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A baby who spent the first eight minutes of his life 'dead' has made a remarkable recovery. Theo Babbage's heart stopped beating as soon as he was born, leaving his distraught parents facing 'the longest eight minutes' of their lives. Doctors rushed to resuscitate him and reduce the chance of life-altering brain damage. To his parents' utter relief, they succeeded in bringing him back to life. Now five months old, Theo is a completely healthy baby. Theo Babbage's heart stopped beating as soon as he was born and doctors fought frantically for eight minutes to revive him. Now five months old, he is perfectly healthy and suffered no long-term damage . Theo's parents, Adam and Rachel, described the period when he was being revived as 'the longest eight minutes' of their lives . His mother, Rachel Cherry, 30, said:  'When you give birth, all you want to hear is your baby cry for the first time, but when Theo was born there was nothing. 'I kept waiting and waiting but there was no screaming or crying, and I knew something must be wrong. 'I stared around at the shocked looks on the medics' faces - I kept asking if my baby was OK but no one could answer. 'I thought my baby had died.' When she heard doctors counting down from five, she and Theo's father Adam, 29, knew their son was being resuscitated. 'Time passed so slowly. As a parent, it was unbearable being in the same room as my dying child,' she said. 'After eight minutes he was pale blue from being starved of oxygen for so long. 'So when we were told they had restarted his heart, a wave of relief swept over me and Adam - we just had to hope he'd be OK.' With the drama over, Theo was rushed away to intensive care. 'Like any new mother, all I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and comfort him,' said Ms Cherry. 'Thankfully that's all behind us now. He's recovered and we're so eternally grateful to the hospital staff at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. 'Without them our little baby boy wouldn't be alive today.' With the drama over, Theo was rushed away to intensive care. 'Like any new mother, all I wanted to do was hold him in my arms and comfort him,' said Ms Cherry . After a normal pregnancy, Ms Cherry's problems began in the delivery suite, when nurses explained Theo was stuck. Doctors had no other option but to perform an emergency Caesarean to free him. Following this, doctors then had to bring Theo back to life by clearing his lungs before they could restart his heart. It was uncertain whether he would suffer permanent brain damage or cerebral palsy from the oxygen deprivation. His mother said: 'We had no other option than to wait by his beside and hope he would be OK. 'He was having seizures on his first night and I thought he wouldn't make it. 'He was so fragile - even when I picked him up for the first time he still had tubes all over him, so I had to be very careful. 'It was frustrating not being able to bond with him , but noone knew what would happen from one day to the next and whether he'd pull through. 'When he cried for the first time after one week in intensive care it was such a relief.' It took 12 days before Theo could be discharged with his delighted parents and he quickly settled into life at home. Fragile Theo spent 12 days in intensive care - and it took him a week to cry for the first time. 'Even when I picked him up for the first time he still had tubes all over him, so I had to be very careful,' his mother said . Ms Cherry said: 'Now he's home we can finally bond with our baby and he's loving all the attention. 'He's absolutely gorgeous and constantly has us in fits of giggles, he's a very comical baby. 'I am so grateful to the doctors who saved our baby's life. 'It really could happen to anyone, but thankfully the right equipment was available to keep our baby alive, although not all hospitals have one.' The couple are now fundraising to buy another £10,000 specialist incubator - the same as the one that saved Theo's life - in the hope that it will help other families. Theo was cooled for his first four days to reduce the chance of any damage, which fortunately he didn't suffer. Ms Cherry and Mr Babbage hope that by acquiring another incubator, more babies will be as lucky as Theo.

Theo Babbage's heart stopped beating as soon as he was born . Doctors rushed to resuscitate him and reduce the chance of brain damage . For his distraught parents, it was 'the longest eight minutes' of their lives . But doctors managed to revive him; at 5 months, he's completely healthy .

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Sleeping peacefully in the arms of her father, this is precious baby Maya born in jail to the woman facing execution in Sudan for marrying a Christian U.S. citizen. Our exclusive picture shows father Daniel Wani holding his daughter for the first time. Daniel's wife Meriam Ibrahim gave birth to Maya five days early in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum yesterday. Proud: Father Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, from Manchester, New Hampshire, holds Maya for the first time after being allowed to visit to his wife, Meriam Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death for marrying him, a Christian . Cruel: . Martin, above, is pictured with his father on the heartbreaking visit. His family claim he is American because . his father has been granted U.S. citizenship. He is being held with Meriam because the authorities claim he is a Muslim and will not release him into the care of a Christian . Meriam has spent the past four months shackled to the floor in a disease-ridden jail after being sentenced to death by hanging earlier this month for converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man. Her lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour said the couple are 'happy and proud' of their new arrival and that it has brought a momentary ray of light to an otherwise bleak and desperate situation. Mr Elnour: 'This is a special moment for them. Daniel is delighted that he is able to see his new daughter so soon. 'The family are taking some time to enjoy the birth before they return to fighting the injustice of Meriam's sentence.' Daniel, a 27-year-old biochemist who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, also got the chance to hold his 20-month-old son Martin, who is being held in the barbaric prison with his mother. The photo is especially poignant as Meriam will never see her beautiful daughter grow up. She is set to hang sometime in the next two years as the authorities said she will be executed when she has finished weaning Maya. And before the birth, Meriam made the defiant claim that she would rather die than give up her faith. In a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: 'If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I’m not going to change my faith.’ Loving: Meriam and Daniel married in Sudan. Daniel left New Hampshire to visit her in Sudan and arrange for his wife and son to join him in America when she was arrested . Holding out hope: Daniel Wani outside his home in Khartoum, Sudan, as he awaits the fate of his wife who has been held in shackles in prison. She has told him that she would rather die than change her faith . An . Islamic Sharia judge said she could be spared the death penalty if she . publicly renounced her faith and becomes a Muslim once more. Meriam . insists she has always been a Christian and told her husband she could . not 'pretend to be a Muslim' just to spare her life. She told him: 'I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live. 'I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself.’ Daniel revealed his wife’s defiant stance during an . exclusive interview with MailOnline at his modest home in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Sitting . beneath glamorous photographs of his wife taken at their wedding in . December 2011, he said: 'My wife is very, very strong. She is stronger . than me. 'When they . sentenced her to death I broke down and tears were streaming down my . eyes. Our lawyers were passing me tissues. But she stayed strong. 'She . did not flinch when she was sentenced. It was amazing to see, . particularly because she is the one facing the death penalty.’ Daniel . was in Khartoum trying to arrange for Meriam and their 20-month-old son, . Martin, to live with him in the US when his wife was arrested in . September. She was three weeks pregnant with their second child. The authorities will not release Martin into the care of his father. Bleak: The Omdurman Women's Jail in Khartoum, Sudan where Meriam Ibrahim is being held. It is overcrowded and riven with disease . Meriam has been locked up in the notorious women's prison in Khartoum since September after being charged with adultery and apostasy and given the death sentence . She . spends much of her time shackled to the floor, is not receiving much nutrition in her food and is rarely allowed outside. Both she and her bewildered son have contracted various illnesses because of the poor sanitation at the jail. A . report by Human Rights Watch claims the prison is 'beset with . overcrowding’ and suffers from 'poor sanitation, disease and the deaths . of many children living with their mothers’. Daniel, who is originally from South Sudan, but is now a naturalized American, was initially refused permission to visit her. Daniel told MailOnline: 'They say the . marriage is void. Now, even my wife is no longer my wife. And my son is . not mine and my new daughter is not mine. They say I am a stranger to . them. 'I know my wife puts . on a brave face but I can tell that she is in quite a bit of pain. She . doesn’t get to leave the room for weeks. 'She . has suffered medical complications while in jail, but no one knows the . full extent of what they are because she is in prison. It’s a difficult . time. To see her walking in chains is difficult.’ Daniel, . who is wheelchair-bound because he suffers from muscular dystrophy, . cuts a forlorn figure as he wheels himself around his empty house. His . child’s bed lies unused, as does a child-sized toothbrush. Daniel keeps . himself busy by studying the regular barrage of paperwork that his . legal team send him. Like many in Sudan, both Daniel and his wife’s childhood were blighted by civil war. Daniel managed to escape the brutal conflict in 1998 when he travelled to America with his brother Gabriel. The . biochemist returned to Sudan to marry Meriam at a Christian service in a . chapel which was attended by around 500 people in December 2011. Most who were at the wedding ceremony could vouch for the pair being committed Christians, defence lawyers say. Rotten . care: Martin is given a drink by prison guards. Daniel is desperate to be allowed to take him home and is fiercely critical of the U.S. Embassy for failing to help them and Martin in particular, who is American . But witnesses who were willing to give evidence on her behalf were barred from testifying because they were Christian. She even produced a marriage certificate identifying herself as a Christian. Despite . this, the judge determined that because her father was a Muslim, even . though he abandoned the family while they were living in a refugee camp . in the South East of Sudan when she was six, she too was a Muslim who . had broken the law by leaving Islam. But . her mother, who is now dead, brought her up as Christian. Her mother . was born in Ethiopia to Christian parents, but fled to Sudan because of . famine, and chose to raise her daughter in the same religion. Meriam was arrested in mid-September, three weeks after her second child was conceived. At . first the couple dismissed the allegations against them as trivial, but . when the case grew more serious Daniel went to the American Embassy in . Khartoum for help. 'I . thought this would be the one place which would help me, but they told . me they didn’t have time to do anything,’ Daniel said. 'I was upset . because now that I am American citizen I thought they would help me. 'I . was threatened. They said “well your wife isn’t American, so we can’t . help”. I felt disgusted. My home is in America and still they won’t . help. It’s getting uglier and it’s not going in the right direction.’ Mr Wani said the State Department asked him to provide DNA evidence proving that Martin was his biological son. He . added: 'I have provided wedding documents and the baby’s birth . certificate, but this is clearly not enough. It’s very upsetting that . they don’t believe me. 'They want me to take a DNA sample in Khartoum, then send it to the US for testing. It’s as if they don’t believe a word I say.’ The Sharia court has postponed her sentence, to give her time to recover from childbirth and to wean the new baby. Her . lawyer, Mohaned Mustafa Elnour, a Muslim, has received death threats . for defending her but has already lodged an appeal. If he does not . succeed at the Appeal Court, he will take the case to Sudan’s Supreme . Court. Fighting for justice: The legal team from the Justice centre in Sudan trying to free Meriam Ibrahim includes (l to r) Thabit Alzubain, Mohned Mustafa, Mohammed Abdalnabe, Osman Mobarek, Elshareef Ali . Mr . Elnour said the case hinges around the testimony of two men who claim . to be her brothers, and one woman who claims to be her mother. In . court they claimed that she had disappeared from the family home in a . small village in the east of Sudan and then discovered her living in . Khartoum, married to a Christian man. But . the lawyer said all three witnesses are liars whose evidence to the court has been highly contradictory. He . suggested that the trio are making up their story in an attempt to . claim ownership of Meriam’s flourishing general store in a shopping mall . on the outskirts of Khartoum. Mr . Elnour added: 'We can prove that Meriam’s mother died in 2012 and that . the two others are definite fraudsters. But the court is not interested . in our evidence.’ A petition calling for her release had last week has so far been signed by more than 661,000 people.

Meriam Ibrahim, 27, gave birth five days early yesterday . She has spent months of her pregnancy shackled to the floor . Father, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, pictured with baby girl in Khartoum jail . Meriam sentenced to death for converting from . Islam to Christianity . Converted after marrying, Daniel, a Christian who lives in New Hampshire . She will never see baby grow up as she refuses to renounce Christianity . Lawyer told MailOnline: 'The family are taking time to enjoy the birth before they fight injustice'

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By . James Nye . George Harrison was worth more than $300 million when he died in 2001, but the music legend's 82-year-old sister Louise Harrison now struggles to get by - living in a pre-fabricated home in small-town near Branson, Missouri. Louise Harrison says she has been cut off from the family. While George left his widow Olivia and son Dhani the lavish Friar Park, a 120-room Victorian mansion in Henley-On-Thames just outside London, Louise is unable to support herself without working - managing a touring Beatles tribute band. However, displaying the quiet stoicism her family is famous for, Louise says she 'doesn't mind not living in a castle because she would rather be broke than live rich and heartless.' A long way from Beatlemania: The Branson, Missouri, property that Louise Harrison calls home. She has lived in America for more than 50 years and says she wants nothing from the family of her famous brother . Gifted a $2,000-a-month pension by her brother for tax reasons in 1980 to help her get by, Louise found herself unceremoniously cut off by her brother's estate almost a year to the day after he died of complications from lung cancer in November 2001. Louise, who lives alone, found this sum of money to be adequate for her lifestyle. She was not given a reason why the allowance was stopped by Olivia, 65, or Dhani, 35, but knows she would still be receiving the money if George was alive. She said: 'I don't care about the money, it's been over ten years and I haven't made any ripples.' Louise moved to the US more than 50 years ago, following her first husband, even before The Beatles themselves launched a British 'invasion' of America in 1964. About George's payments, Louise said: 'It was my pension from him - it was his intention to make it last my lifetime. He said, "Given my financial situation, there is no reason on Earth why my sister should ever be in need". 'But I was never concerned about the termination of the pension, I have found a way to make a living. 'I don't have any blame for anyone and I was brought up as a Harrison and to be self-reliant.' Louise relives the glory days of the Fab-Four's rise to fame with the Liverpool Legends, the tribute band she manages. Touring with them regularly, she does make appearances with the band and entertains the crowds after shows with her fond recollections of her brother and, of course, John, Paul and Ringo. Getting by with a little help from her friends: Louise Harrison, pictured left with George in 1962, and right in 2002,  says she manages to be self-reliant and has a circle of friends in Branson, Missouri . Sprawling estate: Friar Park, the 120-room home in Henley-on-Thames where George Harrison lived with his wife Olivia and son, Dhani, before he passed away in 2001 . Beatle: George Harrison a year before his death at the Australian Grand Prix in 2000 (left), and during a rare public appearance in Los Angeles in 1992 . However, with the end of the touring schedule, business has been slow and money has become tough. She said: 'I am struggling for money, like everyone, but I am not on the breadline. I am not "skint", as they would say in Britain. I feel very fortunate to own outright the land that my two homes sit on - which is better than most.' While Missouri has a checkered reputation as a den of meth-production and drug addiction, Louise claims that she has seen none of that in her neighborhood of Merriam Woods, adding: 'My neck of the woods is carefully managed by the local assembly men and a vigilant police force.' Even so, Merriam Woods is a world away from Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames, a stunning 120-room Victorian mansion that Harrison left to Olivia and Dhani. Conservative estimates value Friar Park at $40million. Louise has fondly spoken of growing up with her little brother in a small terraced Liverpool home. When we were Fab: Ed Sullivan with The Beatles Ringo Starr George Harrison (died November 2001) John Lennon (died December 1980) And Paul Mccartney On The Set Of The Ed Sullivan Show. 1964 . George was the youngest of four children and was doted on by his elder siblings. 'George was a smashing kid, always smiling. He was a great brother,' she said in an interview in 2009. 'I was very protective of him, he was just my little kid baby brother.' Louise moved to Illinois with her Scottish mining engineer husband, Gordon Caldwell, and had two children in the late 1950s. Meanwhile, back in Britain, George met a young man named Paul McCartney and together they joined a band named The Quarrymen. In October 1962, Love Me Do was released in the UK and the nation became gripped by the four mop-tops and their sensational style. However, at that moment, the band was unknown in America - a situation that their manager Brian Epstein hoped to change. Louise, stepped up to the task and she took it upon herself to visit every small-town DJ she could, asking them to play her kid brother's band's songs. Staggering: British rock group the Beatles performing their last live public concert on the rooftop of the Apple Organization building for director Michael Lindsey-Hogg's film documentary, 'Let It Be,' on Savile Row, London, England . Incredibly, she got their hit From Me To You played on a local Illinois radio station in June 1963 - the first known example of The Beatles getting airplay in the United States. She still has letters from Brian Epstein, expressing gratitude for how she helped them break America. 'I did all I could to help my kid brother,' she says. In 1963, George spent two weeks at Louise's home. He was able to walk the streets unrecognized, he went camping and played with a local band in front of a small crowd of 150. Five months later he returned to the US with The Beatles to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show - and the history of popular music changed forever. Louise traveled to New York to see her now world-famous brother and met John, Ringo and Paul and eventually George's then girlfriend, Patti Boyd - for whom he would end up writing the ballad Something. Louise recalls that the moniker of the 'Quiet Beatle' was bestowed on her brother - for the wrong reasons. George was in fact suffering a strep throat at the time and as a result couldn't speak to the press or address the hordes of screaming girls who had flocked to see him. The brother and sister spent the 1960s and the 1970s very close, but George reportedly distanced himself from her in the mid-Nineties, however - because he disapproved of the conversion of her old Illinois home into a 'Beatles bed-and-breakfast' inn, called A Hard Day's Night. Louise does not own the establishment, but did use her name to help promote it because the town had fallen on hard times. She was says that she was trying to help them economically. All those years ago: George Harrison with his parents Harold and Louise Harrison at home in Liverpool . When George lay dying in hospital in Staten Island more than 10 years ago they reunited. Louise was led into a room where she found a familiar, though diminished figure propped up in a reclining chair, clinging to life. The only other people present were Olivia and her sister Linda, and Dhani. They left Louise and George to hold hands and reconcile for 90 minutes. 'George was pretty frail, yet he was also still vibrant,' she recalled in a 2002 interview. 'His eyes were still bright. He was still George. He must have been in pain, but he didn't show it. We reminisced about our childhood, and his sense of humor was the same as ever. 'People always teased him about his sticky-out ears; now his oxygen tubes were hanging over them. He laughed and said: 'My ears finally came in useful for something.' As their time together drew to a close, George humbly apologized to his sister. 'You know, I could have been a lot more help to you; I'm sorry,' he told her. They parted with what she calls a 'Harrison hug'. George smiled weakly. 'Remember to pass it on, sis,' he bade her; she promised she would.

Louise Harrison is living in a very modest home in rural Missouri . The 82-year-old lives alone and has been cut-off from the music legend's will . She still has to work - managing a Beatles tribute band . Claims to not be bitter that she was cut off from a $2,000 monthly pension after the Beatle died from cancer in November 2001 . No longer has any contact with her sister-in-law Olivia or nephew Dhani .

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The NSA has released an e-mail exchange between Edward Snowden and the agency's general counsel's office, countering a claim the former contractor made in an interview this week. Speaking to NBC News in an interview that aired Wednesday, Snowden claimed that he'd reached out to the office while working as an National Security Agency contractor to report what he saw as an abuse of power by the agency. "I reported that there were real problems with the way the NSA was interpreting its legal authorities," he told NBC's Brian Williams. In the e-mail exchange released by the NSA Thursday, Snowden requests clarification about training material he'd received, asking whether executive orders can override federal laws. The general counsel's office responded to Snowden's e-mail, saying that executive orders have the "force and effect of law" but cannot override a statute. "Please give me a call if you would like to discuss further," the e-mail concludes. In his interview with NBC, Snowden said that after raising concerns, he essentially was told to "stop asking questions." He described his contact with the general counsel's office as an indication of what he said were his efforts to go through official channels to raise his concerns about the NSA before leaking classified documents. In a statement Thursday, the NSA said the e-mail exchange it released was the only communication found and there was no evidence Snowden followed up. "We have searched for additional indications of outreach from him in those areas and to date have not discovered any engagements related to his claims," the statement said. Snowden said Thursday that the e-mail exchange released by the NSA was "a strangely tailored and incomplete leak," telling The Washington Post that it "only shows the NSA feels it has something to hide." "If the White House is interested in the whole truth, rather than the NSA's clearly tailored and incomplete leak today for a political advantage, it will require the NSA to ask my former colleagues, management, and the senior leadership team about whether I, at any time, raised concerns about the NSA's improper and at times unconstitutional surveillance activities," Snowden told the newspaper. "It will not take long to receive an answer."

Edward Snowden calls an e-mail exchange released by the NSA "incomplete" The NSA says Snowden inquired about training material . Snowden tells NBC he "reported that there were real problems" with the NSA . In an e-mail released by the agency, an official invites Snowden to call and discuss further .

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In 1986, with control of the United States Senate up for grabs, The Economist dispatched a reporter to Nevada, an important battleground that year, to survey the race between then-Rep. Harry Reid and his Republican opponent, James Santini. "Mr. Reid's performance in Las Vegas could well turn on the Mormon vote," the correspondent noted, spotlighting Reid's religion. "Though only some 12% of Nevadans are Mormons, they punch more than their weight. Less than half the state's eligible voters bother to register, but Mormons almost always do, which gives them about a quarter of the likely turnout." Members of the Jesus Christ Church of Latter Day Saints still punch more than their weight in Nevada politics, holding a broad array of elected offices and deep sway within the business community. But the portrait of Nevada as a sparsely populated desert locale where elections hinge on the Mormon vote now seems quaint. The state's dramatic population growth over the last two decades -- two-thirds of all registered voters in Nevada registered to vote after the 2000 presidential election, for instance -- has diluted the influence of Mormon voters on statewide elections. Nevada had just 375,000 registered voters in 1998 when Reid won his first Senate race. Now, more than a million voters are on the books. There are nearly 700,000 voters in Clark County alone. At the same time the state's population was exploding, Nevada's Mormon population slipped from 12% in 1986 to an estimated 7% today. Mormon vote 'almost always over-hyped' Although Mitt Romney is certain to energize Mormon voters this election season as the first member of his church to helm a major party's presidential ticket, political watchers here say the LDS vote in Nevada rarely lives up to its billing in the national media. "The Mormon vote here is almost always over-hyped," said veteran Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. "It's not going to be a huge factor unless the election here is very, very close, because you have to assume that 90% to 95% of them are going to vote for Romney. But it's still relatively insignificant compared to other demographics, like Hispanics." The impact of LDS voters is felt mostly inside the Republican Party, a dynamic that came into focus during the GOP primary fight, when Mormons showed up at polling places in robust numbers to help push Romney to victories in Western states like Wyoming, Idaho and Arizona. In exit polls conducted during the Nevada caucuses in February, 25% of the electorate identified as Mormon, and nearly all of them voted for Romney. A similar story unfolded during the caucuses in 2008, when Romney first ran for president. The state does not keep tabs on voter registration by faith, and religious affiliation was not exit-polled during the 2008 or 2010 elections. Strategists in both parties, though, operate under the assumption that the Mormon share of the vote drops off sharply in Nevada's general elections, and that most of their support goes to GOP candidates. Republicans and Democrats in Nevada, including members of the church, agree that Mormon voters can no longer swing a statewide election on their own. But Republicans hope that in a tight election -- as the presidential race is expected to be in Nevada and the small number of states that will decide the election -- even the slightest uptick in Mormon turnout with Romney on top of the ticket could provide an edge. "It's going to be a close state, so whatever difference you can make up somewhere is going to be very important," said Danny Tarkanian, the Republican candidate in Nevada's 4th Congressional District. Most of Nevada's Mormons live in and around Clark County, the most populous in the state. They are also prevalent in rural communities in the southern part of the state and in the east along the Utah border, precincts that usually vote Republican. Mormons register and vote at higher rates . Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, a Republican, said Mormons tend to register to vote and participate in elections at higher rates than other demographic groups, usually to the GOP's benefit. "There are Mormon Democrats, Harry Reid being Exhibit A, but of those who are LDS, most tend to be Republicans, and they are quite cohesive in their voting patterns," List said. "They always have a significant turnout compared to the voting public, giving them an additional piece of power and influence. They are a force, and I think they will be very helpful to Gov. Romney in the end." Political observers here are quick to point out that the economy -- not faith, gender or race -- is the central issue for Nevada voters, as it is in other key states. Nevada's unemployment rate is 11.6%, the nation's highest. The foreclosure crisis devastated suburban communities in the state, and Democrats have eagerly seized on Romney's interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal last October, when he said he preferred to let the housing market "run its course and hit bottom" instead of intervening to help homeowners. But few here expect external factors to dampen Romney's support among Mormon voters. There are also a number of Mormon candidates running for office this year up and down the ballot, which may spur church members to show up in greater numbers come November. Sen. Dean Heller, whose re-election fight against Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley is among the most closely watched Senate races in the country, is a member of the church. There are also five competitive state Senate races that could decide which party controls the upper body of the legislature in Carson City. In four of those races, the Republican candidates are LDS. Romney campaign aides, notoriously guarded when discussing their candidate's faith, say they are not approaching Mormon voters differently than anyone else. "Nevada has been disproportionately hurt by President Obama's policies," said Ryan Erwin, Romney's top adviser in the state. "Regardless of your age or gender or religious affiliation or geographic location, within this state you have been touched in a negative way by some Obama policy." Mormon backers build support for former bishop . But the official line from Romney-world isn't stopping his Mormon supporters from tapping into their own ready-made church networks -- which are organized locally into wards, stakes or branches -- to build support for the former Massachusetts governor, who was once a bishop in Boston suburb of Belmont. Dave Isbell, a Clark County Mormon who was active in Ron Paul's campaign but said he is nonetheless "pretty proud" of Romney, said several of his fellow church members are cross-checking church directories with voter registration data to identify and contact potential Romney backers. Isbell said a popular smartphone app called LDS Tools, which lists phone numbers and addresses for local stake members, has become a reliable resource for enterprising Romney volunteers doing voter outreach, despite church rules that forbid the use of LDS resources for political purposes. "The church makes it really easy for you to get a hold of anyone in your ward," Isbell said. "If you are a Romney supporter in the church, you have an opportunity to talk to everyone in your ward that already has a relationship of trust with you." He added, "I'm sure the campaigns and the church are saying 'you can't do that,' but people will fall on their sword for Mitt Romney and some people will justify the means." Romney's support among Mormons may also be felt in Nevada outside the voting booth. Romney supporters traveled all the way to Iowa and South Carolina from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, to assist in the victory effort during the primaries -- and Republicans expect that to happen again this fall, particularly in the Western swing states of Nevada and Colorado. Several Nevada Republicans told CNN they are counting on a flood of Mormon volunteers from reliably red Utah and reliably blue California to travel into Nevada for the get-out-the-vote effort. One LDS member involved in election planning, who did not want to be identified revealing party strategy, said the arrival of out-of-state Mormons in Nevada "will happen in a huge way" this fall. Another veteran Republican operative in the state who was not authorized by his organization to speak on the record said Mormon volunteers will be a fundamental part of the Romney ground game in Nevada. "You tell them to be there at 8 a.m., and they are there at 7:55," said the operative. "Romney is their guy. They are committed."

Nevada's rapid population growth has diluted Mormon influence on elections . Impact of Mormon voters is felt most in Republican races . GOP strategists hope that LDS vote will be enough to tip tight election . Romney's Mormon backers are tapping into church network to build support .

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(CNN) -- Thousands of African migrants cram into Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, calling for a labor strike. Their chants fill the air, summing up their message: "We need asylum." Activists estimate more than 50,000 migrants work illegally in low-paying jobs in Israel. Many are fleeing persecution from war-torn areas like Sudan and Eritrea. The threat to their lives pushes them to undertake the dangerous journey via smugglers' routes to Israel. A vast majority cross the Sinai Peninsula, known for being a hotbed of kidnapping and organ harvesting. Once across the border in Israel, they try to claim asylum. "All of us are fleeing genocide, fleeing dictatorship regimes. Looking for protection," says the African Refugee Development Center's Mutasim Ali, who came to Israel from Darfur. "(A migrant) doesn't care where he gets it. We know it's too difficult to cross the border making our way to Israel, but that's the only option at the time." The asylum seekers complain that the Israeli government isn't viewing their goal as legitimate, but rather sees them as migrant workers. "The Israeli government leaves them in limbo from one side. The Israeli government calls them infiltrators, that they came here for work and that they are all criminals," says Orit Marom of ASSAF, Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. "On the other side, they never check their asylum requests." The Israeli government refers to the asylum seekers as illegal migrants who are in the country to work. They blame them for an increase in crime and say they threaten Israel's internal security. The government says it is increasing the number of security personnel to combat the crime. They are also giving refugee seekers willing to voluntarily return to their home countries a cash incentive of $3,500. But if that doesn't work, then the government says they'll deport them. "We are determined to deport the tens of thousands of illegal migrants who are here after having reduced the number of illegal labor migrants who enter Israel's cities," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last November during his weekly Cabinet meeting. "The steps that we unanimously approved today are proportionate and necessary for maintaining the Jewish and democratic character of the state and will restore security to Israel's citizens while upholding the directives of the High Court of Justice and international law." Basow Ibrahim gave up being a rebel in Sudan's Nuba Mountains over a year ago. While fighting the Khartoum government, he said, he realized there was more to life. "I'm here because I want to protect myself. I want to save my life," Ibrahim said. "I want to finish my education." Ibrahim's story is similar to that of many refugee seekers. They say they plan to return home to their families and friends once the threat to their lives is gone. Until that day comes, they say they hope Israel will keep them safe by granting them asylum.

African migrants call for a labor strike in Tel Aviv . They ask Israel's government to grant them asylum . The government offers the migrants cash incentives to return home . Officials call them illegal migrants and blame them for an increase in crime .

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One of the original 'wolves of Wall Street' is being divorced by his wife of just 15 days after she caught him at home with socialite Dori Cooperman, a report claims. Barry Gesser, one of Jordan Belfort's friends who was consulted for the hit Hollywood movie, married actress and model Stacey Alysson on January 15 after a 14-month relationship and a $60,000 ring, according to Page Six. But the union fell apart on January 29, acccording to Alysson, after she returned to their Beverly Hills mansion to find Gesser in bed with his friend of 20 years Cooperman - who was 'wearing my clothes'. Scroll down for video . Showdown: Barry Gesser (left) married Stacey Alysson (right in 2005) on January 14. But she claims that on January 29 she found Gesser in bed with New York socialite Dori Cooperman (also left) Rubbing shoulders: Cooperman, 43 (right), accompanied Gesser (left) on date to meet Jonah Hill and the 'Wolf of Wall Street' himself, Jordan Belfort (together-center) in 2012 to discuss Scorsese's hit movie . Gesser, who served three years' probation for stock fraud from 1999 to 2002, allegedly denies Alysson's account and will dispute the claims in court on February 24. Cooperman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a Manhattan Magistrate's Court last year for smashing a car window after refusing to pay the fare. According to reports she shouted" 'You don't know who I am!' Cooperman insists the alleged incident with Gesser was innocent. She said she was staying with Gesser and his bride at their Beverly Hills home as a guest. She told Page Six: 'We were just sitting and talking. I may have put on [Alysson’s] T-shirt by mistake. They started arguing. I went to my room. The next thing I know the police are there.' The 43-year-old was Gesser's date at Nobu 57 in 2012 to meet Jonah Hill, star of Wolf of Wall Street, to advise him on the culture of their world, Page Six's Richard Johnson reported. Alysson, who appeared in a 2009 mobster movie called Middle Men, told Johnson she is 'afraid' of Gesser and has kept her ring. 'Staple of New York high society': ori Cooperman and Jonathan Cheban attend 15th Annual New Yorkers For Children Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on September 30, 2014 in New York City . 'Scared': Gesser's wife Stacey Alysson went to court to obtain a temporary restraining order. Impressive: Alysson, a model, works as a personal yoga instructor in Los Angeles . Consulted: Gesser, who paid out for his stock fraud, advised the actors on the details of his previous lifestyle . Alysson went to court to obtain a temporary restraining order. Cooperman writes a blog for Haute Living magazine called 'Dori's World'. She describes herself as 'a staple of New York high society'. 'There is not a party, grand opening, or charity gala that she doesn’t know about or hasn’t been invited to,' the blog biography says.

Barry Gesser consulted for Martin Scorsese's hit movie Wolf of Wall St . He served three years probation for stock fraud, relocated to Beverly Hills . Married model Stacey Alysson on January 15 after 14-month relationship . She claims she found him in bed with a New York socialite on January 29 . Dori Cooperman insists the alleged incident with Gesser was 'innocent' Gesser allegedly denies Alysson's account .

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(CNN) -- Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni says "it is clear for us here in Israel" that chemical weapons have been used in Syria, and an international response to the crisis should be "on the table in the discussions between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama" during the president's trip to Israel. When pressed during an interview in her Tel Aviv home, Livni wouldn't say whether there is evidence that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has directed the use of any chemical weapons. But she said this development poses a direct threat to Israel, which shares a border with Syria. Livni told CNN that "the appearance is that it's not going to be only in Syria, but that Hezbollah can reach all these chemical weapons and use them against Israel in the future." Israelis have long been concerned that Hezbollah, Israel's foe in neighboring Lebanon, could gain possession of Syrian chemical weapons if the Assad regime is further destabilized. President Obama just landed in Israel for a two-day trip, and two national security issues dominate the agenda: the nuclear showdown with Iran and the growing crisis with Syria. On both fronts, Livni says, U.S. leadership can make the crucial difference. "The United States has the tools in order to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon and in order to stop all this situation in Syria," she said, and she insisted that this is the time to act. "It is not a favor to the state of Israel. This is something that represents the interests of the United States as well," she said. Israeli minister says she hopes U.S. helps restart peace talks . In February, Israel attacked a convoy of anti-aircraft weapons in Syria. That assault did not involve chemical weapons, but clearly their use would increase the stakes for Israel. Livni says Israel is prepared to take action: "Yes, but I am not going to speak about it publicly. Israel has the right of course to defend itself." There are reports that chemical weapons were used in two locations Tuesday in Syria, killing at least 25 people. On Tuesday night, U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers told CNN there was a "high probability to believe that chemical weapons were used." And in the same interview, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diane Feinstein said "the White House has to make a decision in this. I think the days are becoming more desperate."

An international response should be "on the table" amid Obama visit, justice minister says . She doesn't say if there's evidence that Syrian leader ordered use of the weapons . Syria crisis and Iran nuclear showdown are among top issues as Obama visits Israel . Tzipi Livni says U.S. leadership can make a crucial difference on both fronts .

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By . Associated Press . It cost a Bend teenager about $800 in revenue from chores, yard work and birthday gifts to buy a miniature aircraft and a camera he sent aloft to capture video of a forest fire this summer that was threatening the western edge of the city. The images were a YouTube hit, but they were also a source of worry for fire bosses concerned about the possibility that drones could interfere with firefighting and possibly bring down a big aircraft. Morgan Tien, 14, told The Bulletin newspaper of Bend that he had read federal guidelines on when and where he could fly his DJI Phantom, a small quadcopter he fitted with a GoPro camera. Scroll down for video . Morgan Tien, 14, holds his quadcopter that he flew to film and photograph the Two Bulls Fire from his backyard near Awbrey Glen Golf Club in Bend Ore. Tien's not in trouble for the flight, which went up from his patio on June 7, followed by a second flight the next day. They didn't get into restricted air space. But federal authorities cited the flights, along with others this summer in Washington state and California. They called them an 'emerging hazard.' Drones may be a problem for firefighters if the drones fly into restricted airspace over and near a wildfire, where air tankers and helicopters could be in the air, said Mike Ferris, a spokesman in Portland for the U.S. Forest Service. If firefighters spot a drone close to a fire, they may suspend the aerial delivery of retardant and water from air tankers and helicopters, Ferris said. The number of drones flying around wildfires is expected to increase, he said. 'We just want people to be aware and know the rules and know that it could become a hazard,' Ferris said. There have been no collisions reported between airplanes or helicopters and drones in central Oregon or the rest of the country, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Forest Service itself is interested in using drones to collect information about wildfires, such as determining their perimeters and checking for small fires. Tien said no federal agencies have contacted him about his flights near the Two Bulls Fire. He said he'd fly again near another wildfire, after making sure he was following rules, and he expects to see more people flying drones near wildfires. 'We are just entering this realm of drones,' Tien said. Video by Morgan Tien .

Authorities worry drones could interfere with firefighting and potentially bring down bid aircraft . Morgan Tien, 14, of Bend, says he checked federal guidelines before launching the DJI Phantom he'd fit with a GoPro camera . While Tien's craft did not enter restricted airspace it was cited by federal authorities as an example of an 'emerging hazard'

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . A natural cooling of the Pacific Ocean is responsible for the slowdown in the pace of global warming so far this century, according to a new study. Scientists believe a series of naturally . occurring La Nina weather events in the Pacific in recent years, which . bring cooler waters to the surface, have masked the heat-trapping . effect caused by greenhouse gases. The slowdown has raised hopes among some governments that it will be easier and cheaper to achieve long-term goals for limiting temperature rises to avert more heatwaves, droughts, floods and rising sea levels. Strong currents in the Pacific Ocean have brought cooler water to the surface, slowing the pace of global warming, scientists believe . 'Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La Nina-like decadal cooling,' according to the study by Yu Kosaka and Shang-Ping Xie at the University of California, San Diego. 'Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase,' they wrote in the journal Nature. Past studies have linked the slowdown in the pace of warming this century to factors such as a build-up of sun-dimming air pollution in the atmosphere or a decline in the sun's output. Others suggest that the deep oceans may be absorbing more heat. Nine of the 10 warmest years since records began in the mid-19th century have been since 2000, with 1998 the exception, according to U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Even so, the pace of warming has slowed from the 1980s and 1990s even though greenhouse gas emissions have hit record highs. There have been four years with La Nina cooling events in the Pacific since 1998 and only two with the opposite, El Nino, when the Pacific waters warm, according to WMO data. The predominance of La Ninas is unusual. The Nature study said its computer . models, based on a reconstruction of Pacific temperatures, also . successfully accounted for droughts in the southern United States and . winter coolings in northwestern North America this century. Scientists warn that the effect is only temporary and that the trend of warming is likely to continue . A U.N. panel of scientists, the main authority on global warming, will issue a report on Sept. 26 in Stockholm. Drafts show it is likely to raise the probability that human activities are the main cause of climate change to 'extremely likely', or a 95 per cent chance. That is up from 90 per cent in the last report in 2007. Its main scenarios also show that temperatures could rise by up to about 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. The drafts devote little space to explaining the hiatus in rising temperatures. Almost 200 governments have agreed to limit a rise in temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above levels before the Industrial Revolution - meaning average world surface temperatures should not rise above about 15.6 Celsius. Temperatures have so far gained by about 0.8 C and many scientists say that warming is already causing more extreme weather, ranging from heatwaves to downpours. Alex Sen Gupta, of the University of New South Wales in Australia, said the new study of the Pacific was 'compelling evidence' that warming was being masked by the oceans and that the slowdown was tied to natural cycles. Other experts noted the study did not fully explain the hiatus, especially where extra the heat trapped by greenhouse gases, led by carbon dioxide, was building up in the system.

'La Nina' weather events are . bringing cooler waters to the surface . Pace of warming has slowed despite emissions hitting record highs . Scientists warn it is temporary and the warming trend is 'likely to continue' Nine of the 10 warmest years since records began have been since 2000 .

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(Oprah.com) -- Finding a partner in crime when it comes to navigating your love life can be challenging. Girlfriends tend to be over-supportive ("I think he's really into you -- it's only been a month since your last date. Give him time to call."). Mom and dad can be overprotective and judgmental ("Independent consultant is a fancy way to say unemployed."). And then...there's grandma -- a wealth of knowledge and experience, and someone who's already landed a man once. Oprah.com: How to know it's real love . Which is exactly why Kayli Stollak, 24, turned to her Granny Gail, 75, when she decided to jump into the online dating scene in New York City -- especially since Granny (who lives over 1500 miles away in South Florida) is playing the digital dating game herself. As Stollak says, "She's a 24-hour cocktail party full of jokes, gossip, and advice." To record their triumphs (and low points), which they discuss almost daily over the phone, Stollak started a blog "Granny Is My Wingman." Oprah.com: Pacing a relationship: A step-by-step guide to getting it right . Kayli and Granny share what they've learned since they logged on: . The profile mistake to avoid: Don't skimp on the details. "In most cases less is more," says Granny. "But when it comes to online dating that's not necessarily true." As Stollak explains: "Initially, we didn't share enough information about ourselves or the qualities we're looking for in future partners. We thought we were coming across as mysterious, but I think men probably saw us as vague or boring." If it's not working, don't give up -- switch sites: Just as in the real world, some locations are better for meeting potential partners than others. Granny recently left JDate.com for Match.com. "The pool of men is much smaller for people of my age and Match has more guys in my area," she says, "As soon as I signed on, I attracted more messages and online winks." Project the right image: Stollak's sister -- an OKCupid success story -- told her that people who have pictures of their faces rather than full-body shots get more clicks, so Granny and granddaughter both opt for headshots on their profile pages. Oprah.com: 11 reasons to worship your body (and his) How the dating rules have changed: "I'm learning that men expect a woman to be more forward," Granny says, which includes calling him. "You have to be more aggressive, show more chutzpah," she adds. Another observation she's made -- especially within her granddaughter's generation -- is that sex is now part of the program. "I'm not promoting promiscuity," she says, "But if the sex is bad, why go further?" One thing they'll never discuss: Nitty, gritty bedroom details. "That would be weird," says Stollak. The ultimate deal-breaker: For Stollak: "A topless photo [of a potential suitor] taken in a mirror while flexing and sporting a kissy-face. I come across them way more than you'd think." For Granny, it's a show-off, "He is dead wrong if he thinks I care about the kitschy list of homes he owns," she says. But a cheap man doesn't do it for her either: "A few months ago I was set up with an old fart who didn't want to pick me up because of the price of gas. Then he wanted to meet me at a quarter to six so we could make the early bird special," Granny says, "When I ordered a second glass of wine he looked at me and asked, 'Are you sure?' I was positive." Orpah.com: A grandmother of 12 goes on a memorable first date . The #1 thing Kayli has learned from Granny: "She taught me to be more relaxed and open to new encounters," says Stollak, "She's always preaching that I'm young and need to take advantage of this time in my life and the options that are out there." The #1 thing Granny has learned from Kayli: "She's always keeping a positive attitude -- I try to adopt her approach," Granny says, "If it's not fun, don't do it again, but find the humor in [the date] so we can laugh about it after." Where they are now: Neither granny nor granddaughter have met their match. "Some guys come off hilarious, attractive, and intelligent online, but then you meet them and they're total duds that are clearly masters of deception and Photoshop," says Stollak. But until they both find "The One," married readers can still live vicariously through their stories (and voicemails) and those still dating can know that they're not alone. Oprah.com: Seduction instructions even a klutz can follow . Subscribe to O, The Oprah Magazine for up to 75% off the newsstand price. That's like getting 18 issues FREE. Subscribe now! TM & © 2011 Harpo Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Today's singles scene is diverse enough to include young professionals and granparents . Don't be afraid to try a different dating site if you're not getting the results you desire . Granny Gail: "Sex is now part of the program"

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(CNN) -- The Jonas Brothers canceled their planned concert tour because of "a deep rift within the band," a representative said. The first of 19 shows had been scheduled for Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on Friday, but the brothers pulled the plug, spokesman Jesse Derris said on Thursday. "There is a deep rift within the band," Derris said. "There was a big a disagreement over their music direction." The national tour was to conclude in Seattle on November 6. Fans who already bought tickets can get refunds from the vendor who sold them, Derris said. People.com first reported that Nick, 21, Joe, 24, and Kevin, 25, were arguing over the weekend, leading to the cancellation. The brothers became household names through the Disney Channel "Camp Rock" movie series. They signed with Disney's Hollywood Records label in 2007. Their albums -- including solo projects -- sold 20 million units worldwide, according to their website. Nick and Joe released solo albums and pursued acting careers in recent years, while Kevin and his wife, Danielle, have starred in their own reality series, "Married to Jonas," which is in its second season on E!. Kevin and Danielle, who married in 2009, announced in July that they are expecting their first child together, a girl. The trio came back together musically earlier this year, releasing singles "Pom Poms" and "First Time." Despite the canceled tour, more tracks are expected from their upcoming fifth studio album. There is no word on what the disagreement over their musical direction will mean for the planned album. CNN's Jane Caffrey contributed to this report.

Band spokesman: "There was a big a disagreement over their music direction" The tour had been set to start in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, on Friday . The 19-show national tour was to conclude in Seattle on November 6 . The Jonas Brothers have sold 20 million units worldwide, according to their website .

