Unnamed: 0
int64 0
287k
| id
stringlengths 40
40
| article
stringlengths 117
14.7k
| highlights
stringlengths 37
3.97k
|
|---|---|---|---|
127,730 | 311b3ca94e9f38f778b86d4976504d434158c51b | By . Ryan Gorman . and Associated Press Reporter . One person is dead and another 19 are injured after a stolen car going the wrong way on an Indiana highway slammed head-on into a Greyhound Bus, authorities said. Phillip Lloyd died after the 1999 Ford Mustang he was driving rammed the New York-bound bus Sunday morning about 35 miles west of Dayton, Ohio. The 7.00 a.m. crash occurred just before the bus, which originated in St. Louis, Missouri, was scheduled to make a stop in Dayton, officials told WRTV. Scroll down for video . Mangled: Emergency personnel respond on the scene after a stolen Ford Mustang rammed into a Greyhound bus Sunday morning near the Indiana-Ohio border . 'It had been reported stolen from the Love's truck stop... just prior to the crash,' Sheriff Jeff Cappa said of the sports car. Images from the scene show the bus off the side of Interstate 70 with significant damage to its front end. The Mustang is unrecognizable. Authorities have not said how fast the vehicle was traveling when it hit the bus. They also have declined to release the car thief's age. 'I've seen a lot of accidents, and I've never seen anything like this,' said witness Brandi Schroeder. Reid Memorial Hospital spokesman Larry Price says about half of those treated at the Richmond hospital after the Sunday morning crash have already been released. Unrecognizable: This charred hunk of metal is all that remains of the stolen Mustang after the collision . Shut down: Authorities completely closed the highway while investigating the accident . He says many of the passengers had scrapes, cuts and bruises. The driver was airlifted to Methodist Hospital, about 70 miles west in Indianapolis, WXIN reported. His condition is not known. Wayne County spokesman Jonathan Duke said earlier Sunday that 18 people were transported by ground or air to hospitals and one person was reportedly killed. It wasn't clear if any of the injured were taken to other hospitals for treatment. The bus was carrying a total of 24 passengers and the driver, a Greyhound spokesperson told WTHR. Additional buses were sent to local hospitals to round up the discharged passengers. A MailOnline attempt to reach A Greyhound spokesperson for further details about when the passengers would be able to continue on to New York was not successful. | The driver of a stolen Ford Mustang was killed in the horror crash .
The Mustang was speeding westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-70 .
The bus had 24 passengers plus the driver - who was airlifted to an Indianapolis hospital . |
122,933 | 2ae42e7970f24ed05738386c1f9dec88af5a1d5a | Alastair Cook credited his wife Alice for backing him at his lowest ebb earlier this summer as England celebrated a triumphant 3-1 win over India. The England captain had been considering his future in June as his side faced defeat by Sri Lanka, but he was all smiles after a feeble India were trounced by an innings and 244 at The Oval. Asked to name the most important factor in his decision to stick with the job, Cook said: ‘The support of my wife. You can bare your soul quite often to Alice, and she’s very good at getting me back on the straight and narrow. VIDEO Scroll down for Alastair Cook: I thought we would win but not so emphatically . Turned the tide: Alastair Cook is all smiles after England trounced India in the final Test at The Oval . ‘I’m glad I stuck through the tough times.’ Both Cook and man of the series Jimmy Anderson — who finished only three wickets short of Ian Botham’s England-record 383 Test victims — claimed the dressing-room had been helped by India’s insistence on trying to get Anderson banned following his altercation with Ravindra Jadeja at Trent Bridge. 'It's right up there... it's the best I've probably bowled, yeah,' Anderson said of his own form. Happier times: Cook had been considering his England future in June . Parading the trophy: Cook holds the series trophy after England won the 5th Investec Test against India . VIDEO Anderson and Root reach record heights . He continued on Sky Sports 1: 'The way the whole group has bowled has been outstanding since Southampton. 'We've got on top of their batsmen and not let them get back in any of the games we've played. We've created pressure non-stop. 'That's a credit to all - not just the four seamers, but Moeen Ali as well.' On what had changed since the loss at Lord's, he said: 'We decided to concentrate not on plans for particular batsmen, but on what we do well - hitting the top as much as we could, challenge their outside edge, challenging their forward defence. And I think as we've gone on through last three Tests we've improved on that in each game.' | England captain said his wife Alice backed him when we was at his lowest .
Cook had been considering future in June as England faced Sri Lanka defeat .
He said the England dressing room was helped by India's persistence on trying to get Jimmy Anderson banned . |
23,701 | 4347b9cc4a4e21e04ffefd2fbb93d5390b168258 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince Charles has converted his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on biofuel made from surplus wine, his office revealed Tuesday. Prince Charles with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, on a visit to a whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland last month. The car was a 21st birthday present from Queen Elizabeth, and the prince has converted it to run on 100 percent bioethanol as a way to reduce his carbon emissions, his office, Clarence House, said. The prince has also converted his other cars -- several Jaguars, an Audi and a Range Rover -- to run on 100 percent biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil, his office added. Details of the prince's biofuel use were made public Monday in his household's 2008 Annual Review, which details the prince's income and activities over the past year. The report says Charles and his household reduced their carbon footprint by 18 percent last year after switching to green electricity supplies and reducing their travel-related emissions. Charles, 59, has a strong interest in environmental issues and rural affairs. He is active in environmental charities, and his food company, Duchy Originals, uses ingredients produced at his organic farm in Cornwall, southwestern England. The biofuels are converted and provided by Green Fuels Limited, a British company that previously provided biodiesel to power the royal train, Clarence House said. The wine used for the bioethanol comes from current vintage that remains after English wine producers reach the EU limit for annual wine production, a spokesman for Green Fuels said. The prince uses wine from a vineyard close to his Highgrove Estate, the spokesman said. | Prince Charles' office reveals his car runs on biofuel made from surplus wine .
Prince converted other cars to run on biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil .
Report says prince's household cut carbon footprint by 18 percent last year .
The prince renown for strong interest in environmental issues and rural affairs . |
201,294 | 90a32f616b2a47b59231b038e6cc9e67d5217b39 | A cat owner was left stunned after receiving a phone call to say her missing tabby had been found just 20 miles away from her home - eight years after he went missing. Susan MacDonald, 49, was left distraught when Malcolm the cat disappeared from her home in Rockbeare, near Exeter, in Devon in 2007 - 66 years ago in cat years. Mrs MacDonald had owned Malcom, a tabby with white patches, since he was a kitten and frantically searched the entire village for him following his disappearance. Susan MacDonald (pictured with Malcolm) was left stunned when she received a phone call last week to say her beloved tabby cat had been found - eight years after he disappeared from her home in Rockbeare in 2007 . She posted leaflets around the village but eventually gave up hope and moved away to the Greek island of Crete. She recently moved back to the village and was left stunned after receiving a phone call last week to say Malcolm had finally been found. He was discovered wandering the streets of Cullompton, just 20 miles away, by vet Maureen Hutchison who scanned his microchip and immediately contacted Mrs MacDonald. Mrs MacDonald, who works with autistic adults, was reunited with her wandering pet on Saturday and said he was exactly the same as when he went missing - but a bit fatter. Malcolm the travelling cat (pictured) was reunited with his owner after his microchip was scanned . She said: 'My life has changed so much since he went missing. He was my daughter's cat but she has grown up and now lives in Iowa. 'Malcolm is quite famous over there now. I was devastated when he disappeared - he was very happy. 'I don't think he would have deliberately strayed. I feel he probably got in a car or something like that and ended up being adopted. 'But how he suddenly reappeared after eight years I don't know. 'I often used to think about him - it was the not knowing that I didn't like.' 'I could not believe it. You never think you are going to find your animal eight years later. She said Malcolm, now aged 11, was 'full of kisses' and a 'laid-back, loving cat'. 'He doesn't remember me, however much that hurts. He has been gone for eight years, that's about 64 years in a cat's life. 'He is just how I remember him but a little more rotund.' Vet Mrs Hutchison, who found Malcolm, said: 'He has obviously been doing very well for himself the last eight years and is certainly well fed. 'If cats could speak I'm sure he'd have a tale to tell.' Pet microchips contain a unique identification number which is linked to a database containing details of the pet, as well as the owner's contact details. Malcolm was found wandering the street of Cullompton just 20 miles away from his home in Rockbeare, Devon . | Malcolm the tabby cat went missing eight years ago from his home in Devon .
He was discovered last week wandering around a town just 15 miles away .
Vet scanned the cat's microchip and contacted his owner Susan MacDonald .
Delighted owner said he is exactly the same as he was years ago - but fatter . |
200,622 | 8fb4cb72f2b99ce5eeab5d2442d8707c3670fb25 | Washington (CNN) -- The speech President Barack Obama plans to deliver on his Middle East policy has not yet been written, said a senior administration official, but "it will likely reference" the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs. When asked if the long-planned speech had now taken on greater significance, the official acknowledged that getting bin Laden did offer "a new al Qaeda narrative." Another senior administration official said the president is likely to make the point that "popular movements in the region demanding greater freedom and opportunity represent a thorough rejection of the message of al-Qaeda and bin Laden." Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the first to make mention of the speech last month. At Wednesday's press briefing, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would deliver the speech "in the relatively near future." Another top aide told CNN "it could happen before the Europe trip." Obama is scheduled to depart May 22 on a six-day trip to Poland, Ireland, England and France. Unlike his Cairo speech in June 2009 that focused on winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim world, this one is expected to deal with regional flashpoints -- from the anti-government uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I think it's a speech to a broader audience than just the Arab world," Carney said. | Middle East talk could happen before May 22 trip, official says .
It's likely to say regional protests represent al Qaeda rejection, official says .
Audience for speech is broader than Arab world . |
263,859 | e1bace561fd2a8696827a68c6487a21a205e1105 | The most recent NHS figures show that one in ten children starting primary school is obese. (File picture) A five-year-old has become one of the youngest children to be taken into care for being obese, it emerged last night. Social workers decided the parents were doing too little to bring the youngster’s weight under control. The child, whose identity is protected by law, had a body mass index of 22.6 – clinically obese for a five-year-old. He or she is thought to have weighed around 4st 4lb – a stone and a half more than average. The decision was taken by officials at Tameside Council in Greater Manchester. The local authority has also taken a 14-year-old into care, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The teenager had a BMI of 30.3, . giving a weight of 13 stone – five stone more than average. Another . child was removed by Sunderland council, but officials refused to . provide details of their age or weight, claiming it would breach data . protection laws. The Freedom of Information request . sent to all local authorities asked how many children, in the past . financial year, have been taken into care where obesity was cited as a . contributing factor. The vast majority responded and where care proceedings were instigated, gave general neglect as the reason. In . the previous year, 2009/10, four children were taken into care for . obesity reasons: three from the London borough of Lewisham aged three, . ten and 15, and an 11-year-old from Northumberland. Sir Liam Donaldson, warned that healthcare chiefs would look at removing children from their families if they became so obese their health was at risk . In September this year, social workers in Dundee provoked outrage by removing four obese children from their parents. Three girls aged 11, seven and one and a boy of five were placed into care to be ‘fostered without contact’ or adopted. The most recent NHS figures show that one in ten children starting primary school is obese. Overweight children are at far higher risk of heart disease, strokes, diabetes, asthma and cancer in later life. Experts predict that obesity will cost the Health Service up to £6.3billion a year by 2015. Sir Liam Donaldson, the former Chief Medical Officer, warned in 2006 that healthcare chiefs would look at removing children from their families if they became so obese their health was at risk. The first reported case came in 2007 when an eight-year-old girl from West Cumbria was taken into care weighing ten stone. In 2008, seven children were removed from homes in England. These included a six-year-old boy from Derby, an eight-year-old girl from Cumbria who had to wear size 16 clothes, and children from Lincolnshire, Wolverhampton and Tower Hamlets in London. ‘We sincerely hope that such occasions . would be rare…but make the point that this would be the automatic . response to a child at the other extreme – severe malnutrition' NATIONAL OBESITY FORUM . A spokesman for the National Obesity Forum said it supported placing obese children into care, but only after everything possible had been done to try to reduce their weight. ‘We sincerely hope that such occasions would be rare…but make the point that this would be the automatic response to a child at the other extreme – severe malnutrition,’ the spokesman said. A spokesman for Tameside Council said: ‘The point at which obesity turns into a child-protection issue is a complex and difficult area, and in these two cases there were other determining factors that led to the children being placed in local authority care. ‘Parents should be supported to address their child’s obesity, and social workers should only act if parents fail to engage with the proposed plan to improve their child’s safety and wellbeing.’ David Simmonds, of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: ‘Social workers use their professional judgment about how best to keep children from harm.’ | NHS figures show that one in ten children starting primary school is obese .
Experts predict obesity will cost the Health Service up to £6.3billion a year by 2015 . |
269,652 | e94355d5f1ed45d19d2b3a53922bb32a703b5dae | Stare at this black and white wheel long enough and you may see a colour appear out of nowhere. But incredibly, different people see different colours - and some may not see anything at all. Many people say they see green, others see yellow and a few see red, but exactly why this is the case has baffled scientists for decades. Scroll down for video . Stare at this illusion and you may see arcs of subtle colour, called Fechner colours, appear from nowhere . Make a spinner by drawing a circles, at least 4 inches in diameter, on cardboard. Cut the circles, making it as round as you can and poke a hole in the centre with a toothpick. Insert the toothpick into the hole. The toothpick should stick out about half an inch. Break or cut the toothpick in half. Twist the toothpick to spin the spinner. Next, download and print out one of the Benham graphics from here. You . can stick these graphics on your spinner and then use the toothpick on a . flat surface to spin the wheel and create your own illusion. The wheel is called Benham's top and it creates an illusion of colour when black and white patterns rapidly change, as reported by Casey Chan on Sploid. It is named after the Essex-born toymaker Charles Benham, who, in 1895, created a top painted with the pattern shown. When the wheel is spun, arcs of subtle colour, called Fechner colours, are visible at different areas on the surface. One theory about why people see different colours is that the receptors in the human eye respond at different rates to red, green, and blue. Benham's top is currently being researched for use as a diagnostic tool for diseases of the eye . The higher the speed, the more obvious the colour effect and reversing the wheel can also change the shade. One theory about why people see different colours is that the receptors in the human eye respond at different rates to red, green, and blue. The retina of the eye is composed of two types of receptors sensitive to light: cones and rods. Cones are important for colour vision and for seeing in bright light. There are three types of cones, each of which is most sensitive to a particular wavelength of light. ‘It is possible that the colours seen in spinning Benham disks are the result of changes that occur in the retina and other parts of the visual system,’ according to Washington University. ‘For example, the spinning disks may activate neighbouring areas of the retina differently. In other words, the black and white areas of the disk stimulate different parts of the retina.’ This response may cause a type of changes within the nervous system that creates colours, scientists believe. Another theory is that different cones stay activated for different amounts of time. This means, when the wheel is spun, the white areas activate all three types of cones, and then the black deactivates them. The sequence may cause an imbalance because the different types of cones take different times to respond, resulting in the brain producing different colours. While these theories do not explain the illusion completely, Benham's top is currently being researched for use as a diagnostic tool for diseases of the eye. | Illusion named Benham's top after Essex-born toymaker Charles Benham .
Some people see green, a few yellow or red and others no colour at all .
Exactly why illusion looks different to different people is still a mystery .
Benham's top is being researched for use as a tool to identify eye disease . |
96,376 | 07fe46b39752b04910d319d754bb48c721f733c1 | By . Kerry Mcqueeney . UPDATED: . 10:00 EST, 6 January 2012 . Mention the word dumb blonde to this teenager and she's likely to reach for the dumb bells. At the tender age of 16, Bronwyn Taylor, from Inverness in Scotland, is Britain’s strongest schoolgirl. She had planned to become a hairdresser, but after taking up powerlifting a year ago her athletic potential went from strength to strength. Just 12 months after taking up the sport, Bronwyn has stunned her friends and family by breaking three British records at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Championships. Packing some punch: Bronwyn Taylor, Britain's strongest schoolgirl, only took up powerlifting a year ago . She can lift twice her own body . weight and became the strongest under-18 at a competition in Bournemouth . last month by hefting a combined weight of 247.5 kilograms (38st 13lb). Fifth year student Bronwyn - who is 5 . feet 10 ins and weighs 11 stone 4lb - is now training for the Olympics . and hopes to compete in the 2016 games. Bronwyn said: 'I was very nervous as I . knew it was going to be a big event, but it felt amazing to break the . British record - I couldn’t believe it. 'I was in shock all day. I really . enjoy powerlifting, I have tried to get a few of my friends at school . into it but they aren’t interested. Strapping schoolgirl: Bronwyn stunned her friends when she broke three British records lifting twice her own body weight . On the pull: Bronwyn works out by hauling a transit van. She was inspired to take up powerlifting while training for boxing and karate . Power player: Bronwyn now plans to compete in the 2016 Olympic games . 'They think they will end up looking like the Incredible Hulk, but that’s not true. My mum is really proud of me.' She set records the under-18 . category at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation Championships in . overall weight (247.5kg), bench press (50kg) and dead lift (125kg) and . the squat lift section with a hurculean effort of 72.5kg. Bronwyn . was inspired to take up powerlifting - which uses a different technique . to weightlifting - when training in boxing and karate in December 2010. She began to hit the gym with her dad . Andrew, 43, who runs a removals firm, and with his help quickly . discovered her talent for powerlifting. Bronwyn began training almost every day around her studies at Culloden Academy, Inverness, and competed just months later. She broke the Scottish record in . October by lifting a combined weight of 260 kilograms (40 st 13lbs) at . the Scottish Open championships in Glasgow. The record did not count as a British record because it was not completed at the British competition. Both her British and Scottish . record-breaking weights are compiled from three lifts, the bench press, . the deadlift and the squat, standard practice for measuring record . attempts in the sport. Bronwyn’s mother Florence accompanies her daughter to Peak Physique Gym, near their home in Inverness to help her train. Florence, 46, said: 'I’m astonishingly proud. She’s only been doing it since Christmas 2010. 'She got the idea when she was in the . gym building up strength for other sports and she decided she enjoyed . it so she began competing. 'We were surprised at first but she . had grown up with gym talk because her dad Andrew is into fitness and . always spoke about the gym when she was a child. 'It’s quite funny because Andrew runs a removals firm and people are shocked when Scotland’s strongest girl turns up to help. 'Her younger brother Cosmo now wants to get into it but he has to wait a few years because he’s only 12.' Bronwyn added: 'I’d like to think that my powerlifting will encourage other women to lift weights.' Bronwyn, who studies hairdressing one . day a week at Inverness College, now has her sights set on the Bench . Press Championships in Northampton on February 11. | UK's strongest schoolgirl sets her sights on the Olympics . |
251,375 | d15c8ea8d2e8946f4ccf35e6c1e6dd4cbd9eae54 | (CNN) -- Thanksgiving is the busiest travel holiday of the year, with tens of millions expected to hit the road over the extended four-day weekend. For anyone not loading up the SUV to make the trek to Grandma's house for her famous cranberry stuffing this year, here are some other yummy options you might want to consider. And you don't even need a passport. Space for many of these events is limited and could fill up soon. If you miss out this year, you might want to get ahead of the game and book it for next Thanksgiving. See where it all started: Plymouth, Massachusetts . This historic settlement south of Boston, where the voyagers aboard the Mayflower landed in 1620, was the site of the first Thanksgiving. Visitors to Plymouth can step back in time and explore the Mayflower II, a full-scale replica of the celebrated sailing ship. View Myles Standish's sword, William Bradford's Bible and other artifacts belonging to the original colonists at the Pilgrim Hall Museum, witness participants in period costumes marching in the annual Thanksgiving procession, and more. Where to stay: Opt for a cozy fireplace suite at the John Carver Inn & Spa. Children will especially love the hotel's indoor pool with 80-foot water slide and Jacuzzi set amid an imitation Plymouth Rock. Where to eat: The Plimoth Plantation living history museum offers two popular Thanksgiving dinner options, a buffet and a more historically minded feast featuring greeters in authentic attire and menu items such as Indian pudding and split pea soup. Take in a parade: Philadelphia . The New York Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade may be the nation's most well-known, but Philadelphia's 6abc Dunkin Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade is the oldest. Originally sponsored by Gimbels, it has been a Philadelphia tradition since 1920. A steady stream of festive floats, giant balloons, marching bands, choirs, dance troupes and even Santa liven up downtown during the hourslong event. Where to stay: The Embassy Suites Philadelphia-Center City is right along the parade route, making it easy to get there early and nab a prime viewing spot. Where to eat: Moshulu, a 20th-century, square-rigged sailing vessel-turned-restaurant docked along the Delaware River waterfront, makes a unique setting for savoring your Thanksgiving Day repast. Strap on the feed bag: Sonoma County, California . If you're one of those people who has to go up a pants size post-Turkey Day, then a trip to this food lover's mecca should be on the menu. You can eat and drink your way through hundreds of restaurants and wineries, all surrounded by a scenic backdrop of vineyard-filled valleys, towering redwoods and rugged coastline. Where to stay: The quaint Farmhouse Inn has just 18 rooms but loads of charm and amenities, not to mention an award-winning restaurant. Where to eat: Michelin-starred chef Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen cooks up a Thanksgiving spread featuring fresh, local ingredients. Mouthwatering dishes include 60-hour braised short ribs with smoked potato fondue and bourbon pecan pie with bruleed marshmallows that are sure to please even the pickiest palate. Shop till you drop: New York . New York is synonymous with shopping, so where better to start your holiday gift buying than the Big Apple? Whether you hit Barneys, Bergdorf's, Bloomingdale's or any of the thousands of storefronts in between, you're sure to find that special something for that special someone. Where to stay: The elegant Iroquois in Midtown Manhattan offers a Black Friday Shopping Package that includes $25 toward the cost of shipping your purchases home, power bars and a thermos of hot chocolate or coffee to help keep you going on your quest for bargains. Where to eat: Thanksgiving and the first full day of Hanukkah haven't fallen on the same day since 1888, so why not celebrate by supping at the city's most famous Jewish eatery, Katz's? The deli's second annual all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving presentation features traditional favorites such as turkey and mashed potatoes alongside brisket, latkes, tzimmes, pickles and more. Hit the slopes: Salt Lake City . If you'd rather be outdoors doing something active than inside eating leftover turkey sandwiches and watching football, grab your Gore-Tex and get yourself a lift ticket. There are 11 ski resorts within an hour of Salt Lake City International Airport, so you can be off the plane and schussing on fresh powder in record time. Where to stay: The Cliff Lodge at Snowbird, set amid the picturesque Wasatch Mountains, boasts ski-in/ski-out access, ski lockers, equipment rental and repair, a full-service spa and even a licensed day care for those whose little ones aren't yet skilled ski bunnies. Where to eat: Dining at La Caille, once voted one of the most romantic restaurants in America and even dreamier when it's dressed up for the holidays, will make you feel like you're enjoying your Thanksgiving meal at a fabulous French chateau. Get away from it all: Vieques, Puerto Rico . Escape the chaos and stresses of the holiday season with a visit to this tiny island gem in the warm Caribbean waters just off the east coast of Puerto Rico. A U.S. naval bombing range and testing ground up until 2003, Vieques is now a tranquil retreat, where in-the-know travelers flee to commune with nature and disconnect from their devices. Where to stay: Hix Island House, a series of architectural concrete structures, readily conveys the desired minimalist, unspoiled vibe. There are no phones, televisions or air conditioners, just spacious, airy lofts designed to be at one with the environment. Where to eat: The W Retreat & Spa cooks up a special Thanksgiving meal at Sorce restaurant, but the more fitting choice would be to order a Thanksgiving feast to go from the W Café and spread it out on a secluded plot of beach somewhere. | Step back in time and explore a Mayflower replica in Plymouth, Massachusetts .
A Manhattan hotel will help guests ship their Black Friday purchases home .
Ski the Utah slopes for Thanksgiving and follow it up with a romantic dinner .
New York City deli Katz's will host Thanksgiving dinner with deli sides . |
111,066 | 1b361c507f38684f657b5cd405848304dfa76ddb | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:02 EST, 1 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:02 EST, 1 November 2013 . Covered head to toe in hair, this newborn baby is the latest addition to the aptly named Werewolf family. The 22-day-old baby inherited a rare gene carried in her family which leads to a disorder known as Werewolf Syndrome. Her mother Savita Sambhaji Raut, 26, said she feared for her daughter's future after she inherited the condition but accepted her fate. Mother's love: Savita Sambhaji Raut, 26, holds her 21-day-old baby daughter, who was born with a rare genetic condition called Werewolf Syndrome . This little baby girl is the latest addition to the Werewolf family who have a rare genetic disorder which means they are covered in hair . And she said it did not matter what her child looked like, she would love her unconditionally. Speaking from her home in Madhavnagar, central India, she said: 'I was so happy to have her alive, but it upsets me.' She added: 'I am scared for her future but God has chosen us to be like this. 'I am her mother so I have to accept her and get on with life.' Her . daughter, who is yet to be named, is one of only a few . hundred people in the world to be born with Werewolf Syndrome. There is no cure to the condition, otherwise known as hypertrichosis. But this makes no difference to the tot's father Milind who said he just overjoyed to have a daughter. Happy family: Werewolf Sisters, left to right, Savitri Sambhaji Raut, 17, Savita Sambhaji Raut, 26, Laxmi Sambhaji Raut, 15, and Manisha Sambhaji Raut, 19, gather around newborn baby, foreground . Unconditional love: Anita Sambhaji Raut, 45, mother of the werewolf sisters holds on to her grand daughter who is also born with lots of hair on her body . The two distinct types of hypertrichosis are generalized hypertrichosis, which occurs over the entire body, and localized hypertrichosis, which is restricted to a certain area. Hypertrichosis can be either congenital, which is present from birth, or acquired later in life. The excess growth of hair occurs in areas of the skin with the exception of androgen-dependent hair of the pubic area, face, and axillary regions. Snooze: Fast asleep, the 22-day-old Werewolf baby girl, who is yet to be named by her parents, catches some shuteye at her home in Maharashtra, India . | Child inherited rare genetic disorder known as Werewolf Syndrome .
Condition produces excessive amounts of hair all over the body .
Mother Savita Raut, 26, says she will love her daughter unconditionally .
Raut family from Madhavnagar, central India, carry the gene . |
188,321 | 7fde1216d7a531b93fef1d259dcfc6fb0e046701 | By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 11:25 EST, 6 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:23 EST, 6 December 2013 . Labour MP Sarah Champion accused Tory MPs of 'utterly appalling' behaviour in the Commons . Tory MPs have been accused of imitating ‘bums and breasts’ with their hands in the House of Commons. Women speaking during debates face ‘utterly appalling’ behaviour from MPs opposite, a Labour claimed. Sarah Champion condemned the ‘insidious’ culture in Parliament, which female MPs are forced to ignore. The claims by one of the newest women MPs will again turn the spotlight on behaviour in the Commons, after MailOnline revealed letters written to the Speaker John Bercow complaing about the ‘morons, donkeys and tw**s’ heckling during Prime Minister’s Questions. Miss Champion claimed some Conservatives were responsible for trying to degrade women during debates. The first woman MP for Rotherham said the abuse across the Chamber was ‘awful’ and ‘really bad’ but admitted she did not know if Labour MPs did the same to female Tory MPs. She told BBC Radio Sheffield: ‘Some Tories are very good at gesticulating about females' assets.’ Asked by presenter Rony Robinson whether she was referring to hand gestures and remarks about her ‘bum and breasts’ she said: ‘Yes ... I think it is utterly appalling, it's deliberately trying to degrade people, it's sexist and people ought to be pulled for it.’ Ms Champion said she had to ‘pretty much ignore it’ because responding would mean ‘you end up in a slagging match which I don't think is helpful’. Miss Champion was elected MP for Rotherham in November last year after Denis MacShane quit after being charged over expenses fraud. She previously ran a Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester and before entering Parliament was chief executive of the Bluebell Wood Children's Centre. Miss Champion said she did not know if male Labour MPs behave in the same way ‘because I'm on the bench looking forward, but the Tories definitely do it to Labour women’. Asked how she would react if her colleagues were acting in a similar way she said: ‘I would be utterly, utterly appalled and I would go and say something if I saw one of my Labour colleagues doing it.’ Abuse: MPs speaking in debates face heckling and ruse gestures from the benches opposite . She said she had not informed Speaker John Bercow about her concerns: ‘This is the problem, it's so insidious, it's so part of the culture there ... it's overlooked rather than ignored, I would say.’ However, dozens of members of the public about the behaviour of heckling, insulting and guffawing MPs during Prime Minister’s Questions. Letters, emails and web messages repeatedly accuse MPs of behaving like football hooligans, naughty schoolchildren, ‘rowdy buffoons’, ‘morons’ and ‘braying donkeys’ who do not live in the real world. It is claimed MPs behave like 19th century ‘public schoolboys’ who think they are still in the Bullingdon Club, the Oxford University dining society which counted Mr Cameron and George Osborne as members and is famed for smashing up restaurants. Just on of the dozens of letters sent to Parliament about the behaviour of MPs during PMQs . Most of the letters, obtained under Freedom of Information laws, raised concerns about the damage to Britain’s reputation overseas, the poor example set to young people and the effect it has on deterring people, especially women, from entering politics. One . of the most damning messages, posted on the Parliament website, said: . ‘Get Cameron to answer the questions at Prime Minister’s Questions. ‘It’s . beyond ridiculous. I hate you all with a colossal amount of passion . anyway, but there is only so much piss you can take. Thanks a bunch you . abhorrent t**ts.’ Some called for ‘red cards’, suspensions and even ‘fines’ to be imposed on MPs who refuse to be quiet. Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls complained yesterday about a wall of noise from Tory MPs as he responded to the Autumn Statement. | Rotherham MP Sarah Champion reveals 'utterly appalling' behaviour .
Says some Tories are 'very good at gesticulating about female assets'
Former charity boss is the first female MP elected in Rotherham .
Complaint follows revelations about public disgust at MPs' conduct . |
164,389 | 6092f455274cc6fee5cf6aeb5db7327df6c356a8 | Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- A former astronaut who was accused of assaulting a romantic rival in the parking lot of the Orlando airport will avoid prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges as part of a plea agreement. Citing Lisa Marie Nowak's lack of a criminal history, Orange County Circuit Judge Marc Lubet sentenced her to a year of probation. She was given credit for the two days she served in the county jail after her arrest. Nowak, 46, must also perform 50 hours of community service and have no contact with the victim in the case, former Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman. She must also send Shipman a letter of apology within 10 days, "a sincere letter of apology, not one of these vanilla things that I see from other defendants," Lubet told Nowak. "It's been almost three years since the events took place that caused this nightmare for Ms. Shipman, and you are 100 percent responsible." In addition, Nowak must complete an eight-hour anger management course within her first 30 days of probation, Lubet said. Nowak told the judge she had undergone counseling for 1½ years and the counseling is complete, so the judge said he would not order more. Lubet said he was treating Nowak as any defendant would be treated, saying he doubts any judge would send a defendant to prison on a first offense. Shipman delivered an emotional victim statement before Nowak's sentencing, telling the court she remains convinced Nowak planned to kill her. "Shortly after I turned 30 years old, Lisa Nowak hunted me down and attacked me in a dark parking lot," she said, adding that she is "still reeling from her vicious attack" and attempting to piece her life back together. "The world as I knew it before Lisa Nowak is gone," Shipman said. "Every stranger I see is a potential attacker. Going out in public is exhausting." She said she has undergone nearly three years of counseling, but suffers from nightmares, anxiety and health problems such as high blood pressure and chest pains because of the incident. Nowak initially was charged with attempted kidnapping with intent to inflict bodily harm, battery and burglary of a vehicle using a weapon. If convicted, she could have faced a sentence of up to life in prison. Prosecutors accused Nowak of driving nearly 900 miles from Houston, Texas, to Orlando -- wearing NASA diapers to cut down on the number of stops she needed to make -- and donning a disguise before following Shipman from the airport's baggage claim to the parking lot in February 2007. Nowak's attorney, Don Lykkebak, has denied that she wore the diapers. Nowak has said she went to the airport to talk to Shipman, who had begun dating Nowak's former love interest, Navy Cmdr. Bill Oefelein. But Shipman, in her comments Tuesday, called that claim "at best, ridiculous," saying that Nowak, whom she did not know, had ample opportunity to talk to her, as she "stealthily followed me for hours." "I'm a very friendly person, your honor," Shipman said, adding that she would have welcomed Nowak's company "over some hot chocolate, while I was waiting for my suitcase to arrive." She recounted the incident and her terror as she realized Nowak was following her in the dark parking lot, as she could hear the swishing of Nowak's pants as she walked. She said she sprinted to her car, and Nowak attempted to open the car door and beat on her window, then spun a tale of being a helpless traveler who was afraid of being in a dark parking lot. Shipman said she cracked her window, and Nowak sprayed her in the face with pepper spray. "She blasted me with what felt like acid," Shipman said. "... I stomped on the gas and wondered if there was a gun pointed at my head." At a hearing in November 2007, Orlando Police Detective William Becton testified that in a search of Nowak's car, he found maps showing how to reach the airport and its layout, a buck knife and papers, including a letter Nowak appeared to have written to Oefelein's mother. He testified he found used and clean diapers in the car. Police previously had said they also found a BB gun, a steel mallet, a 4-inch knife and rubber tubing in the vehicle. Shipman said Tuesday she thought she had escaped a carjacking. "I had no idea that a highly paid, high-ranking military officer had just attacked me." When she found out she had been attacked by a "sister in arms," she said, she was heartbroken. Shipman said the resulting media attention and scrutiny has placed additional stress on her and her family. Before sentencing, Nowak turned to Shipman and apologized. "I am sincerely sorry for causing fear and misunderstanding and all of the intense public exposure that you have suffered," Nowak said. "I hope very much that we can all move forward from this with privacy and peace." Lubet said he accepted her apology as sincere, but in sentencing her he noted that he was certain her conviction would affect her Navy career and retirement. Still, the judge told Nowak, "you brought this on yourself, and I don't have any sympathy for you in that respect." Shipman has left the military and Oefelein has left the astronaut corps, and the two live in Anchorage, Alaska, where they run a company called Adventure Write as freelance writers and photographers. People.com reported in July the two were engaged. Lubet also ordered Nowak to stay away from Oefelein after Shipman alleged in her remarks she found a book with suggestive notes inside that Nowak had sent Oefelein after the incident despite a no-contact order. "No books, no messages, no poems, nothing," Lubet said. "It's not a problem," Nowak responded. CNN's John Couwels contributed to this report. | Lisa Marie Nowak, a former astronaut, accused of assaulting a romantic rival .
Florida judge sentences Nowak to year on probation, community service .
Prosecutors say she drove 900 miles in diapers, wore disguise, followed woman through airport . |
181,677 | 7739c6a5b746b6b229ef00d39f6cf2c99fe6079e | By . Martha Kelner . Follow @@marthakelner . and Kate Gardiner . Claudia Fragapane might only be 16 years old, 4ft 6in tall and weigh less than six-and-a-half stone but she produced an almighty comeback to top an all-England medal podium. Fragapane’s team-mates Ruby Harrold and Hannah Whelan, who she had just knocked into the minor medal positions, held her aloft and Glasgow’s SSE Hydro arena erupted into an ear splitting roar as she was announced the winner. Fragapane, whose career highlight before this week was making four finals at the English Schools Championships, thought she had blown her medal chances falling off the beam. But her tiny legs propelled her to 14.733 points for her floor routine and a total of 56.132, enough to nick gold on a stunning day for English gymnastics. 1-2-3 for England: Fragapane won gold ahead of her team-mates Ruby Harrold, left, and Hannah Whelan, right . Stunning comeback: Fragapane was held aloft by her team-mates after winning gold at the SSE Hydro . Flying the flag: Fragapane celebrates with silver medal winner Harrold and Whelan . Final routine: She scored 14.733 points on her floor routine to reach a total of 56.132, enough to win gold . Whitlock earlier won gold in the men's all-around final ahead of Scotland's Dan Keatings and England team-mate Nile Wilson who claimed bronze. The women's competition was split into two subdivisions and Scotland's Emma White led after the first with a total of 51.532 from the four pieces of apparatus - the floor, beam, vault and bars. Pure joy: Fragapane celebrates with silver medallist Ruby Harrold and bronze medallist Hannah Whelan . England's Harrold achieved the best score on vault with a 14.800 tally to start her medal bid in the second half of the competition in the best possible way, closely followed by top all-around qualifier Fragapane, who went on to continue her good form on the bars with a score of 13.700. Whelan, having performed a good vault, stumbled on landing from bars to lose ground on her two team-mates, with Harrold scoring 14.566 to hold top spot at the halfway stage, with Fragapane second, Canada's Elsabeth Black in bronze and Wales' Elizabeth Beddoe in fourth place. Balancing act: Career highlight before this week was making four finals at the English Schools Championships . Fragapane came off the beam to slightly dent her medal bid, scoring 12.966, but Whelan impressed and achieved 14.033, with Harrold also scoring in the 12-point zone to marginally sit ahead of Fragapane and Black ahead of the final rotation. The last piece for the English trio was the floor and Whelan finished off with a solid routine which put before Harrold moved into gold medal position with a performance that scored 13.700. Black scored 12.766 meaning with Fragapane left to compete, England could claim all three places on the podium, and the diminutive gymnast stepped up and hit her routine to a huge ovation from the crowd as she won gold with a score of 14.733. Making a name for herself: Fragapane, who weighs just six-and-a-half stone, is only 4ft 6in . | The 16-year-old topped an all-English podium, with Ruby Harrold and Hannah Whelan grabbing silver and bronze respectively .
Fragapane knocked her team-mates into the minor medal positions .
Her floor routine scored her 14.733 points and took her to a total of 56.132 .
This was enough for her to pip Harrold and Whelan to the gold medal . |
37,143 | 694b51281df6eefc76303e9df1170f6366fed9e6 | Few people would consider those with loved ones on AirAsia Flight QZ8501 lucky, but Sarah Bajc has a particular perspective. "I'm almost a little jealous in a way because, you know, at least they have this ability to put some closure to it," she told CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday, after the wreckage of the AirAsia flight was found. Her partner, Philip Woods, was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared without a trace almost 10 months ago. "We're still in limbo. There's still no evidence as to what happened to the plane," she said, struggling to hold back tears. Earlier, before the discovery of the AirAsia flight, Bajc described feeling an incredible ache. She said: "It's a physical pain through your whole body. And just imagining what all those families are feeling as well, I can imagine it. Unfortunately, I know exactly what they're going through." So does Danica Weeks, whose husband was on MH370. The plane disappeared from radar screens on a flight between Malaysia and China on March 8. On Sunday, AirAsia Flight QZ8501 went missing over the Java Sea on its way from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, with 162 people on board. Debris was recovered Tuesday in the waters off Indonesia. "The last few days has been torment. It's brought everything back. We're just reliving what we've gone through," Weeks said. "It's a horrible nightmare." A network of support . Bajc said families of MH370 victims have banded together as they wake up each day without their loved ones. And it's vital that relatives of AirAsia 8501 reach out for support, Weeks said. "You just have to call on your close friends and family," she said. "You need to lean on them because they are basically the only way you get through this." "Nine months, none of us are as strong as we used to be." Help center closed . In the weeks following MH370's disappearance, the grand ballroom at Beijing's Lido Hotel turned into the briefing room for relatives of those on board the flight. Every day, the families came in hoping for a miracle. And every day, they left dejected. On Tuesday, the ballroom was dark and empty. The family assistance center was closed. Many families feel they've been forgotten. MH370 search carries on . But the search for MH370 goes on. Crews are still scouring the southern Indian Ocean with a variety of high-tech equipment. But no wreckage has been found. At the Malaysian government's request, Australia is leading the search efforts. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said last week that the mapping of the sea floor continues, and a vessel is still searching underwater for the plane. "Our work will continue to be thorough and methodical, so sometimes weekly progress may seem slow," the ATSB said. "Please be assured that work is continuing and is aimed at finding MH370 as quickly as possible." But families of those passengers and crew may have to wait even longer. "Assuming no significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the current underwater search area may be largely completed around May 2015," the ATSB said. Weeks has no choice but to wait. "We will never find peace until we do what's right by our loved ones, and that's bring them home to us." | The partner of a man on board MH370 describes a feeling of limbo .
"Nine months, none of us are as strong as we used to be," the wife of another MH370 passenger says .
She says it's vital for AirAsia 8501 relatives to lean on friends and family for support .
Search for MH370 continues in Indian Ocean, but could be months before anything found . |
126,881 | 3006824aef5f35a5ebe4e1ce3640110041593835 | (CNN)Suicide bombers targeting a bus station in Kano, Nigeria, killed 10 people and left several injured Tuesday, according to the city's police chief, just hours after a similar attack in Yobe state killed 17 people. Two men detonated the explosives concealed under their clothes as soon as they got off the bus at Kano Line motor park Tuesday afternoon, Police Commissioner Ibrahim Idris said. The busy station is located in the city center of Kano. Idris said the two men took the bus from the town of Wuddil, 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) from Kano. "The bus station was their target, and taking a bus from outside the city gave them easy access into the bus station," Idris said, explaining that the men "would have undergone screening before getting inside if they had come by any other means." The attack occurred at 3 p.m. local time, just hours after another suicide attack left 17 people dead, in addition to the bomber, and 27 people injured at a bus station in Potiskum, about 200 miles away in Yobe state. The Potiskum attack occurred at Tashar Dan-Borno motor park on the outskirts of town. A man pretending to be a passenger detonated the explosives as he boarded the bus, which was being loaded and prepared for departure, according to witnesses. An official at the Potiskum motor park said 12 passengers were inside the bus when the bomber, who "looked to be in a hurry" came and dropped his luggage in the baggage compartment. The man "made to enter the bus, but before he could be restrained for routine screening there was an explosion which killed all 12 people inside the bus and the bomber," the motor park official said. A paramedic at Potiskum General Hospital, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said four people who were transported from the scene died later. Resident Ahmad Maina, who was at the scene shortly after the blast, said the bus was engulfed in flames as firefighters struggled to keep it from spreading to other vehicles. Although no one has claimed responsibility for either of the attacks, Boko Haram has been behind dozens of suicide and other bombings in northern Nigeria. Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe state, has been hit repeatedly in recent months by bombings blamed on the extremist Islamist group. On Sunday, a 7-year-old girl blew herself up outside a cell phone market in the town, killing seven people and injuring 11. Last month, two suicide bombers killed six people and injured 37 at the same market. Likewise in Kano, northern Nigeria's most populous city, suicide bombings in the past year have targeted schools, gas stations and a market. Boko Haram's stated goal is to bring an extreme version of Sharia law to the masses. Along with suicide bombings they have attacked churches and mosques, raided once-peaceful villages and kidnapped people young and old, most infamously more than 200 girls taken last April from a school in Chibok. More than 150,000 people have fled into neighboring countries as a result of the violence, according to the United Nations refugee agency, and Boko Haram has spread its reign of terror into villages and towns beyond Nigeria's borders. Currently, thousands of Chadian troops are in Cameroon helping that nation's military root out Boko Haram fighters. Soldiers from Cameroon, Chad take on Boko Haram at Nigerian border . | Suicide bombers target a busy bus station in the city center of Kano in northern Nigeria .
