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283,459 | fb2d74cce9243598371916208c191d2cb7bd943e | Celtic face competition in their efforts to land Stuart Armstrong after Sporting Lisbon emerged as rival bidders for the Dundee United midfielder. As Sportsmail exclusively revealed last week, Scotland’s reigning champions are poised to reignite their interest in the 22-year-old when the January transfer window opens. Celtic assistant manager John Collins went on a specific scouting mission to watch Armstrong in action for Dundee United against Motherwell in the Scottish Cup. Celtic face competition in their efforts to land Stuart Armstrong after Sporting Lisbon emerged as rival bidders . The player’s strong running and eye for goal — he showed great composure to find the net at the end of a brilliant counter-attack in Friday night’s league win away to Ross County — have made him an obvious target for Ronny Deila. But reports in Portugal now suggest that Sporting are keen to land yet another promising Tannadice youngster, having swooped to sign Ryan Gauld on a six-year deal in the summer — and immediately slapping a £48million buy-out clause on the attacker. It is understood that, while the Lisbon side always intended to ease Gauld into the club by fielding him mainly for their B side, Scotland Under-21 star Armstrong is viewed as a player capable of making an immediate impact. Scotland’s reigning champions are poised to reignite their interest when the January transfer window opens . Celtic assistant manager John Collins scouted the 22-year-old midfielder against Motherwell . | Celtic are tracking Dundee United midfielder Stuart Armstrong .
John Collins went on a scouting mission to watch him against Motherwell .
Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon are also tracking the 22-year-old .
Sporting signed Ryan Gauld from Dundee during the summer . |
10,571 | 1e127ca56908f28f7f787c736b60cb28ca1d76a0 | By . Anna Edwards . PUBLISHED: . 02:58 EST, 12 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 06:10 EST, 12 August 2013 . The price of single train tickets could be halved, it has emerged - although the price of a return could rise in order to pay for it. The Department for Transport has been in contact with the Treasury and train operators to discuss the possibility to slash the price of a single fare. But the bill looks set to be paid for by taxpayers' expense and mean return ticket . costs might be pushed up. Could rail fares be slashed? The price of a single ticket could be halved but return tickets pushed up to pay for it . At the moment single fares match the price of return journeys. Train companies could be given millions of pounds to organise the change as it would alter their operating licences. Currently, the Treasury is considering discussing paying a significant amount for a change in fares - but where this money would be found is unclear, and could mean the scrapping of other services to raise the cash, The Times said. Pilot schemes may begin over the next few months. Last week it emerged that train fares could rise by more than nine per cent next year for some train journeys. It follows an average rise of 4.2 per cent on rail network in 2013 and increases twice that size on some popular routes. The talks about single train fares come as part of a review into Britain's rail prices. But how the commuting public will feel about the potential drop in singles but rise in returns remains to be seen. The Treasury is in talks wit the Department for Transport and train companies about the potential change . Passenger satisfaction with Britain’s crowded, late-running and over-priced railway network has plummeted to the lowest level in six years, a damning survey by official watchdogs revealed in June. One in eight passengers said they were unhappy with their unreliable rail services at a time of inflation-busting fare rises and bumper bonuses for rail bosses. Only four out of ten - 42 per cent - believe train companies give value for money while just 38 per cent are satisfied with their ability to deal with delays. The report by consumer watchdog Passenger Focus said rail companies are ‘failing to deliver on their basic promises’ to deliver a reliable time-table and that train travellers deserved a better deal. It comes after it was revealed last month that five rail bosses are set to receive £11million over three years in an extraordinary deal that critics condemned as rewarding failure. The top executives at Network Rail could share bonuses of £5million on top of their six-figure salaries, despite years of dismal performance and inflation-busting fare rises. The taxpayer-funded firm is currently facing a £75million fine for missing its punctuality targets for long distance services. Network Rail, a not-for-profit company, has also been dogged by constant complaints over crowded trains and fare rises. Its five bosses were already earning salaries of between £348,000 and £577,000 a year, with annual bonuses worth up to 60 per cent of their basic income. But in July a new 'long-term incentive' payment was agreed. This additional bonus will be paid at the end of three years and is worth a maximum of a full year’s salary, depending on performance. The new element was rubber-stamped at the company's annual general meeting in Cardiff. Santander has made the most of a gap in the market following rail hikes with a cashback credit card that enables cardholders to get 3 per cent off the cost of future trains back. What do you get? Money back: Santander is offering cashback on rail fares . Santander’s 123 Credit Card allows for money . to be claimed for train tickets bought at stations or online with any . rail company, as well as for season tickets and London Underground . tickets. The small print . There are loopholes. There is a £300-a-month limit on which you can claim back money and those travelling in Northern Ireland are barred from claiming back on tickets booked online with NI Railways. Purchases . not eligible for cashback include TfL travelcards, passes and Oyster . Card top ups made at newsagents, garages and off-licences. Eurotunnel Le . Shuttle and train tickets bought through travel agents or tour . operators are also excluded from the deal. There . is a £24 annual fee which is waived for the first year using a fairly . complicated refund system. To qualify for this refund you must open or . hold a 123 Current Account and set up a direct debit from the 123 . Current Account to pay your 123 Credit Card within 30 days. The . annual fee charged for the first year will then be refunded to your 123 . Credit Card account within 21 days from the later of either activating . your card and/or setting up the direct debit from your 123 Current . Account. Cardholders will have to think carefully as to whether, on balance, the high annual fee cancels out savings made from cashback. There is also a high APR of 22.8 per cent - so make sure you pay off your full balance every month to avoid interest. Additional benefits . Cardholders also benefit from a lucrative cashback scheme on a range of household bills. This . includes 1 per cent cashback on all major supermarkets, 2 per cent at . all major department stores including Debenhams, John Lewis, and Harvey . Nichols, as well as 3 per cent on spends at all major petrol stations. Santander is also offering a 30 per cent discount deal on home insurance with this card. Terms and conditions apply - click here to read more. By Amy Andrew . | The Department for Transport has been in .
contact with the Treasury and train operators to discuss the .
possibility .
Pilot schemes may begin within months if talks are successful . |
14,142 | 282434021da12e5fbe2332265e728dddaf8a6626 | Modern-day cars now have more than 100 electronic parts from electric windows and heated seats to all-singing, all-dancing entertainment systems. This may make driving easier for car owners, but as motors become more complicated, the skills required to fix them become more advanced. To tackle this, BMW has designed a pair of augmented reality glasses that show users step-by-step instructions on how to fix an engine, simply by looking at it - and you don't need previous mechanical experience to use them. Scroll down for video . The glasses also show the wearer a picture of the tool needed to carry out the job, pictured in the bottom left-hand corner, and each tool is numbered to make this easier. The list of instructions can also be recalled by pressing the data button, top right . When . a mechanic looks at the engine of a BMW, a . 3D colourful display is laid over the top of the original engine view. The glasses are used to diagnose where the fault is and will take the wearer through step-by-step instructions to fix it. At . each point, the relevant engine part is highlighted and a written . instruction is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The glasses additionally come with headphones that can read the instructions out loud. A . 3D animation will then play to demonstrate to the mechanic how to . remove the relevant part. In the bottom left-hand corner, the glasses also show a . picture of the tool needed to carry out the job. This is because animations shown via the glasses explain exactly how to disassemble car parts, and even which direction to turn a screw, for example. The glasses are part of BMW’s wider Augmented Reality: The Extension of . Reality project and the software includes various makes and models of . BMW cars. It can also be updated as more models are launched. When . a mechanic looks at the engine of a BMW, while wearing the glasses, a . 3D colourful display is laid over the top of the original engine view. The glasses are used to diagnose where the fault is and will take the wearer through step-by-step instructions to fix it. At . each point, the relevant engine part is highlighted and a written . instruction is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The glasses come with headphones that also read the instructions out loud. A . 3D animation will then play to demonstrate how to . remove the relevant part, including which screws to remove, where to . hold the component and how it lifts out, for example. Additionally, . in the bottom left-hand corner, the glasses will show a . picture of the tool needed to carry out the job - and each tool is . numbered to make this easier. The list of instructions can be recalled by pressing the data button. At each point, the relevant engine part is highlighted and a written instruction is displayed in the top left-hand corner of the screen. The glasses, pictured, come with headphones that also read the instructions out loud . As . BMW explained: ‘Using augmented reality, the mechanic receives . additional three-dimensional information on the engine he is repairing, . to help him in diagnosing and solving the fault. ‘Apart from the . real environment, he sees virtually animated components, the tools to be . used and hears instruction on each of the working steps through . headphones integrated inside the goggles.’ Although . BMW’s glasses . have been created especially for its service engineers, developers at . augmented reality firm Metaio created a similar app for Google Glass in . September. In 2007, BMW developed its own smartglasses that help mechanics fix cars using augmented reality. When a mechanic looks at the engine of a BMW, while wearing the glasses, a 3D colourful display is laid over the top of the original engine view, pictured . It also shows instructions through the device’s built-in . visor and uses computer models to recognise and overlay the 3D content. Metaio . said it is also working on developing the software to run on other . wearable headsets, including Epson’s Moverio range, and Vuzix models – . both showcased at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Trak Lord from Metaio told BBC Future: 'Say you’re driving down the road, and a light comes on. You can then load up that scenario, based on the symbols, in an app.' 'It could then tell the driver to open the engine [and] simply point their smartphone camera in the general direction of the problem.' | Augmented reality glasses were built to help BMW mechanics fix vehicles .
Mechanic is shown a 3D animated view on top of the original engine view .
Step-by-step instructions and animations are displayed through the visor .
Animations show mechanics which direction to turn a screw, for example .
Glasses can also show which tool the mechanic needs to complete the job . |
17,735 | 3241dad1616d1fd2e883df5b4681ad8dcc0f22d5 | I love being spoiled by my kids, but something's missing: a chance to hug my own mother. "Mama, what did you used to do with Grandma Heather on Mother's Day?" asks my four-year-old as we sat down to brunch. Pause. Swallow. Breathe deeply. "Well, we did lots of things," I reply. "We were lucky to have a lot of Mother's Days with her. Sometimes we used to take her out to brunch or make her a special meal at home... Sometimes we went to a jazz concert with her, since that was one of her favorite kinds of music..." I trail off. "Jazz? I don't like jazz," he sniffs, and then turns to his dad to ask for the syrup. The moment passes without my dissolving into tears, a minor triumph for me. Parenting.com: Yummy breakfast-in-bed ideas for Mother's Day . The last Mother's Day I got to celebrate with my mom was May 10, 2009. She was in a rehabilitation center after several weeks in the hospital, following the discovery that her breast cancer had metastasized and necessitated a colostomy. Her illness aside, it was a harrowing time for our family: my husband had lost his job due to the recession; we had had to move a few hours away as a result, my toddler son was melting down regularly as his world zigged and zagged, and, to top it off, I was very, very pregnant. My mom wallowed in self-pity for a few days, thinking about how uh, crappy, it would be to have to walk around with a bag of stool taped to her stomach for the rest of her life, but did her best to clutch at her usual spunky, snarky self. She was focused on regaining the strength to climb the stairs of her townhouse in Brooklyn and hoped to make it home in time for the birth of my second son several weeks later -- which she had graciously allowed to take place in her home. On that particular Mother's Day, she was tired from everything she had been through in the previous weeks, and I was exhausted from waddling around the city as my due date loomed. While my husband and toddler went exploring in the hallways of the rehab center, my mom and I sat together, trying to enjoy our time but looking forward to better days. I gave her a card that day that read, "I was really worried there for a bit, but I should have known that you still had some fight left in you. I am so grateful for the almost 23 years since your initial diagnosis, but I'm greedy for more time with you. You are a remarkable woman and an amazing mom -- I really do aspire to be like you and to have my kids feel about me the way that Jay [my brother] and I do you." Little did we know what was to come. Parenting.com: My most precious Mother's Day gift . She didn't end up making it out of the rehab in time to witness her grandson's birth, but she eventually made it home a few weeks later. When her strength didn't resume as we had all expected, her oncologist paid a housecall to let us know that the cancer had spread even further, and that she should cease all treatment and start hospice care. She slipped into a coma one evening as my newborn son, Henry, and I lay beside her, and she died the next evening, with my brother and me by her side, having given us time to say our goodbyes, tell her how much we loved her, and reassure her that we would be okay. The Mother's Days since have been tinged with bittersweet longing. While I'm crazy about my boys and appreciate however they want to celebrate the day, I miss having someone to honor. Sure, I call my dad's partner and wish her a happy Mother's Day and send my favorite aunt (my mom's youngest sister) a pair of earrings much like ones I would have chosen for my mom, but there will always be something missing. Maybe it's because I was raised by a single mom, but I always felt the need to really make something of the day for her -- to show her how deeply I felt she was doing a great job. And now I also miss her vote of confidence in my parenting, since it felt like it was coming from the pro. Parenting.com: The most awkward pregnancy photos ever . I try to keep or create who she was for my boys, who didn't get to really know her. My older son, Ben, has vague memories of her (or maybe just memories of what I've told him they did together, since he only two when she died), but my younger son Henry just a few weeks old when she passed away. She was too weak to even hold him. I tell Ben of how my mom used to chuckle when I would call her nearly crying in frustration at his stubbornness; not only would she would remind me that I had been similarly temperamental, but she genuinely reveled in his strong personality. And her laughing, while maddening, helped me to better appreciate him by seeing him through someone else's eyes. When he rides his balance bike, I remind him that Grandma Heather gave it to him, somehow foreseeing that a gift that would grow with him would allow her to remain tangibly present in his life after her death. In the evening, when Henry climbs into his big brother's bed to cuddle and read before bedtime, I might ask him if he knows that he was born in that bed, his grandmother's bed and a bed that had welcomed two other generations of my family a century ago. And as my boys fall asleep, it's to the sound of my off-key rendition of lullabies she made up and used to sing to me, songs I hadn't heard or thought of in years but which began to ring in my ears after her death. And of course we keep photos of her around the house -- her house, actually, since my brother and my family and I moved back in following her death. Parenting.com: Top baby names of 2012 . Although Mother's Day is one where I can't help but feel her loss, the times I miss her most are during the highs and lows of parenting -- when one of my sons reaches a big milestone like walking or learning how to read, or at the end of a long day when I've lost my temper. It's at those moments that I wish I could hear just how proud she would be, or be reminded that having a bad day doesn't make you a mom failure. I miss her take on it all. And so, on this Mother's Day (and the other 364 days this year), I'm trying to be the mom my mother taught me how to be, both for my sons and for myself, even as I wish she could cheer me on. I was taught by one of the best that it's not about doing it all (she couldn't, as a single working mom) or being there for every minute (again, it literally wasn't possible), but it's about being fully present for the stuff that matters. I try to hear her voice in my head and give myself a break when I know she would have encouraged me to do so, congratulate myself for my part of the incredible mini-men my sons are becoming. Mostly, I just remind myself to slow down and enjoy the kids that she would have so adored. Happy Mother's Day, Mom. Parenting.com: The surprising thing one mom celebrates on Mother's Day . | Rosen misses having someone to honor this Mother's Day .
She especially feels the loss during the highs and lows of parenting .
Rosen's mother taught her that parenting is about being fully present for the stuff that matters . |
105,576 | 142a19523d7c559b9825c4eb24d28706197a513b | A widower whose wife was killed in front of their toddler son when an 85-year-old driver confused the pedals of his car has made an impassioned plea for his family's story to be used as a cautionary tale against dangerous driving among the elderly. Ben Brooks-Dutton said he has been left 'utterly bereft' by the loss of his wife Desreen, killed in 2012 by pensioner Geoffrey Lederman in Hampstead, north west London. Lederman was jailed this week for 18 months for mistaking the accelerator of his 1950s Mercedes for its brake. Despite his grief, Mr Brooks-Dutton said he never wanted to see the man behind bars. No amount of suffering on the part of the man culpable for his wife's death would relieve his heartache. But in a moving plea to families concerned their elderly relatives may not be fit enough to drive, the 35-year-old father has begged them to share his story. Here, the MailOnline publishes Mr Brooks-Dutton's request, Tell Them. Desreen Brooks was killed in 2012 in front of her husband Ben (pictured together) and their son . 'The eighty-five-year-old driver who killed my wife, Desreen, was jailed today for eighteen months for causing her death by dangerous driving. He was also banned from driving for life. 'I suspect he, his family and friends are feeling really quite dreadful right now, and, for what it’s worth, mine and I aren’t exactly celebrating either. Geoffrey Lederman was jailed for 18 months last week . 'You see, I’ve had time to think since attending the trial and I’ve realised that you can punish a crime but you can’t transfer pain. 'Any suffering caused to the defendant as a result of his sentencing could in no way take away mine. I’ve since learned that, having suffered so much myself, I genuinely wish no hurt on any other person and I never wished a prison sentence on the driver, either. 'In fact, I wasn’t even going to mention the sentencing on my blog at all. 'But then I reminded myself that justice for Desreen is best served not by a prison sentence but by trying to prevent similar unnecessary deaths from happening again in future. 'I keep hearing people say that they know someone who should probably give up driving but that they don’t know how to raise the issue with them. Well maybe I can help with that. 'Tell them that the judge who sentenced the driver today said, ‘An elderly driver who knows, or should acknowledge, that he or she is losing his or her faculties is no less a danger than a drunken driver who knows the same.’ 'Tell them that the judge also explained that the defendant’s ‘lifetime of blameless driving is of no comfort to the Brooks-Dutton family,’ (and I assure you it really isn’t). 'Tell them that the detective sergeant in charge of the prosecution said, ‘It is important for motorists to regularly monitor their driver behaviour and that of their elderly relatives to ensure that the roads are safe for all road users.’ 'Tell them that the once ‘blameless’ elderly driver suffered pedal confusion, which caused his car to be travelling at an average of fifty-four miles per hour in a twenty zone when he struck and killed my wife. 'Tell them that the impact of this pedal confusion caused one of her shoes to fly off her feet as his speeding car hit her on the pavement where she was walking blamelessly with our then two-year-old son and me. 'Tell them that I had to keep looking at that shoe in the street on the night of her death and in photographs over the course of the subsequent trial. 'Tell them that this is the last photo ever taken of my wife with our son together. Tell them that the paramedics on the scene later that evening had to cut off the jumper she is pictured wearing in order to be able to perform CPR on the pavement where she lay dying. 'Tell them this is the last photo ever taken of my wife with our son together. The paramedics on the scene later that evening had to cut off the jumper she is pictured wearing to perform CPR' 'Tell them the collision investigator found a piece of the pushchair my son is pictured in in the street after the car skimmed it before mowing down his mother' 'Tell them that the day after my wife was killed my son was upset that he couldn’t find his scooter. Tell them that’s because his scooter was found in the wreckage too.' 'Tell them that what happened was almost even more catastrophic and that the car that killed my wife almost killed our son too. 'Tell them that the collision investigator found a piece of the pushchair he is pictured in here in the street after the car skimmed it before mowing down his mother. 'Tell them that the day after my wife was killed my son was upset that he couldn’t find his scooter. Tell them that’s because his scooter was found in the wreckage too. 'Tell them that every time I look at my favourite picture of my wife and me together I get upset as I imagine how I lost the hat I am pictured wearing on the night of her death. 'Tell them that I’ve concluded that I must have inadvertently thrown it into the street as I pulled at my own hair through fear that she was going to die. Tell them they won’t be the only people who have to deal with the consequences of any potential injury or fatality that they might cause. 'Tell them the impact will be felt by more people than they can imagine including their own family and friends. 'Tell them that the two-year-old boy who lost his mummy is now four and is still so angry and upset that she can’t come back. 'Tell them that he has suffered immeasurably from the trauma of that night. 'Show them this picture and tell them that this is him pictured with his beautiful mummy on his second birthday – the last one they would ever spend together. 'Tell them that at thirty-one years old I was the happiest man alive when I married the love of my life. 'Tell them that I was utterly bereft when I lost her at thirty-three. 'Show them this picture and tell them that this is him pictured with his beautiful mummy on his second birthday – the last one they would ever spend together' Tell them that every time I look at my favourite picture of my wife and me together I get upset as I imagine how I lost the hat I am pictured wearing on the night of her death . 'Tell them I’ve thirty-five now and depressed. 'Tell them that I put a good face on but that the truth is that things haven’t really got much easier. Tell them from me how hard it is to be a bereaved single parent. 'Tell them that once disaster strikes no wishing the tables could be turned will help. 'Tell them that wanting to switch places with the young person killed will make no difference to those who survive. 'Tell them that you understand that they may want to stay mobile but remind them of what’s at risk. 'Tell them any of these things you like; print this blog post off, email it on, share it online and let it speak for itself. 'Tell me you’ll help prevent this happening again, though. 'Just tell me that so that one day I can tell my son that his mother’s death wasn’t completely in vain.' Mr Brooks-Dutton's book, It's Not Raining Daddy, It's Happy can be found here. In support of: Grief Encounter; Child Bereavement UK; Winston Wish; Widowed and Young; Brake. | Desreen Brooks was killed two years ago in front of her husband and child .
The 33-year-old was mowed down by an elderly man as she walked .
Geoffrey Lederman was jailed for 18 months over the tragedy this week .
Here, the fashion agent's husband makes an emotional plea to drivers . |
95,379 | 069474cf30bccaf5cf3130bf583bcfc113c7149c | Los Angeles (CNN) -- Sharon Stone's former maid filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the actress on Monday, contending Stone fired her because she was injured carrying groceries. Angelica Castillo's complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, comes less than a year after Stone's former nanny sued accusing her of violating labor laws and and making derogatory comments about her ethnicity. The suit says Castillo suffered severe pain when she hurt her back while carrying Stone's groceries in June. Although a doctor ordered her not to lift heavy objects and to get bed rest, Stone told her to return to work, the complaint said. "Plaintiff was required to perform her regular duties, including but not limited to grocery shopping, lifting and moving heavy items as part of cleaning the residences," the complaint said. "While the plaintiff was still in severe pain, Stone repeatedly yelled at plaintiff for performing her duties more slowly, and called her 'crazy' and 'stupid,' " the suit said. Stone fired her the same day, the lawsuit said. The complaint accuses Stone of wrongful termination and failure to provide accommodation for her injury. The lawyer for the actress did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment. The former nanny's lawsuit, filed in May, said she was fired because she refused to return overtime pay that Stone told her she did not deserve. Stone told her she learned from her accountant in January 2011 that she was paying the nanny overtime when she worked holidays or traveled to care for her three children, the suit said. Erlinda Elemen, a Filipino, worked as a live-in nanny for the actress for more than four years until she was fired in February 2011, the lawsuit said. Stone called it "an absurd lawsuit" with "made-up and fabricated" claims, filed by "a disgruntled ex-employee who is obviously looking to get money any way she can." | Lawsuit claims Sharon Stone called the maid crazy and stupid .
