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48,766 | 89ae0a94bf086c5faadeeff41af990eac52c8a4e | (CNN) -- Federal officials have opened a civil rights investigation into a police narcotics raid on the home of a Maryland mayor in which police burst in without knocking and shot the mayor's two dogs to death. Mayor Cheye Calvo of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, and his mother-in-law were handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor during the July 29 raid, which police said was part of an investigation into a scheme in which drugs apparently were sent to unsuspecting people. Prince George's County police, who were in charge of the raid, issued a statement Friday clearing the couple of involvement and expressing "regret." The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland are investigating the incident, FBI spokesman Richard Wolf said Friday. Calvo had asked for the federal investigation. "We lost our family dogs," he said Thursday. "We did it at the hands of sheriff's deputies who burst through our front door, rifles blazing." Watch the mayor's description of the raid » . According to The Associated Press, two men, including a FedEx deliveryman, have been arrested in the case. Police said the scheme involved shipping drugs to unsuspecting people's homes and intercepting the packages. About $3.6 million in marijuana had been seized, police told the AP. In this instance, investigators told the AP, a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana was sent from Los Angeles, California, to Calvo's house in Berwyn Heights, a town of 3,000 residents 10 miles from Washington. The package was addressed to his Calvo's wife, Trinity Tomsic. In transit, a drug-sniffing dog in Arizona brought attention to the package, investigators told the AP. Police intercepted it when it arrived in Maryland, and it was delivered to the Calvo home by an undercover officer, according to the AP report. In a statement released Friday, Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High said he called Calvo on Thursday to tell him that in screening the case with the state's attorney's office, "it was concluded that Ms. Tomsic and the Calvo family were innocent victims of drug traffickers." "I called him to express my sorrow and regret for that and for the loss of the family's beloved dogs," High said in the statement. A thorough review of the raid is being conducted, which is standard procedure in such cases, the department said. The Prince George's County Police Department was in charge of the raid, and the sheriff's special operations team was assisting. Watch the sheriff defend the drug raid » . Calvo said he set the package aside after it arrived at his home and didn't open it. He said he was changing clothes and preparing to attend a community meeting when "the door flew open. I heard gunfire shoot off. There was a brief pause and more gunfire." He said he was brought downstairs at gunpoint while in his boxer shorts, handcuffed and forced to kneel on the floor along with his mother-in-law. Then, he said, "I noticed my two dead dogs lying in pools of their own blood." While he was being held, Calvo said, he told the police he is the town's mayor, but they didn't believe him. "They told a detective I was crazy," he said. Berwyn Heights has a police force, he said, but Prince George's County police did not notify the municipal authorities of their interest in his home or in the package. "It was that lack of communication that really led to what has really been the most traumatic experience of our lives," he said. Calvo added, "they've arrested the real criminals involved. We're pleased to have that and get our name back as well. But really, this doesn't excuse what they did." CNN's Kevin Bohn contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | NEW: Police chief expresses regret for raid .
Mayor's two dogs were shot and killed during raid .
Wife of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, mayor sent package containing marijuana .
Scheme designed to intercept packages sent to unsuspecting recipients, police say . |
25,367 | 47d90f3cb4708c0883df252e504c108c869d50e8 | By . Ellie Zolfagharifard . In space, the lack of gravity can stretch an astronaut’s spine causing them to grow in height by as much as 3 inches (7cm). In an effort to prevent this, scientists have developed skin-tight spacesuits that mimic the force of gravity on the human body. Using designs by MIT, scientists at King's College London are refining the tight-fitting ‘skinsuits’ for testing in space to help astronauts overcome back problems. The Skinsuit is a tailor-made overall with a bi-directional weave specially designed to counteract the lack of gravity by squeezing the body from the shoulders to the feet with a similar force to that felt on Earth . The Skinsuit is woven in two directions to counteract the lack of gravity by squeezing the body from the shoulders to the feet. Current prototypes are made of spandex although new materials are being examined. ‘Getting the suit to fit correctly was challenging,’ said Simon Evetts, Medical Projects and Technology Unit team lead at the European Astronaut Centre. Floating in space, astronauts’ bodies adapt to weightlessness in ways that are not always wanted. Bone and muscle waste away as they have less work to do without gravity (left). On the right, the force the suit is producing is being measured at the feet with a computer using force transducers in the soles of the footwear . Imagine that the vertebrae in the human back comes in the form a giant spring. Pushing down on the spring keeps it coiled tightly. When the force is released, the spring stretches out. In the same way, the spine elongates by up to three per cent while humans travel in space. There is less gravity pushing down on the vertebrae, so they can stretch out - up to 3inches (7cm). The process gradually reverses once astronaut's return to Earth. However, the process can cause backache and a fourfold increased chance of slipping a disc. ‘We needed to create a suit that is both tight-fitting but comfortable to wear, while creating the right amount of force in the right places.’ Floating in space, astronauts’ bodies adapt to weightlessness in ways that are not always wanted. Bone and muscle waste away as they have less work to do without gravity. As a result, astronauts suffer from backache during their missions. Back on Earth an astronaut has four times more chance of suffering a slipped disc than usual. The issues are likely to pose an even greater challenge on longer missions such as journeys to Mars. Esa astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be the first to wear the suit in space during his mission in 2015. The Skinsuit has potential for use on Earth as well as for astronauts. ‘If the technology is effective in space, it could help the elderly and many people with lower-back problems on Earth, said Mr Evetts. ‘Additionally, Skinsuit technology could improve the support garments currently used for conditions like cerebral palsy.’ Students from Kings College London, UK, wearing the 'Skinsuit' as subjects for a test of how well the suits perform . | Lack of gravity can cause astronauts to grow by around 7cm (3 inches)
The suit is designed to squeeze the body from the shoulders to the feet .
Current suit prototype is made from spandex and woven in two directions .
Andreas Mogensen will be first to wear suit in space during 2015 mission .
Skinsuit technology could also improve the support garments currently used for conditions like cerebral palsy . |
89,536 | fe390b49aec2c3a07bdcb31f7267c6036ee758f3 | A new book to be released by Dave Berg, longtime producer for 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,' is pulling no punches in revealing the most memorable hijinks and celebrity diva moments from the show's history. 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno', which began airing on NBC in 1992, hosted some of the hottest names of Hollywood and current events of the time. The number one late-night talk show for most of its run, Jay Leno's show was the source of numerous pieces of pop-culture history, including Hugh Grant's 1995 public apology for his arrest with a prostitute, Arnold Schwarzenegger's announcement in 2003 that he would be running for Governor of California, and the 2009 appearance of Barack Obama, the first late night talk show appearance by a U.S. President. Jay Leno (pictured left) with his wife Mavis (pictured right.) Leno is the subject of a new book 'Behind the Curtain: An Insider's View of Jay Leno's Tonight Show', which details the behind the scenes hijinks of guests of the show . Front cover of 'Behind the Curtain: An Insider's View of Jay Leno's Tonight Show', written by Dave Berg (pictured right), co-producer of the Tonight Show for 18 years . Berg's new book, 'Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show', hits shelves on Sunday. The book offers an exclusive look into the history of the show, including which guests were tough to interview or hard to deal with. For starters, the book confirms what most already know: That Christian Bale can be difficult to get along with. In 2002, Bale was scheduled to be a guest on the show, but clashed with Berg in a pre-show interview. 'I had asked him where he grew up (Wales), how big his family was (three . sisters), and what his first gig was (a Pac-Man cereal commercial). [He] didn’t seem to have even a basic understanding of how ‘The Tonight . Show’ worked,' Berg writes. 'I was glad he dropped out, thus averting an . awkward on-air exchange with Jay.' According to Berg, Christian Bale abruptly ended a pre-show interview before a Tonight Show appearance . Kobe Bryant never appeared on Leno's show again after Leno made a joke about Bryant's then-fresh sexual assault case . In addition to dealing with stars that couldn't handle an interview with Jay, Berg also recounts how things said on the show or behind the scenes caused some celebrities to boycott the show. According to Berg, Helen Hunt was particularly thin-skinned. After a producer critiqued her performance during an . appearance to promote the then-hit NBC sitcom 'Mad About You,”' she refused to return for 14 . years. Kobe Bryant also boycotted Leno, after Leno made a joke about his rape case. Bryant was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old in 2003. Not that show snubs were a one way street. The book claims that during the O.J. Simpson media spectacle, Leno snubbed Simpson's attorney Johnnie Cochran as a guest. Leno reportedly felt strongly that Simpson had committed the murders. Leno did allow prosecutors Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden to come on. Once on the show, some celebs did not perform quite as expected. The show staff learned in an interview with Jesse Jackson that he had immense stage fright. According to Berg, Jesse Jackson had serious stage fright before his appearance, unable to keep his balance without assistance backstage . Qunetin Tarantino reportedly had too much to drink at the 'Jay Bar' to calm his nerves, resulting in him slurring his words during his interview . 'I never would have guessed that this prominent civil rights activist . and one-time presidential candidate would be a nervous Nellie,' said . Berg, adding 'One time he was shaking so hard backstage, he had to hold onto me . for support..' To help with the pre-show jitters, Leno had 'The Jay Bar' installed, complete with enough beer and wine to loosen up guests. However, some guests like Quentin Tarantino in 2003 took too much advantage of the booze, in Tarantino's case causing him to slur his words on-air. The demands of oft-pampered Hollywood divas frequently annoyed Berg and other producers of the show. Berg claims that when Eddie Murphy showed up for an appearance, he came with an extensive rider to cover the 45 minutes he would be spending at the studio. Included on the rider was '4 Snapple Fruit Punch, 4 Snapple Orangeade, 4 Snapple Grapeade, 4 Dr. Browne’s Cream Soda, 4 Dr. Browne’s Root Beer, Coke in glass bottles, . bananas, cherries, Evian bottled water, Juicy Fruit Gum, Snickers, Milky . Ways, peppermints, York Peppermint Patties, writing pads/pencils/pens, . regular-sized towels, washcloths/small.' For an appearance, Jessica Simpson demanded that the show cover the bill for her hair and makeup, which she said would be approximately $18,000. Leno refused. Video Source NBC . Eddie Murphy (pictured left) demanded a hefty amount of soft drinks and candy from the Tonight Show for his appearance, while the staff did not give into Jessica Simpson's (pictured right) demands for the show to cover her hair and makeup costs . That's not to say that Leno did not sometimes open up the show's wallet for guests. The show paid $35,000 in 2008 to charter a plane for Sarah Palin and her family to fly in from Anchorage, Alaska. To woo an appearance from President Bill Clinton, Berg on behalf of the show sent him a custom-made tandem bicycle as a get-well present after his heart surgery in 2004, which cost $12,000. Clinton sent the bike back, as Hilary Clinton was a senator in New York at the time (and thus could not legally accept the gift.) Another bike was commissioned, which Clinton accepted. However, he still did not come on the show, his aides telling Berg that he 'simply didn’t like Jay’s never-ending Monica Lewinsky jokes.' Barack Obama's 2009 appearance on the Tonight Show marked the first time an active U.S. President had ever been a guest on a late-night TV talk show . Despite being gifted a custom-made bike, President Clinton never made an appearance on the Tonight Show, as he did not like Leno's Lewinsky jokes . According to a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, President Clinton was the target of the most amount of jokes told by Jay Leno during his tenure with the Tonight Show, with 4,607 jokes at his expense. Leno also told 454 jokes with Monica Lewinsky as the subject. Other divas grappled with by the Tonight Show included Paula Abdul, who Berg could never be sure would be 'coherent' in interviews, and Dennis Rodman, who was typically late to each of his 28 appearances on the show. Paula Abdul, whom Berg says the Tonight Show would bring on knowing that there existed a possibility of a 'train wreck' Dennis Rodman, who was habitually late to tapings of the Tonight Show. The producers resorted to chartering a plane for Rodman so he would show up on time . | The book 'Behind the Curtain: An Insider’s View of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show' by Dave Berg discusses the celebrity antics that took place during the show's run .
Berg calls out Christian Bale in the book for being disagreeable in a pre-show interview .
Celebrities that boycotted appearing on the show include Kobe Bryant, Helen Hunt, and Bill Clinton .
Berg's book goes on sale on Sunday . |
24,057 | 444884c42c9a83ebcd7f9098c41846127da3cae9 | Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN) -- North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un spoke before hundreds of troops and others in Pyongyang on Sunday as part of a massive, orchestrated celebration marking 100 years since the birth of the nation's founder, his grandfather. Kim's address was his first televised speech since assuming the country's leadership. The remarks, which touched on a number of issues including the significance of North Korea's military, regularly stirred applause from the crowd. "Our military has become a powerful military capable of handling any kind of modern warfare, with complete offensive and defensive tactics," Kim said. "The foreign powers are not the only ones with military supremacy anymore. And the days of their threatening and lying to us with atomic weapons is forever gone." Kim also vowed never to let the country starve. "Our fellow citizens, who are the best citizens in the world, who have overcome countless struggles and hardships, it is our party's firmest resolve not to let our citizens go hungry again," he said. Much of Kim's roughly 20-minute talk focused on the importance of the revolution spearheaded by his grandfather, saying that it was the North Korean government's responsibility to work to realize the movement's aspirations and live up to its values. Deemed the Eternal President, Kim's grandfather -- Kim Il Sung -- was born on August 15, 1912. Some 33 years later, following North Korea's liberation from Japan, he pledged in Pyongyang to build a nation on wealth, strength and knowledge. The grandson, Kim Jong Un, is now North Korea's "supreme commander" -- a title he has recently assumed, following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. Elaborate and extensive 100th anniversary celebrations of Kim Il Sung's birth have been in the works for years. One of those milestones was the Friday launch of a long-range rocket -- a move deplored by the United States and many others in the international community, even after it prematurely broke apart and failed to escape the Earth's atmosphere. On Sunday, state TV showed video of large blocks of North Korean troops as they marched in tight formation. Music was interspersed at times by coordinated chants, while military officials could be seen saluting from vehicles that drove past tanks lined up in the square. | Kim Jong Un touts the importance of the revolution begun by his grandfather .
He stresses the military's significance and vows citizens won't starve again .
He spoke during a celebration in Pyongyang marking Kim Il Sung's birth 100 years earlier . |
79,038 | e005b6399a973ece9c876883f30e33ca708c0125 | (CNN) -- The uncle of a Utah motorcyclist pulled from underneath a burning car by a group of bystanders told his nephew's rescuers they are "heroes to our family." Tyler Riggs spoke to CNN's Piers Morgan one day after a group of construction workers, students and other bystanders turned into a ragtag team of first responders to save Brandon Wright, 21. The accident happened Monday on a street near Utah State University in Logan and was captured on video. "I thank you on behalf of my family, and I know that my nephew Brandon will hope to thank you at some point, too. I know that you might be shy and want to dislodge the title, but you are heroes to our family," Riggs said, adding that his nephew is in good spirits. "He was talking to us earlier and going through physical therapy and felt good after that. Things could have been much worse." Sgt. Jason Olsen of the Logan police was the first officer on the scene. He was about to motion to a fellow responding officer to grab a jack when, "I realized that these citizens had already organized and were just going to manually lift (the car) up." The crash occurred when a BMW pulled out of a parking lot and in front of the motorcyclist. Jeff Curtis, assistant chief of Logan police, said the motorcyclist tried to avoid the car, which resulted in him laying the motorcycle down. After crashing, gas spilled out of the motorcycle and ignited, engulfing both the motorcycle and the front end of the car in flames, Curtis said. The motorcyclist became lodged underneath the burning vehicle. The video, shot by Chris Garff, shows several startled bystanders looking under the BMW as flames leap into the air. The crowd quickly grows to include a man in a suit, construction workers wearing hard hats, a woman in sandals and a young man carrying a backpack, the video shows. After one person in the group tries to pick up the blazing car, the crowd joins in and lifts the 4,000-pound vehicle. "I do remember one gentleman saying, 'We need everybody to come and help lift,' and that's when everybody ran over," Olsen recalled. One of the bystanders drags the fallen motorcyclist from under the vehicle, the video shows. Wright was rushed to a hospital and was in stable condition after surgery Monday evening, Curtis said. The driver of the car was not seriously injured. The man Curtis believes to be the driver appears in the video dressed in a dark suit. He stood a little off to the side from the group and did not help lift the car, the video shows. After Wright is pulled from underneath the vehicle, the man in the suit walks over to look at the motorcyclist. "He was in a shock," Curtis said about the driver, adding that any possible charges related to the traffic accident are pending. "It was frightening," said Garff, who shot the scene from the ninth floor of a nearby building. "You don't really see something like that and then when you do, it's inspiring. It gives us hope," he told HLN's "Prime News." Police are looking for the good Samaritans to recognize them at a city council meeting for their actions. Most have already been identified, Curtis said. Three of them, all Utah State University students, spoke to CNN Tuesday. Anvar Suyundikov said he tried not to think of the danger as he jumped in to help. "At first, when I saw it was a fire, I didn't think about myself," said Suyundikov "I thought about this poor guy underneath the car, and I thought the car was going to explode." Another student, James Odei said, "All that came to my mind was if it was my son or my kid brother or anybody that is known to me, the first thing I would have done was to help that person. So all I did was quickly rush and give a helping hand." Abbass al-Sharif said he did not think he or the others who helped were heroes. "We are just human beings trying to help another human being. It is like our human instinct," he said. But police believe the bystanders are heroes. "Each of those people put their lives in danger as they do what they can to rescue Brandon," Curtis told "Prime News." The area where Wright crashed is highly trafficked, Olsen said. "I think had this accident happened in a suburban area we wouldn't have gotten that kind of response -- we would have never had that kind of manpower," he said. Olsen added: "It speaks volumes to what people will do in a tragic situation to help another person out." CNN's Anna Rhett Miller and Brooke Baldwin contributed to this report. Watch Prime News weekdays at 5pm ET on HLN. For the latest from Prime News click here. | "We are just human beings trying to help, another human being," bystander said .
Tyler Riggs said his nephew is in good spirits .
Bystanders rescued Brandon Wright, who was trapped under a burning car .
The group is credited with saving his life . |
238,651 | c0ea0e05fb90f362fc53ff9c08b0bfcc21b698fa | By . Daniel Miller . PUBLISHED: . 12:26 EST, 16 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 14:06 EST, 16 October 2012 . A disabled grandmother was killed in a freak accident when she got her head trapped in her stair lift an inquest has heard. Shirley Perkins, 55, toppled backwards down the stairs and got her head wedged between the metal rung of the electric seat and the wall. Her lifeless body was discovered by her daughter Claire who arrived at the home in Berryhill, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs., to collect her mother for a shopping trip on June 27. Freak accident: Shirley Perkins, 55, died after toppling backwards down the stairs and getting her head wedged between her stairlfit and the wall (file picture) An inquest heard the former pottery worker had a stair lift fitted after she suffered breathing difficulties but occasionally had the strength to walk up them unaided. On the night of her death the grandmother-of-one, who was said to have a history of alcohol abuse, had got drunk on wine before going to bed. But as she stumbled up the one flight of stairs she tripped and fell backwards with her head jammed between the wall. Shirley’s daughter, Claire told North Staffordshire Coroners Court: 'Her health was neither good nor bad, but she was well enough to look after my son. 'She had fallen down the stairs about five years ago and we still don’t know how that happened, but she was in a coma for four months. 'After the fall, she wasn’t very good. It was more her breathing than anything else but she could still do her shopping. North Staffordshire Coroners Court heard how the 55-year-old grandmother had got drunk on the night of her death although her daughter denied she was an alcoholic . 'She used to tell me if she used her stair lift she would lose the use of her legs, so she didn’t go on it very often. 'Mum wasn’t an alcoholic but she did have three or four bottles of wine a week. 'I would go round in the day and thought she had had a drink, but when I asked her she said she hadn’t. 'With her falling down the stairs, I assumed she had been drinking, but there was not a lot of drink in the house at the time when she died.' A post-mortem found Shirley’s blood-alcohol content was 360ml per decilitre - four-and-a-half times the drink drive limit. PC Alan Rossi, of Staffordshire Police, was the first officer to attend the scene after he daughter dialled 999. He told the hearing: 'There was a stair lift and the lady was positioned between the back of it and the wall, with her neck resting on the seat. 'She was wedged in and I think anyone would struggle to get out of that position. 'There was nothing on the stairs and there was nothing out of place, it just seemed as if she had fallen. 'There was an unopened bottle of wine in the living room but there were no glasses.' North Staffordshire Coroner Ian Smith confirmed that Shirley died from asphyxia as a result of the fall and acute alcohol intoxication. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Mr Smith told the hearing on Monday: 'The deceased had a history of alcohol abuse and was last seen alive around 6.30pm on June 26. 'It is very difficult to say when she died but I think everyone excepts it was a fall. 'She would have been very intoxicated and my verdict is one of accidental death. 'It was an accident in terms of a fall or a trip but I have no doubt alcohol has played some part in what happened to her.' | Shirley Perkins, 55, fell and got her head wedged between the seat and the wall .
Her lifeless body was discovered by her daughter the following day . |
252,757 | d31836e10daa43234c3e49e0d861fee197b9f457 | Not appy: Traffic app Waze warns drivers when police are nearby . Google is being put under pressure to turn off a police-tracking function in its traffic app Waze, following fears it might put officers' lives at risk. Waze is a GPS navigation app that also warns drivers about congestion, car accidents, speed cameras, and when the police is nearby . Waze, which Google purchased for $966 million in 2013, has 50million users in 200 countries, a number which is growing. However, several police officers say the app is being used to stalk and plan attacks on law enforcement. There are no known connections between any attack on police and Waze, but senior officers have said it's only a matter of time and are seeking support among law enforcement trade groups to pressure Google. Sheriff Mike Brown of Bedford County, Virginia, said the police-reporting feature presents a danger to officers. 'The police community needs to coordinate an effort to have Google act like the responsible corporate citizen they have always been and remove this feature from the application even before any litigation or statutory action,' Sheriff Brown told the National Sheriffs Association (NSA). Sheriff Brown, chairman of the NSA technology committee, and Sergio Kopelev, a reserve deputy sheriff in California, raised concerns during the meeting of the NSA's winter conference in Washington. They pointed to the Instagram account of the man accused of fatally shooting two New York Police Department officers last month. Ismaaiyl Brinsley posted a screenshot from Waze along with messages threatening police. Investigators do not believe he used Waze to ambush the officers, in part because police say Brinsley tossed his cellphone far from where he shot the officers. The executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, Jim Pasco, said his organization has concerns. The emerging policy debate places Google again at the center of a global debate about public safety, consumer rights and privacy. Scroll down for video . Handy: Waze offers real-time traffic guidance and warnings about nearby congestion, car accidents, speed traps or traffic cameras, construction zones, stalled vehicles or unsafe weather conditions . Waze users mark police presence on maps without much distinction other than 'visible' or 'hidden' Waze users mark police presence on maps without much distinction other than 'visible' or 'hidden.' Users see a police icon, but it's not immediately clear whether police are there for a speed trap, a sobriety check or a lunch break. A Waze spokeswoman, Julie Mossler, said the company works with the New York Police Department and others around the world. 'These relationships keep citizens safe, promote faster emergency response and help alleviate traffic congestion,' Mossler said. Google has declined to comment. Google has a complicated relationship with government and law enforcement. The company is regularly compelled to turn over to police worldwide copies of emails or other information about its customers. Last year, after disclosures that the National Security Agency had illicitly broken into Google's overseas Internet communication lines, Google and other technology companies rolled out encryption for users, which the U.S. government said could hamper law enforcement investigations. Nuala O'Connor, head of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington civil liberties group, said it would not be appropriate for Google to disable the police-reporting feature. 'I do not think it is legitimate to ask a person-to-person communication to cease simply because it reports on publicly visible law enforcement,' she said. She said a bigger concern among privacy advocates is how much information about customers Waze shares with law enforcement, since the service monitors their location continually as long as it's turned on. | Waze helps drivers avoid congestion, accidents and traffic cameras .
App, owned by Google, also warns drivers when police are nearby .
Sheriffs Association says police tracking function puts lives at risk . |
84,563 | efe85ea7f9215e3c488044efb85ca0102be9c088 | (CNN) -- Nearly 35 years after a Texas judge sentenced him to death, Ronald Chambers was found dead Monday morning on the floor of his cell. Guards found Chambers, 55, unresponsive around 6:30 a.m. while doing their rounds, Dallas County Sheriff Spokeswoman Kim Leach said. He was then transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, where he was pronounced dead. The Dallas County medical examiner's office said it would take six to 12 weeks before Chambers' cause of death could be definitively determined. But Leach said Chambers had many health complications when he came last year to the Dallas County jail. Chambers was 19 when he and Clarence Ray Williams kidnapped Mike McMahon and his date from the parking lot of a Dallas nightclub, then ordered them down the embankment of the Trinity River, according to the Texas Attorney General's Office. The two men robbed the couple and, after shooting at them, left them for dead. The female survivor, Deia Sutton, testified that she and her boyfriend survived the first attack, but Chambers went back and killed McMahan by repeatedly hitting him over the head with the barrel of a shotgun. On December 18, 1975, a jury found Chambers guilty of capital murder and a judge subsequently put him on the state's death row. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals twice set aside his conviction -- once because he wasn't read his Miranda rights after being interviewed by a state psychiatrist -- but both times he was retried and convicted again. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court again granted Chambers a stay of execution, amid questions about the instructions given to the jury, the Dallas Observer reported. The case was sent back to Texas and a fourth sentencing trial was set for spring 2011, according to published reports. While numerous reports called Chambers the "Dean of Death Row," because of the various legal maneuverings he didn't have a death sentence the entire time he was behind bars, including at the time of his death. Excell White, who killed four people in 1974 and wasn't executed until 1999, spent more time -- 8,854 days -- on death row before being put to death than any other Texas convict. Texas, which has executed more prisoners since 1976 than any other state, pays $86.08 to execute a death row inmate, or the cost of drugs used in a lethal injection, the state's Division of Criminal Justice reports. That compares to the $17,338, on average, that it costs to jail a Texas inmate for 12 months, according to 2009 data from the National Institute of Corrections, which is below the national yearly average of $28,689. | Ronald Chambers was found on the floor of his cell and later pronounced dead .
He was convicted of capital murder in 1975, then sentenced to Texas' death row .
Chambers' conviction was twice set aside, but he was later convicted again . |
149,063 | 4cbd5e2d4f7f5c4b7e122317259f582c5d7984cf | Move escalates row over independence of Scottish law . By . Daily Mail Reporter . Last updated at 9:50 AM on 20th June 2011 . Convicted child killer: Luke Mitchell is taking his fight to the Supreme Court . A convicted Scottish child killer - who slit his girlfriend's throat repeatedly with a knife - could soon be released by England's Supreme Court. Luke Mitchell is trying to get his 2005 conviction for killing his girlfriend Jodi Jones, 14, overturned. He claims his trial was unfair as he was denied access to a lawyer during police interview and says evidence taken from that interview was 'crucial' to the Crown's case against him. In April, the Appeal Court in Edinburgh ruled his life sentence should stand, and refused to refer his case to the Supreme Court in London. And so his legal team is taking their fight directly to the English capital - in a move which has escalated the row between the Scottish government and Westminster over the independence of Scots law. Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has accused the Supreme Court of undermining his country's law. It could see Mitchell freed - because English judges have previously ruled the Scottish system of letting suspects be held and questioned for six hours without access to a lawyer breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. Mitchell, 22, was handed a life sentence in 2005 after he was found guilty of murdering Jodi Jones, 14, in Dalkeith, Midlothian, in 2003. He has always maintained his innocence and said his trial was unfair because, under the Scottish legal system, he was not allowed to have a lawyer for six hours. The system has since been declared a breach of human rights under the Cadder ruling. Judges in London upheld an appeal by teenager Peter Cadder, whose assault conviction was based on evidence gained before he spoke to his lawyer. His lawyers argued this was a breach of his human rights. In 2009, he was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court of two assaults and a breach of the peace following an incident in the city in May 2007. Murdered: Jodi Jones (pictured) had her throat repeatedly slit by Luke Mitchell . Even though the High Court is the highest court of criminal appeal in Scotland, it was overruled by the Supreme Court on a constitutional issue. This was because the need to consider European human rights legislation was written into the Scotland Act - the piece of Westminster legislation which established devolution. In light of the Cadder ruling, 867 cases were abandoned, including 60 serious cases, nine of which were High Court cases. Contrary to the landmark Cadder Supreme Court decision, the Appeal Court in Edinburgh ruled in April that Mitchell's conviction should stand. Lord Justice General, Lord Hamilton and two other judges dismissed Mitchell's claim that his human rights had been breached. Undermined: Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has accused the Supreme Court of undermining Scots law . And so Mitchell’s legal team is going directly to the Supreme Court in London, which Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond has accused of undermining Scots law, to plead 'exceptional circumstances'. Nicholas Scullion, head of a Scottish law firm, told the Sunday Express: 'The Supreme Court probably will call this in and if so, they have to release him. 'Alex Salmond knows it’s not going to be popular, so it could not have gone better for him... English judges freeing a Scottish child murderer.' English barrister Jodie Blackstock, who acted for Peter Cadder when he won his landmark ruling, said Mitchell’s case was very similar. In June 2003, Mitchell murdered Jodi in woods near Roan's Dyke path, between their homes in the Newbattle and Easthouses area of Dalkeith, Midlothian. Victim: Jodi Jones (pictured) was just 14-years-old when she was killed by her boyfriend Luke Mitchell . Her throat was slit by between 12 and 20 blows with a knife, and extensive mutilation of the face and body was inflicted after death. Jodi had failed to return home after going to meet Mitchell. He claimed she had not arrived, and he spent the evening with friends. He said he later learned from Jodi's family that she was missing and joined in a search. He claimed he was alerted by his dog jumping up at Roan's Dyke, and went over the wall to find Jodi's body. But other people who were there said he had gone straight to a break in the wall and made the discovery. The prosecution at his trial asserted that, as the killer, he had known the body was there and had pretended to find it by accident. Mitchell was found guilty by a jury and given a life sentence. Decision: Luke Mitchell is taking his fight to the Supreme Court in London . | Move escalates row over independence of Scottish law . |
225,400 | afe0b0d6c2a1c1586f519758f81f2ced3b7782bb | (CNN) -- Viviette Applewhite, a 93-year-old African-American woman from Philadelphia, suddenly cannot vote. Although she once marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for the right to do so, and has dutifully cast a ballot for five decades, in this election year she may be denied this basic right. Under Pennsylvania's new voter ID law, Applewhite is no longer considered eligible. The Pennsylvania law requires that citizens present a state-issued photo ID card before voting, which, in Applewhite's case, required that she first produce a birth certificate. After much trying, and with the help of a pro bono attorney, she was finally able to obtain her birth certificate -- but on it, she is identified by her birth name Brooks, while her other forms of identification have her as Applewhite, the name she took after adoption. Because her 1950s adoption papers are lost in an office in Mississippi, and the state is unable to track them down, Applewhite still can't get a Pennsylvania photo ID. She is therefore barred from voting in the November elections. Such stringent obstacles, particularly for African-Americans, were not so long ago the accepted rule. Despite the 15th and 19th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which extended the vote to black men and all women, respectively, election officials used poll taxes, literacy tests and other methods to deny this legal right. Then came the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson 47 years ago Monday, the Voting Rights Act empowered the federal government to oversee elections in states with racially discriminatory voting practices, and outlawed the use of literacy tests for all American voters. The landmark legislation not only broadened the franchise to African-Americans, it opened access to poor whites and others who had also been denied their right to participate in the electoral process. These major social changes were hard-fought. Without protests by citizens who willingly confronted hatred and intimidation from furious mobs, as well as assault from billy clubs and fire hoses, it's doubtful that the Voting Rights Act would have ever passed. Yet as we commemorate the anniversary, we must also remember that the fight to protect our vote continues. Across the country, efforts to suppress the turnout and registration of minority voters wage on, making that fight as urgent today as it was in the era of literacy tests and poll taxes. Driven by nearly all Republican legislatures (Rhode Island, which has a Democratic-controlled legislature, is the lone exception), last year 34 states introduced voter ID laws with similar requirements, creating barriers for the 11% of voting-age Americans who lack state-issued photo IDs. These laws disproportionately affect minorities, the poor, senior citizens and the young. Of the more than 21 million Americans without the newly required photo identification, 25% are African-American, 15% earn less than $35,000 a year, 18% are 65 or older, and 20% are 18 to 29. Not so coincidentally, these groups turned out in huge numbers, largely voting Democratic, in 2008. Voter ID laws, however, are just one arm of a systemic attempt to curb the participation of certain voters. In some of these same states, including Alabama, Kansas, Tennessee and Florida, legislatures have also passed laws that demand proof of citizenship to register to vote (a tough deal if you don't happen to walk around with a birth certificate, passport or naturalization records in your pocket) or that reduce early voting. This includes the elimination of the Sunday before Election Day when many black churches hold successful "Take Your Souls to the Polls" campaigns encouraging their congregants to vote. Still more brazen tactics, as seen in campaigns mounted in Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, would summarily purge thousands of registered voters, whom state officials suspect might not be citizens, from the voter rolls. These measures were supposedly enacted to prevent voter fraud, but any serious examination of voter fraud reveals that there is almost none. A five-year investigation by the Bush Justice Department concluded that incidents of voter fraud are exceedingly rare, and Pennsylvania officials have admitted that there is no in-person voter fraud in the state, not a single case that has ever been found or documented. Rooting out such a small number of prospective fraudulent voters simply does not call for the extreme measures that shut out millions of legitimate ones. At best, these laws are scaring off a few tree bugs by burning down a 10th of the forest. The real purpose behind these restrictive voting laws is not to prevent voter fraud, but to prevent voting in the interest of partisan gain. Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai even said as much in June, when he boasted to his Republican colleagues that the state's voter ID law "is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania." No matter which side of the aisle you're on, we can all agree that denying anyone's vote to skew the electorate undermines our shared American values of fairness and equality. Just like poll taxes and literacy tests before them, these laws are also keeping targeted groups of people from having a voice in their government. But what we can learn from these similar struggles is that social progress, such as the passage of the Voting Rights Acts, did not just happen naturally, an inevitable result of the passing years. It happened because citizens, activists, lawbreakers and lawmakers acted to change their society. But that action -- or even the mere recognition that blocking equal access to voting is a civil rights emergency -- is lacking now. It's wrong to believe that these struggles ended and are reserved now for history lessons and textbooks. Tomorrow's history is being written today, and we can all help shape the narrative. In a country whose fundamental values are equality and freedom, we must always examine times when our freedoms are being violated. That means realizing that voter ID laws such as the one blocking the vote of Viviette Applewhite are not minor bumps on the road. Rather, they hit at the most central element of American democracy. As we reflect on the strides made 47 years ago, we remind our fellow citizens that each victory is taken, not given. And as we confront the modern-day era of voter suppression, it's time that we all start protecting the free, fair and accessible vote that defines the greatness of our nation. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Penda Hair and Judith Browne Dianis. | Writers: Forty-seven years after Voting Rights Act, some Americans newly denied vote .
They say 34 states have sought voter ID laws, creating barriers to 11% of Americans .
They say voting fraud nearly nonexistent; laws are partisan effort to shut out old, poor, black .
Writers: We must protect free, fair, accessible vote that defines greatness of our nation . |
184,576 | 7b12ce04f9ff7cc6262fe2ee902c8a2a847857eb | By . Victoria Woollaston . PUBLISHED: . 11:47 EST, 7 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:47 EST, 7 June 2013 . Hundreds of birds take a break during a 1000-mile flight by perching on telephone wires and enjoying the morning sunshine, in photos just released by a French nature photographer. The photos, taken last October, show barn swallows flying over a cemetery in France before settling and taking in the view high above a French cemetery. These agile birds perched on the wires and stayed there for 30 minutes before heading off as a flock towards Nigeria in Africa. Barn swallows are shown taking a rest from their migration to Africa last October by relaxing on telephone wires in Poitou in western France. The photos have just been released by French nature photographer Cyril Ruoso from Burgundy . Photographer Ruoso travelled to Poitou last October specifically to capture the barn swallows in flight. He set up his camera on top of a seven-metre high tripod to capture the images . The swallows were taking a rest from their migration to in Africa last October by relaxing in Poitou in West France. Nature photographer Cyril Ruoso, from Lailly in Burgundy, France, travelled to Poitou to capture this moment and had to be careful not to touch the wire. The 42-year-old said: 'Swallows are gregarious birds, they like to be in pack, especially before they leave for migration. Four out of the six breeds of barn swallows are classed as 'strongly migratory'. They can travel from all over Europe and migrate to Africa, Argentina and northern Australia. Some breeds have been recorded covering up to 11,660 kilometres on their annual migration. Barn . swallows have been known to travel in flock numbers of a hundred up to a . thousand as they migrate to Africa, Argentina, Australia and other . countries in the Southern Hemisphere. There are believed to be around 190 billion barn swallows worldwide . 'The young birds are the first to gather. 'Wires are a good option as they are safe against terrestrial predators and they can still communicate between themselves. 'They fly around and are looking for a good location to relax and catch the sun in the morning. 'There are several hundreds of birds on the wire, but when they reach the roosting place in Africa, there could well be several million.' Barn swallows can live in Europe, Asia, Africa and America and the moment reminded Mr Ruoso of his childhood. He said: 'It reminds me when I was kid in the French countryside, and I used to watch these birds on my way to school. 'They stayed on their wires for half an hour, enough time for them to enjoy the sunshine. 'But it's sad that every year before they migrate there are less and less swallows on the wires. Ruoso said this particular breed of barn swallow were heading to Nigeria as part of their annual migration. These birds would have undertaken a journey of around 1,000 miles but other barn swallows have been known to fly over 11,000 miles during migration season . 'And in order to capture this moment I have to plan it - you can't do it with regular equipment. 'You . need to need the exact location where the birds might come, and then . you must set up your camera on the top of a seven-metre high tripod. 'I had to be careful not to touch the wire with the equipment because of the high voltage!' Barn swallows have been known to travel in flock numbers of a hundred up to a thousand as they migrate to Africa, Argentina, Australia and other countries in the Southern Hemisphere. There are believed to be around 190 billion barn swallows worldwide . Ruoso said the birds perched on the four telephone wires in Poitou for around 30 minutes during their migration flight last October before heading off as a flock towards Nigeria. | Photos just released show a flock of barn swallows flying over a cemetery in France during their migration to Africa last October .
The birds are shown taking a break on top of telephone wires in the western French town of Poitou .
Barn swallows from Europe can travel up to 11,000 miles during their migration flights . |
187,649 | 7f0072c50082d78490b66dd1cd8069d319e59aeb | By . Reuters Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 23:30 EST, 10 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:22 EST, 11 April 2013 . Jeri Wright, pictured in 2007, has been indicted on several money laundering charges, as well as lying to police . The daughter of President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor was indicted on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and lying to federal authorities, a Justice Department spokeswoman said. Jeri L. Wright, 47, the daughter of Jeremiah Wright, was accused of participating in a fraud scheme led by a former suburban police chief and the chief's husband that involved a $1.25 million state grant, according to the Attorney's office for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. Wright, of the Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of making false statements to federal officers, and seven counts of giving false testimony to a grand jury. The state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald W. Evans, Jr. According to the indictment, Wright, a close friend of the couple, received three checks in 2009 worth about $28,000 that were supposed to be for work related to the grant. The state grant was for a not-for-profit work and education program called We Are Our Brother's Keeper, owned by Regina Evans, center, former police chief of Country Club Hills, and her husband, Ronald W. Evans, Jr. (file photo) About $20,000 of that was allegedly deposited back into accounts controlled by the Evanses. Jeremiah Wright was the Chicago pastor whose inflammatory church sermons, which often condemned U.S. attitudes on race, poverty, the Iraq War and other issues, became a focus during the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama quieted the controversy with a speech putting the quotes in the context of race relations. The money laundering count Jeri Wright faces carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry penalties of up to five years in prison. Jeri Wright could not be reached for comment. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Sharon Paul did not know if she had yet retained a lawyer. Obama, shown here with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, in 2005 . | Jeri L Wright accused of participating in fraud scheme .
Her father, Jeremiah Wright, was pastor for Obama while in Chicago .
Controversial sermons on race and the Iraq War drew heat during 2008 presidential campaign . |
182,462 | 784595515da56cd484c3fe6cb6d5e93366177fb2 | By . Richard Spillett . A cemetery in Stafford has become the first in Britain to turn to so-called 'ready-made' plastic graves after it ran out of room to bury to dead. Eccleshall Road Cemetery was forced to turn away funerals after it used up all of the suitable land allotted for burials. It is problem that has being felt around the country, with warnings earlier this year of a national shortage in grave space. But an experimental new scheme that could now be used in cemeteries all over Britain has seen pre-dug graves constructed out of plastic. Workers install ready-made graves in Stafford after a cemetery ran out of room for more burials . The local council hopes the new system will stop graves subsiding in land previously thought too sandy . The move came after the cemetery ran out of the space to dig new graves and nearby land was considered too sandy to house long-lasting burial places. The local council has now installed large plastic walls to create plots where coffins can be placed without the risk of subsidence. New graves are made by digging a plot much larger than the standard burial with room for 12 bodies. A giant frame is then put in place with walls installed on the frame to create individual plots measuring 9ft by 4ft. The plot is then refilled, leaving one space unfilled ready for the next burial. If more plots can be added on to the frame if required at a later date without disturbing those already resting. The first plot was used for the burial of a man last Friday. The area dug up was later covered, leaving pre-made graves, one of which has already been used . It is thought the scheme, which uses plastic frames like those pictured, may now be used around the country . While the installation does increase the cost of digging the graves, the council insists it saves money in the long term and increases the amount of available space threefold. A spokesperson for Stafford Borough Council said they believed they were the first in the country to experiment with the new grave system. The burial system could be rolled out to help extend the life of the other cemeteries, the spokesperson said. Local councillor Frank Finlay said: 'This gives the chance for those who would like their loved ones to be buried in this cemetery - something they may not have thought possible.' In May this year, MPs warned that growing pressures on land for development and farming has left many local councils struggling to find space for burial sites. Like many cemeteries around Britain, Eccleshall Road Cemetery was running out of room to bury the dead . Other cemeteries have built concrete chambers but this is the first time cheaper plastic has been used . | Like many cemeteries, resting place in Stafford was running out of room .
The only land left was considered unsuitable because it was too sandy .
But experimental new scheme has seen plastic frames put in ground .
It is hoped the new idea will open up more areas for burials and graves . |
18,341 | 33e1f49216bf176708c658ac4852829c4be11a63 | Today, the Ebola virus spreads only through direct contact with bodily fluids, such as blood and vomit. But some of the nation's top infectious disease experts worry that this deadly virus could mutate and be transmitted just by a cough or a sneeze. "It's the single greatest concern I've ever had in my 40-year public health career," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "I can't imagine anything in my career -- and this includes HIV -- that would be more devastating to the world than a respiratory transmissible Ebola virus." The World Health Organization says its scientists are unaware of any virus that has dramatically changed its mode of transmission. "For example, the H5N1 avian influenza virus... has probably circulated through many billions of birds for at least two decades. Its mode of transmission remains basically unchanged. Speculation that Ebola virus disease might mutate into a form that could easily spread among humans through the air is just that: speculation, unsubstantiated by any evidence." Osterholm and other experts couldn't think of another virus that has made the transition from non-airborne to airborne in humans. They say the chances are relatively small that Ebola will make that jump. But as the virus spreads, they warned, the likelihood increases. Every time a new person gets Ebola, the virus gets another chance to mutate and develop new capabilities. Osterholm calls it "genetic roulette." As of October 1, there have been more than 7,100 cases of Ebola, with 3,330 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, which has said the virus is spreading at a much faster rate than it was earlier in the outbreak. Ebola is an RNA virus, which means every time it copies itself, it makes one or two mutations. Many of those mutations mean nothing, but some of them might be able to change the way the virus behaves inside the human body. "Imagine every time you copy an essay, you change a word or two. Eventually, it's going to change the meaning of the essay," said Dr. C.J. Peters, one of the heroes featured in "The Hot Zone." The roots of our Ebola fears . That book chronicles the 1989 outbreak of Ebola Reston, which was transmitted among monkeys by breathing. In 2012, Canadian researchers found that Ebola Zaire, which is involved in the current outbreak, was passed from pigs to monkeys in the air. Dr. James Le Duc, the director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas, said the problem is that no one is keeping track of the mutations happening across West Africa, so no one really knows what the virus has become. One group of researchers looked at how Ebola changed over a short period of time in just one area in Sierra Leone early on in the outbreak, before it was spreading as fast as it is now. They found more than 300 genetic changes in the virus. "It's frightening to look at how much this virus mutated within just three weeks," said Dr. Pardis Sabeti, an associate professor at Harvard and senior associate member of the Broad Institute, where the research was done. Even without becoming airborne, the virus has overwhelmed efforts to stop it. Funerals, ghost towns and haunted health workers . Osterholm commended groups like Doctors Without Borders but said uncoordinated efforts by individual organizations are no match for Ebola spreading swiftly through urban areas. "This is largely dysfunctional. Nobody's in command, and nobody's in charge," he said. "It's like not having air traffic control at an airport. The planes would just crash into each other." | Experts fear that Ebola will mutate and become spreadable via cough or sneeze .
Ebola is an RNA virus, meaning every time it copies itself, it mutates .
Most mutations mean nothing, but some could change the way the virus behaves . |
9,308 | 1a68681b034765bae5e91f909d7faeafe8270e28 | By . Damien Gayle . PUBLISHED: . 08:24 EST, 31 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 06:22 EST, 1 August 2012 . Dominant player: Visa issues about 41 per cent of all payment cards in Europe . Shoppers are being being charged over the odds because of the fees Visa charges to process cross-border credit card transactions, the European Union claimed today. EU regulators have sent a complaint to the company, which issues about 41 per cent of all payment cards in Europe, saying its charges harm competition between banks. Retailers pay a fee to to their bank every time a card is used to pay for a product. The bank then pays Visa for the transaction to be processed. The EU Competition Commission said the company's cross-border consumer credit card fees in Europe breach EU rules and leave retailers paying too much to get payments processed. Visa Europe, the largest card network in the 27-country European Union, cut its debit card fees in December 2010 to settle a competition probe by the European Commission into that part of its business. However it has held out against doing the same for its credit card fees. The commission said its charge sheet or 'statement of objections' sent to Visa Europe also covers domestic credit card fees in eight EU countries, including Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden. 'Visa's MIFs (multilateral interchange fees) harm competition between acquiring banks, inflate the cost of payment card acceptance for merchants and ultimately increase consumer prices,' the EU watchdog said in a statement. Visa Europe, which is owned and operated by more than 3,700 European member banks, said it regretted the Commission's decision. 'We are very disappointed that the Commission has taken such a confrontational approach and was not willing to find a solution to support investment and innovation in European payments for the benefit of European consumers and to allow European payments to compete globally,' Visa Europe's chief executive Peter Ayliffe said in a statement. The company could face fines of up to 10 per cent of its global turnover if found in breach of EU antitrust regulations. It posted record revenues of 1billion euros (£782billion) last year. Europe's second-highest court in May backed the EU regulator's crackdown on card fees in a case involving Mastercard, the world's second-biggest credit and debit card network operator. Visa Europe's credit and debit cards account for about 41 per cent of all payment cards issued in Europe. | Visa Europe settled with regulators on debit card fees in 2010 .
