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66,018 | bb62a6db832bf228fdc4eac0d9adba454f230da0 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 23:58 EST, 11 June 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 00:02 EST, 12 June 2013 . Being tapped on the butt by Chad Johnson is a sign of respect, the former NFL player's lawyer has claimed. In legal documents Adam Swickle asked the Broward County Circuit judge to reconsider her decision on Monday to jail Johnson for 30 days for disrespecting her court. The court had erupted into laughter when Johnson tapped his lawyer on the butt moments before the judge had been due to sign a plea agreement. Appeal: Adam Swickle, left, has pleaded with the judge to reconsider her jail sentence for Chad Johnson . 'This [laughter] is not Mr Johnson's fault and he should not be punished for the actions of third parties,' Mr Swickle has argued. Johnson, nicknamed 'Ochocinco' for his . old football jersey number, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for a domestic . violence probation violation by Judge Kathleen McHugh. He had previously reached a deal with . prosecutors for community service and counseling to resolve a probation . violation from his no-contest plea last year to battery on his . then-wife, TV star Evelyn Lozada. However, Judge McHugh decided to jail Johnson after accusing him of not taking proceedings seriously. When she asked the 35-year-old if he was . satisfied with his attorney, Johnson . reportedly smacked Mr Swickle's backside. No joke: Former NFL player Chad Johnson was sentenced to 30 days in jail when a judge refused to accept the plea deal after he slapped his lawyer's but in court. He last played an official game for the New England Patriots . 'I just saw you slap your attorney on the . backside. Is there something funny about this?' Judge McHugh said on Monday. 'The whole . courtroom was laughing. I'm not going to accept these plea negotiations. This isn't a joke.' Mr Swickle said the pat was Johnson's way of showing appreciation for his attorney's work on the case. 'Mr. Johnson has been a professional . football player in the National Football League for 11 years and patting . another individual on the backside is viewed as a sign of respect and . gratitude,' Mr Swickle said in the motion. 'It is clear that the court misinterpreted Mr Johnson's interaction with his attorney.' The butt pat came as Johnson believed . he would not have to go to jail, despite skipping meetings with his . probation officer for three months. Prosecutors said Johnson's sentencing will be left to Judge McHugh, who presides over domestic violence cases. Johnson had tried to apologize to the judge on Monday. 'This is your courtroom. I have no . intent to make this a joke. It's not funny,' he said. 'My life is in a . shambles right now.' Unamused: Broward Circuit Judge Kathleen McHugh didn't think it was funny when former NFL star Chad Johnson slapped his attorney's butt in court, so she sentenced him to 30 days in jail . Slapped: Chad Johnson, center, leaves Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in August 2012. He will serve 30 days in jail after violating probation in a domestic violence case . While his future now seems a little . uncertain, in court Johnson had expressed hopes that he might sign with . another football team this year. When Johnson was arrested in August, the Miami Dolphins released him and he hasn't played in the NFL since. A court hearing has been set for Monday but until then, Johnson will remain in jail. | Footballer shouldn't be punished for courtroom laughter, attorney claims .
Johnson had been due to get plea deal when he slapped butt . |
69,938 | c648b0afc789787c10f6a8e34ebd134c7aef1c0e | Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- U.S. officials issued a revised version of the nighttime raid that killed the world's most-notorious terrorist, including additional details that revealed other options were on the table before settling on the assault. The 40-minute raid early Monday in Pakistan left Osama bin Laden dead, along with four others in the complex that sits on a mountainous region near the capital. Bin Laden was not armed during the raid, but he put up resistance when U.S. forces entered the compound, the White House said. Officials had earlier said that bin Laden was an active participant in the firefight, implying that he was armed and gave the U.S. Navy SEALs little choice but to shoot him down. After the operation, U.S. forces departed with the al Qaeda leader's body, nearly 10 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. "It was a staggering undertaking and there was no one else, I believe, other than an American group of military warriors who could do it," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday. "And the world is a safer place today, not only for the American people but for all people." Officials on Tuesday offered new details about the raid and clarified earlier accounts. U.S. military personnel arrived on two helicopters, attacked the residence and started moving methodically from room to room, said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation, he said. There were no armed guards around the compound, according to a U.S. official who is not authorized to speak on the record. Original plan . CIA Director Leon Panetta told PBS "NewsHour" that the original plan was for two Black Hawk helicopters, carrying 25 people, to go into the compound. The first was to go over a courtyard, while the second was to go over the roof. But the first helicopter had problems and had to set down on the ground, prompting the second one to do the same, he said. "Both teams immediately went into the compound itself. They had to breach about three or four walls in order to get in there," he said. "They were able to do that and they immediately then went into the compound itself and fought their way up to the third floor." Officials called the U.S. operation a surgical raid -- and said it was conducted by a small team and designed to minimize collateral damage. The compound is in Abbottabad, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. The city sits in a region where most residents are army personnel. When it was first built, the compound was secluded and reachable by only a dirt road, officials have said. In recent years, more residences were built around it, but it remained by far the largest and most heavily secured property in the area. The compound had outer walls up to 18 feet tall topped with barbed wire, with two security gates and a series of internal walls that sectioned off different portions of the compound, senior administration officials have said. Bin Laden "didn't hold his hands up" Months of intelligence work determined that the compound was custom-built to hide a high-value terrorism suspect, almost certainly bin Laden. There was no telephone or Internet service at the dwelling, which was valued at more than $1 million. Its occupants burned their trash rather than leave it out for collection as other area residents did. Besides the bin Laden family, two other families lived in the compound, according to Carney. On the first floor of the building, two al Qaeda couriers were killed in addition to a woman caught in the crossfire, he said. Bin Laden and his family lived on the second and third floors, and they were cleared last, with bin Laden killed toward the end of the siege, Carney said. Bin Laden was not armed but did put up resistance when U.S. forces entered the compound, he said. According to the U.S. official, who is not authorized to speak on the record, bin Laden "didn't hold his hands up and surrender." A woman in the room with him -- believed to be bin Laden's wife -- rushed U.S. forces and was shot in the leg, but not killed, said Carney. Officials had earlier said that bin Laden was shielded during the shooting by women, including his wife. Five of the approximately two dozen people in the compound were killed -- the two couriers, the woman, bin Laden and his son, said the U.S. official who sought anonymity. Panetta told PBS he didn't think bin Laden said anything to U.S. forces before he was killed. "To be frank, I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything. It was a firefight going up that compound and by the time they got to the third floor and found bin Laden, I think this was all split second action on the part of the SEALs," he said. Team practiced on a replica of the compound . Prior to the assault, U.S. intelligence officials provided detailed satellite images of the compound, which was enough to construct a replica, according to a senior defense official. Team members practiced on that mock-up, and knew the height of every wall, and which gates to go through, the official said. Obama and senior administration officials have said that no U.S. forces were harmed during the operation. According to the senior administration officials, intelligence work determined at the beginning of 2011 that bin Laden might be at the compound in Pakistan. By mid-February, the intelligence was strong enough to begin considering action. To discuss that intelligence and develop a plan, Obama chaired five National Security Council meetings from between March and April, with the last two on April 19 and April 28 -- last Thursday. The next day, on Friday, Obama gave the order for the mission, the officials said. Multiple options . A U.S. official said multiple options were considered before settling on the assault. "A bombing would not have risked American lives but it might have left questions" as to whether bin Laden was killed, the official said. National security officials agreed "the best option is the one that gives proof," the official said. The key break involved one of bin Laden's trusted couriers, according to various officials. About two years ago, intelligence work identified where the courier and his brother lived and operated in Pakistan. It took until August of last year to find the compound in Abbottabad, they said. "When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw -- an extraordinarily unique compound," one senior administration official said. "The compound sits on a large plot of land in an area that was relatively secluded when it was built. It is roughly eight times larger than the other homes in the area." Noting that the courier and his brother had no discernible source of wealth to live at such a property, intelligence analysts concluded the compound was "custom-built to hide someone of extraordinary significance," the official said, adding: "Everything was consistent with what experts thought Osama bin Laden's compound would look like." CNN's Pam Benson and Chris Lawrence contributed to this report. | The operation lasted nearly 40 minutes .
The compound had no armed guards, an official says .
Bin Laden "resisted," but was not armed, the White House says . |
233,798 | baafea63918838132ff7b746bbae6c368855e427 | India is stepping up its tourist provision by introducing dedicated carriages for visitors on trains. The government's Ministry of Tourism announced that the new plans that will take effect on routes that travel through or terminate at the country's more popular attractions. Research will be carried out prior to passengers setting foot on the tourist carriages, so that specific information can be passed out that can help guide the tourists. Tourists may escape the India rush on trains with their own dedicated carriage to travel in . Speaking to the Hindu Business Line, Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Tourism said: 'We will have complete information of any passenger who books a ticket for this coach. The ticket for this may be 5-10 per cent costlier than the regular coach fare. 'We are also looking at the possibility of a surveillance camera in the tourist coach.' Sharma has indicated that as the prices will be slightly higher for the tourist carriages compared to the rest of the train, the facilities will be of a higher standard. Attractions such as the Taj Mahal but be continually cleaned to provide the ultimate tourist experience . 'What we are planning is end-to-end tourism encompassing cleanliness, safety and security and high level of hospitality for tourists,' he added. The tourist train carriages are just part of a wider programme to improve the India experience, led by the BJP Centre-led government. The idea of specific tourist train carriages follows several high profile cases of travellers being attacked in the country. In January this year, two men were accused of gang raping a 51-year-old Danish tourist in New Delhi who stopped them to ask for directions. Violence against women in India has caused increasing alarm since the fatal gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian physiotherapy student in New Delhi in December 2012. Several foreign tourists also have been targeted in attacks that often get international attention, although Indian women are assaulted far more frequently. The Indian government wants to improve the tourist experience for foreign visitors . Tourism figures fell significantly in the three months following the 2012 gang rape, with visits by women dropping 35 percent, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. Although the industry appears to have bounced back,negative publicity still swirls following attacks on foreign women. Plans to spruce up monuments and heritage sites are also important to help boost tourism to India, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Modi also urged the separate state governments that it is their responsibility to provide a hassle-free prgramme for tourists. Speaking to NDTV Sharma said: 'If we receive a person at the airport, work out their itinerary, take them around in India and finally drop them off at the airport with the assurance that they are looked after by the government as guests, concerns about touts and harassment would disappear.' The full announcement on India's re-think on tourism is expected to be announced on Christmas Day. | Plans part of a wider tourist drive by Prime Minister Modi's government .
Carriages could have surveillance and be higher standard than regular .
Government urges state officials to 'spruce up' tourist attractions . |
189,443 | 81544c526b960e12ad9e1f586db6f1f8fc7ca4f4 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- Seven emergency medics in England have been suspended from work for playing an Internet game that involves being photographed lying down in unusual places. The lying down should be as public as possible and as many people as possible should be involved. Bosses at a hospital in Swindon, western England, were angered after photographs of the doctors and nurses lying face down on resuscitation trolleys, ward floors and an air ambulance helipad were posted on social networking site Facebook. The photographs have been removed from the site and the members of the hospital's accident and emergency staff now face a disciplinary hearing. Partipants in the "lying down game" must lie face down with the palms of their hands against their sides and the tips of their toes touching the ground. Should the medics have been suspended? Send us your views . There are two aims to the challenge: that the lying down should be as public as possible and that as many people as possible should be involved. But Dr. Alf Troughton, medical director of Great Western Hospital NHS Trust, was unamused by the alleged incident, which he said took place during a night shift last month. "This did not involve patients and we are satisfied that at no time was patient care compromised," Dr. Troughton said in a statement. "The Great Western Hospital sets high standards for staff behaviour at all times and therefore takes any such breaches extremely seriously. It is important to reassure patients and our workforce that this was an isolated incident and staff cover was maintained at all times. "The allegations have been thoroughly investigated and seven members of staff remain suspended pending formal disciplinary hearings." | Seven medics in England suspended for playing "lying down game"
Internet game involves being photographed lying down in unusual places .
Members of hospital's accident and emergency staff await disciplinary hearing .
They were allegedly photographed lying on trolleys and emergency helipad . |
211,741 | 9e3299fee3f834e57676f90691f42f324d88a99b | By . Chris Greenwood . PUBLISHED: . 08:00 EST, 24 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 08:20 EST, 25 January 2014 . Accused: Dave Lee Travis pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court today for his assault trial . Dave Lee Travis denounced his accusers . as money-grabbers in police interviews, but also conceded he was ‘not . an angel’, a court was told yesterday. The . former radio DJ and Top of the Pops presenter said he had met millions . of people during his long career but had always acted professionally. He . accused those who claim he sexually assaulted them of ‘imagining’ the . attacks and dismissed their allegations as ‘ridiculous’. In . 17 hours of police interviews, Travis, known as DLT, said he was an . easy target in a money-grabbing culture. Southwark Crown Court was told . he described the allegations as ‘complete and utter nonsense’ and . ‘absolute c**p’. He claimed that many of his accusers came forward simply to make money from the media. Reading . from the transcripts, prosecutor Teresa Hay said Travis felt the . allegations against him were ‘degrading’ and he could barely remember . the women involved. ‘He said if he had touched someone’s breasts he . would admit it as it was considered to be flirtatious at the time and no . one thought much about it,’ she said. ‘He . said he did not take advantage of people. If any of it had been true he . would put his hand up and say it was the norm in that period. 'But as . far as these women were concerned, he did not touch them. ‘He . didn’t mess around with young girls. He felt he was in the firing line . and people could take shots at him if they want. 'The Press had no morals . and now his morals were being questioned.’ Travis, . 68, appearing in court under his real name David Patrick Griffin, sat . in silence as sections of the police interviews were read to the jury. He was interviewed under caution four times over 10 months after he was . first arrested in November 2012. Past: Travis told police he knew that Jimmy Savile 'liked young girls' and thought, 'Good luck to him' Paedophile: Travis insisted he did not know that Savile was targeting underage girls . He is on trial accused of indecently . and sexually assaulting 11 women, the youngest of whom was 15 years old, . over a period of 32 years. Speaking . about the many women he met, Travis said he was a ‘tactile’ person but . was sensible and knew where the line of appropriate behaviour was. ‘He said everyone got opportunities,’ Mrs Hay said. ‘But he said, “If you live in a sweet shop you don’t eat sweets”. ’ Travis . told detectives he had been happily married since 1971 but appeared to . clam up when asked if he had any affairs. Workplace: Travis and Savile worked together at BBC Television Centre in the 1970s . Quoting his reply, Mrs Hay . said: ‘His marriage was rock solid...even if he had strayed and had an . affair, what did that have to do with this?’ She added: ‘Even if he thought a woman looked nice he would not “dive in” because he was married.’ Travis . was asked about his relationship with Jimmy Savile, who was exposed as a . prolific paedophile after his death. He said they were colleagues, not . friends, and suggested Savile was an ‘oddball’. In court: The defendant pictured listening to the evidence during an earlier hearing in the trial . Travis . admitted he knew Savile liked young girls and thought ‘good luck to . him’, but added he did not think they were under the legal age of sexual . consent. Mrs Hay said Travis would have reported Savile if he knew he was a paedophile and was genuinely shocked by the scandal. During the interviews, Travis admitted that groping was seen by some as the ‘norm’ in the 1970s but insisted he did not do it. Travis denies all the allegations. The trial continues. | DJ says he knew Jimmy Savile was attracted to 'young girls' but did not know the star's targets were underage .
Insists he would have reported his BBC colleague if he had known .
Denies groping women in 1970s but says such behaviour was 'the norm'
Claims women who accuse him of assault wanted to sell their stories . |
97,995 | 0a283d10bb63e083272e4f10982a6da8f8b15a9c | A touching photo has emerged which appears to show a manatee keeping a close watch on an exhausted dog as it struggles to get of the river. The snap was taken by Tampa Police Department's Marine Patrol unit on Saturday morning after it was called to rescue the dog. Residents in Tampa's Seminole Heights neighborhood saw the dog, named White Boy, struggling to climb out of the water after hearing a strange noise coming from the river the previous night. A touching photo has emerged which appears to show a manatee (pictrued in the water) keeping a close watch on an exhausted dog as it struggles to get of the river . They called for help and officers from the Tampa Police Department's Marine Patrol unit responded on Saturday morning. It wrote on its Facebook page: 'Officer Jodie Maxim captured this amazing photo of the kindness between animals. 'While setting up the rescue operation, look closely, this manatee kept our scared, wet pup company until TPD Marine Patrol could complete the rescue. The snap was taken by Tampa Police Department's Marine Patrol unit on Friday night after it was called to rescue the dog . The officer who rescued the dog, Randy Lopez, a 30-year veteran of the department's Marine Patrol Unit, said both the fresh water and the commotion likely drew in the manatee . 'You don't see that every day, and it's a great reminder... the importance of kindness.' The officer who rescued the dog, Randy Lopez, a 30-year veteran of the department's Marine Patrol Unit, told ABC News both the fresh water and the movement of the dog struggling probably attracted the manatee. 'They're curious by nature so I'm sure the the sound of the dog splashing in the water trying to get up the sea wall got his attention and he came over to investigate, maybe calm the dog and tell him it was going to be alright,' he said. A police department spokeswoman told ABC News the dog was reunited with its owners. White Boy had suffered bug bites and had bloody paws but was otherwise it was not injured. The dog seemed happy to be back with his owners on dry land after his ordeal . | The snap was taken by Tampa Police Department's Marine Patrol unit .
They were called in on Friday night to rescue the dog in Florida .
Dog was rescued from water and returned to his owners . |
205,508 | 9609eeb8c26b240b06a76521405013c79f923a65 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . and Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 08:16 EST, 28 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:26 EST, 28 May 2013 . The Red Cross still hasn't spent more than a third of the $303million it raised to assist victims of the storm even seven months after Hurricane Sandy ravaged much of the East Coast. The charity organizers say that it isn’t an accident that more than $100million of the funds have been left unspent, saying that their strategy will help address needs that weren't immediately apparent in the disaster's wake. The revelations about the slow spending comes the same day as President Obama is due to meet with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for his second tour of the damaged areas since the storm hit in late October. Now: The Star Jet roller coaster, seen here on May 14, is still in the water in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as it was revealed that the Red Cross has yet to distribute more than $100million in donations . Back together: President Obama arrived in New Jersey on Tuesday morning and was greeted by Governor Christie so that the two could tour the damage . Ready to roll: Even though he has been criticized by members of his party for appearing chummy with the Democratic President, he brushed those slights aside saying he is doing what is best for his constituents . Some disaster relief experts say that's smart planning but others question whether the Red Cross should have acted with more urgency in the weeks after the storm and left long-haul recovery tasks to someone else. Storm victims could have used more help this past winter, said Kathleen McCarthy, director of the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Civil Society at the City University of New York. 'People were cold. Homes mildewed. There wasn't enough decent housing,' she said. 'Given the lingering despair, it's hard to understand the argument that “We are setting that money aside.”' As Americans open their wallets to assist tornado victims in Oklahoma, the Red Cross is again emerging as one of the most important relief organizations on the ground and also one of the most prodigious fundraisers for victims. As of Thursday, it had raised approximately $15million in donations and pledges for the tornado response, including a $1million gift from NBA star Kevin Durant and numerous $10 donations, pledged via text. The Red Cross was also the No. 1 recipient of donations after Sandy. The organization said it still had $110million remaining from its pool of storm donations as of mid-April, which were the most recent figures available. Red Cross officials pledged that all the money in its Sandy fund will eventually be spent on the storm recovery and not diverted to other disasters or used to support general Red Cross operations. Over the next few months, the Red Cross expects to spend as much as $27million of its remaining Sandy donations on a program providing 'move-in assistance' grants of up to $10,000 to families displaced by the storm. About 2,000 households have been assisted by the program so far, with an additional 4,000 waiting for an eligibility determination. Promoting the Shore: The New Jersey government has spent millions in an advertising campaign and media onslaught in order to promote the Jersey Shore and encourage tourists to visit . Welcoming one and all: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, seen here in Ashbury Park on Sunday, has been extremely vocal in his fight to get the federal government to allocate emergency funds to the area . Part of the delay in spending, officials said, is to wait to see how the hardest-hit states allocate a $60 billion pot of federal relief dollars and address gaps in the government aid package. 'We are waiting to see where the greatest need is going to be over time,' said Josh Lockwood, CEO of the Red Cross Greater New York Region. 'We are more concerned with spending our resources wisely rather than quickly.' Some disaster relief experts said holding funds in reserve was indeed a smart move. Much of the toughest and most expensive relief work after a natural disaster comes not during the initial months but during the long-term rebuilding phase after the public's attention has waned and new donations have stopped flowing, said Patrick Rooney, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. 'It would be splashier, perhaps, to spend the money right away while the media is still there and the donors are still looking,' he said. 'But the important needs, from the cost perspective and the recipient perspective, take place after the headlines are gone and after the cameras are gone.' Red Cross officials noted that a year after a tornado killed 158 people in Joplin, Missouri, it found itself providing a new round of mental health services to survivors. Then: The damage to the entire boardwalk and town of Seaside Heights immediately after Superstorm Sandy (seen here on October 31) was widespread, but they have worked hard to make it ready for summer . Up and running: Now the boardwalk and arcades are open (seen here on May 26) in time for Memorial Day weekend as the region depends on tourism for much of its economy . Comforter-in-chief: Both Christie and Obama won praise across the aisles for their bipartisan work on the relief effort . The cholera epidemic that killed thousands of people following a massive earthquake in Haiti, where the Red Cross was also criticized for not spending donations faster, also didn't start until nearly a year after the disaster. The Red Cross says it is planning substantial grants to other nonprofit groups doing Sandy recovery work and is doing much of its current work in conjunction with charitable partners with local ties. Red Cross volunteers working in conjunction with the organizing group New York Cares are going out several days a week to muck and clean flooded homes and remove mold. Red Cross staff and caseworkers have been holding 'unmet needs roundtables' in hard-hit communities, trying to identify victims not covered by traditional aid programs. 'Our experience shows that as the recovery goes on, the needs of survivors will evolve,' said Roger Lowe, Red Cross senior vice president. 'It's important to make sure some money is available for those needs no one can predict right now.' Other organizations that raised large sums for the relief effort have also held back money while they evaluated the wisest way to spend it. The Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund, led by Mary Pat Christie, the wife of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, raised $32million after the storm but didn't begin awarding grants on a large scale until April. So far, it has given about $11million, with the biggest grants going to local organizations building or repairing housing. The United Way, which raised $9.7million in a Sandy recovery fund for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and some parts of Pennsylvania, said it has spent about $4million of that total to date, though another $2.5million is set to go out soon. High profile: Prince Harry's visit to Seaside Heights in mid-May helped bring attention back to the area . 'We always knew, from the very beginning, that our fund and our resources would be for longer-term strategies. We feel good about the timeframe,' said United Way of New York City President Sheena Wright. That strategy of holding some cash to spend later contrasts with the approach taken by the Robin Hood Foundation, which was in charge of distributing more than $70million raised by a December 12 benefit concert by Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and other music royalty. That fund was depleted entirely by April, with grants given to 400 relief organizations ranging from food banks to legal services to volunteer rebuilding groups. Robin Hood spokeswoman Patty Smith said the foundation moved as fast as it could because it believed that delays in government aid were leaving big gaps in services. Red Cross officials say they have the ability to meet both long-term and short-term needs, noting the organization has served 17 million meals and snacks, distributed 7 million relief items, mobilized 17,000 workers and volunteers, and provided 81,000 overnight stays. Its efforts won over early critics like Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, who assailed the Red Cross response in the days immediately after the storm but now praises it as having provided vital help. 'They've come a long way since Day One,' Molinaro said. | Charity has kept about a third of all donations, saying that they are earmarking them for longer-term problems that still may not have arisen .
Comes out the same day that President Obama visits New Jersey to see the recovery process . |
115,917 | 21a33cc0b0e5af637a2332c194434b4664505ff2 | Pat Boone, the Fifties' crooner, has been filmed saying he believes that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and not the U.S. Announcing his 'birther' opinions, Boone said the President's long-form birth certificate, which was finally released in April, was a 'photoshopped fraud'. Boone, 77, who is a member of the Beverly Hills Tea Party, also alleged that the President was 'spending millions of dollars' of taxpayers' money to cover up 'the truth'. Scroll down for video . Taped: Speaking on video, Pat Boone, left, said he did not believe that . President Obama, pictured right speaking in New York last night, was . born in the U.S. Speaking on video to the San Francisco Chronicle, Boone said: 'I was in Kenya about a year and a half ago and everybody said, 'you know he was born here.'…Why else would he be hiding all his records. 'He is spending millions of dollars so we do not have his records. 'And experts have already looked at and been able to verify that this long-form document is a fraud. 'But the media ignores it… a total fraud. A photoshopped fraud.' According to a recent CNN poll, one in six Americans still believes the President was definitely or probably not born in the U.S. However this figure of 17 per cent - after the release of the birth certificate in April - was a fall from the 25 per cent who gave the same response in the previous month. The birth certificate shows that the President was born in Hawaii. Barack Obama waves to the crowds with his wife Michelle at a Democratic fundraiser at Gotham Hall in New York last night . Evidence: Constant questioning prompted Mr Obama . to release the long-form version of his birth certificate to show he . was born in Hawaii in 1961 . Idol: Pat Boone in his Fifties' hey day, when he released hits like Love Letters in the Sand . The comments from Boone, a music legend who is one of Billboard's top ten recording artists of all time, come after a book published on the topic reached number six on a New York Times best seller list. ‘Where's the Birth Certificate?’ by Jerome Corsi, which argues that Mr Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, stormed the charts after it was released in June. The book's blurb says it shows . ‘conclusively that no legal authority has ever verified Obama's legal . eligibility to be President’. It has a ‘compelling body of evidence’ to show that Mr Obama ‘is not a natural-born citizen as is required of . all presidents (by) the Constitution’. Dr Corsi says his work shows Mr Obama . was a dual citizen of the UK and U.S. - and shows he was registered in . school as a Muslim and Indonesian citizen. | Singer claims birth certificate is 'a photoshopped fraud'
One in six Americans still believes President was not born in U.S. |
29,156 | 52cf6cea7a256039b99efa2ea2e23b45a5ec69bf | A high-flying Google exec with a passion for super-fast, top of the line sports cars has proved himself to have an equally good sense of humor, when it comes to his boy's toys. As vice president of engineering and long-time Google employee, Benjamin Sloss Treynor, 43, became an instant millionaire at the time of the company’s $23 billion IPO in 2004. That wealth has afforded Treynor the finances to be able to indulge his passion for collecting some of the most exclusive sports cars around, including a Ford Raptor, a Ferrari 458 Italia, and a McLaren 12C Spyder, which he keeps in his six-car garage. Dream team: Google's Benjamin Sloss Treynor shows off five of his fancy sports car . Car lover: Benjamin Sloss Treynor and his wife collect a Ferrari after recently bidding the highest for it in a charity auction in Sept in Monza, Italy . Treynor isn’t shy about his collection either and as with any self respecting tech nerd he is very active in chat forums sharing his passion with other sports car nuts. Sometimes Treynor’s candidness about his car collection has got him into trouble with other forum members of the SVT . Performance forum, most of whom can only dream of having a car collection as exotic as his. One forum member recently questioned if Treynor could really own all the top of the lines vehicles which he claims too and challenged him to prove he owned what he said he did with an usual task involving placing bread on some of his most exclusive rides. 'I don’t think you’re real. I request a . picture of your new 12C Spyder with a piece of bread on the hood,' wrote . one poster, who posted under the username Ford-racer. Treynor may be very important and very . rich, but as is the Google ethos he is also something of a regular guy - . as he proved by rising to the challenge set by his forum buddy. Not only did Treynor comply on Sunday by posting a picture of his extremely rare McLaren 12C Spyder, but he photographed some English crumpets on top, as befitting a British-built vehicle. For this photograph of his McLaren Spyder, Treynor photographed some English crumpets as befitting a British-built vehicle . Treynor placed a loaf of New York Rye on top of his American Raptor . On the bonnet of his Ferrari, Treynor placed a long loaf of Italian bread . Treynor captioned his Spyder photo saying 'the art and science of the British sports car lives on at McLaren, and nothing says "God Save The Queen" like crumpets!' He didn't stop there either, for a photo of his brand-new high-performance Ford Raptor truck, Treynor placed a loaf of New York Rye Bread. 'Nothing says "USA" like 'FORD', and what better pairing than a great loaf of New York Rye?' he wrote. Then on top of his Ferrari he placed Italian bread. He wrote: 'Nothing complements the smell of fine Italian leather like the smell of fresh Italian bread!' Ford_racer, real name Kyle Hirschi, told Wired that he knew Treynor was legit, but came up with the bread on the hood idea as an inside joke after the Google exec was called out by someone else on the forum. On the SVT Performance forum user ford_racer asked Treynor to post pictures of bread on his cars . Sense of humor: Further evidence of Treynor's humor can be found on his Google+ profile . In the past, Treynor had responded by posting a . picture of his kid holding a sign that had the name of the SVT . Performance forum on it. 'Treynor is easily one of the more genuine and down to earth people on SVTP,' said Hirschi. 'He’s never condescending or arrogant when showing off his toys, and he’s clearly a genuine car enthusiast. 'Many, many well-off people will buy these types of cars and let them rot in a garage or drive them like old men.' In September, Treynor won an auction to buy a Ferrari 599XX Evo that was being sold to benefit victims of an earthquake in Northern Italy. Treynor, who has been at Google for nine years, carries a lot of responsibility and as the company’s site reliability tsar it is his job to ensure that their websites don’t go down. Joker: Treynor displayed a great sense of humor by rising to the silly challenge . Google exec Benjamin Sloss Treynor, 43, has a car collection most people can only dream about . | Google vice president Benjamin Sloss Treynor made millions through the company's IPO in 2004 .
His passion is expensive fast cars and he has a six-car garage .
As part of a challenge on a forum for car lovers, Treynor posted images of some of most exclusive vehicles with themed breads on top .
For his rare McLaren 12C Spyder he put English crumpets and on his Ferrari he placed Italian bread . |
253,784 | d47b6d2cf487bdae61be062230010b76952e4900 | By . Damien Gayle . Lord Justice Jacob at his swearing in as Lord Justice of Appeal: He has been hired by Samsung as an expert witness in a patent dispute . The appeals-court judge who forced Apple to make a high profile apology to Samsung has been hired by the South Korean firm as an expert witness in its latest patent dispute. Sir Robin Jacob will testify on behalf of Samsung during the US International Trade Commission investigation into the company's patent dispute with Ericsson. The retired judge, who is now a professor of law at University College, London, made headlines last year when he accused Apple of a 'lack of integrity'. It came the Silicon Valley said it would take them two weeks to properly comply with a court order that it publish a notice that it had lost an earlier legal fight with Samsung. Sir Robin's involvement with Samsung has raised eyebrows in the legal world. Such expert witnesses are often paid thousands of dollars for appearances. Florian Mueller, a patent blogger and intellectual property consultant, who first spotted Sir Robin’s name in the case in filings to the ITC, said the involvement with Samsung's latest patent dispute 'just doesn't feel right'. 'For someone so concerned with 'integrity' it is utterly unusual to issue a high-profile and extreme ruling in favour of a particular party ... only to be hired as an expert by that same party in another dispute,' he said. He added: 'It gives the impression that a judge who deals Samsung's number one rival a huge PR blow, in a way that I found very extreme and unjustified, will be generously rewarded. 'For that reason alone, I think both Samsung and Sir Robin Jacob should not have done this. 'What would people say if Judge Lucy Koh, a few months after denying Apple a permanent injunction against Samsung, returned to private practice and was hired as an "expert" by Samsung in a German litigation with Ericsson?' In November last year, Sir Robin was one of three Court of Appeal judges who ordered Apple to alter a statement on its website acknowledging it had lost a legal dispute with Samsung over the Galaxy Tab. Apple had complained that the Samsung Galaxy Tab was too similar to its iPad. An Apple iPad (left) is displayed next to Samsung's Galaxy tab: A High Court judge ruled the Galaxy Tab was not 'cool' enough to be confused with Apple's iPad - a decision upheld on appeal . But a judge at the High Court in London ruled last July that the Samsung Galaxy Tab was not 'cool' enough to be confused with Apple's iPad - a decision upheld on appeal. In the subsequent litigation, Samsung said Apple had on October 26 published a notice on its website acknowledging defeat - in 'purported compliance' with a Court of Appeal order. But the firm complained that Apple had added an account of court proceedings in Germany and the United States which was 'inaccurate and misleading'. Judges agreed. 'What Apple added was false and misleading,' Sir Robin said in a subsequently published written decision. 'There is a false innuendo that the UK court's decision is at odds with decisions in other countries whereas that is simply not true.' Order: The final statement that Apple linked to on the homepage of their website in the UK . Bad Apple: The original notice posted on Apple's website, which a court said did not comply with its orders . He added that Apple bosses had shown a 'lack of integrity' by saying staff would need two weeks to make 'minor changes' to the company website - and gave them 48 hours to comply. The court also ordered Apple to run a newspaper advert with the amended text telling the public of the ruling that Samsund had not infringed its patents. In a written statement to the Financial Times, a Samsung spokesman defended Sir Robin's appointment as an expert witness for the company's latest intellectual property dispute. 'Sir Robin Jacob is not a legal representative of Samsung Electronics,' the spokesman said. 'A highly reputed intellectual property expert and academic, Sir Robin has been contracted as an expert by a law firm that represents Samsung Electronics in its case against Ericsson.' | Sir Robin Jacob will testify on Samsung's behalf in dispute with Ericsson .
He previously accused Apple of a 'lack of integrity' over its publication of a statement acknowledging it had lost patent dispute with Samsung .
Patent experts question move which they say 'just doesn't feel right' |
48,350 | 8878a01930c4c716295666e38e9f1bb0200e5289 | By . Louise Boyle . PUBLISHED: . 15:39 EST, 2 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 15:39 EST, 2 July 2012 . A teenager was killed and her friend seriously injured when a drunk driver slammed into the side of their car after running a stop sign. Brittany Sailors, 16, died at the scene after attempting to make a left turn on Sunday evening around 9.30pm and another car collided with her vehicle. Lacey Gowens, 16, who was in the passenger seat, was taken to hospital in Graystone, Georgia where she remained in a serious condition but with non-life threatening injuries. Neither girl was wearing her seatbelt when the accident happened. Sweet sixteen: Brittany Sailors died at the scene after her car was smashed into by a drunk driver in Gwinnett County, Georgia . Violent collision: Miss Sailors died when her car was hit by a drunk driver as she tried to make a left turn on Sunday evening . The other driver Mutajah Paasewe, 23, who survived the crash was charged with DUI. His 19-year-old passenger Dario Abreau was also injured when Paasewe crashed his Pontiac Bonneville. Friends of the 16-year-old girls heard the crash and ran to pull them from the wreckage of the 2000 Mitsubishi Diamante. 'Me and another guy broke off the two back doors to try to get them,' friend Josh Kennedy told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The teenager's father Mike Kennedy also tried to help free the young women and described the scene as 'traumatizing'. Under the influence: Mutajah Paasewe, 23, who survived the crash was charged with a DUI . Cut short: Miss Sailors (pictured right) from Gwinnett County, was killed at the scene of the horrific car crash last night. Her friend Lacey Gowens (left) was taken to hospital . The Gwinnett County Police Department said that the other driver had been arrested on DUI charges. Paasewe was also allegedly being held on offenses relating to his immigration status. The three survivors remained in hospital in a serious condition. Both girls attended Grayson High School nearby. Friends gathered at the crash site today to leave tributes to their friend. Beloved: Brittany Sailors, with her father Bubba, was not wearing her seatbelt when she was involved in the fatal collision . Friends: Brittany Sailors with friend Lacey Gowens who was injured in the crash and remains in hospital . Held: Mutajah Paasewe, 23, was charged with driving under the influence after being involved in a fatal crash in Georgia . | Brittany Sailors, 16, died at the scene in Graystone, Georgia .
Friends who were nearby desperately tried to free Brittany and passenger Lacey Gowens, also 16 .
Mutajah Paasewe, 23, charged with driving under the influence . |
250,577 | d04aaf7f2d4033ab05ffe7d6e4109c4205da698c | A craze for exotic pet newts has spread a deadly infection from Asia to Europe that could threaten to wipe out native amphibian species unless action is taken, scientists have warned. One of the creatures most at risk from the fungal disease is the great crested newt, already an endangered and protected species in the UK. The skin-eating fungus, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, is believed to have originated in south-east Asia, where indigenous newts and salamanders are immune to its effects. One of the types found to be most at risk is the great crested newt (pictured), which is already endangered . But it is lethal to European and American species, which have evolved no resistance to the disease. Last year researchers learned the fungus was responsible for a mystery outbreak in the Netherlands that killed off 96 per cent of the country's fire salamanders. Experts now fear an expanding epidemic that has parallels with the human Ebola crisis. As with Ebola, the salamander fungus is transmitted by direct contact, and there is a danger of it being exported globally on international flights. Experts fear an epidemic similar to the human ebola crisis, as the infection is spread by direct contact . In this case, it is the pet trade that may have to face controls to prevent the infection spreading, say the authors of a new study assessing the threat. Asian salamanders and newts that could be harbouring the fungus are traded in large numbers around the world. Between 2001 and 2009, more than 2.3 million Chinese fire belly newts were imported into the US alone. Researchers from Imperial College London, who have already identified two cases in Europe, want tighter controls on pet imports to be introduced urgently. | Craze for pet newts led to fears it could destroy native species .
One of the types most at risk is the great crested newt, which is already endangered in the UK .
Experts now fear an epidemic similar to the human ebola crisis . |
155,475 | 54f4d73893dc1473e819113e82319688600d352c | By . Michael Zennie . A sick Howard Stern fan has disrupted MSNBC's live coverage of the tragic MH17 crash with a prank call on live TV claiming that the jetliner had been shot down by the shock jock's farts. The caller tricked his way onto live national TV by saying he was Staff Sergeant Michael Boyd from the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine who had witnessed the horrific explosion that left 295 people dead. 'Well I was looking out the window when I saw a projectile flying through the sky and it would appear that the plane was shot down by a blast of wind from Howard Stern's a**,' the caller deadpanned. Scroll down for video . MSNBC anchor Krystal Ball didn't realize she was being played for a fool and asked the caller to elaborate after he said a fart had destroyed Flight MH17 . Anchor Krystal Ball clearly didn't realize that she was being played for a fool and asked the man to elaborate. 'So it would appear that the plane was shot down. Can you tell us anything more from your military training of what sort of missile system that may have been coming from?' she inquired. The crude caller replied: 'Boy, you're a dumba**, aren't ya?' The cable news network, which lags in third place in ratings, billed the interview as an 'Eyewitness Exclusive.' This isn't the first time this Howard Stern fan has managed to get on live TV during a major news event. It appears this particular fan has struck before - pranking KCAL-TV in Los Angeles during its 2013 coverage of the manhunt for rouge LAPD officer Christopher Dorner . During the hunt for LAPD rogue cop Christopher Dorner in February 2013, a man with the same voice called into KCAL-TV claiming to be a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game. He proceeded to tell the anchor that 'Ronnie the Limo Driver,' a regular guest on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show, had been in a shootout with Dorner. The CBS host continued asking question until he explained: 'You're a real dumba**. You still don't know this a prank...' The station then hung up on him. | MSNBC host Krystal Ball didn't appear to realize she was being pranked and asked the caller to elaborate .
It appears the same man was responsible for a prank call during Christopher Dorner manhunt in 2013 . |
40,386 | 71f7b10e7538d5db16a0dc95598e11b9ce372d50 | By . Glen Owen . PUBLISHED: . 19:43 EST, 10 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:43 EST, 10 August 2013 . Commons Speaker John Bercow is planning to stand down after the next Election – paving the way for a sensational return to Parliament by Boris Johnson. Mr Bercow has told the local Conservative Party association in Buckingham that he will resign as Speaker in the middle of the next Parliament. It means there will be a by-election in the ultra-safe Tory seat just over a year after Mr Johnson completes his second term as London Mayor. Transition: Sources have confirmed that Boris Johnson is being lined up to take Commons Speaker John Bercow's Buckingham seat during the next election . High-level sources have told The Mail on Sunday Boris is already being identified by local party grandees as Mr Bercow’s ideal successor – and that the Speaker is ‘privately inclined’ to be ‘helpful’ to the Mayor. They added the constituency would select Mr Johnson ‘in about ten seconds flat’. The news is likely to be greeted with groans in No 10, which had hoped that the Boris leadership bandwagon was running out of steam. Mr Johnson recently reassured David Cameron’s circle that he will not seek to return to the Commons in a by-election before 2015, and nor would he stand in that year’s General Election. But the No 10 aides were left with the impression he would start plotting his Westminster comeback shortly afterwards. Mr Bercow’s decision stems from a promise, made to the constituency association when he became Speaker in 2009, that he would serve a maximum of nine years before stepping down and allowing a return to ‘normal politics’ in Buckingham. By tradition, a Commons Speaker stands for Parliament as an independent and is unopposed by the main parties. Last night, the Speaker’s office confirmed Mr Bercow’s pledge, meaning Mr Johnson could be campaigning on the stump in Buckingham by the end of 2017. True blue: Buckingham is a rock solid Tory seat which had a whopping 18,000 Conservative majority last time it was openly contested . It is a plum seat. At the last openly contested Election in 2005, Mr Bercow won with a whopping majority of more than 18,000. It is an hour’s drive from London, where Mr Johnson has his family home, and directly adjacent to his former Henley constituency. Mr Johnson, whose ambition to become party leader and Prime Minister remains undimmed, is reluctant to serve for an extended period under Mr Cameron. Boris aides now suggest that the master plan is for him to serve out his full Mayoral term until May 2016, enabling him to keep the ‘solemn vow’ he made to Londoners to not combine the mayoralty with ‘any other political capacity’. He would then spend 12 to 18 months building up a campaign war chest, through writing, public speaking and media appearances, before standing in a rock-solid seat. By that point, his advisers expect Mr Cameron to either be struggling with a small Tory majority or confined to a second term of Coalition – or to have resigned after losing narrowly to Ed Miliband in 2015. Until now, it had been expected that Boris would return to the Commons by persuading a ‘stooge’ MP to stand aside for him. Mr Bercow’s plans remove that need. Last night, a Commons source said: ‘John has organised his personal life around this pledge, but only a few people in the know have realised. He will publicly reiterate it in his 2015 “manifesto” for Buckingham. ‘It means it is one of the longest-signalled by-elections in recent political history. He and Boris get on well, so John would be inclined to be helpful in terms of the precise timing of his departure.’ The source added: ‘The activists in his patch are keen on the idea.’ A spokesman for Mr Bercow said: ‘Mr Speaker has previously indicated he wouldn’t expect to do more than nine years’. He added that Mr Bercow and Mr Johnson had not discussed the issue. Buckingham Conservative Association declined to comment. Mr Johnson’s office did not respond to messages. | John Bercow to resign Buckingham seat in the middle of next Parliament .
