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111,535 | 1bd2f3ee135149fad838364138b33c0bafd5e368 | A 2.4 mile-wide (4km) region on the 'head' of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been revealed as the spot for the daring landing of Rosetta's Philae probe. The high-risk manoeuvre, if successful, will be the first time in history that a probe has been landed on a comet. Scientists at mission control in Germany hope the spider-like probe will send back data that could answer questions on the origin of Earth's water and perhaps even life. Scroll down for videos and animation . The relatively smooth landing region, identified for the moment simply by the letter 'J', is located on the smaller of the duck-shaped comet's two lobes. An inset showing a close up of the landing site is also shown . But they've warned that the landing should be seen as an 'exciting extra' on the Rosetta mission as the mission carries a 'high risk'. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is currently travelling through space some 273 million miles (440 million km) from Earth. The relatively smooth landing region, identified for the moment simply by the letter 'J', is located on the smaller of the duck-shaped comet's two lobes. A further back up site has been chosen on the larger of 67P's lobes, and is currently being marked by Esa with the letter 'C'. Close-up of Philae’s primary landing site J, which is located on the ‘head’ of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Site J offers the minimum risk to the lander in comparison to the other candidate sites, and is also scientifically interesting, with signs of activity nearby . At Site J, the majority of slopes are less than 30º relative to the local vertical, reducing the chances of Philae toppling over during touchdown. Site J also appears to have relatively few boulders, and receives sufficient daily sunlight to recharge Philae and continue science operations when its battery runs out . The Rosetta probe will launch its Philae robot from a distance of about 6.2 miles (10km) to Comet 67P. The 220lb (100kg) lander will reach the surface on 11 November. It will take around seven hours to descend. During the descent, images will be taken and other observations of the comet's environment will be made. Philae will make a gentle landing on the comet at walking pace, using screws and harpoons to lower and secure itself on the surface. Once the lander touches down, it will make a 360° panoramic image of the landing site to help determine where and in what orientation it has landed. The initial science phase will then begin, with other instruments analysing the plasma and magnetic environment, and the surface and subsurface temperature. The lander will also drill and collect samples from beneath the surface, delivering them to the onboard laboratory for analysis. The interior structure of the comet will be explored by sending radio waves through the surface towards Rosetta. The announcement follows weeks of studying the comet, in the hopes of finding an ideal location to land the probe as minimal damage as possible. If successful, the 220lb (100kg) lander will reach the surface on 11 November, where it will perform in-depth measurements on the comet. 'As we have seen from recent close-up images, the comet is a beautiful but dramatic world – it is scientifically exciting, but its shape makes it operationally challenging,' says Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager. 'None of the candidate landing sites met all of the operational criteria at the 100 per cent level, but Site J is clearly the best solution.' At Site J, the majority of slopes have an angle less than 30º, reducing the chances of Philae toppling over during touchdown. Site J also appears to have relatively few boulders, and receives sufficient daily sunlight to recharge Philae and continue science operations on the surface beyond the initial battery-powered phase. Site C was chosen as a backup because of more sunlight hours and fewer boulders. But even the flat surface chosen contains potentially dangerous boulders and cracks. The Rosetta probe will launch its Philae robot from a distance of about 6.2 miles (10km). The . reconstructed-colour image, taken about 10 days ago, indicates how dark . the comet appears. On the average, the comet's surface reflects about . four per cent of impinging visible light, making it as dark as coal . This 3D image of Philae’s primary landing site on the ‘head’ of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko can be viewed using stereoscopic glasses with red–green/blue filters . Site C was chosen as the backup site for Rosetta’s lander Philae during the Landing Site Selection meeting held on 13–14 September 2014. The image was taken by Rosetta at a distance of about 43 miles (70km) If all goes to plan, Philae will then make a gentle landing on the comet at walking pace, using screws and harpoons to lower and secure itself on the surface. According to Esa, this is a 'one-shot opportunity' and real-time radio control will be impossible due to the incredible distance of the comet from Earth. The entire landing process is expected to take seven hours, and if successful, will represent a historic moment in space exploration. 'We will make the first ever in situ analysis of a comet at this site, giving us an unparalleled insight into the composition, structure and evolution of a comet,' says Jean-Pierre Bibring, a lead lander scientist. 'Site J in particular offers us the chance to analyse pristine material, characterise the properties of the nucleus, and study the processes that drive its activity.' Several different surface regions are shown in this map, which is oriented with the comet's 'body' in the foreground and the 'head' in the background. The map was used to help researchers pick a suitable place to drop a lander in November . The original five candidate landing sites for Rosetta’s lander Philae, and with the backup, Site C, indicated . The race to find the landing site could only begin once Rosetta arrived at the comet on 6 August, when the comet was seen close-up for the first time. Since then, the spacecraft has moved to within 18 miles (30km) of the comet, allowing more detailed scientific measurements of the candidate sites. 'There's no time to lose, but now that we're closer to the comet, continued science and mapping operations will help us improve the analysis of the primary and backup landing sites,' says ESA Rosetta flight director Andrea Accomazzo. 'Of course, we cannot predict the activity of the comet between now and landing, and on landing day itself. 'A sudden increase in activity could affect the position of Rosetta in its orbit at the moment of deployment and in turn the exact location where Philae will land, and that's what makes this a risky operation.' During the descent, images will be taken and other observations of the comet's environment will be made. Zoom in on the image below to find out where Rosetta is at the moment . The Rosetta probe will launch its Philae robot from a distance of about 6.2 miles (10km) to 67P. If all goes to plan, Philae will then make a gentle landing on the comet at walking pace . Rosetta took an incredible selfie of its 131ft (40 metre) solar wings gleaming against the darkness of space last week. In the background is the duck-shaped comet, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with its distinct 'head' and 'body' clearly visible . Once the lander touches down, it will make a 360° panoramic image of the landing site to help determine where and in what orientation it has landed. The initial science phase will then begin, with other instruments analysing the plasma and magnetic environment, and the surface and subsurface temperature. The lander will also drill and collect samples from beneath the surface, delivering them to the onboard laboratory for analysis. The interior structure of the comet will be explored by sending radio waves through the surface towards Rosetta. 'No one has ever attempted to land on a comet before, so it is a real challenge,' says Fred Jansen, Esa Rosetta mission manager. 'The complicated 'double' structure of the comet has had a considerable impact on the overall risks related to landing, but they are risks worth taking to have the chance of making the first ever soft landing on a comet.' Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the sun and its planets formed. By studying the gas, dust and structure of the nucleus and organic materials associated with the comet, via both remote and in situ observations, the Rosetta mission should become the key to unlocking the history and evolution of our solar system. An . artist's impression of the Rosetta orbiter at comet . 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Instead of imaging a bright, ice-covered . comet, the probe’s instruments have detected that 67P is in fact darker . than charcoal . | The region, named site J, is around 2.4 miles (4km) at its widest point .
A back-up site, site C, has also been revealed on comet's larger lobe .
Sites were chosen as they are relatively flat and gain more sunlight .
Rosetta will launch Philae robot 6 miles (10km) from comet Comet 67P .
The 220lb (100kg) lander will reach the comet's surface on 11 November .
Spider-like probe could answer questions on the origin of life on Earth . |
252,665 | d2fe1438edcb24f14beb51d185c4ac09cc2aad17 | By . Ted Thornhill . PUBLISHED: . 11:21 EST, 13 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 18:21 EST, 15 April 2012 . Here’s one answer to a strike by petrol-tanker drivers – a vehicle that does a whopping 584mpg. Called the Lamina – it was built by a team of engineers from the California Polytechnic State University for this year’s Shell Eco-Marathon held in Houston, Texas. The downside, however, is that there’s only room for the driver. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Efficient: The Cal Poly car achieved 584mpg in the Shell Eco-marathon . The Lamina was entered in the event’s prototype class. It’s powered by a modified Honda generator and can hit 25mph flat out. Its low fuel consumption is partly achieved by coasting. In posts to National Geographic's ‘The Great Energy Challenge’ blog, driver Ann Peters reported that, with the Lamina ‘we aimed to combine sleek aerodynamic shapes with ergonomic design in order to minimize weight’. Slow and steady: Lamina will get you far - but can only reach 25mph . The power plant: Lamina's engine is a modified Honda generator . Wheel-y clever: The Lamina demonstrates that gas-guzzling is strictly necessary . The vehicle's name is Latin for ‘thin layer,' she noted. ‘We felt it described the vehicle's bladelike lines and sharp styling. ‘The design begins with a 3D Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model using SolidWorks software. Then comes extensive design reviews. Finally, the whole project ends with the complete manufacturing of the vehicles done entirely on the Cal Poly campus by students.’ Cal Poly joined more than 1,000 high school and university students from throughout North and South America who designed and built 113 vehicles to compete in one or both of the event's two types of vehicle classes: Prototype and UrbanConcept. The teams can use either internal combustion or e-mobility energy sources, which include diesel, petrol, ethanol, FAME, solar, hydrogen and battery electric technologies . | It is powered by a modified Honda generator and can hit 25mph . |
263,182 | e0e3567a1a1db32c835da28e25158eecfb56d65a | A boy who was left blind in one eye after years of neglect by his mother and her partner was so desperate he once scrawled ‘help me’ on a wall at home. But despite the vulnerable child’s plea, the authorities repeatedly missed opportunities to intervene. The 12-year-old was left in squalor with his baby sister while his mother, who lives on benefits, and her boyfriend were ‘too busy’ to notice his failing health. Social workers and police found squalid conditions in the family's home and the boy had written 'save me' on one wall in an apparent cry for help . The 12-year-old boy was kept in a filthy, fly-infested house in Thornaby, near Stockton, Teesside . Gillian Hendry and Craig Dick were jailed last month for neglect after Hendry's son went blind in one eye . Gillian Hendry and Craig Dick, both 34, were jailed for child cruelty last month for allowing the children to live in appalling, fly-infested conditions. But a report has revealed that the wretchedness of the youngsters’ lives had been flagged up on numerous occasions by school staff and health workers as far back as 2007 – and was not acted on. The pair were finally removed from their home in Thornaby, Teesside, last year, when a social worker noticed the words ‘help me’ written on a wall outside the boy’s bedroom. Hendry admitted to a social worker that her son had written the message when officials first paid a visit to the property. The unnamed boy developed a cataract in one eye after his parents failed to take him to hospital appointments that could have saved his sight. He had also been walking with a limp after developing arthritis from living in the filthy and mouldy property, and was forced to look after his two-year-old sister. The report into the case stated that worries were first raised about the boy, now 12, when he was six years old . The missed opportunities in the case emerged after a Serious Case Review was called into the boy's treatment . The report, compiled by a social worker tasked with investigating the case, revealed that a series of chances to help the children were missed. Issues about the boy’s cleanliness and attendance were first raised in 2007 by his primary school, but social services decided not to intervene. Hospital consultant Dr Fiona Clark warned in 2009 that the boy’s failure to attend appointments could leave him permanently disabled but social services again failed to visit. They finally acted when a school nurse went to the property in 2010 and found the child in a mouse-infested home with no heating or hot water. But a subsequent visit by council staff determined that conditions had significantly improved and the case was closed. Fears were raised by Dr Clark again after the child moved to a different property in September 2011. But when school staff said they had no further concerns, welfare officers decided not to carry out an assessment. Following yet another warning from the consultant, social workers visited the home eight months later – but declared it acceptable without even looking at the children’s rooms. It was not until the intervention of a GP last year that officials grasped the full horror of the child’s health problems. Photographs taken during a third and final inspection of the properties where the boy lived show the conditions . Photographs taken by inspectors show the appalling state of the family home . A serious case review has already been launched by the Stockton Local Safeguarding Children Board to look at the incident. Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, said: ‘This has been a tragic situation for this young boy and it is clear that there needs to be a full and detailed inquiry into why he was let down.’ Middlesbrough Council said the case was closed following improvements in the child’s home life and school attendance. | Repeated concerns raised about boy's hygiene by doctors and school staff .
Social services visited house but did not look at children's bedrooms .
They declared home clean on two visits, one eight months after alarm raised .
Youngster, who wrote messages on the wall, later went blind in one eye .
Mother and her partner were both jailed for neglect earlier this year .
Serious Case Review called into the case as MP says boy was 'let down' |
67,919 | c0b50aeb0f137ef3bc4f7fa2f5d9a8d38c6bc528 | CHEGUTU, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Farmers are implicating a close ally of President Robert Mugabe's in the latest round of farm seizures in Zimbabwe in which Mugabe loyalists take over white-owned farms. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, left, and President Robert Mugabe have a power-sharing agreement. The accusations against Senate President Edna Madzongwe came as Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara on Friday toured farms that Mugabe followers had taken over. On many of those farms, production has fallen under the new owners. Mutambara is heading a government commission investigating the farm seizures. "Black people who acquired farms must produce," he said. Mutambara said the government is taking the matter seriously. "There will be no holy cows; the ax will fall where it may," he added. "We will not tolerate any government official who is promoting lawlessness in our country." Reports of violence on white-owned farms have increased since a power-sharing government in February between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. One death was reported Sunday on the Stockdale Farm in Chegutu, 75 miles (about 120 kilometers) southwest of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare. Peter Etheridge, who previously owned that farm, said Madzongwe had illegally claimed his property. But the daughter of the Senate president denied the allegation. "We got this farm legally. In fact, they [Etheridge] opened the gates for us, and we moved in," said Farai Madzongwe, adding that her mother is "a law-abiding citizen." She said she wouldn't comment on the violence and the reported death, saying, "That is for police and courts." Local media reported the Senate president has four farms. Etheridge denied he had handed over Stockdale Farm, saying that Edna Madzongwe pushed him out. "They forced us out, and production on farms has stopped since last month," he said. "This madness has to stop since the country needs food and foreign currency." The Stockdale Farm was among those the government commission visited Friday. When journalists approached the farm before government officials arrived, a police officer on the property cocked his gun to scare them off. The journalists refused to leave, and the police officer called Farai Madzongwe to report them as intruders. Etheridge criticized the police presence at his former farm. "They are giving protection to her but not us who want to feed the nation," he said. At other farms, militia armed with guns tried unsuccessfully to prevent the government delegation from entering. | Zimbabwe Senate president -- a Robert Mugabe ally -- accused of farm seizure .
Production has fallen on many farms under new owners .
Government commission investigating farm seizures .
Daughter of Senate president says, "We got this farm legally" |
138,648 | 3f4cdf5565d2ddc4d2dcfa463efa813a6ca6aff5 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:46 EST, 28 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:05 EST, 28 April 2012 . A man who fled the country after being convicted of child molestation a decade ago was sentenced Friday to 240 years in prison. Steven Dyer was sentenced on 12 counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of public sexual indecency. Dyer was returned to Arizona after being arrested in February as he passed through Montreal's Trudeau airport. Hard time: Steve Dyer, a convicted child molester, was sentenced to 240 years in prison after he was apprehended at an airport in Montreal . Authorities say the 44-year-old Dyer had assumed the identity of a Canadian citizen and was living in Vancouver, although he also travelled frequently to Central America and South America. While living in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, Dyer was accused of molesting two boys he befriended over an 18-month period between 1999 and 2001. According to the Phoenix New Times, Dyer’s bond was first set at $2.5million after his arrest, but it was then lowered to $100,000. When Dyer posted bond, he fled up north. Commissioner Patricia Starr sentenced him to 240 years, much higher than the minimum 169 years the 12 counts of sexual conduct with a minor warranted. In plain sight: Authorities say Dyer had adopted a Canadian identity and was living in Vancouver . Dyer was tried in absentia and convicted in 2002. According to his profile on America’s Most Wanted, Dyer worked as a pharmaceutical representative in wealthy Scottsdale, Arizona. The University of California – Berkeley grad also spent his spare time volunteering with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of America. But during that time, Dyer made friends with a young boy and gained his trust by supplying him with alcohol and taking him on trips. He molested the boy for a period of 18 months before the boy’s father went to the police. | Steven Dyer on the lam for ten years before he was apprehended at airport .
Minimum sentence was 169 years . |
63,640 | b4b44181e8c4f3468f25b70f0c7878b3d9da8ddf | (CNN) -- By 2050, the U.S. Latino population is expected to nearly triple. "CNN Presents: Latino in America" reported by Soledad O'Brien, explored how Latinos are reshaping our communities and culture and forcing a nation of immigrants to rediscover what it means to be an American. Here are some of the people who made this documentary possible: Correspondent: Soledad O'Brien . Senior Executive Producer/VP: Mark Nelson . Senior Producers: Rose Arce Catherine Mitchell Producers: Kimberly Babbit-Arp Lindy Hall Robert Howell Emily Probst Brian Rokus Amanda Sealy Courtney Yager . Managing Editor: Kathy Slobogin . Executive Director: Jody Gottlieb . Producer/Director/Editor: Cliff Hackel Dave Timko . Associate Producers: Erika Colin Jacinth Planer Alyse Shorland Sr. Editor/Producers: Mike Chedwick Carl Graf Ross Helman David Herrod April Hock Lee Hughey Steven Keller Blake Luce Karen Nolan Meg Pearlstein . Director of Voices: Alberto Ferreras Producer of Voices: Trina Bardusco . Production Assistant: Katie Pyne . Post Production Producers: John Cooke Matt Scheibner Finishing Editor: Eduardo Alvarez Gary Wilkinson . Audio: Rick Sierra Manager of Production: Amy Jordan . Production Manager: Jamie Hutton . Production Coordinator: Abigail Daniels . Photojournalists: Rich Brooks Gregg Canes Joe Capolarello Jeff Cooke Styke Dimas Ferre Dollar Desmond Garrison Tim Hart Robert Howell Walter Imparato Oliver Janney Leon Jobe Greg Kilday Kevin Kvicala Tom Larson Damir Loretic Jack Lyons Mike Miller David Munoz Kevin Myers Effie Nidam Jung Park Gabe Ramirez Orlando Ruiz David Rust Jerry Santos Tawanda Scott Jerry Simonson Dominic Swann John Torigoe Tim Wall . Sound Technicians: Marc Hoppe Wes Little Still Photographers: Kyle Christy/CNN Mark Hill/CNN Mathieu Young/CNN Joe Pugliese/CNN Christopher Martin/CNN Edward M. Pio Roda/CNN Shaul Schwarz/Reportage for CNN . Graphics Creative Director: Aimee Schier . Sr. Graphics Designer: Jenny Specker Interns: Mychael Bond Logan Burruss Omar Butcher Kassie Engroff Simon Hernandez Xion Lester Tristan Milder Grecia Serrano Janet Weaver . Special Thanks: David Chavez Myers Park High School, Charlotte, NC Mike and Carolyn Michaels Belk Department Stores U.S. Census Bureau Pew Hispanic Center Urban Institute NSHMNCA Center of Immigration Studies Selig Center Latin America Association Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce National Center for Education Statistics Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida Florida Immigration Advocacy Center Miami Chamber of Commerce M-PACT Sports Department of Health and Human Services Eventus Marketing . | CNN's "Latino in America" premiered on October 21 & 22, 2009 at 9 p.m. ET . |
6,409 | 122ad4851c338fed35b57f3bf8ff9bd3c4276b0b | By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 08:55 EST, 6 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:26 EST, 6 August 2013 . Betting shops would be banned from opening in a town centres under Lib Dem plans to curb gambling. Communities minister Don Foster wants to change the law so that every new bookmakers requires planning permission to set up business. But he faces opposition from Tory colleagues in the coalition, who have moved to make it easier for betting shops to open. Blight: High-stakes casino-style gambling machines been blamed for the spread of betting shops in deprived areas . Mr Foster will use next month’s Lib Dem conference in Glasgow to set out plans for new laws to halt the spread of betting shops, which have taken over in many deprived areas. He will call for betting shops to be put in a new separate planning use class, allowing local councils to reject applications. Labour’s controversial Gambling Act would also be amended to allow councils to take into account the ‘cumulative impact of a proliferation of gambling activities’ when considering applications. Warning: Local government minister Don Foster wants to change the law to curb betting shops . In May new laws came into force allowing betting shops to open up in pubs without planning permission in what was dubbed a ‘free for all’ on Britain’s high streets. The rules have been introduced for a two-year period to try to make it easier for people to fill empty shops or start new businesses without having to seek permission to change property from one use to another. The Local Government Association has repeatedly called for more powers to curb the problem. Bookmakers have swamped the UK's shopping parades – with numbers up 25 per cent since 2008 - and in one London borough, Newham, there are currently 82 - six per square mile. Around almost every corner in this generally deprived part of East London are shops where people can stake £100 a spin on casino-style gambling machines, which are as addictive as crack cocaine . The liberalisation of gambling laws by the Labour government in 2005 is blamed for a surge in the number of betting shops. At present betting shops are in the same planning use class as banks and building societies. It means they can open without planning permission in many cases where banks have moved out. There are also growing concerns about big money gambling machines found in many betting shops, where users can stake £100 a spin on a casino-style jackpot payout. They account for more revenue than the traditional bets placed on sporting events. Concentrated: This graphic shows the main areas which have been saturated by betting shops in Newham, East London, which has 82 bookmakers . A government review by TV retail guru Mary Portas describes gaming outlets as a ‘blight on the high . Street’, and warned their proliferation is creating unsightly gambling ‘clusters’ on struggling shopping streets. Earlier this year Newham Council refused to allow a further betting shop in an already over-crowded street, but it was overturned on appeal. Mr Foster will argue that local councillors ‘should be empowered to decide whether or not to give approval to additional gambling venues in their community’. | Don Foster wants to stop betting shops opening without permission .
Number of bookmakers has soared by 25% in just five years .
Customers drawn to high stake casino-style gambling machines . |
188,022 | 7f7d31d174a446e3e398eedec457c3a8895ff072 | Paul Ryan announced Monday he won't be running for president in 2016, while both Mitt Romney and Chris Christie continued to inch closer to throwing their hats into the ring. Ryan, a nine-term Wisconsin congressman and the Republican Party's last vice presidential nominee on Romney's ticket, thanked those who encouraged him to seek the presidency, but said he wanted to focus all of his attention on his new role as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. 'After giving it a lot of thought, I’ve decided not to run for president,' Ryan said in a press release. 'Our work at the House Ways and Means Committee over the next few years will be crucial to moving America forward, and my job as Chairman deserves undivided attention. He's out: Paul Ryan, the Republican Party's last vice presidential nominee, announced he won't be running for president in 2016 . The Wisconsin congressman stated he wanted to focus all of his attention on his new role as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee . 'It’s clear our country needs a change in direction. And our party has a responsibility to offer a real alternative. So I’m going to do what I can to lay out conservative solutions and to help our nominee lead us to victory.'. Ryan was among those Romney, his running mate in 2012, personally telephoned over the weekend to gauge their support for a third campaign. Romney's possible 2016 campaign was barely on the horizon at this time last week and would be the first return engagement of a losing major party nominee in decades. 'It is no secret that I have always thought Mitt would make a great president,' he told NBC News. 'As for his plans for 2016, I don't know what he is ultimately going to do and the last thing I want to do is get ahead of his own decision making process.' Asked by AP Monday if he would back another Romney bid for the White House, Ryan, 44, demurred, saying, 'It's premature for any of that.' The former Massachusetts governor shocked former staff, supporters and donors on Friday when he told a private gathering in New York that he is again seriously exploring a campaign, a change for Romney after several months of insisting his career in politics had comes to its end. The next day, he and his wife, Ann, began reaching out to others as members of their inner circle started to revive a political operation that had begun to move on. 'We had a great conversation. He made it clear to me he is seriously considering the race,' said Jim Merrill, a top Romney staffer in New Hampshire during the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. 'When you get a phone call like that at close to 9 on a Saturday night, it means something.' Calls from Romney also went to several boldface names in Republican politics, including Ryan; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte and the state's former governor, John Sununu; former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who ran for president in 2012; Meg Whitman, chief executive at Hewlett-Packard Co.; Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz; two former senators, Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Jim Talent of Missouri; and David Kochel, Romney's senior Iowa strategist in both of his previous campaigns. Third time's the charm? Mitt Romney is reaching out to former staff and supporters as he considers a third run for president. Romney and his wife, Ann, phoned former backers in the early voting states over the weekend . Ally: Asked if he would back another Romney bid for the White House, his former running mate Ryan said it was too early to tell . Said former New Hampshire volunteer Chris Wolfe, who backed Romney's first two bids, 'All we're really waiting for is somebody to pull the trigger and say, "We're in."' Former aides suggested Monday that Romney could easily become a force in the coming contest, pointing to the more than $1billion he raised and 60 million votes he garnered in the last election. Yet he would face far greater challenges in the next presidential contest than he did in the last, particularly in the early primaries against a crowded field expected to feature more than a dozen Republicans with legitimate White House resumes, including several sitting governors and US senators. None threatens Romney's prospects more than former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, an early establishment favorite who has already begun to draw from the same pool of Republican donors who fueled Romney's last campaign. Bush has yet to formally launch a campaign, but has been among the most aggressive would-be candidates in recent weeks, having launched a fundraising operation and attended a series of private meetings with donors across the country. Romney could also face another establishment favorite, New Jersey Governor Christie, who is sending new signals that an announcement about his presidential plans could be imminent. The Republican National Committee's top fundraiser, Texas-based Ray Washburne, is preparing to join Christie's team. He told the AP Monday, 'I won't be the national finance chairman at the end of the week.' Crowded field: Romney could face former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (left) and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (right), who is sending new signals that an announcement about his plans could be imminent . He declined to comment further because Christie has yet to announce his 2016 intentions. Washburne was a leading fundraiser for Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush. Christie's team is expected to start making moves to raise money for a prospective presidential campaign by the end of the month, according to a person who has been in touch with Christie's team, but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the plans publicly. That could include the potential formation of a political action committee to begin raising cash that can be used to support a prospective campaign, the person said. Christie's chief political adviser, Mike DuHaime, declined to comment. Meanwhile, a handful of other prospective presidential contenders were preparing Monday to appear later this week at the Republican National Committee's winter meeting in San Diego. The agenda includes former neurosurgeon and conservative favorite Ben Carson, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and outgoing Texas Governor Rick Perry. The summit will take place close to Romney's southern California home. A spokesman did not immediately respond when asked if Romney or his representatives would attend the meeting. In New Hampshire on Monday, former three-term New York Governor George Pataki capped a two-day trip to the early voting state sounding very much like a politician ready to jump into the race. He told the AP in an interview he's again considering a White House campaign because the nation can't risk electing another Democratic president. 'That's one of the reasons I think the outcome of this election is so important, and I'm so much more inclined to get involved,' Pataki said. | Ryan stated he wanted to focus all of his attention on his new role as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee .
Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, phoned former backers in the early voting states over the weekend .
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is sending new signals that an announcement about his presidential plans could be imminent . |
55,557 | 9d7d70260d82f917be258093478ba10a33bddea6 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 08:18 EST, 30 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 00:23 EST, 12 May 2013 . Tragic: Leila Fowler was found stabbed to death in her own home in Valley Springs, California, on Saturday afternoon . Investigators searching for answers in the stabbing death of an eight-year-old California girl have interviewed registered sex offenders in her community, raiding the homes of some. Leila Fowler was found dead in her Valley Springs residence over the weekend, sparking an intense manhunt for her killer. Police haven't named any suspects in the case but Calaveras County Sheriff's Capt. Jim Macedo said late yesterday that they have turned their attention to sex offenders, though officials won't say whether the young victim was sexually assaulted before her death. 'They have been interviewed and in some cases they have been photographed and in some cases they have been searched,' Capt. Jim Macedo told CNN. Police have beefed-up security at schools in Valley Springs since Leila's 12-year-old brother saw an intruder in their home on Saturday then discovered his sister suffering stab wounds. He described the suspect as a white or Hispanic male with a muscular build, about 6 feet tall, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and blue pants. He is also believed to have long gray hair. According to police, the boy . encountered the intruder who immediately fled leaving the bloody . evidence of his crime for the terrified child to find. He called 911 and Leila was pronounced just six minutes after she arrived at hospital. Residents in Calveras County have been ordered to lock their doors as deputies searched for the killer. A neighbor said he spotted the suspect fleeing shortly after the 911 call. Scroll down for video . Memorial: Brandy Marks visits a memorial wall for Leila Fowler at Jenny Lind Elementary School on Monday, April 29, 2013, in Valley Springs, California . Worried: Families pick their children up from Jenny Lind Elementary School as Calaveras County Sheriff's volunteer Jim Aguilera keeps a close watch on Monday . Police officers from neighboring . areas have been called in to help as authorities hunt down the suspect. They have been running down leads, searching in attics, storage sheds in . the mountainous, rural community. With . the suspect still on the loose, some of the kids in this enclave . nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills were hunkering down after school . at James Barci's ranch. 'Nobody . is staying alone,' said Barci, a truck driver and parent volunteer at . Jenny Lind Elementary School, where Leila was a popular third-grader. 'I told my work I'm not coming in, and I'm just going to have all of my kids' friends at the house until this is over.' The . apparently random attack has the tight-knit community on edge. Parents . such as Barci spontaneously showed up Monday at the school of 500 . students to give hugs or tie purple and pink ribbons - Leila's favorite . colors - to trees on campus. Terror: Residents in Calveras County have been ordered to lock their doors as deputies search for the suspected killer, who is described as a white or Hispanic male with long gray hair . Shock: Valley Springs residents comfort each other after the murder of 8-year-old Leila Fowler . Manhunt: Police are searching the region door by door and trunk by trunk . Later Monday, authorities identified the girl's parents while also saying a witness saw a person running from the family home that had a similar description of a man who fled from the home when the girl's brother confronted him. In a hastily called news conference, Capt. Jim Macedo identified the father of Leila Fowler as Barney Fowler and the mother as Krystal Walters. The names of the parents hadn't previously been released. As Macedo spoke, Fowler and Walters - both solemn and declining to speak, and with Walters near tears at times - stood in the background. Macedo said Leila's parents wanted to convey their requests that their privacy be respected, but also that a memorial fund had been set up for their daughter. A vigil is also planned for tonight. No suspects have been named, but officials said a second witness saw someone with a description similar to one provided by Leila's brother of a man who ran from the home when the boy confronted him. As well as sex offenders, investigators are checking registered parolees in the area. Horrifying: Leila Fowler's 12-year-old brother was at their home with her in Valley Springs around noon on Saturday when he encountered the intruder, who immediately fled . Ressaurance: Calaveras County Sheriff's deputies stand watch at Jenny Lind Elementary School, after the murder of Leila Fowler, who studied, there over the weekend. The sign reads: 'We'll miss you Leila' In a pastoral place where fat horses . swish their tails in knee-high grass and few people had ever bothered to . lock their doors, residents now say their guns are loaded. 'My . husband wanted me to put one in my car so I'd have it in my hand when I . entered the house,' Tabatha Camden said as she dropped off a neighbor's . children at the school. 'I drew the line at that. We've always had one gun loaded in the house at all times, but now we have four.' The . sheriff's office has released little information about the killing . other than a vague description of a man with long gray hair. Calaveras County Deputy Coroner Steve Moore said the girl died from multiple stab wounds. They have not revealed how many times she was stabbed or where. The . Fowler family's hillside street is blocked off as a crime scene, since . nobody knows for sure how the intruder arrived or where he went. Violent . crime is so rare in the community of 7,400 people that even law . enforcement officers have to stop and think when asked about the last . time there was a stranger killing in the area. 'Probably . five years ago was the last one I can remember,' said Officer Rebecca . Myers of the California Highway Patrol, who was assigned to block access . to the neighborhood of one-acre ranchettes. Official efforts: Calaveras County Sheriff's Department Captain Jim Macedo (left) gives details about the case on Sunday . Manhunt: Authorities are conducting door-to-door searches and residents in Calveras County have been ordered to lock their doors . The killing of the little girl known for her sweet smile, generous hugs and friendly demeanor has hit the community hard. It's . a place where parents read about tragedies in other places and give . thanks that they live in Calaveras County, which makes the news only . when the jumping frog contest celebrated by Mark Twain is taking place . at the county fair. 'I . don't know how our children are going to adjust to this,' said Kathryn . Danielli, who moved here from Stockton with her sixth-grade daughter to . escape crime. Danielli was . among about 20 parents who drove their children to school then stayed to . lend support. Sheriff's deputies patrolled the area and sheriff's . volunteers stood guard at the entrance. 'Everybody . up here who has kids moved up here because your kids can go outside and . play,' said Kim Hoeke, who moved from Antioch in the San Francisco Bay . area seven years ago. Calaveras . Unified School District Superintendent Mark Campbell said at least two . therapy dogs and 10 counselors were on hand for students, teachers and . staff to guide them through the grieving process. Leila would have turned nine-years-old in June . Campbell . said he met with Leila's parents on Monday when they came to the school to . thank teachers and staff for the support they had offered. The . parents were at a Little League game at the time their daughter was . attacked, Campbell said. Part . of the school-guided grieving process included classrooms taking turns . writing notes to Leila and hanging them on the fence at the entrance to . the school. They came in somber groups and attached their notes one by . one. 'Dear Leila: You were a fun person and very smart. I enjoyed being around you every minute,' one girl wrote. 'I know you are in heaven looking down at us but you will always be in my heart,' wrote another. Campbell said officers will have a presence at the school at until the case is resolved. The . suspect is the subject of a broad manhunt by the sheriff's departments . of Calaveras and surrounding counties, the California Highway Patrol and . the state Department of Justice. Sheriff's officials say investigators collected fingerprints and what they believe is DNA from the home on Sunday. 'Our . normal has changed and we will move forth and heal by coming together, . as we all are here today,' said Linda Stoes, whose daughter dressed in . purple Monday to honor her friend. 'Our perspectives have changed . forever.' While . door-to door searches are proving fruitless, the residents are still . reeling shock that in such a quiet, rural area, such a thing could . happen. 'This is way . too close to home,' Julia Poland, who took her 13-year-old daughter to . an afternoon news conference on the search, told the Modesto Bee. 'This . kind of thing does not happen here.' Manhunt: California police officers are searching for the man suspected of murdering a 9-year-old girl . Witness: The girl's 12-year-old brother was at their home with her in Valley Springs around noon on Saturday when he encountered the intruder, who immediately fled . A neighbor, Roger Ballew told the Associated Press: 'I was working on my . tractor and a CHP copter kept flying over my house.' After a SWAT team . showed up at his house Saturday night and told him to stay inside, he . admitted: 'It was nerve-wracking, I didn't sleep well.' Immediately after the 911 call was . reported, a quarter-mile perimeter was set up around the house as police . conduct the house-to-house search. 'We were doing a house-to-house search . and in some cases we're searching extensively into attics and storage . sheds,' Capt. Macedo told CBS Sacramento earlier. He added: 'It’s a . difficult area to search. It’s rural, it’s remote.' Macedo said the girl was suffering from severe injuries and her death has been ruled a homicide. He urged residents to keep their doors locked until they find the suspect. Leila would have turned nine-years-old in June. Campbell said in a statement on Sunday . that there will be an added law enforcement presence at Jenny Lind . Elementary and bus stops nearby. Valley . Springs is a community of about 2,500 people in an unincorporated area . of Calaveras County, known as 'Gold Country,' in the foothills of the . Sierra Nevada mountains, about 60 miles southeast of Sacramento. | Leila Fowler was stabbed to death in her Valley Spring's home on Saturday .
Police are interviewing, photographing and searching registered sex offenders in the area .
Officials won't say whether victim was sexually assaulted before her death .
Her 12-year-old brother was also in the house when the intruder broke in .
Suspect believed to be at six feet tall and white or Hispanic with gray hair . |
120,946 | 28520b43b140083ac800c291e16ba32acea97383 | (CNN) -- Small waves lap at the hulls of the ocean-going container ships as they approach the South African Port of Ngqura. Some of these large boats have come from as far away as South America, and the shelter of Nelson Mandela Bay is a relief after the Atlantic Ocean swells. The vessels are met by Dave Keller, who's been working these waters off the country's Eastern Cape Province since 2010. "As a pilot it's my job to take over from the captain when a captain gets close to the port," he explains. "It's my job to navigate him safely into the port, maneuver his vessel and then safely put it alongside the quayside." This welcoming procedure guides ships into the province's newest port, which is also a multi-billion dollar industrial park that's growing faster than anyone expected. It's this combination of maritime port and landside infrastructure just outside the city of Port Elizabeth that is making the operation boom. "We started off with nothing," Keller recalls. "People said that this will be a white elephant and that this will never be busy," he adds. "We started off in October 2010 ... and from there on it's grown -- from one ship a week, sometimes we do between five and 10 ships a day now," he continues. "We're 24 hours a day, so since the past four or five years that I've been here it's been growing every single week." One reason not everyone was excited with the construction of Ngqura was that there were already seven other ports in operation in the country, whereas one of the stated aims of the authorities is to "minimize duplications" between shipping facilities. And even though approximately 96% of the country's exports are being conveyed by sea, some of these ports aren't performing as well as some regional competitors. Transnet, the wholly state-owned freight business, is trying to improve the port sector by investing in cranes to move containers from ships to shore more efficiently. But a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers blames "comparatively high tariffs payable by vessels calling at South African ports" for the decline in shipping business. But these issues haven't stopped Ngqura from becoming the fastest growing terminal in the world in February 2013, according to Drewry Maritime Research. And now the port is the third busiest in the country, only moving fewer containers than Cape Town and Durban according to the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics. 'Driving development' And it's not just the port that is seeing growth in the area. The on land set-up, with tax incentives, rebates and a duty-free zone at the state-owned Coega Industrial Development Zone is changing the local economy. "The Coega industrial development zone has a very important role to play in the economic growth of the area," says Christopher Mashigo, business development executive manager at the Coega Development Corporation. "It is a strategic driver of development, firstly by bringing about a level of diversification in the regional economy to reduce it's over dependence on the automotive sector, as well as agri-processing. But also to help increase the region's ability to absorb its vast human resources." The industrial zone created more than 13,000 jobs last year. A further 13,000 people received training there. One person to benefit from new skills is Wandumzi Nkonyeni who learned how to drive and is now a driving instructor. "Coega is a key role player as far as transforming the economy of the Eastern Cape," he says. "The opportunities that come, strictly for employment, never mind big business, but just employing the ordinary person out there." As well as individuals gaining skills and jobs, small and medium size businesses in the area are also benefiting from the zone. The Coega development corporation helped local design and advertising firm XSpark get their BEE Certificate -- an accreditation that helps the business bid for work in South Africa. Another local business that is seeing growth is Miya's Electrical, and it's Coega that makes up 40% of their annual revenue. "Coega is very good for the business and for the province as well," explains Ntsikelelo Suwankazi, the company's General Manager. "Up to this far even other companies, they're flocking to the Eastern Cape and mainly because Coega is heading most of the projects here in the Eastern Cape and then it has helped our business to grow as well. We started with 3 employees, we've got 20 employees now." The port is allowing some small business owners to grow their existing operation, but it's also leading to the beginnings of totally new businesses. Lusanda Nala is a painting apprentice who'll be a qualified artisan in three years. "I want to open my own company because there's a shortage of artisan, especially in painting," she explains. "Also there's no women that is an artisan in painting, so hopefully I'll be the first." While some of these successes prove the value of the port and industrial zone, there is much more to come. Transnet's long-term plan for Ngqura includes increasing the total number of berths to more than 30, and boosting the port's capacity to 1.5 million containers per year. If it reaches that goal, the port would be nearly twice as busy as it is now. As the port expands, watery waves will continue lapping at the ship's hulls and businesses hope they will see continued waves of growth in the local economy. Read this: Car makers driving South Africa's economy . Read this: South Africa since apartheid: Boom or bust? Read this: Africa's giant infrastructure projects . Monique Todd contributed to this report. | Port of Ngqura has been operating since October 2010 .
The combination of maritime port and landside infrastructure is changing the local economy .
Coega Industrial Development Zone created more than 13,000 jobs last year and led to another 13,000 getting training .
The port was the fastest growing terminal in the world for 2012 and 2013 . |
152,092 | 508e0b6d9c42ab170a9462c89c44e235d8ab8eb6 | By . James Rush . Sir Roger Bannister has revealed he is suffering from Parkinson's disease, 60 years after becoming the first man to run a four-minute mile. The former athlete, who went on to have a distinguished career as a neurologist, said he had been diagnosed with the condition three years ago but had refrained from speaking publicly about it until now. The 85-year-old said he was now having 'troubles with walking' as he made the admission in a BBC Radio Oxford documentary to mark the anniversary of his famous run in the city, which will be broadcast today. Scroll down for video . Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run under a four-minute mile, has revealed he is suffering from Parkinson's disease . Sir Roger went on to have a distinguished career as a neurologist following his retirement from athletics. His work as a neurologist led to a greater understanding of degenerative disease and disorders of the autonomic nervous system. Decades of neurological training, clinical work and research at the National Hospital and St Mary's Hospital in London made him an expert on Parkinson's many years before he was diagnosed. He said: 'I am having troubles with walking. Ironically it is a neurological disorder - Parkinson's. 'There's a gentle irony to it. I have seen and looked after patients with so many neurological and other disorders that I am not surprised I have acquired an illness. It's in the nature of things. 'I am being well looked after and I don't intend to let it interfere - as much as I can.' Sir Roger (pictured in February this year) said he was 'being well looked after' and 'I don't intend to let it interfere - as much as I can' Sir Roger broke the four-minute mile mark on May 6, 1954, at Oxford's Iffley Road Track with the help of Sir Christopher Chataway and Chris Brasher who acted as pacesetters . He went on to say: 'Just consider the alternatives - that is the way I look at it. 'One of my pleasures in life - apart from running - has been walking. Intellectually I am not (degenerating) and what is walking anyway!' Sir Roger broke the four-minute mile barrier on May 6, 1954, at Oxford's Iffley Road Track with the help of Sir Christopher Chataway and Chris Brasher who acted as pacesetters. Brasher died in 2003 after a short illness and Chataway died of cancer in January this year. Sir Roger's interest in neurology was one of the main reasons for his decision to curtail his athletics career after the 1964 European Championships. Sir Roger Bannister with his wife Lady Moyra Bannister, pictured on their engagement day before their wedding in 1955 . Sir Roger Bannister (left) with his wife Lady Moyra Bannister (holding baby) at the christening of their baby son Clive Christopher . In an interview with the Guardian in . 2004, Sir Roger said: 'I had always wanted to become a neurologist, . which is one of the most demanding vocations in medicine. 'Where do you stop, after all, with the brain? How does it function? What are its limits? The work seems unending.' Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurological disorder, characterised by a deficiency of dopamine. This affects the way the brain co-ordinates the movements of the muscles in different parts of the body. The disease mainly develops in the over 50s. About 5 in 1,000 people in their 60s, and about 40 in 1,000 people in their 80s have the condition. The main symptoms are slowness of movement, stiffness of muscles and shaking. These tend to slowly worsen with time although the rate varies from patient to patient. There is currently no cure, although drugs, therapies and surgery can control the symptoms. He told the programme he believes there is much work still to do before a cure for the condition with which he has been afflicted can be found. Sir Roger added: 'I know quite a lot about [Parkinson's] and have treated a lot of people with it. 'I am aware of all the research that's been done. I think it will take some time before there is a breakthrough. But the management and drug treatments are improving all the time.' Four-time Olympic rowing champion Sir Matthew Pinsent took to Twitter to voice his support for Sir Roger today. Sir Matthew tweeted: 'Such sad news about Sir Roger Bannister - diagnosed with Parkinson's. A gentleman and a scholar.' Hundreds of other people added their voices to the wave of support. Photographer Rich Clark said: 'Sad to hear that Sir Roger Bannister has #parkinsons He cured my father when he returned from Africa with encephalitis. #hero #gentleman.' Josh Goodfellow, a bodybuilder with cerebral palsy from Boston, Lincolnshire, said: 'Sad news regarding Sir Roger Bannister. Suffering from Parkinson's disease. Will always be an icon in Athletics. He was part of a revolution.' Professional golfer Ben Storey simply added: 'Roger Bannister, what a man.' Decades of neurological training, clinical work and research at the National Hospital and St Mary's Hospital in London made Sir Roger (pictured at his home in Oxford) an expert on Parkinson's many years before he was diagnosed . Following the announcement, Steve Ford, Chief Executive at Parkinson’s UK, said: 'An inspiration to so many, Sir Roger Bannister is a much-loved sporting legend and we are saddened to hear that he is being treated for Parkinson’s. 'One person every hour in the UK will be diagnosed with Parkinson’s, yet it remains a little understood condition and we applaud Sir Roger and his decision to speak publicly about his diagnosis at this stage in his long life. 'There are 127,000 people in the UK, who like Sir Roger, are living with Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s can be challenging to live with, and symptoms – such as slowness of movement or tremor – changing on a daily, or even hourly basis. 'Many people, with the right medication, continue to live a full and active live with Parkinson’s, but for some, it can be life changing and we hope that Sir Roger gets the support he needs to continue to live with this complex condition. 'We wish Sir Roger and his family all the best.' The race to be the first man to break the four-minute mile mark captured imaginations around the world. It had become the sport's Everest, as much a test of the human spirit as the body. It was a spring evening in Oxford when Sir Roger Bannister wrote his name into sporting history. The date was May 6, 1954, and the venue the university's Iffley Road track. Supported by pacemakers Christopher Chataway and Chris Brasher and cheered on by an expectant 3,000-strong crowd, the 25-year-old medical student burst through the line in 3m 59.4s. It was a spring evening in Oxford when Sir Roger Bannister wrote his name into sporting history by breaking the four-minute mile mark . He had knocked an incredible two seconds off Sweden’s Gunder Hagg's record. A trailblazer, the rest, including the likes of Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram, would follow his lead. For Bannister it was a case of redemption after he finished fourth, out of the medals, in the 1500m final at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, the disappointment fuelling his ambitions in the mile. He went on to win Commonwealth gold medal over the mile in Vancouver in August 1954, beating John Landy, who had taken his record two months earlier, to the title, and the man himself regards that success as a greater achievement than his world record. His winning time was a personal best, 3:58.8. Sir Roger Bannister, pictured at Motspur Park in 1953, went on to win Commonwealth gold medal over the mile in Vancouver in August 1954 . He also went on to win 1500m gold that year at the European Championships in Bern before hanging up his spikes to focus on his medical career. He became a distinguished neurologist, served as chairman of the Sports Council between 1971 and 1974 and was knighted in 1975. Bannister was master of Pembroke College at the University of Oxford from 1985 and 1993. It was that run from 1954 which made him a national hero, though. The Iffley Road track is now named after Bannister and a blue plaque commemorates his performance. And it is an an achievement which has diminished not one bit over the past 60 years. | Sir Roger Bannister said he was diagnosed with condition three years ago .
The 85-year-old said he was now 'having troubles with walking'
Sir Roger broke the four-minute mile barrier on May 6, 1954, in Oxford .