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By . Associated Press . and Joshua Gardner . PUBLISHED: . 18:55 EST, 25 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:07 EST, 26 February 2014 . A San Diego family in mourning in suing Petco after they say their 10-year-old boy died from rat-bite fever he contracted from a pet purchased from the retailer. Aidan Pankey died just hours after coming down with flu-like symptoms two weeks after buying a mate for his pet rat at the Carmel Mountain Petco. San Diego County medical examiners would later rule his death was caused by streptobacillus moniliformis, or rat-bite fever, and now his family wants unspecificed damages from the national chain for failing to prevent his tragic death. Scroll down for video... Rat-bit fever: 10-year-old Aidan Pankey died last June from bacteria his family says was transmitted from a pet rat . Attorney John Gomez told The Associated Press on Tuesday that his firm filed the lawsuit Monday in San Diego County for the suffering endured by the Pankey family after Aidan died June 12. ‘He was a bright, energetic, friendly, happy kid who actually had a prior rat, who was a female, and he had this idea in his young head of having his female rat get married,’ Gomez said. Aidan's grandmother Sharon Pankey took the boy to the Carmel Mountain Petco location to buy him a second rat after seeing how happy the first one made him. 'He'd pop her on his shoulder and that little rat would hang on,' Sharon Pankey told ABC News. 'It was like she was saying all right! Let's go dad.' Loving pet owner: The San Diego boy loved his pet rat Oreo (pictured) and bought a male rat at Petco in May in hopes the two would mate . Sudden: Aidan and his grandmother purchased the male at Carmel Mountain, California's Petco location. two weeks later, Aidan would be dead . Streptobacillus moniliformis . Rat bite fever is a bacterial infection caused by either Streptobacillus moniliformis or Spirillum minus, both are found in the mouths of rodents. Symptoms include chills, fever, joint pain, redness, swelling, rash and swollen glands. With treatment, which consists of a 7-14 round of antibiotics, prognosis is good. Untreated, the death rate is as high as 25 percent. Rat-bite fever may also be known as Streptobacillary fever, Streptobacillosis, Haverhill fever, Epidemic arthritic erythema, Spirillary fever, or Sodoku. She said Aidan wanted to breed his female rat oreo. 'He said, "you know Grammy when Oreo has babies I'm going to be grandpa and you're going to be a great-grandma,"' Sharon said. But that opportunity would never come. Over the course of one summer day, Aidan went from energetic young boy to death. 'I put him to bed after a day at the doctor’s office and the next thing I knew it just was too late,' Sharon said.  'I went into his room and he couldn’t speak. He was unstable on his feet. I got him down to my room and he collapsed on the floor. I called 911 because it was scaring me that his breathing was shallow and he seemed to be losing his ability to function.' 'We didn’t know what he died from at first,' she said. 'When I took him to doctor he said he had the flu, but you don’t die from flu in less than 48 hours.' It wasn't until Christmas that the family learned the true cause of Aidan's death. But they'd already begun to fall apart. Dead in a day: 'I put him to bed after a day at the doctor¿s office and the next thing I knew it just was too late,' Aidan's grandmother Sharon Pankey said. 'I went into his room and he couldn¿t speak. He was unstable on his feet.' 'He was my family,' said Aidan's distraught father Andrew Pankey. 'I'm probably down 30 to 35 pounds since then. I don't even get hungry. I just go until I pass out.' Who's at fault? The family is suing Petco for unspecified damages in a suit that claims that were negligent in preventing Aidan's death . 'He was my family,' Aidan's father Andrew Pankey told ABC 15. 'I'm probably down 30 to 35 pounds since then. I don't even get hungry. I just go until I pass out.' According to ABC15, the Carmel Mountain Petco sources its rodents from Barney's Pet Supply, a large wholesaler in Chino, California. The retailer in a statement expressed its condolences. ‘We are deeply saddened by the Pankey family's tragic loss,’ Petco said in a statement. ‘The health and safety of people and pets is always a top priority, and we take the family's concerns very seriously.’ Petco insisted in a statement that it uses the most rigorous safety standards in the industry. But the family is concerned that's not enough. 'It's a means to ensure this doesn't happen again,' Gomez said of the lawsuit. 'Apparently there was some breakdown in procedures. They want tighter controls.' ¿We are deeply saddened by the Pankey family's tragic loss,¿ Petco said in a statement. ¿The health and safety of people and pets is always a top priority, and we take the family's concerns very seriously.¿ . Source? Petco says its rodents are sourced from this pet wholesaler in Chino, California .

Aidan Pankey died two weeks after he bought a mate for his pet rat at Petco in June . The 10-year-old San Diego boy died just hours after he was rushed to the hospital with severe flu-like symptoms . His new rat tested positive for rat-bite fever, common name of streptobacillus moniliformis bacterial infection .

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Karl Rove's suggestion that Hillary Clinton suffers from a brain injury prompted Democrats to come to her defense. And now, her husband is speaking up, saying "she's strong and working out." Rove, the mastermind behind George W. Bush's two presidential election victories, appeared at a conference last week, where he discussed a 2012 incident that sent the then-secretary of state to the hospital, according to the New York Post's Page Six gossip column. "Thirty days in the hospital?" asked Rove, a Fox News Channel contributor, according to the report. "And when she reappears, she's wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what's up with that." Clinton, who's seriously considering a second bid for the White House, suffered a blood clot in December 2012, after falling. After first going to the hospital for testing, Clinton later was admitted for a three-day stay at a hospital in New York. The incident prevented her from testifying before Congress about the deadly 2012 terror attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, raising questions from some Republicans. She eventually appeared before lawmakers in January 2013. Should Clinton, 66, decide to seek the presidency, her health likely would be raised in the same context as any other candidate. Clinton: No need for new Benghazi committee, but GOP 'calls the shots' in the House . Democrats and others were quick to slam Rove. The Democratic National Committee put out a statement saying, "It appears Karl Rove's medical diagnoses are about as solid as his election night prognostications." The statement refers to Rove's prediction that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 presidential election. Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said "Karl Rove has deceived the country for years, but there are no words for this level of lying." As for Clinton's health, Merrill added, "She is 100%. Period." Former president weighs in . On Wednesday, former President Bill Clinton said he was "sort of dumbfounded" by the comments. "Look, she works out every week, she is strong, she's doing great. As far as I can tell she's in better shape than I am. She certainly seems to have more stamina now," he said. Clinton also joked about Rove. "I got to give him credit, you know, that embodies that old saying that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. First they said she faked her concussion. And now they say she's auditioning for a part on the Walking Dead," he said. Rove defended his comments on Tuesday on Fox News Channel, saying that it's legitimate to ask about a potential presidential candidate's health. "No, no. I didn't say she had brain damage, she had a serious health episode and my point was that I think it was from the 7th of December in 2012 through the 7th of January of 2013, she underwent, first she had apparently a serious virus. "They announced then on the 15th of December that she had at some period in the past week fallen. They didn't say when, they didn't say where. She was recovering at home. On the 30th of December she goes in and turns out to have had a blood clot. They won't say where. "The next day they say it is between her skull and her brain behind her right ear. She is in the hospital for four days. She goes home, is back in the office on the 7th and testifies on the 25th wearing special glasses that allow her to deal with the double vision that this episode caused," Rove said . While she was hospitalized, Clinton's doctors said they were confident that she would make a full recovery. Clinton has increasingly come under attack by Republicans as she seriously considers a presidential bid. If she decides to run, she would instantly become the overwhelming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. At the same time, Clinton is keeping up a very demanding speaking schedule that includes lots of travel. Hillary Clinton edges down slightly in new CNN/ORC 2016 poll . Stepped up attacks . While she mulls her decision, the GOP and pro-Republican outside groups have stepped up their attacks on Clinton, on everything from the Benghazi incident to the 1990s Monica Lewinsky scandal. Rove said Clinton's health will be a factor if she runs. "My point was that Hillary Clinton wants to run for president, but she would not be human if this didn't enter in as a consideration. My other point is this will be an issue in the 2016 race whether she likes it or not. Every presidential candidate is asked for their health records," Rove added Tuesday. Following Rove's appearance on Fox News, Merrill released a new statement. "From the moment this happened 17 months ago, the Right has politicized her health. First they accused her of faking it, now they've resorted to the other extreme -- and are flat out lying. Even this morning, Karl Rove is still all over the map and is continuing to get the facts wrong. But he doesn't care, because all he wants to do is inject the issue into the echo chamber, and he's succeeding. It's flagrant and thinly veiled," Merrill said. The 2012 incident was not the first time Clinton dealt with blood clots. She told the New York Daily News in 2007 that while campaigning for Sen. Chuck Schumer in 1998 she suffered a large blood clot behind her right knee and had to be rushed to Bethesda Naval Hospital. Clinton also fell and fractured her right elbow as secretary of state in 2009 and was treated at George Washington University Hospital. Age an issue in presidential elections . Rove pointed out that some Democrats in 2008 made Republican presidential nominee John McCain's age an issue during the campaign. The age attacks were not limited to outside groups, either. Then-Sen. Barack Obama said McCain had "lost his bearings" while pursuing the Republican nomination, a line that was seen as a subtle attack. Age is often made a campaign issue. Bill Clinton's campaign portrayed incumbent George H.W. Bush as old and out of touch during the 1992 presidential race. Then-President Ronald Reagan famously turned the issue on its head in 1984 by telling voters during a debate with challenger Walter Mondale that "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."

Karl Rove suggested that Hillary Clinton suffers from a brain injury . Rove has come under fire for his comments . Clinton suffered a blood clot in December 2012 after falling . Bill Clinton says Hillary is strong, and is "in better shape than I am"

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(CNN) -- Two Virginia day care workers have been fired after photos of children in their care showed up on Instagram -- along with comments making fun of them. "He is thinking cuz sure can't talk," one day care manager from Heavenly Haven Learning Center 2 wrote, according to CNN affiliate WAVY. The 2-year-old child the worker was referring to has delayed speech development, and is pictured sitting in a high chair, looking dejected. Melissa Jordan says the photo shows her son, Ethan. Speaking Tuesday to CNN's "New Day," she had a message for the day care workers: "If you don't genuinely love and care for children, and if it's not a passion of yours, this isn't something that you should be involved in. If you think it's funny that a child is delayed or if they're not perfect or they have shortcomings, if that's a joke to you or something that you think you should tease about, that's not a job for you." "That's how bullying starts. That's how children become bullies" and insecure, she added. The photo was posted by @mz_oneofakind -- later identified as Jena Ferrel, who worked at the center, WAVY reported. Ferrel would not speak to the station on camera. "I'm sick of this s***!!!" she wrote in a caption. Ethan wasn't the only child publicized. The user @mz_oneofakind also posted a photo of a boy whose protruding front teeth she compared to those of Mater from the movie "Cars." The @mz_oneofakind account has been taken down. Heavenly Haven's operator said the two employees violated the day care's privacy policy. The center has also apologized to Jordan. The Virginia Department of Social Services is investigating the incident. Asked how she would feel if the workers involved said it was a misunderstanding and that they were just trying to be funny, Jordan told CNN, "maybe I would be a little bit more understanding, like OK, it was an inappropriate joke." There's no excuse, "but at least I can understand a human error," she said. "But that hasn't even happened." "At my house we don't make fun of each other for our shortcomings, things that are out of our control," she said. "Things that we need extra help with, we don't tease each other about."

NEW: "That's how bullying starts," one mother says of the day care workers' actions . "He is thinking cuz sure can't talk," one employee wrote of a boy with delayed speech . State's department of social services is investigating A Heavenly Haven Learning Center 2 . The day care center apologized to the boy's mother .

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Scientists have developed breakthrough drugs that cure skin cancer. The treatment is already having ‘spectacular’ effects in seriously ill melanoma patients – and could soon be used to defeat other types of cancer. One scientist said it was ‘amazing’ that researchers could talk  of ‘using the C-word – cure’ for the first time, while another said trials among kidney and lung cancer patients are ‘very exciting’. Each year almost 13,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with melanoma, including two people aged 15 to 34 every day . One in six patients ravaged by deadly skin cancer are already being cured by the drugs, the European Cancer Congress was told yesterday, with the possibility of more than half being saved with an new combination. The astonishing development will save  the lives of thousands of patients with advanced melanoma, who usually die within months of being diagnosed. The new treatment, which will bring hope to  hundreds of thousands of people in Britain with terminal conditions, involves the combination of two  different types of drug that ‘reboot’ the immune system. The first is ipilimumab – or ‘ipi’. According to research presented to the European congress in Amsterdam yesterday, 17 per cent of patients are cured by this drug alone. But many more – perhaps more than half – could be ‘clinically cured’ by combining them with even newer drugs called anti-PD1s which break down cancer cells’ defences. Professor Alexander Eggermont of the Institut Gustave Roussy in France said: ‘[Advanced] melanoma could become a curable disease for perhaps more than 50 per cent of patients within five to 10 years.’ He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If I’d made this bizarre prediction five years ago, people would have said I was mad. But it now looks like we are going to have control of advanced melanoma for years, in a substantial proportion of patients.’ Each year almost 13,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with melanoma, including two people aged 15 to 34 every day. It kills 2,200 a year, accounting for four in five skin cancer deaths. The number of cases has quadrupled in 30 years, due in part to our fondness for foreign holidays to sunny destinations. If caught early enough, malignant moles can be cut out before the cancer spreads, but if it is missed and the cancer turns ‘metastatic’ – spreading to other organs – chances of long term survival plummet. At that stage patients are usually told they have just months to live. Currently, less than a quarter survive a year or more. Prof Eggermont believed these new immunotherapy drugs would be adopted ‘across the board’ to successfully treat a wide range of other advanced ‘solid tumour’ cancers. He said: ‘These drugs are going to help a large number of people. It’s a massive deal. Reports from trials with patients who have advanced kidney and lung cancer are very exciting.’ In one lung cancer trial using anti-PD1 drugs, tumours markedly shrank in a quarter of very ill patients who had failed to respond to chemotherapy, he said. Trials had also been started in patients with prostate, bowel and breast cancer. Prof Stephen Hodi, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, found encouraging results in the survival chances of almost 5,000 melanoma patients put on ipi.  ‘This is a really amazing time,’ he said. ‘A few years ago we could never have imagined using the C-word – cure – in melanoma. But we are headed that way.’ Cancer scientists have tried for decades to create drugs which help the immune system fight cancer, but until very recently immunotherapy appeared to be a dead-end. Prof Eggermont said 24 of his 27 years in the field had been ‘very  difficult .  .  . I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.’ Most attempts had failed because they had concentrated on the wrong thing: activating cancer-fighting  T-cells, rather than breaking down the tumours’ defences. He said: ‘All these attempts ended when they came up against the wall of defence. We needed to break down that wall and open up the tumour to attack, which ipi and the anti-PD1s do in different ways. Now it’s a totally different ball game.’ British experts yesterday said there was ‘enormous excitement’ at the new drugs – although they stressed it was still early days. Professor Peter Johnson, chief  clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: ‘We have always thought that if you can get the immune system to respond to a tumour, then it’s likely to be a long-lasting effect, because the immune system is designed to last for life. So it’s very exciting that we are starting to see it working.’ Dr James Larkin, of the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, said ipi alone was ‘a vast improvement’ on previous treatment. ‘Traditionally, when melanoma has spread to other organs, it is regarded as incurable. So this is big news. ‘It’s difficult to know that we have actually ‘cured’ people, because we have to wait to see if they die from something else. But all this new ipi data points to the fact that if you respond to the drug and are still alive three years after treatment, then it’s very likely that you are  clinically cured. It’s a very big story.’ The breakthrough comes after David Cameron announced the extension of a £200 million-a-year budget to pay for cancer treatments denied to NHS patients because rationing body NICE believes they are poor value for money. Ipi is already available on the NHS, under the brand name Yervoy, although its course of four treatments is very expensive. Dr Larkin is now working on a trial  to combine ipi with anti-PD1 and said early results have shown ‘spectacular levels of tumour shrinkage’. Initial trial results presented  earlier this year showed that tumours shrank by more than half in 11 per cent of patients put on ipi, in 41 per cent put on anti-PD1s – but in 53 per cent of those given both. Professor Paul Workman of the Institute of Cancer Research described the immune-boosters as ‘a real breakthrough’, adding: ‘I think we will have the expertise to take more patients to five, ten years [of life] and eventually cure them.’ Charlotte Fionda of the Karen  Clifford Skin Cancer Charity said: ‘It is really encouraging to see positive data. We hope that this is just the beginning.’

New treatment combine two different drugs that 'reboot' immune system . One in six ravaged by skin cancer are already being cured by the drugs . Each year almost 13,000 people in Britain are diagnosed with melanoma .

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Banned: Dr Mirza Tariq Ali, 39, a locum surgeon, fled the country after being charged with violent disorder . A Muslim surgeon who was convicted in the first-ever successful prosecution for Islamic sectarian violence in Britain has been banned from practising as a doctor. Dr Mirza Tariq Ali, 39, a locum surgeon, fled the country after being charged with violent disorder during an extremist rally in Central London in May last year. He is now feared to be fighting as a jihadi in Syria. In June, Ali, from Walthamstow, East London, was found guilty in his absence at the Old Bailey of violent disorder and sentenced to 15 months. Last week, Ali was struck off by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) after a hearing in Manchester. The MPTS heard how Ali – who worked as a general surgery registrar in hospitals across the capital – helped to organise a rally against the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad for members of the banned Sunni Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun in Edgware Road, Central London. Some of the protesters at the rally assaulted a number of Shia bystanders, and Ali was seen hitting one of the victims repeatedly with a flag post, the tribunal heard. Scotland Yard said an arrest warrant for Ali is outstanding, but declined to comment on whether he is fighting in Syria. Assault: Ali is now feared to be fighting as a jihadi in Syria. Above, Civilians overlooking Kobane, Syria, watch the conflict between Islamic State militants and Syrian Kurds . Fears: Ali helped to organise a rally against the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad for members of the banned Sunni Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun. Above, tanks move into their positions overlooking Kobane, Syria .

Dr Mirza Tariq Ali fled the country after being charged with violent disorder . Convicted in relation to an extremist rally in Central London last May . Ali, 39, from East London, is now feared to be fighting as a jihadi in Syria .

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Johannesburg (CNN) -- The wife of the South African state security minister was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for drug dealing that included hiring smugglers, authorities said. Cheryl Cwele was convicted after one of the women testified against her. Charmaine Moss, who testified against her, said Cwele asked them to pick up a parcel in Turkey, but she turned her down. Prosecutors relied on the woman's testimony, text messages and e-mails to prove their case, said Natasha Ramkisson, a spokeswoman for the national prosecuting authority. Moss told the court that Cwele offered them more than $3,500. Another woman agreed to pick up the package, and was arrested in Brazil, where she is now serving an eight-year sentence for drug trafficking, Ramkisson said. Cwele was convicted Thursday together with a Nigerian accomplice. She had pleaded not guilty. Opposition parties called on minister Siyabonga Cwele to resign following his wife's sentencing. The minister is a member of the ruling African National Congress. "This entire episode is an embarrassing blow to the reputation of South Africa and its government," said Phillip Dexter of the Congress of the People, which broke away from the ruling party. Presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa declined to comment.

NEW: Opposition parties call for the minister's resignation . Cheryl Cwele is married to Siyabonga Cwele . She is sentenced together with an accomplice .

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A convicted fraudster and old friend of the Mayor of London has boasted how he flew 6,000 miles to London to assault a journalist who insulted his wife. Darius Guppy, 49, who has known Boris Johnson since they were students together at Eton and then Oxford, was so enraged by a newspaper article about him that he believed 'humiliated' his wife, Sunderland-born Patricia, he flew from his home in Cape Town to exact revenge. Notoriously vengeful Guppy, who served time in prison for faking a jewel heist, tracked the journalist down to his home, lay in wait for him and then knocked him to the ground as he left the house before tipping a sack of horse manure over him. Darius Guppy, pictured with wife Patricia, sought revenge on a journalist over a perceived insult . In an article boasting about his attack on the man, Guppy - a former friend and Oxford peer of both Boris Johnson and Earl Spencer, wrote: 'I waited for him to emerge from his house, chased him, and then, having knocked him to the ground, emptied over his head a sack of horse manure rendered slurry by the addition of bottled water - a concoction made possible courtesy of Hyde Park Riding School and the springs of Evian. 'The aim had been not to hurt him but to humiliate him as he had sought to humiliate my wife. 'And humiliate him is exactly what I did, in front of his neighbours who had poured out on to the street at the sound of his screams.' Writing in the New Statesman, Guppy said he had two friends with him filming the entire incident, but he says he chose not to put the footage onto the internet as he did not wish to hurt the journalist's family. His article, entitled Who Will Bully The Bullies? names neither the journalist nor the article that upset him, although earlier this year an article appeared in a broadsheet newspaper that cast an aspersion on Mrs Guppy's past. Boris Johnson has said of his old friend that he lives by 'the Homeric code of honour, loyalty and revenge'. Darius Guppy, back row, fourth from right, was a member of the notorious Bullingdon Club at Oxford University with Boris Johnson, centre front . In a recent BBC interview with Eddie Mair, the London mayor denied tracking down a tabloid journalist 20 years ago whom Guppy wanted beaten up over probings into him for an article. The affair that the journalist, Stuart Collier, was looking into was the fraud that resulted - eventually - in Guppy going to jail. Guppy and Spencer were best men at each other's weddings - this was at Earl Spencer's wedding to model Victoria Lockwood . Angry with insurers Lloyd's of London after his father lost his home and money in the 1990s financial crisis, Guppy and his fellow Oxford graduate Ben Marsh hired a stooge to tie them up in their room at the Halloran House Hotel in New York and shoot a mattress. When police arrived they convinced them they had been the subject of a jewel heist - Guppy 'sobbing like a baby' for effect. Lloyd's paid up for the 'stolen' jewels within weeks, but the stooge, Peter Risdon, was angry at the small sum he had been paid for his part in the fraud.  Collier started looking into the incident, and Guppy got wind of it. Risdon recorded a conversation between Guppy and Boris Johnson in which they discussed finding the journalist and Guppy said: 'There is nothing I won't do to get my revenge'. In 1993 Guppy was jailed for five years and ordered to pay a £533,000 fine.  Guppy said he had no money and declared himself bankrupt, and was ordered to stay in jail until the fine was paid. But a mystery benefactor lent him £165,000 to get him out jail - a man many suspected was his old friend Charles Spencer.  Guppy was freed in 1996 and moved first to Ireland and then to South Africa. Guppy still lives in South Africa with his wife, with whom he has three children, but has fallen out with his old friend Charles Spencer over unfounded suggestions the latter had tried to seduce his wife. Today there were calls on Twitter for Guppy to be arrested over the alleged assault, but a Met Police spokesman told MailOnline they had not been asked to investigate any such incident.

Guppy, 49, says he flew from Cape Town to London to exact revenge on man . He took exception to article he believed 'humiliated' his wife, Patricia . Guppy is an old friend of the Mayor of London and of Earl Spencer . In 1993 he was jailed for organising a faked jewel heist for £1.8m insurance .

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Apology: A woman had to go to hospital after drinking a free coffee from Waitrose that contained cleaning fluid . A woman had to go to hospital after drinking a free coffee from Waitrose that contained cleaning fluid. She felt ill after drinking the  coffee, given away in the store’s membership card scheme. Paramedics were called to the Lewes, East Sussex branch of the supermarket and advised her to visit a specialist burns unit. On a local internet forum her husband, who has not been named, said Waitrose offered his wife just £25. He said they spent hours at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. He wrote: ‘Maybe they hadn’t rinsed the machine out, so she ended up drinking a cup of coffee containing cleaning chemicals and then we both spent the  morning in Brighton A&E. ‘She’s still in some discomfort but will probably be OK.’ Five days later, he added: ‘My wife is still unwell and we just received a letter of apology from Waitrose with a £25 voucher. ‘Am I the only the only one who thinks that’s not really compensatory for the injury and suffering, having to spend hours in A&E, missing a weekend away etc?’ A South East Coast Ambulance spokesman said: ‘We were called to a woman who suffered a reaction in her mouth after drinking coffee which was thought to contain a cleaning solution.’ She added: ‘The patient was assessed and treated on scene before being advised to attend Queen Victoria Hospital.’ Supermarket: Paramedics went to Waitrose in Lewes after a shopper drank coffee with cleaning fluid in it . Husband's online post: The woman spent a morning in A&E in Brighton after drinking the Waitrose coffee . Update: The following week, the man posted saying his wife was still feeling ill and had received a voucher from Waitrose . Hospital: The woman's husband said she spent hours in A&E in Brighton after drinking the tainted coffee . Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex cares for burn victims. There have been concerns that Waitrose’s free coffee offer takes custom from local coffee shops.Responding . to the husband’s post, one Lewes resident said: ‘Hope your wife has . fully recovered. I believe she has served the town of Lewes a huge . service. Waitrose will stick to being a grocery store and not try to be . coffee shop/dry cleaner/newsagent . . . as they have in many towns.’ A . Waitrose spokesman said it was sorry for the ‘unfortunate incident’, . adding: ‘A customer accidentally received some very diluted cleaning . fluid in her hot drink. Our branch first aider immediately attended the . customer and, as a precaution, called an ambulance. ‘We have confirmed that the cleaning fluid does not have any long term impact on health.’ Giving away coffee to myWaitrose cardholders has made the shop the second-largest coffee provider in the UK .

Shopper was given coffee as part of myWaitrose card membership scheme . Paramedics called to the branch in Lewes, East Sussex, and treated her . She was told to seek specialist help and went on to spend 'hours' in A&E . Husband of unnamed woman said she was still feeling ill five days later . He said Waitrose had sent a letter of apology and given her a £25 voucher . Spokesman said there had been 'some very diluted cleaning fluid' in drink .

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(CNN) -- A California Republican group censured one of its own Thursday, saying her words and actions since sending an e-mail last month depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee have been potentially offensive, damaging and insincere. Capping a meeting Thursday, the Orange County Republican Party's executive committee voted 12-2 Thursday to issue an ethics censure against Marilyn Davenport. GOP official sorry for racist e-mail . "The Republican Party of Orange County condemns racism in any form, and this censure is consistent with that position," the group said in a statement. A phone call Thursday night to Davenport, for her comment on the censure, was not immediately returned. Last month, she found herself in a storm of controversy after forwarding an e-mail she says she received from a friend. It contained a doctored photo styled like a family portrait, showing two adult chimpanzees and a baby. The younger chimpanzee had a photo of Obama's face superimposed over the animal's face. The caption that ran with the photo read, "Now you know why no birth certificate." Davenport, who is a Tea Party activist and an elected member of the central committee of the Republican Party of Orange County, said she felt the e-mail was a joke, CNN affiliate KTLA reported. It referred to debate over whether or not Obama was born in the United States. Soon after it came out, the county's GOP chairman, Scott Baugh, called for Davenport's resignation in a Twitter message posted on the group's website. California's Democratic Party has also demanded that Davenport step down. In an apology that included two Bible passages, Davenport initially said she would not repeat her error. "I am an imperfect Christian lady who tries her best to live a Christ-like honoring life," the statement said. "I would never do anything to intentionally harm or berate others regardless of ethnicity. So I ask for your forgiveness, for I am truly sorry." Later, on April 20, she told reporters she wanted to "humbly apologize and ask for your forgiveness for my unwise behavior." Davenport admitted that, "unintentionally, I have offended many" -- though she insisted that she was not racist. She has refused to resign, citing what she called an overwhelming number of appeals she has gotten from her constituency asking her not to do so. She represents the state's 72nd Assembly District for the Republican Central Committee. In its statement Thursday, the Orange County Republican committee called out Davenport and said that she was aware the e-mail "could be viewed as offensive." "Then instead of owning up to her mistake and putting an end to the story, Mrs. Davenport immediately sought to blame others and downplay the matter as a joke," the GOP committee said, calling the first apology she'd made in a statement "not contrite" and "conditional." The committee viewed her second apology as more sincere, while noting that the "three-day delay in issuing that apology resulted in a torrential barrage of unnecessary media attention." "Finally, the committee found that much of the good that was accomplished by Mrs. Davenport's second apology was undone by going on a media tour that continued to blame others for her actions," the statement said. During her press conference, Davenport referred to the e-mail as "political satire" -- insisting she had no intention of doing anything that would be racist. Obama and his staff produced copies of his birth certificate indicating he was born in Hawaii when he was running for president in 2008. On April 27, after months of further speculation amid claims he was born in another country, he released the long-form of the same certificate in hopes of finally quelling the controversy. "We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do," the president said afterward.

An Orange County's Republican committee censures Marilyn Davenport . The committee member had sent an e-mail depicting Obama as a chimp . She apologized twice, while insisting it was "political satire" and not racist . The GOP group called her apologies insincere, saying she blamed others .

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Ever wished you could clamber aboard your cumbersome luggage to zoom down a hill or coast through an airport? Driven by the same desire, Slovenian frequent flier Bostjan Zagar has come up with the answer -- a foot-powered scooter-suitcase known as Olaf. "The idea comes from having to catch the next connection flight in three minutes when the gate is on the other side of the world and you need to move faster than those moving walkways," Zagar tells CNN. Disappointed with available luggage solutions to this problem, Zagar used his background as an automotive engineer and his time waiting for flights to sketch up an alternative. Now, after three years of "testing, testing, testing," and a soon-to-finish fundraising campaign on Kickstarter, the Olaf is ready to hit the streets. It's available in three models: an airline-approved carry-on suitcase with a built-in kick scooter; a backpack with kick scooter and a kick scooter that can carry another bag. All three feature wheely suitcase-style collapsible handles and can double up as a hand trolleys. 'Hardcore engineering' Zagar, who describes himself as a "hardcore engineering guy," says he grew up preferring scooters to skateboards because he liked being able to control the speed. Needless to say, his suitcase scooters are all fitted with brakes. Even with this sensible feature, Zagar says travelers in some parts of the world may be wary to step aboard. "What we learned is the typical reaction in Europe was 'oh cool, I want to have one, but how will I look? People are staring at me.' "This is the problem in Europe, people don't want to stand out from the crowd. For sure, it's not for the shy ones." Olaf clearly has considerable appeal though. With the final hours ticking down, Ljubljana-based Olaf's Kickstarter campaign has raised well in excess of its $27,000 target. The scooter-suitcase, it seems, is already on a roll.

Slovenian frequent flier Bostjan Zagar's Olaf suitcase can also be ridden as a scooter . Zagar has raised investment in his concept via the Kickstarter funding platform . Olaf comes in three models: Business, Urban and a flexible version that can carry a variety of bags .

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(CNN) -- Greece is hoping a derelict airport on the outskirts of Athens -- one which has sparked a keen contest among international investors -- will help solve its debt woes. Hellinikon airport, the sale of which initially piqued the interest of U.S. business tycoon Donald Trump, could be vital to reversing the fortunes of the Greek economy. Greece is awaiting a financial lifeline of 31.5 billion euros [$40.3 billion] from international creditors, following the approval of a 13.5 billion euro austerity package by Greek lawmakers earlier this month. Alongside aid packages and austerity measures, Greece is selling off assets from gas reserves to sewage works as it tries to gain control of its 340 billion euro pile of debt. And while the potential sale of Greece's coveted islands caught early -- and controversial -- headlines, hopes are now resting on the dilapidated airport as a potential economic savior. Four property developers -- Elbit Cochin Island Ltd, Lamda Development, London and Regional Properties and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment -- have been shortlisted by the Hellenic Republic Assets Development Fund (HRADF) to win exclusive rights to the site. The bidders did not respond or were unavailable for immediate comment. A fund spokesman declined to disclose the airport's potential purchase price but says redeveloping the land will cost around 6 billion euros. The fund has projected a redevelopment of the site will bolster Greece's gross domestic product, which has contracted by 39.5 billion euros in the past five years to 171.4 billion euros, by 0.3% over the next ten years. Greece's vast, derelict, symbol of hope . Hellinikon airport was once Greece's flagship terminal and hub for international travel, but has been abandoned since its closure in 2001. It stretches across 6.2 million square meters -- making it roughly twice as big as New York's Central Park -- and it represents a huge commercial project for investors. The Greek government has put the full plot of land up for sale in an effort to raise revenues, spur growth and create jobs. The site is the largest open regeneration project in Europe and could create up to 9,000 jobs immediately, according to the HRADF. But 6 billion euros is a significant sum to inject into a country whose financial crisis has left the eurozone teetering on break-up. "The Greek financial system is in trouble and it's very difficult to raise this kind of money in the private sector," the fund spokesman told CNN. "Also, the international banking system has not been prepared to take that kind of risk on Greece up to now." Theofanis Exadaktylos, an academic from the Greek Politics Specialist Group and a lecturer at the University of Surrey, says the sale of Hellinikon airport is a "priority" for the government and would boost the local economy. He told CNN: "It could provide space for tourism, housing or entertainment... It's a big, big scale investment." Greece has valued its sell-able assets at 50 billion euros, with 55% of it in real estate, including Hellinikon. Europe's most indebted nation has set a target to privatize 25 billion euros of these assets by 2020. Proposals from foreign investors are first considered by a board of directors and overseen by representatives from Greece's international creditors, known as the "troika." A shortlist is then drawn up and ultimately, the highest bidder wins. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and his coalition government are hoping that privatization will increase competitiveness and make up for cuts in the public sector, particularly in jobs. Could Greece's coveted islands be up for sale? Some eurozone politicians have advocated the country sell off more than just its infrastructure projects. Greece's islands, which draw tourist dollars and showcase the country's beauty, have previously been flagged as potential investment gold. In October Frank Schaeffler, a German member of Parliament and a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, told CNN Samaras himself said Greece is willing to sell its uninhabited islands. Samaras' office did not respond to the comment. But while the idea might seem unpalatable, Exadaktylos believes leasing the islands -- if such a program was properly managed and debated -- wouldn't be a bad idea. Exadaktylos noted shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis had leased the island of Skorpios in the Ionian Sea, where he married Jackie O, previously the wife of U.S. president John F Kennedy. Exadaktylos added leases for islands "may last for 99 years and then possibly there is an option to renew, but investors do not own the island, so there is no issue of state sovereignty." Meanwhile, the HRDAF continues to try and draw investors into the country, soothing nervousness around the country's two bailouts, a hefty debt restructuring and two elections.

Greece is selling off assets from gas reserves to sewage works as it seeks to contain its debt woes . The fund has projected a redevelopment of the site will bolster Greece's gross domestic product . Hellinikon airport was once Greece's flagship terminal and hub for international travel .

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By . Kieran Gill . Follow @@kie1410 . Antonio Conte is to be appointed manager of the Italian national side and become the second-highest paid international boss in the world. The former Juventus manager will replace Cesare Prandelli, who resigned after Italy were knocked out of the 2014 World Cup in the group stage to Uruguay and joined Galatasaray. Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio opted for Conte after the midfielder-turned-manager won three Serie A titles in as many years with Juve. WATCH Scroll down to watch the moment Antonio Conte reveals he is to leave Juventus . CLICK HERE to start picking your Fantasy Football team NOW! There's £60,000 in prizes including £1,000 up for grabs EVERY WEEK... Cheer up,  Antonio! Conte will be appointed the manager of the Italian national team after the 2014 World Cup . In charge: Conte will become the second-highest paid manager in international football after leaving Juventus . BORN: Lecce, Italy, July 31 1969 (age 45) 2006-2007: Arezzo . 2007-2009: Bari . 2009-2010: Atalanta . 2010-2011: Siena . 2011-2014: Juventus . Conte quit Juventus during the summer after easing to three consecutive title wins, leading to rumours linking him with the vacant role in the national side. His salary will increase from the £2.8million a year he made at Juve and the Italian FA have reportedly sought help from sponsors Puma in order to help pay Conte's wages. It will leave the former midfielder, who was a part of Italy's 1994 World Cup squad, behind Russia manager Fabio Capello. An official announcement is expected to be made by the Italian FA on Friday. Energetic: Conte is expected to be officially revealed as the Italy manager on Friday at the latest .

Antonio Conte will replace Cesare Prandelli as manager of Italy . Conte is to become second-highest paid manager in international football . Russia manager Fabio Capello will remain top earner on £7.8million per year . Italian Football Federation president Carlo Tavecchio opts for Conte, who won three Serie A titles in as many years as manager of Juventus .

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By . Meghan Keneally . Victim: April Taylor, 31, was stung 40 times last Tuesday and died three days later in a Utah hospital . An amateur beekeeper with a 6-year-old son has died after what appears to be a fatal allergic reaction to 40 stings. April Taylor was wearing gloves and a beekeeping veil when she was stung by some of the bees that she kept in her family's back yard in Willard, Utah. Those precautions did not cover her entirely, however, as many beekeepers regularly wear full suits and high boots to insure that they are entirely covered when they interact with the insects. Mrs Taylor, 31, came into her house on Tuesday May 13 and showed her husband Zac how she had been stung 30 or 40 times. He told the Deseret News that she said she seemed fine but later that day she went back outside and he found her passed out. She was rushed to the local hospital but died three days later at Ogden Regional Medical Center. 'We all started thinking, "Well, how did this happen? … Killer bees or what? But I guess after she had got stung, her husband called the beekeeper, and he came and figured out there was no queen bee in the hive,"' Zak Taylor's uncle Bruce Vail told the paper. 'He said if there's no queen bee in the hive, they get really protective of their hive and they just swarmed her.' According to her Facebook page, Mrs Taylor also suffered from multiple sclerosis. Hobby: Mrs Taylor, seen with her husband of 11 years Zak Taylor, was a hairdresser by trade but kept bees in her backyard . Tragic: The couple has a 6-year-old son named Lux (pictured with his face blurred because of his age) 'Just a free spirit, nice girl, good mother,' Mr Vail said. 'They just swarmed her, it was a freak thing.' Agriculture officials are investigating the incident, and have not yet been able to determine if it was an official attack. 'We're not certain that this was an attack. We feel this is a stinging event,' Larry Lewis from the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food told KSL. The concern is whether or not the fatal stings were a result of honeybees being cross-bred with Africanized bees which are generally more defensive and aggressive than the typically-docile bees found across the United States. 'Anytime someone is stung and passes away, that's a serious event,' Mr Lewis said. Prepared: April Taylor was properly covered with gloves and a beekeeping veil when she was stung by some of the bees that she kept in her family's back yard in Willard, Utah (stock image at right) Vivacious: Mrs Taylor, seen here with her son in an undated photo, suffered from multiple sclerosis . Left behind: Zak Taylor, pictured with their son, said that he saw his wife's sings but said she seemed fine and it was only later when he found her passed out in their backyard that he called an ambulance . 'We want to know exactly what happened and whether they were European honeybees, or Africanized, or any kind of percentage of Africanized bees. It’s unlikely that it’s Africanized.' According to Boston Children's Hospital, about two million people in the United States are allergic to bee stings and about 100 people die every year as a result of the stings. April and Zak Taylor were married in 2002 and have a 6-year-old son named Lux. Home: The bees were stored in the Taylor's backyard (their home pictured in 2012) According to her obituary, April was a licensed hairdresser who worked out of her home and a local barber shop. She graduated from Box Elder High School in 2001 and later attended Bridgerland Cosmetology School. Her hobbies included camping, fishing, gardening, and attending Renaissance Faires. Her funeral will be held on Wednesday in Brigham City.

April Taylor, 31, was wearing a protective veil and gloves when stung . Taylor, who has multiple sclerosis, was tending the bees she kept in her Willard, Utah backyard . Went inside and showed her husband how she had 30 to 40 beestings . Her husband said she seemed fine but later he found her passed out . Rushed to a hospital and died three days later . State agriculture officials investigating the incident but believe it was a 'stinging event' and not an 'attack'

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 13:34 EST, 31 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:35 EST, 31 May 2013 . An eight-year-old boy who authorities say died after being beaten had remained in the house where the alleged abuse occurred despite six investigations by social workers during the past decade, a newspaper said. The boy's mother, 29-year-old Pearl . Fernandez, and her 32-year-old boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, have been . charged with murder. They have not yet entered pleas. Social workers appeared to miss numerous warnings signs at the Palmdale, California, home, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday, citing county documents. Monstrous allegations: Pearl Sinthia Fernandez (left) and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre (right), are accused of torturing and killing the woman's 8-year-old son . Angel: Gabriel, 8, was found unconscious and not breathing, suffering from a fractured skull, cracked ribs and cigarette burns to his body . The boy, Gabriel, had written a note saying he . was thinking about suicide and his teacher told authorities he often . appeared bruised and battered. Fernandez was being held without . bail, while Aguirre was being held on $1 million bail.  It has not yet . been determined if they have lawyers. Gabriel died at a hospital on May 24 . after paramedics went to his house in Palmdale and found that he had a . fractured skull, three broken ribs, BB pellets embedded in his lung and . groin, and two teeth knocked out. The documents obtained by the paper . show Aguirre allegedly told investigators that he beat the boy . repeatedly for lying and being dirty. Pearl Fernandez told paramedics her son's injuries were due to self-mutilation, the paper reported. Meanwhile, four social workers have been given desk duty pending possible disciplinary action. 'I feel like they all should be . fired,' said Elizabeth Carranza, Gabriel's aunt. 'They didn't listen to . my nephew. They were completely deaf and blind.' There were six investigations into abuse allegations involving the mother, with five determining the claims were unfounded. Records show there was an unresolved . case of alleged abuse at the time of Gabriel's death, and an allegation . had lingered two months past a legally mandated deadline for finishing . an investigation. 'The red flags were all over the . place. They were ignored. It is just inexplicable to me,' said county . Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Crime scene: Firefighters responded to this home in the 200 block of East Avenue Q-10 in Palmdale after receiving a report that a child was not breathing . Horrific claims: Police say Gabriel had marking on his ankles, suggesting that he may have been tied up . Slain angel: The mother of the little boy told police that she was present for his assault, but did nothing to stop it . History of violence: Fernandez had previously been charged with cruelty to a child likely to produce great bodily injury . The county's Department of Children . and Family Services has been trying to institute reforms after dozens of . abuse and neglect deaths in recent years involving children who had . been under the agency's supervision. A recent internal review of the . department found there haven't been any workers fired in 15 cases where . children died. It also has a backlog of child abuse cases. The agency's director Philip Browning . acknowledged the system failed Gabriel. The case illustrates a need for . more critical thinking and common sense in evaluating cases, he said. County social workers became aware of . Pearl Fernandez a decade ago when her oldest son had a head injury . during a car accident. It was determined he wasn't wearing a seat belt. The Times said a relative later . reported she allegedly beat the same son and wanted to disown him. However, social workers said the complaint was unfounded. Family divided: Fernandez's own father said it was his daughter who was responsible for his grandson's death . Gabriel's teacher told authorities in . January there were bruised dots all over the boy's face. Gabriel told . the teacher his mother shot him in the face with a BB gun, records show. The boy often recanted his stories, . and an internal county review criticized social workers for failing to . interview Gabriel in a neutral setting away from his mother, who told . social workers in March she didn't need their help. The boy's therapist told workers . earlier this year that Gabriel once reported being sexually abused by an . older relative, but he later withdrew the allegation. The investigation . remains open. In addition to one count of murder . each, the charges against Fernandez and Aguirre include a . special-circumstance allegation of torture. Gabriel’s grandfather told NBC Los Angeles in Spanish that he believes it was his daughter, Fernandez, who is responsible for her son's death. He said that the child had lived with the grandparents until five months ago, but the 29-year-old mother was allowed to regain custody of him. Aguirre's family rallied around him, with his mother and other relatives insisting that he is innocent. 'He loved those kids. She did it, and everybody knows she did it. Even her family knows she did it,' said Aguirre's cousin. Fernandez had previously been charged with cruelty to a child likely to produce great bodily injury. Public outcry: Protesters carrying posters and pictures of Gabriel gathered outside the courtroom, demanding justice and blaming the Department of Child and Family Services for failing to protect the little boy .

Social workers investigated the household six times over the past decade . There haven't been any social workers fired in 15 cases where children died . Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre have been charged with the murder of her son . Gabriel was found with a fractured skull, three broken ribs, BB pellets embedded in his lung and groin, and two teeth knocked out .