A doctor ordered the maid not to lift heavy objects and to get bed rest, the suit says .
The maid's suit comes less than a year after Stone's former nanny sued . |
260,328 | dd2110d724c45fe8a12c44a42bf5d874706e9376 | By . Victoria Woollaston . PUBLISHED: . 11:46 EST, 15 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 12:58 EST, 15 January 2014 . The athletes at this year’s Winter Olympics won’t be the only stars of the show - individual visitors will also be given their own moment in the spotlight. Thousands of ticket holders will have 3D portraits of their faces beamed onto the side of the pavilion in the Olympic village. The façade of the building has been designed to work like a Pin Art toy and will move and change shape as the faces change. Scroll down for video . Russian mobile phone firm MegaFon plans to scan the faces of its customers, as well as visitors to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and show the portraits as giant pin art in the Olympic Village in February. The MegaFaces pavilion, concept pictured, will continuously change shape to show these different faces throughout each day . Each visitors' face will be photographed from five different angles to capture an accurate 3D view. The MegaFaces system will then take one minute to turn these five shots into a 3D model. Actuators built into the pavilion's facade will register the different contours of the scanned faces and move pin-style blocks into position, . Faces will continually change throughout the day. Concept images show that three faces will be shown on one side of the building at a time, and visitors will be told what . time their portrait will appear. For people who have their photo taken . but can’t get tickets to the events, MegaFon will also be filming the . structure throughout the games and people can watch it on a website. To capture the portraits, 3D photo booths have been set up in MegaFon mobile phone stores across Russia. There will also be booths positioned throughout the 2000 square metre pavilion and grounds when the games begin in February. The mobile firm teamed up with London-based architect Asif Khan to design the giant pin screen, called MegaFaces. The screen is made up of over 10,000 actuators that register the different shapes of the scanned faces, and move the ‘pin-style’ blocks into position. Faces will continually change throughout the day, and will be illuminated at night. Each person’s face will be photographed from five different angles to capture an accurate 3D view. The facade of the pavilion is made up of over 10,000 actuators that register the different shapes of the scanned faces, and move the ‘pin-style’ blocks into position. Faces will continually change throughout the day, and will be illuminated at night, pictured . This concept image shows how the MegaFaces facade will look from the side. Each person's face will be photographed from five different angles to capture an accurate 3D view. The system will then take one minute to turn these five shots into a 3D model . The screen works in a similar way to the metal pins in Pin Art toys, like the one pictured . According to Khan, the system will then take one minute to turn these five shots into a 3D model. Concept images show that three faces can be shown on one side of the building and visitors will be told what time their portrait will appear. For people who have their photo taken but can’t get tickets to the events, MegaFon will also be filming the structure throughout the games and people can watch it on a website. They can then download a video of their avatar’s appearance. Once the games have finished, the building, dubbed Digital Mount Rushmore, will be moved to Moscow. Khan said: ‘Even in the digital age we still use emoticons when texting to show how we feel. ‘The concept is that the human face is still the strongest way of conveying emotion. He continued that he wants everyone to be given the ‘opportunity to be the face of the Olympics.' The Sochi Winter Olympics take place between the 7 and 23 February. The Sochi Winter Olympics take place between 7 and 23 February. Once the games have finished, the building, concept image pictured, dubbed Digital Mount Rushmore, will be moved to Moscow . A model of the 2,000 square metre pavilion in the Sochi Winter Olympic Village. Mobile firm MegaFon teamed up with London-based architect Asif Khan and Swiss engineering firm AG to design and build the giant pin screen . | Photo booths across MegaFon stores in Russia will scan visitor’s faces .
Portraits will be displayed on the side of a pavilion at the Sochi Olympics .
The building’s façade has been designed to works like a Pin Art toy .
It will be made up of 10,000 actuators that move to produce the 3D view . |
163,076 | 5ee12e441eb1ad6ef9dba8adaf7d7e3cebdc9037 | Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after the International Cricket Council ruled that his action was illegal. Tests undertaken at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough revealed that Hafeez's action exceeded the 15 degrees level permitted under ICC regulations. The 34-year-old off-spinner was reported after the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in November, which Pakistan won by 248 runs. Mohammad Hafeez has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect . Tests revealed that Hafeez's action exceeded the 15 degrees level permitted under ICC regulations . 'The International Cricket Council today confirmed that an independent analysis has found the bowling action of Pakistan's Mohammad Hafeez to be illegal and, as such, the off-spinner has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect,' an ICC statement read. 'The analysis revealed that all his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations. 'Hafeez, who was reported after the first Test match against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last month, can apply for a re-assessment after he has modified his bowling action in accordance with clause 2.4 of the Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions.' Hafeez, who has played 40 Tests and 149 one-day internationals for Pakistan, is the second Pakistan player to be suspended for an illegal bowling action this year after Saeed Ajmal was sanctioned in September. Pakistan play New Zealand in Dubai on Monday in the first of five one-day internationals. The 34-year-old off-spinner was reported after the first Test against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi in November . | The Pakistan all-rounder's suspension comes in with immediate effect .
International Cricket Council deem Mohammad Hafeez's action illegal .
Tests undertaken at National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough .
Hafeez's action exceeded 15 degrees level permitted under ICC rules .
Off-spinner was reported after Test in Abu Dhabi in November . |
220,575 | a98428ab2844737ba4258865e9098ea05f1027e1 | By . Ashley Collman . PUBLISHED: . 23:59 EST, 8 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 06:21 EST, 9 January 2014 . A New Hampshire man playing video games Tuesday night got a taste of real life violence when a rogue bullet hit him in the head. Josh Demeritt, 20, of Rochester was surprisingly uninjured by the bullet accidentally fired by his across-the-street neighbor Corey Field, 25, who was in the middle of cleaning his gun. But because Field tried to cover up the accident, he is facing two felony charges. Lucky: Josh Demeritt was playing video games Tuesday night when he was accidentally shot by his neighbor across the street who was cleaning his gun . Maintenance: Neighbor Corey Field, 25 (right), was cleaning his gun when it accidentally shot off, going through a window, curtains and wall before striking Mr Demeritt . Mr Demeritt was sitting on his bed playing a video game when the accidental shooting happened. 'Next thing I know I heard a loud noise, and I see some paint flying across the room,' Mr Demeritt told CBS Boston. 'I see the mark on the wall, I feel something hit me in the top of my head, and I thought somebody threw something in the room at first.' The bullet went through a window, curtains and a wall before striking Mr Demeritt. 'I ended up finding the bullet on the floor right next to where I was sitting,' said Mr Demeritt. Police responded to Mr Demeritt's apartment home at 15 Leonard Street and surmised that the bullet originated from a third-floor apartment at 16 Leonard, across the street. Unscathed: Mr Demeritt escaped injury because the bullet had slowed down considerably by the time it hit him on the top of the head . They were surprised to find Mr Demeritt in such good condition after being hit. 'He was lucky that the bullet had gone through enough of the structures to run out of energy,' said Captain Paul Toussaint of the Rochester Police Department. When they turned up to interview Field, they discovered there was a warrant out for his arrest for failing to appear at an arraignment for a pending driving-after-suspension charge. While being questioned by police, Field admitting to shooting the gun and hiding it. He led police to a snow bank behind a laundromat where he hid the gun and handed over a crushed soda can in his room containing the bullet casing. Trouble: Field is facing two felony charges related to the shooting. Above, a reporter outside Field's apartment where he shot the gun . Cooperating with police still didn't get Field out of trouble though. On Wednesday he was arraigned on two charges, one felony count of reckless conduct for shooting off the firearm and placing others in danger, and one felony count of falsifying physical evidence for hiding the gun and casing. Field was held overnight at the Strafford County Jail, and released the following day on $5,000 cash bail. His next hearing is January 22. | Corey Field, 25, was cleaning his gun when it accidentally fired and his his neighbor, Josh Demeritt, 20 .
Mr Demeritt was across the street in his room playing video games at the time and was uninjured .
Field tried to hide the weapon a bullet casing after the shooting, and is not facing two felony charges . |
179,209 | 7404f6a4ce93e418c87738309c420fdd464f8804 | In the age of the internet hoax, viral video can be as slippery as an eel. Take Tim and Ray Hamilton, who made a pair of popular prank videos this month purporting to show a monster eel in Manuwatau River, on the North Island of New Zealand. Using special effects they learned from working in cinematography, the 20-second clips have duped hundreds of thousands of viewers, garnered them an offer from their local council and even led to a proposal from an American television show. The first od the two popular 20-second-clips, 'Monster Eel yells at pizza bread in Manawatu River'. The videoshave garnered hundreds of thousands of views as well as an offer from an American television show . (L) The second clip, Human sized eel in the Manawatu River. Tim Hamilton says viewers have contacted them saying they too have spotted the monster eels . ‘A viral video show called Right This Minute told us they wanted to use the video,’ said Tim Hamilton. ‘We said "sure, be our guests". We never pretended it was real, we just went along with it! I’m not sure if it’s actually going on the show now, but we never lied about the nature of the clip.’ Eventually, the brothers let the cat out of the bag. ‘It started to become a moralistic issue,’ said Tim Hamilton. ‘The river we filmed in is very polluted. We were being approached by activists, as well as Palmerston North City Council, who were excited to start pouring money into the issue. We decided we had to throw in the towel.’ ‘Pahiatua, where we filmed the video, is kind of a medieval town. We realised that if we kept this up, we would probably be burned at the stake.’ The brothers own a special effects company called The Shizz, where they are commissioned to make promotional videos. It was here they learned the expertise to make the video convincing. The brothers eventually decided to expose the videos when they were contacted by their local council, who thought they represented an environmental concern . Ray (left) and Tim Hamilton own a cinematography company which gave them the expertise to create the videos. Tim (right) says this was their first independent project . ‘It was a pretty simple process. We caught some eels from the river, took them into a bathtub and filmed them over a red screen. We fed them luncheon meat, they blew the scale of the images up so it looks like pizza bread. Then we imposed it over some footage of Manuhatu river.’ Mr Hamilton recalls the best reactions to the videos. ‘There were plenty of people who were saying, "We’ve seen these before also". It was really funny. I think the quality of a YouTube video is not necessarily the number of views it gets, but the quality of the dialogue it creates.’ But he says he is unsure if there's a magic ingredient for a viral video. ‘I don’t know you can manufacture a big hit on the internet. Ultimately I think you just need to release lots of quality videos and hope for the best. It’s just like entering the lotto: you gotta be in it to win it!’ | Brothers Ray and Tim Hamilton released some hoax videos of a giant eel .
They used special effects they learned from working in cinematography .
The clips have thousands of views and offers from international media .
They revealed the clips when they were contacted by their local council . |
66,827 | bd8af75eab7c1cd3c15e81fd550cf0d461f02fa2 | Reports of breast implants bursting in Britain have risen more than fivefold in three years, it was revealed today. More than 1,500 cases of ruptured implants were reported in 2012/2013, compared to just 293 in 2009/2010 - with one expert putting the problem partly down to the ‘Jordan syndrome’. Plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge said many women are insisting on outsize breasts to copy glamour model Katie Price, who became known for her surgically-enhanced chest. Jordan: One plastic surgeon said many women are insisting on outsize breasts to copy glamour model Katie Price, who became known for her surgically-enhanced chest. She is pictured left in 2005 and right in 2011 . Model: Jordan (left in 2004, and right in 2008) had her first breast implants aged just 18 when she went from a 32B to a 32D - and has since gone on to spend thousands on her cleavage in a total of six operations . Mr McGeorge, former president of the British Association for Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, told The Sun: ‘There is "Jordan syndrome" where some women want bigger and bigger breasts. ‘The bigger they are, the more problems that are likely to occur. Large implants are influenced by gravity. Just as a bag containing a goldfish ripples when you lift it, large implants can ripple.’ Speaking to journalists Nick McDermott and Christina Earle, Mr McGeorge also told of 'problems in recent years where some cheaper implants were not up to standard and were prone to failure’. Problems reported in the past few years follow revelations that French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) had been manufacturing implants using industrial grade silicone intended for use in mattresses. Almost 50,000 women in the UK, and some 400,000 worldwide, were affected by the scandal - which came to light after doctors found unexpectedly high numbers of implants were rupturing. Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of Poly Implant Prothese, was jailed for four years last year for fraud. Changes: Katie Price's fourth breast implant operation in Los Angeles took her to 32GG, which led to her decision in 2007, after meeting first husband Peter Andre (pictured together), to have a breast reduction . Expert: Plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge (above) put the problem of an increased number of breast implants bursting in part down to the 'Jordan syndrome' The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency received 2,427 reports of problems with fake breasts in 2012 and 2013, with 1,543 of these relating to ruptures. The Department of Health executive agency said some 30,000 breast implant operations are carried out each year and ‘the vast majority of women do not experience any problems’. Miss Price had her first breast implants aged just 18 when she went from a 32B to a 32D - and has since gone on to spend thousands on her cleavage in a total of six operations. Her fourth operation in Los Angeles took her to 32GG, which led to her decision in 2007, after meeting first husband Peter Andre, to have a breast reduction. She hoped to reduce her bust from a 32G to 32C, but was left with a 32F cup and was unhappy with the results, which she felt she left her breasts too far apart. She then underwent further surgery to rectify it. In total, Miss Price has spent more than £100,000 on plastic surgery. | 1,543 cases of ruptured implants in 2012/2013, up from 293 in 2009/2010 .
Plastic surgeon puts rising problem partly down to 'Jordan syndrome'
Says women are insisting on outsize breasts to copy model Katie Price .
Problems reported in past few years also follow PIP scandal revelations . |
12,563 | 239e6275fc865d18511b2dcc2147b359446058f9 | By . Katy Winter . PUBLISHED: . 14:02 EST, 5 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:11 EST, 5 December 2013 . News of Allesandra Pacchieri, the Italian woman whose baby delivered by caesarean section without her consent and then removed from her by Essex social services has shocked the nation over the past week. Ms Pacchieri was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the UK while here for a training course. Her lawyers have launched a legal action in a bid to try to get her daughter back and have said the mother-of-three suffers from a relatively minor mental illness, a bipolar condition that can be treated with medication. Someone who sympathises all too well with the unimaginable pain of having your child taken from you is Kelly McWilliams,who last year had a similar experience. Her baby was removed at birth by social workers because she had previously suffered from depression . Scroll down for video . Ultimately it took Kelly over four months to get baby Victoria back after she was taken with no warning just hours after her birth . Although she has now been reunited her daughter Victoria, Kelly, 37, said on This Morning . that that she was left devastated when social services turned up out of . the blue to take away her baby while she was actually in labour. Kelly had struggled with with depression after the death of her 10-year-old son.She became so unwell that she admitted herself voluntarily to a psychiatric hospital, where, with excellent care, she recovered. ‘I was at my worst it was such a dark period for me. I admitted myself to hospital because I didn’t know what else I could do. 'I found living without my son very hard so I did self-admit myself to the psychiatric ward. The treatment there was fantastic. It was the best thing I could have ever done. ‘When I left I knew my life had to change. I wanted help and I wanted to get better for my children’s sake. I saw a mental health worker every week for a year, then every two weeks for a following year. It was mainly just for support, to make sure I didn’t slip and it just lifted me up and up and up. ‘I have never been as strong as I am now. I have no depression at all.’ At the end of December 2011, having been trying for a second child, Kelly was delighted to learn that she was pregnant. ‘I was so happy,’ Kelly says, ‘It was obviously the best thing that had happened to us since our son had died so you can’t imagine the feeling that you can make a future again and to start living for the future and not the past anymore.’ However her joy at greeting her new arrival was curtailed when, in August 2011, social workers enter her hospital room while she was in the middle of giving birth. Kelley spoke out about her experience on This Morning, saying that while she was reunited with Victoria, other families may still be suffering an unfair separation . ‘They arrived very coldly, knocked on the door and walked straight in.’ Clearly becoming emotional as she recalls the traumatic event Kelly explains: ‘They said to me “Kelly we’re here because you’re not very well and we are going to be placing your baby into foster care two hours after you give birth” ‘I thought it was a joke. I stood there with my mouth open. I couldn’t believe it.' When she asked why Kelly was told simply that she was ‘not well’ and that she had failed to attend a CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) appointment the previous year. This was despite the fact that the CBT appointment had been booked by Kelly herself in an effort to help her overcome a fear of spiders. Having admitted her history of depression at her first antenatal appointment Kelly saw a social worker just once when she was 6 months pregnant, and was told everything was fine. Baby Victoria suffered breathing difficulties when she was born and so was taken straight to Neonatal Intensive Care, from which she was taken by social services. Kelly was not allowed to leave the ward during this time and didn't see her baby. Having secured a lawyer from her hospital bed while in labour, Kelly found herself in court fighting for the right to keep her own child just two days after giving birth. ‘I feel I had to do everything to get her back. At first they only asked for my medical records to prove I wasn’t suffering with depression, then they wanted a psychiatrist’s report. I knew that would be fine and then they said they wanted a psychologists report. ‘When that was fine they started to bring my disability into it. I was made to stand in front of them and wash a doll to prove I could do it.’ Ultimately it took Kelly over four months to get baby Victoria back. Kelley says when the social workers entered the hospital room when she was in labour she originally thought it was a joke . ‘I got her back after four months and even thought that was a very long time for me there are other families out there for who it has taken years. ‘It takes time and that is what’s so hard. They set the court dates and you can’t bring them forward. ‘They were worried it would cause my depression again but if anything it gave me more fight; I’d lost one there was no way I was going to lose another. They set these timescales but what they don’t realise is that when it’s innocent people it’s breaking the family apart. You can’t do it to the parents and you can’t do it to the children. The stress of the separation and fight to get Victoria back caused the breakdown of Kelly’s marriage. Despite the devastating effect of the incident on Kelly and her family, she does acknowledge the difficult situation social workers are in. However she says: ‘Children can’t be put at risk, but innocent people can’t be put at risk. There are just too many mistakes happening.’ | Kelly McWilliams, 37, became depressed after her son died aged 10 .
She admitted herself to hospital and made a good recovery .
Two years later she became pregnant .
She was told by a social worker during pregnancy that everything was fine .
Two social workers arrived when Kelly was in labour and told her they were taking her daughter immediately after birth .
Ultimately it took Kelly over four months to get baby Victoria back . |
153,773 | 52baf6dfd840dfd29a6f1449cd224a447d7ceb7f | One of Mark Wahlberg's childhood friends who appeared alongside him in The Fighter and Ted has been shot and killed by police outside of a house where his mother was found stabbed to death. Paul Campbell, 49, was described as being agitated when the veteran officers arrived at his Weymouth, Massachusetts, home at 1am on Monday. They allegedly gunned him down when he lunged at them with the knife. Police and paramedics then found the body of Patricia Campbell, 72, on the front steps of the home she shared with her son, authorities have said. Campbell is believed to have been friends with Wahlberg before he was famous, starring alongside him in The Fighter, where he played played crack-addict Gary 'Boo Boo' Giuffrida, and had a small role in Ted. Scroll down for video . Killed: Paul Campbell, 49, was shot dead at his home in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where his mother Patricia, 72, was found stabbed to death. He is pictured starring as a crack-addict in The Fighter alongside Christian Bale (head turned) Paul Campbell, 49, was described as being agitated when the veteran officers arrived at his Weymouth, Massachusetts, home at 1am on Monday . The steps of the home are seen with blood on them. The body of Patricia Campbell, 72, was found on the front steps of the home she shared with her son, authorities have said . Police allegedly gunned him down when he lunged at them with the knife . He also appeared in American Hustle as a customer in a restaurant. According to the Boston Globe, during high school, he impregnated Lorrie Higgins, now 41, the long-time girlfriend of Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh. She gave birth to Lauren, now 21, but Campbell did not remain a part of her life. In the piece he is described as a 'a dark-haired rowdy who gradually built up a rap sheet of low-level crimes.' Jessica Broderick, a high school classmate of Higgins, told the Globe during an interview in March last year: 'He was kind of the bad boy and she was the good girl. He was the boy she shouldn’t be hanging out with.' In a statement to the paper, Mayor Walsh said the deaths were personal and asked that Higgins’ and her daughter’s privacy be respected. Career: Campbell, who allegedly tried to lunge at police with a knife before he was shot, has also made appearances in Ted and American Hustle . He has previously served nine months behind bars and moved back in with his mother when her husband died 12 years ago. At the scene both officers decided simultaneously that deadly force was necessary and opened fire on Campbell, who was brought to South Shore Hospital and pronounced dead, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. Mrs Campbell was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said there was evidence that Patricia Campbell was stabbed. The medical examiner's office was to perform an autopsy. Police and the prosecutor's office said the investigation was continuing. Probe: Both of the officers involved in the shooting, who are said to have been on the force for around 10 years, have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation . At the scene both officers decided simultaneously that deadly force was necessary and opened fire on Campbell, who was brought to South Shore Hospital and pronounced dead, the prosecutor's office said in a statement . 'There is no such thing as a routine call,' Weymouth Police Chief Richard Grimes said Monday. 'Situations like this illustrate that.' The names of the two officers haven't been released. Officials said both were evaluated at a hospital and placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, under normal post-shooting protocols. Officials said both officers have been on the force for about 10 years. The district attorney's office said Weymouth police reported that they had responded to the Campbells' home three times in recent years, all for medical calls. Family ties: When he was in high school, Campbell got Lorrie Higgins - the long-time girlfriend of Boston Mayor Martin Walsh - pregnant. Their daughter Lauren is now 21 . | Paul Campbell, 49, was killed at his home in Weymouth, Massachusetts .
Police then found his mother Patricia, 72, with stab wounds on the steps .
Officers said he was agitated when they arrived at the scene on Monday .
He was gunned down when he lunged at the pair with a knife .
Campbell has had small roles in The Fighter, Ted and American Hustle .
