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222,185 | ab9da0a61a5b13fe05318536d2c702a06539f726 | The police are giving the public tips on how to spot a potential terrorist in a drive to encourage people to report suspicious behaviour. Leaflets given to commuters by officers this morning include six things which should set alarm bells ringing, including someone with a lot of mobile phones, vague travel plans or taking a keen interest in CCTV cameras. It comes after ministers urged the public to be ‘vigilant’ and warned Britain is at 'very significant risk' from a terror attack by extremists inspired by ISIS jihadists in the wake of the atrocities in Paris. Leaflets given to commuters by police today include six things which should set alarm bells ringing and urge them to report anything suspicious to specialist counter-terror officers . Commuters arriving at Waterloo station this morning were handed the flyers promoting the confidential anti-terrorist hotline, which advise the public: ‘Don’t rely on others. If you suspect it, report it.’ It makes clear that specialist counter-terror officers should decide whether something suspicious is important and could help to prevent an attack. The leaflet adds: ‘Everyone has a role to play in helping to prevent terrorism. You can do this by remaining vigilant and reporting any suspicious activity to the police.’ It sets out six types of suspicious activity to report to police, including: . The Metropolitan Police said the leaflets being handed out today were part of ongoing measures to educate the public and not a change in approach. Britain's threat level was raised from 'substantial' to 'severe' in August last year following the gains made by Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. It means an attack is 'highly likely', one level below 'critical' which means an attack is considered imminent. In the hours after the terror attack on the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, extra armed police were deployed across London, including in Westminster and at St Pancras train station. The flyers were handed out to commuters arriving at Waterloo station this morning as part of ongoing measures to increase vigilance . Police and security agencies have warned it is ‘almost inevitable’ that an attack will be launched in the UK by fanatics radicalised by ISIS. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond warned last week that ISIS, also known as Isil and Islamic State, poses ‘probably the greatest single immediate threat to Britain's national security’. Speaking at a counter-terror conference in London, he said: ‘There's a very significant risk of an Isil-inspired attack being planned and, if we are not successful in intercepting it, executed by Isil sympathisers who live in the UK but are inspired by what is going on in Iraq and Syria. 'Of course, our security and intelligence agencies, our police forces are working tirelessly around the clock to monitor, to identify, to intercept and to disrupt plots of this nature, and we've been very successful in doing so, but we mustn't be complacent. 'We know there are people out there who wish us harm and we have to be vigilant and we have to work extremely hard to make sure we identify and disrupt these plots before they come to the stage of an attack.' In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris earlier this month, armed police were deployed to sites across London including St Pancras station . The leaflets distributed today strike a more low key note than a campaign launched in November last year telling commuters what to do in the event of a Mumbai-style terrorist attack at one of Britain's busy terminals. After government warnings that the threat to Britain from Islamist fanatics is 'greater than ever', officers handed out leaflets telling the public to 'run, hide and tell' if they are caught up in an attack. The flyer, which has been attacked as 'scaremongering' by critics, shows images of worried-looking people running down flights of stairs, cowering in the dark and anxiously talking on their mobile phones. | Police officers hand out leaflets to commuters in central London .
Public urged to report anything suspicious to counter-terror specialists .
Highlights people with a lot of mobile phones, passports and chemicals .
Concerns include vague travel plans and a keen interest in CCTV cameras .
Someone noticeable behaving differently for no obvious reason .
Someone with a large number of mobile phones for no obvious reason .
Someone with passports or other documents in different names for no obvious reason .
Someone who travels for long periods of time but is vague about where they’re going .
Someone buying or storing large amounts of chemicals for no obvious reason .
Someone taking an interest in security, like CCTV cameras, for no obvious reason .
The direct appeal to the public follows an increased police presence in central London. |
214,859 | a2296b356d81a7fa88858e8ab1d115b891b234f0 | By . Lucy Osborne . PUBLISHED: . 08:11 EST, 5 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:32 EST, 5 July 2013 . Active: Despite playing a range of sports, 11-year-old Katie Lee has been classed as overweight by a government programme . Aged 11, Katie Lee is a picture of health – and sporty to boot with a love for hockey and hiking with her fellow Scouts. But the NHS scheme that monitors primary school children’s weight bizarrely believes that she is fat. Katie’s mother Emma was outraged when she received a letter describing her daughter, who stands 5ft 5in tall and weighs 9st 10lb, as ‘overweight’. Former nurse Mrs Lee, 34, described the scheme as ‘ridiculous’, saying it leaves girls feeling ‘sensitive’ about their weight and prone to eating disorders. She said: ‘I was so cross when I got the letter. ‘Katie’s tall and slim – far from overweight. They tell you she is overweight when obviously she’s not – she is very athletic. ‘The first thing she said when she saw the letter is “I’m not fat”. They also sent me a healthy eating leaflet, like I couldn’t look after my children. 'They hadn’t even seen my daughter. This is the sort of thing that gives young girls eating disorders. She is at a vulnerable, impressionable age, getting ready to leave primary school. ‘She is very fit and active, she takes the dogs out for a walk in the mornings and walks to meet friends. She is also in the Scouts and hikes for miles at the weekend. She plays hockey, rounders, touch rugby and does gymnastics.’ Katie was weighed at her primary school for The National Child Measurement Programme, set up in 2005 as part of a government strategy to tackle the growing obesity crisis in young people. Under the scheme, children in their first and last year of primary school are weighed and measured to work out their body mass index, which is calculated by dividing weight in pounds by the square of height in inches. Results are divided into categories labelled ‘underweight’, ‘normal’, ‘overweight’ or ‘very overweight’. But Mrs Lee, who lives with her . greengrocer husband, James, 37, and their children, Liam, 12, Katie and . Lily, six, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, thinks the Government should . overhaul the scheme. Criticism: Katie's mother, Emma Lee (right) says the programme is leaving girls feeling sensitive about their weight and prone to eating disorders . She said: ‘It’s not compulsory and I think the parents of overweight children may opt out of doing it, so whatever the results are being used for the system is flawed. ‘I think there needs to be something else, not just weighing and measuring, maybe that’s OK in reception but by Year 6 children’s bodies are changing with puberty. ‘It’s just not black and white, there is a lot of grey.’ Mrs Lee is not alone in her anger at NCMP. A survey carried out by the Institute of Education found more than half of parents whose children were classed as ‘overweight’ did not agree with the findings. The 2010 research found that 53 per cent either disagreed or strongly disagreed with results that their children were fat. One mother surveyed said: ‘You have said that my son is 1 lb overweight, but as long as my son is happy and healthy that is all that matters, and do you realise that with your comments you could cause people to panic and reduce their intake and cause anorexia.’ A spokesman for Public Health England said: ‘The measurement process is overseen by trained healthcare professionals in schools. ‘The children are weighed and measured and their BMI is then calculated by internationally recognised tables. We do not comment on individual cases.’ | Health police told 11-year-old Katie Lee that she was overweight .
Katie's mother received a warning letter from NHS after Katie was weighed . |
50,447 | 8eb58ef5e8554080fddd94563dd8ace1ff0b43ad | By . Jeff Powell . Follow @@jeffpowell_Mail . For Carl Froch next, it’s Las Vegas or bust. Only the lure of a grandstand farewell performance in the star-spangled fight capital of the world is likely to dissuade the conqueror of Wembley from bowing out after ‘the greatest night of my boxing life'. At coming up 37 and having finished his aggravated business with George Grove in the most conclusive manner possible - with one of the most spectacular knock-out punches in the annals of the prize-ring – he needs an irresistible reason to go back to the well of world championship punishment yet again. Looking ahead: Carl Froch, snapped by our man Graham Chadwick in the aftermath of his stunning victory over George Groves at Wembley, would like to end his glittering career in Las Vegas . Game over: Carl Froch's monster right hand knocked out George Groves in front of 80,000 people at Wembley . Brutal: Groves was poleaxed in the eighth round to leave his world title hopes in tatters on Saturday night . Party time: Froch celebrates his victory over Groves in their rematch as he retained his two world titles . Julio . Cesar Chavez Jnr – colourful namesake son of the Mexican legend – on . that Strip of temptation to the rich tune of pay-per-view in America as . well as Britain could provide the incentive. Or maybe a rematch with Andre Ward, the only super-middleweight in the world Froch has not defeated. ‘How is Eddie Hearn going to pull off anything to top what I’ve just done?’, Froch asked of his Matchroom promoter after he had illuminated an historic Saturday night at Wembley Stadium by exacting retribution against George Groves in a manner which not only sent his young challenger into a coma but stunned a record 80,000 crowd. Froch provided the answer himself: ‘It has always been a dream of mine to fight in Las Vegas. That box remains to be ticked. I will enjoy the summer with my family before I even think about what to do after this incredible night. ‘This could be the perfect way to hang up the gloves. But a signature fight in the MGM Grand Garden...’ The more he thought about it the more appealing that notion became: ‘After all, I feel 36 years young.’ Next up? Froch fancies a crack at Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr (left) in the fight capital of the world, Las Vegas . Another bristling young Englishman, former Olympic gold medallist James DeGale, reinforced his claim as No 1 contender for Froch’s IBF belt with an impressive victory of his own, over American Brandon Gonzalez. But the silencing of another noisy neighbour like Groves is low on Froch’s priorities and Gale expects he will have to wait for his moment. Not least because after two successive mandatory fights against Groves, Froch is now entitled to at least one voluntary defence of his IBF and WBA titles. So while it might be convenient again for Hearn to bring together two of his stable of fighters, he concedes: ‘I have to find something to put before Carl which floats his boat. Otherwise who knows if he will box again?’ Still, even as he took his late-night leave of the fabulous scene of his concussive glory, the Nevada seed was beginning to take root in his warrior mind. Froch recalled how a low-key first trip to Vegas filled him with the ambition to return there as a show-topping champion. Making a scene: Groves had planned his entrance to the final detail as he wowed the Wembley crowd . Pretty in pink: Froch's walk-on was less complicated but the champion still made his presence felt . Taking a trip: Groves entered the cavernous Wembley stadium on a red double decker bus . He travelled to watch Prince Naseem Hamed take on Marco Antonio Barrera there 13 years ago, taking his partner Rachael with him. ‘Back then we didn’t have much money,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t afford the MGM so we stayed down at Circus-Circus. ‘We’d saved up to go so arrived skint. I knew nothing about gambling but couldn’t resist trying. I threw our last few dollars cash on the craps table and lost. ‘So I thought I could get it back by putting the biggest bet I could extract from the ATM machine on Naz to win. Just our luck, he lost his world title. ‘But now I had the dream of going back there with my name up in lights.’ Hearn will try to make that happen, preferably against Chavez. Not because Froch lost to Ward but because, as he puts it: ‘Andre is a great fighter but has such an awkward style that he can’t draw enough fans to fill his own front room.’ Chavez was quick to respond. ‘I welcome a fight with Froch,’ he said. ‘The fight would be huge; Mexico and England have always had a great rivalry in sports. Also, the fight would give me the opportunity to become the first fighter from Mexico to win the super-middleweight world title.’ Hearn calculates, also: ‘After this performance against Groves, Carl is where the big money is in the super-middleweight division. So there is an orderly queue forming to fight him, if he decides to go again.’ Third time? Froch could complete his trilogy with Mikkel Kessler with both men having won one fight each . Unification: WBC super-middleweight champion Sakio Bika (right) wants to fight Froch . Other options include a rubber match against his old Danish warrior foe Mikkel Kessler, with whom he stands at one win apiece and who has just decided to make a comeback. WBC champion, tough-nut Sakio Bika, turned up at Wembley carrying his belt and offering a title unifying match. Bika will also be a target for Groves once he has ‘gone back to the drawing board'. Shrewdly, Saint George had taken out insurance against a second loss to Froch by signing in advance a big-money contract with his new German promoters, Sauerland. But exactly where he goes from here depends on how he reacts to being heavily knocked out in the eighth round of a fight which he had trumpeted Froch had ‘no chance of winning’. Froch said: ‘A defeat like this can either finish a boxer’s career or give him the motivation to come back all the stronger. It depends on his character. There are one or two other belt-holders out there against whom he might win a world title. ‘But to be honest he lacks the essential element of real hardness to trouble the elite. I doubt he can ever beat Ward. And deep down he knows now I would beat him ten times out of ten.’ Options: James DeGale is now the mandatory challenger for Froch's IBF super-middleweight title . Big win: The referee steps in to stop the fight between DeGale and Brandon Gonzales at Wembley . | Carl Froch could retire after beating George Groves .
Nottingham Cobra could also finish his career with a fight in Las Vegas .
Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr is the most likely option .
The Mexican has said he is prepared to fight Froch .
James DeGale is the new mandatory challenger for Froch's IBF world title . |
234,701 | bbdbdd86c60b5154a138e55b178445e41ac928b5 | By . Mike Jaccarino . PUBLISHED: . 01:46 EST, 12 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:58 EST, 12 January 2013 . Busted: Darien Meheux turned himself in to police in connection with the slaying death of Jasmine Benjamin . An ex-boyfriend has been arrested for the slaying of the Georgia college freshman whose parents learned of their daughter's death hours after her body was discovered through a Facebook post forwarded by one of her friends. Darien Meheux, 18, of Lawrenceville, Georgia turned himself in Thursday evening to sheriff’s deputies in Ellaville in Schley County, about 115 miles south of Atlanta, and was booked for murder, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Meheux is charged with mortally suffocating Jasmine Benjamin, a 17-year-old Valdosta State University nursing student whose lifeless body was found on a college dorm study room couch on Nov. 18. 'Right now, he's the sole suspect,' Steven Turner told People Magazine. 'They had dated at one time. The status of their relationship back in November is not necessarily clear whether they were dating or not.' The story gained notoriety for the bizarre manner in which Benjamin's mother, Judith Brogdon and her stepfather, James Jackson, learned of their daughter's untimely demise. The parents told CBSAtlanta.com in the days after Benjamin's death that the university never notified them of the tragedy, but they discovered what had happened when they saw a Facebook post from a friend. A life cut short: Jasmine Benjamin's body was found in the common area of a dormitory at Valdosta State University in November . A stormy relationship: Authorities said that Meheux and Benjamin once dated, as the two hail from the same Georgia town . Former flame: Meheux and Benjamin graduated from different high schools but followed each other to Valdosta State University . The university, for its part, reportedly said its Valdosta State University Police Department notified both the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department and the Lawrenceville Police Department. A Gwinnett County sheriff's deputy then notified Benjamin's parents of her death on Sunday afternoon, or several hours after Benjamin's body was discovered. 'For someone to be so insensitive not to . reach out to the family, or not even to keep up with what's going on . because it's a holiday and you're going away on vacation or whatever . you're doing – it's very, very hurtful to say the least,' James Jackson . told CBSAtlanta.com. A one-time bright future: Benjamin was in her freshman year studying nursing, while Meheux reportedly attended the school for only a single semester . Tragic discovery: Benjamin's parents learned of their daughter's demise hours after her body was discovered from a Facebook post forwarded by one of her friends . Benjamin and Meheux reportedly both hail from Lawrenceville, Georgia, and even - for a short while - together attended Valdosta State University, although the college is now saying that Meheux only enrolled for a single semester. The Journal-Constitution could not reach Benjamin’s family for reaction, although a private investigator that had been hired by the family to look into her death, Robin Martinelli, said the arrest was not a surprise and that the family had suspected Meheux from the outset. 'I think they’re absorbing everything today,' Martinelli reportedly said. 'This just happened.' | Darien Meheux turned himself into Georgia authorities Thursday evening .
'Right now, he's the sole suspect,' says lawman .
Story of Jasmine Benjamin's death gained notoriety after parents learned of daughter's death on Facebook . |
73,060 | cf2d737beb92565bcebafe0e6cfe1a47fb0dad00 | By . Sara Malm . PUBLISHED: . 17:24 EST, 14 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:55 EST, 16 December 2012 . New inquiry: Shane Virmani, 28, drowned during a party at a hotel pool in Crete this summer . A man who died after drunkenly falling into a pool during a lads holiday, may have been dragged in, it was revealed today. Shane Virmani, 26, who was not able to swim, was found drowned in a hotel swimming pool in Malia, Crete and it was first believed he had fallen in during an alcohol-fuelled party. However CCTV footage has emerged showing the supermarket worker from Romford, Essex, being pulled off the side of the pool. His grieving mother is now calling for justice for her son and for the Greek police to re-open the investigation into his death. Mr Virmani and dozens of fellow holidaymakers were holding an all-night party at a hotel pool on August 6 this year. Mr Virmani fell into the pool around 6am but his body was not spotted for a further 25 minutes. Hotel staff desperately tried to revive him, but to no avail. Prosecutors in Greece are currently studying the film and will decide whether to take legal action. An inquest in Greece heard that Shane, who had been staying with a group of friends, had drunk only a 'limited quantity' of alcohol. Three witnesses were interviewed by police after the tragedy, despite there being around 40 people in the pool are at the time of the incident. Shane’s mother Melanie Virmani, 47, a teaching assistant from Ilford, Essex, said today: . 'This feels like a bad dream. I know whoever is responsible will be going through hell, but I won’t rest until I get justice. 'I know it was an accident, but those involved have to deal with the aftermath of that. I feel so angry about what’s happened - that it could have been prevented.' She added: 'My lawyer got hold of the . CCTV footage from the Greek police and it is clear either the police did . not view the recording before they got statements from people or they . did not care because no one was questioned further.' Tragedy: Mr Virmani was on a lads' holiday in Malia, Crete at the time of the fatal accident . In the days immediately after Shane’s death, an insurance company added to the family’s grief by refusing to pay to have his body brought back to England. Family and friends were forced to raise nearly £6,000 to have the body repatriated. The insurance company, AA Travel Insurance, has now refunded the money after hearing about the low levels of alcohol in Shane’s body and viewing the CCTV images. | Shane Virmani, 26, drowned in a hotel pool during a lads' holiday in Crete .
His family believed he had fallen but new CCTV footage show he was pulled .
Mr Virmani, who could not swim, had a 'limited quantity' of alcohol before the August incident . |
84,345 | ef3c2f5cdba4c9fe0ee9958f8fce5f1b30727162 | The lavish spending in the Premier League has been laid bare after the transfer window closed with clubs spending £858m — more than was splashed out in Spain’s La Liga (£425m), Italy’s Serie A (£260m) and France’s Ligue 1 (£100m) combined. Even Germany’s finest could not compete, with Premier League clubs’ outlay three times higher than the Bundesliga’s spending of £250m plus another £100m. Much of the money comes from huge TV deals in England and allow even a middling Premier League club to splash out more than the vast majority of foreign clubs on fees and wages. Here Sportsmail analyses how the money was spent ... VIDEO Scroll down to watch Premier League breaks records across the board . Am I worth it? Angel di Maria was the most expensive acquisition after joining United for a record £59.7m . Hey, big spenders! Premier League clubs spent £857.68m on transfers, with £520.83 of that going overseas . VIDEO Premier League breaks records across the board . MORE FOREIGN SIGNINGS THAN DOMESTIC DEALS . Of the total summer spending, Premier League clubs forked out £520.8m on players from overseas clubs (outside England, Scotland and Wales). Spending on those from British clubs (£336.9m) was just 39 per cent of the total. Spanish clubs collectively received £239.1m for 15 players, including Angel di Maria (£59.7m), while other big recipients were Portugal, France and Holland. Angel Di Maria [Real Madrid - Manchester United] £59.7m . Alexis Sanchez [Barcelona - Arsenal] £35m . Diego Costa [Atletico Madrid - Chelsea] £32m . Eliaquim Mangala [FC Porto - Manchester City] £32m . Cesc Fabregas [Barcelona - Chelsea] £30m . Ander Herrera [Athletic Bilbao - Manchester United] £29m . Romelu Lukaku [Chelsea - Everton] £28m . Luke Shaw [Southampton - Manchester United] £27m (could rise to £31m) Adam Lallana [Southampton - Liverpool] £25m . Dejan Lovren [Southampton - Liverpool] £20m . Lazar Markovic [Benfica - Liverpool] £20m . Big money: Moves for Eliquiam Mangala (City) and Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) contributed to the record spend . Blues brothers: Chelsea have done astute business with the captures of Cesc Fabregas (L) and Diego Costa (R) WHO HAS SPENT THE BEST? Manchester United spent the most (gross £153.1m), and Stoke spent the least (gross £3.4m) while Southampton made a £30.7m profit on their transfers. Fans of individual clubs will make their own assessments on whether they have stronger squads but nobody would argue United have added class. Chelsea have done the best value business by a country mile in pure finance terms, making a slight profit while improving. And Leicester and Southampton also do well on pure value (better or similar squad strength for a small outlay or profit). Players bought included seven goalkeepers, 36 defenders, 37 midfielders and 23 strikers. Penny pincher: Stoke manager Mark Hughes spent the least in the transfer window with a $3.4m gross outlay . It's not too late to play MailOnline Fantasy Football… There's £1,000 to be won EVERY WEEK by the highest scoring manager . CLICK HERE to start picking your Fantasy Football team NOW! There's £60,000 in prizes including £1,000 up for grabs EVERY WEEK… . | Premier League clubs have spent £858m during the summer transfer window .
More than any other European division in Spain, France, Italy or Germany .
English clubs spent £520.2m of the total on overseas players .
Manchester United spent the most (£153.1m) while Stoke spent least (£3.4m)
United broke the British transfer record by signing £59.7m Angel di Maria . |
48,908 | 8a170fb2a3ca81c4540cdcf710d7da2bdf62c1f1 | The government is getting near-daily reports - and sometimes two or three a day - of drones flying near airplanes and helicopters or close to airports without permission, federal and industry officials tell The Associated Press. It's a sharp increase from just two years ago when such reports were still unusual. Many of the reports are filed with the Federal Aviation Administration by airline pilots. But other pilots, airport officials and local authorities often file reports as well, said the officials, who agreed to discuss the matter only on the condition that they not be named because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. Growing trend: Brian Wilson launches a small drone equipped with a video camera to fly over the scene of an explosion that leveled two apartment buildings in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York . Michael Toscano, president of a drone industry trade group, said FAA officials also have verified the increase to him. While many of the reports are unconfirmed, raising the possibility that pilots may have mistaken a bird or another plane in the distance for a drone, the officials said other reports appear to be credible. The FAA tightly restricts the use of drones, which could cause a crash if one collided with a plane or was sucked into an engine. Small drones usually aren't visible on radar to air traffic controllers, particularly if they're made of plastic or other composites. 'It should not be a matter of luck that keeps an airplane and a drone apart,' said Rory Kay, a training captain at a major airline and a former Air Line Pilots Association safety committee chairman. In the way: The government is receiving reports nearly every day - and sometimes two or three times a day - of drones flying near airplanes and helicopters or close to airports without permission . Bird's-eye view: A remote controlled model aircraft flies over the Washington Nationals spring training baseball workout in Viera, Florida . 'So far we've been lucky because if these things are operating in the sky unregulated, unmonitored and uncontrolled, the possibility of a close proximity event or even a collision has to be of huge concern.' The FAA requires that all drone operators receive permission from the agency, called a certificate of authorization, before they can fly their unmanned aircraft. Most certificates limit drones to 400 feet in altitude and require that they remain within sight of the operator and at least five miles away from an airport. Exceptions are made for some government drones. The military flies drones in great swaths of airspace in remote areas designated for military use. Customs and Border Protection flies high-altitude drones along the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. Jim Williams, who heads the FAA drone office, caused a stir earlier this year when he told a drone industry conference that an airliner nearly collided with a drone over Tallahassee, Florida, in March. The pilot of the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet reported the camouflage-painted drone was at an altitude of about 2,300 feet, five miles northeast of the airport. The FAA hasn't been able to find the drone or identify its operator. In some cases the FAA has 'identified unsafe and unauthorized (drone) operations and contacted the individual operators to educate them about how they can operate safely under current regulations and laws,' the agency said in a statement late Tuesday. The FAA also said rogue operators have been threatened with fines. Aviation safety expert John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member, said he's skeptical of some of the reports because most of the small drones currently being sold can't reach the altitudes cited by pilots. Still, 'it needs to be run to ground. That means a real investigation, real work done to determine just what these reports mean,' he said. More than one million small drones have been sold worldwide in the past few years, said Toscano, the official with the drone industry group. It is inevitable that some will misuse them because they don't understand the safety risks or simply don't care, he said. 'This technology has a phenomenal upside that people are still just trying to understand,' he said. 'As unfortunate as it would be that we have an incident, it's not going to shut down the industry.' The FAA is expected to propose regulations before the end of the year that would allow broader commercial use of drones weighing less than 55 pounds. The FAA prohibits nearly all commercial use of drones, although that ban is being challenged. So far, the only commercial permits the agency has granted have been to two oil companies operating in Alaska and seven aerial photography companies associated with movie and television production. But the ban has been ignored by many other drone operators, from real estate agents to urban planners to farmers who use them to monitor crops. | The government is getting near-daily reports of drones flying near airplanes and helicopters or close to airports without permission .
More than one million small drones have been sold in the past few years .
The Federal Aviation Administration tightly restricts the use of drones, which could cause a crash if one collided with a plane .
Small drones usually aren't visible on radar to air traffic controllers, particularly if they're made of plastic or other composites . |
261,631 | ded6600bcc87298f919144cb2929bdee36ea9fcc | Victorious: Lulu singing in the Eurovision contest 1969. She won with song Bomm Bang-a-Bang . He has already been told that an independent Scotland may not be able to stay in the EU or keep the pound. But now Alex Salmond faces perhaps the biggest threat his dream of Scottish statehood. For the country’s first minister has now been warned that, if it opts for secession, Scotland might not be allowed to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. When the Scottish National Party leader unveiled a 670-page ‘blueprint’ setting out the case for independence ahead of next September’s landmark referendum he recommended replacing the BBC with SBS - Scottish Broadcasting Service - using the assets of BBC Scotland. SBS would broadcast Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who and CBeebies in return for giving the BBC access to its existing resources north of the border. A spokesman for the annual festival said an independent Scotland would have to reapply for membership of the European Broadcasting Union, which organises the contest – and accession would not be ‘automatic’. It means that it 2016, the year Mr Salmond wants to see Scotland re-gain its independence, the country may have to sit on the sidelines while the rest of the UK fights it out. Scottish singer Lulu previously won the contest for the UK in 1969, with Boom Bang A Bang; while Scott Fitzgerald came second to Celine Dion in 1988. However, when the UK entered with kilt-wearing Kenneth McKellar in 1966, he only received votes from two countries. The blow over Eurovision comes just days after Chancellor George Osborne said the country would not be able to share the pound with the rest of the UK if it leaves the country. And European Commission president Joe Manuel Barroso warned it would be ‘difficult’ for a post-independence Scotland to re-enter the EU. Decisions: It means that in 2016, the year Mr Salmond wants to see Scotland re-gain its independence, the country may have to sit on the sidelines while the rest of the UK fights it out . The annual song contest is run by the European Broadcasting Union, and a spokesman said it would require the Scottish broadcaster to re-apply for entry once it leaves the Royaume Uni, as our country is known at Eurovision. Application involves a complicated list of criteria they would have to meet – and Scotland would not be guaranteed admittance. Kosovo is not able to enter the song contest, in part because of the opposition of Serbia, the country it seceded from six years ago. And Spain has warned that it will not allow its own potentially breakaway region of Catalonia to join international institutions. It raises the prospect that countries such as Spain, which are against the idea of separatism, could make it difficult for Scotland to join up. The blow over Eurovision comes just days after Chancellor George Osborne said the country would not be able to share the pound with the rest of the UK if it leaves the country . EBU spokesman Jarmo Siim, who represents Eurovision, said: ‘Only active members of the EBU can take part in the Eurovision Song Contest and there is a certain membership process. No automatic memberships are granted.’ Mr Siim also said that the rest of the UK might not get its free pass into the Eurovision final if Scotland secedes. At present, the largest countries in Europe – the UK, France, Germany and Spain – do not have to go through the semi-final process because their broadcasters largely fund the EBU. ‘Concerning the rest of the UK, it is hard to say whether any changes will occur in this,’ he said. ‘However, it would be up to the organisers to take a decision on this when the situation arises.’It seems certain however that an independent Scotland would have to go through the semi-final process, decreasing its chances of winning. | Spokesman for the annual festival said Scotland would have to reapply .
Scottish singer Lulu previously won the competition in 1969 .
Alex Salmond revealed plans to replace BBC with Scottish Broadcasting Service . |
66,518 | bcaa153a44d7b4a165a2f3abbfc5dccf684dfb88 | Melissa Atkins Wardy calls it her "a-ha" moment. There she was looking for her first sippy cup for her then 6-month-old daughter. Her choices: Mickey Mouse, Diego and "Toy Story" characters for boys, and princesses -- and more princesses -- for girls. Already fired up, she walked through the toy aisles and saw what she describes as a further gender divide. Girls were offered baby dolls, princesses and sexy fashion figures; the boys section had superheroes, building blocks, science kits and dinosaurs. "That was it. There was no middle ground. I didn't see any dolls or cooking sets for boys, nor building blocks or fire trucks for girls," writes Atkins Wardy in her new book "Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween." After that experience, she said in an interview, "Everything clicked and made sense to me." "I hear parents saying that all the time. They're like, 'Oh, I just had my sippy cup moment' ... They were at a restaurant and the clown came to the table and offered the boys a whole bunch of selections for what balloon animal to make and then he offered the girl a flower or a tiara," said Atkins Wardy, a mom of two. "The mom's like, 'What if she wants a light saber, too?'" The birth of a cause . After Atkins Wardy's eye-opening shopping experience, she decided to start a business creating empowering T-shirts for girls and boys. Her company, Pigtail Pals and Ballcap Buddies, offers selections such as a girl doctor with the headline "Call me in the morning" and another that says "I'm growing up," and lists words like inquisitive, fearless and daring. Her business led to a blog and ultimately, a cause: trying to raise awareness about gender stereotypes and how damaging they can be. "One pink pacifier or sippy cup or Lego set isn't a big deal...it's when the lowest common denominators of femininity become the marketing catalyst for every product that's made for females," said Atkins Wardy, who has an 8-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son. The fact that there are "girl" products and "boy" products at all is also part of the problem, she said. "It teaches children there is only one way to be a girl and one way to be a boy," she said. "When you have a little girl like mine who is obsessed with the ocean and giant squids and insect infestations in homes, she's considered weird or odd or a tomboy when in fact, science and things like that should be considered girly." As a mom of two girls -- including one who hopes Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos calls her to play on his team in this week's Super Bowl -- I can totally relate. I, along with so many other parents, am frustrated about the definitions of what's girly and what's not, and the separate products and clothing offered to girls and boys. 'Pink and pretty to hot and sexy' A larger question is just whether this gender differentiation in products and fashion actually leads to another big concern, especially for parents of daughters, the sexualization of our young girls. Atkins Wardy of Janesville, Wisconsin, says there's a correlation. "You have to connect the dots," she said. "With princess culture and all these pink toys that are almost always focused on fashion and beauty and how a girl can please somebody else, either by keeping a nice house or looking like a perfect princess, that all segues into the sexualization side of the market. "Once you're done with princesses, if you are growing up in that girly-girly culture, the next thing offered to you are these sexualized dolls and you are growing up too fast," she said. "You are being introduced into adult concepts of sexuality that otherwise wouldn't be present in toys and it doesn't allow a girl to develop on her own, and at her own pace. "The pretty princess culture focuses on appearance and that segues (from) 'sweet and pink and pretty' to 'hot and sexy.' There's no room for girlhood in that space." Encouraging girls' 'personal brand' So what's a parent to do? Atkins Wardy's book, which she hopes is almost like a "recipe book for parents," offers step-by-step advice. She encourages us to teach our children to think critically, which can be as simple as watching a television show and raising questions about why girls are portrayed a certain way. For instance, if the girl character is getting rescued by a boy, we can tell our girls the story could easily have been changed so the girl is doing the rescuing. "I talk about parents teaching girls a personal brand," she said. "She kind of has this benchmark that ... when these toxic messages come in and out from culture, she can then bounce against (them) or not and say, 'Well this doesn't fit what my mom and dad taught me.'" There are not enough parents having these kinds of conversations with their girls and boys, Atkins Wardy said. Moms on Facebook might see something inspiring such as a new ad by Dove encouraging women to love themselves, no matter what. "They all click like and they love it," she said, "But are you taking that second step and sharing that with your kid and really talking about it ... and just being conscious of the media you are taking in?" Parents can also make their voices heard, Atkins Wardy said, whenever they see a product, ad, or clothing that they believe stereotypes and sexualizes girls. When Disney gave Merida, the heroine from "Brave" a makeover, more than 250,000 people signed a "Keep Merida Brave" online petition. Disney ultimately backed down from changing the character's look and dress. "Once you aggregate these parents' voices and the tens of thousands of voices, you really can start to make change," she said. 'Once you see it, you can't unsee it' Atkins Wardy often tells parents in her community that once they become aware of the stereotyping and the sexualization, they won't be able to look away. "Once you see it, you can't unsee it," she writes. It's also never too late to start doing something about it, she says. That includes letting our girls know they can be whatever they want to be. "There are many ways to be a girl and 'Redefining Girly' is about giving girls the space to show us who they are," she said. So if the Broncos needs an extra player Sunday, I'll be sure my 6-year-old gal is ready! What do you think we can do to fight stereotyping and sexualizing girls? Chime in below in comments or tell Kelly Wallace on Twitter and CNN Living on Facebook. | "Redefining Girly" is a new book about fighting the stereotyping of girls .
Author Melissa Atkins Wardy started a business selling empowering tees for girls .
Gender stereotypes in products lead to sexualization of girls, Atkins Wardy says .
Advice to parents? Help your girls create their own "personal brand" |
238,254 | c05fad6df820e947ec78f085ca315dfe4be2e70f | (CNN) -- A top U.S. congressman expressed concern about the "stability" of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un after months of provocative statements and behavior from the nuclear-armed communist state. "You have a 28-year-old leader who is trying to prove himself to the military, and the military is eager to have a saber-rattling for their own self-interest," said Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "And the combination of that is proving to be very, very deadly." North Korea launched a satellite into orbit atop a long-range rocket in December, conducted its third nuclear weapons test in February and announced earlier this month that it was abandoning the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. On Saturday, it announced that it would not negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program, challenging arguments that its weapons program was a bargaining chip that might be traded away for economic benefits. Rogers, R-Michigan, told CNN's State of the Union that North Korea "certainly" has the missile capability to strike the United States. Analysts say North Korea is years away from being able to accurately deliver a nuclear weapon atop a long-range missile. But Rogers said the fact that the North is willing to openly threaten the United States with a nuclear attack "is problem enough." "This is very, very concerning, as we just don't know the stability of their leader -- again, 28 years old," Rogers said. "We're just not confident that we know he wouldn't take those steps." Pyongyang disregarded numerous warnings to conduct February's test and threatened afterward that it was prepared to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike to defend itself. The U.N. Security Council stiffened sanctions on the North after the test, with its leading ally, China, making the vote unanimous. The North has also renewed its threats toward South Korea, warning of "strong physical countermeasures" after the sanctions vote. Kim is the grandson of Kim Il Sung, the founder of the North Korean state. He rose to power in December 2011, after the death of his father, Kim Jong Il. Victor Cha, a longtime North Korea analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the North's recent actions have fueled debate about whether Kim "really is fully in charge, or whether the military is in charge." "The three top military generals that were with him when his father died are all gone now, and we don't know what happened to them," Cha said on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. "That could be a sign of him taking control, but it could also be a sign of some real churn inside the system where some people don't like the fact that a 28-year-old is now running the country." And Donald Gregg, a former adviser to then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, said North Korean contacts he has met recently told him "that they have given up on their diplomats, and the military is now in control." "What they want is to talk about moving from the now-disbanded armistice agreement to the creation of a peace treaty," Gregg told GPS. "That's what they want to talk about, and anyone who is willing to talk about that, they will listen to. Anyone who wants to talk about what they call the old way, which was give up your nuclear weapons and then we'll talk, is going to get nowhere." Gregg recommended engaging the North Koreans in new talks. But Cha, a former National Security Council official in the second George W. Bush administration, said that can't be done so soon after their nuclear and missile tests, and he predicted "a very difficult period for the next couple of months or so." "They don't want to give up their nuclear weapons. They want to be able to have their cake and eat it, too," he said. "U.S. policy for the past quarter century or so has been, 'These things are all on the table if you're willing to give up your nuclear weapons.' This is the problem. This is the dilemma right now." | "We just don't know the stability of their leader," Rep. Mike Rogers says .
Rogers is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee .
Analysts debate whether Kim or the North Korean military is really in charge . |
242,376 | c5b8c929e34ec1040d8e756a3c9320d08003fcb7 | (CNN) -- The life of rugby player Joost van der Westhuizen is the stuff films are made of -- literally. The 43-year-old was part of the South Africa team which won rugby union's World Cup on home soil in 1995 and received the trophy from the late president Nelson Mandela as the post-apartheid era dawned. The story of that victory was immortalized in acclaimed film "Invictus" and now, as he battles a life-threatening illness, Van der Westhuizen is drawing inspiration from that Latin word which means undefeated; unconquered. Van der Westhuizen was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, also known as ALS, in 2011. The man that famously muscled New Zealand rugby giant Jonah Lomu to the turf in the closely-fought 1995 World Cup final now uses a wheelchair to get around. His body is too frail to walk because the debilitating disease effects all physical movement, including speech. And the light and shade between his former glories and his present battle with illness is not unsurprisingly proving frustrating. "It is," Van der Westhuizen told CNN's South Africa correspondent Robyn Curnow in a television interview where Van der Westhuizen's slurred speech has been subtitled. "But then again, that's how my life is." The memories of his stellar career -- the Springbok jerseys and silverware -- line the walls of Van der Westhuizen's home in South Africa. When he retired in 2003, he was the country's most capped player with a reputation as one of the most brilliant, and toughest, scrum halves in the history of the game. Francois Pienaar, who captained South Africa to success in 1995, described Van der Westhuizen as "a phenomenal athlete." "What Joost did on the rugby field was incredible," Pienaar told CNN. "He was probably the best number nine to play the game, and that's saying something." Tough and tenacious on the rugby field, Van der Westhuizen is having to apply those skills in his fight to stay alive and help find a cure for motor neurone disease. "I am," he assured CNN. "Without a doubt. I am a self-confessed bad loser and I want to beat this not just for myself but for everyone with ALS around the world." Van der Westhuizen has started a foundation called J9 to raise money and awareness of motor neurone disease. The foundation offers support and advice to patients and their families as they come to terms with a disease which has no clear cause. A J9 legends team -- boasting over 500 international caps between them -- was cheered on by Van der Westhuizen in the veterans' tournament at November's Dubai round of the HSBC Sevens World Series. He still travels around the world, often connecting with his old rugby rivals for fundraising events as well as making regular medical research trips to the United States. It isn't just Van der Westhuizen's global mission which keeps him pressing on with his crusade. "I am doing this to give my children a dad for longer," he says. "My daughter is eight, my son 10. They need a dad." It is for this reason that Van der Westhuizen has revealed that he has decided to be artificially ventilated when his lungs are no longer able to function on their own. It is a huge step for Van der Westhuizen given it's not common practice in his native South Africa. "I am going to live as long as possible -- to help find a cure, to give my kids a dad," he said, confirming that he has made a decision about using an artificial ventilation machine, which will aid his breathing and help him stay alive . "There is nothing wrong with my brain or my heart. I am still alive." Already a figure in one of South Africa's most historic sporting events, Van der Westhuizen is determined to defy the odds and help make history a second time. | Joost van der Westhuizen is a former South Africa rugby player fighting motor neurone disease .
The scrum-half was part of the team which won the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa .
The team's achievements were immortalized in the film "Invictus"
He has set up his own foundation J9 to raise awareness of motor neurone disease . |
63,943 | b5866904a187f930b27ae78ff677036ccf592b1f | Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- After emerging from the rubble of Moammar Gadhafi's Baba az' Azia palace late in August, Abdul Hakim Belhaj seized control as the military commander of Tripoli. An Islamist who had taken little public part in the spring uprising against Gadhafi, he claimed his soldiers had won the symbolic battle for the palace, the heart of the Libyan strongman's regime. By taking control of Tripoli, Belhaj gained authority over a third of the country's population and a major slice of its wealth. It was a power play that other opposition fighters bitterly resented. Abdullah Naker, one of several rival commanders, claims his fighters endured far tougher and more significant battles than the siege of Gadhafi's palace, not least the struggle to win control of Tripoli's main international airport that lasted several days. In an interview with CNN he downplayed Belhaj's success and threatened confrontation, as internal divisions threaten to pull apart the coalition that brought Gadhafi down. "Who is Abdulhakim Belhaj and who appointed him?" Naker asks. "We don't know him. We are the leaders, we are the revolutionists, we know everything." Naker echoes a much wider complaint that Belhaj is actually a stooge of the Qataris. "We know that Abdulhakim Belhaj was in a school and Qatar sends him money to buy weapons," he said. In Tripoli today it's a commonly held belief that Belhaj's Tripoli Military Council is getting direct funding from Qatar. These concerns come amid reports that a NATO delegation traveled to Qatar last week to raise the issue. Qatar has been a principal player in pushing the revolution forward as part of the NATO alliance. Now there's growing unease in the Libyan capital that fractures among the groups controlling the country could have roots in divisions among the international coalition that overthrew Gadhafi. Belhaj, also known by his nom de guerre, Abu Abdullah Assadaq, was the military leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, LIFG, and denies any nefarious ties to Qatar. But Libya's rumor mill quickly turns suspicion into fact and he is finding it hard to shake the slur. His LIFG began fighting Gadhafi in the 1980s. After Gadhafi successfully crushed the LIFG, the group went underground and scattered. At its peak, the LIFG had underground cells in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, where it shared training camps with Al Qaeda. Belhaj had joined the new revolution with a ready-made army and a political religious ideology to boot. I know this because in 2009 I was trying to interview him when he was an inmate inside the notorious Abu Salim jail in Tripoli. In his writings then, he was trying to lead the group away from violent jihad towards a more political ideology. The so-called recantation theories, a 400-page manifesto he and several other fighting group leaders wrote from within the walls of the high security prison was the first ever direct jihadist challenge to Osama Bin Laden's nihilistic ideology. Bin Laden and Belhaj had never been natural bedfellows, but now they were enemies. Still, none of this cuts the mustard in Tripoli today; he's just another leader with an agenda. Gadhafi himself predicted his detractors had little in common and would soon fight among themselves. Sure enough, as weeks of street uprisings dragged out into months of NATO bombing, fractures appeared. Abdel Fattah Younis, Gadhafi's old ally and military chief who deserted him for the rebels was murdered in suspicious circumstances. Many feared it was the handiwork of the Islamists cutting down a moderate who might have made deals with some of his former boss's friends. Today the fight is a war of words played out in the newly liberated conference halls of the capital. At the weekend, National Transitional Council (NTC) chairman Abdul Jalil tried to reconcile the growing differences. After a contentious group meeting with all the commanders, the atmosphere became so heated that he was forced to meet the next day with individual factions seperately. On the capital's streets, the power struggle has more sinister overtones. First, Belhaj, citing the Jalil and the NTC's backing, called for all heavy weapons to be put under his command or moved out of the city. "We call on all the revolutionary brigades and small local councils to join this framework as acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the transitional council," he said. It is statements like this that rankle with Naker. Naker claims it is his group, the Tripoli Revolution Council, that has the authority to have the weapons rounded up. Legitimacy in the capital, he says, is garnered from the neighborhood councils established to funnel weapons to fighters before the final push to over throw Gadhafi. But his challenge extends beyond Belhaj to the NTC and Jalil, the man who many regard as the very glue holding the disparate groups together. "We gave this council the legitimacy and if we want we can withdraw the legitimacy from the transitional council....then we have no problem with withdrawing its legitimacy," Naker said. The root of the problem is that many Libyan's are loyal to family, tribe, village and town before nation. They've fought often isolated in their towns, Zintan in the western mountains, Misrata under siege on the coast for 6 months and Benghazi, its own large fiefdom in the east. Tripoli's patchwork of neighborhood councils is but a minor mirror of that. Tajoura, Souk al Juma and Fashloom -- to name but a few -- saw many of the weapons smuggled in to the city over the summer. It's given them muscle and the power to punch above their weight, as well as some freedom to choose sides. Belhaj claims many are loyal to him. "We have met with all the local revolutionary councils and other small councils and we have agreed on a written statement we will show it to media soon," he claimed. Trouble is Naker claims loyalty from some of the same councils. Meanwhile, the overnight thump of heavy guns being fired off for fun across many of Tripoli's neighborhoods has dwindled. But no-one here is fooled that they've gone silent for good. Tensions are leading to uncertainty. No-one wants to be boxed in like they were with Gadhafi, lives bounded by parameters. Revolution has given a taste of freedom and the capital's citizens desperately want that seductive flavor on tap for good, enshrined in a genuine democracy before Islamists or anyone else starts taking their choices away. When the men in uniforms with guns and not the politicians in suits start to argue, people get afraid. Both Belhaj and Naker say they want to resolve their differences by talking. But over the past few weeks since Gadhafi's family fled his Babal az Azia palace, misunderstanding and distrust have grown. Reversing it is proving to be a formidable challenge. | Abdul Hakim Belhaj seized control as the military commander of Tripoli .