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By . Sally Lee . Big Day Out fans are mourning the loss of one of the most highly anticipated music festivals after organisers announced the annual event won't be back in Australia or New Zealand next year. 'While we intend to bring back the festival in future years, we can confirm there will not be a Big Day Out in 2015,' American owners of the event, C3 Presents, confirmed on Thursday in a statement. The first inkling that the festival hit financial troubles came after promoters said earlier this year the event wouldn't return to Perth in 2015 after poor ticket sales. Rumours of this year's poor attendance figures and a court dispute between C3 and its former owner AJ Maddah was also reported by Fairfax Media earlier this year. Maddah later said the Big Day Out was cancelled because of a shortage of headline acts, when a Twitter follower asked him: 'is there a shortage of headliners at the moment? Every O/S festival i see headlined by Outkast'. 'Yes. There's a shortage of headliners on cycle this year. Hence BDO taking year off,' he replied. The music event has been on the calendar for Australians since 1992 when grunge rockers Nirvana played on the first bill alongside the American rock band Violent Femmes and Aussie outfit You Am I. Other headlining acts over the years include Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Ramones, Angus and Julia Stone, The Beastie Boys, Neil Young, M.I.A, Lily Allen, Muse, Pearl Jam and Kanye West. Scroll down for video . The music event has been on the calendar for Australians since 1992 when grunge rockers Nirvana played at the debut in Sydney, Australia. Pictured is the band's lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain at the festival. Two years later he was found dead at his home in Seattle, USA . One of the most highly anticipated festivals will not return in Australia or New Zealand next year. Rock stars American legend Iggy Pop, Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave and American musician Mark Arm Mudhoney at the Big Day Out Festival in Sydney, 1993 . Joey Ramone, lead singer of American punk rock band The Ramones, perform at the 1994 Big Day Out in Australia . Owners of the event C3 Presents says 'we intend to bring back the festival in future years'. Australian rock band Silverchair's front man Daniel Johns on stage at Big Day Out Gold Coast, Brisbane, in 1995 . Australia's Nick Cave and pop princess Kylie Minogue at Big Day Out Festival Melbourne, Australia in 1998 . Controversial American heavy metal artist Marilyn Manson on stage at the Melbourne Big Day Out at the Melbourne Showgrounds in 1999 . Bernard Fanning of Australian rock band Powderfinger performs on stage at the 1999 Big Day Out in Melbourne . British indie rock singer-songwriter PJ Harvey at the 2001 Big Day Out in Melbourne . Heavy metal band Metallica's Kirk Hammett in Sydney, 2004, during their first BDO performance in Sydney . Metallica lead singer James Hetfield at the festival in Sydney in 2004 . The crowd get into Metallica as they perform in front of the thousands who turned out for the first of two Big Day Out Concerts in Sydney, 2004 . A concert-goer enjoys the crowd surfing at Melbourne's Big Day Out in 2004 . American hip hop band The Beastie Boys headlined the Big Day Out at the Gold Coast Parklands in 2005, Brisbane . Franz Ferdanand lead singer Alex Kapranos at the Gold Coast Big Day Out in 2006 . Jet on stage at the Sydney leg of the Big Day Out Festival in 2007 at the Sydney Showground . Julia Stone of Australia's brother-sister folk-blues group Angus and Julia Stone at Sydney's Big Day Out Festival in 2007 at the Sydney Showground . Icelandic avant-garde singer-songwriter Bjork at the 2008 Big Day Out at the Claremont Showgrounds in Perth . Canadian rock musician Neil Young performs on stage during the Big Day Out 2009 in the Gold Coast Parklands in 2009, Brisbane . British pop singer Lily Allen on stage at the Big Day Out in 2010 at Parklands Showgrounds in Brisbane . English rock band Muse's Matthew Bellamy on stage at the Gold Coast leg of the festival tour in 2010 at Parklands Showgrounds in Brisbane . Matthew Bellamy of Muse on stage at the Big Day Out at Sydney Showground in 2010 . Festival-goers cool off at the Big Day Out at Sydney Showground in 2010 . British-Tamil rapper M.I.A performs on stage during the Big Day Out Festival at Mt Smart Stadium in 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand . Australia's pop and jazz singer Sia Furler on stage at the Gold Coast BDO in 2011 in Brisbane . Kanye West performs on stage at the Sydney Showground in 2012 . Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder swings on a light during their headline performance at the 2013 music festival in Sydney on Australia Day, January 26 . The Red Hot Chilli Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis in Sydney, 2013 . Lead singer of American indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Karen O at the Sydney Big Day Out, 2013 . Swedish heavy metal band Papa Emeritus II of Ghost performs for fans at the 2014 Big Day Out Festival in Sydney . Snoop Lion, formally Snoop Dogg, at this year's BDO on January 26, 2014 in Sydney . Stav Yiannoukas of Bluejuice at the 2014 Big Day Out Festival at Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast . Stephen Carpenter of American alternative metal band The Deftones performs at Western Springs Stadium for the 2014 Big Day Out Festival in Auckland, New Zealand . Becky Jones of Saint Saviour at the Gold Coast leg of the Big Day Out 2010 music festival at Parklands Showgrounds, Brisbane . Hannah Hooper of Grouplove at the 2014 Big Day Out Festival in Sydney . Walshy Fire of Major Lazer on stage at the 2014 Big Day Out Festival at Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast . The iconic music festival debuted in 1992. Pictured is a crowd of music fans in Sydney last year .

The annual music festival, which debuted in 1992, won't be returning in 2015 . Owners of the event C3 Presents says 'we intend to bring back the festival in future years' The festival traditionally tours Australia and New Zealand in January . Past headlining acts include Nirvana, Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, Metallica, The Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Lily Allen and Kanye West .

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Ian Poulter weathered one storm but could not hold off another on Friday as he charged to the top of the leaderboard at the Turkish Airlines Open. The Englishman blew away overnight leader Miguel Angel Jimenez with six birdies and only one dropped shot in 14 holes to take his tally to 13-under-par for the tournament. But a huge thunder and lightning storm meant the early abandonment of play and forced tournament organisers to contemplate the possibility of a reduced format in the penultimate event of the European Tour season. Ian Poulter tees off on the fifth hole at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal on his way to grabbing the lead . With more storms expected on Saturday, there is a race to conclude the second and third rounds in the space of a day, though on current form that is unlikely to disrupt Poulter. The 39-year-old, who was five under for the day when he was called off, continues to thrive after the equipment change made in the wake of a disappointing Ryder Cup. His mediocre Cup showing was the latest lowpoint in a year dominated by injuries and poor form, which saw him slide from 12th to 44th in the rankings – leaving him at risk of his lowest year-end ranking since September 2006. Ryder Cup star Victor Dubuisson was spotted with tissue stuffed up his nose to stem the flow of a nosebleed . The enigmatic Frenchman made for an unusual sight as he was forced to play with the tissue up his nostril . But having finished sixth in China last week, he has used a dusted-off old putter from two years ago to open up a three-shot lead over Brendon de Jonge. His putting has been impressive this week, but his scorching form on the par fives has made the difference, with nine shots gained from the nine long holes he’s played so far. Poulter, who on Thursday reflected on a ‘****’ season in which ‘there was no good’, said on Friday: ‘I’m playing great and to be on the top of the leaderboard is always nice. It would have been nice to finish the round off but I guess it wasn't meant to be. ‘The weather was perfect for a while until we got onto the 11th green and then things changed quite significantly. The wind switched 180 degrees and really started to blow 20, 30 miles‑an‑hour. It was tricky for probably two holes and then obviously the storm come in pretty quick from there. Miguel Angel Jimenez lost his place on top of the leaderboard to an in-form Poulter . ‘I’m playing well. It's obviously a great feeling to be on the golf course when you're playing like that, and making birdies is always fun. Right now I'm pretty happy. ‘Saturday is just going to be a longer day, so rest up, get to bed nice and early, come out again.’ The slim chance of a player snatching the Race to Dubai crown from Rory McIlroy appears all but gone. Only Welshman Jamie Donaldson, Sergio Garcia or Victor Dubuisson – who had to stuff a tissue up his nose on Friday to stop a persistent nosebleed - are still able to usurp the Northern Irishman but would need to win both here and in Dubai next week while hoping McIlroy fails to finish in the top five in the season-ending event. However, none of that trio sits inside the top 55 here in Turkey. Sergio Garcia (left) gives one shot his full power, while a plaque displays Colin Montgomerie's impeccable pose .

Ian Poulter leads Turkish Airlines Open after day two in Antalya . But second round is incomplete due to thunderstorms . Poulter displaced Miguel Angel Jimenez at top of leaderboard . Victor Dubuisson took unusual step of playing with tissue up his nose . Race to Dubai looks all but over with Rory McIlroy's challengers fading .

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West Ham have been a revelation this season but there is one player who has been at the heart of it all. Alex Song is now the club’s main man and he has the rest of the team dancing to his tune. Signing Song on loan was one of the most astute transfers of the summer. Plenty of Arsenal fans will be looking at him and asking: ‘Why isn’t he doing that job in our midfield?’ They have a point. Sam Allardyce saw a good opportunity and grabbed it. West Ham midfielder Alex Song is now stronger and more disciplined . After my final season at Arsenal I was invited back by the club to act as a mentor and was there when Song arrived. He was only 17 but he went straight into training with the first-team group. Along with Abou Diaby, he was earmarked as a potential successor to Patrick Vieira. Song’s talent was obvious but he still needed a lot of work and Arsene Wenger is one of the best at developing young players. The focus with Song was always passing. Wenger likes midfielders to open up their body and receive the ball on the half-turn, giving them the chance to glance over their shoulder before receiving the ball to feet. Song’s talent was obvious but he still needed a lot of work at Arsenal . Along with Abou Diaby, Song was earmarked as a potential successor to Patrick Vieira (right) I watched Song work to improve for hours with Boro Primorac, Wenger’s right-hand man and a real technician. He’d do extra drills between two backboards, passing the ball to himself and learning to open up his body. If you can keep a good body shape in midfield you can open up the whole game. Now West Ham are reaping the benefits. He can receive the ball with one foot and pass with the other, which helps him see the bigger picture very early. He rarely takes more than two touches and that gets West Ham moving quickly. He is an excellent passer, too, a real side-foot specialist, so it’s no surprise West Ham average around 50 passes more per game this season compared to last. He is stronger and more disciplined and it’s interesting to see the West Ham staff on the touchline asking him to sit deeper. At Arsenal he was like a wind-up toy. He charged around and quickly ran out of energy. Now he is more effective at managing that energy and realises the importance of staying back. Song was easily distracted when he first arrived at Arsenal in 2005 . When he first arrived in England I wondered if he was more interested in the trappings of Premier League football. He was easily distracted by the things that were on offer — as soon as he realised he could get free boots he would have them delivered from all over and his locker was stuffed with freebies. It was partly immaturity but also suggested he wasn’t always focused. When Barcelona came calling he was quick to give in to temptation. The allure of Barca was like Aladdin’s cave — prestige, titles, financial rewards. That’s hard to turn down, but with the players Barca have it was always going to be difficult. Cesc Fabregas tried and failed so the warning signs were there — the grass is not always greener. When Fabregas and Robin van Persie left, Wenger let them go to further their careers. With Song, it was more of a disappointment. Arsenal invested a lot of time in him and hoped he would want to stay and repay them. Song was unable to resist joining Spanish giants Barcelona in 2012 . But he is loving life at West Ham. My sources tell me he’s been a breath of fresh air at the training ground. He arrives flamboyantly dressed and trains with a big grin on his face. The fans love what he brings to the team and he is more appreciated at Upton Park than he was at the Emirates or the Nou Camp. He has matured, too. Where he used to try to catch the eye with his dyed hair, now he’s doing so with performances on the pitch. If West Ham can afford him, Song faces a dilemma. Will another glittery move prise him away or will he stay put? He’s loved at Upton Park and could do far worse than to stay on song at West Ham. Song returned to London on loan and he has been a breath of fresh of air at West Ham . PS . What a great story for AFC Wimbledon to be drawn against Liverpool in the FA Cup. I played against the Crazy Gang many times, though often it was like playing a bunch of louts! They would turn up at your ground with the ghetto blaster music blaring. They tried to make as much noise as they could to disrupt opponents. It was like their battle cry to get into match mode but it never affected me. In away games in their tunnel, you would line up and look across to see Vinnie Jones head-butting the toilet door and John Fashanu going through his martial arts routine. If anything, that wound you up even more and you just thought, ‘Right. Let’s get it on!’ Every Thursday I’ll be answering your questions live on MailOnline. Email me at [email protected] .

West Ham midfielder Alex Song is now stronger and more disciplined . Song was easily distracted when he first arrived at Arsenal in 2005 . The 27-year-old is more appreciated at Upton Park than he was at the Emirates or the Nou Camp .

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Colombia international David Ospina has warned he is not about to give up the Arsenal jersey without a fight having yet to concede a goal in the Barclays Premier League. Ospina was signed in the summer from Nice to provide competition for Wojciech Szczesny following the departure of Lukasz Fabianski to Swansea, and made two appearances earlier in the season before being hampered by a thigh problem left over from the World Cup. After recovering full fitness, the 26-year-old started the FA Cup third-round tie against Hull and has retained his place in the league matches since, helping record clean sheets against Stoke, Manchester City and Aston Villa. David Ospina, pictured celebrating against Aston Villa, has replaced Wojciech Szczesny in goal for Arsenal . Szczesny played against Brighton in the FA Cup but conceded twice against the Championship side . Gunners boss Arsene Wenger says Szczesny - who was reported to have been smoking in the showers after the defeat at Southampton on New Year's Day, where the Pole was culpable for the goals in a 2-0 defeat - is the Arsenal 'number one', but accepts Ospina has impressed with his performances. It remains to be seen whether Szczesny, who let in two in the FA Cup win at Brighton on January 25, is back between the posts for Saturday's north-London derby at Tottenham. Ospina, though, intends to do all he can to stake his claim. 'I see it as a big responsibility to come to a great club like Arsenal - it is a dream come true. Now it is my job to make the most of this opportunity that has come my way,' Ospina said on Arsenal Player. 'We have very good goalkeepers in the shape of Wojciech Szczesny and Emiliano Martinez.' Ospina, pictured in training, wants to make the most of the opportunity given to him by Arsene Wenger . Szczesny was dropped after making two errors in Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at Southampton on New Year's Day . Arsenal will be hoping Chile forward Alexis Sanchez recovers from the hamstring problem which forced him to miss the 5-0 victory over Villa. England striker Danny Welbeck is expected to be in contention for the first time since December 28 after recovering from a thigh injury. In a welcome change from recent seasons, Arsenal conducted their transfer business early, with the signing of Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal and promising 17-year-old midfielder Krystian Bielik from Legia Warsaw. Gabriel, 24, watched from the bench against Villa, and hopes to be able to go on to make a major impact for the Gunners, like fellow Brazilian Gilberto before him. New signing Gabriel wants to emulate his compatriot and former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto . 'I could see that Gilberto was a major element here. He really helped the team, he really is a player I want to emulate because of his type of work and his will to help his team-mates, his will to win as a true Brazilian,' the defender said to the club website. 'To me he is a mirror, so I will always take many good things I saw in him and take it to the pitch, and off the pitch as well, because I think he was an excellent professional who did many good things. 'I want to be like him, to be able to do the most I can to help everyone.'

David Ospina is yet to concede a goal in the Premier League this season . The Colombia international has jumped ahead of Wojciech Szczesny . Szczesny made two errors in Arsenal's defeat to Southampton last month . Ospina wants to make the most of his opportunity in between the sticks . CLICK HERE for all the latest Arsenal news .

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NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) -- Slain Yale University graduate student Annie Le was intelligent, driven and destined for greatness, said those who knew her. The body of Annie Le, 24, was found in the wall of a Yale University laboratory building Sunday. "She was also really tenacious and had a sense of humor that was never far away, and she was tougher than you'd think by just looking at her," Le's roommate, Natalie Powers, told a crowd of hundreds gathered on campus for the slain 24-year-old's vigil Monday. Le's body was found inside a wall at a Yale medical school building Sunday, the day she was to be married to her college sweetheart, Jonathan Widawsky, a graduate student at New York's Columbia University. She disappeared five days before her wedding. Watch timeline leading up to Le's death » . Le and Widawsky attended the University of Rochester together, where Le majored in cell and developmental biology with a minor in medical anthropology. In a self-profile she wrote for the National Institutes of Health's undergraduate scholarship program, Le called her biology studies "interesting" but said she would like to pursue a research career in medical anthropology, "which has highlighted the severity of health issues in societies worldwide." She further wrote that she would one day like to work for the NIH or become a professor. Once at Yale, she majored in pharmacology and worked long hours in the lab where she was found dead this week. Watch how Le's body was found » . Le was scheduled to finish her postgraduate program in 2013 and had recently decided the topic of her dissertation: the effects of certain proteins on metabolic diseases like diabetes, reported the Yale Daily News, the campus newspaper. "She was probably the most brilliant person I've ever met in my life," her high school friend, Laurel Griffeath, told NBC's "Today" show, "but what made her more amazing was that there was an intersection of intelligence and personality and ability." Le impressed her peers and teachers long before delving into complicated medical research. Originally from Placerville, California, Le graduated in 2003 from Union Mine High School, where she was named "best of the best" and "most likely to be the next Einstein," according to CNN affiliate WFSB-TV in New Haven. Principal Tony DeVille told Le's hometown newspaper, the Mountain Democrat, that she was "one of the bright spots in the school's history." But she didn't excel solely in academic situations. Friends and professors gush when speaking of Le's vibrant personality and her sense of humor. Le "was as good a human being as you'd ever hope to meet," Powers said at the vigil. Watch why police say killing not random » . Griffeath said Le knew how to balance her social life and academic responsibilities as well. "She cared about people and she was funny, and she didn't sacrifice one part of her life for another like a lot of people kind of seem to," Griffeath said on "Today." Thomas Kaplan, editor-in-chief of the Yale Daily News, described Le as "very outgoing, a warm person." "She was diminutive in stature, but certainly not in personality, and that's what I think just makes this so sad for everyone, regardless of whether you knew her," Kaplan said of the 4-foot-11 scholar. Friends describe Widawsky as the perfect match for Le. The portrayed a young couple deeply in love, constantly on the phone with each other and eager to exchange vows. Le tackled wedding planning with the same zeal she brought to her research, friends said. "She was just so excited about this wedding and everything from, you know, her flowers to her wedding dress and just certain details about it," Vanessa Flores, a friend and former roommate, told CNN. "We talked about this back in 2008. She was already thinking about the weather -- whether June, July was going to be too hot." Watch Flores describe Le's plans for "her dream day" » . Friend Jennifer Simpson told CBS' "The Early Show" that she was heartbroken for Widawsky. "Jon is a wonderful person," Simpson said. "He is very mild-mannered, very soft- and well-spoken, but very fun." Despite Le's zest for life, she was always careful and aware of her surroundings in New Haven, a city with about 124,000 people and its fair share of crime. "She doesn't walk around at night by herself. If she had to work late, she would make sure someone could come pick her up or walk with her," Simpson told "The Early Show." Friends say they can think of no one who would want to hurt her. She was friendly with everyone, they say, and if someone had threatened or intimidated Le, her friends and family would have known about it. Watch Natalie Powers, Le's roommate for two years, give an emotional tribute » . New Haven police spokesman Joe Avery has said Le's killing was not random, and authorities and those familiar with the campus say there are only a handful of people with access to the building where her body was found. The uncertainty surrounding Le's killing -- and the possibility that one of its own is behind the crime -- has left the Yale campus frightened, Kaplan said. "Only Yalies had access to that basement, and that seems to point to someone in our community being involved in this," the editor said. Watch CNN's Mary Snow report on a shaken Yale campus » . Said Powers at the vigil, "That this horrible tragedy happened at all is incomprehensible, but that it happened to her, I think, is infinitely more so. It seems completely senseless." CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin, Mary Snow, Susan Candiotti, Katie Ross and LaNeice Collins contributed to this report.

Annie Le named "most likely to be the next Einstein" in high school . Friends: Le excelled in studies, including pharmacology, medical anthropology . Grad student's body found in Yale building the day she was to be married . Le planned wedding with the same zeal she brought to her research, friends say .

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(CNN) -- Can anyone stop Bayern Munich? That's the question following the German side's 2-0 victory over Arsenal Wednesday in the last-16 of the Champions League. Already 16 points clear in the German Bundesliga and unbeaten in 21 league games, Bayern is looking like the team to beat once again. Bayern, which is hoping to become the first team to successfully defend the title since the competition was revamped in 1992, claimed a hard-fought win thanks to Toni Kroos' second half strike and Thomas Muller's header. It could and indeed should have been different but Arsenal wasted a glorious opportunity in the early stages when Mesut Ozil missed from the penalty spot. The home side's misery was compounded eight minutes before the break when goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was sent off after bringing down Arjen Robben in the penalty area. David Alaba stood up to take the spot kick but could only strike his effort against the post. Bayern, which won 3-1 at Emirates Stadium at the same stage last season, began to lay siege to the Arsenal goal. And with nine minutes of the second half having elapsed, Kross unleashed a sumptuous strike which flew past substitute goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski. The visitors refused to let up in their pressure and Robben had an effort well saved when his shot appeared destined for the far corner. Pep Guardiola's side did finally secure the second goal it so badly craved when substitute Muller headed home Philipp Lahm's cross with three minutes of normal time remaining. There was still time for Kroos, who scored in the game between the clubs last season, to hit the post with a measured drive. Arsenal will now head to Munich on March 11 with hopes of pulling off a repeat of their 2-0 victory last season. The same result would give Arsene Wenger's men the opportunity to take the tie into extra-time but it faces an uphill struggle against a rampant Bayern. "We started really well and deserved one goal," Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker told Sky Sports. "We dropped and dropped after the red card. We kept our defensive spirit. "We lost here 3-1 last year against Bayern Munich and went there and beat them and we are looking forward to Munich. Why can't we get back in it? "I think there is no doubt there was contact (for the penalty). I don't know if it was a red card because the ball was a long way from Wojciech Szczesny." Bayern coach Pep Guardiola was pleased with his side's performance but says there is still work to do. "Arsenal were much much much better than us for the first 20 minutes. After the red card for their goalkeeper it was another game," he told Sky Sports. "When he is the last man then the referee says penalty and red card. "It is difficult to play when you see nine players in the box. It is not easy, never. But importantly we controlled this situation and played with patience and at the end found the goal. "Last year Bayern had a better result than this evening. It depends on our heads (the second leg)." In the night's other game, Diego Costa's 83rd minute strike gave Atletico Madrid a priceless 1-0 win at AC Milan. Milan, the seven time champion, enjoyed the better of the chances with Kaka's effort tipped onto the crossbar by Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper also produced a fine save to turn Andrea Pirlo's header onto the post as the home side threatened an opener. But Milan was made to pay for its wasteful nature when Costa stole in at the far post to score a crucial away goal. "It was a very difficult match against a great rival but we knew how to soak up the pressure and at the key moment we went after the win," Costa told Spain's Canal Plus. "We have a solid advantage and now it's about going back to the Calderon and maintaining it. "It's not over yet but we know it's a good result tonight. "We have confidence in ourselves. Some people have been doubting us recently but we have no doubts. We are a team and we are very strong."

Bayern Munich defeats 10-man Arsenal 2-0 in London . Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller both on target . Arsenal missed early penalty and had goalkeeper sent off . David Alaba also missed spot kick for Bayern .

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By . Helen Lawson . PUBLISHED: . 03:55 EST, 8 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:29 EST, 8 April 2013 . A grandmother has been charged with hiring her 19-year-old grandson to kill her husband because she was 'sick' of him and stood to inherit his money. William Strickland, 72, was shot six times while he waited for a ride to his dialysis appointment last month. His wife, Janet Strickland, 64, is said to have watched as William Strickland, Jr allegedly shot his grandfather in the back with his own gun. Janet Strickland, 64, is accusing of hiring her grandson William Strickland Jr to kill her husband William . The pair are said to have stolen a bag containing a wallet and embarked on a shopping trip, leaving Mr Strickland dying on the street outside the family home. Prosecutors say William Jr spent the stolen money on a new phone, gym shoes and tattoos, while neighbours reported that Janet Strickland bought her grandson a bright red Pontiac car as well as furniture for herself. The pair are charged with first-degree murder and armed robbery and were denied bail. Janet Strickland was not in court Saturday because she was being treated for lung disease and high blood pressure in hospital. Assistant State's Attorney Jacqueline Kwilos told reporters the pair 'discussed on numerous occasions killing the victim. [Janet Strickland] stated numerous times to her grandson that she was sick of his grandfather and that she wanted her husband dead. She stated she wished he was not here and she wanted him gone.' William Jr had lived with his grandparents for a few months after moving from Wisconsin, where he lived with his mother and siblings, the family's 84-year-old neighbor Theolene Shears told the Chicago Tribune.

William Strickland, 72, shot while waiting for ride to dialysis appointment . His wife Janet and grandson William Jr charged with first-degree murder .

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(CNN) -- In the white sand beaches of Yoff, the small fishing town just north of the Senegalese capital Dakar, a seemingly endless line of brightly colored boats dots the Atlantic seaside. It was here, about four years ago, that Spanish designer Ramon Llonch was first struck by the mysterious symbols and intricate patterns adorning the hand-painted wooden vessels. "I was amazed by the beauty of the fishing boats, many of which were old, damaged by the salt and the sun or abandoned," remembers Llonch, who was at the time cycling solo around the West African country. "I was captivated by that colorful mosaic of life with the women selling the fish and the men approaching the shore," he adds. Read this: African firm invests billions in U.S. Looking at the old, weathered canoes, Llonch started wondering whether he could find a new use for them while preserving the history of their owners. His idea was to work with skillful local craftsmen and breathe new life into the traditional "pirogues" by transforming them into hand-made furniture. And that's how Artlantique was born, a company repurposing boats that are no longer sea worthy into upcycled fittings -- anything from whimsical chairs and coffee tables to one-of-a-kind cabinets and even foosball tables. "It's like a reincarnation of something that had life before -- a life in the Atlantic, a life in Africa," says Llonch. "Every time you see this furniture, you have a piece of the soul and the history of these fishermen," adds the 52-year-old designer. Long journey . From the waters off the coast of Senegal, through the Dakar-based workshop, to several stores across the world, the journey of transforming the old fishing boats into furniture is far from easy. Artlantique employs 12 craftsmen, including a co-ordinator who is in regular contact with the local fishermen about the purchase of those boats whose life span on the ocean waters has ended -- usually after 40 to 50 years of use. Read this: Can Africa unlock its solar potential? After transporting the boats into Artlantique's workshop, the company's master carpenters start the arduous task of dismantling the 12-meter long vessels. Once that's completed, they decide how to reconstruct the old samba wood -- depending on its size, condition and color combinations -- without any wood treatment or additional painting. Artlantique's eclectic creations are then shipped to Barcelona, Llonch's base, and from there they are sent to clients across Europe, as well as stores in New York and Tokyo. Passion for Africa . Llonch says that what makes the furniture special is the history behind it and the creativity of the artisans working with raw materials that are hard to remodel. "The main reason of this project is to preserve the wood as it was, with all the stories, all the nautical miles sailed in Atlantic," says Llonch. Read this: Bamboo bikes put business on right track . "This wood ... has certain limitations, not only because it has a shape but also because it's very damaged by the salt, the sea, the sun and the time. But these artisans are very talented," he adds. "Their creativity is not academic, they are like this by nature because (for them) recycling and reusing is not a fashion, it's not a trend." Looking ahead, Llonch says his goal is to expand the business and help other skilled craftsmen to develop their creative talents. "Africa for me is a social inspiration, it's my passion," he says. "We started with the fishing boats ... because I was astonished when I saw the beaches with these stylish boats but maybe this is just the beginning," adds Llonch. "There is a lot of creativity that we can use and we can take from African artists -- I want to continue to collaborate and discover the African talent, this is my aim."

Artlantique produces furniture made from old fishing boats in Senegal . Many of the colorful boats have sailed the Atlantic for 50 years . The company's creations can be found in stores in Europe, New York and Tokyo .

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The powerful House Ways and Means Committee will get everything from disgraced former IRS official Lois Lerner's email account since a few weeks before Barack Obama became president. And Republican committee members are hoping they'll find a smoking gun tying the Obama administration to the years-long scheme to play political favorites with nonprofit groups' tax-exemption applications. After eight months of back-and-forth stonewalling, the IRS has agreed to turn over the complete contents of Lerner's email account, along with other documents that two congressional committees have been demanding. 'If there's not a Holy Grail email in this round of documents,' a senior staffer to a Ways and Means committee member told MailOnline, 'then we're not going to find it.' 'Whether that's because Lerner covered her tracks or because the IRS is shredding documents, we're probably never going to know.' Lerner left the IRS after she was implicated in a scheme to target tea party groups for their political beliefs . House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp has pulled off an investigative coup, squeezing documents out of the IRS that could explain the targeting program . The committee's chairman, Michigan Republican Rep. Dave Camp, seems eager to put his staff to work sifting through thousands of messages in search of an explanation for the program that has been a major embarrassment to the White House. 'This is a significant step forward and will help us complete our investigation into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups,' Camp said Friday. 'From the few Lerner documents we have received, we know that Washington, DC orchestrated the targeting of groups applying for tax-exempt status, surveillance of existing tax-exempt groups and formed the proposed 501(c)(4) rules designed to push conservative groups out of the public forum.' Camp warned the IRS in a February 24 letter that he would start issuing subpoenas if the agency didn't turn over the documents he wanted. The IRS has proposed a rewrite of its regulations governing communications restrictions on 'public benefit' organizations that are exempt from paying federal income taxes. That redesign of the rules began long before Lerner herself exposed the IRS's pattern of holding up right-wing groups' applications, often with dozens of intrusive questions over several years. The effects of the agency's desired rule change would be substantial: Organizations would be prohibited from emailing information, or publishing anything online, about candidates' voting records during the last 60 days before an election. Tea party groups, which began their rise to prominence five years ago, comprised most of the organizations that the IRS targeted beginning in 2010. Their political free-speech concerns have driven more than 146,000 public comments to the IRS, demanding that the regulatory revisions be scrapped. Tea partiers have vented their frustration at President Obama, suggesting that he directed America's taxing authority to erect roadblocks to slow down his political opponents . Under potential new ITS regulations Tea party favorites like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a lawyer warned Friday during the Conservative Political Action Conference, could be banned from national gatherings before elections if the events were hosted by tax-exempt groups . Cleta Mitchell, a board member of the American Conservative Union Foundation, said Friday during that organization's annual Conservative Political Action Conference that the new rules would affect the event where she was speaking. 'It would mean that in even-numbered years, CPAC could have no speakers who are candidates for office,' she said, dumbfounded. Mitchell, an attorney, is representing some of the tea party groups in lawsuits related to the IRS targeting scheme. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has hauled Lerner in for testimony twice but she has pleaded the Fifth Amendment both times . The House Oversight Committee, chaired by California Rep. Darrell Issa, has cast a larger public shadow than Ways and Means has on the IRS targeting scandal. Lerner has appeared before Issa-led hearings twice, both times invoking her Fifth Amendment rights and refusing to testify, despite President Obama's insistence in a February interview that the IRS displayed 'not a smidgen of corruption' in the damaging episode. Becca Glover Watkins, the Oversight Committee's communications director, told MailOnline that Issa's and Camp's committee staffers are working hand-in-hand. 'The Oversight Committee and the Ways and Means Committee have worked in partnership during the course of this investigation,' Watkins said. 'We expect the IRS will also be delivering a copy [of the complete Lerner files] to the Oversight Committee.' A spokesperson for the Ways and Means Committee told MailOnline that it was the new IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, who broke the inertia after months of requests. 'We have been asking for the materials for months, and after many discussions the new IRS Commissioner has said the IRS will comply with the request,' said the committee's Sarah Swinehart. Lerner 'was clearly at the center of the IRS targeting and was running it out of the Washington, D.C. office,' she added. 'We expect her documents to provide a fuller picture of this.' Koskinen took over the tax agency on December 23, ending a 13-month period during which two interim commissioners served as caretakers. The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lois Lerner was hurried out of the IRS after her role was exposed in a program that targeted conservative tax-exemption applicant groups . The Ways and Means Committee demanded all of her emails eight months ago . The IRS responded with a limited set of documents, claiming it had searched Lerner's emails for relevant keywords . Now the tax-collection agency is rewriting its rules to dramatically restrict the political communication of tax-exempt groups . That policy shift would mostly affect conservative organizations .

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Three Al-Jazeera English journalists serving lengthy prison sentences in Egypt will face a retrial. The appeals court in Cairo will now decide the fate of Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed. However, they were not granted bail at the short hearing at the Court of Cassation today. The men have been held since December 2013. Scroll down for video. Retrial: Egyptian Baher Mohamed (left), Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy (centre) and Australian journalist Peter Greste (right) pictured at an earlier hearing . 'Hope': Mohamed Fahmy (left), Peter Greste (centre) and Baher Mohamed (right) will face a retrial . Their arrests came after the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member. The three journalists did not attend the brief hearing that began around 9am local time, but defence lawyers said they believed a retrial for the men would be held within a month. Defence attorney Mostafa Nagy said: 'They will not be released until they appear before the new chamber, which will decide whether to release them or not.' Speaking after the hearing, Lois Greste, Peter Greste's mother, said the verdict was 'not as good as we hoped'. Adel Fahmy said he had hoped his brother, Mohamed Fahmy, would be freed today. 'I hoped for more today' he added. Marwa Omara, the fianceé of Mohamed Fahmy, told Sky News the families were disappointed they had not been released ahead of the retrial. She said her fianceé was in poor health with hepatitis B, but in 'high spirits'. 'He's just a journalist who was doing his job,'she told Sky News today. 'Faulty accusations': Marwa Omara, the fianceé of Mohamed Fahmy, said there is no evidence of any wrongdoing . 'Disappointed': Marwa Omara, the fianceé of Mohamed Fahmy, outside the Egyptian court . 'They were accused of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, fabricating news and harming national security, and calling for a civil war in Egypt. 'All these accusations are faulty and there is no evidence whatsoever - we don't understand why they are in prison.' Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison at their initial trial, while Baher Mohamed got 10 years - three more because he was found with a spent bullet casing. Rights groups dismissed the trial as a sham and foreign countries, including the U.S., expressed concern over the journalists' detention. Authorities accused Qatar-based Al-Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood. The station denied the accusations and said the journalists were doing their job. At trial, prosecutors offered no evidence backing accusations the three falsified footage to foment unrest. Family: Adel Fahmy, the brother of Mohamed Fahmy, speaks to journalists as he leaves the high court . Treatment: Wafa Bassiouni (pictured), the mother of Mohamed Fahmy, leaves Al Salam International Hospital, where he is receiving medical treatment . High court: Egyptian security forces stand guard in front of the court during the journalists' hearing . Instead, they showed edited news reports by the journalists, including Islamist protests and interviews with politicians. Imprisonment: Presiding Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata handing down the sentences to the journalists last year . Other footage submitted as evidence had nothing to do with the case, including a report on a veterinary hospital and Peter Greste's past reports out of Africa. Egyptian authorities offered no immediate comment on the ruling. The Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeal tribunal, only reviews the lower court's proceedings, not the case itself. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi also has the power to pardon or deport the foreigners under a new law, whether or not the court grants the appeal. That would allow Peter Greste to go home and Mohamed Fahmy to go to Canada if he drops his Egyptian nationality. Baher Mohamed's case would remain uncertain as he holds only Egyptian citizenship. A recent thaw in relations between Qatar and Egypt has seen Al-Jazeera shut down its Egyptian affiliate, which dedicated much of its coverage to Islamist protests since Morsi's overthrow. Last month, El-Sissi said a presidential pardon for the three was being 'examined' and would be granted only if it was 'appropriate for Egyptian national security'.

The appeals court in Cairo today decided the trio would face a retrial . Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed were not bailed . The retrial is expected to take place within a month .

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Set in Sydney's most expensive suburbs with the city's most breath-taking views, this week's multi-million dollar market entrants are worth having a good peek at, despite their six digit price tags. The Villa Del Mare at Point Piper tops the list this week, with a selling price of at least $40 million. With panoramic harbour views the mansion has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms alongside a number of living areas, a bar and infinity pool, all set on 1500 square metres of land. The Villa Del Mare on Wolseley Road at Point Piper hot the market this week with a selling price of at least $40 million . The house features panoramic harbour views a number of living areas, a bar and infinity pool, all set on 1500 square metres of land . The mansion has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms and a fully self contained apartment on the lower level . The property has been on and off the market since 2011 when its current owner, recruitment agent Julia Ross, put it up for sale before hastily taking it down . Ms Ross bought the grand residence for $21.5 million in 2005 . But despite all its glamour, the property has been on and off the market since 2011 when its current owner, recruitment agent Julia Ross, put it up for sale before hastily taking it down. Ms Ross bought the grand residence for $21.5 million in 2005 and has finally committed to parting with her home, according to Domain. Of equal magnificence is the historical Craigholme property at Darling Point, which also entered the market this week. The Gothic sandstone structure which was first built in 1856 and designed by colonial architect Edmund Blacket, is expected to be sold for at least $20 million. The historical Gothic Craigholme property at 55 Yarranabbe Roat, Darling Point, also entered the market this week for approximately $20 million . The Gothic sandstone structure was first built in 1856 and designed by colonial architect Edmund Blacket . Its current owner, Allianz Australia Chairman John Curtis, bought the house for $1.62 million in 1993 . The luxury three story, five bedroom house also features panoramic harbour views . It has a sandstone garden courtyard, a gas-heated swimming pool, landscaped gardens, Venetian polished stucco walls and a marble fireplace . Its current owner, Allianz Australia Chairman John Curtis, bought the house for $1.62 million in 1993. The luxury three story, five bedroom house also features panoramic harbour views as well as a sandstone garden courtyard, a gas-heated swimming pool, landscaped gardens, Venetian polished stucco walls and a marble fireplace. Designed by Tom Rivard, 6a Hillside Avenue in Vaucluse has also hit the market with an estimated selling price of $10 million. In 2006 the house was bought for $7.17 million, however it underwent renovations in 2009. 6a Hillside Avenue in Vaucluse has also hit the market with an estimated selling price of $10 million . The property was designed by architect Tom Rivard . It was last bought in 2006 for $7.17 million, however it underwent renovations in 2009 . The colourful multi-textured structure has a home theatre, spiral staircase and a huge walk in wine cellar over four levels . The current owner is Telenet chief John Porter according to Domain, who has moved to Belgium alongside his wife Susan Mougey . The colourful multi-textured structure has a home theatre, spiral staircase and a huge walk in wine cellar over four levels. The current owner is John Porter according to Domain, who has moved to Belgium alongside his wife Susan Mougey where he continues his role as Telenet's chief. Yoorami in Bellevue Hill has been re-listed for $17 million by its current owner Matt Allen, who bought the 2,903 square metre property for a third of that price - $5.65 million -  in 1995. Built in the 1920s, the residence has a grandeur about it which is highlighted by its expansive tennis court and gardens and completed by the sandstone terraces and outdoor living areas. Yoorami at 90 Victoria Road in Bellevue Hill has been re-listed for $17 million by its current owner Matt Allen . Mr Allen bought the 2,903 square metre property for $5.65 million  in 1995 . The house was first built in the 1920s and still contains a great sense of grandeur . It features an expansive tennis court and gardens, completed by the sandstone terraces and large outdoor living areas . It was recently redesigned by Michael Suttor and Thomas Hamel, according to Domain . In contrast, Seven Network's executive James Scot and his wife are selling their contemporary glass-framed home which was designed by award-winning architect Edward Szewczyk. The Vaucluse residence is listed for $10 million, despite being bought for $5.35 in 2008. With three levels and a rooftop deck overlooking Watsons Bay, the five bedroom, four bathroom household also features a stunning Bisazza mosaic-tiled pool, home theatre, gym, spa and steam room. This contemporary glass-framed home at 55 Wentworth Road in Vaucluse was designed by award-winning architect Edward Szewczyk . It is owned by Seven Network's executive James Scot and his wife Rachel . The Vaucluse residence is listed for $10 million, despite being bought for $5.35 in 2008 . It is built on a 803 metre square property  and has three levels with a rooftop deck overlooking Watsons Bay . The five bedroom, four bathroom household also features a stunning Bisazza mosaic-tiled pool, home theatre, gym, spa and steam room .

The Villa Del Mare at Point Piper, with panoramic harbour views and six bedrooms, has a price guide of $40 million . Built in 1856, the Gothic sandstone Craigholme property at Daring Point is on the market for about $20 million . A colourful multi-textured mansion on Hillside Avenue in Vaucluse has an estimated selling price of $10 million . Yoorami in Bellevue Hill, a 1920s style property on 2,903 square metres of land, has been re-listed for $17 million . The contemporary glass-framed home, owned by Seven Network's executive James Scot, is also up for $10 million .

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By . Jessica Jerreat . A Cornell University student has made a series of painful conclusions in his research into stings by letting honey bees attack his own body. Michael Smith subjected himself to several stings a day to his face, arms and genitals to map out what section of the body was most sensitive to the barbs. After weeks of research Smith found that although stings to his penis and testicles were uncomfortable, the worst place for a bee to attack was the nostril. Science of stings: Cornell student Michael Smith researched the most painful places for a bee to attack . His usual idea for the study came about when the bee enthusiast was discussing the problems of working with hives with his academic adviser. 'We speculated it probably really would . hurt to get stung in the testicles. Two days later, by . chance, I did get stung there. It didn't hurt as much as I expected it . to,' he told the Independent. Smith measured the stings with a pain rating of 1 for mild and 10 for extremely painful: . 1) Nostril  - 9.0             6) Cheek - 7.0 . 2) Upper lip - 8.7          7) Armpit - 6.7 . 3) Penis - 7.3               8) Nipple - 6.7 . 4) Scrotum - 7.0              9) Middle finger tip - 6.7 . 5) Palm - 7.0               10) Abdomen - 6.7 . Intrigued by his 'eureka' moment, Smith chose 25 locations on his body to measure the level of pain. He then held a bee to those areas and allowed it to sting him. Like all scientific studies he needed to repeat his experiment several times so, over the course of 38 days, he administered five stings a day. Each body part was stung three times during the experiment, and the pain level was given a mark out of 10. Because the experiment needed a control, he also had to let a bee sting his forearm at the start and end of each day's research. His research raised some unusual problems, including being able to maneuver a bee to the more hard-to-reach body parts. 'Some locations required the use of a . mirror and an erect posture during stinging (e.g., buttocks),' he wrote . in his study, which has been published in PeerJ. The . results were surprising, with Smith finding that although stings to the . genitals were painful, there were worst places to be stung. 'There’s . definitely no crossing of wires of pleasure and pain down there. But if . you’re stung in the nose and penis, you’re going to want more stings to . the penis over the nose, if you’re forced to choose,' he told National . Geographic. Experiment: Smith held bees to his body so he could research the most painful sites for stings . Pain map: To be sure of his results, Smith administered three bee stings to 25 locations on his body . 'I really don't want to get sting in the . nose again – that's not fun. Your body really reacts. You're sneezing, . wheezing. Your eyes are streaming,' he added. Smith admitted that there were times when he regretted embarking on his experiment, and said he was glad his supervisor, Tom Seeley, had talked him out of testing stings to the eyes. 'He was concerned that I might go blind. I wanted to keep my eyes,' Smith said. The graduate's fascination with bees . has formed the basis of his research at Cornell's Department of . Neurobiology and Behavior, where he is studying honeybee colonies. While . studying molecular biology at Princeton in 2009 he founded the . Princeton University Bee Team, which has led to the creation of two . hives on the university campus. He also runs the College Beekeeper group, which advises students on how to get hives up and running. Dedication: Smith, a graduate student researching hive colonies, also promotes beekeeping at universities . While measuring pain is subjective, and the study used only one person's measure of pain, Smith has no plans to further his research into bee stings. 'I didn’t see a lot of merit in repeating this with more subjects,' he said. And for those wanting to avoid accidentally repeating his experiment, Smith advised: 'If you have a bee buzzing around you and . you think it's peeved, if you calm down, don't breathe a lot – they are . attracted to carbon dioxide – and slowly walk away, you will be fine. Most stings are probably wasps.'

Each body part was stung 3 times to measure level of pain . Cornell graduate student Michael Smith used results to show most sensitive sites to be stung .