High-level sources say Boris Johnson lined up for seat in 2016 .
Plan confirms that London Mayor's leadership ambitions remain undimmed . |
194,273 | 877d3b1c58c616fc2ad19743ef91d1ec88486b5a | Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi government Friday demanded the withdrawal of an Iranian "armed group" that it says seized an oil well in southern Iraq on Thursday night. Iran is denying any takeover took place. The Iraqi government issued a strong statement deploring the act after Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki headed an emergency meeting of Iraq's National Security Council to discuss the situation. "The council stressed that such incidents would be considered a violation of the border and violated Iraq's sovereignty and its territories and calls upon Iran to pull out the group from well No. 4 and take down the Iranian flag from the tower of the well immediately," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in the statement. Senior Iraqi government sources initially referred to the Iranians as "security forces," but the official Iraqi government statement later called them an "armed group." Drilled in 1979, the well is in Iraq's Maysan province, east of Amara, near the Iranian border. It is within the province's Fakka oil field, the Iraqi government said. Al-Dabbagh said in the statement that the Iraqi government had summoned the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, to inform him officially about the incident and asked him to provide a note to Iran's Foreign Affairs Ministry "to address such a violation." The statement said the Iraqi government called upon Iran "to resolve all border problems through diplomatic dialogue and avoid the use of military force in order to preserve our common security and bilateral relations between the two countries." An official at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad had said earlier that Iraqi authorities had not yet contacted them. Iraq and Iran share a long border, and high-ranking committees from both countries handle all border matters, an Iranian Embassy official said. Iraq and Iran fought a bloody eight-year war that ended in 1988 in a cease-fire with no clear victor and parts of the border under dispute. But political, economic, cultural and religious ties between Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim nation, and Iraq, a majority Shiite Muslim nation, greatly improved after the overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. At the same time, there has been widespread concern among Iraqi and U.S. officials that Iran has been providing Iraqi insurgents with material for roadside bombs during the Iraq war. The report of the oil well incident comes several days after the Oil Ministry's two-day auction of oil fields. Aimed at increasing Iraqi oil production, deals were struck for seven of the 15 fields offered. There also had been oil bidding in June. CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Yousif Bassil contributed to this report. | NEW: Iraqi official says Iranian ambassador to Iraq has been summoned over matter .
Iran denies Incident happened; Iraqi government blames Iranian "armed group"
Well is in Maysan province, east of Amara, near Iranian border, officials say .
The two countries fought 8-year war that ended in 1988 with parts of border under dispute . |
207,106 | 982a3eda53a79bee3555815e765ca76b3129dfb9 | (CNN) -- Two pool employees and their supervisor were forced to resign on Wednesday after a woman's body went undetected in a public Massachusetts pool for four days in June until her body floated to the top. The Vietnam Veteran's Swimming Pool manager and assistant manager -- as well as the Southeast Regional Director of the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, have resigned -- according to a statement released by Edward Lambert, the agency's commissioner. Lambert requested they leave their posts because of "poor decision making and failure to follow (department) pool protocols." The resignations come in the wake of an investigation into the drowning of Marie Joseph, 36, on June 26. Joseph's body wasn't discovered until the evening of June 30 by teenagers at the pool in Fall River. "This tragic event leaves heavy hearts in an agency that prides itself on its ability to provide high quality, safe, recreational opportunities for the residents of the Commonwealth," Lambert said in a statement. "We hope that, as an agency, we will continue to work to restore and maintain the public's confidence in our ability to fulfill the mission expected of us by the Governor and residents who visit our facilities." After Joseph's body was discovered, Lambert ordered the pool closed and appointed a team of officials to investigate her death. The pool's staff as well as the district manager who oversees the pool all were put on administrative leave. The investigation determined that poor water clarity was the primary factor that kept lifeguards from being aware of the drowning and finding Joseph after her death. In fact, the 12-foot-deep pool was so cloudy that it should not have opened the day she drowned, authorities said. Joseph had gone to the pool on Sunday with a 9-year-old neighbor and his family. She collided with the boy while the pair went down a pool slide, said Bristol County District Attorney's spokesman Gregg Miliote. After the collision, the boy surfaced but the woman did not, he said. It was not clear what happened after the collision or whether the boy and his family sought Joseph's whereabouts when they left the pool. A decomposing body can take a couple of days before it becomes buoyant, Miliote added. The investigation is ongoing and the Vietnam Veteran's pool will remain closed, according to Lambert's statement. In the meantime, DCR officials have closed several waterslides throughout the state and imposed new restrictions at public pools. Authorities plan to enact a new water clarity test at pools throughout Massachusetts which requires that a five-inch black disc placed at the bottom of the pool is visible at all times. The state will also require that the "pool checks" normally performed by lifeguards from the pool deck include an underwater check as well. CNN's Katie Silver contributed to this report. | Two Massachusetts pool employees and their supervisor are ordered to resign .
Marie Joseph, 36, drowned four days before her body was discovered .
Poor found poor water clairty the main hindrance to her body being discovered .
Authorities plan to enact a new water clarity test at pools statewide . |
184,363 | 7acdbac11484cd9012d13d265c0c8c70dc4c4b4d | (CNN) -- West Virginia's attorney general and state legislators announced Tuesday that they'd join those investigating a chemical spill that left hundreds of thousands scrambling for safe water, with one senator promising "there will definitely be a change." "This whole series of events is unacceptable," said Senate Majority Leader John Unger, who will be leading the state legislative probe, echoing many others around West Virginia and elsewhere since the crisis boiled up last Thursday. These latest investigations came out the same day that a few thousand more West Virginians were told they could use their tap water again, for the first time in nearly a week. Still, nearly two-thirds of the nearly 300,000 people initially prohibited from using their taps still are waiting for the all-clear. Their headaches and heartaches trace to the leak of several thousand gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol -- a substance used in the coal industry -- from a storage tank belonging to a company called Freedom Industries. That chemical made its way into the Elk River, to a water plant about a mile upstream, then into the water system. Residents of nine counties -- including the one that is home to Charleston, West Virginia's capital and most populated city -- were urged last week not to use their tap water to do anything except flush their toilets. With its strong odor as the telltale sign, officials warned that they couldn't say that the water so many rely on to drink, cook using or wash themselves with was safe. Authorities worked to flush the foul-smelling chemical from the area water system, all while conducting tests that eventually showed it declining. Chemical spill shines spotlight on loose regulation . But it has been only recently some have been told they can use their water, such as the lifting of the "do not use" order Tuesday morning for the Southridge/Southside area near Charleston. By Tuesday evening, about 114,000 people were advised it was safe for them to run their taps again -- with more than 180,000 remaining in limbo. And it's not just individual citizens in their homes who have been affected. Without safe water, schools and many businesses such as hotels, restaurants and more decided to close. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office said schools would remain closed in four counties Wednesday, leaving about 46,000 students at leisure. Amid this widespread pain, a number of local, state and federal authorities have announced they're launching investigations intent on getting to the bottom of what happened and holding people, agencies and companies responsible for the spill and possible issues in the response. Investigators from the Kanawha County Fire Department and the state Department of Environmental Protection were among the first at the scene. By the next day, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin announced that his office was also looking into what happened, telling CNN that "even a negligent release of this kind could be a criminal violation." Also on the federal side, Environmental Protection Agency investigators went to the scene as did a team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Plus, two U.S. congressmen -- Reps. Henry A. Waxman and Paul D. Tonko, Democrats from California and New York respectively -- said in a letter Monday they believe the spill may have exposed regulatory gaps in the country's chemical control laws. Two new authorities in the state of West Virginia on Tuesday announced their own investigations. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement that his office plans "to get to the bottom of this and ensure that the public knows the truth" -- including what happened, why and how might it have been prevented. "We need to make sure this never happens again, and that responsible parties are held accountable," Morrisey said of his office's "unbiased, independent inquiry." And Unger, the Democratic state senator from Berkeley, said the Joint Legislative Oversight Commission on State Water Resources -- which he co-chairs -- is also digging into the "unacceptable" ordeal. Among other things, that legislative body will look into who knew what and when, "and if no one knew, why not." "There will definitely be a change to the way things have been done in the past," Unger said. And it's not just West Virginians who are affected. The Greater Cincinnati Water Works, which serves that Ohio city and parts of four counties in Ohio and Kentucky, will temporarily stop taking water from the Ohio River as a precaution, allowing water that might contain traces of the chemical to pass the city, company spokeswoman Michele Ralston said Tuesday. Two Kentucky water systems -- in Ashland and Russell -- temporarily turned off their valve systems, Dick Brown, a spokesman for the Department for Environmental Protection, told CNN. The move was strictly a precaution since the Elk River is a tributary to the Kanawha, which feeds into the Ohio River. The Cincinnati utility is sampling the Ohio River water and so far hasn't detected anything out of the ordinary, Ralston said. The move will not disrupt customers' water supplies because the company has a two-day reserve and a groundwater plant that can provide even more treated water, she said. Opinion: It's OK, the water's safe to flush . CNN's Matt Smith, Michael Pearson, Jason Hanna, Alina Machado and Meridith Edwards contributed to this report. | NEW: More people are told they can use water; more than 180,000 still under "do not use" order .
A state legislator says "there will definitely be a change" after last week's chemical spill .
Thousands of gallons of a compound used to clean coal poured into the Elk River .
"This whole series of events is unacceptable," lawmaker says . |
192,411 | 851ad0fbfddf9fd9dc49b4988c1585edf27f504a | JEFF POWELL's tribute to the Real Madrid legend who passed away on Monday . Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has labelled Alfredo Di Stefano as one of the greatest players of all time. Di Stefano died on Monday afternoon after suffering a heart attack on Saturday, the day after he turned 88, resulting in him being placed in an induced coma. Among the many tributes, Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo hailed Di Stefano as a 'maestro' while FIFA president Sepp Blatter described the Argentina-born forward as 'the most complete player'. Di Stefano won five successive European Cups at Real Madrid between 1956 and 1960, scoring in all five fixtures - including a hat-trick in-front of a watching Ferguson at Hampden Park in 1960. Greetings: Alfredo Di Stefano and Sir Alex Ferguson at the 1983 Cup Winners Cup final in Gothenburg . Victorious: Ferguson manager Aberdeen to victory over Di Stefano's Real Madrid in the 1983 final . Glory: Aberdeen captain Willie Miller holds aloft the trophy after their 2-1 win over Di Stefano's Real Madrid . He sits second on Real Madrid's all-time goalscoring list behind Raul and was an honorary president at the Bernabeu, with Ferguson ranking him among the very best. 'The great question that always comes up is who are the greatest players,' Ferguson said in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News. 'Obviously there is a list of great ones like (Johan) Cruyff, (Diego) Maradona and Pele and of course (Ferenc) Puskas and of course Di Stefano - I thought he was one of the greatest in my mind. 'He had a fantastic balance and poise. If you look at one of the goals he scored in the final against Eintracht Frankfurt it was completely what we are saying about the balance and poise, unbelievable he was. 'I was very sad to hear the news. Even at 88 it is a bit of a shock. I saw him two years ago before our Real Madrid game and he looked fine and looked full of health so it is disappointing to hear the news.' VIDEO Real Madrid great Di Stefano dies ages 88 . Iconic match: Di Stefano (right) scores the first goal of the 1960 final at Glasgow's Hampden Park. Real destroyed Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 . Legendary status: Di Stefano, here raising his glass during a tribute for his contribution to sport at the Argentina Embassy in Madrid, is Real Madrid's second highest goalscorer of all time . An abiding memory for Ferguson was being in attendance as Di Stefano put Frankfurt to the sword in a 7-3 drubbing that ensured a fifth straight European Cup. "The amazing thing about that was, being a Rangers fan, Eintracht Frankfurt had beaten Rangers in the semi-finals 6-3, 6-1 so they were gods,' he said. 'They came to Hampden Park and were annihilated by Real Madrid 7-3. I was there in the schoolboy enclosure, I was playing with Queen's Park at the time, and it was a fantastic experience. 'It was the first time I think that a lap of honour was done after the game, Scottish fans hadn't seen that of course. Ten goals in a final, you won't see that again. It was a golden period for Real Madrid, they won it five times in a row and Di Stefano scored in all five finals.' European champion: Di Stefano of Real Madrid poses with his incredible haul of five European Cups . Sad loss: Di Stefano celebrates with the original European Cup after Real beat Reims 4-3 in the 1956 final in Paris . VIDEO Di Stefano was greatest ever - Perez . The two would cross paths 23 years later when Ferguson, then manager of Aberdeen, met a Real Madrid side managed by Di Stefano in the 1983 Cup Winners' Cup final. Against the odds it was Ferguson's Scottish underdogs who won the trophy that night, with the Glaswegian impressed by Di Stefano's grace in defeat. 'My greatest memory of course is when Aberdeen beat Real Madrid,' he added. 'I was honoured to be in the same game as Real Madrid but to come up against Di Stefano was an incredible experience for me. Argentine heroes: Di Stefano (left) with Deigo Maradona in 1995 . Legend of the game: Di Stefano with United heroes Sir Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes (left, third right) and with Real forward Raymond Kopa after the 1957 European Cup win (far right) VIDEO: Watch Di Stefano score for Real v Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960 . 'When you mention the great players they had they were household names. Aberdeen were a team on the rise and after the game he was very generous and he said Aberdeen had a team that money can't buy, a soul and a family spirit. 'He couldn't say any more in praise of a football team and that was very generous of him. He had a fantastic life and I was really proud to have been associated with him in a small way.' | Alfredo Di Stefano dies aged 88 after suffering heart attack .
Argentine won five successive European Cups with Real Madrid in 1950s .
Sir Alex Ferguson regards Di Stefano one of the greatest of all time .
Ferguson recalls Real's 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park . |
241,233 | c44a1b66e5b8cbff4a11e55717a3510b8e252934 | (CNN) -- When others dismissed Detroit as a falling knife unworthy of investment, David Egner saw something else. Egner imagined Detroit regenerating from within, with damaged civic tissue repairing itself to foster new life and commerce. As president of a foundation named for a patriarch who emigrated to Michigan 130 years ago and immediately launched a business, he was in a position to test his idea. The secret, Egner figured, is harnessing the collective power of what he calls "anchor institutions": in this case, Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health System and Detroit Medical Center. Through what emerged as the Midtown Project, Egner's Hudson-Webber Foundation, alongside other funders, is finding ways to hitch the fortunes of these institutions to the fortunes of the surrounding neighborhoods. Hudson-Webber's research partner, Omar Blaik from U3 Ventures, compiled the data that confirmed the hunch: The anchor institutions carry breathtaking heft. At a moment when the City of Detroit has been declared insolvent and foundations are looking for innovation, the approach carries two critical lessons for community development. First, investors must build from assets, not deficits. Many foundations like to use quality-of-life indicators to guide their philanthropy. I have been involved in a number of these efforts over the years, and too often, foundations find it irresistible to direct their charitable giving to whatever problem tops the charts. It feels like the right approach; if dropout rates emerge as the worst problem in a neighborhood, why not tackle it? Problem is, whether the needle moves on this indicator or not, the approach is unlikely to contribute to broader neighborhood transformation. Hudson-Webber's method reveals the potential of another kind of analysis, one that is based on the untapped power of existing assets. It turns out Wayne State, Henry Ford and Detroit Medical employ about 30,000 people, hire 3,300 associates every year, enroll 32,000 students, control about half of Midtown's real estate and -- perhaps most important -- spend about $1.7 billion every year on goods and services. Blaik found that about 4.5% of the $1.7 million in spending on goods and services was going to Detroit vendors; the rest is what Blaik calls leakage. If Detroit businesses could step up to provide quality goods and services at the right price -- this is a business play, not charity -- then even small upward ticks would represent enormous amounts of investment and, in turn, jobs. Midtown Detroit Inc. organized vendor fairs to introduce local businesses to the big institutions and made sure local businesses got to see all the requests for proposals coming from the anchors. As a result, a local bakery, a local print shop and a local construction firm were among the firms winning $20 million in business from the anchor institutions. The contracts created jobs for area residents and enabled the small businesses to ratchet up their capacity. The successes point to the second critical lesson for foundations: Instead of limiting themselves to traditional charitable gifts -- building a playground, offering scholarships to deserving high school students -- the approach strengthens the connections between neighborhood residents and the marketplace. By aligning work force training with the needs of the anchors, the Midtown Project has placed 50 local residents in entry-level jobs. Once up to full speed, Susan Mosey of Midtown Detroit believes, the arrangement can place 200 residents a year into jobs. Midtown Detroit Inc. is also rebuilding a strong neighborhood residential core. Incentives to lure renters and buyers have drawn more than 1,000 residents to the neighborhood. While the experiments are ongoing, the results are promising. Post-Great Recession, cities had to find new approaches to revive neighborhoods. It's not enough to build low-cost housing, says Bruce Katz, founder of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, and there is no massive investment coming from the federal government. "The cavalry is not coming," said Katz, who describes local innovations from across the country in a new book, "The Metropolitan Revolution: How Cities and Metros Are Fixing Our Broken Politics and Fragile Economy." Cities cannot wait for old programs to return, Katz says. They are not coming back. Instead, cities should build from whatever assets they have at hand and make a new kind of business case for investment, from within and without. U3 Ventures' Blaik believes that focusing on anchor institutions forces a discipline that prevents wishful thinking. Foundations, with their government and private-sector partners, can base expectations on the realities of supply and demand for hiring, business activity and residential growth. In the end, anchor institutions may present the best hope for neighborhood transformation simply because of their scale. When it comes to sources of employment, investment and connectivity, the scale and power of the Midtown Detroit anchors dwarfs anything a foundation could sustain. Even better: Instead of assuming residents need a handout, the approach gives residents an opening to participate in capitalism. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John Bare. | John Bare says nonprofits in Detroit saw an opportunity to spark the economy .
He says that by bringing together key stakeholders, jobs were created, projects launched .
Organizations saw that together, their massive size would provide opportunities, he says . |
252,376 | d2a76fe6a9781c9cbc68d7a2eff66bf9a3b7b434 | By . Alex Greig . PUBLISHED: . 00:05 EST, 25 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 07:07 EST, 25 January 2014 . Law enforcement officials in Rochester New York say colleagues of convicted pedophile Matthew LoMaglio were uncooperative during the investigation. LoMaglio, 37, an elementary school gym teacher, was convicted last month of sexually molesting an eight-year-old boy between 2006 and 2007. Many teachers and administrators who had worked with LoMaglio, who was sentenced last week to four years prison for second degree sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child, refused to speak to investigators. Supported: Matthew LoMaglio, 37, had the support of many staff members from his Rochester, New York school, despite the accusation he molested a second-grader - a crime he was later convicted of . According to EAG News, 22 of LoMaglio's co-workers wrote to the judge in support of the teacher during the case, some of whom said they would trust him with their own children and others who said they considered him a good role model for kids. The community was surprised and disappointed by the support of LoMaglio and lack of sympathy for the young victim. 'Some of the people [on the school staff] who were cooperative told us there was talk at school, sort of like ‘Are you for the teacher or for the student,’” Kyle Rossi, the assistant district attorney who tried the case against LoMaglio, told EAGnews. 'It was very disappointing to make contact with teachers who wouldn’t give us the time of day until they were instructed to. 'I would say that, being in that position, they have a special duty to recognize issues and protect kids. I would think it has more do to with ignorance than anything else.' In court: LoMaglio seen in court during his sentencing last week while people hug behind him . The victim told his mother he had nightmares about being raped by his gym teacher, LoMaglio. The mother approached the school about her son's growing fear of gym class and the unsettling descriptions of his dreams. Susan Hasenaur-Curtis, the assistant principal at School 19 at the time, testified in court that she met with the second-grader and his mother to discuss the issue but she didn't report the case to Child Protective Services because she did not believe there was credible evidence of abuse. The abuse finally came to light when the boy's brother found a letter in his bedroom in 2012, explaining how he had been abused by LoMaglio and another sibling showed it to the boys' parents. But building a case against the teacher was difficult when many close to the case who knew both the boy and the teacher refused to speak. 'Reprehensible': Prosecutor Kyle Rossi says the actions of LoMaglio's colleagues in supporting him and ignoring the victim were inexcusable . Silence: Many staff members at the Rochester school where LoMaglio taught refused to speak to investigators and prosecutors . 'I would say that many teachers and administrators at several schools where this guy had taught wouldn’t talk to us at all,' Rossi told EAG News. 'We ran into cold shoulders all the way around. They would say things like ‘nothing happened here’ and ‘I don’t know anything, I don’t want to talk about anything. 'One person even told a police investigator "Don’t call me again." Some were even rude.' According to Fox News, LoMaglio maintained his innocence during the trial but during sentencing acknowledged his guilt to a counselor. 'They would say this never could have happened,' Rossi said. 'This is why children don’t disclose sexual abuse, because they believe the people who can help them won’t believe them. I found it reprehensible that teachers would behave this way. 'To have so many teachers come out in favor of a man who admitted he did this, it was terrible to see. Who can a kid go to?' | Matthew LoMaglio was sentenced to four years in prison last week for the molestation of an eight-year-old boy .
The crimes occurred in 2006 but were not brought to light until 2012, even after the boy's mother went to the principal about her son's fear of gym class .
Teachers and administrator's at the boy's Rochester, New York school were uncooperative in the investigation .
22 wrote letters to the judge in support of the elementary school gym teacher .
Prosecutor Kyle Rossi says the adults' behavior was 'reprehensible' |
114,737 | 2014a2b0039a4907ef08755e57b4a367e9f35e17 | (CNN) -- With his push for health care reform on the line, the president delivered a message of urgency to the public: . President Bill Clinton, pictured in 1994, greets members of a crowd following a speech on his health care reform plan. "Don't let the fearmongers, don't let the dividers, don't let the people who disseminate false information frighten the United States Congress into walking away from the opportunity of a lifetime. Tell the members of Congress you will support them. This is not partisan politics," the president said. The date was August 1, 1994, and the voice behind the 11th-hour battle cry was then-President Clinton. Within weeks, that battle cry was reduced to a whimper of defeat as Congress tabled plans to vote on his legislation. As President Obama ratchets up the pressure on Congress to pass health care reform this year, he's following in the footsteps of the 42nd president. From his prime time push to his town hall meetings, Obama is taking the same path as Clinton, but hoping for a different ending. Clinton and Obama faced similar climates. Both made health care their signature issue, even though most people were happy with their coverage and were more concerned with fixing the economy. Clinton presented Congress with a plan, whereas Obama instead presented broad guidelines and asked the lawmakers to come up with a bill. "Much of the complaint about the Clinton-era attempt at this was how complicated it was," said Candy Crowley, CNN's senior political correspondent. "That has not been a complaint this time. But in the overview, there was no doubt that the steady drumbeat of criticism started out at a fairly low level and just has come to this deafening roar, and that's very much like it was in the resistance to the Clinton plan." Like Clinton, Obama's been accused of waffling on his proposals and failing to reach across the aisle. Following weeks of contentious town hall meetings, Obama this weekend appeared more flexible than ever on the idea of a government-sponsored, public health insurance option. Liberal Democrats have demanded a public option, but some conservatives call such a proposal a deal breaker. Obama has voiced his support for the public option but stopped short of calling it a necessity. At a town hall in Colorado this weekend, however, he called it "just one sliver" of reform. "The public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," he said. The White House was quick to insist that the administration's stance has not changed, and sent talking points to congressional Democrats trying to ease concern about the public option. The administration has been "boringly consistent" on the issue, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. Watch: Is the White House changing its message? » . Clinton was accused of backtracking after he seemed to back down from his stated goal of universal coverage at a 1994 National Governors' Association conference. Democrats protested and the White House insisted that the president's words were misinterpreted. But those reading the tea leaves knew the effort was losing steam. Some Democrats distanced themselves from the president as the 1994 midterm elections neared. Clinton and other key Democrats tried to compromise with a scaled-down version of the president's original plan, but the effort unraveled and eventually faded from the agenda. "It's the art of dealmaking, and it's not surprising that they would both face this. In the face of huge outcry, presidents or politicians look for a compromise," Crowley said. "When you see the possibility that it could go down in flames, you look for ways to appease the critics of it, and both Clinton, and now it appears Obama, are trying to do that -- to find some way to pass something." When Congress reconvenes after the August recess, lawmakers will return to a different climate on Capitol Hill, kindled by the protests of those who have been questioning Obama's proposals. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, said last month that if Republicans can stop Obama on health care, "it will be his Waterloo." Clinton's agenda was bruised following his health care defeat, but it was his party that was dealt the hardest hits. The Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994 for the first time in 40 years. It took another 12 years to get it back. Mary Matalin, a Republican strategist and CNN contributor, predicted a repeat of history for Obama, should health care fail. "What is right about conventional wisdom is, he'll be fine, but the Democrats in Congress won't," she said on CNN's "State of the Union." "And you are already hearing Democrats in Congress saying, 'This is deja vu. This is what happened with Bill Clinton. He makes us walk the plank, then we lose,' as they did," she said. Clinton acknowledged the political importance of a health care win in his speech before the Netroots Nation convention last week. Passing comprehensive health care legislation, he said, "is not only the morally right thing to do. It is politically imperative for the Democrats to pass a health care bill now, because one thing we know and that I have lived through is that if you get out there and then you don't prevail, the victors get to rewrite history." Democratic strategist and CNN contributor James Carville said that since it's clear that Senate Democrats don't have the 60 votes needed to get a full Senate vote, they should instead force Republicans to filibuster the bill. "Then, you say, 'They're the people that stopped it. We had a majority of Democrats. We had a good bill. They stopped it,' " said Carville, a former adviser to Clinton. Republicans under the Clinton administration threatened to filibuster, but the warnings proved inconsequential, as the bill never got that far. As health care reaches a turning point for Obama, "timing is everything," Crowley said. "It's not an election year -- yet. To me, that works on Obama's side, where it didn't with Clinton because the minute it becomes an election year, it's just different, because congressmen, senators are looking at what their constituents are saying back home, and their jobs are on the line," Crowley said. But that safety net won't hold for long, and Obama has only a few more months to show whether history will repeat itself or be rewritten. "I think the time is critical for President Obama because at the end of the year, Congress goes off and takes a recess ... and so you end up having a pretty narrow time frame, and then when they come back in January -- guess what, it's an election year," Crowley said. | Bill Clinton, Obama both made health care their signature issue .
Both accused of backtracking from their original goals .
Obama at an advantage because lawmakers aren't facing re-election -- yet .
Clinton says it's "politically imperative" for Dems to pass a bill now . |
17,651 | 3203df27ff37298b7649a90b1ac22a66e508f468 | By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 06:36 EST, 12 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:36 EST, 12 March 2013 . Internet trolls have launched a hate campaign against Coronation Street star Michael Le Vell, who is accused of child sex offences, comparing him to paedophile Jimmy Savile. The 48-year-old actor faces charges including rape, indecent assault and sexual activity with a child at Manchester Magistrates' Court. Now internet bullies have created pictures of him, mocking him up as the late DJ and prolific child abuser. Michael Le Vell has become the target of online bullies who have created photos of him comparing him to paedophile Jimmy Savile . There is a false advert pretending that he has been axed from the soap opera, and another picture shows him with other celebrities who have been accused of sex offences, including convicted paedophile Gary Glitter. Users have shared the vicious photographs and comments with others, as the actor said he would 'vigorously deny' the charges brought against him. Now police are looking into the pictures to see if they break the law, the Daily Star reported. The images could be seen as contempt of court - which would hamper an individual's right to a fair trial. Le Vell, a divorced father of two, plays mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV1 series, but has recently said he fears he will not be allowed to return even if he is found innocent. Police say they are looking into the images, which could be in contempt of court, which preserves the individual's right to a fair trial . The ITV1 actor 'vigorously denies' the charges that have been brought against him . The alleged sex offences all relate to one child and took place between 2001 and 2010, the court was told in February. The actor was first arrested at his £750,000 home in Hale in September 2011 after a girl claimed he had sexually assaulted her. But three months later, after a police investigation, prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to take the allegations to court. But last month it was announced that after a review of the evidence, he had been charged with 19 sex offences. In a statement Le Vell said he would fight the allegations 'vigorously'. He appeared at Manchester Magistrates Court to hear the charges and was bailed on condition that he surrenders his passport, does not contact witnesses and does not have unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 14. He is due to appear at Manchester Crown Court this month. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Internet bullies have created vicious pictures of the actor .
Mocked him up as paedophile DJ Jimmy Savile .
Created fake adverts that say he is axed from ITV1 drama .
Police looking into pictures as could break the law .
Might be contempt of court - which hamper his right to a fair trial . |
121,504 | 290b1f6e556260cbcdee58347a2a54100ada9816 | By . Associated Press Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 14:57 EST, 22 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:31 EST, 23 December 2013 . For more than three years, a black stone urn of C.J. Twomey's ashes has sat on a shelf in his parents' Maine home, not far from the door he walked out of one beautiful April day shortly before shooting himself. Now, his mother Hallie Twomey is using social media to enlist the help of strangers to scatter his ashes from Massachusetts to Japan in the hope that her adventure-loving son can become part of the world he left behind. 'I don't want him to have to sit in an urn for my benefit for whatever rest of time that we have,' she said. 'I wanted to give him something. I'm trying to give him a journey.' Devastated: Hallie Twomey poses with a photo of her son, C.J., who committed suicide more than three years ago . It started with a simple request on Facebook to help C.J. - who was only 20 when he died - 'see the mountains that he never got to climb, see the vast oceans that he would have loved, see tropical beaches and lands far and away'. The post was shared by nearly 100 of her friends, and soon even strangers started offering to scatter C.J.'s ashes in their hometowns, on family vacations or just somewhere beautiful. She started a separate Facebook page called 'Scattering C.J.', which now has more than 1,200 likes. The pictures and videos on Facebook tell the story of where C.J. has been. A man scatters C.J's ashes on a beach in Massachusetts. One sprinkles them in the forest in Jamaica, and another off a rocky cliff in Hawaii. Not forgotten: This urn contains the ashes of C.J. Twomey on a shelf at his parent's home in Auburn, Maine . Along with his ashes, Twomey sends a note and a small photo of smiling C.J., wearing a Boston Red Sox shirt with sunglasses propped up on his head. She asks the recipient to do four things: Think about C.J., think about the people he gave life to through organ donation, tell him that his mom and dad loved him and tell him that his mom is sorry. Twomey regrets rolling her eyes at her son instead of hugging him as he stormed out of their home after an argument. A few minutes later, C.J. shot himself in his car in front of the home, she said. C.J., who thrived on adventure like . jumping out of airplanes, was upset about not making a special forces . team with the Air Force, she said. After . being honorably discharged, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with . his life, she said. But she never thought he would do what he did that . day. C.J. Twomey: He was just 20-years-old when he shot himself dead more than three years ago . Last week, C.J. was sent to Haiti and India and soon someone plans to take him to the top of Mount Everest, Twomey said. About 150 packets of his ashes have traveled so far and 300 other people have offered to share in CJ's journey. When most of C.J.'s ashes have been scattered, Twomey hopes to put together a book with all the notes and photos people have sent her. The proceeds would go to the New England Organ Bank, she said. Many of those offering to help scatter C.J.'s ashes have also been affected by suicide or lost children. The kindness has been overwhelming, she said. 'Really, why would a complete . stranger want to help us?' she said. 'I really think people are doing . whatever they can, even if it's a small thing, to ease our burden or to . embrace life.' Jessica Hale, who lives in Juneau, Alaska, heard about C.J.'s mom's idea from her sister, one of Twomey's neighbors. She was struck by how much she had in common with C.J. Hale is also a veteran and says she has contemplated suicide. Plymouth, Massachusetts . Kevin Cyr and his three children scattered C.J.'s ashes in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Twomey was grateful that Kevin had talked to C.J. 'all about Plymouth, the Native American connection and the attractive women that visit in the summer' Jamaica . In nature: One person spread C.J.'s ashes in a Jamaican waterway. 'C.J.'s ashes are now swimming with koi in Jamaica', his mother wrote on Facebook . Lake Pattagansett in East Lyme, Connecticut . Gorgeous: A woman blew C.J.'s ashes into Lake Pattagansett in Connecticut. 'Unbelievably thankful that even today, on a day meant to spend with your own family, time was found to scatter CJ's ashes,' Twomey wrote on Facebook . Seeing . the impact C.J.'s death has had on Twomey's family opened her eyes to . the immense hurt suicide leaves to those who are left behind, said Hale, . a 37-year-old security guard. 'It made me realize that I couldn't do that, and it made me make a promise to myself that I would never do that,' she said. Hale scattered C.J.'s ashes near a rocky beach in Juneau that reminded her of a picture she saw on Facebook of Twomey's family when C.J. was still alive. 'I feel like I had closure ... some inner peace after that,' she said. For Twomey, finding peace has proved more difficult. 'I want to find peace in this. I want to feel better, but my guilt is so intense so I haven't yet. I don't know if it will,' she said. 'I hope. I just have hope that maybe this will help in some way, because for 3.5 years, nothing has.' | C.J. Twomey shot himself dead nearly four years ago, upset about not making a special forces team with the Air Force .
His mother Hallie Twomey has enlisted 150 strangers via Facebook to scatter C.J.'S ashes around the world, with hundreds more wanting to help .
The Maine resident wants her adventure-loving son to become part of the world he left behind .
Twomey regrets rolling her eyes at C.J. before he stormed out of the house and killed himself . |
143,564 | 45a8e3184311c8416936fa3cfa576181f3b8bbf9 | Los Angeles (CNN) -- A month after Nadya Suleman took her clothes off for an adult video, the octuplets mom has accepted a job dancing topless at a Florida strip club, her representative said Monday. "This is not a new career for her," Gina Rodriguez told CNN. "She is just promoting her new video." Suleman revealed in April that she was so determined to build a future for her 14 young children that she would accept adult entertainment offers, although she would not touch another "human's flesh." "I wouldn't even kiss somebody for money," Suleman told HLN's "Showbiz Tonight" correspondent Nischelle Turner. "I would not kiss somebody. I wouldn't touch somebody." Suleman, 36, will perform two shows a night for four days at T's Lounge in West Palm Beach, starting July 11, Rodriguez said. "She will appear topless at some point during her show." Nadya Suleman: I was paid $8,000 for topless shot . How much Suleman -- known in tabloids as "Octomom" -- would be paid will stay secret, Rodriguez said. The Orange County, California, home she bought after she gave birth to octuplets three years ago was recently placed in foreclosure, but the auction to sell it last month was postponed. Suleman, who collects food stamps to feed her 14 young children, filed for bankruptcy last month, but the case was tossed out of court because of paperwork issues. The adult video Suleman recorded last month is set for release in June, Rodriguez said. Suleman dreams of building a business "empire" that will pay for food, shelter and college educations for her 14 children, she told Turner. She ultimately hopes to become a role model for other women facing major struggles, she said. "In the future, and I've got to win the battle," she said. "But right now, people don't understand that." CNN's Jane Caffrey contributed to this report. | "She is just promoting her new video," Nadya Suleman's representative says .
"She will appear topless at some point during her show," the representative says .
Suleman will dance two shows a night for four nights at a Florida strip club in July .
The adult video she recorded in May is set for release in June . |
259,106 | db61002f7d207720244f7f9b60d2e2e975f2fa4a | Joe Kaczmarek's police scanner pops to life with chatter just before midnight. Moments later, "Kaz," as he's known, is rushing to the scene of a robbery near the Temple University campus alongside fellow veteran photojournalist Jim MacMillan. By the time they arrive, the 20-year-old robbery victim has been taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the back. Kaz snatches two cameras from the back seat of his car and jumps into the street. He is roving around the crime tape like a caged lion, snapping photographs as police take away two men in handcuffs. Standing nearby, MacMillan thumbs away at his smartphone, updating Twitter: "On shooting scene at 17 & C.B.Moore in North Philadelphia now." Kaz and MacMillan co-founded GunCrisis.org to help curb gun violence plaguing what is supposed to be the City of Brotherly Love. "I want to put the audience out there in the streets," Kaz said. "I want them to see what I'm seeing every night in this city: The children watching crime scene investigations night after night, day after day. Anything to disrupt this, marginally disrupt this, we consider a success." After the July 20 shooting massacre in Aurora, Colorado, GunCrisis estimates there have been at least 55 gunshot victims in Philadelphia, and that number is rising. Related story: Have gun control opinions shifted after Aurora? So far this year, the city has seen more than 210 murders. A rate approaching the level set in 2007, when the city saw more than a murder a day and earned its nickname Kila-delphia. At GunCrisis, an open-source interactive journalism project launched in March, the goal is to avoid becoming entangled in gun control debates or in drafting new legislation, MacMillan said. Instead, they try to bring people together to find solutions to the epidemic of homicide by gunfire in Philadelphia. "Turning around the gun violence epidemic is a tall order," MacMillan said. "It's going to take heroic action, but our cities are full of heroes. We've done this before, and we can do it again. It's not going to go on forever. And the harder we work the sooner we'll put an end to this violence." Until 2008 MacMillan was a senior photographer and photo-columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, where he worked since 1991. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, who now teaches journalism, got the idea for the project after viewing a documentary called "The Interrupters" during a trauma journalism conference. The film follows "violence interrupters" in Chicago who intervene in conflicts before they turn deadly. The small volunteer team at GunCrisis wants to shake things up -- and interrupt the violence -- by chronicling the daily gunfire. "We believe a coordinated response can lead to a vast reduction in violence, and we want to play a part in that," MacMillan said. There's another radio call, and the pair race across town. "I have a bad feeling about this," MacMillan says to Kaz over the static on the police scanner. A man was shot at least 12 times on a residential block in South Philly. Police, who initially heard the shots, rushed him to the hospital where he died a short time later. It's a warm summer night, and law enforcement officers are talking loudly over the hum of window air conditioners. Flashlights flicker, shedding some light on the dark street where a police crime scene unit documents evidence. In just two hours, at least four people had been shot in separate incidents in the city. "This is a project that I believe in. The city gives us no break. There's an abundance of opportunities to report, unfortunately," said Kaz, an independent photojournalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Time magazine and USA Today. Philadelphia had 324 homicides last year. Arguments are the leading motive for murder, and blacks make up 85% of the homicide victims, according to police data. Blaming a weak economy, a crumbling public school system and dysfunctional family units, Chuck Williams, director of the Center for the Prevention of School-Aged Violence at Drexel University, said residents are desperate and come from a culture where they learn the way to handle an argument is with a gun. "This is a people problem, not a government problem," said Williams, a Drexel education professor who works with educators and youth to prevent school fights, shootings and cyberbullying. "I see so much hopelessness and despair. A broken child comes from a broken home, with few exceptions." Philadelphia successfully attacked the gun crisis in the late 1990s because law enforcement, residents and religious leaders worked together, Williams said, adding that once the body count went down people went back to their lives. "We haven't reached a critical point (again) when the communities and stakeholders have decided that this a major issue that needs to be addressed," he said. "Instead of whining, we need to put a call out to every caring adult to spend one hour a week with a child in need. It's all hands on deck. We can change this." Out of the nation's 10 largest cities, Philadelphia -- population 1.5 million -- has the worst homicide rate, with around 20 killings per 100,000 people, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. Next on the list are Chicago and Houston. But Philadelphia's homicide rate pales in comparison with less-populated U.S. cities, including New Orleans -- which has 49.1 homicides per 100,000 people, St. Louis with 40.5 and Baltimore with 34.8, according to FBI data from 2010. Overall, the U.S. homicide rate is 6.9 times higher than other industrialized countries, and American homicides account for 80% of worldwide firearms deaths, according to a Journal of Trauma analysis of World Health Organization statistics for 2003. "It's costing all of us. Whether it's immediately in front of your face or it's several miles away in another community. We are all connected, and it's affecting all of us," Kaz said. The city introduced new crime-fighting measures at the end of January, including a $20,000 reward for information that leads to solving homicides and $500 for locating illegal guns. Funding has been beefed up for a witness assistance program and increased police presence. But, so far, the mayhem hasn't let up. Mayor Michael Nutter has made it clear that the city is waging an all-out war against violent criminals. "If you want to act like an idiot, if you want to be an a-hole, if you want to be a low-life in this town, we will track you down like the dog that you are," Nutter told CNN affiliate KYW in February. MacMillan spends most of his time maintaining the group's website, researching solutions and grassroots organizations and meeting with city officials. Kaz spends his nights at crime scenes. GunCrisis recently hosted a roundtable discussion with the members of Philadelphia's City Council. In attendance was Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who said he was appalled by the city's body count. "If 200 whales washed up on the shores of New Jersey, every scientist and biologist would come to find out why this was happening. But when it comes to 200 urban kids dying, nobody cares," Jones said. "It's a new normal, and it's not acceptable. A Philadelphia native, Jones said he's saddened by the violence and lack of uniform action. "We need more hands in this, more ideas and more resources," he said. "Welcome to the struggle." GunCrisis is committed because lives depend on finding a solution, MacMillan said. "What happens next? We elevate the discourse. We bring people together. We build a movement. We stop the killing," he said. That's a major challenge for a city where murder has become routine. | Photojournalists launch website to fight Philadelphia gun violence .