Group says it is disappointed with EU Commission's 'confrontational' approach .
EU antitrust breaches can incur fines up to 10 per cent of global turnover . |
260,689 | dd92e8224488517da2fe85e811481d3bff216472 | Washington (CNN) -- Lou Klein, 64, shot his first gun when he was 11. "My dad bought me a single-shot .22 rifle at an Ace Hardware store in Chicago for $19.95," Klein remembered. "I used to take that gun on the bus when I was 11 years old and go down to the shooting range. You couldn't do that now; you would have the FBI on you." Those bus trips to the firing range started a lifelong passion for the Vietnam veteran and lifetime National Rifle Association member and recruiter who owns Lou's Sporting Goods in Bowie, Maryland. Why would someone own a military-style rifle? His shop sells everything from handguns to AR-15 semi-automatic rifles -- the military-style weapon used in several mass shootings, including the one last week in Newtown, Connecticut, that claimed 28 lives, including 20 children, their principal, the shooter's mother and gunman Adam Lanza, who took his own life. Klein's business is booming. And like many gun owners, he said he doesn't think limiting firearms will prevent another massacre. Parents defend right to keep guns in the home . "Gun control is not the answer; it's about education and about responsibility," said Klein, who supports background checks, a waiting period, gun safety courses and mental health screening. Klein and millions of other small-town gun shop owners, hunters, housewives, former police officers and just plain everyday folks who proudly defend their right to bear arms have walked a tenuous line in the week following the Newtown shootings. They've tried to balance responding to the nation's grief and horror at a crime that ended so many young lives, while worrying about what gun rights advocates see as a threat of knee-jerk legislation that could tread on their constitutional rights. "I believe the Second Amendment provided that the average American citizen should have the same rights to armaments as the military. But do I want my next-door nut job neighbor to have a bazooka? No," said Noel Flasterstein, a Florida attorney and gun rights advocate. Mike Zammitti, a young gun owner in New England, agrees. Zammitti, 22, lives in Boylston, Massachusetts, and has three guns -- a .22 rifle, a .25-caliber pocket pistol and a .22 Luger handgun. He also is a Class-A license holder, which allows him to "conceal and carry" his guns with him. But that doesn't mean that he does it. iReport: Was your gun banned? His weapons, he said, are for protection. He also said he doesn't need an assault rifle to protect himself in his home and doesn't think other people need them either. "I absolutely think we should ban assault weapons," Zammitti said. "There is no reason to have assault weapons on the market. ...Those are people killers; they are not meant to go hunting." Still, even though he believes in some gun control laws, Zammitti said he fully supports the right to bear arms. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby with roughly 4.3 million members, spoke out on Friday, calling for armed guards at schools to protect the nation's children. The group signaled no willingness to consider any of the various proposals offered this week to change gun laws regarding access to assault weapons, universal background checks, limits on sales at gun shows, increased use of trigger locks or any other gun control regulation. Instead, the group pointed at media sensationalism, violent video games, gun-free zones, the failure to enforce gun laws already on the books, issues with the nation's mental health system and other societal problems. Policies banning guns at schools create a place that "insane killers" consider "the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk," Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA said on Friday. LaPierre said U.S. society has left children "utterly defenseless." "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," he said. In the days following the school shootings, individual NRA members took to Twitter, Facebook, the airwaves and the comment sections of websites such as CNN.com to explain their position. It usually went along these lines: They are not all gun-toting villains. They are, they proudly proclaim, patriots. "Guns are what's kept this country free, and it's what's keeping our country free," Klein said, pointing to the militias in the Revolutionary War that fought against the British. NRA breaks silence after shootings . The NRA plans to speak out Friday and "is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again." Not everyone is buying the "meaningful contributions," however. "I think the statement they just released is a bunch of garbage; they just wanted to get ahead of the issue," Zammitti said. "If you look at their history, they are hard-core 'guns don't kill people, people kill people.' "As soon as little kids get hurt, they try to get ahead of the picture saying, 'We're going to do something.' " This week, President Barack Obama tapped Vice President Joe Biden to help lead a White House effort to craft proposals aimed at preventing another tragedy such as the Newtown shootings. The recommendations are due sometime in January. That same month, several lawmakers have promised to introduce or reintroduce gun control legislation, ranging from a reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons to banning the sale of high-capacity magazines. The NRA, which is regrouping in anticipation of that massive legislative push, will make its presence felt through congressional testimony and wielding the type of political sway the pro-gun lobby has carefully amassed over dozens of election cycles, experts said. "I want to see legislators make correct appraisals, not emotional responses," said Richard Feldman, who was regional political director for the NRA during its rise to power in the 1980s and is president of a gun rights group called the Independent Firearm Owners Association. The list: Despite emotions, little happens legislatively after mass shootings . Across the rest of the nation, attitudes about guns appear to be changing. A CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday indicates that a slight majority now favor major restrictions on owning guns or an outright ban on gun ownership by ordinary citizens and more than six in 10 favor a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles. The number of Americans who favor major restrictions or an outright ban has typically hovered just under the 50% mark in recent years; now that number is 52%. That's a rise in 5 percentage points from a CNN survey conducted in August following the mass shootings at a movie theater in suburban Denver that left 12 dead and shootings at a Sikh temple in suburban Milwaukee, where six people were killed. The 5-point rise is within the poll's sampling error. Forty-three percent said the elementary school shootings in Connecticut make them more likely to support gun control laws, a 15-point increase from January 2011 following the Arizona gun rampage that wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Half of those questioned said the school shootings have not changed their opinions on gun control, down 19 points from January 2011. But that's just roughly half of the country. The other half is made up of the kind of people who have flooded Klein's suburban Washington shop after the Newtown shootings. People who, like Klein, believe that if Sandy Hook Elementary School teachers were armed, they would have been able to kill the shooter before he killed all those children. Lanza's guns: What we know so far . "Last night I didn't get out until 10," Klein said through a mouthful of a rushed lunch. He's almost sold out of AR-15s, he said. He just sold two Wednesday morning to a man who wanted them for his sons. Since the gun sales are not reported, trends in gun sales are typically tracked by the number of background checks the FBI conducts each year. In 2011 -- a record year -- the FBI conducted 16,454,951 background checks. In 2012, not counting the month of December, the FBI has already conducted 16,808,538. This includes the run on guns after Obama's re-election but does not include the recent sprint to buy up weapons after the Newtown shootings. And Klein's store's sales are not an anomaly; gun stores across the country are reporting record sales in the week following the Newtown shootings. Klein said gun owners are worried they won't be able to purchase semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 in the future, so they are buying them up now. Those concerns are rooted in the fear that tampering with Second Amendment rights could lead to a slippery slope of infringing on other constitutional rights, gun policy experts said. "With respect to assault rifles, I have a constitutional right to have one. ... That's what our founding father and mothers recognized," said Feldman of the Independent Firearm Owners Association. "It's what it protects us from -- the possibility of a tyrannical government. "I don't think we're going to have a tyrannical government, and I don't think Obama (is going to bring about a) tyrannical government. If we take away the Second Amendment, maybe it would." Opinion: Strong case for gun rights . CNN's David Mattingly and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. | NEW: The NRA calls for armed guards at schools .
Gun owners have walked a careful line in the wake of the Connecticut shootings .
Gun sales are up across the country in anticipation of possible gun-control legislation .
Some gun owners part with the NRA on policies, calling its recent announcement "garbage" |
216,043 | a3b00454df1892fc326d59ebc7e16a167d25eb35 | (CNN) -- Sebastian Vettel recovered from a nightmare start to become the youngest ever triple Formula One champion as Jenson Button won the Brazilian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old was hit on the fourth turn of the opening lap and suffered damage to the left side of his car which could not be fixed. But Vettel roared back through the field to finish sixth and deny title rival Fernando Alonso by three points with the Spaniard finishing the race in second place. 'Brazil suits Red Bull' insists Vettel . "I feel very proud of my team and of the season we have had," said Alonso. "We have lost the championship now, but not here in Brazil, instead in some other races (Belgium and Japan when he was involved in first corner accidents). "When you do something 100% you have to happy and proud for the team, and we will try again next year." It means that Vettel is only the third driver in the history of the sport to win three successive titles, equalling the achievements of Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher. Fangio vs. Senna: Who is the greatest? In a race which twisted and turned at every opportunity, it was no surprise that Vettel was made to sweat for his moment of glory. A slow start saw him drop to ninth before a coming together with Bruno Senna left his car damaged. With Red Bull unable to fix the problem and his title hopes sliding away, Vettel produced the drive of a champion, fighting his way from the back of the field to keep the pressure on Alonso. All the pressure on Vettel claims Alonso . While Alonso sat further ahead with hopes of a third world title beginning to surface, the rain began to fall, leaving the drivers at the mercy of the elements. Vettel was forced to pit no less than three times as the weather continued to change, while Lewis Hamilton's hopes of winning on his final race for McLaren were cruelly dashed. The 2008 world champion, who will race for Mercedes next year, collided with Nico Hulkenberg and suffered a broken front-left suspension. While he was applauded all the way back to the paddock by his McLaren team, it was Button who took full advantage. As the Briton remained untroubled as leader of the race, Vettel was still battling to get past Schumacher and claim the sixth place finish he needed to claim the title. Seven-time winner Schumacher finished a creditable seventh on his final race before retirement, but it was the action further up the track which was catching the eye. Alonso passed Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa to move into second, but with a few laps remaining, Vettel finally passed his fellow countryman to secure the title. Final Brazilian GP top 10 . 1. Jenson Button - McLaren 1:45:22.656 . 2. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari +2.754 . 3. Felipe Massa - Ferrari +3.615 . 4. Mark Webber - Red Bull +4.936 . 5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India +5.708 . 6. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull +9.453 . 7. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes +11.907 . 8. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso +28.653 . 9. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber +31.250 . 10. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus +1 lap . | Sebastian Vettel makes history by becoming youngest ever triple F1 champion .
Vettel claims sixth place finish to deny Fernando Alonso .
Fernando Alonso finishes second and loses out by three points .
McLaren's Jenson Button wins Grand Prix at Interlagos . |
193,228 | 8629822ee33e7e5b908980f406ac5104e9b6ab47 | Running back Ray Rice was released by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Monday, the same day a shocking video surfaced showing the NFL star knocking out his future wife with a punch in February. The news release from the Ravens was terse. "The Baltimore Ravens terminated the contract of RB Ray Rice this afternoon," it read. Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters Monday night that the team had not seen the video before it was released online by TMZ. "It was something we saw for the first time today, all of us. It changed things, of course. It made things a little bit different," he said. Harbaugh said he and Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome called Rice to inform him of the decision. He declined to discuss what Rice said or how he reacted. "I have nothing but hope and goodwill for Ray and Janay (now his wife)," Harbaugh added. "And we'll do whatever we can going forward to help them as they go forward and try to make the best of it." Shortly after the team's announcement, the league said the three-time Pro Bowl selection was suspended indefinitely. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who had originally given Rice a two-game ban, increased the suspension after viewing the new video for the first time, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said on Twitter. The NFL players' union didn't immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. CNN also tried unsuccessfully to contact Rice's agent. The person who answered the phone at Todd France's office said France wasn't in. Former teammate and ESPN analyst Ray Lewis said he had texted with Rice on Monday. Lewis, who played with the Ravens from 1996 to 2012, said on "Monday Night Countdown" that he will meet with Rice soon to counsel and mentor him. "I want to sit down and I want to know what is going on in his heart," said Lewis. In a press conference in July, Rice said his actions were "inexcusable" and that he and his wife were in counseling. The couple married on March 28. "We're taking the necessary steps to move forward," he said. "My job is to lead my family. My job is to lead my wife. My job is to lead in whatever I do. And If I'm not being the example, then my family crumbles." Before Rice, 27, can play again in the NFL, any potential contract cannot be approved without further direction from the commissioner, Aiello told CNN. The Canadian Football League said Monday night Rice is ineligible to play in the CFL while he is suspended by the NFL. Reactions pour in . Video shows what happened inside elevator . The new video shows Rice punching Janay Palmer, who was his fiancee at the time, inside an elevator at a hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, seven months ago. TMZ Sports posted the video Monday showing Rice and Palmer entering an elevator. Inside the elevator, Rice punches Palmer. Palmer lunges after Rice, and then Rice hits her again and she falls to the floor. Previously, TMZ Sports had released hotel surveillance video of Rice dragging an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator. This is the first time video has been released that shows Rice punching her. A few months after the incident, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Rice without pay and fined him an additional game check for "conduct detrimental to the NFL." However, no one in the NFL offices, including Goodell, had seen the newly released footage of the incident until Monday, the league told CNN. Ray Rice: 'My actions were inexcusable' "We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator," NFL senior vice president of communications Greg Aiello said. "That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today." Rice won't be prosecuted . The NFL has previously said that Rice entered a pretrial intervention program in May. Under the program, he won't be prosecuted, and the felony charge -- one count of third-degree aggravated assault -- will be expunged after one year. CNN commentator and ESPN senior writer LZ Granderson said Monday that prosecutors let a lot of people down. "A lot of people are mad at the NFL and the Ravens. I'm mad at the judicial system that failed this woman and society at large," he said. "Here you have clearly an act of violence. Clearly an act of violence. To give him a slap on the wrist, an opportunity to even have this wiped from his record, tells you how powerful money, fame and sports is in society." Jeffrey Toobin, a senior legal analyst for CNN, said Rice's punishment was of the kind that teenagers get when they are caught spray painting graffiti. "It is a tiny, tiny penalty that is an absolute disgrace," he said. "The D.A. (office) embarrassed the country, embarrassed themselves. And Roger Goodell did an appalling job then for the NFL. But ... law enforcement was horrendous here." Rice firing not enough, says senator who wants 'special scrutiny' of NFL . Goodell admitted punishment was too lenient . Goodell has already been scrutinized for suspending Rice for just two games, months after the first video aired. Many felt the suspension wasn't enough, and in August, the commissioner himself agreed. In a letter to all NFL team owners, he said the league had fallen short of its goals in its handling of the Rice case: "We allowed our standards to fall below where they should be and lost an important opportunity to emphasize our strong stance on a critical issue and the effective programs we have in place." "I didn't get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will," he added. Some NFL fans have questioned why Harbaugh would call Rice "one heck of a guy" after the news broke and why the Ravens would tweet out in May "Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident." The tweet was no longer available on Monday. They have also questioned why Cleveland Browns receiver Josh Gordon would be suspended for a year after testing positive for marijuana when Rice was suspended for just two games. In his August letter to team owners, Goodell said the league will institute a six-game unpaid suspension for personnel who violate the league's personal conduct policy when it relates to domestic violence. A second domestic violence incident would be punished by a lifetime ban from the league. Opinion: NFL, apologize to women for Ray Rice . Lesson of Ray Rice case: Stop blaming victim . | Ravens coach says team will help Rice, wife out as they 'go forward'
NFL suspends the running back indefinitely after viewing video for first time, league says .
Baltimore Ravens terminate the running back's contract in wake of new video .
Video posted by TMZ Sports shows incident inside Atlantic City elevator in February . |
26,968 | 4c876c2071f17fc6b8c6bedecf9d57b7860ec8de | (CNN) -- The death of Chinua Achebe represents more than the loss of a great writer. Achebe was perhaps the first to give voice with elegance, a poetic prose, and startling insight to the other side of the world which most Western readers encounter in Joseph Conrad. For the first time, through the success of Achebe's best-known book, "Things Fall Apart," a world both distinctive and familiarly human as well as uniquely African won the hearts of an otherwise ignorant and insensitive and largely condescending reading public in Europe and North America, regarding African history and culture. It is a pity that not more of Achebe's prose is as well-known as "Things Fall Apart." At the same time, Achebe took his place in the pantheon of great writers with one acknowledged masterpiece, alongside Melville's "Moby Dick" and Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre." But Achebe's contribution was not merely literary. Unlike most writers, he displayed few traces of narcissism. He was committed to his people and his community. He did not shy away from political controversy, and he did so in a manner that was unforgettable. He was soft spoken, gracious to a fault, generous. His charisma was one that mixed authority with kindness. He seemed to possess no limits to patience. He made his interlocutors and students feel that they were as important as he was. Unlike so many he did not internalize the brutalities and prejudices of oppressors only to visit the very same quality on others when the oppression vanished. Perhaps this was a function of his personality and his natural nobility and pride in his heritage. But it was also a function of his Christian faith and his commitment to the vocation of teaching and writing. Chinua Achebe came to Bard after suffering an accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. By coming to the United States he was able to secure the proper medical care, and at Bard he became a member of an academic community as teacher and colleague. He used his prestige and presence to ensure that African history and literature would take their proper place in the education of undergraduates. One of Achebe's most fervent admirers has been Nelson Mandela, who once described the sense of hope he derived from reading Achebe in prison. What Mandela saw in Achebe was the characteristic that inhabits all great literature: details that seem very particular retain their uniqueness in the hands of a great writer. But through the poetry of the prose what seems utterly foreign and unfamiliar becomes recognizable and profoundly thought-provoking. Time and place are transcended without the loss of authentic particularity. These qualities are what have made great writers great, whether they be George Eliot or Tolstoy. Achebe, drawing from his heritage and traditions, used his talent and gift of imagination to generate a visual and moral landscape entirely unfamiliar to most readers. His achievement was both historic and personal. If there was one dimension of disappointment that one could detect in Chinua Achebe, it was the fact that he was famous for one great book when in fact he had written a whole series of great books. He suffered the same frustration that is perhaps more common among composers who become associated with one piece to the exclusion of the rest of the music they have written. One hopes that Chinua Achebe's death will spark a renewal of interest beyond "Things Fall Apart." That novel will remain a staple of world literature. Readers should be encouraged to look at the novels Achebe wrote aftewards. The simplicity of his language, the disarming lyricism, and acuity of perception define his greatness. But in the end Achebe was in the best sense a moralist. Not a preacher, but a writer who drew his readers into contemplating the possibilities of how they might lead a better life with a greater commitment to justice, to civility, to respect, and to simple decency. The opinions expressed in this opinion piece are solely those of Leon Botstein. | Unlike so many, Achebe did not internalize the brutalities and prejudices of oppressors, writes Leon Botstein .
His charisma was one that mixed authority with kindness, he says .
Botstein: One hopes that Chinua Achebe's death will spark a renewal of interest beyond "Things Fall Apart."
Achebe was in the best sense a moralist, says Botstein . |
245,200 | c95d26a94107c7ed2692925bcb4463fd9f862266 | By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . Nick Clegg today admitted his handling of groping claims against Lord Rennard last year was ‘not ideal’ as he vowed not to back down in calling for an apology from the Lib Dem peer. The Deputy Prime Minister also conceded that ‘alarm bells did not go off’ within the party when the allegations were first made several years ago. Ex-chief executive Lord Rennard denies any wrongdoing and is threatening to sue the Lib Dems for suspending his membership after refusing to say sorry to the women. Scroll down for video . Admission: Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the party's handling of the crisis was 'not ideal' Mr Cleg’s leadership has become engulfed by the row, with many activists accusing him of failing to act while peers in the House of Lords support Lord Rennard. Hosting his weekly radio-phone, the Lib Dem leader was bombarded with questions and criticism about the case. Last week an internal inquiry found that four women had made ‘credible’ allegations against the peer, but found there was a less than 50 per cent chance they would pass the burden of proof ‘beyond reasonable doubt’. However Alistair Webster QC recommended Lord Rennard - who has strenuously denied wrongdoing - apologise, something he has refused to do, leading to his suspension on Monday. Party split: Lord Rennard denies any wrongdoing and has refused to apologise for the distress caused to women who allege that they were groped by him . Miriam González Durántez has angrily hit back at claims that she put pressure on her husband Nick Clegg to take a tougher stance on sex pest allegations against Lord Rennard. In a highly unusual public statement, the lawyer and mother-of-three insisted she had nothing to do with the decision to suspend the peer from the party, describing a report suggesting so as ‘a complete fabrication’. Ms González Durántez, who was attending a National Inspiring Women campaign event to get women to go into schools to talk about their careers, said: ‘This is in the Telegraph today but it is a complete fabrication. I don't even know the women. ‘I think by now that you will know I'm the kind of woman who doesn't influence in the shadows. If I ever wanted to say something I would say that openly. My opinions about the political issues of the day, I keep them for myself.’ Earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister also insisted it was ‘just not on’ to drag his family into the row and dismissed the claims as ‘garbage’. ‘I've read so much garbage over the last several days about what I think, what my motives are, what I've done here, what I've done there, and now suddenly claims are being made about conversations which, if they took place, would take place probably in the privacy of the Clegg kitchen,’ Mr Clegg told LBC radio. ‘It's total garbage, it is a complete work of fiction. Look, you can make up stuff about me, as indeed people do day in day out, have a go at me, but just don't drag Miriam into it.' In a 2,600-word statement Lord Rennard threatened to sue the party for kicking him out of the Lib Dem 'family'. But Mr Clegg insisted he would not drop his demand for an apology. He . told LBC 97.3: ‘Let me really be open with you, I actually think the . way that we handled it last year wasn’t great, wasn’t ideal. ‘Much . more seriously than that, looking much further back, it is quite clear . that when the women were first caused this distress, many, many years . ago…the Party did not react, the alarm bells did not go off, and there . weren’t procedures, and that’s what I’ve apologised to them in person, . and publically.’ Mr Clegg said he had to demand that Lord Rennard says sorry - even if only for causing ‘inadvertent’ distress to women. He went on: ‘Just imagine if we had done anything else. Just imagine if Alistair Webster (QC) had recommended that an apology should be issued and I came out and said ‘Thank you very much, we will file away the report, and by the way, none of the recommendations need to be accepted or adhered to’. ‘There would have quite rightly been outrage. ‘It is messy. It is difficult to confront the past and turn a page and introduce a new culture in any organisation, particularly a political party - quite rightly under remorseless scrutiny. ‘But there is no way round my view that I want people in my party, the party I lead, to treat each other with respect, with civility, with dignity.’ Lib Dem tensions over the row have been ratcheting up, with ex-leader Lord Steel joining calls for the threat of expulsion to be lifted from Lord Rennard. Mr Webster’s inquiry found the allegations against the peer could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt but said there was broadly credible evidence that women had been caused distress. The former election supremo has been suspended from the party pending a disciplinary hearing into whether his refusal to apologise is bringing it into disrepute. He continues to deny any wrongdoing and is considering seeking an injunction to halt the process. Lib Dem peers are due to meet later, with significant numbers thought to be sympathetic to Lord Rennard’s position. | Lord Rennard suspended from party pending another investigation .
Has refused to apologise to the four activists he is said to have harassed .
Says he was the target of a 'lynch mob' and is considering legal action .
Nick Clegg admits 'alarm bells did not go off' in the party . |
243,248 | c6cf836ae576ed233bdf75903f3fe5bcaa83d509 | An online video showing a now-former Costa Rican official in her underwear has sparked a debate over the privacy of government workers in the Central American country -- and cost the official her job this week. The video shows Karina Bolanos, who had been Costa Rica's vice minister of culture and youth since 2006, lying on a bed in her underwear and apparently talking to her lover. "I miss you. I love you with all my soul. And everything that you see here is yours," she says. The cultural ministry said Monday that Bolanos would be leaving her post after a surge in journalistic reports and social media posts "connected with the private life of the vice minister." "Even though the information that has circulated is strictly related with the private life of Bolanos, and not with her work as a public official, she was released from her post so that she could face this in the private sphere," the cultural ministry said in a statement, adding Costa Rica's president authorized the move. Bolanos, 39, told CNN en Español Tuesday that she recorded the private video in 2007, when she was separated from her husband, a Costa Rican congressman. "It is a very old and personal video of mine, that really makes me very embarrassed with the Costa Rican people and I apologize, especially before the youth who I represent. ... but also it has nothing that I should be ashamed of, and I think an injustice has been committed," she said. Bolanos said she did not have a chance to defend herself before she lost her job. "I think as a woman, I had a right to defend myself and to speak. These are questions of my intimate private life that have nothing to do with my work," she said. A computer engineer that her family had hired to install security cameras stole the video and tried to blackmail her to stop its release, she said. "It is very difficult to prove because he is a computer engineer and he is one of those people that hacks and steals accounts, and...because my husband is a congressman and I am a vice minister, he took advantage of the situation to get money out of us," she said. By Tuesday evening, the video had been viewed more than 370,000 times on YouTube. | A video shows a now-former top cultural official lying on a bed in her underwear .
She is dismissed from her job after social media posts "connected with (her) private life"
"An injustice has been committed," Karina Bolanos tells CNN en Español .
A computer engineer stole the video and tried to blackmail her, she says . |
252,767 | d31bda7b94c168f7ddbba7a45d081a1c014179de | By . Helen Pow . PUBLISHED: . 18:23 EST, 29 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:38 EST, 31 July 2013 . A 13-year-old California girl has died after she ate a Rice Krispie snack made with peanut butter at a summer camp and had an intense allergic reaction. Natalie Giorgio, from Carmichael, California, was with her family at Camp Sacramento in El Dorado County when she ate the dessert on Friday night not realizing it contained nuts. The girl immediately spat out the treat but it was too late. After 20 minutes, she began vomiting, had trouble breathing then suffered anaphylactic shock and cardiac arrest. She was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. Scroll down for video . Tragedy: Natalie Giorgio, pictured, from Carmichael, California, was with her family at Camp Sacramento in El Dorado County when she ate the dessert on Friday night not realizing it contained nuts . A family friend told 10 News that Natalie's physician father, Louis Giorgi, administered three Epipens, an injection device used to deliver epinephrine, on his daughter but they could not save her. He also gave her oxygen. Natalie was always vigilant about her allergy, said Pastor Michael Kiernan of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Carmichael. her twin sister was also allergic to peanuts. 'She took every care. She knew the situation, that's (connected to) the allergy she had. And they were really on it all the time,' he told the station. But on Friday night, the last night of camp, the tray of refreshments was placed in a dark area of the camp. Camp: The girl was with her family at Camp Sacramento, pictured, when she suffered the severe allergic reaction . After the young teen took a bite out of the treat she knew something wasn't right an spat it out before rushing to tell her mother who also tasted the treat. But it was only later they realized it contained peanut butter. The distraught family are trying to get the message out about how dangerous food allergies can be. 'While our hearts are breaking over . the tragic loss of our beautiful daughter Natalie, it is our hope that . others can learn from this and realize that nut and food allergies are . life threatening,' the family said in a statement. 'Caution and care for . those inflicted should always be supported and taken.' No luck: Natalie's doctor father administered three EpiPens at the camp, pictured, but couldn't save his daughter . Her parents also thanked the paramedics, firefighters and other first responders who tried to save the little girl. A special vigil was held at Our Lady of Assumption Church in Carmichael for Natalie, who would have gone into eighth grade next year at the parish school, on Sunday evening. Family and friends said the young teen loved to draw and was always smiling and laughing. She wanted to become a neonatologist when she grew up, so she could care for premature babies like her and her twin sister. Camp Sacramento, located along Highway 50 in the Eldorado National Forest, is on a 14-acre property owned by the U.S. Forest Service and leased by the City of Sacramento. | Natalie Giorgio was with her family at Sacramento Camp in California on Friday night when she ate the dessert, not realizing it contained nuts .
The girl immediately spat it out and told her mother but it was too late .
She began vomiting, had trouble breathing then went into cardiac arrest .
She was then taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead . |
285,518 | fdf79c691e81983ff5624f0135ddfabf26c7c6c2 | (CNN) -- A silver cup presented to the Greek winner of the marathon at the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896 has sold for a record £541,000 ($860,000) at auction in London. It is the highest price paid for a piece of Olympic memorabilia, with the sale at Christie's over in a matter of minutes with the bids leaping £50,000 ($80,000) at a time. The previous record was for an Olympic torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games in Finland which fetched $400,000 last year. Spyros Louis became a national hero when he won the only gold medal for Greece in the track and field events 116 years ago so it became a matter of national pride that the cup should return to the birthplace of the Olympics. CNN understands that the Mayor of the Marousi District in Athens, where Louis was born, raised 350,000 euros ($458,000 ) to bid. It wasn't enough. The new owner is the Greek philanthropic organization, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, named after the late Greek shipping tycoon. The cup will go on display in Athens and will eventually be given a permanent home in the Foundation's new cultural center due to open in 2015. Symbolic value . The cup which fetched such a vast sum is just 15 centimeters high but beautifully decorated in the art nouveau style. Its intrinsic value -- as silver -- isn't very high. But this cup is all about symbolism, an object from the beginning of the modern Olympics. The story of the cup involved three men. Spyros Louis, his grandson and a Frenchman, Michel Breal. Louis had helped salvage Greek pride in the most emblematic of races for the host country. The odds were certainly stacked in their favor. Of the 17 runners, 13 were Greek. But going into the last few miles of the race, an Australian and a French athlete were leading and an expectant crowd waiting in the stadium were subdued. Then suddenly word reached the stadium that the foreigners had both dropped out and a Greek was leading. Spyros Louis wasn't considered a favorite and had only finished fifth in a special trial race before the Games, but he proved to have stamina. By trade, he moved water by mule into the center of Athens and it stood him in good stead. Greek hero . By winning the marathon (then 25 miles) he instantly became a Greek sporting immortal. Even now in Greece, over 70 years after his death, his name remains a synonym for moving at speed. The 2004 Olympic Stadium is named after him. The King of Greece presided over the award ceremony on the last day of the Games. Spyros Louis received a silver medal, a crown of olive leaves, a diploma and, of course, the special silver cup. And this is where Michel Breal enters the story. He was a distinguished linguist (usually credited as the founder of modern semantics) and passionate about all things Greek. He was crucial in persuading his fellow Frenchman, Baron de Coubertin to include the marathon in the first Games. As an incentive, Breal provided the special cup for the winner, Breal's Silver Cup as it became known. It is unclear who designed it, but the relief decoration shows bird and plant life from the ancient battleground of Marathon. So the legend has it, in 490 B.C., the messenger, Phidippides ran from Marathon to Athens to bring news of the Greek victory over the Persians, then collapsed and died. Until now, the cup has always been in the Louis family. During the Second World War, it was apparently hidden in a tomato patch in a garden, but more recently it has had pride of place on the mantelpiece in the house of the great athlete's grandson, also called Spyros Louis, a retired civil servant in his early 70s. Reluctant sale . He agonized for some time, but in these tough economic times in Greece, he reluctantly decided to sell it, to provide for his two children. Two years ago, he did the rounds of various government ministries, offering to sell the cup for a mere 100,000 euros ($130,000) but without response. The Greek Culture Ministry didn't seem to have any reservations about granting it an export license and this has ultimately proved to the financial benefit of the Louis family. Michel Breal's great grand daughter, Katharine Brunt, aged 88, attended the Christie's sale. And just before it started, wearing white gloves, she was able to briefly hold the legendary Silver Cup her great grandfather commissioned. It was a touching moment; she had never even seen the cup before. Katharine Brunt has a mission; The Silver Cup may be going back to Greece for museum display, but Michel Breal's tombstone in Montparnasse cemetery in Paris badly needs restoration. Apparently the authorities are threatening to demolish it. On grounds of neglect. There's evidently a big crack down the middle and $6000 is needed. Mrs Brunt is hoping that the newly-enriched Spyros Louis may able to help. | A silver cup presented at the first modern Olympic Games has sold for £541,000 .
Sale at Christie's in London sets new record price for a piece of Olympic memorabilia .
Cup was presented to Greek athlete Spyros Louis, who won marathon at 1896 Games .
A Greek foundation wins the auction and cup will go on show in Athens . |
261,661 | dee3907314b123b39f3cffd5b99c36dfa62ea792 | (CNN) -- There once was a time -- like, oh, the late 1990s -- when the box set loomed over the music world like a just reward. With dazzling presentations -- 3-D brains! Lucite cubes! portable faux-phonographs! -- and equally unrestrained liner notes, these CD collections were the ultimate capstone to an artist's career or the last word in genre compilations. And then, they faded away. Not entirely, of course. But in an iTunes-dominated MP3 world faced with declining CD sales -- and fewer artists and genres left to mine -- the box set (or boxed set, if you prefer) now takes a back seat to iPods and singles. Who has time to get immersed in a 6-CD collection of greatest hits, choice cuts and outtakes? It's almost as quaint as reading a book, for Pete's sake. But the box set isn't dead yet, and each year brings a number that are as lovingly prepared and painstakingly presented as the classics of yore. Here are seven that are worth your while this season. "The Smile Sessions," The Beach Boys (Capitol, 5 CDs, 2 LPs, 2 45s) It was 1966 and Brian Wilson was going to outdo "Pet Sounds," the Beach Boys classic released in May of that year. He had a vision of an album that would summarize the American journey. With lyrics provided by Van Dyke Parks, Wilson worked over his songs endlessly, trying to harness the sounds running through his head. He almost went mad. In the end, it was too much; around May 1967, he pulled the plug. The end of "Smile" was the end of a chapter for Wilson and the Beach Boys: They would never attempt to scale such musical heights again. But the album refused to go away. Bootleggers put out versions, and Capitol released about 30 minutes on the Beach Boys' 1993 box set. Wilson himself revisited it for a 2004 solo album. Now comes the original recordings, showcasing song progressions, studio chatter and those gorgeous Beach Boys harmonies on such songs as "Heroes and Villains," "Cabinessence" and "Surf's Up." The deluxe box includes vinyl, archival photographs and other "Smile"-related material. The greatest unreleased album of all time? You be the judge. "Phil Spector Presents the Philles Album Collection," Various Artists (Sony/Legacy, 7 CDs) What sound was Brian Wilson pursuing? It was Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, that echo-y, mighty mass of music that spilled through AM radios like the voice of heaven itself. Undergirding it all was the Wrecking Crew, the band of L.A. session kings (including drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Glen Campbell and saxophonist Steve Douglas) who never let up on the beat. This set presents the original albums from the Crystals, the Ronettes and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, with an extra disc of label sides for good measure. "Nevermind" Super Deluxe edition, Nirvana (Geffen, 4 CDs, 1 DVD) Sometimes the changing of the guard is as obvious as the progressions of No. 1 singles on the Billboard charts. In early 1964, Bobby Vinton's "There! I Said It Again" gave way to the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on the singles chart and, just like that, the British Invasion dawned. Similarly, on January 11, 1992, Michael Jackson's "Dangerous" was knocked out of the top spot on the album chart by three scruffy lads from Washington state, and the indie-grunge gold rush was on. The Super Deluxe edition of Nirvana's 1991 classic includes the original album as well as studio outtakes, live cuts and -- most interesting of all -- Butch Vig's original mix. "Smiths Complete," The Smiths (Rhino, 8 CDs) Stop me if you think you've heard this one before: An amusingly morose lyricist/singer joins forces with a jangly, riff-minded guitarist and a crack rhythm section. The four produce several singles with titles such as "Girlfriend in a Coma," "William, It Was Really Nothing," and "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," top the British charts for a few years, and then go their separate ways. That was the story of the Smiths, and their four studio albums -- along with three compilations and a live album -- have been remastered by the guitarist, Johnny Marr, for this box set. For the true diehards, Rhino Records also has a limited-edition version with CDs, LPs, singles, posters and wallpaper, yours for $499.98. "The Armstrong Box," Louis Armstrong (Storyville, 7 CDs, 1 DVD) The man who helped create jazz with his Hot Five and Hot Seven groups has been the subject of several box sets, but considering his career spanned five decades, there's always more to uncover. Storyville Records has compiled live performances from 1947 to 1967, including " 'S Wonderful," "Basin Street Blues" and several versions of "When It's Sleepy Time Down South." (For those who want an Armstrong primer, Elvis Costello recommends the import "Ambassador of Jazz," a 10-disc collection packaged in a miniature suitcase.) "Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951-1960," Howlin' Wolf (Hip-O, 4 CDs) If you want to know where rock 'n' roll starts, you could easily find yourself at 2120 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago, the longtime home of Chess Records. (It's now the site of Willie Dixon's Blues Heaven Foundation.) Among Chess' stars was bluesman Chester Burnett, better known as Howlin' Wolf, who set the place afire with the songs "Back Door Man," "Spoonful" and, of course, "Smokestack Lightning," many written and/or produced by Dixon -- and cornerstones for any self-respecting blues or rock band. He was 41 when he first started recording for Chess, and he helped make the label the legend it is. "This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45 RPM 1957-1982," Various Artists (Tompkins Square, 3 CDs) So much of the most interesting American music was done for small labels on the fly; after all, it's not as though every artist could afford endless hours of studio time, paid for with big major-label advances. Some of this material has come in for a ribbing in the CD/Internet age -- think about those sites devoted to ugly album covers, never mind the music within -- but several labels have devoted themselves to searching out and mastering these long-lost recordings. "This May Be My Last Time Singing" is a follow-up to "Fire in My Bones," a 2009 collection also put together by Mike McGonigal, featuring music straight from the soul. | Several notable box sets available this year .
One of the biggest: "The Smile Sessions," Beach Boys classic finally released .
Other sets devoted to blues legend Howlin' Wolf, long-lost gospel singles . |
34,691 | 6298930ac81eeecceadaefdd6b747fc1140b64be | By . Jenny Awford . and Maureen Sugden . A teenage girl has died and four other people were in hospital last night amid fears that they took illegal party drug mephedrone. Helen Henderson, 19, fell ill at a house on Sunday night and died a short time later. Her death comes as a global drug survey shows that Britain is the legal highs capital of the world, with more than one in ten people having tried dangerous new substances. Helen Henderson who died at a house party in Renfrew near Glasgow after taking mephedrone and ketamine . Her death comes as a global drug survey shows that Britain is the legal highs capital of the world, with more than one in ten people having tried dangerous new substances . The study also found that people in the UK take more drugs of any kind – both illegal and legal – than any other country in the world. Last night, as Police Scotland issued a warning that people are risking their lives by taking illicit substances, family and friends paid tribute to Miss Henderson. On Facebook, her father, Alex, said: ‘Well family and friends my oldest daughter sadly passed away last night, now she is with the family and the angels. ‘You will be sadly missed by your family, love you so much, I hope you knew that, love Dad. Until we meet again sweetheart.’ Her stepmother, Sharon Newton, wrote: ‘Well to everyone we know, we sadly lost Alex daughter and my stepdaughter, taken away too young. G.B.N.F [Gone but not forgotten]. Miss you loads xxx.’ Her sister ChelseaLee Henderson added on Facebook: ‘Times like this family means everything, thanks for the nice messages everyone, such nice day today. Rest in peace Helen Louise Henderson my angel.’ Miss Henderson fell ill at around 10.15pm on Sunday at an address in Paisley Road, Renfrew. She died in the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley a short time later. wo other women, aged 18 and 19, and two men, 24 and 31, were taken to hospital, where they are being treated for the effects of drug . Two other women at the house, aged 18 and 19, and two men, aged 24 and 31, were taken to hospital and are being treated after showing symptoms consistent with drug misuse, police said. Officers believe they may have taken the lethal drug mephedrone – which has the street names MCAT, meow meow or bubble. The teenager’s death comes two months after schoolgirl Regane MacColl, 17, of Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, died after taking a Mortal Kombat ecstasy tablet in the Arches nightclub, Glasgow. In March, teenager Jack Blades, of Airdrie, Lanarkshire, was left fighting for his life after apparently taking a Mortal Kombat pill at a house party. The 16-year-old has since made a full recovery. Earlier this month, father of two Paul Stokes, 39, was left fighting for his life in hospital after swallowing ecstasy tablets outside the Arches. He has since recovered. Police Scotland yesterday warned revellers that ‘no one can predict the risks involved’ in drugtaking. Chief Inspector Arlene Smith said: ‘Extensive inquiries are continuing into the circumstances of the woman’s death and, although unconfirmed, one of the lines of inquiry is that prior to her taking unwell she may have taken an illegal substance. ‘Given that other people have also fallen ill and are currently in hospital, Police Scotland has taken the decision to issue a warning. ‘At this time, it may be that the drug involved is MCAT. However, witnesses believe that the woman may have also taken ketamine. Campaigners blame more than 50 deaths a year on legal highs, including Adam Hunt, 18, of Southampton, and Hester Stewart, 21, of Brighton. Ministers have already introduced bans on some legal highs, including mephedrone — known as meow meow — NBOMe and Benzofury. A ban on synthetic stimulant mephedrone came into force across the UK in 2010. The drug is now a Class B substance, along with its associated compounds. Earlier this year the Mail revealed that there had been a huge surge in the number of deaths from other legal highs. Ninety seven people were found dead with the substances in their system in 2012, up from 12 in 2009. It means the toll has risen by eight times in three years.In around two-thirds of cases, the post-mortem examination established that the legal high was the direct cause of death. A Home Office-appointed review is expected to report in late spring. ‘MCAT is the street name for mephedrone. This is a class B drug which is sold in the form of white powder or capsules. Police Scotland is issuing a warning to anyone who has obtained or taken this or similar substances. Do not take illicit drugs and stay away from any unknown substances. No one can predict the risks involved or the serious consequences.’ Officers also appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Police Scotland said a post- mortem will be carried out and that Miss Henderson’s death is being treated as unexplained. A neighbour at the flat in Paisley Road, Marie Stuart, 39, said she was shocked by the death. She added: ‘I saw all the police cars and ambulances but I had no idea that someone died. ‘Helen was such a lovely girl, this really is tragic. It must have been a bad batch of drugs. I hope everyone else involved is all right.’ Another neighbour, Angela Liu, 35, said: ‘There was absolute chaos on Sunday night, at least six police cars and four ambulances. ‘I think it must have been quite a party house. I could always hear loud music and see lots of people going round. This is very upsetting, especially as she was so young.’ The Global Drug Survey, released yesterday, found that nearly a quarter of people in Britain asked said they had bought drugs over the internet, compared to only 14 per cent in the US and 4 per cent of people in New Zealand. Dr Adam Winstock, an addiction specialist who founded the Global Drug Survey, said: ‘The fact that 44 per cent who bought drugs online said they’d done it for the first time recently says to me there is growing recruitment. ‘It is currently a minority way to get drugs, but it really mimics the growth in e-commerce. We buy things online because it is convenient, cheap, and there is a better product range. ‘We come out as some of the largest drug takers, taking a broader range of drugs that are reasonably cheap.’ | Helen Henderson, 19, fell ill at house on Sunday night and died shortly later .
Four other people - two men and two women - were taken to hospital .
Police Scotland have issued warning to those using the 'unpredictable' drug . |
14,961 | 2a75f5c4407b20eb080f72db5ebf83c2620a6127 | Researchers are baffled as the sun has gone quiet during a time in its 11-year-cycle when it should be at its most active. Just a few weeks ago it was bursting with sunspots but now it seems to be going days without even developing a single dark spot. Solar physicist Tony Phillips has named it an 'All Quiet Event.' Sunspots attract attention because they highlight the part of the sun where solar activity, such as this solar flare, originates . 'It is weird, but it's not super weird,' he told The Los Angeles Times. 'To have a spotless day during maximum is odd, but then again, this solar maximum we are in has been very wimpy.' Phillips is an expert about such activity and writes about it on his site, SpaceWeather.com. Sunspots attract attention because they highlight the part of the sun where solar activity originates. That can mean solar flares or even coronal mass ejections, which happen when material from the son shoots into space. The phenomena occur by high;y concentrated magnetic fields which are slightly cooler than the surface of the sun. Energy builds up as the fields become tangled, and when that energy is released in an explosion it results in a solar flare. Just a few weeks ago it was bursting with sunspots but now it seems to be going days without even developing a single dark spot . Phillips noted that hit solar maximum seems to be the weakest of the past century, making spotless days to be expected. Back on Aug. 14, 2011, the sun was completely free of spots and that year still managed to have a high rate of solar activity overall. Phillips described it as a case of 'temporary intermission.' It's still unknown if this period will be similar. 'It . all underlines that solar physicists really don't know what the heck is . happening on the sun,' he said. 'We just don't know how to . predict the sun, that is the take away message of this event.' Alex Young, a a heliophysicist at Goddard Space Flight Center, echoed that sentiment. 'We've . only been observing the sun in lots of detail in the last 50 years,' Young said. 'That's not that long considering it's been around for 4.5 . billion years.' | Just a few weeks ago it was bursting with sunspots but now it seems to be going days without even developing a single dark spot .
Solar physicist Tony Phillips has named it an 'All Quiet Event'
Was similarly quiet on Aug. 14, 2011, before going on to have a high rate .
of solar activity overall that year . |
200,276 | 8f428c59103db45bb192f6df7b53c80b92b2d090 | Authorities in Brazil have denounced church leaders as criminals for chopping down more than 300 centuries-old trees in a national park - so pilgrims can celebrate mass during the Pope’s visit to Rio de Janeiro. Pope Francis will make his first international trip to the world’s largest Roman Catholic country later this month. Organisers of an event in the diocese of Sao Sebastiao de Itaipu, in the city of Niteroi, claimed they needed to clear an area of Atlantic rainforest to accommodate the expected crowd of up to 800 pilgrims. Axed: A total of 334 trees at the edge of the Serra da Tiririca national park (file picture), but also on church-owned land, were felled in Brazil . Upset: Niteroi's vice-mayor claimed the church did not seek permission to 'deforest' the land on the edge of the national park (file picture) A total of 334 trees at the edge of the Serra da Tiririca national park, but also on church-owned land, were felled. Niteroi's vice-mayor, Axel Grael, claimed the church did not seek permission to ‘deforest’ the land. He told Brazil's O Globo newspaper: ‘The incident is lamentable. An event for youth should be educational and demonstrate a commitment to the environment and the future. This removal is a criminal act.’ Andre Ilha, from Rio de Janeiro's state environment institute - which is responsible for the forest - said the destruction would never have been allowed. Travels: Pope Francis (pictured on July 7 at the Vatican) will make his first international trip to the world's largest Roman Catholic country later this month . He said: ‘What was razed was the buffer zone of the Tiririca park. We would never have authorised that. It is a fragment of the endangered Atlantic rainforest. We will charge them with a crime.’ 'The incident is lamentable. An event for youth should be educational and demonstrate a commitment to the environment and the future' Axel Grael, Niteroi's vice-mayor . The diocese has reportedly offered to replant trees in the area following the event. It is not the first time World Youth Day organisers have been criticised for a disregard for the environment. Earlier this month a petition was made to Rio de Janeiro's council to remove 11 coconut trees from the side of Leme beach, where the Pope is due to celebrate mass. Permission was granted, but after an outcry Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes reversed the decision. | Pope Francis to visit world's largest Roman Catholic country this month .