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By . Associated Press . Bishop Blase Cupich, who has struck a moderate tone on divisive social issues, was appointed the archbishop of Chicago on Saturday, succeeding a cardinal with an aggressive approach to the culture wars. Cupich, of Spokane, Washington, will take over leadership of the Archdiocese of Chicago in November, succeeding Cardinal Francis George, who has been battling cancer and has said he believes the disease will end his life. Cupich is Pope Francis' first major appointment in the U.S. and the clearest indication yet of the direction he wants to steer American church leaders. Bishop Blase Cupich, 61, will be named the next archbishop of Chicago . The Chicago archdiocese is the nation's third-largest and its most important, serving more than 2.2 million Catholics. Chicago archbishops are usually elevated to cardinal and are therefore eligible to vote for the next pope. George is especially admired in the church's conservative wing as an intellectual who took a hard line against abortion and gay marriage. Francis has said he wants church leaders to focus more on mercy and compassion and less on hot-button issues. At a Chicago news conference Saturday, Cupich pledged to consult with local Catholics as he leads them. 'All my mistakes in life have come from when I've decided on my own, `This is how things have to go,'' he said. Newly-appointed Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Blase Cupich left, listens as Cardinal Francis George, retiring leader of the Archdiocese of Chicago right, speaks during a press conference in Chicago, Saturday . Speaking in Spanish, he urged swift action on immigration reform, noting that his grandparents had come to the U.S. from Croatia. 'Every day we delay is a day too long,' he said. About 44 per cent of the archdiocese's parishioners are Latino. Cupich played down any broader significance about why he was the pope's choice. 'I think he sent a pastor, not a message,' Cupich said. Still, the Rev. John Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, said Cupich 'will be a pastorally dedicated, theologically astute and visionary leader in line with Francis' transformative papacy.' In 2012, during the run-up to the . Washington state referendum that ultimately recognized gay marriage, . Cupich repeatedly underscored church teaching that marriage should be . between a man and a woman. Newly appointed Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Blase Cupich speaks to the media after it was announced that he would replace Cardinal Francis George . But he also wrote at length to parishioners about the suffering of gays and lesbians because of anti-gay prejudice, and he condemned violence and bullying that has led some gay teens to suicide. 'I also want to be very clear that in stating our position, the Catholic Church has no tolerance for the misuse of this moment to incite hostility toward homosexual persons or promote an agenda that is hateful and disrespectful of their human dignity,' Cupich wrote. In a letter last year on the Obama administration's birth control coverage rule for employers, Cupich said faith-affiliated groups should never be forced to provide services that the church considers morally objectionable. However, he condemned threats by some U.S. church leaders that they would shut down social service agencies over the Affordable Care Act. 'These kind of scare tactics and worse-case scenario predictions are uncalled for,' he wrote in a letter to diocesan employees. 'I am confident we can find a way to move forward.' Cupich, 65, is one of nine children and a native of Omaha, Nebraska, where he was ordained a priest. Francis Cardinal George speaks as his successor Archbishop-Elect Blase Cupich listens during a press conference in Chicago . He holds degrees from The Pontifical Gregorian University and The Catholic University of America. In the 1980s, he worked on the staff of the Vatican embassy in Washington. He was appointed bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1998, and served there until 2010, when he was appointed to Spokane. Cupich also served as chairman of the U.S. bishops' child protection committee at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis and as church leaders were putting in place a toughened policy on disciplining guilty priests. In a news conference, he said he was "committed" to healing the wounds from the crisis and pledged to 'work hard on this and make it an important part of my ministry.'

Bishop Blase Cupich, known for being  a moderate on many hot button social issues, named to the position . Chicago archdiocese is third largest in the nation . Replaces archbishop known for hardline conservatism on abortion and gay marriage . Has written to parishioners about the . suffering of gays and lesbians because of anti-gay prejudice, and condemned violence and bullying that has led some gay teens to suicide .

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By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 22:34 EST, 11 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:22 EST, 12 August 2013 . British detectives are hoping to finally catch the killer of a young woman brutally murdered in Thailand 13 years ago after they were given full access to the case files for the first time. Kirsty Jones, 23, was raped and strangled at a guesthouse in northern Thailand in 2000 while enjoying a gap year after university. After 13 years her killer has never been brought to justice - and Kirsty's desperate family feared the trail had gone cold. Tragedy: Liverpool University gradute Kirsty Jones went to Chiang Mai as part of her big trip - going on jungle hikes, riding elephants and visiting tribes - before she was raped and strangled . But the British detective investigating the murder said he is 'very optimistic' the case can be solved after being given full access to all files for the first time by the Thai authorities. Detective Superintendent Andy John - who led the investigation which caught April Jones' killer Mark Bridger - said advances in DNA and fresh interviews with witnesses could provide a breakthrough. He said his team have been given full access to all the material gathered by the Department of Special Investigation in Thailand and would be re-interviewing British witnesses who have since returned home. Det Supt John said: 'We see these developments as very significant. 'We know from our experience in the UK with cold case reviews that some cases are solved many years after they occurred and there's nothing to say we can't find a similar outcome in this case. 'The fact that we are undertaking a forensic review in the UK using the best resources available in the field is an extremely positive step. Grieving: Kirsty's mother Sue Jones and her son Gareth are hopeful that British detectives will be able to find the backpacker's killer . 'The DSI are in the process of . reinvestigating this inquiry and we are keen to support and where . possible, assist the Thai authorities. 'They have done a considerable amount of work, we've seen proof of that during the visit to Thailand last year.' Kirsty's . battling mum Sue Jones said the new developments have provided a boost . to the family to 'keep forging on' in their fight for justice. Farmer's daughter Kirsty grew up in the village of Tredomen, near Brecon, Mid Wales. But . she dreamed of seeing the world and had decided from the age of 14 that . she had wanted to take a gap year before going on to university. In 1996 when she set off for Australia and stopped off in Thailand on her way home. After a safe and successful trip, the bright A-level student had fallen in love with travelling. She . completed an English and media studies degree at Liverpool University . in 1999 - then spent a year doing odd jobs to fund her next big trip. Mourners are pictured arriving for Kirsty's funeral in Llanfilo, Wales following her murder in Thailand 13 years ago . She had planned a two-year global adventure taking in Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand before finishing in South America. Her family said they felt no reason to worry second time around as Ms Jones was older, wiser and more experienced. Kirsty headed 435 miles north of Bangkok to the well-known trekking hub Chiang Mai - going on jungle hikes, riding elephants and visiting hill tribes. But a month later the dream was shattered when her parents were given the devastating news that their daughter had been raped and strangled to death. Despite a series of arrests, no-one has faced justice for her murder. But DS John, of the Dyfed Powys force in Wales, said: 'We see these developments as very significant. 'You know from your experience in the UK with cold case reviews that some cases are solved many years after they occurred and there's nothing to say we can't find a similar outcome in this case. 'The fact that we are undertaking a forensic review in the UK using the best resources available in the field is an extremely positive step.' 'in the UK we are advanced in many respects in terms of the way we approach criminal investigations and the access to specialists that we have. 'And I just want to maximise the opportunities which we've got.' DS John, who has worked on some of the biggest cases in the forces' history, including the investigation into the abduction and murder of five-year-old April Jones. He added he was 'very optimistic' new evidence would be found from the forensic review given recent advances in technology. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.

Kirsty Jones was raped and strangled at a guesthouse in Thailand in 2000 . Killer of 23-year-old, who died in Chiang Mai, has never been found . British detectives given access to case files by Thai authorities for first time . Officers and Kirsty's family are hopeful the case can finally be solved .

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(CNN) -- The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday convicted the "mastermind" of the Rwandan genocide and sentenced him to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Theoneste Bagosora, right, and his co-defendant Anatole Nsengiyumva, left, arrive in court. It is the first time the tribunal has convicted high-level officials for the 100-day genocide in 1994 which left an estimated 800,000 people dead. Theoneste Bagosora, 67, a colonel in the Rwandan army, was found guilty along with two other men -- Major Aloys Ntabakuze and Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva. All were sentenced to life in prison. The tribunal -- located in Arusha, Tanzania -- acquitted General Gratien Kabiligi, the former head of military operations, and ordered his immediate release. CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour -- who covered the story -- called the verdicts "a real turning point and a milestone in justice." Watch CNN's Christiane Amanpour on the verdict » . "It sends a message that right up the chain of command, you cannot hide," Amanpour said. The court said Bagosora was a key figure in drawing up plans for the genocide. A Hutu, Bagosora was convicted of ordering Hutu militia to slaughter rival Tutsis. The massacres began after a plane crash on April 6, 1994 that killed the presidents of Rwanda and neighboring Burundi. The court said the plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile fired from the airport in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Watch what happened in the court » . Bagosora decided the military should take over and he refused to involve the prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, in any discussions, the court found. April 7, while Bagosora held a crisis meeting with top military officials, the prime minister was arrested, sexually assaulted and killed by top members of the Rwandan Army, the court found. Find out more about the world's killing fields » . That made Bagosora the head of all political and military affairs in Rwanda, and in that capacity, he was at the top of the chain of command. The same day the prime minister was killed, the court said, army personnel confined and killed four important opposition leaders -- including the president of the constitutional court and government ministers -- and murdered 10 Belgian peacekeepers who had been dispatched to the prime minister's residence. The court found Bagosora bore responsibility for those and other killings because he commanded those who carried out the crimes. "Bagosora was the highest authority in the Ministry of Defense and exercised effective control of the Rwandan army and gendarmerie," said Presiding Judge Erik Mose. "He's therefore responsible for the murder of the prime minister, the four opposition politicians, the 10 Belgian peacekeepers, as well as the extensive military involvement in the killing of civilians during this period." ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow said the convicted men "prepared, planned, ordered, directed, incited, encouraged and approved the murder of innocent civilian Tutsis." The killings were carried out by military personnel on the orders of Rwandan authorities including Bagosora, the court said. The court found that from April to July 1994, Bagosora exercised authority over members of the Rwandan Army and their militiamen, who committed massacres throughout Rwanda with Bagosora's knowledge. "In all the regions of the country, members of the Tutsi population who were fleeing from the massacres on their hills sought refuge in locations they thought would be safe, often on the recommendation of the local civil and military authorities," the indictment said. "In many of these places, despite the promise that they would be protected by the local civil and military authorities, the refugees were attacked, abducted and massacred, often on the orders or with the complicity of those same authorities." The indictment against Bagosora alleged he had been opposed to concessions made by his government to Tutsi rebels at 1993 peace talks in Tanzania, and had left the negotiations saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse." The U.N. established the tribunal in late 1994. The trial began in April 2002 and has been deliberating since June 1, 2007. During the trial, the court heard 242 witnesses -- 82 for the prosecution and 160 for the defense. The three convicted men will be held in the tribunal's custody until a state can be found to house them. The genocide's impact is still be felt today, with recent fighting in neighbouring Congo blamed on lingering tensions from the slaughter. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda says his forces are fighting to defend Congolese Tutsis from Hutu militants who escaped to Congo.

Bagosora guilty of masterminding genocide which left at least 800,000 dead . Genocide began after plane carrying the leaders of Rwanda, Burundi crashed . Bagosora was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity . The United Nations established the genocide tribunal in late 1994 .

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By . Associated Press . One resident got a rude awakening when police with assault rifles surrounded his home after a tree removal crew mistakenly reported he had a gun. Michael Smith, of Norridgewock, Maine, was woken up by the authorities when a crew contacted by a utility company to trim branches near some power lines notified the police at 10am on Tuesday. Smith went outside shirtless to yell at the crew to leave, exposing a life-sized tattoo of a gun he had on his stomach. Armed police surrounded Maine resident Michael Smith's house Tuesday morning after a life-size gun tattoo on his waistband was mistaken for an actual weapon. Smith was not charged in the misunderstanding . The workers mistook it for an actual weapon, and notified authorities to the home located off Ward Hill Road. Smith was not charged and said the tattoo has never been a problem before. Smith has multiple tattoos, including several covering his left arm. 'Obviously it was a misunderstanding and he didn't have a weapon, but we had to respond to the initial report as if he did,' Maine State police trooper Scott Duff told the Morning Sentinel. Smith, who works nights, said it sounded like someone was driving up his driveway and crushing a thick layer of ice on it. He went outside to tell the crew to leave his property, and they told him no problem. But one worker said he thought he noticed a pistol in Smith's waistband. Duff said he didn't think Smith went outside with his shirt off deliberately to make it appear he was carrying a gun. 'I got plans today. I didn't want to get shot,' Smith told the Morning Sentinel. Police surround Michael Smith's home in rural Maine Tuesday morning after a utility crew member working outside the home mistook Smith's gun tattoo on his stomach for a real weapon . Michael Smith with his girlfriend Mindy. Smith was not charged by police after his gun tattoo was mistaken for a real weapon. Armed police surrounded Maine resident Michael Smith's house Tuesday morning after a life-size gun tattoo on his waistband was mistaken for an actual weapon. Smith was not charged in the misunderstanding .

Michael Smith's gun tattoo was mistaken for real weapon . Utility crew notifies authorities that man had a gun in Norridgewock, Maine . Authorities surrounded man's house with assault rifles .

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(CNN) -- Memo to Carly Rae Jepsen, Frank Ocean, Hunter Hayes, Mumford & Sons, Miguel, the Alabama Shakes and all the other young singers and bands who are nominated for Sunday night's Grammy Awards: . Your real prize -- the most valuable and sustaining award of all -- may not become evident to you until 30 or so years have passed. You will be much older. But -- if you are lucky -- you will still get to be out on the road making music. Many of Sunday's Grammy nominees are enjoying the first wave of big success. It is understandable if they take for granted the packed concert venues and eye-popping paychecks. Those may go away -- the newness of fame, the sold-out houses, the big money. But the joy of being allowed to do what they do will go on. I've been doing some work while staying at a small hotel off a highway in southwestern Florida. One winter day I was reading out on the pool deck, and there were some other people sitting around talking. They weren't young, by anyone's definition. They did not seem like conventional businessmen or businesswomen on the road, or like retirees. There was a sense of nascent energy and contented anticipation in their bearing, of something good waiting for them straight ahead. A look completely devoid of grimness or fretfulness, an afternoon look that said the best part of the day was still to come. I would almost have bet what line of work they were in. I'd seen that look before, many times. I could hear them talking. Yep. The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight," a No. 1 hit in 1961). Little Peggy March ("I Will Follow Him," a No. 1 hit in 1963). Little Anthony and the Imperials ("Tears on My Pillow," a top 10 hit in 1958). Major singing stars from an earlier era of popular music, in town for a multi-act show that evening. It is the one sales job worth yearning for -- carrying that battered sample case of memorable music around the country, to unpack in front of a different appreciative audience every night. It's quite a world. I was fortunate enough to learn its ins and outs during the 15 deliriously unlikely years I spent touring the United States singing backup with Jan and Dean ("Surf City," a No. 1 hit in 1963) and all the other great performers with whom we shared stages and dressing rooms and backstage buffets: . Chuck Berry, Martha and the Vandellas, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, James Brown, Lesley Gore, Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, the Kingsmen, the Drifters, Fabian, the Coasters, Little Eva, the Ventures, Sam the Sham. ... Jukebox names whose fame was once as fresh and electric as that now being savored by Sunday's young Grammy nominees. Decades after that fame is new, the road may not be quite as glamorous, the crowds may not be quite as large. The hours of killing time before riding over to the hall, the putrid vending-machine meals on the run, the way-too-early-in-the-morning vans to the airport -- the dreary parts all become more than worth it when, for an hour or so, the singers can once again personally deliver a bit of happiness to the audiences who still adore their music. Greene: Super Bowl ad revives iconic voice . As the years go by, the whole thing may grow complicated -- band members come and go, they fight and feud, some quit, some die. There are times when it seems you can't tell the players without a scorecard -- the Tokens at the highway hotel were, technically and contractually, Jay Siegel's Tokens (you don't want to know the details). One of their singers (not Jay Siegel -- Jay Traynor) was once Jay of Jay and the Americans, a group that itself is still out on the road in a different configuration with a different Jay (you don't want to know). But overriding all of this is a splendid truism: . Sometimes, if you have one big hit, it can take care of you for the rest of your life. It can be your life. Sunday's young Grammy nominees may not imagine, 30 years down the line, still being on tour. But they -- the fortunate ones -- will come to learn something: . They will grow old, but their hits never will -- once people first fall in love with those songs, the songs will mean something powerful and evocative to them for the rest of their lives. And as long as there are fairground grandstands on summer nights, as long as there are small-town ballparks with stages where the pitcher's mound should be, the singers will get to keep delivering the goods. That is the hopeful news waiting, off in the distance, for those who will win Grammys Sunday, and for those who won't be chosen. On the morning after that pool-deck encounter in Florida I headed out for a walk, and in the parking lot of the hotel I saw one of the Tokens loading his stage clothes into his car. His license plate read: . SHE CRYD . I said to him: . "You sing lead on 'She Cried,' right?" "Every night," he said, and drove off toward the next show. The next show. That's the prize. That's the trophy, right there. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.

Bob Greene: Grammy nominated acts should remember the real prize comes later in life . He says at a hotel he ran into a group of singing stars from an earlier era, in town for a show . He says the world of post-fame touring less glamorous for acts, but meaningful . Greene: Acts grow old, but their hits never will and to fans, the songs are time-machine .

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(CNN) -- Hurricane veterans know when a bad one's coming. It's like those who feel the barometric pressure drop of approaching storm systems in their bones. I got the vibe midweek. So I asked my friends on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, hardy survivors of Hurricane Katrina, what advice they would share with those in Hurricane Sandy's path. But I didn't want the usual flashlight, batteries, water, generator, gasoline tips. Tell them something they don't know, I asked, something that helped get you through. Here's what they said: . • Outdoor solar lights can be brought in at night to light the indoors. • When you make a video of your home for insurance purposes beforehand, open drawers and closets so the contents are visible. • Have a tire plug repair kit and pliers to pull out nails or screws, since debris in the roadway causes flats and leaks that are tough to repair when everything is closed. • Extend your cell phone battery's life by texting instead of calling and turning off Internet/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS connections. • Bank safes and safe deposit boxes are not waterproof. During flooding, items left in them may be damaged and not accessible for weeks. • Have thick tarps and roofing tacks in case you lose shingles from the wind. What I didn't expect was the advice of a different nature that many added after their practical tips: . • Faith and the knowledge that no matter what, your life and the life of your family is more important than any material possession you may have. • Keep a positive attitude and help your neighbor! • Remember to have patience with your family, friends and neighbors. ... Work together and share your resources. • Talk to each other. Share old stories. Some of the best relationships were made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, as neighbors discovered new friends next door and grew closer helping one another through a trying time. • Read a book. Keep a hurricane preparation checklist . These are heartfelt suggestions from those who know what it's like to lose everything all at once. Disaster has a way of focusing the mind and leveling the playing field. Doctors and bankers stood next to mechanics and janitors in food lines in my Gulf Coast hometown of Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina. Such brutal shocks to the system are inevitable. No one can stop them, though human beings prefer to imagine we are omnipotent. We have access to virtually anything with the click of a mouse or a tap on our smartphones. We can Skype with someone on the other side of the world. We can land a rover on Mars and find proof of ancient rivers. We can do anything -- except control Mother Nature. We don't like that, because it forces us to accept that we are vulnerable. Nations, states, cities and individuals wisely invest time and money on prevention efforts, but we can't really predict when, where and how the effects of nature at its worst will be felt. What we can control is our reaction. And researchers report that contrary to popular myth, during disasters most people don't adopt an "every man for himself" attitude. Most react with responsibility and concern for their neighbors. I have seen it myself, over decades covering blizzards, floods, hurricanes and more. Nearly five years after Hurricane Katrina, I was present at a remarkable discussion between the mayor of Bay St. Louis and his wife. Most of the town's homes and businesses were heavily damaged or destroyed in 2005 when the monster storm's 30-foot surge, sustained 125 mph winds and hopscotching tornadoes roared through. But the town and its people recovered. "It was amazing. It really was," said Eddie Favre of the spirit of kindness, generosity and selflessness that prevailed in the months after the hurricane. "It would be nice to reclaim some of that patience and understanding. I wish we could go back to it." "I feel bad saying it, but I really miss it," agreed his wife Jan. "We were all so close." Times of disaster reveal not just our human fragility, but our strengths. It is at times like this that we learn what we are made of. People come together, share what they have and accept help from others. Suddenly differences that once seemed insurmountable turn out to be quite insignificant. The worst of times can bring out the best. Hurricane safety: When the lights go out . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kathleen Koch.

Kathleen Koch: Katrina survivors share suggestions for coping with Hurricane Sandy . Tips include bringing outdoor solar lights inside at night if power goes out, she says . Also, have tire repair kits for nail debris; text, don't call, to save battery charge, she says . Koch: Take chance to bond with neighbors; times of disaster reveal humanity, strength .

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She shot to fame in the Boddingtons beer advertisements in the mid-1990s. And now, TV presenter Melanie Sykes has returned to her modelling roots to showcase the sumptuous new lingerie collection Adore Moi by Ultimo, which hits Debenhams stores today. She joins Michael Buble's pregnant wife Luisana Lopilato as a face of the underwear brand. Scroll down for video . Melanie Sykes has been unveiled as the new face and incredibly toned body of Ultimo's Adore Moi range . The latest collection from Adore Moi by Ultimo a French boudoir feel, featuring embroidery, French lace and fine detailing. Speaking about the campaign, mother-of-two Melanie said: 'I actually can’t believe I have shot my first lingerie campaign in my forties, but I really do feel in good shape at the moment and thought "OK Mel, it’s now or never!". 'Adore Moi is a brand that celebrates women - no matter your age or size - and I’m really excited to be fronting the new campaign.' Michelle Mone OBE, founder of Ultimo, said: 'Melanie epitomises everything the Adore Moi woman wants to be – beautiful, elegant, successful and confident in her own skin. Melanie, 43, looks tanned and toned in the boudoir-themed shoot, which was shot by celebrity photographer Dan Kennedy . Sexy: In the boudoir-themed shoot, Mel was shot by celebrity photographer Dan Kennedy . 'We’re thrilled to have her on board. She looks absolutely incredible in the designs and is an inspiration to all women in their forties.' Michelle added: 'The new Adore Moi collection presents everyday lingerie with a sumptuous French boudoir feel. The range is incredibly luxurious, but really affordable at just over £20 a bra.' Sharon Webb, Debenhams Head of Lingerie Buying and Design, added: 'We are delighted to have Melanie as the new face of Adore Moi, she is the perfect fit for Ultimo and as a supporter of natural beauty, we are thrilled to have such an inspirational image being portrayed to our customers.' Former models for the range have included supermodel Helena Christensen, TV Presenter Jenni Falconer and Kimberley Stewart. Role model: 'Melanie epitomises everything the Adore Moi woman wants to be - beautiful, elegant, successful and confident in her own skin' says Michelle Mone . The latest collection has a French boudoir feel, featuring embroidery, lace and fine detailing . The latest collection showcases several new designs, including ‘Odessha’, a cornflower-blue satin design with ivory lace detailing, and ‘Fern’, a chic black mesh range. It's been a year of celebrations for Melanie, who tied the knot with her toyboy lover Jack Cockings, 27, earlier this summer. The star has previously opened up about how she maintains her incredible figure, telling MailOnline: 'On a good week if I'm not working I . get in the gym between three and five times a week, an hour a time. 'I . started training about four years ago. I was approaching 40 and just . thought it would be quite good to get fit... I was slim, but it wasn't . about that, it was about getting a bit fitter.' Melanie tied the knot with Jack Cockings, 27, this summer after the pair met on Twitter . Adore Moi by Ultimo is available in sizes 32-38 A-DD and 8-18 from Debenhams stores nationwide and www.debenhams.com priced from £8.00 for briefs and £22.50 for bras.

Melanie started out as model - she shot to fame in ad for Boddingtons beer . Ultimo Adore Moi is her first lingerie campaign . Joins Michael Buble's wife Luisana Lopilato as face of brand .

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By . Joshua Gardner . Nabbed: Casey Wentworth is accused of stealing a laptop over a year ago. Police arrested him Monday after a call he made to Apple tech support using the computer's serial number led police to him. But wasn't an overnight success for owner Michael Witonis . A New Hampshire man whose Mac laptop was swiped from his home while he slept in 2013 may soon finally get it back all because the alleged thief called Apple tech support. But the call was made nearly a year ago and it's taken since then for Michael Witonis to convince Apple to give police the dirt they have on suspect Casey Wentworth. Witonis says he finally got them to hand over their records by tweeting at CEO Tim Cook. The Dover mechanical engineer's aggravating saga started in February 2013 when someone came into his home and took his MacBook Air, just months after he'd purchased the pricey computer. He's chalked it up as a loss until a few months later when Apple support emailed him regarding a support call made in regards to a computer with the serial number of the one he'd had stolen. Apple representatives informed him that they could only give their information to police. 'That was the start of an eight-month battle with Apple to get the information from them,' Witonis told ABCNews.com. He requests to have them turn the info over to police were met with scripted responses about an internal procedure they have in place for such issues. But the information stayed put even after Witonis obtained subpoenas. So Witonis decided to take his grievance to Apple's CEO himself via social media. '@tim_cook #feedup with #red-tape in . the #apple legal department. 2 subpoena still no progress. I just want . my stolen #macbook back,' he tweeted at Tim Cook last October. After several months of continued silence, he tweeted again. '@tim_cook . please help! I'm feed up  w/ #apple legal dept. 8 months & 2 . subpoenas later still no progress. I just want my macbook air back,' he . wrote . Scroll down for video . Sluggish: Witonis learned of the suspects tech support call but Apple was not forthcoming with their information that could help nab the suspect . The exasperated Witonis finally decided to tweet his problem at Tim Cook. After two attempts, Apple suddenly went from unhelpful to totally forthcoming. Two hours after the cops got their information, they located the suspect . Witonis won't have his 'beat up' MacBook Air back until it's allowed to leave the evidence room, but he's just happy the suspect's been arrested (FILE) 'Within a day, a guy at Apple executive customer relations called me back,' Witonis told ABC. Five days later, Witonis said the police were getting the necessary information. Then Witonis says that 'within two hours' after police had it, they also had their suspect, Casey Wentworth. Wentworth was arrested Monday and released on $1,000 bail. he's due in court in May. Meanwhile, Witonis has yet to get back the laptop police had described to him as 'pretty beat up.' He'll have to wait until it leaves the evidence locker before he knows exactly how beat up. But Witonis is just happy to have some closure. 'It was sort of shocking,' Witonis told WMUR. 'I guess luck was on our side that the guy who took it didn't try to get rid of it, which was sort of strange. Then, all of a sudden, he decides in his infinite wisdom, "Well, I'll just call Apple and see if they can help me unlock this thing."'

Michael Witonis had his MacBook Air swiped while he slept in his Dover, New Hampshire home in February 2013 . Witonis received a mysterious email from Apple support in June 2013 after the apparent thief needed some tech advice . Despite his pleas, Apple did not share the call information with police until after Witonis tweeted his plight at Tim Cook . The alleged thief Casey Wentworth was quickly apprehended after Apple turned over their evidence, but Witonis still doesn't have his laptop .

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(CNN) -- A man died Tuesday at Niagara Falls from his injuries after going over a wall and falling into the gorge, authorities said. Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is investigating the death. Shortly after 5 p.m. ET, an officer with the Niagara Regional Police Service was chasing a man, the agency said. Some time later, both fell into the gorge. The officer, who police declined to identify, sustained a broken femur and was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital. The man who was with him died. Video from the scene first showed the rescue of the officer. A firetruck ladder extended over a cliff. Then what looked to be the second individual was raised from the gorge on a stretcher. The body was still, and wrapped in white sheets. It was loaded into a waiting ambulance. The SIU has assigned seven investigators and two forensic investigations to the case. The agency conducts criminal investigations into circumstances involving police and civilians that have ended in serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault.

An officer also fell into the gorge, but survived with a broken femur . The officer was airlifted to a hospital in Hamilton, Ontario . Ontario's Special Investigations Unit is investigating the incident .

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(CNN) -- At least one member of the jury that sentenced Cameron Todd Willingham to death in the arson homicides of his three children says she is struggling with the idea that she might have convicted an innocent man. It has been 17 years since Willingham was convicted in Texas of setting a house fire that killed his children, a crime Willingham vehemently denied right up until his execution in 2004. Since that time, three investigations have concluded arson was not the likely cause of the 1991 fire, including one that arrived in Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office 88 minutes before the scheduled execution. Perry replaced four of nine members of the Texas Forensics Sciences Commission in recent weeks, just before the commission was to receive a report from the latest of the three investigations. The controversy has led juror Dorenda Brokofsky to think twice about the decision she made in a jury room in 1992. "I don't sleep at night because of a lot of this," Brokofsky said. "I have gone back and forth in my mind trying to think of anything that we missed. I don't like the fact that years later someone is saying maybe we made a mistake, that the facts aren't what they could've been." Brokofsky spoke with CNN by phone from her Midwest home. She has long since moved away from tiny Corsicana, Texas, where the fire took place. "I do have doubts now," she said. "I mean, we can only go with what we knew at the time, but I don't like the fact now that maybe this man was executed by our word because of evidence that is not true. It may not be true now. And I don't like the fact that I may have to face my God and explain what I did." "When you're sitting there with all those facts, there was nothing else we could see," she said. "Now I don't know. I can't tell you he's innocent, I can't say 100 percent he's guilty." Brokofsky had another revelation. She said she thought she would be excluded from the jury because of her family's close relationship with key witness and then-Corsicana Assistant Fire Chief Douglas Fogg. Her father was also a fire marshal for eight years before the Willingham fire. "I was raised with my father being a fire marshal," she said. "He went around proving that stuff, so he wasn't here at that time. But I knew Doug Fogg, who was one of the witnesses. It was no secret, but I didn't think they would pick me as a juror because of it." Critics say Perry's recent actions to shake up the commission were politically motivated, a charge he denies. Perry's office said it received a five-page fax on the day of the execution that contained an arson expert's findings that the fire was not deliberately set. It is unclear whether Perry read the fax. "Given the brevity of the report and the general counsel's familiarity with all the other facts in the case, there was ample time for the general counsel to read and analyze the report and to brief the governor on its contents," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said. Willingham was executed less than two hours later. Death-penalty opponents say an impartial review of Willingham's case could lead to an unprecedented admission -- that the state executed an innocent man. The latest report concluded that the arson ruling at the heart of Willingham's conviction "could not be sustained" by modern science or the standards of the time. Perry said he remains confident Willingham was guilty, as do authorities in Corsicana, south of Dallas, who prosecuted Willingham. Willingham's wife's brother, Ronnie Kuykendall, said in a signed affidavit that Stacy Willingham told her family that Todd Willingham confessed to killing the children during her visit to him on death row a few days before the execution. But Stacy Willingham testified for her husband during his trial, while her family argued he was guilty. CNN could not reach her for comment. Even Willingham's defense attorney, David Martin, remains confident his client committed the crime. "There was no question whatsoever that he was guilty," Martin said on CNN's "AC360" Thursday night. Martin slammed the most recent report on the Willing ham case, by Maryland arson expert Craig Beyler, as "one of the least objective reports I've ever read." On Thursday, Perry also lambasted the Beyler report as having "a very politically driven agenda" and being propaganda for the anti-death penalty movement. Beyler, asked about Perry's statements, said they were "strange and clueless."

Cameron Todd Willingham maintained his innocence up until his execution in 2004 . Dorenda Brokofsky says new evidence makes her think she made wrong decision . "I don't like the fact that I may have to face my God and explain what I did," she says . 3 inquiries have concluded that arson was not likely cause of deaths .

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Washington (CNN) -- Behind-the-scenes dealing over reviving stalled gun control legislation will get a push next week when Sen. Joe Manchin, a strong proponent of expanding background checks, plans to meet individually with lawmakers, a Senate source tells CNN. The key question the conservative West Virginia Democrat wants answered is whether a "minimal change" to a compromise background check proposal that he co-authored but which failed to gain enough support in a vote last month would entice more senators to support it, the source said. Since the proposal he negotiated with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania faltered, senators who voted against it have been hounded in their states during the current recess by outside proponents of expanding background checks. Sen. Kelly Ayotte has been the most high-profile target of such confrontations. The New Hampshire Republican was questioned at an event by Erica Lafferty, the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, a school principal slain in the Newtown massacre last December. Lafferty asked "why the burden of my mother being gunned down in the halls of her elementary school isn't as important" as inconveniencing gun sellers. Lafferty was sent to Ayotte's event by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, one of several gun control groups using the current congressional recess to take the gun control message out of Washington. And she followed that up with interviews with TV networks. The source said this sort of pressure from outside groups is a key to any hopes of swaying senators who may be open to supporting a modified proposal. In addition to confronting senators in person, groups have run ads against lawmakers who voted against the Toomey-Manchin compromise and have supported senators who supported it. The husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously wounded in a 2011 shooting in Arizona, wrote an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle challenging the National Rifle Association over its opposition to expanded background checks. "What most members of the NRA want from the organization and what the leadership is actually doing are not the same," Mark Kelly wrote. Thousands of NRA members are gathered in Houston this weekend for its annual convention. According to the Senate source, the pressure tactics appear to be working with polls showing most Americans favoring some sort of new gun restrictions. The signal Manchin has been getting from senators getting hammered at home, according to the source, is that they need to save face politically and any deal would hinge on whether they can argue that they extracted something new in the language. "We have to figure out some sort of new sentence, one change to it so they can go back and say 'I fought to change this,'" said the source. At this point, however, it is not clear what the change would be. In order to pass any legislation around the issue, gun control advocates need find 60 votes in the Senate. Fifty-four senators backed the Mancin-Toomey amendment while 46 opposed it. Majority Leader Harry Reid supported it but only voted 'no' in the end on procedural grounds to keep open the possibility of revisiting it later. The Senate source says Manchin's prime targets to flip are all Republicans and similar to those under pressure from outside groups: Ayotte, Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada. According to the source, proponents hope that if Murkowski flips, those in favor of tightening gun laws will have a good shot at getting her fellow Alaskan, Sen. Mark Begich, to do the same. But a source close to Begich, however, told CNN that it is very unlikely that he'd change his vote. He is up for reelection in 2014 in a state that is very pro-gun. The NRA is likely to be a power that looms large over any deal on background checks, much like it was during the last debate. After the compromise background check proposal failed, the NRA Institute for Legislative Action released a statement decrying the "misguided" amendment that, it said, would "not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools." "This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution," the NRA said. Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, made it clear on Friday that his organization would not budge on guns. "All over this country, everywhere I go, people agree, they want bad guys taken off the streets and they want children protected in their schools," he said. "And they don't' want their freedom taken away." In addition to LaPierre, several potential contenders for the 2016 GOP nomination will take the stage in Houston, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin spoke to the group as well. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, asked by one of the other victims of the Giffords shooting if he thought background checks would come up again, said there was a "50-50" chance that it would. A spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, one of the more high-profile Democrats to vote against the provision, told CNN that if such a bill were to come up, "Max will evaluate it based on the feedback he gathers from the people of Montana, just as he always does with any legislation." But she also said that in his first vote, "Montanans told Max loud and clear they didn't support new gun controls in the previous bill." CNN's Kevin Liptak and Ashley Killough contributed to this report .

Co-author of expanded background checks proposal to meet with senators next week . Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, is seeing if he can change legislation to get more votes . Gun-control activists have hounded some senators over their vote against the measure .

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Cardiff is the wettest city in Britain. The Welsh capital has topped a list of average rainfall dating back to 1981 in records held by the Met Office, coming in with 115 cms a year. In second position was Glasgow with 112 cms a year, and third is Preston with 103 cms. Scroll down for video . Cardiff gets an average of 115 cms of rain a year, the most of any British city . But Cardiff is fifth in the list of cities with most days of rainfall -well behind Glasgow . But the Scottish city is top of the pile of average annual days of rainfall, with 170 a year; Cardiff holding fifth position in this list with 149. Huddersfield is hot on the heels of Glasgow, with the Yorkshire city recording an average of 154 days of rain each year. And there's good news for Londoners, after the English capital holds the honour of being the driest city in Britain, with only 56 cms falling on average each year. Ipswich has the least amount of rainy days in Britain, with 107; London has 110. The Met Office declares a rainy day as any day where even a millimetre has fallen. Glasgow in Scotland suffers from having the most days of rainfall per year on average, with 170 . Rain at rush hour in London is everybody's nightmare, but the capital is actually Britain's driest city . Manchester, being in the North West, surprisingly only just made the top ten of wettest places. Pictured here are cricket fans covering up at Old Trafford. Despite the findings, the city of Cardiff remains popular with tourists . A spokesperson for Cardiff Tourism told MailOnline: 'I think the rain isn't just confined to Cardiff, as I think Wales can be quite a wet place on the whole really. 'But we have some fantastic indoor attractions that can be enjoyed if it's raining; we have Cardiff Castle and the National Museum that are both really popular. 'Then we also have the Cardiff Story, again indoor, that details the magnificent history of our city. 'I think Cardiff remains a really popular destination for tourists throughout Europe and the world. I have noticed more and more people are visiting from South America now, so they're obviously not put off by any rain.' The Cardiff Bay regeneration project continues to attract tourists from Europe and afar . Cardiff Castle is one of the main attractions - and offers shelter if the weather takes a turn for the worse . The Cardiff Bay regeneration project, situated in the south of the capital has been heralded by developers as one of the most successful regeneration projects of it's kind. 'Cardiff Bay is very popular with tourists, and has great indoor areas and restaurants, so the rain certainly doesn't put anyone off visiting here,' added the spokesman. The data on wettest cities was collected by Manchester Evening news, who will have been pleased to see North West only just sneak into the top ten for average rainfall, eighth with 84.3cms. But it wasn't so much good news when it came to average number of days of rainfall, with 152 days a year calling for the umbrella.

More rain falls on average in Cardiff than any other British city . But Glasgow has more days of rainfall a year on average with 170 . Good news for London as it is named Britain's driest city . But spokesman for Cardiff Tourism sees rise in city visits .

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A former drug dealer who went on The Jeremy Kyle Show to have a paternity test has accused producers of forcing him to wear a tracksuit before the show's host ripped into him over the outfit. Gareth Evans, 27, was dubbed an 'ex-drug dealer in a tracksuit' by Kyle, told to 'shut up' and called 'scum' after going on the show to find out if he was the real father of nine-month-old baby Damien. Girlfriend Charmaine Wright, 21, added that the show's staff had been manipulative, 'egging' the pair on before the cameras started rolling. Scroll down for video . Mr Evans said he turned up to the studio wearing a smart jumper, but was told by Kyle's team to take it off and put on a tracksuit top - moments before the host attacked him for wearing it . Gareth Evans, 27, said he was left feeling manipulated and humiliated after going on Jeremy Kyle with girlfriend Charmaine Wright, 21, to prove nine-month-old Damien is his son . She also said Kyle turned the audience against them, saying that Mr Evans was 'not a good dad' and asking them to 'show the world how you welcome a drug dealer to my stage' when he walked out in front of the cameras. When Miss Wright revealed Mr Evans had been a drug dealer Kyle then gloated: 'I love mornings like this.' The DNA test proved Mr Evans is Damien's father, and he has vowed to be a good parent to his son . The episode, called 'I'll prove my drug dealing ex is the father to my baby', aired on January 26. The troubled couple, who have been together nearly three years, went on the ITV show after baby Damien was born with ginger hair, leading Gareth to think he might not be his. Mr Evans, from Barnstaple, Devon, says he turned up to the studios dressed in a smart Officers Club jumper, but was told he would have to remove it because it had a logo showing. Instead the production team told him he would have to change into a tracksuit, before Kyle attacked him over the clothing. Mr Evans said: 'He slated me for the tracksuit but it was his tracksuit so he slated himself. 'I wanted to go on the show to be sure Damien was mine, but we 100 per cent regret it. I only went on the show for my son.' DNA tests eventually proved that Damien was Mr Evans' son, and he has vowed to be a good father to the boy. The episode was available to view this morning via streaming service ITV Player, but has since been removed. MailOnline has made several attempts to contact The Jeremy Kyle Show and ITV for comment, but has so far not received a response. The incident is not the first time The Jeremy Kyle Show has been accused of influencing how guests appear on the programme. In 2007 the show came under fire after an alcoholic who appeared on the show claimed he had been plied with lager to 'stir him up for a fight'. Peter Davies, an ex-heroin addict, was a guest on the show as he tried to find out why his father cut him out of his will. 'They basically wanted me to make a fool of myself - and that's exactly what I did,' he told The Sun. 'I was half-cut by the time I went on stage. They knew I was an alcoholic and they should never have given me a drink.' A spokesman for the show said at the time: 'Peter was not encouraged to drink and was not given four or five cans of lager as he claims. Fazakerly Hospital banned the show from its television screens in 2009 . 'He was given two small cups of weak lager over a two-and-a-half-hour period to counteract alcohol withdrawal symptoms.' Later that year a former producer on the show told the Guardian that staff wind up guests 'like a coiled spring' before they take to the stage. Charlotte Scott said the production team would 'talk up' guests, giving them advice on what to say and how to be confrontational when they are questioned by Kyle. A spokeswoman for ITV said: 'We do not seek to "wind up" guests.' In 2009 the show was banned from being shown at Fazakerley Hospital, in Liverpool, after bosses decided it was upsetting patients. The hospital switched from ITV to BBC One after a number of complaints about the show from people in the waiting room. A spokeswoman for The Jeremy Kyle Show said many patients would be disappointed by the hospital's edict. 'It is the hospital's decision at the end of the day,' she added.

Gareth Evans, 27, said he arrived for filming wearing smart jumper . But he was told to change it for tracksuit top as it had a logo showing . Jeremy Kyle ripped into outfit, branding him 'a drug dealer in a tracksuit' Also called 'scum' and told to 'shut up' by Kyle during show .

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(CNN) -- Less than a week after releasing its 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime, Amazon is out with a new list: 150 Love Stories for Every Romantic Mood, just in time for Valentine's Day. Books that made the cut include Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind," Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" and E.L. James' "Fifty Shades" trilogy. The list spans 12 categories -- Dangerous Love, Dystopian Love, First Love, Historical Romance, Love Overseas, Love on the Big Screen, Modern Love, Paranormal Love, Sizzling Series, Star-Crossed Love, True Love and Unlikely Love -- with entries sprinkled among the adult and young adult genres. While many categories are filled with fictional romances, the True Love set features memoirs and autobiographies, including "Just Kids" by Patti Smith, "Love & War" by James Carville and Mary Matalin, and "The Pioneer Woman" by Ree Drummond (known for her Food Network show of the same name). The CNN Living team noted that several modern classics we love were omitted from the Amazon list, including "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel García Márquez, "Love Is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield, "All the Living" by C.E. Morgan and "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" by Terry McMillan. Team Living collected our 40 favorite titles from the Amazon list in the gallery above. Take a look and see if you agree with our top picks. Sara Nelson, editorial director of print and Kindle books at Amazon.com, said her team wanted to capture the essence of the Valentine's Day season in a bigger way this year by expanding last year's 50 Great American Love Stories, which highlighted love stories set in each U.S. state. "We sat in front of the computer and the shelves of books in Seattle, and we took out everything we thought would count as a love story," Nelson said. "I think the big surprise, though, is how many kinds of love there are. When we came up with the categories, it wasn't hard to fill them." Though some were surprised that Shakespeare didn't make the 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime list, "Romeo and Juliet" made the cut this time in the Star-Crossed Lovers category. Other well-known picks were "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky and "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. The set also includes compilations of letters between former President and first lady John and Abigail Adams and between Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. "There's always a little bit of serendipity in these things, because you could do this list with 300 books, 500 books," Nelson said. "We have a list, we refine it, we add, then we refine. What you come up with in the end is a mish-mash, but I think that's what's interesting." All the books on the list can be viewed at Amazon.com, and CNN Living's top 40 favorites are included in the gallery above. Let us know which ones you agree with and which you think should have been included in the comments section below.

Amazon.com unveiled its list of 150 love stories fit for any romantic occasion . The list includes both fiction and nonfiction, adult and young adult romance . CNN Living curated the list to our 40 favorite picks, including "Cold Mountain" and "Bel Canto" Did your favorite book about love make the list? Share your opinion in the comments section .

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(CNN) -- Myanmar is facing a food shortage largely due to last year's deadly Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed nearly all the rice crops in the fertile Ayeyarwaddy delta, the United Nations said Wednesday. A young farmer ploughs a field in preparation to grow rice in Dalla, about 20 kms south of Yangon on July 9, 2008. Rice production in the cyclone-affected areas of Ayeyarwaddy and Yangon, the largest city and former capital of Myanmar, is expected to be 50 percent of last year's, according to the report issued by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP). Rat infestation in western's Myanmar's Chin State has also contributed to the food shortage, the report says. "Access to food remains the critical challenge for the poorest people and for vulnerable populations in remote areas of Myanmar," Chris Kaye, WFP's representative for Myanmar, said in a written statement. "And for many of those affected by Cyclone Nargis, who are engaged in rebuilding their lives and livelihoods, the limited delta harvest means they will continue to rely on assistance to meet their food needs." Watch Paul Risley of the WFP discuss the food crisis » . Although rice production is expected to be adequate this year because of strong crops in other areas of the country, access to food remains a serious challenge to Myanmar's poor, especially in the delta region, the report said. More than 5 million people fall below the food poverty line and emergency food aid is still needed in cyclone-affected areas, the report said. The cyclone also hurt the cattle and fishing industries, contributing to the food crisis. "Humanitarian assistance has not restored the production capacity of small to medium-sized farms," He Changchui, FAO's Asia-Pacific regional chief, said in a written statement. "Farmers and fishers are unlikely to self-finance their needs this year, thus entering into a spiral of pauperization of the delta."