Belhaj has authority over a third of Libya's population and a large part of its wealth .
Rival commander Abdullah Naker contests Belhaj's legitimacy .
Naker has echoed a complaint that Belhaj is a stooge of the Qataris . |
220,606 | a9900c6051c5f22361fa0adf3bd3fafd6e5b4307 | It's not just a fourth stand they are building at Bristol City. Sadly for Steve Cotterill, though, they will have to wait a while longer to underline their progress by taking the scalp of a big team. For large swathes of this match, it looked possible. West Ham were often desperately poor and Bristol City were frequently exciting. They attacked with pace and without fear; they created chances and did everything except take them. Twice Matt Smith won headers within a dangerous range and twice he beat Adrian in West Ham’s goal. Twice, there was a man waiting on the line to clear. That final yard was the hurdle and curse for a club who only have three quarters of a stadium, but dream big and sit second in League One. West Ham striker Diafra Sakho celebrate putting Sam Allardyce's side into a 1-0 lead against Bristol City . The Senegalese striker meets Andy Carroll's cross at the far post to send the away side into the FA Cup fifth round . Sakho salutes the travelling fans after coming off the bench and giving the Irons a crucial late lead . Sakho and Aaron Cresswell celebrate in front of the 1,006 Hammers faithful at Ashton Gate . Bristol City (3-5-2): Fielding 6 Ayling 6, Flint 7, Williams 6.5; Little 6.5 (Wagstaff 75, 6), K Smith 6.5, Freeman 7 (Agard 83), Saville 6.5 (Pack 83), Bryan 6.5; Emmanuel-Thomas 6.5, M Smith 6.5 . Subs not used: Richards, Osborne, Elliott, Cunningham . Manager: Steve Cotterill 6.5 . West Ham (4-3-1-2): Adrian 6; Jenkinson 7, Tomkins 6, Reid 6.5, Cresswell 6.5; Noble 5.5, Song 5 (Amalfitano 57, 6), Nolan 5 (Demel 88); Downing 6; Carroll 6.5, Valencia 4.5 (Sakho 57, 7.5) Subs not used: Jaaskelainen, Demel, Poyet, Jarvis, Cole . Booked: Nolan, Noble . Manager: Sam Allardyce 7.5 . Referee: Lee Mason 6 . Attendance: 12,682 . Player rating by Riath Al-Samarrai . ‘All we needed was that final touch,’ said Cotterill. For Sam Allardyce, there can only be relief that Diafra Sakho was fit after three weeks out and able to come off his bench to head an 81st-minute winner. Certainly any pride will need to be balanced against what was a weak performance, particularly from his midfielders. But into the draw they go and that, for this club more than some, is important. Allardyce knows his side have an opportunity in this competition in light of Saturday’s magnificent upsets – not to mention the freedom afforded by West Ham’s good league position – and it was the gist of his team talk. Allardyce said: ‘I said to the players, “Don’t be a victim. Don’t be another casualty. Be professional in what you do and if they are to beat you they have to produce something special”. It was a hard-earned victory and one we are grateful for. ‘A team in the lower divisions can, in one day, beat the most forceful team in the Premier League. Chelsea conceded four at home to Bradford. Big teams can always get knocked out. Gladly we are one of the bigger teams not crying all the way home. ‘Now it will all depend on the draw. I know it’s said that somewhere along the line you are going to get a Premier League team. But I hope we get them when we’re in the final and not before.’ Cotterill, meanwhile, tried to strike a philosophical tone but knows a chance went untaken. ‘We won’t be slitting our wrists because we got beat 1-0 by West Ham,’ he said. ‘It’s just a slight disappointment because with a bit of luck we might have knocked them out. ‘I think the results on Saturday made it more difficult for us. I am not saying West Ham wouldn’t have been focused but if they weren’t then those results would have made them more focused. ‘They picked a good, strong, experienced team.’ Indeed, Allardyce made only one change to the side that crushed Hull in the Premier League last weekend, with Winston Reid stepping in for James Collins, who has a back problem. It was about as strong a side as West Ham could field; it was a side that spent all but the final 10 minutes of the first half struggling to draw breath. Sakho is joined by his jubilant team-mates, including Carroll, whose right-footed cross found its marker . Mark Noble of heads off the line to deny Smith as West Ham came under pressure during the early stages at Ashton Gate . Bristol striker Matt Smith rises above Winston Reid but but his header flies over the West Ham crossbar . The 25-year-old striker rests on his knees after missing one of several chances that came his way on Sunday . George Saville shows no fear as he reach for the ball with a high boot against Hammers midfielder Kevin Nolan . Luke Freeman (right) looks to shield the ball from James Tomkins during a difficult first half for the Hammers . Our brilliant Match Zone service shows that Sakho's far post header came after good work down the right from Carroll . With an extra man in the middle, City were winning the battle for midfield and in Luke Freeman, once of Arsenal but more recently Stevenage, they had a man who was able to take control. In Alex Song, West Ham had a top-class midfielder on loan from Barcelona who seemingly couldn’t pass to a team-mate. Combined, it meant City were on top for most of the half, happy to counter or dictate. The first warning was sounded after six minutes when Smith’s header beat Adrian and was cleared by Mark Noble. Smith then sent a second header past the keeper, only to be brilliantly cleared by Andy Carroll. West Ham looked in desperate trouble. In one challenge, Emmanuel-Thomas floored Winston Reid – the clichés about lower league sides making life uncomfortable for the big boys were also acted out. Allardyce responded by hooking off Song and Enner Valencia for Morgan Amalfitano and Sakho shortly after the restart and West Ham gradually held more possession. But even then there was no evidence that one side is almost two divisions to the north of the other, Smith underlying the point by heading over. But then Sakho took hold of this game. In the space of two minutes he was blocked by Aden Flint and also grazed the bar after showing some delightful skill on his way to goal. When Carroll hooked over a cross 10 minutes from time Sakho jumped up and won the game, even if Smith was given the opportunity to miss yet another header. ‘We were never at our very best but we did enough to get through to the next round,’Allardyce said. In the context of a remarkable weekend, that will have to do. Smith thought he had given Bristol a deserved lead after sending his header towards goal only to see it cleared by Carroll . Hammers goalkeeper Adrian (right) spreads himself wide as Luke Ayling meets the ball at the far post . Ayling puts his head in his hands as another half-chance goes begging for the home side . Bristol striker Smith (centre) laughs as he is fouled by Hammers defender Winston Reid during the FA Cup clash . Freeman is surrounded as by Noble (left) and Winston Reid (right) as the Robins star looks to drive his team forwards . Enner Valencia (left) is fouled by Joe Bryan during at goalless first 45 minutes on Sunday afternoon . Steve Cotterill shouts instructions to his players as Valencia is left crumpled in a heap following Bryan's challenge . West Ham United boss Allardyce has words with the fourth official on the touchline during the FA Cup match . Emmanuel-Thomas (left) rides the challenge of Noble battle as the pair battle for the ball during the first half . Bristol fans tie their scarves together as they show their support for their team ahead of kick-off . Allardyce celebrates the victory by giving former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song an impromptu massage . | Diafra Sakho scores 81st winner to hand West Ham FA Cup fourth round win against Bristol .
Both Mark Noble and Andy Carroll clear the ball off the line during difficult first half for West Ham .
Bristol striker Matt Smith sees second half header sail over the bar . |
72,354 | cd1e2cef7448bc390d5cf3a6c523e1aaaf72e184 | TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad heads to Pakistan and India this week to put the finishing touches on a controversial deal to build a pipeline that would deliver Iranian gas to both countries, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency says. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waves as he arrives Monday in Islamabad, Pakistan. Ahmadinejad arrived in Islamabad on Monday for a four-hour visit with newly elected Prime Minister Reza Gilani and President Pervez Musharraf, according to Pakistan's information ministry. Later in the day, he heads to Sri Lanka before traveling to New Delhi late Tuesday for a short visit, according to Iran's state-run news agency IRNA. The pipeline, if built, would be about 2,700 kilometers (1,674 miles) long. Pakistan and India, both key U.S. allies, are under pressure from the United States not to sign any kind of agreement with Iran. Some observers have called the project "the peace pipeline" because of its perceived impact on reducing tension between India and Pakistan, nuclear neighbors that have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed Kashmir region. Watch Ahmadinejad arrive in India » . The gas pipeline project, which has been in discussions for over a year, is aimed at supplying Iranian natural gas to Pakistan and India. The pipeline would run from Iran to India, cutting through Pakistan. According to Fars, Ahmadinejad's visit comes after Pakistani and Indian energy ministers signed an agreement last week, once they had resolved a major "bone of contention" regarding the route of the gas pipeline. "Now that all sides have calmed down, President Ahmadinejad will discuss the 'Peace Pipeline' at the highest levels during his visit to the Sub-Continent," Fars said. Under the agreement, the pipeline will run through 1,100 kilometers (682 miles) of Iran, 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of Pakistan and 600 kilometers (372 miles) of India, according to Fars. "The pipeline will be capable of daily transporting 150 million cubic meters of gas to Pakistan and India -- 90 million cubic meters will go to India and the rest will go to Pakistan," Fars said. "The pipeline project was initially estimated to cost $4.5 billion, but the cost has been revised to around $7 billion." The United States recently tried to scuttle the pipeline by offering India advanced nuclear technology to make up for the loss of Iranian gas. But Fars reported that India recently declared its readiness to participate in the discussions on the pipeline after more than a year. China -- Iran's largest trade partner followed by India -- has previously said that it would negotiate in India's place if New Delhi withdraws from the project, according to Fars. China borders Pakistan to the north. A top adviser to the Iranian president spoke on the eve of Ahmadinejad's visit about the importance of oil and gas when it comes to putting Western powers "in their place," according to Fars. "Oil and gas are two elements of power at the disposal of the Muslims," Gen. Yahya Safavi said Sunday, according to Fars. "If it (the power) be viewed properly (with wisdom) and within the framework of the interests of Islam and Muslims, one can then put the hegemonic powers back in their place." E-mail to a friend . CNN's Shirzad Bozorgmehr in Tehran and Zein Basravi in Islamabad contributed to this report. | Iranian president traveling to Pakistan, India to discuss pipeline deal .
Pipeline would bring Iranian gas to the two countries .
United States has urged Pakistan, India not to sign deal with Iran . |
142,599 | 446b730115e2be0357789c2a9d789f411ec0f8e1 | One Direction's Harry Styles has been having facials made of bird excrement in a bid to clear up his spotty skin before the band's world tour. The 20-year-old singer is said to have signed up for an intensive course of the anti-wrinkle and acne treatment - in which clients pay £180 to have nightingale droppings smeared on to their skin. The unusual 'Geisha facial' is already popular in Hollywood, with Tom Cruise and Victoria Beckham among those who swear by its effectiveness. One Direction's Harry Styles has been having facials made of bird excrement in a bid to clear up his spotty skin before the band's world tour . A source said that Harry fears that the heavy make-up and hot lights used on tour could take their toll on his young skin - which is already prone to spots . Unusual: The anti-ageing treatment made from nightingale droppings . A new anti-wrinkle treatment is on the market in which clients pay £180 to have nightingale droppings smeared on to their skin . The Daily Star reports that Harry fears that the heavy make-up and hot lights used on tour could take their toll on his young skin - which is already prone to spots. A source told the paper that his skin was already looking better after he embarked on the daily course of facials. Tom Cruise, 51, started the treatments two years ago, and also believes they have dramatically improved his complexion. Other fans include Victoria Beckham, 40, who began having the facials after a visit to Japan. Billed as an alternative to Botox injections, the droppings – which are collected on the Japanese island of Kyushu – are mixed with rice bran and water before being applied as a mask and left to soak into the pores for an hour. They contain enzymes which are said to break down dead skin – restoring complexions that have been damaged by ageing and sun exposure – and were traditionally used to help Japanese geisha remove the thick white make-up they were expected to wear. Hollywood actor Tom Cruise is among those who swear by its effectiveness . The mixture apparently does not smell of excrement, but is said to have a musty odour - similar to hay. Emma Hu, director of the Spa to You centre at the Hilton Hotel on London's Park Lane, which has recently started offering the treatment, said: 'The nightingales were fed on caterpillars that eat from plum trees. 'Clients are intrigued, but after the hour-long treatment users say it gives a shimmery, iridescent effect to the skin.' | Unusual facial popular in Hollywood - actor Tom Cruise swears by it .
Victoria Beckham, 40, who discovered it in Japan, is another fan .
Harry fears tour could take toll .
on his skin - which is already prone to spots . |
132,327 | 371db22a45bdd523c0b1d7658d2d7d9ab2672d40 | (CNN) -- Florida's Everglades National Park and rain forests in Madagascar have been added to a list of world heritage sites in danger. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced the decision at its 34th annual meeting in Brasilia, Brazil. Degradation of the Everglades has caused its addition to the list this year, with UNESCO reporting that water inflows have reduced up to 60 percent and high pollution levels are currently killing marine life. The Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, with more than 1.5 million acres of estuaries, prairies, and shady stretches of pine. This is the second time the Everglades has been included on the list, the first time was between 1993 and 1997 because of damages caused by Hurricane Andrew. The rain forests of Atsinanana in Madagascar make the list this year after illegal logging and hunting of endangered lemurs on the site. Due to the illegal exporting of logged timber, many rare species found in the rainforest are threatened, especially lemurs found only in Madagascar. | Degradation of the Everglades leads to its addition to the list .
This is the second time the Everglades has been added to the list .
Madagascar forests make list after illegal logging and hunting . |
38,246 | 6c268abf71ad1d5c80b07e35759d421765ac0ee3 | (CNN) -- Thai authorities are considering the construction of a super-express waterway through Bangkok to prevent future floods similar to the one that has crippled the Thai capital and brought manufacturing in other parts of the country to a standstill. A team of disaster experts from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok is now investigating permanent solutions to the disaster that has left hundreds dead. "One of the urgent solutions is a super-express floodway," Thanawat Jarupongsakul, from the university's Unit for Disaster and Land Information Studies, told the Bangkok Post. Under the plan, existing natural canals -- some of them more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) long -- would be linked in a 200-km "super-highway" that would divert the course of floodwaters from the north. The super-canal would hold 1.6 billion cubic meters of water and drain run-off at a rate of 6,000 cubic meters per second -- the equivalent of two and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools a second. "This idea is much cheaper than digging a new river as a floodway," Thanawat said. He said the proposed scheme would involve the construction of a kilometer-wide exclusion zone next to the floodway to prevent properties from being inundated, and a raised highway on both side of the canal. The super-express floodway would then drain upstream run-off directly into the sea. The university team is also looking at other flood-prevention measures such as a better early-warning system, improved water resource management, a flood tax, the use of a flood-risk map for urban development and groundwater-use controls. "Now, the government must stop [trying to] solve flood problems with political methods," Thanawat told the Bangkok Post. He said poor water management rather than excess rain had caused this year's severe flooding, adding that natural swamps in the west of Thailand's Central Plains, which once absorbed water flow, had been developed into industrial and residential areas, blocking the natural floodway. While giant flood tunnels in the Bangkok metropolitan area could drain floodwater from the city, they could not cope with a massive inundation from the north. "If there is no step forward, foreign investors will eventually disappear from the country and the next generation will be still worried whether flooding will happen or not," he said. | Thai authorities consider super-express waterway to prevent future floods .
Under the plan, existing natural canals would be linked in 200-km "super-highway"
Super-canal would hold 1.6B cubic meters of water and massively speed drain run-off . |
54,467 | 9a408a127393d6cb2233fc143ed58ad4f71e0886 | By . Emily Allen . Last updated at 12:43 PM on 21st October 2011 . Most holidaymakers bring back tacky t-shirts, sticks of rock and trashy trinkets from their travels abroad - but not these tourists. They picked up butterfly knives, police batons and even a stun gun disguised as a torch as their holiday mementos. The fearsome weapons were rounded up by customs officials at the UK's borders from tourists who thought they could bring them back into country and some were on display at Birmingham Airport today. From 1 April 2010 until 31 March 2011, 2,477 offensive weapons were seized from people travelling through UK ports. Haul: UK Border Agency Assistant Director for the Midlands Alex Lawther with weapons seized at Birmingham airport . UK Border Agency officers said if Britons try to bring back dangerous souvenirs they risk prosecution by doing so. Even if the items are brought in to the country innocently, passengers could fall foul of strict laws governing weapons possession. Many holidaymakers are caught out because the weapons are freely available to buy in foreign countries. Items from Bulgaria and Turkey accounted for a large percentage of the 230 weapons seized at Birmingham Airport since June. Dangerous: Items from Bulgaria and Turkey accounted for a large percentage of the 230 weapons seized since June . And weapons purchased as souvenirs from market stalls in Eastern Mediterranean countries also featured in the bumper crop of offensive items. But items from further afield, such as a lethal-looking pair of machetes, had also been seized. Alex Lawther, assistant director for the UK Border Agency in the Midlands, said: 'Most of these items are freely available on sale at the market in Bulgaria, Turkey, Cyprus and parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. 'Many people mistakenly think they can bring one home as a souvenir. 'Those caught trying to smuggle these dangerous weapons into the country or simply unaware of the controls in place should be warned that these weapons will be found and taken off them and they could face prosecution.' Memento: UK Border Agency officers seized over 200 potentially lethal and offensive weapons brought back as souvenirs by passengers arriving in Birmingham . Even if there is no criminal intent, Mr Lawther said that the deadly weapons could fall in to the wrong hands. He said: 'The weapons get more and more sophisticated, some of them are really vicious and could have terrible consequences.' Mr Lawther said that weapons are often brought in by young people, unbeknownst to their parents. He said: 'A lot of the time when you find one it's in an adolescent's suitcase. 'They're often surprised when we find it, but there has been the occasional argument with a parent who claims it's just a souvenir.' Confiscated weapons are either sent to a special warehouse to be disposed of, while some are put on display at the UKBA's 'Seized' museum in Liverpool. | Last year 2,477 dangerous weapons were seized from UK ports .
Many come from Bulgaria, Turkey and Eastern Mediterranean countries . |
248,613 | cdb135591fa8bd0bb853af72f07556c64adc47ce | Trinny Woodall's former husband Johnny Elichaoff was talked down from the same ledge from which he fell to his death on Wednesday weeks ago, it has been claimed. The 55-year-old was pronounced dead near Whiteley's shopping centre in Bayswater, west London, on Wednesday morning, where is thought to have fallen from the roof of a building. Mr Elichaoff, a drummer and antiques dealer, had reportedly shut down some of his businesses in the weeks before his death. Johnny Elichaoff, the former husband of Trinny Woodall, was pronounced dead after falling from the roof of a building in Bayswater, west London . Two weeks ago he was 'talked down' from the roof of a multi-storey car park by police, the Telegraph reports. 'Around two weeks ago the same guy was talked down from up there,' Yousef Long told the newspaper. 'That car park has been unsafe for years though, the fence is only three feet high,' he added. The man, who became a financial adviser after a career in music, had 'shut down' some of his businesses in the weeks before his death, the Sun claims. Tributes were this afternoon left at the shopping centre where Mr Elichaoff was pronounced dead. Among floral arrangements and photographs of the musician was a small white card believed to have been left by his estranged wife, reading: 'Miss you always, T'. It was accompanied by a picture of the 55-year-old with the former couple's 11-year-old daughter, Lyla. Another photograph of Mr Elichaoff and his son from a previous marriage was also left among tributes. Scotland Yard confirmed the 55-year-old's death was not being treated as suspicious. Ms Woodall, who is dating Nigella Lawson's former husband Charles Saatchi, was said to be devastated by his death. The former couple battled drugs and alcohol addiction throughout their marriage and remained friends after their split in 2009. Mr Elichaoff regularly featured on the Channel 4 programme Four Rooms. In the series, members of the public pitch weird and wonderful objects to professional dealers. Mr Elichaoff was one of the dealers on the programme. Westminster Coroner's Court in London confirmed they may open an inquest next week. Trinny Woodall is thought to have left a tribute to her former husband at the department store from which he fell to his death on Wednesday, writing: 'Miss you always, T' Flowers, photographs and a candle were scattered on the corner of the Whiteleys department store in Bayswater, west London . A tribute left by friends today. Mr Elichaoff was pronounced dead at the scene on Wednesday morning . Sudden death: Trinny Woodall's ex-husband Johnny Elichaoff has died aged just 55 after he fell from the roof of a London shopping centre . A Met Police spokesman said: 'Officers and London Ambulance Service attended the scene. The man, believed aged 55, died from his injuries at the scene. 'Next of kin have been informed. At this stage the death is not being treated as suspicious'. Alex Fakhre, 25, who witnessed the fall, told the Evening Standard: 'I was coming back from my girlfriend’s and the road was all blocked off. The police said a guy had fallen from the car park (roof). He looked in a pretty bad way.' A source told The Sun Miss Woodall, 50, was 'grief-stricken' by the loss of her former partner. Her ex-husband's family are also too upset to speak. The pair married in Knightsbridge in 1999 at St Columba's church where Miss Woodall was christened, her parents had married and her grandfather was buried. Couple: Miss Woodall and Mr Elichaoff were married for 10 years and have an 11-year-old daughter together . Trinny's wedding dress was made by designer Elspeth Gibson, but she created the designs for her bridesmaids' dresses, while their shoes were made by Christian Louboutin and differed according to the shape of the bridesmaids' ankles. Back in 1982, it was Johnny who first found fame, as a madcap rock drummer who toured the world supporting U2 and Siouxsie Sioux. Nicknamed Johnny Too Bad, he played in a Seventies band called Stark Naked And The Car Thieves before defecting to the equally bizarrely named Baby And The Black Spots and then playing in guitarist Robert Fripp's League Of Gentlemen. His musical career was interrupted by a two-year spell in the Army in 1984, and he went on to help manage rock bands Tears For Fears and Fairground Attraction. But the musician changed his career to become a financial adviser. However, he developed an addiction to prescription painkillers in 2006 when he had 20 operations after breaking his leg in a motorbike accident. He was then treated in a Californian rehab clinic in October that year. Investigation: Police said they were called to Whiteleys Shopping Centre, in Bayswater, London, but said the death was not suspicious . New love: Miss Woodall, famous for presenting What Not To Wear, is now dating Nigella Lawson's ex Charles Saatchi . Following their split in 2009, the couple remained on good terms. They would regular dine out together with their daughter Lyla. Friends said the marriage had broken down partly because of Miss Woodall's busy work schedule but his dependence on painkillers proved a strain. Mr Elichaoff suffered from an addiction to prescription painkillers. Miss Woodall also had her own battle with substance and alcohol abuse. The couple have both spoken openly about their issues. A friend said Trinny felt 'let down' that he did not make the same inroads she did. He said of his wife before their divorce: 'Trinny comes across as cold and aloof, but in fact she is the kindest woman I have ever met. She has a heart of gold. The steeliness people see in her is really a cover for her chronic shyness, believe me.' Last year, during talk hosted by The Spectator magazine, Miss Woodall talked publicly about her battle with cocaine and alcohol. She said: 'I'm Trinny, I'm an alcoholic and I'm an addict. When asked whether addiction is a disease, I didn't have to think twice. Knowing that I have a disease is how I manage to have a healthy life today.' Fame: Mr Elichaoff (right) made regular appearances on Channel 4 programme Four Rooms . Heritage: Johnny Elichaoff with Trinny Woodall, Perla Ferrar, and guitarist Slash in 2007. Mr Elichaoff was a drummer with various bands and also managed Tears for Fears . Trinny's work parter Susannah - married to Danish entrepreneur Sten Bertelsen and the mother of their three children – fell into motherhood effortlessly. But Trinny was diagnosed with blocked fallopian tubes and endured nine rounds of IVF and two miscarriages before she conceived. Tribute: Trinny's ex-husband said of her: 'She is the kindest woman I have ever met. She has a heart of gold' This was said to have put pressure on her marriage to Elichaoff. She said at the time: 'It is stressful having IVF. I'm a hormonal cow for a month, but luckily my husband is very patient.' When she finally became pregnant she spoke glowingly of Johnny. 'I still feel a sexy woman, which is important,' she said. 'Some husbands are very funny about their wives when they're pregnant and go off them sexually, but my husband never puts me down. I'll say, 'I hate my thick legs,' and he'll say, 'Trinny, you can cover them – and your t*** look fab.' He always makes me feel great.' Of all the storms they weathered, it was said Trinny’s struggle to become pregnant was the toughest. Miss Woodall began a relationship with Charles Saatchi, 71, in the summer of 2012, eight weeks after he split from his former wife, Nigella. The couple's 10-year marriage ended after Mr Saatchi was photographed clutching the celebrity chef's neck outside Mayfair restaurant, Scott's – one of the art dealer's favourite haunts. This summer, less than 12 months after the incident, Miss Woodall was pictured with Mr Saatchi sobbing at a table outside the same restaurant. Confirming Mr Elichaoff's death last night, a Channel 4 spokesman said: 'Our thoughts are with his friends and family'. | Trinny Woodall's ex-husband Johnny Elichaoff has died aged just 55 .
Businessman had been 'talked down' from roof weeks ago, it was claimed .
Small card left near scene of his death which read: 'Miss you always, T'
Scotland Yard said he fell from roof of London car park on Wednesday .
Drummer is also the father of Miss Woodall's 11-year-old daughter, Lyla .
Fashion expert was married to the former musician for 10 years until 2009 .
Miss Woodall is said to be devastated by Mr Elichaoff's death .
Inquest may open next week after his death in Bayswater, west London .
For confidential .
support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local .
Samaritans branch or click here . |
4,443 | 0cd1388e3e9bb4712f57578d8843da98178711e1 | By . Steve Nolan . PUBLISHED: . 06:50 EST, 15 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:49 EST, 15 August 2013 . A prisoner waiting for his case to be heard in court landed himself in even more trouble when he tried to snatch a police officer's gun from her holster. Robert Lewis Bridges III, 24, has been in jail since February charged with four crimes in connection with a burglary. But he will face an additional two charges when he finally gets his day before a judge after attempting to grab the .40-caliber gun from a Deputy at the Hillsborough County Court, Florida. Dramatic CCTV footage taken from court cameras shows the moment Master Sgt Tracey Wallace managed to prevent Bridges from grabbing her weapon. Scroll down for video . Desperate lunch: Robert Lewis Bridges III is pictured leaping up from the bench at Hillsborough County Court, Florida, and making a grab for Sgt Tracey Wallace's gun . Audacious attempt: Handcuffed Bridges uses both hands to try and grab the .40-caliber gun from the Sergeant's belt . Defence: But the quick thinking officer is prepared for Bridges's attack and manages to slap his hand away from her holster . The footage shows Bridges and two other prisoners sat on a side bench waiting for their case to be heard by Circuit Judge Martha Cook, when Master Sgt Wallace walks across the courtroom in front of them. Despite being shackled and handcuffed, Bridges manages to leap up from the bench and attempts to grab the gun from Sgt Wallace's belt holster with both hands. But the quick thinking officer manages to evade Bridges lunge slapping his hand away from her belt. Two other officers then rush to her aid and pin Bridges down before he is led away to a holding room. Help: As the sergeant briefly tussles with Bridges, two other officers rush to her aid . Thwarted: Sgt Wallace looks on as her two colleagues restrain the man, pinning him down on the bench . Drama: Bridges is led away to a holding cell as fellow inmates and court officials look on . Sgt Wallace said after the incident that she was prepared the audacious attempt at grabbing her gun because she had spotted bridges eying up her holster. Sheriff’s office spokesman Detective Larry McKinnon told NBCMiami: 'Her quick thinking and defensive actions, along with the type of equipment that she had on her belt, and of course with the other deputies restraining, we feel prevented a really tragic incident in that courtroom. 'When he pounced, she was already predisposed to react because she saw that he was acting strangely.' Bridges has already been in jail since February charged with burglary, third degree grand theft, obstructing or opposing an officer and tampering with electronic monitoring equipment. But he has now been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and depriving an officer of means of protection following the courtroom drama. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Robert Lewis Bridges III tried to grab the .40-caliber gun from officer's belt .
Quick thinking Sgt Tracey Wallace slapped his hand away from the weapon .
The incident, in front of a busy Florida courtroom, was captured on CCTV . |
232,697 | b94d76e4dfbbe906f5654572b642b2b4bb3ac820 | LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- A suicide bomber killed at least 23 people and injured more than 58 others after detonating an explosive outside a court in Lahore on Thursday, police said. A rescuer helps an injured man following a suicide bomb attack in Lahore. The exact number of casualties varied, but state-run news agency the Associated Press of Pakistan said 22 police officers and one passerby were killed. Reports of another explosion triggered a dash toward a supposed second blast site, but those reports proved unfounded, said Aftab Cheema, senior superintendent of Lahore police. The suicide blast occurred in the city's commercial district, moments before lawyers were set to begin a rally outside the high court in the eastern Pakistani city to protest the rule of President Pervez Musharraf. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro said in a statement that those who committed this "cowardly act" were "neither believer of any religion nor of any human ethics." Police said about 100 uniformed and plainclothes officers were at the scene ahead of the rally when the bomb went off about 11:45 a.m. Pakistan time (6:45 a.m. GMT). The bomber was approaching a police barrier when officers stopped him, said Cheema, and the man then blew himself up. Ahsan Bhoon, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, said lawyers had just completed a meeting and were headed out of the courthouse to participate in the rally when he heard the blast. Bhoon said he saw bodies scattered everywhere. At least 15 of them were lifeless. A second lawyer, Khurram Khosa, said he began picking up bodies of the dead and noticed all but one of them clad in the green uniform of police officers. Many of the wounded were taken to Mayo Hospital in Lahore, said medical superintendent Fayyaz Ahmad Ranjha. Two remained in critical condition but the rest were likely to survive, Ranjha said. Footage from the scene painted a chaotic picture, with baton-wielding police working to beat back a crowd that was trying to get a closer look at a burned-out white vehicle. Officers cordoned off the area, while rescue workers carrying stretchers with wounded victims sidestepped shards of glass that littered the street from broken car windows. "Lahore is typically a calm city," local journalist Todd Baer said. "This is one of the few places in Pakistan that did not have rioting (after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto). So people here are very tense right now." In recent months, Pakistan has been besieged by a wave of suicide attacks that has claimed several hundred lives. The blast comes a day before the start of the month of Muharram, a holy period of mourning, when religious tension are high. It also follows the death of Bhutto, who was killed at a rally in Rawalpindi, south of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, on December. 27. While the cause of her death is still unclear, a bomber blew himself up near her limousine and videotape showed a gunman present. Lawyers in Lahore have been holding rallies every Thursday to protest the government's crackdown on the judiciary and imprisonment of lawyers and judges across the country. Meanwhile, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said it had written to the Pakistan government urging it to request an independent United Nations inquiry, The Associated Press reported on Thursday. The PPP warned that if the government failed to do so within 48 hours, the party would approach the U.N. directly. E-mail to a friend . CNN's Mohsin Naqvi, Leone Lakhani, Ingrid Formanek and journalist Todd Baer contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | NEW: Blast outside Lahore court kills at least 23 people and injures 58 others .
Suicide bomb exploded as lawyers were set to begin protest rally outside high court .
A man blew himself up after being stopped by police at a security barrier .
There were reports of a second blast, but these proved to be unfounded . |
80,252 | e37709365f15f5738aa49e83b1dec556baa57199 | An obese mother who refused to be seen with her daughters for ten years to protect them from cruel jibes about her size can now proudly go out in public with them - after losing 14 stone. Lisa Copeland, 46, saw her weight increase to 23 and a half stone after the birth of her first daughter Victoria. Her daily diet consisted of whole packs of biscuits and five Yorkshire puddings at a time, and she ate takeaways five nights a week as well as cooking large meals for her family. Slimming down: Lisa Copeland, 46, has shed 14 stone behind closed doors with strict dieting and exercise so she can enjoy a 'normal' life with her three daughters . Losing it: The super slimmer went from a healthy 12 stone to 23st7lb after the birth to her first daughter Victoria. She would regularly eat whole packets of biscuits . She shrugged off personal taunts but was heartbroken when Victoria came home in tears from school at the age of 13 to say she was being bullied because of her mother. Lisa, married to accountant Rob, 50, vowed to slim - but decided to do so in the privacy of her home to spare her girls more embarrassment. She embarked on a ten-year weight loss battle and for five years of it denied herself many of the joys of motherhood. She missed out on many things as Victoria and her younger sisters Rebecca and Abigail grew up, like shopping, playing in the park and collecting them from parties. But her secret battle saw her drop 20 dress sizes from a 28 to a sleek size eight and she is now a trim nine stone. Her slimming success has seen her being appointed a Weight Watchers leader as a model to others. Cruel jibes: She shrugged off personal taunts but was heartbroken when Victoria came home in tears from school at the age of 13 to say she was being bullied because of her mother . And Lisa is now finally venturing from her home in Hornchurch, Essex to enjoy shopping trips with her girls Victoria, 25, Rebecca, 22, and Abigail, 15. Lisa said: 'I was absolutely devastated that my child was being bullied because of me. 'I couldn't believe how unhappy she was - and I was mortified that it was all my fault. It felt like I was bullying my own child and I thought if I don't nip this in the bud now then my other children might be bullied too. 'I got up the next day and changed my life. I got up and made sure I knew what my diet was going to be.' Out and about: Lisa is now finally venturing from her home in Hornchurch, Essex to enjoy shopping trips with her girls . She added: 'It meant I didn't have anything to do with my children for about five years. 'I didn't want to go out, I didn't want people to know I was Rob's wife, I didn't want people to laugh at my children. Health problems: As her weight grew she also developed physical symptoms including breathlessness, lethargy and painful sores . 'It was easier not to go out as a family and Victoria actually has no memory of going out as a family. 'As I lost more weight I became more confident, but it has taken me this long to finally get over the hurt I caused my children.' Lisa, a former gymnastics coach, said she found herself trapped in a vicious cycle of comfort eating as her growing weight shattered her confidence. She also began suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) over the state of her house. The highlight of her day was tucking into cake instead of outdoors playing with her daughters. As her weight grew she also developed physical symptoms including breathlessness, lethargy and painful sores. Lisa signed up to Weight Watchers in 2002 and started swimming three times a week - although not with her children. In the first eight years she lost more than 11 stone and gradually started to feel better about her appearance. She has now lost an extra three stone and is finally happy with her weight - after more than 25 years. Daughter Victoria, a marketing executive from London, said: 'I can't remember spending much time with my mum. 'I was quite an active child and she was never really there. 'When it was a sports day or parents evening at school you would always see friends with both their parents there. 'For me it was normal to have an overweight mum but looking back I do wish she'd been there so I had some fond memories.' She added: 'It's amazing to have her back. What she has done is fantastic. We all love being able to finally go out together as a family.' Happy times: She has now lost an extra three stones and is finally happy with her weight - after more than 25 years . | Lisa Copeland's weight rose to over 23 stone after first pregnancy .
As a child her daughter began to be bullied for her mother's size .
Lisa was devastated and embarked on secret weight loss regime .
She refused to leave the house with her children .
Dropped 20 dress sizes from a 28 to a size 8 over a decade .
Lost 14 stone and is now a trim nine stone . |
237,177 | bef85c33eacb1910d7e669b50495d1c57d8ef3be | (CNN) -- Casey Anthony, the Florida woman who was tried and acquitted in the death of her young daughter, broke her silence Tuesday to CNN's Piers Morgan, saying she was rightly found not guilty. "Obviously I didn't kill my daughter," Anthony said, Morgan reported on "Piers Morgan Tonight." The two spoke for roughly 10 minutes by phone. "If anything, there's nothing in this world l've ever been more proud of, and there's no one I loved more than my daughter. She's my greatest accomplishment," she said. Anthony, 26, was acquitted last summer of murder charges in the 2008 death of Caylee, 2, but was convicted of four counts of lying to authorities investigating the child's disappearance. She was given credit for time already spent behind bars, however, and was released from jail July 17. Watch: Anthony's lawyer opens up to Dr. Drew . Anthony has remained in seclusion since then, although a judge ruled she must serve a year of probation stemming from her 2010 conviction on check fraud charges. "I'm ashamed in many ways of the person that I was," she told Morgan, reflecting on past interviews. "Even then, that wasn't who I am. Florida v. Casey Anthony: A look back at evidence and testimony . "I'm 26 now, and I've gone through hell," Anthony said. Caylee was last seen June 16, 2008, but was not reported missing until July 15, 2008, when Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, tracked her daughter down and demanded answers regarding Caylee's whereabouts. Investigators searched for the child for five months, eventually finding Caylee's skeletal remains in woods less than a mile from her grandparents' Orlando home. Prosecutors alleged Casey Anthony used chloroform to render her daughter unconscious and then duct-taped her mouth and nose to suffocate her. They alleged that she put the child's body in the trunk of her car for a few days before disposing of it. Defamation lawsuit can go ahead, judge rules . Casey Anthony's defense attorneys maintained that Caylee was not murdered. They said the child drowned in the Anthonys' above-ground pool on July 16, and that Casey Anthony and her father, George Anthony, panicked upon finding her there and covered up the death. George Anthony denied that in testimony. Though Anthony's trial made national headlines, she has since dropped largely out of sight. She surfaced in January when a "video diary," apparently recorded in October, found its way onto YouTube. In that video, Anthony talks to the computer about a dog she adopted. She wore dark-rimmed glasses and her naturally brunette hair was colored blond. Rob Lowe cast in Casey Anthony movie . Anthony told Morgan she didn't trust law enforcement, and that the public image of her is still wildly inaccurate. "I've never been a party girl. I don't drink now. I've probably had a handful of beers since I've been on probation," she said. "I'm not making gazillions of dollars at the hands of other people, or trying to sell myself to anyone willing to throw a couple of dollars at me," Anthony said. "The caricature of me that is out there, it couldn't be further from the truth." Watch Piers Morgan Live weeknights 9 p.m. ET. For the latest from Piers Morgan click here. | NEW: Casey Anthony says she's "gone through hell"
The Florida woman talks exclusively to CNN's Piers Morgan .
Anthony was acquitted last summer of murder charges in the 2008 death of Caylee, 2 .
'The caricature of me that is out there, it couldn't be further from the truth,' she says . |
224,345 | ae7ebcfc232a8ed064270a1a98bda6edcfb2ac18 | (Mental Floss) -- We're in the throes of summer vacation season, but at least one American is still on the job. While it's rumored that President Obama will follow in the footsteps of President Clinton and vacation on Martha's Vineyard, he hasn't had a chance to break out his Bermuda shorts just yet. When Obama does take off, though, he'll join in the grand tradition of presidential vacations, like these notable ones: . President Bush (R) and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen ride bikes in Crawford, Texas, in 2008. 1. Abe Lincoln doesn't go too far . Far-flung vacations are nice, but President Lincoln preferred to stay a bit closer to home. When Lincoln needed a getaway from the heat and political turmoil of Civil War-era Washington, D.C., he headed to...a different part of Washington, D.C. From 1862 to 1864 Lincoln spent June through November living in a cottage atop a hill at the Soldiers' Home a few miles from the White House. Lincoln apparently loved the slight change of scenery, which meant slightly cooler temperatures and a chance to ride his horse each morning. If you're considering a stay-cation this year, consider this Honest Abe's endorsement. 2. Movie cowboy does real ranching . Think George W. Bush was the first president to sneak away from the White House to spend time on his ranch? Not quite. At the end of his second term as Governor of California in 1974, Ronald Reagan paid just over half a million dollars to acquire Rancho del Cielo in California's Santa Ynez Mountains. The 688-acre ranch, complete with stables and a 1500-square-foot adobe house, was Reagan's go-to vacation destination while he was in office, and he entertained some big names there, including Margaret Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth II, and Mikhail Gorbachev, who gamely wore a cowboy hat during his visit. 3. LBJ does some ranching, too . Texan Lyndon Johnson was very involved in the everyday operations of his ranch. Johnson, who had gotten into ranching in 1951, grew his LBJ Ranch into a 2,700-acre spread populated by 400 head of Hereford cattle. Johnson was no absentee owner when he was in Washington, either. Johnson frequently headed back on vacations and supposedly drove his foreman crazy by calling every day to talk about the weather on the ranch or how the pastures looked. Today, the National Park Service maintains LBJ's spread as a working ranch, complete with a herd of cattle descended from the Herefords Johnson bred. 4. George W. Bush initiates a war on brush . George W. Bush followed in LBJ's footsteps and went to his own Texas ranch when he needed a getaway. Prairie Chapel Ranch, a 1,583-acre spread Bush owns near Crawford, Texas, served as the secondary White House throughout Bush's presidency, and he was often shown clearing brush during vacations. Bush wasn't just doing farm work, though. He exhorted visitors to join the "President's 100-Degrees Club" by running three miles or biking 10 after the mercury hit 100 degrees. Anyone who could pull of the feat got a specialized Under Armour shirt as recognition. We can only hope one of the many foreign dignitaries Bush entertained at the ranch -- including Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, Silvio Berlusconi, Ariel Sharon, and Saudi King Abdullah -- managed to get one of the coveted shirts into their suitcases. Mental Floss: Iraq, Afghanistan and other extreme vacation spots . 5. FDR heats up Georgia . Some presidents choose to head to their hometowns or a beach side resort for their vacations, but Franklin Roosevelt preferred to travel to western Georgia. Warm Springs, Georgia, is the home of (you guessed it!) warm springs that supposedly had therapeutic value for polio sufferers. FDR, who had contracted his own paralytic illness in 1921, started visiting Warm Springs in 1924 in the hope that exercising in the springs' warm waters would cure him. Although the springs didn't reverse his illness, FDR felt like his time at the resort alleviated his symptoms somewhat. In 1927 he bought the resort he'd been staying at, and in 1932 he ordered a six-room Georgia pine house to be built on the property. This house was FDR's retreat throughout his presidency and became known as the Little White House. FDR was sitting for a portrait at the Little White House when he died of a stroke in April 1945. Today, the house is part of Georgia's state park system and is open to visitors; it's been preserved to look almost exactly as it did the day FDR died. 6. Nixon gets the right ice cubes . When Richard Nixon wanted a break from Washington, he headed to a modest ranch home he owned on Key Biscayne off Miami. Nixon's "Florida White House," which he visited 50-plus times during his tenure in office, eventually swelled to include three houses and a floating helipad, which the Department of Defense installed at a taxpayer expense of $400,000. (There was plenty of room for taxpayer outrage at the $625,000 total the government spent sprucing up the Florida White House; one itemized expense was $621 for a replacement icemaker because "the President does not like ice with holes in it.") Given that this house was Nixon's retreat, it's no surprise that some shady dealings transpired on the premises. Nixon allegedly discussed plans for the Watergate break-in at the house, and he holed up there when the coverup came to light. The house fell into disrepair after Nixon sold it, and in 2004 it was razed to make room for a new building. The Florida White House wasn't Nixon's only retreat, though. He bought a mansion overlooking the Pacific Ocean in San Clemente, California, shortly after taking office in 1969. Nixon dubbed his new digs "La Casa Pacifica," but the press quickly started referring to the spread as "the Western White House." This house wasn't cheap for taxpayers, either; the government dropped over a million dollars improving this home with temporary office quarters for staffers, helipads, and an upgraded heating system. Mental Floss: Donald Nixon and other memorable presidential siblings . 7. Teddy Roosevelt goes bear hunting . Lounging on the beach is great, but do you really think Teddy Roosevelt would miss the opportunity to do something manly? Roosevelt's vacation in 1905 took him to the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he stayed for three weeks while bear hunting. 8. FDR's successor gets his own little White House . Harry Truman may have been from Missouri, but he headed south when he needed some R&R. Truman started suffering from exhaustion in late 1946, and his physicians recommended a warm weather vacation to revitalize the President. Truman took his vacation in a converted duplex in Key West that already held some history. The house, which was originally built in 1890 for the commandant and paymaster of Key West's naval base, had already hosted William Howard Taft while he was in office in 1912. When Thomas Edison developed 41 new weapons to aid in the American efforts in World War I, he spent six months living in the house. Once Truman visited the house, though, it quickly became known as Truman's Little White House. He ended up spending 175 days in Key West over the course of his two terms in office. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy later used the house while they were in office, and it's now open as a tourist attraction. Mental Floss: Early summer jobs of Truman, LBJ and more . 9. Kennedy retreats to his compound . Starting in 1926, Joseph P. Kennedy began taking his family to Hyannisport, Massachusetts, on vacation each summer. His son John liked the area so much that in 1956 he bought a cottage of his own near his parents' digs, and the family soon purchased a third cottage in the area, giving rise to the name "the Kennedy Compound." JFK used his cottage as a base of operations for his presidential campaign and later vacationed there each summer he was in office. 10. George H.W. Bush prefers not to ranch . Not to be outdone by the Kennedys, the Bush family has an even older compound of their own in Kennebunkport, Maine. In 1903 George H. Walker, the grandfather of George H.W. Bush, built a great mansion on his oceanfront estate in Kennebunkport, and the property has remained in the family ever since. George H.W. Bush used the Kennebunkport compound as his vacation home during his presidency, and George W. Bush made a few getaways to the house as well. Between father and son, they've entertained some pretty big names at their summer house, including Yitzhak Rabin, Vladimir Putin, and Nicolas Sarkozy. For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com . Entire contents of this article copyright, Mental Floss LLC. All rights reserved. | U.S. presidents leave the White House to relax on vacations .
Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush visited their ranches .
Taxpayers spent $625,000 sprucing up President Nixon's Florida home .
Pres. Lincoln spent four months at the slightly cooler Soldiers' Home . |
207,659 | 98df7fac618f1554fdca128f4e1e4cc664154460 | (CNN) -- They are known as the hippies of the ape kingdom, a peaceful and affectionate species that is more interested in making love than killing each other. One of the world's rarest apes, bonobos are close cousins of chimpanzees and share 98.7% of human DNA. But unlike their ape relatives -- and humans -- bonobos shy away from engaging in vicious conflicts. Instead, they share food, groom each other and use a variety of sexual activities to build relationships, promote social bonding and strengthen alliances. It is, then, an ironic twist that the very existence of this affable species has come under threat by decades of war and deforestation in one of Africa's most troubled parts. Found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the bonobos inhabit the country's lowland rainforests along the south bank of the Congo River. See also: School boy's website helps tourists spot big beasts . In recent months, tensions erupted once again in the vast country as rebels launched a major attack in the violence-riddled eastern part of the DRC. Although the bonobo habitat is located several hundred miles away from the epicenter of the crisis, conservationists say that the country's instability over the years has made it almost impossible to study bonobos and find out where they are or determine how many are left. At the same time, the expansion of the commercial bushmeat trade -- the selling of wild animal meat, such as that of the endangered bonobo -- threatens the survival of the apes even further. "The decade of war in the late 1990s resulted in extensive population displacement, military/rebel movements and a greater availability of firearms and ammunition, which contributed to increased hunting of wildlife, including bonobos," says Dominique Morel, of Friends of Bonobos, a group supporting Lola Ya Bonobo, the world's first and only sanctuary for the endangered species. Born of necessity from the increasing threat of the bushmeat trade, Lola Ya Bonobo was founded in the mid-1990s by Claudine Andre, a Belgian-born conservationist who was working at the time as a volunteer in Kinshasa's zoo. It was there that Andre, who moved with her veterinarian father to Congo at the age of three, saw a bonobo for the first time -- an encounter that was destined to change her life forever. See also: Beethoven in the Congo . Andre, a mother of five, fell in love with the bonobos and started to rescue them one by one by taking them home with her. But soon she found herself needing a bigger space as the number of bonobos she took under her wing started to grow. The Congolese government eventually stepped in to help set up a more permanent home that would become Lola Ya Bonobo. The sanctuary, which is located just outside Kinshasa in some 30 hectares of primary forest, is today home to at least 65 bonobos, many of which are young orphans that have been either rescued from the wild or brought in after hunters killed their parents. "Bushmeat never stops," says Andre. "We have no solution and we receive more and more orphans every year." An important part of the sanctuary's work is rehabilitating injured bonobos from the forest and, hopefully, one day returning them to the wild. "Conservation asks us to make a test for reintroduction in the wild," says Andre. "So we make this experience two times already since 2009, a group of bonobos from here, returned to the wild. And for them it was a success because after two-three months, they are home." See also: Will elephants still roam earth in 20 years? The sanctuary also aims to educate the public about bonobos. Staff at Lola Ya Bonobo say that some 40,000 people come through its doors each year, including tourists and local schoolchildren, as well as graduate students conducting research on everything from bonobo behaviour to the evolution of the human brain. Conservationists say stability in the DRC is essential to ensure that bonobo conservation programs are not jeopardized. "Advocating for wildlife conservation is always a battle in a country as poor as the DRC," says Morel. "In times of crisis, when the security and basic needs of civilian populations are often not assured, it becomes even more challenging. If eco-guards and staff have to be evacuated from certain areas for their own safety, equipment, infrastructure and sometimes animals suffer. "Only with peace and stability can long-term investments in wildlife conservation -- research, conservation education, community-based habitat protection and eco-tourism -- be successfully implemented." | The endangered bonobo is only found in the Democratic Republic of Congo .
War, deforestation and bushmeat trade are all threatening bonobos .
Lola Ya Bonobo is the world's first and only sanctuary for the peaceful apes .
It is currently home to more than 60 bonobos . |
75,694 | d6aeb9267477b8abd245359e9518cc1bcc8b486c | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Rescue crews were scouring the north of San Francisco Bay for a missing pilot after two small vintage planes collided while heading home from a show, sending one crashing into the water while the other miraculously managed to land. Debris was found in San Pablo Bay after the 4.05pm collision near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, but the pilot has still not been found, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Loumania Stewart. The mid-air crash involved a single engine 1965 Cessna 210 and a World War Two era Hawker Sea Fury TMK 20, piloted by a husband and wife crew, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor. Scary: Two small planes collided over San Pablo Bay near San Francisco on Sunday . The Cessna crashed into the water and the Sea Fury's pilot was able to land 40 minutes later at Eagle's Nest Airport in the small Northern California city of Ione, Gregor said. Amador County firefighters and medics sent to the Ione airport were not needed because the pilot and passenger in the Sea Fury - a husband and wife - were not injured, the county's Undersheriff Jim Wegner said. Both planes had departed from Eagle's Nest Airport to participate in the Pacific Coast Dream Machines, an annual festival in Half Moon Bay that features a variety of planes, motorcycles, and cars. Both planes left Half Moon Bay Airport, about 20 miles south of San Francisco, and were on their return flight to Ione. Miracle: One of the planes was able to land safely at an air field a few miles away from the bay . Witnesses at Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor told the San Francisco Chronicle that the Cessna spiraled out of control and crashed into the choppy water after the collision. 'Everyone associated with the Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show is terribly saddened by this news and we hope and pray the missing plane and survivors are found,' the event organizers said in a statement. Four Coast Guard boats and a helicopter searched the choppy bay waters, along with five boats from local law enforcement agencies, including the Marin County Sheriff's Office and the Sausalito Police Department, as well as a local helicopter. 'It clipped a wing, probably lost a wing, spun violently and hit the water,' said witness Eric Johnson to KTVU. 'Tragic. The plane spinning that hard, you can't jump out, you can't get away. It's really sad.' Divers from the San Francisco Police Department also were on the scene. Wegner wouldn't discuss damage to the Sea Fury, citing the ongoing investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board. The names of the pilots involved have not been released as of Monday morning. Search: Rescuers are now searching the San Pablo Bay near San Francisco for the second plane involved in the collision . Classic aircraft: This is a Hawker Sea Fury TMK 20 - a British fighter jet used in the Second World War and the Korean War - a model like this was involved in a mid-air collision over San Francisco Bay on Sunday . The British Hawker aircraft, named Dreadnought, was one of the featured aircraft at the Pacific Coast Dream Machines event in Half Moon Bay on Sunday - which annually showcases a variety of planes, motorcycles, vintage cars and other customized vehicles. The Hawker is famed for its racing pedigree and is registered to Sanders Aircraft Ince, which restores classic airplanes and is operated by brothers Dennis and Brian Sanders. The plane was rebuilt by their father, Frank Sanders, who died in a 1989 plane crash. Sanders Aeronautics' website said the family-run company specializes in aircraft restoration and brothers Dennis and Brian Sanders are avid air racers. | Two small planes returning from an air show collided over San Pablo Bay on Sunday .
Crash involved 49-year-old Cessna 210 and a World War 2 era Hawker Sea Fury .
The Cessna 210 came down over San Pablo Bay while the Hawker miraculously managed to land .
Hawker was flown by a husband and wife crew and both had taken off from Eagle's Nest Airport .
The Coast Guard currently is searching the water where debris was found shortly after the crash . |
230,838 | b6eb5a2e4f5263289a67a8cc2a8ad7447b95906e | By . Lizzie Edmonds . PUBLISHED: . 06:28 EST, 30 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:54 EST, 30 November 2013 . Victim: Damian Chlywka, 32, was murdered and bound up before being dumped down a well in a garden in Warlingham, Surrey, police say . Police have identified a murder victim who was assaulted, tied up and dumped down a well about two years ago. Workmen discovered the decomposing body of Damian Chlywka, 32, when they began renovating a garden at a detached home two weeks ago. They peered into the well in an unkempt garden in Warlingham, Surrey and saw skin and hair of the victim. Eventually the body of Polish national Mr Chlywka was pulled to the surface. A post mortem examination failed to reveal a cause of death but police said it was believed to have been in the well for two years. It is thought that Mr Chlywka was murdered at the address - where he had lived previously. His body was then tied up before being thrust down the well, police believe. Detectives confirmed this morning that two more men, aged 41 years and 31 years, had been arrested and were being held in a south London police station for questioning. They been bailed until the middle of January. Seven other men, all previously arrested over the death, have since been released on police bail pending further inquiries. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said that the victim's relatives in Poland had been contacted and told of his death. He was believed to have come to the UK in 2008. A police spokesman said: 'Police were called after workmen discovered his body in a well outside an address in Warlingham at around 13:50hrs on November 15,' 'Specialist officers, including Metropolitan Police divers, attended the scene and recovered Damian's body which had sustained injuries consistent with an assault, prior to being placed in the well.' Scroll down for video . Grim discovery: The decomposing body was found in the well, pictured, set within an acre of land in Surrey . Arrests: Two more men have been arrested on suspicion of murder, police confirmed today. Seven other men previously arrested in connection to the death have been released on bail . Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, who is leading the investigation, said: 'Damian had lived at various addresses across London including two known to be in the Croydon area. At one point he had lived at the property. 'Our focus now is to build up a fuller picture of Damian's life in the UK. We have given the difficult and heartbreaking news to his family who are distraught that this has happened to their loved one. 'I am appealing to anyone who knew or previously worked with him to contact the police and help us to piece together a picture of Damian's life and how it came to end in these distressing circumstances.' Investigation: Police, pictured outside the address, are now appealing for witnesses to the case . Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Decomposing body of Damian Chlywka, 32, found in a well in Surrey .
Post mortem revealed it had been in the well for two years .
Two men arrested on suspicion of murder, police confirmed this morning .
41-year-old and 33-year-old have been bailed until the middle of January .
Seven other men arrested over the death have since been released on bail . |
27,779 | 4eb963c52b163f2c6a1979f4d003053db287fd0d | (CNN) -- A construction crane caught fire Tuesday in Sydney, Australia, spitting flames nearly 32 feet (10 meters) into the air before partially collapsing. No one was injured in the Tuesday morning incident, crane operator Lend Lease said. The worker steering the crane escaped down a ladder as it burned overhead, The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported, citing acting Fire Superintendent Josh Turner. The company is the same one that was managing a New York construction site where a crane partially collapsed during Superstorm Sandy in October. The collapse Tuesday at the University of Technology Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology construction project happened two weeks after union officials shut the site down over concerns about diesel fuel leaking from the crane, the Morning Herald reported, citing union official Brian Parker. It was not immediately clear if that reported leak had anything to do with Tuesday's collapse, but firefighters believed diesel fuel was involved in the fire, the Morning Herald cited Turner as saying. Lend Lease said the site is regularly audited for safety. The crane was 213 feet (65 meters) tall, the Morning Herald reported, citing fire and rescue authorities. The fire and collapse drew hundreds of gawkers onto the streets to record the incident with cell phone cameras. The company said it was working with authorities and unions to investigate the incident. In late October, gale-force winds from Superstorm Sandy caused a construction crane to collapse atop what will become an upscale apartment high-rise. The collapsed New York crane was operated by Pinnacle Industries. Lend Lease, the construction manager on the project, said the crane had been inspected days before the storm and was determined to be properly placed for hazardous weather. | Crane collapses in Sydney, Australia .
No one is injured, crane operator Lend Lease says .
The company also managed the construction site where crane collapsed in New York .
That incident happened during Superstorm Sandy. |
120,183 | 2751f222425689025edefa0df8709cd6dde4b2a5 | By . Janine Self . Which game will you watch on Saturday night? English football's showcase finale is under threat from Spain. Barcelona and Atletico Madrid's title decider on Saturday will clash with the FA Cup final between Arsenal and Hull. ITV and BT Sport have the broadcast rights to the Wembley match but Sky Sports will be hoping to snatch away viewers as La Liga goes down to a winner-takes-all meeting at the Nou Camp. Facing the media: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger speaks to the assembled press earlier this week . Going for glory: Robbie Brady takes a swing at a water bottle as Huill prepare for their showdown with Arsenal . Atletico have a three-point lead over second-placed Barca but Lionel Messi and Co will become champions with a victory because of their superior head-to-head record. A draw and Atletico would win their first title in 18 years and break the Barcelona-Real Madrid stranglehold for the first time since 2005. The FA Cup final is beamed round the world and usually pulls in millions of viewers. Traditionalists who have campaigned for the return of the 3pm Saturday afternoon kick-off have been told that early evening is a ratings winner. Battle: Lionel Messi vies for the ball with Filipe Luis in their Champions League clash last month . Glory: Atletico Madrid are bidding for their first La Lia title in 18 years when they face Barcelona on Saturday . Leading the pack: Jack Wilshere and his Arsenal team-mates are put through their paces on Thursday . Unfortunately the same thinking applies in Catalonia this weekend, which means neutrals must decide between the magic of the Cup or the glamour of the La Liga. While Hull's progress to the final is a fairytale for the city, the club do not have a world-wide fan base which makes it less appealing on a global basis.Arsenal's pulling power is greater as Arsene Wenger bids to end his nine-year trophy drought. There is another issue at stake. The FA's sponsorship deal with Budweiser ends after Saturday's final, which means that Arsenal vs Hull is also a major marketing opportunity. One that the likes of Messi, Xavi, etc can mess up as they bid to snatch the title after a season which has been dogged by off-field issues, not least the tragic death of former coach Tito Vilanova. Glory: Will Arsenal, pictured here beating Wigan in the last four, secure their first silverware since 2005? | FA Cup final and Barcelona's clash against Atletico Madrid kick-off at 5pm .
Arsenal are bidding for their first silverware in nine seasons .
Barcelona will win the title if they beat Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp . |
79,137 | e053fcdb54a13edcb0eaaa127039427563d5e0b2 | (CNN) -- I was half asleep when I first read the news, so I was sure I must have misunderstood. The words on the small screen in my hand said, "Rest in Peace, Jim." I sat up and looked at the phone again, trying to make sense of it. I couldn't. My friend Jim had died suddenly, unexpectedly at the age of 56. Soon, an avalanche of grief rolled across Facebook, carrying a mix of shock, sorrow, disbelief -- and genuine love. I had met Jim Sutherland many years before when we were both on staff at CNN. But we never really worked together, and we did not become friends back then. In fact, I'm not sure we ever spoke. Friendship came much later, when we connected on Facebook, and Jim became an unlikely part of my everyday life. I learned about his family, his interests, his intensity. And I discovered his many talents and strong political beliefs. Social media had come along and created a new way to have a friend. He had continued working in media production, but his passion -- I should say one of his many passions -- was playing the trumpet, which he did brilliantly. I went to hear him play, in person, but our friendship was almost completely online. I have often used quotation marks in the past when referring to a Facebook "friend" with more than a touch of sarcasm. Are Facebook connections really friends? I have absolutely no hesitation in using the word to describe my relationship with my dear friend Jim, whose absence from my daily life has left a palpable emptiness. I miss him. Something has truly changed in my life because he's gone. And I'm not alone. Hundreds and hundreds of people have poured out their emotions in that electronic community. At times, it feels as real, as close, as if we were standing in the same room. In some respects, we are closer. Online, people express themselves with a special openness. They don't have to wait their turn to speak, and the ones with small voices or introverted personalities can convey big, profound, touching emotions. Online we can develop a kind of intimacy that eluded us in the nonvirtual world. On social media, we can share -- as Jim so often did -- big and small parts of our life, without worrying that others are too busy or simply not interested in hearing it. Facebook allows us to renew contacts with people thousands of miles away, an extraordinary resource for those of us who have lived and worked around the world, and have cherished friends thousands of miles away. Messages for Jim came from distant lands. Many wrote as if he were still there; as if he were reading all our comments, surely about to answer, or at least click "like." His sister Holly told me the family has drawn comfort from the outpouring of love, including from people he never met in person. "Rest in peace my friend," so many have said, adding their personal touch, "Enjoy that great jazz gig in the sky." "May your soul fly free." People commented on his intensity and his compassion. Friends posted poems and pictures' and urged Jim to "shake things up" in his new digs. Some asked him to say hello for them to others who have moved on. Several said they had never met Jim in person, but their online friendship had developed into something truly meaningful. Among them was another man called Jim Sutherland, whose connection was based on their shared name. I had already heard that story years ago from Jim on his Facebook page . For a time, Jim was posting a picture of his morning cappuccino, displaying his flowery foam designs. He frequently changed his profile image. Some were playful, others serious. He posted his father's or his mother's photograph in honor of Veterans Day or some other special occasion. He spoke of his childhood as a military brat, of his father's heroism in wartime and his mother's own heroics while Dad was away. He linked videos of his recording sessions, praised other musicians and argued for social justice. In occasional conversations, some on his page, some in private messages, he taught me about cinematography, he jovially explained the meaning of the military expression "Hua!" -- "Heard, understood, acknowledged" he said. "Hua?" he asked? "Hua!" I dutifully replied. Jim was one of those guys with an opinion about everything. Facebook was perfect for him, and he was perfect for us, the ones who wonder around the edges and jump in for a quick dip every once in a while. Mostly, he shared his views and his ideas, and he supportively commented on what the rest of us did and said and showed about our lives. During my first few months on Facebook, I occasionally posted some of my articles on world politics, and Jim was quick to comment and debate. He loved politics and almost always took a strong leftist position, always displaying a steady social conscience. Whether you agreed or not, there was no denying that he came to it from concern for other human beings. Eventually, I decided to leave politics out of my Facebook life -- although I occasionally slip -- and to try to make it more casual, about friends, leaving other social media, Twitter and LinkedIn, for more controversial matters. Jim, on the other hand, put it all out for the world to see, or at least for all his friends to see. He had a modern version of integrity that went well with his intensity. I stayed out of his political battles but often enjoyed reading them, watching him fearlessly take on the world on every topic. Since the morning I learned of Jim's death, I've started hesitating a bit before reaching for the phone in search of the latest updates. Facebook, I have discovered, can sometimes bring very sad news. That's because, as I have learned, it brings news about very real friends. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Frida Ghitis. | Frida Ghitis was shocked by the death of a friend on Facebook .
She says the news pointed up that Facebook friends can be real friends .
Online, people express themselves with a special openness, she says . |
164,374 | 608be2cf305eee984be0a3f79db44f984a2d374a | By . Hugo Gye . PUBLISHED: . 11:54 EST, 27 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:24 EST, 27 November 2013 . Ban: Joshua Rushton has been given an Asbo which prevents him from touching cars . A prolific thief has been given an Asbo banning him from touching cars after repeatedly trying to break in to parked vehicles. Joshua Rushton, a convicted football hooligan, has racked up multiple convictions at the age of just 18. He was jailed for 12 weeks after police saw him try the door handles of four cars as he walked down the road in his home town of Stockport, Greater Manchester. Rushton pleaded guilty to theft and four counts of interfering with a vehicle in an attempt to steal at Stockport Magistrates' Court. In addition, he was handed an Asbo stating that he cannot 'touch or enter any unattended motor vehicle without the express permission of the owner' for the next three years. He received the unusual punishment after the court heard that he was obsessed with breaking in to cars. Stephen Gilbertson, from Stockport Police, said: 'He doesn't own a car but he can't go past one without trying the handle or seeing if there's something in it. 'He just can't keep his hands off cars.' Rushton and Joshua Forrest were seen trying to enter four different cars on the same road on October 15 this year. Forrest, 20, was also sentenced to 12 weeks in a young offenders institution. Last week, Rushton was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work after being convicted of receiving stolen goods, two counts of theft, using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour and criminal damage. Earlier this year Rushton, a Manchester City fan, was convicted of causing trouble during a hard-fought derby match against Manchester United at the team's Etihad Stadium. Obsession: A policeman testified that Rushton, 18, could not walk past a car without trying the door . United won the December 2012 game 3-2 thanks to a dramatic late goal, leading to a flare-up which saw one fan confront defender Rio Ferdinand on the pitch. Rushton, who was watching the game in a pub because he was banned from stadium, ran into the ground with five minutes left in the match and was seen hurling a bottle and a coin at United fans. He was given a three-year football banning order and ordered to pay £185. Asbo: The teenager has been ordered to stay away from strangers' cars as well as being jailed . | Joshua Rushton, 18, was seen by police trying the doors of four cars .
Sentenced to 12 weeks in young offenders institution and given Asbo .
Teenager is banned from entering or even touching other people's cars . |
244,148 | c7fb0295ad6226798e65332c841f6a1508eb9efe | (CNN) -- If you love "Casablanca," here's your chance to play it again, and again, and again. One of the two pianos featured in the 1942 classic film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman will be auctioned tomorrow in New York by Sotheby's. While Rick (Bogart) and Ilsa (Bergman) will always have Paris, you could walk away with Sam's iconic upright, especially if money is no object. "The estimated price for the piano is $800,000 to $1.2 million," said David Redden, Vice Chairman at Sotheby's. "But I don't want to speculate and scare people from bidding." Redden is no stranger to this famous Hollywood prop. He first auctioned it off back in 1988. "It was sold to a Japanese man and now it's come back to us," Redden told CNN. "He paid $154,000 for it." Any fan of the romantic film knows the piano played a central part in the flashback sequence at La Belle Aurore, where Rick and Ilsa listen to Sam sing "As Time Goes By." Dooley Wilson, the actor who portrayed Sam, was a trumpeter, not a pianist, according to Redden. "He is sort of miming the fingering. But someone else is playing nearby and he was following the real player," Redden said. The piano, which only has 58 keys, also stands out for its diminutive size and distinct hue. "Seeing the piano in real life you end up with a couple of things," said Redden. "It's quite colorful, green and distressed yellow. And you don't realize how small it is, so small in fact Bogart and Bergman sort of tower over it." "It's called a studio piano and would have been wheeled around from person to person as the pianist played a favorite song. It can travel around quite easily." The piano had no significant value in the golden age of moviemaking, Redden added. "It would be re-used again and again," he said. The market for Hollywood memorabilia has exploded in recent years. The white "subway" dress Marilyn Monroe wore in 1955's "The Seven Year Itch" sold for a record $5.6 million in 2011. The blue gingham dress Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" was auctioned last month for $480,000. Could the Casablanca piano fetch more than Dorothy's dress? Redden believes it will. "The piano is a star of the film," he said, "the music is so emotive, so moving and the piano really becomes a symbol of the love story between Bogart and Bergman." | One of the two pianos in "Casablanca" will be auctioned at Sotheby's Friday .
The prop was a central part in the flashback sequence at La Belle Aurore .
The estimated price for the piano is $800,000 to $1.2 million . |
200,012 | 8ef573919d27068e0b3903e3f7ea35d784218b97 | By . Stuart Woledge . PUBLISHED: . 07:01 EST, 15 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:15 EST, 15 August 2013 . Quids in: Karen Griggs is £5,000 she lost in 2007 was handed in to police . When Karen Griggs’ handbag, stuffed with £5,000 in cash, went missing she reported it to the police. But she soon gave up hope that the bag – or the money - would ever be found. Now the bag has been found exactly where she had forgotten she left it, on a peg in a church in Devon, six years after she reported it missing. And even more miraculously, all the money was still there. The 47-year-old said: 'I feel so stupid. I must have left it in the church but obviously I didn’t realise that, and I reported it stolen to the police. 'I thought it had been stolen from my home. It is crazy that I have got the money back after all this time. 'I can’t believe that it’s just been . hanging on the same peg where I left it in the same holdall with my bank . cash card in it, exactly where I must have left it. 'It is an amazing story but I feel embarrassed. I used to go into a lot of churches in Brixham to pray at the time and I don’t even know which one found it. 'I would like to know so that I can give a donation to church funds to thank them.' US-born Mrs Griggs had been on her way to the bank to change the money into dollars ahead of a trip back to her place of birth in 2007, when she had popped into a church and absentmindedly left it there. Puzzled police in Brixham have described its sudden and unexpected reappearance as 'one in a million'. The money was so old that the notes were out-of-date and had to be replaced by the Bank of England. Brixham PC Tim Perrin said: 'The church couldn’t say how long it had been there before they looked . inside and found all these bundles of £20 notes. 'A very nice lady from the church came and handed it in to Brixham police station. 'We did some research and discovered that it had been reported stolen in 2007 from a Brixham home. 'In all my experience as a policeman . this is a one in a million. It is very strange. A cash card was still . with it and that’s how we traced it back. Honest: The money was found at a church in the quaint Devonshire town of Brixham . 'The people at the church are very modest about what they did in returning it and don’t want any publicity. 'The owner wanted to thank them for their honesty but they want to remain anonymous.' Mrs Griggs hit the headlines in 2009 for . another case of forgetfulness when she left her keys in her car and a . thief stole it. What he did not realise was her 9st dog - a Great Dane, Alsatian cross called Diesal - was dozing peacefully on the back seat. When the giant hound woke up, the terrified thief ran off with his tail between his legs. At the time Karen’s husband Nick, 41, said: 'I’d love to have seen the look on his face when he saw Diesel in the mirror. 'He must have got the shock of his life. There’s no alarm on the car but who needs one when you’ve got the Hound . of the Baskervilles on your back seat?' Speaking about the latest incident, Mr Griggs said the £5,000 would come in handy as the couple were planning to build a series of five star eco lodges on former MoD land at a local beauty spot of Berry Head. He added: 'It’s fantastic that this money has come to light now. It couldn’t have come at a better time.' | Honest churchgoers return cash that was reported stolen in 2007 .
The money was found in a holdall hanging on a peg in the church .
Absentminded Karen Griggs has now been reunited with the cash . |
234,764 | bbedc4685f29b52df5ca8c51d80c7b673ffe0e1e | (CNN) -- Eve Arnold, known for her intimate portraits of stars such as Marilyn Monroe as well as her groundbreaking photojournalism work, has died in London, at the age of 99 Magnum Photos said Thursday. Arnold, who in 1957 was the first woman photographer to join the photo agency, became a prominent member, thanks to her talent for photographing people, whatever their background. "Her intimate, sensitive and compassionate 10-year collaboration with Marilyn Monroe has cemented her as one of the most iconic portrait photographers of our time, but it is the long-term reportage stories that drove Arnold's curiosity and passion," Magnum said. CNN Photos: View some of Eve Arnold's memorable images. Born in 1912 to Russian immigrant parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Arnold grew up knowing hardship first-hand. She brought that awareness to her work documenting social injustice in the United States and elsewhere. It was her photos of African-American fashion shows in Harlem, New York, in the early 1950s that first caught the eye of Henri Cartier-Bresson and won her entry to Magnum, at that time a highly male-dominated environment. She became a full member in 1957. She had begun to take pictures while working at a photo-finishing plant in New Jersey in 1946 and after that studied photography with Alexei Brodovitch in New York. Arnold moved to London in 1962 to put her son through school and remained there for the rest of her life, apart from a six-year period when she worked in the United States and China, Magnum said. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for her services to photography. In the 1960s and 1970s, Arnold turned her eye to the black civil rights movement in the United States, as well as traveling widely in China, Russia and elsewhere. Behind the Veil, which documented life in Arab states, including for the women inside harems, was published in 1971. One of the first westerners to be granted a visa for China in the 1970s, her reportage work was published in the book In China in 1980. Arnold was known for the connection, and sometimes lasting friendships, she formed with those on the other end of the lens. "If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument," she said. Some of her most memorable and haunting images of Marilyn Monroe were taken during filming in Nevada for the 1961 film The Misfits. Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Isabella Rossellini were also among the celebrities to pose for Arnold. Arnold wrote extensively for magazines and newspapers and published 15 monographs, notably In Retrospect, published in 1995, in which she tells the story of her own life and career. Women and the lives of those in poverty were subjects she returned to repeatedly over the decades. In her 1976 book, "The Unretouched Woman," Arnold wrote: "Themes recur again and again in my work. I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women." | Eve Arnold was born in 1912 in Philadelphia, the child of Russian immigrants .
She was the first woman to become a full member of Magnum Photos, in 1957 .
She is perhaps best known for portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Marlene Dietrich .
Her photojournalism projects around the world won her acclaim . |
1,261 | 0393028fab3a9279ab75eae482b25b70d8b7a849 | She spends her days sewing bat wings onto bearded dragons and transforming sheep into unicorns but taxidermist Jayne Brown, 45, from Southend-on-Sea says none of this is particularly unusual. A self-described 'rogue taxidermist', Ms Brown describes her profession as a form of upcycling and says she insists on sourcing the animals used in an ethical way. Now the glamorous forty-something is to appear on new Channel 4 documentary, All Creatures Great and Stuffed and says she hopes it will change peoples' preconceptions of the art. Scroll down for video . Glamorous: Jayne Brown, 45, poses with some of her restored pieces, including an antique tiger skin rug . 'I hope it makes people see taxidermy in a different light, she explains, 'because most people think of Norman Bates [the taxidermy-obsessed serial killer in Psycho] or old men in a . shed skinning squirrels. I'm hoping to dispel those preconceptions.' Ms Brown, who also works as an interior designer, first became interested in taxidermy while redecorating her attic in colonial style and happened upon a stuffed lion while browsing for furniture on eBay. 'I stumbled across this full mount lion,' she explains. 'It was faded due to being left in someone's porch and I had to restore him. 'I had to re-dye him so I ended up going to Boots and buying up all the Nearly Blonde touch-up hair dye which, oddly enough, turned out to be the right colour.' Pro: Jayne's passion for taxidermy began after she restored a moth-eaten stuffed lion named Aslan . Curios: Jayne specialises in rogue taxidermy and creates lots of weird and wonderful creatures . Not that she uses it anymore. Now a fully fledged taxidermist, Ms Brown prefers using acid dyes designed for professionals and specialises in what she describes as 'rogue taxidermy'. This, she explains, means creating weird and wonderful beast galore, including, most recently, a replica of the Vacanti Mouse - the so-called 'earmouse' created by scientist Charles Vacanti in 1997. Although the human ear was crafted from latex, the mouse itself was real. Not that Ms Brown, a self-confessed animal lover, had one killed to order. 'I'm extremely concerned with being . ethical,' she insists. 'The animals I use are natural deaths, roadkill or mice and chicks that would otherwise be food for snakes. I certainly do not want anything . killed for taxidermy.' Her clients come from all over the world, with many declaring a passion for all things Gothic, while others want their dead pets preserved. More still want fantastical creations such as mythical creatures created by cobbling together bits of different animals. 'I recently did a dragon,' she reveals. 'It was made from a bearded . dragon [a large lizard] that had passed away and the wings came from a bat.' Other specialities include pendants that include real rat or mouse tails, smaller mammals such as foxes and occasionally, a pet. 'The most odd thing I've been . asked is when a man came to me with a living cat and asked me to turn it . into a pair of gloves,' she chuckles. 'Obviously the cat was still alive, and he had a second - the plan was to have one for one glove and the other for the other.' Unusual: In life, this unicorn was a white lamb but was transformed into a mythical beast after death by Jayne . Starting point: Jayne's colonial themed attic (pictured) kickstarted her enduring love affair with taxidermy . Gloves, however, are not where she sees the project going. 'I hope he . changes his mind about it,' she adds. 'In the end, we came to the conclusion that a hat might be . better because gloves get worn out.' Laughing, she adds: 'People think I'm strange but there . are people in the world who want their cats turned into gloves!' - All Creatures Great and Stuffed, tonight at 10pm on Channel 4 . | Jayne Brown, 45, is one of the UK's new wave of professional taxidermists .
Does 'rogue taxidermy' and creates bizarre creatures such as dragons .
Has been asked to create gloves from pet cats and rat tail pendants .
Says all the animals she uses either died of old age or are roadkill . |
85,792 | f34ccff3ac336084db95001e8b1e3894c9544806 | Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel has courted controversy again by claiming the poor were treated better centuries ago than under David Cameron’s Government. The historical writer said a ‘mood of harshness’ had taken over Britain and those in poverty were now portrayed as ‘morally defective’ by the Coalition. The 62-year-old sparked outrage last year when she said the Duchess of Cambridge was a ‘plastic princess’ and ‘born to breed’. Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel has courted controversy again by claiming the poor were treated better centuries ago than under David Cameron’s Government . She also recently attracted criticism after penning a short story about the IRA murdering Margaret Thatcher. And in an interview to promote the German-language version of the story this week, she said the Tudors had more of an advanced view than Britain today on how the needy should be treated. She said: ‘When people feel they’re being mistreated, they lash out against people who are weaker than themselves, immigrants for example. What’s happening here at the moment is really ugly.’ She told German newspaper Der Spiegel: ‘The government portrays poor and unfortunate people as being morally defective. This is a return to the thinking of the Victorians. ‘Even in the 16th century, Thomas Cromwell was trying to tell people that a thriving economy has casualties and that something must be done by the state for people out of work. ‘Even back then, you saw the tide turning against this idea that poverty was a moral weakness. Who could have predicted that it would come back into style? ‘It’s myth making on a grand scale, and it’s poisonous.’ Mantel, who was awarded the Man Booker Prize twice for Wolf Hall – an account of the rise of Henry VIII’s confident Thomas Cromwell – and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies. She said: ‘Many people are poorer than they were five or six years ago. The last few years of austerity after the banking crisis have opened up a wider gap between rich and poor. Enfield North MP Nick de Bois (pictured) dismissed the author’s 'extraordinary' claims as fiction . ‘What’s put to the electorate is: You can’t have this, you can’t have that, because there’s no money in the pot. But it’s not really a question of resources. It’s a question of ideology, which is moving to the right. It wishes to reduce the role of government and it strives for a small state.’ She also told the German paper that her comments on Kate Middleton had been taken out of context, and she said the Prime Minister’s criticism of her that followed was ‘unwise’. She said: ‘He was misguided in being rushed into comment about something he knew nothing of.’ And she defended her recent short story on the murder of Mrs Thatcher – which prompted outrage and even calls for a police investigation from some quarters. She said: ‘I was prepared, but bringing in the police for an investigation was beyond anything I could have planned or hoped for, because it immediately exposes them to ridicul. ‘These people don’t know how to read fiction, they were professionally outraged. I don’t know if the reactions would have been the same if a male writer like Martin Amis or Ian McEwan had published this. ‘I don’t need a defence, but what I would ask them is: Do you think Ms Thatcher shied away from controversy? Do you think she cared overly much about public opinion? ‘Thatcher was the first woman in Downing Street, but imitated a man. When I say this, it seems like a joke, but I think Margaret Thatcher had a great deal of trouble understanding and coming to terms with her own femininity.’ But Enfield North MP Nick de Bois dismissed the author’s 'extraordinary' claims as fiction. The Tory said: ‘With more people working than ever before and unemployment lower than it was before the last election it beggars belief that Ms Mantel make this claim - like a Hollywood historian she doesn’t let the facts ruin her storyline.’ | Hilary Mantel claims poor treated better centuries ago than under Coalition .
The historical writer says a 'mood of harshness' has taken over Britain .
Sparked outrage last year after calling Duchess of Cambridge a 'plastic princess' who was 'born to breed' |
208,516 | 99faecb4fdb861c6dea6c5819e03fb2b6dfb4af8 | (CNN)A smuggler's drone flying from Mexico crash-landed just south of the U.S. border city of San Ysidro, California, in a failed drug delivery this week, Tijuana Municipal Police said. The incident showed that smugglers aren't just going underground anymore -- using tunnels beneath the U.S.-Mexico border to transport drugs and migrants. Now, the smugglers are trying to do business using unmanned aerial vehicles. U.S. authorities acknowledge a new smuggling strategy may be emerging on the border. "To date, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not intercepted any drones smuggling narcotics across the borders into the United States," said Alberto Vallina, supervisory Border Patrol agent in San Diego. "In collaboration with our federal, state, local and international law enforcement partners, CBP remains vigilant against emerging trends and ever-changing tactics employed by transnational criminal organizations behind illegal attempts to smuggle narcotics into the U.S." The drone was loaded with more than six pounds of the synthetic drug crystal meth, Tijuana police said. The drone crashed Tuesday night in a supermarket parking lot in Tijuana. Apparently the smugglers became too greedy, Mexican authorities said. The silver and black, six-propeller Spreading Wings S900 model was not able to withstand the weight of the load, police said. "In San Diego, the street value, at last account, for a six-pound load would be about $48,000," DEA Special Agent Matt Barden said. "Once you get it across the border, that stuff's like gold." This wasn't the first time a drone was used in a smuggling attempt from Mexico, according to drug war analysts, U.S. officials and local Mexican police. But the incident amplified concerns about border security and officers' safety. "I would hate to belittle 6 pounds of meth," Barden said. "That's like saying 6 pounds of heroin isn't bad ... but I think the big thing to look at is the fact that the cartels or drug traffickers from Mexico are using drones in their playbook. "My greater fear, being an agent, is what a drone means to officer safety. That to me, personally, being a tactical officer, that's my concern," he said. Drones are emerging as the latest technological gadget used by cartels and smugglers in trying to outfox border authorities. The crashed drone was a prototype that used a global positioning system, or GPS, to send it to a particular destination, Tijuana police said on the department's Facebook page. "The cartels have been using drones for surveillance. Transporting drugs is a bit more complicated," said Sylvia Longmire, a leading drug war analyst. "This is further evidence that the cartels have unlimited funds and creativity." As to why smugglers would attempt to transfer what in the grand scheme is "not that much," both Longmire and Barden were in agreement. "My guess ... it might be a personal load," Longmire said. "When you look at cartels, their goal is to flood the U.S. with as much drugs as they possibly can," Barden said. "It also could have been a test run for something bigger." CNN's Devon Sayers contributed to this report . | U.S. remains "vigilant against emerging trends and ever-changing tactics" by smugglers .
A drone is overloaded with six pounds of synthetic crystal meth worth $48,000 .
It crashes in a Tijuana supermarket parking lot before it can reach U.S. |
118,001 | 2461126fbc907d03b322519f0699339bc94e5d0d | The Duchess of Cambridge is facing the prospect of never becoming Prince William’s Queen. MP John Hemming is attempting to ensure all spouses of reigning monarchs are officially known as Prince or Princess Consorts, with an amendment to the repeal of ancient royal primogeniture laws. The wives of ruling Kings currently become Queen Consorts but the husbands of female monarchs have no right to any title - which is why the current Duke of Edinburgh is not known as King Philip. 'Princess Consort': An MP's proposal in an Early Day Motion says the Duchess of Cambridge (left) would lose out on being called Queen Catherine when her husband William (right) is crowned King . The Liberal Democrat’s Early Day Motion says the Duchess of Cambridge would lose out on being called Queen Catherine when her husband William is crowned King, reported the Sunday Express. ‘It’s not right that a Queen Regnant is treated as less important than a King Regnant,’ he told the Sunday Express. ‘It seems sensible we resolve this issue when dealing with the primogeniture issue.’ The proposal also means Camilla would become Princess Consort when Prince Charles becomes King - which Clarence House has always insisted upon, following the couple’s previous divorces. Current rules: The wives of ruling Kings become Queen Consorts but the husbands of female monarchs have no right to any title - which is why the current Duke of Edinburgh (right) is not known as King Philip . Early Day Motion: MP John Hemming is attempting to ensure all spouses of reigning monarchs are officially known as Prince or Princess Consorts . Prime Minister Winston Churchill was . told by the Lord Chancellor in 1954 that Philip had no right to any . title despite his wife Elizabeth II becoming Queen - but he was later . given the title of Prince. The current difference in title rights dates back to the custom of male primogeniture, which has meant that male heirs have traditionally leapfrogged their older sisters in the line of succession. But a new law to ensure the first child of the Duke and pregnant Duchess of Cambridge will succeed to the throne regardless of gender is being fast-tracked through Parliament. Ending gender discrimination in the line of succession will involve changing some of the oldest laws on the Statute Book, including the Treason Act 1351, which was originally written in Norman French. A Clarence House spokesman told MailOnline of Mr Hemming’s possible amendment to the repeal, which the Commons will be asked to consider next month: ‘It’s a matter for the Government.’ | MP John Hemming wants amendment to repeal of royal primogeniture laws .
Wives of ruling Kings adopt title of Queen Consort under current rules .
But husbands of monarchs have no official title - we don't have 'King Philip'
Hemming to ask Commons to consider amendment to repeal next month . |
267,644 | e69e6020cb2110bae1cd9f8d4daca225de5f0470 | By . Mark Prigg . PUBLISHED: . 19:12 EST, 6 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 05:18 EST, 7 March 2014 . For caffeine addicts, it could be the jolt they need to kick their addiction. A new app claims to be able to track the affect caffeine is having on your body. It can tell you exactly how much another cup will impact your sleep, and when to lay off the coffee or soft drinks. Jawbone's UP Coffee app can tell users when to lay off the caffeine . Developed by Jawbone Labs, a forum for Jawbone employees to explore and expand upon their ideas and prototypes, the standalone application helps you understand more about your caffeine choices by correlating caffeine intake and projected sleep time. Simply log a coffee, tea, energy drink or other caffeinated beverage in the UP Coffee app to see a visual display of where you fall on a spectrum from 'Wired' to 'Sleep Ready' at any given time. When linked with data from your UP or UP24 band, UP Coffee analyzes how your caffeine intake affects your sleep patterns. After tracking both caffeine intake and sleep for 10 days, UP Coffee can tell you things like the amount of sleep you lose on average for every 100mg of caffeine you ingest. The app can track caffeine intake over time and build personalised reports for users - telling them exactly how much another cup will affect their sleep . 'With billions of people around the world enjoying coffee, tea and other caffeinated drinks each day, the UP Coffee app delivers daily insights with new information on caffeine that’s relevant to you,' the firm says. It can tell you how much caffeine is in a cup of decaf coffee – nearly half as much as a can of caffeinated soda – and that drinking three to six cups of coffee per day may provide similar hydrating qualities as water.To coincide with National Sleep Week, Jawbone also revealed new data highlighting the links between UP wearers’ sleep and feelings of wellbeing. Jawbone also analyzed the data of more than 1,600 UP wearers and more than 5,000 nights of sleep to verify the relationship between our sleep and how we feel the next day. On average, members of the UP community who got at least seven hours of sleep were 30% more likely to report feeling rested the next day. Those UP wearers were also significantly more likely to report feeling optimistic, patient, focused, productive, and attractive the next day. In addition, the study found that Sound sleep – the moments of sleep when your body is particularly still – had a greater impact above and beyond total time spent sleeping. The study also revealed fascinating insights into the causes of sleeplessness, with a quarter of UP wearers in the study reporting difficulty falling asleep. Of those, nearly half attribute their sleep issues to stress, 20% to room temperature, and 18% to simply not feeling tired. Only 3% of those who reported difficulty falling asleep attribute their sleep issues to noisiness or to children. The data from Jawbone also showed the affects of lifestyle habits and gadgetry on our sleep, in particular Sound sleep. UP wearers who reported having a laptop in their bedroom logged 37 minutes less sound sleep per night on average, and UP wearers who slept with a mobile phone had 13 minutes less sound sleep on average. 'We're investing heavily in data, and as a result, we're learning a tremendous amount about behavior change and how to help people achieve their goals,' said Travis Bogard, vice president of product management and strategy at Jawbone. 'In a recent test with our Today I Will feature, we saw that those who were sent and opted into the commitment logged 23 more minutes of sleep than average and were 72% more likely to go to bed early enough to hit their sleep goal. 'By leveraging these insights within the UP system, we're beginning to help people achieve real change. 'Our latest data shows a strong connection between how much we sleep and how we feel the next day, and these are exactly the kinds of correlations that can be powerful motivators to people on a daily basis.' | Jawbone apps works with or without the firm's wristband .
