Unnamed: 0
int64 0
287k
| id
stringlengths 40
40
| article
stringlengths 117
14.7k
| highlights
stringlengths 37
3.97k
|
|---|---|---|---|
72,019 | cc24dcbc4d5792ccb2e79f839e49b7a7531a7450 | When you’re one of four quadruplets, you soon have to get used to sharing everything with your siblings, from birthdays to your favourite cuddly toy. And now 10million-to-one quads Heidi, Annabelle, Hannah and Jessica Kelly are about to begin their biggest shared adventure yet – starting school. Two days ago a large parcel arrived at the Kelly household containing four matching sets of school uniform - smart grey pinafores, white shirts, red satchels and red cardigans. Scroll down for video . All kitted out: Annabelle, Jessica, Hannah and Heidi Kelly, from Billingham, Cleveland, were the first quads born in Britain as two sets of identical twins . A large parcel containing the four matching sets of school uniform arrived at the girls' home two days ago - and they could not wait to try them on . The four-year-old sisters, who in 2009 became the first double set of identical twins to be born in Britain thanks to IVF, couldn’t wait to try on their outfits – and now they are eagerly counting down to the start of term. Their mother Lisa, 38, from Billingham in County Durham, said: ‘Seeing them in uniforms makes them seem so grown up. I know I will shed a tear when I wave them off on their first day.’ She added: ‘Some children might be nervous starting school. But when you’re quads you’ve always got someone to lean on. You’re never on your own.’ The mum of five, who with husband Sean, 39, an electrical designer, also has older son Cameron, 13, admits teachers might have a difficult time telling the girls apart. She says: ‘The girls went to the nursery attached to the school so they are known to many of the staff. 'But to help teachers who don’t know them, I plan to put hair ties with different coloured bobbles in the girls’ hair – with blue for twins Jessica and Hannah and red for twins Heidi and Annabelle.’ Lisa Kelly, pictured here with the quads when they were five days old, plans to put hair ties with different coloured bobbles in the girls' hair - blue for twins Jessica and Hannah and red for twins Heidi and Annabelle . However, Mrs Kelly says her daughters have all developed their own style and while initially people are confused they soon realise each one is very much an individual. ‘Heidi is a real tomboy,’ she says, ‘but Annabelle is a true girl who adores her dollies, Jessica is a live wire who’s always up to mischief while Hannah is much quieter.’ Each set of twins shares a bedroom at the couple’s four bed-detached house in Billingham, Cleveland. But says Mrs Kelly: 'They are so close that even now they still adore to snuggle up together and we always find they’ve crept into one another’s beds in the morning.’ The 10-million-to-one were born on December 2009 after Lisa and her husband Sean spent £9,000 on IVF. Pictured left to right: Heidi, Annabelle, Hannah and Jessica . The youngsters created a sensation when they were born on December 27, 2009. The 10 million to one quads were the first born in Britain who are two sets of identical twins. They are the miracle children the Kellys never thought they’d have. Originally the couple simply wanted a sibling for their son Cameron. But after failing to conceive naturally a second time they spent £9,000 on IVF and to their delight found they were expecting quads after the third attempt. The girls, pictured here shortly before their second birthday, might look identical but their mother said they have all developed their own individual style and personalities . The girls – the result of two fertilised embryos put back into the uterus that both grew into two sets of identical twins – were born healthy at 31.5 weeks after a problem free pregnancy. Twins Heidi and Annabelle both weighed 3Ib 3oz while Hannah and Jessica were 2Ib 10oz and 2Ib 11oz . Recalls Mrs Kelly, who took a career break to raise her family but plans to return to work as a nurse in the autumn: ‘Overnight our lives changed and for a while it was chaos. 'We went through two washing machines and tumble dryers in two years and ended up doing what used to be a family grocery shop once a week, every other day. ‘As they’ve grown up everything has had to be done in fours. Four sets of clothes, four matching toy pushchairs, four identical scooters – Christmas and birthdays take lots of planning. ‘But we’ve always felt extraordinarily lucky to have a big family. Even now the girls still attract attention - people still stop us when we’re out say how beautiful they are.’ Meanwhile she believes having the four together is a blessing. ‘When they were tiny babies and then wilful toddlers life was tiring but now they’re older they get on so well and there is always someone to play with. ‘Some children might be nervous starting full time school for the first time. But when you’re one of quads you’ve always got someone to lean on. You’re never on your own.’ | The four sisters became Britain's first double set of identical twins in 2009 .
Heidi, Annabelle, Hannah and Jessica Kelly will all start school together .
Mother will tie different bobbles in their hair so people can tell them apart .
Lisa, from Billingham, said: 'When you're quads, you're never on your own' |
210,542 | 9caa3bc22680bc29b655ce1a0bf8d9eca0fa362a | By . Leon Watson . This cool kid shows goats can ride motorbikes too. And, just to be on the safe side, the farm animal is wearing a helmet. The bizarre clip showing two men and a goat going for a ride is believed to have been taken on a street in the city of Qazvin, in north-western Iran. Scroll down for video . What's that? A driver sees a bike with two unusual passengers on the road in front . As the motorbike approaches you can see that not only does it have two men on board, it also has two goats . A motorbike is seen out of the window of a car coming up behind it. As the car passes the animal is clearly seen being carried on the back by two men, who are believed to be farmers. And one of them, while hanging on tight, gives a wave. The clip was posted on video sharing site LiveLeak yesterday and already had more than 13,000 views. clip showing two men and a goat going for a ride is believed to have been taken on a street in Iran . Goatorbike: The two Iranian bike riders and their passengers . | Bizarre video shows two men and a goat going for a ride .
It's believed to have been caught on camera in Iran . |
87,912 | f970d1c629b9e168207271b17173d19fc5f4f0ca | By . Dan Bloom . Crusade: Greg Wallace rooted out the lavish spending after he was suspended as a head teacher . A superhead once hailed as one of Michael Gove's 'Magnificent Seven' exposed how his own bosses blew almost £60,000 on jaunts to luxury hotels, the U.S. and Canada. Greg Wallace launched the crusade after he was suspended as the executive head of five schools in Hackney, north east London, amid an investigation into alleged financial irregularities. He discovered board members at The Learning Trust stayed for two days at the Royal Automobile Club complex at the 17th Century stately home Woodcote Park in Surrey - just 20 miles away. An offshoot of the London private members' club which opened in 1897 and was endorsed by Edward VII, it has a banqueting room, a billiards room, two restaurants, two bars and a golf course. Other overnight trips were to the 17th Century red brick Wotton House in Surrey, whose Italian-style garden was the first in England, and the nearby four-star Selsdon Park, which is set in 250 acres of countryside and has one of the south east's premier golf courses. The annual meetings - all within 60 miles of Hackney - cost the Trust £38,266 over seven years. Headteachers were also sent on two foreign 'study trips' lasting nine days each to Ontario, Canada, and Tucson, Arizona - which cost the Trust £21,525 and Hackney schools another £21,525. The eye-watering £59,790 total has led to questions why the Trust did not hold the annual meetings in its own school buildings. At the time The Learning Trust - since re-named the Hackney Learning Trust - was a private company but received large sums of public money to do its work. It has since been re-absorbed into Hackney Council. Lavish: A stay at the 17th Century Selsdon Park hotel in Surrey - 17 miles from Hackney - cost £7,100 . Costly: Another stay at the nearby Wotton House Hotel cost almost £5,500. At the time The Learning Trust in Hackney was a private firm but received substantial amounts of public money to do its work . Stately home: Many of the trips were to Woodcote Park, which is now owned by the Royal Automobile Club . The annual away days were taken from . 2004 to 2010. Only in 2011 and 2012, due to financial constraints, . did the board choose one-day seminars at the UBS bank instead. Learning Trust board chairman Richard Hardie is also the chairman of UBS's London Advisory Board. Jonathan . Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: 'It’s . astounding that the Trust thought it reasonable to waste taxpayers’ money on these expensive away days and foreign jaunts. Annual two-day away days for board members of The Learning Trust, Hackney . 2004: The Royal Automobile Club, Woodcote Park, Surrey. 19 attendees. Accommodation and catering: £4,109.53 . 2005: Royal Automobile Club. 23 attendees. Accommodation and catering: £4,109.53 . 2006: Royal Automobile Club. 25 attendees. Accommodation, catering and taxis: £7,092.44 . 2007: Royal Automobile Club. 18 attendees. Accommodation, catering and transport: £5,719.08. 2008: Basingstoke Country Hotel, Hampshire. 19 attendees. Accommodation and catering (no transport costs): £4,645.40. 2009: Selsdon Park Hotel, Surrey. 25 attendees. Accommodation and catering (no transport costs): £7,100.00. 2010: Wotton House, Dorking, Surrey. 16 attendees. Accommodation, catering and transport: £5,490.01. TOTAL COST: £38,265.99 . (Funded entirely by The Learning Trust) 'Study trips' abroad for 16 head teachers . 2006: Ontario, Canada. 2008: Tucson, Arizona. TOTAL FOR BOTH TRIPS: £43,050 . (Half funded by Trust, half funded by schools) 'Rather than swanning off on these expensive trips the trust should have focused on its job in Hackney. 'There’s no reason why these away days couldn’t have taken place on council property.' A . Hackney Council spokesman said: 'These training days were part of the . professional development of The Learning Trust's board members and took . place while it was a private limited company. They cost an average of . £263.90 for each person per year. 'Since . Hackney Learning Trust rejoined Hackney Council in 2012, training days . have been held in house or with partner organisations, at a much lower . cost.' The U.S. and Canada trips were each taken by 16 headteachers. Three members of Learning Trust staff accompanied them each time, but were paid for by consultancy Leannta . Education Associates, which organised the trips, and not public funds. Mr . Wallace was suspended in July last year after Hackney Council launched . an investigation into financial irregularities under his leadership, which related to the awarding of computer contracts. He submitted the Freedom of Information requests about spending in September. He . tendered his resignation effective at the end of the year, but by the time that came he had already been sacked. Hackney Council completed its report into the alleged conduct but it has not been made public. The council cited legal reasons. A Hackney Council spokesman said: 'A . routine audit at a Best Start Federation school uncovered concerns about . financial irregularity and the procurement of ICT contracts. 'A . full independent investigation was carried out and although Mr Wallace . tendered his resignation during the disciplinary process, the procedure . was completed and we can confirm Mr Wallace was subsequently dismissed . from his position. Luxurious: The Selsdon Park Hotel in Surrey was at one time the seat of the Bishops of Rochester . History: Wotton House was a seat of aristocracy and the birthplace in 1620 of diarist and gardener John Evelyn . Variety: Another of the trips was taken to the Basingstoke Country Hotel in Hampshire, pictured . 'The report also made a number of . recommendations to tighten financial and procurement procedures in BSF . schools. 'The Federation's governing body has agreed to defederate the . schools and new governing bodies will be set up for each school. Those . new bodies will take forward the recommendations.' Mr Wallace launched his career in education as headteacher of Woodberry Down primary school, north London, in 2001. He . was deemed so successful he was drafted in to turn around four more . underperforming schools - London Fields in Hackney, Whitmore in Hoxton, . Mandeville in Lower Clapton, and Burbage in Hoxton. They all came under the umbrella of the Best Start Federation. Education . Secretary Michael Gove lavished praise on Mr Wallace in a speech to the . Association of School and College Leaders in 2012. Career: Mr Wallace rose through the ranks after taking a post at Woodberry Down Primary School . Singling . him out alongside six other superheads, he said: '[His] students are . drawn from the poorest parts of Hackney and have benefitted hugely from a . rigorous approach to reading in the early years which makes them . enthusiastic devourers of every book they can get their hands on. 'The . reason I mention these - and I could mention many more - is that I . don’t think any leader in education should give a speech or appear in . public to talk about education without celebrating success and giving a . shout-out to those who’ve achieved it. 'But . there’s a special reason I mention these magnificent seven today. And . it goes to the heart of the moral purpose of this Government. I’ve said . in the past - will say again - and the evidence backs me up when I say . it. 'We have the best generation of young teachers ever in our schools. We have the best generation of heads ever in our schools.' | Greg Wallace went on crusade after he was suspended in Hackney, London .
The rising star had been in Michael Gove's so-called Magnificent Seven .
But a council investigation was launched into 'financial irregularities'
He then exposed Learning Trust's two-day trips to 17th Century hotels .
Headteachers were also taken to Arizona, U.S., and Ontario, Canada .
Another £20,000 was paid by local schools. Mr Wallace was later sacked . |
4,184 | 0c0ff2daac320f59ecda5be3e5610d02d35109c6 | Beekeeper Steven Anderson, who knew he was allergic to bees, died after receiving a single sting . A beekeeper who knew he was allergic to bees was killed by a single sting despite pleas from his father to give up his hobby. Steven Adderson, 39, had promised to 'be careful' when his worried father Graham begged him to forget about his hobby. But the popular engineer from Downham Market in Norfolk, who was six foot nine, received a deadly sting after he forgot to put on special protective boots when he went to check out a 'rogue swarm' at a neighbour's house. Now his father Graham has spoken out to warn of the extreme dangers of anaphylactic shock, which thousands of people are at risk of suffering when stung. Mr Adderson, who owns a fish and chip shop in the town, said he repeatedly urged his son to give up his two-year hobby and his beloved bees. The father-of-three said: 'When we found out that he was allergic to bees I said to him "I shouldn’t bother with those bees - it could kill you".' said the father-of-three. 'But he said "I will be all right, I will be careful".' Mr Adderson explained that on the morning of his son's death, the 39-year-old was on his way to work when he went to investigate the angry bees at a neighbour’s house. He explained: 'He put his suit on but I think he was in a rush to get to work and forgot to put the boots on and got stung on the ankle as a result. 'He could not find the queen bee.' Steven, who always carried an EpiPen adrenaline shot with him, managed to stagger back home and call 999. He told the operator he was feeling faint and light-headed but seconds later he collapsed. 'When the ambulance arrived they emptied every bit of adrenaline they had into Steven and rushed him to hospital but they couldn't do anything for him,' added Mr Adderson. The freak tragedy stunned the town and hundreds of family, friends and local people packed St Edmund Church in Downham for Steven’s funeral service on June 30. Steven, whose death left his fiancée Emma and brothers Philip and Daniel devastated, was also a big fan of Land Rovers. Mr Adderson will now be taking part in a charity motor show in Snetterton, Norfolk, next month with his beloved MG XPower SV and will be selling passenger rides. Scroll down for video . His father Graham, pictured, had urged his son to give up his hobby after learning he was allergic to bees. He is now speaking out about the dangers of anaphylactic shock . He warned: 'I would just urge people with all my heart to be very careful with bees - if one lands on you, don’t whack it off, just blow it away.' An Office of National Statistics spokesman said only one person was killed by a bee sting in the UK in 2012 and none last year. Gill Maclean, of the British Beekeepers Association, said Steven’s death was 'an extremely tragic and extremely rare' case. Ms Maclean said: 'If you know you are allergic then the sensible thing to do is to give beekeeping up or not start it. 'The most important thing we would say is to get the training and education. 'But bees don’t set out to sting people as they die straight away afterwards - they are far more interested in finding a flower.' | Beekeeper Steven Adderson, 39, knew that he was allergic to bees .
Was begged by his father Graham to give up his hobby but he refused .
Had gone to a neighbour's house who complained of a 'rogue swarm'
He forgot to wear his special protective boots and received a deadly sting .
Now his father is speaking out about the dangers of anaphylactic shock . |
119,608 | 2688171d96c6f10bddd950a62bfb3de8a73434fa | By . Lizzie Edmonds . PUBLISHED: . 11:39 EST, 27 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:12 EST, 27 December 2013 . Crime: The alleged attack took place in Karaikal, Tamil Nadu, pictured on December 24 . A woman was abducted and raped on Christmas Eve before being attacked and gang raped by another group of seven men just minutes later, it has been reported today. The 20-year-old woman's horrific ordeal took place while she was out with friends in Karaikal, Tamil Nadu, reports suggest. The woman, who is believed to work for a computer company, had been out sight seeing with a female friend and the latter's boyfriend, 17. The two women decided to go home to change during their visit on December 24. Three men, who the victim says had been watching her for a while, abducted her while she walked alone, taking her to a secluded place. One of group then allegedly raped her. The woman says she was then released by the man and attempted to get to safety and find her friends. The woman says that within a few minutes she was taken by another group of seven men. Six of the vile gang then took turns to rape her, she says. The woman's friends are reported to have made desperate attempts to find the girl - eventually finding the group and confronting them. When a fight broke out, a neighbour called police who arrived on the scene, according to The Times of India. The newspaper says the woman was helped by officers - who arrested three men on the spot - when they arrived and taken to a nearby police station. Seven men were later arrested in connection to the alleged crime. Protests: Violence and rape of women in India has led to scores of protests across the capital, such as this one in New Dehli . A further three are thought to have been identified by officers, but are reported to have absconded. Senior officer Monika Bahardwaj said police have launched a investigation to verify the woman's shocking claims. Two officers have been suspended from their duties due to lapses in handling the crime, she added. The alleged crime is just one in a list of reported rapes and violent attacks on India's streets. Most famously, a young woman was killed when she was gang-raped on a bus in New Delhi last December. Fury: Following the attack of the young girl in New Delhi, hundreds took to the street in protest to demand swift justice, pictured . | Woman, 20, out sight-seeing with two friends on December 24 .
Was 'abducted by three men while she walked alone and one raped her'
Attempted to make it to safety but then gang of seven took her, she says .
She alleges she was gang-raped by six of men before police arrived at scene .
Police in Karaikal, Tamil Nadu, arrested 10 and launched investigation . |
26,963 | 4c83612ee1c0be8ce39cfa900ceea52fa6db80c9 | (CNN) -- Manchester United took a big step towards reaching the Champions League final for the third time in four years as the English team ended Schalke's 100% home record this season in Europe's top club competition on Tuesday. Second-half goals from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney gave United a 2-0 victory in Germany ahead of next Wednesday's second leg of the semifinal at Old Trafford. It could have been a much greater margin as goalkeeper Manuel Neuer performed heroics to keep the match scoreless for more than an hour, while United's defense has yet to concede away from home in the tournament this season. But Rooney set Giggs clear with a clever pass and the 37-year-old slipped the ball past Neuer with his favored left foot in the 67th minute to make up for several earlier misses by the Welshman. Neville: Arsenal trip is United's toughest test . Giggs became the oldest player to score in the tournament, surpassing Javier Zanetti's October effort against Tottenham by nearly three months. England striker Rooney doubled the lead three minutes later after Javier Hernandez nipped in front of the static Schalke defense and slid the ball into his path. "We're delighted but a bit disappointed in terms of not scoring more," Rooney told reporters. "We have done very well. We have to be professional for the second leg as Schalke can't be taken lightly. They went to Inter and won 5-2 (in the quarterfinals)." Neuer, who has announced that he will not extend his contract at Schalke and will reportedly make a post-season move to Bayern Munich, had earlier shown why so many clubs -- including United -- have been linked with the 25-year-old. The Germany international denied Giggs twice in the first half and also saved from Hernandez, and then kept out Michael Carrick's header straight after the break. Giggs shot embarrassingly wide with his weaker right foot after a clever turn outwitted two defenders, then Hernandez was ruled offside before putting the ball past Neuer in the 51st minute. 'Envious' Ferguson wants to match Real Madrid . After United finally went comfortably ahead, manager Alex Ferguson was able to rest Hernandez, Park Ji-Sung and Rooney ahead of Sunday's trip to English Premier League rivals Arsenal. It was the 69-year-old Scot's 100th away game in Europe as a manager, as he seeks to add to Champions League titles in 1999 and 2008 to give United a fourth European crown overall. United have every incentive to reach the final, which will be played on home soil at London's Wembley Stadium on May 28. However, the 18-time English champions have never beaten a German team in four two-legged ties so far in the competition, losing to Bayern in last season's quarterfinals. "We have to recognize that we were dominated by a team playing in a different dimension," Schalke defender Christoph Metzelder said. "We still have hope, anything is possible. We'll try to do everything to win at Old Trafford." The winning team will progress for a title match against Spanish giants Barcelona or Real Madrid, who clash in the first leg of their semifinal at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. United lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the 2009 final in Rome. Meanwhile, Stoke City moved up to ninth place with a 3-0 win over relegation-threatened Wolverhampton in Tuesday's only Premier League fixture. Striker Kenwyne Jones opened the scoring with a header after 16 minutes, while defender Ryan Shawcross made it 2-0 from close range on halftime before winger Jermaine Pennant made it safe with a deflected effort soon after the interval. However, Stoke winger Matthew Etherington could miss the FA Cup final against Manchester City on May 14 after being stretchered off in the first half with a hamstring injury. The defeat left Wolves second from bottom with four matches to play. | Second-half goals from Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney give United semifinal edge .
Schalke beaten at home for first time in this season's Champions League .
United have never beaten a German team in a two-leg tie in the tournament .
Alex Ferguson seeking to take United to a third final in four years . |
221,892 | ab3a1b2ab3d1b3055038dbfcc8865b1bc3794fa3 | Washington (CNN) -- In an extended shutdown, most of the federal workforce would go without pay, but the checks will keep coming to the 533 current members of Congress. Who gets paid in a shutdown and who doesn't? "That is disgraceful in my view," said freshman Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, told CNN. "Basically the only people who get paid in a shutdown are members of Congress, and that is irresponsible." Gabbard plans to send any pay she receives during a shutdown back to the Treasury. The combat veteran said she was shocked to find out recently that members' pay is protected. It is -- by the Constitution. Opinion: Taxpayers, you deserve your money back . The 27th Amendment to the Constitution restricts any Congress from changing its own pay. The measure was proposed in the first days of the Republic but was not ratified until 1992, after a grass-roots movement promoted the idea and the necessary number of state legislatures approved it. While many may have wanted to restrain Congress from increasing its pay, the amendment also blocks Congress from freezing or cutting its compensation. The result? Congress gets paid no matter what. Gabbard is not the only member surprised. The list: What's open, what's closed . "I don't even know whether it stops or not," Rep. John Fleming, R-Louisiana, said when asked about his pay during a shutdown. When told that the Constitution mandates congressional paychecks stay as-is, Fleming responded that he hadn't thought through what he would do yet but would likely donate his pay during a shutdown to charity. "Obviously we need to share the pain of the American people," he concluded. The offices for the top two members of Congress -- House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- wouldn't respond to specifics about their pay. According to a report by the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, plans to donate his salary to charity during the shutdown. Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Texas, told CNN he is urging his fellow members of Congress to donate their pay to charitable causes. "I don't think we should get paid until (the shutdown) is resolved," Rep. Pete DeSantis, R-Fla, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Tuesday. "I've asked the clerk to withhold any pay for me until we get this up and running. I just think that that's fair for the folks involved who've been negatively affected by this." House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, disagreed with DeSantis. "I think that's another game (House Republicans) want to play, appealing to a demagogic approach to this," Hoyer told Tapper on Tuesday. Shutdown 'extremely damaging' to U.S. intelligence operations . "Members of Congress ought to be on the job working hard," Hoyer added, "getting this job done to the American people, getting their government opened, getting federal employees back to work and serving the public, serving the growth of our economy, serving our national security ends." While members will get paid, they must decide which of their own office staff have to go home. Members of Congress run their own office payroll and will decide who is essential and non essential. But even congressional staff members who work during a shutdown would not get paid until later -- only their bosses will get paid on time. "My staffers are working with pay. Right now," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, said Tuesday on "Crossfire." "They're doing oversight on the federal government. ... They're continuing to work on the waste." Coburn also said he's keeping his salary earned during the shutdown. "I'm going to keep my salary and going to make sure I spend it and tithe it and give to it charities and do the thing that I've always done. ... I'm not going to stop working." But Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who appeared alongside Coburn on "Crossfire" on Tuesday, is taking a different approach. "Eighty percent of my staff, unfortunately, is on furlough," she said, "I'm going to be contributing [my salary] on a daily basis. For every day we are not seeing an open -- a government that's open, I'm contributing." Americans hurt as DC 'squabbles like kids' CNN's Athena Jones, Tasha Diakides, and Martina Stewart contributed to this report. | NEW: Some in Congress say they're planning on giving their pay to charity during shutdown .
Thousands of federal workers have been furloughed and will lose pay in the shutdown .
Members of Congress will still get paid, as mandated by the 27th Amendment .
Some lawmakers say they will give their paychecks to the Treasury or to charity . |
285,316 | fdb4998e1a0335673bab7c9b26f694bf6708029a | By . Sarah Griffiths . PUBLISHED: . 04:55 EST, 26 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:25 EST, 27 June 2013 . South Korea's largest mobile operator is launching what it says is the world's fastest wireless network this week. The LTE-Advanced network can download data at speeds twice as fast as 4G networks and 10 times faster than 3G services, according to SK Telecom Co. With a transfer rate of 150 megabits per seconds, the network can download an 800 megabyte movie in just 43 seconds. This compares with around 80 seconds on the current LTE network. The service will be initially available in Seoul and its suburbs. Scroll down for video . A South Korean model shows off Samsung's smartphone displaying the wireless data speed of SK Telecom's LTE-Advanced network in Seoul today. SK Telecom's network offers speeds twice that of its existing long term evolution (LTE) network and 10 times faster than 3G services . South Korea has witnessed rapid growth of the fourth-generation LTE, or Long Term Evolution, service as the country's mobile phone users are quick to adopt faster wireless technologies . More than 60 per cent of South Korea's 33million smartphone users have subscribed to the LTE service. GSA, an association of network suppliers, projects that LTE networks will be available in 87 countries by the end of 2013. The LTE-Advanced technology, however, has room for improvement. While it boasts the fastest download speed, its upload speed is same as LTE networks at 37.5 mbps. Currently EE (formerly known as Everything Everywhere) offers an LTE or 4G network with top speeds of 80Mbps in some cities. The company has a next-generation CAT4 device that will deliver over 100Mbps on its double-speed network. It will also be running a commercial trial of a network that can offer maximum speeds of up to 300Mbps in London later this year. South Korean models show off the new Galaxy S4 LTE-A handset, which again displays the super fast network speed. A selection of smartphones designed for use with the LTE-Advanced network are expected to launch by 2014 . To accompany the launch of the world's first LTE-Advanced network, the world's largest smartphone manufacturer, Samsung Electronics, has released the Galaxy S4 LTE-A handset. The smartphone is the first model produced to run on the country's super fast LTE-A network. SK Telecom plans to roll out a total of 7 LTE-A compatible handsets in the second half of 2013, with LG Electronics also poised to launch similar smartphones for the network before 2014, according to South Korean news agency, Yonhap. | SK Telecom Co launches super fast network that is 10 times faster than 3G .
Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE-A is the first handset available for the LTE-Advanced network . |
189,347 | 81363d0246b2ee6f28dc4cdab7d28756efd59fad | Washington (CNN) -- President Obama outlined his final version of a health care bill Wednesday and urged Congress to bring the plan to a conclusive vote within the next few weeks. The president said his nearly $1 trillion proposal is a compromise plan that combines the best ideas of both Democrats and Republicans. He asked Congress to "finish its work" and end what has become a yearlong vitriolic legislative showdown over his top domestic priority. "Everything there is to say about health care has been said, and just about everybody has said it," he said. "Now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America's families and America's businesses." He also came out in support of a controversial legislative maneuver known as reconciliation, which would allow changes to the health care bill to be passed by the Senate with only 51 votes -- a bare legislative majority. The bill "deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote" that was used to pass President George W. Bush's signature tax cuts and welfare reform in the 1990s, Obama said at the White House. "At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem," he said. "The American people want to know if it's still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. They are waiting for us to act." He said he doesn't "know how this plays politically," but knows that "it's right." Top Republicans have repeatedly said Obama's proposal amounts to a government takeover of the private health care system that will do little to control spiraling medical inflation. In recent weeks, they have reiterated their calls for the president to scrap his plan and start over. GOP leaders also fiercely oppose the use of reconciliation, saying it was never meant to be used for such a major policy change. "I am disappointed that Democrats are moving ahead with the nuclear option," said Michigan Rep. Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee. "Big social policy changes should have bipartisan support and the support of the American people. This bill has neither. But as bad as the process for moving this bill is, the policy and its impact is far worse." Multiple Democratic sources have told CNN that the emerging consensus plan is for the House of Representatives to pass the Senate bill and send it to Obama. A package of changes that mirror the president's plan would then be passed through both chambers under reconciliation rules. Democrats increasingly brought up the prospect of using reconciliation after losing their 60-vote, filibuster-proof Senate majority in January, when GOP Sen. Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat previously held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat. Observers note, however, that it remains unclear exactly which health care provisions can be approved under reconciliation, which is reserved for legislation pertaining to the budget. If enacted, the president's sweeping compromise plan would constitute the biggest expansion of federal health care guarantees since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid more than four decades ago. The White House says it would extend coverage to 31 million Americans. Among other things, Obama's plan would expand Medicare prescription drug coverage, increase federal subsidies to help people buy insurance and give the federal government new authority to block excessive rate increases by health insurance companies. It increases the threshold -- relative to the Senate bill passed in December -- under which a tax on high-end health insurance plans would kick in. The president's proposal also includes significant reductions in Medicare spending, in part through changes in payments made under the Medicare Advantage program. It does not, however, include a government-run public health insurance option -- an idea strongly backed by liberal Democrats but fiercely opposed by Republicans and key Democratic moderates. It also eliminates a deeply unpopular provision in the Senate bill worked in by Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, that exempts that state from paying increased Medicaid expenses. Administration officials say Obama's measure would cut the deficit by $100 billion over the next 10 years. They estimate the total cost of the bill to be $950 billion in the next decade. Obama extended a final bipartisan olive branch to GOP leaders Tuesday, saying in a letter that he is willing to consider several of their ideas in a compromise plan. Among other things, the president said he is willing to commit $50 million to fund state initiatives designed to reduce medical malpractice costs. He backed undercover investigations of health care providers receiving Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs. The president also backed Medicaid reimbursement increases to doctors in certain states, and supported language ensuring certain high-deductible health plans can be offered in the health exchange. The president said his decision to consider the GOP ideas was a result of last week's health care summit. GOP leaders, however, have said they are unsatisfied with Obama's concessions. "The only thing that will be bipartisan about this proposal will be the opposition to it," promised Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. "The American people are not for this." McConnell predicted that "every election in America this fall will be a referendum on this issue." | NEW: "Now is the time to make a decision" about health care reform, president says .
NEW: Obama backs reconciliation, controversial tactic that requires only 51 votes .
But GOP says reconciliation never meant to be used for such a major policy change .
Top GOP leaders have reiterated calls for president to scrap his plan, start over . |
27,256 | 4d4f6b70e7fcdf15a62bf5d5644829e47c2021fd | BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Thailand's military has denied abusing refugee boat-people from Myanmar after claims some were whipped on a tourist beach and hundreds more left dead or missing after being towed at to sea without food and water. Photograph released by Thai navy showing a group of illegal immigrants captured on December 12. Photos showing refugees being made to lie face down on a popular beach and media reports claiming refugees been deliberately lost at sea have sparked concerns for their safety. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it is "concerned" about the fate of the Muslim ethnic minority Rohingya people, who have fled from Myanmar's border with Bangladesh. The agency says it has written a formal note to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking for clarification of what is happening. CNN spoke to one Australian tourist, who declined to be named for fear of being barred from Thailand, who says boat-people were "whipped" by Thai guards on popular diving resort island in the Similan Archipelago last month. Local media also report claims by Rohingya survivors that the Thai military have been detaining hundreds of them an island called Koh Sai Daeng before towing them back out into open water without supplies. The survivors say hundreds of them drowned and only the lucky ones made it to the Indian Andaman Islands or Indonesia's Aceh province. The Thai Navy denies knowledge of the incident. Rear Admiral Naris Pratumsuwan told CNN "as a normal practice, if Navy finds illegal immigrants, we will hand them over to related authorities, e.g. police or immigration police." He said he had not received any information on an island where migrants are being detained. There were reports of another boatload of 46 Rohingya detained by the Thai military Friday, but there was no official confirmation. The Rohingya have been fleeing persecution of the hard-line military regime in Myanmar, formerly Burma, for years and often seek refuge in Malaysia. Boat loads of Rohingya arriving in Thailand is nothing new, but non-governmental organizations are increasingly worried about what they say is an apparent change of government policy. They say the army's Internal Security Operations Command is forcing the Rohingya out to sea rather than deporting them overland back to Myanmar. "The Thai government is taking highly vulnerable people and risking their lives for political gain," says Refugee International's Sean Garcia says. "It should be engaging the Burmese government on improving conditions at home for the Rohingya if it wants to stem these flows. "The Rohingya will continue to make the journey because they have no hope for a better life in Burma. Pushing them back out to sea is not an effective deterrent it just jeopardizes lives." | Thai military denies abusing refugees from Myanmar .
Witnesses say ethnic Rohingya whipped face down on tourist beach .
Reports say hundreds missing after being towed back out to sea . |
128,903 | 328c98707b9d24c733c442c7beaaaaabc1fc45cf | Berlin (CNN) -- Former Nazi death camp guard and onetime Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk has died in Germany, a police spokesman said Saturday. Demjanjuk, 91, was found guilty last May in a German court of assisting in mass murder as a guard at the Nazi-run Sobibor death camp in German-occupied Poland, and sentenced to five years in prison. He died in a home for the elderly where he was living pending appeal, Oberbayern-Sud police spokesman Kilian Steger said. As part of standard procedure, the Traunstein state prosecutor's office is looking into the circumstances of his death, Steger said. The Nazis and their sympathizers killed at least 167,000 people at Sobibor in 1942 and 1943, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Munich state prosecutors charged Demjanjuk as an accessory to about 27,900 of those deaths, and the court found the killings were "motivated by racial hatred." Demjanjuk denied the charges, arguing that he was a prisoner of war who was forced to do what the Nazis wanted. The Ukraine native, who moved to the U.S. after World War II, raised a family and worked in the auto industry in Ohio, was finally extradited from the United States in 2009 to face trial following a long legal battle. The accusations against Demjanjuk date to the late 1970s, when the U.S. Justice Department accused him of being a Nazi guard known as "Ivan the Terrible." His U.S. citizenship was revoked in 1981, and he was extradited to Israel in 1986. He was convicted in an Israeli court in 1988 and sentenced to death, but that conviction was overturned in 1993 amid evidence that someone else was "Ivan the Terrible." A U.S. federal court restored Demjanjuk's citizenship, ruling that the government withheld evidence supporting his case. But his citizenship was revoked again in 2002 after a federal judge ruled that his 1952 entry into the United States was illegal because he hid his past as a Nazi guard. CNN's Diana Magnay contributed to this report. | NEW: John Demjanjuk was living in a home for the elderly pending appeal of his conviction .
Demjanjuk, a onetime U.S. auto worker, was convicted in Germany last year .
He was found guilty of assisting in mass murder as a guard at the Sobibor death camp .
Prosecutors said he was an accessory to nearly 28,000 deaths . |
212,514 | 9f2e497cd4237aba11d5b0a5d050aa5b3bbcd66c | Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A bombing at a wedding ceremony in Afghanistan's Kandahar province was carried out by a suicide bomber wearing an explosives-laden vest, the interior ministry said Thursday. The explosion Wednesday in the village of Nagaan killed 40 people and wounded 74 others, the interior ministry said. The Taliban said it was not responsible for the attack. The International Security Assistance Force confirmed the bombing but did not provide a casualty count. "This ruthless violence brought to the Afghan people at what should have been a time for celebration demonstrates the Taliban's sickening and indiscriminate tactics to try to intimidate the citizens of Afghanistan," said Lt. Gen. Nick Parker, Deputy Commander, International Security Assistance Force on Thursday. The village is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the city of Kandahar. The explosion came during the wedding dinner, between 9:30 and 10 p.m., striking the area where the men and boys were dining separately from the women. All the casualties were men or boys, village officials said. CNN's Matiullah Mati contributed to this report . | NEW: Taliban denies responsibility .
Bomber had on suicide vest, says interior ministry .
Explosion killed 40, wounded 74 .
ISAF: Attacks shows Taliban's 'sickening' tactics . |
134,440 | 39db136763c5d7ecb228163cd6bc5972a22fc067 | Amman, Jordan (CNN) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II has made a call for national unity and reform following bloody clashes between protesters and government loyalists late last week, the country's Petra News Agency reported. "What matters to us in this stage is that our national unity must not be undermined," the king said Sunday, while visiting the southern region of Petra. "We are proceeding in earnest with the political reform process and we have nothing to fear." The assurances from King Abdullah came two days after Friday's clashes left dozens injured and as opposition groups continued to demand the resignations of the country's prime minister and senior security officials. "We recognize the difficult conditions and challenges the Kingdom and the whole region are passing through," the king said, "but we are optimistic about the future we seek through developmental and economic projects." The demonstrations turned violent as government loyalists clashed with protesters calling for the dissolution of parliament, an elected government and constitutional reforms. Dozens were injured as the two sides converged in a hail of rocks and swinging sticks, according to protest organizers and the government. At least 62 people and 58 security force members were injured, the country's General Security Directorate said. One man died of a heart attack in Friday's protests, officials said. Among those calling for the dismissal of government officials were family members of the 56-year-old protester. The brothers and sons of Fakhri Jamil blamed the heart attack on beatings they say he sustained from security forces and "thugs." Meanwhile, Jordanian Interior Minister Saad Hayel Srour and Gen. Hussain al-Majali, the head of Jordan's Public Security Department, told reporters Saturday that gatherings such as Friday's, which occupy a main area and disrupt day-to-day activities, will not be tolerated. Security forces have allowed peaceful protests in the kingdom for more than 12 weeks, the two said. Al-Majali said security forces should not be accused of any shortcomings or negligence during Friday's protest, noting that had they not intervened during the clashes, "today we would have had funerals that cannot be counted." He said the forces practiced restraint and intervened only to prevent bloodshed and save citizens' lives. A CNN team in Amman on Friday witnessed some security forces beating up anti-government protesters. | Clashes between government forces and protesters injure dozens on Friday .
Opposition groups are renewing their calls for government reforms .
King Abdullah II urges reform .
Security forces should not be accused of negligence during Friday's protest, official says . |
54,549 | 9a810c1ee9868f5c563b52762665f321fc086cb9 | As officials gave the final go-ahead to Thursday's Orion launch of the capsule that could take man to Mars, Nasa unveiled another important part of the mission - its countdown clock,. Last week, down came the countdown clock that dated back to the Apollo 12 moon shot in 1969 and signalled every space shuttle launch for 30 years. Today, the new clock, in the same exact spot at the Kennedy Space Center press site that, along with the nearby flag pole, had once earned national historic designation, was switched on for the first time. The new clock, in the same exact spot at the Kennedy Space Center press site that, along with the nearby flag pole, had once earned national historic designation, was switched on for the first time. The new clock is just as long at 26 feet, but a foot taller at 7 feet. The new clock is just as long at 26 feet, but a foot taller at 7 feet. Can show video as well as numbers . The new clock is just as long at 26 feet, but a foot taller at 7 feet. It's the nation's first new spacecraft intended for true outer-space travel by humans since the Apollo moon program. What better way to usher in this new era of exploration, NASA reasoned, than with the latest flat-screen gizmo. So last week, down came the countdown clock that dated back to the Apollo 12 moon shot in 1969 and signaled every space shuttle launch for 30 years. And up went the new display in the same exact spot at the Kennedy Space Center press site that, along with the nearby flag pole, had once earned national historic designation. The new clock is just as long at 26 feet, but a foot taller at 7 feet. NASA spokesman George Diller said the old clock, while still working, had become too expensive to fix and maintain. Parts were hard to come by. (It used 349 light bulbs to illuminate the hours, minutes and seconds, the colons and the plus and minus signs.) 'It was just becoming an antique,' Diller said. The new $280,000 display, similar to those used at sports stadiums, can provide multiple images in addition to the countdown time. 'An electronic billboard,' explained Mike Bolger, a NASA ground systems manager. The old clock used used 349 light bulbs to illuminate the hours, minutes and seconds, the colons and the plus and minus signs . Dismantled: Workmen haul the clock into a truck after the plug was pulled on the world's second most watched clock after Big Ben . The Orion capsule, on top of the rockets that will launch it on Thursday . On Tuesday, the countdown numbers ticked down in the lower right corner - far smaller than on the old familiar clock. But that's because the left half of the display showed a real-time, close-up image of the Delta IV rocket launch pad. In the upper right corner, the words 'Orion Test Flight' showed in red, sandwiched between an Orion emblem and the NASA logo. NASA took pains to keep the scene basically the same, with the clock and flag pole, according to Diller. Even so, more than a few space-age veterans were sorry to see the old, familiar clock hauled off. Diller tried to be philosophical about the switch: 'We won't have to worry about changing the light bulbs anymore.' Apollo 17's launch on Dec. 7, 1972, marked mankind's last trip to the moon - and the last crewed capsule to leave Earth's immediate vicinity. During its December 4 test flight, the unmanned capsule will shoot more than 3,600 miles (5,790km) into space. It will then take two big laps around Earth before re-entering the atmosphere at 20,000 mph (32,200 km/h) and parachuting into the Pacific off the San Diego coast. The Launch Abort System and upper stage, shown in the left of this image, have been transported to Cape Canaveral. Here, they will be joined with the Delta IV Heavy Rocket ahead of a test flight in December. The right image shows the stages Orion will go through during flight . During the two-orbit, four-hour mission, engineers will evaluate the systems critical to crew safety, the launch abort system, the heat shield and the parachute system. The data gathered during the mission will influence design decisions and validate existing computer models. The flight also will reduce overall mission risks and costs for later Orion flights. The capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere generating temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. This inaugural Orion - scheduled for a 7:05 a.m. EST send-off - will carry no crew during the 4 1/2-hour test flight and be confined to Earth orbit. But it will aim for a high point of 3,600 miles on the second loop of the planet, setting the spacecraft up for a 20,000-mph, 4,000-degree re-entry. Splashdown will occur in the Pacific, 600 miles southwest of San Diego. Managers from United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Lockheed Martin gave a 'go' to proceed toward launch pending completion of open work during the Launch Readiness Review for Orion's flight test. The weather is forecast to be 60 percent 'go' for a scheduled liftoff at 7:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 4. With Countdown Clock in the foreground, Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Nasa spokesman George Diller said the old clock, while still working, had become too expensive to fix and maintain. For this launch, a Delta IV rocket will do the heavy lifting. Future Orions will be launched aboard NASA's still-in-development Space Launch System, or SLS, intended to carry astronauts to asteroids, Mars and beyond. One plan calls for an asteroid to be corralled in orbit around the moon, so an Orion crew can explore the rock sometime in the 2020s. Mars expeditions would follow in the 2030s. NASA is counting on the new countdown clock to be around for all that. Traditionalists, meanwhile, can take heart. The space center hopes to reassemble and display the old clock at its tourist stop next year. | Clock that dated back to Apollo 12 moon shot in 1969 and signaled every space shuttle launch removed last week .
New clock is just as long at 26 feet, but a foot taller at 7 feet - and entire clock is a video screen .
Shows countdown for Thursday's launch and live video of the launchpad .