Myanmar is facing a food shortage largely due to last year's deadly Cyclone Nargis . Cyclone destroyed nearly all the rice crops in the fertile Ayeyarwaddy delta . Rice production in the cyclone-affected areas expected to be half of last year's . Despite adequate crops this year, food access remains a problem for the poor .

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Those who love them praise their 'mild nutty taste' and 'crunch' but for most diners the thought eating insects might prove to be one culinary step too far. Adventurous visitors at a Belgian food fair were treated to unusual offerings such as buffalo worm burgers, pan-fried crickets and bugs served with chocolate sauce. The EAT! Brussels food event showcased meals made with the creepy critters, highlighting companies who have embarked on food ventures with buffalo worms, house crickets and mealworms. Scroll down for video. Pan-fried crickets with melon: Visitors at the EAT! Brussels food fair were served insects and worms . Worm nuggets served with a side of salad now appears on Brussels' Vrije Universiteit's cafeteria menu . One such entrepreneur is Belgian cricket breeder Little Food, who supplies the critters to gourmet restaurants, praising their 'mild nutty taste' and 'crunch'. The company suggest serving the insects with soy sauce and mushrooms, or on chocolate. Ms Nicky Deneef, from Waterloo, was unfazed by the taste as the company promoted their product at the event. 'It's okay, it's really good in fact,' she said after popping one of the creatures in her mouth. Little Food says the cricket contains three times as much protein as beef, along with a wide range of vitamins, minerals and fatty acids. On top of health benefits, insects are seen as a solution to meet the demands of food supply and are viewed as a more environmentally-friendly method of food production. Wriggly additions: Mealworms getting ready to be processed into sauces and spreads at Green Kow . Insect spreads on offer include savoury carrot, or tomato as well as sweet chocolate . This spurred Damien Huysmans to found Green Kow, which prides itself on being the first in Europe to offer products containing mealworms to be distributed in regular stores. A range of mealworm-based spreads are on offer - from savoury carrot or tomato to sweet chocolate. Huysmans said he wanted to be a part of the buzz surrounding insect food. Mr Huysmans said to Reuters: 'We have heard a lot of people talking about insects as the food of the future, because it's great for the environment, from a nutritional point of view and for the taste as well it's got something to bring at a gastronomical level. 'And we quite simply said to ourselves, 'Ok, if it's that great, we'll start now then. We'll get going right away,'' he said. Bugs on chocolate: Insect-based food products are now creeping into Belgian kitchens . Belgian supermarket Delhaize started stocking Green Kow's Green Bugs in September . Belgian supermarket Delhaize started stocking their product Green Bugs in September, expanding Green Kow's sale of mealworms beyond organic and natural food stores. Not everyone, however, was convinced by the prospect of stocking their fridges with bugs. 'I look at them, but I'm afraid of the texture of the product. It's not the flavor. I'm not afraid of the taste of the product, but I'm afraid of the texture of the product,' shopper Renee-Claude Charton said in the video. Students at a Brussels-based university have taken more warmly to insects after the canteen introduced a buffalo worm burger in October, becoming the first commercial kitchen in Belgium to serve the product. Apprehensive: Some diners remain unconvinced, saying that they are afraid of the texture of the products . The burger, produced by Belgian food producer Damhert, was so successful at Brussels' Vrije Universiteit (VUB)'s cafeteria that worm nuggets were on offer two weeks later. Gert Venken, a political science student at the university, was happy to tuck in to both the nuggets and the burger. 'People find that perhaps gross, but it's as gross to eat animals' livers. Some people eat all the parts of pigs and cows. Why would this then be gross? I think it's all edible and has been tested. For me, it's not gross. It doesn't scare me,' he said. Insects will remain on the university's menu for the foreseeable future, with the cafeteria saying it planned to serve them every two to three weeks. Belgium was one of the first European countries to issue national guidelines concerning the sale of insects as food in 2013.

Visitors at the EAT! Brussels food fair were treated to the unusual offerings . Recipe suggestions include cooking bugs with soya sauce and mushrooms . Suppliers say crickets contain three times as much protein as beef . A Brussels university cafeteria is offering worm nuggets on their menu .

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By . Hugo Gye . PUBLISHED: . 05:57 EST, 9 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:57 EST, 9 May 2013 . A 100-year-old widower killed himself after he could no longer surf the internet because he was going blind, an inquest has heard. Gordon Crisp's relatives bought him a laptop when he was struggling to cope with his wife's death in 2007. He enjoyed watching online videos of opera and jazz performance - but after he developed macular degeneration, it became increasingly difficult for him to use the computer. On December 29, Mr Crisp was found dead by his son-in-law on the floor of his bedroom at his home in Keynsham, Somerset. Opera: A music lover has hanged himself after his eyesight became too bad to watch online videos (file photo) Dr Peter Harrowing, assistant deputy coroner for Avon, said: 'They bought him a laptop computer and aged 95 he was taught how to surf the internet. 'He spent many hours surfing the net finding clips of opera and jazz. 'He developed macular degeneration affecting his eyesight which meant he could no longer use the computer which had given him so much enjoyment.' Son-in-law Cameron Hughes told the inquest in Flax Bourton, Somerset: 'Gordon was a proud man who struggled to allow people to do the day-to-day tasks. 'I had no idea he wanted to take his life but I was aware he was struggling with day-to-day life. 'I saw the milk on the doorstep and the post in the holder, and I was instantly alarmed. 'I pushed the bedroom door and it was heavy to move, and I was shocked to see Gordon behind the door. I was sure he had passed away.' Suicide: Gordon Crisp was found dead by his son-in-law at his home in Keynsham, Somerset (pictured) A report from his doctor confirmed that the retired engineer had glaucoma and impaired vision and suffered from 'bereavement issues' when his wife died. Mr Crisp's daughter Kathleen Llewellyn told the inquest: 'He was a very independent man and never wanted to be a burden to anyone. 'I know when his sight failed it was a concern for him, he always wanted to stay in his own home and didn't want a carer.' 'He probably decided he didn't wish to be a burden and felt this was an appropriate way out. ' Dr Harrowing returned a verdict of suicide, saying: 'Mr Crisp took deliberate steps at a time when he was unlikely to be disturbed and knew when taking the action his death would ensue. 'We will never know why he took the actions he did but we have heard he obviously missed his wife of many years. 'He probably decided he didn't wish to be a burden and felt this was an appropriate way out. Sadly elderly people do take this action from time to time. 'Having heard the evidence I record he took his own life.' For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details.

Gordon Crisp used laptop to look up music online . But he could no longer use computer as he went blind . Found hanged in his bedroom by son-in-law .

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 03:30 EST, 9 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:47 EST, 9 October 2013 . Ned Kelly, aged 16, at the Old Melbourne Gaol. A poignant 133-year-old letter has revealed details of his last stand . A poignant 133-year-old letter has revealed details of the last stand of Australia's most famous outlaw, Ned Kelly, describing the moment bullets 'slid off him like hail' as he faced a bloody battle with police. In the first 'everyman' account of the Glenrowan Siege, a young bank teller named Donald Sutherland tells how he witnessed Kelly being captured and, in the letter to his parents in Scotland, details the shootout with police on June 28, 1880. The heavy homemade armour and helmet which protected Kelly during the battle helped make him an iconic figure in Australian history. But in scenes similar to Clint Eastwood's western, a Fistful of Dollars, the bullets seemed to have bounced off him. In the film Eastwood's character Joe enters a showdown with a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, as his opponent's rifle shots bounce off, allowing him to win the duel. 'Ned's armour alone weighed 97 pounds,' Mr Sutherland writes. 'The police thought he was a fiend, seeing their rifle bullets were sliding off him like hail," Sutherland wrote. 'The force of the rifle bullets made him stagger when hit but it was only when they got him on the legs and arms that he reluctantly fell, exclaiming as he did so "I am done. I am done".' In the letter, Mr Sutherland tells how he had dashed by horseback . from the nearby town of Oxley after learning the notorious Kelly . gang was at an inn in Glenrowan. By the time he had arrived, Ned was . lying badly wounded on a stretcher after losing the battle with police, . despite the homemade suit of armour he had been wearing. He said: 'I was . really sorry for him to see him lying pierced by bullets and still . showing no signs of pain,' Mr Sutherland wrote in his . beautifully-scripted letter. 'His three sisters were there also, Mrs Skillion, Kate Kelly and a younger one. 'Kate was sitting at his head with her arms round his neck while the others were crying in a mournful strain.' Mr Sutherland writes to his parents of a 'powerful' man with 'soft eyes'. A hand written letter detailing the Glenrowan Siege. Donald Sutherland tells how he witnessed Kelly being captured and, in the letter to his parents in Scotland, details the shootout with police on June 28, 1880 . Jim Kelly and his mother Ellen Kelly outside their home in Eleven Mile Creek in Victoria, Australia. They are the brother and mother of bushranger Ned Kelly . In the film Eastwood's character Joe enters a showdown with a steel chest-plate hidden beneath his poncho, as his opponent's rifle shots bounce off, allowing him to win the duel . He said: 'Ned does not at all look like a murderer and bushranger - he is a very . powerful man, aged about 27, black hair and beard with a soft mild . looking face and eyes - his mouth being the only wicked portion of the . face.' More... Ned Kelly's final farewell: Headless outlaw buried at 'Mass of thanksgiving' as Australian folk hero gets his dying wish with Catholic memorial attended by hundreds . Australian outlaw Ned Kelly's body finally to be returned to family for burial after 130 years . Alex McDermott, a research scholar at the State Library of Victoria, said the Glenrowan Siege had been heavily scrutinised in the past century. A framed photograph shows Ned Kelly, the day before he was hanged at a prison called the Old Melbourne Gaol . He said but the letter was the first time the events had been represented in an unbiased and 'everyman' perspective. 'To date, every single account has always been from a member of the police or a Kelly family member or adviser,' he said. 'Sutherland doesn't condemn either side, he just gives it out.' The Kelly Gang was outlawed after they killed three policemen and robbed several banks. They became a symbol of social tensions between poor Irish settlers and the wealthy establishment, with Kelly becoming a folk hero to many for standing up to the Anglo-Australian ruling class. 'He was lying on a stretcher quite calm and collected, not withstanding the great pain he must have been suffering from his wounds,' Sutherland wrote, and added that Kelly was surrounded by his crying sisters. The letter passed to Sutherland's descendants in Scotland, England and Canada before the family decided to donate it to the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. It will be on view from Monday. Ned Kelly and his gang rode . through the hills north of Melbourne, plundering and robbing before the . shootout with police at Stringybark Creek. A desperate . confrontation with police occurred at Glenrowan on June 28, 1880, . Kelly, in his home-fashioned head and body armour, faced police before he was showered with rifle bullets. He was convicted of three . counts of wilful murder and hanged at the Old Melbourne Gaol in November . 1880. His last words before he was hanged were reported to have been: 'Such is life.' Australia's most infamous criminal Ned Kelly holds a gun in Melbourne . Edward 'Ned' Kelly was the first son of Irish convict John 'Red' Kelly, who moved to Australia in 1848. Ned was born in Beveridge, just north of Melbourne, some time between June 1854 and June 1855. At the age of 14, Ned was arrested for the first time for assaulting a Chinese pig farmer. The . year after, he was arrested again, this time for being a suspected . accomplice of robber Harry Power. Both these charges were dismissed, but . it was too late: Ned had come to the attention of the police. Some years later a police officer went to the Kelly home, hoping to arrest Ned's brother Dan for stealing horses. The officer claimed that when he turned up he was shot in the wrist by . Ned, although it was unclear whether Ned was even present at the time. Ned's mother Ellen was arrested for aiding and abetting an attempted . murder and sentenced to three years. Ned . and other members of his family went into hiding and hoped by starting . up a whiskey distillery they could earn enough money to appeal their . mother's sentence. But the . police were hot on their heels. Four officers were dispatched to track . them down and Ned ended up killing three of them, officially becoming an . outlaw. He went on to . rob two banks before police finally caught up with him. Ned was hanged . on November 11, 1880. His last words were ‘Such is life’. Despite . being a violent career criminal, many consider him to symbolise the . Australian spirit - an endearing underdog not afraid to challenge . authority. He . once wrote an 8,000 word letter, later used against him at trial, in . which he explained he was forced into a life of crime by situations . beyond his control.

133-year-old letter reveals Kelly was protected by his homemade armour . It is the first 'everyman' account of what happened when Kelly faced police . Written by bank teller Donald Sutherland and sent to parents in Scotland . Mr Sutherland writes to his parents of a 'powerful' man with 'soft eyes'

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(CNN)When it's completed, it will be so large as to be visible from space. If it succeeds, it will create a top ecological attraction, reduce economic hardships and help modernize a community. It's the Giant Flag of South Africa, and it's an ambitious project by almost any measure. Located in the Camdeboo Municipality of Karoo, an arid region between Cape Town and Johannesburg, it will transform a patch of desert into a living national flag spanning about 163 acres, the size of 66 soccer fields. Some 2.5 million red, yellow, blue and green desert plants, including cacti and spekboom, will be arranged in a pattern like that of South Africa's flag. The flag's black triangular area will contain a 4-megawatt solar-panel field, generating much-needed electricity for the region. The idea is simple and elegant: use green tourism to fight poverty. Guy Lieberman came up with the idea after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when the South Africans played host and were united by the spirit of their flag. His employer, FCB South Africa, a communications firm, asked him to come up with a legacy project related to the flag. It's about "how we treat ourselves, nature, our built environment, and how we choose to view our common future on the planet," Lieberman said. Organizers say the succulent plants will reintroduce nutrients to the soil and sequester upwards of 200 tons of carbon every year. With the looming threat of climate change, this can only be a good thing. Meanwhile, the solar panels are expected to power the equivalent of 4,000 homes. Organizers hope to complete the flag in 2017. "The Giant Flag aims for a blend of ecological balance and social stability. One could call this compassionate capitalism," Lieberman said. "If this works, we're looking toward a socioeconomic shift that will change realities in the Camdeboo forever." Camdeboo Municipality, with a 40% unemployment rate and a marked racial and economic divide, has one of the worst income disparities in South Africa. The flag project, according to estimates, will create 700 jobs, most of them for women who can work on the botanical components. Local tourism is expected to increase by 20% to 25%. Jeunesse Parks, a longtime environmentalist and founder of Food and Trees for Africa, has high hopes for the venture. "With the soil restoration, the carbon offsets, the message around renewable solar energy, as well as the socioeconomic impact this green innovation will have on a rural community, the flag is a truly unique initiative," she said. So far, funding for the $18 million project has come from sponsorships, partnerships and donations from local governments, private companies, nonprofits and individuals. Organizers say the next step is to leverage crowdsourcing on a large scale, which they hope will raise more than $2 million of the final price. People from around the world can adopt succulents for $10 each to help build the flag. If all goes well, the adopted plants will live for hundreds of years, forming a green legacy for each donor. Lieberman sees the Giant Flag as "an opportunity to do something dramatic and wonderful that embodies the spirit of the nation -- beyond the politics and factions." Indeed, South Africa has gone through great political upheaval and is still trying to find its identity in the post-apartheid era. If the Giant Flag can create a sustainable future, it may well turn into a national symbol.

A vast array of plants in the South African desert will be visible from space . The colored plants will be arranged in a pattern like that of South Africa's flag . The flag will harness solar power, generate jobs and electricity for the region .

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Over the past eight years, Apple has released a total of ten iPhones, all said to be a slight variation on the one before. But, how much have the devices actually changed since the 2G’s 3.5-inch screen and rounded edges? Designers have combined models of each handset since 2007 to create a graphic that reveals the evolution of the phones as they morph in front of your eyes. Scroll down for video . The graphic was created for California-based image search site PicClick. It plots the design changes from the first iPhone, known as the 2G in 2007, through the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5S and 5C, and the most recent iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Designers n used image-morphing technology to create the GIFs . The graphic was created for California-based image search site PicClick. It plots the design changes from the first iPhone, known as the 2G in 2007, through the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5S and 5C, and the most recent iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Designers compiled high-resolution 3D models of each handset, and then used image-morphing technology to create the GIFs. Each design is visualised from the front, side and rear, and the changing sizes are also demonstrated in a picture created by the firm. ‘Critics of the Apple iPhone often say that the design and features of each new model barely change and each phone is just a slightly tweaked version of the last,’ explained PicClick. The graphic (pictured) shows that the most noticeable change among the recent iPhone iterations is how much of the front of the device is devoted to the screen. Until the iPhone 5, the overall size of the phone remained the same. At this point, in September 2012, Apple jumped from a 3.5-inch screen to a 4-inch display . The 4-inch display remained for two years, also being used on the iPhone 5S and 5C. Last September, Apple increased this display size again, to 4.7-inches for the iPhone 6 and its first foray into phablets, with 5.5-inches on the iPhone 6 Plus. ‘As mobile video grows, Apple has expanded screens accordingly,’ said PicClick . ‘We wanted to put this claim to the test. ‘With the help of image-morphing technology, we visualised the changes from three different perspectives.’ The graphic shows that the most noticeable change among the recent iPhone iterations is how much of the front of the device is devoted to the screen. Until the iPhone 5, the overall size of the phone remained the same. The iPhone (pictured) was released on 29 June 2007. It has a 3.5-inch, 160-pixel per inch screen . iPhone: The iPhone was released on 29 June 2007. It has a 3.5-inch display, 160-pixel per inch screen. The phone includes, contacts, calendar, visual voice mail, SMS and quad-band GSM + Edge, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Steve Jobs announced at the launch the software also lets people have multiple SMS messaging sessions at once. iPhone 3G: The iPhone 3G has a plastic rear, and includes 3G, GPS, and comes in white. iPhone 3GS: Apple’s third iPhone, the 3GS is almost identical to the 3G, but comes in silver. The firm added a 3MP rear camera, voice control as well as a cut, copy and paste. iPhone 4: By the iPhone 4, Apple had redesigned the phone to feature stainless steel and glass, and it became more square than previous models. The 4 has a front-facing camera, Retina display, FaceTime and the rear camera has been boosted to 5MP. iPhone 4S: Design-wise, Apple’s iPhone 4S was very similar to the iPhone 4 but Apple added an 8MP camera, and support for Siri. iPhone 5: It wasn’t until the iPhone 5 that Apple took another look at the design. Made using aluminium, the phone has a larger screen, an 8MP camera, this time with a sapphire crystal lens, and HD FaceTime. The iPhone 5 was the first model to use the Lightning connector port. iPhone 5S: In 2013, Apple broke away from its traditional release schedule and launched two phones at its September event. The iPhone 5S is a marginal improvement on the iPhone 5, and comes in gold, black and white. It was the first phone to feature the Touch ID sensor. The most recent handsets, released in September, are the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus (pictured). Both have the fingerprint scanner introduced on the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch display, and the iPhone 6 Plus’ is 5.5 inches. Both have Retina HD displays and both came with NFC chips for the first time . iPhone 5C: Meanwhile, the ‘budget’ iPhone 5C was launched with a plastic rear. Internally, the phone is almost identical to the iPhone 5, but it comes in a wider range of colours. iPhone 6 and 6 Plus: The most recent handsets, released in September, are the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Both have the fingerprint scanner introduced on the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch display, and the iPhone 6 Plus’ is 5.5 inches. Both have Retina HD displays, a return to the more rounded edges of previous models, and both come with NFC chips for the first time. These can be used with Apple Pay. The camera has remained the same, but the iPhone 6 Plus additionally has optical image stabilisation. At this point, in September 2012, Apple jumped from a 3.5-inch screen to a 4-inch display. The 4-inch display remained for two years, also being used on the iPhone 5S and 5C. Last September, Apple increased this display size again, to 4.7-inches for the iPhone 6 and its first foray into phablets, with 5.5-inches on the iPhone 6 Plus. ‘As mobile consumption of video and social content grows to rival - and in some cases exceed - desktop use, Apple has expanded screens accordingly,’ continued PicClick. The width of each handset has grown with each iteration. The first generation is 2.4inches (61mm) wide. The 3GS is 2.44 inches (62.1mm), the 4S is 2.31 inches (58.6mm), the iPhone 5C is 2.33 inches (59.2mm) and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are 2.64 inches (67mm) and 3.06 inches (77.8mm) respectively . On all handsets, the home button has remained in the same place, but since the iPhone 5S it has doubled up as a fingerprint scanner called the TouchID sensor. Over the past eight years, the iPhone has slimmed down significantly in nearly all its successive versions. The 2G is 0.46 inches (11.6mm) thick and the iPhone 4 dropped to 0.37 inches (9.3mm). By the 5S the thickness was 0.3 inches (7.6mm), and the most recent iPhone 6 Plus is just 0.28 inches (7.1mm) - a total drop of 0.17 inches (4.5mm). Width is a different story, however, growing with each iteration. The first generation phone, which has since been discontinued, is 2.4inches (61mm) wide. The 3GS is 2.44 inches (62.1mm), the 4S is 2.31 inches (58.6mm), the iPhone 5C is 2.33 inches (59.2mm) and the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are 2.64 inches (67mm) and 3.06 inches (77.8mm) respectively.

The graphic was created for visual search site PicClick . It plots the design changes from the first iPhone to the iPhone 6 Plus . Designers compiled high-resolution 3D models of each handset . They then used image-morphing technology to create the GIFs . Each design is visualised from the front, side and rear . The changing sizes are also demonstrated in a picture created by the firm .

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By . Mail On Sunday Reporter . A two pence piece that was accidentally made in the wrong metal is set to sell for 50,000 times its face value. The coin was struck in cupronickel, the blend of copper and nickel formerly used for 10p and 5p coins, when it should have been bronze. The errant coin, thought to be unique, was discovered in 1988, by the owner of a petrol station in a roll of new coins. The rare two pence piece, which is made in the wrong metal, which is set to sell for up to £1,000 when it is auctioned next week . It is thought that a cupronickel blank had been left in the barrel during the minting process by mistake. Richard Brommell, from Charterhouse Auctions, believes the coin could fetch up to £1,000 when it is auctioned in Sherborne, Dorset, on Friday. He said: ‘It’s a conversation piece and a curio. The Royal Mint can produce the odd anomaly but this takes the biscuit. It’s a very difficult thing to value because there are no comparables. ‘We say £100 to £200 as an estimate, but if two people are bidding for it, the coin could go for more than £1,000.’

Coin was accidentally made in cupronickel rather than bronze . Was discovered in 1988 by a petrol station owner opening roll of new coins . Could fetch up to £1,000 at auction next week in Dorset .

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(CNN) -- If the past 25 years are anything to go by, Germany has proven its firm position as the world's economic powerhouse. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the county thrust forward, developing a world-class car manufacturing industry and a network of small-to-medium size businesses which represent the backbone of the country's economy. It has weathered tough times too, famously branded the "sick man of Europe" by The Economist magazine in 2004. However, today the country ranks as the world's fourth largest economy, with one of the lowest unemployment rates, and one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Click through the slides of CNN's infographic above to see Germany by numbers, from average hours worked per year, to the percentage of Internet users in the country. Read more: Germany: 25 years later and no looking back . Send us your pictures: CNN iReport wants to know your favorite thing about Berlin .

Click though the slides to see Germany by numbers .

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . Mariah Carey has come under fire after she was paid $1 million to perform for a dictator. The 'All I Want for Christmas is You' singer gave a two-hour concert for authoritarian Angolan President Josè Eduardo Dos Santos last Sunday, in return for the huge amount. The move has angered human rights groups who claim Dos Santos has murdered many and exploited the country's resources to his own gain. Controversial: Mariah Carey, center, posed with authoritarian Angolan President Josè Eduardo Dos Santos, second from right, and his family last Sunday . Showstopper: Carey, pictured here at the performance, has come under fire after she was paid $1 million to perform for the dictator . 'It is the sad spectacle of an international artist purchased by a ruthless police state to entertain and whitewash the father-daughter kleptocracy that has amassed billions in ill-gotten wealth while the majority of Angola lives on less than $2 a day,' Human Rights Foundation president Thor Halvorssen said. Mariah's show was sponsored by Unitel, a mobile-phone company owned by Dos Santos' daughter, Isabel. His daughter is also head of the Angolan Red Cross, which reportedly received $65,000 in benefit funds from the concert. Dictator: President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, pictured with his wife, second from right, and daughter Isabel, third from left, is accused of paying Mariah Carey with ill-gotten gains . The concert comes five years after Mariah apologized after performing for notorious dictator Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was toppled and killed during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. Thor added: 'Mariah Carey can't seem to get enough dictator cash. Just five years ago she performed for the family of Libyan dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi. 'Now, she goes from private performances to public displays of support and credibility for one of Africa's chief human rights violators and most corrupt tyrants.' Mariah, 43, posed for pictures with Dos Santos and his family at the event. Not again: Mariah, pictured at Sunday's concert, angered many five years after performing for notorious dictator Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was toppled and killed during the Arab Spring uprising in 2011 . Star power: Event promoter Karina Barbosa, pictured top left, posted pictures of the event on Instagram . According to the Human Rights . Foundation, she said: 'I am happy to be here in this room and I am . honored to share this show with the President of Angola.' Critics . of Dos Santos claim he has murdered many politicians, journalists and . other people who have defied his orders, as well as monopolizing and . exploiting oil and diamond resources and seizing control of almost all . aspects of government power. MailOnline contacted Mariah Carey for comment, but is yet to receive a response. 'Murderer': Critics of Dos Santos, pictured, claim he has murdered many politicians, journalists and other people who have defied his orders . Swanky: Barbosa posted pictures of the swanky event, and the event's poster which features Mariah . The performance comes six months after Jennifer Lopez was forced to apologize for singing 'Happy Birthday' to the repressive dictator of Turkmenistan's brutal regime. Lopez reportedly changed into a traditional Turkmen outfit during her June show and personally serenaded Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow - whose government is accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing political dissidents. Human Rights Watch ranks Turkmenistan as 'among the most repressive in the world.'

The singer gave a two-hour concert for authoritarian Angolan President Josè Eduardo Dos Santos last Sunday, in return for the huge amount . The move has angered human rights groups who claim Dos Santos has murdered many and exploited the country's resources to his own gain . The concert comes five years after Mariah apologized after performing for notorious dictator Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi . In June, Jennifer Lopez sang 'Happy Birthday' to . the repressive dictator of Turkmenistan's brutal regime .

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Disgraced: Florida osteopath Dr Daniel McBath has been banned from treating female patients in light of allegations of sexual abuse and professional misconduct dating back to 2004 . A Florida doctor has been accused of repeatedly drugging at least three female patients with cocaine and sedatives and sexually assaulting them. Dr Daniel McBath, an osteopath from Dade City had his license restricted by the state last week for 'egregious and predatory' behavior involving three women. Under an emergency order issued by the Department of Health, McBath can no longer treat female patients at his McBath Medical Center at 23933 17th Street in Dade City. According to the 34-page order signed by State Surgeon General John Armstrong and cited by WPTV, McBath repeatedly drugged and sexually assaulted a patient with a history of abuse between June 2009 and January 2014. The doctor diagnosed the victim with obesity, even though at the time the 5-foot-7 woman a weighed only 135lbs. He later diagnosed the woman with hormonal imbalance, chronic pain, anxiety and fatigue 'without any supporting medical justification,' the order states, and prescribed her a cocktail of Adderall, Xanax, hydrocodone and B-12 shots. On at least one occasion, McBath allegedly injected a white liquid into the patient’s vagina, telling her it would give her a stronger sex drive. In the course of her treatment, the 35-year-old woman came to McBath's house and he instructed her to put on his wife's clothes, which she refused to do. The doctor and patient drank alcohol and used cocaine. The order states the woman then passed out and later woke up in McBath's bed. The physician allegedly assaulted some of the victims at his McBath Medical Center at 23933 17th Street in Dade City . With the woman slipping in and out of consciousness, McBath injected her with an unknown substance in her vagina and then proceeded to have sex with her, along with another man who was at the house, the document claims. Identified on;y as Mr DH’ in the order, the man allegedly had vaginal, oral and anal sex with the woman. McBath later also penetrated her with his hand, causing her to bleed profusely. On another occasion, McBath allegedly asked the patient to rub her privates with a cigar. Months later, the doctor took a photo of the woman’s vagina without her consent, the order states. In July 2004, McBath's then-26-year-old intern reported an incident during which the married doctor came over to her house to teach her how to perform a varicose vain removal procedure. Both of them drank beer and McBath gave the intern two blue pills telling her it was an antibiotic. The medicine made the woman feel woozy, which McBath claimed was a reaction to the antibiotic. While McBath was performing a 'chiropractic manipulation' on his employee, the order states he rolled her on her back, took her face in his hands and told her he had 'wanted to do this since the second day of work.' Family man: McBath has a wife, Brenda (left), and two grown daughters . The well-respected doctor then started kissing her on her mouth and breasts despite her protestations, according to the order, before exposing his erect penis and asking her if she 'wanted some of this.' The intern then lost consciousness. She came to on McBath's couch sometime later and was told by the doctor that they had 'made love,' the order states. The 26-year-old found her neck to be covered in 'love bites' and later tested positive for a sedative. The most recent incident involving Dr McBath dates to April of this year when he allegedly gave his long-time patient a shot for a suspected urinary tract infection, which caused her to pass out. The 32-year-old woman, who has been McBath’s patient since age 14, woke up on his couch four hours later. She too tested positive for the same sedative as the intern. When the patient reported the incident to police, detectives had her call McBath to talk to him about what happened between them, with officers listening in on their conversation. Betrayal of trust: McBath, pictured left and right with his wife, is accused of drugging a 26-year-old intern and exposing himself to her before she lost consciousnesses. He later said they had 'made love' 'Egregious': The doctor allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted a 35-year-old woman with a history of abuse between June 2009 and January 2014 after misdiagnosing her with obesity . McBath allegedly told the woman that they did not have sex and instructed her not to talk about this to anyone. McBath, who has a wife and two grown daughters, has not been charged with any crime pending an investigation by the local sheriff’s department. When contacted by Tampa Bay Times for a comment on the allegations, the doctor has denied the patients’ claims, calling them ‘pathetic’ and saying they were the result of retaliation, but he would not say for what. ‘Dr. McBath demonstrated predatory behavior,’ the emergency order in the case concludes. ‘The number of patients that have reported the sexual misconduct and administration of substances without consent indicates that Dr. McBath's conduct will continue.’

Osteopath Dr Daniel McBath has been banned from treating female patients in light of allegations . Department of Health document claims the Dade City doctor sexually assaulted three patients between 2004 and 2014 . The married father of two daughters allegedly drugged a 26-year-old intern and exposed himself to her before she lost consciousnesses . A 35-year-old patient with history of sexual abuse was allegedly violated by the physician and his friend until she bled . McBath allegedly injected her privates with white substance to increase her sex drive and told her to rub a cigar over her crotch . The doctor has not been charged with any crime .

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By . Sam Webb . PUBLISHED: . 09:51 EST, 24 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:18 EST, 24 May 2013 . A teenage schoolgirl spoke yesterday about how she was terrified when a fox jumped on to her chest as she lay in bed and bared its teeth at her. Isobelle Barter, who lives with her parents at their home yards a recreation ground in Richmond, Surrey, was startled when she was woken and came face-to-face with a fox she thought was going to attack her. The 15-year-old said: 'I was sleeping in bed and then heard noises downstairs and dogs barking so I thought it was our two dogs fighting. Vermin terror: Jim and Isobelle Barter with dogs Frankie (left) and Sky (right). Isobelle was horrified to discover a fox on her bed in the middle of the night . Fangs: Foxes in urban areas are losing their fear of humans. File picture . 'A couple of minutes later I hear another noise and thought it was my two dogs.' It was 5am and the pupil was still half asleep when she realised a fox had crept into her room. She told the Richmond and Twickenham Times: 'The next thing I know there was a fox in my face leaning over me with its teeth out like it was going to attack me. 'I just froze and then I started screaming and my dad ran in.' Invaders: Pest control experts say more and more foxes are entering people's homes in search of food. File picture . The fox was locked in the bedroom before her father Jim chased it out of the house with a mop. The teenager was so frightened her mother had to stay in her bed the following night until she fell asleep. Her mother Helen Kisby said: 'I often see foxes walking down the alleyway but you don't expect them to jump into bed with you. 'The fox came up in through my dining room, up the stairs and into her bedroom. 'She said it was on top of her showing its teeth. 'It's like something out of Little Red Riding Hood.' Animal experts said urban foxes sometimes enter people's homes because humans feed them as cubs. Steve Barron, of Pest-go Limited, told the newspaper: 'I have heard of this happening before. It's not common, but it's not unheard of. 'What has happened is foxes have lost the fear of humans and they are extremely opportunistic so if they see an opening, they will go for it. 'They are losing their natural instincts of being wary and scared of humans. 'People should stop feeding them because what they learn when they are young, they will carry on until their later life.'

Teenager Isobelle Barter came face-to-face with the snarling beast . The 15-year-old screamed and her father chased it out of her room . She was so traumatised her mother stayed in her bed the following night .

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By . Steve Nolan . PUBLISHED: . 10:11 EST, 22 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:02 EST, 22 October 2013 . Driver: Businessman Darren Jarvis, pictured arriving at Cardiff Crown Court, is charged with causing death by dangerous driving after a road traffic accident which left Jacek Stawski & Lee Williams dead . A businessman whose car number plate read 'Who's bad' lost control on a country lane while showing off his sports car at 100mph and killed two married fathers, a court has heard. Property developer Darren Jarvis, 42, was driving friend Lee Williams in his white turbo-charged Nissan Skyline sports car when he lost control. Cardiff Crown Court heard Jarvis span across the road and crashed into a Citroen Xsara driven by Jacek Stawski. Mr Williams, 40, and 38-year-old Mr Stawksi - both married with two children - were killed 'almost instantly' in the horror smash in Cwmbach, south Wales, in August last year. But Mr Stawski's four-year-old-son Thomas miraculously survived in the back seat of the family car. Prosecutor Nicholas Jones said Jarvis was speeding at 100mph on a winding road to show off in the £30,000 3.8 litre turbo sports car. He said that although the car's number plate was WHO6 BAD, a screw had been put through the number six to make the registration read 'Who's bad' from a distance. Mr Jones told the court: 'Jarvis and his passenger Mr Williams were at the head of a line of traffic - there was no one in front of them. 'Jarvis put his foot down and accelerated hard. 'Witnesses behind them in cars heard the sound of the exhaust and saw dust and gravel being kicked up by the wheels. 'As he came around the bend he started to lose control and the nearside wheels hit the kerb and went onto the grass verge for some distance until the car started to spin. Tragic: Lee Williams, who was a passenger in Darren Jarvis's car when it crashed was killed almost instantly . Victim: Father of two Jacek Stawski (pictured) was in another car that was hit head on in the collision. He was also killed in the crash . 'A woman was coming the other way and she swerved and managed to avoid the car somehow as it came across the road. 'Mr Stawski behind her was not so lucky.' Witnesses said Jarvis was 'frantically' trying to wrestle back control of the speeding car as he span into the oncoming traffic. Mr Stawski was driving well below the 60mph speed limit with son Thomas in the back seat when his family saloon was hit 'broadside' by the spinning sports car. Mr Jones said: 'The Citroen had almost stopped when the crash occurred. 'It was struck with such great force to the front that it was knocked backwards and spun 180 degrees. 'Both Mr Williams and Mr Stawski suffered the full impact of the collision and were declared dead within minutes of the paramedics arriving.' Personalised: The sports car driven by Jarvis had the number plate 'WHO6 BAD' Father-of-two Jarvis, of Radyr, Cardiff, was airlifted to hospital. He was treated for broken ribs, internal bleeding and spinal injuries and released after five days in hospital. When interviewed by police he said he couldn't remember anything. Mr Jones told the jury: 'There seems to be two issues Jarvis relies on. Sports car: Mr Jarvis was driving a Nissan Skyline, similar to the car pictured . 'First that he may have had some sort of fit or seizure during the crash, and second that the crash speed was considerably lower than the 100 mph. 'Our case is that he put his foot down as fast as he could and probably to show off to the passenger in his car. 'This was a case of deliberate acceleration and dangerous driving.' Jarvis denies two charges of causing death by dangerous driving. Nissan claims that the top speed of the 3.8litre Skyline is 193mph. The trial continues. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.

Darren Jarvis lost control of his Nissan Skyline in South Wales last August . His passenger father-of-two Lee Williams, 40, died 'almost instantly' Jacek Stawski, driving a Citreon Xsara, was killed when his car was hit . Mr Stawski's son Thomas, four, survived in the back seat of the car . Jarvis denies two counts of causing death by dangerous driving . Nissan claims that the top speed of the 3.8litre Skyline is 193mph .

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(CNN) -- You know those little "winglets" that point up from the tips of airliner wings? Those were developed by NASA. And, you know those little grooves in runways that channel away standing water? NASA again. America's space agency isn't just about space. It also develops ways to make our airliners safer and more efficient. Guess what? You may have been flying with NASA technology for years, and didn't even know it. Shape-shifting wings? They're coming . Now, an ongoing project could radically change the way airliners look and, more importantly, save hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fuel costs. NASA calls it the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project, or ACTE. It's best described in three words: Shape. Shifting. Wings. Those words sound like science fiction, but NASA and a company called Flexsys are developing wings that change shape in response to flight conditions and weather. Superflexible very strong composite materials make it possible. What does that mean to air travelers? You've probably looked out the window of an airliner to see the hinged metal flaps on the rear edge of a wing. New flexible materials allow the wing to change shapes without hinges. NASA shows off new flight technology . This week, NASA invited dozens of aerospace bloggers and social media mavens to see new aviation technology at its Armstrong Flight Research Center in California's High Desert, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. They got an exclusive look at NASA's flexible wing project and other ongoing research aimed at aviation. They also got a chance to hang out with engineers and pilots. Then, they tweeted about it. Project manager Tom Rigney compared the flexible wings to "watching a bathtub bend. You don't expect something shaped like that to bend into a very fluid looking shape." If these new wings end up on airliners in the coming decades, they'll transform our flying experience into smoother, more comfortable and less expensive journeys. But don't expect them until after 2025, said Rigney. So, the big question about the flexible wing is pretty simple: How does it work? That's a proprietary secret. NASA is prohibited from telling us. But here's what the NASA engineers could say: It morphs to compensate for changing flight conditions. In the future, "a pilot could be flying through a strong gust and the wings adjust so passengers won't feel the forces of the gust," Rigney said. It could change the way engineers design airliner wings. "Now we have wings that are made heavier to withstand gusts, but with this technology, they may not have to design heavy wings like that anymore," said Rigney. Moving wings in-flight . A three-member crew of a heavily modified NASA Gulfstream III has been flight testing this new wing material. Inside the cockpit sits a mascot: a little stuffed animal named Scrat, the prehistoric squirrel character from the film "Ice Age." NASA loves its acronyms, so Scrat has been defined as the "SubsoniC Research Aircraft Testbed." The test flights climb to around 40,000 feet and accelerate to about 75% of the speed of sound. Never far away is a chase plane, in case an issue comes up and they need an exterior set of eyes on the wings. The wing material "is just one, smooth surface," said NASA test pilot Tim Williams. "It's very, very solid." Right now, the wing is adjusted before each flight, not while airborne. Once this test program is complete, the next step would be to design a new wing. "I would think that wing would be moveable in flight," said Williams, "and it will make a big difference." Someday this new wing technology may join the list of NASA innovations that have made air travel safer and more convenient. Here are five big examples . 1. Airborne wind shear detection . A weather phenomenon called wind shear poses danger to airliners during takeoffs and landings. Wind shear involves sudden changes in wind speed, horizontally or vertically. Airplanes now have sensors that can predict it while in flight. In the 1980s and '90s, NASA conducted wind shear research and validated the technology surrounding the sensors. 2. Digital fly-by-wire . Older airliners used heavy cables and pulleys to connect the cockpit controls to the wings and tail. Now, thanks to NASA research in the 1960s and '70s, pilots control newer airliners via electronic wire-based systems. 3. Lightning protection standards . Airliners are safer from lightning strikes now, due to NASA research during the 1970s and '80s. What NASA learned has helped protect airliner avionics and electronics from damage by lightning strikes. 4. Engine nozzle chevrons . Chevrons -- serrated shapes on the rear edges of the nacelles, the jet engine housings -- cut noise in the cabin and on the ground. These were developed thanks to NASA computer simulations in the 1990s and 2000s. 5. Winglets . Vertical extensions developed by NASA during the 1970s and '80s led to airliner "winglets," which allow planes to slice through the air more efficiently, saving fuel and money.

NASA and Flexsys are developing shape-shifting wings for airplanes . Flexible wings would save millions in fuel and smooth the ride for passengers . NASA showed off its wing technology to bloggers and social media mavens this week . NASA has contributed heavily to innovations used in commercial aviation .

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By . Gethin Chamberlain . PUBLISHED: . 16:02 EST, 8 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 08:41 EST, 9 September 2012 . Britain is frittering away tens of millions of pounds hiring an army of consultants to tell India how to run its own affairs. A Mail on Sunday investigation into contracts awarded to consultants has found that instead of money going directly to India’s poor and needy, much of it goes into the pockets of firms, some American, that are paid to hold meetings and produce reports. It hired a group of consultants - including one leading US university - to work on a £5 million deal to tell the Department for International Development whether it was wasting money. The UK Government insists it will continue to give the economic superpower £280 million a year until 2015 – despite India’s insistence that it does not want or need the money. The UK Government is spending millions of pounds hiring consultants across the world to tell India how to spend its money instead of giving it to those who need it most . The rapidly industrialising country, whose economy is ranked 11th in the world with a GDP of £1.85 trillion, is rich enough to run its own space programme and last month announced it would spend £52 million sending a probe to Mars next year. David Cameron has courted controversy over the UK’s vast payments to India, designed, many believe, to detoxify the Tories’ image as the ‘nasty party’. Just last month a powerful committee of peers urged the Prime Minister to abandon his policy on aid to the country, saying Ministers should ‘urgently prepare an exit strategy from Britain’s £1.1 billion aid to India’. The peers pointed out that sending millions of pounds to a country that  can afford its own space programme provided a ‘perverse incentive’ for the Indian government to shirk its own responsibility for tackling poverty. India is rich enough to afford its own space programme and is spending £52m next year sending a probe to Mars . But The Mail on Sunday has discovered that since the Government announced an overhaul of Indian aid spending in 2010 in response to criticism, it has: . The Government awarded £5million to Duke University, North Carolina, to assess how affective its aid spending has been . The Department for International Development (DfID) has a staff of 90 and uses outside contractors for much of its work. The department also outsources its recruitment to private firms in India. The practice has raised questions about what its own staff are doing. In the past year, the UK donated £292.5 million to India, with £268.4 million from DfID’s budget, despite comments from Indian finance minister Pranab Mukherjee that India did not need British aid, which he described as ‘a peanut in our total development exercises’. India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, right, has said India does not need British aid . Last night, Tory backbencher Philip Davies said: ‘To spend any money at all on aid to India is unjustifiable, but for the money from the aid budget to be spent on US academics and Western consultants is both beyond belief and beneath contempt. ‘Clearly, DflD have so much money they don’t know what to do with it and it’s about time George Osborne cut the budget down to a much more affordable figure where the money could be spent on alleviating real poverty.’ Chancellor George Osborne is coming under pressure to reduce the amount of money awarded to the Department for International Development (DfID) Julian Morris, vice-president of research at the Reason Foundation think-tank and author of a recent report on foreign aid for the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: ‘When Britain’s national debt is growing, it is highly irresponsible to continue to fritter away our children’s future on pointless and even counterproductive foreign “aid”. ‘There is a major problem, because those consultants are powerful and vocal vested interests. ‘Some of them, as this investigation documents, even masquerade as charities and religious organisations.’ India also runs its own overseas aid programme, which is worth about £2 billion a year. Former International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell – who was replaced last week by Justine Greening – repeatedly insisted that Britain’s aid commitment to India runs until only 2015. But last April DfID awarded a £7,506,606 contract to the Asian Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex for ‘research consultancy services’ as part of a six-year programme in South Asia. Last night the DfID said: ‘The new Secretary of State for International Development is looking carefully at DfID activity in India. As we have always made clear, DfID will not be in India for ever. We are currently discussing the future of our programme with the government of India.’

