' Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also came to Mr Cameron's defence today. David Cameron cuddling up to the glamorous Danish Prime Minister and Barack Obama for an impromptu 'selfie' was a sight to behold . Get in shot! Ms Thorning-Schmidt, who is Neil Kinnock's daughter-in-law, pulls Mr Cameron into the frame . President Barack Obama and Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt chat during the ceremony . Mrs Thorning-Schmidt then points out something of interest in the order of service . They then share a joke during the poignant memorial to Nelson Mandela . Mr Cameron said he was just being polite in agreeing to the selfie, because he was asked by a member of the Kinnock family . The smartphone used in the selfie appears to be a BlackBerry Z10, the company's larger 4.2-inch touchscreen handset, which came out in March this year. Judging by the way Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt is holding the camera, the snap would have been taken using the handset's front-facing 2MP camera - a high resolution for a front-facing lens, but not the best choice when taking a selfie with the leader of the free world. The back lens offers a far superior quality - an 8MP camera complete with auto-focus and auto-stabilisation functions that would avoid any blur when focussing in on one of the three recognisable faces. Miss Thorning-Schmidt could have also zoomed in on the faces with the 3x digital zoom to really highlight the cheesy grins being shown off at the time. After having taken the photo, she may have used the phone’s built-in camera app, or downloaded a selfie app such as TapCam Mirror, which would have let her add fun frames to the pictures. Miss Thorning-Schmidt would have also been able to share the image instantly using her BlackBerry Messenger contacts on the BlackBerry 10 operating system. Speaking on his radio phone-in on LBC . 97.3, Mr Clegg said: 'I know some people aren't happy about it. I think it was . a bit of friendly light-hearted joking around by the three of them. I . personally don't feel that people should be too censorious about it at . all.' He added: 'It was a . very celebratory atmosphere, it was a real celebration of the man's . life. There was dancing, there was singing, the crowd was in a very . jubilant mood. 'So it wasn't as out of keeping with the setting as I think some people have suggested.' A . photo of the incident at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium quickly went viral . and featured on front pages on both sides of the Atlantic yesterday. The . New York Daily News described it as a ‘funeral faux-pas’, while a poll . for the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet found that two-thirds of Danes . felt posing for a jokey picture at a funeral was ‘inappropriate’. The . British political commentator Iain Martin said: ‘Why do Cameron and . Obama feel the need to behave like idiots?’ Michelle Obama also appeared . deeply unamused, staring stonily ahead while the three world leaders . joked around. In a comment on Twitter, the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan said: . ‘One person in that image retains her dignity – Michelle.’ The . photograph provoked scathing criticism on social media, with many users . saying it was inappropriate for world leaders to joke around at an . event to mark the death of one of the great statesmen of the 20th . century. Twitter user James . Armitage wrote: ‘What selfish morons take a “selfie” at a memorial . service? Oh yeah that’s right, Barack Obama and David Cameron.’ In a . message directed at Mr Cameron, Sarah McDermott said: ‘You have . precisely zero class or decorum.’ Miss Thorning-Schmidt is married to Stephen Kinnock, the son of former UK Labour leader Neil (right) Downing . Street said the event was ‘a celebration of Mr Mandela’s life’ rather . than a funeral. AFP photographer Roberto Schmidt, who took the now . infamous photograph of the three leaders, acknowledged they were . ‘messing about like kids instead of behaving with the mournful gravitas . one might expect’. But he . defended their behaviour, saying he felt they were ‘simply acting like . human beings’, given the ‘carnival atmosphere’ inside the stadium. Tens of thousands of South Africans filed past Nelson Mandela’s . embalmed body as he lay in state in Pretoria yesterday. His body was . surrounded by flowers, and dressed in one of his trademark colourful . shirts. Huge crowds began . forming in the early hours of yesterday, with the line stretching 2km . through the streets. Many mourners waited for at least four hours in the . baking sun. Politicians, celebrities and Mr Mandela’s family had all paid their respects before the public were allowed in. The . group included Mr Mandela’s widow Graca Machel, his former wife Winnie, . South African president Jacob Zuma, U2 singer Bono, Zimbabwean dictator . Robert Mugabe and supermodel Naomi Campbell, who wiped away tears and . had to be comforted after viewing Mr Mandela’s body. Helle Thorning-Schmidt was previously . given a warm welcome by David Cameron (below) when she visited Number . 10 on her first official to London as Danish Prime Minister in November . 2011. As the . daughter-in-law of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, it was joked that a . Kinnock had finally managed to get a foot inside Downing Street. Her father-in-law famously lost to John Major's Conservatives in the 1992 general election after leading the polls for months. While he blamed sustained personal attacks on him by the press, critics said voters were turned off by Labour’s tax plans and his premature triumphalism at a Sheffield party rally. There had been fears that his son Stephen's wife could suffer from the same 'Kinnock curse' in the lead-up to polling day. And indeed she was forced to dismiss allegations that she had separated from her husband and that he was gay right before her general election. Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt speaks during a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House in February last year . But it did not stop her sweeping to victory to become Denmark's first female Prime Minister in September 2011. During her time in office, she has also visited Barack Obama at the White House in February last year. Dubbed a 'Gucci diva' for her penchant for designer clothes, she led a 'Red bloc' of parties to oust centre-right Lars Loekke Rasmussen from office. Stylish: Thorning-Schmidt has been dubbed a 'Gucci diva' for her penchant for designer clothes . Miss Thorning-Schmidt, 46, gained a master's degree in political science from Copenhagen University in 1994. Two years later, she married Stephen Kinnock, 42, whom she met in Belgium. They have two daughters - Johanna, 16, and Camilla, 13. The Danish premier (pictured with husband Stephen Kinnock, left) swept to election victory two years ago . | David Cameron posed for snap with US President Barack Obama and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt during service .
Leaders gathered in Johannesburg's FNB Stadium for tribute to Mandela .
As 4-hour service rumbled on, politicians took pictures of themselves .
Mr Cameron admits he should remember TV cameras are always on .
Deputy PM Nick Clegg defends shot at a 'light-hearted' event . |
99,092 | 0ba6381e1e209da290cfc6cf90405f4da18d81ba | (CNN) -- Wristbands are the latest craze in high-tech fitness hardware. Nike+ and Fitbit might ring a bell. But could headbands be the next big thing? The Canadian company InteraXon is going there with the introduction of Muse, a headband that links with your mobile device to read your mind. Sure, brain stuff can be scary. But don't worry. This one's here for your own good. Check out the video to see how it works. | Company introduces headband that reads your brain waves and links to your phone .
InteraXon was formed in 2007 in Toronto .
Technology was initially developed by renowned cyberneticist Dr. Steve Mann . |
232,633 | b9379d8c6dc1d0278106a149efeca18bdb89b81b | By . Kieran Gill . Follow @@kie1410 . Chelsea XI: Beeney, Aina, Chalobah, Christensen, Kane, Baker (captain), Loftus-Cheek, Colkett (Musonda, 54), Kiwomya, Bamford, Boga . Unused substitutes: Collins, Solanke, Dabo, Houghton . Bookings: Kane (12) Goals: Maffeo (OG 77), Musonda (90+2) Manchester City XI: Gunn, Bossaerts, Facey, Maffeo, Angelino, Glendon (Captain), Fofana, Ntcham (Horsfield, 64), Bytyqi, Cole, Ambrose (Hiwula, 60) Unused substitutes: Lawlor, Byrne, Pozo . Bookings: Ntcham (17), Facey (56 & 81) Goals: Maffeo (2) Patrick Vieira's youngsters got their Barclays U21 Premier League season off to a losing start after a red card, an own goal and a 92nd-minute strike from substitute Charly Musonda won Chelsea the match. Manchester City's Elite Development Squad could do little to prevent the 2-1 defeat on Friday night after Shay Facey was sent off for two bookable offences, leaving Chelsea with 10 minutes to attack. Chelsea Youth Team manager Adi Viveash will leave Aldershot sensing fortune was on his side, while City right-back Pablo Maffeo will return north feeling the opposite. A goal from Maffeo just two minutes in - his first at U21 level - got City en route to three points, only for the Spaniard to find his own net and gift Chelsea an equaliser 13 minutes from time. It was a melee in the box that allowed Maffeo to capitalise for his opener, before a tricky cross from Chelsea's Alex Kiwomya caused problems for the 17-year-old who, in truth, didn't deserve such rotten luck. It got worse for City as, four minutes later, they were reduced to 10 men with Facey the culprit receiving two yellow cards. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Manchester City U21 Seko Fofana score a 30 yard screamer . Persistent: Chelsea's Charly Musonda celebrates scoring the 92nd-minute winner against Manchester City . Chelsea Youth Team manager Adi Viveash talked to their official website afterwards. 'It was a really tough game against a really strong, physical team. They caused us problems but the game was everything I expected it to be,' he said. ‘It was nice for Charly to score because it was a difficult decision for me to leave him out. He’s had an outstanding pre-season, scoring and creating goals, and he was unlucky to miss out tonight but he responded in the perfect way.’ Facey's first came in the 56th minute for holding back Kiwomya, before he committed the same foul on Dominic Solanke less than half an hour later to be sent for an early shower in the Aldershot changing rooms. Chelsea sensed the win was within reach, and their persistence paid off. Kiwomya, a thorn in City's side all evening, burst down the right and a deflected cross fell kindly to substitute Musonda, whose low shot found the bottom corner. It was too little, too late for City to muster a comeback, and the U21 Premier League season started with advantage Viveash over Vieira. Losing start: Patrick Vieira's youngsters kicked off with a loss against Chelsea after an own goal and red card . | Chelsea win Barclays U21 Premier League opener against Manchester City .
City right-back Pablo Maffeo scores after just two minutes before his own goal gifts Chelsea equaliser 13 minutes from time at Aldershot .
City's Shay Facey receives red card in 81st minute for two bookable offences .
Chelsea substitute Charly Musonda scores in 92nd minute for three points . |
97,826 | 09f2d512ae1cffcea6de638167ecac366744e10d | North Korea said Tuesday that it had promoted a little-known general to a key military rank, a day after it announced that it had relieved its army chief of all his government posts. The secretive state's top two military commissions have decided to give the title of vice marshal to Hyon Yong Chol, according to a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The KCNA report did not say whether Hyon will replace Ri Yong Ho, the departed army chief. Ri held the title of vice marshal along with other military and party posts before his removal. North Korea said Monday that it was relieving Ri from all his posts due to an unspecified illness. The news prompted speculation among analysts that there might be a power struggle between North Korea's powerful military and civilian elite. Kim Jong Un became "supreme leader" of North Korea after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il, in December. Ri -- who was appointed army chief in February 2009, according to KCNA -- was considered one of Kim Jong Un's closest aides during and after his rise to power. There are several other vice marshals in North Korea at the moment. Those holding the title are considered to be eligible for key posts in the upper echelons of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. Not much is known about Hyon, but his promotion is probably the work of Kim Jong Un's uncle, Jang Song Taek, an influential figure behind Kim's rise, according to Park Soo-geun, a former commander of the South Korean Defense Intelligence Command. "He was promoted in 2010 to the rank equivalent to that of four-star general together with Kim Jong Un," Park said of Hyon. "But being promoted to vice marshal means he will now show off his power at the political stage," Park, a retired South Korean major general, added. Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in South Korea, agreed with Park's assessment. "This follows a pattern we have seen since at least last March," Lankov said. "People who can be described as the Jang Song Taek group are taking the upper hand. It seems Jang Song Taek may be removing people who might constitute a threat to him." If so, this may be the the first purge under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, Lankov said. "Not necessarily a bloody one but the first case of a person of great political significance being removed," Lankov said. Korea observers may soon find out what's happening inside the secretive nation, said Han Park, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia and director of the school's Center for the Study of Global Issues. "If it is a power struggle of that nature, we will see some ensuing changes in top personnel," he said. "Unless we see that, (Ri's stepping down) is really for personal reasons, such as illness." Park said he saw Ri in April at a banquet in Pyongyang celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation's founder, Kim Il Sung. "He didn't appear to be a very healthy person," Park said. "His kind of color is a little dark, and it didn't appear to be very healthy." Still, he said, he was "shocked" when he heard the news that Ri had been removed from his posts. "He's a very formidable person there," Park said. | Removal could be evidence of first leadership purge under new leader, analyst says .
Pyongyang chooses a new vice marshal a day after removing its army chief .
State media doesn't say whether Hyon Yong Chol replaces the army chief .