Is the father of the daughter of the Boston Mayor's long-time girlfriend . |
269,642 | e9413f086950de61861df12f811bc7baa1614b9e | In China, bribery is known colloquially as "tea money" and nearly everyone from local businesses to foreign multinationals has usually had a brush with it. The practice is so widespread that in Yangjiang -- a steel town in Guangdong Province -- a group of artists even made a cheeky exhibition of the official receipts they received for bribes they paid to build their preposterous iceberg-shaped headquarters in town. Kick-backs in China are often demanded through semi-official means and getting paperwork for overly rigorous fire safety regulations, for instance, is typically one way of oiling the wheels of officialdom. News this month that China has slipped from 80th position to 100, tied with Suriname and Algeria, in Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index of 174 countries may come as no surprise to those who live with bribery and graft on a daily basis. 'Tigers and flies' Yet, the result has thrown a question mark Chinese President Xi Jinping's "tigers and flies" campaign. When Xi took office in 2012, he promised to root out endemic corruption and used a slogan made famous by former dictator Mao Zedong to show that not even high officials would be safe from his anti-corruption drive. Read more: The best and worst countries tackling corruption . Since 2013, more than 70,000 cadres have been probed in a widespread crackdown on corruption that has been so far reaching that international luxury brands have reported a downturn. Luxury goods maker LVMH said in July that its sales of cognac, handbags and watches had all taken a hit amid challenging business conditions following China's anti-corruption drive. Nevertheless, according to Transparency International, China's poor score this year may be a sign that deep-rooted and systemic problems are finally being addressed. "When countries start trying to address corruption they lift up the stone to see what's underneath and it often looks an awful lot worse than you thought it was," executive director of Transparency International Robert Barrington told CNN. Perceptions of graft . He said that because corruption was often difficult to measure, the index surveyed perceptions among country experts such as businesspeople, diplomats and journalists. "What happens is that when countries begin to address corruption, actually the perceptions get worse before they get better." He said for many countries trying to roll back corruption, the starting place is getting more transparency and accountability in the system. "But what China seems to be doing is having an anti-corruption drive without introducing transparency and accountability which means you can't really tell what's happening." Without a free press or social media, he said it was quite hard for Chinese citizens to know how widespread the crackdown was or how seriously the authorities were prosecuting it. "It may be that China is very vigorously pursuing an anti-corruption campaign, but it won't get the credit for that success if it does not have greater transparency." Gifts and hospitality . While graft may often be standard practice in China, where it is usually disguised as gifts and hospitality, the victims of corruption are often those who can least afford it. Barrington said that one of the essential tests was whether the money that was being paid ended up with the state or with the individual it was paid to. "In general, people around the world do become very accepting of corruption, not because they like it but because it seems so monolithic," he said. "This is where we feel social media has had such a transformative effect in many countries because it encourages people to band together by putting information out. "And that is one of the issues with China -- the mechanisms that have worked elsewhere are not going to work there because the state control of information is so very strong." 'Biggest fall' China's slump in the index was one of the "biggest falls" of 2014, Transparency said. Other countries whose rankings dropped were Turkey, which dropped five points, and Angola, Malawi and Rwanda, which all dropped four. North Korea and Somalia ranked equal-worst of 174 countries, with a score of just eight. Denmark and New Zealand ranked least corrupt, with scores of 92 and 91, respectively. "The Transparency International report is inconsistent with China's well-known achievements in the anticorruption campaign," Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying told CNN when the report was released earlier this month. "The public will judge the achievement that the government has obtained and it will not be affected by the index." Barrington said that despite China's official line on corruption, many people were taking their discontent to the streets and protesting about graft. "If you're not very rich in the first place and to get a state service you should be entitled to for free like healthcare or education and you have to pay a bribe in addition to the fact you're also very poor, then clearly people feel it." Read this: China's slowdown - Good or bad? More from Virtual Think Tank . | Kick-backs in China are known colloquially as "tea money" in a country where paying bribes is widespread .
China dropped from 80th position to 100 out of 175 countries in a recent corruption index .
Transparency International says the country's poor showing may actually be a sign of improvement . |
249,163 | ce6a289acf04ee8a89c970164745061bc4fa8060 | (Budget Travel) -- If you tirelessly rack up frequent-flier miles only to encounter snags when you try to redeem them, it's time you discovered the increasingly generous world of hotel reward programs. Short on both business and leisure travelers of late, hotel chains are doing whatever it takes to fill their beds. "This is an awfully good time to be using hotel points," says Tim Winship, publisher of FrequentFlier.com, a site that tracks loyalty programs. "You'll save money, and you shouldn't have any problems getting a free night." Rick Ingersoll knows full well how generous hotels can be. The retired mortgage banker and his wife, Katy, aren't paying a dime for 58 of the 61 nights they've booked on an around-the-world trip starting in April. The couple piled up points with five different chains by using hotel-reward credit cards and signing up for all the giveaways they could find. (They even endured a 90-minute time-share tour in Hawaii to earn 7,500 Starwood points.) "It takes time to learn the system, and you've got to keep your eyes open," says Ingersoll, who pens a blog on travel deals, FrugalTravelGuy.blogspot.com. "But I rarely pay for a hotel room." Budget Travel: Best value hotels . Stay (almost) any night . Many travelers have long harbored a big gripe when it comes to hotel loyalty programs: blackout dates. But those discouraging words may be a thing of the past. Initially, Starwood was the only chain that allowed rewards members to trade in points for a room on any night. But then InterContinental and Hyatt followed suit in the early 2000s, and two other biggies, Hilton and Marriott, relaxed their rules this past year. Fantastic news, right? Unfortunately, there's often a hitch: Many chains still have what are known in hotel lingo as capacity controls, or curbs on the number of rooms available to loyalty club members during peak travel times. Of the major players, only Hilton and Starwood claim not to have any capacity controls, while Marriott, InterContinental, and Hyatt admit that some standard rooms are off-limits on popular nights, such as New Year's Eve at the New York Marriott Marquis overlooking Times Square. One other alert: Some chains require that you keep your account active every year by earning or redeeming points -- or your stash will disappear. Have a hotel shopping spree . A free room isn't the only thing your points buy -- InterContinental has iPod Nanos and Nintendo Wiis for sale at its online mall, Marriott dangles rounds of golf at its links in Jamaica and Hawaii, and Hilton hawks tickets to Saturday Night Live tapings. Not to be outdone, Starwood last fall became the first chain to allow rewards members to directly exchange hotel points for airfare. For example, a round-trip ticket worth about $350 on any airline costs 25,000 points -- and there are no dreaded blackout dates or extra fees. Another plus for loyalty members is the current bonanza of point bonuses. Starwood recently showered guests at its Aloft hotels with quadruple the points they'd normally earn for a night, while Hyatt is bestowing between 2,000 and 20,000 extra points for stays of two to eight nights through the end of April. A great resource for finding these bonuses is the delightfully nerdy new Web site PointMaven.com, which has a database of thousands of offers across the country, color-coded to show the best deals. Finding the right match . Because every program is different -- and many can be mind-numbingly complex -- comparing them is tricky. For one, every chain has its own formula for calculating how points are earned. Marriott doles out 10 points per dollar spent at most of its hotels, Starwood awards two points per dollar, and InterContinental allots 2,000 points per visit at its main brand, no matter how long you stay. Many chains also have partnerships with credit card companies, allowing you to amass points every time you make a charge. The cards are usually free for the first year, and hotels often give away as many as 25,000 points just for signing up. Trading in your cache is another matter: Each chain requires a different number of points for a room, depending on the grade of the property and the desirability of the location. You'll spend 7,500 points for a night at a low-frills Marriott hotel (such as a Fairfield Inn) or a whopping 20,000 points to live it up at the deluxe Atlanta Marriott Downtown. To help you zero in on the program for you, we've broken down exactly how much you have to spend in dollars to earn a free night at five of the biggest chains (see the chart). Experts have their favorite programs. Randy Petersen, publisher of InsideFlyer.com, another Web site that tracks loyalty clubs, likes Starwood's cash-and-points option, which lets travelers use money to make up the difference when they don't have enough points for a free stay. Ingersoll is a fan of InterContinental's PointBreaks promotions, which make rooms available for 5,000 points, half the normal rate. His best piece of advice: Just dive in. "It doesn't cost anything to sign up, so join all the programs. Then stay poised for the deal with your name on it." Get the best travel deals and tips emailed to you and enter to win a free trip - CLICK HERE! Copyright © 2009 Newsweek Budget Travel, Inc., all rights reserved. Note: This story was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip. | Hotel loyalty programs have relaxed rules for blackout dates in recent years .
InterContinental has iPod Nanos and Nintendo Wiis for sale at its online mall .
Starwood allows rewards members to directly exchange hotel points for airfare . |
179,438 | 74562a29972c55c96297d4deaad74d4ca92473e6 | Rome, Italy (CNN) -- A businessman and his wife were arrested on charges of blackmailing Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Italian police said Thursday. The blackmail allegations are linked to a sex scandal surrounding Berlusconi for months. Gianpaolo Tarantini, 36, and Angela Devenuto, 34, were arrested at their Rome home and brought to Naples to be questioned by prosecutors. A judge issued an arrest warrant for a third person, Valter Lavitola, who authorities said was the link between Berlusconi and Tarantini. Lavitola is believed to be out of the country. Tarantini, who is accused of paying escorts to go to parties with Berlusconi, has said the leader was not aware of the payments. But, according to the Naples's prosecutors, Berlusconi was a victim of "veiled and implied threats" and paid 500,000 euros ($714,250) to Tarantini. Berlusconi told the Panorama newspaper, owned by his media group, that he gave the money to Tarantini as an act of charity. "Through Lavitola," Berlusconi told Panorama, "I helped a person (Tarantini) with a family and kids, which is now in very bad economic situation. I have nothing to repent of. I didn't do anything illicit; I just helped a desperate man without pretending nothing (anything) in exchange." Tarantini said he will cooperate with authorities. He denied he blackmailed Berlusconi, to whom he expressed his "gratitude for all what he did for he and for my family." In a separate case, Berlusconi is presently on trial in Milan for allegedly paying for sex with a then-17-year-old Moroccan belly dancer named Karima el Mahroug, nicknamed "Ruby the Heart-stealer." The Berlusconi sex scandal explained . He is charged with abuse of power because prosecutors say he phoned a police station -- where she was being held on theft charges -- to have her released. Berlusconi has repeatedly denied all of the allegations, even joking about how unlikely it is that a man his age would be capable of the sexual feats some have claimed. "I'm 74 years old and even though I may be a bit of a rascal, 33 girls in two months seems to me too much even for a 30-year-old." In 2009, his wife of 19 years, Veronica Lario, filed for divorce and publicly accused her husband of "consorting with minors" after he attended the 18th birthday party of an aspiring TV actress and model called Noemi Letizia. Berlusconi said the young woman was the daughter of a friend and that he had done nothing inappropriate. Noemi Letizia and her family also said there was nothing improper. That same year, another young woman, Patrizia D'Addario, alleged she and other girls were paid to attend parties at Berlusconi's residence. Berlusconi denied the claim, telling his weekly magazine Chi: "I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest." El Mahroug has denied having sex with the premier. Both admit that he gave her money, although they say it was an act of kindness to help the young girl. CNN's Hada Messia contributed to this report. | Couple arrested at their Rome home .
They are accused of blackmailing the Italian prime minister .
Berlusconi said he gave the family money out of charity . |
106,936 | 15eeb77fcccc034013e1a107fff2b579e052c467 | (CNN) -- Outgoing BP Chief Executive Officer Tony Hayward declared Tuesday that the Gulf of Mexico oil well disaster represents a failure for the entire deepwater oil and gas drilling industry, not just for BP alone. "The industry needs to re-evaluate safety," Hayward told investment professionals in a webcast. His comments came after the BP board decided to replace him October 1 with Robert Dudley, the head of the company's Gulf cleanup effort. "Everyone will re-evaluate the business model to reduce risk associated with deepwater drilling," Hayward added. BP maintains that it alone does not deserve all the blame for the April 20 accident and its aftermath, and it intends to pursue legal action to have drilling partners share in the cost of containment and cleanup. Those partners include Transocean, which operated the rig; Cameron, which built the blowout preventer that failed to shut down the well; and Halliburton, which cemented the oil drill into place underwater. "It is clear the accident was the result of multiple equipment errors and human error involving many companies," Hayward said in the webcast. The project's contracts include arbitration clauses and BP said it will first approach the issue through that legal avenue. Hayward also defended his record on safety. "Safety, people and performance have been my watchwords," he said. "We've made significant progress." The BP CEO, who became the corporate face of the Deepwater disaster had, during his three years at the helm of the British-based oil giant, often spoken of BP's improved safety record since the 2006 Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, oil spill and the 2005 Texas City, Texas, refinery fire that killed 15 people, which occurred before he took over the company in 2007. "From the beginning of the crisis, I've sought to do the right thing, do it the right way and communicate openly," said Hayward. "I believe BP has shown what corporate responsibility really means and I believe that applies to individuals as well as companies," he said. Eleven workers died when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. From that time until July 15 -- when a cap was sealed over the ruptured well head -- oil spewed into the Gulf at the rate of tens of thousands of barrels a day. | BP CEO Tony Hayward: "Many companies" in energy industry responsible for Gulf oil disaster .
BP plans legal action to ensure drilling partners share containment and cleanup costs .
Hayward says "multiple equipment errors and human error" caused the accident .
"Safety, people and performance have been my watchwords," Hayward says . |
165,966 | 629e7c4a43f4bfcf4fa14247bce946543b22cffd | Appearance: Gary Glitter, 70, arrives for his trial at London's Southwark Crown Court yesterday . Gary Glitter’s mansion was a ‘magical place’ for little girls, with a room full of sweets, a swimming pool and ponies to pet, his rape trial heard yesterday. The former glam rock singer is said to have had shelves stacked with jars of goodies for children and let teenage girls keep their horses at his sprawling countryside home. Yesterday a woman who has accused the 70-year-old of trying to rape her when she was eight, told how she initially felt ‘really lucky’ to be invited to his house. She told Southwark Crown Court she thought the mansion was ‘magical’ when he first drove her there in his Rolls-Royce in the 1970s. ‘Everything smelt new, there was loads of corridors and everything was really plush,’ she said. ‘There was a swimming pool.’ The woman, who is now a nurse, told jurors she enjoyed eating treats in his ‘sweet room’, saying: ‘You went inside and there were loads of jars on shelves with different types of sweets.’ Earlier, John Price, QC, prosecuting, said: ‘To a little girl it must have seemed a magical place.’ The primary pupil also went to parties attended by Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, and fellow rocker Alvin Stardust, the court heard. But after one dinner party, Glitter is alleged to have sneaked into bed with her and a friend and attempted to rape her. Yesterday, she sobbed as she recalled the alleged assault which left her in pain, and feeling ‘ashamed and dirty’. Scroll down for video . In court: A sketch by artist Elizabeth Cook of Glitter appearing at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Glitter is said to have crept into a youngster's bed and tried to assault her . But jurors heard Glitter showed no remorse and taunted her about it years later, saying: ‘Do you remember what I did to you?’ Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman, now in her 40s, told how she woke to find him in bed between her and her friend. ‘I just knew it was him. He smelled of alcohol and the party. I rolled completely on my side away from him then he rolled over toward me. He put his arm around and started to cuddle me.’ She said she felt ‘uncomfortable’, but didn’t want to be ‘rude’. Choking back tears, she added: ‘He started moving my nightie up. I didn’t want him to.’ Glitter (centre) arrives with two other men he got out of a car with for his trial in central London yesterday . Musician: Glitter - Paul Gadd - is a former rock star . The assault stopped only when the girl managed to roll into a ‘cocoon’ of sheets separating her from Glitter, the court heard. But the next day he acted ‘normal’ and gave her chocolate, it was alleged. Years later, she said, she saw him at another party, where he invited her to a bedroom and asked her to give ‘Uncle Gary’ a cuddle on the bed. ‘He put his arms around me and rolled me so I’m sort of lying beside him. I was just extremely uncomfortable. 'Then he asked if I remembered what he had done to me. He kind of laughed and asked if I had liked it.’ Terrified, the teenager refused his advances and left the flat, the court was told. But jurors heard that she did not go to the police until 1998 when she heard that Glitter had been arrested for amassing a hoard of child pornography. Glitter denies one count of attempted rape, seven of indecent assault, one of administering a drug or other substance and one of sex with a girl aged under 13. The trial continues. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Former rock star Glitter 'crept into child's bed and tried to assault her'
Court hears she was laying sleeping next to friend after dinner party .
Woman says she saw Glitter as well as Alvin Stardust in the mansion .
Accuser says before she went home Glitter gave her an Easter egg .
Says mansion was 'magical' when he drove her there in Rolls-Royce . |
268,663 | e8026face9810babb46a5e89f1241500210c9db0 | By . Richard Spillett . Passengers feared for their lives when part of the wing of an airliner they were flying on suddenly fell off mid-flight. More than 60 people were on board the CityJet flight from London's City Airport to Florence today when the accident happened. The section of wing was left dangling precariously under the plane as it circled back over the Thames Estuary returned to the airport. Scroll down for video . A passenger filmed the incident, which happened shortly after the plane took off from London's City Airport . The section of wing was left dangling precariously under the plane as it circled back over the Thames Estuary returned to the airport. Despite the Avro Rj85's damaged state, the pilot managed to land the aircraft after radio discussions with maintenance experts on the ground. Daily Telegraph journalist Cole Moreton, who was a passenger on the plane, tweeted: 'Our @cityjet to Florence bang on take off and forced to turn back after part of the wing fell off.' He later added: 'Back on the ground @cityjet not looking good.' A spokesman for the airline said: 'The WX 281 flight had just taken off from London City Airport on its way to Florence when the cover of the operating mechanism on the wing became partially detached. 'The crew followed their standard procedures and, after a discussion with CityJet Maintenance Control, decided to return to London City Airport. 'Air Traffic Control were notified and the aircraft returned making a normal approach and landing. Passengers are being re-directed on another aircraft and will depart with a two hour delay.’ A spokesperson for City Airport said: 'CityJet flight WX281 returned to London City Airport due to a mechanical issue. The aircraft landed safely and all passengers and crew disembarked normally.' Passengers watched in horror as the covering to a mechanism on the plane's wing hung loose . The incident happened after the plane took off from London City Airport today. File photo . | Passengers watched as wing loosened in take off from London City Airport .
Aircraft had to turn around and re-land at the airport in the east of capital .
Despite problems, the pilot managed to land and passengers transferred . |
149,791 | 4dae28ba9f00b8666a23cddcd7c51ae2dd05da20 | The biological family of US aid worker Peter Kassig, who was beheaded by ISIS militants have claimed they were let down by the FBI who did not tell them he was missing or support them. Last week Kassig's parents revealed on Twitter he has been adopted as a newborn and thanked his birthmother, Rhonda Schwindt, that she chose them to be his parents. But now Rhonda says the FBI has not supported her and her two children because they do not meet the agency's legal definition of next of kin. Scroll down for videos . Peter Kassig with his biological mother Rhonda Schwindt, who put him up for adoption when he was a baby. She says her family were let down by the FBI . Kassig, center, doing a photo shoot with his siblings. When he turned 18, the Indianapolis native sought out his biological family because he wanted to meet his brother, Sam, and sister, Jana . Sam Schwindt, left, with his big brother Kassig. His biological family say the FBI kept his captivity a secret from them for nearly six months, but provided support to his parents . She says the FBI kept his captivity a secret from them for nearly six months, but provided support to his parents, reports the Indianapolis Star. Rhonda also says they were denied federal assistance in finding grief counseling and told by the FBI to keep quiet even after his parents and friends were encouraged to speak up in an unsuccessful attempt to save him. Rhonda, who is now married and lives in Indianapolis, was 25 when she gave Kassig up for adoption because she did not feel equipped to become a single mother. She picked Ed and Paula to his parents - they met all her criteria, although she had wanted Kassig to have siblings. Jana Schwindt with her brother who wrote to her when he was in captivity. But Jana does not have an exact copy of the letter - they were told by the FBI, the original was processed as evidence and destroyed . In 2006, when was 17, Kassig went to visit Schwindt and meet his siblings, 12-year-old Jana and hugged 10-year-old Sam and their relationship continued from there . The couple kept her updated with his life and when he was six, he wrote a letter to her thanking her for letting him be adopted. In 2006, when was 17, Kassig went to visit Rhonda and meet his siblings, 12-year-old Jana and hugged 10-year-old Sam and their relationship continued from there. Even though they only got to spend eight short years together, the three siblings reportedly developed a very close bond. In 2007, when Kassig returned from Iraq following a four-month deployment, the Schwindt's said that they noticed he has changed and he seemed angry and they were forced to pull back from him several times. Although Jana always got back in contact with him, 18-year-old Sam,who is currently a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago, only built a relationship with him when Kassig returned to the Middle East in 2012. 'I added him on Facebook and I was like, 'what the hell is going on Peter? We're brothers. We need to fix this.'' Sam said. Just days before Kassig was captured, he was supposed to have a video chat with Sam, his 'Little Bro,' but the teenager had to cancel because he had made plans with friends - a decision he regrets to this day. Kassig, seen standing in front of a truck filled with supplies for Syrian refugees . Grateful: Ed and Paula Kassig, pictured during a press conference, thanked Peter's birth mother for choosing them to raise her son as their own . But then Kassig's Facebook went and the family did not hear from him. The 26-year-old former US Army Ranger was taken captive while on a humanitarian mission to Syria in October 2013. 'Sam spent five and a half months desperately seeking his brother when Peter went dark -desperately seeking,' said Rhonda. She does not blame the Kassigs for keeping the secret at the government's insistence, but says the FBI is at fault. Eventually Sam wrote to the Kassigs and they found out. Mother's anguish: Rhonda Schwindt posted this message on Facebook less than a week before her son's execution . Touching moment: After Kassig's murder, his younger brother, Sam Schwindt, shared online this old photo of himself as a boy with Peter dressed in his US Army Rangers uniform . Kassig sent Jana a letter while being held hostage by ISIS - only one of two he was able to write. But Jana does not have an exact copy of the letter - they were told by the FBI, the original was processed as evidence and destroyed. In the letter he wrote: 'You are the best thing that has ever happened to me; you and your brother.' On November 16, ISIS released a graphic video showing that Kassig, who had converted to Islam while in captivity, had been beheaded. On November 11, less than a week before the release of the gruesome ISIS video, showing that Kassig, who had converted to Islam while in captivity, had been beheaded. Rhonda wrote on her Facebook wall: 'I want my son Peter home safely.' She says the FBI did tell them family of his death. Correspondence: Jana, pictured with her mother on Graduation Day, was closet to Kassig . Sam Schwindt, 18, is a freshman at DePaul University. His 20-year-old sister, Jana, works as a kennel attendant at the Indianapolis Humane Society . Rhonda says she had several meetings with the FBI, in which she asked for help finding a therapist who specialized in traumatic grief, but she said the government refused. 'I was like, 'Peter has three blood relatives, and they're sitting right in front of you,'' she said. 'And the people in his darkest moments, who did he think about? His father. And his mother. And he thought about his brother and sister. The siblings are both now in therapy. Last week Sam posted an old photo of himself as a young boy standing next to his big brother in his US Army Rangers uniform in front a monument engraved with 'Ranger Creed.' A day after the ISIS video recording was made public online, Sam shared a moving tribute to Kassig on his Facebook page. Believer: Peter Kassig, shown here working in Syria, converted to Islam while in captivity and took the given name Abdul-Rahman . 'It's incredibly strange to lose someone you love,' he wrote. 'It just does not seem real. It always seems like in life that there will be more time, but you really can never know. 'Just please, for me, if you're not talking to someone you love, send them a message and reconnect. You never know when you may lose someone. I will always love you, Peter.' Much like her big brother, Jana Schwindt, 20, has dedicated her life to humanitarian work. Since August of this year, she has been working as a kennel attendant at the Indianapolis Humane Society. The FBI issued a brief statement to the Indianapolis Star: 'The law and the Attorney General Guidelines permit and/or encourage inclusion with regard to providing victim services, but due to privacy considerations, the FBI is not in a position to comment on any specific services offered or provided to victim or victim families.' | Peter Kassig's parents revealed on Twitter he was adopted as a newborn .