UK Government awards £280m to India every year . Indian finance minister says the country does not need aid from UK . Allocated £5 million to consultants - including Duke University in North Carolina - to produce a report on how effective its aid spending has been . Given £20 million to two consultancies  – one in the US – to advise Indian state governments on how to run their own health services. Hired Christian Aid to lead a group of management consultants working on a £24.5 million contract to advise Indian organisations on narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Some of the money will go on grants to Indian consultants . Given the University of Sussex £7.5 million for consultancy on agriculture in South Asia. Given £3.1 million to a consultancy firm to tell India’s housing ministry how to cut poverty. Given £1 million to consultants to advise charities on how to support Indian and British government policies. Spent £225,000 on office furniture for an overhaul of its Delhi facilities three years before the UK aid programme is due to end. Given £353,827 to the Asian Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex to encourage South Asian climate change researchers to publish more papers.

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By . Ben Endley . PUBLISHED: . 11:32 EST, 5 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 03:08 EST, 6 March 2014 . Correctly judging your speed to beat the traffic lights is a goal most drivers struggle to achieve, so imagine that happening 55 times in a row. That's what happened to New York City motorist Tim Burke who managed the momentous trip across the notoriously congested streets of Manhattan. Mr Burke completed the journey from 109th and Fifth down to 52nd Street where he turned left and drove two blocks to 52nd and Park where he was finally caught by a red light. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS . Mr Burke's amazing journey began at 109th and Fifth and he didn't hit a red light until 52nd and Park Avenue . Tim Burke maintained speeds of between 28mph and 33mph to hit 55 consecutive green lights . Mr Burke waited until 3am to undertake the momentous drive across Manhattan's notoriously congested roads . The driver was precisely maintaining his speed to take advantage of the 'green wave' strategy where lights switching are staggered by 10 seconds so cars going 30mph are able to keep moving. Mr Burke said he kept his speed between 28mph and 33mph when he made the 3am run in March 2013. The video has been watched almost 100,000 times online and his automotive efforts were praised by other users. One, Gordon Freeman, wrote: 'My highest is 8 [sic] never more than that sigh .' Another user wrote: 'Very Cool video... Its crazy to see that many green lights haha.' The video has been watched almost 100,000 times online and his automotive efforts were praised by other users .

Driver Tim Burke managed the journey across Manhattan at 3am . He started at 109th and Fifth and didn't stop until 52nd and Park . Employed the 'green wave' system introduced to encourage drivers to keep to the speed limit .

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Looking after a six-year-old can be exhausting, even for those in the prime of their life. So spare a thought 76-year-old for Omkari Singh - the world's oldest mother - and her schoolboy son Akashvani. In 2008, Mrs Singh, from Uttar Pradesh, northern India, made headlines around the world after giving birth to twins Akashvani and Barsaat at the age of 70. Scroll down for video . The world's oldest mother Omkari Singh, 76, says she finds it hard to keep up with her six-year-old son at times, but that she could not be more happy . Mrs Singh and her husband Charan, 89, made headlines in 2008 after their twins Akashvani and Barsaat - who has sadly died - were born . Elderly Mrs Singh says she is often mistaken for being her son's grandmother because of the 70-year age gap . The female twin Barsaat tragically died at the age of four, but her son is perfectly healthy. Despite receiving a barrage of criticism both online and from her local community for having children so late in life, Mrs Singh, who is married to Charan, 89, says she could not be more happy. She said: 'Many people ask me, "Is he your grandson?" I tell them "No. He is my son". 'I am very happy that I am a mother of a six-year-old son. It is an unexplainable feeling.' Like any six-year-old, Akashvani is playful and full of life, with his elderly mother occasionally struggling to keep up - especially when it comes to getting her son ready for school. She said: 'I am not able to bath him properly. I have problems getting him dressed. It is hard to run around and feed him. Old age is like this.' Six-year-old Akashvani is a handful like any other young, energetic boy, with Mrs Singh struggling to keep up at times . Mrs Singh came under fire for having a child at such a late age but says she wanted to make sure she had a son to take over her house after she dies . The mother (centre) hopes to be alive when her son gets married, but says she is not worried about death as her daughter Kamla, 50, will care for Akashvani if she dies . Veermati, another mother who lives in her village, said: 'It is good Omkari gave birth to a child at this age. 'According to me they took a correct decision. They have love among each other so it is good.' Already parents to two daughters and grandparents to five, the couple were desperate to have a boy - eventually succeeding when their eldest daughter Kamla was 50 years old. To pay for the IVF treatment vital to producing a male heir to the family's smallholdings, the Panwars sold their buffalos, mortgaged their land, spent their life savings and took out a credit card loan. Mrs Singh said: 'I thought if I will give birth to a boy, I will become like other mothers. Without a son, there was no life for me. Because, who would own this house if I had no sons?' While she adores her son, the 76-year-old knows that age is not on her side - but hopes to live long enough to see Amritwani getting married. She said: 'I am not worried. After my death my daughter will take care of my son. 'I wish my son gets married very quickly and we both can be present at his wedding.' Until that time comes, the Singhs plan to make the most of their time with their son.

Omkari Singh gave birth to her son Akashvani at the grand age of 70 . The world's oldest mother, now 76, says she could not be happier with life . She and her husband Charan, 89, struggle to keep up with their six-year-old . But Mrs Singh says despite her age she hopes to be alive when he marries .

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(CNN) -- A massive iceberg with an area almost twice the size of Atlanta is moving into the ocean off Antarctica and could threaten shipping during the Antarctic winter, scientists say. The ice island, known as iceberg B31, covers 255 square miles and could be almost a third of a mile thick, scientists say in a report from NASA's Earth Observatory. The iceberg calved from Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier last November, according to NASA. The crack that produced it was first spotted in 2011. Since November, B31 has drifted out of Pine Island Bay and into the Amundsen Sea off the western side of the continent. "The iceberg is now well out of Pine Island Bay and will soon join the more general flow in the Southern Ocean, which could be east or west in this region," iceberg researcher Grant Bigg from the University of Sheffield in England said in the NASA statement. Once that happens, the researchers worry it will be difficult track the iceberg during the long weeks of darkness that comprise the Antarctic winter. And don't expect it to melt. An iceberg of that size could hang around for a year or more, Robert Marsh, a scientist at the University of Southampton in England, said last year. The largest iceberg ever recorded was called B15. With an area of 4,250 square miles -- about the size of the state of Connecticut or the island of Jamaica -- it calved off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf in March 2000. B15 has since broken up, but parts of it still exist around the Antarctic today. A 'modest hope' to slow global warming, but it won't be easy .

Iceberg is 255 square miles in size . Massive berg calved from glacier last year . Scientists fear it could get lost in the Antarctic darkness .

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(CNN) -- Verizon pulled a rabbit out of its corporate hat earlier this month. The wireless giant announced a multibillion-dollar deal to purchase rights to largely unused spectrum, which is like an open lane on the congested wireless Internet highway. Verizon purchased these rights from Comcast and Time Warner, two large cable-TV companies, and the smaller Bright House Networks. Sound familiar? AT&T made a similarly surprising move in March, declaring its intention to buy T-Mobile, in large part to get access to T-Mobile's underused spectrum. The AT&T deal drew the wrath of the Justice Department and the FCC. Indeed, it appears the current incarnation of the AT&T proposed merger is dying a slow death. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle agreed on Monday to a request from both sides to delay the merger hearing, and asked AT&T to supply information on whether it will pursue a different deal with T-Mobile. Does a similar fate await Verizon? Ah, you say, there's no real comparison. Unlike the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger, Verizon's acquisition doesn't involve taking millions of subscribers from a competitor, thereby increasing concentration in the wireless market. But the deals do have one big thing in common: In both, the primary objective is to cope with the looming scarcity of spectrum. For without more of it, neither carrier will be able to deliver on the promise of whizbang wireless services such as high definition movies any time, anywhere. To be sure, the problem here is not precisely a shortage of spectrum, but wasteful allocation of what's usable with the latest technology. If Washington were so inclined, it could free up a ton of spectrum for more valuable uses. That includes spectrum warehoused by government: In many cases, the repositioning of equipment or the purchase of up-to-date equipment would allow tasks ranging from public safety communication to weather forecasting to be done as well with less. Not to mention spectrum assigned long ago to local TV stations for old-fashioned analogue broadcasting that is no longer needed since the switch to digital. The process would be pretty simple: Auction the spectrum to the highest bidders and then allow it to be traded like any other valuable resource. This is an old, but important, idea first suggested by Nobel economics laureate Ronald Coase back in 1959. And it's an idea that has taken on greater urgency in recent years, both because of the proliferation of spectrum-hungry wireless devices -- smartphones and tablets -- and because Washington desperately seeks revenue. (We're talking tens of billions here.) But the politics of spectrum allocation remain gridlocked, as competing interests push and shove for preferred access, or just a claim on some of the cash from future spectrum auctions. So AT&T and Verizon, the No. 1 and 2 players in the American wireless market, have resorted to end-runs around the problem -- that is, buying spectrum from other carriers or merging to make more efficient use of the partners' combined holdings. If the AT&T/T-Mobile combination survives the legal gantlet, it could, in theory, become the largest U.S. wireless provider, with as much as one-third of the market. But the emphasis here is on the word "theory." The merger might or might not reverse T-Mobile's sinking fortunes, which is why its parent company, Deutsche Telekom, has signaled its intent to leave the U.S. market, no matter what the government decides about the merger. The upshot is that it's far from self-evident that AT&T would remain first in subscribers for long in a post-merger market. Verizon's 4G system, the holy grail of mobile excellence, is expected to be available to some 200 million Americans by the end of this year, compared with roughly 70 million for AT&T. Moreover, the proposed Verizon deal includes cross-marketing with the cable companies' retail stores, yet another advantage in this most visible of consumer markets. But the merger seems to face implacable opposition from the trust-busters at the Justice Department and the micromanagers at the FCC. Both agencies argue that it would give AT&T more latitude to raise prices. And neither apparently puts much weight on AT&T's need for additional spectrum if it is to offer viable competition for Verizon in a 4G world. If this were 1951 instead of 2011, when self-satisfied American megacompanies like GM set the pace for global industrial innovation, we'd have more sympathy for the government's tilt against market concentration. But as the Verizon gambit makes clear, this is anything but a static contest. AT&T and Verizon are living in uncertain times in which they must run to stay in place. That doesn't mean the risk of monopoly power is as dead as the Oldsmobile. But it does mean that discretion in managing markets really has become the better part of valor. As we see it, Washington has three options. The first is to limit what firms like Verizon and AT&T can do to improve their service offerings, slowing the rollout of 4G. The second is to break through interest-group gridlock and stimulate improvements in the wireless market with a lot more spectrum -- the best option, surely, but probably a political nonstarter in the near term because the relevant players seem unable to build the necessary political coalitions. The third option, and probably the best under the circumstances, is to look on the Verizon and AT&T gambits with sympathy, on the premise that the vitality of innovation means more to consumers than the potential downside of greater market concentration. Does that mean giving AT&T and Verizon free passes? Hardly. But it would mean a change in priorities at Justice and the FCC in which the agencies use their legal leverage to minimize concentration in regional wireless markets without undermining the potential for more efficient use of spectrum. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers.

Writers: Verizon, AT&T deals are attempts to get more spectrum for wireless services . Spectrum, or bandwidth, is getting scarce because it is badly used, they maintain . Washington could sell spectrum for billions of dollars, they say, still minimize monopolies . Writers: Until then, regulators should look more kindly on telecom mergers .

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Jamie Carragher has labelled Newcastle’s players a disgrace following their 4-0 defeat to Southampton while Gary Neville has described the Magpies squad as ‘letdowns’. Newcastle supporters have grown frustrated with manager Alan Pardew after the club’s disappointing start to the season but Carragher believes the players are to blame. Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, Carragher, describing Newcastle’s lacklustre display at St Mary’s said: ‘There’s lots of talk about Alan Pardew but some of those players are a disgrace. Newcastle boss Alan Pardew has failed to stem his side's run of poor results in the Premier League . Jamie Carragher (left) and Gary Neville (right) both think Alan Pardew should be given time at St James' Park . A small section of Newcastle fans held up anti-Alan Pardew banners during their match against Southampton . Three Newcastle fans shout abuse at Alan Pardew during their defeat against Southampton . ‘This isn’t an end of season game. This is four or five games into a season.’ ‘I played against some of these players towards the end of my time with Liverpool. We beat them 6-0 at St James’ Park. The performance is shocking. ‘Fans go there and you all want to see players do great things but you also want to see a bit of graft, a bit of heart, a bit of intensity. ‘For Newcastle to be seen like that now, for the last few years, it’s a disgrace.’ Fellow pundit Neville was just as damming and said: ‘I wouldn’t want to be manager of those players, personally. I really wouldn’t. They’re just a letdown as far as I’m concerned. Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher believe Newcastle's players should be doing more to help Alan Pardew . Asked if Pardew was getting a raw deal at Newcastle, former Manchester United defender Neville replied: ‘I don’t think he’s getting a raw deal. He knows the job, he’s been there four years; it’s a pressurised job. 'Alan Pardew has been around the block and he knows what’s coming if he doesn’t get results’, before adding: ‘It’s not all down to him (Pardew). There’s certain things above him. Have they invested as much as they should for a club of Newcastle’s size with that crowd and that fan base? Probably not. ‘There are a number of things which are factors in what you’re seeing at the moment. You can’t put it all on Pardew.’ Talking of the unrest amongst Newcastle’s fans, Carragher added: ‘Those supporters have turned so far it [Pardew’s position as boss] might become untenable.’

Alan Pardew's side are bottom of the Premier League after four games . The Newcastle boss is rumoured to be under pressure at St James' Park . Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville both believe Newcastle's players should take responsibility for their recent poor results .

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By . Alex Greig and Ryan Gorman . PUBLISHED: . 17:36 EST, 4 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:51 EST, 5 August 2013 . A MasterChef star arrested after a bizarre confrontation with University of Chicago police told officers he'd been possessed by Gordon Ramsay - who turned him into God - wasn't the first time he's run afoul of the law. Arrested July 31 after a knock down, drag out fight with campus police who noticed him acting strangely and with cuts all over his face, Josh Marks, 26, is no stranger to local law enforcement. Marks was also arrested in June on a trespassing charge. His transgressions have also cost him multiple sponsorships. The trespassing charge stemmed from his constant presence at a condominium complex where he was not a resident, according to TMZ. Scroll down for video . Cooking up a storm: Josh Marks was a big favorite on MasterChef but has been arrested in Chicago after a confrontation with police . Recipe for success: Josh Marks (left) with Ryan Umane at a FOX MasterChef Season 3 event last year . Discovered by the celebrity gossip site after delving into Illinois criminal records, Marks was first corralled by the fuzz for repeatedly sneaking into a Chicago condo complex. Marks allegedly gained entry by telling residents he lived in there, causing building management to circulate a warning to tenants warning them to be on the lookout for a 'very tall' African-American man who 'enters the building by catching the door,' and advising them to call 911, reported TMZ. The trespassing case still pending didn't stop Marks from getting into his latest scuffle, which may cost him 14 years in prison. The 7'2" tall basketball player turned cook was seen trying to us an . emergency telephone when police approached and asked him if anything was . wrong, according to TMZ, . Judgement day: Judges Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich named Christine Ha the winner of MasterChef season three, making Josh Marks the runner-up . Runner-up: Since coming second in MasterChef, Marks has cooked at charity events and pop-up restaurants . Marks, who is not a student at the . university, allegedly lunged at an officer, striking him and attempting . to grab his gun, saying that 'asshole' Gordon Ramsay had possessed him . and transformed him into God. Officers reportedly tried to subdue Marks, but the baton and pepper spray they used on the tall foodie had no effect. Marks broke free from officers and began running, he was finally apprehended by five officers in a resident's backyard and taken to hospital for his injuries, according to reports. Marks was . booked on various charges including resisting arrest and assault. Marks . remains in hospital in Chicago where he's being restrained in a bed. It doesn't appear as though drugs were involved in Marks' strange outburst, according to TMZ. Marks, . a U.S. Army contract specialist, was the runner-up to Christine Ha in . the third season of the popular reality cooking show MasterChef last year where he was mentored by Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot. The . self-taught cook beat out 30,000 hopefuls for a spot on the show and . came close to the top spot, losing out to Ha after serving up an . undercooked lobster. Hell's kitchen: It's not clear what the relationship between Ramsay and Marks has been after MasterChef, but Marks allegedly referred to the chef as an 'asshole' and claimed to be possessed by him . Since . the show, he's been involved with the Real Men charities in Chicago and . has spoken about plans to open his own culinary school. Marks was also an official spokesperson for the 'Make a Sound Project' and a celebrity judge for a New York-based culinary competition called 'Culinary Fight Night,' according to TMZ. Both have dropped him from their rosters, the site reported. 'We appreciate what Josh has done for us but we're in the market of helping people. So, we'll keep him in our prayers ... but as of now Chef Marks will be dropped as a spokesman,' a spokesperson for the charity told TMZ. A CFN spokesperson told TMZ that Marks was dismissed from his celebrity judging duties at the cooking competition for the safety of all involved, and also because 'we won't have this man tarnish the integrity of our brand.' Before appearing on the show, Marks told the blog Eat Jackson what he thought about Gordon Ramsay: . 'He has that intensity that I like… He doesn’t intimidate me; he motivates me harder… His personality is milder on [MasterChef] than on Hell’s Kitchen; but he can get intense.' Following the first of two eliminations on the show, Ramsay told Marks that he could call him any time and that he would help the young chef with his career. Marks remains in a Chicago hospital where he is undergoing a mental evaluation, his lawyer told TMZ.

Josh Marks, 26, was arrested July 31 by University of Chicago police after a confrontation on campus . Marks allegedly hit an officer and tried to take his gun . The 7'2" cook claimed that 'asshole' Gordon Ramsay has possessed him and turned him into God . This was not the Masterchef season three runner-up's first run-in with the law . Marks has lost sponsorships after his series of arrests .

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A self-portrait taken by pioneering photographer Oscar Rjelander - believed to be the world's first selfie - sold at auction for £70,000. The important photograph, which dates from the 1850s, predates the modern craze by almost 200 years. It was discovered in a leather-bound book of 70 albumen prints by the renowned Swedish artist. This self-photograph of Oscar Rejlander taken in the 1850s is believed to be the world's first ever 'selfie' When the owner approached Morphets auctioneers in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, they said they had no idea of the real value of the book. Liz Pepper Darling of Morphets said:  'The vendor brought the album into the office, and asked for it to be sold with a reserve of £100. 'We quickly realised it was quite an important album of early photographs, when the art was really in its infancy.' Among the sitters in the album are Rejlander's wife, Hallam Tennyson - the son of poet Lord Alfred Tennyson, and Rejlander himself. The first photographs were developed by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce who in 1824 creates the first permanent photograph. However the word photography was only first used in 1839 by Sir John Herschel after he created the first glass negative. The first Kodak camera was produced in 1888 allowing 'ordinary people to take photographs . Rejlander, who started out as a portrait painter before moving into photography, became well known for his photomontage print 'The Two Ways of Life'- made up of 32 negatives - which caused a scandal because of the partially nude subjects, although respectability came again when Queen Victoria bought a copy of the print for Prince Albert. Rejlander sold the album of 70 prints to 19th century naval hydrographer Captain George Browing, and it was passed down through the family to most recent owner, who the auctioneers said had no inkling of its significance. Although individual prints have come to market in the past, the album is thought to be the first work by Rjelander ever sold in public. Queen Victoria purchased a copy one of Rejlander's photomontage prints for her husband Prince Albert .

Pioneering Swedish photographer took this 'selfie' and placed it in an album . The 70 images were put in a leather-bound book and forgotten about . The owner brought the book to a Harrogate auctioneer with a view to sell . The vendor said they would be happy with a reserve price of just £100 . However, the auctioneer said it was probably worth £10,000 . By the time the images went under the hammer, bidding reached £70,000 .

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'Confined': Valerie Trierweiler, partner of French President Francois Hollande, pictured in September last year. She remains in the care of a Paris hospital . Francois Hollande has finally gone to . visit his First Lady in hospital – a week after revelations about his . affair with an actress caused her to take ‘a pill too many’. The 59-year-old President of France slipped into see Valerie Trierweiler, 48, under conditions of great secrecy this morning. Today, more revelations about the length of the affair appeared in a magazine. Closer ran another article saying the president had been seeing Julie Gayet for three years. It . portrays Mr Hollande as a ruthless and calculating love cheat, who has . spent a large part of his time in power juggling two women. The . magazine adds that Miss Gayet met Mr Hollande in 2011 when Ségolène . Royal – the mother of Mr Hollande's four children and his partner for 30 . years – supported the actress's political activism. His . visit to the central Paris hospital came exactly a week after his . partner learned that Closer magazine was about to publish pictures of . him . leaving a love nest in the French capital. He . had been using it and at least two other properties to carry out a . relationship with Miss  Gayet, 41, since 2011, the magazine claims. Today, Mr Hollande’s aides also confirmed that he had seen Miss Trierweiler in person after spending the past week texting and calling her while she was being treated in hospital. The visit to see his partner came after his mistress phoned a Paris radio station and insisted: ‘I’m not pregnant’. Media . around the world had reported that Miss Gayet was four months pregnant. Miss Gayet, normally a high-profile film actress, has been in hiding ever since the pictures appeared in Closer. But Europe 1 radio station said she phoned them to deny the pregnancy claims, which first appeared on Twitter. The . scandal has caused outrage in France, where the Socialist politician’s . bungling of the economy has led to the unemployment rate spiralling, . along with the cost of living. The initial expose was broken last week after impeccably placed sources helped find the presidential love nest . close to the Elysee Palace, his official residence in Paris. Closer pinpoints at least two others. They . include another apartment to the west of Paris, and one in the Riviera . resort of Mougins, where left-wing Mr Hollande controversially owns . two private homes. In July . last year, the couple even enjoyed a break in Tulle, Mr Hollande's . constituency in central France, while Miss Trierweiler was on holiday by . herself in Greece and 'waiting for Mr Hollande to join her'. Mr . Hollande and Miss Gayet were seen wandering around the Tulle market . place where, in 2012, Miss Trierweiler had triumphantly kissed Mr . Hollande on his election as head of state. Mr Hollande and Miss Gayet were also seen in a restaurant in Mougin, and in one in central Paris. Photos . taken of them by passers-by, and by a concierge who worked in the Paris . office block where Miss Gayet has her production company office, were . regularly kept out the public eye, says Closer. Miss . Gayet last year also issued a statement through her lawyers denying . point blank that Mr Hollande was her lover – a claim which may come back . to haunt if she now takes over as the new first lady. Scroll down for video . On the campaign trail: Mr Hollande offers Miss Trierweiler a rose as they meet voters in Tulle in 2012. Closer magazine said that he began his 'turbulent romance' with actress Julie Gayet far back as 2011 . Before her husband's visit today, Miss Trierweiler contacted a radio station . in Paris to confirm that Mr Hollande had not visited her, . preferring to send ‘chocolates and flowers’ as doctors had forbidden him from seeing her. 'She . doesn't want people to think he is neglecting her at such a painful . time,' said a reporter for Paris radio station RTL who spoke to her. 'It . was the doctors who had forbidden the head of state to visit her, it is . a widespread practice in case of psychological distress. 'The patient is temporarily confined, kept at distance from their entourage to get better.' Miss . Trierweiler remains in the care of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, where . she was admitted after first learning that Closer was to . reveal details of Mr Hollande's affair. 'She . is still very tired to the extent that she cannot stand up. Her blood . pressure and morale are low but she hopes to leave with her head held . high to and is prepared to fight, at least for her dignity,' said RTL. Glamorous: It is claimed that the French president and Miss Gayet, pictured last September, used two Paris flats for their regular trysts, one near the Elysee Palace and a second in the west of the French capital . Patrice . Biancone, Miss Trierweiler's spokesman, yesterday told The Associated . Press that she was making progress in her treatment. 'She has six days of rest behind her - that counts, after all,' he said, without elaborating. An . official in Mr Hollande's office, speaking on condition of anonymity . because of the sensitivity of the matter, said Miss Trierweiler had been . hospitalised for 'a crisis of nerves' after learning of the alleged . affair a day before Closer hit newsstands. That's . a different explanation to the one given by Miss Trierweiler to RTL, . and also to that given in the latest edition of Le Point, which claims . she took 'one pill too many' because the 'cold and ruthless' Mr Hollande . wanted to dump her. It is . claimed that while she did not want to commit suicide, she could not . deal with details of the president's confession of . his infidelity. 'She took a pill too many,' one source tells the Paris magazine. 'However, she never wanted to attempt suicide.' Miss Gayet with Mr Hollande's son Thomas at a 2102 rally: Closer reports that Mr Hollande met Miss Gayet in 2011 when Ségolène Royal ¿ mother of Mr Hollande's four children ¿ supported Miss Gayet's political activism . Le . Nouvel Observateur said . Mr Hollande wanted to split up with Miss Trierweiler, but her sudden . hospitalisation meant he could not. 'Francois Hollande had a dream but it only lasted the weekend,' said the left-wing weekly. Mr . Hollande had hoped, the magazine claimed, to get his official partner . to sign a joint announcement of their separation on Saturday. With a crucial conference before the world's press scheduled for Tuesday he thought this would be the 'least worst solution'. But by Sunday night, Mr Hollande abandoned the plan, because he feared it would make him look cruel and insensitive. Now . it is reported that Miss Trierweiler has 'not the slightest intention of packing her bags', . with the magazine stating: 'OK to forgive, but not OK to leave.' Awkward: A picture of Mr Hollande with the three women . in his life, including Segolène Royal, mother of his children (far . left), his alleged mistress Miss Gayet (in black, far right), and Miss . Trierweiler (shaking his hand) If . follows equally damaging claims that Miss Gayet boasted about her affair . with an 'older man in politics' just a few months after he came to . power. Despite . Mr Hollande's insistence that the scandal is a 'private matter' which . should be kept 'secret', Miss Gayet is the cover girl in the latest . edition of French Elle. In . it she is quoted as telling a friend 'more than a year ago' that she has . found an 'older man, very different from earlier boyfriends, who is in . politics.' This appears to confirm the claims that she and Mr Hollande were in the midst of their affair . within a few months of him being sworn in as French president in May . 2012. It was around this . time that Miss Trierweiler, a journalist for Paris Match magazine, began . to restyle herself as France's first lady. This . entitled her to five permanent staff, and numerous other perks, . including limousines, private jets and homes all over France. Options: Mr Hollande at a press conference where he said that he would make his mind up about who his first lady was by February 11, when he is due to be in Washington for a meeting with President Barack Obama . Even before making any official public comment, Miss Trierweiler made her . own views perfectly clear in the latest edition of Paris Match, which . runs a glowing profile of her. 'There . is no worse poison than indifference,' is a phrase widely being . attribute to her - suggesting that Mr Hollande has been distracted from . his relationship with her for a long time. Mr . Hollande told a Paris press conference on Tuesday that he would make . his mind up about who his first lady was by February 11th. This is the date that he is due to be in Washington for a meeting with President Barack Obama, and first lady Michelle Obama. In . words which may be considered extremely cruel by both women, Mr . Hollande confirmed that the presidential partner had 'no official . status' in France, and he was determined to keep costs down - whoever . was confirmed as first lady. Mr . Hollande is a lifelong bachelor, but has four children with former . presidential candidate Segolene Royal - a fellow Socialist. He and Miss Trierweiler have lived together since 2007.

Valerie Trierweiler has been in hospital since learning of the affair last week . But the president had not visited her, sparking accusations of heartlessness . Closer last week revealed Mr Hollande was having affair with Julie Gayet . And today the gossip mag claimed that trysts with the actress began in 2011 . She was today forced to deny rumours that she is four months pregnant . Magazine claims Mr Hollande had hoped to get Trierweiler to sign a joint announcement of their separation last Saturday .

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By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 21:36 EST, 14 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 06:45 EST, 15 April 2012 . North Korea's new leader gave his first public speech Sunday since taking power, portraying himself as a strong military chief unafraid of foreign powers as the army showed off what appeared to be a new long-range missile. Kim Jong Un's lengthy speech - two days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket in defiance of international warnings - took North Koreans gathered at Kim Il Sung Square and before televisions across the country by surprise. His father, late leader Kim Jong Il, addressed the public only once during his lifetime. Calm and measured, Kim Jong Un covered a wide range of topics, from foreign policy to the economy, as he spoke during choreographed festivities honoring the 100th birthday of his late grandfather, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. The rocket unveiled on Sunday, which appeared to have several stages, was similar to the one that broke into pieces over the Yellow Sea shortly after liftoff Friday, but was of a more overtly military design. Address: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during a mass parade to celebrate founder Kim Il Sung's 100th birthday in Pyongyang on Sunday . Uniform: North Korean female soldiers attend a mass military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the North Korean founder Kim Il Sung . While it's not clear how powerful or . significant this addition to the North Korean arsenal is - or whether it . was a mock-up - it signaled that North Korea will continue to build up . its military despite the failed launch. Although that launch was a huge, . costly embarrassment, Kim's address Sunday was seen by analysts as an . expression of confidence by the young leader meant to show that he is . firmly in control. Kim Jong Un's words often mirrored . what North Korea regularly says in its state media, but there was . symbolism in the images of the new leader, who is believed to be in his . late 20s, addressing the country on state TV and then watching - and . often laughing and gesturing in relaxed conversation with senior . officials - as a parade of North Korean military troops and hardware . marched by. Outside analysts have raised worries . about how the new leader, who has been seen but not publicly heard since . taking over after Kim Jong Il's December death, would govern a country . that is building a nuclear weapons program and has previously threatened . Seoul and Washington with war. Preparing to speak: Kim Jong Un claps and smiles before giving his first public . address as tens of thousands gathered in Pyongyang's main square for . meticulously choreographed festivities . In honour: Kim Jong Un, centre, waves to crowds today during the celebrations to mark the centenary of the birth of his grandfather, the founder of the world's only Stalinist monarchy, 'Eternal President' Kim Il Sung . The speech was a good 'first . impression for his people and for the world,' said Hajime Izumi, a North . Korea expert at Japan's Shizuoka University. 'He demonstrated that he . can speak in public fairly well, and at this stage that in itself - more . than what he actually said - is important. I think we might be seeing . him speak in public more often, and show a different style than his . father.' Kim emphasized in his speech the . importance of strengthening North Korea's defenses by placing the . country's 'first, second and third' priorities on military might. However, he also made clear he is open to working with foreign countries . that do not have hostile policies toward his nation, and said he would . strive to reunify Korea. 'It's a heartbreaking fact that our . nation has been divided for more than 70 years,' he said. 'I will make . painstaking efforts toward reunification.' Legs: Female soldiers march past the podium during the military parade in North Korea today . The female North Korean soldiers keep stern faces as they line up in front of their leader . Great strides forward: Female sailors and soldiers hold machine guns during the military procession today . Kim also stressed the importance of . national unity, calling his country 'Kim Il Sung's Korea' rather than . North Korea. In recent days, the square bearing his grandfather's name . has been redecorated, with the Marx and Lenin portraits that adorned key . buildings taken down and replaced with long red banners vowing to . defend the new leader 'to the death.' At the front are portraits of the . two late leaders, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. 'That suggests to me that they want to . let the country, and the world, know that this is a ''new'' country,' Han S. Park, a University of Georgia professor who works frequently with . top U.S. and North Korean officials, after watching the events in . Pyongyang. 'In his speech today, he said ''we have a second century of . Kim Il Sung Korea''.' The young leader also underlined his . commitment to aggressively building the economy and improving the . people's daily lives, an approach backed up by a decision to promote two . economists to key Workers' Party posts earlier in the week. North Korea has suffered decades of . economic hardship following a famine in the mid-1990s and the loss of . aid from the Soviet Union. Kim Jong Un's formal three-year succession . has coincided with a push to improve the economy by employing modern . technology. Display: A North Korean man stands on a rooftop near a North Korean flag as fighter jets fly past during the procession today . The aerial show of strength was designed to show North Korea's military prowess, something Kin Jong Un is keen to reinforce after the rocket flop last week . North Korea is in the midst of two . weeks of celebrations marking Kim Il Sung's birthday and the upcoming . 80th anniversary of the Korean People's Army. But it has also become a . showcase of Kim Jong Un's new era of leadership, with Kim giving the . world a taste of his foreign policy by firing the rocket Friday in . defiance of outside criticism. In a surprise admission, North Korea's . state media announced hours later that the bid to send a satellite into . space was a failure. Condemnation abroad was swift, and the . launch - using the same type of rocket technology used for firing a . long-range missile - raised concerns that a nuclear test might be next. The finale in Sunday's military parade was the new long-range missile. Military analysts in Japan and South . Korea said further examination is needed to determine whether it was a . new intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea reportedly has . been building. Order: Not a foot is out of step as North Korean military soldiers march during the massive celebration . Highly choreographed: North Korean soldiers take part in the mass parade . Soldiers carry an image of North Korea's founder Kim Il Sung, whose centenary they were celebrating today . 'Dear Leader': North Korean soldiers carry an image of their late leader Kim Jong Il during the mass parade in Pyongyang . The exact design could not immediately be confirmed by North Korean military officials. Narushige Michishita, a North Korea . military expert at Japan's National Graduate Institute for Policy . Studies, said the missile appeared to be new but strongly resembled the . rocket used on Friday and also the long-range Taepodong-2, which North . Korea first launched, unsuccessfully, in 2006. He said it probably has three stages . but did not appear to be big enough to have the 15,000-kilometer . (9,000-mile) range needed to effectively attack the United States, which . would be the goal of an ICBM for the North. Judging from the size of . the soldiers in the background, its length appeared to be more than 30 . meters (100 feet), which would also be about the same or possibly a bit . bigger than the rocket used on Friday. Men in white from North Korea's march just two days after a satellite launch timed to mark the centenary fizzled out embarrassingly when the rocket apparently exploded within minutes of blast off and plunged into the sea . North Korean soldiers march in front of flower waving civilians in a show of strength. But how leadership of the rogue state will fare in the coming years remains to be seen . Military pilots in blue goggles, matching medals and black boots shout as they march past the podium during the military parade today . 'I don't think this is a serious . ICBM,' Michishita said. 'Putting it on display has a psychological . impact, and that would have been greater if Friday's launch had worked. But North Korea has a very bad record with long-range missiles. It think . this is more a propaganda ploy than a military advance.' A number of North Koreans at the parade said it was the first time they had seen the new missile. Kim Jong Un said in his speech that . the era when nuclear arms could be used to threaten and blackmail his . country was 'forever over.' 'Superiority in military technology is no longer monopolized by imperialists,' he said. Kim Jong Un's speech was 'an . expression of confidence,' said Kim Yeon-su of Korea National Defense . University in South Korea. 'Kim Jong Un is trying to dispel lingering . doubts about his grip on power.'

Kim Jong Un called for strengthening late father's 'military first' policy before tens of thousands at Pyongyang's main square . Said he is 'heartbroken' the . rival Koreas have been divided for decades, and 'will . cooperate with anyone' who wishes for reunification . Sunday celebrations marked 100th birthday of North Korea founder, his grandfather Kim Il Sung . Mass parade comes two days after failed rocket launch .

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By . Ellie Buchdahl . PUBLISHED: . 07:44 EST, 22 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:05 EST, 22 December 2013 . A dinner of roadkill, a full Christmas spread salvaged from dustbins, and a side order of sprouts that are a year old - some people will go to no limits to cut Christmas costs, it seems. Hampshire student Libby Russell rooted around supermarket skips and rubbish dumps to find all the components of a heaving Christmas spread - from duck and roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips, to the cheese course and mulled wine and beer. If you think that's extreme, try Jonathan McGowan, the 46-year-old from Bournemouth, Dorset, who has dined exclusively on roadkill for the past 30 years, and has a trio of fox, pheasant and venison planned for his table on Christmas day. Scroll down for video . From this... Libby Russell sees potential in a dumpster full of rejected food . To this: Miss Russell, with housemates Louiza Hamidi and Sam Coggins, shows off her dumpster haul, which has gone towards a festive spread and presents for friends and family . Even those who profess to love the much-maligned Brussels sprout might find they balk at Roz Morrison's way of serving them - last year's dish of sprouts, apparently perfectly preserved in their dish. And for a different type of 'foraged food' - and those who can't face the faff of cooking at Christmas - a takeaway service is offering a range of festive dinners, including a mince pie pizza, 'Christmas' sushi and a kebab served with lashings of bread sauce. Art student Libby Russell has been living as a 'freegan' for a year - someone who gets all their food and household items from dustbins. Miss Russell said: 'Last Christmas, I wasn't "bin-diving" and I must have paid over £100 on presents and other . things. 'This year, I've only spent £20 altogether because I've been able . to get so much from bins. 'I . don't spend a penny on food either. My whole Christmas dinner has come . from a skip. Even the microwave we use was discovered in a bin.' Reject roast: Mini quiches, pork pies, fruit salad and cheese were just some of the things that went into Miss Russell's freegan meal - along with beer that was literally bin-end . Dumpster dive: Miss Russell and her friends scavenge in a skip for more Christmas goodies . Waste: Brits throw away 249, 650 tonnes over the Christmas season . Miss Russell has already served up a freegan feast for her housemates Sam Coggins, 25, and Louiza Hamidi, 23. Along . with her duck dinner plus trimmings, she was able to give offer them . mince pies, mini quiches, trifle, pork pies and fruit salad. The . house was decorated with a rubbish bin Christmas tree, lights and . baubles - all of them sourced from high street and charity shop skips, . as were her Christmas presents, which she wrapped in dustbin wrapping . paper. Every year, British people throw out 249,650 tonnes of waste over Christmas. Miss Russell said, 'I go binning for the obvious . reason of not paying for stuff but mostly, I just hate seeing food and . other things wasted. 'The waste during the holidays is terrible. It's senseless throwing Christmas cards and food away before the day even arrives.' Tuck in: Libby is proud of her freegan lifestyle, which she says she has followed for about a year . Share and enjoy: The art student managed to dig out so many Christmas goodies that she was able to set up a Facebook website to donate them to friends . Jonathan McGowan shares Miss Russell's horror at Christmas waste, and it's what he says led him to his penchant for roadkill. The taxidermist and wildlife consultant says that packing his car boot full of squashed animals he finds on country lanes has saved him thousands of pounds, and that his Christmas dinner will cost around 50p a portion. He said: 'The meat is rarely dry and there's no wastage - I eat what I can.' Street food: Jonathan McGowan picks up, skins, prepares... and eats his own roadkill . Hunter's appetite: Mr McGowan takes a bite from the freshly-run-over meat (with veg on the side) Write caption here . He described fox as tasting 'a bit . porky', the un-hung venison as 'fresh' and the pheasant as 'very fresh . too, which tastes a bit like turkey anyway. His unusual meat dish will be served along with vegetables including mushrooms he picked himself. Mr McGowan's freezer is jam packed with a variety of critters yet to be skinned and filleted. He said: 'I think more people should eat roadkill - obviously it's not something that's sustainable for everyone to do and I know most people might not want to do it. 'But I would seriously encourage more people to pick up dead animals off the road rather than see them wasted, or at least throw them off the road so other animals or people can pick them up.' And if all that meat is a little too much, never fear - there's a leftover veg option too, courtesy of Roz Morrison from Torrance near Glasgow. Preserved: Roz Morrison offers up a dish of last-year's sprouts . Ms Torrance found a dish of last year's Brussels sprouts as she prepared for Christmas and discovered they were perfectly preserved - though only after some struggle to pen the lid, which had been sealed shut by the gases emitted by the vegetables inside. It turned out that her father had washed up on Christmas Day and assumed he had already cleaned the dish, so put it back in the cupboard - complete with its contents. Jeweller Ms Torrance said she and her father thought they still looked good enough to eat - but didn't test them just to be on the safe side. But if the thought of sourcing your own food from the side of the road, a bin or the back of a cupboard is just too much, one takeaway service is offering festive versions of classic fast food to order on 25 December. Special delivery: Pizza, a kebab, sushi and curry make up the four festive offerings from Just Eat this year (roaring fire not included) Just Eat's Christmas range includes pork and stuffing sushi, mince pie pizza and turkey stuffing kebab with bread sauce. The 10-inch mince pie pizza is made from 350g mince meat, edible gold stars and icing sugar. The kebab contains 500g of turkey thigh mince, chestnut stuffing, cranberry relish in a pitta bread with bacon, lettuce and bread sauce creates the festive kebab. Chipolatas and bacon are used to make the sushi, which is wrapped in cavolo nero, while 100g of brussels sprouts are used in the spicy curry. The dishes were designed based on . responses to a poll on the Facebook page of the food ordering service, . which asked members of the public to name their fantasy festive . takeaway. New research shows more than 8,500 takeaway orders were made on Christmas Day last year, with over 500,000 orders made between December 23 and 31. Almost half of orders were for pizza, a third were for Indian and 8 per cent were for fried chicken and chips. Four in 10 Brits plan to order a takeaway during the holiday period this year, the study from Just Eat found.

Hampshire student sources Christmas food, presents and decor from bins . Bournemouth man who has lived off roadkill for 30 years makes Christmas dinner of fox, pheasant and venison . Woman from Scotland discovers last year's sprouts in their dish... and declares they 'looked good enough to eat' Takeaway chain Just Eat offers festive pizza, kebab, curry and sushi .

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By . Becky Evans . PUBLISHED: . 14:20 EST, 26 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:20 EST, 26 June 2013 . The genome of a prehistoric horse that roamed the plains of Canada almost 800,000 years ago has been unveiled. It is about 10 times older than any DNA ever recovered and comes from a fragment of the ancient animal’s foot that had been so remarkably preserved in permafrost scientists were able to extract blood proteins. Dating up to 780,000 years ago, the bone sheds fresh light on equine evolution and dramatically extends the known limit of DNA survival. Scientists extracted the DNA from two pieces of 700,000-year-old horse bone found in the frozen Yukon . Professor Ludovic Orlando, of Copenhagen University, and colleagues mapped the animal’s genes and compared them to another ancient horse from around 43,000 years ago as well as five contemporary breeds, the only surviving wild horse called a Przewalski and a donkey. State of the art DNA analysis techniques allowed them to sequence 73 proteins, including some found in the blood. The study, published in Nature, showed the Equus lineage that gave rise to all modern-day horses, donkeys and zebras originated around four million years ago - twice the conventionally accepted time. The genome - or complete DNA - is almost 10 times older than the previous record which was for an early human called a Denisovan that lived about 80,000 years ago. It shows horse populations have fluctuated multiple times over the past two million years particularly during times of severe climatic change. There is also evidence for continuous change in horses’ immune system and sense of smell throughout evolution. And the findings support evidence . Przewalski’s horses represent the last living wild horse population and . reveal genes that were probably selected during domestication. The piece of bone was discovered in the frozen Yukon Territory in Canada (pictured) The findings support evidence Przewalski horses (pictured) are the last living wild horse population . The study suggests a significant fraction of DNA fragments could survive for over a million years in the geosphere. The piece of bone was dug up a decade ago at a fossil site known as Thistle Creek in the Yukon Territory. Researchers from Denmark, China, Canada, the U.S., Switzerland, UK, Norway, France, Sweden and Saudi Arabia all collaborated to sequence the genome. DNA molecules can survive in fossils well after an organism dies. They do not survive as whole chromosomes but as short pieces that could be assembled back together, like a puzzle, the University of Bristol. The university said occasionally enough molecules survive so that the full genome sequence of an extinct species can be resurrected, such as was done with the horse. Over the past few years, the full genome sequence of a few ancient humans, including the Neanderthal Denisovan genome, have been characterized.In March, scientists completed the first complete Neanderthal genome sequence. They used only a toe bone and a tiny fragment of finger to map out the entire genetic code of Denisovan man. Evidence suggests that the Denisovans, a little-known ancient cousin of modern humans who lived in Siberia around 50,000 years ago, had dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes. Prof Orlando said: 'We first got excited when we detected the signature of amino-acids that suggested proteins had survived. 'We got more excited when we proved able to directly sequence collagen peptides. 'When we detected blood proteins, it really started looking promising because those are barely preserved. 'At that stage, it could well be that ancient DNA could also be preserved. 'Our data represent the oldest full genome sequence determined so far. 'We also find that horse population size fluctuated multiple times over the past two million years, particularly during periods of severe climatic changes. 'We estimate the Przewalski’s and domestic horse populations diverged 38 to 72 thousand years before present and find no evidence of recent mixture between the domestic horse breeds and the Przewalski’s horse investigated. 'This supports the contention Przewalski’s horses represent the last surviving wild horse population.' Named after a Russian explorer, Przewalski’s horses are native to Mongolia and once freely roamed the steppe along the China border. They have since been kept and bred in captivity and have recently been reintroduced in Mongolia. Dr Craig Millar, of the University of Auckland, and Prof David Lambert, of Griffith University in Australia, reviewed the study for the journal and said its implications go 'well beyond the evolution of horses.' Dr Millar said: 'Until this study, many experts would have thought it was impossible to recover a genome from a sample of this age because of the rapid degradation of DNA into ever shorter fragments that occurs following the death of an organism. 'The decay is driven initially by the body’s own enzymes, and the actions of enzymes from microorganisms soon follow - death shuts down the normal defences that protect an organism against such fates.'