Organisers of event in Niteroi claimed they needed to clear rainforest area .
They want to accommodate the expected crowd of up to 800 pilgrims . |
167,332 | 6468bfc05e4ecb56a869145f999c13ddabf3113e | A Texas mother-of-four is going to face manslaughter charges for the deaths of two of her children after slamming her vehicle into two parked cars last night. Police said that 30-year-old Crytsal Suniga's blood alcohol was twice the legal limit when she lost control of her SUV and crashed near Gilbert Elementary School on East Pioneer Drive in Irving, Texas, about 8pm on Sunday night. Suniga's two sons - identified by family members as Angel Reyes, 14, and Ricardo Hernandez, 10 - died at the scene, police spokesman James McLellan told WFAA. Her 16-year-old son's pelvis was crushed and her daughter was also injured in the collision and officers said Suniga could have been driving at up to three-times the speed limit. Scroll Down for Video . Victims: Ricardo Hernandez, 10 (left) and Angel Reyes, 14 (right), died in the high-speed crash in which their mother could have been driving up to 100mph while intoxicated . 'They are only estimates at the moment; it could be anywhere from 60-70 miles per hour, up to 90-100 miles per hour, but the investigation is still in the early stages,' Irving Police Officer James McLellan said on Sunday. Police said Suniga is currently being treated for unspecified injuries at the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Witness Noe Osuna said that the scene of the crash was horrifying. 'We heard a little girl screaming for help, and we ran with my brothers to try to get people out,' said Osuna to NBC DFW. 'We didn’t know until the little girl said that there were still two kids in the car, that’s when we tried to break the window, open the other windows. That’s when we saw the bodies,' he said. Police have said that all the children were wearing seatbelts. Raging fire: The wreckage of Crystal Suniga's SUV reveals the crash scene where she smashed into two parked cars while driving under the influence of alcohol at speeds of up to 100mph . 'In this case, that didn’t seem to restrain them enough to keep them from being partially ejected and killed,' said Officer McLellan. Investigators have said that Suniga's blood alcohol level was measured at 0.18 - which is twice the legal limit. Irving police said she is charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of injury to a child as well. 'Certainly it’s tragic,' McLellan said to The Dallas Morning News. 'Here’s someone who caused the death of her two children. It was completely avoidable and unnecessary, but she still needs to be held accountable.' Clean-up: This is the front porch in Irving, Texas this morning after the SUV was removed and the fire damage had been dealt with . Another witness to the crash, Eric Sorto, said he heard what sounded like a bomb going off outside his home when Suniga crashed into the cars. His father's pickup truck was damaged and the force of the impact sent the tailgate onto the roof of his home. 'It was like a nightmare,' he said, 'like seeing something you’d see in a movie.' Adan Ozuna, who lives next door to Sorto, said Suniga's 12-year-old daughter girl kept screaming for him to help her brothers who were pinned under the car. Scene: Suniga allegedly lost control of her sport utility vehicle and crashed near Gilbert Elementary School on East Pioneer Drive in Irving, Texas, (pictured) Scene: Suniga was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas (pictured) with minor injuries . 'We tried to lift the car to try to save them, but the SUV was too heavy,' he said. 'We couldn’t move it.' Leslie Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Irving Independent School District, said the two boy who died attended Gilbert Elementary School and Austin Middle school. Grief counselors will be at each location on Monday, she said. | Crystal Suniga charged with intoxication manslaughter .
Police said her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when she crashed near a school in Irving, Texas on Saturday night .
Suniga's sons Angel Reyes, 14, and Ricardo Hernandez, 10, died at the scene .
Her other children, a girl and a 16-year-old boy, were injured . |
43,445 | 7a880cbc7e51dbbac651013d05fb1502200800a5 | Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Christina Aguilera has split with husband Jordan Bratman, but there was no immediate talk of divorce, her representative said Tuesday. "Although Jordan and I are separated, our commitment to our son Max remains as strong as ever," Aguilera said in a statement released Tuesday through her representative. The 29-year-old singer-actress and the 33-year-old music executive married five years ago. Their son, Max, was born two years ago. Aguilera co-stars with Cher in "Burlesque," a major feature film set for a Thanksgiving release. CNN's Denise Quan contributed to this report. | Despite split, there is no word on a divorce .
Aguilera and Bratman married five years ago and have a 2-year-old son . |
195,021 | 88723d17772571760e2b55025643c45bc27444f8 | (CNN) -- TV personality Kelly Ripa recently told In Touch Weekly she uses Botox possibly as often as she trims her nails. She also said her kids are useful gauges for when it's time for a tune-up. She told the magazine: "When my kids start asking me if I'm mad at them, and I say, 'Why do you think I'm mad at you?' They say it's because I'm frowning. I go, 'Oh no! I am? I'll be right back!'" Pointing the needle in the other direction, recall actress Julia Roberts' anti-Botox comments a couple of years ago: "I want my kids to know when I'm pissed, when I'm happy and when I'm confounded," she told Elle Magazine. "Your face tells a story ... and it shouldn't be a story about your drive to the doctor's office." Here we have two glamorous celebrity moms in their 40s with opposite feelings about America's most popular cosmetic surgery procedure, yet both seem to agree that altering the face alters the way we relate to our children. Have we really talked about this, though? I mean, really talked about it. Just how does dulling facial expressions, appearing to freeze them in some cases -- yes we can tell, Fembots -- affect that vital two-way communication street between mother and child? Could not being able to furrow your brow in disapproval when little Johnny throws a fistful of mashed potatoes at your chest make you a less effective mom? "(Botox) likely does limit and distort parent-infant communication, possibly making the parent look 'flat' emotionally," says Dr. Ed Tronick, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts. "Facial expressions for parents and young children are really critical ways in which we communicate our intentions or whether we're angry or sad, and that involves this very complex array of all the muscles that go into making facial expressions. So if you limit that range of expression, especially with very young children who are really attuned to reading facial expressions, then you limit the amount of information, the amount of emotion that you communicate using a facial expression." Celebs and civilians alike expected to 'bounce back' after baby . I was introduced to the notion that babies and infants scan mom's face -- more so than the teenager whose head is buried in a smartphone -- while pregnant with my daughter. A friend had given me a copy of "The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine and I was fascinated to read that female babies are especially sensitive to their mother's moods and facial cues. In the months after giving birth, I really went for it in the grinning department, quite possibly setting my daughter up for a successful career as a clown. Of course, let's not forget that tots receive information from mom in other ways, like caressing, singing, voice tone and deep sighs when presented with a particularly mortifying loaded diaper. Tronick, who also serves as director of the University of Massachusetts-Boston hospital's child development unit, says these other channels would make it difficult to separate out and measure a possible Botox effect. Still, a Botox study came out last year that found the toxin lowers a key emotion: empathy. Published in the journal of Social Psychology and Personality Science, the paper was based in part on an experiment in which adults who had Botox were compared with adults with the dermal filler Restylane, which unlike Botox doesn't affect muscle function. At the root of the experiment, says psychologist and co-author of the study David Neal, is the notion that we read a person's emotions partly by mimicking their facial expressions. Inject some good 'ol Clostridium botulinum, and Neal says you likely "subtly impair your ability to mimic other people's facial expressions." Moms gone wild: '40-year-old reversion' "Mimicry actually serves important social functions," he says. "When we mimic someone, they trust us more, like us more, and are more likely to be helpful. Mother-child interaction follows these same rules because children learn to mimic and respond positively to mimicry from a very early age -- and it may be innate." Right -- most new parents squeal with delight the first time their baby copies them by poking their tongue out or blowing a little raspberry. "So, while no experiments have directly tested this yet," says Neal, "it is plausible that Botoxed mothers are subtly undermining their ability to connect emotionally with their children." Perhaps we can also learn something from so-called "still-face" or "blank face" experiments. In those, researchers study an infant's reaction while their mothers face them and display no facial expressions whatsoever for a controlled length of time. While unsettling to watch, the studies are said to help teach us how infants' social and emotional development might be linked to the emotional state of their caregivers. It also offers clues as to the effects of a mother's post-partum depression on her child. Tronick started conducting "still-face" experiments more than 30 years ago, and says he finds infants as young as 3-4 months typically respond to their despondent mothers by gesturing to her and trying to illicit a response from her. "And if it lasts a minute or two, sometimes the babies end up getting upset or crying because of the lack of response on the part of the mother," he says. Finding a mom friend in the big city . But when it comes to Botox, Chicago-based plastic surgeon Steven Dayan isn't convinced the procedure could lead to a mother-child disconnection. "I categorically, overwhelmingly disagree that that's even a possibility," he says. "You'd have to put so much Botox in to reduce that much animation that the person would look like a stroke victim. Even when I've put Botox into the upper third of the face where it's most commonly used, you still have complete animation in the lower two-thirds of your face." Dayan, who says quite a few of his patients are new moms anxious for Botox as soon as they stop breastfeeding, maintains that if you emerge from the doctor's office without being able to move a single muscle on your face, you've likely been treated by an irresponsible physician or one who has received poor training. "Botox should be done in a slight moderate dose so people can still animate," he says. "You just reduce the appearance of the anger. We're just blunting the expression ... really nobody should know that it was done." Furthermore, Dayan says, what's so bad about a kid not seeing his mother's face scrunched in anger? "If these moms can't make the angry face, or they can't project this angry image, maybe they are presenting a more positive image to their kids," he says. "Maybe they're happier, maybe they're going to be better parents." Possibly, but trying to project a positive image when your child is lowering the pet hamster into the garbage disposal isn't necessarily productive. Stay-at-home mom Abbie Gale said her three sons -- twins age 12 and an 8-year-old -- didn't notice anything different after she had Botox, aside from the bag of peas plastered to her forehead (to prevent bruising, she says). She was, however, surprised to discover her marriage benefited from the procedure. "What I found was this strange warm and fuzzy reaction my husband was having to me looking more relaxed," said Gale, 39. "It wasn't my intention but ... Botox makes me look like I have things under control, far more than I probably do. "I was trying to look my best so that my husband would always find me attractive. I didn't realize that those brow lines were more than just wrinkles. If one of Botox's side effects is making me look rested and more approachable, then sign me up forever." You go, girl! But when it comes to infants, Tronick doesn't think a brighter face because of Botox leads to giving off a more positive impression. "It's just a momentary phenomenon," he says. "Very quickly you're saying, 'What is this person really feeling? What does this expression mean to me?' And I think to the infant, they're not getting any information from the facial expression and they're wondering, in a sense, 'Is this a positive facial expression or a negative one?' There's nothing to read because it's not changing." Sort of like how repeating a word over and over renders it ineffective. Like yesterday when I said "no" 827 times as I watched my daughter slowly carry my favorite sandal toward the trash can. Where did the shoe end up? In the trash can. I haven't tried Botox and can't say whether I ever will because I don't own a crystal ball. But I'd like to think my 2-year-old has had all channels of maternal communication fully available to her since her birth. Sure, it makes sense that some moms turn to the needle for some assistance and perhaps when kids are older it's not a big deal. But when they're teeny and vulnerable and might be hanging on our every head tilt and smile and squint, would it be wise to hold off on cosmetically enhancing our facial features? The answer, perhaps, is on the little face looking back at us from the high chair. Do you think facial Botox treatment could affect mother-child communication? Share your take in the comments section below. | Babies pick up on and mimic the facial expressions of their caregivers .
Botox smooths wrinkles and creases from the skin, which may limit facial expressions .
Dulling facial expressions could affect parent communication, a researcher says .
A plastic surgeon disagrees, saying treatment that would cause such reaction is an outlier . |
264,507 | e297f17e476efe663bc043de4331e15cd5906583 | This was a wedding Vienna will remember for years — however much it might want to forget it. The theme was pure Disney, with four white-plumed Lipizzan horses pulling a carriage containing the loving couple, who were separated by a mere 57 years. As guests gathered last weekend in the 1,441-room Schonbrunn Palace for the lavish reception, the bride and groom released two symbolic white doves into the air. The 24-year-old bride, former Playboy Bunny Cathy Schmitz, wore an explosion of purple and white chiffon over a jewelled strapless bustier, topped off with a white fur jacket. Scroll down for video . Highest fee: Richard Lugner reportedly pay $500,000 to have Kim Kardashian attend as his date this year . Her groom, 81-year-old Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner, wore a top hat and an expression of sadness. To be fair, he always looks like that, having had plastic surgery on his eyelids in an attempt to look like George Clooney. ‘Apart from a big age difference, everything fits,’ he said of his fifth marriage. But aside from the glorious eccentricity of his latest nuptials, the union throws up a tantalising question: will the new Mrs Lugner put a stop to the oddest and tackiest date in the international showbusiness calendar? Every year, her new husband — nicknamed ‘Concrete’ due to his roots in the building trade — famously bribes a glamorous and usually busty female celebrity to be his companion at the glittering Vienna Opera Ball. If spending an evening being whirled around the dance floor by a doddery octogenarian with virtually no English, or sipping champagne with him in his private box, doesn’t sound seductive enough, the trip also includes an obligatory tour of his local shopping mall, Lugner City. How could any girl say no? Expensive date: Sophia Loren was reportedly paid $110,000 to attend the ball as his date in 1995 . Close-up: The eccentric Lugner, pictured with Farrah Fawcett in 2001, has starred in his own TV reality show . More shocking than his gall in trying to buttonhole the cream of Hollywood pulchritude is the fact that so many stars have actually said yes. And big names to boot. Since the cheesy tradition started in 1991 with the voluptuous Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida, she was followed during the Nineties by Joan Collins, Sophia Loren, Raquel Welch, Grace Jones, Faye Dunaway and even Sarah, Duchess of York. Host with the most: Billionaire Richard Lugner with Geri Halliwell at the glittering Vienna Opera Ball . The following decade saw Jacqueline Bisset, Farrah Fawcett, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell take the Austrian’s not ungenerous schillings. Snooty Viennese society has attacked Mr Lugner as a flashy, publicity-obsessed parvenu who has brought Austria’s most prestigious social event into disrepute. There have been calls for the ‘ageing horny builder’, as one outraged grandee called him, to lose his box at the ball. However, the eccentric Lugner — who has starred in his own TV reality show, formed his own political party and has gone to other balls in drag — is not at all daunted. Neither are the stars who continue to accept his invitations — and his money. Over the years, the celebrity guests themselves have had little to say about their date with Lugner — but you can understand their reticence to discuss such shamelessly mercenary behaviour. A seasoned ball observer yesterday compared it with the A-List Hollywood stars who sneak off to Tokyo to appear in tacky Japanese commercials for which they are paid fortunes — knowing they will never be seen in the U.S. Of course, some of these world-famous women may be curious to attend the world’s most famous ball, held amid the splendour of chandeliers, gilded ceilings and marble statues in Vienna’s neo-Classical Opera House. But the chief draw is invariably financial. Lugner pays a five or six-figure sum to his guest, as well as flying her and a few hangers-on to and from Vienna by private jet, and putting her up at a suite in one of the city’s most luxurious hotels. This year, the fee reportedly rose as high as $500,000 when he paid reality TV phenomenon Kim Kardashian to attend — albeit with disastrous results, more of which later. But in celebrity-starved Austria, Lugner strives to get his money’s worth by agreeing a contract which outlines his guest’s obligations to him. 'A great dancer': Mr Lugner said that he loves it when his guests are gracious enough to dance with him. Above, the billionaire with actress Faye Dunaway, who was his date to the event in 1999 . They must accompany him to a pre-ball Press conference and spend a few hours signing autographs in his shopping mall, Lugner City. Joining him on the dance floor for the Blue Danube is not obligatory, although Mr Concrete makes it plain it would be appreciated. Many stars, it seems, don’t play ball, doing the bare minimum contractually before they can flee back to London, New York or Los Angeles. The Duchess of York, Lugner’s guest in 1997 for a reported $40,000 (a bargain compared to the $110,000 he reportedly paid for Sophia Loren two years earlier), did at least speak to the media at the ball. ‘It is wonderful to see all the men in their finery with their white ties on and listen to the excellent music,’ she told Austrian TV blandly. Open: The Duchess of York, Lugner’s guest in 1997 for a reported $40,000, did at least speak to the media . Of course, she had debts to pay off at the time and a book to promote. Still, to sweeten the deal, Lugner paid for a three-room suite at Vienna’s lavish Imperial Hotel (where Adolf Hitler used to stay) and two stretch limos to ferry her around. Of course, even when you’re showering money on stars you have to be prepared for prima donna behaviour. In 1993, Joan Collins reportedly demanded an American limousine and wanted special pencils for her autograph-signing session. She stipulated that she wouldn’t be asked to sign any books that had been written by her sister, Jackie, and also asked for a wraparound table to hide her legs. "A real-life beast": In 1993, Joan Collins reportedly demanded an American limousine and a specific table . Lugner refused to comment on reports he had paid the actress £57,000. ‘I never talk about money,’ he said. ‘It isn’t nice for Miss Collins to read what she is getting.’ When Sharon Stone backed out of Lugner’s invitation to attend the 1996 ball, he recruited Amazonian singer Grace Jones at the last minute. She insisted on bringing along her boyfriend, and poor Mr Lugner didn’t get a look-in. ‘He makes too much love, this boyfriend, and Grace spends a lot of time with him,’ he griped later. ‘They make love also in the Opera House behind the curtains. I mean, we didn’t see. We heard.’ He brought Amazonian singer Grace Jones with him to the ball in 1996 . Lugner rarely criticises his companions, but occasionally feels moved to speak out. Geri Halliwell, who graced the ball in 2005, was a nightmare, he claimed. ‘Geri Halliwell was the most difficult. She even refused to do interviews,’ he said two years ago. 'Joan Collins is a real-life beast, not just on TV. Grace Jones had sex — before the ball, during the ball and after the ball!’ Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen — ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone — was the ‘nicest’ guest he had ever had. He also loves it when his guests are gracious enough to dance with him. Faye Dunaway and Grace Jones were ‘great dancers’, he recalled. Standout: Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen — ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone — was the ‘nicest’ guest he had ever had . Other guests have complained of being treated like pieces of meat at the ball. Dita Von Teese, the burlesque dancer who accompanied him in 2008, complained that she was ‘trampled in a mob scene by the Press’, which was ‘very frightening’. It’s fair to say Lugner isn’t the dish he may once have been. There have been unkind sneers about the declining calibre of stars he takes to the ball nowadays. He also seems to be paying a lot more than he used to. But even trainwreck actress Lindsay Lohan didn’t manage to honour her reported $150,000 deal to attend in 2010. After missing the jet he’d laid on, she refused to take a scheduled flight or even share another private flight, and didn’t go. The following year, he withdrew his invitation to actress Bo Derek after claiming she’d demanded $25,000 more than agreed. Lugner boasted he had 20 other candidates. Given he opted for Karima El Mahroug, the teenage dancer accused of being paid for sex by Silvio Berlusconi, one can only wonder what the rest were like. After this year, those who say he is ruining the ball’s reputation have even more ammunition. After paying Kim Kardashian a small fortune to attend, Mr Lugner complained that she was ‘annoying’. She was ‘refusing to stick with the programme’ by going off to film her reality TV show at a local restaurant instead of being with him. She even refused to dance with the old boy after he’d announced at a Press conference that she would. Instead, she offered her mother as a dancing partner. The Kardashian camp told a different tale, saying Kim had fled the ball after being approached by a ‘blacked-up’ white man mimicking her now-husband, rapper Kanye West. It was also claimed that Kardashian felt Lugner was overly tactile, and asked her to dismiss her minders so they could be alone. Perhaps, given such controversy, the fact that he is newly married might bring this eccentric annual tradition to an end — or perhaps there are some female celebrities left who still think an invitation from Mr Concrete is just too good to turn down. | Austrian billionaire Richard Lugner, 81, bribes celebrities to be his date .
Together they attend the glittering annual Vienna Opera Ball .
Lugner pays a five or six figure sum to his guest, and flies her on private jet .
Faye Dunaway, Farrah Fawcett and Raquel Welch among those who said yes . |
157,455 | 579737cf2ec414090502f5b34ff956e5f7c42bf3 | Gangster Domenyk Noonan has been arrested on suspicion of raping a man just two weeks after his big wheel protest brought Manchester city centre to a standstill. Police said a 49-year-old man was arrested yesterday afternoon in the city centre and remains in custody for questioning. It is understood the suspect is notorious criminal Noonan. Detectives are investigating a complaint that a man in his 20s was raped at an address in Stretford, Greater Manchester on Monday. Scroll down for video . Arrest: Police said a 49-year-old man was arrested yesterday afternoon in the city centre and remains in custody for questioning. It is understood the suspect is notorious criminal Domenyk Noonan (pictured) Gangster: On Saturday, Noonan (left) was charged with public nuisance following a stunt which took place on Manchester’s Big Wheel tourist attraction (right) two weeks ago . Greater Manchester Police said specially trained officers are supporting the alleged victim and inquiries are continuing. On Saturday, Noonan was charged with public nuisance following a stunt which took place on Manchester’s Big Wheel tourist attraction. He was released on bail pending a court appearance, but only on the condition he does not enter Piccadilly Gardens - the part of Manchester city centre where the Big Wheel is located. Noonan, . who has changed his name by deed poll to Domenyk Lattlay-Fottfoy, spent . more than six hours perched 100 feet above the ground on the structure . two weeks ago. He was apparently protesting against police plans to return him to prison after he was told he had breached his licence. Investigation: Detectives are investigating a complaint that a man in his 20s was raped at an address in Stretford, Greater Manchester on Monday. Domenyk Noonan has been arrested in relation to the incident . During the protest, a dozen people were trapped in the wheel’s pods for two hours, including an elderly couple and a boy of three. Officers said his 'outrageous' actions endangered the lives of tourists. On Saturday, Domenyk Noonan was charged with public nuisance following his Big Wheel stunt . Up to 1,000 people watched the drama unfold as a large area at the foot of the wheel was cordoned off, before firefighters using ropes and harnesses eventually freed the gangster. Noonan, who has been the subject of a TV reality crime documentary, was released from prison in April this year after spending 18 months behind bars. However, Noonan, originally from Moston, was recalled to prison for a nine-and-a-half year sentence imposed in 2005 for possessing a gun. Since being released again, he has vowed to stand as an MP at the 2015 General Election. Noonan is considered a central figure in the notorious Manchester crime family of the same name. The family rose to notoriety after the murder of 'White' Tony Johnson - the . leader of the so-called Cheetham Hill Gang - who was shot dead 1991. Noonan’s brother Desmond was charged but . later acquitted of the killing. Over the next years, Desmond Noonan . faced a number of convictions in connection to witness intimidation and . jury tampering resulting in key witnesses refusing to testify against . him and other members of the Noonan crime family. In 2006 Domenyk Noonan and his brother were the subject of the Donal MacIntyre documentary ‘A Very British Gangster’. Domenyk Noonan, who has a 20-year-old . son named Bugsy, openly admitted to being gay during an interview with . the Irish investigative journalist. Desmond Noonan was stabbed to death just days before the screening of 'A Very British Gangster', in which he boasted of boasted of being 'untouchable'. He also said he had been behind 27 gangland murders, and claimed to have a 'bigger army', and more guns than the police. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Domenyk Noonan, 49, held on suspicion of raping a 20-year-old man .
Arrested in Manchester city centre yesterday and remains in custody .
Detectives investigating complaint that man was raped in Stretford .
Arrest comes days after Noonan was charged with Big Wheel stunt .
Gangster spent six hours protesting on the structure two weeks ago .
Officers said his 'outrageous' actions endangered the lives of tourists . |
117,039 | 2316b7cf032b8f906e62f9096a53d21c5a8b21bb | LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Andy Lipkis was 15 years old on the first Earth Day in 1970 -- the year he says he realized what his calling in life would be. A file photo of the rainwater cistern while it was being constructed at TreePeople's headquarters. Three years later, Lipkis and his teenage friends would found the non-profit, community-based organization known as TreePeople. Based in Los Angeles, California, the environmental organization's primary purpose has been to educate communities on the planting and care of trees and to work with government agencies on issue No. 1 in the West: water. Exploding populations from Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, to suburban Los Angeles have turned the issue of water supply from problem to crisis. "The way we use water is so wasteful and so inappropriate today, according to the California Water Plan, there is already so much demand for water, it already exceeds supply," says Lipkis. And human consumption isn't the only problem, because as cities grow, so does the amount of pavement and concrete that seals the natural watersheds. That in turn prevents rainwater from refreshing underground aquifers, nature's water tanks. And rainwater is exactly what Lipkis is hoping people will start to think about. Right now, building codes in Los Angeles County, as in most parts of the country, require rainwater to be moved from rooftops to the street. As a result, even in mostly sunny southern California, a massive amount of water gets flushed into storm drains every year. "When it rains an inch," Lipkis says, "Los Angeles hemorrhages 7.6 billion gallons of water." Part of the solution to the water crisis, he says, is collecting as much rainwater as possible because "it represents half or more of all the water we need in this big city." Lipkis and the TreePeople imagine a time when as many as a million homes and businesses have rainwater cisterns all electronically networked and ready to provide treated drinking water to the public. Lipkis points out that cisterns are not a new idea. If fact, civilizations throughout history have used cisterns to collect rainwater. Cisterns exist now as part of building codes in places like Bermuda, which lack fresh water resources such as lakes or rivers. Lipkis believes it's an idea whose time has come here in the deserts of the West. Watch how rainwater cisterns work » . TreePeople, in collaboration with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, has built five demonstration sites in Los Angeles, which include a large hilltop cistern at the organization's Coldwater Canyon Park headquarters. "When it rains an inch," Lipkis said, "those five little projects capture 1.25 million gallons." And it is all that free water that has government agencies thinking about rain. In Los Angeles, storm runoff presents many problems. When it rains heavily the water goes from the streets into the canals of the Los Angeles River and straight into the ocean. With that runoff is all the garbage and toxic pollutants picked up along the way. Another problem, Lipkis argues, is the heavy reliance on the almost 100-year-old California Aqueduct, which routes water from the Eastern Sierras. His main concern is the incredible amount of energy that is spent moving water. "We're bringing water in from hundreds of miles away. Moving water and using water," he says, "consumes, overall, 19 percent of all the electricity in the state and one-third of the natural gas." That is the single largest use of electricity in the state, which happens to be the most populous in the country and which, were it an independent nation, would be the eighth-largest economy in the world. That's quite a carbon footprint. Lipkis believes a hybrid water management system is the best solution, one that would include cisterns, natural watershed management and existing water infrastructure, including a less power hungry aqueduct. And perhaps most importantly, it would include the cooperation of water supply agencies, flood control agencies and sanitation agencies, which he believes have done too much conflicting, single-purpose cost-benefit analyses in the past. Lipkis sees only an upside to a large-scale cistern and rainwater infiltration project, and not only because of the environmental benefits. A study in the late 1990s conducted by TreePeople estimated up to 50,000 new jobs that would be created by a sustainable infrastructure system. "Why would we invest billions of dollars on old infrastructure we know doesn't work anymore?" he asks. "It's very important to start putting this new alternative on the table." | Water supply problem in the West has turned into a crisis .
Rainwater represents half of all the water that Los Angeles needs .
California Aqueduct is almost a century old and wastes enormous amount of energy . |
151,150 | 4f6da6891dba581e719de5e6b2c4848cb1b5f825 | By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 20:52 EST, 5 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 21:04 EST, 5 December 2012 . Matthew Graville couldn't read well or remember numbers. He could drive his friends crazy with his incessant talking. But all he really wanted, by all accounts, was to fit in. When detectives found the 27-year-old autistic man's body buried in the woods months after he disappeared, they uncovered what investigators say was a horrific story of family violence. His half brother, Jeffrey Vogelsberg, had repeatedly tortured and abused Graville, prosecutors say, and the beatings finally went too far. Horrific crime: Matthew Graville (pictured left) who had Asperger's Syndrome, was allegedly tortured and murdered by his stepbrother Jeffrey Vogelsberg (right) in Mazomanie, Wisconsin . '[Vogelsberg] is someone who deserves to be hung up... and left to be tortured,' said Richard Swangstu, who befriended Graville when they were teenagers living in a foster home. 'Matt was a brother to me. I didn't lose a friend. I lost family.' Vogelsberg is charged with first-degree intentional homicide. An extradition hearing in Washington state, where Vogelsberg moved after Graville's death last summer, is scheduled for Thursday. Vogelsberg's attorney, Lisa Contris, didn't return several messages, and Vogelsberg didn't respond to a letter requesting an interview. Another man who owned the house where Vogelsberg and Graville lived is accused of helping to hide Graville's body. Robert McCumber told investigators he . went to bed listening to Vogelsberg beat Graville in the bathroom, but . he also said the beatings were nothing new. House of horrors: This photo shows the home in Mazomanie, Wisconsin, where prosecutors say Vogelsberg beat and tortured Granvile to death . When he woke up on July 1, Graville was dead on his couch; Vogelsberg was gone – on his way to Missouri to see his wife graduate from U.S. Army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood. Graville was born with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism marked by an inability to read social cues, repetitive routines and clumsiness. Criminals have long preyed on the disabled.The violent victimization rate for the . disabled 2010 was 28 per 1,000 people, almost twice the rate among . non-disabled people, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Accomplice? Landlord Robert McCumber allegedly helped Vogelsberg by hiding Graville's body . Still, Graville's case left Wisconsin investigators shocked. 'In 33 years, 25 as a detective, I . find it difficult to find another case where an individual took . advantage of a developmentally disabled male for their own . entertainment,' Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney told reporters at a . news conference to announce the charges. 'Matthew lived a living hell.' Graville's early life is murky. At some point he ended up foster care. Those records are confidential and his biological mother, Vicki Graville, declined to comment, saying she doesn't want to jeopardize the investigation into her son's death. When he was 16 or 17, Graville moved into a foster home, where he roomed with Swangstu. At first Graville drove him 'up the wall' with his incessant talking, Swangstu said, but as he learned more about Asperger's, he took Graville under his wing. They went to high school together and they worked at the local McDonald's. Graville was happy, Swangstu said. He loved listening to rap music, watching funny movies, whittling walking sticks or sitting outside. 'Enjoying the simplicities of life,' Swangstu said of the time they spent together. 'Sitting around a . bonfire. Drinking soda. Watching fireworks go off. Playing catch in our . yard. ... Matt was a loving, kind, gentle soul.' Eventually . Graville moved out of the foster home and somehow connected with . Vogelsberg, his 28-year-old half-brother. Vogelsberg and Graville went . on to rent McCumber's house in Mazomanie, a village of about 1,650 . people 25 miles west of Madison. Brutal end: Police retrieved the 28 year old's corpse from rural woods in Lone Rock, Wisconsin . Court records show Vogelsberg had been in trouble with the law before. He had been convicted of siphoning gas from vehicles, shooting a man with a BB gun and throwing his dog down his apartment stairs. A former landlord accused him of blowing up her chicken with a bottle rocket. Vogelsberg's grandfather reported Graville missing in July. Weeks went by with no sight of him. In September, investigators caught a break when county workers notified them someone had used Graville's food stamp card at a Madison grocery store two weeks after he disappeared. Mommy dearest: Matthew's stepmother Laura Robar allegedly stole from his bank accounts after his death . According to the criminal complaint, store surveillance video identified the card user as Vogelsberg's mother, Laura Robar, who has since been charged with identity theft. She led investigators to McCumber, who told them that Vogelsberg regularly abused Graville, beating him and shooting him with a BB gun repeatedly, according to the complaint. Finally, Vogelsberg became convinced Graville was poisoning Vogelsberg's children and started beating him in the bathroom. McCumber said he didn't interfere because Robar was there and he thought she wouldn't let things get out of hand. When he found Graville's body the next day, he called Vogelsberg, who told him to wrap the body in plastic and place it in a chest freezer in the garage, according to the criminal complaint. Several days later, he and Vogelsberg buried Graville in the woods along the Wisconsin River. McCumber said Vogelsberg had a pistol and he was afraid he might kill him. Vogelsberg was arrested on November 5 in Washington state, where he moved after his wife was assigned to a base near Tacoma. He remains in custody with no bail. McCumber is set to be arraigned later this month. His attorney could not be reached for comment. Robar is set to stand trial early next year. Her attorney, Jason Gonazlez, said in court Wednesday that Robar was involved with making 'some really bad decisions' and is cooperating with detectives, but he doesn't believe prosecutors can prove all the elements of identity theft. Assistant District Attorney Robert Kaiser said in court Wednesday that Robar has said she will do anything to protect her son. Swangstu said he will always be angry at Graville's family. 'There won't be a day when I don't resent what his family did,' he said. 'He was doing everything he needed to do until he connected with his real family. His real family ruined it.' | Jeffrey Vogelsberg charged with torturing and killing half-brother Matthew Graville, who suffered from Asperger's syndrome .
Police say Vogelsberg regularly tortured and abused Matthew while they shared a home in Mazomanie, Wisconsin .
Robert McCumber also charged with helping Vogelsberg bury Matthew's body in a wooded area . |
142,840 | 44ba45a90529e9742f1dd4d28706ada06946109e | Ukraine's secret unit of spy dolphins and seals have defected to Russia and are now swimming under Kremlin orders, officials revealed today. The Army has been using the underwater mammals since the 70s, and they remained under Ukrainian command after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The bottlenose dolphins are trained to hunt for mines, plant bombs on hostile ships or attack enemy divers with special knives or pistols fixed to their heads. Scroll down for video . Defecting: The Ukrainian army's dolphins, trained to hunt for mines, plant bombs and attack enemy divers, will be transferred to the Russian Navy . Loyal: The army has been using the underwater mammals since the 70s, and they remained under Ukrainian command after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The use of bottlenose dolphins as naval assets was begun during the Cold War in Sevastopol by the Soviet Union in 1973. With the collapse of the USSR, they were enlisted in the Ukrainian navy. Now after the Russian repossession of the Crimean peninsula this month, it was revealed today that the combat dolphins are now back under Kremlin control along with all 193 military units in the region. ‘The military dolphins serving in Crimea will be transferred to the Russian Navy,’ reported state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti. In fact, Ukraine announced last month it was preparing to cease naval training with the mammals, so the Russian annexation of the Black Sea region has probably saved the unique underwater force. ‘Engineers are developing new equipment for new programmes so that the dolphins can be used more effectively in underwater operations,’ a source said today. In action: One of the 'spy dolphins' is being moved from a pool into the sea, pictured in 1990, before the fall of the USSR . How to: A dolphin model is wearing some of the specially designed kit in a military museum . Search and rescue: Dolphins were sent out on bomb missions where the army did not want to risk the life of a diver . Part of the team: A military dolphin with two divers in this undated Russian military photo . ‘Our specialists have been working on new equipment that transform the dolphin's sonar signal at the point of detecting a submarine into a signal on the operator's screen. ‘But the Ukrainian Fleet didn't have enough money to develop such know how and some projects had to be closed.’ The dolphin specialists believe the Russian military will fund the new developments. While the dolphins show extraordinary intelligence, sometimes they disobeyed their Ukrainian commanders. Last year three of five spy dolphins went absent without leave in the Black Sea - apparently in search of love, but returned to their duties shortly afterwards. Yury Plyachenko, a former Soviet naval anti-sabotage officer, explained that this was something that had to be taken into account in working with the 007 mammals. ‘If a male dolphin saw a female dolphin during the mating season, then he would immediately set off after her. But they come back in a week or so.’ | The Ukraine Army has been using dolphins and seals since the 70s .
After the fall of the USSR, the 'dolphin spies' remained in the Ukraine .
The dolphins have been trained to hunt for mines and plant bombs .
They can also attack divers with knives or pistols attached to their heads .
Now, military dolphins in Crimea will be transferred to the Russian Navy . |
6,058 | 112a0b18ee4e32553339766c16d81add2b12c2ee | Popular Australian label sass & bide returned to British turf on Friday night - and all eyes were on creative director Anthony Cuthbertson as he made his design debut. Taking over from former founders and designers, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton, Cuthbertson - whose CV includes consulting work for Victoria Beckham and Mulberry - certainly had big shoes to fill. The AW15 collection, Mojo-Kico, was rebellious and effervescent - and proved that Cuthbertson can design with aplomb. Scroll down for video . Australian fashion favourite sass & bide's AW15 collection was bold and fresh thanks to new creative director, Anthony Cuthbertson . Since taking over the design helm, it's clear that Cuthbertson has stayed true to the classic appeal of the brand but injected his own touch. Thanks to Cuthbertson, the AW15 collection's aesthetic has wandered toward an urban, tribal theme (just look to the gold mirrored-perspex embellishments fitted like armor-wear for evidence). From silver struck elements to golden embroidered dresses and coats, sass & bide was targeting the urban warrior . Cuthbertson has clearly moved the label’s focus from evening to the everyday . Since taking over the design helm, it's clear that Cuthbertson has stayed true to the classic appeal of the brand but injected his own touch . Sweeping pleated skirts, floating capes and fringe detailing added a much-needed fluidity to the otherwise structured silhouette, creating an unruly, edgy presence as each model sauntered by. From silver struck elements to golden embroidered dresses and coats, sass & bide was targeting the urban warrior. Sequined pieces broke up the almost exclusively black and white colour scheme, whilst staying within the realms of rock 'n' roll glamour. Silver and gold metallics were incorporated into casual pieces making a subtle appearance in daywear, where they were paired with soft knitwear and the softest of furs. Cuthbertson has clearly moved the label’s focus from evening to the everyday and by bringing the show back to London, he'd succeeded in his vision to pay tribute to the founders of the label - and wouldn't they be proud. Sweeping pleated skirts, floating capes and fringe detailing added a much-needed fluidity . Lilah Parsons, Paula Goldstein, Chelsea Leyland, Amber Le Bon and Natalie Imbruglia sat front row . | Anthony Cuthbertson made his design debut .
Mojo-Kico was rebellious and effervescent .
Collection's aesthetic has wandered toward an urban theme . |
181,814 | 77694c6a251b3cbd9d45ee88383a89c0d427afc4 | (CNN) -- In the wake of the Supreme Court decision that struck down key portions the Defense of Marriage Act, I celebrated this historic milestone like many Americans as a step toward acceptance of all people. Even though I'm straight, I relate to my LGBT brothers and sisters as I also struggle for others' acceptance. By all accounts, I appear to be a completely average 27-year-old female. I was never the kind of person who thought I'd champion for individual rights or equality. Sure, I believe in it, but I'm not the stereotypical "Occupy" protestor or gay rights advocate. On the outside, I look like many of my peers; I wear skinny jeans and Abercrombie. I play on my iPhone, Facebook and Twitter. I tend to blend seamlessly into the background of average female faces. However, I realize that my life as a typical twentysomething will not last long. As time goes on, I will start to become more and more isolated from my peer group as my secret comes out. You see, I don't want children. At first mention, this might seem like a minor comment. However, it is a choice that I feel has alienated me from my peers and will continue to do so as I creep toward middle age. The realization that I am somehow different is how I found myself standing up for my own personal beliefs and, along the way, championing equal rights for all. Although I know that I do not share the same predicament as gays and lesbians, I use the comparison to explain that I, too, am seeking acceptance in a world in which I often feel ostracized and out of place. I identify with many of my gay and lesbian friends in that I've always felt I should be honest about who I was. I don't think it's right to have to say, "Well, we'll have kids someday," just as I don't think it's right for a gay man to have to say, "Someday I'll meet a nice girl and settle down." Like him, this is simply who I am. My "coming out" has been met with mixed reactions from family members. When I told my parents, my dad was quietly accepting and my mom cried endlessly. She didn't understand right away. Later, she accepted it and now supports my stand for equality. My husband and I argued about whether we should tell his parents. I said we should, while he said we should just say "not now." But I think that's being dishonest about who we are and even wonder if he is ashamed or not fully committed to our decision, although he says he is. I tell him he's still "in the closet" -- or perhaps even on the fence. I have a hard time identifying with people who do have children and have felt the brunt of many of their judgments. I have been called selfish and materialistic. But I don't believe that I am selfish by any means for making this responsible choice. It would be far more selfish to have a child for the wrong reasons. The pressure is particularly intense living in a military town in the South. I've had women tell me that I was a horrible person, a horrible wife and a horrible American because it was my "duty" to reproduce. I was shocked to hear such a statement in 2013. I was born in the 1980s -- what I thought was an age of enlightenment in which women no longer were pigeonholed into such archaic stereotypes. I have stated that I don't want children; now I ought to state what I do want. I want people to know that I like children. People assume I hate them. This isn't true. I have worked with children and have found it to be an incredibly rewarding experience. I want others to know that I am a practical person. I don't feel that it is right to raise a child in a home full of stress. I don't have an incredibly high-paying job, and I worry that I'll be burdened by student loan debt when I graduate from my doctoral program. A child is not a cute accessory that you drop off at day care and pick up at night. I realize that there is a commitment associated with raising a child, and it is not a commitment that I wish to make. I take commitments very seriously and think each and every decision through using logic and reasoning, and I've made this decision that same way. 'I am nobody's mother and I never will be' I want to be celebrated for what I have achieved and who I am as a person, not for what I am allegedly lacking. I want those who've offered to pray for me to direct their intentions and sympathies toward those who really need it. I have a great life. I have achieved almost all of my educational goals. I have a husband whom I love and a job that makes me happy. To waste sympathy on me would be abhorrent. I want to start an educated, informed discourse. I don't want to be spoken to in condescending tones and told that this is just a phase. I am not a small child who has developed finicky eating habits. I am a grown, responsible adult woman who has made a decision. Just as gays and lesbians do not "outgrow" their orientations, I don't believe that I will outgrow mine either. I want people to know that I do have a family. There are people who believe that I should not have married my husband because we don't plan to reproduce. I can't help but wonder: Is a family not made up of people who love and care for each other? Is there a minimum quota to be considered a family? Last time I checked, there wasn't. Are two people raising their offspring in an environment of anger, violence or poverty better people than my husband and I, whose house is filled with happiness and love? I want people to know that writing this essay is the boldest thing I have ever done in my life. I realize that by publishing it, I run the risk of being ostracized and alienated by many people. That's OK. It is a risk I am willing to take. Like the equal rights crusaders before me who have challenged the beliefs of society with regard to race, gender and sexual orientation, I realize that my views will not always be popular. I just wish to do my part in creating a society that allows everyone, regardless of personal choices, to be accepted and able to express themselves freely without fear of judgment. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Zoe Zorka. | Zoe Zorka feels discrimination as a woman who doesn't want children .
She's been met with mixed reactions after "coming out" to family and friends .
"To waste sympathy on me would be abhorrent," Zorka writes .
Have a personal essay to share with the world? Submit at CNN iReport . |
266,427 | e514d538271090a1a79d3bf14cea65c55b17eab3 | (CNN) -- Merle and Pat Butler, lifetime residents of Red Bud, Illinois, hold the third winning ticket worth $218 million in last month's Mega Millions lottery, officials announced Wednesday. The retired couple came forward in their hometown's City Hall on Wednesday after spending the past two weeks hiring "real good financial advisers" and a lawyer to help them manage their new fortune: $158 million after taxes. "Instead of thinking of things we could spend it on, we've been thinking of ways to invest it," Merle Butler, 65, said Wednesday. Pat Butler, 62, said that keeping their secret was easier because they've been out of town most of the time since they won. "We were meeting with a lot of people, just not here in town," she said . The Butlers are retired computer analysts. "I was retired, and it looks like I've got another full-time job," Merle Butler said. He realized they won as he watched the 10 o'clock news March 30, soon after the drawing. "The first thing I spotted was I had a mega ball number," he said. At least he won something, he thought. "The further I went, the more they matched," he said. But it took time for reality to sink in. "So, after I looked at it for a couple of minutes, I turned to my wife, who was right there with me, and I says, 'We won,' " he said. "And she kind of looked at me funny, and I says, 'No, we won,' and then she started giggling, and she giggled for about four hours, I think." The Butlers decided to keep it a secret. "I figured the quieter I keep it, the better we are to get it set up and get it going before we did the claim," Merle Butler said. It may have helped that it was April Fools weekend when he was confronted at the local bank, where he went there to put the ticket in their lock box. "Oh, I guess you come over to put your ticket away?" someone at the bank asked them. "I says, 'Yeah, I won this thing and got to get this thing out away.' I just laughed it off, and she doesn't know until right now that I really had that ticket in there," he said. Guessing who held the ticket was the community obsession for the past 18 days in Red Bud, according to Denise Metzger, manager of the Moto Mart convenience store where the winning ticket was sold. Metzger and her staff members used the process of elimination to guess. "We're watching to figure out who hasn't been coming in," she said Tuesday. "If they got the ticket and are making themselves scarce, that's what we've been paying attention to." Mayor Tim Lowry suspected the decision by the winner to have the announcement in his southern Illinois town was evidence it was a Red Bud resident. "Not knowing who it is, it seems like they want to make a splash in Red Bud," Lowry said. Some locals joked on Facebook and the sidewalk that they had the winning ticket. But when Merle Butler spoke, they did not realize he was not joking. "I answered most of the time truthfully, 'Yes, I did,' but they didn't catch it," Merle Butler said. Michigan winner charged with welfare fraud . Red Bud locals commenting on a message board thread threw out several names of suspected winners but never the Butlers. "Names are just going around, we just need to wait and see when they come forward. Congrats to whoever it was!" one poster wrote. "I really don't care who won. I really don't want to know, It wasn't me so I could care less!!!" said another. "I just hope it is someone that needs the money," another commenter said. Moto Mart, which saw a two-fold rise in lottery ticket sales, also was gossip central for lottery rumors. One rumor floating there is that someone ordered 12 new Camaros from the local Chevrolet dealership, Metzger said. "That's a big rumor. I had a big laugh about that one." The sales manager at Weir Chevrolet Buick GMC shot down that gossip. "They were Corvettes," said Brandon Liefer. "I'm just messing with you," Liefer added, clarifying that he has no clue who the new millionaire might be and they've not ordered new cars. The mayor said the "windfall of money" could be a boost for his farming community's economy, but a person "can only buy so many groceries." The Butlers said they would remain in Red Bud, which Merle Butler called "a nice comfortable, family-oriented community." Two other winning tickets were sold for the March 30 drawing that had a record $656 million pre-tax payout. Maryland and Kansas allowed their winners to remain unnamed, but Illinois requires them to come forward. The man and two women who shared ownership of the winning ticket in Maryland are public school employees who are known only as the "Three Amigos." The elementary school teacher, a special education teacher and an administrative worker said they plan to keep their fortune a secret -- and keep working. Metzger and her nine employees at Moto Mart collected their own payoff for selling the winning ticket. Their company gave them $50,000 to share from the $500,000 bonus paid to the store by the Illinois Lottery. | NEW: A retired couple from Red Bud, Illinois, holds the third Mega Millions ticket .