Only hours before, a single bomber blew up a bus in Potiskum, Yobe state .
No one has claimed responsibility, but Boko Haram has been blamed in numerous attacks in the two cities . |
223,772 | adbe8eac9ae85e021abe7c6e0e879ef258e1ee67 | By . Daniel Martin . Only 19 per cent of voters see Ed Miliband as a prime minister in waiting, in the latest blow to hit Labour. The poll puts Mr Miliband significantly behind David Cameron when the Prime Minister was in opposition. The YouGov poll for The Times found that only 26 per cent of voters think Labour is ready for government, while less than half of the party's supporters (49 per cent) believe Mr Miliband looks like the country's next premier. Fewer than a fifth of voters see Ed Miliband as a prime minister, according to a new poll . It comes after former minister David Lammy warned the party had become overly focused on the issue of living standards without spelling out its 'positive offer' for people to vote for them. One of the party's biggest donors, businessman John Mills, said Labour had become 'boxed in' on the economy with a strategy that differed little from the Conservatives. Mr Miliband's leadership has been questioned after his failure to respond directly to measures in last week's Budget was seen to have handed the Tories a political victory. Weekend opinion polls showed the two main parties effectively on level-pegging. Labour leader Ed Miliband during his speech at the Scottish Labour Party conference . Former minister David Lammy warned the party had become overly focused on the issue of living standards without spelling out its 'positive offer' for people to vote for them . Mr Lammy said that, with 14 months to the general election, Labour was in danger of being drawn into a fight on the Conservatives' ground. 'Effectively we knock on doors and the central message is about living standards and energy prices,' he told BBC Radio 4's The World at One. 'I think the electorate will need more in a raft of areas and we need to be very careful that we are not solely fighting the election on the current Government's ground which is deficit reduction and a debate around welfare and immigration. 'There is more to fix in this country than just on that sole platform.' The party's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman said Labour was making steady progress. She added: 'It's a big task and we're not complacent, but I think that we are addressing the issues that people are concerned about.' | Less than a fifth of voters see him as a PM in waiting .
Study finds even Labour supporters are not convinced .
Figures show he is lagging behind David Cameron in the polls . |
33,200 | 5e5f8680ca46aa2034f148449fa977d991eff0a8 | (CNN) -- Apple, as the reports go, is working on a "smart watch," although the secretive company won't say anything about it, of course. So, after months of speculation, what does its chief rival in the mobile world do? Announce that it definitely is working on a smart watch. Lee Young Hee, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business, said as much during an interview in South Korea, where the company is based. And he said it's not a knee-jerk reaction to Apple's rumored plans. "We've been preparing the watch product for so long," Lee told Bloomberg. "We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them." He did not give any details on when the watch may be released, what features it will have or how much it will cost. With its Galaxy S line of smartphones, Samsung has become the first competitor to provide a real challenge to the dominant iPhone. While Apple's iconic phone remains the single-most popular mobile device -- the release of the iPhone 5 led to a record sales quarter and was the most popular of the 75 million devices running Apple's iOS system that were sold in those three months -- Samsung moved into a solid second place with its Galaxy S III. The S III outsold the iPhone 4S during the third quarter of last year before the iPhone 5's release, and the company announced last week that the Galaxy S4 is on its way. Now the companies seem poised to go head-to-head again in what appears to be an emerging market -- wearable tech. Nike's fitness-oriented FuelBand has led the charge. But few new products have captured the imagination of the tech-minded such as Google Glass, an eyewear-like headset that offers augmented-reality images as well as basic smartphone-like features. The device is due later this year and has started popping up on the faces of field testers. Then there is Pebble, the smartwatch that raked in about $8 million on Kickstarter and has begun shipping to backers. But will there be a market for these devices outside of early-adopter technophiles and loyalists who will scoop up any new product their favorite company creates? Early signs say the public might need a little more information first. According to an unscientific survey of users by mobile deals site BuyVia, 26% of respondents said they were interested in buying a rumored iWatch, 38% said they were not interested and more than a third, 36%, said they weren't sure. (The survey was conducted before Samsung confirmed it's in the game as well.) The top five features respondents said they'd like to see in a watch were e-mail and texting, phone calls, GPS, Wi-Fi and weather updates. "While consumers are seemingly divided about their desire to own the rumored Apple iWatch, it's fascinating that the most desired features for the watch mirror popular iPhone capabilities," said BuyVia CEO Norman Fong. "It's as though consumers are only interested in a watch that offers everything the smartphone does, only in a more convenient 'package.' What they seem to crave is a way to more easily access iPhone features everywhere they go." | Samsung says it plans to make a "smart watch"
Company executive says watch has been in development a long time, report says .
News comes amid reports Apple also plans to make a watch .
If true, rivals would face off in growing wearable-tech market . |
152,417 | 50f8efec5a3847f6d8aff31a4dc50f79f3ef2add | (CNN) -- Nigerians staging a daily protest in the capital said Saturday they are fed up with their government's indifference to the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls, even as the Nigerian president once again promised to bring them home. For 11 days, the protesters in Abuja have demanded Nigeria do more to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped more than three weeks ago by the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram. They vow to sit every day until the girls are rescued. "We need to keep this up every day," protest organizer Rotimi Olawale told CNN. "We are saying that we want our girls alive." Saturday, President Goodluck Jonathan said he was worried about the girls and he thanked other countries, including the United States, that have pledged support in finding them. "We promise the world that we must get these girls out," Jonathan said. U.S. support for Nigeria . U.S. first lady Michelle Obama on Saturday condemned the "unconscionable" kidnapping of the girls, saying in the White House weekly radio address it was the work of "a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education." Earlier this week, Obama tweeted a photo of herself with a sign that said #BringBackOurGirls. U.S. and British officials are in Abuja to help Nigeria's government look for the girls, plan rescue missions and advise on ways to subdue Boko Haram. President Barack Obama has directed his administration to do everything possible to help the Nigerian government, the first lady said. 'Nothing has been done' Scrutiny of the Nigerian government's response to the kidnappings has escalated. A report Friday from Amnesty International says authorities knew at least four hours before the attack that Boko Haram was on its way to raid the girls' boarding school in the northeastern town of Chibok. The report's findings echo accounts of a number of the girls' parents and villagers, who have described to CNN an ineffective military response in the days and weeks after the girls were taken. "Nothing on the ground. Nothing," a Nigerian father told CNN. "(For) 21 days, nothing has been done." A young mother from Chibok said all that families have left is hope. "If 23 years ago somebody had abducted me, taken me away and killed my dreams, where would I be today? I might be dead," Aisha Yesufu said. "And for those kids, for nobody to care?" Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, took credit for the mass kidnappings in a video that surfaced this week. He said he planned to sell the girls into slavery. In a published interview Friday with Al-Hayat, a semiofficial Saudi newspaper, Saudi Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, a key religious leader in the Muslim world, condemned Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. He described it as an organization "set up to smear the image of Islam" and said the group is "not right and misguided, because Islam is against kidnapping, murder and aggression." Not enough troops to respond? The Amnesty International report alleges that after Nigerian commanders were informed of the pending attack, they were unable to raise enough troops to respond. A military contingent of between 15 and 17 soldiers and a handful of police officers in Chibok were unable to fend off as many as 200 Boko Haram fighters who stole the girls from their beds, the report says. The Nigerian government claims it responded with troops, helicopters and airplanes in the immediate aftermath of the mass abduction. "It is a very painful period for all of us," Nigerian Defense Minister Musiliu Olatunde Obanikoro said. "We've had sleepless nights trying to bring this to an end. Right now our primary concern is how that can be achieved and not disclose the details of where they are and whether they are in units or they are in one central location." Nigerian officials have frequently been criticized for failing to prevent Boko Haram's deadly attacks, particularly in the terror group's stronghold of northeastern Nigeria. At least 2,000 people have died in violence in northern Nigeria this year alone, Amnesty said. The most recent Boko Haram attack killed at least 310 people in a town that had been used as a staging ground for troops searching for the missing girls. CNN EXCLUSIVE: Nigerian girl who escaped Boko Haram says she still feels afraid . CNN's Vladimir Duthiers, Isha Sesay, Slma Shelbayah and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report. | NEW: Nigerians stage a daily protest urging a better government response .
Nigerian President vows "to get these girls out"
First lady Michelle Obama made her first solo White House weekly address .
Key Muslim leader criticizes Boko Haram . |
142,742 | 449beaec6c978999ee544459ef0d9adc7434e030 | After duking it out in 2012's often nasty presidential race, the campaign managers for Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama have joined forces. Jim Messina, who ran the president's re-election, and Matt Rhoades, a veteran of the Romney operation, are working behind the scenes of Washington's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The duo's specific project -- a small part of the overall mission -- is to convince the U.S. Olympic Committee, that yes, sometimes both parties can come together for a common purpose, and that Washington is not just a hotbed of partisan warfare all of the time. To make the case, the Washington bid's team put together this video, posted online Tuesday featuring a bipartisan cast. Making cameo appearances are CNN contributor Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker; Virginia's Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine; Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis; DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton; Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser; and to press the point, a losing presidential hopeful from each party, Democrat Howard Dean and Republican Bob Dole. The trio of other remaining cities don't have to concern themselves with the political consideration. Boston, Los Angeles and the San Francisco bay area also are taking part in the bid selection process. The committee will choose early next year which of the remaining four American cities will be the finalist to compete in 2017 to be the International Olympic Committee's choice for the 2024 games. | Former presidential campaign rivals Jim Messina and Matt Rhoades join forces to bring the Olympics to DC .
The pair put together a bipartisan video full of cameos from high-profile politicians .
Washington is competing against Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco . |
237,756 | bfc0e5c520de942be63ad5774c090ae27b8fb223 | New York (CNN) -- What do the New York Giants and Jets have in common with Jimmy Hoffa? Not much, unless you buy into the long-festering urban legend that they all shared the same residence in East Rutherford, New Jersey. But now, the two football teams are headed to a new $1.6 billion facility nearby dubbed the New Meadowlands. And their departure may be the best opportunity to finally put to rest the endless stories that Hoffa is not "swimming with the fishes" in the swamps of New Jersey. Or is it? The old stadium, which opened in 1976 and is often referred to as Giants Stadium, is being razed, with demolition beginning Thursday. Urban lore has it that Hoffa, the long-missing Teamsters leader, was killed by members of organized crime and buried in the end zone, or thereabouts, in Giants Stadium. Representatives for the New Meadowlands stadium said that the field won't be dug up, but that the stadium will be torn down in large pieces and the land eventually will be a parking lot. Is it possible that football and soccer players -- not to mention the hundreds of thousands of fans who have visited the stadium for concerts over the years -- have trod near the former union leader? Few urban legends continue to capture the imagination like the disappearance of a union boss with a murky past. The story is now a traditional butt of comedians' jokes, and one shouldn't be surprised that in 2004, the show "Mythbusters" devoted a segment searching for Hoffa. Several areas of the field were tested, but nothing was found. Conclusive? Perhaps not. If you listen closely, you can hear Geraldo Rivera kicking himself for not doing an hourlong special. A Google search of "Jimmy Hoffa" reveals many theories and opinions on the whereabouts of the controversial union leader, who was reportedly last seen in a suburban Detroit restaurant. Hoffa skipped off to Brazil with a "go-go dancer" one union official swore. The Weekly World News claims NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed Hoffa's body in a large hidden compartment with a special concrete block. "Crushed in automobile compactor" and "Ground up at a meat processing plant and dumped in Florida" are some of the other theories. Director Quentin Tarantino must be excited about the possibilities. So just how did Hoffa supposedly end up in the end zone of a football stadium in New Jersey? According to one account, his body was mixed into concrete that was later used to construct the stadium. But why does this story seem to resonate and remain one of the top theories? Jeff Hansen, an author and former Detroit police officer, says the rumors probably linger because the stadium is a well-known landmark. "It's the NFL," he said. "It's construction, organized crime and cement. Everyone wants to play on that." Hansen did his own research, and in his recently released book "Digging for the Truth: The Final Resting Place of Jimmy Hoffa," he says the union leader was probably killed closer to home in Michigan and disposed of in a crematorium. John Samerjan is vice president of public affairs at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which oversees the Meadowlands Sports Complex. He says he's heard it all before, and he dismisses the story by saying, "It's a complete urban myth." "There was this mob lore that the mob dumped bodies in the weeds before the stadium was built. The meadowlands region was 'the weeds.' No one has taken this seriously," he said. "It would often come up because every so often, a mobster would write a book or a magazine article. I was here eight years ago when the calls came flooding in." The rumor mill was so out of control then that a former publicity official recalled recently that the stadium posted a "He's not here" message on its electronic billboard outside the stadium. The FBI office in Detroit says the investigation of Hoffa's disappearance is ongoing. "We follow up on leads," Detroit FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said. The FBI office in Newark, New Jersey, doesn't plan to send anyone to the stadium when it's torn down. "Nope" was the response from Newark FBI spokesman Brian Travers, who says he's fielded several recent calls from the media about the matter. "My question to you," Travers replied about the seemingly lunacy of the question, "is why would anyone think we would wait this long. We would have dug up the 50 yard line during the Super Bowl a long time ago if there was any credence to the rumor." The issue of digging is very sensitive for New York sports fans. During the construction of the new Yankee Stadium, a construction worker, and Red Sox fan, buried a Red Sox jersey in wet concrete, hoping to hex the Yankees. The Yankees spent thousands of dollars to dig up the jersey and, in doing so, perhaps averted a future curse and urban legend. Superstitious? The Yankees won the 2009 World Series. CNN's Richard Roth contributed to this report. | Lore has it that Jimmy Hoffa's buried in the end zone, or thereabouts, in Giants Stadium .
With the stadium being razed, now may be the time to test the urban legend .
Field won't be dug up, but stadium will be torn down, land will become a parking lot .
Legend remains, but many, including FBI, say now's the time to spike it . |
270,385 | ea2ff41c6b8267947d4c8eaf70d4be8195e950e5 | A passenger flying with Alaska Airlines spotted something in the clouds that made him reach for the camera. Tom Korocz was travelling out of Seattle's Sea-Tac airport when he noticed what appeared to be an image of the Alaska Airlines mascot in the clouds. The photo was posted online which shows the cloud right next the aircraft's tail. Tom Korocz was travelling out of Seattle's Sea-Tac airport when he noticed what appeared to be an image of the Alaska Airlines mascot in the clouds . It was circulated over the internet last weekend. It is not known exactly who the man is on the tail of the plane but it has been claimed that it is an Eskimo called Oliver Amouak (Tahkhok) and is often referred to as the 'Happy Face'. Alaska Airlines has not disclosed the identify of the Eskimo in their logo and denies that it is for certain Oliver Amouak. Oliver’s . granddaughter, Brenda Ritchey wrote a book compiling Oliver Amouak’s . family stories of their own traditional, happy and practical lives. It is not known exactly who the man is on the tail of the plane but it has been claimed that it is an Eskimo called Oliver Amouak (Tahkhok) and is often referred to as the 'Happy Face' The company that ultimately became Alaska Airlines was born in 1932 when Linious 'Mac' McGee painted 'McGee Airways' on the side of a three-passenger Stinson and started flying out of Anchorage. In 1934, McGee merged with Star Air Service, creating the largest airline in Alaska with 22 aircraft. | Tom Korocz was travelling out of Seattle's Sea-Tac airport .
Noticed what appeared to be an image of Alaska Airlines mascot in the sky .
It is not known exactly who the man is on the tail of the plane .
It has been claimed that it is an Eskimo called Oliver Amouak . |
164,042 | 60224cdedd4c50e98ef18a70da646a8df4f07592 | (CNN) -- You may not know his name, but anyone who watches movies and television knows the squat, tough-faced character actor Charles Durning, who died on Christmas Eve, according to his family. The 89-year-old decorated World War II veteran had an award-winning career that spanned 20th Century entertainment, from the burlesque stage and theater to television and film, playing roles as diverse as society itself. Durning was the gruff father smitten by Dustin Hoffman's female impersonation of "Tootsie," the Southern politician dancing on stage with George Clooney's Soggy Bottom Boys in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the corrupt cop caught up in the "big con" by Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "The Sting." He won Tony and Golden Globe awards and was nominated for Academy Awards two times as a supporting actor. He also received nine Emmy nominations and was honored in 2007 with a lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. Born in Highland Falls, New York, on February 28, 1923, Durning became an actor relatively late. According to his TV Guide biography, Durning left home at age 16 and later enlisted in the Army. Durning landed at Normandy on D-Day and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, receiving the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. He worked odd jobs that ranged from professional boxing to teaching ballroom dancing to ushering in a burlesque house, where he got his start on stage by once filling in for a comic who failed to show up, the actor often recalled. He also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he trained with Jason Robards, Colleen Dewhurst and others. Some of Durning's other best-known roles included his Tony-winning performance as Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", the governor in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", a beleaguered police officer in "Dog Day Afternoon" and as Doc Hopper, the owner of a frog leg restaurant in "The Muppet Movie." Durning's family, in a statement issued Tuesday, said, "Not only was Charlie a World War II hero but he was also a hero to his family. Charlie loved Christmas and if he could have chosen a time to pass, he would have chosen this day." People we've lost in 2012: The lives they lived . | Durning won Tony and Golden Globe awards and was nominated for two Oscars .
His best-known work involved supporting roles in popular films spanning decades .
He played police officers, politicians and even the owner of a frog leg restaurant .
His career spanned 20th Century entertainment from burlesque to stage to film and TV . |
191,714 | 8441c96082276b24be5a717d3ab2d1f44b14fca7 | By . Mark Duell . It seems a free upgrade will no longer be the preserve of the well-connected, bolshy or randomly lucky airline traveller. Various airlines are now launching online upgrade auctions that allow passengers with economy tickets to take part in a blind bid for available business class seats in advance of their flight. Austrian Airlines followed Air New Zealand, El Al of Israel, Etihad of Abu Dhabi and Virgin Atlantic in becoming the latest carrier last week to start auctioning upper-class seats to economy passengers. Upgrade: Passengers with economy tickets are allowed on some flights to take part in a blind bid for available business class seats in advance of their flight . Upper crust: The business model works for carries trying to generate extra revenue on seats that would otherwise be unused, while trying to avoid reducing earnings from business travellers already paying full fare . Luxury: On a flight where empty business class seats are expected, a passenger booking in economy will be offered an upgrade - but airlines refuse to state the average winning bid . Plusgrade has developed technology to . enable the blind bidding - and the U.S. software developer which is . based in New York claimed it is speaking to several other airlines about . working with them. The company's chief executive Ken Harris said: 'The concept came . from the fact that if a flight leaves from London to New York right now and . no-one is sitting in seat 2A, that seat would be lost forever. He told MailOnline: ‘We're definitely seeing a lot of rapid . adoption by more and more airlines.’ Mr Harris went on to say that the idea should not put off . business travellers from buying luxury seats upfront because . ‘you're going to want that peace of mind that you're sitting in the upper level'. He added that Plusgrade is working on a project with . El Al, ‘where you can bid for an extra seat next to you - a . neighbour-free guarantee’. Mr Harris said: ‘Anyone who's flown in economy is really hoping that they're . the lucky one. They could ensure that by paying a nominal . fee.’ The . business model works for carries trying to generate extra revenue on . seats that would otherwise be unused, while trying to avoid reducing . earnings from business travellers already paying full fare. Sitting back: Former Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway tries the first-class seats in the Dreamliner 787. Virgin is one of the airlines offering customers the chance to win an upgrade through an auction . Relaxation: Airlines are concerned that revealing successful bids would set a 'price list' that may result in current business-class passengers switching to economy, and then attempting to bid for a better seat . Help: Air New Zealand auctions see a colour code signalling how likely a bid for an upgrade is to succeed . On . a flight where empty business class seats are expected, a passenger . booking in economy will be offered an upgrade - but airlines refuse to . state the average winning bid. 'Anyone who's flown in economy is really hoping that they're the lucky one' Plusgrade chief executive Ken Harris . They are concerned that revealing . successful bids would set a ‘price list’ that may result in current . business-class passengers switching to economy, and then attempting to . bid for a better seat. Only some passengers who currently have economy seats are invited to take part in the auction, with a ‘host of internally-prioritised goals’ deciding who is eligible, according to Plusgrade. Auctions by Air New Zealand see bids placed at least a week before departure, and its website suggests that an upgrade from economy to premium economy on a London Heathrow to Auckland flight could cost around £550 through an auction. Moving up: You may receive the chance to upgrade . | Passengers with economy tickets can take part in blind bid for upgrade .
Available on Austrian Airlines, Air New Zealand, El Al, Etihad and Virgin .
Airlines try to generate money on what would be empty expensive seats .
Only some passengers deemed eligible to take part in auction by airlines . |
182,488 | 785037457131e6aa293dffe34605ef88496f02cb | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:20 EST, 28 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:20 EST, 28 July 2013 . It has become an iconic image of America's fighting spirit and an emblem of hope. Yet the immortal photograph of three New York City firefighters raising the U.S. flag at Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks was nearly left out of the 9/11 Memorial Museum because staff thought it was too 'rah-rah' American. Creative director Michael Shulan was among staffers who believed the Thomas E. Franklin photo - which has been compared to the World War II Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima image - was too kitsch, according to Elizabeth Greenspan's new book Battle for Ground Zero. Thomas E. Franklin's iconic post-September 11 photo has become an emblem of hope . 'I really believe that the way . America will look best, the way we can really do best, is to not be . Americans so vigilantly and so vehemently,' Shulan said, according to Greenspan's book. The New York Post reports . chief curator Jan Ramirez offered a compromise - that the Franklin shot . be 'minimized' in favor of three different photos of the flag-raising . scene at three different angles. Michael Shulan, 9/11 Memorial Museum creative director, initially agreed with some staffers that the iconic Ground Zero image was too 'rah rah' American to be included in exhibition . Ramirez believed it could be valuable to show the event from 'multiple points of view, like the attacks more broadly'. 'Several images undercut the myth of ‘one iconic moment,' Ramirez said, according to the book. 'Shulan didn’t like three photographs more than he liked one, but he went along with it.' Shulan later told the New York Post that reducing the historical event to one picture was too simplistic. 'My . concern, as it always was, is that we not reduce [9/11] down to . something that was too simple, and in its simplicity would actually . distort the complexity of the event, the meaning of the event,' he said. Franklin's moving image, first published by The Record the day after the attacks, has become an enduring emblem of hope for Americans. It is considered one of the most widely reproduced images, printed on 255 million 'Heroes' postage stamps which has raised over $10 million to help 9/11 families and rescue workers. Iconic: Franklin's Ground Zero image has been compared to this photo by Joe Rosenthal capturing U.S. Marines raising the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, during WWII . | The iconic photo of firefighters raising the U.S. flag at Ground Zero was initially considered too kitsch for 9/11 Memorial Museum .
Creative director Michael Shulan didn't want to reduce 9/11 to something 'simple'
The museum now has three photos of the flag-raising scene . |
47,810 | 86e78cf1f3a6f4b04b600be44d8b7c3234d0c97e | Allegations: Actor Stephen Collins is under investigation for accusations of child molestation . The actor who played Reverend Eric Camden, the virtuous father on long-running family drama 7th Heaven, is under investigation for child molestation. In a recorded marriage therapy session, actor Stephen Collins admits that he exposed himself to several young girls between the ages of 10 and 13 in both Los Angeles and New York. Following the tapes release by TMZ on Tuesday, Collins life and career started falling apart as he resigned from his position on the Screen Actors Guild board and was fired from Ted 2. An NYPD official confirmed to MailOnline that they received a complaint and the Special Victims Squad is investigating. A law enforcement source told TMZ that Collins is suspected of having 'inappropriate sexual contact' with 'at least three' minor victims. The LAPD is also re-opening their own investigation into Collins, and will be collaborating with New York authorities. Law enforcement in California received the therapy session recordings two years ago but closed their case after finding 'no verified victim'. The 67-year-old actor allegedly made a written confession to his now ex-wife Faye Grant in 2012, which sparked the therapy session. Grant secretly recorded the session under the advisement of her lawyer, who told her it was legal in California to record conversations in order to gather evidence on a person who has committed a violent felony. In the recording, a man with Collins' distinct voice admits exposing himself to an 10-year-old relative of his first wife Marjorie Weinman. Collins and Weinman divorced in 1978. He also confessed to touching the young relative. 'There was one moment of touching where her hand...I put her her hand on my penis,' Collins says. That incident of molestation was actually reported in 2012, and can still be prosecuted since the statute of limitations starts at the date of reporting. Collins is best known for his role as Rev Eric Camden, patriarch of the do-gooder Camden clan, on the long-running drama 7th Heaven. Jessica Biel, top right in left image, was an early star of the decade-long show. Collins' now ex-wife Faye Grant (pictured together on the right in 2011) recorded a marriage therapy session in 2012 in which the actor admits to exposing himself to several underage girls . Collins goes on to admit exposing himself to several others girls. He says he exposed one girl 'a couple of times' when she was 11, 12 and 13. 'When you exposed yourself...did you have an erection?' Grant then asks. 'No, I mean, no. Partial, maybe, I think,' Collins responds. Collins says he also exposed himself to a girl who lived in their Los Angeles neighborhood, who he tried apologizing to years later, and a New York girl who was 12 or 13 at the time. An NYPD source has confirmed to TMZ that they are in possession of the tape, and last Wednesday two members of their Special Victims Unit flew to L.A. to interview Grant. They allegedly questioned her about the tape and other potential witnesses. In one part of the session, Collins confesses to molesting a 11-year-old relative of his first wife Marjorie Weinman. Pictured above in a still from 7th Heaven with actress Jessica Biel . The woman who triggered the NYPD investigation allegedly told cops that she would sometimes stay with Collins and his first wife at their New York City apartment when she was 10. Since Collins and Weinman were married from 1970 - 1978, that woman is likely around 46 to 54 years old today. She said he would often come into the guest room, where she slept, after taking a shower and only wearing a towel. He then exposed himself to her, and would make the victim put her hand on his penis. She says he also touched and rubbed her. The victim tried to prevent these attacks by pretending to be asleep. It was only when she saw Collins on a TV show in the 90s that the woman first told her husband about the childhood abuse. In 2000, she sent an anonymous letter to Collins' then-wife Faye Grant, telling her he was a child molester. But it wasn't until late 2011 that she ever received a response, after Collins confessed about his past sexual abuse. Grant sent the woman an email saying: 'Stephen lied when confronted 12 years ago. He said he had a hole in his holey jeans, as was the style then, and you "must have" seen his genitalia one time.' 'Stephen is not remorseful, shows no guilt, and his shame is demonstrated as extreme self pity. He wails and cries, "I'm in so much paaaaaain!!!"' Collins was fired from the film Ted 2 on Tuesday, after news of the recordings broke. He excitedly tweeted about getting a small role in the Mark Wahlberg comedy just a few days ago . It's still unclear how TMZ obtained the tapes, as Collins' estranged wife Grant told E! News she did not leak it. 'I woke up today to learn that an extremely private recording I handed over to the authorities in 2012 per their request in connection with a criminal investigation was recently disseminated to the press. I had no involvement whatsoever with the release of the tape to the media,' Grant said. Grant added to TMZ that she is 'sickened by Stephen’s actions. I have urged Stephen multiple times to seek treatment for pedophilia, but he has refused to seek proper help or hospitalization for the predilection toward children.' Collins announced his divorce from Grant in May 2012, issuing a statement saying they were 'moving forward separately in our lives'. 'She has been my dearest friend and a loving mother,' Collins said. 'I know that we'll go through this process in a way that honors our family.' The divorce papers came as a shock to Grant who said she was both surprised and devastated. 'I wish him the very best in whatever path he chooses to take. Twenty-seven years of marriage in Hollywood is the equivalent of 189 dog years. I was exhausted,' she responded. Their seemingly amicable split quickly deteriorated, however, once they started dividing up the assets. The NYPD has a copy of the therapy session recordings and are allegedly investigating the claims. Collins pictured above in more stills from 7th Heaven . In their highly contentious divorce proceedings, Grant argued that she had stayed home during her peak acting years to raise their daughter Kate and now couldn't book a job to support herself. Meanwhile, Collins was raking in acting job after acting job making nearly $500,000 just in 2013 for appearances on the TV shows Revolution, Devious Maids, Scandal and The Fosters. Grant said she grew used to upper-class living during her nearly three decades married to Collins, when they made between $1 and $3million a year. Collins made an unfortunate reference to Woody Allen in a tweet two years ago. The director has been accused of molestation by his biological daughter . She asked for an unspecified amount of spousal support, half of their $6million bank account and half the value of their two properties in Brentwood, California. Collins next role was in American Repertory Theater's production of O.P.C' alongside Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, but he dropped out two weeks ago due to 'scheduling conflicts' The startling revelation has also led to the actor's firing from the movie Ted 2, just a few days after he excitedly tweeted about getting a small role in the Mark Wahlberg comedy, Entertainment Weekly reports. Collins previously held a position on the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild but resigned today following the news of the investigation, a SAG/AFTRA official told TMZ. Despite the disturbing claims issued today against 7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins, his on-screen wife Catherine Hicks has come out in his defense - calling him a 'good' guy. Hicks, who played matriarch Annie Camden on the decade-long show about a family with seven children, was filmed Tuesday walking in a Santa Monica hospital parking garage where she was asked about the tapes in which Collins admits to molesting several girls between the the ages of 10 and 13. The actress smiles and she says she's heard of the allegations but that there was never an indication he was an abuser from their years on set where they worked with several underage actors and actresses. 'Stephen is a good guy in my opinion,' she says. | Stephen Collins allegedly confessed to exposing himself to underage girls in a therapy session secretly recorded by ex-wife Faye Grant .
The NYPD is now investigating the claims he had 'inappropriate sexual contact' with 'at least three' minor victims .
Following the release of the tapes, Collins was fired from a small role in Ted 2 and resigned from his position on the board of the Screen Actors Guild .
Collins is best known for his role on the TV show 7th Heaven, in which he played family patriarch Reverend Eric Camden from 1996-2007 . |
143,795 | 45f370a8e97fad5566fc8c9e20e3eeb3866543b7 | The Duchess of Cambridge was moved to tears yesterday as she listened to a mother recall the heartbreak of losing her three-month-old daughter. After Leigh Smith had finished her speech at the charity event, Kate reacted as any mother would – by throwing her arms around her to comfort her. Mrs Smith, 33, whose daughter Beatrice died of a heart condition earlier this year, said: ‘Kate sought me out and gave me a hug just before she left. ‘I was getting quite teary-eyed, she had tears in her eyes and she just said to me, “You’re a very brave lady and again, I’m just so, so sorry”.’ Scroll down for video . Sombre: The Duchess was driven away looking visibly upset after meeting a mother who lost her child at three months old . Emotional: The Duchess of Cambridge attended a fundraising event for a children's hospice at the Norfolk Showground, near Norwich . Much loved: Baby Beatrice Smith, pictured with her mother Leigh, 33, was just three months old when she died at the Quidenham Hospice . Heartbroken: Leigh Smith was left griefstricken after her baby daughter Beatrice died of a rare heart condition last January . Touching: During the launch, the Duchess heard from parents who, like Mrs Smith, have desperately ill children who need the hospices . Touched: The Duchess was introduced to a group of terminally ill children as well as Mrs Smith (right) while visiting Norfolk . Fighter: The Duchess meets Jack Cottis, six, from Colchester, who suffered a brain haemorrhage in the womb . Brave: The Duchess of Cambridge speaks to the mother of Aimee Benton, seven, who presented her with a posy . The pair had already been in touch after Mrs Smith wrote to the duchess praising the work of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, of which Kate is royal patron, in the difficult days after her daughter’s death. In return, she received a reply from Kate herself. ‘I was so surprised to receive a letter with such personal comments and signed by her,’ Mrs Smith said. ‘It was a lovely gesture and helped me through a terrible time. ‘I was touched that she had taken so much time to carefully read my letter and then to reply herself – it shows how much she cares. ‘When I met her today she remembered the letter and said it was an honour to meet me. I was completely taken aback. For me it was an honour to meet her.’ The duchess, who is 18 weeks pregnant with her second child, was attending the launch of a fundraising campaign to help EACH build a £10million facility in Norfolk. Dressed in a scarlet Katherine Hooker dress, and with her hair tied in a pony tail, she appeared to be in good health and to have beaten the severe morning sickness that plagued the early weeks of her pregnancy. But she struggled to keep her emotions in check as she listened intently to Mrs Smith’s tragic story, which detailed the assistance that the charity gave her family. Beatrice Octavia Iris Smith was born in November last year and was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy, a rare heart condition, in January. After six weeks in hospital it became clear that she would not survive until a new heart could be found for her. Mrs Smith, a physiotherapist, and her husband Toby made the devastating decision to allow their daughter to slip away on February 24, just 87 days after Beatrice was born. ‘She passed away in my arms very peacefully holding mine and her daddy’s hands,’ Mrs Smith said. Adorable: Two-year-old Daisy Benton, whose sister Isabella, four, has a number of neurological conditions, looks up at the Duchess . Important work: The Duchess has been involved with the charity, which helps terminally ill children, since 2012 . Risky: Kate was shown a new ceramics range being sold in aid of the appeal but worried about dropping the teapot . Emotional: The Duchess of Cambridge was helping to launch a fundraising appeal on behalf of East Anglia Children's Hospices . EACH made arrangements for Beatrice to be taken to one of its hospices close to the family’s Norwich home, and helped with the funeral arrangements as the couple and their four-year-old son Elliot prepared to say goodbye. Friday would have been Beatrice’s first birthday. Mrs Smith added: ‘I had mixed feelings about today because it’s a difficult time, but this is the most amazing way of celebrating Beatrice’s birthday and I hope she was looking down as I met Kate.’ The duchess has already been playing an active role in the fundraising drive for the charity’s new facility. She has persuaded potter Emma Bridgewater to design a range of mugs, which were unveiled yesterday and will be sold in aid of the campaign next year. A royal aide said: ‘It was the duchess’s idea to approach Emma, whom she didn’t know previously, and she helped in the design process.’ Kate has been patron of EACH since 2012 and made her first public speech as a member of the royal family on its behalf the same year. She and Prince William are expecting their second child in April. Prince George is now 16 months old. New home: The event was held at the Norfolk Showground, which is just a few miles from the Duchess' new home at Anmer Hall . That's how you do it! A pair of delighted schoolgirls sweep into a curtsey as they're introduced to a beaming Kate . Lovely to meet you: The Duchess was greeted by a group of excited children, including some whose siblings use EACH hospices . Quick chat: She stopped to speak to the children as she made her way into a charity launch on behalf of East Anglia Children's Hospice . Lady in red: The Duchess of Cambridge wore her hair in a ponytail and sported a glamorous Katherine Hooker dress . Chilly: Despite the less than lovely weather in Norfolk, the Duchess braved the elements and arrived without a coat . Glamorous: The Duchess showed off the merest hint of a baby bump beneath her Katherine Hooker dress . Turn out: The charity hopes to raise £10 million which they will use to fund the building of a new hospice . Stylish: Despite being an estimated 18 weeks pregnant, the Duchess was as slender as ever in her red Katherine Hooker dress . Big event: The Duchess has been patron of East Anglia Children's Hospices (EACH) since 2012 . All smiles: The Duchess meets local dignitaries, who had gathered outside to welcome her as she arrived at the launch event . Support: EACH helps East Anglia based families whose children are terminally ill . Not far: The charity launch was close to the Duchess' new Norfolk home, Anmer Hall . Royal wave: The Duchess smiles down at well-wishers from a balcony at the Norfolk Showground . New look: The Duchess, who is famous for her flowing curls, chose to wear her hair in a sleek ponytail for the event . Nice to meet you: The Duchess chats to local dignitaries as she makes her way into the fundraising event . Busy: Last week saw the Duchess step out in a top that showed off her bump as she hosted a reception for a mental wellness charity . Glamorous: Since recovering from her morning sickness, the Duchess has also rubbed shoulders with stars, among them Harry Styles . Charity work: The Duchess of Cambridge meets young athlete Emma Allen during a visit in aid of her charity, SportsAid . | The Duchess of Cambridge was in Norfolk to launch an appeal on behalf of East Anglia Children's Hospices .
She welled up as she hugged Leigh Smith, 33, whose daughter Beatrice was just 16 weeks old when she died .
Mother's story moved the Duchess so much, she welled up and threw her arms around her .
Mrs Smith's little daughter Beatrice would have been celebrating her first birthday this Friday .
She also thanked the Duchess for the personal letter she sent after hearing of Beatrice's death in January .
The Duchess has been patron of East Anglia Children's Hospices since 2012 . |
43,975 | 7c06a43912f24e344112ed6df8cf85796aadb494 | By . Nick Fagge . PUBLISHED: . 18:11 EST, 20 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:28 EST, 21 May 2013 . This is the last picture of the two children alleged to have been murdered by their British father following a bitter custody battle. The boy and girl were caught on CCTV clutching balloons and waiting patiently as they were bought sweets in a French bakery. With them was their father, Julian Stevenson, who appeared relaxed as he ordered a baguette, casually dressed in flip-flops, camouflage Bermuda shorts and a light sweater. See the CCTV below . Julian Stevenson, accused of killing his two children in Lyon, France, seen on CCTV footage taking the children, Mathew, 10, and Carla, 5, to the bakers to buy sweets hours before their deaths . They had been dropped of with Stevenson at the former family home on Friday evening - the first time he had been allowed unsupervised access in two years because of a bitter custody battle . Stevenson was arrested after the children's bodies were found in the apartment, their throats slit. Yesterday he appeared before a judge, accused of their murder . The 47-year-old, originally from Cheltenham, even waved goodbye to staff as his children followed him out of the store in a suburb of Lyon shortly after 12.30pm on Saturday. Hours later, Mathew, ten, and Carla, five, were dead. They had been dropped of with Stevenson at the former family home on Friday evening – the first time he had been allowed unsupervised access in two years because of a bitter custody battle with his French ex-wife Stephanie. She found Stevenson, a heavy drinker with a history of violent assaults against her, looking ‘panicked and angry’ on the stairs to the apartment when she went to pick up the children at about 5pm on Saturday. Stevenson was arrested after the children’s bodies were found in the apartment, their throats slit.Yesterday he appeared before a judge, accused of their murder. Prosecutors said the unemployed former haulage firm manager had admitted carrying out the double killing in a fit of rage before fleeing on a pair of roller-skates. But they said they were ‘not currently’ charging Stevenson with premeditated murder, suggesting that he may plead diminished responsibility. The children, clutching balloons, can be seen outside the shop window arriving with their father . The children appear to be looking around the cake shop excitedly as their father walks behind them . Julian Stevenson appeared relaxed as he ordered a baguette, casually dressed in flip-flops, camouflage Bermuda shorts and a light sweater . The 47-year-old, originally from Cheltenham, even waved goodbye to staff as his children followed him out of the store in a suburb of Lyon . Last night, Stevenson was back in police custody following the four-hour hearing. Earlier, a neighbour had told the Daily Mail: ‘He was at his wits’ end, I think he must have snapped.‘He complained of having lots of debts and no way to pay them. ‘He had to pay maintenance for the children but struggled to find the money. He used to work for a haulage company just down the road but he lost his job and he split up with his wife soon after.’ Christophe Drevet, 47, who runs the bakery Stevenson and his children visited on Saturday lunchtime, said: ‘They seemed happy. The children had balloons and he bought them sweets. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong. He also bought a baguette. ‘We see a lot of him here. He is friendly with my staff and always talks to the servers. ‘It was obvious he was a foreigner. He spoke French well, but with an accent, we used to joke that he must be from Canada. The bakery in Lyon where Julian Stevenson took his children hours before allegedly killing them . The block of flats where Julian Stevenson lived . ‘I know hundreds of people, everybody comes here to buy their bread, but I remember Mr Stevenson because of his accent. ‘This tragic incident has shocked everybody. He always appeared to be a good dad. He has always come across as a nice man, but he changes when he drinks. He’s not very good with alcohol.’ Before visiting the bakery, Mr Stevenson had watched over Mathew and Carla as they played at a local McDonald’s. A manager there said: ‘The father came here with his two children at about 11am, they stayed for about an hour. The children both got a balloon and seemed very happy.’ Stevenson, who had been living in France for ten years, was twice convicted of assaulting his ex-wife, in 2005 and 2010, reports said. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | CCTV images show the two children visiting a bakery in their last hours .
Julian Stevenson appeared relaxed as he ordered a baguette and treats .