Rhonda Schwindt gave him up for adoption when she was 25, but they later rekindled a relationship .
Kassig, was an only child so became close to siblings, Jana, 20 and Sam, 18 .
The family did not know he had disappeared for 5.5 months .
They say the FBI has not helped though their grief or provided support . |
107,287 | 1662eeeb9a02cd7128a6ebcdcee24caf867a6936 | By . Tara Brady . Chip shop boss John Clarkson has paid an 'up-North' homage to his favourite chocolate by creating the world's largest Ferrero Rocher caked in batter. Mr Clarkson, 54, made the giant 11lbs version of the hazelnut sweet made famous in the 'ambassador's party' TV advert - but gave it an extra twist using his own recipe. It is ten times the usual size of a Ferrero Rocher and even comes complete with a giant paper Ferrero Rocher tray. Chip shop boss John Clarkson has paid an 'up-North' homage to his favourite chocolate by creating the world's largest Ferrero Rocher caked in batter . It will go on display at his Mister Eater's Eating Emporium in Preston, Lancashire. Mr Clarkson came up with the idea after an initial batch of normal-sized Ferrero Rochers dipped in batter proved to be a surprise hit with customers. Corinne Clarkson, 39, who co-owns the chip shop with Mr Clarkson said: 'They love it - it draws a bit of a chuckle but some people have tried scraps of the mixture and they have said it's delicious. 'I don't even want to know how many calories are in it but it's something I wouldn't recommend eating alone.' Mr Clarkson made the giant 11lbs version which will go on display at his Mister Eater's Eating Emporium . Wacky: Mr Clarkson began battering normal Ferrero Rochers before he decided to make the world's biggest . Mr Clarkson added: 'We have to keep . thinking of new things all the time to keep new people coming in. Now . with the things we have done in the past new customers expect it. 'Everyone wants to know what we are going to do next. 'It's . hard for me to keep coming up with ideas but we are constantly . thinking. We did the Ferrero Rochers at Christmas and it was absolutely . fantastic. Calorific: Mr Clarkson dips the giant Ferrero Rocher in batter before frying it . Mr Clarkson came up with the idea after battering normal-sized Ferrero Rochers which were popular . 'We got on the . radio and they were talking about them on the Alan Titchmarsh show. So I . thought I needed to go one step further. 'We like to do things no-one has ever done before. We make our own Ferrero Rochers now so we thought we would make the world's biggest. We have researched and no-one has done it. I can't tell you our chocolate recipe though, it's a secret. 'As with everything, it's the bigger the better. I always have people coming in asking what I'm doing next. I like to surprise people so they ask how I've done it. Mr Clarkson made a giant 11lbs version of the hazelnut sweet made famous in the 'ambassador's party' advert . Fattening: John Clarkson holds up his giant Ferrero Rocher at his chip shop in Lancashire . 'Nobody else in our trade does anything like this. We did a romantic meal for two for Valentine's Day.'It had a deep-fried sausage candelabra which worked and deep fried chili con carne and steak pudding with gravy.' Mr Clarkson is known for his wacky creations after also making the world's longest battered sausage and raising money for the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer by encouraging women to bring their bras to his shop to be filled with chips. He joked that cup sizes A-B warrant a small chip portion, B-C are medium and D upwards are a large.Mr Clarkson, who has ran the takeaway for 25 years, started to come up with quirky ideas after the shop was visited by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal in 2012 as part of his eccentric Channel 4 cooking series Fantastical Food. Ferrero Rocher was first introduced in 1982 and consists of a whole roasted hazelnut encased in a thin wafer shell filled with hazelnut cream including vegetable oil and covered in milk chocolate and chopped hazelnuts. They became popular in the 1990s for their often-imitated 'ambassador's party' TV adverts where a mountain of Ferrero Rochers became synonymous with wealthy gatherings. Before Christmas Mr Clarkson offered customers deep fried Mince Pies over the festive period. | John Clarkson, 54, made the giant 11lbs version of the hazelnut sweet .
The deep fried sweet is ten times the usual size of a Ferrero Rocher .
It even comes complete with a giant paper Ferrero Rocher tray .
It will go on display at Mister Eater's Eating Emporium in Preston . |
22,870 | 40ee5a6cf8337fe8f28ca8e27917280a422bef44 | The curtain came down on another thrilling Champions League group stage this week. We must now wait until February before Europe’s premier competition resumes with the two-legged knockout rounds. But, for now, Sportsmail takes a look back over the group matches and assesses the winners and losers… . So who were the Invincibles? Well, only one team waltzed through the group stage victorious in all six matches, and that was holders Real Madrid. They were irresistible as they stormed through Group B with 16 goals scored and just two conceded. Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema were the stars with five goals apiece. Real Madrid went through the group stage with six wins and Cristiano Ronaldo proved their key man again . Anyone else? Just two other teams remain undefeated in this year’s competition – Chelsea and Porto, the current and former homes of Jose Mourinho. They progressed with near-identical records having won four and drawn two en route to the last 16. Lionel Messi broke a couple of records, didn’t he? Not quite yet… He did break Raul’s record of 71 Champions League goals – winning the race ahead of Ronaldo – but the Barcelona star has only drawn level with the former Real Madrid captain when it comes to goals in all European competitions. The pair have 76. Ronaldo, meanwhile, has 75, meaning he could still beat Messi to that title. Just two other teams remain undefeated in this year’s competition, including Jose Mourinho's Chelsea . Porto went unbeaten and progressed with a near-identical record to Chelsea, winning four and drawing two . So Messi must have been top scorer in the group stages? With eight goals you would think so. But Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano, of Shakhtar Donetsk, managed to smash an incredible nine goals as the Ukrainians made it through to the second phase. Adriano, though, was something of a flat-track bully – he scored five of his goals in a 7-0 win at Belarussian side BATE Borisov before adding a hat-trick in the return fixture. So Adriano was the top scorer, which team netted the most? With 17, that honour goes to Chelsea. The 6-0 home drubbing of Slovenian side Maribor helped in that respect, as did the four penalties they scored, which was more than any other team. And the tightest defence? Monaco somehow conceded just once as they topped Group C. Still, though, they did not qualify until the final game when they defeated Zenit 2-0. In fact, Group C was a bit of a turn-off. From 12 matches, just 17 goals were scored. Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano, of Shakhtar Donetsk, managed to smash an incredible nine goals . Chelsea scored the most goals during the group stage with 17, largely thanks to a 6-0 win over Maribor . Andre Schurrle of Chelsea celebrates scoring his goal with Cesar Azpilicueta on Wednesday night . Monaco somehow conceded just once as they topped Group C as goalkeeper Danijel Subasic looks dominant . And the leakiest backline? It’s no surprise to see BATE Borisov – shipping an average of four goals per game – emerge as the worst defence. In response, they scored just twice, and that double was enough to earn them a shock 2-1 win over Athletic Bilbao. Did anyone scrape through? Basle lost three matches but still managed to progress, at the expense of Liverpool. Their 1-1 draw at Anfield on Tuesday night took their points tally to a meagre seven, but that was still enough to win a place in the knockout rounds with two points to spare over the third-placed Reds. And who were the unlucky losers? Olympiacos boasted a 100 per cent record in Athens, but three defeats on the road meant their nine-point tally was not enough and they must now settle for the Europa League. Basle lost three matches but still managed to progress, at the expense of Steven Gerrard's Liverpool . Paulo Sousa (pictured, hugging Gerrard) earned a 1-1 draw at Anfield to progress to the knockout stages . The big guns are all through, how does it compare to this time last year? Zenit, Olympiacos, Milan and Galatasaray are the four teams missing who made it through to the second round 12 months ago. In their place are Shakhtar, Porto, Monaco and Juventus. Who were the stars of the group stage? It is hard to look past eight-goal Lionel Messi… again. He was outstanding for Barcelona and, in the year when Ronaldo is expected to enjoy a clean sweep of the individual honours, the Argentine served a reminder of his mesmerising ability on the biggest stage. Chelsea’s Eden Hazard has produced his best on the European stage so far this season with two goals and two assists, while Manchester United's forgotten man Nani – on loan at Sporting – also starred in the Blues' group, but his two goals and four assists could only earn them a Europa League place. Meanwhile, a pair of players to catch the eye for Porto – unbeaten to top Group H – were Algerian attacking midfielder Yacine Brahimi – who scored four and laid on two – and defensive midfielder Casemiro, the Real Madrid loanee who anchored their engine-room so impressively. It's hard to look past Lionel Messi with eight goals in the group stage for who was the main star . Chelsea’s Eden Hazard (right, with John Terry) has produced his best on the European stage so far . Manchester United forgotten man Nani, who is on loan at Sporting, also starred and looked impressive . Any young players catch the eye? Max Meyer of Schalke strengthened his reputation and it was his goal which sent the Germans into the second round. Roberto Di Matteo’s side needed victory in Maribor and the 19-year-old Germany midfielder came good half an hour from time to ensure it was they and not Sporting who progressed. Koke, the Atletico Madrid playmaker, was arguably the best young player of the group phase. He scored twice and assisted four goals to further inflate a price tag which is said to top £30million. Isco, of Real Madrid, and Lucas Moura of PSG are already players with big reputations, and they justified such hype as their respective sides enjoyed safe passage. And Mario Gotze – the man who scored the winning goal for Germany in the World Cup final – continued his fine year with three goals for Bayern Munich. Max Meyer of Schalke strengthened his reputation during the group stage of the Champions League . Schalke's Meyer (left) hugs Benedikt Howedes as they celebrate going through to the next round . Mario Gotze – who scored the winning goal for Germany in the World Cup final – continued his fine year . | Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid won all six games of the group stage .
Chelsea and Porto also unbeaten as they progressed to the next stage .
Lionel Messi beaten to top scorer by Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano .
Chelsea scored the most with 17 goals, including six against Maribor . |
229,772 | b58f6e3d1adc8b8543e9bf2d1bbb9f48a53983ea | A police force grappling with budget cuts has teamed up with its fire and rescue service to create a squad car which doubles as a make-shift engine. The Rural Intervention Vehicle (RIV) will be used by a policeman and fireman at the same time, with officers tasked with patrolling Northamptonshire in search of dangerous situations or emergencies. Equipped with a foldable ladder and siren, the car has been hailed as a 'valuable' joint venture, and is said to be able to reach emergencies faster than large engines. Scroll down for video . The Rural Intervention Vehicle has been created in a joint venture between Northamptonshire Police and the local fire and rescue service following a series of budget cuts . While the RIV will never be sent to blazes in the place of specially-equipped vehicles, it will be used to assist fire fighters and assess potentially dangerous situations before they arrive. Speaking of the collaboration, Chief Superintendent Paul Fell said: 'The public are aware that all public services face significant financial challenges over the next few years, but this is genuinely about trying to provide a better service in a more cost-effective way to local communities.' District Commander Chief Inspector Dennis Murray said the scheme helped improve emergency services' 'accessibility' to the public. 'The jointly crewed vehicle has improved the visibility and accessibility of police and fire services in rural areas, as well as enhancing support to local people in areas such as crime and fire prevention and dealing with ongoing local problems.' The vehicle will be used to patrol the rural area and assess potentially dangerous situations . PC John Vjestica and Watch Manager Justin Abbott have been using the vehicle in a trial run across the area . Critics claimed the venture could put fire fighters at risk violent and unpleasant treatment by the public . While Northamptonshire Fire Service welcomed the project as a 'quicker, more comprehensive response' to danger, critics said it could risk putting fire fighters susceptible to crime. 'When a fireman turns up to a job he is always welcome, people know he is there to help. 'If they are associated with the police I'm afraid they will not be quite as welcome,' said Lib Dem Councillor Sally Beardsworth. Labour councillor John McGee added: 'Any proposed single authority or merger would be driven by cuts - and that's not good for the public.' Among tasks undertaken by the RIV in its trial period was visiting schools and community groups to deliver personal safety talks and advising local businesses and farms on hazard concerns. | The Rural Intervention Vehicle has been rolled out in Northamptonshire .
Car is a traditional squad vehicle but has a foldable ladder on roof .
It will be used by policeman and fire fighter patrolling area for danger .
Officers will also assist emergency services in more severe situations .
It comes after a series of budget cuts to Northamptonshire Police . |
229,187 | b4c2aabd4f04328bf412936dbf1545574829d0eb | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:14 EST, 29 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:49 EST, 29 May 2013 . A set of 26-year-old twins have stunned doctors by both suffering strokes just months apart from each other. Kathryn Tucker, who lives in Tempe, Arizona, felt a sharp pain on the back of her head as she got into bed last July - just nine months before her non-identical twin, Kimberley, felt the same pain. Both women also suffered a loss of vision and numbness down their body, but for Kathryn, the pain occurred on the right side, while for Kimberley, it occurred on the left. Medical staff said that for both of the women - who are fraternal twins - to suffer a stroke at such a young age is 'like lightning striking twice', especially as they had no family history of the condition. Alike: Twins Kathryn (left) and Kimberly Tucker, 26, suffered strokes nine months apart from each other . It is a common misconception only the elderly suffer strokes; in fact, one third of sufferers are under 65 and people younger than 45, the stroke risk has jumped 14 to 20 per cent, experts said. While Kathryn and Kimberley are both active women, they increased their risk by smoking and taking the contraceptive pill. They had both previously suffered migraines and Kathryn also had a small, previously undetected hole in her heart. Despite the prevalence of strokes among young people, doctors did not at first diagnose Kathryn correctly, ABC News reported. When she suffered the pain in her head, loss of vision and numbness, her brother rushed her to hospital, where doctors believed she was just suffering a migraine and sent her home. 'I was absolutely terrified,' she told ABC. 'I slept for three days straight. Then, when I woke up, my vision was horrible. Everything was distorted and one-dimensional. I could barely get around.' Treatment: They received treatment at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, pictured, and have undergone therapy. They still sufferer with vision issues but are otherwise back to full health . Stroke is a leading cause of . death in the U.S., claiming the lives of nearly 130,000 Americans each year, . according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one-third of strokes are believed to occur in people younger than 65, and for people younger than 45, the stroke risk has jumped 14 to 20 percent, according to Dr. Joni Clark, a vascular neurologist at Barrow Neurological Institute. It means that about about one in five victims is now below the age of 55. Symptoms include sudden numbness or . weakness in the face, arm or leg, sudden confusion, sudden vision loss . and dizziness, and sudden severe headache. Risk is increased by alcohol and drug consumption and by smoking. Experts also believe the increasing number of young sufferers is due to the rise in diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol. Eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly and getting blood pressure checks can help reduce the chance of suffering a stroke. She was sent to an urgent care facility, where she learned she had had a stroke. Kimberly left school in Tuscon to take care of Kathryn - but nine months later, their roles reversed. After running in a 5k race, Kimberly returned home feeling thirsty and tired. But when she awoke, she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head and was suffering poor vision and jumbled thoughts. Yet because of her sister's experience, she knew she was having a stroke - although medical staff initially disagreed. 'The EMTs told me that the chance of . both me and my sister having a stroke this young was that of being . struck by lightning twice,' she said. Dr. Joni Clark, a vascular neurologist at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, told ABC that it was indeed very rare for the two sisters, who do not share DNA, to suffer strokes at a young age. 'Honestly, it's rare for us to actually evaluate two sisters who've had strokes within months of each other,' she said. 'If they had a family history, it would not be a surprise. It's quite uncommon.' She added that most of the cases among young people are spontaneous, and can be brought on my obesity and the diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol that is associated with it. The twins said they have both stopped smoking and taking the pill. They have undergone occupational and speech therapy, but their vision is still . affected and they cannot drive. 'We think we are invincible until we are not,' Kimberly said. 'This taught us a huge lesson that we are not guaranteed great health and we need to take care of our bodies.' | Kathryn Tucker suffered a stroke in August last year - nine months before her twin Kimberly did .
Their risks were increased by smoking, the pill and history of migraines .
But medical staff said it is 'like lightning striking twice' as the women are not identical twins and do not have a family history of strokes .
Strokes among young people on the rise due to unhealthier lifestyles . |
241,861 | c5047ab8ad62de56f8a095cf8f6ec3ea4d7f1a22 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Jewish students at New York University have been targeted by a pro-Palestinian group that reportedly slipped 'eviction' notices under the doors of several Jewish students in one of the university's Greenwich Village residents halls last week. 'If you do not vacate the premise by midnight on 25 April, 2014 we . reserve the right to destroy all remaining belongings. We cannot be held . responsible for property or persons remaining inside the premises,' the fake eviction slips read. The NYU student group Students for Justice in Palestine have taken credit for notices, which came with a disclaimer at the bottom stating, 'this is not an eviction notice,' and explaining that the notices were meant to draw attention to the group's claim that the Israeli government issues similar eviction notices to Palestinians living in Israel. Phony: These phony eviction notices were slid under the doors of several of NYU's Jewish students . NYU's Palladium residence hall on 14th Street in Manhattan reportedly was targeted because of its large Jewish population . The pro-Palestinian group targeted the NYU resident housing facility Palladium, on East 14th Street in Manhattan, because it is believed to house a lot of NYU's Jewish students, the Times of Israel reports - according to the paper, the building even has elevators that operate without buttons for students acknowledging the Sabbath. A spokesman for NYU says the prank crossed a line. 'It is disappointingly inconsistent with standards we expect to prevail . in a scholarly community,' spokesman John Beckman told the New York Post. 'Our Residence Life and Housing . Office will be communicating with the students in the dorm, looking . into the matter, and following up appropriately.' According to Beckman, it's unclear why the group targeted the Palladium dorms. Credit: The student group Students for Justice in Palestine have taken credit for the 'eviction' notices . 'However, were it to be the case that the fliering was done there . because it was perceived to be a dorm with a higher proportion of Jewish . students, that would be troubling, dismaying and a matter of deep . concern for our community,' Beckman said. Students for Justice for Palestine took credit for the fliers in a blog post on its NYU website. 'NYU SJP's eviction action created more dialogue than ever before,' the headline of a blog post on the site reads. Students say they we troubled by the phony eviction notices. 'Dialogue': The students seem to thing their stunt was a success and has 'created...dialogue' 'We thought we were getting evicted. We were panicking a little bit,' sophomore Gabrielle Doria, 20, told the paper. Similar pranks, the paper reports, have recently happened at other universities, including Rutgers, Michigan and Northwestern. | The eviction notices were slid under the doors of Jewish students in an NYU residence hall .
The group Students for Justice in Palestine has taken credit for the notices .
The group claims the Israeli government routinely evicts Palestinians living in Israel . |
12,751 | 2426a778cdc288a2a33a5b7aff35715a1eb2a7cf | Everywhere you go you run the risk of leaving traces of your DNA behind – from fingerprints, to skin, hair and cigarette butts. A Brooklyn-based firm is so concerned this DNA could be collected and stored by authorities it has created a range of sprays designed to help people delete it from all surfaces. A limited number of Invisible sprays are due to go on sale in June for $99 (£58) to protect people’s privacy, but, in theory, it could also be used by criminals to commit crimes without getting caught. Scroll down for video . The Invisible range of sprays has been created by Brooklyn artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg and her new company BioGenFutures. The Erase spray, pictured left, is said to remove 99.95% of DNA from surfaces, while Replace, pictured right, removes the final 0.5% by mixing it with other genetic material . The Invisible range consists of two different sprays that can be used as a pair, or separately. The first is called Erase and it’s an ‘antiDNA cleaning product’ similar to a disinfectant spray. While . Replace is an obfuscation spray that adds a mixture of genetic material . to a DNA sample to cloak the details of the original. This means customers can either wipe everything clean, or leave an alternate DNA sample to protect their privacy. The Invisible range of sprays was created by genetic privacy company BioGenFutures, set up by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg. Last year, Dewey-Hagborg set up the Stranger Visions exhibition in which she created realistic 3D portrait sculptures of strangers using DNA she collected from public places. According to the BioGenFutures sites, Invisible is a set of sprays that can be used to remove or obfuscate a person’s residual DNA left on door handles, keyboards, train seats, or in restaurants and pubs. The first spray is called Erase and it’s an ‘antiDNA cleaning product’ similar to a disinfectant spray. 'Replace', on the other hand, is an obfuscation spray that adds a mixture of genetic material to a DNA sample to cloak the details of the original. Invisible was created by genetic privacy firm BioGenFutures, set up by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, pictured spraying Erase onto a glass. BioGenFutures' website claims the product goes on sale in June for $99 (£58) and customers can use it to wipe everything clean, or leave an alternate genetic sample to protect their privacy . This means customers can either wipe everything clean, or leave an alternate DNA sample to protect their privacy. The site does, however, feature endorsements from genetic experts including Jeremy Gruber, President of the Council for Responsible Genetics who said: ‘No-one should be able to take another person’s DNA without consent and mine it for information. ‘The promises of the genetic revolution . will not be fully realised if concerns over unauthorised testing of DNA . and its misuse are not addressed. Invisible represents a critical step . towards achieving that goal.’ This graphic reveals that the average person sheds 50 strands of hair each day and each strand contains five nanograms of DNA. Only 0.5 nanograms of DNA is required for standard forensic analysis . Last year, Dewey-Hagborg set up the Stranger Visions exhibition, pictured, in which she created realistic 3D portrait sculptures of strangers using DNA she collected from public places . BioGenFutures continued: ‘Genetic information is inadvertently discarded by billions each day through shed hairs and lashes, dropped cigarette butts and gum, or saliva left on glasses and silverware. In addition to being accidentally discarded, DNA is routinely extracted and often stored from infants at birth, and as criminal DNA databases are expanding exponentially. ‘Law enforcement now routinely profiles individuals convicted of even petty crimes, tending toward permanent storage of both profiles and biological samples from individuals arrested for but never convicted of a crime.’ Commenting on the spray, Dr John Bond from Leicester University . told MailOnline: 'It is easy to remove DNA with a good clean, with . biological washing powder for example. 'I can’t see any implications for criminal . investigation as this would require a criminal to spray around after . themselves cleaning up. 'Given that, today, criminals still don’t wear . gloves I can’t see this being effective. 'I think its cashing in on the . ‘hype’ surrounding DNA analysis and the (unjustified) fear that people . have that it will be used for non-criminal investigation purposes.' | The Invisible sprays have been created by artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg .
The Erase spray claims to remove 99.95% of DNA from surfaces .
'Replace' removes the final 0.5% by mixing it with other genetic material .
Makers BioGenFutures claims Invisible will go on sale for $99 (£58) in June . |
4,079 | 0bc19e9d5cae886ec13c4080b640d1f6f7bb6361 | Irbil, Iraq (CNN)New U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Saturday that success is more important than timing in any attempt to retake Iraq's second most populous city, Mosul, from ISIS militants. Carter spoke on his way to Afghanistan, where he is meeting Afghan leaders and U.S. troops in his first week in the post, having taken over from Chuck Hagel. Any operation to take Mosul will be "Iraqi-led and U.S.-supported," he said. "It's important that it be launched at a time when it can succeed and so I think the important thing is that it get done when it can be done successfully. Even if I knew exactly when that was going to be, I wouldn't tell you," he said. "Of course, I'm open. I'm always open to advice from our military commanders about what the best way to achieve success is. "And that is a question that will come down the road but I think what's important is that the campaign to retake Mosul succeed and we're committed to that success and not to a particular timetable." Months after most Iraqi troops dropped their weapons and ran for their lives in Mosul, up to 25,000 are expected to head back there in April or May to try to retake the city, according to a U.S. official. And Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the BBC this week that while there's still work to do, he is sure the Iraqis are going to retake the crucial northern city. "We are now planning an offensive on Mosul in the coming few months," the Prime Minister said. "We have to prepare for it carefully because the only choice we have in Mosul (is to win). We have to win in Mosul to keep (ISIS) out." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in London, said the international community was increasingly determined to act together against ISIS and that progress would continue to be made. "We have the tools, we have the political will, we have the determination and we are making gains in Iraq. Territory is increasingly beginning to come back into the hands of the Iraqi government. The Iraqi military is now beginning to stand up with greater capacity," he said. Despite Kerry's vote of confidence, some doubt whether victory in Mosul is possible. Mosul has been a symbol of Iraqi military incompetence, given how troops and police ran from their posts as ISIS militants arrived in June. Since then, there has been the start of airstrikes by the United States and international allies against ISIS. The Iraqi military has also had fresh training, some of it conducted by U.S. and allied forces, to make it more effective. It has had some success in curbing the ISIS onslaught, but not in taking back a lot of territory -- much less that as valued as Mosul. New footage released by ISIS on Friday gave another insight into the challenge facing the Iraqi army and its allies. The video, apparently of an attack early this month on an Iraqi military outpost near Samarra, 100 miles north of Baghdad, showed dozens of seized American-made M16 assault rifles and piles of AK-47s, as well as armored personnel carriers and a Humvee. All these are now in the hands of ISIS militants who appear to have overrun the outpost, some 60 miles northwest of Baghdad. The video also showed several dead Iraqi soldiers, with one of the bodies burning. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had no confirmation of when and where the vehicles were seized or where the video was actually shot. Although this latest incident was only small, ISIS forces have steadily acquired large quantities of U.S. weaponry as a result of seizing Iraqi army equipment provided by the United States, particularly in Mosul. Up until now, one of the biggest and most successful forces has been the Kurdish Peshmerga that serve Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish government, often at odds with Baghdad. On Saturday, Kurdish fighters repelled a massive offensive by ISIS in the town of Gwer and gained full control of the area, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Foreign Relations Office told CNN. At least 34 ISIS militants were killed during the fighting. These Kurdish fighters will have a role, including around Mosul. In his BBC interview, al-Abadi said that liaisons between Iraqi forces and the Peshmerga "must be powerful and must be watertight" to defeat ISIS. According to the CENTCOM official, who spoke to reporters Thursday, Mosul police and tribal forces would likely join Iraqi troops in the assault on the city. Peshmerga would play a supporting role, not going into Mosul but instead blocking off supply and escape routes north and west of the city. The hope is for an operation in April or May to avoid running into Ramadan (mid-June through mid-July) and Iraq's summer heat, the CENTCOM official said. A final decision has not yet been made, though. Count Sirwan Barzani, a senior Peshmerga commander, is among the skeptics that such a spring assault would work. "I don't think it's realistic, and I don't have any idea about a plan," Barzani told CNN's Ben Wedeman. "And if it involves the Iraqi army only, it's not going to work. The Iraqi army is not ready for the fight." Retired Maj. Gen. James "Spider" Marks told CNN he believed it had been a mistake to reveal the potential timing of the Mosul operation and that it could put U.S. forces at risk. "This is a terribly unfortunate lack of professionalism, in almost a relaxed approach towards a challenge that we have been trying to get our arms around for almost a year," he said. If the Iraqi forces -- from five army brigades -- do the street-to-street fighting, theoretically they should significantly outnumber their ISIS counterparts. Right now, ISIS has an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 fighters in Mosul, the U.S. official said, but more could join the fight if they take the threat of attack seriously. However, an additional challenge for the Shia-dominated Iraqi military and Peshmerga is that they will be trying to take a majority Arab Sunni population city. Even if the offensive succeeds, sectarian divisions could exacerbate an already complicated situation and make it hard for the Iraqi military to hold on to the city. The approximate time of the attack had previously been reported: A CENTCOM official told CNN earlier this year that Iraqi forces could make their first move in April. CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from Irbil and Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London. CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali, Barbara Starr and Greg Botelho contributed to this report. | U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Iraqi military is making gains against ISIS .
Defense Secretary Ash Carter says what matters in Mosul is success, not a timetable .
Video released by ISIS shows U.S.-made weaponry seized from Iraqi military outpost . |
216,857 | a4c41ab3b07fb1ad361bccdffbe0a418d6e7ba1f | (CNN) -- In a recent Fortune magazine essay, Warren Buffett -- one of the world's wealthiest people -- explains why women are key to America's prosperity. CNN's Poppy Harlow sat down with the Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO to talk about girls education, his sisters, his family and how, as he says, "If I had been born a female, I would have been very unhappy about the Constitution." Watch the full interview in Part 1 and 2 of the videos. More: Jennifer Buffett -- Make schools safe for girls everywhere . More: CNN's "Girl Rising" Photos: The girls' stories from "Girl Rising" How to help . | Billionaire Warrent Buffett talks to CNN's Poppy Harlow about girls education .
More about CNN's Girl Rising project . |
46,490 | 82fc8daa4049d89650c9a44cdd0f52af20d3375b | By . Associated Press and Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:56 EST, 11 December 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 09:56 EST, 11 December 2012 . It was reefer madness at a Maine high school as nine students were suspended for bringing marijuana-laced cookies to a school event on ethics and values - and sickening some classmates. Police are investigating after the incident, which occurred on Friday. Cape Elizabeth schools superintendent Meredith Nadeau said it's unclear whether the students who ate the cookies knew they contained marijuana . 'High' school: Nine students were suspended for bringing marijuana-laced cookies to a Cape Elizabeth High School event - and sickening some classmates . Cookie monsters: The pot-lace treats, like the ones seen here, were brought to the school during a day-long event focused on ethics and values . Some of them felt ill and went to the nurse's office. The Portland Press Herald reported that the episode unfolded on Friday during a daylong event featuring speakers addressing the school district's guiding values of 'Community, Academics, Passion and Ethics (CAPE).' School policy calls for a student who distributes or sells drugs to be suspended for 10 days and face possible expulsion, an action requiring a hearing before the School Board. The names of the students aren't being released. In charge: Superintendent Meredith Nadeau, pictured, said it's unknown whether students who ate the cookies knew they contained pot . The school was the site of another marijuana controversy in 2010, when a boy was kicked out after he sold a pot brownie to a classmate, according to the Press Herald. The student suffered from an extreme case of buyer's remorse when he was carted to a hospital emergency room after eating the brownie. The latest pot cookie case came on the same day that two University of Colorado at Boulder students were accused of bringing marijuana-laced brownies to a college class, sickening their unsuspecting professor and five classmates. Thomas Cunningham, 21, and Mary Essa, 19, were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of second-degree assault, fraudulently inducing the consumption of a controlled substance and conspiracy charges, university police spokesman Ryan Huff said. Huff said three of those who ate the brownies were hospitalized, suffering from the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active property in marijuana. 'If someone views this as a prank, it's no laughing matter,' Huff told Reuters. 'These [charges] are all felonies which carry potential prison time.' | Students sickened after eating the cookies during Friday event at Cape Elizabeth High School in Maine .
School superintendent says it's unclear whether the students who ate the cookies knew they contained marijuana .
Incident occurred during event focusing on community, academics, passion and ethics . |
265,123 | e35e83e8b7c6828b50d85663a0ac0f38013908e0 | By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 10:42 EST, 17 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:22 EST, 17 July 2013 . They say the apple never falls far from the tree - and the old adage certainly proved true for this lollipop man when he decided to track down his real father. Not only did Darren Wardle, 47, who was adopted as a newborn, discover his biological father was also a lollipop man, he was stunned to find the two men had even applied for the same job. Mr Wardle, from Cannock in Staffordshire, was given up for adoption by his parents - who were both just 15-years-old when they had him - a few days after he was born. What are the chances? Darren Wardle, right, tracked down his biological father Paul Ferris, left, only to find they were both lollipop men - and had both applied for exactly the same job . Incredibly, Mr Wardle's adoptive mother, his wife, and his mother-in-law have all also worked as school crossing attendants. Mr Wardle has now been reunited with his biological father Paul Ferris, 62, after he decided to search for him following the death of his adoptive father. After contacting Mr Ferris' daughters - Mr Wardle's half-sisters - through Facebook, he learned his biological dad was living in nearby Tamworth. Mr Wardle wrote to him and father and son were reunited for the first time since Mr Wardle was given up for adoption. 'It was an emotional thing, but I was just so surprised when he told me he was applying to be a lollipop man at the same council as me,' Mr Wardle said of the reunion. 'Due to the fact I am a mobile lollipop man, I don’t have a fixed station so it would be very rare for our paths to ever cross.' Like father like son: Darren Wardle, seen in 1968 as a two-year-old, was adopted at just a few days old . Coincidences: Darren, seen left with his adopted sister Trina in Torquay in 1976, and right as an 16-year-old in 1982, said his adoptive mother, his wife and his mother-in-law have all worked as school crossing guards . Now both father and son work for Staffordshire County Council helping to guide schoolchildren safely across roads. Father-of-five Mr Wardle, who has two grandchildren, said: 'Both my parents had me at just 15 years old, they were children themselves so I was put up for adoption from birth . Growing up: Darren, seen as an 18-year-old in 1984, was reunited with his biological father in 2010 . 'Around . 25 years ago I decided to trace my mum, I went to our old house and . asked a neighbour who had lived in the street since the houses were . built if she knew where my mum may have moved to. 'She . told me the area of Tamworth, I immediately looked in the phone book . and found an Uncle, he then put me in touch with my mum and the rest is . history, it literally took around three hours,' Mr Wardle explained. 'After . speaking to my mum, she gave me some information about my dad but I . didn’t search for him until four years after my adopted father . died of cancer. 'I . hadn’t seen my dad for 44 years and I managed to get in touch with his . daughters, my half-sisters via Facebook, they told me to write to him, . so I did. 'Just a few . days later, he got back to me, he phoned me and we decided to meet at . his house in Tamworth in May 2010,' Mr Wardle said. Mr Ferris said: 'I was obviously delighted to meet up with Darren, and we found it particularly amusing that after all that time we were both going to be lollipop men. Like father, like son I guess. 'I was an engineer by trade and when I retired I decided to have a go at being a lollipop man to keep myself busy. 'I love the work. It’s the kind of job where you know you are doing something good and making a real difference.' County councillor Simon Tagg, who oversees road safety in Staffordshire said: 'It makes you wonder whether being a lollipop man might be in the blood. 'In the blood': Both father and son now work as crossing attendants for Staffordshire County Council . 'Paul and Darren are the guardians of our roads and like our other 321 patrol officers do a fantastic job in keeping our school children and parents safe. 'We have some of the safest roads in the county here in Staffordshire which is something we are proud of and have worked very hard to achieve.' | Lollipop man Darren Wardle, 47, was adopted at just a few days old .
Decided to trace his biological father following his adoptive father's death .
Discovered Paul Ferris, 62, was a lollipop man in Staffordshire too .
Stunned to find father and son had both applied for the same position . |
223,571 | ad719c5b8bdc26550ca1d46c9e118d474c5bcc54 | London (CNN) -- In public Buckingham Palace are putting on a brave face, insisting the queen's illness is little more than a stomach bug and her hospitalization merely a "precautionary measure." But behind the castle walls there is cause for concern. The main worry is dehydration, quite common for anyone suffering from gastroenteritis; usually it is treated by replacing lost bodily fluids with water. Five things to know about gastroenteritis . But the queen is finding it difficult to keep any fluids down. For this reason she was taken to the Edward 7th hospital in London, the first time she has been in hospital for 10 years, where she is currently hooked up to an IV drip. Buckingham Palace have canceled all the queen's official engagements for the next week, including a high profile visit to Rome. Senior advisers have spoken of their concerns to the Prince of Wales and it is believed the queen, who is 87 next month, will be asked to take things easier over the coming months. Though the queen is always described as being in "robust" health, her advisers are acutely aware there will come a point when she has to slow down. For this reason the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall have been taking on far more high profile engagements recently as they prepare for the day they will formally replace the queen. A source inside Windsor Castle said: "Charles and Camilla have subtlety created a more regal air over the past year and are beginning to look, and act, like a King and Queen in waiting. Behind them the ever-popular William and Catherine have now progressed to being senior members of the royal family. "If the queen is convinced to cut back on the amount of engagements she carried out she will do so with the knowledge the family 'firm' is well taken care of behind her." The queen who hates to make a fuss . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mark Saunders. | Buckingham Palace are putting a brave face on queen's illness .
But behind the castle walls there is cause for concern .
Advisers are acutely aware there will come a point when she has to slow down .
Duke and Duchess of Cornwall have been creating a more regal air lately . |
181,233 | 769ea673335487f7f37fff1aebf9be2877945373 | (CNN) -- She's one of Great Britain's brightest medal hopes ahead of the London Olympics but Jessica Ennis isn't relying on home comforts to help land her a maiden Games gold. The heptathlete has had numerous chances to visit the newly-built Olympic Stadium in the east of the English capital and steal a march on her rivals. But the 25-year-old insists she wants her first trip to the arena to come when she takes to the track to make up for the disappointment of missing the 2008 Games in Beijing. "There's been lots of opportunities to go, I've seen pictures of it and it looks fantastic, but for me I don't want to become overly familiar with it," she told CNN World Sport. "I want to go down to the stadium when it's games time and for me to step into the stadium with a big crowd and it will all be fresh and new and allow that adrenaline to pump through me. "Hopefully that will get into my performance and help me perform that little bit better." Ennis broke through at the 2009 World Championships when she claimed gold in Berlin but last year in Daegu, South Korea, she relinquished her title to Russia's Tatyana Chernova. More disappointment followed at March's World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, where she again was pipped to gold, this time in the pentathlon, by Ukrainian Nataliya Dobrynska. But she says both experiences have helped her to understand exactly what will be required to win gold in front of her home fans in August. "Obviously I was disappointed with Daegu and Istanbul, getting so close to those gold medals but not quite managing to keep hold of them was disappointing," she said. "But I learned a lot from those championships and learned a lot about the areas I need to work on and improve. "If someone had said to me five years ago that I'd have three gold medals at major championships and two silver medals then I'd have grabbed that with both hands. "The thing I've got to take from these past couple of championships is that I've performed consistently over the past few years and always been in the medals." Too young to compete at Athens in 2004, Ennis was on course to make her Olympic debut in China in 2008, until a foot injury forced her to withdraw. Given the impact she has made on UK athletics, and the high-profile she has enjoyed since Berlin, many people forget that this will be her first ever Games. But she says although her battle with Chernova and Dobrynska is bound to be intense, she is determined to approach the Olympics as she would any other event. "Having the disappointment from Beijing it's obviously going to be a big year for me," she said. "But I've done lots of championships before, I've had the experience there and I've competed against these girls on numerous occasions so I'm just treating it as any other championship." | Heptathlete Jessica Ennis says she won't visit Olympic Stadium until it is time to compete .
The UK athlete wants her first trip to provide her with extra adrenalin to help her win gold .
Ennis won gold at the World Championships in 2009 but had to settle for silver in 2011 .
The London Games will be her first Olympics after injury forced her to miss Beijing in 2008 . |
225,493 | affa30c2d75e3d34ecbffdbb2a9ccf8b25aeab2a | (CNN) -- Australia's Prime Minister repeated Saturday that he has a "high degree of confidence" that acoustic signals detected in the Indian Ocean are from at least one of the two black boxes from the missing Malaysian plane, but predicted that finding them remains a "massive, massive task." "It is likely to continue for a long time to come," Tony Abbott told journalists in Beijing, where he was on a diplomatic visit. Chinese officials appreciate Australia's "transparency and candor" in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, he said, adding "I think it's to our country's credit that we've approached it that way." More than 35 days since the plane vanished from radar screens early March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, the search continued. Up to 11 military aircraft, one civil aircraft and 14 ships will assist in Sunday's search for the missing airliner, the Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority planned a visual search area totaling approximately 22,203 square miles (57,506 square kilometers). The center of the search area lies about 1,367 miles (2,200 kilometers) northwest of Perth. During Friday's search, only a small number of the objects sighted from aircraft and ships were recovered; as has been the case throughout the effort, none was linked to the Boeing aircraft, according to the Joint Agency Coordination Centre. Still, the U.S. Navy commander leading the American effort to find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said he was "optimistic" about how the search is proceeding. The four pings detected in recent days were continuous and consistent with what a black box would emit, said Cmdr. William Marks. "We've ruled out that it was anything natural, or anything from commercial shipping, or anything like that." "I agree with the Prime Minister," Marks said. "We're optimistic." Families skeptical . But the optimism was not universal. Relatives of the 239 people who were aboard the plane when it vanished met Friday with Malaysia Airlines and government officials. The mother of Pouria Nourmohammadi, the 19-year-old Iranian man who used a fake passport to board the plane, came away unimpressed. "I feel the Malaysian government has forgotten about all things MH370," his mother told CNN on Saturday. "These days there is not news. They only keep saying, 'We are searching.'" On Saturday, searchers aboard the Australian vessel Ocean Shield were planning to continue towing the ping locator -- referred to as a TPL -- at a walking pace through the water in hopes of picking up new signals from either or both of the locator signals that were attached to the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, Marks said. The more signals they can locate, the more investigators say they can narrow the search zone. "We have to stick with the TPL for just a little while longer to make sure we have exhausted every ounce of power coming from the battery through the black boxes," he said. The batteries were certified to last 30 days, but the beacon manufacturer predicted they would last days longer. Once the searchers have concluded that there is no hope that the batteries could still be powering the beacons, searchers will lower into the water the Bluefin-21, a sonar device, to scour the ocean floor. The Bluefin's pace is slower than that of the TPL, he said. Four pings, one dud . On April 5, the TPL detected two sets of underwater pulses of a frequency close to that used by the locator beacons. Three days later, last Tuesday, it reacquired the signals twice. All four signals were within 17 miles of one another. A fifth ping, detected Thursday by a sonobuoy dropped from an airplane, is "unlikely to be related to the aircraft black boxes," Australian chief search coordinator Angus Houston said a day later. Tracking pings is only one early step in the hunt to find the plane's data recorders, wreckage and the people aboard. Imagining the search underwater . As the focus narrows, more questions surface in search for Malaysia 370 . The hunt for a Flight 370 ping: How they are doing it . How deep is deep? Imagining the MH370 search underwater . CNN's Ralph Ellis, David Molko and Elizabeth Joseph and journalists Ivy Sam and Chan Kok Leong contributed to this report. | A mother's lament: "They only keep saying, 'We are searching'"
Abbott predicts a long slog .
"We're optimistic," U.S. Navy commander says .
Up to 11 military aircraft, one civil aircraft and 14 ships in Sunday search . |
171,852 | 6a6c3186c75ad62ee73d38139b0444168d400a72 | London (CNN) -- Tony Benn, who has died in London aged 88, was an inspiration to all of us who wanted to make the world a more peaceful and more equal place. He came from a privileged and political family, his father and grandfather both MPs, and he would have become Lord Stansgate in the early 1960s if he had not fought to renounce his hereditary peerage. Luckily he won, stayed an MP instead of mouldering in Britain's upper House of Lords for the next five decades, and dedicated his life to socialist ideas and most importantly to campaigning for change. Tony was born in the aftermath of World War I. He was an airman in World War II, and often talked about his experience. He lost a brother in that war, but also saw it as a watershed, marking no return to the unemployment and fascism of the 1930s. As he said, the young conscripted troops became radicalized by the war, arguing that if there could be full employment in wartime, so there could be full employment in peacetime to build houses, hospitals, schools and all the other things people needed. He was Labour all his life, campaigning for the 1945 landslide, but in the last part of his life his main activity was outside Labour's structures. I remember vividly how he used this wartime experience on one occasion. Just after Gordon Brown became prime minister, we wanted to hold an anti-war demo going from Trafalgar Square to parliament, but the march was banned by the police. I received a phone call from Tony to say that he had just dropped a letter off in Downing St complaining about this decision and promising to defy it. Sure enough he turned up on the day wearing his World War II medals and demanding to march. We set off, daring the police to arrest us. They didn't. He quipped that he was leaving parliament in order to spend more time with politics. This was after the death of his beloved wife Caroline, herself a socialist campaigner and writer. He spent the rest of his life campaigning for a range of causes, but above all he was identified with the Stop the War Coalition, of which I became the convenor when we launched it in 2001. He campaigned and spoke at every demo, travelled round the country to hold rapturous and well-attended meetings, and became president of the campaign, a post he held up to his death. He was opposed to the wars the UK government and its U.S. allies were waging, including the latest attempt to start another war on Syria last summer. He also helped campaign against austerity, most recently through the People's Assembly. Tony was polite, disciplined, hard working, political: all the things you could wish for in a campaigner. He was a delight to talk to, interested always in ideas, technological change, history, and building broad united campaigns. One of the last conversation I had with him he stressed the importance of organizing, and wanted May 1, the international day of working class struggle, to be marked into 2014 as a day to rise up against austerity. That is an invitation I hope millions of people will take up. Maybe we could call it Tony Benn day. That would be a fitting legacy. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Lindsey German. | Tony Benn who has died in London aged 88, came from a privileged and political family .