Launch scheduled for 7:05 a.m. EST, and Orion will carry no crew during the 4 1/2-hour test flight . |
163,530 | 5f744830ae08666a1c2574951740e49e14200727 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 10:08 PM on 29th February 2012 . A mother with a history of drug abuse drowned her son in the bath to make sure his father didn’t win a custody battle over him. Amanda Smith, 33, killed 3-year-old Jacob, . called 911 and then sprung out of a closet swinging an axe at a police . officer who arrived at her home in Indianapolis. The Johnson County Sheriff's Department received two 911 calls shortly after 9 p.m., one from Smith stating that her son was dead and another from Smith's mother, 'advising that her daughter told her that she had done something to her child that could not be undone.' Scroll down for video . Drowned: Jacob Smith was being fought over by his parents in a custody battle. Accused: Amanda Smith is believed to have drowned her son . Amanda . Smith and Robert Crim were in the middle of a custody battle over their . son and a court hearing was set for March 14 to determine whether Jacob . would continue to live with his maternal grandmother, as Amanda Smith . wanted, or to live with his father. Jacob, . who would have celebrated his 4th birthday on March 7, had been living . with his grandmother, Wanda Smith, since August 2010 after child welfare . workers intervened because of the parents' drug problems. However, late last year Mr Crim indicated he had overcome his drug problems and wanted to gain custody of his son. Mr . Crim, who was no longer in a relationship with Jacob’s mother, filed . documents seeking to terminate Wanda Smith's guardianship. Johnson County judge, Mark Loyd, had . warned Amanda Smith last Thursday that her say in her son's custody . hinged on better cooperation with authorities. Custody battle: A court hearing was set for March 14, a week after Jacob's 4th birthday, to determine whether Robert Crim would gain custody of his son . Although Wanda Smith had been granted custody of the boy, Amanda Smith was allowed one night a week unsupervised visits. Crim, who was in a six-year relationship with Amanda Smith, said Smith suffered from schizophrenia and is blaming the court system for his son’s death. He said Smith had become angry in recent months after losing custody of her two other children and because he had filed for custody of Jacob. "She stated in the letter to the court that she'd do anything to keep him away from me, and the court blindly ignored that," he said. "She told me that she hears voices and sometimes she acted on them," Crim told RTV6. Crime scene: Amanda Smith drowned her son at her apartment (pictured), had a history of drug problems and had called police 11 times over the previous weekend . Despite Smith's long history of problems, Loyd said, he had never heard anything that would indicate she was prone to anger or violence. "The child is still in a case in my court," the judge said, "and under those circumstances I feel terribly responsible." As well as her drug problems, Smith was known to authorities for her frequent calls to 911. She had called 911 more than 200 times over the past few years, including 11 the past weekend, police said. She now faces a preliminary murder charge and a charge of attempted murder for rushing at a Trafalgar police officer with an axe. Smith pleaded guilty to felony child neglect in December 2009 after a police officer went to her home and found that she and Crim, 42, Bargersville, had been smoking crack all night while caring for Jacob, then a year old. Watch video here . | Amanda Smith killed her son, Jacob, to prevent a custody change .
Smith also faces attempted murder charge for swinging axe at police officer .
Father blames court system for allowing 'schizophrenic' Smith unsupervised access to son . |
45,399 | 7ff3d21e04666b0a3e481a0b34288cc21f27dd01 | By . Katy Winter . A Facebook page inviting people to post amusing comments they claim to have heard in an up-market supermarket chain has become an internet hit. The woes, trials and tribulations of the ever-expanding British middle-class are being posted on the site, apparently just as they were heard uttered by people while doing their weekly food shop. The remarks by shoppers often with their children in tow, are both cringe making and hilarious in equal measures. The Facebook page, which is described as 'A page for publishing words often heard permeating the aisles of Britain;s poshest supermarket', has already gained 120,799 likes since it was launch ed three days ago . The Duchess of Cambridge was snapped heading into her local Waitrose when she was living on the island of Anglesey with William in 2011 while he was worked as an RAF search and rescue pilot . HRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall also visited Waitrose, which has long been a favourite among affluent shoppers . With quotes revolving around the . purchasing of gourmet, expensive foods and the difficulties of managing a . life of privilege, the page has gone viral online with 120,000 ‘likes’ . since being launched just three days ago. People often joke that Waitrose is the 'posh persons' supermarket' and lines that are said to have been overheard include: 'Hurry up with the focaccia darling, that man's coming to clean the pool soon' and 'Daddy, does Lego have a silent tea, like Merlot' Oh and that terrible problem of having to keep up with numerous properties is covered too with 'Darling, do we need parmesan for both houses? The site, which should possibly be taken with a pinch of only the very best sea salt, is the latest to gain attention online through mocking the middle classes with Twitter accounts such as 'Middle Class Problems' also gaining a huge following. | Facebook group allows people to post things they claim to have heard in Waitrose .
Only launched three days ago and already has over 120,000 'likes'
Quotes revolve around the 'problems' faced by affluent customers . |
242,061 | c546696afd30538e5010df699a3073c1c6fe9c36 | She's been in the industry for more than 20 years, has two children and has never looked better, so what's Gwyneth Paltrow's secret? Sex bark, spirit truffles and a curious brain activating drink, if her latest Goop post is anything to go by. The lifestyle guru, 42, known and loved for her quirky tips, has joined forces with medicinal chef Amanda Chantal Bacon to share some recipes they say make them 'glow from within'. In the new post, the pair 'have a blast' learning about the healing powers of food and super powders while making some 'seriously delicious' drinks and chocolates. Scroll down for video . Gwyneth Paltrow, 42, has joined forces with chef Amanda Chantal Bacon to share some recipes they say make them 'glow from within' and some of the ingredients are rather bizarre . One such drink is called 'GP’s brain activating adaptogenic drink', which is packed with spring water, almond butter, vanilla mushroom protein, maca powder and a curious sounding 'brain dust' that Amanda created herself. The medicinal food educator claims that her potion, which is made up of superfood such as astragalus, gingko, lion's mane (a mushroom) and stevia, 'lights up your brain and increases mental flow by feeding neurotransmitters and brain tissue'. Describing the concoction, Amanda writes: 'Designed especially for GP, who was complaining of brain fog and too many amnesiac moments, this drink is packed with powders and nutrients that will leave you feeling energized, calm, and clear-headed. 'Brain dust increases mental flow, maca delivers abundant energy, mental stamina, and an elevated mood, and the vanilla mushroom protein relieves stress while nourishing the heart and spirit.' The recipes featured include mysterious powders such as spirit dust, left, and brain dust, right, which apparently boost energy, stamina and mood . One drink included is called 'GP's brain activating adaptogenic drink', which is packed with spring water, almond butter, vanilla mushroom protein, maca powder and 'brain dust' Another intriguing recipe in the post is 'sex bark'. 'This quick and potent chocolate recipe is perfect for a sweet bite after a romantic dinner,' claims Amanda. Gwyneth penned a clean living book It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great . It's full of Ho shou wu, which is apparently a herb tonic used for centuries to enhance youthfulness, reproductive function, and sex drive. Spirit truffles, meanwhile, are described in the post as the 'most intense (and healthiest!) chocolate truffles we’ve ever eaten'. The key ingredient is spirit dust, a mixture of reishi, pearl, cinnamon, and goji. Describing the sweet treats, Amanda writes: 'The spirit dust feeds harmony and extrasensory perception through pineal gland de-calcification and activation, while the hemp seeds feed the brain, nourish the eyes, stimulate blood cells, and beautify hair and skin.' As well as sharing some downright bizarre recipes, Gwyneth uses her blog to impart her parenting advice. This week's installment? Calming apps for kids. 'There are no shortage of apps out there that make kids really hyper,' writes the mother-of-two. 'And any parent knows how hard it is to pry an iPad out of a kid’s hands when it’s time for bed. So we rounded up some end-of-day options that are a good compromise: Whether they play relaxing sounds, or teach simple-to-follow meditation techniques, they can lull just about any amped-up kid to sleep.' She includes apps such as smiling mind, which apparently helps them tackle everyday stresses, sleep meditations for kids and my first yoga - an app to boost focus and quieten the mind. This week in Tinseltown, Gwyneth made sure that all eyes were on her in a blue gown at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film Mortdecai. The 42-year-old star turned heads as she showed off her figure at the gala held at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Wednesday night. In Tinseltown, Gwyneth made sure that all eyes were on her in a blue gown at the Los Angeles premiere of her new film Mortdecai in a striking slashed thigh dress . | Gwyneth and her medicinal chef friend share healthy recipes .
Contain ingredients called 'spirit dust' and 'brain dust'
Also shares her top tips for helping calm your kids down . |
196,755 | 8a9eb0cb093a724012513efb40bb2d8f0193d058 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . A mixed-breed dog that was set on fire last month by its Florida owner leaving her entire body heavily scarred is making a slow recovery as she remains in the intensive car unit at a Tampa vet. For reasons that are unclear, on March 20, the owner of one-year-old Hope set her on fire in Arcadia, about 90 miles southeast of Tampa. The ownes has not been identified and police are continuing to investigate the cruel incident. While she has been in the care of Tampa's BluePearl Veterinary Partners, she has had a tremendous amount of dead skin and tissue removed, and recently, had her sixth laser therapy treatment. Scroll down for video . Hope, a one-year-old mixed breed, recovers in the intensive care unit of a Tampa animal hospital after she was set ablaze by her owner . Hope is recovering from her severe burns at BluePearl Veterinary Partners . Hope has a a tremendous amount of dead skin and tissue removed and may have permanent eye damage . BluePearl is one of only nine nationally recognized veterinary trauma centers in the U.S. 'So far, Hope is doing very well in response to our treatment plan,' Dr. Helga Bleyaert, a veterinary surgeon supervising Hope's care, said. 'I'm still a little concerned about her eyes, but we should know more [later] when our ophthalmologists take another look at them.' Although Hope still has a long road ahead to complete her recovery, veterinarians are optimistic. Hope has had six laser therapy treatments due to her injuries . 'She's still in a very intensive phase of wound care and of medications, but the great thing is she's eating, she's drinking, and she's off of IV fluids,' Dr. Sonja Olson told Fox13. 'She's on oral medications. She's on topical medications.' A local organization, the Hardee Animal Rescue Team, has begun collecting donations for Hope's care. So far, the public has donated more than $40,000. | Mixed-breed female dog suffered severe skin and tissue burns and may have permanent eye damage .
Hope has gone through six laser therapy treatments due to her injuries .
Public has donated more than $40,000 toward her vet bills . |
284,827 | fd1275c61bc0c1fe55886d5ffd6c52d59c8b9180 | (CNN) -- The Obama administration likely will succumb to growing pressure to "do something" kinetic and dramatic in Iraq, and when it does, it will most likely be air and missile strikes against ISIS targets. This could relieve the political pressure on the President: His critics continue to blame him for abdicating U.S. leadership in Syria and in Iraq --which now faces the advancing extremist militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). But answering the political mail in Washington is not the same thing as dealing with, let alone resolving, the complex issues on the ground that have led to this crisis. To do that would require a comprehensive reengagement strategy, even without boots on the ground. And President Barack Obama should not be drawn into a veritable Iraq war III. Most of Obama's detractors engage in what I call "woulda/coulda/shoulda" criticism. That is to say, if the President had only invested more time and effort in negotiating a status of forces agreement with the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, left a residual presence there, enforced his chemical weapons red line in Syria and backed the moderate opposition there, we wouldn't be seeing the ISIS jihadi rampage playing out in both countries. But given the limited amount of intervention this administration, Congress, and the public would support, even under the best of circumstances, the U.S. could not have stopped the dynamic that is occurring. We cannot hold Iraq's hand forever, nor end Syria's civil war without a major military commitment. And the longer the Syrian conflict continued, the more of a boon the conflict would provide to jihadi elements who fed off its violence and sectarian character. As for Iraq, the al-Maliki government's insistence on maintaining Shia dominance and privilege, and repressing Sunnis, created the perfect ferment for ISIS's spread. No amount of U.S. military power summoned by any administration could have compensated for this kind of bad sectarian governance. That and the weak institutions of the Iraqi state have allowed ISIS to thrive. No matter how much progress the U.S. made in Iraq between 2003 and 2011, the dysfunction that now shapes Iraq's future was driven by factors set into motion by the very act of the invasion, Iraq's nature and its location. And those same factors limit now what the U.S. can do; they should make Washington wary of getting sucked back in. Back to Iraq: What can - and should - the U.S. do now? Maliki's sectarian dominance . How can you expect stability and security in a country where the political contract between the governed and those who govern is completely skewed in the direction of the Shia community? But that's what you have with Nuri al-Maliki; and that's unlikely to change. Shia repression has left Sunnis feeling disenfranchised -- one reason why violence has surged in the last year -- and this is why it's hard to get Sunni elements of the military to fight and resist ISIS moves. It's also why some key Sunni elements are reportedly in league with the ISIS jihadis. It's a reason to be careful about backing a government not committed to serious power sharing and reform, let alone to use direct U.S. military intervention to defend it. The U.S. couldn't build the new Iraq on the backs of American military power before it was clear that al-Maliki was a Shia triumphalist. How are we to do it today when it's clear that he is? The neighbors . Geography is destiny. This isn't America's neighborhood: It does not have the same kind of stake as those who live there. The U.S. may be committed to a nonsectarian, pluralist, democratic Iraq where everybody gets along in one big happy family. But Iran and Saudi Arabia envision very different outcomes, and they will act in ways detrimental to our interests. Iran is worried about ISIS to be sure. But Iran knows that its long-term interests depend on a stable Iraq under Shia dominance. That means that while it will assist al-Maliki, it won't pressure him to reform. The Saudis, on the other hand, can't abide al-Maliki and while they are worried about the Sunni jihadis, they see some merit in weakening the Prime Minister. Both Tehran and Riyadh will continue to see Iraq as a battleground to check the other's influence and to promote their side in a Sunni-Shia war. Iraq's stability and the U.S.'s altruistic vision of Iraq's future will be the casualties. The Syrian civil war . Any U.S. strategy that deals with Iraq in isolation will fail to get at a main sources of the ISIS threat. The Syrian civil war was a godsend for these jihadi groups. And unless the United States is prepared to expand its area of operations and to develop a sustained, aggressive strategy to contain if not destroy the ISIS presence in Syria, any effort in Iraq will at best produce a short-term success. Having willfully avoided militarizing the U.S. role in Syria, the President may well go ahead and do so now, with all the risks of mission creep. Attacking ISIS will also help Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Iran in Iraq. A serious strategy . And that brings us to the most difficult dimension of this entire problem. Without a serious and sustained strategy that has a military, counterterrorism, political and economic component, including mobilizing the international community, it's hard to see how the Obama administration can realistically put these Humpty Dumptys back together again. To do that would mean American involvement -- for starters CIA or special forces in an advisory capacity, most likely functioning clandestinely. Airstrikes, even if they worked to check ISIS, would have to be used repeatedly over time. And more training for the Iraqi military -- most likely with advisers on the ground to instruct in the use of sophisticated military equipment -- would be necessary. And despite all of this, it's likely that ISIS may still be able to secure enclaves in Iraq. Haven't we seen this movie before? It was called Iraq 2003-2011, and it clearly didn't have a happy ending. So, Mr. President, you probably have no other choice but to get sucked back into Iraq with military strikes. It might even have positive short-term results. But it likely won't over time. Triumphalist Shia, unhappy Sunnis, Iranian influence, and Kurdish separatists will guarantee it. Iraq was a trap for America once before. It will be again. 5 predictions revisited: Iraq's troubles are years in the making . | Writer: Obama administration will likely yield to pressure to act on ISIS advances in Iraq .
He says it should not. The U.S. could not have prevented crisis. Bad Iraqi governance was key .
He says any success repelling ISIS in Iraq will be short-lived unless U.S. also does so in Syria .
U.S. would need sustained strategy if it is to address crisis. We've seen this movie before, he says . |
70,244 | c719f696ed0aa8775bbadbd5ca77c01c2d0d74e1 | Radical: Mohammed Benares, a Royal Mail Worker from Birmingham, has been jailed for two years for terrorism offences . A man with links to radical Muslim preacher Anjem Choudary has been jailed for two years for terrorism offences. Royal Mail worker Mohammed Benares, 45, had terror guides showing how to make a bomb and detonator and how to handle an AK47 assault rifle. Benares, of Saltley, Birmingham, downloaded the terror material from the internet and stored it on three external hard drives. He also had links with another radical preacher, Abu Izzadeen. The documents included online al Qaida magazine Inspire and step-by-step instructions on how to make a bomb ‘In the kitchen of your mom’ using readily-available ingredients. The court heard that Benares had attended a demonstration organised by the Muslims Against Crusades group in central London on September 11, 2011 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Choudary, Izzadeen and Benares all attended the march and analysis of the defendant’s mobile phone found text messages between him and the two radical preachers. Benares had claimed he was not an extremist, that his interest in the material found by police was just curiosity and that he wanted to understand both moderate and extreme Islam so that he could use the information to counter arguments about extremism. When asked why he attended the demonstration, he said: ‘My aim was to highlight the plight of those injured and killed through the drone attacks in Afghanistan and other Muslim countries.’ But sentencing him at Southwark Crown Court today, judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith told him: 'Your presence on that march and text messages paint a very different picture. 'They point to you being in fact a fellow traveller with those who had more extreme views and one who is security aware. Associates: Texts between hate preacher Anjem Choudary (pictured, centre) and Benares were found on the defendant's mobile phone . 'I do not accept that you had a merely fleeting interest in radical Islam or that you downloaded that material out of idle curiosity.' Wearing a dark suit and tie with a white shirt, Benares looked unmoved as his sentence was read out. Tanveer Qureshi, for the defence, said in his client’s mitigation: 'This was a misjudgment on his part and a misjudgment which he is going to pay for in a fundamental way.' Police arrested Benares at the three-bedroom terraced house where he lived with his wife in March 2012. His laptop, mobile telephone and three hard drives were seized and later checked. The material gathered by officers included a document called 39 Ways to Serve and Participate in Jihad. Southwark Crown Court, where Benares was jailed for three counts of possessing a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism . He was convicted of three counts of possessing a record containing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism following a week-long trial last month. Prosecutor Adina Ezekiel had previously told the court Choudary was 'a spokesman and prominent figure' of an organisation called Al Ghurabaa, which was banned in July 2006. Choudary was also leader of Al Muhajiroun, of which Al Ghurabaa is a splinter group. Al Muhajiroun was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in January 2010. Abu Izzadeen, who was born Trevor Brooks, was an Al Ghurabaa spokesman, the court heard. | Mohammed Benares, 45, given two-year sentence for terrorism charges .
He had texts from hate preacher Anjem Choudary .
He was caught with 53 copies of Al Qaeda magazine Inspire .
Benares, 45, also had instructions for bomb-making and using a gun . |
138,773 | 3f78c4c06d945e5bde04fbe247d47e7ab8a6ba3e | Drinking sugary sports drinks and following a high carbohydrate diet has left many elite athletes with dental health so bad it affects their performance, researchers have found. They say tooth decay affects upto 75% of elite athletes, and a third of medical problems at the London 2012 Games were dental. They also say that athletes were more likely to suffer eating disorders as they tried to control their weight. Don't drink it! Sugary drinks have become a key part of sports training - but have left many athletes with major dental problems, it has been revealed. Diet is not the only culprit, says the research. It found there is little in the way of education or encouragement to help athletes appreciate the importance of good dental health on their training and performance. Researchers looked at published evidence and data from the London 2012 Olympic Games. It found: . Tooth decay affected 15-75% of athletes; moderate to severe gum disease up to 15%; enamel erosion 36-85%; and pericoronitis/impacted molars 5-39%. Damage caused by trauma was reported by between 14-57% of athletes in high risk sports. Athletes from rich countries were no less likely to be affected than those from poor countries, the data showed. Dental health of athletes was on a par with that of non-athletes living in deprived communities. Unsurprisingly, up to two thirds of those who had sustained trauma to their teeth said that this had adversely affected them. But up to 40% said that their dental health 'bothered' them or affected their quality of life, while between one in 20 and one in five said that it had affected their performance. The Consensus Statement, which draws on a comprehensive review of the published evidence and a recent symposium on the lessons of the London 2012 Olympic Games, is intended as a call to action. The UK and North American authors, all experts in dental health and sport and exercise medicine, point out that dental consultations accounted for almost a third of all medical visits at London 2012, and that demand has continued to increase at subsequent major competitive events. Eating disorders are also likely to be a factor, particularly in sports, such as boxing, horse riding, gymnastics, and long distance running, where body weight, composition, and aesthetics are crucial. Experts say the problems must be addressed. 'Oral health could be an easy win for athletes, as the oral conditions that can affect performance are all easily preventable,' said Professor Ian Needleman of the UCL Eastman Dental Institute . 'Professional athletes and their teams spend a lot of time and money on ways to marginally improving performance, as this can make all the difference in elite sports. 'Simple strategies to prevent oral health problems can offer marginal performance gains that require little to no additional time or money. 'Things like better tooth brushing techniques and higher fluoride toothpastes could prevent the toothache and associated sleeping and training difficulties that can make the crucial difference between gold and silver.' There is a wealth of published evidence to show the impact of poor dental health on wellbeing, say the authors. 'With clear psychosocial impacts of oral health, it would be surprising if training and performance were not affected in those athletes with poor oral health,' they write. And this could be especially important in competition, where marginal gains...or losses can make all the difference, they say. The intense dietary and training pressures on athletes could put them at high risk of oral health problems for many reasons, the team say. Researchers looked at published evidence and data from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Researchers say water is a far better option for athletes . Saliva helps to protect teeth from decay and erosion, so dehydration and drying of the mouth could increase the risk of oral health problems. The amount of energy that athletes need for training often means they have high-carbohydrate diets and regularly use sugary, acidic energy drinks. These may contribute to decay and erosion in athletes' teeth. 'We do not want to demonise energy drinks and are not saying that athletes shouldn't be using them,' says Professor Needleman. 'However, people should be aware of the risks to oral health and can take simple measures to mitigate these. 'For example, water or hypotonic drinks are likely to be more suitable for simple hydration, and spit don't rinse after tooth brushing. 'For sports where athletes need a lot of energy drinks, high fluoride toothpastes and mouthrinses should be seriously considered.' | Researchers found athletes suffered poor dental health which impacted performance .
High carbohydrate diet and acidic sports drinks combined with poor dental care to blame .
Report found dental health of athletes was 'on a par with that of non-athletes living in deprived communities'
Researchers analysed medical records from London 2012 Olympics - and found a third were dental problems . |
174,163 | 6d66effaa16f78c5065bf89436ce6343f86dce74 | Marcin Wojtak who was killed in Afghanistan in an armoured vehicle . A British serviceman killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan told his parents the armoured vehicle he later died in was a ‘coffin on wheels’. Acting Corporal Marcin Wojtak, 24, lost his life when the Vector light troop carrier he commanded was blown up by a 40lb improvised explosive device (IED). He had sent emails to his family from the frontline complaining his unit was being ‘put at risk’ by having to patrol in vehicles with insufficient underfloor protection. The gunner had been due to pick up a sturdier armoured Mastiff vehicle the day after his death in October 2009. Cpl Wojtak’s unit was patrolling in the desert south of Camp Bastion, the main British base in southern Afghanistan, when a blast ripped through his Vector. His mother accused the Government of the ‘catastrophic failure’ of its servicemen at the end of an inquest into his death this week. Before deploying to Helmand, Cpl Wojtak, who served with 34 Squadron RAF Regiment, had assured his family he would be driving a Mastiff which could withstand small explosions. Instead, he was given a Vector to help carry out his regiment’s role, which was to provide security outside the perimeter of Camp Bastion and ensure aircraft coming in to land were safe from insurgents. Cpl Wojtak’s father told the three-day inquest at Loughborough Coroner’s Court that his son used to describe the Vectors as ‘coffins on wheels’, and had emailed from the base to express anger at having to use them for patrols. ‘It was even to the point of gross disgruntlement that they were being exposed in this way,’ Mr Wojtak said. ‘The general feeling was they were being put at risk.’ 'Coffin on wheels': A Vector armoured vehicle similar to the one being driven by Corporal Wojtak when the bomb exploded in Helmand Province . A fleet of Mastiff vehicles on display at Camp Bastion in 2007. The stronger vehicles replaced the Vectors, which were only capable of withstanding a 10 kilo blast . After the inquest, Cpl Wojtak’s . mother Teresa Woods, 53, a teacher, said: ‘It’s not surprising that . someone met their death in a Vector. This vehicle was no longer suitable . to deal with the increased threats of Afghanistan, and that was . acknowledged as well. ‘I feel there has been a catastrophic failure by the Government to meet the requirements for our troops.’ She attacked the decision to send the . troops on patrol before they collected the 28-ton Mastiff. ‘I am . bitterly disappointed that they could not wait another day,’ she said. The Government had announced in May . 2009 it was phasing out the Vector trucks from frontline patrols – five . months before Cpl Wojtak’s death. But they were still in use in October . when he died, during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan. Remote: British soldiers return from a mission to camp Bastion, the base there Corporal Wojtak was stationed, in the southern province of Helmand, Afghanistan (file picture) Giving evidence to the inquest, . Corporal David Hayden, who was part of the patrol, said troops elsewhere . in Helmand received Mastiffs as a priority because they were being hit . by IEDs four or five times a day. The RAF Regiment had been struck twice . in two months. Wing Commander Shaun Ryles, Cpl . Wojtak’s commanding officer, said the patrol ‘could not be delayed’ for . the Mastiffs because his men had a vital role protecting the airfield. He said: ‘There was potential leading . up to an attack on an aircraft. By delaying that patrol, even by a day, . the insurgent is winning and I cannot allow that to happen. You have to . take risks.’ Coroner Andrew Chapman ruled that Cpl Wojtak, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, was unlawfully killed by the Taliban. ‘It is clear the Vector had very real shortcomings,’ he said. | Mother of Marcin Wojtak accuses MoD of a 'catastrophic failure' |
101,020 | 0e2c876b4f708818b197ce0a3ea25c268883cba8 | By . Becky Evans . PUBLISHED: . 05:32 EST, 27 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:26 EST, 27 January 2013 . A 22-year-old climber fell over 300 feet to his death yesterday while scaling a ridge on Britain's highest mountain. Ben St Jospeh, from Essex, was climbing Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis when he fell into the gully below. Two fellow climbers saw the man fall at 11am and Lochaber Mountain Rescue were called out and a Royal Navy helicopter from Prestwick was also dispatched. The climber was scaling Tower Ridge, pictured from the summit of Ben Nevis, when he fell into the gully below . The man, who is in his 20s or early 30s, was about 2,800 feet up the 4,409 feet mountain when he dropped. John Stevenson, team leader of . Lochaber Mountain Rescue, said it 'did not look good' when the man was found. He said: 'We . think he was climbing on his own. We do not know which part of the . Tower he fell from - but he was seen by two other climbers fall a long . way. 'He must have fallen at least 400 feet. It is a long fall from where we think he was.' Police at Fort William confirmed the man had 'sustained fatal injuries'. An investigation has been launched and a report is being prepared. The ridge, which is popular with climbers, is almost 3,000 feet long and has almost 2,000 feet of ascent. Tower Ridge is one of several rocky ridges protruding north west from the summit plateau. His death came just one week after four climbers were killed in an avalanche in Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. Search and rescue workers in Glencoe, where an avalanche claimed the lives of four climbers . On Saturday the avalanche risk was 'high' - the second highest category - but Mr Stevenson said he did not think an avalanche caused the man to fall. He said: 'It is just one of those tragic things - it is one of the risks that climbers take. 'The Tower Ridge is probably the most popular climbing route - both in summer and winter - on the Ben. The conditions were pretty good. He was just on the verge of cloud level.' The previous Saturday Tom Chesters, 28, from Leeds, his girlfriend Dr Rachel Majumdar, 29, who was working at Harrogate District Hospital in Yorkshire, junior doctor Una Rachel Finnegan, 25, from County Antrim, Northern Ireland and Christopher Bell, from Blackburn all died after the 1000-feet fall descending Glencoe. A 24-year-old woman remains in hospital - having been transferred from the Belford Hospital in Fort William to the Southern General in Glasgow - and a sixth climber survived. Meanwhile, emergency services were called to hills near Roybridge, north of Fort William, on Saturday evening after reports that two walkers had got lost in bad weather. | Ben St Joseph from Essex was scaling Tower Ridge when he fell into a gully .
The man, who was alone, was seen to fall by two climbers at about 11am .
Police at Fort William confirmed the man 'sustained fatal injuries'
Fall comes a week after four climbers died in an avalanche at Glencoe . |
54,858 | 9b5ee21de44f30219dfef28780565689fcb410c9 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:05 EST, 16 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:26 EST, 16 March 2014 . An 81-year-old great-grandmother from Maryland has been placed behind bars for a minor pet violation committed almost a year ago. Last May, a neighbor snapped pictures of Mary Magdalene Root's small dogs running down the street and she was reported to Animal Control. It landed her with a $7,000 fine or up to a year in jail. Arrested: An 81-year-old great-grandmother, Mary Magdalene Root, was placed behind bars for a minor pet violation committed nearly a year ago. The Maryland woman says she tried paying thousands of dollars in fines but couldn¿t afford them . Mary Magdalene Root, 81, who lives near Havre de Grace, was jailed on $2,500 bail on seven counts of allegedly letting her dogs run at-large a year ago . The dogs ran out of her home last year and she gave chase but it was to no avail . The Harford County woman says she tried paying thousands of dollars in fines but couldn’t afford them. 'I’ve never had a crime. Never. Not even a traffic ticket,' Ms Root told CBS Baltimore. 'I’m struggling to pay my house taxes. I couldn’t pay it. It’s a different thing when you leave your dogs out and you don’t care. But I do care,' Root said. She failed to show up at court to argue her case under doctors orders. Root is charged with failing to pay seven $75 civil citations for three incidents on Feb. 13, 2013, March 1, 2013 and March 10, 2013 in which her dogs ¿ a tan terrier mix and a black and tan Chihuahua ¿ were loose near her home, according to charging documents . Root has lived in Maryland her entire life and at her current residence on Oak Drive for 40 years. She also has no prior convitions . According to court records, the county issued a warrant for Root's arrest on February 12th after she failed to appear for a court hearing last November to address the civil citations. Upon finding out about that she was a wanted woman, . she was admitted to Harford Memorial Hospital on Valentine's Day. It was then a judge had her arrested. She was booked, fingerprinted and made to wear a jumpsuit like any other prisoner. Despite her being an elderly woman with no prior convictions, as well as being a cancer survivor, a judge refused to let her go until she had paid a $2,500 fine. After paying the bond she was ordered barred from keeping animals on her property. Root says she was taking care of her daughter’s four dogs at the time of her arrest. The dogs, a tan terrier mix and a black and tan Chihu, were on the loose near her home. 'I feel like I’m a criminal, but yet I don’t feel like I’ve done anything,' Root said . Incredibly, a stranger and Good Samaritan ended up paying her bond. Mary Magdalene Root¿s small dogs are her constant companions. So much so that the 81-year-old widow spent two nights in the Harford County Detention Center fighting to keep them . Root¿s defense attorneys asked the judge to let the senior citizen go. She had no previous criminal history and she was in failing health. The judge said no . 'There are very nice people out there. But then there are some people who are so struck on the strictness of the law. I don’t know whether maybe that needs to be looked at,' Root said. She has been told that she is unable to return to her home of 44 years and live with the dogs, but she says she can't simply get rid of them. She is now living with her daughter, but the dogs have been taken away, and Ms. Root is now a broken woman. 'I love them,' she said. 'I was planning on coming down on the dogs. But my dogs, they keep my company and I love them.' The judge ordered her to pay a $2,500 bail. And if she was able to pay it and get out, then no animals would be allowed back on her property . the 81-year-old cancer survivor receive the convictions more than a year ago but never bothered to pay the fines . Her daughter told the Baltimore Sun that her mother is just an animal lover who has owned several animals including dogs, an iguana and snakes over the years. 'She's very passionate about her animals,' Vantina Gifford, 52, said following the hearing. 'They do get out, but they don't hurt anybody. They have never attacked, never bitten, tore up property or defecated on anyone's property.' Ms Root says she has received a lot of support from the community and there is now a petition asking lawmakers to show leniency when they involve senior citizens. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same. I can’t pull myself back,' Root said. According to Root's daughter, her mother is just an animal lover. She said her mom has owned several animals including dogs, an iguana and snakes over the years . Ms. Root says that without her dogs she does know now what she is going to do. She is a broken woman . | Offenses occurred in February and March last year when at least four dogs ran into the street .
A neighbor snapped pictures and reported the owner Mary Magdalene Root, 81, to animal control .
After failing to pay the fines, almost a year later she was arrested and placed in a cell for the night .
Good Samaritan ended up paying her fines . |
228,787 | b43b48948bcc6f997e45feb8cf10f91571f2bda5 | By . Simon Murphy . and Valerie Elliott . Glorious Great Britain was hotter than Barcelona yesterday as swathes of the country basked in dazzling sunshine. And the good news from the forecasters was that there’s more to come today, which could be the hottest day of the year so far. But while that was given a warm welcome by those preparing for a weekend at the beach, it left exhibitors at Chelsea Flower Show in a cold sweat – as gardeners took desperate measures to prevent their prized plants from wilting. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Making a splash: Surfer Corinne Evans enjoys the warm weather yesterday - which is above average for this time of year - at Fistral Beach in Newquay, Cornwall . Soaking up the sun: Hundreds of people enjoy the hot temperatures yesterday outside at a park in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire . Hands up: Eddie Hughes, three, and Tessa Fisher, four, have fun in the summer sunshine at Furzey Gardens in the New Forest, Hampshire . Makeshift tents and gazebos were . hastily erected to provide shade, with other anxious exhibitors . resorting to bizarre methods involving coffee cup holders and kitchen . roll to save their flowers from blooming too early before the Queen’s . visit tomorrow. Exhibitor Andrew Wilson, 54, from Chiswick, was nursing his peonies by wrapping cardboard cup holders around them. He said: ‘We are hoping that will keep them. They are in danger. ‘As soon as they start to open, we’ve lost them. I don’t want it to get any hotter.’ In . the Help for Heroes plot, kitchen roll was loosely tied around the Iris . Germanica Actress flowers to save them from blooming too soon. Hundreds of people enjoy the hot temperatures at Sandford Parks Lido, Cheltenham, which is one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in the UK . Left to right: Daisy Clark, seven and Jessica Thurgood, seven, run along the beach at Bournemouth today where crowds enjoyed the warm weather . A man jumps off the side of the pool at Sandford Parks Lido, in Cheltenham, which is one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in the UK . Maria Feirn (left) and Emma Robson make the most of the glorious spring weather by sunbathing on the beach along Newcastle Quayside this morning . Youngsters enjoy a picnic in the summer sunshine at Furzey Gardens in the New Forest, Hampshire . Picture shows Verity Buckley, 10, enjoying the warm weather with her dog Oscar in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire on the hottest day of the year . Glorious: Oscar Farnworth, 18 months old, feeding the ducks with his mum in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire . People relaxing on the beach in the sun. As the weekend is expected to be the hottest of the year so far thousands of people are enjoying themselves on Brighton Beach . Surfer Corinne Evans enjoys the waves down at Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall, as the hot weather continues across the UK . Designer . Matt Keightley, 29, said: ‘I’ve not had to do this before but it stops . them from opening as quickly as they usually would.’ As . Chelsea sweats it out, Britain is set to enjoy the hottest temperature . of the year today, peaking at 25C (77F) –higher than Rome, Lisbon and . Madrid. Sun-seekers were . out in force yesterday, flocking to parks and beaches as temperatures . reached 24C (75F). Barcelona could only manage 20C (68F) The warm weather has seen supermarkets stock up on barbecue food and equipment as they brace themselves for a surge in sales. Over . the weekend Tesco expects to sell 100,000 instant barbecues, a million . packets of sausages, 200,000 steaks and 130,000 bottles of sun cream. A . Met Office spokesman said yesterday: ‘Sunday is set to be the hottest . day of the year so far and the hottest day in the month of May for two . years. Right to left: Daisy Clark, seven, Jessica Thurgood, seven, play in the sea at Bournemouth Beach today during the warm weather . Left to right: Daisy Clark, seven, and Jessica Thurgood, seven, run along the beach at Bournemouth today where crowds enjoyed the good weather . Enjoying a day out: Verity Buckley, 10, takes her dog Oscar for a walk in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, on the hottest day of the year . A Falmouth fish and chip shop saw nearly 100 people queuing in the sun after they were selling Norwegian cod & chips for just 99p. Harbour Lights Fish & Chips were doing the promotion for Norway Day . Tasty! More than 100 people queue at Harbour Lights Fish & Chip shop in Falmouth where they were selling Norwegian cod & chips for just 99p . Hundreds of people enjoy the hot temperatures at Sandford Parks Lido, Cheltenham, which is one of the largest outdoor swimming pools in the UK . Soaking up the ways: Visitors wear their sunglasses and enjoy the warm weather in Trafalgar Square, in central London . ‘Areas of the south . and Wales will enjoy temperatures in the early to mid-20s, reaching a . peak of 25C. That’s way above the average temperature for this time of . year, which is about 17 or 18C (64F). ‘Unfortunately it’s a different story for the North-West and Scotland, which will experience cloudy weather and even some rain.’ Tomorrow and Tuesday will be more unsettled with some sun, showers in parts and cloud in the north. Chelsea Flower Show is set to receive 157,000 visitors this week. Alan Titchmarsh, pictured said his entry to the Chelsea Flower Show will be a celebration of his 50 years of being a gardener . An estimated 157,000 people will visit the Chelsea Flower Show over the five days of the event . One of the gardens at the show was inspired by World War One and features a number of large whistles based on the design used by officers at the front . The exhibitors are busily putting the final touches to the gardens before the show opens on Tuesday . Members of the Royal Horticultural Society have exclusive access to the show on Tuesday and Wednesday . The Royal Horticulture Society are selling a limited number of limited £400 premium tickets for Thursday and Friday for the sold out event . Plant fans get the chance to buy flowers at the event on Friday . One of the exhibits features a steam train named after the City of Birmingham . A total of 550 exhibitors will be displaying their work during the 2014 Chelsea Flower Show which opens on Tuesday . Designer . Matthew Childs, 37, who is displaying at the Royal Horticultural . Society’s elite show for the first time, said last night: ‘I’m on edge. We’ve had a warm spring and all our plants are three weeks ahead. ‘I’m . really worried about my viburnums. They are already in flower and I . want them to keep the flowers so I have to keep the sunlight off.’ Mr . Childs’ garden cost more than £100,000 to create, and he added: ‘We’ve . been nurturing all the plants since October. They are so precious to me . and I really can’t just let the elements go and destroy them now.’ | Forecasters said the mercury is expected to rise as high as 24C, possibly even 25C, in much of England .
A Met Office spokesman said yesterday was already the warmest day of the year so far .
Next week will become more unsettled with thundery showers anticipated all over the UK . |
73,257 | cfc290c0b45bfd7be6a6bae61f5952d8aef4bdad | By . Margot Peppers . Most women wear perfume to mask their body odor, but one artist is making waves for doing exactly the opposite. New York-basedhas launched a fragrance called Eau de M, which is crafted using the 'aromatic elements from her body' - namely her sweat, tears and hair. The unusual scent debuted in the May issue of Harper's Bazaar, with a description calling it 'unique and intensely addictive' as well as 'wet, sweet and sensual like a hot, humid summer day.' Au naturel: New York-based artist Martynka Wawrzyniak has debuted a fragrance called Eau de M, which is crafted using the 'aromatic elements from her body' - namely her sweat, tears and hair . The former model's sweat was produced by sleeping in the same T-shirt for five nights, or by doing Bikram yoga and then putting her shirt in a sterile mason jar. To elicit and then bottle her tears, she watched films and cartoons that reminded her of her childhood in communist Poland. According to her website, Martynka spent a year working with a research team of Hunter College chemistry students, who helped create an 'olfactory-based self-portrait' based on the scents she produced. We asked a selection of MailOnline employees what they thought of the fragrance. (The women knew what it was, and the men did not.) Here's what the women had to say... It's that smell of a girl's T-shirt when her deodorant almost but doesn't quite completely mask the sweat smell. It smells tangy, like sweat on a summer's day. And the men said... To extract her scents, the students - . overseen by Professor Donna McGregor - used a complex process of . treating 100per cent cotton clothes that she had worn, then washing the . clothes with ethanol and leaving it to evaporate. 'Any water in the sweat samples allows for . bacteria to grow,' Dr McGregor explained to the Wall Street Journal. 'That's what gives rise to the . body odor that everybody associates with sweat or the scent of the human body.' The . process left behind just the aromatic essential oils, which were then . delivered to scent director Dawn Goldworm and perfumer Yann Vasnier so . they could reconstruct her natural aroma. The elements they ultimately chose were tropical coconut infused with cacao absolute, fresh grass and passionfruit - abnormally fresh human scents that are likely linked to the fact that she is a vegan. 'The analysis of the exact odor... there were a lot of materials that are not available in the perfumist's palette. So you have to recreate it with lots of pieces from [different elements],' Mr Vasnier told VICE. 'We tried a musky smell, a milky smell, a sweaty fruity smell. It's hard to recreate the exact molecules of her body.' Creative process: The former model's sweat was produced by sleeping in the same T-shirt for five nights and by doing Bikram yoga. To elicit tears, she watched films from her childhood in communist Poland . Harper's . Bazaar readers likely didn't even look twice at the page in the . magazine, which looked like any other fragrance ad, with a nude portrait of the artist and a . photo of a perfume bottle. And that's exactly what Martynka intended, as she explains in her artist's statement about the work. Have a whiff: A scent strip of the unusual 'perfume' was featured in the May issue of Harper's Bazaar (pictured) 'By running a fake advertisement with a . scent strip in the full print run of Harper's Bazaar (circulation . 950,000) magazine, I will be expanding the self-portrait beyond the . traditional art context by performing olfactory guerrilla tactic,' she wrote. 'The advertisement will become a vehicle for spreading my . essence across the country, letting the mass market consume artwork . unwittingly.' She added . that the fragrance and its production has a special significance. 'The . piece represents the true essence of a woman - free of visual . prejudice,' she explained. In an interview with Gravure, Marynka explains the logic behind using smell as an artistic medium. '[it's] the perfect medium to experience something viscerally because there is nothing else but feeling,' she said. 'You're literally just inhaling through your nose, and it's going directly to your brain and creating feelings and memories - it's purely primal.' | Martynka Wawrzyniak's sweat was produced by sleeping in the same T-shirt for five nights, or by doing Bikram yoga .
She also collected the tears she cried while watching films and cartoons that reminded her of her childhood in communist Poland . |
247,852 | ccbb52ac9419012e12905833ea4a4ad0e45423e1 | A state agency in Minnesota is claiming the world record for largest ball of paper. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the ball measures 9 feet 7 inches tall and 32.2 feet in circumference. The 426-pound ball was displayed at the Minnesota State Fair to show how much recyclable paper state residents throw away every 30 seconds. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . The paper ball (pictured) measures 9 feet 7 inches tall and 32.2 feet in circumference . The agency that made the ball recycled it, turning it into cardboard for cereal boxes . But anyone who missed seeing the ball at the fair is out of luck: The agency recycled it, turning it into cardboard for cereal boxes. Spokeswoman Taylor Holland said Monday that the agency got confirmation last week from Guinness World Records. There wasn't a previous record. But in keeping with Guinness guidelines, no adhesives or tape was used. The ball was built around a cardboard frame and held together with paper netting. The 426-pound ball was displayed at the Minnesota State Fair (pictured with its creators) The ball was built around a cardboard frame and held together with paper netting . | The paper ball measured 9 feet 7 inches tall and 32.2 feet in circumference .
