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243,488 | c724cfe7f07e6fa1d9a4de09617a5de003328d49 | Joan Rivers died of a therapeutic complication as a result of throat surgery. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner released the results of their investigation into the comedian's death today, saying that she died due to brain damage as a result of a lack of oxygen, which they call 'a predictable complication of medical therapy,' meaning her death is the result of a risk that is associated with her surgery. Rivers died in New York City on September 4 at the age of 81 following a minor throat procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy. Scroll down for video . Cause of death: Joan Rivers (above) died of therapeutic complication as a result of throat surgery it was revealed today . Legend: The comedian passed away on September 4 in an NYC hospital . The investigation reveals the exact cause to be 'anoxic encephalopathy due to hypoxic arrest during laryngoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with propofol sedation for evaluation of voice changes and gastroesophageal reflux disease.' Hypoxic arrest is caused by a drastic reduction in oxygen supply to the brain. That then leads to anoxic encephalopathy, which is brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The laryngoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy refer to the diagnostic procedure Rivers was having performed at the time. Propofol, the drug Rivers was on while her operation was being performed, is used to induce or maintain anesthesia during surgery and is the same drug that caused the death of Michael Jackson when he overdosed on it back in 2009. And lastly, gastroesophageal reflux disease is why Rivers was having the surgery performed. Dr Gwen Korovin, Rivers' throat specialist, was one of the doctors in the room when the incident occurred. On the scene: Rivers' throat specialist, Dr. Gwen Korovin (above), was with the star when her surgery went wrong . Rivers was having throat surgery at Yorkville Endoscopy when complications occurred . The report means that Rivers died when she stopped getting oxygen to her brain, said Manhattan gastroenterologist Dr. Jerome Waye, past president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. 'That may have happened from a heart attack, or a stroke, or too much sedation,' said Waye, who has spoken with physicians from the Yorkville facility. Waye said speculation among New York physicians is that Rivers had a vocal cord lesion that was being biopsied when she had some sort of vocal cord spasm. 'No one really knows what happened, but the scuttlebutt is that she had a biopsy of a vocal cord lesion. That’s what it sounds like, that an ENT was there, took a biopsy for the lesion, and we don’t know what the connection is between that and her going off to the hospital is. There’s a big disconnect there – what happened between the biopsy, we don’t even know if she had the rest of the endoscopy – and the loss of oxygen to the brain?' Waye said such complications are uncommon. 'These are very, very rare complications,' Waye said. 'There are millions of endoscopic investigations done every day under propofol, and yet so infrequently do we see a situation like this.' He added, 'It’s unusual we just never see spasms of the vocal cords that would cause someone to have an anoxic encephalopathy.' Rivers was rushed to the Mount Sinai Hospital on August 28 after she stopped breathing as a result of serious complications during a routine throat procedure. She was put into a medically induced coma and then, two days later, placed on life support. Four days after that she passed away. | The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner released the results of their investigation into the death of Joan Rivers today .
It was revealed the comedian died as a result of therapeutic complication .
Rivers passed away in New York City on September 4 at the age of 81 . |
262,062 | df6e0880c8aa4d087e4db1216f3aec3cd6dcdb98 | By . Amie Keeley . PUBLISHED: . 22:03 EST, 2 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 22:03 EST, 2 December 2013 . Families have been cashing in their savings at the fastest rate in 40 years . Families have been cashing in their savings at the fastest rate in 40 years. A total of £23billion was taken out of long-term savings accounts over the past 12 months – the equivalent of £900 a household. The Bank of England figures suggest that record low interest rates have pushed people to spend their cash instead of saving it. It is thought the increased withdrawals have been spent on consumer goods, boosting the economic recovery. The 4.7 per cent drop in the long-term savings is the biggest fall since the 1970s, according to analysis by Sky News. Experts have raised questions about the sustainability of the economic recovery and will urge the Chancellor to encourage saving in his autumn statement. However, sources have suggested George Osborne may instead cap the maximum amount savers can put in to tax-free ISAs. Former Downing Street adviser Ros Altmann said yesterday: ‘The figures are desperately worrying. People are stopping saving for the long term because all the policies of the last few years mean you would be a mug to save. ‘The problem is no economy can thrive in the long run without people saving. You can’t run it on borrowing and debt, you need to save and invest for the future. If you just withdraw money and spend you are talking about a recipe for long-term economic decline.’ Savings grew during the beginning of the credit crunch with £13.9billion being put away in the 12 months up to October 2009. Deposits increased by £14.6billion the following year. But interest rates plummeted below two per cent after the launch of the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending scheme last year. A total of £23billion was taken out of long-term savings accounts over the past 12 months - the equivalent of £900 a household . Campaigners say the scheme, which offers cheap funding for high street banks in the hope they lend to businesses, discouraged banks from offering high interest rates to savers. Simon Ward, an economist at City stockbroker Henderson Global Investors, said: ‘Consumer strength usually reflects increased borrowing but this hasn’t been the key factor recently. ‘Instead households have been running down their savings account balances, probably in reaction to the pathetic interest rates now on offer. ‘Increased spending is lifting growth and incomes, and money is flowing back to other households in a virtuous circle.’ | £900 a household cashed in according to Bank of England figures .
It is thought increased withdrawals have been spent on consumer goods .
The 4.7 per cent drop in long-term savings is biggest fall since 1970s .
Figures have been described as 'desperately worrying' by experts . |
153,104 | 51da4d5ae5b8c4cbb51dc18c60fad60ea3c5a221 | (CNN) -- Miley Cyrus could be in celebrity sick bay for another three weeks because of an "extreme allergic reaction" to an antibiotic, her representative said Thursday. Her illness interrupted her "Bangerz" tour when she was admitted to a Kansas City hospital Tuesday. Cyrus, 21, tweeted to fans Thursday morning that she is "over the hospital," along with a photo of her lying in bed. She added: "can't quit crying i wanna go back on tour. im meant to be onstage performing for y'all ... not laying in a hospital bed." She canceled a show in Charlotte, North Carolina, last week because of what was reported to be a flu-like illness. Tuesday's Kansas City and Wednesday's St. Louis shows were also canceled. The statement sent to CNN by Cyrus' representative did not specifically say it, but it implied that her upcoming shows over the next week -- including Nashville; Louisville, Kentucky; Philadelphia; Uniondale, New York; and Connecticut -- would be off. "Miley was suffering from a sinus infection during her tour in N.C. a week ago. She was prescribed the antibiotic Cephalexin which she has now suffered an extreme allergic reaction to," the statement said. "This type of extreme reaction can last from five to 27 days in these types of cases. "She will remain hospitalized and is under a doctor's care until we see some improvement in her condition and is asking for your compassion and privacy at this time. Miley is devastated about missing shows and possibly disappointing her fans." Miley: Post-Disney, post-Liam and stronger than ever . Miley's miserable day . Is Miley the new Madonna? CNN's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report. | Cyrus' "Bangerz" tour was interrupted when she was admitted to a hospital Tuesday .
She tweets: "can't quit crying i wanna go back on tour"
Cyrus suffered an "extreme allergic reaction" to an antibiotic for her sinus infection .
Doctor says her illness can last from five to 27 days . |
249,669 | cf1ecdd10b64bb00f61e553b3ffbd939a53d04df | (CNN) -- Eight of the 13 people facing hazing charges after the death of a Florida A&M University band member had turned themselves in by Thursday afternoon, a state police spokeswoman said. All eight who have surrendered so far face felony charges in the November death of 26-year-old Robert Champion, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Of the remaining three who face the same count, two are in Georgia and one is in Delaware, she said. "We're in contact with their attorneys or their families, and are expecting them to turn themselves in," Plessinger said. Champion, a FAMU Marching 100 drum major, collapsed on a band bus after a November 2011 football game in Orlando. Medical examiners reported his death came within an hour of his being badly beaten during a hazing incident. Prosecutors announced charges in Champion's death Wednesday. Eleven of the 13 people are charged with hazing resulting in death, a felony, while two others face a misdemeanor hazing count. Champion's mother has said her family is disappointed that the suspects didn't face more serious charges, and she told reporters Thursday that authorities botched the investigation into her son's death. Pam Champion said authorities didn't properly process the bus for evidence and failed to immediately question students who were on the bus. And the family's lawyer, Chris Chestnut, said the family believes FAMU alumni coached the students on how to answer questions from police. "We know they were caucusing to determine how to get away with murder," Chestnut said. He said the family plans to sue the school soon. Deputy Ginette Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, defended its investigation. "I know our deputies questioned everyone available," Rodriguez said. "I can assure you our detectives conducted a thorough and complete investigation, as we do in every case." Champion's death brought renewed public scrutiny to hazing, a practice that has gone on for years despite what the Tallahassee university said had been efforts to eradicate the problem. Champion's mother called for FAMU's famous marching band to be disbanded for the upcoming year, saying the school "cannot go on with business as usual." Nine students at University of Florida charged with hazing . "They need to clean out the filth to move forward. How can they allow the band out there?" she said Thursday. "They haven't done anything to safeguard students -- certainly not my son. My son was murdered." The prosecutor who brought the charges, Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar, said Wednesday that the case built by investigators does not support a charge of murder. Some university band members have said Champion died after taking part in an annual rite of passage called "Crossing Bus C," an initiation process in which pledges attempt to run down the center aisle from the front door of the bus to the back while being punched, kicked and otherwise assaulted by senior members. An estimated 30 people were on the vehicle. An autopsy found "extensive contusions of his chest, arms, shoulder and back," as well as "evidence of crushing of areas of subcutaneous fat," medical examiners reported. In a written statement, FAMU General Counsel Avery McKnight said the school "remains committed to the absolute eradication of hazing from all aspects of the university experience." "The university will be able to address all aspects of the marching band after reviewing the documents and evidence flowing from the Champion case and from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's final report on its investigation of the marching band," McKnight said. "As for now, the marching band continues on indefinite suspension." Those facing the more serious charges could serve up to six years in prison if convicted, Lamar said. The two suspects charged only with misdemeanors could be jailed for up to a year. Of the eight who had surrendered on felony charges by Thursday morning, all but three had been released on $15,000 bail, Plessinger told CNN. Two -- Jessie Baskin, 20, and Benjamin McNamee, 21, turned themselves in in Miami. Two others, Rikki Wills, 24, and Caleb Jackson, 23, surrendered in Tallahassee. Bryan Jones, 23, surrendered Wednesday night in Tampa, while 20-year-old Harold Finley turned himself in at the Palm Beach County jail. Two others, 19-year-old Aaron Golson and 26-year-old Shawn Turner, surrendered in Gadsden County, near Tallahassee. Jackson, Golson and Finley had not yet made bail Thursday afternoon, Plessinger said. Earlier this year, the Champions filed a negligence lawsuit against the bus company and its driver. Fabulous Coach Lines President Ray Land said before the suit was filed that the company's employees, who were not on the bus at the time, responded quickly after learning that there was an emergency, even following the ambulance transporting Champion to the hospital. The school's band director, meanwhile, asked for full reinstatement Wednesday. An attorney for Julian White, who was placed on paid administrative leave shortly after Champion's death, said his client worked to root out hazing over 22 years as director. "Dr. White remains disappointed that barely 48 hours after meeting with band members, that Robert Champion was killed in an extreme, horrific and illegal act of bullying," White's attorney, Chuck Hobbs, said in a statement. | NEW: FAMU says its goal is the "absolute eradication" of hazing .
Investigation was botched, victim's mother says; sheriff's office defends investigation .
FAMU drum major Robert Champion died after a hazing incident last November .
Thirteen people have been charged in his death, 11 of them with felonies . |
134,669 | 3a294ee4690adbb6eb4ce6e636b5ec42fcc96bbb | By . Associated Press . Colorado marijuana advocates are fighting back against the Cheech & Chong stereotypes and ominous anti-drug campaigns with a series of advertisements encouraging users to 'consumer responsibly.' To get their message across, they are skewering some of the old Drug War-era ads that focused on the fears of marijuana, including the famous 'This is your brain on drugs' fried-egg ad from the 1980s. They are planning posters, brochures, billboards and magazine ads to caution consumers to use the drug responsibly and warn tourists and first-timers about the potential to get sick from accidentally eating too much medical-grade pot. 'So far, every campaign designed to educate the public about marijuana has relied on fear-mongering and insulting marijuana users,' said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation's biggest pot-policy advocacy group. Fighting stereotypes: This new pro-pot billboard by the Marijuana Policy Project will appear near legal pot dispensaries in Denver encouraging users to 'start low and go slow' If you use marijuana: The MPP mocks anti-drug campaigns and promotes marijuana education that 'makes sense' The MPP plans to unveil a billboard on Wednesday on a west Denver street where many pot shops are located that shows a woman slumped in a hotel room with the tagline: 'Don't let a candy bar ruin your vacation.' It's an allusion to Maureen Dowd, a New York Times columnist who got sick from eating one on a visit to write about pot. The campaign is a direct response to the state's post-legalization marijuana-education efforts. One of them is intended to prevent stoned driving and shows men zoning out while trying to play basketball, light a grill or hang a television. Many in the industry said the ads showed stereotypical stoners instead of average adults. Even more concerning to activists is a youth-education campaign that relies on a human-sized cage and the message, 'Don't Be a Lab Rat,' along with warnings about pot and developing brains. The cage in Denver has been repeatedly vandalized. At least one school district rejected the traveling exhibit, saying it was well-intentioned but inappropriate. 'To me, that's not really any different than Nancy Reagan saying 'Just Say No,'' said Tim Cullen, co-owner of four marijuana dispensaries and a critic of the 'lab rat' campaign, referring to the former first lady's effort to combat drug use. A spokesman for the state Health Department welcomed the industry's ads, and defended the 'lab rat' campaign. 'It's been effective in starting a conversation about potential risks to youth from marijuana,' Mark Salley said. Up in Smoke: Activists aim to terminate stoner stereotypes made popular by the Cheech & Chong franchise . Snack responsibly: The campaign often alludes to Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist who got sick after eating too much pot . The dueling campaigns come at a time when the industry is concerned about inexperienced consumers using edible pot. The popularity of edibles surprised some in the industry when legal-marijuana retail sales began in January. Edible pot products have been blamed for at least one death, of a college student who jumped to his death in Denver in March after consuming six times the recommended dose of edible marijuana. The headlines, including Dowd's experience, have been enough for the industry to promote moderation with edible pot. 'I think the word has gotten out that you need to be careful with edibles,' said Steve Fox, head of the Denver-based Council for Responsible Cannabis Regulation. The group organized the 'First Time 5' campaign, which cautions that new users shouldn't eat more than 5 milligrams of marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, or half a suggested serving. The campaign warns users that edible pot can be much more potent than the marijuana they're smoking — and that the pot-infused treats on store shelves are much stronger than homemade brownies they may recall eating. The advocacy ads tackle anti-drug messaging from year past. Inside pictures of old TV sets are images from historic ads. Along with the fried-egg one is an image from one ad of a father finding his son's drug stash and demanding to know who taught him to use it. The kid answers: 'You, all right! I learned it by watching you!' The print ad concludes, 'Decades of fear-mongering and condescending anti-marijuana ads have not taught us anything about the substance or made anyone safer.' It then directs viewers to consumeresponsibly.org, which is patterned after the alcohol industry's 'Drink Responsibly' campaign. Marijuana activists plan to spend $75,000 by year's end and eventually expand it to Washington state, where pot is also legal. | Activists say anti-pot campaigns have relied on 'fear mongering' and insulting users .
The campaign is a direct response to Colorado's current marijuana-education efforts following legalization .
Advocates say: 'Decades of condescending anti-marijuana ads have not taught us anything about the substance or made anyone safer' |
50,529 | 8ef967edf8b1e3cf7440ea11f20d144a887dd255 | It's the kind of Christmas tradition that could only exist in Australia. The local fire brigade at Coledale, north of Wollongong in New South Wales, has staged its annual water fight against the local Surf Club and residents. The Northern Hemisphere may be gearing up to celebrate the festive season with snow and cold weather, but Down Under Australians are enjoying the summer sunshine. Scroll down for video . The local fire brigade at Coledale has staged its annual water fight against the local Surf Club and residents . Beachgoers in the seaside town, north of Wollongong in New South Wales, threw waterbombs at firies . Fire trucks drove along with their sirens blaring as the firefighters sprayed locals with the fire hose . Hilarious footage shows a fire truck driving along with its sirens blaring as the firefighters spray locals with the fire hose and yell out 'Merry Christmas everyone' through a megaphone. Beachgoers and campers throw water bombs at the firefighters who are dressed in full uniform standing on the roof of the truck. Adults and children on the side of the road, some standing on the back of a ute, try in vain to fight back at the firies but end up getting saturated by the hose. The fire truck is decorated with tinsel and a mini Santa Claus. Locals said the water fight lasted about two hours. Locals said the water fight lasted about two hours. The fire truck is decorated with tinsel and a mini Santa . Adults and children on the side of the road, some standing on the back of a ute, tried in vain to fight back at the firies but ended up getting saturated by the hose . The firefighters dressed in full uniforms to help protect them from getting drenched . It was a sunny lunchtime in NSW. Pictured are Italian tourists John Consuela and Marta Consuela at Bondi . North Bondi surf-club life-savers pose in front of their Christmas decorations on Thursday . NSW Rural Fore Service spokesman Matt Sun said many local brigades around the state have their own Christmas traditions. 'Some dress up as Santa, others have water balloon fights, it's just a bit of community spirit at a time when most of the community is available,' Mr Sun said. Mr Sun added that the bushfire season had not been as intense as it was last year, but said firefighters were still working hard. Between July 1 and Christmas Eve this year the NSW Rural Fire Service has attended 4637 bush and grass fires. 'We're not seeing a major fire incident like we saw last October but there's still plenty of activity around,' he said. 'We've had a number of hot days over the last few months and multiple total fire bans.' The Hawkesbury district fire servce got into the spirit and decorated their trucks with tinsel . Between July 1 and Christmas Eve the NSW Rural Fire Service has attended 4637 bush and grass fires . | Fire brigade at Coledale, NSW, staged its annual water fight against locals .
Truck drove with sirens blaring as firefighters sprayed locals with fire hose .
Surf club and beachgoers threw water bombs at firies dressed in uniform . |
139,791 | 40bfaef5b68c63478e7dc8425436ed855bae2f32 | It's too easy to let New Mexico off as simply "The Land of Enchantment." It's true the state has magical desert vistas, Rocky Mountain playgrounds and charming adobe communities that predate Columbus' arrival by a few thousand years. But there's an undeniably eclectic and occasionally dark side to the 47th state as well. In Roswell, residents see UFOs with frightening regularity. In Santa Fe, they burn Zozobra, or "Old Man Gloom," at the stake every fall. And Trinity Site, near Alamogordo, is the first spot on the planet where humans detonated an atomic bomb. Considering that New Mexico is essentially a bilingual state, where about one-third of families speak Spanish (some villagers in the northern mountains speak a dialect of 16th-century Spanish), New Mexico often feels like a foreign country. Add the interesting juxtaposition that it's the fifth-largest state (121,589 square miles), but has a population of about 2 million people (about half the population of Los Angeles), making it one of the least densely populated states in the country. All of which means that there is quite a lot of space to explore. You might be surprised by what you find. 1. Christmas is served 365 days per year. Walk into any New Mexico restaurant, order an enchilada or burrito and the waitress will ask the inevitable: Red, green, or Christmas? That's local parlance for "How do you prefer your chile?" The spicy, capsaicin-rich sauce made from the official state vegetable smothers most everything that comes out of a New Mexico kitchen. Whether you prefer spicy green, mellow red, or "Christmas," a combination of the two, the little-known secret about New Mexico chile is that red and green are one and the same. The difference is how ripe the pepper is when picked. 2. Monks brew beer. Drive about 65 miles northwest of Santa Fe on U.S. 84, past Pedernal, the iconic flat-topped peak painted by Georgia O'Keeffe, and Ghost Ranch, where portions of "The Lone Ranger," "Wyatt Earp" and "No Country for Old Men" were filmed. Then take a left on Forest Service Road 151. At the end of the 13-mile-long road is Monastery of Christ in the Desert's tap room, where you'll find the smooth, cool tang of a classic Belgian ale. The Benedictine monks grow their own hops to brew six of the best beers in the Southwest under the label Abbey Beverage Company. Beware: Tripel Ale has 9.2% alcohol content, and beer is not allowed at vespers. Reserve a free tasting at least 48 hours in advance. 3. The wine industry here is older than California's. It all began in 1629 when Franciscan friar García de Zúñiga and a Capuchín monk named Antonio de Arteaga planted the first wine grapes in the Rio Grande Valley to use for Communion. By 1884 New Mexico was producing almost a million gallons of wine annually. Indian raids in the 19th century and flooding in the early 20th century brought the industry to its knees, until a group of European investors began importing French hybrid vines to New Mexico to grow small boutique wineries. Today, the state has more than 42 wineries that produce more than 700,000 gallons of wine annually. The Gruet family, established French winemakers who moved to New Mexico to run an experimental vineyard in 1984, grow grapes at 4,300 feet. The altitude must work magic. Gruet's sparkling wines are some of the best in the country. Not likely to stop for a sip in New Mexico? Try a Gruet blanc de noir at the Montage Beverly Hills or Blue Smoke in Manhattan. 4. Route 66 crosses itself. Cruise Albuquerque's Central Avenue today and the buildings might be described as faded retro. Flashback to the 1950s and this blacktop strip was the soul of Route 66, the 2,400-mile scenic highway that passed through eight states along the way from Chicago to Los Angeles. At the height of "The Mother Road's" popularity in 1955, 98 motels lined Central Avenue. Today one of the strangest corners is the intersection of Central Avenue and Fourth Street in downtown Albuquerque. Due to a change in the road's alignment in 1937, this is where historic Route 66 (Fourth Street) intersects with modern Route 66 (Central Avenue). 5. Santa Fe is very high, very old, and contains a miraculous staircase. Quirky and charming, Santa Fe sits at 7,000 feet above sea level, making it the highest state capital in the country. It's also eerily reminiscent of the Old West, especially the downtown plaza's Palace of the Governors, which was built in 1610, more than 300 years before New Mexico became a state. The "City of Faith" is also home to a few miracles, like the Loretto Chapel's circular wooden steps. Built by an unidentified man who is said to have shown up at the chapel in 1879 with a donkey and a toolbox, his staircase has two 360-degree turns, no visible means of support and wooden pegs instead of metal nails. Some faithful at the time believed that the mystery man was St. Joseph. 6. It's still the Wild West. Like many villages west of the Mississippi, Cimarron, in the northeast corner of the state, staked its claim as the "Cowboy Capital of the World." Buffalo Bill Cody once managed a goat ranch just outside of town and Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, and Jesse James stayed at the St. James hotel, famous for being haunted by the men who were murdered there. The outlaw Davy Crockett (a relative of the legendary frontiersman) murdered three Buffalo Soldiers in the bar in 1876. More than a century later, New Mexicans are still allowed to openly carry a gun, no permit required, almost anywhere, including state parks and state and national forests, and restaurants that don't serve hard alcohol. So watch your back. 7. White Sands National Monument isn't your typical sand. We may be getting hung up on a technicality, but the "sand" in these 275-square miles of shifting dunes 15 miles west of Alamogordo is actually gypsum crystals. (Most inland sand is made from silica in the form of quartz crystals or coral.) That's not the only reason White Sands is surreal: 93 African oryx were imported from the Kalahari Desert and set free between 1969 and 1977. Today more than 3,000 animals, each weighing up to 450 pounds with horns that average 34 inches, roam the dunes. http://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm . 8. Archaeologists have identified more than 25,000 Ancestral Pueblo sites in New Mexico. Arrowheads are unearthed almost everywhere in the state, but for the most complete and mind-boggling perspective of these hunter-gatherers who thrived 10,000 years ago, visit Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos. The park covers 33,677 acres and centers around Frijoles Canyon, where a mile-long hike takes visitors past petroglyphs and masonry walls built into a cliff face. The Ancestral Puebloans cleared out of Frijoles sometime after 1250, possibly because of drought, deforestation, crop failure, or internal conflict. The reasons are still not known. But to this day their ancestors are scattered across New Mexico in 19 Pueblo communities. One-thousand-year-old Taos Pueblo, a multistory adobe one mile north of Taos, is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. 9. You don't need lightning to be awed by "The Lightning Field." In daylight the famous outdoor sculpture built in 1977 by Walter De Maria, appears to be little more than 400 stainless steel poles sticking out of the ground. But come sunset on a stormy mid-July summer evening, the poles will provoke pyrotechnics that make hairs stand on end. Even without lightning, the high desert sky at sunrise and sunset here at 7,200 feet on the edge of the Gila National Forest near Quemado is breathtaking. Make a reservation at least six months in advance to stay in the one rustic, three-bedroom cabin adjacent to the field through the Dia Art Foundation (diaart.org). 10. Ojo Caliente's mineral waters have worked wonders for thousands of years. Ancestors of the native Tewa tribes, 16th-century Spanish colonizers, and ailing bodies in search of a miracle cure have all made the pilgrimage to soak in the geothermal water that flows from an ancient volcanic aquifer to the surface at the rate of more than 100,000 gallons per day. Southwest of Taos, Ojo officially became a "spa" 145 years ago, but it still has public Lithia, Iron, Soda, and Arsenic springs. For privacy, rent a brand-new Cliffside Suite with kiva fireplace and a private soaking tub. | Christmas is served 365 days a year in New Mexico .
The state has a longer wine-growing history than California .
New Mexicans may openly carry a gun, no permit required, almost anywhere . |
226,223 | b0eff198a2f4194da2c32420ba254e3008c3e6fe | (CNN) -- Rihanna postponed a concert in Malaysia that was set for Friday night, according to the show's promoter, following reports that she was allegedly assaulted by boyfriend Chris Brown. Rihanna was scheduled to play a concert in Malaysia on Friday. Promoter Pineapple Concerts announced Tuesday that it was notified by Rihanna's agent at the William Morris Agency that she would not make the Malaysia date. "In light of recent events involving Rihanna, the artist management will confirm within two weeks from now on a replacement date to be mutually agreed by Pineapple Concerts and the artist," the company said. The promoter stressed that it was "not a cancellation but a postponement" and told those who bought tickets to hold on to them for a rescheduled date. Watch the latest on the Brown-Rihanna incident » . The concert, to be held in at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, is part of Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad Tour," which began last year. Malaysia's conservative Islamic party protested against Rihanna last month, saying her show is too risque for the country. "Rihanna's image including her dressing is not suitable for our culture," Kamaruzaman Mohamad of the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) told Malaysia's Star newspaper. "Even if she wore a headscarf here, we know it is not her real self because she performs differently in other places," he said. The government rejected the PAS demand that the show be canceled. Rihanna -- whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty -- canceled her performance at Sunday night's Grammy Awards as police were looking for Brown in connection with the alleged domestic violence incident. Brown, 19, turned himself in Sunday night. He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. Brown was later released on a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on March 5. Police said Brown and a woman were in a vehicle near Hollywood's Hancock Park early Sunday when they became involved in an argument. The woman "suffered visible injuries and identified Brown as her attacker," police said. While police did not identify Rihanna, 20, as the alleged victim, sources close to the couple told CNN she was the woman involved in the incident. Brown's lawyer has not responded to several requests for comment. | Rihanna was scheduled to play show in Malaysia Friday night .
Singer was reportedly involved in incident with boyfriend Chris Brown .
Rihanna's Malaysia show had been protested by country's conservatives . |
101,570 | 0ee89b132fd9170f5ee1fc3c78eef31fac3bce7b | Two unfinished sketches by Paul Cezanne have been discovered on the reverse side of two watercolors after remaining unseen for almost one hundred years. Officials at Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation museum says the collector who bought the paintings more than 90 years ago probably never knew the hidden sketches were there. The foundation said the sketches — one graphite and the other watercolor — were found during conservation work on the reverse sides of two Cezanne watercolors depicting the landscape of southern France. Two Cezanne drawings were found on the backs of his watercolors undergoing restoration at the Barnes Foundation, including this graphite sketch of houses found on the back of his work Trees . Chief conservator Barbara Buckley (left) and consulting curator Martha Lucy (right) said that Dr Arthur Barnes did not know that he was buying the hidden drawings . Dr Barnes bough Trees (left) and The Chaine de l'Etoile Mountains (right) for $100 each in 1921 from Leo Stein . Officials said that the sketches haven't been seen since at least the early 20th century, 'most likely prior to Dr. Albert Barnes's purchase of the works from Leo Stein in 1921.' 'We've had (the watercolors) out of the frame before. But the backs were covered with brown paper,' said Barbara Buckley, the foundation's senior director of conservation and chief painting conservator, told The Philadelphia Inquirer. 'That's one of the reasons they were sent (for conservation). Brown paper is very acidic, and they needed acid-free paper.' Officials said Cezanne often worked on both sides of the paper in his sketchbooks and on larger sheets, producing thousands of such drawings over the course of his career, but they were usually done 'to experiment with line and color.' Mr Barnes bought the watercolors for $100 each, according to the New York Times. The additional small experiments by the artist, who influenced many 20th century luminaries such as Pablo Picasso, may be worth a fortune. Cezanne's series The Card Players includes one of the most expensive paintings ever sold, a picture that the Qatari royal family bought for $263million. Paul Cezanne, (seen left in 1906, the year of his death and right in 1895 self-portrait) influenced much of 20th century art and his works regularly sell for millions of dollars . His watercolors have fetched up to $25million at auction, according to Art Daily. Ms Buckley said the sketches, which were on the back of watercolors normally on view in one of the galleries, offer a window into Cezanne's artistic process. On the back of 'The Chaine de l'Etoile Mountains,' conservators found that Cezanne had begun a sketch of trees with pencil and then color, but the center of the sketch is so unfinished it's hard to determine what it represents. Marks on the sketch include the word 'non', likely meaning that the work was not complete enough to be sold. On the back of 'Trees,' conservators found a detailed depiction without color of houses and the same Etoile range that was often the subject of the artist's sketches and paintings. 'We had no reason to think there was anything there,' said Ms Buckley, who said nothing was found on the back of another Cezanne watercolor after conservation work in 2007. Barnes officials say 15 unknown Cezanne drawings have been found in the last three decades. The Barnes Foundation, seen in its old building in 2003, also owns one of Cezanne's Card Players series, one of which sold for $263million to the Qatari royal family . Martha Lucy, a Drexel University assistant professor of art and art history and a former Barnes curator, said Cezanne frequently walked along a route that looked out over the Etoile mountains. The range ran near his home in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France. 'Cezanne walked frequently there and did many depictions of it,' Lucy said. Both Ms Lucy and Ms Buckley said they believe that Albert Barnes was unaware that he had acquired, in Ms Lucy's words, 'four for the price of two.' The correspondence between Mr Barnes and Mr Stein, the brother of Gertrude Stein, contains no mention of the drawings, so the seller likely did not know about them either. The foundation plans to display the works in double-sided frames that will allow viewing of both sides from April 10 through May 18, after which the watercolors will be returned to their original locations. The Barnes Foundation was undergoing a multiyear restoration project for its work when the new sketches were discovered . | Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation finds graphite sketch and a watercolor .
1921 buyer Dr Arthur Barnes acquired paintings for $100 each .
Post-Impressionist Cezanne's paintings have sold for up to $263million .
Sketches that depict French countryside were hidden by brown paper . |
5,211 | 0ec4fb22f189f34e80f4e78812d04f0b40c9c57b | Too young: Audrey Dantzlerward, 22, was found dead in her Princeton University dorm room on Monday. School officials say foul play is not suspected . A Princeton student was found dead on Monday in her dorm room at the Ivy League institution in New Jersey. It's still unknown what caused the death of 22-year-old junior Audrey Dantzlerward, though school officials say foul play is not suspected. During her time at Princeton, Dantzlerward kept busy as a member of several campus groups including the Wildcats a cappella ensemble, the Women's Mentorship Program, Princeton Presbyterians and Edwards Collective - a community in her dorm Edwards Hall for students with an interest in humanities and the creative arts. Dantzlerward was an English major from Springfield, Virginia, the Daily Princetonian reported. The school has organized a remembrance for Dantzlerward scheduled for Monday night at 7:30pm in Murray Dodge Hall. Following news of Dantzlerward's early passing, her Wildcats a cappella group posted a message in mourning. 'There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go. You'll be forever in our hearts, Audrey. Love always,' the group wrote. Winter break ended for Princeton students on January 4, and final Fall term exams were scheduled to start this week on Wednesday. Cause of death unknown: The junior's body was found in her dorm room located in Edwards Hall (pictured above). Busy: During her time at Princeton, Dantzlerward was a member of the Wildcats a cappella ensemble, the Women's Mentorship Program, Princeton Presbyterians and Edwards Collective - a living community in her dorm Edwards Hall for students with an interest in humanities and the creative arts . Beloved: Dantzlerward pictured above with her college a cappella group (fifth from left, in striped shirt). Her body was found Monday, two days before Fall final exams . | Junior Audrey Dantzlerward was found lifeless in her room in Edwards Hall .
Cause of death is unknown, though school officials said foul play is not suspected .
She was a member of an a cappella ensemble, a women's mentorship program and a Presbyterian group . |
140,433 | 4199ae15f6b19a49c9e30d4d06ef29ce8f99cfa9 | A murderer who dodged prison for 17 years after stabbing a man to death in London has been jailed. Kiranjit Uppal, 37, fled the UK after Harminder Singh Jhaghra, 28, was killed in Hayes, west London, during a gang feud in 1996. Uppal had been living a 'relatively comfortable life' in India before he was arrested in September last year after boarding a flight to Heathrow, Isleworth Crown Court heard. Kiranjit Uppal, 37 (left), has been jailed for a minimum of 16 years for the 1996 murder of Harminder Singh Jhaghra, 28, who died after being stabbed during a gang fight in Hayes, west London . The court was told that Mr Jhaghra died after Uppal stabbed him in the arm, which severed an artery, causing him to bleed to death. A night of attacks on February 7, 1996, began after two associates of Uppal, from the Cranford area of Hayes, were beaten up by another gang from the Southall area. Despite receiving only cuts and bruises, word quickly spread about the attack, and a large group of Cranford men met up and made their way to a minicab office in Southall. Once there, the group - which included Uppal - attacked a 15-year-old boy who was playing an arcade game. The boy was left with severe cuts to his head, and a broken elbow. Mr Jhaghra was called about the attack and made his way to the minicab office, and after several phone calls between the two groups, the men agreed to meet in a nearby car park. Some of the Cranford men, armed with weapons, hid in bushes nearby, while another group stayed behind as bait. After the Southall men arrived, they were lured to the bushes before the group holding weapons jumped them. During that fight, Mr Jhaghra was stabbed in the arm. A group of men, including Mr Jhaghra, were lured to this wooded area of Watersplash Lane where another group, including Uppal, ambushed them . He managed to flag down a passing motorist and was taken to hospital, but later died. In their haste to get away, some of the Cranford group discarded weapons and clothing, some of which was linked by DNA evidence to Uppal, though the murder weapon was never recovered. Uppal, of no fixed address, was found guilty of murder at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday. Today, he was sentenced to a minimum of 16 years in prison. Detective Chief Inspector Charles King said: 'For almost 18 years Uppal thought he had got away with murdering Harminder Singh Jhaghra and had been living a relatively comfortable life in India. 'Today's sentence should send a strong message that, even with the passage of time, we will do all that we can to find those who insist on evading justice and put them before the courts. 'The events of that fateful day have left a profound effect on Harminder's family. They have had to wait 18 long years to witness this day and I would like to thank them for supporting us with this trial. 'I hope that the sentence handed down today provides them some measure of justice after such a considerable period of time.' | Kiranjit Uppal, 37, was part of armed gang that ambushed group .
During ensuing fight Harminder Singh Jhaghra was stabbed in the arm .
Wound severed artery, and despite being taken to hospital he bled to death .
Uppal's DNA found at scene but he fled to India and lived 'comfortable life'
Arrested coming back to Heathrow and was jailed for minimum of 16 years . |
217,547 | a5a2c369d182dbbfe9fa7565c7162942c0c01130 | Micky Adams is set to be appointed as the new manager of Tranmere Rovers. The League Two club sacked manager Rob Edwards after just five months in charge. But the club have moved quickly to find an appointment and have held talks with Adams over the vacant job. Micky Adams is set to make a quick return to management at Tranmere Rovers after leaving Port Vale . Adams left Port Vale in September after a disappointing start to the season, but is now set for a return to the game with Tranmere. Rovers were relegated last season and are sitting at the bottom of the league with just nine points from their 12 matches. Edwards had replaced John McMahon at the end of May but was moved on after Rovers' slumped to their seventh game without a win and fourth loss in a row at home to Plymouth on Saturday. Rovers chairman Mark Palios told the club's official website, tranmererovers.co.uk: 'Rob is a decent man who has worked very hard over the past few months for the football club. Adams replaces Rob Edwards, who was sacked by Rovers after less than five months in charge . Plymouth's Reuben Reid (third from left) scores his side's winner against Tranmere to keep them bottom . 'However, with the club currently sitting at the bottom of League 2 for the first time in 32 years it was decided this was the right time to make the break. Palios said the club's next manager would need to able to work the transfer market and be adept at recruiting quality players. Adams stepped down as Port Vale manager last month, ending his second stint in charge at Vale Park after three and a half years with a run of six straight losses in all competitions. | Former Port Vale manager Micky Adams to be named Tranmere boss .
Adams will replace Rob Edwards, who was sacked this week .
Edwards leaves Rovers at the bottom of the League Two table .
Adams left Vale Park last month after six straight losses . |
219,439 | a80c50e82f3a4e05469f5f5f382fd3263684d9e6 | Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino insists once again relegating Roberto Soldado to the bench will not break the misfiring striker's confidence. The £26million forward has scored just once in the Premier League this season and has lost his place in the first team to in-form Harry Kane. Soldado returned to the side for Tottenham's FA Cup third-round replay against Burnley on Wednesday but missed a golden opportunity to notch just his fifth goal in all competitions since the start of the campaign. Tottenham striker Roberto Soldado (right) missed a chance to score with the goal gaping against Burnley . The Spain international reacts to the miss by dropping to his knees as White Hart Lane . The Spain international is likely to find himself among the substitutes for the league visit of Sunderland on Saturday and Pochettino has no qualms about dropping the 29-year-old. 'It's always hard for the player when he misses this chance,' he said. 'It's okay because he feels that his team-mates, the club and us (the coaching staff) support him. Maybe he will have another opportunity to score? We have no worries about him because he showed after 90 minutes that he played very good for the team. 'He knows that there are opportunities for everyone (to play). We have a lot of games ahead and it's not a question if you miss a chance whether you play or not play. If I decide tomorrow he will go to the bench it will not affect his confidence.' The forward is likely to start on the bench on Saturday having managed just one league goal this season . Pochettino scoffed at suggestions bringing in a psychologist could help Soldado's current mindset and believes the framework is already in place at the club to support the player. 'It's not about psychology,' the Argentinian added. 'We see the player and the people and the holistic situation. It's about all. It's not a case to fix to bring in a psychologist from outside. 'The better psychology for him is from us; we are the people with him all of the time. In football, sometimes there is a good chance to score, but it's not a psychology problem.' Mauricio Pochettino scoffed at suggestions bringing in a psychologist could help Soldado's current mindset . Jermain Defoe is likely to feature against his former club after completing a deal to join Sunderland on Friday. The 32-year-old enjoyed two spells at White Hart Lane and remains a favourite among supporters but was not considered for a return to north London, with Pochettino pleased with his striking options. 'I am happy with Harry Kane because he scores,' said the Spurs manager. 'I am happy with Soldado, he didn't score but I am happy too. I am happy with (Emmanuel) Adebayor and all players. After I need to pick the best players for each game.' Ex-Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe signed for Sunderland on Friday and is set to face his former club . Adebayor has not featured for Spurs since a 2-1 defeat to Stoke on November 9 and has also spent time in Africa having been granted compassionate leave in December. But Pochettino rubbished claims the striker has fallen out of favour and insists he can play a part, starting against the Black Cats. 'I explained before, the relationship is good and that is why I pick him tomorrow,' Pochettino said. 'He has been training (since coming back from Africa). We train very hard and sometimes we play with the Under-21 players and have games and try to re-produce the same situation as a game. 'When we have players who come back from injury that have not played we analyse the game so we can re-produce the same intensity and the same distance.' | Roberto Soldado has scored just one Premier League goal this season .
Mauricio Pochettino insists striker will not be affected by being benched .
New Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe set to take on former club Spurs . |
208,308 | 99af223334d31d3dd977edbdf3cf80adb79cb775 | England's most encouraging performance against Italy came from the fearless 19-year-old Raheem Sterling. But success was not always certain for a man whose teacher once warned: ‘You’ll either end up playing for England, or in prison.’ A surprise inclusion in Saturday’s line-up, the Liverpool winger was instrumental throughout. Scroll down for video... Troubled past: Raheem Sterling, 19, went from a North London housing estate to being England's rising star . His transfer value is now thought to have reached some £30million, while his club is expected to more than double his £30,000-a-week wages to £70,000 when he returns from Brazil. Such dizzying figures are a world away from his troubled youth on one of London’s toughest housing estates. Sterling moved to St Raphael’s, in the shadow of Wembley Stadium, from Jamaica at the age of five with his mother Nadine and three siblings. He was removed from mainstream primary school because of behavioural problems. One teacher warned him: ‘If you carry on the way you’re going, by the time you’re 17 you’ll either be in prison or playing for England.’ As prophesised, Sterling made his England debut as a 17-year-old, two years after signing for Liverpool. Fearless: England's most encouraging performance against Italy came from the 19-year-old Sterling (right) However, off the field he had already . earned a reputation as a bad boy, fathering a daughter from a brief . relationship at the age of 16. Last year he was cleared of attacking . 19-year-old model Shana Ann Rose Halliday after she declined to give . evidence against him. He had already had a common assault charge against him dismissed after a witness failed to turn up to court. Team sheet: Raheem Sterling is expected to more than double his wages when he returns from Brazil . Miss Halliday admitted starting the . row with Sterling that led to him being charged. ‘We had a heated . argument because I had seen a text on his phone and asked who it was . [from],’ she said. ‘We were pushing and shoving, both of us, and I . started it because I was trying to get his phone.’ As with most players, Sterling’s body is covered with tattoos. One piece of body art pays tribute to his mother, who has now moved from London to Liverpool to support his career. The script on his bicep reads: ‘Thank you mama for the nine months you carried me, through all the pain and suffering.’ During a recent interview, he jokingly described her as his personal ‘Jose Mourinho’, in reference to the outspoken Chelsea manager. Sterling told the BBC: ‘She’s a big part of my life ... she tries to have too much of a say sometimes. I try to listen to her, because most of what she says is right. ‘She’ll certainly tell me when I’m not doing something right. At other times she’ll say I’m not listening to her. There’s been a few clashes with her.’ Sterling did not escape trouble during the build-up to the World Cup, receiving a red card for a reckless challenge in a friendly against Ecuador. Crucially, he kept his head in the heat of Manaus on Saturday night – and could yet guide England to the next round. | The 19-year-old footballer grew up on an estate in Brent, north London .
He was removed from mainstream school because of behaviour problems .
He made his debut for England aged 17, two years after Liverpool signing . |
177,428 | 71ae31ceb698c81720198dbea9dc07afb8f03a37 | By . Victoria Woollaston . and William Turvill . An ancient human ancestor known as ‘Nutcracker Man’ lived mainly on a diet of tiger nuts, worms and grasshoppers, according to research. Scientists believe this diet explains why the ancient hominin relative, called Paranthropus boisei, which lived in East Africa between 2.4 and 1.4 million years ago, had such distinctively powerful jaws and large, flat molar teeth. There have been various theories put forward over the years about the diet of our early ancestors, but this latest study from Oxford University claims to have finally settled the debate. Ancient humans survived mainly on a diet of tiger nuts, left, worms, right and grasshoppers, according to new research from from Oxford University. There have been various theories put forward over the years about the diet of our early ancestors but this latest study claims to have finally settled the debate . Paranthropus boisei was an early hominin that roamed East Africa between 2.4 and 1.2 million years ago. Remains of the species were first discovered by anthropologist Mary Leakey in 959 in Tanzania. The well-preserved jaw gave our ancient ancestor the nickname 'Nutcracker Man'. It is widely considered to be the first hominin species to have used stone tools. The breakthrough, published in Plos One, came after archaeologists compared the remains of the ancient hominin relative with baboons in Kenya. Both were found to have large flat molar teeth and powerful jaws, and both sets of teeth showed similar signs of wear and tear. Tiger nuts are grass bulbs that are still eaten in parts of the world today, and are sold in health food shops. Hominins roamed East Africa between 2.4 million and 1.4 million years ago, foraging for the edible grass bulbs still eaten in some parts of the world today. Academics have debated why this early man had such strong jaws, indicating a diet of hard foods like nuts, yet their teeth seemed to be made for consuming soft foods. Damage to the tooth enamel also indicated they had come into contact with an abrasive substance. Previous research, using stable isotope analysis, suggested the diet of these hominins was largely comprised of plants like grasses and sedges. However such high-fibre foods would not have been high quality to sustain the large-brained, medium-sized hominin. Researchers compared remains of a hominin called Paranthropus boisei, replica remains pictured left, with baboons in Kenya, similar to the one pictured right. Both were found to have large flat molars and powerful jaws. Both sets of teeth also showed similar signs of wear and tear, suggesting their diets were the same . By studying the diet of the Kenyan baboons, Dr Gabriele Macho from the university discovered they eat large quantities of tiger nuts. This food would have contained sufficiently high amounts of minerals, vitamins, and the fatty acids that would have been particularly important for the hominin brain. Dr Macho said: ‘I believe that the theory - that ‘Nutcracker Man’ lived on large amounts of tiger nuts- helps settle the debate about what our early human ancestor ate.’ He added: ‘Tiger nuts, still sold in health food shops as well as being widely used for grinding down and baking in many countries, would be relatively easy to find. ‘They also provided a good source of nourishment for a medium-sized hominin with a large brain. ‘This is why these hominins were able to survive for around one million years because they could successfully forage - even through periods of climatic change.' The research also claims that our ancestors would have eaten invertebrates to get the protein they needed for brain development. | Study compared remains of an ancient hominin known as 'Nutcracker Man' with Kenyan baboons .
Both were found to have large flat molar teeth and powerful jaws .
Their respective teeth also showed similar signs of wear and tear .