NEW: Merle and Pat Butler come forward after hiring financial advisers and an attorney .
Rumors about the winner spread through the southern Illinois town for two weeks .
Kansas and Maryland lottery officials allow their winners to stay anonymous, but not Illinois . |
209,447 | 9b37a984a7e3a98e5959736a395cb903f787ee1c | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The young senator inspired a new generation of voters with his message of change and extended America's hand to the global community in an effort to promote a different kind of diplomacy. One magazine characterized him as having a "quick charm, the patience to listen, a sure social touch, an interest in knowledge and a greed for facts." A biographer recalled that he "had to touch the secret fears and ambivalent longings of the American heart, divine and speak to the desires of a swiftly changing nation -- his message grounded on his own intuition of some vague and spreading desire for national renewal." Those words could have been written about Barack Obama's rise to the presidency last year but actually come from coverage about the ascendancy of John F. Kennedy to the White House. Kennedy's presidency is remembered as "Camelot," for the Broadway show about an idealized King Arthur's Court that opened the month after Kennedy won the presidency in November 1960. After JFK's assassination in 1963, the Camelot legacy was handed down to younger brother Robert Kennedy, who served as John Kennedy's attorney general and was later elected to the Senate from New York. Ted Kennedy assumed the mantle after Robert Kennedy was assassinated during his run for the presidency in 1968. And with the death of the youngest Kennedy brother, the question arises: Has Obama become the Kennedy family's heir apparent? Many saw Kennedy's endorsement of Obama in the Democratic primaries last year as his handing the keys to Camelot to someone outside the family. Kennedy's son Patrick, a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, has kept a relatively low profile in Congress and has faced substance abuse problems that have led to stints in rehab facilities. JFK's daughter, Caroline, stepped into the political spotlight recently, only later to drop out of the running for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat. Robert Kennedy's son Joe was derailed after a messy personal life involving a high-profile annulment, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, has largely stayed out of the spotlight. Others, like Robert Kennedy Jr., have careers in public service outside of government. But Stephen Hess, a former staffer in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations and an adviser to presidents Ford and Carter, says that right now, there are no other Kennedys to assume Ted Kennedy's place in American politics. "These families can kind of go into a quiet state and then can flare up again. ... It doesn't look like there is a Kennedy in the immediate future and the nation's political history," he said. "No one will ever count out the Kennedys, and so there will be others." "We often keep turning to the same names. ... At the moment, it does not appear that there will be a Kennedy in the Congress other than his son," he added. Hess, who wrote the book "America's Political Dynasties," says that while there are comparisons to be made, Obama is not necessarily the heir apparent. "He's a voice of his own, had his own agenda. ... He will build his own legacy," he said of the president. Sen. Kennedy, deemed the Lion of the Senate, was an early, vocal supporter of Obama's primary and general election campaigns, despite having a longtime history with the Clintons. In late January 2007, Kennedy endorsed Obama and drew parallels to his brother's legendary Camelot and the "new frontier." "I remember another such time, in the 1960s, when I came to the Senate at the age of 30. We had a new president who inspired the nation, especially the young, to seek a new frontier," Kennedy said. "I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it. And with Barack Obama, we can do it again." Douglas Brinkley, a well-known presidential historian and professor at Rice University, says it's not sure that Obama would have won the Democratic nomination without Kennedy's endorsement and that noteworthy part of his speech. "At that famous moment when Sen. Kennedy endorsed Obama, it was handing over the Kennedy legacy to him," he said. The Kennedy dynasty, known for a history of national public service, has spent decades championing the rights of working men and women, with an emphasis on health care, education and community service programs, among other things. The family, often considered America's royals, has faced tragedy and success. "The Kennedys have become the charismatic political family of the 20th century," Brinkley added."I think there are the Adamses and the Roosevelts and the Kennedys. They are one of the three great political families in American history." And part of that greatness, observers say, is the family's dedication to public service and kitchen-table issues that may be at the core of Obama's fit in the Kennedy brand. In the late 1980s, Obama was a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, advocating programs designed to help the poor and uninsured. That emphasis on community service, analysts say, is the bedrock of the Kennedy legacy. "I have no doubt that wherever there is a Kennedy, they will be doing public service and they will be, I think, using their name -- the brand -- to help issues and causes that they care about," Hess said. Obama took that message to heart as he steered through an endless maze of legislation during his first couple of months in the White House. In late April, Obama signed a measure designed to strengthen national community service efforts by boosting federal funding for thousands of volunteers in fields ranging from clean energy to health care and education. The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, recently renamed to honor the Massachusetts senator's sponsorship, will more than triple the number of positions in the AmeriCorps program, from 75,000 to 250,000, by 2017. But Obama meets the Kennedy standard not only in substance; he also has its style and public appeal. In 1961, Time magazine named JFK man of the year, after a tough election battle with GOP candidate Richard Nixon. The article read: "The closeness of his victory did not disturb him; he took over the office with a youth-can-do-anything sort of self-confidence. He learned better; but learn he did. And in so doing," the article says, he made 1961 "the most endlessly interesting and exciting presidential year within recent memory." Ted Sorensen, a former special counsel and adviser to President Kennedy, says there's no question about the similarities between the two. "Both of them were compassionate and cared about the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. ... Both Kennedy and Obama, by spending time abroad during their youth ... gave both of them a very good perspective of Americans' role in the world. ... Both of them were innovators." And it's with those characteristics that Sorensen says Obama has lined himself up with the ideals of the Kennedy clan and has become a "natural fit." Both Obama and Kennedy "reached out to young people; tried to get them involved in politics and government after a period of cynical indifference on the part of young people," Sorensen said. "Both Kennedy and Obama ... were idealists ... and paid less attention to the old politics and won by paying attention to the new politics." | Sen. Ted Kennedy's son Patrick has kept low profile in Congress .
Community service is the bedrock of Kennedy legacy .
President Obama similar to Kennedys in political focus, experts say .
Sen. Kennedy was early endorser of Obama's presidential bid . |
46,886 | 841941bb9c81070fe722865feeca51329746ab84 | By . Jaya Narain . PUBLISHED: . 10:29 EST, 9 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:56 EST, 10 April 2013 . A mother and her six-year-old son were brutally stabbed to death in a horrific double murder at their seaside home. The alarm was raised yesterday morning after a concerned family member apparently alerted police. Officers rushed round to the semi-detached dormer bungalow on a quiet suburban street and broke into the property. Murder probe: Police stand guard outside the house in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire, where a woman and child were found dead yesterday . The little boy was found knifed to death in his upstairs bedroom while his 41-year-old mother was lying dead downstairs. Police sources said the house was a scene of carnage with both victims suffering a sustained and frenzied knife attack. It is understood the woman and her son were found lying in pools of their own blood and had been repeatedly stabbed. A 34-year-old man, believed to be the father of the child and the woman’s partner, was found with serious knife wounds. Probe: A police forensics officer outside the property yesterday as a double murder investigation got underway . He was arrested on suspicion of murder . and was airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital where his condition is . described as serious. Police said they were confronted with a . ‘distressing scene’ as they entered the property, where the body of the . child was found in the front bedroom. Detective Superintendent Paul Withers . said: ‘This is a murder inquiry, but we are not looking for anybody else . in connection with the investigation. ‘It was a very distressing scene. The . deceased people have been attacked with a knife. I can only imagine the . stress the family is going through.’ Police discovered the gruesome . scene at 11.40am yesterday morning in Bolton-le-Sands, near Carnforth, . Lancashire. The house is believed to have been rented by a couple who moved in with their son only three weeks ago. It is understood they were refurbishing the property and carrying out other maintenance in recent days. Neighbours reported seeing the downstairs lights on in the dormer bungalow into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Police said yesterday that they . believed the killings had happened ‘within the last 24 hours’ and post . mortems were being carried out last night. The suspect is being treated for knife . wounds and was said to be in a ‘serious condition’ with detectives . monitoring his situation. Neighbours said they were stunned and shocked that a brutal double murder could occur in a sleepy residential street. Investigation: Police broke into the property yesterday and found a woman and a child had been brutally stabbed to death . The murder suspect was arrested and airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital, pictured, to receive treatment for his stab wounds. Today he remains in a serious condition . Peter Hammersley, 46, a Tesco night . manager, said: ‘You don’t think anything like this could happen in . Bolton-le-Sands – anywhere but here. It is such a nice quiet place to . live. ‘You just never know what kind of . stress people are living under. It is such a shame for the family and . everybody around here is in shock.’ Another neighbour, who didn’t want to . be named, said: ‘I’m horrified by what’s happened. Whatever went on, . no-one deserves to be killed. What on earth did that little six-year-old . boy do to deserve that?’ Another local resident said: ‘I think . they had only just moved in to the house in the past couple of weeks. The only thing I noticed which was odd, was that when I got up in the . middle of the night, their downstairs lights were always on, even at . 4am.’ Yesterday, the curtains of the little . boy’s upstairs bedroom were drawn, with just a little England football . mini-kit visible on the window. The downstairs curtains were also drawn as forensic teams and detectives searched the property. A white Peugeot van, believed to belong to the 34-year-old man, was parked outside the address. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Boy, six, found dead in his upstairs bedroom while his mother was found lying downstairs in the home in Bolton-le-Sands, Lancashire .
Murder suspect had suffered stab wounds and is in a 'serious' condition .
He was arrested and airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital .
Today he remains in a serious condition . |
133,088 | 3813c8420fcde47990774ecc0abe7803e1d5adb9 | By . Sarah Griffiths . PUBLISHED: . 07:52 EST, 28 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:36 EST, 28 November 2013 . Plastic made from dead beetles could replace conventional environmentally damaging plastics, according to one scientist. Aagje Hoekstra uses dead darkling beetles to create biodegradable ‘insect plastic’ by melting together their shells and claims that with some research it could be one solution to reducing the amount of plastic waste dumped in landfill sites. The Dutch scientist currently uses her innovative material to craft unusual jewellery and lamps. Aagje Hoekstra uses dead darkling beetles to create biodegradable 'insect plastic' (pictured) by melting together their shells and claims it could be one solution to reducing the amount of plastic waste dumped in landfill sites . To make one small sheet of the plastic, called coleoptera, after the Greek word for beetle, Ms Hoekstra currently handpicks the shells from 2,500 dead beetles. The shells can then be moulded together to produce a piece of coleopteran 10 centimetres squared as they contain a natural plastic called chitin. Ms Hoekstra uses a chemical process to transform the chitin into chitosan, which bonds better due to a variation in the molecular composition. ‘I press these shields together with a heat press and I get the insect plastic. ‘It took me six months to develop the insect plastic what I have right now,’ she said. Aagje Hoekstra uses dead darkling beetles (pictured) to create biodegradable insect plastic . The Dutch scientist currently uses her innovative material to craft unusual jewellery and lamps (pictured) Despite the painstaking process, she hopes the material could one day be an alternative for normal plastic. A staggering 270,000 tonnes of the manmade non-biodegradable material is thrown away every year in the UK alone, which is around 15 million bottles per day. The beetle plastic is not only less wasteful as it is biodegradable, but the animals themselves are the byproduct of mealworms, which are farmed for pet food and bait and would otherwise be thrown away. To make one small sheet of the plastic (on the right), called coleoptera, after the Greek word for beetle, Ms Hoekstra handpicks the shells (centre) from 2,500 dead beetles (left) Ms Hoekstra uses a chemical process to . transform the chitin into chitosan, which bonds better due to a . variation in the molecular composition. On the left are shell from the beetles and on the right, the final product . Ms Hoekstra said she was inspired by the rapid advance insects make in human consumption. ‘For that reason I started cultivate mealworms to see what other positive values insects have. ‘Mealworms are bred for the food industry, primarily for the use of animal feed, and are the larval form of the darkling beetle. ‘The beetles die three or four months after laying their eggs and are then seen as waste. I decided to research these dead beetles and found out that the beetle's shield contains a polymer called chitin, a type of natural plastic. The Dutch scientist uses the material, which took her six months to develop, to make laps and jewellery (pictured) but says she is still in the research phases . ‘I peel the dead beetles to get the shells off them.’ Ms Hoekstra said that while the insect plastic shows the recipe she uses works, she is still in the research phase. ‘I use this bioplastic for light objects and jewellery, but in future I want to use it for the non-biodegradable plastics,’ she said. ‘My next step is to research the properties of the material, so I know where I can use the material for. ‘The benefits of this material is that it's biodegradable and made of waste material. ‘My hope is that it could become a replacement for normal plastic.’ The shells from the dead beetles can be moulded together to produce a piece of coleopteran 10 centimetres squared as they contain a natural plastic called chitin . | Aagje Hoekstra uses dead darkling beetles to create biodegradable ‘insect plastic’ by melting and fusing together their shells .
The Dutch scientist uses the material to craft unusual jewellery and lamps .
To make one small sheet of the plastic, .
called coleoptera, she .
handpicks the shells from 2,500 dead beetles . |
96,427 | 08108b5e715fe5ce792489241291d145204f5e15 | A 16-week-old baby died from catastrophic head injuries after being attacked by one of her parents, a court heard today. Paris Vince-Stephens was either shaken to death or suffered a blow to the head at the hands of one of her parents, William Stephens or Danah Vince, prosecutors allege. The injuries were so severe that Paris died in hospital three days after collapsing at her home in the Brentry area of Bristol in January this year. Four-month-old Paris died from head injuries after either being shaken or suffering a blow to the head . Bristol Crown Court was told that it was either Stephens, 25, or his 19-year-old girlfriend Vince who inflicted the fatal blow upon their baby daughter. Stephens, of Southmead, Bristol and Vince, of Portishead, north Somerset, both deny charges of manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child. Christopher Quinlan QC, prosecuting, told the jury of eight men and four women: '[Paris] had catastrophic and fatal head injuries.' He said she was admitted to Bristol Children's Hospital on January 11, 2013, but died three days later as there was nothing more doctors could do for her. Mr Quinlan told the court: 'The prosecution case is that one of these defendants, the mother or the father, caused those injuries by shaking her or by bringing her head into contact with a soft surface or a combination of both.' Her parents, Danah Vince, 19, . (left) and William Stephens (right), both deny charges of manslaughter . and causing or allowing the death of a child . Mr Quinlan told the court that the . defendant who did not inflict the fatal injuries was culpable of causing . or allowing the death of a child and failing to take steps to protect . Paris. Mr Quinlan said that both defendants denied responsibility for killing Paris when interviewed by the police. 'Mr Stephens said he was not responsible and said he "didn’t touch her at all" that day,' the prosecutor said. 'When Danah Vince was questioned she denied responsibility. She said she had left Paris alone for a short period with Paris’s father William Stephens. 'She was fine, said Miss Vince, but much different when she returned. She, Danah Vince, didn’t shake Paris - it must have been William, she said.' Mr Quinlan said the young parents had a 'volatile' relationship. They also used drugs, including cannabis, jurors were told. He told the court that Stephens would be violent towards his girlfriend and she would be violent to him as well. Vince told police that Stephens once assaulted her with a dog chain while she was pregnant. He said social services stepped in and the couple signed agreements of no domestic violence. But, even though Stephens was supposed . to stay away from Vince, the court heard there was evidence he was . still living with Vince at her flat. Court told Stephens (right) and Vince (left) had a 'volatile' relationship and violently fought on day Paris collapsed . Mr . Quinlan said a student social worker then took on the case, before . Stephens appeared before Bristol magistrates following a disturbance at . the flat and was handed a restraining order to keep away. Neighbours would often hear doors slamming, shouting and sobbing coming from their flat - sometimes being woken in the middle of the night by arguments. The court also heard that both used drugs and according to Stephens' uncle, Andrew Wall, his nephew could be violent over drugs. 'He could get violent and snappy if he couldn't get hold of any,' Mr Quinlan said. Vince's mother, Lisa Vince, said Stephens had punched and pushed her while under the influence of drugs. Mr Wall also said Vince could also be violent when she wanted drugs. The prosecutor told the court that on the day Paris was injured, the couple had a violent row over a missing £10 note. Mr Quinlan said: 'He, William Stephens, grabbed [Vince] and pushed her onto the sofa and hit her in the face. She pushed him off and the dog bit him.' Paris was taken to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children in January but died three days later . Later that morning Vince left Paris with Stephens while she went to an appointment at her doctor's surgery. Mr Quinlan said that Vince went to get cannabis and toilet roll from a neighbour at around 4.15pm - leaving Paris with Stephens. 'Danah Vince told [the neighbour] that Paris was not well and making, as she described, really scary cries,' Mr Quinlan said. A 12-year-old neighbour told police that he heard Stephens and Vince shouting at each other and swearing as he played on his games console after coming home from school that afternoon. Paramedics were called at 4.40pm and suspected Paris had suffered a brain injury, the court was told. Shortly after midnight on January 12, Vince sent a text message to her boyfriend's mother, Marie Stephens, which said: 'Tell Will to tell the police if they come he came to my flat for an hour. Ran over road for five minutes. Paris in cot and stayed in cot and nothing happened. Okay? Still in a bad way.' Mr Quinlan asked: 'Are those the actions of an innocent mother beside herself with worry with a sick child? 'Or the actions of a person who knew what happened? Was it her that inflicted the injuries and was asking the Mr Stephens to tell the police nothing happened?' Two hours later, Vince sent a text message to a friend, which said: 'She's really bad. I left her with Will for five minutes and now she's dying. I really can't cope. They did the test and that's what it said.' When doctors told Vince that Paris had suffered 'irreversible and catastrophic brain injuries; she replied: 'I want him done for manslaughter.' Mr Quinlan added: 'Asked if she had seen anything happen, she said no and added "My mistake was letting him in". A clear reference to William Stephens.' Before Mr Quinlan began the prosecution’s case, trial judge Mr Justice Teare told the jury that Stephens would be assisted in the dock by an intermediary because he suffered from 'severe communication difficulties'. The judge explained that because of Stephens’ difficulties there would be regular breaks in the proceedings. The trial was adjourned until tomorrow. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Paris Vince-Stephens died in January aged 16 weeks from head injuries .
Parents William Stephens and Danah Vince both deny manslaughter .
Court heard couple violently fought on the day baby collapsed .
Jury told Vince sent text to boyfriend's mother when Paris was admitted .
Wrote that Stephens should say 'nothing happened' if questioned by police . |
237,319 | bf267a75866dbb9087214bfd44959d859787a074 | (CNN) -- Tencent, the world's third largest Internet company by market share, launched its popular instant messenger service in English, Japanese and French. The launch of QQi Instant Messenger is an international version of its Chinese QQ instant messaging services, which has 600 million subscribers -- the largest instant messaging subscriber base in the world. Versions in Korean, Spanish and German are planned to be released early next year, a company spokesperson said. Tencent is also planning the release of its first English language social networking site in early 2011. Marc Violo, product manager for QQi, said the launch marks a tentative step toward bringing products from the hugely popular Chinese Internet company to an overseas audience. "We have no intention of trying to compete with Skype or MSN instant messenger," Violo said. "We're looking to expand our reach outside of China to get involved with people who are interested in China." Already QQ has users in 212 countries, most of who come from the U.S. and Europe, Violo told CNN. Tencent has partnered with popular English-language web sites in China -- such as travel provider CTrip and state-run newspaper China Daily -- to draw more traffic from overseas consumers. "And if you want to instant message someone living in China, you have access to 92 percent of the online population here," Violo said. The company is also working on a partnership with Canada-based StumbleUpon, a content discovery service company. QQi hopes to have "between 7 and 10 million subscribers" by September, Violo said. A beta version, released last year targeting expatriates living in China, has 2 million subscribers. Tencent is not the only Chinese Internet company with international ambitions. Baidu, China's largest search engine, launched a search service in Japan several years ago. The company has plans to expand into other regions, including Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo. "We are looking at markets where Google is not dominant," Kuo said. "Our preference is for markets with languages that are not Latin-based, so we have a leg up there." In November, Baidu CEO Robin Li said he hoped that in 10 years, the Chinese search giant would become a household name in 50 percent of the world. With Chinese Internet companies' plans to do business abroad also come challenges that analysts say they are unsure China's domestic web giants will ultimately ever be able to overcome. The obstacles relate to the Internet censorship policies inside China that require companies to monitor and remove sensitive content from websites and block user behavior deemed inappropriate, political or otherwise. "This is one of the key issues for all of these really rich Chinese Internet companies trying to go overseas," Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based independent media consultant, said. "When they go into developing markets, it is one thing (because) there is a less sophisticated user base. When they go into the United States, they are carrying a huge amount of baggage and Google added a few tons to that baggage last year." Read more on Google in China . Companies, like Tencent, have no choice but to follow Chinese Internet law or be shut down. Tencent, for example, blocks chats or posts containing sensitive words from its servers. "For sure, I think all of the chats are monitored by QQ," Lu Gang, co-founder of OpenWeb.Asia, a working group focusing on the Asian Internet industry. "If you type in sensitive key words, the messaging will be blocked. I think more and more people realize the problem, but still no one will give up QQ because it is part of the Internet culture in China. If you are not using it, you will lose lots of contacts in your social life." Most recently the company was involved in a high profile dispute with Qihoo 360, China's largest antivirus software provider, which alleged Tencent was scanning private data of its more than 600 million users. Tencent denied the allegations. "This whole Qihoo 360 case only raises people's level of suspicion," Bill Bishop said. "Tencent may feel it is a great company but what matters is if they can convince users they are safe and now that bar has been raised significantly." Violo said he believes this can be done. "Most people don't realize that QQ is a very large multinational that is listed on the stock exchange and has thousands of shareholders," the QQi project manager said. "Everything needs to be transparent. Of course we are in China so the government can put pressure on the company, and of course we have to comply with certain subjects, which are sensible in China. But if you are not planning a coup d'état against the Chinese government using QQ, then QQ is a safe thing." CNN's Kevin Voigt contributed to this report . | Tencent is a Chinese Internet company with a hugely popular instant message service .
Around 90% of China's online population use it .
Company will launch English, French and Japanese language versions .
Some analysts doubt it will be as popular with Western social media users . |
146,151 | 48fd618893bb0dfdc9c4e5a3b11fcb0d427acaeb | (CNN) -- Governors in three Eastern Seaboard states Friday called on National Guard troops to help evacuate people from flooding caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida. Strong winds and rain from the powerful storm have left thousands without power. Ida lost momentum but not the ability to generate winds and rain as it made landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast earlier this week, forecasters said. The National Weather Service had flood advisories in effect Friday for areas of coastal Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. At least 160 National Guard troops were deployed in sections of Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey to evacuate residents in high-water areas as well as provide cots, sandbags and potable water, according to the Pentagon's National Guard Bureau. "About 40 members of the Delaware National Guard have provided support to civilian emergency relief agencies in Kent and Sussex counties," the bureau said. The New Jersey National Guard sent 18 guardsmen with trucks to help with evacuations in the Cape May and Atlantic counties, where the governor Thursday declared a state of emergency due to flooding, Guard officials reported . Almost 100 guardsmen with high-water vehicles were helping firefighters in Portsmouth, Virginia. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine declared a state of emergency, saying the remnants of Ida had combined with another storm to cause dangerous conditions in some areas. By early afternoon, at least 155,000 customers were without power in the state -- mostly in and around Norfolk, according to the Dominion Power Web site. "With the National Weather Service indicating that eastern Virginia could experience flooding and storm surge comparable to the effects of a Category 1 hurricane, it's critical that Virginians make the necessary preparations," Kaine said. "While we will continue to monitor conditions, the commonwealth is preparing for a period of coastal flooding through at least Friday evening." | Strong winds and rain from the powerful storm have left thousands without power.
Flood advisories were in effect Friday in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey.
National Guard Bureau: At least 160 troops were deployed to assist in high-water areas .
Dominion Power: By early afternoon, at least 155,000 in Virginia had no electricity . |
252,126 | d24f78bbe81eb531aa5fd4e74fb5afb0d3eb6cc2 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- With every click of his camera, Japanese photographer and activist Shuuichi Endou hopes to draw attention to the plight of Tuvalu, a remote nation of people whose home is slowly disappearing. Tuvalu is the world's fourth smallest country behind Vatican City, Monaco and Pacific Ocean neighbor Nauru. He's taking 10,000 photos, one of each person who lives there, to show the world the human face of climate change. "Tuvaluans do not ask much, neither goods nor money," he says. "In Japan, people sacrifice their time and life to get more goods and money. I hope the viewers see the contrast by looking at the photos. We're sacrificing peaceful Tuvalu." At first glance, Tuvalu is an island paradise, 26 square kilometers of white sand and lush foliage in the Pacific Ocean, north of Fiji. But the sea level is rising, so much so that the nation's water has become too salty to drink and to grow vegetables, especially taro, a vegetable that was once the island's staple food. "As they don't have water and food, they began to import food from overseas, says Endou, who set up the NGO Tuvalu Overview to highlight their cause. "As they began to import, their consumption has been increasing. As a result, more and more products began to be imported. This changed Tuvaluans' diet and increased the amount of waste." A global appeal . Tuvalu's government considers the situation so urgent it has allocated some of the nation's meager budget to pay for its own permanent ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Afelee Pita took up the job in December 2006 and within months had given perhaps the most important speech ever made by a Tuvaluan: an address to a Special Session of the United Nations Security Council on Energy, Climate and Security. "That was my very first statement that I issued and it was also a challenging one because it had never been done before, particularly at that level at the Security Council," Pita says. He told the assembled dignitaries: "The world has moved from a global threat once called the Cold War, to what now should be considered the 'Warming War'. Our conflict is not with guns and missiles but with weapons from everyday lives -- chimney stacks and exhaust pipes." click here for the full speech . New York is a long way from home for the native Tuvaluan. Back on the island he'd be more likely to go for an early morning canoe ride than negotiate thousands of commuters on the subway. "Living in New York is totally different compared to where we come from. Life is not that easy of course. You have so many strangers. At home, you know everybody [and] whatever you do everybody knows," he laughs. Securing a future . While he'd much rather be at home -- "Definitely there's nothing like home" -- Pita feels that his time in New York is vital in helping to secure the future of the islands. "My ultimate objective is to contribute as much as I can in terms of trying to establish relations with as many member states in the UN as possible, and more importantly to secure some sort of commitment from the international community in terms of development projects and any kind of assistance they can provide to us." The Tuvalu nation wants to invest in renewable energy projects, to reduce the island's own reliance on fossil fuels for energy. "Sometimes you have to clean your own house first before you look outside," Pita says. In English, Tuvalu means "eight standing together". On the issue of climate change, Tuvalu hopes the world will stand together with them. "To me it's not an easy issue to solve, particularly in terms of trying to get the commitment of rich countries," Pita says. "I can, of course, understand their reasoning and how they look at the issue but I think what we need to do is to continue raising our concerns and hopefully one day the community will listen and try to commit something." | Pacific nation Tuvalu feeling the effects of climate change, sea level rising fast .
Japanese activist drawing attention to its plight by taking photos of islanders .
Tuvalu sent its own ambassador to the United Nations to raise awareness .
Island nation seeking aid to invest in renewable energy, infrastructure . |
163,957 | 6006ce5c7d3f777197c51a7432ccd0d433f93d32 | PUBLISHED: . 19:25 EST, 29 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:48 EST, 30 August 2013 . A cyclist who had his front teeth shattered after an attack by teenagers while riding through Portland, Oregon will soon be speaking clearly again thanks to a generous dentist. Andy Sweeney, 20, was intentionally struck with a traffic cone last weekend and a photo of his cracked-tooth grin quickly went viral. Instead of being an embarrassment, the photo became the key to fixing his smile after a fundraising effort and a kindly dentist came to his aid. Ouch: Just a month after he moved to Portland, Andy Sweeney, 20, was smashed in the face with a traffic cone by teens as he rode his bike . ‘Some kids threw a traffic cone at me while I was riding my bike down MLK,’ Sweeney wrote next to the aftermath photo in a Reddit post. ‘Any other sh***y areas I should avoid?’ Two of the recent Illinois transplant’s front teeth were almost completely missing after the unprovoked attack just a month after his move to Portland. ‘I was coming up on these three kids,’ he told Oregon Live, ‘and they just threw a traffic cone at me. It hit me square in the teeth.’ The impact left him missing most of two of his front teeth. 'Square in the teeth': Sweeney moved to Portland form Illinois a month ago. He says he has no idea what motivated the attack that left him in terrible pain . Kindness of strangers: Local news editor Tim Oberlander started an online fund for Sweeney and it quickly raised over $1,500 . ‘It's crazy,’ Sweeney told KGW. ‘I don't really understand their motivation or what they were going for.’ He posted about the incident to Reddit and asked for advice about where else he should ride his bike and the photo he added started attracting attention. Tim Oberlander, a news editor at KGW, heard the Portland newcomer’s story and decided to do something about it. ‘I felt a little shameful that this happened to him in my town,’ Oberlander told the Oregonian. Sweeney used a credit card to get temporary caps put on his teeth after the pain became too much to bear but was told a permanent fix would cost something like $1,700, which he can’t afford on what he makes delivering sandwiches. Oberlander created a fundraiser on . group funding site gofundme.com and the donations to help Sweeney get . his teeth fixed poured in. As of Thursday, nearly $1,600 was raised and Sweeney was at a loss for words. Dis one: Sweeney shows off the temporary caps he paid for with a credit card. An area dentist and fellow cyclist has now come forward with an offer of free dental work . ‘I didn't really ask for it,’ he said. ‘I'm trying to see if I can maybe get things covered by my parents' dental insurance.’ But that won’t even be necessary. Portland, Oregon dentist Scott Edgar has offered to fix Sweeney’s teeth for free. A cyclist himself, Edgar felt obligated to help. ‘I felt bad that this happened to him in my part of town,’ he said. ‘I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the money that has been donated,’ Sweeney said. ‘I didn't ask for that. I need to figure it out. But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful.’ Police continue to look into Sweeney’s assault, as well as other recent reports of assaults on cyclists in the area. | Andy Sweeney was smashed in the face with a traffic cone by two teens Saturday night .
By Wednesday, over $1,000 had been raised to help pay his dental bills .
A local dentist has also offered to fix the Illinois transplant's teeth for free . |
175,780 | 6f89affda8ecf2f18b4f95c9204288ebce997cce | (CNN) -- A Florida appeals court granted George Zimmerman's request for a new judge Wednesday, saying the original judge's remarks put Zimmerman in reasonable fear of a fair trial. Zimmerman, 28, is charged with second-degree murder in the February 26 shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman's attorneys wanted Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester removed, saying language he used in a bail order disparaged their client's character and held over his head the threat of future criminal proceedings. The Fifth District Court of Appeal agreed, and Lester must now step down. There was no immediate response to the ruling from either Lester, prosecutors or Zimmerman's attorneys. Lester revoked Zimmerman's original $150,000 bond after learning Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, failed to disclose more than $100,000 in donations from the public. The judge then set a new bail of $1 million in July, and it was the language in that bail order that Zimmerman and his lawyers took issue with. The court agreed with Zimmerman's attorneys that Lester "made gratuitous, disparaging remarks about Mr. Zimmerman's character; advocated for Mr. Zimmerman to be prosecuted for additional crimes; offered a personal opinion about the evidence for the prosecution; continued to hold over Mr. Zimmerman's head the threat of future contempt proceedings, and ultimately set a bond at $1,000,000." The appeals court also agreed that Lester's remarks "created reasonable fear in Mr. Zimmerman that the court is biased against him, and, as a result of this prejudice cannot receive a fair and impartial trial or hearing by the trial court." Florida prosecutors mistakenly release confidential Zimmerman case documents . In his July bail order, Lester wrote that "under any defnition, the defendant has flouted the system" and "tried to manipulate the system when he has been presented the opportunity to do so." Lester also wrote that it was his "personal opinion" that Zimmerman intentionally gave false or misleading information in his bail application -- which is a felony -- and he suggested the possibility of future contempt proceedings. "Holding this over Mr. Zimmerman creates a horrible chilling effect on this case, on the defense presentation, and cements Mr. Zimmerman's fear that he will not get a fair trial from the trial court," the appeals court wrote. Zimmerman is free after posting the $1 million bond. The former neighborhood watch captain has pleaded not guilty to the charges and said he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense after Martin attacked him. Martin, who was unarmed, was walking through a gated neighborhood in Sanford, Florida, to his father's girlfriend's house when he was killed. | Defendant George Zimmerman had appealed for a new judge .
The court agrees that judge put Zimmerman in reasonable fear of a fair trial .
Zimmerman's lawyers say the judge disparaged their client .
Zimmerman is charged with murder in the death of Trayvon Martin . |
209,069 | 9abb516f0d90093dbc1ec17d880a2367c5eb5ab8 | Paris, France (CNN) -- The fiery crash that brought down a Concorde supersonic jet in 2000, killing 113 people, was caused partially by the criminal negligence of Continental Airlines and a mechanic who works for the company, a French court ruled Monday. Continental Airlines was fined 202,000 euros ($268,400) and ordered to pay 1 million euros to Air France, which operated the doomed flight. Mechanic John Taylor received a fine of 2,000 euros ($2,656) and a 15-month suspended prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter. The aircraft manufacturer EADS was also found partly responsible for the crash and ordered to pay 30% of damages to victims involved in the case. Air France has already paid an unspecified sum in damages to the families of most of the victims of the only crash ever of a Concorde. The mechanic was the only person found guilty in the trial before a judicial panel in the Paris suburb of Pontoise. He was not present for the verdict. His former supervisor, Stanley Ford, and three French officials were found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter. Henri Perrier, Jacques Herubel and Claude Frantzen were responsible for the design, testing and certification of the Concorde. The charges had said the engineers could have acted much earlier to correct well-known design flaws in the plane. Lawyers for Continental and Taylor rejected the guilty verdicts. "I am shocked by this verdict, Taylor's lawyer Francois Esclatine said. "I haven't had a chance to speak with my client yet, but I will tell him that he should appeal." Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Continental, said the airline "will not let itself be pushed around in this way and we will definitely appeal." The airline called the verdict "absurd" in a statement. Saying that the airline and Taylor were "the sole guilty parties shows the determination of the French authorities to shift attention and blame away from Air France," which operated the flight and maintained the aircraft, Continental said. "To find that any crime was committed in this tragic accident is not supported either by the evidence at trial or by aviation authorities and experts around the world," the statement said. Air France, which was a plaintiff in the Concorde trial, posted a statement on its website saying, the French national carrier "welcomed the decision of the criminal court which recognizes Continental's full criminal and civil liability in the Concorde accident." The Concorde burst into flames and smashed into a hotel on takeoff on July 25, 2000. Air France stopped flying the supersonic jets in 2003. A Continental Airlines plane that took off shortly before the doomed flight was found to have played a key role in the crash. A titanium strip allegedly fell off a Continental DC-10 which took off just before the Concorde. Judicial investigators say the strip was improperly installed on the DC-10 engine, prompting the charges against the airline, Ford and Taylor. A lawyer for the American airline had argued that Concorde's problems were apparent decades before the crash and that Continental was not to blame. An investigation revealed a tragic chain of events that brought down Air France Flight 4590 shortly after takeoff from Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport: a tire under the left wing blew on takeoff when it struck the small strip of titanium on the runway. The blown tire sent debris into the wing, causing the fuel tank to rupture and sparking the catastrophic fire that led to the crash that killed 100 passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground. CNN's Ayesha Durgahee contributed to this report. | NEW: Aircraft maker EADS is also ordered to pay damages .
French authorities are trying to shift blame away from Air France, Continental says .
Mechanic John Taylor is the only person convicted .
The crash killed 113 people in 2000 . |
134,888 | 3a7ca49bced03f3646324305aa2a11d75eeb0020 | (CNN) -- Frustrated Republicans are retaliating for a Democratic play to weaken their hand in opposing presidential nominations, forcing an all-night session into Thursday's early hours. Votes on judicial and other appointments took place early Thursday morning, part of the fallout after the Democratic majority enforced a rule change to expedite consideration of appointments, the so-called nuclear option. Until last month, longstanding Senate rules required a supermajority of 60 votes to break a filibuster over a presidential nominee. Republicans fiercely opposed the change, which now allows the majority Democrats to break filibusters with 51 votes. Democrats, who hold a 55-45 advantage in the Senate, said Republicans had abused the filibuster privilege around President Barack Obama's nominations, and the only way for him to staff his second-term administration promptly and move stalled judicial appointments was to speed things up through a rules change. "The Obama administration and its allies have done just about everything to get what they want, one way or the other -- even fundamentally altering the contours of our democracy when they couldn't get their way playing by the rules," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in floor remarks Wednesday. "We saw the culmination of that with the majority leader's power grab in the Senate last month." 5 ways life changes in the Senate after nuclear option . Republicans are requiring the marathon session if Democrats want to clear a long list of nominees before leaving for vacation next week. GOP escalation of the rules fight renewed attention to sharp partisan wrangling one day after lawmakers trumpeted a compromise House-Senate budget proposal brokered across party lines. The first vote in the extended session came shortly after 1 a.m. ET as the Senate approved 51-44 Nina Pillard's nomination on the federal appeals court in Washington. For some, the appointment has been a steppingstone to the Supreme Court. The Senate will continue plowing through the backlog of nominees later Thursday. Senators will vote on the confirmation of Chai Rachel Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Senate Democrats began enforcing the "nuclear option" this week, stoking Republican ire. All-nighters could continue for days. Democratic leaders said they were prepared to stay in session virtually around the clock through Saturday night to confirm a list of 10 nominees to a variety of senior posts. They range from lesser-known appointments -- such as Patricia Wald to the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board -- to critical positions -- such as Jeh Johnson to be homeland security secretary. There are also several federal district court judge appointments on the list as well as nominees to Pentagon posts and the State Department. Customarily, Senate leaders work together so the chamber can conduct its business during more regular hours. But because of strict parliamentary rules, it's easy for just one senator to hold things up. In this case, the whole GOP conference is upset. What's the nuclear option? So why are they working overnights? According to Senate rules, a certain number of hours of debate can still be demanded by any senator once a filibuster is broken. Known as "post-cloture debate time" in Senate parlance, up to eight hours of debate time is allowed for nine of the 10 nominees on Majority Leader Harry Reid's list. For Johnson, the homeland security nominee, debate can last for 30 hours. Typically, Senate leaders would agree to allow that debate time to run with the Senate out of session. But Republicans are angry about the changes to the filibuster rules and are requiring the Senate to stay in session. Reid accused Republicans of obstructionism. "It is hard to imagine a more pointless exercise than spending an entire day waiting for a vote whose outcome we already know," Reid said about the Pillard nomination. "But Republicans insist on wasting time simply for the sake of wasting time. It's no wonder Americans overwhelmingly support the changes Democrats made to the rules last month in order to make the Senate work again." | NEW: Senate approves Nina Pillard 51-44 to serve on federal appeals court in Washington .
Republicans are angry over rules change that weakens their hand in opposing nominations .
The new rules imposed by majority Democrats aim to speed up confirmation .
Overnight session forced by GOP is one way to express frustration and slow the process . |
116,847 | 22d4de8b92644e1573051cf58036c8438c405761 | By . Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline . Scientists have been left shocked by the surprising appearance of hundreds of methane vents off the US East Coast. More than 500 vents have been found where methane is seeping into the ocean. And there is concern that these increased amounts of gas could be caused by global warming. A large number of methane vents have been found off the US East Coast. The findings suggest such leakage is far more widespread in the Atlantic than thought. Here methane is seen streaming from the seafloor at a depth of about 1,400 feet (425 metres) offshore from Virginia . The study published in Nature Geosciences was carried out by researchers from Mississippi State University, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and other institutions. A cold seep or cold vent is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulphide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs. Despite the term, the temperature of a seepage is not lower than surrounding sea water - in many cases the temperature is slightly higher. Cold seeps develop over fissures on the seafloor caused by tectonic activity. Oil and methane seep out of those fissures and emerge over an area several hundred metres wide. Entire ecosystems can develop around the unique make-up of a cold seep. The research suggests that natural methane leakage from the seafloor is far more widespread in the US Atlantic than previously thought. In total more than 570 seafloor cold seeps were observed between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Georges Bank, Massachusetts. Cold seeps are areas where gases and fluids leak into the surrounding water from sediments on the seafloor. The seeps were found on the outer continental shelf and the continental slope of the eastern US. Previously, only three seep areas had been identified in this area - making the findings a dramatic increase on what was known before. ‘Widespread seepage had not been expected on the Atlantic margin,’ said Adam Skarke, the study’s lead author and a professor at Mississippi State University. ‘It is not near a plate tectonic boundary like the US Pacific coast, nor associated with a petroleum basin like the northern Gulf of Mexico.’ In total more than 570 seafloor cold seeps were seen between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Georges Bank, Massachusetts (shown in this map). The study, published in Nature Geosciences, was carried out by researchers from Mississippi State University, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and other institutions . The seeps were found on the outer continental shelf and the continental slope of the eastern US (illustration shown). Previously, only three seep areas had been identified in this area - making the findings a dramatic increase on what was known before . The location of the seeps and knowledge of the underlying geology suggests the leaking methane is being produced by microbial processes in shallow sediments. At depths of more than 2,000 feet (600 metres) in some places, the seeps are too deep to release methane directly into the atmosphere. However, there is the danger that if the methane stays in the water, it could oxidise into carbon dioxide. This can increase the acidity of ocean waters and reduce oxygen levels, which can be harmful to marine life. While not directly pointing a finger at climate change, the researchers indicate that global warming could be the cause of the problem. ‘Warming of ocean temperatures on seasonal, decadal or much longer time scales can cause gas hydrate to release its methane, which may then be emitted at seep sites,’ said Dr Carolyn Ruppel, study co-author and chief of the USGS Gas Hydrates Project. ‘Such continental slope seeps have previously been recognised in the Arctic, but not at mid-latitudes. So this is a first.’ In this image push cores are used to collect samples of the sediment found near a seep site, allowing investigation into the biological, chemical and physical make up of the bottom during the Deeptwater Canyons 2013 Expedition, from which some of the findings were made . | A large number of methane vents have been found off the US East Coast .
Suggests such leakage is far more widespread in the Atlantic than thought .
Previously only three seepage areas had been known of in this area .
Increased levels of methane can make water more acidic and deadly to life .
The vents could be caused by a warming ocean linked to climate change . |
179,085 | 73e22152965333f96da179533b6a120e9933f859 | Michael Carrick has suffered another injury blow after being ruled out of England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia with a groin problem. Carrick’s withdrawal from the squad after a scan confirmed the injury will also be a major disappointment for Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal. The midfielder, who was in line to play against Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday, faces an anxious wait to see whether he will recover in time for United’s game against Arsenal on November 22. Michael Carrick (pictured appearing in a fan's selfie at St George's Park) has been ruled out for England . Carrick trained for 20 minutes at St George’s Park on Wednesday before limping off with the injury. He was sent for a scan in the afternoon which ruled him out of Saturday’s clash and the friendly against Scotland at Celtic Park on Tuesday. Carrick later tweeted: '2 steps forward 1 step back Gutted to miss the next 2 @england games, hopefully no more than that though. Missed too much already!!' Tottenham winger Andros Townsend will be assessed after failing to train for a second successive day because of an ankle injury. The England forward was dragged off at half-time during Spurs’ 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane against Stoke City on Sunday. Carrick tweeted his frustration on Wednesday evening at being ruled out of the England internationals . Carrick was making a comeback for England after going over a year without playing for Roy Hodgson's side . Hodgson has given Townsend another 24 hours to recover before making a decision on whether he should remain with the squad for the next five days. Carrick was given permission by Van Gaal to join Hodgson’s squad after making his first start of the season against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford last Saturday. Instead the United manager will assess his player when he returns to Carrington on Thursday for a scan. England medical staff believe it is only a minor tear. Carrick shields possession from Liverpool's Raheem Sterling during England training this week . Twenty-four hours before his withdrawal, Carrick had spoken of his pride at earning a recall to the national squad. Asked if he considered retirement following his World Cup snub, he replied: ‘I am only 33 so hopefully I have got a few more years left. It was never something that crossed my mind. I am enjoying things at the moment and I feel good.’ United’s next game is against Arsenal and Van Gaal has a crippling injury list. Defenders Marcos Rojo, Rafael da Silva, Phil Jones and Jonny Evans are all struggling with problems and striker Radamel Falcao continues to be plagued by knee trouble. Like our Manchester United Facebook page. Louis van Gaal's problems are worsening after the news Carrick could be set for a spell on the sidelines . VIDEO Carrick hails 'special' skipper Rooney . | Manchester United's Michael Carrick has picked up a groin injury .
The 33-year-old underwent a scan to ascertain the extent of the damage .
Carrick has returned to Manchester United after being ruled out of England's games against Slovenia and Scotland .