Hours later, children Mathew, ten, and Carla, five, were dead . |
256,977 | d89ce5e111a915a7b8126459f37089c5bf38e551 | FALLUJA, Iraq (CNN) -- Like many young boys, Khidir loves playing with toy cars and wants to be a policeman like his father when he grows up. But it was his father's very job that caused the tiny child to suffer the unimaginable. Khidir, now 8, was kidnapped and held hostage for two years by operatives with al Qaeda in Iraq. Khidir was just 6 years old when he was savagely ripped away from his family, kidnapped by al Qaeda operatives in Iraq. "They beat me with a shovel, they pulled my teeth out with pliers, they would go like this and pull it," said Khidir, now 8, demonstrating with his hands. "And they would make me work on the farm gathering carrots." What followed was even more horrific, an ordeal that would last for two years in captivity. Khidir and his father spoke to CNN recently, more than half a year after his rescue by Iraqi police. Watch boy describe torture » . "This is where they hammered a nail into my leg and then they pulled it out," he says, lifting up his pant leg to show a tiny wound. He says his captors also pulled out each of his tiny fingernails, broke both his arms, and beat him repeatedly on the side of the head with a shovel. He still suffers chronic headaches. He remembers them laughing as they inflicted the pain. "I would think about my mommy and daddy," he replies, when asked how he managed to get through the agony. His father, Abdul Qader, struggles for words. "When he tells me about how they would torture him, I can't tolerate it. I start crying," he says. "What hurts me the most is when they hammered a nail into his leg." The father, a police officer, was sleeping at the police station in Falluja when his son was kidnapped. It was too dangerous to go home regularly. Although Falluja was no longer controlled by insurgents, assassinations against police were common. "I woke up to the sound of a huge explosion ... and then I heard my name on the radio. I ran outside and they came to me saying your house was blown up," he says. "When the police patrol came back, they all started kissing and comforting me," he continues. "I was asking, 'What's going on? Where is my family?' They told me that they took my son. This was a disaster. I went mad that day, I wasn't normal, I was hysterical." Khidir's grandmother was at home with the family at the time. "The kidnappers climbed the fence and kicked in the door," she says."They were screaming for Abdul Qader. I told them he's not here. They called me a liar and said we want his son. His son was hiding behind me, clutching my clothes. I said this is not his son. They hit me on the back with a rifle and ripped him out of my arms." The last thing she remembers were his screams of "Granny, Granny!" The attackers rigged the house with explosives and demolished it before taking off with the 6-year-old. The boy's grandmother and seven other family members rushed out of the home before it exploded. "The kidnappers called me on the phone and demanded that some prisoners that we had be released or they would slit his throat," Khidir's father says. "But I said no to the release. I would not put killers back out on the street that would hurt other Muslims. So I thought to myself, 'Let my son be a martyr.' " He even held a secret funeral for his little boy. He didn't want to tell the rest of the family that he had refused the kidnappers' ultimatum, allowing them to hope that he was still alive. Last December, nearly two years later, police in Taji, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) away, received a tip that terrorists were holding kidnapped children. "We thought that it was just a tip to ambush us, but we considered the mission as a sacrifice," said Iraqi police Capt. Khalib Ali. "Either we find the children and free them or face the danger and take the risk." The tip led the Iraqi police to a rundown farm and a series of mud huts. Khidir's tiny body was twisted abnormally. And in another hut, they found another child. Two children are still believed to be with the kidnappers. Al Qaeda in Iraq has historically kidnapped children for money, to pressure officials, and even to use in terrorist attacks. For Khidir's father, it was as if his son had come back from the dead. "He didn't recognize his mother or his grandmother," Abdul Qader says. "But then he saw me in uniform and ran to me. I went flying toward him to hug him. People said be careful; both his arms are broken. So I held him from his waist, and he hugged me, kissed me, smelled me, and then broke into a smile." The father flips through old family photos -- all they were able to salvage from their destroyed home -- and notes some of the kidnappers are still at large. He still fears for his son's safety, but says he won't quit the police force. "Never, never," he says. "If I leave the police force, if others leave the force, who will protect us from the terrorists? We are the only ones." CNN's Yousif Bassil contributed to this report. | Iraqi boy survives two-year hostage ordeal by al Qaeda in Iraq operatives .
Terrorists took the boy to blackmail his father, who was a police officer in Iraq .
"They pulled my teeth out with pliers," the boy tells CNN .
Dad says he won't leave police force despite intimidation, threats . |
72,552 | cdb330d917f8b563f25b52e9dcd285ac6f0d2b9e | By . Emma Innes . A little girl with Down’s syndrome has learnt to swim, sing, and even dance, by copying her twin sister. Viola Fuller, six, from Gillingham, in Dorset, has Down’s syndrome, but her twin sister, Nigella, does not. The girls’ proud parents, Nigel and Agata, say Viola is thriving - and believe she is doing so well thanks to copying her sister. Viola Fuller (top), six, has Down's syndrome and she is thriving with the help of her twin sister, Nigella, who does not have the condition . Mrs Fuller, 35, said: ‘Children with Down’s syndrome are very visual and they learn by copying. ‘Because Viola could watch Nigella reach all these milestones, and then copy her, she has been able to reach them too. ‘We could spend hours with a therapist trying to teach Viola something, but then all she’d have to do is watch Nigella doing it and she could copy. ‘There is a special sign language that people with Down’s syndrome can use, called Makaton. Nigella picked it up easily and was able to teach it to Viola. ‘We always had faith in Viola, but Nigella has made a real difference to her. She added: ‘There are other factors too, and we have excellent medical professionals who work with Viola to ensure her progress, but they really do have that twin thing going on.’ Viola has learned to dance, swim and sing by watching Nigella but her parents say she does become frustrated if she can't keep up with her sister . The girls' parents, Nigel and Agata, believe Viola has had an advantage in reaching her milestones because she is able to copy Nigella . When Viola was born, her parents had no idea how able she would be. Mrs Fuller said: ‘The doctors are very careful not to say that your child definitely will be able to this, or definitely will be able to do that. ‘Some children with Down’s syndrome get on very well in life, while others will have hearing, visual, speech and various health problems. ‘It was a just a case of wait and see what happens. Down's syndrome is a genetic condition that causes some level of learning disability and a characteristic range of physical features. Most babies with Down's syndrome are diagnosed shortly after birth and are likely to have reduced muscle tone, eyes that slant upwards, a low birth weight, a small nose and mouth and short fingers. They also have some degree of learning disability but this varies widely between children. Some children with Down's syndrome also have associated health problems such as heart disorders, digestive problems, hearing and visual impairments, thyroid dysfunction and blood disorders. It is one of the most common genetic causes of learning disability and around 750 babies are born with the condition each year in the UK. It is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21 in the baby's cells. Currently, no one knows what causes the presence of the extra chromosome but Down's syndrome is more common in children born to older mothers. For example, if a woman has a baby when she is 25 there is a one in 1,250 chance of her baby having Down's syndrome, but if a 45-year-old woman has a baby, there is a one in 30 chance of it having Down's syndrome. Source: NHS Choices . ‘Luckily, Viola is high functioning, and with Nigella by her side - plus many experts, doctors and family members who have helped us along the way - she’s doing really well.’ The couple first noticed Nigella’s influence on her sister when they were learning to walk. Mr Fuller said: ‘When Nigella began to crawl, we didn’t expect Viola to be able to reach that goal so quickly. ‘But when Viola started crawling too and becoming more mobile, we realised how important Nigella was to her sister. ‘Now, Viola sees Nigella picking up a book to read and she’s started to do it too. ‘Nigella had swimming lessons and now Viola does them too. ‘They’re very close, which is lovely - they both love to sing and dance together - their favourite song is We Will Rock You. It’s a wonderful thing to see.’ Mr and Mrs Fuller were unaware that one of their daughters would have Down’s syndrome. It was only when the girls were just a few hours old that doctors diagnosed Viola’s Down’s syndrome. Mrs Fuller said: ‘I had a normal pregnancy and had no reason to expect anything other than two healthy babies. ‘Nigella was born first and then they gave me Viola. ‘I remember thinking that Viola had her eyes shut and that she looked a bit different, but as soon as she opened her eyes I thought she was fine. ‘I was a first time mother so I had no reason to suspect anything was wrong. ‘Then the doctors told me that rather than stay on the ward I could have my own room. ‘At the time I thought this was lovely but now I know it’s because they wanted somewhere private to tell us what was going on. ‘At about three hours old a doctor examined Viola and asked me if I had ever heard of Down’s syndrome. Mr and Mrs Fuller did not know Viola had Down's syndrome until she was about three hours old . ‘I said that I had and he told me he thought Viola had it. He started to point out signs like the extra line on her palm, her small (almond shaped) eyes and her low muscle tone and it suddenly became obvious. ‘The doctor kept speaking but I felt like someone had put a glass wall between us and I couldn’t really see or hear him. It was just so surreal, I felt like I was watching a film. ‘It was the biggest shock of my life, but as the doctor left us with some leaflets he told me to enjoy my baby - those words really stuck with me and they still do now. ‘Whenever I find myself getting frustrated I just think back to that moment and I remind myself how lucky I am to have my daughters.’ Mr Fuller said: 'When Nigella began to crawl, we didn't expect Viola to be able to reach that goal so quickly. But when Viola started crawling too and becoming more mobile, we realised how important Nigella was to her' Viola attends the same mainstream school as Nigella and the girls' parents say Nigella is always there to look out for her sister . Now, at age six, Viola is in mainstream school with her sister. Her mother said: ‘Sometimes Viola gets jealous that her sister can do things easier than she can, but they get on very well. ‘They are so close and if Viola ever runs into difficultly at school, Nigella will always be there to help her. ‘For a short time another child was picking on Viola, but Nigella stepped in and told the girl how lovely her sister was. ‘Nigella will always find things easier than her sister, but Viola is high functioning and she’s coming on leaps and bounds. Speaking of the girls' birth, Mrs Fuller said: 'It was the biggest shock of my life, but as the doctor left us with some leaflets he told me to enjoy my baby - those words really stuck with me and they still do now' Mrs Fuller said: 'Viola is cheeky, funny, outgoing and has a wonderful confidence that we adore - she rewards and touches everyone that comes into contact with her' ‘They are just like any other six-year-old girls - they love dancing and gymnastics, and swimming, and they’re big fans of Beyoncé. ‘They’re big fans of Disney and think they’re princesses themselves most of the time. ‘Nigella is a very special little girl, and we think she has grown up to be more tolerant, patient and caring than children of her own age. ‘Viola is cheeky, funny, outgoing and has a wonderful confidence that we adore - she rewards and touches everyone that comes into contact with her. ‘We are very proud of both of our girls.' For more information about Down's syndrome, visit www.downs-syndrome.org.uk . | Viola Fuller, six, has Down's syndrome but her twin sister, Nigella, does not .
It is usually expected that children with Down's syndrome will reach milestones, such as crawling, walking and talking .
But the girls' parents believe that watching Nigella has helped Viola reach these milestones earlier than she would otherwise have done . |
50,467 | 8ec453537364c3b68f46aad921f7177fad107065 | (CNN) -- Seven Baha'i prisoners face a death-penalty trial Saturday in Iran amid calls for their release from a U.S. panel on religious freedom. A U.S. panel on religious freedom has demanded the immediate release of the imprisoned Bahai's. Responding to a letter from Roxana Saberi, the Iranian-American journalist who spent four months in an Iranian jail earlier this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) demanded the seven prisoners be freed rather than stand trial on charges of espionage and religious violations. If convicted, they could face execution. "In addition to the hundreds of Iranians who have been detained in the context of Iran's disputed presidential poll, many other 'security detainees' arrested long before the June election remain behind bars," Saberi said in her letter requesting U.S. government intervention in the Baha'i case. "These Iranians and the authorities who have detained them need to know that the Iranian people's human rights are a matter of international concern," she said. Saberi, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison on espionage charges, spent time in a cell at Tehran's Evin prison with two of the Baha'i prisoners. Saberi was released in May. Leonard Leo, chairman of USCIRF, said the crackdown on protests after Iran's June 12 presidential elections "have exposed the world to the cold realities about how the Iranian government regularly deals with dissent or views that are a perceived threat to the theocratic regime." "The charges against these imprisoned Baha'is are baseless and a pretext for the persecution and harassment of a disfavored religious minority," Leo said. "They should be released immediately." The seven Baha'is have been held for more than a year without formal charges or access to their attorneys, said Diane Ala'i, representative to the United Nations for the Baha'i International Community. She said the seven are being legally represented by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani. But according to the human rights group Amnesty International, Soltani was arrested in Iran on June 16 and his whereabouts are unknown. Ala'i said the lawyers have not had access to their clients though they have been able to read their files. USCIRF, which is an independent bipartisan federal commission, said the seven Baha'is are charged under the jurisdiction of Branch 28 of Iran's Revolutionary Court, the same judicial process that convicted Saberi in April. The Baha'i prisoners are accused of spying for Israel, spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic and religious offenses. "This trial is all about them being Baha'i," Ala'i said. "The accusations are completely false." The Baha'i faith is a world religion that originated in 19th-century Persia but Iran does not recognize it. Baha'is are regarded as apostates and heretics in Iran, where they have long been persecuted. Ala'i said that since the Islamic revolution in 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been executed in Iran. Iran denies that the Baha'i community is mistreated. Earlier this year, prosecutor general Qorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi, told state-run Press TV that the Iranian government has afforded the Baha'is with "all the facilities offered to other Iranian citizens." But Najafabadi said there is irrefutable evidence that many Baha'is are in close contact with Iran's enemies and have strong links to Israel. The treatment of the Baha'is in Iran and the detention of the seven prisoners have attracted global attention. Human Rights Watch, the world rights monitoring group, last month called for the release of the imprisoned or a prompt trial, with "fair and open proceedings." Lawyer Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, wrote a newspaper column this week urging international pressure before the trial to "ensure the seven men and women receive a fair trial and a chance of justice." | Seven Baha'is in Iran to face trial Saturday, could face death penalty .
U.S. panel on religious freedom urges their release, calls charges "baseless"
The seven leaders are accused of spying for Israel and religious offenses .
Rights groups say the seven have spent a year in jail without access to lawyer . |
170,448 | 68a0a84ae6d54ad7151fbdb38d5f78dca3f7829c | (EW.com) -- There is a reason that Lois Lowry's 1993 book won the prestigious Newbery Medal and inspired millions of readers—as well as other dystopian YA best-sellers like The Hunger Games: It features children asking important questions and challenging draconian authority. But there also might be a good reason that the novel—which imagines a (literally) colorless, thought-controlled society that has banished memory of the past—took so long to finally come to the screen. Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent's Prince Phillip) plays Jonas, a young man who sees flickers of color in the dreary Brave New World of sameness around him. Because of his gift, he's chosen to be the next Receiver of Memories, the one person who bears all the pain—and pleasure—of humanity's past so that the government's status quo can be preserved. Unfortunately, his apprenticeship under the outgoing Receiver, a.k.a., the Giver (Jeff Bridges), is built upon cerebral gobbledygook that the screenplay and director Phillip Noyce never quite find a way to package visually. Instead, we get flashes of life's beauty and man's cruelty, and when desperate, more and more underlined dialogue about the power of human emotions and the shackles of sameness. Bridges, who spent nearly 20 years trying to bring the novel to the screen, seems trapped playing the passive seer, and Meryl Streep's villainous turn as the Jane Campion-haired Chief Elder will test the blind devotion of Golden Globe voters. In the end, the film practically collapses under its own...hmm, what's the opposite of 'weight'? In any case, it falls apart with a slapdash final act that doesn't work as drama or action and only serves to undermine Jonas's heroics. It's treated as a quest so non-Herculean that you wonder why the Giver didn't do the job himself years ago. Maybe he just lost interest too. EW Grade: C- . See the original story at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | The film is based on the 1993 book .
Jeff Bridges fought to bring it to the screen .
EW gives it a C- . |
241,191 | c43cc9bb1c1f6274e9246c001bb39259da8679b9 | By . David Kent . Jos Hooiveld’s close-range strike shortly after half-time was enough for Ronald Koeman’s Southampton to beat Swindon Town 1-0 during their friendly at the County Ground on Monday evening. The centre-back broke the deadlock in the 51st minute, when he reacted quickest to James Ward-Prowse’s outswinging corner to flick the ball past the despairing dive of Swindon goalkeeper Wes Foderingham. The Saints’ recent signing from Feyenoord, Graziano Pelle, looked lively in the opening stages, and could have put his side ahead as early as the ninth minute when he met a cross from the right by Nathaniel Clyne only to head straight into the arms of the grateful Foderingham. Impressed: Graziano Pelle, Southampton's recent signing from Feyenoord, was strong on the ball . Fit straight in: Pelle's hold-up play against Swindon helped bring his team-mates into the game . Swindon: Foderingham; N. Thompson N, Kasim (McCormack 88), Branco, Barthram; L. Thompson, Rodgers . (Barker 53), Luongo (Marshall 80), Byrne; Williams (Waldon 65), Smith . (Randall 65). Subs not used: Belford, Jones, Antonio, Vandesonpele. Southampton: Davis (Gazzaniga 46); Clyne (Chambers 62), Fonte (Yoshida 62), Hooiveld (Turnbull 62), Targett (Stephens 62); Cork (Flannigan 62), Ward-Prowse (McCarthy 62); Reed (Sinclair 62), McQueen (Mayuka 46), Isgrove (Gallagher 62); Pelle (Sharp 62). Goal: Hooiveld. Minutes later Pelle turned provider for Clyne, but the young . full-back could not find the back of the net with his well-struck effort from . distance. Pelle’s hold-up play was the highlight for Koeman’s team in . a fairly low-tempo affair at the County Ground, the Italian-born forward keeping . the ball well from Swindon’s dogged defenders during his 62 minutes on the . pitch. After dominating much of the first half Southampton . deservedly went ahead six minutes after the break. Hooiveld prodded past Foderingham from Ward-Prowse’s . enticing corner, and moments later the latter nearly doubled Saints’ lead with . a glancing header that flew just over the crossbar. Swindon almost equalised in the dying stages of the match, . when Connor Waldon rounded Southampton’s substitute goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga. Fortunately for the Italian shot-stopper fellow sub Calum Chambers was on hand . to smash the ball away from goal. Relaxed: New Saints boss Ronaldo Koeman looked comfortable despite his side's nervy win . All smiles: Koeman breaks into a grin during Southampton's victory at the County Ground . Late in the day: Michael Smith, of Swindon, controls the ball during their friendly defeat . Challenge: James Ward-Prowse nips in for a tackle with Swindon's Louis Thompson . Spreading the play: Jose Fonte sprays a pass out to the right-hand side for Southampton . After the game, Koeman said: 'I think we deserved one or two more goals in the match. There was a good spirit in the team. 'Maybe in front of goal we’re not so sharp, but I’m happy about the performance today.' Southampton’s win comes off the back of victories over . lower-league Dutch side EHC Hoensbroek and Sporting Hasselt of Belgium. | Hooiveld scored in the 51st minute from close range following a corner .
New signing Pelle impressed for Ronald Koeman's side during friendly .
Swindon nearly equalised late on when Connor Waldon rounded substitute goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga . |
258,607 | dab1ef4135de621475693a26faba11b29550c1da | In a sign of the political hangover congressional Republicans are suffering in the wake of the government shutdown, three-quarters of Americans in a new national poll say that most GOP members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected. A CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also found a majority saying that the Republicans' policies are too extreme. And according to the poll, Democrats have an 8-point advantage over the Republicans in an early indicator in the battle for control of Congress. But with more than a year to go until the 2014 midterm elections, there's plenty of time for these numbers to change. CNN Poll: House Republicans, Boehner take big post-shutdown hit . The poll was conducted Friday through Sunday, just after the end of the 16-day partial federal government shutdown that was sparked in part by an effort by House conservatives to dismantle the health care law, which is President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement. A majority of those questioned blamed congressional Republicans for the government shutdown and said the President was the bigger winner in the deal to end the crisis. The survey also found nearly eight in 10 saying the shutdown was bad for the country, and the standoff has led to a loss of confidence and satisfaction in government. And more than seven in 10 think that another shutdown is likely. Anger directed at congressional Republicans . More than seven in 10 questioned in the survey said that most members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected, with nearly four in 10 saying even their own representative doesn't deserve a return ticket to Washington next year. Both figures are hovering around all-time highs in CNN polling. "Although incumbent members of Congress of both parties are not very popular, the shutdown seems to have only affected views of GOP incumbents," CNN Polling Director Keating Holland said. Defeated GOP hopes to unite, fight another day . Three-fourths of people questioned in the survey said that most congressional Republicans don't deserved to be re-elected, 21 percentage points higher than the 54% who say most Democrats don't deserve another term in office. Only one in five say most Republicans deserve to be re-elected; 42% say the same thing about Democrats on Capitol Hill. Democrats hold early 2014 polling lead . The shutdown seems to be making an impact on polls asking the generic ballot question: Would you vote for the Democratic or Republican candidate in your congressional district. There is no mention of the names of any candidates. Fifty percent of registered voters questioned said they would vote for the Democrat in their district, with 42% backing the Republican. The 8-point Democratic margin in the CNN poll is the same as in a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey and close to the 9-point advantage for the Democrats in the generic ballot in a recent Quinnipiac University poll. While the generic ballot is a much-watched gauge, it's important to remember that the battle for the House is a district-by-district fight, rather than a national race, and just 17 of the 232 House Republicans are in districts won by Obama in last year's election. Obama wants new approach after shutdown . "We're a long way away from saying that the Democrats have a chance to regain control of the House," Holland cautioned. "There is more than a year to go before any votes are actually cast and the 'generic ballot' question is not necessarily a good predictor of the actual outcome of 435 separate elections. A year before the 2010 midterms, for example, the Democrats held a 6-point lead on the generic ballot." The Republicans eventually won back control of the House in 2010, thanks to a historic 63-seat pickup. PDF: Read the entire poll | Satisfied? GOP too extreme? One major concern for Republicans is the growing number of Americans who think the party is too extreme. Fifty-six percent now feel that way, up from 48% in March. By contrast, 52% say that the policies of the Democrats are generally mainstream (with 42% saying they are too extreme), which is unchanged since March. "Any connection with the tea party movement isn't helping the GOP," Holland added. "Six in 10 Americans now believe that the tea party movement is too extreme; only one in four consider it to be generally mainstream." The poll indicates that Republicans themselves are divided on whether the 4 1/2-year-old grassroots conservative movement is too extreme or generally mainstream. Four things we learned from government shutdown . Blame Game . Fifty-two percent say congressional Republicans were more responsible for the shutdown, with 34% pointing more fingers at the President. At 45%-36%, independents place more blame with the GOP in Congress. The poll indicates Obama was the clear winner. Sixty-four percent say the President got more of what he wanted out of the deal to end the shutdown, with less than one in five saying the GOP in Congress were the winners. More than seven in 10 Republicans and conservatives agree that Obama got more of what he wanted. Fifty-five percent of the public say the GOP strategy to link dismantling parts of Obamacare to funding the government was a mistake, with 42% saying it made sense at the time. While vast majority of Democrats say the strategy was a mistake, independents are divided, and most Republicans say the move made sense. The next shutdown ? While the GOP doesn't fare well in the poll, the poll suggests that the public is looking for almost as much compromise from the Democrats as from the Republicans in any bipartisan agreements. Forty-nine percent say the Republicans should give up more than the Democrats in any future bipartisan agreement, but nearly as many -- 44% -- would prefer to see the Dems give up more than the GOP. And seven in 10 say that another shutdown is likely when current funding for the federal government runs out in mid-January. "That's probably because Americans have lost confidence in the people who run government," Holland said. According to the poll, only a third say they have a great deal or some confidence in the people who run government, down 10 points since May. And only 14% say they are satisfied with the way the nation is being governed. "That's an 11-point drop since March and is lower than the 26% who felt that way in September of 1973, when the Watergate crisis was in full swing," Holland added. In another sign of anti-Washington sentiment, six in 10 say the government should not do more to solve the country's problems. he poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International October 18-20, with 841 adults nationwide questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. | CNN poll finds significantly more feel that Republicans should be voted out .
Poll also finds that half say they would vote for Democrat while only 43% would go GOP .
Polling expert cautions that with midterms a year away, there's time for sentiment to change .
Six in 10 say they find the tea party too extreme and that brings GOP numbers down . |
60,398 | abb43840016b8d9587974e96da25b492b5f705b5 | A man brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend just weeks after he was reunited with her via Facebook after 15 years apart. David Hoyle, 39, attacked Rebecca Bamber, 42, with three broken wine bottles before stabbing her repeatedly at her home in Widnes, Cheshire, as she tried to escape. As Ms Bamber collapsed in her garden, Hoyle fled and was eventually stopped by police on the M56 motorway. Jailed: David Hoyle, 39, brutally murdered his ex-girlfriend Rebecca Bamber, 42, just weeks after he was reunited with her via Facebook after 15 years apart . Today he was jailed for life at Chester Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of murdering the mother-of-one. Hoyle, from Bradford, West Yorkshire had previously been in a relationship with Ms Bamber, but had lost touch with her until the pair began chatting on the social network in May. They had met on a number of occasions in both Bradford and Cheshire but the night before mother-of-one Ms Bamber died is believed to have been the first time that Hoyle had visited her home. Hoyle stayed the night on June 7 but the following morning a neighbour was in his garden when he heard a woman screaming and the sound of a broken glass. The neighbour then saw Ms Bamber at the downstairs front window of her home, covered in blood and mouthing the words 'phone the police'. Hoyle had attacked her with three wine bottles in a bedroom causing wounds so severe that they fractured her skull. He went on to repeatedly stab her as she made a desperate attempt to escape and she eventually made it into her garden, still pursued by Hoyle, where she collapsed. Hoyle fled the scene in a van and rammed a number of police vehicles before he was stopped and arrested on the M56 motorway. Sentenced: Hoyle was jailed for life at Chester Crown Court (pictured) and ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars after a jury convicted him of murdering the mother-of-one . Police were able to track him after Ms Bamber’s neighbour noted the registration number and details of the van. Ms Bamber died at Whiston Hospital from her injuries. Following sentence, Detective Inspector Helen Spooner, of Cheshire Constabulary, said: 'Hoyle’s attack was brutal, sustained and shocking - the level of violence used was extreme and the injuries sustained by Rebecca were devastating. She had clearly tried to desperately fight off her attacker but was overpowered by him. 'We will probably never know the real reason behind Hoyle’s actions that day. Only he knows why he subjected Rebecca to such a brutal attack in her own home. 'Hoyle has shown no remorse for what he did five months ago and I can only hope that his time behind bars will allow him to reflect upon what he has done and the consequences of that, both to Rebecca and all those who loved her and knew her. 'My thoughts remain with Rebecca’s family and friends who have been deeply affected by what happened that day. I hope that the successful conclusion of this case will allow them to find some sort of closure although I know they are still trying to come to terms with what has happened. She added: 'This was a particularly difficult case for all involved and I would like to thank every single person who assisted with the investigation. In particular I would like to thank Rebecca’s neighbour who came to her aid that day and did all he could to help her b‘ and ensure Hoyle was caught. 'His actions were truly remarkable and I cannot thank him enough. I know that what happened that day has affected him deeply and I only hope that the conclusion of this case allows him to move forward with his life.' In a statement, Ms Bamber’s family said: 'Even after the lengthy period of time, we still find it difficult to believe that Rebecca has been taken from us in such a cruel and violent way. Not only has a mother been taken, but a sister and daughter too. It is difficult for us all to come to terms with what actually happened but, as a family, we hope that the conclusion of this court case will allow us some closure as we try to rebuild our lives and move forward.' Richard Riley, Senior Crown Prosecutor with Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said Ms Bamber had been stabbed a total of 11 times. 'Hoyle subjected Ms Bamber to a brutal and sustained attack and clearly intended to do her really serious harm,' he said. 'Hoyle’s claim that he hadn’t meant to kill her was ridiculous. She’d been stabbed 11 times with two different knives and three broken bottles. 'The jury dismissed these claims and has found Hoyle guilty of murder. 'I would like to thank Ms Bamber’s neighbour for the courage he showed throughout this dreadful incident. His 999 call was the key to putting a very dangerous man behind bars.' | David Hoyle, 39, and Rebecca Bamber, 42, had reunited via Facebook .
Hoyle was visiting Ms Bamber's home in Widnes when he attacked her .
He launched at her with three wine bottles and fractured her skull .
Bamber then stabbed mother-of-one repeatedly as she tried to escape .
She collapsed in the garden as he fled, only to be arrested on motorway .
Bamber was jailed for life today after jury found him guilty of murder . |
116,324 | 222476101f2caa5baef646b4c103174b43dc1789 | By . Lucy Thackray for Daily Mail Australia . A four year old boy believed to be responsible for an attack on a two-year-old girl has been suspended from the club. But the parents say the centre should be closed down until a full investigation is completed into the attack. The toddler's mother, Kristel Ness, posted pictures of her bruised two-year-old daughter Eva on Facebook on Saturday, after she was allegedly attacked in the crèche at a Virgin Active Health Club in Frenchs Forest, on Sydney's Northern Beaches. ‘What is quite beyond belief is that not only could his occur while at a care facility, but that all staff claim they did not see the incident. How is that possible at any care facility which is meeting its duty of care?' said Eva's father, Rob Ness. ‘My personal opinion is the day care facilities at this particular club should be closed until a full investigation is done and the club procedures, staffing ratios and skill levels are properly assessed.’ Scroll down for video . A photograph of Eva on the day of the attack shows a bite mark on the two-year-old's face and neck . Two-year-old Eva Ness also has a black eye and bruises on her forehead and cheeks, believed to have been suffered whilst at the creche at Virgin Active health club in Frenchs Forest on Sydney's northern beaches . Eva Ness also has big red welts on her back, which appear to be bite marks, after the alleged incident at a childcare facility . The club has confirmed that the four-year-old boy has been suspended from the creche and the section of the 'Club V' creche where the incident took place, known as 'Big A', has been temporarily closed. Kristel Ness told Daily Mail Australia that her daughter, Eva, suffered extensive injuries when she was attacked by a four-year-old boy while in childcare at the health club on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Saturday morning. The club confirmed they are investigating the incident and say they have contacted the family to ‘apologise unreservedly’. Local police have also visited the parents, the club and confirm that investigations are ongoing. Virgin Active say no staff members witnessed the incident, which Ms Ness says left her daughter with ‘a black eye, bites, hematomas, and scratches on her head and face’. Ms Ness also claims that when she arrived to pick up Eva, her daughter was not wearing pants. ‘It would have taken a while for Eva to receive the extensive injuries. I cannot believe that no one saw,’ Ms Ness told Daily Mail Australia. Kristel Ness posted on the 'Northern Beaches Mums' Facebook group, but the post, which included photos of her daugher's injuries, was removed by someone else. The Virgin Active Health Club in Frenchs Forest where it is believed the two-year-old was attacked by another child. ‘When I arrived at the crèche she was so upset but wouldn’t come to me. When we got home she was still screaming, so I gave her some Panadol and let her sleep instead of taking her straight to the doctor, so she could calm down. ‘I then took her to the doctor and he couldn’t examine her properly, she was hiding in the corner. Normally she loves the doctor. She wears her own stethoscope and loves it.’ ‘Eva has bounced back a little but gets teary when I ask her about it and says, “no, no, no”. ‘ . The club told Mail Australia: ‘We had an unfortunate incident occur between two young children at our Frenchs Forest club. 'On Saturday 23 August, a 2-year old girl was playing in our kids club, Club V, at our club in Frenchs Forest, when she suffered bruising to the face and bite marks on her face and back, following an altercation with another child in the facility. 'Our staff were nearby, but did not witness the incident, and were not able to prevent it. ‘We are currently undertaking a full investigation to understand, exactly what took place, how it could have been prevented, and what can be done to prevent a similar incident happening in the future. ‘We are extremely sorry that this incident has taken place, and have apologised unreservedly to the little girl and her family.' Kristel Ness says her daughter was crying and unsettled when they came home from the health club. Ms Ness gave her daughter Panadol so she could sleep, at which point she took this photo to document the injuries, before taking her daughter to the doctors. Ms Ness took her children to the crèche at 10.30am and left at 10.45am. She says was called about the incident an hour later. Her husband Rob then emailed the club to claim: ‘My wife was contacted by a staff member & told Eva had been bitten by a baby, but was okay & there was no need for her to come straight away. Regardless she did go to check on Eva immediately & slowly we began to realise the terror our daughter must have been put through.’ Eva and her one-year-old sister Mia have attended the day care four to five times a week for two months. ‘She’s unsettled, it seems like she’s having nightmares and she’s waking through the night. I’ve been sleeping by her side,’ Ms Ness said. ‘The police came over and then went to the crèche but I don’t know the outcome, I won’t know until I see the police report.’ The incident report filled out by the head of the crèche states that: ‘Eva was playing with another child who retaliated and hurt her.’ The health club, Virgin Active, says they are extremely sorry about the incident and apologise unreservedly to the parents. ‘We are still getting weird conflicting stories. We are so disappointed with how Virgin has responded,’ Ms Ness told Daily Mail Australia. ‘When the club’s operations director came to our home last night, I was so unhappy (with what was being said) I soon asked him to leave. Ms Ness says she received an anonymous letter from the mother of the child who is believed to have attacked Eva. The mother wrote that the child involved has had 'his superhero costumes have been taken away and he has been made to do more chores' to reprimand him. ‘The club put a message out on Facebook saying that they were concerned for our family before contacting us. They posted a long message but from what I’ve seen I believe none of it is true. They are just trying to hush it all up. ‘One of the things that makes me most angry was that Eva didn’t have pants on when I arrived. I saw them carrying the pants out of the area, called the Big A (where Eva was found after the attack),’ she said, adding that the pants weren’t returned to her until last night.’ A NSW Police spokesman said an investigation was continuing. Eva's parents do not feel that the incident is being taken seriously by the club and are dissatisfied by their conversations with the club, who say they are launching a full investigation. | Two-year-old was allegedly attacked by four-year-old boy at Sydney crèche .
The child's mother posted photos of the horrific injuries on Facebook .
The four-year-old responsible has been suspended from the crèche .
Eva Ness was being minded at Virgin Active health club in Frenchs Forest .
The club has confirmed they are investigating the incident and have 'apologised unreservedly'
Eva's mother says she doesn't understand how minders did not see incident .
Eva suffered a 'black eye, bites, hematomas & scratches on her head & face' |
39,085 | 6e7386b5372c0595334d747179083705e6fd16c9 | A Lufthansa flight travelling from Manchester to Munich was forced to abort its journey and land at a different German airport after an ‘unusual odour’ was detected in the cockpit on Thursday morning. Flight LH2505 was carrying 82 passengers when it declared an emergency over south-western Germany around 8:30am and diverted to Stuttgart Airport. The Airbus A321-231 was met by ambulances and fire trucks when it landed safely around 20 minutes later. Passenger Rebecca Corkill snapped a photo of the diverted plane after passengers disembarked . A Twitter user snapped this photo of the Lufthansa plane on the tarmac after it landed in Stuttgart . This radar map shows the flight path of Lufthansa flight LH2505, which was diverted to Stuttgart . Lufthansa spokesman Martin Riecken told MailOnline Travel that the pilots ‘noted an unusual odour in the cockpit’, which caused the diversion. He said oxygen masks were not deployed. A passenger said: ‘It was really calm. The pilot and air hostess were great and knew exactly what they were doing. ‘They kept us informed throughout the decision to do an emergency landing.’ Fire trucks greeted the plane after it made an emergency landing due to an 'unusual odour' Passenger Rebecca Corkill photographed a line of emergency vehicles that were on standby . Diverted: Flight LH2505 was carrying 82 passengers from Manchester to Munich . This radar map shows the position of the Lufthansa plane after it landed at Stuttgart Airport . Stuttgart Airport described it as a ‘precautionary landing’ due to a technical problem on board the plane. Other flights were held until the Lufthansa aircraft landed and the airport resumed normal operations following the emergency. | Flight LH2505 was carrying 82 passengers on an Airbus A321-231 .
Pilot declared an emergency over south-western Germany .
Aircraft was met by ambulances and fire trucks when it landed safely .
Lufthansa spokesman says oxygen masks were not deployed . |
236,577 | be35bedeab24abf3a369e4a0557bc9f1d7fa7d76 | Manchester City have admitted that they misled their supporters and those of feeder club New York City FC over Frank Lampard's contract last summer. The Barclays Premier League champions have alienated thousands of the fans they were trying to woo in America by keeping Lampard in England rather than sending him to New York for the start of the MLS season in March. Now senior sources at City have revealed that they made 'mistakes' when initially announcing the terms of Lampard's arrangement at New York last summer. Manchester City have admitted that they have misled fans and New York City over Frank Lampard . Lampard signed for New York City last summer before agreeing a loan move to Manchester City . PL apps: 3 (12 as sub) Goals: 5 . FA Cup: 1 Goals: 0 . League Cup: 1 Goals: 2 . Champions League: 1 (1) Goals: 0 . TOTAL APPS: 6 (13) TOTAL GOALS: 7 . Initially the NYFC website announced last July that Lampard had signed a two-year deal to take effect from August 1, 2014 while City's own website declared that the former Chelsea midfielder would join them 'on loan' until December 31. That was repeated in a tweet sent from City's official account on August 6. Subsequently, however, that has proved not to be the case with City now revealing that Lampard never became a NYCFC player last summer and actually signed a short-term contract at the Premier League club instead. Subsequently, there was no need for a loan. It is understood that Lampard only signed the equivalent of a pre-contract agreement with NYCFC. The agreement was for him to join on January 1 but that has now been put back to July. The 36-year-old's deal due to join New York City FC on January 1 but will now go in July . A series of points released to the media on Friday by City are summarised as follows: . * The statement on the NYCFC website in July saying Lampard's two-year contract took effect from Aug 1, 2014 was a mistake. * The Initial statement on the Manchester City website that it was a loan was also an error. *.There was never a break clause in Lampard's contract dated 31 December. The short-term contract with City only ran to Dec 31 and has now been extended. * There was a 'head of terms commitment' from Lampard to join NYCFC from Jan 1, 2015. That was extended to the end of this season. * Any contract with NYCFC will now take effect from July 1, 2015. The midfielder (right) released a statement on his Facebook page on Friday denying that he misled MLS fans . The saga is hugely embarrassing for City, who pride themselves on being a club that does things the right way. Equally, the situation was not helped by a peculiar statement released by Lampard himself. In attempting to clarify matters, Lampard's declaration only served to point out that he had never signed for NYCFC as initially claimed. The 36-year-old said: 'I want to make it completely clear about my situation as I have read a lot of lies and nonsense over the last few days. 'When released from Chelsea last year at the end of my contract I signed a commitment to play for NYCFC for two years starting January 1, 2015. I was then offered the chance to train and be part of the Man City squad in the interim to keep myself in the best shape going into New York. 'This period has since been extended by Man City and I will now start playing for NYCFC at the end of this current Premier League season. 'There has always been a constant dialogue between all parties in this time to find the best solution for everyone. I can say that I am very excited about arriving in New York and giving everything to the team to make us a success in the MLS as soon as possible. 'Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2015!' Lampard has scored seven goals since joining Manchester City . | Man City say Frank Lampard never became a New York player last year .
City have released a statement mentioning 'mistakes' over the deal .
Midfielder only signed the equivalent of a pre-contract deal at New York .
Agreement was to come into effect on January 1 .
The 36-year-old will join up with MLS side New York City in July . |
183,607 | 79d3743d98fb5b1ea5c4f5ecf03c3cdda9143ff6 | One Direction's Zayn Malik has said he is 'angry and upset' after Today host Matt Lauer questioned bandmates about alleged drug use in his absence. The presenter was booed by fans after asking the remaining four members why the 21-year-old wasn't there, suggesting it was not down to illness and questioned whether it was actually because of rumored substance abuse. Speaking to Dan Wootton at British newspaper The Sun, Malik confirmed that he was too ill to fly to America over the weekend as the band begin promoting their new album Four. Scroll down for video . A special appearance on the Today show to promote their new album was spoiled by 1D appearing a man down due to Zayn Malik, 21, suffering apparently from a 'tummy bug' Matt Lauer risked the wrath of an audience full of devoted One Direction fans on Monday when he quizzed the boy band about drugs . He said: 'I'm really angry and upset by what was said on The Today Show. I was really ill at the weekend. That's why I couldn't fly to America.' During the interview at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, Lauer said: 'I'm counting chairs here and I see four. Normally we're used to seeing you guys with five, so let's start with the obvious: where is Zayn?’ 'He’s got a tummy bug so he’s not very well,’ explained Liam Payne. ‘We only found out this morning so we’re really sad, he is as well, that he can’t be here for our album release.' Lauer then decided to press the boys for more information, citing online speculation that drugs might be the real reason for Malik’s no show. 'There has been a lot of action on social media about him,’ said Lauer. ‘Is it something more serious than just a minor illness? There have been rumors of substance abuse: what's going on?' Malik's band-mates Louis Tomlinson left, and Niall Horan, right, shifted nervously in their seats when asked to explain Zayn's absence . Fans showed their concern about Zayn's absence with the hashtag #GetWellSoonZayn, which quickly becoming a worldwide trending topic on Twitter . The host’s question drew loud boos from the crowd made up of predominantly of teenage girls who had been waiting hours for the band's appearance . 'No, he's just got a stomach bug, he's OK. He's just at home, he needs to rest,' said Payne, while he band-mates shifted nervously in their seats. This isn't Malik's first absence from 1D duties, earlier this month he wasn't present for the filming of a video to receive an MTV Europe award. In May, MailOnline ran exclusive video footage of Malik and bandmate Louis Tomlinson caught laughing and joking about marijuana as they shared a roll-up 'joint' during the Latin America leg of their 2014 Stadium Tour. A representative for 1D told MailOnline: 'Zayn was taken ill after recording the Band Aid single at the weekend and was unfortunately not well enough to fly to the USA yesterday. An estimated 15,000 fans clamored to get a glimpse of the young heart-throbs on Monday and a large number voiced their disapproval when Matt Lauer quizzed Zayn's band-mates about his absense . Missing in action: In May, MailOnline ran exclusive video footage of Malik, right, caught smoking a 'joint' during the Latin America leg of their 2014 Stadium Tour. The singer, pictured left last week, was also recently missing when they picked up an MTV Europe award earlier this month . 'He will join the band for promotion for the new album as soon as he possibly can.' Payne was joined on Today by bandmates Harry Styles, Tomlinson, and Niall Horan for the launch of the band's now somewhat ironically titled new album Four. The singers arrived on stage by a boat, as a reported 15,000 fans clamored to get a glimpse of the young heart-throbs on the Universal CityWalk. Fans showed their concern about Zayn's absence with the hashtag #GetWellSoonZayn, which quickly becoming a worldwide trending topic on Twitter. 'No Zayn is like the world without pizza it's incomplete,' tweeted Selah Potter. The remaining four will continue with their U.S. promotional duties without Zayn for the foreseeable future until he is well enough to join them. The group's fourth album was released on Monday and looks set to do well in the charts, following the success of the record's lead single Steal My Girl, which went straight to number one in the US, and number three in the UK. What an entrance! Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne arrived at the Universal CityWalk in style... on a boat . | The 21-year-old said he was too ill to fly to America over the weekend .
Five-piece from London have flown to America to promote album, Four .
They appeared on the show where Lauer asked about 'substance abuse'
Liam Payne responded by saying Malik had a 'tummy bug' and needed rest .