Tracks effect caffeine has on the body - telling users how it impacts their sleep . |
187,289 | 7e8d39c1feddf2633abe9ade591408f2b9f25137 | LONDON, England (CNN) -- Naomi Klein's 2000 book "No Logo" galvanized a generation to resist the lure of brands and corporatization. Bono, rock star and new style activist . Direct action such as protests and guerilla tactics such as culture jamming and graffiti were encouraged. Back then the movement had teeth and energy, but very quickly it has not just deflated but sharply turned into a world of hyper consumption, according to Klein. Welcome to the Pro-Logo generation that is more likely to buy a wristband and ticket to Live Earth than hit the streets in protest. Speaking this week at the Cheltenham Literature Festival in the UK, to promote her new book "The Shock Doctrine," Klein attacked the "Bono-ization" of the protest movement, referring to U2 frontman Bono who is also an active anti-poverty campaigner. "The Bono-ization of protest particularly in the UK has reduced discussion to a much safer terrain." Referring to the Make Poverty History Campaign at Gleneagles in 2005 she said, "It was the stadium rock model of protest -- there's celebrities and there's spectators waving their bracelets. It's less dangerous and less powerful (than grass roots street demonstrations.)" Speaking to CNN.com, Klein said the new style of anti-poverty campaigning, where celebrities talk directly with government and business leaders on behalf of a continent (such as Africa) is another form of "noblesse oblige" where the rich and powerful club together to 'give something back.' "They are saying we don't even need government anymore, it's the replacement of nation states with corporate rule -- this Billionaires Club, including Bill Clinton that gets together to give a little something back." "What's complicated about the space that Bono and Geldof (Bob Geldof, founder of Live Aid) are occupying is that it's inside and outside at the same time -- there's no difference. What's significant about the Seattle movement (the WTO protests in 1999 and 2000) is that it's less the tactics but the fact that it identifies that there are real power differences, winners and losers in this economic model." Klein believes when celebrities such as Bono engage in talks with world leaders at forums such as Davos they are legitimizing the structures in place, and the inequalities that arise from these structures, rather than promoting any radical change; "The story of globalization is the story of inequality. What's been lost in the Bono-ization is ability to change these power structures. There are still the winners and losers, people who are locked in to the power structures and those locked out." Protests such as the Seattle anti-globalization protests, "were really demanding a structural change." But now but according to Klein, the rise in blogging and on-line protests has taken the heat out of direct action. "It's safer to mouth off in a blog than put your body on the line. The Internet is an amazing organizing tool but it also acts as a release, with the ability to rant and get instant catharsis. It's taken that sense of urgency away." Bono's Red initiative is emblematic of this new Pro-Logo age. He announced a new branded product range at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland last year called Product Red. American Express, Converse, Armani and Gap were initial partners, joined later by Apple and Motorola. The corporations sell Red branded products, with a percentage of profits going to Bono approved causes. In this Pro-Logo world there is an irony of consuming to end poverty. Perhaps an even bigger irony: through initiatives like the Red card, consumer culture and branding is buying a stake in anti-globalization and alleviating poverty movement. Klein says, "What they've tapped into is a market niche. There's nothing that's inherently wrong with these initiatives except when they make radical claims that it's going to end poverty. There's a long history of radical consumption -- what's pretty unbelievable about this (the Red Label) is that they say it's revolutionary and it's going to replace other forms of politics." Instead Klein advocates for a more confrontational and engaged form of activism, "We have had mass social movements that are messy -- and that leads to some kind of negotiation and some kind of representation. What I see from the Bono camp is that they dismiss street protest as bunch as gripers whereas they (Bono) are being constructive because they engaging with power (but) if you look at the history of the labor movement its people outside trying to enforce change." CNN spoke to a London-based activist Susie (who did not wish to give her real name) from the Climate Camp who said "charity concerts are pathetic, just pathetic and a way to recorporate the issue. It changes nothing. It's enjoyable but (from a political point of view) it's a waste of time. It diverts attention away from taking action and protest. Nobody ever changes anything from attending a concert." Klein agrees saying, "I think people go to concerts because it's fun but I don't get a sense from anyone I talk to that it's effective politically." Long time human rights activist, Peter Tatchell says despite the huge numbers marching in the anti-Iraq war marches three years ago, "There is a sense of political powerlessness plus there's been a shift to the right." He sees the Bono-ization effect in the way "the protest movement has been incorporated -- the corporate agenda around consumerism and spending has just become another form of protest." Yet he does see the value in having people working with power to effect change: "The classic model of social change is that you need people on the inside talking to people in power and people on the outside shaking up the establishment -- a combination of the two getting results. The good cop, bad cop routine seems to have worked in the past." E-mail to a friend . | Protest movement shifts with rock star activists' involvement .
Author Naomi Klein criticizes the Bono-ization of activism .
Celebrity charity concerts do not change the status quo, says Klein . |
9,271 | 1a44a92d2d4d77233229788e17524d02e94aeb15 | By . Mark Prigg . PUBLISHED: . 08:10 EST, 20 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:10 EST, 20 February 2013 . Flick through the TV channels on a Saturday morning, and it seems almost every one is showing a cooking show of some kind. However, finally there is one with a difference - it's hosted in space. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield today posted the first episode of his new show, called 'Chris Hadfield's Space Kitchen' - although the first recipe, a tortilla filled with honey and peanut butter, may not be to everyone's taste. Scroll down for video . First, get your ingredients: Chris Hadfield's latest video from the International space station reveals how astronauts create snacks in orbit. Here, he collects everything for a honey and peanut butter tortilla . Keep your eye on the prize: At one point Hadfield's torilla spins off screen and has to be retrieved, showing the issues of preparing food in zero gravity . 'In the early days of space exploration, food was mostly squeezed out of tubes,' said Hadfield in the video. 'But now, we have all kinds of things we eat on Earth.' However, he reveals there are some banned foods - including sandwiches. 'For sandwiches, we substituted bread for tortillas - here, crumbs just float away,' he explained. 'Our tortillas are packaged and last for 18 months.' Hadfield shows viewers how to make a tortilla filled with peanut butter and honey. He reveals that some items, such as honey jars, can be attached to surfaces using velcro to stop them floating away. However, others can also cause problems - as he demonstrates when a rogue tortilla floats away from him during the demonstration. Honey jars are attached using velcro to stop them floating away when not in use . Keeping utensils in check is accomplished using clips and velcro. Here, Hadfield reaches for his 'space scissors' to cut open a pack of peanut butter . During the demonstration he also reveals an interesting fact about honey on board. 'The bubbles stay in the middle of the bottle, as there's no gravity', he explains. He also reveals that when eating food such as peanut butter and honey, astronauts can easily get messy. However, as there is no running water on board, they have to use disposable wipes to clean themselves up after each meal. The video is the latest in a long line of online picture, messages and videos from Hadfield, who has been taking advantage of the station's internet connection to share his mission via Facebook and Twitter pages. He is expected to post more episodes of his fledgling space cookery show. Bread is banned on board because of the risk of wayward crumbs - so astronauts use tortillas instead . Instead of washing their hands, astronauts instead use specially packaged wipes on board, which are then thrown away . NASA recently revealed what astronauts have eaten throughout its space programme. They showed the transition from the meat paste Yuri Gagarin, the first man in . space, sucked from a toothpaste tube to the gourmet meals astronauts . currently enjoy. The . pictures were posted on the space agency's website by NASA's Space Food . Systems Laboratory, where the agency researches, tests, and produces . food fit for consumption outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Stellar cuisine: NASA have released photos chronicling the evolution of the food eaten in space. Pictured is a tray of food eaten on the Skylab, America's first space station, from 1973 - 1974 . Appetizing: Food from the Apollo missions from 1968-1972 was carefully vacuum-packed and balanced for nutrition but was not exactly gourmet . | Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield demonstrates how to make a peanut butter and honey tortilla in space on YouTube clip .
Astronaut reveals bread is banned because of crumbs causing problems .
Velcro and string are used to attach utensils to station walls . |
78,176 | dd9fbd45d27551e0aee2e6f2f89caed93ef8b671 | A young father has hit the jackpot after digging up two giant gold nuggets worth nearly $200,000. The natural pieces of treasure were discovered on a private property in Tarnagulla, near Bendigo, north of Melbourne and have a combined weight of nearly 140 ounces. Ray Swinnerton, Vice President of the Bendigo Prospecting Club, said he had met the lucky prospector, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, and not surprisingly was 'overjoyed'. Scroll down for video . The 65 ounce nugget of Tarnagulla gold, one of two found by a young father on his private property, is worth almost $90,000 . The second nugget was 72 ounces and has a street value of more than $100,000 . Ray Swinnerton, Vice President of the Bendigo Prospecting Club, said the young father was overjoyed about his discovery . ‘He was thrilled when he found it, as you can imagine. He makes a living from this stuff, so a find like that is very exciting,' Mr Swinnerton said. ‘He didn't want to be named until he had sold them off. He’s fairly young and it’s obviously a fair bit of money we’re talking about. ‘It was very unusual. Most of the finds are smaller than a fingernail, so this one is pretty special.' Mr Swinnerton added that gold mining was more of a hobby for most people. ‘Most of us don’t do this for the money. Gold detecting is very expensive,' he said. 'The detector alone is about $7000. I suppose it’s like fishing, in that it’s usually cheaper to go and buy your fish than the costs of catching the fish. We mostly do this for the experience, so a find like that is the bonus of a lifetime.' Selling the gold can also be difficult because a licence is needed to sell to overseas buyers. ‘I believe he has sold one of the nuggets and is preparing to sell the other. To sell gold overseas you need to get a licence which is very difficult to obtain, so it can take a while to sell them within Australia, as there are more affluent people overseas,‘ Mr Swinnerton said. A Bendigo Prospecting Club member handles the 72 ounce nugget (103 ounces including the rock) The crowd at the Tarnagulla Key hunt swoop in for a look at the impressive findings . | A young father discovered two nuggets totalling 137 ounces of gold .
The have a combined value of over $190,000 .
The lucky prospector has chosen to remain anonymous for security reasons .
Ray Swinnerton, the president of the Bendigo Prospecting Club, said it was a highly unusual find . |
259,411 | dbd3458ad2f12fddbc45c5b1dbbff49f849f4579 | Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has made another political gaffe, claiming a child born today is going to live to 150 to justify his cuts to Medicare. Mr Hockey was speaking on Fairfax Radio on Monday morning and was trying to convince Australians that they should pay for their health care. 'It's kind of remarkable that somewhere in the world today, it's highly probable that a child is being born that is going to live to 150,' Mr Hockey was reported as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald. Scroll down for video . The treasurer also refused to address reports he and Prime Minister Tony Abbott argued over a scuttled $20 Medicare rebate cut, labelling the rumours as 'gossip' He continued: 'How do we ensure that we have good quality of life the whole way through? This is the conversation we are going to be having with the Australian people over the next few months.' The treasurer also refused to address reports he and Prime Minister Tony Abbott argued over a scuttled $20 Medicare rebate cut, labelling the rumours as 'gossip'. This comes after it was reported by News Corp Mr Abbott pushed on with the $20 cut despite heated opposition from Mr Hockey, and former health minister Peter Dutton, before it was ultimately scrapped amid a public and doctor backlash. When asked if the report was wrong, Mr Hockey refused to comment. 'I'm not going to engage in discussion on gossip,' Mr Hockey said. 'Sometimes it's better to reverse a position than continue with a decision that's going to have bad ramifications.' Mr Hockey said 2015 would be about 'jobs and families', and said lower petrol prices had put money back in family pockets. He also said changes to the GST were unlikely without agreement from Labor and state governments. 'In relation to the GST it is our very strong view you've got to have unanimous agreement,' Mr Hockey said. Before this gaffe, Mr Hockey also caused embarrassment to the Prime Minister after declaring Mr Abbott had sought advice from News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch on paid parental leave before consulting his colleagues . This latest incident comes after the treasurer said poor people did not drive cars. He made the comments while the government was looking to reintroduce twice-yearly indexation of the fuel excise, a budget measure opposed by both Labor and the Greens who said it would hit low-income families the hardest. 'The poorest people either don't have cars or actually don't drive very far in many cases,' he told ABC Radio. Before this gaffe, Mr Hockey also caused embarrassment to the Prime Minister after declaring Mr Abbott had sought advice from News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch on paid parental leave before consulting his colleagues. The treasurer revealed details of the private meeting in his book, Hockey: Not Your Average Joe. It is claimed by Mr Hockey that Mr Abbott only mentioned the paid parental scheme to him as 'a brief add-on in a telephone conversation, with no specific date or details attached', before it was announced. 'They were encouraged to support it [Murdoch's editors], notwithstanding that it represented a tax impost and was skewed to be of most benefit to parents outside their middle-Australian readership,' Mr Hockey said in the book. | Federal Treasurer made the claim on Fairfax Radio on Monday morning .
He was trying to convince the public why scrapping the benefits was good .
'It's highly probable that a child is being born that is going to live to 150,' he said .
This comes after he claimed poor people did not drive cars and Tony Abbott consulted Rupert Murdoch about paid parental leave . |
73,314 | cfe7502b970488749b8854e41462b27dfc84d95f | By . Lizzie Edmonds . and Kieran Corcoran . In an age before mass photography, they were the best way to show people the world in all its variety. And whether it is trench warfare, the changing face of womanhood or the invention of the wireless, these illustrated newspaper covers depict world events with clarity and elegance. The collection, originals which were made into front pages of The Illustrated London News, were seen by hundreds of thousands of people during the paper's peak. Big stories: The collection of front page images from The Illustrated London News, including this drawing depicting British officers relaxing in the Ypres Salient drawn by Italian artist Fortunino Matania . Revolution in action: Another one of the intricate images shows hundreds of women working in a munitions factory circa 1915, which was part of a step-change in the nation's attitude towards working women . War and peace: Another one of the pictures shows Armistice Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square - with King George V and Queen Mary shown looking on from the horse drawn carriage. Horrors of war: This image shows soldiers tending to the wounded on the Western Front in 1915, with barbed wire and No-Man's Land visible in the distance . British sea power: This illustration shows the amassed might of the Royal Navy, with ships of all sizes labelled and represented. It was commissioned just after VE Day in 1945 . And, although the news magazine closed in 2003, the images are being given a fresh outing as they are sold to the highest bidder. In its 160-year history the illustrated newspaper, which had a peak circulation of 300,000 in the 1860s, covered events as various as the Queen's wedding to Prince Phillip, the Coronation of George V and the 1951 Festival of Britain. The works were by famous artists such as Terence Cuneo, Fortunino Matania and Bryan de Grineau. Triumphant: This full-colour cover commemorating the 1951 Festival of Britain in London, showing the banks of the Thames, is expected to fetch £15,000 . Historic moments: The Illustrated London News recorded moments of national importance, like the Queen's Royal Wedding in 1947 pictured above . George V is crowned on June 22, 1911, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Drawn by Fortunino Matania, the vivid artwork is now up for auction . Vintage tech: This detailed illustration highlights the value of pigeon-post as an accompaniment to newfangled wireless communication during the war, drawn by Bryan de Grineau . The return: This image, called 'Home for Christmas' shows a British soldier coming back from war to be greeted by his wife and son at his front door . Alpine adventure: Another illustration shows British holidaymakers travelling to Switzerland, where panel by panel they spend all their money on a skiing holiday . Another illustration shows British forces valiantly fending off a night attack in the WWI trenches using star pistols and rifles at the same time . They were either reproduced in the famous magazine on the front cover or for double page spreads inside. Each of the 70-strong collection is expected to fetch as much as £1,000 when they are auctioned in London this October. The prize lot, Terence Cuneo's Festival of Britain illustration, is estimated to sell for £15,000. James Richards, drawings and watercolours specialist at Christie's auctioneers, said: 'The Illustrated London News was the first magazine of its kind in the world. It recorded current affairs. 'It was at the forefront of the development of visual journalism. This collection is an unprecedented treasure trove of artworks from one of the 20th century's most important publications by some of the best illustrators of the time. 'It is particularly fitting that the core of the collection, world war illustrations, should come to light 100 years after the First World War's outbreak, and offer a first-hand account of that turbulent period in history at such a poignant time.' Fields of slaughter: This illustration shows tourists returning to the battlefields of Ypres in Belgium after the First World War, where thousands of Allied and German soldiers died . Illustration: One of the most famous illustrations is of Lord Kitchener, and functioned as a recruitment tool during the First World War. It originally appeared as a cover illustration on the London Opinion magazine . In the days before photographs could be easily taken, processed, distributed and printed, illustrations were often the quickest way to show people what was going on in the world. So popular were the drawings which accompanied current news events in the periodicals swirling around London and towns beyond at the time that an entire new genre of publication, which focusses on illustrations, was born. Chief among them was The Illustrated London News, founded in 1842 by Herbert Ingram, who had noticed that other newspapers experienced a sales spike when they carried prominent illustrations, and decided to provide a dedicated outlet. Even though just decades after its foundation photography became more widespread, it remained much faster to sketch a drawing and print it than to process a photograph. The most prominent practitioners could create a lavish illustration in a matter of hours and have it ready for the next day's publication. It was challenged by the appearance of The English Illustrated Magazine (1883 - 2014), which competed on similar footing but never gained enough traction to really threaten its rival. Meanwhile, outside of news coverage, illustrations became a very common way for publications to grab attention with a unique, strong image for their front cover. One of the most famous images from illustrated magazines was a portrait of Lord Kitchener, who was Secretary of State for War during the First World War, and whose face appeared on recruitment ads throughout the land. The original was in fact dashed off for an upcoming issue of the London Opinion magazine, by an artist - Alfred Leete - who had never spoken to nor seen the man himself. The power of the original image, much mimiced around the world by the likes of the U.S. government with their Uncle Sam posters, and even by German fighters, eventually began to wane. However, as photographing technology became better it ceased to be an especial need to include illustrations and the job could be done quicker and more cheaply by using different methods. The circulation of The Illustrated London News began to wane as photography became a staple feature of journalism. By the time of the magazine's closure in 2003 the figure had plummeted from the hundreds of thousands to a much more modest figure. The magazine continued right up until 2003, but at that time in only published every other months to a small audience. | The Illustrated London News published intricate artwork on its front covers for more than 160 years .
Included historic moments such as royal ceremonies and war - and boasted as many as 300,000 readers .
Now owners of original artworks to produce covers have decided to sell 70 off for around £1,000 each . |
111,494 | 1bc538fa557da5e476d1c8dc084e4d6f4d0c4038 | Justin Bieber has inspired more ill will among Americans than the radical group Muslim Brotherhood - at least according to the popularity of a White House petition calling for the deportation of the troubled Canadian singer. The petition created by a Detroit resident asking to eject 19-year-old pop star from the U.S. and have his green card revoked has drawn nearly 261,000 signatures as of Friday morning, becoming the second most popular cause in the three-year history of the White House site. At 204,500 signatures, a petition to declare the extremist Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization is a distant second, followed by a plea to pardon CIA leaker Edward Snowden in third with 153,000 signatures. Scroll down for video... Unpopular: A petition on the White House website calling to deport Canadian teen idol Justin Bieber and have his green card revoked has become the second most popular plea ever . Legal trouble: The 'Slow Down' singer was arrested last month for allegedly drag-racing a Lamborghini while drunk in Miami Beach . The only petition to draw more attention than the Bieber deportation push was the 2012 plea to declare Westboro Baptist Church a hate group in response to their anti-gay protests at military funerals, Washington Times reported. According to the policy of the website launched in 2011, any petition that raises 100,000 signatures in 30 days must be taken under consideration by the Obama administration - a threshold that the Bieber plea easily met last month. The call to action was made January 23 by Robert Skryzynski, 24, of Detroit, following Bieber's humiliating arrest for allegedly drag-racing a Lamborghini under the influence and with an expired license in Miami Beach. 'We the people of the United States feel that we are being wrongly represented in the world of pop culture. We would like to see the dangerous, reckless, destructive, and drug abusing, Justin Bieber deported and his green card revoked,' the petition reads. Rough patch: The 19-year-old vocalist has been charged with assaulting a limo driver in Toronto in December (left) and he also faces DUI charged in Miami Beach (right) Wayward youth: Bieber, pictured here in an Instagram photo from last week, has been the subject of numerous reports about his suspected drug use and casual flings . 'He is not only threatening the safety of our people but he is also a terrible influence on our nations youth. We the people would like to remove Justin Bieber from our society.' Skyzynski later explained that he used the tongue-in-cheek plea to kick Bieber out of the country as a way to draw attention to the problems with the White House petition portal, which he said foreign powers have been using to jockey for the attention of the U.S. government. ‘I feel like I finally brought America together on an issue for once,’ Mr. Skrzynski quipped to The Washington Times this week. The White House has said that it will issue an official response to the Bieber petition now that it has raised more than the required 100,000 signatures, but there is no timetable yet for when the statement will come. Historically, the administration has been slow to respond to petitions, and the responses are usually formulaic and of little note. But the signatories of the White House plea are evidently not the only ones who wish to see Bieber pack up his bags and hit the road north. High stakes: This electronic billboard went up in Chicago this week ahead of Friday's U.S.-Canada hockey game . A company in Illinois has paid for a large billboard ahead of today's high-stake hockey game between the U.S. and Canada in Sochi poking fun at the star-crossed teen idol, as DNAInfo Chicago first reported. The electronic advertisement, which went up along Edens Expressway in Chicago, depicts the singer flanked by Team USA's Patrick Kane and Team Canada's Jonathan Toews with a caption that reads: 'Loser Keep Bieber.' As luck would have it, the U.S. will get to keep the singer after all: Team USA lost to Canadians 1-0 Friday. The 'Baby' singer, who turns 20 next month, has had a particularly rough year, which included an arrest in Canada for an assault on a limo driver, allegations that he had egged his neighbor's home in California, and a series of salacious tales of his one-night-stands. | Petition to eject Justin Bieber from U.S. and revoke his green card hit 260,000 signatures - well over threshold needed for official response .
Illinois company paid for electronic billboard suggesting that the losing country in the U.S.-Canada hockey game in Sochi will keep the pop star .
Game ended Friday with Team USA losing 1-0 in semi-final . |
139,125 | 3feb2121a154da54af6b5d3f0229cdab1d5e6565 | (CNN) -- A Texas man who is a self-proclaimed supporter of Anonymous says he's joining the hacking ring's purported fight against one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels. Barrett Brown, 30, told CNN that in the next two days he expects to receive thousands of e-mails naming alleged Zetas drug gang affiliates that he's been told were taken by hackers from a Mexican government website. "It's possible this is all a big hoax, (but) I'm more involved in this because of the possibility of striking a blow against the Zetas. ... The issue to me was more about how do we do this operation. I'm intent on what we could do with the information when we release it," Brown told CNN in a telephone interview Thursday. The Dallas resident, who describes himself as a former member of Anonymous and has frequently spoken publicly about his involvement in Anonymous activities, posted a YouTube video Wednesday explaining why he planned to join the effort. "I've decided to support the operation, which I understand is controversial for a number of reasons. In this case, there are lives hanging in the balance, in that those who are identified are likely to be killed," Brown says in the video, leaning back in a leather desk chair as he smokes a cigarette. He told CNN he learned about the so-called OpCartel after Mexican members of Anonymous reached out to him in an online chat forum. In the video, Brown says he wants to help Mexicans in their effort to stop cartel violence. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says more than 43,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on cartels. Some Mexicans have decided to take matters into their own hands, Brown says, doing what they can to stop the Zetas. Is Mexican cartel the next 'Anonymous' target? "It's Mexicans themselves who started this operation, who conceived it. It's not a bunch of stereotypical computer geeks sitting somewhere else in safety. These are people on the ground," he says. The purported threat against the Zetas began in early October with an online video of a masked man warning that the names, photographs and addresses of cartel supporters in the Mexican state of Veracruz can be published "if necessary." The video demanded the release of a member of Anonymous who had allegedly been abducted by the Zetas in Veracruz. A website purporting to be an official site connected with Anonymous in Latin America said early Friday the person who had been abducted had been released, "bruised ... [but] alive and well". CNN could not verify that the abduction took place or that the alleged kidnap victim had been released. A Veracruz government spokeswoman said no such kidnapping complaint had been registered with local officials. This week, another video purportedly from Anonymous surfaced, vowing to continue the campaign -- but warning of the possible risks. "This is not a video game. It's a dangerous operation that puts at risk the lives of you and your loved ones. Don't identify yourself as a member of Anonymous. You should never do it, but even less right now," a masked man in that video says. It's unclear whether Anonymous is behind either online video, or what the organization plans to do. The hacking group has no clear leader and no central official website. The website claiming to be an official site connected with Anonymous in Latin America also said Friday that no information on the Zetas would be released -- for now. "A message has been sent to us, that if Anonymous reveals a name related with the cartel, the family of the kidnapped Anonymous member will suffer the consequences, for every cartel name that is revealed, 10 people will be put to death. ... The collective Anonymous has decided by consensus that the information that we have available will not be revealed for the time being, now that we understand that we cannot avoid the threats that involve innocent civilians that don't have anything to do with our actions," the site said. But other online posts -- which CNN was also able to independently verify -- have said the operation is moving forward. "Looking over the forums of Anonymous discussions, it is clear that there has been disagreement over whether or not to pursue and publicize information on the cartels," Ben West, a tactical analyst for the STRATFOR global intelligence firm, wrote in an e-mail to CNN Thursday night. "Many Anonymous members seem to be aware of the threat that the Mexican cartels pose and seem disinclined to risk the consequences of incurring the cartels' wrath." Earlier Thursday, a security analysis from the intelligence firm said it seemed likely that some members of the organization would move forward with the purported plan. "Anonymous' collective nature means activists can select the actions they participate in, including Operation Cartel. It would only take one dedicated individual to continue the operation," the analysis said. Brown, the Texas man, said he planned to use a computer database to methodically sift through the e-mails he receives, verify them with the help of an experienced journalist and a cartel expert and then possibly release names -- or entire e-mails -- in small batches over time. "If we have 100 names, we'll release 30 or 40 names that seem right," he told CNN. Brown's online video -- which showed his face and was posted under his own name -- is notably different than many Anonymous posts, which commonly feature men in Guy Fawkes masks. He told CNN Thursday that he was not afraid to come forward. "I don't feel I should be. I should have the right and the ability as someone who is a fairly public person to work to ID criminals in a foreign country without having to worry about being murdered," he said. Brown also said he had weighed the possibility of wrongly identifying someone, or causing killings. "Both my grandfathers were bombers in World War II (and) they killed innocent people and did it with less information. I'm more confident about the ratio. I'd be surprised if many people (in the e-mails) were incorrect," he said. While whether -- and who -- Anonymous planned to attack remained unclear, some self-proclaimed members of the group were already declaring at least one victory. Last week and this week a former Mexican state prosecutor's website was apparently hacked, with bold letters stating he "is Zeta." Late Thursday night, the website featured a picture of a Mexican Day of the Dead offering and the words, "Anonymous Mexico OpCartel continues." In the past few years, Anonymous has taken credit for disrupting a number of prominent websites, including those of PayPal, Master Card, Visa and the Church of Scientology. In September, the group claimed it was targeting the Mexican government, launching attacks on a range of official websites, including those of Mexico's defense and public safety ministries. The Zetas started with deserters from the Mexican Army, and quickly gained a reputation for ruthless violence as the armed branch of Mexico's Gulf cartel. It split off into a separate drug-trafficking organization last year. In recent months, the Gulf coast state of Veracruz has become a frequent site of clashes between armed groups as drug-related violence grows. In September, 35 bodies were abandoned in a roadway during rush-hour traffic in a popular tourist area there, two days before a meeting of high-ranking state prosecutors and judges. CNN's Rene Hernandez, Doug Gross and Nick Valencia contributed to this report. | NEW: A website claims an alleged abduction victim has been released .
NEW: The website also says Anonymous is not releasing information for the time being .
Barrett Brown says he expects to receive e-mails naming Zetas affiliates .
Analyst: Inside Anonymous "there has been disagreement" about the purported plan . |
268,658 | e7ffef0ac7aa0ee9de1878da84affa7e3ff480a9 | Duane Vermeulen admits complacency was a factor in South Africa's loss to Ireland, but vowed intensity levels will return for Saturday's Test with England at Twickenham. Little more than a month after beating New Zealand - ending the world champion All Blacks' 22-match unbeaten run - in the Rugby Championship, the Springboks were beaten 29-15 in Dublin. Assistant coach John McFarland was asked if the intensity of Monday's training session was a recognition that the players lacked attitude against the Irish. Duane Vermeulen is hoping for an improved performance against England after his side lost to Ireland . Bryan Habana works on his strength during South Africa's training session at Latymer Upper School . Bismarck du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira are put through their paces during Tuesday's training session . McFarland said: 'We possibly were not at the levels that we had been over the Championship. We know we've got big improvements to make.' Vermeulen was less diplomatic. The Stormers number eight said: 'After beating New Zealand you kind of feel like, "Hey this is where we're supposed to be". 'You've got to pitch up every single weekend. You can't beat the world number one and then think you're invincible. 'Hopefully we can come back, play the rugby we want to play and to produce.' Vermeulen admits his performance was below-par, having been spoken of alongside New Zealand's Kieran Read as the world's best number eight in 2014. 'I wasn't great,' added Vermeulen, who tried to accentuate the positives. 'It's nice to learn how you get knocked off your high horse and you've got to fight your way back. 'Every single game is a learning curve for each and every single player. 'There's always stuff to work on. You always want to be the best. '(And) when you're up there you've got to bloody work hard to stay there. 'I still have a lot of goals that I want to reach, but I think we're on the right track. I've just got to keep working.' Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer believes his side let 'South Africa down' during their defeat by Ireland . Forwards coach Johann van Graan prepares a training drill while his players warm up in the background . Vermeulen's 'high-horse' metaphor could be applied to the team, and England should be wary. Asked if Ireland pointed England to South Africa's flaws, McFarland added: 'We know we can play a lot better than we did on Saturday. It's up to the England coaches to decide what's good for their team this weekend. 'Maybe they've got different personnel. Maybe if they play (Bath fly-half George) Ford it will be different type of game, they'll be a different type of team. 'I wouldn't tell them how to play their game.' An improved defensive display is of paramount importance. Vermeulen added: 'We want to get a team down to under 13 or 15 points a match. That's our challenge and we couldn't do that. 'The English have a good attacking threat. They play good rugby. Hopefully we can keep them down in that 15-point margin.' If you concede fewer than 15 points, there is a high chance you will win the Test match, according to the Springboks. JP Pietersen (left) goes over for a late consolation try for South Africa against Ireland as they lost 29-15 . McFarland added: 'We've looked at the average amount that a team concedes over a year. If you concede less than 15, you've got a good chance of winning a Test match. Statistically everyone's around that level. '[But] there's no point in conceding no tries and six penalties. If you get around that, you'll win Test matches.' Indeed, penalties can be decisive, particularly as the likes of Ireland's Jonny Sexton and Owen Farrell of England rarely err in front of the posts. 'We need to be more disciplined,' McFarland added. 'The kickers, from Farrell to Sexton, all kick at 100 per cent. You've got to be right on the money in terms of your discipline.' The match is a useful warm-up for the Springboks ahead of next year's World Cup, not just because of the opposition, but also due to the venue. Belfast-born McFarland, who worked under Clive Woodward at London Irish before moving to South Africa in 2000, expects the Springboks to be back to their best at Twickenham, from the first whistle. McFarland added: 'There's a need for us to really come out and put our physicality on the game in that first 20 minutes on Saturday.' | South Africa's Duane Vermeulen believes his side were complacent during their 29-15 defeat against Ireland .
The Springboks take on England at Twickenham on Saturday .
John McFarland has called on his side to make 'big improvements' |
256,098 | d781d64098182cbf0f55f4a052c6c5e0ef5722f2 | Plus size women are angry that Old Navy charges more for larger clothing, but one ESPN host has said they should focus their energy 'on a treadmill' instead. Colin Cowherd, who hosts daily radio show The Heard, was addressing a recent campaign started by New York-based merchandiser Renee Posey to persuade the brand to scrap its controversial size-based pricing policy. After Thursday's show, men and women took to Twitter to voice their disbelief, with one critic calling for his suspension. Sparking controversy: ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd said that plus-size women protesting Old Navy's pricing policy should focus their anger 'on a treadmill' instead . Twitter user EliIsELITE remarked: 'Cowherd on those plus-size women complaining about Old Navy: "Maybe these woman should focus their anger and energy on a treadmill instead."' Sports writer/consultant Jesse Peel tweeted: 'So how long will Colin's suspension be after saying plus sized women should "Get on a treadmill"?' Real estate professional Mary Ann Maiorana also had sharp words for the outspoken host: 'Most ridiculous argument ever for charging women more for plus sized clothing. Surprised at you Colin #sexist. ' Ohio resident Andy Huffman tweeted: 'I really hope the feminists get a hold of what Colin Cowherd is saying right now. I'd love for him to be off the air.' The smaller the size, the smaller the price: Old Navy's popular Rockstar Super Skinny Jeans are $34.94 if bought in sizes 0 to 20 . Mr Cowherd, who has two children from a previous marriage, including a ten-year-old daughter, is known for his outspoken views on the ESPN show, which he's hosted for more than a decade. Earlier this week, Old Navy tried to claim that 'unique fabrics and design elements' were to blame for the controversial size-based pricing policy, which has left women particularly frustrated given that menswear items remain the same price regardless of size. According to Ms Posey, who is calling for the brand to scrap its 'discriminatory' plus-size up-charges, the discrepancy between the prices for larger men and women is nothing other than 'straight up fat shaming'. 'Plus size women like myself are kind of fed up with being treated like second-class citizens by retailers,' the 34-year-old told Today.com. 'I think it's reached critical mass and people are ready for a change.' Unfair increase: Any women who buy a pair of the Rockstar Super Skinny Jeans in a plus size fit will be charged an additional $10, bringing the total price up to $44.94 . After Ms Posey started a petition on Change.org, calling for the brand to change their gender-biased price policies, a spokeswoman for Gap Inc, Old Navy's parent company, released a statement blaming the increased costs for plus-size womenswear on the fact that the larger designs require additional details not found in the smaller sizes . 'For women, styles are not just larger sizes of other women’s items, they are created by a team of designers who are experts in creating the most flattering and on-trend plus styles, which includes curve-enhancing and curve-flattering elements such as four-way stretch materials and contoured waistbands, which most men's garments do not include,' spokeswoman Debbie Felix explained. 'This higher price point reflects the selection of unique fabrics and design elements.' But Ms Posey insists that the statement does not address why there is not a single increase for any of the larger menswear designs, particularly as they also require the use of additional materials. 'Every woman knows how hard it is to find a good pair of jeans: a pair that is the right fit at the right price,' she wrote on the petition. 'That’s why I was shocked when, during a recent visit to Old Navy’s website, I noticed that they were charging $12-$15 more for plus-sized women's jeans - but not up-charging jeans for “big” men. 'If they are charging plus-sized women more to cover the cost of the fabric being used, then why aren’t they doing the same for men? Fed up: Renee Posey (pictured) wants Old Navy to scrap its 'discriminatory' prices . Fighting for change: Ms Posey's petition has been signed by more than 33,000 people . 'I was fine paying the extra money as a plus-sized woman, because, you know, more fabric equals higher cost of manufacture. However, selling jeans to larger-sized men at the same cost as they sell to smaller men not only negates the cost of manufacture argument, but indicates that Old Navy is participating in both sexism and sizeism, directed only at women.' And it seems that Ms Posey is not alone in her opinion; thus far her petition has gained the support of more than 33,000 people, with many agreeing that Old Navy's 'unfair' prices should be scrapped once and for all. 'I wear a plus size, and have noticed that other stores these sizes may be a bit higher in price, but not to the extent that old navy charges,' supporter Dorei Sparrowhawk commented on the petition. Plus size discrimination: Old Navy offers a variety of plus size designs but . 'And in other stores, men are also charged higher for plus sizes. Why does old navy penalizes us because we are women? This discrimination needs to stop.' While many brands charge more for their plus size collections, blaming the additional fabric for the increased costs, the majority implement the same - or similar - price adjustments for both men and women. 'When you’re talking about needing more yardage, it’s going to be more expensive - but that’s true for men as well,' Christine Hunsicker, chief executive of Gwynnie Bee, a monthly subscription service for plus-size clothing told Today.com. 'It doesn’t actually make sense to me why men’s is not priced differently.' | Earlier this week, plus size campaigner Renee Posey slammed the brand's 'discriminatory' prices which see only women charged more for larger clothing .
ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd said that plus-size campaigners should focus their anger 'on a treadmill' instead . |
171,223 | 699adb888a947fce4c916447c228c46594e14398 | By . Associated Press . Prisoner Clayton Lockett was killed by drugs and not a heart attack during his botched execution, a report revealed today . A death row inmate who died following a problematic execution succumbed to the lethal drugs he was administered, not a heart attack, after the state's prisons chief halted efforts to kill him, an autopsy report released Thursday says. Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton had said inmate Clayton Lockett died from a heart attack several minutes after he ordered the execution stopped. But the autopsy report performed for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety said all three execution drugs were found throughout Lockett's system. A medical examiner declared that the cause of death was 'judicial execution by lethal injection.' Oklahoma put executions on hold after Lockett gasped and writhed against his restraints for several minutes after his April execution began. Lockett was poked several times as medical technicians tried to find a vein before settling in using one at his groin. Gov. Mary Fallin has ordered public safety officials to review the events surrounding Lockett's death, including state execution protocols that had been changed in the weeks before Lockett's execution. The state Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to not schedule executions for six months. Three are set for mid-November and early December. A spokesman for Fallin, Alex Weintz, said the autopsy report will be part of the DPS review. 'We suspect they are in the final stages of that process,' Weintz said. He said Fallin still supports use of the death penalty despite the problems encountered with Lockett's execution. 'But we want our executions to be successful,' Weintz said. 'She has asked DPS to make recommendations on what possible updates to the protocols we can pursue.' The autopsy report details Lockett's cause of death and does not include recommendations about the state's execution protocols. The gurney in the execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Oklahoma put executions on hold after Lockett gasped and writhed against his restraints for several minutes after his April execution began . Under the protocols, Oklahoma used the sedative midazolam for the first time. The drug was also used in lengthy attempts to execute an Ohio inmate in January and an Arizona prisoner last month. Each time, witnesses said the inmates appeared to gasp for air moments after their executions began and continued to labor for air before being pronounced dead. Patton, the director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, called for a complete 'review/revision' to the execution protocols in Oklahoma following the Lockett execution, and said he was willing to adopt other states' protocols to 'ensure the Oklahoma protocol adopts proven standards.' Among his concerns were that the state's current protocol puts all the responsibility and decision-making in the hands of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary warden, who is responsible for overseeing executions. Patton, who came to Oklahoma from the Arizona Department of Corrections, didn't specifically mention the drug midazolam or any other formula approved for use in the Oklahoma death chamber. Midazolam is part of a three-drug and a two-drug protocol in Oklahoma. Lockett's execution used a three-drug protocol —midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The state also has a protocol that would use midazolam with hydromorphone, the same combination used in the problematic executions in Ohio and Arizona this year. Lockett was sentenced to death for the killing of 19-year-old Stephanie Nieman 15 years ago in Oklahoma. Neiman happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – she stopped at the home to drop off a friend in the middle of the robbery Lockett was committing. All witnesses agreed to secrecy except Neiman, Lockett had a solution. ‘Let’s take them out in the country and leave them,' Lockett recalled saying. They said, ‘No. We can’t do that. We’ll still get caught. 'I said, ‘The only thing we can do is take them to the country, and kill them... I couldn’t convince her not to tell.' Lockett shot Neiman twice with a sawed-off shotgun and watched two other men bury her alive, he confessed. 'I could hear her breathing and crying and everything,' Lockett says in the video made public by KFOR while casually smoking a cigarette. The footage was shot only two days after a break-in led to the shocking murder. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Clayton Lockett's cause of death was 'judicial execution by lethal injection', a medical examiner said on Thursday .
Oklahoma put executions on hold after Lockett gasped and writhed against his restraints for several minutes after his April execution began .
Sedative midazolam was used in Lockett's execution - drug was also used in lengthy attempts to execute an Ohio inmate in January and an Arizona prisoner last month . |
249,996 | cf879664968a54cfe1a5a83425b289f2ef50fe75 | Kit Symons has been appointed Felix Magath's successor at Fulham and lands an 18-month contract. The Cottagers' owner Shahid Khan flew back to London on Wednesday, with his caretaker boss given the job permanently straight away - as Sportsmail reported on Tuesday. Symons has overseen five wins from his nine games in charge, leaving Khan with little choice but to promote the coach. Kit Symons (pictured) is expected to be confirmed as Fulham manager this week by owner Shahid Khan . Khan said: 'First, I must offer my sincere appreciation to the search committee for its commitment to the process. We asked a lot of all five committee members, perhaps more than they anticipated, and yet they gave us more than we could have ever imagined. 'Each of them brought something unique and valuable to the search, but the one thing they all had in common was a strong desire to return Fulham to its proper place as one of the most admired and respected clubs in English football. I cannot thank them enough. 'Kit has thoroughly earned the opportunity to take Fulham from here as our First Team Manager. We've been a different football club, on and off the pitch, since Kit stepped in as our Caretaker Manager in September. 'His passion for Fulham is evident and contagious, and I believe the promise ahead of him is extremely bright. Above all, Kit understands and is committed to our goals, and he knows there is much work ahead. Starting today, we can begin work with Kit firmly in charge at Fulham.' The 64-year-old was handed a trio of prospective new bosses by the five-man search committee installed to 'provide guidance' in their quest to find Magath's successor. Danny Murphy, Brian McBride and Niall Quinn were alongside supporter and Nike director David Daly and academy boss Huw Jennings. Symons took temporary charge at the back end of September with Fulham rooted to the foot of the Championship table. The caretaker boss has overseen five wins in eight games to lift Fulham out of the relegation zone . But his sterling transformation at Craven Cottage has seen his side's record only beaten by Bournemouth and Derby County in the month following. The odds of Hull City's Steve Bruce taking over from Magath had tumbled on Monday night but there was never anything in the link, while moves for ex-Premier League managers Chris Hughton and Steve Clarke were also mooted. | Kit Symons has five wins in nine games to pull Fulham from relegation .
Fulham chairman Shahid Khan flew from America on Wednesday .
Cottagers lost 5-2 against Derby in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday .
Symons handed 18-month contract by the Championship side . |
69,808 | c5e4df9e48ecdc0b5dac77a4e880d9a2cc680a6f | (CNN) -- T.J. Lane didn't belong to any particular clique in the schools he attended. Those who knew him described him as quiet, someone who was guarded and rarely spoke about his tumultuous family life. But they never would have thought that he'd turn out a killer -- walking up to a table in the cafeteria of Ohio's Chardon High School with a .22-caliber gun and pumping 10 rounds at students he picked randomly. Three students -- Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Daniel Parmertor, 16; and Russell King Jr., 17 -- died. That was on February 27, 2012, when he was a 17-year-old sophomore. Lane admitted his crime, didn't offer a reason, and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences at the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima. Three life sentences with no possibility of parole. On Friday, he was back in the news after he escaped from the facility, triggering an intense manhunt. He was captured about six hours later, enough time for him to reopen the wounds that his victims' families are trying to salve. "There has certainly been an undeniable, profound and deep impact on our community," Michael Hanlon, Chardon school superintendent, said early Friday morning. Schools will remain closed but counselors and other support services will be provided. At school . Teresa Hunt's niece rode the school bus each day with Lane, and he displayed no warning signs of the violence to come. "He was a really nice kid to her," Hunt told CNN after the shooting in 2012. "He wouldn't start up a conversation, but if she talked to him, he would hold the conversation with her. She said her niece noted no personality changes in Lane in the weeks leading up to Monday's shooting. Haley Kovacik, a friend who talked with Lane a few times a week, said the violence left her and others who knew him in "complete shock." "He seemed like a very normal, just teenage boy," Kovacik said of Lane. "He did have a sad look in his eyes a lot of the time, but he talked normally, he never said anything strange." Yet for all their talks, Kovacik noted there was a lot she didn't know about Lane. Friends, family remember Ohio school shooting victims . At home . Lane lived with his grandparents and was slow to open up about his personal life, according to friends. While he was known by many around Chardon High School, located 30 miles east of Cleveland, at the time of the shooting he was there to be transported to Lake Academy Alternative School in nearby Willoughby. The school describes itself as a place for "at risk" students who are "reluctant learners" struggling with problems such as "substance abuse /chemical dependency, anger issues, mental health issues, truancy, delinquency, difficulties with attention/organization, and academic deficiencies." Lane may have been dealing with his own family problems, according to reports by The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland. Lane's father, Thomas Lane Jr., was arrested several times for violent crimes against female acquaintances, including Lane's mother, the newspaper reported citing court documents. Between 1995 and 1997, the first two years of Lane's life, his father and his mother were both arrested for domestic violence against each other, the paper reported. His father also served prison time for assaulting a police officer and he also was charged with holding a different woman under running water and bashing her head into a wall, the newspaper reported. It was unclear how much contact Lane had with his father. He rarely opened up about his family, some said. "I've asked him once or twice, but he never would go into detail. He just said he had family trouble," Kovacik said . Online . Posts on Lane's Facebook page show him sharing links to music videos. Yet one long, poetic rant, from December 30, 2011, appears to be darker. The post refers to "a quaint lonely town, (where there) sits a man with a frown (who) longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet." "He was better than the rest, all those ones he detests, within their castles, so vain," he wrote. Lane then writes about going through "the castle ... like an ominous breeze through the trees," past guards -- all leading up to the post's dramatic conclusion. "Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you," he writes. "Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the Pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you." At his trial . At his sentencing, Lane's behavior shocked and outraged spectators. He unbuttoned his blue dress shirt to reveal a white T-shirt on which he had scrawled the word "KILLER" across the front. He had on a similar shirt during his shooting rampage. Before the sentencing, he addressed the victims' families using profane imagery and ending with the expletive,"F--- all of you." He then held up his middle finger. "For everyone in that courtroom -- the victims, their families, the prosecutors, defense -- everyone in that courtroom was just absolutely taken aback," said Ian Friedman, who represented him at his trial, said late Thursday. Friedman, hasn't talked to Lane in about a year. At the proceeding, prosecutor James Flaiz said Lane never said why he carried out the attack. "The only explanation I can offer the court is he is an evil person," Flaiz said. Ohio school shooter shows contempt, no remorse during sentencing . At the prison . In the 18 months Lane was housed at the Allen Oakwood Correctional Institution, he was disciplined seven times, according to The Plain Dealer newspaper. The infractions ranged from urinating on a wall to giving himself a tattoo, the paper said. He also refused to carry out assignments, losing recreation time as punishment. Authorities said Lane scaled a fence and broke out of the facility, about 90 miles northwest of Columbus. He escaped, along with two other men, about 7:40 p.m. Thursday. All three have been captured. When police took him into custody, Lane didn't offer an explanation. T.J. Lane back in custody after prison escape . CNN's Lateef Mungin, Moni Basu, Martin Savidge and Lisa Sylvester contributed to this report. | Lane admitted his crime but didn't offer a reason .