GunCrisis.org posts crime scene photos to raise awareness .
Of the most populated U.S. cities, Philadelphia has highest murder rate .
Councilman: "When it comes to 200 urban kids dying, nobody cares." |
60,030 | aa8b80381216e751649485f257a66f4b0e77cdf9 | If you fancy yourself as the next Bailey or Rankin, but only ever have your mobile phone to hand, all is not lost. The World Photo Organisation (WPO) has launched a new award to recognise excellent photographs taken on smartphones – and you can enter now. The London-based photographic authority has launched the award to celebrate the breadth and reach of images taken on phones, which can now take incredibly hi-resolution images. Atmospheric: The World Photo Organisation (WPO) has launched a new award to recognise excellent photographs taken on smartphones. The London-based photographic authority has launched the award to recognise the breadth and reach of images taken on phones (journalist's photo pictured, not entry) ‘Photography now exists in our pockets, and we want to celebrate this,’ it says. There are more mobile phones on Earth than human beings and the number of devices is growing five times as fast as the population. Smartphone cameras are increasingly being accepted as legitimate tools with which to take photos and now the WPO has confirmed this by adding an extra category to its 2015 Sony World Photography Awards. It says that the new category ‘allows us to look a little closer at those otherwise ordinary moments and to enjoy the creative freedom that mobile phone photography allows.’ Smartphone cameras are increasingly being accepted as legitimate tools to take photos - even without filters (example, pictured) The WPO says that mobile entries to the awards have ‘increased steadily year on year. ‘It was time for mobile phone photography to have its own dedicated platform, instead of taking the risk of losing some wonderful photos within the hundreds of thousands of entries we receive to the main awards.’ The organisation says: ‘We are asking for the extraordinary; to show us, through incredible mobile phone photography, the inspirational moments that life is capable of providing us.’ Anyone can enter up to three photos for free before February 27. The brief reads: ‘You get out of life what you put in. Push past the obvious and see the inspiration all around you. 'Discover the extraordinary by using your mobile phone to view the world through a different lens.’ Photographs must be shot with a smartphone and be high resolution enough – a minimum of 800KB - to be printed out and shown at an exhibition. Up to 20 photos will be shortlisted by a panel of judges, before being posted online between March 10 and 17, so the public can vote for the winner. The overall winner will receive a bundle of Sony Mobile products, including an Xperia smartphone and tablet, as well as attending the Sony Photography Awards gala ceremony. Runners-up will see their entry shown at the exhibition from April 14 to May 10 and will also win a smartphone. The WPO says that mobile entries to the awards have ‘increased steadily year on year. ‘It was time for mobile phone photography (two example shown) to have its own dedicated platform, instead of taking the risk of losing some wonderful photos within the hundreds of thousands of entries we receive to the main awards’ Acknowledging the new category may open the floodgates to hundreds of badly-shot images of coffee cup art, the WPO says: ‘We understand that the sheer number of mobile devices now at our disposal does not guarantee quality, but quite the opposite. ‘The democratisation of imagery, and our means of producing that imagery, leaves our medium more vulnerable than ever before to a flood of low quality, unintelligent photography that is neither sustainable in the long run, nor healthy in the short. ‘But through the versatility that our mobile devices offer, the Mobile Phone Award will strive to offer a platform for the peak of what’s achievable - the most inspiring, the most thoughtful, and even, just maybe, the most ground breaking.’ There are now more mobile phone devices on Earth than human beings and the number of devices is growing five times as fast as the population. Smartphone cameras (stock image) are increasingly being accepted as legitimate tools to take photos, as recognised by the introduction of the award . There are numerous entry requirements including that photographs (pictured) must be shot with a smartphone and be high resolution enough – a minimum of 800KB - to be printed out and shown at an exhibition. Anyone can enter up to three shots . | The World Photo Organisation has launched the category to recognise excellent photographs taken on smartphones .
Category celebrates 'creative freedom that mobile...photography allows'
Anyone can enter up to three shots for free, before February 27 .
Up to 20 photos will be shortlisted judges, before the winner is chosen by the public from the array of photos posted online . |
250,550 | d040c16235078f732816286c75bc7a9f0d628278 | Josh Warrington won the vacant European featherweight title in his home city with a fourth-round TKO of Davide Dieli at the First Direct Arena in Leeds. Roared on by a boisterous partisan crowd, the unbeaten Warrington knocked his Italian opponent down in the fourth with a straight right before a barrage immediately after prompted the referee to halt the contest. It was just the 23-year-old's third victory inside the distance in 19 fights and the victory has ensured Warrington is now the British, Commonwealth and European champion. Josh Warrington won the vacant European featherweight title in his home city Leeds against Davide Dieli . Warrington celebrates his victory against Dieli to win the European Featherweight title in Leeds . Warrington lands a punch on Dieli on his way to winning in the fourth round in Leeds . Dieli had no answer to Warrington and was knocked down and later stopped by the Leeds favourite . Warrington admitted keeping his concentration in the midst of such raucous support proved crucial to his hopes of victory. 'That was unbelievable and it's hard not to get carried away but I had to keep my focus and I think that's the difference between being at a championship level and not,' he said. 'Just keep my focus and take that energy off the crowd into the ring.' As for who he would like to face next, the Yorkshireman added: 'It's all about progression so whoever wants to come over to Leeds, I'll fight anybody.' His promoter Eddie Hearn was taken aback by the reception Warrington was given, but is keen to keep the pressure of his young charge's shoulders. 'He's 23 years old. That's the thing we have to look at in managing his career now,' said Hearn. 'People will want him to go, go, go, go but sometimes we've just got to rein him in a little bit and make sure he progresses and learns his match properly, because with his position now and his ranking, he can move forward to the world level. There's no rush to do so, the fans here will want him to progress and he will progress. 'We've got something major here.' Warrington, roared on, said: '(I had to) just keep my focus and take that energy off the crowd into the ring' Warrington secured the vacant European featherweight title in his home city Leeds against Dieli . Earlier, Ricky Burns got back to winning ways on his light-welterweight debut but was thoroughly unconvincing in a points decision victory over the lightly regarded Alexandre Lepelley. Burns had lost his last two fights and decided a move up to the 140lbs division would breathe fresh life into his career, but the Scot looked a pale shadow of the fighter that had won world titles in two weight classes. He dropped his opponent in the opening round but struggled to impose himself after a decent start and although he deserved his victory, a 79-71 scoreline will do little to quieten the doubters who believe the Coatbridge fighter's best days are behind him, despite recording his 37th win from 42 fights. The 31-year-old, who lost his WBO lightweight title to Terence Crawford before suffering a surprise points decision defeat to Dejan Zlaticanin last time out, was fighting outside of Scotland for the first time since November 2011. Desperate to impress on his first foray into the light-welterweight division, Burns made a strong start and was by far the busier fighter in the opening round, landing a couple of crisp jabs before felling Lepelley with a hard right near the bell. Ricky Burns (left) got back to winning ways on his light-welterweight debut but was thoroughly unconvincing . He continued to use his superior height and reach advantage to beat Lepelley to the punch although the Frenchman grew steadily stronger as the second round wore on. It was more of the same in the third as Burns found some success behind his jab but was also guilty of swinging wildly. The fighters were both looking to land a knockout shot and Lepelley had his best round in the fourth, landing a hard shot that drew gasps from the crowd, but from then on the bout descended into a cagey scrap, with neither fighter really asserting themselves in the closing rounds. Lepelley (17-2-1, 3KOs) was deducted a point in the seventh for leading with his head but it mattered little to the overall proceedings, with Burns doing enough to win the remaining rounds without landing any significant blows. Brian Rose also bounced back from his world title defeat with a first-round stoppage against Ignacio Lucero Fraga. The Blackpool fighter, who was beaten by WBO light-middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade earlier this year, floored his Argentinian opponent three times for a confidence-boosting victory. Hot prospect Callum Smith continued his rise up the ranks by claiming the 14th win of his professional career with a third-round TKO of Rafael Sosa Pintos. Burns got a points decision victory over the lightly regarded Alexandre Lepelley on Saturday night in Leeds . | Josh Warrington used home city Leeds to his advantage and won the vacant European featherweight title against Davide Dieli .
Warrington won with a fourth-round TKO at the First Direct Arena in Leeds .
It was just the 23-year-old's third victory inside the distance in 19 fights .
Warrington is now the British, Commonwealth and European champion . |
263,583 | e16469415792cf02a5bc65327d27349ecbae4e6b | Opponents of George Lucas' plan to build a museum along Chicago's lakefront have filed a lawsuit branding it an 'assault on the shores of Lake Michigan'. It is the latest obstacle for the Star Wars creator's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a shrine his collection of art and movie memorabilia, after negotiations over a waterfront site fell through with San Francisco. The federal lawsuit filed on Thursday by Chicago advocacy group Friends of the Parks argues that the city has no authority to hand over the land, citing a legal principle known as the public trust doctrine. Projection: This is an architectural rendering of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that George Lucas plans to build along Chicago's lakefront. However, he is now facing legal action branding it an assault on the shore . That doctrine makes the state a trustee over natural resources and requires it to ensure open spaces are preserved and accessible to the public. Group president Cassandra Francis says members aren't against the museum, just its location along the lake. 'Chicago's lakefront is the envy of waterfront cities throughout the world,' she told reporters. 'The humongous scale of the museum is ... an assault to the shores of Lake Michigan.' Mayor Rahm Emanuel embraced the idea, and the city has offered to make the land available in a lease, with Lucas bankrolling construction and operation costs. Generations of activists have fought to keep Chicago's lakefront largely free from development and preserve it as public parkland and beaches. Latest obstacle: The Star Wars creator picked Chicago after being turfed out of his original San Francisco site . Renderings released this month, depict a flowing white building topped with a hovering ring. One city council member ridiculed it as looking like 'a palace for Jabba the Hutt.' The land is currently a parking lot south of Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears. But the lawsuit says that site, located within Burnham Park, consists entirely of land reclaimed from Lake Michigan, mostly in the 1920s. As such, it argues, the state of Illinois holds it as public trust property. 'Such trust property ... should be set aside and preserved ... for access to navigation, fishing and commerce on Lake Michigan,' the lawsuit says. Building a private museum on the site — even if the land is leased rather than sold — would violate the legal doctrine, it argues. A museum spokeswoman declined comment on the lawsuit. Emanuel's office did not respond to a request for comment. Lucas and the Chicago Park District argue project could create significant new green space and enhance recreational, cultural and educational amenities of an area known as the Museum Campus. It's already home to a natural history museum, an aquarium and a planetarium. Francis said it would set a bad precedent and that leaving the site a parking lot is preferable. 'Once we build a building in this location, it will be forever precluded as open space,' she said. | Star Wars creator chose Chicago after San Francisco site fell through .
But a group has filed a lawsuit branding it an 'assault on Lake Michigan'
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be a shrine to his memorabilia . |
125,160 | 2dcd421bcbec8429d7cd6fb165eb80b459572a38 | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has pledged to cover hundreds of miles this winter to gen up on the opposition as he strives to deliver League Two glory to Burton Albion. The Dutchman achieved a winning start in his new job when the Brewers won 3-1 at Wycombe Wanderers in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Monday night. And Hasselbaink, who says he is influenced by compatriots Louis van Gaal and Guus Hiddink, has pledged to make his team ‘as exciting as possible.’ Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink emerges from the tunnel at Adams Park to begin his new career at Burton Albion . Phil Edwards gave Hasselbaink a great start to his tenure heading home from a corner against Wycombe . Hasselbaink applauds his new players during his first game in English management . Hasselbaink says he is influenced by compatriots Louis van Gaal (left) and Guus Hiddink . Burton’s appointment of the former Leeds United and Chelsea striker raised a few eyebrows, especially since Hasselbaink has only one season of managerial experience under his belt - at Royal Antwerp in the Belgian second division. But the 42-year-old is more than happy to work his way up from the bottom tier of the English Football League. He said: ‘For me, it’s not about starting in League Two, League One, the Championship or the Premier League. It’s about the job, it’s about the project and where the club wants to go. Former Chelsea striker Hasselbaink holds a Burton scarf aloft during his unveiling as their new manager . ‘You look at the history, the people who run the club, the potential - those were the important bits, not that Burton are in League Two. ‘This is a club going in the right direction and I want to be part of that. I feel we are a good fit.’ Hasselbaink added: ‘I’m not too proud to work at this level - it’s still the same game. OK, it might be a bit different, but we are still here to win football matches and it’s about passion. I love football because of the passion, whatever the level.’ There was plenty of excitement around the former Premier League star trying his hand in the lower leagues . The new Burton manager signs a shirt outside the ground for a fan with an old Chelsea jersey . That passion will see Hasselbaink cover the length and breadth of the country over the coming weeks and months to ensure Burton can maintain and perhaps improve on their current fourth position in the table. ‘If we are not playing and future opponents have a game, I will drive hundreds of miles to go and watch them if necessary,’ he said. ‘And I would do that if I was working in the Championship, or at the majority of Premier League clubs, as well. It’s just part of the job. Maybe the Premier League is a bit different because every game is on TV. Hasselbaink celebrates scoring a goal for Chelsea against Tottenham back in April 2004 . ‘I have been at clubs with two analysts instead of the one we have at Burton; and we have one scout for every three or four that other clubs might have. ‘It’s the detail where things are just a little different, but that doesn’t matter - it is what it is, and I’m ready for it.’ We saw a first glimpse of the type of football Hasselbaink’s Burton will be playing when they cruised to a 3-1 win over fellow promotion contenders Wycombe at Adams Park and it is clear a philosophy is taking shape. Hasselbaink (left) and assistant manager David Oldfield are all smiles at their unveiling earlier this month . Hasselbaink said: ‘Every manager you have played under or worked for, you learn from them all. There are always things you like and, sometimes, things you don’t like, but you use them to your benefit. ‘I’m very fond of Steve McClaren (they worked together at Nottingham Forest), I’m fond of Louis van Gaal, Guus Hiddink, the list goes on. I’m very fortunate, I’ve worked with some top managers. ‘We’re going to try to be as exciting as possible. I like my team to be positive, whatever that is, and there’s still a lot of work to be done. But I do have a good group to work with here, and they are willing to learn.’ Hasselbaink only had the luxury of three training sessions to prepare his team for the trip to Wycombe and the fixture list doesn’t get any easier. They welcome current league leaders Luton to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday and then travel to second-placed Shrewsbury next weekend. | Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink won his first game in charge of Burton Albion against Wycombe Wanderers .
The Dutchman has only one season of managerial experience under his belt having worked at Royal Antwerp in the Belgian second division .
Hasselbaink's side welcome current league leaders Luton to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday . |
279,740 | f6607424c5055799be00936aa2b70b1c837be312 | Israel may have committed war crimes when commandos stormed an aid ship in 2010 killing nine people, but officials will not be prosecuted because the offences are 'not serious enough'. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American died after crack troops opened fire on the crew of the Mavi Marmara in the early hours of May 31, 1010. The incident, which happened in international waters, sparked international condemnation and led to years of tense relations between Turkey and Israel. Today prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that 'there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed on the Mavi Marmara' but were 'not of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the International Criminal Court (ICC).' Lawyers at the International Criminal Court have ruled that Israel likely committed war crimes against the crew of the Mavi Marmara in 2010, but that the case does not warrant prosecution . Nine Turks died when Israeli troops storming the boat opened fire - the crew claim the soldiers fired without warning, while Israel says they shot after being attacked (pictured, activists hold a Israeli troop) He added: 'Without in any way minimizing the impact of the alleged crimes on the victims and their families... the ICC shall prioritise war crimes committed on a large scale.' Israel's Foreign Ministry welcomed the decision to close the probe, saying the case was 'legally unfounded and politically motivated.' A spokesman for the ministry sought to point out that the court had also chosen not to act over violence against its soldiers by activists on board the Mavi Marmara. The boat, the flagship of a six-craft flotilla aimed at breaking the blockade of Gaza and carrying 10,000 tons of aid to shore, was caught in a stand-off with Israel after being stopped at sea. In the early hours of May 31 the ship was stormed by commandos who dropped on to the deck from a helicopter and used ropes to climb up the sides. Activists on board the ship claim the soldiers opened fire before boarding or issuing any warning, while Israel maintains the soldiers only fired after troops were beaten with sticks and metal poles. The case was taken to the ICC last year after the tiny African state of Comoros - which is a member of the court - filed a complaint, as the ship was flying under a Comoros flag. Neither Turkey nor Israel are not part of the ICC, which only has jurisdiction over member states. A Turkish lawyer representing Comoros has vowed not to give up the case. The Mavi Mara was the flagship of a six-boat flotilla that was trying to bring 10,000 tons of aid to Gaga when it was stopped in international waters. After a standoff with Israeli forces, troops stormed the boat . Turkish lawyers have vowed not to give up the case, saying that the ICC prosecuted rebels who killed a similar number of African peacekeepers in Darfur (pictured, a wounded Israeli commando is taken away by rebels) Ramazan Ariturk said: 'This is a moral struggle that we're pursuing by ourselves. It's a legal struggle, a struggle in the name of humanity. This struggle isn't over. 'We will object to a higher court at the International Criminal Court and we believe without a doubt that we will prevail.' In a 61-page report, prosecutors concluded that 'there is a reasonable basis to believe' Israeli wilfully killed, wilfully caused serious injury and deprived passengers of dignity. The report said that the findings were based on 'information available at this stage', adding that none of the information was collected by the ICC. A U.N. report in July 2011 found that the raid was justified, but that Israel used excessive force. Turkish lawyers seeking an ICC case turned to Comoros because the tiny nation is a member of the court and the Mavi Marmara was registered under the country's flag. They pointed to another ICC case, in Sudan, in which the court prosecuted rebels accused of leading an attack on African Union peacekeepers in Darfur in which 11 people died. Arituk said the ICC was setting a double standard by recognising the gravity of 11 troops being killed, but ignoring the nine protesters. In their report, prosecutors addressed the similarities in the number of victims in the two cases, but added there was also a key difference, as Darfur rebels' attack was deliberate. | International Criminal Court rules there is basis to say war crimes took place .
But lawyers will not prosecute as the offences are 'not sufficiently grave'
Eight Turks and one American-Turk died in raid on ship by Israeli troops .
Crew say soldiers fired first but Israel says troops fired after being attacked . |
165,701 | 624c44727bc6eabcb8605444cca25df4f24e6a20 | A 51-year-old Briton was subject to a hate campaign that led to a heart attack after he was wrongly accused of owning a film of a woman having sex with a tiger. Bus driver Andrew Holland was sent the video by friends as a joke but spent six months on bail after being charged with possession of an extreme pornographic image. As a result Mr Holland, who claims to have watched just six seconds of the video, was subject to ridicule, sent poison pen letters, branded a paedophile and targeted by vigilantes. A 51-year-old was subject to a hate campaign that led to a heart attack after he was wrongly accused of owning a film of a woman having sex with a tiger. File picture . However, prosecutors dropped the case in December 2009 after realising the 'tiger' was actually just a man dressed in a costume. According to The Independent, officials at the Crown Prosecution Service realised their mistaken when the costumed man said: 'That's grrrrrreat' - the catchphrase of Frosties cereal mascot Tony the Tiger. Mr Holland, who was denied contact with his young daughter for more than a year, said: 'I lost my job, I had to move and I ended up having a heart attack with all the stress of it,' he said. 'People were ringing me in the middle of the night. The offence of possession of extreme pornographic images came into force in January 2009. File picture . 'Three young lads turned up at my door and were calling me everything. I was threatened on more than one occasion.' Now he is trying to get the law on extreme pornography changed to prevent 'harmless but crude' jokes from going to court. His lawyers have written to the Director of Public Prosecutions and will go to the High Court if they are unsuccessful. The offence of possession of extreme pornographic images came into force in January 2009 and make it an offence to possess pornographic images that depict acts which threaten a person's life; acts which result in or are likely to result in serious injury to a person's anus, breasts or genitals; bestiality; or necrophilia. It has resulted in more than 5,500 prosecutions, mainly for bestiality images and footage. The prosecution has to prove that the image is 'pornographic; grossly offensive, disgusting, or otherwise of an obscene character'. Freedom campaigners say the act criminalises people who exchange dirty jokes or images by phone or the internet. | Bus driver Andrew Holland was sent the video by friends as a joke .
The Briton spent six months on bail after being charged with possession of an extreme pornographic image .
Prosecutors dropped the case in December 2009 after realising the 'tiger' was actually just a man dressed in a costume .
Officials at the Crown Prosecution Service realised their mistaken when the costumed man said: 'That's grrrrrreat' |
150,756 | 4ee7c13dc2448eb83196e281f6245b4f044704f6 | (CNN) -- For 50 years one spy has outfoxed, outgunned, and outdressed every villain thrown his way. His name? Bond ... James Bond. Now a new 007 exhibition in London is celebrating the half century since the world's most famous secret agent first appeared on screen. It was 1962 when Sean Connery's Bond defeated Dr. No and floated off into the sunset with Honey Ryder. Today the first Bond Girl's bikini is one of more than 400 items on display in an exhibition tracing the design of the one of the world's most profitable film franchises. From Scaramanga's golden gun to Daniel Craig's tiny trunks in the 2006 remake of "Casino Royale," the Barbican Centre exhibition in London allows fans to follow in 007's footsteps on a journey from 1962 up through Bond's golden anniversary ahead of "Skyfall", which is due to be released in October. "Adventure films have come and gone, but James Bond has remained a huge box office draw throughout," exhibition co-curator Bronwyn Cosgrave told CNN. "And he's also the best-dressed man in cinema history." James Bond's 'Quantum of Solace' speedboat is show's star turn . Fans are greeted at the gallery's exhibition by a waxwork of Sean Connery leaning against a replica of Bond's famous 1964 Aston Martin DB5 car. From there, a bullet-shaped entry way leads through to the Gold Room, which features a life-sized recreation of character Jill Masterson's death by gold paint from the 1964 film "Goldfinger." "Shirley Eaton's golden body is one of the most iconic Bond images, and we went to great lengths to cast a form -- not just a mannequin -- to painstakingly make a body that resembled her nubile proportions from Goldfinger," Cosgrave said. The exhibition's narrative arc is formulated much like a Bond film: visitors pass through M's office, where Britain's top spy received his mission orders, to Q Branch, where he picked up his latest gadgets. A montage of the casino scenes from every Bond film play on the walls of the casino room before visitors take a trip through the "real, fictional, and otherworldly" exotic locations of 007's many adventures. Idris Elba: I'd consider playing James Bond . The exhibition also traces the evolution of Bond's formidable wardrobe, from Connery's Savile Row-made tuxedos to Pierce Brosnan's Brioni suits, and showcases a number of Bond Girl dresses, including Halle Berry's Versace dress from "Die Another Day." Cosgrave and her colleagues dug deep into the 007 archive in order to find pieces that evoke design in Bond films. "This is the only exhibition where Bond is a supporting character -- equally iconic are the sets, the gadgets, and the costumes," she said. The costumes are remarkable, but at the end of the day Bond is a man of action -- which is why the exhibition's grand finale culminates in the Ice Palace from "Die Another Day," where visitors are surrounded with footage of 007's many chase scenes in the snow. The exhibition ends where many of the spy's adventures began: at the bar with a martini -- shaken, not stirred, obviously -- in classic Bond fashion. New James Bond 'GoldenEye' game debuts . | "Designing 007: 50 years of Bond Style" opens at London gallery .
Exhibition, with over 400 Bond archive items, explores design behind 007 films .
Showcase includes bikini of first Bond Girl, the golden gun and Bond's 1964 Aston Martin . |
51,741 | 92867e804677afd2fc911c86868b1551ea2d044d | By . Ruth Styles . PUBLISHED: . 14:07 EST, 21 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 21:54 EST, 22 July 2013 . From levies on cabin baggage to billing for printed boarding passes, it seems there's little that budget airlines won't charge for. Now a new survey has revealed that airlines are charging up to seven times more for food and drink than your local supermarket. Among the overpriced products highlighted were a 330ml bottle of water that cost 22p in a supermarket but £1.80 on a Jet2.com aircraft while a bar of chocolate priced at 25p on the high street totted up to £1.20 on an EasyJet flight. Hidden cost: Budget airlines such as Ryanair charge up to seven times more for food than supermarkets . The research, which was carried out by money-saving website TravelSupermarket.com and published in the Sunday Mirror, compared airline prices to those in a typical branch of Asda. On average, the survey discovered that food and drink were at least 241 per cent higher in the air. Bob Atkinson, of TravelSupermarket, said: 'Passengers travelling away this summer can easily get caught out by inflated prices for food and drinks, simply by failing to plan ahead. 'Airlines can get away with charging whatever they want for simple items such as a can of your favourite soft drink or a bar of chocolate as customers have no other option once on board the aircraft. 'For those families who have worked hard for their annual getaway, these marked up prices are both unwelcome and unnecessary. Picking up a few snacks before departing for the airport or even in the airport itself can save holidaymakers significant amounts.' Along with Jet2.com and Easyjet, Ryanair was another airline singled out for its price hikes which included charging £1.74 for a 38p can of 7UP and £1.74 for a stick of pepperami that would cost 50p at Asda. Price hike: This 38p can of 7UP cost £1.74 on Ryanair while a £1 bag of Haribo totted up to £2.75 on Monarch . Kit Kat chocolate bar: 33p in store but £1.30 on Aer Lingus . Twix chocolate bar: 25p in store but £1.20 on EasyJet . Haribo Starmix (160g bag): £1 in store but £2.75 on Monarch . Pepperami (25g stick): 50p in store but £1.74 on Ryanair . Pepsi (330ml can): 30p in store but £1.60 on Flybe . Red Bull (250ml can): 67p in store but £2.50 on Thomas Cook . Coca Cola (330ml can): 30p in store but £1.60 on Thompson . Other offenders include Flybe, which charges £1.60 for a 30p can of Pepsi, Monarch, which prices a packet of Haribo Starmix at £2.75 compared with Asda's £1, and Aer Lingus which hiked the price of a Kit Kat from 33p to £1.30 - a difference of 294 per cent. Also in the firing line was Thomas Cook, which charges £2.50 for a 67p can of Red Bull, and Thompson which upped the cost of a can of Coca Cola from 30p to £1.60 - an eye-watering 433 per cent hike. Asked to comment, a Ryanair spokesman said: 'Ryanair delivers Europe’s guaranteed lowest fares and a range of affordable, top quality inflight food, drinks and snacks on our Getaway Café menu. 'Passengers are free to bring their own snacks on board if they wish.' Jet2.com, meanwhile, argued that price hikes were the result of catering costs - allegedly much higher in the air. 'We always endeavour to deliver a quality experience, from the moment people start their holidays with us. This includes the catering in-flight where we provide hot food and healthy snacks. 'Our products are sourced from a variety of different suppliers, as are those from other airlines. The costs for supplying an aircraft are far higher than for a supermarket or restaurant and as such we believe this is a very difficult comparison to make. It’s not like for like.' Easyjet, however, said that prices should be compared to those in restaurants but not in supermarkets. In a statement, the airline said: 'Our prices should be compared with bars and restaurants rather than supermarkets. 'A supermarket operation will have huge economies of scale, lower cost prices along with lower supply chain and operating costs, is therefore not comparable to the service offering and specialised loading requirements of an airline environment.' | Prices are hiked by as much as 433%, according to a new survey .
Typical examples include charging £1.60p for a 30p can of coke .
Costs were compared to identical products sold in supermarkets .
Ryanair says customers are 'free to bring their own snacks' if they wish . |
279,882 | f690a8be0df8af4fbdcad5a6fcf9361e2ff2fc15 | The hunt for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 has been narrowed to the southern region of the previous search zone after a new analysis of satellite phone data. A failed attempt at a satellite phone call from the jet 'suggests ... the aircraft might have turned south a little earlier than expected,' said Warren Truss, Australia's deputy prime minister. It comes just weeks before the multi-million dollar, year-long sonar hunt for wreckage is due to begin. The overall search area still remained unchanged, Mr Truss said. He did not explain how the southern area was singled out. Scroll down for video . Boeing 777 Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 with the registration number 9M-MRO flies over Poland February 5. The jet vanished without a trace after flying off course while ferrying passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing . However, Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan said he would meet with international experts next week to decide whether the 60,000 square kilometre (23,000 square mile) targeted search area should be extended or shifted further south based on the new analysis. 'We think we may extend that area farther south; that's the thing we're currently considering,' he said. The new analysis applies to satellite data from the first of two satellite phone calls Malaysia Airlines ground staff attempted to make to Flight 370's crew. By the time the calls were attempted, the plane had become invisible to civilian radar. It had flown west without communications past Sumatra and beyond the range of Malaysian military radar. Mr Dolan said the new analysis suggested the jet was already flying south when the first phone call was attempted less than 20 minutes after the plane dropped off military radar. 'Previously, there was the possibility that it could have been quite a bit later, so we had to do our modelling based on a range of possibilities as to where the aircraft turned,' he said. Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai and Australian deputy prime minister Warren Truss today signed a memorandum of understanding sharing the ongoing costs of the search for the missing Boeing 777 . A U.S. Navy submersible aboard an Australian vessel. Similar submarine vehicles equipped with sonar, echo sounders and video cameras will be used to scour 23,000 square miles of search area . 'We're now more confident that it turned comparatively early. That does make a difference to how we prioritise the search along the seventh arc,' he added, referring to the area where satellite information from a jet engine transmitter suggests the plane ran out of fuel and crashed. Investigators have long been aware of the phone call. But they have only recently adapted analysis methodology to glean clues to the plane's direction from the satellite phone data. MH370 disappeared on March 8 after flying far off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Officials say the investigation into the how it crashed can only proceed once its wreckage and black boxes are recovered. By the time the calls were attempted, the plane had become invisible to civilian radar. It had flown west without communications past Sumatra and beyond the range of Malaysian military radar. Mr Dolan said the new analysis suggested the jet was already flying south when the first phone call was attempted less than 20 minutes after the plane dropped off military radar. Today, Mr Truss and Liow Tiong Lai, Malaysia's transport minister, signed a memorandum of understanding sharing the ongoing costs of the search for the missing Boeing 777 as it progresses to an expensive new stage. Mr Liow said investigators had advised that success of the undersea search for wreckage and the aircraft's back boxes with cockpit voice recordings and flight data was crucial to solving the mystery of the disaster. 'The investigation cannot continue without the search result,' he said. 'We need to find the plane, we need to find the black box in the plane so that we can have a conclusion in the investigation.' Malaysia, as the country where the Boeing was flagged, has overall responsibility for the investigation. But Australia has search and rescue responsibility for the area of the Indian Ocean where the plane is thought to have crashed 1,100 miles off Australia's west coast. From next month three vessels towing underwater vehicles equipped with side-scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounders and video equipment will begin scouring 23,000 square miles of search area. The operation could take up to a year and cost AU$52million(£29m). Before the underwater search starts, two survey ships are mapping the entire search area. Chinese vice minister of transport He Jianzhong, who also attended the Canberra meeting, said the ministers agreed that the search would not be interrupted or given up. Most of the lost passengers, 153, were Chinese. | The overall search area in the southern Indian Ocean remains unchanged .
Officials from Australia and Malaysia agree to share costs of search .
Investigation into the crash can only begin once the wreckage is found . |
75,421 | d5dec0a5ecd28bc128344f6a7cf17614175b850d | (CNN) -- An 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi, was closed Monday to most vessel traffic because of low water levels, idling nearly a hundred boats and barges in the stream, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. "We are allowing a limited number of vessels based on size" to attempt to pass, said New Orleans-based Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Tippets, adding that the closure was affecting 97 vessels Monday afternoon and was halting both northbound and southbound traffic. Salt creeping up the Mississippi River . This same area near Greenville, which sees about 50 vessels pass on an average day, has been closed "intermittently" since August 12, when a vessel ran aground, said Tippets. The Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers have continued surveying the area and deemed it "dangerous for vessels to travel through," he said. The Army Corps of Engineers also has being dredging in the area to deepen the channel and help navigation. Complete coverage of the drought . A historic drought and excessive heat have reduced water levels and scorched wide sections of the U.S. Midwest. Flooding last year may have worsened the situation on the Mississippi by leaving deposits of silt and debris in areas that would normally be clear. Tippiets said he was unsure when the river would reopen or, once that happens, how long it would take to undo the gridlock. Interactive map: Watch drought overtake U.S. Are you affected by the drought? Let us know on CNN iReport. | About a hundred vessels were idled by the closure .
A Coast Guard spokesman says he is unsure when the river will reopen . |
280,243 | f70a0cea9850a138456425af6a819955a1845b32 | While many clubs make a last-gasp dash to add to their squad on transfer deadline day - Aaron Ramsey won't be one of those on the move with his attention lying firmly at home. The Arsenal midfielder took to Facebook to wish his wife, Colleen Rowlands, a happy birthday on Monday. The childhood sweethearts tied the knot last summer, with the Wales international posting a selfie of the pair together on the social networking site. Aaron Ramsey posted a selfie of him and his wife, Colleen Rowlands, wishing her happy birthday on Monday . Aaron Ramsey played 77 minutes of the Gunners emphatic 5-0 thrashing against Aston Villa on Sunday . He also attached the message: 'Happy birthday to my lovely wife.' The 24-year-old has been in solid form for the Gunners so far this season, scoring five times in 21 appearances this term - despite missing the entire festive schedule with a hamstring injury. Ramsey is expected to feature as Arsene Wenger's side take on arch-rivals Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Saturday afternoon as they seek a fourth successive Premier League win. | Aaron Ramsey wished his wife happy birthday on Facebook on Monday .
The 24-year-old tied the knot with Colleen Rowlands last summer .
Midfielder set to feature for Gunners against Tottenham on Saturday . |
259,978 | dca0b43f50c0ae4bd78c90765d4823bacf40a222 | Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri wants to keep Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal and told him he already plays for a ‘great’ club. Manchester United have been linked with Vidal for much of the summer and the Chile international has also attracted interest from other top clubs in Europe. Allegri told La Gazzetta dello Sport: 'He (Vidal) is like a caged lion. He would like to play, but he needs to train more. Arturo has a great spirit. Wanted man: Massimiliano Allegri has urged Arturo Vidal to stay at Juventus . 'It is normal that there are rumours about him: the great teams search for the great players. But Vidal is already in a great team.' The Juventus boss is keen to add two more players to his squad ahead of the season and the defence of their league title. Patrice Evra, Alvaro Morata and Kingsley Coman have joined this summer, while Udinese winger Roberto Pereyra arrived on loan. Saga: Vidal has been linked with a move to Manchester United all summer . But Allegri, who replaced departed Antonio Conte at the helm earlier this summer, believes his team still needs further improvements. 'We need two more signings,' he added. 'But they have to be quality signings. We need a defender and a striker. 'It's useless to give names as acquisitions depend on who you can bring in and who is on the market. 'We have little time to act and we must choose carefully. We cannot afford to make any mistakes regarding these two signings.' Don't go away: Massimiliano Allegri is looking to add to his squad and does not want to lose Vidal . On the arrival of Evra, Allegri added: 'He's working hard, with a load he was not used to. He needs time to get accustomed to Italian football and these coaching methods.' Allegri also wished his predecessor Conte good luck with the national team, saying: 'It was the right choice for the Italian national team. I wish him good luck. I hope he'll do well, Italy really need it.' Juve begin their Serie A title defence against Chievo in Verona on August 30. VIDEO Allegri confident of keeping Vidal . | Manchester United keen to sign midfielder Arturo Vidal .
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri wants Vidal to stay .
Allegri keen to add to squad ahead of new season . |
72,217 | ccaf7bf8600dba263b3e0cce940853138f86233d | By . David Wilkes . PUBLISHED: . 17:58 EST, 23 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:12 EST, 23 September 2013 . Popular: Sales of jam-making equipment have soared up 2000 per cent this year . The Women’s Institute has spent years trying to shake off the ‘jam and Jerusalem’ image. But it is now at the heart of a boom in jam-making. New members are joining local groups to learn the traditional skill, helping to fuel soaring demand for the equipment needed. Sales of preserving jars, thermometers, jam funnels, boiling pans and gingham jar labels have increased by 2,000 per cent this year, Homebase announced yesterday. And there has never been a better time to learn, with Britain having enjoyed a glut of summer fruits – thanks to the heatwave that followed a wet spring – and the Daily Mail giving away How To Make Jam recipe cards every day this week. Janice Langley, chairman of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, whose members preserved over 5,300 tons of fruit between 1940 and 1945 to help provide food for the nation during the Second World War, was encouraged to see a resurgence in jam-making. ‘The recent glut of fruit will hopefully encourage more people to try making their own jam for the first time and see how easy it is to make the most of our great local produce,’ she said. ‘Many new WI members tell us that they decided to join the organisation to learn traditional skills.’ Rosemary Jameson, director of The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers, said attendance at jam-making classes had risen significantly. ‘Whereas people used to come and see it as a bit lightweight and just something to try once which they hadn’t done before, now they are taking it seriously because they want to know what is in their food and where it comes from,’ she said. ‘The rising interest is great. People want to be engaged with what they are eating nowadays. ‘Eating something you’ve made yourself not only satisfies your appetite but nourishes you in other ways because it holds memories of the day you made it, which makes it more special.’ As well as the record crops of cherries, . plums, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and apples reported all . over the UK this year, sugar supplier Silver Spoon has enjoyed a surge . in sales of jam sugar. Good year: Record crops of many British fruit including strawberries have also helped contribute to the surge . ‘As a result of the excellent weather, we have seen a rise in the quality and affordability of fresh fruit,’ its marketing director Tony Lucas told The Grocer magazine. ‘Consumers are taking advantage of the fruit harvest to produce jam as a simple and cost-effective summer recipe.’ Homebase Cookshop buyer Mathew Nicholas suggested that today’s generation are eager to return to the habits of their parents and grandparents. ‘Things may be tough but in true stiff-upper lip style, the British nation has clearly decided that there will always be strawberry jam for tea,’ he said. Will Torrent, an award-winning pastry chef and food consultant, is another convert. ‘Jam-making is one of those things that couldn’t be more British. Picking those wonderful fruits whether in summer or winter and turning them into something you can treasure and enjoy for months to come is priceless,’ he said. ‘I love making jam and the satisfaction you get when you bite into a slice of homemade Victoria sponge with some homemade jam is just heavenly.’ | Sales of preserving jars, thermometers, .
jam funnels, boiling pans and even gingham jar labels have increased by 2,000 .
per cent this year .
Sugar suppliers also report surge in popularity of jam sugar .
'Jam-making couldn’t be more British', one convert said . |
214,119 | a14cf871dddca48e80e78e4b973fdb6fd9582509 | By . Dan Bloom . An Italian Alpine village is being sold on Ebay for less than the price of a London flat. Calsazio is nestled in the dramatic hills of northern Italy, near the Gran Paradiso National Park - but many of its 14 houses are abandoned and in urgent need of repair. Now the village's remaining residents are banding together to sell their entire community for just £195,000 in the hope it will be turned into a tourist spot. Yours for £195,000: The picturesque but dilapidated Alpine village of Calsazio has been listed on Ebay . Fancy a bid? The 'used' item must be picked up locally and unfortunately, refunds are not accepted . The cost - a 'Buy It Now' tag of 245,000 Euros - is less than half the average price of a flat in London, which stands at £475,000 according to the sales website Zoopla. And it is around the same as the average cost of a home in Britain, which has risen 11.8 per cent in the last year according to Nationwide. Despite seeming like a bargain, however, the village has not yet attracted a buyer with seven days left to bid. It probably does not help that its condition is listed as 'used', the seller can only offer collection in person and refunds are not accepted. Breathtaking: The village borders northern Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park (pictured) But its optimistic item description - just a few sentences long - reads: 'At the foot of the Gran Paradiso National Park, it is located just 50 miles from the centre of Turin. 'A strategic location to live, start a business or a tourist restaurant. Fourteen homes combine more than 50 rooms. 'The village lends itself to a functional recovery, aimed at the renovation of buildings meeting architectural and historical criteria.' The settlement has been described as one of the most beautiful in Italy, surrounded entirely by a lush green valley. The national park which it borders was the first to be declared in Italy, and was used as a personal hunting ground by King Vittorio Emanuele II in the mid-1800s. Its dramatic landscape with peaks more than 4,000m high is teeming with glaciers, vultures and mountain goats. Aiding the sale is Italy's National Union of Mountain Communities (Uncem), which said any buyer would have to respect the traditional appearance of the beauty spot. Italy's stagnant economy, however, means the sale could fall distinctly flat. Last week the government admitted defeat over a public auction in which officials had tried to cut the nation's staggering debt by selling off national monuments. Almost all the lots had to be withdrawn from sale after they did not attract enough interest, despite including a castle and a 'haunted' island in the Venetian lagoon. Traditional: The 14 homes are made of stone and wood, and the buyer would have to respect their history . Well-placed: The item's short description on Ebay boasts that it is just 50 miles from Turin . In Britain, on the other hand, house prices are soaring after years of stagnation triggered by the 2008 crash. Calsazio may be one of the most beautiful Italian villages ever put up for sale on Ebay, but it is not the first. Two years ago the medieval Tuscan village of Pratariccia was offered for just 2.5million Euros after standing empty for 50 years. The village was reportedly abandoned after its young population moved to the cities, including nearby Florence, and the dominance of a farming life vanished with the older generation. | Tiny settlement of Calsazio lies just outside Gran Paradiso National Park .