By studying baboon diets, the study concluded our ancestors ate the same . |
163,869 | 5feb52d41a83d5cfd2a2c2ab2878298efd839731 | One of the most iconic settings in American cinema history is up for sale: 'The Godfather' mansion. And the owners are waiting for someone to make them an offer they can't refuse. The home of the Corleone family in the 1972 film is 'to die for' with its 6,248 square feet including seven bedrooms and five bathrooms, according to the Staten Island Advance. The Staten Island estate is on sale through Connie Profaci reality, a real estate agency based in New-Dorp, for $2.89 million, according to the Advance. Scroll down for video . For Sale: The home of the Corleone family in the 1972 film is on sale for $2.89 million . Francis Ford Coppola had an artificial wall built around the home for filming so that it seemed like a compound in the movie . The exterior of the English Tudor style mansion was used in the movie to shoot such memorable scenes as Connie's wedding. Though the inside of the home was never shown in the film, the current owner has made many improvements to the home, and some of those were made to look like the interior of the home in 'The Godfather,' like Don Corleone's office, according to the New York Post. The house, built in 1930, was the home of the Norton family for almost 60 years, until they put it up for sale in 2010, according to The Guardian. Before that, it was owned by former Borough President Joesph Palma, who lived there with his wife and 11 children. The current owner reportedly purchased the estate in 2012 for $1.7 million and renovated it to include a gym, a playroom, four garages, two offices, and a pool, The Guardian reports. The home also includes a new dining room and kitchen as well as an exercise room, according to The Guardian. The large backyard (pictured) was used to film the famous opening scenes of the movie, in which Don Corleone's daughter gets married . Scenes: The exterior of the English Tudor style mansion was used in the movie to shoot such memorable scenes as Connie's wedding . It was here that the film portrayed FBI agents writing down wedding guests' vehicle licence plate numbers in the opening scenes of the movie . The pool (pictured) was not installed when the house was used for filming in the 1970s. It was built by the current owner in 2012 . 'The kitchen is to die for,' estate agent Joseph Profaci told the Advance. 'It has anything you would want for entertaining – big open space, a huge island, and a very large eating area that opens up to the yard and pool. 'My favorite feature of the house is a door on the first floor by the dining room that looks like an old, wood 'speak easy' door that leads down to the basement where there is a pub and a game room, which really is the ultimate man cave. It has a big, beautiful stone fireplace in it.' The home got its claim-to-fame when it was recommended to location scouts by Staten Island-native Gianni Russo, the actor who played Carlo Rizzi, Corleone's son-in-law, The Guardian reports. The master bedroom en-suite (pictured) retains a vintage feel. The home was used in the movie by location scouts after recommended to them by one of the film's actors . Pictured is a child's bedroom in the Staten Island home - it has been used as a large family home . Pictured is the kitchen and dining table, which opens up to the backyard and swimming pool area . The kitchen (pictured) and dining room were recently installed after its current owner renovated the property in 2012 . Pictured is a nursery in the old home. The house was built in 1930, where it was occupied by the Norton family for almost 60 years . Pictured left is a twin bathroom in the 1930s home, while right is the huge mansion's entrance hall . A luxurious and open hallway gives way to a staircase leading to the house's upstairs bedrooms . Although only the exterior of the house was used for filming, several rooms, including an office were recreated to be replicas. Pictured is the living room . The master bedroom (pictured) features views out across the property's backyard, where The Godfather's wedding scene was filmed . Fame: The home got its claim-to-fame when it was recommended to location scouts by Staten Island-native Gianni Russo, the actor who played Carlo Rizzi, Corleone's son-in-law . Actors James Caan, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale pictured outside the home in a still shot from The Godfather . | The home of the Corleone family in the 1972 film 'The Godfather' is on the market for $2.89 million .
The new owner made renovations to the mansion that made the interior look like the set of the famous film .
Exterior of the mansion was used to shoot memorable scenes as Connie's wedding and Don Corleone's death . |
60,231 | ab2c57a72b384027f163351bc82527c17362cd1b | Anyone who's ever wanted to look, or dress like a princess will have the opportunity on Tuesday, when one of Princess Diana's most "fairytale" frocks goes under the hammer at Kerry Taylor Auction House in London. The princess was photographed many times while wearing the ball gown, which was the creation of David and Elizabeth Emanuel, Diana's favorite designers, and was inspired by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. The dress -- a shimmering white organza number with gold sequins, crystals and pearl beads embedded throughout -- first caught her eye at a Red Cross benefit fashion show in 1986. The entire ensemble includes a petticoat, removable sleeve panels and a matching head band. Read more: Francis Bacon painting auctioned for more than $142 million, breaks record . "This dress has a real 1980s, New Romantic style," says Kerry Taylor, the auction house owner. The Emanuels, she points out, were of particular significance to Diana, who used them to design both the black taffeta gown she wore for her first public appearance after the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles, as well as the royal bridal gown for her marriage to the Prince in 1981. Diana also seemed very smitten with the "Diaghilev" dress, as she wore it to a number of public events, including during a state visit of Richard von Weizsaker, the then-President of the Federal Republic of Germany; to a performance at the Royal Opera House and for the premiere of the James Bond film "The Living Daylights". "This dress was a real favorite of hers," says Taylor. "It's the kind of dress that a little girl sitting down at school will draw when she's asked to draw a princess." Diana would often forgo the headband, and instead pair the dress with a tiara, and she would wear the petticoat and sleeve panels interchangeably. "She gave it lots of different looks and wore it with lots of different accessories," says Taylor. Read more: When street art meets runway style . The dress is expected to sell for $130,000 when it goes to auction. Taylor, who has sold other famous Diana garments, including the couture velvet gown she wore on her first official visit to the White House (where she famously two-stepped with John Travolta), says that the Princess' wardrobe tends to auction for anywhere between $50,000 and $500,000. "The value depends on how beautiful they are, how historically important, if there's a story behind the dress, how often the Princess wore the dress, and if she was photographed in the dress. All these things add to its value," she says. Previously, the "Diaghilev" dress was owned by an American collector who used it as a means to raise funds for charity. Until recently, it had been on loan at Kensington Palace. Now, says Taylor, the collector wants to "pass on the responsibility". As for who is likely to bid on the piece on Tuesday, or why, Taylor says she has no idea. "It's always a surprise. Most people only want one, so you rely on people to come out of the woodwork," she says. The reasons for buying a Diana dress are equally unexpected, she notes. "The man who bought the John Travolta dress wanted to cheer up his wife. She had a nasty fall and hurt her leg, and he saw the dress and thought, 'this is just the thing.'" Read more: Warhol painting sold for $105.4 million . Read more: Designer takes bull by the horns ... and crafts luxury jewelry . | Princess Diana's Disney-like ballgown will go under the hammer in London .
It was created by the designers of her wedding dress, David and Elizabeth Emanuel .
The dress is expected to fetch in the region of $130,000 . |
23,709 | 4352a45de0a846fa54ce700b8af96bbd07010fd7 | By . Anna Hodgekiss . PUBLISHED: . 06:59 EST, 23 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:07 EST, 23 October 2013 . It is the age old bedroom dilemma: Do you get down to it, get it over with – or simply not bother at all? Now, Canadian researchers say it’s not as black and white as whether you indulge or not – and the ultimate reason you decide to have sex could heavily influence how happy your relationship is. They say in most cases, it’s better have sex than avoid it – even if you’re not in the mood. Canadian research has found that we're happier in our relationships on the days we have sex. And that it's better to have sex than avoid it - even if you're not in the mood . That's because according to new research, we’re happier in our relationships on the days we have sex. But, more than that, there are two main reasons why couples in a long-term relationship or marriage have sex, the Wall Street Journal reports. ‘One thing we wanted to know is whether it really matters to your partner why you want to have sex, as long as they are getting what they want,' Dr Amy Muise, a psychologist from the University from Toronto, told the WSJ. One is positive (an ‘approach’ goal) – such as to feel closer to a partner. The other is negative (an ‘avoidance’ goal) – basically to avoid an argument or reduce feelings of guilt. The categories are then subdivided again into self-focused or partner-focused, Dr Amy Muise explained to WSJ journalist Elizabeth Bernstein. Dr Muise and her team asked 108 couples . to keep diaries, charting daily their levels of desire and sexual . satisfaction each day. They also had to list the reasons why they had . sex over a two-week period. After they had sex, each partner . answered a questionnaire about their motives – ranging from ‘to make . myself feel better’ to prevent their partner from feeling rejected and . upset. Each was rated on a sliding scale of importance. But having sex out of guilt still doesn't bring as much sexual satisfaction. Even if you think you're doing your partner a favour, your level of desire will affect how much they enjoy it . The . researchers found that when sex is wanted for a positive reason – such . as to increase intimacy – then we feel happier and more satisfied in the . relationship – and this transfers to our partner, increasing their . satisfaction, too. But having sex out of guilt doesn’t bring as much sexual satisfaction – and even if you think you’re doing your partner a favour, your level of desire will affect how much they enjoy it – and how happy they are in the relationship. And contrary to what some people might think, men have guilt sex too. ‘Men do have higher desire in general, but the motives for sex and the way they make people feel aren't different for men and women,’ Dr Muise said. The research is published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. | The reason you decide to have sex - such as to increase intimacy or out of guilt - could heavily influence how happy your marriage is .
Canadian researchers say in most cases, it’s better have sex than avoid it, as we're happier on the days we have sex .
But having sex out of guilt can reduce satisfaction a partner gets from sex . |
73,172 | cf8654c9bcc42192f3d254a809717fc4ce22b614 | New York (CNN) -- The court documents continued to fly in the ongoing legal battle between Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and Major League Baseball. As Rodriguez' appeal of his 211-game suspension went on hiatus this week so the arbitrator could tend to other matters, the MLB responded to his lawsuit against it and Commissioner Bud Selig with a motion to move it from state court to federal court in hopes it will be dismissed. In its 426-page filing, the MLB argues that Rodriguez should abide by baseball's collective bargaining agreement and pursue his appeal solely through the arbitration process. Rodriguez: 'I'm fighting for my life' In response to the motion, Rodriguez' attorney Joe Tacopina told CNN, "As is its practice, MLB has chosen to share its filing with the press well before sending it to Mr. Rodriguez's legal team. Nonetheless, Mr. Rodriguez's claims against MLB and Commissioner Selig arise from their tortious conduct, separate and apart from the issues being decided in the arbitration process. It is ironic that MLB -- having filed suit in state court in Florida for tortious interference in order to obtain evidence to use in the arbitration proceeding -- now complains that Mr. Rodriguez's tortious interference claim must be heard as part of the arbitration. MLB knows that these state law claims properly belong where they were filed, in the New York State Court." Attorney: Rodriguez had 'consulting relationship' with Biogenesis . Last Friday Rodriguez filed suit against Selig and the MLB alleging that they "engaged in tortious and egregious conduct with one and only one goal ... to destroy the reputation and career of Alex Rodriguez." The lawsuit claims that in its investigation of Anthony Bosch and his Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in Miami, Major League Baseball engaged in vigilante justice to prove that Rodriguez was using performance enhancing drugs. Rodriguez fights suspension . "They have ignored the procedures set forth in baseball's collectively bargained labor agreements; violated the strict confidentiality imposed by these agreements; paid individuals millions of dollars and made promises of future employment to individuals in order to get them to produce documents and to testify on MLB' s behalf; bullied and intimidated those individuals who refused to cooperate with their witch hunt; and singled out (Rodriguez) for an unprecedented 211-game suspension -- the longest non-permanent ban in baseball history," the suit says. Rodriguez, 38, says he is fighting for his life in an effort to overturn the suspension. He has hired a high-priced team of lawyers, publicists and investigators. He has shown up each day during this week's arbitration process at the MLB's Park Avenue headquarters. His lawsuit outside the arbitration process is an effort to save his reputation and his $25 million salary for the 2014 season. Opinion: How A-Rod let us down . | Alex Rodriguez is appealing his 211-game suspension from Major League Baseball .
His appeal is on hiatus this week .
MLB says Rodriguez should abide by bargaining agreement and use arbitration process .
Rodriguez: I'm fighting for my life . |
148,675 | 4c421dcbbd88ae0469a74627c33083301578a749 | Senior Tory politicians took part in drink and drug-fuelled sex parties with underage boys during seaside conferences, it was claimed today. Former activist Anthony Gilberthorpe says he was handed cash and told to ‘fetch entertainment’ - code for young boys – by members of Margaret Thatcher’s government. But the claims were today rejected as ‘tittle-tattle’ by former Conservative minister David Mellor, who insisted those named were dead and unable to defend themselves. Former activist Anthony Gilberthorpe, left, claims he was asked to find underage boys for sex during Tory party conferences when Margaret Thatcher was leader in the early 1980s . Westminster has been gripped by claims of an Establishment cover-up of allegations of child sex abuse over several decades. The government has appointed former High Court judge Baroness Butler-Sloss to lead a wide-ranging panel inquiry into abuse at every level of society. Mr Gilberthorpe says he will give the inquiry the names of former Tory ministers, some of whom are still alive, who he claims he saw with young men at party conferences. He claims he sent a 40-page dossier to Mrs Thatcher in 1989 detailing Cabinet ministers who took part in the sex parties, bur says he was warned off by a senior civil servant. He told the Sunday Mirror how boys as young as 15 were plied with alcohol and cocaine at Conservative gatherings in Blackpool and Brighton in the 1980s. He named former former-Education Secretary Keith Joseph, ex-local government minister Rhodes Boyson, and Michael Havers, the former attorney general who is the brother of Baroness Butler-Sloss. All of those Mr Gilberthorpe names are now dead. Mr Gilberthorpe alleges that during the 1983 party conference in Blackpool he was asked by Dr Alistair Smith, the Conservative party chairman in Scotland, to find young boys for two Cabinet ministers to have sex with. The ministers are not named, but he does claim that Mr Boyson and Mr Joseph were there. Mr Gilberthorpe told the Sunday Mirror: 'Dr Smith, who I looked up to at the time and was the most important Tory in Scotland, told me to go and fetch some 'entertainment', which was code for young boys and handed me a handful of bank notes. There was about £120. He added: 'It was a norm and an open secret that these older members of the Tory party, like Dr Smith, paid for young men to join them at sex parties. 'I was expected to find the youngest and prettiest boys. It was what those men wanted. In fact, it was all they wanted.’ He also claimed that selected people had an Oscar award symbol on their conference pass to give them access to secret sex parties. Mr Gilberthorpe alleges that in 1981 he went to a party in Blackpool where ‘several boys who were clearly aged between 15 and 16’ were performing sex acts on MPs. He claims he saw Sir Michael Havers there. Baroness Butler-Sloss has faced calls to stand down from her role leading the panel inquiry because her brother was in the Cabinet at the time many of these allegations date from. He also claims that during the 1984 party conference in Brighton there was a sex party at the Grand Hotel on the night before an IRA bomb killed five people. Mr Gilberthorpe says he was ‘manipulated and groomed’ by the senior politicians. ‘It is time this came to light before anyone else is abused,’ he added. But the allegations were dismissed by Mr Mellor, a former Tory Cabinet minister who served in the Thatcher and Major governments. Former Tory minister David Mellor, pictured today, dismissed Mr Gilberthorpe's claims as a 'lot of tittle-tattle' about people who were dead and cannot defend themselves . He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr show: ‘The only people who are named are dead. There is an opportunity to name live people. ‘What we are dealing with is a lot of tittle-tattle. Here is a chap who was annoyed that he wasn’t chosen as a Tory candidate.’ He added: ‘It names a lot of dead people. Where is the bravery in that?’ Mr Mellor said Mr Gilberthorpe had made public ‘implausible names’ in connection with the sex parties. ‘This is now open season because of a pretty shoddy dossier presented to Leon Brittan by a Tory backbencher.’ Geoffrey Dickens handed the file to the then-Home Secretary in 1983, but the Home Office says it can now not be found. Mr Mellor, a Home Office minister from 1983-87, added: ‘The interesting thing about that dossier is nobody who has commented on it has ever seen it.’ The chilling claims that a paedophile ring may have been operating within the British establishment first emerged in an investigation by campaigning Conservative politician Geoffrey Dickens. In November 1983, the MP for Littleborough and Saddleworth in Greater Manchester sent a 40-page document to then Home Secretary Leon Brittan detailing alleged VIP child abusers, apparently including former Liberal party chief whip Cyril Smith and other senior politicians. In a newspaper interview at the time, Mr Dickens claimed his dossier contained the names of eight 'really important public figures' that he planned to expose, and whose crimes are believed to have stretched back to the 1960s. November 1983: . Geoffrey Dickens produces a huge dossier detailing allegations of sexual abuse against prominent figures in the British establishment. He tells his family the claims will 'blow apart' the VIP paedophile ring. March 1984: . Home Secretary Leon Brittan tells Mr Dickens that his dossier has been assessed by prosecutors and passed on to the police, but no further action is taken. The dossier is now either lost or missing. May 1995 . Geoffrey Dickens dies. A short time later his wife destroys his copy of the paedophile dossier. The only other copies - one received by Mr Brittan and another allegedly sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions - are believed to have been lost or destroyed. September 2010 . The 29-stone Rochdale MP Sir Cyril Smith dies aged 82 without ever being charged with sex offences. 2011/2012: . Following the death of Sir Jimmy Savile, dozens of claims of historic child abuse emerge - including a number of alleged victims of Smith, who is said to have spanked and sexually abused teenage boys at a hostel he co-founded in the early 1960s. October 2012 . During Prime Minister's Questions, Labour MP Tom Watson claims there is 'clear intelligence suggesting a powerful . paedophile network linked to Parliament and No10'. November 2012 . Lancashire Police announced they will be investigating claims of sexual abuse by Smith relating to incidents before 1974, while Greater Manchester Police will investigate claims after 1974. November 2012 . The Crown Prosecution Service admits Smith should have been charged with crimes of abuse more than 40 years earlier. The CPS also admitted Smith had been investigated in 1970, 1974, 1998, and 1999 but rejected every opportunity to prosecute him. November 2012 . A former special branch officer, Tony Robinson, says a historic dossier 'packed' with information about Smith's sex crimes was actually in the hands of Mi5 - despite officially having been 'lost' decades earlier. December 2012 . Scotland Yard sets up Operation Fairbank to investigate claims a paedophile ring operated at the Elm Guest House in Barnes, southwest London, in the 1970s and 80s. Among those abusing children are said to have been a number of prominent politicians. February 2013 . Operation Fernbridge is established to investigate the Elm Guest House alleged paedophile ring. February 2013 . It is claimed a 'paedophile ring of VIPs' also operated at the Grafton Close Children's Home in Richmond, Surrey. February 2013 . Two men, a Catholic priest from Norwich, and a man understood to be . connected to Grafton Close, arrested on suspicion of sexual offences and questioned by Operation Fernbridge officers. June 2013 . Scotland Yard claims that seven police officers are working full time on Operation Fernbridge and are following more than 300 leads. June 2013 . Charles Napier, the half-brother of senior Conservative politician John Whittingdale, is arrested by Operation Fairbank officers. December 2013 . Some senior Labour party politicians linked to pro-paedophile campaign group the Paedophile Information Exchange, which was affiliated with the National Council for Civil Liberties pressure group, now known as Liberty, in the 1970s and early 1980s. December 2013 . Police search the home of Lord Janner as part of a historical sex abuse investigation. He is not arrested. February 2014 . Current . deputy leader of the Labour Party Harriet Harman, who was NCCL's . in-house lawyer at the time of its affiliation with PIE and even met her . husband Jack Dromey while working there, is forced to deny she . supported the activities of the pro-paedophile collective. February 2014 . Patricia Hewitt, Labour's former . Secretary of State for Health who was NCCL's general secretary for nine . years, later apologised and said she had been 'naive and wrong' to . consider PIE a legitimate campaign group. June 2014 . Lord Janner's Westminster office is searched by police. Again the peer is not arrested. July 3, 2014 . Labour MP Simon Danczuk called on Leon Brittan to say what he knew about the Dickens dossier. It emerges the dossier has now been either lost or destroyed and the Home Office admits it can find no evidence of any criminal inquiry relating to it. July 5, 2014 . More than 10 current and former politicians are said to be on a list of alleged child abusers held by police investigating claims of an alleged paedophile ring. July 6, 2014 . Home Office permanent secretary Mark Sedwill reveals that 114 . files relating to historic allegations of child sex abuse, from between 1979 . and 1999, have disappeared from the Home Office. It is also revealed that former Home Secretary Lord Brittan was accused of raping a student in 1967. The 2012 allegation was not investigated until Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders ordered the Met Police to re-open the case in June this year. | Anthony Gilberthorpe says he was given cash to ‘fetch entertainment’
Names Keith Joseph, Rhodes Boyson and Michael Havers, who are all dead .
Claims he sent a 40-page dossier to Thatcher in 1989 on the sex parties .
Ex-Tory minister David Mellor dismisses claims as 'a lot of tittle-tattle' |
270,637 | ea81b8d8e28215387d47dd72e11dbb03e76a59ac | Syria/ United Nations (CNN) -- As diplomats at the United Nations slammed Syria, violence continued to rage on the ground and residents wondered out loud what the implications of total war might be. "Everyone we've been talking to ... believes that the country is heading towards, or already is in, a full-blown war, and recovering from that is going to be incredibly challenging," said CNN's Arwa Damon, who reported from inside Syria early Tuesday. She spoke from an opposition safe house, describing a near constant flow of people and information. CNN is not disclosing her exact location because of concerns for her safety. "What a lot of people are realizing and accepting at this stage is that this is going to be bloody battle -- that more lives are going to be lost," said Damon. She reported from Syria one day after the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said she is outraged by the country's "ongoing onslaught" on its citizens. Navi Pillay spoke before the U.N. General Assembly, which could issue a formal condemnation of the Syrian regime. Her harsh comments prompted an angry defense from Syria's ambassador, who complained of an "unprecedented" media and political campaign to incite the opposition in his country. As they spoke, some Syrian towns and cities came under fresh attack with soldiers going door to door rounding up civilians, rolling their tanks through towns, or continuing their shelling of neighborhoods, according to activists and residents. More than 680 people died last week in Syria, most of whom were killed in Homs, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists. On Monday, 30 civilians -- including two children -- were killed in violence, the LCC said. Most were in the areas of Homs and Idlib. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported a funeral was held for 19 soldiers and officers killed by terrorists throughout the country. CNN cannot independently confirm details of the events in Syria because the government has severely limited the access of international journalists. "The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicates that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," Pillay said, referring to the start of the popular uprising against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which prompted his government to crack down on protesters. "Independent, credible, and corroborated accounts indicate that these abuses have taken place as part of a widespread and systematic attack on civilians. "Furthermore, the breadth and patterns of attacks by military and security forces on civilians and the widespread destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure indicate approval or complicity by the authorities at the highest levels," Pillay said. By end of the day Monday, a General Assembly draft resolution that would condemn Syrian human rights violations had not been formally introduced. It was unclear when it would be, also when there might be a vote. The vote would be nonbinding but would be the strongest U.N. statement yet on the violence. Russia and China vetoed a previous attempt by the U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria for the crackdown. "The people of Syria justifiably feel that the United Nations has shamefully abandoned their cause. We must, as individual member states and collectively, send them a clear signal that this is not the case," British Ambassador to the U.N. Mark Lyall Grant told diplomats. Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, said the "aggressive, illegitimate" criticism of his country is designed to undermine the government. An Arab League proposal over the weekend for a joint U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force in the country is an "incitement to terrorism," he said, because it would provide support to opposition fighters. Jaafari also said the proposal seeks to trample on Syria's sovereignty. "We in Syria could not imagine sending soldiers to defend Occupy Wall Street protesters. Neither we or any other government can imagine sending forces to protect demonstrators in London or Paris," he said. "The state has exclusive responsibility for defending security on its national territory." Russian officials said Monday they were studying the Arab League proposal, but they indicated reluctance to sign on, saying the permission of the host country is necessary for peacekeepers to enter. A peacekeeping mission also implies there is peace first, which is not the case in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. China supports the league's mediation in Syria, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, but he stopped short of saying whether Beijing would approve the proposal. Along with a peacekeeping mission, the Arab League urged member states to provide political and financial support to the Syrian opposition and to cut ties with Damascus. Syria has said it is simply fighting armed terrorist groups in its country. Jaafari cited last week's bombing of two government buildings in Aleppo, which killed 28 people, and a January bombing in Damascus that killed 26 as examples of terrorist groups -- specifically al Qaeda -- that are active in the country. "The vast losses in Syria among civilians and security forces is a deep wound," Jaafari said. "We are sad, but we place the responsibility for those losses at the door of those who are attempting to obtain political interests by using Syrian blood as currency." Residents of besieged Syrian areas such as Homs, where hundreds have died in the past nine days, say it is civilians who are bearing the brunt of the attacks. They describe indiscriminate bombings of homes, snipers in the streets, arbitrary arrests and attacks on hospitals by government forces. The destruction by al-Assad forces has also yielded a humanitarian crisis. Residents in Homs report scarce or nonexistent access to food, water and electricity. The United Nations is putting humanitarian supplies in place for distribution as soon as access is granted, Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said Monday. Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers were able to distribute food, blankets and other supplies to Homs and another city thanks to a brief cease-fire but say other areas are too dangerous for them to enter, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. Pillay said most of the wounded avoid going to public hospitals for fear of being arrested or tortured. Instead, they are being treated in underground hospitals where hygiene and sterilization conditions are rudimentary and medical supplies are scarce, she said. Speaking in Washington alongside the Turkish Foreign Minster, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised to help get aid to those wounded and dying. "We are increasing our funding to organizations like the Red Crescent, the International Committee for the Red Cross and we're working directly with Syrian organizations at the grassroots to help families who have no electricity, food or clean water," she said. Pillay said at least 5,400 people have died since protests seeking al-Assad's ouster began nearly a year ago. The LCC says the toll has far exceeded 7,000. CNN's Alla Eshchenko, Nada Husseini, Nick Paton Walsh, Mick Krever, Richard Roth, and Eunice Yoon contributed to this report. | NEW: CNN's Arwa Damon reports from inside Syria .
NEW: "The country is heading towards, or already is in, a full-blown war," she says .
A funeral is held for 19 soldiers and officers killed by terrorists, SANA reports .
U.S. Secretary of State Clinton vows to help get aid to those wounded and dying . |
195,837 | 897b563429ea70a105fcf247fca221baba6aa871 | It was almost 500 years ago, during the ongoing land border wars, that a group of Scottish youths captured an English flag from a raiding party. And to mark the historic occasion, hundreds of horse riders marched, and galloped, through Hawick during the annual Common Riding. Meanwhile, locals also enjoyed some unusual rituals such as Snuffin' - which saw people shoving each other as they tried to grab snuff which was packed inside a ram's horn. The event - the first of the Border festivals - not only celebrates the seizing of the flag in 1514 by the young men ('callants') of Hornshole, in the heart of the town, but also the ancient custom of riding the marches, or boundaries, of the common land. Riders leave St Leonards to ride the outlying marches, or boundaries, during the annual tradition of Common Riding in Hawick, Scotland . It was almost 500 years ago, during the ongoing land border wars, that a group of Scottish youths captured an English flag from a raiding party. Above, principal rider ('cornet') Chris Ritson leads his supporters as he holds the blue banner . Cornet Chris Ritson gallops up the chase on the Nipknowes during the Common Riding. The event in Hawick is the first of the annual Border events, and celebrates the capture of the flag by the youths of Hawick at Hornshole and the ancient custom of riding the marches of the common land. Right, Mr Ritson doffs his hat after tying ribbons on a memorial during the festivities . Each of the border towns - including Jedburgh, Melrose, Selkirk and Galashiels - marks its history once a year, from June to August, with magnificent rideouts involving hundreds of horses along the marches . Each of the border towns - including Jedburgh, Melrose, Selkirk and Galashiels - marks its history once a year, from June to August, with magnificent rideouts involving hundreds of horses along the marches. In keeping with tradition, the principal rider, known in Hawick as the Cornet, carried the blue flag for the first time in the year. The honour this year went to Chris Ritson. Holding the 'banner blue', he led his followers in the chase, a . ride at full gallop, in memory of the victorious youths of 1514. Other festivities included fife and drum bands, who played as dignitaries and the cavalcade made their way through town. Riders and followers singing in the Hut at St Leonards during the Common Riding . Michael Aitken holds the ram's horn during the Snuffin' by the site of Auld Brig as crowds gather to watch the arcane ritual... During the Snuffin', a man, flanked by two bodyguards, carries the ram's horn filled with snuff - while youths jostle as they try to wrestle free some of the powder . It is believed the tradition stems from when a snuff box was passed around during a break in local meetings. Others reckon it harks back to when troops would receive snuff before going to war . Among the ceremonies is the Colour Bussing, which occurs on the Thursday evening - the 'nicht afore the morn' (ie the last night before the big day). For many, the Common Riding officially starts at 6pm on that night - when the Drum and Fife Band march round the town to the Town Hall for the Colour-Bussing. The Hall is filled with Teries, as the locals call themselves, while the balcony is filled with the Cornet's supporters. After the Provost and magistrates file inside, the women ('lasses') arrive. Women from the Bright Eyed Daughters association wait to pin ribbons on guests before the Colour Bussing ritual in the town hall . The Cornet's lass (this year, Heather Amos) 'busses' the flag from the platform by tying ribbons of blue and gold to the head of the staff . Bright Eyed Daughters in attendance at the Colour Bussing. The symbolism harks back to when the womenfolk decorated their men as a sign of luck and affection as they went to battle . The Cornet's lass then 'busses' the flag from the platform by tying ribbons of blue and gold to the head of the staff. The symbolism harks back to when the womenfolk decorated their men as a sign of luck and affection as they went to battle. The end of the ritual is followed by singing, which concludes with a traditional song, Teribus, from which the Teries derive their name. Another curious ritual is the Snuffin'. A man, flanked by two bodyguards, carries a ram's horn filled with snuff - while youths jostle as they try to wrestle free some of the powder. Afterwards small packets of highly prized snuff are thrown from windows, and pounced upon. A woman watches from her balcony as the band plays to signal the start of the Common Riding; right, Cornet Chris Ritson looks up during the Colour Bussing . Halberdiers stand guard as the Drum and Fife band play to rouse the town . Two smartly dressed gents watch the Snuffin'; right, a Halberdier holds one of the fearsome 16th century weapons . Men sing during the Colour Bussing in the town hall at Hawick . It is believed the tradition stems . from when a snuff box was passed around during a break in local . meetings. Others reckon it harks back to when troops would receive snuff . before going to war. Records of the Common Riding principals go back to 1703. Saturday events include the laying of the wreaths at the War Memorial, horse racing and professional games. The Common Riding concludes with the Cornet returning the flag to the Provost. Riders and followers celebrate in the Hut at St Leonards during the Common Riding . The locals of Hawick call themselves Teries - which derives from a traditional song which contains the line Teribus . Held by the Cornet, the current flag is a copy of the ancient flag which was captured at Hornshole as the original has long been lost . The flag is an important part of the events at the Hawick Common Riding today. Held by the Cornet, the current flag is a copy of the ancient one which was captured at Hornshole as the original has long been lost. In 1707, the Town Council noticed that the flag being used had become torn and useless. However, it still exists and may be seen in the museum at Wilton Lodge. The flag is blue with a cross of gold ('A Banner Azure with Saltire Or'). It has the date '1514' in gold. The letters 'HC' were added later. They stand for 'Hawick Colour'. In the late 1800s, studies of past flags showed that the shape of the flag should not be square or rectangular. It should instead be in the shape of a 'pennon' - which is a long narrow triangular or swallow-tailed flag. This is the shape of the flag used today. It is believed that the first flag belonged to the Priory at Hexham. A few years ago, the people in charge of Hexham Abbey asked the Hawick Council for a copy of their flag. This request was granted. The copy they received still hangs on a wall in the abbey. In the mid-18th century, other flags were carried during the Common Riding. Schools and guilds were represented in the Common Riding procession by mounted standard-bearers. Arguments, however, arose over which flags should come first. In 1747, the following order was agreed by the Council. First was the Town Flag followed by the Grammar School Flag. Then came the English School flag and lastly the Prentice Colour. Two years later, the Council decided that in the future there should be only one flag: 'May 26 - the which day the Bailies and Council have unanimously resolved that in time coming no Colour or Standard shall be carried on the Common Riding days except the Town's Colour or Standard.' This rule was not too strict as the Grammar School flag was still carried till about 1777. Since then, however, only one flag has been carried at the Common Riding. Source: Hawick Callants Club . | Event celebrates seizing of flag by the .
youths of Hornshole, and ancient custom of riding the marches, or boundaries, of the common .
land .
Snuffin' tradition sees men trying to grab the snuff from man flanked by two bodyguards .
Also fife and drum processions and adorning of the blue banner during festivities . |
75,948 | d75bcd3efea1dd1c71cee1b39b4a6e3883a372ba | He is arguably the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin after performing David Bowie’s Space Oddity on his guitar while he was more than 200 miles above the Earth. To date, Commander Chris Hadfield’s video – shot in the International Space Station (ISS) – has had 25 million viewings on YouTube and even has the backing of the rock star himself, who declared it the most ‘poignant’ version of his hit. But as if that wasn’t enough, the ISS commander’s fan base has gone stratospheric after he used his free time on board the floating laboratory to snap a series of stunning photographs of planet Earth and upload them to the world via a NASA link after taking personal requests from people around the globe. Scroll down for video . Zero gravity: Chris Hadfield performs while in orbit aboard the International Space Station in hit video . The outcome was 45,000 captivating images – a number of Scotland, where his family are originally from – and a selection of which now feature in new book You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes, the title taken from the length of time it takes for the ISS to make one orbit of the Earth. Tomorrow, the 55-year-old Canadian astronaut, who retired last year, will touch down briefly in Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of a tour of book signings and entertaining presentations about his photographs and life among the stars. He laughs as he admits he is as thrilled to be returning to Scotland as he was on his repeat visits to space. Seriously? ‘I love Scotland,’ he says, emphatically. ‘My grandmother’s family are from the Borders and I’ve been to Scotland many times over the years. In the 1820s, her family sent the eldest son to Canada, sort of like a space probe being launched today, to see how it was. He ended up in Montreal and never looked back. The rest, as they say, is history.’ On a mission: Chris Hadfield's performance of David Bowie’s Space Oddity has had 25 million viewings on YouTube . He added: ‘It’s kind of funny that I ended up doing the same sort of thing, but to space, all these years later.’ His crystal-clear images of Skye, the Trossachs and the Clyde and Forth estuaries thrilled thousands in the UK when they were broadcast last year. Former First Minister Alex Salmond was so taken with the photographs that he tweeted the astronaut his praise as well as inviting him to visit. From the ISS, Commander Hadfield, who now has 1.2 million followers on Twitter, replied: ‘I’d love to visit Scotland again once back on Earth. I’ve been from Oban to Aberdeen, but there’s so much more to see and do.’ On his way back from his last space mission in May last year, when his plane stopped off briefly in Scotland en route to the US, he tweeted again: ‘On the ground in Prestwick, to refuel. Blue sky day. Nature smiling on us. Was 1st here in 1977 – who could have predicted this?’ The astronaut representing the Canadian Space Agency stands on a Canadian-built robot arm in 2001 . The astronaut believes his images have been such a phenomenal success because they strike a chord in the heart of everyone. He said: ‘Everyone’s curious about how their part of the world looks from space and how it fits into everywhere else. It’s such an unusual and unique perspective to see the world that way. ‘So, while I was in orbit, I was emailing my son and it was his idea that I should take photographs of Earth. He suggested asking everyone down below for their ideas. 'It had an immediate impact, with requests coming in from people asking me to take their part of the world. It wasn’t just some sort of narcissism. People genuinely wanted to see how it all looked.’ He added: ‘It was terrific fun but it took a bit of planning. I would wake up every morning in the space station, launch the laptop in my sleep pod and log on to Earth Map. 'I’d scan through to see where we were going to be getting close to, then I’d check out the weather to see if it was cloudy or stormy and when that country was going to be in daylight. Chris Hadfield wowed hisTwitter followers with this photograph of the Isle of Skye shot out of the window of his capsule in space . ‘If I thought it was going to work, I’d set the alarm to give myself a ten-minute warning. Sometimes, still wiping the sleep from my eyes or, if I was working on an experiment, suddenly my alarm would go off and I’d float over using the handrail, grab the camera and get the best position at the window after checking out the sun and the angle. The ISS has a three dimensional bay window with enormous panes. They can get a bit smeared from people floating into them or looking out all the time. But I’d look for an unblemished spot on the glass and start taking pictures. Once I was finished, I put the memory card in my pocket, continued working and uploaded the images to a NASA link overnight. ‘I never actually saw many of the images I took, so that’s the reason for the book.’ Divided up by continent, the selected images in the book represent one orbit of the ISS and his planetary photo tour is punctuated with fun and fascinating commentary on life in zero gravity. A presentation by him tomorrow at the Glasgow Science Centre is a sell-out, with all profits from the book going to the Red Cross. Another image taken from 250 miles above the Earth's surface offers a unique view of Scotland#s mainland . His favourite moments in orbit, not surprisingly, came during space walks, where the jaw-dropping beauty of the galaxy made it difficult to concentrate on the sometimes menial tasks in hand. He said: ‘I’ve spent 15 hours outside, with nothing between me and space except a spacesuit. There is nothing like that feeling of travelling through the universe with the Earth in the distance. ‘As humans, we get used to being on our planet, looking up to the universe. But actually being in the universe, looking down on the planet, is awe-inspiring. ‘There’s a visual allure in space that can make it hard to keep your mind on the job in hand because there are so many amazing things to see. The endless depths of space fill your thoughts and every time you are carrying out a task, you find yourself checking on the view.’ His vivid description conjures up images of the blockbuster Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as astronauts caught up in a catastrophic set of events in space. ‘Has he seen it?’ I ask. Chris Hadfield was the first Canadian to walk in space. He recently returned from a five month-stint in on the International Space Station where he served as commander . The man who was the top graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School in 1988 and the US Navy test pilot of the year in 1991 before being hand-picked a year later by the Canadian Space Agency to be an astronaut laughs as he says: ‘Yes, I think I was the first astronaut to see Gravity. Of course, the storyline is pure Hollywood and you have to suspend your disbelief. 'But visually it’s great. I think it captures that fundamental sense of the enormity, of space being around you and the Earth somewhere nearby.’ His music video, a zero-gravity version of Bowie’s song, received more than ten million views in its first three days online and had a profound effect on many who saw it – including its creator. The astronaut said: ‘Bowie said it was the most poignant cover of his song. Why? I think it’s because it crosses over from fantasy to reality. For years, the whole “Ground control to Major Tom” thing was an idea. Then a spaceman made it actually happen.’ Former First Minister Alex Salmond was so taken with the photographs that he tweeted the astronaut his praise as well as inviting him to visit . He added: ‘Maybe it’s my Scottish ancestry but I’ve always been musical on a local pub level and I’ve got one of those brains that remembers all the lines. But I’d never covered Bowie before. MY brother and I had recorded a Christmas carol which I performed from the ISS. My son Evan encouraged me to try Space Oddity and to begin with I only did it to humour him. ‘I’d no idea it would take off the way it did. I recorded vocals and guitar. Back on Earth, Evan organised the piano accompaniment and other instruments. It’s now been watched more than 25 million times, which is frankly incredible.’ He has no regrets about never returning to space now that he’s retired. ‘I’ve led a varied life and I don’t sit around thinking about it. I’m moving on to the next phase. ‘I might go back to school and learn about palaeontology or the human genome. Or trying to address the problems of climate change.’ It’s clear that the astronaut will never leave the man. For someone for whom the sky has never been a limit, he is still aiming high. | Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield filmed himself singing in space station .
Video of him playing David Bowie has had 25 million viewings on YouTube .
Rock star has admitted it has become most ‘poignant’ version of his hit .
Mr Hadfield has earned even more popularity with amazing space images .
He will arrive in Glasgow and Edinburgh tomorrow for book signing tour .
You Are Here: Around The World In 92 Minutes, Macmillan, £20. |
10,616 | 1e2c3b5632ab6fd4a4135ce57ae6352fe8c15c79 | A soldier who faced losing most of his pension after he was made redundant has been granted a transfer within the Army that means he will now receive his full entitlement. Sergeant Michael Anderson, 35, of the Royal Dragoon Guards, was 72 hours away from qualifying for a substantial Army pension when he was told he was to lose the job he had held for nearly 18 years. As a result, he and his wife Jolene, 32, who live in service housing in Catterick, North Yorkshire, feared he would miss out on a sum totalling almost £175,000. Sergeant Michael Anderson, 35, pictured with his . wife Jolene, 32, had faced losing his job with the Army three days before he . would qualify for his full pension - but he has now been given the opportunity for a transfer . The case had fuelled suspicions that . the Army, which is shedding 20,000 personnel in a cost-cutting exercise, . was targeting those within touching distance of generous lifetime . payments. And it sparked criticisms that the Government was breaking the Armed Forces Covenant, the nation's duty of care to troops. But today, after significant media . coverage and a petition signed nearly 100,000 supporters, the Ministry . of Defence said Sgt Anderson had been given the chance to take on a new . role in the Army. An MoD spokesman said: 'There have . been a number of inaccuracies reported surrounding an individual soldier . in an online petition. 'We can be clear that the individual . in question has successfully applied for a transfer to another branch . within the Army, and subject to successful completion of training will . not be made redundant. 'The individual is fully aware of this . and has been kept informed throughout the process. We will continue to . work with him to secure his transfer within the Army.' In a statement, Sgt Anderson added: . 'There has been a considerable amount of misunderstanding surrounding an . online petition with the aim of securing my pension. 'I was selected for redundancy but . have applied for transfer to another service within the Army. I have . been successful in the application process and am looking forward to . beginning training for my new role.' Poppy: Mrs Anderson has written an open letter to the Prime Minister asking for better treatment for her soldier husband . It comes after Mrs Anderson started an . online petition on change.org asking the Prime Minister to give her . husband his job back that by tonight had been signed by nearly 100,000 . people. Mrs Anderson, whose husband has served . in Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq, wrote on the site: 'When Michael . was informed of his redundancy I felt like my heart had been ripped out, . more for Michael than me. 'Everything he knew and had worked for . from the age of 16 taken away. We had planned on using the pension to . secure a mortgage when we left army accommodation and to support our . young family while Michael established a new career on civvy street. 'After a life of service for our country our family's financial security has now been cruelly snatched away from us.' She said calling it a 'pension' was . incorrect, arguing that the military pension was 'the key financial . promise on which personnel are recruited, retained and promoted'. Sgt Anderson, a father of two, whose . case was first reported by the Mail in July, has been a soldier since he . was 18 years old. The non-commissioned officer has also served as a . casualty visitor, providing support for the families of killed or . injured troops. He was told in June that he had been . selected for compulsory redundancy from his job as a welfare officer . with a 12-month notice period, ending on June 18 2014. Had he been allowed to work until June . 21, he would have qualified for an immediate pension and tax-free lump . sum worth an estimated £261,278 over his lifetime . Instead he faced a redundancy payout of £87,417, with a £4,374-a-year pension once he reached 60. In the preamble to the petition . started by Mrs Anderson, a mental health care manager, she wrote how she . and her husband had felt 'honoured to be part of the Army family' and . said they wanted to continue to be part of it. And now they have the chance after her . husband was offered a transfer to another branch of the Army - an . opportunity that means he will be able to collect his full pension. If Sgt Anderson successful completes the training for the new job, he will now longer face redundancy. And even if he fails the training . programme he will be eligible for his immediate pension due to the time . spent on his ongoing transfer process. The MoD's spokesman added: 'All those made redundant will receive an Armed Forces pension and a generous compensation package. 'Inevitably we have to draw the line somewhere, but those who are close to their immediate pension point ...will receive a larger tax-free lump sum in compensation.' Army pensions are one of the key selling points to would-be recruits, and guarantees retired soldiers a full monthly pension based on their final salary. One of its chief attractions is the fact that contributors to the scheme do not have their salary deducted each month, as in many other pension schemes. After two years of regular service, soldiers are entitled to receive the pension when they are 65. Soldiers who serve for 12 years will receive a tax-free resettlement grant to ease them into their civilian life. And anyone who is over 40 and has served at least 18 years can claim an immediate pension and tax-free lump sum when they leave the Army, with a second lump sum when they turn 65. From April 2015 changes to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme will come in, meaning soldiers will have to work for 20 years rather than 18 before they can qualify for a full pension. The new scheme will also see retired soldiers able to claim at a reduced rate, rather than the full rate, from the age of 55 until they reach the planned state pension age of 67. | Sgt Michael Anderson, 35, was to be made redundant just 72 hours short of the 18 years service he needed to collect his full Army pension .
Case sparked accusations that the Army was seeking to save cash by targeting soldiers close to generous lifetime payments for redundancy .
But now the MoD says Sgt Anderson has applied for transfer to another job within the Army and will be entitled to his full retirement package . |
255,579 | d6cb83610a05f5a71f9727f175cf975be00a208b | Murder victim: Chef Henry Stangroom, 21, who was stabbed to death in his flat in south London last year . A jilted lover killed his ex-girlfriend’s brother after days spent in a ‘blur’ of wine, cocaine and laughing gas, a court heard today. Andrew Morris, 30, is alleged to have killed chef Henry Stangroom, 21, ‘in revenge’ after his partner Michelle broke up with him. The court was told how Morris repeatedly stabbed his victim in the flat in Battersea, London, they had once shared with Mr Stangroom’s sister before shooting himself with a harpoon gun. She had moved out of the property six weeks before Mr . Stangroom was killed and Morris allegedly blamed him for the break up of the . relationship. The Old Bailey heard how Morris was making a large salary as a financial risk assessor - but was suffering from depression and had turned to drugs. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Marcus Hughes . saw Morris the day after the incident on October 18 last year and said . Morris was ‘bewildered, sweaty, slightly agitated and slightly . confused.’ He was suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms and said he had been drinking three bottles of wine a night. Morris also confessed to taking large doses of cocaine and had also been inhaling nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. ‘He said he started to use nitrous oxide more often within the past few months before he was admitted to hospital,’ Dr Hughes said. ‘He didn’t say how often he was using it. He told me in general he was using drugs with Henry and his flatmate and his ex girlfriend Michelle.’ Scene: The trio had shared a flat in Battersea, south west London, before Miss Stangroom moved out . Morris told the doctor than his ex-girlfriend would come to the flat just to take drugs with him and her brother. During the consultation at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, Morris said he would take £150 of cocaine in one go. The actuary had been suffering from depression and has cut his wrists twice. ‘He told me he had taken four or five overdoses,’ said Dr Hughes. Michelle Stangroom, the sister of Henry Stangroom, had split from Andrew Morris six weeks before the attack . Morris had hallucinations and was hearing voices that would order him to change the TV channel, but was not suffering from psychotic symptoms. But according to Morris he had no memory of killing Mr Stangroom. ‘He said the events leading up to his admission to hospital had all been a blur,’ Dr Hughes said. ‘He had no recollection of the fishing spike that had been found piercing his neck.’ Morris had gone to see a psychotherapist Mark Bailey at his Regent Street clinic three months before he killed Mr Stangroom. He told Mr Bailey how he had been beaten by his father as a child who had smashed his head against a radiator. Mr Bailey found he was suffering from depression and booked him in for two further appointments, but Morris didn’t turn up. Mr Stangroom, who worked at the Criterion in Piccadilly Circus was repeatedly stabbed in the heart, lungs and head at the flat in Battersea. Morris was found in the bathroom with wounds to both wrists and the harpoon spear sticking out from underneath his chin. He claimed the last thing he could remember was seeing Michelle Stangroom three days before. There is no dispute he killed Mr Stangroom, originally from Odiham, Hants, but Morris denies murder. The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Andrew Morris, 30, is accused of stabbing Henry Stangroom, 21, to death .
Mr Stangroom's sister Michelle had broken up with Morris six weeks earlier .
Morris suffered from depression and 'drank three bottles of wine a night'
He had also 'taken cocaine and laughing gas in lead-up to fatal attack'
Morris found with slit wrists and harpoon sticking out from under his chi . |
57,111 | a1d61718bf44fc1b256118b881a822870842fa96 | Jailed: Lauren Ashford, 29, turned up at the couple's doorstep claiming her six-year-old had climbed out of his bedroom window . A former heroin addict tried to steal a purse from the home of two pensioners after duping them into believing she was searching for her missing autistic son. Lauren Ashford, 29, turned up at the couple's doorstep claiming her six-year-old had climbed out of his bedroom window and she needed to search their garden for him, Cardiff Crown Court heard. But in reality, two of her children had been taken from her and put into care. It is said she was upset on the day she committed the offence because it was one of their birthdays and she was not allowed to contact them. She had taken a large amount of Valium and drunk alcohol, the court heard. On January 7, Ashford told the pensioners her name was Louise and begged to search their back garden. Prosecutor Rebecca Griffiths told Cardiff Crown Court yesterday: 'She said her son suffered autism and had climbed out of his bedroom window and disappeared. 'Because this was a terraced house in the Adamsdown district, Cardiff, she had to go through to get to the garden and the couple helped her.' Ms Griffiths said the couple called out the name she gave them over the fence and when they couldn't find him, made her a cup of tea. The court heard she asked for a cigarette, said she felt sick and would like another cup of tea. It was when the couple got back to the living room with the second cup that they found she had moved seats and was now sitting on a chair where a shoulder bag had been hanging, the court heard. 'She was actually sitting on the bag and the purse from inside had been taken out,' Ms Griffiths said. Ashford was asked to leave and was arrested the next day, on January 8, at the YMCA in Roath where she had been living since her release from jail for an identical diversion burglary in 2013. She admitted the burglary and asked the court to take into account an attempted burglary committed 30 minutes earlier when she went to a house a few doors down from the couple's home with the same story. Justice: Ashford was jailed for two years and eight months when she appeared at Cardiff Crown Court (pictured) yesterday . A woman there said Ashford was pretending to be upset but she could see it was 'just an act'. In mitigation it was said Ashford, a former heroin addict who had relapsed, was upset that day because it was the birthday of one of her two children who had been taken from her and put into care. She wasn't allowed to contact them and took large quantities of alcohol and Valium. Jailing her for two years and eight months, Judge Neil Bidder QC said committing more offences on top of the 32 already on her record wasn't the way to see her children again. He said: 'This was premeditated and you clearly targeted people who were aged 65 and 70 and were vulnerable. 'You took advantage of their charitable and trusting nature with an utterly false but a heart-jerking account of a missing six-year-old. 'It was an unpleasant experience and had badly affected them. They may never feel secure in their home again'. In a victim impact statement, the woman said she could not believe anyone could be so callous as to concoct such a story. 'My faith in people has gone,' she said. | Lauren Ashford, 29, claimed her son had climbed out of bedroom window .