The paper ball weighed 426lbs .
It was displayed at Minnesota State Fair but has now been recycled . |
276,525 | f24312eecf16e0a71200ee07e583e63bcf9da3d1 | By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 07:50 EST, 9 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 13:17 EST, 9 October 2012 . An advert for a travel company, which tells the story of a father crossing the country after learning to accept his daughter's same-sex marriage, has led to a storm of controversy online. The Expedia advert, which shows a father making a journey across the U.S., has racked up more than a million hits on YouTube. But, while some commentators applaud the travel firm for the 'beautiful' and 'touching' clip - entitled Find Your Understanding - others have slammed the firm for portraying an 'abnormal' and 'sexually deviant' relationship. Scroll down for video . Mixed reaction: The Expedia advert, featuring a lesbian wedding, attracted both positive and negative comments online . Some angry viewers even said they would no longer use the travel site after Expedia posted the advert on its Facebook page last week. A comment posted by Jean Chan said: 'You can all try to spread this wickedness but God said it is SINFUL and worthy of eternal damnation!!' Another user, Reggan Simmons, wrote: 'Glad I was able to see this, I book all the business trips for our office and will no longer be using Expedia. This commercial is unrealistic and denies the real turmoil a family experiences with the issue of homosexuality.' But Diego Samede on YouTube simply countered with: 'Amazing, so beautiful. All we need is love.' Offended viewer Olatunji Mwamba described the advert as 'sexually degenerate', 'sexually deviant', and 'anti-life', while a comment posted under the names SandyandDale Hicks read: 'It says in the Bible there will come a time when we must pick God over our families. He could still love his daughter, without tolerating her sin.' Emotional: Real-life dad Artie Goldstein with his daughter Jill on her wedding day, featured in the Expedia advert . Father-of-the-bride: Proud dad Artie Goldstein dances with his daughter Jill after she marries girlfriend Nikki . Many comments posted on the clip on . YouTube have been removed after receiving negative votes from other . visitors to the video sharing website. A description of the Expedia advert posted by the firm reads: 'Every trip is unique. On this trip, Artie Goldstein travels across the country to attend his daughter's same-sex wedding, a journey that will test him, challenge him, and ultimately change him in unexpected ways.' The three-minute clip shows Mr Goldstein and his wife travelling to the ceremony, as he explains in a voice-over how he was initially concerned about his daughter's life choices, but eventually came to accept her sexuality and rejoice in her happiness. Brides: While some viewers reacted angrily to the advert, others described it as 'beautiful' and 'heart-warming' While footage of the two radiant brides at their wedding reception created an angry reaction among some viewers, the clip also attracted thousands of positive comments from others - many of whom said the advert had reduced them to tears. Donna Brooks posted on Facebook: 'That was really beautiful!! Thanks, Expedia, for supporting marriage equality.' Another user, Jim Woodward, wrote: 'Wow! Hard to type this with the tears in my eyes. My wish for everyone in this situation has parents that are just as wonderful as these parents were. And my best to the newlyweds.' Facebook reaction: Many comments vowed to snup Expedia, while other quoted from the Bible on immorality . positive experience: Many other viewers praised Expedia for its campaign, which they say was moving . VIDEO: Expedia's Find Your Understanding advert . | Find Your Understanding advert has been watched more than a million times on YouTube .
Poignant advert shows a father travelling across the U.S. to attend his daughter's same-sex wedding .
Some viewers have branded the clip 'sinful' and 'sexually deviant' |
8,715 | 1884de5f375a4881bf96494aa8845173a925ef55 | By . Stuart Woledge and Anthony Bond . PUBLISHED: . 12:40 EST, 1 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:44 EST, 2 August 2013 . A Chinese man has been left with horrific burns after he fainted and fell onto the scorching ground which started to melt his skin. These pictures show Yang Hao lying on a hospital bed in Changsha in central China's Hunan province after he was diagnosed with heatstroke. The painful burn marks on his back were caused after he fainted and hit the scalding ground. Painful: This picture shows the horrific injuries sustained by Yang Hao after he fainted by a roadside and was badly burnt on his back whilst lying on the scalding ground during China's record-breaking heatwave . Sore: Mr Hao has been diagnosed with heatstroke after temperatures in China reached an astonishing 41C . Much of China is in the grip of a summer heatwave with temperatures reaching 42C in some parts of the country. It has been so hot that people have been seen grilling shrimp on manhole covers while there have been reports of eggs hatching without incubators and a highway billboard has mysteriously caught fire by itself. The heat wave - the worst in at least 140 years in some parts - has left dozens of people dead and pushed thermometers above 40C (104F) in at least 40 cities and counties, mostly in the south and east of the country. Authorities have declared the heat a . 'level 2' weather emergency for the first time. The category is usually . reserved for typhoons and flooding. Shrimply amazing: A child demonstrates how raw shrimp and an egg are fried in a pan on a manhole cover on a hot summer day in China's eastern province of Shandong . Outside a shopping centre in the financial hub of Shanhai, 17-year-old student Xu Sichen said: 'It is just hot - like in a food steamer.' Her friend He Jiali, also 17, complained that her mobile phone had turned into a 'grenade'. 'I'm so worried that the phone will explode while I'm using it,' she said. Extreme heat began hitting Shanghai and several eastern and southern provinces in early July and is expected to grip much of China until mid-August. At least 10 people have died of heat . stroke in the city over the past month, including a 64-year-old . Taiwanese sailor, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Shell shocked: These newly born chicks hatched from a box of eggs in Zhengzhou, Hunan province, such were the searing temperatures . Hatching: The temperatures have been ripe for incubating eggs, which have grown into fully fledged chicks . Chicken tonight: This dog shows a little too much interest in the newly hatched chicks as he licks his lips . Wu Guiyun, 50, who has a part-time job making food deliveries in Shanghai, said she has been trying to linger inside air-conditioned offices for as long as possible whenever she brings in a takeout order. She said: 'It's so hot that I can hardly breathe.' The highest temperature overall was recorded in the eastern city of Fenghua, which recorded its historic high of 42.7C (108.9F) on July 24. On Tuesday, the director of the China Meteorological Administration activated a 'level 2' emergency response to the persistent heat wave. Well watered: This gardener tends to his vegetable patch on the top of an office building in Nanchang, Jiangxi province The 1,000sqm field grows more than 10 kinds of vegetables, providing food for the staff canteen . This level requires around-the-clock staffing, the establishment of an emergency command centre and frequent briefings. Some Chinese in heat-stricken cities have been cooking shrimps, eggs and bacon in skillets placed directly on manhole covers or on pavements that have heated up to 60C (140F). In one photo displayed prominently in the China Daily newspaper, a boy tended to shrimps and an egg in a pan over a manhole cover in eastern Chinese city of Jinan. In the port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, glass has cracked in the heat, vehicles have self-combusted, and a highway billboard caught fire by itself, sending up black smoke in the air, according to China Central Television. The broadcaster said the heat might have shorted an electrical circuit on the billboard. In the southern province of Hunan, a housewife grabbed several eggs stored at room temperature only to find half-hatched chicks, state media reported. A joke making the rounds: 'The only difference between me and barbequed meat is a little bit of cumin.' Pressure: A lightning bolt streaks across the sky above a replica of the Eiffel Tower at the Tianducheng development in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province . | Yang Hao left with severe burn marks on his back .
China declares level 2 emergency as temperatures hit record 42.7C .
Woman cracks eggs to make meal, only to find chicks incubating inside .
Chinese TV says cars have self-combusted and a billboard burst into flames .
Heatwave set to continue in the south and east for at least two more weeks . |
42,205 | 77208854400deb60d6b2590bda21f5bda2541895 | Joel Campbell's agent has blasted Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger for not allowing the forward leave the club this summer. Joaquim Batica has questioned Wenger's motives over the Costa Rica star after denying the 22-year-old a move to Portuguese giants Benfica on transfer deadline day. Wenger has reiterated a desire to keep Campbell following his impressive loan spell at Olympiacos last season and his good World Cup, where he played a key role in his nation reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Holland on penalties. VIDEO Scroll down for Joel Campbell ears get a flicking during Arsenal training . Unhappy: Joel Campbell's agent has blasted Arsene Wenger over his treatment of his client . But he has only played 16 minutes of Premier League football this season and Batica is quoted in O Jogo as saying: 'Benfica fought until the last minute to sign Campbell but the move didn’t happen because, in the last hour, Arsenal decided to keep him. 'Wenger says he did not want to sell him. But if he is not in his plans, then why not allow him to leave?' The £16million arrival of Danny Welbeck from Premier League rivals Manchester United has also cast doubt over Campbell's future with him now seemingly behind Welbeck, Yaya Sanogo and the injured Olivier Giroud in the striking pecking order. Welbeck, meanwhile, could not be happier to be at Arsenal, telling the club's website: 'It's exciting times for me. 'It's great to be a part of this club and it's a team that I've always watched in the Premier League. I've envisaged myself playing in this team before. For it to finally happen is very exciting.' Eyes on the prize: Campbell (left) starred for Costa Rica as they reached the World Cup quarter-finals . | Joel Campbell's agent has criticised Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger .
Joaquim Batica has blasted Wenger for not allowing Campbell move to Benfica .
Batica is angry that Wenger hasn't used Campbell more in his first-team plans .
Joel Campbell impressed at Olympiacos whilst on loan from Arsenal .
Forward also enjoyed a good World Cup campaign in which Costa Rica reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 tournament . |
167,642 | 64cc9a655a8675872895eca063f195a6887f8128 | (CNN) -- Here's hoping Yeiner Garizabalo wears more to court Tuesday than he did in a San Francisco subway station in May. When last we saw him, the 24-year-old appeared in a bizarre video where he, sans clothing, performed acrobatics off subway equipment, then went after commuters trying to catch a train. Garizabalo faces seven charges following the outrageous May 10 incident at a Bay Area Rapid Transit station, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney's office said Monday. A video of the incident surfaced last week and quickly went viral. In it, a glistening man with a wild mane of hair turns fare gates into balance beams, doing splits and back flips buck-naked. Startled commuters flee as he dashes across the station, attacking people at random. Last week, police said Garizabalo had been arrested, given a mental evaluation, charged with battery and released. He now stands accused of two felony counts of false imprisonment, four misdemeanor counts of battery and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery in the incident, spokesman Alex Bastian said. California defines false imprisonment as "the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another." A judge set Garizabalo's bail at $100,000 after he was re-arrested Monday. He will be arraigned Tuesday afternoon, Bastian said. Garizabalo, who is also known as Yeiner Perez, was, until recently, a member of the ClownSnotBombs Circus. The group posted a statement on its website saying he was no longer affiliated with the group. "To our knowledge, Mr. Perez never exhibited this type of behavior previously and this episode came as a complete surprise to us," it said. "Our hearts go out to those who were impacted by this incident and Mr. Perez himself. We believe Mr. Perez has a medical issue and hope that he receives the medical help that he needs." CNN's Elwyn Lopez contributed to this report. | Incident occurred May 10 at a subway station in San Francisco .
Naked man is shown on video doing acrobatics, chasing commuters .
He's charged with two felonies, five misdemeanors .
He is due back in court on Tuesday afternoon . |
151,082 | 4f5674e324a3a83542cea604159c99238c616df0 | 'Perverted' Michael Cropton met a 'needy' woman on an internet dating site before convincing her to help him abuse two girls . A mother has been jailed after she helped a paedophile she met online to abuse two girls in return for shoes and a ring. Michael Cropton, 42, met the 39-year-old woman on an internet dating site and persuaded her to assist him in abusing two girls. A court heard Cropton bombarded the woman with texts demanding she help him and she replied: 'If I say yes, do I get my ring and my shoes?'. Cropton, of Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, was handed a 20-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sexually assault two girls. The girls, both under the age of 11, told police officers he had touched them and kissed them. Cropton also admitted four counts of rape, relating to a young boy under the age of 17. The woman co-defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sexually assault the girls and was given two years and eight months behind bars. Stephen Mooney, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court: 'From July to September, 2013, nearly 12,000 texts passed between them. 'The texts moved from sexually explicit to questions about girls she knew and whether she would be prepared to incorporate them into their sexual activities. 'Ultimately, she succumbed to his requests and became a willing participant in sexual activity between him and the girls.' The pair met on a dating website in 2013 before going to a local pub together. After meeting, Cropton began sending explicit messages, encouraging the woman to help him fulfil his sexual desires. Rosaleen Collins, defending the woman, added: 'There is, quite clearly, an emotional background. Many would call her needy. 'She desperately wanted respect and love from male company. She was, in many ways, a sitting duck. He persuaded her to agree. She resisted time after time after time. 'She told him about her abuse as a child. She was taken in by him. She was not able to recognise the manipulation to which she was being subjected.' Cropton will serve an extended licence period, be placed on the sex offenders' register and receive a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order (SOPO) to run indefinitely. Both Cropton and the woman who helped him were jailed this week at Bristol Crown Court (pictured) Sentencing, Judge Michael Roach, said: 'The defendant met his co-accused in the summer of 2013 on a dating website. 'She allowed him to sexually abuse girls and 12,000 texts were exchanged. The texts make horrific reading. The requests were brazen, persistent and highly manipulative. She accepts exposing the girls to the sexual abuse of her co-defendant. 'She was subjected to a barrage of texts from the co-accused, pressing for her to allow her to sexually abuse the girls. She had been needy. She allowed herself to become involved in Mr Cropton's perverted ambition.' Speaking after the case, Det Insp Gary Stephens, of the Public Protection Unit, said: 'This has been a distressing and harrowing investigation involving the horrific sexual abuse of children. 'Michael Cropton is a devious and manipulative man who used classic grooming techniques to identify vulnerable children he could abuse. 'He admitted these offences due to the overwhelming evidence against him which resulted from the hard work of the investigation team. 'We believe there could be more victims out there and I hope the outcome of this case will encourage people to come forward and speak to us in confidence. 'I would also appeal to anyone who has been in a relationship with Michael Cropton to please get in touch with us. Cropton is now in the right place and the community is a much safer place without him in it.' | Sex offender Michael Cropton met the woman on internet dating website .
They went to a pub together before he bombarded her with texts .
Her replies suggest she agreed to help him in return for gifts .
Cropton has now been jailed for 20 years for series of sexual offences .
Woman, who cannot be identified, given a two-year, eight-month sentence . |
46,412 | 82c537a69d22cbbbfe33f1ad8d201655f7438093 | By . James Rush . PUBLISHED: . 07:16 EST, 25 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:09 EST, 25 February 2013 . Police have lost track of almost 140 paedophiles, sparking fears many may have left the country, it has been revealed. Government figures show a total of 137 child sex offenders have disappeared after signing the sex offenders' register, which requires them to inform police of their whereabouts or any changes to their details. The shock figures show the Metropolitan Police has lost by far the most paedophiles, with 40 on the run from the authorities in London. Missing: This map shows how many child sex offenders are on the run from each police force across the country . The force with the second highest number on the run is Greater Manchester, which has lost seven, while Sussex has lost six, according to The Mirror. The West Midlands, Derbyshire, Kent and Lancashire all have five child sex offenders they are looking for. The 137 paedophiles on the run includes Stephen Clare, who has been off Northumbria Police's radar since 2002. He was jailed for sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl and taking indecent photographs in the 1990s. Slipped through the net: Serial rapist Peter Chapman (left) had been off . the police radar when he went on to rape and murder trainee nurse . Ashleigh Hall, 17 (right) He served 18 months and was released from jail in 1998, when he moved to Brighton. Meanwhile, . another example of an offender who disappeared was serial rapist Peter . Chapman, who was off the police radar for seven months after his . monitoring level was downgraded by the authorities. He went on to rape and murder 17-year-old trainee nurse Ashleigh Hall after contacting her on Facebook. On the run: Stephen Clare has been off the radar since 2002. He was jailed for sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl and taking indecent photographs in the 1990s . Chapman posed as a teenager on the internet to lure the trainee nurse to her death. He was jailed for life in 2010. Children's charity the NSPCC has called for a system which makes it impossible for sex offenders to 'vanish'. Jon Brown, head of sexual abuse programmes at the NSPCC, said: 'This is an extremely worrying situation as anyone who has committed a sex offence against a child must be considered an on-going risk. 'Keeping track of their movements has to be a priority for the authorities because we can’t gamble with the safety of vulnerable children. 'We really must have a system where no one with a record of this kind of offence can just vanish. It’s not acceptable and is a serious cause for concern.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We have some of the toughest measures in the world to manage violent and sexual offenders. 'We are determined to do everything we can to protect the public which is why last year we introduced new measures to strengthen and extend checks on those subject to the Sex Offenders’ Register. 'Individuals who breach their conditions are subject to tough penalties and the police and other local agencies should robustly enforce the tools and powers available to them.' | Figures show Metropolitan Police has lost 40 child sex offenders .
Fears many child sex offenders may have left the country .
Home Office says it uses some of the toughest measures in the world . |
38,360 | 6c753fff4e97b22c00c043292b19978c58403b2c | By . Steve Robson . Most parents like to boast about their children's talents, but you might think Pam Billington would keep her family's special abilities to herself. The 38-year-old is convinced her two youngest Jadon 10, and Lucy, eight, can talk to dead people. Mrs Billington, from Cheshire, says they have made friends with more than ten spirits - including their own grandmother - in the past year. Scroll down for video... Hidden talent: Mother Pam Billington, right, says two of her children - Lucy, left, and Jadon, centre, can talk to ghosts. Emily, second from the right, has not been blessed with the gift . Haunted house: The attic where the Billington children claim to have talked to spirits . She says the children talk about their new friends so much it feels as if they're part of the family. 'It all started a couple of years ago when Jadon told me he had been visited by an angel in the night,' Mrs Billington said. 'At first I dismissed it as being the product of an overactive imagination. But when Lucy started talking about it too I started to listen. 'It's a gift and you either have it or you don't. It isn't a hoax, I really believe my kids can talk to spirits.' The spirit visits began in 2011 at the family's former home in Manchester where, according to the children, the ghosts lived among them and even in their attic. In March this year, the family moved to a new home in Sandbach, Cheshire, but the children claim the ghosts relocated too. Mrs Billington, a full-time mother, says she became a believer after experiencing a strange encounter of her own. She said: 'One night I was watching TV and I said to Jadon if they are really here now ask one of them to tug at my trouser leg. 'Jadon asked, then a few seconds later I felt something prod my leg and I saw with my own eyes my trousers move. Delighted: Mother Pam Billington says she 'really believes' her children can talk to ghosts . Ghoulish friends: The communication began when Jadon, right, said he had been visited by an angel in the night . 'It's incredible. Now, they touch me all the time. They'll poke me in the arm and touch me on the leg. I've even been poked in the eye by a ghost. 'They also made the television go fuzzy when Jadon asked one to prove that he was there. 'You have to experience it to understand. I've always read things but I didn't have a true appreciation of it until I went through it with my children.' She added: 'I love having spirits in the house, I think it's great. 'I think it shows that anything's possible and it gives me hope for when I pass away. I know that this is not the end and we carry on.' As an atheist, Mrs Billington says she didn't raise her children to believe in ghosts and has not nurtured their psychic ability in any way. But the children, who are home-schooled, are convinced. Among the ghostly guests are an American couple called Sam and Simon Crease, who Jadon talks to, along with an angel called Michael. Lucy has formed a bond with a young girl called Rose. And, at her new home in Cheshire, she . says she has seen a ghostly woman in a neighbouring garden, believed to . be the spirit of an old woman who recently passed away there. Jadon said: 'I used to have trouble sleeping because I always felt like someone was watching me. 'I would wake up in the night and run into mum and dad's room. 'Now when I see spirits I talk to them - and they talk back. I see them during the day and night.' He added: 'Mum and dad asked me if I was making this up and I'm not - there really are ghosts in the house.' Believers: Mrs Billington, who home schools the children, says she has done nothing to encourage their psychic ability . Selected few: Eldest child Emily, centre, hasn't encountered the ghosts but says she would 'freak out' if she did . Although Lucy is used to her ghostly friends she admitted she still got 'freaked' out by their late-night antics. She said: 'I used to get scared. When I first saw them I didn't know whether it was a spirit or my imagination. 'Now I see lots of them not and I'm used to it.' While Pam is convinced her children have a special gift, Daron, who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, is still skeptical. The 40-year-old health and safety advisor said he had never experienced a ghostly encounter of his own. He added: 'I was raised in a religion that is definitely against things like spirits. 'I am still a little bit cautious with my children when we talk about ghosts but they seem okay and it keeps them happy so I leave them to it. 'I reacted with disbelief at first and a few times I thought they were based on imaginary friends. 'But the children went in to so much detail when they were talking about them that as time went by I started accepting it.' He added: 'I'm still not really 100 per cent convinced but I think there's a little bit of truth in it. 'My kids aren't liars and if you listen to how they speak they tend to be quite believable.' Pam and Daron's eldest, Emily, is the only child in the house not to have picked up a talent for talking with ghosts and has not seen any spooky goings on. She added: 'I don't mind them but I haven't seen them. If I did I think I would freak out.' | Pam Billington, 38, believes Jadon, 10, and Lucy, eight, have 'a gift'
Says they have made friends with more than ten 'spirits' in the past year .
Ghosts even followed when family moved from Manchester to Cheshire .
'I love having spirits in the house - I think it's great,' says Mrs Billington . |
66,249 | bbf5a3d8ba687a05cffbec683b93d96463c7c46c | By . David Mccormack . A married woman who weighs 900 pounds left her bedroom for the first time in two years on Tuesday, in a bid to lose weight and change her life. Sharon Hall-Dodson, 54, wants to improve her health and fitness, but says she hasn't been able to while stuck in her bedroom. Healthcare workers in Eugene, Orgeon, had spent six months working on a plan to move Sharon to her living room. Sharon Hall-Dodson, 54, left her bedroom in Eugene, Oregon, for the first time in two years on Tuesday, in a bid to lose weight and change her life . Several state agencies pitched in to help on Tuesday, including contractors and firefighters who volunteered their time . Several state agencies pitched in to help on Tuesday, including contractors and firefighters who volunteered their time. They cut a large hole in the side of Sharon's house and then used their equipment to lift her from her bed and unto a trolley to remove her from the room and into the garden. Rather than moving to an expensive skilled nursing facility, Sharon wants to work on losing weight with proper equipment that has been installed in her living room. ‘The crews and everybody have been so wonderful. They have all gone over and above, and it's made it a lot easier,’ she told KEZI9TV. Neighbors in Eugene, Oregon, turned out to offer their support for Sharon Hall-Dodson as she left her bedroom for the first time in two years . Now that she has been moved to her living room, Sharon plans to start her physical therapy soon and hopes to walk again one day . Fire fighters and other state agencies cut a large hole in the side of Sharon's house and then used their equipment to lift her from her bed and unto a trolley . 'She wants to stay in a safe living environment and we made her home safe by all coming together in the community as a partnership,' said Sherry Nutter, Trillium Community Health Plan nurse care coordinator. Sharon will soon start her physical therapy and hopes to walk again one day. Video: Sharon Hall-Dodson leaves her home for the first time in two years Source KEZI . | Oregon woman Sharon Hall-Dodson, 54, left her bedroom for the first time in two years on Tuesday .
After six months of planning, state agencies came together to help move the 900lb married woman .
She has been moved to her living room where exercise equipment has been installed to help her exercise .
Sharon will soon start her physical therapy and hopes to walk again . |
138,610 | 3f40600d86a2ee18ea9f9230e63331485d96c8b7 | People who often text with their thumbs may experience an abnormal thickening of the tendons in their hand leading to tendinitis, according to a new study from the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. The study also discovered that, even when using thumbs, the majority of people tended to put more stress on the thumb of their dominant hand. Overuse injuries of such small tendons have received almost no study in the past, the paper noted. People who often text with their thumbs may experience an abnormal thickening of the tendons in their hand leading to tendinitis, according to a new study . As The Wall Street Journal reports, the researchers used 149 people in Turkey from ages 18 to 40 for their study. Participants were ranked by their texting style and frequency. Tendon thickness was recorded in ultrasound images showing the length through the carpal tunnel to the thumb's tip. For those who texted frequently, the dominant side's tendon was much thicker. Tendon thickness was recorded in ultrasound images showing the length through the carpal tunnel to the thumb's tip . Thickness increased for those who sent the most texts. Those who texted the most reported having greater thumb pain in their dominant texting hand compared to people who rarely sent text messages. Infrequent texters sent an average of just 50 messages in a month while frequent texters may write as many as 1,209. | Study done by the American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation used 149 participants ages 18 to 40 .
Researchers examined tendons on those who text only with their thumbs and found them to thicken with text frequency .
Abnormal thickening can lead to joint pain later in life . |
206,015 | 96ae98c9a00623703408a94bc3ea7174a4dd41a8 | Like most youngsters, their play can get a little wild. But five-month-old grizzly bear Bam Bam and 16-month-old chimpanzee Vali are the most unlikely friends. For while together they resemble a pair of cuddly toys, they would normally live on different continents. And when they grow up, Bam Bam is likely to be about nine times the size of his chimp pal. But the young males have been inseparable since being introduced at the Myrtle Beach Safari park in South Carolina, where they were born. Bam Bam the grizzly bear cub and Vali the chimp have become firm friends . The five-month-old bear and 16-month-old chimp live at the Myrtle Beach Safari Park in South Carolina . The pair love to play together and have been best of friends since they were introduced . Visitors delight in watching them wrestling and playing tag. In the wild, Bam Bam would live in the wilds of North America, while Vali’s natural home is the jungle of central Africa. Park owner Bhagavan Antle said staff decided to see whether the pair would hit it off when Bam Bam reached the same size as Vali – even though bears grow much faster than chimps. ‘We got them out there playing on a sunny day and they went on and on for hours,’ he said. ‘Neither of them wanted to quit. They would lie down and fall asleep at our feet, wake back up and start wrestling again.’ Dr Antle added: ‘Bam Bam has more power, but Vali tricks him. He will throw things at Bam Bam and run around him in circles.’ When the pair aren’t together, energetic Vali likes to help out his mum, while Bam Bam prefers a slower pace of life. ‘He likes nothing better than a bowl of sweet potatoes and chicken mash,’ added Dr Antle. Staff at the safari park now wonder whether the friendship can last. An adult grizzly can weigh up to 56st, while a mature male chimp tips the scales at just 9st. Staff are not sure how long the friendship will last as Bam Bam will quickly grow into a 56st adult bear, while Vali will reach only 9st . | Five-month-old grizzly bear cub and 16-month-old chimp are firm friends .
But Bam Bam the bear will soon grow to nine times the size of chimp pal . |
262,263 | dfb19017b647ae5f78be45d1a33ca3bfae393657 | The father of Argentina and Juventus star Carlos Tevez has been freed after being kidnapped and held for eight hours. Segundo Tevez was taken by a group of assailants at around sunrise on the outskirts of Buenos Aires but was 'in good shape' after being released, according to the family's lawyer Gustavo Galasso. Argentine TV station C5N said Tevez was set free after a payment of 40,000 pesos (£3,000) but neither the family nor the police confirmed this. VIDEO Scroll down to watch what makes Tevez one of the world's most dedicated players . Kidnapping: Carlos Tevez's father Segundo (right) was taken by a group of men as he drove through Buenos Aires on Tuesday morning but was freed after eight hours . Sad occasion: Carlos Tevez's relatives leave the house of his stepfather after visiting him on his release . Abandoned: The car used by the kidnappers was found in El Palomar, a Buenos Aires suburb . Roped off: Crime scene technicians seal off an area as they gather evidence close to the abandoned car . Big news: Argentine Secretary for Security Sergio Berni confirms that Segundo Tevez has been released . Legal issues: Gustavo Galasso, the Tevez family lawyer, leaves the house of the Juventus man's stepfather . Sad times: More relatives from the Tevez family try to leave the house through the media scrum outside . Blue lights: Police continue their investigations into the kidnapping in El Palomar . Crime scene investigation: Tevez is believed to have personally stepped in to save his stepfather . Concern: Carlos Tevez was granted permission by his club Juventus to travel back to Argentina . The former Manchester United and Manchester City striker was given permission by Juventus to leave Italy but reports there said he was not going back to Argentina following news of the release. La Nacion . in Argentina reported that Tevez was driving his car in the . municipality of Moron, a province of Buenos Aires, when he was taken . hostage in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The . Volkswagen Vento vehicle has been found abandoned and Argentine . websites claim that the three men reportedly guilty were not aware of . the identity of Tevez’s father but once they discovered his background, . they made extortionate financial demands over the phone to the player’s . family. Tevez was adopted by his maternal aunt and her husband, Segundo Tevez, as a baby. | Juventus star's father was taken by group of kidnappers as he drove through Moron district in Buenos Aires .
Argentine TV report a 40,000 Peso (£3,000) ransom was paid for his release .
30-year-old striker was given leave by Juventus but is not believed to have travelled to Argentina . |
170,568 | 68cc9749c7e8685f933a5cbdd5f9dc9b9fea8baa | Homeless Meshach Harrison stabbed the victim in the eye inside a Birmingham restaurant . A beggar has been jailed for just two years for blinding a Good Samaritan who offered to buy him food. Homeless Meshach Harrison stabbed the victim in the eye inside a Birmingham takeaway. The thug had repeatedly demanded cash from the 25-year-old and rebuffed offers of food. Harrison, 29, had been due to stand trial for possession of an offensive weapon and inflicting grievous bodily harm before he admitted the GBH offence at Birmingham Crown Court. Detectives released CCTV footage of Harrison after the attack, which happened inside Spices takeaway around 7pm on December 5 last year. The beggar had asked the victim, who was with a friend, for a cigarette. He was given one but then asked for cash and continued to harass the pair who were walking towards the takeaway. Despite . offering to buy him food, Harrison followed the victim into the . takeaway and then stabbed him the left eye with an unknown object. Speaking at the time of the attack, police said the man was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Det Con Sharon Duncan, from Force CID, said last December: 'The beggar approached the two men on five or six occasions and, even though they offered to buy him food, he kept asking for cash. 'Finally he struck one of the men in his left eye with an unknown object. 'The young man was rushed to hospital, where he had to undergo surgery. His eye was saved, but unfortunately he has lost the sight in it. 'This is a devastating loss to a young man, who just appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.' Detectives released CCTV footage of Harrison after the attack, which happened inside Spices restaurant . However, his two-year sentence was condemned as 'appalling' by the city MP whose constituency includes the crime scene in Soho Road, Handsworth. Khalid Mahmood challenged the judge who imposed the term to justify it to traders worried about crime. 'I’m very concerned about the length of the sentence,' he said. 'It should have been far more severe. 'This is a devastating loss to a young man, who just appeared to be in the wrong place at the wrong time' Det Con Sharon Duncan . 'This shows how out of touch the judiciary is with the public. 'I would like to invite the judge to walk with me along Soho Road so he can explain this sentence to the traders and residents and discuss the crime issues they have. 'It is shocking the victim was attacked after offering to buy food. 'We are working alongside the police to fight crime and improve the area. 'That is why sentences like this, for very serious offences in the area, are particularly disappointing.' Justice Minister Lord Faulks said: 'Crime is falling and tough sentences are available to punish criminals, including life sentences for serious violent offences. 'Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the judges, taking into account all the facts of each case and the relevant sentencing guidelines.' | Meshach Harrison stabbed victim in the eye in a Birmingham restaurant .
Thug had repeatedly demanded cash from the 25-year-old .
Detectives released CCTV footage of Harrison after the attack .
Assault happened inside Spices around 7pm on December 5 last year .
Police say victim was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time . |
83,923 | ee02c055aa37b3e98baa06d38dd26922e47519ba | (CNN) -- In Neshoba County, Mississippi, on the night of June 21-22, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner went missing. Their bodies would be discovered in an earthen dam 44 days later as the ultimate payment for their efforts to secure voting rights for all Americans. Yet 50 years later, it's as if it barely happened. A right-leaning Supreme Court has decimated the Voting Rights Act, the very law inspired by the deaths of those three young men. Their rulings have given the OK to conservative legislatures and governors nostalgic for the Old South to reinstitute roadblocks to voting. What happened to learning from history? You might remember this case was the basis of the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning," which starred Gene Hackman as a crusading FBI agent bent on getting to the bottom of killings by the Ku Klux Klan, though it's hardly historically accurate. "The movie I love to hate," Steve Schwerner, Michael's brother, told me from New York last week. "It makes out the FBI as the hero (yet) the Civil Rights Movement felt that the FBI was the enemy and was working with local law enforcement (who were Klan members) much more than the movement." Chaney's sister, Julia Moss-Chaney, also decried the portrayal of a "hero FBI." "Tell me about it," she said from her home in Willingboro, New Jersey. "If all of that had been invested, it wouldn't have taken 44 days" to find the bodies. Or even longer if two of the missing men had not been white. Schwerner and Goodman were white and Jewish from New York. Chaney was a black Mississippian. In a bitter irony of what the three men stood for, it was the notion of white lives being more valuable than black that helped bring their deaths to national attention. "It's no secret that had my brother not been with Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, we would not have known anything of what had happened to him. It's a painful reality, but it is common knowledge," Moss-Chaney said. Schwerner agreed. "We wouldn't be talking right now if it was only Jim Chaney or if it was three Mississippi black people. There were many people that had been killed in Mississippi beforehand, and with the exception of Medgar Evers never made The New York Times, never made NBC News. Nobody ever mentioned their names." Michael Schwerner had arrived in Mississippi earlier that spring. Teaming up with Chaney, he immediately raised the ire of the Ku Klux Klan. "He was targeted from the moment he arrived," Moss-Chaney said. "You know the nature of hate: 'Let me first make sure I degrade you to the degree in my mind that you are less than human.' There's nothing less than human for a white man to be than a 'n----- lover.' Once that's established, then anything goes." Goodman joined them on June 20, 1964. They were riding in a blue Ford station wagon the next day when a deputy sheriff stopped them. "It is sad, heartbreakingly sad, that Andy's first day in Mississippi was the last day of his life," Moss-Chaney said, her voice going quiet. What were they doing that so outraged the good old boys? Aside from just being black and white together, their major work was voter registration, at the time barred to black people unless they could answer impossible questions such as how many bubbles are in a bar of soap. An FBI investigation did lead to the federal conviction of seven conspirators in the case. Mississippi didn't get around to prosecuting the case until more than 40 years later, when Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was convicted and sentenced to three maximum 20-year terms for the murders. The killings fueled passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act the next year. Yet much of that progress was turned back in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court gutted crucial provisions of the Voting Rights Act. It followed that in April with a ruling against affirmative action efforts in higher education. Part of the justices' argument was that federal actions to assure equality at the ballot box have been successful, so they're not needed anymore. But that's like saying a car rolls well with wheels, so you can take them off. And proof that it doesn't work is that as soon as those enforcement measures were lifted, voter restrictions returned in the form of less-than-logical Voter ID laws. One of those allows prospective voters to present gun registration cards as acceptable proof of eligibility, but not student IDs, Attorney General Eric Holder said in December. Is that any less ridiculous or subjectively discriminatory than asking voters to count bubbles in a bar of soap? Yes, the arc of the moral universe is long and may bend toward justice, but it also makes a couple of back flips along the way. "We've certainly made some progress," Schwerner said of where the country is now, a half century after the murders. "On a scale of 1 to 10, if you started at 1 when Brown vs. Board of Education came down in 1954, we might be at 4 now." For that, three men gave their lives. | Robin Washington says 50 years after the murders in Mississippi, history repeats itself .
Three young men were killed in 1964 while trying to secure voting rights for all .
Today, the Supreme Court and conservative statehouses are turning back the clock . |
244,394 | c848400ee7c411b06c77b9a588b7e46d13be0109 | (CNN) -- Strange things happened in a small courtroom in the Russian city of Kirov last week. Moscow mayoral candidate, and my colleague in the Russian opposition, Alexei Navalny, was convicted July 18 on concocted embezzlement charges in the type of political show trial that Josef Stalin favored long before his spiritual successor President Vladimir Putin embraced them. Then, the very next morning, the same prosecutor asked for Navalny's release pending his appeal. It was a move so unexpected that an incredulous Navalny asked the court to make sure the prosecutor had not been swapped for an identical twin overnight. That something surprising happened in a Russian courtroom is itself surprising. As with our so-called elections, important trial outcomes are decided well in advance and with little need for evidence. (When the Kirov judge went to his chambers to deliberate over Navalny's release, one wit tweeted "the Skype connection to Moscow must be particularly slow today.") The judicial process and the democratic process in Russia are both elaborate mockeries created to distract the citizenry at home and to help Western leaders avoid confronting the awkward fact that Russia has returned to a police state while they stood by or, in many cases, while they eagerly did business with the repressive Putin regime. That this strange occurrence happened to the most prominent member of the anti-Putin opposition movement is therefore shocking and meaningful. In Putin's Russia, political dissidents simply do not get out of jail. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's wealthiest man, has been imprisoned since his October 2003 arrest for the "crime" of disloyalty to Putin. Everyone knows his jail term is exactly as long as Putin's stay in power, no shorter and no longer. It is no coincidence that Navalny's sentence will leave him in prison safely beyond the 2018 presidential elections. The motivations for Navalny's brief respite are unclear, and will likely always remain so, but it likely reflects factional infighting inside the Kremlin. Putin's main allies, the security and intelligence forces known as the siloviki, advocate ever-greater repression. They want to jail every opposition leader and activist and prevent any legitimate expression of democracy. Former Putin classmate Alexander Bastrykin is the leader and symbol of the siloviki camp. As former top prosecutor and current chief of the powerful Investigative Committee, Bastrykin is the administration's main weapon against political and social resistance. Apparently Bastrykin is not all powerful, however, and Navalny's hurried release counts as a defeat for his authority. But it is not clear for whom it was a victory. Navalny is running for mayor in Moscow in what was expected at the start to be another electoral charade. But incumbent mayor Sergey Sobyanin -- worried about a repeat of the 2011 protests against the blatantly fraudulent parliamentary elections which brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets, actually helped Navalny get on the ballot. It is likely Sobyanin and those in the Kremlin sympathetic to his position on social unrest were behind Navalny's release. Sobyanin craves the legitimacy of retaining his prestigious position as the mayor of Moscow in a relatively fair contest against Navalny. He believes this would position him as a leading contender to succeed Putin when the dictator inevitably falls. Sobyanin is hardly a democrat, but his selfish interests may work to bring democracy back to Russia. Conjecture aside, Navalny's quick release was either incompetence or high-level internal sabotage -- and neither possibility is good news for Putin. The siloviki live in a pseudo-Soviet bubble, working to keep the lid of repression down as tightly as possible for as long as possible. But others, including Sobyanin, look ahead and realize that taking this path will make the eventual explosion of opposition even stronger. Some of them are ambitious enough to chafe at Putin's obvious intent to hold power for life. They are far from liberal reformers, of course, and are seeking to advance their own interests. But at the moment those interests are leading them to undermine Putin's iron grip on every lever of power. This matters, because the policeman on the Moscow street gets his strength from the knowledge that his superiors will support him unconditionally. He can crack open a protester's skull knowing his captain will defend his action. The captain knows the colonel will defend him because the general will protect him, the judges will protect them, and so on all the way up to the plushest chair in Putin's office. This unbroken chain is critical and a public weakening of the links at the top means Red Square moves a bit closer to Tahrir Square. The protests that erupted after Navalny's conviction were the largest unsanctioned rallies since 2011 and the police let them happen nearly without incident. (The prosecution's request to release Navalny was made immediately after the verdict was read.) There is doubt in the ranks because they sense doubt at the top. If Navalny is set free, wonders the police captain, should he give the order to beat those protesters demonstrating in his name? This may be only a brief moment of hesitation, but it is real. Cracks are appearing in the façade elsewhere as well. Mikhail Prokhorov, the oligarch who pretended to be an opposition candidate in last year's presidential election without saying a word against Putin, is now openly supporting Yaroslavl mayor Yevgeny Urlashov after he was arrested on bribery charges. (Kremlin partners do not suffer such indignities.) Another Prokhorov ally, Yevgeny Roizman, is running for the mayoralty of Russia's third-largest city, Yekaterinburg. The most popular slogans during last week's spontaneous rallies were "Svoboda!" ("Freedom!") and "Putin vor!" ("Putin's a thief!") The situation looks increasingly unbalanced. A new wave of mass protests could force the Putin regime to find out how loyal its security forces really are. Navalny is still convicted and he may be allowed to run for mayor only to attempt to discredit him before jailing him. If he gains too much support he can be locked up at any time, or worse, as he well knows, although this would create just the sort of scandal Sobyanin would like to avoid in his quest to appear to be a legitimately elected official. But the election might not be as easy as they think. In last year's presidential election Putin received 47% of the vote in Moscow -- and those are the official numbers, not real ones -- despite epic fraud and despite facing no real opposition. Can Sobyanin then be expected to surpass the 50% needed to avoid a second ballot without resorting to the same tactics that spawned outrage in 2011? Navalny is a real fighter and he has thousands of enthusiastic volunteers to campaign for him and to closely observe the election process on September 8. There are only bad choices for the Kremlin at this point. Their fear of Navalny and the movement he represents is provoking conflict and confusion. In the movie "Groundhog Day", Bill Murray's character wakes up in Andie MacDowell's arms after an eternity of repeating the same day over and over. "Something is... different," he says. "Good or bad?" she asks. "Anything different is good," he answers. Something different happened in Kirov last week and my optimism tells me it was a positive sign. After more than 13 years of predictable repression under Putin, anything different is good. We should not let avid speculation distract us from the cruel reality of Navalny's situation -- and of Putin's Russia. The lives of opposition members and journalists are worth very little. A man will spend five years in a labor camp for nothing more than speaking openly his opposition to Vladimir Putin. Navalny's former colleague, Pyotr Ofitserov, refused to testify against him and got a four-year sentence. He has five young children. And for every case you hear about, there are dozens of others forming this new generation of political prisoners under Putin. The big picture is important, but we lose our humanity if we lose sight of the real people whose stories make up that picture. Success for Navalny's campaign in Moscow, any demonstration that he has substantial popular support, would change the atmosphere of the country and give these prisoners hope. And it would give us all hope that real change is on the way. | Important trial outcomes are decided well in advance and with little need for evidence, writes Garry Kasparov .
The motivations for Navalny's brief respite are unclear but it likely reflects factional infighting inside the Kremlin, he says .
Kasparov believes success for Navalny's campaign would change the atmosphere of the country . |
240,685 | c3978000f79ed11f9fcb57914ee4b9834ef13e12 | (EW.com) -- When it comes to its creature design, "The Darkest Hour" opts for a less-is-more approach. Unfortunately, in this case, less is just less. Rather than any Gigeresque monstrosities or the insectoid extraterrestrials of the J.J. Abrams canon, the space invaders of this surprisingly thrill-less Moscow-set thriller are invisible for much of the film. When you can see them, they resemble nothing more exciting than floating Windows screensavers. By the time these glowing gyros drift down from the night sky like fluff blown off of some cosmic dandelion, we've already been introduced to our gang of would-be survivors and have pretty much figured out in what order they're going to die. Not that we'll be too upset, as it's clear from early on that these characters are as indistinct and lazily rendered as the floating blobs chasing them. The core crew is thus: two American entrepreneurial hopefuls (Emile Hirsch and Max Minghella), a craven and duplicitous Swede (Joel Kinnaman), and two female friends on vacation (Olivia Thirlby and Rachael Taylor), now navigating the Russian capital after much of its population has been reduced to ash. The aliens disintegrate any humans they touch, like the tripods of 2005's "War of the Worlds." But where Steven Spielberg evoked muted horror from the victims' cindered remains, you get the feeling that "The Darkest Hour" director Chris Gorak and screenwriter Jon Spaihts just do it because it looks cool. They do manage to eke out some fleeting dread when the creatures' electrical fields turn a row of flickering streetlamps into a tense, signaled approach. But when the script switches genres, exchanging survival horror for resistance fighting, it loses whatever momentum it had, and you're left with a battle between two sides, neither of which are particularly interesting. You should be rooting for the humans, but you might as well be rooting for the blobs. Most likely, though, you'll just be rooting for the credits. EW.com rating: D+ . See the full article at EW.com. CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | The space invaders of this surprisingly thrill-less Moscow-set thriller are invisible .