But many of its traditional homes are abandoned and dilapidated .
Remaining inhabitants are auctioning entire village online for £195,000 .
They hope it can be restored and turned into a mountain tourist resort .
Condition is listed as 'used' and seller offers collection in person only . |
109,661 | 195bc42614ae43bab524e1c04b9ede467133b534 | Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for two suicide attacks on government facilities in Afghanistan that killed at least 18 people and wounded 27 others. Many of the dead were police officers. The first attack took place outside the police district administrator's office in the Guzara district of western Herat province when three suicide bombers in an SUV tried to enter the compound, according to Saeed Agha Saqib, the provincial police chief. The bombers detonated their explosives when security forces wouldn't let them through. The blast killed 14 people, including three police officers, and wounded 22 others, Saqib said. In southern Helmand province, a trio of suicide bombers attacked the office of the police chief of Musa Qala district, according to Dawood Ahmadi, a spokesman for Helmand's governor. Two of the bombers were able to blow themselves up. The third was killed by police. That attack killed four police officers and wounded five people, including the police chief, Ahmadi said. The Taliban said they were responsible for both attacks through a phone message to the media. CNN's Mitra Mobasherat contributed to this report. | The Taliban claim responsibility in a phone message to media .
Both attacks were on government facilities, authorities say .
Many of the dead were police officers, officials say .
Fourteen people were killed in Herat province attack, four in Helmand province . |
133,150 | 3827ae3ab629e2864b777da1f3a0c975e6fcb502 | By . Amie Keeley . A customer has described her horror at finding mouldy food, congealed fat and stagnant water on the shelves of a Tesco superstore. When Sylvia Tyler noticed the filth, which sat alongside dozens of fresh food items, she complained to store bosses - but they told her the area was 'difficult to clean'. And two weeks later, the shelves had still not been cleaned even though the huge supermarket employs 600 staff. Officials have launched an investigation into the store owned by Britain's biggest retailer, which has previously been fined thousands of pounds for breaching hygiene rules. Filth: A Tesco customer found the supermarket's shelves caked in grime with food items just lying around . Complaint: Sylvia Tyler noticed the off-putting scene at a superstore in Slough, pictured . Photographs of the mess at the Tesco Extra superstore in Slough, Berkshire show what appears to be congealed cream and fat, old food debris and layers of dirt in pools of water standing in the gaps between the shelves. Ms Tyler, 42, was browsing the 'reduced to clear' section when she noticed the dirt as well as a packet of ham trapped between the cabinets. 'I just happened to look down and thought to myself, "Look at the state of that,"' she told the Mail. 'I turned to another customer next to me and said "Have you seen that?" and he said, "I'm not touching anything for sale on here."' The mother of three approached a store supervisor and pointed out the filth - but she claims he was 'blasé' about the problem. 'I said, "Don't you think this needs to . be sorted out? This is a health and safety issue." He said it was . difficult to clean but would ask a staff member to sort it out. But he . didn't seem at all bothered.' Anger: Ms Tyler says that a store manager told her the shelves were 'difficult to clean' Grimy: There appeared to be bits of food and stagnant water in between many of the shelves . When Ms Tyler visited the store again two weeks later, the shelves were apparently in an even worse state than before - and the same pack of ham was still there. She inspected other aisles, and found a thick mouldy residue in the dairy section. 'I was mortified,' she said. 'The air can circulate and contaminate the food. I was disgusted that they're kept in this state and incredibly disappointed that such a big company hasn't taken any action. 'If that's what it's like on display, what's it like behind the scenes?' Ms Tyler has since reported the issue to local environmental health officials. A spokesman for Slough Borough Council said that they have received a complaint and are currently looking into it. Apology: Tesco says it is 'disappointed' by the failure to clean the shelves properly . Report: Ms Tyler complained to her local environmental health department about the incident . A spokesman for Tesco said the supermarket giant was 'disappointed' to hear of the incident, and assured customers that the shelves in the Slough store have now been cleaned. 'We maintain very high standards of hygiene and cleanliness in our stores, and we're disappointed that those were not met on this occasion,' he said. 'Colleagues regularly deep-clean all of the shelving in the stores and we've taken action to return the shelves to their usual high standards.' Last year the company was fined £45,000 after health inspectors found that one of their London stores was infested with mice. The Tesco Metro outlet in Covent Garden was covered in dirt and rodent droppings, a court heard - while one inspector found an enormous 'super mouse' running around the premises. In the past five years, three other branches of the retail giant have been fined for unhygienic conditions. In addition, the supermarket was at the centre of last year's horsemeat scandal after it emerged that some of its own-brand mince products contained up to 60 per cent horse instead of beef. | Sylvia Tyler found the shelves of Tesco branch in Slough covered in filth .
Says there was mould in the dairy section and a packet of ham trapped between the shelves for two weeks .
But when she complained to a manager he insisted it was 'difficult to clean'
Health officials launch investigation into conditions at the Tesco store .
Retailer previously fined thousands of pounds over hygiene breaches . |
52,475 | 94af403c456e3619f632f52897ea6aafc0318f5a | (CNN) -- An Austrian man who allegedly held his daughter as a sex slave for 24 years has been charged with murdering one of their children, prosecutors say. Josef Fritzl is accused of fathering seven children by his daughter during her 24-year captivity. Austrian State Prosecutor Gerhard Sedlacek told CNN Thursday that Josef Fritzl, 73, was charged with murder because one of the seven children died in infancy. The other six children survived. Fritzl, a retired electrician from Amstetten, 75 kilometers (46 miles) west of Vienna, was also charged with rape, incest, false imprisonment and slavery. The murder charge stems from the death of Fritzl's infant son, Michael Fritzl, who died from lack of medical care, the prosecutor said. Watch as Fritzl is charged with murder » . "Although he realized how life-threatening M.F.'s situation was after being born, Josef F. did not call out for help," Sedlacek said, explaining the charge. The trial is expected to begin early in 2009 and if convicted of murder Fritzl could face 10 to 20 years in prison. Austria, like other European countries, has no death penalty. Prosecutors say psychiatric tests show that Fritzl is mentally fit to stand trial but Sedlacek has asked that Fritzl be confined to a "mental asylum." Fritzl kept the daughter and all but three of the children in a cellar beneath his home in Amstetten, Austria, west of Vienna, officials say. Three of the children lived upstairs in the home Fritzl shared with his wife and several of their own children. Fritzl has been in custody since the case came to light in April, sparking worldwide attention. He had explained Elizabeth's disappearance in 1984 by saying the 18-year-old girl had run away from home, a story backed up by letters he forced Elisabeth to write, including one that begged her parents not to look for her. When Elizabeth gained her freedom, she told police her father began sexually abusing her at age 11. On August 8, 1984 -- weeks before she was reported missing -- her father enticed her into the basement, where he drugged her, put her in handcuffs and locked her in a room, she told police. For the next 24 years, she was constantly raped by her father, resulting in seven children, she said, according to the police statement. Fritzl's daughter and her children have since been receiving counseling although doctors warn that they will take years to recover. Members of the Fritzl family will also be offered the chance to adopt new identities in an effort to help them lead normal lives, officials said. Psychiatrist Max Friedrich, who treated the abducted Austrian teenager Natascha Kampusch, estimated it would take "between five and eight years" for the children to recover from their experiences. | Austrian man who allegedly held daughter for 24 years charged with murder .
Prosecutors charge Josef Fritzl with murder because one of the 7 children died .
Experts say infant might have survived if Fritzl had arranged for medical care . |
31,261 | 58d882b6afcb5d7f46f02464e2c8b4142d5e833f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 03:22 EST, 19 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 03:23 EST, 19 September 2012 . One of the biggest Colombian drug lords was captured Tuesday night after building his trafficking empire for nearly two decades. Daniel Barrera Barrera, who is known as 'El Loco' or 'the Madman', was arrested in neighboring Venezuela, topping off a year of significant blows to the region's drug trade. It was the third arrest of a major Colombian drug boss in the last year. President Juan Manuel Santos said Barrera was arrested in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal after months of multi-national cooperation that included help from the United States and other nations. Captured: Daniel 'el Loco' Barrera was caught in neighboring Venezuela but is expected to be extradited to Colombia in the coming days given that his massive drug trade is based in the country . 'The last of the great capos has fallen,' Mr Santos said, using the common term for drug lords. 'This is perhaps the most important arrest' in recent times, he said. General Jose Roberto Leon, director of the National Police, said in a telephone interview later that the 50-year-old Barrera did not resist when he was caught alone on a road in San Cristobal, which is near the Colombia-Venezuela border. General Leon said he expected Venezuela to deport Barrera, but did not know when. The New York Times reports that in addition to the Venezuelan drug police, the CIA and British intelligence officers aided the operation. While regional authorities obviously played a significant role in the takedown, the true extent of international help is slowly being revealed as the head of the Colombian national police, Major General Jose Roberto Leon Riano was in Washington at the time of the arrest in order to better facilitate communication with the Americans. Barrera was one of Colombia's most wanted fugitives. Early last year, authorities announced a $2.7million reward for information leading to his capture, but Colombian officials did not say whether any tips from informants led to the arrest. Proud of the capture: President Juan Manuel Santos (right) announced 'The last of the great capos has fallen' U.S. and Colombian officials have alleged that Barrera's gang supplies cocaine to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, which ships the drug to the United States. Barrera's arrest was the third involving alleged Colombian drug kingpins over the past 12 months. On June 3, Venezuelan authorities arrested Diego Perez Henao, 41, who had a five million US dollar reward on his head for allegedly trafficking cocaine to the United States. He was sent to Colombia a few weeks later. Last November, Maximilian Bonilla Orozco, 39, another alleged drug boss with a five million US dollar reward offered for him by the US, was caught in Venezuela. He was extradited directly to the United States in December. While his capture is clearly a milestone in his personal criminal history, it is far from his first run-in with the law. Previous find: In October 2010, Colombian police discovered $29million and 17million euros that belonged to Barrera in what was- at the time- the 'biggest seizure of drug money in this country's history' Barrera was first imprisoned in February 1990 on drug charges but he managed to escape from the Colombian prison in October of that same year. More recently, in October 2010, Colombian police discovered $29million and 17million euros that belonged to Barrera in what was- at the time- the 'biggest seizure of drug money in this country's history'. Along with taking down one of the country's top drug kingpins, Tuesday's arrest will greatly hinder Colombia's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (commonly known as FARC). Barrera was closely associated with the group. Barrera is seen as the closest equivalent to a modern-day Pablo Escobar, with comparisons between the two drug lords being made frequently as they both developed ways to use bribery as a way to insure that they remained well-liked by prominent political figures from all sides of the spectrum. Since Escobar was killed in 1993, the widespread nature of Barrera’s trafficking lent him the title as the most notorious Colombian drug dealer. | Daniel Barrera Barrera has been major drug trafficker for over 20 years .
Colombian president announced his arrest on national television .
Barrera, known as 'El Loco', is considered modern-day Pablo Escobar . |
219,330 | a7e790effa4677e73d8274898c4c79b42924219b | Houston, Texas (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's last physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, wasn't the one who gave the pop star a fatal overdose of propofol, according to Murray's attorney, hinting at the defense strategy in the involuntary manslaughter case against his client. "The fact (of the way) that he died was a mystery a year ago, and still is," Houston attorney Ed Chernoff told CNN in an exclusive interview recently. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled that Jackson's June 25, 2009, death was from an overdose of propofol, a powerful anesthesia used to put surgical patients to sleep. Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death. His preliminary hearing is expected this fall. Murray, hired as Jackson's personal doctor while he rehearsed for his comeback concerts, admits he was giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid, but Chernoff said the amount was much smaller than what was found in Jackson's body during the autopsy. The toxicology results included in the autopsy report said the propofol level was equal to what would be used to sedate a patient for major surgery. "There is no way that Dr. Murray pumped Michael Jackson full of propofol sufficient for major surgery," Chernoff said. "No way. I would stake anything that I own on this fact." Theories of how Jackson might have gotten the fatal dose, other than from Murray, include someone else entering the upstairs bedroom and administering it -- or Jackson waking up and giving it to himself. A anesthesia expert hired by the coroner addressed the possibility that Jackson may have accidentally killed himself with propofol. "It would have been difficult for the patient to administer the drugs to himself, given the configuration of the IV set-up," the expert wrote in the autopsy report. Chernoff said the possibility was not completely ruled out by the expert. "The coroner's report deemed it to be unlikely, because it would be difficult, so I'm assuming they've addressed that situation and that's what they believe, but is it possible? Absolutely, it's possible," Chernoff said. Jackson's personal doctor . Chernoff said Murray had no idea what he was getting into when he signed on as Jackson's personal physician. Murray was reluctant to accept the job despite the $150,000 monthly salary, Chernoff said. "He was leaving two practices, one in Houston and one in Nevada," Chernoff said. "He was going to be giving up those practices that he built up over 20 years, with no guarantee that when he was done with Michael Jackson he would have his practices back." Murray knew Jackson had trouble sleeping, but did not know he was using propofol as a sleep aid, Chernoff said. "Did Dr. Murray know that 'when I get onboard treating Michael Jackson that I'm going to have to deal with this drug propofol?' No," Chernoff said. Chernoff said Murray was trying to wean Jackson off an addiction to propofol. "He wanted to help him do that," Chernoff said. "Who else is addicted to a drug like propofol?" The anesthesia expert consulted in the autopsy report said propofol was intended for use only in a surgical setting. But Chernoff defended Murray's usage of the drug in a residential setting. "The fact that medicines may have been prescribed or administered at home -- that alone doesn't make it egregious," he said. "A hospital is just four walls. I can't say he was in over his head, but he certainly was intending to try to help Jackson get off that drug." The hours before Jackson died . Murray told investigators that he tried for nine hours to get Jackson to sleep the day he died, starting at 1:30 a.m. By 10:40 a.m., after giving Jackson several other sleep aids, Murray said he gave Jackson 25 milligrams of propofol through an intravenous tube attached to Jackson's leg. The doctor's whereabouts during the 90 minutes leading up to when Jackson was found unresponsive are unclear. Phone records show Murray made three calls totaling 47 minutes during that time. Murray told investigators he left Jackson's side for "two minutes maximum" while he went to use the bathroom, according to a police affidavit filed in the case. The timing is important because it's the only window when someone else, including Jackson, could have administered the fatal dose of propofol. Prosecutors said the evidence points toward Murray as the only person responsible for Jackson's death. Chernoff said he's confident that a jury will see it differently. "We get a fair jury and we are able to afford just some of the necessary experts and investigators then, yes, the doctor is going to win," he said. "Whatever the doctor did for Michael Jackson, whatever he did, was to help, and he took the necessary precautions and then something happened that is unexplainable," Chernoff said. | Lawyer: Dr. Murray did not give Jackson fatal overdose .
Murray admits using propofol to help Jackson sleep .
Lawyer: Someone else could have caused Jackson's death .
Autopsy report said it is unlikely Jackson injected himself . |
158,733 | 59398487db36016a7a0cfe2f309ebea4929b5eb6 | Beijing (CNN) -- For the first time, urban dwellers in China now outnumber those living in the country. At the end of 2011, China counted 690.79 million urban dwellers, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday. That marks an increase of 21 million over the previous year and accounts for 51.27% of the country's 1.347 billion people. During the same period, the rural population shrunk by 14.56 million to 656.56 million. The number of people between the ages of 15 and 64 stood at about 1 billion, or 74.4% of the total population, the NBS added. China's breakneck economic growth over the past three decades has seen an explosion in the size of China's cities and towns, especially along its prosperous east coast. China's economic growth slowing? Spurred by Deng Xiaoping's reform policies of the 1970s, which were aimed at modernizing an economy that had been dominated by agriculture, millions of Chinese farmers have been on the move, a massive internal migration that has changed the face of China. Many of these migrant workers, known as "mingong," have left the countryside for the cities looking for better-paid jobs in areas such as manufacturing. Mega-cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, have been at the heart of this change, serving as the engines of China's rapid economic transformation. "Urbanization is an irreversible process and in the next 20 years, China's urban population will reach 75% of the total population," said Li Jianmin, head of the Institute of Population and Development Research at Nankai University, in quotes carried by Agence France-Presse. "This will have a huge impact on China's environment, and on social and economic development." There are at least 200 million migrant workers in the whole country, according to a national census carried out in April last year. Many are seasonal workers who work in cities part-time and then return to their villages -- though an increasing number live and work in urban centers permanently. However, it is difficult for many rural migrants working in cities to become fully-fledged urban residents, due to a centuries-old household registration system known as "hukou," which categorizes the population into rural and urban residents. Without an urban hukou permit, a migrant is often denied access to the subsidized health, housing and education for children that city dwellers enjoy. | 2011: China counted 690.79 million urban dwellers, 656.56 million in rural areas .
China's breakneck economic growth has seen explosion in size of China's cities .
Many migrant workers, known as "mingong," have left the countryside for the cities .
Analyst: Urbanization is an irreversible process in the next 20 years . |
25,047 | 46fa4a0f3859b40cf9ab380b514991f67cb1285f | (CNN) -- For the first time in nearly 600 years, a reigning pope has resigned. And in what might also be a landmark event, Twitter was not flooded with jokes or parody accounts when the announcement was made two weeks ago. On February 11 @davewiner tweeted, "Perfect storm for Pope jokes. Since he's not dead no one can complain 'You're being insensitive.'" But in the days that followed, not much surfaced. It was so odd that tweets like this were more common: "Did I miss the memo about no Pope jokes?" tweeted @NouveauBroke. Although a parody account, @RetiredPopeXVI, did appear, it only has 577 followers and sent out a paltry five tweets. That all changed on Thursday when Pope Benedict XVI slipped off his red loafers and officially became pope emeritus. Curiously, the Vatican also deleted all 39 of his tweets from the official @pontifex Twitter account. (They are archived here.) And slowly, the jokes began to surface. Here are a handful we found humorous. Mobile users: Click here to see the Storify . . | Pope officially retires Thursday as Vatican deletes his Twitter history .
Twitter users were uncommonly silent until the retirement was official .
@pontifex account gains 500 new followers after deleting tweets . |
249,753 | cf3e217f50f55319d1e25d4252fabcf9dfff9a04 | By . Frank Coletta For Daily Mail Australia . and Aap . Tony Abbott's strong stance with Russia over Malaysian Flight MH17 is believed to have translated into a stronger showing in the polls, making him the preferred prime minister for the first time in four months. The latest Newspoll published in The Australian shows the Coalition's primary vote is back up to 40 per cent for the first time since April, regaining some of the ground lost after an unpopular budget. Tony Abbott's tough talking over the investigation into the Malaysian Airlines MH17 tragedy has won him strong support from voters, according to the latest Newspoll . PRIMARY VOTE . Coalition (+4) 40% . ALP (-2) 34% . Greens (+1) 13% . Others (-3) 13% . PREFERRED PM . Tony Abbott (+3) 41% . Bill Shorten (-1) 37% . Uncommitted (-2) 22% . TWO-PARTY PREFERRED . Labor (-2) 52% . Coalition (+2) 48% . While there has been some dissatisfaction with the government's new metadata laws, this seems to be tempered by its back-flip in watering down the Racial Discrimination Act. The poll indicates the Prime Minister's focus on international affairs is the main reason behind him taking back the lead as preferred prime minister over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. It also shows his standing as preferred PM has improved by six points since June, while Mr Shorten's has fallen by eight, a 14 point turnaround in favour of the PM. However, his dissatisfaction rating has also climbed, up one point to 54% . The Coalition's primary vote has risen four points to 40% In the past fortnight but is still 5.6 points lower than its election-winning result of 45.6%. Labor's primary vote dropped for the second consecutive poll and is down two points to a three-month low of 34. Tony Abbott with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte. Mr Abbott has enjoyed increased voter support back in Australia as he visits the Netherlands, to discuss repatriation of the Australian victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 disaster . Opposition Leader Bill Shorten pictured with his wife Chloe Bryce. The ALP leader has lost ground on Tony Abbott in the preferred Prime Minister stakes in the latest Newspoll . In two-party-preferred terms, Labor continues to lead, 52 to 48, that's a 5.5% swing to the ALP since the election. The Greens gained one point to 13, while independents and other parties dropped from 16 to 13. | Tony Abbott is now preferred Prime Minister over Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for the first time in four months .
His strong stance against Russia in the aftermath of the MH17 tragedy has helped boost his popularity .
His change of mind on the Racial Discrimination Act is also believed to have helped .
Mr Abbott has reversed most of his losses from an unpopular budget .
Coalition's primary vote has jumped 4 points to 40 per cent but still trails Labor .
Labor primary vote has fallen to 34%, almost the same as its election-losing result . |
244,601 | c88d7dcc4944ef77717b6f13ca42c5d14191bb7e | By . Rosie Taylor . PUBLISHED: . 06:01 EST, 3 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:21 EST, 4 April 2013 . Bestselling author Iain Banks has been given only months to live, he revealed yesterday. The writer, 59, who is best known for The Wasp Factory, announced he has gallbladder cancer, is ‘unlikely’ to survive longer than a year and will bring forward publication of his latest book. He said he had asked his partner, author and horror film curator Adele Hartley, to ‘do me the honour of becoming my widow’. Iain Banks (left) announced that he was now on honeymoon with his long-term partner Adele Hartley (right) after saying he has cancer that has spread through his body and is expected to kill him by the end of the year . The couple have married in private and are now on a short honeymoon. Banks has withdrawn from all engagements and plans to spend time with friends and family. On his website, he said he was ‘officially very poorly’. He added: ‘The bottom line now, I’m afraid, is that as a late-stage gallbladder cancer patient . . . it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year. 'So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, will be my last.’ Banks is an award winning writer and was named by The Times newspaper as one of the 50 greatest living authors in 2008 . Publisher Little Brown is hastening the release of The Quarry to give him ‘a better chance of being around when it hits the shelves’, he said. It was due out in October but may be ready by June. Banks, who was born in Fife and studied at Stirling University, had success with his first novel, The Wasp Factory, in 1984. He has written more than 20 books, including science fiction under the name Iain M Banks. He noticed a pain in his lower back in late January but put it down to spending hours ‘crouched over a keyboard’. ‘When it hadn’t gone away by mid-February, I went to my GP, who spotted that I had jaundice,’ he said. ‘Blood tests, an ultrasound scan and then a CT scan revealed the full extent of the grisly truth by the start of March.’ The cancer, which started in his gallbladder, has spread and is effectively inoperable, he said. He is considering whether to have chemotherapy, but cannot start treatment until his jaundice improves. A website has been set up for fans to leave messages of support and fellow authors have expressed their sadness. Scottish crime writer Ian Rankin referred on Twitter to Banks’s dark humour, saying: ‘Typical of Iain to propose marriage to his partner Adele with the words “Will you do me the honour of becoming my widow?”’ Thriller writer Mark Edwards tweeted: ‘Just saw the sad news. 'Wasp Factory, Walking On Glass, Crow Road – some of the best novels I’ve ever read.’ Banks wrote that he has withdrawn from all future public engagements and has married his partner, Adele . The gallbladder concentrates and stores bile from the liver as part of the digestive system. Gallbladder cancer is rare in the UK but is more common among women. It does not cause symptoms in the early stages, grows quickly and is often not diagnosed until the cancer has spread. Most early-stage cancers are found by chance. At more advanced stages, symptoms include jaundice, abdominal pain and nausea. If the cancer is diagnosed early enough, surgery is the most effective treatment. As it advances it can spread to lymph nodes, the liver and other organs. Radiotherapy and chemotherapy can be used to stem its spread but only one patient in ten with advanced gallbladder cancer survives for five years. Vanda Taylor, of Cancer Research UK, said: ‘Gallbladder cancer is seldom diagnosed early and therefore can be very difficult to treat successfully.’ | Revealed he had bladder cancer that has spread across his body .
Is currently on honeymoon after getting married to his partner Adele .
Publisher hopes to bring forward release of his latest book, The Quarry . |
90,737 | 00b17d28d3a12d78b3f37789d4657cbae761bdcb | The parents of a young woman killed in the Colorado theater massacre have filed a lawsuit against four retailers, accusing them of improperly selling ammunition, tear gas, a high-capacity magazine and body armor to suspected gunman James Holmes. The lawsuit alleges it was illegal and negligent to sell the gear to Holmes, who killed 12 people and injured 70 when he opened fire inside a suburban Denver theater during a midnight screening of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, 2012.. It says the companies had no safeguards to keep dangerous people from buying their goods. Scroll down for video . Staying strong: Lonnie and Sandy Phillips speak during a news conference Tuesday about their lawsuit accusing four online retailers of improperly selling ammunition used in the attack . Looming large: Jessica Ghawi, 24, seen in a portrait on the left, was among the 12 people killed in the July 20, 2012 Colorado theater shootings . 'It was highly foreseeable to (the) defendants that their potential customers included persons with criminal intent, including persons such as James Holmes,' the lawsuit says. The suit was filed by Sandy and Lonnie Phillips of San Antonio, whose daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was among the fatalities. 'We're putting them on notice,' Lonnie Phillips said at a news conference in Denver. 'We're coming after you.' Ghawi, 24, was an aspiring sports journalist who had moved from Texas a year earlier. Less than two months before her death, she had survived a shooting at a Toronto mall that left two people dead and several wounded. Shooter: James Holmes, 26, pictured in court in July 2012, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder . Her parents are represented by attorneys for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and two Denver lawyers. 'As gunowners, parents, and citizens of this country, we . hope that our lawsuit will spare other families the tragedy that . we have gone through after the death of our beautiful daughter,' a tearful Sandy Phillips said in a statement. Named as defendants in the case are Lucky Gunner of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bullet Proof Body Armor of Tempe, Arizona, BTP Arms of New Oxford, Pennsylvania, and the Sportsman's Guide of South St. Paul, Minnesota. None of the companies immediately returned telephone messages seeking comment. The lawsuit says Holmes bought at least 4,300 rounds of ammunition from Lucky Gunner's website, bulkammo.com, and 700 rounds of ammunition and a 100-round magazine from the Sportsman's Guide website. It says Holmes bought two tear gas grenades from BTP Arms and four pieces of body armor from bulletproofbodyarmorhq.com. The 100-round magazine was one factor that prompted Colorado in 2013 to ban the sale of magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Investigators have said Holmes' 100-round magazine jammed during the attack, preventing even more bloodshed. Prosecutors said Holmes also bought two handguns, a shotgun, a semi-automatic rifle and other equipment from other retailers that are not named as defendants. Word of warning: Lonnie Phillips and his wife said at a news conference in Denver that they are coming after the ammunition retailers . Full of life: Jessica Ghawi, 24, was an aspiring sports journalist who had moved from Texas a year earlier . Life or death: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Holmes, whose trial will get under way in December . The lawsuit renews the gun control debate in the courts at a time when advocates of tighter restrictions have been relatively quiet in state and national politics, wary of motivating gun-rights voters to turn out in greater numbers. After Colorado passed gun control laws in 2013, voters ousted two lawmakers who supported the measures. A third resigned to avoid a possible recall. Dave Kopel, research director for the Independence Institute, a conservative-leaning Colorado think tank, said the suit will have a difficult time overcoming a federal law that protects the legal manufacture and sale of weapons and ammunition. Previous lawsuits have attempted but failed to overturn the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, said Kopel, an attorney who represents 53 Colorado sheriffs trying to overturn Colorado's 2013 gun laws. They are appealing a federal judge's ruling against them. Ammo: The lawsuit says Holmes bought a 100-round magazine from the Sportsman's Guide website . Buying in bulk: Lucky Gunner's website, bulkammo.com sold he shooter at least 4,300 rounds of ammunition . Under armor: Four pieces of body armor worn by the 26-year-old shooter came from bulletproofbodyarmorhq.com . Holmes bought two tear gas grenades from BTP Arms in New Oxford, Pennsylvania . Holmes pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. His trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on December 8. Holmes' attorneys do not comment publicly because of a gag order issued by the judge in the criminal case against him. | The lawsuit was filed by Lonnie and Sandy Phillips, the parents of victim Jennifer Ghawi .
It names four ammunition and tactical gear retailers claiming it was negligent to sell bullets to James Holmes .
Holmes, 26, charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 others on July 20, 2012 . |
270,685 | ea940bf371582169d7e0748126c654e51ae504bf | (Tribune Media Services) -- Europe is investing in its infrastructure, and travelers know the results are breathtaking. With the English Channel tunnel, trains speed from Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower in about 2.5 hours. You zip under the English Channel in 20 minutes ... looking out the window for fish. Europe's high-speed rail is so successful that one airline is considering getting into the business. More travelers now connect London and Paris by train than by air -- and high-speed rail between these two cities may get even faster and cheaper in the near future. Eurostar, a joint service of the Belgian, British and French railways, is the speedy passenger train that zips you (and up to 800 others in 18 sleek cars) from downtown Paris to downtown London more easily than flying. Direct Eurostar service from London to Brussels also takes 2.5 hours. The actual tunnel crossing is a 20-minute, black, silent, 100-mile-per-hour nonevent. Your ears won't even pop. In the 15 years that the bullet train has been running, not much has changed except London's Eurostar station -- it's now St. Pancras International (in Paris it stops at Gare du Nord; in Brussels it's Midi Station). But starting this winter, the pace of change is speeding up. In December, a high-speed connection between Brussels and Amsterdam opens, cutting the journey from London to Amsterdam by an hour. In January, Eurostar's monopoly on using the Chunnel -- the tunnel beneath the English Channel -- expires. With its London-Paris flights suffering, Air France realized if you can't beat 'em join 'em. In 2008 it announced a competing high-speed rail service between London and Paris to start in late 2010 -- but the economic downturn could put that service on hold. Air France will use the same tracks, but says its trains could run faster than Eurostar's (a claim that Eurostar disputes). The competition can only be good for travelers, but for now, you'll have to use Eurostar. Their fares are reasonable but complicated. Prices vary depending on how far ahead you reserve, whether you can live with refund restrictions, and whether you're eligible for any discounts (children, youths, seniors, round-trip travelers, and railpass holders all qualify). Fares can change without notice, but typically a one-way, full-fare ticket (with no restrictions on refunds) runs about $425 first-class and $300 second-class. Cheaper seats come with more restrictions and can sell out quickly (figure $80 to $160 for second-class, one-way). Unlike our cheapo airlines, you can take two large bags and one small day bag per person for no extra fee. Since only the most expensive (full-fare) ticket is fully refundable, don't reserve until you're sure of your plans. But if you wait too long, the best deals will get bought up. When you're ready to ride, you'll find the process is similar to an airport check-in -- without all the drama, sole-baring shoe inspections, and waiting. You must be at the station at least 30 minutes in advance of your Eurostar trip. You'll pass through airport-like security, show your passport to customs officials, and find your departure gate listed on a TV monitor. There are a few shops, newsstands, snack bars, and cafes (I usually bring better, cheaper food for the trip from elsewhere), pay-Internet terminals, and a currency-exchange booth with rates about the same as you'll find on the other end. I like to ride in second class (Standard class) to save money. First class (also called Leisure Select) gets you a little more leg and elbow room, a newspaper, a classy meal, and power plugs at your seat. As you zoom along at speeds up to 185 miles per hour, consider how long it took to link Britain and France. Since the days of Napoleon there had been talk about a tunnel under the English Channel, but it wasn't until 1986 that the two countries finally reached an agreement to build it together. Once the digging started, crews crept forward 100 feet a day until June 1991, when French and English workers broke through and shook hands midway across the Channel. Voila! Cheers! The tunnel was complete. With 24 miles underwater, it's the world's longest undersea tunnel. The ambitious project helped to show the European community that cooperation between nations could benefit everyone. High-tech know-how, a shared European vision, and people's love of travel have created incredibly fast trains that crisscross, link and strengthen Europe. Whizzing along on a European bullet train is the greenest way to go -- far more fuel-efficient and less polluting than flying. Every time I ride through the Chunnel -- caught up on my research, well rested and unfrazzled -- I'm thankful for Europe's comfortable rail network. Rick Steves writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. E-mail him at [email protected], or write to him c/o P.O. Box 2009, Edmonds, Wash. 98020. Copyright 2009 RICK STEVES, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC. | The Eurostar train zips under the English Channel in 20 minutes .
Air France is planning a competing rail service between London and Paris .
A one-way, full-fare ticket runs about $425 first-class and $300 second-class .
Cheaper seats come with more restrictions and can sell out quickly . |
154,373 | 537f4bd8f32e99f899547daceb8cec1d0aa873d7 | Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished part of a hotel in East Jerusalem on Sunday, prompting swift condemnation from Palestinians. The building plan, which was given final approval last year, was met with disapproval from the United States at the time which called for the Israeli government to put off any demolition. Israel demolished part of the hotel as part of a plan to build 20 housing units for Jews in a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat, denounced the action. "The state of Israel is demolishing one Palestinian property after another in an effort to cleanse Jerusalem of its Palestinian inhabitants, heritage and history," he said in a statement. He said such actions "undermine the two-state solution and negotiations process." The United States had called on Israel to halt the housing project, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying "our sovereignty (over Jerusalem) cannot be challenged". The project was given final approval last March. The Shepherd Hotel was built in the 1930s by a prominent Palestinian family and was purchased from the state of Israel in 1985 by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz , an avid supporter of Jewish building in East Jerusalem. Moskowitz developed plans for the 20 housing units that sparked the hotel's demolition on Sunday. | Israeli bulldozes demolishes part of a hotel in part of East Jerusalem .
Plans to demolish the hotel caused a rift between the U.S. and Israel .
Palestinians denounce the action while Israel has defended it . |
93,886 | 04b95d0e038180b8d5d3486a5ac279fe05edac8a | (CNN) -- Wednesday's decision by the U.S. Patent Office to repeal six federal trademarks of the Washington Redskins on the grounds that the name is "disparaging to Native Americans" is, of course, a victory for the Native American community and our allies. Yet we have been here before. In 1999, Suzan Shown Harjo, who is Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, won a battle against the Washington Redskins after a three-judge panel of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled against the team and removed its trademark protections. But that decision was later appealed and the ruling overturned, and the team regained its trademarks. That is why today's decision is certainly worth celebrating, but not without a sense of hesitation. Should team owner Dan Snyder's appeal to the U.S. Patent Office fail, then we can celebrate even louder -- and even louder when the name is changed. Still, Snyder's trademark attorney Bob Raskopf is adamant that the team will, again, emerge victorious and win its appeal. "We've seen this before," Raskopf said in a press release on Wednesday. "And just like last time, today's ruling will have no effect at all on the team's ownership of and right to use the Redskins name and logo." But what Raskopf hasn't seen before is a proliferation of voices opposing the team name. Members of Congress, local D.C. officials, celebrities, media commentators and even former Washington Redskins like cornerback Champ Bailey have spoken out against the team name and urged Snyder to relent and change the name. Bailey even likened the team name to the n-word. "When you hear a Native American say that 'Redskins' is degrading, it's almost like the N-word for a black person," Bailey told USA Today Sports. On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, speaking on the capitol floor in response to the trademark repeal, said, "This is extremely important to Native Americans all over the country that they no longer use this name. It's racist. The writing is on the wall." The Washington team and the NFL, of course, realize the cancellation of the trademark protection hits them where it hurts -- their pocketbook, which was the whole point of the case brought by Amanda Blackhorse, a Navajo, who was one of five plaintiffs to contest the team's federal trademark protection. If the team won't change the name voluntarily then it will be changed by force, not unlike how the team was forced to integrate black football players in the 1960s. Now, without trademark protection, anyone can make and sell Washington Redskins shirts, jerseys, hats and all manner of schwag without the legal muscle to hinder imitation Redskins products. Yet this issue is bigger than the Washington Redskins. It's bigger than the slur alone. This is a campaign of dignity and humanity. The Washington team may be threatened by the very real possibility that it will have to change its name in the near future, but that doesn't let the Cleveland Indians off the hook, or the Atlanta Braves, for that matter. But they're feeling the pressure, too. Native Americans also are working to remove the Cleveland Indian logo of Chief Wahoo. This movement is about the dehumanization of Native Americans on every level -- not just in sports, but in media and Hollywood, as well. This is about respect and about the mental stability of our children. Empirical study has proven that Indian mascots harm the mental health of Native American children. They report to have low self-esteem, a limited sense of social worth and do not believe they can accomplish as much as students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. These scientific studies do routinely fall on deaf ears, and somehow people, even prominent ones, continue to fight for the privilege to use the racial slur. Al Michaels, the NBC Sunday Night Football sportscaster, recently defended the use of the name and called the controversy "nuts." "I mean, for 70-some odd years this was a zero issue, and then it became an issue," he said. But that's not quite accurate. Harjo and even the late American Indian Movement leader Russell Means fought against the name as well as all manner of Indian mascotry for decades. But with the continuing ubiquity of the Web and social media, the Native American voice has amplified. Just because someone couldn't hear our elders in the 1960s and 1970s raging against the name doesn't mean they weren't responding to this form of racism as well as fighting for our rights as indigenous peoples. I was asked recently why the mascot issue matters more than the epidemic of poverty on reservations. Or why we are bothered more by a word than the high school dropout rate of Native American students, which is the highest in the country. It's not that names matter more, it's that when we talk about death rates, rape and epidemics in Indian country we don't always get a response. But when we interrupt sports? We always get a response. Blackhorse, the plaintiff in the previous case, Blackhorse et al v. Pro-Football Inc., told USA Today what she would say to Washington owner Daniel Snyder. "I'd ask him, 'Would you dare call me a redskin, right here, to my face?' " she says. "And I suspect that, no, he would not do that." | Simon Moya-Smith wonders if the latest trademark ruling could be the beginning of the end .
But a similar 1999 ruling was overturned on appeal .
Without trademark protection, he says Redskins T-shirts and schwag could be freely sold .
Moya-Smith: Owners and some fans continue to fight for the privilege to use the racial slur . |
241,428 | c4808548c12a8b6b9d8cdb6a722c2761293496b6 | Deportivo La Coruna and Malaga players held a minute's silence before Wednesday's cup tie to remember the fan who died during a violent brawl in Madrid. Deportivo's Riazor Stadium was largely empty after the Spanish club banned their hardcore ultras from attending the Copa del Rey encounter following the death of supporter Francisco Javier Romero Taboad on Sunday. Deportivo and Malaga players observe a minute's silence on Wednesday night . A security guard among the empty seats after Deportivo banned ultras from attending cup tie . The 43-year-old died after trouble erupted between rival groups in the streets surrounding the Vicente Calderon stadium ahead of Atletico Madrid's midday match against Deportivo. He died in hospital on Sunday afternoon after firefighters pulled him out of the Manzanares river near Atletico's home ground, while 12 more people were reported injured - some including stab wounds - during the fighting which was said to have involved around 200 people. Family and friends at the funeral of Deportivo fan Francisco Javier Romero Taboad on Wednesday . Candles, scarfs and team flags at a memorial for Deportivo fan who died during violence in Madrid . The Galician club will also hold a minute's silence in honour of Taboada, known as 'Jimmy', and have reduced tickets to Saturday's league game with Malaga to a euro. 'We want Saturday's game to be a demonstration against violence,' Club president Tino Fernandez said. 'We want many of our citizens, who are against violence, to attend. 'We want to show everyone that we are united against violence and prove what is the true spirit of our supporters. Some Deportivo fans will not be allowed in to the games for the next two weeks . Spanish police escort Deportivo Coruna fans upon leaving Vicente Calderon in Madrid . 'What happened on Sunday was tragic.' Atletico Madrid expelled seven club members on Tuesday and a radical group that Spanish police identified as having participated in a brutal fight with rival Deportivo fans that left one man dead. 'Among those identified are 15 people who say they are Atletico Madrid supporters, of which seven were club members ... those members have been expelled immediately,' Atletico said in a statement on its club website. Atletico also said it is banning 'Atletico Front,' one of the radical groups identified by police as participating in Sunday’s street brawl, from its Vicente Calderon Stadium. Deportivo La Coruna and Atletico Madrid fans clash outside Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday . Rival fans were filmed throwing objects at each other on and near the road alongside the Manzanares river . Francisco Javier Romero Taboada was taken out of the river after suffering head injuries . | Minute's silence for fan who died during violent brawl in Madrid on Sunday .