He went on to have a distinguished career as a neurologist . |
128,522 | 321672628599701b57f1d82b444fe90b45ffea54 | Coach Roberto Donadoni believes financially-stricken Parma have been abandoned by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) and he wants someone to take responsibility for the situation. For the second successive week the FIGC have called off a Parma Serie A fixture and Donadoni said the governing body should take some blame. 'No one has taken responsibility for what has happened to us, they (the federation) has allowed the people that have created this disaster to do as they pleased so they should also take some of the blame,' Donadoni told a news conference on Saturday. Parma coach Roberto Donadoni says the Italian Football Federation must take some responsibility . Parma's game has been postponed and Alessandro Lucarelli and the team have not been paid all season . 'We are like a carcass in the middle of the desert and around us there are vultures and jackals.' The FIGC called off Parma's match against Genoa on Sunday after the squad threatened to strike over unpaid wages. A week earlier the home game against Udinese was postponed because the club could not afford to pay stewards or police. 'We're not playing tomorrow because we want public opinion to know what's going on and not because we can't afford to travel to Genoa,' Donadoni said. The FIGC agreed to call off the Genoa fixture but warned that it was not feasible to continue postponing games. A banner on the locked gates says the Ennio Tardini stadium is now ‘Closed for robbery’ Parma have an illustrious history, but the club are in dire straits financially and could go out of business . 'Considering the morale of the players I have agreed to postpone the game but I can't do it every Sunday,' FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio explained in a statement. Donadoni and team captain Alessandro Lucarelli said the situation needed to be resolved to safeguard the future of the young Parma players. 'Lucarelli and myself, we've had our careers but there are 16, 17 and 18-year-olds who have a bright future in front of them and need to be protected,' the coach added. Bottom-of-the-table Parma have never won Serie A but won two UEFA Cups in 1995 and 1999, the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup and three Italian Cups in a successful spell between 1992 and 2002. They finished as Serie A runners-up in 1997 led by current Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and boasted players such as Gianfranco Zola, Faustino Asprilla and Hernan Crespo. The gates at the stadium remain locked as Parma's second match in a row is postponed at the weekend . Hernan Crespo, now a youth team coach at the Italian club, used to play for them and he fears for the future . | Parma have had their second fixture in a row called off this weekend .
The club are struggling financially and coach Roberto Donadoni believes the club have been abandoned by the Italian Football Association .
Donadoni says the FIGC need to take some responsibility .
Last week, Parma's match was called off as they were unable to pay staff . |
272,625 | ed1d95784d817d0514e2b2fdc60e5aeac74ffb6c | Wilfried Bony brought a smile to the face of one young Manchester City fan ahead of his imminent arrival to the club. The 26-year-old, who is set to join the Premier League champions for close to £30million after add-ons from Swansea, posed for a picture with City supporter Robert March in Abu Dhabi at the weekend. Bony is currently in the Middle East with the Ivory Coast squad as they prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations and bumped into the youngster who was also in the Emirates as that's where his parents work. Wilfried Bony (right) posed for a picture with a young Manchester City fan ahead of his imminent move . City are set to sign Bony after ongoing talks with Swansea City over a £30million deal . From a bootless young parent in the Ivory Coast to a £30million target for one of European football's biggest clubs, via the Czech Republic, Holland and Wales. Wilfried Bony's career path is one less travelled, but then this is a man who does nothing in a conventional manner. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY . And the chance encounter saw March grinning from ear-to-ear as he met up with one of the Premier League's deadliest marksmen. March, who plays for City's academy, could be coming up close and personal with the striker more often in the future after Swansea accepted the Etihad Stadium's outfit for their star asset. Sportsmail understands the initial fee is £25m up front, plus a further £3m if City win the Barclays Premier League, Champions League or FA Cup, though Bony would have to figure in 60 per cent of games in those competitions. Swansea had been locked in talks with the Premier League champions over the structuring of the transfer, with City having to satisfy Financial Fair Play criteria to enable a move for the prolific 26-year-old. But after those issues were resolved, City will now wrap up their move for the striker, who will not be available for selection until he returns from the Africa Cup of Nations. Bony, who has scored 34 goals in 70 games for the Swans, is understood to have agreed personal terms of £100,000 a week on a four-year contract. Bony fires in a goal against Queens Park Rangers for Swansea at Loftus Road on New Year's Day . | Wilfried Bony is close to joining Manchester City from Swansea .
Bony is in Abu Dhabi with Ivory Coast ahead of Africa Cup of Nations .
26-year-old has scored 34 goals in 70 games for Swansea . |
169,012 | 66a792964bc1bff389ed2be826c24b45df94c755 | By . Becky Barrow . PUBLISHED: . 19:03 EST, 16 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:56 EST, 17 December 2013 . Children of the 1960s and 1970s will be worse off than their parents when they retire, economists warn today. The post-war trend for each generation to be richer than the last may be coming to a halt, they said. Workers aged from 34 to 53 are being punished by inadequate pay rises, dire pensions and crippling housing costs. With meagre savings, their only hope of a comfortable retirement is a large inheritance. 'The economic fate of the 1960s and . 1970s cohorts may be relatively dependent on the fortunes of their . parents,' says a report published today by the Institute for Fiscal . Studies. A study published today by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies found workers aged from 34 to 53 are being punished by the current economic climate (picture posed by models) Just 28 per cent of . people born in the early 1940s have had, or expect to have, an . inheritance. For those born in the late 1970s, the figure jumps to 70 . per cent. The report also found that family finances have been battered over the past decade. Between . 1974 and 2002, households saw income – earnings and benefits – grow by . an annual average of 1.5 per cent. Since then the rise has been a paltry . 0.1 per cent a year. The . IFS says the household income of 1960s children was typically £615 a . week by the age of 40. But those born in the 1970s are on only £570 a . week, adjusted for inflation. Home ownership is also on the wane, the IFS said, with the picture being 'strikingly different' across the generations. Two thirds of Londoners born in the . 1940s were on the property ladder by the age of 40. The same is true for . less than half of those born in the 1970s. (File picture) Economists have warned children of the 1960s and 1970s will be worse off than their parents when they retire . (File picture) The report found home ownership is also on the wane, with the picture being 'strikingly different' across the generations . The IFS says the household income of children born in the 1970s is only £570 a week, adjusted for inflation . Young workers think their retirement plans will be rescued by a large inheritance, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found. Of the richest third of people aged 30 to 39, a total of 35 per cent expect to pick up at least £100,000. For those currently in their 50s, the figure falls to just 10 per cent. The institute's researchers said it was 'a natural consequence of the sustained economic growth seen over the post-war period' – with each generation having more wealth to pass on than the one before. Even among the poorest third of society, 12 per cent aged 30 to 34, and 9 per cent aged 35 to 39, expect to inherit £100,000 or more. Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at advisers Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The reliance on inheritance looks like a recipe for disappointment.' Where a man expects to inherit £100,000 or more, there is a one in two chance his spouse expects to receive the same amount. The . report says a 'rapid switch' away from well-funded company pension . funds has hurt those born in the 1960s and 1970s. Their parents were . often big beneficiaries of such schemes. In conclusion, the institute warns: . 'Individuals born in the 1960s and 1970s have no higher take-home . income, have saved no more previous take-home income, are less likely to . own a home and are likely to have lower private pension wealth. 'They . will also tend to find that their state pensions replace a smaller . proportion of prior earnings than is the case for those currently above, . or around, the state pension age.' Andrew . Hood, one of the report's authors, said: 'Since the Second World War, . successive cohorts have enjoyed higher incomes and living standards than . their parents. 'Yet the incomes and wealth of those born in the 1960s and 1970s look no higher than the cohorts who came before them. 'As a result, younger cohorts are likely to have to rely on inheritances to be better off in retirement than their predecessors. 'But inheritances are unequally distributed, with households that are already relatively wealthy far more likely to benefit.' Prospects for those in their teenage years or 20s could be even worse. A report by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, which was appointed by David Cameron, says they are on track to become the first in more than a century to be materially less well off in adulthood than their parents. Ashley Seager, of the Intergenerational Foundation, which campaigns for fairness for future generations, said those 'unlucky enough' to be born after 1970 were suffering from the combined effects of 'intergenerational unfairness'. But Ros Altmann, a leading pensions expert, said she was sceptical about the findings and said there were 'false expectations' as to how poor future generations will be when they retire. | Workers aged from 34 to 53 are punished by the economic climate .
Their only hope of a comfortable retirement is a large inheritance .
Report found family finances have been battered over past decade .
Study published today by the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies .
It adds that the prospects for today's teenagers could be even worse . |
124,286 | 2cac31856ef059fbf65677a4fd0f292df66e3a3a | Two out of three Air France pilots were sleeping minutes before one shouted 'F***: we're dead!' as their plane plunged into the sea with the loss of all 228 people on board. Horrific details of the last moments of Flight 447, which claimed the lives of five Britons and three Americans, have emerged in a disturbing new investigation into the 2009 disaster involving an Airbus 330. Published in the October edition of Vanity Fair magazine, it raises terrifying questions about safety aboard civilian passenger jets, and the 'culture' of the Air France pilots on board. Scroll down for video . Lost at sea: Horrific details of the last moments of Flight 447, which claimed the lives of five Britons and three Irish doctors, have emerged in a disturbing new investigation into the 2009 disaster involving an Airbus 330 . 'Company baby': Marc Dubois (left), the 58-year-old captain of the plane had gone for a sleep after staying up all night with his girlfriend the night before, leaving inexperienced Pierre-Cedric Bonin (right), 32, alone at the controls, before it crashed . Questions: Published in the October edition of Vanity Fair magazine, it raises terrifying questions about safety aboard civilian passenger jets, and the 'culture' of the Air France pilots on board . Excerpts from recorded conversations between 37-year-old David Robert, Pierre-Cedric Bonin, 32, and Marc Dubois, the 58-year-old captain of the plane, reveal that two of them were asleep when the plane got into difficulty in a tropical storm. Referring to Bonin, a 'Company Baby' on the Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight, the piece reads: 'With most of the weather still lying ahead and an anxious junior pilot at the controls, Dubois decided it was time to get some sleep.' Chief investigator Alain Bouillard is quoted as saying: 'If the captain had stayed in position through the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone, it would have delayed his sleep by no more than 15 minutes, and because of his experience, maybe the story would have ended differently. 'But I do not believe it was fatigue that caused him to leave. It was more like customary behavior, part of the piloting culture within Air France. 'And his leaving was not against the rules. Still, it is surprising. If you are responsible for the outcome, you do not go on vacation during the main event.' The Airbus 330 crashed after suffering a loss of lift - or a 'stall'. But instead of lowering the plane's nose to deal with the stall, as they should have done according to normal procedures, the pilots raised it (stock image) Victims: Irish doctors Jane Deasy (left) and Aisling Butler (right) were among the 228 victims on board the doomed flight . Michael and Anne Harris (both pictured) were the two Americans among the 228 victims who died in the plane . Briton Graham Gardner (seen right at a weddnig) was also killed when their plane went down shortly after taking off from Rio de Janeiro . Up until now it was known that Dubois was sleeping off a night in Rio with his girlfriend, an off-duty hostess and opera singer who was on the doomed flight. 'I didn't sleep enough last night. One hour - it's not enough,' said Dubois, before he went to sleep. Referring to 'the flight-rest compartment, a small cabin containing two berths just behind the cockpit', the piece describes how Robert was also 'dozing there'. The article continues: 'On the night of May 31, 2009, the pilots of Flight 447 certainly did not serve their passengers well.' The plane was suffering from a loss of lift - or a 'stall' - and its airspeed sensors had malfunctioned. But instead of lowering the plane's nose to deal with the stall, as they should have done according to normal procedures, they raised it. Dubois finally entered the cockpit 1 minute and 38 seconds after the pitot tubes malfunctioned, but by that time panic was setting in. Anguish: Relatives and friends arrive at Tom Jobim airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 01 June 2009, to receive information about the crash . Long search: It took two years to retrieve bodies from the bottom of the sea, along with essential records such as the flight's voice recorder . Robert said: 'F***, we're going to crash! It's not true! But what's happening?' Soon after, either Robert or Bonin are heard to say: 'F***, we're dead' before - 4 hours and 15 minutes into the flight - it crashes into the Atlantic. It took two years to retrieve bodies from the bottom of the sea, along with essential records such as the flight's voice recorder. Air France has denied that its pilots were incompetent, but has since improved training, concentrating on how to fly a plane manually when there is a stall. Both Air France and Airbus are facing manslaughter charges, with a judicial investigation led by Paris judges under way. | Air France 447 crashed into Atlantic on May 31 2009 killing all 288 people .
It took 2 years to find all the dead, who included 5 Britons and 2 Americans .
Now, flight recorder reveals conversations of pilots moments before crash .
They were captain Marc Dubois, 58, and two junior co-pilots, 37 and 32 .
Dubois had been up all night in Rio with his girlfriend, an opera singer .
So when plane stalled inexperienced Pierre-Cedric Bonin, 32, was at controls .
But instead of lowering plane's nose as per stall protocol, he lifted it . |
69,393 | c4c04273b8e4204fabdf16580d41fdaa19d759bf | Los Angeles (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's oldest son, Prince, takes another step into the public eye this week with his first commercial endorsement. Prince Jackson, 14, revealed in an interview that while he can't sing or dance like his father, he wants to be a television and movie actor. He has previously said he wanted to be a director. While some Jackson fans may object, saying Prince Jackson is too young to be involved in an endorsement, the lawyer for grandmother Katherine Jackson said steps are being taken to "make sure that going forward everything with the children is done by the book." Prince isn't doing it for the money, but as a favor for his uncles, the four surviving original members of the Jackson 5 group that featured his father. None of the marketing materials for the jackets includes Prince's name or image, but he did join Jackie, Marlon and Tito Jackson recently when they autographed 1,000 replicas of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and "Thriller" leather jackets. Jermaine Jackson also signed the jackets, which go on sale Thursday through Amazon.com. The J5 Collection, which is based on the styles of the Jackson 5, will introduce Michael Jackson's style "to a new generation," Prince Jackson told CNN. He might wear them to "dress up parties," he said. "It's not casual, but it's nice to wear to events." Prince Jackson, who's about 5-foot-10, is showing signs of a young man who is ready to make his own mark on the world. Jackson's three children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket -- were famously sheltered from public view until their father's death on June 25th, 2009. It wasn't until the pop icon's memorial service that the world got a close look at them. Paris, now 13, spoke for her brothers then, saying her "daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine." Prince Jackson spoke up on the Grammys stage in February 2010 when he accepted his father's lifetime achievement award. "To all his songs, his message was simple, love," then-12-year-old Prince said. "We will continue to spread his message and help the world." Since then, Prince talked briefly to Oprah Winfrey when she visited his home last year to interview grandparents Joe and Katherine Jackson. Prince also walked a red carpet and answered a few questions from reporters during a recent trip to Germany to accept an award to his father. He smiled broadly and appeared confident on stage at the tribute show to his father in Wales last month when he introduced Beyonce's song. Prince said he's hoping to travel with Jackie, Tito and Marlon Jackson when they perform shows in Japan next month. The plan is to have Prince introduce his uncles on stage, Marlon Jackson said. Perry Sanders, the lawyer for Katherine Jackson, said Prince has indicated he is determined to make his own money, even though he will inherit many millions from his father's estate. Taking care to make the right decisions about what deals to accept and what to reject is crucial to protecting his brand as the eldest son of the King of Pop, he said. His uncles asked Prince to support the "Thriller" and "Beat It" jacket sales, a line that is authorized by the executors of the Michael Jackson estate. "These limited quantity collector's items are exact replicas of the iconic originals and were created by the original designer of the jackets," according to a news release. Michael Jackson debuted the red "Beat It" and red and black "Thriller" jackets, designed by Marc Laurent, in 1983. The Jackson brothers signed 500 of each jacket, which will sell for $2,350. | Prince Jackson shows support for his uncles with jacket endorsement .
The "Thriller" and "Beat It" replicas are "nice to wear to events," Prince says .
Michael Jackson's oldest son wants to be an actor .
Although rich from his father's estate, Prince wants to earn his own money, lawyer says . |
97,664 | 09b9168083bd4121c358f7a83402478d0fa4b965 | (CNN) -- Sri Lanka, the teardrop-shaped island that in 2009 emerged from more than a quarter century of civil war, has staked claim as one of Asia's most exciting new destinations. With the beaches of Negombo and Galle on the West Coast and World Heritage-listed ancient cities, Sri Lanka is experiencing a tourism boom. As the country's tourism offerings have grown more sophisticated, so have its hotels. Here are a selection of the best. Reefs Edge . It's only 20 minutes from the capital Colombo, but stand on the balcony of Reefs Edge and you'll feel like you're on a deserted island. The view of the Indian Ocean is obstructed only by palm trees, affording guests front-row seats to blood red and beautiful sunsets. A velvet green lawn runs 20 meters from the hotel to the beach, where sun beds and wicker domes beckon layabouts and drinkers of cocktails. Though it has only 22 suites, Reefs Edge has the look and feel of a large hotel. Inside, French oak flooring, pastel-colored furniture and open-air bathrooms decked out with rain showers and glass washbasins creating an aura of simple sophistication. Complete with a day spa, gymnasium, steam room, seafood restaurant and a separate 250-seat banquet hall shaped like Noah's Ark, Reefs Edge takes the edge off a vacation in Sri Lanka. Reefs Edge, 300 Old Colombo Road, Uswetakeiyawa, Sri Lanka; +94 (0)11 789 1111; double standard room with breakfast $100 per night . St. Lachlan . Twenty minutes north of Reefs Edge, Negombo is Sri Lanka's most popular beachside town, thanks to its proximity to the international airport. Located in a quiet alleyway perpendicular to the main drag, the St. Lachlan is a boutique property with 16 rooms and suites. The interior speaks colonial cool: it has 10-foot-high doors with giant brass knockers, richly varnished shutters and teak furniture everywhere you look, with antlers and indigenous artwork accentuating the walls. A riot of giant freshwater prawns, snapper and spices, the seafood platter at Arias, St. Lachlan's poolside restaurant, is among the best in Negombo. Little wonder -- it's run by Harpo Gooneratne, commonly known as Sri Lanka's first DJ and popular restaurateur. St. Lachlan, 25 St. Anthony's Lane, Poruthtota Road, Negombo; +94 (0)31 227 5000; standard room $115 per night . Heritance Tea Factory . Take Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory and replace the chocolate with tea. Now convert it into a luxury hotel. The result is the Heritance Tea Factory, a resplendent four-star hotel set at 2,000 meters above sea level in the rolling green tea-growing region of Sri Lanka's southern highlands. Latticed with green and red metal and brass, the hotel's museum-like lobby is wallpapered with historic photographs. It's centered around an atrium that houses the factory's original steam engine. Every evening, this mechanical colossus with its giant gears and camel-hair conveyer belt is turned on for 30 minutes. The 54 rooms are carpeted and cozy, while the staff, attired in crisp white shirts, bow ties and bell hats, personify the sophistication of the British colonial period. Heritance Tea Factory, Kandapola Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka; +94 (0) 52 555 5000; double superior room with full board $300 per night . Jetwing Vil Uyana . Like something out of Luke Skywalker's Tatooine, Sigiriya Rock Fortress is an ancient palace set atop a 200-meter-high natural stone column. At the rock's base lie a series of pools and cisterns. They're interlinked by an underground conduit network that works as well today as it did when it was built 1,500 years ago. Matching its sophistication is Vil Uyana, a luxurious ecolodge set in a wetland a 15-minute drive from Sigiriya. Vil Uyana's 30 chalets feature teak floors, palm-thatch ceilings, Balinese bathrooms and woven reed wall hangings. Edging a mauve green lake brimming with birdlife, the swimming pool and lobby lead to a colonial-chic restaurant upstairs bookended by six-meter-high stone walls that are a nod to Sigiriya's ancient architects. Jetwing Vil Uyana, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka; +94 (0) 66 492 3585; double Garden Dwelling $524 per night . Palagama Beach . In 2008, while visiting his father's family in Colombo, British advertising executive John Balmond snuck off for the weekend to the Kalpitiya Peninsula a two-hour drive to the north. He stayed in a banana-leaf bungalow, one of three accommodation properties on the lush, palm-fringed finger of land that divides the Puttalam Lagoon from the Indian Ocean. Today there are 42 properties on the peninsula, including Palagama Beach, owned by Balmond and designed by Cecil Balmond (designer of London Olympics Orbit). Set on a grassy parcel of land on the beach, the property features 14 generously spaced cabanas and villas that blend modern amenities, luxury touches and village style. Other highlights include an infinity-edged pool, a restaurant and a banana-leaf bar/moonlight cinema. Palagama Beach, Norocholai, Kalpitiya Peninsula, Sri Lanka; +94 (0) 777 186 176; beach cabanas with breakfast from $220 per night . Pledge3 . Sri Lanka's most sophisticated hotel is Pledge3, a five-star oasis of luxury and retro style in busy Negombo. Every corner of this boutique hotel screams cutting edge design. The 12 suites are spread across two floors surrounding an internal flagstone courtyard. The third floor is home to two apartment-size attic suites featuring executive work stations, private terraces and glass-encased bathrooms outfitted with his and her washbasins, egg-shaped bathtubs and presidential toilet bowls (whatever that means). The courtyard leads to an open-air restaurant where the decor -- cherry red support beams and white leather couches -- is as eccentric as the Japanese-Sri Lankan-Mediterranean fusion menu. Beyond it lies a tropical garden centered by a saltwater pool where attendants with the reflexes of Wimbledon ball boys attend to guests' every beck and call. Pledge3, 3 Kattuwa Road, Negombo, Sri Lanka; +94 (0)31 222 4005; deluxe double suite with breakfast $305, or $405 for an attic suite per night . | Sri Lanka's tourism boom results in a rise of sophisticated hotels .
Run by Sri Lanka's first DJ and popular restauranteur, St. Lachlan's poolside restaurant is one of the best in Negombo .
Heritance Tea Factory's museum-like lobby is centered around an atrium that houses the factory's original steam engine . |
29,892 | 5504b5d86fed88058cc171788c68a0a6f4719072 | By . Ted Thornhill . Ottawa police are hunting the killer of a teenage ‘guardian angel’, who was stabbed to death as he tried to protect a friend caught up in a vicious, drunken street brawl. Brandon Volpi, 18, died after being stabbed in the neck and chest by an unknown attacker in the early hours of Saturday morning outside the downtown Les Suites Hotel. Volpi, who attended the city's St. Patrick’s High School, was apparently staying at the hotel following a school prom, and ventured outside at around 3.35am having being disturbed by a street fight between students from rival schools. Fatal assault: Brandon Volpi, 18, died after being stabbed in the neck and chest by an unknown attacker in the early hours of Saturday morning . One of his friends was injured and Volpi was trying to help him when he was attacked, it was reported. Volpi’s father, Danny, wrote on Facebook: ‘To my dear son may you rest in peace. I miss you with all my heart. May justice be served and find who killed my son.’ On Sunday evening a crowd of around 200 people, mostly made up of students, held a tearful vigil for Volpi, who was a popular member of the school, outside the Les Suites Hotel. Dozens of flowers and candles along with a framed photograph of Volpi had been placed at the base of a monument at the front of the hotel, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Sorely missed: Volpi was described as a 'guardian angel' by one of his friends . Poignant: On Sunday evening a crowd of around 200 people, mostly made up of students, held a tearful vigil for Volpi . Volpi’s death led to an outpouring of grief on Facebook from his fellow students, who praised his nature. Kristina Wazen wrote: ‘Thank you to everyone that attended the vigil, we are coming together to remember a hero. St. Pats, we are a family and always will be. Rest in Paradise my sweet angel, you are a fallen solider that will never be forgotten. You will always live in our hearts, I love you more than words can explain. Our new guardian angel.’ And Azzah Al Tkrity said: ‘You will forever live in our hearts.’ Popular: Volpi's death led to an outpouring of grief on Facebook from his fellow students, who praised his nature . Tragic: The vigil was held near the spot where Volpi was fatally wounded . Ottawa police said in a statement: ‘The Ottawa Police Service Major Crime Section is investigating the homicide of an 18-year-old male in the 100 block of Besserer Street. ‘Police responded to a call for service at approximately 3:35am in relation to a stabbing that occurred outside a local hotel. The male succumbed to injuries at a local hospital. 'A second male victim also received minor injuries, was treated at hospital and released.' | Brandon Volpi, 18, died after being stabbed to death outside an Ottawa hotel .
He had reportedly ventured from his room to help a friend caught in a fight .
Volpi was stabbed in the neck and chest and died from his injuries .
Hundreds of students held a vigil for Volpi, described as a 'guardian angel' |
63,226 | b394db94c9ad8fa44bdbfa1fe543d97243fdb641 | By . Lizzie Edmonds . PUBLISHED: . 04:18 EST, 23 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:44 EST, 23 February 2014 . A premature baby boy died when a nurse removed him from a ventilator without his parents' permission while he was receiving treatment at a scandal-hit hospital trust. Rohan Rhodes was born 14 weeks prematurely at Singleton . Hospital in Swansea in August 2012. Although he was very premature, he . got through the critical first few weeks and was doing well in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit. Rohan Rhodes, who was born 14 weeks early, pictured on a life support system in hospital. His parents allege he was taken off a ventilator without their permission while at St Michael's Hospital . The tiny baby had to have a heart operation and so was moved to the hospital - which is in the same trust as the scandal hit Bristol Children's Hospital . However, . a heart duct which usually closes at birth remained open. Doctors said . he needed to go to Bristol, which has a specialist children's heart . surgery centre, for an operation. Five weeks after birth he was transferred to St Michael's Hospital - which is in the same trust as Bristol Children's Hospital. As he was so premature, he needed a ventilator to help fill his lungs with oxygen. Rohan's parents allege a nurse practitioner looking after their son - who had no authority to withdraw the life-supporting device - turned off the ventilator. After being taken off the ventilator . Rohan developed necrotising enterocolitis - or NEC. This potentially . fatal condition is common in premature babies, especially those with the . heart problems. Rohan had a series of cardiac arrests and tragically died the following day. After the child was taken off the ventilator, the boy suffered two cardiac arrests and tragically died . Parents Alex Rhodes and Bronwyn Vincent (pictured) now await the results of an inquest into the circumstances surrounding their son's death . It is understood the nurse who took . Rohan off his ventilator received further training following her action - . but remains working at the hospital. She . has not been disciplined or reported to the Nursing and Midwifery . Council which has the power to hold a hearing and remove her from the . nursing register, it is thought. A Bristol inquest will hear on Monday the circumstances that led to Rohan's death. The hospital where he died is part of the same trust as Bristol Children Hospital - where the deaths of child heart surgery patients are to be the subject of an independent review, NHS Medical Director, Sir Bruce Keogh, said last week. This week the case of Lacey Marie Poton, four months, who died of a . cardiac arrest shortly after she was discharged from the hospital emerged. It . is alleged she also received poor care from South Western Ambulance Service. Rohan's parents Alex Rhodes and Bronwyn Vincent, who live in Narberth, Pembrokeshire, Wales, returned from a rest break to find their son had been taken off the device. They said: 'We have no idea why the nurse did what she did - but we are convinced it cost our son his life. 'Nurses can only take a baby off a ventilator under a doctor's direction and we know there wasn't a doctor's decision to do this.' Before he could be put back on the machine he suffered a cardiac arrest. Rohan was resuscitated by intensive care medics - but suffered a second heart attack the next day and lost his fight for life. Rohan's coffin - which was made by his dad using wood intended to make his first cot . The Bristol Royal Children's Hospital - which is part of the same trust as St Michael's where Rohan died . Ms Vincent said: 'Our little boy was doing so well. We are still trying to understand why this nurse did what she did. She had no authority. What she did is inexcusable. I was in tears. 'The doctors said he wasn't ready to come of the ventilator and he was going to stay on it until he had his operation.' 'Rowan was very premature at 25 weeks, but his lungs were holding up well. 'He needed a relatively safe operation to close a heart duct that should normally shut at birth. That would have helped his breathing improve. 'When we arrived at St Michael's his life wasn't in danger even though he was in intensive care. 'We were told his prospects of coming off the ventilator were good following the heart surgery. 'We have no idea why the nurse did what she did - but we are convinced it cost our son his life. 'Nurses can only take a baby off a ventilator under a doctor's direction and we know there wasn't a doctor's decision to do this.' Parents Emma Norley and Jhonny Poton - whose daughter Lacey Marie died after being discharged from the hospital . The child's parents also accuse South Western Ambulance Service of delivering poor care and not doing proper medical checks when she was in cardiac arrest . After being taken off the ventilator Rohan developed NEC. The couple believe the lack off oxygen when he was taken off the ventilator triggered the condition. Ms Vincent, 34, who works as a vet, alleges Rohan was left in 'agonising pain' from the condition until doctors finally gave him pain relief in his final hours. She said: 'The end was terrible. His gut burst, he had peritonitis and blood poisoning and his heart just couldn't cope. Mr Rhodes, a 37-year-old blacksmith, said: 'We have had no explanation for this nurse's actions. 'The doctors had agreed that he should stay on ventilation right up until he had his surgery. They didn't want to alter anything as he was doing so well.' Rohan was the couple's only child and is buried in his mother's native Irish Republic. She said:'Our little boy's coffin was made in the shape of a boat. It was handmade by Alex using the wood he had bought to build him his first cot. The reason it is a rowing boat is because we nick named him Ro Ro and used to sing Row, row, row your boat to him everyday.' The family's Laurence Vick, of Michelmores Solicitors in Exeter, said: 'There is likely to be legal action action over Rohan's death following his inquest.' Robert Woolley, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust said: 'We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the Rhodes family for the loss of their son, Rohan. 'The coroner will conduct a thorough and independent inquiry into the death of this child and we are committed to working with her to provide all the information she needs to do this. 'It would not be appropriate for us to comment further until the inquest has concluded.' A high level investigation is to be carried out the the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children - the same trust as St Michael's Hospital - follow numerous allegations of poor care and neglect. Another case was that of four-month-old Lacey Maruie Poton - one of several children to die following surgery at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children. She suffered cardiac arrest after being discharged from the facility. It is now alleged the child received poor treatment at the hands of the South Western Ambulance Service - one of the largest in the country. An internal report released today lists a series of mistakes made by the service - including the incident not being treated as an emergency and crew failing to take a proper medical history of the child in to account. | Rohan Rhodes was born 14 weeks premature and needed heart surgery .
Was transferred to St Michael's Hospital, Bristol on a ventilator .
Nurse looking after boy allegedly turned off machine without permission .
Hospital is in the same trust as scandal-hit Bristol Children's Hospital .
High-level investigation into facility has been ordered by director of NHS . |
155,059 | 546581ea4a5fa90341cad2f5e7742f53be51132c | (CNN) -- For better or worse, Dylan Quick transformed his life on the campus of Lone Star College. Born deaf, he overcame intense shyness with a cochlear implant and learned to express himself by joining a teen book club at age 12 at the college library, according to a profile of him on a student blog. The library club became like a "family" and "second home" for him, the profile said. But he harbored a dark secret that played out eight years later after he enrolled as a student at the community college, authorities allege. Quick, 20, is accused of a carrying out a bloody stabbing rampage Tuesday at Lone Star College's CyFair campus near Houston, and on Wednesday, he was "interacting well with investigators," Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia told reporters. Forthcoming with information, Quick told police he had fantasies of stabbing people since he was 8 years old and that he had been planning Tuesday's spree "for some time," Garcia said. The rampage resulted in injuries to 14 people. The weapon used in Tuesday's stabbings is best described as a "razor utility knife," Garcia said. The crimes occurred on two floors at the school's health science center, Garcia said. It's unclear how many of the injured were stabbed and how many suffered other injuries. Three people injured in Tuesday's Lone Star College stabbing were discharged from Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston on Wednesday, while two others remained there in good condition, said hospital spokeswoman Kathryn Klein. The campus shut down Tuesday, but reopened Wednesday. Authorities and the blog portrayed Quick as someone who triumphed over deafness -- with the help of the college's teen book club -- and had big plans for the future. Those plans now seem upended. Quick was undergoing a psychological evaluation Wednesday, and his first court appearance is scheduled for Thursday in Houston, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said. Quick has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, said Donna Hawkins of the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Overcoming obstacles . Quick received the cochlear implant at age 7, CNN affiliate KPRC reported. An article on how he overcame challenges early in life appeared on the Lone Star student blog the first week of April. The implant gave him the ability to hear, but he had to play catchup to learn how to speak vocally. His mother home-schooled him and got him involved in Lone Star's library programs when he was a teen, according to KPRC. Quick became a voracious reader and developed a close connection with the school, the affiliate said. He rarely spoke during his first two years in the library's teen activities program, including two monthly book club sessions devoted to classics and contemporary books, and weekly summer book groups. "But after those two years it was if a floodgate had opened up and Dylan became loquacious, sharing his analyses of literature and socializing with his book club comrades," the blog article says. The blog features photos of the red-haired Quick at the library, including one at age 14 wearing an "AC/DC Back In Black" T-shirt with his arm around his red-haired mother. A more recent photo shows Quick with a mustache and petite goatee. "His room at home, he explains, barely contains his 1,000+ collection of books. In the future he plans to build and host an online international book club to connect people of all ages from around the world," the profile says. The teen book club on campus encourages youths to enroll in the community college after high school graduation, and Quick did. Some faculty members said Quick was a good student there, Lone Star College-CyFair President Audre Levy told reporters Wednesday. Also, staff members at the county library branch on campus, where Quick worked part-time for about a year, "had fond things to say of him," Levy said. "So many are surprised" that he was the suspect, she said. Quick was planning to finish his associate's degree at the college and then transfer to the University of Houston to study accounting. But Quick had also been harboring his darker dream, police said. Authorities: The rampage was premeditated . "According to the statement the suspect voluntarily gave investigators, he has had fantasies of stabbing people to death since he was in elementary school," a statement from the Harris County Sheriff's Office said. Witnesses to the stabbings described a chaotic scene: Bleeding victims collapsed to the ground. Students and teachers ran for cover. Some sprang into action, chasing after the assailant and helping the wounded. Cassie Foe was in the school's nursing lab when she heard a scream in the hallway. Moments later, the nursing student put her training into action, placing pressure on a wound in a stabbing victim's neck. "It just seemed like he was just going around, basically getting whoever was more open and easiest for him to reach," Foe told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. Steven Maida said he saw so many people swarming that he thought it was a campus tour. Then, he saw them running and heard someone say, "My friend's been stabbed." Maida said he saw blood on a stairway and several injured victims. "I just took off downstairs running," he said. He was looking for the attacker. Maida described joining a group of students who chased the suspect, tackled him and pinned him down until authorities arrived. "I couldn't run the other way like everyone else was," he said. A bloody spree . Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Gilliland said authorities received an initial report that the suspect had been wrestled to the ground by a student before campus police arrested him. At least one injured victim had what appeared to be the blade of a box cutter or an X-Acto knife sticking out of her cheek, student Melody Vinton told CNN affiliate KHOU. Vinton said she had just left her chemistry class when she saw the attacker stabbing people, aiming at their necks and faces. Soon, she was trying to help victims, ripping a paper towel dispenser off a bathroom wall to get enough paper to help stem the bleeding. "I turned around, and there was just blood. Just blood dripping down the stairs, all over the floor, all over everyone's towels on their necks. Just a lot of blood," she told KHOU. Four injured victims "were taken out on helicopters," Harris County sheriff's spokesman Alan Bernstein said. Tuesday's incident came more than two months after three people were wounded in a shooting at a different Lone Star College campus -- the North Harris campus in Houston. CNN's Ed Lavandera, Joe Sutton, Jason Morris, Dave Alsup, Chandler Friedman, Greg Botelho, Paul Caron, Chuck Johnston, Ashley Fantz and Jason Hanna contributed to this report. | NEW: Student blog says "it was if a floodgate had opened" as suspect overcomes shyness .
Born deaf, suspect learned to express himself at a teen book club on campus .
Dylan Quick is forthcoming with information, police say .
Quick is to undergo a psychological evaluation, the Harris County DA says . |
182,594 | 7871183280b6b3b37faaf89dd6e876114e06c6b7 | (CNN) -- A North Carolina woman is alleging that "American Idol" winner Fantasia Barrino engaged in an affair with her husband, and says in court documents that the pair "recorded" their sexual encounters. Paula Cook, who separated from her husband, Antwaun Cook, in June, filed the documents -- seeking child custody, alimony and other monetary support -- Wednesday in Mecklenburg County District Court. The documents allege Antwaun Cook began the affair with Barrino, 26, in August 2009 after the pair met at a Charlotte-area T-Mobile store where Cook is employed. Barrino -- the 2004 winner of the popular Fox show and an eight-time Grammy nominee -- treated Cook to a lavish lifestyle over the course of their affair, flying him to Atlanta, Georgia; Miami, Florida; New York; Los Angeles, California; and Barbados, the documents allege. The pair "have at times recorded their illicit sexual activity," according to the documents. A month after Paula Cook separated from her husband, Barrino is alleged to have interrupted a phone conversation between the estranged couple, telling Cook, "He don't want you. Maybe the next time you get a husband you'll know how to keep him. That's why he is here with me," according to the documents. Barrino has appeared publicly with a tattoo on her left shoulder reading "Cook," an apparent tribute to Antwaun Cook, who is said to have a similar tattoo in the same place on his shoulder, according to the documents. The alleged affair was first reported in November by gossip magazines and websites. Barrino and her record label Sony Music declined to comment on the documents Sunday. Paula Cook says that as a result of the affair, her husband became more and more withdrawn from their marriage, attributing late nights and other absences to work, the documents say. "As [Paula Cook] contemplated ways to save her marriage and family, [Antwaun Cook] and Ms. Barrino continued to enjoy their open and notorious relationship without her knowledge and/or consent," the documents say. Paula Cook is seeking custody of her two children, ages 6 and 2, with Antwaun Cook, as well as child support, alimony, attorney's fees and ownership of the couple's former marital home. CNN's Denise Quan contributed to this report. | A North Carolina woman says Fantasia Barrino has had a relationship with her husband .
The couple are accused of recording sexual encounters, court documents say .
Barrino, 26, was named "American Idol" in 2004 .
She declined to comment on the allegations . |
200,642 | 8fba3d3e34360d39882f25b55f9a7ef9d7736f3d | As they stood on the field after their historic fourth Super Bowl win, two New England Patriots stars shouted excitedly: 'We're going to Disneyland!' And on Monday, wide receiver Julian Edelman and cornerback Malcolm Butler were pictured celebrating the team's victory at Disneyland in California. Edelman and Butler - whose last-second interception helped the Patriots clinch the title - performed a special lap of honor at the Anaheim-based resort. At the same time, the Seattle Seahawks, led by their head coach Peter Carroll, were spotted returning home dejected via plane and then coach. On Sunday night, around 115 million viewers watched the Patriots fight their way to a 28-24 victory at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Scroll down for video . Lap of honor: On Monday, New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman (right) and cornerback Malcolm Butler were pictured celebrating the team's victory at Disneyland in California. On Sunday, they had shouted, 'We're going to Disneyland!' after their win . Parade: Edelman and Butler - whose last-second interception helped the Patriots clinch the title - performed a lap of honor at the resort . Disney host: The pair, who were stood on the back of a vintage Disneyland vehicle, were joined by Mickey Mouse at the special parade . Celebration: The trio waved at screaming crowds lining the park's Main Street as they stood on the back of the car amid colorful streamers . Contrast: At the same time, the Seattle Seahawks, led by coach Peter Carroll, were spotted returning home dejected via plane and coaches. Above, Edelman and Butler pose with Mickey Mouse (left), while Richard Sherman (right, center) departs a plane with his teammates . Returning home: On Sunday night, around 115 million viewers watched the Patriots fight their way to a 28-24 victory at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Above, Seahawks players are pictured departing a plane at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday . Greeting: The Seahawks' Doug Baldwin (center) is greeted by Delta flight attendant Kim Pratt as Christi Turner (right) holds a team flag . Leaving the plane: Baldwin (front) is followed by his teammate, Luke Willson, as the players arrive at Seattle-Tacoma International Aiport . The team secured the title in the final seconds of the nail-biting game when the Seahawks' decided to run a slant pass to receiver Ricardo Lockette instead of handing the ball to running back Marshawn Lynch. The pass was intercepted by Butler at the Patriots' zone in a game-clinching move. And celebrating both his own and the Patriots' victory on Monday, Butler was joined by Mickey Mouse as he and Edelman took part in the parade. The trio waved at screaming crowds lining the park's Main Street as they stood on the back of a moving car amid thousands of colorful streamers. Later in the day, the two players were pictured alongside their teammates and coach, Bill Belichick, returning home to Greater Boston triumphant. Hundreds of fans, many waving flags and posters, braved the cold and windy weather to greet the players as they stepped off coaches, NBC reported. Meanwhile, the Seahawks were spotted arriving back in Seattle to their own crowd of well-wishers, some donning wacky hairpieces and face paint. Dejected: The Patriots secured the title in the final seconds of the nail-biting game when the Seahawks' decided to run a slant pass to receiver Ricardo Lockette. The pass was intercepted by Butler. Above, another Seahawks player is pictured leaving the plane . Dressed in casual attire: Russell Wilson, who threw the interception on the one-yard-line, high-fived fans (pictured) as he walked past them dressed in a checkered shirt and cap after the team's Delta flight touched down at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Monday . Meeting supporters: Wilson is pictured greeting ramp agent Joy Jones following the team's return from the Super Bowl XLIX on Monday . Lifting his spirits: The Seahawks' defeat came as a huge blow to the football-crazed city of Seattle. Above, Wilson high-fives more fans . In a better mood than expected: Coach Carroll, wearing more a suit, appeared in good spirits despite the defending champions' loss . Head coach: Carroll is pictured smiling as he walks past Seahawks fans, many of whom were donning wacky hairpieces and waving flags . 'We still believe': Airline employees and their families cheer the Seattle Seahawks on the team's return from the Super Bowl on Monday . Fans: More fans are pictured cheering on the Seahawks. Although flags honoring the passionate '12th' man fan base and team posters still clung to downtown office buildings and storefront windows, there was an air of dejection at times in some offices, employees said . Russell Wilson, who threw the interception on the one-yard-line, high-fived fans as he walked past them dressed in a checkered shirt and cap after the team's Delta flight touched down at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Coach Carroll, wearing a more formal outfit of a suit jacket and white shirt, also appeared in good spirits despite the defending champions' loss. The Seahawks' defeat came as a huge blow to the football-crazed city of Seattle. Many residents were in a state of stunned sadness on Monday. 'The last call, I just don't know what they were thinking,' chef Forrest Temko, 27, said in a city bar. 'They should have just given it to Beast Mode.' Although flags honoring the passionate '12th' man fan base and team posters still clung to downtown office buildings and storefront windows, there was an air of dejection at times in some offices, including online commerce giant Amazon and planemaker Boeing, employees said. Welcome home: Fans greet buses carrying the Seahawks from the aiport as the team arrives back at its headquarters in Renton, Wash. Cold weather: Many supporters were carrying flags sporting the number '12' as they welcomed back their beloved players amid the cold . 'Got your back': A man and young girl hold up a banner reading '12's Got Your Back!' as the Seahawks return home following their loss . Leaving the coaches: Seattle Seahawks players, coaches, and team personnel exit buses that transported them from the airport . Marcia Shiriwasto, right, and Mark Rogers, second from right, join other fans as they stand outside a fence at the Renton headquarters . Aileen Ly scatters Skittles candy favored by Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch on a driveway outside the headquarters . A team store at the team's CenturyLink Field was quiet, apart from a couple of shoppers who stopped to ask when merchandise would be sold at a steep discount. 'You fight so hard to get to the point where you can win it all. There are no words for it. Utter disbelief,' said fan Michael Thomas, 30. Seattle police took a playful swipe at fans of the Denver Broncos, the team Seattle clobbered in last year's Super Bowl, saying on its Twitter feed: 'And now we all know what it's like to be a @Broncos fan.' Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called the Seahawks loss 'heartbreaking,' but said: 'All of Seattle is proud of everything they accomplished this year and I know we'll be back next year.' Winners: Members of the New England Patriots football team disembark from an aircraft inside a hangar at Logan International Airport . Waiting to carry them home: Coaches are positioned near a passenger jet carrying members of the New England Patriots football team . Hundreds of fans, many waving flags and posters, braved the cold and windy weather to greet the players as they stepped off the coaches . Support: These grainy images show fans waving flags in the Greater Boston area (left), while coach Belichick waves at supporters (right) Game-clinching move: The Seahawks' badly-judged slant pass was intercepted by Butler (pictured) at the Patriots' zone on Sunday . Tyler Olsen, a 30-year-old Seattle-area math teacher who 'went into shock for a minute' after the interception, said there was no guarantee a running play would have worked and urged a spirit of togetherness. 'I wouldn't put this loss on the play call,' Mr Olsen said. The Patriots' win comes amid the deflate-gate scandal, which saw the team accused of deliberately under-inflating the footballs used in their AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts on January 18 this year. But addressing the media about a more positive issue - the team's victory - on Sunday night, Belichick, who is the league's longest-tenured active head coach, said: 'We've got a great team, they played well again tonight. I'm so proud of all these players. I love these guys.' Victorious: Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots beat the Seattle Seahawks in a nail-biting game to secure their fourth Super Bowl win. Above, an elated Brady is pictured holding the Super Bowl XLIX trophy aloft following the team's 28-24 victory . Relatives: Brady, who was named Super Bowl MVP for the third time after the Super Bowl, is pictured hugging his niece, Maya Brady . Family: Brady attributed the team's success to a 'lot of mental toughness', saying he and his teammates had 'never doubted each other' and had been prepared to face a 'great' rival. Above, he is seen receiving a kiss from wife, Gisele Bundchen (left), and son, Benjamin (right) Overjoyed at the Patriots' success: New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is pictured embracing his daughter Amanda (right) Celebrating: After Patriots rookie Malcolm Butler intercepted quarterback Russell Wilson at the last second, the team was able to power its way to a 28-24 victory. Above, Patriots strong safety, Duron Harmon, is pictured rolling on the field after the second half of the event . Star quarterback Brady, who was named Super Bowl MVP for the third time following the Patriots' win, attributed the team's success to a 'lot of mental toughness', saying he and his teammates had 'never doubted each other' and had been prepared to face a 'great' rival. Holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft, an elated Brady thanked his family, friends and fans, saying: 'This is for you guys.' He was later pictured receiving a kiss from his wife, Gisele Bundchen, and son Jack, who watched the game alongside more than 100million people worldwide. Meanwhile, Butler told reporters of his game-clinching interception: 'I just had a vision that I was going to make a big play and it came true.' | New England Patriots' Julian Edelman and Malcolm Butler celebrated win at Disneyland, California, on Monday .
They were joined by Mickey Mouse as they were driven down Main Street in front of hundreds of jubilant fans .
Later in the day, Patriots, including head coach Bill Belichick, were greeted by supports as they arrived home .
At same time, Seahawks, led by their coach Peter Carroll, were spotted returning to Seattle dejected via plane .