News leaves Louis van Gaal with further defensive worries . |
9,957 | 1c3928fe2f62abef7e8ceba0a8f94a003a30ea84 | Amanda Knox’s lawyers have threatened to sue the makers of a controversial new film about the murder of Meredith Kercher, which has won the approval of the dead British exchange student's family. The BBC movie, by British director Michael Winterbottom and starring Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne, has won the apparent blessing of the Kercher family. The film is based on the book ‘Angel Face’, written by CNN journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau, who covered the brutal 2007 murder of Kercher, in the picturesque hilltop university town of Perugia. Scroll down for video . Miss Kercher (right), 21, was found half-naked with her throat slit in the cottage she shared with Amanda Knox . Miss Kercher, 21, was found half-naked with her throat slit in the cottage she shared with Amanda Knox. Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito served four years for the murder, before being released on appeal in 2011, but were sensationally re-convicted earlier this year. The American, nicknamed Foxy Knoxy, remains at large in the US while appealing to Italy’s Supreme Court. If she loses her final appeal she will become a fugitive, and the subject of a high profile extradition tussle. Knox’s lawyer Luciano Ghirga pointed out that Knox’s case was still ongoing, and said the American creative writing graduate would sue if the film ‘was damaging to her image.’ He said he hadn't seen it but 'supposed - knowing the author - that it implies that Amanda is guilty'. ‘There have already been at least two films and 12 books about the case. If the film is based even loosely on the murder in Perugia and if it is damaging to Amanda’s image, we will be asking for damages, as we have done in other cases.' But the writer insists the film does not 'place the knife in Knox's hand'. Knox, pictured in 2009 during her original trial, served four years in prison for Miss Kercher's murder . However, in 2011, she successfully appealed against the conviction and was released from jail . But the Kercher family, who were given a sneak preview of The Face of an Angel, have given their apparent blessing to the film, even allowing it to be dedicated to Meredith’s memory. Director Michael Winterbottom, who showed the film privately to Meredith’s brother Lyle, said it was important to him to keep the victim at the centre of the story, rather than Knox . Mr Winterbottom said: ‘The Kercher family had talked a lot about that, with a huge amount of dignity, the reasons they went for the trial was to make sure that amongst the chaos, it was remembered that someone had lost their life. That was one of the central things I thought about.’ He said he had dedicated the film to Meredith only with the Kerchers' permission, telling Screen International: ‘I didn’t want to do that unless someone from her family had seen it.' (From left to right) Actress Kate Beckinsale, director Michael Winterbottom, and actress Cara Delevingne celebrating at the premiere of The Face of an Angel, which is based on the court case . Knox herself is played by Cambridge graduate Genevieve Gaunt, 23, who appeared as Pansy Parkinson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004 . Miss Nadeau, played by Beckinsale in the film, explained: 'There was a meeting in London with Michael and Lyle Kercher where he showed him the film. It was a very private thing. But if the Kerchers had objected to the film, the dedication to Meredith wouldn’t have been there.' She said: ‘I remember worrying that a movie about this murder would be ultimately sensational, bloody, and disrespectful to Meredith Kercher, who didn’t deserve to be a victim once more.’ She told the Mail: ‘Anything with Knox as the star would be disrespectful to Meredith. But the film is not really about the murder, it just uses it as a jumping off point.' The writer claimed she was not worried about being sued, as she said the film does not ‘place the knife in Knox’s hand’. Knox herself is played by Cambridge graduate Genevieve Gaunt, 23, who appeared as Pansy Parkinson, in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004. Formerly the love interest of Harry’s arch-nemesis Draco Malfoy, the actress has now blossomed into a striking brunette, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Knox. | Knox's layer Luciano Ghirga believes that film will 'imply Knox is guilty'
But the writer claims the film 'does not place the knife in Knox's hand'
But Miss Kercher's family have given the movie their blessing .
Film, based on a 2007 book about the murder, is dedicated to Miss Kercher .
Knox served four years for Miss Kercher's murder but was released in 2011 .
She has been re-convicted but is appealing to the Italian Supreme Court . |
133,848 | 39118b4e902aebf6e5d4fe71e632ffa24c9c3d69 | Daniel Sturridge has named Thierry Henry, Ronaldo and Robbie Fowler among his goalscoring idols growing up as a kid. The Liverpool and England striker took to Instagram on Thursday to upload pictures of the trio alongside a further six heroes of his. The completed list of stellar names include Dennis Bergkamp, Tino Asprilla, Rivaldo, Gianfranco Zola, Ian Wright and Nicolas Anelka. Daniel Sturridge went on Instagram to reveal his goalscoring idols, which include Thierry Henry and Rivaldo . Sturridge's hereos include Robbie Fowler, Dennis Bergkamp, Tino Asprilla (left-hand column top to bottom), Henry as well as 1994 and 2002 Brazil World Cup winner Ronaldo (right-hand column top to bottom) Rivaldo, Ian Wright (left hand column top to bottom), Gianfranco Zola and Nicolas Anelka (right-hand column top to bottom) complete the list of the 25-year-old nine goalscoring idols . Captioning the pictures Sturridge wrote: 'Long love the idols...Fowler,bergkamp,asprilla, Ronaldo,Henry, Rivaldo,Zola,wright, Anelka... Always pay homage to those who came and conquered.' The 25-year-old will be dearly hoping to emulate Kop legend Fowler at Anfield, who scored 183 goals in 369 games, after impressing already during his 20 months at the club. Sturridge has netted 36 goals in 52 appearances for Liverpool, and is currently fighting his way back to full fitness after picking up a thigh injury on international duty earlier this month. Sturridge is currently working his way back to full fitness after suffering a thigh injury . | Daniel Sturridge has revealed his goalscoring idols as a kid on Instagram .
Arsenal hero Thierry Henry and Brazil World Cup winner Rivaldo make list .
Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler also is included .
Dennis Bergkamp, Tino Asprilla, Ronaldo, Gianfranco Zola, Ian Wright and Nicolas Anelka complete the list of nine strikers .
Sturridge has scored 36 goals in 52 Liverpool appearances to date .
25-year-old is working his way back to full fitness after a thigh injury . |
178,981 | 73befb2807e9233394e832a1f66a48cbd8933b34 | (CNN) -- A controversial extra-time goal by William Gallas saw France reach the World Cup finals after a 1-1 home draw against the Republic of Ireland in Paris on Wednesday night. France were trailing 1-0 in the second leg, with the scores tied 1-1 on aggregate, when Arsenal central defender Gallas forced the ball home for the decisive goal. But TV replays showed that his former club teammate Thierry Henry had clearly handled the ball twice before passing to him to head home. Irish goalkeeper Shay Given frantically gestured to the referee and Damien Duff was booked for his protests, but the goal stood and Raymond Domenech's men eventually went through after surviving late pressure in the Stade de France. Robbie Keane had given the Republic a deserved first half lead as he scored after a fine cutback by Duff. The pair both had chances in the second half to put the game out of France's reach, but home keeper Hugo Lloris blocked Duff's effort after he was clean through and forced Tottenham star Keane wide from a similar position. Cristiano Ronaldo will be going to World Cup after his Portugal side won 1-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina to claim it 2-0 on aggregate in their European playoff match in Zenica. Real Madrid star Ronaldo sat out both legs of the decider through injury, but despite his absence Portugal qualified for the World Cup for the third time in a row. Raul Meireles' second-half goal in the second leg gave them a comfortable victory in a tie deemed awkward after a slender victory in the first leg secured though a goal by Bruno Alves. A pass from Nan found Meireles, whose low shot found the net and sent the Portuguese, who reached the semifinals in 2006, through. Slovenia upset Russia to qualify for the World Cup finals for only the second time with a 1-0 home win in Maribor. Slovenia trailed 2-1 from the first leg and go through on the away goals rule with the aggregate score tied 2-2. Striker Zlatko Dedic, who plays for Bochum in the Bundesliga, scored on the stroke of halftime. He reacted first to a Valter Birsa cross from the right to grab the crucial goal. Guus Hiddink's men suffered a further setback when substitute striker Alexander Kerzhakov was shown the red card in the 68th minute. Andrei Arshavin set up substitute Pavel Pogrebnyak for a late chance as Russia forced for an equalizer which would have put them through, but Dedic should have scored a second for Slovenia late on. 2004 European champions Greece are also through as they beat Ukraine 1-0 in Donetsk with Dimitrios Salpigidis scoring the only goal for the visitors on the half hour mark. The Panathinaikos striker beat the offside trap after a superb pass from Celtic's Georgios Samaras and slotted home. The teams played out a 0-0 draw on Saturday in the first leg in Athens. Ukraine pressed desperately for an equalizer in the second half but to no avail. | France through after controversial equalizer against Ireland in Stade de France .
Portugal reach World Cup finals with 1-0 win in Bosnia-Herzegovina .
Slovenia shock Russia to reach World Cup for second time .
Greece stun Ukraine in Donetsk to reach South Africa 1-0 on aggregate . |
151,624 | 5000e59408a762611b9ee8d0b6ef6bef65ead5df | (CNN) -- It has been described by some of the people who have held the job as an insignificant one, but it gets attention every four years when presidential candidates are choosing the other half of their ticket. Here's a by-the-numbers look at the vice presidency: . Who might run with Romney? 47 -- The number of vice presidents who have served the U.S. since 1789. 13 -- The number of Republican vice presidents since 1900. 10 -- The number of Democratic vice presidents since 1900. Author looks to honor VPs' 'history of insignificance' 14 -- The number of vice presidents who became president of the United States. Eight of these were because of the death of the sitting president. 4 -- The number of vice presidents who went directly from that office to the presidency. They are John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren and George H.W. Bush. Acting as president of the Senate, each man was able to announce his own election to the presidency. 3 -- The number of vice presidents who, as president of the Senate, had to announce they'd lost the presidential election. They are John Breckinridge, Richard Nixon and Al Gore. 1 -- The number of vice presidents who became president, but did not go directly from one office to the other. Richard Nixon left the office of vice president in 1961 and was inaugurated as president in 1969. 2 -- The number of vice presidents who were not elected to the office. They are Gerald Ford and Nelson Rockefeller, both in the 1970s. 2 -- The number of vice presidents that resigned from office: John Calhoun and Spiro Agnew. 1967 -- The year that 25th Amendment was passed, clarifying what to do in the case of a presidential vacancy or disability. 3 -- The number of times that Section III of the 25th Amendment has been invoked -- in which the vice president becomes acting president. This happened in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan underwent surgery, and in 2002 and 2007, when President George W. Bush was sedated for medical procedures. VP candidates face 'intimate examination' 3 -- The number of vice presidents who have won the Nobel Peace Prize. They are Theodore Roosevelt, Charles Dawes and Al Gore. 1 - Number of vice presidents accused of murder: Aaron Burr. 1 -- Number of vice presidents to take up arms against the United States government: John Breckinridge during the Civil War. | There have been 47 vice presidents to serve the U.S. since 1789 .
Two were not elected to the office, and three have won the Nobel Peace Prize .
One's taken up arms against the U.S. government, and one's been accused of murder . |
137,669 | 3e0baf476f185b951cafda601627c1a8070e3abe | Britain could be hit by power cuts next winter because the electricity supply is already ‘close to its limits’, experts warn. Capacity . is so stretched that a cold spell, combined with routine problems at . one or more plants, could overwhelm the system and see blackouts in . 2014-15, their damning report claims. A . major pressure on the National Grid is the forced closure of coal-fired . power stations to meet European green directives, the Royal Academy of . Engineering says. Candle power: Blackouts and power cuts were a familiar feature during the 1970s . But the drive to . low-carbon power from wind farms and new nuclear power stations ‘will . come at a cost’ and the authors call for politicians to be honest with . the public about it. Ed . Miliband has promised to freeze energy prices for 20 months if Labour . wins the 2015 General Election but the report, commissioned by the Prime . Minister’s Council for Science and Technology, says the major power . firms already lack the certainty about prices to invest in . desperately-needed new capacity, and will find it difficult to secure . supply in future while trying to keep bills low. Two . of the Big Six energy firms have already announced inflation-busting . price increases this winter, with British Gas’s 9.2 per cent rise . yesterday following SSE’s 8 per cent rise last week. Ed Miliband has promised to freeze energy prices for 20 months if Labour wins the 2015 General Election . For the report, engineers looked at . capacity in the power network this year, in 2015 and in 2019, and how . the system would cope during a peak in demand such as that seen during . the freezing winter of two years ago. They . concluded that a combination of adverse conditions is ‘likely to . stretch the system close to its limits, notably during the winter of . 2014-15, increasing the chance of power outages’. Dr . John Roberts, chairman of the working group, said these were ‘real sets . of challenging conditions that have happened before and can be expected . again in the future’. However, . coal and gas-fired power stations are being forced to close as they do . not meet EU regulations on pollution, while four nuclear plants are . scheduled to be phased out by 2019. Dr . Roberts said this ‘would reduce the flexibility of the system and . increase the chances that otherwise manageable failures could jeopardise . the country’s power supply’. But . Business Minister Michael Fallon insisted: ‘The lights are not going to . go out. There will be a tightness in supply if nothing is done but . stuff is being done. ‘We’ve . opened six new gas plants already. Another is being built. You’re going . to hear very soon about our investment in new nuclear power stations.’ The RAE experts interviewed staff at the National Grid, the regulator Ofgem, the Government and the big power firms. They . call on ministers to build more gas plants in the coming years, but say . they must urge operators not to close them before 2015, and pay them to . generate more capacity. Ageing gas plants are being closed or mothballed because the high price of gas make them unprofitable. And . while coal prices have plummeted, undercut as a result of the shale gas . boom in the US, around a dozen coal plants will close by 2015 because . of green directives. Dame Sue Ion, fellow of the RAE, who . worked on the report, said: ‘We’re saying that when everything is going . well there is enough capacity in the system, but if there is a bit of a . problem such as one or two major stations going down for whatever reason . and an anticyclone comes from over the Atlantic, then at peak, demand . will potentially exceed supply. ‘We . have quite a lot of renewable energy being installed but it is . intermittent, so unless you have gas to back it up it’s a problem. Whether . the turbines are onshore or offshore, if it’s a cold winter that is not . windy then only a very small amount of energy will be generated.’ Possible closures: Dr John Roberts, chairman of the reports's working group, said several coal and oil-fired power stations could be closed in the next decade if there is no investment . Major investment is . needed in the electricity network, she said, but the new wave of nuclear . power stations announced today will not come online until at least 2020 . – leaving a looming gap. ‘In . the long term we will need a lot more power’, she said. ‘The important . thing is before any statements are made about fixing prices there have . to be decisions made about how much investment is needed and how the . costs of that investment – which do not come from taxation, they come . out of electricity bills – will be paid for.’ Most . of the network was built in the 1960s. Since then the population has . risen by more than 10million – and the use of electricity in transport . systems and to heat homes has soared. Dr . Roberts said: ‘Major investment is needed in the UK’s electricity . system to achieve a modern, sustainable and secure service that will be . the foundation of economic growth. At risk: Leading engineers have warned the country is at a high risk of blackouts over the next five years as the ageing electrical system comes under pressure . ‘Government will set the market conditions but it is private industry that will invest the necessary money. Most . of the energy companies operating in this country are international . organisations that will invest in the UK only if it proves to be an . attractive market. ‘Modernising . and decarbonising the system will come at a cost, with likely rises in . the unit price of electricity and difficult decisions will need to be . made. It is vital that . government and industry work together to foster a constructive dialogue . with the public about the challenges we face.’ By Jason Groves chief political correspondent . George Osborne has signed a deal with China which opens the doors for investors to take control of British nuclear power plants . China will be allowed to own . and operate a new generation of nuclear power stations in Britain . despite warnings the move is a ‘serious error’ that could undermine . national security. Chancellor . George Osborne said yesterday he was happy for nuclear firms owned by . the Chinese state to take a ‘majority stake’ in British power plants. Billions . of pounds of investment is likely to follow, with Chinese firms . expected to take a major stake in the £14billion Hinkley C reactor . planned for construction in Somerset. But . some experts have warned against giving China a controlling stake in . the critical industry on national security grounds, arguing that it . would leave Britain at the mercy of the Communist regime. There . are also concerns that the move could give China access to details . about pressure points in Britain’s energy supplies and other sensitive . information. Mark . Pritchard, a Tory member of Parliament’s national security strategy . committee, said: ‘Investment is needed, but not at any cost, . particularly when there are national security implications. ‘I . don’t have a big problem with Chinese involvement in designing and . building nuclear power stations but they should not be allowed to . operate them. ‘It . would be a serious error to let them have operational control of our . electricity supply.’ The Chancellor has also faced criticism from human . rights groups after failing to raise China’s appalling human rights . record with officials during a week-long visit. Pictured: Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Station. Britain aims to renew ageing nuclear power plants but needs foreign investment to pay the huge upfront costs . China’s . state-controlled People’s Daily yesterday said a British admission that . it had ‘mishandled’ the issue of Tibet had paved the way for a week . that has seen Mr Osborne announce a string of Chinese investments in the . UK. Chinese companies have been criticised for their lack of transparency in a survey released by an anti-corruption watchdog. China got the lowest rating of the five major emerging economies, behind India, South Africa, Russia and Brazil. ‘Companies from China lag behind in every dimension with an overall score of 20 per cent,’ Berlin-based Transparency International says. ‘Given their growing influence in world markets, this is of concern.’ Firms were marked on how transparently they present anti-corruption measures and disclose data. The . claim was dismissed by Downing Street, which said Britain’s approach to . Tibet and its spiritual leader the Dalai Lama had ‘not changed’. Mr Osborne defended the . planned investment by China, saying: ‘There are many countries in the . world who wouldn’t want other countries involved in their civil nuclear . programme – I do, because by the way, if it wasn’t Chinese investment or . French investment, it would have to be British taxpayers, and I’d . rather British taxpayers were spending their money on our schools and . hospitals and those things, and let’s get the rest of the world . investing in our energy.’ Officials insist the national security implications of extending China’s reach in the UK have been fully considered. French . energy firm EDF has been negotiating with three Chinese nuclear giants . on the Hinkley C project. Initially Chinese companies are likely to hold . a minority stake in any project, but this could rise over time to a . majority. | Royal Academy of Engineering warns of risk as old plants begin to close .
Electrical system could be under the most pressure next winter .
National Grid last week warned of Britain's risk of blackouts this winter .
Latest report suggests system should cover demand but will be stretched .
Power supply could be put at risk by low wind or even cold weather . |
95,557 | 06cfb20ce10de09065582e0f61e207244ecd2ade | It took Andy Murray a little bit of time, but eventually he subdued the player known as ‘Mad Dog’ on Thursday afternoon to make the third round of the French Open. The Wimbledon champion gradually asserted his authority to win 6-3 6-1 6-3 against Marinko Matosevic on the court known as the ‘Bullring’ at Roland Garros. It took Murray one hour and 56 minutes to progress with a canny display that drew the errors from the powerful Australian, playing his first match in a Grand Slam second round at the age of 28. Cruise: Andy Murray eased into the third round of the French Open at Roland Garros . Acclaim: The Brit will face German Phillip Kohlschreiber in the third round in Paris . Easy: Murray claimed a 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 win over his Australian opponent on Court 1 . The 27 year-old Scot will now face . Germany’s ultra-solid Philipp Kohlschreiber, the world number 24, who . overcame Denis Istomin in straight sets. That is likely to be . considerably tougher as the German gives little away. Murray . served better than he had done in the first round against Andrey . Golubev, and it was an encouraging sign that he managed to often pull . out an ace or service winner on those occasions early in the match when . the Australian got him into trouble. Playing . someone he gets on well with, the Scot’s mindset was a little scatty in . the first set and there was plenty of chuntering at his bench. Flying start: Murray broke early in all three sets and never looked back having gained his advantage . Pleasant: Murray was on Court 1 in Roland Garros, which is known as the Bullring . Team Murray: Kim Sears and the Wimbledon champion's back-room staff watch the action . The . biggest alarm was when Matosevic forced three break points to pull him . back to 4-4 in the first set, but he lacked the composure. The . only time Matosevic, who when serving continually found his second . serves to the backhand drilled past him, broke was when he first served . for the match at 5-2 in the third. This . was not a match that will linger long in the memory but he will have . been pleased to get through the opening two rounds for the loss of one . set. A fine balance between attack and defence will be required when he . tackles the German on Saturday. | Andy Murray broke twice to clinch the first set 6-3 .
British No 1 raced through second set in 34 minutes with another two breaks of serve .
Another early break of serve set Murray on his way to winning the third set .
Brit will play Philipp Kohlschreiber in third round . |
158,709 | 5930eab4aed54aa325da5838e9e7cbf4eb78c542 | Freed Australian journalist Peter Greste will not be giving up his job as a foreign correspondent, despite a warning from his mother Lois that 'we are not going through this again'. Mr Greste was speaking at his first open media conference in Brisbane on Thursday after being freed from an Egyptian jail and deported from the country earlier this week. 'I don't want to give this up, my job up. I'm a correspondent, it's what I do,' he said. 'How I do it, whether I actually do go ahead with it I don't know.' His mother Lois said she had always believed her children should follow their passion. 'At the same time ... he has got to know that we are not going to go through this again.' Scroll down for video . Peter Greste told the media throng that it was 'incredible to here, I have dreamt about this so many times'. 'We are not going to go through this again' warned Peter Greste's mother Lois, as he vowed to return to work as a journalist despite his 400-day ordeal . Mr Greste spent much of his time in jail meditating, starting a masters degree in international relations with Queensland's Griffith University - doing his essays with pencil and paper - and working out with his cell mates . Mr Greste revealed he spent much of his time in jail meditating, starting a masters degree in international relations with Queensland's Griffith University - doing his essays with pencil and paper - and working out with his cell mates . 'I'm probably in better physical condition that I have been for the past 20 years or so,' he admitted. He described their ordeal as being similar to a 'near death experience' and vowed to do all he could to secure aid the release of his colleagues. 'We're going to all that we can to support that,' Mr Greste said. 'These guys are like brothers ... there's a lot that we share.' Mr Greste said he and his colleagues weren't abused while in jail. 'We were treated with respect and dignity as much as can be expected under the circumstances,' he added. The tears of joy flowed freely in Brisbane. Australian journalist Peter Greste and his parents are pictured at the news conference on Thursday. Mr Greste returned to Australia in the early hours of this morning after spending 400 days in a Cairo prison after he was arrested in December 2013 and charged with defaming Egypt and having links with the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood . Peter Greste faces the Australian media in Brisbane, telling his peers he will return to work as a journalist . The 49-year-old Al Jazeera journalist landed at Brisbane Airport at 12.45am and, with a huge grin, stepped off the plane into the arms of his ecstatic family. He told the media throng that it was 'incredible to here, I have dreamt about this so many times'. Mr Greste paid tribute to his family's unwavering support and said their dignified campaign was the main reason behind his release. 'We were never really sure when it was going to end or how it was going to end.' However, his release was bitter-sweet. Mr Greste continues to advocate for the release of his colleagues Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed. The three men were sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2013, after being accused of helping the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed terrorist organisation, due to coverage of the violent crackdown on Islamist protests following the military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi. Mr Greste insisted he would continue in his chosen profession: 'Far more doors opening up that I have had the chance to look through. I am a correspondent, it's what I do.' He said his colleagues were 'like brothers' and 'I trust they will follow in due course and when they (get out) we will party very hard'. 'Are you guys waiting for someone important?' Greste joked as he address media. 'I cant tell you how ecstatic I am to be here, this is a moment I've rehearsed over and over. Well, I've rehearsed it about 400 times over the last 400 days' Greste was quick to acknowledge his former inmates who remain behind bars, including fellow Al Jazeera staff: 'I will say this a million times, this is tempered with worry for my colleagues and all the other guys imprisoned beside me' He urged Australians to not forget the plight of those fighting for freedom in Egypt. 'This has generated a lot of goodwill in Australia. Egypt has a chance to show justice doesn't depend on nationality' An excited contingent of about 100 loved ones and supporters were waiting for Greste at the airport terminal, filled with relief after a long campaign to bring the reporter home. 'Are you guys waiting for someone important?' Greste joked as he addressed media. 'I can't tell you how ecstatic I am to be here, this is a moment I've rehearsed over and over. Well, I've rehearsed it about 400 times over the last 400 days.' Although, Greste was quick to acknowledge his former inmates who remain behind bars, including fellow Al Jazeera staff. 'I will say this a million times, this is tempered with worry for my colleagues and all the other guys imprisoned beside me.' 'If it's right for me to be free, it's right for all of us to be free. Freedom at last: Australian journalist Peter Greste, pictured on a beach in Cyprus on Tuesday, took to Twitter to express his sheer joy at being released from a Cairo Prison . Freed journalist Peter Greste's smiling family wait at Brisbane Airport in the moments before his plane landed . A large, excited contingent of loved ones and supporters were waiting for Greste at the airport terminal, filled with relief after a long campaign to bring the journalist home . Peter Greste's nephew tweets excitedly in the final few hours before his uncle's plane landed in Brisbane . He was released from prison and deported on Sunday after a presidential 'approval'. The official and an Interior Ministry statement said he was released under a new deportation law passed last year . 'Special thanks to all who've supported us over the past year. MUST NOT FORGET THOSE STILL IN PRISON @Bahrooz #FreeAJStaff @MFFahmy11… Keep shouting #FreeAJStaff' he wrote. Just prior to his first tweet in more than a year, a message on his account read: 'This is Mike who has been running Peter's twitter account since his arrest. A truly massive thank you to everyone who joined the campaign. It was followed by a Tweet that confirmed Greste was on his way home and looking forward to seeing his family again . However a shadow of grief continues to underlie even the Tweets of Greste, who continues to advocate for the release of his colleagues Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed . | Peter Greste has faced his peers at a media conference in Brisbane vowing to return to work as a journalist .
His mother Lois joked that 'we are not going to go through this again'
Greste returned to Australia after 400 day ordeal in Egypt jail .
Peter Greste was released from a Cairo prison and deported on Sunday .
He said his last words on leaving prison to his two colleagues who remain imprisoned in Egypt 'see you when I see you'
Mr Greste spent much of his time in jail meditating, starting a masters degree in international relations and working out with his cell mates . |
234,574 | bbb0c3c8b163cba23e5595a6b41422682d4689de | It is known for its enormous rooftop sign featuring the slogan, 'When It Rains, It Pours'. And on Tuesday, it certainly poured after a wall collapsed at Morton Salt's Illinois plant - spilling mounds of white salt onto the street and burying at least half a dozen cars parked nearby. The side wall at Chicago's North Side warehouse - situated in the 1300 block of North Elston Avenue - partially fell through at around 2pm. The reason for its collapse is currently unknown. Scroll down for video . 'When it rains, it pours!' On Tuesday afternoon, a wall collapsed at Morton Salt's Illinois plant (pictured) - spilling mounds of white salt onto the street and burying at least half a dozen cars parked nearby . Aerial view: The side wall at Chicago's North Side warehouse - situated in the 1300 block of North Elston Avenue - partially fell through (pictured) at around 2pm. The reason for its collapse is currently unknown . Stuck: Within seconds, dunes of the grainy white stuff had spilled out of the building, engulfing cars at an adjacent McGrath Acura dealership. At least three vehicles were left with only their fronts sticking out . Within seconds, dunes of the grainy white stuff had spilled out of the building, engulfing cars at an adjacent McGrath Acura dealership. At least three vehicles were left with only their fronts sticking out. No injuries were reported in the incident, Chicago Fire Department spokesman, Larry Langford, said. Mr Langford added that city engineers are currently looking at the structural integrity of the building, a major storage facility for Morton Salt, a 100-year-old company best known for its pourable table salt. Chicago Police Department spokesman Thomas Sweeney said officers responded to a call about the collapse shortly after 2pm, NBC reported.. He added that he did not have further details. Shocking: No injuries were reported in the incident, said Fire Department spokesman, Larry Langford . Emergency crews at the scene: Mr Langford added that city engineers are currently looking at the structural integrity of the building, which is a main plant for Morton Salt. Above, firefighters and police at the scene . Warning: Police posted the above photo on Twitter, adding that Elston road was closed in both directions . However, two hours after the incident, the police department posted an image of emergency crews at the scene on Twitter, alongside the warning: 'Elston is closed both directions.' Twitter users have been quick to circulate the shocking images of the salt spillage, with many citing the relevance of Morton Salt's slogan. One wrote: 'When it rains, it really does pour.' Morton Salt, which employs nearly 3,000 people in the U.S., Canada and the Bahamas, produces table and specialty salts, as well as water softening products and ice melters, Fox 32 reported. In a statement, the firm simply confirmed that a wall had collapsed at a storage facility. Adjacent dealership: Twitter users have been quick to circulate the shocking images of the salt spillage, with many citing the relevance of Morton Salt's slogan. One wrote: 'When it rains, it really does pour' Another view of the incident: Morton Salt is a 100-year-old company best known for its pourable table salt . | Wall at Morton Salt in Chicago, Illinois, partially collapsed on Tuesday .
Within seconds, mounds of white salt had poured out onto the street .
Grainy white stuff buried at least six parked cars at adjacent dealership .
No-one was injured; city engineers are investigating cause of collapse . |
112,478 | 1d1a63dd04fbbd1be1f81e1de9e2f146428a0c03 | Evicted: Nathan Grindal was told to leave the televised final after rowdy fans started chanting 'Jesus' at him, sparking fears the players' concentration would be disrupted . A darts fan was kicked out of a live televised final after the 4,500-strong crowd interrupted play by taunting him - because he looks like Jesus. Bearded Nathan Grindal was enjoying the clash between Phil Taylor and Kim Huybrechts when some of the audience spotted his likeness to the son of God. Chants of 'Jesus' quickly spread through the rowdy crowd packed into Butlins' at Minehead, Somerset. Security staff were called amid fears that Nathan's omnipresence was upsetting the concentration of ex-world champ Taylor and his Belgian rival. The labourer, of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, was close to tears as six bouncers removed him from the Cash Converters Players' Championship which was being shown on ITV4. As he left a chant of 'Stand up if you love Jesus' broke out with many of the boozed-up crowd getting to their feet. Nathan, 33, was escorted to a nearby bar where the security staff bought him a pint and told him to watch the rest of the final on the telly. He saw the legendary Taylor win - and then found himself being asked to pose for signed photos with fans as they left the arena. Blond-haired Nathan, who emigrated from his native Australia to Oxford six years ago, said: 'I didn't go to the darts dressed as Jesus - I went as me. 'It was all very weird and distressing. I didn't break down crying but I did get emotionally distraught. 'They were bullying me and picking on me, saying that I was someone else. 'It would have been okay if the security hadn't made a fuss getting me out of the arena. 'I was evicted for something I have no control over. I felt discriminated against.' Scroll down for video . Rowdy: The crowd chants 'Stand up if you love Jesus' as Nathan is escorted out of the venue . Thrown out: Bouncers take the darts fan away while the crowd's chants increase in intensity . Lookalike: Fans continue to Nathan for looking like Jesus as he leaves the match he had been trying to enjoy . Have one on us: Nathan was escorted to a nearby bar by security staff, who bought him a pint and told him to watch the rest of the match on television last year . Nathan, who began growing his beard four . months ago, had booked a three-day stay at Butlins earlier this month . with five pals to watch the darts. He added: 'After the tournament ended, I must admit a lot of people went to get autographs and signed photos from me. 'I signed a few pieces of paper - but in my real name, not Jesus. Distressing: Nathan, pictured right, said he became 'emotionally distraught' as he was escorted out of the final, featuring Phil 'The Power' Taylor, left . 'In his post-match interview, Phil Taylor said something like "if I ever see Jesus again, I'll crucify him myself". Now that's just hurtful. 'I love darts, but I'm worried about ever going to see it live again, just in case the crowd turns on me like they did last time.' Dave Allen, spokesman for the Professional Darts Corporation, said Nathan was ejected to prevent his presence becoming a nuisance to the players. Unlucky mate: Darts player Kim Huybrechts gave Nathan this signed programme for his troubles following his eviction . Runner-up: Huybrechts at the Minehead Butlins where he lost the final to Taylor . He said: 'There was a lot of chanting of Jesus and I think to avoid it becoming too much of a distraction for the players he was taken by security to another part of the complex. 'We want everyone who comes to have a good time and we do not want one fan to become a problem for the players and to possibly affect play.' He added: 'There is plenty of audience participation. They are encouraged to support the players within certain boundaries. 'The fact they can buy four-pint pitchers certainly helps.' VIDEO: Darts fan Nathan Grindal is escorted out of the match... | Nathan Grindal, 33, was told to leave final after fans chanted 'Jesus' at him .
Nathan, of Oxfordhsire, was escorted to nearby bar to watch rest of game .
Professional Darts Corporation said he was evicted to prevent distraction . |
102,608 | 103c45cface37295e0cc525d73215782e3a41860 | Disgruntled Millwall supporters who watched their side capitulate at Bradford on Wednesday will have their tickets refunded by the club. The Lions were embarrassingly dumped out of the FA Cup by their League One hosts, losing 4-0 at Valley Parade. It is a result which leaves manager Ian Holloway clinging on to his job, with Millwall embroiled in a Championship relegation dogfight. The Millwall players look dejected during their FA Cup defeat to League One side Bradford City . Millwall manager Ian Holloway looks despondent after his side were thrashed 4-0 at Valley Parade . Bradford manager Phil Parkinson and his assistant Steve Parkin were send to the stands during the match . And the defeat in Yorkshire prompted chairman John Berylson to announce that all supporters who travelled the 215 miles up north to see the humiliation. It’s an eight-hour round trip by car and Holloway’s side were down to ten men inside six minutes – two goals behind in the opening 15. Lions defender Mark Beevers (far right) was sent off after just six minutes on a dire night for Millwall . A statement from Millwall read: ‘Following Wednesday night’s FA Cup Third Round replay defeat to Bradford City, Millwall chairman John Berylson has decided to refund the cost of match tickets for the 456 Lions fans who purchased their tickets in advance of the game. ‘He wishes to thank everyone for their continued support during difficult times and has pledged to facilitate further squad strengthening with a view to seeing results improve in the very near future. ‘An announcement detailing the refund process will be released in due course.’ Millwall keeper David Forde appears to punch Bradford striker Jon Stead during the feisty FA Cup clash . | Millwall chief John Berylson will reimburse fans that travelled to Bradford .
The Lions were thrashed 4-0 in the FA Cup fixture at Valley Parade .
Manager Ian Holloway and defender Alan Dunne apologised to supporters . |
176,758 | 70d1dbc2f470bd9e3fad2b88f6ef7c9e229f2208 | (CNN) -- The owner of a Nebraska car dealership and two executives were in police custody facing theft charges Thursday after 81 cars were taken from the dealership's lot, authorities said. Alan Patch, 52, who owns Legacy Auto Sales in Nebraska is being held in Tooele County, Utah. Alan Patch, 52, the owner of Legacy Auto Sales in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, was being held in Tooele County, Utah, Scottsbluff police Capt. Kevin Spencer told CNN. Rachel Fait, 37, Legacy's comptroller, was arrested in Tooele County on Wednesday, and Legacy general manager Rick Covello, 53, turned himself in to Scottsbluff officials Thursday, Spencer said. Police became aware of the case Tuesday, when they received a call from Toyota company officials, Spencer said. Toyota told police they had received a call that all of Legacy's new Toyotas were gone from its lot. Employees arriving at the dealership for work on Tuesday also found the three executives gone, police said. They had packed up their personal possessions. Some computers were gone, as well. Fait and Patch's homes in Nebraska were on the market and empty, Spencer said. In all, authorities found, 81 vehicles -- mostly Toyotas but some Fords as well, valued at more than $2.5 million -- had been moved off Legacy's lot over the weekend and on Monday. At least some of them were moved by a Utah transport company that was paid with a fraudulent cashier's check, Spencer said. Authorities have been trying to track down the cars, he said. Seven of them were found at a Utah auto business; 16 others were sold at a Utah auction. Others were found in Las Vegas, Nevada, Spencer said, but police do not have an accurate tally of how many remain missing. The FBI has been assisting local authorities in the case from the beginning, Spencer said. The cars weren't the dealership's to sell free and clear. While they technically belonged to the dealership, they were financed by Toyota, he said. New cars come to dealerships with documentation called a Manufacturer's Statement of Origin. Police investigating the case found that those statements had been converted to titles, Spencer said. While such conversion is not a crime, and is not unheard of among dealerships, the step usually is seen when a dealership goes under and is trying to expedite the sale of vehicles, he said. What a dealer can do with cars depends on a dealership's agreement with the manufacturer, Spencer said. Police are attempting to find out details of Legacy's agreement with Toyota, he said, but "normally as part of that agreement, [the cars] are not to leave the dealership." "We're of the opinion they've committed a crime," Spencer said. Arrest warrants for the three list each as facing one count of felony theft, he said. The dealership had been facing financial difficulties, Spencer said. The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported a bank had been overseeing Legacy's day-to-day operations for about three months. According to the newspaper, the owner of a Utah auto auction said that some of the vehicles had been sold at his business, but he declined further comment, saying he was seeking legal advice because he was trying to work things out with Toyota. Doug Bergener, a manager at Bargain Buggys in Tooele, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City, told the newspaper he offered to buy 10 used vehicles from Legacy after hearing they were shutting down. But the vehicles that arrived were brand new, he said. He had sales pending on four before he got a call telling him not to sell them. He told the Star-Herald that he's known Patch and Fait for years, and that Patch told him he had paid for the vehicles and had titles. "I don't think anyone can prove anything's illegal at this point," Bergener said, according to the Star-Herald. "We've known Allen for 15 years and never knew him to do anything underhanded. There's been no reason not to trust him. He's always been honest. It'll all come out in the wash." | Executives Alan Patch, Rachel Fait and Rick Covello arrested .
Police say they loaded up 81 cars, emptied offices and homes and left town .
Officials say the dealership had been facing financial difficulties .
Police looking into the sale of the cars, agreement with Toyota . |
121,768 | 29651528161499b3f724c8ddb3dfbda9ba894e40 | By . Kieran Corcoran . Breach: Julie Griffiths, pictured yesterday outside court, has been fined for launching a noisy 45-minute rant at her husband . A wife from hell who was given an Asbo for shouting at her own husband so loudly it kept her neighbours awake has been fined for breaching the order. Julie Griffiths, 45, was hauled before a court and ordered to pay £270 after a blistering 45-minute rant at her husband for buying the wrong type of scratch card. Griffiths is banned from making loud noises which can be heard by those who live either side of her terraced house in Talke, Staffordshire, but breached the conditions when she lost her temper with her 65-year-old husband, Norman. Neighbours have been complaining about her outbursts since 1999, and it was around thirteen years before she received her Asbo in December 2012. She has been in court once before after a noisy argument last year. She appeared before magistrates at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre, who heard that Griffiths sent her husband to the newsagents to buy a lottery scratch card on March 9. But when he returned to their home she flew into a lengthy rage for because he had not bought the one she wanted. Prosecutor Steve Knowles said residents living near their £75,000 home became concerned when they heard Griffiths shouting. He said: 'Neighbours living near to the mid-terrace property confirmed that they heard Julie Griffiths screaming, shouting and swearing and later banging on the walls at her home. 'They say it went on for about 45 minutes. One of the neighbours used his mobile phone to record the noise and Griffiths’ voice was getting louder and louder. 'Griffiths was interviewed and said she was aware of the Asbo which had been imposed. She confirmed she had an argument with her husband who had gone out to get a lottery ticket. 'Griffiths said that the ticket was wrong and that had made her angry. She admitted that she was shouting and screaming and was aware that this was a breach.' Rant: Griffiths, pictured in 2012 around the time of her ASBO being issued, breached her order last year as well . Night-shift worker Griffiths was originally handed a five-year Asbo in December 2012 after noise monitoring equipment was installed to measure the volume of her shouting. The ruling prohibits her from creating noise audible to neighbouring properties, shouting, screaming or banging on internal doors and communicating with certain neighbours. But she breached it just four months later it was imposed when she argued with Norman last April. Yesterday she admitted breaching the order for a second time. Alan Dawson, defending, said: 'The circumstances are that Julie Griffiths lives in a terrace with her husband of 25 years. Unlucky neighbours: People have been complaining about the noise Griffiths made since 1999 . 'She has an Asbo but during this day in particular, there is an argument at the address and it’s as simple as that. 'There is no intention by this lady to encroach on the neighbours, she confined the argument to the house, she was not out on the streets, but the neighbours could hear it. 'Her husband said he slammed the door when he left the room and that was not her. Griffiths admitted the offence and accepts what she has done. 'She has lived at the address for 26 years and it is only quite recently that these issues have been reported. This is a lady who wants to get on with her life and keep herself to herself, but there is going to be some escape of noise in relation to her neighbours.' Magistrates told Griffiths that breaching an Asbo was a serious offence but agreed to be lenient on this occasion. She was fined £165 and ordered to pay £105 in court costs. She must also attend anger management classes. Griffiths, who was escorted from court by two police officers, refused to comment after the hearing. Julie Griffiths's rants will be nothing new to her long-suffering neighbours, who have been complaining about her for more than a decade. She was first given a noise abatement order in 1999, and was fined £500 for a breach which was recorded in 2010. Over the next two years the situation became especially dire, and the local council eventually installed noise monitoring equipment in 2012. Between July and October of that year, Griffiths breached her noise abatement order an incredible 47 times. Neighbours revealed that she has been banned from family events thanks to her short temper. After receiving her Asbo in December 2012, it was just four months until she was back in court for breaching the order. She was then fined £750 and ordered to pay costs of £85. Irate neighbours eventually revealed the contents of her furious rants, in which she orders the long-suffering Norman Griffiths out of the house. In . one from the morning of August 27 2012, she can be heard shouting: 'Get . out if you want a fag. Go! You’re not smoking in bed, I said get out if . you want a fag! Get out if you want a fag! Get your shoes on and get out . if you want a fag. Now get out.’ Griffiths then continues her . rant, screeching: ‘Not gone yet, can’t hear the door, get your shoes on . and get out, otherwise you’ll know about it. Get out, Do I have to say it . again.’ In another she tell her husband: 'Don't worry Norman, I'm just about sick of you!' Further clips show she is aware of being recorded, but continues regardless. She says: 'Stop ignoring me, you are. I am being recorded by them next door now thanks to you.''They are recording every day. Because of you I keep f*****g up.' | Julie Griffiths, 45, was given an Asbo in 2012 because of furious ranting .
She's banned from making loud noises at her home in Talke, Staffordshire .
But last month husband Norman Griffiths, 65, faced another tirade .
Neighbours reported 45 mintues of shouting for buying wrong scratch card .
Griffiths was ordered to pay £270 at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre . |
211,126 | 9d67fbc8a72f9fadf5cc5935d126261b23c810a2 | By . Damien Gayle and Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 22:31 EST, 19 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 22:39 EST, 19 April 2013 . Two children found living in a 5-by-10-foot unit at a storage facility in New Jersey had been staying there with their mother for about a month, authorities said Friday. Their mother, Sheena Johnson, 27, was arrested Thursday in Trenton on allegations that she slashed her ex-boyfriend's tires. As part of routine questioning in arrests involving domestic violence, police asked Johnson if she had any dependents and if so, where they were staying. Cramped living conditions: Two children found living in a 5-by-10-foot unit at a storage facility in New Jersey, pictured, had been staying there with their mother for about a month, authorities said Friday . Trenton Police Lieutenant Mark Kieffer said an officer became suspicious when Johnson began to respond evasively. The woman told police she had two children, ages 5 and 10, and they were waiting for a bus with another person near a storage facility where she had rented a unit. The officer drove to the facility in nearby Ewing and demanded the locker be opened. At first, no one would let him in without a search warrant. Then he told them there might be children inside, Kieffer said. When the officer opened the door, he found the children, along with a bare mattress, garbage bags filled with clothes, a suitcase, a backpack and other items strewn around the locker. ‘It was deplorable conditions,’ Kieffer said. Police said the children were examined at a hospital and found to be unharmed. They are now in state custody. Johnson was charged with child endangerment by Ewing police. She also faces charges of criminal mischief, domestic violence and violating a restraining order over her arrest in Trenton. Ewing Police Detective Sergeant John Stemler said one of his officers went to a nearby McDonald's to buy each child a Happy Meal. Stemler could not say what the children told police because their statements are part of the investigation. He said the storage facility is not being investigated. A unit that size at the Ewing location costs up to $70 a month, according to its website.Stemler was unaware of any past incidents where people were found living in the units. Police discovered the boys on Thursday surrounded by their worldly possessions in the Extra Space Storage Facility in Ewing, near Trenton, New Jersey, after their mother told them they were there. Officers were stunned to find the pair had been living in the 'filthy' unit amid old plastic bags, suit cases and lawn furniture, with just a bare mattress on the floor to sleep on. 'Horrible conditions': The Extra Space Storage Facility in Ewing, near Trenton, New Jersey, where two boys were found living in a five-foot by ten-foot unit after their mother was arrested . The two boys are now in protective custody with the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. There is as yet no word on how long they had been living there. Trenton and Ewing police went to the storage company on the 1400 block of Prospect Street in Ewing at 10.40am yesterday morning, following their mother's arrest for allegedly slashing the tyres on her boyfriend's car. Following procedure for domestic violence incidents, police asked Sheena Johnson if she had any dependants and it was then that she revealed her family's desperate living situation. Police discovered her 5-year-old and 10-year-old sons living inside the five-foot by ten-foot unheated unit on the third floor of the the Extra Space Storage facility. 'They were living in horrible conditions,' Lieutenant Mark Kieffer of the Trenton Police told The Trentonian. He added to NJ.com: 'That's where their house is - that's where they're living. It was just filthy in there.' Both boys were dirty but uninjured and did not appear to be malnourished. Nevertheless, they were hungry and officers bought them McDonald's Happy Meals before leading them out of the facility. They were reportedly taken for check ups at the Capital Health Regional Medical Center before being released in the care of social services. Lieutenant Kieffer said that it was likely that Johnson had been living their with the two children but had left them inside when she went out to Trenton yesterday morning. She was arrested there after allegedly slashing the tyres on Calhoun Street, he said. Hungry, dirty but unhurt: The boys, aged five and ten, were reportedly taken for check ups at the Capital Health Regional Medical Center (pictured) before being released in the care of social services . A renter of another unit said he believed the family had been living there 'for months'. There is no heat inside the units and only the hallways are wired for electricity, he said. Staff at the Extra Space Storage Facility had initially refused access to officers without a warrant, but relented after they were told there could be children in danger, said Lieutenant Kieffer. Flo Auletta, who owns a restaurant across the road from the storage company told the Trentonian that paramedics, code enforcement officials and social workers subsequently arrived on the scene. Ewing Mayor Bert Steinmann told the paper that the discovery had left him 'shocked and appalled' and said he had called the town's two other storage companies to check there was nothing similar occurring. 'I just wished the mother would have sought help instead of going down the route she took,' he added. 'There’s Homefront, the County’s Board of Social Services, Women’s Space — anything would have been better.' Johnson, 27, who was initially held on a charge of criminal mischief, has now been charged with two counts of second-degree child endangerment and last night remained in the custody of Ewing Police. | Five-year-old and ten-year-old found in 'horrible conditions' in the cramped unit after their mother was arrested .