In reality, both her children had been taken from her and put into care .
She was jailed for two years and eight months at Cardiff Crown Court .
Victim couldn't believe anyone could be so callous to concoct such a story . |
226,527 | b14d3c6be2db8acfb2862f9d8a30b48903e369f1 | By . Gerard Couzens and Louise Boyle . PUBLISHED: . 15:39 EST, 12 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:37 EST, 12 July 2013 . A 20-year-old University of Utah student has been revealed today as the American tourist gored by a bull during the famous Spanish Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona. Patrick Eccles, who studies architecture and business, was gored in the stomach on Friday morning by the half-ton beast. Today was the bloodiest day of the annual festival after Mr Eccles, from Logan, was seriously injured along with two Spaniards as people ran through the town's cobbled streets being hotly pursued by bulls. Horrifying pictures show the American tourist, dressed in traditional white with a red scarf, being pierced in the stomach by a bull's horn as he screams in pain.Scroll down for video . Agony: Patrick Eccles, a 20-year-old American, was gored in the stomach on Friday during the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona . Thrill-seeker: The 20-year-old architecture student from Utah is having his spleen removed following his horrific injuries . Vicious: Mr Eccles winces in pain as he is gored by a bull - six people in total were taken to hospital after today's run . Tourist trap: Eccles, right, was studying abroad in Spain when he decided to take part in the annual Running of the Bulls . Mr Eccles was studying abroad in Spain but not as part of a university program, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. According to the Utah University's website graduated from Logan High School where he was a member of the football team. He was rushed to Navarra Hospital where doctor's discovered that the bull's horn had pierced his abdominal cavity and punctured the organ. His condition was reported as stable. Mr Eccles and a second American, aged 48 and . thought to have suffered head injuries, were both in hospital. Six people in total were taken to hospital after today's run, the sixth of eight. The . gorings were the first of this year's festival, in which just 15 . runners had been taken to hospital over the first five days. A 42-year-old Spaniard also had his arm punctured on Friday but the most terrifying moments occurred when a lone bull became separated from the pack and attacked a second Spanish runner as he lay helpless on the ground after being mown down by the animal and tripping in front of it. The half-ton beast gored the 31-year-old twice in the groin and once in the leg. Grimace in pain: Red Cross personnel look after Eccles who took part as a runner or 'mozo' after he was gored by a bull . Emergency: The student is taken away on a stretcher to receive treatment after being gored and later had his spleen removed . Off on an adventure: Eccles has posted various pictures during his trip abroad including his 'trail-running flip-flops' Dramatic TV pictures showed him being lifted in the air on the animal's horns with his trousers round his ankles. Other . runners tried to distract the animal by grabbing its tail and waving . newspapers at it. But a friend was only able to drag him away after more . than half a minute of terror. The . injured man, from the eastern Spanish province of Castellon between . Barcelona and Alicante, was undergoing an emergency operation this . morning. His condition was described as 'serious.' Horrifying: Three people were gored today on the bloodiest day of the famous Spanish Running of the Bulls festival so far this year . Menacing: The runner gets tossed in the air by an El Pilar fighting bull after getting gored on Estafeta street during the sixth running of the bull . Trapped: The man is caught between the horns of an El Pilar fighting bull after being gored . Desperate: The man tries to escape the bull as a steward gets out a stick to distract the angry animal . Attack: The half-ton beast gored the 31-year-old twice in the groin and once in the leg . Frantic: A runner pulls on the tail of the bull in an attempt to distract it and make it drop the mauled man . Terror: Other runners tried to distract the animal by grabbing its tail and waving newspapers at it. But a friend was only able to drag him away after more than half a minute of terror . Emergency: The injured man, from the eastern Spanish province of Castellon between Barcelona and Alicante, was undergoing an emergency operation this morning. His condition was described as 'serious' Tradition: Revelers from around the world arrive to Pamplona every year to take part on some of the eight days of the running of the bulls . They included gas firm worker John . Bennett, 44, from Wolverhampton in the UK, who suffered knee injuries on the first . run on Sunday after being trampled on by other runners as he fell near . the end of the course. Fifteen . people have been killed at the annual festival, made famous by a 1926 . Ernest Hemingway novel, since records began in 1911. Between 200 to 300 people are usually injured each year. The most recent death was in 2009 when 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino. The . event has become increasingly popular with foreigners, who join the . locals by staying up all night drinking and partying before thousands . compete in the 8am run. Pamplona's population of 200,000 swells to around two million during the festival, the largest in Spain. After each morning run, the animals are killed in an afternoon bullfight. Around 3,500 thrill-seekers compete in the most popular weekend runs with 2,000 taking part during the week. Annual event: Fifteen people have been killed at the annual festival, made famous by a 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel, since records began in 1911 . Run: The event has become increasingly popular with foreigners, who join the locals by staying up all night drinking and partying before thousands compete in the 8am run . Draw: Pamplona's population of 200,000 swells to around two million during the festival, the largest in Spain . Aggression: An 'El Pilar' fighting bull charges against a reveler . Count: Hospital authorities initially said four people were gored but the regional government revised that down to three . Fail: The woman does not succeed as she runs ahead while the bull makes contact . Sport: A young woman tries to outrun a bull at the close of the running-with-the-bulls in the old city of Pamplona . Duration: Today's event lasted just under five minutes, roughly double the normal length. Longer runs normally occur when some of the bulls get separated from the pack and become disoriented and more dangerous . The black bull which caused most panic Friday made several more attempts to charge people before he was eventually guided along the narrow streets to join the rest for the pack in the pen of the packed bull ring . Legend: Ernest Hemingway popularized the week-long fiesta in his book The Sun Also Rises in 1926 . Deaths: The fighting bulls used in the centuries-old fiesta can weigh up to at 1,380 pounds (625 kilograms) and have killed 15 people since record-keeping began in 1924 . | Patrick Eccles, 20, was gored in the stomach and had his spleen removed .
A 42-year-old Spaniard was left with arm injuries .
Most bloody attack was 31-year-old gored twice in the groin and once in the leg . |
87,061 | f70ca1d0ea3f35e44178dd74c48df636a6681b5d | London (CNN) -- After pleas to spare the life of British aid worker Alan Henning went unanswered by the so-called Islamic State terror group, his family is "numb with grief" with the news that he has been beheaded. "It is the news we hoped we would never hear. As a family we are devastated by the news of his death. There are few words to describe how we feel at this moment," his wife, Barbara, said in a written statement released Saturday by the United Kingdom's Foreign Office. "... We always knew that Alan was in the most dangerous of situations but we hoped that he would return home to us. That is not to be." News of Henning's beheading was made public Friday in a video released by ISIS, which blamed the killing on the UK for joining the U.S.-lead bombing campaign against the group in Iraq and Syria. In the same video, the group threatened the life of American aid worker Peter Kassig. UK Prime Minister David Cameron called Henning's murder "absolutely abhorrent" and "completely unforgiveable," saying Britain must work with its allies to defeat ISIS. "What we see with this organization is there's no level of depravity to which they will not sink. No appeals made any difference," he said, speaking Saturday at the Prime Minister's country house retreat, Chequers. "...The fact this was a kind, gentle, compassionate and caring man who had simply gone to help others, the fact they murdered him in the way they did, shows what we are dealing with, and this is going to be our struggle there. With others, we must do everything we can to defeat this organization" But Cameron also warned the fight against ISIS, also known as ISIL, would not be quick. The Prime Minister said he had held briefings with senior military and intelligence advisers and others, "to make sure we do everything that we can, whether that is taking down these hateful videos from the Internet, whether it's stopping preachers of hate, whether it's prosecuting those who glorify terrorism, whether it's working with others to defeat ISIL in the region." ISIS video of 4th Westerner killing similar to others, but doesn't run as long . Pleas ignored . The news of Henning's beheading came just days after Britain joined the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, following overwhelming approval from Parliament. UK jets began flying reconnaissance flights over Iraq a week ago, and on Tuesday dropped their first missiles on an ISIS heavy-weapon position and an armed pickup truck in Iraq, according to the UK Defense Ministry. The White House released a statement condemning Henning's murder and vowing to work alongside the United Kingdom and its allies to "degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL." Henning appears to be the fourth Westerner to be beheaded on camera by ISIS. This summer, ISIS beheaded American freelance journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff -- showing their gruesome killings in videos posted online. ISIS then claimed its first British victim, aid worker David Haines, according to video that appeared online on September 13. After receiving an audio file with her husband's voice, Henning's wife attempted to contact those holding him. When she was unable to reach those who sent the file, she made public pleas last month to ISIS to spare her husband's life -- an appeal joined by voices of Muslim leaders around the world. But those pleas were ignored. "On behalf of the entire family, I want to thank everyone who campaigned for Alan's release, who held vigils to pray for his safe return, and who condemned those who took him," she said, according to the statement. "Your efforts were a great support to us, and we take comfort in knowing how many people stood beside us in hoping for the best." A taxi driver from near Manchester in northern England, the 47-year-old Henning was part of a team of volunteers who traveled to Syria in December 2013 to deliver aid -- food, water and medical supplies -- to people affected by the country's devastating civil war. He was abducted by masked gunmen the day after Christmas, other people in the aid convoy said. "Alan was a decent, caring human being. His interest was in the welfare of others," Barbara Henning said in the statement. "He will be remembered for this and we as a family are extremely proud of him and what he achieved and the people he helped." Who is the ISIS? 'Our local and national hero' At a ceremony at Manchester Central Mosque on Saturday, a joint statement mourning the loss of Henning was read out on behalf of mosques throughout the north of England. "Alan Henning was our local and national hero," it said. "We will remember him as a tireless and selfless volunteer aid worker whose only concern was to help people in need. "...The killing of Alan Henning was a cowardly and criminal act of appalling brutality by a group who do not represent Islam at all and in fact are an insult to the Islamic faith." Some 200 mosques and organizations put their names to the joint statement, together representing about a million people, according to mosque officials. Talha Ahmad, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, told CNN on Saturday that the organization was "devastated and disgusted" by Henning's murder, which he called "the latest round of despicable violence by ISIS." The murder, according to Ahmad, confirmed that ISIS is "not a religiously inspired organization" but rather a militia group "hell-bent on inflicting pain and cruelty." He does not believe a very large number of people sympathize or are even prepared to tolerate the kind of attitude shown by ISIS, he said. "The challenge we have is to make the case again and again that however tempting, however lucrative it may appear to support a group which stands up to the Western 'bully,' if you like, the reality is ISIS do not represent a hope," he said. One heartening thing to come out of the tragedy of Henning's death, he said, is that Muslims "of all shades and colors and theology, have come together to condemn ISIS and we just need to keep doing that." UK authorities believe at least 500 British citizens have gone to Iraq and Syria, many of them to fight with ISIS and other Islamist groups -- and that most will try to return, bringing their extremist views with them. Cameron last month laid out new measures to tackle the threat posed by would-be UK jihadists, days after Britain raised its terror threat level from "substantial" to "severe." How ISIS is run . Laura Smith-Spark reported and wrote from London, and Chelsea J. Carter reported and wrote from Atlanta; CNN's Phillip Taylor, Karl Penhaul, Talia Kayali and Bharati Naik contributed to this report. | Family of Alan Henning is "devastated," says statement .
"There are few words to describe how we feel at this moment"
Joint statement by mosques remembers Alan Henning as "our local and national hero"
UK Prime Minister David Cameron vows to find those responsible for Henning's murder . |
189,254 | 8113a98ef5cffcc47feb99700f1a7d3cd2ba1216 | By . Emma Innes . and Mark Prigg . An asteroid nine times larger than the QE2 has sailed past the Earth - and is so big it even brought along its own moon. The 1.7mile long space rock will get no closer than 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. Scientists have named the asteroid 1998 QE2 but the name has nothing to do with the transatlantic Cunard liner - it follows a code used for newly-discovered asteroids by the US Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Scroll down for video . The asteroid was captured as it sailed past the earth. It is so big it even dragged its own moon along . An artist's impression of the QE2 asteroid that sailed past earth last night . Researchers were stunned to spot the . smaller moon asteroid is circling the larger space rock, an unusual but . not unheard of space phenomenon. The main asteroid is believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2. It . was discovered on August 19, 1998, by the Massachusetts Institute of . Technology Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (Linear) programme near . Socorro, New Mexico. The object made its closest approach to Earth at 9.59pm last night. The sequence of radar images of asteroid 1998 QE2 was obtained on . the evening of May 29, 2013, by NASA scientists using the 230-foot . (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, when the asteroid . was about 3.75 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Earth, which is . 15.6 lunar distances. The first radar images of asteroid 1998 QE2 were obtained when the asteroid was about 3.75 million miles (6 million kilometers) from Earth. The small white dot at lower right is the moon, or satellite, orbiting asteroid 1998 QE2 . The main asteroid is believed to be about 1.7 miles long, or nine times the length of the Queen Elizabeth 2 and has a rotation period of . less than four hours. The preliminary estimate for the size of the asteroid's satellite, or . moon, is approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) wide. The radar imagery revealed that 1998 QE2 is a binary asteroid. In the near-Earth population, about 16 percent of asteroids that are . about 655 feet (200 meters) or larger are binary or triple systems. Radar images suggest that the main body, or primary, is approximately . 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) in diameter and has a rotation period of . less than four hours. Also revealed in the radar imagery of 1998 QE2 are several dark surface features that suggest large concavities. The preliminary estimate for the size of the asteroid's satellite, or . moon, is approximately 2,000 feet (600 meters) wide. The radar collage . covers a little bit more than two hours. As the asteroid moves close, scientists scanned it with radar using a 230ft wide dish telescope at the . Goldstone Observatory in California’s Mojave Desert. The resolution of these initial images of 1998 QE2 is approximately 250 feet (75 meters) per pixel. Resolution is expected to increase in the coming days as more data become available. Between May 30 and June 9, radar astronomers using NASA's 230-foot-wide (70 meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, and the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, will perform an extensive campaign of observations on asteroid 1998 QE2. The two telescopes have complementary imaging capabilities that enabled astronomers to learn as much as possible about the asteroid during its brief visit near Earth. Even from a distance of nearly four . million miles, the researchers wanted to study features on the . asteroid as small as 12ft across. Chief . investigator Dr Lance Benner, from the American space agency Nasa’s Jet . Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said: ‘It is . tremendously exciting to see detailed images of this asteroid for the . first time. The giant space rock will get no closer than 3.6 million miles, or 15 times the distance between the Earth and the moon . ‘With radar we can transform an object from a point of light into a small world with its own unique set of characteristics.’ White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a press briefing about the asteroid: 'scientists have concluded the asteroid 'poses no threat to planet Earth'. He then laughed and said: 'Never really thought I'd be standing up here saying that, but I guess I am.' The asteroid will not make a return trip to the Earth for at least another two centuries. In 2016 Nasa will launch a robotic sample return mission to one of the most potentially hazardous known near-Earth objects (NEOs), the asteroid (101955) Bennu. The asteroid, which measures a third of a mile across, comes within 500,000 kilometres of the Earth every six years. Scientists have calculated that in 2182 there is a one in 1,800 chance of the object colliding with the Earth. | The asteroid sailed past the Earth at 9.59pm UK time last night .
It will be scanned by scientists using a 230ft wide dish telescope .
Asteroid is 1.7miles wide- the same size as the one believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs . |
284,529 | fca0e791b19ca18ada60462083146096ad2a338b | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:41 EST, 17 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:39 EST, 17 April 2013 . The Zumba instructor in Maine who admitted to being prostitute had sex with as many as five different men per day and took only 15 minute breaks in between each one. Text messages revealed that the former fitness instructor-turned-prostitute Alexis Wright would not meet with her clients unless her business partner, a 57-year-old man who lived 100 miles away, was watching the trysts in real time via Skype. The messages between Wright and insurance agent Mark Strong Sr. were obtained Tuesday through a records request by the Portland Press Herald. They were shared with the jury but kept from the public by the judge during the trial, and have only been released today. Busy: Text messages that prostitute Alexis Wright sent allege that she had sex with up to five men per day . On trial: Strong has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of promoting prostitution and one count of invasion of privacy . The communications included spreadsheets Wright used to keep track of her clients, with names, dates, times, sex acts and payments. Messages from February 9, 2012, show how busy Wright was having sex with men for money, with as little as 15 minutes between encounters, the newspaper reported. 'I had sex with Larry, Pete and Paul on Thursday,' she writes. 'And Michael, Pete, Pat, Jason and Mike today. ‘Wow. Two days, ten clients.’ Wright pleaded guilty last month to 20 counts including prostitution for using her studio in Kennebunk, a village known more for its sea captains' homes and beaches than for crime, as a front for prostitution. Strong was convicted of 13 counts relating to the promotion of prostitution. Video and testimony during Strong's trial indicated Wright's trysts were captured by a hidden video camera in a sophisticated operation featuring meticulous ledgers and calendars and the use of license plates to identify clients. Explicit: Prosecutors played a video of Alexis Wright, 30, stripping off and teasing construction workers across the street from her exercise studio . For all to see: The video played for jurors shows Wright stripping out of her towel while standing in the window of her Pure Vida Zumba exercise studio in downtown Kennebunk, Maine . Strong, who has acknowledged having an affair with Wright, monitored the sex acts from his office. In one text, Wright wrote: ‘I love you Mark :-)’. Only texts sent by Wright were released, and none that Strong may have sent to her in response. Video recordings that were aired during the trial show Wright approaching the camera and checking that it was hidden under a pile of lingerie before each client came into the studio. On January 25, 2012, she sent a string of texts to Strong when a client was due to arrive but she would not meet with him until she know that Strong was watching via Skype. 'You must have gotten tied up somewhere. I can't reach you and Jared is already in the area. I won't see a client without your permission and viewing so I'll wait to hear from you I guess,' Wright wrote in a text. Admission of guilt: Zumba instructor Alexis Wright appears with her attorney, Sarah Churchill, to plead guilty to 20 counts, including prostitution, theft and tax evasion . Putting on a show: Dressed to the nines and sporting heavy makeup and bright manicure, Wright quietly answered 'guilty' 20 times when the judge read the counts . 'I can see him sitting across the street. 'I'm sure he can see my car but if he knocks, I won't answer unless you're in your office. :-(' 'Jared is sitting across the street waiting to hear from me. I'll wait until 1:30 but I'm assuming that you're not heading into the office,' she wrote at 1.13pm. The Kennebunk prostitution scandal attracted international attention in the fall after it was reported that Wright's ledgers indicated she had more than 150 clients and made $150,000 over 18 months. Authorities then set the town abuzz with word that they would be charging each of the johns, leading residents to wonder who they were. 'He's weird. He doesn't like things that feel good. He likes to be tortured,' Wright wrote of one unidentified client. Wright's alleged clients include wealthy and well-known figures in southern Maine. So far, 18 men have pleaded guilty to paying Wright for sex . 'To each his own I guess, but there is something about him that is very strange.' The scores of people charged with engaging Wright's services include a former mayor, a high school hockey coach, a minister, a lawyer and a firefighter. Wright, a 30-year-old single mother, pleaded guilty under an agreement that calls for 10 months in jail. Her sentencing is set for next month. Strong, 57, served 15 days in jail and was released this month. His defense lawyers had characterized him as being infatuated with a younger woman and making bad moral decisions but never profiting from the prostitution operation. | Alexis Wright, 30, plead guilty to charges of prostitution .
Her 'manager' Mark Strong Sr was found guilty as he watched all of the trysts via Skype as they happened .
Texts that she sent to Strong released today including one where she wrote: 'Wow. Two days, ten clients' |
111,515 | 1bcd0b5715888ecf61cac2dd6822811510eadd74 | By . Mark Duell for MailOnline . Two men were arrested today on suspicion of murdering a teenage girl who vanished in suspicious circumstances more than seven years ago. Paige Chivers was aged 15 when she disappeared in August 2007 after a row with her father at their seaside home in Blackpool, Lancashire. But despite appeals from police, the girl’s family and even TV chat show host Jeremy Kyle - plus the offer of a £30,000 reward - she has never been found. Seven years on: Paige Chivers (left and right) was aged 15 when she disappeared in August 2007 in Blackpool . Vanished: She left home in Blackpool (pictured) 24 hours after an argument over the phone with her father . The investigation into the . disappearance of Paige - whose mother Sheila died of a heart attack aged . 48, six months before she vanished - is now being treated as a ‘murder . without a body’. Lancashire . Police said today that the two suspects were being held on suspicion of . murdering Paige and attempting to pervert the course of justice . following dawn raids. The pair aged 45 and 59 are being held in custody at an undisclosed police station in the county. Paige . - who attended Montgomery High School in Blackpool - lived with her . late father, Frank, a builder, and brother, Jack, but was ‘very . troubled and angry’ over her mother’s death. Missing person poster: Paige (right) lived with her late father, Frank, a builder, and brother, Jack, in Blackpool . As a younger girl: Paige packed her belongings in her purple suitcase and left home on August 23, 2007 . Appeal: Paige's sister Madison Houghton (right) in August 2009 with Detective Supterintendent Kevin Toole . She left home 24 hours after an argument over the phone with her father over the spending of some family money. Paige packed her belongings in her purple suitcase and left home on August 23. Disappearance: The inquiry into what happened to Paige remains the most heavily-resourced major investigation in Lancashire Police's history . Police believe that after leaving . home, she went to the home of a middle-aged man in the nearby village of . Bispham, to whom she had been introduced by a teenage friend. The man was said to have told . Paige that she could not stay at his home. He claims he walked her to a . nearby bus stop and told her to go to a local drop-in hostel for . troubled children. But she never arrived and has not been seen since. The last confirmed sighting of her by her family was that day getting on a number 11 bus. Detectives received a letter from a mystery person who claimed to know what had happened to the teenager. Police did not reveal the contents of the anonymous note but urged the person who sent it to get in touch. During the inquiry three men and a woman were arrested on suspicion of Paige’s murder - but all were released without charge. The inquiry remains the most heavily-resourced major investigation in Lancashire Police’s history, with more than 2,800 people spoken to as part of the inquiry and over 1,200 statements taken. The investigation has been extended to Peterlee in the North East and the Bolton area where Paige is known to have friends - plus Sheffield, Nottingham, Croydon and the south coast. Police frogman have searched a lake and ponds in the Blackpool area. During a 2010 appeal when Paige would have turned 18, sister Maddison Houghton - who gave birth to a son Connor just days after the teenager vanished - said: ‘All my brothers and sisters are all missing Paige like crazy, and we want her to come home. Paige is very outgoing, she just loved everybody, and very caring. 'You could hear her from everywhere - you could hear her half way down the street. When our mum died Paige couldn’t handle things and she kept it all inside, I think she probably just couldn’t talk about it and decided to go. ‘We just need her to come home so we can scatter my mum’s ashes and we don’t want to do that without her. I really want her to meet Conner because he’s her nephew and she hasn’t seen him and she’d adore him. ‘She had some money inherited in my mum’s will which she can get on her 18th birthday. I just want to make sure and let her know that it’s safe and in the bank and ready for her when she comes home.’ In June police searched land near where she was last seen after receiving new information, but nothing was found. A £30,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of Paige's killer or the recovery of her body has been on offer. A Lancashire Police spokesman said today: ‘Detectives investigating the murder of Blackpool teenager Paige Chivers have this morning arrested two men. ‘The men, aged 45 and 59, from Blackpool, have been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice and will now be questioned by detectives.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Paige Chivers vanished in suspicious circumstances in August 2007 .
This followed a row with her father at home in Blackpool, Lancashire .
Investigation now being treated as a 'murder without a body'
Police: Men aged 45 and 59 being held on suspicion of murdering her . |
139,746 | 40b26a0d1698e430c6c1d0cca4947ef1cb21cae0 | Washington (CNN) -- President Obama toasted a growing U.S. friendship with India at the first state dinner of his administration Tuesday, an evening of regal pageantry and symbolic politics in a tent on the White House South Lawn. "To the future that beckons all of us," Obama said with glass raised toward his guest of honor, visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "Let us answer its call. And let our two great nations realize all the triumphs and achievements that await us." A tradition dating back to 1874, state dinners are the most treasured and formal honor a U.S. president can offer a foreign dignitary, and the most coveted invitation in Washington. The Tuesday night dinner showed Obama's intention to signal strong ties with the world's largest democracy and go his own way in navigating the pomp and tradition of White House customs. Traditionally, a new administration's first invitation goes to the leader of neighboring Canada or Mexico, though recent presidents also haven't followed that precedent. The event planned by first lady Michelle Obama emphasized eco-friendly themes such as White House-grown herbs and lettuce served to guests and sustainably harvested magnolia branches -- from species native to both India and the United States -- in arrangements adorning the tent where more than 300 guests wearing tuxedos and gowns were wined, dined and entertained. A White House document said common themes of state and official visits are "forging friendships, exchanging knowledge and building bridges that last for years." In a toast that followed Obama's, Singh praised his host's leadership and prompted applause by citing the charm of the U.S. first lady. Obama's election was "an inspiration to all those who cherish the values of diversity, democracy and equal opportunity," Singh said, adding that India "warmly applauded" the Nobel Peace Prize awarded Obama this year for "the healing touch you have provided and the power of your idealism and your vision." "We need to find new pathways of international cooperation that respond more effectively to the grave challenges caused by the growing interdependence of nations," Singh said. "As two leading democracies, India and the United States must play a leading role in building a shared destiny for all humankind." Obama, in a black tuxedo, and the first lady, in a dazzling cream gown with silver accents, greeted Singh and his wife, Gursharan Kaur, as they arrived, shaking hands on the White House steps and posing for pictures before leading their guests inside. Guests in tuxedos and evening gowns streamed into the White House for the historic social event, passing a line of journalists. In one humorous mishap, the cummerbund of Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, fell off as he and his wife walked in. The guest list included political allies, a few opponents, celebrities and members of the Indian diplomatic community. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the list, but not her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Democratic colleagues of the president including other Cabinet ministers, several senators and top aides made the list, including Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (but not his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and White House Budget Director Peter Orszag. Ticker: See the list of expected attendees . A couple of Republicans also made it, notably Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Celebrities included Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, actors Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood, CBS News anchor Katie Couric and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman. However, one name rumored to be included, but not appearing on the list, was Oprah Winfrey. The dinner, in a tent set up on the White House South Lawn with a view of the Washington Monument, featured round tables for 10 set in resplendent colors -- apple green, ruby, gold -- with floral arrangements of roses, hydrangeas and sweet peas in plum, purple and fuchsia. Place settings in fine china from three previous administrations -- Eisenhower, Clinton and George W. Bush -- were flanked by five pieces of silverware and crystal glasses. Place cards were in script -- "The President" and "Mrs. Obama" read two. A seasonal menu reflecting both American and Indian flavors started with a potato and eggplant salad made with White House-grown arugula and accompanied by an onion seed vinaigrette, according to the White House. Red lentil soup with fresh cheese followed, and then a choice of entrees -- roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney, chick peas and okra for vegetarians, or green curry prawns, caramelized salsify and smoked collard greens. Dessert was pumpkin pie tart and pear tatin with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Each course was paired with a different wine, all of American vintage. The herbs and lettuces were harvested from the White House Kitchen Garden started by Michelle Obama, with honey from the White House beehive used to poach the dessert pears. Entertainment was by jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, Grammy and Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson, the National Symphony Orchestra directed by award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, Academy Award-winning Indian musician and composer A.R. Rahman, and The President's Own United States Marine Band. "It's not every day you get to sing at the White House or even get invited to the White House," said Hudson, who said she would dress in a purple and black gown "with the longest train I've ever worn" and sing standards including "The Very Thought of You," "What a Difference a Day Makes" and "Somewhere." Veterans of state dinners said the planning for such a trend-setting event is meticulous. "It's stressful, it's very stressful," said Lisa Caputo, a press secretary for Hillary Clinton when she was first lady. "What is the first lady going to wear? What will be served? How are the flower arrangements being done? There's a lot of protocol in terms of the serving line." Every unit in the White House weighs in on the dinner's guest list, Caputo said, with a lot of thought going into who sits where. "There's particular protocol in terms of who is seated at the president's table and the prime minister's table," Caputo said. "But don't forget that an enormous amount of thought goes into that with the White House social office and the president and first lady in terms of who will round out the appropriate table, who will get along with who, what will be the dynamics of each table. "Yes, of course it's social, but, of course, there's business done," Caputo said. The final list is ultimately decided by the president and the first lady, said Anita McBride, who was chief of staff for first lady Laura Bush. "Of course, having friends and supporters is really important to share that kind of event, and it's also important for all the other guests that are there and the Indian members of the delegation to meet these people that are a cross-section of America," McBride said. Amy Zantzinger, who was a social secretary for President George W. Bush, said all state dinners are different, and an administration's first one is a big one. "First they'll bring the newness -- the newness of the whole day because it's their first big dinner," she said. What makes a successful dinner? It's what you don't plan, Zantzinger said. During a Reagan state dinner, Princess Diana and actor John Travolta took to the dance floor. "What made it so special was that it was so absolutely spontaneous," she said. "You had one of the most beautiful women in the world and one of the best dancers in the world come together in this incredible place, and I think the spontaneity of it and the combination of the two of them was perfection." CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Samantha Hayes, Kiran Chetry, Ed Hornick, Becky Brittain and Tom Cohen contributed to this report. | NEW: Obama toasts India prime minister, urges greater cooperation between two countries .
Tuesday's event is the first state dinner of Obama administration .
State dinners are deemed one of the most treasured and formal honors .
Menu includes greens from White House garden, honey from White House bees . |
227,770 | b2f179fc18d4cc34d6fba3e28b37a366c43f18af | A descendant of the founder of the billion-dollar oil company Halliburton, was found dead in a bathtub at her Florida mansion this week and now police are diving in the canal behind the house - searching for clues in the mysterious homicide. The body of 59-year-old Jill Halliburton Su was found Monday by her oldest son, who was sent to check up on the house when her husband couldn't access the home's surveillance cameras at work. Mrs Su's son called police when he found the body, saying he thought it was a suicide. But when authorities arrived on the scene they started investigating the death as a homicide, since the home's back door near the pool was broken and a room had been ransacked, indicating a break in. She was the grand-niece of Halliburton Oil Co founder Erle P Halliburton. Her father Louis Halliburton worked for his uncle Erle at the oil business for a few years after fighting in World War II. Louis died last year at the age of 88. Scroll down for video . Mystery: Jill Halliburton Su (right) was found dead Monday at her upscale home in Davie, Florida. Her eldest son found her body after husband Nan-Yao Su (left) couldn't access their home's security camera footage at work and asked him to go check on the house . Homicide: The son originally reported his mother's death to police as a suicide, but when authorities arrived on the scene, they found evidence of foul play. Above, an aerial view of the Su home . They have not yet released any information on the details of how Su died. Police interviewed both Su's son, and her husband, prominent University of Florida Professor Nan-Yao Su, an expert in entomology, the study of insects. Neither have been named as suspects in Su's death but investigators point out that no one has been ruled out yet. 'I don’t want to say anybody’s been ruled out as a suspect. At this time, this is a very active investigation,' Davie Police Captain Dale Engle told ABC News. 'We did find a door that was broken or the glass of a door that was broken.' Covered: Investigators spent Tuesday and Wednesday diving in the canal behind the home, searching for possible evidence . On Tuesday and Wednesday, investigators conducted dives of the canals behind the property, looking for evidence that might illuminate how Su was killed. 'We don’t want to get into specifics of what they are looking for but we do think there is evidence connected to the crime,' Engle told CBS. Police are also canvassing the neighborhood and asking any residents of the gated community to submit any surveillance footage from security cameras. Su worked as a volunteer reading books for the blind at the Fort Lauderdale organization Insight for the Blind. 'She was so popular with everyone and would do whatever was needed either reading or monitoring recordings,' said Insight's Executive Director Mathew Corey. According to public records, the couple bought the $4,576=square-foot home where Mrs Su was found dead in 200 for $514,000 but it's now valued at around $1million. | Jill Halliburton Su, 59, was found dead by her eldest son .
The son was sent to check in on the home when Su's husband Nan-Yao Su couldn't access their security camera footage at work .
Authorities are not yet saying how Halliburton died, but have revealed that a back door was broken and a room ransacked .
On Tuesday and Wednesday, dive teams were searching the canal at the back of the home for evidence .
Mrs Su was the grand-niece of Halliburton founder Erle P Halliburton. Her father Louis worked at the company for a few years after fighting in World War II . |
211 | 00a79ca59be700e845bf9e90bf08c5106b4a72bb | WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On April 20, President Obama challenged his Cabinet to cut $100 million in spending over the next 90 days. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says a report on Cabinet spending cuts will be released "in coming days." The deadline came -- and went -- without a report from the White House on whether or not that promise was fulfilled. Asked about the spending cuts, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday that information still was being compiled. "Those are being reviewed now, and we'll release something in the coming days," Gibbs told the daily White House briefing. At time the challenge was announced, critics said $100 million in savings was a small amount on the context of the federal budget. "Any amount of savings is obviously welcome," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in April. "But [$100 million is] about the average amount we'll spend every single day just covering the interest on the stimulus package that we passed earlier this year." In April, Gibbs insisted that ordinary Americans nevertheless would appreciate the savings effort. "Only in Washington, D.C., is $100 million not a lot of money," Gibbs said. The issue is a sensitive one for Obama at a time of fierce Republican criticism about increased government spending for the economic stimulus plan. Republicans also oppose health care reform proposals by Democrats that would cost $1 trillion or more over the next 10 years. Obama is pushing for fast congressional action on a health care overhaul. | Obama's April 20 challenge to Cabinet: Cut $100 million in spending in 90 days .
The 90 days are up, but White House hasn't issued a report yet on progress .
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs: Information still being compiled . |
184,037 | 7a617851818020a0b362846ed1e52183fa5bbd73 | He might have some of the quickest feet on a football pitch, but it was Neymar's speed of thought that was put to the test when he spent the day as co-driver in the passenger seat of a rally car. The Brazil forward teamed up with current rally champion Sebastien Ogier to navigate the Volkswagen Polo through the twists and turns of the Monserrat mountain near Barcelona. He might be more used to bamboozling defenders, but it was Neymar that was getting in muddle as the 22-year-old confused his left with his right. Neymar get suited ready to take on the role as co-driver to WRC champion Sebastien Ogier . Neymar waves his hands in enjoyment as the car speeds around the corners on the Monserrat mountain . Neyamr struggles to get to grips with the pacenotes as he gets his left and right confused during navigation . The Volkswagen Polo flew around the corners under the navigation of Neymar . The Barcelona forward had a huge grin on his face as he enjoyed the drive . The pair even had time for a short game of keep-ups after coming to a halt . 'Left, right, no right,' Neymar yelled as he tried to get his head around the pacenotes while zipping round the corners at incredible speed. Although his navigating skills might not have been the best the Barcelona forward seemed to enjoy going out for a spin with the WRC champion. Neymar is seen clapping his hands and cheering as Ogier tackles the corners at pace before the Brazil international gives the thumbs-up as the car screeches to a halt. | Neymar navigated Sebastien Ogier up the Monserrat mountain in Spain .
The Brazil forward got his left and right confused during stint as co-driver .
Neymar seemed to enjoy him self as Ogier sped round the corners . |
234,619 | bbbc7a4880d3a82c6c2e38e0530ad04faba43e51 | New York has knocked London from its position as the world's leading global financial center after seven years, according to the Global Financial Centres Index. The rankings, compiled by London-based consultancy Z/Yen, gave London 784 points versus 786 awarded to New York. The report noted that New York's ascendance is due in large part to London's fall in the biannual rankings. Clash of the Titans: New York City has overtaken London as the top world financial center, according to the biannual Global Financial Centres Index, for the first time in seven years . The GFCI asks over 3,000 financial professionals twice a year to give their take on the world's commerce centers. On a 1,000 point scale, they anointed the following cities with the precious top 10 spots. 'This seems to be based on a number of factors including ... uncertainty over Europe, the perception that London might be becoming less welcoming to foreigners and perceived levels of market manipulation,' wrote the report's author Mark Yeandle on Z/Yen's website. 'London sees the largest fall in the top 50 centres,' said Yeandle. Yeandle also pointed to London's regulatory environment as a reason for its slip. 'Because London is less of a swashbuckling place,' he told the Financial Times, 'there’s less opportunity to make money.' According to the report, New York's two-point lead is 'statistically insignificant' on the survey's 1,000 point scale. And, besides, the lead could be a shaky one for both finance capitals as Asian centers continue to flourish. Hong Kong and Singapore took third and fourth spots respectively, the same as a year ago, the survey showed. But the gap between the 'Big Four' and the chasing pack, led by Zurich, Tokyo and Seoul, was narrowing, it said. Middle East centres, such as Qatar, . Dubai and Riyadh, which took places 26, 29 and 31 respectively, . continued to rise in the index, while 23 of the 27 European centres . declined in rank. TheCityUK, . a lobby group for British financial and professional services, said . London slipping from the top spot should be a wake-up call for Europe's . policymakers. 'London . is Europe's financial center and is hugely important to the continent's . ability to finance growth and create jobs by attracting global . investors,' said Chris Cummings, chief executive of TheCityUK. The Global Financial Centres Index is compiled from assessments completed by 3,246 financial services professionals, Z/Yen said. Hong Kong snagged the number three spot, as it did in the previous survey. The Asian financial centers as a whole have been quickly gaining on Western cities . Singapore fell just behind Hong Kong and also has benefited from fears over Europe and a generally burgeoning Asian economic climate . | The Global Financial Centres Index surveys global business leaders in order to rank the world's commerce centers .
The survey revealed a widely held sentiment that London's reputation has been tarnished by scandal, among other things, in recent years .
Hong Kong took 3rd place, followed by Singapore and then Zurich . |
103,151 | 11000ec2fa1f28c8dbd29cf94b4c2951eac33e46 | Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli believes his Anfield legacy should be gauged on the burgeoning career of Jordan Henderson rather than the scars left by the Andy Carroll saga. Comolli was instrumental in buying Carroll for £35million in the January transfer window of 2011 - still the highest fee ever paid for an Englishman - only to see the striker score just 11 goals in 58 appearances in all competitions before being offloaded on loan initially and then permanently to West Ham for £15million. However, Comolli was also responsible for taking Henderson from Sunderland to Anfield for around £20million and the England midfielder and Liverpool vice-captain is tipped to take the armband full-time when Steven Gerrard leaves for the United States at the end of the season. Damien Comolli played a major role in bringing Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll to Anfield . Former Liverpool director of football Comolli was sacked by the Premier League club in April 2012 . Andy Carroll - £35million . Stewart Downing - £20m . Craig Bellamy - Free . Jordan Henderson - £16m . Luis Suarez - £22m . Jose Enrique - £5m . Charlie Adam - £9m . Sebastian Coates - £7m . A defiant Comolli believes the Carroll episode should be consigned to history, saying: 'The decision was made in a conference call between the owners, myself, Kenny Dalglish (the manager at the time) and the commercial director at the time who is now chief executive, Ian Ayre. 'We made the decision collectively, knowing exactly the money we would lose if it did not work out, and they said they were happy to go ahead with the transfer. 'I will stick to what I have always said about Andy Carroll. When he is fit, he is unplayable. When he has been fit at West Ham, he has shown what he can do, scoring goals, making assists, being a constant threat. 'When people say we made a mistake, I'm still not convinced we made a mistake. It's just we haven't seen the best of Andy Carroll because of all the injuries.' Henderson, pictured with Brendan Rodgers, is expected to replace Steven Gerrard as Liverpool captain . Comolli insists the success of Henderson at Anfield, plus the development of winger Raheem Sterling and full back Jon Flanagan, only highlights the need for the continuity and stability he believes is provided by a director of football. The 42-year-old, who was also director of football at Tottenham and who was passing on his experience this week to future sporting directors in a lecture at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: 'Nothing is guaranteed. 'What we do is try to lower the risk in the decision-making process. But we are dealing with human beings. It is not as though we are buying shares or property. 'Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. Sometimes life gets in the way of talent, sometimes there are injuries, sometimes the player doesn't adapt to one place. Comolli helped Liverpool conclude a deal for then Ajax striker Luis Suarez in January 2011 . 'I don't think I have to justify whether Carroll was a good decision or a bad decision. Look at it as a whole. When people talk to me nowadays about Liverpool, they say what a fantastic job you did in bringing players like Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson to the club. 'The issue I have got is when a group of owners approach somebody like me and say we want to invest for the long term, we want you to sign young players, we want you to put together a squad which has a future for the next three to five years, we want you to work with the academy and we start to do all this and after a few months or a few years they say: "Sorry, it's not working out". 'You cannot say you have to focus on the future and at the same time say the young players are not ready to compete at the top level. 'When I left Liverpool, the owners told me Henderson was a massive mistake. Now he's turned out to be the next Liverpool captain and he's a regular in every game.' The two-year Masters in Sporting Directorship course was launched in 2014 at Manchester Metropolitan University and prepares candidates from across sport for a strategic role at a club or in a league. The inaugural Global Summit of Sporting Directors will be held in Manchester on April 29. | Damien Comolli believes he should be judged on bringing Jordan Henderson to Liverpool rather than Andy Carroll .
The former Reds chief played major role in bringing Carroll to Anfield .
Liverpool forked out £35million on the then Newcastle striker in 2011 .
Henderson is in line to replace Steven Gerrard as Liverpool captain .
CLICK HERE for all the latest Liverpool news . |
90,928 | 00f2cf4fa57c91657572c921e3b32cd119053f9e | By . Beth Stebner . PUBLISHED: . 15:29 EST, 21 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 16:37 EST, 21 February 2013 . The Transportation Security Administration has offered an apology to a Missouri family after one of their agents detained their wheelchair-bound three-year-old daughter. The organization issued a statement apologizing for the ‘inaccurate guidance’ that was provided to Nathan and Annie Forck and their daughter, Lucy as they tried to fly to their Disney World vacation. A video taken by Mrs Forck on the day of their February flight show the child weeping and asking for her stuffed animal, ‘Lamby’ as a TSA agent tells Mrs Forck she cannot film the patdown. Scroll down for video . Trail of tears: Lucy, pictured bottom, was in tears after a TSA agent subjected the three-year-old girl to a full patdown; the TSA later issued an apology . Upset: Throughout the patdown, the little girl was weeping and saying: 'i don't want to go to Disney World.' The family was flying to Orlando from their home in Missouri; Lucy has spinal bifida . TSA told MailOnline in a statement: . ‘TSA regrets inaccurate guidance was provided to this family during . screening and offers its apology. 'We are committed to maintaining the . security of the traveling public and strive to treat all passengers with . dignity and respect. While no patdown was performed, we will address . specific concerns with our workforce.’ Lucy, who has spinal bifida, was . sobbing throughout the whole patdown. ‘Lamby’ was sent through for an . X-ray machine, and her hot pink wheelchair was swabbed down. Speaking with ABC News, Mrs Forck said that they accept the apology, but they want TSA . agents to receive more sensitivity training with regards to how to . handle children and the disabled. Acceptance: Annie and Nathan Forck said they accept the TSA's apology but said they'd like to see the agents better trained in sensitivity and how to handle children and those in wheelchairs . Disney magic: Lucy went to Disney World, and got to meet Mickey Mouse while she was there . Happiest place on earth: The family of five made it to Disney World in one piece and posted this snap on Twitter . ‘It bothers me because my daughter was . singled out specifically because my daughter is in a wheelchair,’ Mr . Forck told ABC News. As Fox News Radio reports, the Forcks were attempting to fly to Orlando to enjoy a family vacation at Disney World and were flying out of Lambert-St Louis International Airport in Missouri. Though they got through the TSA security checkpoint without incident, a TSA agent pulled the family aside to screen Lucy’s wheelchair further for a pat down and swabbing her mobility device. Mrs Forck pulled out her smart phone and began recording the whole event, against the TSA agent’s request. ‘It’s illegal to do that,’ the female agent is heard saying. Mrs Forcks responds: ‘You can’t touch my daughter unless I can record it,’ and later adds: ‘The problem is, I don’t allow anyone to touch my little daughter.’ Throughout the argument between the mother and the TSA agent, Lucy can be heard crying, apparently confused at what exactly was going on. Her stuffed animal, ‘Lamby,’ had been scanned via X-ray and had not been returned to her. Know your rights: Mother Annie Forck filmed the entire patdown and said she had the right to film it, despite the TSA agent's protest . At one point Lucy's beloved stuffed animal Lamby was taken from her as well . Mr Forck, an attorney, told Fox News . that he knew it was legal to record the event and said that if the same . instance had occurred outside the setting of an airport, it would be . illegal. ‘But you put a TSA badge on and now all of a sudden, it’s okay,’ he told the station. The father added that he and his wife were not trying to make a scene, but instead were looking out for the well-being of their daughter. The TSA later admitted its agents should never have threatened to patdown the little girl and apologized to the family. According to the TSA website, ‘passengers who can neither stand nor walk will be screened by a thorough patdown while they remain seated.’ The site adds: ‘A patdown procedure is used to resolve any alarms of a metal detector or anomalies identified by imaging technology.’ Checkpoint: The TSA states on its website that those in wheelchairs and scooters who cannot walk must go through a comprehensive patdown . The government agency offers a notification card for those with medical issues, but it is clearly stated on the card that presenting it to agents doesn’t exempt passengers from screening. Mr Forck told Fox News that Lucy had no problem coming through Orlando’s TSA checkpoint. And while she was at Disney World, she got to meet Mickey Mouse. The Transportation Security Administration was formed in early 2002 following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames. | Forck family was flying from Missouri to Orlando, Florida for vacation .
Three-year-old daughter, Lucy, was detained for further testing ahead of family's February 8 flight .
Stuffed animal 'Lamby' was confiscated .
Lucy suffers from spinal bifida and is in a wheelchair .