Francisco Javier Romero Taboad died before Deportivo La Coruna's league match against Atletico Madrid .
Deportivo banned ultras from attending Copa del Rey tie against Malaga .
Atletico Madrid have also banned several fans following tragedy . |
202,584 | 924aecff472a784291ea457fb49aa7a77eb67eef | By . Leon Watson . Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, a winner of the Sakharov human rights prize who challenged the island's communist regime for decades, has died in a car accident, the government and a priest said. Paya, 60, is the second key dissident to die in Cuba in less than a year. Manuel Gonzalez, a priest in the eastern Bayamo area, where the accident took place, said: 'His death has been confirmed. Reports have confirmed Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Paya, pictured here in 2003, has died . 'We went to the hospital and an official showed us his identification.' Paya died on Sunday on the road linking Bayamo, in Granma province around 465 miles east of Havana, and the city of Las Tunas. 'We don't have any other details. We can only hope that there will be an autopsy and that an investigation is launched,' Gonzalez said. Gustavo Machin, an official in Cuba's International Press Center, a department of the foreign ministry, said another Cuban died in the accident that claimed Paya's life. A Spanish national and a Swedish national were injured and are receiving medical assistance at a local hospital, Machin said. Paya, an engineer specialising in medical equipment, was the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement advocating political change in the Communist-run island. Aida Valdes, centre, a member of the Christian Movement of Liberation speaking after the death of Paya . Relatives and friends arrive at the house of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya, in Havana, Cuba, after he died in a car crash . He began his dissident activities in the wake of the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia designed to put an end to the so-called 'Prague spring,' a movement to ease the Communist grip on the Central European state. Paya earned international attention in 2002 when, on the eve of the arrival of a visit by former US president Jimmy Carter, he presented parliament with more than 11,000 signatures of support for the Varela Project, an initiative calling for change in Cuba, then run by Fidel Castro. Carter mentioned the Varela Project in his televised speech at Havana University, prompting then-Czech president and human rights champion Vaclav Havel to nominate Paya for the Nobel prize. Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's leading dissident, shows a box filled with approximately 14,000 petitions signed in support of the Varela Project at his home in Havana, in 2003 . Paya was a long-time campaigner against former Cuban leader Fidel Castro (pictured) Grieving relatives of Paya in Havana, Cuba, on Sunday . Paya won the European parliament's Sakharov prize later that same year. Other past winners of the prize named after Soviet-era physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov include anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela and former UN chief Kofi Annan. Although the Varela Project was rejected by the National Assembly, Paya pursued his efforts to bring about change -- efforts that saw him win other rights prizes and a honorary doctorate from Columbia University in New York. His death follows that of fellow dissident Laura Pollan, the founder and leader of the Ladies in White, who died in a Havana hospital in October 2011 after suffering acute respiratory distress. Paya was married to Ofelia Acevedo. The couple had three children. Two Catholic nuns said the family had made plans to fly to Bayamo. Dissident Guillermo Farinas said that Paya was 'a person who contributed to the democratisation of Cuba through his dedication to the cause.' Although Paya was never imprisoned for his opposition activities, many of the 75 dissidents jailed in spring 2003 belonged to his Christian Liberation Movement. | Oswaldo Paya is the second key dissident to die in Cuba in less than a year .
He was the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement . |
197,147 | 8b2c49ff80e05fd15ba5d1eefcb27951f8561af3 | By . Daily Mail Reporters . PUBLISHED: . 16:17 EST, 15 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:09 EST, 16 August 2013 . A DNA test has revealed Scott Disick is the father of Kourtney Kardashian's son Mason, dismissing a male model's claims of paternity. The 33-year-old reality TV star was asked by model Michael Girgenti to allow Mason, three, to undergo the test, after he claimed they slept together while she and Scott, 30, were on a break in their relationship in March 2009. But lab results from tests taken on August 12 have proved his allegations are false. Family bond: Scott, pictured here in July, shares two children with Kourtney from their seven year relationship and has been confirmed as Mason's father . Kourtney, who has always denied Michael's . allegations, told E! News: 'After three-and-a-half years of lies being . spread by an individual I met briefly at a photo shoot, I am setting the . record straight that Scott is Mason's father. 'While it saddens me to . have to address these ridiculous lies - especially when the truth was . never in doubt - this story must be put to rest.' However, Mr Girgenti appeared to not have accepted the results of the text as conclusive and plans to press ahead with the paternity lawsuit he filed earlier this month in which he claims he had 'unprotected vaginal sex' with Kourtney in March 2009 at his Glendale, California apartment. 'We don’t trust the results and believe it could have been fixed,' his spokesperson told Radar. 'Still going to court to fight for court ordered results.' Legal . bid: Michael Girgenti reportedly reached out to Kourney Kardashian in a . letter months before launching a legal bid for a court ordered DNA test . in the first steps towards a custody battle over her son Mason . Strain: Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick, pictured going for sushi earlier this week hope that the story will now be put to rest . Mr Girgenti had claimed that he fathered Kourtney Kardashian's son Mason amid a steamy love affair. But . before taking the case to court, he reportedly wrote an impassioned . letter to the reality star urging her to submit to a DNA test. According to RadarOnline . the letter, dated April 23, stated that the 26-year-old male model . wished to avoid dragging Kourtney and her partner Scott to court. 'My attentions [sic] are not to hurt the family you've created with Scott,' Girgenti wrote. 'Please . take this final request for a DNA test seriously,' he wrote before . taking on a more stern tone: 'Because if you don't, I will be forced to . take legal action and sue.' Saddened: Kourtney expressed her frustration that she had to address the ridiculous allegations . He continued: 'I assure you I don't take being a father lightly. I will be a great father to Mason.' Last week, Girgenti filed paperwork at a Los Angeles County Superior Court in . a bid to get joint custody of the three-year-old child . alleging he had unprotected sex with the reality TV star nine months . before Mason's birth. The lawsuit documents the alleged . relationship between Kourtney and Michael, which he claims heated up in . August 2008, and continued with months of texting in which she told him . her relationship with Scott was 'on the . outs' and 'she wanted to hang'. According . to gossip website TMZ.com, Michael wanted the judge to order DNA tests . for Kourtney, Mason and her long-term boyfriend Scott. Photogenic: Kourtney and Michael met on a photo shoot in 2008, but the star's attorney says there was no further contact after that . Battle: Kourtney with son Mason who is now at the centre of the lawsuit . Her lawyer recently told TMZ.com on that Gigenti's allegations are 'absurd'. 'This . individual has been selling false and fabricated stories to the . tabloids for years about Kourtney Kardashian and her son, Mason. Scott . Disick is Mason’s father,' Todd Wilson told the website. 'We . have not seen the reported court filing, but we are informed that this . individual has been seeking to get paid to publish his ridiculous . pleading. 'His claims . are absurd and this is simply another shameful attempt to gain . publicity and profit from fictional stories about my client.' The reality star was seen outside her . lawyer's office on Wednesday, no doubt seeking advice over the . embarrassing and upsetting lawsuit. Michael . claims they had full sex and as soon as she had given birth to Mason - . born on 14 December 2009 - he tried contacting her. The allegations first came to light . in March earlier this year when he told In Touch magazine: 'After . [Mason] was born, and I saw photos of him, I began to wonder. 'I would definitely want to acknowledge Mason if he's my kid - he deserves to know his real father.' Scott and Kourtney also have a 13-month-old daughter Penelope. A . legal representative for the Kourtney & Kim Take Miami star . previously branded the Chicago native's allegations 'preposterous and an . outrageous lie'. Just last week it was reported that Kourtney was pregnant with her third child. She . did not comment on the rumours, although was later seen eating sushi . with her family - a food type pregnant women are advised to steer clear of due to the raw fish ingredients. Legal advice: The couple were pictured outside their lawyer's office a week ago following the paternity claim . | Kourtney 'saddened to have to address these ridiculous lies'
Model Michael Girgenti claims test 'could have been fixed' |
44,930 | 7e9bf80307745e3242ac7653722cf4f27d9d0b2a | Editor's note: Journalist Karl Penhaul spent several weeks tracking the gangs of the Mexican underworld, the corrupt officials who support them and the cops trying to halt the violence. This is the last of three exclusive reports. The first focused on the violent rules gangs live by and the second looked at how gangsters are honored in death. Forensic investigators and federal police dig bodies out of mass graves in the desert near Juarez. JUAREZ, Mexico (CNN) -- Heat waves shimmer over the desert. A team of forensic experts clad in white overalls excavate three shallow graves. The sand gives up nine bodies -- seven men and two women. At least one of the victims' hands were cuffed behind their back. Others had been trussed up with duct tape. The stale stench reveals that the corpses had been dumped there several days earlier and were decomposing fast. That grisly find in mid-March came a week after thousands more soldiers had been deployed to Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The arrival of the soldiers and more federal police agents had coincided with a short lull in the killings. Snapping photos of the scene from behind the police line was Lucio Soria, photographer for Juarez's main newspaper, El Diario de Juarez, and its sister paper, PM. PM is a perfect example of Mexico's so-called "red press," newspapers that specialize in covering violence. Soria seems like a perfect ambassador. "I've gone for a week and a half without taking pictures of dead people. I was thinking 'Hell, what am I going to do?' At this rate I'll end up taking pictures for the social pages," he said. Soria realizes snapping pictures of blood and gore may seem heartless. But he stays cheerful, cracking dark jokes with colleagues, all while listening to police communications on a radio scanner and searching for clues about where to find the next drug war victim. "It might seem ugly, but that's our job," Soria said. He and fellow photographers have been busy in recent months. Last year, Juarez became the poster city for Mexico's narco-violence, with more than 1,600 gang killings. Watch musicians play "narco-ballads" honoring hitmen » . This year, Mayor Jose Reyes is trying to turn a page on the killings and make Juarez a showcase for solutions. Military and federal police convoys patrol the streets around the clock. Cops armed with AR-15 assault rifles, identities obscured by ski masks, hang off pickup trucks that speed around in twos and threes. Watch cops round up gang suspects » . Soldiers strike a warlike pose behind heavy machine guns mounted on American-made Humvees. Whether it's working depends on whom you ask and how hard you read between the lines. "I think this is very effective because it closes transport routes for the movement of [cartel] personnel and weapons," said a state officer, assigned to guide us, at a federal police checkpoint. The officer, known only by his call sign Trojan One, seemed confident. The agent in command of the checkpoint was less convinced. "Of course organized crime is trying to avoid us. I'm not sure what methods they use to operate. We don't know how they work," said the officer, identifying himself only as Aztec One. On another day we ran into a three-truck federal police operation staking out a house in a middle-class Juarez neighborhood. See photos of police, gang life in Mexico » . The commander said his men believed they had made what he termed a "major" cocaine bust. When I met him they had already been waiting almost 24 hours for a judge to issue a search warrant. When they gained access they discovered some 500 half-gram bags of cocaine. In Juarez those bags sell for around $8. Now do the math, 500 half-gram bags at possibly 60 percent purity means around 150 grams of pure cocaine -- hardly a major strike in the drug war. Reyes' solution has been to hand the military all civilian police functions, even down to traffic control. Mexico's military has little experience in urban warfare, little experience in policing and has been unable to shake a decades-old reputation for human rights abuses. When I bump into Reyes at a transfer-of-command ceremony at city hall I ask him what he's doing about alleged corruption and complicity among politicians and businessmen, who permit the cartels to move their shipments and help launder the proceeds. "My opinion in Juarez is that that kind of political corruption does not exist," he said adamantly. Two weeks later, in Monterrey, I caught up with outspoken lawyer Raquenel Villanueva. She knows a thing or two about politicians colluding with Mexico's mafia. Watch how drug lords pay tribute to a highway bandit, looking for luck » . Mexican media have dubbed her the "devil's advocate" for her role in defending a string of senior cartel figures and their hitmen. Last year, she was detained for 90 days, accused her of being a member of the Gulf Cartel. She was freed without charge. Throughout her career, she's survived four assassination attempts and taken 10 bullets, two of them in the head. Her office is crammed with religious iconography: crosses, paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe and a four-foot-high wooden statue of Saint Jude Thaddeus. Two bullets are encrusted in the effigy after the last attempt on her life in 2000. "I know about official corruption and exactly who is doing what because my clients tell me," she said. "To win the drug war you have to tell the Americans to take better care of their young people, tell them to stop being so cold and materialistic," Villanueva lectured. "Then you have to end corruption and that means changing the government cabinets of half the countries in the world." | Border city of Juarez last year had more than 1,600 gang killings .
Mayor turns to military to control trafficking, violence .
Opinions vary on whether tactics are working .
Lawyer puts some blame on "materialistic" Americans . |
155,206 | 549b729c96365461abcfffec80a4e710f4394852 | By . Jessica Jerreat . PUBLISHED: . 17:45 EST, 17 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:04 EST, 17 October 2013 . They are one of the most romantic and iconic images of New York City but soon the horse-drawn carriages that have carried countless tourists round Central Park could be a thing of the past. Animal rights groups have long campaigned to ban horses from the congested city streets, and now the leading mayoral candidates are backing them. With only three weeks to go before the November 5 election, candidate Bill de Blasio has even said that if he is voted in he would replace the horses with eight-seater electric cars. New York style: The romance of horse drawn carriage rides in Central Park, popularized by shows such as Sex and the City, could soon be over . 'We are in the biggest, densest urban area in North America. It is not a place for horses. They are not meant to be in traffic jams,' Mr de Blasio, the Democrat front-runner said at a press conference with NY Class, an animal rights group. Although he previously passed on the chance to legislate on the rides in 2007, Mr de Blasio has now said he would ban the horses within a week of taking office. Members of the animal rights activists he is backing have donated to his campaign. According to the New York Post, records showed the group's co-founder, Steve Nislick, contributed the maximum $4,950 and two others, Wendy and John Neu, have paid in $9,900. While Mr de Blasio says a ban is needed on humane reasons, what offends his Republican opponent Joe Lhota most about the $15 million a year trade is the smell. Dangerous: City mayoral candidates are backing an animal rights group that says roads aren't safe . Horseless carriage: Rights group NY Class has suggested tourists could ride in electric cars, based on this model, instead . 'The smell that they drop there is unfortunate. The smell on Central Park South is also unfortunate,' he said earlier this year, according to the Daily News. But Christina Hansen, a carriage driver from Kentucky who has become the face of the industry, which has about 200 horses and provides work for nearly 400 people in New York, says the mayoral candidates have it all wrong. 'It's all a bunch of hysteria,' the 33-year-old carriage driver said, as she negotiated Manhattan traffic with her horse, Sara. 'Their agenda is not animal welfare. It's animal rights,' she said. 'We bred horses to be powerful, willing partners in our civilization. They project their own human emotions on to horses,' she said. The Central Park carriage ride has been immortalized in cinema. In Woody Allen's Manhattan, Allen's character kisses his young girlfriend in the back of a carriage. It is a scene that has been played out in several TV series too, from Sex and the City to 30 Rock. 'People come to us for the clip-clop. Nobody wants to pet a fender,' Ms Hansen said. Iconic: For tourists, the horse and carriage rides through Central Park are an essential part of a trip to the city . High horse: Mayoral candiates Bill de Blasio, left, and Joe Lhota have said they would ban the trade . When they aren't taking tourists around the sights of Central Park the horses are kept in stables such as Clinton Park, which is home to 78 horses. The rules regulating the carriage industry are set by the city. Horses work no more than nine hours a day, and every year spend at least five weeks on a farm. A veterinarian examines every horse twice a year and city inspectors visit regularly. Ms Hansen joked that the stable has more inspections 'than a day-care facility'. Over the past 30 years, three horses have died in traffic accidents, the latest in 2006. NY Class has recorded 19 accidents over the past two years that resulted in injury, but the carriage industry said most were minor incidents. Allie Feldman, executive director of NY Class, said horses don't belong in traffic and an eco- friendly motorized alternative could catch on with tourists. 'It retains the romantic, classic, nostalgic feel that you would get in a horse-drawn carriage, only it doesn't have the smell, it doesn't have the cruelty and it's much more safe,' she said. 'We think we're offering a really fair compromise.' End of an era: Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio has said he will ban the trade within a week of taking office . In Central Park South, across from the Plaza Hotel, Charlene Dertinger, 46, a native New Yorker celebrating a new job with a ride around the park, said it would be a shame to lose that tradition. 'I want to treat myself. I'm just going to sit by myself and enjoy the scenery,' she said. Close by, Australians Hazel and Terry Watkins were just finishing their trip, which they said was 'very New York'. | Bill de Blasio vows to ban $15 million a year trade within one week of taking office .
Joe Lhota backs measure over 'unfortunate' smell .
Animal rights groups claim horses and city traffic are dangerous mix . |
190,959 | 83493e8c1c1c87e686db3bbc73e946f1ad0aecdb | By . Anna Hodgekiss . PUBLISHED: . 05:39 EST, 10 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:08 EST, 10 October 2013 . Natalie Wright was five when she was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), a rare condition which means she has already had to have both knees and hips replaced at just 27 . A young woman suffers from a rare condition which means she has already had to have both knees and hips replaced at just 27. Natalie Wright was five when she was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), . She believes it was triggered by a simple viral infection she suffered in her first year at school. She recalls being sent home, but 24 . hours later she couldn’t move any part of her body and didn't return to school for 18 months. She said: 'It just came on completely randomly and when I tried to move, I just screamed in pain. Ms Wright has already had one of her shoulders replaced and both knees and hips rebuilt with metal and plastic joints after her natural bones were worn down by the disease. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a childhood form of arthritis, a condition which affects just 15,000 children and young people in the UK. It can begin at any age including babies and toddlers, up until the age of 16 . There is currently no cure but for some people with JIA, the arthritis can be very mild and the symptoms disappear after a few years. Others need to be treated for the rest of their lives. Ms Wright, from Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was diagnosed with JIA using a blood test and X-rays. She was confined to a wheelchair due to the pain the condition caused her, while the correct dosage of IV steroids and immunoglobins were configured to help her control her mobility and pain. She said: 'I spent most of my childhood years trying to get on track and lead a semi-normal life. 'There have been times when I have been able to walk unaided or on crutches but other times I was bedridden. 'I couldn’t be very active but I had a normal school life and it was just the PE lessons that I missed.' Ms Wright in hospital aged six. She believes her condition was triggered by a viral infection which left her unable to move . Seven years ago, at the age of 20, she had her first replacement - her hip. She said: 'Every time I tried to stand up my hip locked. 'I couldn’t straighten up and it became extremely painful. I couldn’t even walk from my bedroom to the kitchen.' Then just a week after graduating as a trained occupational therapist a year later, in 2007, her other hip required surgery. She was also forced to have one . of her shoulders replaced in 2011, after the muscle weakness became so . poor and she had daily pain. Ms Wright had to have a shoulder replacement (left) in 2011 and knee replacements (right) earlier this year . 'I . would have to be really bad to have the other one done,' she said. 'It’s still agony now and the rehabilitation was the worst of all my . joints.' 'Ms Wright added: 'I had both of my knees done as well, as they were equally as bad and required surgery at the same time, in early 2013. 'I did everything I could to avoid knee replacements including having my cartilage shaved and being given steroid injections.' For each replacement, surgeons have to dislocate the original joint before cutting away the damaged ball and inserting the new joint. For each replacement, surgeons have to dislocate the original joint before cutting away the damaged ball and inserting the new joint. They then hammer into the bone, before cementing it in, and for patients with high-density joints, the necessary force they use can cause fractures . They then hammer into the bone, before cementing it in, and for patients with high-density joints, the necessary force they use can cause fractures. Despite all the surgery, her condition persists. 'Everything has to be planned and I still have to rest a lot. I’m not able to go shopping with my friends either as just a train journey makes me tired. 'I’m very susceptible to contracting infections due to my treatments and picking up bugs so I have to be extremely careful about picking things up. Despite all the surgery, Ms Wright (pictured with partner John) still suffers from poor health. She said: 'Everything has to be planned and I still have to rest a lot. I¿m not able to go shopping with my friends either as just a train journey makes me tired' 'There are things my immune system would not deal very well with and it’s risky. This impacts upon my social life a lot. 'My partner John is really good. When we got together I was in a healthy stage, but just weeks later I was in hospital and couldn’t do my hair or walk properly.' There is no cure for her condition, despite research continually being carried out. She added: 'I basically just have to wait and see and see what the scientists can come up with. The main aim of the treatment they can give me is to improve quality of life and reduce joint damage.' Arthritis Research UK’s National Arthritis Week runs from 7 - 13 October 2013. Make your Joint Effort pledge at www.nationalarthritisweek.org.uk . Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is a chronic form of arthritis that affects children under 16. Idiopathic means that there is no known cause. In the UK, between 10,000 and 15,000 children are affected by juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The . most common symptoms for all types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis are . swollen, painful and stiff joints that are usually worse in the . morning. The joint areas may look red and feel hot to touch. The . exact cause of juvenile idiopathic arthritis isn’t known, but it’s . thought to be an autoimmune disorder - which means that the immune . system attacks the body instead of defending the body against infection . and other harmful substances. | Natalie Wright was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) aged 5 .
Believes it was triggered by a simple viral infection she suffered .
Had her first hip replaced at the age of 20 because she couldn't walk .
Had one shoulder replaced in 2011 and both knees done earlier this year . |
79,678 | e1ee638226db6e133d7d9779215a1bd9147944b5 | Anthony Crolla's girlfriend has spoken of her pride that he tried to stop two burglars from raiding a neighbour's house - as pictures emerged of the boxer recovering in hospital. Crolla fractured his skull after being hit with a concrete slab while attempting to stop two men from robbing his next-door neighbour. The 28-year-old had surgery on Wednesday on his right ankle, which was broken in two places, and was pictured smiling with girlfriend Fran Sanderson. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Tyson Fury sends message of support to Anthony Crolla . Anthony Crolla and girlfriend Fran Sanderson pose as the boxer recovers in hospital . Crolla had surgery on his right ankle which was broken in two places after the attack . Sanderson has spoken of her pride at Crolla's brave actions, and them posing at the gym (right) Crolla (left) in action against John Murray earlier this month . THOMAS STALKER: Gutted for @ant_crolla tonight it just doesn't shock me at all at this day in age, get well soon m8! SCOTT QUIGG: Absolutely gutted for my gym mate @ant_crolla with his dream within touching distance! FRANKIE GAVIN: Gutted for Anthony Crolla/ Had world title fight in six weeks which more than likely won't happen. BARRY McGUIGAN: Genuinely sorry to hear of @ant_crolla injuries, one of boxing nice guys. Hope he makes a speedy recovery. AMIR KHAN: Really sorry to hear the news about @ant_crolla hope you get well soon mate . TONY BELLEW: My heart goes out to him! The nicest kid in boxing full stop! 'He just went out and did what you’d expect any human being to do,' Sanderson told the Manchester Evening News. 'I shouted for him not to go chasing them, but his instinct kicked in. He ran off and did what was right. I’m very proud and just relieved that he’s still with us – I’m just glad he’s still alive.' Crolla's trainer Joe Gallagher told Sportsmail: ‘He is devastated, absolutely heartbroken, but he’s trying to put a brave face on it. Ant is such a lovely lad and was trying to help a neighbour. He was getting ready for the biggest night of his career but all that is up in the air now. ‘I am just relieved he is alive. This could have been far worse when you think what happened. He is in a bad way but he is lucky to be alive. It’s too early to know what effect this will have on his career and to be honest I don’t want him thinking about it.’ Crolla, who was due to challenge Richar Abril for the WBA lightweight world title on January 23, said late on Wednesday: 'I am absolutely amazed at the amount of support. I’ve been taken aback with the amount of goodwill from fans and friends. 'I feel blessed to have this amount of support. I was only doing what any normal person would do in protecting my neighbour’s property. 'Despite everything, I’m determined to fulfil my dream, and come back to become a world champion in 2015.' Unfortunately it is not the first attack on a boxer in 2014. Kell Brook was stabbed while on holiday earlier this year. The grim details of the attack on Crolla were that he was at home in Chadderton, Greater Manchester, when he heard the burglar alarm sounding from next door. Crolla lands a punch on John Murray on his way to victory over his close friend in Manchester this year . After a phone call went unanswered, Crolla is believed to have spotted through a window that his neighbour’s patio door had been caved in. Crolla is understood to have shouted at the intruders, who fled. The 5ft 8in boxer chased and caught one, but the other is alleged to have hit him over the head with a slab of concrete. ‘Had it been at a slightly different angle then Anthony might have been killed,’ Gallagher added. ‘When he was hit he fell and broke his ankle. He has a deep cut down his head from his hairline to eyebrow. He’s had stitches and he had surgery on his ankle and they’ve had to put pins in.’ Craig Townsend, whose house was being burgled, said: ‘I texted him last night to thank him and say sorry for everything. He replied saying, “Don’t worry about it, we’re neighbours, we look after each other”. His attitude says everything about him, he’s just a great guy.’ Crolla's fight with Abril has been postponed and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, is in talks to rearrange the bout. But it is not yet known whether the fighter will be able to return to the ring. Gallagher, who was with Crolla in hospital in Oldham, said: ‘He is devastated, obviously. This guy was about to fight for a world title. At the moment that’s not important, all that matters is his health. Crolla was due to fight Richar Abril for the WBA lightweight title next month but that has been shelved . ‘But we’ve been joking as well. I was asking him, “Who do you think you are, Batman? Did you think you were going to put them both in headlocks and frogmarch them to the police station?”. ‘This wasn’t his house, but it shows the kind of guy he is that he was trying to help a neighbour.’ Hearn said: ‘Unfortunately the January 23 fight is off but our concerns right now are with Ant and his family. ‘I have spoken to Richar Abril’s team and we are trying to reschedule the fight.’ Detective Sergeant Richard Arthern said: ‘The victim was outraged that these two men had broken into his neighbour’s home and gave chase. When he caught up with one of them he was hit with such force, he received a fractured skull. ‘He staggered backwards and fell to the ground, leaving him with a broken ankle and in a lot of pain.’ Crolla has won 29 of his 35 fights and next month’s would have provided the biggest payday of his career. Kell Brook in his hospital bed with promoter Eddie Hearn following the attack on him in the summer . | First pictures of Anthony Crolla recovering in hospital have emerged .
Manchester boxer had surgery on his broken right ankle on Wednesday .
Crolla was hit over the head with a concrete slab as he chased two robbers .
His world title fight against Richar Abril in January is off . |
126,297 | 2f3c0079744cc9623e9849955cb9022b86aff5d5 | (CNN) -- After seven years in exile, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will be back in his homeland Friday, two days ahead of a highly anticipated election, his U.S. attorney said. Aristide was at the privately-owned Lanseria International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday, said lawyer Ira Kurzban who is accompanying Aristide back to Port-au-Prince along with actor Danny Glover, an Aristide supporter and critic of U.S. objections to his return. A diplomatic source who is not authorized to speak to the media confirmed to CNN that Aristide was boarding an outgoing jet from South Africa Thursday night. A group of prominent U.S. lawyers sent a letter, meanwhile, to Cheryl Mills, chief of staff at the State Department, lashing out at what they said was American interference with Aristide's "constitutional and human right to return." "The United States trying to control when any Haitian citizen -- especially a former president -- can enter Haiti is outrageous," said Bill Quigley, a New Orleans law professor and legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. "It violates a stack of binding international human rights treaties," he said. "I felt compelled to speak out to defend both President Aristide's human rights and the American tradition of rule of law that I teach in my classroom." The United States warned Monday that Aristide's presence in Haiti could disrupt Sunday's runoff vote that will decide Haiti's next leader. The office has been in dispute since a late November election ended with controversy and allegations of widespread fraud. "Mr. Aristide has chosen to remain outside of Haiti for seven years," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "To return this week can only be seen as a conscious choice to impact Haiti's elections... Return prior to the election may potentially be destabilizing to the political process." Kurzban said Aristide planned to get involved with educational projects and teach. He wants to return before Sunday's election, Kurzban said, because he had "genuine concerns that the next president may take a different view" and not allow Aristide to return. "It is not to be involved in the elections, as the United States suggests," Kurzban said. Aristide's supporters, including Glover, say that the former Roman Catholic priest and Haiti's first democratically elected president was shuttled out of Haiti by the United States after his second presidential term was aborted by a coup in 2004. They say the White House wants to keep Aristide out of Haiti in favor of a leader more in line with its own views. "I am going to South Africa to show our solidarity with the people of Haiti by standing at the side of the leader they elected twice with overwhelming support: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide," Glover said in a statement. "People of good conscience cannot be idle while a former dictator is able to return unhindered while a democratic leader who peacefully handed over power to another elected president is restricted from returning to his country by external forces," Glover said, referring to Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who fled into exile in France in 1986 after 15 years of iron-fisted rule. Duvalier stunned the world by returning to Haiti in January. Shortly after, Aristide again aired his desire to go back home. The Haitian government issued him a new passport last month. Aristide retains a following in Haiti, especially among the poorest of the poor, who first catapulted him to power in 1990 with more than 67 percent of the vote. But Aristide's relationship with his homeland, as well as the international community, has been a complicated one. He gained popularity in Haiti by giving the poor and disenfranchised a voice, but his critics accused him of corruption, greed and human rights abuses -- problems that have plagued the impoverished Caribbean nation under other leaders as well. Last year, a massive earthquake devastated Haiti. Recovery efforts have been slow and have complicated the election process. The United Nations voiced concerns this week over violence marring the campaign and called on "all candidates, especially those in the presidential run-off, to avoid threats, intimidation and harassment." "Consolidation of democracy in Haiti depends largely on the will of politicians to adopt the principles of a peaceful transfer of power and to accept election results in accordance with mechanisms provided by the electoral law," said a statement from the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which has been in Haiti since Aristide's departure. The presidential vote pits former first lady Mirlande Manigat against popular musician Michel Martelly in a runoff that was delayed by two months because of unrest and charges of fraud. CNN's Nkepile Mabuse contributed to this story from Cape Town, South Africa. | Aristide is scheduled to fly to Haiti Thursday night .
The former president wants to return to Haiti after seven years in exile .
The White House has opposed his return before Sunday's election .
But Aristide's supporters say no one has the right to block his return . |
271,018 | eb0c758cd1300bf697172e8843c9315918303b94 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 00:24 EST, 11 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:25 EST, 11 October 2013 . Controversy: Archbishop Jozef Michalik has apologised for his comments appearing to blame divorce for paedophilia . The top Catholic bishop in Poland has apologised for blaming divorce for encouraging paedophilia in comments that the church have described as 'a slip of the tongue'. Archbishop Jozef Michalik sparked outrage when he said earlier this week that sex abuse was the result of people 'looking for love', and appeared to suggest that divorce could be just as harmful to children as paedophilia. But he has since apologised for the anger caused by his comments and claimed that they were taken out of context. After his comments sparked fury among Polish social media users, the episcopate called a press conference in a bid to try and calm the situation. His spokesman said that his comments had been a 'pure slip of the tongue'. Archbishop Michalik added: 'The context of my comment was as follows: "A child is always innocent. But it can be hurt not only by priests but also by its own environment".' His initial comments came as Poland's Catholic church faces mounting allegations of priests sexually abusing children. 'Many of these cases of molestation could be avoided given a healthy relationship between parents,' Archbishop Michalik had told the PAP news agency. 'We often hear that this inappropriate attitude [i.e. paedophilia], or abuse, manifests itself when a child is looking for love. 'It clings, it searches. It gets lost itself and then draws another person into this.' While condemning paedophile priests 'whom neither the Church nor anyone else can accept,' the cleric also spoke out against divorce as being harmful to children. 'How many wounds are their in children's hearts, in children's lives, when their parents go their separate ways,' he said. 'Today nobody talks about divorce doing great harm to a child. It's obvious that sex abuse does great harm, one can't forget about it, but it's not the only thing.' In an unprecedented move, Polish church leaders apologised earlier this month for the actions of alleged paedophile priests, as prosecutors began probes against two high-profile suspects. Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, a . 65-year-old Pole who served as a papal envoy in the Dominican Republic . for five years, is being investigated for allegedly having sex with . teenage boys. While condemning paedophile priests 'whom neither the Church nor anyone else can accept,' the cleric also spoke out against divorce as being harmful to children . Authorities in the Caribbean country are also investigating Wojciech Gil, a 36-year-old priest suspected of raping several young boys while serving there. Gil told Polish media last week the allegations were fabricated, claiming that Dominican drug gangs were trying to frame him. Despite the apology, Church leaders in Poland insist they will not be offering victims any material compensation. Unlike in countries such as the U.S. and Ireland, child sex abuse by priests in Poland has been a largely taboo subject and has so far not provoked widespread public outcry. | Archbishop Jozef Michalik said his comments were taken out of context .
He had said that sex abuse was the result of people 'looking for love'
He claimed that divorce can be as harmful to children as paedophilia .
Catholic church in Poland has been hit with paedophile priest allegations . |
60,583 | ac31ff736599564fcdf49aa9bba3120bd82058b1 | Sydney, Australia (CNN)It was an unbecoming way for the Australian prime minister to begin the week. But when he emerged from a 30-minute meeting with his Liberal Party colleagues, called to discuss his possible removal as leader, Tony Abbott was still the Australian premier, if irretrievably damaged. When last week a member of Abbott's party signaled his intention to move a motion to debate the leadership of the ruling party, shocks waves rippled through the body politic. Elected just 17 months ago promising "adult government" after three years of backbiting, infighting and two leadership coups in the previous Labor Party government, unity wasn't expected to be a problem Abbott would face. But disunity set in quickly after a series of bad decisions, policy flip flops, poor polling and as they say in Australia, a "zinger" -- the knighting of Prince Philip, the Queen's husband, on Australia's national day. Abbott won Monday's ballot, with 61 out of 102 of his colleagues voting down the motion to remove him, while 39 voted to vacate his position, along with that of his deputy, the Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. The principle of cabinet solidarity meant the prime minister went in to the meeting with nearly 40 votes secured. Despite a significant block of lawmakers opposing their leader, the Liberal Party's whip, Phillip Ruddock, a former immigration minister, said there was no debate and that "the result is clear." The meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday was brought forward a day, to prevent the prime minister's detractors caucusing in Canberra ahead of the first week of parliament this year. The move was a "captain's call" quipped his nemesis, the immensely popular Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull who was being urged to show his hand and pledge to stand for the top job in the event the motion to vacate the position was successful. In the end, Turnbull skated close to declaring his candidacy but stopped short. He would now have been obliged to resign from the Cabinet had he done so. He may well have won the vote, but the fact 39 out of 102 members of the party have declared a lack of confidence in their prime minister leaves Abbott very exposed. In recent Australian political history, no leader who has faced such a challenge, itself a vote of no confidence, has gone on to survive the wrath of colleagues. All have eventually been overthrown. But for now Abbott has at least spared himself the indignity of becoming the shortest serving first term prime minister ousted by his own party. While lawmakers remain angry by his failure to sell the government's first budget, which has stalled in the country's upper house, Abbott has been accused of not consulting his colleagues on big decisions, among them a botched paid maternity leave scheme, widely seen as favoring the wealthy, and the bizarre knighting of Prince Philip. He seemed to consolidate this view of him as a non-collegiate player by calling Monday's vote a day earlier than anticipated and without apparent consultation, even with his deputy whose job would also have been vacated had the no-confidence vote succeeded. Australians have looked on at the shenanigans in their capital with a mixture of delight and dismay. Those who dislike the government were divided by a desire to see the end of Abbott's government and the fear that replacing him with Turnbull would spell disaster for the Australian Labor Party's chances at the next election. Others raised concerns about tossing out leaders when unpopular decisions are taken. News Corp political commentator Paul Kelly noted that the apparently new political culture of tossing out leaders who make unpopular decisions was damaging the ability of government to govern. "The politicians will try to deny it -- but our system is moving inexorably into a 'death of reform' straitjacket," he wrote. The 2016 election is likely to be dominated by political advice to Liberal and Labor not to provoke the voters. This will put Australia on a long-run trajectory of decline and growing unhappiness. There is broad agreement that frequent leadership changes are not good for Australia. But that is no guarantee that Abbott can and will survive to battle the next election. Indeed, Monday's vote suggests strongly he won't. | Prime Minister Tony Abbott survives a vote of no confidence in his own party by 61-39 .
He has accumulated critics over a stalled budget among other things .
Tony Abbott was elected as Prime Minister of Australia in September 2013 . |
83,003 | eb5edae75bd90fc6f61c6640a3037354cb1d1151 | IT provides us with instant answers to almost any question imaginable. But our reliance on Google for fact-checking and finding basic information has made us forgetful, say scientists. It was also found that many individuals view internet search engines as an extension of their own intelligence, rather than a separate tool. As a result they still regard themselves as being clever even when they need the internet to find answers. Our growing reliance on the Internet for fact-checking and other basic information has resulted in growing levels of forgetfulness, according to scientists . In a series of tests, researchers found that participants were more likely to recall information if they believed it had been erased from a computer. Those who thought it was stored were more forgetful, even if explicitly asked to keep the information in mind. In another experiment, the Harvard University team asked students to answer trivia questions with or without Google, and then asked them to rate their own intelligence. They found those who used the internet had a significantly higher view of their own brain power, even compared with individuals who got the questions right through their own knowledge. ‘Using Google gives people the sense that the internet has become part of their own cognitive tool set,’ the Harvard University researchers concluded. And rather than sharing information, people are more likely to save it electronically if they want future access to it, rather than relying on someone else’s memory, the researchers found. Psychologists Daniel Wegner and Adrian Ward, wrote in the journal Scientific American: ‘Our work suggests that we treat the internet much like a human transactive memory partner [a person we share personal details with]. 'We off-load memories to “the cloud” just as readily as we would to a family member, friend or lover.’‘It seems that the propensity for off-loading information to digital sources is so strong that people are often unable to fix details in their own thoughts when in the presence of a cyberbuddy,’ the researchers added. 'They said that having the internet ‘undermines the impulse to ensure that some important facts get inscribed into our biological memory banks’. We are now much worse at remembering facts we know are available online, such as as geographical details . The teams also found that many . individuals now view Google and other Internet search engines as an . extension of their own intelligence, rather than a separate tool. Writing in the journal Scientific . American, psychologists Daniel Wegner and Adrian Ward from Harvard . University, warn that individuals who believe their memorable facts are . saved online are much worse at remembering them. 'Our . work suggests that we treat the Internet much like a human transactive . memory partner [a person we share personal details with]. We off-load . memories to "the cloud" just as readily as we would to a family member, . friend or lover,' the pair wrote. 'The . Internet, in another sense, is also unlike a human transactive memory . partner; it knows more and can produce this information more quickly. Almost all information today is readily available through a quick . Internet search. It may be that the Internet is taking the place not . just of other people as external sources of memory but also of our own . cognitive faculties. 'The . Internet may not only eliminate the need for a partner with whom to . share information - it may also undermine the impulse to ensure that . some important, just learned facts get inscribed into our biological . memory banks. We call this the Google effect.' In a series of tests, researchers found . that participants were more likely to recall information if they . believed it had been erased. Those who thought it was stored on a . computer were more forgetful, even if they were explicitly asked to keep . the information in mind. | People's reliance on the Internet has caused growing levels of forgetfulness .
Many people now see Google as an extension of their intelligence .
We are now much worse at remembering facts we know are available online, such as as geographical details . |
244,552 | c87daecd4c573bd6b4b96dd264a04a7bd412d77d | (CNN) -- The only thing that dawned when the official "Batman vs. Superman" title was announced on Wednesday was how much the Internet hated it. For months, fans have referred to the upcoming "Man of Steel" sequel as just "Batman vs. Superman," a placeholder that also recognizes the fact that both superheroes are appearing on the big screen together for the first time. But on Wednesday, the actual title was unveiled to be "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," along with the announcement that production on the project is now underway in metro Detroit. Immediately, the Twitterati fired back. "BATMAN v SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE. Coming in September, to Lifetime Networks," chided Patton Oswalt. "OK, I just clicked on 'Dawn of Justice' in a panic, thinking it was yet another Far Right Group," said @Scriblit. "Dawn Of Justice sounds like Steven Seagal's comeback movie," quipped @DoctorFluxx. "Dawn of Justice? So THAT'S why Batman looks so sad," said @ElliottcMorgan, referencing the recently released first look at Ben Affleck's Batman. (Who, yes, does look pretty down.) Another user thought "it makes it sound like a direct-to-DVD movie you'd find in a bargain bin," as The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit tried to remind the displeased masses, "it's always darkest before dawn (of justice)." "Does anyone out there like the title?" Kit asked. "Anyone?" Well at least one person does -- if he could only figure out why the studio insisted on taking the "s" out of "vs." "The 'Dawn of Justice' thing is cool but having it be Batman 'V' Superman is annoying my OCD," tweeted Chris Stuckmann. "When I see the new title, I read it as 'Batman 5 Superman'. Help me!" Others are more concerned that the movie's going to have some sort of secret, litigious spin. "Oh my god. What if 'Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice' is A LAW MOVIE? And 'Batman v. Superman' is the lawsuit?" asked @Hello_Tailor. If it is, the Warner Bros. press release Wednesday didn't give any indication of that. Along with the new title and new logo, the statement confirmed that Chris Terrio ("Argo") is writing the script, which we already knew would be directed by "Man of Steel" helmer Zack Snyder. In addition to Affleck, Henry Cavill returns as Superman, and Gal Gadot is going to play Wonder Woman. Laurence Fishburne, Amy Adams and Diane Lane are all reprising their "Man of Steel" roles, and they'll be joined by Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred and Holly Hunter in an unspecified, newly created role. Once "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" finishes filming -- production will also take place in Illinois, Africa and the South Pacific -- the movie will arrive in theaters on May 6, 2016. | The official title for the "Man of Steel" sequel has been announced .