The promotion is probably the work of Kim Jong Un's uncle, an expert says . |
229,291 | b4e1241dfeb1acc1e0a02df59cb623b0676e7334 | (CNN) -- The winning numbers for the largest multistate Powerball jackpot are: 22, 10,13,14, 52 and the Powerball number is 11. Saturday's jackpot is a record $590.5 million. It marks the largest in Powerball history, surpassing a $587.6 million jackpot split by winners in Arizona and Missouri in November. The jackpot has a cash value of $376.9 million. The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $656 million in the Mega Millions game in March 2012. That was split by three tickets sold in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. That mark will be dwarfed if no one wins the Powerball jackpot Saturday. With no winner, the jackpot will be about $925 million for Wednesday's drawing, according to Kelly Cripe, spokeswoman for the Texas Lottery, which is part of the multistate lotteries. The Powerball game is played in 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. A single ticket costs $2, and the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 175,223,510. Why you keep playing the lottery . But before you start dreaming of that mansion in Barbados, allow us to pour an icy bucket of mathematical reality over your head: You almost certainly aren't going to win. You stand a better chance of walking onto the golf course and hitting two consecutive holes in one than winning that jackpot. But that didn't stop hundreds from driving to the Trex Mart in Dearborn, Missouri, store where one of two winning tickets sold in last year's $587 million Powerball drawing. About 100 people an hour were buying tickets at the store. CNN's Scott Thompson and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed to this report. | NEW: Saturday's jackpot is a record $590.5 million .
Powerball is played in 43 states and the District of Columbia .
Largest jackpot was $656 million in Mega Millions game in 2012 . |
161,650 | 5d002813bd20781df05cf4b113287d0762c1a281 | A mother-of-one who became so overweight that she got wedged in a park swing has lost a staggering 14 stone in just under two years. Louise Lister, weighed 27 stone and was wearing a size 36 this time 18 months ago, but after finding herself in the embarrassing predicament while taking her daughter to the park she vowed to change her ways. The 41-year-old, from Workington, Cumbria, said that she knew something had to be done when just getting around became a daily struggle. At 27st (left) Louise Lister found it difficult to get about but after getting stuck in a park swing the mother-of-one joined Slimming World and dropped 14st in just under two years . 'Being the weight I was I always worried about breaking things and when I sat on the swing I could feel I was stuck - the chains were painfully digging into my sides and I was panicking that it would break. 'It was so embarrassing. I knew I had to do something about my weight. I didn't like being in pain from all the weight I was carrying around - I used to suffer terribly with my joints and back. 'The simplest of tasks made me out of breath and I wanted to be an active mum for my daughter Megan.' Louise says that the simplest tasks would become a struggle and prevented her from becoming an active mother to her daughter Megan . At a size 36 Louise would often struggle to find clothes that fit and had to settle with whatever she could find . Louise is now a svelte size 12-14 and is even hoping to inspire others as a Slimming World consultant . Louise embarked on a radical diet overhaul, swapping her usual fish and chip dinner for home cooked Slimming World meals such as chilli con carne and chicken salads. Louise says that she began to notice a difference almost immediately making her determined to continue with her weight loss. 'As soon as the weight started coming off I immediately felt better. I had so much more energy and was determined to keep going with it.' Louise managed to shed just under half her body weight, dropping 14st and is now a svelte size 12-14 frame. Louise and her husband Peter (pictured) used to live off a diet of greasy takeaways . The pair have since swapped their high calorie dinners for home cooked meals and Peter has lost 10st too . The mother-of-one says that she enjoys shopping for outfits that show off her new figure. 'I am so pleased to finally be able to wear the clothes I want to- not just clothes from specialist plus sized shops. 'It was so hard for me to find anything that fitted at a size 36. 'I brushed it off and tried to pretend that my weight wasn't an issue but looking back now I am so glad I decided to lose the weight and become the healthy active mum my daughter deserves.' Louise has continued her healthy lifestyle and now works out five days a week and loves Kettlercise and circuits. BREAKFAST: Nothing . LUNCH: Crisps, chocolate, pie and chips . DINNER: Takeaway - fish and chips, Mc Donald's or Chinese . BREAKFAST: Porridge, weetabix, yoghurt and fruit . LUNCH: Chicken salad, jacket potato or salad . DINNER: Chilli or steak and diet chips . The mother-of-one now uses her story to help inspire other women in her job as a Slimming World consultant. 'I love exercise now and I can't believe how much fun I find working out. A year ago I couldn't get off the sofa without getting out of breath but now I'm doing circuits. 'I want everyone who wants to lose weight to realise how much Slimming World can change your life. It is such a healthy and effective way of losing weight.' Louise has even manage to help her partner achieve a dramatic weight loss with her new approach to cooking. 'My husband has even lost 10st as well, just by eating my healthy home cooked meals. It's been fantastic.' | Louise Lister, 41 weighed 27st and was a size 36 .
After finding herself wedged in a park swing she vowed to lose weight .
She has now lost 14st and has even helped her husband to lose 10st . |
57,250 | a238cdc4c4e8cf02f215e82aba3ff8d38fec9c4d | (CNN Student News) -- Each month in 2008, CNN Student News will be "Talking Democracy" by introducing an election-year topic on the show and online. From caucuses to conventions and primaries to polls, CNN Student News will be breaking down these election-year concepts for students and teachers. Classes are invited to show what they know about the political process by submitting iReports to CNN Student News. Classes are encouraged to use original video, music, animation and other production elements to demonstrate their knowledge of each political concept. There's a list of political concepts and the months they will air below. The best iReports may appear on CNN Student News. This Web page is your one-stop destination for Talking Democracy educational materials and iReport information. As the year unfolds, additional materials will be added to this site that address the different topics your students will learn about in the Talking Democracy series. Be sure to revisit often! Talking Democracy Topics January: Caucuses and Primaries February: The Right to Vote March: Political Parties April: Campaign Finance May: Polling June and July: The Issues August: Conventions September: Debates October: What's at Stake? November: Electoral College . Learning Activities . • Caucuses and Primaries • The Right to Vote • Political Parties • Campaign Finance • Polling • Political Issues • Conventions • Debates Viewing Guide • Electoral College Reform • Predict Electoral College Votes . One-Sheets • Caucuses and Primaries • The Right to Vote • Political Parties • Campaign Finance • Political Polls • Political Issues • Conventions • Debates • Electoral College . Talking Democracy Questions . Use these questions to test your knowledge of the presidential election process, then check the answers to see how you did. Videos . • Delegates 101 Delegate-hunting can be a mathematical challenge, but CNN's Jill Dougherty says it adds up to American-style democracy. • Right to Vote CNN Student News explores the right to vote, and an iReporting classroom chimes in with reasons to exercise it. • Political Parties 101 Discover some of the differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. • Campaign Finance 101 Check out some of the rules concerning cash for presidential campaigns. • Polling 101 Discover why a random sampling is an important aspect of an opinion poll. • Conventions 101 CNN Student News takes you behind the scenes of the national political conventions. • Debates 101 The candidates face off as CNN Student News provides the background and backdrop for presidential debates. • Electoral College 101 CNN Student News' Carl Azuz gives us the 411 on the Electoral College . Interactives . Why delegates matter in the presidential race Click through this interactive for an explanation of the different types of delegates and how they are chosen in the nomination process for the Democratic and Republican parties. Electoral Map Calculator Use this Electoral College map to examine how the presidential candidates may fare in November's election, based on analysis from the CNN Political Unit. Then call the race yourself! Click on a state, choose a winner, and watch the electoral votes add up. Cable in the Classroom's eLECTIONS campaign simulation Make all the decisions for a virtual run for the U.S. presidency, allocating budget, selecting key issues, choosing where to campaign, and responding to the opponent's moves and other external events. Debate Quiz How much do you know about debate history? These questions will test your knowledge and include video of some memorable moments in presidential debate history. Related Resources . • CNN Election Center 2008 • FEC: 2008 Presidential Caucus and Primary Dates • Project Vote-Smart.org: How Does the Primary Process Work? • CNN Campaign Trail Jargonbuster . iReports . Students can demonstrate their understanding of election-related topics by sending in their own Talking Democracy iReports. Click here for information on how to send in iReports. | "Talking Democracy" breaks down election-year concepts for students and teachers . |
94,770 | 05c6f3d54deac40168a83803f4476dcd76f25bd8 | A Port Authority police recruit is claiming she was repeatedly sexually harassed and humiliated by her academy instructors who called her too pretty for the job and likened her to an 'American Girl doll'. According to her federal lawsuit, Amanda Holley, 29, alleges that Sgt. Erick Torres told her she would die as an officer and made the lurid suggestion she would make a good looking body in her coffin. 'Holley, when you are killed in the line of duty, I'll make sure you look pretty for your family,' PA Sgt. Erick Torres allegedly told trainee Amanda Holley, 29, her suit claims. Discrimination claims: Amanda Holley (pictured here with her boyfriend Anthony Gabriel) claims she experienced severe harassment while training to be a cop with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . 'I do a lot of funerals for fallen cops, and I normally never look at their face, but for you, I'll make sure you look pretty.' Holley, who lives in Jackson Township, alleges that she was picked out for unfair treatment the minute she arrived at the Jersey City academy in August 2013. According to the New York Post, she was sexually harassed from day one until the day she was fired, four months later. The trainee, who graduated with a masters degree in May, 2012, says that she was made to do squat thrusts on her own in front of the entire platoon and was subject to name-calling by Torres. Qualifications: In May, 2012, Amanda collected her Masters degree with a 3.987 GPA (left) but was hounded out of the academy she claims by sexist instructors . Holley says that Torres would sing 'She is an American Girl doll' and 'One time, Sgt. Torres told (the) plaintiff that he took his two daughters to the American Girl Doll store and swore that he saw the plaintiff there.' On the day she was fired, Torres called her out of class claims Holley for a meeting with supervisors. 'While waiting outside the chief's office, plaintiff reached into her duffle bag to grab a memo book,' the lawsuit says. 'Sgt. Torres then put his hand on his gun and asked what plaintiff was reaching for, implying that she was reaching for her weapon. According to the New York Post, Torres also called Holley, Angelina Jolie after her lips swelled because of a pepper-spray test and added she was sprayed more times than other recruits. Heart break: Amanda Holley claims in her lawsuit that officers singled her out for lurid treatment while she went through her training . Friends: Amanda Holley has said that she was humiliated by her treatment at the hands of the Port Authority instructors and likened to an American Girl doll (left) History: Amanda's family have a proud history in the police force which caused her to try and join in the first place (Amanda is pictured center in the early 1990s) 'The whole thing was obviously heartbreaking for me,' said Holley to The Post. 'To be ridiculed and feel ashamed of the way I looked was the hardest part. I was just embarrassed and humiliated.' Holley blames the harassment for her failure to graduate in December 2013, and says she never received the same tuition and time as the other female trainees. Indeed, prior to attempting to join the police, Holley worked as a social worker at the New Jersey Department of Corrections - a fact she claims was used against her. 'Sgt. Torres made it appear that plaintiff did not have the gumption to do law-enforcement work and should have stuck with social work solely because she was a young female,' her lawsuit claims. Holley also added she was disappointed she was fired because of her long family history within the NEw Jersery police. The PA could not be reached for comment on the matter. | Amanda Holley, 29, claims sexual harassment and humiliation by instructor .
Tried to join the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police force .
Claims she was singled out from the start and failed to graduate .
Told to do squat thrusts on her own in front of class by her instructors .
Graduated with a masters degree in May 2012 prior to application .
Is suing after being told she 'would look good dead in a coffin' |
148,523 | 4c1098d203b309fd75d3c1d930f3b34cc98e21bf | By . Associated Press Reporter and Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:53 EST, 6 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:26 EST, 6 November 2013 . A homeless man has gone from the proverbial penthouse to the big house after he was found sleeping in the presidential suite at one of Pittsburgh's swankiest hotels on Tuesday night. Jeffrey Lennon Watson, 48, was arrested at Omni William Penn Hotel and sent to jail after guests checking into their estimated $2500-a-night room found him sleeping on a couch about 7.30pm. The rough sleeper told police he was from Los Angeles and was passing through the city to return to California. He just needed a bed: Jeffrey Lennon Watson, 48, was arrested at Omni William Penn Hotel after guests checking into their estimated $2500-a-night room found the homeless man sleeping on a couch . Struggling: Watson told police 'he has been in Pittsburgh for over a month and sleeps wherever he can locate somewhere comfortable to rest his head' Police said hotel security officers woke him up, took him to their office and called police. Watson told police 'he has been in Pittsburgh for over a month and sleeps wherever he can locate somewhere comfortable to rest his head'. The hotel's general manager, Eric DeStefano, said the presidential suite was programmed earlier that day to remain unlocked for an event. 'There was an isolated incident of an unregistered occupant being found in the parlor area of the Presidential Suite, which is a general-use area for receptions and small events,' DeStefano said in a statement, according to International Business Times. This is one of the swanky rooms at the Omni William Penn hotel in Pittsburgh where a homeless man was found sleeping . Police took Watson to the Allegheny . County Jail where he remains, unable to post $15,000 bond. He . faces a preliminary hearing on November 19 on charges of criminal trespass and . theft of services. It is not clear how long Watson was in the room or how he got in. However, there aren't too many places more comfortable than Watson's chosen location. The . 16th-floor suite features a 1,300-square-foot parlor plus three . bedrooms, and includes crystal chandeliers, a dining room, grand piano, a . full kitchenette, wet bar and sitting room, according to the hotel's . website. Ninja: It is not clear how the homeless man managed to sneak into Omni William Penn hotel (pictured) undetected . | Homeless Jeffrey Lennon Watson, 48, accused of squatting in ritzy Pittsburgh hotel .
The Los Angeles man was sleeping on a couch inside a $2,500 suite at Omni William Penn Hotel on Tuesday night .