TSA later admitted girl should never have been threatened with patdown . |
97,980 | 0a22d80492831130237b0efefc003f5087e579eb | The under-25s will be stripped of their benefits to ensure they either ‘earn or learn’, David Cameron announced yesterday. Unveiling a new crackdown on welfare, the Prime Minister said young people will no longer be able to ‘opt for a life on benefits’. The plans will mean that school leavers either have to take a job or an apprenticeship or remain in education or training. Those who refuse will face sanctions, including the loss of out-of-work benefits. Scroll down for video . Tough: David Cameron said all school leavers should be earning or learning, not able to opt for a life on the dole . At the moment, those who refuse to take a job or an offer of a training place can lose their job seeker’s allowance (JSA), but the Tories plan to toughen that policy by also slashing or removing housing benefit payments if the under-25s refuse to co-operate. Mr Cameron told the Tory conference that the move was necessary because one million young people were not in education, employment or training. He said: ‘Today it is still possible to . leave school, sign on, find a flat, start claiming housing benefit and . opt for a life on benefits. It’s time for bold action here. ‘We . should ask, as we write our next manifesto, if that option should really . exist at all. Instead, we should give young people a clear, positive . choice: Go to school. Go to college. Do an apprenticeship. Get a job.’ Mr . Cameron said the Government should not allow young people to ‘just . choose the dole. 'We’ve got to offer them something better than that.’ Address: The Conservative leader told delegates that further reforms to the welfare state, schools and the economy were needed . He added: ‘This is what we want to see: everyone under 25 earning or learning.’ The . savings could be considerable. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says . there are 410,000 under-25s claiming JSA at a cost of £1.2billion a . year, while 380,000 young people are on housing benefit at a cost of . £1.8billion. The cuts are likely to be controversial since 169,000 of . the young housing benefit recipients are single mothers and another . 32,000 are couples with children. The Prime Minister and Work and . Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith were originally planning to strip . housing benefit from the under-25s altogether – a suggestion floated by . Mr Cameron in his conference speech last year. But that plan foundered . because it was opposed by the Liberal Democrats. Mr Cameron and . Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg have asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy . Heywood to draw up a report into training and education for the . under-25s. Under existing rules, young jobless people lose their . benefits if they train for more than 16 hours a week. Serious: Mr Cameron's speech was widely seen as an echo of John Major's pitch to voters in 1992, that the job of repairing Britain is not yet complete . As a result, the . system pays them if they are not in training – but stops supporting them . when they do. The Heywood review is looking at ways to support young people after they have started training programmes. Sir Jeremy will report back in the autumn. The Tories aim to persuade the Lib Dems to back the new sanctions regime. If they refuse, the Conservatives will ‘definitely’ put the measure in their election manifesto in 2015, sources said. Last night a senior Lib Dem source said Mr Clegg would wait until he has read Sir Jeremy’s report, but voiced concern that the scheme would work only if there were enough jobs or training places to offer people. ‘You need carrot as well as stick,’ the source said. ‘There are one million young people out of work and there are not enough jobs for them to go into.’ Not there yet: David Cameron warned delegates at the Tory party conference in Manchester that there was a 'long way' to go before Britain was out of the woods . Mr Cameron conceded that the cuts will be seized on by opponents as ‘callous’, but added: ‘With your children, would you dream of just leaving them to their own devices, not getting a job, not training, nothing? No – you’d nag and push and guide and do anything to get them on their way . . . and so must we.’ He accused Labour of being ‘intensely relaxed about people staying stuck on welfare year after year’, and added: ‘We don’t patronise people, put a benefit cheque in their hand and pat them on the head. We look people in the eye as equals and say: “yes, you’ve been down – but you’re not out, you can do it, you have it in you, we will give you that chance”.’ A Labour source said: ‘This is an empty and a desperate attempt to distract from the fact that there was absolutely nothing in David Cameron’s speech to deal with the cost-of-living crisis facing families.’ Stephen Twigg, backed a free school in Liverpool, Cameron said . David Cameron accused Labour of double standards on free schools by highlighting the ‘unbelievable’ record of shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg. The Prime Minister said Mr Twigg, MP for Liverpool West Derby, opposed free schools nationally but had backed one in Liverpool. It comes after the Daily Mail revealed last week that at least 21 Labour MPs – including four members of the shadow cabinet – are supporting local free schools. Mr Cameron told the Tory conference: ‘You want to know something totally extraordinary about free schools? 'Labour’s official policy is to be against them but – get this – Labour MPs are backing them in their local area. And not just any Labour MPs. ‘I promise I’m not making this up: the shadow education secretary, Stephen Twigg, has backed one in his own city. Unbelievable.’ The Prime Minister added: ‘Isn’t that always the way with the Left? They don’t like privilege – unless, of course, it’s for their own children.’ Mr Twigg has praised the Everton Free School in Liverpool as ‘inspiring’, and shadow health secretary Andy Burnham attended the ‘founders’ ceremony’ for the Atherton Community free school in his Leigh constituency. | Tory leader says under-25s should be stripped of benefits .
They must find a job or enter education, PM said .
Those who refuse will be stripped of benefits . |
187,380 | 7eafa26aa621c6a7614d5ffea855c76acd4ebdc5 | Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) -- More than 37 million people visit Las Vegas each year for its glitz, glamour and lure of hitting a jackpot. Yet few tourists ever see the dingy world beneath the bright lights: tunnel dwellings that have become home to those down on their luck. Steve Dommer and his girlfriend, Kathryn, live in the depths below the Vegas Strip. They created an elaborate 400-square-foot space, complete with a living room, bedroom, kitchen and workshop to fix bicycles. Everything is elevated off the floor with wooden pallets or milk crates because of potential flooding. Their prized possession is a queen-sized bed, found in a Dumpster near the Palms Casino Resort. "I like to be able to come back and sleep as comfortably as possible," Dommer said, patting his bed. By day, he scrounges for change above ground. He's been living down below for two years. He lost his construction job because of an addiction to speed and heroin. The couple is not alone in the city's tunnels. "Hundreds of people live in these tunnels," says journalist Matthew O'Brien. O'Brien has become an expert on the more than 300 miles of underground flood channels and its tunnel dwellers. O'Brien brought the homeless to light, first in articles for the alternative weekly newspaper, Las Vegas CityLife, and then in a book titled "Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas." O'Brien noted the irony of one tunnel entrance near the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" neon sign. "I just think the history of Vegas PR is to ignore the bad issues," he said. "The instinct of the city -- and the county -- is to ignore stuff that can be construed as negative press and kind of highlight other things about the city." The number of those living in the storm drains varies by the season, O'Brien said. The tunnels become damp and cold in the winter, but hundreds flock into them during the summer to escape the 100-degree desert temperatures. "It's much cooler than outside, about 20-25 degrees cooler, and that's one reason why someone would live or hang out in these tunnels," O'Brien said. Armed with a black metal flashlight, O'Brien took CNN on a tour of four tunnels. Each tunnel was different; their heights ranged from 4 to 12 feet. Some intersected underground; others had small openings to access parallel tunnels. It was pitch black much of the time. "After you've done it a few hundred times like I have, you can walk down here without any light at all," said tunnel dweller Steve Dommer. O'Brien said he's always "a little bit on edge" when he climbs into the underground world. "You never know what to expect or what you're going to find down here," he said. If legend is to be believed, a troll armed with a crowbar combs the tunnels. Even if it's not true, O'Brien said, it still haunts him. "A lot of the people ... have their own ghost stories about a friend who was murdered in the tunnels or someone who drowned and they hear their voices late at night," O'Brien said. "It is true that you do hear some weird noises down here because of the acoustics." Some of the channel floors are covered with dust, others mud, and, in one section, a foot of stagnant water. There are sleeping bags and mattresses, some with makeshift canopies, but they seemed outnumbered by the trash, scraps of food, cockroaches and graffiti. Upon hearing our footsteps, some vagrants scattered from their makeshift shelters, not knowing if we were marauders or the police who sometimes come through to chase the homeless out. O'Brien introduced us to a man known in these parts as "Iron," who has lived in the flood channel system for six years. Iron had sun-baked skin and wore a cap reading "Jackpot!" The recovering alcoholic said he makes ends meet receiving tips for pumping gas or cleaning windshields at a nearby service station. He lives near the entrance of a tunnel across the highway from the Excalibur and Luxor hotel-casinos. "You'd be surprised at night the view you have right here," Iron said. "People pay a lot of money in the suites to have views of the Strip. I get it every night for free." He sleeps about 10 feet from the entrance of a four-foot high tunnel. It doesn't rain often. But when it does, the floodwaters carry away anything in its path. "I live pretty simple now after replacing things for six years." Over in another Vegas flood channel, a homeless man named Michael sat with his bags packed ready to leave his tunnel dwelling, about 200 feet from the entrance. The 52-year-old said police came through two days earlier encouraging people to leave. He sat on a mattress wearing khaki pants and a short-sleeve collared shirt. He said crack cocaine abuse led him on a dark path into the storm drains. He's hoping to leave soon. "After 30 years of wasting time and money, 30 years of drug use, I want my life back," he said. "I want to get up and lead a productive life again." To that end, O'Brien is helping. That was one of his goals when he began his journey -- to find a way to help the tunnel dwellers. He became partners with the charitable outreach organization HELP of Southern Nevada to form the "Shine A Light" foundation. O'Brien escorts social workers into the storm drains twice a month to offer assistance to the homeless. They provide blankets, food, water and counseling. According to O'Brien, more than a dozen people who were living within the tunnels received housing in the past six months thanks to the partnership. But O'Brien said he thinks Sin City could do much more to help. "I've always thought more should be done," he said. Iron, the homeless man with a city view, believes the city tolerates the tunnel dwellers because "we're not hurting anybody." "The only thing getting hurt down here is ourselves and nobody else." CNN's Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report. | Homeless population of Las Vegas turn to storm drains for shelter .
"I just think the history of Vegas PR is to ignore the bad issues," Matthew O'Brien says .
One man nicknamed "Iron" says the best thing is his view of Vegas Strip at night . |
36,038 | 664d4385354f5c3f2ab113c4a116b25b76575540 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Led Zeppelin have unveiled two previously unheard recordings ahead of the reissue of the band’s first three albums in June. The two tracks - blues classic Keys to the Highway, recorded in 1970, and an early version of the famous song Whole Lotta Love - are among dozens of tracks which the band will officially release alongside the reissues. The companion discs will feature alternative versions of songs, works in progress and live performances, all recorded at the time of the original albums. Special: The surviving band members (L-R) John Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have selected the two tracks from their carefully catalogued archive of music recorded in the 1970s . The tracks, like hundreds of others, had been carefully catalogued but then locked away in the band’s archive for decades. Guitarist Jimmy Page, 70, has spent two-and-a-half years combing through the vaults, listening to hundreds of quarter-inch tapes before choosing the best material. 'I don’t want to die and have somebody else do it,' he says. 'I’m authoritative about what was done in the first place.' Page says the new material 'deserves to be heard' because 'it’s performance art'. It will give fans the first chance to hear some of the band’s key recording sessions. Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind, to appear on Led Zeppelin III, was recorded in 1970 at the Olympic Studios in Barnes in south-west London, about half an hour after Hats Off to (Roy) Harper. But it was never released. Fans are clamouring to get hold of the subsequent reissues of three albums that will hit stores in June . Led Zeppelin disbanded in 1980 following the death of drummer John Bonham (top centre) 'It was a particularly prolific time,' says singer Robert Plant, 'where we were learning about each other’s capabilities. 'Jimmy and I were just fooling around with the stuff that we would play at home. We were just trying things out. Nothing was premeditated.' The passing of time has also given Plant, who is now 65, a different perspective. 'My enthusiasm sometimes got in the way of finesse. I listen to it and go, wow, why didn’t I shut up a bit?' he laughs. 'I kind of overcooked it.' Page promises 'lots of surprises' on the three reissues, which are part of a plan to reissue all nine of the band’s studio albums in chronological order. Despite intense support for the band decades after they broke up, they said the chance of a new gig is 'zero' But he has dismissed rumours that there will be versions of songs featuring bass and keyboard player John Paul Jones on vocals. For a band that broke up in 1980, following the death of the drummer John Bonham, interest in Led Zeppelin remains intense. The surviving members reunited seven years ago for a concert at London’s O2. But fans will be disappointed if they are hoping there will be another one. Page said: 'I’m sure people would love to hear it. I’m not the one to be asking, I don’t sing.' Plant, however, is unequivocal. The chances of the band performing live again are, he said 'zero'. | Guitarist Jimmy Page has spent two years choosing material from archives .
Releasing blues song Keys To The Highway and early Whole Lotta Love .
Reissuing albums but singer Robert Plant denies possibility of live gigs . |
283,063 | faab0f4b2ded1cf7b680e4dfbda0a40219e07fa2 | Two alleged shooters were arrested this week in the 2009 deaths of a pregnant prostitute featured on HBO's Cathouse TV series and three others. Suspected gang members Russell Hogshooter, 37, and Johnathan Cochran, 35, were caught on Wednesday in Delaware County, Oklahoma. The victims included Brooke Phillips, 22, who had worked for a legal Nevada brothel called Moonlite Bunny Ranch, near Carson City, which was the subject of an HBO series. Brooke Phillips, 22, a prostitute who appeared on an HBO series about a legal brothel was shot and stabbed to death in 2009 while she was pregnant . The other victims were Milagros Barrera, 22, Jennifer Ermey, 25, and 32-year-old Casey Mark Barrientos. Barrientos, a drug dealer, was believed to be the target of the shooting. Each of the victims was repeatedly shot and stabbed before their bodies were set on fire. A friend of Miss Phillips, pictured here, said at the time of her death that she was not involved in drugs and had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The friend said: 'Brooke never used drugs. She barely even drank. But she did date a drug dealer on and off.' Denny Phillips, 36, is scheduled to go to trial in the case in April. He's charged with six counts of first-degree murder because Miss Phillips and Miss Barrera were pregnant when they were killed. He is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Phillips was allegedly a chief in the Indian Brotherhood gang and planned the killings. His former girlfriend said in court last year that he had bragged about the murders. 'He liked to brag. When he was describing the murders, it sounded like bragging,' Kelsey Day testified in February 2013 at a preliminary hearing for Phillips. Milagros Barrera, 22, (pictured left) and Jennifer Ermey, 25, (right) were also shot to death and set on fire during the drug den attack in 2009 . Day, who was dating Phillips when the November 2009 killings occurred, said Phillips had provided details of the victims' deaths that made her believe that he was there. Phillips has pleaded not guilty and if convicted could face a death sentence or life in prison. In 2012, David 'Hooligan' Allen Tyner, 33, pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and received consecutive life prison sentences. Tyner, a member of the Cherokee Nation who had worked as a drug dealer's bodyguard, was arrested soon after the shootings when he was identified by a witness who managed to flee the drug den. The former Marine and cage fighter finally told detectives in the past few weeks that he had not committed the crimes alone,newsok.com reported. Federal Marshalls captured Hogshooter and Cochran on Wednesday. The pair, who are also believed to be in the Indian Brotherhood gang, have not yet been charged. Hogshooter was found with a handgun when he was arrested. Casey Barrientos, a drug dealer, was believed to be the target of the shooting which left four dead including two pregnant women . Investigators allege Barrientos ran a drug and prostitution ring out of a south Oklahoma City house where the victims were killed. Phillips and Tyner allegedly were involved in illegal drug sales with Barrientos and plotted to kill him because they weren't happy with the amount of money they were being paid. In May 2012, Tyner pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to consecutive life prison sentences without the possibility of parole in a plea agreement to avoid a possible death penalty. Michael Mease, a federal inmate serving time on a weapons charge, testified that he befriended Phillips while both were incarcerated at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 2012. Phillips was serving a seven-year sentence on charges related to a shootout in Tulsa in April 2010. 'He told me he was involved in the murders,' Mease testified last year. 'He told me it was over some bad drug business ... he said he wasn't there at the scene, but he was watching closely.' Mease said he notified authorities of Phillips' statements because Phillips showed no remorse for the deaths of the women in the house, while noting that another man who had been inside the home had escaped when the gunfire began. 'That was unexpected, because everyone in the house was supposed to die,' Mease said. He said Phillips told him they were supposed to leave no witnesses. Russell Lee Hogshooter (pictured left) and Jonathan Allen Cochran (right) were arrested on Wednesday in Delaware County, Oklahoma after being named alleged accomplices in the 'Cathouse' shooting . Denny Phillips, 36, a former Marine and cage fighter, is scheduled to go to trial in the case in April . | Suspected Indian Brotherhood gang members Russell Hogshooter, 37, and Johnathan Cochran, 35, arrested on Wednesday in Oklahoma .
The victims included Brooke Phillips, 22, who had worked for a legal Nevada brothel called Moonlite Bunny Ranch,which was featured on HBO .
Each of the victims was repeatedly shot and stabbed and their bodies set on fire .
Miss Phillips and another victim were pregnant at the time of their deaths . |
258,395 | da706bfc0687ef792a0d68b517db6ac751411cf9 | ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The high-end specialty coffee industry isn't immune to the effects of a recession, but many companies are still doing well. Growers, roasters and equipment manufacturers were represented at the coffee expo in Atlanta. Portland Roasting had a slow holiday season, but business is picking up, said owner Mark Stell. "February was a great month for us," he said. Stell traveled from Oregon to Atlanta, Georgia, for the Specialty Coffee Association of America expo, where the show floor was filled with nearly 800 booths featuring everything from exotic coffee beans to the latest Italian espresso machines. Stell's company sells about a million pounds of coffee a year. He said sales to offices and hotels are down but are being replaced by orders from grocers and universities. "People don't leave coffee," he said. "They just get it differently." Tony Riffel owns Octane Coffee in Atlanta and was watching the 10th annual World Barista Championship, held in conjunction with the expo at the Georgia World Congress Center. Pushcart owner Gwilym Davies of London, England, won the 2009 barista crown. Watch baristas battle for the world title » . Riffel said business at his coffee shop was flat last summer, but sales are up 10 percent for the first quarter of 2009. "The first part of this year has been our best ever," he said. "People are being careful with what they're spending money on, but they're spending it on quality products." Business is good enough that Riffel plans to open a second location this year. "Now is a really good time to do that," he said. "Developers and landlords are more flexible and negotiable," even though banks are "pickier than normal." Joseph Taguman also knows about picky banks. The general manager of the Zambia Growers Association said the lack of financing is holding back the association's 80 farmers. Taguman said the farmers could grow more than their current rate of about 300 metric tons per year, but trees take time to grow and long-term financing is hard to come by in Zambia. A couple of aisles over from Taguman's booth, Shawn Contreras sees a similar problem. Contreras is the sales director for Diedrich Manufacturing, which has been selling roasting equipment for nearly 30 years. He said wholesale roasters are continuing to grow, but smaller operations are having "an extraordinarily difficult time" getting funding. Consultant Andrew Hetzel acknowledges that credit is a hindering factor for companies, but he is optimistic about the specialty coffee industry. "The U.S. market is continuing at a steady pace," he said. But it's a slower pace than the past few years. "Coffee is something that has been with humanity for 1,500 years," Hetzel said. "It's not going anywhere any time soon." | High-end specialty coffee industry not immune to effects of recession .
Many companies still doing well, with some looking to expand .
Hundreds of companies from around the world gathered in Atlanta for annual expo .
British barista wins World Barista Championship held in conjunction with expo . |
11,868 | 21abd9a370309dd27700a26a0c5c99f64e85e57d | Human minds could be downloaded into robots within 10 years, allowing human beings to 'live forever', says the Russian entrepreneur who heads a hi-tech research project called 'Avatar'. Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal - and is now looking for other scientists to help with the project. 'This project is leading down the road to immortality,' says Itskov. 'A person with a perfect Avatar will be able to remain part of society. People don’t want to die.' James Cameron's Avatar: Dmitry Itskov's 'Avatar' project aims to 'load' human minds into robotic bodies within 10 years . Itskov, a 31-year-old media entrepreneur, says that he aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years. He says his technology will be of interest at first to the 'disabled and close to dying' ‘I understand these are some very big . challenges for scientists,’ Itskov says. ‘But I believe in . something you call ‘The American Dream.’ If you put all your energy and . time into something, you can make it a reality. Itskov envisages surgically 'transplanting' a human consciousness into a robot body within 10 years. He hopes to then 'upload' minds without surgery, leaving human bodies as empty husks as their owners 'live on' inside robots. The project is called Avatar after the James Cameron movie, set far in . the future, where human soldiers use mind control to inhabit the bodies of . human alien hybrids as they carry out a war against the inhabitants of a . distant world. 'The next effort of science will be to create a new body for the human being,' says Itskov, speaking at the Global Future 2045 conference. 'It will have a perfect brain-machine interface to allow control and a human brain life support system so the brain can survive outside the body.' Itskov says that the system will at first be of interest to, 'Disabled people and people at the edge of dying.' 'The third phase will be to create an artificial human brain,' he says - a computer environment into which human minds can be uploaded. The Daleks' cyborg leader 'Davros': The first stage of Itskov's project will be to transplant a human brain into a robot. Itskov says that the system will at first be of interest to, 'People at the edge of dying.' Measuring brain waves with EEG machine: Recent breakthroughs have allowed scientists to 'see' what is inside people's heads for the first time - but could the technology really be used to create robot Avatars? His final goal, he says, is to upload human minds into holographic bodies. Holograms give plenty of advantages. You can walk through walls, move at the speed of light, he says. ‘Remember in Star Wars, Obi-Wan’s hologram? That was pretty amazing.’ Itskov says he wants to work with DARPA - the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency in the U.S military. DARPA is already researching ways . for its troops to use their minds to remotely control androids who will . take human soldiers' place on the battlefield. The Pentagon's . hi-tech research arm, has earmarked $7million for research into the . project, also nicknamed Avatar. According to the Darpa's 2013 budget: 'The Avatar program will develop . interfaces and algorithms to enable a soldier to effectively partner . with a semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine and allow it to act as the . soldier’s surrogate.' | Entrepreneur claims to have 30 scientists working on project .
Aims to 'transplant' human mind into robot body in 10 years .
Claims 'next stage' of science is to create a 'new human body'
'This project is leading to immortality,' says Dmitry Itskov . |
179,149 | 73f395028d0dcaafaceff9df45747ba0911bf83f | Guilty of assault: Peter Samms went to the home of his son's ex-girlfriend Stephanie Wardn . The father of footballer Danny Simpson has been found guilty of assault after a bust-up with his son’s former girlfriend. Bodybuilder Peter Samms confronted Stephanie Ward, 25, after she revealed how the Newcastle United star had 'cheated' on her with X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos in a national newspaper. Samms, 46, barged into Miss Ward’s home in Worsley, Greater Manchester, just hours after she had aborted the child she was carrying with the footballer. During the confrontation, last November, Samms acted in an 'intimidating and threatening' manner, magistrates in Manchester heard. Miss Ward’s mother Gillian, who had answered the door when Samms arrived at the house, was knocked off balance as he went past her. Samms allegedly warned Miss Ward that he had 'gangster friends' and she would never be able to go out in Manchester again. Prosecutor Rebecca Radcliffe told magistrates that Samms, who works as a security guard, was intimidating 'in terms of body language and physical movement'. Samms, of Ellesmere St, Manchester, denied common assault and a charge of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour. He was cleared of the second count but found guilty of common assault. Samms was fined £375 and ordered to pay £400 costs and £100 to his victim. Scroll down for video . Close: Tulisa was pictured cuddling up to Danny and a group of friends as they spent an evening together . Lashing out: Tulisa Contostavlos has been branded a 'homewrecker' for reportedly romancing Newcastle ace Danny Simpson . Last November, Miss Ward revealed how she’d been left devastated after finding out Simpson had been dating 24-year-old Tulisa. She branded the singer a 'home-wrecker', adding: “She’s been sleeping in my bed! Danny has humiliated me in front of my family, friends and the whole nation.” But Tulisa’s lawyers later issued a statement saying: “Tulisa categorically denies any allegation that she entered any relationship with Danny Simpson while he was still in a relationship with Stephanie Ward.' Ms Ward told The Sun newspaper: 'We've been off-and-on for the last seven years - but absolutely solid for the last two. 'As . far as I'm concerned he has cheated on me because we hadn't broken up . or anything. She's a home-wrecker and has destroyed my family.' Happy families: Danny has a baby daughter, Skye-Lorena, with his on-off girlfriend of seven years, Stephanie Ward . The pretty brunette is the mother of Simpson's baby daughter Skye-Lorena. She had been reportedly three months pregnant with their second child. It's believed Tulisa met the footballer through mutual friends, before enjoying a date together. Her fans will have been hoping the singer is finally having some good luck in the romance stakes after a series of heartbreaks in recent years. She split from her bandmate and boyfriend of two years Fazer earlier this year. A video of the singer and her ex-boyfriend Justin Edwards also emerged on the internet. Tulisa filed a lawsuit against her ex and it was settled in July - with Edwards subsequently apologising for releasing the tape. Tulisa also dated skins star Jack O'Connell, but their romance eventually fizzled out. VIDEO: Tulisa jokes on X-Factor about relationship with Danny Simpson . | Peter Samms allegedly warned Stephanie Ward he had 'gangster friends'
Stephanie had branded Tulisa Contostavlos a home-wrecker for romance with Newcastle United star . |
23,433 | 42924b839c41ba2351d5ec245391cddbbf5423ef | Normal service was resumed as feuding Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished one-two come the culmination of practice on Friday for the Italian Grand Prix. After McLaren's Jenson Button had surprisingly split the pair in the opening 90-minute session around Monza - with Hamilton comfortably quickest - come the second run, Rosberg held sway over his team-mate. For over an hour, though, it appeared to be a case of 'it never rains but it pours' for Hamilton as he frustratingly looked on at his mechanics tending to his car plagued by an electrical issue. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Lewis Hamilton preview this weekend's Italian Grand Prix . In form: Nico Rosberg ended the session on top of the timesheets, marginally ahead of Lewis Hamilton . Time to burn: Hamilton spent the first hour of the session out of the car as mechanics tended to his Mercedes . Hamilton has endured two mechanical retirements this year, a third in the wake of being hit by Rosberg last time out in Belgium, as well as a brake failure in qualifying in Germany and a fire in qualifying in Hungary. In this instance his troubles may only have been in second practice, affording him plenty of opportunity to recover, but nevertheless he must have been wondering 'why always me?' Hamilton will now naturally be hoping his misfortune is out of the way this weekend and he will run trouble -free through to the chequered flag on Sunday. Hamilton managed to complete 16 laps compared to Rosberg's 41, and would arguably have finished top of the timesheet but for traffic when he did finally take to the track with 25 minutes remaining. Hamilton emerged for the final 30 minutes to post the second fastest time in the second free practice session . Rosberg finished top with a lap of one minute 26.225 seconds, although Hamilton would likely have found some satisfaction with clocking the quickest lap of the day in the morning outing with a 1min 26.187secs. The fact there is no difference in times between the hard and medium Pirelli tyres - the softer compound is normally far quicker - may surprise many, but the teams opted to perform heavy-fuel race simulations in FP2 rather than qualifying runs, as is often the case in such a session. Hamilton ultimately finished 0.061secs adrift of Rosberg in FP2, with a further surprise the fact their rivals are far closer than perhaps was expected on a power circuit where Mercedes should be dominant. 1. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1:26.225 . 2. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:26.286 . 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 1:26.331 . 4. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1:26.565 . 5. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams-Mercedes 1:26.758 . 6. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1:26.762 . 7. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault 1:26.762 . 8. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) McLaren 1:26.881 . 9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes 1:26.935 . 10. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) RedBull - Renault 1:26.992 . 11. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes 1:27.079 . 12. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India - Mercedes 1:27.227 . 13. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:27.476 . 14. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber - Ferrari 1:27.840 . 15. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso - Renault 1:27.929 . 16. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari 1:28.029 . 17. Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia - Ferrari 1:28.659 . 18. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Lotus - Renault 1:28.700 . 19. Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia - Ferrari 1:28.786 . 20. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus - Renault 1:29.085 . 21. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Caterham - Renault 1:29.178 . 22. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Caterham - Renault 1:29.275 . Bird's eye view: Hamilton will be keen to close the 29-point gap to Rosberg at the Italian Grand Prix . Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was the best of the rest, but only a tenth of a second off the pace, with team-mate Fernando Alonso fourth quickest and a third of a second down. Williams' Valtteri Bottas, Button and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull were all around half a second adrift in fifth, sixth and seventh. The team-mates of the trio completed the top 10, with McLaren's Kevin Magnussen eighth fastest, followed by Williams' Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo. Leading the way: Rosberg is ahead of Hamilton n the drivers' championship . The Australian has won the last two races to thrust himself into title contention, but suffered technical issues of his own during practice to keep him three quarters of a second back. With all race drivers back in harness for FP2, after four reserves were used in the first session, there was still another familiar sight with the Caterhams propping up the pack. After being forced to sit out the race in Spa for what he has claimed are "political" reasons in his team, and also FP1 at Monza, Kamui Kobayashi was back behind the wheel for FP2. Banner: Some Formula One fans appeared to be unhappy with the sport's new era . The Japanese was 21st, just under three seconds down, with team-mate Marcus Ericsson a fraction of a second down at the rear. Marussia's Max Chilton was 19th, the Briton even managing to finish ahead of Lotus' Romain Grosjean. | Hamilton missed majority of second practice session with electrical issue .
Briton took to track for final 30 minutes of session and posted 2nd best time .
Rosberg led the way after ending the morning session behind his team-mate .
Hamilton is 29 points adrift of Rosberg heading into Sunday's Italian GP . |
208,348 | 99bc0fe8ecca0a49afe352e205bca2d6de261686 | More than 1,000 people protested outside the U.S. embassy in London last night, with some holding 'jail racist cops' placards, following the decision not to prosecute the American officer who shot dead black teenager Michael Brown. The demonstration, outside the embassy in Grosvenor Square, central London, saw people condemn the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson for shooting unarmed Mr Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. While rioting, fighting and chaos has broken out in several U.S. states following the jury's decision on Monday night, the protest in London passed off peacefully and without trouble. Scroll down for video . The protest started in London's Grosvenor Square before heading to Oxford Street and Piccadilly Circus . More than 1,000 people turned out for the demonstration to condemn the jury decision in Ferguson, U.S. The protest condemned the grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson for shooting Michael Brown . Many held placards which said 'jail racist cops' and 'black lives matter', while others carried candles . Police confirmed no arrests were made, despite the crowd being so large that it spilled out of a designated area in Grosvenor Square and lined up against the fence of the embassy. Many of the protesters held placards which read 'jail racist cops' and 'black lives matter', while others carried candles. A minute's silence was observed to remember people killed by the police around the world, which was followed by a loud chant of 'killer police off our streets'. After listening to a number of speeches, the group marched down nearby Oxford Street and traffic was later stopped as protesters made their way towards Piccadilly Circus. Police said the demonstration 'became an impromptu march', with people dispersing at around 11.30pm. 'Officers from the Police Liaison Team engaged with demonstrators and an appropriate policing operation was conducted,' Scotland Yard said. Police said the demonstration 'became an impromptu march', with people dispersing at around 11.30pm . No arrests were made, despite the crowd being so large it spilled out of Grosvenor Square, central London . After speeches, the group marched down Oxford Street and traffic was later stopped in Piccadilly Circus . While rioting, fighting and chaos has broken out in several U.S. states, the protest in London was peaceful . Scotland Yard said 'an appropriate policing operation was conducted' and confirmed there were no arrests . Carole Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan, and Marcia Rigg, of the Sean Rigg Justice and Change campaign, both spoke at the gathering outside the embassy. Mark Duggan, a young black man, was shot dead by a police officer in London in August 2011 sparking riots across the city, while Sean Rigg died at Brixton police station in 2008. Marcia Rigg is Sean Rigg's sister. Ms Duggan told the crowd: 'We need to send a message to Mike Brown's family. 'We feel the pain, we know the pain, of losing somebody at the hands of the police. 'That is why we stand in solidarity with the community of Ferguson. I feel they are very strong and brave people.' She went on: 'They've come to a point in Ferguson where there is no turning back. 'They have to carry on fighting. They have to see this through. 'We have to stand behind them because you know what happens there will eventually happen here.' The protest came after a grand jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson (left) for shooting Michael Brown . Marcia Rigg, the sister of Sean Rigg, who died at Brixton police station in 2008, spoke at the demonstration . Carole Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan who was shot dead in 2011, spoke at the gathering outside the embassy . The protest was organised by campaign groups Stand Up To Racism and the London Black Revolutionaries . During the protest, a minute's silence was observed to remember people killed by the police around the world . Ferguson was engulfed in serious civil unrest following the grand jury's decision not to charge police officer Mr Wilson on Monday night. The white officer shot the 18-year-old multiple times on August 9, sparking widespread protests and disruption across the state. Ms Rigg said: 'Burning and looting - we don't condone these acts - but I for one and I'm sure people around the world understand the frustration and anger that the people are feeling when our loved ones are murdered on the streets. 'What else are we supposed to do?' All we keep getting are lying and corrupt officers murdering our loved ones.' The London protest was organised by campaign groups Stand Up To Racism and the London Black Revolutionaries. Relatives of Mark Duggan (left), who was shot dead by police in London in 2011, and Sean Rigg (right), who died at Brixton police station in 2008, both attended the protest and gave speeches to fellow demonstrators . Protesters marched along Bond Street chanting 'hands up don't shoot' in solidarity with Ferguson, U.S. Traffic was brought to a standstill in many parts of central London as the demonstrators protested . At one point during last night's protest, demonstrators started a loud chant of 'killer police off our streets' | More than 1,000 people joined in protest outside U.S. embassy in London .
Demonstration condemned grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson .
American police officer shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown .
UK protest passed off peacefully while rioting continues in Ferguson, U.S. |
107,419 | 168850ee2dfdae5116660110584f96990208c835 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 23:22 EST, 30 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:02 EST, 31 December 2013 . A football programme emblazoned with a swastika from a match between Nazi Germany and the Irish Free State is going under the hammer. The 77-year-old programme is expected to fetch up to €500 when it goes on sale in Dublin next year. Some 28,000 football fans packed Dalymount Park to watch Ireland win the match on October 17, 1936. Scroll down for video . Unusual: The Ireland v Germany programme - which is expected to fetch up to ¿500 - is among the hundreds of unusual lots at a history, literature and collectibles sale hosted by Whytes in Dublin in March . On camera; Video footage of the game on the British Pathé website shows the German football team standing in line on pitch, doing Nazi salutes as they listen to their national anthem . Footage from the event shows the German side giving Nazi salutes as they listen to their national anthem. According to local reports at the time, the German team toured the city the day before the match, and were warmly welcomed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfred Byrne. The Lord Mayor described the historic meeting as one which 'brought widely separated countries together,' and 'one of the greatest factors in ensuring peace among nations,' according to the Irish Times. The hotly anticipated match was a tense spectacle, with the teams level at half time. The Irish side scored three goals in the second half, to the delight of local press whose headlines the following day celebrated: 'Stern display brings victory'. It was the second time that year the German national time, made up predominantly of amateur footballers, were left red-faced. The 1936 Berlin Olympics saw the squad knocked out during the semi-finals after a 2-0 loss to Norway. 5-2 victory: The international fixture was staged at Dalymount Park in Dublin on October 17, 1936 - with the 'Football Association of the Irish Free State' defeating Germany . The match was the second time that year the German team (pictured) were left red-faced on the football field after losing out to Norway in the Olympics . Italy went on to win the gold, while Great Britain were knocked out by Poland. Bertie Fulton became the first Northern Ireland footballer to play at the Olympics that year. Ian Whyte of Whytes auctioneers said the lot, of which the programme is part, would be of . interest to sports fans who collect programmes, as well as those with an . interest in European history. ‘It's quite chilling to see,’ he said of the swastika. ‘In the past a similar programme fetched up to £800.’ 'It's quite chilling to see (the swastika). In the past a similar programme fetched up to £800' Ian Whyte, Whytes auctioneers . Key tags from the H Blocks in the Maze . prison and Celtic wood carvings made by republican inmates held at . Portlaoise and Long Kesh are also in the historic sale. The set of ten key tags were found . by contractors called in to demolish the notorious Maze, which closed in . 2000. ‘This is the second time we've offered . these,’ he said. ‘We sold them in 2010 to a man, but he has since died . and his son is selling them on,' added Mr Whyte. They are expected to fetch €300 to €500 . (£250 to £420). Historic military uniforms, decommissioned weapons, documents and a pair of duelling pistols will also be auctioned. Another highlight is a framed 1960 US election poster for John F Kennedy, which is expected to fetch between €400 and €600 (£330 to £500). | Programme among hundreds of unusual lots at Dublin auction in March .
International fixture was staged at Dalymount Park on October 17, 1936 .
Some 28,000 fans filled stadium in Dublin to watch Ireland win game 5-2 .
German footballers gave Nazi salutes as they listened to national anthem . |
66,625 | bcf8f1f0908592fc8e34844e5cd98ce4ff0b7775 | By . Will Stewart . var twitterVia = 'MailOnline'; . DM.has('shareLinkTop', 'shareLinks', { . 'id': '2267748', . 'title': 'Search is on for Russia\'s \u00A350billion of \'missing\' gold but it might be at the bottom of world\'s deepest lake...', . 'url': 'http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2267748/Search-Russias-50billion-missing-gold-worlds-deepest-lake.html', . 'eTwitterStatus': ' http://bit.ly/Wpa8OA via @' + twitterVia, . 'articleChannelFollowButton': 'MailOnline', . 'isChannel': false, . 'placement': 'top', . 'anchor': 'tl' }); . 34 . View comments . Fresh attempts are to be made to find the 'missing' gold of the last Tsar of Russia, believed to in Siberia . Fresh attempts are to be made to find the 'missing' gold of the last Tsar of Russia - worth 'up to £50 billion' at today's prices - which is believed to be stashed or lost in Siberia. Some 95 years after Nicholas the Second and his family were shot by a firing squad loyal to Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, six sites have been identified where the royal treasure may be located. Two of them are in the world's deepest lake and another is in a region notorious for its gulag prison camps during the Stalin era. Gold from the Russian Imperial state was moved eastward during the First World War and initially held in Kazan on the Volga River. 'One of Britain's most legendary spies, Sidney Reilly, and the colourful, womanising diplomat, Robert Bruce Lockhart, who with his lover Baroness Moura Budberg, Russia's 'Mata Hari', was accused of plotting to assassinate Lenin, were directly involved in this operation to prevent the gold falling into Communist hands,' said the Siberian Times. The bed-hopping baroness - who also slept with writers HG Wells and Maxim Gorky - was the great great aunt of deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. After the Reds seized power in the capital, Petrograd, now St Petersburg, the anti-Communists moved it by train into Siberia. Here it was under the control of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, who led the White Russian forces loyal to the royal family during the civil war which engulfed the country from 1918-20. Certainly some of the treasure was used to buy arms to use against Lenin's forces, but historians are divided over how much was later grabbed by the Communists. Doubts also remain on the quantity of Tsarist gold sneaked abroad or hidden or lost in Siberia . Some 95 years after Nicholas the Second (seated second from left) and his family were shot by a firing squad loyal to Bolshevik leader . Vladimir Lenin, six sites have been identified where the royal treasure . may be located . British spy Sidney Reilly was said to be involved in stopping the gold fall into the hands of Communists . Baroness Moura Budberg, the great great aunt of Nick Clegg is said to be involved in the affair . Diplomat Robert Bruce Lockhart was also said to be involved in the plan to protect the gold . 'Groups of intrepid searchers have not given up hope of finding this treasure, convinced that it never fell into the hands of the Soviet authorities, and hoping this will be the lucky year for the royal gold rush,' said The Siberian Times. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the fallen House of Romanov. 'I am convinced that at least some of the tsar's gold remains in Siberia and I continue to hunt for it,' said a researcher working at two of the suspected sites where the Romanov bullion is hidden. 'I will not divulge the locations I am searching but modern technology makes it more likely than ever before to be able to find the gold stashed beneath the surface.' A Mir-2 mini-submarine in 2010 located allegedly 'shiny metal objects' some 1,300 feet below the surface of Lake Baikal in an area close to where a train carrying gold was rumoured to have crashed are the time of Kolchak's arrest and execution by the Soviet authorities in 1920. More dives are expected for bullion at this site, but another theory is that White troops carrying gold tried crossing ice bound Baikal - the world's deepest lake - in winter but perished on as temperatures slumped to minus 60C. After the Reds (pictured) seized power in the capital, Petrograd, now St Petersburg, the anti-Communists moved the gold by train into Siberia . When the ice melted in spring, the gold sank to the bottom of the lake. Other theories link stashes of the the 1,600 tons of gold to two sites in Omsk, where Kolchak had his headquarters. One is in labyrinthine passages under the city, another close to a nearby village, Zakhlamino. A further possible site is in the former gulag region of Krasnoyarsk, where a mysterious graveyard of some 500 White soldiers is alleged to have been found. Local folklore suggests the forces stashed the gold shortly before they were slaughtered. Meanwhile author Valery Kurnosov believes MI6 has information on a separate collection of gold and treasures from a tsarist-era bank close to Kazan. A British secret agent called Roger Gariel was involved in a joint operation in 1928 involving the Soviet government and Western figures to find the gold in a forest near the city. The operation failed and the Soviet government later continued the hunt but never found it, he said. Historian Oleg Budnitskii, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has disputed the value of the 'Kolchak Gold' inherited from Imperial Russia, saying it was worth £3 billion maximum. He also claims none remains hidden, arguing it was all accounted for. A further possible site is in the former . gulag region of Krasnoyarsk, where a mysterious graveyard of some 500 . White soldiers is alleged to have been found. Rumour has it soldiers stashed the gold before they died . | Six sites identified as places where the royal treasure may be located .
British spy and a British diplomat said to be involved in its disappearance .
'Missing' gold of the last Tsar worth 'up to £50 billion' at today's prices . |
101,642 | 0f0047389f82ecd1bfd80f014c4df82d7ee4595a | Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A barrage of at least 18 rockets struck Tripoli Tuesday, killing 19 people and wounding another 150 in the heaviest onslaught since NATO's aerial strikes began, a government official told CNN. Six thunderous explosions rocked the center of Tripoli late Tuesday. A hotel for international journalists located within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound shook during the attacks. Outbursts of gunfire, as well as ambulance sirens, could be heard in the streets. A Libyan government official said initial information indicated that the night-time strikes hit the same compound that had been hit earlier in the day -- the volunteer element of the army compound. During the attacks in the capital, a U.S envoy in the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi was courting members of the transitional government. Jeffery Feltman, the U.S assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs, told reporters in Benghazi that he had invited the National Transitional Council to open a representative office in Washington -- and that the council has accepted. Feltman added that he had come to reiterate a message from President Barack Obama that "Gadhafi has lost legitimacy to rule. He cannot regain control of Libya. And he must step down immediately." After the airstrikes Tuesday morning, smoke was seen rising from the area near Gadhafi's Bab-al-Azizia compound. Moussa Ibrahim, a Libyan government spokesman, said the attack targeted a guard compound for pro-Gadhafi military volunteers that had been emptied in anticipation of the attack. He called the attack an escalation by NATO. A NATO statement said the attack had targeted a "regime vehicle storage facility" adjacent to the Bab-al-Azizia compound. The facility resupplies government forces that have been attacking Libyan civilians, according to the NATO statement. Gadhafi's forces "still represent a threat to civilians and we will continue to strike targets that carry out this violence," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard of Canada, who commands the Libya operation. Journalists later visited a hospital where they said they saw the bodies of three men, at least two covered in dust, and a number of wounded people. Arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court for Gadhafi and two relatives, linking them to "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilians as they struggle to retain power in Libya. The court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has said that the court in The Hague will investigate allegations of institutionalized rape in the war-torn country. A Libyan government official told CNN that Gadhafi's government welcomes the court's investigation but said that prosecutors "have not been to Libya to do an investigation." CNN's Nima Elbagir, Amir Ahmed, Nic Robertson and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report. | NEW: 19 dead, 150 wounded in 18 rocket attacks in the capital .
Explosions heard near Gadhafi compound .
A compound for pro-Gadhafi volunteers is targeted .
Arrest warrants are issued for Gadhafi . |
198,572 | 8d083458407895a9b960a51f02d157aa4d3496fa | (CNN) -- At the end of April 2010, a couple of weeks before the WHO announced a major 2011 U.N. summit on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), I left Merck to start Arogya World, a U.S.-based non-profit with a bold mission -- to change the course of chronic disease. This was the beginning of a very personal journey for me, and the expression of a heartfelt desire to gather like-minded people and make a meaningful contribution to global health. At the core of our work is compelling science. According to the WHO, 80% of heart disease, 80% of diabetes and 40% of cancers can be prevented by increasing physical activity, healthy eating and avoiding tobacco. At Arogya World, we believe deeply in the power of prevention. Globally, we shine a spotlight on NCDs -- heart disease, diabetes, cancers and chronic lung diseases -- and advocate for their prevention. In India we are implementing programs for diabetes prevention through lifestyle changes. There we launched mDiabetes, our flagship program, a groundbreaking one-million-person diabetes prevention mHealth effort conducted with Nokia -- and an ongoing Clinton Global Initiative Commitment. Over the last two years, we have collected a group of committed, passionate individuals -- including advisors like Raj Dave -- and immersed ourselves in the difficult task of moving hearts and minds. Our approach is to leverage strong science, medical and non-medical experts, public-private partnerships and modern technology to make measurable public health impact -- improving lives and livelihoods around the world. Why NCDs? Why India? Two out of three deaths in the world today are caused by NCDs, some 80% of them in developing countries. By year 2030, NCDs are estimated to cause more than five times the number of deaths from HIV, TB, malaria and maternal and child mortality, combined. And the cost is staggering -- projected to be trillions of dollars in lost productivity over the next two decades. NCDs have become a world crisis, changing the face of global health as we know it, demanding urgent political action and international co-operation. Twenty percent of India's people have one chronic disease, and 10% more than one. Diabetes (which runs in my father's family) is at catastrophic levels in India, where more than 50 million people live with the disease, and 1 million die from it each year. And Indians get diabetes on average 10 years earlier than their Western counterparts. Half of India (more than half a billion people) is under 25 years of age. As these young people get into their 30s and 40s and start getting diabetes in large numbers, the public health impact will be huge. Our immediate goals in India are: . 1) Educate at least 1,000,000 Indians in diabetes prevention. 2) Execute and measure the effectiveness of interventions targeting consumers, schools and the workplace. 3) Bring about behavior changes proven to prevent diabetes in 50,000 people. And, we want to use what we learn to establish a scalable model for prevention of chronic diseases. mDiabetes is key to achieving these goals. In September 2011, at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, we pledged to reach one million people from all over India over a period of two years, and to measure the effectiveness of our program. We're sending text messages on diabetes and its prevention twice a week in 12 languages, providing six months of content at no charge to the consumer. We were joined by many partners in this big, bold effort - Nokia, Emory University, Aetna, Johnson & Johnson, Biocon and Ipsos -- and we thank them for partnering with an unknown (we prefer the epithet "small but mighty") non-profit. With Emory University, we developed diabetes awareness and prevention messages with a strong emphasis on science and proven principles of behavior change. We then reviewed them for cultural relevancy and technical accuracy with our Behavior Change Task Force, a group of medical, health promotion and consumer communications experts. To date, we've reached 100,000 consumers, and are on track to reach one million by next year. See a 1 minute video on Arogya World's work in India . We are measuring results, so that we can correct course as needed and improve program effectiveness. This is no pilot -- we have completed the first phase of research with 750 consumers, and will be conducting more rigorous evaluation of behavior change. What is the promise of mDiabetes? We want to evaluate the effectiveness of mDiabetes in both urban and rural India, and then expand our program to include other NCDs such as heart disease, etc. Ultimately, we wish to establish a scalable chronic disease prevention model. There are many reasons why we are genuinely excited about the promise of mDiabetes: . 1) Mobile phones have a broad reach in the developing world -- some 75% of the mobile subscriptions today are in the developing world. In India alone there are more than 900 million mobile subscribers. 2) And it is the same developing countries that are hardest hit by NCDs -- mHealth could provide helpful and cost effective solutions. 3) Initial results from the Message Refinement phase of mDiabetes research are encouraging: overall, consumers reacted very favorably to the messages and found them clear, compelling and useful. Eighty-five percent said they would be willing to share the messages -- we find that extremely promising. If effective, mDiabetes could be replicated in other countries, and evolve into a global solution to the NCD crisis. Developing countries, already burdened by the scourge of infectious diseases and maternal mortality, are finding it hard to grapple with the growing burden of NCDs, and would likely find such an approach affordable and easy to adopt. The Political Declaration on NCDs adopted unanimously at the UN Summit in September 2011 by all countries, asked for a "whole of society" approach to tackle NCDs, one of the greatest health and development challenges of the century. We at Arogya World agree -- NCDs are our collective responsibility to fix. mDiabetes and the rest of our work, including our global advocacy for NCD prevention, are this one NGO's response to that call to action. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dr. Nalini Saligram. | Arogya World's key focus in India is diabetes prevention through lifestyle changes .
80% of diabetes can be prevented by increasing physical activity, healthy eating and avoiding tobacco.