On Sunday, about 115 million viewers watched the Patriots secure 28-24 win at University of Phoenix Stadium . |
12,968 | 24c07410277cf7137ab715566e2736b4b60408a4 | Rob Fielding, 43, from Aylesbury, was reading in bed when a moth flew into his ear - and stayed there . A father-of-three who felt a moth fly into his ear as he lay reading in bed had it buzzing around inside his head for three days. Eventually Rob Fielding, 43, a marketing manager from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, sought medical help - and ended up needing a 90-minute operation to remove the insect from his ear canal. He said: 'It was awful knowing the moth was flying around inside my head. Every now and then, when I felt it move, it made me jump out of my skin.' Mr Fielding was lying in bed on 8 August when he felt the insect land on his glasses and then buzzed into his ear. He reached up to brush it away, but accidentally pushed it into his ear canal instead. He hoped it would fly out but then endured three days of the insect buzzing in his head, making him twitch every time it moved. Finally his wife Joanne, 41, sent him to Stoke Mandeville hospital in Aylesbury for help. Mr Fielding said: 'The nurses were all very shocked when I told them what had happened. 'One of them used a light to look into my ear and all they could see was a leg wiggling around.' Mr Fielding was referred on to an ear, nose and throat specialist in Oxford, and told he needed a ten-minute procedure to remove the insect. But the operation ended up taking an hour and a half as his ear canal was prised open and the moth pulled out with a tiny pair of forceps. Mr Fielding said: 'It was my cousin's wedding and my whole family were going to be there but we had to miss it because of the moth. I was devastated.' The surgeon had to delve two centimetres into his inner ear to reach the moth. The father of Fred, eight, Betsy, six, and Meg, four, said: 'After shoving a funnel into my ear they managed to widen the passage and get the moth out with a tiny pair of forceps. 'It was incredibly painful as it was next to my ear drum. It felt as if I'd just come off an aeroplane and my ears had just popped.' The dead insect is now displayed on the Fieldings' mantelpiece as a souvenir of the unlikely episode. 'The kids find it absolutely hilarious and are obsessed with showing everyone our new pet,' Mr Fielding said. Unwelcome intruder: The moth spent three days fluttering next to Mr Fielding's ear canal before it was removed . | Rob Fielding, 43, was reading in bed when a moth buzzed into his ear .
Marketing manager from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, tried to push it away .
But he accidentally poked it into his inner ear, where it remained, buzzing .
Mr Fielding said: 'It was awful - every time moth fluttered it made me jump'
Three days later he sought help at hospital and was sent to an ENT surgeon .
It required a 90-minute operation to extract the moth from 2cm into his ear . |
75,005 | d4a43c0f8ddbc8822b955233e432e051ba0a7ab3 | President Barack Obama's historic move to loosen the U.S. embargo on Cuba set off an immediate clash with Republicans keen to use the dramatic foreign policy shift to further their own White House aspirations. The announcement immediately threw two Florida politicians -- Sen. Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush -- into the spotlight and served as another reminder of the state's enduring importance in presidential politics. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, quickly took a hardline position, vowing to block any nominee the administration might put forward to be an ambassador to Cuba. He called Obama's announcement "truly outrageous and counterproductive" because there has been no "democratic opening" in Cuba. "It is a lifeline for the Castro regime that will allow them to become more profitable ... and allow them to become a more permanent fixture," he said on CNN. "The embargo is leverage, these sanctions are leverage." Rubio continued: "We have just lost a significant part of our leverage ... not a single democratic concession." In a subsequent press conference, Rubio expanded his critique into a direct attack on Obama's foreign policy, previewing the assault Republican hawks could adopt in the presidential race. "This president has proven today that his foreign policy is more than just naive," Rubio said. "It is willfully ignorant of the way the world truly works." Rubio called Obama "the single worst negotiator we have had in the White House in my lifetime." Bush, who shocked the political world on Tuesday by announcing he would explore a White House bid, welcomed the release of US contractor Alan Gross but said it was too early to transform Cuba policy. "He shouldn't have been in prison to start with. He didn't do anything to deserve it. But the fact that he's coming home is spectacular news for himself and his family — on the first day of Hanukkah," Bush said when asked about the Cuba news at a holiday event with Florida Governor Rick Scott. In his first major foreign policy comments of the nascent 2016 campaign, Bush then warned in a statement that only Fidel and Raul Castro, who between them have ruled Cuba for over half a century, would benefit from Obama's "ill-advised move." "Cuba is a dictatorship with a disastrous human rights record, and now President Obama has rewarded those dictators. We should instead be fostering efforts that will truly lead to the fair, legitimate democracy that will ultimately prevail in Cuba," Bush said in a statement posted on his Facebook page. Bush's consistent hard line towards Havana could be appealing to thousands of Cuban Americans in Florida. But there's also the question of whether the issue will be as potent in 2016 as it has been in previous election cycles, as the younger generation of Cuban-Americans, many of them born in the U.S., are not as steeped in the Cold War-era struggle as their parents. Bush has been a strong supporter of the trade embargo and believes it should only be lifted once political prisoners are freed, Cuba fully embraces democracy and a market economy is established. "Instead of lifting the embargo, we should consider strengthening it again to put pressure on the Cuba regime," Bush said at a meeting of the US-Cuba Democracy PAC earlier this month. Meanwhile, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father fled Cuba, expressed "rejoice" that Gross is back in the U.S. But he slammed Obama for easing restrictions on Cuba. "Make no mistake, although we are glad Alan is now free, the agreement the Obama Administration has entered into with the Castro regime has done nothing to resolve the underlying problem," he said in a statement. "Indeed, it has made it worse." Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is also considering a presidential run, tweeted "this is an incredibly bad idea." The GOP positions set up a clear contrast with a possible 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton, who expressed support for Obama's moves in a statement released Wednesday night. "I support President Obama's decision to change course on Cuba policy, while keeping the focus on our principal objective -- supporting the aspirations of the Cuban people for freedom," she said. "It is great news that Alan is finally home with his family, where he belongs." The former secretary of state ran for the White House in 2008 opposing calls to lift the embargo, but she has since shifted her stance. In an interview with Fusion television network earlier this year, Clinton argued that the embargo had "propped up" the Castro regime. "I would like to see us move toward normalizing relations eventually and therefore more Americans (allowed to move) back and forth," she said. "That's something President Obama did and I supported in the first term." Clinton wrote in her book "Hard Choices" that towards the end of her time in the Obama administration, she "recommended to President Obama that he take another look at our embargo." "It wasn't achieving its goals and it was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America," she wrote . Meanwhile, Obama's announcement surprised many on Capitol Hill. Outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, who has often crossed swords with Obama on Iran and Cuba policy, issued a statement that hinted at the tough fight to come over the embargo in Congress. WATCH: Castro thanks Obama, pope . While hailing a "moment of profound relief" for Gross, Menendez blasted Obama, who he said had "vindicated the brutal behavior of the Cuban government." "Trading Mr Gross for three convicted criminals sets and extremely dangerous precedent," said Menendez. "It invites dictatorial and rogue regimes to use Americans serving overseas as bargaining chips," he said and argued that the"asymmetrical trade" will invite further belligerence from the government towards the Cuban opposition. House Speaker John Boehner also hammered Obama's foreign policy, rebuking the President for "another in a long line of mindless concessions to a dictatorship that brutalizes its people and schemes with our enemies." Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker, who will take control of the foreign relations panel next year, said lawmakers "will be closely examining the implications of these major policy changes in the next Congress." | Obama move opens 2016 row over Cuba .
Bush, Rubio strongly oppose Cuba easing .
Clinton changed position and now opposes embargo . |
243,080 | c69a429246cfb9e68f80e2752f5a4539ffe91050 | Alatan Hsia needs £17,000 to have the pins and needles, pictured here in a doctor's x-ray, removed from her body . A Chinese woman ended up with a real case of pins and needles - after doctors found nine of them embedded in her body. Medics x-rayed Alatan Hsia, from Jarud Banner in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in a bid to get to the bottom of incredible pains she had suffered from for more than a decade. But after identifying that pins and needles had been inserted into her body, she now needs to come up with £17,000 to pay for them to be removed. She said: ‘I have suffered from the pain for years. I guess a little while longer before I finally get free of it is something I can bear.’ Some of the needles were easy to remove but others need a complicated medical procedure. One needle is embedded in a lung, one in a kidney and one in the liver. Pins were also found in a leg joint and one was located just three centimetres from her heart. Alatan, a herdswoman on the Mongolian steppe, added: ‘I used to have a terrible marriage. 'My ex-husband Chung Hsiao frequently beat me. Finally, at the end of 2002, I went to my parents’ home to avoid him. ‘One day when I was there and my folks were out he came around and gave me a beating. He shouted: “If you won't return to me I will kill you.” I was beaten into a coma. 'When I woke up five days later my parents said that there had been no sign of him, and they had put me in bed until I recovered. ‘None of us thought much of it but they also said that they had found nine needles on the ground lying alongside my body. Medics x-rayed Alatan Hsia, from northern China, in a bid to get to the bottom of incredible pains she had suffered from for more than a decade . ‘I believe that after putting some of them inside me he had then fled leaving others on the floor.’ In 2002, after the attack, Alatan and her husband divorced and she married another man, Long Han. However, she always felt incredible pain in her body in the following years but it was only when she had an x-ray that she finally discovered the cause. | Medics found nine pins and needles in Alatan Hsia's body after an x-ray .
She had complained of 'incredible pains' for more than a decade .
Pins were found embedded in a lung, kidney, liver and leg and close to heart .
Herdswoman, from Jarud Banner, north China, had been in abusive marriage .
She must wait for them to be removed after being told work will cost £17,000 . |
188,785 | 8082c9947dee467d223134adc204dfda8dcbbb58 | By . Travelmail Reporter . Broken-hearted Britons love nothing more than a much-needed holiday after a love split, according to new statistics. One-fifth of those questioned in a new poll said they organised a trip within three months of a break-up, with the majority saying they needed to 'take their mind off the split'. But an optimistic one-quarter said they booked a holiday with the idea of finding a new love interest. All by myself: A fifth of newly-single Britons said they book a holiday within three months of a split . Party time: Back in 2009, Katie Price headed to Ibiza to get over her split from Peter Andre . Ibiza topped the list of holiday destinations chosen by newly-single Britons, according to the poll by sunshine.co.uk. The White Isle is where Katie Price chose to forget all her worries after splitting from former husband Peter Andre. The Greek island of Rhodes was the second favourite destination for broken-hearted holidaymakers, followed by Ibiza's neighbour Mallorca. Cyprus and mainland Spain made up the top five destinations for newly-single Britons. Fresh start: While the majority of heartbroken Britons book a trip to get away from it all, a quarter admitted they hoped to meet a new partner . While taking their mind off the break-up and meeting a new partner were the most popular reasons for travel, a further 13 per cent said their friends convinced them to treat themselves to a break. And 17 per cent said they were already due a holiday. Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said: 'It was interesting to see all of the typical party destinations in the top five list of heartbreak holiday locations, with resorts such as San Antonio, Faliraki, Magaluf, Ayia Napa and Marbella probably the hardest hit by heartbroken holidaymakers.’ 'Getting a bunch of friends together for a few days in the sun or even going away with family can be a good way to get some distance from everything and return home to the UK with a clearer head... and maybe a new partner!' | One-fifth of Britons organised a trip within three months of a breakup .
A quarter of those booked the holiday with hopes for new romance .
Ibiza topped the poll as the most desirable heartbreak destination . |
180,371 | 7581edffbaef525cac9160f071889fde52ac835d | They sure do make their cowboys young in Colorado. For the 108th edition of the National Western Stock Show, which is considered the 'Superbowl of stock shows', kid cowboys have their chance to play with the big kids. The annual festival, which this year is expected bring over 600,000 people to the Coloradoan capital, introduced 'mini-bucking bulls' that has ushered in a new generation of westerners. The budding buckers took to the pint-sized bovines that, despite being young, definitely had full-sized tempers. Ryan Grace, 10, hangs on in the mini bull riding competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver on January 11, 2014 . He's off: Ryan Grace takes a tumble during the miniature bull-riding competition . At just six-years-old, Cekay Jones prepares to set off on a mini-bull at the Western Stock Show in Denver on Saturday . Ouch: CeJay Jones, 6, grimaces and holds his elbow after falling off his bull at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver . The event provided an outlet for stampede-minded school students looking to start a hobby - or perhaps even a career - in rodeo. Riders attempt to stay on the animal for six seconds or more, which is alot harder than it looks. For 7-year-old Austyn Smith the show was a monumental moment. Introduced to riding from a young age, the Connecticut kid participated in the Pee Wee division at the Tuff N Nuff Miniature Rodeo Association, known as TRMA, until recently, bring home seven trophies. Now older, he has progressed to the junior division, which is for aged 7 through 11. Austyn treats riding as any other sport, despite the obvious differences to football or basketball. Blake Schock, 6, hits the ground as as he falls off his sheep in the Mutton Bustin competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver . Tristan Padilla, 6, hangs onto a sheep in the Mutton Bustin competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver . Doin' it for the girls: Haley Walker, 5, hangs onto a sheep in the Mutton Bustin competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver January 11, 2014 . Slipping: Haley Walker, 5, hangs onto a sheep in the Mutton Bustin competition . 'He’s been going to them since before he could walk,' his father, Rick Smith, told the Globe Gazette. 'One day he looked at me and said, ''Daddy, I’m going to ride bulls''.' The two travel all over for bull-riding competitions and have entered in events in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Iowa. The National Western Stock Show on Saturday was the next big stop. 'You keep your head down, get set on your rope, keep your chest out and dig in your feet,' Austyn said. 'You go big or go home,' he said. Austyn has suffered numerous injuries in his riding time, including bloody lips and being stepped on by the animals, but nothing serious. Robby Milky, 6, hangs onto a sheep in the Mutton Bustin competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver . 'He just gets right back up there,' his dad said. Eventually Austyn would like to compete in All Around, which comprises bare back, saddle bronco and bull riding. The National Western Stock Show is a big deal for Denver and the state of Colorado. It represents a lot of business for the agriculture industry, both across the country and internationally. Visitors from 38 countries and 42 states are expected to show up this year. Boys set to compete in the mini bull riding competition kneel and pray before entering the arena at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver . Mini bull riding competitors talk before competing at the 108th National Western Stock Show . CeJay Jones, 6, practices holding on with his father Chris (right) looking on before he competed in the mini bull riding competition at the 108th National Western Stock Show in Denver January 11, 2014 . More than 12,000 head of livestock enter the show every year, with a waiting list of even more animals. The National Western results in more than $100 million in economic impact to the metro area ever year. The NWSS runs from Jan. 11 until 26. | It's the 'Superbowl of stock shows', but the highlight of the National Western Stock Show 2014 in Denver, Colorado, has so far been the the amateurs, not the pros .
Children as young as five and six have competed in a competition using 'mini-bucking bulls' as part of a beginners rodeo .
Riders attempted to stay on the animals for six seconds or longer .
Seven-year-old Austyn Smith, from Connecticut has been riding for years and said the key is to 'go hard or go home' |
7,275 | 149c22d887c6a25ad050acdb53cfd37e00fe5c38 | Paddy McNair had to be stapled up on the pitch during Manchester United's FA Cup clash with Yeovil after a nasty clash of heads with Kieffer Moore. The young defender went up for a header with the opposing striker in the 20th minute at Huish Park but both went down holding their face. United's club physio Neil Hough and club doctor Steve McNally then rushed onto the pitch to provide treatment as McNair had his head stapled. Yeovil striker Kieffer Moore and Manchester United defender Paddy McNair clash heads in the first half . United defender McNair has his head stapled after suffering a cut in the accidental collision . A member of United's medical staff treats McNair's wound (left), leaving staples visible on his head (right) McNair, 19, appeared to show no signs of concussion and so was allowed to play on, albeit with a bandage around his head. In the collision Yeovil striker Moore damaged his nose as the third-round fixture was temporarily stopped while the duo lay down injured. The Northern Irish defender broke through into the United team this season amid an injury crisis at Old Trafford, and was brought in for the cup clash by Louis van Gaal after missing the draw with Stoke on New Year's Day. Moore (left) and McNair were both able to continue the FA Cup third round clash after being bandaged up . | Paddy McNair and Kieffer Moore clashed heads in the first half .
Defender McNair had his head stapled by Manchester United medical staff .
Both players were deemed fit to continue the FA Cup clash at Huish Park . |
83,722 | ed7c61c426ef9d90e8ea68a19692d0895a1d1064 | The Foreign Investment Review Board Report found more than $35 billion was poured into the market from overseas, with China outspending all other countries. Chinese buyers splurged more than $12 billion in 2013-14, a massive increase from the comparatively paltry $5.9 billion it coughed up the year before, according to Fairfax Media. Scroll down for video . Mount Eliza's Palladian palace, Palazzina, sold to a Chinese buyer for $4.5 million . The money was predominantly spent on new homes, with $16.4 billion spent on off-the-plan properties, compared to $5.73 billion the year before. Chief executive Gifang.com, a Chinese property website, Michael Yang said Australia's economy and top schools attracted foreign buyers. Mr Yang said Australia is seen as 'a safe place to invest' by overseas buyers. Chinese buyers truly dominated the market, spending more than twice as much as the second-place country, the United States, and third-place, Singapore. Foreign investment in Australia's property market tripled last year, as prices continued to skyrocket, new figures show . A Melbourne penthouse apartment in the Australia 108 complex that boasts 360 degree views of the city has been sold for $25 million to a Chinese businessman . Mount Eliza's Palladian palace, Palazzina, was one of the high-priced homes recently snapped up by an overseas buyer. The coastal mansion is set on 0.8 hectares of landscaped gardens, has 12 main rooms including a library, a study and conference or sports room . It had been listed in late 2013, and sold earlier this year to Chinese buyers. The landmark mansion was last sold $3.75 million in 2007 by the German businessman Joachim Mueller to former cosmetics company boss Rudi Miklosvary and his wife, Ilona. The design of the 2001-built property was inspired by the Palladian style of architecture of 17th century Italy. Set on 0.8 hectares of landscaped gardens, Palazzina has 12 main rooms including a library, study and conference or sports room. Last month, a Chinese businessman bought Australia's most luxurious penthouse in the yet-to-be-built 108 Australia building that will be the tallest apartment building in the southern hemisphere. The Melbourne apartment, which is spread across the entire 100th floor of a super skyscraper and boasts 360 degree veiws over the city, is the most expensive single apartment sold in the country at $25million. The luxury mansion Villa del Mare at Point Piper in Sydney was bought last year by a Hong Kong investor for $39million, although Treasurer Joe Hockey has ordered the investor to sell it immediately after deciding the purchase breached foreign ownership rules. Current rules for foreign buyers state they are permitted to buy new homes, provided their bid is back by the FIRB. Yet, foreign spend on existing homes still rose from $2 billion to $7.17 billion during the last financial year. The current rules allow temporary residents to buy one established home to live in, under the condition they sell it when it no longer is their residence. The Federal Government has proposed crack downs on foreign investors, with new tough new regulations being discussed, which would include forcing international buyers to fork out high application fees for each attempt at buying property. Current rules for foreign buyers state they are permitted to buy new homes, provided their bid is back by the FIRB . A Hong Kong investor bought Villa del Mare, a luxury property at 63-67 Wolseley Road, Point Piper, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, last year for $39million . Hoever, Treasurer Joe Hockey has ordered the property, which features stunning harbour views, be sold immediately after deciding the purchase contravened foreign investment rules . Chinese real estate mogul Xu Jianyin, who is believed to be worth around $7billion, was reportedly behind the purchase of Villa del Mare . Current rules allow temporary residents to buy one established home to live in, under the condition they sell it when it no longer is their residence . Buyers are paying a premium when they decide to purchase property in Sydney, after the Harbour City confirmed its status as one of Australia's priciest markets. Data from realestate.com.au shows that the most expensive houses sold were all in the exclusive suburbs of the New South Wales capital, including Point Piper, Bellevue Hill, Mosman and Vaucluse.The three most expensive homes, which sold for between $30 and $39 million, are all on the same waterfront street in Point Piper in Sydney's east. The Australia 108 apartment block has three infinity pools set against floor-to-ceiling glass to give swimmers a view of either the glittering city skyline or shimmering bay . 112 Wolseley Road, Point Piper, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, sold for $37 million last year . China's total investment last financial year was $27.7 billion, while the US accounted for $17.4 billion. Canada is Australia's third largest foreign investor ($15.4 billion) followed by Malaysia ($7.2 billion). | Foreign investment in Australian property market tripled in 2013-14 .
$35-billion poured into market from overseas in last in financial year .
Chinese buyers led the way, splurging more than $12 billion last year .
Australia considered a 'safe place to invest' by foreign buyers . |
280,837 | f7d0f0b90529089cb56e0eaefad5c89e6ca5a59a | Two men who were charged after counter terrorism police raided their homes will remain behind bars until at least next week. Omar Ammouche was charged with ammunition possession offences after counter-terrorism police raided a home on Chiswick Road in Greenacre in Sydney's west on Friday. The 33-year-old man was arrested and was later charged with acquiring and possessing prohibited ammunition without holding a licence. Following ongoing investigation, Jibryl Almaouie was charged with a string of offences, including unauthorised firearm possession, also on Friday after a separate terrorism raid in December. Scroll down for video . Omar Ammouche was charged after counter terrorism police raided a number of properties on Friday morning . The 33-year-old Greenacre man was arrested when police raided a home on Chiswick Road . The man has been refused bail to appear in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday . The 21-year-old attended Surry Hills Police Station on Friday where he was arrested at 2.30pm after counter-terrorism police seized a rifle, two shotguns and a large amount of ammunition at a Condell Park house in Sydney's west on December 18. The two men, who are not co-accused, did not appear when their cases were mentioned in Parramatta Local Court on Saturday. It comes as the raids were carried out in Sydney's southwest, in relation to Operation Duntulm which is part of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team, and allegedly seized a number of items including a quantity of prohibited drugs and documents. It was the same operation which saw the arrest of Mohamed Elomar's wife, Fatima, at Sydney Airport on May 3 when she was trying to board a flight to Malaysia with her four children. It is part of Operation Appleby, which is investigating domestic terrorism and foreign incursions in Syria and Iraq. Other warrants were executed in Leppington, Condell Park and Punchbowl. Police allege that a quantity of prohibited drugs were seized from another man in Punchbowl. A NSW Police statement said the raids were executed 'not as a result of any specific terrorism threat'. The raids were carried out in Sydney's southwest, in relation to Operation Duntulm which is part of the Joint Counter Terrorism Team, and allegedly seized a number of items including a quantity of prohibited drugs and documents . Other warrants were executed in Leppington, Condell Park and Punchbowl . Operation Duntulm is an ongoing Joint Counter Terrorism Team (Sydney) investigation into alleged financial assistance and support being provided for foreign fighters overseas. Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch, Commander of the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command said Operation Duntulm the raids are a timely reminder that police 'will not become complacent, and remain committed to disrupting criminal activity'. 'The operation today is about the gathering of evidence and intelligence to enable us to take action against those who think they can engage in these activities,' he said. 'Investigators this morning seized a range of items from the premises searched including documents and computers, and these will be forensically examined. 'It doesn't matter who you are or what you believe in, if you choose to illegally fight in an overseas conflict you are not only breaking the law, you are placing yourself in immense danger.' Australian Federal Police Acting National Manager Counter Terrorism Peter Crozier said community safety was the primary objective of all Joint Counter Terrorism Team activities. 'The priority for all agencies involved in these operations is to ensure the safety of the community, and we encourage all people to speak to us if they have any concerns or have information they wish to provide,' Acting Assistant Commissioner Crozier said . 'Now more than ever, it is important for the community and police to continue to work together and promote the diverse, inclusive and supportive society we have here in Australia.' Counter terrorism police have raided a number of properties on Friday morning in relation to an ongoing operation which saw the arrest of Mohamed Elomar's wife, Fatima (pictured), at Sydney Airport on May 3 . Mohamed Elomar's wife, Fatima, was arrested at Sydney Airport on May 3 when she was trying to board a flight to Malaysia with her four children . Mrs Elomar was then charged with preparing for incursions into a foreign state with the intention of engaging in hostile activities. She has denied the charges . Mr Elomar (pictured) is believed to have flown to Syria late last year with Khaled Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist, who fled the country on his brother's passport . Back in May, officers from Operation Duntulm arrested and charged Mohamed Elomar's wife, Fatima, with preparing for incursions into a foreign state with the intention of engaging in hostile activities. She has denied the charges. Her husband, Mohamed Elomar, is believed to be fighting with terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Mr Elomar is believed to have flown to Syria late last year with Khaled Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist, who fled the country on his brother's passport. Ms Elomar's property was not one of those raided by police. They raided one property in Greenacre and seized items not related. The raids come after 800 police from The Joint Counter Terrorism Team were involved in searching a number of homes in Sydney and detained 15 people, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Two men arrested after separate anti-terror raids in Sydney are expected to make bail applications next week .
Omar Ammouche, 33, was charged with ammunition possession offences .
Jibryl Almaouie, 21, was charged with a string of offences, including unauthorised firearm possession .
The two men, who are not co-accused, did not appear when their cases were mentioned in court on Saturday .
Police conducted new raids in Sydney's southwest on Friday morning . |
212,334 | 9ef49649cf0c40ccd9af1d05e0fe018733a2ffc6 | By . Associated Press . Perhaps the title overstates the case. The tycoons of the ABC reality series Shark Tank wouldn't feed on your leg. They're not even out to eat the lunch of budding entrepreneurs who come before them in the Shark Tank (actually a stage at Los Angeles' Sony Studios, where the Sharks convene two or three times a year for mammoth taping sessions). They're just after a healthy serving of any future feast. So each Shark must decide whether to invest his or her own cash and expertise in a given opportunity, whether it's a kiddie train ride at the mall, boneless baby-back ribs, or a pot of boiling water that can charge a cellphone. Maybe they try to outbid one another. Often they argue over whether the deal is a winner or a bust. The show, now in its fifth season, airs Fridays at 9 p.m. EDT. This week at 8 p.m., a companion special, Shark Tank: Swimming With Sharks, gathers updates on more than a dozen of the show's more memorable entrepreneurs — and the Sharks who bit. The cast: ABC's Shark Tank is comprised of a panel of entrepreneurs who hear pitches from inventors that seek their investment . Recently five of the Sharks (technology specialist Robert Herjavec couldn't make it) joined a reporter for a bite at a Manhattan restaurant, and they said a mouthful. Here's a boiled-down version: . 'Queen of QVC' and inventor Lori Greiner: 'Why did I agree to be on the show? Because they asked!' Fashion and branding expert Daymond John: 'I did it because I wanted to diversify my portfolio, but I was only getting pitched clothing companies. People thought since I was the FUBU (urban streetwear) guy I'd come to a meeting with gold teeth and baggy jeans and start break dancing.' Venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary: 'Because each Shark has made it on his own from different sectors of the economy, we bring different disciplines to the table. Any one of my fellow Sharks might see something in a deal that I don't. To be competitive, I try to see it through their eyes.' Mark Cuban, owner of AXS TV and the Dallas Mavericks: 'On the show, we all have our little branding angles. I try to be the guy who gives the advice. Lori tries to be the one who encourages. Daymond is the homey. Kevin is right to the point; it's all about money. And Barbara is going to be brutally honest.' Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran: 'The best advice was from (executive producer) Mark Burnett: "What makes great TV is just to be yourself." How freeing was that! So my first concern is always: "Am I gonna lose money?" Second concern: "Can I MAKE money?" A distant third: "Is this good TV?" And no one's in our ear saying, "Do this, say that." Doesn't happen.' Cuban: 'It's OUR money! The producers can't tell us what to do!' John: 'I'm always amazed at how they take 15 cameras and an hour-long pitch and turn it into six to eight minutes, and yet it plays out exactly like the pitch happened.' Cuban: 'The hard part on 'Shark Tank' is finding a clever way to say no.' Corcoran: 'A way you haven't used a hundred times before!' Cuban: 'One pitch, I was thinking, "There's no way I'm interested. Now I've got to come up with a clever way to go out." And then the guy called me Cubes. He goes, "Hey, Cubes!" And that was all I needed: "Cubes?! I'm out!"' All ears: The entrepreneurs say that they are foremost on the show as a means to make smart investments and help inventors, while also helping themselves make more cash . O'Leary: 'After you go in on a deal on Shark Tank, a due-diligence period begins.' Cuban: 'They'll come on and say, "My widget costs 50cents to make." Then you do your due diligence and find it costs $4 to make UNLESS you get to a billion units — THEN it gets down to 50 cents!' Corcoran: 'Out of 26 businesses, I have four that are clear winners, two that have paid me back, two that WILL pay me back. The rest? Come to my office: I have every entrepreneur in frames on my wall. The minute I realize I'm not gonna ever make money on THAT one, I flip him over to remind me not to spend more time on it. (Laughing.) It's dead to me!' Cuban: 'The real work isn't shooting the show. It's managing and dealing with the companies afterward.' Greiner: 'Eighty percent of my deals are doing well. My biggest problem is the ones who don't listen when you advise them to do something.' O'Leary: 'The first season, everything we saw was absolute crap. Then in season three, real deals started to show up. That was the first time I thought, "My goodness, this really IS a platform to launch products and services!"' Cuban: 'There's no better platform anywhere. If I had a choice between putting something on six minutes of Shark Tank (averaging 7.3 million viewers this season, plus CNBC's reruns on Sunday nights) or on the home page of Amazon, I'm taking 'Shark Tank' every time.' Corcoran: 'No contest.' Greiner: 'Of course, being recognized from the show can be a problem. Before, if I just wanted to run to the grocery store, I'd be in my nightgown and throw on a coat, no makeup, and go. That doesn't work anymore.' John: 'People pitch me on the street. But I tell them I'm either Ashy Larry from Chappelle's Show or Cee Lo (Green).' Cuban: 'The show has actually reduced pitches I get from people. Now I say, "If you want to be on Shark Tank, you can't tell me now. Go to ABC.com and apply." I just deflect it to the show.' Corcoran: 'I think the celebrity is GREAT. When I started on the show, I fired the shrink I had for years because of my tremendous need for attention. Now I save that money every week!' | Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran says that her biggest priority is to make money and that how she looks on TV is the least of her worries .
She says that: 'Out of 26 businesses, I have four that are clear winners, two that have paid me back' |
41,400 | 74c6496b5de3a1b39121c876421ad99464a27d8a | (CNN) -- Power returned slowly to Venezuela on Tuesday night, a few hours after widespread outages blacked out nearly half the country, trapping people in elevators, stalling subways, filling streets with pedestrians and forcing hospitals to switch to emergency generators. The streets of Caracas, Venezuela, are thronged with people during Tuesday's power outage. "We understand that at 1600 hours -- that is to say at 4 p.m. (4:30 p.m. ET) -- there was a blackout on a national level that was produced by an explosion, which is being investigated" in the Guri hydroelectric power station, Caracas Mayor Juan Barreto said. "That produced a blackout in 16 states of the country, particularly those of the central north coastal area." The city's emergency plan kicked in, and about 400 firefighters in training had reported for duty to help, he said. City firefighters had gone to 37 buildings in the capital to free people from elevators. The head of the country's electric authority, Hipolito Izquierdo, told state-run Venezuelan Television that 60 percent of the power had been restored by 7 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. ET) and predicted that power would be fully restored before 9:30 p.m. (10 p.m. ET). "We are now recovering," he said. Minister of Interior and Justice Ramon Rodriguez Chacin blamed a fault in a generator at the plant in Guri, which caused a high-voltage power transmission line to overheat. In taking the line out of service, power was disrupted to other areas, he said. In all, about 40 percent of the country was blacked out, officials said. Affected zones included parts of the capital city of Caracas -- where streetlights were dark -- and the states of Zulia, Lara, Carabobo, Yaracuy, Portuguesa, Miranda, Falcon, Merida, Aragua, Bolivar and Tachira, the station said. Gustavo Gonzalez, the president of Caracas Metro, the city's rapid-transit system, said it was functioning normally. But a ticket seller at one station said train service had been halted and riders were being diverted to buses. "Normally, these blackouts don't occur very often," said Javier Alvarado, president of Caracas Electricity. E-mail to a friend . | NEW: 60 percent of power restored by 7 p.m. local time, official says .
Caracas mayor says explosion at power station is being investigated .
Power went out across much of the country about 4 p.m. local time (4:30 p.m. ET)
High temperatures cited as a contributing factor in the outages . |
123,587 | 2bc2da891bd7169c6e3862735e6fe6cce9be56f7 | London (CNN)We've just landed a washing machine-sized robot on a comet and NASA's chief scientist has no idea. Dr Ellen Stofan is deep in conversation with a journalist when, unable to contain himself any longer, an adviser with phone triumphantly held aloft blurts out: "Rosetta -- It's landed!" "Wonderful" Stofan beams, and the handful of reporters gathered in a lecture theater at University College London excitedly fidget in their seats. Barely has the probe touched down on a comet 310 million miles from Earth, then one of science's great minds is discussing humanity's next cosmic milestone. Stofan wants to land a man on Mars by the mid-2030s. Or rather, "land a human on Mars," the mother-of-three corrects me with a wry smile. "In a sense it's our destiny to move beyond this planet and Mars is the logical choice," said the 53-year-old geologist. "It's a place where humans could live and work -- not out in the open -- but with not too-radical modifications." Indeed, life on the 'Red Planet' may not just be the stuff of science fiction. "Mars is the other body in the solar system that we're very likely to find that life evolved," said Stofan. "So being able to have a laboratory on Mars, being able to have some sort of sustained human presence on Mars in the future, I think is critically important for science." Next stop: Mars . Surviving an eight-month journey to Mars is one thing -- staying alive once there is another. Astronauts would face high levels of radiation -- "we still have to figure out how to adequately protect them," said Stofan. The thin atmosphere would also make landing difficult, particularly for a heavy spaceship loaded with equipment and people. "If you think of the Apollo capsule coming into Earth with a parachute, the Mars atmosphere is just so thin you've got to find some way of slowing yourself down really rapidly," explained Stofan, the daughter of a NASA engineer who watched her first rocket launch as a four-year-old. The interplanetary endeavor has more to do with unlocking Earth's secrets than you might think. "Being able to compare the Earth to Venus, to Mars, and studying these same processes all around the solar system -- all of a sudden you get smarter about your own planet," explained Stofan. "If you're a doctor and you only have one patient, then you'd never really understand the progression of disease. You need lots of patients, and scientists learn more about the Earth by studying lots of planets." Star Wars reality . But with so many earthly problems, does it pay to point billion dollar budgets at the skies? "You know, we're really spending that money here on Earth," said Stofan. "We get amazing technology spinoffs from the work NASA has done," she adds, listing everything from fuel efficient winglets on airplanes, to air traffic control systems, and equipment for measuring climate change. Science fiction becomes reality in NASA's lab, with the hovering orb seen in Star Wars -- fans will remember Luke Skywalker using it during light-saber training -- inspiring real-life gadgets on board the International Space Station. "Think about these things you used to see on TV from science fiction, like communicators on Star Trek, well now we actually have them," said Stofan. "Space exploration pushes us to say 'here's things we've just dreamed about, but we can turn that into reality.'" Marvin the Martian . Does that mean she also believes in intelligent life? "I think there has to be in the universe -- how easy it's going to be to find, is another question," said Stofan. "Statistically every time you're looking at a star you're likely to be looking at a planetary system. Play the math game, there's billions of stars, so eventually you'll come out saying there has to be another body where life could have evolved to a fairly sophisticated level. "Now, do I think they're visiting here and altering people's crop patterns? No. If they were smart enough to get here, we would know about it." Women's business? As a women working at NASA, sometimes it's Stofan who feels like the alien in the room, admitting: "I had to work four times as hard to be taken half as seriously." "I still go into most meetings and I will look around the room and I just suddenly register the male to female ratio -- women usually make up 10% to 20% in any room I'm in, at best." It's a ratio fairly consistent with women working across STEM sectors (science, technology, engineering, math) in the U.S., and Stofan speaks passionately about the need for "all hands on deck." "When you have problems like trying to get humans down onto the surface of Mars, if you don't have all the best minds in the world -- not just white men -- then you're not utilizing humanity the way you should." Landing a human on Mars would inspire a new generation of scientists -- the likes of which we haven't seen since the Apollo mission 45 years ago, says Stofan. "It's a great international human endeavor, with all the nations of the world moving out beyond Earth to explore a new planet, a new world. "And doing it together." Watch: The comedian and her robot sidekick . Quiz: 10 female scientists you should know . | NASA chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, wants humans on Mars by mid-2030s .
Astronauts would take 8 months to reach planet, face radiation, thin atmosphere .
Studying Mars would help us better understand Earth .
Believes there must be intelligent life in our universe . |
31,033 | 5832c35fa23f4df24a6ba68a65c36b1c5860d73a | London (CNN) -- Singer Amy Winehouse's death this summer was the result of alcohol poisoning, an inquest ruled Wednesday, as it reached a verdict of "death by misadventure." A pathologist told a coroner's court in north London that alcohol toxicity was the cause of the 27-year-old's death, with her blood-alcohol levels measured at more than five times the legal limit for driving. The Grammy award-winning artist, who had battled with alcohol and drug abuse over several years, was found dead at her north London home July 23. Testimony at her inquest showed no traces of illegal drugs in Winehouse's system -- but more details emerged about her losing battle with alcohol. Winehouse's physician, Dr. Christina Romete, said she saw Winehouse at 7 p.m. the day before she died, when the singer was tipsy but still able to hold a conversation. Asked when she was going to stop drinking, Winehouse replied that she would call Romete over the weekend to discuss it, the physician said. Winehouse was determined to do things her own way, including therapy, Romete said, but was aware of the risks of alcohol abuse. The singer's personal security guard, Andrew Morris, said he last spoke to her at 2 a.m. on July 23. He said he looked in on her at 10 a.m. and saw her lying on her bed, but figured she was sleeping in, which wasn't unusual, the court heard. Morris said he realized something was wrong when he checked in again at 3 p.m. and saw Winehouse had not moved. She wasn't breathing and had no pulse, he said. Morris said the singer didn't "drink to get drunk," but that he noticed she had started drinking alcohol again that week. Police who searched the flat after her death found three empty vodka bottles, the inquest heard. The pathologist's tests revealed that Winehouse's blood-alcohol level was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood. The level considered lethal is 350 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, and the legal limit to drive in Britain is 80 milligrams of alcohol. The pathologist found no traces of tablets in Winehouse's stomach and said her organs appeared to be normal. The verdict of misadventure means that it is judged to be an accidental death in which no law was broken or criminal negligence involved. A family statement, given by spokesman Chris Goodman, said: "It is (with) some relief we finally found out what happened to Amy. "We understand there was alcohol in her system when she passed away. It is likely a buildup of alcohol in her system over a number of days. "The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain that she could not win in time. She had started drinking again that week after a period of abstinence," Goodman said. Winehouse's father Mitch and mother Janet were among those who packed the small courtroom at St. Pancras Coroners Court to hear the evidence from key witnesses. Her family set up the Amy Winehouse Foundation last month to raise money to help young people in Britain and elsewhere, especially those suffering the effects of ill health, disability, poverty and addiction. Goodman said the ruling "underlines how important our work with the Amy Winehouse Foundation is to us to help as many young people and children we can in her name." Winehouse's family said in August that toxicology tests had found that "no illegal substances" were in her system at the time of her death but alcohol was present. The singer's soulful, throaty vocals brought her stardom in 2007, but her troubled off-stage life -- chronicled in her top 10 hit "Rehab" -- won her notoriety. Her death came less than two months after her latest release from a rehabilitation program and weeks after she was booed offstage by disappointed fans in Serbia. The tattooed London-born singer-songwriter's first album, "Frank," debuted in 2003, when she was 19. International success came with her 2007 album "Back to Black." She dominated the 2008 Grammys, winning five awards that night and delivering, via satellite from London, a strong performance of "Rehab." Mitch Winehouse has said he plans to write a memoir, called "Amy: My Daughter," to be released next summer, which he said would tell the story of the Amy that the public never got to know. | Three empty vodka bottles were found in Winehouse's home, the inquest hears .
The singer's personal security guard recounts details of her last hours .
Her family hopes a foundation set up in her memory will help other young people .
Winehouse was found dead at age 27 at her London home in July . |
190,462 | 8297c49ac343e7a805a6101b57c46ee157b26e1e | (CNN) -- For the third time this weekend, U.S. jet fighters on Sunday intercepted a small private plane that violated restricted airspace in the area of Camp David, Maryland, while President Barack Obama stayed there, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said. Two F-15E fighters under NORAD control intercepted a Cessna 182 civilian aircraft on Sunday morning and led it out of the temporary restricted area, according to a NORAD statement. The Cessna landed at the Carroll County Regional Airport, the NORAD statement said. On Saturday, two similar incidents occurred involving other aircraft that violated the restricted area around the presidential retreat, a NORAD spokesman confirmed. There was no extra security threat involved in any of the incidents beyond the violation of the temporary restricted area. Authorities attribute the multiple violations to the temporary expansion of restricted airspace around Camp David when Obama is there. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the temporary flight restriction in the Camp David area this weekend was scheduled to last from noon Saturday until 6 p.m. Sunday. | NORAD scrambles jet fighters twice on Saturday, once on Sunday .
The security zone is expanded when President Obama is at Camp David . |
177,666 | 7202a79d118161ed38985d571ddfa3c74caad147 | Sampdoria and Genoa both missed opportunities to move up to third in the Serie A standings as they failed to win their final round fixtures before the winter break. Sampdoria were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Udinese and still trail third-place Napoli on goal difference, while Genoa remain a point further behind after losing 2-1 to Serie A strugglers Torino. Lazio could move two points ahead of Napoli and Sampdoria if they win at Inter Milan on Sunday evening. Sampdoria midfielder Pedro Avomo Mba Obiang fires in his side's first goal against Udinese in Genoa . Earlier, Chievo Verona defeated city rival Hellas Verona 1-0 in a heated derby match. Fiorentina, meanwhile, were held to a 1-1 draw by Empoli, while Atalanta fought back from two goals down to draw 3-3 at home to Palermo. Sampdoria went into their clash in confident mood after holding league leaders Juventus to a 1-1 draw in Turin last weekend and they duly took the lead in the 15th minute. Udinese goalkeeper Orestis Karnezis could only get a hand to Angelo Palombo's cross and when the ball dropped to Pedro Obiang, he fired the ball into the net. However, the match turned in four minutes as Alexander Geijo scored his first Serie A goal, in his first start for the club, to level matters shortly before Danilo was left unmarked to head Udinese in front. Sampdoria forward Manolo Gabbiadini fires in the second goal during his side's 2-2 draw on Saturday . Manolo Gabbiadini headed Lorenzo Di Silvestri's cross into the top right corner on the hour mark in what could have been his last match for Sampdoria before a likely January move to Napoli. Geijo almost scored a late winner but his header thumped the post. Udinese were reduced to 10 men two minutes from time when Thomas Heurtaux was sent off following a second yellow card. Genoa started the day level with Sampdoria and Lazio on 26 points, and last weekend's defeat to Roma was their first league loss in more than two months. Genoa defender Iago Falque (second right) scores his side's first goal but Torino would reply with a brace . Iago Falque fired Genoa in front shortly before half-time but Torino captain Kamil Glik scored twice from close range after the interval. Fiorentina failed to capitalize on the other weekend's results it as they remain in eighth place, three points behind Napoli, after an entertaining Tuscan derby. Juan Manuel Vargas had given Fiorentina the lead with a fierce strike after Empoli failed to clear a corner but Lorenzo Tonelli escaped his marker to nod in a Mirko Valdifiori corner from six yards. Empoli's Lorenzo Tonelli (left) scores against Fiorentina during his team's 1-1 draw . Chievo snatched victory in the other derby of the day but replays showed Alberto Paloschi was offside as he headed in Ervin Zukanovic's superb cross into the box with nine minutes remaining. Both sides also had penalty claims turned down. Nene had gone closest for Verona when he headed a corner just over the crossbar, while Chievo's Ivan Radovanovic almost scored a wonder goal but Verona goalkeeper Francesco Benussi was alert to turn the effort from near the halfway line over his bar. | Sampdoria were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Udinese .
Sinisa Mihajlovic's side still trail third-place Napoli on goal difference .
Genoa lost 2-1 to Serie A strugglers Torino .
Chievo Verona defeated city rival Hellas Verona 1-0 .
Fiorentina were held to a 1-1 draw by Empoli . |
285,076 | fd652577ed8934461e92b3444224e39137db36db | By . Louise Boyle . A teenage drug dealer has been arrested for the fifth time on drug charges alongside his pregnant girlfriend who was allegedly smuggling black-tar heroin in her crotch. Brandon Lee Rumple, 19, and Tasha Nicole Simpson, 25, who is eight-months' pregnant, had been under surveillance in Rowan County, North Carolina. A special investigations unit had received a tip that Rumple, who was out of jail on more than a $1million in bonds, had been spotted at a known 'heroin distribution point' in Charlotte. Brandon Lee Rumple, 19, (pictured left) was arrested for the fifth time on Wednesday on drug charges in North Carolina. His girlfriend Tasha Nichole Simpson, 25, who is eight months pregnant allegedly had black-tar heroin stashed in her crotch and was also arrested . Simpson, 25, who is eight-months' pregnant was charged with trafficking heroin after she was caught in a police sting . When police tried to stop the couple's car on Wednesday, Rumple threw a powdery substance and a plastic bag out of the passenger window, according to arrest reports. The couple kept driving until they came to the home of Rumple's father Christopher Todd Rumple. Rumple threw a bag to his father while officers attempted to apprehend the suspects. Christopher Rumple then ran into the house and tried to flush the bag down the toilet. When officers searched Miss Simpson they found 12 grams of black tar heroin in her crotch area. Black tar heroin - named for its dark, gooey consistency - is grown in Mexico and Colombia and trafficked into the U.S. It is popular with drug producers as it is easier to produce than pure heroin - but extremely dangerous for users. Deputies found powder on Brandon Rumple’s face, clothes and in the car. They also recovered a plastic bag nearby with two grams of a tan powder, which tested positive for MDMA. Baby-faced trafficker: Brandon Lee Rumple, 19, was arrested for the fifth time on Wednesday on drug trafficking charges. He is now jailed on $2.5milllion bond . Around $1,200 was found in the couple's car. Rumple was charged with possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver MDMA, resist, delay and obstruct a public officer, alter and destroy evidence and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rumple’s bond was set at $2.5 million. Simpson was charged with two counts of trafficking heroin, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver heroin, fleeing and attempting to elude law enforcement and possession of drug paraphernalia. The mother-to-be's bond was set at $250,000. | Brandon Lee Rumple, 19, and Tasha Nicole .
Simpson, 25, who is eight-months' pregnant, were under surveillance in Rowan County, NC .
Tasha Nicole Simpson, 25, had stashed drugs in her crotch area .