Both are now in the protective custody of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families .
Their mother was last night held on two charges of second-degree child endangerment . |
151,478 | 4fd7c9edfc5ddae1d6858c47872cdd1c4f7a9b6e | London, England (CNN) -- Britain's new coalition government has embarked on a budget-deficit cutting strategy that is bold, brave and potentially very risky, says analyst Fareed Zakaria. It could turn out to be a model for the United States to follow -- or a prime example of what not to do in the wake of a severe recession. After forming a government in the wake of the May election, the ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats announced plans last month to cut spending and raise taxes in an effort to reduce the budget deficit. Zakaria, the author and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" spoke to CNN on Wednesday from London. Here is an edited transcript: . CNN: The new coalition government in Britain has announced major steps to cut the budget deficit. What has the impact been? Fareed Zakaria: In general, I'd say the government is benefiting from having announced these cuts. There's a sense that they're being bold, they're being brave, they're taking on a big challenge. It particularly helps them that you have this coalition government, so the fact that the Liberal Democrats, who are really quite a left-wing party, are supporting the budget has given Conservatives more cover. ... It's important to remember that it's not just budget cuts, it's also tax raises. You have to give them credit for being serious about this. It is not pure ideology as with the right in the United States. They understand that if you're going to do something serious about the budget deficit, you've got to do both spending cuts and tax increases .There's simply no way for the math to work without doing that. Now, on the political side though, these changes have not come into effect yet. So there are two big questions, what happens economically when these budget cuts start going into effect and what happens politically -- how popular does the government remain at that point? But the biggest question is what happens economically. CNN: Is it too soon to take these steps as the world is coming out of a big recession, and government spending is seen as a way to speed the recovery from a recession? Zakaria: The crucial question here is about timing, and very few people would disagree that Britain had to get its public finances in order. There's a universal sense that the last Labour government spent too much money and borrowed too much money. But in the midst of a very weak economic recovery, does it make sense to slash spending, raise taxes, all of which will have the effect of putting some people out of work and reducing people's spending power. Here's the debate -- one side says that will reassure markets, that will bring interest rates on things like mortgages even lower, and that will give businesses confidence to invest, and the other side says once you inflict that much pain on the economy, people are going to spend less as people lose jobs or are taxed more heavily, which will cause an even more severe downturn. CNN: What does this mean for the rest of the world? Zakaria: Britain is the guinea pig here. We're all going to watch the outcome very closely because President Obama has taken a position in this debate. He told the G-20 countries, which includes Britain of course, that it is too soon to start withdrawing the stimulus measures. Britain is going further than withdrawing the stimulus measures, it's actually cutting spending. The big debate is over what will restore business confidence and what will make businesses start spending again. Because everyone agrees that government spending is only a bridge to business spending. At some point business has to start spending again. I'm pretty persuaded that the timing on this is bad. I think it would have made more sense to wait at least six months, if not nine to 12 months before beginning these measures. CNN: If you're going to have to do it eventually, why wait? Zakaria: It's really quite brave of the Conservatives to take on the fiscal problem but there is definitely a danger that they are doing it too soon and will put the economy into a lower growth mode. This is something that you have to remember for the United States as well. If you have lower growth, you also have a worse deficit because the biggest contributor to deficits is a decline in tax revenue. So the slower the economy grows, the fewer people who are employed, the lower the taxes going to the government treasury, the bigger and bigger the deficit becomes. So, in a strange sense, even to help the deficit in the short term, you need a little bit of government spending to get the economy going, to get people spending, to get them paying taxes. CNN: Does David Cameron's victory in the U.K. election tell us something about the future of conservatives in America? Zakaria: Outside Britain, people are struck by David Cameron, the fact that he's become prime minister, that he's fairly popular and he seems to be taking big, bold measures. But here people are still struck by how limited was the Tory victory, if you could call it a victory. After 13 years of Labour rule, when it would be only natural for the Conservatives to be given power for just cyclical reasons, after a very unpopular Labour prime minister and the worst economic crisis since the great depression, the conservatives still were not able to muster a majority and had to go into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. CNN: Why couldn't the Conservatives put together a majority in the election? Zakaria: What thoughtful observers say was that the Conservatives still made no inroads in Scotland, did not make many inroads with working women -- which is a growing part of the population -- and they did not make many inroads with nonwhite minorities, people from India, and Pakistan and the Caribbean. As somebody put it to me, the Conservative brand is still a tarnished brand. To me, that was a very interesting lesson for the right in America. You can have the small government argument David Cameron was making. It did have a lot of appeal -- but to England, not Scotland and not to the nonwhites in England either. It made me wonder about the Republican Party in the United States, which of course has broader appeal, but still faces some of these same challenges. The midterm election looks like it's going to go very well for the Republicans because there is a lot of anti-incumbency sentiment and some anger at the Democratic Party. But to seal the deal, Republicans need to close the gap with nonwhites and working women, and there, the Republican Party, like the Conservatives, still faces some challenges. CNN: What other lessons are there for conservatives in the United States? Zakaria: The Republicans should really watch the British Conservatives. What David Cameron is trying to do is to modernize the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party was seen in Britain as too right wing, too extreme and too intolerant in many ways and what he's been trying to do is to broaden its appeal. David Cameron is more green, more environmentally active, than Gordon Brown. He's come out very strongly in favor of gay rights, he's come out in favor of the National Health Service. All of this is a signal that he's not a Conservative who's going to completely destroy England's welfare state. In a sense, working with the Liberal Democrats has been a godsend for David Cameron. The fact that he's in coalition with them means that when the far right of his party asks him to do something, he can say, I'm sorry guys, I just can't do it because we're in coalition with the Liberal Democrats, and to keep the coalition together I have to moderate my stance. Now there's an interesting debate in Britain about whether he's modernizing the Conservative Party because he is himself a great moderate or because he just wants to win and he knows the center is where the electability is. In a sense it doesn't matter for Republicans watching it. You still need to be attractive to the center, to the younger generation, to working women and to ethnic minorities. Of course it will all depend on how this economic experiment goes. If these cuts put Britain in a double-dip, you'll see great strains on the coalition itself, and the Liberal Democrats will find it difficult to stay in this coalition. Then this whole thing spins out of control. | Britain's aggressive plan to cut its deficit is a bold but risky move, says Fareed Zakaria .
The coalition government has announced plans but they haven't gone into effect, he says .
Zakaria: Question is will it restore business confidence or cause recession .
He says GOP should take note of how Cameron is modernizing the Conservative Party . |
244,229 | c818afa2f87aef6e520f60542961b9bc591838a4 | From the moment the father of Bowe Bergdahl took the stage with President Barack Obama, it was clear the Bergdahls were not an average US military family. Sporting a long, bushy beard that he refused to trim since his son went missing in 2009, Bob Bergdahl spoke Pashto, Afghanistan's main language, and also a few words of Arabic at the White House press conference announcing his son's release. Some critics of the deal to free the only remaining American prisoner of war have shifted their attention to Mr Bergdahl and his controversial statements. Just a few days before his son was . released in a trade for five Guantanamo detainees, Mr Bergdalh tweeted . at a Taliban spokesman saying, 'I am still working to free all . Guantanamo prisoners.' 'God will repay for the death of every Afghan child, ameen.' Scroll down for video . Robert Bergdahl spoke Arabic and Pashto at the Rose Garden press conference with President Barack Obama announcing the release of his son Bowe . This tweet, which was later deleted, has drawn the ire of some conservative activists, who say it is evidence of possible 'Stockholm Syndrome' or a coverup . Before the beard: Bob Bergdahl poses with Country and Western star Ashley Monroe in the weeks after his son disappeared, left. He is also pictured right in a cowboy hat at a family reunion some years ago . The tweet was later deleted, but not before it was spotted by several conservative activists. Some are raising questions about Mr Bergdalh's loyalties - possibly even converting to Islam. He has become an active anti-war campaigner and spoken out against drone strikes and Gitmo. 'Folks, this is either a very bad case of Stockholm Syndrome or something far more nefarious is at stake,' wrote former Republican Congressman Allen West, who labeled the message a 'smoking gun.' 'Regardless, there is more to this than meets the eye of Obama making a unilateral decision and announcement on a Saturday - when he believes no one is watching.' Supporters see a man who has done everything he could raise awareness of his son's five years in enemy captivity and project any image that might be likely to keep Bowe alive. In a video posted by the Guardian, Mr Bergdahl told photographer Sean Smith: 'I don't work for the military. I don't work for the government. I don't represent the American people. I'm a father who wants his son back.' Mr Bergdahl's former pastor Bob Henley told the Washington Post that the father began to study radical Islamic politics as a way to understand his son's captors. He grew a beard to mark the time his son was gone - but also, possibly - to win some sympathy from the Taliban who held Bowe. Before Bowe was captures, Mr Bergdahl was best known as the town's UPS deliveryman. It all changed when Bowe was taken by the Taliban. Friends say he delved deeply into his studies of the country and the people who were holding his son. Some wondered aloud whether he had crossed a line, the Post reports. Bowe is seen here in April 2010 in Taliban captivity. This image was released by the soldier's captors during his five-year ordeal . Robert Bergdahl also got criticism for this tweet, in which he called democracy a 'cult' A spokesman for the family told the Washington Post that that Bergdahls acknowledged that the tweet about the deaths of Afghan children being avenged was sent and then deleted, but did not offer a further explanation. Some activists have picked up on other tweets from Mr Bergdahl, as well. In March, he wrote, '"Democracy" is a cult in the West' in response to a comment about the Afghan elections. He also raised eyebrows when, in a pres conference, he said the family's hometown of Hailey, Idaho, 'We're so much like Afghanistan.' In a 2011 video message to Bowe's captors, Mr Bergdahl said: 'Strangely to some we must also thank those who have cared for our son for almost two years. 'We know our son is a prisoner and at the same time a guest in your home.' Idyllic? This is the beautiful homestead of Bob and Jani Bergdahl in Hailey, Idaho. The Bergdahls hope Bowe will return here to a hero's welcome. But what were the circumstances of his release? The Idaho-native Bergdahls were unlike many military families - or unlike many other families - well before Bowe was captures. The Bergdahls are Presbyterian. The Daily Telegraph reports that Bob and Jami are still seen at church in town. They home-schooled Bowe for six hours a day. They also reportedly traveled 300 miles to attend an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Boise for a time. Bowe took ballet, but could also ride a horse and shoot a rifle by age 5. Mr Smith, the Guardian journalist who followed Bowe in Afghanistan before his capture and late spent time with his father, said Mr Bergdahl became political out of necessity after his son fell into Taliban hands. 'I don’t think he had all the opinions at the beginning that he had at the end. I think his thinking has changed,' he said. 'He was trying to understand. It’s not a question of agreeing with people. It’s a question, from his point of view, of trying to understand where they may be coming from.' In a Rolling Stone magazine article last year, Mr Bergdahl said he kept in contact with a Taliban source who claimed to know where his son was. He also said he had learned a great deal about Afghan politics. He learned to speak a few words of Pashto and Arabic so he could record a 2011 video message to his son's captors. | Bob Bergdahl has drawn scrutiny after speaking Pashto, an Afghan language, and Arabic at a Rose Garden press conference .
He has refused to trim his beard since his son was captured in 2009 .
Deleted tweet that said 'God will repay the death of every Afghan child'
One conservative commentator called the message 'a smoking gun' |
148,500 | 4c09ac59267d0932be5c14d8905a0a8e76215822 | Prostate cancer patients are receiving ‘second rate’ care on the NHS compared to women with breast cancer, a report warns. They are far less likely to be offered the latest drugs, be looked after by a specialist nurse, or given basic pain relief. Campaigners accuse the health service of discriminating against men with prostate cancer, who tend to be more elderly than women with breast cancer. Men with prostate cancer are far less likely to be offered the latest drugs, be looked after by a specialist nurse, or given basic pain relief compared to women with breast cancer, according to a new report (posed by model) They also say Nice, the drugs rationing body, has made fewer prostate drugs available to the health service compared with those for other forms of cancer. Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat MP and former health minister who wrote the report with cancer charity Orchid, said there was a ‘huge, unacceptable, inexplicable variation’ in standards. He added: ‘Why should men with prostate cancer have to cope with second-rate services, a lack of vital support and limited access to world-class drug treatments and trials?’ There are 41,700 new cases of prostate cancer in the UK each year, and one in eight men will contract the disease at some point. But the report warns that despite such high prevalence, men with the illness suffer far worse care than other cancer patients. Richard Smock was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago. The married 72-year-old was told the cancer had spread to his bones – and was therefore untreatable. Doctors are now giving him drugs to extend his life and help relieve symptoms, but he is not expected to survive past the age of 75. However he has never been put in touch with a dedicated nurse – known as a clinical nurse specialist – who could offer expert care and support. The father of three, who lives in Bromley, South-East London, said: ‘I would have really appreciated having someone to talk through the basic practicalities, particularly immediately following my diagnosis.’ He added: ‘It’s easy just to focus on the physical – the first thing you discuss is exactly how long you have left – but there is so much beyond that. ‘Having a dedicated individual to help navigate through the psychological, social and financial side of cancer would have been invaluable.’ There is no obvious reason why, but the majority of patients are elderly. Meanwhile women with breast cancer, for example, tend to be younger and in better health. Mr Burstow said: ‘We do require health providers to ask, “Are we doing everything we can to make sure men are getting access to cancer treatments they need as much as women?” ‘It’s something the NHS England cancer tsar should be looking at.’ Despite mortality rates improving substantially thanks to earlier diagnoses, prostate cancer still kills 10,800 men annually. But figures show that only a third of men with the disease are offered the chance to take part in potentially life-saving clinical trials – which could also pave the way for new treatments for other patients. The report also says that many men with incurable cancers are not offered life-extending treatments such as Docetaxel and Abiraterone. This may be because doctors are not aware they are available – or assume they are not worthwhile. There are also just 280 specialist nurses in England for all urological cancers – which include prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular – compared to 425 for breast cancer. Some 13 per cent of prostate patients felt their care was substandard, against 10 per cent of women with breast cancer. Twenty-two per cent also felt staff did not do enough to control pain, whereas the figure was 17 per cent for breast cancer patients. In addition, far fewer prostate drugs have been approved by Nice, meaning men must rely on getting unapproved drugs from the Cancer Drugs Fund – which can only be done through an oncologist. Sean Duffy, the clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said: ‘Survival rates for prostate cancer are now very high. We are not complacent though and know we need to do much more, particularly to reduce variation in services.’ | Cancer charity Orchid: Men treated worse than women with breast cancer .
Prostate cancer sufferers are often older and in poorer general health .
More than 10,000 men die of prostate cancer every year in Britain . |
79,883 | e277d462cd0b1647ed6b8880ba19f95aed08fde7 | By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 04:07 EST, 12 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:19 EST, 12 November 2012 . Britain's rubbish sent to China for recycling is being returned to UK landfills because the quality is so poor. Nearly 70 per cent of plastics able to be recycled are shipped to the Far East as UK households fail to re-use and process them at home. Historically, China accepted it to process the materials. Waste is being sent back to British landfills after China has rejected low quality plastics . Don't dump it here: China has cracked down on the type and quality of materials it processes . But the country has now clamped down on the low quality of items sent to it - particularly those that have been 'contaminated', the Daily Telegraph reported. The Environment Agency has warned that in this year alone 17 containers, containing 420 tons of plastic, have been refused by Asian countries as the government cracks down on 'dirty' plastics. Recycling experts warned of a 'plastics mountain' if China cracks down further, according to the Daily Telegraph. China announced in October that it may enforce regulations that would spell disaster for Britain in terms of dumping their waste elsewhere. The regulations ban imported unwashed post-consumer plastic, any waste being transferred to a company other than that stated on the import licence; and stopping the trade of unwashed plastic leftover from the sorting of imported plastic and paper. Now Beijing has warned that China may stop accepting unwashed, household plastics scrap altogether as it strives to recycle only high quality materials. Households have not been properly processing their waste, despite efforts to encourage people to make more of an effort . Most local authorities in England do not insist people categorise their rubbish, allowing them to lump all recyclable materials such as plastic and glass into once collection. Despite this jumble of mixed materials, a recycling facility sorts them - but even this will not meet the standards demanded by the Chinese as bales are often 'contaminated' by households throwing the wrong sort of thing in the recycling bin. Owen Paterson, the Environment Secretary, said he was aiming to improve Britain’s recycling infrastructure and not rely on outsiders to help with the country processing its waste. He told the Daily Telegraph: 'Trade in recyclable materials is a global market and I want to see UK businesses make money from it to help boost our economy. 'I want to see our own recycling industry grow, so we can grasp this opportunity with both hands.' Despite his statement, figures revealed that millions of tons of household rubbish was burned instead of recycled by councils last year. The . amount sent to incinerators shot up by almost a quarter - while the . amount sent for recycling went up by barely a single percentage point. The . burning boom means millions of families who have been forced to cope . with fortnightly collections, rubbish rationing and wheelie bin fines in . the name of saving the environment now have to live with the pollution . risks of incinerators. The Guangzhou city in south China’s Guangdong Province is one of the country's most well-known dumping grounds for other nation's rubbish. | Dirty plastic dumped on landfills in the UK . |
213,239 | a026827749671fce81aef45014776cd5956422a4 | (ArsTechnica) -- The Federal Communications Commission is releasing the details of its new net neutrality Order in stages. Although the FCC's new ban on "unreasonable discrimination" for wired ISPs allows certain kinds of traffic discrimination (not all bits need be equal), the agency made clear after Tuesday's meeting that "paid prioritization" deals with Internet companies are unlikely to be allowed. Critics had worried that the new Order would only affect outright website blocking, leaving paid prioritization untouched (or even implicitly sanctioned). "Pay for Priority Unlikely to Satisfy 'No Unreasonable Discrimination' Rule," advises one subheading of the new net neutrality rules. Ed Whitacre's dream of directly charging Google and Yahoo to "use his pipes" -- a key event in starting the entire net neutrality debate -- appears to be dashed. "A commercial arrangement between a broadband provider and a third party to directly or indirectly favor some traffic over other traffic in the connection to a subscriber of the broadband provider (i.e., 'pay for priority') would raise significant cause for concern," the Commission then elaborates. This is because "pay for priority would represent a significant departure from historical and current practice." Insofar as engaged . As we've reported, the FCC's new rules forbid Internet providers from blocking lawful content and they require transparency from ISPs. They also require that network management and packet discrimination to be "reasonable," but that only applies to wireline broadband. Wireless operators gets a free pass on rationality; they're limited only to the transparency and blocking provisions. Here's the text of the Commission's "no unreasonable discrimination" rule: . A person engaged in the provision of fixed broadband Internet access service, insofar as such person is so engaged, shall not unreasonably discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over a consumer's broadband Internet access service. Reasonable network management shall not constitute unreasonable discrimination. What are "reasonable network management" practices? Here you go: . A network management practice is reasonable if it is appropriate and tailored to achieving a legitimate network management purpose, taking into account the particular network architecture and technology of the broadband Internet access service. Legitimate network management purposes include: ensuring network security and integrity, including by addressing traffic that is harmful to the network; addressing traffic that is unwanted by users (including by premise operators), such as by providing services or capabilities consistent with a user's choices regarding parental controls or security capabilities; and by reducing or mitigating the effects of congestion on the network. "Specialized services" like IPTV (think AT&T''s U-Verse) will also be allowed over the last-mile broadband connection, although the FCC insists it will watch their deployment for anti-competitive behavior. But the Order rather strongly suggests that priority deals are "unlikely" to fit into this "reasonable" framework. Why not? First, "since the beginning of the Internet," the agency explains, "Internet access providers have typically not charged particular content or application providers fees to reach the providers' consumer retail service subscribers or struck pay-for-priority deals, and the record does not contain evidence that US broadband providers currently engage in such arrangements." Second, priority deals would represent a "departure from longstanding norms" and "could cause great harm to innovation and investment in and on the Internet." They would raise barriers on entry for edge providers and could also boost "transaction costs arising from the need to reach agreements with one or more broadband providers to access a critical mass of potential users." Third, pay for priority could hurt users at the low end of the economic ladder -- bloggers, students, libraries, schools, advocacy groups. "Even open Internet skeptics acknowledge that pay for priority may disadvantage non-commercial uses of the network, which are typically less able to pay for priority, and for which the Internet is a uniquely important platform." Finally, ISPs that push pay for priority service "would have an incentive to limit the quality of service provided to non-prioritized traffic." As some game developers worry, ISPs might effectively charge for non-inferior service, investing "less in open access and more in services that they can provide at a premium." "In light of each of these concerns, as a general matter, it is unlikely that pay for priority would satisfy the 'no unreasonable discrimination' standard," this section of the FCC's Order concludes. "The practice of a broadband Internet access service provider prioritizing its own content, applications, or services, or those of its affiliates, would raise the same significant concerns and would be subject to the same standards and considerations in evaluating reasonableness as third-party pay-for-priority arrangements." History . All of these assertions will soon be contested. AT&T has all but told the FCC that it could live with net neutrality rules... provided those rules give a green light to priority access arrangements. As AT&T warned the FCC a year ago, a "strict" nondiscrimination provision "would completely ban voluntary commercial agreements for the paid provision of certain value-added broadband services, which would needlessly deprive market participants, including content providers, from willingly obtaining services that could improve consumers' Internet experiences." On top of that, AT&T has its own take on the history of this matter. The ISP insists that paid priority access was "fully" and even "expressly" contemplated by the Internet Engineering Task Force decades ago as it mapped out the 'Net's key protocol, TCP/IP. But the Center for Democracy and Technology pushes back that AT&T is misreading early IETF documents, which were purposed to "describing the technical architecture needed to deploy differential services not the payment schemes that may be associated with it." Hello, Level 3 . Then there's the sticky question of whether the dispute between Level 3 Communications and Comcast falls into this zone of scrutiny. The Internet backbone and Content Delivery Network operator insists that Comcast crossed the line by charging it to move Netflix movie data to Comcast network subscribers. Comcast pushes back that this is just a private peering/transit dispute, in which Level 3's sudden jump in traffic required a economic response. When asked if the FCC would scrutinize the Level 3 dispute, Chairman Julius Genachowski responded that the agency was "looking into it." It seems likely that if controversies like this keep coming up, complaints invoking the FCC's new Order will be filed, requiring the Commission to look into the matter quite a bit over the coming months. Or maybe not. Comcast seems quite sanguine about Tuesday's decision. "While we look forward to reviewing the final order, the rules as described generally appear intended to strike a workable balance between the needs of the marketplace for certainty and everyone's desire that Internet openness be preserved," Comcast Vice President David Cohen declared. "Most importantly, this approach removes the cloud of Title II regulation that would unquestionably have harmed innovation and investment in the Internet and broadband infrastructure." Reasonable and timely . Rather than Title II common carrier regulations, much of the Order's legal framework is based on Section 706 of the Communications Act, which requires the FCC to "encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans." The question of whether this and various other sections of the Act that the FCC is invoking will survive court scrutiny is an interesting one, but there are other potential legal bugbears ahead. The ISPs also insist that they've got the First Amendment right to cut priority access deals with content providers. "The First Amendment protects the right not just to decide what to say, but how to say it," former National Cable and Telecommunications Association CEO Kyle McSlarrow declared last year. "Does the First Amendment really allow the government to prohibit a content or applications provider from paying to acquire the means to distribute its content in the form or manner it wishes?" How will all this play itself out? It depends on how the FCC enforces this advisory, and who sues the government in response. "We have a legal basis for the rules we adopted today that is very strong -- that gives us the authority we need," Genachowski told reporters in a press conference held after Tuesday's Open Commission meeting. "And I am confident it will in court." COPYRIGHT 2011 ARSTECHNICA.COM . | The FCC's new rules forbid Internet providers from blocking lawful content .
Critics worried that the new Order would leave paid prioritization untouched .
FCC: Reasonable network management shall not constitute unreasonable discrimination . |
184,902 | 7b8279d14d03cea95b3bf5713a04a8b535e5f8e7 | Claim: U.S. Congressman Michael Grimm is alleged to have had sex in the bathroom of a bar . A Republican congressman has been accused of having sex in the bathroom of a bar after spending more than 15 minutes locked away with a female friend. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and part of Brooklyn in New York, was apparently seen behaving intimately with the woman before following her into the toilet. The 43-year-old denies the claims, saying they are an 'absurd distortion' invented by his political opponents. Two weeks ago, Mr Grimm spent an evening with a friend at The Owl's Head in Bay Ridge, a Brooklyn neighbourhood which falls within his congressional district. The pair appeared very close, witnesses told Brooklyn Magazine, with the congressman repeatedly placing his hand in his companion's back pocket. At one point they went into the bar's only toilet and stayed there for 17 minutes, a bystander told the New York Post. They were apparently locked in the small room for so long that other bar patrons started talking about them, with one saying: 'I think he was in there having sex.' 'It just so happened a couple people [at the bar] knew exactly who he was and kept an eye on him,' a Democratic source told the Post. 'They said Grimm was in there with a girl for 17 minutes. I guess they were timing him. They were absolutely appalled.' A witness told Brooklyn Magazine: 'I was surprised someone so sleazy could be a congressman.' Denial: Mr Grimm, a Republican, claims that the rumour was invented by his Democratic rivals . Mr Grimm, a former FBI agent who was first elected to Congress in 2010, was briefly married in the mid-1990s but is now single. He denied the claim that he had had sex in a bar, saying in a statement: 'This never happened and I will not dignify this absurd distortion of the facts with a response, except to to say that this is nothing more than a typical Democrat-led smear campaign.' A source close to the congressman told the Post that the pair were 'old friends', and that he went into the bathroom to 'check on her' because she was distressed. The owner of the bar told Politicker that he was not present at the time of the alleged incident and did not know anything about it, adding: 'I've never seen him before.' | Michael Grimm was seen 'getting close to a female friend' in a Brooklyn bar .
Witnesses said the pair disappeared into the bathroom for 17 minutes .
Congressman denies the claims and says they are politically motivated . |
29,005 | 5252d76c2801ba70d723678f0ce48a083242809f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 18:20 EST, 22 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 18:23 EST, 22 May 2012 . A Florida mother shot dead her four children at point-blank range and reloaded her revolver three times, according to a chilling new report. The medical examiner’s report shows that her four teenaged children were shot a total of 18 times with hollow-point bullets. The last shot was a self-inflicted gunshot wound to 33-year-old mother Tonya Thomas’ heart, the medical report shows. Thomas fatally shot her children Pebbles, 17,Jaxs, 15, Jazzlin, 13, and Joel, 12, before turning the gun on herself on May 15, shocking the quiet neighbourhood. Scroll Down for Video and to Hear the 911 Call . Victims: Tonya Thomas' four children are seen here in school pictures, clockwise from top left: Pebbles 17, Jaxs, 15, Joel, 12 and Jazlin, 13; the autopsy report shows they were shot a total of 18 times . Farewell: People attend a funeral service for mother Tonya Thomas and her children yesterday at the Temple Baptist church in Titusville, Florida; five white caskets sat in front of the church . Medical examiner Dr Sajid Qaiser said in his report that Jaxs was shot point blank in the chest three times, and was discovered in the family room of her Port St John, Florida home. Suicide: Tonya Thomas, seen in a a 2002 mug, shot her children a total of 18 times, an autopsy report shows . Pebbles, who was found in the front lawn, died from three gunshots fired more than three feet away, Florida Today said. Their sister Jazzlyn was shot seven times, two of which were shot directly into her chest. The teenager was discovered in the home’s foyer. Florida authorities said that Thomas’ revolver held only six clips, meaning she had to reload her gun four times. They estimate that it took her around 20 seconds each time to reload the .38-calibre revolver. Hollow-point bullets are the most dangerous, as they cause the most tissue damage and blood loss. Neighbours of Thomas made a 911 call as they responded to hearing gunfire coming from the property next door and went downstairs after their front door was knocked. 'I knew this was gonna happen you guys,' the crying female caller told the dispatcher as the deaths of the teenagers unfolded in front of their eyes. 'The boy's in our front yard - get him a towel - he's got blood on his right side.' During the chaotic phone call to dispatchers, the husband tells them that he is armed and willing to defend his house from the injured children trying to flee their murderous mother. 'I grabbed my gun and ran outside and one's laying there bleeding at the front door,' the man is heard to say. Tragic: Pebbles Johnson, 17, (pictured) was found having been shot in the front yard. She was taken by police car to an ambulance but later died from her injuries . Young: Jazlin Johnson, 13, (left), and her brother Jaxs Johnson, 15, (right) were both killed in the shootings and Jaxs tried to gain entry into his neighbours house before he was killed but was refused entry . 'I don't know who has the gun, so I'm not walking out there. I'm armed, but not going out there and putting myself in danger.' After asking the husband where the bleeding child had gone, the caller responded that 'he went back to the residence.' Soon after this the police arrived at 7245 Bright Avenue in Brevard County to see Thomas standing in the doorway of her front door holding a gun, before she went back inside. Then the deputies discovered Pebbles lying fatally injured in the front yard of her house. Shots were heard to ring out and as the deputies entered they discovered Jaxs, Jazzlyn, Joel and Tonya's bodies shot to death. Authorities said they have no motive for the killings and are not sure why the children followed the mother's orders to return back to their house. Dispatch records released on Tuesday show that authorities responded to Thomas' house on three successive days in April. Evidence: Brevard County Crime Scene Investigators look for clues at the scene of the shooting in Port St. John . Unable to speculate: Police said they don't know what the mother's motive was for killing her four children . In the first visit, on Easter Sunday, Thomas reported that her son had thrown a bicycle through a window at the house. The next day, . Thomas called to report that her son had kicked and punched her when she tried to wake him up for school. The following day, child welfare investigators visited the house to look into allegations of inadequate supervision of the children. Records also showed that Thomas was arrested in 2002 on a misdemeanor battery charge for striking the father of her children. The charge was later dropped. Two years earlier, she filed a domestic violence complaint against Joe Johnson, but that was dismissed after a hearing. Neighbour Travis St. Peter, told Florida Today that the family was known in the area for being disruptive, with police often being called to the house. 'They were just known for being hoodlums,' he said of the children, adding that they were often seen running around late at night, 'terrorizing our dogs and setting off firecrackers'. Standoff: Police were called to the Port St John scene at around 5am last Tuesday . Calm before the storm: The Port St John neighbourhood where the family lived . Jamie Hudson, whose mother lives two doors down from the family, told the Miami Herald that the boys in the family were known to shoot BB guns at a home across the street and had threatened to set it on fire. A friend of Thomas told the Sentinel that he had woken to a text message sent by the woman at around 3am to say that she wished to be cremated along with her children. He did not see the message until he woke up this morning, hours after the killings. Former Orange County Sheriff's Department officer James Copenhaver told CFNews13.com that deputies would be analysing Thomas’ phone activity in the days leading up to the shooting. ‘This may also give some insight as to why she did this,’ he said. More would be known, he said, after the 911 tapes were released, including how many emergency calls were made and potentially how many shots were fired. He said that toxicology tests would be run on her to determine whether or not she was taking drugs and added that domestic violence would likely have been involved, based on past experience of similar cases. On a live chat with the former officer someone who identified themselves only as 'G' wrote that Thomas was a 'private, independent character', adding that there were 'so many components in her life'. At least three of the children killed went to Space Coast Junior-Senior High School, according toCFNews13.com. Brevard Public Schools said grief counselors have been sent to the victims' schools. Brevard County Sheriff's spokesman Tom Goodyear said that he was having a hard time trying to understand how a mother could commit such a grisly act. 'I cannot comprehend as a parent doing this to their children ... calling them back in and shooting them,' he said. | Mother Tonya Thomas fatally shot her four children, ages 12-17, last week .
Autopsy report shows horrors of shooting, as some children were shot at point-blank range in chest .
Used hollow-point bullets, which cause most tissue damage and blood loss . |
140,337 | 41784842693eea533cf1df98a862ed6a99ccda2d | By . Sophie Jane Evans . Brave: Lance Corporal James Collins, from Dundee, stood on a live grenade to save his comrades - then went on to play professional football for 15 years . A First World War soldier stood on a live grenade to save his comrades - and then went on to play professional football for 15 years. Lance Corporal James Collins, from Dundee, was advised to have his right foot and lower leg amputated after being seriously injured in the blast on the Western Front. But the soldier refused to allow medics to remove his limb - and instead, underwent 14 operations over the next two years. Astonishingly, he then went on to play for Swansea City FC for 15 years - and even rose to the level of captain. Now, his rare Albert Medal - awarded to him for his heroic actions - has sold at auction for nearly £22,000. Before the war, L/Cpl Collins was a promising footballer who played for his local Dundee team, St Joseph’s FC. He subsequently enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps and . served with the 14th Field Ambulance at the advanced dressing station at . La Bergere, near Monshyn-le-Roux, France. By standing on the live grenade on November 11, 1917, he saved the lives of two colleagues, who managed to escape the explosion unscathed. According to a citation published in the London Gazette, L/Cpl had been escorting a ‘lunatic’ soldier through the trenches when the captive escaped. It . states: 'Collins ran after him, and when he got near him the man . threatened to throw a bomb at him. Collins closed with the man, who then . withdrew the pin from the bomb and let it fall in the trench. 'In . an endeavour to save the patient and two other soldiers who were near, . Collins put his foot upon the bomb, which exploded, killing the lunatic . and injuring Collins severely. 'Fortunately the two soldiers were not hurt. Collins, who could easily have got out of the way, ran the gravest risk of losing his life in order to save others.' L/Cpl Collins suffered severe injuries in the blast - with his foot and lower right leg riddled with shrapnel. But despite his injuries, he made his debut as a defender for Swansea City FC in 1920, before leading the Welsh team to an FA Cup semi-final and the old Third Division Championship. Award: The soldier was later awarded the Albert Medal by King George V at Buckingham Palace for his heroic actions. Above, L/Cpl Collins is pictured with his mother outside the Palace following the award ceremony . 'For gallantry in saving life': The Albert Medal is a rare award which is the civilian version of the Victoria Cross . During his 15-year career, he also scored a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers in an 8-1 win. L/Cpl Collins was later awarded the Albert Medal, a rare medal which was replaced by the George Medal and is the civilian version to the Victoria Cross. King George V presented the soldier with the prestigious medal at Buckingham Palace. After retiring from professional football, L/Cpl Collins became a football coach, before volunteering for service with the with the Royal Engineers during the Second World War. Sale: L/Cpl Collins's medal has been sold at Spinks auction house (pictured) in London for nearly £22,000 . He died in Dundee in 1963 aged 67. The soldier's medal was bought by an unnamed collector at Spinks auction house in London for a hammer price of £18,000 - with added fees taking the total to £21,600. Oliver Pepys, a medal expert at Spinks, said: 'It was a very selfless thing what he did and a splendid act of cold courage. 'Although . the medical advice was to amputate his foot, he was clearly desperate . to one day resume his footballing career and wasn’t going to let some . doctor tell him otherwise. 'He was quite young when he went to the Western Front and still had many years ahead of him to play football.' | Lance Corporal James Collins saved two comrades by standing on bomb .
But despite his injuries, he refused to have foot and lower leg amputated .
He then went on to play for Swansea City FC as a defender for 15 years .
During career, he became captain and led the team to FA Cup semi-final .
Now, soldier's rare Albert Medal has sold at auction for nearly £22,000 . |
80,694 | e4b7723f46436da849cb5ee76707b6b794033b31 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 05:37 EST, 8 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 05:55 EST, 8 August 2012 . A boy who suffered a heart attack at the age of two was saved after doctors HOOVERED a deadly blood clot from his heart . Albert Tansey has become the only child in the world to have the procedure, where a mini-vacuum is used to clear out the blocked artery and restore blood flow. It is regularly performed on adult heart attack victims but was previously unheard of in children. The two-year-old has now been discharged from Leicester’s Glenfield Hospital and is recovering with parents Annita and Adam at home in Burbage, Leicestershire. Pioneering: Albert just after heart surgery at nine months (left) and now happy and active (right) Scientists were able to suck the blood clot out of the heart in under half an hour . Mrs Tansey, 37, said: 'The doctors were so excited. They were all just amazed. They said it’s never been done before on a child. There are no words to explain how we feel about them and all the staff at the hospital. 'They have saved his life. It’s lovely he’s back home and we can be a family again.' Albert was born with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, where the left side of the heart does not form properly. At a week old, surgeons at Glenfield Hospital operated on his heart and he had further open heart surgery nine months later. Doctors were pleased with his progress and were not due to see him until later this year. But a month ago, Albert suddenly collapsed at home after suffering chest pains. Full-time . mother Annita said: 'The night before we had been to a party in aid of . the charity we set up after Albert’s diagnosis. Some of his doctors were . there and everyone kept saying how good he looked. 'The . following morning, I was sat talking to a friend in the kitchen when . his brother came in and said Albert didn’t feel very well. 'He was grey and sweating. He kept saying: ‘it hurts’ and when I asked where he pointed to his heart.' Thank you: Albert and his mother Annita who is grateful to Dr Frances Bulock and the other medics who saved her son's life . His terrified parents immediately called for an ambulance and he was rushed to Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital. The youngster was connected to a heart monitor and the readings were sent to Albert’s team of doctors at Glenfield. They spotted ‘something they didn’t like’ and he was quickly transferred to the intensive care unit at Glenfield. Adam, 38, an insurance broker, said: 'Within an hour of getting there they realised he had heart failure. We were told the heart gives out a chemical when you are having a heart attack. A nursehad the reading on her hand and showed the doctors. 'They were in disbelief. It’s so rare for a child to have a heart attack.' Albert was given shots of clot busting drugs while doctors battled to save him. That evening, his parents were given the devastating news that he may not survive and if he did, he may need a heart transplant. Over the next couple of days, they faced an agonising wait as doctors tried to stabilise his heart. Annita said: 'It was awful. He was going through hell. All we could do was sit by his bed and hope for a miracle. 'You would do anything for your child just to make them better. The doctors then had a discussion and told us they wanted to try putting some dye in Albert’s heart to see if there was a blockage. 'We knew that there were huge risks to any intervention because Albert’s heart function was so poor, and therefore anaesthetic was not really ideal, but we felt the only option was to have hope, be positive and give him the best chance of the best quality of life.' Albert as a baby with his siblings (left to right) Charlie, George, Fred and Emily. Albert's heart did not form properly in the womb . Albert pictured at nine months old - his heart function improved immediately after his latest procedure . Albert’s surgeon Mr Peek then came to his parents to say they had found a blood clot and asked for their permission to remove it. Adam said: 'We didn’t really hesitate. We have ultimate respect and huge amount of confidence in the team who look after Albert so when we met with Mr Peek it felt right to go with the procedure as success would give Albert the best chance.' Luckily, the adult cardiac team is based alongside the children’s unit and Dr Albert Alahmar, a consultant adult interventional cardiologist, was asked to be on hand. Although it had never been done before on a child, it was agreed the best option was to perform a percutaneous coronary intervention, where the clot is sucked out of the heart. Adam said: 'About 25 minutes later, another doctor came back with the blood clot in his hand. He said: ‘We’ve done it. It’s amazing’. 'Then the room was full of doctors. There was an all round feeling of relief and excitement. 'Not just for what this has done for Albert and the hope it gave to him, but what it meant for the future. 'We met Dr Alahmar the next day and he told us how excited he was about this. How paediatric cardiologists would learn from this and it could help others. 'It felt special that our Albert had been part of something so big, and his life will go onto help others in the future.' Albert’s heart function immediately improved and after 11 days in hospital he was allowed home. It is still not known what caused the clot but he will continue to be monitored regularly and will have to be on medication for the rest of his life. The couple, who also have four other children, Charlie, 16, George, 14, Emily, 12 and six-year-old Fred, are campaigning to keep the children’s cardiac care unit open. Delight: Albert with his parents who faced an anxious wait to see if the pioneering surgery would work . Albert with his father after he had surgery at just 10-days old . Under current plans, it is due to close and patients from the East Midlands will be transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Newcastle or London where there may not be an adult unit. Dr Albert Alahmar, consultant adult interventional cardiologist at Glenfield Hospital, said: 'The procedure is called percutaneous coronary intervention, where the clot is removed to unblock the artery and allow the blood to flow back again through it. 'I regularly perform this procedure on adults for patients presenting with acute heart attack. 'As far as I and my colleagues are concerned, this has never been done on a child as heart attacks in children are rare. This is unchartered territory. 'It is a risky procedure because failure to aspirate the clot under general anaesthesia may result in death. It is more likely to be fatal for children with a condition like Albert’s because he has a single chamber, where any damage by a heart attack is magnified. 'It really is remarkable. At Glenfield Hospital, we have an excellent relationship between the adult and paediatric cardiologists, allowing such rare cases to be treated exceptionally well.' Dr Frances Bu’Lock, Albert’s paediatric cardiology consultant, said she was very pleased with Albert’s progress. She said: 'His heart function improved dramatically by the end of the procedure. 'It’s not back to normal yet but there is a very good chance he will get better for his third operation in a year’s time. 'It’s great to see him running about and playing.' For more information about Hypoplastic left heart syndrome and the campaign, please visit www.keepthebeat.co.uk . | Doctors used mini-vacuum to clear out the blocked artery and restore blood flow to Albert's heart . |
67,424 | bf4d07e2ec755ddf1c65bd46a910dfd257826595 | By . Katy Winter . A woman says she is over the moon to be back with her childhood sweetheart after spending more than 25 years apart from him. Debbie Dennis, 48, met the 'love of her life', Tim Dennis, 47, at her local youth club in Croydon when the pair were both 14 years old. After a brief relationship, during which the teenaged couple became engaged, the pair hit a bump in the road and they broke up. The pair dated for years as teenagers (left), even getting engaged when they were 18, but were only actually married in 2012, 31 years to the day that the couple first met (right, pictured recently) Both went on to develop lives of their own and marry other people but when they both found themselves single again 25 years later, a chance encounter would lead them back into each others’ arms. The couple are now married, nearly three decades after they broke up. Mrs Dennis, a healthcare assistant and author from Blackpool, said: 'Thinking back, I regretted breaking up with Tim as soon as I said the words. It was a moment of madness - one I often returned to, even though I later made a completely separate life from him. 'I’m so happy that we’re back together now.' Mr and Mrs Dennis first met in June 1981 when she was introduced to him by a friend at youth club. Mrs Dennis said: 'I’d known of him because we went to the same school. He was too shy to ask me out so his friend did instead. He was very interesting with his blue rolled-up jeans, Dr Martens and shaved head. Even after 25 years apart, the pair still thought of each other and were eventually reintroduced through Tim's sister . 'It was very exciting. He was grinning at me with a cheeky smile. 'I knew fairly quickly that he was the one for me.' The couple began a four-year relationship and became engaged when they turned 18 years old. But as time went on, Mrs Dennis became fed up by Mr Dennis’ habit of spending time with his friends rather than her. She said: 'I decided to give him an ultimatum. I told him love me or leave me - that unless he spent more time with me and kept the dates we made, I would break it off with him. 'It was a gamble on my part. I didn’t really want to break up with him, and I thought by giving him a shock it would bring him closer to me. 'Unfortunately, the plan backfired and he broke up with me. I was completely gutted.' As the years went by, both went their separate ways and eventually lost contact all together. Mrs Dennis went on to marry in February 1992 and had a daughter, now 28. Mr Dennis would also marry and have a son, now 19, a daughter, 24, and three stepdaughters. By 2009 Mrs Dennis’s marriage had come to end and she found her thoughts returning to her childhood sweetheart. She said: 'Even while I was married I’d wondered what Tim was doing. I knew I’d always regretted splitting up with him. I wished I’d never let him go. The couple began regularly dating and in 2010 Tim moved from his shared house in south London to live with Debbie in Blackpool . 'I would return to the adventures we’d . had when we were teenagers. We’d had a dream of moving to the Isle of . Wight and had been on a few trips there. We once disturbed a wasp nest and had to run into the sea together to escape the wasps. 'We were young and daft and the memories from those days made me smile when I was feeling low.' Shortly . after her separation Mrs Dennis discovered that Mr Dennis’s sister was . on the social networking site Friends Reunited, and they struck up a . friendship. Mrs Dennis said: . 'One afternoon I asked her what she was doing that day, and she . mentioned that she was going off to Tim’s birthday barbeque. 'He was house-sharing with a friend at that time. I discovered that he’d been married but his relationship had come to an end and in fact he had been single for 11 years. 'I asked her to wish him a happy birthday from me and left it at that.' To her surprise, Mr Dennis sent her a text message the following day. Mrs Dennis said: 'His sister must have passed on my number. The text read:‘thanks for the birthday message’. I was in a hurry, so rather grumpily replied: ‘who’s this?’ 'The reply came back: ‘Someone from over 25 years ago - take a guess’. The pair say they feel lucky to have been given a second chance to be together . 'When I realised who it was, I had butterflies in my stomach. We began chatting and he said the next time I was in the south, we should go for dinner.' The couple began regularly dating and in 2010 Mr Dennis moved from his shared house in south London to live with her in Blackpool. She said: 'We’d never lived together before, so it was a strange thing to get used to, but we’ve been blissfully happy ever since.' on June 9th 2012, 31 years to the day that the couple first met, they finally wed. Mrs Dennis said: 'It was an incredible day but things didn’t exactly go according to plan. Firstly, my horse and carriage couldn’t make its way to the service because there was a gay pride march along the route. 'I called a taxi but someone jumped into it before I could reach it. I ended up running across some tramlines in my wedding dress, as people looked on. I almost fell flat on my face. 'It was almost as if fate was trying to keep us apart again, but I fought to get there on time. 'By the time I got to the service I was so hysterical that I couldn’t stop laughing. The two of us giggled all the way through the wedding. It was a wonderful, unusual day.' Mr Dennis, who works at a biscuit factory, said: 'I was nervous about moving up to live with Debbie at first, of course, but since then life has been amazing. We’re very happy together. 'We both consider ourselves very lucky to have been given a second chance.' | Mr and Mrs Dennis first met in June 1981 at a Croydon youth club .
Dated for four years before becoming engaged at 18 .
Relationship ended and couple were apart for over two decades .
They lost contact and both married other people and had children .
Reconnected in 2009 through Tim's sister and began dating again .