The rough sleeper is charged with criminal trespass and theft of services .
Watson told police he 'sleeps wherever he can locate somewhere comfortable to rest his head' |
181,190 | 768fbe852864cdb0f0f5ca3fea025fae16c499a4 | An FBI agent who authored a highly sensitive FBI interrogation manual submitted the document for copyright protection - making it available at the Library of Congress for anyone with a library card to read. The inexplicable mistake has been reported by Mother Jones journalist Nick Baumann who viewed the document, which was written in 2008 and submitted for copyright at the U.S. Copyright Office in 2010. Baumann reports that the filing is baffling for several reasons, not least that any member of the public can read the document that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) fought for years to gain access to. Publicly available: The FBI interrogation manual has been available for any member of the public to read at the Library of Congress since 2010 . The FBI did eventually provide the ACLU with a copy of the interrogation guidebook in 2012, but it was heavily redacted, reports Mother Jones, with whole pages blacked out. Unlike the very similar version which has been sitting in the Library of Congress since 2010. Interrogation: The FBI's interrogation methods have previously been made available only in heavily redacted form to the ACLU . In addition, the 70-page manual is a . secret government document and government documents cannot be . copyrighted: Anything 'prepared by an officer or employee of the United . States government as part of that person's official duties' is not . subject to copyright in the United States. 'A . document that has not been released does not even need a copyright,' Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert at the Federation of . American Scientists told Mother Jones. 'Who is going to plagiarize from it? Even if you wanted to, you couldn't violate the copyright because you don't have the document. It isn't available.' Calling the copyright filing 'a comedy of errors,' Aftergood says it seems to be the result of 'gross incompetence and ignorance.' According to Mother Jones, agent who . authored the manual and then filed it for copyright is an FBI . supervisory special agent who once worked as a unit chief in the FBI's . counter-terrorism division. He registered the work under his own name, effectively claiming rights for the document for himself and not for the FBI. Baumann . was able to compare the document obtained by the ACLU with the . unredacted FBI manual and find out what the blacked out parts in the . ACLU version might have contained. 'A redacted sentence in the manual says the document is intended for use by the FBI's "clean" teams - investigators who collect information intended for use in federal prosecutions,' writes Baumann. 'That raises the question of whether teams collecting information that's not for use in federal courts would have to follow the manual's (already permissive) guidelines at all.' | The author of a sensitive FBI interrogation manual submitted the document for copyright protection .
In doing so, the FBI agent made it available to the public at the Library of Congress .
Experts are baffled at the security lapse and why the officer believed the secret document needed copyright protection at all .
The manual doesn't even qualify for copyright because it is a government document .
The American Civil Liberties Union fought for years to gain access to the FBI interrogation manual .
The ACLU was given a heavily redacted version of the document last year .
The officer who filed the document is a supervisory special agent who once worked as a unit chief in the FBI's counter-terrorism division . |
124,580 | 2d075d6c4768a24466fa76bd68387d44baca0b0d | (CNN) -- Researchers have raised the alert status at Mount Redoubt, a volcano in southern Alaska, after another increase in seismic activity. Seismic activity at Alaska's Mount Redoubt again has scientists watching for an eruption. "Shallow earthquake activity under the volcano has been as high as 26 events per 10-minute period," officials at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said Sunday in a statement announcing that the alert level was raised to "watch" status. Although no eruption has occurred, the scientists said the increase in seismic activity "likely represents either the upward movement of magma or pressurization of the system." "It is possible for unrest at the volcano to change rapidly, and seismic activity or other signs of unrest could escalate culminating in an eruption within days to weeks," the statement concluded. An increase in seismic activity at the same volcano prompted a "watch" level last Monday. In the U.S. Geological Survey's color-coded alert levels, the orange "watch" level means the volcano "is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption" or that "eruption is underway with no or minor volcanic-ash emissions." The next level is red, meaning an eruption is imminent or underway. Bill Burton, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said since January there have been increases in seismic activity at Mount Redoubt followed by periods of quiet. The 10,197-foot peak is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, the most populous city in Alaska. Mount Redoubt last erupted nearly 20 years ago, in December 1989. That eruption lasted until April 1990. | Increase in seismic activity noted at Mount Redoubt in southern Alaska .
Alert level raised; "eruption within days to weeks" is possible, officials say .
Volcano last erupted in December 1989 and last for months .
Mount Redoubt is about 100 southwest of Anchorage, Alaska . |
84,129 | ee99d91a836ff1731fe75333ba68f204271f5a10 | By . Laura Williamson . Follow @@laura_mail . Defending Commonwealth heptathlon bronze medallist Grace Clements has been called up to Team England for the 2014 Games following Morgan Lake’s withdrawal. As first revealed by Sportsmail, 17-year-old Lake has decided to concentrate on the World Junior Championships in Oregon, USA, instead of competing in the heptathlon in Glasgow. The teenager had a difficult dilemma about whether to prioritise her age-group championships or win her first senior international vest at a multi-sport event without the support of her father and coach, Eldon, in the athletes’ village. Up for it: Heptathlete Grace Clements has been selected for Team England at the Commonwealth Games . All smiles: 2010 Commonwealth bronze medalist Clements replaces 17-year-old Morgan Lake in Glasgow . Lake said: ‘This has been an extremely difficult decision for me to take as I was honoured to be selected to Team England, but ultimately it’s right for me and my development to focus on the World Juniors. ‘I want to wish Grace and the rest of Team England all the very best and I’ll be cheering them all on.’ The sensitive nature of Lake’s withdrawal has allowed England to call up Clements to compete alongside Jessica Taylor and Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Clements, 30, won bronze behind Louise Hazel in Delhi four years ago. Clements said: ‘It is great to be back on the team having medalled four years ago. I have been through a tough four years, so this is like a dream come true - a fairy tale ending to my career. I’m very grateful for this opportunity to compete in the Commonwealth Games.’ Jan Paterson, Chef de Mission of Team England, added: ‘We would like to welcome Grace, our heptathlon bronze medallist from Delhi, into Team England and I hope her final preparations for Glasgow go well. ‘We know it was a tough decision for Morgan to withdraw from the team, but we send her our very best wishes for the World Junior Athletics Championships.’ Out in the cold: Lake withdrew from Team England's selection to focus on the World Junior Championships . No go: Lake's decision was also due to her dad and coach Eldon (right) not being allowed in the athletes' village . | Grace Clements has been called up for Team England's heptathlon .
Clements replaces Morgan Lake after her withdrawal from Glasgow .
Clements won bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi . |
237,605 | bf8555449ae74a2a47fd0eb2d86163a9755ec7dc | (CNN) -- The underwater probe being used to look for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was back in the water after its first attempt ended prematurely, said the company that owns the vehicle, Phoenix International. The Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle was about four hours into its second dive mission at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday (2 a.m. Wednesday in Perth, Australia), a source close to the operation told CNN's Brian Todd. On Monday, crews sent the probe toward the ocean floor on what was expected to be a 20-hour deployment, only to have it return in less than eight hours after encountering waters beyond its 4,500-meter (14,764-foot) maximum depth. The probe found no debris during its shortened scanning session. The second mission is expected to end Wednesday around 10 a.m. ET (10 p.m. in Perth), the source said. The vehicle was deployed in nearly the same area and is operating at about the same depth as the earlier mission, the source said. The earlier aborted mission doesn't mean anything is wrong with the probe, which is designed to swim about 30 meters (100 feet) above the ocean floor and use sound waves to draw a three-dimensional map of what lies below. "The vehicle's tracking the floor, so when the floor dives, so does the vehicle. And the vehicle goes, 'Uh oh, I'm not supposed to be here' and punches up," said David Gallo, director of special projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. And while it's disappointing the vehicle returned to the surface early, it's not unusual, said David Kelly, CEO of Bluefin Robotics, the company that makes the probe. "We've operated these vehicles around the globe. It's not unusual to get into areas where the charts aren't accurate or you lack information," Kelly told CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront." A British survey ship is working to determine the areas where the Bluefin can safely work without hitting its maximum dive depth, according to Phoenix. U.S. Navy Capt. Mark Mathews of the Bluefin search team said the initial launch Monday night took place "in the very far corner of the area it's searching, so they are just shifting the search box a little bit away from that deep water and proceeding with the search." About 8 square miles were searched, said Jim Gibson, a spokesman for Phoenix International. It could take up to two months to scan the entire search area. The deputy director for salvage and diving for the U.S. Navy told CNN that the Bluefin may actually be able to go deeper than it was first programmed to do, engineers have determined. "We've gone through and looked at all of the components in Bluefin, and we're comfortable that we can exceed that 4,500-meter limit at this point," Mike Dean told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper. "We're looking at, can we push Bluefin beyond 4,500, potentially down to as deep as 5,000? There is some software, that software has been tested now. And we believe that, with some confidence, we could push Bluefin to that depth." He said two-thirds of the search area was less than 4,500 meters deep. Dean said the Bluefin was chosen for this part of the search because it was the lightest, most nimble package and easiest to get on scene. It's possible that a second vehicle that can operate deeper than the Bluefin will be needed. One possibility is a vehicle called Orion that is towed behind a ship. It remains under the water and sends back real-time data. It would be a more complex operation to put an Orion in the water but one is available in Maryland if the Australian-led search team requests it. Monday's shortened mission was the latest glitch in a 40-day search for the missing jetliner, which vanished March 8 with 239 passengers and crew on board after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bound for Beijing. Surface and satellite searches have turned up nothing conclusive -- and confusing, sometimes conflicting details from investigators have muddied the public image of the search and angered relatives of the missing. On Tuesday, the Malaysian Cabinet agreed to set up an international investigation to look into the plane's disappearance. Teams will look at the plane's airworthiness, operational issues and human factors that may have played a role, officials said. Malaysia's acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also said Tuesday that if searchers are able to recover the plane's vital black boxes, it matters less which country takes control of them than does "finding out the truth." Oceanic salvage manager: How we search for Flight 370 . The co-pilot's cell phone . Meanwhile, a new detail emerged from the flight on Monday. A U.S. official told CNN that co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid's cell phone was on and made contact with a cell tower in Malaysia about the time the plane disappeared from radar. However, the U.S. official -- who cited information shared by Malaysian investigators -- said there was no evidence Hamid had tried to make a call. The official told CNN's Pamela Brown on Monday that a cell phone tower in Penang, Malaysia -- about 250 miles from where the flight's transponder last sent a signal -- detected the first officer's phone searching for service roughly 30 minutes after authorities believe the plane made a sharp turn westward. The details do appear to reaffirm suggestions, based on radar and satellite data, that the plane was off course and was probably flying low enough to obtain a signal from a cell tower, the U.S. official said. U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN they have been told that no other cell phones were picked up by the Penang tower. Pilots are supposed to turn off their cell phones before pushing back from the gate. When the plane first went missing, authorities said millions of cell phone records were searched, looking for evidence that calls had been made from the plane after it took off, but the search turned up nothing. The suspected oil slick . Another possible clue into the plane's disappearance appeared Monday. Australian officials announced the Australian ship Ocean Shield had detected an oil slick Sunday evening. It is unclear where the oil came from; a 2-liter sample has been collected for examination, and was on its way Tuesday to western Australia for analysis. Test results could be days away. CNN aviation analyst Les Abend, who flies a Boeing 777, said the engines on the plane have about 20 quarts of oil each. "It could be slowly dripping up to the surface," he told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." "They're saying an oil slick. I'm wondering if it's just some sort of a fluid slick. It could be (from) hydraulics." If it is oil, it's not the first oil slick detected as part of the search. A similar find in the first days of the search was determined to be fuel oil from a freighter. Surface search nearing end . While air and sea surface searches continued Wednesday some 2,087 kilometers (1,297 miles) northwest of Perth, those searches are likely nearing an end. "The air and surface search for floating material will be completed in the next two to three days in the area where the aircraft most likely entered the water," retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the country's Joint Agency Coordination Centre, said Monday. With no debris found after weeks of searches and no possible pings from the plane's black boxes detected in a week, Houston said it was time to focus the search underwater. The number of aircraft in the search grew to 14 planes, including three civilian jets. There were also 11 ships involved Wednesday. How do underwater sonar subs work? What happens after the pingers die? Listening for pings, water plays tricks . CNN's Elizabeth Joseph, Erin Burnett and Steve Almasy contributed to this report. | NEW: Official says Bluefin may be able to go deeper; another vehicle that can awaits its call .
Underwater probe will map ocean floor until 10 a.m. ET Wednesday, source says .
Vehicle's first attempt ended early after it exceeded its maximum dive depth .