Black-tar heroin - named for its dark, gooey consistency - is popular with drug producers as it is cheaper to make than pure heroin . |
226,605 | b166f022ebc7a6ab9d6d99a650a378fd9e7099ac | The friend who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin when his fatal confrontation with George Zimmerman began said Monday she is "disappointed, upset, angry, questioning and mad" at Zimmerman's acquittal on murder charges. Rachel Jeantel called the verdict "BS" and said Martin, 17, was never aggressive. "He was a calm, chill, loving person who loved his family, definitely his mother, and a good friend," Jeantel told CNN's "Piers Morgan Live." Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida, was acquitted Saturday of second-degree murder charges in Martin's death. The killing sparked protests when police declined to bring charges against Zimmerman, leading to the appointment of a special prosecutor who eventually took the case to court. Prosecutors had argued that Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, had profiled and pursued the African-American teen. Juror: 'No doubt' that Zimmerman feared for his life . As the last person to speak to Martin, Jeantel was one of the prosecution's key witnesses. On the witness stand, she described how Martin told her over the phone that some "creepy-ass cracker" was following him and how he turned toward Zimmerman and asked, "Why are you following me for?" Zimmerman had called police to report Martin as a suspicious person in his neighborhood. The unarmed Martin was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and was staying with his father at the nearby home of his father's girlfriend. Juror: Jeantel wasn't a good witness . Jeantel dismissed arguments that the case had no racial dimension. "It was racial. Let's be honest, racial. If Trayvon was white and he had a hoodie on, would that happen?" she asked. Zimmerman told detectives Martin began pummeling him when he approached him, against the advice of a police dispatcher, and that he had to shoot to save his own life. He didn't testify during the trial, however -- and Jeantel said his defense was "acting like a punk" by attempting to paint Martin as a mortal threat. Despite outrage, federal charges uncertain in Zimmerman case . "If you were a real man you would have stand on that stage and tell what happened," she said, calling Zimmerman "weak" and "scary." Zimmerman's lawyers successfully argued for the right to present evidence that Martin had marijuana traces in his system, but never brought that before a jury or presented any testimony about whether the drug could have affected Martin's behavior. Jeantel acknowledged that Martin smoked marijuana, but added, "Weed don't make him go crazy, it just makes him go hungry." Now that he's free, can Zimmerman make a living? The 19-year-old found herself in the unforgiving spotlight of a nationally televised trial, in which viewers criticized her for her dress, her weight and her speech and her combative manner on the stand. She admitted to lying about her age and her reasons for skipping Martin's funeral. She later explained she is of Haitian descent and grew up speaking Spanish and Creole, and she said Monday that her speech was also affected by an underbite that will require surgery to correct. Jeantel on attorney Don West: 'I'll hold it back' A juror who spoke to CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" on Monday said she had difficulty understanding Jeantel and didn't consider her a credible witness, "but I felt very sorry for her." "She didn't ask to be in this place ... She wanted to go. She wanted to leave. She didn't want to be any part of this jury. I think she felt inadequate toward everyone because of her education and her communications skills. I just felt sadness for her." Fringe protestors turn violent in LA after verdict . | Zimmerman was "weak" and his defense acted "like a punk," Rachel Jeantel says .
The case was about race, Jeantel says .
Jeantel calls Zimmerman verdict "BS"
Martin "was a calm, chill, loving person," she says . |
25,026 | 46e88b2fac59473233defbf6321e6924a9452b24 | Flying ace: Captain Mike Stephens with his spitfire plane during World War Two . A collection of medals awarded to a World War Two flying ace shot down a German bomber while he was one fire have sold for almost £100,000. Group Captain Mike Stephens was awarded an immediate Distinguished Service Order for his aerial heroics carried out when his plane was badly damaged and set on fire. Injured in both feet and with much of his engine and half his cockpit shot away, Grp Cpt Stephens prepared to leap from the flying wreckage. But when the Luftwaffe pilot who had attacked him flew ahead, he calmly climbed back into his Hurricane fighter-bomber and shot the enemy Messerschmitt down. It was only then that he jumped to safety, while on fire. He beat the flames out as he parachuted to the ground before landing just 300 yards from the German front line. He hobbled towards friendly lines in the Western Desert before being picked up by Polish troops. The action, in December 1941 over Acroma, Lybia, was one of many acts of heroism carried out by the 'ace' who bagged an estimated 22 enemy craft during the war. As well as the DSO, he won the Distinguished Flying Cross with two bars. Now the medals as well as other mementoes including his log book, photographs and a flying helmet with oxygen mask have been sold by his son. And the price well exceeded the pre-sale estimate of £30,000 to £50,000 pounds. The hammer price paid was £78,000 and with premiums went up to £93,600 pounds. David Erskine-Hill, of Dix Noonan Webb medal specialist auction house that sold the group, said it was bought by an agent for a collector. He said: “The strong price paid for the decoration fully reflected an extraordianry war-time career.” Cpt Stephens' medals: The Distinguished Service Order medal, far right, was among the haul that sold for almost £100,000 at auction . The episode for which Grp Cpt Stephens received the DSO was identical to one carried out by legendary Wing Commander Eric Nicolson, who received the Victoria Cross for it. Grp Cpt Stephens’ war is as astonishing as any of the aces who fought in the skies and he ranks in the top dozen for kills, but the speed with which he got was astonishing. His career was also unique because he was admitted to three informal RAF ‘clubs’ for wartime pilots. They were the Caterpillar Club, for those who baled out with a parachute; the Goldfish Club, for those who baled out into water; and the Flying Boot Club, for those who came down in the desert and had to walk to friendly lines. Mr Erskine-Hill said: 'The remarkable wartime career of Mike Stephens epitomises the sustained gallantry displayed by the young pilots of Fighter Command. Brave: Cpt Stephens (second left) in front of his spitfire with fellow flyers. His Hurricane bomber was written off after the crash over the Libyan desert in which he performed his heroics . This time he made it back: Cpt Stephens inspects damage to his spitfire following a sortie in December 1941, shortly before the mission in the Hurricane, which didn't make it back . 'It was a career encompassing several hundred combat sorties and the award of four decorations for gallantry - only 15 airmen received the combination of a DSO and DFC with two Bars in the 1939-45 War. 'A fighter ace three times over and, on account of having to take to his parachute on two occasions, once over water, he was also a member of the Caterpillar, Flying Boot and Goldfish Clubs. 'Most notable of his wartime combats was the occasion on which he was wounded when his Hurricane was set ablaze by an attacking Me. 109 over the Western Desert - as he was in the process of baling out his adversary overshot his crippled aircraft. Memories: A sketch of Cpt Stephens in his uniform, left, and right, with his wife on Investiture Day . Family tradition: The much decorated Stephens brothers Richard (left) and Jack (centre) with Captain Stephens (right) 'So Stephens regained his cockpit and shot it down, before taking to his parachute in burning overalls, a remarkable act of gallantry witnessed by Polish troops on the ground. 'A little over a year earlier, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Flight Lieutenant Nicolson had been awarded the VC for an identical act of bravery, though on this occasion Stephens was rewarded with an immediate DSO. He was just 22 years of age.' Grp Cpt Stephens graduated from RAF Cranwell, Lincs, in 1939 and was posted to France where he was quickly in the thick of the action, shooting down enemy planes. History: A collection of mementos and photographs also included in the auction that belonged to Cpt Stephens. The entire lot fetched almost £100,000 . Cpt Stephens' flying helmet with oxygen mask, which were also among the medals that were auctioned . Returning from his final sortie in France he had six inches shot off one of his propeller blades but landed the unsteady machine at the airfield. He was told that he couldn’t take off with the propeller damage and the plane would have to be destroyed. But the plucky pilot had six inches taken off the other end of the propeller and made it back to Britain. Grp Cpt Stephens then went to Turkey and north Africa where he continued to shoot down enemy planes and survive close shaves himself. In October 1942 he volunteered to go to Malta and remained lethal in the skies but came close to death, as his logbook records. Close call: Cpt Stephens' picture of a crashed spitfire at Skellingtons air strip. Like Cpt Stephens did when battling the Messerschmitt, the pilot of this would have ejected . War heroes: Mike Stephens (second right) with fellow flyers from the 185 squadron. The picture was also included in the auction . Relaxing: Cpt Stephens (right) with fellow flyers from a bomber squadron . He wrote: 'Squirting 109 good and proper, got him smoking when a Spit (Stead) pulled up in front of me, so had to stop. Shot the port wing off another at 7,000, then later was bounced by a 109 who damaged my engine. 'Flew on a little way and then had to bale out. Trouble with dinghy, picked up after 3 hours. Moral - know your dinghy drill!' What he didn’t add was that the dingy operation was made difficult because he kept his left hand in the air throughout because he was wearing a watch his parents had bought him and didn’t want to break it. In May 1943 Stephens was awarded his third DFC and returned home and saw no further action. He retired from the RAF in 1960 and worked in the aero-engines division of Rolls-Royce in Paris. He retired with his late wife Violet to the south of France before they returned to live out their days in Britain. Grp Capt Stephens died in 2004 aged 84. | Group Captain Mike Stephen climbed back into his Hurricane fighter-bomber to shoot down a German Messerschmitt with moments to spare .
Parachuted away and beat out the flames on his burning uniform as he drifted to the ground... then hobbled through Libyan desert . |
260,941 | ddf3fbde96c388a6c6bf2372e35707619e95458e | Boston marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was thrown out of his local mosque for 'crazy' behavior after getting involved a 'shouting match' with his imam according to one member of the congregation. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was ejected from his Boston mosque for aggressive behavior after insulting Martin Luther King Jr. during a Friday prayer service three months ago . Described as being full of rage by a worshiper who would give his name only as Muhammad, Tamerlan was ejected from the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center three months ago for claiming that Martin Luther King Jr. was not a man Muslims should look to emulate. This revelation comes as Ruslan Tsarni, an uncle of Tamerlan, claimed that his nephew had fallen under the spell of a mysterious religious leader in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who radicalized him and his brother Dzhokhar into committing Monday's terror outrage. The dramatic confrontation between Tamerlan and his imam began when the 26-year-old interrupted a solemn Friday prayer service three months ago. The imam had just offered up assassinated civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. as a fine example of a man to emulate - but this reportedly enraged Tamerlan. 'You cannot mention this guy because he’s not a Muslim!' Muhammad recalled Tamerlan shouting, shocking others in attendance according to the LA Times. Kicked out of the mosque for his outrageous behavior, Tamerlan did return to the prayer service after his outburst according to Muhammad. 'He’s crazy to me,' said Muhammad. 'He had an anger inside.… I can’t explain what was in his mind.' Anwar Kazmi, a member of the mosque's board of trustees, told a USA Today reporter that 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died early Friday morning after a shootout with police, was an infrequent attendee for about a year-and-a-half, while 19-year-old Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, who was captured hiding in a boat in Watertown on Friday night, attended only once. Responding to the revelation that both brothers had attended their mosque, the Islamic Society issued a statement to say that while the suspects were known to other worshipers, they could not have predicted their horrific bombing of the Boston marathon which claimed three lives and injured over 180 people. Scroll Down for Video . The bombing suspects reportedly prayer and visited the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center infrequently . A banner reading "United We Stand For Peace on Earth" stands outside the Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Cambridge. A mosque official confirmed that suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings, worshipped there . Anwar Kazmi, a member of the mosque's board of trustees said that the Tsarnaev brothers were infrequent visitors to the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center . Imam Suhaib Webb, of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, the . city's largest mosque, said in an interview that he had recently heard . of the incident. 'That's a sign right there that his views aren't . mainstream,' Webb said. They pledged to aid federal and city law enforcement to leave 'no stone uncovered in finding any suspects connected to the bombs.' Meanwhile, the Tsarnaev bother's uncle Ruslan Tsarni, who described the pair as 'losers' after they were named as suspects, raised the worrying possibility that they were radicalized by a domestic source and not a foreign one. The lawyer said that Tamerlan especially had fallen under the thrall of an as-yet unidentified religious leader while living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ruslan Tsarni says he grew concerned about Tamerlan Tsarnaev when he told him in a 2009 phone conversation that he had chosen 'God's business' over work or school. Tsarni said he then contacted a family friend who told him Tsarnaev had been influenced by a recent convert to Islam. 'There certainly were mentors,’’ Tsarni said to the Today show. 'I was shocked when I heard his words, his phrases, when every other word he starts sticking in words of God. I question what he’s doing for work, (and) he claimed he would just put everything in the will of God. 'It was a big concern to me. He called me 'confused' when I started explaining to him, make yourself useful to yourself and to your family and maybe you’ll have extra to share with everybody else.' 'I strongly believe they were just puppets and executors of something of bigger scale,' Tsarni told Savannah Guthrie. Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of Boston Marathon bombing suspect brothers, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev believes 'they were just puppets and executors of something of bigger scale' The brothers are believed to have placed one of the bombs near to a Boston store where their mother had been sacked for stealing clothes . Yesterday the brothers¿ mother, Zubeidat, said the FBI once told her that Tamerlan was ¿really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him' The Rhode Island resident told his nephew that 'he was giving up on everything, struggling with your own shadow' by whole heartedly turning to Islan. 'He had been sort of brainwashing him,' Tsarni told the Sunday Times of London. The brothers' parents told NBC News they believe their sons were framed and Tsarni said a family acquaintance told him there was an outside influence on Tamerlan. 'He said there is someone who brainwashed him, some new convert to Islam,’’ Tsarni said. “I would like to stress (the acquaintance was) of Armenian descent.’ [caption . Last night there were calls for Dzhokhar to be classified as an 'enemy combatant' The uncle also speculated that Tamerlan’s younger brother, Dzhokhar, was manipulated into the bombing plot. 'Dzhokhar is just a kid who wanted to have older brother to look up at. Except for being a murderer, he’s been a loving brother.' 'That so-called radicalization was seeded right here, not in the Caucasus, not in Russia, not in Chechnya, which he has nothing to do with,' Tsarni said. The extremist views which Tamerlan developed over the course of the past three years caught the attention of Russian security officals who asked the FBI to question him in 2011 - before he traveled to Chechnya and Dagestan last year. The FBI are said to have discovered nothing incriminating during their conversations with Tamerlan. However, friends said that Tamerlan became increasingly vocal in his views, especially concerning Christians. 'He said . . . the Koran spoke more of the truth then the Bible. He said the Bible was used as an excuse to invade other countries,' said Albrecht Ammon, 18, a student at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, which the bombers also attended according to the New York Post. And it has been revealed today that Tamerlan had direct contact with Chechen terrorists – and was ‘monitored’ by investigators for five years. The FBI put Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, under surveillance after receiving an explicit warning from the Russian intelligence services. Rebel: One theory is that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was inspired by Doku Umarov, a Chechen terrorist known as Russia's Bin Laden . Umarov has recently widened his fight for Chechen independence to a wider Jihadist agenda . But despite apparently telling his mother that Tamerlan was an ‘extremist’ leader, the FBI eventually discounted the possibility that he was a threat. Yesterday the brothers’ mother, Zubeidat, said the FBI once told her that Tamerlan was ‘really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him’. She added: ‘He was controlled by the FBI for five years. They knew what my son was doing. They were following every step of his.’ And his father, Anzor Tsarnaev, said investigators warned his son: ‘We know what sites you are on, we know where you are calling, we know everything about you. Everything. We are checking and watching.’ Russia's Bin Laden Doku Umarov was believed to be behind the Moscow Metro bombing in 2010 which killed at least 40 . Despite all this, the FBI found no substantive evidence that he was engaged in terror-related activities though they continued to ‘monitor his internet use and contacts’. According to an intelligence source, Russia remained convinced that Tamerlan, an ethnic Chechen, was in ‘direct contact’ with Islamist militants, most likely based in the strife-torn southern Russian region of Dagestan, where he lived for two years with his family prior to moving to the US. During a six-month visit to Russia last year – a trip US investigators are investigating – it is understood Tamerlan visited Dagestan, which is now regarded as more unstable than Chechnya. One theory is that Tamerlan and Dzhokhar, who was in thrall to his older brother, may have been ‘inspired’ by a rebel leader known as Russia’s Bin Laden. A light beam from a helicopter, top right, aims in the direction of Watertown, where officials searched for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev on Friday . Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is apprehended on Friday evening after almost 24-hours on the run following a week of terror in Boston . Doku Umarov, like the Tsarnaev brothers, is an ethnic Chechen from the war-torn Caucasus region that lies between Europe and Central Asia. He has been accused of masterminding some of the worst terrorist atrocities in Russia, including suicide bombings carried out by two women on Moscow’s Metro system in 2010 which killed at least 40. Significantly, while Umarov was originally fighting only for Chechen independence he has more recently embraced a wider jihadist agenda. It raises the terrifying prospect of further atrocities being carried out across the globe by disaffected individuals inspired by the jihadist rhetoric of the former Chechen leaders. Intriguingly, President Putin offered to ‘provide assistance’ to the investigation in Boston before it was known that there was a Chechen link to the bombing. ‘Fighting terrorism is more important than political posturing,’ said a Russian source yesterday. ‘If we work together properly and deeply, we have much more chance of defeating those who want to maim and kill.’ | Tamerlan Tsarnaev was ejected from his Cambridge, Massachusetts mosque three months ago .
Became enraged after the imam held up Martin Luther King Jr. as an example of a man to emulate .
It has been claimed that Tamerlan was radicalized inside the U.S. by an unidentified mysterious religious leader . |
6,792 | 134866d0b9deb702cb2a4abf758be22a8ef44f49 | The six climbers missing, presumed dead on Mount Rainier in Washington state are believed to have fallen more than 3,000 feet to their deaths. Four climbers, most of them believed to be from out-of-state, and two local guides took off on a very challenging journey on Mount Rainier on Monday. On Saturday, aerial crews spotted climbing and camping equipment on the top of the Carbon Glacier at about 9,500 feet high. Scroll down for video . Amongst the six climbers missing on Mount Rainier and presumed dead are guide Matt Hegeman, left, and climber Mark Mahaney, right . Six climbers, including two guides, are now believed to have fallen more than 3,000 feet to their deaths while ascending Mount Rainier, a dormant volcano in Washington state . Helicopters . detected pings from emergency beacons buried in the snow thousands of . feet below their last known location, a national park official said on . Saturday. Due to dangerous conditions, rescuers say there is little they can do to find them. 'Basically . this search has come to a tragic end, it is not viable that anyone . would have survived,' Mt Rainier National Park Ranger Patricia Wold told Q13Fox. 'It’s one of the most dangerous areas in the park.' The six were at 12,800 feet at last . contact on Wednesday. 'There's not a viable chance of survival,' said Park Ranger Fawn Bauer. Experienced climber Mark Mahaney was on his second trip up Mount Rainier in Washington state . The Liberty Ridge Area of Mount Rainier as viewed from the Carbon Glacier: Six climbers are presumed dead after helicopters detected pings from emergency beacons buried in the snow thousands of feet below their last known location . Air and ground searches were suspended late on Saturday afternoon. The . bodies won't be recovered on Sunday because they are in an extremely . dangerous area, where snow, ice and rock fall constantly, she said. 'It would expose our rangers to pretty extreme conditions, so we are not . able to do any kind of ground searching of that area,' she said. 'And, . in all honesty, we may never be able to get on the ground there.' The missing group includes four clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents . International and two guides. They were due to return from the mountain . on Friday. Among those presumed dead are guide Matt Hegeman and 26-year-old climber Mark Mahaney of St. Paul. Mahaney, an experienced climber who had scaled Mount Rainier at least once before was identified to KAALTV by his uncle, Rob Mahaney. Mahaney said his brother and other nephew had flown to Seattle to await updates. When they did not return, the climbing company notified park . officials, Bauer said. 'The last contact with them was at 12,800 feet,' Bauer said. Mount . Rainier, southeast of Seattle, stands at 14,410 feet and attracts . thousands of climbers trying to reach its summit every year. The . last contact the group had with the climbing company was at 6pm . Wednesday. They were scheduled to reach the summit of Mount Rainier on . Thursday, with a day to climb down. They were scheduled to reach the summit of Mount Rainier, a dormant volcano located near Seattle, on Thursday, with a day to climb down . The group was equipped with satellite and mobile phones. A . small weather front that brought snow flurries and hail to the mountain . moved in Wednesday, Bauer said. The weather has been clear since then. Alpine Ascents' director of programs, Gordon Janow, said he wasn't ready to release information about the climbers. Saturday . afternoon, rescuers spotted camping and climbing equipment at 9,500 . feet on Carbon Glacier, but there is no word at this time if the gear . belongs to the missing party. Last month, Alpine Ascents International lost five of the 16 Sherpa guides killed in an avalanche on Mount Everest. Adventurers: The climb was organized by the Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International, some of whose guides are pictured here earlier this week on Mount Rainier . | Missing group includes four clients of Seattle-based Alpine Ascents International .
Among those presumed dead are guide Matt Hegeman and climber Mark Mahaney, 26 .
Climbers were last heard from Wednesday while they were in Liberty Ridge area at 12,800 feet . |
216,136 | a3ccb643770a0a316d46acc0750689b11614c4ab | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 20:44 EST, 7 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 23:49 EST, 7 January 2014 . Police found 30 different drugs in the hotel room of Noelene and Yvana Bischoff, the Australian mother and teenage daughter who died on the first day of a dream holiday to Bali. The medications were discovered in a toiletries bag and included asthma inhalers, over-the-counter pills such as Nurofen and Imodium and vitamins. Officers also recovered Camidryl, a strong anti-allergy drug made in Indonesia and Kalmethasone, a medicine administered by injection and used to treat severe asthma. Drugs: Some of the items found by police including inhalers and anti-allergy medication in the hotel room in the Padang Bay Resort in Bali . Tragic: Yvana (left) and her mother Noelene Bischoff died after eating at a restaurant in Bali on the first night of their holiday . ANTIDEPRESSANTS . ANTIHISTAMINE TABLETS: Range of over-the-counter allergy relief medication . ANTI-NAUSEA DRUGS . HYDRALITE EFFERVESCENT TABLETS: Dehydration treatment and prevention . ASTHMA MEDICATION: Two inhalers (expiry date June 2007) CAMIDRYL: 10ml ampoule of the anti-allergy drug administered by needle . CORTISONE: 10 tablets made in Indonesia. Over-the-counter used for severe allergies, arthritis, asthma, skin conditions and other illnesses . EAR AND EYE DROPS . IMODIUM: Over-the-counter diarrhea relief medication . KALMETHASONE: Powerful anti-allergy drug administered by needle for severe asthma . MAGNESIUM TABLETS . NUROFEN: Over-the-counter pain relief medication . PARACETAMOL: Over-the-counter mild analgesic used for the relief of headaches and aches and pains . SEDATIVES . TEMAZEPAM: Insomnia and muscle relaxant . TRANSBRONCHO MEDICINE: Cough and cold prevention and treatment, this was made in Indonesia . VITAMINS: Various . A pack of needles – one of which appeared to have been used – was also in the room at the Padang Bay Resort, in East Bali. Ms Bischoff, a nurse, and her 14-year-old daughter fell seriously ill hours after dining at The Buddha Bar and Restaurant on Friday night. The 54-year-old, from Queensland, died while being taken by ambulance to Bali International Medical Clinic in Denpasar. Her daughter passed away at the clinic without knowing her mother was dead. On Tuesday, the family of the Bischoffs won a battle with the Indonesian authorities for the pair’s autopsies to take place in Australia. Relatives believe that both died as a result of fish poisoning, a claim which the Buddha Bar’s management has vehemently denied. The discovery of the medications has thrown fresh doubts over the cause of the deaths, but Richard Day, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at St Vincent’s Hospital, says the drugs found were common among overseas travellers, describing them as 'standard medicines'. 'There would be a mixture of being cautious and being a health professional, more cautious, in addition to having pre-existing conditions of asthma and migraines,' he said. Arrangements were being made to fly the bodies home at the earliest opportunity, but it could take some time to determine the causes of death, due to the discovery of the medications. 'There are lots of samples from the vomit, the medicines and the drink,' head of Denpasar Police Forensic Laboratory, Agus Budiartha, said. 'Since they're all abroad medicines, from the country where they're from, we might have some difficulties because it's not what's usually used in Indonesia.' It is understood that at 1.15am on Saturday the daughter begged for help from hotel security, saying she and her mother were ill . They dined at The Buddha Bar and Restaurant attached to the resort on Friday night after checking in that afternoon . Indonesian authorities have suggested the mother and daughter died from an allergy and not poisoning, but the family insists the pair did not suffer from allergies. 'We've been told it is fish they've eaten,' Mrs Bischoff's brother-in-law, Kevin Bowe said to the ABC. 'We are sticking to that at the moment. That was the report from DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade).' The resort's hotel manager, Giovanni Bareato, has denied this. 'It's a big fish so we would have eaten the same one,' Mr Bareato told The Australian. 'We haven't fallen ill and I know of no one else who has fallen ill from the food.' The bill for the meal shows the mother and daughter had juices, lemon tea, chicken, pizza and fish . The resort's hotel manager Giovanni Bareato denied the claim of food poisoning . The family is aware that results from overseas autopsies may not be recognised by Indonesia's legal system, but say they aren’t looking for a criminal conviction. 'We want the truth,' Keryn Bischoff, Nolene's sister-in-law, said. 'We want to know if it was an accident, or if it wasn't an accident. Were they poisoned, or was it something else?' Idyllic: The resorts and beaches of Bali attract millions of guests every year . | Camidryl, expired asthma inhalers and Immodium found in Balinese hotel room of deceased Brisbane mother and daughter .
Noelene Bischoff and her 14-year-old daughter, Yvana, died hours after eating fish at Padang Bay Beach Resort in East Bali .
The Sunshine Coast nurse and her daughter were on the first day of their dream 15-day holiday .
Pair’s autopsies will take place in Queensland following intervention from the Australian government .
Bischoff family claim poisonous fish was the cause of their deaths while Indonesian authorities believe they were due to allergic reactions . |
46,348 | 829bf0920a7a4b701ffbbcdf04302b88b44d7ecb | By . Matt Chorley . and Sean Poulter . Shifting blame: Ofgem rejected the claims by Npower chief executive Paul Massara, pictured . Parents would be able to cut their energy bills if their children learned to turn off their lights, TVs and iPods, the head of Npower claimed today. Chief executive Paul Massara claimed even his own teenage daughters wasted electricity, and people must stop fewer power something than can be easily wasted. He also tried to shift the blame for higher charges from the industry to the Government, claiming eco-schemes are the biggest driver of costs. Green taxes will more than double by 2020, pushing up bills to £1,500-a-year, the German-owned firm claimed today. But Mr Massara courted controversy when he suggested gas and electricity bills are high only because households waste so much power. 'The reality is that we have some of the cheapest prices in Europe but our bills are some of the highest because our houses are old and not insulated.' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 'It’s interesting. I have two teenage daughters. They have been brought up in a generation that has looked at energy efficiency, that has looked at climate change. 'They would never dream of walking out of a bathroom leaving the taps running. And yet my teenage daughters will walk out of a room and leave the lights on and their iPod playing and the TV on quite happily. 'So I do think we need to change our approach and the way we think about energy waste.' Saying he wanted to dispel myths and restore trust, he insisted suppliers were responsible for only 20 per cent of a bill. He added: ‘The actual unit price of energy in the UK is one of the lowest in Europe – but bills are high because British houses waste so much energy. ‘If we can increase the efficiency of the UK’s old and draughty housing, we can ensure that annual energy bills are some of the lowest too.’ The chief executive’s claims were immediately rejected by industry regulator Ofgem. A spokesman said: ‘Their data on network costs is incorrect and misleading.’ Npower boss Paul Massara . Mr Massara made his comments ahead of a report his German-owned firm publishes today on the energy market. It said the cost of green taxes and eco schemes will rise by 272 per cent between 2007 and 2020, driving up energy bills. Npower says the average figure paid by householders through levies on bills under the heading of ‘Government energy policy and regulation costs’ will rise from £75 in 2007 to at least £279 by 2020. By contrast, it says the average cost of supplying a home with energy – gas and electricity – over the same period will actually fall from £514 a year to £408. The company’s figures suggest the cost of shifting energy supply away from fossil fuels toward wind, solar and wave power, coupled with schemes to insulate homes are the main reason for rising bills. The cost of building nuclear power stations, which will also be subsidised through bills, will push up the prices paid. The figures are included in an Npower report called ‘Energy Explained: Inside the Cost of Energy’, which is designed to help customers understand why their bills are going up. Burning money: A report by Npower has warned prices will rise still further due to the cost of building nuclear power stations. It claims government policies will push the average household bill to £1,330 in 2020 . The company’s calculations suggest Government policies, coupled with the fact we live in cold and draughty homes, are largely responsible for a predicted rise in energy bills from £954 a year in 2007 to £1,330 in 2020. Mr Massara said: ‘At times during the debate on energy, facts have been in short supply, but we urgently need to dispel some myths to restore trust in the energy industry. 'Suppliers control less than 20 per cent of a bill and I want to shine a light on all the different aspects of energy – particularly to reassure my customers that there is no hidden profit. ‘We made a 3.2 per cent margin in our retail business in the first nine months of 2013. ‘Over the same period our power stations were struggling to recoup the hundreds of millions of pounds in investment required to build them, and made a loss of £59million.’ 'Misleading': A spokesman for Ofgem said Npower declined to work with them to make the data accurate . But the Ofgem spokesman disputed the research: ‘We offered to help Npower improve the accuracy of their numbers for network charges and it is disappointing that they did not engage fully with us until after the document had been circulated. ‘Ofgem directly regulates the money that network companies can earn through charges. ‘Given this level of certainty we can see that after 2014 network costs per household are expected to remain broadly flat in real terms. It is unclear how Npower can state with any authority otherwise.’ The . simplest, and often best, way to slash your energy costs is to use an online . service that can compare all the best tariffs on offer for you. One . option is This is Money's fuel bills switching service, powered by Energy . Helpline. We . have chosen Energy Helpline as our partner because they are a . long-standing, well respected firm with evidence to show that they can . get our readers the best deal. The . service shows you the tariffs available and how much you could save by . switching to each one, it allows you to choose what suits you and can . rank suppliers by customer service and price. Switching . is quick and easy and can be done online. All you need to do is put . your postcode into the box to the right and follow the simple steps. The . service is free to use and in a few minutes can tell you whether you . can save hundreds of pounds. There's no need to fill out any paperwork or sign a new contract - it does the hard work for you. For more information on how to get the best deal, read our energy switching guide. | The claim was made by Npower chief executive Paul Massara .
He said suppliers were responsible for only 20 per cent of household bills .
But regulator Ofgem said the firm's data was 'incorrect and misleading' |
284,487 | fc93dd00260aaf80e8f380f42c9d43d801d89aff | (CNN) -- When I was growing up, to open my parents' refrigerator was to take a magical journey deep into a strange land of Tupperware that ultimately ended in sadness, confusion and some sort of round, congealed blob of food that may or may not have dated to the Carter administration. "Mom, what is this?" "Does it look like it might cause infection?" "Kinda." "It's soup." Yes, we were a leftovers house. Be it chicken or rice, you were gettin' it twice! Though, in all fairness, mom has always been a great cook. So, it was definitely tolerable. Nevertheless, Day 7 of lasagna never quite had the same pizazz as Day 4. And opening that container on Day 60 risked introducing a newly formed, unknown invasive species into the ecosystem. "What the hell was that?" "Might've been a raccoon ... might've been a casserole." But, hey, you just can't let good food go to waste. And that's why developers at a trending new startup are working on an app called Leftover Swap that might just revolutionize what we do with our extra grub. But probably not. Essentially, they're creating Craigslist for your unfinished pizza. Yes, Casual Encounters just got even weirder. Here's how it works: When you have something remaining from your meal, you snap a photo, post it on your profile and then wait for someone nearby to claim it or offer a trade. "Your chicken salad for my mac-and-cheese?" "Deal! Meet me in the park at 7. Come alone. I'll be the one with all the open sores." "Wait. What?" Bryan Summersett and Dan Newman are the cofounders of Leftover Swap, and they came up with the idea three years ago while roommates at the University of Michigan. Naturally, at the time, even they thought it was a little crazy. Newman told NPR, "It was an outrageous joke in 2010, but in 2013, it's very plausible and something that people would use today." I swear I'm not trying to sound insensitive -- seriously -- but the only people I can actually see using this would be homeless dudes who happen to have cell phones. Otherwise, there's just too much risk. And for what? Tater tots? Actually, that sounds delicious. I'd travel a few blocks for tots. (Blocks for Tots also sounds like the world's laziest charity walk. Motto: We're here to help, but only for about 10 minutes.) Of course, Newman and his business partner are well aware that Leftover Swap is going to be a hard sell. He admits, "It's obviously not for everybody. But for as many people who seemingly have a problem with it, there's people who love the idea." And maybe there will even be an upscale vintage section so my mom can finally get rid of any petrified brisket lurking in the back of the fridge. You know, somewhere on the lower shelf next to the Thanksgiving turkey. From 1984. Yet, despite any eager users that may exist, Newman and Summersett also don't have delusions of grandeur. When they release the app at the end of August, it will be available for free download. They're less interested in making money and more concerned about doing something positive. Newman says, "In the U.S., we produce so much more food than we consume, and so much is going to waste." On the other hand, some of that food is also presently being enjoyed by an unbathed man who's just emptied his cat's litter box. Not with his hands, but still ... And now he can't wait to share his half-eaten burrito! Yes, Casual Encounters definitely just got even weirder. Follow Jarrett Bellini on Twitter. | Leftover Swap is an app that will allow users to share, trade away uneaten food .
Developer: "So much is going to waste"
Bellini: It's sort of like Craigslist for your pizza . |
31,499 | 59989aea87c954883c3f4a6bd09c0bbf47734af3 | (PEOPLE.com) -- CBS's "Two and a Half Men" is now actually one man, played by Jon Cryer, one near-man, played by Angus T. Jones, and one manchild. That would be Ashton Kutcher, who made his debut Monday night on the de-Sheened sitcom as Walden Schmidt. Walden is nearly the opposite of Charlie Sheen's now-dead sleaze king Charlie Harper: Sweet, unsarcastic but -- here we stay true to the show's gawping bawdiness -- possessed of an astounding anatomical endowment that he soon puts to use. The instant verdict: Kutcher was not at all bad. He was quite likable. First, though, we must dispose of the corpse. I think if creator Chuck Lorre could have had all the cast and crew come out shrieking and tear apart a lifelike effigy of departed star Sheen, with blood and viscera and intestines tossed into a vat of hot oil, he would have. It's not as if anyone would blame Lorre: Sheen's outrageous behavior earlier this year left a top-rated sitcom without a completed season, without an anchor -- and, regardless of how you regard Sheen personally, without one of the best sitcom actors in prime time. And so the first half of the episode practically danced with sadistic, vengeful glee in explaining how Sheen's character, the irredeemably low-life womanizer Charlie Harper, had perished: At a memorial service, crazy Rose (the very funny Melanie Lynskey) hinted that she had shoved him under the Paris Metro after she caught him cheating during their honeymoon. "His body just exploded," she said, "like a balloon full of meat." The only memories Charlie's many lovers shared were about the sexually transmitted diseases he'd given them, and one woman regretted not being able to spit on the body. None of this was funny. It probably wasn't supposed to be. It was a shiv, and it was being stuck in Charlie Sheen. Enter Ashton . Then Kutcher showed up as Schmidt, sopping wet from having tried to drown himself over a broken heart. (He gave up, he said, because the water was too cold.) With his long hair, scruffy beard and hippie-dippy, somewhat stupid sincerity, he seemed at first to have wandered in from a production of Godspell. Except that, as mentioned, he is apparently better endowed than Young Frankenstein and, unlike Mr. Sheen, possesses a body that can be paraded around naked with a preening, unembarrassed confidence. He's very nearly a character out of porn. Did you think you were tuning in to "Downton Abbey?" And the fact is that Kutcher, despite having spent so much time over the past few years branding and Tweeting himself, is a good comic actor. Not great. His limit may be that he knows how to play a doofus while subtly reminding us that he really isn't -- he likes to clown, but he probably doesn't want to BE a clown. His self-love may not allow that. Sheen, on the other hand, had the cold toughness of loathing, anger and regret, a comic style almost radical (for prime time) in its thin ash of contempt. True comedy doesn't require a smiley face. How else could Sheen have managed to sell tickets for something called the Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour? But you see where we are now: Kutcher on Sheen's old sitcom. Sheen, appearing on the Emmys, wishing all the best for "Two and a Half Men," seemingly purged of his acidic irony. It was like watching the rebel Winston from Orwell's "1984" after Big Brother got through with him. Kutcher is the one known for punking. Sheen, one might say, is the one who ended up punk'd. See full article at PEOPLE.com. © 2011 People and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | Ashton Kutcher made his debut Monday night on the de-Sheened sitcom as Walden Schmidt .
Walden is the opposite of Sheen's now-dead sleaze king Charlie Harper .
The instant verdict: Kutcher was not at all bad -- he was quite likable . |
46,222 | 823a6dac2f8346a869bc0e0e6a13e4b5fe94d5b7 | By . Hugo Gye . PUBLISHED: . 04:42 EST, 5 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:42 EST, 5 April 2013 . Hero? Thomas Dolan, 19, was praised for his bravery but has now been convicted of robbery . A teenager who was given a reward for chasing down a robber in the street has been jailed just weeks later for committing robbery himself. Thomas Dolan was praised by a judge at Gloucester Crown Court last month for his selfless act of bravery, and awarded £250 from public funds. But yesterday he appeared in the same court to be sentenced to two years' detention for attacking a delivery driver in a drunken rage and stealing from him. The 19-year-old was forced to give his £250 reward to the victim as compensation for the brutal robbery. On March 2, Dolan was congratulated in court for chasing after and catching a man who had stolen £10 from a woman after she withdrew it from a cash machine in Gloucester city centre. Judge William Hart said that the teenager had put himself in harm's way for the good of a stranger, and gave him a reward from the Sheriff of Gloucestershire's fund. But it has now emerged that Dolan had previously been arrested on suspicion of robbing fast food deliveryman Abdul Seer in a residential street in Gloucester. When he pleaded guilty to the crime yesterday, judge Jamie Tabor said: 'It would be hard to find a more citizenly and public-spirited action than the one you took a few months ago. 'But then you ambushed a food delivery man outside your house and subjected him to an extremely unpleasant sustained assault with your fists and your feet. 'Your actions that night were inexplicable - an enigma, a complete puzzle.' Attack: Dolan robbed a driver as he was delivering fast food to this road in Gloucester . Susan Cavender, prosecuting, said a call had been made to order food from a takeaway late at night which was later found to have come from Dolan's phone. When Mr Seer went into the front yard of the house where the delivery was ordered he was attacked by Dolan, who punched him in the face and shouted at him to give him the food. 'Mr Seer was then punched a number of times, and the defendant also kicked him when he was down on the ground,' she said. 'He shouted to Mr Seer to stay on the ground and took the food and made off. But Mr Seer saw him go into a nearby house and when police arrived on the scene he directed them to it. 'The defendant ran off through gardens, but he was arrested nearby.' Mr Seer was taken to hospital and suffered continual headaches and other complications for two weeks afterwards, said the prosecutor. He was also scared of being targeted again, and worried he would lose earnings while he was unable to work. Jailed: The teenager was sentenced to two years in detention after pleading guilty to robbery at Gloucester Crown Court, pictured . Dolan told police he had drunk eight or nine cans of strong lager before carrying out the attack. Defending, Sarah Jenkins said the teenager's actions had been a moment of madness which was completely out of character. 'He is not a violent young man and there is no suggestion that this kind of violence has ever been exhibited by him before,' she said. 'He was significantly under the influence of alcohol. He does not normally drink much but is a classic binge drinker. 'He knows that now and since this incident he has not touched alcohol at all and intends never to drink again.' Mr Tabor sentenced Dolan to two years in detention and ordered him to pay a £100 victim surcharge as well as the £250 compensation. | Thomas Dolan, 19, given £250 reward last month for chasing down robber .
Sentenced to two years in jail for assaulting fast food delivery driver . |
61,979 | b00cc3c479c52a39861bd0a33a2f4a31aa96fc80 | (CNN) -- They came up just short in their knockout-round match with Belgium on Tuesday. But online, Team USA is already a World Cup winner. FIFA, international soccer's ruling body, says fans in the United States have been more active on its websites and mobile apps than any other country. During the past 28 days, 36.7 million U.S. fans have engaged with the World Cup's online properties, a spokesman for the organization said. That's 11.2% of the country's population and has accounted for 23% of the total activity. FIFA measured actions on its website and Facebook page as well as downloads of its mobile app. The news was a surprise to folks at the Zurich, Switzerland-based FIFA. Unlike most nations in the world, soccer has been slow to capture the imagination of sports fans in the States, where "football" is played mainly on Saturdays and Sundays and you can use your hands a lot more. But as the U.S. men's team played its way out of a tough opening-round group that included Germany, Portugal and Ghana, U.S. Web users spent a total of 847 years and 143 days engaged with FIFA content. That's more than soccer-crazy rivals Brazil, Germany, England and France combined. Part of all that may be American fans working hard to catch up. In four years, U.S. visitors to FIFA properties have grown 207%, according to the organization. A look at the 10 most active states reveals some no-brainers and some surprises. California and New York rank No. 1 and 2, respectively, in terms of visits to the World Cup website and time spent there. But Texas, where American football, from "Friday Night Lights" to the Dallas Cowboys, borders on a religious sacrament, has been No. 3. It's worth noting that U.S. team captain Clint Dempsey hails from Nacogdoches, Texas. Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Washington, Georgia, Massachusetts and Virginia round out the Top 10. This year's World Cup is already poised to shatter records as the biggest social-media and Internet event ever. In its first week alone, the tournament spurred 459 million posts, likes and comments on Facebook, according to the company. That's more than the Super Bowl, Sochi Winter Olympics and Academy Awards combined. Glossary for the budding American World Cup fan . | FIFA says U.S. World Cup fans have been more active than those in any other country .
It says 36.7 million U.S. fans have accessed World Cup sites, apps within past 28 days .
California, New York and Texas are busiest states in visits to World Cup website .
U.S. team plays Belgium in World Cup's second round Tuesday . |
77,829 | dca7e8aacd10913938515918a07567f76c666316 | (CNN) -- The shoe company Nike has terminated its contract with Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun, the company said Friday, nearly two weeks after the five-time All Star was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy. Nike did not provide a statement explaining its decision to drop Braun, the 2011 National League MVP. Still, the decision isn't altogether surprising given Commissioner Bud Selig's announcement on July 22 that it was suspending Braun without pay for 65 days -- which worked out to the rest of the 2013 season. Opinion: Don't let baseball's dopes spoil the game . The 29-year-old apologized and admitted wrongdoing in a statement, though neither he nor Selig went into specifics. "I am not perfect," Braun said. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions. He'd faced a 50-game suspension last fall after a drug test showed high levels of testosterone in his body. But that suspension was overturned after Braun successfully challenged the testing process. The latest suspension has already hurt Braun's image, and his wallet. Before Nike took action, Kwik Trip severed ties with the 2007 rookie of the year, according to the convenience store chain spokesman John McHugh. Kwik Trip drops Ryan Braun . Read more: MLB can sue Florida clinic that allegedly gave players PEDs . CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report. | Ryan Braun was suspended for violating the Major Leagues' drug policy .
Nike joins Kwik Trip in severing ties with the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder .
After being suspended for 65 games, Braun apologized and said, "I'm not perfect" |
1,707 | 04e4939551f205a96bfa4ffb8d223c4979cd9757 | A cynic might suspect Kenny McDowall knew what he was doing. The interim Rangers boss used a press conference to reveal that five Newcastle loan players shipped north on a Sports Direct truck must play if they are fit. A coach who wanted the Ibrox job on a permanent basis would be unwise to detonate a bomb under Mike Ashley. McDowall is different. He is playing out time. He began a 12-month notice period last month and the suspicion is he would be less than devastated if what he said on Thursday was taken the wrong way. If they pay him off now, he’ll cope. Scottish football thought it had seen the last of this stuff when Vladimir Romanov, the erstwhile king of Hearts, was detained by the Russian authorities. Newcastle have loaned Gael Bigirimana (left) Remie Streete (centre) and Haris Vuckic to Rangers . But Mad Vlad has merely given way to Big Mike Ashley, the de facto banker of Rangers who has now purchased the right to use one of Scotland’s biggest football clubs as a real life version of Championship Manager. Rangers, in essence, have become a nursery club for Newcastle United. A vehicle for enhancing the fitness of loan quintet Haris Vuckic from Slovenia, English defender Remie Streete, Burundi-born Gael Bigirimana, Swiss defender Kevin Mbabu and Northern Ireland winger Shane Ferguson. For the SFA, currently investigating alleged breaches of dual interest rules at Ibrox, the charge sheet is growing ahead of a hearing next month. ‘As far as I’ve been told, providing they are fit, the boys will play in the team and I’ll carry that instruction out,’ McDowall revealed. ‘In terms of once the game has started, I will make substitutions as I see fit. Rangers caretaker boss has confirmed that he must play the five Newcastle loan players in the first team . ‘It’s a slightly unenviable situation for the boys who’ve come in. But let’s not forget these boys have come from Newcastle, so they’ll be good players and it’s a good addition to our squad. It can be a positive, absolutely, and you’d hope that other people will get a lift from it.’ Recruiting five promising players from Newcastle, an established English Premiership club, could prove no bad thing. Against Celtic last weekend, Rangers were pitiful; a Samson shorn of their locks. The loan players — two defenders, two midfielders and an attacker — have the capacity to make the team better, starting with Sunday’s Cup game against Raith Rovers. The problem lies in the principle. The idea that a shareholder with 8.92 per cent of the club, heavily securitised loans and the club’s commercial valuables safely under lock and key can also dictate five of the starting places in the Rangers first team. Irrespective of form or ability. Whatever they say publicly, existing players will welcome the newcomers with the kind of enthusiasm usually reserved for a tax bill. Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley faces a hearing with the Scottish FA over his involvement with Rangers . ‘I can’t answer for the other players in the dressing room,’ said McDowall, ‘but I would hope that they would be professional and continue to work hard in training. ‘The new boys are settling in fine. They are nice lads, I met them on Wednesday. Two of them trained on the first day and the other fit one will train today. They took part in the session and did fine. ‘All the players here have to just accept that’s what happens at big clubs. Players come in — but they have to continue to work hard. ‘If I have to tell a player that I can’t pick him, that’s just where it’s at. They have to be professional.’ Under the rules set down by Ashley and Derek Llambias, only three of the five are likely to play against Raith Rovers. Ferguson and Mbabu remain a few weeks away from full fitness and have yet to arrive in Glasgow. They are not completely unknown to McDowall. ‘Myself and Ally (McCoist) went down in November to watch a Newcastle reserve game in which two of the boys played,’ he revealed. ‘But in terms of deciding which ones were coming in, I spoke with Derek about a month ago and he made me aware that he was trying to bring players in and it could possibly be five coming up.’ With Newcastle players now moving to Rangers on loan, Mike Ashley's interest in the club continues to grow . Vuckic, Bigirimana and Streete can — and will —play on Sunday. That the man ostensibly known as the manager has barely seen them play is neither here nor there. ‘All I will say is that the more I see of the boys on the training field, the more I can get working with them,’ added McDowall. ‘I would like to think that would help. But they play with Newcastle, so they are good players — let’s not forget that.’ The players, like the manager, have been placed in an unenviable situation. For a coach in normal circumstances, all of this would be intolerable. Rangers prepare for their Scottish Cup fifth round clash with Raith Rovers . Rangers new loan signings Haris Vuckic, Remie Streete and Gael Bigirimana in training at Murray Park . Agreeing to provide cover until the end of the season after Ally McCoist was placed on gardening leave, however, McDowall’s terms and conditions were made clear. Players coming and going were none of his business. He probably expected, as we all did, that he would follow McCoist onto the allotment soon enough. It’s far from impossible his revelations will force the issue, despite reiterating his commitment to his professional duties. ‘I have intimated I am working my notice, but every time I pick a team to go out there I want to win for Rangers. That will not change. ‘It’s been tough, but I am trying to get on with things as best I can. Keep the boys upbeat and try to win football matches. That’s what my job is. ‘Twelve months notice I am working and that’s me.’ He didn’t quite slap his thighs in relief, but the thought might have crossed his mind. Where the Rangers circus is concerned, every man has his limits. Gael Bigirimana: The 21-year-old has made 26 appearances for Newcastle since arriving from Coventry City in 2012 for £1m. After impressing during his first season, the Burundi-born midfielder - likened to Cheick Tiote - has failed to progress and was soon demoted to the reserves. Haris Vuckic: The playmaker joined Newcastle from Domzale in 2009 - after they beat off competition from AC Milan - but he has struggled with injuries, damaging his knee and ankle ligaments in one match for Slovenia Under 19s. He has previously been loaned out to Rotherham United and Cardiff City. Kevin Mbabu: The 19-year-old Swiss defender joined Newcastle's academy in January, 2013 but is yet to make an appearance for the first team. Remie Streete: English centre back Streete is a product of the club's youth system and joined them as a 13-year-old. He was loaned to Port Vale earlier this season. He was highly-rated all through his progression at the academy but now looks set to leave the club in the summer. Shane Ferguson: Northern Ireland winger Ferguson has made 30 appearances for Newcastle and, under Alan Pardew, enjoyed a run in the side in 2012. He lost his place, however, and hasn't featured for the first team in nearly two years. He also has 18 senior caps for his country. | Rangers have loaned five players from Newcastle until end of the season .