He was slow to open up about his personal life .
His father was arrested several times for violent crimes against women .
His behavior at his sentencing hearing shocked and outraged . |
182,518 | 785a74319b2637c0ce0da86daf127553a201d767 | Arsenal play New York Red Bulls on Saturday when they will come up against Thierry Henry – and Arsene Wenger joked he had hoped the Frenchman would once again don Arsenal’s colours. Wenger has only taken one recognised striker to New York, Chuba Akpom, who looks likely to start after impressing as a half-time substitute against Boreham Wood. Wenger said: ‘I came here with only one striker because I hoped he would play one half for us. He practises with us and is still very sharp and he came back here in very good shape.’ VIDEO Scroll down to watch Thierry Henry get emotional about Arsenal in press conference . Wenger chats to Arsenal legend Thierry Henry in the New York Red Bulls stadium . Arsene Wenger poses for a picture with New York Red Bulls star Thierry Henry (second left) Arsenal are without their three German World Cup stars who are also likely to miss the opening league game of the season against Crystal Palace. New York Red Bulls last met the Gunners in 2011, travelling for that summer's Emirates Cup, where they earned a 1-1 draw against their hosts, and they're hoping to go one better three years down the line. For Arsene Wenger's side, though, this is a more important fixture in terms of developing steam ahead of the 2014-15 campaign, with some minnows within the squad hoping to seize their chance in New Jersey. The Arsenal players train in the New York Red Bulls stadium ahead of Saturday's match . Arsenal youngster Chuba Akpom impressed in the recent friendly with Boreham Wood . | Arsenal only have one recognised striker on their trip to New York .
Chuba Akpom is likely to start for Arsenal up front after playing well against Boreham Wood .
Arsene Wenger has joked that he hoped Thierry Henry would play one half for them .
Legendary Arsenal striker Henry played 254 games for the Gunners in total, scoring 174 goals .
Henry has scored four goals for the New York Red Bulls this season . |
25,520 | 48425de29b67e87020c02af6ac21fd79fe847746 | By . Sadie Whitelocks . Last updated at 10:35 AM on 16th December 2011 . According to a report emergency hospital admissions for neurological conditions have risen by around a third . The number of people suffering from neurological disorders has increased, despite extra spending a report has shown. According to the National Audit Office (NAO) emergency hospital admissions for conditions such as Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and motor neurone diseases have risen by around a third. It also revealed patient care has 'worsened' recommending that the Department of Health needs to implement more effective strategies to remedy the situation. The quality of care, coordination of health and social services, variability in access to services around the country, and poor budget control have have been cited as key areas of concern. Between 2006/07 (£2.1 billion) and . 2009/10 (£2.9 billion) there was a 38 per cent increase . in spending on neurological services with an estimated £2.4 billion spent on social services associated with such conditions. However extra money was never ring-fenced in local . health budgets and the Department of Health is unable to say how the increased spend has benefited services. Amyas Morse, head of the National . Audit Office, said: 'Services for people with long-term neurological . conditions are not as good as they ought to be, despite a large increase . in spending. 'Progress in implementing the . Department's strategy has been poor and local organisations lack . incentives to improve the quality of services. 'It is not clear how lessons will be . learnt and there are risks to services which the Department must address . to ensure that care improves.' The report revealed that patients admitted as an . emergency are often treated by doctors and nurses with no neurological . training. One study found that only 66 per cent of people . with Parkinson's disease were seen by a specialist within six weeks of . referral by their GP, despite national guidelines on the issue. Evidence suggests this can lead to poorer outcomes as many have to be referred to hospital, discharged and referred again. The report revealed that patients admitted as an emergency are often treated by doctors and nurses with no neurological training . Steve Ford, chief executive of . Parkinson's UK, said: 'Being admitted into hospital unnecessarily can . cause problems for people with Parkinson's because they often do not get . their medication on time. 'Late or missed medication can make . their symptoms unmanageable so they have to stay in hospital longer and . sometimes they may never recover.' The report also criticised the management . of a national framework for neurology introduced in 2005, saying the . Department of Health 'put in place no specific arrangements for . monitoring how commissioners implemented' it. In response to the findings, which support a previous audit from the MS Trust and Royal College of Physicians, minister of state for care services Paul Burstow reassured that new strategies are in the pipeline. 'We are determined to give people with long-term health conditions . more control over their care and support. 'That is why we are developing a new . outcomes strategy, piloting personal health budgets and rolling out . telehealth to deliver better results for people and make sound use of . NHS resources.' The NAO has called for the Department of Health and NHS commissioners to implement a future strategy . for long-term conditions focusing on better coordination of services and improved motoring to ensure budgets are being used effectively. The report did note access to services have improved along with shorter waiting times. It is estimated around two million people have a neurological condition in the UK. | Emergency hospital admissions for conditions such as Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis up by a third .
Trend developed despite extra investment . |
82,605 | ea36814880ed8b2ae04352cc0741c5fe55f94cbb | (CNN) -- Rumored for years, the long-awaited smartwatch from Apple may finally become reality in a few months. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters are both reporting that the iWatch, if that is in fact it's name, will be released this fall, likely in October. The Journal says the watch will come in multiple sizes and have 10 sensors for tasks like health and fitness tracking. Reuters says the watch will have a 2.5-inch screen and be "slightly rectangular." Both outlets cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter. There's no reason to doubt the reports, really. Apple's top brass have all gone on the record suggesting a new product from Apple will be released by the end of this year. So, with the countdown likely begun, we take a look at five features we'd like to see on Apple's smartwatch. Really be 'smart' The dirty little secret of smartwatches, at least so far? They aren't really smart in the same way that a smartphone is. So far, the offerings from Samsung, Sony, LG and the like have operated as extensions of a smartphone, linking up via Bluetooth or wireless to, for the most part, serve you notifications that you could have seen by pulling your phone out of your pocket. Apple may do something along those lines as well and could still make a successful product. But with their close ties with app developers, we'd love to see Apple make the first smartwatch that lets you leave your phone behind. Wireless charging . If you live in a household where at least a couple of people are competing for socket space to keep their smartphones, tablets, e-readers and the like charged up, things are probably already a tangled mess. Does anybody want one more device to fit in there? Whether it's a wireless charging pad or some new tech whipped up by Apple especially for its smartwatch, we'd love to be able to just set the watch down on the nightstand and have it powered up and ready to go the next morning. And speaking of: . Battery life . Nobody wants a watch that they have to charge up as often as they do their phone. At least for now, these things are nice extras, not essential communication tools, and if they become more trouble than they're worth, the love affair won't last long for even the most dedicated fanboys and fangirls. The smartwatches already on the market average somewhere around two or three days on a charge. The ones that do more, like Samsung's Galaxy Gear, are on the low end of that and those that do less tend to be higher. Apple is surely planning on releasing a feature-rich device. If it can somehow do that while figuring out how to jam a powerful battery into a tiny watch, it will be a nice selling point. Connectivity . Apple's smartwatch is no doubt going to link up with your iPhone, and probably an iPad. But like a lot of other major tech companies, Apple wants to edge its way into a lot of other areas of your life, and it sure would be cool to be able to sync those other products with your watch. Play music on your iPod or iPhone with a tap of the watch. Change channels or pause movies on Apple TV. Beam photos or videos onto your television set via Airplay. All those abilities would be nice. And Apple is believed to be looking into the growing "Internet of things," or connected objects such as cars and refrigerators. This might be a while (and a couple of smartwatch generations) away. But if you could perform home automation tasks like opening your garage, turning off your lights or locking your doors with a watch, we'd be impressed. Of course, it would be cool if the presumed iWatch would link up with non-Apple devices, like those running Google's Android system or Microsoft's Windows. But we're not holding our breath on that. Affordable price . This is Apple. So, there's no reason to think it will depart from a model that's always worked for them. Unfortunately for budget-conscious consumers, that approach is to roll out finely crafted products at premium prices even while devices with similar features can be had without the Apple logo for less. But we hope this one is different. Nobody needs a digital watch and, as mentioned above, there's a decent chance that it won't even work unless you already own another, presumably pricey, Apple device. We'd like to see it priced as an affordable accessory for your iPhone in an effort to pull in customers who want, not need, one. Of course, nobody needed an iPad either. More than 200 million purchases later, it feels like Apple knew what it was doing. | Two reports say Apple smartwatch may be unveiled in October .
Reports say multiple models will be available .
It reportedly will have a 2.5-inch screen and fitness tracking .
We look at five other features we'd like to see . |
9,434 | 1ac0f0a9ec2bff230d6a9627224079a87ef1e101 | Some of Britain's hottest acting talent has come together to support Stand Up to Cancer in a dramatic short film. Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michelle Dockery, Gillian Anderson, Idris Elba, Eddie Redmayne, Anna Friel, Sheridan Smith and Steve Coogan star in the exclusive film by renowned photographer and film director, Greg Williams. The idea is to demonstrate the need for urgency in the fight against cancer, so the film features each A- list star running defiantly towards the camera. A semi-dressed Tom Hardy runs through the street in his dressing gown; Idris Elba sprints to escape a street explosion; Anna Friel speeds through an office; Steve Coogan hops over a wall and Gillian Anderson careers towards the camera holding her shoes. Between the dramatic shots, there are cut-aways featuring portraits of cancer patients who are also supporting the Stand Up To Cancer campaign. Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery is featured in the short film, frantically running toward . Between the shots, there are cut-aways featuring portraits of cancer patients also supporting the campaign . The Stand up to Cancer website describes the film as 'bold, brave and moving and shows unity and collective defiance in the face of this devastating disease'. There is also a set of photographs accompanying the film also demonstrate the urgent message that we need to act now to accelerate new cancer treatments to UK patients and save more lives. Greg Williams said: 'It's been an honour to be involved in the Stand Up To Cancer campaign. I lost my mum to cancer, something I feel strongly that no one should ever have to experience. 'By making this film and collection of images, I've been able to help to bring Stand Up To Cancer's vital work to the fore and help build momentum in the fight against cancer.' Cream of the crop: Benedict Cumberbatch is one of the actors featured in the all-star cast of this short film . A set of photographs accompanying the film also demonstrate the urgent message that we need to act now . Luther star Idris Elba said: 'Stand Up To Cancer is a brilliant campaign that will turn the tables on cancer, accelerate new treatments and ultimately save more lives. 'I know from personal experiences the devastating effect that cancer can have on people's lives. 'My own father passed away from lung cancer in September 2013. Idris Elba powers through a smoky street, illustrating the urgency needed in the fight against cancer . Famous names: Eddie Redmayne sprints through a backstreet in the 'bold, brave and moving' short film . 'It affected the whole family, turned our lives upside down and is truly something that we absolutely need to stop in the future. 'What we need to do this is funding, and that's why it's so important for people to do what they can to support Stand Up To Cancer and help beat cancer sooner.' | The country's top acting talent join forces to star in a powerful short film .
Stars such as Idris Elba, Sheridan Smith and Michelle Dockery feature .
Actors run towards the camera to show urgency of fight against cancer . |
67,833 | c06ffaeae9d0185ca90e2b3f1445e49787ae40f6 | By . Damien Gayle . Cheeky police have been caught on camera blaring KRS-One's Sound Of Da Police from the loudspeaker on their patrol car. Bank Holiday ravers in Chelmsford, Essex, were left speechless when they saw the marked police car cruising the town centre belting out the early-Nineties rap classic. Their mobile phone video of the unlikely situation includes the song's iconic chorus, in which KRS-One whoops to evoke the sound of a police siren. Scroll down for video . The Sound Of Da Police: Grainy smartphone footage taken in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday shows a marked police patrol car blaring the Nineties rap classic from its loudspeaker as it cruises through Chelmsford . Despite it's obvious law enforcement connotations, the song is an ironic choice for a patrol car given its evocation of police brutality, institutionalised racism and oppression. A 15-second video uploaded to YouTube shows the Essex Police patrol car pull away in Chelmsford town centre with its speakers blasting out the rap anthem. The white car, with distinctive yellow and blue checks, can clearly be heard playing the iconic line: 'Woop, woop, it's the sound of the police.' Released in 1993, Sound Of Da Police was the second and final single from KRS-One's first solo album, Return Of The Boom Bap. It . has become an anti-authoritarian anthem, covered by bands such as Rage . Against The Machine and notably featured in La Haine, the 1995 French . cult cinema classic about youths from the Paris ghettoes clashing with . the law. The lyrics are . explicitly critical of police, comparing them to slave overseers and . accusing them of being complicit in the continuing oppression of Black . people in the U.S. Rebel music: Despite it's obvious law enforcement connotations, the song by conscious rapper KRS-One, right, is an ironic choice for a patrol car given its evocation of police brutality, institutionalised racism and oppression . An Essex Police spokesman confirmed they are investigating the video, which was apparently shot on Monday . One line focusing on the overuse of guns in American policing says: 'The officer has the right to arrest, and if you fight back they put a hole in your chest.' Another jab at the police states: 'The real criminals are the C-O-P.' 'The police them have a little gun,' it states. 'So when I'm on the streets, I walk around with a bigger one.' An Essex Police spokesman confirmed they are investigating the video. 'We have viewed the footage and are looking into the matter,' he said. | The KRS-One track is an unambiguous condemnation of police oppression .
Since it was released in 1993 it has become an anti-authoritarian anthem .
Essex police spokesman says the force is investigating the video . |
81,050 | e5af97c0f29eb2503de4f228910d4718c37c8d1b | (CNN) -- The killing of 16 unarmed Afghan civilians is, as President Barack Obama has said, heartbreaking. Families have lost children, mothers and fathers in a rampage that has left Afghanistan reeling. For Afghans it is the latest in a pattern of disrespect and dishonor: the burnings of the Quran that ignited protests, video of U.S. soldiers urinating on Taliban corpses, kill teams in Kandahar. The horror of the killings offers a public relations victory for the Taliban and leaves Afghans wondering whose side they should be on. Is this the kind of "peace" they should believe in and rely on? Both hearts and minds have been shattered and lost. And, devastatingly, another casualty of this rampage is the quiet voices of men and women who risk their lives each day to fight for the progress of their country. Human rights activists, midwives, high school principals, doctors, entrepreneurs and young students crowding on to Facebook like kids everywhere else in the world. Their voices pleading for patience and calm are lost in the violence, mistrust and misunderstanding of the last few months. These warriors for progress are rarely heard in the media, but the jeopardy in which they place themselves is very real: Since 2011, Kandahar's mayor was assassinated in his home, the city's police chief was assassinated and an educator in Logar province was shot and killed for the crime of educating girls. The killings in Kandahar by insurgents are another strike against people who simply want to live in a secure country where they can support their families and send their children to school safely. The bloodshed thus far in 2012 bolsters those in the United States and Afghanistan who say that a swift international exit from Afghanistan is the only answer. On the other side are those who argue the United States must stay the course militarily. Stuck in between are the country's women, who have fought since the Taliban's departure to strengthen their own rights to go to work and to school and to lead their communities. More than 2 million girls are now in school. Women make up a quarter of the Parliament. And nearly 3,000 midwives go out each day to save women's lives in a country that Save the Children rated the deadliest for expectant mothers. Women I speak with feel caught in a political ambush. They enjoy little protection from their own government, they are under fire and constant threat from anti-government insurgents and now troops sent to protect them are contributing to the violence. Women who fear deeply for the erosion of their own rights if the Taliban return are told by some in their community: "Would you rather have this? Is this alternative any better? Is this peace?" And their push for progress this past decade is tied by their opponents to an international effort increasingly seen as drenched in disrespect. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been balancing for political survival on a tightrope between the international community on one side and his country's most conservative elements on the other. The more peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar become a reality, the further the Karzai administration seems to tilt in favor of the conservatives: Recently, Karzai signed off on a code of conduct for women released by clerics on the Ulema Council that said women should not travel without a male guardian or mix with men in offices or schools. Women activists say they do not want troops in their country forever. But they worry what the international community will leave behind as it hurries for the exits. Timelines seem to determine events on the ground rather than the other way around. As parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi told me in the wake of the Quran protests, "If the international community decides to leave tomorrow, women will be the first victim of the Talibanization of the government." No one is championing endless war in Afghanistan. For Americans, too much national treasure has been spilled and the treasury has been depleted. Drawdown plans leading to 2014 are well under way and will continue to unfold in the coming days. But how the international community gets out matters. And so does what it leaves behind. We have trapped ourselves in an all-or-nothing conversation. The military alone cannot end the war in Afghanistan -- and U.S. military officials are the first to say this. But after "drawdown," two other "Ds" are critical. Diplomacy -- talks about Afghanistan's future that involve all Afghan sides and regional players and include women. And development dollars -- funds that help local government and civil society keep schools open, clinics functioning and midwives working after 2014 has come and gone. Already an orphanage I know is facing funding problems as it works to keep boys and girls off streets and out of trouble. A withdrawal of troops should not mean an abandonment of Afghanistan. This is not simply about American altruism. This is about leaving behind a state stable and secure enough that American forces will never have to go back. Afghan women are not a pet project taken up by the international community. They are a stability indicator whose involvement in their own societies is in the best interest of lasting security. Any agreement that leaves them out will simply be a short-term deal, not a durable peace. Women's involvement in their own country's future is a must-have for the U.S. president to get what he has said he wants: a "responsible" end game for America's longest war. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gayle Tzemach Lemmon. | Gayle Lemmon: Massacre, a PR victory for Taliban, raised cry to get out of Afghanistan .
She says activists, midwives, educators, doctors who risk lives for progress are unheard .
Lemmon: In a bad omen, Karzai signed clergy's standard of conduct for women .
Women will be left to ultra-conservatives in a precipitous withdrawal, she says . |
90,284 | 002b4899d3d09c6d67904a3115d68004c8e96ab9 | By . Sophie Jane Evans . PUBLISHED: . 14:44 EST, 14 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 16:25 EST, 14 January 2014 . A trucker died in his bedroom after inhaling gas used in auto-erotic asphyxiation, an inquest heard. Andrew Greenough, 59, was found slumped in his chair by his wife Susan at their home in Reading, Berkshire. He was wearing a rubber suit and a mask, while cylinders of gas were discovered by his side. Victim: Andrew Greenough was found slumped in his chair by wife Susan at their home in Reading, Berkshire . Mrs Greenough - who slept in a separate bedroom - had spoken to her husband of 36 years before leaving for work in October last year, the inquest in Reading heard. However, she later discovered her partner's body when she returned home at about 3.30pm. Today, she told the inquest she had been aware of Mr Greenough's misuse of a particular type of gas - a known substance used in auto-erotic asphyxiation - and had told him to stop using it. 'He was aware it did carry risks, but he was prepared to keep doing it,' she said in a statement paraphrased by coroner Peter Bedford. Discovery: He was wearing a rubber suit and a mask, an inquest at Reading Civic Centre (pictured) heard . A post-mortem examination found Mr Greenough had died suddenly, with blood vessel . haemorrhages around his mouth and nose - both of which are common in asphyxia. Pathologist . Dr Fawaz Musa also discovered fluid in his lungs and an enlarged heart, which Mr Bedford said was 'in keeping with hypertension'. However, Dr Musa said could not be certain whether Mr Greenough had died as a . result of asphyxia or a sudden cardiac arrest brought on by inhaling . the gas. Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Mr Bedford ruled the trucker had had no intention of taking his own life while performing a 'potentially hazardous' act. He added that he had not heard any evidence that Mr Greenough was performing the extreme sex act when he died. 'No-one is suggesting for a moment this was an intentional act with the purpose of ending Mr Greenough’s life,' he said. 'He has done something potentially hazardous without the intention of harming himself, but tragically it has. 'The conclusion I record is simply one of misadventure.' | Andrew Greenough, 59, was found dead by wife Susan at home in Reading .
Trucker discovered slumped in his chair wearing a rubber suit and a mask .
Died after inhaling gas used in auto-erotic asphyxiation, an inquest heard .
Coroner Peter Bedford recorded a verdict of death by misadventure . |
272,007 | ec541e634399e6bf0ffe60062f0e273b411718be | By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 00:53 EST, 30 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 01:06 EST, 30 August 2012 . Secret mission: Gwilym Williams from Swansea was sent to Belgium in 1939, by the MI5 to infiltrate the Abwehr, Hitler's spy service . A former Welsh police inspector became a double agent pretending to work for Hitler while feeding vital information to MI5. Gwilym Williams from Swansea was sent to Belgium in 1939, to infiltrate the Abwehr, Hitler’s spy service. He constructed a fake persona as a fanatical Welsh nationalist and was so convincing that he managed to uncover a series of secrets. He informed the M15 about a plot to land a German . U-boat on a South Wales beach, a scheme to steal a Spitfire. He even intercepted a plan . to pour poison into the Cray Reservoir near Brecon, which would have caused havoc if it had been successful. Mr Williams died aged 62 in 1949, but his story was only recently discovered after an author researching a book learned of his story in declassified security files at the National Archive. His escapades are detailed by John Humphries in his book called Spying For Hitler, reported the Mirror. The files revealed that he left the police force in his home city of Swansea with a record showing he been reprimanded for being drunk on duty and assaulting residents. The only noteworthy fact on his record was that he had once stopped a run-away horse. But in September 1939, MI5 sent him to Belgium to infiltrate the Abwehr, Hitler’s spy service. The book tells how Mr Williams was recruited after intelligence led spy chiefs to realise that the Nazis were planning to forge links with Welsh nationalists. As a direct response MI5 invented an imaginary cell of Welsh saboteurs led by the retired police inspector, who had learned French and German during the First World War. Infiltrate: Adolf Hitler speaks to a crowd of German soldiers at a large rally in Hannover . Mr Williams' training was almost non-existent and the only demand was that he had to memorise the names of prominent members of the Welsh nationalist party. He was dispatched to Antwerp to meet his German handlers and carried out his spy duties with resounding success, although he risked being tortured if caught. 'He had the Abwehr jumping through hoops and helped us win the intelligence war,' said Mr Humphries. Among his missions were plans to destalbilise the enemy bases such as aerodromes, power stations and munitions factories. He became so deeply entrenched with the Nazis that at one point he was offered £50,000 to fly a British spitfire over to France so it could be examined by them. Mr Humphries said: 'John . Masterman, chairman of the Twenty Committee which ran the double-cross . system, regarded Gwilym Williams as Britain’s best agent. | Gwilym Williams from Swansea was sent to Belgium in 1939, by the MI5 to infiltrate the Abwehr, Hitler’s spy service .
Discovered plans including stealing a Spitfire and landing a German U-boat on a South Wales beach . |
276,105 | f1bb64104e656d843212818e19782c4759311c02 | By . David Kent . They might have blown the Premier League title but Liverpool held out for top spot in the official fair play league. Brendan Rodgers' men edged last season's winners Arsenal into second place, while Everton and Manchester City were also left trailing in third and fourth place. Luis Suarez's improved performance played a factor in Liverpool's rise from third to first, the Uruguay international striker received just six yellow cards and no red cards in comparison to 10 the season before. Winning habit: Liverpool came out on top of the Premier League Fair Play league . Close run thing: Brendan Rodgers' side came close to winning the real thing but had to settle for second place . Top spot: Liverpool saw off the challenge of Arsenal, Everton and Man City to claim first place . Liverpool emerged as surprise challengers for the Premier League title after embarking on a 16-game unbeaten run at from the beginning of 2014 which lasted until a 2-0 defeat against Chelsea on April 27. That loss, combined with a 3-3 draw against Crystal Palace, after the Reds had led 3-0, meant that they finished second and two points behind eventual champions Man City. In a bid to promote positive behaviour from Premier League teams and their players the fair play competition was established and assessed across five categories including red and yellow cards, positive play (e.g. showing attacking intent, speeding up the game, no time-wasting), respect towards opponents, respect towards the referee and behaviour of the team officials. As a result of their achievement Liverpool will be awarded £30,000 by the Premier League which they can put toward community or youth projects. Rodgers paid credit to his playing squad and staff for their exemplary behaviour: 'We are delighted to top the Fair Play League at the end of one of our most successful seasons in recent history,' he said. 'Our fans, players and staff make up what we like to call the world's greatest football family and as part of that we look to uphold the club's values which include unity, dignity and commitment, which have been shown throughout the season.' Second: Arsenal were runners-up in the Fair Play league . Overshadowed: Roberto Martinez's Everton couldn't outdo rivals Liverpool . Rock bottom: Gus Poyet's Sunderland side avoided relegation from the Premier League but came last in the fair play stakes . In the behaviour of the public fair play league 2013-14, Liverpool fans were beaten to top spot by Sunderland. Norwich, who had won the previous two years finished fourth, with Crystal Palace third and Arsenal came fifth. Top support: Sunderland fans won the behaviour of the public fair play league 2013-14 . | Liverpool were judged to have been the fairest Premier League side overall .
Brendan Rodgers' side blew title but came out on top in fair play ranks .
Sunderland rated as the worst of the 20 Premier League sides .
However, Black Cats came out on top in fan behaviour stakes . |
251,813 | d1eca06160dea9fc84095999f2f40487139b008e | (CNN) -- In South Africa, Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday is being marked by celebrations, good deeds, and an exhibition of stunning new posters of the country's former president. Mandela himself will be spending the day in hospital in Pretoria, where he is said to be in a critical but stable condition, battling a lung infection. Since 2009, Mandela's birthday has been designated "Nelson Mandela International Day." The celebration encourages people around the globe to partake in 67 minutes of public service: one minute per year of service that the former statesman, also known as Madiba, has given to his country. In photos: Global tributes to Nelson Mandela . It's a day that many feared might not come, as Mandela has been receiving urgent medical care since June. Now breathing with the help of a machine, family and friends have been optimistic about his response to treatment, with former president Thabo Mbeki even suggesting he may soon be discharged. Admirers worldwide are hoping for the Nobel Peace laureate's recovery, with Mandela Day providing the perfect opportunity to celebrate his life and achievements. A survey released last week found that 89% of South Africans planned to commemorate the day, with thousands of school children across the country singing "happy birthday" this morning. Also marking the occasion, at the University of Pretoria the Mandela Poster Project is exhibiting images of Mandela from around the world. Read this: 'Biggest celebration ever' for Mandela's birthday . Launched in May 2013, the project asked designers to submit posters celebrating Mandela's life. It received more than 700 entries from more than 70 countries, and is now displaying 95 posters that reflect Mandela's international legacy. "He (Mandela) carries across this concept of humanity and selflessness," said Mohammed Jogie, co-founder of the project. There are plans for an international traveling exhibition, and the posters will also be made into an online gallery. The team behind the project says it plans to donate any proceeds to the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust, which aims to establish a pediatric hospital in Johannesburg. It's a fitting tribute to the iconic activist on a day that celebrates the sense of community and charity Mandela has dedicated his life to promoting. | Mandela Poster Project exhibiting 95 posters of the former South African president .
Project received more than 700 poster submissions from around the world .
Mandela Day has been celebrated worldwide since 2009 .
The day encourages 67 minutes of good deeds from participants . |
162,305 | 5dd8142f1b0d851a5aed7a0b3716fc3a00afe3ef | By . Louise Court, Editor Of Cosmopolitan . PUBLISHED: . 11:34 EST, 5 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 11:51 EST, 5 October 2012 . After weeks of planning, I finally looked at the black and white photos laying on my desk. We'd set ourselves the challenge of getting Mel B and her husband Stephen Belafonte to recreate an iconic Rolling Stone cover, featuring a topless Janet Jackson, in aid of the charity CoppaFeel! for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Suggesting that Mel B went topless was a big ask, and was dependent on her belief in the importance of the cause we were supporting. Now was the moment of truth. Mel B and her husband Stephen Belafonte in the October issue of Cosmopolitan, recreating the iconic Rolling Stone cover, in aid of breast cancer charity CoppaFeel! My immediate reaction was a huge sense of relief: these pictures were every bit as powerful as I'd hoped. The first signs of breast cancer are often spotted by women's partners, which is why we involved Mel B's husband in the shoot. We wanted the images to become a talking point that would make men and women look twice, think about the message, remember it - and ultimately save lives. When I read Natalie Shalom's article in the Daily Mail last week saying the pictures were 'shockingly crass' and 'insensitive', of course I did some soul searching. She lost her mother to breast cancer and both her sisters have had the disease. The last thing I want is for anyone to find the images upsetting. The October issue of Cosmopolitan . But when I look at the response we have had from readers, and the hundreds of comments that have appeared on MailOnline, I feel very strongly that we did the right thing in publishing them. It has made the whole topic of checking your breasts a major talking point - which was our aim. My inspiration in this whole campaign has been an extraordinary young woman called Kristin Hallenga, who started the breast cancer charity CoppaFeel! Kristin has a very personal reason for her obsession with breasts. Three years ago, aged just 23, she was diagnosed with breast cancer herself. As she says: 'I imagined that aged 23 I would see a bit of the world, enjoy crazy nights out with my friends and have a ton of carefree fun. Instead, I got breast cancer. 'Discovering a lump in 2008, I went straight to my GP but was sent away on the basis that at my young age it was bound to be hormonal. 'Six months later the lump was still there. My no-nonsense mother marched me right back to the GP and demanded a referral. We thought there would be nothing to worry about because breast cancer is an older women's disease. But we were wrong. 'Eight months on, following a frustrating fight to discover what was happening, I found out that not only did I have breast cancer, but that it had spread to my spine. I was at stage four, the most advanced type of cancer. There is no stage five.' Kristin had radiotherapy followed by . five months of chemotherapy and yet more radiotherapy, during which she . lost her hair, had a mastectomy and said goodbye to her carefree life. To . say she became a woman with purpose is a total understatement. Kristin . has since made it her full-time mission to encourage young women (and . men – they get it too) to keep hold of their youth and freedom by simply . getting to know their breasts. Founder of CoppaFeel! Kristin Hallenga, left, and Natalie Shalom with her sister Anneliese, right . So CoppaFeel! was born, thanks to Kristin and her twin sister Maren - who was checked but thankfully found not to have any known breast cancer genes. It's a cheeky name that gets right to the point and sums up both sisters' irreverent attitude, lust for life and love of a good pun. The key message from both of them is: if you don't check your breasts you don't know if you have the symptoms of breast cancer. Kristin has taken her campaign to universities, schools and festivals. She relentlessly coaxes celebrities to add their support to her cause because she knows the power they have in getting the message across. LOOK for swelling in your armpit or around the collarbone . FEEL for constant pain in your breast or your armpit . LOOK for nipple discharge . FEEL for lumps and thickening . LOOK for changes in skin texture, eg, puckering or dimpling . LOOK for change in size and shape . LOOK for nipple inversion and changes in direction . LOOK for a rash or crusting of the nipple or surrounding area . Do all these regularly. If you spot any changes, go straight to your GP. She has persuaded Dermot O'Leary to run marathons, Fearne Cotton signed up to be the patron of the charity, and Hollywood actor Chris O'Dowd has given up time to support CoppaFeel! too. Shooting celebrities in an homage to the Rolling Stone cover was her own idea. Originally, we discussed doing the shoot with survivors of breast cancer but decided early on that celebrities would command far more attention. The point of the campaign was for . young women to take preventative action – immediately. We wanted the . photograph of Mel to be eye-catching and glamorous, and knew it might be . a little controversial. But . it was never intended to be disrespectful to women battling breast . cancer, or to those who have lost loved ones to the disease. Speaking . to Kristin about the recent controversy, she believes we must celebrate . healthy breasts – and doesn't think showing photographs of them on . glamorous celebrities is a bad thing. 'Getting your partner to help isn't . only fun but potentially life-saving. Sexy or not sexy, this awareness . and education can prompt another young woman to start checking her . breasts. 'Telling . young women about the dark days of chemotherapy is not going to . persuade my generation to check their breasts. If anything, it will . scare them into doing nothing - and the fear of this disease must be . stamped out or many young women will be diagnosed too late, as I was.' Hollyoaks actress Jorgie Porter also took part in the Cosmopolitan feature in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month . For years at Cosmopolitan we have . persuaded famous men from Lenny Kravitz, Alex James from Blur, Jason . Donovan, Ronan Keating, Graham Norton, boxer David Haye, Strictly Come . Dancing stars Brendan Cole and Bruno Tonioli, cricketer Stuart Broad . and many Olympians to strip naked in the battle against testicular . cancer. It is the most . common cancer in young men but as they are notoriously bad at going to . see the doctor about any health matters we target the women in their . lives too. We tell them the symptoms and encourage them both to be aware . of them. The . Cosmo naked centerfold has made a taboo subject talked-about and from . letters we have had I know it has saved lives. No one has complained . that we have used healthy tennis players, footballers, cricketers, DJ's . and soap stars to make this point and no one has had a problem with the . fact that many of them have been shot in a sexy or tongue-in-cheek way. There . is a brilliant breast awareness campaign being run in Scotland starring . the comedian Elaine C Smith, 54, whose mother died from breast cancer. It shows her holding up a series of placards featuring the lumps, . dimpling and changes in skin texture of diseased breasts. It is powerful . and shocking. And I am sure will get the message through to women in . their 40s and beyond. The iconic September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone magazine, featuring a topless Janet Jackson, which inspired the Cosmopolitan shoot . But I truly believe the photos of Mel, who had a breast cancer scare herself when she was younger, will have far more resonance with women in their 20s and 30s. As the biggest magazine for young women in the world, Cosmopolitan does a lot of research into what grabs their attention – and they are a generation of young women who respond to strong visual messages. They don't want to be patronised, but a celebrity will always catch their eye. And they are at risk from this hideous disease. Elaine C Smith says, as do the supporters of our photos on MailOnline and Cosmo readers who have written into the magazine: 'As far as I am concerned if this saves one life it is absolutely worth it.' I feel exactly the same way about our photographs, I thank Mel B for having the courage to take part but most of all I thank Kristin for being the brains behind this campaign and allowing us to bring it to life. But I'll leave the last word with a Daily Mail reader, Amy from Kingston-Upon-Thames, following Thursday's moving piece from Natalie Shalom. She said: 'The campaign isn't aimed at her age group; it is aimed at mine, the 18-30s. I had my first cancer scare at 15 and have had to check myself regularly ever since. 'When I had my most recent scare my best friend came to me and asked how to check herself, she had no idea what to do or even that she ought to! 'My attitude is anything that gets people to think about preventative measures is a major positive. Fear is an incredible motivator. And I say this as the proud daughter of a breast cancer survivor.’ For more information visit the CoppaFeel! website. | Images were commissioned by Cosmopolitan in aid of charity CoppaFeel!
A woman whose family has been affected by breast cancer was outraged . |
69,336 | c499017c8b862df9fae5bdf9d507669c1b9ae0e1 | (CNN) -- President Obama has characterized his 2014 budget, released Wednesday, not as his ideal vision for how much the federal government ought to tax and spend, but rather as a compromise that aims to respect the priorities of Democrats and Republicans. He has insisted that congressional Republicans see the policy options laid out in his budget as a package deal, not as a menu of policy options from which to choose. And so the president's budget includes reductions in the planned growth of Social Security and Medicare spending, to appeal to conservative advocates of spending restraint, and a number of tax increases, the bulk of which are designed to affect high-earners, a high priority of the president's congressional allies. House Speaker John Boehner and other leading congressional Republicans have made their opposition to further tax increases clear. But President Obama's tax proposals nevertheless merit close attention, as they tell us a great deal about his priorities. One of the ways the Obama administration seeks to raise revenue is to have the federal government adopt chained CPI, a method of calculating consumer price inflation that factors in the fact that consumers tend to substitute some goods for others in response to rising or falling prices. Chained CPI has been discussed primarily with regards to its impact on federal outlays, and particularly Social Security spending, as it is expected to lead to somewhat lower cost-of-living adjustments that in turn will lead to somewhat lower Social Security benefit levels. Yet chained CPI will also lead tax brackets to be adjusted more slowly than they are under the federal government's current inflation index. This adjustment is expected to yield roughly $100 billion in new tax revenues over the next decade. In addition, the president has revived two proposals that figured prominently in his 2013 budget: the so-called "Buffett Rule," which requires that households earning $1 million or more pay a minimum of 30% of their income in federal taxes, after allowing for charitable giving, and a limit on tax deductions for the highest-earning 2% of households. The Buffett Rule essentially raises taxes on millionaires who earn long-term capital gains, as Alan Viard of the conservative American Enterprise Institute has explained. The downside of the Buffett Rule, according to Viard, is that it might discourage capital investment and increase reliance on debt financing. The limit on tax deductions, meanwhile, reduces the value of itemized deductions to the 28% tax rate for households. That is, even as a household enters the 33, 35, and 39.6% tax brackets, the value of its itemized deductions will remain at the lower 28% rate. The president's budget also calls for substantial increases in federal taxes on tobacco products, which are designed to fund new preschool efforts. President Obama's tax proposals illustrate how difficult it will be to raise tax revenues by a substantial amount while shielding middle-income households from tax increases. Chained CPI and tax increases on tobacco products will almost certainly affect some number of households earning less than $250,000 a year, yet the Obama administration also intends to increase the size of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, which will tend to mitigate any harmful effect. Capping the value of itemized deductions will raise a substantial amount of revenue. But it won't do as much as more ambitious proposals to limit individual tax expenditures, like converting tax preferences tied to marginal tax rates to nonrefundable tax credits. This approach, however, also runs into political pitfalls, as it will raise taxes on at least some middle-income households, even as it reduces them for large numbers of low- and middle-income non-itemizers. If President Obama hopes to build momentum for a substantial revenue increase, he would be well advised to cheer on the efforts of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, and Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, the chairmen of the tax-writing committees of the Senate and House respectively, as both are working toward a larger, more ambitious tax overhaul. Though Camp and his Republican allies are resistant to tax increases, they might prove more amenable if comprehensive tax reform results in lower rates. Back in 2011, for example, the center-left Progressive Policy Institute released its "Modified Zero Plan," which eliminated all tax expenditures but the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit and lowered rates to 12, 22, and 28%. Despite these substantially lower rates, revenues would increase, in part because capital income would be subject to the same tax rates as ordinary income. Of course, measures like the Buffett Rule would increase effective taxes on capital income even further. If Baucus and Camp converge around something like the Modified Zero Plan, the tax debate might finally break out of its current grim stalemate. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Reihan Salam. | Reihan Salam: President is casting his budget as one with bipartisan appeal .
He says Obama still wants to target high income earners for tax increases .
Parts of the Obama plan will affect middle-income taxpayers, too, he says .
Salam: Budget shows difficulty of raising revenues without hitting middle class . |
138,634 | 3f4927e7b118038601ac1e4019004d01ca0d32d4 | By . Kerry Mcqueeney . Last updated at 10:52 AM on 22nd February 2012 . Jailed: Pig worker Andrzej Chranowski tried to rip out his victim's heart while she was still alive . A woman has described how a Polish farm worker tried to rip out her heart 'like one of his pigs' after he stabbed her in the chest. Christine Seymour recounted the horrifying moment she felt Andrzej Chranowski push his hands inside her knife wound in an apparent attempt to tear out her vital organ. Chranowski, 34, claimed to be suffering from a 'short-term psychotic episode' when he pounced on Miss Seymour with a pair of surgical scissors. After stabbing her, he then carried the 59-year-old into her rented property and dumped her on her bed shouting: . 'Just lie there and die.' Miraculously, Miss Seymour survived the brutal attack after life-saving surgery. Polish pig worker Chranowski was this week jailed for 18 years for her attempted murder. Chranowski lived in the same rented three-storey house as Miss Seymour, in Spalding, Lincolnshire. Two others also lived there. He lunged at her as she talked with a friend on the phone outside the property. Miss Seymour was conscious throughout the terrifying ordeal and described, in sickening detail, how she thought her heart was about to be ripped out. She told Nottingham Crown Court: 'It was like a living nightmare. 'I felt a pain and something warm. The next thing I remember I was on the floor, my head was laid up against the wall. 'I felt a huge pressure on my chest, . like a knee drop, and put my hands up because I couldn't breathe. I felt . something was ripping across my chest, it felt like somebody's fingers . were going across my chest. Caged: Chranowski was jailed for 18 years following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court (pictured) 'I got the impression, as he worked . with pigs, that he thought I was one. It just felt like he was trying to . rip through to my heart, I just thought he was trying to rip my heart . out. 'I felt something was ripping across my chest, it felt like somebody's fingers were going across my chest.' Police arrested Chranowski inside . Miss Seymour's room after they were alerted by other residents in the . shared property during the incident last February. Michael Cranmer-Brown, prosecuting, . said that when officers entered the room Chranowski calmly asked for a . cigarette and confessed, 'I've just killed a woman with this,' still . holding the scissors. He added: 'Miss Seymour was lying on her bed in a pool of blood. You could see the blood pumping inside her chest.' Ms . Seymour suffered horrendous injuries including a two-inch deep cut to . her chest. The scissors missed her heart by a centimetre. She also suffered a collapsed lung and only survived after life-saving surgery at the Pilgrim Hospital, Boston. Weapon: Miss Seymour was attacked with a pair of surgical scissors . She also suffered severe psychological effects and is currently undergoing trauma counselling. Chranowski, from Spalding, had denied attempted murder on February 2, 2011, but was found guilty by a jury after a trial. He was also convicted of wounding another resident with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. Passing sentence at Nottingham Crown Court, Judge John Milmo QC said: 'This was wholly unprovoked attack with a potentially lethal weapon. 'It is quite clear that your conduct has had a lasting effect on Christine Seymour.' During the trial Chranowski, described in court as a normally quiet man, claimed that Ms Seymour was stabbed by a mystery man and he claimed he was innocent. He had no previous convictions in either England or his native Poland although he had what was described as 'petty theft' offences committed while working in Germany. His barrister Paul Mytton said it appeared Chranowski was suffering from a 'short term psychotic episode.' when he carried out the attack. | Christine Seymour recounted horrifying moment she felt attacker push his hands into her chest .
After stabbing her, Andrzej Chranowski dumped her on a bed and shouted: 'Just lie there and die'
Victim miraculously survived after life-saving surgery . |
73,758 | d1235c0ad1ec3b22bd69628a8668630b9e854495 | The Austin, Texas, police chief said he was trying to put a jaywalking arrest "in context" when he said police in other towns "are actually committing sexual assaults on duty." Now he's apologized for his choice of words. The controversy started Thursday when someone posted a video that showed jogger Amanda Jo Stephen, 24, in handcuffs and sitting on the sidewalk near the University of Texas campus. Moments later she's shown yelling and cursing at Austin police officers as they load her into a police car. When asked about the video Friday, Police Chief Art Acevedo said, "Cops are actually committing sexual assaults on duty so I thank God that this is what passes for a controversy in Austin, Texas. ... And I'm glad that I'm here having to address mediocrity." A day later, he was forced to backtrack. "During the press conference I attempted to place the arrest into context by bringing attention to the fact that law enforcement deals with many acts of serious misconduct," he said in a statement Saturday. "This includes recent instances in the news of sexual assault by police officers in other cities. In hindsight I believe the comparison was a poor analogy, and for this I apologize." The arrest occurred as Austin police are trying to cut down on jaywalking. CNN affiliate KXAN reported that seven people were arrested Thursday near 24th and San Antonio streets, where Stephen was arrested. Acevedo said the woman was arrested for not giving police her name when asked, KXAN reported. Acevedo noted on Saturday that Austin police had been through an emotional week. On Friday, a man was convicted of killing Austin police officer Jaime Padron in 2012. | A video showing Austin police arresting a jaywalker was posted .