Exclusive MailOnline video footage showed him smoking a 'joint' while on tour in Latin America in May . |
112,529 | 1d2e0892f0d8e6c20c2c4eb9d05e28363ebc05c1 | (CNN) -- Lisa Kudrow is notably normal compared with the kooky roles she's known for playing. Whether it's her 10-season stint as Phoebe Buffay or the fame-starved Valerie Cherish on just one season of "The Comeback," the actress admits a fondness for delusional characters. Since "Friends" ended in 2004, Kudrow has developed and appeared in several other shows, and become a producer and writer of her own projects, including "Web Therapy," in which she plays self-obsessed Internet therapist Fiona Wallace. The Showtime series enters its third season on Tuesday, July 23. The new episodes take place solely in online video Skype chats, and will feature a slew of new guest stars, including Steve Carell, Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal and Matt LeBlanc, as Fiona grapples with the ramifications of last season's finale. Kudrow also executive produces the documentary series "Who Do You Think You Are?" which premieres the same day on TLC. That show, which traces the ancestry of various celebrities, is an opportunity for Kudrow to dive into her work off-camera as well. The fourth season of the show will feature eight episodes and look into the backgrounds of Kelly Clarkson, Christina Applegate, Zooey Deschanel, Trisha Yearwood, Cindy Crawford, Jim Parsons, Chris O'Donnell and Chelsea Handler. Kudrow invited CNN.com to the offices of her production company, Is or Isn't Entertainment, which she owns with Dan Bucatinsky and Don Roos, to discuss both projects. Sitting in the space's living-room-like conference room, where a massive bulletin board displayed the episode breakdown of this season of "Web Therapy," Kudrow discussed her work on the shows and why fans need to stop waiting for a "Friends" movie. CNN: Did you get these two shows to premiere on the same day on purpose? Lisa Kudrow: Isn't that crazy? We don't have that kind of power over TLC and Showtime. I think Showtime changed the date, but I don't think that's why. CNN: Is there one person on "Who Do You Think You Are?" this season whose story was most compelling to you? Kudrow: They're all really compelling. That's why we end up shooting them. One of the more different ones we've ever done is Chelsea Handler. Her father is Jewish and her mother is German and they were all raised to be Jewish. Her mother's parents were here from Germany and she grew up with them and knew them really well. Her grandfather was a soldier during World War II who never spoke about it and so she's always wondered. She knew it would be hard. CNN: For those who aren't familiar with "Web Therapy," can you set up the premise? Kudrow: It's a really bad therapist named Fiona Wallace who conducts sessions online only through Skype. Three-minute sessions, because that's all she really wants to do. We end up seeing a lot of her life happen. CNN: When the show began as a Web series, how much of the show's narrative did you have planned out? Kudrow: We certainly knew she had not a great marriage, but it worked given who the two people were. At first we weren't going to see (her husband) Kip until the end -- that was the big surprise -- but then once it was a half-hour format we thought "OK we need to know a little more about her." We had her mother show up because we thought it would be important to know why she's so damaged. CNN: When you shoot the online sessions, are you actually interacting with the other actors or do those scenes happen separately? Kudrow: We are shooting together. We're on different sets but on the lens of the camera that we're looking into there's a prompter that's a monitor. So I can see everything the other person is doing in real time and we can hear each other in real time. So it's like a real Skype session. CNN: How much is actually improvised? Kudrow: The dialogue is improvised for sure. We come up with the outlines for stories and we give those to people. Sometimes when we're coming up with the story we have some lines that we think are funny and the person can use them or not. Mostly, it's improvised. We're listening and talking to each other. I definitely crack up. And sometimes I crack myself up, which is embarrassing in a whole other way. CNN: What's changing for Fiona in this new season? Kudrow: She's not changing as a person, but she's taking some hard knocks. In the season before with the campaign -- her husband Kip was running for Congress -- it all exploded because he was having an affair with his campaign manager, Ben. So they have in fact run off together. They're in New Mexico. They're living the gay life, but we'll see them. So he wants to divorce her and she's also being investigated for campaign finance improprieties. (Her assistant) Jerome has left her to work for her mother, who has stolen the idea of Web Therapy. She's doing Net Therapy, which is different. Everything's falling apart. CNN: How many of your "Friends" co-stars have now appeared on "Web Therapy"? Kudrow: We had Courteney (Cox) in the first season, (David) Schwimmer in the second season and now we have Matt LeBlanc. CNN: Watching this show and going back to "The Comeback" and "Friends," it seems like you're attracted to characters who are pretty delusional. Does that feel true? Kudrow: Yes, that's what's funny to me! Delusional people are really funny to me. People who live in a different reality, and it's really obvious to everybody else but them, is really funny. For Fiona and Valerie Cherish, there's a certain amount of Teflon coating them. Things don't stick too much. Mess doesn't stick too much. I see that everywhere. If you have kids and you're at a school, the parents are all "Oh no, my 2-year-old can read!" I think people are always spinning things and that's what I'm interested in. I had to learn to spin things when my son started school. Maybe it's just people in a panic trying to look calm is what makes me laugh. CNN: How did you feel about the false news a few months ago that a "Friends" movie was in the works? Kudrow: Well, I knew there wasn't ever a movie. There was never a "Friends" movie. Ever. So I've always known it's not happening. But with this last rumor someone came up with a great graphic with the couch and it looked like a real teaser and I went, "Wait!" And then someone came up with a fake story and got some publication to buy the lie that there was going to be a reunion, so I saw on Twitter people were posting this article that NBC was really going to do it. And I went, "Wait a minute, was I not invited? Oh my God, maybe there is one and I wasn't asked to do it." I even had a moment where I believed it because everything around it looked real. It was a good setup. CNN: Are the rumors finally put to rest? Kudrow: The creators have put them to rest. NBC has. I don't know who else needs to say, "It's really not happening." CNN: Entertainment Weekly recently listed "The Comeback" as one of the 100 All-Time Greatest TV Shows. Do you think you'd ever revisit that show? Kudrow: We talk about it all the time, we just haven't asked HBO. Maybe a special, maybe not the series again. At the time we didn't see where it would end. (The character) really just wants celebrity and I think now that we're all a little more comfortable with that notion, it could be interesting. | "Web Therapy" and "Who Do You Think You Are?" return this week .
Kudrow finds some of her delusional characters the funniest to play .
The actress says there won't be a "Friends" movie . |
127,883 | 314fc589e66f6bc014028a7d111d70e817d1f86a | (CNN) -- One of the 78 wives of jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs left the Arizona community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this week and is receiving medical treatment at a shelter, authorities said. The woman, who is not being named by the Washington County, Utah, Sheriff's Department because she's considered a victim of abuse, was taken to the shelter after a tense standoff with church members Monday. The woman fled to the home of Willie Jessop, a former top church associate expelled by Jeffs. Jessop said the woman came there because she knew he would protect her. Warren Jeffs found guilty of sexual assault . The standoff began when men from the FLDS arrived at Jessop's office, wanting to take her back to the community, Jessop said. Detectives removed the woman and took her to the shelter. Jeffs, leader of the 10,000-member Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is serving a life-plus-20-year term for sexual assault. He was convicted in early August of the aggravated sexual assaults of a 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl Jeffs claimed were his "spiritual wives." Warren Jeffs' life sentence raises questions about future of breakaway sect . The FLDS is a breakaway Mormon sect that openly practices polygamy in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, as well as on its Yearning For Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas. The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy more than a century ago. | The woman is receiving medical treatment in a shelter, authorities say .
Warren Jeffs led the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints .
He is serving a life-plus-20-year term for aggravated sexual convictions . |
192,657 | 8564089fc5042447f9aaa2cb18a63286dbaa6f5e | Offensive: The tattoo posted on Twitter by Manchester United fan Danny Hornby . A man has been arrested over alleged threats to a football fan who showed off his offensive tattoo about the Hillsborough disaster. Danny Hornby, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, was forced into hiding by death threats after posting a picture on his Twitter page of a tattoo on his back which reads '96wne'. The letters 'wne' are thought to stand for 'was not enough'. This was a sick reference to the 96 Reds . fans who died at the FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham . Forest on April 15, 1989. The tattoo sparked outrage among internet users who threatened to injure and even kill him. Hornby, 22, reported to be a Manchester United fan, has apologised for the wording . and vowed to remove the tattoo. But police urged him to move out until . the uproar dies down. Police had to step in because . 22-year-old Hornby, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, feared for his life . after fleeing his home with his girlfriend. His . parents, mother Kath and father Garry and younger sister Laura, have . also moved out of the terrace house after the address was put on scores . of internet forums. It is understood he promised to cover up the tattoo and post a fresh image of his back on his Twitter page. Lancashire Constabulary has made an arrest in connection with inciteful comments that Mr Hornby received that were trying to encourage people to harm him. A police spokeswoman said: “A 20-year-old man from Fleetwood has been arrested on suspicion of intentionally encouraging/assisting the commission of an either way offence - incitement - in connection with comments made on a social media site and has been bailed pending further inquiries.” Liverpool fan Stephen Landers wrote on Hornby’s Twitter . page: 'It’s rather fitting the rat’s name is Hornby coz if I ever meet . him I’ll break the c***’s arms n legs n leave him on the tracks.' Another wrote: 'There would be a sense of irony if police had to identify Danny Hornby’s body by that tattoo.' The former fish packer pleaded on Twitter not to involve his family. He wrote:'It’s nothing to do with them. 'I am not in Fleetwood nor staying with family or friends. I wish to apologise to everyone I’ve offended with regard to the tattoo, which is now covered.' The Hillsborough Justice Campaign branded the stunt 'sad' but condemned the threats. A spokesman told the Daily Star: 'It’s sad that someone feels the need to decorate their body with such inflammatory comments. But we don’t condone any threats against him.' Tragedy: 96 fans were crushed to death at Hillsborough during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989 . Never forget: It is still a hugely emotive subject for Liverpool fans . | He makes offensive reference to 96 who died at 1989 FA Cup sem-final .
'I wish to apologise to everyone I've offended - the tattoo is now covered' |
105,912 | 14973dfe4b7e4abf0595f2e6b4894089d8ae16ac | (CNN) -- You are only a short putt away from a major championship and golfing immortality. You can already taste the acclaim, hear the roars from the gallery crowded round the 18th green and smell the bundles of cash heading your way. But then an image of Rory McIlroy slumped over his driver at Augusta in 2011 flashes through your mind, Adam Scott sinking to the turf at the British Open a year later after throwing away a four-shot lead. Before you know it, you're having dark visions of Jean Van de Velde wading through the Barry Burn at Carnoustie during his own British Open meltdown in 1999. Suddenly that putt looks a lot longer than it did a moment ago and you start wondering, "What if I miss?" You may also start questioning why you didn't pay a pre-tournament visit to golf's premier mind doctor, whose job it is to instil a watertight frame of mind that can deal with a career-defining putt. "Players will tell you, you can get teary-eyed thinking what this could mean to your mum and dad, your wife, your children, for your name in history," Dr. Bob Rotella told CNN ahead of this week's PGA Championship in Rochester, New York. It is the final major of the golf season -- where McIlroy will defend his title, and world No. 1 Tiger Woods will seek to end a five-year wait for the 15th of his career. "You could start adding up how many dollars you're going to make. It is like, 'Can we just take care of this putt right now?' You need the ability to get lost in the present where nothing else in the moment exists," Rotella added. "This putt is something you've done a million times both in your mind and on the practice putting green and on the golf course. "Now you've got to let yourself do it in this important situation but in order to do it you better not be reminding yourself how big this is or important this is. "Most guys are trying to treat it like just another putt. But it's difficult because your hands are shaking a bit, your arms are shaking a bit, your heart is beating like crazy, you can't get any moisture in your mouth." Golf is a cruel and unforgiving pursuit in which the word "choke" seems to reappear more than any other. Often, a major meltdown can be more memorable than the eventual winner. Just ask McIlroy about Augusta, veteran Tom Watson about losing a playoff at the British Open in 2009 or consult Greg Norman on his capitulation to let Nick Faldo win the 1996 Masters. Interactive: What do major winners earn? That knowledge surely only adds fuel to the fire when a player is in a trough that must feel like it is squeezing the life out of his game. Though there is a caddy by your side, only one person can extricate you from this mess. No wonder then that training the brain has become as pivotal a part of a modern player's preparation as the hours spent honing their swing on the range. Rotella has worked with some of the game's biggest stars, major champions like McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Keegan Bradley and Darren Clarke, who are all keen to tap into his well of knowledge. With a myriad of professionals capable of winning major honors and the intensity of competition rising all the time, players are increasingly obsessed with squeezing every last drop out of their potential. Even the very best players aren't impervious to pressure, so Rotella's work acts to soothe increasingly frazzled brains so they can plot a path to glory. What, then, does he tell players about that moment, when one shot can make or break their careers? "We're trying to get to the best state of mind and trying to catch it if we get half an inch away from that instead of waiting to get in a deep dark hole and having to dig yourself out," he said. "We're talking about believing you're the best golfer in the world in a world that has a lot of really, good, talented and committed golfers. "Everyone wasn't brought up thinking that way; a lot of people find it easy to respect other people or to believe in somebody else winning. "Players have to learn as they develop skill that now you've developed this skill now you have to fall in love with your talent and your potential and ability if you're going to be the best golfer in the world." It is no surprise many of Rotella's subjects have held it together right at the moment they needed to most. Bradley won the first major he played in -- the 2011 U.S. PGA Championship -- surviving a nerve-jangling playoff against Jason Dufner. He credited the work he did with Rotella in helping him to stay focused after a triple-bogey on the 15th hole in his final round looked to have ripped his dream to shreds. After his triumph, Bradley said he actually felt energized after his mistake, such was the positive frame of mind Rotella had helped him download. At the other end of the spectrum, Clarke was playing in his 46th major championship when he hit the front at the 2011 British Open. One of a rare crop to win his first major title over the age of 40, Clarke had Rotella on hand all week to keep him cool in the heat of battle at Royal St. George's on the southern coast of England. But not before Rotella had to iron out a major putting wobble before the tournament even began. "We spent a lot of time together during his Open win," Rotella said. "In Darren's case it started Wednesday and he was totally lost with his putter. "He said to me, 'If we can get my head in the right place with my putter I think it'll take all the pressure off my ball striking and pitching and bunker play and I'll be fine.' "Over the next few days we got his head where he wanted to with the putter, and magic happened. He started doing some great stuff and the ball started going in the hole and he won. "I think the last step for Darren was to let himself go out on Sunday -- the phrase we kept saying was, 'You're unstoppable if you're unflappable.' "I kept telling Darren you've got to be unflappable, you can't let a good shot that takes a bad bounce bother you or get you down or frustrated. You've got to stay in a good mood. "For Darren, he had to be himself. When I think of Darren I think of really good-natured, happy guy. I said to him don't have the only place you're not happy be on a golf course." Happy might not be a word most closely associated with the leader of the PGA Championship if he has a one-shot lead to protect down the final hole on Sunday but if he's spoken to Rotella, at least he'll be in the zone. | Work on mental preparation has become a vital part of golf in recent times .
Dr. Bob Rotella has coached some of the game's biggest stars .
Rotella's mantra to his players is "You're unstoppable if you're unflappable"
He has worked with major champions Rory McIlroy and Keegan Bradley . |
24,534 | 458f0587d9af18f8af18975eed4ee7f2452eca6a | Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Closing arguments in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse trial could begin as soon as Thursday, Judge John Cleland said Monday. He said the defense will probably end its case midday Wednesday, followed by the prosecution's rebuttal. That should end Wednesday afternoon, clearing the way for closing arguments Thursday, less than two weeks after the start of what had been expected to be a three-week case. The defense case began Monday, but testimony ended early because of "technical issues" involving witnesses, Cleland told jurors. Sandusky, 68, is on trial on 51 counts related to accusations of improper conduct and sexual abuse involving at least 10 boys over a 15-year span. The former Penn State assistant coach has denied the charges. At the conclusion of the trial, jurors will be sequestered in a hotel so outside influences cannot affect their deliberations, Cleland said. Prosecutors wrapped up their case Monday morning with brief testimony from the mother of one of the alleged victims. "He gave him clothes, he gave him gifts," the mother of an accuser called Victim 9 testified. "I just wish he'd given him underwear to replace the underwear I could never find in my laundry." The final prosecution witness testified Monday that her son seemed to suffer from stomach ailments during the time he was visiting Sandusky and sometimes did not want to visit the former Penn State assistant's home. But she said she did not ask him about any possible abuse and still does not know what happened to him. "I didn't really want to hear," she said, crying. Sandusky's child sex abuse allegations: In his own words . The defense then opened its case with a former Penn State coach who testified about Sandusky's stellar reputation in the community. Richard Anderson said that it was not uncommon for coaches and youths to use the shower at the same time, and that he had never seen anything inappropriate between Sandusky and a child. Before Monday's testimony, Cleland rejected defense arguments that the charges were too vague or the testimony did not support the claims. Prosecutors did withdraw one charge of unlawful contact with a minor involving one of the defendants. The law was not in effect during the time the alleged misconduct occurred, prosecutors said. That left 51 charges pending against Sandusky. A main focus of the defense's strategy may be to attempt to poke holes in the prosecution's case thus far. "A lot of people lied," lawyer Joe Amendola said last Monday in his opening statement. Over four days, several people testified that Sandusky forced them to engage in sexual acts with him in various places, including showers in the Penn State coaches' locker room, hotel rooms and the basement of his home. 'Sandusky 8' describe seduction, molestation, betrayal . One told jurors that Sandusky -- whom he met, like many of the accusers, through the Second Mile nonprofit for disadvantaged youths that the ex-coach founded -- had threatened him if he told others about the abuse. Another said Sandusky warned he might send him home from a trip to Texas, where they'd gone to watch a Penn State bowl game, if he resisted the sexual advances. "There's a tsunami of evidence against him," veteran criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby said. The defense could challenge the accusers' timetable, questioning if Sandusky could have committed the crimes they claim he did, when they say he did them. Some of the accusers have civil attorneys, Amendola noted last week, calling that unusual. Others, he said, have a financial interest in the case, an allegation that was denied by the accusers and their attorneys. But Howard Janet, who represents the accuser known as Victim 6, blasted Amendola's assertion that his client and others detailed the abuse just so they could sue Sandusky, calling it nonsense. "Does that mean that none of them are telling the truth, because they've gone to hire a lawyer?" he said. "That's absurd." The defense is expected to call an expert witness to testify that Sandusky may have histrionic personality disorder, which the National Institutes of Health says describes people who act "in a very emotional and dramatic way that draws attention to themselves." What is histrionic personality disorder? The prosecution had presented as evidence what one accuser described as "creepy love letters," written by Sandusky, that they argued were part of "grooming techniques" commonly employed by sexual predators. Judge Cleland issued an order Friday allowing a defense motion to offer expert testimony from a psychologist who "will explain that the words, tones, requests and statements made in the letters are consistent with a person who suffers from a Histrionic Personality Disorder." "The goal of a person suffering from this disorder in writing those letters would not necessarily be to groom or sexually consummate a relationship in a criminal manner, but rather to satisfy the needs of a psyche belabored by the needs of such a disorder," the defense lawyers wrote in their motion. Sandusky was expected to be examined Sunday by a prosecution psychologist related to the personality disorder defense, according to a source with knowledge with the case. It was not clear if that happened. Another person who could testify is Dottie Sandusky, the accused ex-coach's wife. While many alleged victims knew her, she is not accused of having witnessed any sexual abuse. Lastly, there's the question of whether Sandusky himself will take the stand. Amendola told jurors last week that Sandusky routinely "got showers with kids" after working out and that he would say so later. Kuby, the defense lawyer, said having the former coach testify may give him his best chance at avoiding jail time. "Just maybe he can convince one juror to hold out," the lawyer said. "A hung jury, right now, is a lot better than life without parole." Jerry Sandusky trial: All you need to know . CNN's Dana Garrett, Laura Dolan and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report. | NEW: Closing arguments could come Thursday, judge says .
NEW: Testimony ended early Monday because of "technical issues," judge says .
First defense witness says he never saw any inappropriate conduct .
Sandusky may take the stand in his own defense, his lawyer has suggested . |
139,135 | 3fed01105dab9249bb0c4ea4ce256077fe0d3222 | (CNN) -- It's been a tough last few days for U.S. hockey at the Sochi Winter Olympics. First the U.S. women lost in heartbreaking fashion to arch-rival Canada, unable to protect a lead late in the third period of the final. Then the men lost to the Canadians in the semifinals Friday, ending hopes of a first men's hockey gold since the famous Miracle on Ice in Lake Placid 34 years ago. And now the men will be going home with no medal at all after being crushed by Teemu Selanne's Finland 5-0 in the bronze medal game Saturday. Surely no one saw this coming after the U.S. stunned Russia in the group stage and scored 20 goals in its first four games. "The way we played the last two games we didn't deserve (a medal)," U.S. captain Zach Parise told NHL.com. "We got outplayed. Coming into the final round I thought we were playing well. I'm kind of embarrassed where we're at now." The 43-year-old Selanne scored two goals in what was expected to be his farewell match at the Games and Tuukka Rask made 27 saves for the shutout as Finland collected yet another hockey medal at an Olympics. Selanne opened Finland's account early in the second period and with the U.S. still trying to recover, Jussi Jokinen made it 2-0 11 seconds later. The U.S. didn't recover -- and some would say it didn't recover from the defeat to Canada. Summing up the evening for the U.S. was Patrick Kane missing penalty shots in the first two periods. "We didn't show up," U.S. forward Max Pacioretty told NHL.com. "We let our country down, that's it." But while there was despair for the U.S., Selanne was overjoyed and mobbed by his teammates. "Maybe this was his last game for the national team and as a captain," Finland coach Erkka Westerlund told reporters. "It was an excellent game to finish." Canada goes for a second straight gold in men's hockey when it faces Sweden on Sunday. Matt oldest winner . There was also disappointment for the U.S. in arguably Saturday's biggest event, the men's slalom, on the penultimate day of the Olympics as Ted Ligety couldn't complete the second run. But at least Ligety already had a gold from the giant slalom. Top spot went to Austria's Mario Matt, a feel-good story since the 34-year-old became the oldest man ever to claim alpine skiing gold. He edged his countryman and the heavy favorite, Marcel Hirscher. "Most impressive day in my career," Matt told reporters. "It started 14 years ago, and I'm totally happy that I made it to the finish." Hirscher leads the circuit in both the slalom and overall standings and almost made up a 1.28-second first-run deficit, finishing 0.28 seconds behind Matt. Ligety was left frustrated with the difficulty of the course and he wouldn't have been the only one, since half of the top-10 finishers from the first run didn't complete the second. The casualties allowed Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen to nab the bronze. At 19, he became the youngest man to win a medal in alpine skiing. "Not all the best guys had the chance to make it down, unfortunately, but it is what it is," Ligety told the U.S. ski team's website. "I would have liked to have done better, and I put myself in a position to have a chance. "This course was difficult and it was a battle of attrition." Julia Dujmovits gave Austria a second gold on snow Saturday, bettering the field in snowboard's parallel slalom. Norwegian legend . If this was Marit Bjoergen's last Olympics, she went out on a high. Bjoergen led a Norwegian sweep in Nordic skiing's 30-kilometer race to pick up her third gold of the Games and 10th Olympic medal overall -- no woman has gotten more at the Winter Games. The 33-year-old hinted that she wouldn't be competing at the 2018 Games in South Korea. "Four years is a long time, and I'm not getting younger," Bjoergen told reporters. "I'm also thinking about having a family. I don't want to do this at 90 percent." Wild makes history, too . Vic Wild, born in the U.S. before switching nationalities to Russia when he married a Russian snowboarder, became the first athlete to win two snowboarding gold medals at the same Olympics when he triumphed in the men's parallel slalom ahead of Slovenia's Zan Kosir. Wild is snowboarding for Russia because he said funding was an issue in the U.S. "I would not have snowboarded for the United States," Wild told the Wall Street Journal. "I was done snowboarding. I would have moved on. I would have gone to college and I would have had a great life. "I had another option -- the only option to snowboard was to go to Russia and snowboard." With only three medals up for grabs Sunday, Wild boosted Russia's chances of topping both the medal and gold-medal standings. Russia's biathlon team also chipped in, capturing gold in the 4 x 7.5km relay despite missing eight targets. Russia has 29 medals, leading the U.S. by two, and is tied with Norway for 11 golds. Elsewhere, was there any doubt about who would claim the team pursuit gold medals in speed skating? Probably not. The Netherlands have cleaned up in Sochi and the men and women stood tallest on Saturday, a fitting conclusion given the nation's superiority on the -- speed skating -- ice. | The U.S. loses to Finland 5-0 in hockey's bronze medal game .
The result comes a day after a demoralizing loss to Canada in the semis .
Austria's Mario Matt becomes the oldest man to win gold in alpine skiing .
Norway's Marit Bjoergen makes history by collecting 10th Olympic medal . |
56,372 | 9fb91ecea0e6c04b781a3955279e524db7d677a6 | In response to a report that his health was failing and that he had been rushed to the hospital, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he had the best proof that his recovery from chemotherapy is advancing fine. "I'm here; this is my answer," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace, raising his arms and gesturing at his body. The president announced in June that doctors had removed a cancerous tumor from his body. He underwent chemotherapy in Cuba the following month. Wearing a red track suit and a baseball cap, Chavez appeared to be his old talkative self Thursday, running through the "irresponsible" newspaper report paragraph by paragraph and answering questions from reporters for more than an hour. The Nuevo Herald, citing two unidentified sources who said they were witnesses, reported Thursday that Chavez had been taken to a military hospital on Tuesday because of kidney complications. The report said doctors were considering moving the president to a private hospital where he could be better attended. But Chavez told the state-run broadcaster VTV in a telephone call that he was recovering well from his fourth round of chemotherapy. Then he called for the afternoon news conference at the palace. Before answering questions from a crowd of watching reporters, the leftist left-hander threw a softball with his aides and then switched to a hardball. "I'm going to start practicing baseball or softball, both things," he said. "I'm anxious. My legs are asking for a little running, jogging, some sun. Being in the barracks for too long is not good for a man who's used to being at the forefront. But, well, we have to follow the rhythms of medical science." Asked by a U.S. reporter what type of cancer he has, Chavez -- who said he was recuperating from his last round of chemotherapy, which ended 11 days ago -- would not specify. "I am my own answer," he said. "And the life that I will live from now on -- with the favor of God -- will be my response." But he said that his last medical examination had yielded "very positive results." That extended to his cholesterol level, which he said he had been watching for many years. "It's normal now, but it could be lower," he said. He said he retained an appetite. "I'm eating. I'm 90 kilos. I used to weigh 84. Of course, I'm not doing a lot of exercise. I'm doing light exercise, but when I start to run and to hit balls and steal second base ..." About his cancer, the president said only that a tumor the size of a baseball had been removed from his body in a six-hour operation carried out in Cuba in June and that it was cancerous. "Fortunately, for those who love me and for me, it was encapsulated," implying that it might have metastasized had it ruptured. "The body was protecting itself," he said. Referring to reports that the cancer affected his colon and his kidneys, he said, "All that is false." And responding to media reports that he is dying, he said, "Here I am." But, he acknowledged, "I'm not in my best form. I used to box." He compared his foot movements to those of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, whom he referred to by his given name of Cassius Clay. The disinformation is part of a campaign that "many media outlets, including some represented here," were part of, he said. "It's a morbid thing. Morbid. It's morbid, obscene, inhumane. But, oh, well, that's how things are in the world, right?" He added, "This is like a soap opera." The president also revealed that he had been one of the voices calling for the release of two American hikers in Iran. Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer were detained for two years before being released this month. Chavez said that he called and wrote to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seeking the hikers' release at the behest of actor Sean Penn. Chavez said he considers Penn a friend, and after the two spoke about the hikers, he agreed to add his voice directly with the Iranian president. "If this call and message helped a little, I am glad. Even if it didn't, " he said. Last week, a representative for Penn confirmed a report that Penn had flown to Venezuela months ago to speak about the hikers' plight with Chavez. | "This is like a soap opera," Chavez says .
Chavez appears before reporters, saying he is fine .
He says he spoke with Iranian president about freeing 2 U.S. hikers .
A newspaper reports Hugo Chavez was hospitalized for failing kidneys . |
57,218 | a220d8707f302edd5068687d590ce856344bc2fa | By . Freya Noble . The Danish Royals enjoyed a fun-filled family outing at the weekend, as they took a visit to Legoland in Billund, Denmark. Australian-born Crown Princess of Denmark Mary and her husband Crown Prince Frederik spent the day strolling in the sunshine on what looked to be a stunning summers day. Their children Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine were all in tow, clearly ecstatic to be visiting the amusement park. Crown Princess of Denmark Mary and the Danish Royal Family enjoyed a day out in the stunning summer sunshine at the weekend . Princess Mary looked elegant in a cap-sleeved black lace dress which fell to just above the knee. The frock featured an empire waistline with the skirt falling loosely below that. Her hair was pulled back in to a low bun and she wore large dark sunglasses and strappy tan sandals. The Crown Princess, who hails from Tasmania, smiled as she held onto her daughter Princess Josephine's hand, who looked inquisitive as she eagerly took in her surroundings. Crown Prince Frederik (centre) strolled through Legoland in Billund with his youngest daughter Princess Josephine (left) and eldest son Prince Christian (right) Crown Princess Mary looked elegant in a simple black lace dress and smiled as she walked hand in hand with Princess Josephine who was keen to take in her surroundings . The mother-of-four walked beside young Prince Vincent who carried a novelty sized minion, from the Despicable Me franchise, almost as big as him . Later in the day Princess Mary took a ride on a brightly coloured lego train with her twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, both three. She sat with the pair in the blue and yellow coloured carriage as her youngest daughter pointed to something she had spotted in the distance. Crown Prince Frederik looked relaxed in a blue and white checked shirt and beige shorts as he walked alongside his children in the amusement park. The Australian-born Princess took a ride on a novelty train with her two youngest children, twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine . She sat with her two three-year-olds as Princess Josephine seemed fascinated by something in the distance . The couple's eldest son, Prince Christian, 8, strolled just in front of his father holding a novelty-sized minion, a character from the Despicable Me franchise. Prince Vincent was later seen clutching his big brother's toy, and the yellow creature was nearly as big as him. Other members of the Danish Royal family also attended the outing, such as Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Many members of the Danish Royal Family made the trip to Denamrk's biggest amusement park at the weekend . | Princess Mary visited Legoland in Billund, Denmark with her husband Crown Prince Frederik and their children .
Many of the Danish Royal Family were in attendance, taking in the stunning summer sunshine .
The Crown Princess took to one of the rides with her twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, both three . |
12,476 | 23580ecd6a24731453701cdd3f16c6558a500043 | By . Suzannah Hills . PUBLISHED: . 10:28 EST, 29 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:48 EST, 29 July 2013 . A man accused of murdering his girlfriend and dumping her body in a suitcase appeared in court today. Laszlo Gyarmati, 29, is accused of killing Hungarian Alexandra Kovacs, 25, before stuffing her body into the bag on July 18 and dumping it in bushes in a sports ground near her home in Mill Hill, London. Hungarian Gyarmati, from Finchley, north London, appeared via videolink at the Old Bailey today charged with her murder. Murdered: Hungarian Alexandra Kovacs, 25, was killed and her body stuffed into the bag before being dumped in bushes in a sports ground near her home . Court case: Alexandra Kovacs' boyfriend has been remanded in custody on suspicion of her murder . The court heard how Ms Kovacs' house mates heard screams at around 3am on July 18 and never saw her again. They reported her missing to the police two days later. Police discovered her body stuffed in a suitcase and abandoned in bushes at around 5pm on July 21. Scene: Police tape over the entrance to the woodlands where Kovacs' body was found in a suitcase near her home in Mill Hill, north London . Missing: Miss Kovacs' housemates heard her screaming in the early hours of July 18 but never saw her again . But a post mortem examination has not been able to establish her cause of death and further tests have been ordered. Wearing a light blue prison issue shirt and trousers, Gyarmati spoke through an interpreter only to confirm his name. No indication of plea was given and no bail application was made. Gyarmati was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on October 14 for a plea and case management hearing. Victim: Miss Kovacs' flatmates reported her missing on July 20 - her body was found a day later in an abandoned suitcase . Mystery: A post mortem examination could not establish Alexandra Kovacs's cause of death . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Laszlo Gyarmati, 29, is accused of killing Hungarian Alexandra Kovacs, 25 .
Her body was found in a suitcase hidden in bushes near where she lived .
Gyarmati today appeared via videolink at the Old Bailey charged with murder . |
107,225 | 164aad86b5b30aa9d2ed883d649661c3e265d780 | By . Jill Reilly and Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 03:26 EST, 17 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:26 EST, 18 December 2012 . Lined up in front of nine tiny bodies shrouded in cloth, these men would never have expected their daughters to die before them. But the girls, aged between nine and 11, were killed in a bomb blast as they were collecting firewood for their families. Today, the distraught villagers laid them to rest in a grim funeral ceremony. The girls died when a landmine left over from the time of the Soviet invasion went off outside their village in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. Scroll down for video . Paying respects: Afghan people line up at the funeral for the young girls who died when a landmine went off yesterday . People pray during a funeral for children killed in a bomb blast in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan . The girls died when a bomb detonated as they were gathering firewood in eastern Afghanistan, police said . People pray on their knees during the funeral as the bodies are laid to rest . Afghans bury one of the victims of the bomb blast in Jalalabad, Afghanistan . It happened in a day of violence yesterday which also saw a car bomb killing two in the capital Kabul. The second blast outside a . compound housing a U.S. military contractor killed at least two Afghan . workers and wounded more than a dozen other people, company . representatives and police said. It sent a plume of smoke up in the air and shook windows more than a mile away in the city centre. The security officer for Contrack, a . McLean, Virginia-based company that builds facilities for military . bases, said a suicide attacker drove a vehicle packed with explosives up . to the exterior wall of the compound and detonated the bomb. Afghan police could not immediately . confirm whether it was a suicide attack or a remotely detonated bomb . placed in a parked vehicle. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid . claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in an email to reporters . that it was a suicide car bomber who targeted the compound because it . was company working with the government. Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a suicide bomb blast targeting the offices of a private logistics company in Kabul . At least 11 civilians were killed and 16 others were injured in two attacks in Afghanistan yesterday, officials said . Tragic: Afghan volunteers carry the body one of the girls who were killed when a landmine exploded while they were collecting firewood . Killed: The girls died when a landmine exploded while they were collecting firewood in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, officials said . Cause: It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion in volatile Nangarhar province. It could have been a bomb planted by Taliban insurgents or a landmine left over from decades of conflict . Shocked: An Afghan man who was injured in the suicide bomb blast in Kabul, Afghanistan . Afghan people attend funeral prayers for young girls who were killed in a bomb blast, in Jalalabad . Survivor: 'One civilian was killed and 15 others injured in this incident,' Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daud Amin said . The victims of the landmine, aged between nine and 11 . years old, were all from different families and two other girls were . seriously injured and are in critical condition in hospital. It was not immediately clear what caused . the explosion - it could have been a bomb . planted by Taliban insurgents or a landmine left over from decades of . conflict. The day before 17 . people were killed and more than 70 hurt in a car bomb attack on a . market in the Khyber tribal area in north-west Pakistan. Women and children were among those . killed in the blast at the market in Jamrud, the main town in Khyber. The injured - many of whom are said to be in critical condition - are . being treated at a hospital in Peshawar. The explosion - which as yet no group has taken account for - took place close to the offices of the tribal administration. The . bombing comes just one day after a 15-hour stand-off between militants . and security forces at Peshawar airport, just six miles east of Jamrud . town. At least 17 people were killed and around 50 injured in a blast in Jamrud Bazar in Khyber, one of seven districts in the volatile region along the Afghan border . The bomb exploded outside the women's waiting area of a government office . The bombing comes a day after a 15-hour stand off between militants and security forces in Peshawar airport, just 10km east of Jamrud town . A row of coffins holding the bodies of those killed in the blast in Pakistan . Rescue workers stand beside the body of a bomb victim . A man, who was injured in a Jamrud Bazar bomb blast, receives medical treatment at a hospital in Peshawar . The Pakistani Taliban has said they carried out that attack, during which at least 10 militants were killed, many of them ethnic Uzbek fighters. Vehicles and buildings were damaged during the latest blast in the busy market area. It is believed explosives were planted in a vehicle parked close to an area of the market which has a lot of car workshops. It is unclear what the target of the attack was. Many of the injured are said to be in critical condition . A security official who was injured in the Jamrud bomb blast is taken to the hospital in Peshawar . As yet - no group has laid claim to the attack . The blast took place close to the office of the assistant political agent for Khyber, one of the top local government officials in the semi-autonomous region. Many of those wounded are said to be in a critical condition. Several militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and local insurgent group Lashkar-e-Islam, are believed to have sanctuaries in the Khyber region. In Afghanistan the Ten girls who have been killed were collecting firewood outside their village in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan. They were walking through land near the . porous border with Pakistan, which is infested with some of the world's . most dangerous militant groups. 'Unfortunately, 10 little girls were . killed and two others wounded but we don't know whether it was planted . by the Taliban,' said Ahmadzia Abdulzai, provincial government . spokesman. Women and children are often the victims of the war between the Taliban and U.S.-led NATO and Afghan forces, now in its eleventh year. Many Afghans are growing increasingly worried that the nation could face another civil war or a major Taliban push to seize power again when most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014. Meanwhile a blast in a market in northwest Pakistan killed at least 15 people, a security official said. Blast: The girls were killed as they were collecting firewood outside their village in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan . | Girls aged between 9 and 11 years caught in horror morning explosion .
Two others were seriously injured and are in critical condition in hospital .
May have been a bomb planted by Taliban insurgents or a landmine .
And in Pakistan 17 people have been killed and more than 70 hurt in a car bomb attack . |
119,320 | 26212e0f4a0c5eac8847823c6bcc54dd846e3865 | By . Brian Marjoribanks . Celtic's Derk Boerrigter has accepted a two-match ban after an SFA investigation into his apparent dive during the 3-0 win over St Johnstone last week. The Dutchman tumbled theatrically to win a penalty after a challenge from Saints captain Dave Mackay, who was red-carded in the incident. The Perth side were left fuming after the decision by match referee John Beaton and even Celtic manager Ronny Deila admitted he would speak to his player should he feel he was guilty of simulation. Unfair dismissal: Celtic's Derk Boerrigter has been punished for his alleged dive against St Johnstone . Reprieve: St Johnstone captain Dave Mackay could now have his red card rescinded by the SFA . The SFA probe into the incident concluded at the end of last week with their compliance officer offering a two-match ban — or the chance to fight that decision at a fast-track appeal on Thursday. Celtic announced on Monday that they would not contest the ban and Boerrigter will now miss league games against Inverness Caley Thistle and Dundee. The development is a boost for Mackay, whose appeal against his red card will be heard on Thursday. Mackay said: ‘I’ve got to wait to hear officially but surely my red card will be rescinded now. ‘I’ve not heard a thing yet but I think it was the right decision to cite Boerrigter. It doesn’t help us though. The game is done. ‘Taking action after games has happened before. I remember Sone Aluko getting done when he was up here. So people know this can happen. ‘We had a meeting with the referees just before the start of the season and we were told they would be looking at people they think might have dived. ‘If they weren’t punished at the time, they warned they would go back and take a look at it and give them a two-game ban where it was a dive. ‘So they have stuck to their word with the Boerrigter one. ‘I assume my appeal will be upheld now. I’d be astonished at any other outcome.’ | Derk Boerrigter has been handed a two-match ban for diving .
St Johnstone's Dave Mackay saw red for the incident against Celtic .
The Bhoys went on to win the match 3-0 against St Johnstone . |
226,931 | b1dac144fc93d2c5f64bf9f154dd9cd8c4582628 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 14:32 EST, 6 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 15:06 EST, 6 March 2014 . A dog that was found in a frozen lake has been reunited with its owners after they saw news coverage of his Coast Guard rescue. Owner Jodi Benchich said that her 14-year-old dog KC went missing 10 days ago and she had been searching for him. '(I) found that the rope was broke and I just dropped everything and went searching,' Ms Benchich told WXYZ. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Happy together: Jodi Benchich was reunited with her 14-year-old dog KC after it was missing for 10 days . Tender loving care: The vet said that KC's frost bite and 30 pound weight loss can be fixed by Benchich . The dog covered a lot of territory, and the lake where he was found is about 30 miles away from his home in Romeo. 'I owe the Coast Guard guys a lot. It's amazing that they'll stop to even help an animal,' Ms Benchich said. The veterinarian treating the dog said that it had not suffered any irreparable damage though it did have frostbite. KC had also lost about 30 pounds during the ordeal, but that can be fixed with special meals and attentive care from his owners. Handling with care: Two officers from a Coast Guard ice cutter came to the aid of this dog who was trapped in this ice on Lake St. Clair on the Michigan-Canada border on Monday . The Coast Guard's Bristol Bay ice . cutter was headed to search for any other vessels that could have been . trapped in the frozen ice when they spotted a group of foxes surrounding . something in the distance. As they made their way closer to the site, they realized that a dog had become trapped in the layers of ice and was near death. 'It was cold, weak and tired. It may have been out there for a couple of days or so,' Chief Petty Officer Alan Haraf told The Detroit Free Press. 'They noticed three burrows the dog tried to dig for itself for protection. They said the paws were bleeding and the nails were pretty much down to nothing.' Three petty officers on board the ice cutter, called the Bristol Bay, packed on their cold weather gear and rescued the dog. The dog, which the crew members nicknamed 'Lucky', was wearing a collar and harness but did not have a tag. Making a stop: The boat was looking for stranded vessels when it spotted a group of foxes that had surrounded this dog . Once the dog was brought back on board using a stretcher, he was warmed up by the officers and fed some chicken breast. The ice breaker headed back to Detroit from there and one of the officers took it to a local veterinarian. It still remains unclear how the dog got out onto the ice and how he became stuck. var p = new anv_pl_def(); p.config = {}; p.config.width = 640; p.config.height = 360; p.loadVideoExpressV3('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|1000011|SPS'); . | Jodi Benchich's dog went missing 10 days ago and now they have been reunited after the dog was rescued by the Coast Guard on a frozen lake .
Was surrounded by a group of foxes and had tried burrowing holes for protection but was close to death .
Dog was wearing a harness and collar but didn't have a tag .
Owner said that he broke free from a rope and she had been searching .