However he renounced his peerage, and fought for socialist ideas .
He was opposed to wars UK government and its U.S. allies were waging .
Benn was polite, disciplined, hard working, political: all a campaigner should be - Lindsey German . |
40,303 | 71bf4e61836d13189a94f430c2fdcced31d7fba9 | (CNN) -- Less than two weeks after she was brutally stabbed, a 12-year-old Wisconsin girl is home recuperating and feeling well enough to tease her younger brother, her family says. "Her physical wounds, thankfully, are healing more quickly than anticipated and her pain is decreasing daily," the family said in a statement. "For that, we are so grateful." The family has designated Tuesday as "Go Purple" day. It's the survivor's favorite color and the family is asking supporters to wear it. The family has asked that the victim not be named for her safety and because she is a minor. Purple is also part of the theme of the official #HeartsForHealing fundraiser for the victim and her family. The campaign has raised more than $42,000 toward its goal of $250,000, and has also resulted in an outpouring of homemade purple hearts to be delivered to the girl and her family. "The messages that people are including in their hearts, the time and effort that they're putting into some of these projects, it was absolutely incredible," Dana Hoffman, a family friend and spokeswoman and one of the organizers of the Hearts for Healing campaign, told CNN's "New Day." The girl's family said it is "overwhelmed by the outpouring of love from the surrounding community, across the country, and even overseas." The attack . The ordeal began May 31 when the girl went into the woods near her home in Waukesha to play hide-and-seek with two of her friends. Authorities said one girl held the victim down while another stabbed her 19 times, allegedly so that the attackers could impress a fictitious character called Slenderman that often appears in horror stories, videos and images. Who is Slenderman? One of the girls encountered the name on a website known as Creepypasta Wiki. One of the suspects told police that Slenderman is the site's supposed leader, and to climb into his realm, a user must kill someone. A bicyclist found the wounded girl alive. The suspects, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, were arrested hours later, according to a criminal complaint. They are charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. The 12-year-olds are being charged as adults, and bail is set at $500,000 for each, Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said. The recovery . The victim is sleeping better at night, her family said. But she gets tired and overwhelmed easily. "Since coming home, our daughter has enjoyed spending time outside and getting fresh air as well as running a few quick errands with her mom," the statement said. "She spent time watching many episodes of 'Full House' alongside her 'guard pets', which consist of a family dog and two cats. Like any older sister, she has also managed to continue teasing her younger brother." The family has had a few conversations about what happened that day, Hoffman said, mostly focused on how the girl found the strength to crawl out of the woods where she was attacked and seek help. "I was taken aback by the strength this little girl has," Hoffman said. When can kids understand reality vs. fantasy? Bicyclist who found stabbed Wisconsin girl: 'Who did that to you?' Opinion: When the bogeyman is a little girl . CNN's Ray Sanchez and Christie Bear contributed to this report. Watch New Day weekdays at 6am-9am ET. For the latest on New Day click here . | NEW: Family friend tells "New Day" she's "taken aback by the strength this little girl has"
Victim, 12, is recuperating at home .
She's been spending time with family, watching TV and hanging out with her pets .
Two other 12-year-olds are charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide . |
147,332 | 4a7c3016e4600d7c5cb96b9805f1a9044c4cf908 | Ashley Young has history for diving and the way he fell to try and win a penalty won’t help his reputation. There were two possible penalty incidents in close succession and Martin Atkinson called both correctly. The first came as Robin van Persie burst into the penalty area only to be thwarted by a well-timed last-ditch Santiago Vergini tackle, which took the ball cleanly. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Louis van Gaal: Ashley Young did not dive . Down goes Robin: Van Persie tumbled in the Sunderland penalty area after being dispossessed by Vergini . 61 MINS 28 SECS . Van Persie goes down between Cattermole and Vergini, who touched the ball. VERDICT: PERFECT TACKLE . 61 MINS 33 SECS . Young edges the ball past Brown, but drags his right foot against the defender. VERDICT: HE DIVED . Round two: Seconds later Young tried to con the referee into awarding a spot-kick after an incident with Brown . Flop: The some-time England international throws himself into the air to try to coax a penalty out of Atkinson . As the ball broke free, Young took his chance by clipping the ball and then throwing himself theatrically to ground attempting to draw contact from Wes Brown. Atkinson saw it correctly and rightly cautioned Young. 1. England v Montenegro (October 2010) Young was booked and denied a penalty after he claimed to be fouled twice during England’s Euro 2012 qualifier. 2. Man Utd v QPR (April 2012) Perhaps Young’s most theatrical tumble. The United man won his side a penalty when he flew through the air after minimal contact with Shaun Derry. 3. Man Utd v Aston Villa (April 2012) Young’s penalty-winning clash with Ciaran Clark even prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to admit he ‘overdid’ the fall. 4. Man Utd v Crystal Palace (September 2013) David Moyes promises to reprimand the winger after admitting he tried to con the referee to give a penalty. 5. Real Sociedad v Man Utd (October 2013) Young wins a penalty after a theatric reaction to a slight pull. ITV pundit Roy Keane said: “Young has gone down too much in last few months”. | Young went to ground far too easily during the match against Sunderland .
Atkinson did well to spot the midfielder had left his trailing leg out as he pushed the ball past Wes Brown in the penalty area at the Stadium of Light .
Seconds beforehand Robin van Persie appealed for a penalty after being dispossessed inside the Sunderland box by Santiago Vergini .
Neither were given, as Atkinson got both the decisions spot on .
The game finished 1-1 after Juan Mata's close-range finish for United was cancelled out by a Jack Rodwell header shortly before half-time . |
242,412 | c5c65f53d8d42289663218b7c17e5ab5164fe383 | Los Cabos, Mexico (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Monday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict in Syria and "agreed that we need to see a cessation of the violence, that a political process has to be created to prevent civil war." In comments to reporters after almost two hours of talks, Obama said he and Putin had "candid, thoughtful and thorough conversation" about various issues including Syria and Iran. On Syria, Obama said he and Putin "pledged to work with other international actors including the United Nations" and its special envoy, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Syria exposes cool spots in U.S.-Russia ties . Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution on Syria pushed by the United States and other allies, and Moscow is accused of providing military aid to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. The Obama administration says al-Assad's days are numbered and a transition should be worked out to allow the Syrian people to choose their leaders. Putin said the two leaders were "able to find many commonalities pertaining to all of those issues," but provided no details. The meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, was the first time Obama and Putin held face-to-face talks since Putin returned to the president's office earlier this year. The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Mike McFaul, described the leaders as "very businesslike, cordial." McFaul told reporters about a third of the session was devoted to Syria, making it the biggest single topic. "The fact that the meeting went for two hours, that was because they were talking about Syria and they didn't want to stop talking about Syria," he said. "Both leaders, really, on both sides, wanted to make sure the other side of the table understood the true motivations for what they're trying to do and what they're trying not to do." Putin thanked the United States for helping Russia join the World Trade Organization last December. Obama later said he would work with Congress to strengthen Russia's trade status with the United States, adding that the two nations will disagree on some issues and must "find constructive ways to manage through any bilateral tensions." Earlier Monday, veteran Sen. John McCain said the Obama administration "in its desperation" appeared to be placing its hopes for a resolution in Syria on persuading Russia to push al-Assad from power. "Russia is unlikely to ever support a policy of regime change in Syria," said McCain, R-Arizona, in remarks at the American Enterprise Institute. McCain calls for U.S. military leadership on Syria . White House National Security Council spokesman Ben Rhodes said Obama reiterated U.S. concerns that continued Russian arms sales to Syria "only perpetuate the conflict" during the meeting in Mexico. He said Putin repeated the Russian position that those sales were part of "longstanding relationships unrelated to the current conflict" -- and he cautioned reporters against reading too much into the terse statement Putin gave afterward. "When he feels like it was a bad meeting, he'll let you know at some length," Rhodes said. | Iran and trade also are discussed by the two leaders .
President Obama and Russian President Putin meet at the G-20 Summit .
Obama says they agreed on a need to end the violence in Syria and prevent civil war .
Putin says he and Obama found many "commonalities" |
98,151 | 0a5db9fb23046adf1637f2b517cded6fe0cc97a3 | By . Steve Robson and Peter Allen In Paris . PUBLISHED: . 12:31 EST, 4 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:43 EST, 5 February 2013 . David Beckham’s move to play football in Paris has landed him in a row over taxes. The 37-year-old says he will receive just the minimum wage while the rest of his pay package is donated to charity. The deal means that high French taxes do not make a dent in his fortune while he plays for Paris St Germain. This has angered many French, including one MP who mocked Beckham’s accountant for saying the former England captain will work for only £2,000 a month. ‘He will be paid less than my parliamentary assistant!’ said conservative Gerald Darmanin. ‘Be serious!’ Controversy: David Beckham's deal with PSG - which means he will pay the vast majority of his salary to charity - has caused uproar among some French MPs . Deal: Under French law PSG must pay Beckham the minimum wage so that national insurance and other charges go the government . Beckham’s arrangement involves . limiting his contract to five months, keeping his family based in . London, and saying he will give his salary to charity. All of this . enables both Beckham and PSG to concentrate on making millions from the . ex-England captain’s image rights, while paying far less tax. The £2,000-a-month salary represents the minimum wage for professional footballers in France. Mr Darmanin added: ‘It is necessary to . convince the Sports Minister to stop this deadly tax process. I’d . rather receive 50 per cent of a lot than 75 per cent of nothing!’ Beckham will give about £700,000 a . month of wages to charity – but it is understood that PSG will pay this . direct, and not the player. This, along with the fact Beckham will . not live in France for longer than six months, ensures he will not . become liable for a 1.5 per cent tax on his worldwide income and . estimated wealth of £200million – a possible bill of £3million. Money-spinner: The deal doesn't prevent Beckham and PSG making money from his commercial rights with his shirts selling for around £100 . Jerome Guedj, a Socialist MP, insisted . that France would benefit in the long run from Beckham being in Paris. ‘Me, I see a symbol,' he said. 'He will create wealth around PSG, image . rights, jerseys sold by PSG. This is proof that the tax system in France . does not leak.’ Both Beckham and PSG will be able to make money from the ex-England captain’s image rights and other commercial activities. His share of merchandising rights is . likely to be paid into one of the three London-based companies. Footwork . Productions, which exploits Beckham’s name and image, including work . for Armani, Adidas, Samsung and Diet Coke, paid him nearly £86million in salary and dividends from 2002 to 2010. PSG is already promoting David Beckham shirts on . the club’s website, with an adult top featuring his name and number . costing almost £100. L’Equipe, the biggest sports paper . in the country, has already suggested that ‘football’s glamour icon’ was . little more than a money-spinning fairground attraction. It carried a . cartoon of the ‘S’ in PSG turned into a dollar sign last week, and . wrote: ‘With the signature of the Spice Boy David Beckham yesterday, PSG . pulled off a sensational publicity stunt. The sporting interest of the . move is less clear.’ Others were even more cruel – with Le Figaro newspaper branding Beckham a ‘third-hand Rolls Royce’. | Deal criticised by French MPs because star will pay virtually no income tax .
Vast majority of £170,00 a week salary to be paid directly to children's charity .
Beckham and PSG can still make money from merchandise with lower taxes . |
24,231 | 44c2727b508d670f6c5f12b0faba06dd38c1f804 | By . Andrew Levy and Ryan Kisiel . Last updated at 5:57 PM on 2nd September 2011 . Embattled travellers at Dale Farm - the UK's largest illegal site - say they will barricade themselves in at the Essex camp to halt their planned eviction. A spokesman for the community confirmed that they would 'resist the bailiffs and build barricades' in a bid to remain on the six acre plot. Basildon Council have confirmed that they will begin eviction proceedings within weeks and that planning is advanced for the multi-million pound policing operation to carry out the court order. Battlelines: An aerial view of the camp taken yesterday. The dotted lines show the illegal section . Ramshackle: A watchtower at the edge of the camp, surrounded by barbed wire . Command centre: Tents have sprung up at the anarchists' makeshift headquarters . Defiant: Banners hang over an entrance to the site . A 28-day notice served on residents expired on Wednesday following a ten year row over the use of the site for permanent homes. The travellers based at the camp have . confirmed that they are not armed and that they wish to adopt a . peaceful approach when opposing their removal. Resident Kathleen MCarthy said today: 'We will resist but none of us have weapons or anything like that. 'We have gas canisters but they are for fuel and will absolutely not be used as weapons.' Protesters are planning to chain . themselves to concrete blocks at the traveller site – part of which was . built illegally – in the battle against the bulldozers. Details . emerged as a ‘foreign legion’ of activists began joining the barricades . at the camp in Crays Hill, Essex, an area of which the travellers . bought and then built on without planning permission. Swedish Marxists and German campaigners, as well as British university students, are among those who have drifted in to the six-acre site, where about 400 of the 1,000 residents have been ordered to leave. A press conference at the site today saw the two groups, supporters and travellers, present a united front over tactics to oppose the eviction order. Pretty resolute: The occupants of Dale Farm say it with butterflies and flowers that they won't be leaving their home in Essex . Dale Farm protest: Travellers and supporters hold a press conference at the six-acre site in Essex . Weapons fear: A spokesman for the travellers has refuted claims that the fuel canisters at the site will be used as weapons . One mother, who has a six-month-old son with Down's Syndrome, told of the human impact of the mass eviction. Margaret Culligan said: 'If this eviction goes ahead it will place an enormous strain on us as a family and his health might deteriorate. All we want is to stay in our homes.' One supporter, who gave her name as Marina, revealed that specialists in peaceful resistance had already joined the group and were holding training sessions to show the travellers how to combat the eviction using peaceful methods. To do list: The travellers make a final note of what's to be done around the site . About 80 newcomers are understood to have presented themselves at a makeshift headquarters and scores more are expected to join them over the weekend. Tents providing temporary shelter and large gazebos for communal meals have sprung up. Police fear up to 2,000 people from 30 groups are planning to try to block the eviction, despite having no direct link to the site. Officers believe they could use the confrontation as an excuse for politically motivated violence. Aerial photos taken yesterday showed the occupants are turning the camp into a fortress, with watchtowers, barbed wire and hay bales and tyres that can be set alight. High-pressure canisters that can be detonated have also been stockpiled. One activist, who declined to be named, said: ‘We will take whatever action is necessary to stop innocent people being left homeless. ‘They’re not hurting anyone. We have chains and padlocks to lock ourselves to the concrete blocks. Children will form part of the human barricade.’ Another, who covered his face with a hood and jumper, added: ‘There is no way we are leaving them (the travellers) here to be attacked by the thugs who pass themselves off as bailiffs. Yes, we are preparing for battle and want here to be our fortress. ‘What other option have these people been left with? A life in supermarket car parks is no future for these good people.’ In a sign that the operation is being . taken over by outside elements, one traveller described a meeting . yesterday between the two groups, saying: ‘They (the anarchists) were . telling us what to do. They seem to know exactly how to handle the . situation. ‘They were saying there was still plenty of time to prepare and reinforcements are on their way.’ Another . said: ‘A lot of us accept we will have to move on and won’t put up much . resistance, although there’s plenty who want to fight to the end. Deckchair protest: Residents of Camp Constant speak to the media about the uprooting of their home . Sign of the times: Anarchists paint banners in support of Dale Farm camp near Basildon . Standing to attention: Seven-year-old Patrick Sheridan, a resident of the Dale Farm site, on guard in a Power Rangers costume . Power Ranger unmasked: Patrick Sheridan takes a break from his duties . 'It’s . the people who’ve been turning up over the past few days who really want . to square up to the authorities.’ The evictions of 80 families living on . 52 plots are set to begin within a fortnight, ending a ten-year legal . battle. The travellers’ application for a High Court injunction to delay . the evictions failed on Wednesday. A . local homeowner, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘There is genuine . terror about what is to come. The misery and fear we have had for years . could be nothing by comparison. 'The . fact that children could be used to make the police operation more . difficult shows the depths that these people are prepared to stoop to. It’s the sort of thing a demented despot would do.’ The . travellers were moving valuables including TVs from the area in transit . vans yesterday to minimise the damage to their property when the . confrontation begins. An Essex Police spokesman said that if any children took part in the protests, ‘social services would be involved’. John Baron, the MP for Basildon and Billericay, appealed for the travellers to leave peacefully. He said: ‘The law must be enforced . equally and fairly, otherwise we discriminate against the law-abiding . majority. No one group or individual can be above the law.’ Flying the flag: MPs and the local council have pleaded with those on the camp to leave without causing trouble . Happy in the hay: A makeshift plastic tent is an ideal playground for children caught up in the eviction battle at Camp Constant . Legal battle: Supporters and residents of the Dale Farm travellers' site . stand on the steps of The High Court as they challenge their eviction . order . | Basildon Council will begin eviction process within weeks as police plan for a multi-million pound operation to protect bailiffs and travellers .
Fears that children will be used as human shields at Dale Farm .
'Specialists' in peaceful resistance are holding training camps for travellers at the Essex site . |
265,020 | e3447d0c8b31d2d45d7e30fe792d957854906be4 | San Francisco 49ers player Aldon Smith was arrested on Sunday at Los Angeles Airport after allegedly telling security officers he had a bomb while being uncooperative during a bag search. In footage posted online the 6ft 4in linebacker can be seen speaking with officers before being lead away, telling them he'd done nothing wrong and saying they would be 'embarrassed'. Smith was arrested around 2pm and booked on one count of 'false report of a bomb', a charge which carries a penalty of up to one year behind bars. He has been released after posting $20,000 bail. Scroll down for video . San Fransisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith has been arrested at Los Angeles airport after apparently telling security officers that he had a bomb in his luggage . According to police he became 'agitated' and 'belligerent' after being selected for a random search. A witness said he told officers he had done nothing wrong as he was lead away . Arrested: 49ers player Aldon Smith, pictured, was arrested on Sunday at LAX after reportedly indicating to a TSA agent he had a bomb . According to a police statement Smith became 'belligerent' while waiting on a Terminal 1 security line and was randomly picked for a . second screening. Sgt. Karla Ortiz said: 'At . approximately 1400 hrs, a 25-year-old male resident of San Jose, . California, was going through Terminal 1 screening and was randomly . selected for a secondary screening. 'The suspect then became belligerent and uncooperative with the process and with the TSA agent, making a comment indicating that he was in possession of a bomb before proceeding towards the gate area. 'Los Angeles Airport Police made contact with him at the gate and he was positively identified as the person in question. 'Once again the male subject became uncooperative and he was detained and taken into custody by Airport Police and is currently being transported to LAPD for booking.' Eyewitness John Egan told the San Jose Mercury News that Smith was just agitated. 'I heard him say, "I did nothing wrong,"' Egan said. 'The whole thing ratcheted up from there. The cops were trying to calm him down. He wasn't out of control; just agitated.' Legal troubles: Smith is seen in this September 2013 booking photo, when he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana possession . 49ers general manager Trent Baalke also released a statement, expressing his disappointment. 'We are disappointed to learn of the incident today involving Aldon Smith,' Baalke said. 'As this is a pending legal matter and we are still gathering the pertinent facts, we will have no further comment.' Sports fans have taken to Twitter to criticise Smith, calling him 'stupid', 'dumb' and calling for him to leave the team. One user, Mike S, said: 'I'm a diehard Niners fan, and he's a great player. But Aldon Smith has got to go,' while cesinha added: 'Aldon Smith is plain stupid.' While most of the comments were crtical of Smith, or poked fun at 49ers fans, there was some support for the controversial player. Jaelin Wilson said: 'Too much talent for it all to go to waste; hope Aldon Smith gets himself right.' The incident is the latest in a string of legal issues for Smith, SFGate notes. In November 2013 Smith pled not guilty to three illegal firearms charges relating to a 2012 party at his home. Smith was reportedly stabbed at the party and two others were shot. Smith has also been arrested twice for DUI since 2012, the website says. He spent five weeks at a treatment center this fall and missed five games. | NFL player Aldon Smith arrested at LAX airport at around 2pm .
'Became belligerent and uncooperative' during security check .
Charged with 'making a false report of a bomb' and given $20,000 bail .
Smith pleaded not guilty to three illegal firearms charges in 2013 .
Controversial star has also been arrested for DUI twice since 2012 . |
34,244 | 615005af0402cfbce681d5bb8daf559437c30a19 | Dallas, Texas (CNN) -- Two men were arrested and charged Sunday in connection with a string of deliberately set church fires in east Texas, authorities said. Jason Robert Bourque, 19, and Daniel George McAllister, 21, were charged with one count of arson each in a February 8 fire set at the Dover Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Authorities say they believe the men are connected to nine other church fires that have been set in the area since January 1. Bourque and McAllister also are suspects in the attempted break-ins at three separate churches earlier this month, said Steve McCraw, director of the public safety department. A federal law enforcement source told CNN that multiple pieces of evidence have been linked to one of the suspects through DNA and that many of the fires were ignited the same way. "East Texans can rest easier tonight," McCraw said at a news conference announcing the arrests. He called the arsons "despicable and cowardly acts." A call to a tip hot line led to the arrests, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which was offering a $25,000 reward for information about the fires. Investigators were first made aware of the suspects about two weeks ago and had been trying to build a case against them since then, ATF Special Agent Thomas Crowley said. Authorities have been interviewing them since their arrest but there's still no information on motive, Crowley said. Authorities on February 12 released sketches of three people sought in connection with the fires. On Sunday, officials said that those "persons of interest" are not related to this weekend's arrests. An 11th church arson in Temple, Texas, is not related to the other 10, said Robert Champion of the ATF in Dallas, Texas. Earlier this month, authorities said they were trying to determine whether the Temple fire was connected to the others. CNN's Ed Lavandera contributed to this report. | NEW: Call to a tip hot line led to the arrests, ATF says .
NEW: Source: Evidence linked to one of the suspects through DNA .
Two men charged with arson in connection with one Texas church fire .