It's being called "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"
The title has been roasted on Twitter . |
83,993 | ee3ed04d53a5c7d1f60a5fc4d7c6832a7f32d3bf | Perched quietly on top of a hill overlooking the Channel, it is what the late Alan Whicker, the veteran broadcaster and TV presenter described as 'my island paradise'. Now, a year after the journalist's death, his secluded Jersey home has gone on sale for £4.95million. Nestled among pine trees at the top of a winding driveway, the four-bedroom Mont d'Olivet is where Whicker found peace after a lifetime of globe-trotting. Scroll down for video . Alan Whicker's beloved Jersey home, Mont d'Olivet, has gone on the market for £4.95million. The property has four bedrooms and a heated outdoor swimming pool . The house is one of the most secluded on Jersey with three acres of tall pine trees hiding it from view in the nearby valley. Whicker bought the property in 1962 . Alan . Whicker's study where he worked on countless scripts and ideas for his . travel documentary series, Whicker's World, which ran for more than 30 . years . With sweeping views towards the Cherbourg peninsula, the 1950s property is described as one of the most secluded in Trinity, Jersey. Bought in 1972 by Whicker and his long-term partner, Valerie Kleeman, it was the couple's home until his death last July at the age of 91. Lush gardens and a tear-drop shaped heated pool are among the property's most coveted features, but it's unrivaled views across the water towards France is what held the TV presenter's life-long adoration. 'He had always been desperate to live near water,' said Ms Kleeman, with whom Whicker shared his life since 1969. 'One of his first childhood memories was of a holiday to Ullswater and he had taken a boat out at dawn. He was around seven or eight-years-old and had been totally enchanted with it. 'It stayed with him his whole life'. Panoramic views of the Channel towards the Cherbourg peninsula are what captured the journalist's affection after searching for a home that overlooked water . A gate on the property features the journalist's initials in clad iron on top of a globe. Despite travelling the world for his documentary series, Whicker 'loved coming home' to Mont d'Olivet . Alan Whicker was a British broadcaster and TV presenter whose documentary series, Whicker's World, ran for more 30 years. He is pictured with his partner Valerie Kleeman (right) receiving a CBE in the 2005 New Year Honours list . Set among three acres of woodland, the house is so secluded that only in winter when the trees are bare can its gables be seen from the nearby valley. Alan Whicker served with the British Army in Italy in World War II and later became a war correspondent. He joined the BBC in 1957 with the Tonight program, but soon after launched his Whicker's World series, which made him a household name. Whicker's World, a documentary program that ran from 1959 to 1990, showed the broadcaster travelling the globe, probing the private worlds of the rich and famous. He was also the man behind the popular advertising slogan Hello World for Travelocity. The presenter was given the Richard Dimbleby Award at the 1978 Baftas for his contribution to broadcasting and became a CBE in the 2005 New Year Honours list. The quietness the house and island became the perfect refuge for Whicker during a 60-year-career in broadcasting and entertainment. 'The fact that Jersey was away from England but close to England was what appealed to us, the communications were and are so good,' said Ms Kleeman. 'Alan was a news junkie so it was important for him to have English newspapers early in the morning and to have the TV channels too. 'He also felt that if he was too close to London he would always be drawn back to it. He wanted to be in the country but needed to be to be close enough to London. 'He loved this house, he loved this garden and felt very peaceful here. He loved to travel but this was where he loved to come home to.' Its three reception rooms and hallways are scattered with photographs of Whicker's illustrious career, including happy portraits of the journalist with Sean Connery, Dudley Moore and Peter Sellers to name a few. A paved sun terrace leads on to manicured lawns before rows of pine trees. A large study with a plush judge's chair is where he worked tirelessly on a plethora of programmes and scripts, including those for travel his documentary series, Whicker's World. 'This place is full of wildlife, I have about 20 red squirrels that I've been feeding for 20 years,' adds Ms Kleeman. 'It really is quite a remarkable place.' 'It became his haven, a place to write and edit Whicker’s World without having to travel further than a flight of stairs, a far cry from the first home of Yorkshire Television, an old shirt factory in Leeds. And he could relax. 'In his study with its wide windows overlooking the garden he could work till all hours every day of the week, distracted only by a sparkling invitation from the pool or the crackling of a log fire upstairs. 'Mont d’Olivet brought happiness and contentment to a man who had been set in his airways. Hopefully, the next owners will find peace here too.' | Veteran broadcaster and TV presenter's Channel Islands home has been put on sale for £4.95million .
Mont d'Olivet has four bedrooms, a heated outdoor swimming pool and sweeping views across the channel .
The 1950s property was described by Whicker as his 'island paradise' before his death last year aged 91 .
Whicker lived in the property for more than 40 years while filming travel documentary series Whicker's World . |
98,868 | 0b55728d2533141a2e8f8e5922f414da11118d84 | By . Phil Duncan . Follow @@PhilDuncanF1 . Nico Rosberg has agreed a new multi-year contract with Mercedes on the eve of his home race. Rosberg has enjoyed an impressive campaign for Mercedes this term and leads team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the World Championship by four points. 'I'm looking forward to the next years together, when we will keep pushing to win even more races – and, hopefully, championships,' said Rosberg. Eyes on the prize: Nico Rosberg has extended his stay with Mercedes after penning a new long-term deal . 'What a week!!! I got married, Germany won the World Cup and I just signed a new long-term contract with Mercedes! Just need to win my home Grand Prix now;)' The German . is in his fifth season with Mercedes. and his new deal is expected to . take him through to the end of the 2016 season. Ahead . of the German Grand Prix, Rosberg, who married long-term girlfriend . Vivian Sibold in Monaco last week, has won three races this year. He was denied victory last time out at Silverstone after he was forced to retire with a gearbox issue. 'As . a German, the heritage of Mercedes-Benz is very special for me, and I . am proud to be able to represent the best car brand around the world,' he added. On track: The German leads the World Championship by four points ahead of his home race at Hockenheim . VIDEO Rosberg signs Mercedes extension . 'It . has been a difficult road to get to where we are now - but everybody . kept believing, and thanks to the fantastic support from Mercedes-Benz . we are now leading the way in F1. 'We have an awesome team and I am confident that we have the right people in place at every level.' Rosberg . joined Mercedes in 2010 after four years with Williams. He was paired . alongside Michael Schumacher, but accumulated more points than the . seven-times champion in each of the three seasons. The 28-year-old secured his first victory at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix and has been victorious on five occasions since. Smiles better: It is expected that Rosberg's deal will run through to the end of the 2016 campaign . 'Nico . has been part of the Silver Arrows project since day one and he has a . big stake in the development of the team since 2010,' Mercedes chief . Toto Wolff added. 'His . speed, commitment and focus have all helped to give clear direction and . to drive the team forward. With his performances in 2014, Nico has . demonstrated to the outside world what we knew already in the team: that . he is one of the very top drivers in Formula One. 'This . new contract brings us important stability and continuity for the . future and I am delighted to be able to make the announcement in time . for the home race of Mercedes-Benz and Nico in Hockenheim.' | Rosberg has penned an extension to his Mercedes contract .
The German leads the F1 World Championship from Lewis Hamilton .
He has targeted more races wins and 'hopefully championships' at Mercedes .
The deal was announced on eve of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim . |
85,299 | f1eff4cc0ee7cb69d82faf3ec9082d4c5e85b5b3 | The childhood home of Charles Dickens - situated just yards from a former workhouse thought to have inspired Oliver Twist - has gone on sale for £760,000. The second-floor London flat was lodged in by John and Elizabeth Dickens in 1815, when their talented son Charles was just three years old. The family left the property, above a grocer’s shop, a year later, but the author returned to the street as a teenager between 1828 and 1831. The second-floor London flat was lodged in by John and Elizabeth Dickens in 1815, when their son Charles was just three years old . A picture taken in 1900 shows a different angle of the flat on Cleveland Street in Bloomsbury, London, lived in by Charles Dickens . The one-bedroom flat in Cleveland Street, Bloomsbury, has an original Georgian fireplace in the main room where the young Dickens is thought to have kept warm. The property, which is for sale through agents LDG, has large rooms, modern wooden floors and double-glazed sash windows. The author, who was the second of eight children, learned reading, writing and shorthand while living in the building and also used the address to apply for a reader’s ticket at the British Museum. Returning after his father’s imprisonment for debt, Dickens sought to establish his independence at the property. The author, who was the second of eight children, learned reading, writing and shorthand while living in the building and also used the address to apply for a reader’s ticket at the British Museum . Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, Charles Dickens’s great-great granddaughter, unveiled a plaque to her famous ancestor at the Bloomsbury address in June last year.' Most other buildings linked to the author in Central London no longer exist. The building was Dickens’s first London residence after his young family moved to the city from Portsmouth. He went on to spend much of his life living in different parts of what is now the borough of Camden, but unlike Cleveland Street, many of the original roads and buildings are no longer recognisable. Also in Bloomsbury is the Charles Dickens Museum - a house in which the author lived between 1837 and 1839. The property, which is for sale through agents LDG, has large rooms, modern wooden floors and double-glazed sash windows . The one-bedroom second-floor property is near to Soho and Regents Park and is currently on the market at £760,000 . The Grade II listed property is located in Fitzrovia - a trendy part of central London littered with small pubs and restaurants . Laurence Glynne of estate agents LDG, who manage the property, said: 'It’s fascinating to think what Dickens would have made of the Fitzroy Place development across the road, where flats are being sold off-plan for £2,000 per square foot' For the five years that he lived in this street, Dickens could not ignore the presence of the Cleveland Street Workhouse upon his doorstep - as the fate that he struggled to avoid. The impression it made upon him inspired one of his greatest novels - Oliver Twist, published in 1837. Just ten doors away stands the former workhouse, built in the 1770s to accommodate the poor. The site has been used as a hospital for most of its existence. In its early days, local people bemoaned the inhumanity of the workhouse, praying that they never had cause to throw themselves on its cold charity. As a toddler and teenager, the author would have watched the sorry procession of starving, destitute people make their way to the workhouse gates to beg for admittance. He would have seen girls and boys of only six years old bundled into carts and transported like cattle, often hundreds of miles away, to work in the factories and mills of Britain’s industrial heartlands. There they would be beaten as they laboured 16 hours a day in exchange for a few spoonfuls of gruel. In Oliver Twist, eponymous character Oliver is forced to endure a miserable orphan's existence in a workhouse before being placed in the care of an undertaker and then escaping to London. Also thought to have inspired Oliver Twist was the traumatic episode of Dickens's life when his father was imprisoned for debt and he was sent to work in a factory to support the family at just 12 years old. The British government has given protected status to the former workhouse, pictured as it looks today, thought to have inspired Oliver Twist . As a toddler and teenager, the author would have watched the sorry procession of starving, destitute people make their way to the workhouse gates to beg for admittance . A scene from a 2005 film version of Oliver Twist, directed by Roman Polanski, depicts the book's famous scene inside the workhouse where Oliver says: 'Please Sir, I want some more' | Second-floor flat in Bloomsbury, London, twice lived in by the author and thought to be inspiration for 1837 novel .
First moved in with family in 1815 at age of three before returning to live there as teenager between 1828 and 1831 .
Fitzrovia property on same road as former Cleveland Street Workhouse - built in the 1770s to accommodate the poor . |
113,520 | 1e7e32cc9965890737bddece7478f52d398fe9af | Grinning with their friends as schoolboys, these are two of the men suspected of plotting to bring terror to British streets. Just three years ago Tarik Hassane and Gusai Abuzeid were ‘happy-go-lucky’ best friends at Westminster City School. Now the 21-year-olds are sitting in a high security police cell suspected of links to a violent conspiracy inspired by Islamic State fanatics. Scroll down for video . Suspects: Scotland Yard has warned Tarik Hassane (top left), Gusai Abuzeid (bottom left), Rawan Kheder (right) and two other men that they face up to a week behind bars after they were held in a dramatic series of raids . Scotland Yard has warned the men – and three others – that they face up to a week behind bars after they were held in a dramatic series of raids. Senior sources said they were arrested in a bid to disrupt a ‘significant’ plot which threatened an unknown target in the capital. But last night their families and friends questioned whether they could really be linked to a violent fundamentalist conspiracy. Neighbours said a third suspect, Rawan Kheder, 20, is an Iraqi Kurd, a group which is locked in bitter fighting with Islamic State militants. They described the student – seen here dressed in a dinner suit in a picture taken from his Facebook page – as a polite and hard-working young man. In March, he organised an event called ‘Discover Islam’ at Nottingham University. The family of the fourth suspect, who cannot be identified, live in a council flat in central London. Education: Just three years ago Hassane and Abuzeid were 'happy-go-lucky' best friends at Westminster City School (pictured). Now the 21-year-olds are sitting in a high security police cell . More than 48 hours after their arrest, the Daily Mail can reveal police are probing whether the men are linked to terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary – better known as the ‘hip-hop jihadi’. The extremist is several years older than the suspects but moved in the same West London circles. 'Hip-hop jihadi': Police are probing whether the men are linked to terrorist Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary (above) Several close friends of those in custody have even appeared in his amateur music videos filmed on the streets of Maida Vale and Ladbroke Grove. Abdel Bary, 24, abandoned a fledgling career as a rapper to travel to Syria and join militants fighting the Assad regime. At one stage the extremist, whose father was a lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, was incorrectly suspected of being Islamic State hostage murderer Jihadi John. He has been outspoken on social networking sites, posing for macabre photographs with guns and a severed head. Last night, Scotland Yard revealed a fifth man was arrested as part of the terror swoop on Tuesday but his detention was kept secret for ‘operational reasons’. The suspect, whose identity cannot be revealed, is also understood to be a former pupil of Westminster City School. It recently emerged Abuzeid appeared in a short film as part of an A-level media studies project, in which he was ‘kidnapped’. In the video the main character, played by Abuzeid, can be seen running through the school before two men confront and kidnap him. They are then seen interrogating him about the location of a ‘file’. Neighbours of Abuzeid, who lives in a modern apartment block in Marylebone, were shocked at his arrest. One woman said: ‘There was nothing to say he was really religious, he wore jeans, trainers just like any Brit. I’ve lived next door to his family for a year-and-a-half... they are very well-to-do.’ Home: Neighbours of Abuzeid, who lives in this modern apartment block in Marylebone, were shocked at his arrest . Probe: Neighbours said forensic teams have 'pulled up' the floors of two flats occupied by Hassane's aunt and uncle on the Princess Alice estate (pictured), west London, in their search for clues . Kheder’s family home in Chelsea, west London, was raided by ‘dozens’ of armed police on Tuesday morning, according to neighbours. They said his father runs a plumbing firm and that Kheder is a martial arts fan and keen follower of Arsenal FC. Nacer Dahmas, 58, said: ‘They have lived here for at least 20 years and they are the most wonderfully kind family. All the neighbours say the same thing. He never mentioned politics. ‘He was a practising Muslim but never seemed like a fanatic. I think the family are Iraqi Kurds. They were a hard working moderate family. ‘His older brother has finished university and his older sister is married with a little child. I think she might be a solicitor.’ Friends of Hassane, whose Moroccan mother works at a school, have defended him after it emerged he wrote ‘I smell war’ on Twitter just hours before he was arrested. Launching a ‘Justice for Tarik’ campaign, many said it simply referred to a ‘bunch of rowdy girls’ who were bickering on the social networking site. Neighbours said forensic teams have ‘pulled up’ the floors of two flats occupied by his aunt and uncle on the Princess Alice estate, west London, in their search for clues. The suspects could remain in custody for up to 14 days. A magistrate has already granted an extension until next Tuesday. They were held on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, which carries a life sentence if they are convicted. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Tarik Hassane and Gusai Abuzeid were friends at Westminster City School .
Now they're suspected of links to violent conspiracy inspired by IS fanatics .
Men and three others face up to week behind bars after being held in raids .
Arrested in bid to disrupt 'significant' plot which threatened target in capital . |
93,921 | 04c36b3064f46f84464954feea1fb73361849aa7 | (CNN) -- After a weekend of rumors, it's finally official: Heidi Klum and Seal are now the proud parents of a baby girl, Klum's representative confirmed. Heidi Klum met Seal in 2004, and the couple married a year later. The "Project Runway" host gave birth Friday night. Klum and Seal named their new bundle Lou Sulola Samuel. The couple, who married in 2005, have been busy babymaking ever since. Lou Sulola is the youngest of four: Henri, 4, Johan, 2 and Leni, 5, whom Klum had from a previous relationship. "It's difficult to imagine loving another child as much as you love your existing children," Seal said of the birth in a statement Tuesday. "Anyone who has a family will tell you this. Where will one find that extra love? If you love your existing children with all of your heart, how then can one possibly find more heart with which to love another?" The answer to that question, the Grammy-winning singer said, "came in the form of our fourth child and second daughter. "Lou Sulola Samuel was born, and from the moment she looked into both of our eyes, it was endless love at first sight. She is beautiful beyond words, and we are happy that she chose us to watch her grow over the coming years," he said. | Heidi Klum and Seal have confirmed their daughter was born Friday .
The couple named her Lou Sulola Samuel .
She has three siblings: Henri, Johan and Leni .
Seal said when Lou Sulola was born, it was "endless love at first sight." |
225,750 | b0508f8931d6d0a8494500f4ae33ddb4c1e173cc | A council worker called for police 'back-up' after he found a dog poo in a park. The Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officer accused Amber Langtry, 35, of not clearing up after her German Shepherd in Victoria Park, East London, as she was walking her friend. Miss Langtry denied the allegation, trying to explain that her dog had not been in the area where the attendant found the faeces, but still offered to pick it up to end the confrontation. Scroll down for video . Amber Langtry was shocked when this council worker accused her of leaving her dog's poo in Victoria Park . He threatened to arrest Miss Langtry and called for police 'back-up' as she challenged him to show her the poo . Miss Langtry here is pictured with her German Shepherd, Olive . The council worker issued her with a ticket, which could result in a court hearing and a £1,000 fine, and called officers to the park on New Year's Day accusing her of 'non-compliance'. Miss Langtry told the Evening Standard that she and her friend, who recorded the incident, had cleaned up their dogs’ mess earlier in the walk. She also said the park attendant refused to show them the poo she was being challenged over. In the ten-minute video the officer is heard accusing the woman of ‘non-compliance’ and calling officers to the scene. He described Miss Langtry’s friend, who was recording him with her iPhone, as ‘aggressive’. At one point, she is heard on the video saying: 'He can't even show us the poo - it's ridiculous!' The council worker issued her with a ticket, which could result in a court hearing and a £1,000 fine . Miss Langtry was told by Tower Hamlets council, in a five-page letter, that it will not be continuing prosecution . Miss Langtry told the paper: ‘I remember thinking, “This is ridiculous. Why does he need police back-up for a five-foot-four woman looking for a dog poo?”’ ‘When the police got here they were as bemused as I was, and they didn't have a problem with me or my dog.' After half an hour, Miss Langtry was shown the poo, which she maintains was not left by her dog. She told Mail Online: 'As I am a reasonable person, and would never leave a dog faeces behind, I picked it up in a poo bag and popped it in a nearby bin.' She was told by Tower Hamlets council, in a five-page letter, that it will not be continuing prosecution, but that the officer has the power to deal with an offence ‘of failing to remove dog faces [sic]’. The Enforcement Officer accused Miss Langtry's friend, who recorded the incident, of being 'aggressive' Waiting: After around nine minutes of recording, the park attendant speaks to police officers who are on their way to Victoria Park, East London, on New Year's Day . Miss Langtry said that while the video is 'funny' to watch now, it was 'scary, intimidating and confusing at the time'. The Metropolitan Police told the paper that no ‘allegation of crime’ was made to officers. A council spokesperson said: 'The council has a long standing policy of tackling the issue of dog fouling. The council can confirm an incident took place on Wednesday, 1 January, where a Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officer (THEO) asked a dog owner to clean up after their dog. 'When the dog owner refused to give their name as the THEO requested, the THEO then called for appropriate back up after explaining the situation fully to the dog owner. 'We take dog fouling seriously in this borough as it is a concern for residents which is why the council took this course of action.' Miss Langtry is pictured here with her German Shepherd, Olive, in Victoria Park . In the video, the officer is heard accusing the woman of 'non-compliance' and calling police to the scene . | Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officer accused Amber Langtry, 35, of leaving her dog's remains in Victoria Park, East London .
Miss Langtry denied the allegation but offered to pick it up if the park attendant could take her to it .
Accusing her of 'non-compliance', he called in police 'back-up' to the scene . |
95,098 | 063086c278438ca0d583aa61930713ab236039e0 | (CNN) -- You've probably heard by now about the Afropolitans and the Afropreneurs -- but what about the Africapitalists? It's the term created by Nigerian entrepreneur Tony Elumelu, one of Africa's most successful businessmen, to describe what he believes holds the key to the continent's future well-being. According to Elumelu, Africapitalism is the economic philosophy "that the African private sector has the power to transform the continent through long-term investments, creating both economic prosperity and social wealth." Elumelu champions the idea that long-term focus on key sectors such as infrastructure and power does not only offer high returns but, in the process, can also help Africa deal with pressing problems such as unemployment and food security. "The information people have about Africa in America and the western world is one of aid, one of squalor, one of poverty, one of religious crisis," says Elumelu, who first found success after turning a struggling Nigerian bank into a global financial institution. "They need to begin to see that Africa is a continent of economic opportunities -- a lot of potential and the returns on investment in Africa is huge." Read this: Africa's mega projects . Backing his words with actions, Elumelu, the former chief executive of the United Bank for Africa, who went on to create investment company Heirs Holdings in 2010, has pledged $2.5 billion to U.S. President Barack Obama's "Power Africa" initiative -- a campaign aiming to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa. CNN's African Voices spoke to Elumelu about Africapitalism, doing business in Africa and his goals for the future. An excerpt of the interview follows. CNN: What is Africapitalism and how does it work? Tony Elumelu: From interacting with customers, with communities, with local governments, state governments and national governments, I started to see a pattern that indeed we can as a private sector help to develop Africa in a manner that's truly sustainable. I also, as a good student of economic history, have observed the development of the African continent and come to realize that despite all the aid inflows into Africa and despite our sovereign government commitment to develop in the continent, not much was achieved. But ... if we can mobilize the African private sector and non-African private sector operating in Africa to think long-term, to invest long-term in Africa in key sectors, then we might end up creating economic wealth, economic prosperity and social wealth. That is Africapitalism. CNN: Which areas does the private sector in Africa focus on? TE: The private sector in Africa was largely dependent on government patronage, government contracts. But today, it has changed significantly. You have the private sector in Africa today that is adding real value to the economy through engagements in payment systems; through engagement in key infrastructure projects; through engagement in manufacturing and processing of raw materials in Africa and exporting this within the continent. Read this: Ghana plans $10 billion tech city . So it's a significant shift from where the private sector was before to where it is today and we're beginning to see a new crop of private sector people in Africa who believe under the sun that they have a role to play in the development of the continent. CNN: Why did Heirs Holding decided to commit $2.5 billion to the "Power Africa" initiative? TE: Because we understand as Africapitalists the importance of power, access to electricity, in unleashing the economic potential of Africa. Because of that, we felt since we preach that the private sector should do long-term investment in Africa in key sectors, there is no sector at this point in time to us that is as strategic as power sector in dealing with the issue of economic empowerment, democratization of economic prosperity across the continent than power. CNN: Looking ahead, what do you think is going to be the most important source of power? TE: Africa is coming from a deficit position -- only 20% of 1.2 billion people have access to electricity. So we need to think of the kind of projects that will help us create the quantum leap we need in power. And I think that that is what should guide the options that we take. Read this: Can Africa unlock solar potential? So for me, I believe that we need five years of sustained, massive billion dollar investments (in the) power sector in Africa before we come to the level where we need to discriminate, is it this kind of power or that type of power? But let there be light first in Africa. CNN: What are your goals for the future? TE: My goals for the future are twofold -- one is personal and two is about the continent. For my personal goal I would like to continue to impact my team. Because you get to a certain level where you wake up in the morning not necessarily because you want to earn a living -- you wake up in the morning I think about impact, about legacies, what impact am I going to leave behind? And so I decide to look at the African continent and I tell myself this is a continent that is about to explode but lacks certain vital ingredients. And so what role can I play in making sure that some of those challenges are addressed in my lifetime, so that my children will not as a kind of question I asked of my parents and grandparents, where were they when the war started? So that's important to me. And that is why we invest in power. Not just because I want to make more money, which is good, but because we touch lives significantly making that money. | Nigerian entrepreneur Tony Elumelu is pioneering the concept of Africapitalism .
He says long-term investments in key sectors can create both commercial and social wealth .
Elumelu founded in 2010 Nigeria-based investment company Heirs Holdings .
It has pledged to invest $2.5 billion to back the "Power Africa" campaign . |
51,787 | 92ab1a8831b4ea90beb8bb27e76402e8de9839ec | By . Emily Payne . PUBLISHED: . 09:41 EST, 2 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:43 EST, 2 January 2013 . Babies have the capacity to learn and remember sounds of language from their mother during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy . Babies start to learn language before they are even born, scientists have discovered. Previously, it was believed that newborns begin to discriminate between language sounds within their first . months of life. But a new study indicates that babies have the capacity to learn and remember elementary sounds of their language . from their mother during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy. 'We have known for over 30 years that we . begin learning prenatally about voices by listening to the sound of our . mother talking,' said Christine Moon, a professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University, who led the research. '[But] this is the first study that shows we . learn about the particular speech sounds of our mother's language before . we are born.' Forty girls and boys, about 30-hours-old , were studied in Tacoma and Stockholm, Sweden. The babies heard either Swedish or English vowels and they could control how many times they heard the vowels by sucking on a dummy connected to a computer. Vowel sounds were chosen for the study . because they are prominent, and the researchers thought they might be . noticeable in the mother’s ongoing speech, even against the noisy . background sounds of the womb. In both countries, the . babies at birth sucked longer for the foreign language than they did for . their native tongue, regardless of how much postnatal . experience they had. Early learning: New research has is indicated that babies learn vowel sounds in utero . This indicated to researchers that they were . learning the vowel sounds in utero. Patricia Kuhl, co-author and . co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the . University of Washington, added: 'We thought infants were 'born . learning' but now we know they learn even earlier. They are not . phonetically naïve at birth. 'We want to know what magic they put to . work in early childhood that adults cannot. 'We can't waste . that early curiosity. The mother has first dibs on influencing the child's brain. 'The vowel sounds in her speech are the loudest units and the fetus locks onto them.' | It was previously thought they began picking up words in the first few months of life .
But new research shows infants start to discriminate between vowel sounds before they are born .
Babies tested acknowledged difference between Swedish and .
English . |
60,349 | ab8fb6333cef9c829f251eded2508f8e47199357 | By . Steve Robson . PUBLISHED: . 11:38 EST, 30 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:56 EST, 30 August 2013 . Jailed: German trucker Anton Maizen caused a fatal crash on the M25 after driving for 15 hours without a break . A German lorry driver who been on the road for 15 hours without a break when he caused a fatal crash has been jailed for four-and-a-half years. Anton Maizen, 58, ploughed his 40-ton lorry into a queue of traffic on the M25 near Aveley in Essex, killing a 79-year-old man and injuring two others. Maizen, of Wixhausen, south of Frankfurt, admitted one count of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Basildon Crown Court today. The crash, on Tuesday, April 2, came after Maizen had been at work for nearly 23 hours - driving for 15 of those hours without a break. Maizen's 840-mile journey had begun the . previous day in Germany, with the driver entering the UK via Folkestone. He then drove to south London, before continuing on his way to . Lincolnshire. During this time he did not take breaks of longer than an hour - and did not have any sustained period of sleep, the court heard. Maizen was returning to the Channel Tunnel when the crash took . place. During his police interviews, he was unable to explain why he struck the rear of the queue at his maximum speed of 56mph. He hit a BMW, which contained a . mother and her young son, propelling the vehicle into another lane and . into the path of a second lorry - though both escaped serious injury. Maizen's . tachograph charts were found hidden behind the driver's seat and a data . chart in his sock was later found disclosing his route and timings. Wreckage: A man died as a result of the pile up on the M25 in Essex . Dangerous: The crash came after Maizen had been at work for nearly 23 hours - with 15 of them spent on the road . The German motorist was disqualified . from driving for five years and ordered to take an extended driving test . in order to regain his licence. Tailbacks: The German was also disqualified from driving for five years following the collision . Judge Owen Davies QC said: 'It would . appear that you failed to slow your vehicle and were still driving at . 50mph when you applied the brakes. 'Expert evidence shows it must have been fatigue that caused this incident. 'You had been driving for 22 hours and 44 minutes without the lengthy period of rest required. 'Your actions in those brief moments have caused untold misery on others.' James . Harrison, mitigating, told the court his client deeply regretted his . actions and took complete responsibility for the suffering he has . caused. He said: 'He knows that words are not . enough to express the regret he feels for those who suffered loss and . injury as a result of his actions. 'Had he foreseen the likelihood of any incident like this unfolding he would never have climbed behind the wheel of his cab.' Inspector Keith Whiting of Essex . Police said: 'We believe drivers and owners of foreign and British . commercial lorries will take note from this tragic incident that those . who disregard the law and the safety of vulnerable people in smaller . vehicles around them will be brought to justice, face a prison sentence . and a lengthy disqualification. 'We . also believe that people who were disrupted for several hours as a . result of this crash will appreciate that the complex and meticulous . investigation undertaken by Essex Police's Serious Collision . Investigation Unit was justified and has successfully brought a driver . to justice for causing one death and serious injury of two other road . users.' | Anton Maizen, 58, from Wixhausen, near Frankfurt, had been at work for almost 23 hours in total .
Ploughed into the back of stationary traffic on M25 in Essex .
Pensioner, 79, killed and two others were injured in the smash .
Maizen was unable to explain why he hit the cars at a speed of 56mph .
He was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Basildon Crown Court . |
5,115 | 0e8a9a96f1980052d1db27debfa7e06ed17022ce | By . James Salmon . Follow @@JamesSalmon79 . Emails and phone messages between foul-mouthed Barclays traders in New York reveal how they bragged about rigging energy prices in America to make huge profits. Critics yesterday said the expletive-ridden correspondence provides further evidence of the ‘rotten culture of casino banking’ that built up under disgraced former boss Bob Diamond. The bank faces a £270million fine by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for allegedly manipulating the energy market across Western America between November 2006 and 2008. Emails and phone messages between foul-mouthed Barclays traders in New York reveal how they bragged about rigging energy prices in America to make huge profits . Four traders are accused of conspiring to sell electricity at a loss to drive prices down. This would enable simultaneous bets on falling energy prices to reap huge profits, leading to losses of £86million for other investors and pensions funds. It is alleged to have taken place at four electricity-trading hubs across the western US – Mid Columbia in Washington State, Palo Verde in Phoenix, Arizona, and South Path 15 and North Path 15 in California. These hubs are where electricity is channelled, stored and then distributed around the region. Barclays and other banks trade in complicated financial instruments which bet on electricity price movements at these hubs. The accused Barclays traders – Daniel Brin, Scott Connelly, Karen Levine and Ryan Smith – face penalties totalling £11million. The bank faces a £270million fine by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for allegedly manipulating the energy market across Western America between November 2006 and 2008 . Connelly was described as ‘the leader of the manipulative scheme’ and the highest paid. He faces a £9.3million fine. The bank was also ordered to pay back £22million in profits made from the alleged energy manipulation scam. But, in arguably a more devastating blow to Barclays, the US regulator published a series of emails and phone messages sent by the bank’s traders. In a series of messages dated November 3, 2006, Ryan Smith bragged to a colleague that he had managed to manipulate the energy markets. He said: ‘I totally f****** with the Palo market today,’ adding: ‘I just started lifting the p*** out of the palo.’ Smith continued: ‘was fun. Need to do that more often.’ In a separate exchange on December 7, 2006, he said: ‘I’m going to c*** on the NP light and it should drive the SP light lower.’ Critics said the crude messages reinforced the immoral, profit-crazed image that Barclays has desperately tried to shed since new chief executive Antony Jenkins took over in August. Critics say the expletive-ridden correspondence provides further evidence of the 'rotten culture of casino banking' that built up under disgraced former boss of Barclays, Bob Diamond, left . John Mann, who sits on the Treasury select committee of MPs, said: ‘This just shows how the rotten culture of casino banking that was built up under Bob Diamond went all the way through Barclays. Traders were clearly programmed to do anything to make a profit.’ The emails sent by Barclays’ American traders have echoes of the brash messages sent by their counterparts in London who boasted about rigging key interest rates. These were published in June when Barclays was fined £290million by UK and US regulators over the scandal. This led to the departure of Diamond and several other top executives. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott said: ‘The American authorities’ allegations of Enron-style rigging of electricity prices shows what a toxic trail Bob Diamond left behind him.’ All four traders accused of rigging the energy markets are thought to have left the bank, although none are understood to have been fired. Barclays has been given 30 days to appeal and said it intends to do so. It said it ‘strongly disagrees with the allegations’, adding: ‘We believe that our trading was legitimate and above board and intend to vigorously defend this matter.’ Barclays is likely to argue that it did not have big enough positions in the energy market to be able to manipulate prices. | Critics said the expletive-ridden correspondence provides further evidence of the 'rotten culture of casino banking' that built up under Bob Diamond .
Bank faces £270million fine for allegedly manipulating energy market in US . |
264,367 | e2672eacf99764b896362aa88ac0a7660df4b38a | By . James Chapman . PUBLISHED: . 19:54 EST, 11 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 03:19 EST, 12 March 2013 . Promises: David Cameron suggested he would never cut the NHS budget while he is prime minister . David Cameron yesterday suggested he would never cut the NHS budget while he is prime minister. He made the claim as he came under pressure from all sides to lift the protection from spending cuts currently given to health, schools and foreign aid. In an unlikely alliance, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable and leading Tory Right-winger Liam Fox joined forces to insist the Government’s budget ‘ring-fences’ were unsustainable. A think-tank report today warns that health alone will account for 22.5 per cent of the total increase in spending between 2011-12 and 2014-15. But the Prime Minister insisted he would not countenance cutting health spending. And despite a growing Cabinet revolt, Downing Street said the special protections for schools and foreign aid would also be extended in the next spending review, to cover Government expenditure for 2015-16. ‘When you look particularly at the NHS, you know that we have got an ageing population. There is massive pressure on the NHS, more expensive treatments and drugs are coming through, and I just don’t believe it is practical or right to cut the NHS,’ Mr Cameron said. ‘There are many good suggestions coming from many quarters. As prime minister I am never short of advice. But there’s one piece of advice I won’t take and that’s the piece of advice that says you ought to cut the National Health Service budget. ‘We made a very clear promise before the last election that yes, we were going to have to take difficult decisions, yes we were going to have to make some very difficult and painful cuts, but we wouldn’t cut the NHS budget. I think it’s really important for people to know that.’ He added: ‘I don’t deny for one moment we’ve had to take difficult decisions; we are in a tough economic environment. I want people to know as we go through that tough economic environment the NHS is going to be there for them. In an unlikely alliance, Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable and leading Tory Right-winger Liam Fox joined forces to insist the Government’s budget ‘ring-fences’ were unsustainable . ‘The NHS is not going to be cut by this government.’ But Dr Fox, the former defence secretary who is tipped for a return to the Cabinet, suggested there should be a public spending freeze of between three and five years, and challenged Mr Cameron’s decision to protect certain budgets. ‘We must also ask whether ring-fencing departmental budgets makes sense in a period of prolonged austerity,’ he said. He also backed Mr Cable’s call for pensioner benefits, such as the winter fuel allowance, free bus pass and TV licence, to be reviewed. On ring-fencing the Business Secretary yesterday warned: ‘It means that all future pressures then come on things like the Army, the police, local government, skills and universities. So you get a very unbalanced approach to public spending.’ A report from the centre-Right think-tank Reform says today that the ring-fences on key areas of spending mean Chancellor George Osborne was operating ‘with one hand tied behind his back’. It said the Prime Minister could not reasonably continue to rule out reducing spending on the NHS, pensioner benefits and schools. James Zuccollo, senior economist at Reform, said: ‘The UK’s problems with overspending will not be addressed without a new approach. 'The problems facing the public finances are structural and they require structural solutions.’ | Vince Cable and Liam Fox joined forces to insist budget 'ring-fences' were unsustainable .
Report warns health will account for 22.5 per cent of total increase spend . |
199,781 | 8ea0215d4c1600ee47aa89c5a7979d5b3ca75eea | Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- The death toll from an explosion in the central Pakistani city of Dera Ghazi Khan climbed to at least 25 on Wednesday, a senior government official said. Another 56 people were wounded in Tuesday's attack, according to Hassan Iqbal Khan. The blast ripped through a market located near the house of a senior adviser to the chief minister of Punjab province, said Mohammed Hasnain, a rescue official. The adviser, Sardar Zulfiqar Muhammad Khosa, is a former provincial governor and a senior opposition party politician. He said he was the target of the attack, though police initially said he was not the intended target. Khosa told CNN that none of his family members were in the house when the attack occurred. He also said that he had never before received any threats against his life. The attacker detonated his car in front of the main gate at Khosa's house, said Hassan Iqbal, a senior government official. About 20 shops in the market were reduced to rubble. CNN's Samson Desta and journalist Umar Aziz Khan contributed to this report. | NEW: Attack on market in Dera Ghazi Khan leaves 25 dead, 60 wounded .
Attacker detonated car in front of Sardar Zulfiqar Muhammad Khosa's home .
Former provincial governor claims he was intended target of attack . |
177,340 | 71910c1c2096e62e185c207ad57c7dee7e034b07 | Freetown, Sierra Leone (CNN) -- Millions of people will breathe a sigh of relief that Charles Taylor has finally been held to account for the years of violence, misery and suffering that he brought to the people of West Africa. Taylor, a former president of Liberia, was found guilty after a lengthy trial by a special court sitting in The Hague for aiding and abetting rebels during the bloody conflict in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002. The violence in Sierra Leone shocked the world as thousands of civilians were caught up in the fighting. Limbs were hacked off as punishment, mass killings and gang rape were common and thousands of children were forced to fight or become sex slaves. The survivors still struggle with the mental and physical scars of their ordeals. Incredibly, despite the tens of thousands of cases of documented atrocities, only 13 people have been held to account for these crimes. And, under a 1999 amnesty agreement drawn up in a desperate bid to end the fighting, Taylor may be the last to stand trial for what happened. Everyone else -- his commanders and lieutenants and fighters on all sides -- remain free to go about their lives as if nothing happened. Taylor's conviction brings some measure of justice to the people of Sierra Leone, but it is only the first step in a long journey back to normalcy for the people. Years after the end of the war, people are still grappling with the challenges and the legacies of the violence. Since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published its report in 2004, only a limited number of recommendations on reparations have been implemented. Without a long-term, sustainable plan and sufficient funds to assist survivors to rebuild their lives, many are begging in the streets for a living. Failing to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes under international law gives the impression that they will not have to face the consequences of their actions. It ignores the distress of the victims and creates a risk of further violations. The failure to address impunity weakens state institutions, denies human values and debases the whole of humanity. Prosecutions serve to clarify the truth about what happened, establish accountability for human rights abuses and contribute to building confidence in the rule of law. Without them, victims are left to suffer without official acknowledgment of the crimes committed against them or assistance to rebuild their lives. Although the initial prosecutions of Taylor and his cronies were restricted to those individuals considered to bear the "greatest responsibility" for crimes under international law, the government of Sierra Leone authorities must now move to hold others to account. It must rescind the 1999 amnesty and strengthen and build an independent criminal justice system so that further investigations and prosecutions can be made. Justice needs to go hand in hand with peace. In neighboring Liberia, similar violence between 1989-1996 and 1999-2003 saw countless attacks on civilians resulting in death, disfigurement and displacement. As in Sierra Leone, government and armed opposition groups used rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls as deliberate strategies, as a weapon of war and to instil terror. Women of all ages were victims, including very young girls and older women. It is estimated that as much as 60-70% of the population suffered some form of sexual violence during the conflict. By the end of the war in Liberia, more than 20,000 children were believed to be involved in the conflict. Both boys and girls were abducted and forced to fight, carry ammunition, prepare food or go to the front line. In many cases, child soldiers were forced to carry out killings, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, looting and abducted and forcibly recruiting other children. Currently, there are no plans for Liberian authorities to investigate the crimes under international law committed during the 14-year conflict. Instead, the people in Liberia are expected to forgive and forget the past and just move on. But, like the people of Sierra Leone, the victims of past human rights violations in Liberia have the right to know the truth, obtain justice and be granted full reparations for what they suffered. With similar investigations now under way involving grave crimes committed in northern Uganda, Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Taylor's conviction sends a signal that authorities are finally moving to end impunity, establish the rule of law, promote and encourage respect for human rights and restore and maintain international peace and security. But official moves to hold perpetrators to account must be transparent, comprehensive and fair. They must remember and involve the thousands of victims. And they must ensure that justice is done. Otherwise, those who committed some of the most egregious crimes imaginable are getting away with murder. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Brima Sheriff. | During Sierra Leone fighting, limbs were hacked off as punishment .