Chief said he was trying to put the arrest "in context"
Chief said in other towns, "cops are actually committing sexual assaults on duty"
He apologized for "a poor analogy" |
42,912 | 790571f1d18553d54b1cd0fd06733b9ecebae214 | (CNN) -- The hottest way to present your resume currently involves just 140 characters and a lot of hype. Twitter resumes -- or "twesumes" -- have been touted as the best way for social media-savvy types to snag a dream job. But before you post your own abbreviated CV, it is worth considering its limitations and what tweeting your employment history really says about you. "I cannot imagine someone explaining their breadth of experience in 140 characters," says Sai Pradhan, a headhunter and managing director for Trufflepig Search, based in Hong Kong. "I know people are calling it an elevator pitch these days, but my goodness, even that's a bit longer. At most it could be an introduction with a link to your CV." The term twesume (a contraction of "Twitter" and "resume") began gaining traction in 2011 after it appeared in an article by Sean Weinberg on social media news site, Mashable. Weinberg co-founded the website RezScore, which allows users to upload their resumes and receive an algorithmic-based grading on it. In subsequent years, the 140-character CV has been hailed by some as ushering in a brave new world of truncated, social media-reliant resumes. It was reported last year that U.S. venture capital firm Union Square Ventures and a handful of American tech companies were to only accept links to jobseekers' "web presence" -- from blogs to Twitter accounts -- instead of traditional resumes. Read more: Fake Amazon resume a huge hit . Earlier this year, the chief marketing officer of U.S. technology company Enterasys, Vala Afshar, announced that he would only consider Twitter applications for a senior social media strategist position with a six-figure salary. All candidates were supposed to use the hashtag #socialCV and possess more than 1,000 Twitter followers. Afshar says he heard from hundreds of applicants and selected 15 for in-person interviews. "The main point of this process is that the selection committee, including me, never references their CV," he wrote to CNN in an email. "The process was purely a digital research and conversation-oriented recruitment process." Although Pradhan is enthusiastic about the business potential for companies using social media, she isn't convinced that Twitter will replace the resume for job-seekers. For her an updated profile on LinkedIn is more useful. However a tidy web presence is increasingly important. International advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather is currently hiring a director-level candidate for its social media team in Hong Kong. Application instructions for a similar posting last year warned: "Take a look at your Twitter / Weibo profile and if you find the words: maven / guru / expert? No need to apply. We want people whose focus it is to build our clients' profiles, not their own." The implication is that while social media has made it easier for direct access to companies advertising on Twitter or LinkedIn, it has also made it much easier for unqualified wannabes to jam up the job search. Read more: What's your office personality type? For Pradhan, who recruits middle to senior level marketing and communications professionals, checking job candidates' social media is the final stage in the process. She mentions a recent Asia-wide search for a director of digital marketing as an example: . "We basically honed it down to five candidates. And at that point, we actually looked at their online presence. We knew them on paper. We had talked to them in person and interviewed them a few times. And then it was time to see that they've actually been doing what they say." For businesses, Twitter is just part of the evolving cornucopia of platforms to share and engage with potential partners and customers. The same principles that apply to selling goods are also valid for job-seekers marketing their skills. "Back in the day, the only way to generate authority in your field was to speak at conferences and write papers and things like that," says Pradhan. "Now you can write a blog. Now you can post relevant content to connect with an audience. You can create followers for yourself. It's a way to build credibility." Whatever the next platform for self-promotion, she urged jobseekers not to abandon commonsense and real-world skills: "Nothing beats meeting someone in person, shaking their hand and saying, 'I really want to work with you.' That's what it comes down to. Among all these online experiences, the success comes in moving them offline. | Twitter resumes have been touted as new method to land a job .
Format has been hyped up and value questioned by headhunters .
Some companies say they only consult job seekers' 'web presence'
Recruitment expert believes 'twesumes' can play a part in a person's digital profile . |
86,455 | f565071fba09b8e86406c1b89a7738fdd7b32340 | (CNN) -- I'm Kristina Wong, and I'm what many Americans would refer to as "one of those idiots on reality TV." Recently, I was featured on a new documentary series that focuses on the lives of Asian Americans: "I'm Asian American and... ." I thought the show would be a rare platform to show an Asian American story that had not been told: my life as a performance artist and hip-hop mogul. As an artist, the issues I explore have been deemed too "scary," "niche" and "unprofitable" for mainstream media. Among these issues: The high rates of depression and suicide in the Asian American community, white privilege, racial stereotypes, poverty tourism, gender and sexism. What drew me to becoming a performance artist was the chance to create my message on my terms. I don't wait for someone to write me a role. I certainly don't wait for someone to cast me in a role. And I'm not holding my breath waiting for a bad-ass wisecracking Chinese American lady character like me to show up on "Game of Thrones." Leading Asian American women exist on television, but I can count them on one hand. When you see other Asian women my age on scripted television, they are usually side characters handing over scalpels, playing someone's badly accented mother or are scantily clad. If I'm taking on issues barely addressed among Asian Americans, why would I expect mainstream media to pick up on them, too? Some back story: I grew up in San Francisco. I'm Chinese American, got great grades all through high school and went to UCLA. But I bucked stable career paths in medicine, law and engineering to pursue the most unstable of careers: performance art. My performances don't fit the standard fare of what most people might expect of an Asian American woman. I don't tell reductive jokes about my American-born mother's nonexistent Chinese accent. I don't do martial arts (though I so own several zumba DVDs). I don't tell stories peppered with exotic details of Chinese culture that deliver Confuciusesque wisdom. My work has already killed any possibility of a future in politics: Stand-up comedy dressed as a giant vagina, crashing the Miss Chinatown Pageant dressed as a fake Miss Chinatown and marrying myself (twice!) in public ceremonies. Last year, I recorded a hit rap album in northern Uganda with local rappers. I've also toured five original one-woman theater shows around the world. I'd like to think my approach is bawdy, funny and fearless. I've been told I'm the living antithesis of a stereotypical submissive and quiet Asian woman. So I decided to tackle that taboo on my episode of "I'm Asian American and ..." by collecting reparations from "yellow fever guys" -- slang for white men who only date Asian women. My dates, all real, described how they prefer dating Asian women because we are "hairless," "gentle" and "love to cook and clean": basically every objectifying stereotype of a submissive Asian woman. During our dates, I coerce these men to clean my house, pay my exorbitant dinner tabs, and watch me perform a very painfully long performance art piece complete with multiple screaming birthing scenes. It's not about gold digging, it's about finding small moments of justice for a lifetime of being objectified and fetishized as an Asian woman. No, I don't expect to win an award for showing these white men that an Asian woman can be as crude and wisecracking as people of any other race. And I don't expect people to jump up and declare that I've ended racial oppression with a reality television appearance. But my 15 minutes of fame (23 to be exact) felt like a rare moment to provide some cathartic humor for those wanting to see an Asian American woman who would go to the outrageous depths that characters on scripted television show would not. I look forward to a day when I see a sitcom telling the stories of every different Asian ethnicity, LGBT, women, mixed race Asian Americans and the Asian Americans like me whose families have been here for generations. From the trailer, it seems like ABC's new sitcom "Fresh Off the Boat" will be a funny subversive take on the Chinese American family experience. It's the first scripted sitcom in 20 years to feature an Asian American family on network television. The last, Margaret Cho's "All-American Girl," was panned by critics. The show's failure didn't stop Margaret from making comedy. If anything, it strengthened her, and she told the story of that show's failure in subsequent media and appearances. But I hope that viewers don't expect one sitcom to tell every Asian American's story, any more than a sitcom with a white family does not tell the story of every white person in this country. "Asian American" includes a diverse range people of Asian descent, each with a unique history and culture. Opinion: The surprising racial bias against Asians . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kristina Wong. | Author is a performance artist who turned to reality television to share her story .
Author: My approach to art highlights issues that aren't covered regularly .
Mainstream TV shouldn't be the only gauge of Asian American experience, author says . |
228,337 | b3a6c45ccbcc6140a9fe042a385440e3a80535dc | By . Sam Adams . PUBLISHED: . 04:02 EST, 18 July 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 16:00 EST, 18 July 2012 . Car owners could be traced and fined for litter seen thrown from their vehicles under new plans . The sight of cigarette butts, crisp packets . and other kinds of litter being thrown out of car windows is a sadly . familiar one. But under tough new plans to clampdown . on litterbugs, car owners could be traced and fined up to £80 for any rubbish thrown . from their vehicle - whether they were driving at the time or not. Bringing those responsible for littering from cars to justice is currently a tall order for councils who often struggle to prove who the perpetrator was. If introduced, the new proposals - . tabled in the House of Lords - will enable them to pursue vehicle owners who can then be handed a penalty or required to name the person responsible. They will be liable even if they have no idea who threw the rubbish. Britain . currently has some of the most rubbish-strewn roads in Europe, which . councils in England alone spend more than £860 million a year to clear up. Last year, nine million drivers threw . litter from their cars. Lord . Marlesford has introduced a Private Member’s Bill to get the law changed . so that councils can try to recoup some of the cash they spend cleaning up litter by issuing fines directly to . car owners. He also wants councils to report to the public each year on how much they have spent . on contracts for clearing rubbish and which streets they clean in order to make the process more . accountable. Britain's streets are currently some of the dirtiest in Europe . The public would then be able to complain direct to councils and contractors if their streets were still dirty. The plans have been backed by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman. CCTV cameras could be used by councils to enforce the new law, while fines would also be issued by Civil Enforcement Officers. Bin it: Car owners could be traced and fined if litter is seen being thrown from their vehicle . Councils in London already issue £100 for . littering from cars but this could be extended to the rest of England. Littering is a criminal offence which can lead to a fine of £2,500 if taken to court. Councils also hand out fixed . penalty notices of up to £80 to those caught dropping rubbish in the street. 'Nothing degrades a road more than litter,' Lord Marlesford told the Telegraph. 'The roads in England are some of the dirtiest in Europe. And it can so easily be dealt with.' American author Bill Bryson, a former president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, last month described the country's roads as 'an informal linear tip.' The AA has also welcomed the bill which Lord Marlesford hopes will be adopted and brought into law as quickly as possible. He told the Telegraph, 'I want action, not words.' | Car owners would be liable even if they don't know who dropped the litter .
Britain's streets are among dirtiest in Europe .
Council's spend £860 million clearing up rubbish . |
119,903 | 26fb8be81813b35d9d26ea2df420c0ef4103fd17 | By . Lizzie Parry . PUBLISHED: . 11:40 EST, 20 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:40 EST, 20 December 2013 . Abdul Shahid committed a series of frauds amounting to £192,000 using his landlord's bank details to set up direct debits . A man living on benefits used his landlord's bank details to pay for subscriptions to adult TV channels. Abdul Shahid has been jailed for three years, after carrying out a £192,000 fraud. The 34-year-old set up a series of direct debits and used a national social housing firm's details to pay for them. Unemployed Shahid was a tenant of Guinness Northern Counties Housing Association, which provides more than 60,000 homes across the country. He managed to get hold of the bank details of his landlords enabling him to start a string of direct debits. They paid for subscriptions to paid TV services, including adult channels. He also used the bank details to pay off debts, his phone bill, as well as buying a range of goods from a catalogue. In addition the fraudster managed to get his hands on the bank details of Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company which owns O2, and started paying his rent to Guinness Northern Counties through their account. Shahid also posed as a door-to-door salesman for Sky television and BT, gathering cash payments from unsuspecting customers. Many of the people he duped spoke little English and were left to find that within weeks their services had been switched off and Shahid was uncontactable, police said. At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, pictured, Shahid admitted seven counts of fraud by false representation and one theft and was sentenced to a total of three years in prison . At Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court today Shahid admitted seven counts of fraud by false representation and one theft and he was sentenced to a total of three years in prison. Pc Sarah Langley said: 'Shahid has effectively used these bank accounts as his own over a period of several months. 'He has been able to pay for goods and services worth tens of thousands of pounds and the cost to the businesses involved is considerable. 'His history of offending proves he is dishonest to the bone and he clearly has no qualms about ripping off unsuspecting people and organisations. 'This was a complex fraud and demonstrates that he is clearly an extremely intelligent person and it is just a shame he has channelled these talents into criminality.' | Abdul Shahid admitted seven frauds amounting to £192,000 .
34-year-old obtained the bank details of his landlord housing association .
He set up direct debits to pay for TV and phone contracts and bills .
Unemployed fraudster also paid off his debts using the bank account .
Posed as door-to-door salesman for Sky and BT stealing cash payments .
Judge sentenced him to three years behind bars . |
183,295 | 796a1b7828cdb4edadb08383a728f26c45cdcef8 | Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Motor vehicle accidents don't just impact the people involved, they also impact the economy, to the tune of just under $100 billion for medical care and injury-related productivity losses in the United States each year, according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday. That includes $3.6 billion annually toward injuries to children. On average, each licensed driver in the United States ponies up about $500 a year toward the total costs, the CDC said. "Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States is treated in an emergency department for crash-related injuries, and nearly 40,000 people die from these injuries each year. This study highlights the magnitude of the problem of crash-related injuries from a cost perspective, and the numbers are staggering," Dr. Grant Baldwin, the director of the CDC's Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said in a press release. According to the study, injuries, both fatal and nonfatal, to people riding in cars and light trucks cost $70 billion a year. Injuries to motorcyclists cost $12 billion. Bicyclists and pedestrians, who are vulnerable against motor vehicles, cost $5 billion and $10 billion a year respectively, the CDC said. The study also found the amount of money that goes toward motorcyclists' and pedestrians' injuries is disproportionate when compared to the number of injuries, likely due to the severity of their injuries. While motorcyclists only account for 6 percent of motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries, they lead to 12 percent of the costs. And pedestrians, who only comprise 5 percent of motor vehicle-related deaths and injuries, consume 10 percent of the total costs, according to the study. The CDC said several policy initiatives have been proven to cut down on crash injuries and deaths, including graduated driver licensing programs, which allow new teen drivers to get road experience in low-risk situations. The CDC says strong graduated driver licensing laws have been associated with up to 40 percent decreases in crashes among 16-year-old drivers. Other CDC-recommended policies include child safety seat education, seat belt laws and enforcement, sobriety checkpoints, and motorcycle and bicycle helmet laws. The CDC said the study, published in the the journal "Traffic Injury Prevention," used data from 2005, the last year from which relevant data were available from multiple sources. | Motor vehicle crashes lead to about $100 billion a year in U.S. costs, says the CDC .
Children's injuries cost $3.6 billion a year .
Motorcyclists and pedestrians tend to get worse injuries and have higher medical costs .
Preventive measures include monitoring teen drivers, seat belts, safety seats, helmets . |
87,282 | f79d4aa3d360c0ac7222c61e3f34a47929f209bd | (CNN) -- Welcome to the world of rock and roll racing. "He loves the noise, he knows he's a star, he poses for the photographs," trainer Art Sherman --part of the team behind California Chrome, favorite for Saturday's Kentucky Derby -- tells CNN. "Pure and simple he's a rock star." California Chrome's joint owner Steve Coburn is even more effusive. "We've got one elderly gentleman who comes to the races who has a jackass tattoo on his shoulder," explains Coburn, a nod to the jackass on California Chrome's racing silks. "Fans don't do that unless you're a rock star. People flock where he goes." The equine equivalent of a musical superstar is also the main protagonist in a fairytale on a par with the great Seabiscuit, the diminutive thoroughbred racehorse which defied the odds and delighted a depression-hit U.S. and whose story was turned into a movie 11 years ago. California Chrome must surely have Hollywood executives salivating at the prospect of how events might unfold at at Churchill Downs' historic dirt track in Louisville this weekend. The three-year-old colt's remarkable tale began in the womb of Love the Chase, a mare that Coburn and co-owner Perry Martin bought for $8,000 with a view to breeding. They bred her to the stallion Lucky Pulpit for a reduced fee of $2,000, the first breeding the novice pair had ever undertaken. It could have been a case of first time lucky as their offspring has earned Coburn and Perry more than $1 million in prize money and chalked up illustrious wins at the Santa Anita Derby, San Felipe Stakes and California Cup Derby. His recent run of success -- four wins in his last four outings -- has marked California Chrome out as a pre-race favorite for the Kentucky Derby -- the first race in horse racing's coveted Triple Crown, which also includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes -- in the chase for a purse of $2m. Understandably, the horse's value has rocketed, and is now estimated to be around $12m. Coburn and Martin were recently offered $6m for a controlling 51% stake in the horse, which they turned down. The whole story is so fanciful that the horse-owning partnership goes under the name Dumb Ass Partnership or DAP Racing, hence the jackass on their colors. "When Perry and I bought the filly, one of the barn hands said we must be dumb asses to get into this game and hence the name," Coburn explains to CNN. But through every strand and sinew there is a heart-warming tale behind California Chrome. For a start, he races in the purple and green, the favorite colors of the duo's respective wives. Then there's the location where the horse has been stabled. His neighbours at Los Alamitos racecourse in Orange County are predominantly quarter horses, named for the quarter mile horse races that are regularly held at the track where California Chrome is exercised at 7.30 am every morning. If California Chrome wins the Derby he will also become the first California-trained horse to win since Decidedly's success in 1962. Then there is the small matter of his 77-year-old trainer Sherman, who has just 15 horses in his yard but whose history with the Derby dates back to 1955. Back then, Sherman acted as the exercise rider for race winner Swaps, who also happens to feature in the distant bloodline of California Chrome. Sherman, far younger and more energetic than his years would suggest, recalls: "I was barely 18 years old and my memories are a little bit different now. Back then I was so young, it didn't mean so much. "I've put 60 years into this business and I thought my chance in the Kentucky Derby had gone. You never say never. "Now I've got another chance. It's a fairytale and I do believe in fate. He'll be the horse to beat. He's been awesome these last four races, we just hope he has five in him. But it's a different ball game when 150,000 people are screaming at you. But he's a rock star isn't he? That shouldn't be a problem. "He just loves to run, he'll run all day long. We just need some luck, that plays a big part in such a story. His story is just like that of Seabiscuit isn't it? It'd be a hell of a book or a movie if he pulls it off." Sherman's first win as a jockey aptly came at Hollywood Park in 1957, where his current wonder horse first announced himself in the big time with victory in last year's King Glorious Stakes. That he should have ever got here bred by Martin, who works for a consumer safety firm, and Coburn, whose company JCP Enterprises makes the magnetic strips on credit cards, is remarkable, bearing in mind this is the first horse that Coburn has ever raced. "One of the things on mine and my wife's bucket list was to go to the Kentucky Derby," he says. "I'll board the plane this year but I never imagined I'd do it with a horse I own. "This whole thing is a fairytale coming true, it's a dream. It's better than a movie script because it's coming true. People spend millions on horses each year and we've spent basically $10,000." The horse's name was also literally picked out of a hat as the two owners and their spouses each put a name into a hat for a waitress at a Californian restaurant to select. The Derby favorite could just as easily have been called Lucky at Love or Big Chapter but Coburn's pick, California Chrome -- a nod to the white markings that are called chrome by horse racing aficionados -- proved the selection. Whatever the name, the owners more often than not just call him junior but Coburn believes if he succeeds at Churchill Downs Saturday the he could become known as the "people's horse" too. "I do believe he's that, like Seabiscuit," Coburn adds. "He became the people's horse in the depression because he was the little guy kicking the big guy. We're doing that in the same kind of way. "No one ever gave it any credence and we shouldn't be where we are now. This isn't a blue-blooded horse, he's a proper red-blooded colt. "We're just two guys that worked hard and still have our days jobs. We get up at 4.30am every morning to go to work. Well, I can't retire as I'd be in my wife's way and I think she'd shoot me! But we still work hard. We're not guys who could buy whatever we want." Dream ending . The unnamed purchaser who offered $6m, however, clearly was. Surely Coburn was tempted to give in? "It felt like a slap in the face after all we'd done," he says. "You can have all the money in the world to buy every single grain of sand on a beach but you can't buy this story. "We've worked hard for this, similarly Love the Chase, which someone offered $1.5m for. This isn't about the money, this is about the dream and we want to finish off that dream." Whether that dream reaches fruition in Illinois this weekend is another matter. Some pre-race rain is a slight concern for Sherman and his team but Coburn has never once wavered in his expectation. "If he gets a clean run, he'll win," he says. "I've said that before and I've been told I'm bold and arrogant. I'm not either of those. I'm just a man that loves this horse and believes in the fairytale." Saturday also happens to be Coburn's 62nd birthday, could that be when his fairytale comes true? Kentucky Derby - fast facts . | California Chrome cost just $10,000 and is shock favorite for Saturday's Kentucky Derby .
Trainer Art Sherman, who has been involved with classic since 1950s, calls him a "rock star"
His owners recently turned down a $6m offer for a half-share in the horse .
California Chrome has been called a modern-day Seabiscuit and the "people's horse" |
96,328 | 07e9cd356cdca7041263eff2b2550f00a671f352 | Kell Brook got the job done at the weekend and now I think we are about to see Britain’s next great world champion. He is going to get what I believe he deserves – that title shot. We were told by the IBF last week that they have ruled on Shawn Porter, their champion. With Porter fighting Paulie Malignaggi on April 19, both men must now sign an agreement with the IBF that the winner will fight Brook within 90 days. Before July 19, I expect him to have his shot and to be a world champion. Dominant: Kell Brook thrashed Alvaro Robles at the Echo Arena in March . Date with destiny: The Sheffield boxer is set to earn a long-awaited world title shot . Like I wrote in a previous column, this is a guy who has had nothing but bad luck when it has come to world title shots. The postponements of his fight with Devon Alexander devastated him. I was with him watching Alexander’s fight with Porter when Alexander lost and with it went Brook’s scheduled title challenge. The look on his face. Now he is going to get what he deserves and I promise you it will be special. This guy has as much talent as any British fighter. When he is properly motivated he will beat anyone. The fight against Alvaro Robles was designed to blow away the cobwebs and break up his camp for the title shot. Now he will go straight back into training. Who will he face? It’s a tough one. You have to say Porter is the favourite, but if it’s Malignaggi who wins then I think a fight between him and Brook is big enough to hold here in the UK. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one. Trio: Paulie Malignaggi (left) has fought Amir Khan (right) and Ricky Hatton and could soon face Brook . Frustration: Brook had been due to fight American Devon Alexander for a world title . Tony Bellew is one of my favourite fighters. He has had it hard, but he has as much heart as anyone in the sport. He won on Saturday and so we are looking at getting him that third shot at a world title. I am sure he is destined to win one and when he does it will make all the struggling worthwhile. I think the biggest step has already been taken and that was moving him from light heavyweight to cruiserweight. At the weigh-in on Friday he was 14st 1Ib – about a stone and a half more than what he used to weigh in at. He will be a real force at cruiserweight and I am already in discussions with Sauerland about a potential fight with WBO champions Marco Huck. He is ranked with the WBC and WBO so we are looking at title shots down both avenues and we always have an eye on Nathan Cleverly. Trilogy: Tony Bellew is set to receive another world title shot after his win at the Echo Arena on Saturday . Cruise: Bellew beat Russian Valery Brudov in a cruiserweight bout in Liverpool . Losing to Cleverly hurt Tony and he’d love another go at him. That would be another huge domestic fight and I think it would have a different result at this weight. Tony is such a lovely guy and he works so hard because he wants it so badly. At light-heavyweight he was a different person almost. He would get down to that weight and he would be a shell of himself and I also feel that he wasn’t given a full apprenticeship before he fought Cleverly. The fights he has had since, like Edison Miranda, Roberto Bolanti and Isaac Chilemba, he should have had before he was put in with Cleverly. Now we are getting him the right apprenticeship at this weight. Seeing him last week at this weight, he is so much more comfortable. He has a bit of work to do on his body, but he has enough power to blow anyone away at this weight. He is a happier fighter, a better fighter and with one more fight I think he will be ready for Huck. I will deliver him that third title shot and I am confident it will be third time lucky...........................................................................I can reveal here that Ricky Burns will return to the ring on June 27 in Glasgow. I am still looking at opponents but I can tell you I am talking to the likes of WBA champion Richar Abril, the WBA champion, and Miguel Vazquez, who holds the IBF belt, and WBC champion Omar Figueroa. I am also looking at the winner of the big domestic fight between Ant Crolla and John Murray next month. I might have wanted to pitch Ricky back in at a slightly lower level after he lost his title against Terence Crawford, but Ricky wants a title and is demanding a big fight. I will give him one. Anthony Joshua will be on the undercard – they love him up there. Back in action: Ricky Bruns will return to the ring on June 27 in Glasgow . In terms of Carl Froch and George Groves, we are getting into the nitty-gritty now. We sold 60,000 tickets in a ridiculous time and I am told that we could have sold 100,000 tickets for this fight. 100,000! My hope now is to sell a further 20,000 a couple of weeks down the line, but first I need to have some discussions with TFL about the curfew times and a few details. I am confident that will be resolved quite quickly and we will end up with 80,000 fans at ringside for what will be the biggest fight in the history of British boxing. Interest: Around 60,000 tickets were sold for Carl Froch's rematch with George Groves inside an hour . Grudge: The Cobra won the first meeting between the pair with a controversial stoppage . Froch-Groves might seem like an easy sell – it’s certainly a lot easier than selling double glazing. When I was about 16, I used to leave college and go straight to a double glazing firm in Romford from 6pm to 8pm every night. I used to have go through the phone book and randomly call everyone I could, trying to get permission for our guys to go round and give them a quote. When you get rejected 99 times out of 100, it makes you realise how tough it can be to sell things. Thankfully, with Froch and Groves we have a product that is a bit easier to shift. I’ll never get complacent because I don’t want to sell windows again! | Kell Brook set to receive an IBF world title shot .
The Sheffield boxer will fight winner of Paulie Malignaggi v Shawn Porter .
Brook had been due to face Devon Alexander for world title .
Tony Bellew won on Saturday and will hopefully get another title fight .
Ricky Burns will return to the ring on June 27 in Glasgow .
Carl Froch v George Groves should have an 80,000 crowd at Wembley . |
259,368 | dbc175ab3a8a1b0ecec11f580d211bcf72899572 | High Street fashion chain Zara is under investigation over the use of sweatshops and child labour, it was revealed last night. ‘Degrading’ factory conditions in Argentina were reportedly used to produce clothes for the store that boasts the Duchess of Cambridge and Samantha Cameron among its fans. Mostly Bolivian labourers, including children, were made to work up to 16-hour days without breaks and were prevented from leaving the factories without permission, according to investigators. Scrutiny: High-street fashion store Zara is under investigation over the use of slave labour at factories in Argentina, it was reported today . Authorities moved in on the sweatshops . on the outskirts of Buenos Aires after a tip-off from a workers’ rights . charity. Gustavo Vera, a spokesman for the charity La Alameda, said . people were made to start at 7am and work without a break until as late . as 11pm, from Monday to Saturday. He said: ‘Their workplaces were also . their homes, families were forced to share cramped quarters in a mess of . sewing machines, needles, threads and children. The places were dark . without proper lighting to sew and no ventilation.’ Royal seal of approval: Zara is a favourite with the Middleton sisters- both were seen wearing the brand the morning after the royal wedding in April 2011 with Kate wearing a Zara dress and Pippa wearing a Zara blazer . Fan: Samantha Cameron wearing trousers and grey top from Zara which has been accused of using slave labour at factories in Argentina . Zara has seen profits soar over the . past three years – no doubt aided by the ‘Kate effect’ as the Duchess is . regularly spotted wearing their garments. Her sister Pippa is also a . fan as are Mary Berry, Tess Daley and Mrs Cameron. The Spanish-owned . retailer has 1,540 stores worldwide including 64 in the UK. The publicity-shy founder and . majority-owner of Inditex, the company that owns Zara, is 77-year-old . Amancio Ortega. He is the world’s third richest man with a fortune of . £38billion, according to Forbes. Among the items being sewn at one . clandestine workshop in Buenos Aires, according to the Argentinian . authorities, were pieces from the Zara Man fashion line, which are sold . in British stores. Juan Gomez Centurion, head of . Argentina’s Government Control Agency which raided three factories . producing Zara clothes last week, said: ‘We found men and children who . lived in the place where they worked. They were not registered and they . were living in terrible conditions. Founder: Inditex which owns Zara is a family business founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega . They had no official documents and . were held against their will, they were not allowed to leave their . workplaces without permission.’ This is the second time Zara has been accused of involvement in slave and child labour in South America. In 2011 a group of workers – 14 . Bolivians and one Peruvian – were rescued from an unlicensed factory in . Sao Paulo, Brazil, where clothes carrying the Zara label were being . produced. The immigrant workers, one of whom was . reported to be just 14, were living in dangerous and unhygienic . conditions, forced to work 12-hour shifts for between £95 and £176 a . month. The company was later forced to . apologise in front of state deputies at Sao Paulo’s Human Rights . Commission, and paid fines totalling more than £350,000 as well as . compensation to the workers. Zara said yesterday they were . ‘surprised’ by the revelations and claimed they had not been officially . notified by the Argentinian authorities. A spokesman said: ‘From the limited . information we have, which are the addresses of the workshops, they have . no relationship with our suppliers and manufacturers in the country.’ He added that Zara has 60 Argentine . manufacturers and in the last two years conducted 300 audits of . suppliers and factories, but would co-operate with any investigation. | Immigrant workers discovered producing clothes in 'degrading' conditions .
Claims: Bolivian labourers made .
to work more than 13-hour days .
Prevented from leaving the .
factories without permission, they claimed . |
277,846 | f3f0be6e8b8e80789a1e413d99209e4fdd02bff6 | Sandy Springs, Georgia (CNN) -- The old Chevrolet paint and body shop was vacant -- 24,000 square feet of metal and concrete surrounded by a sea of asphalt. But when some members of Congregation Or Hadash saw it, they saw a home. Since it was founded in 2003, the conservative Jewish congregation had bounced from location to location outside Atlanta -- a Methodist church, a windowless space in a school, any place they could rent or borrow as they grew. "Sometimes, from week to week, we didn't know exactly where we were going to be," said Fred Wachter, president of the congregation and a member since its early years. "All the while ... we probably walked every piece of available property and real estate in Sandy Springs, trying to find something, anything, that would look like it." In 2010, the congregation purchased the former auto shop, seeing the promise of their own synagogue in its bare white walls. "That was the first leap of imagination someone had to make, and it's a big leap," said architect Brian Bell, whose firm, BLDGS, worked on the synagogue. In architecture, it's called adaptive reuse -- remaking old buildings for new purposes. Bell and his partner, David Yocum, aren't Jewish, and they had never before worked on a religious structure. But the Georgia Tech faculty members had transformed several old buildings and an "uncanny" number of automotive spaces: A carriage house-turned-art gallery, a renovated a truck depot that became the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and their own office, which is housed within a former Atlanta auto parts shop. There was nothing sacred about the auto shop, a spare structure built in the 1990s. But it was available, affordable and allowed the congregation to remain central to its members, all while healing a patch of earth that had been left neglected. "Or Hadash," members point out, means "new light" in Hebrew. "There was not an ounce of excess to it," Bell said of the old building. "Even with this harsh industrial site, the idea was to impart their principles and values onto the site." The congregation wanted its home to work for 362 days of the year, with a large sanctuary, social hall and classrooms for its 400 member families. They could always find a larger venue for the Jewish High Holidays, when more people attend services. They planned on an energy efficient, environmentally sound space and to send as little to the landfill as possible. They needed to stay within their budget -- $4.8 million to purchase and transform a building -- and refused to name spaces after donors, even if it would've raised more money. In their synagogue, they wanted everyone to feel equal. "We really were able to think about how we wanted to do it and to make decisions over a period of time," said Wachter, who led the congregation's building committee. "Everything was done very deliberately." Or Hadash Rabbis Mario Karpuj and Analia Bortz, a married couple from Argentina, set the tone for the contemporary design of the space, and members weighed in with their own ideas. They didn't want anything ornate or fancy, but where there's color on the walls, it's warm and bright. The lobby was built to feel welcoming, like a hotel. In the sanctuary, the walls and ceiling are artfully askew, "so your eye and mind can wander," said Bell, the architect. The bema, the podium at the center of the room, is positioned to be wheelchair accessible and keep all members level. High windows obscure the parking lot surrounding the building but reveal a border of trees. Skylights were placed to highlight the ark, the closet that holds the synagogue's Torah scrolls, as well as its "infinite" glass door and the Hebrew alphabet etched into it. The sanctuary was engineered to maximize acoustic performance. Services at Or Hadash often include music, and congregants speak to each other from across the room. In their old space, low drop ceilings meant they struggled to hear one another. Now, their voices are loud and clear. "It's really something amazing," Wachter said. "The ability to really be able to enjoy the rich sounds within the sanctuary is something that really makes a difference." Congregation Or Hadash moved into its new home at the end of February, after less than a year of construction. This month, the building was honored in the Georgia chapter of the American Institute of Architects' Design Awards. Visitors are often wowed by the change and stunned to learn the building's history, said Bruce Warschoff, the congregation's executive director. As much as members love the space, they love the story. "Once we found a place in existence, the idea of repurposing made sense," Warschoff said. "It's nice to have room to spread out." Even now, there are reminders of the building's past -- they kept the same footprint, and some of the original exterior walls, steel structure and concrete blocks remain visible. The old concrete floor is freshly polished, but watchful eyes can spot outlines of the former auto bays and windows where cars used to drive in. They kept the posts that used to guide cars inside, but painted them a warm red to contrast with the new gray exterior. Even concrete in the new courtyard is original but cut to improve drainage and create a new look. The congregation is gradually growing into the building. Flags still mark where plants and flowers will go in the ground, and the walls will remain clear of artwork until they better understand their own space. There are plans to improve classrooms and their kosher kitchen later, but they're grateful now for a consistent space with room to grow. It's a complete transformation, said Bell, the architect, even between the steel ceiling and concrete floor. "You have to transform it. If you leave it too much the same, it doesn't have the potential to enlighten us," Bell said. "We're always trying to break out out of the big box we started with." | Congregation Or Hadash's synagogue is built from a former auto paint shop .
The Atlanta-area synagogue is an example of adaptive reuse in architecture .
Architect: "We're always trying to break out out of the big box we started with"
Have you helped re-purpose a building? Share your story on CNN iReport . |
136,288 | 3c51aefc028271b3a36361978c3f3a9eabc13e23 | Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama took to the Spanish-language network airwaves Monday to discuss challenges in educating Hispanics students. In a Univision-sponsored town hall meeting with Hispanic students and educators at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, the president said to out-educate and out-innovate the global competition, the Latino community must play a key role in the future. "Our workforce is going to be more diverse; it is going to be, to a large percentage, Latino. And if our young people are not getting the kind of education they need, we won't succeed as a nation," Obama said. With several students and parents asking questions about immigration and deportations, Obama said the answer wouldn't be overnight. He hoped the DREAM Act, which would give kids who have grown up in the United States an opportunity to earn citizenship despite their family's immigration status, would be passed in the future. "We didn't get it passed this time, but I don't want young people to be giving up because if people in the past had given up, we probably wouldn't have women's rights, we wouldn't have civil rights. So many changes that we've made had to do with young people being willing to struggle and fight to make sure that their voices are heard," said Obama. Carrie Cofer, an English teacher at Lincoln-West High School in Cleveland, says one challenge she faces with her Hispanic students is that they haven't been in the United States long enough to become proficient in English. Although they only read at the "first-grade, or second-grade level," Cofer and other teachers are supposed to teach them the material they will need to pass state-mandated tests in order to graduate from high school and possibly attend college. It doesn't help that many of the students don't speak English at home. "They don't have the skills because they don't practice except in the classroom," she said. Obama said that strong programs, including both bilingual education and immersion programs, are key to making sure bilingual students keep up with their studies while becoming fluent in English. He said that it's up to both schools and parents. "We have schools that do it very well; there are some schools that don't do it as well. We want to lift up those models that do it well," the president said. "And parents should be demanding and insisting that even if your child is not a native English speaker, there is no reason why they can't succeed in school, and schools have an obligation to make sure that those children are provided for. They have rights just like everybody else." Latino students make up over 20% of the pre-kindergarten-through-high-school students in the United States, Secretary of the Education Arne Duncan said in a conference call with reporters last week. "These students face real and growing challenges that we have to address." Duncan said that only about half of all Latino students earn their high school diploma on time, and only one in eight end up with a bachelor's degree. The problems faced by Latinos in high school are unique, said Juan Sepulveda of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. "We have a small percentage of the population that has a college degree," said Sepulveda. "Even if you throw in community college degrees, we only get up to 19%." Sepulveda said these students are often the first in their family to go to college, suggesting school officials need to target parents to make sure they understand what courses their children need to take to get into college and how student loans work. CNN's Sally Holland contributed to this report. | Education secretary: Only about half of all Latino students earn high school diploma on time .
Only one in eight end up with a bachelor's degree .
Many Hispanic students aren't proficient in English . |
187,277 | 7e89ca7e42929f67bcd00ce6433c3080563aa579 | By . Rob Cooper . Last updated at 5:06 PM on 2nd December 2011 . Murdered: Eileen Jones was kicked and stamped to death as she went o take a meal to her blind neighbour . A man who kicked and stamped a great-grandmother to death as she delivered a meal to her blind neighbour has been jailed for life. Pensioner Eileen Jones, 73, was not found until the next morning after the brutal attack by Christopher Newton, 45, in Bethnal Green, east London. Her body was discovered by paramedics in the blood-spattered ground floor flat of blind resident Paul Rangel after he hit an emergency alarm. Mrs Jones, who used a trolley to help her walk, had suffered multiple fractures to her face and body. Newton had left his bloodied footprint on her clothing. He was found guilty of murder after a jury ignored his claims that Mr Rangel, 60, had worn all of his clothes to carry out the killing. Members of Mrs Jones family cheered and clapped in the public gallery as the verdict was announced. Jailing Newton for life with a minimum term of 22 years, Judge Paul Worsley QC said: 'You showed not a flicker of remorse. 'You left the flat taking with you any evidence you thought might implicate you in the killing. 'You had stayed in the flat with the body for a time but you sought no help. 'It is likely she survived 30 minutes after the infliction of the injuries. One can only hope she was unconscious.' Mrs Jones had met Newton by chance as he was in the flat with Mr Rangel when she called on him. She had last been seen after winning £6 at bingo on March 23, when she offered to deliver the uneaten meal to her neighbour Mr Rangel. Guilty: Christopher Newton has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years after being convicted of murder . She agreed to stay with them for a drink, but unbeknown to her alcoholic Newton had been drinking all day. He went out later to buy a bottle of brandy and was known to become 'increasingly aggressive' when under the influence of alcohol. The judge said: 'For reasons known only to you, you carried out an attack on that vulnerable lady who posed no threat to you what so ever. 'The pathologist described the attack as ferocious, so it was. You punched her, kicked her and stamped on her. You broke bones in her face and body and I am satisfied by that attack you intended to kill her.' Mrs Jones who was pronounced dead upon the arrival of paramedics at the property in Bethnal Green on March 23 this year. The pensioner's blood was later found soaked into Newton's trainers, jeans and shirt, while shoe imprints matching his footwear were also found on her face and clothing. His palm print was also found on a wall close to her body, while further bloodstains were found in the flat's kitchen and bathrooms. Mrs Jones was widowed in 2006 after almost 50 years of marriage. A mother-of-four, grandmother-of-three and great-grandmother to four, she moved from Bethnal Green, where she had lived for much of her life, after her husband's death to be closer to her family in Chelmsford. But she returned to the East End after failing to settle in Essex. In a statement her family said they wanted to remember her as 'independent, happy and full of life not how she would have looked after such a merciless assault'. One of her daughter's Jackie Robinson said: 'The vision of what happened to her haunts my every waking moment.' Judge Worsley described Mrs Jones as a 'cheerful friendly and caring lady'. He told Newton: 'She was 73. she was vulnerable, you took advantage of her mercilessly.' | Christopher Newton, 45, claimed he didn't kill her but said it was his blind friend wearing his clothes .
Jury disbelieved claims and he was jailed for 22 years .
Judge: 'You showed not a flicker of remorse'
Victim Eileen Jones, 73, widowed in 2006 after being married for 50 years . |
275,955 | f183a847ce0a4a8bb445629e53ece76de09e8add | By . Ben Spencer . Professor Sir Rory Collins said studies had created 'misleading uncertainty' over statins . Doctors are putting lives at risk by exaggerating the side effects of statins, an expert warns. Professor Sir Rory Collins said recent studies had created 'misleading uncertainty' about the drugs. He claimed unjustified concerns about side effects meant statins were not being prescribed enough, possibly causing more deaths than the MMR scandal. But critics accused him of 'fear-mongering', and said it was important for patients to be warned about the potential dangers. More than seven million Britons with . high cholesterol take statins to cut the risk of heart attacks and . strokes. The NHS says the drugs save 7,000 lives a year. Proposed changes to prescription guidelines mean they could soon be prescribed to 12million patients. But . two recent articles in the British Medical Journal have claimed statins . cause harmful side effects, and do not necessarily reduce mortality. Professor . Collins, of Oxford University, said the papers by John Abramson, from . Harvard Medical School, and British cardiologist Aseem Malhotra were . misleading. He added: 'Statins are given to people at elevated risk of heart attacks and strokes. 'If . people at elevated risk stop taking their statins – or don't start . taking their statins – then they will have unnecessary heart attacks and . strokes, there will be unnecessary deaths from vascular causes. This is . a serious disservice to medicine.' He said the uncertainty over statins . was more serious than the MMR scare, when a researcher claimed the jabs . could cause autism, leading to many parents refusing to have their . children vaccinated. He added: 'The papers are far worse in . terms of the harm they have done, and [the uncertainty] is probably . killing more people... than that on the MMR vaccine.' BMJ editor Dr . Fiona Godlee said the articles were well referenced and peer reviewed, . and insisted that significant medical issues deserved to be debated . openly. (Stock picture) More than seven million Britons with high cholesterol take statins to cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes . She added: 'It's . important that the public understand when we're talking about extending . statins to people at low risk, that the balance between benefits and . harms becomes much more important.' Statins are offered to those with a 20 per cent risk of a heart attack or stroke in the next ten years. But following a study by Professor Collins, health chiefs recommended in February that they should be given to those with a 10 per cent risk. But critics say over-prescribing to low-risk patients could lead to muscle weakness, kidney problems, diabetes and depression. Dr Abramson said his study showed statins did not cut deaths by much, adding: 'Dr Collins is fear-mongering when he says lives will be lost as a result of our calculations.' Aseem Malhotra, of Croydon University Hospital in South London, said pills were a poor substitute for a good diet and more exercise. But analysis at Imperial College London of 29 trials of statins involving more than 80,000 people said the drugs had almost no side effects. Statins could ease the symptoms of lung- disease patients, researchers said last night. They found the drugs could be an alternative to long-term antibiotic treatment for those with chronic lung problems. Although statins are prescribed for people at risk of heart attack, they also have anti-inflammatory properties. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh gave the drugs to patients with a lung condition known as bronchiectasis. The life-threatening and disabling disease affects one in 1,000 adults, leading to inflammation in the lungs and airways that causes debilitating coughing fits and chest infections. The team found a high daily dose of statins over six months reduced the amount of coughing for 12 out of the 30 patients in the study. Patients could also better tolerate gentle exercise and walk further than before, and had fewer flare-ups of the disease and less inflammation in their airways. Six stopped taking statins before the study ended because of side effects such as headaches, but there were no serious adverse reactions. The findings, published today in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine, suggest statins could offer an alternative to long-term antibiotic treatment, which raises the risk of infection from antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria such as MRSA or clostridium difficile. The cause of bronchiectasis is not known for most patients, but it has been linked to infections such as whooping cough and pneumonia. Study leader Dr Pallavi Mandal said: 'There are few effective treatments for bronchiectasis, so these are encouraging findings. Larger studies are needed to find out whether statins could be useful as a long-term treatment for patients.' | Sir Rory Collins said studies had created 'misleading uncertainty'
He claimed concerns could .
cause more deaths than MMR scandal .
More than seven million Britons with high cholesterol take statins . |
158,357 | 58b90d26531dcab59ef75d0ab5d91c98ed4eb7b8 | A terminally-ill woman who has been battling a brain tumour for 18-months has married the love of her life at the age of 64. Jean Jamieson, of Spennymoor, County Durham, was diagnosed with the tumour in 2011 and was given just a year to live last May. But she exceeded doctor’s expectations and tied the knot with long-term partner Ian, also 64, last month. Family and staff gathered around Jean Jamieson's bedside at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough as she married Ian in an emotional civil ceremony . Family and staff gathered at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, for the emotional civil ceremony. Mr Jamieson, a retired Durham Police inspector, said: 'We’d been together for seven years and we’d talked about getting married and then Jean was diagnosed with the cancer. 'I went to visit her on Monday, October 15 and she proposed to me by writing ‘will you marry me’ on the back of a card. 'I had no hesitation in saying yes as we’d always wanted to get married. We decided to get married on the Friday and I had three days to get sorted. 'She wanted to pick her own ring, so I brought in the Argos catalogue and then I had to get the ring and arrange fir special marriage licences.' He added: 'If she had not asked me to marry her, then I would have asked her. The hospital staff were great and they decorated the ward for us and, although it was a rush, it was all worth it in the end.' Newlyweds: Jean and Ian have been together for seven years. They had talked about getting married before Jean was diagnosed with cancer . Mr Jamieson, of Meadow Green, was married to June when he first met Jean in the 1970s when she was married to Gordon Young. The families became friends and when Mr Jamieson divorced and Mr Young died they drifted apart - but a chance meeting brought them together. Mr Jamieson met one of Mrs Jamieson’s relatives at a Rotary Club of Spennymoor event in 2006 and decided to contact her. They planned to move in together, but then the former community nurse was diagnosed with cancer. Between them the couple have four sons - Lee, Peter, Richard and Andrew - and grandchildren Chloe and Ethan. Mrs Jamieson, who is now being treated in Sedgefield Community Hospital, County Durham, hopes to see the newest member of her family - son Richard and girlfriend Michaela’s baby, who they plan to call Evie Young, when she is born in December. Elizabeth Price, lead nurse for end-of-life care and bereavement at the hospital, said: 'It’s very rare that we have a wedding on a ward. 'But when a wedding does go ahead the staff always pull out all the stops to make the room look nice and make the day extra special.' The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough. Lead nurse said weddings were rare but they always pulled out the stops to make the room look nice . | The couple were married at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough .
'She wanted to pick her own ring, so I brought in the Argos catalogue,' husband reveals . |
107,935 | 17255384168b478e4584f6bb2a6eae273351c768 | By . Ruth Styles . Few are the men who don't enjoy watching the football but Lee Doran's passion for the beautiful game goes far beyond the norm. Standing by her man: Amanda Hardman says her boyfriend has a sweet and caring side . A scion of The Chosen Few, Rochdale AFC's hardcore group of hooligan fans, the 37-year-old was recently banned from every football ground in the UK for four years after getting into a fight during a match in February and has been told he cannot travel to Rio for the World Cup. 'At the end of the the day, it's not . really about fighting,' explains his other half, Amanda Hardman, 43. 'Its all about going out, having some banter and . doing a bit of shouting and bawling.' So what is sharing your life with a man so proud of his penchant for football violence he's happy to appear on a documentary named Football Hooligan And Proud really like? Amanda, who says she hates football because it's 'boring' is surprisingly sanguine. 'I'm really not bothered [about Doran's activities] - it's just shouting and . roaring,' she reveals. 'I don't find it intimidating,' she continues. 'I think you get more trouble down at the pub . than you do on match day. 'There's never been a scrap - it's not . like he comes home with black eyes or something. Even if they did try to . do something, the police will split them up. 'They used to go on the . rampage, looting, throwing chairs and stuff, but you can't do that now - . there's police everywhere.' That, however, doesn't mean Doran himself isn't a fan of fisticuffs. 'At the age of 13, I started to want to fight,' he says. Scroll down for video . Notorious: Lee Doran, 37, has been banned from every football ground in the country for thuggish behaviour . Superfan: Lee is a member of The Chosen Few - Rochdale AFC's hardcore hooligan gangs . 'I love fear. That's just me. I'm after, like, danger. Football violence is a feeling on its own.' Despite his tough words, Amanda says the Lee Doran she knows is someone quite different - and who often brings her flowers and makes romantic gestures. 'He's got a nice side, he's caring,' she reveals, before adding: 'He's got a big gob though. He has a huge trap on him!' Nevertheless, she says there are some downsides to living with an extreme football fan. 'It's chaos [on match day] - the house is full of Rochdale and City fans,' explains Amanda, who also has a football mad 21-year-old son. 'Football talk is all you hear all day and night in my house,' she complains. 'I end up having to go out!' Worse, with the World Cup upon us, Amanda is having to contend with a solid month of football, football and more football. 'No, I'm not,' she says when asked if she's looking forward to kick off in Rio. 'I'll leave and go to my sister's!' Not allowed: Mr Doran is among those banned from travelling to Rio for the World Cup which starts tomorrow . Fears: Known hooligans such as Mr Doran have been banned from travelling for fear of scenes like this . Not so scary: According to Ms Hardman, people get into more trouble down at their local pub . She would, however, be happy for Doran to put up a few England flags if he wants to. 'He can if he wants,' she says. 'He put up a big Rochdale flag for the documentary.' Despite the impending football fest in Rio, the Channel 5 documentary, Football Hooligan and Proud, is what is really causing her a few sleepless nights. 'I am a bit worried about how they will portray him in the documentary,' she confesses. What if he comes across as a thug? 'He is a thug,' she ripostes, adding: 'But it's not just him - there's thousands of them.' And she isn't wrong. Doran is behind a 50,000 strong Facebook group where hooligans - would-be and current - can go to exchange gossip and organise meetings. 'They just all go on the site for the banter and talk a load of crap,' says Amanda. 'I don't go on it - it's boring.' While she might find it boring, she says football hooligans certainly aren't as black as they're painted by the media and the authorities. 'They're just a bunch of lads going to the football who go and have a row with opposing fans. If that's the case, then everyone's a hooligan. 'If they do something down the pub, they just get sent home to sober up but if they do something in the stadium, they get arrested. 'Really, if they [Doran and his friends] are hooligans, then everyone's a hooligan.' That doesn't mean she has any sympathy for Doran and his four year ban, however. 'If he's going to the match and they're going to cause bother, then he knows what's going to happen to him,' she raps. 'It's his own fault!' Lee Doran appears on Football Hooligan and Proud, tonight at 9pm on Channel 5 . | Amanda Hardman, 43, from Rochdale, is the girlfriend of Lee Doran, 37 .
Mr Doran is a notorious hooligan and runs a 50,000-strong Facebook group .
He is among the group of hardcore fans banned from travelling to Rio .
Began his career in football violence at 13 and says he 'loves fear'
He appears on Channel 5 documentary Football Hooligan and Proud .
But Ms Hardman says he has a nice side and is a caring boyfriend . |
180,574 | 75c015bddcbe54083eccd64b7b8ba4c24dea107e | Colombo, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister on a "fast unto death" to protest a U.N. human rights panel announced Friday that he had resigned his post as his supporters marched in Colombo carrying placards condemning the world body. Crowds carrying portraits of former minister Wimal Weerawansa marched to the Russian Embassy to seek Moscow's help in stopping the United Nations from probing alleged war crimes. They handed a memorandum to that effect to an embassy official. Police said the about 200 people carried placards condemning the U.N. move and shouting slogans against Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Organizers said a similar request will be made to the Chinese Embassy. Meanwhile, several nations expressed dismay at the blockade of the U.N. compound and Weerawansa's leading role. "Peaceful protest is part of any democracy, but blocking access to the United Nations -- of which Sri Lanka itself is a member -- as well as intimidating and harassing U.N. personnel is a breach of international norms and harmful to Sri Lanka's reputation in the world," said a statement from the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, Norway and the European Union. "We call upon the government of Sri Lanka to take all appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of U.N. personnel and premises," it said. Weerawansa continued his fast for a second day, rejecting warnings from a doctor to drink water or risk affecting his kidneys. He said he would go without food until Ban dissolves a three-member panel that is looking into human rights abuses in the final stages of a decades-long war that ended in 2009 between the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels. The United Nations has been concerned about accountability issues related to the rebels' defeat, including alleged war crimes by troops and rebels -- allegations that both parties deny. "Ban's move is intended to bring President Mahinda Rajapaksa before a war crimes tribunal. We will not allow that to happen," Weerawansa told a news conference earlier in the week. Weerawansa's Cabinet colleagues visited him at a special tent outside the U.N. compound in Colombo. He lay on a mattress on a specially-constructed dais protected by plain-clothed security. Visits by ministers signalled government backing for Weerawansa's protest against the United Nations. Meanwhile, the United Nations office continued to function with limited staff. External affairs minister, G.L. Peiris, defended the protest in Parliament. He said it "is in conformity with the law" and added that the government has no right to suppress peaceful demonstrations who are entitled to democratic rights. | Ex-minister protests a U.N. panel that addresses human rights violations .
Accuses the panel of seeking to bring Sri Lankan president before a war crimes tribunal .
Crowds march through Colombo carrying placards condemning the U. N. move .
Several nations dismayed at blockade . |
247,490 | cc46a610f6b518b8ab8643bf528bc3700aad471b | Matthew Ames, who conned people out of their life savings and pensions using a fake conservation company, has been jailed for 40 months . A ‘green finance’ boss who hired the brother of the Duchess of Cambridge to promote a bogus rainforest protection scheme was jailed today. Matthew Ames, 38, cheated ethical investors out of £1.6m through fake green projects to fund his luxury lifestyle, including buying a Lamborghini sports car, Isleworth Crown Court heard. His business Forestry For Life, which netted over £400,000 by claiming to protect the Amazon rainforest, was represented by Kate Middleton’s brother James at a trade fair in London in 2010. Ames also hired England World Cup winner Jack Charlton and sport supremo Sir Rodney Walker to promote Forestry for Life and his other firm, the Investor Club, at events. The company director used glossy brochures including quotes from Prince Charles and Tony Blair to promote teak plantation schemes in Sri Lanka and investment in the protection of the Brazilian rainforest. But no land was ever purchased by Ames’ two companies and not a single tree was ever planted. He even swindled an elderly investor out of £75,000 for a fake tree scheme after claiming the teak market was outstripping that of gold and oil. Ames blew the cash on sports cars, flying first class around the world and staying in luxury villas in the Caribbean. A jury of six men and six women at Isleworth Crown Court found Ames guilty of two counts of fraudulent trading by majority verdict. Today, Judge Paul Dugdale sentenced the con-artist to 40 months imprisonment, saying: ‘You raised money from a number of members of the public, generally speaking those who had savings to invest. ‘They tended to be older but by definition people who have a lump sum to invest tend to be older. ‘What you did was put their savings at risk for your ends, when you had told them what you were going to do with their money. ‘You defrauded them. You told them they would get an immediate 12 per cent return when this was never achievable. ‘I find, from all of the evidence, that you knew it was never achievable and that the representation was simply not true. ‘Some of the money you received was also misused. It was used by you to borrow from the company to purchase an expensive Lamborghini sports car. Life of luxury: While investors were promised instant returns for their money, Ames was actually spending the funds on flashy items such as a Lamborghini sports car . ‘Many investors lost all of their life savings, many of the investors lost all the money they had invested in their pensions. ‘It is noteworthy that you did visit all of the investors that lost their money. ‘It is something that is to your credit but it remains the fact that the reason they lost the money was due to your fraud. ‘The sentence I would have passed was in the region of five years. I reduce that sentence to 40 months, that is concurrent on both counts.’ Ames, wearing a blue suit and carrying two large overnight bags in preparation for prison, remained emotionless as the sentence was passed. His mother and other family members watched on from the public gallery. Prosecutor Antony Swift pressed for a longer sentence, of four to five years, revealing the defendant is already the subject of a 13-year company directorship ban, imposed in 2013. But defence counsel Adam Budworth argued: ‘This was not a case when the defendant set out with a ‘boiler room’ as it were, with high-pressure sales techniques. ‘2009 to 2010 were desperate times for investors. I hope your honour won’t make Mr Ames a scapegoat of failings in the regulatory system that existed at the time. Mathew Ames (left) used celebrities, including footballer Jack Charlton (right) to lend himself credibility . ‘In short, my submission to your honour is that Mr Ames is not a bad man. He is a good man. ‘The sentence I am seeking from your honour is an exceptional sentence and - I know I have a high and vertiginous slope to climb - that is that your honour suspend this sentence [and] give him a very significant period of unpaid work. ‘He has four children and he is in the process of getting divorced.’ The barrister argued that his client should be allowed to continue work so he could repay his investors quickly. ‘He is able to return to work and earn £10,000 a month. ‘My submission is that the impact of sending this man to prison is to let him off lightly.’ Ames secured a total of over £1.1m in investments into the Investor Club following its launch in August 2008. Forestry For Life, set up in July 2009, took £400,000 from green investors by purporting to protect the Amazon Rainforest. James Middleton was photographed representing the green firm at a carbon trading exhibition in London in October 2010 - while Ames was under investigation by the Financial Services Authority. Mr Middleton had briefly worked with Ames for work experience after becoming involved in the development of Forestry For Life in June 2010. The company would offer investors carbon credits that would be used to plant trees and offset their carbon footprint, the court heard. But Forestry For Life was offering credits for rainforest it did not own and the firm rarely gave investors certificates or proof of purchase. Ames also offered punters high return rates of 15 percent a year on their original investment but returns were often late and not paid in full. Ames, who lived in this gated house in Thundersley, Essex, convinced one donor to hand over £75,000 of their savings after convincing them that the teak wood market was outperforming gold and oil . The jury heard that Ames used a Ponzi scheme to cover up the fraud by repaying first investors with new investors’ money. The company director was finally caught out following an undercover sting by the Basildon Echo in August 2010 in which a reporter was mis-sold carbon credits. The article led to the FSA investigating Ames’ firms - both run from a converted barn in Laindon, Essex. Both Forestry For Life and Investor Club were placed into liquidation in March 2011 with combined debts of more than £1.6m. Ames, the son of David Ames, 62, the boss of Caribbean property developer Harlequin Ames, was arrested in September 2011 following a referral from the FSA to City of London Police’s specialist fraud unit. Ames attempted to cover his tracks using a Ponzi scheme, repaying initial backers with money from new investors . Giving evidence Matthew Ames claimed he was ‘this close’ to selling his business to Barclays Bank before he was shut down by the authorities. The green finance boss told jurors that he was not able to plant 5,000 tree saplings in Sri Lanka because he could not secure the ‘right’ land. He also claimed that every penny of the tens of thousands of pounds that he invoiced his firms for on business expenses were ‘perfectly legitimate’. Ames spent investors’ cash on meals at the exclusive Ivy in the West End and at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, alongside stays at the Savoy, the Hilton, and the Mandarin Oriental - a five-star hotel in Hong Kong. He also invoiced Forestry For Life and the Investor Club for a stay at the Upper House in Hong Kong and tickets to a Manchester United game at Old Trafford. Jurors also heard of Ames’ boasts to potential ethical investors. In one April 2010 email he wrote: ‘You just caught me coming out of a Lamborghini after ordering my new one. ‘Had a meeting with you the other day and had much to discuss. ‘I’m opening a new office in Dubai alongside ones in Singapore, Dublin, and London and have travelled between India, Singapore, and London’. Harlequin has allegedly taken an estimated £300m from investors for 6,000 off plan hotel rooms and villas since 2005, but so far built just 300. The UK sales section of Harlequin went bust in April last year after several investors requested their money back. Ames, of Thundersley, Essex, denied but was convicted of two counts of fraudulent trading. A confiscation hearing will be held on 21 October at Isleworth Crown Court. | Matthew Ames, 38, cheated investors out of a total of £1.6million .
He promised backers quick returns if they gave cash for ethical schemes .
Instead he used the money to fund life of luxury, including Lamborghini .
Used string of celebrities to front fraudulent companies at events .
Forestry for Life as represented by James Middleton at 2010 trade fair .
He was on work experience and had no other connection to the company .
Some lost their entire life savings and pensions in the scam . |
180,894 | 7630673d5067a1605fcbd80330f804fe0c051966 | (CNN) -- Luis Suarez may have bitten off more than he can chew this time. Already banned twice in his career for biting an opponent, the Uruguay striker was seemingly at it again in his country's key World Cup victory over Italy. Just before Uruguay's winning goal, the striker was embroiled in an off the ball incident with Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini with both men falling to the floor. And he could be facing a lengthy ban -- despite his attempts to play down the incident. "The only thing I know is that those are occurrences that happen on the pitch," Suarez told reporters. "I just collided with his shoulder. They are just casual incidences that occur during a soccer game. " Television pictures showed Suarez dipping his head towards Chiellini, and when the Italian defender eventually got up, he pulled down his shirt and appeared to furiously indicate that he had been bitten on the shoulder. "Suarez is a sneak and he gets away with it because FIFA want their stars to play in the World Cup," Chiellini told Sky Sports Italia. "I'd love to see if they have the courage to use video evidence against him. The referee saw the bite mark too, but he did nothing about it.," added the Juventus defender. FIFA has opened proceedings against the forward, for breach of FIFA disciplinary code. FIFA added that Suarez and/or his national association are invited to provide their position and any documentary evidence they deem relevant, with a 5pm (Brasilia time) deadline. The 27-year-old Suarez will now face a nervous wait to find out if football's world governing body FIFA will take action retrospectively -- given it was missed by the match officials - and punish him. But FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce, who also presides as head of the organizations referees committee, says he has huge concerns over Suarez's actions. "I have watched the incident several times on television," he told reporters. "There is no doubt Luis Suarez is a fantastic footballer but, once again, his actions have left him open to severe criticism. "FIFA must investigate the incident seriously and take whatever disciplinary action deemed necessary." According to FIFA's disciplinary code, the forward could face a maximum ban of 24 matches or two years. Former Italian international Mauro Tassotti was given an eight-match ban in 1994, the longest suspension in World Cup history, after breaking the nose of Spain's Luis Enrique. Zinedine Zidane, the former France midfielder, was handed a three-match ban for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final. While FIFA has yet to make a decision, Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez insists he did not see the incident when he addressed the press in his news conference. "I'd like to see the images," he said. "I didn't see that. And if it happened the referee probably didn't see it. So no I don't have any more comments to make. We had more important things than this in a football match. "There seems there is animosity against this football player," he added. "He just came out of a difficult moment and he has been penalized. There are people hiding behind the tree waiting for something to happen." Suarez was also backed by team captain Diego Lugano, who instead blamed Chiellini for exaggerating the entire episode. When asked by reporters about the incident he said: "You saw this, really? "You need to show me because I didn't see anything. "Did you see it today or did you see what happened in other years. You couldn't have seen it today because nothing happened. "The worst of everything is the attitude of Chiellini. He's a great player, with an enormous status. It doesn't correspond with Italian football. As sportsmen leaving the field, crying and appealing against a rival. As a man he disappointed me totally." Diego Godin's 81st minute header secured victory for Uruguay against an Italian team which played the final half hour with 10-men after Claudio Marchisio was sent off. The defeat led to Italian coach Cesare Prandelli offering his resignation in his news conference after the game -- but all eyes were still on Suarez. The Uruguayan, who plays his club football with Liverpool, was banned for 10 games in April 2013 after being found guilty of biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. He was also guilty of biting during his time in the Netherlands with Ajax where he was banned for seven games after leaving a scar on the collarbone of Otman Bakkal. Suarez's rap sheet is lengthy. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he deliberately handled the ball on the goal-line to deny Ghana a place in the semifinals of the World Cup. He was sent off for his troubles but Ghana missed the penalty and Uruguay went on to finish fourth in the tournament. The following year after his move to Liverpool, Suarez was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra. He was fined $63,000 and banned for eight matches. Last week, after scoring both goals in his side's 2-1 victory over England, Suarez hit out at the British media after claiming he had been unfairly treated over his transgressions. "Before the game people in England laughed about my attitude over the last few years," he told reporters following the game. "I want to see what they think now. I have dreamed of this moment." Suarez enjoyed a sensational season with Liverpool -- scoring 31 league goals to help his club qualify for the Champions League. He was voted Player of the Year by his fellow colleagues and also named as the journalists' Player of the Year too -- awards that reflected a feeling that Suarez had put behind him his troubled past. His participation in the World Cup had looked in danger when he suffered a knee injury in Liverpool's final game of the season. He was forced to undergo keyhole surgery and missed Uruguay's opening game defeat by Costa Rica before making a near miraculous return in time to face England just five weeks after his operation, scoring both goals in the South American side's 2-1 win. Uruguay's next game will be against Colombia on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. Meanwhile, Italy coach Prandelli says he will step down following another World Cup disappointment. Prandelli, who replaced Marcello Lippi as coach in 2010, also failed to guide Italy out of the group stage in South Africa four years ago. "At the end of the match I spoke to the president of the federation, I have told them I am going to resign from my position," he told reporters. "When there is failure, the person in charge must take responsibility," added Prandelli, who only extended his contract last month. Giancarlo Abete, the president of the Italian Football Federation, also announced his resignation while stating he hoped to convince Prandelli to stay on. In the group's other game, Costa Rica sealed top spot with a goalless draw against England. Los Ticos, which won both of its previous games, will play Greece in its next game in Recife on Sunday. Tuesday's best World Cup photos . | Uruguay defeats Italy 1-0 to book place in knockout phase .
Diego Godin's header secured victory in Natal .
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli offers his resignation .
Costa Rica wins Group D following goalless draw with England . |
40,945 | 736d9c401f26c6af1b7b986f706dbdec816589b1 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 07:12 EST, 15 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:26 EST, 15 November 2012 . A grieving mother was involved in a dramatic courtroom row with a drug dealer because she was desperate to know who gave him the ecstasy that killed her 16-year old daughter. Drugs counsellor Diana Harding, 47, called Thomas Donelan, 20, a 'coward' as he stayed tight lipped at a Stockport inquest into the death of college student Serena Harding. Serena collapsed shortly after taking MDMA - pure ecstasy - 'bombs' bought from Donelan - but although he was jailed for two years this year, he still refused to say where he got the drugs from. In an emotional exchange Mrs Harding, from Warrington, Cheshire, confronted Donelan as she stood in the witness box. Confrontation: Heartbroken mother Diana Harding called Thomas Donelan a 'coward' during her daughter's inquest because he failed to say who supplied the drugs that killed her child Serena . Tragic: Serena Harding, 16, was found dead after taking ecstasy last year - the first time she had taken it . She said: 'Does it not trouble you that the people who sold you this drug are going out spreading this all over the place? 'More people will die like my daughter. She would have had a future she would have had a life. Does this not prick your conscience? 'It’s these low life you are working for. They don’t tell you what goes into it what you are buying. Do you not want to stop this? You be a coward.' But Donelan replied: 'I won’t tell you where I got it from. I can’t tell you. It is not an issue of having a conscience. It is not in any disrespect of this girl’s memory. Distraught: Diana and Kenny Harding, parents of Serena Harding, arriving at Stockport Coroners court for the inquest . 'I’m sorry. If I knew they were going to come into your daughter’s hands I wouldn’t have sold it.' The hearing was told Serena who studied fashion and design at Warrington Collegiate took the £20 drug for the very first time on August 21 last year to impress a boy she had a crush on during an afternoon out with friends at Reddish Vale Country Park. Criminal:Thomas Donelan, pictured outside court in February this year, was jailed for two years for drugs offences . The youngster who suffered from Chron's disease which affected her immune system wallowed around one quarter of a gram of the class A party drug-known for being pure ecstasy and began having seizures. She died later in hospital. Her mother Diana told the Stockport inquest: #It was such a horrendous shock. I still don’t believe it now that she would have taken it. 'She swore to me that she would never take drugs as she knew what I did. I had mentioned most drugs to her, I never thought she would because of how ill she was. 'I had spoken to her and she knew the dangers. I also told her that alcohol was even more dangerous statistically and I wondered whether she understood that properly or misinterpreted it.' Mrs Harding said she felt her daughter had succumbed to peer pressure . 'If someone talks about something with a lot of enthusiasm and how wonderful it was and she was not feeling wonderful. 'She just wanted to be a normal girl like her friends. They may not have realised it was peer pressure but it was.' Tragedy struck when Serena arranged over Facebook to buy crystal MDMA with 19-year old Michael Millington whom she was besotted with. He described the drug to her as a 'very positive and safe experience'. They and friends bought the drugs from Donelan at a house but after taking them at the 397 acre park she complained of being thirsty then collapsed struggling from breath on a bench underneath a railway viaduct. Millington told the hearing: 'I think I was naively bigging up the drug. I don’t know but that may have had an influence on her. I had not known Serena to use MDMA previously. Serena bought the same amount as us, and paid £20. 'Up to that point, her health, she seemed fine. She said she was a bit thirsty so I went and got her some water. She was behaving normally. I felt okay I had used MDMA previously and didn’t feel any different. Next thing she was collapsed on a bench.' Scene: Miss Harding collapsed at Reddish Vale country park in Stockport and was found under a bench by a passer by who called an ambulance . Last July Donelan from Levenshulme, Manchester was later locked away for supplying drugs. Millington, from Lymm, Cheshire was given a 12 months suspended sentence and Dean Williams, 18, of Stockport was given a six month suspended term. At the time a judge said he and his friends were 'misguided individuals who believed and were part of a culture who believed that taking drugs such as ecstasy and MDMA is harmless.' Recording a verdict of misadventure Coroner John Pollard said: 'Serena by no means was a habitual drug user. This was one of the first times she had tried drugs. She was a young girl who had an awful lot to put up with because of the Chron’s Disease and the effects it had on her. 'It is the embarrassment of having it as a young girl, it is a very difficult condition and the drugs prescribed made her put weight on. 'She may well have had a crush on this guy, what is certain is that she was led by others who were older and more experiences in ways of the world. On this particular occasion she did what she did to be seen to be part of the gang. 'It is quite clear that she had not done it before, she was not a regular user and this was her first time trying it. 'Enormous lessons must be learnt which may help another family. I would make the plea to anybody who may be thinking of trying it- you simply don’t know the purity or strength and you do not know the affects it will have on you. 'Bring into the mix someone who not in the most robust of health there are serious questions to be considered. There is no evidence that anyone made her take this drug. I think she was a willing participant and they all went to the address and all took some. 'Serena took this drug for the affect of the drug , she took it willingly with the intent of getting the buzz.' In an interview after her daughter’s death Mrs Harding said: 'If my daughter could do it then somebody else’s daughter could. Television makes out like it is fashionable to take drugs, a right of passage, but no drug is safe.' 'When I got to A and E they showed me into a side room and I knew it was very serious. sat there hugging my knees and asked if my daughter was alive. They said no. It was the worst day of my life.' 'People have a stereotypical idea of what people who take drugs are like, but anybody can have a slip up. 'No mother should have to see their daughter lying dead on a medical table. Serena was out of her depth. For a mad moment she said ‘go on then’ and paid with her life.' | Diana Harding confronted Thomas Donelan during her daughter Serena's inquest .
Miss Harding, 16, died in August 2011 after taking ecstasy for the first time .
'Does it not trouble you that the people who sold you this drug are going out spreading this all over the place?' her mother asked him .
Donelan, who was jailed for two years for dealing Class A drugs this year, did not provide a name .
Coroner John pollard recorded verdict of death by misadventure . |
34,665 | 62827a1a377491d88adcbac25ecf14a64b5f997b | By . Daily Mail Reporter, Associated Press and Reuters Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:58 EST, 5 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:03 EST, 6 February 2013 . Off the hook: A lawyer overseeing the federal investigation into Lance Armstrong says there are no plans to charge him over the doping scandal . Lance Armstrong will not be paying back the the millions he collected in bonuses during three of his seven Tour de France victories. It's the latest outrage since the shamed cyclist admitted using performance-enhancing drugs and doping in his career. Armstrong's lawyer told USA Today that his client has no intention of repaying Texas-based SCA Promotions, which paid and insured the $12million . he was awarded in bonuses during three of his seven Tour de France wins. Those victories came in 2002, 2003 and 2004 - all races in which Armstrong admitted that he cheated to win. The dispute may now end up in court, as the company says it will file a lawsuit to get the funds back. But the Armstrong camp insists that the money is his, and it's non-refundable. Mr Herman told USA Today: 'My only point is no athlete ever, to my understanding, has ever gone back and paid back his compensation. Not [New Orleans Saints coach] Sean Payton or anybody else. Payton was banned from the NFL for the entire 2012-2013 football season for his role in pushing a 'crush-for-cash' bounty program on the team. Herman added: 'They were suspended, but nobody said you've got to give your paycheck back.' Should Lance Armstrong be charged for perjury after admitting to Oprah that he had doped? Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Armstrong is the subject of an active criminal investigation by federal investigators. The ex-Tour de France champion is potentially facing charges of obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation relating to the systematic cover-up of his drug-taking when he was competing. The revelation runs contrary to statements made today by the U.S. Attorney for Southern California, Andre Birotte, who spent nearly two years on a criminal investigation of Armstrong, 41, only to suddenly drop it this time last year. A little help: Armstrong celebrates after winning the 15th stage of the Tour de France in 2003 - one of the years that he admitted to cheating . Sources told ABC News that agents had recommended an indictment for the drug-cheat on charges of drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy and were stunned when the case was suddenly dropped. Last night, a high level source told the network: 'Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole.' According to the same source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, 'Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation.' An email to an attorney for Armstrong was not immediately returned to ABC News. The statement made earlier today by André Birotte, the U.S. attorney based in Los Angeles, follows Armstrong's confession in a blockbuster interview last month. 'We made a decision on that case a . little over a year ago. Obviously, we've been well aware of the . statements that have been made by Mr Armstrong in other media reports. Shamed: Armstrong told Oprah that he never tried to stop or change the culture of drug use in the sport . 'That does not change my view at this time,' Birotte said at a news conference in Washington to announce an unrelated lawsuit against Standard & Poor's. The government will continue to look at the case, Birotte added, but Armstrong's admission 'hasn't changed our view as I stand here today.' In February 2012, Birotte said his office had closed its investigation into possible crimes by Armstrong. Birotte's comments come amid a firestorm of backlash against the disgraced cyclist with his actions since his doping admission. On Tuesday, Armstrong tied with former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o in atop a Forbes poll ranking America's most disliked athletes. Speculation about charges began anew . after Armstrong reversed his past doping denials in an interview with . Queen of Talk Oprah Winfrey. Confession: Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey that his seven Tour de France titles were won with the help of performance-enhancing drugs, but he denied that he used them for his 2009 comeback . He told Winfrey he used performance-enhancing drugs and doping in cycling tournaments. Legal experts said Armstrong exposed himself to possible charges of perjury or obstruction of justice. Separately, Armstrong faces a civil whistleblower lawsuit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, accusing Armstrong of fraud. The U.S. Justice Department has not . said whether it intends to join the suit, and Birotte did not address . the suit at the news conference. Armstrong has been banned from cycling for life and stripped of race wins, including seven Tour de France victories. Herman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Opponent: Armstrong has a continuing feud with USADA CEO Travis Tygart, who spearheaded a probe into doping on Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teams . Armstrong's lawyers said last month that he will talk more about drug use in the sport, just likely not to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led the effort to strip him of his Tour de France titles. The question is: When? In a testy exchange of letters and statements revealing the gulf between the two sides, USADA urged Armstrong to testify under oath to help 'clean up cycling.' Armstrong's attorneys responded that the cyclist would rather take his information where it could do more good - namely to cycling's governing body and World Anti-Doping Agency officials. USADA's response to that: 'The time for excuses is over.' The letters underscore the continuing . feud between Armstrong and USADA CEO Travis Tygart, the man who . spearheaded the investigation that uncovered a complex doping scheme on . Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service teams. Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France victories last year and he has been banned for life from the sport. In the Oprah interview, Armstrong said he owed a long list of . apologies and that he would like to see his lifetime ban reduced so he . can compete again. His most realistic avenue toward that . might be telling USADA everything he knows in a series of interviews . the agency wants started no later than today. That seems unlikely. Seventh heaven: Lance Armstrong will talk more about drug use in the sport, just likely not to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that led the effort to strip him of his Tour de France titles . | Shocking revelation comes as Armstrong tops list of America's most disliked athletes .
He has also said that he will not be paying back the $12million he earned in bonuses during three of his seven Tour de France victories .
Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey last month that he had doped . |
37,636 | 6a955ad36a2c11ebae286bb466f5f52f343243de | American soldiers in Afghanistan have been warned they may not be paid after President Obama failed in an 11th-hour attempt to reach a settlement over the U.S. deficit. In a crisis that has potentially devastating consequences for the world economy, the U.S. will run out of money to pay its bills next Wednesday unless squabbling Washington legislators raise the country's $14.3 trillion (£8.7tn) debt ceiling. Troops fighting in Afghanistan have been told that the Obama administration is expected to make their salaries a lower priority than interest payments to foreign bond-holders. Defeated: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday after the House rejected a Democratic proposal to raise the nation's debt ceiling . More than $1.2 trillion of America's vast debt is owned by China and another $328bn is owned by UK private investors and pension funds. The Obama administration is expected to continue to pay them next month, along with pensioners. Other social programmes, including medical care for the poor and help for the country's unemployed, also will be fully funded, according to insiders. But that will leave no money to pay federal employees, including troops. America's top military official, Admiral Mike Mullen, delivered the stunning news to soldiers at a meeting at Kandahar air base in southern Afghanistan. Asked if they will be paid if Mr Obama is unable to resolve the deadlock, he said: 'I honestly can't answer that question. 'I have confidence that at some point in time, whatever compensation you are owed, you will be given.' Troops will be ordered to continue to work, the admiral said. Economists say the U.S. could be plunged into recession if the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic Senate cannot agree on legislation. After weeks of intense partisanship, talks went late into the night at the White House on Saturday as leaders made a desperate, last-minute stab at compromise to avoid a government default. Some reports suggested 'significant progress' was being made. 'There is very little time,' declared President Barack Obama. Mr Obama met with top Democrats at the White House and spoke by phone with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Tension: Even if the U.S. continues to make interest payments to creditors, it will unnerve the markets, said city analysts . Q: When will the U.S. officially run out of money?A: Wednesday. Q: Why is it broke?A: The U.S. government has reached its maximum debt level of $14.3 trillion. Q: Why doesn't it raise the debt ceiling? A: Because Tea Party militants have vetoed it. Q: Why?A: Because they want big spending cuts and refuse to back tax rises. Q: What is the official Republican position?A: Lift the debt limit in return for $1 trillion spending cuts. Q: What is President Obama's position?A: A bigger rise in the debt ceiling to avoid another crisis before the U.S. elections next year. Q: What if the U.S. defaults?A: It could suffer the humiliation of losing its triple A credit rating. Q. What is a triple A rating?A. The highest rate of credit worthiness a government can achieve. Q. What happens if the U.S. loses it?A. The government could have to pay more to borrow money. Q: How will that affect ordinary Americans?A: More firms will go bust, interest rates on credit cards and home loans will rise. 'He needs to indicate what he will sign, and we are in those discussions,' McConnell said of the President. He added he had also spoken with Vice . President Joe Biden, who played a prominent role in earlier attempts to . break the gridlock that has pushed the country to the verge of an . unprecedented default. A day after the Republican-controlled . House of Representatives passed a bill to cut the deficit and raise the . ceiling on government borrowing, the debt saga shifted to the . Democratic-led Senate where lawmakers scrambled for a deal. Senate Democrats pushed ahead with . their own plan, but sought to attract bipartisan support by adding some . elements of a proposal offered by Senate Republican leader Mitch . McConnell. But Senate Republicans appeared to . have the votes to block that bill and the House quickly crushed the . Democrats' proposal before the Senate acted on it, rejecting the measure . 246 to 173 in a fast-tracked vote set by the Republican leadership. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postponed a closure vote on his debt plan, originally expected to happen at 1am on Sunday to 1pm. 'There are many elements to be finalized. Many elements to be finalised. There is still a distance to go before any arrangement can be completed. 'But I believe we should give everyone as much room as possible to do their work,' he said. 'No one believes this will really happen,' a City financial expert told The Mail on Sunday, 'so no one has thought through the consequences. Even if the U.S. continues to make interest payments to creditors, it will unnerve markets and probably lead to a lowering of its credit rating. 'That means the value of U.S. bonds held by banks will fall and they will have to raise more capital in order to meet their required asset levels and that in turn could force up interest rates, causing a recession.' Senate Democrats killed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled House late on Friday. Democrats opposed it as 'extremist' while Right-wingers said it did not go far enough. And all 43 Republicans in the Senate have signed a letter, saying they will not vote for a rival Democrat plan to raise the debt limit. Mr Obama pleaded for compromise, saying: 'There is very little time.' As the warring continued, Mr Obama was described by The New York Times, as 'largely a bystander'. | Soldiers told their salaries are lower priority than interest payments to foreign bond-holders .
Renewed bi-partisan talks run late into the night at White House as leaders make desperate last-minute stab at compromise .
Reports of 'significant progress'
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid postpones closure vote on his bill until 1pm on Sunday . |
175,217 | 6ec8960192dd39fbe8e821635986a680c699669b | Judith O'Reilly, 48, decided to do a good deed every day in 2011 . Deeds ranged from making tea for other people's builders to persuading a millionaire to hold a collection for the homeless . By . Bianca London . PUBLISHED: . 10:49 EST, 31 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 10:52 EST, 3 January 2013 . As we prepare to ring 2013 this evening, the thoughts of many of us will already be turning to our New Year's resolution. From diets to exercise regimes or hunting for new jobs, the intention is often there - but in reality, most vows soon fall by the wayside. Not so for one woman though - who at the start of 2011 vowed to carry out a good deed for every single day of the coming year. A full 365 days later, she has succeeded in her mission. Judith O'Reilly, 48, has done a grand total of 365 good deeds last year, from picking up litter on the beach to making cups of tea for other people's builders. Good deeds: Author Judith O'Reilly from has written a book about doing one good deed every day such as making her elderly blind mother Veronica a cup of tea . As her deeds started to mount up, Judith decided to record them and has now written a book about her challenge: A Year of Doing Good. 'I didn't realise when I made the resolution that New Year what I was taking on,' she says in the epilogue to her book. 'I'd made resolutions before... but the idea of doing one good deed a day morphed into something else again. 'This year made me question what a good life is, how we give our lives meaning, and what it is to love. 'It also taught me that people don't always want the good you want to do, and that doing good - believe you me - is harder than it looks.' O'Reilley goes onto say that the year of doing good is really an admission of her own failings. 'My parents are saints, and it is tough being the parents of saints,' she jokes. 'People feel sorry for the children of murderers, because they think it must be hard worrying whether you've inherited a genetic predisposition to kill as well as those long-lobed ears. 'It is worse when you're brought up by those who are good. Really good.' She calls 2011 the year that for her part, she 'tried to be good'. 'When I can't remember something by name or that shoes should match, I know I'll still remember these years, and that for a year at least, I tried to be good,' she writes. All in a year's work: From picking up litter on the beach to helping out at a local farm, Judith completed one good deed every day in 2011 . A Year Of Doing Good is writer and journalist Judith's third book - her first, Wife In The North, was a bestseller; her second she says is 'living in a drawer' - and this one, her third, she says it is the one she wanted to write in order to help make her a better person. After seeing all the good that her parents and other people had done, she wanted 2011 to be the year of her doing good. Reflecting on her past year, Judith from Alnwick, Northumberland, humorously concluded there were both good and bad things. One such bad thing, she writes, is: 'I am still writing a bloody novel, and everyone who reads it says it is pants.' Charitable: Judith threw herself into plenty of charity work too and even started a jam jar collection where she and others raised £26,000 . Judith's comical tone continues throughout the book and has been highly commended by critics and readers alike. She even makes tongue-in-cheek digs at her husband throughout the book, writing: 'My other New Year's resolution is to stay married. If at all possible'. Each chapter is dedicated to a resolution and they range from tidying a vase of flowers that had fallen over at a child's grave to giving the Queen some blooms when she visited a nearby town. Author: The journalist and author has already written two books, one of which was a bestseller . Her charity work was extensive too. She became a companion for cancer patients, taught mentally disabled children to write and worked with Operation Christmas Child packing shoe boxes. She even set up her own charity collection called the Jam Jar Army whereby she put any loose change into a jam jar. Thousands of people joined her and raised an amazing £26,000 for a variety of good causes. A year of good deeds: Journalist and writer Judith has now published a book of all her good deeds which has been met with rave reviews . The whimsical yet sentimental book has been met with critical acclaim. Stephen G. Post, Phd, Author Of The Hidden Gifts of Helping wrote: 'A Year of Doing Good inspires the reader with the day-to-day journey of meaning, gratification and joy that comes from contributing to the lives of others in so many creative ways. 'For those who want to put "do unto others" in the centre of their lives and reap the unexpected benefits of happiness and health, this is the book for you. 'Elegantly written, the words jump off the page,' he said. Jenny Colgan, author of Amanda's Wedding on Wife in the North, said: 'I howled with laughter, tears of recognition at every bloody page. 'My only problem with this book was choosing who to pass it on to first.' Amazon readers were most impressed and touched by the book too with one user writing: 'Beautifully written; a book you won't be able to put down. 'Judith's ability to charm her readers with yet another expertly crafted account of her life as mum, wife, daughter, friend and all round decent human being, continues to embrace and pull at heart-strings. 'I simply love her style of writing; the wit, the humour, the sadness, it's all there - thought provoking and inspirational.' Claire Thorburn wrote: 'Who could have imagined good deeds to fellow men could garner such twists, emotions and ponderings? 'Wife in the North meets Mother Teresa in this beautifully crafted book with its gritty quick-fire wit. It had me alternatively chortling, sniffling and questioning. 'A must-read book with more layers than a best-in-show prize onion.' Having lunch with a friend who had lost his wife . Judith has sometimes found it a challenge, but wanted to make herself a better person . Giving the Queen a bunch of flowers when she was visiting a nearby town . Gave her cousins a CD of their favourite soundtrack picked up whilst shopping . Let the electricians into a neighbouring holiday cottage . Gave a punnet of strawberries to a stranger . Rescued a boy stuck in a wire fence . Asked a favour for someone else . Picked up litter on the beach . Had a child for the afternoon to let her poorly mum rest . Looked after a distant relatives dog who was known to use her carpet as a toilet . Bought a copy of the Big Issue . Registered as an organ donor . Made workmen on the road a nice cup of tea . Pruned roses at a charity-run public garden . Reunited a lost child with their family . Bought a raffle ticket for charity . Mentored a worried media student . Persuaded a millionaire to hold a collection for the homeless . Set up the Jam Jar Army to raise money from lost change . Worked in a charity shop . A Year of Doing Good: One Woman, One New Year's Resolution, 365 Good Deeds, £7.99. Currently available via the Amazon Kindle store for £4.99. | Judith O'Reilly, 48, decided to do a good deed every day in 2011 .
Deeds ranged from making tea for other people's builders to persuading a millionaire to hold a collection for the homeless . |
198,130 | 8c737f966de326ae9a5e8bb6de25283aa9819fea | London (CNN) -- The five surviving Monty Python members on Thursday announced their comeback performance in London next year, and fans are eagerly anticipating which vintage sketches will be dusted off for another airing. But their combined age of 357 years has taken its toll, and it remains to be seen how the comedians' aging bodies stand up to the often slapstick nature of Python sketches. One that John Cleese is unlikely to perform is the swivel-limbed "Ministry of Silly Walks," due to what he says are his ailing hips and knees. Cleese says the show at the O2 Arena on July 1 will have some new material, but many old bits -- some featured in perhaps new ways -- that fans will expect, along with "comedy, pathos, music and a tiny bit of ancient sex." "I remember going to the Royal Albert Hall and seeing Neil Diamond where he got booed in the second half for singing new numbers. People really do want to see the old hits, but we don't want to do them exactly in a predictable way, so it's going to be a mix-up, I think," Cleese adds. Asked what he believes the modern twist will be, Terry Gilliam replies: "The fact that we can actually still walk and stand upright." While the Python stars say they hope the new performance will appeal to a new generation of fans, they are brazen enough to admit that money was one of the main factors in their decision to reform for the first time since 1980. "I hope it makes us a lot of money. I hope to be able to pay off my mortgage!" Terry Jones said days before Thursday's high-octane news conference at which the five Pythons announced they will perform at the O2 -- the world's biggest-grossing concert venue. Michael Palin adds that "money was part of it." But as the five aging comedians lumber onto the stage at the Playhouse Theatre in central London, it is evident how much mutual regard they still have, despite often-fractious years working together and three decades apart. "We may not like each other, but we make each other laugh," Cleese reflects. The show will be the first time Cleese, Jones, Gilliam, Palin and Eric Idle have performed together since the death of Graham Chapman from cancer in 1989. His presence will be sorely missed -- by both audience and stars. "We've told him he'll be on with us," Idle says, not entirely in jest, "and if there is a God, he'll turn up." There'll be a nurse on hand just in case of emergencies, he adds quickly. Despite the show being billed as "a final reunion" and "one down, five to go," the comedians say a world tour may follow "depending on how long Eric and Mike live for," Cleese jokes. When the pair protest, saying they believe the deaths could occur in alphabetical order, he quips: "In your dreams Gilliam." The longevity of Python -- and excitement the reunion has stirred up among fans appears to have taken the five Pythons by surprise. "No one expected this to be more than a Sunday night show at the BBC," Idle says, referring to the first TV broadcast in 1969. Forty-five episodes and five films later, the Pythons are comic legends, with their legions of fans around the world able to recite every line of their scripts word-perfect. "I'm just shocked and amazed" at the reaction to the reunion, he says, adding that he thought they'd waited "until demand had died down." The Python shows mostly consisted of a string of barely coherent sketches, often lacking conventional punch lines and loosely tied together by Gilliam's stream of consciousness animations. The group dressed as old ladies, as transvestite lumberjacks, performed sketches about pompous middle-class men, used catchphrases such as "And now for something completely different," and sang ditties such as "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam ..." Some of the material has never been performed on stage before, and the group says fans could expect the crunching frog sketch, a version of the dead parrot sketch and the Spanish Inquisition. Other material "they hope people will have forgotten, so it'll appear new," Idle adds. The sketches still make them laugh, despite the passing of time, Palin says. "We had a read-through of all the material, which to me was far more anxiety-inducing than the press conference. But it's still funny. The show is going to be spectacular." Python has appeal around the world, he believes, because "it's seen as physical but not topical - it doesn't require knowledge of British politics or way of life. It's just quite jolly!" CNN's Max Foster, David Wilkinson and Claudia Rebaza contributed to this report. | Fans eagerly awaiting return of Monty Python stars for first time in three decades .
Money a factor in Pythons' decision to reform, according to Terry Jones .