Twenty percent of India's people have one chronic disease, and 10% more than one.
mDiabetes hopes to send diabetes awareness and prevention messages to one million people by next year. |
274,415 | ef6e6bb7bee4b971821d17f59817877e03c6d28d | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:41 EST, 10 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:41 EST, 10 February 2014 . An elderly man claims he has waited eight years to have a hernia operation on the NHS. Frederick Bevan, from Swansea, was first referred for surgery in 2006 but the 77-year-old widower is still waiting for the operation to take place. He said: ‘I know things are bad at A&Es, but eight years can’t be right. Frederick Bevan, 77, says he has been waiting eight years for a hernia operation on the NHS . ‘My life is on hold. I can’t socialise, I can’t go out and have a little dance.’ Mr Bevan agrees that fate has also played a role in the long delay. At one stage he decided to go private but it snowed and the operation was cancelled. Then he experienced more bad luck. ‘I agreed to go to Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in 2011 but ended up in intensive care following an allergic reaction to an antibiotic so I still had the hernia,’ he said. ‘Then in October last year I went into Morriston Hospital and they told me I was having the operation. I waited three hours and they sent me home. There were no beds.’ Mr Bevan, who says he has paid . National Insurance all his working life, has even gone to his MP Geraint . Davies about the situation. If left untreated some hernias can cause a bowel obstruction or cut off the blood supply to the affected tissue - both are medical emergencies. At one point, Mr Bevan was told he would have the operation at Morriston Hospital (pictured) but he waited for three hours and was then sent home because there were no spare beds . A spokesman for Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board said: ‘Mr Bevan was due to have undergone surgery at Morriston Hospital in October. ‘Unfortunately we sometimes have to postpone non-urgent, pre-planned operations due to emergency patients needing urgent, unplanned care. ‘Although Morriston Hospital continues to be extremely busy, we are in contact with Mr Bevan to arrange an alternative date as soon as possible. ‘We offer our sincere apologies for any inconvenience and upset caused.’ A hernia occurs when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in the muscle or tissue wall. They can occur anywhere in the abdomen and there are several different types. These include hernias where part of the bowel comes through the abdomen and into the groin - inguinal hernias - and hernias where tissue pokes through a surgical wound. Inguinal hernias account for three in four cases. About one in four men and three in 100 women will have an inguinal hernia during their lifetime. Hernias are more common in older people, those who are obese, those who do a lot of heavy lifting and those with a long-term cough. Some hernias cause no problems while others can cause a bowel obstruction or interrupt the blood supply to the affected tissue - both of these situations are medical emergencies. Some hernias need to be operated on - whether surgery is required depends on the location of the hernia and what symptoms it is causing. Source: NHS Choices . | Frederick Bevan was first referred for the operation in 2006 .
It has been cancelled because of snow, a shortage of beds and because he had an allergic reaction to antibiotics and ended up in intensive care .
He is still waiting for it to take place and says his 'life is on hold' |
234,158 | bb23f7d2e46526bea2038a3057c02a324510960d | By . Luke Salkeld . Two men belonging to a ‘witches’ coven’ wore ceremonial robes and used daggers as part of ritualistic sex abuse on young girls, a court has heard. Peter Petrauske, 72, and Jack Kemp, 69, are said to have been involved in a pagan group of ‘white witches’ operating in Cornwall since the 1970s. The alleged abuse, spanning three decades, involved knives and melting wax, Truro Crown Court heard. Accused: Peter Petrauske, pictured, faces three charges of indecent assault and one of rape . Victims claimed they were plied with alcohol before being made to undress in front of a crowd of men wearing robes. They were then allegedly abused by their tormentors, before being given money and sweets to buy their silence. Prosecutor Jason Beal said some of the assaults took the form of rituals, with the victims being made to strip before having their wrists tied. One victim told police of naked children being forced to dance around ‘like models’ for the adults who were all dressed in robes. She claimed she was tied to a chair and blindfolded, and on another occasion her wrists were bound and a ceremonial dagger was drawn over her body. Mr Beal said: ‘She was taken to a house where pagans were present, Jack Kemp was present and “German Pete” (Petrauske) was also there. ‘She was given alcohol, told to dance in front of the camera, and take her clothes off.’ He said the male white witches then exposed themselves and made an indecent proposition. ‘She was given £5 and a bag of sweets,’ Mr Beal added. Hearing: The trial of the two men at Truro crown court is expected to last four weeks . Another witness, said Mr Beal, spoke of Petrauske being ‘really into witchcraft’ and claimed that he would refer to himself as a chief or lord. Petrauake allegedly told police that he was a ‘white witch, a pagan and not a Christian’ and ‘the high priest of a white witch coven’. Detectives discovered daggers, a whip, candles, incense and lavender at his home, the court heard. The historic abuse was only investigated by police last year when Kemp was arrested in connection with another incident, causing rumours to spread around his home town of Falmouth and prompting the alleged victims to contact detectives. The abuse charges cover three decades from the late 1970s to 2009. Kemp faces 15 charges of sexual assaults on youngsters aged between three and 15, while Petrauske, also from Falmouth, faces three charges of indecent assault and one of rape. The trial of both men is due to last around four weeks. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Peter Petrauske, 72, from Falmouth, faces three charges of indecent assault and one of rape .
Jack Kemp, 69, also from Falmouth, faces 15 charges of sexual assault on youngsters aged between three and 15 .
Truro Crown Court heard alleged abuse spans three decades . |
24,066 | 444ac9067cab9e782838cd1e30cfe6a9a3a854c9 | (CNN) -- South Africa got its Africa Cup of Nations campaign back on track with its first victory in the competition since 2004. The host nation defeated Angola 2-0 in Durban to leave it within touching distance of the quarterfinals following the disappointment of the opening day draw with minnow Cape Verde. On this occasion, Bafana Bafana was far more impressive and goals from defender Siyabonga Sangweni and substitute striker Lehlohonolo Majoro secured the points. Africa Cup of Nations 2013: The teams . South Africa face Morocco on Sunday with only a draw needed to take it through to the next stage. "I gambled today because it was a must-win situation," coach Gordon Igesund told reporters following the win against Angola. "We had four defenders, one holding midfielder and the other five players were committed to attacking. "The players believed in themselves -- the nerves that affected us so much against Cape Verde were gone. It was not easy out there on the pitch with the weather so hot." Cape Verde's 'Special One' Morocco will need to defeat South Africa to guarantee its place in the last-eight after it came from behind to secure a 1-1 draw against Cape Verde. Substitute Youssef El Arabi scored a 78th minute equalizer to deny the Blue Sharks its bid to become the smallest ever nation to win a game at the tournament. Appearing in its first Africa Cup of Nations since gaining independence from Portugal in 1975, many expected Cape Verde to struggle on the international stage. But having defeated Cameroon in qualifying and held South Africa to a 0-0 draw in its opening game, Cape Verde's players showed little fear. Fuad Ibrahim eyes Africa Cup of Nations chance . And with 35 minutes on the clock, Ryan Mendes' pass released Platini and the striker produced a wonderfully deft finish to place the ball into the net. That goal looked to have secured a famous victory for Cape Verde but Morocco refused to lie down and with just 12 minutes left, El Arabi popped up to fire home a leveler. "We made another draw, but we are still alive. I am very happy with this result -- a great one for our country. My players worked very well and proved they have qualities," Cape Verde coach Luis Antunes told reporters. The result leaves both teams in with a chance of qualifying having taken two points from the opening two games. Meanwhile, there was bad news for Tunisia after its star striker Issam Jemaa was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a knee problem. | South Africa wins its first Africa Cup of Nations game in nine years .
Host nation defeats Angola 2-0 in Durban to take top spot .
Cape Verde denied historic victory by Morocco .
Youssef El Arabi's 78th minute strike claims point for Atlas Lions . |
5,980 | 10f8d22c13e7ddeb6caef6b3687339e653b01054 | Most three year olds can't wait for summer so they can play outdoors for hours on end. But for one little boy, being out in the sun causes his skin to blister and burn uncontrollably. Eddison Miller has become one of the youngest people to be diagnosed with a rare and incurable genetic condition which makes him completely intolerant to all UV rays. Eddison's parents Nicola and Andrew Miller try to keep his life as normal as possible, but every part of their son must be covered by UV-protective clothing when he ventures outside. He must wear gloves and a hat with attached visor made of specialist film that covers his face, neck and shoulders and clothes specially selected to block UV rays. Scroll down for video . Three-year-old Eddison Miller must wear a UV-protective suit and visor (pictured left and right) to play outdoors, as he suffers from a rare condition that causes his skin to severely burn in UV light . Eddison was diagnosed with incurable genetic condition xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) at three months old. The condition affects fewer than 1,000 around the world and means he is at an increased risk of getting cancer from sunlight . Eddison must be covered by factor 50+ sun block every three hours (he is pictured left and right playing in his protective suit). He also plays in his own specially-designed indoor garden when it's too bright outside . Eddison's body must also be covered by factor 50+ sun block every three hours and he plays in his own, specially-designed, indoor garden when it is too bright outside. He suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a condition which means he could get cancer from sunlight. His condition affects fewer than 100 people in Britain and about 2,000 around the world, but he is one of the youngest to be told he has the disorder. Mrs Miller, from Kingsnorth, Kent, said their lives 'completely changed' after Eddison's diagnosis at just three months. The 36-year-old, said: 'The condition affects every aspect of his life and we have to think of things that others would take for granted. 'People don't understand the everyday issues we have to consider. 'We have to make sure Eddison isn't near to the door when the postman opens the letterbox and we have had to have an AC system installed because we can't open any windows in our house. 'But he is just a normal little boy. He loves getting messy in his sandpit, playing on his bike or with his little brother Raife. 'Our goal is just to help him live his life like a normal child.' Eddison started displaying symptoms of being extremely sensitive to both natural and artificial light at just three months old. Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP) is a life-altering genetic condition characterised by an extreme sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) rays. UV is in sunlight, most artificial lighting and even lightning. Unless patients with XP are protected from UV, their skin and eyes may be severely damaged and this can lead to cancer. XP is an extremely rare hereditary condition with less than 100 cases in the UK. About 30 per cent of people with XP also develop neurological abnormalities which can include hearing loss and loss of mobility. There is no cure for XP, but much can be done to prevent and treat some of the problems it causes. These include protection from UV, including total daylight avoidance, specialised clothing and sunscreens. People with XP must also undergo frequent skin, eye and neurological examinations and have prompt removal of cancerous tissue. Source: Teddington Trust . His eyes and skin were worst affected and he developed severe abnormal burns. After initially assuming he was suffering from allergies a number of hospital visits and tests at St Thomas' hospital in London later revealed he had XP. Eddison's family said that it was a common misconception that having XP simply meant keeping out of direct sunlight. Mrs Miller, said: 'UV is present during all daylight hours and danger is still present indoors, with UV rays emitted by many sources of artificial lighting.' She added that the family looks forward to the clocks going back. 'During the summer I calculated that Eddison and I spent less than 24 hours outside in six weeks so obviously that's an extremely challenging time of year,' she said. 'But the minute the clocks go back we get so much more time outside - it's wonderful. 'I know Eddison is going to face many challenges in his life but it is our job as parents to make sure he gets as much out of life as possible.' Following the diagnosis Eddison's aunt Rebecca Stewart from Cushnie, Aberdeenshire set up a fundraising group called the Teddington Trust. Overwhelmed by the support received by the Trust, Eddison's family decided they would build on its success and try and help others with the rare disorder. Now they have launched their own set of teddy bears and books and hope their 'Little Ted' products can be sent to all the estimated affected 300 children in the world. Mrs Miller, said: 'We looked for ways to help educate Eddison in understanding his condition, and we immediately looked for appropriate reading that might help us find the words to explain this. 'Eddison loved the initial story I wrote, and really engaged with it so before long I started thinking of further additions to this and a small series of 'Little Ted' stories emerged. Eddison's parents say their goal is to help him live his life like a normal child. Here he is pictured with parents Nicola and Andrew and brother Raife . Eddison is pictured being slathered with factor 50 sunblock by mother Nicola. Mrs Miller said: 'He is just a normal little boy. He loves getting messy in his sandpit, playing on his bike or with his little brother Raife' 'We have set ourselves a goal to provide a copy free of charge to all children within our reach around the world affected by XP.' The illustrator of the book, Michael Howdon, said: 'I feel very privileged to be a part of the Teddington project; it's fantastic to work on a book that will help children across the world, it has been a very rewarding experience.' A spokesman for Parkers Design & Print, who are printing the book, added: 'Receiving the book and teddy that the Teddington Trust have so lovingly and expertly created from scratch, could make a massive impact on the children who suffer from XP and their supportive families. 'We feel very privileged to been a small cog in that wonderfully energetic process.' To donate, visit: http://www.teddingtontrust.com/ . Eddison's mother says she calculated they spent only 24 hours in six weeks outdoors last summer. Pictured left and right, Eddison is seen playing at night time, when he can go outside . | Eddison Miller, three, is completely intolerant to all UV rays .
Any contact with sunlight or UV rays in artificial light burns his skin .
Has been diagnosed with rare condition xeroderma pigmentosum (XP)
It means he is at an increased risk of developing cancer from sunlight .
Last summer, he spent just 24 hours outdoors in six weeks .
He must be covered in UV-protective clothing and a visor to go outdoors .
Also has to be covered in factor 50+ sun block every three hours .
Plays in his own specially-designed indoor garden when it's bright outside .
His aunt has set up a fundraising group called the Teddington Trust .
Trust has written a book it hopes to give to every XP sufferer free-of-charge . |
33,990 | 609981615e90ef4ee7e5c06f62a34d0654c32325 | By . Ollie Gillman for MailOnline . A house in London thought to be one of the smallest in Britain is up for sale, but it will set buyers back more than a quarter of a million pounds. The pint-sized property is made up of just 188 sq ft of living space but still crams in a kitchen, living area, bathroom and bedroom. Described by estate agents as 'unique', the cosy home boasts just one room and its front door is underneath the bed. Scroll down for video . A 188 sq ft house in an exclusive part of north London is up for sale for more than a quarter of a million pounds . The pint-sized, one-roomed property, in Barnsbury, Islington, will set its future buyer back £275,000 . The bedroom, suspended above the front door, is just 7ft 7ins x 5ft 8ins in size but does have storage space . The house's buyers will be forced to walk across the kitchen worktop before balancing on narrow steps, to make it to the 7ft 7ins x 5ft 8ins airborne 'bedroom'. The raised living area, complete with cushions and a small table, also has a small amount of storage space. The house is on the highly-sought after Richmond Avenue, one street away from Tony Blair's former house on Richmond Crescent. Blair sold that house for £615,000 in 1997 but it is now worth more than £3million. The future owners will brush shoulders with Hi-de-Hi! actress Su Pollard, who lives on Richmond Avenue. Despite being barely the size of a lock-up garage, the home, in Barnsbury, North London, will set buyers back £275,000 - more than £1,450 a square foot. Research by MailOnline earlier this year showed that in some parts of London, house prices rose by almost five times the average wage. The average house price in Westminster rose by an astonishing £160,810 to £976,822 in a year, while workers took home a median salary of £34,092. The housing bubble has forced many Londoners into renting, but in turn this has pushed up rent and demand for flats across the capital. Some landlords have split their family homes into tiny 'semi studios', meaning they can make more money but leaving tenants in cramped accommodation. Platinum Property Partners, a buy-to-let mortgage lender, said recently that landlords could make up to £38,000 in annual rental income by splitting a family home into flats, compared to around £18,000 if they did not. The raised living area, complete with cushions and a small table, also has a small amount of storage space . The bathroom is the only separate room in the house, but is barely large enough to fit a lavatory and a shower . The house's buyers will be forced to walk across the kitchen worktop before climbing steps to make it to bed . Winkworths, the estate agent selling the house, described it as 'unique' and added that they had already had a number of calls about it. He said: 'It's possibly the smallest house in the world. It's just been developed and put on the market. 'I think it will probably sell to an investor who'll let it as a short-let. It's a great crash pad for the area. It's got everything a house would have and the space is cleverly used. 'There's storage under the raised part of the living area, a patio out the front and a window. I've been to the property and it's a really sweet house - it works.' The house is on the highly-sought after Richmond Avenue, the home of Su Pollard and just one street away from Tony Blair's former house on Richmond Crescent . At least it has a front garden: Winkworths, the estate agent selling the house, say they have already had a number of calls about the property . The house, pictured centre left, looks more like a garage seen next to larger two and three-storey neighbours . While house prices and rent in London continue to soar, for just £5,000 more than the price of this property a buyer could purchase a two-bed house in the Lake District. A converted hotel, situated just a few miles from Windermere, Cumbria, has an open-plan kitchen, patio and its own parking space and costs £280,000. For the same price a buyer could pick up a three-bed detached family home in Penryn, Cornwall. One such house, with an asking price of £275,000, has a large double bedroom with an en suite bathroom, two bedrooms for children and a large back garden. Yours for £275,000: This house in Penryn, Cornwall has a large double bedroom with an en suite bathroom, two bedrooms for children and a large back garden . A converted hotel, situated just a mile from Windermere in Ambleside, Cumbria, costs £280,000 . The bright two-bed house has an open-plan kitchen, patio, family-sized living room and its own parking space . Guinness World Records currently recognise a house in Conwy, north Wales, as Britain's smallest house. The house, aptly called The Smallest House in Great Britain, is just 10ft tall and has two rooms. It can only fit four people at a time and it around 6ft wide, but thousands of tourists still pay the £1 (50p for children) fee to enter the cramped, red house every year. It was occupied for about 200 years until local fisherman Robert Jones, who was 6ft 3ins tall, moved out in 1900. Local tour guide Anne Fletcher, 58, dons traditional Welsh dress to give visitors an authentic experience, and explained why the pint-sized home is a mecca for mini-home spotters the world over. She said: 'Thousands of people come to the Smallest House in Great Britain each year. That means we get hundreds of people every week during the height of summer.' | House in Barnsbury, north London, will cost buyer £1,450 a square foot .
'Unique' property on sought-after Richmond Avenue has just one room .
Visitors walk through the front door to find themselves under the bed .
£275,000 asking price would buy a three-bed family home in Cornwall .
Two-bed house in an idyllic town in the Lake District costs £5,000 more .
London housing bubble continues to force buyers into cramped homes . |
158,627 | 590f724b3c365b46b81f2fa3b49c0d2685ad49e4 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 05:25 EST, 28 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 06:40 EST, 28 August 2012 . A distraught pet owner hopes his beloved parrot which whistles Monty Python’s Always Look On The Bright Side of Life has not 'ceased to be' after it was dramatically stolen. Talented Jasper, a 20-year-old African Grey, also repeats his owner’s name and greets people with 'good morning' or 'good night' and 'go careful'. Police have launched an investigation after the pet was taken from his cage outside his owner Richard Bonnett’s home last Friday. Scroll down for video . Search: Pet parrot Jasper whistles Monty Python's 'Always Look On The Bright Side of Life' and his distraught owner hopes someone will hear the stolen bird singing it . And the student nurse, 33, has appealed for people in Lincolnshire to listen out for Jasper whistling the Monty Python song made famous by the hit 1979 comedy film ‘Life of Brian.’ 'It does sound like something out of a Monty Python sketch but the serious side of this is that someone has stolen a much loved family pet and we are really worried,' he said. 'We had him from a chick and tried to teach him lots of tunes but the only one which has stuck is "Always Look On The Bright Side of Life". Theft: Jasper has been a family pet for 20 years and taken from his cage outside Richard's house in Stickney, Lincolnshire . 'Someone is bound to hear him whistling it because he whistles it all the time, he can’t help it. 'He also says my name "Richard", my dad’s name "John" and copies my mum, Jean, who always says "go careful" whenever someone goes out the house.' Jasper, who is worth several hundred pounds, was taken from his cage after Richard put him in the back garden in Stickney, near Boston, when it was warm weather. Mr Bonnett added: 'My mum had gone to my sister’s house in Sibsey and on nice days we always left Jasper in his cage in our back garden which is out of sight of the road. Bereft of life: Jasper's owner admits it does sound a bit like the famous Monty Python dead parrot sketch but added he is really worried . Classic: In the Monty Python sketch John Cleese's character comes across a shopkeeper who won't accept the parrot he sold was dead . 'We think he was taken at about at about 12:30pm. 'We suspect that he has been stolen to order by someone hoping to sell him on. 'He was probably stuffed in a sack and taken to god where knows where. 'We are all extremely upset about what’s happened but especially my dad as he was his pet before I started looking after him. 'He is tame for me and my dad but is unlikely to take to anyone else as he’s been in my family for 20 years.' The iconic Parrot sketch became one of the most famous routines by Monty Python. The sketch involved John Cleese complaining to Michael Palin about being sold a dead parrot. As Cleese becomes increasingly irate he lists a string of phrases to explain the bird’s demise - including 'this bird is no more', 'it is deceased', 'this is an ex-parrot'. Scam: Cleese's character discovers the Norwegian Blue was nailed to his perch and is 'bleedin demised' Lincolnshire Police are now appealing for information about Jasper’s whereabouts and said they were increasingly worried about the safety of Jasper the parrot. 'The welfare of the bird is of immediate concern and we would urge anyone who knows where it is to contact police or arrange for it to be returned to the owner without delay,' Pc Dave Eldridge said. 'Anyone who has been offered a parrot for sale should call 101.' Jasper was stolen between 9am and 3pm last Friday. A force spokesman added: 'The bird is 20 years old and is described as 12' tall, grey body with a patchy white and grey head with a red tail. 'The bird is much loved and says phrases including the start of the Monty Python song, 'Always Look On The Bright Side of Life', which it then continues to whistle.' | Jasper was stolen from outside his owner's home in Lincolnshire last week .
Bereft Richard Bonnett wants the public to listen out for his parrot whistling Always Look On The Bright Side of Life .
He admits it sounds like a Monty Python sketch but he is genuinely distraught about his beloved Jasper's disappearance .
'Someone is bound to hear him whistling it because he whistles it all the time, he can’t help it,' he said . |
58,183 | a4f4d4dc0d40c60baa06017088e5a2d480d39627 | In a State of the Union address 50 years ago this month, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared "unconditional war on poverty." Over the next year and a half, anti-poverty warriors developed new health insurance programs for the elderly and the poor, increased Social Security benefits and introduced food stamps and nutritional supplements for low-income pregnant women and infants. They established Head Start programs for young children, Upward Bound and Job Corps programs for teenagers, and work-study opportunities for college students. It is often forgotten that this was a bipartisan campaign. A Republican president, Richard Nixon, and legislators from both sides of the aisle expanded the War on Poverty in the early 1970s. Nixon extended the reach of the food stamp program, added an automatic cost-of-living increase to Social Security and instituted the Supplemental Security Income system to benefit disabled adults and children. He even proposed a guaranteed national income though that died in the Senate after passing in the House. Yet in 1988, President Ronald Reagan declared that the war was over, and that "poverty won." His claim that "government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem" still serves as the mantra for politicians seeking to dismantle America's social safety net. The truth is that the war on poverty produced some stunning successes, many of which are still felt today. And it likely could have produced more if politicians hadn't abandoned it in the 1980s, at the very moment that America's working families were facing heightened assaults on their living standards. In 1963, despite more than 15 years of prior economic expansion, the child poverty rate was almost 25%. By the early 1970s it had been lowered to 15%. Between 1967 and 1975, poverty among elders was cut in half. As of 1963, 20% of Americans living below the poverty line had never been examined by a physician; by 1970 this was true of only 8%. Between 1965 and 1980, infant mortality was halved, thanks to Medicaid and other government-subsidized health programs. The nutritional level of poor Americans improved substantially between the mid-1960s and the late 1970s, thanks to food stamp and school lunch programs. Children who received food stamps in the 1970s were less likely than children from similarly low-income families to develop diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure -- or to rely on welfare programs -- as adults. But since the late 1970s, economic insecurity has risen again, except during the brief economic boom of the late 1990s. The resurgence of poverty is not because government programs have "gotten in the way" but because they have not done enough to get in the way of market forces going in the wrong direction. Historically, it has required a combination of favorable employment trends and active government intervention to lower the percentage of people in poverty and raise living standards for the working middle class. During the 1960s, rising real wages for low-income and high-income workers, due in part to rapid economic growth and the spread of unionization, worked in tandem with expanding government support systems to improve Americans' well-being. After the mid-1970s, however, the free market moved in the opposite direction. Between 1973 and 1986, the real median income of families headed by a person under 30 dropped by about 27%. The rise of single-parent families contributed to this decline, but the poverty rate for young married couples with children also doubled between 1973 and 1988. Unemployment spells became more common and lengthier. Between 1979 and 1987, the real wages of high school graduates fell by 18%, while those of high school dropouts plummeted by 42%. By the 1980s, income inequality had begun its long rise to the record-setting levels we have seen in recent years. Yet during this period of falling real wages, politicians began winding down the war on poverty. In the 1980s, they shifted the tax burden from income taxes to more regressive payroll taxes, slashed investments in urban renewal, housing and transportation, and cut back on services to the poor. Between 1970 and 1991, the purchasing power of the typical welfare benefit decreased by more than 40%. For three decades, aside from a brief respite in the 1990s, the market forces heightening financial insecurity and poverty have become even stronger, but our political leaders have failed to strengthen the social safety net enough to counteract their ill effects. In 1968, the minimum wage was 55% of the median full-time wage. Today, a minimum-wage worker earns just 37% of the median wage. The median benefit for a family of three under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs amounts to only about one-third the poverty level, and many families are now reaching the lifetime limits imposed on eligibility. Still, as sociologist Philip Cohen shows in a study released Monday by the Council on Contemporary Families, government anti-poverty programs are all that stand in the way of an even worse scenario for American families. Tax credits for low-wage jobs and dependent children -- which bring cash refunds to many poor families -- reduce child poverty by almost 7%. Food stamps (now threatened with substantial cuts) decrease poverty by an additional 3%. As of 2011, the major means-tested aid programs in the United States were rescuing almost 2.4 million children from extreme poverty every month, even though they were leaving behind more than 1 million more. Without government programs, Cohen reports, about 15 million more people would have fallen into poverty between 2007 and 2012. It is a myth that government is the problem rather than part of the solution. In 1999, Great Britain had an even higher child poverty rate than we do today. The British government responded with an ambitious anti-poverty campaign, raising the minimum wage, increasing subsidized maternity leaves and providing free preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds. Within a decade, Britain reduced child poverty by somewhere between one-quarter and one half. Surely America can do as well. | Stephanie Coontz: Aid programs changed lives since LBJ declared "war on poverty"
Coontz: Despite gains among young and elderly, politicians began cutting safety net in '80s .
She says mix of good employment trends, government help reduces poverty .
Coontz: Market forces boost insecurity, poverty, yet pols won't strengthen safety net . |
184,677 | 7b35c0571f4a527db38be2e1e928544164e86905 | By . Martha De Lacey . PUBLISHED: . 06:40 EST, 20 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 08:56 EST, 20 December 2013 . The 'Downton Effect' has sparked a trend for formal festive celebrations in homes throughout the UK, with sales of fish knives, candelabras and elaborate, Lady Mary-style gowns soaring. Britons will be dressing up for Christmas Day, with 64 per cent of women opting to wear an evening dress, heels and jewellery at lunch, compared to just 29 per cent in 2012. But it doesn't stop with the dress: Christmas . tables will also be fit for Lord and Lady Grantham. Premium glassware, cutlery and crockery have . been flying off the shelves in recent months, with dessert spoons up 43 . per cent, fish knives up 37 per cent, and best china soaring by 59 per . cent. Soup spoons and pastry forks have also seen an increase, according to research by Debenhams. Downton Abbey has sparked a trend for more festive Christmas celebrations, with sales of elaborate glassware and crockery soaring, along with candelabras . Sales of formal occasion dresses at the department store have rocketed 32 per cent in the last couple of months, as British beauties snap up glamorous gowns similar to those worn by Lady Mary and her sisters in Downton Abbey. Women spend 42 minutes getting dressed on Christmas Day, on average, applying make-up and styling their hair before appearing at midday to face their public. And 43 per cent of women having bought either a new piece of jewellery or pair of heels to wear on the day, with 35 per cent hoping they will find a handbag under the tree to complete the look. A still from this year's Downton Abbey Christmas special, which is screened on ITV on Christmas Day at 8.30pm . Women spend 42 minutes getting dressed on . Christmas Day, on average, applying make-up and styling their hair . before appearing at midday to face their public - and this year the intention is to emulate the Crawley family . Ed Watson, spokesman for Debenhams says: 'The Downton ladies know how to dress for any occasion, so it's little surprise their style has influenced this year's festive dress code. 'It's a similar story when it comes to Christmas tables - we have always seen a peak in posh tableware sales at this time of year but the increase in fish knives and dessert spoons shows that people are paying particular attention to their table setting this year.' Upmarket tableware has been flying off the shelves in recent months with table runners up 29 per cent, crystal glassware up 32 per cent, and candelabras up 31 per cent. The Downton Abbey Christmas of 2011 . Ed Watson continues; 'Our customers are taking as much pride in their wardrobe as they are their home and are investing in items which will give them a sense of one-upmanship amongst their guests. 'We have seen a rise in the popularity of place settings and table dressing with 'best china' and crystal glassware sales soaring. Our customers are bidding to outdo the Jones' this Christmas with lavish table displays. 'We are thrilled our customers are recreating the Downton look at home and it just shows you don't need to a team of servants to do it.' Areas where formalwear and formal tableware sales have been most popular include; Birmingham, Belfast and Doncaster, showing sales rates of knives and forks that were nearly equal. An array of royal celebrations in recent years including; the Royal Wedding and the Queen's Jubilee were also given as reasons behind the change in a survey of 2,000 customers. Ed Watson concludes; 'Come early evening when the relatives leave and the silverware has been washed, women can take off the glitz and retreat into a snuggly onesie, leaving the glamour to the Crawley ladies.' The Downton Abbey Christmas special is screened on ITV on Christmas Day at 8.30pm . | Sales of premium tableware have risen by around 45% .
Some 64% of women wear evening dress, heels and jewellery at lunch .
Debenhams research shows rise in table runner and pastry fork sales . |
64,226 | b6643a9521e8a3a9d5894af405f73f2fd5226c46 | By . Bianca London . PUBLISHED: . 08:15 EST, 6 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:36 EST, 6 March 2014 . Indian 'baby farms' are thriving as demand from couples from developed countries, including the UK, soars. Infertile couples are turning to women in India to carry and give birth to their children, as commercial surrogacy is not legal in certain countries, or if it is legal, can be prohibitively expensive. The money these women are earn - as much as £4,700 per pregnancy - is transforming communities. Indian 'baby farms' are helping poverty-stricken women and their families in India move from the slums to comfortable homes and set up businesses . The Akanksha Infertility Clinic in . Anand, a small town in the Indian state of Gujarat, is at the . forefront of the commercial surrogacy in India. The treatment at the clinic costs from £17,000 with the surrogate receiving about £4,700 as a fee. The surrogates generally come from poor backgrounds. In India, about one third of the population lives on less than 75p a day. The clinic started offering surrogacy services about ten years ago, and since then more than 700 babies have been delivered there. The money paid to women for carrying other people's babies has had a huge economic impact on families in the surrounding villages . Sarla Patelia, 40, lives in a village called Manjipura about 25km from Anand. She was a surrogate in 2009 and 2012. With the money she earned, she built a new two-storey house and moved her family out of the hut with a tin-roof they were living in previously. She has two sons, aged nine and 10. 'It completely changed our lives,' she says, explaining that her husband, Shashikant, 44, had a tumour and she was able to pay for a life-saving operation which cost 150,000 rupees (£1,470), which they otherwise would not have been able to afford. Infertile couples sometimes opt for a surrogate mother in India to carry and give birth to their child - with the surrogate receiving around £4,700 . In India, about one third of the population lives on less than 75p a day so women are reportedly joining a 'long queue' to act as a surrogate . The Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Anand has been at the forefront of the commercial surrogacy in India . Surrogates always come from very poor backgrounds and often use the money to build houses . 'We don't actually have a source of income at the moment,' she says. 'We're still living off the money from the surrogacy.' Neeta Makwara, 30, who lives not far away in the village of Nadiad, gave birth to a baby boy for a foreign couple in 2008 and to twins for another couple in 2011. The first time, her husband, a rickshaw driver, squandered all the money she received. But the second time, she used the money to build a three-storey house and now makes a bit of cash each month from renting out the ground floor. Commercial surrogacy became legal in India in 2002 but it is illegal in countries including the UK and Australia. A surrogate cannot legally be paid to carry a child in the UK; only their expenses can be covered. The clinic started offering surrogacy services about ten years ago and more than 700 babies being delivered there to date . The majority of demand comes from foreign couples and Indian couples who have settled abroad . Commercial surrogacy is available in parts of the United States but costs about five times as much as it does in India. Dr Nayna Patel, the medical director of the Akanksha centre, says that affordability is a factor for foreign couples opting for surrogacy in India, but that it is also popular because Indian doctors and medical technology are well-regarded and the poor rural women generally lead clean-living lifestyles. 'The surrogates are considered trustworthy, committed, and the vices like drugs, smoking, and drinking are not seen amongst women,' says Dr Patel. A British couple, who wish to remain anonymous, used the clinic last year after the wife was left unable to have children following a botched operation at a clinic in London. One doctor has spoken out to dismiss concerns often raised that the surrogate mother might become bonded to the child and not want to give the baby up . The couple had a baby girl who was genetically their own through a surrogate in India. The wife, 37, a management consultant, explains that she was apprehensive of using the treatment at first. 'When you're from the West, you don't do this lightly,' she says. 'When we did the research and visited we were reassured that the women were volunteering and it wasn't exploitative. We're obviously very conscious of human rights.' She contacted other clinics in India, which seemed much 'more commercial and pushy', before deciding on the Akanksha Infertility Clinic. She says burst into tears after the surrogate mother and her husband visited the baby a couple of weeks after she was born. The women are screened and selected based on having a healthy uterus. In some case the surrogates will also get a bonus from the couple . The minute a woman delivers the baby is handed over to the genetic parents . 'They were thanking me, which is what made me emotional because they've given me this baby. The surrogate's husband was able to start his own diamond business with the money. 'They're moving into a bigger house. For them, this money means so much. This place actually helps people. Yes, it helps people like myself and my husband, who have been married 11 years and have tried lots of different avenues to have a child. 'We've got the happiness of a lifetime now having this child but it's not just a one-way thing. It helps the surrogates and their families as well.' Dr Jatin Shah has a clinic in Mumbai called the Mumbai Infertility Clinic and IVF Centre, which last year handled the surrogate birth of a baby boy for the Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan. Dr Jatin Shah runs a clinic in Mumbai called the Mumbai Infertility Clinic and IVF Centre, which only serves Indian residents or Indian expats . The clinic oversees about ten surrogate cases a month, but only offers the service to Indian residents or Indian expats. Dr Shah explains that he wants to see a proper surrogacy law in place in India before he starts catering to foreigners. There is an Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill but the actual law has yet to be passed. Dr Shah explains that there is no issue with finding women who are willing to act as surrogates and that there is a 'long queue' of potential candidates who approach the clinics. They are screened and selected based on having a healthy uterus. The clinic pays surrogates almost 400,000 rupees (£3,860) for carrying a child. In some case the surrogates will also get a bonus from the couple. Dr Shah dismisses concerns often raised that the surrogate mother might become bonded to the child and not want to give the baby up. 'Why should it happen?' he says. 'She needs the money. I haven't heard of a single case yet in India. When you go to the grassroots and talk to the mother, she has two of her own children, she is doing this for the money. 'She has no interest in getting linked up to the child. She can't look after her own, so there is no question of looking after somebody else's child.' They could also face legal challenges in such a situation, Dr Shah explains. 'There's a legal contract between the surrogate mother and the patient, so how will she turn around? And she delivers under the care of the doctor in the nursing home. 'The minute she delivers the baby is handed over to the genetic parents. Unless she absconds in the fifth month and disappears. Why would she do that because she needs that money? 'We've done about a hundred surrogates and they've all just been very happy that they've been paid the promised amount and from that money they could buy their husband a taxi or buy themselves a house or pay for their kids' education. 'That is their motive which we fulfill for them.' There's a legal contract between the surrogate mother and the patient and she delivers under the care of the doctor in the nursing home . | Akanksha Infertility Clinic in .
Anand at forefront of commercial surrogacy .
Treatment costs from £17,000 with surrogate receiving about £4,700 as fee .
Surrogates always come from very poor backgrounds .
About one .
third of population lives on less than 75p a day . |
28,958 | 523470eee1ec57a09378df162c26c39241e238a3 | Jerusalem (CNN) -- A letter from about 30 prominent rabbis' wives was causing a stir in Israel Wednesday because it urges Israeli girls not to date Arabs. The open letter comes three weeks after the uproar caused by another letter, which was written by 50 state-appointed rabbis and told Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews. The latest missive, which was published by some websites and news outlets, says Arab men act polite around Jewish girls and "act as if they really care about you," but it says that's a ruse. The men, it says, even change their Arab names to Hebrew forms like Yossi and Ami in order to get close to the girls. "This behavior is temporary," the letter says. "As soon as you are in their hands, in their villages under their control, everything becomes different. You can ask dozens of girls who have been there. They will tell you it is all an act. "As soon as you arrive at the village, your life will never be the same. The attention will be replaced with curses, beatings, and humiliations. Even if you want to leave the village it will be much harder. They won't let you, they will chase you, they won't let you come back." It urges Jewish girls not to go out with non-Jews or work in places that employ non-Jews. "Your grandmothers never dreamt that their descendants would do something that will take the next generations of her family out of the Jewish people," it says. The letter was initiated by the head of Lehava, an extreme right-wing group that says it aims to prevent the "assimilation of the Jewish people" and works at "saving Jewish girls from Arab villages." "It's known that girls who go out with Arabs are beaten, these girls are in danger. ... There is a violent social trend and everyone ignores it," said the head of the group, Anat Gopstein, in a radio interview Wednesday morning. The head of Israel's Reform movement, Rabbi Gilad Kariv, harshly condemned the letter and said, "Israeli society is falling into a deep, dark pit of racism and xenophobia," according to spokeswoman Yuli Goren. More than 30 female rabbis from the Reform movement published a counter-letter harshly condemning the one released Wednesday, Goren said. Kariv also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yaacov Neeman to speak out against it. Among the rabbis' wives who signed the letter is Nitzchia Yossef, the daughter-in-law of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas political party. Esther Lior, the wife of extreme right-wing Rabbi Dov Lior, was another signatory. Rabbi Yosef was one of the authors of the letter written earlier this month that urged Jews not to sell or rent property to non-Jews. It prompted widespread condemnation from politicians, human rights groups and leading rabbis in both Israel and the United States. The letter, which was distributed to synagogues and published in some religious newspapers, had warned that those who defied the religious ruling should be ostracized. It said if one apartment is taken by a non-Jew, it devalues all the neighbors' apartments. More than 800 rabbis from around the world signed a petition against the letter, saying "statements like these do great damage to our efforts to encourage people to love and support Israel." The petition said "the attempt to root discriminatory policies based on religion or ethnicity in Torah is a painful distortion of our tradition. Am Yisrael (the Jewish people) knows the sting of discrimination, and we still bear the scars of hatred. When those who represent the official rabbinic leadership of the state of Israel express such positions, we are distressed by this ... desecration of God's name." Nearly 1.5 million Arab residents live inside Israel, making up 23% of the population. A poll published Tuesday by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem showed that 48% of Israelis oppose the call to avoid renting or selling property to Arabs. | The letter is written by prominent rabbis' wives .
It says girls should not date or work with Arab men .
It follows another letter urging Jews not to sell or rent property to Arabs . |
255,484 | d6b17295648502673852483a656e555c625a23af | By . Sarah Dean . The former child actress, who exposed her Hey Dad! co-star Robert Hughes of his child sex abuse, is moving on from her home in Texas, USA after urging other victims to come forward against celebrity perpetrators of sex crimes. Sarah Monahan put the San Antonio house she shares with her American husband, Matt Morris, on the market almost a month after Hughes was jailed for at least six years for 10 child sex offences. And last week, she urged other abuse victims to come forward against celebrity perpetrators of sex crimes, in the wake of Rolf Harris being found guilty of indecently assaulting four girls in the UK. The brave ex-actress first spoke out about Hughes in March 2010, when in an interview with Woman's Day magazine she revealed that she was sexually abused on the set of Hey Dad! sometime between 1987 to 1994. Ms Monahan played schoolgirl Jenny Kelly on the sitcom from the age six. Scroll down for video . Moving on: Sarah Monahan spoke out about actor Robert Hughes who abused her on the set of Hey Dad! Convicted: Rolf Harris (left) has been found guilty of of indecently assaulting four girls in the UK. Robert Hughes (right) was sentenced on May 16 to a maximum 10 years nine months with a non parole period of six years for the child sex offences he committed between 1983 and 1991 . The Australian, now 37, is advertising the property on her website. 'It's been a wonderful home for us. I've actually lived there longer than any other house,' she wrote. 'We threw amazing parties there, it's perfect for entertaining. We're sad to leave such a beautiful home, but we know someone else will enjoy it as much as we did,' Ms Monahan, who was born in Sydney and met her husband in Brisbane, added. Hughes, 65, was sentenced on May 16 to a maximum 10 years nine months with a non parole period of six years for the child sex offences he committed between 1983 and 1991. Speaking out last week after Harris was found guilty of indecently assaulting four girls in the UK, she said: 'I know there's several people in Australia who are wondering whether to speak up about others in the industry. You don't have to go public like I did, but please go to the police.' Predator on the set: Judge Peter Zahra said Robert Hughes wandered naked among Hey Dad cast members (above) and that he placed his hand on the bottom of child star Sarah Monahan (right), exposed his penis to her and after one episode grabbed and touched her intimately while pretending to tickle her . 'Let's keep speaking up about these unspeakable acts. Let's teach these predators that they are no longer untouchable. 'When I went public four years ago, it was still taboo to point the finger at a celebrity for having committed a sex crime,' she said. Describing the house which she hopes to sell now that she and her husband have relocated to be closer to her job, she said: 'The house is in the city of Windcrest. It has it's own police and fire departments, with an average response time of 90 seconds. – yep, we know from experience.' Ms Monahan and her husband are making a fresh start away from their 2,400 square foot house in a much smaller home after she became 'fascinated with the tiny house' movement, which advocates living simply in small homes. American home: Ms Monahan and her husband are making a fresh start away from their 2,400 sqare foot house in Texas, USA . 'It's been a wonderful home for us': Writing about the house she is leaving behind, Ms Monahan said she ensured it had an Australian element with a salt water pool . The tiny house movement is a return to houses less than 1,000 square feet, and Monahan has bought one with wheels - similar to an RV - which is built to last as long as traditional homes. Writing about the house she is leaving behind, she said she had ensured it had an Australian element to it despite being located in Texas, USA. 'We changed the pool equipment and now have a salt water pool. I really missed salt water pools from Australia, so Matt upgraded for me. It’s 12,000 gallons of backyard bliss,' she said. When Hughes was sentenced before a packed gallery at the Sydney District Court, Judge Peter Zahra said he had not expressed remorse. Hey Dad! cast members (clockwise from left) Christopher Truswell, Julie McGregor, Paul Smith, Sarah Monahan, Robert Hughes and Simone Buchanan . Hughes (left), pictured arriving at Downing Centre Local Court in March, was convicted of 10 child sex offences. Ms Monahan (right) starred as his young on-screen daughter, Jenny . 'His conduct continued over 20 years. [Even] after he was questioned by police in 1986 it continued,' he said. 'The offender took advantage of when he was with victims in social settings in his home or at victims' homes. 'He lacks insight into his offending and he is unlikely to access treatment programs.' Ms Monahan reacted to the news by saying she is 'happy' and that she hopes Hughes now 'realises he's a bad man' Judge Zahra said he had considered the 'substantial effect' of Hughes conduct on his victims who now suffered from constant fear, eating disorders and who lacked the ability to lead normal lives. | Sarah Monahan exposed her on-screen father Robert Hughes' sex abuse .
She played schoolgirl Jenny Kelly on Hey Dad! from the age of six .
In May, Hughes was sentenced to a minimum six years in jail .
Was convicted of 10 child sex offences between 1983 and 1991 .
Ms Monahan is now leaving her 'huge' Texas home .
As Rolf Harris was found guilty of abuse last week, she urged other victims to come forward against celebrity perpetrators of sex crimes . |
208,615 | 9a1f7ecd339c06a6404c9ad5d45b499127720054 | Okaloosa Island, Florida (CNN) -- Vacationers were the first to notice the bird fumbling in the water near this popular tourist beach last week. It bobbed and swayed differently than other birds, and didn't react when humans came dangerously close. Once it was ashore, they could see why: a light sheen of oil covered its feathers. Animal health technician Stephanie Neumann tried to rescue the Northern Gannet, but beach safety officers stopped her. Her coworkers at the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge already had stabilized birds and a sea turtle affected by the Gulf oil disaster, but officials wanted to know: Did she have a contract with BP? Could she -- and the bird --wait while they verified her organization's status? "They're trying to do their job," Neumann said as she crouched over the motionless bird, wrapped in a white sheet and barely hidden from the stares of kids and parents. "They have to make sure protocol is followed." When brown clumps of tar began to wash up on the snow-white beaches around Destin last week, the mood in this sunny beach community shifted from optimistic denial to furious worry. Local ideas about how to protect the area clashed with plans from BP, state and federal agencies. Community volunteers struggling to cut through protocol cheered a decision by Okaloosa County to defy BP and the feds. They were done waiting. They'd use their own plans. "This is ridiculous. We'll take the heat. We would do whatever it took to stop the oil," said the county commission chairman, Wayne Harris. After months of wrangling with agencies responding to the spill, Harris wasn't willing to stake the county's ecology and economy only on boom that captures or absorbs oil. The commission authorized emergency management teams to add skimmers, barges and extra boom, and an air wall they hope will push the oil away. They plan to layer prevention measures in the pass that connects the Gulf to Choctawhatchee Bay, where fresh and salt water mix and dolphins play. Harris said the plan could cost up to $6 million per month, which he hopes will be covered by money from BP. The county developed its oil plan in the days after the disaster began to unfold, but it was plagued by miscommunications, disagreements and bureaucracy once it left local hands, Harris said. Communities along the Gulf Coast have made similar complaints. Mayors grilled a BP official about the response during a press conference earlier this month. In Magnolia Springs, Alabama, locals went outside the federal plan and risked incarceration by adding boom and barges to protect Weeks Bay. In Pointe Aux Chenes, Louisiana, Native Americans pitched in to string boom near an island where many of their ancestors are buried. Harris said some of his county's efforts may work; others may not. "Doing something is better than doing nothing," he said. On the Okaloosa Island beach, local response to the oiled Gannet was quicker, but the federal response had less red tape to work through. U.S. Fish and Wildlife workers arrived before Neumann's status was verified, so she left their bird in their care. "Time is essential with these guys," she said. "Every minute counts." For the rest of Okaloosa County, more boom and barges were starting to appear in the water. The county commission vote was "smart," and sped up the state and federal response, said public safety director Dino Villani, who was quickly invited to an "olive branch" meeting in Mobile. Most of the county's preferred plans are moving forward, Villani said, and they'll continue to adapt as the oil moves throughout their waters. Harris said the plans would have gone forward even without approval from BP or other government agencies. "I'm sure they're cussing. I'm sure they're cussing us bad," Harris said. "If we had waited, we'd still be waiting. Why did it take us giving an ultimatum?" Charles Diorio, a Coast Guard commander in Mobile, said some communities decided to implement their own plans once they saw they didn't top the list of state and federal priorities, if they were on the list at all. Some just wanted to act before the mess -- and response agencies' attention -- began to move their way. Now that oil is reaching Florida's shores, resources are shifting there, Diorio said, and there's a plan to meet with Okaloosa commissioners this week. "Now is the time to make sure these relationships are still working and strong and the lines of communication are open," he said. The commission's vote marked a turning point for Okaloosa County residents and vacationers. Even as oil crippled fishing, tourism and ecology in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, wishful thinkers hoped for the best around Destin, which calls itself the "World's Luckiest Fishing Village." "I'm guilty of it. Every day something doesn't happen, you walk down your beach and don't see it, the feeling gets stronger -- until it arrives," Okaloosa County's beach safety division chief Tracey Vause said as he picked gummy tar balls from the sand. "I was infuriated. It's almost like grieving. This is the destination, white, sandy beaches. Now they're not." June is typically a busy month along the area known as Florida's Emerald Coast. Beaches in Destin and Fort Walton are usually packed with families freed from school and work, and the water is crammed with boats. But when traces of oil actually arrived last week, clean-up crews were on land and familiar local fishermen wore life jackets, a tell-tale sign they were called into service for BP. Tourist rentals already were down as much as 50 percent, county officials said. Shops were quiet, service jobs were cut back and only a few umbrellas and towels were scattered across the soft sand. No oil-related illnesses or injuries had been reported as of late last week, said Cecilia Wagner, a community health worker for Okaloosa County. A health advisory warned beachgoers against swimming one day last week, but it was lifted hours later. The arrival of oil spooked residents, and made clear the conflicts between local action and BP's response. On the boardwalk at Okaloosa Island, volunteers cleaned up after a group of campers made oil-absorbing boom from hosiery and animal hair. Boom makers Yente Sehman and Barbara Johnson said they'd prefer boom made with renewable resources in the water around Okaloosa County's beaches, and as oil came closer, more materials and volunteers had showed up to help their efforts. In a warehouse nearby, the pair stacked human and animal hair donations funneled through the non-profit Matter of Trust and postmarked from Missouri, Georgia, Massachusetts, Australia and China. Volunteers packed dog and alpaca hair clippings into the legs of pantyhose, then tied them off and strung them into mesh casings with plastic pieces that float in the water. Already, more than 5,000 boom were stacked inside the warehouse. County officials said they don't want to discourage volunteers, but they aren't planning to use the animal hair boom, except as a last resort. Sehman's phone was busy with calls from local business owners and real estate agents who wanted the boom to protect their businesses, but organizers can't give the boom away without county approval and a clear plan for its disposal. "We live in paradise and everybody wants to believe it's not going to happen to us," Johnson said. "It's turning into anger and frustration. BP, local government, state government, everybody sitting around waiting for someone else to do something. We want to help, but we can't." Still, the women said they won't stop their boom-making effort, especially as more community members notice the empty beaches studded with tar balls and look for ways to get involved. "Once we started, no way," Sehman said. "I'm very proud to live in this county at this point in time. People of this county are going to do what they want to do." | Residents and vacationers in Okaloosa County in Florida are starting to spot tar balls and oiled wildlife on their beaches.