Meanwhile, investigators are trying to determine significance of cell signal and oil slick . |
28,167 | 4fd5850ab98ac74ec456a0f27d0533cd2b129a5e | (CNN) -- An impoverished South Korean gymnast has not only struck Olympic gold, but also reaped 500 million won (US$444,000) in the latest donation in a veritable rags to riches tale. For several years, Yang Hak-seon, who won South Korea's first ever Olympics gymnastics gold medal Monday, has been living with his parents in a small polytunnel in a rural area of Jeolla province, 200 kilometers southwest of the capital. Covered with thin wooden boards and plastic sheeting, the makeshift structure was nearly swept away during heavy rains two years ago, according to South Korean media. Why do Olympians bite their medals? As Yang's financial plight has come to light following his Olympic win in the men's vault final, companies have been rushing to provide for the newly-minted star. The latest donation of 500 million won (US$444,000) comes from the chairman of LG Group, Koo Bon Moo, who announced Thursday that the gift was intended to help Yang put aside financial worries and focus on his training. Yang, who said after his victory that he wanted to build a house for his family, will also have this wish come true, according to local media. The CEO of construction company Samla Group, announced earlier this week that he will build the athlete an apartment valued at US$190,000. Yang and his family will able to move into the apartment by the end of next year, Oh Woo-hyun said. Nongshim, the manufacturer of Yang's favorite instant noodles, has also said it will provide his family with "limitless amount of instant noodles," according to a press statement. And if Yang's needs are not covered by corporate donations, he can use the 100 million won (US$88,800) personally donated to him by the head of the Korea Gymnastic Association. Few were aware of Yang's dire financial situation until the London Olympics, including his own coach. He only knew Yang as a young man with a natural gift for gymnastics, Cho Sung-doe told CNN in a phone interview. Cycling's glamor girl ponders next career move . Yang's story emerged only after his gold medal win. Yang and his family had been living in the polytunnel since his father lost his factory job due to injury several years ago, according to South Korean media reports. Since then, he has been supporting the family with his modest income from the Korea Gymnastic Association, supplementing the small wage his father earns for working part-time as a farmer, reports said. According to his Olympic profile, Yang started training in gymnastics at the age of nine. As a teenager he emerged as a contender in international competitions when he placed first in the vault event at the 2010 Asian Games. Performing his signature move, a triple-twisting front somersault, at the London Games, the 20-year-old talent recorded an average score of 16.533 in the men's vault final, pushing his closest rivals from Russia and Ukraine to second and third place. Yang first performed his winning somersault at the 2011 World Championships, where he took first place. The move has since been named "the Yang." Complete coverage: Olympics 2012 . | Yang Hak-seon won South Korea's first ever Olympics gymnastics gold medal Monday .
Reports of Yang's makeshift polytunnel home emerged after gold medal win .
Yang now flooded with corporate gifts, including money, noodles, and an apartment .
Yang also received US$88,800 from Korea Gymnastic Association . |
247,203 | cbea50d61ca73e4c1c63014e528a2a34ff2f20b2 | Lying on a plastic, avocado-green couch in a basement room in London’s Covent Garden, I take a couple of deep, steadying breaths. At 46, I’m doing what I swore I never would. I’m getting a tattoo — and I’m absolutely petrified. Worse still, it’s on my face. It might sound drastic, but I’m desperate: my eyebrows have never looked thinner or weedier. I’m taking the bold step of getting a new pair tattooed on and I’m beginning to question my sanity. Scroll down for video . Frances was sick of her eyebrows which were becoming more uneven with age so she resorted to tattooing hers on using a new treatment from Browhaus . The problem is I’m sick of looking in the mirror and seeing anaemic brows that fade into the background, making my face appear sallow and aged. Plus, ‘statement’ brows have never been more popular. Everyone from Cara Delevingne to the Duchess of Cambridge has beautifully tended, bold eyebrows — and their cache is sky-high. Mine, very definitely, are letting me down. I started plucking them in my teens, but on hitting 40, I realised I might need a little more help and resorted to waxing and threading. Lately, as little bald patches have developed, I’ve felt that even the professionals have struggled to get a decent shape. What’s more, a slight asymmetry between my brows — my left one is lower than my right — has become more pronounced, pulling my face downwards and emphasising the droopiness around my eyes. Things came to a head when my friend Jackie brought me a brow grooming kit for my birthday. ‘We all need a bit of help as we get older,’ she said with a half-laugh. Elsa goes under the needle in her quest for perfectly aligned brows . So I’m hoping a new treatment by Browhaus can help. Unlike other tattoo techniques it uses a thin needle, which — crucially — doesn’t vibrate. This allows far greater precision: weaving in and meshing the flicks of dye with your own hair. Browhaus has also developed a system to measure the brow and perfectly align it to your face. The result is supposedly an on-point brow that even mathematicians couldn’t better. It could be just what I need. Celebrity make-up artist Oonagh Connor agrees my brows are ageing. ‘Having very thin eyebrows looks terribly old-fashioned and adds years to your face,’ she says. ‘A good, strong brow frames the face and gives structure and definition.’ As we age, asymmetry becomes more pronounced. This, says Oonagh, is a dead giveaway of middle age. Priya Kerai, senior technician at Browhaus, adds: ‘As we get older, we lose hair from our brows. We also lose colour and definition.’ Browhaus, as the name suggests, specialises in all things eyebrow-related. It has only one salon in Britain — in London — with others worldwide. I am hoping it can find a solution to my wonky brows, so I book a full brow makeover, for £550. After a half-hour consultation, Priya tells me my main problem is asymmetry. ‘Having asymmetrical brows isn’t uncommon. It’s because we use one side of our face more than the other,’ she says. ‘You’ve spent more than 40 years raising your right brow more than the left.’ She suggests raising my left arch slightly and elongating my brows, plus slightly darkening them. Unlike other brow bars, Browhaus uses a small hand-held tool to paint on each individual hair. ‘Normally, if you get your brows tattooed on, the therapist will use an electronic tool and will paint on the brow in a thick block,’ says Priya. Her technique is far more exact. The first step is for Priya to create a shape to compliment my face. She does this with a brow shaver — a tiny blade inserted in a little pen. Some reports show that never-plucked brows can have as many as 1,100 hairs in total . I can’t see what she’s doing, but I can feel a thin scrape and it’s disconcerting. She is creating a softer arch and removing excess hair. She doesn’t pluck because that would open up my pores, and she doesn’t want colour to leak in. Despite Priya’s calm exterior and her rather lovely brows, I’m terrified. Suppose I end up looking like Groucho Marx or Coleen Rooney? It’s also crucial Priya gets it right, since it lasts for two years. Thankfully, she draws on my brows with a pencil and only proceeds to the real thing when I’m happy. When Priya holds up the mirror, my brows are thick, dark and unnatural — like two caterpillars. There’s no way I want to look like that for two years. ‘I don’t like it. It needs to be much subtler,’ I say. Priya takes it like a trouper and sets to work again. Second time around I’m much happier. Priya has evened out the asymmetry, and the effect is youthful and groomed. Then I remember what comes next, and feel the sort of terror I’ve only felt once before, when I was about to have a forceps delivery. Back then, I knew I was going to have a beautiful baby at the end of it. This time I’m hoping for a beautiful pair of eyebrows. I wonder if I’m having a mid-life crisis. The needle is tiny and, thanks to a numbing cream, I feel only a faint pricking. Threading is more painful. Priya dips the needle into a vegetable-based dye then works her way across each brow, painting in hair where I’ve lost it. One of the key signs of ageing is a shorter eyebrow, so Priya elongates mine — edging out subtly towards my temples. The needle penetrates to the second layer of skin — traditional tattooing reaches the third. I’m assured the colour will fade, meshing with my natural tint. I won’t be wandering around with obvious regrowth. There are seven colours to choose from. I’ve gone for ash blonde. The golden rule is to go one shade darker than your natural colour. Twenty terrifying minutes later, I’m done. I can hardly bear to look in the mirror, but when I do I’m delighted. I really do look younger. Best of all, Priya has worked wonders on my drooping left brow. It’s still slightly lower than my right, but now my brows are better aligned, my face is lifted. In fact, when I meet my friend Mandy for lunch, she asks whether I’ve had Botox. I can tell she doesn’t believe me when I insist I haven’t. For the first couple of days, my eyebrows feel sensitive, but by the third day I only remember I’ve had a tattoo when I glance in the mirror. Not a beauty treatment for the faint-hearted, but a needle that’s well worth the jabs. | As FRANCES CHILDS got older her brows became thin, weedy and more obviously uneven .
The final straw was when a friend bought her a brow grooming kit .
The new Browhaus treatment tattoos using a thin needle that doesn't vibrate, giving a more subtle look .
Make up artist Oonagh Connor says ageing brows can add years to your face as they provide structure around your eyes . |
69,271 | c46cfa8949f7ea74ce6d14bd8c4465562404a30a | By . Chris Johnson . PUBLISHED: . 13:58 EST, 9 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:57 EST, 10 October 2012 . If there was any doubt that Christina Aguilera has well and truly embraced her fuller figure, then look no further. The 31-year-old singer put in a very confident turn on Tuesday as she poured (and squeezed) her very generous proportions into a form-fitting body contour dress. Needless to say, Christina - with dress pulled taut over her bust and bottom - delivered an eye-catching look as she arrived to present the American Music Award nominations at press conference in Los Angeles. Scroll down for video and list of nominations... Check me out! Christina Aguilera confidently sticks out her derriere as she poses for photographers on Tuesday at the American Music Awards nominations press conference in Los Angeles . The Beautiful songstress was in full-on . performance mode for the photographers - sticking out her rounded . derriere, putting her hands on hips and twirling round for her . over-the-shoulder shot in a series of moves that threatened derail Kim . Kardashian's reputation as having the most famous bottom in Hollywood. The Voice judge completed her style . with a pair of sky-high silver heels, fake eyelashes along with her . newly-dyed pink and purple-tipped blonde tresses. And then there was the fake tan. And lots of it. Showing off: The singer was in full-on performance mode for the cameras, turning round for her over-the shoulder shot and parading her fuller figure . Figure-hugging: The cut of the dress certainly drew attention to The Voice judge's generous proportions . Christina, a mother of one, had . slathered it on in abundance, particularity so over her legs - which . appeared to be a darker shade than the rest of her body. Aguilera, who announced the AMA nominees on Tuesday, was the first performer to be announced for the . live show, which takes place next month. R&B star Rihanna and rapper Nicki . Minaj led nominations for the American Music Awards with four apiece, . edging out stiff competition from pop sensations Justin Bieber and One . Direction. Taking a twirl: Aguilera presented the nominations as was the first performer to be announced for the AMAs next month . Bronzed: Christina had also slathered on the fake tan, particularly so on her legs . Rihanna, 24, was nominated in the top . category - artist of the year - where she will compete with Bieber, Katy . Perry, pop-rockers Maroon 5 and Canadian rapper Drake. She also won nods for female . soul/R&B artist and album for Talk That Talk, and will battle Minaj, . 29, in the female pop/rock artist category. Embracing her body: Christina and boyfriend Matt arrive at Barneys for a shopping trip . Minaj scored two nods for her album . Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in both the pop/rock and rap/hip hop . categories this year, as well as a nomination for favorite rap artist, . alongside Drake and American newcomer Tyga. Minaj has been making headlines after . joining the American Idol judging panel, where she was caught feuding on . camera with fellow judge Mariah Carey in early audition rounds. Taking to the stage: The event was held at the JW Marriott hotel in Los Angeles . Time for a breather: Seen here posing with former 'N Sync singer Lance . Bass . Boyfriend singer Bieber, 18, landed . three nominations this year, tying with British boy band One Direction, . Maroon 5, Drake and R&B star Usher. Following in the footsteps of the . Grammy Awards earlier this year, which hosted a tribute to electronic . dance music, the American Music Awards introduced a new category in that . genre, with David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Skrillex competing for the . trophy. Last year's big winners, Adele and Taylor Swift, who both scored three awards each, received one nomination each this year. Leading the charge: Nicki Minaj, left, and Rihanna topped the nominations list with four apiece . Hot British exports: Boy band One Direction, performing here at the BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards in London on Sunday, scooped three nods . Swift scored a nod for female country . artist alongside Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert, while Adele was . nominated in the favorite adult contemporary artist category alongside . Kelly Clarkson and Train. The closely-watched new artist . category will be a battle between R&B singer J.Cole, indie-pop ban . fun., Australian singer-songwriter Gotye, Canadian pop singer Carly Rae . Jepson and One Direction. The AMA winners are determined by fans through online voting, which starts on Tuesday. The American Music Awards will be . celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and the ceremony and . performance show will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on November 18. ARTIST OF THE YEAR . Justin Bieber . Drake . Maroon 5 . Katy Perry . Rihanna . NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR . J. Cole . fun. Gotye . Carly Rae Jepsen . One Direction . FAVOURITE MALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK . Justin Bieber . Flo Rida . Pitbull . Usher . FAVOURITE FEMALE ARTIST – POP/ROCK . Kelly Clarkson . Nicki Minaj . Katy Perry . Rihanna . FAVOURITE BAND, DUO OR GROUP – POP/ROCK . fun. Maroon 5 . One Direction . The Wanted . FAVOURITE ALBUM – POP/ROCK . Justin Bieber, "Believe" Maroon 5, "Overexposed" Nicki Minaj, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" One Direction, "Up All Night" FAVOURITE MALE ARTIST – COUNTRY . Jason Aldean . Luke Bryan . Eric Church . FAVOURITE FEMALE ARTIST – COUNTRY . Miranda Lambert . Taylor Swift . Carrie Underwood . FAVOURITE BAND, DUO or GROUP - COUNTRY . Zac Brown Band . Lady Antebellum . Rascal Flatts . FAVOURITE ALBUM - COUNTRY . Luke Bryan, "Tailgates & Tanlines" Lionel Richie, "Tuskegee" Carrie Underwood, "Blown Away" FAVOURITE ARTIST – RAP/HIP-HOP . Drake . Nicki Minaj . Tyga . FAVOURITE ALBUM – RAP/HIP-HOP . J. Cole, "Cole World: The Sideline Story" Drake, "Take Care" Nicki Minaj, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" FAVOURITE MALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B . Chris Brown . Trey Songz . Usher . FAVOURITE FEMALE ARTIST – SOUL/R&B . Beyoncé . Mary J. Blige . Rihanna . FAVOURITE ALBUM – SOUL/R&B . Chris Brown, "Fortune" Rihanna, "Talk That Talk" Usher, "Looking 4 Myself" FAVOURITE ARTIST - ALTERNATIVE ROCK . The Black Keys . Gotye . Linkin Park . FAVOURITE ARTIST - ADULT CONTEMPORARY . Adele . Kelly Clarkson . Train . FAVOURITE ARTIST - LATIN . Don Omar . Pitbull . Shakira . FAVOURITE ARTIST - CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL . Jeremy Camp . Newsboys . tobyMac . FAVOURITE ARTIST - ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC (EDM) David Guetta . Calvin Harris . Skrillex . | Rihanna and Nicki Minaj lead nominations for American Music Awards with four each .