It's clear from early on that these characters are as indistinct and lazily rendered .
But when the script switches genres it loses whatever momentum it had . |
88,039 | f9d8d9235105da8100cc10f262daecb27f589995 | A war veteran and his wife died within days of each other after being put on the Liverpool Care Pathway without consent. Charles Futcher, 90, who fought in the battle of El Alamein, died alone in a care home after he was put on the controversial end-of-life process. Ten days later his wife Hilda, 89, died in the same home after she too was given sedatives and had vital food and fluids withdrawn under pathway procedures. Charles and Hilda Futcher died within ten days of one another after being put on sedatives while on Liverpool Care Pathway 'without family consent' Their son, Charlie, said his parents had been treated ‘like animals who needed to be put down’ by doctors who ‘seemed to take it upon themselves to get rid of them’. The 62-year-old, who was at his mother’s side when she died, said the couple’s treatment had been grotesque and claimed they were put on the pathway without consultation. Just two weeks before his death, Mr Futcher had celebrated his 90th birthday at a family party. ‘He was in a wheelchair and was in discomfort, but he was compos mentis and you could speak to him about anything, he was sharp,’ his son said. Son Charles Jr said his parents were treated like 'animals who needed to be put down' When . his sister received a telephone call from the care home to tell her . that their father, a former ambulance driver, had been put on sedatives, . Mr Futcher Jr did not think it meant he was seriously ill. As a result, . the old soldier died without any of his family being present. Mr . Futcher Jr said: ‘I would not have wanted my father to suffer if he had . been riddled with cancer or his diabetes was killing him, or if he had . made the decision to go. ‘I would have just liked to have been there with him. ‘But somebody else was making those decisions and not telling us.’ After his father died, Mr Futcher Jr, a former teacher who owns a hotel in the Peak District of Derbyshire, lost all faith in those caring for his mother at the care home in Petersfield, Hampshire. ‘I just didn’t trust them so I stayed with her all the time,’ he said. ‘Her dementia was quite bad, but she knew people. ‘She couldn’t hold a conversation any more but she knew who I was and would give me a hug.’ Mr Futcher Jr claims that within days of his father’s death, care home staff stopped giving his mother food or fluids and her health deteriorated rapidly. He said: ‘They were telling me that she’d forgotten how to eat and when I arrived there she was so frail. ‘I held her hand up to the light and could see the blood going through her veins, that’s the state they got her into. We had a family friend there and I said, “There’s no way that my mother is refusing food and we have to get some fluids in there”. ‘I went and bought a baby’s feeding bottle and put some water into it and she just sucked it down. You just couldn’t pull it out of her mouth.’ Praise: Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described the pathway as 'a fantastic step forward' Mr . Futcher Jr claims the same GP who allowed his father to be put on the . Liverpool Care Pathway authorised district nurses to put his mother on . sedatives without his even having visited her. He . added: ‘It was a grotesque death. When I watched my mother die over . those 33 hours she was so thin and dehydrated, it actually changed the . shape of her head. ‘It’s . like taking your animals to the vet. I’ve got dogs and they get old and . you agree to put them down. It’s no different to that, no different at . all.’ Norman Boyes, practice manager at the Swan Surgery in Petersfield, where Mr and Mrs Futcher’s doctor worked, said: ‘We are sorry if anyone is unhappy with the care and advice provided. ‘The practice has a formal complaints procedure, and we would encourage any of the family members who have any concerns to contact us directly.’ Mr Futcher Jr’s Czech-born mother was at a wartime refugee camp when she met his father, who was on duty there after serving in the Eighth Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. The Liverpool Care Pathway is designed to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients in their final hours and can involve the withdrawal of foods and fluids as well as the use of sedatives such as morphine. Yesterday the Mail revealed that up to 60,000 patients die on the pathway each year without giving their consent. Yet Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has described the pathway as ‘a fantastic step forward’ – and dismissed concerns as based on matters ‘going wrong in one or two cases’. ‘It’s basically designed to bring hospice-style care to terminally ill people in hospitals,’ he said. Mr Hunt added that many patients did not want to die ‘with lots of tubes going in and out of their body’ but would prefer their last moments to be dignified. | War veteran Charles Futcher died after being put on Liverpool Care Pathway .
Wife Hilda who was also put on pathway, died ten days after her husband .
Son Charles Futcher said the decision was made without family consent .
Mail revealed 60,000 patients die a year on pathway without their consent . |
124,545 | 2cfc10c3176139ae70ef8fa147268281f262fb44 | By . Laurie Whitwell . Follow @@lauriewhitwell . Paul Lambert will bring Darren Bent back in from the cold next season after owner Randy Lerner made it clear the Aston Villa manager must use all players at his disposal. The move represents a remarkable turnaround for the striker who was frozen out at Villa and part of the so-called Bomb Squad training separately from the first-team. Villa tried to offload Bent last summer but could not find any team to match their £8million valuation and in the end agreed a season-long loan move with Fulham, who picked up his £65,000 per week wages. Scroll down for video... Back in the fold: Darren Bent will return to Astonb Villa after being under-used by Paul Lambert . Road to recovery: Charles N'Zogbia is also expected to play a bigger part after being sidelined by injury . He scored six goals in 30 appearances . but was an infrequent starter and displaced towards the end of the . season by 19-year-old Cauley Woodrow. The 30-year-old’s return reflects . the difficulty Lambert will have in making signings during the transfer . window this summer with the club up for sale and uncertainty about the . future. Charles N’Zogbia is . another who should be back in contention for selection after missing the . entirety of last season with an Achilles injury and then failing to get . fit, while Alan Hutton will also return if a buyer cannot be found. Lambert’s . previous tactic was to jettison those players on big wages he felt were . of little benefit to team harmony but Lerner wants to see money he has . spent on the pitch with Bent the prime example. He arrived at Villa for . an initial £18m in January 2011 and still has a year left on his . contract. Given Christian Benteke is out with an Achilles injury . until October at the earliest and Libor Kozak still needing to fully . recover from a broken leg Villa’ s striker situation is critical. Bent . was nicknamed ‘The Mailman’ by Lerner three years ago because he . ‘always delivered’ but the goals dried up and his attitude was . questioned. Lambert said: . ‘Everyone is even now. Everyone is level. That’s what you can do. It’s . publicly known what’s happened and everyone is on a level playing field. The only uncertainty is the main one – how long does it take to get . sold?’ He added: ‘Christian is doing well, we had one of the physios . over there last Tuesday to see how he was. An injury like that is a . nightmare for him, especially the Achilles but he’s doing OK. It’s still . too early to judge how far away he is.’ Italian job: Tom Ince wants to follow in his father's footsteps by moving to Inter Milan . Meanwhile, Tom Ince has spoken about his ‘dream’ opportunity to follow in father Paul’s footsteps and join Inter Milan. Ince, who can leave Blackpool for a nominal fee, said: ‘It is unbelievable to be mentioned with them… it really is dreams. ‘There are options there but I haven’t ruled out staying in England.’ | Darren Bent will return to Aston Villa after being snubbed by Paul Lambert .
Former England striker has been on loan at relegated Fulham .
Owner Randy Lerner wants the club to use all players at its disposal .
Charles N'Zogbia and Alan Hutton will also return to the frame . |
51,817 | 92c04df683750fa6b350feb21edcc7e9af9adc68 | By . Tom Gardner . These shocking pictures show the terrible state of a six-month-old puppy, passed off as a stray by his callous owner in order to avoid paying vets’ fees, a court heard. The calculating 44-year-old wrapped pooch . Rory in a blood-stained sheet and told the vet she had stumbled across . an abandoned pet. The bedraggled dog was so seriously ill . with mange - a skin condition caused by a parasitic mite - he was . bleeding from numerous open sores, barely able to stand and clumps of . fur had fallen out. Cruel: Wendy Bowley, of Redhill, Hereford, subjected her puppy to appalling abuse, then tried to pretend he was a stray so she would not have to pay the vet's bill, the court heard . Suffering: Rory was bleeding from numerous open wounds when finally taken to the vet . Hereford Magistrates Court heard . Bowley pretended she was a Good Samaritan in crude attempt to dodge . paying the £600 bill for the medical treatment he so desperately needed. She pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by failing to seek treatment and mistreating a dog. The court heard Rory had suffered the . painful skin condition of mange for at least three months - half of his . young life - before Bowley, of Redhill, Hereford, finally took him to . the vets. On March 15, this year, she took him to Laurels Veterinary Surgery in Hereford, where she claimed he was a stray. Chris Reed, defending, said Bowley was ‘in an incredibly difficult position’ because she simply could not afford a £600 vet bill. He said: ‘It’s easy when you look back in hindsight and say what she should have done and could have done. ‘Mrs Bowley followed the advice she was given by a vet and sought treatment. ‘She is pleading guilty on the basis that perhaps she could have sought treatment earlier than he did.’ Bowley will be sentenced next month. Banned: Bowley was banned from keeping pets for ten years yesterday at Hereford Magistrates Court, pictured, after pleading guilty to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal . | Wendy Bowley, 44, from Redhill, Hereford, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal .
Her six-month-old puppy Rory was bleeding from numerous open sores, and was barely able to stand when finally given medical attention . |
24,885 | 46816d231cee72d4cf7aabd018b4b2f5ac5ea8ef | By . Steve Robson . PUBLISHED: . 13:04 EST, 5 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:19 EST, 6 March 2013 . A man who beat his pregnant ex-fiancee to death causing the death of their unborn baby has been jailed for at least 27 years. Unemployed alcoholic Tony McLernon, 24, of Harlow, Essex, was found guilty of murder and child destruction following a trial lasting just over two weeks at Chelmsford Crown Court. The trial heard he lured Eystna Blunnie, 20, to her death in July last year after telling friends she was trying to ruin his new relationship. Lured: Eystna Blunnie, left, was found dying in the street after being attacked by her ex Tony McLernon, right . Jailed: Tony McLernon, of Harlow, Essex, was found guilty of murder . When they met in Howard Way, near her home in Harlow, he jumped on her, kicked her and left her to die in a pool of blood. Miss Blunnie was due to give birth to a girl within days. Ordering a minimum tariff of 27 years . of a life sentence, Mr Justice Fulford said: 'It is undoubtedly the . case that he brutally and repeatedly attacked Eystna Blunnie during the . course of their relationship. 'He told friends he wanted her significantly harmed or killed. In April he strangled her, causing the baby distress. 'This killing was not the result of . an unthinking moment of anger but instead he had contemplated the attack . over a long period of time. 'The killing was truly terrible. The . horrific screams heard by those nearby show the suffering and pain she . suffered and for some period of time she would have been aware of the . fatal consequences for herself and her child. Chilling: A CCTV image shows Eystna Blunnie walking down the street on her way to meet Tony McLernon . 'He has shown not the slightest shred of remorse.' McLernon showed no emotion as he was led from the dock. Outside court, Miss Blunnie's uncle, Tony Blunnie, read a statement on behalf of her family.He said: 'After a very long and heart-breaking eight months, we have finally received justice for Eystna and her then soon-to-be- born daughter, Rose. 'Eystna was a loving girl with a unique personality and her whole life ahead of her. 'We know Rose would have been loved, nurtured and given the best in life that's possible. We are pleased the jury saw through his lies and saw him as the evil person he truly was.' When questioned by police McLernon claimed she had been attacked by two men and he had been unable to defend her. But the jury took just two hours to find him guilty of both murder and child destruction yesterday. Final moments: McLernon will be sentenced today for the murder of Miss Blunnie, seen in CCTV footage on the night of her death . Miss Blunnie’s family released a statement after the verdict which said: 'In June of 2012 our . family was shattered by the death of a loving daughter, Eystna, and her . unborn child, Rose. 'The worst part was to find out that their deaths were such a brutal murder. 'However today justice has prevailed for our daughter and granddaughter with the conviction of their killer.' Speaking outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Lucy Robinson said: 'Tony McLernon is a dangerous, violent man. 'He has subjected numerous ex-girlfriends to constant fear of being . assaulted, and Eystna paid the ultimate price during his final violent . outburst. 'What he has taken away from the Blunnie family can never be replaced, . but I hope he never has the opportunity to put another family through . the pain they continue to suffer.' McLernon, of North Grove, . Harlow, had earlier told the court how he had been drinking more than . 20 litres of cider and Lambrini a day and was addicted to the computer . game Guitar Hero at the time of the attack. He described how he would rarely leave his bedroom, instead spending hours on end playing the Xbox game. The court heard how the couple got . engaged in 2011 after meeting on Facebook but their relationship . deteriorated and they split up early in 2012. In the weeks leading up to the killing . he had told friends and family that Miss Blunnie was trying to ruin his . new relationship, telling one he expected to go to prison for what he . planned to do. Giving evidence, McLernon said he had been 'over the moon' about the . impending birth adding that, in the days leading up to Miss Blunnie’s . death, they had been getting on well. He said that his drinking and gaming habits put strain on his relationship with Miss Blunnie. Unemployed McLernon told the court that his drinking began at the age of 16. Investigation: Police outside the home of Tony McLernon last year . Distraught: People lay flowers on the side of a main road in Harlow near to where Eystna Blunnie and her unborn baby were brutally beaten to death . Grief: Two friends console each other beside tributes to the college student who was due to give birth . For . several years he had met friends in a park near his Harlow home and . would drink up to 12 pints of lager most nights, he said. As his alcoholism, funded by Jobseeker’s Allowance, worsened, he sought out cheaper and stronger drinks. He said: 'A group of us would meet by a bench and drink. I would normally have about 12 pints of lager. 'But in 2012 my drinking changed significantly. 'I . would buy two or three litre bottles of strong cider from the . supermarket and mix it with Lambrini to make a drink with 13 per cent . alcohol. 'We called it rocket fuel. By the middle of the year I was drinking a mix of 10 or 11 bottles per day. 'I would be sick, vomiting everywhere, falling out of bed and at times the ambulance would have to be called.' Describing the moment Eystna was supposedly attacked by two men, McLernon said: 'I saw the two men run off up a path and, when I saw Eystna injured in the street, I nearly screamed.' He said he tried to put his former partner in the recovery position. 'There was more blood than I care to remember and she made a horrible sound,' McLernon added. 'I tried to turn my phone on but it took a while to load up. There wasn't anything I could do. 'I saw one of the men running back towards me so I panicked and I ran. 'I . was in no fit state to try to defend her - the look in his eyes was . terrible and I thought he was going to give me a kicking.' Shocking: A mourner reads some of the touching messages left at the spot where Miss Blunnie was found . He added that he had not been able to tell anybody about what happened that night because 'it made me feel sick'. CCTV footage captured a heavily-pregnant Eystna Blunnie, a catering student and barmaid, walking through the Harlow estate to meet McLernon talking on her mobile phone. She was due to give birth to a girl within days when she died. She told McLernon she was pregnant with his child in October 2011 but they broke up the following year. He said that he had been 'over the moon' about the impending birth and that the pair had been getting on well. Asked if the text message was part of a . scheme to tempt her to meet him, he said 'absolutely not' adding the . surprise was that he had brought his dog, Alan, to see her. McLernon, who said he had suffered . from depression and was prone to self-harm, denied claims he had . physically abused her and previous partners. | Tony McLernon, 24, killed Eystna Blunnie, 20, in Harlow, Essex, last year .
Lured her to address with text message saying 'I've got a surprise for you'
Savage beating in the street killed Miss Blunnie and their unborn child .
Tried to blame attack on two men saying he had been unable to help her .
Jury at Chelmsford Crown Court took just two hours to find him guilty .
CCTV footage shows Miss Blunnie en route to meet her killer . |
39,746 | 7031fe533f7d292e2dd4e24d779b809f2ac2c1b8 | A bipartisan congressional report has found a widespread problem with counterfeit electronic parts installed or purchased for use in American military systems around the world. Two U.S. senators said most of the bogus parts originate in China, according to an investigation by their staff. "There's a flood of counterfeit parts entering the defense supply chain," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, told reporters at a news conference Monday, "it is endangering our troops and it is costing us a fortune." Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain said the investigation documents the alarming "threat counterfeit parts pose to the safety of our men and women in uniform, to national security and to our economy." "We can't tolerate the risk of a ballistic missile interceptor failing to hit its target, a helicopter pilot unable to fire his missiles, or any other mission failure because of a counterfeit part," McCain said. A study by congressional staff found and examined about 1800 cases of suspected counterfeit electronic parts dating from 2009 to last year, totaling about a million individual components. Tracing the supply chain, 70% of the components came through China, where a variety of methods were used to misrepresent the parts as new and genuine. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tuesday holds a hearing on the matter and says he will propose holding contractors accountable for the cost of flushing out bogus components. Both senators said the problem is partly the result of efforts in recent years to increase competition and lower the cost of supplying the military with spare parts to keep systems running. "We have found in the past the $500 toilet seat, all of these things, when you rely on sole contractors." McCain said. But they said leaders in China are another part of the problem. China blocked Senate investigators from a proposed trip to explore the production and sale of electronics coming from China, saying it was a sensitive matter that could hurt relations with the U.S., the lawmakers told reporters. "They have it backwards," Levin said. "They have the ability to stop this counterfeiting. It is being done in the open. We'll show pictures tomorrow of where it's being done." "They're gonna have to stop it, or they're gonna pay a heavy price if we start inspecting all of their parts that are coming into this country." The two men cited several examples where taxpayers had to cover the cost of replacing questionable parts with genuine components. Levin said the military should make sure its suppliers would have to pay, instead. In one instance, counterfeit transistors were found in a Raytheon night vision system used on an anti-submarine helicopter, the failure of which could block the crew from seeing a target and aiming a missile. It would not affect flight capability. A more serious risk to flight involves the Air Force C-27J, which has a cockpit video display from the contractor L-3. The company found suspected bogus memory chips, traced to China that could cause the display to fail and cause erroneous instrument readings. Boeing was the third company cited by the senators in the report they discussed ahead of Tuesday's hearing. The contractor said its P-8A, a military version of a 737, was found to have counterfeit ice detectors. One of them fell out and was rattling around inside the module on the airplane, according to documents from 2009. Levin said "If you put the onus on all of our contractors, which we should do, to make sure that the parts that are being supplied are legitimate parts, they will get that message back to their suppliers as well." In addition to ranking executives from at least three U.S. defense contractors who will testify about the problem of bogus components installed in their systems, Tuesday's hearing will include first-hand witness accounts of production, processing and packaging in China of questionable and counterfeit parts. | "Shocking" amount of counterfeit electronic parts in U.S. military gear .
U.S. Sens. McCain and Levin preview Tuesday hearing on procurement .
National security at risk by unreliable fraudulent components, say lawmakers .
China refuses to cooperate after being implicated as source . |
236,806 | be82556743076b01cc057e833ef8c2a059463a07 | By . Kate Lyons . Kim Teer was 17 when she went missing in Melbourne in 1979. She had been backpacking across the country . Kim Teer was on the trip of a lifetime backpacking around Australia when her mother last heard from her. Kim, who was weeks away from her 18th birthday, had written to her mother, Colleen Holding, asking her to send a copy of her birth certificate so she could get a driver's license. Colleen never heard from her daughter again. Colleen, now 73, still does not know what happened to her only child despite police investigations and two years spent travelling around Australia, visiting the places Kim had stayed in the hope someone might know something. Kim is one of thousands of people missing across the country as Australia marks Missing Person's Week this week. Kim's aunt Mary Hallam, 61, from the Southern Highlands of NSW said that 35 years after she went missing, the family believe that Kim is dead and police say they believe she met with foul play, but without a body, Kim's family have no answers and no finality. 'Unfortunately we all feel that Kim is no longer alive… But you can imagine, when you don't have the remains of someone, I know Colleen in her heart lives with the hope that she'll be found. That's something a parent never loses. When there's no body, there's no finality about it,' Ms Hallam told Daily Mail Australia. Kim, described by her aunt as an artistic girl, took off backpacking around Australia in 1978 at the age of 17. She returned to her aunt's home in Bathurst for Christmas in 1978, the last time her family saw her, before continuing her travels in 1979. After travelling across Western Australia, Queensland and NSW, she eventually stopped in Melbourne and shared a flat with two fellow travellers. 'Kim had an agreement with her mum that she would stay in constant contact to let her know she was okay, which she did, she sent letters to her mum and called her,' said Ms Hallam. Kim Teer is pictured as a teenager (left) and as police imagine she would look now (right). Police have reopened the investigation decades later, hoping they might be able to give Kim's family answers . When Kim's mother Colleen did not hear from Kim as her 18th birthday approached she became distressed and knew something was wrong. 'There's no way Kim would have not contacted her mother for her birthday,' said Ms Hallam. Colleen and her husband, Kim's step-father, drove to Melbourne to try and find her and then travelled across the country talking to people who might have known Kim. 'She just vanished off the face of the earth; [Colleen] never found any of her belongings. She spent two years going around Australia trying to find her,' said Ms Hallam. Kim's disappearance devastated both her parents, who had separated years earlier. Ms Hallam has not seen Kim's father Greg Teer for years, but is informed by his family that he is now 'very much a recluse… he can't quite cope with the fact that his daughter's gone.' Kim is pictured with her father Greg Teer (left) and with her father and mother Colleen Holding (right) Colleen, who worked as a cosmetics buyer for Myer, threw herself into work and hobbies in order to distract herself from the heartbreaking reality of Kim's disappearance. 'She worked really hard all her life and owns her own home, she did a lot of things to take her mind off it, retain her sanity. To mark Missing Persons Week this year, Australian Federal Police are attempting to raise awareness about the 35,000 people reported missing in Australia each year. Of those reported missing, approximately half are 'recidivists', such as teenagers who regularly run away from foster carers or other institutions, almost all of whom are found. Approximately 85 percent of all those reported missing in the country are found within 48 hours and police say it is crucial that people tell police as soon as they notice someone is missing. 'It is a myth that you have to wait 24 hours. We're always hearing on American TV that you don't call police or start searching [in the first 24 hours],' said Rebecca Kotz, from the Missing Person Unit with the Australian Federal Police. 'It couldn't be further from the truth. Police need to get onto it as soon as they can. In Australia we know for a fact the first 24 hours are so critical.' This year the focus of Missing Persons Week is on people with dementia, who comprise 10 percent of missing people reported in Australia. 'We have people who will wander off. They might be 200m from their front door, they might also fall into scrub and hit their head,' said Ms Kotz. Police are encouraging people with dementia to wear identity bracelets with a contact phone number and information about their condition, so that police can help them if they are found. 'She taught herself to sew and she'd make these amazing wedding dresses. She created some of the most beautiful things as a way of her dealing with the grief. It's a strange thing when something tragic happens in your life, certain people try to create something nice to balance it out.' Ms Hallam said that her sister could not face dealing with what happened, but as she got older it has caught up to her and she finds the uncertainty harder. '[Colleen] said: "I envy people who can bury their children, because at least you know where they are, you know what happened to them,"' said Ms Hallam. Since retiring in 2009, Ms Hallam has dedicated herself to working with the NSW and Victorian police to trying to work out what happened to Kim. Police have re-opened the cold case and a reward of $100,000 for information leading to the apprehension and conviction of someone involved in Kim's disappearance, was announced in September last year in the hope of providing new leads into the case. Ms Hallam says she thinks there are a few suspicious people police should talk to . 'I've put several scenarios to the police, but as with an ongoing investigation they won’t comment,' she said. But for Kim's family, finding out what happened to her is less significant than recovering her body. 'Whether or not, anyone was ever found responsible, that'd be good because people do these things and get away with it, but to know where she is would be the best outcome of all. 'To have her remains found would be the best outcome ever, at least then we would know where she was, we could bury her properly… To be able to bury her remains would give you some sort of peace of mind, that's the wrong word, and I hate the word closure, because you never have closure on things like this, you think about it every waking minute of the day. It would give her some sort of ending to a long search.' Investigators would like to speak to anyone who has any information about Kim's disappearance or had any contact with her between August and October 1979.Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or via the website at www.crimestoppers.com.au . | Kim Teer went missing at the age of 17 from Melbourne in 1979 .
The artistic teenager had been travelling around Australia .
Her body and her possessions were never found, her family and police believe she is dead but have no answers .
Kim's mother Colleen, now 73, says she 'envies' parents who are able to bury their children, because without a body there is no finality . |
220,198 | a900241ca90d6e1d309904c69f0f8cbd98df1da8 | Washington (CNN) -- The U.S. government shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after lawmakers in the House and the Senate could not agree on a spending bill to fund the government. The two sides bickered and blamed each other for more than a week over Obamacare, the president's signature health care law. House Republicans insisted the spending bill include anti-Obamacare amendments. Senate Democrats were just as insistent that it didn't. Federal employees who are considered essential will continue working. But employees deemed non-essential -- close to 800,000 -- will be furloughed. Most furloughed federal workers are supposed to be out of their offices within four hours of the start of business Tuesday. President Barack Obama issued a statement early Tuesday to military members and Department of Defense employees about the outcome of the shutdown. "Those of you in uniform will remain on your normal duty status," the president said. "Congress has passed, and I am signing into law, legislation to make sure you get your paychecks on time. And we'll continue working to address any impact this shutdown has on you and your families." "To all our DOD civilians—I know the days ahead could mean more uncertainty, including possible furloughs," the president added. "And I know this comes on top of the furloughs that many of you already endured this summer. You and your families deserve better than the dysfunction we're seeing in Congress. ... That's why I'll keep working to get Congress to reopen our government and get you back to work as soon as possible." The final hours . The shutdown appeared inevitable Monday night as House Republicans acknowledged they couldn't overcome Senate objections to a proposal that includes provisions aimed at derailing Obamacare. They planned to have another vote overnight that would request a conference with the Senate to work out their differences. But the move, which would not have averted a shutdown, was dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "We will not go to conference with a gun to our head," Reid said. Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen said the reason there wasn't a budget deal is because Republicans refused to negotiate months ago. "They want to go to conference with 45 minutes left," Van Hollen said late Monday night. "That is a recipe for a government shutdown." Legislative ping pong . For the second time Monday, the Senate rejected a House Republican effort to derail Obamacare by linking it to a proposal that would avert the shutdown. The Senate voted to table House amendments that would have delayed the individual mandate in the health care law and eliminated health insurance premium subsidies for members of Congress, their staffs and the president. In the latest volley of legislative ping pong over a short-term spending plan needed to avoid the shutdown, House Republicans were expected to meet to discuss their next steps. Earlier, Senate Democrats had rejected a House proposal by a 54-46 vote, strictly along party lines. Obama made a previously unscheduled statement to reporters on Monday afternoon, blasting the attempts by House Republicans to undermine Obamacare that he said threaten to harm the economy with a shutdown. "You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway, where just because there's a law there that you don't like," the president said. Obama later called Boehner and other party leaders in the House and Senate, the White House said, but a Boehner spokesman indicated there was no breakthrough. Moderate GOP revolt against Boehner? GOP sources told CNN that moderate House Republicans were trying to galvanize what would amount to a rebellion against Boehner and their tea party colleagues by defeating the latest proposed spending plan with attached anti-Obamacare provisions. However, a procedural vote on the measure passed with only six Republicans voting "no." Without congressional approval of new spending legislation, parts of the federal government will begin shutting down when the current fiscal year ends at midnight, forcing agencies to furlough thousands of workers and curtail some services until there is a resolution. "I feel sad about it. We expect more from our Congress," said Vick Temple, a worker for the Federal Aviation Administration who said he faced being furloughed in a shutdown. Polls show public opposition to a shutdown, and stocks ended lower Monday on Wall Street due to concerns over the economic impact. The blame game . Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina said on CNN's "New Day" that her party continues to be deeply concerned about Tuesday's scheduled opening of Obamacare health insurance exchanges and "keeping the checkbook out of Barack Obama's hands and the damage can be done there." Get up to speed on the showdown . Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Florida, appearing alongside Ellmers, characterized the Republican strategy of tying overall government operations to at least a delay in health care changes as "irrational." "It jeopardizes the economy and it makes no sense," she said. Weeks of hot potato . Last week, the Senate voted down a House GOP plan to eliminate funding for Obamacare in a short-term spending plan to keep the government running in the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday. Democrats have pressured Boehner to give up a losing fight over Obamacare forced by tea party conservatives and instead hold a vote on a "clean" spending plan that includes no provisions seeking to undermine the health care reforms. Wasserman Schultz predicted that such a measure would pass easily with support from all Democrats and more moderate Republicans. Some Republicans expressed frustration Monday with the tactics of their congressional colleagues. Veteran GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona noted that any attempt to repeal Obamacare would fail because of Obama's veto, which would require a two-thirds majority in the Senate to overcome. "There's not 67 votes in the United States Senate, therefore, ergo, we're not going to repeal Obamacare," McCain said. "OK? That's it. We may do this for a day. We may do it for a week. We may do it for a month. It's going to end up the same way. " GOP Rep. Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania told CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash that whichever party was to blame, a shutdown will make everyone look bad. 10 ways the shutdown would affect you . Obamacare still a GOP focus . Obama and Democrats reject what they call Republican efforts to use the threat of a government shutdown to force negotiations on the president's signature health care reforms. Noting that the 2010 Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court, they say it is settled law that voters endorsed last year by re-electing Obama over GOP candidate Mitt Romney, who campaigned on repealing it. A new CNN/ORC poll shows that Americans are not happy about the prospect of a shutdown, which is happening because Congress has been unable to pass a budget for the new fiscal year that begins Tuesday. A game of chicken between Dems, GOP . According to the poll, 68% of Americans think shutting down the government for even a few days is a bad idea, while 27% think it's a good idea. And it appears most Americans would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown: Sixty-nine percent said they agreed with the statement that the party's elected officials were acting like "spoiled children." Democrats, however, weren't far behind: Fifty-eight percent of respondents said they too were acting like spoiled kids. A poll later showed public support for Congress at record low levels. Stock traders also seemed solidly against a shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 120 points, or nearly 1 percent, and the other two major indexes also closed lower. Among major economic issues that could result from a shutdown: delays in processing FHA housing loan applications -- a potential drag on the housing recovery -- and the potential loss of government spending that's helping prop up the economy, said Christine Romans, host of CNN's "Your Money." "You've got an economy right now that's very tied to government spending and government contracts, so that could have a ripple effect all across Main Street," she said on CNN's "New Day." If the government does shut down, it would be the first time it has happened in more than 17 years. That previous shutdown, sparked by a budget battle between Democratic President Bill Clinton and a Republican Congress, lasted for 21 days. CNN Poll: GOP would bear the brunt of shutdown blame . While the military will remain on duty, as will many essential public safety, health and welfare operations, many government offices will close. About a quarter of the federal government's 3.3 million employees -- those frequently referred to as "nonessential" -- will be told to stay home from work until the shutdown is over. Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said essential crime prevention and military services would continue, but some workers would be furloughed. Holder said he would cut his pay by the same amount as the most severely affected Justice Department employees because "we are all in this together." Meet the man behind the government shutdown . CNN's Michael Pearson, Holly Yan, Lateef Mungin, Ted Barrett, Lisa Desjardins and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report. | NEW: The House is expected to vote again overnight, including on appointing House negotiators .
"We will not go to conference with a gun to our head," says Sen. Harry Reid .
Obama says troops will get paid on time, but civilians may get more furloughs .
Conservatives wanted to undermine Obamacare before its private exchanges take effect Tuesday . |
69,488 | c4faef1218eea8042cc2bc673c15c75130d16eae | (CNN) -- South Africa becomes the center of global attention Friday as the World Cup, sport's most avidly followed competition, kicks off four weeks of soccer action both on and off the pitch. Thousands of spectators from Africa and around the world are expected to pack the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg for the opening ceremony ahead of the opening match at 4 p.m. (10 a.m. ET) between hosts South Africa -- known as "Bafana Bafana" -- and Mexico. Why the World Cup is sports' biggest occasion . Everyday life will stop for millions of fans around the world -- albeit temporarily -- as they follow the tournament on television, radio and online, including social media networks such as Twitter. CNN teams up with Foursquare for World Cup . Former South African president Nelson Mandela is expected to attend the kickoff, his grandson Nkosi Mandela said Tuesday -- but will not be able to stay for the whole of the match. Mandela, who is 91, played a key role in bringing the World Cup to South Africa but has made limited public appearances recently, although he did meet the South Africa squad last week. Pre-tournament celebrations have included a concert staged in Soweto on Thursday that featured Hugh Masakela and the Black Eyed Peas. The World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting event in the world, with only the Summer Olympics commanding as much global attention. FIFA, soccer's governing body, predicts a cumulative TV audience for the tournament of 26.29 billion viewers. Will you be following the World Cup? Send videos, stories, photos . South Africa 2010 marks the first time that the tournament, which was inaugurated in 1930 and is held every four years, has been staged in Africa. It follows FIFA efforts to take the tournament from soccer's traditional heartlands in Europe and South America to relatively under-developed markets such as the U.S. (1994) and South Korea and Japan (2002). FIFA now boasts more than 200 member states -- more than the United Nations. Argentina, Germany, Brazil and current world champions Italy have each won the current trophy, introduced in 1974, twice. Brazil was allowed to keep the original trophy after winning it for a third time in 1970. How you can sound like a World Cup expert . The finals, which will take in 64 matches and run for a month, are the climax of a three-year qualification campaign, which kicked off in August 2007 when New Caledonia beat Tahiti 1-0. | South Africa 2010 is the first time the World Cup has been staged in Africa .
The inaugural World Cup took place in Uruguay in 1930 .
This year's tournament sees 32 teams contest the trophy .
FIFA boasts more than 200 member states -- more than the United Nations . |
222,106 | ab80332ef0acb44fc2f01964a97b30d027eaaee8 | (CNN) -- "I'm here, where are you?" It happens all the time. You're waiting to meet a friend and get a call or text like this. "But I'm here," you insist. Even with addresses in hand, exact locations often remain elusive, and meet-ups get missed. The usual response -- a quick look around, squinting to make out some local landmark to tell them to meet you by -- might be okay for some. But having spent ten years in the music and events business, Chris Sheldrick was tired of spending his time telling suppliers, staff, and guests where to look for a venue's back or side entrance. In businesses like his, the small nuisance can become a timewasting burden: "We always had this problem," he says. What3Words (W3W) believes it has found a solution. The start-up, co-founded last year by Sheldrick, divides the entire world into a grid of three meter by three meter squares -- 57 trillion of them in total. Each square has been labeled with a three word sequence. Standing beneath the Eiffel Tower? You're at "shut.tech.requests." Want to meet on the front doorstep of Buckingham Place? Tell a friend "sound.manual.lungs." Climbed to the top of Ayers Rock? That's "snake.removes.gymnast". "Now, anyone can just say 'table.lamp.spoon' and it's much easier than giving a full address and explanation of how to find a location," says Sheldrick. In developed western countries, the precise system could be the answer to countless small problems, and over this summer the company has highlighted how W3W can help in jumbled music festival campsites, and sprawling parking lots. In the developing world, competing address systems can create confusion or, worse, no formal address system is present. How it works . Sheldrick knew the solution was already out there. Google Maps can give you GPS coordinates that will direct someone to a precise location. But remembering the 15 digit code -- or communicating one to a delivery driver down a dodgy phone line while organizing a busy event -- is bound to end in failure. "For human beings, it's completely impractical," he says . What3Words has received $1.5m in start-up funding since it launched last year and the company is now expanding to incorporate more languages. With each new language -- English, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, French, Turkish, and Portuguese are all available -- each square is assigned an additional name. There's almost 40,000 words of each language in the mix, but W3W has allocated the shortest, most commonly used ones to the areas where they're most likely to be used. So the front steps of the Swedish National Museum in Stockholm are called "calf.router.shunted" if you search in English, but the more common words "skri.elev.skrika" in Swedish. To streamline the process, Sheldrick explains that the team have removed all the homophones from the mix -- so you won't end up wondering if your friend said "teas," "tease," or "tees" -- as well as controversial spellings. Gone, too, are all those explicit words you that you probably wouldn't want to say to direct visitors to your front door. Unfortunately, language is rarely that simple and even three apparently innocent words, arranged appropriately -- say "lazy.trouser.snake" (a roadside plot just outside Hiroshima, Japan) -- are bound to haunt a few addresses. Sheldrick says there's no way of changing each allocated address, but that they haven't had any complaints yet. And, besides, a dodgy name has done no harm to many traditional addresses. Big impact? Sheldrick, meanwhile, is thinking big, and the company is pondering what role the three-word system could offer in countries where development can be obstructed by a lack of a reliable, intuitive, system of addresses. "In a lot of the developing world, addresses are something governments have been working on for sometimes a decade," says Sheldrick. He believes, W3W can offer a ready-made system, allowing governments to forget what to call a place, and to focus on helping the people there. See also: Take a look inside Tehran's transformer house . See also: London's insane luxury basements . See also: Who invests the most in global property? | Startup What3Words aims to replace every address with a simple three word code .
CEO Chris Sheldrick says the new system is faster, simpler and more precise .
It promises to connect those in the developing world who lack a reliable address system .
But what if your three word address was less than flattering? |
177,313 | 7187e71422482a8c51d9651e4efafb5503787bbe | By . Sam Webb for MailOnline . A gang of Romanian fraudsters have been jailed for between 21 and 64 months for stealing an estimated £16 million-worth of bank card details from more than 60,000 people in the UK and abroad. Three men and a woman appeared at the Old Bailey for sentencing after pleading guilty to a string of fraud offences after police uncovered what they described as a 'fraudster's utopia' in Harrow, Middlesex. Prosecutor Catherine Pattison said the defendants - who were living at addresses in the area - were responsible for 'a large-scale, highly sophisticated, well executed ATM and counterfeit fraud'. Facing jail: Florin Ioan Silaghi, 30, Vasile Daniel Pop, 30, Ovidiu Metac, 27 and Adriana Alexandra Turc, 25, (top left to bottom right) ran a gang who targeted more than 60,000 bank customers in a £16million fraud . The criminal operation was smashed in December last year when police seized an array of gadgets including cards traps, cloned cards and spy cameras in raids. The gang were involved in three stages of fraud - scamming bank card data from ATMs, downloading it on to a computer and then copying the details on to counterfeit plastic cards, Ms Pattison said. In all, 953 bank accounts had been compromised and a total of £161,607.47 was taken, although the potential loss was far greater, she said. Money was then transferred abroad to Panama, Romania, Italy and Colombia using MoneyGram and Western Union, the court was told. The prosecutor said Florin Silaghi and Vasile Pop were the key players in the conspiracy, and Ovidiu Metac and his partner Adriana Turc had lesser roles. They all pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to conspiracy to defraud between January 1 2012 and December 11 2013 and various other related offences. Silaghi was jailed for 64 months, Pop was handed 61 months, Turc was jailed for 21 months and Metac was jailed for 43 months. Jailing them, recorder Douglas Day QC said: 'Electronic card fraud is one of the scourges of the technological age both nationally and internationally. 'It causes significant loss to the banks and distress and inconvenience to the card holders whose cards have been compromised.' Silaghi, 30, of Harrow, also admitted possessing criminal property relating to bank details, making a scanning device and possession of an identity document with improper intention. Sophisticated fraud: By placing cameras and skimming equipment on cashpoints they managed to get hold of the details of more than 60,000 bank customers and cloned cards with a value of £16m . Metac, 25, of Harrow, pleaded guilty to having bank details on a computer, having counterfeit plastic cards, ATM card slots and a fake photo identity card. Turc, 27, pleaded guilty to having bank account details on a computer and two counts relating to the transfer or acquisition of money. Pop, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of the transfer or acquisition of money. Following the sentencing, police said of more than 60,000 card details found, 36,000 of them belonged to people in the UK. Many of the cards found had the number of the stolen PIN written in black marker pen on the back for easy use by the criminals, a spokesman for the Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) said. The cards recovered had a street value of £16 million - based on the amount stolen on average from a compromised card, they said. As officers investigated this case, evidence of a method never seen before in the UK to steal card details came to light - spy cameras fitted to the side panel of cash machines, rather than the top panel. This method allowed fraudsters a better view of people's PIN numbers when the keypad is only partially covered by the customer's hand. Detective Inspector Sarah Ward, who led the investigation for the DCPCU, said: 'We are delighted that with these arrests and convictions we have been able to completely dismantle a criminal organisation that was stealing millions from people's bank accounts. 'The premises we raided really were a fraudster's utopia, with a dizzying array of machines and gadgets designed to commit serious fraud. 'These convictions send out a strong message to would-be fraudsters but there is also a word of caution for customers - always cover your PIN closely with your hand when using a cash machine to beat the criminals'. Virgil Spiridon, director of the organised crime department at the Romanian national police, added: 'Close co-operation between the DCPCU and our own officers played a key part in successfully securing these convictions. 'It was an excellent example of law enforcement agencies from different countries working together to ensure fraudsters' activities are brought to a halt and their crimes are punished.' Since the DCPCU was set up in April 2002, it has saved around £450 million by clamping down on fraud activity. | Fraudsters ran 'factory' where they cloned cards using stolen pin numbers .
Romanians attached cameras and 'skimmers' to cashpoints across Britain .