Brima Sheriff says survivors still struggle with mental and physical scars .
He says Taylor's conviction sends signal authorities moving to end impunity .
Moves to hold perpetrators to account must be transparent and fair, he says . |
157,444 | 579329047e05b3eadf4e14f9aa3552f766cf794e | By . Mark Duell . For £450,000 you would probably expect more than this in a property for your money - but, then again, we are talking about London. A one-bedroom house in Denmark Hill, south-east London, is said to be the skinniest home in the capital - measuring just 99in wide. The 466 sq ft two-storey house at the end of a three-storey terrace was built on a space that was once someone's side garden. Scroll down for video . Tiny: A one-bedroom house in Denmark Hill, south-east London, is said to be the skinniest home in the capital - measuring just 99in wide . Narrow: While the living room is just about big enough to squeeze in a dining table and sofa underneath the stairs, the kitchen at the back is just 5ft 2in across . Outside: The agent said buyers would have to pay about £400,000 for a one-bedroom flat in the same area, but this property is a freehold and has a 75ft garden . Kitchen: The agent said that its location is excellent for commuters wanting a 'perfect pied-à-terre' because it is right across the road from Denmark Hill train station . The property is being marketed by . sales manager Warren McCann of Foxtons in East Dulwich - who is . confident of quickly getting it off the market. He . said that its location is excellent for commuters wanting a ‘perfect . pied-à-terre’ because it is right across the road from Denmark Hill . train station. Mr McCann told the London Evening Standard: ‘I expect it was done by a developer who wanted to fit in an extra property at some point.’ He . said buyers would have to pay about £400,000 for a one-bedroom flat in . the same area, but this property is a freehold and has a 75ft garden. Bedroom: Warren McCann of Foxtons in East Dulwich said the 'space is there, it is just not in a traditional layout' Bathroom: The estate agents say that because of the property's location and the fact it has a garden 'it will go pretty quickly' Interior: The dining area of the one-bedroom property (left). The floor-plan (right) appears to represent a corridor rather than a house, showing how narrow it really is . 'The Wedge': The narrowest property in Britain is a terraced home on the Isle of Cumbrae off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland, which has a 37in front façade (centre) Up close: MailOnline reader Ramona Giorgetti took these pictures of The Wedge today. The property spreads to 22ft wide as it moves back from the road in Scotland . While the living room is just about big enough to squeeze in a dining table and sofa underneath the stairs, the kitchen at the back is just 5ft 2in across. Mr McCann said: ‘The space is there, it is just not in a traditional layout. Given its location and the garden, I think it will go pretty quickly.’ The narrowest property in Britain is a terraced home on the Isle of Cumbrae off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland, which has a 37in front façade. However the building - known as The Wedge - does spread to 22ft wide as it moves back from the road, which has an average property value of £63,000. | One-bedroom house in Denmark Hill, SE London, is a 466 sq ft two-storey home at end of three-storey terrace .
Estate agents Foxtons say the property's location is excellent for commuters wanting a 'perfect pied-à-terre'
Narrowest property in Britain is a terraced home on Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland which has a 37in front façade . |
153,341 | 52205ef3ab83b516449e29e683fd5537f1781e18 | A forensic psychologist called in to analyse the Sydney siege gunman has revealed how just hours after the ordeal ended he counselled a crying Muslim taxi driver who feared for his life because two people had been killed by a man claiming to be part of his religion. Self-styled Sheik Man Haron Monis forced his 18 hostages to hold up an Islamic Shahada flag, which bore an inscription 'There is no god but God, and Mohamed is the messenger of God' during his 16-hour siege at the Lindt Café in Martin Place. As Tim Watson-Munro hoped into a cab to travel to his office on Elizabeth Street, not far from the scene where Monis killed Lindt manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson, he noticed his bearded driver looked upset. The driver had not seen the #illridewithyou hashtag which has gone viral around the world as some Australians ensured members of the country’s Muslim community that they place no blame at their door for the actions of one madman - Monis. Scroll down for video . Forensic psychologist Tim Watson-Munro had offered his advice on gunman Man Haron Monis during the Sydney siege and then found himself consoling a fearful Muslim taxi just hours later . The terrified driver began sobbing as Mr Watson-Munro asked him: ‘Are you OK?’ Mr Watson-Munro gave the man a hug as the driver poured out his grief and fears. ‘He burst into tears and he said “I can’t believe what has happened. I grieve for the deceased and the country”,’ Mr Watson-Munro told Daily Mail Australia. The criminal profiler said he tried to reassure him but the driver was crying so uncontrollably that he told him to pull over to the side of the road. ‘I told him these tragedies occur and they are great tragedies. I have enough faith in this country that they are not going to say “this is a Muslim inspired tragedy”,’ Mr Watson-Munro said. Man Haron Monis, gunman in the Lindt Chocolat Café siege in Martin Place, Sydney, is photographed outside the Downing Centre Court, Sydney, on February 10, 2010 . Deranged gunman Man Haron Monis seen here in 2011 outside court when he was accused of sending offending letters to the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan . Mr Watson-Munro noticed his Sydney taxi driver looked upset and ask him if he was 'OK' ‘He said “I work as a taxi driver I’m very frightened someone will kill me today” and my heart went out to him. Whose wouldn't? ‘We pulled over and spoke for half an hour to reassure and calm him down. I said by and large this is an egalitarian and fair country we live in and no one is going to blame him for what happened.’ Mr Watson-Munro said that in his view it’s a ‘terrible event that has resulted in huge tragedy’. The taxi driver thanked him and said ‘it’s so good to know there are good Australians who understand’. Mr Watson-Munro said he hoped ‘one of the lessons coming out of it [the siege] is the need for greater financial resources to go into treating the mentally ill’. In his opinion the actions of 50-year-old Monis, killed in siege, were the actions of ‘random craziness’. ‘I had a bad feeling about it in terms of what were his motives beyond wanting to hold up a flag and talk to Tony Abbott?... I don’t know if it was attention seeking that went majestically wrong.’ After Tessa Kum noticed Rachael Jacobs Facebook status she wrote to those on her regular bus 'wear religious attire, & don’t feel safe alone: I’ll ride with you' Opposition leader Bill Shorten joined the movement, along with South Australian Premier Jay Wetherill . Twitter user Tessa Kum began what has become a worldwide phenomenon, offering to sit next to members of the Islamic faith on transport . Australian Socceroos star Harry Kewell showed his support for the campaign on Twitter . The promises weren't empty offers, with many detailing the routes they travelled on and encouraging others to join them . The unlikely moment of shared grief between a man who has worked as a forensic psychologist on mass murders and a Sydney taxi driver comes after a young Brisbane woman, Rachael Jacobs, posted a moving Facebook status about her encounter with a Muslim woman on Monday. ‘...and the (presumably) Muslim woman sitting next to me on the train silently removes her hijab,’ Ms Jacobs wrote. ‘I ran after her at the train station. I said “put it back on. I'll walk with u”. She started to cry and hugged me for about a minute - then walked off alone.’ The hashtag #illridewithyou had gone viral within hours on social media, as Twitter users from around the country offered to ride public transport with people who feel intimidated by anti-Muslim sentiment. The hashtag was soon picked up by his followers, gaining support from fellow Australians who offered lifts to work, promises of protection, and friendship to anyone feeling threatened . Former Home and Away star Tammin Sursok showed her support for the movement . | Tim Watson-Munro got into a cab in Sydney hours after the siege ended .
He helped analyse gunman Man Haron Monis holding 18 people hostage .
He noticed his bearded taxi driver looked upset and asked if he was 'OK'
'I'm very frightened someone will kill me today,' the driver said .
Mr Watson-Munro counselled the man for half an hour and encourages others to reach out and ask 'are you okay?'
Comes as hashtag #illridewithyou goes viral on social media, .
Twitter users from around the country have offered to ride public transport with people who feel intimidated by anti-Muslim sentiment following siege . |
149,585 | 4d6759844b91342683908169bcec2597b865b6e7 | Thousands of children in a crime-ridden Mexican province are handing in their toy weapons in exchange for less violent alternatives, including footballs and Lego. The campaign is aimed to prevent children growing up to use real guns and curb the violent culture of the area. Pretend guns, swords and rifles - and even real knives - were handed in by children in Nuevo León as part of a government campaign to promote a culture of peace amongst youngsters. Thousands of children took part in a toy gun amnesty in a bid to curb gun violence and promote peace. Pictured, a Mexican girl pictured with a pretend gun . Children were given footballs, baseballs and basketballs to encourage participation in sports as well as yo-yos and building blocks. Patricia Salazar Marroquin, a local official, said the programme would promote peace and remove the incentive for violence in the playground. She told The News: 'These actions remove the incentive for the use of violent games and promote family time in the community.' She added the exchange will generate awareness among children about the negative aspect of the symbolism of violent toys in their daily lives of children and held them find ways to peacefully resolve conflicts. It's not the first time a campaign like this has taken place in Mexico. In Ciudad Juarez in 2011, children were asked to hand in pretend pistols as part of the Children's Festival for Peace. A boy poses with a toy gun outside his home in Monterrey, which has seen a spike in drug-related violence . A school girl poses for a picture while holding a toy gun at a school in Ciudad Juarez in 2011, where pretend pistols were exchanged for non-violent toys as part of the Children's Festival for Peace . Mexico has seen a wave of drug-related violence in recent years. Nuevo León's capital Monterrey, one of the country's wealthiest cities and formerly one of the safest, has seen a spike in cartel violence. In October last year, a 20-year-old cartel assassin admitted killing 45 people, and was linked to 34 other murders. He was caught in Monterrey where he was allegedly selling drugs. The drug war has escalated over the past few years as cartels battle each other for control of smuggling routes in the US. Around 1,000 people a month die in gangland killings in Mexico and about 80,000 people have died since 2007 in drug-related violence. | Campaign aimed to curb violence in crime-ravaged province of Nuevo León .
Pretend guns, swords and rifles and even real knives handed in by kids .
In exchange, handed balls to encourage sports and educational toys .
In recent years, Mexico has seen a wave of drug-related violence . |
127,625 | 30fa60e32716f8ce97bb2d700c2c5c6485e8fa8d | (CNN) -- Eyes trained straight ahead, the 16 young men are as grim-faced as pall-bearers as they carry their respective team's boats down to the river's edge. Weighing on their broad shoulders isn't just a 20-meter vessel -- it's 184 years of tradition, six months of grueling physical training, and a fierce rivalry between two of the most prestigious universities in the world. Welcome to the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race; 6.8 kilometers of sweat, tears, and the occasional sinking in London's River Thames. Almost every year since 1829, the universities' rowing teams have battled it out in arguably the greatest -- and most controversial -- grudge matches in Britain's sporting history. "It's the preeminent student varsity match in the world," Matthew Pinsent, former Oxford rower and four-time Olympic gold medalist, told CNN. "It's unlike any other rowing race -- it's a very long distance over a particularly torturous piece of river." Oxford triumph . Oxford emerged victorious in the 159th edition of the race on Sunday, cruising over the finish line a length-and-a-half ahead of their rivals, under a torrent of jubilant expletives from cox Oskar Zorrilla. It was an emotional win for the team who named their boat after former cox and Olympic silver medalist Acer Nethercott, who died earlier this year from cancer, aged 35. But Oxford, better known as the "dark blues," due to their distinctive uniforms, still trail behind Cambridge's "light blues" in the long history of the race -- 77 to 81. Indeed, giant billboards dotted along the riverbank screamed "Which blue are you?" to the thousands of onlookers who braved smatterings of snow to cheer on the rowers in their 17-minute crusade from Putney to Mortlake. Protest, elitism and wild boar sausages . There was none of the drama of last year, however, when Australian protester Trenton Oldfield brought the race to a standstill after plunging between the boats and narrowly avoiding the pounding oars. The anti-elitism campaigner served seven weeks in prison for the stunt -- though he's admitted if the weather had been this foul in 2012 he might have been more reluctant to dive into the murky Thames. Freezing weather aside, the Royal Marine Commandos weren't taking any chances, arming themselves with thermal imaging equipment as they patrolled the course. It appears that if Oldfield had hoped to discourage the stereotypical Barbour jacket-wearing "hooray-henry" crowd, he failed miserably. Going hand-in-hand with prestige is wealth, and the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race is no exception. Beside the traditional pubs lining the riverbank this weekend were champagne-sponsored soirees and stalls selling wild boar sausages. If any more proof was needed of the race's upper-class flavor, it was surely found in the title sponsor -- global financial services firm BNY Mellon. Elitist? Far from it, argued Cambridge University Boat Club President, George Nash, who instead called the race "the ultimate meritocracy." "You get to the university on your academic merit and you make the team on your rowing merit," he said. "It doesn't matter who your parents are." No pain, no gain . Regardless of its character, there's no disputing the race's reputation as a breeding ground for future Olympians. It regularly attracts the best athletes from across the world -- including U.S. competitors the Winklevoss twins, who rowed for Oxford in 2010 and are perhaps best known as the former business partners of Mark Zuckerberg, who alleged that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them. Training is a grueling commitment which begins in September, and it's estimated that for every stroke made on race day, 600 have been made during practice. An average day will begin at 5am, with competitors training around five-hours-a day, seven-days-a-week. "It's of the highest importance to us -- we sacrifice six months of our lives for 16 minutes," Nash said. "I'd say there's definitely lots of cases where the boat race has caused many a break-up." Tradition rules . Since old school chums Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and Charles Wordsworth, of Oxford, first challenged each other to a rowing race in the early 19th century, the competition has gained legendary status in Britain, attracting millions of TV viewers each year. Fabled stories such as the "1877 dead heat" -- where judge "Honest John" Phelps had his view of the finish line obscured -- add to the almost mythical character of the competition. Tradition continues to loom large in the race which begins with the toss of an 1829 gold coin and ends with throwing the winning cox into the water. Today that strong sense of history sits happily beside state-of-the-art sports equipment and up-to-the-minute media coverage. And while opinion remains divided on its merit -- Telegraph journalist Tom Chivers described the boat race as "fantastically boring" -- there's no denying its enduring place in the nation's history. | Oxford University win 159th edition of prestigious boat race against Cambridge .
The "dark blues" cruise over finish line one-and-a-half lengths ahead of rivals .
Strong military presence ensures there's no repeat of last year's anti-elitist protest .
Tradition and prestige loom large in Britain's greatest grudge match . |
139,615 | 408b2a41810b2e661f712c4799cb07ccc500e2be | By . Dan Bloom for MailOnline . The Only Way is Essex star James Argent has apologised for sparking a police missing person alert when he reportedly went to the 'wrong airport' and vanished for 24 hours. Fears grew for Arg after he failed to turn up for an early-morning flight to Majorca after leaving his family home at 3.30am yesterday in Woodford Green, east London. Scotland Yard issued a public appeal for his whereabouts this morning, 26 hours after he vanished, as fans began a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #PrayForArg. But just three hours later he phoned his father, who told MailOnline he may have turned up at Stansted Airport in Essex while his worried agent waited at Gatwick. Scroll down for video . Sorry: The 26-year-old posted this Twitter update saying he was 'fine and safe' and didn't mean to cause a fuss . Urgent appeal: Scotland Yard released this photo of The Only Way is Essex star James Argent after he was reported missing - but he made contact hours later. His father believes he may have gone to the wrong airport . Missing: James 'Arg' Argent was seen at 3.30am yesterday at his family home in Woodford Green, east London . His father Martin Argent, 58, said today: 'He left the house at 3.30am and was due to meet his agent at the airport just after 5am. 'I think the agent was at Gatwick but he told us he was going to Stansted, so we thought he might have gone to the wrong airport. 'His agent kept ringing and saying "where was he" and we couldn't make contact with him all day long. 'He's now on his way to his next engagement which is in Blackpool. He was only due to be in Majorca for one afternoon. 'We had to report it because his agent was panicking, we were panicking, because we couldn't account for his whereabouts. We tried all his friends and none of them knew where he was. No flight risk: It is thought the star was supposed to meet his agent yesterday at London Gatwick Airport... The only way is Essex: ...But instead may have turned up at Stansted, a smaller airport in his favourite county . Worry: Fans began a #PrayForArg hashtag and Towie co-star Sam Faiers joined in with those hunting for him . 'He's just phoned to say he had trouble with his phone and he's sorry to have caused everyone all this worry. 'We don't know all the detail yet but we're really relieved that we've heard from him and we know that he's okay.' Popular: At one point Arg was the most talked-about topic in the capital. He is now heading to Blackpool . The reality star - nicknamed Arg - was last seen at 3am yesterday as he left for an airport from his home in Woodford Green, east London. Essex Police said they were growing increasingly concerned for the welfare of the 26-year-old, who is often seen in Brentwood and nightclubs in Redbridge but had not made any contact with friends or family since his disappearance. The star is in the process of moving out of his parents' house in Woodford Green to a two-bedroom flat in Chigwell, just three miles away. He was pictured in an emotional hug with his mother Patricia, 53, as he began moving items from where he has lived with her, his 58-year-old father Martin and 24-year-old sister Natasha for more than 20 years. 'I'm moving out into the heart of Chigwell,' he told Reveal magazine. 'It's a two bedroom flat and it's actually in the same block of flats as [co-star Elliott Wright]. I'm really excited; I feel like I've finally made it.' A spokesman for the reality star said before he vanished: 'James Argent left home at 3am on Friday morning to meet his agent at the airport to catch a flight for work abroad. 'When he failed to turn up, he was reported missing by his family who are understandably concerned.' #PrayForArg: James Argent began trending on Twitter today as fans began a campaign to track him down . Flying the nest: At the age of 26, Arg still lives with his mother Patricia, 53 (right) - but is moving to a flat in Chigwell just three miles away and was pictured last month moving his belongings to his car (above) Emotional: Arg gave his mother a hug as he prepared to fly the nest. His father Martin told MailOnline he had no choice but to inform the police as he and Arg's agent had tried everything they could to get hold of him . 3.30am, Friday August 29 . He leaves his parents' house in Woodford Green, east London, to catch a flight for a one-day round trip to work in Majorca. 5.30am . His agent fears for his welfare after he fails to show at the airport, thought to be Gatwick. Evening . Unable to reach him all day, his parents Martin and Patricia sound the alarm. 5.53am, Saturday August 30 . Scotland Yard issues a formal missing person appeal with a photo of Arg. 9am . His father Martin reveals he is safe and well and on his way to Blackpool. 11am . The appeal is removed from the Met's website. Last month Arg and co-star Dan Osborne pulled out of appearances at nightspots in Magaluf after the resort was hit by scandal around a now-infamous sex video. A girl performed sex acts on more than 20 men in two minutes as part of a barcrawl run by Carnage Magaluf, whose website had previously claimed Osborne would be appearing for two weeks this month. Arg's last public appearance was believed to have been on Thursday, August 21, when he took part in the Ice Bucket Challenge wearing a full black suit in London's Leicester Square. He pledged his donation to the Greenfingers charity, which creates gardens for children's hospices, and tweeted: 'I nominate the following for the Ice Bucket Challenge @LydiaRoseBright @debbietowie & @JamesBennewith .U have 24hrs! http://www.justgiving.com/nowgreenfingers.' Arg shot to fame when he joined the Towie cast along with his best friend Mark Wright when the series first aired in 2010. He collected the show's Bafta Audience Award in 2011, amassing 1.4million Twitter followers and appearing on a host of chat shows. In 2012 he ran the London Marathon in just over six hours in aid of Cancer Research. And he is expected to appear in the next season of Towie, due to be aired on new channel ITVBe in October. Good cause: The reality star took part in the Ice Bucket Challenge in London's Leicester Square . Soaking: A crowd gathered as he completed the stunt in aid of the Greenfingers charity . Meme: Within minutes, images had begun linking Arg to serious world events (albeit in fairly poor taste) The reality star, who is best friends with co-star Mark Wright, appeared in series one with his ex-girlfriend Lydia Bright, with whom his romance recently reignited. The couple split two years ago after 26-year-old Arg was accused of cheating on her, and he spent the last series of the show trying to woo her back. Earlier this month Lydia admitted she still had feelings for her former lover. He also bought Lydia a micro pig called Mr Darcy for Christmas in 2011 and took her on a date to visit him in July this year. The 26-year-old dated co-star Gemma Collins in June 2012 but they soon split. Argent began acting and singing in 2002 after winning the coveted Kenny Award at Kenneth More Theatre in Ilford, East London. He also works as a Frank Sinatra-inspired singer. In late 2013 he took part in the first series of the Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Super Spa, along with Helen Flanagan, Rustie Lee, John Burton-Race, Jody Latham and Yvette Fielding. Popular: Arg has 1.4million Twitter followers and his last Tweet on Thursday appealed to co-star Lydia Bright . Ex: Arg previously dated Towie co-star Lydia Bright and they were pictured in recent embrace on the show . Drama: Argent has been a favourite on the Essex-based reality show since its inception in 2010 . A Metropolitan Police spokesman said before he was found: 'His family and friends knew him to be at his home address at the time. 'Obviously he has left home but it is not known where to. It is unusual according to his family and his agent.' Police had described him as white and 'of large build', about 6ft tall with dark hair. At the time of his disappearance he was wearing a blue tracksuit, believed to be a Nike, and was carrying a blue sports bag. Unusual: Most police appeals involve children, the elderly or the mentally ill. James Argent is 26 . Yesterday it emerged the Metropolitan Police has classed four rape cases as 'no crime' - so why did it pour such resources by comparison into finding the reality star? Police have to follow a strict set of guidelines laid down by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) before they issue a public appeal and a photo. Forces receive a huge number of calls - the vast majority of which later turn out to be false alarms. That means some cases have to be 'bumped up' the priority list, especially if they include a fear for someone's welfare, as was the case with the press release regarding James Argent. But officers have been criticised for using the category too readily because fewer checks are needed before making an appeal. The Acpo guidelines say: 'There have been several cases where the Police Service has been criticised for misuse of this category when the correct one should have been missing person. 'It is poor practice to use such a category to avoid the rigours of a full missing person investigation.' Most of the missing person appeals made by the Metropolitan Police recently involved people who were obviously vulnerable in some way. Of the 15 appeals the force has made in the last ten days, just three involved apparently healthy adults. Eight involved children or teenagers and four involved the elderly, or people with autism or dementia. However, police are also duty-bound under the Human Rights Act to 'take reasonable action, within their powers, to safeguard the rights of individuals who may be at risk.' The guidelines add: 'Failure to properly investigate a report of a missing person may leave an individual at risk and the Police Service vulnerable to a legal challenge under either the Human Rights Act or the law relating to negligence. Officers are advised to imagine the worst in every situation. The motto is: 'If in doubt, think murder'. | Arg left east London home at 3am on Friday to catch a flight to Majorca .
He never made it to the airport to meet his agent and family were worried .
Now he has contacted his father - who believes he went to wrong airport .
Agent 'waited at Gatwick while Arg went to Stansted', then his phone broke .
His distraught 1.4million Twitter followers even began #PrayForArg hashtag . |
121,910 | 299837604c7766bec43b78d9a03e7705c74cd558 | When the tearful broadcaster broke the news to North Koreans that their leader, Kim Jong Il, had died, the audience in the hall gasped. Then the hysterics began, along with the bawling and sobbing. "Father!" mourners cried. A wailing woman pounded her fist against her chest to signify heartache. Some appeared to go into physical convulsions. Other North Koreans sobbed so hard, they barely maintained their balance. "Our leader endured all the hardships," one mourner told state-run Korean Central News Agency in a televised interview. "I can't believe it. Our leader, he's still with us." Even the reporter holding KCNA's microphone bowed his head and trembled. In North Korean media videos viewed by CNN, people wept in fitful, theatrical proportions. Whether the mass grieving was genuine is up to debate. Cultures grieve differently. For instance, in South Korea, it's acceptable to express sorrow vocally, said Sung-Yoon Lee, a research fellow at the National Asia Research Program. But North Korea presents a unique case. "It's such a regimented, uniform society, people are conditioned from their early years to praise and adore their leader," he said. "The passing of their leader would be an indication to grieve properly so they are not to be stigmatized by failing to grieve properly. There are always people watching you -- if you are not devastated by the news, you may get in trouble." While some may exaggerate, for others the grief is authentic, Lee said. "I think there would be great deal of sincerity, because they're so programmed and conditioned and have an incentive to outperform their families, neighbors in grieving properly," he said. "North Koreans are raised to praise their leader, as are Christians for God. For North Koreans, it's part of the rhetoric to thank the fatherly leader. For them to learn the death of a near God-like leader, it certainly has an emotional reaction." When TV cameras approached the North Korean grievers, some of them were so overwhelmed they could barely utter coherent sentences. "If it's a public figure that has died, everybody has the illusion that they know that person or were at some point connected to them," said Darcie Sims, a grief management specialist and director of the American Grief Academy in Seattle. "Mass hysteria soon occurs and is very contagious. When we see people do things in large groups, it spreads like wildfire. It only takes a few people, and the reactions spread amongst the population." North Koreans interviewed on state television thanked Kim for everything, including trains, theaters and even their warm homes. Many seemed to refuse to believe he was dead. The public mourning illustrates the grip of Kim's power, said Scott Atran, director of research and anthropology at the French National Center for Scientific Research and psychology professor at the University of Michigan. To stay in power, many dictators identify and play upon their people's fears. After a history of occupation by other Asian powers, Kim and his father relied on their motto of self-sufficiency, called "juche," to justify the country's reclusive nature. Because of this philosophy, which barred outside perspectives, Atran said people in North Korea "had no alternative view of reality." It also helped that the Kims controlled the police and military. Atran said he believes North Koreans' weeping is "absolutely sincere. They're clearly emotionally tied up with the dictator." "We're used to some extent of institutionalized criticism, an opposition, and in these countries, there isn't anything. There is uniform control of information. The only information comes from the political leadership in ways it desires. That's your world -- you see the world of threat and fear, and the dictator poses as the way out of it." Atran compared the reaction to Kim's death to Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's passing in 1975. "The place where his support was, there was mass mourning and hysteria at his death," he said. Drawing another historical comparison, Lee said he recalled when Kim's father, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994. "The level of grief, we hear from North Korean defectors, was that the North Korean people had general admiration for the father because he had revolutionary credentials," Lee said. "The North Koreans did not go through a famine under the elder Kim." Nevertheless, mourners were effusive in their praise for Kim Jong Il on the state-run television station. "He has loved us so much. We weren't able to repay him," one mourner said. Another said, "It's too much! It's too much! Leader, please come back. ... You cannot leave us. We will always wait for you, leader." | North Korean TV shows hysterical reaction to Kim Jong Il's death .
But the genuineness of people's grieving is up to debate .
In state TV interviews, devastated North Koreans thank Kim for homes, trains, amenities .
"If you are not devastated by the news, you may get in trouble," one analyst says . |
213,071 | 9fef44e98d577fd1e39074baefde8118592ded3c | (CNN) -- A Frenchman was captured among jihadists fighting international forces in northern Mali and is being extradited to France, the French defense minister said Friday. French forces are dealing with "determined terrorists" in Mali, said Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian, speaking to French radio station Europe 1 from the African nation's capital, Bamako. Mali: The long, troubled desert road ahead . And the presence of the French citizen among them, as well as a French-Algerian man who was arrested last weekend, demonstrates how northern Mali had become a magnet for extremists, he said. "This shows that there existed a kind of terrorist war network, which would welcome young people in search of a radical destiny, as some have done in Afghanistan or Syria," he told the radio station. The French-Algerian man, who was sought by French police, was detained by Malian officers in northern Mali, Le Drian said. He was extradited Thursday to France, he said. Read more: What's behind the instability in Mali? "We knew that this part of Mali was potentially the sanctuary of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. We were not mistaken, this is the case," Le Drian said. "We are dealing with determined terrorists, who are heavily armed and who are waging significant battles and inflicting major damage." Islamist extremists carved out a large haven in northern Mali last year, taking advantage of a chaotic situation after a military coup by the separatist party MNLA. The militants banned music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television. They also destroyed historic tombs and shrines. French involvement in the conflict began on January 11, the day after militants said they had seized the city of Konna, east of Diabaly in central Mali, and were poised to advance south toward Bamako, the capital. Nearly 4,000 French soldiers are now deployed in Mali, according to the French Defense Ministry website, alongside about 6,300 troops from Chad and the African-led International Support Mission to Mali. Q&A: What's behind the instability in Mali? In the past few weeks, French and African forces have helped Malian troops drive the militants out of their strongholds in the north, including cities like Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu. Some of their number are believed to now to be hiding out in remote mountains near the border with Algeria. French troops are continuing to "comb" through the Adrar des Ifoghas Mountains for the militants, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday, and are keeping a strong presence in Gao, where "important pockets of terrorist groups remain." France is using DNA tests to identify the Islamist fighters killed in recent battles in northern Mali, Fabius said. Those tests could establish whether Moktar Belmoktar or Abdelhamid Abou Zeid -- two men who have been major forces in al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- are among the dead, as has been suggested by others but not confirmed by France. France will begin to reduce its troop levels in Mali next month in an effort to have West African forces, with the support of the United Nations, take over and maintain security in the country, Fabius said. | A Frenchman found among jihadists in Mali is being extradited, French official says .
His arrest follows that of a French-Algerian man last weekend, he tells French radio .
Defense minister: Northern Mali has been a sanctuary for al Qaeda-linked terrorists .
Nearly 4,000 French troops are deployed in Mali, alongside 6,300 from an African-led force . |
247,739 | cc947b3c5608e967ec0057390ea275ba063d6856 | UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Russia will not sign off on a proposed United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire with Georgia, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday. An Ossetian woman cries on Monday during a funeral in Tskhinvali. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the proposed U.N. resolution, drafted by French officials, was lacking in a "serious number" of areas. "I can't see us accepting this French draft of this resolution," Churkin told reporters late Monday. "We will look at the draft and try to bring it to a standard where it can play a role in this." Russia's rejection of the U.N. resolution came on the eve of stepped-up efforts by the international community to resolve the conflict. French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive in Moscow Tuesday for talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the crisis. One of the issues Churkin mentioned was that the draft resolution did not mention Georgian "aggression" in South Ossetia. Russia argues that it is acting in response to a Georgian attack on South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian territory whose separatist government is backed by Moscow. As one of five permanent members of the Security Council, Russia could veto any resolution. The draft -- backed by the United States and the other European members of the U.N. Security Council -- included calls for an immediate cease-fire between Russia and Georgia, a complete withdrawal of Russian and Georgian forces and participation in mediation. In Washington on Monday, U.S. President George Bush said Russia's attacks against Georgia have "substantially damaged Russia's standing in the world." Bush also warned Russia against trying to depose Georgia's government, saying evidence suggests Russia may be preparing to do so. "Russia must reverse the course it appears to be on and accept this peace agreement as a first step in resolving this conflict," Bush said outside the White House. Russia said its military operations are peacekeeping after a Georgian attack on South Ossetia, where Moscow already had peacekeepers operating. Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said Monday he had signed an internationally brokered cease-fire proposal that was to be taken next to Moscow. Saakashvili said the cease-fire proposal would be taken to Moscow on Monday by the French Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. Stubb said they had a proposal that included a "forceful way forward" to a cease-fire and withdrawal plan. A Georgian National Security Council official said the document signed by Saakashvili called for an unconditional cease-fire, a non-use of force agreement, a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory, including the South Ossetia region and provisions for international peacekeeping and mediation. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke by telephone Monday with most of the foreign ministers belonging to the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations about the conflict. The G-8 consists of the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia. Russia, which officially joined the group in 1998, was absent from Monday's discussions. The ministers reiterated their support for Georgian sovereignty and called for a diplomatic solution, Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters. Rice and the ministers voiced deep concern for growing civilian casualties and pressed Russia to accept the cease-fire proposal. Watch Russia blame Georgia for the crisis » . The United States hoped the Security Council would pass a "strong" resolution that "makes the point that these attacks have to stop," Wood said. "We want to see the Russians stand down." Watch George W. Bush condemn bombings » . The ministers with whom Rice spoke endorsed mediation efforts led by Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, and Stubb, whose country holds the chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday slammed the "cynicism" of Western leaders who have expressed support for Georgia in the conflict. "The scale of cynicism is surprising and the skill to present white as black and black as white. The trick to present the aggressor as the victim of an aggression and to place the responsibly for the effects on the victims," Putin said. | NEW: French President Nicolas Sarkozy due in Moscow Tuesday for talks .
Draft of U.N. resolution for cease-fire is lacking, Russian diplomat says .
Georgian president signs internationally brokered cease-fire proposal .
Moscow says its military operations are peacekeeping . |
254,738 | d5be31d4a44a32951541c1ee8c6aa5f803c1535d | It was a close call for a New Zealand camerman when he luckily avoided being sprayed by lava while filming an active volcano in Vanuatu. Bradley Ambrose was at the Marum lava lake on Ambrym Island - known for having one of the world's most active volcanoes. Footage shows Mr Ambrose filming on the edge of the volcano as the boiling lava bursts out and over the camerman. Bradley Ambrose was at the Marum lava lake on Ambrym Island - known for having one of the world's most active volcanoes . It was a close call for a New Zealand camerman when he luckily avoided being sprayed by lava while filming an active volcano in Vanuatu . Footage shows Mr Ambrose filming on the edge of the volcano as the boiling lava bursts out and over the camerman . Mr Ambrose uploaded his footage on YouTube on Sunday, saying he was 'extremely lucky to not have had a large one hit'. 'That was probably my closest call ever to being completely covered in lava bombs,' he said in the video. 'I was filming on the edge when an extremely large pulse of gas just came out and caused a huge lava splatter that basically covered this entire area. 'I was in the middle of it. I just ran. 'There's not one shot that's worth that so I'm going to back off and get some more protective gear on.' The footage further shows the splatter of lava and lapilli landing around Mr Ambrose. He says he previously measured the temperature of the lava ejections to be between 600 to 800 degrees Celsius. | Bradley Ambrose was at Marum lava lake on Ambrym Island - known for one of the world's most active volcanoes .
He films on the edge of the volcano as the boiling lava bursts out and over the camerman .
Mr Ambrose says the temperature of the lava at the volcano measures between 600-800 degrees Celsius . |
134,631 | 3a1e31589029a4e02237a8a5069926bb8c6f464e | Building a house from scratch, even a tiny one, is not for the faint of heart, but 14-year-old Sicily Kolbeck has proven she has what it takes to see her passion project through against overwhelming odds. Kolbeck, from Marietta, Georgia, started work on her diminutive dwelling, lovingly dubbed La Petite Maison, when she was 12. At the time, the girl was searching for an outside-the-box idea for a school project when she stumbled upon a sizable online community of DIY builders specializing in downsized homes. Scroll down for video . Welcome home: This is 14-year-old Sicily Kolbeck's finished 128-sqaure-foot home, complete with a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom . Labor of love: Sicily started work on her building project with her father when she was 12, but took a break after her dad's untimely passing last February . Sicily had no construction experience beyond re-purposing a large TV box as a playhouse for herself, but her father, Dane, volunteered to help, CNN reported. Her mother, Suzannah Kolbeck, who was also her teacher and the founder of her school, signed up as Sicily's project manager, but the girl was to act as the chief architect, builder and fundraiser on the project. Sicily got the project off the ground by launching an online fundraising campaign in January 2013. Within less than a month, the middle-schooler reached - and then exceeded - her $1,500 goal. 'My decision to build a tiny house was partly economic, partly the desire to be free,' Sicily Kolbeck wrote in the description. 'Building a tiny house can give me stability, possibly for the rest of my life if I build the house well. Tough guy: Dane Kolbeck, pictured left with his daughter, was a sailor by trade and a woodworking enthusiast . Special helper: While Sicily was the main architect and builder, her father assisted her with blueprints and power tools . 'Building a house would give me the life skills that really matter, such as using tools for construction. Building the house I can know what labors go into a home and truly appreciate what I am living in.' Around the same time, Sicily launched the blog La Petite Maison to offer updates on her progress. The . 12-year-old and her father, a sailor and woodworking enthusiast, got . down to work, drawing blueprints for her future dwelling and erecting . a birdhouse and scale models for practice. After . some initial growing pains, the father-and-team team got the hang of . working together, with Dane Kolbeck learning how to restrain himself and . allow his daughter to do it her way. On . her part, the plucky 12-year-old quickly picked up the construction . jargon from her dad and learned how to safely use his power tools. Then on February 16, everything ground to a halt: Sicily’s father was killed in a car accident. As . her mother wrote on her daughter's blog two months later, Dane's . untimely passing caused Sicily to lose interest in the project. Dream team: Sicily pictured with her late father, Dane, who taught her the basics of construction and using power tools . Picking up the pieces: A couple of months after the car accident that killed Sicily's dad, the girl immersed herself into the building project with the help of friends and DIY enthusiasts . Learning on the job: The middle-schooler went from a building neophyte to a real pro around drills and jigsaws . But under the guidance of her father's long-time friend and professional homebuilder, Luke Bair, Sicily once again immersed herself into her work on the tiny house, which now took on a deeper meaning for the grieving middle-schooler. The family and their friends made their way to a local Home Depot for supplies, revamped the blueprints and picked up where Sicily and Dane left off all these months ago. Not before long, Sicily and her mother were overwhelmed with support from loved ones and neighbors who would stop by the house to lend a hand with the myriad of tasks that go into building a house. But Dane Kolbeck's passing left a profound mark on Sicily: she was sullen and distracted in school, no longer as engaged in softball as before and lacking zest for life. To get away from it all, Suzannah and Sicily went on a five-week road trip, staying with friends in the mid-Atlantic region and enjoying long drives, just the two of them. When they returned home in time for the start of a new school semester, Sicily made up her mind to finish what she and her dad had started. Downsized: The cozy home features the bare necessities, including a loft bedroom big enough to fit a queen-size bed and storage space . This time, however, the now-13-year-old aspiring builder appealed to the boarder community, from other tiny-home aficionados on Facebook to experts and friends eager to pitch in. Many people volunteered their time, among them a roofer who put a top on Sicily’s humble abode free of charge; a retiree who instructed her in the art of wiring the house, and other homebuilders who showed Sicily how to plumb her kitchen and bathroom. What started as a school project over time blossomed into a 128-square-foot labor of love, as well as a tribute to Sicily’s father. Despite her tender age, Sicily Kolbeck showed everyone that she was dedicated to the project and determined to see it to completion, putting in long hours, navigating challenges and problem-solving on the fly like a seasoned pro. ‘It wasn't until later ... probably these past couple months that I realized why I'm doing this,’ Sicily said. ‘I'm doing it to show him that I can do stuff, to show him that I am capable and he doesn't need to yell at me when I can't use the drill.’ Last December, Sicily traveled to New Orleans to give a speech at a TEDYouth conference, talking to other teens about the joys and challenges of tiny-home construction - and healing. It takes a village: With the help of experts and staff at a Georgia Home Dept, Sicily learned how to plumb her tiny kitchen and wire the house . home on wheels: When Sicily and her mother move to Maryland this summer, her house will be coming with them . Around the same time, she was asked to pen a first-person account about her experiences for the Huffington Post. ‘Sometimes when people get a hard knock, they stay down. I didn't. That's my claim to fame,’ she wrote. ‘I also wanted to show that when I was handed lemons, I not only made lemonade. I made a lemon cake. And I ate it. And it was delicious.’ Last month, Sicily announced on her blog that her wooden masterpiece boasting a bedroom, fully functioning kitchen and bathroom, a closet and storage cubbyholes, was finally finished. From start to finish, it took Sicily and her many helpers a year-and-a-half of labor and $10,000 to get the job done. The charming little bungalow painted royal blue with a white trim for now sits in the Kolbecks' backyard in Marietta. When the family move to Baltimore this summer, Sicily’s house will travel with them. The girl, now 14 years old, is already thinking of her next makeover project: rebuilding a rickety, old Volkswagen Beetle. | It took Sicily Kolbeck, of Georgia, a year and a half of labor and $10,000 to build the 128-square-foot bungalow with a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom .
Sicily lost her father, Dane Kolbeck, in a car accident a month after construction began .