Justin Bieber lands three nods, tying with One Direction, .
Maroon 5, Drake and Usher .
Aguilera first performer announced for show as it celebrates 40th anniversary . |
273,878 | eec2aed04b38f3752d8a2927c7a2830827b434eb | An insider trading investigation has been launched into Ted Kennedy Jr's former company. The Marwood Group, a healthcare-focused consulting firm co-founded by Kennedy, received notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. The agency's staff officially notified Marwood that it plans to recommend to the full commission charging the company with civil insider trading. Ted Kennedy Jr was elected to the Connecticut state Senate in November, having left The Marwood Group in January to seek political office . Kennedy said the company is cooperating fully with SEC investigation into the allegations. The investigation has focused on alleged government information passed on to Marwood clients in 2010 about a new prostate-cancer treatment developed by the company Dendreon. 'I understand the SEC's concerns about the flow of government information, especially given the public's desire for more transparency,' Kennedy said in a statement. 'While I have never been named or questioned by the SEC, I understand that my former company, the Marwood Group, has cooperated fully with the SEC's requests over the last three and a half years.' Kennedy, the 53-year-old son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, was elected in November to Connecticut's legislature. He is the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. He served as president of Marwood for 12 years before leaving in January. He announced his candidacy for the state senate in April, and takes office in January. Marwood spokesman Michael McKeon denied any insider trading and said the company has been surprised by the allegations. 'We are very surprised because if you look at the facts there is no tipper, no materiality and clearly no financial benefit for anyone. In fact the whole premise is absurd,' McKeon said. Marwood has offices in New York, Washington, DC, and London. An SEC spokeswoman declined to comment on the investigation. Should formal charges be filed, it could be the first case in which regulators treat political intelligence, non-public information from a government source, in the same way as illegal insider information, expanding the current definition of what constitutes an illegal trade. Ted Kennedy Jr is the son of the late US Senator from Massachusetts, pictured here together with Ted's sister Kara in 1984 . | The SEC is investigating the Marwood Group, founded by Ted Kennedy Jr, son of the late US senator from Massachusetts .
Kennedy, who left Marwood in January to run for office, says the company is cooperating with the SEC investigation .
Government information was allegedly passed to clients about new prostate cancer drug in 2010 . |
207,655 | 98de725b55ae8eb06708217daf9677fd5bed694b | (CNN) -- Fifty years ago, President John F. Kennedy came to Houston and told the world that the United States would go to the moon before the end of the 1960s. On Friday, Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center is announcing its own "Moon Shots Program," aimed at significantly reducing the number of deaths from a handful of cancers by the end of this decade. Inspired by Kennedy's words, Dr. Ronald DePinho, president of the large cancer treatment and research center, is launching this project in two parallel tracks: "One is to apply the existing knowledge, to make a near-term impact in this decade," he said. "The second is to also say, 'We do not know everything we need to know to ultimately cure the disease.'" The cancer center calls the program "an unprecedented effort to dramatically accelerate the pace of converting scientific discoveries into clinical advances that reduce cancer deaths." "The Moon Shots Program signals our confidence that the path to curing cancer is in clearer sight than at any other time in history," DePinho says. Doctors at MD Anderson believe that dying from cancer can eventually be as rare as dying from pneumonia. And DePinho believes this can happen sooner rather later for patients suffering from the following five types of cancer: . -- lung cancer . -- melanoma . -- triple negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer (which are very similar on the molecular level) -- prostate cancer . -- acute myeloid leukemia/myelodysplastic syndrome & chronic lymphocytic leukemia (blood cancers) These types of cancers were chosen by a panel of 25 experts from within and outside MD Anderson based on what's known about prevention, treatment and survivorship as well as the likelihood of reducing the number of deaths. Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer worldwide, in part because the cancer is usually found when it's already spread. A good way to screen for this cancer is still elusive. That's why good screening tools are so crucial. "If you catch stage 1 lung cancer, you're dealing with about a 20%, mortality as opposed to advanced-stage cancers where you're dealing with about 10% survival," DePinho tells CNN. One of MD Anderson's experts has developed a blood test in mice that can more accurately determine who should have a CT screening. Part of this "moon shot" will include making this test useful in humans. Skin cancer, meanwhile, is the most common form of cancer, but it's usually not fatal, except for the 5% who are diagnosed with the deadliest form: melanoma. Cancer now No. 1 killer of U.S. Hispanics . DePinho says he's leveraging the knowledge gained from treating more than 100,000 patients each year with the skills of the thousands of doctors and researchers to significantly improve the detection, treatment and survival rates of cancer, as well as preventing the disease in the first place. Forty years after President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer, MD Anderson plans to move the battle to a new level by taking advantage of the many technological advances. For example, doctors can now analyze the DNA of a patient or a tumor in a matter of hours and for only hundreds of dollars, something that took 10 years and cost billions when the first genome was sequenced. Knowing specifics about a patient's genetics can help doctors determine who will benefit from an existing drug and who will not, so patients aren't wasting time and money on a very expensive drug that will not help their cancer. The cancer center is backing this project with a $3 billion investment over the next decade. "Those funds will come from institutional earnings, philanthropy, competitive research grants and commercialization of new discoveries," he says. The project is scheduled to launch in February 2013. Stress, depression may affect cancer survival . CNN's Caleb Hellerman contributed to this report. | "Moon Shots Program" will accelerate research focusing on five types of cancer .
Program signals confidence a cure is in clearer sight than ever, official says .
It will be funded by a $3 billion investment over the next decade . |
278,411 | f4a57bc5e8750ccb51dc57811c9cc1b9d2914ae6 | By . James Nye . The FBI has appealed for the public's help in tracking down a dangerous child predator caught on video sexually abusing a young boy. The man, known only as John Doe 28, was discovered in a downloaded video in November 2012 by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). The two agencies are so desperate to locate the man and rescue the exploited child that they have released three images of the pedophile to the general public in the hope of generating leads. Scroll down for video . Identification: The FBI want to find this man who has been captured abusing a young boy (barely visible in the blue) on a video found in another pedophiles home - appealing to the public for their help . 'Subjects who show their faces in child pornography are not typical,' said Special Agent Karen Jurden. 'It is our hope that someone will recognize this individual and come forward. We were able to recover a very clear image of John Doe 28.' Identifying marks: The FBI have asked if people can place this burgundy t-shirt with a fish logo on it . The NCMEC and the FBI's Violent Crimes Against Children program have enhanced screen grabs from the sickening film to help provide any clues that may lead to his identification. Authorities hope details such as the picture hanging on the wall behind the man along with the blue chair in the images may jog someones memory. Also, John Doe 28 wears wire-framed glasses and a burgundy t-shirt with a fish on it that a member of the public might recognize. They have urges anyone who has any information to immediately contact the FBI. Unfortunately, so far, the FBI and NCMEC have not been able to identify the man, or even the state, town or area - but they believe he is American, because he speaks one word during the video, 'careful'. 'Sometimes we will get some type of identifier that narrows down the geographic region,' said Jurden, who has been working on these types of cases for four years, 'but that didn’t happen in this case. That’s why we are asking for the public’s help nationwide.' The two minute video was found during the arrest of a San Francisco man on child pornography charges. 'The video was part of his collection,' Jurden added, explaining that sexually explicit videos and images of children are often traded anonymously online. The rush to find this man ar part of the FBI’s Operation Rescue Me and Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) initiatives and represent a longstanding partnership with NCMEC. Since the inception of ECAP in 2004, 28 John Does have been investigated; 20 of these cases have been successfully resolved so far. 'We need to identify John Doe 28,' Jurden said, 'so we can make sure no harm comes to that little boy.' | FBI and National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) release screen grabs from video recovered from a known pedophile's home in San Franciso .
The footage shows an unidentified man - labeled John Doe 28 - sexually abusing a boy for two minutes .
The number 28 does not refer to his age .
Authorities do not know where, when, or who is in the footage .
Believe him to be American because he says one word, 'careful' during the video . |
134,575 | 3a0ae87c491157ddfe9e83c6ac1dddfb33440d38 | By . Daniel Miller . PUBLISHED: . 12:26 EST, 8 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:55 EST, 8 November 2013 . Chinese workers at factories making Dell computers are being forced to work seven day, 74 hour weeks under appalling conditions for as little as 66p an hour, it has been claimed. An undercover investigation by Danish and Chinese Labour watchdogs secretly filmed conditions inside four Chinese factories. They found shocking evidence that workers were being forced to live in cramped, squalid dormitories where there was said to be not enough hot water to wash. Scroll down for video . Probe: An undercover investigation at four Chinese factories making Dell computers found workers were being forced to work seven-day, 74 hour weeks often under poor conditions . Investigations were carried out at the MSI factory in Shenzhen city, the Mingshou factory in Suzhou city and the Hipro Electronics and Taida Electronics factories both in Dongguan city, Guangdong province. At the Mingshuo factory there was found to be just one toilet for every 55 workers, one shower room for every 90 workers and 272 workers were having to share one coin operated washing machine. The workers are reportedly forced to work overtime for up to four hours per day and are fined for their mistakes. Tech giant: Dell is the world's third largest PC manufacturer . In factories in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu, workers were also found to breathe chemical fumes all day long as they assembled components. Workers welding circuit boards also complained about skin rashes from direct and indirect contact with the electronics. Dell is the world's third largest PC manufacturer and the company currently has 21 multi-million pound contracts with the UK public sector, including with universities. A spokesman for DanWatch, a Denmark-based independent watchdog, which carried out the investigation with China Labour Watch, said the workers' pay fell bellow the Chinese minimum wage. One worker, 18-year-old Zhao Lily, 18, told the investigators how she and her colleagues work, eat and live in the same dormitory at the factory grounds of the MSI factory. Describing the condition son the factory floor, she said: 'Because of the welding, the temperature is uncomfortably high and the smell is toxic. We don’t get mouth protection and I get skin irritation if I touch my face at work.' Zhao also explained how she finds the work exhausting because of the repetitive movements and long hours. 'We have to stand up the entire 12 hour shift; to sit down, you have to ask for permission.', she added. Eva . Hesse Lundström, editor of DanWatch, said: 'When companies compete on . supplying computers in the cheapest way possible, and when our public . buyers aim for the cheapest wares on the market, a high human cost is . paid. Cramped: Inside one of the squalid-looking dormitories where workers are forced to stay . Workers welding circuit boards used in Dell computers reportedly breathe toxic fumes all day long and suffer skin rashes . 'Our research shows that the conditions at Dell’s suppliers violate ILO conventions and Chinese labor law as well as Dells own policy.' A spokesman for Dell said the company conducts was already conducting audits of three of the factories involved and would take appropriate action regarding any reports of poor working conditions in our supply chain. A statement from the firm read: 'Dell employs high standards for workplace conditions and safety in our facilities and we expect our supplier partners to employ the same high standards. 'It is also our policy to thoroughly investigate and take appropriate action regarding any reports of poor working conditions in our supply chain.' | An undercover investigation by Danish and Chinese Labour watchdogs .
Workers say they have to breathe toxic fumes and suffer skin rashes .
One toilet for every 55 workers, and one shower room for every 90 workers .
Pay found to be as little as 66p an hour - below the Chinese minimum wage .
Dell is currently the world's third largest PC manufacturer .