Kenny McDowall has been given specific instructions to play them .
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has an 8.92 per cent stake in Rangers .
He is facing a hearing with the Scottish FA over his involvement at Ibrox . |
211,436 | 9dcabcbad2fe48905b590149c3e8db1611ef74ec | TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- Hours after the sitting president was deposed by a military-led coup, a new president of Honduras was sworn in Sunday. Honduras President Jose Manuel Zelaya was detained and sent to Costa Rica, the government said. But the former president was not ready to give up his powers. The political developments that swept Honduras over the past weeks and led up to Sunday's coup had the makings of a crisis, but the situation in the Central American nation of 8 million people was calm. Roberto Micheletti was sworn in as provisional president to the applause of members of Congress, who chanted, "Honduras! Honduras!" Outside the building, supporters of ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya protested, but their numbers were limited, and the streets remained mostly peaceful. Micheletti told CNN en Español Sunday evening that he has imposed an "indefinite" curfew. Micheletti, the head of Congress, became president after lawmakers voted by a show of hands to strip Zelaya of his powers, with a resolution stating that Zelaya "provoked confrontations and divisions" within the country. A letter of resignation purported to be from Zelaya was read to members before the vote. But the deposed president, Zelaya, emphatically denied in an interview with CNN en Español that he wrote the letter. Speaking from Costa Rica, where he was taken after the coup, he said he plans to continue exercising his presidential duties with a trip to Managua, Nicaragua, to attend a summit of Central American heads-of-state. Zelaya awoke to the sound of gunfire in his residence and was still in his pajamas when the military forced him to leave the country Sunday morning, he told reporters. He was flown to Costa Rica, where he has not requested political asylum. "This was a brutal kidnapping of me with no justification," Zelaya said. He called the coup an attack on Honduran democracy. "There are ways to protest without arms," Zelaya said. The coup came on the same day that he had vowed to follow through with a nonbinding referendum that the Honduran Supreme Court had ruled illegal. Watch details on "curious situation" in Honduras » . The coup was widely criticized in the region, in strongest terms by Zelaya's leftist allies, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. A statement from Venezuela's foreign ministry said Zelaya was "violently expelled from his country by a group of unpatriotic, coup-mongering soldiers." The Bolivian government also condemned the coup, accusing Honduran troops of kidnapping Zelaya and violently expelling him from his country. Elsewhere, Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, strongly condemned the coup in a statement. And in Washington, President Obama said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned" by the news. "I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said. "Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference." The president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, called the Honduran military's intervention a "criminal action." But in Honduras, the Supreme Court said in an official statement that the military was acting in accordance with a court order to put an end to Sunday's scheduled vote, which the court's justices had found illegal. Micheletti addressed the issue directly in his first remarks as provisional president. "I did not reach this position because of a coup," Micheletti said. "I am here because of an absolutely legal transition process." No other countries immediately recognized Micheletti as president. Zelaya, a leftist elected in 2005, had found himself pitted against the other branches of government and military leaders over the issue of Sunday's planned referendum. It would have asked voters to place a measure on November's ballot allowing the formation of a constitutional assembly that could modify the nation's charter to allow the president to run for another term. In various interviews Sunday, Zelaya characterized the vote not as a referendum, but as a survey to gauge receptiveness toward a constitutional assembly. He denied that he would have been the beneficiary of any future constitutional changes. Zelaya, whose four-year term ends in January 2010, cannot run for re-election under current law. The Honduran Supreme Court had ruled the poll illegal, and Congress and the top military brass agreed, but Zelaya had remained steadfast. In the end, it appeared the opposition to Zelaya was too great. The military confiscated the ballots from the presidential residence, in effect canceling the disputed vote. In separate appearances Sunday, Zelaya, Venezuela's Chavez and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that the military had also detained Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, further raising regional tensions. Speaking in Havana, Rodriguez said that the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors to Honduras had tried but were unable to protect Rodas from a group of masked soldiers who forcibly took her from their grasp. Further details regarding that incident were unclear. "If they attack our ambassadors, they will be declaring a state of war," Chavez said. "If they have weapons, then we have weapons, too." | Honduran Congress strips president of powers, names provisional president .
Obama statement: "I call on all ... to respect democratic norms"
Military detains President Jose Manuel Zelaya, flies him to Costa Rica .
Zelaya says he plans to continue exercising presidential duties . |
31,319 | 590172f8ef839408143926b38186b80a2329fe88 | (CNN) -- Eduardo Arellano-Felix, the last of four brothers who ran the drug cartel in Mexico known as the Arellano-Felix Organization, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in U.S. federal prison for his role as chief financial officer, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. CNN Photos: Ex-addicts find solace as caregivers . Arellano-Felix, 56, was sentenced after pleading guilty in May to charges of conspiracy to launder money and to use and invest illicit drug profits. A medical doctor known as "El Doctor," Arellano-Felix used drug-trafficking proceeds to pay members of the drug cartel to commit crimes, buy firearms, pay bribes and purchase drugs, according to the plea agreement. Read more: Mexico shifts drug war strategy . Although Arellano-Felix was not directly involved with kidnapping and killings, he was "still an integral part" and "fully aware of the methods" of the cartel, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns said. Arellano-Felix "advised his brothers as they orchestrated the importation of hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, ordered the kidnap and murder of numerous people, and directed the widespread corruption of law enforcement and military personnel in Mexico," according to a sentencing memorandum. Opinion: Horror won't end with cartel leader's arrest . In addition to the 15-year prison sentence, Arellano-Felix will forfeit $50 million, the department news release said. Two of Arellano-Felix's brothers, Benjamin and Francisco Javier, are in U.S. prisons for racketeering, drug trafficking and money laundering. Ramon Arellano-Felix, whom the Justice Department described as the cartel's enforcer, was killed in a shootout with police in 2002, the statement said. Eduardo Arellano-Felix was arrested on October 25, 2008, after a gun battle with Mexican forces. Arellano-Felix was ordered extradited to the United States in 2010 but spent nearly two years on unsuccessful appeals of his case. CNN's Carol Cratty contributed to this report. | Eduardo Arellano-Felix is sentenced for money laundering and illicit drug profits .
He is one of four brothers who ran the Arellano-Felix drug cartel in Mexico .
Two of his brothers are in U.S. prisons; the third was killed in a 2002 shootout with police . |
105,867 | 148ae4ead7bec113c636bfbf3417876730dddecc | Everton are nervously awaiting results of tests that could leave Kevin Mirallas and Leon Osman facing lengthy absences. Mirallas had tests on Tuesday after he was carried off during Monday’s 3-1 win over Queens Park Rangers with ankle ligament damage. His right ankle was swollen as a result of a poor challenge from Jordon Mutch, which Roberto Martinez called ‘disappointing’. He is a major doubt for the Christmas fixtures. VIDEO Scroll down to see Roberto Martinez share his thoughts on Mirallas' injury . Everton's Kevin Mirallas is brought down in a challenge by QPR's Jordan Mutch on Monday . Mirallas screams in pain after injuring his ankle during Everton's 3-1 defeat of QPR . Mirallas writhes in agony after being brought down by a bad challenge from Mutch . The Belgium international looks in obvious pain as he is taken from the field on a stretcher . Leon Osman (right) in action for Everton against Hull City in the Premier League clash on December 3 . Osman’s situation is also causing concern for Martinez, ahead of Saturday’s trip to Southampton. He has not played since coming off the bench against Manchester City on December 6 and has had his ankle in a protective boot. The former England midfielder was due to see a specialist for further tests and the fear is that he will require an operation. Martinez’s options in midfield have been hit in recent weeks with James McCarthy recovering from a hamstring problem and Darron Gibson also injured. Gareth Barry, meanwhile, was suspended against QPR having been booked five times. Mirallas scores Everton's second goal with a heavily deflected free-kick in the fist-half . Ross Barkley opened the scoring with a wonder goal on his return to the starting line-up . That meant Martinez had to use Ross Barkley in central midfield alongside Muhamed Besic, having previously said the England international was not ready for the responsibility of that position. Despite Barkley capping his most complete display of the season with a superb goal, team-mate Steven Naismith has urged caution when considering his progress. ‘Ross and Mo did fantastically well,’ he said. ‘Ross is a terrific talent with a lot going for him but he has a lot to learn.’ Barkley wheels away to celebrate his blistering strike, which left manager Roberto Martinez purring . Martinez saw his side earn local bragging rights by moving above Liverpool in the table . | Everton defeated QPR 3-1 in their Premier League clash on Monday .
Kevin Mirallas was taken off on a stretcher after a tackle by Jordan Mutch .
Belgian had scan on Tuesday and is waiting to hear the extent of his injury .
Midfielder Leon Osman has had his ankle in a protective boot . |
140,803 | 4210f9cff2a7c398c5d2f1455a42d5daed9a1400 | Boston (CNN) -- For more than a year, Ellen O'Donnell slept on the streets, where she was the target of theft, violence and cruelty. Her situation left her neglecting chronic health problems that threatened her survival. "It was so difficult to access [medical] services. I was totally alienated and I just couldn't relate," O'Donnell said. "I would get things stolen from me. And ... two young women tried to set me on fire. Life was just this movie and I wasn't going to bother participating anymore." Then O'Donnell stumbled upon someone she could relate to: Dr. Roseanna Means. Since 1999, Means and her team have set up clinics inside Boston shelters to offer direct, free medical care to thousands of homeless women and children. "The women come into the shelters to get warm, to eat, to feel safe. And we're already there," said Means, 58. There's no registration or charge for the care. Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2011 CNN Heroes . "The women learn to trust us as ambassadors of the health care system. And over time, we can teach them how to use [it] as it was intended," she said. Means gave up a more lucrative medical career to work with Boston's homeless population. As a medical resident pursuing cardiology in 1982, she spent three months providing care in a Cambodian refugee camp and found a different calling. "They had lost everything. And I was able to make a difference just by traveling 10,000 miles out of my comfort zone ... and lending a hand, some medicines, and talking to them and treating their wounds," Means said. "That made a huge impression on me." She became a primary care physician and found she could make a difference with Boston's homeless population in a similar way. "What I had to give them, more than anything, was just showing up, to listen and offer my services," she said. Means started her nonprofit -- Women of Means -- after working for seven years with the city's established homeless health care programs. She found that, despite all of the quality medical resources for the homeless population, few women were actually using the services. Female victims of domestic violence are often reluctant to use identification that could reveal their whereabouts, and vulnerable women often avoid clinic waiting rooms where they might encounter hostile members of the homeless community, Means said. "For women who are poor, homeless or battered, to deal with a system of health care becomes overwhelming," she said. "There are lots of emotional issues, psychiatric issues ... I just didn't like the idea that they were falling through the cracks." Q&A: Why homeless women have it worse than men . Women of Means works in 10 women's shelters and offers help to more than 2,000 homeless women counted in the city's latest census. The group consists of a part-time staff of nine nurses and 17 volunteer doctors representing all areas of care. Teams work out of old broom closets and stairwells, addressing health issues ranging from colds to life-threatening cancers and gunshot wounds. The first challenge the group often faces in caring for the women is trust. "[They] don't trust anyone. It's a side product of being homeless, of having to look over your shoulder, watch your back. So that makes it very difficult for them to approach life normally," she said. For this reason, the group handles first encounters as vital steppingstones in building a relationship. Because they are not billing for services, staff are able to give whatever amount of time is needed to earn the clients' trust, ultimately helping them open up and engage in their own health. "This is not just about a checkup or doling out antibiotics for an infection, but it's about giving these women the acceptance -- and love -- they deserve," Means said. "It's a process. It takes a long time. But we don't put any time limits on it 'cause we know that in some cases, it's literally life-saving." The group functions entirely off grants and private and corporate donations. The physician and nurse teams work in the same shelter locations for at least one year, though most extend well beyond their initial commitment. The doctors together donate $500,000 in services annually, and everyone covers their own insurance and benefits. Women of Means has had a waiting list of volunteer physicians for years because the group's current doctors "don't ever leave," said Means. "We have people who have been here for nine years ... because doctors just want to be doctors. There's no managed-care rules. There's no regulations. There's no co-pays. We love taking care of these women. And frankly it's because that's all we do. It's just health care," Means said. O'Donnell has benefited from the group's approach. When she met Means three years ago, she had a cataract that had gotten so bad, she said, that doctors weren't sure she had any sight in the eye. With Means' help, O'Donnell had surgery to correct it. "Dr. Roseanna talked to my social worker and they literally held my hand and took me to the hospital," O'Donnell said. "I just took the leap because Dr. Roseanna was there." Today, O'Donnell's newfound sight has lifted her depression and helped her take fewer medications. Recently, she secured a bed at a residential shelter and said she aspires to start a paralegal service from her next apartment. O'Donnell credits her improved vitality to Means. "Because I knew she really cared, I started wanting to take care of myself," she said. For Means, that's what her program is all about. "I love these women no matter what. That eventually starts to get taken inside -- that if I matter to somebody else, maybe I matter to myself," she said. "We give women who are poor, homeless or battered the means to move ahead in their lives. ... This is what feeds my soul and I will do this until I'm no longer needed." Want to get involved? Check out the Women of Means website at www.womenofmeans.org and see how to help. | Dr. Roseanna Means' nonprofit offers direct, free medical care to homeless women and children .
She set up clinics in Boston shelters after discovering that many women weren't using existing services .
Her team of 17 volunteer doctors together donate $500,000 in services annually .
Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2011 CNN Heroes . |
234,552 | bba690a66244c787b6ca8a264435782c456e44a7 | A senior Republican lawmaker . has told President Barack Obama she was prepared to block . foreign aid money if the administration did not provide fighter . jets and tanks to Egypt and arms to other regional allies . fighting Islamic State militants. In a letter to Obama, Kay Granger, the Republican chairwoman of the House . of Representatives State and Foreign Operations Appropriations . subcommittee, said Egypt needs F-16 aircraft, M1A1 Abrams tanks . and other weapons that have been held up since 2013. Granger has . the power to place holds on foreign aid, including general . assistance and weapons shipments. Granger urged the administration to give Iraqi Kurds tools . and training to fight Islamic State and to make providing . weapons to Jordan a priority, according to the letter, seen by . Reuters on Friday. Dated Thursday, the letter criticized the administration as . Congress is about to consider Obama's request for formal . authority for a military campaign against Islamic State. SCROLL DOWN FOR THE COMPLETE LETTER . Texas Republican Rep. Kay Granger, a member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and Chairwoman of the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, is threatening to hold up foreign aid dollars if the president refuses to release aircraft to Egypt . Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wants more firepower to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham; he has warned Egypt will strike back at any militant threats to its security . This video image from aerial footage released by the Egyptian Defense Ministry shows an airstrike on ISIS positions in Libya on Feb. 16 . Republicans, who took control of the U.S. Congress in . January, have pressed for more robust U.S. military involvement . in fighting the militants, who have killed thousands of . civilians while seizing territory in Iraq and Syria. 'As Egypt, Jordan, and the Kurds retaliate and defend . themselves against ISIL's heinous acts, U.S. security assistance . is being held or delayed by bureaucratic processes and . ill-advised policy decisions by your administration,' Granger . wrote, using an acronym for Islamic State. The U.S. State Department referred requests for comment to . the White House, where officials did not immediately respond. Granger said she was calling on the White House to . 'immediately release' remaining weapons and funds to Egypt, . provide Jordan with weapons it had requested and ensure the . Kurdish Peshmerga have equipment they need. 'I am prepared to do everything within my power to make sure . this occurs, including placing holds on Congressional . Notifications (spending plans) and drafting legislation to hold . your Administration accountable,' Granger wrote. Egyptian warplanes bombed sites in Libya on Monday in . response to the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by Islamic . State militants there. Lockheed Martin Corp, which makes the F-16, said the . aircraft built for Egypt were part of a foreign military sales . agreement between the United States and Egypt. The Abrams tanks . are made by General Dynamics Corp. Twelve of 20 F-16s built by Lockheed under its last contract . with Egypt are in storage at Lockheed's Fort Worth, Texas, . facility. They have been formally transferred to the U.S. government, which is paying Lockheed to store and maintain them. The current U.S. policy on Egypt is to hold up many . shipments of big-ticket weapons until Washington can certify . that Cairo has made progress on human rights. Granger represents the district where Lockheed's facility is . based, but the company would not necessarily profit from a move . to release the planes since the U.S. government has already paid . Lockheed for them. AFTERMATH: The ruins of Kobane, Syria in early February after airstrikes like those the Egyptians are unleashing on ISIS . RELUCTANT: President Obama has made no move to deliver heavy firepower to Egypt . CROSSING JORDAN: The White House has met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh (left) and with the country's king, but hasn't made moves to arm that country's army – which is the most engaged Arab national force in the anti-ISIS fight . U.S. officials said last week that planning was well under . way to help replenish Jordan's supplies of ordnance. Jordan's . King Abdullah visited Congress earlier this month, the same day . Islamic State released a video of the murder of a Jordanian . pilot. The administration has said it is supplying guns and . ammunition to the Kurds, who are fighting Islamic State in . northern Iraq, but it is channeling them through Baghdad. Some . Republicans have said the supplies should go directly to the . Kurds. Egypt is already getting 24 Rafale combat jets from France, under the terms of a hastily negotiated contract with Dassault Aviation. By giving the green light via his defence minister on Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave the ailing French airplane project a major boost while demonstrating his domestic resolve to make sure ISIS doesn't overrun his country from neighboring Libya. 'Egypt needs planes quickly,' said Patricia Adam, president of the French parliament's defence committee. 'You just need to take a look at what's happening at its border. They are especially worried by what's happening in Libya.' Granger Letter to POTUS 2-19-15 uploaded by DailyMail.com . | Kay Granger chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, a key decision-maker on foreign aid .
She's threatening President Obama 'to hold your Administration accountable' for failing to arm Egypt, Jordan and the Kurdish Peshmerga .
Granger's district is home to the defense contractor Lockheed, but the US government has already paid for the planes she wants released to Egypt .
The Egyptians inked a deal this week to get 24 fighter jets from a French aviation company . |
255,621 | d6da9fe9ea656e3c8fa7f7c26bc1191916675a9e | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 14:29 EST, 29 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:30 EST, 29 August 2013 . A 17-year-old boy has been arrested for allegedly murdering his 11-year-old neighbor after she was found in a ditch three miles from her home - with her devoted dog guarding her body. Christopher Sowell was arrested for first-degree murder in Gosnell, Arkansas on Wednesday, just hours after the body of missing Jessica Williams was found by Big Lake in Mississippi County. Authorities have not said how the young . girl died, but her devastated father Eric Williams said it looked as though she had drowned . in two feet of water. Tragic: Jessica Williams vanished on Tuesday night and her body was found in a ditch three miles away on Wednesday morning - with her loyal pet dog, Rhyback (right), standing over her . Arrest: Christopher Sowell, 17, was arrested late Wednesday night and will be charged as an adult . Jessica had been missing since Tuesday night when she vanished while playing with her dog in her father's front yard as he showered and prepared dinner. A neighbor passed by and told him they had seen the young girl's bike at the end of the road - but that she was nowhere in sight. 'I said something don't feel right, so I . drove on down to [a neighbor's] house. I said, "Have you seen her?" He ain't . seen her,' Williams told WREG. 'We started going door to door all the way . down here.' Neighbors layunched a massive search for the girl, riding four wheelers in the farm fields to look for her - with no success. Scene: Her bike was found near her home and her body was found in a ditch by this lake the next day . Home: She was last seen playing outside her father's home, pictured, with her dog on Tuesday night . Her father eventually reported her missing at 9pm, after she had been missing for around three hours, and said that he had last seen her outside his home just southwest of Gosnell. Mississippi County Criminal Investigations Commander Robb Rounsavall said the girl's bicycle was found in a ditch near a house further down the road. Her body was miles away from the site - and her father and investigators agreed it was not found anywhere where she could have easily walked or taken her bike. It was found at 6.30am on Wednesday, with her loyal puppy, Rhyback, standing over her body, her father said. Loss: Jessica, who was allegedly killed by a 17-year-old neighbor, loved the outdoors and animals . Shock: Her father, Eric Williams, said his beloved daughter had dreams of becoming a rancher . Her body is being sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab to determine her cause of death. Jessica's uncle Tim Southern expressed his shock at the senseless death. 'You . know, why would you want to take an 11-year-old and do this? I mean . she's done nothing to you. She's just beginning life,' he said. 'She . loved life itself. You know she loved her grandma, grandpas, her mom and . dad, especially her sister, little cousins.' Mr Williams described the 11-year-old . girl as a tomboy who loved her pets, was friendly with neighbors and . loved bouncing on their trampoline. 'She wanted to be a rancher,' he said. 'She loved horses. She loved animals.' Sowell will be arraigned this afternoon and is being charged as an adult in the case. See below for video . | Jessica Williams vanished from her front yard on Tuesday night .
Her body was found three miles away in a ditch on Wednesday morning .
Neighbor Christoper Sowell was arrested on a first-degree murder charge . |
235,886 | bd59aedd76f958ad3b8432be5cb4ed5adff0dd07 | Her steamy, bestselling novels and strong male characters have seduced hundreds of thousands of female readers worldwide. But Jodi Ellen Malpas has revealed she has split from her own Mr Right – because he no longer lives up to the fantasy she created. The 34-year-old, whose This Man trilogy has sold more than 500,000 copies, has left her husband of ten years after ‘falling in love’ with one of her characters. Scroll down for video . Steamy writer Jodi Ellen Malpas, 34, has split with her husband of 10 years. The author said her marriage was not 'solid enough' to withstand the changes 'success has bought' Ms Malpas, from Northampton, says: ‘All my fictional men are strong, successful, sophisticated and enigmatic. I guess it’s hard for any living, breathing man to live up to such a fantasy. ‘In This Man I created Jesse Ward, whose forceful personality was appealing to me. There is no denying I fell in love with him. ‘After all, I created him and I made him the way he is for a reason. Every woman needs some fantasy lover to spice up the dull reality of her real life. I wanted to create my perfect love story. ‘But the success of my books and the popularity of my male character led to the breakdown of my marriage. Sadly it was not solid enough to withstand the changes success has brought to my life.’ The author's trilogy, This Man, has sold more than 500,000 copies and has led many to believe that Ms Malpas is the new E.L. James, the housewife who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey . The mother of two, whom many believe is the new E. L. James, the housewife who wrote the Fifty Shades Of Grey trilogy, became a self-publishing sensation last year, swiftly rising to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List. The This Man trilogy explores the love affair between young interior designer Ava O’Shea and playboy Jesse Ward. The second part of her new trilogy, One Night, has just been published by Orion. ‘I was 23 when Aaron and I got married, so we were both very young,’ she says. ‘I didn’t really know who I was. I got on with being a wife and mother. ‘But over time I started to feel that something was missing – my normal everyday life had become a routine. I was bored. I guess that is what couples mean when they say they’ve grown apart. Aaron couldn’t understand why I wanted to write my fiction and I couldn’t understand why he didn’t understand.’ The couple have two children, Alfie, 14, and Patrick, ten. But although they divorced in August last year, Ms Malpas says their relationship remains amicable. She is currently single and insists that she has no time to get involved in a relationship. ‘My children and my writing are enough for the moment,’ she adds. ‘In any case, I suspect some men might be a little intimidated by my independence and my success.’ And she insists she has no regrets. ‘It’s been crazy, but I’m loving the stronger more liberated me,’ she says. | Author Jodi Ellen Malpas, 34, has split from her husband of 10 years .
The mother-of-two became a self-publishing sensation last year .
She has sold more than 500,000 copies of her steamy trilogy, This Man .
The author left her husband after 'falling in love' with one of her characters . |
151,376 | 4fb47c8a0e6369244d47610dee2bdf600b31a87c | KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said roadside bombs have doubled and kidnapping have increased over the last year in the war-torn country, but said the cultivation of opium poppies that is used to produce heroin has declined. Roadside bombings in Afghanistan doubled to 2,000 in 2008, according to the U.S. ambassador in Kabul. William Wood, speaking to journalists at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, gave an assessment of trends over the last year in the country and expectations for the upcoming year. "2008 was a good year but it was also a hard year," he said. He said there were 1,000 improvised explosive device blasts in 2007 and 2,000 this year. "IEDs don't advance the terrorist cause at all. They don't win them any territory, they don't win them any friends," he said, "all they do is prove the presence and brutality of the terrorists." Also, he said there were 130 reported kidnappings in 2007 and 250 in 2008, but it is thought that there have been many unreported abductions. The increase in IEDs have occurred mostly in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where there been an uptick in attacks. President-elect Barack Obama has said that he will shift his focus to Afghanistan, where the Taliban militant movement has been resurgent and where international troop deaths have increased in recent months. Concerned over the increase in fighting, military officials have said up to 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan next year, nearly doubling the level of American troops there. Wood pointed to progress in combating the narcotics trade, which helps fund militant activity. He said there has been a nearly 20 percent decline in processing and cultivation of opium, pointing out that the local and international entities helped bring about the drop. He said that the nascent democracy has been energized by upcoming elections, the improved performance of provincial governors, and the resilient backing of Afghanistan by the international community. He said there will be a focus on combating government corruption in 2009, underscoring President Hamid Karzai's determination to confront the problem. Wood said he anticipates "free and fair" upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, with three million voters already registered. The International Foundation for Election Systems, which helps countries run democratic elections, says there will be presidential elections in next year and parliamentary elections are expected in 2010. The ambassador notes that the Afghan National Army is growing by 2,500 soldiers a month and he expects it to double in size by 2012. He said the Afghan National Police is looking to add specialized elements, such as anti-kidnapping and counter-narcotics units. Wood said the United States is backing an initiative by Karzai to help villages without international or local armies to protect them, a move that would help Afghans protect themselves and develop the confidence to do so. But he emphasized that the United States has no intention to provide these communities with weaponry. | Roadside bombings doubled, kidnappings rose in Afghanistan in past year .
U.S. ambassador says cultivation of opium poppies used for heroin declined .
U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama has vowed to tackle resurgent Taliban .
Up to 30,000 additional U.S. troops could be sent to Afghanistan in 2009 . |
41,314 | 7483dca052b2e9dc650d78dd54f49460bd983ebf | By . Associated Press Reporter and Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 17:50 EST, 14 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:51 EST, 14 May 2013 . O.J. Simpson managed a smile and a . waist-high wave with his shackled hand as he entered a Las Vegas courtroom Tuesday and . found friends and family members in the audience. Among them was Tom . Scotto, whose wedding was the reason for Simpson's ill-fated trip to . Las Vegas in 2007, which landed him in prison with a nine-to-33-year sentence for robbery and kidnapping. 'He looks . like a beaten man,' Scotto said outside court after seeing his old . friend clad in a dingy blue prison uniform and orange prison issue . slippers, chains clanking around his feet and waist. Scroll down for video . Back in court; O.J. Simpson appears during a break in an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada . Argument: Simpson's lawyers are claiming that his trial lawyer for the robbery case, Yale Galanter, gave such bad trial advice and had such conflicted interests that Simpson deserves a new trial . Smiling: Simpson managed a smile and a waist-high wave with his shackled hand as he entered a Las Vegas courtroom . The . 65-year-old Simpson is in prison for leading . five men in the armed robbery-kidnapping of the two sports memorabilia . dealers. Since Scotto's . wedding, his marriage has collapsed and he underwent three . emergency surgeries for life-threatening intestinal ailments. 'You don't think about it, but this has taken a toll on a lot of people,' Scotto said. Simpson's lawyers are claiming that . his trial lawyer for the robbery case, Yale Galanter, gave such bad trial advice and had such . conflicted interests that Simpson deserves a new trial. Simpson . claims that Galanter told him he didn't need to testify . because prosecutors failed to prove their case, and that he didn't tell . him about a plea offer by prosecutors that would have gotten him a . minimum of two years in prison. His co-counsel said Tuesday that Simpson became so dependent on Galantar during the armed robbery trial that the former football star would have done anything his lawyer advised - including passing up the chance to testify. Defense: Simpson confers with defense team member Dustin Marcello. He is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges . Yale Galanter (pictured above) allegedly gave Simpson bad legal advice during his trial in 2008, leading to Simpson's conviction, the former NFL football star claimed in his 94-page petition for a new trial . 'I could advise O.J. all day long, and he was very respectful of me,' Gabriel Grasso told the court. 'But if I advised him of something different from what Yale said, he would do what Yale said.' It was Galanter's decision not to have Simpson testify in the trial, Grasso said. The 65-year-old Simpson was later convicted and sentenced to 33 years in prison for the crime. Simpson takes a drink after the judge allowed him to take one of his handcuffs off . Under questioning from prosecutor H. Leon Simon, Grasso acknowledged the trial judge, Jackie Glass, specifically asked Simpson if he wanted to testify. 'O.J. did say he did not want to testify,' said Simon, Clark County's chief deputy district attorney. 'Mr. Galanter told him, `This is the way it's going to be,'' Grasso said. He said Simpson's confidence in Galanter was born of his successful representation of the former Hall of Fame football player in a road rage case after Simpson moved to Florida following his 1995 acquittal on murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. Simpson was acquitted of all the road rage charges. Galanter, the Florida lawyer who is the . focus of Simpson's motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel has . declined to comment until he takes the stand Friday. Chit-chat: O.J. Simpson, right, talks to his defense attorney Patricia Palm during a break . Galanter, the Florida lawyer who is the focus of Simpson's motion claiming ineffective assistance of counsel has declined to comment until he takes the stand Friday. Grasso, a prominent Las Vegas criminal lawyer who signed on to help his old friend, Galanter, with Simpson's defense on robbery and kidnap charges, ended two days on the witness stand by softening his assessment of Galanter's skills. 'I feel he's a capable attorney,' he said. 'Now that I know how things turned out, this wasn't his best case.' 'Was Mr. Galanter trying to sell O.J. down the river,' asked Simon? 'No,' said Grasso. He pointed to Galanter's cross-examination of a key witness as 'sterling' and 'awesome.' Remember when? Simpson reacts as he is found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1995 . Acquit: Simpson was famously found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend in 1995, and a pivotal point in the trial came when he put on a pair of bloody gloves that did not fit him . Galanter, who came under searing attack for his tactics during Grasso's testimony Monday, also was criticized by the lawyer who represented Simpson in a Santa Monica, Calif., case that resulted in the celebrity defendant getting back the personal items he had set out to retrieve from two collectibles dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room when he was arrested in 2007. Attorney Ronald P. Slates testified by telephone from Los Angeles about his victory in gaining custody of Simpson's neckties and footballs. 'Did you know Yale Galanter?' asked Simpson attorney Patricia Palm. 'Yes,' he said. 'He would show up in court to take credit for what he didn't do.' Simpson, who will be 70 before he is eligible for parole, has filed a writ of habeas corpus, his last chance under state law to prove that he was wrongly convicted and win a new trial. Testimony: O.J. Simpson's 43-year-old daughter (right) testified on Monday that her father was drunk the weekend that he allegedly pulled off an armed heist at a Las Vegas hotel . Not his first time: Former football star . has been arrested more than six times, including one in 1994 (left), . 2001 (center) and 2007 (right) Latest stint: Simpson clearly gained weight . between his last trial (left) and had another mugshot taken today as his . appeal begins and he is noticeably more grey (right) After his acquittal on the murder charges, Simpson was found liable for damages in a civil wrongful death lawsuit and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Palm suggested in questioning Grasso that Glass erred at trial when she allowed prosecutors to mention Goldman in court several times even after she ruled that there would be no mention of the Los Angeles case, which was deemed irrelevant. Nineteen separate reasons for reversal are being considered in the weeklong hearing. Got off: The innocent verdict in his 1995 murder case came as a shock to many of the 100 million people who stopped to watch the verdict live . June 12, 1994: Simpson's ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were killed at Brown's apartment. OJ Simpson was charged with both of their murders. June 17, 1994: Police allowed Simpson the chance to turn himself in at 11am, but he did not end up in custody until after 8pm following a multi-hour chase in a White Ford Bronco. January 24, 1995: Opening statements for the murder trial begin, and the trial becomes a media spectacle, dubbed the 'trial of the century'. October 3, 1995: Simpson was found not guilty on all of the counts against him. An estimated 100 million people tuned in to hear the verdict being read, and the case had such a following that then-President Bill Clinton had to be briefed on possible rioting that may break out following the verdict. February 5, 1997: Simpson was found guilty of the wrongful death of his ex-wife and her friend in civil court, and ordered to pay $33.5million in damages. September 1, 1999: The state of California files a tax lien against him for $1.44million due in back taxes. February 2001: Simpson is arrested for simple battery and burglary, but acquitted on the charges in October. December 2001: The FBI searched his residence for ecstasy and evidence of money laundering. No charges were filed. July 4, 2002: Simpson was arrested for speeding while driving a boat in an area that was deemed a manatee protection zone. His lawyer got it talked down to a misdemeanor boating charge that resulted in a fine. September 2007: Simpson and a group of men- two of whom had guns on them- went into a Las Vegas hotel room to confront men who were reportedly selling stolen sports memorabilia from Simpson's NFL heyday. November 29, 2007: Though at least three of the other men present at the altercation were able to make plea bargains, that was not the case for Simpson who entered a not guilty plea. October 3, 2008: Simpson was found guilty and sentenced to spend 33 years behind bars with the possibility of an early release after nine years. Getting used to it: Simpson was found guilty of the 2008 charges of kidnapping and armed robbery . | Simpson is seeking a new trial to overturn charges of armed robbery and kidnapping .
Tom .
Scotto, whose wedding was the reason for Simpson's ill-fated trip to .
Las Vegas in 2007, said his pal looks 'like a beaten man'
Simpson blames his lawyer, Yale Galanter, for the conviction in 2008, claiming he botched the case .
At .
the time, Simpson said he was reclaiming heirlooms and personal .
mementos he believed were stolen from him after his famous murder .
trial . |
49,505 | 8bea156c50b9bb04ef1804a13971c381e63b790f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:18 EST, 15 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 00:19 EST, 15 August 2013 . The mysterious death of famed investigative journalist Michael Hastings took a surprising turn this week when it was revealed that the target of his latest expose was CIA Director John Brennan. Hastings was killed in a fiery car crash in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles about 4:25 a.m. on June 18, of this year. Witnesses described his speeding Mercedes coup as creating sparks and flames before it fish-tailed into a palm tree and exploded. Hastings' body was burned beyond recognition. Earlier that day, Hastings had sent an email to his editor at the website Buzzfeed alerting him that 'the Feds are interviewing my "close friends and associates." Perhaps if the authorities arrive "BuzzFeed GQ," er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues.' Mystery: the mystery behind the tragic death of journalist Michael Hastings continues to grow . He added that 'Also: I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the radat for a bit.' Hours later, Hastings was dead. The big story he was working now appears to be about spy chief Brennan, who has been described in secret emails from the President of CIA contractor Stratfor, Fred Burton - and released by Wikileaks -as being on a 'witch hunt' of investigative journalists. Hastings' wife, Elise Jordan, revealed on Piers Morgan's show on CNN earlier this month that the story Hastings was working on at the time of his death was about Brennan. The CIA confirmed Jordan's claim to San Diego 6 News, which says that when they brought the information - as well as a leaked email from Stratfor - to Brennan's spokesperson, he responded 'with lightning speed.' 'Witch hunt': Leaked emails from a CIA contractor claim that CIA Chief John Brennan is going after investigative journalists . Inferno: skeptics are suspicious of the intensity of the flames that engulfed Hastings' car the night he was killed . Reporter Kimberly Dvorak says she received two emails from the CIA spokesman, one acknowledging that Hastings was working on a story about the CIA, and another stating that 'without commenting on information disseminated by WikiLeaks, any . suggestion that Director Brennan has ever attempted to infringe on . constitutionally-protected press freedoms is offensive and baseless.' Jordan says the article about Brennan will appear in an upcoming issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Conspiracy theorists have jumped all over Hastings' death because he has a proven history of bringing down powerful people (his Rolling Stone article about General Stanley McChrystal effectively ended the general's career) and a collection of secret sources within the highest levels of government. Beyond Recognition: Authorities had to use dental records to identify Hastings' body . Tragic: Elise Jordan, widow of Michael Hastings, says his death is likely just a tragic accident . The cryptic emails aside, skeptics have asked where was Hastings going at 4:25 a.m., when witnesses say he was speeding AWAY from his house? Why would he be going so fast on a residential street (authorities say he was traveling 'at top speed' when he hit the tree, although that, too, has been questioned). Those suspicious of a coverup in Hastings' death even question the intensity of the fire that seemed to instantly engulf Hastings' car after it hit the tree. Some have even suggested that a device was installed in Hastings' car that allowed someone outside of the vehicle to control it's speed and direction - although, those claims have been widely rejected as baseless, as there's no known evidence to suggest that anyone but Hastings was in control of the vehicle, or that such a device even exists. Adding to the suspicion is the fact that several government agencies - both local and federal - have been slow to turn over public records about the crash, despite hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests from journalists across the country. When asked if she subscribes to any of the conspiracy theories about her husband's untimely death, Jordan says 'the LAPD still has an active investigation...my gut here is that it was just a really tragic accident and I'm very unlucky and the world is very unlucky.' | Brennan has has been described in secret emails from .
the President of CIA contractor Stratfor as being on a 'witch hunt' of investigative journalists.
The day he was killed, Hastings sent an email to his editors alerting them that the federal government was investigating him and interviewing his 'close friends and associates'
Hastings' widow says she believes his death was probably just a tragic accident . |
68,424 | c207010b4e4836648d70bb9fc17da156b7bbcf1e | By . Alex Ballard . and Mia De Graaf . Jack Rowe, three, has died after being found lifeless in the swimming pool of his family home in Wiltshire . A three-year-old boy has died after being found lifeless in the swimming pool of his family's £1.2 million mansion just 20 minutes after being reported missing. Jack Rowe's parents alerted villagers across leafy Upavon in Wiltshire at 7pm on Wednesday, fearing he had wondered down to the river. But minutes later, he was discovered by a female relative face-down in the 15-square-foot swimming pool. Despite repeated attempts at CPR, Jack was airlifted to Southampton General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. They said the owners of the home, Nigel and Olivia Rowe, had been living there for a couple of years. Neighbour Jack Leach - who lives with wife Maggie, 64, in a nearby mobile home - said: 'I knew Jack was dead when we were around the pool when they tried unsuccessfully to bring him around.' Mrs Leach said the first thing they searched was the river. 'We assumed the house had been checked. He had been there half an hour before they came to us. 'The family kept saying he did not go near the water. We searched the village but he was in the house all the time. 'We were in our garden and a lady came in and said a little boy had gone missing half an hour ago. 'His name was Jack. He was later found by a girl relative. It is such a tragedy. We did all we could. If I walked passed them I would not know them.' Jack's parents, Olivia and Nigel (far right and second right), alerted villagers at 7pm yesterday fearing their child had wandered down to the river, but discovered him in the pool 20 minutes later . Mike Parr who runs the village shop said: 'A call went out for a missing child. 'There was a village search going on. Eventually he was found back at home. 'A lady asked me to call an ambulance on my mobile just before the police arrived. There were police officers trying to resuscitate him.' Villager John Stevens said: 'I feel very sorry for whoever is involved in this because I have been there. 'I lost my lad at two years nine months old I know what the situation is. That was 52 years ago. I know exactly how they are feeling.' A member of the family said: 'I am really sorry but we are not going to talk about it.' Wiltshire Police said it was working with Hampshire Police to prepare a report for the coroner. Tragic: Rowe was found lifeless in the swimming pool of his parents' £1.2 million mansion in Upavon, Wiltshire . Shock: Residents of the Wiltshire village scoured the river for the child before police announced he had died . No one had been arrested in connection with the events . A formal identification, a post mortem examination and an inquest was due to be carried out in the next few days. A spokeswoman for Wiltshire . Police said the three-year-old had 'tragically passed away in the early . hours of this morning'. 'Formal identification is yet to take place,' the force spokeswoman added. 'Wiltshire Police will now work with Hampshire Constabulary and partner agencies to prepare a report for the coroner’s office.' | Jack Rowe missing for 30 minutes before alert went out to Upavon village .
But 20 minutes later relatives found him face-down in the swimming pool .
Paramedics attempted CPR, he was flown to hospital, pronounced dead . |
44,471 | 7d67c836dbf893d52c199c80997cf7a2f5525347 | (CNN) -- Opponents of health care reform have reached the brink of intellectual bankruptcy. With no original ideas or solutions, they've now resorted to bringing out a tried-and-tested bogeymen in a last-ditch attempt to derail much-needed legislation. Of course, I'm talking about trial lawyers. Somehow, the fringes of the GOP have made health care about trial lawyers and medical malpractice. Instead of focusing on how to fix our broken health care system, opponents of real reform would rather limit the legal rights of injured patients. Talk about misguided priorities. Medical negligence affects real people. The Institute of Medicine found, 10 years ago, that up to 98,000 people die every year from preventable medical errors, and countless more are severely injured. This is like two 737s crashing every day for an entire year. If air travel were this unsafe, would we blame the passengers or the airlines? But instead of working to create a better, safer health care system, some have decided that casting injured patients aside is an easier route to go. Last time I checked, this bill is supposed to be about health care, not bargaining away people's rights. Tort law changes are not a new or novel idea. Forty-six states have passed some kind of tort reform -- our research finds about 36 of them have some sort of cap on damages -- yet costs have continued to skyrocket. Instead of saving money for consumers, tort reform has served as a sop to the insurance industry, allowing them to make record profits off the backs of doctors and patients. On average, doctors' premiums are actually higher in states that cap the amount of damages patients or families can receive, compared with states without such caps, according to the Medical Liability Monitor. Just look at Texas and California, frequently mentioned as "models" for tort reform despite having the most Draconian anti-patient laws in the nation. Both states impose caps on damages, a cruel and unjust way to value one's life. A patient who has been disfigured, blinded, or lost a limb is worth almost nothing under their respective state laws. The same applies to children, the elderly, and homemakers -- because they don't have any "lost wages," the cost of bringing a case is almost equal to the maximum amount they can recover, putting justice out of reach. And how is health care in Texas and California today? They both lead the nation in the number of uninsured, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and have the most expensive health care markets, . It hasn't lowered costs or covered the uninsured, but prevented people injured through no fault of their own from seeking justice. Hardly a "model" the rest of the nation should follow. The health care bill passed by the House (Section 2531) provides states with incentive payments for instituting certain malpractice pilot projects; caps on damages or attorney's fees do not apply, as they have clearly been miserable failures for patients in California, Texas, and elsewhere. But that won't stop health care reform opponents in the Senate from proposing similar ways to limit patients' legal rights, even though it's been shown time and again to not lower costs, cover the uninsured, or improve patient safety. Lawmakers should ask families devastated by medical negligence what they think about so-called "tort reform." Blake Fought, 19, had just recovered from an illness and was ready to go home when a nurse improperly removed his central line IV. Because of the improper procedure, bubbles of air entered Blake's brain, heart and blood vessels. In front of the nurses and his own parents, who were there to take their son home, Blake asphyxiated and died. Or ask the Gourley family, whose son Colin has cerebral palsy from negligence that happened during his birth. He could not speak until he was 5, and has been through numerous surgeries because of orthopedic issues. After a jury determined that Colin was a victim of medical negligence, caps in that state cut his verdict to a quarter of what he will need. Colin will be forced to rely on state assistance for the rest of his life. What's surprising to many is that there are hardly any medical negligence suits in the first place -- less than 1 percent of the whole civil docket. While up to 98,000 people die every year from medical errors, and countless more are injured, only one in eight ever files suit. A 2006 Harvard study found that 97 percent of claims were meritorious, debunking the idea there's an influx of "frivolous" suits. It's perplexing why this one issue -- making up only half a percent of all health care costs -- serves as red meat for such rabid health care reform opponents. But when one doesn't have substantive, constructive solutions to fixing health care, it's easier to create straw men and cast aspersions. If you want to put the trial bar out of business, start with decreasing the number of unnecessary deaths and injuries from preventable medical errors. Not only will that lower costs and lead to healthier patients, but also mean fewer people seeking legal recourse. Instead of limiting the rights of injured patients, institute safeguards to ensure their health and well-being in the first place. Next time you hear a baseless attack on trial attorneys or calls for "tort reform," remember what health care is all about: patients. And restricting patients' legal rights won't make anyone safer or healthier, nor will it lower costs or cover the uninsured. It's just another desperate distraction in a debate that has seen its fair share of off-the-wall rhetoric and political theater. With all the deaths each year from preventable medical errors, this is not a topic that warrants foolishness and nonsense. There is simply too much as stake. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Anthony Tarricone. | Tarricone: Health bill foes using scare tactic of tort reform to stop needed change .
Institute of Medicine finds up to 98,000 people die each year from medical errors, he says .