She plans to take her tiny dwelling to Baltimore when the family move there in the summer . |
124,103 | 2c6be41e17b7809d1a6b9f1b7c342bf592819c8a | By . Emma Thomas . PUBLISHED: . 14:14 EST, 11 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:32 EST, 11 December 2013 . Passengers were left stranded on a plane for more than seven hours after fog caused huge disruption to flights. The British Airways flight was due to leave Copenhagen, Denmark, at 10.15am UK time and the one and a half hour flight would have meant passengers should have touched down in the UK at about 11.45am. After the travellers boarded the plane, they sat on the tarmac for three hours because of the adverse weather conditions. Wrong airport: The BA flight to Heathrow was eventually forced to land at Manston Airport in Kent . Torchlight: Travellers were shown off the plane by torchlight and then ushered onto a bus or offered hotel accommodation for the night . Diverted: It was eventually forced to land at Manston Airport in Kent but the nightmare for passengers didn¿t end there as they were not allowed off the plane . It eventually took off from the Danish capital, at 1.24pm UK time but when it tried to land at Heathrow, there were more problems. After circling the airport for 40 minutes, the passengers were told their landing slot was in three hours’ time but there wasn’t enough fuel for the plane to keep circling. It was eventually forced to land at Manston Airport in Kent but the nightmare for passengers didn’t end there as they were not allowed off the plane because there were no BA staff there. Food on the aircraft ran out and the staff stopped serving drinks as the passengers were held on board. One 28-year-old woman was returning from a business trip. Tweets: Frustrated tweeter Lady Neemo took to the social networking site to vent her anger . She said: ‘It is really frustrating. A lot of people missed appointments, there are people who had to rearrange people picking up their children, someone missed a wedding. It is shambolic. ‘We sat on the ground for two hours at Manston and we ran out of food. They stopped offering drinks but we were not allowed off the plane. ‘There has been no information about forward travel arrangements from Manston and we have been told our luggage is going to Heathrow.’ The management consultant took to Twitter, using the hashtag #letmeoffthisplane, to vent her frustrations at being held on the flight. ‘I was meant to be at work at about . midday,’ she added, ‘It is an absolutely full flight. Knowing there . would be some delays, why didn’t they plan in advance?’ Passengers were taken off the flight at Manston and told they could either stay in a hotel overnight and then fly to Heathrow in the morning or carry on their journey by land and then make claims against the company. Plane: The British Airways flight was due to leave Copenhagen, Denmark, at 10.15am UK time and the one and a half hour flight would have meant passengers should have touched down in the UK at about 11.45am . The plane had to stay at Manston due to the fog and air traffic control conditions. Passengers were taken off the plane in batches of 20 and say the captain had to show them down onto the tarmac by torchlight. They were then taken by bus to London or offered hotel accommodation. A spokesman for British Airways said: 'As a result of thick fog at Heathrow, Gatwick and London City airports, Air Traffic Control has imposed safety restrictions on how many aircraft can land at the airport each hour. 'We are therefore experiencing some delays to services. 'We are sorry for the inconvenience caused by the poor weather, We are all doing all we can to rebook customers whose flights have been cancelled or giving them full refunds. 'Due to the thick fog at Heathrow the BA813 flight from Copenhagen to Heathrow had to divert to Manston airport and will continue its flight to Heathrow tomorrow morning. 'We are sorry for the inconvenience and our crew cared for our customers who have been offered options including overnight hotel accommodation before flying to Heathrow in the morning or continuing their journey using ground transport and making individual claims to the company.' | British Airways flight due to leave Copenhagen, Denmark, at 10.15am .
Sat on tarmac for three hours before take off .
Passengers told there was not enough fuel to meet landing slot .
Flight BA813 diverted to Manston Airport in Kent .
Travellers left sitting on plane for hours as food ran out . |
4,767 | 0daac4874ffe15bb4675d3e1ec2a388c0091531a | (CNN) -- NASA said Wednesday that it is collaborating with recording artist Mary J. Blige to encourage girls and young women to pursue careers by studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- collectively known as STEM. A public service announcement featuring shuttle astronaut Leland Melvin and Blige will begin running this week on NASA TV and on the agency's website. The campaign is part of NASA's Summer of Innovation program, which also is working with Blige's Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, the space agency said. The NASA program, part of the president's Educate to Innovate Campaign, started this summer with the aim of engaging middle school students in science-related activities during the summer break. Working with Blige's foundation provides "a rare opportunity" for it to reach "communities not always readily accessible to us," Melvin said in a news release. "Mary's presence can help NASA make the STEM message more appealing to these communities and increase the pipeline of underrepresented students going into these disciplines," he said. High school participants in Blige's foundation are working with the NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy project at York College of the City University of New York, the space agency said. In addition to being prepared to deliver NASA content to middle school students this summer, they will have the opportunity to support the NASA academy's fall academic session as student aides for grades one through nine, it said. | NASA collaborating with recording artist Mary J. Blige .
A public service announcement begins running this week on NASA TV .
The collaboration encourages women to reach for the stars . |
124,712 | 2d2ea25bb33910b43276459cf8585f608490cf94 | By . Emma Innes . PUBLISHED: . 04:37 EST, 5 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:37 EST, 5 April 2013 . NICE is considering recommending that patients and staff are banned from smoking in hospital grounds . Staff, patients and relatives should all be banned from smoking in the grounds of hospitals, according to new guidance from the NHS watchdog. The ‘no concessions’ policy on smoking would see the removal of . smoking shelters from hospital grounds. Staff should also be disciplined if . they smoke at work or at any other time when they . could be identified as an NHS employee, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance says. The organisation is considering the draft recommendations in an attempt to encourage hospital bosses to put an end to the sight of patients in hospital gowns smoking outside medical centres. The guidance, which will not be compulsory, also suggests that patients who wish to smoke should be given nicotine . patches and gum and informed in writing that smoking at the hospital is banned. Relatives of patients wishing to smoke they should be sold nicotine replacement in hospital shops to discourage them. Until now NICE recommended that the NHS should ‘seek to promote not smoking as the norm’. NICE is also encouraging hospitals to provide patients with information on the dangers of smoking. This will include advising them not to smoke near other patients, pregnant women, women with children or while at home or in a car. Hospitals will also be told to offer people who want to stop smoking a referral to a stop smoking adviser. Mike Kelly, director of the NICE Centre for Public Health, said: ‘The benefits of stopping smoking are well known, and people are already required by law not to smoke inside enclosed or mostly enclosed buildings. ‘This draft guidance sets out . proposals on supporting people in a hospital environment not to smoke, . as well as supporting the smoke-free policies in hospitals. The watchdog also says that hospitals should deal with patients who wish to smoke by giving them nicotine patches and gum . ‘Secondary care providers have a responsibility to protect the health of people who use or work in their services. ‘The draft recommendations propose that this duty of care should also cover providing advice on how to improve health, including stop smoking interventions.’ The draft proposals will now be the subject of a two month consultation. Treating smoking-related illnesses is estimated to cost the NHS £2.7 billion each year. Smoking is the main cause of preventable illness and premature death in England. A wide range of diseases and conditions are caused by smoking, including cancers, respiratory diseases, heart and other circulatory diseases. | NHS should adopt a 'no concessions' policy on smoking, according to draft guidance from NICE .
Smoking shelters should be removed from hospitals and staff disciplined for smoking in uniform .
Patients and their relatives should be offered nicotine gum and patches instead . |
90,396 | 004ab01063247aa6c4c28dedf82af6e228c558b3 | By . Associated Press . and Daily Mail . PUBLISHED: . 05:51 EST, 26 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:05 EST, 26 December 2013 . A New Jersey suburb was the scene of a second shooting murder, less than 24 hours after three men died and two were wounded in a nightclub slaying. Two teens were killed and one youth was wounded on Christmas Day night in a shooting in the city's South Ward. A 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy were fatally shot in an apparent double homicide. University Hospital in Newark where the victims were taken . The shooting took place not far from Route 78 and the Irvington border police say. The unidentified teens were both pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark. A third young victim is in critical but stable condition. Visibly distraught, about a dozen family members and friends gathered in the hospital seeking information on the third victim near the trauma centre's emergency room. The hospital also received victims of a Christmas Eve shooting at a bar that left three men dead and two others wounded. Authorities say the shooting occurred at about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday at Slick's Go Go Bar in Irvington at Nye Avenue and 21st street. The shooting occurred outside Sick Rick's go go in New Jersey . Slick's is located in an industrial area a few blocks from the Garden State Parkway. A witness tells WABC-TV in New York that shots erupted after a fight broke out on the steps of the club. He says about 100 people were at Slick's at the time. NJ.com reports that police say two or more suspects were trying to enter the nightclub and that the bouncer denied entry because he found a gun on one of the suspects after patting him down. After the bouncer discovered the gun, the suspect stepped back and shot the bouncer. The bouncer died of his injuries. The shooter then shot and killed a man who was related to Slick's owner. The third man who died was thought to somehow be related to the suspects but it is unclear as to whether or not he was shot by security or accidentally by another party. Initial reports indicated that police were looking for a grey sedan that fled the scene. No arrests were immediately announced. The names of the men who were killed haven't been released, nor has the condition of the two who were wounded. The two wounded at the scene were rushed to University Hospital in Newark. According to NJ.com Slick's was hosting a theme party called 'Sluddie Tuesday.' There have been a few shootings at Slick's in the past few years including one shooting in 2010 that left one man dead. The shooting is currently under investigation by Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and Irvington Police Director Joseph Santiago said the Irvington Police and the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force. | A third teenager is critically ill in hospital following attack .
Hospital also received victims of Christmas Eve shooting .
Teens pronounced dead but have not been identified yet . |
58,087 | a4a6e51c99a793107c077c444732559b10b88492 | Whether you're a wine connoisseur or malt whisky lover, the state you live in could reveal far more about your drinking habits than you might expect. Those living in Delaware, Washington and Massachusetts, for instance, are the nation's biggest boozers, according to a survey of their tweets. Overall, Washington D.C. had the most tweets per capita about wine and beer, and they also had the second most tweets about liquor. In terms of alcohol related tweets, Delaware tops the list, following by D.C, Massachusetts, Nevada and Rhode Island. As a nation, the US enjoyed talking about beer and malt liquor far more than they do about wine . However, when it came to announcing abusive behaviours – such as getting drunk or 'crunk' – Washington didn't even get into the top five. That unfavourable distinction went to New Jersey. Meanwhile, the South – often portrayed in media as the beer-drinking capital of America – had only three states that ranked in the top 10 for beer tweets. In fact, it's the only region in the U.S. that prefers hard liquor to beer and malt liquor, according to the survey. The data was compiled by California-based addition helpline, Project Know, who wanted to raise awareness of the US' drinking problem. Click on your state to see how much its residents loves alcohol... The research also shows 31 per cent of men drink to get drunk compared to only 21 per cent of women. Age is a factor as well, with 40 per cent of college students reporting they drink to get drunk - or 'crunk' To find out more about drinking habits around the country, the team surveyed more than 1,000 people and analysed 450,000 tweets about beer, liquor, wine, and drinking. [While regional preferences for alcohol type may vary widely, the phenomenon of alcohol abuse is a nationwide issue . As well as the types of alcohol consumers, the research also shows 31 per cent of men drink to get drunk compared to only 21 per cent of women. Age is a factor as well, with 40 per cent of college students reporting they drink to get drunk. Hard liquor is the strongly preferred choice of college students (66 per cent), but beer is the overall preferred drink of Americans. The survey also found that 25 per cent of men have taken 'shower beers', and 13 per cent of women admit to doing the same. A 'shower beer' is better you take into the shower when you're in a hurry to go out or want to relax from a long day. According to the American Council for Drug Education (ACDE) around 10 to 15 million people in the United States can be classified as alcoholics. The statistics show that alcohol dependence will affect 17 per cent of men and eight per cent of women at some point in their lives. The survey discovered that the South – often portrayed in media as the beer-drinking capital of America – had only three states that ranked in the top 10 for beer tweets. In fact, it's the only region in the U.S. that prefers hard liquor to beer and malt liquor, according to research . When it came to tweeting about drinking, the residents of the District of Columbia were the most eager to let you know what they were drinking on social media. They had the most tweets per capita in the wine and beer categories, and they had the second most tweets about liquor (pictured) The survey also found that 25 per cent of men have taken 'shower beers', and 13 per cent of women admit to doing the same.A 'shower beer' is better you take into the shower when you're in a hurry to go out or want to relax from a long day. Delaware topped the list for drinking games, according to Twitter trends . While Washington D.C and Massachusetts may be famous for loving wine, they also are the biggest beer and malt-liquor drinkers. On average, there are 41 tweets on the drinks each year for every 100,000 residents . The nation's wine lovers can be found in Washington, D.C., Rhode Island, California, Oregon and Massachusetts. Residents of these areas tend to tweet more about their love of wine than anyone else . | Washington had the most tweets about wine and beer, and the second most tweets about liquor .
But when it came to announcing they were getting drunk, or 'crunk', New Jersey came out top .
The South had only three states that ranked in the top 10 for beer tweets and preferred hard liquor .
A quarter of US men have taken 'shower beers', and 13 per cent of women admit to doing the same . |
187,536 | 7edbbf65c11b7d26b3808bf24b2a2e1bf64568d1 | By . Deni Kirkova . PUBLISHED: . 09:31 EST, 2 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:31 EST, 2 April 2013 . It was once a skill we all took for granted, but now it appears fewer than one in ten young people can change a plug. Only eight per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds now say they could confidently rewire a plug without help or instruction, according to new research. Moreover, only five per cent of young people would be confident unblocking a sink, while only six per cent said they would be happy to bleed a radiator. Where does this wire go? Just 8 per cent of young people in the UK are confident enough to rewire a plug . An inept 17 per cent said they wouldn't even be confident hanging a picture, with only 12 per cent vowing themselves capable of using a power drill. Just four per cent said they could put up wallpaper, and more than a fifth (21 per cent), doubted their own ability to assemble flat-pack furniture. A spokesperson from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, who conducted the survey, said: 'In the past electrical goods came without a plug attached so it was necessary to know how to wire one. 'Now though our toasters and TVs come with the plugs already fitted so it seems wiring one is becoming something of a lost skill. 'The Easter weekend is traditionally a time to tackle DIY tasks but it seems young people are content to sit back and let Dad take the strain. Let’s hope future generations don’t lose the skills their fathers and grandfathers took for granted.' Left a bit...: An inept 17 per cenr said they wouldn't even be confident in hanging up a picture up . One man said: 'I still have to ring up my Dad for DIY help. I can just about manage to put a bookshelf together' (picture posed by model) One young man who took part in the survey said: 'I still have to ring up my Dad for DIY help. I can just about manage to put a bookshelf together, but for anything more complicated I need his help. 'It’s not the end of the world that I’m unable to do certain DIY tasks, I mean, if it weren’t for people like me there’d be no work for plumbers and electricians.' A woman who took part commented: 'It’s very unattractive in a man not to be able to do simple jobs round the house. Although I have to admit if there is a DIY task I can’t do my first response is to reach for the internet.' Pretty as a picture: While only 12 per cent can use a power drill, women say they find men not able to do simple DIY unattractive . | Over 90% of 18-25-year-olds cannot change a plug with confidence .
One fifth can't hang a picture, and only 5% would unblock a sink .
Women say it's 'very unattractive for a man not to be able to do simple jobs'
Male participants say they ring parents for DIY help, women look online . |
74,519 | d33c7848b1931736e4a62af6fa8dbb26a2450e20 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . and Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 09:45 EST, 14 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 10:05 EST, 14 January 2014 . Reverting back: Bruce Burns, a Republican state senator in Wyoming, said that if the chemicals used in lethal injections are not available, the state should use firing squads . A Wyoming lawmaker is pushing to allow use of the firing squad to execute condemned state inmates if there are ever any issues that prevent the state from securing lethal injections. Republican state senator Bruce Burns said Monday that state law currently calls for using a gas chamber if lethal injection is unavailable. 'The state of Wyoming doesn't have a gas chamber currently, an operating gas chamber, so the procedure and expense to build one would be impractical to me,' said Burns, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. 'I consider frankly the gas chamber to be cruel and unusual, so I went with firing squad because they also have it in Utah.' He's introduced the bill for consideration in the legislative session that starts February 10 in Cheyenne. 'One of the reasons I chose firing squad as opposed to any other form of execution is because frankly it's one of the cheapest for the state,' Burns said. 'The expense of building a gas chamber I think would be prohibitive when you consider how many people would be executed by it, and even the cost of gallows.' Burns said his bill addressed the possibility that the state could have to find a substitute for using lethal injection because a number of states are running short of the chemicals used for lethal injection. Modern day firing squad: This is the execution chamber at Utah State Prison where a firing squad lines up and kills the seated prisoner . What remains: Four of the bullet holes from the killing of Ronnie Lee Gardner on June 18, 2010 are seen in the wood . In Missouri, for example, the state auditor is undertaking a probe of the Missouri Department of Corrections over its use of a new death penalty drug. That state for years had used a three-drug blend to perform executions until pharmaceutical companies stopped selling those drugs to prisons. Missouri has executed two inmates in recent months using the sedative pentobarbital and plans a third execution later this month. The drug comes from a compounding pharmacy in Oklahoma not licensed to do business in Missouri. In line: Wyoming's only inmate currently on death row is Dale Wayne Eaton, 68, who is challenging the constitutionality of the death sentence he received in 2004 for the rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana . The pace of inmate executions is much slower in Wyoming, which has only one inmate on death row and last executed an inmate in 1992. Inmate Dale Wayne Eaton, 68, is challenging the constitutionality of the death sentence he received in 2004 for the rape and murder of 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana. The Wyoming Supreme Court already has upheld Eaton's conviction, but a federal court has put the execution on hold for the past several years while it considers his appeal. Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Monday he believes Wyoming could face constitutional challenges if it tried to use the firing squad as its only method of execution. Dieter said Utah has offered inmates the choice of being executed by firing squad but said the state is phasing out the punishment. He said mandating the use of the firing squad if lethal injection were unavailable, as Burns seeks to do, would be a different matter. 'That I think would raise concerns in the federal courts, perhaps the state courts, about whether and unusual, perhaps a cruel and unusual punishment is being inflicted,' Dieter said. 'I don't know how the ultimate ruling would come down, but I think there would be delays as that case got considered and it might even go up to the Supreme Court. This would be unusual. This is not what Utah has done.' Running into problems: A number of states have had problems securing the chemicals used in lethal injections so Burns said that he thought firing squads- like those used in Utah- were the next most humane option . | Republican state senator Bruce Burns believes that gas chambers are less humane than firing squads and would cost too much to build .
Comes as many states are having problems getting the rare chemicals needed to perform lethal injections .
Utah has an operating firing squad room used to kill death row inmates . |
236,258 | bdd2192d8d11fc21d11d349ab1c566dc96e8a375 | JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Blasts of heavy machine-gun fire and explosions from airstrikes filled the air in Gaza early Sunday morning, hours after Israel rolled thousands of troops into the Palestinian territory. Israeli soldiers on the Israeli-Gaza border wait to enter Gaza on Saturday night. At least four Palestinians have been killed as a direct result of the ground assault, Palestinian medical sources said, bringing the death toll in Gaza to 460 since the conflict erupted December 27. The ground assault followed a weeklong campaign of airstrikes in what Israel says is an offensive to halt rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza. "We want to create a situation where the civilian population in southern Israel is no longer on the receiving end of those deadly Hamas rockets," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN. "We haven't articulated regime change as the goal of this operation. Our goal is to protect our people," Regev said. Israeli officials say four people have been killed and 59 wounded in Hamas rocket attacks in the past week. As night fell on the eighth day of the bloody conflict, both sides remained defiant, vowing to stand their ground and accusing the other of breaking a cease-fire that had been in place until last month. Watch the conflict unfold on both sides » . Not long after Israel's ground incursion began, Hamas vowed to "fight until the last breath" and warned Israel that "Gaza will be your cemetery." As the ground attack began, Hamas rockets continued to fly into southern Israel, with CNN reporters at the Israel-Gaza border seeing and hearing several of them. "We will not abandon the battlefield, and we will stay on the thorny course, and we will fight until the last breath," Hamas chief spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a statement on Palestinian network Al-Aqsa. Watch statement from Hamas » . The Israeli ground attack deepened a humanitarian crisis in Gaza that has been decried by international observers, including the United Nations. On Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a spokesman said. View reactions from world leaders » . The spokesman said Ban "is convinced and alarmed that this escalation will inevitably increase the already heavy suffering of the affected civilian populations," according to a statement. Electricity, food and medical shortages already were a problem in the densely populated territory, concerns ramped up by the airstrikes. Taghreed El-Khodary, a New York Times writer in Gaza City, said that there was no electricity there Saturday and that she said she didn't know of any shelters set up by Hamas for residents. Watch Times writer describe the humanitarian crisis in Gaza » . Regev said Gaza's civilian population was not Israel's enemy. "In many ways, they are victims like us. Both the civilian population of southern Israel and the civilian population of the Gaza Strip have been victims of this terrible, extremist Hamas regime," Regev said. Watch CNN's Christiane Amanpour interview Regev » . An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in the northern Gaza village of Beit Lahiya on Saturday evening, killing 13 people and wounding 60, according to Palestinian medical sources. Watch the chaos after the mosque attack » . An Israeli attack earlier Saturday killed Azkariah al-Jamal, commander of Gaza City's rocket-launching squads, Palestinian and Israel Defense Forces sources said. Another airstrike killed two Hamas militants in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials said. Israeli missiles hit 25 Hamas "outposts, training camps and rocket launching sites" Saturday morning, an IDF statement said. Watch explosions in Gaza » . The houses of two alleged Hamas terrorist operatives were also hit, the IDF said. One was the home of Azadin Hadad, described as the head of the Hamas military group in eastern Gaza City. The other, in Beit Lahiya, was used to store rocket-launching equipment and was the home of Ismail Renam, who "has a central role in the launching of Grad-type rockets against Israel," the IDF said. Meanwhile, Hamas militants launched 20 rockets from Gaza into Israel by late afternoon Saturday, IDF spokeswoman Maj. Avital Leibovich said. Rockets set a house on fire in Ashkelon, damaged a kibbutz dining hall and slightly wounded two people in an eight-story building in Ashdod, according to Israeli ambulance services. "We still see that Hamas is targeting Israeli civilians. Namely, we still did not reach the goal of crippling Hamas' launching capabilities," Leibovich said. CNN's Barbara Starr said top U.S. military leaders were aware in advance of Israel's plans to enter Gaza. The incursion began just hours after the European Union announced that a delegation is heading to the Middle East to meet with regional leaders and broker a cease-fire. A Middle East "Quartet" consisting of the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia is also trying to broker a truce. Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group that came into being in 1987, won by a landslide in parliamentary elections in Gaza in 2006. Months later, Hamas militants began attacking Israeli military posts and fighting with members of Fatah, the rival political party that controls other Palestinian territories. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency and dissolved the government in Gaza, although Hamas has had de facto control of the territory since then. | NEW: Death toll in Gaza since airstrikes began is at 460 .
NEW: U.N. secretary-general says ground assault mars peace efforts .
Incursion's aim is to halt Hamas rockets, not regime change, spokesman says .
Hamas spokesman: "Gaza will be your cemetery" |
35,628 | 653c0e02df2fbabdfc4ec575b39cbe8109c9aa60 | By . Francesca Chambers . Elected officials and rumored 2016 presidential candidates descended upon Detroit, Michigan, today to woo progressive activists at the annual Netroots Nation conference. But one high-profile, political figure is noticeably missing from the fray: Hillary Clinton. Clinton has not attended the gathering since 2007 when she was competing in the Democratic primary for president, and conference organizers said she declined an invitation to speak this year. The former Secretary of State opted to spend the week promoting her book, instead, holding book signings in New Jersey and Connecticut. This afternoon she sat down with Charlie Rose in his Manhattan office for an hour long interview that will air tonight on PBS. Hillary Clinton, pictured here on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday, put promoting her book ahead of speaking to progressive activists at a gathering this week in Detroit . Republicans . lept to criticize Hillary's absence from the 3,000 person gathering as . further proof that the 2016 frontrunner is out of touch with her base. 'Hillary Clinton is just too busy on her book tour to take time out for the Netroots conference in Detroit but with all of the news about how the Clintons have struggled financially, we get it, money first, even as colleges dole out millions to hear her speak despite rising tuition costs,' Republican National Committee spokesman Raffi Williams said, touching on Hillary's recent gaffes. 'Sounds like she’ll have to find another occasion to try to placate the liberal left as Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden make their 2016 plays after seeing an opening with Hillary’s book tour stumbles and her 2016 moves echoing her failed 2008 campaign.' However, conference . attendees said they weren't offended she didn't make speaking to them a priority this year. 'I think she’s obviously a very busy woman,' said Christine Soliz, a organizer with Planned Parenthood in the Detroit area who described herself a Hillary supporter. 'It's her loss,' said another attendee, adding that it's too early in the election cycle to 'harangue' Clinton for skipping the gathering. Netroots Nation spokeswoman Mary Rickles told MailOnline she's 'not surprised' Hillary didn't attend again this year because 'she has not declared yet.' 'Most of the events that she’s doing are pretty benign . non-political events,' Rickles continued. The San Francisco resident pointed out that pro-Clinton PAC Ready for Hillary had a substantial presence at the conference as a sponsor of both the conference itself and both a Motown-themed party on Friday evening. It also provided attendees with coffee during a snack break this morning. ‘Her team knows that she has a presence here, and regardless . of whether or not it fits her schedule, she’s still got a presence here, ' Rickles said. 'The . Ready for Hillary folks know what they’re doing.’ Asked for a comment on it's chosen candidate's absence from the conference today, Ready for Hillary spokesman Seth Bringman told MailOnline in an email, 'We're just thrilled to be a part of Netroots Nation and thrilled to be a co-sponsor of this amazing gathering. 'Hillary's support from progressives across the country - who are the backbone of our more than 2.5 million supporters - has been absolutely inspiring,' he said. A spokesman for Clinton did not respond to a request for comment on Clinton's decision to skip the conference. Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, and Barack, right, participate in the Yearly Kos Convention's Presidential Leadership Forum in Chicago in 2007. Clinton has not attended, Yearly Kos, now called Netroots Nation, since that debate . While Netroots attendees said they would still vote for Hillary if she were the Democratic nominee in 2016, it's no secret that Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is most activists' candidate of choice. 'Her values . are consistent with what I believe and what a lot of people here believe,' said Paula Branter, Executive Director of . Workplace Fairness, a Washington, D.C. based organization that . advocates for the fair treatment of workers and provides legal advice on . worker’s rights. Warren spoke at the conference in 2012 in person as a candidate, and gave a video address as a lawmaker last year. This year she is slated to give the keynote speech on Friday morning. 'It’s really . good to have the affirmation of someone that high [up] in a position of power . who’s saying all the right things,' Branter gushed. 'I would love it,' she replied when asked how she felt about Warren's potential presidential run. As one attendee noted, Hillary has a 'troubled' relationship with the left wing of the Democratic Party. The former first lady and her husband are seen as too moderate for many progressives' taste and their willingness to accept large sums of money from the 'too big to fail' financial crowd is concerning to anti-Wall Street activists. 'From my perspective it’s problematic,' Pennsylvania resident Gerald Hoffman said, referring to the millions of dollars Bill and Hillary have received from the financial industry to speak at events. 'You have to wonder who a politician is beholden to if they’re getting all their money from people who are giving it in huge chunks,' Hoffman said. 'So I’m worried about that.' ‘If she gets elected, we’re going to have to continuously poke her to make sure that she stays to the left.' Branter said Hillary may be avoiding the conference because she thinks kissing up to progressive activists is a waste of her time. ‘I think . that she might say, "Well look, I’m not gonna win over this crowd." ' 'I can’t imagine being enough of an activist to want to come . to this conference and not having an opinion about Hillary,' Branter said. 'This is not a . persuadable audience.' Another attendee, Garth . Eisenhard, a Silver Spring, Maryland, resident who described himself as ‘left . of Karl Marx,’ said progressives are 'either going to vote for . her or not if she’s the candidate, regardless of what she says or does,' so Hillary may as well continue ignoring the party's base. 'I mean it doesn’t matter if she comes here or not for . 95 percent of the people,' he said. 'I will vote her with no reservations if she is the . Democratic candidate. I will vote for whoever is the Democratic candidate.' However, Jason . Parsely, Associate Publisher of South Florida Gay News, a website that covers . the gay community, said Hillary will need the grassroots activists who attend this conference to have her back if she wants to make it that far in the first place. ‘If you want to build a grassroots network for any Democratic primary, these are the people you definitely need to rely on,' he said. ‘I’m . disappointed that she’s not [here].' 'This is the largest, liberal, progressive . gathering of activists around the country, so you’d think she would’ve . made an attempt to be here.’ If Hillary runs for office and doesn't attend next year, however, Netroots-goers said they wouldn't let her off the hook so easily. 'If she’s running next year and even if she’s the frontrunner and seems to be the only one, she needs the progressive turnout,' said seven-year Netroots veteran Norman Buchwald. 'She should be here.' | Netroots Nation is the largest annual gathering of progressives .
Presumed 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was invited to speak but declined .
Clinton opted to spend this week promoting her book Hard Choices instead .
The last time she addressed the conference was in 2007 when she was trying to win attendee's support in the Democratic presidential primary . |
23,006 | 414936dfecf7ea818bf20bbbc2bfff4574c5b768 | By . Hamish Mackay . Follow @@H_Mackay . Norwich manager Neil Adams has backed his squad to illustrate why they are one of the promotion favourites. The Canaries begin life back in the Championship with a trip to Wolves - last season's League One champions - on Sunday. Adams was handed the Carrow Road post on a permanent basis this summer which brought a mixed reaction from the fans. However, his vow to play flowing, attacking football certainly raised his stock following many monotonous displays under previous boss Chris Hughton. With playmaker Wes Hoolahan signing a new two-year contract this week and the summer captures of Lewis Grabban and Kyle Lafferty, goals should not be in short supply, unlike last season. Performance: Neil Adams said Norwich's performances must live up to people's expectations this season . So far only Robert Snodgrass (Hull) and Ricky van Wolfswinkel (on loan to Saint Etienne) have departed, with Leroy Fer - who will be absent at Molineux following his World Cup exploits with Holland - still being heavily linked with a move. Adams told the club's official website: 'We can't stop people tipping us to go back up but we have to make sure we go and perform. We have to show people we are as good as they think. 'We have to be ready to handle that along with the other two relegated teams because no one is just going to let us go back up, that is for sure. Wolves are not going to roll over and let us do what we want to do. Disappointment: Ricky van Wolfswinkel signed for the club for close to £10m but has been loaned to St. Etienne . 'We have a good core group who are capable of competing really well in this division. The key thing for us is you respect the opposition but they have to respect us equally because we are going to be positive in every game to try and get as many points and victories as possible. 'To do well in this division you need to score goals but of course that doesn't mean you throw caution to the wind and risk losing games before you have a foothold. 'You have to get the balance with the emphasis on attacking, scoring goals and dominating the ball. But you have to be ready to defend as and when because we will be tested. 'Wolves are a good side, well organised, they have a style of play and a philosophy that suits them. It will be a tough game but I am anticipating 46 tough ones.' Wolves: Norwich's opposition on the first day of the season will be League One champions Wolves . Opposite number Kenny Jackett admits an opening-day clash with one of relegated teams from the top-flight is an ideal test for his Wolves side. He told his club's official website: 'It is a terrific opening game, live on TV and because of what has happened to the clubs in recent seasons and now seeing where they are in this new season and what standard they are at. 'These are the games we want. We want to be in these games, testing ourselves - and we do early on. We've got some really good games.' Jackett should have Bakary Sako (groin), Leon Clarke (back) and Jack Price (Achilles) available but will be without Tommy Rowe (fractured metatarsal). CLICK HERE to start picking your Fantasy Football team NOW! There’s £60,000 in prizes including £1,000 up for grabs EVERY WEEK… . | Norwich manager Neil Adams says they can go back up to Premier League .
Carrow Road club were relegated to Championship last season .
Canaries start the season away at League One champions Wolves . |
88,813 | fc0f09004921662b620ac942553ca21390ef406a | With its ban on alcohol and rules ordering women to cover up, it is not the most obvious summer holiday destination. But that has not stopped Iran from experiencing a surge in tourism from the UK, with bookings at travel agencies up by as much as 400 per cent. For years, the hardline regime of anti-western former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put off all but the most adventurous travellers. But the arrival of football-loving Hassan Rouhani as his successor last year appears to have made the Middle Eastern country seem friendlier. Imam Mosque in Imam Square in Esfahan Iran - which is now becoming a tourist hotspot, according to travel agents . Jonny Bealby, managing director of Wild Frontiers, which has been organising trips to Iran for ten years, hopes to send up to 150 customers this year, compared with a few dozen in 2013. Mr Bealby said: ‘With the new man in charge and the easing of relations, a lot more people feel safe to go there.’ In the Ahmadinejad years, Mr Bealby . said his company would provide just one or two organised tours for up to . 12 people at a time, and arrange ‘a handful’ of trips for individuals . or couples. ‘Things have . changed completely this year,’ he said. ‘In 2012, it was hard to sell . Iran at all and in 2013 we had just two group tours running. This year . we are running nine. ‘We are also providing tailor-made trips for dozens more people. In total, we are approaching 150 bookings so far in 2014.’ Wild Frontiers’ group tours cost . £2,795 per person for a fortnight or £1,995 for 10 days, taking in . ancient fortresses, mosques, bazaars, royal gardens and Iran’s National . Museum in Tehran, which displays its crown jewels and peacock throne. There are no direct flights from the UK to Iran so travellers have to change in either Istanbul or Dubai. Mr . Bealby said: ‘Travel to Iran has never been a problem in the years . we’ve been running tours. As long as people going there are sensible, we . have partners in Iran who know what they are doing and our customers . are well looked-after.’ The arrival of football-loving Hassan Rouhani last year appears to have made the Middle Eastern country seem friendlier . ‘The . issue has always been the way Iran has been perceived. Under . Ahmadinejad this was a particular problem, especially with the attack on . the British Embassy in Tehran in 2011 but with the new man in charge . and the easing of relations, a lot more people feel safe to go there.’ Sarah Bareham, marketing executive at Brighton-based Responsible Travel, which also organises tours of the country, said: ‘Since January we have had the same number of bookings that we had in the whole of 2013.’ Michael Pullman, marketing manager at Wild Frontiers, based in Barnes, south London, has just returned from one of the company’s tours to Iran and describes the country as ‘amazing’. He said: ‘It was a really interesting place, full of history, amazing architecture and mosques. ‘Probably the biggest surprise was how friendly and welcoming the people were - everywhere we went we were surrounded by people wanting to ask us questions about topics ranging from politics to the Premier League. ‘The officials were very low-key and although they probably knew where we were, there wasn’t any visible presence monitoring our movements.’ Among the hotels Mr Pullman stayed in was the 300-year-old Abbassi Hotel, Esfahan, a one-time favourite of the Shah prior to the 1979 Islamic revolution. He said: ‘The hotels were all clean and comfortable but there was an atmosphere faded grandeur, which is a symptom of the economic sanctions and Iran having been off the tourist map for so long. ‘There were very few Brits but we met a few French and Germans.’ But despite the friendly welcome, Mr Pullman said alcohol remains banned, women have to disguise their body shape and wear scarves and, while men are permitted western clothing, shorts are not allowed. Other down-sides include Western credit or debit cards not working in Iran, so tourists need to bring cash to exchange. Wild Frontiers’ brochure describes ‘fascinating’ Iran as ‘one of the most misunderstood countries on earth’. Other specialist travel agencies have also reported rising bookings for Iran in the last 12 months. But Government advice on trips to the Middle Eastern country remains cautious. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: ‘We would advise people to keep up to date with our relevant travel advice on Iran. ‘We advise against all but essential travel to the country as a whole and against all travel to regions close to the Iraq and Afghanistan borders. ‘There are risks for British nationals in Iran and especially those going off the beaten track - but it’s a matter of choice for individuals.’ | Hardline regime of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put off travellers .
But arrival of football fan Hassan Rouhani has made country seem friendlier .
Government advice for travel to Middle Eastern country remains cautious . |
93,161 | 03d68dd42fd65416b935223457298fed775141fb | By . Alex Greg for MailOnline . An English-language magazine published by Al Qaeda's media arm calls on Muslims around the world to use homemade car bombs on targets including Las Vegas casinos, New York's Times Square and UK department stores. The online publication, entitled Palestine: Betrayal of the Guilty Conscience Al-Malahem, also includes a nine-page spread with instructions on how to 'make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom.' There is also a timeline of terror attacks, including 9/11 and the Boston bombings that includes a blank entry marked '201?' implying a terror attack on American soil is planned for the near future. Terrorist's handbook: 'Palestine: Betrayal of the guilty conscience' is an English-language online publication that encourage extremists living in Western countries to carry out acts of terrorism . The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first flagged the publication. 'The timeline concludes with the date 201?’ and blank spaces and question marks for the photo and information of the next attack - implying that it is coming soon,' MEMRI Executive Director Steve Stalinsky told Fox News. The guide to making a carbomb comes complete with step-by-step photographs, a shopping list, and admiring words about the Tsarnaev brothers, the 'Boston brothers.' 'My Muslim brother: we are conveying to you our military training right into your kitchen to relieve you of the difficulty of traveling to us,' it reads. Terrorism timeline: The blank entry at the end of this timeline implies another attack is expected . Haunting: The disturbing publication ends with the words, 'We are coming' 'If you are sincere in your intentions to serve the religion of Allāh, then all what you have to do is enter your kitchen and make an explosive device that would damage the enemy if you put your trust . in Allāh and then use this explosive device properly.' At the end is a list of 'examples of targets,' including oil tankers and trains, casinos in Las Vegas, and the General Atomics headquarters in San Diego. In Britain, the publications suggest novice jihadis target the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, a British department store during Friday prayers (so as to harm no Muslims) and Thames house, London. In the rest of the world, Israeli, British and and American company headquarters and places where Israelis, Britons and Americans holiday. The publication is an adjunct to Inspire magazine, which is aimed at encouraging Muslims in Western countries to carry out terror attacks. 'Inspire Magazine's goal is to empower Muslim. And what is empowerment without being strong, powerful and intelligent? In this section, we give you strength, power and intelligence. Believe me, using car bombs gives you all that,' the publications reads. | A publication by Al Qaeda's media arm called Palestine: Betrayal of the Guilty Conscience Al-Malahem encourages terrorism .
The latest edition of the publication contains a nine-page spread on how to make car bombs 'like the Boston brothers'
The English-language magazine also has a timeline of notable acts of terrorism with a blank entry marked '201?' at the end . |
98,542 | 0ae28635e8a0ff055cc84fb4d6eccbe7c021016f | Financial problems plaguing Caesars Entertainment and its casino empire in Las Vegas have the company considering a trip to bankruptcy court, possibly as early as Thursday. It doesn't necessarily signal the end of this faux Roman Empire, though. If all goes according to the company's plan, drawn up with its most senior creditors, it should be business as usual for customers - its doors will remain open. Caesars Palace hotel and casino, in Las Vegas is pictured, as they try and find a way of cutting debt . 'Caesars is, in a certain sense, a Nevada version of 'too big to fail,' said Michael Green, a history professor with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. U.S. casino-hotel companies are dependent on extra cash in a person's pocket, but perhaps none more than Caesars, which waded into the recent economic downturn already burdened by more debt than any of them - a by-product of a buyout in January 2008 that was largely a wager using other people's money. While competitors found fortune in Asia's casino growth as stateside gambling in Las Vegas and Atlantic City waned, Caesars missed out. And as other companies built arenas and shopping districts on the Strip or casino-hotels in newer gambling markets across the country, analysts say Caesars was reluctant to spend. It went private, then public again to raise cash and created new related companies, shifting its properties from one to another to free them up from the debt cordoned off in one spot, its Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. That's the company now headed to bankruptcy court. Regardless of the maneuvers, 'the fundamentals were not there to support the amount of debt that they had,' said Keith Foley, an analyst with Moody's Investors Service. Apollo Global Management LLC and TPG Capital LP did what a lot of private equity firms were doing at the time when money and loans were easy to come by, buying companies with promise — relying mostly on debt — to add to its portfolio. The gambling industry looked promising. The deal to buy Caesars (then known as Harrah's) was first announced in 2006 during the heyday of Vegas tourism and development. But the deal didn't close until January 2008, several months before Lehman Brothers would go bankrupt, shaking the economy to its core. And it was a nearly $30 billion deal with the two firms taking on more than $10 billion of existing debt and relying on several billion more in bonds to pay for the company. The fountain in front of Caesars Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas is part of the group's lavish design . In between, the company had cut about 200 people from its corporate staff. Before the year was done, Caesars was cutting more staff and looking for new cash to make its interest payments. Among its casino peers, Caesars' empire remains the largest, employing some 68,000 people worldwide at more than 50 casino-hotels, including Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. While Caesars Entertainment has seen a steady $8.6 billion or so in revenue since 2009, it's been outpaced by Las Vegas Sands Corp., which went all-in in Macau, China, and grew every year to post revenue of $14.5 billion in 2013. Las Vegas Sands made a $2.3 billion profit that year. Caesars lost $2.9 billion. Caesars has lost money each year for the last five years. Still, the company unveiled its High Roller observation wheel and newly renovated hotels on the Strip: The Linq and The Cromwell. It hired headliners for shows at The Colosseum inside Caesars Palace. All the while, it was shifting and shuttering other assets. Last year, the company closed properties in Atlantic City, London and Mississippi and said it would cut its global workforce by less than 1 percent. 'They're going to have to become a little leaner,' said Chris Jones, an analyst for Union Gaming Group. He added that he doesn't expect any more properties to shut down and expects the plan will free up Caesars to reinvest where it hasn't, including the gambling floor. The company faces irked creditors, a few who have tried to force the casino giant into bankruptcy against its will this week. Others have sued, claiming the company ransacked Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. of most of its valuable assets. Caesars called the claims meritless and alleges some of its holdout creditors are hoping for the company's demise in order to win wagers predicting as much. Despite the acrimony, the company says that after months of negotiations it has more than 60 percent of the holders of its first-priority debt on board with its plan. The plan would shed $10 billion in debt from its weighed-down operations division, leaving it with $8.6 billion and winnowing its annual $1.7 billion in interest payments to $450 million. Senior creditors who OK'd the plan would get cash and new debt to make them whole. | Last year the company closed properties in Atlantic City, London and Mississippi .
By declaring bankruptcy, the company could cut existing debt by around $10billion .
Caesars Entertainment said it would cut global workforce by less than 1% .
The company never recovered from 2008 recession . |
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