It has lucrative contracts with the UK public sector including universities . |
141,957 | 4393f2fcb77f0727a9b3984166b402e7a5b70e58 | By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 10:56 EST, 15 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:34 EST, 15 January 2014 . Legal highs are becoming a bigger problem than cocaine and heroin in Britain, a Home Office minister claimed today. Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes in East Sussex, revealed his concern over the dozens of young people who are dying or risking injury by experimenting with new substances. It comes after the 56-year-old said ministers were refusing to sign up to European legislation for tackling the legal highs because the proposal would restrict Britain’s ability to control the drugs. Tragic cases: More than 50 deaths each year are blamed on legal highs by campaigners, including those of Sussex University medical student Hester Stewart (left), 21, and Adam Hunt (right), 18, of Southampton . A review of legal highs was launched last month by Mr Baker, who joined the Home Office in the last reshuffle, to consider widening legislation to boost police and law enforcement agencies' powers. He said some legal highs could be ‘more dangerous’ than heroin or cocaine, telling the London Evening Standard: ‘People think they are safe and legal when they may not be. ‘So I have initiated a review of so-called legal highs, which are a particular problem at the moment and becoming more serious than some of the traditional drugs in many ways.’ Mr Baker added: ‘We don’t know what the long-term consequences of these things are. They are more of a problem because we don’t know what they are until we have analysed them.’ He said that the Government has decades of history about the effects of cocaine and heroin, which has helped them to come up with a policy - but no such knowledge exists about some legal highs. The politician also stated that young people whose . bladders were being destroyed by the controlled drug ketamine - a horse . tranquilliser - were now being forced to have colostomy bags fitted. Worries: Norman Baker, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes in East Sussex, revealed his concern over the dozens of young people who are dying or risking injury by experimenting with new substances . Mr Baker pointed out that he did wish to say heroin and cocaine were not dangerous. More than 50 deaths each year are blamed on legal highs by campaigners, including that of Adam Hunt, 18, who took the psychoactive substances AMT and etizolam in Southampton last August. Sussex University medical student Hester . Stewart, 21, was also killed by a legal high. The cheerleader took the . dance drug GBL in April 2009 and was later found dead at a house in . Brighton. 'We don’t know what the long-term consequences of these things are. They are more of a problem because we don’t know what they are until we have analysed them' Norman Baker, Home Office minister . Mr Baker said earlier this week that the Government also disputes European Union evidence, which estimates 20 per cent of legal highs have a ‘legitimate use’. Mr Baker said the Government would remain involved in EU negotiations to shape the European Commission proposals. Ten ‘legal highs’ were identified last year for the first time in the UK by a specialist Government system that targets music festivals and tobacco shops. A total of 27 new psychoactive substances, also known as legal highs, have now been detected by the Home Office's Forensic Early Warning System since it was set up in January 2011. Official figures also show that the number of deaths being linked to legal highs soared by 80 per cent last year to 52, from 29 in 2011. | Norman Baker fears for young people experimenting with substances .
Review of legal highs launched last month by the Home Office minister .
He is concerned because 'we don’t know the long-term consequences' |
45,488 | 802ed11619fe9290208bdfc83235dbe4f523db4d | Many rich motorists want to own a supercar simply as a status symbol - and few will ever get the chance to use one to its full potential. But a Bugatti Veyron driver has achieved seven runs at astonishing speeds of up to 225mph on Arizona’s Interstate 8 public highway. An amazing video shows the $1.7million vehicle - named ‘car of the decade’ by BBC’s Top Gear in 2010 - driven into the U.S. from Mexico. Scroll down for video . Supercar: A Bugatti Veyron driver has achieved seven runs at astonishing speeds of up to 225mph on Arizona's Interstate 8 public highway . On course: The 26-gallon car was kept in its 'handling mode' rather than 'top speed mode' because of the uneven surface of the public road . The ‘Bugatti Veryon (sic) High Speed Runs x7’ video, which has attracted more than 60,000 YouTube views, explained how the feat was performed. The car, which has a 26-gallon tank, was kept in its ‘handling’ rather than ‘top speed’ mode because of the public road's uneven surface, it said. And because of its impressive fuel efficiency the car could be driven down to the Mexico border and back into southern Arizona without refuelling. A police officer stopped the car in Arizona but there was no trouble because it was being driven within the limit at the time, the video said. Caught on camera: It's unclear whether the driver had official permission to perform the high-speed runs on the straight roads in Arizona . Outstanding: The seven-gear transmission vehicle has a total of 1,001 horsepower and a torque of up to 1,250 Newton meters . It’s unclear whether the driver had . official permission to perform the high-speed runs on the straight . roads, which made for perfect conditions. The car didn’t even reach its top speed of 253mph but the road was certainly not designed for a speed of 225mph, reported Business Insider. The seven-gear transmission vehicle has a total of 1,001 horsepower and a torque of up to 1,250 Newton metres, according to the Bugatti website. The Veyron - which can do 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds - can get to speeds that would literally lift it up, but it was designed to avoid this. See video here . | Bugatti Veyron driven at 225mph on Arizona's I-8 .
$1.7m vehicle named 'car of the decade' by Top Gear .
It can do 0-60mph in 2.5 seconds; top speed 253mph . |
38,223 | 6c14c36ea9388b10af8a5811d7405d60622401be | (CNN) -- Former Argentine dictator Gen. Reynaldo Bignone was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity at a clandestine detention center during his rule. He was already serving a 25-year sentence from a previous trial. He ruled Argentina from June 1982 until the nation's return to democracy in December 1983. Argentina's 2nd Oral Federal Court handed down the ruling. The punishment stems from an investigation into a clandestine detention facility hidden inside a hospital during the country's military dictatorship. Under his command, at least 22 people were kidnapped and taken to the center, known as the "Chalet at the Posadas Hospital," according to evidence in the case. Five of those were tortured during their detention, according to Argentina's judicial information center. Bignone, was previously sentenced in April 2010 to 25 years in prison for kidnapping and torturing 56 people. Up to 30,000 students, labor leaders, intellectuals and leftists who ran afoul of the dictatorship because of their political views disappeared or were held in secret jails and torture centers during the nation's eight-year "dirty war." | Gen. Reynaldo Bignone ruled Argentina from 1982-1983 .
He was sentenced to 15 years for torture in a secret jail .
He had previously been sentenced to 25 years for other crimes . |
99,784 | 0c8f92a9f957ea64c34f54660863f78fe8e3817d | By . Emily Crane . and Aap . Teenage tennis wonder Nick Kyrgios is back on home soil following his Wimbledon heroics and he flew straight into his waiting mother's arms at Canberra airport. Wimbledon wildcard Kyrgios became a worldwide tennis sensation when he toppled world No.1 Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals last week. But the 19-year-old made a low-key arrival at Canberra on Sunday morning, signing autographs for a handful of die-hard young tennis fans. Teenage tennis wonder Nick Kyrgios flew straight into his waiting mother Norlaila's arms at Canberra airport on Sunday morning . 'There's no better feeling than being home,' Kyrgios told reporters at the airport. His mother Norlaila and brother Christos met him at the arrival terminal. He said he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and tasting his mum's cooking after 12 weeks on the road. Kyrgios played down the hip injury incurred during Wimbledon after pulling out of this week's grass court tournament in Newport, Rhode Island. The 19-year-old became a worldwide tennis sensation when he toppled world No.1 Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals last week . The Wimbledon wildcard made a low-key arrival at Canberra on Sunday morning, signing autographs for a handful of die-hard young tennis fans . He said his hip was feeling all right and the extra leg room of business class helped. 'I'm just feeling really exhausted,' he said. 'I'm just going to relax and not think too far ahead.' Kyrgios said he was conscious of the sudden and intense public spotlight. 'It's something I'm going to have to get used to if I keep having the same level of success that I've had. I'm just going to have to deal with it... in the right way,' he said. Kyrgios said he was looking forward to sleeping in his own bed and tasting his mum's cooking after 12 weeks on the road . His mother said his family will keep him grounded. 'The difference is he has an elder brother who is eight years older than him and an elder sister,' Norlaila told AAP. 'They'll keep him in line... They'll keep him humble and tell him to behave himself.' The family had dinner reservations tonight for a celebratory welcome home meal. The teenager was unable to reproduce his sensational upset over Nadal and lost the quarter final to eight seed Milos Raonic. Kyrgios will soon head back to Melbourne to train before flying off for his US hardcourt campaign in the lead up to the US Open. | Tennis star Nick Kyrgios flew into Canberra airport on Sunday morning .
19-year-old signed autographs for handful of die-hard young tennis fans .
Kyrgios became tennis sensation after toppling world No.1 Rafael Nadal .
He will soon head back to training in Melbourne to prepare for US Open . |
75,199 | d5337c01366ca5fadf35bd28fe60bb006d82593f | Lou Scheimer, a pioneer in Saturday morning and weekday afternoon television cartoons with hit shows such as "Superman," "Fat Albert" and "He-Man," has died at 84, according to his biographer. Scheimer died Thursday, said writer Andy Mangels, who said he spoke with Scheimer's family. Amy Rosenberg, Scheimer's daughter-in-law, confirmed his passing as well. Scheimer was a founder of Filmation, which began producing Saturday morning staples in the 1960s, including superhero stories and an animated version of "Star Trek." Later, the studio found hits with "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," and "She-Ra, Princess of Power." Scheimer occasionally did voice work on the cartoons. Filmation's library was purchased by DreamWorks last year. People we've lost in 2013 . | Scheimer was a pioneer in Saturday morning cartoons such as "Superman"
His Filmation studio later produced "Fat Albert, "He-Man" and "She-Ra"
Scheimer's voice appeared on some cartoons .
DreamWorks bought the Filmation library last year . |
258,694 | dacf58c0076be59a6b82ea4c2ff3c5dec0c47ac2 | When authorities found an 11-year-old Guatemalan boy's body just about a mile from Texas' southern border, they also discovered his brother's Chicago phone number scribbled on the inside of his belt buckle. The boy, wearing Angry Birds jeans, black leather boots and a white rosary around his neck, had apparently gotten lost on his way north from his native country and was found earlier this month, alone in the brush less than a mile from the nearest U.S. home, a South Texas sheriff said Monday. While hundreds of immigrants die crossing the border each year, the discovery of Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez's decomposed body in the Rio Grande Valley earlier this month highlights the perils unaccompanied children face as the U.S. government searches for ways to deal with record numbers of children crossing into the country illegally. Tragic: The boy had his brother's Chicago phone number written on the inside of his belt buckle when he was his body was found in the desert . Heartbreaking: The 11-year-old boy's Abgry Birds jeans helped authorities identify his body . 'Down here finding a decomposed body ... we come across them quite often,' Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra said, adding that this was the first child immigrant his office has found since he became sheriff in April. 'It's a very dangerous journey.' More than 52,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended entering the U.S. illegally since October, creating what President Barack Obama has called an 'urgent humanitarian situation.' On Monday, Obama asked Congress for more money and additional authority to deal with the surge of youths, mostly from Central America. Obama wants flexibility to speed the youths' deportations and $2 billion in new money to hire more immigration judges and open more detention facilities. The number of unaccompanied immigrant children arrested along the border has been rising for three years as they fled pervasive gang violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. More recently, children and parents have said they heard children traveling alone and parents traveling with young kids would be released by authorities and allowed to continue to their destination. Long hike: The boy was found wearing black boots on his long, hot journey through the desert . Common: Sheriff Eddie Guerra says finding decomposing bodies of immigrants in the desert is not uncommon . Far from home: Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez was found dead a mile from the border . Many of the . children turn themselves in to the first law enforcement person they . see, so Guerra said it was unusual to find a child in this more remote . area — near La Joya, about 20 miles west of McAllen. The . boy's body was found June 15. Sometimes smugglers leave people behind . if they can't go on; other times a group may scatter when authorities . approach. Investigators were able to reach the boy's brother in Chicago; his phone number was one of three on the boy's belt. It's . not uncommon for immigrants to put relatives' phone numbers on their . clothing because scraps of paper can get lost or wet during their . journey. The boy's brother gave authorities his father's phone number in Guatemala, and the dad identified the boy's personal items. Th boy was found in an area with dense brush and no water . The . cause of death has not been determined, but authorities suspect heat . stroke, Guerra said. The boy was no longer wearing a shirt when he was . found. An autopsy did not find signs of trauma and the pathologist . estimated the body had been there for about two weeks. The . boy's family in Huehuetenango, Chiantla, Guatemala, had last heard from . him about 25 days before his body was found. At that time, he was in . Reynosa, Mexico, waiting to cross the border. His father told . authorities the boy was traveling with a coyote, or smuggler. Although . the number of immigrant children who have died crossing into Texas was . not immediately available, such discoveries are not unheard of. | Boy identified at Gilberto Francisco Ramo Jaurez, who was found June 15 less than a mile from the border .
Ramo Jaurez is a native of Guatemala .
Authorities used the number in his belt to help ID his remains, which authorities believe had been in the desert for up to two weeks .
The boy's Family says he was being led into the U.S. by a coyote .