County commissioners voted to respond to the oil spill with their own plans, regardless of whether unified command approved.
Unified command sped up approval of their plans and will meet with commissioners this week. |
170,071 | 681c3cd1d535aebd95f7d0b0729bdfdc6d61dd8c | By . Lucy Crossley . PUBLISHED: . 13:36 EST, 23 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 14:09 EST, 23 January 2014 . Appeal: Former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins, who was handed a 35-year sentence for a string of child sex offences, has lodged an application for permission to appeal . Former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins, who was handed a 35-year sentence for a string of child sex offences, has lodged an application for permission to appeal his prison term. The Court of Appeal move by the disgraced rock star, whose sentence is made up of a custodial term of 29 years and a further six years on licence, was confirmed by the Judicial Office today. Watkins, 36, from Pontypridd, was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court last month. He confessed to 13 sickening offences, including two counts of attempted rape of a baby, and was described as a 'determined and committed paedophile' by the presiding judge. His two accomplices, who can only be named as Woman A and Woman B for legal reasons, were jailed for 14 years and 16 years respectively. The court was told that after sexually touching a groupie's 11-month-old baby, Watkins tried to have penetrative sex with the child. He also encouraged a second fan to abuse her child during a webcam chat and secretly stashed child porn videos, some of which he had made himself. Sentencing judge Mr Justice Royce told Watkins: 'Those who have appeared in these courts over many years see a large number of horrific cases. This case, however, breaks new ground. 'I am satisfied that you are a deeply corrupting influence, you are highly manipulative, you are a sexual predator, you are dangerous. 'The public and, in particular, young females need protection from you.' Determined: Watkins confessed to 13 sickening offences, including two counts of attempted rape of a baby, and was described as a 'determined and committed paedophile' by the presiding judge . Watkins was told that he will have to serve two-thirds of the custodial term before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board. Lostprophets were founded in Pontypridd in 1997 and the band sold about 3.5 million albums worldwide. His . former bandmates have turned their back on him - saying they are . 'heartbroken, angry, and disgusted' at his sex crimes and have urged . more of his victims to contact police. Star: Lostprophets were founded in Pontypridd in 1997 and the band sold about 3.5 million albums worldwide . | Watkins, 36, lodges application for permission to appeal his prison term .
Star was described as a 'determined and committed paedophile' by judge .
He admitted 13 offences, including two counts of attempted rape of a baby .
Singer was ordered to serve 29 years behind bars and six on licence . |
17,977 | 32f0921d18ca59d728553ce1f25d9ce8e87e291b | Washington (CNN)In his upcoming State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama will call on Congress to simplify a tax code he deems overly complicated and weighted toward wealthy Americans, administration officials said Saturday. The moves -- likely to meet resistance from Republicans in Congress -- are meant to pay for the long slate of new programs the President began laying out two weeks ago designed to bolster the middle class, including offering two free years of community college to qualified students. Obama's aides have been seeking ways to expand a robust economic recovery beyond top earners, who have been buoyed by record closes on Wall Street. Despite reams of positive economic news, most Americans still say economic conditions in the country are only fair. And, if they see improvement, they aren't crediting the White House. "The middle class has yet to experience the prosperity shown in the recovery, and what you'll see Tuesday night is the vision for finishing that job," a senior administration official said. Obama is set to propose Tuesday a $500 tax credit for married couples who each hold jobs; the intention, officials say, is to help alleviate the costs of child care and commuting that lead some spouses -- usually women -- to determine it makes more financial sense to stop working. He'll also spell out ways to simplify the way taxpayers apply for education and child care credits, including increasing the top child care credit to $3,000. The total cost for the new provisions: $235 billion, according to administration officials, who spoke anonymously ahead of the plan's official unveiling. For the first time since becoming president, all of Obama's changes would need to be approved both by a GOP House and a Senate with a new Republican majority. Looking to increase capital gains rate . To pay for the changes, the administration is proposing about $320 billion in new revenue over the next decade. Obama wants to wring more taxes from investment income -- capital gains and dividends -- which are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary earnings. Since wealthy Americans are more likely to derive income from investments, they'd bear the overwhelming weight of a higher rate on that type of profit. The tax rate for capital gains now stands at 20% for the highest-earning Americans. Officials said Saturday that Obama will call for that rate to increase to 28% for those taxpayers. He will ask lawmakers to close a loophole allowing capital gains on inherited funds to go untaxed -- a so-called "trust fund" loophole the White House says allows billions of dollars in capital gains to go untapped by the government every year. "This proposal is doing what it is intended to do, which is to make sure that the large, accumulated, unearned wealth of the wealthiest Americans is actually subject to tax," an Obama administration official said. "We are quite confident that we can do this in a way that achieves that objective while in fact helping middle-class families by putting those resources to better use." The arguments against raising tax rates on investment income are well established: opponents argue it poses a "double tax" scenario, since the corporate profits that drive stock prices are already subject to taxes. And they stress some portion of investment gains is driven by inflation. But Republicans aren't necessarily opposed to altering how investment income is taxed: last year's proposal from the top Republican on the House tax writing committee, Rep. Dave Camp, called for applying ordinary income tax rates on 60% of capital gains and excluding the other 40% altogether. That put the top rate at 21%. In his speech Tuesday, Obama also plans to all for a new fee on large financial institutions which administration officials estimated would bring in $110 billion; Camp's plan called for an excise tax on large banks. "I would say that a number of the ideas that the President is outlining in this new proposal do have --already have -- clear congressional bipartisan support," a senior administration official said Saturday. Republicans were dismissive of the tax initiatives unveiled Saturday evening. "This is not a serious proposal," Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, told CNN. "We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington spending." Obama has spent the last two weeks offering up an advance look at his State of the Union address, including the community college proposal, a plan to expand high-speed Internet and reducing rates of federally backed mortgages. The early look is meant to introduce Americans to each scheme individually, said administration aides, who determined the yearly laundry-list of plans -- combined with updates on America's foreign policy -- wasn't digestible during a single prime-time event. That doesn't mean, however, the speech will necessarily be any shorter than the 65-minute address Obama delivered last year. "It will still be a healthy speech in terms of breadth and length," one official said. Why Obama's going to India after his State of the Union speech . | Republicans criticize tax initiatives .
Obama to unveil new tax proposals during Tuesday's State of the Union .
New plan would offer middle-class credits; wring more from rich .
Plan needs approval from Republican-controlled Congress . |
186,049 | 7cf22bea537a52f2bd55c96c8024207fb6a8f9ce | By . Lawrence Conway . PUBLISHED: . 03:52 EST, 23 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:06 EST, 23 April 2012 . A ground fish product known as 'Tuna . scrape' has been blamed for . a salmonella outbreak that has caused 116 cases, US health . authorities said. The illness is being linked to a frozen product called Nakaochi Scrape which was sold to restaurants and supermarkets to make sushi, particularly spicy tuna rolls, according to NPR. Recall: 'Tuna slime' which is being linked to a salmonella outbreak after being used in sushi . The new concern comes as the spotlight has increasingly turned on where supermarket and restaurant food ingredients come from. Earlier this month a series of firms producing controversial ammonia-treated beef - or what critics dub ‘pink slime’ - dropped the product. Pennsylvania-based company AFA Foods which processed more than 500 million pounds of ground beef products a year went into bankruptcy. Troubled: Meat packers' losses on beef sales have doubled since a controversy over ammonia-treated scraps dubbed 'pink slime' emerged . AFA Foods had distributed to retailers including Wal-Mart and Safeways – but both supermarkets that no longer sell beef containing ‘pink slime'. It has also been revealed the caustic cleaning chemical is also used in cheese and related compounds are found in baked goods and chocolate. Outbreak: A new food poisoning scare has been linked to 'tuna scrape' used in sushi . It is treated with ammonia to . deter E. coli bacteria and typically added to ground meat, like . hamburger, as a low-cost filler. The latest mechanically produced food . product concern over 'Tuna scrape' has resulted in a Food and Drug . Administration recall notice. Support: Texas Gov. Rick Perry showed his support for Beef Products Inc by tucking into a 'pink slime' burger . The FDA describe Tuna scrape as 'tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped off from the bones, and looks like a ground product.' The product had been imported from India and distributed by Moon Marine Corporation USA in California, according to Food Safety News. The associated salmonella outbreak affected people in 20 different states and the District of Columbia so far, FSN reported. Michael Doyle, director of the Center . for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, told NPR: 'There are a . lot of things we haven't heard of that the industry is doing. 'My . rule of thumb is that raw food of animal origin should be cooked before . it's eaten. 'I don't think enough research has been done on these . products.' | 116 cases across the U.S. linked to tuna scraped off bones, ground and frozen .
Follows pink slime controversy over ammonia treated beef filler being added to burgers . |
160,837 | 5bebd06b523614736930bf720406b1d036e647c8 | The founder of an app that lets Bitcoin users send the virtual currency privately has admitted he expects people will use it to buy drugs. However, Cody Wilson added he wanted to give people ‘freedom’ to break the law if they wanted to, by using an untraceable system of payment. He continued that he wanted Dark Wallet - a simple plug-in that sits discreetly on users’ internet browsers - to be ‘crisis-forcing’ and change the way we spend money, even if that means on narcotics. Scroll down for video . Bitcoin transactions are recorded in a virtual public ledger, known as the blockchain. Miners are in charge of maintaining the blockchain. As their computers perform the calculations to do that, the process rewards them with newly minted bitcoins . Encrypted and difficult-to-trace pieces of code that function like cash - called Bitcoin - can be exchanged over the internet. But current Bitcoin wallets, in a world where there are no bank accounts and are used to virtually store the coins and make transactions, can be complex. Dark Wallet is designed to be simpler and encourage people who are not tech savvy to store and use the virtual currency. The app and plug-in will protect a Bitcoin user's anonymity and money. It is hoped Dark Wallet, which will work on Firefox and Chrome browsers, will accelerate the currency's rate of adoption around the world. It will be open source and free when it launches, which is expected to be early this year. Dark Wallet will supposedly return Bitcoin to its ‘anarchist’ roots after it became targeted by law enforcement in the U.S. for its alleged ties to criminality. It will be an app and plug-in for the Chrome and Firefox browsers and will allow users to store, send and receive Bitcoin, only with extra security. Dark Wallet is expected to be completed early this year and will be free to use. Mr Wilson, a law school dropout, has become something of an internet provocateur having already posted details about a plastic gun he made with a 3D printer. The 25-year-old also put the blueprints online so that anybody could download them, attracting attention from the FBI. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Mr Wilson said: ‘We need an anonymous cash online. ‘It's not that I want you to buy drugs. It's just that I think you should have the freedom to do it.’ He added that Dark Wallet ‘captures everything we want to do’ and that ‘my particular brand of activism is crisis-forcing.’ In . a promotional Fight Club style video posted to YouTube for Dark Wallet, Wilson says that . ‘Bitcoin is what they fear it is.’ Mr Wilson has raised $100,000 (£60,600) for the project through online donations and another $150,000 (£91,000) through other sources, with most of the money being donated in Bitcoin. He only began focusing his attention on Dark Wallet after his plastic gun, called ‘Liberator’, was effectively banned by the U.S. State Department. It told him to remove the blueprints from the internet as they were in breach of arms export laws. Bitcoin’s . security has been called into question recently after the FBI arrested . the founder of Silk Road, which is allegedly the biggest Internet drugs . market in the word. Ross . Ulbricht, 29, spent two-and-a-half years running it and supposedly made . $28.5 million off the trades, which were carried out in Bitcoin. He has now been charged with allegedly . engaging in a drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy as well as . computer hacking and attempted murder-for-hire. Silk Road, which allowed users to trade in illegal drugs, required transactions to be made using the virtual currency Bitcoin . Stephen Hudak, a spokesman for the U.S. government's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said it would be monitoring the situation. He said: ‘We'd be concerned about anything that would increase the threat level of money laundering.’ In mid-December the Bitcoin virtual currency passed the $1,000 (£613) mark for the first time since it was introduced in 2009. Analysts claim the demand for Bitcoin follows increased awareness about benefits of the currency and a drive to move it into the mainstream. The digital currency is increasingly being treated like gold, with some investors using it to hedge against currency fluctuations and speculating on its rise. Bitcoins can be bought with near anonymity, which supporters say lowers fraud risk and increases privacy. | Dark Wallet app and web plug-in was created by U.S-based Cody Wilson .
He said the online wallet is set to 'change the way people spend money'
It will let users store, send and receive Bitcoin privately and more securely .
Yet Wilson expects people to use the untraceable system to buy drugs . |
121,379 | 28e5670482af0280a6dd6dc7dc0ab217641e2ecf | Detectives don't know for certain what led a father to kill his wife and two teenage children before burning down their $1.6million mansion and committing suicide last May, but they did find evidence of mounting tension in the weeks leading up to the tragic incident. The bodies of the four members of the Campbell family were discovered six months ago in the Avila, Florida home they were renting from retired tennis professional James Blake. Investigators determined that Darrin Campbell was the family member to carry out the horrifying murders of his wife Kimberly, 51, and their children Collin, 18, and Megan, 16, before setting fire to the house and killing himself. Scroll down for video . Why? Darrin Campbell (left) shot dead his wife Kimberly (right) and their teenage children Collin and Megan last May before burning down their $1.6million mansion and committing suicide. Hillsborough County, Florida sheriff's detectives finished their investigation into the murders and suicide but have found for no motive for the attack . Strict dad: A report published Wednesday does show some signs of tension in the Campbell household. Campbell was allegedly disappointed when his 18-year-old son Collin (left) did not get a scholarship to a Division I college for baseball. And daughter Megan (right), 16, started showing bruises on her body in the weeks leading up to her death, friends told investigators . What they don't know is why. In a report published Wednesday, marking an end to the investigation, detectives wrote that they have no motive for the crime. 'I don’t know if we will ever know exactly why everything happened the way it did,' sheriff’s spokeswoman Debbie Carter told the Tampa Bay Tribune. However, the report did reveal several seemingly small issues that could have mounted to something more, inspiring Campbell to commit the shocking annihilation of his family. Those issues include some financial stress, trouble at Campbell's work and in his marriage as well as reports of strict parenting concerning son Collin's baseball prospects and new bruises appearing on daughter Megan's body. Remains: Investigators say the family had some debts but appeared to be financially solvent for the most part. They were up to date with rent on the $1.6million mansion they rented from former tennis professional James Blake. A picture of the home after the incident last May, above . Investigators say that the Campbell family had some outstanding debt, which mounted at the beginning of the year, but it appeared the family's finances were mostly solvent, since they were up to date with rent and maintained a $4,000 average balance in their checking account. 'It is obvious that some financial distress occurred after the first of the year,' the report reads. 'Those balances that would normally be paid off, were not and then carried forward after January 2014. Also, bills that were paid by Kimberly began being partially paid by Darrin or not paid at all.' Kimberly's friends said she seemed to have no trouble spending money on a nice hotel in Nashville, Tennessee the weekend before her murder, at which point she also shelled out for a pair of $250 shoes. However, there did seem to be troubles in her marriage. Blaze: The week before her murder, Kimberly went on a girl's trip with her friends scheduled the weekend of her anniversary. She allegedly told her friends that she and her husband 'don't talk much anymore' Stocking up: It appears Campbell planned the murders and his suicide. He purchased the gun used in the attack, and cans of oil and fireworks to burn down the house in the weeks leading up to May 7 . 'Kim said it was their anniversary, but that her and Darren don’t talk much anymore.' friend Amy Jordan told investigators. An investigator concluded in the report though that they 'did not get the feeling that there was anything going wrong in the relationship between Darrin and Kim.' Landlord: Above, former American tennis professional James Blake. Blake owned the house where the Campbells were living at the time of the murders . While Campbell was described as a caring and involved father, his children allegedly told friends about his strict and controlling behavior. Collin's high school baseball coach says Campbell had unrealistic expectations about his son's college prospects, and that he became upset when the average player only got an offer to play at a Division II college, instead of a larger Division I school. In the weeks leading up to the attacks, daughter Megan's friends began noticing fresh bruises on her body which the 16-year-old attributed to dance injuries. Friends say though that Megan had been dancing for years and they had never noticed the injuries before. The night of her death, Megan was supposed to spend the night at a friend's house, but she cancelled at the last minute saying her dad was making her stay at home for 'family time' - something he had allegedly never done before. And it appears Campbell planned the murders some time in advance. He purchased a .40 caliber handgun, fireworks and oil in the weeks before the shooting and just two days before asked for a leave of absence from his work where he was the chief operating officer of a digital services company. That request led one employee to text Campbell to ask if he was ok. Campbell responded to that message two days later with a 'no' sent at 3:25am the morning of the murders. Just a few hours later, firefighters responded to reports of a fire at the home. | Darrin Campbell shot dead his wife and their teenage son and daughter last May before setting their house on fire and turning the gun on himself .
The family was renting a $1.6million mansion in Avila, Florida from former tennis star James Blake .
Sheriff's detectives wrapped their investigation and published a report Wednesday finding 'no motive' for the murders and suicide .
However, the report noted that the family was dealing with financial issues .
Wife Kimberly told friends the week before that she and her husband 'don't talk much anymore'
Daughter Megan, 16, started showing fresh bruises in the weeks leading up to the murders but blamed them on dance injuries .
Campbell was also allegedly concerned over his 18-year-old son Collin's college baseball prospects . |
109,981 | 19c6e47ced3882dac5be465fe25904e9d52f56c7 | By . Mark Prigg . The FBI has begun using a facial-recognition surveillance system that will store millions of mug shots - and could even use driving licence pictures. FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers 'We’re piloting the use of mug shots, along with our fingerprint database, to see if we can find bad guys by matching pictures with mug shots. Earlier this year the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed the system is capable of processing 55,000 faces a day - and that it will have 52 million faces by 2015. The database, shared with other federal agencies and with the approximately 18,000 tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States, already has 7-8 million individuals loaded. The Next Generation Identification (NGI) system builds on the FBI’s legacy fingerprint database, which already contains well over 100 million individual records, and has been designed to include multiple forms of biometric data, including palm prints and iris scans in addition to fingerprints and face recognition data. NGI combines all these forms of data in each individual’s file, linking them to personal and biographic data like name, home address, ID number, immigration status, age, race, etc. This immense database is shared with other federal agencies and with the approximately 18,000 tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. However, Comey admitted he was not sure where the pictures were coming from, amid claims driving license pictures as well as police mug shots would be used. 'I don’t think so. The Next Gen Identification, as I understand it, is about mug shots,' Comey said, according to Arstechnica. 'I think there is some circumstances in which when states send us records, they’ll send us pictures of people who are getting special driving licenses to transport children or explosive materials or something—but as I understand it, those are not part of the searchable Next Generation Identification database.' The database, shared with other federal agencies and with the approximately 18,000 tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States, already has 7-8 million individuals. Earlier this year the Electronic Frontier Foundation, under the Freedom of Information Act, obtained records from the bureau showing as many as 52 million images by next year, and that it will include pictures of innocent people. In response to a question from Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), the director said he wasn't sure of the accuracy of the EFF's claims. 'I saw some of the same media, and that's what led me to ask my folks: so what’s the deal with this?' Comey said. 'And the explanation to me was the pilot is mug shots. 'Because those are repeatable, we can count on the quality of them. 'And they’re tied to criminal conduct, clearly. And so there was not a plan and there is not at present where we are going to add other non-mug shot photos. But again, if I’ve got that wrong I'll fix it with you.' The FBI is piloting the program with a company called MorphoTrust. Lofgren said MorphoTrust has also produced a State Department facial recognition database holding some 244 million images. 'Will your Next Generation Identification system be capable of importing the State Department records or searching the State Department records?' she asked - to which Comey said he was unsure. Currently, if you apply for any type of job that requires fingerprinting or a background check, your prints are sent to and stored by the FBI in its civil print database. However, the FBI has never before collected a photograph along with those prints - but this is changing with NGI. Now an employer could require you to provide a 'mug shot' photo along with your fingerprints. If that’s the case, then the FBI will store both your face print and your fingerprints along with your biographic data. 'The records we received show that the face recognition component of NGI may include as many as 52 million face images by 2015,' the EFF's Jennifer Lynch said. The latest documents also reveal that non-criminal photos will be included. 'One of our biggest concerns about NGI has been the fact that it will include non-criminal as well as criminal face images,' the EFF said. 'We now know that FBI projects that by 2015, the database will include 4.3 million images taken for non-criminal purposes. The EFF received the records in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for information on Next Generation Identification (NGI). The system builds on the FBI’s legacy fingerprint database, which already contains well over 100 million individual records, and has been designed to include multiple forms of biometric data, including palm prints and iris scans in addition to fingerprints and face recognition data. NGI combines all these forms of data in each individual’s file, linking them to personal and biographic data like name, home address, ID number, immigration status, age, race, etc. The database is shared with other federal agencies and with the approximately 18,000 tribal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. The system builds on the FBI¿s legacy fingerprint database, which already contains well over 100 million individual records, and has been designed to include multiple forms of biometric data, including palm prints and iris scans in addition to fingerprints and face recognition data. By 2012, NGI already contained 13.6 million images representing between 7 and 8 million individuals, and by the middle of 2013, the size of the database increased to 16 million images. The new records reveal that the database will be capable of processing 55,000 direct photo enrollments daily and of conducting tens of thousands of searches every day. The new system also link criminal and non-criminal fingerprint databases. Every record—whether criminal or non—will have a “Universal Control Number” (UCN), and every search will be run against all records in the database. 'This means that even if you have never been arrested for a crime, if your employer requires you to submit a photo as part of your background check, your face image could be searched—and you could be implicated as a criminal suspect—just by virtue of having that image in the non-criminal file, sayd the EFF. The states taking part in the project . It says the new system raises major privacy concerns. 'NGI will allow law enforcement at all levels to search non-criminal and criminal face records at the same time. 'This means you could become a suspect in a criminal case merely because you applied for a job that required you to submit a photo with your background check. 'Second, the FBI and Congress have thus far failed to enact meaningful restrictions on what types of data can be submitted to the system, who can access the data, and how the data can be used. 'This is not how our system of justice was designed and should not be a system that Americans tacitly consent to move towards.' | Campaigners say database poses 'real threats to privacy' for Americans .
System is capable of processing 55,000 faces a day .
7-8 million people have already been uploaded .
Will include non-criminal images . |
155,967 | 559cc8d0a4513388cbdb11c18f02a513b6161bde | By . Associated Press Reporter . and Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 12:44 EST, 11 March 2014 . Jail time: A judge has denied a new trial for Missouri's Alyssa Bustamante (pictured) A judge has denied a new trial for a young Missouri woman who pleaded guilty to murder for the slaying of a nine-year-old neighbor girl but later sought a do-over because of a U.S. Supreme Court case invalidating mandatory life sentences for juveniles. Alyssa Bustamante was 15-years-old in 2009 when she killed Elizabeth Olten and buried her in a wooded area west of Jefferson City. Bustamante wrote in her diary that it was an 'ahmazing' and 'pretty enjoyable' experience. She originally was charged with first-degree murder, which would have carried a mandatory life sentence without parole. But shortly before her 2012 trial, Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action. She was sentenced on the murder charge to life in prison with the chance of parole, plus 30 years for the other charge. Several months after Bustamante pleaded guilty, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that juveniles cannot face automatic life sentences without the possibility of parole. Bustamante then got a new attorney, who claimed her original public defenders were ineffective. At a court hearing in January, the now 20-year-old Bustamante testified that she wouldn't have accepted the plea deal had she known about the possibility for the nation's high court to wipe out mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder. But Charles Moreland, one of her original attorneys, testified that they had talked to her about the issues pending before the Supreme Court. He said Bustamante 'stood a very strong risk of being found guilty' by jurors of first-degree murder had she not pleaded guilty to the lesser charge. Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce wrote in a decision dated Thursday, but released today, that Bustamante's request to set aside her guilty plea and sentence was 'meritless' and her original attorneys weren't deficient. Scroll down for video . Horrific: Alyssa Bustamante was 15 (left) when she strangled, stabbed and buried her nine-year-old . neighbor Elizabeth Olten (right) because she wanted to know what it felt . like to kill . Joyce, who also presided over Bustamante's original case, wrote that the evidence against her 'was both strong and aggravating'. The judge found that Bustamante would have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder 'regardless of the advice of her attorneys, and her testimony otherwise is not credible'. An attorney for Bustamante did not immediately return a telephone message Monday. Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson said Monday that Bustamante had committed 'an adult-like crime' and received 'an adult-like punishment', which he said was appropriate. 'Just because that sentencing hearing went badly for her in terms of more years than maybe she expected, that's not a reason for a judge to allow a defendant to withdraw their plea,' Richardson said. Morbid fascination: Bustamante had attempted . suicide and cut herself before the murder . Under Missouri guidelines, Bustamante must serve at least 35 years and five months before being eligible for parole. Evidence . presented during Bustamante's 2012 sentencing hearing revealed she had . dug a shallow grave in the woods several days before the slaying and . used her younger sister to lure Elizabeth with an invitation to play. Bustamante said she had a surprise for Elizabeth in the forest but instead strangled her, sliced her throat and stabbed her. After . hundreds of volunteers searched for two days, Bustamante led . authorities to Elizabeth's buried body about a half-mile from . Bustamante's house. Prior . to receiving her life sentence in February 2012, Bustamante said to the family of her . victim: 'If I could give my life to bring her back, I would. I just want . to say I'm sorry for what happened. I'm so sorry.' The . teenager's defense attorneys had argued for a sentence less than life . in prison, saying Bustamante's use of the antidepressant Prozac had made . her more prone to violence. They said she had suffered from depression for years and once attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. But prosecutors sought a longer sentence, describing the teen as a thrill killer who lacked remorse. They . noted that Bustamante had dug two graves several days in advance, and . that on the evening of the killing had sent her younger sister to lure . Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt . David Rice testified that the teenager told him 'she wanted to know what . it felt like' to kill someone. Over the course of the two-day hearing, the court heard the girl's family's history with drug abuse, mental disorders and . suicide attempts, noting her father was in prison and her mother had . abandoned her. Various mental . health professionals testified . that Bustamante suffers from major depression and displays the features . of a borderline personality disorder. Some also said she showed early signs of a bipolar disorder. Bustamante . began taking the antidepressant drug Prozac after a suicide attempt on . Labor Day 2007 at the start of her eighth grade year. Her . dosage of the medication had been increased just two weeks before she . murdered Elizabeth. Bustamante's attorneys presented evidence from a . psychiatrist who testified that Prozac could have been a 'major . contributing factor' in the slaying — a theory rejected by a prosecution . psychiatrist who insisted there was no scientific evidence of Prozac . causing homicides, or even increasing aggression. Life behind bars: Alyssa Bustamante was sentenced to 35 years jail in 2012 . At the time of the killing, Bustamante suggested to FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol officials that the girl had probably been kidnapped and that whoever had done so deserved to be convicted. At one point, law enforcement officers discovered a hole in the ground in the shape of a shallow grave near Bustamante's home. They testified that Bustamante acknowledged digging it but said she just liked to dig holes. It was only later that Elizabeth's body was found concealed under leaves in another grave in the woods behind the Bustamante home. Lies: Bustamante suggested to police at the time of the the killing her victim may have been kidnapped . At one point Bustamante had written that she intended to burn down a house and kill all the occupants, but she never followed through with that. On October 14, one week before Elizabeth's slaying, Bustamante had written that she was unable to use her cell phone because the charger had died, which meant she couldn't talk to anyone about the depression and rage she was feeling. 'If I don't talk about it, I bottle it up, and when I explode someone's going to die,' she wrote in a journal that was read to the court by her defense attorney, Charlie Moreland. Prosecutors said Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's death, even digging two holes to be used as graves, then attended school for about a week while waiting for the right time to kill. Hundreds of volunteers searched for two days for Elizabeth before her body was found. On a now-defunct YouTube page in her name, one of Bustamante's hobbies were listed as 'killing people'. A few weeks before the murder she tweeted: 'This is all I want in life; a reason for all this pain.' | Alyssa Bustamante was 15 when she killed neighbor Elizabeth Olten, nine, and buried her in the Missouri woods in 2009 .
She wrote in her diary that it was 'ahmazing' and 'pretty enjoyable'
She was initially charged with first-degree murder with a mandatory life sentence .
She accepted a plea deal in 2012 and sentenced to 35 years jail .
Several months later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled juveniles can't face automatic life sentences without the possibility of parole .
At a court hearing in January, the now 20-year-old Bustamente testified that she wouldn't have accepted the plea deal if she'd known about the national legal change .
A judge has now denied a new trial saying the evidence against her was strong and her attorneys weren't incompetent . |
151,658 | 500ba1f9feeac70db380fb733be46e57d07946af | (CNN) -- Talk about wasted energy. After all the shouting and handwringing, what President Barack Obama appears prepared to do over the next few days to fix some of what's broken with the immigration system isn't likely to have much effect at all. His right-wing opponents act as if what he's planning will lead to an apocalypse, while his supporters seem determined to oversell it as some sort of new Emancipation Proclamation. The truth is very different. There are a few reasons why: . For a start, there are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, and less than half would be covered by what Obama has in mind. And on top of that, if the experience with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is any guide, only about a third of those eligible will find the courage to come out of the shadows and accept the administration's offer. Besides, the executive action probably won't take effect for about six months, which will give Republicans in Congress time to stop beating their chests and start passing legislation that makes permanent changes, the sort that would render the executive action meaningless. Meanwhile, during all this, deportations of the less fortunate would continue, and might even be ramped up. It hardly seems surprising then that the major networks are reportedly not going to be airing the President's speech when he delivers it at 8 pm ET. (Although Spanish language channel Univision is expected to break into its coverage of the Latin Grammys for the speech). Obama is scheduled to follow up the address with a trip to Las Vegas on Friday, where he'll flesh out the details of what he has in mind during a visit to Del Sol High School, a location that will bring the President full circle -- it was at this school last year that Obama laid out his vision for comprehensive immigration reform. Over the weekend, Obama will make the rounds of Spanish-language media. There, he'll try to persuade Hispanic voters -- 70% of whom supported his reelection in 2012 -- that he doesn't deserve the moniker of "Deporter-in-Chief." Of course he can hardly be surprised this is the way Hispanic voters see him: That's the reputation you get when your administration deports 2 million people in five years, divides hundreds of thousands of families, and reportedly sends thousands of U.S.-born children to foster care after they were left behind when their undocumented parents were deported. All this hasn't stopped Obama's opponents on the right portraying him as Santa Claus for the undocumented, a bizarre interpretation of reality given the last five years of removals. Of course, we all know what's behind this portrayal: It's meant to stir up fear, anger, and anxiety. And, sure enough, it's working. Ignorance has the power to do that. In fact, it's really startling how the immigration issue can make smart people say dumb things. Just a few days ago, David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, insisted that Obama wants to "rewrite" immigration laws through his executive action. Brooks doesn't get it. But he is not alone. Obama isn't "rewriting" anything, but simply applying discretion in enforcing the law. Let me explain: When a policeman pulls you over for speeding, but he lets you off with a warning, he didn't "rewrite" the traffic laws. He merely used his discretion to not give you a ticket, probably so he can focus his time and resources on more egregious offenders. It's this kind of discretion that is at the heart of what Obama intends to do about immigration. Not only is it not "illegal" as alarmists on the right have prematurely characterized Obama's planned executive action, it's standard operating procedure in America's criminal justice system. In fact, much of what the President is said to be considering seems tame and, dare I say it, conservative. Besides the fact that not many people will apply or qualify for this relief, it's also not the equivalent of permanent legal residency. No president can confer that, despite what clueless right-wing pundits are saying about how Obama is handing out "amnesty." This isn't overreach by the President -- in fact, some on the left will consider it underachieving. Still, Mr. President, an explanation of what type of executive action you plan to take would be nice. After all, you've made a mess of the discussion so far, even as you poisoned the nation's overall immigration debate. And you've reminded us that, when the nation is starved of principled leadership on a tough moral issue, broken promises and flip-flopping and stall tactics and finger pointing are left to fill the gap. And one last thing. While you're setting the record straight about what actions you intend to take and who will benefit, you should also do something that you are probably reluctant to do: You need to level with immigrant advocates about how, no matter what you say or do, deportations of illegal immigrants will likely continue at the same pace that they have throughout your administration. After all, no one is debating whether individuals who are here without the proper documents should be removed. That seems a given. Last year, for example, PBS reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has established a yearly quota of 400,000 deportations. And although ICE has denied there is such a quota, the agency has miraculously managed to hit that figure, or get very close to it. So we have a pretty good idea that this is going to continue no matter what Obama says tonight from the White House, or tomorrow from Las Vegas, or on Spanish-language media in the days to come. The fact is that the deportation machine is unlikely to be toyed with, and that 400,000 removals per year will likely become the new normal. Why? Because like any self-sustaining government bureaucracy, ICE justifies its funding level by how much it does. And, if it does less, it could lose some of that funding to another agency. The same goes for U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country that prosecute the people that ICE apprehends. Bureaucrats are people, too. They want job security just like the rest of us, especially in a shaky job market. So if the administration isn't deporting one group of people, then it will focus on another. So, however much manufactured outrage we hear from Obama's opponents on the right in the coming days, the fact remains that the "business" of our nation's immigration enforcement agency is deporting illegal immigrants. And no matter what executive action Obama takes, when the smoke clears and tempers cool, it'll be business as usual. | Ruben Navarrette: Obama immigration plan unlikely to bring big changes .
Obama has reputation as "Deporter-in-Chief" with Hispanic voters, he says .
Deportations have their own self-sustaining bureaucracy: Navarrette . |
45,153 | 7f4a09514cdbe1b9cc47fc479651a33bcc764216 | By . Charlie Skillen . Follow @@charlieskillen . Andre Schurrle hopes World Cup success can be translated into Premier League glory with Chelsea this season. The German forward scored three goals to help his country reach the final in Brazil where they edged out Argentina in extra time. And Shurrle is confident Chelsea can usurp Manchester City as league champions. Out to impress: Andre Schurrle (centre) is confident Chelsea can win the Premier League this season . 'I want to win titles with Chelsea and we have an opportunity this season,' he told The Sun. 'I need to take the experience of this summer and make the next step at Chelsea, to step up and play a big role this season with the confidence I have. 'Right now, I feel so confident. I’m tired but feeling better and better. 'It would be impossible for me to be fit after only one week of training with the squad but playing two matches at the weekend has been good for me.' Champions: Schurrle helped Germany win the World Cup as they beat Argentina in the final in Brazil . | Andre Schurrle won the World Cup with Germany this summer .
Forward confident Chelsea can win the Premier League .
Jose Mourinho's side missed out to Manchester City last season . |
268,757 | e8216a9dd6c9f6cd9223cd331302cf1be1c6bd01 | By . Jason Groves . PUBLISHED: . 07:24 EST, 31 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:50 EST, 31 January 2013 . British detectives investigating the Lockerbie bombing are to travel to Libya for the first time. Under a deal sealed by David Cameron on his surprise visit to Tripoli yesterday, officers from the Dumfries and Galloway force in Scotland will travel to the Libyan capital next month. The team of detectives hope to track down the masterminds behind Britain’s worst ever terrorist atrocity, in which 270 people died in 1988 after the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie. Scroll down for video . Prime Minister David Cameron met Libyan President Megarief during his surprise visit to Tripoli yesterday . David Cameron returned to Martyrs Square in Tripoli, Libya yesterday where he met market traders and locals during a surprise visit to the city . The Prime Minister was mobbed by crowd during his walkabout ahead of a meeting with Libyan PM Ali Zeidan and President Megarief . 270 people were killed when Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in December 1988 . Metropolitan Police detectives . investigating the murder of WPC Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down . outside Libya’s London embassy in 1984, were also given permission to . make a fourth visit to the country later this month. Mr Cameron, who defied security . warnings to travel to Libya, told a press conference in Tripoli: ‘In all . of these cases I want to achieve justice and full uncovering of all the . facts.’ It is the first time Mr Cameron has been to Libya since his triumphant speech in September 2011 to mark the downfall of Colonel Gaddafi . David Cameron yesterday promised Britain would do more to help Libyan security as he addressed a graduation ceremony for Police Officers in Tripoli . Mr Cameron addressed new recruits to the Libyan police at a training camp, where he promised more help from Britain . British police and troops are expected to work closely with their Libyan counterparts amid concern that the new government has struggled to get a grip on security . Cameron . Hailing the breakthrough as a . dividend of the Arab Spring, he added: ‘It is unthinkable that they . would ever have been allowed into the country to ask questions under . Gaddafi.’ Former Libyan intelligence officer . Abdelbaset al-Megrahi remains the only person ever convicted over the . Lockerbie atrocity. He died in May 2012, three years after being . controversially released from a Scottish prison on compassionate . grounds. But several other Libyan figures are . thought to have been involved in the attack, which turned Libya into a . pariah state under Colonel Gaddafi. Scottish detectives will now hold talks with the Libyan authorities on the scope of their inquiry. A government source said: ‘They are very keen to come to Libya to talk to people and follow leads that they have.’ Mr Cameron insisted that despite the upsurge in violence in Libya, the . Arab Spring was ‘still part of the solution, not the problem’. He said the lesson of past efforts to cosy up to brutal dictators in the . Middle East was that it ‘stores up problems for the future’. Weapons from Libya are thought to have been involved in the Algerian gas . plant massacre last month in which six Britons died. Acknowledging . problems in the region, Mr Cameron said: ‘Of course, when a brutal . dictator is removed after 40 years, inevitably you take the lid off all . sorts of problems and tensions.’ But, announcing new co-operation on security, he said a stable Libya would benefit the world. He said: ‘We’re much better off in Britain with a democratic Libya but . we’ll only be truly better off when it’s a secure and democratic Libya.’ Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan backed the investigation into . Lockerbie, saying it was important to ‘know the facts’ about the Gaddafi . regime’s crimes. Mr Zeidan said he was willing to discuss further . measures to achieve ‘truth and justice’. He hailed Mr Cameron’s ‘courageous’ decision to come at a time when . observers fear Libya is in danger of becoming a crucible for militants . across the Sahara region. Earlier, Mr Cameron had toured a police training centre on the outskirts of Tripoli. He told police recruits it was ‘very good to be back’. ‘I will never . forget the scenes I saw in Tripoli and Benghazi,’ he said, referring to . his visit to Libya in 2011 after the toppling of Gaddafi. ‘The British people want to stand with you and help you deliver the greater security that Libya needs. ‘In building a free and secure Libya you will have no greater ally than the UK. We will stick with you every step of the way.’ Hundreds of police recruits in navy blue uniforms lined up in the Tripoli sunshine to listen to the British Prime Minister . Mr Cameron was joined by Libya's Interior Minister Ashour Shuail at the graduation ceremony for Police Officers . The two Prime Ministers later held a press conference, as it emerged UK police investigating the Lockerbie bombing have been given permission to visit Tripoli . Tragic: The gas facility in Amenas where International and Algerian hostages were killed in a terrifying ordeal . | Prime Minister greeted by locals during walkabout in Martyr's Square .
Deal secured for officers from Dumfries and Galloway investigating 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 to travel to Tripoli for the first time .
Mr Cameron promises to bolster police and army in the country amid concerns about security situation .
British special forces to train troops across Africa to deal with Al Qaeda . |
134,211 | 39852a0153547a910990c8a892ed79d4fbf2f690 | By . Tamara Abraham . News today that Jennifer Aniston cut her hair short because it was damaged by a Brazilian-style blowdry has not come as much surprise to industry experts. The controversial treatment, which uses a combination of formaldehyde and keratin to keep locks straight for up to three months, is considered the answer to a frizzy-haired girl's prayers. But top New York hairstylist Oscar Blandi, who counts Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman and the Olsen Twins among his clients, warns that one should proceed with caution if considering it. Proceed with caution: Top hairstylist Oscar Blandi wouldn't recommend a Brazilian blowdry to a client who is constantly coloring her hair because the hair might not be strong enough to bear the intensity of the treatment . Cautionary tale: Jennifer Aniston was forced to cut her hair short (right) after damage from a Brazilian blowdry . 'I think the treatment on its own is generally effective, but you have to make sure the condition of the hair is right for it,' he told MailOnline. 'I usually wouldn’t recommend it to a client who is constantly coloring her hair because the hair might not be strong enough to bear the intensity of the treatment. I think the key is testing a small part of the hair first, before doing the whole head.' For celebrity make-up artist and hair . stylist Rachel Wood, who works with Vanessa Hudgens, Rosario Dawson and Louise Roe, the Brazilian blowdry is more trouble than it is . worth - indeed she was not impressed by her own experience of it. The Brazilian blowdry began in Brazil in 2005 and usually uses a solution containing formaldehyde to straighten hair. The treatment involves washing the hair with a special shampoo that opens up the hair cuticles in preparation for the straightening solution which is applied, combed through, then left on the hair for 30 minutes. Next, straighteners are applied to ‘lock-in’ the formula and set the blowdry. Combining heat and formaldehyde prevents hair from curling, creating a long-term straightening effect. But when heated, formaldehyde emits a vapor which can cause symptoms including difficulty breathing and nosebleeds. Formaldehyde has also been linked to a raised risk of cancer. There is additional concern that if formaldehyde comes into direct contact with the scalp it can penetrate the hair follicle and permanently damage cells responsible for hair growth. The result would be that when hairs fall out, new ones will not grow in their place. 'Not . all Brazilian treatments are created equal,' she said. 'Many have . chemicals which can eventually damage hair so I'm not surprised Jens . doing the chop. 'I personally have naturally bushy hair and had the treatment done one summer but I found it left my bouncy locks a little flat,' she admitted. 'I would have been better off just spending extra time using straighteners or just going with the curly flow of my natural texture.' Ms Wood added that the maintenance was a frustrating extra expense too - especially given that the treatment itself can cost upwards of $300. Those with keratin-treated hair must invest in sulphate-free shampoo in order to maintain it. 'There are so many amazing hair products and tools on the market that I find this one beauty treatment that you can pass on,' she concluded. Ms Aniston had her hair cut last week by Chris McMillan - her longtime hairstylist who gave her the 'Rachel' cut in the Nineties. 'It wasn’t for a role. My hair went through a phase,' she admitted to Elle UK. 'I did this thing called a Brazilian and my hair did not react really well to it.' A study earlier this year from the University of California, Berkeley, found . that formaldehyde concentrations in the air around hairstylists and . customers exceeded limits set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health . Administration, the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and . Health, and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. It is recommended that hairdressers use . products containing no more than 0.1 per cent formaldehyde, but researchers found that the popular Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Hair Solution contained 12per cent formaldehyde. Study author Michelle Stewart said that 'without proper engineering controls like local exhaust ventilation [the product] could expose hairdressers and their clients to formaldehyde at levels above the short-term occupational exposure limits.' | The actress admitted this week: 'I did this thing called a Brazilian and my hair did not react really well to it'
The controversial treatment uses a combination of formaldehyde and keratin to keep hair straight for up to three months . |
10,557 | 1e064270c64446955818eadff3b690009d2c97ee | (CNN) -- Sonia, a single mother with HIV in Brazil, travels four hours to reach a government-run health facility that provides her with free drug treatment. Brazil's response to the HIV/AIDS fight has been widely praised and adopted as a model around the world. The journey is long, she told CNN, but it's a small price to pay for the government-provided drugs that have helped keep her out of the hospital for the past 11 years. Sonia is just one of the many Brazilians who have benefited from the country's novel approach to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Brazil jolted the global health community in 1996 when it began guaranteeing free anti-retroviral treatment to HIV/AIDS patients. For Sonia, government-funded treatment comes in the form of 20 pills. Taken daily, the anti-retroviral medicine has helped keep her HIV at bay. Coupled with government-supported prevention efforts and aggressive public awareness campaigns, the so-called Brazilian response has been hailed as a model for developing countries. Watch a report on Brazil's pioneering response to HIV/AIDS » . Prevention campaigns, which often take the forms of candid public awareness ads with slogans like "Be good in bed, use a condom," have resulted in widespread knowledge of HIV. According to a recent study conducted by the country's Ministry of Health, Brazil boasts one of the highest rates of knowledge globally when it comes to HIV avoidance and transmittal. Brazil was "the first country to realize there is no separation between prevention and treatment," Mauro Schechter, professor of infectious diseases at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told CNN. Schechter, who has studied the HIV/AIDS epidemic since 1989, said it took the rest of the global health community some 15 years to realize that the two go hand-in-hand. Other countries that have adopted the Brazilian model » . The comprehensive response has extended the lives of tens of thousands of Brazilians and saved the government billions, researchers estimate. A recent study published by researchers from Brown University and the Harvard School of Public Health said that Brazil has saved $1 billion alone by producing its own generic versions of HIV/AIDS medicines and negotiating discounts for imported drugs. Those drug savings come on top of the estimated $2 billion the program has saved Brazil in hospital costs between 1996 and 2004. Brazil's efforts to reverse the tide of the AIDS epidemic have become the object of admiration in the global health community, but the trailblazer is encountering new challenges. When Brazil decided to guarantee free anti-retrovirals, there were 10,000 people being treated and it was organized as a program to treat a small amount of people for a limited amount of time, according to Schechter. Patients are living longer and oftentimes able to get their disease under control, thanks to combination therapies, better known as drug cocktails. But that means they also require drug treatment for a longer period of time. Furthermore, as HIV has evolved from an acute illness into a chronic disease, patients have also become vulnerable to other health risks and medical conditions. Valdileia Veloso is the director of the Institute of Clinical Research at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, a public health research institution in Rio de Janeiro. She told CNN patients are presenting with complications of chronic HIV and AIDS, which requires new treatment. "It's a new challenge for us," she said. Heart disease is one of the big problems that doctors are encountering. While there's a system in place to prevent people from dying from HIV, preventable causes like heart conditions are causing deaths. "These people are dying from preventable causes," Schechter told CNN. While Brazil has shown that providing universal access to treatment can be achieved, it needs to modify its approach to treat the evolving disease, he said. "If the epidemic changes face, you need to adapt." | Brazil has been hailed as a leader in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic .
Government started offering free anti-retroviral treatment to its citizens in 1996 .
As more people live longer with HIV/AIDS, Brazil faces new challenges .
Patients of the chronic illness susceptible to new health risks, doctors say . |
262,023 | df5f56b8602900e47456af2c7316126c691be999 | (CNN) -- Inter Milan kept their Serie A title hopes alive as striker Giampaolo Pazzini scored twice on his debut to help them recover from a two-goal deficit to beat Palermo 3-2 at the San Siro. The Italian champions signed Pazzini on a four-and-a-half year contract from Sampdoria for $16m earlier in the week -- and he repaid that faith straight away with a match-winning second-half performance to delight the home crowd. But two minutes later it was Palermo who went in front as Mattia Cassani skipped around Davide Santon and crossed for Miccoli to tap home from close range. The Sicilian visitors started brightly and took a fifth minute lead when Fabrizio Miccoli tapped home Mattia Cassani's cross. And Palermo doubled their lead nine minutes from half time when Antonio Nocerino turned defender Maicon before beating goalkeeper Julio Cesar at his near post. The match could have been all over before the break when Javier Pastore struck the post with a fierce drive. Inter coach Leonardo introduced Pazzini as a second half substitute and he made an instant impression, holding off his marker to convert a chipped pass from fellow-debutant Houssine Kharja in the 57th minute. Palermo then wasted a glorious opportunity to double their lead again, but Pastore's penalty kick, given after Thiago Motta had fouled Pajtim Kasami, was turned onto the post by Cesar. The home side made Palermo pay for that missed opportunity, levelling in the 73rd minute when Pazzini headed home Maicon's free-kick at the near post. And the turnaround was complete just three minutes later when Samuel Eto'o scored from the penalty spot after Ezequiel Munoz had fouled Pazzini. "I never imagined having a day like this, it really was a dream to play with so many great players," Pazzini told Italian TV station SkySport. The result means Inter remain in the title race, although they trail leaders and city rivals Milan by nine points, they do have a vital game in hand. Milan won 2-0 at Catania on Saturday evening thanks to goals from Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. However, they had to do it the hard way after having Dutch midfielder Mark Van Bommel sent off on his debut following two bookable offences. Milan are four points clear of second-placed Napoli, who crushed Sampdoria 4-0 on Sunday aided by a hat-trick from Uruguayan Edinson Cavani -- the division's top scorer with 19 goals. Lazio lie third, a further three points adrift, after their 2-0 defeat of Fiorentina on Saturday, courtesy of two Libor Kozak goals, while Inter and Roma share fourth position. Meanwhile, in Sunday's late match, the pressure has increased on Juventus coach Luigi Del Neri after his side slumped to a 2-1 home defeat against Udinese -- their fourth loss in seven games in 2011. Goals from South Americans Christian Zapata and Alexis Sanchez sealed the three points for the visitors, who are now up to sixth in the table with Juve one point behind them in seventh position. There were two matches played in Germany's Bundesliga on Sunday and both ended up in 1-0 wins for the visiting sides. Freiburg secured victory at struggling Stuttgart thanks to Johannes Flum's first-half goal, while Igor de Camargo's late strike was enough to give bottom side Moenchengladbach a narrow win at Eintracht Frankfurt. Moenchengladbach and Stuttgart are now level on 16 pouints at the foot of the table, while Freiburg moved up to sixth place following their success. | Giampaolo Pazzini scores twice for Inter Milan on his debut for the club .
The Italian striker helps Inter recover from a two-goal deficit to defeat Palermo 3-2 .
AC Milan remain four points clear at the top after their 2-0 win at Catania on Saturday .
Napoli still second after thrashing Sampdoria 4-0 thanks to Edinson Cavani's treble . |
189,610 | 818931813abfd991f9329be78734ce4153a2cd28 | DeAndre Yedlin is expected to join Tottenham Hotspur in January after the American right-back was granted a work permit. The White Hart Lane club had agreed a four-year deal with Yedlin during the summer but he did not meet UK work permit regulations. However, his work permit has now been approved on appeal and the signing is set to be confirmed when the transfer window reopens. DeAndre Yedlin in action for the Seattle Sounders against LA Galaxy in Los Angeles in October . Yedlin (right) advances with the ball as LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan puts in a challenge . Yedlin, who is currently with the Seattle Sounders, caught the eye with impressive performances for the USA during the World Cup in Brazil. The 21-year-old played for the Sounders against Spurs in the 3-3 friendly draw in Seattle back in July. Yedlin had also received offers from Roma, Anderlecht and Werder Bremen but in the end opted to join Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs. USA right-back Yedlin (left) battles with Belgium's Eden Hazard for the ball at the World Cup in July . | DeAndre Yedlin has been granted a UK work permit .
Yedlin had agreed a four-year deal with Spurs during the summer .
The American right-back impressed during the 2014 World Cup . |
284,750 | fcf45f70248c885a255a6170f912accaaf9661dc | By . Associated Press . Thousands of runners are preparing to take part in the Boston Marathon today amid tightened security following the double bombings at last year's race that killed three people and injured 260. A higher police presence, runners using clear plastic bags for their belongings, and fans near the finish line being encouraged to leave strollers and backpacks behind are just a few of the tightened security measures. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said although there have been no specific threats against the race 'we're not taking that as a sign to sort of stand down'. About 36,000 . runners have registered for the race - the second-largest field in its . history, many of them coming to show support for the event and the city . that was shocked by the attack on its signature sporting event. Thousands of runners are preparing to take part in the Boston Marathon today amid tightened security following the double bombings at last year's race that killed three people and injured 260 . Race organizers expanded the field from its recent cap of 27,000 to make room for more than 5,000 runners who were still on the course at the time of the explosions . Race . organizers expanded the field from its recent cap of 27,000 to make . room for more than 5,000 runners who were still on the course at the . time of the explosions, for friends and relatives of the victims and for . those who made the case that they were 'profoundly impacted' by the . attack. For . years, state and local officials have conducted a 'tabletop exercise' before the Boston Marathon, a meeting that allows them to study a map of . the 26.2-mile course and plan for emergencies that could arise during . the race. So . many new people needed to attend the session this year that they moved . it from the state's emergency bunker in Framingham to the a convention . center in the city. One million people are expected to line the route in a show of defiance and to honor the victims and survivors of the attacks which killed three people and wounded more than 260. A large crowd gathers to pose for photos at the Boston Marathon finish line, one day before the race . The . crowd grew from what usually is about 100 to more than 450, according . to Boston Athletic Association executive director Tom Grilk, who is in . charge of organizing the race. 'Whether . you have a small group or a big group, the spirit is the same,' he said . this month in an interview at the athletic association's office, about . two blocks from the finish line. 'And that is: How do we get our event . done well?' For the 118th edition of the world's oldest annual marathon, security along the course will be tighter than ever. 'There'll be considerably more police . presence,' Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said on CBS' 'Face the . Nation' on Sunday. 'But we also don't want to have it, you know, kind of . a race through a militarized zone. So it's about striking a balance, . and I think we have struck that balance.' More . than 100 cameras have been installed along the route in Boston, and 50 . or so 'observation points' will be set up around the finish line 'to . monitor the crowd,' the Boston Athletic Association said. Lelisa . Desisa of Ethiopia and Kenya's Rita Jeptoo, who crossed the finish line . on Boylston Street about three hours before the explosions, will return . to defend their championships. People have their photo take at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday . Desisa returned to Boston last fall to donate his first-place medal to the city as a gesture of support. Jeptoo, who also won the race in 2006, said she is hoping for a third victory - and one she can enjoy. 'It was very difficult to be happy. People were injured and children died,' she said of last year's marathon. 'If I'm going to win again, I hope I can be happier and to show people, like I was supposed to last year.' Yesterday marathon . runners were blessed at an emotional church service that celebrated . Easter and remembered the victims, while heightened security measures, . including bag checks, were in place at marathon events. 'It's . different, coming back,' said Gisele Goldstein, 55, of Germantown, . Tenn., who planned to run her 12th Boston Marathon this year. 'It's not . just me-there's a sadness.' Her friend Nanette . Farris, 46, of Memphis, added that people were surprised she wanted to . return for her second Boston Marathon. The doubters were all . non-runners, however-the runners she knew felt differently. 'If . you're a runner, you want to show them-no one's going to take that away . from us,' Farris said. 'Once this occurred, everyone wanted to qualify . for Boston.' Last year two pressure cooker bombs were detonated near the finish line, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others . Still, there have been tense . moments - such as when an alarm went off on Friday, during the Runners' Expo at the Hynes Convention Center. People were spooked, Goldstein . said, even though it turned out to have been a test. Ricardo . Corral, 53, of New York, who planned to race in the hand-cycle division . of the wheelchair race on Monday-his eighth marathon-said he was . reassured by the heightened security. 'We are not nervous,' he said. 'We know the police will be here to protect people.' Corral . added that it was especially important to him and his teammates to . return this year, to support Boston and each other. 'As the signs say, . `Boston Strong,'" he said. 'That's why we come back.' Only hours after the bombings, people were pleading for an entry into the . 2014 Boston Marathon. For months the calls and emails continued, runners . begging for an opportunity to cross the finish line on Boylston Street . and convinced it would ease at least some of their grief. 'They'd . say, `I'm not a qualified runner; I don't think I ever will be. I . train. I run. I could do it. But because of what happened last year, I . need to run,'' Boston Athletic Association executive director Tom Grilk . said last week. Runners and guests receive containers for their Boston Marathon pre-race dinner at Boston City Hall . Wellesley College student Tiffany Liao, of San Marino, Calif., center, serves a pasta dish during a Boston Marathon pre-race dinner . 'It might have been because . they were present at the finish, or they knew somebody who was working . or was affected. They might have been somebody who lives in Haverhill, . Mass., and they were watching the race and it hit `em hard. That was . true for a lot of people. 'And we received some of these communications and we thought, `What do we do?'' The . B.A.A. had already expanded this year's field to include more than . 5,000 runners who were stranded on the course when the two explosions . killed three and wounded 264 others. A few extra invitations were . sprinkled among the first-responders and the victims, or their families; . others went to charities and the towns along the route; some who said . they were personally touched by the tragedy were already given bibs. But . organizers felt they might still be missing people, people who perhaps . didn't think their trauma was worthy amid all the lost limbs and . physical scars. So, in November, they announced that about 500 bibs . would be available for those 'personally and profoundly impacted by the . events of April 15, 2013.' In 250-word essays . submitted over the website, 1,199 would-be runners made their case. Almost 600 had the connection the B.A.A. was looking for. 'The . anger, guilt and heartbreak I still feel today will never go away,' wrote Kate Plourd, who was in the medical tent, dehydrated and vowing . never to run Boston again, when she heard the announcements: 'Explosions . at the finish line. Casualties. Dismemberments. Prepare yourself to . treat the victims.' 'Running the 2014 Boston . Marathon will help me heal my mind,' she said in the essay that landed . her bib No. 28115. 'I'll push myself ... to finish the 2014 Boston . Marathon in honor of those who won't ever give up, who I won't ever . forget.' A visitor hangs a message on a tree at the 'Dear Boston' exhibit at the Boston Public Library Sunday . A man pauses in front of a memorial for the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings at the site of the first bomb blast . Ron McCracken of Dallas pays his respects at a makeshift memorial honoring to the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings . That . determination was echoed by many runners, including Scott Johnson, 54, . of Atlanta. He is the executive director of the Scott Rigsby Foundation, . a nonprofit that supports people who have lost limbs. The organization . has raised money for last year's bombing victims, and this year Johnson . was planning to run with Team MR8, a team formed in honor of Martin . Richard, the 8-year-old Dorchester boy who was killed in the 2013 . bombing. 'There's a sense of resiliency,' Johnson said. 'It's sadness, but it's also a kind of fortitude. Two . people created the violence, but millions counter it with love and . support. I like those odds!' Ben Rancourt, 64, . of Ste-Germaine, Quebec, was planning to run his eighth Boston Marathon . on Monday along with his three younger brothers. 'We're . going to buy beer for the after party!' he said. 'We'll see, tomorrow, . with the fans on both sides of the road-it will feel very great!' | Marathon runners were blessed at an emotional church service .
Heightened security measures, including bag checks, in place at events .
Tense moment - alarm during Runners' Expo at Hynes Convention Center .
Only hours after the bombings people entered 2014 Boston Marathon . |
271,542 | ebb7e0389f3586bd5a9dbcd288093db64e954cf1 | Ronny Deila has admitted he would prefer to have Gary Mackay-Steven on board before the end of the month to boost Celtic’s title challenge. The Parkhead boss confirmed he hopes the Dundee United winger will soon agree to a pre-contract that would initially secure a summer switch to Glasgow. If that happens, then Deila is set to ask chief executive Peter Lawwell to try to strike a deal with United —who are thought to be seeking a £250,000 fee — that would bring forward the move. Dundee United winger Gary Mackay-Steven is expected to sign a pre-contract agreement with Celtc . The 24-year-old scores against Hamilton during a Scottish Premiership match . ‘That is the best situation but again it’s about money,’ said Deila. ‘First he has to say yes. ‘I think that’s the way you have to do it. If you don’t know if the players wants it then it’s harder to agree between the clubs. ‘When you have the opportunity, you go for the player and see what can be arranged.’ Sheffield United are also keen on Mackay-Steven and have seen a bid in the region of £100,000 rejected by the Tannadice outfit. However, the 24-year-old isn’t thought to be keen on the prospect of playing in League One and that could leave Celtic in pole position unless higher-placed English opposition emerges. Manager Ronny Deila is hoping that the Celtic board will pay to bring in the winger in January . Asked when he expected to speak with Mackay-Steven over the pre-contract, Deila added: ‘We will see, hopefully in a couple of days something will be arranged. ‘We have sent a letter to Dundee United saying we want to look at him. First of all we have to get him to sign and then we’ll take it from there.’ While Deila hopes to add Mackay-Steven, he remains adamant he doesn’t want to Kris Commons to depart. Neil Lennon has stated that Bolton Wanderers were likely to face competition from other clubs in any move to lure Commons away during the current window. Deila does not want veteran Kris Commons to leave, despite reported interest from clubs like Bolton . Deila, however, insisted he wasn’t aware of any approaches and stressed that he expected the 31-year-old to see out the campaign with Celtic – regardless of his contract impasse. ‘We’ve had nothing from no-one and our process with Kris is going on,’ said Deila. ‘But he is going to stay until the end of the season. ‘It’s longer-term we have to think about with Kris because we are going to have him until the summer. ‘His focus looked good last Monday [against Kilmarnock] and if he keeps on like that, things are going to be good for both of us.’ Asked about the possibility of a fee for Commons being dangled before the club, Deila replied: ‘If it makes the team worse, then we won’t do it. ‘Again everything has a price and you never know in football, but we have to have a better squad on February 1 than we have right now.’ | Gary Mackay-Steven is expected to sign pre-season contract with Celtic .
Ronny Deila would like the Dundee United winger to come in January .
Kris Commons future at Parkhead is uncertain amid interest from Bolton . |
160,035 | 5ad84c2ba6ebb50d61dba88b5465c8f8e71c9c16 | (CNN) -- When Jupp Heynckes made his debut in the Bundesliga as a player back in 1965, the name of Bayern Munich was a new one for the nascent German soccer league. Now as coach of the country's most successful team, he has reached a significant milestone in what will be his final season in charge. On Saturday the 67-year-old became only the second man to rack up 1,000 Bundesliga appearances as both player and coach as Bayern took another step towards a 23rd national title with a 6-1 thrashing of Werder Bremen in front of 71,000 fans at Allianz Arena. It was Heynckes' 631st Bundesliga game as a head coach, coming 48 years after he played his first match for hometown club Borussia Monchengladbach on the day that Bayern made a Bundesliga bow against city rival 1860 Munich. "It's an imposing total," said Heynckes, who is behind only former Greece coach Otto Rehgal's 1,033 Bundesliga matches -- 201 of which were as a player. Heynckes is on course for a treble of trophies, with Bayern poised to reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League after the 3-1 midweek win at Arsenal, having suffered an agonizing penalty shootout defeat by Chelsea in last season's title match despite home advantage. He rested six key players ahead of Wednesday's German Cup clash with two-time defending Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, but still had too much firepower as Bremen had a man sent off at 2-0 down and never recovered. Mario Gomez netted twice in the second half to reach his 100th goal in a red shirt, having earlier forced Czech international Gebre Selassie into diverting a cross into his own net. Before that the Germany striker was brought down by Sebastian Prodl as Bremen went to the interval a man down. Javi Martinez, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were also on the scoresheet. "After making those six changes, we needed 20 minutes to find our rhythm," said Heynckes, who will step down at the end of this season and be replaced by former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola. "Those players who came in justified my confidence in them. The game on Wednesday will be a real cup battle." However, he was annoyed that Bayern conceded in the league for the first time since the December 14 draw with Monchengladbach. "We saw some nice goals out there, but we didn't reckon with conceding one." Second-placed Dortmund will seek to cut the 18-point deficit at Gladbach on Sunday, when third-placed Bayer Leverkusen travel to bottom team Greuther Furth. In Saturday's other games, sixth-placed Hamburg crashed 5-1 at fellow European hopefuls Hanover, while Schalke followed up the midweek Champions League draw against Galatasaray by beating Fortuna Dusseldorf as Cameroon defender Joel Matip scored twice. Mainz drew 1-1 with fourth-bottom Wolfsburg, while Augsburg pushed Hoffenheim down to second from the foot of the table with a 2-1 win. | Bayern Munich boss becomes second man to reach 1,000 Bundesliga games .
Jupp Heynckes' celebrates with 6-1 victory over Werder Bremen in front of home fans .
Win puts Bayern 18 points clear at the top of the German league table with 11 games to go .
Heynckes rests key players ahead of cup clash with second-placed champions Dortmund . |
237,466 | bf562a788532c29fa9753b2bf43a722c1879dc2e | By . Kieran Gill . Follow @@kie1410 . Erik Lamela is eager for a fresh start in the Premier League this season after Tottenham Hotspur's record-breaking signing took to Twitter to tell of their pre-season training. The winger, compared to the departed Gareth Bale at times last year, was bought from Roma for £30million, but struggled to adapt to the English game and was sidelined by on-off injuries. The 22-year-old, however, seems keen to put that behind him, with new manager Mauricio Pochettino at the helm after arriving from Southampton. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Erik Lamela get fit for Tottenham Hotspur by training up . Ready: Erik Lamela took to Twitter to tell fans 'another training session finished' was 'great work' Back: Lamela seems ready to get back to business with Tottenham in the Premier League . My way: Mauricio Pochettino has a reputation for enforcing a heavy training workload during pre-season . On the run: Spurs players including Michael Dawson (centre) and Andros Townsend (left) start training . Born: Argentina, March 4 1992 (age 22) 2009-2011: River Plate (37 apps, 4 gls) 2011-2013: Roma (62 apps, 19 gls) 2013-NOW: Tottenham (9 apps, 0 gls) 2011-NOW: Argentina (6 caps, 0 gls) Bale's £86m move to the Bernabeu from White Hart Lane left a clear gap, with Lamela billed as the man with the potential to fill the void. The ex-River Plate star, though, made just 17 appearances last season in all competitions, scoring once in the Europa League against FC Sheriff. Pre-season will be more pivotal for Tottenham than other clubs, given the arrival of Pochettino from St Mary's. The Argentine, notorious for leading heavy training sessions during pre-season, was given the chance to have a look see at what he will be working with in north London. Pochettino, who led Southampton to eighth place in the Premier League last season, will be expected to qualify for the Champions League and is the club's third manager in the last two years. That is after they got rid of Tim Sherwood and Andre Villas-Boas, respectively. Getting to know you: It was the first chance for the new manager to evaluate his players at Spurs . Fitness: The Tottenham players not in Brazil prepare for a season playing Pochettino's high pressing game . Depleted: The squad is still missing the likes of Hugo Lloris and Jan Vertonghen who are at the World Cup . | Erik Lamela tweets: 'Another training session finished. Great work. Come on your Spurs!'
Mauricio Pochettino begins work with Tottenham ahead of new season .
Lamela arrived from Roma for £30million in 2013 but struggled in first year . |
198,104 | 8c6b5bd632c7c71ef4a1793e3d13c0beda6d5851 | A fleet of tiny satellites released from the International Space Station could be a tool to help solve future aviation mysteries like the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, said retired astronaut Chris Hadfield, who commanded the space station for five months last year. Speaking to the media after giving a talk at the opening session of the TED2014 conference Monday, Hadfield said that the shoebox-sized satellites, once fully deployed, will cover the entire planet with frequently refreshed images at a resolution down to 4 meters and could have helped in a mystery such as the question of what happened to the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777. Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based company, arranged for the first group of the satellites to be released from the space station last month. Hadfield said those satellites are in initial testing. Asked by CNN to comment, Planet Labs provided a statement by its co-founder and CEO, William Marshall, a former NASA scientist, who is due to speak later this week at TED: "Planet Labs just last month deployed a fleet of 28 satellites, Flock 1, from the International Space Station. This is the largest Earth imaging constellation in history. We are turning on each of the satellites and are now putting them into position. With this constellation, we will measure the planet on a more regular basis to enable various applications. One of those applications is disaster response, including natural and man-made disasters. Other applications range from monitoring deforestation to helping to improve agricultural yields to monitoring urban growth." Another 100 such satellites are in the works, according to the Financial Times. Hadfield said "tracking one thin aluminum tube" like the Boeing 777, in a place that is not heavily covered by radar is very hard. "Obviously something happened fast and deliberate, exactly what process, whether it was the crew themselves or someone forcing themselves in, we don't know," Hadfield said. He said he suspects that if the aircraft did crash, wreckage will eventually be found. How TED got famous . In his talk on the TED stage, Hadfield gripped the audience's attention with a message urging people to conquer irrational fears, with images of the Earth's beauty from space and with a performance on guitar of a portion of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," a song he also sang while weightless on the space station. His video, one of about 100 he shot on the space station, went viral. Astronauts train themselves to overcome fear, and thus are willing to take considerable risks, whether being launched on a rocket or walking in space, Hadfield said. By contrast, some people will let themselves be paralyzed by unreasoning fear of spiders; the way to conquer that is to walk through spider webs (assuming the spiders aren't venomous). "There's a difference between danger and fear," he said after the talk. And Hadfield said that, incongruously, "I'm afraid of heights," but had mostly overcome it through training. | Former space station commander Hadfield: New satellites could help locate planes .
First of shoebox-sized satellites released last month from the space station .
Planet Labs, a San Francisco company, says they will provide unprecedented imagery .
Hadfield: If Flight 370 crashed, wreckage will eventually be found . |
120,638 | 27e808449b3f981d7e698f29fad3d658af35b2c4 | (CNN)Snow is falling at a faster rate. Wind gusts are getting stronger. And temperatures are frigid. It may not look bad yet, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday night, but it will be soon. "This is literally the calm before the storm. It's about to start in earnest," de Blasio said. "And when it does, it's going to come in very fast and very hard, and people have to be very, very careful. People have to stay off the streets and stay off the sidewalks." The National Weather Service, which isn't prone to exaggeration, is using terms like "life-threatening" and "historic" to describe the weather system taking aim at the Northeast, with the worst expected to hit Monday night into Tuesday. The first big storm of the year may drop up to 3 feet of snow on Boston and New York before it ends Tuesday, with freezing rain and strong wind gusts possibly reaching 70 mph. Blizzard and winter storm warnings have been issued from Maryland through Maine and into Canada. Up to 58 million people could be put into the deep freeze. And the storm could have a far-reaching economic and political impact, even beyond the region directly hit. The snowfall will be dramatic, but that might not be what causes the most damage, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. A possible source of major problems, he said, will be large wind gusts that send tree limbs crashing down into power lines. That could leave people in some area without electricity for days, he said. Another area of concern: roads. "It is no joke to have people stranded on a highway. We've gone through that before," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters. "It is frightening how quickly a simple trip to the supermarket can wind up being very dangerous." Public transportation will shut down and only emergency vehicles will be allowed on the roads in 13 counties -- and on the streets of New York City -- as of 11 p.m., he said. Connecticut and Massachusetts also put travel bans in place. In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter declared a snow emergency starting at 6 p.m. ET Monday. Cars left parked on snow emergency routes will be towed and owners ticketed, he said. "It's going to be the kind of night where the best thing anybody can do is stay inside," Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday evening. Track the storm . Here's what you need to know, state-by-state . Sights and sounds of the blizzard . While the worst of the weather isn't expected to hit until late Monday into Tuesday, according to CNN forecasters, it's already snarling travel. Nearly 7,000 flights have been canceled for Monday and Tuesday, the flight-tracking website Flightaware.com said. And hundreds of flights have already been canceled for Wednesday as well. American Airlines suspended operations in Philadelphia, Boston and New York late Monday afternoon. "We plan to resume operations as soon as it is safe to do so," airline spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said. United Airlines has already canceled all Tuesday flights at Newark, LaGuardia and JFK, as well as Boston and Philadelphia, company spokeswoman Mary Ryan said. Delta has canceled more than 1,600 flights on Monday and Tuesday. There are no operations planned at Boston's Logan International Airport on Tuesday and "very limited flying at LaGuardia and JFK," spokesman Morgan Durrant said. Some cancellations may also be necessary Wednesday morning, he said. The major U.S. airlines are offering fee-free rebooking of flights to and from the Northeast on Monday and Tuesday. Amtrak said it was operating a normal Monday schedule but suspended Northeast Regional and Acela Express service between New York and Boston for Tuesday because of severe weather. Other Amtrak train routes in the region will operate at reduced frequencies, the rail line said. Heavier snow will hit Monday night and continue through Tuesday, forecasters said. Some areas will still be getting snow Wednesday. Officials across the Northeast warned residents to stock up for the storm. Government officials warned residents to fill up vehicle gas tanks, stock up on food, make sure they have enough heating fuel and to take other steps to prepare for the possibility of being stranded, possibly without power, for days. Here are more tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency: . • Make a family communications plan in case you are separated from your loved ones during the height of the storm. • Make sure to keep ventilation to the outdoors clear when using kerosene heaters. • Put off travel. But if you have to go out, keep a disaster supplies kit in your car. It should include a shovel, windshield scraper, small broom, flashlight, battery-powered radio, extra batteries, food and water, matches, a change of clothes, a pocketknife, a first aid kit and blankets. • Check antifreeze levels, battery condition, exhaust and other vehicle systems before venturing out. • Stay inside as much as possible, stay dry when you do have to go outside, and watch for signs of frostbite and hypothermia, including loss of feeling, uncontrollable shivering and disorientation. And they did. While shoppers lined up in supermarkets, Dorot, a nonprofit in New York, collected hundreds of bags of food and water supplies for homebound seniors, WCBS reported. "I think I'll use some of this, especially the soup," said Norma Amigo, 93, of the Upper West Side. "I will not go out if I think it's slippery out, because I fell two weeks ago." Christine Carew, a sales associate at Charles Street Supply in Boston, said customers have been coming into the hardware store since it opened Sunday to grab sleds, shovels, ice melt and snow brushes. When it comes to getting ready for a massive snowfall, she said, Boston residents know what to do. "We're more prepared for it," she said. "We know it's going to happen." In Boston's North End, cigar bar manager David Riccio was sweeping the sidewalk Monday night, preparing for the storm to hit. "They're making it sound really bad, so we'll see," he said. New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said his force was well-prepared with a fleet of vehicles equipped with tire chains and more large SUVs capable of traversing snowy streets. "I want everyone to understand that we are facing -- most likely -- one of the largest snowstorms in the history of this city," de Blasio said. That's saying something. In 2006, 26.9 inches of snow fell, topping the 25.8-inches of snow that fell in December 1947. New York state has at least 1,806 plows and more than 126,000 tons of salt to spray onto roads across the region. The National Guard also was positioning six dozen personnel and 20 vehicles throughout the state Monday morning. In Boston, New England Patriots fans saw their beloved football team off to the Super Bowl at a Monday morning celebration that wrapped up before the storm worsened. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said there was no doubt the city would be slammed, so a major effort now is making sure people are safe. That includes checking on elderly residents and working to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, he said. The city has 700 pieces of snow-moving equipment and 35,000 tons of salt ready, he said. "You can't fight Mother Nature, and whatever happens throughout the course of the storm, we just have to do our best to be prepared going into it, which I think we are," Walsh said. On Plum Island, Massachusetts, Bob Connors said he'll try to ride out the storm but will move to higher ground if things get dicey, according to CNN affiliate WHDH. A 2013 storm destroyed homes on the island. "When you're living on the edge of paradise like we are now, you give Mother Nature a lot of respect when we need to," said Connors. Visibility will be a major problem, said CNN meteorologist Judson Jones. "This is not one of those storms you want to go out in while it's happening," Jones said. "You want to wait for the winds to die down ... before you go to the store." Tuesday is shaping up to be a day when the reality of the weather sets in. One of the inevitable aftereffects of snow -- flooding -- will quickly become a problem. There could be coastal flooding in Massachusetts starting early Tuesday, with pockets of major flooding on east-facing coastlines, the state emergency agency said. "Plan to work from home is the best advice for Tuesday," Jones said. CNN's Ralph Ellis, Ashley Fantz, Sara Ganim, Joe Sutton, Dana Ford, Aaron Cooper, Joshua Gaynor, Taylor Ward, Teri Genova and Kevin Conlon contributed to this report. | Amtrak shuts down Tuesday service between New York and Boston .
New York mayor: The storm "is about to start in earnest"
Massachusetts governor: "The best thing anybody can do is stay inside" |
37,921 | 6b53109a9d39d6725d3357a7ee14182a0ebc9e5b | When he's not treating casualties of the Syrian civil war, ambulance driver Alaa still finds the time and energy to help the lesser-known victims of the conflict. For he has started his own one-man charitable enterprise by feeding scores of cats that have been orphaned as a result of the war. Alaa spends around $4 (£2.50) of his savings each day on meat to feed around 150 strays in Masaken Hanano, a neigbourhood in Aleppo. Ambulance driver Alaa feeds dozens of stray cats in his neighbourhood of Masaken Hanano in Aleppo . Selfless: Alaa spends around $4 (£2.50) of his savings each day on meat to feed around 150 strays . Dozens of cats have been orphaned or abandoned as a result of shelling by pro-Assad forces during the war . The district has been almost entirely abandoned because of shelling from forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad as they attempt to wrest back control from rebels. Alaa says he has been feeding and taking care of the cats for over two months. Aleppo, the country's largest city, has been at the centre of some of the fiercest fighting since a major rebel offensive in July 2012. It is thought at least half of the city's population has been displaced as a result of the four-year conflict. Alaa said that he has been feeding and taking care of the cats for the past two months . Alaa cuddles one of the 150 cats that have been orphaned in his war-torn neighbourhood of Aleppo . The city is also being encircled by barbaric Islamic State militants who have captured swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in their bid to create a caliphate across the two countries. It means the city could see an escalation in fighting if the Islamic fighters make their way into the city. The West is also intensifying its bombing campaign against the terror group. But some Syrians see the U.S-led strikes as serving Assad's interests because they do not target government forces and because some have hit the Nusra Front, Syria's Al Qaeda affiliate that has battled both the Islamic State and the president's forces. 'All of this is to serve Bashar, and yet people believe the Americans are protecting the Syrians,' said Saad Saad, writing on the same Facebook page. Aleppo has been at the centre of some of the fiercest fighting since a major rebel offensive in July 2012 . It is thought at least half of the city's population has been displaced as a result of the fighting in Aleppo . | Alaa spends £2.50 a day on meat to feed around 150 strays near his home .
His neighbourhood has been deserted after shelling by pro-Assad forces . |
11,862 | 21a735d1ae432bdecdccfcd5251201c57d872f31 | Hoverboards have become an obsession for amateur designers ever since Marty McFly jumped on one in Back to the Future II. Now, one Texan claims he has finally been able to create his own version for just £160 ($250) using garden leaf blowers that float on a pocket of air. Ryan Craven, 27, built the device using four leaf blowers, a 4ft by 4ft (1.2 by 1.2 metre) piece of plywood, a skateboard deck, shower liner, coffee can lids and gaffer tape. Scroll down for video . He claims that anyone can build their own in eight steps using simple tools that include a tape measure, sand paper, staple gun and a hole saw. The waiter said he came up with the idea after seeing another hoverboard project on Kickstarter, which inspired him to design one which anyone can build. 'I'm a huge Back to the Future fan and always wanted to build one,' he said. 'I saw the HUVR Kickstarter campaign with Tony Hawk and thought it was the perfect time to try building one.' Back to the future: Ryan Craven, 27, built the device using four leaf blowers, a 4ft by 4ft (1.2 by 1.2 metre) piece of plywood, a skateboard deck, shower liner, coffee can lids and gaffer tape . Floating on air: 'I'm a huge Back to the Future fan and always wanted to build one,' said Mr Craven (pictured) 'I saw the HUVR Kickstarter campaign with Tony Hawk and thought it was the perfect time to try building one' 'It can move quite a bit once it's going, and despite the steering issue, which really isn't quite there, you can go quite far and move a little bit. Mr Craven explained that the device is essentially a miniature version of a hovercraft. He has also released instructions for anyone who would like to make their own. A skirt fills with air that is released below from strategically placed holes that create a small pocket between the device, dubbed 'Mr Hoverboard', and the ground. The Hendo hoverboard uses four 'hover engines' which emit magnetic fields that push against each other . In October, Californian architect Greg Henderson made a similar hoverboard that floats in mid-air. Dubbed the Hendo Hoverboard, the technology uses four 'hover engines' which emit magnetic fields that push against each other as long as metal conductor is used in the surface underneath. The idea came to Mr Henderson while he was trying to find ways of building structures that can better withstand earthquakes. As part of his research, he came up with a method that uses electromagnetic fields to separate the building from the ground in the event of a disaster. That same technology, he realised, could also be put to work in a hoverboard that would allow people to glide on air. In a video released by Mr Henderson, a man is seen moving smoothly along a custom-built skate ramp on his board, which is held an inch of the ground. Unlike the Back to the Future board, the technology requires the board to be on top of conductive materials - such as copper or aluminum - to serve as a secondary magnetic field. 'The Back to the Future hoverboard has always been the impossible dream, but I wanted to make a real hoverboard that was accessible and workable and fun to use, and not too expensive,' added Mr Craven. 'There are so many variations of skateboard and this one could easily end up being just another variation. 'But I would love for people to take my idea and develop it to the point where it becomes universal.' The design becomes even more staggering as Mr Craven is not a designer or inventor – and he says his first prototypes were far from perfect. Blown away: 'The Back to the Future hoverboard (right) has always been the impossible dream, but I wanted to make a real hoverboard that was accessible and workable and fun to use, and not too expensive,' added Mr Craven. Left is an early prototype created using a hairdryer . 'I'm not an engineer,' he said. 'I work in a restaurant, so it's pretty naive of me to buy four leaf blowers. 'I'm pretty much broke all the time usually and if people want to donate then that would be wonderful. Mr Craven has been working on the design since March and the early prototypes had wheels and were much smaller at first. 'One was even powered by a disassembled hairdryer, until I finally hit on the idea of the leaf blowers,' he said. 'They were crude. Frankensteinish. 'The process is very chaotic and it's so much easier to fail than to succeed.' Mr Craven is now working on the next version which he hopes will be quieter, with improved air flow and less vibration. Early designs: Mr Craven has been working on the design since March and the early prototypes had wheels and were much smaller at first.'One was even powered by a disassembled hairdryer (pictured), until I finally hit on the idea of the leaf blowers,' he said. 'They were crude. Frankensteinish' | 'Mr Hoverboard' was created by Ryan Craven, 27, from Austin, Texas .
He used leaf blowers, plywood, a skateboard, shower liner and coffee lids .
He claims anyone can build their own using simple tools found at home .
Mr Craven says he is a huge Back to the Future fan, and was inspired by the film, but admits his invention needs refining . |
86,282 | f4d407c8ab60be121594d78f56f711baebfd2599 | Editor's note: CNN has asked its journalists across the country to offer their thoughts on how the economic crisis is affecting their cities. In this installment, Bob Crowley reports from Boston, Massachusetts. Hardware store owner Brendan Kenney says "people who have money should go out and spend it." BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Brendan Kenney has seen enough bad news about the economy. "I'm also getting tired of being worried," he says. His family has been running a small hardware store in Brookline, Massachusetts, just outside Boston, for about 56 years. He says business has slowed down a little, but mostly because winter is normally the slow time of year for them. Though he hopes the stimulus plan will help his and other small businesses, he believes people shouldn't be afraid. "I think the American consumer holds a lot of power," he continues. "I think people who have money should go out and spend it." Like many in the Boston area, Kenney doesn't want to hear more discouraging stories and sees that as part of the problem. "It's just negative story after negative story, kind of creating a crisis of confidence." Watch Boston-area reaction to the economic slump » . South of Boston, Jose Nieto, from Plainville, has his own reasons to be discouraged. Between September and October of last year, he was laid off twice. Nieto, a civil engineer who works on road construction projects, had felt fortunate. After losing his job of 14 years, he was able to find employment after only being out of work for two weeks. After being on the new job for three weeks, however, he got called into the boss's office. "I said, 'Oh, no. My God, not again.'" He was faced with looking for work in an industry that traditionally slows down in the winter months. "It's more than losing your job. It gives you a feeling of rejection," he says. Yet, Nieto feels this is a time to learn valuable lessons, especially for those who need to dip into their savings when unemployment checks don't cover all of the bills. "I think a lot of people will learn from this situation, and, going forward, they'll try to save more money." He has been trying to stay healthy, busy and positive. Passing the time working on projects in his basement workshop and taking yoga classes has helped him get through the rough spots, and his luck is turning. He was offered a job that starts in March. "It is a relief, because I'm employed," he says, "however, I'm taking a job for much less money." Nieto believes that most employers cannot afford to hire at the salaries they could offer in the past. Like Kenney's hardware store, Sue Stein's American craft gallery, also in Brookline, is not seeing any major shifts in her business, yet. "Our business has been certainly down, but not devastating," she says. Fire Opal, her gallery, sells everything from earrings to pottery to scarves, all made by artists from around the country. To keep her business healthy, she says, she is trying to make adjustments like buying less merchandise. But she is changing her approach to her customers as well. She says she tries to keep "understanding that people are having a hard time and trying to find things that are more in their price range." Like Kenney and Nieto, Stein is also trying to stay optimistic. "I think if we all are very careful," she says, "we'll sort of ride it out and then things will adjust." | Hardware store owner in Boston slams "negative story after negative story"
Worker laid off twice in two months says he's trying to stay positive .
Layoff also brings on feelings of rejection, worker says .
Gallery owner says business is down but not "devastating" |
147,973 | 4b5ac526e70d1284ecde7dbc07a0be67cffad973 | (CNN) -- In September 1985 a devastating earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale smashed into Mexico City killing 10,000 people and leaving parts of the city in ruins. Since then, the populous Latin American nation of 122 million has invested in one of the most advanced seismic warning systems anywhere in the world. The SASMEX facility came online in 1991 and reacts to data gathered by sensors placed near major fault lines along Mexico's Pacific coast. Receivers dotted around five major cities, including Mexico City and Acapulco, will sound the alarm if they detect an earthquake. It's a system that can buy vital seconds for residents to brace themselves before the tremors begin. But not everyone has access to a SASMEX receiver -- there are 100,000 in operation but at a cost of roughly $330 apiece, they are a luxury the majority of Mexicans can't afford. Most receivers are stationed in the likes of public buildings, hospitals, schools and subway stations. With roughly 21 million people living both formally and informally in and around Mexico City alone, that means many will not be aware the alarm is sounding until the ground begins shaking. $50 alarm . According to local tech entrepreneur, Andres Meira, such vital services should be far more widely available. Meira is no passive observer in this debate. He moved to Mexico City after working in Haiti and witnessing the devastation caused by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck the Caribbean island in 2010 killing more than 230,000 people. It's an experience that had a profound and lasting effect on him. "Until you live in one of these places you don't really understand the primitive fear of earthquakes," he said. "There are times when you can't sleep and sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and make sure things aren't moving." Now, after combining with local engineers and tech investors based in Silicon Valley, Meira believes he may have a solution that will bring the SASMEX signal to the masses. It's called the Grillo (the Spanish word for cricket) early warning system. The compact device -- a cube about the size of an alarm clock -- taps into the special frequencies that SASMEX operates on and relays that information to its users. When seismic activity is detected, the Grillo sounds a loud, flashing alarm. At a cost of just $50, it also undercuts the price of the receivers used primarily in public buildings by around 85%. "This is the most affordable and the most direct way for the Mexican public to connect to the early warning system," Meira says of the product, which also became Mexico's most successful ever Kickstarter campaign. Mexico City's geographic location and geological makeup put it at particular risk from seismic activity. There have been a handful of relatively small quakes in 2014 already. Meira also hopes versions of the Grillo system could be introduced elsewhere in the world where earthquakes are a real risk -- like in Nepal, India, the West Coast of the U.S. and along much of the Pacific Coast of South America. Missing education? But others point to the difficulty of introducing a mass warning system without first educating citizens on what to do when receiving a direct alert. Speaking to McClatchyDC.com earlier this year, Arturo Iglesias Mendoza, director of the Institute of Geophysics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, pondered what would happen if 5,000 of 60,000 people in a football stadium received an alert of an imminent earthquake? "People should know that the safest thing to do is to stay in the stadium," he said. On top of that, the $50 price is still a considerable investment for many residents of a country where the average wage remains under $5 a day. Then there is the fact that only a handful of early warning systems like SASMEX exist anywhere in the world. This means that Grillo will unlikely have government sourced data and advanced sensor system set up near major fault lines to tap into in many other locations. Meira and his colleagues have anticipated such difficulties. He speaks of the next stage of the Grillo project which will see hundreds of specially developed sensors placed all over Mexico, feeding into an algorithm that will provide early-warning alerts to apps and smartphones. Warning app . Known as Grillo Active, the tiny orange devices contain a sensitive movement detector, microprocessor and a WiFi module to transmit a signal. Grillo are currently in talks with a major convenience store chain to locate the devices at between 500 and 1,000 of their stores around Mexico. Such a wide spread will ensure more reliable and faster alerts. "The real test of a good infrastructure is the density of sensors," Meira said. "This is our plan in Mexico." Given that the devices can be produced cheaply and located anywhere with an internet connection, the potential for Grillo to be used in a variety of vulnerable areas around the world is very real. Japan remains the only nation in the world where the entire country is hooked up to an early warning facility. And that system, which consists of 1,000 GPS sensors. For now, however, this fledgling group's focus remains on Mexico. The first small batch of Grillo boxes produced have been sold, although they haven't yet seen any action in the field. Mexico's last earthquake was recorded about six months ago, when the device was still in the prototype phase. Meira hopes that the acid test doesn't come too soon, but he expects a solid performance from his invention when it does. "The science is all there," he said. "We have tested it out in two earthquakes and they worked just fine. One was a seven pointer (on the Richter scale) and it worked perfectly." Now, they await the next earthquake. | Grillo is a device that aims to bring a low-cost earthquake warning system to the masses in Mexico .
A number of major fault lines are situated along Mexico's Pacific Coast .
Some say a widespread program of public education is required so people know what to do when seismic activity occurs . |
200,439 | 8f75cc1e72fc20655f00e220f1cc7c5b1929f227 | (CNN) -- SOPA appears to be dead. But the battle over Internet piracy is not. In the wake of the debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act, supporters of that now-abandoned bill are looking to Internet service providers for help; they're also taking other tacks that Web-freedom advocates say could have much the same effect as SOPA would have had. That bill, which came before the U.S. Congress earlier this year, would have made it easier to shut down websites that illegally share music, movies and other content. Opponents of SOPA, which included tech heavyweights such as Google, Facebook and Wikipedia, argued it was too broad and could effectively stifle expression online. Remember the Wikipedia blackout? It was in protest of SOPA. But the entire time, Internet service providers, at the behest of trade groups representing the entertainment industry, have been preparing to police such illegal sharing voluntarily and, potentially, shut down sites they think aren't playing by the rules. Those actions could have the same effect that SOPA would have. According to a leading recording industry spokesman, service providers such as Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable are expected to begin enforcing ramped-up anti-piracy policies in the next few months. (Time Warner, CNN's parent company, supported the legislation. Time Warner Cable is no longer affiliated with the company.) "Each ISP has to develop their infrastructure for automating the system," Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, said this week at a publishers conference in New York. "Every ISP has to do it differently, depending on the architecture of its particular network. Some are nearing completion, and others are a little further from completion." The Copyright Alert System, which the recording industry's trade group first announced in July, has alternately been called a "gradual elevation" approach or the "six strikes" plan because of the warnings that providers would give before curbing a user's Internet access. Unlike SOPA, it targets individual Web users, not websites. After five or six alerts that their account appears to have been used to download content illegally, the ISP could take measures including temporarily throttling (i.e. dramatically slowing down) Internet speed, redirecting users to a Web page asking them to contact their provider or other measures. Supporters said they expect most Web users will stop downloading copyrighted material once they realize it's not legal. "We hope that effort -- designed to notify and educate customers, not to penalize them -- will set a reasonable standard for both copyright owners and ISPs to follow, while informing customers about copyright laws and encouraging them to get content from the many legal sources that exist," Randal S. Milch, executive vice president of Verizon, said in a statement when the plan was made public last year. Web-freedom advocates acknowledge the plan wouldn't go as far as SOPA, which called for offending websites to be shut down in some cases. But they still have concerns. Mitch Stoltz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it's unclear how severe penalties could be for users who are repeatedly warned under the system. The announcement listed examples but made it clear that other means could be used. Most dangerously, he said, the system calls on service providers to act based on accusations or appearances, not proven facts. "A court hasn't spoken," he said. "It sort of puts the ISPs in the position of being a judge." No bill is ever truly dead in Congress, but there haven't been any visible efforts to push similar legislation since a public outcry over SOPA led sponsors to shelve the effort in January. "It is a lot more quiet, and I would guess it's because it's an election year," Stoltz said. "I think they realize this sort of thing can be an election liability now." But that hasn't stopped anti-piracy proponents from heading to other fronts, including overseas, to continue the fight. Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Chris Dodd, a former U.S. senator, spoke last week in India, where the movie business is huge and is expected to become a $5 billion-a-year industry in the near future. "Content theft is a global problem, and we must have a global commitment to solving it," Dodd said during a film-industry conference in Mumbai. "This is an important opportunity for the Indian government to move forward with strong protections against online theft. We encourage the Indian film industry to reject as we have, the false argument that you cannot be pro-technology and pro-copyright at the same time." Dodd's speech came at nearly the same time that an Indian court was ordering all Internet service providers in the country to block 104 websites it said offered illegal music downloads. According to Torrent Freak, a blog specializing in news about file-sharing sites and the legal issues they face, India already has SOPA-style legislation in place that allows judges to make such orders. All the while, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a treaty designed to define intellectual property rights and enforcement internationally, is moving along, gaining support from many of the world's wealthiest and most influential nations. The United States, the European Union, Japan, Canada and others have already endorsed the deal. "Few people have heard of ACTA, or the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, but the provisions in the agreement appear quite similar to -- and more expansive than -- anything we saw in SOPA," blogger Erik Kain, who is critical of the plan, wrote for Forbes. "Worse, the agreement spans virtually all of the countries in the developed world, including all of the EU, the United States, Switzerland and Japan." Opponents said it's not clear how the agreement would affect laws in the United States and elsewhere, while backers said its intent is merely to codify and reinforce existing laws, making them easier to enforce. The treaty is open to all World Trade Organizations to sign until May 2013. It would then need to be ratified by legislative bodies in at least six of the participating nations. | With SOPA stalled in U.S., anti-piracy advocates have taken the fight elsewhere .