Florin Ioan Silaghi, 30, Vasile Daniel Pop, 30, Ovidiu Metac, 27 and Adriana Alexandra Turc, 25 will be sentenced at the Old Bailey tomorrow . |
29,906 | 550b9f06612b948911802c7cea2083186246d69d | A member of the grand jury that declined to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown asked a federal court Monday to remove a lifetime gag order preventing jurors from discussing the case. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of an unnamed juror who wants to speak about the investigation but would be in violation of Missouri law by doing so. The lawsuit also questions St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch's characterization that 'all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges.' Scroll down to read full lawsuit... Misleading? The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of an unnamed juror who wants to speak about the investigation but would be in violation of Missouri law by doing so. The juror also claims prosecutor Bob McCulloch misled the panel in Darren Wilson's favor . The suit was filed against McCulloch, who oversaw the investigation, because his office would be responsible for bringing charges against the juror, according to the ACLU. McCulloch's spokesman, Ed Magee, said his office had not seen the lawsuit and declined immediate comment. 'Right now there are only 12 people who can't talk about the evidence out there,' ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said. 'The people who know the most — those 12 people are sworn to secrecy. What (the grand juror) wants is to be able to be part of the conversation.' The suit does not seek to allow grand jurors in all Missouri cases to be free to discuss proceedings. But it argues that the Ferguson case was unique, and that allowing the juror to speak would benefit the national debate about race and police tactics that was sparked by the shooting. Brown, who was black, was unarmed when he was fatally shot after a confrontation in August with then-Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who resigned from the department late last year. Bob McCulloch, prosecutor in the Darren Wilson case, speaks to reporters in August . How many jurors serve on a Missouri grand jury? Twelve jurors serve on a Missouri grand jury panel. How many votes are needed to indict? In order for a grand jury in the state of Missouri to indict, nine out of 12 jurors must vote to 'hand up' the case. Whose ultimate decision is it for a case to move forward? Only the jury may choose to indict. However, the prosecuting attorney's wish to (or not to) indict is extremely influential. Per Richard Kuhns of Washington University Law School: . 'The prosecutor typically has de facto control over the grand jury. Except for usually minimal instructions from the judge, the prosecutor is the only person the grand jury deals with. 'The grand jury can decide to call witnesses on its own, but that doesn't happen often. Usually the grand jury is pretty subservient to the prosecutor. If prosecutor wants an indictment, he can almost always get it.' Is a prosecutor required to hold a grand jury? No. Grand juries are only guaranteed under the constitution in federal cases. A prosecutor may choose to forgo the process if he/she has probable cause. However, around half of high-level felonies and nearly all police-involved shootings go through the process. Who gets to present evidence? The only lawyer who presents evidence to the grand jury is the prosecutor. What's more, he or she has almost unrestricted control of what evidence is presented to the jury. The prosecutor is the only lawyer in the room in an official capacity during the proceeding. Source . Withheld evidence? St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch takes questions after announcing the grand jury's decision not to indict Darren Wilson. A lawsuit filed by the ACLU on Monday on behalf of one of the jurors claims the prosecutor released some evidence presented during the hearing but mischaracterized it as all the evidence . Shooting: Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown dead in August. A suit filed on behalf of a grand juror in the case alleges the prosecutor in the case Bob McCulloch blamed Brown in the shooting as he handled the case differently from the countless others they'd seen . The shooting led to widespread unrest in an around the St. Louis suburb, including some protests that resulted in local business being burned and looted. Protests again turned violent on Nov. 24, when McCulloch publicly announced that the grand jury investigating the case had decided there wasn't enough evidence to indict Wilson. The grand jury — which included nine white people and three black individuals — met on 25 separate days over three months, hearing more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses. Those witnesses included medical examiners and experts on blood, toxicology and firearms, according to McCulloch. The grand juror behind the lawsuit believes 'the current information available about the grand jurors' views is not entirely accurate — especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges,' the lawsuit contends. 'Moreover, the public characterization of the grand jurors' view of witnesses and evidence does not accord with Plaintiff's own.' Rothert, the ACLU attorney, noted that the grand jury convened in May and heard hundreds of other cases before devoting its attention to the Wilson case in August. Protest: Widespread demonstrations swept America under the 'hands up, don't shoot' slogan following the slaying of Michael Brown, who was unarmed . The suit contends that McCulloch's office handled the Wilson case far differently than the others, with 'a stronger focus on the victim.' The suit also contends that legal standards were discussed in a 'muddled' and 'untimely' manner. He also said the Ferguson case was unique in how it sparked a national debate. 'The Supreme Court has said that grand jury secrecy must be weighed against the juror's First Amendment rights on a case-by-case basis,' Rothert said. 'The rules of secrecy must yield because this is a highly unusual circumstance. The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a lifetime gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent.' Jim Cohen, associate professor at Fordham University Law School and a grand jury expert, said the lawsuit will add to concerns about how the case was handled. "Believe me, there's already more than a fair amount of skepticism about whether this process was fair, notwithstanding Mr. McCulloch's cynical attempt to pretend that it was fair," Cohen said. Cohen believes the juror has a strong argument in the lawsuit. "This matter has been discussed by virtually everybody in the universe with the exception of any person actually subjected to the presentation of evidence," he said. Last month, state Rep. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, asked a joint House and Senate committee to investigate whether McCulloch "manipulated" the grand jury. It wasn't clear if the committee would take up that request. Messages were left Monday with May and state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, the committee's chairman. Grand Juror Doe v. Robert McCulloch by St. Louis Business Journal . | The unnamed juror argues Bob McCulloch insinuated Brown was the wrongdoer and discussion of legal standards was 'muddled' and 'untimely'
Suit also challenges McCulloch's public 'implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges' following the no vote .
'The public characterization of the grand jurors' view of witnesses and evidence does not accord with Plaintiff's own,' reads the suit .
The juror alleges McCulloch presented the case differently from all the hundreds of others the panel heard .
Juror contends 'heavy redactions and absence of context' mean publicly released evidence mischaracterizes what jurors were presented . |
171,502 | 69fe20e292f4b24e715e4aba6b2273c9254c60cf | By . Hannah Roberts In Rome and Beth Stebner . PUBLISHED: . 22:07 EST, 26 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 00:54 EST, 27 March 2013 . The dramatic announcement that Italy’s top criminal court seeks to retry American Amanda Knox for the murder of her British roommate sparks a heated legal debate that raises questions of double jeopardy. The U.S. constitution bans double jeopardy, or being tried twice for the same crime; however, Italy’s courts have no such law, meaning that they will use the same evidence to try the 25-year-old for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. Legal experts say Italy’s Supreme Court decision could throw both countries into uncharted territory, as it is highly unlikely the U.S. will extradite Knox to face trial. Extradited? Amanda Knox, pictured in 2011 at Sea-Tac International Airport, is unlikely to ever return to Italy after the country's top court ordered a retrial in the murder of Meredith Kercher . Statement: Knox, pictured in Italian court in 2011, released a statement saying she and her family would remain 'confident in the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful accusations and unreasonable adversity' Overturned: Italy's Court of Cassation, in Rome, overturned its original ruling and is seeking a retrial; the U.S. Constitution bans double jeopardy, or a second trial for the same crime . Knox’s Italian lawyer, Carlo Dalla Vedova, said it was unlikely that his client does not intend to return to Italy to face trial, which would likely take place this year or next. However, Knox can be tried in absentia. ‘Amanda does not intend to come back for the retrial,' he said. 'Her home is in . Seattle and she doesn’t need to be here.’ He added that the decision to order a . new trial was shocking. ‘She thought that the nightmare was over,’ he . said on the steps of the courthouse. ‘But she’s ready to fight.’ When the Italian courts reach a final decision they can also ask for her extradition, the lawyer told Reuters. At that point, the U.S. Department of State would have to weigh in on the request and make its own decision. The state department would then turn to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to seek the Seattle resident’s extradition. A State Department official told MailOnline that the matter is currently in the jurisdiction of the Italian courts. 'As such,' the spokesperson said, 'the State Department will refrain from making any further comment.' Retrial: Amanda Knox holds hands with her boyfriend James Terrano in downtown Seattle on Sunday. She spoken of her anguish after Italy's highest criminal court overturned her acquittal for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher . Questions: Meredith Kercher's sister Stephanie Kercher, 29, left, said at her family's home in Coulsdon, Surrey, said: 'There are a lot of unanswered questions still'. Right, her sister before her 2007 death . Regardless of the outcome, the new trial will prove to be an expensive and emotionally-charged spectacle. After the court’s decision, the . attractive brunette struck back. ‘No matter what happens, my family and I . will face this continuing legal battle as we always have, confident in . the truth and with our heads held high in the face of wrongful . accusations and unreasonable adversity,’ she said in a statement. The 25-year-old has largely avoided . the public eye since returning to Seattle, Washington, and has been . spotted around the town running errands and resuming her studies. Her memoir, ‘Waiting to be Heard,’ is due out in April. Meredith Kercher, 21, a Leeds . University student, was found semi-naked with her throat cut in the . bedroom of the house she shared with Knox, in Perugia in November 2007. The first trial caused a stir as both . Knox and Sollicito were acquitted of Kercher’s murder, and a polarizing . divide in national thought – Americans largely understood the two to be . innocent, while the British believed them to be getting away with . murder. The initial trial also put Knox’s . character in the forefront as prosecutors painted the brunette American . student as a sexual deviant who experimented with marijuana. But in 2011, the evidence was re-visited and much of it was found to be ‘contaminated.’ Meredith's sister Stephanie and mother Arline welcomed the news about the retrial on Tuesday . Jailed: Knox, 25, and Sollecito, 29, spent four years in jail, but were freed on appeal in 2011 largely on the grounds DNA evidence was flawed . Knox and Sollecito spoke on the phone . soon after yesterday’s verdict. Sollecito’s current girlfriend Annie . Achille said: ‘They will see what can be done.’ She added that her . boyfriend, who turned 29 yesterday, is ‘destroyed’ and not talking to . anyone. Meredith Kercher, from Coulsdon, . Surrey, was in Italy as an exchange student from Leeds University. She . was found dead in 2007, in the cottage she shared with Knox in the . picturesque hilltop town of Perugia. Her throat had been slit and her . semi-naked body had been covered with a duvet. After a lengthy trial in . Perugia, Knox and Sollecito were convicted of the murder in December . 2009 and sentenced to 26 and 25 years respectively. But two years later, the pair were . freed after an appeal court found that the case had been botched and DNA . evidence contaminated. A third suspect, Rudy Guede, whose DNA . and bloody footprints were found all over the crime scene, is serving a . 16-year prison sentence, reduced from 30 years on appeal. Meredith’s family welcomed yesterday’s . judgment. Her sister Stephanie said: ‘We are never going to be happy . about any outcome because we have still lost Meredith but we obviously . support the decision and hope to get answers from it. There are still so . many unanswered questions. All we have ever wanted to do is do what we . can for Meredith and to find out the truth of what happened that night.’ Knox had rejoiced after her conviction . was sensationally overturned in 2011. She fled Italy within hours, . returning home to the US, where she quickly embraced life as a free . woman. She now shares a flat with boyfriend James Terrano, a classical . guitarist, and is studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, . where she can be near her parents and three sisters. The former student is preparing for . the publication next month of a memoir for which she has been paid a . reported $3.8million. Media frenzy: Francesco Maresca, lawyer of Meredith Kercher's relatives, centere, is surrounded by journalists as he leaves Italy's Court of Cassation today . Press: Luciano Ghirga left, lawyer of Amanda Knox, centre, talks to journalists as he leaves Italy's Court of Cassation and right Giulia Bongiorno, lawyer of Amanda Knox's ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito . Sollecito remained in Italy and is studying . robotic surgery at the University of Verona. He has already released a . book about his experience. In it he said that he and Knox were still in . touch – he visited her earlier this year and they speak on Skype . regularly. Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said: ‘We are still strong. This is not a sentence in itself: this is just an annulment.’ Knox’s appeal against her conviction . for slander – for having falsely accused her boss Patrick Lumumba of the . murder – was rejected. She has already served the three-year prison . sentence for that conviction, but was ordered to pay Lumumba €4,000 ($5,100) in . costs. The retrial will be held in Florence, with different judges, to avoid accusations of prejudice against the accused pair. Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito were seen kissing in the wake of the murder . Rudy Guede was identified by police after his bloody fingerprint was found on a cushion at the scene of the crime. The . 21-year-old Ivory Coast national had given his fingerprints when he . applied for an Italian identity card several years earlier. He was known to police as a petty thief and small time drug dealer. Guede . had arrived in Italy in 1992 as a five year-old child with his father . Roger, who left his wife behind in west Africa to seek work in Italy . where he had a sister. But . when Guede was 15 Roger went back to Africa, leaving his son behind in . the care of, remarkably, a multi-millionaire Paolo Caporali who had . occasionally employed the boy in odd jobs. In . the summer of 2007, Guede rented a flat in the centre of Perugia and . became friendly with four male students who lived in the flat below Miss . Kercher and Knox. In . September and October Guede was linked to three break-ins - two in . Perugia and one in Milan. He also carried out another break-in at the . offices of a local lawyer in Perugia and at the end of October he was . arrested in Milan after breaking into a school. Following the murder he fled Perugia and went to Germany on a train. He was arrested there and extradited back to Italy. In . October 2008 he was sentenced to 30 years in jail for the murder and . sexual assault of Miss Kercher after opting for a fast-track trial. The day before his arrest on suspicion of Meredith Kercher's murder, Patrick Lumumba had been handing out flyers publicising a candlelit vigil in her memory. Mr Lumumba, a well-known and popular figure in Perugia for a decade, . was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is believed to be . related to murdered Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba. He arrived . in Italy legally in 1988. Married with a young child, he opened a . bar and restaurant called Le Chic on a narrow street in Perugia town . centre in August 2007. The same month that Miss Kercher arrived to begin a . short Italian course. He employed her housemate Amanda Knox to help him with promotional work, before firing her for flirting with customers. He believes Knox took her revenge by framing him for Miss Kercher's murder. Mr . Lumumba was arrested on suspicion of causing her death on November 6. He spent two weeks in prison before being able to prove that he spent . the night of the killing talking to a customer in his pub. In 2009 he sued Knox for wrongly accusing him of the crime. | Meredith, 21, was found dead in the house she and Knox shared in Perugia .
Knox, 25, and Italian student Raffaele Sollecito, 29, spent four years in Italian jail for her murder but were sensationally cleared in 2011 .
Re-trial is likely to take place in absentia - the U.S. is unlikely to extradite .
Convicted drug dealer Rudy Guede was convicted of murder and is serving a 16-year sentence . |
120,535 | 27c4a8d96bfed26df74e90a4fd719c069137fbe8 | (CNN) -- Alabama exacted revenge and clinched the Bowl Championship Series title on Monday night, besting Louisiana State University 21-0. The Crimson Tide cleared up past problems with its special teams, kicking five field goals to become champions of college football. Alabama's stifling defense battered LSU the entire game, holding the Tigers to just five first downs. "It was great team win. Our defense did a good job. Our offense controlled the momentum and our special teams played well," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. Monday's game was a far cry from the two Southeastern Conference rivals' last showdown. Both teams went into that game on November 5 undefeated. College football pundits dubbed it the game of the century and Alabama lost 9-6 in overtime. In that game, Alabama missed four field goals, including one in overtime. This time, Alabama's kicker Jeremy Shelley hit five field goals, giving Alabama a commanding 15-0 lead in the fourth quarter. Crimson Tide's star running back Trent Richardson broke a 34-yard touchdown with less than five minutes left. "I am happy and proud of my players, the way they responded to the pain and disappointment of losing the last time," Saban said . Alabama's offense was dealt a huge blow early in the game. Kick returner Marquis Maze injured his leg in the second quarter after running a 49-yard punt return. Maze, who is also Alabama's big-play wide receiver, left the game and never returned. But Alabama was able to overcome the loss and moved the ball up and down the field all game long, to the chagrin of the thousands of purple-and-gold-clad LSU fans who packed the Superdome in New Orleans. By the fourth quarter, the stands seemed like a sea of crimson as Alabama fans celebrated. The loss ends LSU's undefeated streak, . "My locker room is hurting right now," LSU coach Les Miles said after the game. "We did not get it going offensively at all. Our defense was on the field a long time.Give credit to our opponents on that. It became very hard to get first downs. This is as painful as anything we have been through." | Alabama kicks five field goals .
Crimson Tide holds LSU to only five first downs .
"I am happy and proud of my players," Alabama coach Nick Saban said . |
192,737 | 8581951b52dc501eae3716ace74223edd4ea0ee2 | (CNN) -- What can Sen. Barack Obama do to turn the Democratic campaign around? He has to try a different kind of campaign. Polls show Barack Obama as the most likable Democrat but Hillary Clinton with the best chance to beat the GOP. No more Mr. Nice Guy. When the senator from Illinois got into the presidential race, he promised something different, saying, "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics." Obama has been running as a uniter -- someone who can reconcile divisions. Watch the senator in peacemaker mode » . In August, he said, "We're going to need somebody who can break out of the political patterns that we've been in over the last 20 years. And part of that is the notion that half the country's on one side, the other half's on the other." But is that what Democrats are looking for right now? Maybe not -- Obama's running 30 points behind Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York in polls of Democrats nationwide. What is she doing that's working? She's showing some fight. "The idea that you're going to escape the Republican attack machine and not have high negatives by the time they're through with you, I think is just missing what's been going on in American politics for the last 20 years," Clinton says. Democrats are tired of being bullied. They want a candidate who will punch bullies in the nose. A majority of New Hampshire voters -- who have seen the candidates up close -- say Clinton has the best chance of beating the Republicans next year, according to a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. Obama and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina are not even close. Which candidate do they find most likable? Obama, followed by Edwards. Clinton trails on likability. But Democrats don't seem to be looking for Mr. -- or Mrs. -- Nice Guy. The only way Obama might be able to overtake Clinton is by saying, "No more Mr. Nice Guy." Can Obama get tough? He's trying. In an appearance last week on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," Obama said, "Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare 'Mission accomplished' a little too soon.'' That hurt, a little. His criticism of Clinton's efforts to overhaul health care as first lady also stung -- Obama criticized her for not reaching out enough, saying, "The problem was that she closed the doors. She just worked with her own people. She locked out potential allies.'' Obama also criticizes Clinton for being too divisive, saying, "The only person who would probably be prepared to be president is Bill Clinton, not Hillary Clinton. We are all very qualified for the job. The question is who can inspire the nation to get beyond the politics that have bogged us down in the past.'' In a new ad, Obama continues to play the peacemaker. In the commercial that started running Monday in New Hampshire, Obama says, "When we break out of the conventional thinking and we start reaching out to friend and foe alike, then I am absolutely confident that we can restore America's leadership in the world.'' What we're not hearing is criticism such as this: "One more time -- 'I have a million ideas. America can't afford them all.' No kidding, Hillary -- America can't afford you.'' That was Republican White House hopeful Rudy Giuliani in Sunday's GOP presidential debate in Florida. Or from the same debate, this comment from rival Republican Mitt Romney: "She hasn't run a corner store. She hasn't run a state. She hasn't run a city. She has never run anything. And the idea that she could learn to be president, you know, as an internship just doesn't make any sense.'' That's wasn't very nice. Republicans play rough. If Obama's going to overtake Clinton, he has to make it clear to Democrats that he's ready to rumble. E-mail to a friend . | Sen. Barack Obama has been running as uniter and talks of reconciling divisions .
Obama trails Sen. Hillary Clinton by 30 points in nationwide polls of Democrats .
Senator from Illinois has shown some signs of playing hardball in recent weeks . |
111,848 | 1c3f5136c255f78853d30fb0eb7457aedb3824c1 | Fathers and grandparents will not be given any legal right to see children after a break-up, under the biggest changes to family law in a generation. In what was immediately denounced as a ‘betrayal’ of the family, a major report today rules against giving men shared or equal time with their children when a relationship ends. It suggests fathers will even be denied the legal right to maintain a ‘meaningful relationship’ with their families, as this ‘would do more harm than good’. Frozen out: Both fathers and grandparents could lose the right to see children under a huge shake-up to family law . The review also kicks into touch . Coalition pledges to make it easier to maintain contact with . grandchildren when parents separate, a problem that usually affects . those on the father’s side. The . long-awaited Family Justice Review was branded a ‘monstrous sham’ that . undermines David Cameron’s pledge to lead the most family-friendly . government in history. The independent report was . commissioned by ministers to examine the case for reform of a family law . system repeatedly accused of putting rights of mothers over those of . fathers and grandparents. But its proposals – likely to form the basis of future government family policy – sparked an immediate Cabinet revolt. Pledge: David Cameron, pictured yesterday, promised to lead the most family-friendly Government in history. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, right, will do more for fathers and grandparents, his allies said . Break-up: Fathers will lose the right to have a meaningful relationship with their children when they split from their partner, the long-awaited Family Justice Review appeared to suggest . Allies of Work and Pensions Secretary . Iain Duncan Smith said he would fight to ensure the Government’s . response – due to be published in January – will do more for fathers and . grandparents. A source close to the Cabinet . minister said that the findings were ‘absurd’, warning that they . undermined attempts to tackle the generation of fatherless youths blamed . for the summer’s riots. But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke is . expected to back the review, chaired by former civil servant and Marks . & Spencer executive David Norgrove. His report was commissioned by Labour . and dismissed by the Tories in Opposition as inadequate but will now . form the basis of Coalition legislation. The review comes against a backdrop . of soaring divorce rates and increasing numbers of children being born . out of wedlock, often to co-habitees who are more likely to break up . than married couples. Last year there were almost three . million children aged under 16 living in a lone-parent household – or . 24 per cent of the total. Mr Norgrove’s findings fly in the . face of studies showing that it is best for a child to have extensive . access to both its father and mother. The . report says: ‘No legislation should be introduced that creates or risks . creating the perception that there is a parental right to substantially . shared or equal time for both parents.’ Mr . Norgrove has even watered down his own interim report, published in . March, which said there should be a legal presumption that children . should have a ‘meaningful relationship’ with both parents. The head of the Family Justice Review is a millionaire economist with three children of his own. David Norgrove, 63, pictured, earned a reputation as a tough taskmaster during 16 years in a string of senior roles at Marks & Spencer. He quit in 2004 following a disastrous set of Christmas results for the retailer, taking with him a £754,000 pay-off and a £100,000-a-year pension. As trustee of the firm’s pension fund he then famously saw off a hostile £9.1billion takeover bid from Sir Philip Green. Mr Norgrove, who lives in Islington, North London, took an unlikely career break, flying to New Zealand for a six-week stint as a farmhand. But the former Treasury economist – who served as Margaret Thatcher’s private secretary in Downing Street – soon returned to work, becoming the first chairman of the Pensions Regulator in 2005. He remains chairman of the Low Pay Commission. Mr Norgrove believes that enshrining such rights in law could slow down already lengthy and expensive custody cases. Instead, the courts will simply have to consider the benefits of a meaningful relationship when they decide where children should live and how often they should see each parent. The final report flatly rejected claims by fathers’ rights groups that the current system is biased – despite figures showing that 93 per cent of custody battles are won by the mother. Nadine O’Connor, of the Fathers 4 Justice campaign group, said: ‘The review is a monstrous sham and a bureaucratic exercise in improving the efficiency of injustice. It will feed the epidemic of mass fatherlessness and lead to further social unrest. ‘This report condemns children to a life without fathers with catastrophic social consequences.’ The report also contradicts pledges by senior officials earlier this year that grandparents would be given far greater rights. Instead, they will still have to apply to court twice to see their grandchildren: once for the right to begin a case and then to seek access to their loved ones. The Norgrove panel merely issued a tepid recommendation that their role should be ‘emphasised’. Instead of legal protections for fathers and grandparents, the Norgrove report laid out plans to encourage parents to settle disputes before they get to court. All parents will be given advice on drawing up ‘parenting agreements’ to divide the care of their children. James Deuchars, of Grandparents Apart UK, said: ‘The Tories said before the election that grandparents were going to have more rights. This is a betrayal of that promise. It was all a con and a gimmick. ‘This report is trying to do away with the traditional family. The result will be more bitter and disillusioned young boys who join gangs.’ A source close to Mr Cameron said the Government has ‘certainly not’ pledged to adopt all the report’s recommendations. But a source close to Mr Clarke described it as ‘an authoritative account of the problems and a thoughtful look at the solutions’. The report also said no childcare case should last more than six months and recommended the creation of a Family Justice Service to focus the work of all agencies for the 500,000 children and adults caught up in the family courts each year. | Fathers will be denied the right to have a 'meaningful relationship' with their families, report suggests .
Iain Duncan Smith will fight to do more for men, his aides pledge . |
175,135 | 6eaf542707b3766ca907ff42171bae404d5285f1 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- It may look like an air mattress you might see lying around next to a swimming pool but in reality its function couldn't be less trivial. The Solar Water Disinfecting Tarpaulin could play a major role in saving lives in the developing world. The Solar Water Disinfecting Tarpaulin (SWDT) -- a new portable water purifier -- could be a major step forward in the fight against disease and mortality in the Third World. Eric Olsen, a San Francisco-based architect and the inventor of the SWDT believes the product could help eradicate the scourge of polluted water which the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate claims over 1.5 million lives every year. Not only does it purify water -- up to 20 liters -- it makes it more portable in large quantities -- a vital dual role in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Central Asia where access to clean water is often scarce. "There are lots of products that do one or the other," Olsen told CNN. "There's a really interesting product that's been around for 10 or 12 years called the Hippo Water Roller -- a 20 gallon drum with a handle attached that allows people -- mostly women -- to transport a week's worth of water back home". Olsen also points to another product developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) that has successfully tackled water impurities. According to Eawag SODIS (Solar Water Disinfection Process) is already used by more than two million in over 30 countries. "The idea of SWDT," he says, "is to combine these two products and make them into something that can do both roles effectively". Made out of a top layer of recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a bottom layer of durable rubberized nylon, the SWDT is both flexible and robust. Its design was morphologically inspired by the saguaro cactus and is adaptable to a variety of situations -- as a wrap to carry or placed on the roof of a mud hut -- and is easy to store. The SWDT uses passive solar radiation -- a water sterilizing method approved by WHO -- which disrupts the reproduction of microorganisms. Heat and UVA radiation from the sun pass through the LDPE layer and into the water cavity and are reflected back by the bottom layer of nylon. On a sunny day purification takes five hours. Olsen admits that its performance is hampered by its low density -- scratches to the surface mean it doesn't transmit the sun's rays as effectively -- but he is confident that this can be overcome with more research. Production using a Radio Frequency Welding equipment may be relatively expensive but Olsen says that the raw materials are cheap and the labor is inexpensive. "We are trying to imagine ways that this thing can be made and repaired by people where it is most needed," he said. "We are working on a sheet welding process which is much lower tech, inexpensive and also capitalizes on the handcraft skills of local people". What started out as a solo effort a little over a year ago has gradually grown into a collaborative project. Olsen's students at the California College of Arts, where he currently teaches -- he moves to a new post at Woodbury University this fall -- have lent their enthusiasm and experts from the bioscience and textile industries are increasingly coming on board. Olsen's efforts have already been recognized. The SWDT won first prize in the 2008 Next Generation Design Competition run by Metropolis Magazine -- netting him $10,000 -- and he is waiting for conformation that the invention has been selected for Wired Magazine's Next Fest show which takes place in Chicago later this year. So what next for Olsen and his invention? The aim is to adapt the original design and turn it from a water carrying wrap into a fully fledged coat and he's also looking at ways the material might be redrawn as a tent. He's currently in the process of trying to qualify for non-profit status. And with the likes of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other institutions out there, he thinks the prospects for funding development and deployment look promising. | The Solar Water Disinfecting Tarpaulin aims to reduces disease and death .
The award-winning design by Eric Olsen is portable as well as a being a purifier .
Flexible and robust the design is morphologically inspired by the saguaro cactus . |
129,720 | 33b19d00c69300ca3877645773731d184146c525 | A man has been arrested in Brisbane for using medical cannabis on his critically ill two-year-old daughter. After hearing positive stories about the benefits of the treatment, the 30-year-old father decided to give cannabis oil to his daughter who is battling a rare form of cancer. Despite his claims that it improved her condition, the father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged with administering a dangerous drug to a minor. He appeared in court on Friday, where he was granted the right to visit his daughter, having previously been refused access after he was charged. The young girl’s mother, who is estranged from the father, does not agree with his actions and the method of treatment he chose to use on their daughter. Scroll down for video . The father has been charged for treating his 2-year-old daughter with medical cannabis oil . The adorable little girl was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer shortly before Christmas . The father was charged on January 2nd, for using the drug on his daughter, in a bid to treat her cancer. The little girl, who was diagnosed with the deadly disease shortly before Christmas, has an 11cm cancerous growth which is putting pressure on her internal organs. Her parents have been told she has a fifty per cent chance of survival. The father is reportedly estranged from the two-year-old's mother and she has made it very clear that she does not support his actions. She doesn't believe there's been an improvement in her daughter's condition. He has relocated to Brisbane to be with his daughter during her treatment and is living out of a suitcase. The dad was desperate to find a solution to his daughter's pain and administered the medical cannabis oil mixed with coconut, to increase her rate of survival. 'My aim was to create an alkaline climate in her body, provide a nutrient dense diet, alkaline water, essential oil therapy and a healing environment of fun and positivity,' he said. Two-year-old has an 11cm cancerous growth which is putting pressure on her internal organs . 'Her cancer ridden little body was alive again. [My daughter] had almost instant quality of life,' he said. 'She would say “Daddy, tummy's not sore". She would be able to eat like a champion and began to gain weight,' 'Her energy was up and she wanted to go outside with me instead of lay on her back with legs curled up. Her skin colour came back, her eyes were sparkling again,' the father has said. However, according to him, his daughter is now struggling to breath on her own and is having seizures following her withdrawal from the cannabis oil. 'She has spiralled downhill since she lost her daddy and oil treatment. I pray that I will see her again one way,' he said. He appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates court today charged with possession of a dangerous drug and administering a dangerous drug to a minor under the age of 16. As part of his bail he has now been allowed access to his daughter in hospital. A group of people holding placards turned out at the court in support of the father and to protest against his arrest. The girl's mother is at odds with the father over his treatment options for their daughter . After hearing positive stories about the benefits of cannabis oil, the father decided to give it to his daughter . The father, who works with the Catholic Education Department, was left devastated when he was unable to log on to the work system after having his Blue Card revoked. Having sent numerous emails to the Education Department asking for permission to take 12 months carer leave with no response, he was shocked at their decision. He received a letter in the post to say his Blue Card had been revoked, claiming the change in his police information meant his employer must not continue to employ him. However the Catholic Education Department has made it clear that they support him and this was merely a legality. '[The father] is still employed by Catholic Education and is currently on paid leave,' they said. They said he is free to speak to them regarding his employment and can access their employee assistance program. She was diagnosed with the deadly disease shortly before Christmas 2014 and her parents have been told she has a fifty per cent chance of survival . Since the excruciating decision was made to ban the father from seeing his dying daughter, he has set up a campaign to raise awareness of his situation. The girl's mother said the little girl has been requesting Peppa Pig DVDs in hospital and was delighted recently when her older sister visited her sick bed. The dad received good news as a result of the campaign, when he was granted permission to contact the hospital on a daily basis to be updated on his daughter's condition. A petition has attracted nearly 15,000 supporters and his campaign has attracted a lot of support. He argued that he 'deserves to have his parental rights to see his child reinstated, the charges against him dropped by a court and the right to decide the treatment options for his own child.' 'There is ample evidence to show that medical cannabis has many beneficial effects for cancer patients without the harmful side effects and other associated risks of current drug treatments,' he said. The two-year-old tot's parents are in dispute over the administering of medical cannabis to cure her cancer . The dad argues that he 'deserves to have his parental rights to see his child reinstated, the charges against him dropped by a court and the right to decide the treatment options for his own child' A fund has been set up in the two-year-old's name and is in the hands of his mother. He said all money raised from the account will be used for his daughter's ongoing journey and recovery. His arrest comes after the NSW government announced there will be a range of clinical trials administered to test the benefits of medical marijuana. 'Medical Cannabis oil is an amazing healer and needs to be made available for anyone in need.' the father said. 'My goal is the have these charges thrown out. [The girl] needs her Daddy by her side.' A group of protesters gathered outside the Brisbane Magistrates Court today to show their support for the father . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | A Brisbane man faces court after giving his daughter medical cannabis oil .
Two-year-old daughter is suffering from a rare form of cancer .
The 30-year-old father claims the effects of the cannabis were miraculous .
He was arrested for administering the drug to his daughter .
He has since set up a campaign to highlight his situation .
As part of his bail he has now been allowed access to his daughter . |
127,514 | 30d200cede4ea87a6edab77dc45e5cfc3d8254c1 | Women soldiers should be allowed to fight alongside men on the frontline for the first time, a report will recommend today (file picture) Just 34 women will be tough enough for front line action, it has emerged. It comes as the first female to command an all-male squadron has warned that putting women on the front line could make the army less effective. Major Judith Webb said that women were 'physically different' - even though she believed in 'equality'. Her comments came as a report recommended that women soldiers should be allowed to fight alongside men on the frontline for the first time. The Ministry of Defence is moving towards the historic change after a six-month review into whether women should be able to serve in infantry and tank regiments. Female fighters could be in combat roles as soon as 2016, senior defence sources have told the Daily Mail. But the review estimates that, on current levels of recruitment, around seven women a year would pass through training to qualify for infantry units and around the same number for the RAF Regiment, according to The Telegraph. About 14 would qualify for the Royal Armoured Corps and only six for the Royal Marines. The review has quashed doubts within the MoD that allowing women to serve in frontline roles would damage the ‘cohesion’ of the armed forces on the battlefield. Military top brass will say there needs to be further research into the ‘physiological demands’ placed on those in close combat roles. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Major Webb, who retired in 1986, said: ‘We had a maximum of four women in my squadron and it was perfectly natural and normal for the guys would do all the heavy jobs and those jobs that were physically demanding while women would do the slightly less physical it was just the normal course of events. ‘When we are talking about an infantry section of eight guys and you’ve got one person who is not actually as physically strong or as physically capable as the other seven over possibly an extended period of time, which is what has not been tested, that could create an effect on our combat effectiveness,’ added major Webb, who was the first woman to command an all-male field force squadron in the British Army. A senior defence source told the Mail: ‘The review has concluded ministers are minded to approve women in combat roles.’ Last night politicians welcomed the findings, which are due to be published today. Labour MP John Woodcock, a member of the Defence Select Committee, said: ‘This is a challenging but hugely welcome step forward that will help make our armed forces the very best they can be. 'Keeping our country safe is too important to exclude anyone who can play a role – that means giving women the chance to serve on the frontline in addition to all the other ways in which they are excelling already in the forces.’ But some senior officers fear that repealing the centuries-old rule will lead to a drop in standards in the armed forces. Major General Patrick Cordingley called the change a ‘mistake’. Mr Cordingley, who commanded the Desert Rats during the first Gulf War, told the Mail: ‘There is a political imperative. However, I think that it is a mistake from the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence is moving towards the historic change after a six-month review into whether women should be able to serve in infantry and tank regiments (file picture) 'I can understand why politically it is a good thing to be seen to be doing – on the other hand, the practicalities of women in the infantry and armoured corps are considerable and should not be overlooked. ‘Being in a fighting unit, you need to concentrate on the enemy, you don’t want distractions looking after women, which inevitably you will do. It is a diversion.’ Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, previously said women fighters would harm the ‘warrior ethos’ and damage the fighting capabilities of the soldiers. Women can already find themselves on the frontline and extremely close to the enemy while serving as medics, intelligence specialists, artillery spotters, logisticians or signallers. They also serve with distinction as combat pilots. In light of the findings, a senior military source said: ‘There is a real desire among ministers and the military to open up ground combat roles to women. ‘This detailed review is a big step forward in the process, however, it is clear further work needs to be done before a final decision is taken. Labour MP John Woodcock (left) said allowing women into infantry and tank regiments 'a challenging but hugely welcome step forward', but Major General Patrick Cordingley (right) called the change a 'mistake' ‘The wellbeing of all our personnel is of the utmost importance, but there is genuine hope this will be a reality come 2016.’ If the plans go ahead, women on the frontline will be subject to the same physical tests as men. It is understood only a small minority of the 16,000 women serving in the armed forces would want to or be capable of passing the tests. The next research programme is expected to deliver a report in 2016, which will inform a final decision on whether the exclusion can be safely lifted. Britain is behind the times on the matter compared to other countries. Of the 28 members of Nato, just two others, Turkey and Slovakia, still bar women from combat roles. The US lifted its ban last year, joining countries including Germany, Canada, France and Israel. As part of the UK review, thousands of officers and members of other ranks across the armed forces were invited to fill in a confidential questionnaire. | MoD moving towards change after review into women on the frontline .
Senior defence sources say women could serve in the infantry by 2016 .
Review quashes doubts that women would damage battlefield 'cohesion'
But it estimates only 34 would meet standard to get ground combat jobs .
Military top brass to call for more research into 'physiological demands'
Senior officers warn change will lead to a drop in standards .
If plans go ahead, women will be subject to same physical tests as men .
Small minority of women 'would want to or be capable of passing tests'
US lifted ban in 2013, joining countries like Germany, Canada & France .
Major Judith Webb, the first female to command all-male field force squadron says women are 'physically different' |
199,412 | 8e252d231d71fb70e4abf998943e502e5ef6db35 | Researchers testing a major upgrade to a telescope have spotted a bizarre supernova remnant that looks uncannily like a manatee. W50 is one of the largest supernova . remnants ever viewed by the VLA, measuring nearly 700 light years . across, and covering two degrees on the sky – the span of four full . Moons. The unique 20,000 year old phenomenon was spotted following a major upgrade to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). Scroll down for video . W50, the supernova remnants, which look uncannily like a manatee . Florida Manatees are gentle giants that average around 10 feet long, weigh over 1000 pounds, and spend up to eight hours a day grazing on sea plants . Florida Manatees are gentle giants . that average around 10 feet long, weigh over 1000 pounds, and spend up . to eight hours a day grazing on sea plants. They occupy the remainder of . their day resting, often on their backs with their flippers crossed . over their large bellies, in a pose closely resembling W50. Dangerous . encounters with boat propellers injure many of these curious . herbivores, giving them deep, curved scars similar in appearance to the . arcs made by the powerful jets on the large W50 remnant. 'Optically bright astronomical objects, . those visible to the eye and optical telescopes, often are nicknamed for . their earthly likenesses, such as the Whirlpool Galaxy and Owl Nebula,' said the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in a statement. When the VLA's giant W50 image reached . the NRAO Director's office, Heidi Winter, the Director's Executive . Assistant, saw the likeness to a manatee, the endangered marine mammals . known as 'sea cows' that congregate in warm waters in the southeastern . United States. The enormous W50 cloud formed when a giant star, 18,000 light years away in the constellation of Aquila, exploded as a supernova around twenty thousand years ago, sending its outer gases flying outward in an expanding bubble. The remaining, gravitationally-crushed relic of that giant star, usually a black hole, feeds on gas from a very close, companion star. The cannibalized gas collects in a disk around the black hole. The disk and black hole's network of powerful magnetic field lines acts like an enormous railroad system to snag charged particles out of the disk and channel them outward in powerful jets traveling at nearly the speed of light. The Manatee Nebula, W50, (green dot) is found 18,000 light years away in the direction of the constellation Aquila, the Eagle . This system of a black hole and its feeder star shines brightly in both radio waves and X-rays and is known collectively as the SS433 microquasar. Over time, the microquasar's jets have forced their way through the expanding gases of the W50 bubble, eventually punching bulges outward on either side. The jets also wobble, like an unstable spinning top, and blaze vivid corkscrew patterns across the inflating bulges. Until now, the nebula was known as W50, a less catchy name by being the 50th radio source listed in the Westerhout Catalog, assembled in 1958 by Dutch astronomer, Gart Westerhout. | W50 is one of the largest supernova remnants ever viewed .
Florida Manatees, known as sea cows, average around 10 feet long, weigh over 1000 pounds, and spend up to .
eight hours a day grazing on sea plants . |
167,467 | 6497a203c80332796778c05b42364d9b8b94f9ec | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 17:57 EST, 8 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 17:59 EST, 8 December 2013 . A 10-year-old boy was tragically killed in a hit-and-run after the car he was traveling in was forced off the road due to icy conditions in Austin, Texas, on Saturday night. Yahir Vidal was a passenger along with other family members when the driver of the Ford Mustang lost control near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The car stopped in the outside lane of U.S. 183 and as everyone exited, a white Chevy pickup truck hit the boy and his grandfather. Icy conditions in Texas have caused a number of accidents in recent days and was a contributing factor in the tragic death of 10-year-old Yahir Vidal . The Chevy then hit another truck driving in the opposite lane and did not stop, reports Statesman.com. The crash was reported about 10:33 p.m. on Saturday. First responders took the grandfather to the hospital with injuries, but young Yahir was pronounced dead at the scene. The child's uncle was also injured, but the Texas Department of Public Safety DPS has not yet released a full list of injuries. DPS also said that a car carrying more members of Yahir’s family was following his car and stopped when they lost control. Yahir Vidal, 10, was killed in a hit-and-run incident on U.S. 183 at Burleson Road, near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, on Saturday night (pictured) | Yahir Vidal was traveling with his family in a Ford Mustang which was forced off the road by icy conditions .
He was hit by a white Chevy pickup just as he got out of his family's car .
Chevy then hit another truck driving in the opposite lane and didn't stop . |
214,696 | a1f91f83c4e7e3c92316787268f6509f104a7958 | By . Associated Press . A former Tampa police officer was denied bail today and will remain in jail until his trial in the shooting death of a husband and father in a Florida cinema. The bail hearing for Curtis Reeves, 71, who shot Chad Oulson, 43, after an argument over texting on January 13, took a dramatic turn when prosecutors played a grainy video of the shooting and a recording of the defendant's police interview. Judge Pat Siracusa watched the video of the shooting and heard interviews with witnesses before making his decision to keep Reeves in jail until his trial for second-degree murder. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Bail hearing: Former Tampa Police captain Curtis Reeves, Jr (center) sits beside his defense attorneys Richard Escobar (right) and Dino Michaels as they listen to his taped interview by detectives during his bond reduction hearing . Denied: Reeves will stay in prison until he goes on trial for fatally shooting Chad Oulson, 43, and wounding his wife, Nicole, 33, during an argument January 13 over texting at the Cobb Grove 16 theater in Wesley Chapel, Florida . The judge heard a recording of he former cop telling detectives that he should never have shot Oulson. 'As soon as I pulled the trigger, I said, "Oh, this is stupid," Reeves told police. 'There's no justification for what happened in there. If I had to do it over again, it would have never happened. We would have moved.' The court also heard that Reeves' wife Vivian . Reeves told detectives that Oulson used expletives, but didn't . make any threats to her husband. She cried during the interview and said she didn't . know why her husband fired the single shot. 'He was in law enforcement 20 years, and he never shot anybody,' she said. 'He's never threatened anybody with a gun.' Reeves did not react when the judge announced his decision. His attorneys say they will appeal. Widowed: Nicole Oulson listens to the taped interview of former Tampa Police captain Curtis Reeves, Jr, during his bond reduction hearing before Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa at the Robert D. Sumner Judicial Center in Dade City Friday . Wife of the accused: Vivian Reeves (left) and son Matthew Reeves listen as a tape of a sheriff's office interview with Curtis Reeves is played in court during a court bond hearing for Curtis Reeves . Judge Siracusa urged the court to remain calm as he announced his decision. 'I’ve . been doing this long enough that no matter what I say in the next five . minutes, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be . unhappy,' he said. 'And . it’s when you’re initially unhappy you’re tempted to say or do . something that you wouldn’t normally do. There’s probably not a better . illustration of that than what brings us here today.' Oulson's . widow, Nicole Oulson, looked relieved and sat with her eyes closed for a . moment as the judge spoke. Later, she spoke to reporters. On film: The court saw grainy surveillance footage of the altercation between Oulson and Reeves (bottom left) Witness: Another movie goer can be seen walking towards where Oulson and Reeves were arguing . 'I'm just very happy and relieved by the judge's ruling,' she said. Nicole Oulson was struck in the hand by the bullet that killed her husband. According to the police interview, Reeves said Oulson hit him in the face, possibly with a cellphone, and he shot in self-defense. Yet other witnesses, including Reeves' wife, told authorities they never saw Oulson strike Reeves. Chad and Nicole Oulson were watching the previews before the movie 'Lone Survivor' at a Wesley Chapel theater when, according to authorities, Reeves became annoyed with Chad Oulson using his cellphone. Reeves, who was with his wife Vivian, went to complain about Oulson to the movie theater managers and when he returned, the argument escalated. The video shown in court today appears to show Reeves leaning over his seat repeatedly, telling Oulson to stop texting on his cellphone. Oulson appears to throw popcorn at Reeves, then shows Reeves sit down and remain seated after shooting Oulson. Reeves' defense argued that the apparent flashes seen, however, were from Chad Oulson's cell phone and not gunshots. Vivian Reeves did tell police that Oulson stood up and leaned over toward her husband just before the shooting, and the video appears to show some sort of contact between the two men. Defense attorney Richard Escobar seized on those inconsistencies during his closing arguments to the judge and said the witnesses in the theater were 'all over the place' and that the people who saw Oulson die in the theater that day 'want to do everything they can' to help Oulson in the courtroom. Escobar argued that Reeves should be released on bail because he is a decorated, retired police captain who has deep ties to the community. Reeves pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison. Victim: Chad Oulson with his wife Nicole and their young daughter . Broken family: Former Tampa Police captain Curtis Reeves, Jr's family, (from left) daughter Jennifer Shaw, wife Vivian Reeves and son Matthew Reeves watch as Curtis is led away into custody after being denied bond . Prosecutor Manny Garcia argued that Reeves should remain in jail without bail. 'Pointing the gun, firing the gun, and his statements constitute second-degree murder,' Garcia said. 'If he left the firearm in the car, we wouldn't be here today.' Prosecutors also played a recording of a police interview with Nicole Oulson. 'He kept saying stuff to my husband,' Oulson said of Reeves. She said she didn't immediately realize her husband had been shot. 'Immediately it didn't even register with me, I just saw a spark and saw him go down,' Oulson said. She said after the shooting, Reeves 'just sat in his chair, he just kind of leaned back and just sat there, didn't try to help.' 'As all the chaos was going on, he was just sitting there,' she said. Authorities said Reeves became upset when Oulson was texting during the previews before the matinee. The Oulsons were sitting in front of Reeves and his wife. Witnesses said they didn't see Oulson hit Reeves, but some saw popcorn flying toward him. Light moment: Curtis Reeves Jr shares a smile with his attorney Dino Michaels (R) during a break in his bail hearing in Dade City, Florida, February 7 . Calm before the storm: Curtis Reeves, Jr (center) talks with his defense attorneys Richard Escobar (right) and Dino Michaels before the start of his bond reduction hearing, which was denied . 'This happened so damn fast,' Reeves told Detective Allen Proctor in the recording. Reeves also said a woman with Oulson, later identified as Nicole Oulson, was 'holding' her husband back. The same bullet that struck Chad Oulson struck Nicole in the ring finger. Reeves was charged with aggravated battery charge in that injury. The bond hearing began Wednesday. Judge Pat Siracusa heard from Reeves' family, friends and former colleagues who testified he didn't have any anger problems and would not be a flight risk. Reeves told the detective that Oulson hit him in the face and that his glasses became crooked. Reeves said to the deputy that he might have been hit with a cellphone, but prosecutors disputed that suggestion. Sharing: Attorney TJ Grimaldi and Nicole Oulson appeared on The View to talk about the shooting death of Chad Oulson . Tragic killing: Nicole Oulson says her husband Chad Oulson was texting the couple's daughter's babysitter to check that she was OK when Reeves shot him . 'It scared the hell out of me,' said Reeves, adding that had he been younger, he would have 'wrassled' Oulson to the ground. 'The guy was very aggressive.' In an interview this week on ABC's 'The View,' Nicole Oulson said her husband was texting with their daughter's baby sitter. Reeves 'had confronted my husband several times, which my husband ignored and ignored and ignored. And it just got to a point where my husband spoke up,' she said. | Curtis Reeves was denied bail today and will remain in jail until his murder trial for shooting Chad Oulson, 43, in a cinema .