The last time his family heard from him was 25 days before his body was found . |
274,779 | eff6cada24de1aa4279fd39648c7e1011d03ad98 | Luis Suarez could be the last big-money signing top European club Barcelona makes for quite some time. The Spanish football club has seen its appeal against a ban on buying new players rejected by the sport's global governing body FIFA. Barca plans to appeal the sanction, which prohibits the club from signing any new players until January 2016, at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS.) The punishment was meted out in April, when FIFA ruled Barca had breached rules relating to the transfers of players under the age of 18. "Barcelona announces that it shall continue defending its interests before the highest sporting authority, in this case the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)," read a statement from the club. "Barcelona may not in any way share a resolution that is an affront to the spirit of our Masia (its youth academy,) a world renowned example of academic, human and sporting education." Barca was allowed to sign players during the current transfer window, which closes on September 1, after FIFA suspended the ban while the appeal was in progress. The Catalan team spent a reported $128.5 million to sign Uruguay international Suarez from Liverpool. The striker is currently serving a ban for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini while playing for Uruguay at the World Cup. Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen was brought in from Arsenal for a fee of euros $25m while French defender Jeremy Mathieu and Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo were signed from Valencia and Real Sociedad respectively. Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic from Sevilla joined Barca for a fee of $23.9m with the club also paying $3m to Dinamo Zagreb for Alen Halilovic. | FIFA rejects Barcelona's appeal against a transfer ban .
The Catalan club will be unable to sign new players until January 2016 .
The ban was meted out after FIFA ruled Barca had breached rules relating to youth players .
Barca intends to appeal the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport . |
17,392 | 3138cc8604e995dc7e2351fe202480b82dad421a | London (CNN) -- A new window on your life may soon be opened from space -- in high quality video and in almost real-time. The resolution might not be clear enough to pick out individual faces but if the simulation footage proves accurate then a video camera soon to be attached to the International Space Station (ISS) will be able to show high definition movies capable of detailing your car moving on the highway. UrtheCast, the company behind the idea, aims to stream the video for free over the web and make the data open source so you can integrate it into your own applications. "To track and see people moving from space is 100% unique," said UrtheCast president Scott Larson. He explained that their images will have more pixels than most computer screens so the streaming footage will appear somewhat "downgraded." But he said those who choose to pay for a subscription will have access to higher quality raw imagery from which they can glean detailed information. UrtheCast says the video will be available between 30 minutes and two hours after shooting and the high quality footage will have a resolution down to a meter. Google currently provides similar quality still images for some parts of the world which are made up from satellite pictures and aerial photography. It declined to comment on the resolution but points out that it upgraded its service in June. The American space agency NASA provides real-time video from the space station, except when it's out of communication. NASA spokesman Joshua Byerly says the footage is typically of the ISS laboratories in the day, and outside the station in standard definition when the crew goes to sleep. Larson said the UrtheCast imagery will be useful for monitoring crop growth and disease, water resources and the rate and scale of deforestation. The company website also shows how the data could be used to help in the wake of disasters by, for example, showing emergency response teams the safest, fastest access routes. "Developers will think of far more creative applications than we'd ever be able to, which is essentially the Internet model ... let the developers and users drive its effectiveness," said Larson. Scientists from Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in England built two cameras for UrtheCast (one medium resolution and one high resolution) at a cost of several million dollars. They are due to be launched on a Russian spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in November, and the team hopes to see them in action in 2014. Ian Tosh, the ISS camera project manager at RAL, told CNN: "The key thing about this video camera is that it's on a platform outside the space station which can point on two axes so when the space station comes over the horizon you can point the camera to a target on the ground and track it for two to three minutes -- that's never been done before. "You may think the military are doing this all the time -- that they can read number plates and newsprint -- but that's not the reality. You can't see faces; you wouldn't be able to recognize someone lying naked in the back garden, so we're not going down the route of blanking out faces because you can't see them. "What you will definitely see is cars going down the motorway. You'll still be able to see lines on runways and crowds of people." Space expert Stuart Eves, who worked on the Earth observation satellite "TopSat," said he admired the ambition of the project but highlighted some limitations. He pointed out that ISS has "an orbit repeat cycle of three days, and doesn't get back to the same lighting conditions for more than 60 days. "The video element is really for entertainment value -- it's nice to watch," he said. But he added that delays in getting the imagery back means that you can't use it for practical real-time applications like vehicles moving along a motorway, and underlined that the space station is only over a specific target for less than 10 minutes as it moves overhead. The issue of privacy may worry some -- knowing that they can be filmed from space -- but Larson argues that many of us are already closely monitored by CCTV and can be tracked by the signals from our cell phones. "It's less invasive than that," he said, adding that there will be some restrictions on the imagery that can be released to the public. According to Ian Tosh, the Russians won't allow data of their territories to be released. Producing a camera that can survive the rigors of space is technically challenging. The lenses have to be made with fine precision, able to survive the degradation caused by radiation in space, the vibration at launch and keep their shape despite the extreme ranges of temperature in orbit. "Polishing [lenses] hasn't changed much since Galileo -- it's still a grinding process," said Tosh. "The optical surface has to be good to 60 billionths of a meter deviation from the ideal surface. We've got to have a thermal system that can keep the temperature uniform in the telescope and within certain bounds so that we can stay in focus." If the mission can overcome the technical hurdles and survive the hazards of launch, UrtheCast says its cameras will capture an area of the globe so large that it contains the majority of the world's population. | Footage from cameras due to be fitted to the space station will be streamed on the Internet .
UrtheCast says the video data could be used to help in the wake of disasters .
The company president Scott Larson argues that video from the space station will be less of an invasion of privacy than current CCTV networks .
Urthecast also says its cameras will capture an area of the globe so large that it contains the majority of the world's population . |
46,052 | 81beea86a003d54af002131b93b05ea00246a8d8 | Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's spokesman listed Wednesday specific steps the Egyptian government needs to take to satisfy the demands of protesters convulsing the country. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called for expanding he negotiations with opposition groups, lifting the state of emergency and making constitutional changes to bring about democratic elections. "We think more has to be done, and more importantly, I think the people of Egypt think more has to be done," Gibbs told reporters. In a sign of increasing tension between the United States and Egypt over the demonstrations that began January 25, Egypt's foreign minister said in a U.S. television interview that the Obama administration should back off from pushing President Hosni Mubarak to speed up the reform process. "When you speak about prompt, immediate, now," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told PBS "NewsHour," it is "as if you are imposing on a great country like Egypt, a great friend that has always maintained the best of relationship with the United States, you are imposing your will on him." Aboul Gheit said the U.S. government should "better understand the Egyptian sensitivities and better encourage the Egyptians to move forward and to do what is required -- that is my advice to you." In particular, he rejected the call for lifting the state of emergency that has been in place for three decades, saying the special security powers were needed now that thousands of prisoners had been freed during the chaos of the demonstrations. "How can you ask me to sort of disband that emergency law while I'm in difficulty?" Aboul Gheit said. "Give me time, allow me to have control to stabilize the nation, to stabilize the state and then we would look into the issue." At the same time, Aboul Gheit called the situation in Egypt "an upheaval that is transforming Egypt from one era to a new era," and insisted that Mubarak and his new vice president, Omar Suleiman, have embarked on an irreversible path of reforms sought by the demonstrators and the United States. He compared his government's situation to being "in a boat in the midst of the Nile (river) moving from one bank to the other," adding: "Give us the time to row and to go with the current and see how we will reach that point." Gibbs, however, said it was the people of Egypt who needed to see concrete steps toward the changes they seek, and that the Obama administration was merely expressing the reality of the situation. "I think it is clear that what the government has so far put forward has yet to meet the minimum threshold of the people of Egypt," Gibbs said, later adding: "I think if there's some notion on the government side that you can put the genie back in this bottle, I think that's gone a long time ago." Asked about past warnings that the United States could withhold some or all of the more than $1 billion in annual military aid to Egypt, Gibbs said any decision would be based on the response of the Egyptian government to the demonstrations. "We are watching quite closely to see what those responses are, and the response of the government will determine what that aid looks like," Gibbs said. He repeated U.S. opposition to any kind of violent crackdown on the protesters, indicating that could be a litmus test for a decision to withhold aid. On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden spoke by phone with Suleiman to push for more progress, according to a White House statement. Biden urged "that the transition produce immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," according to the White House statement. The two vice presidents discussed "restraining the Ministry of Interior's conduct by immediately ending the arrests, harassment, beating and detention of journalists, and political and civil society activists, and by allowing freedom of assembly and expression; immediately rescinding the emergency law; broadening participation in the national dialogue to include a wide range of opposition members; and inviting the opposition as a partner in jointly developing a road map and timetable for transition." "These steps, and a clear policy of no reprisals, are what the broad opposition is calling for and what the government is saying it is prepared to accept," the statement said. "Vice President Biden expressed the belief that the demands of the broad opposition can be met through meaningful negotiations with the government." Also on Tuesday, Gibbs made a point of directly criticizing the Egyptian government for continuing detentions, beatings and harassment of journalists and rights activists. "The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society," Gibbs said. Previously, he and other U.S. officials, including Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called for a halt to the crackdown on journalists and activists without directly saying that the Egyptian government was responsible. Gibbs also labeled as "particularly unhelpful" the comment by Suleiman in an interview with ABC that Egypt lacks the necessary "culture of democracy" for the changes demanded by protesters, such as freedom of speech and the right to organize opposition parties. A senior administration official, speaking with CNN on condition of not being identified because of the sensitivity of a rapidly changing political situation in Cairo, acknowledged Tuesday that "there is some sort of level of frustration here." Overall, though, the Obama administration has been careful to call for democratic reforms in Egypt while also trying to maintain stability in a key Middle Eastern ally that is a vital Arab partner to Israel through the Camp David Accords of 1978. Gibbs repeated the U.S. call for an orderly transition in Egypt from the repressive rule of the past three decades under Mubarak to a multiparty democracy through free and fair elections. Mubarak has insisted he will remain in power through the end of his term in September instead of ceding to demands for his immediate ouster by the protesters and opposition figures. Suleiman also says Mubarak must remain in power until the next election for the transition to be orderly. CNN's Jill Dougherty contributed to this story . | White House spokesman calls for lifting the state of emergency, expanding negotiations .
Otherwise, the protests will continue to grow, Gibbs says .
Egypt's foreign minister tells the United States to back off . |
185,892 | 7cbd567aa53887ef60a26d6c6ae457a5eeb4021d | By . Jack Doyle . The racial ‘bias’ in police use of stop-and-search powers is much worse in rural parts of England than previously thought – with black people as much as twelve times more likely to be stopped than whites. In 27 force areas, the true extent of the disproportionate use of so-called sus powers on black people has been revised upwards in new research by the equalities watchdog. These include Dorset, where black people are a staggering twelve times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched by the police. In Gloucestershire, they are nearly eight times more likely, in Wiltshire seven times and more than five times in Norfolk and Suffolk. Overall, the Census figures showed lower numbers of black, mixed race and other ethnic minority groups were living in some rural areas. The extent of racial bias in the Met is a third lower than was thought . Several other forces have been shown to have much higher levels of racial bias include Warwickshire, Surrey, Devon and Cornwall, Kent and Hampshire, the Equality and Human Rights Commission report shows. The new figures – which will be a major concern to ministers, officers and race campaigners – emerged after stop and search numbers were re-calculated with up-to-date population estimates from the 2011 Census. In a report released yesterday, the . Equality and Human Rights Commisssion compared figures for how many . people in force areas in different ethnic groups with stop and search . totals for 2010-11 and 2011-12. Home Secretary Theresa May is reining in stop and search powers . Under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act officers can to stop and search someone if they have reasonable suspicion they are about to commit an offence. Overall, the Census figues showed lower numbers of black, mixed race and other ethnic minority groups were living in some rural areas. By contrast, the numbers for urban areas are much higher. As a result, researchers have recalculated the extent to which stops and searches are ‘disproportionate’ across England and Wales. In Dorset, the size of the black population is 2,920 – less than half the earlier estimate of 7,480. The old figures suggested 3.8 black people were stopped for every white person, compared to more than ten under the new calculation for 2011, and nearly 12 in the 2012 figures. The extent of racial bias was found to be twice as high in West Mercia, and nearly twice as high in Sussex than previously thought. The census also showed ethnic minority populations in urban areas were much higher. That means urban forces, including the Metropolitan Police, West Midlands and Greater Manchester, have lower levels of racial bias, and search fewer black people as a proportion of the overall population. The extent of racial bias in the Met is a third lower than was thought. The force carried out 471,336 – or 47 per cent – of the 1.1million stop and searches in England and Wales last year. The Census showed there are 888,166 black people living in London, compared with 662, 396 under old Office for National Statistics (ONS) population projections. The estimate for people of mixed race has increased from 188,784 to 280,891. These mean that rather than five black people being stopped and searched for every white person, the true figure is just over three. For people of mixed race, the proportion has nearly halved. Across England and Wales, the revised figures show 6.5 stops of a black person for every white, instead of 7.5 under the previous population figures. The extent of racial bias in stop and search was cited as a major factor in the causes for the 2011 riots by some commentators. Home Secretary Theresa May is reining in stop and search powers after figures showed just 9 per cent of all stops led to an arrest. In some parts of the country, the figure is as low as 3 per cent, raising huge question marks over whether the power is being used properly. A spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: ‘The change from ONS population estimates by ethnic group to 2011 Census data has revised population profiles for some police force areas with either relatively lower or higher ethnic minority populations. ‘This either increases or decreases estimates of race disproportionality.’ ‘For example, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire have higher figures for black/white disproportionality based on the Census estimates, while Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire have lower figures.’ | In Gloucestershire, they are nearly eight times more likely, in Wiltshire seven times and more than five times in Norfolk and Suffolk .