The lake where he was found is about 30 miles from their home . |
43,893 | 7bd3540f31eac0615a39e44a311145a96b9b941f | By . William Turvill . The United States is said to have told Nato allies that Russia has been testing a new ground-launched cruise missile, despite Moscow being prohibited from carrying out such tests thanks to a 30-year-old treaty. Rose Gottemoeler, the U.S. state . department’s senior arms control official, has reportedly . asked Russian officials about the tests on several occasions since May last year . The department believes the flight tests could have been going on for up to six years. Tension: The United States (president Barack Obama, pictured) has accused Russia (president Vladimir Putin, pictured) of testing a new ground-launched cruise missile, in breach of a treaty signed by the nations in 1987 . The 1987 treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, was seen as a major factor in bringing an end to the Cold War (stock picture) Russia is said to have responded by saying that the matter has been investigated and the case is now closed. According to the New York Times, President Barack Obama is not yet ready to officially declare the tests. The situation comes at a time when he is pledging to make further cuts in nuclear arms. A state department spokesman told the paper there would be no hesitation to ‘raise treaty compliance concerns with Russia, and this issue is no exception’. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokesman, added: 'There’s an ongoing review process, and we wouldn’t want to speculate or prejudge the outcome.' There have been a number of disputes between Washington and Moscow in recent months, including over Edward Snowden's temporary asylum in Russia . Other officials have reportedly said it is clear the tests were non-compliant with the 1987 treaty. The White House is said to be being pressured into forming a firmer response. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, . then the presidents of the U.S. and Soviet Union, signed a treaty . banning medium-range missiles in 1987. The treaty banning the testing, production and possession of medium-range missiles was regarded as an important milestone in putting the brakes on the U.S. and Russian arms race and was a key contributor in ending the Cold War. Medium range missiles are ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles that have a flying range of 300-3,400 miles. Intercontinental missiles can fly beyond that range. This situation is the latest in a long line of disputes between the two nations in recent months. Last year, the Washington and Moscow clashed over Edward Snowden’s temporary asylum in Russia and the crisis in Syria. More recently, conflict in Ukraine has caused tensions to rise between the countries. | U.S tells allies Russia may have been flight testing for up to six years .
Both nations signed a treaty in 1987 banning medium-range missiles . |
154,691 | 53e825ff2a81cf19ce52b6c45aa5f090c431a83a | By . Jenny Hope . PUBLISHED: . 20:44 EST, 29 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:22 EST, 30 January 2013 . Early intervention: A study found people in Britain do not seek help for early symptoms of cancer because they are embarrassed or reluctant to waste their doctors' time . Having a ‘stiff upper lip’ could mean some Britons are dying needlessly from cancer, warn researchers. A study found that many people in Britain do not seek help for the early symptoms of cancer because they are embarrassed or reluctant to waste their doctors’ time. Experts say this British stoicism may help explain differences in cancer survival between the UK and other high-income countries. Britons also have less awareness of cancer risk increasing with age, meaning sufferers are less likely to be treated at an early stage when there is more chance of a cure. The UK is joint bottom with Denmark of the international table for rates of survival, despite all six of the countries surveyed having similarly good access to healthcare. There were 157,000 deaths from cancer in the UK in 2010, with more than three quarters occurring in those aged 65 and over. Scientists from the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership previously found that for lung, breast, bowel and ovarian cancers diagnosed between 1995 and 2007, Australia, Canada, Sweden and Norway had the best survival rates. Denmark and the UK had the lowest, despite all the countries having similarly good cancer registration systems and access to healthcare. One year survival for people with lung cancer was 30 per cent in the UK, compared with 44 per cent in Sweden. The latest study, conducted by Cancer Research UK and Ipsos Mori, surveyed 19,079 people aged 50 and older in six countries to see if cultural factors could explain the differences. It found little difference in people’s views about the chances of surviving the disease or awareness of symptoms. But when the study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, looked at barriers to seeing the doctor with early symptoms, our stiff upper lip came to the fore. Worrying about wasting a doctor’s time was a concern for 34 per cent of those in the UK, compared with only 9 per cent of Swedes. And embarrassment about seeing the doctor with a potentially serious symptom was most common in Britain (15 per cent) and least common in Denmark (6 per cent). Awareness of the link between cancer and age was lowest in Canada (13 per cent) and the UK (14 per cent) but highest in Sweden (38 per cent). Reluctant: Experts say British stoicism may help explain differences in cancer survival between the UK and other high-income countries . Dr Lindsay Forbes, a study leader from King’s College London, said the UK was making its mark for the wrong reasons. She added: ‘A high proportion of people said that not wanting to waste the doctor’s time and embarrassment might stop them going to the doctor with a symptom that might be serious. ‘The traditional British stiff upper lip could be preventing people from seeing their doctor. ‘We need to support people to make the right decisions about their health.’ A top cancer charity has been warned about sending out thousands of 'threatening' letters designed to raise funds. The Advertising Standards Authority has banned Cancer Research UK from using the tactic, which people felt put them under unnecessary pressure to make a donation. The charity circular was delivered to homes in a plain brown envelope with 'It doesn't matter to me who you are' in place of the address. A letter inside included a series of alarming statements about cancer and the devastation it can cause, including: 'I'm still tearing lives apart. Every two minutes I take hold of another person.' It added: 'Don't donate to Cancer Research UK. I'm sure you have better things to spend your money on than trying to beat me.' The ASA said the letter was 'likely to be received as a threatening message'. | Study suggests Britons are embarrassed or reluctant to waste doctors' time .
Survey questioned 19,079 people aged 50 and older in six countries .
Experts say British stoicism could explain differences in cancer survival . |
173,305 | 6c4ca50781976d4783a4c7b6a61b6f3306b23058 | Mandi Knight, 46, was left with facial burns after accidentally splashing her pony's drinking water on herself after suspecting it had been tampered with . A woman has been left with horrific facial burns after being accidentally splashed by her pony's drinking water which had been spiked with a corrosive substance. Mandi Knight, 46, accidentally splashed the water on herself as she moved the bucket of drinking water out of her pony's way at a livery yard in St Austell, Cornwall, after realising it was fizzing and had clouded over. The mother-of-two had to be treated for 'excruciating' chemical burns after the substance – which was later identified by police as sodium hydroxide – caused her face to break out in ulcers and blisters. Ms Knight believes her four-year-old pony Lolly's drinking water was targeted on purpose, after police confirmed it tested positive for the chemical, which is also known as caustic soda and is mainly used in industrial detergents and drain cleaners. The highly corrosive substance can cause nausea, vomiting, blindness, stomach cramps and even death if ingested. Ms Knight said her pony would have been horrifically burnt from the inside out had she ingested the harmful substance, but said the animal didn't consume any because workers were alerted in good time. She said staff noticed the water when the animal started kicking its water bucket and, after contacting Ms Knight, called police to report the 'cloudy, frothing solution'. Ms Knight said: 'I went to have a look and we noticed the water was cloudy with a lump of something like wallpaper paste at the bottom and it stank like an engine. 'There was a massive great lump of white stuff in the bucket which we believe was caustic soda. 'I picked the bucket up and didn't realise how heavy it was and some of the water splashed on my face. 'It immediately started to burn. The doctor said it was a chemical burn. They treated it with liquid paraffin and told me to put Vaseline on it. 'It was very painful. It felt like a bad case of sunburn. We poured some of it onto the grass and it scorched it. If lolly had swallowed it she would have died. 'It would have ulcerated her mouth and she would have burnt from the inside out. 'Lolly was so clever to know something was wrong with the water.' The 46-year-old mother of two said she suspected the water had been targeted after it clouded over and started fizzing. A white lump of water could also be seen at the bottom of the bucket containing the water . Ms Knight poured the water on a patch of grass to see if it was harmful and the corrosive substance immediately scorched the turf. Police said it tested positive for sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda . Police believe the pony's drinking water was targeted by the same culprit who stole a riding saddle from Ms Knight's shed overnight between October 14 and 15. Ms Knight is now urging other horse owners to be vigilant to signs of tampering. Sodium hydroxide, which is also known as caustic soda, is a chemical substance commonly used in detergents and drain cleaners. It is white, highly soluble in water, and is sold in the form of pellets, flakes and granules, as well as in solution. If ingested, the substance can cause nausea, vomiting, blindness, stomach cramps and even death. It is highly corrosive and can cause serious burns, redness, swelling and blindness, if put topically on the skin. Those who come into contact with the substance should wash the contaminated area with large amounts of water and seek urgent medical attention immediately. She said: 'It is a concern because a lot of children use the field where it happened. Other horse owners need to extra cautious concerning water. 'They need to look for a white lump like wallpaper paste which smells like an engine. Don't touch it unless you are wearing gloves as it burns. 'I would ask whoever has done this to stop wrecking ponies' lives.' Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed it was investigating the incident, as well as the alleged burglary. A spokesman said: 'Officers are investigating a report of a burglary and also suspicious circumstances of a bucket of corrosive liquid being found in the area. 'The burglary occurred sometime overnight between Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 October when entry was gained to a tack room and equestrian items stolen. 'A black bucket was also found in the area which is believed to have contained an unknown corrosive clear liquid. Some of this liquid may have been put into the horse's drinking water. 'Police are appealing for information and ask that anyone with any information please contact them.' | Mandi Knight was splashed by her pony's poisoned water while changing it .
Mother of two suffered blisters and 'excruciating' chemical burns to her face .
Police said pony's drinking water contained sodium hydroxide - caustic soda .
46-year-old believes the water was targeted on purpose at yard in Cornwall . |
83,393 | ec9092801f068f01dbc431119aaace84f2799216 | (CNN) -- The 2011 Rugby World Cup is nearly upon us, with millions of fans worldwide eager for the tournament in New Zealand to get under way. But while rugby union is hugely popular in the British Isles, parts of continental Europe and areas of the southern hemisphere, it remains a mystery to many global sports fans. So if you don't know a try from a conversion, a lineout out from a scrum, or a ruck from a maul, check out our bluffer's guide and enjoy the six-week long festival of rugby in the comfort of your new knowledge. | The 2011 Rugby World Cup will begin on Friday in New Zealand .
The opening match will see the hosts take on Tonga .
Held every four years, the tournament will run from September 9 to October 23 . |
223,091 | accf11eb1ac0506795482af393982f46fc8fde12 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:30 EST, 18 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:13 EST, 20 September 2012 . Ask almost any American adult about the Iran hostage crisis, and you'll get the outlines of the well-known story: militants storming the American embassy in Tehran in 1979 and holding dozens of Americans hostage for 444 days. Now, CIA disguise master Antonio Mendez has lifted the lid on a less well known story, one with just as much suspense - how, amid the chaos, six Americans escaped. For almost three months, the group hid out in Iran, sheltered by the Canadian government. But the situation grew increasingly precarious. Junior partner: Former CIA agent Antonio Mendez, pictured in 1999, is releasing a book, Agro, about his daring plot to rescue six hostages from Tehran in 1979 . Ultimately, the CIA sent two operatives into the country to rescue the group. As cover, the CIA concocted an elaborate back story involving a Hollywood film. Mendez developed a plan to disguise the Americans as a Hollywood group scouting locations for a fake science-fiction film called Argo. Mendez didn't do anything halfway. He obtained a script, advertised the film, printed business cards, and rented and staffed a Hollywood office in case anyone in Iran checked up on the story. Taken captive: Six Americans were held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1970 by their militant Iranian captors . Life imitates art: Left, Mendez' upcoming account of the daring rescue which involved making up a sci-fi movie to film and right, the movie starring Ben Affleck as Mendez comes out later this year . Real deal: Mendez had this poster manufactured as part of the rescue . Then, posing as the film's producer, . he slipped into Tehran, helped transform the embassy workers into . Hollywood types and spirited the Americans on a plane to Switzerland. For years, however, the full story of the CIA's involvement was a secret. That changed in 1997, the 50th anniversary of the CIA. Mendez was honoured by the agency that year, and he related the Argo story for newsman Dan Rather. Now, in what is an ironic twist, the fake movie caper is becoming the plot of a real Hollywood film. It's set for release October 12, and Ben Affleck directs and stars as Mendez. Readers who want the un-Hollywood version will find that besides being a talented spy, Mendez is also a gifted storyteller. The Maryland resident has also written previously about his clandestine work in The Master of Disguise and Spy Dust. His latest book is a page turner despite the fact readers know from the beginning how the story will end. | CIA disguise master Antonio Mendez created vast sci-fi movie plot to free captives at U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979 .
Created screen play, printed business cards, and rented staff to spirit away hostages .
Details elaborate scheme in new memoir, Argo .
Also being made into film and Mendez is played by Ben Affleck . |
36,120 | 667ccbb55bd5a74debd39e078f8f7c12593471d5 | Olympic hopeful: Julian Hughes-John, 31, has been jailed for 12 years for kidnap and grievous bodily harm . A ‘dangerous’ former Olympic hopeful has been jailed for 12 years after kidnapping and torturing a man for money. Disgraced Julian Hughes-John, 31, who represented Great Britain in its Bobsleigh team throughout Europe, was part of a trio who bundled their victim into a van whilst brandishing a shotgun and wearing balaclavas, before hammering a drill bit into his ankle. The gang were caught after a passing police car spotted the suspicious van parked in Selsey Road, Luton, Bedfordshire on March 24 last year and stopped to speak to the driver. The van pulled away, before stopping further down the road, where the three men fled. When they checked the vehicle, officers were shocked to find a 32-year-old man tied up inside. The culprits were later caught and arrested. Hughes-John, from Luton, was found guilty of kidnap and grievous bodily harm with . intent and yesterday sentenced to 12 years in prison with a public . protection order, meaning he will be on licence for a minimum of ten . years after he has completed his sentence, half of which must be served . in custody. The court . heard how, after being imprisoned ten years ago for his part in an armed . robbery, Hughes-John turned his life around through sport, being . selected to compete in the British bob-sleigh team across Europe. But . after the U.S refused him a visa to enter the country and compete, . because of his violent history, he turned back to a life of crime. Judge David Farrell QC told the defendants during sentencing yesterday (Thursday) that it was a calculated and ruthless attack which left a man fearing for his life. Write caption here . He said: 'This was a carefully planned and ruthlessly executed kidnapping. 'It . was a significantly serious and violent assault in which you . deliberately incapacitated the victim to prevent him escaping, perhaps . in order to tell you where the money was. 'It was only because of the timely . arrival of the police that this was bought to an end. The victim feared . what else might have happened to him, had they not passed by.” He added that the victim has suffered serious psychological effects since the 25-minute long attack. The court heard how the three had targeted their victim, believing he had access to substantial amounts of money. They . had even followed the victim’s girlfriend earlier in the day, before . waiting for him near to her house and pouncing on him as he got out of . his car. Hughes-John (not pictured) was once a member of the Great Britain bobsleigh team . Addressing Hughes-John, the judge added: 'After managing to rebuild your life, your willingness to return to crime at such a ruthless and serious level when things did not work out satisfies me that there is a strong risk to the public of serious harm. 'You are a person who is cool, calculated and can use your intelligence in a way that can and does present a real danger to the public. 'I am therefore imposing a public protection order on you.' Dean Raeside, aged 23, from Stephens Close, Luton, was found guilty of the same offences and was jailed for 12 years, and must serve a minimum of six years in prison. Dean Wright, aged 27, from Rivergate House, Luton, the driver of the van, pleaded guilty to kidnap and was convicted of GBH with intent. He was sentenced to 11 years, half of which will be served in custody. Both were spared public protection orders. A fourth man believed to be involved in the attack was not captured. | Julian Hughes-John was once part of Great Britain bobsleigh team .
Part of a 3-man gang who kidnapped man and hammered drill bit into his ankle . |
203,782 | 93d1bf477846b4ab2063d0b39621542574c9da80 | By . David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 18:20 EST, 17 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 23:54 EST, 17 February 2014 . Dwayne Stovall wants Texans to know that U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell 'looks and fights like a turtle,' and he hopes that image will bleed over to Republican Sen. John Cornyn – the man whose job he wants. 'We Texans don't need a Beltway turtle telling us how to fight,' Stovall says in his newest video ad. The slight is related to what Stovall sees as a lack of action from Cornyn, the state's senior senator and the Senate Minority Whip, to block elements of the Affordable Care Act. Ted Cruz, the junior senator, won national attention in September for monopolizing the Senate floor for 21 hours in a quasi-filibuster aimed at forcing changes to the Obamacare law as a condition of avoiding a government shutdown. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Mitch McConnell 'looks and fights like a turtle,' Stovall says in his ad, hammering his opponent Sen. John Cornyn for working with the Minority Leader from Kentucky . 'We Texans don't need a Beltway turtle telling us how to fight,' the tea party-backed candidate says, deadpanning for the camera . 'This past summer,' Stovall said in his first radio ad, 'one of our senators fought hard for us to keep Washington from ruining our health care system, and one of them didn't fight for us at all.' 'I'm worried, and I'm mad about that,' the tea party darling continued. Stovall will compete against Cornyn and a handful of other Senate hopefuls, including Congressman Steve Stockman, in a March 4 Republican primary. If Cornyn should capture 50 per cent of the vote, he'll be the GOP nominee to keep his seat. Otherwise, the top two Republicans will have to meet in a runoff on May 27. Brett Rogers, his spokesman, told MailOnline that Stovall's stock is high since he 'has won ten out of ten straw polls' in Texas. 'I like Turtle soup,' says Stovall's golden retriever, Major, in a voiceover -- and you can't even see the pooch's lips move . Cornyn (R) met King Abdullah II or Jordan on Feb. 12, accompanied by Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid (L) and the allegedly testudinal McConnell (2nd R) Stovall's comparison of Sen. McConnell to a shell-covered slowpoke isn't new: The Daily Caller popularized the idea in 2011. Tea party chaos: Texas Rep. Steve Stockman, another conservative GOP Senate hopeful, met with trouble in January after his campaign Photoshopped an image of President Obama to make it look like Sen. Cornyn was in the picture with him . Rogers playfully told MailOnline that Stovall's golden retriever, Major, made the turtle identification on his own. He 'pointed to the TV when Mitch was on, just like when Dwayne takes him hunting,' said Rogers. 'The resemblance was obvious.' In the Stovall ad, a comic voiceover has Major saying, 'I like turtle soup!' The risk of offending the Senate's top Republican is a serious one: If Stovall were to upset Cornyn in March or May, and then go on to win the general election against a Democratic candidate, he would enter the Senate with a party leader who might retaliate by relegating him to less-than-impressive committees. But Rogers insisted it's no big deal. 'I think it's more important that Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid pray that Dwayne Stovall doesn't get to the Senate,' he said, 'because no matter what assignments he's given he will fight like you've never seen against bigger government and more debt.' 'And besides, Matt Bevin is going to wipe the floor with Mitch McConnell,' he added, referring to McConnell's own primary fight in Kentucky. Cornyn's and McConnell's offices did not respond to a request for comment. | The latest wacky U.S. campaign ad comes from a Dwayne Stovall, a Texas tea partier who claims Sen. John Cornyn, the incumbent, is too moderate .
The evidence: Cornyn's alleged closeness to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican that tea partiers most love to hate .
An insider-the-Beltway Internet meme compares photos of McConnell with pictures of turtles .
Cornyn faces a crowded field of GOP primary challengers, including Stovall and Rep. Steve Stockman .
If he can capture 50 per cent of the primary votes, he'll avoid a Republican runoff and leapfrog straight to the November general election . |
100,171 | 0d106412f4ad819412402d399209a1124dad0bc6 | We British flock to Berlin and Munich, and Dusseldorf and Cologne have vociferous fans. But what about Leipzig? Whether it’s a Cold War legacy or its failure to attract the stag crowd, this former East German city just isn’t on our radar. Big mistake. Cityscape: Leipzig's skyline, which includes here the New City Hall and the Federal Court, dazzles at dusk . Leipzig is intriguing and beguiling. It buzzes with a youthful vibrancy similar to Berlin’s. It has history and culture in spades, plus fabulous food and drink. All that’s missing are the crowds. Leipzig Central Station sets the tone, with its jaw-dropping grandeur. It’s a station made for travel, and you feel like Marco Polo, simply arriving. The vast arched roof, with its ribcage of girders and massive arches overwhelms, and I stand in awe. ‘It’s good, yes?’ says a local — an understatement. Resplendent: Leipzig's Central Station is the largest in Europe, and has two grand entrance halls . The cultural credentials stack up thick and fast. J. S. Bach is buried in the church of St Thomas, where he was choirmaster. If you visit when the organist is practising, the music ascends to the ribbed neo-gothic ceiling. And there is a pristine Bach museum opposite, with original scores and other paraphernalia. A macabre touch is added by the belt clasp and thimble taken from the graves of Bach and his wife. Culture: St Thomas Church where Bach conducted (left) and the Monument to the 1813 Battle of Leipzig (right) Leipzig claims another cultural giant, too. The writer Goethe studied here in the 18th century and mentions the Auerbachs Keller, Leipzig’s second oldest restaurant (it dates back to the 15th century) as the first place Faust is taken to by Mephistopheles. I usually loathe ‘historic’ restaurants, but this felt genuine - and the robust Saxony cuisine (venison in cream sauce) was the real thing. Unlike nearby Dresden, Leipzig lost only a quarter of its buildings in World War II, so the old city retains a strong sense of the past. Trams clank on the edge of the old quarter; the smell of bratwurst tantalises from stalls, while the buildings are a delightful mix of 18th century romanticism, art nouveau and Twenties modernist. A very pretty city: The Market Square in Leipzig offers plenty of places for visitors to eat or try the local brew . A plaque on the side of a department store once owned by a Jewish family — and ransacked during Kristallnacht in 1938 — offers a sombre reminder of the city’s past. The darker side of Leipzig’s history continues at the Völkerschlachtdenkmal — a monument built on the site of 1813’s Battle of Leipzig. Looming over a busy crossroads to the southeast of the city, it is a towering granite-faced edifice that was completed in 1913, and constructed on the site of the bloodiest fighting between Napoleon’s army and an alliance of Russians, Austrians, Prussians, Swedes and Saxons. Enter the monument through a massive figure carved into the base and ascend to the mausoleum. It feels like something out of Lord Of The Rings. Gigantic grim-faced stone knights stand, their heads bowed, in a circle. It’s a testament to the folly of war, though some might see it as a Teutonic celebration of force. Take a lift to the viewing platform for sweeping views of surrounding countryside. For more recent history, the Memorial Museum in the Round Corner is startling. Based at the former Stasi headquarters where the bureaucracy of communist repression was carried out, you can view the secret police’s tools - cameras, bugging equipment, uniforms, informer lists. Chilling. Modern outlook: Leipzig's contemporary-looking Museum of Fine Arts, which was built in 2004 . Yet this is not a city pickled in its past. The Museum of Fine Arts was built in 2004, and features a light installation inside its entrance, shaped like a spark plug. A nearby building features Michael Fischer’s comic book-like representations of a mass demonstration in the city, in the late Eighties. These sparked similar protests which led to the fall of the communist regime. Beer and bars feature heavily in Leipzig, of course. Sure, you can drink the classic golden lagers of the area. However, you can also try Leipziger Gose, one of the rarest beer styles in Europe, a sour wheat beer only produced in and around the city. Not for the faint-hearted, it has salt and coriander in the brew but is refreshing and moreish in the glass. I enjoyed it with a plate of traditional pork knuckle and dumplings at the Bayerischer Bahnhof brewpub (you eat well in Leipzig). Beer on tap: The streets of Leipzig are awash with plenty of enticing bars and restaurants . If beer’s not your game, the city also majors in coffee (Zum Arabische Coffe Baum is one of the oldest surviving coffee houses in Europe, dating back several centuries). Here I sip an excellent espresso and talk with Gitta Perle, who moved to Leipzig from Dresden. ‘Leipzig is very much a young city,’ she says. ‘Part of the university is in the city centre, people live in the centre, all this keeps it alive. Dresden is more traditional.’ She pauses. I wonder if she is trying to translate the German for stuffy. No one could accuse Leipzig of that. The Furstenhof . Hotel (www.hotelfuerstenhofleipzig.com) offers double rooms from . £119 a night with breakfast. Ryanair (0871246 0000, www.ryanair.com) flies from London Stansted to Leipzig Halle from £53 return, based on . September bookings. For more details on the city, see www.leipzig.de. | UK tourists are familiar with Dresden and Berlin, but often overlook Leipzig .
This eastern city was trapped behind the Iron Curtain, but has come alive .
It is full of cultural landmarks - but also great places to eat, drink and stay . |
22,249 | 3f36b73e80bf3f78972fc87df2cb209eaba64fce | (CNN) -- James Ford Seale, a reputed former member of the Ku Klux Klan convicted in the 1964 abduction and killings of two African-American teenagers in Mississippi, has died in federal prison, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said. He was 75. Seale died on Tuesday in the Federal Correctional Institution at Terre Haute, Indiana, said bureau spokesman Chris Burke, but he did not provide further details. A jury in 2007 convicted Seale, a former sheriff's deputy, of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping in the disappearances of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee, both 19. The bodies of both youths were found in a backwater area of the Mississippi River. Seale was serving three life sentences. Seale was not tried for murder, but prosecutors alleged he and fellow Klansmen conspired to abduct, beat and murder Dee and Moore in May 1964. An indictment accused Seale and his cohorts of picking up the two men hitchhiking and driving them into the Homochitto National Forest in southwest Mississippi's Franklin County, where the teenagers were beaten and interrogated at gunpoint. Dee and Moore were then bound with duct tape, and weighted down by an engine block and a railroad rail, authorities said. The FBI alleged the two were still alive when they were thrown into the Old Mississippi River, where they drowned. Their decomposed bodies were found two months later during a search for three other missing civil rights workers -- a case that would later be known as the Mississippi Burning Case. The slayings were officially unsolved until Seale was indicted in 2007, although he had been long suspected in the case. He and another man were arrested in 1964, but released on bond and never tried. The FBI turned the case over to local authorities, and the investigation was dropped after a justice of the peace said witnesses had refused to testify. The case was revived in 2007 after Moore's brother, Thomas Moore, discovered Seale was still alive while visiting Franklin County, where he was helping research the case for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary. Moore told CNN in January 2007 that he then gave the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi the FBI files on the case, which he had obtained from a reporter. U.S. Attorney Dunn Lampton helped form a task force that led to Seale's indictment. Seale was the first and only person convicted in the Moore and Dee case, the Justice Department has said. Seale's conviction was overturned, then reinstated, by federal appeals courts amid a legal battle over whether the statue of limitations had expired for his crimes. The battle wound up at the U.S. Supreme Court, which in November 2009 let stand a lower court ruling that the statute of limitations had not expired. In his appeal, Seale claimed the statute of limitations expired five years after the crime. The confusion arose out of the fact that kidnapping could be considered a capital offense in 1964 and had no time limit for prosecution. In 1968, the high court eliminated the federal death penalty for that crime, and Congress changed the law to reflect that ruling four years later. But lawmakers in 1994 reinstated kidnapping as being death penalty eligible. CNN's Dave Alsup and Bill Mears contributed to this report. | James Ford Seale was convicted in 2007 in the 1964 kidnappings .
The bodies of the two abducted teenagers were found in the Mississippi River .
Seale's conviction was overturned, then reinstated .
He was serving three life sentences . |
122,716 | 2a9b16518edaf7e800c4d1b35f49c2ebdc7b01c0 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 08:30 EST, 21 March 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:35 EST, 21 March 2012 . A woman has been accused of offering a friend 'with a past' $25,000 to kill her husband after he failed to give her money from the sale of a house. Doreen Dufresne, 50, from Port Orange, Florida, has been released on bail after confessing to the plan, which she claims she regrets making. Police added that they had no plans to probe the death of her second husband, who died after he swallowed anti-freeze in 2001. Scroll down for video . Arrested: Police said Doreen Dufresne, 50, . admitted to asking a friend to kill her estranged third husband for . cash. The pair had fallen out over money . The death, which occurred after Lawrence Blackwood consumed the poison over an extended period of time, was classed as a suicide. Dufresne asked her friend Brandon Parrish, who had a criminal history, if he could 'take care of' her estranged third husband, Neil Suchy, 70. She told the fellow nurses aide she would be willing to give him the entirety of her husband's $25,000 life insurance policy, ABC News reported. Horrified, Parrish told her he would find someone to act as a hit man - in order to stall Dufresne so he could alert police. Honest: Dufresne asked Brandon Parrish, pictured, as he had a criminal history and she thought he would take up the offer - but he alerted police . 'I just didn't want to go the rest of my life knowing I could have . prevented someone from being killed,' Parrish told WFTV. Dufresne had allegedly intended to kill her husband after he had sold their home for $72,000 but did not split the money with her as promised. Parrish said she had told him that her husband of two years had hit her and molested her granddaughter. She gave Parrish detailed instructions of where to find Suchy, what his truck looked like and directions to his home, Parrish told police. Parrish immediately called Suchy, who then went to the police station. Past: Police said Dufresne (pictured) will not be quizzed over her second husband, whose death was classed as suicide after he ingested antifreeze . Public records show he married Dufresne, whom he had known for more than 20 years, two months after his wife had died, ABC reported. He claimed Dufresne had complained they had separate bank accounts and that he did not help support her daughter and two-year-old granddaughter. When police visited her for questioning, Dufresne claimed she hadn't heard from her husband before changing her story to say she she had. When police asked her about these contradictions, she said: 'Neil and I have been fighting a lot lately.' She admitted she had asked Parrish to kill Suchy, police said, and was arrested on March 14 and charged with solicitation to commit murder. Intentions: Dufresne, who lives with her daughter and granddaughter (above), allegedly gave Parrish detailed plans about where to find her husband . Dufresne told police she had asked Parrish for help as he was convicted of a sex crime in 1995 and she thought he would accept the offer. It comes 11 years after Blackwood, Dufresne's second husband, was found dead in their home in New Hampshire. An autopsy found he had died from consuming antifreeze 'over a period of time' and the death was ruled as suicide. 'Nothing suspicious in nature was found,' Robert Browne, a spokesperson for the Goffstown Police Department, told ABC News. He added there were no plans to reopen the case. See below for video . video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player . | Doreen Dufresne told friend her husband did not give her money and had molested her granddaughter .
Police do not intend to re-open case of death of her second husband, who died after ingesting antifreeze . |
282,321 | f9a784d52e54b6c2aa25e9bf19a39a210cf785fd | By . Stephanie Linning . A vet who was filmed having sex with a horse and a dog has been banned from practising in the UK. Oliver Fraser Lown of Kesgrave, Suffolk, was found guilty of five charges by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) disciplinary committee at a hearing at their London headquarters. Videos were found in his possession showing him engaging in sexual activity with animals, as were 'extreme' pornographic images of animals and people, the RCVS heard. Struck off: Oliver Fraser Lown, who was identified in a video partly by a green star shaped tattoo on his leg as the person 'engaging in sexual activity with a horse in a stable setting and a dog in a house setting' Lown, believed to be in his 20s, had . already been taken to court in 2012 after being found with 'extreme' pornography involving . people and animals. The RCVS heard that in addition to the porn . offences, for which he was given a conditional discharge, he also . engaged in sexual activity himself with a horse and a dog and then . boasted about it online. 'Extreme' images: Oliver Fraser Lown. The RCVS heard how he boasted about his sexual activity with a horse and a dog online . According to the findings, he pleaded guilty at Northallerton and Richmond Magistrates Court in North Yorkshire to seven criminal charges in 2011 relating to the possession of extreme images involving people and animals. The RCVS committee heard the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute him in respect of a bestiality charge that it was considering, but the RCVS found the charge to be proven. Lown had graduated from the Szent Istvan University in Budapest, Hungary and he had been registered with the RCVS in 2013, the committee heard. The RCVS said he never practised in Britain. Lown did not attend the RCVS hearing in London, but he was represented by a solicitor. Three of the charges related to the discovery of images or videos on a laptop and a mobile phone at his home near Ipswich. Another charge related to footage of him engaging in sexual activity with a horse and a dog, while a fifth charge related to him sending messages that referred to sexual activity with animals. The video shows Lown 'engaging in sexual activity with a horse in a stable setting and a dog in a house setting', and he was partly identified by a distinctive green star tattoo on his leg. Delivering the findings, Professor Noreen Burrows, Chair of the Disciplinary Committee, said: 'The committee has no doubt the conduct was of the utmost seriousness, the material found in his possession and his own conduct involved the abuse of animals and a total lack of respect for their welfare.' Disgusted: Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons office in London, where the disciplinary hearing took place. Their findings concluded that Lown's behaviour with regards to animals amounted to 'disgraceful conduct' She said: 'In the judgement of the . committee, each of the charges individually amounts to disgraceful . conduct and the charges certainly amount to disgraceful conduct when . taken cumulatively.' The findings sate that: 'The Committee has no doubt that the only way in which the welfare of animals can be safeguarded, public confidence maintained and proper standards of conduct upheld is by directing the Registrar to remove the Respondent’s name from the Register.' | Oliver Fraser Lown was found guilty of five charges by Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons .
Videos were found showing him engaging in sexual activity with animals .
He was partly identified in the footage by a green star tattoo on his leg .
'Extreme' images of animals and humans were also found .
Disciplinary committee described his behaviour as 'disgraceful' |
71,026 | c95ec195d50a16376c71320a3b8d8d360b50b7b0 | Police have arrested two 18-year-old men in the murder of Megan Boken, a former college volleyball star who was shot to death inside her car during a botched robbery. Detectives tracked down the teens on Thursday, thanks to a cell phone that was connected with a previous, unrelated, robbery. Miss Boken, a 2011 St Louis University graduate, was found with gunshot wounds to the neck and chest right before she was due to play an annual alumni game at Saint Louis University in Missouri. Deadly homecoming: Megan Boken, 23, was killed after she returned to Saint Louis University for an alumnae volleyball game . Brutal: Ms Boken's attacker opened her driver's side door and fired multiple times at close range -- hitting her in the neck and chest . The names of the suspects were not . available, though the St Louis Post-Dispatch reports that both are in . police custody and awaiting formal charges. Police tracked down the teens thanks to a cell phone that had been taken in a previous robbery, the newspaper reported. However, its exact role in the investigation is not clear. Dave Marzullo, a city police . spokesman,said the 23-year-old's death on Saturday afternoon was likely . an attempted robbery gone wrong because they had no evidence she knew . her killer. Witnesses said Miss Boken was seen . arguing with the man who opened her car door and opened fire at very close range. The shooter was seen firing two shots into the vehicle before leaving the scene, police said. He left before police arrived. After she graduated, Miss Boken moved . back home to the quiet Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois, where she . worked for a financial adviser. Why? Police have said the murder may have been a botched robbery, though witnesses indicated she might have known her attacker . She . returned to St Louis, which has the second-highest murder rate in the . nation, last weekend to play alongside her college teammates in a game . against the current players. KPLR-TV . reported that Miss Boken was found in her Volkswagen about 2pm on . Saturday in the parking lot of an apartment building where she lived . when she attended St Louis University. She was rushed to the hospital with gunshot wounds to her chest and neck, but died on arrival. Boken was a four-year volleyball player who graduated with a bachelor's . degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing, the . university said. Witnesses described the suspect as a thin black man in his mid-20s, about 5-foot-8 tall with short hair. Miss Boken's family issued a statement saying: 'Megan was a wonderful and beautiful human being loved by everyone she met. The family and the community are devastated by this senseless tragedy.' | Megan Boken was a shot in the neck and chest after going back to her alma mater, Saint Louis University .
Witnesses say she was arguing with the man outside the apartment complex where she used to live .
Suspects were tracked down thanks to cell phone taken in an unrelated robbery . |
179,068 | 73dd439df9722853b31ffdc0d05f89187de01147 | By . Lizzie Edmonds . PUBLISHED: . 10:41 EST, 10 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:42 EST, 10 November 2013 . A gang of thieves have been jailed for handling stolen rare antiques worth £5million. The three men pleaded guilty to handling . several pieces of irreplaceable antique furniture earlier this year. They were sentenced on Friday at Leeds Crown Court. Darren Webster, 46, from Leeds, was jailed for six years and six months. Carl Rutter 46, from Wakefield, was jailed for six years and Brian Eaton, 69, from Tankersley, was jailed for four years. Jailed: Brian Eaton, 69, left, Carl Rutter, centre, and Darren Webster, right, were jailed for handling antiques . The irreplaceable pieces of antique furniture, porcelain and objet d'art were stolen from Newby Hall and Sion Hill . in North Yorkshire, Lotherton Hall, West Yorkshire, and Firle Place in . Sussex in 2011. They were taken by Graham Harkin - currently serving nine years in prison. Police became aware of . the trio's involvement in the raid shortly after carrying out a drugs raid at . Webster's home in April 2011. Stolen: A pair of Louis XVI bleu nouveau ground vases, pictured, valued at £950,000 were just some of the items Webster, Rutter and Eaton had possession of . Rare: A George III Pembroke Chippendale drop leaf table valued at £500,000 was also handled by the trio . Officers searched the property and recovered a computer memory stick and SIM card which contained photographs of stolen antiques. Police then launched an operation which saw an undercover police officer approach Eaton pretending he wanted to store stolen cars. The officer then began to talk about buying stolen antiques. The officer was told by Eaton that he knew someone who stored stolen antiques - but any pieces bought would have to be shipped abroad because they were so well known. Eventually all three were arrested in September 2011. Hoard: An Ebony Veneered Bracket Clock by Daniel Delander of London circa 1710, right, and a Meissen group of the Indiscreet Harlequin valued at £180,000, left, were also recovered . The recovered antiques included a . £500,000 George III Pembroke Chippendale drop leaf table and a pair of . Louis XVI bleu nouveau ground vases and bases known as 'The Firle Vases' valued at £950,000. An ebony veneered bracket clock by Daniel Delander of London circa 1710 was also recovered as was a Meissen group of the Indiscreet Harlequin, valued at £180,000. All items have now been returned. Jailing them, Judge James Spencer said: 'The stolen goods were extremely valuable antique items. The burglaries were committed in order to steal those items and were therefore targeted. 'He (Harkin) could not have carried out those burglaries without some prospect of disposing of them. It is because of that that the real evil of handling exists.' Burglary: Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, pictured, was one of the stately homes robbed of some highly valuable antiques . The valuables, known to be of significant and cultural historic value and worth a total of £5m were recovered by officers from the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU). It marked the culmination of a year-long investigation carried out by the ROCU who were supported by West Yorkshire Police and officers from the Regional Roads Crime Team, North Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Police. Speaking of the case, Det Supt Steve Waite, Head of Regional Intelligence said: 'We were immensely pleased and proud back in September 2011 to have recovered these high value antiques which were described as true pieces of British heritage.' Targeted: Sion Hill stately home in North Yorkshire, pictured, was also targeted by the gang . | Three men pleaded guilty to handling .
several pieces of antique furniture and were sentenced on Friday at Leeds Crown Court .
Darren Webster, 46, from Leeds, was jailed for six years and six months .
Carl Rutter 46, from Wakefield, was jailed for six years and Brian Eaton, 69, from Tankersley, was jailed for four years .
The pieces were stolen by Graham Harkin, who is serving nine years in prison, from four stately homes across Yorkshire and Sussex .
Hoard Included £500,000 George III Pembroke Chippendale drop leaf table and Firle Vases .
valued at £950,000 . |
118,447 | 24efbac9979d161d5c118192e95705c4858aedee | Jack Grealish has signed a new, improved contract at Aston Villa that will see him commit his future to the club for the next four years. The winger, 19, has been on the radar of most Premier League clubs, most notably Chelsea, as his old deal ran out at the end of this season. But fresh terms have seen his wages rise significantly. Jack Grealish has put pen to paper and has signed a new improved contract at Aston Villa . Grealish says he has supported Villa all his life and was delighted to sign the deal . Grealish poses with the Villa shirt at the club's training ground at Bodymoor Heath . Age: 19 . Aston Villa (2013-): Apps 5 Goals 0 . Notts County (2013-14): Apps 38 Goals 5 . Republic of Ireland U17: Apps 7 Goals 3 . Republic of Ireland U18: Apps 6 Goals 2 . Republic of Ireland U21: Apps 6 Goals 1 . 'I'm delighted and it's a dream come true to commit my future to my boyhood club,' Grealish said. 'I've had a season ticket at Villa since I was four years old and came to every game,so this is a big thing for me and my family.' Grealish, a Villa fan born in Solihull, has been elevated to the first-team squad in this campaign, putting in a number of eye-catching displays from the bench and is one of the country's most highly-rated youngsters. He is at the centre of a tussle between Ireland and England over his international ambitions. Martin O'Neill wants him to progress from the Republic's Under 21 set-up to the senior squad, while Three Lions U21 boss Gareth Southgate has spoken of his interest. He qualifies for Ireland through his father's parents. Jack Grealish (pictured up against Vincent Kompany) has impressed this season for Aston Villa . The youngster was thought to be attracting the interest of Premier League clubs, including Chelsea . Grealish goes up against Frank Lampard of Manchester City and has impressed in the league this season . He is currently caught in a international tussle between the Republic of Ireland and England . Roy Keane, Villa and Ireland assistant manager, warned last week against putting the young player under too much scrutiny. 'He's done very little in the game yet,' Keane said. 'People are getting a bit carried away, he's not started a game in the league for Villa, he's not scored a goal yet, he's not got an assist yet. 'If he wants to come and play for Ireland, we'll be delighted but we can't be begging people either. If they want to play for Ireland, fantastic. If not, we'll have to accept it.' | Jack Grealish delighted to sign a new deal at Aston Villa .
Winger, 19, given improved contract after impressing this season .
Grealish ison the radar of many Premier League clubs, including Chelsea .
He's at the centre of a tussle between the Republic of Ireland and England . |
253,721 | d467bce102382dd860871483526300a7717ab353 | Private schools have put themselves in danger warns Dr Martin Stephen . Thousands of middle-income families have been priced out of private schools by inflation-busting fee rises. Average fees have risen at nearly twice the rate of inflation over the past ten years. The increases mean that private schooling is now beyond average earners in well-paid occupations, including pharmacists, architects, IT experts, engineers and scientists. A decade ago, these professionals would have been able to afford to pay fees out of earned income. Now, however, they would struggle without funding from other sources, according to the study. The average annual fee for a day pupil at a private school is £11,457, up from £6,820 in 2002, researchers found. Charges have risen 68 per cent in that period, 1.8 times faster than retail price inflation over the same period, which was up 37 per cent. Private school fees are considered affordable if they account for 25 per cent or less of the average annual full-time salary before tax. But £11,457 represents 35 per cent of this average, which stands at £33,011, according to the study by Lloyds TSB Private Banking. In 2002, fees would have taken 27 per cent. Suren Thiru, economist at the bank, said the rises make it ‘increasingly difficult for the average worker in many occupations to afford a private education for their offspring’. Those who can most easily afford the fees include accountants, senior police officers, airline pilots and production managers as fees represent 19 per cent of their annual earnings. Excluded: The rise in fees for private education means that average earners can no longer afford independent schooling for their children . The findings follow a warning this year from the former head of a top private school that the sector is losing public confidence by becoming the preserve of the super-rich. Dr Martin Stephen, formerly of St Paul’s School, West London wrote: ‘Independent schools have put themselves in a very dangerous position; even more dangerous because they don’t realise the danger. ‘They are pricing themselves out of the reach of most normal people in the UK. The independent sector is becoming socially exclusive in a way not seen since Victorian times.’ Dr Stephen is now director of education at GEMS, an international schools group aiming to make private education ‘affordable’. He added: ‘The sector has become too dependent on overseas parents and is profiting from a state sector in some turmoil as a result of radical change. Independents need to realign themselves with their clients.’ The biggest rises in fees have been in London and the South West, both up 79 per cent from 2002-12. Next were East Anglia (74 per cent) and the East Midlands and South East, both at just under 70 per cent. The number of pupils enrolled at private schools has also fallen over the decade, according to the study. | Rise in fees is excluding children of average-earners .