Finally, 31 years to the day that the couple first met, they wed . |
138,643 | 3f4c856469d20f81d333dabe3b6e00f440adf946 | As Cara Delevingne celebrated the launch of her latest collection for luxury label Mulberry, FEMAIL headed into the depths of the English countryside for a quintessentially British picnic with the world's most famous supermodel. And breathe. Set in the idyllic Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire, in an exclusive walled garden behind the scenes, around one hundred fashionistas from all over the world flew in to share a cuppa and slice of cake with Cara. Cara oozed festival chic wearing loose PJ-style patterned trousers and a cream shell top by the brand, but added her own twist (of course) with novelty specs and white and gold Mulberry hi-tops (one for the Christmas wish list then). Scroll down for video . Cool Cara: Miss Delevingne was kitted out in Mulberry gear but added her own quirky spin to her outfit with the help of some novelty specs . Greeted by lots of friends including the uber-cool Douglas Booth, Gemma Chan, Bonnie Wright, Jaime Winstone, Gala Gordon, Tanya Burr and Chloe Delevingne, Cara mingled her way through Lord and Lady Rotherwick’s beautiful Cornbury estate. Cara’s good friend Will Heard, with whom she duetted on Sonnentanz, performed an acoustic set, and DJ Benson hit the decks for the evening event. Fan girls: Cara Delevingne posed with her army of young Delevingners at the exclusive luxury picnic . Lunch is served: Young British Foodie chef Giles Clark prepared picnic hampers filled with enticing treats based on English ingredients . Delectable! Giles Clark prepared a selection of tea-time treats, including roasted cobnuts, sandwiches with dressed crab, and pressed cucumber juice flavoured with honey . Free-flowing Laurent Perrier champagne served in vintage crystal glasses helped get the party started and young British Foodie chef Giles Clark prepared picnic hampers filled with enticing treats based on English ingredients. Fashionistas nibbled on roasted cobnuts, sandwiches with dressed crab, cream and gooseberry jelly biscuits and pressed cucumber juice flavoured with honey. Guests were queuing to get their hands on the picnic baskets as a keepsake (a few were spotted sneaking the Mulberry checked rugs that were scattered around the hay bales into their bags, too!). Aside from the foodie treats, the highlight of the event was undoubtedly the ‘Mulberry Loves Craft’ tent. Cool kids: Douglas Booth, Gemma Chan and their crew enjoyed a day out at Wilderness to celebrate Cara's new range . Look who it is! Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, the famous healthy chefs, also put in an appearance . Golden girl: Heart-shaped Mulberry balloons were created in Cara's honour and the main tent was furnished to look like a Mulberry kitchen . It was booked solid from the beginning and had massive queues everyday with all the most stylish festie girls clamouring to get the armband, which could be customised and monogrammed from a choice of Mulberry colours. Furnished to look like a Mulberry kitchen, the cosy tent was designed with a nod to the brand’s founder Roger Saul, who started making the very first Mulberry pieces around his family’s kitchen table. Cara then headed off for a night of revelry with her showbiz pals - and two Mulberry bags in tow. It's the Cara-Van! Guests posed by Cara's Landrover, which had been given a stylish makeover for the day . The golden ticket: FEMAIL hit Wilderness festival via Claridges to toast Cara Delevingne's new handbag collection with Mulberry . | Cara has launched new collection with Mulberry .
Brand and supermodel hosted exclusive picnic at Wilderness .
Attended by Douglas Booth, Gemma Chan and Chloe Delevingne .
Fashionistas nibbled on roasted cobnuts and pressed cucumber juice . |
228,902 | b466245fc8b8adaa63cf8ba285b5f68252ecb1e2 | A staggering 94 per cent of Newcastle United season-ticket holders have already opted to renew ahead of the next campaign despite supporter unrest. The club’s fans protested against owner Mike Ashley and manager Alan Pardew during the closing weeks of the season, at least two thousand of them staging a walkout in the second half of their final home match against Cardiff. But the threat to stay away next year appears to have subsided with only six per cent of current season-ticket holders having not renewed at this early stage. VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Alan Pardew on a difficult season . Disillusioned: Newcastle fans have been protesting to see Alan Pardew and Mike Ashley leave the club . Newcastle sell around 40,000 season tickets with a lot of members having signed up to a long-term price-freeze plan in 2011. Sportsmail revealed on Sunday that Pardew would keep his job and that was confirmed on Monday night during a fans’ forum meeting at St James’ Park. Supporters, . however, remain unhappy at the level of investment in the first-team . squad and were concerned by the seven defeats in eight which closed the . season. Pardew . will meet with Ashley this week when the boss will be assured of his . future and a transfer-strategy for the summer will be determined. Staying power: Alan Pardew is expected to keep his job as manager despite fans' unrest . Fresh blood: Newcastle fans want more player investment after losing seven of last eight games . | Ninety-four per cent of Newcastle fans renew their season tickets .
Supporters have been protesting against owner Mike Ashley and manager Alan Pardew's regime at the club, some by walking out against Cardiff .
Pardew is expected to keep his job at St James' Park, despite Newcastle losing seven of their final eight matches this season . |
75,534 | d6387a71224aea78f9a47020dece1e53a29d96b8 | By . Sarah Griffiths . It was meant to reveal the ocean’s deepest secrets, but a one-of-a-kind submersible vehicle now lies in a watery grave. The Nereus’ journey deep into the Kermadec Trench to the north east of New Zealand ended when the robotic vehicle crumpled under the pressure of the water, just over 6 miles (10km) below the waves. Scientists believe that part of the vehicle imploded under the vast pressure of the water above it - as great as 16,000lbs per square inch. Crushed dreams: The Nereus' journey deep into the Kermadec Trench to the north east of New Zealand ended when the robotic vehicle (pictured) crumpled under the pressure of the water, just over 6 miles (10km) below the waves . Its mission was to undertake high-risk, high-reward research in the deepest parts of the ocean, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, which built and operated the multi million pound research vehicle. The institute's chief scientist Timothy Shank, said: 'Nereus helped us explore places we've never seen before and ask questions we never thought to ask.’ ‘It was a one-of-a-kind vehicle that even during its brief life, brought us amazing insights into the unexplored deep ocean, addressing some of the most fundamental scientific problems of our time about life on Earth.’ Researchers aboard an expedition ship called the Thomas G. Thompson explained that they lost contact with their robot seven hours into a nine hour mission on Saturday May 10. That sinking feeling: Scientists believe that part of the vehicle imploded under the vast pressure of the water above it - as great as 16,000lbs per square inch. It was lost in the Kermadec Trench (pictured) - one of the earth's deepest oceanic trenches - to the north east of New Zealand (pictured) Before the catastrophe, the robot had taken samples from the sea floor and samples of sea life. Ken Kostel, of the institute, said: 'We'd just completed collecting a sea cucumber for the respirometer and were getting Nereus ready to head to the underwater elevator. ‘Then the camera feeds abruptly went dark, and we lost communication with the vehicle.’ The submersible, which was designed to operate autonomously as well as be controlled remotely by humans, was connected to the surface by a fibre-optic cable. It also had a system whereby it would gently float to the surface if the cable failed. However, the back-up could not be used and a member of the ship’s crew saw white objects in the water. ‘The rescue boat went in and three crew members began scouring the surface with nets as more and more white dots appeared. By then we knew. Nereus was gone,’ Mr Kostel said. The submersible was lost 30 days into a 40-day mission aboard the research ship, which was carrying out the first systematic study of a deep-ocean trench as part of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Hadal Ecosystems Study (HADES) project. The Kermadec Trench (illustrated) runs northeast from the North island of New Zealand to the Louisville Seamount Chain. It is the second deepest oceanic trench in the world and formed by subduction - a geological process in which the tectonic plate is pushed beneath the Indo-Australian Plate . Nereus had completed a number of deep and dangerous missions, including travelling to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, which is thought to be the deepest point in the ocean at over six miles (11km) below the waves. Since its launch in 2008, it had also shed light on the world’s deepest known thermal vents at Cayman Rise in the Caribbean. Larry Madin, the institute’s director of research, said: 'Extreme exploration of this kind is never without risk. 'The unfortunate loss of Nereus only underscores the difficulty of working at such immense depths and pressures.’ Nereus brought back specimens of animals previously unknown to science on its first HADES trip. It also collected seafloor sediment to help experts reveal the physical, chemical and biological processes that shape the deep-ocean ecosystems in ocean trenches, which are unlike almost any others on the planet. All aboard: Nereus is hoisted back on board the research ship to see what treasures it had recovered on its HADES cruise. It brought back specimens of animals previously unknown to science and seafloor sediment samples . | The Nereus imploded under the vast pressure of the water above it in the Kermadec Trench to the north east of New Zealand, experts said .
Scientists aboard the Thomas G. Thompson research ship explained they lost contact with their robot seven hours into a nine hour drive on Saturday .
It was designed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts to undertake high-risk research in the deep ocean .
The vehicle has previously returned species that have never been seen before and samples of the seafloor . |
15,163 | 2b180e753efe5e7c0e86b3d795e99600b476d4fe | (CNN) -- Two male nurses face murder charges in Uruguay after reportedly admitting to killing at least 16 patients in two hospitals in the country's capital. One of the men has been charged with five aggravated homicides, while the other has been charged with 11 aggravated homicides, Judge Rolando Vomero said in an interview Sunday with CNN affiliate Teledoce, noting that the two men appeared to have acted independently of each other. Authorities are also charging a woman as being an accomplice in one of the killings, he said. According to the authorities, the two male nurses, ages 39 and 46, both said they killed the patients because they did not want to see them suffer. "My client is fully conscious of his actions. He fully confessed in front of the judge (and) prosecutor, and his defense is that he did it out of mercy," said attorney Ines Massiotti. The nurses wanted to relieve patients' pain, attorney Santiago Clavijo said. "It wasn't a vicious operation in the spirit of death," he told reporters. But apparently not all those killed were terminally ill. One patient had their discharge order signed one day before his death, said Interior Minister Eduardo Bonomi. The killings took place at the hospitals of Maciel and La Espanola in Montevideo. One of the men worked in the neurosurgery department at La Espanola; the other worked in that same department, as well as in the cardiology ward at Maciel. The police had been investigating suspicious deaths of patients at the hospitals for weeks after a tip from a worker at Maciel. A recent death prompted the police to accelerate proceedings and provided them with enough evidence to make the arrests, Bonomi said. Authorities say they believe the nurses killed the patients either by administering a morphine overdose or by injecting air bubbles into their blood stream. The government has set up an office to provide support to the families of the victims, said Health Minister Jorge Venegas. CNN's Rafael Romo contributed to this report. | NEW: The two male nurses wanted to relieve patients' pain, an attorney says .
They admitted to killing patients at Uruguayan hospitals, a judge says .
A woman has been charged with being an accomplice in one of the killings .
One patient died a day after his discharge order was signed, an official says . |
163,190 | 5f0448057097d10ffaf5010c73fe48cd43bc233d | By . Peter Sheridan . PUBLISHED: . 16:00 EST, 19 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:01 EST, 19 October 2013 . The girlfriend of whistleblower Edward Snowden has broken a four-month silence to post a series of enigmatic photos on her online blog in what might be a coded message to her exiled lover. Ballerina and pole dancer Lindsay Mills, 28, who lived with Snowden in Hawaii before he exposed US government spying secrets, has added cryptic titles to the pictures, made up of punctuation symbols, perhaps using visual clues only he would understand. They are her first communication with the world since the spying scandal exploded in June, which led to Snowden fleeing to Russia and sent Ms Mills into hiding with friends in America. Code? Edward Snowden's girlfriend has posted a series of photos on her blog, which may be a coded message to the NSA whistleblower . One photo on her blog – lsjourney.com – shows Ms Mills reclining on a beach in a bikini, turning her back on the camera as she faces a glowing sunset. A second photo, in which she wears a T-shirt and black trousers, again shows her from behind, crouched in a wooded glade. In a third, only her right hand is seen above a yellow road sign with a large black arrow pointing to the left. Breaking silence: The photographs are Ms Mills's first communication with the world since the spying scandal exploded in June, which led to Snowden fleeing to Russia . The latest photo, posted on Friday, shows her posing like Superwoman, held aloft in the arms of an unidentified man, silhouetted against a setting sun. Her web page cover photo also shows only her hand, holding a paper aeroplane pointing skyward. Snowden has been charged with espionage and theft of government property, and remains wanted by the US authorities. Fugitive: Snowden has been charged with espionage and theft of government property, and remains wanted by the US authorities . | Ballerina and pole dancer Lindsay Mills, 28, lived with Snowden in Hawaii .
She added cryptic titles to the pictures, made up of punctuation symbols .
Some have speculated they are visual clues that only he would understand .
They are her first communication since spying scandal exploded in June . |
193,990 | 871e872840af800bb38796c9f3074a7fcc06269a | Bamako, Mali (CNN) -- An effort to halt advancing militant Islamist forces has resulted in "many deaths" in northern Mali, a military spokesman said -- with the fatalities including Malian soldiers, insurgents and a French pilot killed in a helicopter raid. Mali is being joined by France -- its former colonial ruler, which recently sent troops there -- as it tries to beat back advances by forces linked to al Qaeda. Much action recently has focused in and around the key northern city of Konna, which insurgents took on Thursday only to retreat the following day after a combined air and ground assault. "There were many deaths on both sides, both rebels and government soldiers," Malian defense ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Diara Kone said Saturday of the fighting in the northern part of the country. The government, in a statement read on state TV, said 11 of its soldiers died and about 60 were wounded in the battle for Konna. The French pilot died while taking part Friday afternoon in an aerial operation targeting a terrorist group moving on the town of Mopti, near Konna, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. The aerial offensive -- which includes strikes by French fighter jets -- continued through Friday night and into Saturday, the minister added. "Every means was used in fighting the Islamists, including two attack helicopters. They sent the Islamists fleeing," Kone told CNN. "This shows that the Malian army is capable to fight." French President Francois Hollande also cheered after "a blow was delivered and heavy losses were inflicted," which he credited in part to the efforts of his nation's troops. "But our mission is not over," he said Saturday. The Islamist forces' movement in recent days from their strongholds in the deserts of northern Mali prompted France to help address what Le Drian called a "serious" and deteriorating situation, even as France has resisted efforts to get involved in curbing other rebellions in such former colonies as the Central African Republic. Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore declared a state of emergency nationwide Friday and called for "a general mobilization" to defend against the radical Islamists' advance. State of emergency declared in Mali . "Terrorist groups want to destabilize the country," the French minister said. "We are determined to prevent them doing so, within the strict framework of international law." Radical Islamists make push southward . After decades of military rule, Mali held its first democratic elections in 1992. It remained stable politically until March, when a group of soldiers toppled the government, saying it had not provided adequate support for them to fight ethnic Tuareg rebels in the country's largely desert north. Tuareg rebels, who'd sought independence for decades, took advantage of the power vacuum and seized swaths of land. A power struggle then erupted in the north between the Tuaregs and local al Qaeda-linked radicals, who themselves wound up in control of a large area as the Tuaregs retreated. The United Nations says amputations, floggings and public executions -- like the stoning of a couple in July, who'd reportedly had an affair -- became common in areas controlled by radical Islamists. They applied a strict interpretation of Sharia law by banning music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and damaged Timbuktu's historic tombs and shrines. Read more: Northern Mali a 'magnet for international jihadis' Already, the armed groups' activity -- along with a pervasive drought -- has led hundreds of thousands of Malians to be displaced. And the Islamists' movement southward has raised concerns among leaders in West Africa and elsewhere, some of them calling for swift and decisive military intervention to aid Mali's government, based in Bamako. The Economic Community of West African States plans to hold an emergency meeting in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to prepare to send troops to Mali to help government forces, a spokesman for the organization said. The spokesman, Sunny Ugoh, said West African troops are expected to number 3,500 and will operate in the framework of the United Nations resolutions. The meeting will also discuss any "additional measures need to be taken," he added. Read more: International leaders push for military intervention in Mali . Several hundred French troops have been deployed to Mali, where about 6,000 French citizens live, according to Le Drian. "Our determination to combat terrorism is total," the French defense minister said. "France will do all it can to combat the jihadist groups who have launched this offensive in recent days." 'The terrorists' breakthrough must be stopped' Hollande said the influx of troops from his nation and others is to "allow Mali to recover its territorial integrity in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions." "France, in this operation, is not pursuing any interest ... other than safeguarding a friendly country, and (France) does not have any goal other than fighting against terrorism," the French president said Saturday. "That is why its action is supported by the international community and saluted by all African countries." Though its troops are posted in locations around Africa, French leaders earlier said they wouldn't send combat troops to Mali and that they'd scale back France's military interventions on the continent. So its decision to get involved in Mali, an operation Hollande said "will last as long as necessary," underlies the seriousness of France's concern about the situation there. French hostages have been taken in neighboring Niger by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and Paris appears intent on containing any further militant expansion in the heart of Africa. Read more: What's behind the instability in Mali? "The terrorists' breakthrough must be stopped," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, justifying France's efforts "to train and reshape the Malian army." "If not, (all of) Mali falls into their hands, with a threat to the whole of Africa and Europe." The U.N. Security Council last month authorized a one-year military peacekeeping mission in the country. ECOWAS members pledged thousands of troops, and the Security Council has urged other nations to contribute forces as well. Hollande spoke Saturday evening with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who consented for the United Kingdom to "provide logistical military assistance to help transport foreign troops and equipment quickly to Mali" -- but no "British personnel in a combat role" -- a Downing Street spokesman said. France has been in contact with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta about the situation, as well as its African and European allies, according to Le Drian. The U.S. military is weighing its options -- which could include logistical support and intelligence sharing with France -- said a U.S. defense official, who declined to be named because no decisions have been made. "This is a serious issue, and ... the United States is committed to going after terrorists wherever they may be in order to protect American interests, but also those of our partners and allies around the world," Pentagon spokesman George Little said this week. Journalist Katarina Hoije reported from Bamako, while CNN's Pierre Meilhan and Greg Botelho reported and wrote the story from Atlanta. CNN's Vladimir Duthiers contributed to this report. | NEW: West African states to meet Wednesday to prepare for troop deployment .
An al Qaeda wing rooted in Mali's north has advanced, alarming many internationally .
France joins Malian forces in intervening, and a French pilot is killed in a raid .
France's president cheers military progress, but says "our mission is not over" |
40,901 | 735482a810cdc91492ad362a057f0fcf47dcf6c9 | Draped in Malaysian flags and carried by soldiers, the bodies of three of the MH17 victims, including the doomed plane's chief steward, were brought back to Kuala Lumpur this morning. Malaysia Airlines crew members, dressed smartly in their uniforms, wept as the coffin containing the remains of Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, 54, was unloaded and carried to a waiting hearse by nine soldiers. An urn containing the ashes of Universiti Malaysia Sabah lecturer Ng Shi Ing, 32, also arrived in Malaysia today, along with the body of a third victim - who has not been identified following a request by family members. Unhappy homecoming: Soldiers from the Royal Malay Regiment prepare for the repatriation of three victims of the MH17 plane crash in Kuala Lumpur today . Military honours: A coffin containing the remains of MH17's chief steward, Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar, is carried by soldiers after it was brought back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport this morning . All three were given full military honours for the repatriation ceremony, as were the 20 passengers and crew members brought back two days ago. Airline pilots and cabin crew joined family members for a minute's silence in honour of the three victims, before the hearses were driven past the assembled crown en route to their final resting places. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai also attended the solemn procession after the bodies were flown home on a commerical jet from Amsterdam, arriving at around 6.30am, local time. Tears: Malaysian Airlines crew members, many of them colleagues of Mr Bakar cry during this morning's handover ceremony . In mourning: Father-of-four Mr Bakar had been a popular steward, and many of his colleagues attended the repatriation ceremony today . Time to remember: Malaysia Airlines pilots take part in a minute's silence in honour of the victims . Mr Bakar's coffin was then taken to Ampang for burial, while Ms Ng's ashes were taken to the Xiao En Bereavement Centre in Cheras. The body of Ms Ng's sister Elisabeth Ng Lyeti, 33, was brought back on Friday, and the ashes of both sisters will kept at the centre until the remains of the English language lecturer's one-year-old baby son Benjamin Lee Jian Han can be repatriated. The sisters had been planning their trip to Belgium, where Ms Ng attended a research conference for almost a year, while her husband, Lieutenant Commander Lee Vee Weng - who carried his wife's flag-draped urn into the centre this morning - stayed in Malaysia due to his work commitments with the Royal Malaysian Navy. Lost love: Mr Bakar's wife, Normi Abdullah (second left ), cries during the ceremony at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as her husband's body was finally brought home . All 298 people onboard flight MH17 died when the jet was shot down over an area of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russia separatists on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The victims included 43 Malaysians and 195 Dutch nationals. An international investigation is ongoing, but no one has been arrested. The return of the bodies has represented a political triumph for Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose already shaky popularity ratings were hit by his handling of the still unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew in March. Najib has claimed personal credit for negotiating a deal with pro-Russian separatists for the return of all the bodies. Few details have been released over what the separatists were given in return, and some critics have said that the negotiations with people many regard as terrorists set a dangerous precedent. Funeral: Malaysian soldiers carry Mr Bakar's flag draped coffin to the steward's burial ceremony in Ampang, near Kuala Lumpur . Friend: A friend of Mr Bakar takes a moment to reflect on her loss during the burial of the father-of-four . Grief: Mohd Ghafar's family members stand at the burial site as they prepare for his funeral . Family: A young girl holds a white flower as she attends Mr Bakar's burial service . | Chief steward Mohd Ghafar Abu Bakar's coffin repatriated to Malaysia .
Urn containing the remains of lecturer Ng Shi Ing also brought home .
Victims were given full military honours as they arrived in Kuala Lumpur .
Airliner shot down on July 17 killing all 239 passengers and crew .
Bodies of 20 victims were repatriated on Friday, a month after crash . |
24,118 | 44729f5ff58648385ab0713829223900338ada70 | The trial began today for Robel Phillipos, seen here on September 29 . A college friend of alleged Boston marathon bomber Tzhokhar Tsarnaev isn't guilty of lying to the FBI because he was too 'high out of his mind' to remember what he did on the day in question, his defense attorney has claimed. Robel Phillipos, a 21-year-old resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of three people who prosecutors say went to accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's room at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth on April 18, 2013, after the FBI released images of the Tsarnaev brothers, and removed a backpack containing empty fireworks shells. U.S. prosecutors said in their opening statements that Phillipos had repeatedly lied to FBI interviewers about his actions that day. His attorney, Derege Demissie, contended that his client had no memory of his actions that day. 'There will be ample evidence, much of it is undisputed, that Robel spent he entire day of April 18 smoking marijuana, highly intoxicated, with several friends,' Demissie said. 'His memory is jumbled, confused and completely discombobulated.' Demissie said that Phillipos used a vaporizer for two hours and also smoked in a car with the windows rolled up - a practice known as 'fish bowling' or 'hot boxing.' Authorities also revealed that Phillipos' friend, Azamat Tazhayakov, will testify against him in court. Tazhayakov was convicted of tossing the backpack. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Capin painted a contrasting picture, arguing that Phillipos lied after the FBI released photos of Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a request for the public's help in identifying them. 'What did these three men do when they recognized their friend as a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing investigation? They went to his dorm room,' Capin said. The other two friends were Kazakh exchange students Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev. Tazhayakov was found guilty of obstruction of justice for taking the backpack and tossing it into a dumpster, and Kadyrbayev pleaded guilty to the same charges. Phillipos, a U.S. citizen who has been largely confined to his home since his arrest last year, could face up to 16 years in prison if convicted of lying to investigators. The slightly built man appeared at U.S. District Court in Boston dressed in a suit and tie, and did not speak during the early part of proceedings. Phillipos, seen here walking into court on Monday, has pleaded not guilty to charges he led to the feds . Convicted: Azamat Tazhayakov (left) and Dias Kadyrbayev (center) have already been convicted of throwing away Tsarnaev's backpack. The trio are seen here on a trip to Times Square in New York . Prosecutors contend that he initially denied entering Tsarnaev's dorm room hours after the FBI released photos of the two brothers, who the authorities say set off the two homemade bombs that killed three people and injured more than 260 near the Boston Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013. Around the time of the visit to Tsarnaev's dorm room, the brothers were preparing to flee Boston, and they shot dead a university police officer in an unsuccessful attempt to steal his gun, prosecutors say. Later that night, Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a shootout with police. Phillipos, Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are not charged with playing any role in the bombing. The surviving Tsarnaev, 21, faces the death penalty if convicted of carrying out the bombing. His trial is set to begin in January. Twin bombs placed near the marathon's finish line killed three people and injured more than 260. Tsarnaev is awaiting trial on 30 federal charges. Lawyers for Phillipos say he was a frightened 19-year-old when he was questioned, and did not intend to mislead investigators. | Robel Phillipos is accused of lying to the FBI about whether his friends removed evidence from Tzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room .
Phillipos' lawyer says his 21-year-old client spent the whole day smoking marijuana and couldn't remember anything from that day in question .
Tsarnaev's other two friends have already been found guilty of removing a backpack with fireworks and tossing it in a dumpster . |
75,727 | d6c3a06f62bd3fe8df000fbbe517aa7bba01c1fc | (CNN) -- Olympic gold medalist Sherone Simpson of Jamaica plans to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after receiving an 18-month doping suspension Tuesday, with her agent calling the ban "incredibly unjust." Simpson, who won gold at the 2004 Olympics in the 4x100-meter relay, silver in the 100 meters at the 2008 Games and silver in the 4x100-meter relay at the 2012 Olympics, tested positive for the banned stimulant oxilofrine at last year's Jamaican national championships. The 29-year-old revealed last year -- on the same day former 100-meter world-record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and former world champion Tyson Gay of the U.S. said they had tested positive for banned substances -- that she would never "intentionally take an illegal substance of any form" but Jamaica's anti-doping disciplinary panel Tuesday claimed she was "negligent," The Jamaican Gleaner newspaper reported. The ban is backdated to last June, which means Simpson would be able to return to competition this December. "The panel has given no written explanation as to how or why they came to this decision," Simpson's agent, Paul Doyle, said in a statement sent to CNN. "We feel that this ruling is incredibly unjust and we will be appealing to the Court of Arbitration (for) Sport immediately." Doyle added that the case for CAS should be "very straightforward." "Sherone took a legal supplement that was contaminated with oxilofrine," said Doyle. "Two different labs that we commissioned to test the supplement both determined that oxilofrine was present and that it was not declared on the label. "Additionally, on our advisement (the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) ordered the supplement directly from the company and tested it themselves and confirmed the same. Subsequently, USADA has posted a warning on their website warning athletes not to take the supplement because it contains banned substances that are not declared on the label. "These are the core facts of Sherone's case and cannot be disputed. Typically in such a case, the athlete is given a punishment ranging from a public warning to three months of ineligibility. The fact that the panel has given 18 months suspension and have provided no explanation as to why is unacceptable in our opinion." It was a double blow Tuesday for Jamaican athletes, since discus thrower Allison Randall received a two-year doping suspension, The Gleaner said. Powell, who also tested positive for oxilofrine, is expected to learn his fate Thursday. Simpson and Powell share the same physical trainer, according to The Gleaner. Simpson will be hoping for the same ruling handed out by CAS in February in the case of decorated Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown. Campbell-Brown, who has won more than a dozen Olympic and world championship medals, had her two-year ban for testing positive for a banned diuretic last May overturned. | Olympic sprint gold medalist Sherone Simpson is to appeal her doping suspension .
Simpson's agent Paul Doyle calls the 18-month ban "incredibly unjust"
Simpson tested positive for banned stimulant oxilofrine at last year's Jamaican trials .
A ruling in the case of fellow Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell is expected on Thursday . |
283,808 | fbb160ddf443a09dd71285eb05a04d100e6b2d9c | By . Toby Harnden . PUBLISHED: . 15:03 EST, 1 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 20:58 EST, 1 November 2012 . Barack Obama headed back onto the campaign trail today for the first time after Superstorm Sandy struck and said now is not the time for 'petty differences' between parties, but then went on to attack his rival Mitt Romney. Obama, who is visiting three key swing states today, told the crowd at an airport rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin: 'All the petty differences that consume us in normal times seem to melt away. ‘There are no Democrats or Republicans during a storm, just fellow Americans.’ Back on the trail: President Obama waves to supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Thursday after resuming his presidential campaign . Standing by her man: First Lady Michelle Obama speaks during a campaign appearance at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville, Florida . Obama said today: ‘Our hearts go out . to those who have lost their loved ones. We pledge to help those whose . lives have been turned upside down. ‘In the end we're all in this together - that we rise and fall as one nation, one people.’ He added: ‘We've also been inspired these past few days. Because when disaster strikes, we see America at its best.’ The spirit seen after Sandy, he said, had ‘carried us through the trials of the last four years’. In focus: Supporters take photographs as Michelle Obama walks to the stage at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida . Looking forward: Michelle Obama takes centre stage at a campaign event in Florida to support her husband . Strong: Michelle Obama clenches her fists as she speaks at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville, Florida . Purple patch: Michelle Obama smiles as she takes the applause in Jacksonville, Florida . Sounds good: Stevie Wonder performs at a campaign event attended by First Lady Michelle Obama at the Prime Osborn Convention Center in Jacksonville . In the pink: Supporters - some younger than others - cheer as they wait to hear from Michelle Obama at the rally in Miami . But Obama then contradicted his high-minded appeal for bipartisanship to attack Romney. ‘He’s . saying he’s the candidate of change,’ he said. ‘Well, let me tell you . Wisconsin, we know what change looks like. And what he’s offering isn’t . change. Obama described . Romney’s proposals on taxes, social policy and regulation as a return, . adding that ‘turning Medicare into a voucher is change, but we don’t . want that change’. He said; . ‘know what change looks like because I fought for it,” he said. “And . after all we’ve been through together, we sure as heck can’t give up . now.' Good to see you: Mr Obama made a quick stop in Wisconsin before heading to Las Vegas . Broad smile: President Obama grins as he waves at supporters in Wisconsin before heading to Las Vegas . Matter in hand: Speaking in Wisconsin, Mr Obama said: 'When disaster strikes, we see America at its best. There are no Democrats or Republicans during a storm. Just fellow Americans' Winning smile? President Barack Obama shakes hands with supporters during a campaign stop at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin . Ready for action: The President looks relaxed as he disembarks Air Force One at McCarran International Airport for a campaign event in Las Vegas . Made to feel welcome: The President waves to supporters upon his arrival in Las Vegas . Seeking a second term: President Obama addresses a campaign rally on the campus of the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas . High five: President Obama meets a young boy as he arrives in Denver, Colorado, for the third leg of his day's campaigning . Flying visits: The President went to Colorado after making campaign appearances in Wisconsin and Nevada . Deep in conversation: President Obama and New Jersey governor Chris Christie showed a united front . Obama advisers . believe that the images of the president comforting survivors of Sandy . on a visit to New Jersey yesterday has given him fresh hope of . re-election in five days time and halted Romney's momentum. A poll taken in the wake of Sandy . found that 80 per cent of likely voters approved of Obama’s response to . the storm and the president incorporated the hurricane into his stump . speech after campaign hostilities resumed. Meanwhile, Romney appeared in Roanoke, Virginia. He said Obama had run out of ideas. ‘I . mean, unfortunately what you've seen before your very eyes is a . campaign that keeps on shrinking and shrinking and shrinking to smaller . things,' he said. ‘He's . been out talking about how he's going to save Big Bird and then playing . silly word games with my last name, or first, and then attacking me day . in and day out. Reaching out: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters at a campaign event at a window and door factory in Roanoke, Virginia . Rooting for Romney: Supporters wave signs and American flags as the Republican presidential candidate appears at the campaign event in Roanoke, Virginia . Anticipation: Republican supporters in Roanoke, Virginia, cheer as they wait to hear Mitt Romney speak at the campaign event . Sex appeal: A female supporter holds up a sign as former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney makes a speech at the campaign event in Roanoke, Virginia . Visit: Virginia's Republican senator, George Allen (left), and the party's presidential candidate, Mitt Romney (second from left), take a tour of Integrity Windows in Roanoke . Debate in the downturn: Mitt Romney (centre) speaks to owners and workers at Bill's Barbecue in Richmond, Virginia, which has gone out of business . Food for thought: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stands with his hands in his pockets as he hears from Bill's Barbecue owner Rhoda Elliott (in red, back to camera) Anxiety: Romney listens to Bill's Barbecue owner Rhoda Elliott (in red, center) during his visit to the now-closed restaurant, before attending a campaign event in Richmond, Virginia . Election drive: Mitt Romney arrives on his campaign bus at Meadow Event Park in Richmond, Virginia . Romney in Virginia: The Republican candidate speaks in Doswell (left) and arrives on stage at a campaign stop at Meadow Event Park in Richmond (right) 'Attacking me doesn't make an agenda, doesn't get people back to work. We don't need the Secretary of Business to understand business. 'We need a president who understands business, and I do. That's why I'll help get this economy going.' Obama is spending the last Thursday of the 2012 election campaign hitting three swing states that he won comfortably in 2008 – Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado. Romney is also on defence, trying to shore up Virginia, which Republicans hoped would be safe by now, with three events there. Trick or treat: Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (left) joins his family on a Halloween outing. His sons Charles and Samuel went as 'spooky goblins', daughter Liza dressed as Katy Perry, and wife Janna donned a hat. Ryan's sister-in law Zoe Ryan (third from right) holds her daughter Zaydee May . Electioneering: The name 'Romney' is spelled out in sand during an aerial tour of the Atlantic Coast taken by President Barack Obama and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Wednesday . VIDEO: Obama speech from Wisconsin . | Obama visits swing states after taking tour of storm-hit New Jersey .
First Lady Michelle Obama appears at Florida campaign event .
President: 'When disaster strikes, we see America at its best'
Obama promises change, describes Romeny's policies as a return .
Republican rival Mitt Romney campaigns in Virginia . |
109,342 | 18f0af52794bbfa5ca733f7356e69d93fe061e29 | In recent years, the gaming industry has seen a number of hyped trends come and go: games on social networks, 3-D gaming, systems that let you control in-game avatars by moving your body. Now get ready for another one: Virtual reality. This technology, which plunges headset wearers into three-dimensional virtual worlds that feel incredibly lifelike, is coming to consumers very soon, according to the two companies spearheading the charge. Oculus Rift and Sony have been developing prototypes for virtual-reality headsets that immerse people in scenarios as mundane as a boardroom or as fantastic as a medieval castle complete with dragons. But reps for both companies who spoke to CNN at last week's E3 gaming show say the driving force behind the success or failure of virtual-reality, or VR, will be not their devices but the games created for them. Oculus Rift CEO Brendan Iribe said his team of "the brightest minds of the industry" has come a long way from two years ago, when a bulky Oculus prototype held together by duct tape was shown to selected media at E3. "We've tackled so many of the hardest problems," Iribe said last week. "We have 30 or 40 of these top talents all focusing on delivering the best VR the world has ever seen. This is really delivering on something that people have imagined for so many years and we haven't gotten there yet. Now we're starting to get there." Meanwhile Project Morpheus, the code name for Sony's rival VR headset, was introduced in March as the future of gaming on the PlayStation system. Indeed, the lightbar on the PlayStation 4's DualShock controller was designed with the Morpheus headgear in mind to allow the devices to be tracked together. According to Anton Mikhailov, Magic Lab researcher and developer for Sony, the goal of Morpheus is to make players feel like they are inside the game. Both Iribe and Mikhailov said they must resolve technical issues before their respective systems will be ready for consumer use. These problems, which they say are close to being solved, include more precise eye tracking and stopping motion blur. Both Oculus and Sony say they are close to releasing consumer units, but neither would provide a timetable. However, they agree the headsets are useless without great content. People won't want to buy a VR headset if they can't use it for a compelling game. And these games need to be ready to go when the headsets hit the market. "We're going to make a great piece of hardware that delivers on the promise of great VR," Iribe said. "But it's going to be up to content developers -- game developers -- to make great experiences. They can still make things terribly wrong. "It's a big challenge," he added. "Game developers are just going to have to learn how to make great VR." Both Oculus and Sony staged some early demos of their VR technology to E3 attendees. The Oculus Rift offerings ranged from a Mario-type platform game to a Matrix-style hallway shootout (complete with dodging bullets) to "Alien: Isolation," a game in which you must avoid being killed by nasty space aliens. If you failed to elude your enemies in the "Alien" game, you ended up with a tail spike right through your chest. And yes, you could look down and see it as it happened. Eww. The Project Morpheus games were a bit tamer and definitely less bloody. A simple castle scenario let you use PlayStation Move controllers to grab medieval weapons and smack around a practice dummy. When the real fight began, the weapons disappeared and you were suddenly left going hand to hand with a dragon, with predictable results. A street-luge demo let players streak down a hillside while dodging traffic along the way. You could steer the luge by simply leaning left and right, and collisions merely slowed the player down instead of crashing them out of the game. Mikhailov said there is a balance between what hardware developers want to deliver for VR and game developers' creative visions. He said Sony is experimenting with different types of games to find that sweet spot, but he admits he doesn't know what it looks like yet. "There's clearly games that work well," he said during an E3 demo. "Street luge was surprising. You're traveling so fast, you'd think someone would get really motion sick, but no one ever has." Iribe said Oculus delivered 60,000 developer kits for the first version of its headset and will send another 40,000 for the second. With so many pieces of test hardware in the hands of creative people, finding that elusive game that can deliver on VR's promise may be only a year or two away. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida said independent game designers may be the key to reaching this goal, with an assist from Oculus. "We weren't able to provide many dev kits until after GDC," Yoshida said, referring to the Game Developers Conference three months ago. "But many developers, especially indie, already were working on something cool using Oculus." The mathematics of developing games for Oculus or Sony is pretty much the same, he said, meaning that game creators will easily be able to make entertainments for both headsets. Oculus director of developer relations Aaron Davies said that as more people get their hands on VR prototypes and discover what they can do, the more the industry sees the technology's potential. "I like to give people about 15 minutes when they come out of it (VR)," Davies said. "They're thrilled with the experience and they see where it is going, but then it takes some time for them to realize how it is going to change the world. And that's what's fun." | Makers of virtual-reality headsets say that games, not consoles will drive the VR experience .
Sony and Oculus are the two early leaders in developing VR systems .
Reps from both companies demoed their headsets at E3, the gaming show . |
41,177 | 742e36d5c3c1ee0ee059bb2b492226880ec50759 | (CNN) -- Scott Peterson was convicted November 12, 2004, for the deaths of his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child. He may be locked up in San Quentin State Prison and facing the death penalty, but he is not cut off from the outside world. Sharon Rocha, mother of Laci Peterson, says Scott Peterson shouldn't be blogging from San Quentin. Peterson has a personal Web site that includes photos of him and Laci. It also links to his family's Web site and that Web site includes a blog message from Scott discussing what he calls his "wrongful conviction." Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" Thursday to talk about his Web site and what she thinks of her former son-in-law. Some highlights: . Larry King: What do you make of all this? Sharon Rocha: Well. First of all, I think I could say that being on death row is supposed to eliminate a lot of rights and privileges of the inmates. In the whole scope of things, this is a very minute matter, but it isn't right that they should have access to the Internet, either direct access or through somebody else. Watch Rocca discuss Scott Peterson with Larry King » . King: How and when did you first find out about Scott having this Web page? Rocha: Just a couple of days ago. A friend of mine had told me about it. King: Have you seen the page? Rocha: I have. And I understand it's the family blog, which, you know, they're entitled to have that. But I still feel that it's not right that Scott has the ability to speak on the Internet through his family or friends or whomever. King: So you think a family blog is OK? Rocha: Everybody's entitled, you know, to their opinion, and I see nothing wrong with having a family blog. King: He has only two blog entries on his personal page. One says he's encouraged by the mail he receives and he enjoys hearing from people. His prison mail address is also posted. What do you think of that? Rocha: Well, I think that is public knowledge. There are different Web sites that you can go to get that prison. But as far as being encouraged from other people, I'm sure he is. But the point is I don't think he should be able to access the Internet, either directly or through anybody else. King: Do you have any qualms about people writing to him? Does it bother you at all? Rocha: No, it doesn't bother me. To be perfectly honest with you, Larry, I really don't spend a lot of time thinking about Scott. I think about Laci all of the time, but I don't give a lot of thought to Scott. King: In his first blog posting, Scott writes, "some people have done things to profit off my wife and son having been taken from me and murdered." How do you react to a statement like that? Rocha: Well, that's true. There have been a lot of people who have profited from that. But I don't feel that he should be one of those because he's responsible for Laci not being here. I know many inmates are claiming that it violates their rights, their right to freedom of speech not to be able to have communication with, through the Internet or what have you. But they are there for a reason and that reason is that they took the right of their victims. They took their freedom of speech away from them and literally slammed the lid on their opportunity to ever speak again. King: Have you complained to the prison or anybody in authority about all of this? Rocha: No, I haven't. It's not something that I've even thought about. I read an article in "The (Los Angeles) Times" about victims in other states who attempted to have legislation passed only to have it ruled as unconstitutional by a judge. So I don't know if there's really anything that can be done about it. King: So you have no recourse, in a sense. Rocha: At this time, it seems to be that way, unless there's some new legislation that can actually be passed and not ruled unconstitutional. King: Frankly, Sharon, you don't seem outraged. Rocha: Well, it is outrageous for this to even be happening. I just feel that, you know, it just does a great injustice to the victims and their families. They can no longer speak for themselves. And being on death row is supposed to eliminate an inmate's privileges. And this just flies in the face of justice, as far as I'm concerned, that OK, so they said they can't use the Internet, they go around it and they use it in another way. It is outrageous. I am outraged. | Laci Peterson's mother: Scott Peterson should not have right to blog in prison .
Scott Peterson was convicted of deaths of Laci, their unborn child .
Sharon Rocha doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about Scott, thinks about Laci . |
9,069 | 19b141891dd81322d53635671caea6462d4890a4 | She may be a Hollywood star who brings immense drama to her roles, but Keira Knightley reveals that in her personal life she's as down to earth as they come. The actress, 29, recently left a premiere early to rush home and catch the finale of the Great British Bake Off. And she says a perfect birthday celebration consists of bowling, karaoke, and 'lots of cupcakes', in a new interview with Net-A-Porter's weekly online fashion glossy The EDIT. Scroll down for video . Keira Knightley has posed for online magazine THE EDIT this week . Photographed by David Bellemere, the actress is pictured wearing designs by Erdem and Dolce & Gabbana . She is known to attend glamorous photo shoots on her own, without an agent or assistant. 'Why not?,' she says. 'It's nicer than coming in and being completely shut off it. And it's much easier just to have a conversation yourself where it's either, "Yes, I'll do that," or "No, I won't".' In the interview Keira discusses Hollywood's double standards and embracing the ageing process. With an impressive history of strong, female roles, it is unsurprising that the actress is an advocate for gender equality in Hollywood. Keira is known to attend photo shoots without an agent or assistant: 'Why not?' she says . 'The people who make movies, whether it's directors or producers, or money people, look for things that they can identify with and if they're all predominantly middle-aged white men, then what you see are things that middle-aged white men can identify with. 'And you don't get anything for anybody else.' Though happily married, Keira says that she has given up on fairy tales because women do not need men to come to their rescue. 'A friend of mine just had a daughter. It's a political thing, having a baby girl, in a way that it isn't for a boy. You think, 'Oh isn't this fairy tale lovely?' Then suddenly you worry, 'What am I planting with that? I don't want her to be waiting around for a man to fix her problems. 'Maybe it's a bit silly, but because equality is going so hugely the other way, I think it probably does take being silly to try and swing it back around.' Keira wears a dress by Valentino and necklace by Diane Kordas . Wearing a gown by Dolce & Gabbana . With regards to the future, Keira is ready to take anything that comes with her trademark poise. Unlike the childlike character she plays in new fil Laggies, Keira is embracing ageing, even if she is not quite sure what 'grown-up' is meant to feel like. While Keira admits to not having all of the answers, she is looking forward to trying to find them. Keira's says that she is embracing ageing . The married actress says that she has given up on fairyn tales because women don't need men to come to their rescue . With regards to the future, Keira says that she is ready to take anything that comes her . | Keira Knightley, 29, talks sexism, being a wife and life's little pleasures .
Perfect birthday party consists of bowling, karaoke, and 'lots of cupcakes'
This week's issue of Net-A-Poter's online magazine The EDIT is out now .
This week's issue of THE EDIT, featuring Keira Knightly and Cynthia Nixon, is online now . |
240,551 | c365088644ef572d51dd8f48a726279fcb6a2229 | Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Saying he hopes "tourists from around the world will soon return," Egypt's newly appointed minister of antiquities announced Thursday that tourist sites will reopen on Sunday. "All of the Pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic and modern sites" will reopen, said a statement from the Minister of Antiquities Affairs, Zahi Hawass. The decision was made after Hawass met with members of the ministry and the Antiquities and Tourism Police to discuss security measures. "Dr. Hawass stated he hopes tourists from around the world will soon return to Egypt," the statement said. Hawass, former secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, was appointed to the new post January 30 under former President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak stepped down Friday after 18 days of protests and unrest. There has been widespread concern about Egypt's antiquities being damaged or looted during the upheaval, particularly after reports of a break-in at the nation's main museum in Cairo. Hawass' office also said Thursday that ancient burial sites have been broken into. Sabry Abdel Aziz, head of the Pharaonic Sector of the ministry, told Hawass that a "false door" and other items were stolen from the tomb of Hetep-Ka, in Saqqara. In Abusir, a portion of a false door was stolen from the tomb of Re-Hotep, the ministry said. In addition, some storage magazines in Saqqara, including one near the pyramid of Teti, had their seals broken, along with a magazine at Cairo University, the ministry said. Hawass has formed a committee to prepare reports on what, if anything, is missing. Abusir is a pyramid field on the left bank of the Nile, north of Saqqara, where many 5th Dynasty pharaohs chose to site their burial monuments. Saqqara, one of Egypt's oldest burial sites, has several royal pyramids. The Egyptian military caught people attempting to loot sites at Tell el Basta and a tomb in Lischt, the ministry said. "There have also been many reports of attacks on archaeological lands," the statement said, adding that Hawass has asked all of the second heads within the ministry to prepare reports for each site in Egypt. Hawass said Sunday that at least 17 artifacts were missing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The museum was broken into on January 28, not long after anti-Mubarak protests began. He updated that number to 18 on Monday, but said two of the missing relics -- a heart scarab and one of 11 missing Shabti statuettes -- funerary figurines -- had been found. On Tuesday, a blog post on Hawass' website said that wooden fragments belonging to a damaged New Kingdom coffin had been found in a preliminary search of the museum and its grounds. Also found were fragments belonging to a statue of King Tutankhamun being carried by the goddess Minkaret, according to the posting, but "all of the located fragments belong to the figure of Menkaret. The small figure of the king has not been found." Hawass said he believes the looters dropped objects as they fled, and "every inch of the museum must be searched before the Registration, Collections Management and Documentation Department, which is overseeing the inventory, can produce a complete and final report of exactly what is missing," the post said. The Army was allowing few people into the museum, making it difficult to carry out a search, according to the posting. Hawass said January 31 that the intruders had vandalized statues and display cases and stolen jewelry from the museum's gift shop. A number of suspects were apprehended shortly after the break-in, he said, some with antiquities in their possession. The Tuesday blog post said that Hawass "would like to clarify earlier statements in which he announced that nothing was missing (from the museum)." He said when the search committee made its first pass through the museum, "objects that were at first thought to be missing were found thrown into trash cans and corners far from their original locations" and he was led to believe that all the items would be found in a full search. "Professionals out to steal would normally be careful not to damage the objects they were planning to take, so the initial impression was that the attackers were vandals rather than thieves," the blog post said. Hawass was also misinformed by a museum staffer about a statue of the pharaoh Akhenaten and was told it was only damaged when it was missing, the post said. "In addition to expressing what he then firmly believed, which was that museum staff would continue to locate the missing objects, his intent in these earlier statements was to reassure the world that the damage at the museum, while tragic, was far less widespread than originally feared, and to make clear that the museum's most major masterpieces, such as the Golden Mask of Tutankhamun, were safe." | The sites will reopen on Sunday .