Tarricone: Harvard study found 97 percent of claims meritorious, debunking suits are "frivolous"
He writes: Instead of limiting injured patients' rights, take steps to ensure their health . |
95,006 | 061455593536ad606f80a707cec3e29ae57dd274 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- A British Royal Navy nuclear submarine and its French equivalent collided while on operations in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, defense ministries in Paris and London confirmed Monday. The British Royal Navy submarine HMS Vanguard. Both vessels, HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant, were armed with nuclear warheads and suffered damage but were able to return to port under their own power following the collision. "Two "SNLE" (nuclear submarines), one French and the other British, were, a few days ago, on standard patrols in the Atlantic. They briefly came in contact in a very slow speed while they were immersed," the French Ministry of Defense said in a statement. "There is no casualty or injury among the crew. Neither the nuclear deterrent mission nor the nuclear security have been compromised." In an earlier press release issued on February 6, the Ministry of Defense said the vessel's sonar dome had been damaged in a collision. The vessel was able to return to its base at Ile Longue in Brittany, northwest France, accompanied by a frigate. The UK's Ministry of Defence also confirmed the incident. In a statement, the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathan Band said the collision occurred during "routine national patrols." Watch Band describe "slow-speed impact" » . "Both submarines remained safe and no injuries occurred. We can confirm that the capability remained unaffected and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety," Band said. HMS Vanguard returned to its home base at Faslane in Scotland on February 14. The UK's Sun newspaper reported that dents and scrapes were visible on the vessel's hull as it was towed into dock by a tugboat. Both the UK and French nuclear deterrent operations depend on complete secrecy, despite both countries' membership of NATO. But naval analyst Richard Cobbold told CNN that procedures would be in place to ensure that French and British submarines were routinely kept apart. "Either one of these submarines was doing something different or somebody made a mistake -- but we don't know that," Cobbold said. Watch why the collision is an embarrassment for both the British and the French » . Both submarines were equipped with state-of-the-art sonar technology, but Cobbold said it was possible that neither was aware of the close proximity of the other vessel. "Modern submarines are very, very quiet. In many types of water conditions they might not hear the approach of another submarine," he said. But with both nations keeping at least one nuclear-armed submarine constantly at sea for the past 40 years, he said it was no surprise that they had eventually ended up in the same area of ocean. "Even in an ocean the size of the North Atlantic the submarines are eventually going to be in the same patch of water at the same time," he said. In a statement issued Monday, the UK-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament described the incident as "a nuclear nightmare of the highest order." "The collision of two submarines, both with nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons onboard could have released vast amounts of radiation and scattered scores of nuclear warheads across the seabed," said CND chair Kate Hudson. "The dents reportedly visible on the British sub show the boats were no more than a couple of seconds away from total catastrophe." Hudson said the incident was the most serious involving a nuclear submarine since the sinking of the Russian Kursk in 2000 with the loss of the vessel's entire 118-man crew. HMS Vanguard, which was launched in 1992, is one of four submarines which make up the UK's nuclear deterrent. Its firepower includes 16 Trident II D5 missiles capable of delivering multiple warheads to targets up to a range of 4,000 nautical miles. The 150-meter vessel carries a crew of 141 and is powered by a uranium-fueled pressurized water reactor. Vanguard Class submarines routinely spend weeks at a time underwater on patrol in the North Atlantic. But contact with naval commanders and government officials, including the defense secretary and the prime minister, is maintained at all times by a "comprehensive network of communications installations," the Royal Navy Web site said. Le Triomphant was launched in 1994 and entered service in 1997 with a crew of 111, according to the GlobalSecurity.org Web site. Its weapons include 16 M45 missiles capable of launching multiple nuclear warheads. The UK has maintained a nuclear arsenal since 1956, with at least one nuclear-armed submarine somewhere at sea continuously since 1969. In 2006 the government approved plans to develop a new generation of nuclear weapon-carrying submarines which is due to be ready to replace the Vanguard Class by 2024. But the program, which is expected to cost around £20 billion ($29 billion), has been heavily criticized by anti-nuclear campaigners. | British, French nuclear submarines collide in Atlantic, defense ministries confirm .
Accident occured during "routine patrols," defense ministries say .
Both vessels, HMS Vanguard, Le Triomphant, armed with nuclear warheads .
Anti-nuclear group: Incident is "a nuclear nightmare of the highest order" |
37,872 | 6b2f8dbadce6f00a5e5e2373d61b6f1ba3c31072 | By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 19:14 EST, 15 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 01:36 EST, 16 July 2013 . A man who was allegedly killed by James 'Whitey' Bulger predicted he would be killed if Bulger learned he'd been cooperating with authorities, a former FBI agent testified on Monday. Retired agent Gerald Montanari told jurors in Bulger's racketeering case that Edward 'Brian' Halloran became an FBI informant in 1982 and agreed to testify against Bulger and members of his gang in the 1981 slaying of Tulsa, Okla., businessman Roger Wheeler, as well as other killings. Halloran was facing a state murder charge and hoped his cooperation would help him in that case — and secure protection for himself and his family. James 'Whitey' Bulger: He was one of the nation's most wanted fugitives after he fled Boston in 1994. He was finally captured two years ago in Santa Monica, California and faces 32 counts, including 19 murder charges . Halloran told the former agent Bulger . or his partner, Stephen 'The Rifleman' Flemmi, would probably kill him . if they found out he was cooperating, Montanari said. 'He . said that if Bulger or Flemmi had any indication that he was . cooperating with the FBI that they would go to any extreme, even if it . meant killing innocent bystanders, including his family,' Montanari . said. Bulger is charged with . opening fire on a car Halloran was in a few months after he turned . informant. Halloran and Michael Donahue, an acquaintance who had offered . him a ride home, were killed. Bulger, . 83, has pleaded not guilty to participating in 19 killings during the . 1970s and '80s while he allegedly led the Winter Hill Gang. He . has also denied prosecutors' assertions that he was a longtime FBI . informant who ratted on the rival New England Mafia and other criminals. Murdered: Edward Brian Halloran reached out to the FBI in 1981 about a murder Whitey Bulger had been involved in. By 1982 he was shot dead as he was being driven home by a friend . Montanari . said Halloran was a 'mid-level strong-arm type' who acted as an . enforcer for the gang. He said Halloran reached out to the FBI at the . end of 1981 about Wheeler's death. The FBI made arrangements for Halloran and his family to live in a rented house on Cape Cod to protect him, Montanari said. He . said the FBI believed if Halloran abided by the guidelines given to . him, including that he not go to Boston, 'we felt this would be . sufficient security for him.' Montanari . said he and another agent met with Halloran dozens of times over a . period of two to three months, and he told them about various crimes he . said were committed by Bulger, Flemmi, hit man John Martorano and . others. Halloran had agreed . to wear a recording device to capture conversations he had with a Bulger . associate who played a role in the Wheeler killing, Montanari said. Partners: James 'Whitey' Bulger, left, walking with his former right hand man, Kevin Weeks. Weeks took the witness stand at Bulger's racketeering trial and described double killings, multiple extortions and drug dealing . Prosecutors . say Bugler learned of Halloran's cooperation through former FBI agent . John Connolly, who was Bulger's handler while he was an FBI informant. Halloran was gunned down in May 1982, near a restaurant in South Boston. Montanari . said the FBI told Halloran before his death that they were closing him . as an informant because he would not take a lie detector test and was . waffling on whether to go into the witness protection program. In . other testimony Monday, Martorano's former girlfriend, Patricia . Carlson, described living with Martorano while he was on the run after . he was indicted in the late 1970s. Partners in crime: A number of former drug dealers have come forward to explain how Bulger banned them from selling drugs in South Boston. Here James 'Whitey' Bulger (left) is shown with Kevin Weeks . Carlson, . who was then Patricia Lytle, said she began dating Martorano when she . was 15 and he was 35. She said one day he asked her if she wanted to go . to Florida for a vacation. 'We ended up staying there 20 years,' she . said. They had a son together, James Stephen, now 27. Martorano testified earlier that his son was named after Bulger and Flemmi. Carlson . described a series of cash payments she received from Bulger's gang, . including a $10,000 payment that was left at her mother's house in July . 1996 after Martorano was arrested. She also testified that she told numerous lies when she appeared before a federal grand jury in 1995. 'I . was worried that I was going to cause more problems for Johnny. I was . concerned with what was going to happen with my 8-year-old boy, and . Johnny told me to lie,' she said. Carlson . said she only recently admitted she lied after she spoke to her . attorney and he told her that the statute of limitations for perjury had . expired. Under . cross-examination by Bulger attorney Hank Brennan, Carlson said that up . until last month, the government had not contacted her since her 1995 . grand jury testimony to provide information about Martorano's illegal . activities. In other . testimony, Dr. Richard Evans, the retired chief medical examiner for . Massachusetts, reviewed reports in all 19 killings and listed the cause . of death for each one. He said most of the victims had multiple gunshot . wounds. | Trial is now in its sixth week of testimony .
Retired FBI agent told how informant Edward 'Brian' Halloran was set to testify against Bulger in 1982 .
Halloran fortold if Bulger or his partner Stephen Flemmi would kill him if they found out .
A few months later, Halloran was shot dead whilst riding in a car . |
193,155 | 86133e11d01746ebec2fb07f054032054baae8cb | By . Australian Associated Press . A man who pleaded guilty over his role in a drunken assault in which a Sydney man suffered serious head injuries has been given a 12-month good behaviour bond and told to grow up and keep his nose clean. Jamie Ennis, 24, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday for sentencing over the December assault at Bondi which left Michael McEwen fighting for his life with serious head injuries. Both men were 'well intoxicated' at the time of the fight and Magistrate Lee Gilmour told Ennis he had 'to grow up'. 'Alcohol will explain why you are acting like a goose but it will never excuse it,' she said. Scroll down for video . Michael Ennis, 24, leaves Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney today after getting a 12-month good behaviour bond and a stern warning from the judge . Michael McEwen sustained serious head injuries in the attack, which he claims he doesn't remember . Ennis was on bail at the time of the assault and now has two convictions on his record. 'You don't want a third,' Ms Gilmour warned. She added: 'You must keep your nose squeaky clean'. Ennis had initially pleaded not guilty to affray. It was alleged he started the fight by arguing with Mr McEwen and grabbing his shirt. Another man, who was drinking with Ennis that evening, then punched and kicked Mr McEwen. Mr McEwan told 60 Minutes in February he had no memory of the attack, and has had trouble getting his head around what happened. 'At first I just didn’t believe it,' he said. 'It really sank in when they had the TV on and it was the news, I think, and my face was on it and it was like, "Bondi bashing victim awakes from coma",' he said. In sentencing, the judge gave Ennis a stern warning, saying: '[You] seem to be a hard worker. Don't ruin that.' In July, Ennis' lawyers offered to plead guilty to common assault if the affray charge was dropped. Police agreed and didn't oppose the defence's recommendation of a good behaviour bond in court on Tuesday. Ennis was arrested just before Christmas and spent the holiday period in jail. The 16 days in custody was 'something he will reflect back on,' the court heard. During the brief sentencing, Ms Gilmour said Ennis 'seems to be a hard worker'. 'Don't ruin that,' she said. After signing the bond Ennis walked free from the court. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Jamie Ennis pleaded guilty to assaulting Michael McEwen in December .
Pair were involved in a drunken altercation in Bondi .
Ennis, 24, given 12-month good behaviour and told 'keep your nose clean'
McEwen sustained serious head injuries and doesn't remember the attack . |
137,909 | 3e598476c037c2969b9d610fcee9d461262c7395 | New York (CNN) -- A peacock that had escaped from the Central Park Zoo returned home on its own Wednesday morning, the Wildlife Conservation Society told CNN. The peacock flew home at 6:45 a.m. and was safe, the society said. "We have recovered the peacock as anticipated this morning when it flew home at sunrise back into the Central Park Zoo," Zoo Director Jeff Sailer said. "A thorough understanding of the peacock's natural behavior allowed for the successful planning of its recovery." The peacock wandered from the zoo in Manhattan on Tuesday, said Mary Dixon, society spokeswoman. The bird made its way to a Fifth Avenue apartment building near the park and perched on a third-floor windowsill, but it wasn't there on Wednesday morning. Zoo officials had encouraged onlookers to avoid following or harassing the peacock. They say the runaway posed no danger to the public. Zoo officials did not say how the bird escaped or what type of enclosure he was in. According to the zoo's website, peafowl are kept in the Tisch Children's zoo, which is described as a "walk-through wildlife adventure." The notorious peacock drummed up more than 340 followers on its @CentralPeacock Twitter feed. The Central Park escapee comes after a peahen -- the female counterpart to a peacock -- fled the Bronx Zoo in May. In March, a cobra disappeared from its Bronx Zoo pen for five days. | The peacock returned on its own to the Central Park Zoo early Wednesday .
The return occurred "as anticipated," zoo director says .
The zoo had asked people not to hurt the bird . |
20,095 | 390a82f6f49cad470b3278465d07a9320c163fd3 | By . Harriet Arkell . A pregnant would-be glamour model who had a breast enlargement on the NHS has said she would consider giving up smoking - as long as the State paid for it. Josie Cunningham, 23, from Leeds, is expecting her third child in two months, but continues to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. Yesterday she told how she enjoys taxpayer-funded taxis on the school run, costing £6,000 a year, because she claimed she is so hated after having a free £4,800 breast operation that she cannot use public transport. Today the single mother, who is pregnant after working as an escort girl, said she had cut down from 40 cigarettes a day to 20, but would need help from her GP to cut the habit completely. Scroll down for video . Living off the state: Josie Cunningham, 23, from Leeds, says she will give up smoking, but it'll cost us . Unrepentant: Miss Cunningham taunted those angry about her use of public money via Twitter . She told The Sun: 'It's not illegal for me to smoke while pregnant' and boasted of halving her £18 a day habit. Miss Cunningham, who would not comment further on her smoking comments today, added: 'I'm hoping my doctor will be able to help get me off the fags. But the public will probably whinge about funding that as well.' Yesterday she fuelled the fire of public outrage by posting a provocative tweet saying: 'Sticks and stone may break my bones but taxpayers will always fund me.' Anti-smoking advice, counselling, drugs and patches are all available on the NHS, but at a cost to the taxpayer. News that Miss Cunningham had had a breast augmentation, funded by the same NHS Trust that refused to fund surgery that would have enabled a two-year-old girl with a form of cerebral palsy to walk provoked outrage across the country. Miss Cunningham later claimed her breasts, which were boosted from a 32A to a 36D, were ‘so big’ she found them embarrassing, and said the NHS should pay for a reduction. Then she tried to placate public opinion by promising to pay back the cash. Video courtesy of ITV Loose Women . Before and after: The former escort had a £4,800 breast operation on the NHS taking her from a 32A to a 36D . But when she became pregnant after working as a £1,000-a-night escort, she admitted she could not uphold her pledge – and now continues to soak up public funds. She has had £1,500 of Botox treatment for excessive sweating, and two months ago, she boasted she would be having £2,500 of free dental work now she is expecting. And earlier this year, the publicity-hungry mother threatened to have an abortion after being invited to go on Big Brother. Yesterday Miss Cunningham told how she and her children, aged six and three, are driven two-and-a-half miles to and from the local school, twice a day. The journey, which costs Leeds Council £30 a day, would cost around £30 a week by bus, but Miss Cunningham insisted it was worth it, and said taxpayers should be grateful it was taxis rather than more expensive private hire cars. This year Leeds council is having to make savings of £50million from its budget. A spokesman said: 'We are not able to comment on individual cases. However, the council takes matters relating to attendance at school extremely seriously.' There are plenty of services offered free on the NHS for those needing help to give up cigarettes. GPs can provide patients with details of their local NHS Stop Smoking Service, which will offer help from trained advisers. They can draw up a stop smoking plan, and available treatments may include counselling, nicotine patches, gum, inhalers, microtabs, lozenges, and nasal and mouth sprays. The majority of these medicines are called nicotine replacement therapies (NRT). Patients may also be offered two types of non-NRT medicines - Champix (varenicline) tablets or Zyban (buproprion) tablets. There is also a Stop Smoking helpline, which is free to call, and various group therapies for those who prefer to tackle their problem with others. Source: Smokefree NHS . | Single mother Josie Cunningham, 23, had £4,800 breast enlargement on NHS .
It was paid for by same Trust that refused surgery for girl with cerebral palsy .
Yesterday she boasted of £30-a-day taxpayer-funded taxis for the school run .
Now the former escort from Leeds says she needs GP's help to quit smoking .
She boasts of having cut down from 40 cigarettes a day - but still smokes 20 .
And she taunts those who criticise her soaking up vital funds via Twitter .
'Sticks and stones may break my bones but taxpayers will always fund me' |
104,275 | 128a3260aa41356a5ea18c85e115a3c23b6bc560 | Putting the kitchen knives away and out of reach of our 11-year-old son for fear he would deliberately hurt himself has been, without doubt, our lowest point as parents. But we had no choice. Two months after starting ‘big school’ last year our lovely boy, Jack, our previously care-free fourth child, had made an attempt to cut his arm with a large chopping knife. Jack had skipped off to secondary school full of excitement. When your child breaks a leg it’s a blue light into A&E. But when you arrive at a GP surgery to seek help on mental problems, the first response was to tell our child to pull himself together (file picture) But within weeks he had descended into a mental health freefall — consumed with worry about being late to school and struggling with his homework, he became severely withdrawn and paranoid. He wasn’t sleeping, and his anxiety was making him physically unwell. My husband and I were not remotely prepared for it. Three months after he tried to cut himself — and by now nearly halfway through his school year — Jack was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), which means you feel anxious about almost everything. Sufferers also start catastrophising, imagining the worst possible outcome for everything that is bothering them. Indeed for Jack, every problem would morph into something far bigger. Our son is now well on his way to a complete recovery, thanks to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). But accessing the specialist help he needed was unbelievably difficult, and if I hadn’t kept battling his corner, there is no doubt in my mind that by now he would be in hospital. When your child breaks a leg it’s a blue light into A&E. When their asthma gets worse, the doctor will write you a new inhaler prescription. But when you arrive at a GP surgery to seek help on mental problems, the first response — at least in our case — was to tell our child to pull himself together. So a crushing report published last month by the Commons Health Select Committee made painfully familiar reading. It is estimated that one in ten children aged five to 16 suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder — including GAD —which equates to three children per class. That’s 290,000 children in Britain. The report concluded there were ‘serious and deeply ingrained problems’ with mental health services for these young people. You’re telling me. At first, I approached the school, two weeks into Jack’s first term. Doctors often feel woefully unprepared when faced with children in mental health crisis, according to the report from the Commons Health Select Committee . I explained he seemed disproportionately stressed. But responses from staff were feeble: ‘Don’t worry, it’s Year Seven, they all feel a bit like this’ and ‘We have children here with real problems, just give him time, he’ll settle’. Although Jack was able to keep it together at school, every day he would come home crying and all the problems would tumble out. ‘I don’t like that school, I don’t like my tutor, I’ve no one to sit with at break,’ the list was endless. As the weeks went by, he started having trouble sleeping. He would regularly still be awake into the early hours, crying and screaming that he hated life. He began to sleepwalk and lost weight. It was a frightening time for all of us. I felt wretched. Every waking minute of every day my thoughts were centred on Jack. After two months, I took him to see the GP. I couldn’t get an appointment with my usual doctor, so we saw another GP in the practice. She didn’t know our family at all, and had no way of gauging if this behaviour was usual for us. Indeed, doctors often feel woefully unprepared when faced with children in mental health crisis, according to the new report. In a poignant comment, GP Jane Roberts, who is the Royal College of General Practitioners’ clinical champion for youth mental health issues, told the Commons Health Select Committee: ‘In a ten-minute consultation it can feel overwhelming to open a Pandora’s box and begin to look at what is troubling a young person . . . especially if the options for referral are limited and difficult to access.’ The report’s authors want GPs to receive better training in young people’s mental health, saying everyone has a right to see a professional with sufficient knowledge. Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, says it has been campaigning to include mandatory placements in mental health care in GP training. The GP we saw initially advised us to give Jack a few more weeks to see if school became more familiar. But a week later Jack came home with his older brother, who announced he couldn’t cope any more with his sibling’s increasingly erratic behaviour to and from school. He said Jack was constantly checking his bag, checking the time and, on occasions, would try to go back to school at the end of the day to check his homework with the teachers. It's estimated 290,000 children aged five to 16 suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder . It was as he was telling me this that Jack took a large kitchen knife to his arm. It was a half-hearted attempt and thankfully he didn’t actually pierce the skin. My ‘lioness protecting her cubs’ instinct kicked in. Through his tears — and mine — I calmly told him to put down the knife and hugged him, saying whatever I could think of to comfort him. You will do anything to protect your child, but I knew I was woefully out of my depth. As much as I was saying we would help him, I knew ‘the system’ was failing us. That same day, I went to the GP surgery and asked for an appointment then and there. But it was the end of surgery hours and it was only when I quietly refused to leave they agreed to see us. We saw yet another GP, who leaned forward and told Jack all about the patients she had seen that day, who were perhaps more in need of help than him. I told her calmly that our son had dallied with knives and told his brother he wanted to die. The GP — barely out of med-school — stayed completely expressionless, not so much as a raised eyebrow. I asked for a referral to child and adolescent mental health services and at first she suggested we wait and see and come back in the New Year — some four weeks later — if need be. With tears of frustration now rolling down my cheeks, I again indicated my willingness to camp in the surgery until the referral letter was written. She begrudgingly agreed, though our son still wasn’t seen — even as an emergency referral — until January. The psychiatrist we saw was sympathetic but made a shocking suggestion. If we could afford it we should pay privately for CBT — Jack could wait to get it on the NHS, but that could take as long as three months. She could see he needed help urgently, but said there was nothing she could do. Chris Leaman, policy manager at the charity YoungMinds, is not surprised by our story. He says last year 77 per cent of clinical commissioning groups, (the bodies responsible in NHS England for commissioning, planning, agreeing and monitoring health services) had their budgets cut or frozen for such services. In emergency cases, children can end up in police cells as there are no NHS beds available. We are lucky. We have private medical insurance. But still it was a battle — at every stage I had to keep chasing, and it wasn’t until March we had our first appointment with the psychologist who would finally help our son. Jack found it hard — CBT works on changing your thought processes, which is not easy — but he is now well on the road to recovery. He found it difficult returning to school this September but his psychologist helped him with strategies so he could cope. We’ve been warned by Jack’s therapist that he may always be someone who doesn’t react well to big change. But how wrong it is that the help he badly needed was not there for him. Please, health provider decision makers, wake up and make child and adolescent mental health issues a bigger priority. Just last week it was revealed seven mental health patients have killed themselves since 2012 while waiting for a bed on a specialist ward. What more will it take before mental healthcare is taken seriously? It has to be, for all our sakes — but most of all for those young people who need it. For information see youngminds.org.uk and brentcentre.org.uk. Patsy Bennett is a pseudonym. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Jack became severely withdrawn after staring secondary school .
He was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
One in ten children aged five to 16 suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder .
A Parliamentary report want GPs to receive better training in young people’s mental health . |
213,982 | a120dacfbfdfa7058492ff161c658161e72b885f | By . Freya Noble . and Nelson Groom For Daily Mail Australia . Police can not confirm whether any of the five men who were interviewed over an alleged gang rape which took place in a Melbourne lane at the weekend were the same individuals seen in CCTV footage officers released in relation to the vicious attack. On Tuesday evening the men handed themselves into police following an appear for information about the early morning attack, which saw a 47-year-old woman's feet bound with masking tape while she was raped by five men in Snowball Lane, South Yarra, in Melbourne's inner city. The men, three 20-year-olds from Bentleigh, a 19-year-old also from Bentleigh, and a 21-year-old from Dandenong presented to police at 9pm last night. Scroll down for video . CCTV footage released by police of a man they wish to identify in relation to the brutal gang rape of a woman in inner Melbourne . A Victorian Police spokesperson confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they have been interviewed and released pending further investigations. However the spokesperson could not confirm whether the men who were interviewed were the same individuals who appeared in the CCTV footage. The interviews follow the release of security footage by police help them identify men they wanted to speak to over the alleged gang rape and bashing. After the incident, the victim ran naked to nearby Chapel Street where she raised the alarm. Chapel Street is a well-known entertainment strip in Melbourne and is considered one of the city's most exclusive areas. Another suspect police are looking to to identify over the attack that took place in South Yarra, Melbourne . Police described the attack as 'traumatic' for the woman, who was taken to hospital for treatments afterwards. Detectives from the Sexual Crimes Squad are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and will review all CCTV footage in the area in an attempt to identify those involved. Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Michael Phyland said all five men sexually assaulted the woman, whose ankles were bound with masking tape during the attack. 'It's been a very traumatic occurrence for the victim,' he said. Det Sen Sgt Phyland said some of the details of the attack were still unclear and it was too early to tell if it was planned. 'At this stage it may appear more of an opportunistic situation,' Det Sen Sgt Phyland said on Tuesday. 'She was on her own and she had been in that area,' he said. The two men (above) police want to speak to over the attack. Officers cannot confirm whether the men showen in the footage were the same individuals interviewed by police on Tuesday evening . Investigators are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward and assist them with their investigation. Asked if the woman was a sex worker, Det Sen Sgt Phyland said he would not discuss the victim's personal circumstances. One of the men the woman was seen with was a 25-to 30-year-old Caucasian, about 175cm tall, with short blond hair, a black hoodie and dark pants. The other was a 20- to 30-year-old man of Islander appearance, about 183cm tall, with a solid build, wearing a black shirt with white writing and a checked shirt on top of that. Anyone with any information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. | The alleged attack happened in Snowball Lane, South Yarra, in Melbourne .
The 47-year-old female victim was later taken to hospital for treatment .
Sexual Crime Squad released CCTV footage of those they want to speak to over the alleged attack .
Five men have handed themselves in to police over the attack .
Three 20-year-olds and a 19-year-old from Bentleigh, and a 21-year-old from Dandenong, presented to police around 9pm last night .
They were interviewed by officers and released pending further investigation .
Police could not confirm if those interviewed were the same as the men in the footage . |
134,085 | 3959c97b3e8c3c203db14387fcd972753b716aa7 | By . Marie-louise Olson . PUBLISHED: . 09:09 EST, 11 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:53 EST, 11 November 2013 . 'I'm an atheist': Eric Fromm, 21, has confessed that he does not believe in God. He is the president of the student body at Northwest Christian University in Oregon . The president of a student body at a Christian university in Oregon has shocked his peers by coming out as an atheist. Eric Fromm, 21, a senior at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, revealed he does not believe in God in the student-run online newspaper, Beacon Bolt, in a blog post on October 30. Fromm told the student community that he finally confessing because he was feeling ‘burdened’ by living a constant lie about his faith. ‘I am an atheist. Yes, you read that correctly, I am an atheist,’ he wrote in the blog post he entitled, Lifting the Curtain. Fromm admitted he chose the school because it had a solid communications program. ‘Before I enrolled, I visited the campus to make sure that the chapel services were comfortable enough that I could fulfil the requirement,’ he said. ‘No one was speaking in tongues or handling snakes, so I decided to stay.’ Good school: Fromm said he chose Northwest-Christian-University because of its communications program . A journey: Jeannine Jones, the university's director of relations, said Eric's path to his faith is 'central to our mission' However, he has been living in constant fear of . his peers rejecting him ‘because of the fact that I don’t believe in God . – because I am an atheist’. So, he decided to come out. The university’s director of university relations, Jeannine Jones, told ABC News that this did not come as a surprise. ‘Eric and his journey to his faith are central to our mission,’ she said. ‘All . of our students are on a journey. While the majority of our students . profess a Christian faith, not all do. We as an institution meet . students were they are at and believe that our God is big enough.’ The . school’s website says its mission is to ‘highlight our Christian . identity in ways that unite Christians everywhere, and not in ways that . tend to cause division between various groups of Christians. In this . spirit, we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, . and we proclaim him Lord and Savior of the world.’ Fromm’s . confessions in Lifting the Curtain have since gone viral on the . internet and comments from around the world and within the US have . started to appear. He is also getting a lot more support at the university than he anticipated. ‘I . was expecting for it to be non-accepting and I was very afraid of it,’ Fromm told ABC News. ‘I actually have gotten more hugs than ever . before. It's a very strange thing.’ Confession: Fromm came out as an atheist in a blog post in the online student newspaper, Beacon Bolt . Some comments in a local paper that picked up on the story, the Eugene Register-Guard, have criticised Fromm’s actions. ‘Atheists actions are quite contradictory. First, they say their lives are like a drop in the ocean. That is, their lives and their actions are but an accident and also insignificant in the whole scheme of things. YET, they go about advertising and preaching their OWN INSIGNIFICANCE?’ said one. Brandon McGinnis, Fromm's former roommate and editor-in-chief of the Beacon Bolt, said rumours had started to spread around campus that Fromm hated Christians. ‘Eric was upset people were questioning the way they were,’ McGinnis told ABC News. Fromm, who was baptized Lutheran and raised Methodist, was an atheist before starting at the university. Fromm, left, published his controversial thoughts in the student-run paper, Beacon Bolt. The paper's editor-in-chief, Brandon McGinnis, right, who is also his former roommate, said rumours had started spreading around campus that Fromm 'hated Christians'. He said it had 'upset' Fromm, as that was not the case . ‘For me, church was an empty ritual that I participated in so I could see friends, scripture was largely mythological, and Jesus was a great moral teacher, but he wasn't God,’ said Fromm's post. Fromm will not be asked to step down as the president of the student body at NCU over this article, according to Jones. Fromm said he was also shocked to see how many people online have reached out to him with their own personal stories and also to tell him he was an inspiration to them. 'I have learned so many things about people's struggles,' Fromm said. 'I never really knew that people could struggle, that an atheist could feel this struggle. 'It makes me very happy that I can change people this way, and it's not insulting any religion, and it's not destroying who the person is,' he said. | Eric Fromm, 21, senior at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon, revealed the shocking news in the student-run newspaper .
The student body president said he couldn't live with the burden of lying about his faith .
Fromm chose the school because of its communications program .
His confession has garnered mixed response, mostly supportive within the university .
He believes Jesus was 'a great moral teacher, but he wasn't God' |
254,794 | d5d04a9e18a2dd81fd2d3217ee3196d135897bbb | (CNN) -- At first, Miguel Hernandez thought it was a mistake, or worse, a joke. The 19-year-old had been pulled over for failure to use his turn signal, but the fact that he is an undocumented immigrant landed him in a detention center in rural Georgia. Hernandez was certain that deportation proceedings would follow soon, and was mulling over it when a guard brought some news: He was being released. "I was walking and I was thinking, this is a joke. They probably got confused with another guy or something," Hernandez said. More likely, Hernandez was one of hundreds of undocumented immigrants released from detention because of looming budget cuts set to take effect Friday absent congressional action. The package of forced budget cuts, known as sequestration, will mean $85 billion of government-wide cuts. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) decision to move detainees to less costly supervision options was met with backlash from Republicans who accuse the Obama administration of using scare tactics to win a political battle. "It's abhorrent that President Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, said. "By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives." But the White House had no input on the plan, spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday. The decision was made by career ICE employees, an administration official told CNN. The move was made because the agency was preparing its year-end budget and had to take budget cuts into consideration, the official said. An exact number of released detainees has not been released; ICE characterized it as "several hundred." The population of immigration detainees is currently about 30,700. Those who have been released are non-criminals or low-risk offenders without serious criminal histories, ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said. "Detainees with serious criminal histories are a detention priority and have not been released," she said. Another ICE official reiterated that all of those released remain in deportation proceedings, released on an order of supervision. Some of those released will be on intensive supervision, such as ankle monitors, while others will just have weekly check-ins with an ICE officer, the official said. Hernandez, the young man who was released in Georgia, can't know for sure that he was released because of budget cuts. But he does fit the category of minor offenders, and was released at the same time as dozens of other detainees. Those being released alongside Hernandez on Sunday were confused about what was happening. Some detainees who had bonds as high as $25,000 were being told they were bonded and released. Hernandez said he believes some of those released with him are repeat offenders who have been previously deported. Most were given a paper with a court date, but not Hernandez. He has been waiting for his court date to be mailed to him. Another congressman, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, wrote a letter to ICE Director John Morton demanding accountability. He wants to know exactly how many detainees were released, and where, and the reason for each person's detention. "This decision reflects the lack of resource prioritization within the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is indicative of the department's weak stance on national security," McCaul said. Planning for the detainee release began last Thursday, a senior administration official told CNN. Hernandez said he doesn't understand what all the fuss is about. "I don't know why this affects them -- I'm not a criminal," he said. CNN's Jessica Yellin and Gustavo Valdes contributed to this report. | ICE's decision to release immigrant detainees because of budget cuts is being criticized .
Republicans say the move puts the public at risk .
White House says it had no input in the decision .
An immigrant talks about his release . |
2,160 | 0650ac1fe9ccbdc84c6bbd81609a270ba3dc0665 | Lonely hearts looking for a mate have been known to go to extraordinary lengths to find the partner of their dreams. But for these people, captured in images posted on a Russian dating site, those lengths might be just a bit too far. The images provide a bizarre snapshot into the worlds of the people looking for love - and in some cases a weird and wonderful view inside their minds. This girl attempts to pose seductively by a microwave, complete with knife block and cat food box on top . This lady thinks that munching on an entire watermelon is a surefire way to attract the partner of her dreams . This lady thinks that a pair of rubber gloves make a seductive accessory . (left) and (right) a swordsman displays his softer side, and an array . of weaponry, in an attempt to woo an impressed other half . In one of the hilarious pictures a woman, who has fashioned a mermaid costume from what looks like an ironed tablecloth, gazes seductively at the camera. And in another, which is designed to find the subject a date, a woman takes a bathtime selfie complete with glass of wine... and yellow rubber gloves. Sometimes homemade isn't always best: This woman created her own mermaid costume for her picture . Musclebound: This man hopes that showing off his body on the dating site will bag him a potential love interest . Seductive? This lady thinks that pouring a can of Jaguar on her clothes on a riverbank creates a sexy look . Does this man think that posing with a gun in front of ornamental dogs will detract from his unusual hairstyle? Food also features in the saucy snaps, with one lady pictured pouring a fizzy drink over her clothes on a riverbank. Another woman goes all out, by donning a bikini to munch on a whole watermelon, an image which she hopes will attract a potential life partner. This Russian gentleman (left) hopes that showing how flexible he is in a children's playground will make a potential partner swoon. (Right) a man relies on a 'sexy' dead fox headpiece to entice an online love interest . A woman uses those tried and tested seduction tools, a banana and a newspaper, to help in her quest for love . The men don't spare any blushes when looking for love too. One of the pictures shows a topless man, complete with a lego-esque haircut and high-waisted trousers. In the image he is flexing his muscles in a room that looks like it is straight out ITV sitcom Rising Damp. Many people on the site seem to believe that a heavily patterned carpet is the perfect backdrop for a picture . Floral tribute: These guys seem to think that the way to a lover's heart is through snappy dressing and flowers . Another show a man in what can only be described as a shellsuit, performing a unusual backwards high kick in a children's play area. It is not just macho men on display, some . of the boys have got in touch with their feminine side in order to . attract a significant other. This pair like to show off their leisure wear, and think that it will inspire people to get in touch with them online . One man poses in a Halloween witch's hat, while another looks to be sporting an unusual peroxide blonde mullet. However, the fancy headpiece is actually a dead fox. Towels: This sexy bathroom selfie will surely bag this lady a meet-up with somebody from the dating site? Dinner time: This lady thinks her kitchen, and a tea towel are great props for a seductive dating site photo shoot . | From mermaids to swords, welcome to the world of Russian online dating .
Hilarious pictures posted by singles hoping to meet a potential soul mate . |
130,469 | 34b893ac522350f663ee0691ba61fe8b6bc41256 | By . David Kent . QPR have announced that midfielder Esteban Granero has returned to Spain after joining Real Sociedad for an undisclosed fee. The 27-year-old has signed a four-year contract with the Basque outfit until 2018. Granero moved to the Hoops from Real Madrid in 2012 and made 28 appearances during his first season for the club. On the move: QPR midfielder Esteban Granero has joined Real Sociedad . Sparse: The Spanish midfielder made just 28 appearances for QPR in two seasons at the club . But he left the club for Sociedad on loan last summer following QPR's relegation from the Premier League. Unfortunately for him, however, a serious knee injury limited the former Spain Under-21 international to just six appearances in all competitions. A QPR statement read: 'The club would like to thank Esteban for his contribution during his time at Loftus Road and wish him well for the future.' | Esteban Granero joins Real Sociedad on four-year deal from QPR .
Spanish midfielder signs for the club for an undisclosed fee .
Made just 28 appearances for QPR after joining in 2012 . |
127,842 | 3141dbab5785c54bd971541167b2ed7a4e61dbaa | It was with some difficulty that Hamas agreed to extend the ceasefire with Israel for another five days Wednesday. The movement sees a second truce extension as a sign of weakness after 35 days of fighting with Israel. Hamas has used this war to achieve some tactical and strategic objectives and considers itself the winner in the conflict. As such, it believes it can dictate terms. Hamas has seen this war as an opportunity not only to end the blockade of Gaza, but also to end its political isolation and allow itself to present itself as the face of Palestinians -- on and off the battlefield. Hamas' public image has suffered since it came to rule in Gaza in 2007. It chose to keep its focus on resistance, rather than governance, leaving that instead to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Seven years on, the blockade by Israel and Egypt had left the group in dire financial straits. Reuters reports Hamas has struggled to pay some 40,000 civil servants and security personnel. The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs said last month "former de facto government employees, including the security forces, have not been paid salaries regularly since August 2013 and no salaries at all since April 2014." Hamas had hoped that an April agreement to form a "consensus government" with Fatah -- which runs the government in the West Bank -- would resolve the issue. When it did not, Hamas tried to achieve its goals through the conflict with Israel. The already miserable situation in Gaza meant that its fighters had nothing to lose and mass Palestinian casualties, as well damage to property and infrastructure, hardened their resolve. A battle that was launched for humble goals has ended with increased Arab and Palestinian sympathy -- and an expansion of Hamas' objectives. Indeed, some Palestinians believe that Hamas' aims are more factional than national. Some members of Fatah have told me that Hamas prevented their military wing -- the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- fighting during the conflict with Israel, placing around 60 members under house arrest. Hamas also hoped that its war with Israel would indirectly increase public support for its ally in Egypt, the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. However, Hamas is unlikely to quell Egyptian anger at the Brotherhood -- the movement of ousted President Mohamed Morsy. Cairo may have received a high-level delegation from Hamas for peace talks, but it remains hostile to the movement. Hamas' insistence in the peace negotiations on having an independent seaport and airport is aimed at avoiding pressure from Egypt, ruled as it now is by a regime that regards Hamas as an enemy. Hamas has also been at loggerheads with countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, which -- like Egypt -- are looking unfavorably at political Islam. Meanwhile, the group's decision to back Syrian rebels against Bashar al-Assad's regime saw it fighting Israel without the support of Tehran, Hezbollah and Damascus for the first time. The conflict has severely depleted Hamas' arsenal, and it will now be compelled to return to Iran's orbit to rebuild. After two cease-fires and 10 days of negotiations in Cairo Hamas still does not seem to have achieved its objectives. There has been no breakthrough with Israel regarding the re-opening of the border crossings, or ending the blockade. And whatever the agreement with Israel, the Palestinian Authority will be tasked to control Rafah and other Gaza ground crossings with Israel. Any money for the reconstruction of Gaza will also be channeled through the PA, with the conflict thus ensuring the authority takes partial control of Gaza. Despite this erosion of power, Hamas has used the conflict to reestablish itself as an important player in the Middle East, after two years that saw the Muslim Brotherhood and its allies pushed to the margins. Gaza cease-fire extension appears to hold . Israel and its neighbors: Decades of war . Is Mideast peace as far away as ever? | Hamas and Israel agreed Wednesday to extend a truce for another five days .
Palestinian negotiators demands' include a lifting of Israel and Egypt's blockade on Gaza .
But Mohammed Najib says Hamas' objectives also include ending its political isolation .
He says the group has used the conflict to reposition itself as the face of Palestinians . |
53,049 | 967fc9fba357ecbf6873ad3ba97049f84faec88c | (CNN) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's energetic response to Monday's earthquake has been generally praised despite his comparison of the ordeal of survivors staying in emergency tents to a camping weekend. An elderly local resident bursts into tears during a visit by Silvio Berlusconi, wearing a fireman's helmet. Berlusconi has visited the town of L'Aquila, the epicenter of the 6.3-magnitude quake, every day this week, talking to survivors and pledging government help to rebuild houses. He scrapped a visit to Russia that was planned for this week. The PM has even been greeted with applause on occasions, according to CNN correspondent Paula Newton, who interviewed him on Wednesday. "He was very tired when I saw him, you could tell he hadn't had much sleep," Newton said. "In general he thrives on these events and politically it will probably give him a boost, if only temporarily." However, she added that his visit to a dormitory where students were buried under rubble had upset some of the parents and relatives. "They were kept well back and he did not meet with them," she said. Watch Berlusconi talk about the disaster » (Italian version) » . "One relative, in obvious anger, asked another 'why is he here?' and another replied "he's taking care of elections, of course." And true to form Berlusconi has been unable to avoid putting his foot in it. During a visit to one tent village where thousands who had lost their houses were staying, Berlusconi told German television "they should see it like a weekend of camping." The trademark gaffe sparked predictable outrage. "He is a completely insensitive man who thinks wisecracks can solve every problem," Rina Gagliardi, a former senator of the Refoundation Communist Party, told Agence France-Presse. "He can never be negative, but an earthquake disorients him because he can't blame the left for causing it, so his response is extreme optimism," she said. Berlusconi is of course renowned for such off-the-cuff remarks. In November he described Obama as "handsome and suntanned." He was also forced to issue an apology to his wife, Veronica Lario, in 2007 after she read reports of him approaching several women at an awards dinner and declaring: "If I wasn't married, I would marry you straight away." Lario received the apology after sending a letter criticizing her husband to a newspaper in which she said his behavior was "unacceptable" and "damaging to my dignity." Despite the most recent criticism, Berlusconi has won praise from the media for his limelight-hogging visits to the region. People in the temporary camps also say they are being well looked after by the authorities although they are desperate to collect their own things from their homes. In his interview with CNN on Wednesday Berlusconi said every effort was being made to assess which houses were safe to enter. "This is an aerial view of Onno, and you can see, unfortunately, how the town has been totally destroyed," the prime minister told CNN. "Here, we can go into greater detail and concentrate on individual houses. This helps us to assess the damage right away and tells us how much it will cost to rebuild." The Italian government has said it will cost 1.3 billion euros (1.7 billion dollars) to repair or rebuild about 10,000 buildings damaged in the quake. "We have the plans for reconstruction and intend to start immediately with the building projects," Berlusconi told CNN. "We will build a new town near the capital, L'Aquila, and keep the possibility open for many families to stay, for the time being, in hotels along the coast, less than a hour away, in pleasant and comfortable circumstances." Berlusconi said the plan for the new town would involve low-rate mortgages. "This is not an alternative to the reconstruction," he said Wednesday. "These are additional houses." | Italy PM's response to Monday's earthquake has been generally praised .
Berlusconi has compared ordeal of survivors in tents to camping weekend .
PM has visited town of L'Aquila every day this week, assessing damage . |
47,923 | 874200de0ca21131802eeeb8f5dc503884105dab | PUBLISHED: . 05:40 EST, 20 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:51 EST, 20 October 2013 . June Brown, who plays EastEnders' Dot Cotton, has revealed how a fortune teller predicted her life would be filled with great tragedy, just years before her husband committed suicide. Ms Brown, 86, said she was told when she was 16 during a palm reading that she would experience extreme sorrow when she reached 30. Just 14 years later, the actress's husband Johnny Garley killed himself in their bed. Scroll down for video . June Brown, who plays EastEnders' Dot Cotton, has revealed how a fortune teller predicted the tragedy which saw her husband commit suicide . Ms Brown, who has starred in the soap since 1985, describes her grief in a serialisation of her autobiography Before the year Dot, published in the Sunday Mirror. She said: 'At 16 I was very interested in palmistry. The fate line on my right palm broke into two parts that ran for a quarter of an inch on parallel tracks. I used to look at it and wonder, "What will happen?" Of course, it was Johnny’s death.' The couple married in 1950 after meeting on the theatre circuit the previous year. But five years later, she said the relationship began to break down after her husband admitted to having an affair with another actress - whom she names only as 'Maggie W' - a 'witty, funny girl'. She said she was devastated by the betrayal, but admits she had also been adulterous, having had a brief fling with a fellow actor at the Mercury Theatre, in Notting Hill Gate. June Brown as a young woman. She said she was told when she was 16 during a palm reading that she would experience extreme sorrow when she reached 30. Just 14 years later, the actress's husband Johnny Garley killed himself in their bed . Ms Brown, who has starred in the soap since 1985, describes her grief in a serialisation of her autobiography Before the year Dot, published in the Sunday Mirror . June Brown pictured in 1957, in the television programme 'The Case Of The Frightened Lady'. It was the same year her husband committed suicide in their bed by gassing himself . Ms Brown said after she confessed to her husband, he was so distressed he threatened to kill himself by jumping out of the window . Later, he told his wife he wished she would kill herself instead. The actress reveals the day he died, she had been staying at her friends house 'to get a good night's sleep' after becoming physically and emotionally exhausted. She returned to find her husband had gassed himself, and left a suicide note begging for her forgiveness and professing his love for her. She said: 'I remember throwing the gas fire on the floor, turning it off and Mr Seward (who managed the house) and I dragged him out of the bed. 'He wasn’t breathing, but I did artificial respiration for an hour.' She said he was taken to hospital where he briefly regained consciousness only to slip into a coma again. The actress said she hid her husband's death from her father for three years. June Brown has played Dot Cotton - now Branning - the chain smoking launderette worker since the soap started in 1985. She was awarded an MBE for services to drama and charity, and has been taken to the heart of the nation for her role as the busy body bible lover Dot. | Actress told she would have tragedy by palm reader when she was 16 .
14 years later, her husband Johnny Garley killed himself in their bed .
She describes her grief in autobiography 'Before the year Dot' |
198,943 | 8d8c5ac5fe2c71bfa277dba0aefe181f8f3a548a | Los Angeles (CNN) -- The Los Angeles district attorney will decide if Lindsay Lohan will be charged with stealing a necklace from a jewelry store last week, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said. "They presented the evidence about mid-day," spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said Wednesday afternoon. "We have the case under review. No decision will be made today. I can't say when it might be made." A "one of a kind necklace" reported stolen last week was given to Los Angeles police just before detectives were to search for it in Lohan's Venice, California, home, Los Angeles police said earlier Wednesday. The necklace, valued at $2,500, was taken from a jewelry store in the Venice area, a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department said. "As part of the grand theft investigation, detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department's Pacific area obtained a search warrant on February 1, 2011, for actress Lindsay Lohan's Venice residence, to search for the necklace," the statement said. Her lawyer, Shawn Chapman Holly, did not offer a response to the police or the prosecutor's statements. Lohan, 24, is currently on supervised probation for a drunk driving conviction. The judge overseeing her case told her in October that he would send her to jail for 180 days if she violated her probation rules before her next court appearance set for February 25. She left the Betty Ford clinic a month ago after three months in a drug rehabilitation program. The rehab stint convinced the judge not to send Lohan to jail for failing a drug test. CNN's Brittany Kaplan contributed to this report. | NEW: Necklace theft evidence goes to the district attorney .
Detectives got a warrant to search Lohan's home for the missing necklace .
The $2,500 piece of jewelry was given to police just before the search .