Dr Martin Stephen say private schools are putting themselves in danger . |
141,784 | 4358cecbd38ac3d039ef84ea38c7bfbd047f327c | By . Oliver Pickup, Colin Fernandez and Tom Kelly . Last updated at 4:57 PM on 9th August 2011 . Prowling in the vicinity of a number of tents, this hungry polar bear is photographed just a week before it went on a ferocious rampage which left one Eton College-educated teen dead and four other Brits seriously wounded. The images, taken by a Polish sea captain, were snapped only a few miles away from where Horatio Chapple was killed by the ravenous 39st animal, on Spitsbergen island in Norway. The captain took the photographs as he was worried that the 14ft beast would attack the camp - similar to the one set up by the British . Schools Exploring Society only days later. This polar bear - thought to be the same one which killed a Brit and seriously wounded four others - is seen prowling near to a camp in Norway . A flare is shown ignited, which - on this occasion - scares the adult male polar bear away, leaving the campers safe. Sunny Secamp, a German tour guide at the . camp, said: 'The bear came out but didn’t try to get into any tent. He . just looked around and smelled the air.' She said that it was possibly the same . bear as it appeared to weigh around 200-250kg (31-39stone) - the same . size as the bear that took Horatio’s life. It is believed that the . flare-triggering defence systems in place at the BSES camp were faulty, . which allowed the animal to enter the campsite early on Friday . morning and being its attack. Horatio, . 17, was 'ripped to pieces' by the polar bear according to Patrick . Flinders, who was in the tent next to the aspiring doctor when bear attacked. The 14ft animal is shown bolting - and not attacking any humans - after a flare is triggered near to the German camp . A photograph of Horatio Chapple, taken on his own camera only two days before he was mauled to death by a polar bear . The . Jersey-based 16-year-old suffered a fractured skull after being bitten on his head - he punched the . animal in the face during the attack and his father hailed him a hero . for 'fighting for his life'. Scott Bennell-Smith, 16, also survived, having been in the same tent as Horatio and Patrick. In addition trip leaders Michael . 'Spike' Reid, 29, from Plymouth and Andrew Ruck, 27, who is from . Brighton but lives in Edinburgh, were severely injured in the bear . attack, but are now stable. Dawyd Guzowski, who was sailing in . northern Norway, took these astonishing pictures of the bear approaching . the camp. Michael Reid (left) shot the polar bear and fellow team leader Andy Ruck (right) was also injured in the attack . Patrick Flinders, 16, saw Horatio 'ripped to pieces' in his tent and managed to survive the polar bear attack . In contrast to the flares at the German campsite, . when the bear approached the camp where Horatio was staying with nine . other youngsters and two adult leaders, the safety tripwire failed to trigger. It has emerged that the wire system was not fixed firmly in the ground - so it fell over . when the bear trod on it, according to a Norwegian police investigation. In a further mishap, the ‘old’ Mauser . hunting rifle failed to fire four times. The bear was eventually killed by Mr Reid on the fifth attempt, despite the fact that he had been severely mauled by the animal. Safety precautions at the site have been criticised in the Norwegian media. John Inge Karlsen, who organises . expeditions at the University of Svalbard said that in 15 years of . expeditions on Svalbard, members of the university had only had to shoot . one polar bear. ‘You could say that if you come into a . situation where you have to shoot a bear, then you have done something . wrong,’ he told the Aftenposten newspaper. Clive Garner, head of international . litigation at law firm Irwin Mitchell, who has experience of lawsuits . involving wild animals attacking tourists said Horatio's family, . and injured participants on the trip, would be able to sue the BSES if . it could be shown ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure the safety of the . expedition. Mr Garner said: ‘Reasonable steps need . to be taken to ensure people are safe, and while it’s too early to tell . in this case, there are serious questions that need to be answered by . the organisers of this trip.’ The aftermath of the attack is shown - the bear appears to be dead, shot in the middle of the cluster of tents . The 14ft bear is hauled to the awaiting helicopter after his bloody rampage . Meanwhile yesterday Horatio's parents released an image of their killed son, after his digital camera had been returned to them by the Norwegian police. The picture shows Horatio standing by a glacier on the Arctic island. Wearing sunglasses and smiling, he appears to be enjoying the adventure of camping in the Norwegian islands. Two days later he was mauled to death by the polar bear. | Safety precautions criticised in Norwegian press .
Only one other polar bear killed in 15 years on Svalbard . |
244,091 | c7ebb9e6d551e84c0720b595560a0da11b84aee9 | The Rangers dressing-room knows Ally McCoist is leaving. It might be next week, next month, or in just under a year’s time. But they know he is going. This piece of information first entered the public domain just hours before a pitiful performance in last Friday night’s 2-0 defeat from Queen of the South. And it continues to sit there like a tailor-made get-out clause if this mostly experienced group of players continues to under-perform. Captain Lee McCulloch insists, however, that they will not reach for it. He is adamant there can be no further recourse to blaming bad results on the whirlwind of uncertainty which continues to engulf the club. Captain Lee McCulloch looked in good spirits during Rangers training on Friday . Instead, the defender has urged his team-mates to look within for reasons why Rangers have suffered three losses and a draw during a deeply damaging six-game spell. McCoist was adamant on Friday that he intends to work his 12-month notice period. It could be argued that some players might toil for maximum motivation whilst fully aware that their manager is, at whatever speed, on his way out. McCulloch rejects that notion. ‘It shouldn’t be the case because there is self-motivation as well,’ he insisted. ‘There are seven, eight, nine players out of contract this summer. ‘As players, we are backing the manager with everything he has done for us. We want to do better for him, for ourselves, for the fans. McCulloch says uncertainty surrounding manager Ally McCoist cannot be used as an excuse for poor results . ‘It’s not just about one thing here but people do have to look in the mirror after the last two or three games and ask if they have done enough. ‘Do we have to do more for the manager? On the pitch, definitely. Especially in the last few games. ‘As I said, it comes to down to looking in the mirror and asking if you have done enough. Did I play like a Rangers player should play? ‘It’s slightly harder playing for a club like this and you can’t be hiding. You have got to be demanding and taking the ball. We need 11 players doing that.’ That certainly wasn’t the case at Palmerston as Rangers handed yet another advantage to Hearts in the Championship title race. So did the news that McCoist had handed in his notice have an impact on their efforts? Rangers skipper McCulloch called on his players to look in the mirror and ask if they are doing enough . ‘The biggest thing for me is that if you put excuses in front of players then, nine times out of ten, they will look to take those excuses,’ said McCulloch. ‘We probably could have covered up the last two or three games by using excuses about the timing of things coming out and so on. ‘But for me it’s about trying to get the dressing room to forget about everything that has gone on and try to get our game back — and some points back on the league leaders. ‘We need to just concentrate on ourselves and forget all the excuses that are round about us. It’s about concentrating on being a football player, turning up focused on the job and your individual job within the team.’ Ally McCoist was all smiles as he looked relaxed in training ahead of Saturday's match with Livingston . McCulloch insisted that he hadn’t spoken directly to McCoist about the situation, which seems somewhat curious given his standing within the squad. ‘I think if I wanted to know then I could go and chap his door,’ he added. ‘And I think if there’s anything I need to know, he would come and tell me. So there is no issue. ‘I’m not aware of anything else that is going on at the club. It’s probably a good thing. My job is just to try and keep players focused going into a game. And not thinking about things outwith that. ‘Have I seen a difference in the manager? Not at all. I didn’t see it coming, but that’s all I know.’ It was interesting when McCulloch suggested the current climate around the club somehow felt similar to the bleak financial crisis of 2012 and the descent into administration. It was something he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, explain in any detail, but perhaps it indicates the extraordinary sense of flux within Rangers just now. McCoist, who tendered his resignation earlier this month, oversees the session at Murray Park . Beyond the manager’s situation, a number of long-serving staff have been made redundant as part of a cost-cutting programme. That was led by former Newcastle United managing director Derek Llambias, who was on Friday appointed as chief executive in a sign that Mike Ashley’s influence is being further cemented. Amid all this, Rangers sit nine points adrift of a Hearts side who have a game in hand. A run of exceptional consistency is now required, beyond anything they have mounted so far this term. Asked if they were capable of a winning streak between now and the end of the season, McCulloch replied: ‘It’s possible, it’s definitely possible. We have got the players, the squad, the strength in depth. ‘In the last couple of weeks we have not had the mentality. But we have got it in the dressing room. It’s just let us down in the last couple of weeks with our eye being taken off the ball by various things. McCulloch believes Rangers have the players to arrest their slump and put together a winning run . ‘What gives me confidence? Past results, performances, beating Premiership teams — three or four this season. Lots and lots of things. We are just on a wee dip. A dip in form and maybe confidence as well and it’s up to ourselves and each other to get out of it. ‘We were on a great run of form before and that’s exactly what we have to get back to. We had eight straight wins, conceding just two goals. We were working hard and scoring goals, showing a desire to pull on a Rangers strip and deal with pulling on a Rangers strip which is quite a big thing. Then all of a sudden we’ve hit a lull. ‘You wouldn’t think there is any margin for error, with Hearts nine points ahead and having a game in hand—– albeit we still have them twice to play and there are Edinburgh derbies. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think there is any margin for error.’ | Ally McCoist tendered his resignation at Rangers last week .
Rangers have slipped to nine points behind league leaders Hearts .
Captain Lee McCulloch says the players are running out of excuses .
McCulloch thinks it is time for the players to look in the mirror . |
132,498 | 3757b5bf9dbe8cfb1db54403f13112fa92d16020 | By . Rob Davies . and James Salmon . and Luke Garratt . PUBLISHED: . 13:12 EST, 5 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 20:54 EST, 5 March 2014 . The culture of lavish bonuses for bankers is back in full swing, after Barclays and Lloyds revealed that 500 staff pocketed more than £1million last year. Critics accused the banks of a ‘disgraceful act of greed and betrayal’ and urged Chancellor George Osborne to intervene. The revelations came as both High Street lenders published their annual reports. Lavish bonus: Lloyds Banking Group boss Antonio Horta-Osorio, who looks likely to sidestep new EU banking rules put in place after the financial crisis, pictured left and right with his wife Ana . State-backed Lloyds confirmed its boss Antonio Horta-Osorio received £4.5million in pay and perks last year, while Barclays revealed it has lined up 1,000 senior staff for ‘role-based’ allowances to avoid a bonus cap from Brussels. Other details include: . Banks have repeatedly vowed to show restraint on pay. Just last month Barclays chief Antony Jenkins promised his bank understood public outrage, saying: ‘There will be no going back to the old way of doing things. We get it.’ But critics said Mr Jenkins’ comments were at odds with the reality, which saw Barclays pay 481 people more than £1million last year, up from 428 in 2012. Mr Jenkins claimed the bank needed to pay big bonuses to avoid a ‘death spiral’ of top investment bankers leaving to join rivals. Questions unanswered: Bank of England governor Mark Carney is expected to face a grilling . But critics pointed out that Barclays’ top talent steered the bank to a 32 per cent fall in profits to £5.2billion last year. Despite this the High Street giant saw fit to hike its bonuses to £2.4billion, with its ‘casino bankers’ receiving £60,100 on average. Last night the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee of MPs blasted the failure of UK banks to show restraint, more than six years after the onset of the financial crisis. Tory MP Andrew Tyrie said: ‘It is regrettable that a number of banks appear not to have accepted the need for fundamental reform in this year’s bonus round.’ ‘The new consensus emerging on pay remains seriously flawed,’ he added. Rob MacGregor, of union Unite, said: ‘This is a disgraceful act of greed and betrayal by these brass-necked bankers. Lloyds Banking Group recently announced that it will set-aside 1.8 billion Pounds (2.1 billion Euros) for claims of mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) ‘George Osborne now has a duty to the . people of this country to step in and act to curb the continued excesses . of the banking elite.’ A . spokesman for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, which lobbies for a tax on . financial transactions, said: ‘Instead of fighting to protect the . grotesque pay levels of their friends in the City, the Government should . be reining the sector in and ensuring it contributes more to society.’ Both . Barclays and Lloyds also revealed plans to hand their chief executives . hefty ‘allowances’, on top of their salaries and other share awards, to . circumvent new EU rules capping bonuses. In . total around 1,000 top earners at Barclays will also receive generous . ‘role-based’ payments in cash and shares, to supplement their basic . incomes. Mr Jenkins is in line for a £950,000 shares windfall on top of his £1.1milion basic salary and £363,000 pension. Although the maximum amount he can receive falls, it means he is now guaranteed to receive more than £2.4million every year. Stuart Gulliver, HSBC Group CEO has also sidestepped EU rules, and is expected to be worth around £7.5 million after being given bonuses on top of his £1.25 million basic salary . Similarly, . Mr Horta-Osorio will receive a £900,000 shares payment to top up his . £1.1million salary and £681,000 in pension and benefits. His basic pay . package rises from £1.7million to £2.6million, . Both . banks also revealed what their top earners pocketed in 2013. At . Barclays the eight highest paid took home more than £5million apiece, . while Lloyds said 27 staff were paid more than €1million (£820,000), . compared with 25 paid more than £1million last year. They failed to explain why they used euros this year, rather than pounds. The . two lenders also said they were planning to seek shareholder approval . to increase the maximum bonus a banker can get to 200 per cent of . salary. This is the maximum amount allowed under the new EU bonus cap . introduced in January. Barclays’ lavish awards came despite the bank admitting that it is embroiled in . at least 12 separate probes into misconduct by staff. These . include allegations its traders rigged foreign currency rates and a . Serious Fraud Office probe into its emergency fundraising with Qatar . investors in 2008. Antonio Horta-Osorio CEO of Abbey Bank in his office . Age: 50 . Profession: CEO of Lloyds Banking Group (Since 2011) Yearly Salary: £3.2 million . (Expected) 2014 bonus: £1.7 million . Employment history: . Antonio Horta-Osorio is married with three children. He was made a Commander of the Order of Civil Merit of Spain by the King of Spain in 1998. In October 1998, the government of Brazil awarded him the Order of the Southern Cross. In June 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of Edinburgh. | The CEO of Lloyds banking group earns around £3.2 million in salary .
With bonuses of £1.7 million, Horta-Osorio is to be paid £4.9 million .
Bank has outlined payment plans that seem to bypass new EU bonus rules .
The bonus rules set out by Brussels were meant to halt 'bonus-culture'
Many financial experts believe the 'bonus-culture' led to financial crisis .
Barclays paid 481 staff more than £1million each, with eight employees making more than £5million .
Both Lloyds and Barclays bosses got £1million ‘allowances’ to get round bonus caps .
The two banks will ask investors for permission to pay bonuses worth twice salary .
Pay-outs at Barclays came despite the bank admitting it is embroiled in 12 separate misconduct investigations. |
45,482 | 802929a52292cd77c6fde0540b095177cb0e7f8a | By . Steve Robson and James Slack . PUBLISHED: . 15:07 EST, 20 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:20 EST, 20 November 2012 . Prisoners caught using Facebook on smuggled mobile phones will be stripped of their perks or have time added to their sentence, it emerged tonight. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has ordered ‘serious disciplinary consequences’ for any convict who posts pictures of themselves on social networking sites. It follows revelations by the Mail that hundreds of prisoners - including notorious killers - are using Facebook to taunt their victims from behind bars. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has ordered 'serious disciplinary consequences' for any convict who posts pictures of themselves on social networking sites. This picture was posted on Facebook and shows prison inmates posing for the camera . Inmate Paul Gallagher posted on a friend's Facebook wall while still in prison . In the last two years nearly 350 inmates have been discovered posting on the social networking site while locked up. Prisoners are banned from accessing the internet but get online using mobile phones smuggled into their cells. Mr Grayling said: ‘Prison is not meant to be a comfortable place, full of perks and undeserved privileges. ‘Those offenders who smuggle mobile phones into prisons and take pictures of themselves and their fellow inmates purporting to be having an easy time should take heed – they will face serious disciplinary consequences.’ The most likely punishments are to remove the privileges enjoyed by inmates, such as having a television inside their cell. Prisons also have powers to add extra days to the length of time an inmate must serve. In a separate move, it emerged ministers are planning to remove Sky TV from jails. Currently, inmates serving time in privately-run institutions have access to the perk. Insiders say it is likely to be banned as part of a wide-ranging review of privileges being conducted by the Prisons Minister, Jeremy Wright. Inmate Gary Hyland posted this picture of inmates at Haverigg smoking in a cell on a Facebook profile set up in his name. Under it he posted: 'F**k it am out in 2 weeks' The Mail has highlighted a string of cases of criminals using Facebook from behind bars. They include Jade Braithwaite, who was jailed for life for the murder of Ben Kinsella. The 22-year-old wrote 'I'm down but not out' and said he wanted to 'delete people'. He was jailed for life following the knife attack in London in June 2008. The postings were read by Ben's family who said they were 'appalled' and disgusted and the messages were an 'insult to Ben's memory'. The killer Ryan Herbert, who murdered 20-year-old Sophie Lancaster in 2007, was found to have sent more than 100 messages using the site. He sent flirtatious messages to female friends and also posted pictures of himself posing with other inmates in the prison gym. In another case, a teenage boy who killed a shopkeeper posted a series of pictures on Facebook showing him making 'gangster salutes'. Martin Grant, who posted this picture as his profile image taken in a recreation room at HMP Haverigg . Liam Ryan, 19, was jailed for life for the murder of Birmingham shopkeeper and Suppiah Tharmaseelan. He was part of a gang which attacked the father of four after he fought back when they tried to steal alcohol. The pictures, apparently taken from inside his Young Offenders' Institution cell, show Ryan making an obscene gesture at the camera. They also show the piles of junk food in his cell and his personal television set and games console. And eight men posted a mock holiday snap of themselves posing shirtless at HMP Haverigg in Cumbria. The inmates even likened their prison sentences to a holiday in Spain. Crackdown: Justice Secretary Chris Grayling says any convict caught posting pictures of themselves on social networking sites faces 'serious disciplinary consequences'. Ministry of Justice figures released after a Freedom of Information request show 199 Facebook profiles were taken down between July 2010 and June last year. Another 143 profiles were removed between July 2009 and June 2010. All were removed by Facebook following an investigation by prison officials. The crackdown emerged in a wide-ranging speech by Mr Grayling, who promised a ‘rehabilitation revolution’ inside Britain’s jails. He announced education in young offenders' institutions will be dramatically improved to stop the ‘travesty’ of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money being spent on detention for 'little gain'. Mr Grayling said some teenagers were costing up to £200,000 a year to look after - five times the bill of sending them to a top public school like Eton - but most reoffended. He also confirmed plans to recruit ex-offenders to act as mentors to newly-released criminals. | Justice Secretary Chris Grayling says any convict who posts pictures of themselves on social networking sites faces 'serious disciplinary consequences'
Move comes after the Mail exposed how hundreds of prisoners who are using Facebook to taunt victims from behind bars . |
77,577 | dbfbdabc8a7b8d31fd50078feea03674df8a82de | Once upon a time, they would have played with train sets, dolls and cuddly toys. Today’s toddlers, however, are more likely to be playing with an iPad - and are becoming adept at using the internet long before they start school. Nearly half of three and four-year-olds are now technologically-savvy, a report by media watchdog Ofcom revealed yesterday. Hi-tech toddlers: A study by media watchdog Ofcom found 37 per cent of children aged three and four accessed the internet via a laptop or PC . And one in ten is already using an iPad to visit websites, watch films and television programmes and play games. The report marks the first time the regulator has looked at the habits of the pre-school age group – and the findings prompted experts to warn parents not to use computers and tablets as ‘virtual babysitters’. The study also found that under-13s, many of whom are too young to legitimately register for social networks without parental consent, are befriending strangers on these websites. Cyber-bullying also emerged as a persistent problem, with more girls than boys being targeted. As part of the study, researchers interviewed 200 families with children aged three and four. They found 37 per cent of these children used the internet via a PC or laptop – and 3 per cent even surfed the web using a mobile phone. The youngsters also watched around 15.5 hours of television a week and spent 6.2 hours a week playing games online – but no figures were collected for the time they spent surfing the web. Claudio Pollack of Ofcom warned: ‘Children are not just using more media, they are also adopting some forms at a very young age. ‘This highlights the challenge that some parents face in keeping up with their children when it comes to technology and in understanding what they can do to protect children.’ 'Virtual babysitter': 80 per cent of youngsters in their early teens have a social networking profile, the study found . Child psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos urged parents to supervise children when they are using the web and to allow internet use only ‘in moderation’. She added: ‘Children need balance. Using games and websites online can stimulate younger children. There are some wonderful learning tools out there. ‘But it comes down to supervising what they are doing. We know it is bad to dump children in front of the TV. It is going to be the same with computers and tablets. Parents shouldn’t use the internet as a virtual babysitter. Parents must make sure they are aware of what their children are looking at.’ Ofcom also polled 1,700 children on their use of social networking sites and found that many are still chatting to strangers online, despite a number of campaigns warning of the dangers. Under-13s, many of whom are supposedly too young to sign up without parental consent, are managing to find their way on to these sites and befriending people they do not know. The report found that 22 per cent of eight- to 11-year-olds have a social networking profile and have typically amassed 92 friends – but 12 per cent of these are people they have never met. The figure rises for those in their early teens, with 80 per cent saying they have a social networking profile with an average of 286 friends. Shockingly, among 12- to 15-year-olds up to a quarter of these ‘friends’ are strangers. The report also warned that advances in online gaming meant it was possible for children to be contacted by strangers from around the world. It found that one in three boys in their early teens admitted playing games online with people who are not known to them. Cyber-bullying remains a problem, with one in ten internet users aged 12 to 15 saying they have experienced it in the past year. Around 13 per cent of girls this age have personal experience of being bullied online, compared to five per cent of boys. Ofcom’s report said that almost half of parents admitted their ‘child knew more about the internet’ then they did, adding: ‘Lack of confidence in using the internet is an issue for a number of parents.’ | Almost half of three and four-year-olds are now technologically savvy, according to a report from media watchdog Ofcom .
One in ten is already using an iPad to visit websites, play games and watch TV and films, study found .
Report has prompted experts to warn parents not to use computers as 'virtual babysitters' |
23,121 | 4197ec792eadaf2ea2cd7f8d8e8bd526f2e137de | (CNN) -- German Thomas Bach was elected as the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in succession to Jacques Rogge following a ballot of 94 members of the IOC in Buenos Aires Tuesday. Bach won on the second round of voting, beating off the challenge of five other contenders for the top job in the Olympic organization. He has been elected for an initial eight year term to succeed the 71-year-old Rogge, who has stepped down after 12 years in charge. Bach paid tribute to Rogge as he addressed IOC members following his election. "You are leaving a great legacy and a strong foundation on which we can continue to build the future of the IOC," he said. "This is an overwhelming sign of trust and confidence," added Bach, who is the ninth president in the 119-year history of the IOC. Ukrainian athletics great Sergey Bubka, Singapore's Ng Ser Miang, Wu Ching-Kuo of Taiwan, Switzerland's Denis Oswald and Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico were the unsuccessful candidates. Bach achieved a majority in the second round by polling 49 votes. Carrion was the next best with 29. Former world pole vault champion Bubka received just four. "I want to win your confidence too," said Bach, referring to his beaten opponents. "I know of the great responsibility of being president of the IOC." The 59-year-old Bach is a lawyer by profession, but represented West Germany at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, winning a gold medal in fencing's foil discipline. He was one of four IOC vice-presidents, having been a member since 1991, serving during this period on the anti-doping commission. An outspoken critic of doping, Bach commissioned an academic report, published in July, which alleged that like their East German neighbors, West German athletes had also been involved in malpractice during the Cold War and before the unification of the two countries. His first task in succeeding Rogge will be to steer the IOC through the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, which has been dogged by controversy of Russia's new anti-gay legislation, concerns over budget and fears of warm weather. Under rules adopted in by the IOC in 1999, which ended lifetime terms for its delegates and presidents, Bach will initially serve for eight years, with the possibility of one further term of four years. | German Thomas Bach is the new president of the International Olympic Committee .
Bach succeeds Belgian Jacques Rogge who is stepping down after 12 years in charge .
Bach won on the second round of voting among 94 members of the IOC .
Five other candidates, including Sergey Bubka, contested the election . |
257,024 | d8ac735aa1efae033c11cbcd22b57dae4c58e8f7 | (CNN)Amanda Knox, convicted last year for a second time by an Italian court in the 2007 death of her British roommate, is engaged, a source close to the family told CNN. The former exchange student, 27, got engaged last week to musician Colin Sutherland, the source said. No other details of the engagement were provided. Knox, along with ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, was first convicted in Italy in Meredith Kercher's death in 2009. After spending four years in an Italian prison, she was released and had returned to her home in Seattle when the verdicts were overturned on appeal in 2011. Italian court explains Amanda Knox conviction . After her release from prison and return to the United States, Knox resumed her studies at the University of Washington. Her memoir recounting the ordeal, "Waiting to Be Heard," was released in 2013. Last year, she and Sollecito were again convicted. Italy's highest court is expected to hear an appeal in the case on March 25 and decide whether Italy may seek to force her to return. Amanda Knox: I wanted to come back from Italy stronger and surer of myself . | Amanda Knox is engaged to musician, a source close to the family tells CNN .
The news comes as her legal team continues to fight murder conviction in Italy . |
112,118 | 1c9e4d5e1944b26f6cbd61b2bd07b4c91992a26a | It has been around 30,000 years since the ancestors of modern-day humans are thought to have wiped out the ancient Neanderthals. But new research shows that the extinct species could be taking revenge on us from beyond the grave by making us more vulnerable to potentially killer diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Neanderthals and modern humans are thought to have co-existed for thousands of years and interbred, meaning Europeans now have roughly 2 per cent Neanderthal DNA. Scientists at Edinburgh University have shown that the genetic similarity between Neanderthals and non-African modern human populations must have arisen after interbreeding in Europe and Asia . These 'legacy' genes have been linked to an increased risk from cancer and diabetes by new studies looking at our evolutionary history. However, it is not all bad news, as other genes we inherited from our species' early life could have improved our immunity to diseases which were common at the time, helping us to survive. However scientists looking into the Neanderthal genome believe their DNA could also have made us more resistant to ancient diseases, helping us to evolve . Speaking to MailOnline, professor Chris Stringer, research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London, said: Neanderthals had been evolving outside of Africa of thousands of years and had been exposed to diseases which our species had not come into contact with. 'Studies have shown we could have taken part of our HLA system, which effects our white blood cells, from them. 'We got a quick fix to our own immune system by breeding with Neanderthals which helped us to survive. 'Studies have also already been published which show that humans outside of Africa are more vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes, and that is because we bred with Neanderthals, while those who stayed inside Africa didn't.' The HLA system helps white blood cells to identify and destroy foreign bodies when they enter the system. Last year researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities announced that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer had been discovered in the Neanderthal genome, and last month Nature magazine published a paper from Harvard Medical School suggesting . that a gene which can cause diabetes in Latin Americans came . from Neanderthals. By examining the genes found in the toe bone of a female Neanderthal, scientists have been able to build up a more complete version of early human history and how modern-humans evolved. Analysis of the DNA found that Neanderthal families were highly interbred, both among themselves, and among other early humans such as Denisovans. The research potentially suggests that Neanderthals became extinct not because early humans killed them, but because they bred with them and incorporated their DNA into the much larger human population. Last year researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities announced that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer had been discovered in the Neanderthal genome . Next month the Natural History Museum will stage an exhibition, Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story, describing Homo erectus, an early human species that first populated Britain about 900,000 years ago, and displaying life-size models of Neanderthals, a later species. Neanderthals may not, however, be the only contributors to modern human DNA. New studies suggest that during one period, between 100,000-500,000 years ago, there were up to seven species of early human alive at the same time. People from sub-Saharan Africa, have DNA suspected to come from Homo heidelbergensis - the Heildelberg Man - a primitive ancestor, while some Asian groups carry DNA from the Denisovans. | Humans wiped out Neanderthals around 30,000 years ago .
However the two co-existed for thousands of years and interbred .
Modern Europeans have around 2 per cent Neanderthal DNA .
Those genes have been linked to high risk from cancer and diabetes . |
119,721 | 26abdc02ecd84c07aa13b9152cf92ffd6559825d | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:55 EST, 16 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 22:32 EST, 16 April 2012 . A man accused of becoming an Al Qaeda operative discussed bombing New York City movie theaters, Grand Central Terminal, Times Square and the New York Stock Exchange before settling on the city's subways, a court has heard. Adis Madunjanin allegedly plotted against the high-profile targets with two of his former high school classmates from Queens. The men ‘were prepared to kill themselves and everyone else around them — men, women and children,’ said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Looman in opening statements on Monday. The extraordinary case has seen attempted shoe bomber Saajid Muhammad Badat released from prison early in exchanging for testifying against his alleged fellow jihadist. Revealing the plan: Zarein Ahmedzay (right) testifies in the trial of Adis Medunjanin (left) Defence attorney Robert Gottlieb . accused the government of using ‘inflammatory rhetoric’ about al Qaeda . and terrorism to prevent jurors ‘from seeing the truth about this case.’ ‘The truth is that Adis Medunjanin is not a terrorist,’ he countered. There's no dispute that Medunjanin and his two former classmates travelled together to Pakistan in 2008. But federal prosecutors say the three . were homegrown Muslim extremists who, under al Qaeda's tutelage, came . back to the United States and hatched a foiled plot to attack the New . York City subways as suicide bombers. Medunjanin, 27, has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, and providing material support to a terrorist organization among other charges in what U.S. officials have described as one of the most chilling terror conspiracies since the September 11, 2001 attacks. On trial: Adis Medunjanin, seen in a 2010 court appearance, is accused of planning to bomb the New York subway system . Childhood friends Najibullah Zazi and Zarein Ahmedzay have admitted in guilty pleas that they wanted to avenge U.S. aggression in the Arab world by becoming martyrs. Both have been called by the government to testify against Medunjanin. 'Adis agreed to be one of the suicide bombers,' said Ahmedzay, who was called as the first prosecution witness. Medunjanin had 'no hesitation' and 'was committed' to the plan, Ahmedzay said. 'I remember him saying he would mention he was doing the suicide mission of his own choice,' the witness added. 'And that he loved death more than he loved life.' But Medunjanin backed out of the plot, Gottlieb countered in opening arguments. He was a 'serious, studious and sincere' young man who balked at joining his friends in the 'martyrdom operations,' Gottlieb said. 'Adis Medunjanin made his decision, and he decided not to be a terrorist, not to be a suicide bomber.' Another possible witness is Bryant Neal Vinas, a Long Island man who joined al Qaeda around the same time as the other men. Officials have credited Vinas with providing key intelligence about the terror group since his capture in 2008. They are also expecting to get valuable information from Saajid Muhammad Badat who is due to testify against Medunjanin. Court appearances: Najibullah Zazi, shown in a court sketch and outside of the Denver FBI office, is childhood friends with Adis Medunjanin . Badat, who was jailed in Britain in . 2005 for his role in a 2001 plot to down an American Airlines flight . from Paris to Miami with explosives hidden inside shoes, has had his . jail term cut from 13 years to 11 years in a ground-breaking deal. In an extraordinary secret court . hearing, the Islamic fundamentalist was released following a private . discussion between a judge, his solicitor and prosecutors. That bargain means he has already been released, rather than having to wait until 2013 to request parole. The details of his release were not . made public until this week, when they were revealed as part of the . announcement that he would be testifying in Medunjanin's case. 'This . trial is the first time a UK convicted terrorist has agreed, under the . terms of our agreement, to give evidence in the United States,’ said Sue . Hemming from the British Crown Prosecution Service. 'Badat has helped with investigations . in this country, he continues to co-operate and has agreed to testify in . other trials if called upon.’ Caught: Police raid the Denver home of Zazi, who got as far as cooking up explosives and setting out by car for New York City in September 2009 to carry out the attack . Badat was an accomplice of so-called shoe bomber Richard Reid, who is serving a life sentence in the United States. 'We considered very carefully the . merits of entering into this agreement with a convicted terrorist, and . we believe that the administration of justice internationally benefits . from such an agreement,’ Ms Hemming said. Deal: Terrorist Saajid Muhammad Badat, pictured, had his 13 year sentence cut to 11 after the agreement with prosecutors . Jurors . also are expected to hear evidence that following his arrest, . Medunjanin told the FBI he had become a more devout Muslim about four . years before the plot was exposed after he and childhood friend Zazi . began spending time together at a local mosque, FBI reports say. He also recalled being influenced by tapes of U.S.-born extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, they say. In . 2008, Medunjanin and his friends decided to join the Taliban and fight . U.S. soldiers in retaliation for the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, . the FBI reports say. The three instead were recruited by al Qaeda operatives, who gave them weapons training in their Pakistan camp and asked them to become suicide bombers, they say. Medunjanin told his al Qaeda handlers ‘he had prayed but still wasn't sure if he was ready to be a martyr,’ the reports say. He was later sent home on his own, the reports add, after he told them ‘the best thing for him to do ... was to return to the U.S. and provide financial support’ for the terror network. Medunjanin was arrested in early 2010 after attempting to crash his car into another vehicle in what prosecutors have described as a failed suicide attempt. Prosecutors have presented recordings of 911 emergency calls in which they say Medunjanin identified himself, made jihadist statements, and declared 'We love death' immediately before the crash. At the time he was under surveillance by federal agents. Gottlieb said the statements were an expression of desperation from a man whose home had just been raided by federal agents and who was overwhelmed with the possibility of being branded a Muslim terrorist. Zazi, after relocating to the Denver area, got as far as cooking up explosives and setting out by car for New York City in September 2009 to carry out the attack. He was arrested after abandoning the plan and fleeing back to Colorado. The FBI reports say Medunjanin denied knowing what Zazi was up to. And the defence has claimed he spoke to the FBI under duress. In a sworn statement, the defendant accused agents of making veiled threats against his family and denying him access to his attorney for 36 hours. Federal authorities insist his statements were voluntary. | Adis Madunjanin 'loved death more than life', according to former friend .
Shoe bomber accomplice released from prison early to testify in case . |
115,556 | 211b825ab68c3f0e673c92fd0360aded0df05960 | Editor's note: Leslie Morgan Steiner is the author of "Crazy Love," a new memoir about domestic violence, and the anthology "Mommy Wars," which explores the polarization between stay-at-home and career moms. Leslie Morgan Steiner says domestic violence afflicts the well-to-do as well as the poor. (CNN) -- For two days, news reports called her "the 20-year old victim" allegedly attacked by R&B singer and dancer Chris Brown in his car early February 8 in Los Angeles, California. We all now have good reason to believe that the alleged victim was pop singer Rihanna, Brown's girlfriend. The story has dominated the general media with good reason. Both singers are young, apple-cheek gorgeous, immensely talented and squeaky clean -- the last couple you'd imagine as domestic violence headliners. Perhaps the only good that will come from the Rihanna/Brown publicity is destruction of our culture's misconception that abusers and their victims can only be universally poor, uneducated and powerless. Brown, whose first song debuted at No. 1 and whose first album topped the Billboard Hot 100, appeared on a Disney sitcom and in Sesame Street, Got Milk? and Wrigley's Doublemint Gum commercials. Barbados-born Rihanna has been big-brothered by music industry legends like Jay-Z and Kanye West and is signed to the Def Jam Recordings label. She has been astonishingly successful in the short time she has been on the music scene, attaining five Billboard Hot 100 No. 1's with "SOS," "Umbrella," "Take a Bow," "Disturbia" and T.I.'s "Live Your Life." Like Rihanna, I had a bright future in my early 20s. I met my abusive lover at 22. I'd just graduated from Harvard and had a job at Seventeen Magazine in New York. My husband worked on Wall Street and was an Ivy League graduate as well. In our world, we were the last couple you'd imagine enmeshed in domestic violence. Many of my ex-husband's attacks also took place in our car. For reasons I never understood, the enclosed, soundproof space brought out his worst violence. He punched me so fiercely that my face had bruises from his fist on one side and from hitting the window on the other. As trapped in the car as I was in our marriage, it was there that I endured tirades about how controlling I was with money, how flirtatious and naïve I was with other men, how defiant and disrespectful I was of my husband's authority. So, I suppose I have more understanding than most about the shame, fury, confusion and disappointment Rihanna may be experiencing. What's hardest for outsiders to fathom is how lethal a cocktail love, hope and sympathy can be. I first fell for my husband the night he confided how he, like Chris Brown, had been traumatized as a young boy by domestic violence in his home. "He used to hit my mom ... He made me terrified all the time, terrified like I had to pee on myself," Brown said during a 2007 interview with Giant magazine. Brown hasn't explained what happened in the recent incident, but this week he released a statement saying that he's sorry and saddened by it. Our culture encourages women to nurture men, making it predictable that many experience a seductive empathy for abusive men, as well as the misguided hope that love can obliterate an ugly past. In my case, it took four years, myriad terrifying attacks, and the intervention of the police and family court before I understood how little I could help my ex get over his abusive childhood. I certainly felt alone during my abusive relationship, but unfortunately I was in good company. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that between 1 million and 3 million women in America are physically abused by their husband or boyfriend each year. Every day, on average, three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. At some point in our lives, 25 percent of American women will report being physically abused or raped by intimate partners, according to the National Violence Against Women Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, these statistics, grim as they are, fail to highlight the root of the abuse cycle. A national survey showed that 50 percent of men who frequently assault their wives also frequently abuse their children. Witnessing abuse, as Chris Brown and my ex-husband did as young boys, is a form of abuse itself. Tragically, many victims of childhood abuse grow up to be abusers themselves. I always sensed that my husband didn't want to be hurting me -- he knew exactly how excruciating love and fear felt mixed together -- but his childhood rage overpowered his adult sensibilities. A few months after I left my marriage, I happened across another couple in another car, late at night on an empty street. I slowed down as a well-dressed woman about 25 years old was walking away from a white Honda, brushing off a tall, handsome young man wearing a sports coat and jeans. Suddenly she turned and tried to run. He grabbed her with his long arms and shoved her up against a dirty storefront. Even from my car I could see the fear on her pretty face. Without thinking, I jerked my car over and got out. By this time the man had let the woman go and she'd slid behind the wheel of the car. He stepped back as I approached, his anger displaced by uncertainty and shame at being interrupted. I didn't look at him. I leaned into the car as she sat clutching the wheel, crying and staring straight ahead. "I just left a husband who beat me for three years," I said. "You do not have to put up with this. You do not deserve to be treated like this." "I know," she whispered as fresh tears poured down her face. She sniffed loudly and shook her head. She wouldn't look at me. Her eyes were rimmed red, but I could see resolve in them. "You're right," she said. "It's just taking me longer than I thought." As I left, I gave the man a long stare. The spell had been broken and his face was open, sorrowful, filled with hope and fear -- a look I had seen dozens of times on my husband's face. How long would that look last before he got angry again? I could feel the woman's determination as I got back into my car. I knew she would be all right, one day. The man, I was less certain about. Family violence is a criminal act; perpetrators, while often former victims themselves, need to accept culpability. Until we can prevent children from witnessing and becoming victims of abuse, the cycle will repeat itself: there will be many more Chris Browns and "alleged victims" in our headlines and in our homes. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Leslie Morgan Steiner. | Leslie Steiner: I was victim of domestic violence many years ago .
She says such abuse is prevalent and cuts across all demographic groups .
Our culture encourages women to nurture even abusive men, she says .
Steiner: Exposing children to such violence perpetuates cycle in next generation . |
230,507 | b67ef36789ba1d7c560ecb7a768dd45c4c92dcca | A new mum has told of the agony she felt after a doctor left a surgical swab 'half the size of her hand' inside her body for nearly two weeks. Theresa Nguyen, 28, from Wellington, New Zealand, was unable to walk and struggled to care for her baby son after the mistake at Wellington Hospital. Mrs Nguyen gave birth to her first child at 4.17am on June 19 – a daughter she and her husband Tomi, 33, gave the traditional Vietnamese name Quynh. Theresa Nguyen gave birth to her first child, daughter Quynh, on June 19 . Because Quynh's cord was wrapped around her neck, a specialist was called in to perform a delivery using a suction cup, which resulted in Mrs Nguyen's perineum tearing. On a particularly busy night at on the ward, when the doctor was dealing with five women in labour, the doctor soaked up the excess blood with surgical swabs and gave her stitches before leaving. 'Unfortunately he didn't count the amount of swabs he used,' Mrs Nguyen told MailOnline. She spent two days in hospital and a further two days on a post-natal ward, where she was given painkillers. Once the drugs started to wear off when Mrs Nguyen returned home,she began to experience significant pain. 'It felt like something was digging inside me, it was a stabbing pain,' she said. Mrs Nguyen couldn't walk up the stairs, sit without pain, or get up and down through the night to feed Quynh. After the birth the doctor left a surgical swab inside her body, which she said was the size of a sanitary pad rolled up . Her husband had to take an extra week off work because she was unable to care for their daughter by herself during the day. Almost two weeks after the birth, Mrs Nguyen made an appointment to see her local doctor - which she almost cancelled because she thought the discomfort was 'just normal'. 'I actually spoke to a friend and said I felt quite uncomfortable and she said it took her a month to recover and I thought, "maybe it's just normal". It's been less than two weeks.' She ended up going to the appointment on Monday and the doctor who conducted her internal examination initially thought Mrs Nguyen had a 'big white cyst'. Mrs Nguyen was unable to sit without extreme pain because of the swab . Another doctor, called in to give a second opinion, said he thought she had something stuck inside her. Doctors removed the surgical swab with forceps, a procedure she described as 'really painful… it was like a mini-birth without the contractions'. Mrs Nguyen said the surgical swab was 'really big, bigger than half of my hand. It was the size of a sanitary pad rolled up and it had expanded because of the blood.' Mrs Nguyen said she was terrified by what they had found. 'You read stories about toxic shock syndrome with tampons after only a few days,' she said. She has been put on strong antibiotics and is awaiting the results of tests to make sure she has not contracted an infection. Mrs Nguyen said that she received an apology from two senior staff members at the hospital yesterday, which she accepted. 'The doctor was very professional, a very lovely guy… I don't blame the doctor, he was just under too much pressure,' she said. Two days after the swab was removed, Mrs Nguyen said she is feeling great and able to concentrate on her daughter. 'I feel so much better, it's amazing the difference that it's made. It's only onwards and upwards.' | Theresa Nguyen from Wellington gave birth to her first child on June 19 .