The DNA is 10 times older than any that has been previously recovered . Genome dramatically extends the known limit of DNA survival . Bone of the ancient animal found in frozen Canadian Yukon .

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Kevin Smith has bewildered fans by shaving off his trademark beard for a new role. The Jay and Silent Bob star, 44, posted before and after pictures on Facebook, showing just how much his new look transforms his entire appearance. Fans took to the comments section to voice their shock, with one person writing: 'You look like an entirely different person and IT'S FREAKING ME OUT'. Unrecongnizable: Kevin Smith, famous for his recurring role as Silent Bob, has bewildered fans by shaving off his trademark beard for a new role in upcoming movie Yoga Hosers . Uproar: Fans took to the comments section to voice their shock, with one person writing: 'You look like an entirely different person and IT'S FREAKING ME OUT'. Pictured: Kevin as Silent Bob in Clerks II . Another person joked about how young the clean-shaven look makes him appear, writing: 'Kevin Smith, someone has hijacked your page and is posting pictures of teenagers...' The actor explained that he got rid of the beard for Yoga Hosers, an upcoming movie also starring Johnny Depp and Haley Joel Osment. He shared a 'before' picture of the facial hair in all its glory, with the caption: 'This is my magic beard. Enjoy it now: tomorrow, I am going to shave it off for #YogaHosers !' And the 'after' picture, in which he stares wide-eyed at the camera, bares the caption: 'Look at this goofy spaz. This is me, beardless, for the #YogaHosers green screen shoot. It's a Face-Brazilian!' Iconic role: Kevin first launched into fame in 1994 with the release of Clerks, which he directed and acted in as Silent Bob. Pictured: Kevin and Jason Mewes as Jay in Clerks II . Two of a kind: The pair appeared in a number of other movies as the same characters, including 2001's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (pictured) Kevin's recent weight loss undoubtedly contributes to his drastically different look. Last week, the star revealed that he was down 20lbs thanks to giving up processed sugar. Feeling so good, I'm hiking the hills with my wiener out,' he joked in a Facebook post. Kevin first launched into fame in 1994 with the release of Clerks, which he directed, produced and acted in as Silent Bob, a recurring character that appeared in a number of other films. He also appeared in Mall Rats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, among others.

The actor's new look is for a role in Yoga Hosers, an upcoming movie also starring Johnny Depp and Haley Joel Osment .

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:23 EST, 22 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 03:17 EST, 23 May 2012 . Protesters have today defaced a controversial painting that draws attention to South African President Jacob Zuma's genitals and his reputation for promiscuity. Two men wielding cans of red and black paint walked into Johannesburg's Goodman gallery and daubed an X over the president's groin before smearing paint over his face. The painting by Brett Murray entitled 'The Spear' has been on display since early this month, but made the news only last week when it came to the attention of South Africa's governing African National Congress party. X marks the spot: A protester is caught on CCTV defacing the controversial portrait of South African Jacob Zuma at a Johannesburg gallery . Zuma filed an urgent application at the South Gauteng High Court for an order to have the portrait removed from the gallery and photographs of it taken off the City Press newspaper website. Both the gallery and the newspaper refused on the grounds it would be censorship. The matter was set to be heard today. Zuma claims portrait, which shows him fully clothed but with his genitals exposed, infringed on his constitutional rights to dignity and privacy. Zuma said he felt 'shocked, personally offended and violated' when he saw a copy of The Spear for the first time. He said the portrait depicted him as a 'a philanderer, a womaniser and one with no respect'. Polygamist: ANC leader Zuma is seen with three of his four wives Sizakele Khumalo (right) Nompumelo Ntuli (Left) and Thobeka Mabhija (centre) Iman Rappetti, a reporter for a South African TV channel who was in the Goodman Gallery when the men struck, said: 'Now it's completely and utterly destroyed.' Her channel showed footage of a man in a suit painting a red X over the president's genital area and then his face. Next a man in a hoodie used his hands to rubbed black paint over the president's face and down the painting. Rapetti said the men were detained by gallery staff and police arrived later to take them away. Rappetti said she initially thought the first man was part of a performance art piece, and that staff at the well-known gallery also were slow to react. The Goodman, which had said in a statement a day earlier that it was stepping up security, refused to comment Tuesday and closed the gallery as reporters and passers-by gathered outside its gate. The gallery's attorney, Greg Palmer, said they are going to file a charge for malicious damage to property. He said they did not know who the two men were who defaced the painting. 'The gallery has closed and they feel that their security is sufficient,' he said. Judge Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane had been expected to begin hearing the case against the painting Tuesday. Instead, citing its national interest and the constitutional issues at stake, she said the case would start Thursday. Kathree-Setiloane and two other High Court judges, among the most senior in South Africa, will hear the case. Nearly one hundred pro-Zuma protesters were outside the court. Zuma's children asked to participate on the side of their father. Murray, the artist who painted the portrait, asked to participate alongside the Goodman. Protest: Around 100 Jacob Zuma supporters demonstrate outside Johannesburg court to demand the removal of a portrait . Speaking to the Pretoria News, Murray said he did not intend to cause any 'hurt or to harm the dignity of any person' and described his work as 'an attempt at humorous satire of political power and patriarchy within the context of other artworks in the exhibition and within the broader context of South African discourse'. The painting, a black, red and yellow acrylic on canvas priced at 120,000 rand (about $15,000), is in the style of a famous image of founder of Russian communism Lenin is part of a large exhibition of Murray's sculptures and paintings titled 'Hail to the Thief II.' The ANC has called the show an 'abuse of freedom of artistic expression.' Polygamist Mr Zuma, 70, has married six times. He currently has four wives having divorced South African cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in 1999. Another wife, Kate Mantsho-Zuma, committed suicide in 2000. In 2006 he sparked outrage while on trial for rape when he said he had showered after having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman, thinking this would reduce his risk of being infected. He told the court he was prepared to marry his accuser and was later found not guilty.

Polygamist Zuma has married six times and has a reputation for promiscuity . He had filed an application to have painting removed from the gallery . Artist Brett Murray describes it as a 'humorous satire of political power'

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Health experts have warned that 'killer' winter storms could hit Britain over the next 48 hours with temperatures set to plunge to 2C with a wind-chill factor making it seem far colder. A storm front from the arctic is set to hit Britain over the coming hours with a Level 2 cold weather alert in operation across the Midlands, the North and the East of England. Forecasters warn there is an 80 per cent chance of severe cold and heavy snow across affected areas. Scroll down for video . Scottish snow: A west-facing view above Loch Muick yesterday, near Braemar, Aberdeenshire, and within the boundary of the Balmoral estate . Beautiful landscape: The snowy scene above Loch Muick yesterday looking towards Glas Allt Shiel - a retreat built for Queen Victoria in 1862 . Graphics: Two Netweather moving maps show cold air sweeping east . (left) and forecast precipitation tomorrow to Thursday (right) Met Office cold weather alert: People have been advised to stay indoors and look out for friends and family who may be vulnerable to the cold . Animation: This shows the jet stream moving to the south of the UK, with colder air from the Arctic going southwards to affect the UK . The Met Office's Eddy Carroll said: 'A cold front is expected to cross the UK during Wednesday, introducing much colder conditions to central and northern England in particular. 'Very strong winds will accentuate the cold. Snow showers are likely in most areas, but especially the north west where significant accumulations are likely to build up, especially in hilly areas.' Dr Angie Bone, a Public Health England boss, said: 'In this sort of weather we know that older people and people in poor health tend to stay indoors. 'While this is sensible, it’s worth remembering these people may need help getting to a hospital or GP appointment, with shopping or prescription fetching, or just someone to talk to. 'Although most of our advice on keeping warm and well in cold weather may seem like common sense, it’s important to remember that cold kills, even in places where the temperatures aren’t at their lowest.' But be warned, by the end of this week, you may be building a snowman or cursing traffic chaos caused by an icy whiteout. The Met Office has issued a yellow weather alert ahead of the cold snap with wintry showers expected in northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland on Wednesday and Thursday. The warning urges drivers to be safe on the roads and to be prepared for possible weather-related delays. Some areas could see snow of up to 2in on low levels and more than 4in on higher ground. By the weekend, temperatures will again dip below zero. The Met Office has issued a 'level two' cold weather alert, which warns of an 80 per cent chance of severe weather between Wednesday and Sunday. John Lee, a forecaster at MeteoGroup, said: ‘There is a definite trend for it getting colder as the week goes on. 'Be aware': The Met Office has severe weather warnings for snow in place for northern parts of Britain tomorrow (left) and Thursday (right) Three-day forecast: Strong and gusty winds are likely to accompany snow showers and lead to significantly reduced visibility at times . Down it comes: An accumulation chart forecasting lying snow on Thursday, which illustrates in darker colours where the heavier snow will fall . Beside the seaside: It was a bright but cloudy day in Hastings, East Sussex, yesterday as sunshine helps temperatures climb to 10C . Sussex sunshine: While the conditions were pleasant in Hastings yesterday, a severe weather warning is in place for the North later this week . 'There will be an increased risk of snow towards the end of the week. 'We will already see wintry showers from Wednesday in some parts of the country. ‘By the weekend there is a risk of snow anywhere. It will definitely be cold enough.’ The predicted snow at the end of the week combined with strong winds could mean reduced visibility for drivers. The Met Office said: ‘An active cold front is expected to push south-east across the UK during Wednesday introducing an increasingly cold and unstable air mass. ‘Showers will become frequent and heavy, increasingly falling as snow in the North and West, and driven well inland by strong to gale force north-westerly winds. Accumulating snow is likely, especially overnight.’ Wintry scene: The Wiltshire countryside had a beautiful covering of frost around Malmesbury and the River Avon on Sunday . Digging: Snow still blankets the Pennines where skiers took to Yad Moss ski tow near Alston, Cumbria, to enjoy the conditions on Sunday . Chilly: The Wiltshire countryside had a layer of frost (left) and kite boarders took to the snow-covered fells of Teesdale, County Durham (right) Serene: People ensured they wrapped up warm for a spot of punting on the River Cam in Cambridge on Sunday following the frosty start . People have been advised to stay indoors and look out for friends and family who may be vulnerable to the cold as the chill factor sets in because of northerly winds. Dr Angie Bone, head of extreme events team at Public Health England, said: ‘Although many parts of the country have already seen colder weather this winter, it does look like we're in for a further spell with bitter winds and snow showers likely to make it feel particularly cold. ‘In this sort of weather we know that older people and people in poor health tend to stay indoors. ‘While this is sensible, it's worth remembering these people may need help getting to a hospital or GP appointment, with shopping or prescription fetching, or just someone to talk to. ‘If you know someone in this situation, and most of us do, think about what you can you do to help out. ‘Contrary to popular belief, it's actually working age adults who have most slips and trips outside in cold and icy weather, not older people, which is why it's important to wear shoes with a good, slip-resistant grip to prevent any accidental falls. Fresh: Temperatures Sunday morning in the South were only -5C but forecasters predicted it would become milder today. Pictured: Cambridge . Peaceful: Despite the chilly weather and snowfall in some northern regions, there were some spells of sunshine across Cambridge on Sunday . Cosy: One group made the most of a red, fluffy blanket to keep warm as they enjoyed their tour of Cambridge along the famous River Cam . ‘Although most of our advice on keeping warm and well in cold weather may seem like common sense, it's important to remember that cold kills, even in places where the temperatures aren't at their lowest.’ The drop will be a sharp contrast to the mild temperatures of around 10C (50F) – the same as those predicted for Madrid – at the beginning of this week. On Wednesday night many will begin to feel the cold again with temperatures falling to -2C in the North and -1C in the South. In the North, sleet and snow are expected to cover the ground overnight with wintry showers and winds blasting the South. Despite the cold snap, nature experts say spring is already well on the way. Sightings of snowdrops, hazel catkins and even ladybirds and butterflies have been submitted to the Woodland Trust’s Nature’s Calendar scheme, which asks the public to report natural events which mark the changing seasons. Wake up call: This man appeared rather refreshed after joining swimmers who took to the sea off Brighton on Sunday for an early morning dip . Chilly: One man appeared to be embracing the cold water and temperatures as he took the plunge off the coast the Brighton on Sunday . Prepared: One woman opted for gloves and swim hat as she took a dip with fellow members of the Brighton and Hove Sea Swimming Club . So far in 2015, there have been reports of snowdrops at 120 locations across the country and hazel catkins in 74 areas. In November, the Trust received a record of frogspawn on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, the earliest such incidence for nine years. Research looking at nature records stretching back to the 18th century has found flowers over the last 25 years blooming up to 12 days earlier than previously. This year’s sightings come after the warmest year on record for the UK. The current freezing conditions may halt the march of spring, but conservationists say that causes less of a problem than a late cold snap, as happened in 2013, when more species are likely to be awake from hibernation or already flowering. Brave: The group of swimmers embraced the cold weather - and temperatures of as little as 7C across the south coast - for a dip in the sea . Throwing the game: Competitors take part in the Alloway 1759 Haggis Hurling Championships 2015 on Sunday in Alloway, South Ayrshire . Haggis hurling: Suzanne Paton (left) and two-year-old Orla Stewart (right) take part in the event at Robert Burns Cottage in Alloway on Sunday . Today : Grey skies with outbreaks of light rain or drizzle in northern areas. Largely dry elsewhere but with a good deal of cloud in many areas. Southern areas of England will see sunny spells for a time. Wednesday: Turning very unsettled, windy and wet with heavy showers or longer spells of rain. The showers will turn increasingly wintry as the day progresses with the risk of hail and thunder in the North West.

Met Office snow warning for north-west England, Scotland and Northern Ireland tomorrow and Thursday . Forecasters say 2in could fall locally at low levels this week, while 500ft+ higher ground could see more than 4in . People have been advised to stay indoors and look out for friends and family who may be vulnerable to the cold . Strong and gusty winds likely to accompany snow showers and lead to significantly reduced visibility at times .

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(Fast Company) -- Demand Media burst onto the public markets last month, quickly earning itself a valuation of $1.5 billion -- and a tidy payday for its chief investors and founders. But it's possible they got into the market just before the getting stopped being good. There's a rising backlash against "spam" search results and other low-quality content, and that could spell the death knell for content farms like Demand. The problem: Google used to be an efficient way to find what you needed. Enter a search term, and, presto, the results served up the very thing you were looking for. But increasingly, that's not the case. Investor and business commentator Paul Kedrosky recently vented his outrage at the pile of garbage he found on Google when he went looking for tips on buying a dishwasher. UC Berkeley professor (and tech commentator) Vivek Wadhwa threw up his hands when Google couldn't help his students find the information they were looking for. And at a panel on the future of search earlier this week, Loopt co-founder Sam Altman said: "Three times in the last month, I searched for things on Google, and the result wasn't on the front page. That's the first time it's ever happened." A major source of the problem is the entire industry that has emerged to game the Google system, producing content that looks promising within the results, but that when clicked on, serves up a mishmash of text that looks like sneezed-out alphabet soup. The material produced by Demand Media -- and other content farms, like AOL's Seed -- is usually not as egregious as the example above, but it's often not far behind. Demand and AOL both employ humans, but make thousands of assignments a month -- and there are minimum quality requirements. The payment structure at both companies is such that very few freelancers can afford to devote the time necessary to produce the kind of reliable take a reader might be looking for. For example, a Wired story about Demand described the efforts of a videographer to shoot, edit, and post 10 videos on kayaking techniques in under two hours, because he was only getting paid a total of $200. Search engines, whose entire value proposition rests on the quality of the results they produce, are starting to take notice. Blekko, a new engine launched last year to fight this very problem, is already crowdsourcing quality by letting users mark results as spam. Earlier this week, Blekko announced that, based on feedback it received through its spam-watch program, it had decided to ban material from 20 sites produced by content farms, like Demand Media's eHow. The sites "are literally responsible for millions of pages on the Web that our users say are just not helpful and they'd prefer they were banned permanently," Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta said. "So we're going to do that for them." Google has also responded. "In 2010, we launched two major algorithmic changes focused on low-quality sites," Matt Cutts, Google's leader for search quality, wrote on The Official Google Blog last month. "Nonetheless, we hear the feedback from the web loud and clear: People are asking for even stronger action on content farms and sites that consist primarily of spammy or low-quality content. ... We can and should do better." What Google will actually do remains to be seen. At Farsight 2011 this week, the conference at which Loopt's Altman appeared, Cutts indicated that the search giant is looking for algorithmic ways to improve the quality of search results. "We care about the long-term loyalty of our users," he said. All of which means, if the search business gets serious about weeding out spam and low-quality content, Demand's days could be numbered. Its business model was designed to exploit -- and reap revenue from -- the specific ecosystem into which it was born. But if that ecosystem changes, it's anyone's guess whether Demand will be able to retool and find a new strategy. The "Risk Factors" section of its pre-IPO S-1 filing says as much: . "Internet search engines could decide that content on our owned and operated websites and on our customers' websites, including content that is created by our freelance content creators, is unacceptable,"the filing says. "Any reduction in the number of users directed to our owned and operated websites and to our customers' websites would negatively affect our ability to earn revenue. If traffic on our owned and operated websites and on our customers' websites declines, we may need to resort to more costly sources to replace lost traffic, and such increased expense could adversely affect our business, revenue, financial condition and results of operations." Fast Company reached out to Demand for comment, but they declined because they are still in the "quiet period" required by the SEC, which prohibits companies from talking about themselves in the period surrounding an IPO. Copyright © 2010 FastCompany.com, a unit of Mansueto Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved.

Demand Media was recently valued at $1.5 billion at its initial public offering . But a search-engine crackdown could spell trouble for content farms like Demand . Google's Matt Cutts says the search giant plans to crack down on low-quality content . Blekko, a startup search engine, already bans results from Demand Media .

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By . Mark Prigg . Astronomers have spotted a giant river of hydrogen in space - and say it could be what gives spiral galaxies their ability to keep spewing out stars. They say it could give an unprecedented insight into how galaxies like our own Milky Way form new stars - and why some are far more productive than others. The groundbreaking discovery helps explain the mystery that had baffled astronomers. The bright star-filled central region of galaxy NGC 6946 is shown in blue, while the dense hydrogen tracing out the galaxy's sweeping spiral arms and galactic halo is orange, and the extremely diffuse and extended 'river' of hydrogen engulfing NGC 6946 and its companions is red . The very faint, very tenuous filament of gas is streaming into the nearby galaxy NGC 6946 . NGC 6946 is located approximately 22 million light-years from Earth on the border of the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus. It is an active galaxy, though less-so than more extreme starburst galaxies, researchers said. 'We knew that the fuel for star formation had to come from somewhere,' said astronomer D.J. Pisano from West Virginia University. 'So far, however, we’ve detected only about 10 percent of what would be necessary to explain what we observe in many galaxies.' 'A leading theory is that rivers of hydrogen – known as cold flows – may be ferrying hydrogen through intergalactic space, clandestinely fueling star formation. But this tenuous hydrogen has been simply too diffuse to detect, until now.' Using the National Science Foundation’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), D.J. Pisano from West Virginia University has discovered what could be a never-before-seen river of hydrogen flowing through space. The very faint, very tenuous filament of gas is streaming into the nearby galaxy NGC 6946. Spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way, typically maintain a rather tranquil but steady pace of star formation. Others, like NGC 6946, which is located approximately 22 million light-years from Earth on the border of the constellations Cepheus and Cygnus, are much more active, though less-so than more extreme starburst galaxies. This raised the question of what is fueling the sustained star formation in this and similar spiral galaxies. Messier 101, the gigantic Pinwheel galaxy, one of the best known examples of grand design spirals. researchers believer the new hydrogen river discovery could explain why spirals continue to produce stars. Using the GBT, Pisano was able to detect the glow emitted by neutral hydrogen gas connecting NGC 6946 with its cosmic neighbors. This signal was simply below the detection threshold of other telescopes. The GBT’s unique capabilities, including its immense single dish, unblocked aperture, and location in the National Radio Quiet Zone, enabled it to detect this tenuous radio light. Astronomers have long theorized that larger galaxies could receive a constant influx of cold hydrogen by syphoning it off other less-massive companions. In looking at NGC 6946, the GBT detected just the sort of filamentary structure that would be present in a cold flow, though there is another probable explanation for what has been observed. It’s also possible that sometime in the past this galaxy had a close encounter and passed by its neighbors, leaving a ribbon of neutral atomic hydrogen in its wake. If that were the case, however, there should be a small but observable population of stars in the filaments. Further studies will help to confirm the nature of this observation and could shine light on the possible role that cold flows play in the evolution of galaxies.

Unprecedented insight into how galaxies like our own Milky Way form new stars . Very faint, very tenuous filament of gas is streaming into the nearby galaxy NGC 6946 - just 22 million light years from Earth .

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By . Rob Cooper . PUBLISHED: . 06:48 EST, 27 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:21 EST, 27 February 2014 . A schoolgirl has been left scarred after being attacked with a crowbar and a sledgehammer by two masked men who burst into her home. Shannon James, 16, underwent plastic surgery and was left with nerve damage in the wake of the attack on her and her mother Rebecca, 42. The A-level student also needs to take sleeping pills after being left traumatised after the men burst into the £350,000 property in Ashington, near Horsham, West Sussex, posing as police officers. Warning: Graphic content . Anguish: Shannon's mother Rebecca James, 42, (left) said: 'They scarred Shannon's head but they scarred me mentally' Then and now: Shannon James (left) after undergoing emergency surgery has been left with scars on the right-hand side of her forehead (right) Shannon's family are offering a £12,000 reward to catch the culprits. The robbers smashed two glass panels in . the family's front door to enter the house at around 8.50pm, as they . were settling down for an early night. The men - wearing balaclavas - shouted 'police, police' before . entering the home Miss James shares with partner Graham Childs, an electrician. Miss James and Mr Childs, 47, rushed out onto the upstairs hallway after her daughter called out after hearing some banging. Miss James said: 'We got halfway down the stairs and I shouted out "Who is it?" 'There was a pause and then someone shouted, "police, police".' Miss James - who has less visible injuries - was struck over the head with a hammer. Shannon, who has 22 stitches in her head after undergoing emergency plastic surgery, said: 'I was really scared and tried to hide in my room. 'Then I heard my mum screaming and went onto the landing to see her lying against the wall. 'I ran at the man and told him to leave my mum alone and then blacked out because he hit me twice - once on the forehead and the top of my head. Wound: A large cut to Shannon's forehead after she was attacked by the raiders who burst into her home in Ashington, West Sussex . 'All I remember is screaming "I'm going to die, I'm going to die". I genuinely thought we were all going to die, I really did. It was the scariest thing ever.' Shannon, an only child, crawled back . into her bedroom and tried to unlock her mobile phone to dial 999, but . it was covered in blood. Her mum desperately tried the house phone and then ran to a neighbour's property to call for help. Paramedics . rushed the pair to hospital and Shannon later underwent a two-hour . operation. She has been left with a scar in the middle of her forehead . and on the right side of her head, under her hairline. She still suffers . headaches. Shannon, who hopes to study architecture at university, added: 'How could they do it? 'People ask me every day how I got my scar. I don't like to tell them. I can't wear make-up; it feels strange to touch it. 'I'm alright now but it is still there. The moment I wake up I think about it. I say to myself, "get over it" but you can't. 'What . could I have done to change it? It happened so fast. It was horrible. The attack had a huge effect on me and I still get nightmares. 'It's scary to be honest knowing those men are out there. If I see a man walking down the street I'll cross over the road to avoid him.' The robbers smashed two glass panels in the family's front door to enter the house at around 9pm, as they were settling down for an early night. Shannon added: 'My scar is still quite numb and feels horrible, there's a tingling sensation from where the surgeons had to stretch my skin. 'I get quite a lot of people looking at me and asking how I got my scar. It's a constant reminder of what happens. 'My mother still cries every day she sees it and says she cannot ever get over it.' Second wound: Shannon also suffered a second cut to her head underneath her hair in the attack in her home . Miss James' mother Rebecca James, 42, also suffered at the hands of the balaclava-clad intruders. The health and social care worker wept as she recalled the terrifying incident last August. Cut: Another wound to Shannon's hand which she suffered during the attack in her family home last August . She added: 'The men wearing balaclavas rushed in . and straight away we knew they were not police. The man with the . sledgehammer came at me and without saying anything hit me over the head . with it. 'I remember falling forwards, then backwards and my partner grabbed me and tried to help me back up stairs. 'The man with the crowbar came running up the stairs and I put my hand up to stop him from hitting me and got a cut on my hand. 'I . thought "thank god he's missed me' but then the next thing I heard was . Shannon screaming "I am dying". There was blood everywhere - even all . over the phone as I dialled 999. 'The . men ran off without taking anything and Shannon was raced to hospital . in Chichester and had microsurgery on her forehead. It is a lot to watch . your kid in the operating theatre.' Breaking down, she added: 'They scarred Shannon's head but they scarred me mentally. 'These . people need to be caught - they are dangerous people. There was no . motive and I need closure. 'We are always asking, "why?" 'I'm . supposed to be a mother and I failed to protect my child in her own . home. The whole attack has left me very, very sad and emotional. 'Seeing Shannon lying in the hospital bed was awful - you can imagine how that would make any mother feel. 'Until these men are caught and prosecuted, we have no answers for what they did. Attack: The raiders burst into the family home on this road in Ashington, West Sussex . 'Nothing spooked them, they simply walked away. I have my days, but the raid is on my mind every day. 'Shannon . and I share something that we will never ever be able to forget. It's . scary still living here with that fear that they will come back and do . it all over again. We're always on our guard.' Detectives at Sussex Police urged anyone who recognised the descriptions of the attackers to come forward. Detective Constable Katy Lewis, from Sussex Police, said: 'The attackers are both described as tall, white men. 'The . one with the sledgehammer was stocky and big and the other man is . described as slimmer. They were dressed all in black and wearing . balaclavas. 'We believe a . green VW Golf which was found burnt out in Storrington, West Sussex, the . next day could be connected to the attack. 'We are hoping someone might have seen this car being driven in Ashington either before or after the attack that could help us. 'This was a terrifying attack for the whole family and they are still suffering the effects now. 'If you know something that could help us find the people responsible please get in contact.' A Sussex Police spokeswoman said detectives had spoken 'extensively' to the family and all possible motives had been explored. 'Why the raiders chose to break into this house in particular is something we have looked at in great detail,' she said. 'Police have spoken to the family extensively in a bid to see if there is any indication to what the cause or motive might have been. 'But there doesn't seem to be anything. This is a very odd case and it's a strange attack, but every possible option has been considered. 'The family have all been spoken to and there's nothing to indicate they were targeted or victims of mistaken identity. 'As a police force, we hope that the media and the public at large will be able to help us ID who the culprits are and pinpoint what happened. 'We're hopeful someone will remember seeing the car being driven earlier or people getting into it so that we can bring who did this to justice.'

Raiders broke into family home shouting 'police, police' and attacked heron . They used weapons to attack her after she tried to protected her mother . 'Robbers' fled the property in Ashington, West Sussex, empty handed . A-level pupil forced to take sleeping tablets after being traumatised by attack . Shannon's family offer £12,000 reward to help catch the culprits .

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At £525,000, the garage is more than three times the average house price in Britain . By . Becky Barrow, Business Correspondent . PUBLISHED: . 10:10 EST, 1 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:28 EST, 1 May 2012 . If your home is in Hartlepool, Newport, Sunderland or Newcastle upon Tyne, you should probably look away now. While house prices are plunging around Britain, particularly in these cities, there is one gold-plated corner of the capital where a garage is on the market for more than £500,000. Hidden in a tiny back street close to Harrods, the double garage does not look special from the outside. The garage on the little-known Rysbrack Street is painted black, but not that recently, and the brown brickwork around the garage has been blackened by dirt. Expensive: This garage, in Rysbrack Street, Knightsbridge, is on the market for £525,000 . But it has just been put on the market with the highest price tag ever charged for a garage by the estate agency WA Ellis, which was founded in 1868. At a record price of £525,000, the buyer could buy three of Britain’s ‘average’ homes, which currently cost £160,000 each, for the same price, and still have £45,000 left over in change. It is possible to swing a cat in the garage, but only just - it measures 6.4 metres wide and just 4.75 metres deep. Robert Lewis, an associate at W A Ellis, insists the garage is ‘exceptionally valuable’ because it is ‘very rare’ for a freehold garage in Knightsbridge to come up for sale. He said: ‘We anticipate interest from those already living within a two or three minute walk of the garage. 'For example, the large houses on Walton Place where there is no off-street parking.’ The garage was put up for sale a week after a flat-roofed brick shed, in Highgate village, north London, went on the market for £259,950. Price tag: The shed, which went on sale in Highgate village,London, last week for £259,950 . Exclusive: One Hyde Park, in Knightsbridge, is the most expensive address in London . Ironically, news of the garage’s record asking price emerged on the day that official figures reveals house prices continue to drop sharply around the country. Overall, house prices have dropped by 0.6 per cent over the last year to an average price of £160,372, but the regional picture is far more worrying for many hard-working homeowners. For those who bought in 2007 - the year that house prices peaked in many parts of Britain but the credit crunch began - the figures, from the Land Registry, are particularly gloomy. In Hartlepool, the price of the average home has dropped by nearly a third since homes in the city peaked at an average of £110,743 in October 2007. Today the same home is worth £75,786, which means a homeowner has seen around £35,000 wiped off the value of their home since that date. Shopping mecca: The iconic Harrods store is located near the garage in Rysbrack Street . Others have also been hit hard. Over the last year, for example, prices have dropped by eight per cent in Newport, by 8.9 per cent in Sunderland and by 6.4 per cent in Newcastle upon Tyne. Meanwhile, they have reached an all-time peak in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which includes the Rysbrack Street garage. The average price in the exclusive borough is close to £1million, having shot up by nearly 11 per cent over the last year. Knightsbridge is located in London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. In the past four and a half years, average property prices in the borough have risen from £827,238 to £983,842. One of the most exclusive properties in Knightsbridge, and indeed, London, is One Hyde Park, in which one flat was sold for an incredible £136 million in April 2011. The high rise building comprises 33 penthouses registered with a combined value of £727m. Between October 2011 and December 2011, 553 properties were sold in Kensington and Chelsea . In October 2007 - the month that property prices peaked in Hartlepool - the average price in Kensington and Chelsea was £827,238. Today it is £983,842. This is a rise of just over £150,000, an increase which the vast majority of homeowners in Britain can only dream their home will ever be worth. Peter Rollings, chief executive of the estate agency Marsh & Parsons, said prime parts of London are very attractive to foreign buyers wanting a safe haven for their cash. He said: ‘Central London’s bricks and mortar has long been the first port of call for investors - whether from the UK or abroad - looking to guard their wealth against economic uncertainty. ‘This will perpetuate demand for the limited stock of quality property in prime London, driving a larger wedge between London’s market and the rest of the country.’ The consultancy Capital Economics predicts average house prices in Britain will be around five per cent lower by the end of the year than they were in January.

At £525,000, the garage is more than three times the average house price in Britain .

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By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 04:00 EST, 7 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:55 EST, 7 January 2013 . Charities warn that deep spending cuts for councils have harmed the potential of voluntary groups to provide public services . David Cameron’s Big Society is dead, leading charities declared today. The Prime Minister is warned his early enthusiasm for involving voluntary groups in running Britain is ‘going nowhere’. The Big Society concept was widely ridiculed when floated by Mr Cameron before the 2010 general election, with even supporters of the idea complaining that the PM had failed to explain what it actually meant. The Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, which represents 2,000 charities, claims reforms designed to hand power from Whitehall to communities and good causes are moving ‘glacially slow’. Criticism of government reforms comes as Mr Cameron and Deputy PM Nick Clegg today launch a Mid-Term Review of the coalition’s progress and set out new policies for the next two and a half years. Mr Cameron had boasted that the Big Society was his ‘great passion’ but critics said it was vague and was being used as a cover for cuts to public services. Councils which provide huge levels of income for charities have seen funding from Westminster slashed. Charities also warn that people who rely on state are seeing support eroded. In a letter to the Prime Minister, head of the ACEVO Sir Stephen Bubb claimed major changes to the way services were provided have been abandoned, leaving the Big Society 'effectively dead'. David Cameron has pushed the Big Society agenda, despite critics saying it was vague and a cover for spending cuts . ‘As Prime Minister, you described . building a Big Society as your 'great passion' and 'central to my vision . for our country',’ Sir Stephen wrote, according to The Times. ‘You spoke eloquently of your desire to reform public services, with a significantly greater role for charities.’ Potential for charities to become involved in providing public services ‘remains largely untapped, with reforms in too many areas glacially slow’, he added. ‘The mood music across Whitehall has been that reform is off the agenda. The reality many charities now face is crippling spending cuts.’ Sir Stephen Bubb, head of the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations, used a letter to the PM to warn his Big Society vision is 'effectively dead' A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘From day one of the coalition Government, we have worked to help charities and social enterprises do more good. ‘Red tape has been cut, new incentives for giving have been introduced and the world’s first social investment institution, Big Society Capital, has been delivered.’

Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations representing 2,000 charities warns pace of reform is 'glacially slow' Critics say PM's flagship concept is vague and a cover for cuts .

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By . Daily Mail Reporter . The filming of a race scene in the latest Fast and Furious film was cancelled by studio bosses because it was too dangerous, it has been reported. The scene was reportedly due to feature a modified yellow Chevelle performing a wheelie while racing another car with cheering bystanders by the side of a track. Sources have told TMZ that studio bosses on Thursday cancelled the shot just before filming began over fears of another crash following the tragic accident of the film franchise's star Paul Walker last year. A race scene in the latest Fast and Furious film, similar to a sequence in the first film (pictured), has been cancelled by the studio, it has been reported . Paul Walker, who shot to fame in the Fast And Furious franchise alongside Vin Diesel, died at the age of 40 in a high-speed car crash in Santa Clarita, California, in November . Insiders at the Willow Springs . International Raceway near Palmdale, California, also told TMZ that a member . of the production team had said there were problems with insurance for . the scene, which had been planned for the latest film in the franchise, . Fast and Furious 7. Mr Walker died at the age of 40 after . the Porsche Carrera GT he was riding in as a passenger crashed and burst . into flames, killing him and his friend Roger Rodas, who was driving. The accident took place following an event in Santa Clarita, California, for Mr Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide in November last year. On Thursday his long-time co-star Michelle Rodriguez made a point to show he'll never be forgotten. She posted a photo on Instagram alongside Vin Diesel to pay tribute to their late co-star. Ms Rodriguez shared the snap with her 670,000 . followers with the heartfelt caption: 'Ride or Die through thick and . thin 15 yrs later surreal to think we made it through such a tough . painful production. But this ones for you P I hope we make you proud . love you.' It was an eventful day for the cast of the film as it was the final day of production for Fast and Furious 7. 'This one's for you P': Michelle Rodriguez, 35, shared a snap onto Instagram on Thursday along with co-star Vin Diesel paying tribute to the late Paul Walker . Celebratory shot: The cast and crew of Fast and Furious 7 came together for a group shot to mark the final day of production . The American actress shared another snap of the entire cast and crew of the film posing for a celebratory shot. She posted it with the message: 'Final day on FF7 an emotional roller coaster but we've wrapped most of principle photography one love to all those who stuck it through with respect.' Paul's brother Cody, 25, agreed to film crucial scenes for the film following the star's death in November as a tribute to his older brother.

Scene was reportedly due to feature yellow Chevelle performing wheelie while racing another car . Studio bosses however cancelled shooting at track near Palmdale, California . Bosses reportedly thought the scene was too dangerous .

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Adding to signs of distress in the nuclear force, the Air Force fired two commanders and disciplined a third yesterday. The action was a response to internal investigations of leadership lapses and misbehavior at two of its three intercontinental ballistic missile bases. The most senior officer to be relieved was Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, in charge of 150 of the Air Force's 450 Minuteman 3 nuclear ICBMs. Scroll down for video . Col. Carl Jones (pictured left) was relieved from his duties in Wyoming, Col. Richard Pagliuco (pictured right) received administrative punishmen . He was dismissed 'for a loss of trust and confidence in his leadership abilities,' and has been reassigned as a special assistant to the wing commander. The actions on Monday were confirmed to The Associated Press in response to an AP inquiry about an internal Air Force investigation of two commanders at the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, which also is responsible for 150 Minuteman 3 missiles. A separate investigation was conducted at F.E. Warren. The Air Force nuclear missile corps has suffered a rash of recent setbacks, including the firing last year of its top commander and a number of security lapses. It is unusual for disciplinary action to be taken against senior officers at two of the Air Force's three nuclear missile bases on the same day. Officials said the timing was a coincidence. It extends a pattern of leadership failures in the ICBM force over the past year. Last March nine officers were fired at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, which is the third of the three nuclear missile bases, in response to an exam-cheating scandal there. On the same day as that announcement, the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren disclosed that it had fired Col. David Holloway, the officer in charge of the three missile squadrons there. It has never fully explained that action. Last year, Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, commander of the entire ICBM force, was fired after an investigation into a drinking binge and other misconduct while he was in Russia as head of a visiting U.S. government delegation. The nuclear missile force, whose work is arguably the most sensitive in the military, has been beset with problems in discipline, training, leadership and morale, prompting Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in February to order an independent review. The results of that review are expected to be announced in coming weeks. In response to an AP inquiry Monday, Lt. Col. John Sheets, spokesman for Air Force Global Strike Command, which is in charge of the Air Force Minuteman 3 force as well as its nuclear bomber fleet, said that as a result of the Minot investigation a missile squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jimmy 'Keith' Brown, was relieved of command Monday 'because of a loss of confidence in Brown's ability to lead his squadron.' An ICBM launch site located among fields and farms in the countryside outside Minot, N.D.  is pictured . Sheets said the investigation was directed by Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, commander of the 20th Air Force, and 'substantiated that Brown engaged in unlawful discrimination or harassment.' He added that the probe found that Brown 'made statements to subordinates that created a perception within his squadron that pregnancy would negatively affect a woman's career.' The probe also substantiated allegations that Brown had failed to ensure the well-being of his troops. In March a two-person crew operating a Minuteman 3 launch control center at Minot felt ill from fumes created by a refurbishment project, but the crew remained at their post because they believed Brown would have taken action against them had they left. They later were hospitalized, Sheets said. There are three missile squadrons at each of the three nuclear missile wings. Each squadron is responsible for 50 missiles operated by officers in five underground launch control centers. The second officer targeted in the Minot investigation was Col. Richard Pagliuco, commander of the 91st Operations Group, which is in charge of the three missile squadrons at Minot, including Brown's. Sheets said the investigation confirmed that Pagliuco 'failed to promote and safeguard the morale, well-being and welfare of the airmen under his command.' Pagliuco received administrative punishment in the form of a letter in his personnel file, but Sheets said he could not be more specific about the punishment. The complaints against Jones, the vice commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren, were the most extensive, according to Sheets' description of the case. Sheets said Jones' immediate superior, Col. Tracey Hayes, commander of the 90th, removed him following an internal investigation that substantiated allegations of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and cruelty and maltreatment of a subordinate. 'In four separate instances, Jones acted in a manner that degraded his status as a senior officer and wing leader including maltreating a subordinate,' Sheets said. The most recent incident involving Jones was in September and occurred at a thrift store operated on F.E. Warren by volunteers, Sheets said. According to the investigation report as described by Sheets, Jones went to the shop, called Airman's Attic, to discuss shopping hour policies. 'He hit the sign on the Airman's Attic door and repeatedly hit the shop's front counter while raising his voice, using profanity' and threatening to shut down the place, Sheets said. It was this incident which prompted a complaint to the 90th Missile Wing's inspector general, leading to the investigation and the decision by Hayes to remove Jones. Three other incidents of allegedly inappropriate behavior on base by Jones during 2014 were substantiated in the investigation, including one in May in which his behavior was described by one officer and a witness as shocking. Sheets said the disciplinary actions at Minot and Warren reflect an effort to ensure that commanders do not behave in ways that detract from the mission. 'Our people must treat each other with dignity and respect,' Sheets said. 'That applies up and down the chain of command.'

Col. Carl Jones, the No. 2 commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, has been relieved . Lt. Col. Jimmy 'Keith' Brown was relieved of command and Col. Richard Pagliuco received administrative punishment . It follows 9 officers being fired at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, in March after an exam-cheating scandal .

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Edward Snowden has thrown a ‘huge rock’ at the intelligence agencies – and his leaks mean a terrorist atrocity was now certain to ‘get through’, according to the former head of MI6. Sir John Sawers’ warning came as Al Qaeda posted a YouTube video showing fanatics how to avoid detection, apparently based on the former CIA officer’s leaks. Yesterday, former MI6 boss Sir John said the revelations had made the technology companies more reluctant to co-operate with the police and spy agencies. Ex MI6 boss Sir John Sawers (pictured) warned Edward Snowden has thrown 'huge rock' at intelligence agencies, meaning a terrorist atrocity is now certain to 'get through' Security officials fear this has created ‘no-go areas’ on the internet where terrorists can plot atrocities undetected. Sir John warned that, unless a ‘new compact’ could be agreed between web firms and the intelligence agencies, attacks like those in Paris earlier this month would become ‘a more regular feature of our lives’. He said: ‘Snowden threw a massive rock in the pool. The ripples from that have still not died down. ‘It was certainly a great concern for me that the, if you like, informal co-operation that worked well between most technology companies and communication companies and security services was broken by the Snowden revelations and has not been repaired.’ Sir John added: ‘The security community has done a fantastic job keeping threats at bay, but if I was to sit here and ask “will the goalkeepers of the police and security services foil every single attempt to score a goal?”, the answer is no. At some point a threat will get through.’ British security officials have long warned the Snowden revelations could be used to produce a ‘handbook for terrorists’. The chilling seven-and-a-half minute video by Al Qaeda – which includes news footage of Snowden’s massive security breach – confirms these worst fears. The recording provides detailed graphics on how extremists can avoid being trapped by ‘FBI secret spying technology’ when communicating. Extracts from the video by Al Qaeda – and the corresponding leaks by treacherous former CIA officer Edward Snowden (pictured right): . SNOWDEN LEAK: NSA and GCHQ are harvesting millions of emails, instant messaging contact lists and details of internet browsing histories. AL QAEDA ADVICE: ‘All your calls, messages and internet history are stored in this same place… spies have access to these files and can know your daily routine, friends and what you are planning to do tomorrow night at that tall building….’ SNOWDEN LEAK: Western agencies have the capacity to track and map the location of cell phones. AL QAEDA ADVICE: ‘All mobile phone providers use the same software, your device continuously is in contact with the nearest tower… As you are moving around your different coordinates are tracked and stored.’ SNOWDEN LEAK: Security officials were paying private tech companies for ‘clandestine access’ to their communications networks. AL QAEDA GUIDANCE: The video warns Al Qaeda agents that spies are working with internet companies and lists networks which have been co-operating so they can be avoided. It also claims to identify technology companies which are co-operating with the UK and other countries so they can be avoided. There is a list of software packages that can be used to try to thwart GCHQ and the intelligence agencies. The video is spoken in Arabic but with English subtitles. It says: ‘Allah created us with a unique voice, this can be used to track you anywhere no matter [sic] you buy a new phone, SIM card or satellite. 'We will now show you some different ways how the enemy can track you and have a view at some modern war technologies.’ It added: ‘Every mujahed that does not take the right precautions can be a tool in the hand of the enemy. With his phone, tablet or laptop the enemy can listen/record all conversations and meetings.’ Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (left) is blocking proposals to give Britain's spooks the power to monitor what people browse on the internet and who they are emailing . Experts said Snowden – feted as a hero by some campaigners – had inspired the tape. Sir John’s speech yesterday, his first since stepping down last November, was the second time in a week an ex-head of the intelligence agencies has attacked Snowden. Last Tuesday, ex-MI5 boss Jonathan Evans said the revelations have left Britain less able to protect itself at a time when the terrorist threat from Islamist fanatics is surging. In the wake of the Paris attacks, David Cameron vowed that a new Tory government would introduce 'comprehensive' legislation to ensure there is no 'safe space' for terrorists to communicate over the internet. The Prime Minister said security and intelligence agencies need 'robust powers' to protect the public from violent extremists. Mr Cameron had already indicated he would seek to revive measures in the abandoned draft communications data bill - dubbed the 'snoopers' charter' by critics - enabling the agencies to track emails and other online communications. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is blocking the bill - insisting it gives the security services too much power to snoop on the public. Snowden, who was a computer specialist at an intelligence centre in Hawaii, tricked colleagues into handing over passwords so he could copy up to 1.7million files in one of the biggest leaks in US history. The defence contractor claims he had to act because the US government’s policies were a ‘threat to democracy’. He fled to Hong Kong, then Russia, where he was granted asylum and now lives in a secret location. Speaking at the London launch of the Edelman Trust Barometer, an international survey of public trust in institutions, Sir John said: 'We have seen a trend over the last few years of the threat rising, the formal threat level has gone up which says that a terrorist attack is highly likely. 'That is not saying an attempted terrorist attack is highly likely. It is saying a terrorist attack getting through is highly likely and we have to take those words at face value.' He also backed the Prime Minister’s assertion last week that there cannot be ‘no-go areas’ online or in other types of communications. He added: 'The prime minister must have been right when he was saying last week that you cannot afford to have complete no-go areas. 'We cannot have no-go areas in our communities where the police cannot go, because that just allows space room for the evil doers to ply their trades. It is the same in the virtual world. 'If you allow areas which are completely impenetrable, then, okay, you might feel comfortable that your communications are private and no one else can see them, but so are those who are trying to do you down and undermine your society.' But the warning will be seen as a direct rebuke to the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who is blocking proposals to give Britain's spooks the power to monitor what people browse on the internet and who they are emailing.