Internet service providers are planning to enforce "six strikes" rule on illegal downloads .
The motion picture industry is urging other nations, such as India, to act .
Meanwhile, ACTA, an international treaty, is moving along in major countries . |
192,572 | 854667d95ff95f791b2872667bbe1b210ce98067 | There were echoes of Harald Schumacher's infamous pole-axing of Patrick Battiston as Manuel Neuer clattered in to Gonzalo Higuain in Sunday night's World Cup final. True, the giant German goalkeeper got the ball as he came out to punch clear early in the second half, but as his flying floored the Argentina strike, thoughts immediately turned to the 1982 World Cup semi-final. Then-Germany keeper Schumacher was nowhere near the ball when he took Battiston out, with the referee somehow not awarding a free-kick after the ball had trickled wide. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Manuel Neuer highlights . Ouch: Manuel Neuer clatters into Gonzalo Higuain in the second half... he still earned his team a foul . Painful memories: Another German goalkeeper, Harald Schumacher, pole-axed Patrick Battiston in 1982 . Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli came up with a baffling decision early in the second half when Manuel Neuer clashed with Gonzalo Higuain. The Germany goalkeeper had every right to go for the ball with his fist, made a clean connection and his follow-through was natural. He inadvertently cleaned out Higuain but there was no case for a penalty. For some observers it may have brought back memories of West German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher’s awful challenge on Patrick Battiston of France in a 1982 semi-final (above). But it was nothing like it for dangerous play. However, why Rizzoli decided to award Germany a free-kick was a mystery. A throw-in to Argentina would have been the right choice. Harrowing: Battiston of France lost two teeth and a suffered a damaged vertebrae after the incident . Pain: Higuain couldn't believe a free-kick was given against him after the collision . There were similarly farcical scenes at the Maracana as referee Nicola Rizzoli concluded to award Neuer the free-kick despite Higuain's eyes never leaving the ball nor his feet or arms leaving the ground. Higuain, thankfully, escaped unharmed, unlike Battiston who lost teeth and damaged vertebrae. VIDEO All Star XI: Manuel Neuer highlights . Focus: Both sets of eyes were on the ball... but it was still a nasty challenge . Apologies: Neuer attempts to console Argentina striker Higuain during the World Cup final . | Neuer clatters into Higuain during 2014 World Cup final .
The game was tied 0-0 between Germany and Argentina in Brazil .
It brought back memories of Schumacher's challenge on Battiston in 1982 .
French player was nearly killed in harrowing incident . |
38,785 | 6d9fe87ce36c043cca2b0a4c53cde3bdd92fdc88 | You may like to think that your partner imagines getting intimate with you and only you, but it would appear there are other things on his mind when it comes to sex. And they include threesomes, having sex with your friends, sleeping with their colleagues and being more adventurous in bed, according to a new survey by Cosmopolitan magazine. Some 50 per cent of engaged men secretly . wish they could have sex with a female friend, while 18 per cent of married . men would like to sleep with a colleague. The Cosmopolitan sex survey lifts the lid on what men are really thinking about when they're in bed . Just under a third (32 per cent) of men in a . relationship want to sleep with their a friend' girlfriend, and 32 per cent . of single men want to have sex with an ex. While most men surveyed have slept with just . one to three women, an energetic three per cent claim their 'number' is over 100 - but only half have had a one night stand. When asked if they . could change one thing about their sexual past, 36 per cent wish they'd slept . with more women and 32 per cent wish they'd been more adventurous. And when quizzed about infidelity, 42 per cent said they had cheated - and of those, 82 per cent said they felt guilty afterwards, and cited boredom as . their reason for being unfaithful. British men seem to like variety, too: 37 per cent boast having filmed themselves having sex, 72 per cent have had text sex, 28 per cent have tried S&M, and 23 per cent would be keen to try bondage. But a threesome is still the number one fantasy - over half the 732 men polled would be interested in introducing a third party to the bedroom. But a threesome is still the number one fantasy - over half the 732 men polled would be interested in introducing a third party to the bedroom . The survey also unearthed further secrets about men's sexual habits. Some 37 per cent of men who watch porn - 11 per cent of whom watch it every single day - feel the need to hide it from their partner. Some 26 per cent of men in a relationship have . enjoyed a private dance in a strip club, and 15 per cent have hooked up sexually . with someone they’ve met on Facebook. When it comes to their ideal woman, men say confidence is key, with 76 per cent saying they want a partner who knows what she's doing. Nearly half of all men questioned (44 per cent) think kissing is the most intimate thing a couple can do. When it comes to their ideal woman, men say confidence is key, with 76 per cent saying they want a partner who knows what she's doing . Regionally, Welsh men are the most . faithful, with 70 per cent having never cheated on a partner. Read the full findings in September's Cosmopolitan . Those in . the West Midlands are the most promiscuous, and 76 per cent in the East . of England have texted a naked photo. In . terms of the ex-factor, 46 per cent of London-based men have . fantastised about a former partner while having sex with their current . squeeze, and 63 per cent of men in Scotland would like to have 'ex-sex'. Louise Court, Editor of Cosmopolitan, said: 'British men are pretty hypocritical when it comes to sex. 'As a lot of the men we surveyed said they'd be put off if a girl had slept with between six and 20 men - while they wanted to sleep with loads of women. It takes two to tango. 'They love to see themselves as these Casanova figures having this fantasy world of sex. It's often not very realistic. 'It's very easy for men to reveal their innermost thoughts from the comfort of their armchairs, living in a lad culture with no consequences. 'But they need to separate fantasy from reality - a lot of women would like to have sex with David Beckham and have a wardrobe full of Louboutins but it doesn't mean it's going to happen.' The sex map of Britain reveals what men are doing to whom and where . | 18% of married men would like to sleep with a female colleague .
50% of engaged men would like to have sex with a female friend .
Most men have slept with between one and three women .
Welsh men are most faithful, those in West Midlands most promiscuous .
Findings in Cosmopolitan magazine's men-only sex survey . |
175,500 | 6f253c4a6d553b23481a1d10250b5f1f70e92de6 | ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) -- Daniel Buruca had a bad experience the first time he took drugs. One young recovering addict said "there would always be something" in the medicine cabinet at a friend's house. "I was shivering and I was seeing things, and my mom was playing a video game and it was just 10 times louder than it was. "I could feel the monsters in the video game coming towards me... and I got so scared at one point that I threw up," the 17-year-old said from the Virginia drug treatment center where he lives. He had taken LSD at age 9, and his appetite for drugs had just begun. He and millions of youngsters in the United States have an easy time finding drugs, according to a survey The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse released Wednesday. Forty percent of teens -- about 10 million -- say they can get marijuana within a day while about 25 percent -- 5.7 million teens -- say they can find marijuana within an hour, the survey says. A lot more teens -- 37 percent more since 2007 -- also said that pot was easier to buy than cigarettes or beer. The survey also says that two-thirds of high school students say drugs are used, kept or sold at their school. "Parents are the key to raising drug-free kids, and they have the power to do it if they send their children the clear message to choose not to use and demand that the schools their children attend be drug-free," the center's chairman and founder, Joseph A. Califano, said in a statement. The 14th annual report also says teens are more likely to get drunk and use marijuana if they see their parents drunk. For the first time, the survey asked teens about the ease of getting prescription drugs to use for getting high. The survey found that one in five teens could get the drugs within an hour and that their own homes and friends are the most common sources. The kind of drug use outlined in the survey can take a toll on people like Devon Kennedy, who says she started using drugs in the ninth grade. "The first drug I did was speed," the 18-year-old said. "As soon as I tried it, it was perfect to me so I just tried everything I could after that." Kennedy says she moved on to harder drugs like cocaine and heroin. Jessi Danner, also 18, recalls looking for Pop Tarts at a friend's house and finding something else in the drawer. "There's this little baggie and she's like, 'I have seen this in movies. You shove it up your nose' -- and so that's what we did. The bag was filled with cocaine. She was 10. Cocaine would rule Danner's life for the next five years. Buruca, Danner and Kennedy share a common bond -- all are recovering drug addicts hoping to get their young lives back on track. The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimated in 2007 that 19.9 million Americans age 12 or older -- around 8 percent of the population -- had used illegal drugs. Debbie Taylor sees the results of that drug use as president and CEO of Vanguard Services, a substance-abuse treatment center in Arlington. "A child can get -- in any neighborhood, in any school -- almost any drug that they would want in a relatively short period of time. I don't think that was the case 20 years ago," she said. Buruca, a patient at Vanguard, has been drug-free for almost four months. But for the previous five years, LSD, a mood-changing drug that can cause delusions and visual hallucinations, was his drug of choice. "It's like I felt everything was dull. It wasn't what it should be and there's this whole other world I can go into that's just so much better and wider. Why stay in this one?" Buruca said, with his mother, Christina Tellez, sitting next to him. Tellez had no idea her 9-year-old son was taking drugs. "He had such a great family support system around him. We were with him all the time," she said. By the time Buruca was in the eighth grade, he says, he was using drugs daily and often had hallucinations as he entered school. "I walked in, the walls started collapsing, hallways started to shrink and I walked right back out," he said. Tellez just thought her son had severe behavioral issues . She says no one ever warned her that Buruca could be a drug addict. By the time Kennedy was in 10th grade, her life was spinning out of control. "I was completely strung out," she said. She says she was expelled from high school for drug possession. Kennedy's experimentation with drugs became an addiction very quickly. "As soon as I tried it, it was done -- like, I just knew," she said. Living in a quiet suburb of Washington made matters worse. "You live in a neighborhood where nothing dangerous is going on. You start getting bored with this mediocre life, you want something special," she said. Kennedy knows this firsthand. "Every time I went to someone's house, the first thing I said was I had to go to the bathroom and I went to the bathroom cabinets and there would always be something in there. Everywhere you went, somebody had a parent who had something," she said. Kennedy has completed her treatment at Vanguard and has been drug free for 19 months. She attends community college. Danner says she missed out on a lot of happy memories. "Instead of hanging out with friends, I would be locked up in my room doing lines, and that's no way to live," she said. She is in the final phase of treatment, is attending community college and wants to be an actress one day. Buruca said he hopes he can leave treatment soon and start his senior year of high school. The music and football fanatic offers some advice for teens curious about drugs. "It's so detrimental to your future for a few hours of being high. And a lot of times you will get to those hard drugs like meth and heroin that will get you addicted, physically addicted, and it will just ruin your life completely," he said. Taylor suggested parents have their pediatrician do a drug test during a normal annual physical so any problems can be caught early on. "Children go so quickly into an adaptive and addictive phase that it's very difficult to reel them back at that point," Taylor said. | Recovering teen drug addicts share harrowing stories with CNN .
Millions of teens say they can easily find drugs, newly released study says .
25 percent of teens say they can find marijuana within an hour, study reveals .
Treatment center CEO recommends drug testing during routine physicals . |
118,952 | 2599d308dcc6f0deca852c35fbcc169ef6c94f8a | (CNN) -- Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has signed into law a ban on same-sex marriage in Africa's most populous nation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry slammed the decision Monday. "Beyond even prohibiting same-sex marriage, this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association and expression for all Nigerians," he said in a statement. "People everywhere deserve to live in freedom and equality. No one should face violence or discrimination for who they are or who they love." Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, characterized the law as a "big setback for human rights for all Nigerians." According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the bill passed by the Senate at the end of last year introduces a 14-year prison sentence for people who are convicted of entering into a same-sex marriage or civil union. It also reportedly makes it an offense to administer, witness or help at a same-sex marriage ceremony. NAN said the law also forbids people from running gay clubs, societies, processions or meetings in Nigeria. The punishment for such acts is 10 years in prison, it said. And the law even states that marriages or civil unions from outside the country will be void inside the country, according to NAN. Last month, Uganda's parliament passed controversial legislation that would make some gay acts punishable by life in prison. For the bill to become law, it would need the signature of that county's president, who has 30 days to make a decision. Homosexuality is illegal in most African nations based on remnants of sodomy laws introduced during the British colonial era and perpetuated by cultural beliefs. Punishments across the continent range from fines to years in prison. Worldwide, a growing number of countries now allow same-sex marriage, the majority of them in Europe. The Netherlands was the first, in 2001, and it was later joined by Belgium, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Portugal, Denmark and France. A bill to allow same-sex marriage in England and Wales is also now law, though it isn't expected to come into force until later this year. French court rules mayors cannot block same-sex marriage . Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa are the non-European countries in the group, according to the Pew Research Center. Same-sex marriage is also legal in some parts of Mexico and the United States. CNN's Christian Purefoy, Marilia Brocchetto and Faith Karimi contributed to this report. | Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signs the bill into law .
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry slams the decision .
The law reportedly imposes a 14-year prison sentence for same-sex marriage .
Homosexuality is illegal in most African nations . |
52,036 | 9361a534ee307130db6cb5778eb9869bddb82716 | By . James Gordon . After more than six months at sea, a 67-year-old Polish adventurer paddled his kayak into New Smyrna Beach on Saturday to mark the end of a 6,000-mile trans-Atlantic journey, looking like a castaway. Aleksander 'Olek' Doba kissed the ground after he landed. He was greeted by hundreds of cheering supporters. A flotilla of fellow kayakers joined him as he paddled into the marina. His skin was bronzed and weathered, his beard long and tangled, but his mood was triumphant after completing a journey across one of the world's roughest oceans. Triumphant: To the cheers of hundreds of supporters on the water in kayaks and on land holding signs, Polish adventurer Aleksander Doba paddled into New Smyrna Beach Marina on Saturday after a more than 6,000-mile journey across the vast Atlantic Ocean alone in a kayak . What a trip! Doba left Lisbon, Portugal on October 5, with the goal of making the more than 6,500 mile crossing, however he was forced to stop in Bermuda for repairs to his 21-foot kayak from February 13 to March 23 after harsh weather damaged his rudder . The Polish explorer should arrived at New Smyrna at the weekend. He told the crowd that completing the trans-Atlantic voyage was his dream. 'The feeling I had when I (arrived) here in New Smyrna Beach was fantastic, so many people, so friendly,' he said. Doba left Lisbon, Portugal on October 5, with the goal of making the more than 6,500 mile crossing, however he was forced to stop in Bermuda for repairs to his 21-foot kayak from February 13 to March 23 after harsh weather damaged his rudder. He also experienced equipment issues and was unable to send messages for 47 days. But he reached Bermuda, where he spent a month while repairs were made. Castaway: Sporting a beard he said that he had barely slept on the six-month long crossing . Heroic journey: He said the most-difficult part of his trip was navigating through the choppy waters of the Gulf Stream just days before he reached the Florida coast . Home for six months! Aleksander Doba sailed 6,000 miles across the Atlantic in this tiny kayak . While in Bermuda he still managed to live off the rations that he packed in Portugal — before setting out again to complete the journey. His paddle from Portugal to Bermuda is believed to be the longest open-water kayak crossing in history. He said the most-difficult part of his trip was navigating through the choppy waters of the Gulf Stream just days before he reached the Florida coast. In December, he refused a rescue attempt by members of a commercial tanker after issuing an SOS signal, about midway across the Atlantic. He told the crew that his satellite navigation equipment wasn’t working properly, but that he was proceeding anyway. According to Canoe & Kayak magazine, even the last few days of fighting the Gulf Stream proved extremely challenging. Back on dry land: The 67-year-old Polish adventurer paddled his kayak into the record books as he landed at New Smyrna Beach on Saturday to mark the end of a 6,000-mile, trans-Atlantic journey . On dry land: He told the crowd that completing the trans-Atlantic voyage was his dream . 'For five months we worried about crossing the Gulf Stream,' Piotr Chmielinski, who has helped manage Doba’s expedition and served as translator, told Canoe & Kayak. 'If he got northerly winds, the current and winds fight each other and you get choppy, breaking son-of-a-gun waves' Among those who greeted Doba on Saturday was Marianne McCormick of Port Orange. McCormick said she has followed Doba's adventure since November. 'I wouldn't miss this for the world. My husband wanted to play golf. I said, 'I'm coming here,' ' said McCormick, who took pictures of the celebration with her iPad. Mary "Snookie" DeMarce, of Edgewater, brought a sign that read "Olek, you're my hero.' 'Yes, he's an inspiration because I'm 65,' she said. New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer shook Doba's hand, calling him 'Aleksander the Great.' Barringer read a proclamation in Doba's honor and presented him with a bottle of champagne on behalf of the city. He was also presented with honorary membership into the Smyrna Yacht Club. Doba started paddling at the age of 40 and, according to his son, lived by this motto: “It’s better to live one day as a lion than a thousand years as a lamb.” He completed his first trans-Atlantic expedition in February 2011 when he kayaked 3,900 miles from Senegal, Africa, to Brazil — a 99-day journey. | Aleksander Doba set off in October from Lisbon, Portugal .
He paddled across the Atlantic until he reached Bermuda where he had to have a rudder replaced .
Finally reached Florida coastline at the weekend . |
194,600 | 87e52a7b15c98572ebc7cb9b651908f01507b809 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . They were among the most poignant symbols of the recession, hundreds of unfinished Irish housing estates that had to be abandoned following the credit crunch of the late 2000s. But now demolition has begun on some of the last of the remaining ghost estates, built during the economic boom of 'Celtic Tiger' years but now deemed 'not economically viable'. Between the mid-1990s and 2007, Irish developers flocked to build new homes, spurred on by the easy availability of credit, cheap labour from eastern Europe and a vibrant Dublin property market. Bulldozed: The last remaining units on the Glenatore Esate in Athlone, Ireland, where in 2012 a two-year-old boy was killed after breaking through a fence onto an unfinished development, are being torn down . Not economically viable: A contractor stands in the rubble of the Glenatore ghost estate. Thousands of housing estates built during the Celtic Tiger boom years were abandoned following the late 2000s recession . Abandoned: Unsold houses lie next to land bought for development at the Castlemoyne housing estate in Dublin, Ireland . But then the bottom fell out and by 2010 there were an estimated 600 ghost estates in . Ireland with an estimated 300,000 homes lying empty. Some unlucky buyers were caught in the middle of the crash and found themselves trapped living in dangerous, unfinished properties next to rows of empty buildings. In 2009, the Irish government announced that it would invest €20m in properties on ghost estates to use for social housing, but the plan was widely criticised because of the lack of basic amenities such as schools on the estates. As a result many were simply neglected and left to fall into disrepair. In February 2012, a two-year-old boy died after drowning in a pool of water on an unfinished ghost estate. Some unlucky buyers were caught in the middle of the crash and found themselves trapped living in dangerous, unfinished properties next to rows of empty buildings . Down tools: The Irish ghost estate at Carickmacross, County Monaghan, where work stopped in October 2010 . Slashed: During the economic boom, Irish developers attempted to cash in, building tens of thousands of houses. However, poor planning decisions and the global recession have resulted in a large number of estates being abandoned, unoccupied or unfinished . The Waterways in the village of Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim, yet another example of an Irish ghost estate - an empty and unsold housing development . Broken dreams: A billboard which offered families the chance to buy their 'dream home' during the boom years stands as a painful reminder of the recession . Brick by brick: Demolition begins on the last few standing units at the condemned Glenatore 'Ghost Housing Estate' in Athlone . Toddler Liam Keogh is understood to have followed the family dog from his home through a fence into a section of the Glenatore housing estate in Athlone, Co. Westmeath. The tragedy brought the problem of the ghost estates sharply into focus. Those which clearly had no future, lacking basic infrastructure such as roads, lighting, and schools, were deeemed economically unviable and earmarked for demolition. According to figures published in November, since 2010 the number of completed but vacant housing units fell by 72 per cent from 23,250 to 6,350 while the number of unfinished developments fell by 55.8 per cent from 2,846 to 1,258. In October, the Government said it would allocate €10million to resolving the problem of ghost estates and last month Irish Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan ordered a further 40 of the worst ghost estates should be pulled down at the developers' expense. Despite a long-slow and difficult recovery Irish property prices remain almost 50% below their peak in 2007. Over the past three years the number of ghost estates has fallen by as estimated 56 per cent, with some finally being completed but many being torn down . Poignant reminder: A floral tribute to Toddler Liam Keogh, who died after wandering onto the site of an unfinished property at the Glenatore housing estate in Athlone is attached to the perimeter fence . | Thousands of Irish housing projects were started during the Celtic Tiger boom years but abandoned after the crash .
When recession hit in the late 2000s the credit crunch meant hundreds of thousands of homes were left empty .
Many of the half-finished estates lack basic amenities like lighting and schools and are deemed uneconomically viable .
Irish housing minister last month ordered a further 40 of the worst estates be pulled down at the developers' expense .
Irish property prices are still almost 50% below their peak in 2007 . |
201,787 | 913ba45e6f0f46929387769fa9458c7995454019 | By . Alasdair Glennie Tv Correspondent . The first series was filled with such unremitting doom and gloom, viewers switched off in their droves. But in an effort to lighten the misery, it seems The Village has upset its remaining fans by veering into farce. The BBC costume drama was likened to a ‘Carry On film’ yesterday after it featured a string of smutty jokes, full nudity and racy gay kiss in its opening episode. Scroll down for video . Julian Sands (right) plays Lord Kilmartin in BBC's The Village with Daniel Ezra who plays Ghana Jones (left) And despite its new upbeat tone, ratings for the drama - which was originally seen as a potential rival to ITV’s Downton Abbey - continued to slide. An average audience of just 4.6million tuned in on Sunday night, compared to the 6.4million who watched the opening episode last year, and the 4.1million who watched the season one finale. Much of the plotline was focused on the aristocratic Allingham family, who spend the first episode trying to impress their distinguished house guest Lord Kilmartin. In a string of sexually suggestive scenes, Lady Allingham, played by Juliet Stevenson, appeared intent on seducing her visitor and delivered several racy puns. In one highly-charged moment, Lord Kilmartin came down for breakfast after striding topless around the balcony of the house and started flirting with his hostess. After reminding him he is a married man, Lady Allingham lowered her voice to a husky drawl and asked him: ‘Now the pressing question is, how do you like your sausage?’ Many viewers were left in no doubt she intended the remark to be a rude innuendo. Writing on Twitter, viewer Sharon MacDonald said she felt the comment was ‘filth’. Michael Kelly added: ‘Hold on!! Light relief with a sausage joke!’ Lorna Wilde said: ‘How do you like your sausage in the morning?”, oh aye.’ Several viewers took to Twitter to discuss the BBC costume drama which was likened to a ‘Carry On film’ Viewers switched off in droves after a gloomy first series (pictured is Derek Riddel who plays Bill Gibby) The series has been written by Peter Moffat who was inspired by his grandparents who were shepherds . As the episode wore on, Lady Allingham continued to shock viewers with her off-the-cuff remarks. At a family drinks party, she looked knowingly at another guest as she asked him how to pronounce the word ‘cocktail’, saying ‘Does one put the stress on ‘cock’ or ‘tail?’” In other scenes that were equally far removed from the gentility normally expected in costume dramas, a character repeatedly used the ‘f- word’ and described heiress Edwina Mountbatten as a ‘maniac for sex’. In another sexually charged scene, the heir to the Allingham fortune engaged in a furtive kiss with another man that threatens to derail his political career. Meanwhile, the village fete descended into farce when a visiting boxer stripped off and walked completely naked through a throng of onlookers. On Twitter, a viewer writing under the name Hayley commented: ‘So The Village has gone from wrist slitting depression to Carry On innuendo in the space of one series.’ John Simm, plays John Middleton, in the series which was criticised on Twitter by viewers yesterday . Mary Middleton with Grace Middleton (left) in the series and Norma Hankin and Arnold Hankin (right) Another wrote on the BBC Points of View messageboard: ‘It seemed a lot more Downton Abbey or Larkrise than the first season. Even the livelihood threatening stuff about Mr Middleton not being able to pay the rent on the cowshed seemed to be played more for laughs than we’d have seen in the first season.’ A third said: ‘It all seemed to be a bit dumbed down, about Nasty Toffs versus the Downtrodden Poor. Lord Kimbolton [sic] was ridiculous. And I’m not one to really notice background music, but this was awful, and syrupy! ‘I enjoyed the first series but won’t be bothering with the rest of this one. Last time the complaints were it was to grim and dark, now it’s dumbed down and syrupy.’ The bleak atmosphere of The Village last year was blamed in part on a particularly harsh winter experienced in the Peak District where the drama is filmed. But the current series was shot in the spring and summer to lighten the tone. In June, its star Maxine Peake, 40, promised it would be ‘a little bit lighter’ with ‘more joy’, adding: ‘Life was bleak in those villages, trying to work a farm in those conditions... But we’re in the 1920s now.’ A BBC spokesman said: ‘The shift in tone is in line with the time period as the life of the village moves away from the horror of war and into the roaring Twenties.’ | Viewers switched off in droves after a gloomy first series by Peter Moffat .
Second series appears to have upset remaining fans after veering into farce .
They took to Twitter where they likened the first episode to a 'Carry On' film . |
60,710 | ac8ad18bf60d358ea42ca9dc7a37a8d960d856ee | New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Alex -- the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season this year -- formed in the Caribbean on Saturday as BP continued to battle a massive oil spill in the Gulf. Alex had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was about 250 miles away from Chetumal, Mexico. It was moving toward Belize and over the Yucatan Peninsula. It was not clear whether the storm could hit the part of the Gulf affected by the massive oil spill that has been gushing since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. A tropical storm in the oil-tainted Gulf of Mexico would disrupt BP efforts to drill relief wells and capture the oil at sea. It would also complicate efforts to clean up miles of coastline. High winds and seas could distribute the oil -- still gushing from a blown deepwater well -- over a wider area while storm surges could wash more oil ashore, according to a fact sheet prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Belize, the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, and various islands of Honduras. It means storm conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis says the "preferred scenario" actually would be for the storm to head to northern Florida. That's because the oil spill has been gradually rotating counterclockwise. If the storm heads to the east of it, it would send the oil farther out to sea. If the storm heads more directly towards the central Gulf and Louisiana, it might push the oil toward Florida. Of course, forecasting where oil spills are headed in not easy. "We're really in unchartered territory," Maginnis said."We've never been in this situation before. We've never seen an oil spill that encompassed the Gulf like this, end up so close to shore." She noted that the latest models do point to the storm heading to the central Gulf. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who's heading the federal cleanup operation, says he'll have to redeploy people and equipment to safer areas 120 hours (five days) in advance of gale-force winds. And he agreed there is "no playbook" when it comes to responding to a massive oil spill as a storm brews. "But I will tell you there's been an extraordinary amount of planning being done," he told CNN. "We are going to try to merge two response structures. One has proven effective in the past, and that's a central coordination of search and rescue and how operations are conducted, and that's done out of Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida for hurricanes. And we are in the process of integrating our planning processes so the oil spill response is integrated fully within the search and rescue recovery operations." But a powerful storm would not just disrupt efforts to drill relief wells and capture the oil at sea, of course. It would complicate efforts to clean up miles of coastline. "It's going to mean we're going to have to find a way to maneuver all our resources, change things," said Grover Robinson, chairman of the Escambia County Commission in Pensacola, Florida. "We won't be able to fight the oil for a couple of days. And we have no idea about winds and current and what it will do to the oil in the gulf. So obviously, it's a very big concern for us." Allen said he and some top Obama administration officials, including Vice President Joe Biden, will be headed back to the Gulf region next week to assess the oil relief efforts. But in a new blow to fishermen, Mississippi officials announced that waters east of the Gulfport shipping channel would be closed to shrimping, because of oil sighted in the area. Meanwhile, there been some promising news for potentially tens of thousands of people seeking claims against BP. Kenneth Feinberg, who is administering the $20 billion fund set up by BP under White House prodding, says that people who work in support of oil rigs will be able to file claims -- and not just fishermen and businesses along the coast. Employees of businesses that brings tools to oil rigs, for example, also would be able to file a claim. The company previously agreed to set aside the $20 billion in an escrow account for spill-related costs, a sum that does not cover fees and penalties that could be imposed by the federal government. BP had resisted approving claims by people who said they were affected by the moratorium on oil drilling, saying it was imposed by the Obama administration. But Feinberg said BP and the administration now have agreed those claims will be covered. "I now have discovered -- I didn't realize this until yesterday, but the moratorium claims will fall under my jurisdiction," he told CNN. To date, almost 74,000 claims have been filed and more than 39,000 payments have been made, totaling almost $126 million, according to the company. In another development, there has been some promising news in the effort to permanently stop the leak. BP said Friday its "ranging" process, by which it sends an electrical current that puts out an electromagnetic field down the well bore, detected Wednesday where the leaking well is in relation to the first relief well, at a depth of 16,275 feet. BP said subsequent ranging runs will be needed to more precisely locate the leaking well and figure out how to best intersect the two. "What they will do is continue to drill down in short intervals, withdraw the pipe, put that sensing device down and slowly close on the well bore to the point where they're ready to do the intercept drilling. This last part takes some time because they only do several hundred feet at a time." said Allen. "They'll also have a vessel standing by full of mud on the top, so in the event there were to get really close and potentially nick the well bore, they could actually put the mud down to control any hydrocarbons that might come out." Drilling and ranging operations will continue over the next few weeks toward the target intercept depth of approximately 18,000 feet. "Kill" operations are expected to begin when the relief well reaches the leaking well. BP said drilling also continues on a second relief well, which has reached 10,500 feet. Costs associated with the Gulf oil disaster have gone up more than $300 million in less than a week, BP said Friday. "The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately $2.35 billion, including the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs," a company statement said. BP put the tab at $2 billion on Monday. Meanwhile, Deepwater drilling could resume by the end of July. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday denied a request to keep a six-month moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama on May 27 in place, pending a government appeal. The government has 30 days to show it is beginning to comply with Feldman's order and start issuing permits. The appeals process can continue, but until the appeal, the government must act as if Feldman's order will be upheld. Feldman turned down the government's request for a stay of his order late Thursday, and the Justice Department appealed that ruling to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Government lawyers filed an appeal to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday, asking the court to stay Feldman's order pending the appeals. CNN's Brandon Miller contributed to this report . | NEW: Tropical Storm Alex forms in the Caribbean .
NEW: Not clear whether storm could hit part of Gulf affected by oil spill .
NEW: Justice Department goes to appeals court to keep moratorium on drilling . |
134,647 | 3a229f2aeda6fe55f8a2e1b99609616b05644c5c | By . Sophie Freeman . It was once assumed that a young couple would get married and start a family as soon as they could. Today they are more likely to live together to see if they’re truly compatible before they consider tying the knot. However, a social scientist is now saying that getting married earlier actually makes a stronger partnership. In his new book, The Curmudgeon's Guide To Getting Ahead, Charles Murray says those who get married in their twenties have a stronger partnership than those who marry later in life . Charles Murray believes young people should be more open to what he calls a ‘startup marriage’ in their 20s, rather than waiting for a ‘merger marriage’ in their 30s. In his new book, The Curmudgeon’s Guide To Getting Ahead, he describes startup marriages as those in which the couple generally meet at university, or at the start of their careers, when they have little money and personal success is not yet assured. He claims they can make you happier than today’s popular ‘mergers’, where the pair meet and settle down later, when they are already doing well in their jobs and have achieved some level of success on their own. Dr Murray claims startups are more likely to achieve a ‘certain kind of symbiosis, where two people become more than the sum of the individuals’. His advice on marrying young echoes that of author Susan Patton, whose latest book, Marry Smart, has provoked uproar by urging women to find a husband while at university. Dr Murray, an American whose 1994 bestseller, The Bell Curve, sparked controversy for its analysis of IQ and class, compares the benefits of a start-up marriage with the early days of computer giant Microsoft. ‘For one thing, you will both have memories of your life together when it was still up in the air,’ he said. Charles Murray believes young people should be more open to what he calls a 'startup marriage' in their 20s, rather than waiting for a 'merger marriage' in their 30s . ‘I’m willing to bet that Bill Gates’s fondest memories are of the years when Microsoft went from being a couple of college dropouts in makeshift offices to a player in the new world of information technology, not of the year in which he became the richest man in the world. ‘The same applies to startup marriages. You’ll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realised you were going to make it. ‘Even more important, you and your spouse will have made your way together. Whatever happens, you will have shared the experience.’ Merger marriages do have their advantages, said Dr Murray, including fewer financial pressures and a lesser likelihood of spouses outgrowing each other as identities are ‘well formed’ by the time they meet. But startups can be special because ‘you will each know that you wouldn’t have become the person you are without each other’. Dr Murray said that people who marry later can still acquire the benefits of a startup marriage by making a major change to their lives, such as changing jobs. He said: ‘I was 40 when my wife and I married, but in practice we had a startup marriage. I had quit my secure job working at a social science research organisation and struck out into the unknown a year before we married. That was in 1983. ‘Everything that has happened in my career since then – including all my major books – has happened together.’ He believes there can be good reasons for delaying marriage, but that some of the reasons are part of the ‘Peter Pan syndrome’. ‘Not wanting to acknowledge that one is now a grown-up and it’s time to leave childish things behind. This is especially true of guys. 'You’ll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realised you were going to make it' ‘Historically, a significant reason men married was to get regular sexual access to a woman. Now, they say to themselves, why bother? Until they get old enough to realise that they’re missing out on something, which often takes a long time.’ However, his advice is the opposite to what most modern couples do. According to the latest numbers from the Office for National Statistics, there were 247,890 marriages in England and Wales in 2011, with the average ages of a first-time bride and groom being 30.2 and 32.2. The figures contrast sharply with those of 1981, when there were 351,973 and the average ages of a bride and groom were 23.1 and 25.4. | Charles Murray believes young people should be open to 'startup marriage'
He describes type of marriage as those who meet in early years of career .
Claims they make couples happier than those who meet later in their life .
Advice given in his new book - The Curmudgeon's Guide To Getting Ahead . |
34,428 | 61dbaea56d1c2ea21f4491888d672fdf0c33d37f | By . Lucy Crossley . Three women nicknamed the 'Desperate . Housewives' have been jailed for helping their partners and family members run a £500,000 drug trafficking empire from a leafy spa town. Mother-of-one . Fay Read, 24, trained nurse Victoria Clayton, 54, and mechanic’s wife . Julie Scruton, 45, were key figures in a major family-run drugs ring based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Read’s . long term partner Joseph 'Big Joe' McIntyre, 37, was head of the racket . and she would enjoy the proceeds of his crimes including exotic . holidays, flash cars and designer clothing - all paid for in cash - . despite them being on benefits. 'Desperate Housewives': Mother-of-one Fay Read, 24, (left) and nurse Victoria Clayton, 54, (right) were jailed for helping their partners and family members run a £500,000 drug trafficking empire from a leafy spa town . Role: Mechanic's wife Julie Scruton helped her brother Russell Baker, 35, store, mix and repackage large quantities of drugs behind the locked doors of her husband David's garage . Clayton . would accompany her husband Martin, 50, on deals and often assisted . him in the mixing and repackaging of drugs at their home. Scruton also helped her brother Russell Baker, 35, store, mix and . repackage large quantities of drugs behind the locked doors of her . husband David’s garage. The women, who neighbours dubbed the 'Desperate Housewives' after the trial, were . arrested after North Yorkshire Police’s Organised Crime Unit seized . £561,000 worth of heroin, cocaine, and amphetamine from various address . in Harrogate as they investigated the operation, which ran between February . and December 2012. Police . found £30,000 worth of drugs buried at in the town’s Stonefall Cemetery, . and during the investigation officers found an incriminating text . message on . Clayton’s phone from her husband saying ‘Get the kitchen ready to do a . big mix’, which officers suspected referred to he adulteration of drugs. However, she tried to claim he had made a typing error and said it related to a . Mexican-style meal that they would enjoy together and insisted it should . have read: 'Get the kitchen ready to do a big Mex.' Police . said the drugs found were just the stock held by the gang at . the time of the searches and represented only a 'fraction' of the total . amount of drugs bought and sold by the McIntyre enterprise. At . Teeside Crown Court, Read who has a four year child with McIntyre was . jailed for four years, Clayton was jailed for five years and Scruton got . six years. McIntyre was jailed for six years whilst Scruton’s brother Baker was jailed for four and half years. McIntyre’s . younger brother Thomas McIntyre, 31, who would stand in for Joseph as . the head of the operation whenever he was on holiday, was sentenced to . six years’ behind bars. Clayton’s husband and McIntyre’s sister . Philomena McIntyre, 36, will be sentenced at a later date . All . were convicted by a jury or pleaded guilty to a range of offences . including conspiracy to supply Class A and Class B drugs and money . laundering. A jury could not reach verdicts on Scruton’s husband David, . 47. James . Kenny, 30, of Bootle, Merseyside was sentenced to 30 . months in jail after becoming a ‘gopher’ in the operation for a . Merseyside drug-dealing syndicate which traded supplies with the . Harrogate crime gang. The court heard how the drugs racket began after McIntyre’s wheelie bin cleaning business was shut down. Police . said he and his gang used various cutting agents to bulk out the drugs . in order to maximise their profits. McIntyre, the gang’s 'director' usually distanced himself from the drugs but was caught during a major . surveilllance operation in which police saw him hide . 3kg of methlamphetamine in undergrowth at the cemetery on November . 2, 2012. Brothers: Joseph 'Big Joe' McIntyre, 37, (left) was jailed for six years for his part in the racket, along with his brother Thomas McIntyre, 31, (right) who would stand as the head of the operation if Joseph was on holiday . Martin Clayton was one . of McIntyre’s most trusted couriers and was regularly sent to Bootle, . near Liverpool to carry out drug deliveries or cash collection. His wife . joined him on at least one trip and was involved in cutting the drugs . with bulking agent dextrose in their kitchen, the court heard. During . a raid at the Clayton home officers found 5kgs of heroin worth . £284,810, 1kg of 44 per cent pure amphetamine worth £80,000 and . half-a-kilogram of cutting agents. Police also found a drugs press and . two pairs of digital scales containing traces of heroin. The court heard that Scruton . allowed drugs to be stored at her home and at her husband’s car repair . business and she was seen visiting the garage outside opening hours 73 . times between August and December 2012. McIntyre his sister Philomena . and Read, were also spotted visiting the garage outside business hours. During . a raid of the garage, officers recovered 1.5kg of heroin worth £95,830 . from under the floorboards in the loft, and 53.9 grams of . cocaine, with a street value of £2,160, was found in a filing . cabinet. Sentenced: Russell Baker, 35, (left) was jailed for four and half years and James Kenny, 30, (right) was sentenced to 30 months after becoming a 'gopher' in the operation . Another raid at Scruton's home uncovered cocaine worth £1,330 and heroin worth £7,740 in . the kitchen and dining room. Officers found 6kgs of amphetamine worth £60,000 in a bedroom and the garden shed. Bulking agents were also found . in the shed. Three days . after the raid on the graveyard, Philomena McIntyre was seen rummaging around the . cemetery to try to find the drugs along with her two brothers, the court was told. David Gordon, prosecuting, said: 'There must have been considerable involvement to . deal with these very large quantities of drugs. There was evidence of . high living and there must be considerable sums of money still concealed . to this day. 'The . conspiracy was run by Joseph McIntyre, known to some within his . organisation as "Big Joe". He employed a variety of tactics to keep his . actions hidden from the police, such as the use of more than 10 "dirty . phones" during the course of a year, couriers to transport his drugs and . safe houses for the mixing, re-packaging and storage of drugs. Base: The drugs ring operated out of the leafy spa town of Harrogate, North Yorkshire . 'He . and his partner, Fay Read, lived well on the proceeds of his . drug-dealing organisation. Whilst on benefits or without any legitimate . income they spent thousands of pounds on foreign holidays, vehicles and . expensive living, mainly dealing in cash in an attempt to stay under the . radar of the authorities.' Mitigating, Read’s lawyer Christopher Smith said: 'She will miss . being a mother in those wonderful early years of raising a child. She . entered into this with a degree of naivity and was under the influence . of others due to her relationship with someone with more criminal . experience.' Clayton’s . lawyer Denise Breen-Lawton said: 'It is clear that her husband, . Martin Clayton, brought the drugs into her home and her life. There was . no high living, she was naïve and didn’t know the value of the drugs or . the drug chain. She has been ostracised by her family and is scared to . go to prison.' After the hearing, Det Insp Mark Pearson, of North Yorkshire Police’s organised crime unit, said each member of the gang played a part in the operation. 'Joseph McIntyre was undoubtedly the main . man at the head of the operation and went to great lengths to ensure . that he had little contact with the drugs, instead getting other people . to store, cut, and courier the drugs for him,' he said. 'He also reaped the benefits of the conspiracy enjoying expensive foreign holidays and buying cars, which he paid for in cash. 'But . every member of this gang played a significant part in the conspiracy . and their involvement in this organised crime group cannot be . underestimated either. Without their commitment to bulking out the drugs . to enhance McIntyre’s profits and their willingness to use their own . homes and businesses to stash the supplies the conspiracy wouldn’t have . continued for as long as it did.' | Fay Read, 24, Victoria Clayton and Julie Scruton key figures in drugs ring .
Read's partner Joseph McIntyre, 37, was head of Harrogate-based racket .
Couple were on benefits, but enjoyed exotic holidays and designer clothes .
Clayton, 54, accompanied her husband Martin, 50, on drug deals .
Scruton, 45, helped brother Russell Baker, 35, store and mix drugs .
Gang even hid £30,000 worth of drugs in a cemetery, court was told .
Read jailed for four years, Clayton for five and Scruton for six . |
275,683 | f122447f46deb18aaf7427f50db10de0c6bbf90d | Security forces picked through the scene of a devastating blast in Afghanistan today after two suicide bombers managed to set off a bomb in Kabul's diplomatic district. Bloodstains and body parts were left . strewn across the rubble after two guards were killed and five civilians . were injured in the blast. The two suicide bombers also died. Armed guards stationed near the target, a U.S. base, had spotted the two men making their way on foot to the compound and opened fire immediately. But it was already too late. The militants detonated their suicide vests and an explosion ripped through a wall at the base. Remains of their apparatus, including ammunition and part of a vest were recovered from the scene. Scroll down for video . WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT . Scorch marks: The wall surrounding a U.S. military base in Kabul is left wrecked after a suicide bomber blew himself up. Today, U.S. forces and Afghan security officials began the task of piecing together what happened . His . equipment: Ammunition including a grenade launcher, a gun and part of . the exploded vest of a suicide attacker. Police in Kabul said they were . on foot and were spotted by Afghan security guards as they approached . Camp Eggers . The blast reverberated around Kabul's . Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood shortly after 8am local time. An alarm . started going off at the nearby U.S. embassy, warning staff to take . cover. The neighbourhood is . also home to many high-ranking Afghan officials, international . organisations and the headquarters of the international military . coalition. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing in an email to reporters. The attack came as foreign and Afghan forces tightened security around the capital ahead of the holy day of Ashoura on Saturday, when Shiite Muslims commemorate the seventh century death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson. Searching . for clues: The devastating impact of the blast in Kabul that ripped . through a wall is seen as a body is attended to by Afghan security . forces . The . aftermath: Survivors pour over the wreckage after a devastating suicide . attack in Kabul. Cropped out of this picture are body parts strewn . across the scene . Devastation: Nato soldiers inspect a wall blown clean through on the edge of the blast area in Kabul. Guards saw the suicide bombers but could not stop them . Gruesome: Afghan security men stand over the body of one of the suicide bombers who died in the attack . Last year, the commemoration saw the first major sectarian attack since the fall of the Taliban regime. In . that strike, a suicide bomber on foot detonated his vest amid scores of . worshippers at a Shiite shrine, killing 56 people and wounding more . than 160 others. Today's bombers were on foot and were . spotted by Afghan security guards as they approached Camp Eggers, the . Kabul police chief's office said. High security: The Taliban shortly after claimed responsibility for the suicide attack . in the Afghan capital, saying its fighters had targeted a U.S. intelligence office . Picking through the remains: Body parts are strewn across the scene as Afghan and Nato soldiers examine the aftermath . The . police fired on the attackers and they detonated their vests. Two . Afghan security guards were killed and five civilians were injured in . the explosion. Video of the scene shows what looks like an undetonated suicide vest, suggesting not all the explosives went off. An international coalition vehicle was . also damaged in the attack but there were no initial reports of . casualties among the foreign forces, said Jamie Graybeal, a Nato troops . spokesman. Bloodstains are seen on the ground as investigators, in the background, try to piece together what happened . Investigation: Pools of blood were left after the blast which reverberated around Kabul's . Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood shortly after 8am local time . Police had . already set up extra checkpoints around Kabul and specifically near . shrines to search cars and people in the run-up to the Ashoura. 'All our police units are in the first security alert position,' General Mohammad Daoud Amin, the city's deputy police chief, said yesterday. 'We are at the service of the people and doing our best to provide good security and prevent any possible incident on Ashoura.' Afghan Army soldiers drag away a private security guard from the scene of a suicide bomb blast . Wrecked: A man left bloodstained and charred by the blast lays at the scene as an official attends to his body . The human cost: Afghan security men wrap a victim of the blast in a body bag in front of a wall splattered with blood . Victims: Afghan security officials evacuate bodies of the victims of a suicide bomb blast targeting the U.S. military base in Kabul . | Bloodstains and body parts left .
strewn across the rubble in Kabul .
Bombers targeted U.S. base in heart of capital's diplomatic district .
Remains of apparatus, including part of a suicide vest, are recovered .
Four died and five civilians were injured in the attack . |
55,423 | 9d19624f34b61d33912d1d4a6e2d3775576da73c | Steven Gerrard has admitted this is the first time in possibly his career that he feels confident that Liverpool can challenge for the Premier League. The Reds came within two points of ending a 24-year wait for the title last season before losing out to Manchester City, but the Anfield captain is excited by their prospects ahead of this campaign. Speaking to the official Liverpool website, Gerrard said: 'I think this is the first time in a long time that I can be confident of telling people that we are the real deal and are real title contenders before a ball has been kicked. Scroll down for video... Rally cry: Steven Gerrard is confident that Liverpool will challenge for the title this season . Slip up! Liverpool came within two points of ending a 24-year wait for the title last season . 'I believe we are in a much better place now than we were this time last year. The reason being because we've got the taste, the know-how and the experience of being in a title race. If we can use the hurt of falling short last season in our favour then hopefully we can go one better. Reflecting on last season, the former England captain revealed that he hasn't yet recovered from the pain of coming so close to winning the only piece of major club silverware that has eluded him - and the only way to cure that is to 'achieve something this season'. 'When you play at this level the margins are so tight, so when you fall short of something having been within touching distance the emotions are still going to be raw and will take time to get over. Red leaders: Steven Gerrard speaks to manager Brendan Rodgers during their US summer tour . We go again! The Liverpool captain admits he hasn't got over the hurt of coming so close last season . 'The only way to do that is to go and achieve something this season. But the longer I've reflected upon it and analysed the season, you can look back and be proud of your teammates. 'I think the fans will agree with me that the performance levels last season were incredible. Some of our performances were top-drawer. 'If we can build on last season and find the consistency, there's no doubt that trophies are around the corner.' Training day: Steven Gerrard is confident Liverpool will sign the players to replace Luis Suarez . Saints alive! Adam Lallana is one of several high-profile signings arriving at Anfield this summer . VIDEO Scoring not a problem without Suarez . The 34-year-old realises his club has lost an important player following the £75million sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona, but he has put his faith in manager Brendan Rodgers to construct a squad capable of filling the void. 'Brendan has created a group of players who are all prepared to fight and are all very talented. Hopefully there will be a few more players added to that in the coming weeks,' he said. 'We've lost a world class player in Luis Suarez. There's no getting away from that as I'm his biggest fan but hopefully four or five additions can help soften that blow.' | Steven Gerrard is confident that Liverpool can challenge for the title .
Reds came within two points of winning the Premier League last season .
Anfield captain admits he hasn't yet recovered from the pain .
Former England captain believes that new signings can compensate for the loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona .
Brendan Rodgers has signed Emre Can, Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert with Dejan Lovren, Loic Remy and Divock Origi expected . |
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