Men are suspects in nine other church fires in east Texas, authorities say . |
283,407 | fb1c7f5fb89489d0fed90cbcc11fbc40a5866801 | By . Bianca London . PUBLISHED: . 05:28 EST, 11 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:08 EST, 12 April 2013 . Post-sandwich guilt may become a thing of the past thanks to a baker who has created the UK's lowest calorie bread. The London-based City banker-turned-baker has launched Plan Bread - a unique sandwich delivery business that provides a virtually carb-free, low calorie super-bread... made from broccoli. Paul Shackleton, who was made redundant from his trader job at JP Morgan last year, decided to leave the bright lights of the City behind him once and for all, and turn his hand to baking. A dieter's dream: Using all natural produce and broccoli as the main ingredient, Paul created the lowest carb bread in the UK . Banker turned baker: Despite having no baking experience, former banker Paul Shackleton taught himself how to make the lowest carb bread in the UK . Despite having no experience in oven-based work, the 27-year-old set himself the challenge of creating the world's healthiest bread. He spent hours poring over books in the British Library, studying the latest medical research on how food is stored as fat, and meticulously devised more than 150 prototypes before arriving at Plan Bread's secret recipe. Using all natural produce and broccoli as the main ingredient, Paul created the lowest carb bread in the UK - as accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service). Plan Bread's special recipe has 50 per cent fewer calories and 94 per cent fewer carbs than other popular breads. Low carb: After hours of perfection, Plan Bread's special recipe has 50 per cent fewer calories and 94 per cent fewer carbs than other popular breads . As a comparison, 100g of popular, supermarket-bought seeded loaves have 300 calories and 34g of carbohydrate, while 100g of Paul's bread has only 137 calories and just 2g of carbohydrate. The bread will appeal to the likes of super health-conscious Gwyneth Paltrow, because it is also gluten-free, soy-free, and almost zero GI. Paul, who is based in central London, has spent much of the last six months rising at 2am to bake for the day ahead conducting an extensive testing and sampling programme to ensure that his recipe is perfect. Early riser: Paul has spent much of the last six months rising at 2am to bake for the day ahead . Speaking about his exciting new business venture, Paul said: 'In my old job, I always felt guilty eating unhealthy sandwiches at lunchtime. 'I discovered that my colleagues had cut them out of their diet, with no alternatives available. We all thought, surely there must be a better way. 'That's really how Plan Bread was born - the aim of the venture was always to find a truly healthy alternative to the high street sandwich, where no low carbohydrate option was available. 'It wasn't until I started baking that more and more mates started mentioning that they no longer eat bread. 'Gluten intolerance was also far more prevalent than I had realised. Zero gluten then became a key idea behind the product as well, and I feel really pleased that the sandwiches will be available to as many people as possible, not excluding anyone.' He continued: 'Some people thought I was mad, and, to be honest, at times I did feel a little like an alchemist. But I was always confident in the science behind the process, and am thrilled to have found a result which people are now enjoying. 'We have been very encouraged by the initial feedback to the business and product and will be looking to expand our menu and delivery area throughout 2013.' Plan Bread delivers platters and individual sandwiches to addresses across West and Central London as well as catering for larger corporate events and supplying office canteens. Each sandwich is priced between £3.75 and £4.50 and Paul plans to open a series of sandwich shops around London then look to move to outside London once established. He added: 'The plan is also to greatly expand the range of products. Firstly we are working on a greater line of breads (red cabbage, courgette and some others are in the test stage at the moment). 'Then want to move on to other bread like products namely pizzas.' If there was one food I had to eat forever it would be bread. So when I found out about Plan Bread I was more than excited at the prospect of being able to do 'carbs before marbs'. But with broccoli as the key ingredient, could this really taste as good as a classic hunk of Hovis? After getting over the bread's slightly green tinge, I tucked in. What can only be described as a cross between an omelet and brioche, with more bites, the bread tasted really good. And the best part? The sandwich was crammed full of fresh poached salmon, watercress and a light mayonnaise sauce all for just 219 calories (a Marks and Spencer's equivalent would see you devour over 800 calories). It may not taste as good as a crisp petite pan with slatherings of butter, but this is the perfect lunchtime fix for dieters who are partial to committing the occasional carbicide. | Paul Shackleton, 27, made redundant from London bank job at JP Morgan .
Taught himself baking and developed Plan Bread's secret recipe .
Lowest carb bread ever created in UK .
137 calories and just 2g of carbohydrate per 100g .
50% fewer calories and 94% fewer carbs than other popular breads . |
135,201 | 3ae1e3453af1a7c4004a93e3d7f3043b7bae55b3 | When Taylor Swift decided to pull her music off Spotify earlier this month she said she was unhappy that listeners could stream her songs for free. Yet based on the number of streams that her massive hit Shake It Off enjoyed during the month of October, Spotify will have paid out somewhere between $280,000 and $390,000 in royalties for that one song alone. The popular music streaming service has repeatedly come in for criticism from musicians who claim that it doesn’t pay them enough for their craft. Taylor Swift's hit Shake It Off was the most streamed song on Spotify during October, but so far this year Calvin Harris takes the accolade for his song Summer which has been streamed more than 203 million times . In the wake of Swift’s departure, the company’s CEO Daniel Ek was quick to point out that Spotify had paid more than $2 billion to music labels and publishers since 2008, while illegal downloads don’t provide any revenue for artists. But Swift didn’t sound convinced when she spoke to Time about her decision. ‘I think there should be an inherent value placed on art. I didn’t see that happening, perception-wise, when I put my music on Spotify,’ she said. Now Time has carried out some rudimentary maths to get a better idea of how much artists are making from the website. Shake It Off received 43.6 million plays during October, meaning Spotify will have had to pay out between $280,000 and $390,000 . Spotify published its royalty payouts formula in 2013, including the claim that its average ‘per stream’ payout is between $0.006 and $0.0084. Those figures cover payments to labels, publishers and distributors, who then pass them on to artists and songwriters. Shake It Off, the first single from Swift’s latest album 1989, amassed an astounding 43.6 million plays on Spotify during October which means the singer - who co-wrote the song with producers Max Martin and Shellback - will be entitled to a large share of the estimated $390,000 in revenue it has generated. Swift pulled Shake If Off from the service after only seven weeks and by doing so will actually loose out on a lot of additional revenue. The most streamed song on Spotify this year is Summer by Calvin Harris. It has been streamed 203 million times since it was released in March, earning the Scottish DJ/producer somewhere between $1.2 million and $1.7 million in royalties. The biggest song of the year on Spotify is Summer by Calvin Harris which has earned somewhere between $1.2 million and $1.7 million in royalties . According to Spotify, Swift had earned $2 million off global streaming of her music in the past year, although that figure has been disputed by her record label. Nashville-based Big Machine claims it had received exactly $496,044 for domestic streaming of Swift’s music over the past 12 months. Despite Swift's skepticism, music streaming services are considered to be the future of how people consume music. Apple is reportedly set to bundle the subscription music service it bought from Beats into its iOS operating system early next year, while Google said last week that YouTube is rolling out a long-awaited paid monthly music subscription service called YouTube Music Key. According to Spotify its subscriber base has grown to 12.5 million, up from 10 million when the number was last reported in May. | Shake It Off received 43.6 million plays during October, meaning Spotify will have had to pay out between $280,000 and $390,000 .
Spotify published its royalty payouts formula in 2013, including the claim that its average 'per stream' payout is between $0.006 and $0.0084 .
Those figures cover payments to labels, publishers and distributors, who then pass them on to artists and songwriters .
The biggest song of the year on Spotify is Summer by Calvin Harris which has earned somewhere between $1.2 million and $1.7 million in royalties . |
168,661 | 662cc7089dc457c4df333ab252501c64004ab472 | London (CNN) -- I remember well the shock when in 2000 Alex Rodriquez signed a 10 year, a quarter of a billion dollar deal ($252 million) to play baseball with the Texas Rangers. It was beyond reality, and it didn't work out for the Rangers. He was later traded to the Yankees who happily increased the deal. Good for Rodriguez. But at least he was being paid to work. Rory McIlroy has now become Nike's poster boy -- certainly there will be a lot of strings attached; but he's not being paid by Nike to swing a club. He'll get millions more to do that. Read more: Nike unveils Rory McIlroy: Tiger's heir apparent . Good for McIlroy. It's a better deal from Nike than Woods got. His baseball cap now switches from Titleist to the Nike tick. TV ads have already been shot. Now, I wonder which stable of Nike's sports stallions will he join? Will he join Roger Federer and Michael Jordan at causing little or no offenses on or off the field of play? Will he join Lance Armstrong and one day cause a massive scandal putting his Nike contract in jeopardy? Or will he join the middle rank of bad boy athletes who's off the field scandals don't cost them their Nike deal; think Kobe Bryant or of course, Tiger Woods. What's the difference? Lance Armstrong is accused of cheating his fans and his beloved sport and cashed in on that cheating. But remember, Nike actually stood by Armstrong for months in 2012, when all others headed for the exit. It seemed to have taken Nike's top brass some time to realize the evidence was too strong to ignore. His upcoming 'confession' will hopefully clarify his involvement in doping. Tiger has never been accused of on-the-field cheating. Still, he lost many of his sponsors while Nike hung on. The others could not stand the heat. For Nike, it's not just about celebrities endorsing products. It's about products themselves. Air Jordans are sold through jumpman23, a fully fledged subsidiary of Nike. It includes endorsements from good guy athletes like CC Sabathia, Derek Jeter and Josh Freeman. Kit sold through Federer and Woods are not subsidiaries of Nike, but you can't miss the connection. In November, Forbes Magazine said Woods "delivered" 50% more ($6 million) for his brands than McIlroy in 2012. I wonder if it will be the same will be in 2013, as McIlroy will undoubtedly remain World No. 1 in golf rankings this year and now shoots near the top as a global sports brand. | In November, Forbes Magazine said Woods "delivered" 50% more for his brands than McIlroy in 2012.
For Nike, it's not just about celebrities endorsing products. It's about products themselves, writes Boulden . |
205,228 | 95aac7e034b6490e956a6f468951470e1663752b | Sir Richard Thompson attacked government plans to cut the NHS budget - saying it is already 'under-doctored, under-nursed and under-funded' Overworked doctors are looking after up to 70 elderly patients during a single shift making it 'impossible' to provide adequate care, one of the UK’s top doctors has claimed. Sir Richard Thompson, head of the Royal College of Physicians, said that patient safety is being put at risk because doctors are so stressed and over stretched. He complained that some doctors can only spend five minutes investigating each patient’s symptoms - far below the recommended 15 minutes. Launching a strongly worded attack on the Government for cutting the NHS budget, he said that doctors 'miss things' as they are working under constant 'strain and stress'. The 73-year-old, whose college represents the vast majority of the UK’s 30,000 doctors working in hospitals, becomes the latest senior doctor to bemoan cutbacks to the health service. Criticising promises made by the Prime Minister to defend the NHS budget, Sir Richard said: ‘In spite of what weasly words people at the top say, money’s been taken out of the NHS.’ He said that ‘billions’ more needs to be invested in the NHS every year for it to operate effectively, calling for all political parties to devise additional funding strategies. Sir Richard also criticised Jeremy Hunt for 'slagging off the whole of the NHS', claiming the Health Secretary dwells on poor care over the good treatment received by patients. He added: ‘The NHS is under-doctored, under-nursed, under-bedded and under-funded. There are too few doctors to do the increasingly large job to a high standard, and safely, and compassionately.’ Guidelines suggest that doctors should treat a maximum of 20 patients during a single shift to ensure that they receive adequate levels of care. But Sir Richard said some medical professionals are having to attend to 70 people on one shift, including many elderly patients suffering from a range of medical problems - or what medics call 'multiply morbid.' He said this results in doctors running around ‘like a scalded cat’ during a typical seven-hour shift, with safety most concerning at weekends and on night shifts. ‘You try standing on your feet for seven . hours trying to be on the ball, thinking of the various complications, . being nice to patients, for seven hours. It’s absolutely destructive. Sir Richard said doctors are having to tend to up to 70 medically challenging patients every shift. Guidelines suggest doctors should treat a maximum of 20 patients (library image) ‘Not everyone has 70, but most people are looking after well over 20,’ he said in an interview with The Guardian. Sir Richard’s comments were backed by other leading doctors representing healthcare professionals. Dr Mark Porter, chair of the British Medical Association, said: ‘Doctors are working harder than ever before as all NHS services come under enormous pressure from a combination of rising workload, falling resources and staff shortages in key specialities.’ He added: ‘Four years of pay cuts had left NHS staff feeling devalued and under attack.’ A Department of health spokesman said: ‘Patient safety and care is a priority for the government and it is right that we have high expectations for our NHS. 'While the NHS is one of the safest, most efficient healthcare systems in the world we should never shy away from trying to improve standards for patients.’ | Sir Richard Thompson attacked Government plans to cut NHS budget .
'NHS is under-doctored, under-nursed and under-funded,' he said .
Said 'stressed' doctors run around 'like a scalded cat' on their 7hr shifts .
Many tend to 70 patients a shift - over the maximum of 20, he added .
Medics only spend five minutes with each patient so they 'miss things' |
222,878 | ac851ea66338a68a7ecaf166f1f88c6e572cb776 | By . John Stevens . PUBLISHED: . 07:11 EST, 3 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:15 EST, 3 December 2013 . The autumn internationals have just finished, but rugby fans will be eagerly anticipating the first day of 2014 when they can place this calendar on their walls. Oxford University women's rugby team are copying their male counterparts by posing for their own naked calendar - with only strategically positioned hands to maintain their modesty. The female team stripped down to just their rugby boots and socks for the black and white photographs taken around the city to raise cash for charity. Line out: The Oxford University Women's Rugby Football Club (OUWRFC) present their first ever naked calendar which features current members of the team on the pitch, in the gym, in the library, and around Oxford . Captain Tatiana Cutts, 25, tackling teammate Danielle Yardy, 23, by the river . The calendar is being sold for £10 to raise money for Mind Your Head, Oxford's mental health awareness campaign. Tatiana Cutts, 25, who tackles team-mate Danielle Yardy, 23, by the river in the September photograph, said it was 'mostly hilarious, really very cold, and absolutely worth it for such a good cause'. The law PhD student at Keble College, who lectures undergraduates part time and is the club captain, said: 'It was a bit nerve-racking at first but after a minute it was good fun and great for team bonding. Posing up: The female team stripped down to just their rugby boots and socks for the black and white photographs taken around the city . Good sports: The girls described the day as 'mostly hilarious, really very cold, and absolutely worth it for such a good cause' 'We were lucky it was a sunny day, but . I was still absolutely freezing in the picture. We ended up in the . river twice, it was utterly miserable.' Miss . Cutts, who is from Tavistock, Devon, and went to Devonport High School . for Girls, dismissed the idea that the calendar is distasteful. 'What . we're doing is celebrating strong women,' she said. 'These girls are . athletics, these are their body shapes, and they should be celebrated.' The women's rugby team, who have the motto 'Back Yourself', decided to pose for their own calendar after previously helping to sell the men's calendar. Charitable: Calendars are £10 each with £1 from every calendar sold going directly to Mind Your Head, Oxford's mental health awareness campaign . Club president Elizabeth Dubois, from . Dartmouth, Canada, who is studying for a PhD in Information, . Communication and the Social Sciences at Balliol, said: 'We saw the . success of the men's calendar last year and while were helping to sell . them at matches people said "if it was your team in the pictures, we . would buy one". 'Playing . rugby is certainly an opportunity to build skill and physical strength, . but it is also a chance to release stress, form a social support . structure, and feel welcomed. 'With this calendar the club hopes to highlight the inclusiveness of women's rugby. 'When you play women's rugby people have a stereotypical image of you and we wanted to confront that. We have girls of all shapes and sizes, and studying all types of academic subject.' The calendar features current members of Oxford University Women's Rugby Football Club on the pitch, in the gym, in the library, and around Oxford. Here's how it's supposed to look! The autumn internationals have just come to a close . To visit the calendar website click here. | Female team stripped down to just rugby boots and socks .
Raising money for Mind Your Head, Oxford's mental health campaign . |
191,224 | 839ca69424bc30ce84eeea84f70dff5dea009f2e | By . Jaymi Mccann . PUBLISHED: . 07:43 EST, 4 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:05 EST, 4 March 2013 . A father-of-two almost died after Lloyds Pharmacy staff gave him the wrong medicine. Richard Whipps, 38, who had a chest infection, was wrongly given diabetic medication instead of steroids for asthma by his local Lloyds Pharmacy. Although the sticker on the packet detailed the medication Mr Whipps was supposed to have the tablets inside were the wrong kind. The sticker on the tablets he had been given had the details for the steroids Mr Whipps should have been given . Mr Whipps, who has three-year-old twin daughters, had to be rushed to hospital twice after he took the drugs and felt unwell. It was only when Mr Whipps' wife Debbie researched the name 'Gliclazide' that was on the packet it was realised the medication was a hypoglycaemic anti-diabetic drug. Doctors told him that if his wife had not been vigilant and got him to hospital on the second occasion he could have gone into a diabetic coma and died. Mr Whipps, an IT systems officer at the Arts University Bournemouth, said: 'The medication had . been checked twice by members of staff at the pharmacy but they still . got it completely wrong. If his wife Debbie hadn't researched the name Gliclazide they wouldn't have found out why he was taking sick . 'I felt horrendous but just thought . it was a side effect of the steroids. I had no idea I had actually been . taking the wrong medication. 'I am really angry about what happened and how serious it could have been. 'The nurse and the doctor at hospital . said it was very serious what had happened to me and that I was . basically going into a diabetic coma. 'If my wife hadn't noticed and I had been left overnight, I could have been killed.' Mr Whipps, from Verwood, Dorset, visited his GP with a chest infection and was prescribed antibiotics and steroids. He had been given 30 Gliclazide pills instead of 30 Prednisolone tablets. After collecting his prescription from the nearby pharmacy that evening he took six steroid tablets as instructed the following morning. He began feeling unwell within a few hours and suffered an asthma attack. He was taken by ambulance to Royal Bournemouth Hospital and released later that evening. The next day he took his antibiotics and another six steroid tablets as instructed but again started to feel poorly. Mrs Whipps checked the medication and discovered the box and drugs inside were actually for diabetics - even though the printed label stuck on the box contained the details for the correct medication. He was rushed back to hospital and put on an IV glucose drip before spending the night on the acute medical ward while doctors corrected his sugar levels. Mr Whipps said he was lucky his wife noticed he had been taking the wrong drugs or he could have died. The Lloyds Pharmacy in Verwood that made the blunder. Mr Whipps is lucky that his wife spotted the mistake . He added: 'My wife's grandfather was diabetic so when she got home from work and saw how ill I was after the second time of taking them she looked at the medication and realised the mistake. 'I was feeling very ill and I was just sprawled out on the sofa and very spaced out. I'm incredibly lucky my wife noticed the mistake when she did otherwise I might not be here today. 'I'm absolutely disgusted by it to be honest. The package was signed by two different people so it wasn't just one person's mistake. 'There is no way I will be going back to that pharmacy again.' Mr Whipps was contacted by the pharmacy and offered an apology. A Lloyds Pharmacy spokesman said: 'We take the health of our patients very seriously and are extremely sorry that Mr Whipps was given the incorrect prescription medication. 'We have stringent standard operating procedures and a full investigation has taken place into the circumstances surrounding the incident. 'We will shortly share the findings of our investigation with Mr Whipps and have been in contact to apologise for any distress caused.' | Richard Whipps was given diabetic medication instead of steroids .
He was put on an IV glucose drip and spending the night in hospital .
Mr Whipps has been issued an apology by Lloyd's Pharmacy for the mix up . |
227,298 | b251947aebd450adf34629aa0cc7e957bdbf5aac | By . Associated Press . and Snejana Farberov . PUBLISHED: . 22:49 EST, 5 December 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:13 EST, 6 December 2013 . Amid ongoing protests held by fast-food industry workers demanding higher minimum wages, McDonald’s has offered its employees advice on how to properly tip au pairs and personal fitness instructors. The out-of-touch tipping guidelines appeared on the site McResource Line, but were deleted this afternoon following backlash. The post containing suggestions on how to reward your help during the holiday season came from the etiquette website Emily Post. Scroll down for video . McDonald's etiquette: MacDonald's offered its employees tips on how to properly reward the help, including dog walkers, barbers and personal trainers . Tone-deaf tips: If McDonald's employees were to follow the online holiday tipping guide, they would have spent up to a thousand dollars . McDonald’s employees, many of whom earn just over $7.25 an hour, were advised to offer an au pair a gift or one week's pay; a housekeeper was to be rewarded with one day’s pay, while a pool cleaner was due the cost of a single cleaning. Dog walkers, personal fitness instructors, barbers and massage therapists were also not to be left out. McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb justified the tone-deaf tipping guide by telling CNBC in an email that the content was provided by a third-party partner and included quotes from the Emily Post forum. If McDonald's employees were to follow the online holiday guide, they would have spent up to a thousand dollars this season - a tall order considering that an average fast-food worker earns about $9 an hour. Hired help: According to the guide, it is appropriate to gift your dog walker and au pair one week's pay during the holiyda season . According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the typical fast food staffer made $18,130 in 2010. The McResource site affiliated with McDonald’s boasts ‘practical solutions to many of life’s problems and challenges. This is not the first time that McDonald's landed in hot water for offering its employees financial advice. Last month, the employee budget guide published online by the 'McResource' team advised staff to return gifts and eat stale bread if they are struggling to get by on their wages. In July, the fast food giant once again came under fire when its financial planning site called Practical Money Skills for Life provided a sample budget that included no money for heat and set aside only $600 for rent and $20 for health insurance. The questionable etiquette post was deleted this afternoon as fast-food workers and labor organizers marched, waved signs and chanted in 100 cities across America in a concerted push for higher minimum wages. Organizers say walkouts are planned, with rallies set for another 100 cities. But it's not clear what the actual turnout will be, how many of the participants are workers and what impact they'll have on restaurant operations. The actions would mark the largest showing yet in a push that began a year ago. Media circus: The 'helpful' tipping advice was offered to McDonald's workers amid protests held in 100 U.S. cities calling for higher wages . Striking McDonald's worker Abran Escarzaga, 31, protests outside McDonald's in Los Angeles, California, today . Song and dance: Fast-foot workers chanted inside a Wendy's restaurant in Detroit, pushing to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25 . At a time when there's growing national and international attention on economic disparities, labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats are hoping to build public support to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25, or about $15,000 a year for full-time work. Protesters are calling for pay of $15 an hour, but the figure is seen more as a rallying point than a near-term possibility. In New York City, about 100 protesters blew whistles and beat drums while marching into a McDonald's at around 6:30 a.m.; one startled customer grabbed his food and fled as they flooded the restaurant, while another didn't look up from eating and reading amid their chants of 'We can't survive on $7.25!' Community leaders took turns giving speeches for about 15 minutes until the police arrived and ordered protesters out of the store. Some 200 protesters calling for higher wages for fast-food workers stand outside a McDonald's restaurant in Oakland, California, which was shut down for more than half an hour . Protesters rally for better wages at a Wendy's in Detroit today . The crowd continued to demonstrate outside for about 45 minutes. A McDonald's manager declined to be interviewed and asked that the handful of customers in the store not be bothered. In Detroit, about 50 demonstrators turned out for a pre-dawn rally in front of a McDonald's. A handful of employees walked off the job, but the restaurant stayed open as a manager and other employees worked the front counter and drive-thru window. Julius Waters, a 29-year-old McDonald's maintenance worker who was among the protesters, said it's hard making ends meet on his wage of $7.40 an hour. 'I need a better wage for myself, because, right now, I'm relying on aid, and $7.40 is not able to help me maintain taking care of my son. I'm a single parent,' Waters said. In Atlanta, about 40 demonstrators rallied at a Burger King; another demonstration was planned later in the day. Activists hold posters of President Barack Obama during a protest outside a McDonald's restaurant at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. today . Fast food workers attend a protest against McDonald's outside one of its restaurants in New York . The push for higher pay in the fast-food industry faces an uphill battle. The industry competes aggressively on value offerings and companies have warned that they would need to raise prices if wages were hiked. Most fast-food locations are also owned and operated by franchisees, which lets companies such as McDonald's Corp., Burger King Worldwide Inc. and Yum Brands Inc. say that they don't control worker pay. However, labor advocates have pointed out that companies control many other aspects of restaurant operations through their franchise agreements, including menus, suppliers and equipment. Fast-food workers have historically been seen as difficult to unionize, given the industry's high turnover rates. But the Service Employees International Union, which represents more than 2 million workers in health care, janitorial and other industries, has been providing considerable organizational and financial support to the push for higher pay over the past year. Protestors chant outside a Burger King restaurant during a protest for a raise in the minimum wage in Charlotte, N.C . Organizers were calling for a one-day labor walkout at fast-food restaurants in 100 cities (demonstrations seen today in Chicago) Berlin Rosen, a political consulting and public relations firm based in New York City, also has been coordinating communications efforts and connecting organizers with media outlets. The National Restaurant Association, an industry lobbying group, said most those protesting were union workers and that 'relatively few' workers have participated in past actions. It called the demonstrations a 'campaign engineered by national labor groups.' McDonald's said in a statement that it's 'committed to providing our employees with opportunities to succeed.' The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., said it offers employees advancement opportunities, competitive pay and benefits. In the meantime, the protests are getting some high-powered support from the White House. In an economic policy speech Wednesday, President Barack Obama specifically mentioned fast-food and retail workers 'who work their tails off and are still living at or barely above poverty' in his call for raising the federal minimum wage. All smiles: Grinning McDonald's workers joined protestors at an eatery in Oakland . Labor Secretary Thomas Perez also offered words of support for the protesters on the agency's blog. 'We see momentum gathering and a consensus emerging around the idea that we need to increase the federal minimum wage, to give these workers and millions like them a fair day's pay for a fair day's work,' Perez said in the statement. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised a vote on the wage hike by the end of the year. But the measure is not expected to gain traction in the House, where Republican leaders oppose it. Supporters of wage hikes have been more successful at the state and local level. California, Connecticut and Rhode Island raised their minimum wages this year. Last month, voters in New Jersey approved an increase in the minimum to $8.25 an hour, up from $7.25 an hour. | Tipping advice appeared on employee resource site, but the post was later taken down .