"False doors" have been reported stolen from burial sites .
The search continues for items from the Cairo museum . |
116,818 | 22cdde4529d502bb47c028d679c096a215e56dc6 | By . Daniel Bates . PUBLISHED: . 10:46 EST, 28 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:20 EST, 28 May 2013 . The former home of Bernie Madoff’s brother has been put up for auction - even though there are still signs inside which read: 'United States Marshall. No Trespassing.' Peter Madoff's mansion has gone on the market for $4.4 million complete with white tags on every item where it has been inventoried by financial crimes investigators. His reading glasses are on a mantelpiece, there is marmalade in the fridge and his clothes are in boxes in the closets - whilst one of his wife's artificial nails is still in the bathroom. On the bookshelf is a volume that has a heavy irony given what happened next: 'A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 1: You Shall Be Holy,' by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin. Auction: The former Long Island home, pictured, of Bernie Madoff¿s brother, Peter Madoff, has been put up for auction . Crooks: Peter Madoff, left, is serving a 10 year sentence for lying to regulators and falsifying documents at the firm owned by his brother Bernie, pictured right . Peter Madoff was chief compliance . officer at the firm owned by his brother and he is currently serving 10 . years in jail for lying to regulators and falsifying documents. Like Bernie, all his assets have been forfeited and are being sold off to pay back the victims of the $65 billion Ponzi scheme. The . listing with real estate agent Shawn Elliott makes no mention of its . dark past and merely calls it an 'English Manor Colonial' in Old . Westbury on Long Island, New York. The 1935 property has five bedrooms, two garages, a gorgeous garden, a swimming pool and a tennis court out the back. Inside . the 600-square foot living room it still looks like the home of a . wealthy financier with crystal candlesticks, a beautiful wooden coffee . table and books piled high such as 'Dog Painting: A Social History of . the Dog in Art.' Plush: The home has a long, winding driveway; a tennis court; a two-bedroom pool house surrounded by lavish gardens . Proceeds: The proceeds of the sale will go towards paying back victims of the brothers' Ponzi scheme . There are numerous paintings of dogs, antiques along the hallway, a well-stocked library and marble and gold trim throughout the ground floor. But a closer look reveals that all is not quite what it seems - some of the paintings are missing and are just empty frames as they have been taken away to be auctioned off. The white tags on all the items were put on when financial crimes investigators went through the whole house marking up what was inside. It was then spruced up and the gardens landscaped to make it look attractive to buyers. Kevin Kamrowski, a deputy United States marshal, told the New York Times: 'When dealing with a home this grandiose, the outside world can lose sight of where all these fine things come from. Tags: The mansion, pictured, has gone on the market for $4.4m complete with white tags on every item where it has been inventoried by financial crimes investigators . Shady past: The listing with real estate agent Shawn Elliott makes no mention of its dark past and merely calls it an 'English Manor Colonial' in Old Westbury on Long Island, New York . 'Everything in this home was obtained on the backs of other people.' Mr Elliott said that there have been offers on the property but none have been accepted yet, although some had been curious about the Madoff history. He said: 'The less I know about a situation, for me, the better. 'My job as the real estate broker on this is to get the victims as much money as humanly possible.' The sale is not the first time that Madoff family assets have gone under the hammer. During a 2010 auction of Bernie's personal belongings, one buyer paid $1,700 for a collection of his socks and underwear, including some which had been used. Grand: The lush white mansion, pictured, makes a grand first impression . Massive: The 1935 property has five bedrooms, two garages, a gorgeous garden, a swimming pool and a tennis court out the back . A lot containing his Italianate red velvet slippers with his initials 'BLM' stitched into them went for $6,000. Also under the hammer were offerings from Bernie's personal library which included politics satire Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, a guide to Judaism called Chutzpah and other works titled In the Shadow of the Law, and End in Tears. All in all more than $2 million was raised by the U.S. Marshals at the auction, which showcased items which had been seized from Bernie's New York penthouse flat. Bernie, who is serving a 150 year sentence for his crimes, has recently complained from his prison cell that he cannot sleep at night and that he is racked by remorse. Some $2.3 billion has been recovered for his victims by a fund administered by the Justice Department, although a separate fund has clawed back an additional $9.3 billion. Sell off: Like Bernie, all his assets have been forfeited and are being sold off to pay back the victims of the $65bn Ponzi scheme . Fine possessions: Kevin Kamrowski, a deputy United States marshal, told the New York Times: 'When dealing with a home this grandiose, the outside world can lose sight of where all these fine things come from' | Peter Madoff's mansion has gone on the .
market for $4.4 million complete with white tags on every item where it has .
been inventoried by financial crimes investigators .
Madoff was chief compliance .
officer at the firm owned by his brother and he is currently serving 10 .
years in jail for lying to regulators and falsifying documents .
The proceeds of the 1935 five-bedroom house will got to pay back the victims of the $65 billion Ponzi scheme . |
39,234 | 6edc40f90047c56f08f93181d9561696f2d295ed | Didier Drogba showed he's also the King of the court as Chelsea's players enjoyed a spot of basketball during training on Thursday. Drogba, who has scored three goals in his last three games for the Blues, looked a natural with the ball in his hands as he joined his team-mates for the lighthearted session ahead of their clash with Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. Unfortunately for some, the fun session was only for those players who had taken part in Chelsea's 2-1 Capital One Cup win against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night as the likes of Diego Costa were put through their paces elsewhere. Didier Drogba takes a shot as Chelsea players play a bit of basketball during training session on Thursday . Gary Cahill looks to get in Nemanja Matic's way as the Blues squad enjoy a light session with the ball in their hands . Chelsea's Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah looks to score some points for his team as Nathan Ake stands in his way . The Chelsea players took out time to shoot some hoops during their training session on Thursday . The Blues squad seemed to be in a relaxed mood as Oscar (above) shares a joke with team-mates during the basketball game . Chelsea sit top of the Premier League after an unbeaten start to the season, and have a six-point advantage over reigning champions Manchester City. Although he didn't take part in the small-sided basketball game, Costa looked in good condition as he trained with the rest of the squad. Costa's last Chelsea game saw him seal a 2-0 win against Arsenal, and the former Atletico Madrid striker will be hungry to add to his nine-goal tally so far. Mourinho, who revealed on Tuesday that Costa is ready to return, recently hinted that he believes Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is the man to blame for the centre forward's recent injury troubles. The 26-year-old began the season in prolific fashion but he has missed Chelsea's last three fixtures because of a persistent hamstring injury. The veteran Chelsea striker seemed to be loving the training session with a difference on Thursday . Chelsea's Brazilian left back Filipe Luis passes to Matic and Oscar (right) looks to intercept . Diego Costa (left) looks set to return to Chelsea's first team on Saturday as he takes part in a more conventional training session . Chelsea coach Silvino Louro gets Eden Hazard (right) in a headlock during the training session on Thursday . The former Atletico Madrid man had also been suffering from a cold in the build-up to last Sunday's match against Manchester United, but Mourinho revealed it was injury, rather than illness that ruled the £32million signing out of the match at Old Trafford. Costa has been troubled by the hamstring problem for some time, but Mourinho believes it was exacerbated by Spain coach Del Bosque fielding the player for back-to-back games against Slovakia and Luxembourg at the start of October. 'The virus is fine,' the Chelsea manager said. 'It was hard, he had to go to the hospital and obviously it doesn't help him to recover from his injury. But he didn't play on Sunday because of the injury, not because of the virus. 'Diego has the hamstring (problem) because he played two matches in three days when he was not with us.' Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois during a training session at Cobham training ground on Thursday . Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas will be looking to add to his impressive assist tally against QPR on Saturday . Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho (right) shares a joke with Drogba before they head out for training at Cobham . Costa (left) and Chelsea defender John Terry (right) train ahead of the visit of QPR to Stamford Bridge . | Chelsea squad take part in small-sided basketball game during training on Thursday .
Didier Drogba, Oscar and Nemanja Matic all take part as players enjoy light session .
Players who didn't take part in Shrewsbury victory trained separately .
Diego Costa looks set to return to first team action against QPR on Saturday . |
5,450 | 0f73940683dcd50a86361b5754aa1d36f239fcf1 | (CNN) -- John Sheardown, a Canadian immigration officer who helped shelter and smuggle six American diplomats out of Iran in 1980, has died, his son said Monday. He was 88. Sheardown had Alzheimer's and suffered from colon and prostate cancer, said Robin Sheardown, who described his father as his best friend. John Sheardown died Sunday night at a hospital in Ottawa, Canada. "He was a very humble man and a real Canadian hero," his son told CNN. John Sheardown played a key role in what has become known as the "Canadian Caper," a covert operation by the Canadian government and the CIA to rescue six American diplomats who eluded capture during the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. The episode was made famous again this year by the release of the hit movie "Argo," loosely based on the real-life drama. The film, however, left out Sheardown's contributions. Sheardown was an immigration officer at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran when students and militants stormed the U.S. Embassy there on November 4, 1979, taking more than 50 Americans hostage. Just half a dozen evaded capture. Sheardown and Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran, hid those six envoys in their homes, protecting them until they could be spirited out of the country with Canadian passports in late January 1980. "John Sheardown remained a very humble man, always willing to stay in the shadow of others, and the people of Windsor remain extremely proud of his diplomatic intervention and career accomplishments," read a proclamation that declared November 10, 2012, "John Sheardown Day" in the city of Windsor, in Ontario, Canada. According to that proclamation, Sheardown, a Windsor native, was shot down while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He worked with his country's customs and immigration department before joining Canada's foreign service, it said. Read more: 'Argo' recognizes forgotten heroes of crisis . | John Sheardown helped to smuggle six American diplomats out of Iran in 1980 .
The story was made famous again this year by the release of the movie 'Argo'
Sheardown suffered from Alzheimer's and had cancer, his son says . |
190,645 | 82d6cd92ffc8e1bb26af4717547a44b7dc3349dc | Rescuers searching a Himalayan river for dozens of Indian students, who were swept away when a dam released a rush of water, have retrieved four bodies. The 25 students from the southern city of Hyderabad had been taking photographs on the banks of the Beas River on Sunday when they were engulfed by the water from the Larji hydropower station near the mountain resort town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh. They had been on a 10-day field trip with around 48 students, some of whom managed to scramble to safety. Scroll down for video . Divers: Indian rescue personnel wearing preparing to begin their search for the 25 missing students wait on the banks of the River Beas . Search: Soliders wearing life jackets look out over the water near the resort town of Manali as police confirm four bodies have been retrieved . 'We saw a wall of water hit those who were on the banks. They fell flat and disappeared under the waves,' a student identified only as Sumiran told The Indian Express newspaper. Kiran Kumar, a professor who was accompanying the students, said he saw the water level rising and told the students to step back from the bank. But 'within one or two seconds, the water level increased all of a sudden. Some of the students were washed away right in front of me,' he told the the Associated Press. Police in Manali said four bodies were recovered Monday morning after the search resumed at dawn. They said a shortage of boats and divers was hampering the operation. Fears: Banoth Shekar, the father of missing student B. Rambabu Naik, holds a photograph of his son . Desperate: He wipes his eye with a towel as the chances of his son being found alive continue to diminish . 'Officials there are fearing the chances of finding survivors were slim,' said Anurag Sharma, police director general in Telangana state, where Hyderabad is located. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh demanded the dam's engineer be suspended while the incident is investigated. Telangana's government on Monday sent police officials and parents of the missing to the search site, 530 kilometers (330 miles) north of New Delhi. Anxious friends and relatives gathered at Hyderabad's Vigyan Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology waiting for news of the missing. Victim: A body of one of the students is taken from a building in Kullu, where the search operation is continuing . Transport: Rescuers have been out in rafts and boats for most of the day in a desperate bid to find the youngsters . | Search operation has retrieved four bodies near resort town of Manali .
Group of 25 students from Hyderabad were taking photos of the Beas River .
They were then hit by a rush of water from the Larji hydropower station .
Some of the youngsters managed to escape, but others were engulfed . |
257,300 | d901df339e11b568eb94bdf0f45edf3310d92cd2 | By . Mike Dawes . There are claims Russia will offer a cold welcome to the world at the Winter Olympics, but these images of some of the country's leading competitors suggests otherwise. Until now, disputes about homophobia, world leaders refusing to attend, and mega-security at Sochi have overshadowed the preparations for the £31 billion Games. The pictures showing the host team dressed to impress are going wild on the Moscow web with one site boasting: 'Russian sportswomen are the best campaigners for our team in Sochi.' Siberian-born Tatiana Borodulina, 29, from Omsk but now living in Australia, is a short track speed skater who has competed for her motherland since 2006 . In action: Tatiana Borodulina skates at the Palavela stadium in Turin where she won four gold medals . The site - AdMe.ru - explains: 'We sincerely support our team and believe that its strength is not only in sports achievements. 'Our Russian Olympic team defies stereotype that women in sport are just a heap of muscles and masculine shapes.' Another curler Ekaterina Galkina, 25, also from Moscow, was European champion in 2006 and Russia champion in 2005-2006. In the blood: Freestyle skier Ekaterina Stolyarova, 25, from Tomsk in Siberia, comes from a family famous in the sport. Her father Andrey Stolyarov is a merited freestyle coach, and her mother Marina a coach and international referee . Lifetime achiever: Stolyarova's first trip to the mountains was at six months old and she was skiing by two and a half . Curling hearts: Ekaterina Galkina, 25, from Moscow, was European champion in 2006 and Russia champion in 2005-2006 . No nonsense: Ekaterina Galkina gives team mates instructions after she throws a stone in the match between Russia and USA at the Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia, last year . High hopes: Curler Alexandra Saitova, 21, twice won bronze in Russian curling championships in 2010 and 2011 . Champion: Saitova also came away with a bronze in the Junior World Curling Championship in 2012 . On show here are ice hockey forward Svetlana Kolmykova, 25, who plays for Tornado in Moscow region, and Skeleton star Elena Nikitina, 21, last year's champion in Europe and a former footballer. Curler Alexandra Saitova, 21, twice won bronze in Russian curling championships in 2010 and 2011, and in 2012 came away with a bronze in the Junior World Curling Championship. Figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, 23, is a . four times Russian champion with high hopes of a medal this year . European champ: Bobrova won the European championship in 2013 with partner Dmitry Solovyev . Off the ice: Ice hockey goalie Anna Prugova, 20, is from . Khabarovsk in the Far East of Russia . Young talent: Prugova was, at the age of 16, the youngest competitor in her sport at the last Winter Olympics . Another is ice hockey goalie Anna Prugova, 20, from Khabarovsk in the Far East of Russia, who then 16 was the youngest competitor in her sport at the last Winter Olympics. Figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, 23, is a four times Russian champion who with partner Dmitry Solovyev won the European championship in 2013. She told Men's Health magazine in Russia: 'Every man should buy his woman an underwear - at least once first to check if he can figure out her breast size with his hands, and secondly to show her which knickers and bra he loves on her most.' Mirror, mirror: Ice hockey forward Svetlana Kolmykova, 25, plays for Tornado in Moscow . Tough: Svetlana Kolmykova is known for her strength on the puck and powerful shots . Ski-jumper Irina Avvakumova, 22, from . Leningrad near St Petersburg, has several national championship . medals to her name . High calibre: Avvakumova was the overall winner of the 2012-13 Continental Cup . Ski-jumper Irina Avvakumova, 22, from Leningrad region near St Petersburg, has several national championship medals to her name and was the overall winner of the 2012-13 Continental Cup, while curling competitor Olga Zyablikova, 21, took bronze at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championship. Cross country skier Maria Komissarova, 22, from St Petersburg, won a silver medal at the 2102 World Cup and is the Face of Russian Freestyle Skiing. Anna Sidorova, 22, was a skater who took up curling after a leg injury. She won gold at the European Championship in 2012 and is a four times Russian champion. Good curls: Olga Zyablikova, 21, is a curler who took bronze at the 2011 World Junior Curling Championship . Big hit: Zyablikova has been a big hit among sites promoting Russian Olympians . Out of the shadows: Cross country skier Maria Komissarova, . 22, from St Petersburg, won a silver medal at the 2102 World Cup and is . the Face of Russian Freestyle Skiing . Siberian-born Tatiana Borodulina, 29, from Omsk but now living in Australia, is a short track speed skater whop has competed for her motherland since 2006. Freestyle skier Ekaterina Stolyarova, 25, from Tomsk in Siberia, comes from a family famous in the sport. Her father Andrey Stolyarov is a merited freestyle coach, and her mother Marina a coach and international referee. Her first trip to the mountains was at six months old and she was skiing by two and a half. | The pictures showing the host team in racy underwear go viral in Moscow .
Include a figure skater, curlers, ice hockey players, ski jumpers and more .
A website boasts: 'Our sportswomen are best campaigners for Sochi team' |
11,597 | 20f466869a4cc7a4de48c7c815f863258e398f45 | By . Eleanor Crooks, Press Association . James Ward fell in the final round of qualifying at the US Open for the second straight year. The British number two has been in arguably the best form of his career and arrived in New York at a career-high ranking of 131. He looked to have a golden chance to complete his set of grand slam main draw appearances against world No 205 Radu Albot, but it was the Moldovan who came through 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Heading home: Great Britain's James Ward suffered defeat in US Open qualifying to Radu Albot . Ward made a faltering start and comprehensively dropped the first set to the consistent Albot. He fought back well in the second and they had played one game of the third when rain began to fall and kept the pair away from the court for two hours. It was an untimely break for Ward and he never got going on the resumption, throwing in a poor game to be broken for 3-1. In the stands: Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith watches Ward go out at Flushing Meadows . Albot was denied victory on his first match point by the umpire's over-rule but took his second to clinch a deserved win and a spot in the main draw of a grand slam for the first time. It has been a disappointing qualifying tournament for the British players, with the other four entrants all losing in the first round. Ward must now hope for withdrawals from the main draw that would give him a chance of getting in as a lucky loser. Ireland's James McGee defied cramp and missed opportunities to defeat Zhang Ze and qualify for the main draw of the US Open. It is the first time the 27-year-old has come through qualifying at a grand slam and there was no shortage of drama on a packed Court 8 at Flushing Meadows during his 0-6 6-4 6-4 victory. | Ward was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 by world No 205 Radu Albot, of Moldova .
The Brit fought back to level the match after dropping the first set .
Ward never got going againt after a two-hour rain delay at the start of the third set .
It means Andy Murray is the only British player in the men's singles draw at Flushing Meadows . |
103,531 | 1181234b18e522a282978161d9b02c1b3f817b04 | (CNN) -- The proposal by the Cordoba Initiative to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero has drawn major media attention and engendered fierce debate. Right-wing political commentators, politicians, hard-line Christian ministers, bloggers and some families of 9/11 victims have charged that it is insensitive to 9/11 families, dishonors memories of the victims and will be a "monument to terrorism." But here are the facts:The center is not at Ground Zero but two blocks away, and the Cordoba Initiative seeks to build a center, not a mosque. The center is not designed as a local mosque for a Muslim community but rather to serve the wider community. It is meant to improve interfaith and Muslim-West relations and promote tolerance -- not just to provide services to Muslims. The proposed 15-story community center will include a prayer room, offices, meeting rooms, gym, swimming pool and performing arts center. The controversy over Cordoba House is not an isolated event. It is part of a much more far-reaching pattern and problem. Mosque construction in the United States has become a catalyst for increased anti-Islam and anti-Muslim sentiment, discrimination and hate crimes in recent years. Efforts to construct mosques to accommodate growing Muslim populations have sparked intense opposition. A commentary appearing in the New York Post last month attacked plans to construct mosques in the state of New York: . "...There's no denying the elephant in the room. Neither is there any rejoicing over the mosques proposed for Sheepshead Bay, Staten Island and Ground Zero because where there are mosques, there are Muslims, and where there are Muslims, there are problems." It continued: "Before New York becomes New Yorkistan, it is worth noting that the capital of Great Britain was London until it became known as 'Londonstan,' degenerated by a Muslim community predominantly from South Asia and Africa, whose first generation of 'British Asians' has made the United Kingdom into a launching pad for terrorists." In the face of such rhetoric, where do we go from here? Globalization and an increasingly multicultural and multireligious America (and Europe), with their significant Muslim populations, tests the mettle of Western democratic principles of free speech and freedom of worship. Unfortunately, American attitudes toward Islam and Muslims often blur the line between the peaceful and rational mainstream majority of Muslims on the one hand and the acts of a small but dangerous minority on the other. In some states, opposition to mosque construction has been led by politicians -- individuals charged with representing and upholding democratic values. In June 2010, a Tennessee Republican candidate, Lou Ann Zelenik, opposed the Muslim community's proposal to build a mosque in Murfreesboro, charging the Muslim center was not part of a religious movement, but a political one "designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee." She warned, "Until the American Muslim community find it in their hearts to separate themselves from their evil, radical counterparts, to condemn those who want to destroy our civilization and will fight against them, we are not obligated to open our society to any of them. " The charge that Muslims do not condemn terrorism has been made repeatedly, despite that post-9/11, many Muslim leaders and organizations in America and globally have consistently denounced acts of terrorism. But major media outlets do not seem to find them newsworthy, and thus they must be found in smaller outlets on the internet. Even though major polls by the Gallup Organization and PEW research center show that the vast majority of American Muslims are well-integrated and, in contrast to many Muslim countries, pluralistic in outlook, a 2006 USAToday-Gallup poll found that substantial minorities of Americans admit to having negative feelings or prejudices against Muslims. Fewer than half the respondents believed U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States. About four in 10 favored more rigorous security measures for Muslims than those used for other U.S. citizens and requiring Muslims who are U.S. citizens to carry a special ID and undergo special, more intensive, security checks before boarding airplanes in the United States. Islam-bashing charges leveled with no concrete evidence by pundits and politicians ring hollow. The call by some New York politicians for a delay in the construction of the Cordoba Center to examine its funding is simply grandstanding that reinforces the notion that somehow all Muslims, mosques and Islamic centers are guilty until proved innocent. Muslim center flap recalls earlier N.Y. controversy over Arabic-language school . Why should Muslims who are building a center be any more suspect than Jews who build a synagogue or center or Christians who build a church or conference center? As New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg put it: "If somebody wants to build a religious house of worship, they should do it and we shouldn't be in the business of picking which religions can and which religions can't. I think it's fair to say if somebody was going to try to on that piece of property build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming. And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it, too." Muslims are part of the mosaic of America, citizens and believers who are economically, educationally and politically integrated. No longer predominantly new arrivals, many are second- and third-generation citizens. Despite terrorist attacks by a very small but dangerous minority of extremists, the majority of Muslims, like their non-Muslim fellow citizens, are loyal citizens. Islamophobia must be recognized for what it is, a social cancer as unacceptable as anti-Semitism, a threat to the very fabric of our democratic, pluralistic way of life. The line that distinguishes Islam from those who commit violence and terror in the name of Islam --between the majority of mainstream Muslims and the acts of a minority of Muslim terrorists -- must be maintained. Blurring these distinctions risks the adoption of foreign and domestic policies that promote a clash rather than co-existence of cultures and threaten the rights and civil liberties of Muslims. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John L. Esposito. | John Esposito says there's fierce debate over Muslim center planned near Ground Zero .
Esposito: Cordoba House is meant to improve interfaith connections in community .
Polls show many Americans leery of Muslims; they also show Muslims integrated, loyal to U.S.
Esposito: Opposition to center goes against democratic principles, is Islamophobic . |
15,228 | 2b4a5cee35473d5332ad034994cce39efe539789 | (CNN Student News) -- February 8, 2011 . Download PDF maps related to today's show: . • Egypt • Sudan . Transcript . THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Today's show goes out to our Facebook fans at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georgia. Get ready to update your maps, because the world is about to get a new country! I'm Carl Azuz. This is CNN Student News! First Up: Meeting with Business . AZUZ: First up, President Obama and business: can they work together? The president has not had the best relationship with business leaders, specifically with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The group was against the health care and Wall Street reform laws that the president pushed for and passed. And the Chamber supported a lot of Republican candidates in last year's midterm elections. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the country's largest business organization. It represents 3 million businesses from all across the U.S. And its main purpose is to work on behalf of those businesses, especially in Washington. During his speech to the 200 members of the Chamber yesterday, President Obama acknowledged the tension between them. But he says he's convinced that they can and must work together. One thing that both sides want: more jobs. The president promised that he'll work on programs and policies, like spending money on education and improving transportation networks, that would help the country's businesses and would help get the economy back on track. Economy in Turmoil . AZUZ: Things are moving forward in Egypt. The country's new Cabinet had its first meeting yesterday. There are some protesters still out in the streets, saying they're not gonna budge until President Hosni Mubarak steps down. Mubarak has said he won't run for re-election in September. We've talked a lot about what all this political upheaval could mean for Egypt's government in the future. Frederik Pleitgen is looking at what it means for Egypt's economy right now. Here's his report. (BEGIN VIDEO) FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As anti-Mubarak protesters remain entrenched in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the effects of the uprising are visible nationwide. This is Stella Heliopolis, a massive real estate development outside Egypt's capital with 1,500 housing units under construction. Owner Ayoub Adly Ayoub says work has come to a virtual standstill since the protests began. AYOUB ADLY AYOUB, PRESIDENT, REMCO GROUP: We had to slow down because we could not get the materials in time, most of the laborers could not come. Now, we are starting to organize ourselves to go back to work. Maybe $4 - $5 million of losses per month at least. PLEITGEN: Ayoub says if things don't improve, he might have to start laying off workers. One bank estimates this crisis is costing Egypt more than $300 million a day as the economy remains in a state of paralysis. Egypt's economy is losing a lot of money every day and business people fear the long-term consequences could be grave, as investors lose their confidence and tourists start choosing other destinations. Many business sectors are affected, some only now coming back to life. As shop owners slowly began opening their doors on Cairo's streets on Sunday, banks serviced customers for this first time since the beginning of the crisis. To prevent the masses from pulling their cash out of the institutions, private withdrawals were limited to $10,000 or 50,000 Egyptian pounds. Despite long lines, most appeared calm. UNIDENTIFIED MALE [TRANSLATED]: "There are a lot of people who are withdrawing money because banks were closed in the last few days," this man says. "Many people are withdrawing money." PLEITGEN: Ayoub Adly Ayoub says though the fallout from the uprising is seriously hurting his business interests, he understands the anti-government protesters. AYOUB: I have personal sympathy for them. I think there was corruption, it is a time of change. But my personal view is that we should give the people that are in charge now that are trying to clean up and put this country together a chance. PLEITGEN: But it doesn't seem like the anti-government protesters are willing to give the current government that chance. As many Egyptians fight for social change, many workers on construction sites like this one are fighting and praying to keep their jobs. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Cairo, Egypt. (END VIDEO) Sudan Vote . AZUZ: To the south of Egypt is Sudan, a country that's about to be split in half -- literally. In a referendum last month, nearly 99 percent of southern Sudanese voted to split from the north and form their own country. Sudan's north and south fought a war against each other for more than two decades. The peace treaty that ended that conflict led to this vote. The country's president has said he'll accept the results of the election, so Southern Sudan could become the world's newest nation by this summer. This Day in History . AZUZ: It's February 8th. This day in history: In 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded by William D. Boyce. He was inspired after being helped by a British scout when he got lost in London. Is This Legit? TOMEKA JONES, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? The symptoms of a concussion can include nausea, dizziness and memory problems. This is true. And anyone who's gotten one of these brain injuries is more likely to get another one. Protecting Young Athletes . AZUZ: Concussions are pretty common in contact sports like football. At the NFL level, there are around 100 concussions every year. But when you look at the number of teens and younger kids who go to the ER for sports-related concussions, that number jumps to more than 100,000! Doctor Sanjay Gupta shows us how one program uses prevention and preparation to address the problem. (BEGIN VIDEO) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Most of these players see themselves as mini-versions of these guys. CHRIS NOWINSKI, PRESIDENT, SPORTS LEGACY INSTITUTE: Youth football is trying to be the professional game, sometimes for good, but sometimes for bad. GUPTA: The good? Competition. Camaraderie. The bad? Concussions. And the ugly? A tendency trickling down from the pros to hide head injuries. NOWINSKI: When you are 13, you have the same drives to play through pain, play through injury - not wanting to look weak in front of your friends or weak in front of your enemies. Guys went great lengths to hide injuries or not talk about them. GUPTA: It turns out hiding has consequences, first seen at the NFL level. Retired players consumed with depression, rage, memory problems. Their symptoms associated with the mysterious brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It looks like dementia, but it strikes players in their 30s, 40s and 50s, sometimes younger. NOWINSKI: The reality is, we do have cases of teenagers having the disease. We're primary football players. Some play multi-sports, but they all had brain trauma. CARMEN RODA, PRESIDENT, WESTPORT POLICE ATHLETIC LEAGUE: Well, it's brain damage. I mean, that's what it comes down to. How can you want that for any child? Does your head go up or down? TEAM: Up! RODA: Head goes up or down? TEAM: Up! RODA: Let's go! GUPTA: Carmen Roda coaches the Wreckers. It's a team of fifth graders in Westport, Connecticut. Last year, he had a typical playbook. RODA: We do drills like bull in the ring, you know, one kid's in the middle and you walk around and tap a kid, and then you just go at it, head-to-head, hammer to hammer. GUPTA: And during games? RODA: The kid came out and he got a hard hit, what we used to call a stinger or a ding, you know. We would sit there and say, "Hey, are you OK?" And then send him back in if he answered yes. GUPTA: When his team clocked 20 concussions in one season, Coach Roda said enough. His new playbook starts with a concussion course for coaches, parents and players; a trainer at games and practice. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any nausea or dizziness? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. GUPTA: And far less hitting in practice; an emphasis on technique, not brute force. RODA: This is what we don't want to see. OK? The spine is lined up. The head is down. GUPTA: The impact? The Wreckers cut the number of concussions in half and still made the playoffs. NOWINSKI: It did not hurt the kids' ability to play the game. It just dramatically lowered their injury rate and their head trauma rate. And so, when you look at how simple those things were made in one season, in one program, you wonder why isn't everybody else doing this? (END VIDEO) Facebook Promo . AZUZ: Good info there. Now, you heard today's show dedicated to some of our Facebook fans. If you love our show and you're on Facebook, show us some like! Head over to Facebook.com/CNNStudentNews and click the "like" button. We'd like that a lot. Before We Go . AZUZ: We might have bitten off more than we can chew with today's Before We Go story. But at least we're in good company. All of these ingredients combine to make this! The Stellanator! Six hamburger patties; 12 pieces of bacon; six fried eggs; all the usual fixin's; plus jalapenos and peanut butter! If you haven't eaten lunch yet, you might not want to. This thing takes up the entire grill just to make a Stellanator. And more than 60 people have tried and failed to take it down. Goodbye . AZUZ: But for the valiant effort, they deserve a patty on the back. After looking at the bun-dle of food, we want to know what you would include on your extreme burger. You can talk to us about your recipes at Facebook.com/CNNStudentNews. We'll see you again tomorrow. | Explore the relationship between President Obama and U.S. business leaders .
Discover how Egypt's political unrest is affecting the country's economy .
Hear how one coach prepares his players in order to prevent concussions .
Use the Daily Discussion to help students understand today's featured news stories . |
82,560 | ea176f8a10f53b9ff6ca8d8e7606e81359899ed0 | (CNN) -- The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya, was attacked Tuesday by Somali pirates, according to a NATO source with direct knowledge of the matter. Pirates attacked The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, but were unable to board. "The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which sustained damage," said a statement from New York-based Liberty Maritime Corporation, which owns the vessel. The ship was carrying U.S. food aid for African nations, the statement said. The pirates never made it onto the ship and the vessel is now being escorted by a coalition ship, still bound for Mombasa, officials said. Two senior defense officials said the Liberty Sun was being escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge. It is the ship carrying Richard Phillips, the captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked last week. Phillips spent days as a hostage of the pirates before being rescued Sunday. Katy Urbik of Wheaton, Illinois, said her son, Thomas, was aboard the Liberty Sun at the time of the attack. She shared the e-mails he sent as the ship came under fire. "We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said one e-mail sent Tuesday afternoon. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out. "Navy is on the way and helos and ships are coming. I'll try to send you another message soon. [G]ot to go now. I love you mom and dad and all my brothers and family." "My heart stopped after I realized there wasn't going to be a 'just kidding' after his comment," Katy Urbik said. About 1½ hours later, Thomas Urbik sent another e-mail to his mother, which said, "The navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort ... all is well. I love you all and thank you for the prayers." In an e-mail only hours before the attack, Urbik's son tried to assure his mother that his crew was safe and taking precautions. "Don't worry too much. I am fine and we are being well monitored by the U.S. Navy, who is demanding we send them a report every six hours on our position and status," Thomas Ubrik's e-mail said. He added, "We in fact are going to be the second American ship to arrive into Mombasa after the Maersk Alabama. It should be interesting to say the least. ... We have had several drills to prepare ourselves to secure ourselves in the engine room. [W]e can do it pretty quick by now." The company said the ship had dropped off food aid last week at a Sudanese port and the ship was going around the Horn of Africa to reach Kenya when it came under attack. However, the exact location of the attack remained unclear. Earlier Tuesday, pirates off the coast of Somalia seized two freighters, proving they remain a force to contend with just days after the U.S. Navy dramatically rescued an American captain held by other pirates. First, pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday hijacked the MV Irene EM, a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier, according to a NATO spokesman and the European Union's Maritime Security Center. The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the Security Center said. Later Tuesday, pirates on four skiffs seized the 5,000-ton MV Sea Horse, a Lebanese-owned and Togo-flagged vessel, said Cmdr. Chris Davies of NATO's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England. Details about the ship and its crew weren't immediately available. NATO has an ongoing anti-piracy mission off Somalia called Operation Allied Protector. The mission involves four ships covering more than a million square miles, Davies said. A U.S.-led international naval task force, Combined Task Force-151, is also patrolling in the region. Tuesday's hijackings came two days after sharpshooters from the U.S. Navy SEALs killed three pirates who had been holding Phillips hostage on the water for days. Phillips had offered himself as a hostage when pirates attacked the Alabama on Wednesday, officials said. The ship had been on its way to deliver aid to Mombasa, Kenya. A fourth pirate had been aboard Bainbridge when the shootings occurred and was taken into custody. Watch the tough tactics the Navy uses » . The incident follows four freighters being seized over the past two days by pirates off the Somalian coast, proving they remain a force to contend with. Pirates on Monday hijacked two Egyptian fishing boats carrying a total of between 18 and 24 people, the Egyptian Information Ministry told CNN. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is working to end the hijacking, the ministry said. Egyptian boats are known to use Somali waters illegally for fishing, taking advantage of the lawless state of the country and the lack of enforcement of its maritime boundaries. Those who have tracked pirate activity in Somalia say it started in the 1980s, when the pirates claimed they were trying to stop the rampant illegal fishing and dumping that continues to this day off the Somali coast. Piracy accelerated after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s and began to flourish after shipping companies started paying ransoms. Those payments started out being in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions. Some experts say companies are simply making the problem worse by paying the pirates. CNN's Mike Mount, Barbara Starr and David McKenzie contributed to this report. | Crewman e-mailed hours before attack that Navy was monitoring the ship .
Crewman e-mails, "We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets"
Four freighters seized in last two days .
Greek 35,000-ton bulk carrier and Lebanese-owned, Togo-flagged both seized . |
236,734 | be69a5eb8b67389c8f827dfeca5d5917f8a36aaf | Uber drivers protesting unfair working conditions and poor fares protested outside the company's Long Island City offices Monday. Most of the drivers are either SUV or black car operators and planned the protest after refusing to drive for Uber and in some cases going so far as to jump to rival business Lyft. This is the second protest Uber Drivers Network NYC will stage against the company in a week. Uber drivers protesting unfair working conditions and poor fares protested outside the company's Long Island City offices Monday . The strikers urged drivers to support them by shuting off their phones or refusing any Uber requests. Other drivers have posted about the strike to the company's Facebook, though Uber quickly deleted the posts. Buzzfeed reports that one of the driver's major issues is that Uber slashed driver's wages by extending summer discounts into the fall. They also complain that SUV and black car drivers have been forced to take lower rates for UberX riders - a non luxury counterpart to the company's black car service that carries a lower rate. Drivers said that by using taking UberX passengers they were making less than they would working only as a black car driver. And though they've attempted to opt out and work only as premium driver, they continue to receive UberX requests. If they take only SUV or black car requests, Uber could assign them low rider acceptance rates or temporarilly suspend them. Drivers said that by using taking UberX passengers they were making less than they would working only as a black car driver . 'Uber is basically abusing the driver,' said one driver who asked to be referred to as only Belal. 'They give us a 24 hour suspension and threaten that you will lose your . chance with Uber. To get a ride for $8.00, I’ll have to work the whole . day. Gas and insurance for SUV’s are expensive. I have to pay $80 to . $100 a day in gas.' He said since the company reduced fares in July to try and beat yellow cab UberX requests have skyrocketed. 'They make us work for UberX permanently because we received tons of . UberX calls per minute,' Belal said. 'This means we never get the chance to . accept black car or SUV cars. We can only pick UberX. It’s a strategy . for them to put us to work only for UberX. If they take only SUV or black car requests, Uber could asssign them low rider acceptance rates or temporarilly suspend them . 'They’ll forget that Uber drivers have been doing this business for 20 . years,' he added. 'They have more experience than Uber and all the . management of Uber. And Uber is not a company it’s an application. The . value of Uber, it’s our value. We are Uber. We are the ones who are . offering the service. Uber is not doing anything, it’s an application on . the phone. Uber didn’t pay for our cars. Uber is only a connection.' But it remains to be seen if the strike will have any effect, as Belal agreed that management did not seem bothered by the protest. 'They said to take it or leave it,' he said. The drivers may not be able to exert real pressure on the company as many of them who bought a car specifically to become Uber drivers will likely have to continue contracting regardless of the company's fare changes. But it remains to be seen if the strike will have any effect, as drivers agreed that management did not seem bothered by the protest. 'We get expensive cars, most of the drivers if they give it back to . the bank they’ll lessen their credit score,' Belal told Buzzfeed. 'Uber right now . is putting us in a dangerous situation. We’re not making a living but . they’re pushing us to give back the cars.' Even those drivers without luxury cars are feeling squeezed as Uber's rates - while a good deal for riders - force them to work longer hours with no tips for what they could make in normal hours as a taxi driver. 'The average driver was putting in 2 or 3 hours extra a day to make . the same money they were making before reduced prices…When they switched . the prices as an X driver, I’m hardly paying my bills, [I’m] working 8 . to 10 hours a day, six days a week,' said a driver who drove a Toyota Camry. 'I have to pay for tolls and . gas… [and make] $7 to 800 a week — which is not enough any more.' | Drivers protested at the company's Long Island City office and shut off their phones, refusing to take Uber customer requests .
Claim Uber's attempts to undercut taxi prices is making it impossible to earn a living .
With many cars leased specifically to work for Uber, drivers may have little bargaining power and be forced to accept wages less than they would make as normal taxi drivers . |
45,928 | 816481474ed2a4c8eed5b98d728387e53ab934b7 | The sinister ghosts of Christmas past went on display in Germany on Sunday to remind visitors at an exhibition of how the greatest event in Christianity became warped by history’s fanatics. The exhibition in Ulm called ‘Decorated’ is about Christmas tree ornaments through the ages - many of them devoted to the egos of demagogues like Kaiser Wilhelm, architect of WW1, Hitler and Stalin. Visitors can see the porcelain heads of Hitler that replaced the angel or star at the top of the tree during the Third Reich. Christmas decorations which were hijacked by dictators have gone on display in a museum in Ulm, Germany . Other must-have accessories during Hitler’s regime included silver balls bearing the party salute ‘Sieg Heil!’ or Heil to Victory! and little decorations bearing swastikas. For citizens of Soviet Russia, who went against the official ideology of the atheist state, there were red stars to place on trees instead. Kaiser Wilhelm gloried in photos of himself beneath Reich eagles with their wings spread out and model Zeppelin airships with the Iron Cross motif painted on their sides. It was also fashionable between the years 1914 and 1918 to have a bauble made into the shape of ‘Big Bertha,’ the monstrous 150 ton howitzers used by the German army during WW1 to pound fortresses and trench lines into oblivion. The 'sieg heil' and swastika baubles show how even the Christian tradition of Christmas was used to promote evil ideologies such as fascism . This decoration gives a dark glimpse into how the Third Reich would have celebrated the festive season . Ulm’s Brotkultur Museum is staging the fascinating exhibition which also reaches back further than the great dictators of the past century. Over 400 tree ornaments are on show . altogether, the collection of a private Ulm family which has loaned them . for the display running until February next year. The tradition to decorate a Christmas tree goes back to the middle ages. At that time it was customary to decorate houses and churches from advent until Candlemas with green branches representing the ‘tree of paradise’ from which Eve picked her apple in the Old Testament. In the 16th century the first Christmas trees were decorated with apples, nuts, biscuits and paper flowers and made their entrance into middle-class homes. They were also a Protestant counterweight to the Catholic cribs displayed in all churches. In this picture taken in 1937 the Fuhrer receives a present from two Santas while attending a Christmas party given by the Chief of the Chancellery in Berlin . The first angel, star and Christmas figurines were made from pressed cotton, papier-mâché, or wax in the 17th century. Germany became the main centre of manufacturer of glass ornaments so beloved of Queen Victoria in the 18th and 19th centuries. The most recent exhibits in the collection come from China where most of the world’s cheap Christmas tree baubles are now produced. | German museum putting on exhibition called 'Decoration'
Shows how dictators hijacked Christmas to spread propaganda .
Ornaments feature Kaiser Wilhelm, Stalin and Hitler . |
20,198 | 3954fc0396e5dad6db06e72ddc120e57a72bb045 | By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 12:45 EST, 1 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:09 EST, 1 August 2013 . Jailed: Allison Hawksworth, 61, of Old Basing, Hampshire, ran a fake children's clothing company . A grandmother who lied about having cancer in a bid to avoid questioning from tax investigators swindled taxpayers out of £286,000 before blowing it on shopping sprees and holidays. Allison Hawksworth, of Old Basing, Hampshire, who ran a fake children’s clothing company and claimed back a fortune in VAT to which she was not entitled, was today jailed for a year. The 61-year-old, who has three daughters and three grandchildren, lived off benefits and spent her gains on trips to the U.S., TV shopping, a new kitchen and presents for friends and family. And Hawksworth - who carried out her con for ten years - lied about having cancer, a heart attack, and a fractured skull in a bid to avoid questioning when tax investigators came calling. The bogus businesswoman set up the company Kids at Heart to make luxury christening gowns for children in 2002 - but soon found VAT fraud more profitable, Winchester Crown Court heard. She abused the fact that no VAT is paid on children’s clothes to illegitimately claim back thousands of pounds from HM Revenue and Customs. The scam netted her the huge amount without ever having to leave her bungalow. She frittered some of the money away on a holiday to Florida to meet an online friend and a trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Home: The scam netted her the huge amount of money without ever having to leave her bungalow in Old Basing . Prosecutor Dawn Hyland said Hawksworth’s quarterly claims for VAT on materials she had allegedly bought from suppliers began modestly in 2002. But by 2004 the amounts rose to £6,000 and £7,500, peaking at £11,980 in November 2011. In total, she claimed £286,649 - but no business was running, Miss Hyland said. Tax officials became suspicious, but Hawksworth lied about having ovarian cancer, liver cancer and a fractured skull to avoid inspectors. She told an investigator his phone call had ‘been the cause of her requiring hospital treatment for a heart attack’. And she even pretended to be her own daughter, Julia, telling inspectors her ‘mother’ had had a major stroke and was in a nursing home last June. After her eventual arrest in October, she told police she had no memory of ever making the claims or being pursued by investigators over the decade. America trips: She frittered some of the money away on a holiday to Florida to meet an online friend and a trip to Atlanta, Georgia (file picture) Hawksworth pleaded guilty to defraud HMRC on the basis she originally set up Kids at Heart as a genuine business, which prosecutors accepted. She was handed 12 months in prison - but will serve half before being released on parole. 'You told the probation officer that you were operating in a haze, that you did not know what you were doing. That I cannot accept' Judge Jane Miller . Sentencing her, Judge Jane Miller said: ‘You are a 61-year-old lady of previously good character. 'Sadly, there is no money which can be claimed back. You told the probation officer that you were operating in a haze, that you did not know what you were doing. That I cannot accept.’ Lucia Whittle-Martin, defending, said her client was a ‘sad individual’ with ‘deep-seated issues’ who had tried to ‘buy friendship and love’. Speaking after the case, Andrew Sackey of HMRC said: ‘Allison Hawksworth submitted fraudulent VAT repayment claims to cheat honest taxpayers out of nearly £300,000 over 10 years. ‘HMRC is determined to crack down on this type of fraud.’ | Allison Hawksworth of Hampshire ran fake children’s clothing firm .
Lived off benefits and bought trips, shopping, holidays and kitchen .
Fraudster even lied about having cancer in bid to avoid questioning . |
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