The doctor left a surgical swab inside her body .
She experienced intense pain for 11 days before doctors found the swab . |
279,169 | f5af681b6e92e0913e031a5e8fe8d058ef709cce | These are the adorable images of a mother and baby polar bear sharing a tender moment in the snow. The cute cub can be seen cheekily pulling on his mother's tail to get her attention and prancing about in the snow. And it looks like his pleas for affection paid off as his mother gently tickled his tummy before scooping him up in her arms for a cuddle. Excuse me: The baby polar bear bit his mother's tail and was then tickled on the belly at Moscow Zoo, Russia . The images were captured by . photographer Sergei Gladyshev at Moscow Zoo who said he often . photographs this family of polar bears. He said: ‘Last winter the polar bear mum had three cubs. ‘All . three are different, one is always hungry, the second loves to chase . crows and this one just likes to lie on the ground and get cuddles from . mum. Mother bear: A polar bear cub is tickled by its mother at Moscow Zoo . Little scamp: The baby polar bear pranced about on the ice under the watchful eye of his mother . ‘I often visit the zoo . to watch and photograph the cubs, it's lovely to just sit and watch them . playing and being cared for by their mum. ‘You can tell the mother bear loves all her cubs the same and it's lovely to watch her interactive with them all individually.’ In the wild female polar bears den by digging into deep snow drifts, which provide protection and insulation from the Arctic elements. They give birth in winter, usually to twins. Young cubs live with their mothers for some 28 months to learn the survival skills they need to survive. Although these polar bears look cute, females aggressively protect their young and can be a danger to himans. | Polar bear cub seen cheekily playing with its mother in the snow .
Close-up images taken by photographer Sergei Gladyshev at Moscow Zoo . |
157,581 | 57becf197456ae4b7c71d981a0eaf3525df30db7 | Crackdown: Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said a tougher approach is needed with prisoners who brag that the system is easy . Two violent thugs caught boasting of their easy prison life on Facebook have been stripped of their perks, put in segregation and face a police investigation. Justice Secretary Chris Grayling reacted with fury to the pictures published in yesterday’s Mail showing Sonny Barker and Korrel Kennedy posing in their cell and surrounded by gadgets. Mr Grayling demanded the prison authorities ‘throw the book’ at the pair, who now face having up to 42 extra days added to their sentences. The thugs – whose antics have sparked a new ‘soft justice’ row – have lost their TV, are being made to wear prison uniform and could be moved to a tougher jail. Police have also been informed. Having a mobile phone in jail is a criminal offence carrying a two-year sentence, but prison officials rarely bother to call in the police. Mr Grayling is determined that faith in the entire prison system should not be undermined by thugs boasting on Facebook. Between July 2009 and June 2011 a shocking 342 inmates, including murderers, were caught using the social networking site while locked up. The pictures show Barker and Kennedy with a PlayStation, as well as a TV that is showing a music channel. Other pictures appear to show a cell filled with a mini-fridge, sound system, piles of snacks and posters of topless women. Barker, 20, was jailed for eight years after he held a mother and daughter at knifepoint in their home during a burglary. But the serial offender smuggled a phone into his cell at HMP Rochester in Kent to show off his cushy surroundings. Kennedy, 20, a former Jean Paul Gaultier model, was jailed for chasing a man with a knife and threatening hospital staff. Bragging: Sonny Barker (left) and Korrel Kennedy (right) posted pictures with a mobile phone they were not supposed to have. Carrying a phone is a criminal offence and carries a two-year sentence . Consequences: The men have had their TV taken away and have been forced to wear prison uniforms. They could face an extra 42 days on top of their jail terms . In his first post on Facebook on June . 29, Barker wrote: ‘What’s happening! Coming from live from prison. Whos . (sic) missing me.’ He added: ‘I’ll be home soon. Real soon December . 2015.’ When one friend wrote he had ‘it on . smash’ – prison slang for living an easy life inside – he replied: ‘When . haven’t I had it on smash? Admit it, been bossing since Elmley . [Prison].’ HMP Rochester is . a Category C young offender institution for 650 males deemed . untrustworthy and likely to try to escape. Past inspections have found . evidence of bullying and a Fight Club-style culture. The men now face being moved to a . Category B jail. Decisions on whether to add days to their sentences . will be taken by an independent adjudicator within days. Last . night a Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘We are introducing a tough . new regime in our prisons, and we are serious about enforcing it. 'Prisoners are not allowed to access social networking sites, and we do not tolerate this kind of behaviour. ‘When an offender breaks the rules, we strip them of their privileges and they are dealt with severely. This is the right thing to do, and it sends a clear signal to any other prisoner who might step out of line.’ Mr Grayling has made a determined effort to stop prisons being seen as ‘holiday camps’. But there are concerns that the tough message has yet to properly filter down to individual jails, with governors taking action over Facebook only when a minister intervenes. Ministers have now issued new guidelines reminding jails of their duty to act. | Sonny Barker and Korrel Kennedy, both 20, could have 42 days added to jail sentences .
Have lost their TV, and have been forced to wear uniform after posting the pictures .
Having a phone in prison is a criminal offence carrying a two-year sentence . |
159,554 | 5a3ba58c7f9c05de05c5d16eb7b965d0c2dfd996 | The family of the Christian mother-of-two on death row in Sudan have angrily accused the country's government of 'saying one thing and doing something else' as hopes for her release fade. Relatives of Meriam Ibrahim told MailOnline that they were 'frustrated and worried' that she had not been let go - despite the Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary Abdallah Alazrag promising her freedom. Gabriel Wani, Meriam's brother-in-law, said they were already so disillusioned that they would only believe the promises when she was actually released. Meriam, 27, a doctor, has been in jail in the Sudanese capital Khartoum since September and was sentenced to death for apostasy and adultery by the country’s strict Islamic courts. Scroll down for video . Barbaric: Meriam’s case has attracted international . outrage, not least because she will be given 100 lashes within two . weeks unless her appeal is a success . Ibrahim has a son, 18-month-old Martin, who is living with her in jail, where she gave birth to a second child last week. By law, children must follow their father's religion . A judge ruled that she had broken the law because her father was a Muslim she should worship Islam - and that she could not marry Daniel, a biochemist who is a naturalized US citizen, because they are both Christians. Meriam’s case has attracted international outrage, not least because she will be given 100 lashes within two weeks unless her appeal is a success. She also gave birth to her daughter Maya while in shackles in jail. Her son 20-month-old Martin has been held with her at all times in her cell. In an interview with MailOnline Gabriel, a mental health counsellor who lives near his brother in Manchester, New Hampshire, said: ‘We will only believe that she is free when she is let out and arrives here in the US. ‘I said from the start that with the Sudanese government we can expect anything and that’s what has happened. ‘They are saying one thing and doing something else. We are frustrated and worried. It’s not surprising but we just want her freed’. Gabriel Wani, Meriam's brother-in-law, says he refuses to believe the Sudanese government's claims until he actually sees the mother-of-two set free . At the end of last week the international pressure to release Meriam appeared to have having an effect. The governments of the US and the UK had condemned her ‘barbaric’ treatment, British Prime Minister David Cameron had called for her to be freed, as had Hillary Clinton and actress and human rights campaigner Mia Farrow. An Amnesty petition attracted more than 900,000 signatures and the Twitter hashtag ‘#savemeriam’ began trending. Hopes were raised when Alazrag said in an interview over the weekend that Meriam would be ‘freed within days’ and ‘will definitely not be executed’. However the Sudan Tribune has now reported that Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Abu Bakr al-Sideeg did not know of any plans to release Meriam ‘before a ruling from an appeals court’. Campaigners had said that they feared the Sudanese government was just ‘playing games’ to try and get the international community off its back. Meriam was condemned to death under Islamic law because she is Christian and married a Christian man . In many countries the headlines in the newspapers on Sunday was that Meriam was ‘to be freed’ but the reality now appears to be different. MailOnline can also reveal that Meriam has come under 'intense pressure' in recent days to renounce her Christian faith. A spokeswoman for the US-based campaign group Sudan Justice Centre, which has been paying for her legal fees, said that she was determined not to give in. She said: 'They have been promising Meriam money and security if she becomes a Muslim. 'They have said they will protect her and her family if she does what they want. 'She has had clerics in her cell practically the whole day telling her to give up her Christian faith. 'She feels like she is under a lot of pressure but she won't do what they want.' | Meriam's brother-in-law said government has been 'saying one thing and doing something else'
A Sudan foreign ministry spokesman said there are no plans to release her 'before the ruling of an appeals court'
Meriam gave birth in chains and is being held in a squalid Sudanese jail .
She was sentenced to death for converting to Christianity and marrying a Christian man . |
86,115 | f4467ab342f0ad79aad68a80f15659f52620186f | Nearly three-quarters of American adults who use the Internet have witnessed online harassment, while 40 per cent have experienced it themselves, according to a new first-of-its-kind report. Young adults, aged 18 to 29, were the most likely age group to see and undergo online harassment. Women aged 18 to 24 were disproportionately the victims of stalking and sexual harassment, according to the survey by Pew Research Center. Women aged 18 to 24 were more likely to be the victims of stalking and sexual harassment online according to the survey (stock image posed by models) The types of harassment Pew asked about range from name-calling to physical threats, sexual harassment and stalking. Half of those who were harassed said they didn't know the person who had most recently attacked them. When asked to describe their experience of harassment, respondents referred to social media in their answers. Graph showing age groups of Internet users being harassed on different web locations . 'I was harassed and threatened through messages and comments on my Facebook page', one wrote. 'I had someone use Facebook to try to spread nasty rumors about me', another wrote. Although women were found to be the victim of stalking and sexual harassment more often, men were more likely to be called offensive names than women. Graph showing harassment on social media, online gaming and comments section of websites . Of all Internet users (89 per cent of the U.S. population), 32 percent of men and 22 percent of women were called names. Men were also more likely to be physically threatened. People who have more information available about them online, and those who work in the tech industry and promote themselves online, were also more likely to be harassed on the Internet. Thirty-eight percent of people who were harassed online said a stranger was behind the threats, and another 26 percent didn't know who the person was. Two-thirds of those who were harassed said the most recent incident took place on a social networking site or app, while 22 percent saw it happen in the comments section of a website. Meanwhile, 16 per cent said it happened in online gaming. Just five per cent of those who were harassed reported the incident to law enforcement, while nearly half confronted the person online. Just under half (44 per cent) said they un-friended or blocked the person. Not everyone said they were hurt by online harassment but 14 per cent of people found their most recent incident 'extremely upsetting,' and 22 percent said it was 'not at all upsetting.' The rest of the people surveyed had reactions in between. The telephone and online survey was conducted between May 30 and June 30 2014 among 3,217 respondents. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Graph showing who is responsible for online harassment - most of whom are unknown to their victims . | Women aged between 18 to 24 are most likely to be victims of stalking and sexual harassment online .
Young adults between 18 to 29 are most likely to be harassed online .
Almost three quarters of American adults have witnessed online harassment - with 40% having experienced it themselves .
89% of the U.S. population are Internet users . |
48,136 | 87e1c277a8be33bc008933f88031ffd3442050ba | By . Matt Chorley, James Chapman and Tim Shipman . PUBLISHED: . 11:39 EST, 30 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:52 EST, 1 November 2012 . The coalition risked descending into political infighting today, after David Cameron suffered his first significant Commons defeat at the hands of Labour and Tory rebels demanding a tougher stance on the EU’s budget. Tory rebels claimed they had defied the . Prime Minister to vote for the British people, while loyalists warned . Conservatives must ‘get a grip’ and support Mr Cameron or face defeat at . the 20-15 general election. Chancellor George Osborne refused to say a real-terms reduction in Brussels spending was impossible but Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned those demanding a cut had ‘absolutely no hope’ of achieving their goal. Scroll down for video . David Cameron and Ed Miliband clashed over the . government's stance on the EU budget at Prime Minister's Questions in . the Commons today . Announcement: Commons Speaker reads the result in the House of Commons last night. MPs voted for a cut by 307 votes to 294 . Result: The result is announced to the House as MPs watch on . Mr Cameron will go to next month's European Council summit calling for a real terms freeze in the EU's seven-year budget. But MPs instead backed a call for a cut by 307 votes to 294. Mr Cameron has faced repeated comparisons to John Major, whose premiership was dominated by Tory splits over Europe and endless debates on the Maastricht Treaty which eroded his authority. Tory MP Tony Baldry warned Mr Cameron's hopes of winning the next election had been damaged by last night's vote. 'Colleagues have got to realise that we've got to get a grip and support the Prime Minister. 'Electors do not vote for parties that they see as being divided. I do not believe that the Conservative Party should be putting itself in the position to lose the next general election,' he told BBC Radio 4. The PM yesterday indicated he would use Britain’s veto unless Brussels agreed to limit its budget increases to the level of inflation. But this did not satisfy the Eurosceptics in his party, who insist on a real-terms reduction. In the first major defeat of Mr Cameron’s premiership, a total of 53 Tory backbenchers voted with Labour, which was accused of cynically shifting its position on EU spending earlier this week to embarrass the Prime Minister. Senior government figures had spent the day pleading with rebel Tories to accept that a real-terms budget freeze was the best possible outcome from a crunch EU summit next week. Today Mr Osborne sought to placate the rebels, saying he understood the ‘frustration’ of MPs over ‘outrageous’ rises in EU spending. He declined to say whether he believed a real-terms cut was possible and played down the significance of last night's vote as a ‘debate about tactics’. Deputy PM Nick Clegg said those calling for a cut in the EU budget had 'absolutely no hope' of achieving their goal . ‘What we have got to do is come to a position that is agreed by the other countries and that the House of Commons accepts. That's the circle we've got to square,’ Mr Osborne told BBC Radio 4. ‘What you saw last night was a debate about tactics, about the start of a negotiation, understandable frustration from MPs on all sides of the Conservative Party and the House of Commons that the European Union is spending too much.’ He also attacked Labour, claiming its tactics reminded him of the ‘unprincipled’ stances taken by Conservatives in the wake of the Labour landslide in 1997. Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier said ministers would ‘hear and take notice’ of what Parliament had said. But Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg aimed insisted the Coalition Government’s position remains the same. ‘We will not accept an increase, above inflation, to the EU Budget. That is a real terms freeze. And we will protect the British rebate in full. That is the toughest position of any European country.’ In a speech to be delivered to the Chatham House international affairs think-tank, he also turned his fire on Labour, angrily accusing them of a ‘dishonest’ and ‘hypocritical’ change of policy for short-term political advantage. ‘In pushing a completely unrealistic position on the EU budget - one that is miles away from any other country's position - Labour would have absolutely no hope of getting a budget deal agreed.’ Ministers insist there is no chance of . persuading all other 26 EU member states to accept a real-terms cut in . spending, since 17 of them get more out of Brussels spending than they . put in. However, they . believe that with most governments being forced to tighten their belts . at home in an age of austerity, there is scope for an agreement on a . freeze. At Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Mr Cameron told MPs: ‘This Government is taking the toughest line in these budget negotiations of any government since we joined the European Union. ‘At best we would like it cut, at worst frozen, and I’m quite prepared to use the veto if we don’t get a deal which is good for Britain. But let’s be clear – it is in our interest to try to get a deal because a seven-year freeze would keep our bills down compared to annual budgets.’ If Mr Cameron does wield Britain’s veto, no deal will be reached – and under the EU’s rules, the current year’s budget is rolled forward, plus inflation. Annual budgets can be agreed by a majority of member states, rather than the unanimity required for a longer seven-year agreement. But last night’s vote will increase the pressure on the Prime Minister, who last year became the first to deploy the veto when he refused to sign up to a treaty on ‘fiscal union’, to repeat the exercise at a summit next month. Enlarge . Financial Secretary to the Treasury Greg Clark said in yesterday's debate: ‘We want to see the EU budget cut. Part of the negotiating mandate that the Prime Minister has agreed is that the very most that we would accept would be a real-terms freeze. ‘If there is no cut or no real freeze, there is no deal. The framework will be vetoed. The Prime Minister has a formidable task in persuading other countries of this, many of whom were looking forward to a seven-year payout.’ Rebel Douglas Carswell said: ‘This is not about Tory divisions or Labour hypocrisy, it’s the moment the House of Commons finally said, “Enough is enough”. Enough to the Whitehall elite and the Eurocrats. We will not put up with it any more.’ Peter Bone, another Eurosceptic MP, hailed what he called a ‘remarkable victory’. ‘Parliament spoke for the people,’ he said. ‘There was enormous pressure on colleagues to vote with the Government. It was a very significant victory for the people. It was because MPs have to face their constituents.’ There were bizarre scenes in the Commons as backbench Tories clashed with each other and with Labour members. Veteran MP Edward Leigh compared his colleague Sir Tony Baldry to wartime prime minister Neville Chamberlain, who was accused of selling out to Hitler, after Sir Tony warned it would be an act of supreme ‘self-indulgence’ to defy the Prime Minister. Remarkable victory: Peter Bone, left, said that the defeat was the day Parliament spoke for the people while Douglas Carswell added that it was the moment the House of Commons said 'enough is enough' Sir Tony denounced claims by the rebels that defeat strengthens Mr Cameron’s position at next month’s summit as ‘cobblers’. He warned that failure to back Mr Cameron would cause the Tories to lose the next election. ‘If colleagues are not prepared to support the Prime Minister, every time they go into a division lobby different from that of the Prime Minister, they are weakening the Prime Minister’s negotiating hand in Europe,’ he said. Abstained: Senior Right-wingers such as former defence secretary chose not to vote rather than side with Labour . ‘We simply cannot carry on with this sort of self-indulgence. If this party hopes to be in government after the next general election, it has just got to get a grip and start supporting the Prime Minister.’ Labour’s Treasury spokesman Chris Leslie, meanwhile, was jeered by Tories who accused Labour, which gave away a huge chunk of Britain’s budget rebate and waved through inflationary increases while in power, of a cynical stunt. Mr Leslie repeatedly refused to say whether Labour would use a budget veto, though his fellow Treasury frontbencher Rachel Reeves had earlier suggested the party might. Mr Leslie said: ‘A real-terms reduction is possible but it requires persuasive diplomacy, careful alliance building and, above all, leadership.’ Senior Right-wingers such as former defence secretary Liam Fox abstained rather than vote on the same side as Labour. But in a hard-hitting speech yesterday Dr Fox warned Mr Cameron that he must threaten to leave the EU or he ‘cannot achieve’ his pledge to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with Brussels. ‘If you’re not willing to cross the Rubicon on that point you cannot achieve what we’re trying to achieve,’ he told the Institute of Economic Affairs. Dr Fox said the Tories should enter the next election on a pledge to go ‘back to the Common Market’, stressing economic not political links with Europe and then offer a referendum on the new deal or exit. A source close to the Prime Minister said: ‘We were expecting to lose this vote. Everyone agrees we want to keep down EU spending. The only difference is how you do that. ‘The Prime Minister has made it very clear that a cut is the best case scenario and a freeze is the worst case scenario. He will keep fighting to get the best deal for taxpayers. David Cameron is the only Prime Minister in history to use the veto and our backbenchers understand that. Parliament is absolutely right to express its view. It’s a “take note” motion and we will take note.’ | Government loses crunch vote by 307 votes to 294 as Commons demands a real terms cut in funding for Brussels .
Nick Clegg says there is 'absolutely no chance' of persuading all 26 states for a real-terms cut .
George Osborne says he understands the 'frustration' of backbenchers .
Rebels say they have spoken for the people but loyalists warn Tory hopes of re-election have been damaged by the revolt . |
273,332 | ee1341139221ebb99bcf9a37c8cc7d6a88d6a113 | By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 05:22 EST, 6 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:40 EST, 6 December 2012 . These CCTV images show the last healthy moments of a three-year-old girl skipping through a supermarket door to buy sweets, before she later died from a mysterious head injury. Mariam Alam, of Coventry, West Midlands, was on the brink of death less than 20 minutes after this footage was taken - and police have issued a fresh appeal for information one year after her death. The little girl was taken to hospital by relatives after suffering the head injury and died despite the efforts of paramedics - but detectives are still not certain how or where she suffered the injury. Scroll down to see the CCTV and appeal... Last moments: Mariam Alam, of Coventry, West Midlands, was on the brink of death less than 20 minutes after the footage was taken - and police have issued a fresh appeal for information one year after her death . Supermarket entry: The West Midlands Police CCTV footage shows Mariam wearing a red flowery dress, white tights and a pink coat walking with her mother at a Lidl store in the Foleshill area of the city last November . ‘We haven’t forgotten about Mariam,’ Detective Inspector Chris Hanson of Coventry Police said. ‘We’re still very interested in what happened to her. I’m determined to get to the bottom of it.’ The West Midlands Police CCTV footage shows Mariam wearing a red flowery dress, white tights and a pink coat walking with her mother at a Lidl store in the Foleshill area of the city last November. Since her death, detectives have faced a wall of silence from some people while others have given wildly different accounts of how she was hurt, but they are appealing again to the local community. Det Insp Hanson, from the public protection unit, said: ‘Mariam was very poorly when she arrived at hospital and died a short time later. At that stage paramedics didn’t know why she had collapsed. ‘There was no obvious trauma or injuries. At first it was treated as an unexpected death. ‘We were unsure what had caused her to collapse, sometimes children can suddenly and unexpectedly become ill due to an infection or an underlying undiagnosed medical condition.’ Walking out: Since her death, detectives have faced a wall of silence from some people while others have given wildly different accounts of how she was hurt, but they are appealing again to the local community . Leaving: Twelve months later police still have more questions than answers about how the tragic toddler died . But the police probe took a turn when the post mortem exam - carried out as routine when a small child dies unexpectedly - found out that Mariam died as a result of a significant head injury. The impact of the injury was so severe . pathologists likened it to a hard fall from height or a heavy blow to . the head. Police then launched an investigation into Mariam’s death. 'We haven’t forgotten about Mariam. We’re still very interested in what happened to her. I’m determined to get to the bottom of it' Det Insp Chris Hanson, Coventry Police . But 12 months later they have more questions than answers about how the tragic toddler died. When witnesses were interviewed they offered differing accounts of the day she passed away. Early investigations cast doubt on some versions of events and to this day officers cannot even be certain where Mariam suffered the fatal injury. Det Insp Hanson said: ‘Less than 20 minutes after this CCTV image was taken in the nearby Lidl supermarket Mariam was on the brink of death. ‘We have built a picture of what was going on at the time but we’re still not sure where she was, whether she was deliberately hit or whether she had a fall.’ Still looking: Detective Inspector Chris Hanson of Coventry Police's public protection unit said the force 'hasn't forgotten about Mariam' and he is 'determined to get to the bottom' of what happened . Location: Three-year-old Mariam Alam died in hospital in November 2011 after an ambulance was called to a house on this road in the Foleshill area of Coventry . He added that investigators believe people in the community know how she died but are reluctant to come forwards. ‘Very early on in the investigation we had an anonymous call,’ the officer said. ‘That person helped to point us in the right direction. We believe there is someone in the community who is desperate to tell us what happened to Mariam. They may be able to tell us a little bit more. 'We were unsure what had caused her to collapse. Sometimes children can suddenly and unexpectedly become ill due to an infection or an underlying undiagnosed medical condition' Det Insp Chris Hanson, Coventry Police . ‘We would appeal for that person to get back in touch.’ Police will today recreate Mariam’s last journey - made on November 30 last year at around 1pm. They will visit the mosque near her home on Fisher Road in Foleshill and leaflet the area in an effort to jog people’s memories. A 35-year-old man and two women, aged 32 and 25, were arrested in March and later bailed but to date no-one has been charged over the death. | Mariam Alam, of Coventry, was seen on CCTV at a Lidl store last November .
Police issue fresh appeal to public one year after she died of head trauma .
Officers still trying to determine how or where little girl suffered fatal injury .
Detective Inspector Chris Hanson: 'We haven’t forgotten about Mariam'
Anyone with details about the death of three-year-old Mariam Alam should call Coventry Police’s public protection unit on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 . |
262,176 | df921011c01d2725121d78addb4c5e71413186aa | By . Peter Campbell . PUBLISHED: . 20:09 EST, 16 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:45 EST, 17 July 2013 . Pay and bonuses for Goldman Sachs bankers have soared by 10 per cent. Employees have raked in an average of £170,000 – and that is for just the first six months of the year. But with many staff involved in back office or temporary work, many high-flyers are likely to have received far larger sums. On the rise: Goldman Sachs's profits have almost doubled as the Wall Street bank reported booming business (file picture) Total pay for the bank’s 31,700 . global staff – 6,000 of whom work in the UK – swelled to £5.3billion in . the first half of the year. The big rise, at a time when millions of families are struggling, was criticised as ‘reminiscent of the pre-crisis days’. Goldman Sachs’s profits have almost doubled as the Wall Street bank reported booming business. For the last three months, pre-tax profits rose 87 per cent to £1.7billion and to £4billion for the first half of the year. Chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said the results were ‘solid’. Reaction: Chief executive Lloyd Blankfein said the results - showing that for the last three months, pre-tax profits rose 87 per cent to £1.7billion and to £4billion for the first half of the year - were 'solid' But David Hillman of the Robin Hood Tax . campaign said: ‘Goldman Sachs’s bumper profit announcement is way out of . kilter with the rest of the economy and reminiscent of the pre-crisis . days. 'Goldman Sachs’s bumper profit announcement is way out of kilter with the rest of the economy and reminiscent of the pre-crisis days' David Hillman, Robin Hood Tax campaign . 'Governments must learn the lessons of past mistakes and bring to an end our two-tier economy that benefits the banks.’ Despite the global downturn, last year Goldman paid staff more than £8billion, an average of £250,000 each. This year the group was heavily criticised over a scheme that would have helped its bankers avoid tax. It planned to wait until April 6, when the top rate of tax fell from 50p to 45p, to pay 2012’s bonuses. It relented after a public backlash. | Employees at Goldman Sachs have raked in an average of £170,000 .
Total pay for 31,700 global staff swelled to £5.3bn in first half of 2013 .
Big rise has been criticised as 'reminiscent of the pre-crisis days'
For the last three months, bank's pre-tax profits rose 87% to £1.7bn . |
223,138 | acde805cc5605783912553d9c0bdeb196a7170c4 | (CNN) -- It was a five cent Chinese yuan coin that gave Tan Yuan Yuan the chance to dance. Poise, character and determination led to Tan becoming San Francisco Ballet's first Chinese principal dancer. Born into a traditional family in Shanghai, the obstacles Tan broke through to become one of today's most critically acclaimed ballerinas began at home. Her mother who had wanted to be a ballerina saw that her daughter's physique, looks and determination fitted perfectly into a ballerina's profile and encouraged Tan to become one. "She wanted me to fulfill her dream," Tan told CNN's Talk Asia. But her father, an engineer, had a different plan for his daughter. "He wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer...because I was a good student in school," Tan said. Her father saw ballet as a western art form inappropriate for a traditional Chinese girl and as a career that is unstable and short. The two settled their differences with a flip of a coin that landed in favor of her mother's wishes and her father accepted the defeat as a matter of fate. The relationship between ballet and Tan began at the age of five when Tan was mesmerized by the beauty of a performance of Swan Lake on TV. Apart from the tutus and the fairy queen's crown, the music and the ballerina's movements impressed her. At age 11, Tan began her rigorous training at Shanghai Dance School and graduated four years later. But entering Shanghai Dance School a year later than the other pupils made it difficult for Tan to catch up. "I wasn't very good. I was always in the corner crying," said Tan. Things took a turn for the better in her third year when Ms. Ling, a new teacher took over the class and "put her full time into our ballet trainings," Tan added. When CNN asked about her motivation to be an incredible performer, she explained: "It is in Chinese blood to always try your best...and no matter what happens today, for example, if your back gives out or your foot is in pain or your toe is bleeding, no matter what happens you always give the audience a perfect show." San Francisco Ballet artistic director, Helgi Tomasson, saw this desire and determination in Tan at an international ballet competition in France and immediately stole her from Stuttgart Ballet in Germany that had offered her a scholarship. Joining the company in 1995, two years later she became the first Chinese principal dancer in San Francisco's 70 year history. Along the way to becoming one of the world's best ballerinas, she has won three international dancing awards, danced at the White House for former President Bill Clinton, and was named one of TIME magazine's "Asia's Heroes" in 2004. But despite the accolades, Tan remains down to earth, even sewing her own point shoes with elastics and ribbons to attain the perfect shape for her feet. "The shoes are just part of my life... it usually takes me more than half an hour to sew," she said. She has recently accepted Hong Kong Ballet's offer to be a guest principal dancer in "Tricolor", three 20th century masterpieces which include George Balanchine's Rubies, Serge Lifar's "Suite en Blanc", and Antony Tudor's "Jardin aux Lilas". In the future, Tan hopes to be a ballet educator, choreographer or designer in both China and the United States. But in the meantime she has decided to follow her Buddhist teachings and just "go with the flow." "If a good opportunity comes to me I will embrace it. I am very grateful that I have this opportunity; if it's not mine, it's not mine," she told CNN. | Tan Yuan Yuan is San Francisco Ballet's principal dancer .
Career path as a ballerina was decided by the flip of a coin .
Growing up in traditional Chinese family, her father wanted her to be a doctor . |
233,928 | bada1dcdabdfb29c00f0820749b0d37c513c5fe9 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 02:03 EST, 19 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:36 EST, 19 September 2013 . Spot the difference: Home Secretary Theresa May says police should have only one target but 178 have been set in the past year . Just days after police were told by the Home Secretary they 'have only one target, to reduce crime' it has emerged forces have been have set 178 in less than a year. Despite Theresa May's pledge to cut red tape officers are having to deal with even more brought in by police and crime commissioners (PCCs), it emerged today. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners said today these targets had 'no resemblance' to previous Government goals and are based on what communities in England and Wales want. Mrs May championed PCCs as the 'voice of the people' when they were elected outside London last November to replace police authorities. But it has been revealed that many have brought in dozens of new performance targets since taking office. Leicestershire has brought in the most - 26 - which will be measured against satisfaction surveys and crime figures. Norfolk has brought in targets to reduce crimes at certain times of night while Thames Valley's ten include 40 metal theft operations per year and to 'disrupt 20 problem and organised crime groups that prey on . vulnerable people and isolated communities'. A BBC survey found18 of the 41 PCCs have set new targets. But since Theresa May became Home Secretary in 2010 she pledged to begin 'dismantling targets' and allow officers 'to pursue the crimes and criminals you . believe you should'. Disparity: The Government wants red tape reduced but the PCCs they championed say new targets are needed to satisfy the communities they serve . At the 2011 Tory conference she said A year later she said she 'hadn't . asked the police to be social workers, I've told them to cut crime' and this year said she had 'got . rid of Labour's plethora of targets'. Avon and Somerset - 4Cambridgeshire - 12Cumbria - 20Devon and Cornwall - 4Hampshire - 5Hertfordshire - 14 Kent - 5Leicestershire - 26 Norfolk - 9Northamptonshire - 1Northumbria - 8 Nottinghamshire - 21Thames Valley - 10 Warwickshire - 6 West Mercia - 15West Midlands - 4West Yorkshire - 1Wiltshire - 13 . Last Tuesday Theresa May spoke at the annual Superintendents' Association and told them: 'No more action plans, no more attempts by me . to second guess your operational decisions. 'I have given up . the old Home Office practice of issuing centralised, top-down diktats. I . am not going to try to micro-manage what you do. You now have only one . target: to reduce crime'. But instead they appear to be dealing with more. Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd, who is also . chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said they are brining in what is important to communities. 'Police and crime plan objectives bear no . resemblance to previous central government targets. Police and crime . commissioners put their draft five-year plans out for public . consultation and used the comments they received back to shape local . priorities to fight crime,' he said. 'Police and crime plans are designed . to reflect the views of local people and not constrain police officers . from cutting crime'. | Theresa May has told police: 'You have only one target, to reduce crime'
Yet research has found police and crime commissioners have brought in 178 .
PCCs were brought in last November by Government to be 'voice of people' |
159,151 | 59ba3f3de704e893c9fd07386d7707bdf6f21e86 | By . Deni Kirkova . PUBLISHED: . 07:07 EST, 4 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:30 EST, 4 August 2013 . Maryann Jacobsen warns against 'clean your plate' A leading nutritionist has slammed the age-old practice of encouraging your child to clean their plate at mealtimes. 'Controlling feeding practices, like "clean your plate", negatively affect food regulation skills as children age,' writes dietitian and family nutrition expert Maryann Jacobsen. Maryann notes: 'With all the negotiations at the table, children lose sight of their internal signals of hunger and fullness. 'By the time they are adults, the "shoulds" of eating rule over their body’s own wisdom and they don’t even know what being full means. 'Researchers at the University of . Minnesota found that young adults who used hunger and fullness to guide . eating not only had a lower body mass index than those who didn’t, they . also had lower instances of disordered eating. 'The girls were also less likely to diet and binge-eat,' writes Maryanne in the New York Times, . The . same study found children who are allowed to guide their eating through . intuition grow into adults with lower rates of disordered eating and . diet less. A study published in the May edition of journal Pediatrics . found half of all parents expect their adolescent children to clean . their plates, while a third prompted them to eat more - even after they . stated they were full. Researchers . found this to be detrimental to children's wellbeing and suggest . parents guide children to eat in moderation rather than encourage over . consumption. A psychologist . and research leader at Queensland University of Technology studied . children's eating habits and concluded those who grow up with eating . disorders strive to take control over their body - something which they . may feel has somewhat been taken away from them. Children who are allowed to guide their eating through intuition have lower rates of disordered eating . Dr Linda Gilmore. said: 'Parents . should not turn mealtime into a struggle for control, because some . evidence suggests that eating disorders such as anorexia stem from a . desire to take control over one's own body. 'If children are forced to sit at . the table until they eat it this turns into a struggle for who has . power over the child's eating habits which could well set the scene for . later eating problems.' A 2007 study published in the journal Appetite found 85 per cent of parents tried to get children to eat more. Those who use hunger and fullness to guide eating are less likely to diet and binge-eat . Eighty-three per cent of children ate . more than they might otherwise have, with 38 per cent eating moderately . to substantially more. Parents would used reasoning, praise, . and food rewards, mothers being more inclined to praise girls for eating . while fathers would use pressure tactics with boys. The researches concluded that 'it may be . that parents are inadvertently socialising their children to eat past . their internal hunger/satiety cues' and that their data 'reinforces . recommendations that parents should provide nutritious foods and . children, not parents, should decide what and how much of these foods . they eat'. 'A "happy plate" is one in front of a child who’s permitted to listen to her body,' writes Maryanne. 'Not our out-of-date rules.' Maryann is co-author of the new book Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters From High Chair to High School. 'Parents should provide nutritious foods, not decide what and how much of these foods children eat' | Maryann Jacobsen is a registered dietitian and family nutrition expert .
Mother of two (3 and 6) wrote that children can lose sight of internal signals .
'Controlling practices like clean your plate negatively affect food regulation'
Studies reinforce this, finding disorders in kids whose eating was controlled .
'Parents should provide nutritious foods, not decide how much children eat' |
202,648 | 925c46e329be46b8c17ad80690e5b2e2c48dcffe | (CNN) -- Pop music superstar Beyonce is indeed irreplaceable, postponing a scheduled show Tuesday in Belgium because of "dehydration and exhaustion," her representatives said. Taking her doctors' advice, Beyonce won't perform Tuesday night in Antwerp and is "awaiting word" before deciding what to do about a second Belgium show set for Wednesday, according to a statement from her camp. Other dates on her tour -- dubbed "The Mrs. Carter Show," the name of which comes from her status as the wife of Shawn Carter, the real name of rapper Jay-Z -- "are not expected to be affected," her representatives said. Since kicking off April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia, Beyonce had performed all around Europe. Her last show on that continent is scheduled for London on June 1, and four weeks later she'll kick off the North American leg of her tour, which runs through August. Shortly after the announcement about Tuesday's Belgium show -- which will be rescheduled -- a post on Beyonce's Facebook page read, "Antwerp thank you for bringing your donations to the venue today! #beyGOOD." | Beyonce is "awaiting word" from doctors before deciding on a Wednesday show .
Other dates on "The Mrs. Carter Show" tour shouldn't be affected, her camp says .
She began that tour in April, and it will end in the United States in August . |
210,561 | 9cb39367540a2645df748a06e3b779febe656f97 | By . Nick Purewal, Press Association . Tom Youngs has admitted it was a 'relief' when Stuart Lancaster confirmed missing England's New Zealand tour would not affect his Rugby World Cup chances. Leicester hooker Youngs was given dispensation to spend the summer looking after his ill wife Tiffany instead of touring New Zealand. Youngs revealed head coach Lancaster immediately allayed any fears over future selection chances, telling him to focus on his family. Tom Youngs was relieved when he was reassured of his England future despite not travelling to New Zealand . England head coach Stuart Lancaster told Youngs his World Cup hopes would not be harmed by missing tour . Now the 27-year-old is ready to repay Lancaster's backing, targeting a strong club campaign with Leicester and a return to England action in the autumn Tests. 'He understood the situation I was in, he realised it was best for me to go back and be with my family,' Youngs said. 'So I was extremely appreciative of that. 'To be fair if I had gone on tour, I think he would have known and I would have known that he wouldn't have got the best out of me because I would have been worried about things at home. 'So for him to say 'we're not going to judge you on this, it's important you stay at home and that's the best thing to do', that was fantastic and a relief.' Youngs helped Leicester to an impressive 24-20 Aviva Premiership victory at Exeter Chiefs last weekend, with the Tigers heading back to the west country to take on Bath on Saturday. England boss Lancaster has been given extra time by the Premiership to delay naming his Elite Player Squad until October. Youngs remained in England to care for his sick wife over the summer and did not travel to New Zealand . The England hooker will form a key part of Lancaster's squad during the QBE November internationals . England's top stars are effectively auditioning through club performances then, and Youngs is itching to make his mark. 'It was great of Stuart and that does kind of sum him up: he's a good man, an honest kind of guy who understands families and how they work,' said the Land Rover ambassador. 'He manages those situations really well, and he managed my situation incredibly well. 'So it was a big help. 'All those things that Stuart does, they help get the best out of the squad. 'Obviously you don't want to jeopardise your England chances, but then if you end up going on tour you probably end up not being able to concentrate fully on the rugby and not playing very well anyway. 'So then I was able to pick up at the start of the season with the summer camp at the end of August. Leicester Tigers and Tom Youngs frustratingly lost in the Aviva Premiership semi-finals last season . 'Now I know I'm back in, back playing well for Leicester and that's great.' Youngs paid a visit to High Wycombe RFC to help youngsters with their final preparations for the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup. The Leicester front-rower vividly remembers World Cup winner Neil Back holding a coaching session at his junior club, and is keen to continue the tradition. Youngs hopes England can capitalise on hosting next year's World Cup to boost the next generation's talent pool. 'I remember when I was about seven or eight Neil Back coming down to our club, and that was immense,' he said. 'It was brilliant to have an England player come down to the club. 'It sticks with me now, the excitement of it all. 'And hopefully England players and club players doing similar things now can have a similar effect. 'Hopefully the World Cup will bring more interest and more people back into the game, which will be great.' Leicester Tigers have started the season impressively with two wins from their opening two matches . Tom Youngs was speaking on behalf of Land Rover, official vehicle partner of Premiership Rugby and proud supporter of grassroots rugby festivals the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup. | Tom Youngs admitted it was a 'relief' when Stuart Lancaster told him staying home to care for his sick wife would not affect World Cup hopes .
England hooker missed the tour to New Zealand to care for his wife .
Youngs is determined to pay back Lancaster's backing this season .
Leicester Tigers forward played in 24-20 victory over Exeter Chiefs .
Youngs targeting the QBE November internationals with England . |
43,132 | 79a9478dcb88ec636b18130ca29016bdc59a3cd4 | An exasperated California family is in the extraordinary position of being unable to evict their live-in nanny who is refusing to work and refusing to leave their home. Marcella Bracamonte, 31, claims that nanny, Diane Stretton, 64, is threatening to sue her family for wrongful dismissal and abuse of the elderly and incredibly, has told them she wants them out of their own house daily between 8am and 8pm. Upland resident, Bracamonte, and her husband Ralph, hired Stretton on March 4 using Craigslist to help with their three children, ages 11, four and one, but when they tried to evict her police told them they could do nothing. Scroll Down for Video . Stumped: Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte with their three children, ages, 11, 4 and one . Disbelief: Marcella Bracamonte and her husband Ralph (right) are at their wits end with their nanny Diane Stretton . Dispute: Diane Stretton, 64, is suffering from COPD and has declined to move out of the Bracamonte's home because of their legal dispute . 'The first few weeks she was awesome,' said Bracamonte to ABC News about her squatter. 'She would come places with us, help out the kids. She was really great.' But overnight things changed for the stay at home mother and her electrical contractor husband. 'All of a sudden she stopped working, she would stay in her room all day and only come out when food was ready,' said Bracamonte. Stretton told Ralph and Marcella that she was suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that she was unable to leave her room and help with the kids. Initially concerned for her, the Bracamonte's decided that they couldn't have her living in their home anymore when she simply refused to do anything around the house. However, serious problems began on June 6 when they came to her with what they called a 'last chance letter', which outlined the terms of their initial agreement and threatening her with eviction if she continued to do nothing. Silent treatment: When local news asked the nanny why she had not left the home yet they received no reply . Stretton has even filed paperwork to try and force the Bracamontes OUT of their own home, pictured here . Stretton refused to sign it and said that she would be leaving in 30 days anyway as the stress of the job had become too much for her. At this point they asked the 64-year-old to leave and served her with legal papers, but Stretton counter-sued and a judge ruled in her favor because the Bracamonte's did not complete a three-day quit notice correctly. 'When I asked her why she wouldn’t sign the letter she said ‘It’s not legal,’ and slammed the door in my face,' Bracamonte told ABC News. 'Once she said the word legal, I knew it wasn’t going to be fun.' Police told the Bracamonte's there was nothing they could do. 'They told me it was now a civil matter,' Bracamonte said, 'and I have to legally evict her,' said Marcella Bracamonte to CBS2. 'So this lady is welcome inside my house, anytime she wants, to eat my food anytime she wants and harass me basically. I’m now a victim in my home and it’s completely legal.' Legal problems: The Bracamonte's have said that they can't believe the battle to have Stretton removed . John Moore of the Upland Police Department confirmed to ABC News they cannot do anything at the moment because, 'generally, once somebody has established residency, you have to go through a formal eviction process.' Ralph Bracomnte said that his frustration is like a nightmare. 'Now, this person is in our house,' he said to CBS2, 'and I have to go to work. My kids are still here, my wife is still here. She towers over my wife, my kids. And I know there is nothing I can do about it.' And as the Bracamonte's discovered, this was not the first time that Stretton has clashed in the courts with family's. She has been involved in 36 lawsuits, ensuring she has made California's Vexatious Litigant list, for abusing the system. 'Anyone who looks at her crooked, she sues,' said Bracamonte. Stretton is now threatening to sure for wrongful dismissal and abuse of the elderly while she eats their food and sleeps in their house. She has even told the family she wants them to be out of their own house between 8am and 8pm. 'I’m not going to bend for her,' said Bracamonte. 'I’m in charge, this is my house. She’s not going to scare me out of my own house.' The Bracamontes know the eviction process can take a while but they wanted to speak out to warn other families. | Diane Stretton, 64, is squatting in the home of Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte in Upland, California .