Lohan's lawyer has not responded to the police statement . |
244,651 | c8a0c8d3679dc754087b9d0807e830d7b3908ddd | By . Alex Gore and Glen Owen . PUBLISHED: . 13:01 EST, 26 May 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 20:23 EST, 26 May 2012 . Ed Miliband yesterday called for new laws to protect members of the Armed Forces from discrimination as he visited British troops in Afghanistan. The Labour leader also called for the international community to ‘up its game’ on political progress in Afghanistan – or risk wasting a decade of sacrifice by British soldiers. He said that reports last week that soldiers had been turned away from a pub in Blackpool by bouncers saying ‘no Army here’ highlighted the barriers they faced. On tour: Ed Miliband arrives in Nahr-E Saraj as part of his two day visit to Afghanistan . Service: Ed Milband, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, left to right, meet meet soldiers from 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment in Nahr-E Saraj . Laughing: The Labour trio share a joke with troops in Nahr-E Saraj . More than a quarter of personnel are refused a mortgage, loan, credit card or mobile phone despite having a full-time job with a reliable income. Mr Miliband said: ‘I think it is wrong that any of our troops face discrimination, disadvantage or unfair treatment because they have served in the military or because they are serving. ‘I want cross-party talks, I want to work with the military charities, to say, “How can we really resolve this issue?” ’ After flying into Camp Bastion, the Armed Forces’ main base in southern Helmand, Mr Miliband and Shadow Defence Secretary Jim Murphy visited a memorial to fallen British troops at a patrol base in the Nahr-e Saraj district. Mr Miliband denied his trip was a PR stunt. ‘My purpose for being here is to express the deep sense of gratitude I have for our troops,’ he said. Fry-up: Ed Miliband enjoys a full English breakfast with British troops at Camp Bastion . Hungry: The Labour leader helps himself to the breakfast buffet . He expressed fears that the country would slip back into being a failed state when combat troops are withdrawn in 2014, during a visit to the capital Kabul for talks with president Hamid Karzai. He flew in after visiting troops serving in southern Helmand, where he expressed surprise at the level of progress being made in training the Afghan security forces ahead of the international pullout. Despite giving his backing to the planned withdrawal date - reaffirmed at last weekend's Nato summit in Chicago - and to Prime Minister David Cameron's approach, he said there was 'a long way to go'. In an address to troops at the end of a tour of British bases yesterday, Mr Miliband told a gathering of troops that political failure must not be allowed to undermine their 'extraordinary' efforts. A total of 414 members of UK forces have died since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Speaking at the British Embassy ahead of talks with Mr Karzai - as well as senior ministers and opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah - he said: 'It is incredibly eye-opening coming out and actually seeing what they are doing, throwing themselves in harm's way, every day going out on patrol. Remember: Miliband and Alexander reflected in a memorial to British troops in Nahr-E Saraj . Statesman: Labour leader Ed Miliband meets British soldiers at Camp Bastion . 'Seeing it up close, with people who are young enough to be my son or daughter doing that, is incredibly humbling. 'I think the best way we can honour the sacrifices our troops have been making is to make sure that they have the best support when they come back home. 'But also, the international community needs to up its game in getting a lasting political settlement here in Afghanistan because I think that is necessary in order to prevent Afghanistan slipping back into being a failed state and there is a lot more work to do to make that happen.' He continued: 'In this final phase it is very important that we don't take our eye off the ball. I do not think the Government is, I am not criticising the Government. 'The Prime Minister is right to set a timetable. I think we should stick to the timetable. 'We have invested a lot. Many of our troops have made huge sacrifices, including the ultimate sacrifice. The best way we can honour that is to ensure the political settlement we need.' Visit: Ed Miliband accompanied by his shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, left . He said it would be wrong for anyone - including those who opposed the campaign in the first place - to argue for the troops to be pulled out before 2014, despite increased public hostility to the war. French president Francois Hollande was in Kabul for talks with Mr Karzai while the Labour leader - who is an ally of the newly-elected Socialist - was in Helmand, to explain his decision to accelerate France's pullout. Mr Miliband said: 'President Hollande has to make his own decisions. 'What is interesting about Afghanistan is that whether you were for the mission originally or against the mission, to suddenly up sticks now would not be the right thing to do.' Mr Miliband's visit to the troops yesterday was kept secret for security reasons. Opposition: Ed Miliband arrives at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province with Labour's shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy, left, and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, right . Protection: Jim Murphy, Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander, left to right, wore body armour on their visit . After flying in to Camp Bastion, the UK's main base in southern Helmand, Mr Miliband started the day by chatting with soldiers over a full English breakfast. Under a hot sun, he then headed to provincial capital Lashkar Gah to talk about the progress of Afghan control with the commander of the Helmand task force Brigadier Doug Chalmers. A moment of reflection followed as he stopped, flanked by shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander, before a memorial to some of the fallen British troops at a patrol base in Nahr-e Saraj district. The pause to remember the dead was made more poignant by the flag of The Yorkshire Regiment, fluttering at half mast in honour of the six men - five from the regiment's 3rd Battalion - lost when their Warrior armoured vehicle was blown up by a massive improvised explosive device on March 6. Some of their comrades were on hand to show the politicians the range of hardware used by British forces in the field - from Mastiff armoured personnel carriers to medical kits and search dogs. One dog, named Benny, was put through his paces as the politicians looked on, a little unsure of the canine member of the crew, one military chief joking: 'You're all eight to ten inches away from a 'reshuffle' there!'. All three of the districts where the UK is involved have now been transferred to Afghan control - with some troops telling Mr Miliband their local counterparts have become 10 times more efficient within just a couple of years. The transition process is due to be complete across Afghanistan by the middle of next year ahead of the 2014 Nato pullout deadline. Talking with an Afghan colonel, Mr Miliband praised the 'tremendous strides forward'. | Labour leader arrived in the capital Kabul ahead of talks with president Hamid Karzai .
He expressed fears the country could slip back into being a failed state when combat troops leave in 2014 .
Mr Miliband tells British troops a strong political settlement is best way to honour those who have made the ultimate sacrifice .
He backed Prime Minister David Cameron's timetable for withdrawal .
It follows a visit to Helmand where he said it would be wrong for the French to 'up sticks' and leave . |
197,078 | 8b141fb113306f1b60ec231fe061873de0d36026 | Dakota Johnson is about to become a household name thanks to her steamy first role in Fifty Shades Of Grey. But this member of Hollywood royalty still isn't sure if playing virgin-turned-sexpot Anastasia Steele was the right thing to do. In fact, when asked if she had any doubts about agreeing to the part, Dakota, 25, told The Telegraph: 'Absolutely. The whole time. Even now there are moments when I think, 'What the f*** have I done?’ Scroll down for video . Dakota Johnson says she felt 'detached' watching herself play Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Of Grey . She plays Anastasia, the innocent student journalist who falls in love with a rich, controlling billionaire with a kinky side, in the film adaptation of EL James' smash hit novel. Various sex scenes involving implements, blindfolds and a red leather-lined 'room of pain' follow. Dakota - the daughter of Melanie Griffiths and Don Johnson, granddaughter of The Birds star Tippi Hedren and former step-daughter of Antonio Banderas - said she's comfortable appearing nude on screen, but that doesn't mean she wants her family to see it. 'It’s true that I’m not ashamed of my body. I’m comfortable and I think more women should be more confident. I think nudity and sexual scenes in movies are beautiful when they’re tastefully done.' The sex scenes were filmed on a closed set with Sam Taylor-Johnson creating a 'safe, protected environment', she said. Her family however have been 'banned' from watching the film. 'I don’t want them to see it. I wouldn’t want to see them doing it.' The actress, 25, admitted to still wondering if taking the role of Anastasia was the right thing to do . Chanel Fall/Winter 2014 Couture . Shimmer in Chanel Couture . Dakota Johnson, the star of the highly anticipated movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, arrived at the Golden Globe Awards in this silver Chanel couture creation, showing off exactly why she has become such a hot commodity in Hollywood. The sequined gown features a thigh-skimming slit and intricate embellishments along the bodice, both of which creative director Karl Lagerfeld does so well. Metallics were in high demand on the red carpet this award season. Julianne Moore wore sparkly Givenchy Couture and Reese Witherspoon shined in Calvin Klein, with several of their peers following suit. For your next event, instead of basic black, why not throw on some shine like Dakota? Start with one of the sequined looks we've pulled together below. The Adrianna Papell stunner is incredibly elegant and at $222.40, it won't put too much of a dent in your pocketbook either. Or have a splurge in this Badgley Mischka Collection sequin cowl back gown. It's so gorgeous that at $615.00, we're not exactly complaining. Adrianna Papell Short Sleeve Sequin Mesh Gown at Nordstrom . Visit site . Glamorous Sequin Maxi Dress at Dailylook (Now $74/95) Visit site . JS Collections Sleeveless Embellished Mermaid Gown at Macy's . Visit site . Badgley Mischka Collection Sequin Cowl Back Gown at Shopbop . Visit site . Jamie Dornan did extensive research into the BDSM world before playing billionaire Christian Grey . While Sam Taylor-Johnson and Jamie Dornan heavily researched the world of BDSM, which stands for bondage/discipline, domination, submission, sadism/masochism, but Dakota said she only took advice from a consulting dominant who was on the film set. Jamie, 32, put a lot of time into preparing to embody Christian Grey. He toldGQ magazine: 'In the course of researching this character, I have seen the reality very closely. 'I can tell you from an alarmingly first-hand perspective it's not altogether sexy. But I've been in a dungeon with a lukewarm beer while a dominant has had some fun with his submissive and it was very playful and jovial and not at all dark and serious. There was a lot of laughter. Dakota, far right, with her family, former step-dad Antonio Banderas, sister Stella and mother Melanie Griffiths . EL James turned her fan fiction fantasies into millions of pounds with her steamy Fifty Shades trilogy . About the mechanics of filming the infamous sex scenes, he added: 'Your dignity is intact in as much as it's all tucked away in a little flesh-coloured bag. 'As a guy, you put all the essentials in a little bag and you tie it up, like a little bag of grapes and it's tucked away. It's quite a peculiar thing to do every day.' Meanwhile, Dakota has braced herself in case the film bombs: 'A lot of really amazing actors do really s*** movies. It happens. Sometimes all the ingredients don’t work.' Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris, never stepped out of the shadow of the infamous butter scene. Jane March - the north London teenager dubbed 'the sinner from Pinner' for starring in The Lover - failed to deliver on her early promise. Margo Stilley, who appeared in Michael Winterbottom's experimental film 9 Songs, in 2004, which ignited debate over its X-rated scenes, has acted in a few indie films but never became a big name at the box office. Elizabeth Berkley was a teen star of Saved By The Bell before making her film debut as Nomi Malone in the much-derided, explicit Showgirls. | Anastasia Steele actress said she's not afraid of being naked on screen .
25-year-old completely trusted director Sam Taylor-Johnson in sex scenes .
Doesn't want parents Melanie Griffiths and Don Johnson seeing the film . |
235,182 | bc7208de10af744f5731c0530bad447d579ab663 | Facing ban? Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin (above) may be refused re-entry into the U.S. after migrating to Singapore to cut his tax bill . Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin may not be allowed to return to the United States after he renounced his citizenship to save millions in tax. The 30-year-old, who has a $3.64billion stake in the social networking site, migrated to Singapore ahead of the company's massive stock market floatation tomorrow. The timing of the move has raised eyebrows since Singapore does not have a capital gains tax, which could vastly reduce his bill on any payout. According to an immigration law, he could be refused re-entry to the U.S. if he is judged to have relocated for the purposes of avoiding taxes. Section 212 of the law, highlighted by Talking Points Memo, states: 'Any alien who is a former citizen of the United States who officially renounces United States citizenship and who is determined by the Attorney General to have renounced United States citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation by the United States is excludable.' A link was also posted on TPM to a document that someone would need to file with the U.S. State Department's Bureau Of Consulate Affairs when renouncing citizenship. The document says: 'My renunciation/relinquishment may not exempt me from United States income taxation...I understand that if my renunciation of United States citizenship is determined by the United States Attorney General to be motivated by tax avoidance purposes, I will be found excludable from the United States under Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.' Earlier this week, it emerged that Saverin had moved to Miami at the age of 13 because he was at risk of kidnapping. The 30-year-old was on a gangster's list of potential kidnap targets which led his wealthy parents to flee Brazil in a potentially lifesaving move. But now he has shunned the country in which he made his fortune through the social networking site. Playboy lifestyle: Eduardo Saverin (far right) enjoys a rooftop party with friends and models in his new home of Singapore. He may not be allowed to return to America if his move was judged to be down to tax avoidance . He moved to the U.S. in 1992 and became a citizen in 1998, his spokesman Tom Goodman said. 'Eduardo recently found it more practical to become a resident of Singapore since he plans to live there for an indefinite period of time,' Goodman told Bloomberg. His name falls on an IRS list of people renouncing their citizenship from April 30 - but his spokesman said Saverin gave up his U.S. citizenship last September. The 30-year-old joins a growing number of people giving up their U.S. citizenship in a move that can trim their tax liabilities in the country. Investment: Saverin has invested in a start-up cosmetics company run by Rachel Kum, former Miss Singapore 2009, to whom he also offers his business expertise . Despite leaving the U.S. behind, he will not avoid all taxes in the country. He owes what is effectively an exit tax on capital gains from stock holdings, even if he doesn't sell the shares, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, from the University of Michigan’s law school, told Bloomberg. Giving up your citizenship in advance of an initial public offering (IPO) is 'a very smart idea', Avi-Yonah added. 'Once it’s public you can’t fool around with the value.' Facebook plans to price its IPO today, offering 337.4 million shares at $28 to $35 each, which will be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FB, Bloomberg reported. His decision also means he avoids paying the increased income-tax rate when it comes into effect next year. It will rise from 35 per cent to 39.6 per cent for top earners in the country next year. Saverin has invested in Asian, U.S. and European companies, his spokesman said. Now he plans to invest in Brazilian and in other global companies that have interests in entering Asian markets. Despite a substantial boost in their collective fortune from the IPO, Saverin will unlikely celebrate with Zuckerberg and the former friends from his college posse. Saverin began with a one-third stake in the company which was watered down when Zuckerberg began bringing others on board. The founders became embroiled in a bitter legal battle which left Saverin with a 2 per cent stake, according to the Wall Street Journal - and still an incredibly wealthy man. Blogs have sprung up tracking his partying with many locals hoping to get close to the self-made billionaire. He also reportedly drives a Bentley and lives in a penthouse in one of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods. Party time: Saverin (second right) drinking champagne in Singapore where he has become renowned for his lavish lifestyle of fast cars and nightclubs . According to Asia Tatler, Saverin is a fan of hanging out at Singapore's only private members club Filter in the Conrad Hotel. DJs are regularly flown in from around the world and high-end tables come with ice buckets overflowing of bottles of Belvedere vodka and Moet champagne. The whirlwind of parties, adoring friends and fast cars seems to have left little time for business apart from Saverin's investment in Rachel K - a start-up cosmetics company run by Rachel Kum, former Miss Universe 2009 whom Saverin also mentors. He has also ploughed money into information site Qwiki and online payment service Jumio. The Facebook share flotation is expected to happen tomorrow, with Mark Zuckerberg planning to start the 'roadshow' preceding the initial public offering (IPO) on Monday. How it all began: Eduardo Saverin was an initial investor in Facebook at Harvard, the story of which was depicted in movie The Social Network where he was played by Andrew Garfield (right) The social network, now eight years old, has 900million members and was valued at up to $79.3 billion. It is one of the most anticipated - and potentially the world's biggest - stock market entry of an Internet company since Google floated in 2004. Zuckerberg, Saverin and the original start-up Facebook team including Dustin Moskovitz, Sean Parker and Chris Hughes were immortalised in the 2010 film The Social Network. Saverin was played by Andrew Garfield and is portrayed as a slightly naive player in the game. In reality, Saverin's former friend Mark Zuckerberg, who is worth an estimated $17.5 billion and is set to make another $1 billion from the Facebook flotation, lives a polar opposite lifestyle. The 27-year-old is rarely seen out of a hoodie and lives a low-key existence with his long-term girlfriend in Palo Alto, California. He only bought his first property last year. High class hang-out: Filter, the only private members club in Singapore at the Conrad Hotel, is said to be one of the Brazilian playboy's favourite night spots . World's apart: Mark Zuckerberg in his habitual hoodie talking to ABC's Robin Robert's earlier this from Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California . One thing Saverin does prize highly is his privacy and closely guards details of his life. He attends few of the many public events he is invited to speak at and endorse and rarely gives interviews. It is presumably why he chose to set up home in Singapore which has relatively few tabloids and paparazzi who follow the rich and famous compared to the U.S. and Europe. Those who wish to speak to him on a business level must try to make contact through an intricate network of society contacts and similarly rich friends. John Fearon, CEO of Singapore-based start-ups dropmysite.com and dropmyemail.com told the WSJ: 'Eduardo doesn't invest in much. He doesn't invest in Singapore companies.' Last August, Saverin was spotted partying with dozens of models in St Tropez and spending $50,000 on champagne. He flew a number of his friends over from Singapore and checked into the $8,000-a-night Hotel Byblos before going clubbing until the early hours. The entrepreneur was also seen at the trendy Bagatelle Brunch in Nikki Beach with three friends and ten beautiful women drinking Cristal champagne from the bottle and spraying it over each other. The bar tab reportedly came to a cool $50,000. | Saverin, 30, migrated to Singapore ahead of site's stock market floatation .
Could save on payout as south-east Asian country has no capital gains tax .
Law states he can be excluded if relocation was deemed for tax avoidance . |
143,245 | 454037c171cd0a8b200ddb703b33bd3628aab7de | By . Christopher Stevens . PUBLISHED: . 19:43 EST, 9 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:07 EST, 10 May 2013 . Murders, backstreet abortions, suicides, and bomb blasts —Molly Lefebure, aged 20, certainly had one of the most gruesome jobs in the world. The details of her story are so strange that apparently we can't be expected to believe them all. Murder On The Home Front presented a frustratingly toned-down rewrite of a true story — how a young crime reporter ditched journalism to work alongside the pioneer of modern detective methods during the Blitz. And it turned the extraordinary history of the birth of forensics into a more conventional murder mystery. Murder On The Home Front is a new ITV1 crime drama set during the London Blitz of 1940. Pictured is Tamzin Merchant as Molly Cooper and Patrick Kennedy as Dr Lennox Collins . The real Molly Lefebure, who died in . February aged 93, spent the war working for Home Office pathologist . Professor Keith Simpson, a man so eccentric that he liked to prop up a . skeleton on a chair at the table when he had his afternoon tea. But he was a forensics genius, the . first man to identify murder victims by strands of their clothing or . their hair, and a showman, too: at one murder trial he produced the . victim's skull, the first time such evidence had been exhibited in . court. Everyone reacted with horror — except the man on trial, the . victim's husband. He was hanged. That flair and drama were missing from . the TV adaptation. The characters were interesting — they couldn't fail . to be, given the originals. But fiction fell far short of the truth. The pathologist, played by Patrick Kennedy, spent a lot of time scolding gormless policemen for trampling on the evidence. While they took notes, a constable . clattered about in the background. Simpson was aghast to discover the PC . had cleaned up the entire murder scene: washed the dishes, scrubbed . blood off the furniture and destroyed all the evidence. 'Tidied things up a bit, haven't I?' the copper said proudly. Murder On The Home Front: The characters were interesting - they couldn't fail to be, given the originals. But fiction fell far short of the truth . Star Trek: The True Story reveals in the original pilot, creator Gene Roddenberry envisaged Mr Spock with a long tail with a point at the end . The show did capture the dark humour . of the Blitz. Police photographer Issy, played by Emerald Fennell, was . deliciously sardonic: 'My mother will never be able to eat red meat . again,' she complained, as she described the aftermath of a German air . raid that left 'body parts scattered all over our azaleas'. Tamzin Merchant, best known for The . Tudors (she was wife number five), had a combination of innocence and . fire as Molly, the kind of girl who would blanche when told that a box . contained a murder victim's tongue — and then look inside anyway. But the story didn't convey how . unconventional Molly Lefebure really was. 'You could spend 100 years in . London's mortuaries,' she once remarked, 'and never be bored.' The writers have failed utterly to . capture that sense of ghoulish fascination. The most successful . franchise in TV history was nearly a failure too, as Star Trek: The True . Story revealed. In the original pilot, creator Gene Roddenberry . envisaged Mr Spock as the Devil — instead of pointed ears, he had a long . tail with a point at the end. The Starship Enterprise was boringly . called the SS Yorktown, the commander was Captain April (played by . Jeffrey Hunter) and the second-in-command was a female officer called . simply 'Number One'. Indeed it seems that Roddenberry, a . former LA cop writing TV scripts in his spare time, saw all women as . little more than numbers. When the show became a success, he boasted he . had slept with every actress in every episode except two. But it was . sheer luck that made the show a hit. Hunter pulled out and the . irrepressible William Shatner replaced him as Captain Kirk. The . storylines caught the idealistic mood of the Sixties, and were acclaimed . for showing the first 'inter-racial kiss' between Kirk and Lieutenant . Uhuru, played by black actress Nichelle Nichols. Even so, Star Trek didn't become a . global success until years after the original series had been cancelled. Fans were enthralled by the science in sci-fi, from teleport beams to . anti-matter warp drives. Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock, . offered the best comment: 'I don't like the idea of teleporting. You . might scramble some atoms. I wouldn't want to be the first to try it.' Sometimes, it seems, fiction is actually stranger than truth. | Murder On The Home Front, ITV; Star Trek: The True Story, C5 . |
149,885 | 4dc8b328145fd03976ad2af4411521c04f695d58 | By . Keith Gladdis . UPDATED: . 04:08 EST, 27 September 2011 . A prison van was sent almost 100 miles to take a suspect to court because it was claimed that walking him in handcuffs for 60 yards could breach his human rights. Oliver Thomas, 27, accused of public order offences, was due to face magistrates after spending the night in a cell at the police station next door in Banbury, Oxfordshire. But to spare him the shame of a 30-second walk in public, the private company which transports prisoners sent a fortified van across three counties to drive him there at an estimated cost of £1,000. A stone's throw: A prison van was sent from 96 miles away to take defendant Oliver Thomas on this 60 yard journey from police station to magistrates' court . This made him late for a separate appearance on an attempted robbery charge at Oxford Crown Court, where Judge Tom Corrie condemned the waste of taxpayer cash. ‘I’m not quite sure why he couldn’t be walked across the street rather than sending a van from Southampton,’ he said. ‘I wonder how much public money has been wasted.’ Suspect: Oliver Thomas was being held at the station over two alleged public order offences . Thomas had been held at the police station after being arrested over two alleged public order offences. GEOAmey, the company responsible for transporting prisoners, is based in Oxford, a few miles from Banbury. However, it claims, its local staff were all busy so it decided to send a van on the two-hour journey from Southampton to avoid walking Thomas between the two buildings and to protect his identity. A spokesman insisted: ‘Police wouldn’t expect us to turn up at Banbury, handcuff a prisoner and take him down the street and to the court. ‘Generally speaking we don’t see that in this country. It strays into the area of human rights. They have a right to have their identity protected.’ GEOAmey is paid more than £90million a year to transport defendants between prisons, police stations and courts on behalf of the Ministry of Justice. Glyn Travis, of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: ‘This is a prime example of how the privatised system is a constant drain on public resources. ‘In the past police would have been able to walk him to the station themselves but now because of the contracts with private companies they are not able to do so. It is wrong for the contractors to think they needed to move a van nearly 100 miles to protect the human rights of the prisoner. ‘It is not unusual to walk prisoners in handcuffs through the streets in situations where the distance is short or there is no access for prison vans. This is another example of where the human rights of offenders is completely disproportionate to reality.’ GEOAmey, which is paid £90million a year to take defendants between custody and courts, had to send a van (similar to the one pictured) across three counties to transport Thomas . GEOAmey boasted it would bring ‘innovation and maximise efficiencies’ when its ten-year contract was awarded in March. Its spokesman added: ‘Our staff collected Mr Thomas from Banbury in the morning and assisted with duties at the court until mid-afternoon, then delivered prisoners to other prisons.’ A police spokesman said: ‘It may be possible for officers to assist with prisoner transport, as we work in partnership with the contractor. ‘However, every situation will need to be decided on its merits.’ | Prison van travelled across three counties to take defendant Oliver Thomas on a 30-second journey by foot .
TaxPayers' Alliance brand case an 'appalling' waste of public money .
Estimated cost was said to be more than £1,000 . |
72,133 | cc70f79f23672a310960ba3d3b1a28feb3329fab | The first Test between Australia and India will now take place in Adelaide on December 9 following the death last week of Phillip Hughes. The series was supposed to start in Brisbane on Thursday but has been delayed and the venue switched to give grief-stricken players more time to recover, with Hughes' funeral taking place on Wednesday. The Australian and Indian cricket boards considered a range of options in conjunction with the players' union, including cancelling the Brisbane Test altogether, before opting for a reshuffle. Michael Clarke at a press conference over the weekend, talking about the death of Phillip Hughes . First Test (Adelaide) - December 9 . Second Test (Brisbane) - December 17 . Third Test (Melbourne) - December 26 . Fourth Test (Sydney) - January 6 . Adelaide, which was due to host the second Test from December 12-16, will now host the series opener from December 9-13, in what is sure to be a highly emotional occasion. Brisbane will now host the second Test from December 17-21 while the third Test will proceed as planned from Boxing Day-December 30 in Melbourne. The fourth and final Test will still take place in Sydney in the new year, but will start on January 6, three days later than originally scheduled. Hughes died in a Sydney hospital last Thursday, two days after he was struck in the head by a short-pitched delivery during a domestic first-class match. His death has triggered an outpouring of emotion, sympathy and support from inside and outside the cricketing world. The funeral for the left-hander, who would have turned 26 on Sunday, will be held in his hometown of Macksville in New South Wales. Phillip Hughes died last Thursday two days after being struck on the head by a bouncer . Crystal Palace's Australian midfielder Mile Jedinak with his tribute to Hughes at the weekend . | Australia vs India first Test now in Adelaide on December 9 .
Match was meant to take place in Brisbane on Thursday .
It was put back to let players attend funeral of Phillip Hughes . |
98,071 | 0a42e0ca9dc4c93ec35a6bfa20371560480b1e6e | By . Lucy Waterlow . Never mind who is the fairest of the them all, this year's Miss England wannabes want to prove who is the fittest of them all. The beauty queens swapped their heels for trainers at the Kelham Hall and Country Park, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, today to take part in a challenging boot camp. The workout, led by specialist military trainers, had a competitive element as a place in the Miss England final was up for grabs. The race is on: Miss England competitors take part in a military style boot camp workout . Who is the fittest of them all? A place in the Miss England final was up for grabs . Keep on running: The beauty queens had to do shuttle runs and the bleep test . Attention! Military trainers put the women through their paces . A total of 79 girls put through their paces ahead of the Miss England final - which will be held in Torquay next month. Their strenuous workout included a bleep test, push-ups and shuttle runs - in temperatures reaching 23 degrees. After the hour-long session, Laura Clare, 17, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was named as Miss Sportswoman. The way to a flat stomach: The competitors do sit ups in the sun . Work it: Press ups were also enforced . Stretch: The beauty queens took part in the boot camp at Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire . Keeping up appearances: A couple of the competitors took part with their hair in rollers . Fashion error: The hair rollers and sandals weren't too practical for the more active parts of the workout . Like she just stepped out of a salon: This beauty queen's attire wasn't in keeping with most of her fellow contestants who had opted for shorts, vests and trainers . It means blonde Laura, who won Miss South Yorkshire in February, will be fast-tracked to the final on June 14 with the chance of reaching the Miss World championships. The college student, who is studying business management, said it was the prize of reaching the final that kept her going. She said: 'It was totally overwhelming, I didn't think I'd even get through the first bleep test. I really wanted to get through to the finals so I think that's what kept me going. 'I thought I was goner in the first few minutes, I was absolutely knackered. But somehow I pushed through, don't ask me how as I just don't know. When we hit the bleep test I really didn't think I could manage more. Change of scene: They are more used to strutting their stuff on the catwalk than the playing field . Testing: The girls followed military training techniques . Ready to go: The girls wait to hear what exercises are in store . Achievement: Their trainer said they did well to complete the workout on such a hot day . Feet up: Keeping fit is all part of being a modern day beauty queen . Eye on the prize: The girls knew a place in the Miss England final was at stake . Survival of the fittest: The Miss England hopefuls have all won regional titles and want to become the national star . 'Then we had to do sit ups and burpees and all sorts, it was intense. Now I just feel excited that I'm through to the final.' Other contestants seemed to take it less seriously than Laura, taking part in hair rollers and sandals. James Evans, co-founder of Xtreme Boot Camps, who led the workout said he didn't go easy on the girls who all proved they are more than just a pretty face. He said: 'The fitness tests are like no other the contestants have previously experienced, they'll certainly be in excellent shape for the rest of the judging process. We tested the contestants not just physically but for mental toughness too. Tested: The fitness trainers said they didn't go easy on the beauty queens . And the winner is... Laura Clare, 17, was crowned Miss Sportswoman following the boot camp . Worth it: The Miss South Yorkshire said she was delighted to be fast-tracked to the Miss England final following the fitness tests . 'Xtreme Boot Camps instructors are all serving or ex-military personnel, fitness qualified to at least Level 3, using tried and tested military training techniques. 'The winner of the semi-final is fast-tracked through to the final so it's a huge responsibility to find a deserving winner. Laura really pushed herself and thoroughly deserves her title. 'The heat today has made the boot camp even tougher than usual and all the girls deserve huge respect for their achievement. 'Angie Beasley, director of Miss England, added: 'We were very impressed with the Xtreme Boot Camps training ethos and how the team intends to put hopefuls through a boot camp fitness experience that they will benefit hugely from.' | Swapped their heels for trainers at the Kelham Hall and Country Park .
Took part in boot camp led by military trainers .
Had to do sit-ups, push-ups and shuttle runs .
Prize was place in Miss England final .
Laura Clare, 17, from South Yorkshire, was named as Miss Sportswoman . |
282,002 | f94bd04883a296516f4aaf6c3c2ce3ab2f775d09 | A few weeks is nothing in the context of the ancient existence of the Amazon's Awa-Guaja people, but in his short time one photographer managed to capture the everyday life of a tribe considered the most endangered in the world. Daniel Rodrigues created a breathtaking collection of images depicting the beauty and brutality of their troubled existence. The Awa-Guaja tribes are critically under threat from loggers and grazing farmers keen to decimate their pocket of the vast Brazilian rainforest and through desperation have only in recent decades come out of their centuries of avoiding contact with westerners - some remain uncontacted by white people. Kiby (face obscured), of the Awa-Guaja tribe in the Brazilian Amazon, carries a red jaguar on her back after a hunt in the rainforest . Awa-Guaja hunter Aiwxa'a brandishes a stick while a red puma refuses to give up the fight after be hit by two bullets from a shotgun . Photographer Daniel Rodrigues got remarkable access to the daily life of the tribe, and was forced to communicate via hand gestures . Senior hunters Jakare and Majhuxa'a stand with stern faces and shot guns after successfully hunting down a monkey for their family . An intimate family moment captured by Rodrigues as uoung mother Panapinuhum breastfeeds her son Arywi in the river Caru . In a scene that could be from anywhere in the world, Piraima'a washes clothes in the river as children bath around him . The French-born photographer, based in Portugal, travels the world to snap incredible black and white and colour images, documenting them on his site DanielRodriguesPhoto.com, but had never come across a tribe so untouched by modern life before. While their nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle requires a level of bravery and enterprise many westerners will never comprehend, Portugal-based Rodrigues found a friendly and welcoming people despite needing to rely on hand gestures for communication. The tribe, which numbers around 350 people, first adopted a nomadic lifestyle to avoid confrontations with invading Europeans and have successfully lived in the Amazon ever since. His journey to the eastern Amazon in the wet season last year saw Rodrigues join hunting missions in dense foliage for periods that would equate to a day and half of office work for a westerner. The tribes people hunted indigenous red puma, Capuchin monkey and other land animals, and fished their plentiful rivers for fish and poraque (electric eels) for their fully self-sustained existence that they are in serious danger of losing without help in their battle against loggers. With the ultimate playground at their disposal, some would say, the kids of the Awa-Guaja tribe play in the river Juriti in the village Tiracambu . Hakoain is only a recent discovery for the outside world having connected 10 years ago - she stands with her son Mayra . Young boy Aparyta stands comfortably with a native monkey he keeps as a pet asleep on his head - the tribe also hunt monkeys for food . Muturuhum draws back his bow and arrow. While having limited access to guns, in many cases the tribe prefers traditional hunting methods . Majhuxa'a prefers a fire to cook food on the move during a day of hunting - no firelighters here . Pytyra pokes his head out the door of her house, made from leaves and branches found in the forest, in the village Guaja . Little Ariwa decides this carves canoe is the best place to take a nap in the village Juriti in the eastern Amazon . In some rare good news for the tribes, Survival International reported in April last year that the Awá and their supporters celebrated the Brazilian government's move to send in troops to remove illegal loggers from Awá land. The military intervention in the states of Para and Maranhao is just the beginning though with the Amazon such an incredibly vast area that is tough to defend. Young, strong and toned, Marimy looks at peace as he takes a bath in the river near the village Guajá in Alto Turiacu . With the face of a life well lived, Takwarexa'a is one of the elderly residents of the Awa Guaja indigenous tribe in the village of Juriti . Sabia, seemingly without a care in the world, plays with the overhanging vines in the river Igarapa in the village Tiracamba . The greatest threat to the ancient tribes of the Awa-Guaja is loggers, who have resorted to violence in their bid to decimate the forest . Aparyta and Hemokoma'a survey the damage inflicted by loggers on their land that the Brazil government is now trying to help protect . Worth protecting, a view up into the canopy of the Maranhao state's rainforest that belongs to the Awa-Guaja people . On the hunt, Arawata runs armed with a spear after seeing an animal in the jungle as he looks to help provide for his family . After six hours of walking, Rodrigues says Muturuhum saw a monkey and tried to kill it with his arrow . A capuchin monkey down lays dead on the forest floors after a successful hunting mission for the Awa-Guaja . As the sun sets on another day, little girl Iwapanya plays by a tree with a friend in the village Tiracambu . Pirama'a fishing for poraque in a still body of water - the fish would be better know to English speakers electric eels . Awa-Guaja woman Amypirawaja cooks in her home in the village Juriti - her name translates into 'mother fish' Muturuhum, one of the older hunters in the Awa-Guaja tribe, smiles for Rodrigues' camera during a day of hunting . An Awa-Guaja tribesman's strong left arm holds their traditional bow and arrow during a hunting expedition . The Awa-Guaja traverse the forest floor of the Amazon with bare feet and minimal clothing . Little Yoxa'a wanders among the chickens, a farmed source of sustenance for the Awa-Guaja in the village of Juriti . Daniel's work with the Awa-Guaja was rewarded with an honourable mention in last year's Moscow International Photo Awards, in which he also came second for his photo essay 'Rapa das Bestas' about horse wrestlers in Spain. In 2013, he won the World Press Photo Daily Life category with a image of footballers in Guinea Bissau. | The Brazilian Amazon's Awa-Guaja people are under threat from loggers and farmers wanting land .
Photographer Daniel Rodrigues breathtakingly captures their lives in beautiful and confronting images .
Scenes he captures include a snarling red puma while hunting and stunning shots of children at play . |
19,632 | 37c1ffbeca99a408b324ea3dd780563f7700836b | By . Arthur Martin . PUBLISHED: . 18:06 EST, 3 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:10 EST, 4 February 2013 . The identities of 80 dead children were stolen by the police and used to create fake passports, it has been revealed. The names and dates of birth were taken without the knowledge of the children’s parents and used by officers infiltrating protest groups. For 30 years, detectives from Scotland Yard trawled through national birth and death records looking for suitable identities. They used the birth certificates to apply for a variety of identity documents to make their aliases appear genuine. John Dines, an undercover police sergeant, as he apeared in the early 1980s when he posed as John Barker, a protester against capitalism . In some cases officers spent up to ten years in the same guise. One, John Dines, adopted the identity of an eight-year-old boy called John Barker, who died in 1968 from leukaemia. Another officer said he felt he was ‘stomping on the grave’ of the four-year-old boy whose identity he used while working undercover in anti-racist groups. And a third detective spent years living under the identity of a child who died in a car crash. Under cover officers using assumed identities also formed sexual relationships with targets in groups they had infiltrated in the 1980s, which included environmental and anti-racist groups. Lord Ken Macdonald, former Director . of Public Prosecutions, has condemned the practice and called for a public inquiry - warning that unacceptable . practices might still be in use today. He said it was 'really worrying' that police chiefs appeared not to have . entirely ruled out a repeat of recently-exposed cases of officers . entering sexual relationships with targets. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he said: 'How are you supposed to maintain a level of fair and objective . evidence-gathering if you are having sex with the person you are . targeting, fathering a baby and then abandoning it, using a dead child's . identity?' 'These are all examples of areas in which the police have completely . lost their moral compass and have completely failed to understand the . boundaries. 'We don't know quite how these units were operating in days gone by. It . looks as though they've effectively gone rogue. I am not at all clear . how high up in Scotland Yard these sorts of operations were being . organised. He added: 'What we really need is a public inquiry into undercover . policing which takes evidence, takes advice, sets out some guidelines, . sets out some mechanisms so we can be confident these sorts of . procedures are not being followed today. 'We need to know how we got there, where we are now and we need to be . reassured that this sort of behaviour won't occur in the future and I . think an inquiry is really the only way to achieve that. 'I do think the Government will think seriously about this because these sorts of stories seem to be endless. 'It is drip, drip, drip, it is corrosive, it is seedy and I think we . really need to find ourselves in a position where we can reassure the . public that this sort of behaviour is not going to carry on.' After initial protestations that undercover officers getting sexually . involved with targets could no longer happen, there appeared to have . been a 'subtle shift in which it is being suggested that it could be . appropriate in some circumstances'. 'This is a deeply ethical issue which the police have to grapple with,' he said. Police were inspired by the film, The Day of the Jackal . Peter Bleksley, a former under cover . detective for the Metropolitan Police, said: 'In the undercover unit of . which I was a director, we . were completely dedicated to combatting serious and organised crime. 'We . had nothing to do with protest groups or environmental campaigns. 'The state gave us a fake identities we required; passports, driving licences, or credit cards. 'We would never dream of using a dead . child's identity, I cannot comprehend why anyone would want to adopt an . identity rather than create one. 'These people were largely staffed . with people who didn't have detective experience, clearly the management . was lacking in experience and authority. 'In our unit we always had clear end . games, to take the drugs, stolen commodities or to prevent murder. It . seems these units had no clear goals or end games. It's a recipe for . disaster.' The technique of using dead children . as aliases was borrowed from Frederick Forsyth’s novel, The Day of the . Jackal. Keith Vaz MP, the chairman of the home affairs select committee, . said he was shocked by the ‘gruesome’ practice. ‘It . will only cause enormous distress to families who will discover what . has happened concerning the identities of their dead children,’ he said. ‘This is absolutely shocking. My disbelief at some of the tactics used . has become shock as a result of these latest revelations. ‘It is clear that inappropriate action has been taken by undercover police in the past. But this has taken it to a new level.’ The practice was introduced 40 years ago by police to lend credibility to the back stories of covert operatives spying on protesters. It also guarded against the possibility that campaigners would discover their true identities. Since then dozens of officers, including those who posed as anti-capitalists, animal rights activists and violent far-right campaigners, have used the identities of dead children. One document appeared to suggest around 80 officers from a secret unit called the Special Demonstration Squad used such identities between 1968 and 1994. The total number could be higher. An officer who adopted the identity of four-year-old Pete Black compared the methods used by Scotland Yard to those of the Stasi – the secret police in the former East Germany. ‘A part of me was thinking about how I would feel if someone was taking the names and details of my dead son,’ he said. ‘I used to get this really odd feeling.’ The officer said he always felt guilty when celebrating the birthday of the four-year-old whose identity he took. He was particularly aware that somewhere the parents of the boy would be ‘thinking about their son and missing him’. To fully immerse himself in the adopted identity and appear convincing when speaking about his upbringing, Mr Black visited the child’s home town to familiarise himself with the surroundings. Black, who was under cover in the 1990s, said SDS officers visited the house they were supposed to have been born in so they would have a memory of the building. ‘It’s those little details that really matter – the weird smell coming out of the drain that’s been broken for years, the location of the post office, the number of the bus,’ he told the Guardian newspaper. Fifteen separate inquiries have already been launched since 2011, when Mark Kennedy was unmasked as a police spy who had slept with several women, including one who was his girlfriend for six years, during his time under cover. Scotland Yard said the practice was not currently authorised, but announced an investigation into ‘past arrangements for undercover identities used by SDS officers’. | Details were taken so officers could infiltrate protest groups .
Officers formed sexual relationships with their targets .
They modelled the process on the film, The Day of the Jackal .
Scotland Yard says practice no longer employed but launches investigation .
Former Director of Public Prosecutions called for a public inquiry . |
79,732 | e21704a013c38aae205cf60dcea904b7e38da93a | By . Deborah Arthurs . PUBLISHED: . 12:03 EST, 11 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:40 EST, 11 July 2012 . It has been called the colour of the moment. As Prince Harry, Ed Sheeran and Rupert Grint fly the flag for natural gingers and celebrities like Christina Hendricks, Cheryl Cole and Amy Childs go red by choice, there has never been a hotter time to be ginger. As the fashion for fiery locks gathers pace, it has become an oft-repeated cliche that every celebrity that goes red by choice makes it cooler to be ginger. Effectively, they say, elective redheads are taking the stigma out of being ginger. But for natural born ginger Rebeckah Vaughan, who was forced to leave school after her life was made hell by bullies, this theory is nonsense. Bullied: Big Brother 12 contestant Rebeckah Vaughan says she was forced to leave school after being taunted for years over her ginger hair . Appearing on This Morning today, Rebeckah, 28, who appeared as a contestant on the 12th series of Big Brother, said that unless you carry the 'ginger gene', you can never really be a redhead. Real gingers have freckled, pale skin, 'albino' eyelashes and no eyebrows, she says. As such, fake redheads - with their 'normal' eyebrows, their skin that tans, and their freckle-free complexions, are doing nothing to help the millions of redheads in Britain - four per cent of the nation - who are persecuted on a daily basis for their hair colour. 'It annoys me when people say Cheryl Cole is ginger. She's not at all. She has just dyed her hair red,' Rebeckah says. 'She is not a real redhead. Cheryl Cole is beautiful – she does not have the gene – and it’s the . gene that messes you up! The eyebrows, the eyes, the freckles – . everything. 'If you don't have the gene, it's totally different.' Rebeckah, whose mother and sister both have red hair, says that from the age of seven she would come home from school in tears after being taunted by bullies. She had no defence mechanism to cope with it, because her family were collectively ashamed of their hair colour. 'I grew up in a family that was embarrassed by their ginger hair,' Rebecca says. 'My mother had red hair. And when she was pregnant with my younger sister, I would hear her say, "Please God, let the second one escape the ginger"'. Outcast: Rebeckah hates her 'blue' skin and 'albino' eyelashes - and says even her boyfriend thinks ginger girls are 'disgusting' 'I left school for a year - I couldn't face it. I didn't want to be a target any more.' Rebeckah, who dyes her hair blonde in sessions costing thousands of pounds every year, says it's not just the colour of her hair that marks her out. She has been bullied all her life for the pale skin she says was 'blue', as well as her freckles and what she calls her 'albino' eyelashes. 'You can't ever get away from it,' she says. 'I wear so much make up. I put it on an inch thick because I don't like anyone seeing my freckles. 'I wear excessive amounts of fake tan. I have my eyelashes tinted every weekend and spend a fortune in the hairdressers when I go every three weeks. 'I've ruined my hair. I've dyed it so many times it's falling out. I have to have extensions because it is so damaged.' And Rebeckah says her sister, who is also a redhead but dyes her hair brown, tells her she'd better not leave the house without her 'albino' eyelashes thickly coated in mascara. Even more distressing is the news that Rebeckah's own boyfriend is 'disgusted' by ginger hair. 'I show him photos of myself as a child and he says I look disgusting,' she says. 'He would never go out with me if I looked like that.' As for the word 'ginger', Rebeckah considers it an insult. 'It's got nasty connotations,' she says. 'Playground connotations. It's been used for so long to bully redheads that I hate the word. But Sam Heakin, a redhead who recently launched a dating site specifically for ginger people called Top Carrots, says redheads need to stand up for themselves and embrace their hair colour. Every redhead gets teased – but that’s when you need to step up and be proud,' he says. 'If you embrace it, the bullies lay off.' 'Is it unfair that you have to fight against people over something you were born with? Yes, but children get picked on for so many things. For being a bit overweight, for being ginger. 'You need to embrace it.' Faking it: Christina Hendricks has been dyeing her hair red since she was a little girl, inspired by Anne of Green Gables, while Cheryl Cole, right, tinted her hair a pale red tone last year . | Rebeckah Vaughan says it is the 'ginger gene' that 'really messes you up'
BB12 star says celebrities like Cheryl Cole don't have the pale skin and freckles that mark out a real redhead .
Rebeckah, 28, whose boyfriend thinks real redheads are 'disgusting', wants the word ginger banned . |
209,523 | 9b524e01644ca0b9e6643af658f2cc946c1a83cd | By . Leon Watson . PUBLISHED: . 10:07 EST, 25 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:49 EST, 25 November 2013 . An inquisitive bird hit the headlines when it flew into a busy TV studio and perched itself - next to a newsreader. Regional BBC presenter Alison Johns was in the middle of a live breakfast bulletin when the feathered visitor landed on a monitor just behind her. The bird, believed to be a wren, remained in shot for several seconds before Ms Johns handed over to the weather forecast. This is the moment viewers of a live BBC news bulletin were sent in to a flap when a bird (ringed) flew into the studio and landed on a monitor . The TV anchor had no idea it was right behind her but as soon as she was off air staff captured the creature and carefully released it into the wild. Ms Johns, a reporter and presenter for West Country-based BBC Spotlight, tweeted a still of the bird afterwards, saying: 'Unexpected guest with me in @BBCSpotlight studio this morning!' Amused viewers left comments about the episode on the programme's Facebook page. Stuart Billinghurst asked: 'Did I see a little bird sat on the top of the studio tv on the 7:50 update? Another viewer, Katie Lyle, added: 'I was sure I saw a bird earlier. I thought I was seeing things.' Les King added: 'Classic Robin shape that is.' The incident on the BBC South West Breakfast bulletin happened just as presenter Alison Johns was handing over to the weather forecast . | BBC presenter Alison Johns was in the middle of a live bulletin .
A feathered visitor landed on a monitor just behind her .