John Cleese says his ailing limbs unlikely to stand up to 'Ministry of Silly Walks'
Some of the material has never been performed on stage before . |
102,858 | 109222b9774fa987cffe7ca839d2be2a80a9324c | By . Harriet Arkell and David Wilkes . PUBLISHED: . 11:02 EST, 10 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:24 EST, 10 December 2013 . Protocol has not always been Olympic hero Sir Bradley Wiggins’ strongest point. But yesterday, cycling’s ‘Modfather’ was determined not to put a loafer-clad foot wrong as he was knighted by the Queen. So much so, in fact, that when asked about meeting Her Majesty after the ceremony at Buckingham Palace, he said: ‘To be honest, it’s such a blur. I can’t remember what she said or what I said. ‘You concentrate so much on the protocol of what you have got to do, what she actually said I can’t remember now. It was more nerve-racking than the Olympics.’ Scroll down for video . Humble: Sir Bradley Wiggins was knighted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace today for services to cycling . The new Sir Bradley said he felt 'inferior' to others receving honours at Buckingham Palace today . The new Sir Bradley, who last year won Olympic gold and the Tour de France, said he felt humbled . But in typical style, the record-breaking cyclist talked down his achievements, saying he had 'just won a bike race' and felt 'a little bit inferior to everyone, really'. The record-breaking cyclist - the first Briton to win the Tour de France who also garnered seven Olympic medals in a glittering career that saw him being crowned BBC Sports Personality Of The Year 2012, was shaking with nerves after the investiture. But the no-nonsense father of two who is known for his sideburns and dapper brown suits, said he was still planning to attend training tonight. Sir Bradley said: 'It was quite nerve-wracking actually. I'm just incredibly uncomfortable in those circumstances and I'm still shaking now, to be honest. 'I'm glad it's over. The Queen asked what I'm doing now, and it was an incredible summer last year. 'It's quite humbling, really, being here. I was just talking to some of the other people getting stuff, and asking them what they've been honoured for, and they're historic things, ground-breaking sciences or whatever. Sir Bradley Wiggins attended Buckingham Palace with his wife, Catherine, and children Isabella and Ben . Singer PJ Harvey was made an MBE, left, while Yeoman bed goer Alexander Burnett, right, received the Royal Victorian medal . British soldier Warrant Officer class 1 Andy Peat received a George Medal for bravery - he covered a Taliban bomb to protect rescuers as they saved a wounded Danish soldier in Afghanistan . Sir Bradley, who wore a trademark brown suit for the occasion, showed his medal off to Beefeaters afterwards . 'I've just won a bike race'. He added: 'It's just the end of the road in a sense, in that it tops off the closure of last summer. It's a great honour.' Sir Bradley said he was not going to celebrate tonight as he was training for forthcoming races, adding: 'I'm looking forward now, trying to concentrate on the next Olympic cycle now. 'I'll probably be training this evening - it's just ongoing at the moment.' Wasim Khan MBE, WHO became the first British born-Pakistani to play professional cricket in England. UTV presenter Paul Clark proudly holds his MBE alongside his wife Carol . The father of two had a stunning summer last year, winning the Tour de France and then gold at the Oympics . Sir Bradley touched on the recent spate of cyclist deaths in London, saying that 'people have to help themselves'. He said: 'With successes in the sport, more people get on bikes and obviously accidents happen. 'I think the fact that there is more publicity around it means more is being done now. There's more publicity towards cycle safety now, with people wearing helmets, being visible, etc. 'It's not going to happen overnight and people have to help themselves at the end of the day. It's a long old process.' | The record-breaking English cyclist, 33, knighted for services to cycling .
Sir Bradley attended the palace with wife, Catherine, daughter and son .
Afterwards he was shaking with nerves and said 'I just won a bike race'
He was first person to win Tour de France and Olympic gold in same year .
Sir Bradley, with Sir Chris Hoy, is the most decorated British Olympian . |
34,854 | 630cb916d6b57fbb52af54e635546956322089cf | Jailed: Karen Ackland, 44, has been sentenced to prison for having sex with a 14-year-old boy . A 44-year-old woman who has sex with an underage schoolboy has been jailed after judges overturned the original non-custodial sentence. Karen Ackland, of Deal, Kent, took advantage of a friend’s 14-year-old son after a drunken party, but was initially handed a nine-month suspended prison term. Court of Appeal judges in London today quashed the ‘unduly lenient’ sentence, replaced it with two years in prison. Ackland, a former sailor was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court in July after admitting three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child. The charges related to offences committed in April 2013 against the then 14-year-old son of a friend. The boy’s mother said: 'I never expected her to do this, you trust your friends. And he was just a child. 'She was always a party animal and when she had too many drinks she completely loses all self-respect and embarrasses herself. 'She used to always say 'I'm a nightmare when I've had a drink' and she'd always have a few men on the go. 'But I was a great friend to her and I stood by her. I never expected this. 'She was very domineering and my son said as soon as it happened that he'd wished he'd never done it.' Divorced mother-of-two Ackland was at a party in April two years ago when she met the schoolboy, who is now 16 years old. After hours of drinking the 44-year-old Tesco worker backed the helpless boy into a corner in the kitchen and they kissed. She tried to get the boy to walk her home on the pretext she had lost her phone, but his older brother refused to let him go. After hours of drinking the boy's mother offered Ackland a bed at their home, but as the boy went upstairs to get some tracksuit bottoms so he could change for bed, she sneaked into the room behind him. Abuser: The divorced mother-of-two from Deal, Kent, took advantage of her friend’s teenage son after a drunken party . Change: Canterbury Crown Court initially handed the Tesco worker a nine-month suspended prison term . Ackland, the mother of two teenagers, pounced on the boy and used him as her 'sex object' - until the boy's older brother heard noises and Ackland saying, 'I can't believe I'm doing this with a 15 year old!', and burst into the bedroom. Lord Justice Pitchford, sitting with Mr Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice William Davis, ruled today that the original sentence, which had been suspended for a year, was ‘plainly unduly lenient’. Announcing the decision, Lord Justice Pitchford said the court accepted that the offences were ‘out of character’, and committed ‘on one drunken evening’. Speaking after the hearing, Solicitor General Robert Buckland, said: ‘Karen Ackland, a 44-year-old woman, clearly took advantage of a teenager. ‘I note that the defendant pleaded guilty at a late stage in this case. I referred the case to the Court of Appeal as being unduly lenient because the original sentence failed to fully reflect the ages of the defendant and the victim. ‘I am therefore pleased the Court of Appeal today imposed an immediate prison term on Ackland, which should reassure the public and send out a strong message to women that teenage boys have a legal right to be protected from potential sexual interference.’ Ackland has also been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register and pay £500 court costs. | Karen Ackland, 44, met her friend's son at a party, cornered and kissed him .
Boy's mother offered Ackland bed to stay after long night of drinking .
But as boy got ready for bed she 'pounced' and used him as her 'sex object'
Suspended term overturned and she has been sentenced to two years .
Ackland also ordered to sign Sex Offenders' Register and pay £500 . |
258,608 | dab21fb964a7cb5618442631a64025d2a48b270a | Security guard: Kevin Baker, 45, pocketed £52,000 in benefits claiming he could barely walk while being praised for sprinting after shoplifters . A shopping centre security guard pocketed £52,000 in benefits claiming he could barely walk while being praised for sprinting after shoplifters and even running karate classes. Kevin Baker, 45, claimed he could not walk more than a few yards and was crippled with arthritis, even using a taxpayer-funded car, while working a 40-hour week patrolling stores at the Prospect Shopping Centre in Hull. He was exposed when an investigator spotted him at the shopping centre, his bosses later telling officials they were pleased with Baker's work and that his martial arts background helped him to restrain thieves. Baker was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work after he admitted three charges of making false claims for incapacity benefit, disability living allowance and income support between 1995 and 2012. He had begun claiming benefits in 1995 after complaining he was unable to walk more than 50 yards without experiencing severe pain following surgery to have two tumours removed. 'He said he was unable to work without severe discomfort,' Stephen Robinson, prosecuting, told Hull Crown Court. 'He said he could only walk 50 yards before experiencing severe pain. He said he suffered from arthritis. 'It allowed him the use of a mobility car from 2007 to 2012 which came from money he claimed. 'He regularly received letters saying he must not work. He claimed income support for himself, his wife and children from September 2008 to September 2012. He said he was unable to work.' Mr Robinson said that Baker had been working as a security guard since 2007, initially working for a firm called Keepsafe Guarding Services. The court was told Baker had worked at the Game Station shop in the Prospect Centre between 2007 and 2008, where his job involved detaining shoplifters, protecting stock and staff. 'He then started his full-time self employment,' said Mr Robinson. 'He was contracted in the Prospect Centre, Hull. Place of work: Baker, claimed he could not walk more than a few yards and was crippled with arthritis, while working a 40-hour week patrolling stores at the Prospect Shopping Centre in Hull . 'The evidence from managers there was he was running around after people who were thieves. He worked five days a week - six to eight hours a day on his feet. He had 15 minute breaks, but would rarely take his full break. He was on his feet for five hours a day. It was a physical job protecting staff and customers and he played a full part in that.' The court was told that Baker falsely claimed £28,490 in incapacity benefit, £17,068 in disability living allowance and £6,541 in income support. When he was interviewed in August 2012 he said that when he first made the claim, he was not able to work, but was later able to take on more. Court appearance: Baker was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work by a judge at Hull Crown Court (pictured) Baker said he did not like taking the money, but felt he had no choice but to work and claim. He said he knew he should not have been working. When he first started claiming benefits, Baker had run a Karate class at a church hall in Greatfield, Hull. He told his bosses about his martial arts background, but when questioned by benefits investigators claimed he had lied to his managers. David Godfrey, mitigating, told the court that Baker had suffered from acromegaly in his late teens which affected his pituitary glands, causing swelling to the bone mass on his hands and joints, and had taken steroids to ease the pain. He said Baker's GP told him that he should not have been working, but he had fallen into debt when he decided to buy his house. Sentencing, Recorder Phillip Kramer told Baker: 'You have not been in much trouble in the past until you decided to take benefits. 'It is a case where the initial claim was justified. But there came a time when you should have told the Department of Work and Pensions what your condition was. 'In your case there was a substantial fraud involving £52,000 and it was over a long period of time. It crosses the custody threshold, but I can suspend it.' As well as the suspended sentence and work order, Baker will also face a hearing under the Proceeds of Crime Act in 2015. Outside court, a former pupil of Baker’s at his martial arts school said: 'He looked as fit as a fiddle when I trained with him. He took karate classes and used to join in. 'He should never have had a disability car. They are for disabled people not karate instructors who chase shop lifters. He worked every day in Game Station in the middle of the Prospect Centre. Everybody knows him.' | Kevin Baker, 45, claimed he could not walk more than a few yards .
Received benefits while working a 40-hour week patrolling shopping centre .
He was exposed when an investigator spotted him working in Hull .
Centre managers said his martial arts background helped restrain thieves .
Baker admitted three charges of making false claims .
Court told his initial claim was justified, but he should have informed DWP when his condition eased .
He was given an 18-month sentence suspended for two years .
Baker was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work . |
223,470 | ad4c9a99e79d357bde01cab372a7a9f2091b2dae | Madrid (CNN) -- Spain's best-known judge will be suspended for 11 years from the bench after his conviction Thursday for improperly ordering wiretaps while investigating a financial corruption case, the nation's Supreme Court ruled. Afterward, Baltasar Garzon said he "rejects" the sentence, that the court convicted him in "an unjust and predetermined manner," and he vowed to appeal. In a statement late Thursday, Garzon said, "This sentence, without judicial reason nor evidence to support it, eliminates all possibility to investigate corruption and related crimes by opening spaces of impunity, and seriously contributing -- in an effort to stop one specific judge -- to reduced independence for Spanish judges." Garzon had ordered wiretaps against suspects who were in jail and under investigation in the case, allowing authorities to listen in on their conversations with defense attorneys and others. Their lawyers later filed a lawsuit, arguing that the wiretapping violated their constitutional right of attorney-client privilege. A seven-judge panel at the Supreme Court convicted Garzon, according to court documents. A second trial against Garzon ended on Wednesday, but judges have not yet ruled in the case. That case concerns his investigation of human rights abuses under the former dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain. Human rights groups say both cases, especially the second one, amount to a vendetta against Garzon, who became known internationally for his investigation into human rights abuses under former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Garzon, 56, was suspended provisionally from the bench in 2010, pending these trials. A third case is under investigation, but no trial has been set. At a three-day trial last month in the financial corruption case, Garzon professed innocence. The case implicated some leading conservative politicians, among others, and there have been trials recently against defendants in the corruption scandal known as Gurtel. Garzon said his wiretap orders, in early 2009, were backed by state prosecutors, who did not bring charges against Garzon. He testified that he ordered the wiretaps on suspicion that suspects in the case were involved in money laundering while they were in preventative prison. But the Supreme Court judges wrote, "The central question to be resolved in this case is related to the fundamental right of defense for the suspect, against the legitimate interest of the State to pursue crimes," the sentence said. "It is not possible to have a just process if the right of defense is essentially eliminated." The sentence added that Garzon's investigation had the effect of "admitting practices which now are found only in totalitarian regimes where anything is considered valid to obtain the desired information." Garzon's possible avenues for appeal include the Constitutional Court -- Spain's highest court, which rules on constitutional issues -- or to the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Julio Villarrubia, a leader of Spain's main opposition Socialist Party, said the party "respects" the decision of the court but finds it "troubling that Judge Garzon, who has fought tirelessly against drug trafficking, terrorism and corruption," is now convicted. Human rights groups consider the second case against Garzon, for his investigation of mass graves under Franco's rule, to be the more important one. In the second trial, state prosecutors again did not press charges, but a private prosecution, allowed under Spanish law, did. It is led by a small civil servants union called Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, which charged that Garzon ignored an amnesty law approved in the Spanish Parliament in 1977, two years after Franco's death. In that trial, which ended Wednesday -- just hours before his conviction in the corruption investigation -- Garzon testified that he searched but could not find any national census of how many people disappeared or their identities. So he decided to investigate because he considered those to be "permanent crimes" which still affect their descendants, since the remains have never been found. He said he began to see evidence that there was a "systematic plan" against Franco's opponents, which he said included forced disappearances, illegal detentions and assassinations. Franco's military uprising in 1936 triggered the three-year Spanish Civil War. The war ended when Franco's forces defeated Republican and leftist fighters. Franco's dictatorship continued until his death. Mass graves from the regime are still being unearthed, said Emilio Silva, from a group called Historical Memory. Various international observers attended the trial and Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday, "This is a trial that should never have been held, but which at least served to show that Garzon acted in accordance with international law, which imposes on states a duty to investigate the worst international crimes." "The Supreme Court should put an end to this sorry episode for Spanish justice by acquitting judge Garzon of all the charges against him," Brody added. "Investigating state killings and 'disappearances' should never be considered a crime." Since his suspension in 2010, Garzon has been working as a legal adviser outside of Spain on human rights cases and judicial issues, including in Latin America. | NEW: Judge Baltasar Garzon "rejects" sentence, vows to appeal .
Rights groups watching 2nd case against judge, involving his probe of Franco-era abuses .
Garzon had ordered wiretaps of suspects in a financial corruption case .
Garzon argues that his wiretap orders were backed by state prosecutors . |
267,345 | e63ec0436b68a4db120629bbdf35434570077c39 | By . Helen Pow . PUBLISHED: . 10:13 EST, 7 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 17:28 EST, 7 August 2013 . A woman convicted of going on a killing spree with her boyfriend 55 years ago that left 11 people dead and whose story inspired the hit 1973 film 'Badlands' has been badly injured in a car crash in Michigan. Caril Ann Clair, 70, of Stryker, Ohio, is in critical condition after the single-vehicle crash on Monday night that killed her 81-year-old husband, Frederick Clair, on northbound Interstate 69 in Calhoun County. Over a month in late 1957 and 1958, when Clair, then named Fugate, was just 14, she and her 19-year-old boyfriend, Charlie Starkweather, terrorized Nebraska and Wyoming, killing Fugate's . mother, stepfather, two-year-old sister and eight others. Fugate, who has maintained her innocence, was convicted and spent 18 years in prison before her release in 1976. Starkweather was executed in 1958. Scroll down for video . Wanted: Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate, pictured left in 1958, were wanted for questioning in a killing spree that eventually claimed 11 lives in Nebraska and Wyoming . Critically injured: Caril Clair, pictured left as a teen, and right, in 1993, was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo following Monday night's crash . The horrific rampage became the basis of the film 'Badlands' starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek. In 1975, Spacek was nominated Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles at the BAFTA awards. The film follows Kit Carruthers, a young garbage collector, played by Sheen, and his girlfriend Holly Sargis, played by Spacek, from Fort Dupree, South Dakota, who are on run after killing Holly's father because he disagreed with their relationship. On their way towards the Badlands of Montana they leave a trail of dispassionate and seemingly random murders. The film received rave reviews at film festivals including The New York Film Festival. Bruce Springsteen also sang about Starkweather and Miss Fugate on his 'Nebraska' album. Fugate always maintained she was innocent but a jury found her guilty in the robbery and murder of a 17-year-old boy. Scene: The fatal crash happened on Monday night on northbound Interstate 69 in Calhoun County, pictured . She was sentenced to life in prison . and served 18 years before her sentence was commuted after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mandatory life sentences for juveniles were . unconstitutional. Fugate left prison in 1976 while Starkweather was executed. The killings began in late 1957 with . the death of 21-year-old gas station attendant Robert Colvert, who was . robbed, abducted and shot to death. His body was left on a Nebraska . country road. Two . months later, Lincoln, Nebraska-area authorities found the bodies of . Marion Bartlett, 57; and his 35-year-old wife, Velda, in an outbuilding. Their two-year-old daughter, Betty . Jean, had been clubbed to death with the butt of a gun and her body . stuffed in a cardboard box. Missing were Velda Bartlett's 14-year-old daughter by a previous marriage, Caril Fugate, and her boyfriend, Starkweather. Movie: The real life story was turned into movie Badlands, pictured, featuring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen . Film: The film 'Badlands' pictured, was a hit . Movie stars: Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen starred in the 1973 film 'Badlands' based on Fugate and her boyfriend . After leaving prison in 1976, Fugate went to . live in Michigan with a family who befriended her after watching a . television documentary, according to The Battle Creek Enquirer. She worked in a hospital in Lansing for 20 years, before marrying Clair at age 63. She has been living in Ohio. According to Cleveland attorney Linda Battisti, Fugate met her husband at a casino while she was working in Lansing. The couple may have been traveling to the FireKeepers Casino near Battle Creek when they crashed, sheriff deputies said. Clair was retired and at one point owned a grocery store and ran a radio station. Battisti . told the Battle Creek Enquirer that she has known Caril Clair for years . and called her 'resilient, courageous and a brave woman. I have always . said I have been humbled in her presence. She is incredibly funny and . very loving and very giving.' Battisti said on Tuesday that she had just learned of the accident and, 'I am just devastated about this.' Pop culture: Bruce Springsteen sang about Starkweather and Miss Fugate, pictured, on his 'Nebraska' album . In jail: Fugate, pictured, was convicted of murder and left prison in 1976 . She said she has studied the case against her friend and believes she was innocent of the crimes. 'What a horrible miscarriage of justice that has been done to her. I have always believed in her,' Battisti said. Starkweather . was killed by electric chair in 1959. Members of his outraged family . said Fugate should have also been sentenced to death because she was . just as guilty. Battisti said her friend had been approached numerous times over the years with book deals but she was waiting for the right person to come along, which turned out to be her. 'She told me that many people . approached her and wanted to write a book about her. But she told me she . knew God would send her the right person and that was me. We have . developed a close friendship and my quest for many years is to show her . innocence.' Her book 'The . 12th Victim' is in final editing stages and is co-authored by Lincoln . attorney John Stevens Berry, the Enquirer reported. Murderer: Charles Starkweather, known as the 'Red Dog' killer, was pictured let and right after the murders in 1957 and 1958 . Innocent? A book about Fugate, pictured in 1973, is in its final stages and claims that the woman was innocent . 'I believe she was completely innocent and this will show the whole world that she was,' Battisti told the newspaper. Fugate's last public comments on the case came in 1996 on a radio show after she was denied a full pardon. Lincoln, Nebraska's The Journal Star, reported then that she said she had been forced to stay with Starkweather. Omaha.com reported that she said at the time: 'When have I ever gotten a fair shake from Nebraska? I just thought that this time, someone would say, "Hey, wait a minute."' 'Badlands' was written and directed by Terence Malick and made an estimated $450,000 in box office sales following its 1973 release. In 1993, five years after the United States National Film Registry was established, the film was selected for preservation by the Library of Congress as being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.' That same year, Fugate visited a school classroom to talk to students about avoiding dumb choices. She said her's at age 13 was believing Starkweather. 'I thought I was really hot stuff,' she said, according to Omaha.com. 'It was the biggest mistake I made in my life.' | Caril Ann Clair, 70, of Stryker, Ohio, was critically hurt and her 81-year-old husband killed late Monday in a crash in Michigan .
As a 14-year-old, Clair, who was then Fugate, and her boyfriend, Charlie Starkweather, 19, went on a killing spree in Nebraska and Wyoming .
The couple's rampage, which left 11 people dead, was made into the film 'Badlands' starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen . |
61,633 | af177ca0bffa133472f19c81e3e61a042113a9b1 | One million people are caught in the Boston city security lockdown as police hunt the surviving marathon bomb suspect. Streets are deserted as authorities warned residents to lock their doors and remain inside as they continue the manhunt for the surviving suspect . from the marathon bombing as the entire city of Boston is deserted. The city is being controlled by SWAT teams and an army of police as they try to keep everyone indoors by shutting down the entire public transportation system, closing schools and ordering businesses to remain closed for the day. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subway and commuter rail system is shut down until further notice as officials try to keep citizens off the streets following the fatal shoot out in Watertown early Friday morning that lead to the death of the first suspect. Scroll down for video . Ghost town: Boston's normally busy streets were completely empty as the town was under strict lockdown orders . Front row seat: A woman in Watertown peaks out from behind her curtains as she tries to figure out what is going on in her neighborhood after police told everyone to remain indoors . Closed campus: All public schools and more than 16 colleges in the area were part of the lockdown . Nowhere to turn: Police have been going through the second suspect's reported neighborhood door-by-door, but the lockdown was extended to all of Boston (downtown pictured here) Amtrak services in the area around . Boston has been suspended indefinitely, keeping people- including . 19-year-old suspect Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev- from leaving the city. 'This is a serious situation, we're taking it seriously. We're asking the public to take it seriously as well,' Governor Deval Patrick said in a Friday morning briefing. He said that the transport systems will remain shut down until further notice. Megabus cancelled 18 buses and other bus companies including Bolt Bus, Greyhound, and Peter Pan-that were scheduled to travel between Boston and neighboring states, changing plans for more than 1,000 passengers. Off the roads: The entire city was eerily quiet during the lockdown, that remained for most of Friday . Looming: Residents anxiously awaited a conclusion of the manhunt so they could go outside . Unusual sight: More than a million people were told to stay in their homes and not go to work . Helpful: The Governor said the 'shelter in place' order was used so police could quickly mobilize and track the suspect . Flights into Boston's Logan Airport are . still being permitted to land, but the passengers will have a lot of . trouble getting into the city given the lockdown. All public schools and 16 of the city's colleges were closed for the day. A . late addition to the list of closed universities was UMass-Dartmouth, . after school officials realized that he was enrolled at the college. 'UMass . Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the . Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at . UMass Dartmouth. The campus is closed. Individuals on campus should . shelter in place unless instructed otherwise,' a school spokesman said . in a statement. Officials . have called for businesses to remain close and are asking for their . cooperation in keeping their employees off the streets. Taxi services . have been suspended as well. In some areas, cars are banned from . the roads as another tact for authorities to keep control of the area. It will also theoretically help them single out Tsarnaev if he is on the roads. No hustle: As the manhunt continued into the afternoon, there was still no sign of life at Boston's Downtown Crossing . Lonely: The wallkway by Commonwealth Avenue was completely abandoned . Initially . residents of Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Newton, Cambridge, Alston and . Brighton were specifically warned to stay inside, as they are the . neighborhoods near the home of the suspects on Norfolk Street in . Cambridge. Between 250,000 and estimated 400,000 people live in those towns. At the 8am press briefing, the shelter-in-place order was extended to include all of Boston. Police conducted a door-to-door search . in Watertown, warning that if anyone other than federal officials are . seen in the area or ask to enter a home, the residents should call 911. Suspect: Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, now 19-years-old, is seen in these two pictures that were released by authorities . Shelter in place: Earlier orders highlighted the towns surrounding Watertown, but it was expanded to include all of Boston . Opposite: Historic Faneuil Hall (on the left) is one of Boston's busiest hubs of activity in normal circumstances . Bizarre: The emptiness of the streets is unnerving for many Bostonians who have been keeping in touch using social media . Ghost town: Storrow Drive was almost entirely empty after the lockdown . Governor . Patrick reiterated that order at the press briefing, warning Bostonians . 'not to open the door for anyone other than a properly identified . officer'. Officials are not . taking the situation lightly, issuing a warning to residents that 'a . terrorist that wants to kill people is in your area'. 'We're going to need the public to help us help them keep us safe,' Mr Patrick said. 'We have every asset that we could muster.' Eerie: Suburbs around Boston were included in the forced lockdown . Lockdown: All Boston residents were told to stay inside as police- and the Special Operations officers seen here- take control of the city during the manhant for the second marathon bomber . Waiting for news: A man looks out of his window in Cambridge, one of the town over from the suspect's home . No change: The Mayor said that the lockdown will continue until further notice . Witnesses: Two residents look out at the action as police swarm Watertown looking for the second suspect . Door-to-door: Authorities are telling residents not to open the door to anyone that is not an officer as they search all of the neighboring homes in Watertown . | Police order all residents to stay inside as the manhunt continues for the second suspect, identified as Dzokhar Tsarnaev .
Public transport system shut down .
Amtrak service stopped north of New York .
All public schools and 16 colleges are closed today as well as UMass-Dartmouth where Dzokhar was enrolled .
Red Sox game scheduled for this evening now postponed . |
200,232 | 8f3763ebcfabd643adce449c5e90887c805a9e7b | By . Jenny Hope . PUBLISHED: . 20:05 EST, 24 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 07:48 EST, 25 January 2014 . Reforms to the formula used to ration expensive medicines will make it harder for NHS patients to get new life-saving drugs, warn campaigners. The rationing body, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), plans to lower the cost threshold for new treatments and end the priority given to patients who are dying. The reforms are a shift to a system which the Government pledged would allow patients to ‘access the drugs and treatments their doctors think they need’. It involves changes to a complex formula, known as quality adjusted life years (QALY). Reforms to the formula used to ration expensive medicines will make it harder for NHS patients to get new life-saving drugs, warn campaigners . NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said the rationing body would exceed the new £20,000 limit in exceptional circumstances . This determines the cost-effectiveness of a treatment by working out how it extends a life compared with existing treatments. Treatments have previously been approved if the cost is below £20,000, but may also get the go-ahead if they fall between £20,000 and £30,000. The proposals delete the £30,000 upper limit – which means many drugs currently approved, such as the breast cancer treatment Herceptin, would have had a slim chance of getting a green light from NICE if applying in future. And some drugs approved under ‘end of life criteria’ – ones which might extend a dying patient’s life by precious weeks or months – will also face a tough battle. Andrew Wilson, of the Rarer Cancers . Foundation, said: ‘Far from making it easier for patients to get the . latest cancer drugs, these changes set the bar even higher.’ NICE chief executive Andrew Dillon said the rationing body would exceed the new £20,000 limit in exceptional circumstances. He . added: ‘We are not going to restrict further the availability of drugs. If companies offer prices that really reflect the value their . treatments bring, it holds open the prospect for us to say yes more . often.’ | Reforms to the formula used to ration expensive medicines will make it harder for patients to get new life-saving drugs, campaigners say .
The rationing body, NICE, plans to lower cost threshold for new treatments and end priority given to patients who are dying . |
11,720 | 214e86200287b302902244fcdf8ae17d1660d9c0 | A Stony Brook University student says she was forced to personally prosecute the man she claims sexually assaulted her. Now Sarah Tubbs, 22, is suing the school as well as her alleged attacker for Title XI violations, which prevent discrimination of gender at federally funded schools. Stony Brook is part of the State University of New York system. Filed last month in White Plains federal court, Tubbs' suit seeks monetary damages and a court order dissolving the school's practice of requiring sexual assault victims to 'prosecute their won cases and to cross-examine and be cross-examined by their assailants.' Sarah Tubbs, 22, is suing Stony Brook as well as her alleged attacker for Title XI violations, which prevent discrimination of gender at federally funded schools . Which, as The Journal News reports, is exactly what she Tubbs says happened to her. Tubbs says the attack happened early on January 26, 2014, after a drinking game at a campus party. She went with the unnamed attacker to his dorm with the intention of having sex, but changed her mind. She tired to physically resist and blacked out from the intoxication. Her assailant then forced oral sex on her, penetrated her with his digits, and tried to have vaginal intercourse. As the alleged assailant has not been criminally charged his name has not been released, and he failed to respond to interview request from The Journal News. 'I froze and there were parts of the night where I couldn't fight because it's not an option,' Tubbs said. She reported the assault to campus police two days later. They directed her to have a rape examination at Stony Brooky University Hospital. Two weeks later with the exam done, she filed a formal complaint, but the officer told her that her case wasn't viable 'because she did not scream 'No' or violently fight back.' She did not go to the District Attorney, fearing they'd tell her the same thing. But she did go after university disciplinary action only to be told one week before the hearing that she would have to be the one to prosecute her alleged attacker. That meant making exhibits, penning and opening statement, and putting together witness testimony. Tubbs said the school's campus police told her she didn't have a case as she failed to say 'no' or 'violently fight back' She spent the five-hour hearing separated from her alleged attacker by nothing but a paper screen, without any form of security present. 'I would say the hardest part was hearing his voice because it's the voice I hear in my flashbacks,' she said. 'One of my biggest concerns ... was that he would get aggressive and retaliate.' The accused claimed everything was consensual and was found not to be responsible for any wrongdoing. She appealed based on the Stony Brook's sexual misconduct policy being clear that a person cannot give consent if impaired by alcohol or unconscious. Stony Brook is just one of 94 colleges nationally with pending Title IX investigations regarding sexual violence. Tubbs has since graduated and now studies for a master's in social work at Hunter College. 'I don't think it's the rape that makes the person a victim,' she said. 'I think it's the systemic failure that makes someone from a survivor to a victim. ... I can honestly say I won't stop fighting until those systems change.' | Sarah Tubbs, 22, is suing Stony Brook as well as her alleged attacker for Title XI violations .
Alleged attacker's name has not been released because he has not been charged criminally .
Tubbs says school made her do her own investigation and prosecution after classmate allegedly sexually assaulted her while she was intoxicated . |
140,263 | 415efd85dce391a1c893a63a8b30ed1008f32cd3 | By . Jill Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 03:41 EST, 16 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:14 EST, 16 July 2013 . A teenager posted a heartbreaking letter online before he killed himself after being bullied. Carlos Vigil, 17, put the note up on his Twitter account on Saturday afternoon - his father rushed home as soon as he found out, but it was too late. In the brief message the teenager from Valencia County, New Mexico, said: 'The kids in school are right, I am a loser, a freak and a fag and in no way is that acceptable for people to deal with.' Tragic: Carlos Vigil, 17, put the note up on Twitter on Saturday afternoon - his father rushed home as soon as he found out, but it was too late . Heartbreaking: In the letter the teenager from Valencia County, New Mexico, said 'The kids in school are right, I am a loser, a freak and a fag and in no way is that acceptable for people to deal with' Carlos claimed his fellow students called him gay slurs and he apologised for 'not being a person that would make someone proud.' Carlos' distraught mother said her son decided to take his own life due to bullying. 'He is not here because of bullying,' Jacqueline said reported KRQE. 'It drove him over the edge.' Carlos' distraught mother Jacqueline, left, said her son decided to take his own life due to bullying. His father Ray Vigil said his son had been teased for a variety of reasons including being gay and wearing glasses . Difficult: On Monday, dozens of classmates showed up at the hospital where Carlos was on life support . His father Ray Vigil said his son had been teased for a variety of reasons including being gay, having acne and wearing glasses. 'We found out three years ago that he was going through this stuff and we've been trying to help him every day since,' Mr Vigil told KOB News. 'We realize he's been going through it every day since he was in the third grade, that's a long time for a child to hold that within himself.' Final: Early this morning he was taken off life support at UNM hospital . A message his family posted on Twitter earlier today . His father said he had just returned from North Carolina where he was lobbying an anti-bullying bill in their state legislature. 'Carlos wanted to be accepted by all, when he only needed to be accepted by himself,' said Mr Vigil. On Monday, dozens of classmates showed up at the hospital where Carlos was on life support. Early this morning he was taken off life support. Using his Twitter account his family wrote: 'Carlos is finally at peace! Thank you everyone for your support and prayers. Please don't forget what he wanted STOP THE BULLYING' If you are in crisis or suicidal and need someone to talk to, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK in the United States or through their website at samaritansusa.org.Readers in the UK can reach The Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or via email samaritans.org. | Carlos Vigil, 17, put the letter up on Twitter on Saturday afternoon .
His father rushed home as soon as he found out but it was too late . |
248,524 | cd903565ae30cdd8ad857e272f3517a920888a07 | By . Mail Online Reporter . A South Carolina dog that had its head trapped in an air conditioning duct pipe for up to a week was finally freed yesterday. The male stray dog, named Piper by animal rescuers, was caught by Oconee County animal officials with traps and tranquilizer guns after days of trying to catch the pooch. Piper was unable to eat or drink while having the tube stuck over its entire head but is now doing well in recovery. Scroll down for video . Free at last: Piper the dog was finally caught and freed from the metal pipe and is recovering well . Stranded: This feral dog was first spotted Monday running around Oconee County, South Carolina, with his head lodged firmly inside a metal duct pipe . The dog is undergoing an evaluation by a veterinarian today and will then be released to the owner of the property, Charles Williams, where Piper was first seen, WYFF reported. Despite being a stray dog, Charles Williams has been friendly with Piper for around a year. The dog will also be neutered while in veterinarian care and receive shots. Upstate . Animal Rescue spokesman Kelly Blair said last week that the dog . couldn't eat or drink with the metal tube clamped tightly around his . head. According to Blair, . the pup refused to let anyone get near to help, so she hoped someone . who is trained to use a tranquilizer gun would come to his aide. Blair said people frequently abandon their pets with no food or water in the area where the dog was found. The black-and-white pooch was discovered last Monday in Oconee County, stuck in the pipe which may have occurred while Piper was chasing a small critter. Being a feral animal, the pooch did not allow anyone to come near him. Running scared: Being a feral animal, the pup ran away every time someone attempted to go near him for help . Ruff life: The pooch likely was abandoned as a puppy and has been living on the streets for a year, relying on the kindness of neighbors . Neighbor Charles Williams told the station Fox Carolina that volunteer rescuers had come out to try and catch the dog, but he bolted and went into hiding. The dog has been living on the streets . for a year. On Upstate Animal Rescue Foundation's Facebook page, Kelly . Blair wrote that local residents have been feeding the animal. On Friday, animal control officials set up a large trap in hopes of capturing the poor, frightened animal, but it wasn't until Monday that Piper was caught. Upstate Animal Rescue officials said this was a first for the organization, which has been around for 30 years. The group needed donations to help with the pup's medical bills. FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports . | Piper the stray dog was caught by animal officials with traps and tranquilizer guns .
The dog was unable to eat or drink for up to a week while stuck but is now doing well in veterinary care .
Piper will be neutered and receive shots while in care . |
240,983 | c3faf5bfe545447605b41454b2f38c2f0e08463b | By . Paul Cahalan . PUBLISHED: . 16:10 EST, 21 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 18:04 EST, 21 September 2013 . As HR Director ‘Lipgloss’ Lucy Adams was labelled a liar by a Parliamentary committee, it was not only sections of the BBC newsroom that cheered in agreement. For watching a recording of the mauling was Steve Vear, her third husband. Speaking for the first time about their marriage, Mr Vear claims he fell ‘completely and madly in love’ with the £320,000-a-year executive before being ‘written out of her life’. 'Lipgloss' Lucy Adams on her honeymoon in the Maldives after marrying third husband, Steve Vear . Head of sales in the UK for a multinational optical firm, Mr Vear, who earns a six-figure salary, met Ms Adams in September 2008 and they were instantly attracted to each other after their first date at a dancing class. ‘She did salsa but I wanted to learn how to do ballroom dancing and she jumped straight in,’ the 51-year-old recalled. ‘I could tell there was something between us and I was attracted to her. ‘I went to meet her at her house in Fulham two nights after and never really left.’ Mr Vear said it soon became clear that Ms Adams, who has a daughter from a previous marriage, had expensive tastes, as proved when the pair got engaged. ‘It was Valentine’s Day on the beach in Marbella. I remember being very nervous and I picked a ring, which cost £200, the same day. ‘The first thing she did when she got back was go to Hatton Garden and buy a new ring. I never saw the receipt but I reckon it must have cost between £15,000 and £20,000. The wedding of Lucy Adams and Steve Vear in 2009 which cost £20,000 according to Mr Vear . She just said she’d always wanted a ring with massive diamonds and would I mind? I wasn’t really thinking that straight because I was so in love with her. I didn’t question it, I just thought if that’s what she wants to do let her get on with it. She had it cut the same way as the ring I gave her, but obviously you don’t get much of a diamond for £200.’ Mr Vear, who has been married three times and has two children from his first marriage, added Ms Adams certainly lived up to her ‘Lipgloss’ nickname and the couple had a ‘fairytale wedding’ when they tied the knot in December 2009 in Putney, South-West London. ‘Lucy wanted a winter wedding with candles everywhere. It cost about £20,000. Then we had a really expensive ten-day honeymoon in the Maldives and the villa cost about £1,200 a night,’ he said. ‘I’d never heard of the expression Lipgloss Lucy but it’s not one I’d disagree with. She’d never go anywhere without make-up. I bought her a £150 tub of face cream once as a present from Harrods and she just kept on buying it. ‘And she had an entire bedroom at her home turned into a dressing room where she kept all her designer handbags and shoes. Most of her bags came from Harrods and Selfridges. She must have had around 25, costing £1,000 upwards.’ Ms Adams, who was overseeing a major overhaul at the BBC, could have been excused for losing sleep. But Mr Vear confessed it was more mundane marriage problems that kept her awake at night. ‘She oversaw massive changes to the BBC pension system as well as pay freezes and job cuts. But none of that really fazed her. What seemed to upset her more was my snoring,’ he said. The end of their brief marriage still haunts Steve after he found out about her affair with PR director Andrew Powell. And he says since their split in the summer of 2011 they have had just one conversation and exchanged a handful of texts. ‘About three weeks before I found out, I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant in London with her and said, “Is there anything I should know about? Something doesn’t seem right.” And she said, “Absolutely not”. ‘But it was only when I was in Spain that I actually discovered her lover’s underpants. I was going through the dirty washing and his white boxer shorts were in the laundry basket. I also found a boarding ticket with both their names on and I looked him up on the internet. Mr Vear says he was 'written out' of his ex-wife's life after discovering she was having an affair with PR director Andrew Powell . ‘I left them on her side of the bed. She didn’t say a word and I thought, “If you have had an affair I’m not going to beg you to stay so get on with it.” A few days later she finally said, “You left them there and you didn’t say anything. If you want a conversation, have a conversation.” ‘It felt like she was just rubbing my nose in it. We loved that place – it was in the hills overlooking Marbella. I found it but we both picked it together. And she took him there. ‘The very same day Lucy told me I went to see a solicitor and said I wanted a divorce. I only found out later she’s still with the same guy. That betrayal knocked me for six and it’s taken a long time to get over. ‘I’ve got a new girlfriend but I know I’m difficult to live with and find myself swinging between not caring and being over-controlling and I’m sure that’s because of what Lucy did.’ The divorce papers acknowledge Ms Adams’s affair ended the marriage. Mr Vear said he accepted £25,000 cash to clear debts while she kept the £200,000 two-bed flat in Spain. He said: ‘I knew she was a piece of work but I never honestly believed she would do anything like that. Maybe I was naive. She said she was madly, deeply in love with me, like I was with her. ‘Lucy was handbags and shoes and fancy holidays. I didn’t know how well paid she was. She kept it a secret for the first few months. ‘What she earned made no difference to me – we just had a lot in common. Now I feel like she is trying to write me out of it.’ Ms Adams did not respond to requests for a comment. | Steve Vear speaks of how former wife 'rubbed his nose' in her affair after taking lover to couple's Spanish holiday home .
'Lipgloss' Lucy Adams devoted an entire room to shoes and handbags and swapped her engagement ring for a more expensive one, says Mr Vear .
Vear claims he didn't know how well paid BBC HR boss was at the beginning of relationship . |
233,120 | b9cdf1c54fcd437c52ea7c32de08333ea44b6588 | By . Travelmail Reporter . Twenty people have been injured on board a South African Airways plane after it struck severe turbulence en route to Hong Kong. Medics were waiting at the Hong Kong airport at around 12.30pm local time to assist passengers on SA286, which had departed Johannesburg on Tuesday, the airline said in a statement. Television footage showed rescue workers wheeling one injured passenger on a stretcher. Scroll down for video . On standby: Medics were waiting at Hong Kong Airport as the South African Airways plane landed, following reports of injuries due to turbulence . The South China Morning Post is reporting that many passengers hit the cabin ceiling, causing head and neck injuries. Three crew members and 17 passengers were injured, airline spokesman Tlali Tlali said. The Hong Kong fire department said two people were critically injured. The victims were taken to three hospitals. The airline said 165 passengers were on the Airbus 340-300 when the turbulence hit the aircraft as it flew over Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. A Hong Kong fire department spokesman . said 14 ambulances, four fire engines, a mobile casualty treatment . centre and a mobile command unit were sent to the scene. | Two people were critically injured after turbulence hit the aircraft as it flew over Kuala Lumpur .
The South China Morning Post is reporting that many passengers hit the cabin ceiling, causing head and neck injuries .
165 passengers were on board the Airbus 340-300 travelling to Hong Kong . |
138,754 | 3f71d074f0956e9df2ab132ab7d371358c339c1c | (CNN) -- The fertilizer blamed for the massive explosion that devastated a Texas town in April was kept in wooden bins, in a wooden building, with no sprinklers nearby. And that fell within the existing safety rules for handling ammonium nitrate, a "patchwork" of regulations, recommendations and guidance "that has many large holes," the head of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board told a Senate committee Thursday. The federal agency hasn't found any regulations "that prohibit or discourage many of the factors that likely contributed" to the April 17 explosion in West, Texas, the board's chairman, Rafael Moure-Eraso, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. A fire at the West Fertilizer Company led to an ammonium nitrate explosion that devastated the small town south of Dallas and killed 15 people, most of them firefighters and paramedics. The blast showed up on seismographs as a small earthquake and flattened or damaged dozens of homes, two schools and a nursing home nearby. "Facilities like West fall outside the existing process safety standards, which were developed in the 1990s," Moure-Eraso said. Sprinklers aren't required until a company is storing 2,500 tons of ammonium nitrate, he said. And while industry groups have recommended fire safety standards, Texas has no statewide fire codes and most of its counties can't adopt their own. "So at West, these fire code provisions were strictly voluntary, and West Fertilizer had not volunteered," he said. Ammonium nitrate is a widely used fertilizer with a notorious reputation as an explosive. The bomb used to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people, was made mostly ammonium nitrate. Moure-Eraso said the Chemical Safety Board urged the Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 to require non-combustible storage bins for reactive chemicals like ammonium nitrate, but the EPA hasn't done that. The committee's chairwoman, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, said she will be pressuring the EPA to enact those rules. "That was a very prescient call, and it didn't happen," Boxer told Barry Breen, the head of the EPA's emergency response arm. The EPA's current guidance for handling ammonium ntirate dates back to 1997, "and I feel that EPA has to step up to the plate here and do a lot more." Breen said that guidance "is posted on our website now and continues to be vital." And he told Boxer the EPA is studying "a number of potential policy options" in response to the West disaster, but he wouldn't say when those steps would be taken. "In order to establish that time frame, we need to understand that issue better, and that's what we're doing now," he said. West Fertilizer was covered under federal workplace safety rules for handling ammonium nitrate, Sam Mannan, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University, told the committee. If they had followed those rules, "My guess is the probability of this incident would have been almost none," he said. But the last time the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected West Fertilizer was in 1985, when it fined the company $30 over its handling of anhydrous ammonia, another fertilizer it sold. "Until we come up with a regime where we are doing the enforcement comprehensively, in a manner that yields good results, we're not going to accomplish anything. We just add another legislation that doesn't get enforced," Mannan said. With a budget of $10.6 million and a current staff of 42, the Chemical Safety Board investigates chemical accidents and makes recommendations to prevent future ones. The board is also investigating the June 13 explosion at a chemical plant in Geismar, Louisiana, that killed two people and injured more than 100. The agency has a lengthy backlog of cases and "no capacity at this point to undertake any new investigative work," he said. West Fertilizer had been cited by federal regulators twice in the seven years before the blast, including a $5,250 fine for storing anhydrous ammonia in tanks that lacked the proper warning labels. Since the explosion, Texas officials have announced plans for an online database that will allow residents to view local facilities that hold hazardous materials. Meanwhile, the town has sued the company that sold ammonium nitrate to West Fertilizer, arguing it "blindly" supplied the chemical to a firm that didn't handle it properly. | West Fertilizer didn't have to have fireproof bins or sprinklers, investigator says .
The plant blew up in April, killing 15 and devastating a small Texas town .
Senator presses the EPA to do more; EPA says it's studying the issue . |
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