Judge Siracusa heard that Reeves told detectives after the shooting, 'If I had it to do over again, it would have never happened. But you don't get do-overs'
He also told police there was 'no justification' for what he did .
The judge also saw grainy footage of the incident captured from inside the movie theater .
Oulson's widow, Nicole Oulson says she is 'happy and relieved' at the result .
Reeves' wife Vivian told detectives that her husband had never shot anyone during his 20-year law enforcement career .
She said she didn't know why her husband shot Oulson, and that the younger man had not physically threatened her husband .
Attorneys for Reeves say they will appeal the decision . |
142,639 | 447a5d784f1ab68cef3bb0ba531e43d94ac621df | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Five Americans arrested on terror charges in Pakistan have been sentenced to at least 10 years in prison, the deputy prosecutor general said Thursday. The men, dubbed the "D.C. Five," will also have to pay a fine of 75,000 Pakistani rupees ($878), public prosecutor Nadim Cheema said. They have the right to appeal to the Lahore High Court, he said. Each man was sentenced to 10 years for criminal conspiracy and five years on an anti-terrorism charge, specifically contributing to a banned organization for the purpose of conducting terrorist attacks, Deputy Prosecutor General Rana Bukhtar Ali said. It was not immediately clear whether the sentences must be served concurrently or consecutively. Cheema said the court had seen strong evidence such as incriminating e-mails and the suspects' confessions. The five Americans -- Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Umar Farooq, Aman Hassan Yemer, Waqar Hussain Khan and Ramy Zamzam -- used to worship together at a mosque in Alexandria, Virginia, until they went missing in November and turned up in Pakistan. They were arrested in December in Sargodha, about 120 miles south of Islamabad, after their parents in the United States reported them missing. Pakistani authorities have described the men as college students intent on waging a holy war against "infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world." The men had said they were innocent and claimed they were tortured in jail. They pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to their attorney, Hassan Dastgir Katchela. CNN's Thomas Evans contributed to this report. | Five jailed for 10 years for criminal conspiracy, five years on anti-terrorism charge .
"D.C. Five" arrested in December in Pakistan after going missing in U.S.
Pakistani authorities says men were college students intent on waging holy war .
Men said they were innocent and claimed they were tortured in jail . |
218,825 | a73f6f1c556161d8fec8533aba8dd3401355811c | The bad news for our supermarkets just keeps coming. They have been lining up in recent days to report sales figures ranging from disappointing to near disastrous. Yesterday, it was Morrisons' turn to feel the pain, when it announced that its sales in the six weeks to January 4 fell by 3.1 per cent. As an indication of just how serious this is for the chain, Morrisons announced 400 job losses and that it will shut ten loss-making stores this year. It represents a crippling psychological setback for Morrisons, and underlines how only drastic action can halt, or at least slow, the haemorrhage of shoppers from its stores. Scroll down for video . Morrisons CEO Dalton Philips is to step down after five years at the helm of the struggling supermarket business after it announced that its sales in the six weeks to January 4 fell by 3.1 per cent . Morrisons' chief executive, Dalton Philips, the man who set out optimistically only five years ago to refresh the already ailing business with novel strategies such as 'misting' vegetables (spraying them with water so they seem more appealing), has stepped down. Other big chains dare not gloat, for they aren't much better off. Last week Sainsbury's reported its worst Christmas for more than a decade with like-for-like sales down 1.7 per cent. Now, they're cutting 500 jobs, too. This came hot on the heels of an unprecedented poor performance from beleaguered Tesco. Already reeling from a succession of profit warnings and the discovery of a huge and mysterious black hole in its accounts, it recently reported a sales drop of 2.9 per cent. This decline is so significant Tesco has decided to close 43 loss-making stores this year and shelve plans to open 49 huge Tesco Extra superstores. How are the mighty fallen! And how rapidly. Until September 2013, when Tesco backtracked on its plans to open a store in Sherborne, Dorset, after residents' effective 'No Thanks Tesco' campaign, the brand was synonymous with aggressive expansion and never-ending, seemingly unstoppable store openings. The Big Four supermarkets have all been struggling with Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's posting dramatic falls in Christmas sales . Tesco, already reeling from the discovery of a huge and mysterious black hole in its accounts, recently reported a sales drop of 2.9 per cent which has led to a decision by the supermarket to close 43 loss-making stores this year and shelve plans to open 49 huge Tesco Extra superstores . We await results from Asda, but given that Marks & Spencer is reporting its spindly 0.1 per cent food sales increase as 'strongly outperforming the market', it seems unlikely that Asda will have much to raise the prevailing gloom that hangs over the supermarket sector. So why do things look so bad? Quite simply, we don't automatically want to shop in big supermarkets any longer. Sick of being ripped off by their outrageous prices, we're abandoning the knee-jerk, one-stop weekly shopping expedition supposed to get us through the week, but which often left us with half a fridge of uneaten food. We have become promiscuous customers, shopping around more frequently, buying less at a time, and cherry-picking from various outlets. In these straitened economic times we are intently focused, more suspicious than ever, about what we are being asked to pay for food. The nation's supermarket shopping habit has been irretrievably broken by the arrival of the German-owned discount chains, Aldi and Lidl. It took them more than 20 years (Aldi arrived in this country in 1990 and Lidl in 1994) to get their cheaper price message through to us, but we've definitely got it now. Loud and clear. Budget chains Aldi (pictured) and Lidl have been blamed for irretrievably changing the nation's supermarket shopping habits . We realise the 'Big Four' have been charging us way too much — behaving particularly rapaciously when it comes to fresh fruit and vegetables — earning excessive margins and profiteering at our expense. Last week, for example, I could have paid £2.99 per kilogram for cherry tomatoes in Sainsbury's, but at Lidl I'd have paid only £1.78. The celery Morrisons wanted 79p for cost 39p at Aldi. And this isn't the discounters playing silly, short-term games with prices — unlike their higher-profile rivals. It's these discount chains simply showing what can be done with a different business model and less greedy pricing. Such spectacular price differences couldn't be ignored for ever. Britain's shoppers have finally woken up and voted with their feet, and their wallets. Given the hundreds of millions the big supermarket chains have spent on building our trust — through advertising, loyalty cards, phony price wars and deliberately bamboozling promotions — the discovery that, surprise, surprise, they're not actually on our side has been shattering, and has changed consumers' habits dramatically. These chains all kept telling us how cheap they were, and we believed them. What they forgot to tell us was what obscene profits they were making. 'Every little helps,' said Tesco, and we never paused to ask: 'Helps whom?' Well, no more. Any trust we had in them has been lost and may never be restored. Sainsbury's (pictured) reported its worst Christmas for more than a decade with like-for-like sales down 1.7 per cent . It's not many years since the supermarket each of us so loyally used almost defined who we were — an aspirational Sainsbury's family, perhaps, or maybe down-to-earth Morrisons customers. It still does, to some extent — in the case of Waitrose. But by and large, the ties that bound us so tightly to one particular chain have been broken. There is more genuine choice and better value to be had elsewhere. These days, we shop where we want — at Aldi one day, at a local butcher or grocer the next and, on those days when we're simply too tired to care, at whichever chain-owned convenience store we pass on the way home, when we'll decide what's for dinner that night. Mainstream chains still get some of what we spend on food — but not as much. Many people will be overjoyed by supermarkets finally getting their comeuppance — their aggressive expansion policies, in the High Street and out of town, made them bitterly resented. On Twitter, news that Tesco would shut 43 of its smaller stores was celebrated by those delighted that the destroyer of so many local, independent shops was beginning to suffer itself. Add the cancelled plans for 49 superstores — the white elephants of today's food retail world, according to analysts — and what many saw as the 'Tesco-isation' of Britain finally seems to have gone into reverse. They have also announced they are cutting 500 jobs to tackle the poor sales as shoppers turn to cheaper alternatives such as budget chains Aldi and Lidl . I'm sure other chains will quietly follow suit, mothballing plans for future store openings. And, as with Tesco and Morrisons, I wouldn't be surprised to see existing stores shut, too. Britain's supermarkets may have peaked in their hold over us, but they certainly won't vanish altogether, though it would be encouraging to see signs of them learning from past mistakes. Instead, Sainsbury's has done what big chains always do when faced with adversity — announced yet another 'price war' to try to persuade customers they are getting brilliant deals (when often they could still buy cheaper elsewhere), and place even more economic pressure on its suppliers. So what will the future of food shopping in Britain look like? Now, the supermarket enchantment spell has been broken, consumers are back in charge. If we want to shop at a discounter we will, a trend that may result in a modest expansion of the Aldi or Lidl chains: their circumspect German owners are too canny and conservative for grandiose plans. They'll have seen what over-ambition has done to Tesco, and learned a lesson. Other winners will be the assortment of retailers that have emerged in the past few years to meet the demand from consumers for a better shopping experience. I'm talking about traditional street markets, small independent shops, Asian and Middle Eastern grocers, farmers' markets, vegetable box schemes, farm shops, food co-operatives and a range of online enterprises that have successfully carved out their own niches. It's not nostalgia for times long past. But some traditional street markets offer better value than even the discount chains. No, I look at today's food shopping experience and see what works and what doesn't. And what certainly doesn't work as well as it used to is shopping at supermarkets. Our 40-year love affair with them is over. Now, they must pay the price. | Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's all posted big falls in Christmas sales .
A total of 900 jobs will be be axed from Morrisons and Sainsbury's .
Tesco will close 43 loss-making shops and shelve plans for 49 superstores .
Thanks to Aldi and Lidl shoppers are now turning to cheaper alternatives . |
266,619 | e5561888b6c3a3353939ac5473c3f9dc7f4e4177 | By . Hamish Mackay . Published: . 08:55 EST, 18 July 2014 . | . Updated: . 10:26 EST, 18 July 2014 . The signing of Alexis Sanchez had Arsenal fans jumping for joy at the prospect of the new season, much like the players in training. Arsene Wenger returned from his World Cup media duties in Brazil to prepare for the club's upcoming season. Their first friendly match is against Borehamwood on Saturday, a fixture they play every summer. Arsenal's standout performer last season was undoubtedly Aaron Ramsey, and the 23-year-old believes the squad are in a good to progress after their FA Cup victory. VIDEO Scroll down to watch first interviews with Sanchez and Debuchy as Arsenal players . Jumping for joy: Ramsey is put through his paces in pre-season training . Master and the pupil: Ramsey has promised Wenger and the fans that he will improve even further this season . Like a new signing: Diaby returns from injury and Coquelin returns from Freiburg . VIDEO One trophy not enough - Arteta . 'I think we have a great opportunity,' the Welshman told Arsenal.com. 'Hopefully all the people that have played at the World Cup come back strong and fit and we can hit the ground running when the season starts. 'The feeling we got after winning the FA Cup was something special and I’m sure that everybody wants the same thing again this season. We’ll be giving it everything to win a few things this year. 'The media were always saying things like "Arsenal haven’t won a trophy for this many years". The number kept getting higher so it was important to win something to take that burden away. It takes the pressure off us. 'I think the team has come on a long way in the last couple of seasons. We’ve grown a lot - there’s a great team spirit here, everybody wants to work for each other so we’ll give it a good go.' Safe hands: Szczesny was kept out of Arsenal's FA Cup run last season by the now departed Fabianski . High hopes: Gedion Zelalem and (right) Chuba Akpom will both be hoping to break in to the first team in 2014/15 . Backup: Monreal has had mixed fortunes at Arsenal and Gibbs emerged as the clear favourite last season . Challenge: Flamini takes no prisoners as he competes for the ball with Ramsey . Unlucky: Many Arsenal fans considered Gibbs extremely unlucky not to be taken to Brazil, especially considering Baines's performances . | Arsenal players train ahead of new Premier League season .
Aaron Ramsey says pressure has gone after FA Cup success .
Alexis Sanchez and Mathieu Debuchy yet to join training . |
178,206 | 72b63844d99e1a414c93f36e14402873abce0ee4 | By . Associated Press . An 809-pound tiger shark caught in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month has been cooked and served to more than 90 poor and homeless Texans. Timon's Ministries in Corpus Christi set up the donation of about 75 pounds of shark meat. Executive director Kae Berry tells the San Antonio Express-News that the 12-foot, seven-inch shark was the biggest fish ever donated to the center. Feast for all: An 809-pound tiger shark caught in the Gulf of Mexico has been cooked and served to more than 90 homeless Texans - here the fish is seen with Ryan Spring who spent seven hours reeling it in . A volunteer chef breaded and baked the meat. Fisherman Ryan Spring of San Antonio had said he caught the shark on August 3 after reeling it in for more than seven hours. 'It was a hard fight the whole time,' Spring told KRLD radio. 'I was wondering, "What do I have on here?" I just had to push through - dig down and find that energy to keep going.' Kitchen-bound: A volunteer chef breaded and baked the meat and there are enough leftovers to serve up some shark stew next week . Nearly a dozen men were needed to haul the big fish out of the water. The catch falls short of the tiger shark state record, which according to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, is 1,129 pounds. Spring says he caught seven sharks the day before - including an eight-foot bull shark - but decided to free them all. He donated the tiger shark to Timon's Ministries and Ms Berry said the volunteer chef did a great job preparing the food and 'most people really enjoyed it.' The center says there are enough leftovers to serve up some shark stew next week. | The giant fish was caught by Ryan Spring of San Antonio after he spent more than seven hours reeling it in .
A volunteer chef at a homeless shelter breaded and baked the meat .
There are enough leftovers to serve up some shark stew next week . |
113,635 | 1ea0fea673e9a977223e651860cc062db8e66c9b | (CNN) -- This is ballet, but not as you know it. For one, there's not a ballerina in sight. Tutus have been replaced with bare chests and tights, pointe shoes have been tossed aside for slippers, and delicate décolletages have been swapped for beefed-up biceps. Once the traditional arena of lithe ladies, ballet is seeing an increasing number of all-male shows -- in one of the biggest shake-ups in the history of the profession. Men in motion . "My attempt is to show a century of male dance in a hundred minutes," said Ukrainian-born Ivan Putrov, the creator of "Men in Motion," an ambitious all-male production featuring 15 short dances. "Just as you hear about the feminist movement and how women gained the right to vote, well men gained the right of center stage," added the 34-year-old former London Royal Ballet dancer, who has toured the groundbreaking show across Europe. Think of ballet, and you'll most likely conjure images of pirouetting ladies in elegant tutus -- not performances "full of testosterone," as "Men in Motion" dancer Daniel Proietto describes it. "For the last 100 years everything has changed -- men are bringing new creativity, new ways of doing things to the stage." Swan Lake . It's not the first show to be given a men-only makeover. When British choreographer Matthew Bourne's all-male Swan Lake premiered in London almost two decades ago, it was considered revolutionary in the traditional world of ballet. Bourne studied the movements of real swans for the show, displaying both their ungainly flapping and menacing power through dance. "It's not twee and pretty, that's for sure," said Jonathan Ollivier, who plays The Swan in what has since become one of the longest-running ballets in London's West End. "We are bare-chested, we have feathered legs, and this quite striking beak on our face. It's quite masculine. All the guys are pumped up and it is very serious." Smashing stereotypes . That's not to say male ballet dancers can't also be beautiful and tender on stage. "I think there is always the concept of the ballerina who is this delicate creature, and men are the opposite -- we jump higher, we have more stamina, we are stronger," said Argentinian Proietto. "But at the same time maybe when you see us in a fragile setting we can also be delicate." "That's what you normally don't see...my best memories of my father are when he cries, so of course I love when I can see a man communicating that on stage. I think that is very, very powerful. Perhaps even more than when I see him jump and being strong physically." Beyond 'Billy Elliot' Despite the phenomenal strength needed to be a ballet dancer, there remains a perception of it, at least in the West, as a woman's profession -- but this is changing, says Putrov. "I went to the opening night of Billy Elliot the musical," he explained. "Some of the stories that are told are so true and it is more common than you can imagine." "People might think of beautiful ballerinas on pointe shoes and in tutus but dance in general, at least in Britain, is the second most popular activity in schools after football -- so it is not true that men don't dance." And if Putrov has his way, we'll be seeing a lot more of them taking center stage in the future. Watch: Carlos Acosta -- from the barrio to the ballet . Learn: Bolshoi ballerina's grace under pressure . | Think 'ballet' and you'll most likely conjure images of lithe ladies in tutus .
But an increasing number of all-male ballet productions are emerging .
Male ballet dancers display phenomenal strength, but also convey tenderness .
'Billy Elliot' a reality for male ballet dancers in overcoming stereotypes . |
220,372 | a9429f38e7fd3256ed7c075853d13bff7767efb6 | By . Jessica Jerreat . PUBLISHED: . 17:57 EST, 4 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:54 EST, 5 December 2013 . A California woman who survived being shot in the leg when a gunman opened fire on her elementary school in 1989 has been charged with murder. Sarim Chabb, one of 29 victims injured during the Stockton School attack, has appeared in court over the fatal shooting of a 22-year-old man. Chabb, 31, and her brother, Sarth, were arrested on Sunday as police investigated the death of Marshawn Black, whose body was found the night before. Arrest: Sarim Chabb, left, and her brother Sarth face murder and gun charges . Gunman: Patrick Purdy fired an AK47 into a playground in 1989 . The siblings face several other gun-related charges as well as murder after Mr Black was allegedly shot during a dispute, News 10 reported. Stockton police did not say how they came to suspect the Chabbs in the murder, but spokesman Joseph Silva said Sarim knew the victim. Police discovered Black's body in an apartment after receiving reports of shots being fired at an apartment complex. 'It was basically just good old . fashioned police work,' Mr Silva told ABC News. 'Just going to the apartment, . talking to people and piecing the events that led up to the shooting . together in a fast manner, which led them to the suspects.' Sarim Chabb was one of the survivors of the 1989 school shooting, when 26-year-old Patrick Purdy fired 106 rounds from an assault rifle into a playground during recess. At the time it was the worst school shooting in the U.S and raised questions about the easy availability of high-powered weapons, Time reported. Purdy, who had been a pupil at the school, wore ear plugs as he carried out his attack, and also used a petrol bomb to set fire to his car outside the school. Victim: Marshawn Black was found dead in an apartment on Saturday . Attack: Victims of the Stockton School shooting in California in 1989 are treated for injuries . Five children died and 29 people, including Chabb, were injured in the three-minute ordeal which ended when Purdy killed himself. Chabb's public defender said the connection was 'interesting but irrelevant' to the current case. The siblings are due back in court on December 17. | Sarim Chabb and her brother Sarth in court over killing of 22-year-old .
Chabb was one of 29 victims injured when Patrick Purdy opened fire on her playground in 1989 . |
221,185 | aa54038d83a502adfb0df5760811472dde99713a | Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins is optimistic of success in the Road World Championships time-trial in Ponferrada on Wednesday. Wiggins finished second to Germany's Tony Martin, the Olympic silver medallist, in Florence last year but is confident the 47.1-kilometre route favours his attributes this time around. 'I'm in better shape than last year,' the 34-year-old Wiggins told BBC Sport. Bradley Wiggins is targeting victory in the Road World Championships time-trial in Ponferrada on Wednesday . 'It's quite mountainous and suits me more than Tony. Every year I think this might be the year but you never know. That's why I like it.' Wiggins is joined in the race by Commonwealth Games champion Alex Dowsett. The Londoner beat Dowsett to the British title in June and won a short Tour of Britain time-trial last weekend. Wiggins was second in last year's Road World Championships time-trial but won it on the 2014 Tour of Britain . 'This year's course is a lot different to last year's, which was long and flat,' added Wiggins, who did not ride the Glasgow 2014 time-trial. 'You have to think more on this course. There's no room for error. 'You need to have enough in the tank for the end. It's challenging, a true test of the time trial.' The former Olympic and Tour de France champion came third in the 2014 Tour of Britain . | Road World Championships time-trial on Wednesday in Ponferrada .
Olympic champion Bradley Wiggins confident of success .
Wiggins finished second behind Tony Martin last year .
Former Tour de France winner finished second in 2014 Tour of Britain . |
198,150 | 8c7d1f216a41cee0805e1aa409e63688a879e07b | These pockmarked shells are all that's left of what their owners in Debaltseve used to call their homes. The strategic railway hub in eastern Ukraine was stormed by Moscow-backed separatists two weeks ago in one of the most dramatic advances by the rebels since the start of the 10-month-old war. Fighting over the city actually intensified in the days after a ceasefire deal, signed in Minsk on February 12, was meant to take effect on February 15. Rebels who had encircled Debaltseve launched a massive assault, routing all Ukrainian forces by February 18, three days after the truce was meant to come into force. Nearly a week after the retreat of government forces, bodies and body parts still lie uncollected on the streets and outside the city. Scroll down for video . A house ruined by fighting in the city of Debaltseve. The strategic railway hub in eastern Ukraine was stormed by Moscow-backed separatists two weeks ago . The shelling which destroyed this house actually intensified in the days after a ceasefire deal was signed in Minsk on February 12 . The battle for Debaltseve caught civilians, like those who lived here, in the crossfire on a scale not yet seen in the war that has killed nearly 6,000 people . A sofa still with cushions strewn across it is visible through a doorway of one ruined building. In another haunting image all that's left of a house is one wall with three windows in it, glass long since blown out by the impact of shells. A third house is pockmarked by shrapnel, its residents having long since fled. Debaltseve used to have a population of 45,000, of whom only around 6,000 now remain. Sergei had the misfortune of living on the outskirts of city near the Ukrainian army's field camp which was destroyed during the attack, along with the modest one-storey brick houses lining the nearby streets. Sergei's house was hit on February 18, right before Ukrainian forces left Debaltseve. Asked by Reuters if he knew which side attacked his house, he replied: 'Of course, it's clear. I won't say it out loud. The other side entered and shelling stopped. Not a single shell landed after that.' Asked if he thought the rebels were responsible, Sergei answered: 'Of course. But I don't get it. Why did they do it?' A woman walks past a house whose roof has caved in following fierce ighting in Debaltseve . A damaged Ukrainian army tank is left abandoned in a wrecked petrol station outside Debaltseve . A Grad rocket is lodged in the wall of a building in the jail of Chornukhyne, east of Debaltseve. Only four of over 300 inmates are left in the jail after it was evacuated following shelling during the battle for Debaltseve . A petrol station damaged by shelling outside the city in Donetsk region. The price of petrol has doubled in the past two weeks as the Ukrainian currency has taken a plunge . An unexploded shell lies next to a gas bottle in the ruined village of Nikishino, near Debaltseve . Kiev and Western governments have accused Russia of sending troops and weapons to support the separatists in east Ukraine, despite the peace deal agreed in the Belarussian capital Minsk. Moscow has denied this. Separatist commanders said the advance at Debaltseve was necessary to 'straighten the frontline' and ease communications between their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk. The battle for the city caught civilians in the crossfire on a scale not yet seen in the war that has killed nearly 6,000 people. Most residential buildings in the town have been damaged by shelling or are burnt out. Nearly a week after the retreat of Ukrainian forces, bodies and body parts still lay uncollected on the streets and outside the city. In neighbouring Vuhlehirsk some 10 kilometres away, conquered by the rebels before Debaltseve, smashed armoured vehicles with the insignia of the Ukrainian army are visible and there's heavy damage to almost every building in the town. In the village of Nikishino, also near Debaltseve, the story is similar. Ukrainian military leaders and separatist commanders alike insist they never target residential areas. But rank-and-file fighters from both sides admit they used heavy weapons while fighting over the towns and could have missed targets. The remains of a house in Nikishino, located 20 km from Debaltseve, and abandoned by the Ukrainian military four days ago after separatist forces attacked it for several days. A man tries to salvage something from the ruins of his house in the village. The last battle over Nikishino lasted more than seven hours . Not a single intact house remains in the village, where even the trees are covered with shrapnel . Next to the ruins of Sergei's house, a rebel gunman nicknamed Shuya was on guard at the destroyed Ukrainian camp, littered with ammunition boxes, pieces of burnt-out vehicles and unexploded shells. 'It was tanks, artillery ... I will be honest, the camp was hit very well,' he said with a smile. Another separatist fighter, who gave his nickname as Zelya, conceded it was possible they missed targets during the attack. 'Debaltseve is in a lowland. They (the Ukrainians) put their artillery there, it was hard to hit right on target,' he said. The Ukrainian side also used heavy weapons, a member of a Ukrainian artillery crew, who gave his name as Nikolai, told Reuters after the retreat from Debaltseve. 'We got shelled every day, we sat in trenches ... We also fired, of course,' said the soldier who serves in the 55th brigade. But according to his comrade who used the nickname Prapor, many areas that are now heavily damaged had been unscathed when Ukrainian forces retreated. 'We left Vuhlehirsk without any fighting... and many villages too. It should be investigated who took advantage of it,' he said. Government troops began towing artillery away from the front line on Thursday, a sign the truce could at last be taking effect. A bombed out house in Vuhlehirsk, 10km from Debaltseve. Both are now ghost towns after heavy shelling . The front of this Vuhlehirsk home is pockmarked by shrapnel after intense fighting in the town . The kitchen of this home in the town remains relatively intact, but its residents have long since fled . | Debaltseve was taken by pro-Russian rebel assault ending on February 18 .
Ukrainian forces humiliated days after Minsk ceasefire supposed to begin .
Haunting images show massive destruction wrought by intense fighting .
Only around 6,000 people remain in ghost city 45,000 once called home .
Nearby town of Vuhlehirsk and village of Nikishino also lie in ruins . |
82,759 | eaac06d6f1551622e97d1fd220f97bbafac98982 | By . Leesa Smith . Australians are being urged to the leave the Gaza Strip immediately with one-off assistance from the embassy as trouble intensifies between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants. The Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv is arranging the assisted departure of Australians as Israel vows no let-up in its aerial bombardment of Gaza, which has claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives, as a defiant Hamas rains more rockets on the Jewish state on the fifth day of conflict. Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop said there were no plans for any further assisted departures. ‘Australians are strongly advised not to travel to the Gaza Strip because of the extremely dangerous and unpredictable security situation and the possibility of further Israeli military operations against militants,’ Ms Bishop said. Australians are being urged to leave the Gaza strip with the assistance from the embassy in Tel Aviv . Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop said the actions of militants in Gaza were 'inexcusable' and 'deeply concerning' and must be condemned . When in Amman, Australians will be responsible for their own costs and arrangements for their onward travels. Ms Bishop said she continued to be deeply concerned by the deteriorating situation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. ‘The actions of militants in Gaza, who are firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel, are inexcusable and must be condemned,’ she said. ‘The retaliatory acts from both sides that have led to civilian deaths and injuries are deeply regrettable, and I call on all parties to exercise restraint and do everything necessary to avoid a further escalation of violence.’ Israel vows no let-up in its aerial bombardment of Gaza, which has claimed more than 100 Palestinian lives, as a defiant Hamas rained more rockets on the Jewish state . Australians are being advised by the government to reconsider travelling to areas within 40kms of the border with the Gaza Strip . The Smart Traveller website strongly advises Australians to reconsider travelling to areas within 40kms of the border with the Gaza Strip. ‘The overall level of advice remains at exercise a high degree of caution in Israel due to the threat of terrorist attack and the threat of rocket fire,’ the site states. ‘We continue to advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to the West Bank and not to travel to the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas in southern Israel.’ Australians wanting to depart should urgently contact the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre or the Australian Embassy in Tel Aviv for information and advice on options. The Australian Government has updated its travel advice for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, with the full advisory available at: www.smartraveller.gov.au. | Australians urged to leave the Gaza Strip immediately with one-off assistance from the embassy as trouble intensifies between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants .
There were no plans for any further assisted departures for Australians .
When in Amman, Australians will be responsible for their own costs and arrangements for their onward travels .
Australians are strongly advised to reconsider travelling to areas within 40kms of the border with the Gaza Strip . |
147,115 | 4a39b0aff144288e14a9a74720bc4e5b14ad0ad5 | Controversial wannabe glamour model Josie Cunningham has been pictured taking her children to school in a taxpayer-funded taxi, moments after smoking a cigarette. The 23-year-old from Leeds, who infamously had a £4,800 breast enlargement operation on the NHS, was pictured days after it emerged her council is spending £6,000 a year on the cab journeys. The pregnant mother-of-two and her children, aged six and three, are driven two-and-a-half miles to and from the local school every day in a journey which costs Leeds Council £30 a day. Scroll down for video . Getting in the car: Josie Cunningham (left) and her children, aged six and three, are driven two-and-a-half miles to and from the local school every day in a journey which costs Leeds Council £30 a day . She receives the free taxi journeys on health grounds, after claiming she is now so hated that she cannot use public transport without facing abuse - and the stress was giving her anxiety attacks. The photographs also showed her holding a cigarette before getting into the car, after it was revealed she is smoking 20 cigarettes a day and will only quit if the taxpayer helps her kick the habit. Smoking: The photographs also showed her holding a cigarette before getting into the car . Yesterday, Miss Cunningham clashed with Loose Women co-host Myleene Klass who suggested it was wrong that NHS money was used to fund her £4,800 cosmetic surgery. She insisted: 'It has been used in the wrong places, but not with me', and told a shocked ITV audience that she wanted to be an 'inspiration to young women with 0 per cent breast tissue'. Before her appearance - which caused a stir on Facebook and Twitter - she tweeted a photo of herself in the changing rooms with the message: 'Not long till I'm on Loose Women... Haters are going to hate regardless.' The talk show’s presenters began the interview by saying that it was an opportunity to 'explain her side' after continuous negative publicity. Miss Cunningham said: 'You expect a bias opinion when you put yourself out there in the media. I won't say I disagree with everything they say. I did the first story so I can be an inspiration for young women or women of any age that are suffering from 0 per cent breast tissue. 'I have received a lot of abuse online and have just been bullied all my life for having no boobs. I am not going to be bullied again.' She added that her GP never offered her counselling, instead opting for the operation. Miss Cunningham also used her appearance to defend her use of taxpayer-funded taxis. The journeys, which cost Leeds Council £30 a day, would cost around £30 a week by bus, but Miss Cunningham insisted it was worth it, and said taxpayers should be grateful it was taxis rather than more expensive private hire cars. This year Leeds City Council is having to make savings of £50million from its budget. Controversial: Josie Cunningham told the ITV Loose Women panel that she wanted to be an inspiration to women who have 0 per cent breast tissue after she had a £4,800 breast operation on the NHS . Fear: The mother-to-be defended her use of taxpayer-funded taxis, suggesting she developed anxiety issues after angry bus passengers confronted her . Pout: Miss Cunningham pictured leaving the ITV . studios after appearing on Loose Women this morning where she clashed . with Myleene Klass on whether her boob operation should have been funded . by the taxpayer . She said: 'I have been suffering with anxiety for about the last year now. Initially I was fine with the bus,' she said. Miss Cunningham has reportedly called police after a Coronation Street star claimed she wanted to ‘smack’ her over the taxpayer-funded taxis row. Catherine Tyldesley (right), who plays barmaid Eva Price in the ITV soap, had said on Twitter: ‘If she ever gets on my bus, I’ll smack her myself. #disgrace.’ The 30-year-old actress has since deleted the tweet, but Miss Cunningham told The Sun: ‘She glorified an attack on a pregnant woman to over 200,000 people’. Miss Tyldesley’s spokesman insisted that the comment was a ‘figure of speech’, adding that she ‘doesn't condone violence’. Her fellow star Simon Gregson, who plays Steve McDonald, said on Twitter: ‘I wonder if the Government will pay for my transport [because] I don't want my moobs on a bus.’ ‘It . is more of a confrontation in front of the kids really. It's not on. Any mother would agree. I have never said that I can't go on a bus . because I am famous.' She . said passengers tended to direct their frustration at her, angry about . her breast operation. Klass then asked her: 'But can you understand that . kind of anger? Miss Cunningham replied: 'I fully understand that. But the hatred shouldn't necessarily be aimed towards myself. 'There is more that the NHS should be doing to help these people. People who are not getting the funding.' When . asked about plans to abort her baby, she said producers from Channel 5 . had approached her about appearing in the Big Brother house and asked to . meet at a hotel in Manchester. 'It was all looking promising. But then I informed them that I was pregnant and it went downhill from there,' she said. Miss . Cunningham then explained that she does not believe the father of her . unborn child will be around, but said she strives to provide a 'stable . future for her kids'. Criticism: She was grilled by Mylene Klass, who suggested taxpayers' money had been used in the wrong place when it came to her boob job . Interrogation: The panel directed hard-hitting questions at Josie which sparked a flurry of comments on Twitter about the controversial mother of two . Anger: She sparked outrage after posting a provocative tweet saying: 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but tax payers will always fund me' She . said: 'There was a lot of work opportunities in the pipeline, but then I . sat down and thought about it like a good mother should. This career . can't be approached with a third child. I have actually gone from being . on benefits to a self-employed single mother at the age of 23. Smoking: . Pregnant Miss Cunningham said she's cut down the cigarettes from 40 to . 20 a day but wants help from the doctor to help her quit . 'My . career is made up of a lot of things. Whether it is dealing with media . inquiries or photo shoots. I have also had my first endorsement with the . Pull the Pig dating website.' Miss . Cunningham, who is pregnant after working as an escort girl, revealed . in The Sun that she had cut down from 40 cigarettes a day to 20, but . would need help from her GP to cut the habit completely. She . said on the ITV show: 'I'm hoping my doctor will be able to help get me . off the fags. But the public will probably whinge about funding that . as well.' Anti-smoking advice, counselling, drugs and patches are all available on the NHS, but at a cost to the taxpayer. News . that Miss Cunningham had had a breast augmentation, funded by the same . NHS trust that refused to fund surgery that would have enabled a . two-year-old girl with a form of cerebral palsy to walk, provoked . outrage across the country. Miss . Cunningham later claimed her breasts, which were boosted from a 32A to a . 36D, were ‘so big’ she found them embarrassing, and said the NHS should . pay for a reduction. Then she tried to placate public opinion by promising to pay back the cash. But . when she became pregnant after working as a £1,000-a-night escort, she . admitted she could not uphold her pledge – and now continues to soak up . public funds. She has had . £1,500 of Botox treatment for excessive sweating, and two months ago, . she boasted she would be having £2,500 of free dental work now she is . expecting. | Josie Cunningham insists £4,800 NHS boob job was not 'wasted money'
Tells Loose Women she has ambition to create 'secure future for her kids'
Clashed with Myleene Klass who says she shouldn't have had the surgery .
Wanabee model, 23, wants to 'inspire young women with 0% breast tissue'
Explains negative publicity has led to angry confrontations from public .
Claims NHS should be doing more to help people get breast op funding .
Meanwhile, she has called in police over Coronation Street star's tweet .
Cath Tyldesley said on Twitter: 'If she ever gets on my bus, I’ll smack her' |
236,652 | be4b5b98556a76310def73a46d9e6534bea498e9 | By . Graham Smith . PUBLISHED: . 06:18 EST, 18 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 06:42 EST, 18 June 2012 . Samantha Cameron today spoke of the difficulties of caring for her late son Ivan during a visit to a children’s hospice. The six-year-old, who was born seriously disabled, received round-the-clock care for cerebral palsy and epilepsy before his death. Today, Mrs Cameron shared her experiences with Risa Balynas, whose five-year-old son, Miles, requires similar attention. Sympathetic ear: Samantha Cameron today shared her experiences of caring for her late son Ivan with Risa Balynas (left), whose five-year-old son Miles requires similar attention, during a visit to Richard House Children's Hospice in Newham, east London . Understanding: The PM's wife meets another mother and child as she toured the hospice . The pair met as the Prime Minister’s wife visited Richard House Children’s Hospice in Newham, east London, where they spoke about the challenges of caring for a child with cerebral palsy. Mrs Balynas, a mother-of two from Tower Hamlets, east London, said: 'It was lovely to meet her. She was saying that Miles’ condition was similar to her son Ivan’s. 'I have a lot of pains and aches from holding him all the time. She said she had that with Ivan when he was younger. 'She told me she had a painful shoulder from holding him because he screamed and went into spasm. 'She understood how it affects you, physically as well as emotionally.' During her visit, Mrs Cameron was given a tour of the centre, which supports 290 families and 192 children. She . invited 13-year-old JLS fan Murad Shaikh to visit Downing Street and . said her daughter Nancy, eight, was equally keen on the band. She . told Murad: 'My husband and I were lucky as we got to go to the Jubilee . concert and my daughter was very jealous because we got to see JLS.' Common ground: Mrs Cameron and Mrs Balynas spoke about caring for a child with cerebral palsy . Today marks the start of Carers Week, which aims to raise the awareness of the needs and work of Britain's six million unpaid carers . Mrs Cameron with Ivan, who had a rare genetic disorder that left him with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He died after a seizure . Ivan Cameron died at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London, in 2009. The Camerons also have a son, Arthur, six, and a 22-month-old daughter, Florence. Mrs Cameron is a patron of The Big Splash charity, which supports disabled children at the school and in the local community. The Prime Minister's eldest son had a . rare genetic disorder that left him with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He died after a seizure. After his death in February 2009, Mr . Cameron said: 'We never expected him to die so young or so suddenly so . it was a real bolt that hit us.' David and Samantha Cameron with their son Ivan in December 2008, who died at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, in 2009 . Speaking the following month, he said: 'We always knew that Ivan wouldn't live forever because he had this very rare condition and he had been incredibly ill in his short life but we never expected him to die so young or so suddenly.' At the time, he said he and his wife were hoping they could in time look back and 'remember the good things'. 'I know that will come,' he said. 'It just takes some time. And we just miss him.' | Ivan Cameron, six, was born seriously disabled and received round-the-clock care for cerebral palsy and epilepsy before his death in 2009 .
The PM's wife visits Richard House Children's Hospice in east London .
There, she spoke with the mothers of children with cerebral palsy .
Visit marks the start of Carers Week, which aims to raise the awareness of the needs and work of Britain's six million unpaid carers . |
147,518 | 4abc160b4b34f5dfadd153a9f61dff2f5a52cadc | By . Lucy Crossley . An injured boy was heard screaming 'someone needs to help my mummy and baby and brother' after a mother-of-three was stabbed to death. Officers launched a murder probe after they were called to a house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, last night following calls from members of the public about a domestic-related incident. When police arrived they found a 37-year-old woman, who neighbours said was mother-of-three Emma Mansell, with serious stab injuries. She was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead a short while later. Victim: A 37-year-old woman, named locally as Emma Mansell (pictured with partner Johnny Sutton), died from stab wounds after she was found by police at a house in Huddersfield . Tragedy: Neighbours said that Emma and her partner, named locally as Johnny Sutton, had four children between them . A 39-year-old man, believed to be her partner, was 'detained' at the . scene and taken to hospital where he was described as having . suffered 'serious injuries'. Neighbours described how they saw a young boy dashing from the house pleading for help and shouting 'someone needs to help my mummy and baby and brother'. One resident, who did not want to be named said the youngster had been covered in blood. 'I heard a noise and looked out of my blind. I saw the little boy and he was absolutely covered in blood,' she said. 'I saw my two other neighbours run out and as I came out they said a boy had been run over. 'He ran straight out of the alleyway . of his house and on to the road. He said "someone needs to help my mummy . and baby and brother". Investigation: Officers launched a murder probe after they were called to this house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, last night following calls from members of the public about a domestic-related incident . A woman died from stab wounds and four children including a baby were injured in what police described as a 'domestic incident'. Pictured is an officer guarding the rear of the property . The windowframe with what appears to be a bloody handstain . Injury: When police arrived they found a 37-year-old woman with serious stab injuries inside the home. She was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead a short while later . 'Someone came out with the baby and the blanket had blood all over it. There were police that way and ambulance the other way.' Police confirmed that a nine-year-old boy was found outside the house with a stab wound to his arm. A six-year-old boy, an 11-year-old boy and a six-month-old baby girl were also present and treated for minor injuries. Neighbours said that Emma and her partner, named locally as Johnny Sutton, had four children between them. Mother: Locals said Emma had two young sons and a baby daughter with Mr Sutton, who also has a son . She had two young sons, he has a son and they have a baby daughter together, according to those living nearby. Police have not yet formally identified the victim, and have not given the name of the man. Other neighbours said they only knew Emma to say hello to and say her mother, who lives close by, keeps herself to herself. 'I'd seen the children playing in the garden a lot,' said Jayne Werritt. 'I heard a commotion at 9pm and I thought it was just children playing. 'I couldn't hear anything significant, just noise. I've lived here for a long time and it's just tragic. 'These children have lost their mother. You've got to think about the poor people that are left behind.' Others living in the residential street said that Emma had separated from her husband around 18 months ago before beginning a new relationship with Mr Sutton - who they described as a labourer she had met in a local pub. Marcel Adams, one of Emma's childhood friends, said: 'I can't believe it. I can't believe this has happened to Emma. 'She was always so lovely and kind. She's had a lot of things happen to her in her life. She lost a child to meningitis years ago and she has always just tried to get on with things. 'I went to the hospital this morning and I bumped in to her sister Nicola. She came up to me and just broke down in my arms. 'She told me that the two boys had been injured. I asked if they were both going to be ok and she said yes. 'Apparently Emma was madly in love with her partner but I never knew him. I saw her a few months ago and she was crying so I asked what was wrong. She didn't want to tell me but I told her she knew where I was if she wanted to talk. 'It's just so sad. You don't expect this.' Senior Investigating Officer, Detective . Chief Ady Taylor said: 'A 39-year-old man was detained at the scene and . is being treated in hospital today for serious injuries. We are not . looking for anyone else in connection with this incident. Probe: A forensics officer photographs the garden of the house when the 37-year-old woman was found with severe stab wounds . Search: Forensic teams comb the garden of the house for evidence that may give clues as to how the woman died . Duty: One officer was stationed to the back of the house, while forensic officers placed markers in the road outside as they searched for clues . Arrest: A man was arrested at the scene and was taken to hospital where he was described as having suffered 'serious injuries' Evidence: Police sealed off the street and this forensic officer was seen bringing items from the house in a plastic evidence bag, while another was seen walking into the house . 'Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident and Neighbourhood Policing Team officers are patrolling the area, offering support and reassurance to local residents. This morning police were guarding a cordon across the residential street as officers including forensics experts searched the terraced home. A forensic tent had also been set up close to the house and a number of police vehicles were parked outside. Shock: Neighbours described how they saw a young boy dashing from the house pleading for help and shouting 'someone needs to help my mummy and baby and brother' Operation: Police have said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident . Procedure: Police have not yet formally identified the victim, and have not given the name of the man . Horror: Neighbours said they had seen a baby being brought out of the house, its blanket covered in blood . Protection: Officers were seen walking to and from a large forensic tent put up close to the home . This morning police were guarding a cordon across the residential street as officers including forensics experts searched the terraced home . Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Emma Mansell, 37, was found with stab wounds at a house in Huddersfield .