Sir John Sawers said a terrorist atrocity was now certain to 'get through' Comes as terror group posted YouTube video based on CIA officer's leaks . It shows fanatics how to avoid detection by ‘FBI secret spying technology’ Sir John said tech companies were more hesitant to work with agencies . Fears this has created ‘no-go areas’ where terrorists can plot undetected .

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Adam Lallana is missing his own expensive stag do in order to present England boss Roy Hodgson with a selection problem at the World Cup. The Southampton midfielder is part of the 23-man squad to travel to Brazil. And despite forking out £50,000 on a week-long party, Lallana refused to go, reports the Sun. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Adam Lallana at England's gala dinner . Professional: Adam Lallana has missed his stag do in Miami in a bid to be fighting fit for the World Cup . Missing link? Lallana could become a key player for Roy Hodgson when they start the tournament in June . The 26-year-old splashed out on the holiday this time last year ahead of his wedding. But when it became clear he might have a chance of being called up to the England squad, Lallana decided to marry fianceé Emily Jubb in December. The remainder of the group still went to Miami regardless, where they stayed in a five-star villa. A friend told the Sun: 'Obviously he is gutted he isn't there with them all but he knows that he has to be on top form for Brazil and he's going to give it his all. 'Most of the lads that went have known him all his life and they've always supported him - so he wanted to give something back to them.' Doing their bit: Lallana joined a plethora of internationals to benefit the England Footballers Foundation on Sunday .

Southampton midfielder wants to give himself the best chance in Brazil . Lallana could become integral for Roy Hodgson this summer . Player's mates still went to Florida for trip .

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These dazzling needle-like icicles that adorn the cliffs of Lake Superior draw almost 150,000 visitors every year. It allows them to explore waterfalls frozen in place, entire cliff faces encased in inches of ice and breathtaking icicles glistening in the milky sun. The geological marvels at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have proved popular since they opened to winter travellers in 2009. Visitors to the site take in spectacular views such as waterfalls frozen in place - to manage the growing number of visitors, the National Park Service has proposed a $5 special recreation fee . The stunning icicles and views have seen almost 150,000 visitors marvel at the sights since it opened to winter travellers in 2009 . Pillars of ice hang from the cliff edge where waterfalls have hardened in place, bringing with it jaw-dropping views . But now, the National Park Service which operates the park in northern Wisconsin, has proposed a $5 special recreation fee to see the jaw-dropping site. The current $3 parking fee at the trail head lot brought in $47,000 last year, which was only a fraction of what it costs to manage about 138,000 visitors, according to the agency. The proposed permit fee would allow the park service to provide sufficient staff and infrastructure during open ice caves season, although it wouldn't cover all of the associated costs. During the summer, the caves are a popular destination as they can be accessed by kayak, but they're even more of a draw during winter when as many as 1,000 people a day make the trip on the weekend. The stunning icicles along the frozen Lake Superior shore at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore have proven popular with visitors . The crystal ice formation glistens from a ceiling in a cave at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore . During the summer, the caves are a popular destination as they can be accessed by kayak, but they are even more of a draw during winter when as many as 1,000 people a day make the trip on the weekend . A pair of friends pose for a picture inside a dazzling display of ice sculptures hanging from the top of a cave . Since the National park in northern Wisconsin opened to winter travellers five years ago, it has soared in popularity . 'We are committed to keeping the park affordable but we also want to provide visitors with the best possible experience while not overburdening our partners,' said Chris Smith, acting superintendent of the park. The park service plans to hold two open houses this month, one in Ashland and the other Bayfield, where the new fee will be discussed and members of the public will be able to put forward their views. Because of ideal weather last winter, the lakeshore's mainland sea caves were open for the first time since 2009, when they saw fewer than 10,000 visitors. According to the park service, the unexpected surge of people brought in nearly $10 million in revenue throughout the local communities.

The geological marvels at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin, attract almost 150,000 visitors a year . But now the National Park Service which operates the park has proposed a $5 special recreation fee to visit the site . It says the current $3 parking fee brought in $47,000 last year and they need more to cope with rising demand .

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By . Paul Bentley and Charles Walford . PUBLISHED: . 21:02 EST, 20 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:15 EST, 21 December 2012 . Sally Roberts leaves the High Court after the judge ruled her son should have radiotherapy . A seven-year-old cancer sufferer can have radiotherapy against his mother's wishes, a High Court judge ruled today. Mr Justice Bodey said he was worried . Sally Roberts judgement had 'gone awry' after doctors said her son Neon . could die within months if he did not get it. Mrs Roberts, 37, a New Zealander who . lives in Brighton, East Sussex, fears that undergoing the treatment . would cause long-term damage to her son - such as a lowered IQ and . fertility damage. However, today the judge, who heard . evidence at a hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in . London, ruled against her, adding: 'One cannot enjoy a quality of life . if one isn't alive.' Specialists treating Neon accepted . that there were side-effects to radiotherapy but said that without the . treatment the youngster could be dead within three months. Neon was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour and underwent an operation to remove it on October 25th this year. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are . routine follow-up treatments which doctors said would give Neon up to an . 86 per cent chance of survival. The ideal time to start this is within . 28 days of surgery taking place, but the delay means his chances of . surviving are now down to 67 per cent. The court heard his mother missed three vital hospital appointments. She then sparked a manhunt after going into hiding with him for four days without telling his dad Ben. The pair were found safe and well and Neon, who has a twin sister, was put into the care of his father. The hearing was told she would not let . doctors give him anti-sickness drugs after a brain operation this week . to remove a tumour. When given the chance to put forward . alternative treatments for her son at the High Court, Mrs Roberts’s . suggestions were labelled ‘completely unethical’. She then asked for more time to look into alternative therapies after researching on the internet but this was refused. Doctors called to give evidence told . the court: 'This boy has a very highly malignant disease and he will die . very quickly unless somebody gets their hands on him to treat him.' Case: Neon Roberts is at the centre of a legal dispute over his own cancer treatment . Experts said the UK was one of the . leading countries on the disease and that if parents looked elsewhere . they would be 'doing their child a disservice.' After hearing the case over four days . Mr Justice Bodey said: 'Before radiotherapy was developed patients . variably and also invariably died.' He said he found it hard to believe 'caring clinicians' would keep back alternative therapies which would work on children. Delivering his judgment, he said: 'The mother has been through a very stressful time. 'This sort of news is every parent's . worst nightmare, and I have sympathy for her, but I'm worried that her . judgment was gone awry on the question of the seriousness of the threat . which Neon faces. 'There was a time when she agreed with . the therapy. I express the hope that when the mother has reflected on . the outcome she will come to terms with it. 'I am sure she will support Neon through the very difficult times he has ahead. He needs both his parents to support him.' The judge said the case 'tilted well in the favour' of Neon's father and the hospital trust. Mrs Roberts, who admitted she . 'panicked' when she ran off with Neon, is now banned from applying for a . passport until December 2013. The hospital trust, which has not been . identified, asked for their costs to be paid by Mrs Roberts on the . grounds she put matters back when took Neon without his father's . knowledge. Mrs Roberts said she 'was not a bonkers mother' But Ian Peddie QC, representing her, told the court his client had no money. Neon will now live with his dad for the next year while he undergoes treatment before living permanently with his mother again. Mrs Roberts, who stared intently at the judge as the decision was read out, was told she could not appeal the case in the High Court. Ms Roberts had told the court she was not a 'bonkers mother'. She said she feared that radiotherapy would reduce Neon's intelligence quotient (IQ), shorten his life, put him at risk of having strokes and make him infertile. And she told the judge that she wanted medics to consider alternatives. Neon's father Ben said he was 'relieved' following the decision to give it the go ahead today. Ben Roberts was with his son Neon in hospital so was not at the hearing at the to hear the judgement handed down. In a statement issued following today's ruling his solicitor Gwen Williams said: 'Mr Roberts is relieved that the judge has been able to make a final ruling on Neon's treatment. 'Neon's health and recovery has always been Mr Roberts' priority. While he respected Neon's mother's views, his own opinion, following in depth discussions with doctors, has always been that Neon should have the treatment. 'He now hopes Neon can be allowed to recover from his latest operation and start the radiotherapy and chemotherapy that the doctors have outlined without further delay.' She said Mr Roberts was grateful for the careful way Mr Justice Bodey had made his decision and for the sympathy he had shown to his family. He also thanked medical teams treating Neon and 'for the great time and energy that have devoted to issues in the case.' Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons.

Mr Justice Bodey said he was worried . Sally Roberts judgement had 'gone awry' Mrs Roberts had tried to claim her son should have alternative treatment to radiotherapy . Experts brand her alternatives 'completely unethical' She conceded that her argument is 'weak' under questioning .

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By . Daniel Miller . Martin Tankleff, pictured after his release from prison in 2007, has settled his wrongful conviction lawsuit for $3.4million . A man who served 17 years in prison after police tricked him into falsely confessing to murdering his parents has settled a wrongful conviction lawsuit against New York state for nearly $3.4million. Martin Tankleff, 42, was convicted in the 1988 killings of his parents in their eastern Long Island home. But he was freed in 2007 after an appeals court found key evidence in his trial was overlooked. Prosecutors ultimately decided against a new trial. His attorneys argued that his confession was coerced and that a family business associate was the real culprit. A spokeswoman for the state attorney general confirmed the settlement, saying it resolves the case on behalf of the state. Tankleff was 17 years old when his parents were bludgeoned and stabbed. He told police he found them on September 7, 1988, in their waterfront home in Belle Terre. His mother was dead; his father was gravely wounded and died a few weeks later. The teenager suggested that a partner in his father's bagel business could be the killer. He said the partner owed Seymour Tankleff hundreds of thousands of dollars. The business partner, Jerry Steuerman, was never charged and has denied involvement in the crimes. After questioning Tankleff at home and at police headquarters, detectives falsely told him that his father had awoken from a coma and named him as the killer. At that point, Tankleff wondered aloud whether he might have 'blacked out' and committed the crimes. Police said they read him his Miranda warning, but Tankleff waived his rights and confessed to attacking his parents. Original trial: Tankleff was 17 years old when his parents were . bludgeoned and stabbed to death at their Long Beach home. He was tricked . into confessing to their murder . Tricked: After questioning Tankleff at home and at . police headquarters, detectives falsely told him that his father had . awoken from a coma and named him as the killer . He said he was angry at his parents over a variety of slights, including being made to drive a 'crummy old Lincoln,' police said. However, Tankleff quickly withdrew the confession, refusing to sign a statement police had prepared. Tankleff was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison after being convicted in one of the nation's first televised trials. The case raised questions about police interrogation tactics and drew the support of the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people. A federal lawsuit against Suffolk County and a detective who has admitted he coerced a confession from Tankleff is pending.

Martin Tankleff was tricked into confessing to murdering his parents in 1988 . Detectives said his father had awoken from coma and named him as the killer . Freed in 2007 after appeals court found evidence in his trial was overlooked . Lawsuit against detective who admitted coercing the confession is pending .

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(Rolling Stone) -- Aerosmith have moved the release date for "Music From Another Dimension," their first album in 11 years, back from August 28th to November 6th, frontman Steven Tyler revealed during a call to Cleveland radio station 100.7 WMMS. "It's pushed back because too many people are releasing those weeks, and we don't want to step on their release dates," said Tyler. "So we said, 'You know what, we got the goods -- ain't no doubt about [it]. We'll wait a couple months.'" "Music From Another Dimension" will be the band's first LP since 2001's "Just Push Play." The group debuted the record's first single, "Legendary Child," during the season finale of "American Idol" last month, but the song has failed to gain traction on both the Billboard and iTunes charts. Tyler also mentioned on-air that Sony will release two more singles before the album drops in November. One of those tracks could be the blues-tinged rocker "Oh Yeah," which the band debuted last week at the Minneapolis kick-off of their Global Warming tour, which finds them trekking across North America alongside Cheap Trick throughout the summer. "We accomplished what we set out to do, which was write some stuff so we could represent who we were in the old days," Tyler told WMMS. "After all these years, you can become something other than you started out to be -- and I'm not saying that's a bad thing -- but we kinda love our rock and I love the diversity of this band ... I thought that was one of the secrets that Aerosmith had that other bands didn't -- a little bit of this, a little bit of that." Read the full story at RollingStone.com. Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone.

Aerosmith have moved the release date for their album back from August to November . "Music From Another Dimension" will be their first album in 11 years . Frontman Steven Tyler said it was pushed back because of other artists' release dates .

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She's long been a fan of sailing, famously beating husband Prince William during a race around Auckland Harbour during the Royal Tour Down Under. Now Kensington Palace has announced that the Duchess of Cambridge has become royal patron of a new sailing charity, The 1851 Trust, which aims to help bring the America's Cup home. In a statement released by the palace, the Duchess spoke of her love of sailing and said she hoped the trust would inspire a new generation to take up the sport. Scroll down for video . Fan: The Duchess of Cambridge, pictured here during a visit to Auckland, has long been a fan of sailing . Kate, who has not been seen in public since August due to severe morning sickness, said: 'I am delighted to be royal patron of The 1851 Trust. “I feel very fortunate to have enjoyed sailing from a young age and I know it is a great way of providing young people with the opportunity to develop skills and confidence. 'It is a hugely exciting time for sailing as the British challenger bids to bring the America’s Cup back to Britain. 'I am looking forward to being part of this journey and I hope that through The 1851 Trust we can engage and inspire a new generation into sailing along the way.' The 1851 Trust is the charitable arm of the British challenger’s bid to bring the America’s Cup back to Britain and is supported by Ben Ainslie Racing. Eyes on the prize: With Sir Ben Ainslie, she helped launch Britain's bid for America's Cup glory . Leading the charge: Sir Ben Ainslie - and team mate Matt Cornwell (left) - is spearheading the bid for victory . It will work with young people under 25 years old to encourage them to become involved in sailing and the marine industry. Known affectionately as the 'Auld Mug', the America's Cup was first offered as a prize by Queen Victoria in 1851, who volunteered to present it to the winner of a sailing race around the Isle of Wight. After a schooner named America from New York took the trophy, which was made especially for the race by jewellers Garrard, the cup was renamed in its honour, and both cup and race have carried the moniker ever since. A two-yacht race, the America's Cup is fought between the previous year's winner - known as the 'defender' - and a challenger, which is usually the best boat from a series of run-off rounds. Sailing fan: The Duchess with Sir Ben Ainslie during the launch of Britain's America's Cup bid in June . Victory: The Duchess last showed off her sailing skills when she beat Prince William during a trip to Auckland . The real deal: The race took place in two yachts used for New Zealand's own America's Cup bid . But while Britannia might rule the waves in other respects, a British team is yet to take the trophy which, despite having been won by Swiss and Australian teams in the past, has for the most part been doggedly defended by the Americans - among them last year's winner, San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club - throughout its 132-year history. That, however, is something the Duchess of Cambridge and Sir Ben hope to change, and hope, given enough sponsorship, to assemble a race-winning boat and the sailors to crew it over the next three years. Sir Ben Ainslie, who is also a patron of the 1851 Trust, spoke of his excitement about the challenge ahead and what it could mean for the marine industry. 'We’re really excited about what the Trust can do,' he said. 'We are dependent on the oceans and the marine industry needs to become a leader in environmental stewardship, and in finding solutions. 'Young people are the key, there are great opportunities in the marine industry, and we want to open those opportunities up to as many people as possible – the more talent you have working on a problem, the better the solutions will be.' It might be named for the new world, but the America's Cup has very British origins. First offered by Queen Victoria in 1851, the inaugural America's Cup race was run around the Isle of Wight. After a boat from New York named America triumphed, the cup was renamed and teams from the US have dominated the winner's roll call of honour ever since. However, all that could be about to change if the Duchess of Cambridge and Sur Ben Ainslie get their way. With the 2017 event in their sights, the pair plan to put together and train a winning team and hope to have the cup back in Britain within three years.

The Duchess has become patron of the 1851 Trust, it has been announced . Trust aims to promote sailing and bring the America's Cup home to the UK . Kate joined Sir Ben Ainslie in June for the launch of UK's America's Cup bid . She has long been a fan of sailing and beat Prince William in Auckland race .

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New Yorkers have reacted furiously to Russell Brand's admission that he is 'open-minded' about whether the United States was behind the 9/11 attacks. The comedian, 39, said in a BBC Newsnight interview he believes there is an 'interesting' relationship between the families of former US president George Bush and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and asked: 'Do you trust the American government?' Brand was pressed by presenter Evan Davis on comments in his new book, Revolution, because in it he describes the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York as 'controlled'. New Yorker Ryan Nugent, 31, said: 'It's an insensitive thing to say. I had friends who were in the tower, luckily they were OK, but we only recently had our moment of silence. 'It was extremely tough and sad for people in this city. And it still is. 'He needs to talk about something that you can factually prove. There is no evidence to suggest this happened. It's weak from him and he is only trying to create buzz for his book.' Scroll down for video . Flamboyant: Russell Brand, pictured on Newsnight last night, caused controversy after he said he was 'open-minded' about whether the United States was involved in 9/11 . Outspoken: Brand accused the presenter Evan Davis of leading him 'down blind alleys about silly administrative quibbles' when taken to task over his new book . Local John Greco said: 'He is just trying to get publicity for his book. I don't really listen to what he has to say.' Brand's decision to give credence to a 9/11 conspiracy on Thursday night led to immediate outrage both online and from those who knew, or were related to, people killed in the terrorist attack. The multi-millionaire, who was married to Katy Perry, was branded a 'ranting idiot' who should 'stick to comedy'. New Yorker Kathryn Kolocuh, 22, said she 'felt sorry' for him and believed he was being paranoid. Another said: 'It's a silly, ridiculous thing to say. Just sounds like he is being incendiary to promote his book.' Responding to criticism that Brand was on Newsnight again, the BBC, who had nine complaints, said: 'Love him or loathe him Russell Brand has been one of the most eloquent voices articulating the anti-politics mood that all British politicians are currently struggling to engage with'. Rant: Brand also accused the BBC of pursuing subtly building 'an anti-Islamic narrative' while reporting the Ottawa terror attack this week . Conspiracy theorists have said that rather than being brought down by terrorists, the United States plotted to demolish them with explosives to help spark a war in Iraq. Charlie Sheen . Fellow hellraiser Charlie Sheen argues that hijackers could never have carried out the 9/11 attacks. He said: 'It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking over four commercial airliners and hitting 75 per cent of their targets, that feels like a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions.' David Icke . Icke believes that the world is being run by a race of child-sacrificing, shape-shifting, reptilian aliens — and thousands of people seem to believe him. He was forced to flee the spotlight 20 years ago — after he declared on a BBC chat show that he was the son of God. The TV star from the 1980s, and his followers that the Babylonian Brotherhood runs the world and the Queen and George W Bush are among the race of reptiles and this elite group organised terror attacks like 9/11 and the Oklahoma bombing. When asked about a 9/11 conspiracy Brand said: 'We have to remain open-minded to any kind of possibility. 'Do you trust the American government? Do you trust the British government? What I do think is very interesting is the relationship that the Bush family have had for a long time with the bin Laden family. 'What I do think is very interesting is the way that even the BBC report the events in Ottawa to subtly build an anti-Islamic narrative. I think that's very interesting.' He then appeared abruptly to change tack, saying that he did not want to discuss 'daft' conspiracy theories. Brand has courted controversy over 9/11 in the past and was sacked by MTV after turning up for work dressed as Osama bin Laden on the day after the attack that killed 3,000 people. In his autobiography he described being around colleagues on September 12 as: 'And there's me standing beside them, still dressed as Osama bin Laden. I thought: "It don't get any better than this." Twitter users were left furious by his Newsnight performance, many considering it insulting to the nearly 3,000 dead, which included 67 Britons. The devastating attacks on the Twin Towers 13 years ago changed the world. Questioning: The comedian was asked about 9/11 because his book refers to the terror attack being 'controlled' The BBC came under fire last night for giving Russell Brand a platform on Newsnight to say the US government may have been behind the 9/11 terror attacks. Bosses on the show devoted seven more minutes to Brand’s bizarre musings than to the coverage of the deadly spread of Ebola across Western Africa. The interview – which took up more than a third of the entire programme – lasted as long as a piece on a key report into the state of the NHS in England. Last night Tory MP Philip Davies condemned the BBC for giving Brand a platform. He said: ‘I’ve no idea what the BBC are up to. If they think that the general public want to see this kind of nonsense on a serious political news programme they need to get out more. ‘It is bewildering why they have given Russell Brand a platform to display such ignorant views. One might wonder what expertise he brings to this subject. The answer is none. The BBC have taken leave of their senses.’ A BBC spokesman said: ‘Love him or loathe him, Russell Brand has been one of the most eloquent voices articulating the anti-politics mood politicians are struggling to engage with.’ Brand will appear on the Jonathan Ross Show tonight to promote his book – six years after the pair faced a storm of criticism for calling actor Andrew Sachs so Brand could boast of having had sex with his granddaughter. More than 1,100 people have never been identified, and their remains have been placed in a tomb under New York's Memorial Museum. The al Qaeda plot also included the crashing of two more aircraft, one into the Pentagon, in Washington DC, and the other a field in Pennsylvania. In the tense interview Brand said the BBC 'shamefully sabotaged' the Scottish Referendum for the No campaign and Mr Davis he was 'mates with like CEOs and big businesses' and spent time 'cosying up' to London mayor Boris Johnson. When Mr Davis pressed him about his views he shouted over the presenter: 'Mate, I don't want to follow you down blind alleys about silly administrative quibbles.' At one point Mr Davis pleaded: 'I'm trying to take you seriously.' Davis then tried to show the actor a graph showing wage levels in Britain, but he responded: 'I don't want to look at a graph mate, I haven't got time to look at a bloody graph. 'It's a lovely graph mate, well done. This is the kind of thing that people like you use to confuse people like us.' After the show Twitter users started sending graphs to Brand to lampoon him over the outburst. He replied: 'Cheers for the graphs.The 5 richest families in UK have as much money as the poorest 12 million people. Do us one for that'. Track record: Russell Brand was on Newsnight in 2013 where urged people not to vote because it 'changes nothing' Tragedy: Almost 3,000 people were killed when terrorists crashed two hijacked planes into the Twin Towers 13 years ago . It was Brand's second appearance on Newsnight after a now notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman, where the comedian said he had never voted because he regarded politicians as untrustworthy and irrelevant. The multi-millionaire also said that 'profit is a dirty word', in response the the Prime Minister who said it wasn't. He has been a regular on the BBC despite his acrimonious departure in 2008. Brand and presenter Jonathan Ross left a series of obscene messages on Mr Sachs’s answerphone during Brand’s Radio 2 programme. The incident provoked 42,000 complaints after Brand boasted of sleeping with Mr Sachs’s granddaughter and joked that the 83-year-old former Fawlty Towers star might hang himself as a result of the phone calls. Brand later resigned while Ross was suspended. Brand later claimed many of the 42,000 people who complained to the BBC either had no real idea of what they were complaining about or were motivated by an anti-BBC agenda. He has starred in several high profile Hollywood movies, most notably Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, and commands a high acting fee. He is also famous in the UK for his work on television, radio and as a stand up comedian. His net worth is believed to be more than £15million, with rumours this doubled following his divorce from singer Katy Perry. Brand and Jonathan Ross left a series of obscene messages on Andrew Sachs’s answerphone during Brand’s Radio 2 show. He later claimed the 42,000 people who complained didn't know what they were complaining about .

Comedian was asked about 9/11 because he said it was 'controlled' in book . He told BBC Newsnight: 'We have to remain open-minded to any kind of possibility. Do you trust the American government?' New Yorkers voice outrage over his 'paranoid' and 'insensitive' comments . He added: 'I do think is very interesting is the relationship that the Bush family have had for a long time with the bin Laden family' Accused BBC of building 'anti-Islamic narrative' over Ottawa terror attack . Star was sacked by MTV after he dressed as bin Laden on day after 9/11 . Critics branded him a 'ranting idiot' and told him to 'stick to comedy' Viewers make complaints to BBC over his 9/11 conspiracy rant . Corporation defends his appearance and says: Love him or loathe him he voices anti politics mood’

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By . Charlie Eccleshare . Liverpool have appointed Alex Inglethorpe as the club's academy director, with overall responsibility for developing the club's young talent. He replaces Frank McParland, the long-serving coach, who was sacked in December 2013. Inglethorpe arrived from Tottenham in November 2012 and was in charge of the Under 21 side until the end of the 2013-14 season. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Liverpool season preview . Eye for talent:  Alex Inglethorpe has been tasked with developing and nurturing Liverpool's young players . The former Spurs coach has been charged with ensuring that the style of play of the academy sides mirrors the first team's, and he has been instructed to use similar technical and tactical coaching methods as those employed by manager Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool's chief executive officer, Ian Ayre, said: 'Liverpool's academy is known around the world for developing some of the best football talent over the last two decades. 'This new structure will help us build on the success we have achieved so far. 'Not only will we continue to produce outstanding players who uphold the club's values, we will ensure they have the best environment and work with best-in-class coaches and support staff.' Flair: Liverpool have become known for their attacking play, led by Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling . Master and apprentice: Inglethorpe will seek to emulate Rodgers style of play with the youth sides . The Reds will be hoping to return to the glory days of the mid-1990s, when the club produced the likes of Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Michael Owen. In recent years, Jon Flanagan has established himself in the first team, but others like Martin Kelly, who is set to sign for Crystal Palace, have had to leave to get regular football. As part of Liverpool's reshuffle, coach Michael Beale, who worked alongside Inglethorpe last season, will take charge of the U21 team for the 2014-15 campaign. Nick Marshall joins the club as head of academy football operations, having previously worked at Barnsley, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, while Andrew Powlesland joins as the new head of academy business. Glory days: Liverpool's academy has produced stars like Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard and Robbie Fowler . VIDEO Liverpool season preview .

Alex Inglethorpe joined Liverpool from Tottenham in 2012 as Under 21 coach . He replaces Frank McParland who was sacked last year . Inglethorpe told that the youth sides' style should mirror the first-team's . Liverpool will be hoping Inglethorpe can unearth the new Steven Gerrard .

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By . Katy Winter . PUBLISHED: . 06:21 EST, 24 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:10 EST, 24 February 2014 . 'If you don’t want to settle for anything less than perfect then the Secret Diamond Club is for you’, a sultry voiceover informs prospective customers in a video advertising a new controversial dating website. The Secret Diamond Club, which started in Demark and has spread across Europe and America has just launched here in the UK to a rather mixed response. While the club insists it is receiving growing levels of interest in Britain, opponents have branded the club – which pairs rich men with women rated purely on their looks- as an example of chauvinistic objectification. The Secret Diamond Club has spread across Europe and America has just launched here in the UK to a rather mixed response . Women who join up have to meet the strict looks criteria of a panel of twenty 'experts' and submit 3 photographs- including a full body shot- from which they are given a rating out of 100 . Started in 2010 in Denmark, the site was started by serial entrepreneur Gus Terkelsen, 33, whose aim was to introduce a new high-end dating concept. He believes the world’s richest men often don’t have the time to search for love, but nor do they want to lose control of the dating process and be match-made. And Gus has a rather controversial reason for his decision to launch in the UK, claiming rich British men can't find love as the women here are unattractive. He told MailOnline: 'Coming from a Scandinavian country we know Britain as a country of ugly women. ‘There are a lot of a wealthy men here but the women are not very attractive and it is difficult for the men to meet good looking women. Founder, Gus, left says British women are 'unattractive' so men with money can't find suitable dates here . Men are not submitted to any questions when they attempt to join the site, only to provide an email address and informed about pricing . ‘We already have over 30 millionaires members from Denmark and across Europe and we’re now signing up the UK’s most eligible and wealthy men. ‘These types of men may not have a lot of time on their hands, but they don’t want a control freak matchmaker telling them who and where to date. They want to feel free to make the perfect choice themselves.’ Costing up to $100,000 (£60,000) a year for men to join, the site already boasts a raft of millionaire businessmen, from ‘European tennis players to self-made millionaire internet entrepreneurs.’ Women can join the site for considerably less, however they do have to meet the strict looks criteria of a panel of twenty ‘experts’ and submit three photographs- including a full body shot. Male members can sort women how they wish, as well as filtering women so they only ever see women above a certain rating . Women pay up to £30 a year for one year’s membership to the site, depending on the rating they are given by the panel form 1-100 (100 being the best), which is calculated based on their photographs, but  adjusted according to their age and the other women at the club they join. Male members are able to buy memberships for multiple clubs, choosing from a single club ($10,000 or about £6,000 a year), a ‘region’ such as North America or Europe which gives access to all the clubs in that area ($50,000 or about £30,000 ) or global membership, which at a $100,000 (£60,000), gives a man free reign to look at and contact all the women signed up to any club in the world. Men can pay for various levels of membership, giving them access to the women in one to all of the clubs across the world . Women however can only sign up for one club. For example women living in France would sign up for the Secret Diamond Club France, and their rating is calculated in comparison to others signed up to that club. So in a club full of stunning women, your rating is likely to be lower. Women's rating also affects how much they pay for membership; the lower your rating, the more you pay. Any non-physical factors such as interests or level of education are not taken into account, and men can filter the women they view based on rating, with many opting not be visible to, or view themselves, any women who scored less than 90. Gus Terkelsen, 33, says that appearance is ultimately the most important thing to men . Gus says he was inspired to start the business because he saw a gap in the online dating market. ‘I noticed on another dating website that the men weren’t necessarily physically attractive and that those men who were standing in a suit were rated higher. ‘I concluded that women weren’t interested in looks and were instead interested in other factors- namely financial success. ‘Although other sites for millionaire men exist, they only charged £10 a month for membership so what I found is most of the men on there were not in fact rich and were often dubious or weirdos. I figured if a man really has a lot of money, he will be willing to pay.’ Unsurprisingly, this view of the world, where men are purely driven in their romantic endeavours by ascetic factors, and women’s affections motivated by money, has been challenged by many. ‘The site just mirrors society. It is a truth that men like good looking women, it is very very important to them,’ Gus says. ‘Ugly girls don’t like the site and poor guys don’t like it. They don’t want to admit that guys prefer beautiful women and women want rich successful men. ‘The ugly girls create this moral concept around the idea; attempt to moralise the website. But if you speak to any evolutionary psychologist they will tell you this is the way we evolved as a species. Gus admits a woman’s personality does come into play in romantic pairings, but only once a certain level of beauty had been satisfied. ‘It (appearance) is a very very important thing for men. Period. ‘It is a lower boundary, and then on top of this you need personality and compatibility. But looks are the first sorting mechanism, especially in internet dating.’ When asked if a man would ever date an ugly girl based on her good personality, Gus’s answer was resolute: ‘No. No I don’t think so.’

Secret Diamond Club has just launched in UK . Aims to pair millionaire men with beautiful women . Men pay up to £100,000 for full membership . Women are rated 1-100 based entirely on their physical appearance . The higher a girl's rating, the less she pays for membership . Founder says British men can't find dates because women here are 'ugly'

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By . Daniel Mills For Daily Mail Australia . The biological parents of baby Gammy say they never struck a deal with a Thai surrogacy agency to solve the issue of their 'problem' child by allowing his birth mother to care for him. Both Wendy and David Farnell have rejected the claim that they agreed to have Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, mother him because he had Down's syndrome and that they gave favourable treatment to Gammy's healthy twin sister, Pipah. In an exclusive interview to air on 60 Minutes tomorrow night David Farnell says he wanted both babies born before making a decision on Baby Gammy's future: 'We never said you (Ms Pattaramon) can have this baby, no matter what.' Scroll down for video . Wendy and David Farnell pictured with Gammy's healthy twin sister, Pipah, spoke to 60 minutes Sunday night . The couple revealed that Wendy Farnell sometimes dresses Gammy's twin sister Pipah in blue to 'remember the little boy' The couple spoke of their heartbreak at leaving Gammy behind in Thailand, despite admitting they had not sought help from authorities . An emotional David Farnell said he and wife Wendy had no choice but to leave baby Gammy back in Thailand . Mr Farnell also spoke of his past as a convicted child sex offender and said his sexual urges had '100 percent stopped' and his daughter would be safe . Critics of the couple are angry that they left Gammy behind with his surrogate mother because he had Down's syndrome . 'We said we want both babies to be born and we will think about this,' he said. Mr Farnell also denies Ms Chanbua's claims that they neglected Gammy and gave favourable treatment to Pipah. 'We bought milk for both babies, we bought nappies for both babies,' Mr Farnell says. Mr and Mrs Farnell have spoken to 60 Minutes about the surrogacy scandal engulfing them, and are expected to detail the events surrounding the birth of their twins via a surrogate mother in Thailand earlier this year. Both have come under intense media scrutiny since the scandal broke, and will reveal how they have been hiding inside their Western Australia home all week while reporters camped on their door step. David and Wendy Farnell did not shower or turn on the computer to ensure no one found out that they were hidden inside. They remained undetected on the two occasions child protection officers came to the Bunbury home to speak with the parents, news.com.au reports. The couple have been sought by the Western Australian Department of Child Protection, who wish to assess the Farnells suitability as parents since it was revealed that David Farnell, 56, is a convicted paedophile. The Farnells also refused to come to the door when the RSPCA took the family dog away, believing the couple had left their home and abandoned their pet. The couple say they fed their dog everyday before it was taken away on Tuesday. It is understood the Farnells have contacted the department this week. The Australian parents of baby Gammy left their home at midnight on Wednesday. On Thursday night, they filmed an interview with 60 minutes, pleading with Australians to 'hear their side of the story before passing judgment on them'. 60 Minutes will make a donation to the charity Hands Across The Water, but the couple were not paid for the interview. David and Wendy Farnell, the parents at the centre of the surrogacy scandal, will speak for the first time about the events surrounding the birth of their twins . The couple spoke to 60 Minutes in a revealing interview on Sunday evening, as they told 'their side of the story' Hands Across The Water have already raised more than $200,000 for Gammy's treatment and care. They will support Gammy until he has completed his education. David and Wendy Farnell, who are at the centre of the surrogacy scandal that has gripped the country, will speak to 60 Minutes this Sunday about the events surrounding the birth of their twins via a surrogate mother in Thailand earlier this year. A preview of episode shows Mr Farnell explaining, 'We wanted to bring him with us.' In the late 1990s, Farnell was convicted of 22 child sex offences, committed while he was in his 20s, including one against a girl who was just seven. The sentencing judge said the victims had been 'robbed of their childhood'. Farnell was sentenced to three years jail in 1997 for sexually molesting two girls in 'secretive meetings' in his shed or house, in 1982 and 1983, when the girls were aged seven and 10. It was not until the women were adults that they made complaints and court documents said the women had suffered 'depression' and 'difficulty forming relationships' as a result of the abuse. But the couple, who will be interviewed on 60 Minutes on Sunday, spoke through the television program to ask 'Australia to hear their side of the story before passing judgment on them.' Meanwhile Gammy's surrogate mother, Pattaramon Chanbua, declined to give an interview with the program, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. 'I don't want money from them,' she said. 'I don't need their help.' David Farnell, 56, was convicted of 22 counts of child sex offences in the late 1990s . The couple's interview will come just days after one of Mr Farnell's adult children – a son from his previous marriage – spoke out in defence of his father, saying that the family had not been able to tell their side of the story for legal reasons. Also on Thursday, the son of Farnell, a convicted paedophile, defended his father, telling the Sydney Morning Herald that it was 'heartbreaking' his father's dark past was being revisited. 'He's taken 10 years to get his life back on track and he did and he has done so well and this, this has been shattering,' the unnamed son was quoted as saying. Ms Pattaramon claims the Farnells, from Bunbury in Western Australia, did not want seven-month-old baby Gammy when they found out he had Down syndrome and took only his twin sister. The Farnells initially claimed their daughter, whom they admitted was the same age as Gammy and had been born through a Thai surrogate, did not have a twin brother. They later said they had known about the twin, but were told he only had a day to live and should say their goodbyes to the baby before they left the country, due to civil unrest. Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, says the Farnells did not want Gammy and told her to have an abortion, when they discovered he had Down syndrome . Chanbua smothered him with kisses while he was in hospital getting treatment for a lung infection . The couple also wanted to make it known that they have been cooperating with the Department of Child Protection since Wednesday morning and will continue to cooperate with them. They also wanted it to be known that they had been feeding their dog every day until the RSPCA took her away on Wednesday morning. Officers from the Department of Child Protection were seen visiting the Farnells' South Bunbury home on Wednesday. The Farnells wanted to make it known that they had been cooperating with the DoCP since that time . The couple also wanted it to be known that they had been feeding their dog every day until RSPCA rangers removed her on Wednesday .

David and Wendy Farnell say they never agreed for birth mother Pattaramon Chanbua mother to care for Gammy . They also reject claims that they treated twin Pipah more favourably . David and Wendy Farnell have been pictured with Pipah for first time . The parents will speak on 60 Minutes on Sunday . Gammy's parents were in their home all week whilst media waited outside . The couple remained hidden inside while RSPCA took away their dog . 'We wanted to bring him (Gammy) with us', said Mr Farnell .

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(CNN) -- Tiger Woods has split from the management company which has helped him become one of the world's wealthiest sportsmen since he joined it at the start of his professional golf career back in 1996. The former top-ranked player announced on Monday that he will be staying with his longtime agent Mark Steinberg, who has left IMG after his contract expired. "Staying with Mark Steinberg. Total confidence in him," Woods wrote on social networking website Twitter. "Excited about the next stage in my professional life. Fond memories of Mark McCormack." McCormack founded IMG, one of the world's leading sports management companies, but died in 2003. Sliding Tiger drops out of golf's top ten . Woods' endorsements have been handled by Steinberg since 1998, but the golfer's declining fortunes have reportedly led to his agent's departure from IMG. Woods has not won a tournament since the end of 2009, and the scandal about his marital infidelities that broke after that resulted in the loss of some lucrative sponsorship deals. The 35-year-old has dropped to 15th in the rankings, struggling this year with injuries, but he still earned $70 million in 2010 from his existing deals according to Golf Digest. Harmon expresses fears for Woods' career . Sports Business Journal and the New York Times both reported that Woods' reduced earnings meant that IMG could no longer afford Steinberg's salary. IMG has instead promoted Guy Kinnings and Robbie Henchman, its senior vice-presidents in Europe and Asia Pacific respectively, to be co-heads of its golf division. Woods is battling to be fit for this month's U.S. Open, a major tournament he has won three times, due to ongoing leg problems he suffered at the Masters in April. He had to pull out of last month's Players Championship after only nine holes when he aggravated his injuries -- his only on-course action since finishing fourth at Augusta. Meanwhile, Steve Stricker won his 10th PGA Tour title on Sunday as he finished a shot clear at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. The 44-year-old triumphed for the first time this season as he saved par from bunkers at 16 and 17 then bogeyed the last hole to head off fellow Americans Brandt Jobe and Matt Kuchar, who finished strongly with seven-under-par 65s. It was his first top-10 finish in 11 visits to the event at Muirfield, hosted by golf legend Jack Nicklaus, as he held his nerve despite a two-hour weather delay. Former world No. 1 Vijay Singh, who tied for 37th as he also closed with 65, may miss the June 16-19 U.S. Open at Congressional after the veteran Fijian failed to show at a qualifying event. The 48-year-old, a three-time major champion, has played the past 67 of golf's four main tournaments.

American golfer Tiger Woods decides to stay with his agent Mark Steinberg . Steinberg, former head of golf at IMG, does not renew contract at management company . Woods had been with IMG since he turned professional in 1996 . Former world No. 1 battling to be fit for this month's U.S. Open at Congressional .

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Picture this: a sprawling three-level apartment 17 storeys above the stunning cityscape, where you can gaze down on the hustle and bustle of the street below from the comfort of your rooftop infinity pool. Arguably Sydney's most luxurious apartment, the penthouse apartment of the Eliza - 141-143 Elizabeth Street in Sydney - has finally hit the market and is listed at a cool $15 million. Overlooking Hyde Park and occupying the 15th - 17th floors of the stunning and architecturally unique creation that is the Eliza building, the apartment boasts 3.8 metre high ceilings and even comes with a passenger lift for those who don't wish to take the stairs. Scroll down for video . The Eliza penthouse, which looks over Sydney's bustling CBD, is on the market for $15 million . There are four bedrooms and six bathrooms spread across the 499 square metre property, and also included in the skyhouse are a private lobby and huge open plan living areas, Property Observer reported. The top level of the penthouse is designed for entertaining, with a large terrace, an outdoor kitchen and an enormous infinity pool. The master bedroom boasts its own study area, as well as a walk-in-wardrobe and a dressing 'chamber'. The kitchen, with its limestone floors, marble benchtops and splashbacks has a 'fully-integrated' $50,000 fridge. For some that's more than the price of a brand new luxury vehicle or the deposit on a property. And apart from that the apartment is also home to a $350,000 marble staircase, a working fireplace and electronically-controlled curtains. All living and dining spaces - as well as at least one of the bathrooms - feature floor to ceiling glass giving way to breathtaking views of the city from many parts of the house. There are three car spaces available underneath the spacious property accessible via a private driveway. The Eliza was designed by architect Tony Owen before being built and developed by construction company Ceerose, founded by Edward Doueihi. It features sweeping views of the city, overlooks the iconic St Mary's Cathedral plus Sydney Harbour and beyond . The master bedroom boasts its own study area, as well as a walk-in-wardrobe and a dressing 'chamber' Floor-to-ceiling windows in almost every room give way to spectacular views, even from the bathtub . 'We wanted to create a building with an architectural point of difference that did justice to our landmark site in arguably Sydney’s most beautiful street,' Doueihi told Property Observer. Renowned real estate agent John McGrath also spoke to the website about the stunning property, which he said was an important addition to the area. 'It makes use of the world’s finest materials and finishes in a technologically brilliant way, and everything is over-specified, including double glazing and acoustic innovations to ensure whisper-quiet interiors,' he said. Huge kitchen and dining areas feature across the three-storey apartment . The four-bedroom, six-bathroom property is the last to be sold in the Eliza building . The building was designed by architect Tony Owen before being built and developed by construction company Ceerose . The Eliza looks over Sydney's Hyde Park, St Mary's Cathedral and towards the east of the city .

The Eliza penthouse is on the market for $15 million, and is the last in the building to sell . Overlooking Hyde Park in Sydney's CBD the sprawling apartment is spread over three storeys . It features four bedrooms, six bathrooms and floor to ceiling windows which give way to spectacular views . The rooftop has a private infinity pool and huge outdoor entertainment area and kitchen .