She tweeted that an 'unexpected guest' was with her in the studio . |
245,848 | ca33f4f64f28fec4e894d4809aedb2dbe344f11d | Smartphones are to be subject to extra checks at airport security for airlines flying directly into the U.S. amid fears terrorists could be converting them into 'stealth bombs'. American officials have called on terminals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to bring in stricter checks on electronic devices after warning Islamic extremists are making explosives which are undetectable to airport scanners. U.S. officials have identified iPhones and . Samsung Galaxy models as the biggest concern as authorities urged passengers to allow extra time to get past the additional measures. Scroll down for video . Queues at Manchester Airport on Friday morning, the day after new security checks were brought in to search for so-called 'stealth bombs' which are feared to be undetectable to airport scanners . Passengers joined queues starting outside Manchester airport, with many complaining of delays . An official familiar with the matter said the United States believes that while it is possible there may be some additional delays at security checkpoints, at most major airports passengers will not be seriously inconvenienced. The official said most passengers taking long-distance flights arrive well in advance of scheduled departures, leaving time for extra screening. But he said the United States could not rule out disruptions in countries where airport infrastructure and security procedures are less sophisticated. In Britain, where the controls have been implemented for two days, long lines of people have already built up at airports, with passengers taking to Twitter to vent their anger. Ian Moreno-Melgar, who was trying to get to Belfast this morning for a wedding, tweeted: '“Airports operating normally”. Queuing in the car park for security isn’t normal.' He added: '[Manchester] staff obviously under a lot of pressure,but no priority or care for passengers potentially missing flight because of security. 'Genuinely awful service from the usually reliable airport today. 90mins in security, no communication about changes to bag searches.' Chantel McGregor added: 'Ahhhhh bless Manchester airport baggage check, we're finally half way down the queue which started OUTSIDE!' Another passenger said: 'This is the absolute worst security queue I have ever been in. It's like wading through treacle.' There were queues at passport controls at Gatwick airport last night after tougher checks were brought in . Passengers wait at Heathrow Airport this morning as security staff carry out more stringent security checks . Last night, Matteo Pescarin posted a . photo of queues filling a terminal at Gatwick airport's North Terminal as hundreds of . passengers waited to go through security. Other . passengers took the delays with good humor, with David Silvester . tweeting: 'Just had my croissants x-rayed and then inspected... #Airportsecurity' At Glasgow Airport, passengers said they noticed longer times from previous journeys, having to wait up to 40 minutes in queues. Norma . Decent, 59, from Stranraer, said: 'It seems absolutely ridiculous to . me. You had to queue to get through the first gate and then queue again . to put your bags through security. Ibrahim al-Asiri is the Al-Qaeda bomb-maker thought to be working on the new 'stealth explosives' which have led to the heightened alert . 'I understand why they're doing it, but it all seems a little excessive to me.' Laura . Macpherson, 42, from Paisley, who was traveling with her two children, . said: 'Normally it only takes about five or 10 minutes, but I think we . were queuing for about 30 minutes. 'The problem was that lots of things were being taken from people's bags to additional checks - probably because of the tighter control, but it's better to be safe than sorry.' And Kenny Stafford, 25, from Dumfries, added: 'My lap-top was given an extra check by the security officials. It probably took me about 30 minutes to get through and I had to run to my gate.' It is feared the scenes could become commonplace during a summer of travel chaos following a security alert over bombs that 'cannot be detected' by traditional scanners. Authorities around the world are introducing tougher checks after U.S. security officials said they fear bombmakers from the Yemen-based 'Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula' (AQAP) group have figured out how to turn phones and other devices into 'undetectable' explosive devices. American officials also are concerned that hard-to-detect bombs could be built into shoes and have previously raised fears that explosives may be surgically-implanted into extremists' bodies. Authorities are now hunting a Saudi bomb expert thought to be a leading figure in Al Qaeda's bomb-making team. Ibrahim Al-Asiri, 32, who has survived numerous assassination attempts, is understood to have perfected a device which can be sewn into a human body making it almost impossible to detect by airport security scanners. The technology is already thought to have reached British jihadists in Syria and Iraq. It is now feared they will return to target flights from the UK. U.S. officials say iPhones (left) and Samsung Galaxy phones (right) could be subject to greater checks . In 2010, an Al Qaeda group crammed explosives into computer printers before smuggling them onto planes . French soldiers patrol through a terminal at the Charles de Gaulle International Airport July 4. France is tightening airport security for U.S. flight destinations for the summer holiday period at the request of American authorities, an official statement said on Friday . The alert led to the number of sophisticated body scanners at British airports being raised from 10 to 21 yesterday. Manchester Airport has insisted today's queues were unrelated to any security changes and were due to the busy summer holiday season. A spokesman said: 'July is a busy month for the airport and many passengers will be using services from Manchester over the next few weeks. 'Our security officers are on hand to give advice and we ask that passengers work with us so that we can ensure we get people to their gate on time, in a safe manner. 'We ask that passengers leave enough . time and arrive two hours before their flight to ensure that we keep the . security process moving.' A spokesman for Gatwick said there were no additional delays due to security, with customers only having to wait at baggage reclaim. France today followed Britain in increasing security on flights to the U.S., with the French civil aviation authority announcing stepped-up security measures 'for the summer period' which will begin next week. | Stricter checks will focus on smartphones after U.S. officials highlight risk .
Intelligence chiefs say iPhones and Samsung Galaxy models face controls .
Comes after U.S. officials say terrorists are developing 'stealth bombs'
Footwear will also be subject to increased checks .
Airline terminals in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with direct flights into the U.S. are affected . |
226,866 | b1c401d78e0931d3815ab19cda172ceb93eba634 | By . Andy Dolan . Jailed: Graham Burgess, 46, who tried to hire a hitman to kill his partner of 20 years in a bid to collect on his life insurance policy . A debt-ridden lorry driver hired a hitman to kill his partner of 20 years so he could pocket her £215,000 life insurance. However he was caught after the man he believed would do the job was revealed to be an undercover police officer. During one of four video-taped meetings, 46-year-old Graham Burgess said he wanted the mother-of-two run over and killed as she crossed a road outside her work. He told the man ‘I need my missus dead’, adding: ‘If I had the balls, I would do it myself.’ He hoped that police would conclude that Alison Trigg, 45, had been the victim of a hit and run motorist. Burgess was jailed for six years after a judge heard he had agreed to pay the officer £10,000 to carry out the task. He admitted soliciting a person to murder. Stafford Crown Court also heard that Burgess – who had run up £112,000 of debt – planned to move his mistress into their home in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, and that he had been bragging in the pub about plans to kill Miss Trigg. Judge Paul Glenn told him: ‘The callousness of your actions beggars belief. It must have been a terrible shock for Miss Trigg to find out your plans and the emotional effect on the lady must have been enormous.’ The method by which Burgess was put in touch with the police officer, identified only as 'J' in court, was not made public, although the Daily Mail understands he had admitted contacting another potential hitman, who had got cold feet, before meeting the police officer. The court heard he had also been heard bragging in a pub about wanting to kill his partner. Police also discovered that in the months before his contact with the hitman, the lorry driver had maximised life insurance policies for his partner to ensure that her death would see him receive a substantial payout – and had urged the officer to kill Miss Trigg before she paid the £3,000 fee for a university course she had committed to. But he was arrested after his plan backfired and police officers approached Miss Trigg on the morning she was supposed to be killed and took her to safety. Prosecutor Robert Price told the court the defendant and victim had lived together for most of their 20 years as an item. He added: ‘The defendant was a lorry driver who was leading a double life. He had amassed very large debts and kept them hidden from his partner. ‘By November he owed £112,000, he had even taken out a second mortgage on their home without Miss Trigg knowing. ‘The bailiffs started knocking and Miss Trigg told Mr Burgess she couldn’t live with him with all of the financial pressure hanging over him. ‘She also started to suspect he was having an affair. ‘Out of the blue, in October, the defendant told his partner that he had made inquiries about a joint life insurance policy. ‘The defendant said his mum’s death had caused him to make the inquiries. The policy meant that Mr Burgess would receive £215,000 in the event of his partner’s death.’ Stafford Crown Court: The court heard that Burgess – who had run up £112,000 of debt – planned to move his mistress into their home in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, and that he had been bragging in the pub about his plans . Mr Price said J then contacted Burgess on November 7 and Burgess provided the officer with a £500 deposit. A source told the Daily Mail: ‘Burgess told J to give him a missed call once the murder was done, so he could order some computers in his wife’s name, knowing full well that she wouldn’t be around to pay for them.’ Defending Burgess, Sailesh Mehta said the majority of Burgess’s debts were from second mortgage and a £5,000 credit card. After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Dave Mellor, from Staffordshire Police, said Burgess had spent considerable time thinking about how he could dispose of his partner.’ | Graham Burgess was caught after trying to hire an undercover police officer .
He was jailed for six years after admitting soliciting a person to murder .
The court heard he had planned to move his mistress into their home . |
112,370 | 1cf321c4585e3c8af8f6d9518d424a0ba6d4dff5 | This is the unusual moment when a man sets up a portable gas stove and starts a cooking demonstration on a train of commuters. The amateur chef can be seen cooking with a frying pan on what appears to be stacked-up milk crates on a train on the Frankston railway line in Melbourne. The video shows the man cutting up pieces of food with a pair of scissors and stirring it with a wooden spoon as stunned commuters watched and laugh in the background. Scroll down for video . The amateur chef can be seen cooking on a portable gas stove that he has set up on what appears to be stacked-up milk crates with a red and white checked tablecloth on a Melbourne train . 'You want them stems cut in quarters or so,' the man said in the video. 'Give it a bit of a stirrer'. One woman is seen stepping onto the train and the man looks over at her and says: 'How's it going? I'll have a meal for you in about three or four minutes - lucky lady!' 'Alright, we're up to the garnish - got some mozzarella sticks for garnishing - where did I put those mozzarella sticks? Alright!' he said. 'Be careful, everyone always wonders how to get these sticks in six or seven perfect strands? I know it's a bit difficult - it's intimidating but don't worry about it too much,' as he talks to his audience. 'Just peel peel and count - one - two - three - four - five - six - cooking on the Frankston line!' Commuters are heard counting along and clapping with him as he starts stirring his pan. 'You want that to sit for a second. You want that mozzarella sticks to become one in the dish [sic] so we want to see it melt in. 'We don't like to waste time around here so while that sits for 30 seconds, I'm going to get some physical exercise done.' While waiting for his dish to simmer, he casually starts doing pull-ups while passengers are heard cheering . While waiting for his dish to simmer, he walks over near the door and starts doing pull-ups while the passengers are heard cheering him on. The camera man is heard saying: 'Don't knock the f*****g fry pan.' 'That should be about perfect. Turn this one down now because I could hear people in the crowd getting a bit worried,' the man said while he adjusts his gas stove. 'Alright - let's have a bit of a stir.' It is unclear what followed after the video ended but it seems his audience were in for a special treat. The video was posted onto Facebook and has received more than 300,000 views since it was posted on Sunday by BJ Gallagher. A caption along the video said: 'Cooking on the Frankston line'. | Man was spotted with a gas stove set up and fry pan on a Melbourne train .
The amateur chef is seen casually cooking in front of stunned commuters .
While waiting for his dish to simmer in the pan, he starts doing pull-ups . |
208,484 | 99ecdb0ffcbb5fc12900b052ad75df730c11a52d | By . Nazia Parveen . PUBLISHED: . 07:16 EST, 7 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 20:56 EST, 7 February 2013 . 'Living nightmare': Veteran BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall today vowed to battle sex offence allegations . Stuart Hall told yesterday how he had been driven to the brink of suicide by ‘spurious’ claims of rape and indecent assault. The veteran broadcaster, 83, spoke out as he arrived at court to face one charge of raping a young woman and 14 counts of indecent assault against children as young as nine. But, for the first time since allegations against him surfaced, the Radio 5 Live commentator defended himself, saying he had been through a ‘living nightmare’. He said: ‘May I just say these allegations are pernicious, callous, cruel and above all spurious.‘And may I just say I am not guilty and will be defending these accusations.’ The sports pundit also questioned why it had taken almost four decades for the allegations to be made against him and defiantly vowed to clear his name. He added: ‘Like a lot of other people in this country today I am wondering why it has taken 30 or 40 years for these allegations to surface. ‘The last two months of my life have been a living nightmare. I have never gone through so much stress in my life and I am finding it difficult to sustain.’ An emotional Hall added: ‘Fortunately I have a very loving family and they are very supportive and I think, but for their love, I might have been constrained to take my own life. They have encouraged me to fight on, to fight the charges and regain my reputation and good name and whatever I have represented to this country down the years. ‘I would like to thank everybody who has supported me for their good will which has sustained me through this absolutely horrific ordeal.’ The former It’s A Knockout presenter said he was nursing a heart complaint brought on by the stress of the ordeal. Scroll down for video . Comment: Stuart Hall stands with his lawyer to address the media outside Preston Magistrates' Court . ‘As I say, I shall be defending . myself. I am 83 years old. I was a healthy 83-year-old, but I am now . incubating a heart complaint and I’ll be very lucky to survive another . couple of years,’ he said. ‘But I hope to survive those two years and regain my honour and reputation and more than ever, my life.’ Hall, dressed in a navy suit, entered . no plea during the five minute hearing at Preston Magistrates Court. He . spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address. Prosecutor . Joanne Cunliffe called for the case to be sent to the Crown court . because the allegations were too serious to be dealt with before . magistrates. The rape is alleged to have been in . 1976 on a 22-year-old and the 14 indecent assault offences are reported . to have been committed between 1967 and 1986. They concern ten girls . aged between nine and 16. Statement: Stuart Hall said outside a Preston court that he would like to survive 'another couple of years' Hall had already been charged in . December with indecently assaulting three girls. These charges included . an alleged assault of an eight-year-old, an 11-year-old and a woman who . was then aged 16. The allegations cover the period between 1974 and . 1984. The arrest of the commentator, who . lives with his wife of 44 years, Hazel, in Wilmslow, Cheshire, came as . the BBC continues to deal with the fallout from the Jimmy Savile sex . abuse scandal. Police said it did not form part of Operation Yewtree, . the investigation into alleged sex offences by Savile and others. 'The . last two months of my life have been a living nightmare. I have never . gone through so much stress in my life and I am finding it difficult to . sustain. Fortunately I have a very loving family and they are very . supportive and I think but for their love I might have been constrained . to take my own life' Stuart Hall . Gary Glitter, 68, comedian Freddie . Starr, 69, DJ Dave Lee Travis, 67, and former BBC producer Wilfred . De’Ath, 73, have been arrested and bailed as part of that probe. Other celebrity arrests include . comedian Jim Davidson, 59, and PR guru Max Clifford, 69. All deny any . wrongdoing. Hall has previously said that he believes the pursuit of . celebrities by the police has led to a string of allegations being made . against him. Speaking outside Hall’s home last . month, his solicitor Louise Straw said: ‘The clear pursuit of . celebrities – an 83-year-old in this instance – raises concerns about . fairness and equal treatment.’ Hall, known for his distinctively . highbrow approach to football commentary on Radio 5 Live, was yesterday . bailed to appear before Preston Crown Court on March 1. In December, his employers at BBC . Radio 5 Live announced he would not be working for them while the . investigation was continuing. Hall and his wife, who have two grown-up children, Daniel, 50, and Francesca, 52, are popular among the local community. He won legions of fans in the 1970s . and 1980s for his inimitable style and habit of breaking down in fits of . laughter during It’s a Knockout. He became an OBE in the 2012 New Year . Honours for services to broadcasting and charity. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Stuart Hall spoke outside Preston Magistrates' Court after brief hearing .
It's A Knockout presenter says he's never gone through so much stress'
Hall charged last month with indecent assault against 10 girls aged 9-16 . |
223,185 | acecd2c3c7e963c76e4c066ccf6f2624318fdc3f | By . Helen Lawson . PUBLISHED: . 03:39 EST, 16 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:18 EST, 16 June 2013 . Couples face being charged more for wedding venue hire, photography and DJs than other events - because businesses hike up their prices when they hear the party is for a wedding. Consumer watchdog Which? found that one venue was prepared to charge its researchers four times as much to hold a wedding than a family party. Researchers posed as engaged couples to get price quotes from venues, DJs and photographers in Edinburgh, London and Manchester for the survey. Some businesses charged couples more when they heard they were booking a wedding, consumer watchdog Which? found . They then approached the same businesses pretending to be booking a family reunion for the same day with the same number of guests, and were often offered better deals. Researchers bartered one photographer down to £320 for the reunion, but were told that £450 was their lowest possible price for the wedding booking. All four DJs contacted by the Which? team bumped up their prices for a wedding. One Edinburgh-based DJ said the wedding would cost between £300 to £350 compared with £200 to £250 for the family party. The researchers had better luck with wedding venues, with only one offering a different price. That venue quoted £850 for room hire with a minimum of 120 guests, even though the Which? team asked to make a booking for 100. When the team called the same place pretending to be holding a reunion for 100 people, they were immediately offered a £200 room without prompting. A Which? spokesman said: 'Our snapshot research reveals some businesses are cashing in on a couple's big day by hiking up prices. One photographer told the undercover team that he could do a family party for £320 but could not go any lower than £450 for a wedding booking . 'We advise people to shop around to find the best deal before signing any contract.' Last month, a study of 1,000 people who got married in the past five years found that the average spend on a venue was £2,164, while the average cost of a photographer was £876. Couples spent £682 on entertainment on average, with 24 per cent telling the Sheila's Wheels study that they felt they were overcharged by wedding suppliers. A fifth said they were too embarrassed to haggle over prices. One in eight said they found themselves £3,000 in debt from their wedding celebrations, with couples spending £18,244 on getting married and enjoying a honeymoon. More than half of the newlyweds (52 per cent) felt wedding costs had spiralled out of control. | One venue charged four times as much for a wedding than a family reunion .
Which? asked for quotes for the same day and same number of guests .
Consumer watchdog tried London, Edinburgh and Manchester bookings . |
1,254 | 038d58de104ef36d659c15176c8725529bf755b4 | MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- You don't expect to hear an electric saw in church, but Kevin Cross uses the tool along with a frying pan, blender and toaster oven to help free people from debt. Kevin Cross holds the boards steady as a woman uses a reciprocating saw to cut up her credit cards. This money missionary helps people destroy those little plastic shovels, otherwise known as credit cards, that so many people have used to dig their way to financial ruin. "It's such an easy message. It really is," says Cross, an ex-con who credits religion for his conversion from thief to money coach. "That's why it doesn't take a rocket scientist, it doesn't take a CPA to do it. A first-year bookkeeper can figure out that you can't spend more than you make," he said. Earlier this month, Cross spoke to about 150 people at the Miami Vineyard Community Church where Kevin Fischer is the pastor. "You've got to plan your spending; you've got to give back a part to God. You've got to save for the future, and you've got to learn to be content," said Fischer. Fischer says the pressure of money and debt is enormous on people, especially more recently. "We should change the marriage vows from 'till death do us part' to 'debt do us part' because that's what's going on, and it's so true," he said. Cross is breathless. As he speaks to the crowd, he's a non-stop, doesn't-come-up-for-air, high-octane money missionary. He uses Christian principles, prayer, common sense, and a few good one-liners to get his message across. "I had a 401k, it went to a 201k, went to 101k, now it's just K," he said as the crowd laughs. "I'm thinking I got a thousand bucks left, and I can retire for about a week." Cross presides over a day-long sermon on how people can make their lives better by taking control of their spending. He says he tries to demonstrate the long-term effects of irresponsible borrowing. Simple stuff, he says, will make people more content and give them the cushion necessary to give back. His new book is "Building Your Financial Fortress in 52 Days." "I want to get people to have more margin, so instead of investing in stuff, and stuff that doesn't last, they can invest in people's lives," he said. The tools he uses to hammer home his message go beyond his overhead TV screens, charts and calculators. Cross invites his guests, who pay $25 a head to hear his message, to come up to the front of the room for what he calls the beginning of "freedom." On a table, sit a frying pan, a toaster oven, a blender and a wooden sawhorse and an electric saw. About six people cut up their credit cards and bake them in the toaster oven as if they were TV dinners. Others sliced and diced their Visa, MasterCard and Amex, before mixing the pieces with Spam in the blender. At one point, Cross called for some cooking oil as one lady stood over her credit card-saute with a spatula. Holding a plate full of the little pieces of credit card, Cross said, "This looks like a melted credit card, but this really represents freedom in these people's lives, because it's the first step." Cellie Mayol says she used to have 10 or 11 credit cards. She put on protective goggles, taped her cards to a two-by-four and shredded them with a reciprocating saw. "It just felt like the right thing to do to get me started on the right path," she said. "The Sawzall [reciprocating saw] was exhilarating. I love that feeling." Kevin Cross wasn't always this way. About 20 years ago, as a teen, he embezzled about $300,000 from the sheriff's office in Broward County, Florida. Yes, the sheriff's office. Cross was a bookkeeper and skimmed money from an account filled by payments from court judgments. He invested the stolen funds and profited about $50,000 before he was caught. He was charged with fraud and theft, and spent minimal time in jail. He paid half the money back. But, he says, that was another life ago. Cross says it took him four years to crawl out of his own hole; He was $100,000 in debt. "I could spend a thousand dollars a day," Cross told the crowd. "Although, I'd have to spend about two days recovering from that -- you know what I mean," he said. "I completely sabotaged my life, all in one year. I did more damage in one year than most people do in their whole life." One night, as a 20 year old, he says, he was parking cars at Miami's Hyatt Regency hotel. He was wearing black ladies garden shoes, because he couldn't afford the black sneakers that were part of his uniform. A Jaguar pulled up, and inside was one of Miami's most recognizable newsmen, anchorman Dwight Lauderdale. He took the car, turned on the radio, and heard a Christian financial expert say, "There is hope for the hopeless. All you have to do is give your heart and soul to the Lord." "And then, I thought, oh Lord, if you're there. I need you." "I wasn't going to find satisfaction in money. The only place I was going to find it was outside of that, and I found it, in turning my heart over to God." He became a CPA and spends one full day each week doing free financial counseling for needy people. He says he no longer gets high on money. He only helps people understand that they can manage their money in a way that can help themselves, their families and others. Juan and Beth Diaz were at the seminar. They said they ran up their credit cards and that their home, south of Miami, went into foreclosure last year. "America has been a very greedy, give-me-now country for so long, and I think it's a wake-up call for everybody that we can live differently," said Beth Diaz. Juan Diaz, her husband, says doing away with credit cards has helped them. The couple plans to be debt free in about 18 months. "They're telling you: 'Use me, you need me' -- and they own you. We've gotten to the point where we just don't need credit cards," he explained. "Everything we do, we plan, and if we don't have the money, we just don't buy it," he said. | Kevin Cross teaches churchgoers about the evil of credit cards .
Cross was convicted of fraud and theft as a teenager .
He turned to religion after hearing a radio message in a car while a valet .
Saws and frying pans among the tools he uses to "free" clients . |
79,515 | e16f00ef9f54ef1ddd299173567c0c4e3c218ce5 | By . Becky Evans . PUBLISHED: . 15:34 EST, 30 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:34 EST, 30 May 2013 . It may have been millions of years since our ancestors lived among the branches but it seems many of us still carry an unusual relic of our tree-dwelling days. New research shows that one in 13 humans walk around on chimp-like feet that feature the same adaptation as our tree-climbing cousins. Researchers from Boston University filmed the feet of 400 volunteers as they walked barefoot around the Boston Museum of Science. Most humans have stiff arches to help them walk but study found up to one in eight of us share a flexible mid-foot with primates that help them climb trees . They found as many as eight per cent of people have mid-foot flexibility. These people also had a higher than average BMI and flatter feet. But the study authors are unsure whether feature has stayed with some humans over the generations or whether it is a modern phenomenon caused by shoes. Early hominid footprints from 3.5million years ago have been shown to have the same flexibility. Primates flexible feet bends both at the ball and halfway to the heel which helps them hold onto branches . But it was believed that the so-called midtarsal break had disappeared as humans evolved and began walking on two legs. Jeremy DeSilva and Simone Gill, writing in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, that most people had no idea their feet were any difference, even though it was obvious to the naked eye. DeSilva told the New Scientist: 'I was, and continue to be, surprised by this.' The study found that people with the midtarsal break had significantly flatter feet than average. Primates, such as chimpanzees, have a . more flexible mid-foot that is useful for climbing trees and bends both . at the ball and half way to the heel. Humans have a rigid mid-foot - between the ball and heel - that acts as a lever for walking. Crompton . believes that the same flexibility can be shown in the feet of most . people and is actually a useful trait that adds stability when humans . change speed. But DeSilva told the New Scientist that he thinks it is a hindrance to walking efficiently. He said: 'My guess is that we are getting more variation than ever before, perhaps because shoes have impacted foot anatomy. | Researchers from University of Boston filmed 400 people walking barefoot .
Found eight per cent had unusual mid-foot flexibility - the same as primates .
Design helps primates climb trees but human arches are normally more rigid . |
128,832 | 327225b5d01ac20f7b95ae480f691ac579bd9452 | (CNN) -- On December 23, 1971, President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law. The legislation had tremendous bipartisan support and came at a time of great optimism. Many thought its passage would lead to a cure for cancer within a few years. The legislation never mentioned the word "war," but some considered it the country's "declaration of war on cancer." The law, and the movement supporting it, brought cancer out of the shadows and put a focus on it. Forty years later, the war is still being waged, and much of the optimism has faded. This year, more than 500,000 Americans will die of cancer. Obviously, this is a war not won, and it is appropriate to ask: What have we gotten from this 40-year war? Today, we know that cancer is far more complicated than imagined in 1971. Science has provided an amazing understanding of the disease at the cellular and molecular level. This understanding is causing medical science to change the definition of cancer from that used since the mid-1840s with a light microscope to a 21st-century definition based on genetics and genomics. The National Cancer Act of 1971 gave added resources to federally sponsored research, especially those supported by the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. The bill expanded the NCI clinical trials network, created NCI-designated cancer centers and encouraged cancer specialists to practice in the community. Most important, the act intended to stimulate basic laboratory research and clinical study and link the two in what is termed translational research. Forty years later, clinical trials have shown impressive treatment outcomes, especially in the early stage of the disease. Unfortunately, few cancers can be cured after spreading from their initial site of origin. In clinical studies, many of the newer treatments for widespread or metastatic cancer extend median survival by just a few months. It is progress but clearly not satisfactory progress. Improvements in clinical trials methodology allow for better understanding of how to assess screening, diagnostic and treatment interventions rigorously, leading to the realization that some interventions have risks as well as benefits. Wisdom and caution must be used when employing new technologies. The expansion of cancer epidemiology and prevention programs combined with basic science has defined many of the causes of cancer and the ways cancer can be prevented. By 1971, studies had shown that tobacco use causes lung cancer and heart disease. Further study has linked tobacco use to 14 more cancers and numerous other diseases. Other established causes of cancer include environmental pollutants and the combination of obesity, high caloric intake and lack of physical activity. The act improved American cancer registries. These registries documented the increase in cancer mortality rates through the 1970s and 1980s and the decline since 1991. After adjusting for age, the cancer death rate has declined 18.3% from 1991 to 2008 (the last year for which data is available). Cancer control efforts have saved thousands from dying. Assuming that the American cancer death rate would have continued to rise from 1991 onward, as it had in the previous 20 years, these efforts prevented more than 130,000 deaths in 2008 alone. This success is largely due to the application of advances in basic, clinical and epidemiologic cancer research findings, both prevention and treatment, largely associated with the National Cancer Act of 1971. Research shows that there is still significant potential benefit to cancer prevention. More than 20% of Americans still use tobacco, and it is still the leading cause of cancer. There has been a dramatic rise in the rate of obesity over the past 40 years. The triad of obesity, poor nutrition and lack of physical activity could emerge as the leading cause of cancer in the United States over the next decade. Indeed, most upsetting is that research shows a substantial number of Americans are not benefiting from the advances resulting from the National Cancer Act. While it is estimated that 130,000 cancer deaths were prevented in the United States in 2008, it is also estimated that 200,000 additional deaths were avoidable. These people died because a substantial proportion of Americans get less than optimal preventive health care, and when diagnosed with cancer, a substantial number receive less than adequate treatment. These are deaths that would not have occurred if the fruits of research, known knowledge in cancer prevention, screening and treatment technologies, had been fully available and applied to the entire population. The casualty count is where the "war on cancer" analogy breaks down. In war, more than 200,000 avoidable deaths in one year is an unacceptable outrage. In the war on cancer, it is just forgotten. We need to recommit to the anti-cancer effort; we need to work to get every American the quality health care every human deserves. On the 40th anniversary of the "declaration of war on cancer," the most pertinent question in cancer research is not one of molecular or cell biology. It is "how do we get adequate high quality health care to include preventive care to the people who deserve it?" The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dr. Otis Brawley. | President Richard Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 .
Legislation brought cancer out of the shadows and put a focus on it, Dr. Otis Brawley says .
Forty years later, clinical trials have shown impressive treatment outcomes, he says .
But large number of Americans not benefiting from advances due to act, Brawley says . |
206,178 | 96e233a7183592fe658436c9ca8d67c612d3ac73 | A 29 year old first-time mother diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer has vowed to defy her doctors and beat the disease so she can take her daughter to her first day at kindergarten. On Boxing Day 2014, just three months after giving birth to her beautiful daughter Charlotte, Kate Vincent, from Newcastle in NSW, was told the killer disease was 'advanced' and had large clusters of tumours in her liver and lungs. Distraught and shocked, the young mum fleetingly let her mind wander about the worst case scenario but seven weeks on, Kate told Daily Mail Australia that she was now determined to fight the illness head on, and letting it win just wasn't an option. 29 year old first-time mother Kate Vincent (pictured) was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer and has vowed to defy her doctors and beat the disease so she can take her daughter Charlotte (pictured) to her first day at kindergarten . 'In the really low moments it crushes your mind and I think it would be abnormal if I didn't (think about the worst),' Kate said. Her husband, Nathan, has been her rock through the tough times along with her amazing support group of family and friends and she believes that they are the reason she is willing to fight this battle. 'I'm not going anywhere and I was given this (cancer) for a reason and that reason is to find that other part of myself that I didn't know existed. The fight is on.' she said. With no symptoms and a newborn baby to look after, Kate, who is on maternity leave from her job as a teacher, ignored a lump under her ribs, putting it down to the effects her pregnancy and labour had on her body. On Boxing Day 2014, just three months after giving birth to her beautiful daughter Charlotte (pictured left) , Kate Vincent, from Newcastle in NSW, was told the killer disease was 'advanced' and had large clusters of tumours in her liver and lungs. She is pictured here with her husband Nathan. The young mother, pictured here on her wedding day to Nathan Vincent has vowed to fight the deadly disease . 'I just thought it’s hormones and it’s my body changing and getting back into shape after I’d had my baby,' she said. 'It just so happened that I took my baby to the doctor because I thought she had a little bit of a cold and while I was there I asked my GP to feel the lump and she said "That’s your liver, we might get that checked out".' Kate wasn't worried throughout her following CT scan on Christmas Eve, never allowing herself to think that the lump may turn out to be cancer. The diagnosis came as a huge shock to her and her husband but she says she was 'lucky in a way' that the tumour had spread to her liver as she would never have known about the bowel cancer if those lumps were not showing. She also said it has raised awareness that the disease can strike at any stage and doesn't just happen 'to 70-year-old men'. 'There have been so many messages from people who I've never met before and it’s overwhelming how it’s touched a lot of people because I think they don’t realise that this can happen to a 29-year-old.' the mother said. The diagnosis came as a huge shock to her and her husband Nathan (pictured) but she says she was 'lucky in a way' that the tumour had spread to her liver as she would never have known about the bowel cancer if those lumps were not showing. However, there was worse news to come, as a week after being told the devastating news that she had an 8cm tumour in her liver, her doctor gave her the dreadful news that it was incurable . However, there was worse news to come, as a week after being told the devastating news that she had an 8cm tumour in her liver, her doctor gave her the dreadful news that it was incurable. 'When I found out that it was cancer and that it was bowel cancer and that it had spread to the liver I was distraught and it was horrible,' she said. 'It was probably about a week and half after that I was told it was incurable. Kate said she can't describe the feeling of being told you may die from cancer, however after coming to terms with her doctor's diagnosis, she is positive she can overcome the illness. 'It was very surreal because you are thinking positively the whole time and to hear that it's incurable I can’t really describe what it was like,' the mother-of-one said, . 'I'm feeling very positive and I think my doctor would like me to prove him wrong.' While dealing with the fact that she may never see her daughter take her first steps, Kate had to take care of her three-month-old baby. Charlotte, who is now over five-months-old, is the reason Kate has adopted an optimistic approach to her treatment. 'Luckily we've been blessed with a very settled and beautiful baby who does all the right things at the right time so we’re very lucky in that way,' she said. 'She’s wonderful. We have got so much family and friends support around us which is really handy. Kate said she can't describe the feeling of being told you may die from cancer, however after coming to terms with her doctor's diagnosis, she is positive she can overcome the illness . 'On the days that I'm not feeling wonderful I've got so much family support around that they can take Charlotte and look after her while I recover myself.' Kate has already had two rounds of chemotherapy and has six left, with her third round of treatment starting tomorrow. She admits that she's been fine with her therapy and has had no side effects yet. 'Physically I feel fine so that makes it a hell of a lot easier to be positive about everything.' For now, Kate is in the middle of launching a support group for mothers who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. She believes it's important for women to talk about what might happen 'if I don't get to see them start kindergarten and how that feels for everybody else'. 'It's very difficult for friends to relate to where I'm coming from. There is nothing out there for young mums,' Kate said. 'To be told that I may not see her grow up, I don’t think that people who aren't in that situation can quite fathom what that must be like for me. I don’t want it to be a big sob story but I think it’s really important to talk to people who are in the same boat.' While dealing with the fact that she may never see her daughter take her first steps, Kate had to take care of her three-month-old baby. Charlotte, who is now over five-months-old, is the reason Kate has adopted an optimistic approach to her treatment . A Mycause page called Something For Kate set up by her best friend's husband has already raised over $46,000 for Kate and Bowel Cancer Australia . A Mycause page called Something For Kate set up by her best friend's husband has already raised over $48,000 for Kate and Bowel Cancer Australia. Kate requested that 60 percent of the money be given to charity and the remaining 40 percent to her and her family. 'That’s been a really overwhelming part of it. The response has been very overwhelming and obviously you realise that it brings out the best in people I suppose when they realise that something like this is going on,' she said. 'It can kind of scare people into thinking it could happen to them. It’s been great because it has really raised the awareness for people and it’s out there now. We’re getting a lot of responses from people realising that it is a disease that can affect people at any age.' Initially when the funding page was set up, just looking at the comments upset Kate, reminding her of the long road ahead of her. However, the messages of support now provide her with some much needed comfort in her dark times. 'The message of support have been the thing that I really hold on to. While it may make me cry every time I thought about it, holding on to those lovely words has really given me a lot to hold on to in my times that I'm not feeling very positive.' Initially when the funding page was set up, just looking at the comments upset Kate, reminding her of the long road ahead of her. However, the messages of support now provide her with some much needed comfort in her dark times . Kate's daughter Charlotte is the reason she is willing to fight this deadly disease . | 29-year-old Kate Vincent was diagnosed with bowel cancer .
She had given birth to her daughter Charlotte three months previously .
Kate took her daughter to her GP because she thought she had a cold .
She showed the doctor the lump under her ribcage .
On Boxing Day 2014 she was told she had bowel cancer .
It had spread to her liver and lungs and she was told it's incurable .
The mother has vowed to fight the illness and prove her doctor wrong .
She wants to raise awareness of the illness which can occur at any age .
A Mycause page has raised over $48,000 for the family .
Kate is in the middle of setting up a support group for sick mums . |
137,579 | 3dedc38d3fd88897b3dac57790a885ad66bdb0e9 | (CNN) -- A shooting suspect and one of three people he shot Tuesday at a Dallas Area Rapid Transit station just north of Dallas have died of their wounds, officials said. The shootings happened at 3:30 p.m. at the Arapaho station in Richardson, Texas, according to DART spokesman Mark Ball. "A DART female officer had been alerted by a bus operator about an issue with a customer, so she went to the station to meet the bus," Ball said. "Meanwhile, a second bus pulled into the station and that operator also indicated they had someone attempting to board the bus that was being unruly. The suspect got off the bus and started walking towards the train station. When our officer approached him, he started firing." The DART officer received non-life threatening gunshots to her bulletproof vest and her arm, Ball said. Two male passengers also were shot. One of them later died. Richardson Police spokesman Kevin Perlich told reporters during a press conference at the scene. It was unclear if they were hit by crossfire or were targeted by the gunman, Perlich said. The suspect fled to a warehouse across the street, where he died of a gunshot wound to the head, Perlich said. He did not know if the gunshot was self-inflicted or if the suspect was shot by police during a shootout at the vacant building. Several dozen people were evacuated at the DART station. Police have not released the identities of the shooter or the victims. | Victim dies in Richardson, Texas, shooting .
Man trying to board a bus begins shooting at transit officer .
Shooting suspect found dead in vacant building after shootout with police . |
154,337 | 5372926c5036cc58b80f6a83bd4889df1b767484 | (CNN) -- Pixar turned its table lamp on its voice actors for the upcoming films "The Good Dinosaur" and "Inside Out" at the Disney fan convention D23 on Friday. Disney animation czar John Lasseter also showed off footage from the films, and revealed that their "Finding Nemo" sequel — "Finding Dory" — would feature Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton as the parents of Ellen DeGeneres' forgetful fish, while "Modern Family"'s Ty Burrell will voice a beluga named Bailey. Ranking the top Pixar movies . THE GOOD DINOSAUR . Pixar's 2014 film about a world where dinosaurs never went extinct will feature an Apatosaurus family who work as farmers tilling fields to grow tree crops to feed their herbivore brethren. Poppa and Momma will be voiced by John Lithgow and Frances McDormand, while Bill Hader voices the older brother Forrest. Neil Patrick Harris and Judy Greer will play middle-sibling dinosaurs Cliff and Ivy, and the lead character — baby brother Arlo — will be performed by "Raising Hope"'s Lucas Neff. Pixar showed off the first footage, tracking a humongous potato-like asteroid as it hurdles through deep space on a collision course with Earth 65 million years ago, and ... Misses. A few prehistoric dinosaurs munching on some midnight snacks look up to see a blue bolt shoot across the sky and disappear. Director Bob Peterson (a veteran story artist with the company, and the voice of Dug the Dog from "Up" and growling Roz from "Monsters Inc.") oversees the film with co-director Pete Sohn (who voiced mama's boy Squishy in "Monsters University.") "The modern dinosaurs are farmers," Sohn said. "We actually designed them to function as their own farm equipment." Triceratops are bulldozers, the stegosauruses "have spiky tails that mow down acres of crops," and the Apatosaurus uses its long neck and tough bill to plow and plant the fields. While working the field one day, Arlo discovers a large beetle rustling around the ground, but there's something strange about it. It's actually a human toddler, in disguise. He's a grunting, savage little boy named Spot — who can't talk like the dinosaurs around him. "Spot is all alone in the world," Sohn said. "He's not afraid of anyone -- even a dinosaur 20 times taller than him." The film explores what happens when dinosaurs, the dominant species on Earth, discovers these strange, clever pests we would call humans. No images were immediately released, but for now we have this piece of concept art — featuring an evolved, long-necked dinosaur (most likely Arlo) cutting the clouds while running through a mountainside plain. Is there a Pixar conspiracy theory? INSIDE OUT . When Lasseter revealed this project two years ago at the last D23 event, it was called simply "Pixar's Untitled Project That Takes You Inside the Mind." Now it's known as "Inside Out," a comedy from "Up" director Pete Docter and producer Jonas Rivera — and D23 finally revealed some plot details for the 2015 movie. The movie zooms in to show the committees of emotions that run the minds of a mother, father, and an 11-year-old daughter going through a rough patch after moving to a new city. Riley, the once happy-go-lucky pre-teen is uprooted from her pleasant life in Minnesota and thrust into a new, unwelcome existence in San Francisco. That's when the emotions take over, much to the chagrin of her baffled parents. Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader), Sadness ("The Office"'s Phyliss Smith) and Joy (Amy Poehler) spar, collaborate, and miscommunicate with one another in an attempt to keep her functioning. "We get to take you places everyone has thought about but nobody has seen before. Places like 'long-term memory,'" said Docter. Other places visited include the Disneyland-esque Imaginationland and "Abstract Thought," where emotions become Piccaso-style versions of themselves. There's also Dream Pictures, a movie studio where dreams are produced and "The Train of Thought," which connects all the different worlds and looks like ... well, guess. Pixar's top 12 movie moments . OTHER NEWS . TOY STORY OF TERROR: Lasseter played the first 10 minutes of this Halloween-themed Toy Story short that will air on ABC this Oct. 16. It featured Tom Hanks' Woody, Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack's Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, and the rest of the toy-box gang on a road trip with their little-girl owner, ending up spending the night in a roadside motel where some lost toys warn of impending doom, including a GI Joe-type action figure with a missing hand known as "Combat Carl." GOOD LUCK CHARM-OFF: Hader, having been announced as a performer in two new projects, took the stage dressed as a sea cucumber in a bid to lobby "Finding Dory" director Andrew Stanton to include him in the film. He played the slow-moving slug who (rightfully) feared being late for class in "Monsters University." He said if he could get into four movies, he could be "Pixar's good-luck charm." The stage was promptly taken over by "Cheers" star John Ratzenberger — the actual Pixar good-luck charm — who voiced 14 characters in each of the Pixar films. "Never blow your own horn. Let somebody else do it for you," Ratzenberger advised. Naturally, he was accompanied by a marching band. Contributing: Lindsey Bahr, Amanda Taylor . See the original story on EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | Pixar announced casting for several upcoming features .
Eugene Levy, Diane Keaton to be parents in "Finding Dory"
"Inside Out" features comedians playing different emotions . |
2,184 | 065db32edfa265eac527dfa091b1569c93aede9f | (CNN) -- Fresh faced and pictured wearing a crisp military uniform, the photo of a young Jim Tuckwell looks like it was taken before he'd seen action. But in fact, at the age of just 22, he had already experienced the full horrors of war. World War II veteran Jim Tuckwell as a young soldier. Shot twice on Gold beach during the Normandy Invasion or "D-Day landings," Tuckwell was later deafened by a shell that blew off his friend's legs nearby. By the end of the war, the British soldier had been promoted to the rank of full sergeant, as he put it, simply because so many of his seniors had been killed. Now 86-years-old, he and many of his former comrades will remember the 65th anniversary of the landings Saturday at ceremonies along the French coast. It was a massive air and sea operation that marked the turning point of the war in Europe. And he knows how lucky he is to be alive. "My mate Jimmy went up the beach with two cases of bombs. I never saw him again. If I hadn't been hit, who's to say I wouldn't have been in the same position as he was when he was killed?" With bullet wounds to his chest and arm, Tuckwell collapsed unconscious on the beach. It was more than nine hours later that he was picked up by the stretcher-bearers. Incredibly, he was back fighting within six weeks. Watch Tuckwell tell his story » . So much time has passed since then, but the pain is still etched into his face. Sitting there in full military uniform, blazer adorned with half a dozen medals, his voice frequently cracks with emotion. He frequently tails off as he relives the past. "Every time I go back to Normandy I go to his grave, and it brings a tear to me eye even now. We were going do so much after the war ... but it never happened." Tuckwell, who saw action with the 1st Battalion, Dorset Regiment, has since formed a close friendship with Frank Rosier; they are members of the Normandy Veterans Association. Both men say their experiences were so commonplace among their generation that none were able to talk about it until 40 years later. Rosier told me that what he and the veterans discuss among themselves is very different to what is said in television interviews; but when pushed, he describes what it's like to kill another man. "We could never get our fathers to talk about the first World War, because they were involved in close combat. And twice in the second World War it happened to me. "I came face to face with a German, and I beat him to the draw. I killed him. I sat on the grass and was sick and I cried ... he was some mother's son." I get the sense that there was a great deal of respect between these soldiers and the Germans on the other side. Younger generations try to relate to the scale and the carnage of D-Day through movies like "Saving Private Ryan." The veterans talk of the noise, "big battleships firing, rocket ships firing, mortars landing, planes strafing, floating artillery and the Germans were totally unsociable about it, they were firing back at us, so there was a hell of a lot of noise there," recalls Rosier. They are lighthearted at times, citing the fact that British troops are renowned for their humor -- even in the darkest hours. But it is impossible to gloss over the horror and the danger they faced. Standing together in one of the landing crafts at the D-Day museum in Portsmouth, England, Rosier described what it was like to approach Gold beach. Watch Rosier's full interview » . He spoke of the bullets thundering into the sides of the craft, a ramp on one side hitting a mine and being disabled, and the knowledge that when the front ramp was dropped, the troops inside would be peppered with machine gun fire. He and his infantry were lucky that day - making it onto the beach with minimal loss. But as he told me later, of the 800 men in his infantry, only five survived the war unharmed, "the rest were killed, missing or wounded." Rosier, who fought with the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, bears the visible scars of battle. He lost an eye to a shrapnel wound -- a 'Blighty one,' meaning that he was taken home to recover in Britain -- and has had to live with the psychological trauma of facial disfigurement. But it's the pain of the ones they left behind that hurts the most. "There was no time to mourn, you didn't have time to mourn," said Tuckwell. "And the worst thing about later battles was that when you lost people, you normally had to bury them yourself. You couldn't leave the bodies on the ground, there was nowhere else to put them." Rosier added: "When your best friend gets killed it is surprising how hard you can become on a battlefield, I think you switch your mind off. My best friend, we called him Smokey Joe, Battersea boy, London boy, he was 18 years when he died. "At the time I just said 'oh Reggie is gone,' but ... I will be going back to Normandy and I will see his grave and cry. I have never figured out why I a mourn him now and not at the time. To lose a brother is a terrible thing and he was a brother. I lost two actual brothers in the war, but I miss Reg a lot." There was so much pain, so much suffering and such massive loss of life. Was it worth it? Rosier's response is emphatic. "Yes, every minute of it. We go back to Europe quite frequently, and even in Germany people say to us 'thank you for our freedom'. It is only in recent years that I have realized how important freedom really is, you can't taste it, you can't feel or hear it. But it is so important to be free." | D-Day soldiers remember the horrors of war and fallen comrades .
One tells how he survived despite being wounded storming Gold beach .
Another says he still mourns his best friend and cried after killing a German soldier .
President Obama attending 65th anniversary services in France Saturday . |
263,109 | e0c8d57fdf62c5d186f45c820ea1630021968e43 | By . Oliver Todd . Follow @@oliver_todd . Summer signing Lukas Jutkiewicz scored his second and third goals of pre season against Celta Vigo but it wasn't enough to give Burnley a win in the second-last game before their Premier League return. Last season's Championship Player of the Year Danny Ings was absent from the Clarets squad but Jutkiewicz showed the Clarets' strikeforce could cope without him against quality opposition. Os Celticos twice equalised through Alex Lopez and Nolito but the 4,550 fans at Turf Moor will have been impressed by the Championship winners' abilities against last season's mid-table La Liga finishers. VIDEO Scroll down for Burnley's Danny Ings scores a screamer in England U21 training . Competitive: Dean Marney fights to get ahead of Yelko Pino at Turf Moor against the La Liga outfit . Jutkiewicz gave Sean Dyche's side the lead after just two minutes, smartly finishing off Ross Wallace's perfectly weighted through ball. And Burnley had the better of the half with Jutkiewicz constantly a threat, hitting the post 13 minutes after his opener. But in the second half, the Spanish visitors came back into it and equalised after 69 minutes - Fabian Orellana playing in Alex Lopes to net past Tom Heaton. Jutkiewicz restored the lead straight from kick off, slotting home Ashley Barnes' drilled cross but even his celebrations were short-lived - Orellana again involved as he set up Nolito to curl into the bottom corner. | Summer signing Jutkiewicz scored after just two minutes at Turf Moor .
Alex Lopez equalised after 69 minutes but Jutkiewicz scored a minute later .
Nolito curled in with 17 minutes left to make it 2-2 .
Player of the Year Danny Ings was missing from the Burnley squad . |
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