Murder probe launched after she was pronounced dead in hospital .
People nearby describe young boy running from the house crying for help .
Emma had two sons and a baby daughter with partner Johnny Sutton .
Police confirm nine-year-old boy had stab wound to his arm and three other children, including a six-month-old baby were treated by medics .
Officers 'detained' a 39-year-old man with 'serious injuries' at the house . |
171,188 | 698e682f4c93acbe138edf0498df02d7f74ae563 | Congressional negotiators had no agreements to report Saturday, but they issued positive reports on their talks to end a partial government shutdown and avert a default on government debt. "Cordial" was the word Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, used to describe his "preliminary" discussions with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "Good" discussions were going on among Senate leaders, said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, "so I think all of us want to support those efforts, and hopefully they bear fruit over the weekend." Supporters stand by representatives and government shutdown . For all the positive talk, the only actions Saturday fell into the "no" category: . --Republican leaders said President Barack Obama rejected their proposal for a six-week debt limit extension. --The Senate defeated a procedural measure to extend the debt limit with no strings attached. --Reid said a proposal by a bipartisan group of senators, led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, is no longer on the table because it treated opening the government as a "concession." Reid continues to demand that any plan include a "clean" bill with no strings attached that raises the debt limit and reopens the government. Countdown to default . The Treasury Department says it will be unable to pay the government's bills unless the debt limit is increased by Thursday. The partial shutdown of government services has been in effect since October 1. 7 crazy side effects from the shutdown . Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, said Saturday the consequences of a failure to raise the debt limit would be dire for economies around the world. She spoke to CNN's Richard Quest at an Institute of International Finance conference in Washington. "You know, I've just spent the last two days with representatives of about 188 countries around the world. I wouldn't say they are confident. I would say they are concerned, and they are very anxious to see this crisis resolved, because they know it's going to impact on their economy," Lagarde said. Senate Democrats meet with president . Senate Democrats met with Obama for 75 minutes Saturday afternoon. A Senate Democratic leadership aide said the party is unified. "Democrats are willing to negotiate on anything Republicans want to discuss as soon as we reopen the government and pay our bills," said the aide. Another Democratic source said party leaders regard Republicans as lacking a coherent position. They hope McConnell can "cut through the clutter," the source told CNN's Dana Bash. The sources, who are familiar with the talks, spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could speak candidly. Despite the lack of agreement, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said progress was being made. "I think our Republican colleagues are moving in our direction with the fact that Obamacare is not a major part of the discussion anymore among most all Senate and many House Republicans," he said. No votes on Sunday . Before the White House meeting, the Senate's second highest-ranking Democrat, Richard Durbin of Illinois, told CNN's Deirdre Walsh that Democrats hoped to reach agreement with Republican negotiators before stock markets open Monday. Even if that optimistic timetable could be met, a deal could not be voted upon Sunday. Will 2014 election solve anything? The Senate is scheduled to come back into session at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, but no votes are planned and Senators have been told their presence is not required. The House is not scheduled to meet until Monday afternoon. Even as he demanded a "clean" bill, Reid said it was encouraging that McConnell had approached him to start their weekend talks. "I hope that our talking is some solace to the American people and the world," Reid said. He said McConnell had approached him. "This hasn't happened until now," Reid said. Obama-Boehner talks stall . Republican leadership told the Republican caucus during a Saturday morning meeting that the president will not accept their proposal to raise the debt limit for six weeks. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, told CNN Saturday that "the President rejected our deal." Paul Ryan steps into budget fight . The standstill came after a Friday afternoon phone call between Boehner and Obama in which they decided to keep talking. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, said the President is waiting for a better offer. "It doesn't seem like the White House is serious at all about entering negotiations with us until they see what comes out of the Senate. If they get something out of the Senate that's weaker than our negotiated position, it obviously strengthens their position," Kinzinger said. While Democrats flat out rejected Boehner's proposal, even some Republicans didn't like it. That's because it lacked a mechanism in the House proposal to immediately reopen the government, which has been partially shut down since October 1, prompting the furlough of hundreds of thousands of workers, the closing of national parks and an increase in public anger. | Senate Democrats hope McConnell will "cut through the clutter" of GOP positions .
No agreements, but senators of both parties offer positive words .
The President "rejected" House GOP proposal, Republican lawmaker says .
House Republicans have been sidelined . |
150,388 | 4e6e309c0de1f2e79b0db17626a64b15cae47cbf | A canoeist managed to paddle to safety after being attacked by a 6ft shark that knocked her into the water off the coast of California. The woman, who has not been named, told authorities that she was paddling her outrigger canoe about about three miles north of Santa Barbara Harbor, when a shark began biting her boat. She was thrown into the sea during the attack, the local harbor patrol said, but the woman managed to scramble back into her canoe and paddle it back to shore as the shark swam away. The woman was pitched into the water during the attack by a 6ft long blue-gray shark (file picture) The canoeist described the shark as six feet long and blue-gray in color. Earlier this month, a surfer was attacked by a shark on the central California coast, prompting the closure of three public beaches in the area controlled by Vandenberg Air Force Base. The attack occurred around 30 miles north of Santa Barbara, according to a report by the Shark Research Committee. The surfer suffered lacerations to his knee, and his surfboard was scraped in the attack by a shark measuring 8 to 10 feet in length. California's last fatal shark attack was in 2012. At the time three beaches were closed for 72 hours . Vandenberg Air Force Base closed Surf, Wall and Minuteman beaches following the attack but they were reopened 72 hours later. The report did not specify the type of shark involved but local media described it as a Great White. Despite intense media attention generated by shark attacks on humans, such incidents are fairly rare along the U.S. Pacific Coast. There were 39 reported shark attacks in California from 2001 to 2013 - or 3.25 per year - and five of them resulted in fatalities, according to data tracked by the Florida Museum of Natural History. The data shows East Coast swimmers are much more likely to wind up the victims of a shark attack, the Los Angeles Times reported. Ralph Collier, president of the Shark Research Institute, told the newspaper that a person is more likely to die by being struck by a falling coconut than being attacked by a shark. He said officials have logged 50 to 100 shark attacks per year worldwide since record-keeping began. Of those attacks, only eight to 12 have been fatal. But with more beachgoers heading to the shore and seals and sea lions - a main food source - on the rise in California, the chances of a shark encounter have jumped, Mr Collier added. California's last fatal shark attack was in 2012, when a 16-ft great white mauled Francisco Javier Solorio Jr. in front of his friend while he was surfing near Lompoc. The 39-year-old suffered a severe wound to his torso and died shortly after. Two years earlier, in 2010, another shark attack killed a 19-year-old college student off the same beach at Vandenberg. Lucas McKaine Ransom was Boogie Boarding with a friend when he was bitten in the leg by a shark described as being 14 to 20 feet long. A map shows the location where a canoeist was attacked while about three miles off the coast of California . The woman was canoeing off the coast of Santa Barbara when the shark appeared and began biting her boat . | Canoeist was paddling outrigger three miles north of Santa Barbara Harbor .
Shark began biting the canoe and the woman was tipped into the water .
But she managed to scramble back into canoe and paddle to safety .
Shark attacks are rare on the Pacific Coast with five fatalities since 2001 . |
231,221 | b75c8e41ec95d5c1a24e13f32218e7bd985f9ac4 | With Bolton in talks over a £40million Thai takeover, Neil Lennon’s side continue to show signs of progress on the pitch following a third win in five games under their new manager. Lennon’s third victory in five games since he replaced Dougie Freedman gives him an identical record to new Cardiff boss Russell Slade, even though it was not enough to lift Bolton out of the Championship relegation zone. ‘It’s the best we’ve played since I came here against a very good side,’ said Lennon. ‘That performance will give the boys a huge lift. We can’t keep going win lose, win lose, we’ve set the standard now.’ Liam Feeney wheels away after scoring his first of the night as Bolton saw off Cardiff . Feeney sticks his boot in to Fabio as Bolton sealed a precious win to boost their hopes of rising up the table . Bolton: Lonergan 7; Vela 6, Mills 6.5, Dervite 5.5, Ream 7; M Davies 6 (Spearing 52, 6), Danns 7; Feeney 8 (Clayton 71, 6.5), Chung-Yong 7.5, Pratley 7; C Davies 7 (Beckford 84). Subs not used: Moxey, Kenny, Trotter, Threlkeld. Booked: Pratley. Goals: Feeney 9, 36, Mills, 76. Cardiff: Marshall 5; Brayford 6, Manga 5.5, S Morrison 5, Fabio 6; Noone 7, Gunnarsson 6, Whittingham 6, Ralls 5.5 (R Morrison 46, 6); Le Fondre 6 (Maynard 74, 6), Macheda 5.5. Subs not used: Turner, Kim, Connolly, Moore, Ravel Morrison, Gabbidon. Booked: Ravel Morrison. Attendance: 12,961. Referee: Geoff Eltringham. A richly deserved Bolton win was built on Liam Feeney’s first goals for the club. The first came in the ninth minute when Darren Pratley made a run from inside his own half and fed Chung-Yong Lee wide on the right. The South Korean’ s low cross into the box picked out Feeney who swept the ball across goalkeeper David Marshall and into the far corner. Captain Matt Mills had a header cleared off the line by Craig Noone before Feeney grabbed a second goal nine minutes before half-time. Pratley was involved again in a slick move on the left before clipping a cross to the back post where Feeney squeezed another first-time effort past Marshall from a difficult angle. He could have completed a hat-trick in the second half after great work by the impressive Craig Davies but blasted well over. Feeney was replaced by Max Clayton shortly afterwards and it was the substitute who set up a rather fortuitous third goal for Mills in the 76th minute. Matt Mills scores his team's third goal with a crisp shot from inside the penalty area . Skipper Mills celebrates after putting the gloss on a convincing victory for Bolton . Clayton’s low cross from the left picked out his captain 15 yards from goal and his mis-hit shot left Marshall wrong-footed as it bobbled past the keeper and into the far corner. Without their top scorer Kenwyne Jones, who has been given compassionate leave to return home to Trinidad, Cardiff’s best chances fell to Federico Macheda but he failed to convert and then Andy Lonergan produced an outstanding late save to deny substitute Nicky Maynard. It left Cardiff still waiting for their first away win of the season and Slade was furious over the way his team succumbed in the first half. ‘I’m bitterly disappointed,’ he said. ‘It was the most disappointing 45 minutes since I’ve been here and I was raging. Neil Lennon (right) shouts instructions to his team as Cardiff counterpart Russell Slade looks on . ‘We were aware that they are strong starters but we lost too many battles in the first half. Some of our decisions were poor and we allowed the ball to come into our box far too easily and got punished for that. ‘In the second period we tried to get back in the game and perhaps if we had got the next goal it would have been a different outcome. But overall Bolton deserved their win tonight.’ It could not be better timed for Wanderers amid the interest from Thailand. Cardiff, under their colourful Malaysian owner Vincent Tan, know all about the ups and downs that could bring. | Feeney struck twice in the first-half to put the Trotters in the driving seat .
Mills added a second to put the gloss on victory .
The win puts Bolton in touch with a cluster of teams at the foot of the table . |
217,615 | a5bc144b6009d3fa7a385ae7ada5050d762e0489 | MOGADISHU, Somalia (CNN) -- The Somali National Army, along with African Union troops, on Sunday launched a long-awaited offensive against al Qaeda-linked Somali rebels and captured the town of Jowhar, the AU and residents said. The joint forces faced little resistance, the African Union Mission for Somalia said in a press release, adding that Jowhar had been a major base for Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia. Abdi Isac, a local resident, said by phone from Jowhar that the allied troops peacefully entered the city after the Islamist militants pulled out without a fight or firing a single shot. Government forces and AU tanks were visible encircling the town and moving cautiously into the police stations and administrative offices in Jowhar to secure the city, residents said. The Al-Shabaab fighters headed toward the nearby rural area that is their stronghold, reports said. Jowhar, 90 kilometers (56 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, lies at a strategic crossroads of routes to the north and south of the country. The capture of the town "will go a long way towards improving security for the civilian population" in the region, the AU commander said, according to the press release. The rebels continue to hold small rural areas in central and southern Somalia but are being squeezed out of some parts by Kenyan and Ethiopian troops, which launched incursions inside Somalia in October 2011 in support of the beleaguered Western-backed Somali government. | Somali National Army and African Union troops take control of town of Jowhar, AU says .
Islamist Al-Shabaab militants gave up the town without a fight, a resident says .
The town had been a major base for Al-Shabaab in southern Somalia .
Jowhar is at a strategic crossroads north of Mogadishu . |
285,588 | fe0ce3736493a51785dfcb8560cf4c406b82ceeb | By . John Stevens . and Ryan Kisiel . Found: Ella Hysom was missing for three days, but was found yesterday in east London . The parents of a deputy head girl who went missing during treatment for depression told last night of their joy at her being found alive and well. Ella Hysom, 15, was reunited with her family following a sighting by a member of the public three days after she vanished. A shopper, who had seen the teenager’s face on the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mail, recognised her as she walked around Ilford in east London yesterday. The story was also prominently displayed on the MailOnline website. Ella’s parents had made an emotional appeal for help in finding her after she disappeared on Monday close to the Ilford clinic where she was being treated. Last night her mother Alison, 43, wrote online: ‘Thank you so, so much to everyone who has helped us search for Ella. She has been found in London and we are on our way to see her. 'We will never forget the support and kindness that we have received. ‘The advertising and awareness campaign worked.’ Speaking from the family home in Colchester, she added: ‘We are so thankful for the coverage and thank the Daily Mail. You have been brilliant.’ Her father, Tim, 43, added: ‘We really appreciate it.’ Ella was spotted ‘wandering aimlessly’ around Ilford during the late morning yesterday and the member of the public called police. She was quickly picked up by an officer who took her to the police station on the high street before her parents collected her. A market trader said: ‘She looked sheepish and a bit disorientated while walking with the police. I didn’t know who she was at the time and I thought she had been caught shoplifting because she was very pale.’ One policeman involved in the case said: ‘It’s great news that she’s been found as sometimes you don’t get a happy ending with these type of cases. Scroll down for video . Ella was found after she was spotted by a member of the public in Ilford town centre . 'I heard a member of the public saw her in town after looking at the front page of a paper and immediately rang it in. She was a bit fragile but nothing was wrong with her. God knows where she’s been.' Ella had been receiving treatment at the clinic for six weeks. A keen rower and ballroom dancer, the teenager, who attends Gilberd Secondary School in Colchester, was described as gregarious, lively and confident. But her parents said she had become depressed, which had made her anxious and nervous. Ella’s Facebook page suggested she had split from a boyfriend who had found a new love. Ella's mother Alison (left) urged anyone who had . seen her daughter to 'please get in touch'. The teenager's father Tim . (right) described her as 'confident and outgoing' Around the time she was admitted to the residential care unit at the start of October, Ella left a series of emotional messages on Twitter. ‘The higher I get, the lower I sink. I can’t drown my demons, they know how to swim,’ she wrote. She also said: ‘I long for that feeling to not feel at all.’ Hours before she vanished on Monday she wrote online: ‘I just want to die and hopefully that will happen so I don’t have to wake up tomorrow morning.’ Last night a Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police were appealing for assistance to trace Ella Hysom, who went missing from an address in Ilford on Monday, 11 November. 'The 15-year-old has since been found safe and well. We would like to thank the media and members of the public for their assistance.’ | Teenager was reunited with her relieved mother and father yesterday .
Ella Hysom had last been seen on Monday in Ilford, East London .
The 15-year-old had been treated for depression at a residential clinic .
Police had said they were 'extremely concerned' for the teenager's welfare . |
281,703 | f8edc83a8c9dd0803748b1b7620a50d208928ca1 | A police inquiry into a Maoist cult that allegedly kept three women as slaves for 30 years descended into farce yesterday when one of the suspects was told she would not be charged. After spending nearly a year on bail, Chanda Pattni, 67, was told she would not be prosecuted over the allegations. Her husband, sect leader Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, who used the title ‘Comrade Bala’, remains on bail pending further inquiries into the slavery claims concerning three alleged victims – a 30-year-old Briton, a 57-year-old Irishwoman and a 69-year-old Malaysian. The property in Lambeth, south London, where Chanda Pattni and her husband Aravindan Balakrishnan were accused of keeping three women as slaves; today police said Ms Pattni will face no further action . A police officer stands guard at the property where three women were . kept as slaves before one contacted a charity which then alerted . police . The Maoist couple at the centre of the . slavery probe – said to be originally from India and Tanzania – were . held after one of the alleged victims contacted a charity, claiming she . had been brainwashed into remaining in a political collective in South . London for decades. As . detectives continued their inquiries into Balakrishnan last night, it . was unclear whether there will be sufficient evidence to charge him with . any slavery-related offences. Since his first arrest, he has also been accused of serious sex offences – details of which the Met have not revealed. Should . he escape charges over the original allegations, which prompted a blitz . of publicity, Scotland Yard is likely to face difficult questions about . its initial handling of the case. Soon after Balakrishnan and his wife . were first arrested last November, senior officers talked in emotive . terms about the victims’ alleged ordeals at the hands of a slavery . ‘criminal network’. Detective . Inspector Kevin Hyland, from the Met’s Human Trafficking Unit, . described the case as ‘extraordinary’, saying officers believed the . 30-year-old had spent her whole life in ‘servitude’. Another senior officer said police believed victims had been kept captive in ‘invisible handcuffs’. This . prompted Home Secretary Theresa May, other senior politicians and . campaigners to speak out against slavery in Britain. Mrs May spoke of . ‘eradicating the scourge of modern slavery’ and described it as a . ‘personal priority’. Mr Balakrishnan, who is accused of sexual offences, has been re-bailed until December . But . within days, it emerged that the alleged victims had not been kept under . lock and key and at least one talked freely with neighbours in Brixton. It also emerged that the ‘cult household’ was known to local . authorities and that Balakrishnan and his wife were well known to the . police. Described as a ‘guru’, the economics graduate was said to have a . band of devoted female followers under his ‘spell’. Known . as ‘Comrade Bala’, he came to police attention after setting up a . communist squat, the Mao Zedong Memorial Centre, in Brixton in 1976 . where the couple ran their group, the Workers’ Institute of . Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought, holding lectures and film . evenings. He had been kicked out of the Communist Party’s national . executive after his faction ‘attempted to put themselves above the . discipline of the party’. Balakrishnan . and his wife were arrested following the rescue of the three women from . their home in Brixton. The alleged victims were said to have found the . courage to act after watching a TV documentary about forced marriages on . October 9 last year, which featured an organisation called Freedom . Charity, prompting the Irish woman to call its helpline. The charity’s founder, Aneeta Prem, subsequently spoke about the ‘danger’ the women were alleged to have been in. Scotland . Yard confirmed yesterday that – on the advice of the Crown Prosecution . Service – Miss Pattni would face no further action over the slavery . allegations. | Chanda Pattni, 67, released without charge, ten months after her arrest .
Husband Aravindan Balakrishnan, 73, still on bail accused of sex offences .
Allegations involved 30-year-old Briton, Irishwoman, 57, and Malaysian, 69 .
Couple arrested after rescue of women from home in Brixton, South London . |
133,362 | 386fcea369a2cbe6dbe67ea580d9429f7a34ec9c | Of all the tales about the Loch Ness Monster, it must be one of the most unlikely – an English plot to kidnap the beast and display its carcass in London. But back in the 1930s the Scots feared that such a thing was all too possible, according to newly revealed papers, and fought to ensure she stayed north of the border. The Scottish Office opened a file on Nessie in December 1933 after being bombarded with inquiries following sightings that year. Scroll down for video . Sighting? This photograph, purportedly of the Loch Ness Monster was taken in 1934, a year after the Scottish Office opened a file on the creature after being bombarded with inquiries . And similar files have also been found at the Natural History Museum in London, with the contents describing Scotland’s fears that Nessie ‘should not be allowed to find its last resting place in England’ after a bounty was placed on the monster’s head. The documents also reveal that many years later Prince Philip even suggested calling in the Royal Navy to search for the creature. By 1934 both the Natural History Museum in London and the Royal Scottish Museum in Edinburgh wanted Nessie. Strange spectacle: A report in the Inverness Courier from May 1933 noted there had been a 'strange spectacle' on the famous Loch and mentions the monster . Hunted: Scotland hoped to keep hunters, such as Marmaduke Wetherell, pictured searching for the monster in 1933, at bay until a law could be brought in to protect the creature . But while Scotland hoped that the bounty hunters could be kept at bay long enough to get new laws passed to protect her, London preferred her shot on sight. In March 1934 an unnamed official at the National History Museum made no bones about how he thought bounty hunters should deal with the creature. The files show he said: ‘Should you ever come within range of the “monster” I hope you will not be deterred by any humanitarian considerations from shooting him on the spot and sending the carcass to us in cold storage, carriage forward. Short of this, a flipper, a jaw or a tooth would be very welcome.’ Royal suggestion: The documents also reveal that many years later Prince Philip even suggested calling in the Royal Navy to search for the creature . Wanted: In March 1934 an official at the Natural History Museum in London said bounty hunters should shoot the monster on the spot and send 'the carcass to us in cold storage, carriage forward' According to more documents found in Edinburgh, pressure was already growing for a special Act of Parliament to prevent Nessie being killed or captured. The campaign was led by Inverness MP Murdoch MacDonald, who assured the Scottish Secretary Sir Godfrey Collins the creature was no myth. ‘Evidence of its presence can be taken as undoubted. Far too many people have seen something abnormal to question its existence,’ he wrote. He demanded a Bill be put before Parliament to protect the creature, but Sir Godfrey advised there was ‘no law for the protection of monsters’. The Royal Scottish Museum wrote to Sir Godfrey staking Edinburgh’s claim to the carcass. ‘The museum urges strongly that the RSM have the reversionary rights to the “monster” if and when its corpse should become available,’ the letter said. Protection: The campaign to protect Nessie was led by Inverness MP Murdoch MacDonald (left), who assured the Scottish Secretary Sir Godfrey Collins (right) that the creature was no myth . ‘We think the monster should not be allowed to find its last resting place in England. Such a fate would surely outrage Scottish nationalism which at the moment is thriving greatly under the monster’s beneficent influence.’ Natural History Museum files from the 1960s also state that when approached by a Tory MP, David James, who was ‘obsessed’ with Nessie, Prince Philip encouraged him to contact the Royal Navy for assistance. The revelations are made by author David Clarke in his book Britain’s X-traordinary Files. He said: ‘During the 1930s … Nessie had become a Scottish icon, a symbol of national identity. There was genuine outrage at the possibility that the corpse of the monster might be taken for display in London.’ | The Scottish Office opened a file on Nessie in December 1933 .
Officials had be bombarded with inquiries following sightings that year .
Similar files have also been found at the Natural History Museum in London .
Years later, Prince Philip suggested calling in the Navy to search for creature .
Natural History Museum and the Royal Scottish Museum wanted Nessie .
Scotland hoped to pass new laws passed to protect her .
However, London wanted her shot on sight and the carcass sent to museum . |
156,578 | 5672643f4b749929ef03e469348a2056a18f3c57 | London (CNN) -- Lawyers for radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri and four fellow suspects presented last-ditch arguments Tuesday against their extradition from Britain to the United States to face terrorism charges. Al-Masri, whose followers included the so-called "shoe bomber" Richard Reid and who once called al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a "hero," faces 11 charges in U.S. courts. Extradition ruling marks end of era for radical cleric . The charges include conspiracy in connection with a 1998 kidnapping of 16 Westerners in Yemen, and conspiring with others to establish an Islamic jihad training camp in rural Oregon in 1999. He faces a potential life sentence if convicted. Last week, after almost a decade of legal battles, the European Human Rights Court ruled that the cleric and four other suspects could be sent to the United States. The men's lawyers appealed the ruling. A two-judge panel at London's High Court must now decide whether the defendants' lawyers can show new and compelling reasons to stop the extradition. Lawyers for Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz argued Tuesday that if they are extradited to the United States, their detention in super-maximum security prisons would breach their human rights under European law. The court was also told that new evidence from an al Qaeda informer weakened the case against Al-Fawwaz in relation to his alleged involvement in bomb attacks against U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998. The informer, L'Houssaine Kherchtou, made no mention of Al-Fawwaz's name in an 800-page briefing document given to MI6, Britain's spy agency, the court heard. Kherchtou, a Moroccan, was an early member of al Qaeda who pleaded guilty in 2000 to his involvement in the East Africa bombings and gave evidence against co-defendants. In return, he entered a witness protection program. Lawyers for the United States argued, however, that there was a strong case against both Bary and Al-Fawwaz. This included the presence of Bary's fingerprints on a claim of responsibility faxed before the bomb even went off, they said. The other suspects facing extradition to the United States are Syed Thala Ahsan and Babar Ahmad. Apart from al-Masri, none has been convicted of any offense. The lawyer representing al-Masri is expected to present his arguments against extradition on Wednesday, one of them being his client's failing health. The judge will also question lawyers from London's Metropolitan Police Service and Britain's government-run Crown Prosecution Service. They are expected to face questions about why they passed key evidence straight to American authorities rather than pursuing prosecutions in the United Kingdom. Born in Egypt in 1958, al-Masri traveled to Britain to study before gaining citizenship through marriage in the 1980s. A one-time nightclub bouncer in London's Soho district, al-Masri -- also known as Mustafa Kamal Mustafa -- has said he lost both hands and one eye while fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He often wore a hook in place of one hand. In 1997, al-Masri became the imam of a north London mosque, where his hate-filled speeches attacking the West began to attract national attention and followers, including Reid, the so-called "shoe bomber" who attempted to blow up a Miami-bound passenger airplane three months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Al-Masri has called the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center "a towering day in history" and described bin Laden as "a good guy and a hero." He also described the Columbia space shuttle disaster in 2003 as "punishment from Allah" because the astronauts were Christian, Hindu and Jewish. The cleric is one of the highest-profile radical Islamic figures in Britain, where he was already sentenced to seven years for inciting racial hatred at his north London mosque and other terrorism-related charges. Last week's decision, which was signed by seven judges from different European nations, followed a ruling this spring in which the same court likewise said that Hamza and the four other terror suspects could be extradited. The suspects would not get "ill treatment" in super-maximum security prisons if they are extradited to the United States and convicted in American courts, according to the European court's decision last Monday. That ruling noted that conditions in such U.S. prisons are in some ways better for inmates than in Europe, given that they'd have access to television, newspapers, social visits and hobby-related items. It acknowledged the prisoners might be confined to their cells most of the time, but said this was warranted given the charges they face. More: BBC apologizes to Queen Elizabeth over Abu Hamza . CNN's Dan Rivers and Jonathan Wald contributed to this report. | NEW: Abu Hamza al-Masri's lawyers are due to present their arguments Wednesday .
NEW: Lawyers for the police and Crown Prosecution Service will also give evidence .
Lawyers say their clients' detention in U.S. prisons would violate their human rights .
The latest hearing will determine if there is a compelling reason to halt extradition . |
189,387 | 8142edd30e6ede41a359c34b39406885f061e180 | If you were to randomly shout out the name of an animal, it's likely outback adventurer Andrew Ucles has caught it. From snakes to crocodiles and even sharks, the 26-year-old YouTube sensation from Wollongong, 60km of south of Sydney, has found his own unique way of snaring animals. Now, he has released a wacky video in which he uses venomous snakes to lure rabbits out of their burrows. Scroll down for video . Andrew Ucles has used snakes to capture rabbits . In the video, which has been viewed over nine million times since it was uploaded, Ucles showcases his distinctive capturing style, leading many to question his actions. Starting off his video, Ucles can be seen roaming around the outback with his top off, wearing only a pair of shorts and sneakers. ‘I know I’ve got a s*** haircut but I’m trying my best to blend into the natural surroundings,' Ucles says to the camera, marching his way through the bush. Realising that his bare hands may not be enough to catch the quick rabbits, Ucles goes on the hunt for some snakes to help him trap the furry creatures. He uses three red-bellied snakes and a tiger snake to catch the rabbits . Opening up into a swamp, Ucles searches all around him for snakes and it isn't long before he comes across his first one. ‘I don’t know how people can step on a snake, it’s so obvious,' he says to the camera, picking up a red-bellied black snake with one swift move. Seemingly unperturbed by the fact that red-bellied black snakes are highly poisonous, Ucles carries on his snake hunt, grabbing two more red-bellied snakes by the tail, much to the reptiles' disgust. Wriggling around in his hands, Ucles takes the opportunity to tell viewers that the red-bellied snakes are as as quick as lightening and when held upside down they can reach their tail in a matter of seconds. He then drops one snake into each of the burrows and waits for the terrified rabbits to come running out . Trying to hush the two trapped snakes by whispering 'settle down', Ucles moves on, suddenly coming across one of the most dangerous snakes in the world - a tiger snake. Reaching behind the agitated tiger snake, Ucles picks it up by the tail, now holding three deadly venomous snakes in one hand and the fourth most dangerous snake in the other. Ucles explains that you have to pick your moments with snakes and it's all about the skill and tact. To ensure he captures some rabbits with his snake friends, Ucles makes sure he has strategically placed special nets over the tunnel of burrows. Not long after setting the slithering snakes on the animals, a rabbit shows his face, getting trapped in a net on his way out . He then drops one snake into each of the burrows and waits for the terrified rabbits to come running out. Not long after setting the slithering snakes on the animals, a rabbit shows his face, getting trapped in a net on his way out. Careful not to encounter a snake on its way out of the burrow, Ucles reaches down and frees the rabbit, delighted that he has proved his method works. He is quick to point out that no rabbits were hurt in the making of the video and the rabbit that was caught was released back into the wild. Ucles graduated with a Bachelor of Environmental Science and currently studying a Masters in Wildlife Management. Careful not to encounter a snake on its way out of the burrow, Ucles reaches down and frees the rabbit, delighted that he has proved his method works . He says he draws inspiration from wildlife lovers such as Bear Grylls and Steve Irwin and believes humans should interact with animals on a daily basis. According to his official website, he has been teaching himself how to capture some of Australia's most dangerous wildlife since he was seven-years-old. After school he would take mates into the bush and teach them how to catch capture animals. While he has been bitten many time by snakes, it has not deterred the young man from continuing to document his journey. He is expected to be the next big phenomenon, with his YouTube channel audience reaching over 45 million and it is rapidly climbing. | Andrew Ucles has used snakes to capture rabbits in his video .
The video has received over nine million views on YouTube .
He uses three red-bellied snakes and a tiger snake to catch the rabbits .
The 26-year-old draws inspiration from Steve Irwin and Bear Grylls .
He has over 45 million subscribers to his YouTube channel . |
235,211 | bc7baa4f1be3d510347a762428f0eb2c2dacd647 | By . Simon Murphy . Watches by Baume et Mercier (example pictured) and Givenchy, which can be worth as much as £3,000, are among items accepted by diplomats abroad then sold by the Foreign Office . Luxury watches and jewellery given as gifts to ambassadors and their staff are being auctioned off for a fraction of their original value. Watches by Baume et Mercier and Givenchy, which can be worth as much as £3,000, are among items accepted by diplomats abroad then sold by the Foreign Office. The Mail on Sunday has obtained a list of auctioned gifts, which includes bracelets, a gold coin, Mont Blanc pens, prayer beads, cufflinks, candle sticks, a blanket, a tie, earrings and even a 3G mobile device. In two years the Government has taken . in £10,401.66 at Birmingham auction house Fellows. The buyers are not . aware they are bidding on diplomatic gifts and any inscriptions are . removed. Watches sold by the FCO fetched anywhere between £800 and just £18. A watch and bracelet set sold for just £20. Geoff . Whitefield, of Fellows, said: ‘A watch that might be worth £2,000 or . £3,000 could sell for less than a third of that at open market. ‘It’s a bit like buying a brand new car – the minute you drive it off the forecourt you’re taking first hit depreciation.’ Though . the FCO refused to say which countries’ presents it had sold, a Freedom . of Information request revealed it has received tens of thousands of . pounds’ worth of gifts from regimes such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and . Burma in the past three years. The FCO said the watches were worn for a short time to avoid causing offence and then sent back to the UK. If staff want to keep gifts worth more than £140 they must pay the difference themselves. Last night, Labour MP Andy Slaughter said: ‘This seems terribly two-faced that they’re prepared to accept lavish gifts from disreputable regimes but then flog them off quietly.’ Mont Blanc pens were included in the list of items accepted by diplomats abroad then sold by the Foreign Office . The list also includes cufflinks, candle sticks, a blanket, a tie, earrings and even a 3G mobile device . | Watches by Baume et Mercier and Givenchy, which can be worth £3,000, are among the items accepted by diplomats abroad and then sold .
List of items also includes bracelets, a gold coin, Mont Blanc pens, prayer beads, cufflinks, candle sticks, a blanket and even a 3G mobile device . |
140,266 | 416063804fba2ea1ec217c5a3bf804664c6c1b6a | Cars park side by side in a vacant lot in the center of Kuta, Bali, near a sign that implores passersby not to urinate there. It was here 10 years ago that a bomb tore through the Sari Club, for a split second silencing the crowd of revelers as they chatted, drank and danced on a typical Saturday night out. Phil Britten was there with his team mates from the Kingsley Cats, Australian rules football players on an end of season trip from Perth, on the country's west coast. In his book "Undefeated," Britten, who received burns to 60% of his body, describes the stench and burning in his throat from the bomb, before his hearing kicked in and the screams rang out. "It started really softly, a moaning or whimpering, then grew louder and louder. It was piercing. It sounded unnatural, as if it was part of a horror movie, and it was terrifying," he wrote. Britten is back in Bali this week for memorial events to mark the 10-year anniversary of the bombing. He's one of thousands of victims, family members, government officials and dignitaries in Kuta to pay their respects to those killed in what has been described as Indonesia's worst ever act of terrorism. On the night of October 12, 2002, just past 11 p.m. local time, a bomb went off inside Paddy's Bar, sending clubbers out into the street and into the path of a massive car bomb outside the Sari Club. A third, smaller bomb was detonated seconds later outside the U.S. consulate but it caused no injuries. Back on the tourist strip, the air was thick was smoke, flames and chaos as survivors tried to drag themselves and others to safety. Two hundred and two people were killed; 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 24 Britons, seven Americans and 30 others from a number of European countries. New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and Japan also lost citizens, as did South Africa, South Korea and Ecuador. The attack was blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a South East Asian militant group with links to al Qaeda. Since the attack, Indonesia has tried and executed three perpetrators and killed other key conspirators in police raids. The last man to stand trial over the blasts, Umar Patek, was jailed for 20 years in June for helping to assemble the bombs. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, Indonesia president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said 10 years on "we can say with some relief that justice has been done." The Bali bombings, he wrote, "set off a series of critical chain reactions. Indonesia developed a highly skilled and dedicated police anti-terror unit. And an international campaign was launched to restore the image of Indonesia as a peaceful tourist destination. Today, tourism in Bali has exceeded pre-attack figures." One man who won't be in Kuta this week, if ever, is Grant Nicholson, the secretary of the Forbes Rugby Union club. He lost his best friend, Greg Sanderson, in the blast. Sanderson, or "Sando" as he was known, was one of 25 Forbes players who were there celebrating the end of the rugby season. Three didn't make it home. "I can pay my respects to Sando here, I don't need to go to Bali and see what hasn't been done," Nicholson said from his home in Forbes, a town of just 8,500 people in rural New South Wales. He was referring to the site where the Sari Club once stood, which is now being used as a car park. "It's a sacred site," he said. "It's like walking over someone's grave. Two hundred and two people died there... I don't need to go to and see that to be close to Greg. He's here with us." Campaigners had hoped by now there would be a permanent memorial to those killed in the attack. A monument to the dead now stands where Paddy's Bar used to be, but Britten and other survivors want to see the Bali Peace Park, a place of reflection for those killed, built on the Sari site. "Initially there were people who planted some banana palms, so there were some things being grown there, which was OK," Britten said. "At least it wasn't being driven over, walked on, urinated on." Development is said to have been held up in haggling over the price. "The landowner is asking a ridiculous amount of money -- it's not worth paying that much -- it's just unrealistic. So we've just got to work out what's fair for everybody and come to a win-win," Britten said. Until then, survivors, friends and family members of those killed have created their own makeshift shrine. In the past few days, wreaths, flowers and photos of the dead have been laid on the former Sari site. An Australian flag hangs along a fence where someone has pinned photos of all 88 Australians killed, images crudely cut from a newspaper special. Britten was just 22 years old when he was caught in the blast. It was his first time in Bali. "I flew in, was here for six hours and I got blown up," he said. Ten years on, he says with more than a hint of relief, "I'm in a place mentally and physically that I couldn't have dreamed of." This is his eighth trip to Bali since the bombings, and another step in his personal journey from terror to a place of strength and peace. "Just walking down the street I'm bumping into people I've met, or even seen in a paper, and you can just tell, you look at each other in the eyes and you can tell go, 'yep, you've been there, you've done it,'" he said. "You have a handshake and a cuddle and a cry and you move on. It's quite surreal; it's like we've known each other, all these people, for so long, but never met." While some may see the 10 year mark as a time to let go, Britten says, for him, the significance of the date won't fade over time. "Ten years does mark a significant stepping off point, but for me, 11, 12, 15, 20 years is going to feel exactly the same. When I wake up in the morning and I get changed I don't see anything different each day. I see the scars of the burns that I got. "For me each year is going to be exactly the same." | Thousands gather in Kuta, Bali to mark 10 years since terror attacks killed 202 people .
Blasts targeted revelers in popular night clubs; 88 Australians were among dead .
Survivors and relatives want a permanent park to be built on the site of the Sari Club .
It's currently being used as a car park with prominent signs urging people not to urinate there . |
49,986 | 8d5b9d4c28842dca23c670a16478d4c6ea1a3ae0 | Vincent Kompany says he was saddened that England are out of the World Cup but is determined that Belgium will make it into the knock-out stages. Belgium take on Russia in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow and a win will guarantee a place in the last 16. Manchester City skipper Kompany has an English wife, Carla, and had hoped Roy Hodgson's side would progress. Kompany told a news conference: 'My wife is English and although I like to believe my kids are Belgian, she thinks they are English too. VIDEO Scroll down for Vincent Kompany: there's a lot of pressure on Lukaku . Commiserations: Vincent Kompany was saddened to see England bow out of the competition so quickly . 'The [English] players that I have as friends and that I have a lot of respect for meant I wanted them to have a good competition and I'm very saddened as much as the English fans about the exit of England.' The 28-year-old, who has had treatment for a groin strain last week following the 2-1 win over Algeria, says he is feeling 'good' and relishing the prospect of playing in the Maracana. He added: 'I have played in a lot of the big stadiums in Europe and the most mythical stadiums in the world are Wembley and Maracana so this is something very special. 'To face off against Russia there will be really special, it was one of my boyhood dreams coming true just to walk on that sacred pitch and it will be very special - and not just for the Belgian players.' Belgium's first match brought some criticism about a lack of style but Kompany said the players are concentrating only on getting out of the group. Positive about Belgium's chances: Vincent Kompany is confident his team will progress to the next round . Talent: Romelu Lukaku will be Belgium's main striker in the absence of the injured Christian Benteke . He said: 'We are not going to prove ourselves by style, only results. How have Spain, England, Italy, even Brazil got on? Countries have to focus on getting through the group stage. 'I have come here for one reason and one reason alone, and that's getting great results. We are playing for our country and we are proud to do it.' Kompany also tried to ease the burden of expectation on Romelu Lukaku, Belgium's main striker in the absence of the injured Christian Benteke, who struggled to impose himself against Algeria. 'He has a tremendous amount of talent but for us it's about not putting pressure on a 21-year-old kid to do it for us at a World Cup, a lot of other people will take the responsibility,' he said. Gutted: Wayne Rooney has apologised to England fans on his Facebook page . 'He's only 21 so I think he probably has two or more World Cups so there is no pressure on his shoulders. If he performs well for us we will be happy, but the most important thing is he puts his performance for the benefit of the group and he'll be okay.' Belgium coach Marc Wilmots is expecting a tactical battle against his Russia counterpart Fabio Capello. He said: 'It could be a very tactical match, Capello has a great track record at some great clubs and we will see what his approach is on the pitch. 'We saw Russia play Korea in quite a rigid formation but we will wait to see against us. The most important thing for us is we have to shut down space.' Preparing: Kompany and team-mate Eden Hazard are readying themselves for their game against Russia . Mucking about: Marouane Fellaini playing with a sprinkler during a training session . | Man City's star's wife is English and he hoped they would progress .