Home Secretary Theresa May is reining in stop and search powers . |
206,316 | 971610dca853fa28f3f73d0cf786cfc75a60b606 | For centuries France has held out against the dull language of 'les rosbifs' just across the Channel. But now the country's future leaders have been told they must master English – a dramatic climbdown for a nation that has tried to ban words such as 'le weekend' from encroaching on its precious vocabulary. ENA, the elite National School of Administration in Strasbourg, which produces the French governing class, is to make mastery of English a compulsory rule of entry from 2018. Nathalie Loiseau, director of the elite National School of Administration in Strasbourg, which produces the French governing class, has said the school will make mastery of English a compulsory rule of entry from 2018 . An ENA spokeswoman said fluency in English was essential to run a modern state, and that potential students had to be prepared. The move is in defiance of traditionalists including former French President Jacques Chirac, who in 2006 pledged to stop the spread of English internationally. 'We fight for our language,' said Mr Chirac, himself an ENA graduate, after walking out of a European Union summit when a French business chief spoke in English. 'I was profoundly shocked to see a Frenchman express himself in English,' said Mr Chirac. 'You cannot base a future world on just one language, just one culture. It would be a dramatic decline.' Nathalie Loiseau, ENA's director, confirmed that the reform reflected a break with the past, saying French words are stuffy and outdated. 'The usual words such as 'sacrifice', 'vocation' and 'commitment' sound half religious, half military,' she said. The move is in defiance of traditionalists including former French President Jacques Chirac (pictured) who in 2006 pledged to stop the spread of English internationally . | National School of Administration is making English fluency a requirement .
From 2018 it will be a rule of entry for school producing French ruling class .
Defies traditionalists including former French President Jacques Chirac .
In 2006 he pledged to stop the spread of English language internationally . |
141,831 | 4367bd185aeb9a45eeb419b331c29f24167e2447 | Investigators probing the theft of Michael Schumacher's medical notes believe a helicopter firm contacted by doctors looking to transfer the former racing driver from a hospital in France to Switzerland may have been involved in the disappearance. Schumacher, 45, suffered a major head injury when he fell while skiing in France in December and was kept in a medically induced coma for six months after the accident. Schumacher was recently transferred from the hospital in Grenoble, France to a unit near his Swiss home, allowing his wife Corinna to attend a public event at her ranch in Givrins. Michael Schumacher, right, with his wife Corinna, left, were skiing in France in December when the major accident happened. Now his family fears that his confidential medical notes have been leaked to the media . Media in France and Switzerland said that prosecutors in Grenoble, France are currently looking a computer IP address which belongs to a Swiss helicopter firm who were consulted during the rescue. Prosecutors have not named the company publicly, but they have been working with authorities in Switzerland on the case. Medics in Grenoble are believed to have contacted the company while discussing the possibility of flying the former Formula 1 champion to Switzerland to continue his recovery. The records, which are believed to consist of several pages of medical notes outlining the extent of the injury suffered by Schumacher. Last month, Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm revelaed that the documents had been 'clearly stolen', warning that anyone buying or publishing the 'confidential files' would be prosecuted. It is understood that the notes were offered for sale across Europe to media organisations for £40,000. Corinna Schumacher, left, made her first public appearance in several months at her ranch in Givrins, Switzerland after her husband was transferred to a clinic near their home to continue his recovery . According to the BBC, the new information was reported in French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere. Initially it was believed that a hospital worker or a member of the ambulance team that transferred Schumacher from France to Switzerland may have been behind the theft. The latest development emerged in French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere, and Swiss media said it had been confirmed by the prosecutor in Grenoble. Suspicions had initially fallen on the hospital in Grenoble and the ambulance team which eventually drove him across the border. According to the Grenoble prosecutor, the computer was traced back to a helicopter company in the Swiss canton of Zurich. The company's name has not been made public. The file had been sent to a doctor at the company, although there was nothing to link the doctor to the alleged offence. It is thought the findings of the French inquiry will now be handed to the authorities in Switzerland. Ms Kehm said: 'We cannot judge if these documents are authentic. However, the documents are clearly stolen. The theft has been reported.’ Schumacher’s office will ‘press for criminal charges and damages’ if the documents and data are made public, Kehm said. Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm warned media outlets that they face prosecution if they either buy or publish her client's medical records which have been 'clearly stolen', confirming the theft has been reported . | Several pages of Michael Schumacher's medical notes have been stolen .
Prosecutors believe they are being made available to the media for £40,000 .
The leak has been traced to a computer in a Swiss helicopter company .
His manager has warned anyone buying the notes will be prosecuted . |
104,333 | 129d32ec422a68c703c10d221c19877f95e778ba | By . Rebecca English Royal Correspondent In Qatar . PUBLISHED: . 11:48 EST, 14 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:50 EST, 14 March 2013 . All the talk of late has suggested the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a girl. Perhaps Prince Charles might start praying for a grandson after being given a tiny blue and white babygrow in the style of Formula 1 racing overalls for his future grandchild today. The prince was visiting the Williams F1 facility at the Qatar Science and Technology Park in Doha today on the second leg of his tour of the Middle East. Williams F1 CEO Alex Burns presented Charles with racing overalls for the future monarch in Qatar today . Charles was presented with a Williams F1 babygrow in the style of racing overalls for his future grandchild by the team's CEO as he visited the Qatar Science and Technology Park . The belt of the babygrow was embroidered with 'HRH' - for His or Her Royal Highness - just like Formula 1 drivers have their initials on their racing overalls . Charles seemed tickled pink by the gift for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child, due in July . He was presented with the adorable jumpsuit in the team colours by the company's CEO, Alex Burns. 'Here is something we have had embroidered for your future grandchild, Sir, very many congratulations,' he said. Mr Burns explained that F1 drivers normally have their names embroidered on the belt, so in this case they had used the letters HRH - His (or Her) Royal Highness. Charles looked tickled pink at the gift and chucked when one onlooker suggested: 'Let's hope it's a boy!' 'How lovely,' he said. 'Thank you very, very much. That is very kind of you.' The Williams Technology Centre in Qatar was established in 2009 to develop and commercialise technologies with their origins in F1. The overalls-style babygrow is embroidered with 'HRH' on the belt - just like Formula 1 drivers themselves. The team's CEO presented Charles with the gift for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's first child . Charles was persuaded to get behind the wheel of a simulator at the Science and Technology Park, though he was reluctant to wear his seatbelt . Charles visited the Science and Technology Park in Qatar during a three-day visit . It is currently working on two projects: a vehicle simulator to help improve road safety and the development of an storage system for renewable energy. The prince was persuaded to try his hand at the simulator which has the seat and dash board of a Range Rover and uses a detailed 3D recreation of the streets of Doha. Despite it being a road safety simulator Charles wasn't keen to buckle up. 'Do I have to put my seat belt on,' he asked. 'Well you should do as this is a road safety demonstration,' he was told, The prince was eventually told that he didn't need to comply. Charles laughed and chuckled as he drove fairly carefully through the virtual reality city. Afterwards he said; 'I think I might need a sea sickness tablet.' | Charles was visiting the Williams F1 facility in Doha today .
Embroidery mimics F1 drivers, who have initials sewn on to their overalls .
The prince joked he needed a sea sickness tablet after ride in simulator . |
50,929 | 901d9f1a941a85667e06d1bc26cf13fe85fd88ba | Mario Balotelli was typically good value during Liverpool's training session on Friday - and Sportsmail can reveal that the Italy striker is the Premier League's best value-for-money summer signing. The 24-year-old, who looks to make his debut against Tottenham on Sunday, was bought by Liverpool for £16million and boffins reckon Brendan Rodgers got him on the cheap. Analysts at Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory have placed ‘market values’ on top players from around Europe and they calculate that Balotelli was worth £30m, £14m more than Liverpool paid for him. VIDEO Scroll down to watch some of Mario Balotelli's maddest moments . Up and down: Balotelli ducks as Dejan Lovren rises for a header on the other side of the net in training . Feeling the love: Mario Balotelli receives a hug from Liverpool team-mate Lucas Leiva . Close bond: Balotelli seems to have formed a close-knit relationship with Brazilian midfielder Lucas . Floored genius: Balotelli, on the deck, Raheem Sterling, Fabio Borini and Co share a laugh at training . Competition: The Italian places his hand on his fellow countryman Fabio Borini's back . Training drill: Liverpool duo Balotelli and Mamadou Sakho play head tennis at Melwood . All smiles: Balotelli looked happy during Liverpool's training session ahead of their showdown with Spurs . Running man: Balotelli is put through his paces during a session at Liverpool's training ground . Strike partners: Balotelli could line up alongside Daniel Sturridge at White Hart Lane . Mario Balotelli (Milan to Liverpool) Paid: £16m Value: £30m (-£14m) Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid to Chelsea) Paid: £32m Value: £40m (-£8m) David Luiz (Chelsea to PSG) Paid: £50m Value: £24m (+£26m) This is based on a wide range of ‘objective’ factors from age and contract expiry date to position, performance data and international experience. Sportsmail columnist Jamie Redknapp went further, saying Liverpool had a £45m player for £16m. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers called the deal ‘outstanding value’, despite admitting that it was a risk signing the 24-year-old striker. However, he took a punt due to Balotelli's age and match-winning ability. The striker looked to be getting along with his new team-mates, being hugged by new team-mate Lucas Leiva during the training session and was pictured on the ground having a laugh with more of his new team-mates. It was a more impressive display at Melwood for Balotelli than on Wednesday, when he struggled to put on a bib. Balotelli watched from the stands as Liverpool lost 3-1 to his former club Manchester City at the Etihad and will be raring to go at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Having a laugh: Balotelli creases up during a relaxed session at Melwood . Concentration: Liverpool's Balotelli keeps his eyes on the ball during Friday's training session . Hat-trick: Balotelli put a picture up on Instagram of himself with Liverpool in the background . | Italy star could make his Liverpool debut against Tottenham this weekend .
Mario Balotelli is Premier League's best value-for-money signing .
Brendan Rodgers signed him for £14m less than his market value .
Liverpool will be hoping to get back to winning ways at White Hart Lane . |
67,032 | be285e7c1f5d974956cf8597a09855c051dbf34e | By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 05:02 EST, 29 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:09 EST, 29 April 2013 . A baby and a toddler were found dead after their mother put them both in the shower and fell asleep, an inquest heard today. Miranda Hebble, who was 22 at the time of the tragedy, left her sons Lochlan and Malachi Stevens in the steam-filled bathroom at their house in Perth, Australia, for ten hours after she passed out. When she woke up she discovered ten-month-old Malachi floating in the shower on his side with bruises on his cheek while Lochlan, two, was lying on the floor with blood coming from his mouth. He also had a scratch on his forehead and a mark on his stomach, the court was told. Miranda Hebble and her baby son Malachi: She was . at court in Perth today for the inquest into the death of Malachi and . his brother Lochlan, who both died after she apparently left them in the . shower and fell asleep . Left to cope alone: The boys with their father, . Christopher Stevens, who was working on a 'fly-in fly-out' basis, when . the incident occurred. An inquest heard Ms Hebble had been left . exhausted by the children . Ms Hebble had been caring for the boys at home alone while their father, Christopher Stevens, was working on a fly-in fly-out basis, the Australian Associated Press reported. Lochlan had smeared faeces from his nappy on floors, walls and the baby's cot, spurring her to put the boys in the shower to clean them up. She left to fetch something, closing the bathroom door behind her, but fell asleep before she could return, the inquest was told. When she returned to the bathroom, some ten hours later, both children were dead. Ms Hebble told an emergency services operator: 'I passed out and the plug in the shower got plugged up ... and the shower filled up ... and they're not breathing. They're dead.' Doctors pronounced both boys dead at 2am the following morning. Tragic: Lochlan, left, was two when he died. His younger brother Malachi was aged just ten months . Lochlan feeds his baby brother Malachi: The . inquest heard how 'quiet' Ms Hebble had no history of mental illness or . drug and alcohol abuse, but that she'd been struggling with sleep . because of Malachi's restlessness . Kate Ellson, counsel assisting the West Australia coroner, told the court that 'quiet' Ms Hebble had no history of mental illness or drug . and alcohol abuse. But she added that the young mother had struggled with sleep because of Malachi's restlessness. The court also heard of a previous incident when Ms Hebble had . left Malachi in a car while visiting a shop and the baby had to be . pulled hot, crying and red in the face from the vehicle by police. Post-mortem examinations could not reach a definitive conclusion as to how Ms Hebble's sons died in November 2008. Drowning may have caused Malachi's death while Lochlan may have suffered exhaustion, hunger and possible hypothermia with exposure, said forensic pathologist Dr Jodi White. Ms Hebble was comforted by family members as she watched proceedings. She and boys' father have now separated. The inquest continues. | Miranda Hebble had been left exhausted by her youngest child's sleeplessness, inquest hears .
She had no history of mental health problems or drug and alcohol abuse prior to the boys' deaths . |
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