Fell ill and began refusing to work according to the Bracamonte's .
Police have said that Stretton was invited into the home and has established residency .
She is threatening to sue and wants them out of their own home from 8am to 8pm daily . |
280,625 | f78d83287ce429c77cf52c8dbfd8d3326124710f | Police have vowed to spend another two years tracking down the rioters and looters who ransacked England's streets. Those who thought they had escaped the law by now should not rest easy as police have pledged to trawl through 40,0000 hours of CCTV footage in a bid to bring every single person involved to justice. Officers have promised to pursue each offender they can identify, The Times reported. Police are determined to track down every single suspect, and have resorted to using big screens, like this one outside the Bull Ring in Birmingham, as part of their investigation . But it is anticipated that some of the more difficult cases will take years to complete. Scotland Yard say that so far 2,006 people have been arrested in connection with the rioting and looting. Of those 1,135 have been charged, with 954 of those cases appearing before a court, 82 have been sentenced and 42 have been jailed. But the investigation is far from over, as police are determined to use every scrap of evidence they can find from CCTV, which has been heavily criticised as being unnecessarily intrusive and imposing a 'Big Brother' watch on society. Police are seizing the opportunity to showcase just how effective the surveillance cameras can be in helping to combat crime. Already they have set up dedicated websites filled with CCTV images of suspects' images, using social media websites including Twitter to encourage people to view the pictures and 'shop a looter'. Police are not daunted by the hours of CCTV they will have to trawl through, or suspects' attempts to disguise themselves, as they vow to hunt down every rioter and looter . They have broadcast CCTV images and video on huge billboards and used vans with screens attached to publish footage. Police say their campaign to catch those involved has been overwhelmed by members of the public who have eagerly come forward to inform them of suspects. The Times reported dedicated officers are ploughing through 10,000 hours of CCTV material while cameras in the Bull Ring shopping centre in Birmingham have 743 hours of material. Detective Chief Inspector Steven Reed, of West Midlands Police, told the newspaper they would not rest until they had searched every avenue to identify offenders. And Detective Chief Inspector Kevin Concannon, from the Met's riot investigation, Operation Withern, told the newspaper harnessing the power of CCTV was crucial. 'There is a wider debate about CCTV but in this investigation it is absolutely core, it's critical. 'We're looking at footage where people have made little or no effort to disguise their faces. 'Sometimes they pulled up a scarf or a hood just before they go into a looted shop, then 50 metres down the road they take it off again, or they'll get into a car with the registration number clearly visible.' Crackdown: Armed Pelle, left, and Anderson Fernandes, right, have already been tracked down and jailed. Pelle was punished for inciting violence on Facebook, while Anderson was imprisoned for taking a lick of stolen ice cream . Already the police have shown just how determined they are to track all of the rioters and looters down. A teenager who used Facebook to encourage the 'killing of a million police officers' during the riots has been jailed for 33 months. Amed Pelle incited his 2,000 friends on the site to commit violence and looting in Nottingham. He asked if any of them 'wanted anything' from a fashion store that was later targeted. The jobless 18-year-old posted three messages on his Facebook 'wall' on August 9, hours before serious disorder broke out in his home city. The first two read 'Nottz Riot whose onit?' and 'Kill one black youth, we kill a million Fedz (police), riot til we own cities'. It is believed the second message was a reference to Mark Duggan, whose death in Tottenham sparked the original trouble. In his third message, Pelle wrote: 'Rioting 2nyt anyone want anything from (fashion chain) Flannels?' The store, in Nottingham city centre, had its windows smashed hours later. Pelle had pleaded guilty to a breach of section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007, doing an act which was capable of encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely violent disorder. Judge John Milmo told Pelle that his comments 'encouraged attacks on the people of Nottingham as a whole, and the people of other cities.' Upmarket shop: Fernandes walked into this Patisserie Valerie in Manchester and helped himself to a cone and two scoops of ice cream . Sentencing the teenager to two years and nine months in a young offenders' institution, he added: 'Your offence was designed to, and could well have led to, increased numbers on the street intent on violence to persons and property. 'An element of deterrence is called for in cases like this. A clear signal needs to be sent out that criminal conduct of the kind demonstrated in these cases is out of order and will not be brushed under the carpet.' His sentence came as a looter who took just one lick of an ice cream he stole during rioting before he gave it away was jailed for 16 months. Anderson Fernandes, 21, wandered into an upmarket store in central Manchester after the door was left open and helped himself to a cone and two scoops. But despite giving it to a passer-by because he didn't like the coffee flavour he was still given a lengthy prison term. The sentence will fuel fears that courts are meting out disproportionate justice to those caught up in the disorder. Yesterday Manchester Crown Court was told that ice cream thief Fernandes, 21, was arrested after raiding Patisserie Valerie because he left DNA behind at the scene. He admitted burglary and an unconnected charge of handling a stolen vacuum cleaner after his arrest. The court heard that Fernandes had already appeared in court charged with possessing drugs and an offensive weapon on the same day he got mixed up in the disorder. Michael McQuillan, defending, said: 'He is remorseful and fully accepts how serious the matter was and why courts take such a serious view of this type of behaviour.' | Metropolitan police have 40,000 hours worth of CCTV to trawl through .
Exhaustive search to track down suspects could take years as police vow to 'search every avenue' |
132,653 | 37891a48045c6e0c93f142cbb1b4bb320bfed8f3 | London (CNN) -- Around the world, hot air balloons are used to give tourists a spectacular view of the landscape, as well as for sport and private recreation. But, with 19 people dead after a hot air balloon crash in Luxor, Egypt, just how safe are they? What are the basics of ballooning? Essentially a balloon is a nylon bag -- known as an envelope -- filled with hot air, which is created by burning liquid propane in a steel burner. More heat makes the balloon rise, less makes it descend. Balloons fly in the direction of the wind. Dunnington described hot air ballooning as "man's first form of flight." The French invented it in 1793 and since then it has been developed for sport and tourist rides. Balloons have also been used by the military. How safe is hot air ballooning? Until Tuesday's incident, the deadliest accident in recent memory happened in 1989, when 13 people were killed as two hot air balloons collided in Australia. CNN iReport: After tragedy, vacationers recall glorious balloon rides in Egypt . Weber said while every activity had its risks, ballooning was "one of the safest means of flying in existence." "You are floating in the air like a feather. You put some heat into the envelope to get you up and then you float with the atmosphere, there is no speed involved." If the fuel ran out, a balloon could still be landed safely, he said. "It's not like an airline crash. It's like a huge parachute. If you do it [descend] wisely and if you do it in a controlled way you can come down with cold air in the envelope but it's still inflated -- it's still a big balloon." Weber added that a fire on board was the most dangerous situation for a pilot because the only way to escape it was by jumping overboard. "If passengers are jumping the balloon is getting lighter -- it's climbing again. It's getting in a more dangerous situation because the higher you go the more dangerous it is to jump out." Dunnington also said fire resulting from contact with power lines was probably the biggest risk for hot air balloonists. "If you've hit a power line there isn't a fire extinguisher made that can put that out." He pointed to a 2012 accident in New Zealand, in which 11 people died. "New Zealand was a wire contact and it had fatal results and that's certainly the balloonist's biggest worry," he said. So what was the cause of the crash in Egypt? State-run EgyNews reported that a gas explosion caused the crash but Egypt's government said a committee from the Ministry of Civil Aviation would investigate. The government said the balloon was "flying at 300m [about 900feet] when it caught fire and exploded." How safe is hot air ballooning in Egypt? The last hot air balloon accident in Luxor happened in 2009, when 16 foreign tourists were injured after a balloon struck a cell phone transmission tower. Dunnington described Egypt as having "a rather chequered history" when it came to ballooning. The country had probably had more accidents than some others, he said, but on the other hand probably made more flights. "They've probably had half a dozen serious accidents in the last five years. If that had happened in the UK there would be a big hoo-ha about it." But Weber said Egyptian operators carried a lot of passengers and flew on a daily basis and the Luxor crash was "quite exceptional." How is hot air ballooning regulated? There is no body dealing with air ballooning regulations globally. Around the world, 191 countries are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations body that issues advice on aviation standards and regulations. But Dunnington said there was no legal obligation to comply with the ICAO's Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). The ICAO's recommendations were "sufficiently broad to always need local interpretation," he said, adding that this was where "things get difficult." "The regulations are pretty similar in every country. The question in each different country is to what extent are those regulations enforced," Dunnington said. "The Egyptian civil aviation authority is in ultimate charge of what goes on in anything to do with civil aviation in Egypt." Dunnington said in Britain, for example, pilots had to sit regular medical tests and assessments and balloons were checked after every 100 hours of flight. He said Egypt had a similar system but that it was "somewhat less independently supervised." How have Egyptian authorities reacted to the crash? Egypt's Civil Aviation Agency has stopped all ballooning in the country since Tuesday's accident. But Dunnington said a blanket ban didn't solve the problem. "That kind of knee jerk reaction is symptomatic of the way such problems are approached," he said. In Britain, he added, the authorities would look at a particular set of circumstances rather than shutting down everything. Luxor balloon disaster 'blow' for Egyptian tourism . | Hot air ballooning began in France, in 1793 .
Nineteen people were killed in a hot air balloon crash in Luxor, Egypt, Tuesday .
There is no global body to regulate commercial hot air balloon operations .
Countries regulate hot air ballooning through their own civil aviation authorities . |
76,958 | da3d0f2cb9904fc604d7ea17ecd559e76515206b | The presence of 33-year-old Gareth Barry in southern Russia for Thursday night's game against Krasnodar underlines that Everton and their manager Roberto Martinez are taking the Europa League seriously. Barry was one of the Aston Villa players controversially left out of a tie in the same competition against CSKA Moscow in 2009 – a move that backfired on manager Martin O'Neill who was pilloried by fans thereafter and resigned the following year. Yet, despite being sandwiched between big Premier League clashes against Liverpool and Manchester United, Barry has been asked to travel nearly 5,000 miles by Martinez – as have other big-hitters Tim Howard, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka and Romelu Lukaku. Roberto Martinez wants to win the Europa League and has selected a strong squad to face Krasnodar . Martinez, in his first European campaign as a manager and already with three points on the board after beating Wolfsburg, says emphatically: 'Of course we are taking this seriously. I don’t think it is a question mark. 'We got in Europe because we worked hard for 12 months. If we want to carry on developing and growing we need to develop a winning mentality and to do that we need to be ready for the next game. 'I think the squad is big enough, we have had a few injuries and they are going to put a bit of pressure in terms of demands on certain players and we maybe have to regenerate them further down the line in the season. 'In terms of taking the game seriously, I expect every game to be a real test to go as far as we can go and I want that to be the mentality in the club. We cannot afford to dismiss any game this season, it is the opposite. Garteh Barry was left out of the Aston Villa squad for their 2009 UEFA Cup tie against CSKA Moscow . 'I always felt that European football is part of our DNA, we started back in this competition in the 50s and every opportunity to create a good memory we take it with both hands. 'It is the first time we have come to Russia, yes we will make changes but that does not mean we don’t want to win. We expect that everyone on the pitch knows what it means to play for Everton and wants to win. And they will be able to cope with this club wanting to win every game, that’s the mentality.' If Howard gets the nod over Joel Robles, it will be the American goalkeeper's 21st game in Europe for Everton – a club record. Kevin Mirallas is out of the match and will be on the sidelines for around eight weeks with a hamstring injury . Manchester United await on Sunday lunchtime and three players with injury problems James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman and Steven Pienaar have stayed at home for treatment. It is possible all three will be able to face United, with Pienaar considered likeliest. Belgian international Kevin Mirallas is also missing with a hamstring injury that is likely to keep him out for several weeks. Krasnodar, formed as recently as 2008, are unbeaten in the Russian League this season after nine games though they are also something of draw specialists and got a 1-1 result in Lille in their opening group game. Everton's 500-strong army of travelling fans will be supplemented by a group of Russian Toffees, a fan club set up after former Russian international Andriy Kanchelskis played at Goodison Park. Kransnodar defender Andreas Granqvist played 14 times for Wigan in the Premier League. | Roberto Martinez has included the likes of Leighton Baines, Gareth Barry and Romelu Lukaku in his squad to face Krasnodar on Thursday .
In total its almost a 5,000 mile round trip for the UEFA Europa League clash .
Everton won their first group game 4-1 against Wolfsburg . |
274,842 | f00a7340ef4ead22b4fdcd02c301b31bf7babb43 | Temperatures might be below freezing, but these monkeys are still finding a way to stay warm this winter. They soak themselves in a natural hot spring to relax and take a break from the cold weather in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan's most northern island prefecture. The Yunokawa Hot Springs area is home to about 100 free-range Japanese macaques, or snow monkeys. Scroll down for video . Too much monkeying around: The snow monkeys soak themselves in a natural hot spring to relax in Hakodate, Hokkaido, Japan's most northern island prefecture . Though the macaques can be seen year-round, tourists flock to the area during colder months. The animals warm themselves in the steaming mineral water mainly between December and May. The bath's temperature averages around 40C, according to The Asahi Shimbun. Some monkeys spend their entire day in the hot spring when weather gets too cold - which might be quite regularly, seeing as Hakodate's average January temperature is minus 7C. Chilling out: The monkeys warm themselves in the steaming mineral water primarily between December and May. The bath's temperature averages around 40C . The Japanese macaques are highly intelligent creatures and live in very complex social groups, often fighting over the best spots in the springs. Known for their dexterity, they have been spotted making and throwing snowballs to entertain themselves, much like humans do. Japan has a number of monkey parks that tourists frequent. The Jigokudani Kogen National Park in Nagano is also famed for its snow monkeys that bathe in hot springs. Meanwhile, Monkey Park Iwatayama in Kyoto is home to more than 170 monkeys. | Japanese macaques soak in water that can reach 40C .
Tourists flock to see the monkeys in below-freezing temperatures .
Hakodate is home to about 100 free-range snow monkeys . |
90,326 | 0038f760e32cbfc2bff795dececb07e5609c2b58 | By . Sara Malm . PUBLISHED: . 15:35 EST, 28 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:42 EST, 29 August 2013 . Hong Kong’s smog-filled skyline is not exactly fit when you wish to brag about your holiday upon your return, so to save the obligatory waterside snaps, the city simply made a fake version. The air pollution in Hong Kong has gotten so bad that tourism officials have put up a banner displaying what the skyline looks like on a clear day. This week, Hong Kong's Air Pollution Index' reached 'Very High' in Central and Western District, Causeway Bay and Mongkok, with 'very high' levels of toxic ozone and nitrogen dioxide recorded at roadside monitoring stations. Holiday memories: Tourists from mainland China take photos in front of a large outdoor banner showing what Hong Kong looks like on a clean air day . Pose for pollution: Smog levels reached very high in Hong Kong this week, including increased toxic levels . Wish you were here: A mother and her son pretend they've had a sunny holiday as they are pictured . Smog is a big problem in China were it was recently reported life expectancy has been by five-and-a-half years for those living in its polluted north. Researchers estimate that the half-billion people who lived there in the 1990s will live an average of 5 and a half years less than their southern counterparts because they breathed dirtier air from coal burning. China itself made the comparison possible: for decades, a now-discontinued government policy provided free coal for heating, but only in the colder north. Danger days: Chinese politicians have identified smog and air pollution as one of the biggest issues facing the nation . It never rained, honest!: Hong Kong tourism officials put up the banner to display it from its sunnier side . Two worlds: The banner sees white fluffy clouds on a blue sky - however the reality is slightly different . Earlier this year, air quality in Beijing reached 'worst on record' following a sand storm which led to pollution in the city rising to 30 to 45 times above recommended safety levels. It has been identified as one of the biggest challenges facing China's leaders, with then-president Hu Jintao saying during his address to the Communist Party Congress last November that the country needed to 'reverse the trend of ecological deterioration and build a beautiful China'. | Air pollution reach toxic levels in Hong Kong this week .
Tourists forced to pose with fake skyline put up by officials . |
137,527 | 3ddb5114582bec9ef6a2ed8172124a984c5ab9a7 | (CNN) -- The Internet connection in Myanmar was cut Friday, limiting the free flow of information the nation's citizens were sharing with the world depicting the violent crackdown on monks and other peaceful demonstrators. Ko Htike runs his Myanmar blog out of his London apartment and says he's trying to stop the violence. Myanmar-based blogs went dark suddenly. But London-based blogger Ko Htike -- who has been one of the most prominent bloggers posting information about the violence -- has vowed to keep up the fight, saying where "there is a will, there is a way." "I sadly announce that the Burmese military junta has cut off the Internet connection throughout the country," he said on his blog Friday. "I, therefore, would not be able to feed in pictures of the brutality by the brutal Burmese military junta." Ko Htike is a 28-year-old who left Myanmar, once known as Burma, seven years ago to study in England. Watch a blogger's fight for Myanmar » . He told CNN.com a day earlier that he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said. Myanmar's military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives. "If they get caught, you will never know their future. Maybe just disappear or maybe life in prison or maybe dead," he told CNN. Why would they take such risks? "They thought that this is their duty for the country," he said. "That's why they are doing it. It's like a mission." Even with Friday's action by the government, he said he will continue to do all he can to get images of what's happening out for the world to see. "I will also try my best to feed in their demonic appetite of fear and paranoia by posting any pictures that I receive through other means," he said on his blog. "I will continue to live with the motto that 'if there is a will there is a way.' " With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, his blog has become one of the main information outlets. More than 170,000 people from 175 countries have gone to the blog, according to a counter on the page. On Friday, shots rang out in the streets of Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon, marking the third straight day of violence at the hands of the ruling military junta to suppress citizen protests. See photos of the protests » . One diplomat told CNN that a Western witness had reported seeing about 35 bodies lying in rows on a street near Sule Pagoda, with civilians praying over them. CNN could not independently confirm the report, and it was not known if the bodies were from Friday or the result of earlier violence. According to The Associated Press, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday he believes the loss of life in Myanmar has been "far greater" than is being reported. In a country where Buddhist monks are revered, the violence against them could stir even more outrage among the people of Myanmar. "Now, there is blood shed on the monastery," Htike said. The Internet has also spawned other Myanmar pages. On the popular online community of Facebook, several Myanmar support pages were set up with links keeping a close eye on the latest developments. One letter floating around the Internet from a group calling itself the "Global Alliance of Burmese Students" called on people abroad to stage protests. "We call on you to take action, to take the lead, and to show solidarity with our fellow countrymen back home," it said. "The streets of Yangon bleed red, and it will all be in vain if we do not act and mobilize for change." Other people used technology as simple as the cell phone as a means to get the word out on what was happening. "We didn't do any terrorism, but they sharp-shoot us," one woman said by phone inside Myanmar Thursday. "I just want to say we have no weapons and no rights." She added, "Who can help us?" The last time the nation saw such widespread protests was in 1988, when today's instantaneous means of communication did not exist. The government used brutal force to quash that democratic uprising, with few people seeing what happened. View a timeline of events there » . Today's technology allows anyone with the means to capture what is happening. Despite the cutting of the Internet inside the country, people can still take pictures and videos with cell phones and send them to the outside world. "They are ready to die for that," Vincent Brossels with Reporters Without Borders said on Thursday. "I spoke with a Burmese journalist this morning in Rangoon and he told me that now I don't care about anything. I'm ready to be in jail. I'm ready to die for that." Benjamin Valk, a 25-year-old student from a university in Tokyo, Japan, sent CNN.com video of saffron-robed monks carrying out a peaceful protest earlier this week in Yangon, once known as Rangoon. The video shows thousands of monks and civilians walking together and chanting. He said he felt compelled to share the video because people "should know what is happening in a country like Myanmar." "In a world where democracy is considered the better or perhaps the best political system, there is huge global support for a people who dare to openly challenge a military dictatorship and call for democracy," Valk said. "I think it's good for the world to see." Htike agrees, saying he's just trying to stop the killing in his homeland. "If I can publish these kind of [photos] and this kind of news to the world, so maybe they may stop a little bit." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Phil Black contributed to this report. | Internet connection in Myanmar has been cut off .
London-blogger vows to keep up the fight .
Woman on phone: "Who can help us?"
Student sent video to CNN because people "should know what is happening" |
182,904 | 78def2734b7887b564455d960d96b0d920800c6c | By . Oliver Wadeson . It's an important moment in any courtship – when a woman first claps eyes on her boyfriend’s bachelor pad. Will it be clean and tidy? Will it be decorated with any semblance of taste? Daisy Uribe-Mosquera needn’t have worried when she set foot inside her future husband Philip’s flat for the first time. With its stylish vaulted ceilings and vast kitchen/living room, Daisy, 34, a marketing executive at auctioneers Sotheby’s, couldn’t have failed to be impressed. Banker Philip, 30, might also have pointed out that the flat played a role in the Second World War. It is on the fourth floor of a former factory called the Old Aeroworks, in St John’s Wood, North London, that used to make parts for Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bombers. Ultimate bachelor pad: The two-bedroom London apartment is on the market for £925,000 . What’s more, the building was converted into a residential block by architect Sir Terry Farrell – who designed London’s MI6 building on the Thames at Vauxhall Cross. He was so pleased with the Old Aeroworks that he now lives in another of the apartments. The couple are reluctantly selling Philip’s ultimate bachelor pad for £925,000 as they want a family-orientated home. The Old Aeroworks was built in the 1920s and was one of the first all-concrete buildings in Britain. It was originally owned by Bovis Homes and used to construct whole houses via timber transported along the nearby Grand Union Canal. When the Blitz began in 1940, the Government requisitioned the building to house the Palmer Tyre Company’s aeroworks, which was producing parts for RAF warplanes in the heavily targeted London Docks. Classic work: The Old Aeroworks was built in the 1920s and designed by MI6 building architect Sir Terry Farrell . Spacious: The master bedroom in the flat in North London's St John's Wood . War jet: The former factory in St John¿s Wood, North London, used to make parts for Spitfire fighters (pictured) and Lancaster bombers . Since the surroundings were residential rather than industrial, it was less likely to be a priority target for German bombers. Braking . systems, tyres, wheels and gun turrets were made in the factory but, . owing to the secrecy of the operation, the workers were never told what . they were going to be used for. Anyone passing the building today would be left in no doubt about what was once going on inside this Art Deco block. There are seven Spitfire models on the roof and a plaque to commemorate the Palmer Tyre Company’s production of the legendary fighter. Sir Terry Farrell is a particular fan of the Spitfire, saying it inspired him as a design icon. ‘The Spitfire continually evolved throughout the war,’ he has said. ‘By 1945 it was 30 to 40 per cent faster than at the beginning. That strikes a chord with my approach to architecture – evolving and innovating, but remaining true to the original spirit.’ Nothing could demonstrate this more than the Old Aeroworks itself and Daisy and Philip’s two-bedroom flat. Moving out: Daisy Uribe-Mosquera, 34, and her future husband Philip, 30, are selling the flat to more to a more 'family orientated' home . The design exploits the building’s generous dimensions – the rooms are airy and spacious and feature a uniform style of clean lines and white finishes. The couple agree that Daisy merely ‘softened a few edges’ when she moved in. ‘As a space to live in, the flat couldn’t work better – there are two evenly sized bedrooms and a great area for lounging or eating in,’ says Philip. ‘The spare room’s great for extra rent if you need it, or for a child or just somewhere for your other half to keep her clothes.’ The couple will particularly miss the area, which is not renowned for family-size houses but is cosmopolitan – it’s a stone’s throw from the Edgware Road with its Arabic restaurants. It’s also very convenient for the centre of London, and Philip and Daisy say they love having the canal and Regent’s Park so close. Rose Holden, sales manager at Marsh & Parsons’ Little Venice branch, said: ‘This apartment represents industrial chic at its very best. ‘It is just so characterful and would be an ideal space for an individual who likes something that is very much out of the ordinary. ‘The space has so much recent history that it must be unique among London’s housing stock, and the fact that it is home to one of London’s leading contemporary architects adds huge interest.’ marshandparsons.co.uk, 020 7993 3050 . | Four-floor lat is located in World War II factory that made Spitfires .
The two-bedroom apartment is on the market for £925,000 .
Designed by MI6 building architect Sir Terry Farrell . |
30,109 | 559857582ddcecaf297e0ecc8156c14b96aced46 | By . Talal Musa . PUBLISHED: . 10:25 EST, 14 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:53 EST, 14 May 2013 . It is one of the most popular games on the planet - serving an ever-growing community of millions. And with Runescape 3 around the corner, MailOnline talked to CEO of Jagex, Mark Gerhard, about the game, the challenges facing free-to-play games and...owning a tank.What is it about Runescape that has made it so successful? MG: 'It’s because RuneScape is unique! It’s always been easy to jump in: it’s free to get started and runs from your web browser and doesn’t the need any download. 'The gameplay is also different from most other online RPGs – RuneScape is about freedom to do your own thing without restrictions; you can be any type of character you want, you can explore a whole world, you can choose from a wide variety of gameplay from crafting to fighting, from trading to questing – it’s all up to you. It’s also less action intensive than most similar games, which makes it a more relaxing experience that you can take at your own pace.'How has the world of Gielinor been tweaked? Are there new kingdoms and different ways to travel? MG: 'Gielinor has always been evolving in the 12 years of RuneScape’s history. We’ve added new continents, new dungeons and new cities. 'There are also many ways to travel, whether running, using teleport spells, spirit trees, fairy rings or even hot air balloons! Recently we added an easy way to travel called the Lodestone Network, which is ideal for new players to hop between important game locations quickly.' Pretty as a picture: With the updated graphics engine, RuneScape 3 rivals Warcraft's visual fidelity . What inspired monster design in Runescape? MG: 'A huge variety of things really, spanning from world mythology, childhood memories to the colourful corners of our own imaginations. 'Sometimes is great just to ask an artist to explore ideas using a few keywords to get the creative juices flowing, and then build the backstory of the monsters after the creation of the concept art, turning the “normal” process on its head. 'As a company we have a strong background in traditional storytelling so there are always some crazy ideas floating around.' How did you develop / design different spells? MG: 'Spells tend to start with a written design since they are generally very practical and have a strong motive behind their addition to the game. 'We need to think about their cost to cast (mages use rune stones to release magical energy, a bit like mystical batteries) and the amount of damage they do to opponents. RuneScape is an Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG). Players travel around the land of Gielinor battling monsters and trading. With more than 200million accounts created, it was recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest MMORPG in the world. 'Mages in RuneScape don’t only deal with big fireballs and lightning bolts in combat though, we have spells for all sorts of things, including baking pies, enchanting magical jewellery and even turning bones into bananas. These spells are often themed to different sorts of spell books too.' Are there many changes to the in-game trading mechanic? MG: 'No. In RuneScape players are free to trade pretty much anything to anyone, and we have a player run grand exchange stock market, where players buy and sell items from humble potatoes to glorious god swords. 'Prices are calculated by actual supply and demand and so can fluctuate depending on the activity of the players at the time.'How have you listened to fans criticisms of the first game? And have the fans steered the development of the game? MG: 'Definitely, we’ve always been community focused and this year we’re really trying to step that up again. 'The story in RuneScape 3 is going to be shaped by players, week by week over the course of this year. 'We’re doing beta tests for the new HTML5 client and the New Interface System because we really want player feedback to guide our development. We’ve also recently run a poll to see which other storyline players want to see continued next – the Dwarf quest series triumphed over Pirates and Gnomes!' Towering heights: This is the largest of the RuneScape games, boasting new cities and continents . Can we expect to see many changes in combat? MG: 'We released a brand new combat system last year and have been working with our players to polish it ever since. It’s far more exciting and engaging than ever before, rewarding players for tactical decisions and intelligent use of equipment… as well as being really fun! 'RuneScape doesn’t limit players to only ever adopt one combat style, so you can find yourself switching between brutal 2 handed swords, magical staffs, duel wielding crossbows, tower shields, even summon mighty creatures to do your bidding.'Are there any changes in the Grand Exchange? (answered above) How have you rid the game of unbalanced trading and real currency being traded for virtual goods? MG: 'Rather than make modifications to the gameplay to deal with unwanted activity, we have specialised systems that can detect accounts that are real world trading and deal with them according to our rules. '“Fairness” is incredibly important to us and we don’t ignore the problem like other games often do. We actively hunt those who are generating wealth (also known as gold farming) with the intention to sell, and often seek legal solutions to the problem.'How have the graphics been improved? Do you think it can compete visually with the likes of World of Warcraft now? MG: 'RuneScape is definitely one of the best looking browser games out there and we’re competitive with even the big download-based titles out there. 'The new HTML5 client also gives us a great platform to continue building on, further improving the graphics with better visual fidelity and more visual effects.' Open to everyone: Graphics can be scaled up or down depending on your hardware specifications . What does the future of MMOs hold? Do you think it’ll be a ‘survival of the fittest’ – where we see just one or two dominant MMOs ruling online? MG: 'MMOs have definitely been diversifying and it’s not just a genre full of World of Warcraft clones any more. 'There are many more games on offer and Free to Play is becoming the standard. Players have much more choice now, so it’s not enough to have just a decent game anymore – to survive MMOs will need to be have something really interesting and different on offer. 'The most successful games will be those who can managed to both innovate whilst also listening carefully to their communities.' Lastly, is it true that you own a tank? MG: 'Yes, that is true - and you won't believe how little it costs to insure! The MPG isn't great, though.' RunScape 3 is released in the summer. Follow us on Twitter: @DailyMailGames and on Facebook: Daily Mail Games. | More continents, dungeons and cities promised .
Design 'shaped by players' - ensuring the smoothest possible experience .
Uses HTML5 - resulting in substantial improvement in effects and environments .
'MMOs must do something different to stay alive,' says Jagex boss . |
90,549 | 007b8e43c33fa56ee62ae0f3ec0570c8988129ac | By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 09:45 EST, 19 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:33 EST, 19 September 2012 . Six years after entering the NFL as the third player taken in the draft, Vince Young finds himself without a team and with just a fraction of the money he received from a contract that guaranteed him $26million. The question is, where did it all go? In an increasingly caustic war of words, attorneys have been arguing for months over whether Young is an out-of-control spender who put himself deeply in the hole or simply a victim of inexperienced advisers, one of whom was his own uncle. Fall from grace: After entering the NFL in 2006 as a top draft pick, Vince Young finds himself without a team and with only a fraction of the money he received from a $26million contract . Either way, the quarterback whose future seemed unlimited after he led Texas to a Rose Bowl victory in 2006 is now back home in Houston and in a tenuous financial condition. 'I would just say that Vince needs a job,' said Trey Dolezal, Young's attorney, when asked to give a general assessment of his client's finances. Young was cut by the Buffalo Bills, his third NFL team, in August. He was trying to make the Bills as a backup, the same role he filled with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011. The fall has been a dizzying one for the player who twice made the Pro Bowl with the Tennessee Titans. Standout: Young was the third pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, when he latched on with the Tennessee Titans . Out of cash: Young is broke, despite a contract that guaranteed him $26million . Young sent out a tweet thanking the Bills and their fans after he was released but hasn't spoken to the media since. He declined a request to be interviewed for this story. Even in pro sports, where tales of squandered wealth abound, Young's plight is 'pretty dramatic,' said Kenneth Shropshire, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business who has written and lectured extensively on the business of sports. 'You'd think it would be hard to blow that much money,' Shropshire said. Young is suing his former agent, Major . Adams, and a North Carolina financial planner, Ronnie Peoples, alleging . that they misappropriated $5.5million. Cut: Young was trying out for a back-up quarterback job with the Buffalo Bills, but he was released in August . In some instances, the pair forged his signature or impersonated him on the phone or in emails, according to the lawsuit, filed in Houston in June. The suit was filed five days after a New York lender notified Young that a loan of nearly $1.9million obtained in his name during the NFL lockout in 2011 was in default. Young is now seeking to stop the lender, Pro Player Funding LLC, from enforcing a judgment of nearly $1.7million, claiming he wasn't involved in obtaining the loan and that the proceeds went to Adams and Peoples. 'They conspired to take Vince's money,' Dolezal said. 'It's that simple.' Young was the first client of a company, (hash)1 Next Level Sports and Entertainment Inc., formed by Adams, a Houston criminal defense attorney, and the quarterback's uncle, Keith Young, a former middle school teacher. Young's problem was 'he was just very young ... and allowing these people to have too much control over his life and his name,' Dolezal said. That notion is vigorously disputed by attorneys for Adams and Peoples, who say Young has nobody to blame but himself. 'This is a person scrambling helplessly and pointing in all directions to blame others to get out of debt,' said Charles Peckham, Adams' attorney. Adams twice wrote checks to himself from Young's accounts, but both times were out of necessity, including once when the agent was required to use personal funds to charter a plane for the quarterback after he missed a team flight, Peckham said. Peoples has filed a countersuit in which he castigates Young for allowing his uncle to serve as his business manager despite having no expertise in that field. Peoples claims in the countersuit that every decision he made was approved by Keith Young. Disappointment: It is not known whether Young lost his funding with frivolous spending, or whether he fell victim to inexperienced advisers - one of whom was his own uncle . And he calls Vince Young's unwillingness to accept responsibility 'a common occurrence ... as (former Titans coach) Jeff Fisher, (Texas coach) Mack Brown, numerous NFL executives, coaches, teammates, scouts, girlfriends and illegitimate children will attest.' Peoples' attorney, David Chaumette, said he has documents to support the strongly-worded filing. 'You'll find there was a lot of money being spent in a bunch of different directions,' Chaumette said. A working phone number for Keith Young could not be located. Court records do not show that he has an attorney. According to public records, Vince Young was one of at least 10 NFL players who turned to Pro Player Funding for cash during the lockout. Second-in-command: Young served as a back-up quarterback to Michael Vick in the 2011 season with the Philadelphia Eagles . Loan documents show he borrowed the $1.9million at 20 per cent interest, with $619,122 in interest paid up front, and agreed that a judgment could be entered if he missed a payment. Young authorized $1million in payments to Pro Player directly from his Eagles salary during the 2011 season, and his accountant was working this year to have a similar arrangement with the Bills, according to court records. However, when a payment due in May was never made, the loan went into default. In challenging the loan's validity, Young claims he didn't 'knowingly execute' any of the loan documents. Anything he signed was 'without the corresponding documents attached and without knowledge as to what the signatures pages referred,' one of his court filings states. Pro Player says its case is supported by the fact that Young's signatures were notarized and that emails show he was involved in making sure the lender received repayment directly from the Eagles. 'Call me if this is not 100 per cent clear,' Young's accountant wrote him in August 2011 in an email explaining the arrangement. 'We want to make certain you know exactly what is going on at all times, especially when you're signing your name to something.' Young also contends that Pro Player's efforts to serve him and the Bills with legal papers during training camp, which included a threat to contact the local sheriff, 'played a role' in the Bills' decision to release him. 'I wasn't in the room when they [the Bills] made a decision, but what would you think? It certainly wouldn't help me if I'm the owner or the head coach knowing all this is going on with Vince and then he goes out and plays poorly,' Dolezal said. Bills coach Chan Gailey declined comment when asked if Young's off-the-field issues had anything to do with his release. | Was the third player picked in 2006 NFL Draft .
Was cut from the Buffalo Bills, his third team, in August .
Young is now suing his former agent and former financial planner, saying they misappropriated $5.5million . |
65,593 | ba37eb7fbee8b6021db96330e5b6bf5c46aeb234 | New Delhi (CNN) -- Bal Thackeray, a staunch advocate of Hindu nationalism in India and the leader of a political party that dominated the country's financial capital, died Saturday, his spokesman said. The 86-year-old Thackeray was a charismatic founder and head of Shiv Sena, the nationalist movement most powerful in the city of Mumbai and the Maharashtra state. Spokesman Rahul Narvekar said Thackeray died of cardiac arrest and his cremation will be held on Sunday. Thackeray emerged in the 1960s as a populist leader for the Marathi people, who dominated Mumbai and the Maharashtra state. Once a newspaper cartoonist, he rose to fame for defending Marathi interests as migrants from other communities streamed into the city, known at the time as Bombay. The movement has immense political power in Mumbai, India's financial center and site of the legendary Bollywood film industry. Its symbol is an orange flag, seen planted across Mumbai. Thackeray was instrumental in having the name of Bombay changed to Mumbai, a Marathi name. And Thackeray had developed a reputation among many Indians as a bit of a godfather, revered by his followers but feared by others. Over the years, the Shiv Sena movement grew in popularity across India as a Hindu nationalist movement. Shiv Sena and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm after his death was announced, and authorities have deployed police officers across Mumbai in the wake of his death. In a series of Twitter messages, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thackeray's leadership helped build Shiv Sena into a "formidable force" in Maharahstra. "He was a consummate communicator whose stature in the politics of Maharashtra was unique," Singh said. "For him the interests of Maharashtra were particularly important and he always strived to inculcate a sense of pride in its people." People we've lost in 2012: The lives they lived . CNN's Joe Sterling contributed to this report . | Bal Thackeray founded Shiv Sena, a powerful political party .
The movement was founded to defend the Marathi people .
He was instrumental in having the name of Bombay changed to Mumbai .
Shiv Sena and PM Manmohan Singh appeal for calm . |
234,559 | bbaa9425477c16303a6a2c451ca3dfd789307115 | (CNN) -- For Hasif Nazri, the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 contained a tragic coincidence. Two friends from two different periods of his life -- both unknown to each other -- were on board the flight. But as time goes by, the 33-year-old Malaysian process engineer says hope is fading. "I was shocked, really shocked to be honest, but now that shock is turning to sadness," he told CNN. "Of course, I'm holding out some hope -- all we can do now is pray." His former classmate, Mohd Sofuan Ibrahim, also 33 and Malaysian, was scheduled to report for duty at Malaysia's Ministry of International Trade and Industry branch office in Beijing -- even taking a Facebook photo before he boarded the plane. READ MORE: Still no sign of Flight 370 . "We were at the same residential school and we shared the same dorm and stuck together in the dining hall," he said. "He was a good, kind-hearted friend, very helpful, cheerful and definitely no wallflower. He was a very good speaker and teachers remembered him as a very good student." Nazri then discovered another former classmate, 33-year-old Ch'ng Mei Ling, was also on board Flight 370. He said that Mei Ling, a Malaysian national who worked as a process engineer at Flexsys America LP, a manufacturer and supplier of chemicals for the rubber industry based in Ohio, would always be remembered as a "very cheerful girl." "She was very adaptable -- we had a lot of course work that we had to do together and she was very easy to work with," he said. "She was also very funny. As a Chinese person she used to like playing with the Malay language; her laugh was very infectious." Desperate for information . In Mumbai, 23-year-old technology graduate Archit Joshi was also desperately seeking information about his classmate Swawand Kolekar who was listed aboard Flight 370. He said Kolekar's family were in Beijing and also desperate for information on their son. "Swawand was very reserved but very, very intelligent," Joshi told CNN. "He was a bit of a techno-freak and he made a lot of circuits and projects at engineering college. "He didn't have many friends, he was a bit of a loner, but he had all the attributes a good friend should have." In China, meanwhile, home to most of the 239 people on board, relatives of passengers were increasingly frustrated Monday as the agonizing wait for news continued. More than 100 people signed a hand-written petition demanding "the truth" from the airline by Sunday evening. They also urged the Chinese government to help them deal with Malaysian authorities. Zhang Guizhi, the aunt of passenger Li Yan, told CNN that she had arrived in Beijing from her native Henan province in central China and remained uncertain about how the airline would help her obtain a passport to travel to wherever the plane is found. She started crying when she mentioned her 31-year-old niece had traveled to Malaysia with her husband and four friends on vacation. "Still no information and still waiting -- I'm not happy with the airline's arrangements so far," she said. A man who identified himself as the brother-in-law of passenger Ding Lijun said he had just arrived from Tianjin, approximately an hour south-east of Beijing. He teared up when he said Ding had been working in Malaysia as a construction worker for a year and was making his first trip home. Opinion: When passenger jets mysteriously disappear . Flights to Malaysia . In Kuala Lumpur, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, CEO of Malaysia Airlines, said the carrier was making arrangements to fly next of kin to the country's capital as the search for Flight 370 continues. "We'll be accommodating them in hotels around Kuala Lumpur," he said. "We have made an offer for two next of kin to be flown immediately." Increasingly frustrated relatives in China, however, continued to demand more information. Some blamed the Chinese government, which they claimed had not come forward. "I'm not going home until I know what happened," said the father of one of the passengers named as Yan Ling. "We've lost loved ones and they need to answer our questions. When are you going to tell us and what are you going to do? We still don't know if they are alive or dead." Grief counselors were on hand in Beijing and in Kuala Lumpur to assist relatives. "We have dispatched about 15 volunteers to Beijing," said deputy CEO of the Buddhist group Tzu Chi, Sio Kee Hong. "In Malaysia, we have mobilized about 60 people on a daily basis, 24 hours a day. We have volunteers providing care to the families. "Those with frustrations, we will be with them physically (and) provide whatever assistance is required ... psychological support is the most important thing at this juncture." READ MORE: What we know so far . | Reports of passengers come in from shocked families and friends .
One man discovers two separate friends on the passenger manifest .
Chinese relatives in Beijing increasingly frustrated as they wait for information .
Malaysia Airlines offers to fly next of kin to Kuala Lumpur as the search continues . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.