He says: 'I wanted them to have a good competition'
Defender is determined that Belgium will make it into knock-out stages . |
151,568 | 4ff0ac83008a76b24f69ee22b821513b031670f2 | By . Sophie Borland . PUBLISHED: . 17:10 EST, 24 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:20 EST, 24 July 2013 . Casualty doctors say they must be paid double to work evenings and weekends. It follows concern that there are too few staff to cope with the soaring numbers turning up in A&E. But the demand drew an angry response from patients’ groups, one of which said: ‘It’s not a part-time business they’re working in, it’s a full-time job.’ Tough job: Casualty doctors say they must be paid double to work evenings and weekends, following concern that there are too few staff to cope with the soaring numbers turning up in A&E. (Stock picture) Yesterday a report by the Health Select Committee warned that 80 per cent of emergency departments did not always have a consultant working during the 16 busiest hours of the day. And the College of Emergency Medicine said there is a ‘recruitment crisis’, with too few junior doctors wanting to pursue a career in A&E because it is so demanding. Its president Dr Clifford Mann, an A&E consultant, said the NHS needed an extra 300 doctors in casualty to ensure patients were properly cared for round the clock. He said their terms and conditions should be ‘amended’ – with higher pay for out-of-hours work – to make the profession more attractive. At present, A&E doctors’ hourly pay is about 25 per cent more for overnight and weekend shifts. But Dr Mann said the salary calculations should be changed so doctors working shifts after midnight would receive twice the hourly rate, allowing them to take more time off while earning a similar salary. But well remunerated: Dr Clifford Mann said salary calculations should be changed so doctors working after midnight receive twice the hourly rate, allowing them to take more time off while earning a similar salary . ‘It’s not because we want people to . earn more money, it’s because they need more time back,’ added Dr Mann, a . consultant at the Taunton and Somerset hospitals trust. ‘A doctor would work two nights a week, and then one weekend in three but then he would actually get nine days off. 'It . would mean, yes, you work these antisocial hours, but you would get . quite a bit of time off, usually in blocks, which means you could do . something else with your life.’ Recruitment crisis: Too few junior doctors want to pursue a career in A&E because it is so demanding, said the College of Emergency Medicine . He said the NHS has failed to recruit 100 junior doctors into senior posts in A&E for the last three years running. Consultants earn an average of £108,000 a year while middle-grade doctors are on salaries of between £60,000 and £80,000. If their pay were to be increased, the impact on their salaries would depend on how many out-of-hours shifts they did in A&E. Joyce Robins, of Patient Concern, said: ‘It’s absolutely ridiculous to demand doctors be paid more. It’s not a part-time business they’re working in, it’s a full-time job. 'If you work in A&E that’s your job to work unsociable hours – that’s what patients expect and what patients need. You shouldn’t go into it if you want short hours – it isn’t that sort of job. 'Doctors in A&E departments aren’t the only people who have to work nights and weekends, so why should they earn more?’ Conservative Andrew Percy, who serves on the Health Committee, said: ‘I’d like to think that the vast majority of people who go into medicine do it because they want to give back to the community and that means working unsociable hours. ‘I’m on a good wage and I volunteer with the ambulance service to help others. Doctors are on an even better wage. ‘To suggest they should get paid more is effectively to say that more of the NHS budget should be spent on their salaries and that less should be spent on patient care, which is unacceptable.’ He added: ‘Doctors do work very hard, and are very dedicated to their training but to say they should be paid more is a bit cheeky. ‘What should drive you is the want to give back to the community. Public service is a privilege and those who work in the public sector are rewarded handsomely in their pay and pension schemes as it is. ‘Now is not the time to argue more should be spent on salaries.’ Yesterday a report by MPs on the Health . Select Committee warned that A&E units would be unable to cope with . the surge in sick patients this winter. Last year more than a quarter of a million extra patients turned up in casualty compared with the previous 12 months and the numbers are expected to rise further. This increase has been blamed on a failure of GP out-of-hours services – which leaves patients with nowhere else to go – on top of the ageing population with higher numbers of the elderly becoming ill. The problems have been worsened by the NHS 111 helpline with patients being sent down to A&E unnecessarily by unqualified call centre handlers. Dame Barbara Hakin, chief operating officer of NHS England, the body that runs the Health Service, said: ‘It’s very disappointing that accident and emergency departments don’t have as much consultant cover as we would all wish them to have. ‘We need to work much harder at making this an attractive profession for young doctors. If you don’t have the best possible resource, that can compromise the best treatment.’ | Doctors’ hourly pay is now 25 per cent more for night and weekend shifts .
But casualty wards are suffering 'recruitment crisis' because job is so hard .
Doctors argue that better pay would make working in them more attractive .
MPs warn A&E wards may be unable to cope with patient surge this winter . |
4,211 | 0c2ae9c858f98b38c390577fb6de7c912f60decf | By . Katy Winter . PUBLISHED: . 07:07 EST, 21 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 09:48 EST, 21 February 2014 . The ‘Brad Pitt of chess’ has appeared in a new fashion campaign looking dark and dangerous alongside fellow brainbox Lily Cole. Denim brand G-Star RAW has created an 'intense' video featuring 22-year-old genius Magnus Carlsen and the flame-haired supermodel inspired by, er, chess. The unlikely couple enter a fantastical game surrounded by concrete and steel, and a few hundred doppelgangers, while looking hot in their street smart jackets and jeans. Lily looks fierce in the campaign video as she stares down Magnus in a surreal game of chess . Magnus, whose looks have seen him nicknamed the Brad Pitt of chess, has modelled for the brand before . The video starts with the intellectual beauties squaring off over a chess board, before they are sucked into physically becoming the pieces in the alternative campaign . Lily, 26, and Norwegian Magnus are meant to embody an ominous intellect in the campaign video. Eco enthusiast Lily graduated with a double first in Art History from Cambridge University and has since kept up a stream of academic and charitable pursuits alongside her modelling and acting career. Co-star Magnus is the third youngest person in history to gain . the esteemed title of Grandmaster. He was named the new chess World . Champion in November 2013 at the World Chess Championship in India, also . pocketing £1.4 million in prize money. The brooding European gained his label as the ‘Brad Pitt of chess’ when Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn captured him in the G- Star AW10 campaign. He has since been named one of World's Sexiest men in . 2013 by Cosmopolitan magazine alongside Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper. Magnus and Lily are multiplied by CGI . Although perhaps best known for her countless modelling achievements, Lily's flaming hair hides a formidable brainpower . Magnus, seen here looking sultry in the G-star SS14 campaign, was crowned chess World Champion last year at the tender age of 22 . Lily, here showing off the SS14 collection, holds a first class degree in Art History from the University of Cambridge . | Magnus was crowned chess World Champion last year at age 22 .
Has also enjoyed modelling career, earning nickname 'Brad Pitt of chess'
Appears in second campaign for G-Star, this time with Lily Cole as co-star .
Pair battle in surreal world of concrete and steel in dark video . |
251,669 | d1c0fb9a2d2d5bedbb72e159e56cc4d8ff3533ac | (CNN) -- In 1954, wanderlust, a desire previously associated with nomads and hobos, officially became a competitive sport. A clique of frequent fliers -- before the term was co-opted by the airline industry -- banded together to start the Travelers' Century Club. To join, members needed a minimum of 100 country stamps in their passports. Rivalries between members and various groups eventually became cutthroat. Factions duked it out over what qualified as an official destination: The United Nations now claims 193 countries; Travelers' Century Club, 321 countries and territories; and MostTraveledPeople.com offers 873 places to methodically cross off your list. Other issues included how much dust has to gather on a traveler's boots before a visit counts. The bickering got so contentious that Guinness discontinued its listing for "world's most traveled person." Today, the Travelers' Century Club has more than 2,000 members and 20 regional chapters, and no surprise, the competition for the crown of most traveled remains intense. At latest count, there were four affiliate groups with members who tick off destinations the way birders might tick off white-throated needletails or upland sandpipers. Ultra-travelers . For the most part, members of these rarefied groups (many belong to more than one) enjoy camaraderie and comparing notes. After all, who else could they consult for tips on the best B&B in Chuvashia? Or commiserate with over the three times they attempted to tick off Bouvet Island, only to fail, three weeks and $25,000 later, because the icebergs were too massive for the ship to break through? "More than anything, TCC is a social group," says Klaus Billep, chairman of the Santa Monica, California-based organization. "It started at country clubs in Los Angeles before jets and the ability to get places caused an explosion of travel agents. "In many ways, it was one of few places you could swap travel tales and learn that if you stay at this place versus that place, you'll be right on the beach and have the chance to meet the owner and his daughter who works as the chef." 'This title cost me six marriages' Over the years, with new ways to parse destinations and titles -- endorsements and websites have come, too -- the social interaction part has become more competitive. At age 37, Charles Veley became the youngest person to bag all 321 countries and territories on the Century Club's list. Some then thought he went too far in attempting to take over the coveted Guinness World Records title by adding more official destinations to the list. Tahiti, for example, is by some official counts part of the French Republic; Veley wanted it counted on its own. John Clause, an attorney from Indiana and at the time the decade-long record holder of "world's most traveled man," got his travel shorts in a knot. As he said before he died in 2008, "This title cost me six marriages, and I do not intend to surrender my sword lightly." Jeff Shea is another road warrior who has walked across Transylvania, sailed across the Pacific and reached the mountain summit of every continent, including Everest. He contends that he's seen far more of the world than Veley, who, after selling his successful high-tech company at the height of the dot-com boom, became so focused on marking off countries that he logged all but 70 of the club's 321 in three years. The one thing all these modern day Marco Polos agree upon is this: Naysayers who insist an obsession to collect passport stamps is an inferior way to travel are simply spitting sour grape seeds. We'll ask you to decide. Do these jet-lagged travelers suffer from dromomania, an uncontrollable psychological urge to wander? Or is all this scheming and plotting to get to the more obscure reaches of the globe a noble vocation? Here are arguments both ways. Thirteen countries in two weeks does not an expert make . Neither does living for six weeks in Provence. "Who's to say how long is long enough?" asks Veley. "If you stay a week, they'll tell you you need three weeks. Stay three weeks, they'll say you need to spend the whole season. "You can never win that game." As far as he's concerned, "for a complete world view, you have to go everywhere. Because the news media doesn't begin to present an accurate picture." Veley says the more information you can get on your own, the better. "Five hundred countries is better than 400," he says. "Every place you're going to learn something new." As of two weeks ago, Veley had been to 829 countries -- at least by his count on MostTraveledPeople.com, the site he started to help quell the Guinness furor. Travel is supposed to be fun. Why do it this way? Getting to many destinations requires massive amounts of planning, time and cash. Even then, it doesn't always work out. BIOT (also known as Diego Garcia), a British territory leased to the American military halfway between Africa and Indonesia, usually requires hiring a British law firm to secure a permit. You'll also need to inform the U.S. military base located there that you're not a Somali pirate (so they'll call down their missiles). Bouvet Island, a Norwegian possession located between Africa and Antarctica, is covered in glacial ice and penguin guano. Getting there requires cooperation from Mother Nature. You can pay the $25,000 for three attempts to get to the island, but there's no guarantee. The Russian icebreakers that take you there might still be unable to make landfall. Even Veley, one of a handful who has been to Bouvet, says there were times he was ready to throw in the towel. Bragging about all the countries you've visited makes you sound like a self-involved ass . According to Billep, bragging isn't part of the program. Rather, members seek out enlightening and useful conversation with others who share their hobby. It's like finding a fellow Depeche Mode fan who caught their "World Violation" tour at the Spectrum in Philly. Only a few will ever really "get it." There's enormous satisfaction to be had in meeting rare, kindred spirits. What's the point of being in a country for a day or two, or for that matter, a few hours? Point taken, but Fred Finn, a British-born businessman who holds the Guinness record for most air miles logged (a less contentious title than "ultimate traveler"), flips that sentiment on its head. Over the years, Finn hasn't just traveled a lot; he's amassed an impressive résumé of experiences. He's been serenaded by John Denver ("Take Me Home, Country Roads"), spoken with Mikhail Gorbachev, had ribs with fellow first-class passenger Johnny Cash and played celebrity cricket with Pamela Anderson. He also calls Richard Branson a friend and has more tales than Scheherazade. Does all this really make you a better person? In the end, "competitive travelers" generally make the case that the pursuit of travel stamps is really a way to better understand the world. Sure, as Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder so eloquently put it, "we all know that people are the same wherever you go," but it takes being in a place to truly understand its people and customs. Or to understand how geography explains everything -- how rain falling on one side of a mountain and not the other radically affects how people live. "The more you travel, the more regional perspective you get," Veley says. "It helps you relate to different types of people, and the world becomes more beautiful because of it. It helps you understand the chaos." | Travelers' Century Club, for travel to 100 countries or more, has more than 2,000 members .
One organization says there are a possible 873 "places" to visit in the world .
Competitive travelers claim the more places you visit, the more enlightened you become . |
31,299 | 58f5944aeee0d3acd32b1fd31f0eba9b15fc07c5 | By . Ruth Styles . The Duchess of Cambridge proved one again that she's a high street princess as she swapped yesterday's Alexander McQueen for blue L.K Bennett for a visit to the Tower of London. Laughing with one of the Beefeater guards and with General the Lord Dannatt, Constable of the Tower as she arrived at the fortress, the Duchess looked stylishly sober in her blue dress and conservative navy suede court shoes. Like yesterday's cream Alexander McQueen, the blue colour of the dress was a nod towards the peace that was shattered 100 years ago yesterday. Scroll down for video . Moving: The Duchess brushed away a tear as she walked through the huge sea of poppies . Sombre: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge look solemn as they walk through the sea of ceramic poppies . Planting: The Duchess of Cambridge leans down to plant a poppy in the Tower of London installation . And the catastrophic effect on the people of Britain and the Commonwealth of the end of peace was made plain by the poppy field the Duchess, Prince William and Prince Harry had come to see. Brushing a tear from her eye as she toured the installation, the Duchess appeared deeply moved by the sight, as did Prince William and Prince Harry. Entitled Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, the installation will eventually see 888,246 ceramic poppies planted in the moat - one for every soldier from the UK, Australia and the Commonwealth killed during the Great War. Sweeping down through a window and down into the moat, the first poppy in the installation was planted by a yeoman warder on the 17th July and the last will be put in place on the 11th November to coincide with Armistice Day. Video courtesy of Royal Historic Palaces . Commemoration: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were representing the Queen . Memory: The Duke of Cambridge leans down to plant a poppy dedicated to the men who died in the Great War . And another one: Prince Harry, whose Invictus Games starts next month, plants another poppy in the moat . Contemplative: The royal trio looked sombre as they walked through the poppy field in the Tower's moat . Tour: The Duke and Duchess and Prince Harry were given a tour by General the Lord Dannatt . The Tower, long a critical part of . London's defences, also had a role to play during the Great War, first . as a recruitment station and later as a prison. By the end of August 1914, more than 1,600 men had enlisted at the Tower, forming the 10th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, the so called 'Stockbrokers Battalion', which fought on until the end of the war. It was also during World War One that the last executions at the Tower took place, with 11 German spies meeting their end courtesy of a firing squad stationed on Tower Green. Today, however, was all about the British men who went off to war and never came back, with Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge all planting poppies during their visit. Video courtesy of Royal Historic Palaces . Tribute: The ceramic poppy field will eventually include 888,246 poppies - one for each military death . All smiles: The Duchess of Cambridge shares a smile with General the Lord Dannatt, Constable of the Tower . Lighter moment: After her tears, the Duchess stopped for a chat - and a smile - with fellow guests . Greeting: The Duchess is greeted by a Yeoman Warder or Beefeater as she arrives at the Tower of London . Memorial: The royals almost disappear within the flowers - one for every British and Commonwealth death . The three, who last night represented the Queen at a service at St Symphorien cemetery in the Belgian town of Mons, were also given a tour of the installation and wandered through the massed poppies in silence. While the installation can do little other than jog memories for the men of the Stockbroker's Battalion, visitors to the poppy field will be asked to donate to one of six service charities. Among them are Combat Stress, which helps veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion. Wartime: During the Great War, the Tower was used as a recruiting centre - and as a prison and execution site . Tribute: Yeoman Warders - or Beefeaters - walk through the sea of poppies laid outside the Tower . Sea of red: The moat of the Tower of London is filled with ceramic poppies and will eventually include 888,246 . Commemoration: Some of the men remembered with a poppy were recruited into the army at the Tower . Vast: The enormous installation, which will be completed in time for Armistice Day, seen from above . | The Duchess wore a £225 LK Bennett dress in serene blue at the Tower .
Echoes last night's cream Alexander McQueen at St Symphorien cemetery .
Joined Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry to plant a ceramic poppy .
Part of Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red memorial installation .
Contains 888,246 poppies - one for each British and Commonwealth death .
The Tower was a recruiting centre for city stockbrokers during WW1 .
Great War also saw final executions - German spies shot by firing squad . |
20,172 | 394298f1344c439307fad57036192455aaf25d23 | By . Alex Ward . PUBLISHED: . 05:37 EST, 2 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:41 EST, 2 August 2012 . America is facing the worst drought . in decades as nearly 220 counties in a dozen states are added to the . list of natural disaster areas. The . additions to the long list of devastation yesterday came as the US . agriculture chief unveiled new help for frustrated, cash-strapped . farmers and ranchers trying to grapple with the extreme heat and . dryness. The affected . counties have been designated primary disaster areas this growing . season, the vast majority of them mired in the drought. Worst drought in decades: A dock extends into a dry cove at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Indiana as nearly 220 American counties become natural disaster areas as the country faces the worst drought in decades . Counties . in Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, . Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming were included in . yesterday’s announcement. The . US Department of Agriculture (USDA) uses the weekly US Drought Monitor . to help decide which counties to deem disaster areas, which makes . farmers and ranchers eligible for federal aid, including low interest . emergency loans. To help . ease the burden on the nation's farms, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack . has opened up 3.8 million acres of conservation land for ranchers to . use for haying and grazing. Poor corn: This week nearly half of America's corn crop was rated poor to very poor - the worst rating since the last major drought in 1988 . Help for farmers: The US Agriculture Department has unveiled new help for frustrated, cash-strapped farmers and crop insurers have agreed to provide farmers with a 30 day grace period on premiums . Under . that conservation program, farmers have been paid to take land out of . production to ward against erosion and create wildlife habitat. He . said: ‘The assistance announced today will help U.S. livestock . producers dealing with climbing feed prices, critical shortages of hay . and deteriorating pasturelands. Mr . Vilsack also said crop insurers have agreed to provide farmers facing . cash flow issues a penalty free, 30 day grace period on premiums in . 2012. As of this week, nearly . half of the nation's corn crop was rated poor to very poor, according to . the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. It is the worst rating since the last major drought in 1988. About . 37 per cent of the US soybeans were lumped into that category, while . nearly three-quarters of U.S. cattle acreage is in drought-affected . areas, the survey showed. The . potential financial fallout in the nation's midsection appears to be . intensifying. The latest weekly Mid-America Business Conditions Index, . released yesterday, showed that the ongoing drought and global economic . turmoil is hurting business in nine Midwest and Plains states, boosting . worries about the prospect of another recession, according to the . report. Creighton . University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the index, said the . drought will hurt farm income while the strengthening dollar hinders . exports, meaning two of the most important positive factors in the . region's economy are being undermined. Hurting business: With the ongoing drought and global economic turmoil, business in nine Midwest and Plains states were suffering, fueling fears of another recession . | Nearly 220 American counties have been named natural disaster areas .
The US Agriculture Department has announced financial aid for farmers .
The country is grappling with the worst drought in decades .
Nearly half of all corn crop was rated 'very poor' or 'poor', the worst result since 1988 . |
94,282 | 05305e7836944d30378a0efbdaa67eda1c0cc506 | (CNN)Was the priceless funeral mask of King Tutankhamun damaged and hastily glued back together? That's the claim made by a museum conservator to Egyptian media. The conservator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Egypt's state-owned Ahram Online that the mask's beard broke off by accident when the mask fell as it was being cleaned last year at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He said the blue-and-gold braided beard was fixed back in place quickly with epoxy, a type of strong adhesive. "The epoxy was not a proper material to use to restore the mask, although it is a conservation material with a very high strength for attaching metal and stone," he is quoted as saying. The conservator said there was now a gap between the face and the beard where the glue had dried. However, the Egyptian Museum's general director, Mahmoud El-Halwagi, dismissed the claims in an interview with Ahram Online, saying the beard was in its original position and that nothing had happened to the mask since he took up his position in October. "An archaeological committee was assigned to inspect the mask and beard in order to write a detailed report on the mask's condition," he said. Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty also told Ahram Online that media reports of damage to the mask were unfounded. The boy king's elaborate burial mask, discovered in his tomb in 1922, is one of Egypt's most outstanding artifacts. Tutankhamun, who ruled from 1336-1327 BC, is thought to have been about 17 years old when he died, based on analysis of his mummy, according to the British Museum. His cause of death is not known. If confirmed, it won't be the first time a historical treasure was damaged in an institution supposed to keep it safe. In 2006, a visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, famously tripped on a staircase and smashed three hugely valuable Chinese Qing dynasty vases. The thousands of porcelain fragments were eventually painstakingly reassembled. | A conservator tells state-owned Ahram Online that the beard broke off during cleaning .
He says it was stuck back on with epoxy, which "was not a proper material to use"
Museum director denies claims of damage, tells Ahram a committee will inspect the mask . |
39,441 | 6f6eed59a4810154cc00037785f206b44717bc09 | (CNN) -- More than 450,000 Pakistanis have fled their homes for safer areas in the past two weeks as the military has attacked suspected anti-government militant hideouts in northwestern Pakistan, disaster management officials said Tuesday. Many of the displaced civilians have moved from the North Waziristan region, where the military campaign is largely focused, to camps in Pakistan's nearby Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, according to the country's army. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held a special meeting with government ministers about the exodus on Tuesday, his office said. "Government is with (the displaced citizens) in these hard times and they will be taken care of," Sharif said. Pakistan launched a military operation in North Waziristan and other restive parts of Pakistan's loosely governed tribal areas near the border with Afghanistan on June 15. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the offensive is meant to "finish off" militants in the area "once and for all," Asif told CNN. The Pakistani Taliban is among the targets. More than 250 insurgents have been killed, according to the army. That includes 47 killed in airstrikes Tuesday, including 27 in North Waziristan and 20 in a different portion of the tribal areas, the army said. The tribal areas are a base for anti-government militants, including those with the Islamist Haqqani movement. Scores of vehicles moved toward North Waziristan to evacuate stranded people. Local tribesmen complained last week that transporters were charging high rates because of a severe shortage of vehicles. About 455,590 people, including 191,897 children, have fled, according to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority. Food and cooking oil are being distributed to the civilians at six locations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the army said. CNN's Jason Hanna and Ralph Ellis contributed to this report. | Civilians flee North Waziristan as planes strike militants .
More than 250 insurgents have been killed, army says .
The Pakistani Taliban is among the targets . |
156,427 | 563a1c6fa192def468a5db40a649a4ed595d915a | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 13:48 EST, 8 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 22:09 EST, 8 January 2014 . Arrested: Donald Preston Ferguson, 52, has been charged over the sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old girl in 1990 . A 52-year-old man has been charged over the sexual assault and strangulation of a little girl whose battered body was found dumped behind a North Carolina elementary school more than 20 years ago. Donald Preston Ferguson was arrested at his Spartanburg, South Carolina home yesterday and charged with first-degree murder and sexual assault. Police said advances in forensic technology enabled them to link Ferguson to the horrific 23-year-old cold case which rocked Greensboro, Fox 8 Carolina reported. In July 1990, the body of seven-year-old Shalonda Poole was found in the woods behind Jones Elementary School, a day after she went missing. Shalonda's tiny body showed signs of strangulation and rape. Shalonda's family said they had never given up hope the little girl's killer would be found. 'They said it's official. We got her killer,' Shalonda's mother Marilyn Poole said, according to Fox 8 Carolina. 'I had dreamed that this day was going to come. I have walked these floors crying out loud...He took my heart and cut it up.' Poole said her family had known Ferguson, who worked occasionally near Shalonda's school, about a month before the girl's death. Ferguson had sat at the kitchen table in the girl’s home and played cards with Shalonda's parents just days before her death, according to News & Record. Shalonda's father Gattis Poole is still furious: 'I just want to get my hands on him.' Heartbreaking: The battered body of Shalonda Poole, seven, was found near a North Carolina elementary school in July 1990 . Greensboro Police Department spokesman, Captain Mike Richey, told News & Record officers never stopped looking for Shalonda's killer. He said numerous detectives have questioned hundreds of people over the grisly murder. 'This case has galvanized the attention of officers and the public alike,' he said. 'Some of our most grizzled veterans were on the scene and to this day, it still affects them.' Days after Shalonda's body was found, police arrested Melvin Bennett, a cafeteria worker. The mentally disabled man was found not-guilty two years later. Scene: Shalonda's body was found in a wooded area near Jones Elementary School, North Carolina (pictured) in 1990 . Hopeful: Shalonda's mother, Marilyn Poole, said she had never given up hope her daughter's killer would be found . In 2007, Detective A.R. Hinson began . reviewing the case file and, using information obtained from an . interview, was led to Ferguson. Police said Ferguson was 29 when Shalonda was reported missing from her family’s Hampton Homes residence. He left the Greensboro area a month after Shalonda was killed. In October 1990, he was charged with and convicted of a sexual assault in Spartanburg and was released in 1997. Ferguson was on probation when he was arrested yesterday. He is in the Spartanburg County jail pending extradition to Greensboro. A Spartanburg County judge denied Ferguson bond early this morning. Police said advances in forensics technology resulted in the arrest, with officers keying in on a person interviewed early in the investigation. Without elaborating on the process, officers were able to develop enough probable cause in the past few weeks to make an arrest. Marilyn Poole said the arrest would provide some closure for her family. Shalonda would have been 31-years-old today. She remembers explaining to Shalonda's twin sister at the time that the little girl was not coming home. 'She . used to ask me all the time, ‘Where is my sister?’ ' Poole said. 'I . couldn’t explain it to her - why God came to get her sister.' Ripped apart: Shalonda Poole pictured with her twin sister . | Donald Preston Ferguson arrested on Tuesday over 1990 killing of Shalonda Poole .
The South Carolina man has been charged with first-degree murder and sexual assault .
Shalonda's body was found behind a North Carolina elementary school near where Ferguson occasionally worked .
He’s being held in the Spartanburg County jail to be extradited to Greensboro . |
182,274 | 7807b9996353795cc6a3f486f095a146b4b5fb68 | By . Bianca London . PUBLISHED: . 05:21 EST, 3 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:41 EST, 3 March 2014 . She's topped best dressed lists and proven her fashion prowess on X Factor, so it made sense for Nicole Scherzinger to channel her style expertise into a clothing line. The former Pussycat Doll has been busy creating a new clothing line for brand Missguided and fashion fans will be delighted to hear that it's almost here. While the range doesn't go one sale until March 11, the star has given us a sneak peek of what's to come and we can expect sexy black jumpsuits, figure-hugging bodycon dresses and electric blue cut-out midis - all for under £50. It's here! Nicole Scherzinger's full Missguided collection has finally been unveiled . 'I cannot explain how excited I am about this range,' Nicole told MailOnline. 'I have always worn Missguided and I love the clothes so it was just a perfect match,' she said of the collaboration. The range, named Nicole x Missguided, was shot on location on the outskirts of Los Angeles and Nicole shows off each and every outfit to perfection. Coveted on the catwalk: The singer's new collection aims to take influence directly from her own statement style, uniting her favourite signature looks with the season's most popular catwalk trends . Steamy shoot: Nicole shot the range, which she describes as 'urban chic', in the hot climes of Los Angeles . Hell for leather: Nicole, who is a firm fan of leather, has incorporated it into her new range to add a 'tough edge' All white! Nicole says she 'cannot explain' how excited she is for her fans to see the collection, which goes on sale mid March . The debut 30-piece collection aims to take influence directly from Nicole’s statement style, uniting her favourite signature looks with the season’s most coveted trends. 'It's inspired by the catwalk mixed with my personal style. I would describe it as clean, sexy, strong and graphic but also classy and feminine; it's urban chic,' she explained. Nicole has taken inspiration from the sports luxe trend spotted everywhere from Christopher Kane to Ashish with her sporty-inspired jumpsuits. While directional dresses with cut-away detailing and dramatic mesh-contrast crops and bodysuits were seen at the likes of Mark Fast and Lucas Nascimento. Wearable: The debut 30-piece collection, which is priced between £15- £30, aims to include casual day wear and more dressy evening wear . Dressing up: Fashion fans can expect sexy black jumpsuits, figure-hugging bodycon dresses and electric blue cut-out midis . Speaking about her favourite pieces, Nicole said: 'I love the dresses and the racer back tees, you can dress them up or down depending on the occasion. 'I am also a huge fan of the fishnet pieces, I designed them to look edgy but still be classy. It's all what I wear myself, I love to funk it up but still keep it clean.' On top of her designing and modelling duties, Nicole has been working on some solo music material. She said: 'I am so excited for my fans to hear this. I look forward to them welcoming me back into the music world.' Casual cool: Speaking about her favourite pieces, Nicole said: 'I love the racer back tees, you can dress them up or down depending on the occasion' Fishnet fan: Nicole said she is a huge fan of the fishnet pieces, which she designed them to look edgy but still be classy, she says . Cobalt blue dress, £45, right, Playsuit, £45 . Trousers, left and right, both £35 . Black and white dress, £45, right, Black and white leotard, £20 . White, blue and black dress, £45, right, White cropped top, £20 . Nicole x Missguided collection launches worldwide March 11 . | 30-piece collection revealed in full, on sale from March 11 .
The affordable range is priced between £15-£50 .
Nicole designed it with her statement style and catwalk trends in mind .
Says she loves the fishnet pieces and describes range as 'urban chic'
Revealed she's excited for fans to 'welcome her back to music world' |
281,528 | f8aed22d8650ce50636e53bac4a162272119970f | Criticism: Education Secretary Michael Gove said some families make the wrong decisions and get into financial trouble . Families become so poor they are forced to turn to food banks because of their own ‘decisions’, Michael Gove has claimed. The Education Secretary argued that people who find themselves unable to buy essentials, including food and school uniforms have themselves to blame for being unable ‘to manage their finances’. The remarks were condemned by Labour and ‘insulting and out of touch’. More than half a million people across Britain have turned to food banks to stave off hunger, according to charities. Ministers have previously argued that a surge in demand has in part been fuelled by jobcentre staff being allowed to refer the unemployed to food banks for help. Cuts to benefits, frozen or falling wages and rising living costs have been blamed in part for some people struggling to make ends meet. Mr Gove was challenged over reports that one in four parents are having to borrow to pay for school uniforms and some food banks were distributing uniforms to struggling parents. He said he had recently visited a food bank in his Surrey Health constituency. But he suggested that many cash-strapped families have brought their problems on themselves. He added: ‘I appreciate that there are families who face considerable pressures. ‘Those pressures are often the result of decisions that they have taken which mean they are not best able to manage their finances. ‘We need to ensure that support is not just financial, and that the right decisions are made.’ Mr Gove was responding to a question from Labour frontbencher Luciana Berger who demanded to know ‘what more can he and his Government do to ensure that no students turn up to school embarrassed because they do not have the right clothes’. Demand: Charities say there has been a sharp increase in people turning to food banks, including this one in Southwark run by Felicia Boshorin . Labour seized on the response with Miss Berger saying she was ’appalled’ by Mr Gove’s comments. The Labour Liverpool MP said: ’People I have met are ashamed to have to turn to food banks. ’I vehemently disagree it is because they have mismanaged their finances. ’This Government has got no answer to the millions of parents that are really struggling to get by.’ Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: ’It is appalling to suggest the rise of food banks is due to poor financial management. Labour frontbencher Luciana Berger . ’It’s a smack in the face to families who are working hard but can’t make ends meet, leaving them with no other option but to turn to food banks to feed their families. ’These comments are completely misjudged.’ Chris Johnes, director of Oxfam's UK Poverty Programme, said: 'Thousands are now turning to food banks, but they do not so out of choice, they do so when they have nowhere else to turn. 'The staggering rise in the numbers of people using food banks is down to failings in the benefit system, too many low paid jobs and rising prices that are dragging huge numbers into poverty.' In May a report by Church Action On Poverty and Oxfam suggested up to half of those seeking help were doing so as a direct result of having benefit payments delayed, reduced or withdrawn. Other factors behind the increase on those using emergency help - the 'hidden hungry' - include rising food prices, unemployment and energy costs. But Energy Secretary Ed Davey told MPs that it was 'completely wrong to suggest that there is some sort of statistical link between the benefit reforms we're making and the provision of food banks'. | Education Secretary says families are 'unable to manage their finances'
More than half a million people have turned to food banks, charities say .
Labour condemn minister's remarks as 'insulting and out of touch' |
41,866 | 760970ea4b51ce76066ad075ca52bd36e311dc23 | Standing at six foot two inches tall, and weighing nearly 17 stone, Tim Locks is a colossal figure and used to dealing with troublemakers. He was once a doorman at Cheekies nightclub in Staines, Surrey, throwing out drunken revellers and monitoring security before running his own construction business. Now the 38-year-old has sold his home and moved to Iraq to help fight the bloodthirsty terrorists of the Islamic State. Scroll down for video . Fighter: Former bouncer Tim Locks has sold his home and relocated to Iraq to join the fight against the bloodthirsty terrorists of the Islamic State . Like family: Mr Locks has joined Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia group, and said he feels they are 'like family' in Iraq . Mr Locks has joined a group called Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia whose name in Assyrian means 'the self-sacrificers'. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Locks revealed that he made his decision to relocate to Iraq last August after watching the news reports about the plight of Yazidis on Mount Sinjar. He said: 'Last summer I was at home, watching the news and I saw pictures of Mount Sinjar. I just thought I have a great life, job, beautiful house and I thought it is time to help someone else.' When asked whether he was motivated by religion, Locks said he wasn't religious but had no problem fighting for a group with strong Christian values. He said: 'I had no specific wishes to join a specific group. I just wanted to help people out here. Any society which kills people, cuts people's heads off needs to be challenged. 'I put my home on the market and started to talk with a guy online. My house sold quickly and I met up en route with my friend from online.' Finally in mid-February, Mr Locks and his new friend flew from Heathrow, via Dubai to Sulaymaniyah, the biggest city in southern Kurdistan. They paid for extra baggage, allowing them to bring around 130 kilogrammes of kit with them to Iraq. Arriving last week, Mr Locks was adamant that he had made the right choice in leaving behind his life in the UK. He said: 'Back home I had TV in every room, a swimming pool, six to eight holidays abroad a year. I did what I wanted pretty much when I wanted. 'Now I'm here helping people with next to nothing, with a group of guys I've known less than a couple of weeks but who feel like family already.' Front line: Mr Locks said he wants to confront Islamic State and added: 'I just wanted to help people out here. Any society which kills people, cuts people's heads off needs to be challenged' Inspiration: Mr Locks said he was inspired to join Dwekh Nawsha after speaking to Brett, a 28-year-old former US veteran, who was the group's first foreign fighter . When asked about his family's reaction to his decision, Locks said: 'They are petrified for my safety and that is very understandable. But they knew they would not be able to talk me out of this.' Mr Locks explained how he joined Dwekh Nawsha after speaking to Brett, a 28-year-old former US veteran who was the group's first foreign fighter. The American's honestly and approachable manner appealed to Mr Locks, who liked the openness of the group as well as its stringent recruitment process of only recruiting veterans or people with valued skills like construction. Tim also admitted that he was put off joining the popular foreign fighter group, the Lions of Rojava, or the Peshmerga, because of uncertainties over expected commitment. Rumours circulate that some groups have made foreign fighters hand over their passports in order to secure long-term service, but Tim said: 'I'm not prepared to surrender my phone and passport.' 'Brett told me: "You are free to come and go. You can leave at anytime."' Despite the small size of Dwekh Nawsha, the group is growing fast with dozens of people from around the world contacting them about helping out. Mr Locks explained how 'we put everyone through a vetting process. I have a big construction background and that is a massive skill out here for building bases and repairing homes'. As well as helping with construction projects in Nineveh province, Locks has been involved in logistics but is hoping to visit the frontline very soon. 'We are due to go to the frontline any day now to help train the locals and help defend the line against Daesh (Islamic State).' Mr Muscle: Mr Locks had worked as a bouncer and in construction before recently relocating to Iraq . Former life: The former builder from Bracknell in Berkshire said he will only return to the UK once Islamic State have been defeated . But the former builder from Bracknell in Berkshire was clear that he did not join Dwekh Nawsha for the attention. He said: 'I didn't come out here to be a celebrity but it is a way of gaining awareness. Some people move out here to make a name for themselves.' His comments come after last December it emerged that two former British army soldiers, James Hughes and Jamie Read, who both joined the Lions of Rojava and gave interviews about how they had fought on the frontline at Kobane. Neither soldier had been near Kobane. For Locks, the reality of the situation in Iraq has been an eye opener. He said: 'The situation out here is dire. Blankets and rice cannot defend the people against Daesh. 'The western world needs to pull their finger out. Send us some kit, send us some food. Send us weapons. If you don't send it, you are failing the world.' 'We are here. We are the boots on the ground. There is no pay. I am here to protect the local people and democracy. But we are seriously under resourced. 'Britain has done nothing to help the situation. I have done more to help people here in a week than David Cameron has done. He has done nothing.' Tim admitted that his life is now permanently under threat from Islamic State: 'We are value targets for Islamic State. We are always armed and never travel on our own.' Old friends: Mr Locks (third from right) poses with friends in a gym before his move to the Middle East . He admits that his efforts have been costing him a lot of money and said: 'I took significant funds but we are chewing it up. We purchased our own weapons as it is very expensive to buy equipment out here.' Despite the strain on his finances and the threat of Islamic State, Locks was positive about his early experiences in Nineveh. He said: 'The people here are fantastic. We have been very well looked after. We are never on our own and always have someone who speaks one of the local dialect. Daesh are far too cowardly to get us.' When asked when he planned to return to the UK, Locks admitted he was unsure how he would be received in the UK after hearing how other returnees had been monitored and questioned for hours by security services. He added: 'I don't know if I will be welcome back in the UK. I have sold my house. I have no time limit, no reason to return until the job is done. If I do leave, I may never be able to get back.' For Locks, the fight against Islamic State is his current priority and he appears wholeheartedly committed to the cause. He said: 'When Daesh is eradicated from the earth, then I will return to the UK.' | Tim Locks has joined Dwekh Nawsha to stop the spread of Islamic State .
The 38-year-old former construction worker sold his home to join fight .
He said: 'Any society which cuts people's heads off must be challenged'
Insists he will only return to the United Kingdom once IS are defeated . |
266,974 | e5cb58fb52df0f956ee4087f0e891500017dc842 | (CNN) -- When you're on a roller coaster, thrills and chills are to expected. Standing still -- for hours, high above the Earth? Not so much. But that's the experience riders on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit got Wednesday night, when the Universal Orlando attraction stalled due to what park spokesman Tom Schroder called a technical glitch. The coaster did what it was supposed to do, when that happened around 7 p.m: It came to a stop about 140 feet above the ground, Schroder said. What the ride -- which towers, at its highest point, 17 stories above the theme park -- didn't do was promptly start again. While the cars toward the front were at least closer to level, with a view over the hill, those farther behind were "sitting straight back with no way to move, because it's straight down," one park visitor, Ray Downs, told CNN affiliate WESH. Most riders were able to be safely taken off but, more than two hours later, about 10 still remained. The Orlando Fire Department was called in to pluck off these stranded few about 2½ hours after the ordeal began. One female rider was transported to the hospital complaining of neck and back pain, according to Schroder. Asked whether this had happened before, Schroder said, "Yes, we've had similar incidents." On its website, Universal Orlando bills the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit as the tallest roller coaster in the theme park-filled central Florida city. Peaking at 65 mph, the coaster features what the park calls a "record-breaking loop" about other twists and turns. "We are going to work to understand what happened tonight before we reopen the ride again," Schroder said. Downs, for one, is open to hopping on the coaster again, feeling that mechanical issues will happen no matter how well maintained a ride is. But his daughter -- who was "scared half to death" before they rode the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit just before it got stuck -- might not feel the same. "I said, 'It will be OK, they took good care of their stuff,'" Downs said. "Thank goodness it wasn't us." Texas roller coaster reopens after woman's death . | NEW: A park visitor says some stranded riders were "sitting straight back"
Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit stops due to a technical glitch around 7 p.m., spokesman says .
Most riders are taken off, though the fire department is called in to get the remaining few .
The coaster is billed as Orlando's tallest, reaching 17 stories high . |
5,027 | 0e4e4e23b90a9b328b063f6affe2eb6bb0a554da | By . Emma Innes . After months of tireless fundraising a five-year-old has undergone surgery that will change her life. Lily Ketteringham has cerebral palsy which meant she was unable to walk without a frame. However, she has now had pioneering surgery to enable her to walk normally at St Louis Children's Hospital in Missouri, U.S. Lily Ketteringham, five, was born 10 weeks early and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when she was nine months old. As a result, she was unable to walk without a frame . The surgery, called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) surgery, was only available in the U.S. until recently. It is now being performed at a few hospitals in the UK but according to NICE guidelines Lily's hips are too far out of position for surgeons to operate in this country. Speaking from America, Lily’s father, Steve, said the surgery had gone ‘well’. Lily and her family left the UK on Friday and she underwent the surgery on Tuesday. Mr Ketteringham, 41, of Newcastle, said: ‘The operation went well and there were no problems. Lily had some back spasms last night which was difficult to see. ‘The next few days will be hard for her as it is bed rest.’ Lily's family raised £42,000 for her to fly to the U.S. for pioneering surgery to allow her to walk normally. She is pictured in hospital before the operation which took place on Tuesday . It is hoped that the Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery will allow Lily to walk independently after physiotherapy . Lily, who was born 10 weeks early, hasn't been able to walk or stand unaided since being diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy at nine months old. However, her friends and family helped raise £42,000 to allow her to have the SDR surgery. The operation is a neurosurgical technique used to treat spasticity (increased muscle tone) in the lower limbs. It involves opening the lower vertebrae to reveal the spinal cord which contains the neurones of the central nervous system. These neurones (bundles of nerve fibres) channel messages between the brain and different areas of the body. Lily (pictured with her father, Steve) is said to be doing well after the operation . The surgery is available in the UK but Lily's hips were considered to be too far out of position to make the operation possible in this country . During the procedure, electrical stimulation is used to identify and sub-divide sensory and motor nerves. This process continues until the specific nerves and nerve roots affecting the spastic muscles are identified and cut. Mr Ketteringham said: ‘When we met the doctor he assessed Lily and told us she would be an independent walker and will probably take her first steps within a year. ‘Fingers crossed that with hard work it will become the greatest day of our lives.’ Mr Ketteringham and Lily expected to return to the UK on February 23 and Lily will start work with her physiotherapist at the Heel and Toe Charity in County Durham. She will require months, if not years, of physiotherapy to allow her to get the most out of the surgery. Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy is a neurosurgical technique used to treat spasticity (increased muscle tone) in the lower limbs. The lower vertebrae are opened to reveal the spinal cord which contains the neurones of the central nervous system. These neurones (bundles of nerve fibres) channel messages between the brain and different areas of the body. Electrical stimulation is used to identify and sub-divide sensory and motor nerves. This process continues until the specific nerves and nerve roots affecting the spastic muscles are identified and cut. Due to the size of the nerves and rootlets, this is a very precise procedure and therefore the surgery can last several hours and requires a general anaesthetic. Many months of physiotherapy are needed after the surgery to retrain the legs. | Lily Ketteringham was born 10 weeks prematurely and was diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy at the age of nine months .
She was unable to walk without the aid of a walking frame .
To enable her to walk without the frame she needed surgery, called Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery, which required her to go to the U.S.
She had the operation on Tuesday and her parents are now hoping she will be able to walk unaided after physiotherapy . |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.