Protesters want the minimum wage to be changed from $7.25 an hour to $15 .
Workers are protesting in 100 cities across the U.S. today .
Demonstrations have been taking place outside McDonald's and other fast food chains .
McDonald's said in a statement that it's 'committed to providing our employees with opportunities to succeed' |
111,987 | 1c6c9fc4918608e0b511fddf6d5d6dddf0f84575 | While House Republicans say every option -- including a government shutdown -- is on the table to counter President Barack Obama's planned executive action on immigration, Colorado Sen.-elect Cory Gardner said shutting down the government is something a "mature governing body" shouldn't even consider. "There's no time, place or purpose of a government shutdown or default," Gardner said Friday on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "That's simply ridiculous and something that a mature governing body doesn't even contemplate. We ought to make it very clear that that's simply not acceptable." Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said shutting down the government or defaulting on the U.S.'s debt obligations are completely off the table. But House Speaker John Boehner has been under pressure from the conservative faction of his caucus to tie the President's executive actions to the fate of the government spending bill needed to fund federal agencies by mid-December. On Friday, Gardner, currently a member of the House, said members of Congress need to work together and with the President to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality. Gardner said Republicans should counter the president's planned action with a plan of their own. "To simply say no to everything is unacceptable," Gardner said. "But I think the President also needs to do the right thing and work with Congress." Could immigration cause another government shutdown? Asked about reports that Republicans could consider suing the President over his coming executive order, Gardner urged more bipartisanship, which he suggested was the message voters sent at the polls this month. "Instead of charging each other with lawsuits or litigation or executive orders or abuses of powers, why don't we actually do what the American people sent us to do. Let's work together, let's be the grownups in the room. That's what they hope that Washington is," Gardner said. While the midterm results appeared to bring Obama and GOP leaders in Congress to the table -- and in fact did as they lunched together at the White House -- the spirit of bipartisanship appears to have already soured as Obama stood firm on his pledge to take executive action on immigration by the end of the year and following the announcement of a climate deal with China. | Rep. Cory Gardner was just elected to Colorado's Senate seat .
He said considering a government shutdown would be "ridiculous"
The U.S. House of Representatives GOP leadership has not ruled out the option of a shutdown . |
271,661 | ebe2d0913ad753e53bb9ecfc9b968120f55e8553 | The New Mexico Livestock Board has launched an investigation into a southern New Mexico dairy after an activist working with an animal welfare group recorded secret video showing workers whipping cows with chains and wire cables, kicking and punching the animals, and shocking them with electric prods. Board officials confirmed the investigation into the practices at the Winchester Dairy near Dexter on Tuesday. They were working on interviewing the activist and tracking down the workers identified in the video. 'We are investigating it very aggressively. The district attorney is on board and everybody is working hard to make sure we do this right,' said Shawn Davis, an area supervisor with the livestock board. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES. Scroll down for video . Disturbing: Animal rights group Mercy for Animal recently released a video showing abuse at a New Mexico dairy farm . Dairy officials have been cooperating since investigators first arrived last Friday, board officials said. The dairy said in a statement that animal care and well-being are central to its operation. As a result, the dairy fired all employees and referred the abusive workers to law enforcement for further review following its own internal investigation. The dairy also halted milking operations, stopped shipments to all vendors and dispersed thousands of cows to other dairies with strong track records in animal welfare. In pain: In the video, dairy employees are seen punching, kicking, prodding and whipping the helpless animals at Winchester Dairy in southern New Mexico . Kicked: Winchester Dairy produces milk for Denver-based Leprino Foods, a cheese company which supplies Papa John's pizza, Stouffer's and Hot Pockets . 'We remain committed to the ethical and responsible treatment of the animals and have learned from this incident,' the dairy said. It was not immediately clear whether the dairy's closure was temporary. Winchester is one of more than 140 family-owned dairies in New Mexico, a state that ranks in the top 10 nationally when it comes to milk production. The industry employs about 4,200 workers and has a direct economic impact of about $1 billion. The Los Angeles-based animal welfare group Mercy for Animals first sent the video footage to the livestock agency last Thursday. It released a compilation of clips that show the abuse during a news conference Wednesday in Albuquerque. An activist with Mercy for Animals shot the video while working on the farm in August and September. Aside from the whipping, kicking and punching, the video shows calves being tossed into the back of a truck and cows that can't stand being dragged with heavy equipment or lifted with clamps. Unsettling: The dairy has since issued a statement, saying they have fired all employees and transferred thousands of cows to other dairies with good animal rights track records . Hurtful: At one point in the video, baby calves are carelessly thrown into the back of a truck. The voiceover says many of the males will be killed for veal meat . The group said the abuses uncovered during its investigations of six separate dairies around the country — including the New Mexico dairy — are all similar. 'So this isn't a matter of a single dairy farm failing to meet industry standards. This is a matter of industry standards allowing for blatant animal abuse,' said Matt Rice, the group's director of investigations. 'That's why we're calling on the industry to make improvements at all of its facilities to prevent this type of abuse.' The Dairy Producers of New Mexico in a statement Wednesday said the industry is committed to animal well-being. 'The actions depicted in the video are unacceptable and do not reflect the daily care and comfort that New Mexico dairy farmers and dairy farmers nationwide provide their cows,' the statement said. Mercy for Animals is calling on Denver-based Leprino Foods, which is supplied by the New Mexico dairy and produces cheese for major pizza chains, to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for kicking, punching and shocking cows and require suppliers to provide safe and sanitary environments for the animals. Leprino Foods said Wednesday it cares about the health and welfare of the animals on the farms that supply the company with milk and that it terminated all shipments from Winchester Dairy. | WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES .
The video was recorder at New Mexico's Winchester Dairy .
The dairy has since fired all of it's employees and dispersed thousands of cows to other dairies with good animal welfare track records .
Officials are working to track down the activist who filmed the disturbing video .
Winchester Dairy produces milk for Denver-based Leprino Foods, a cheese company that sells to Papa John's pizza, Stouffer's and Hot Pockets . |
90,735 | 00b17666d2e38e6fd515c0e1efc2af04df44733f | Brief encounter: John Paul II with the Queen in 1982 . It was a historic occasion as the Queen welcomed the first reigning Pope to visit Britain in 1982. But the visit of John Paul II – whose modernising style and charisma gave him ‘pop star’ like popularity – was dogged by bitter diplomatic wrangles over his meetings with Elizabeth II and Margaret Thatcher. The Pontiff’s reluctance to spend time with the Queen and the then Prime Minister sparked a row with ‘high-handed’ Vatican officials, according to Foreign Office papers obtained by The Mail on Sunday under Freedom of Information laws. A document from the run-up to the visit, dated December 15, 1981, reveals the concerns of the Pope’s advisers. It states: ‘As regards a call at the Palace, the Pope would be unlikely to accept an invitation to lunch with the Queen. To do so could set an unwelcome precedent in that the Pope would be obliged to accept similar invitations for heads of state in whichever countries he visited.’ The Queen did meet the Pope during the six-day tour of Britain, but she had to be content with a 30-minute private meeting which the Pope fitted in between public engagements on the day he arrived, May 28, 1982. A meeting with Mrs Thatcher proved even more problematic. At an early planning meeting the Foreign Office was ‘keen to put down a marker to the effect that the Prime Minister has expressed a desire to offer some sort of entertainment to the Pope’. But the Archbishop of Westminster – one of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholics – poured cold water on the idea. The minutes state: ‘The Archbishop emphasised the Pope would not wish to neglect any of the proper courtesies, but the programme was going to be extremely crowded. ‘He wondered whether the proper degree of contact could be achieved if she came to the reception he was to give on Day Two and a room was provided where they could have a tete a tete meeting.’ The Pontiff’s reluctance to spend time with the Queen and Margaret Thatcher during the visit, pictured, sparked a row with ‘high-handed’ Vatican officials, according to Foreign Office papers . Mrs Thatcher feared the lack of a formal private meeting would be seen as a snub, a Foreign Office memo from November 20, 1981 reveals, saying: ‘The Prime Minister would think it was liable to excite adverse comment if contact between her and the Pope were limited to a handshake during a large reception.’ One memo in the files states: ‘Concerned to hear of some evidence of high-handedness in Papal entourage.’ The documents from 1981 do not detail why the Pope may have been reluctant to meet the Prime Minister, although one memo refers to ‘current Irish developments’. It is known that the Pope was concerned about the treatment of the IRA hunger strikers who were protesting in 1981. | John Paul II visited the Queen in 1982 for 30 minutes during six-day visit .
Pope reluctant for meeting incase it set precedent for other heads of states .
Meeting with the then Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher also proved problematic .
Foreign Office memo described 'high-handedness' of Papal entourage . |
117,420 | 23a0ae4698733546826c10c62207a88a673f675d | Porto Santo Stefano, Italy (CNN) -- At first, Vivian Shafer said, she thought it was part of the magic show aboard her Mediterranean cruise. During the show, aboard the Costa Concordia, staffers had been "playing with the lights" and using smoke, "so we really weren't that alarmed" as things began happening on the ship, she said Sunday. Shafer said she and her traveling companion, Ronda Rosenthal, returned to their cabin after the ship gave a "shudder," but were reassured by their cabin steward the ship was experiencing a "small technical difficulty." And as the two got into bed, someone speaking on behalf of the ship's captain made an announcement saying there was an electrical problem that would be fixed soon. However, it became clear that something was amiss aboard the 1,500-cabin luxury vessel, after the two heard announcements regarding lifeboats and muster stations. They dressed, grabbed their life jackets and went to investigate, coming upon a chaotic scene. "We peeked around the corner to kind of see what people were doing ... and my gosh, people were actually getting in a lifeboat," Shafer said. At least five people died after the Concordia ran aground on the tiny island of Giglio Friday night. Several others remained unaccounted for. Survivors recounted a frantic rush by passengers to get on lifeboats, while the crew appeared helpless and overwhelmed to cope. "There wasn't anybody to help you," Shafer said. "I mean, the passengers were loading the lifeboats by themselves." Carnival Corporation, the parent company of Costa Cruises, said in a statement Saturday that it was "working to fully understand the cause of what occurred. The safety of our guests and crew members remains the number-one priority of Carnival Corporation ... and all of our cruise lines." Costa Cruises on Sunday said crew members on board the Concordia "acted bravely and swiftly to help evacuate more than 4,000 individuals during a very challenging situation. We are very grateful for all they have done." It said preliminary indications are that there may have been "significant human error" on the part of the ship's captain. Compounding the evacuation problems was that only one side of lifeboats was available as the ship was listing. Passenger Laurie Willits, from Ontario, Canada, said some lifeboats on the higher side got stuck, leaving people suspended in mid-air amid the sounds of children crying and screaming. "It was so crowded, and there was no room for us," said Brandon Warrick, who was sailing with his siblings. They arrived late, he said Sunday, and "it was just bad, like mad scrambles to get into the lifeboats. Nobody followed any procedure. The crew was yelling for people to wait their turn and pretty much it was just a giant every man for himself, to get onto the lifeboat." He said his family hung back because "we didn't want to make it worse." His sister, Amanda Warrick, said she thought several times that she might die, as they waited at least an hour and a half for more rescue boats after all the lifeboats departed. As the ship took on water and listed to the side, "We were just holding onto the railing, trying not to fall," Brandon Warrick said. "I just remember standing on the decks," Amanda Warrick said. "There were barely any people left." She said she didn't see any crew members "until the very last minute" and they were given no information about how long they would have to wait or whether any more help was coming. Her primary concern, she said, was staying with her brothers. "There was no way that we were going to be separated." Costa Cruises said Sunday its crew members hold a certificate in basic safety training and are trained to assist in emergency situations. Every two weeks, the company said, all crew members perform a ship evacuation simulation. Shafer said the only help they received from the crew was one young woman who approached her and told her to tighten her life vest. "I was really disappointed and surprised," she said. "The crew was so young. You would have thought they could have handled it better." She said she thinks passengers should at least have been told to grab their coats, shoes and warm clothing. Rosenthal said she believes the two waited at least 40 minutes to get on a lifeboat. The two had just embarked at the Italian port of Civitavecchia, she said, and had not undergone the mandatory safety drill, scheduled for the next evening. However, she had just taken a cruise and so she knew where the life jackets were stored, she said. "Lack of communication was a big thing for me," she said, "and it wasn't the language barrier ... it wasn't handled at all like the previous cruise I had been on." Even on shore, she said, people were wandering around aimlessly. She said once she and Shafer got on board a lifeboat, people were angry with them, as the boat was crowded. She did not clarify whether the crew members or other passengers were angry. Passenger Benji Smith on Saturday recounted making his own rope ladder to save himself and his wife. "It was the Marx brothers, watching these guys trying to figure out how to work the boat," he said. "I felt like the disaster itself was manageable, but I felt like the crew was going to kill us." After helping passengers, some said, crew members jumped overboard and swam ashore. Smith said even the safety presentation was more of a "sales pitch" for shore excursions. CNN's Michael Martinez, Livia Borghese, Laura Smith-Spark and journalist Barbie Nadeau contributed to this report. | NEW: The cruise line says crew members acted "bravely and swiftly"
Passengers recall chaos as people scrambled for lifeboats .
One passenger says she thought several times she might die .
"Nobody followed any procedure," said passenger Brandon Warrick . |
252,881 | d34b54f97eea264aaae98b634f112d59da463d89 | (CNN) -- South Africa will host the FIFA World Cup in June and July, and Cape Town's gleaming new Green Point Stadium is one of the two semifinal venues for the quadrennial soccer championship. Cape Town sits at sea level at the foot of Table Mountain on the Cape of Good Hope. Its most significant historical landmark may be the notorious Robben Island prison. Kim Norgaard, CNN's bureau chief in Johannesburg spent the early part of his life in Cape Town before moving overseas. "I try to get back to the 'Mother City' as often as I can," Norgaard said. Where can you get the best view of the city? Cape Town is blessed with amazing views -- you can either see the ocean, the iconic mountain or what is called the City Bowl from most areas. Just take your pick depending on the weather and wind. The most stunning is always from the top of Table Mountain on a clear day or atop Signal Hill looking down at the City Bowl. From both spots you can see Nelson Mandela's prison, Robben Island, and get a real sense of being at the tip of Africa. Further south and you are in Antarctica. Which restaurant would you take your loved one to for an anniversary or other special occasion? Cape Town is Africa's gourmet hotspot as the best vineyards this country offers are within an hour's drive. Staying in Cape Town, my favorite special occasion restaurant is La Colombe at the Constantia Uitsig winery. There is also a more casual River Café at the winery ideal for a lazy lunch and wine sampling. If in the wine country, my personal favorite is Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek. This restaurant continues to receive awards as one of the best in the world. For a more relaxed dinner or lunch, try Wakame in Mouille Point. Just sit and watch the sun set over the Atlantic while enjoying local seafood and white wine. Doesn't get better than this. Where is the best place to people watch? If you want to look at tourists go to the V&A Waterfront. But if you want to see the locals, with all their blemishes, hang out at Hout Bay waterfront or Long Street in the city. What is your favorite neighborhood? Anywhere within the City Bowl. The mountain always looms behind and the sea in front. Melissa's in Kloof Street is a great neighborhood spot for lunch and people watching. How do tourists stick out and what's the best way to blend in? They are unprepared for Cape Town's changing weather. Winter is cold, rainy and windy. Summer evenings can be brisk and chilly. So always come with a good variety of clothes. Otherwise you might be that tourist freezing in his flip-flops, T-shirts and shorts. What's the biggest misconception about your city? That somehow Africa is backwards. Cape Town has the most amazing contemporary art scene and some of the greatest modern designers. It is a hub of creativity. Don't just get stuck buying cheap tribal masks. Instead, go to Woodstock and explore the original designs at the Haldane Martin, Gregor Jenkin or Whatiftheworld studios. Where do you go to relax? Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and Constantia just around the corner. There are many botanical gardens but nothing quite like Kirstenbosch. If you just want to walk, have a picnic, listen to a concert or just enjoy life in the southern tip of Africa, this is the place. What essential thing should visitors see/experience if they only have a few hours? Go for a drive and really enjoy the majestic scenery that the city offers. From the airport drive through the city, enjoy the mountain looming over it and head over to Camps Bay. With the Atlantic Ocean on your right drive past Llandudno and then all the way to Hout Bay. Now you are looking at the Indian Ocean. From there take the inland route through Constantia -- a suburb that is home to some of Africa's oldest vineyards. What's the biggest tourist trap? Is there a "tourist trap" that's actually worth seeing? The V&A Waterfront is just another shopping mall but in an amazing location. However, you need to go there to take the ferry to Robben Island. Visiting the prison on this island where Nelson Mandela spent many years is a must to understanding where this country has come from. Just make sure you book ahead of time. Where was your most memorable meal? At the Cellar Restaurant at the Haute Cabriere wine estate in Franschhoek. Every meal was matched to one of their wines and the lunch lasted for hours. I can't quite remember what was paired with our desert or receiving the bill but it a memorable meal nonetheless. Where's your favorite place to spend a night out on the town? Go to one of the great restaurants and then head home to enjoy one of the cities many boutique hotels. My personal favorite is a small bed and breakfast, run by a British couple, called twentytwo. Sitting in the hip lounge for a nightcap after a dinner is special. Are there local specialty dishes or drinks that visitors must try? The local wines. Klein Constantia has always been one of my favorite vineyards as they consistently deliver great quality. Also, it is always a sentimental visit for me as I grew up nearby. What is a good local souvenir? If you want a really memorable souvenir that isn't a wooden giraffe, go for good local design such as a Haldane Martin ostrich feather lamp or Zulu Mama chair. A great place to find other locally produced art is the Cape Craft and Design project by the city. They can direct you to the unique local designers. | La Colombe at the Constantia Uitsig winery is ideal for a special occasion .
If you want to see locals, hang out at Hout Bay waterfront or Long Street in the city .
Klein Constantia has always been one of Norgaard's favorite vineyards . |
121,547 | 29182db2ced6bbc0b0a577eed0c6f9fc7ddf4224 | (CNN) -- Ahmed Ben Bella, Algeria's first president after the country became independent from France in 1962, has died at the age of 96, Algeria's state-run news agency said Wednesday. He passed away at his family home in Algiers, Algerie Presse Service reported. He was taken to a military hospital twice more than a month ago, the news service said. Ben Bella was president until 1965, when he was deposed in a coup by Houari Boumedienne. People we've lost in 2012: The lives they lived . | Ahmed Ben Bella was president from 1962 to 1965 .
He died at his family home in Algiers, state media says . |
70,395 | c7889e9949ab52072dca9c38bd1ecf8d95fd9f77 | By . Daniel Martin . PUBLISHED: . 18:01 EST, 16 September 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 09:45 EST, 17 September 2013 . Rugby players are notorious for what may be termed a ‘naughty’ sense of humour. So David Cameron was perhaps taking a bit of a chance when he invited the British Lions squad to . Downing Street yesterday for a reception to celebrate their summer triumphs in Australia. Scroll down for video . Mischief: Manu Tuilagi's eyes light up at the idea . Unaware: David Cameron's eyes are on the camera . Bunny ears: And the Prime Minister is caught out like a rabbit in the headlights . Manu Tuilagi, who on a previous rugby tour jumped into Auckland harbour from a ferry, saw the steps of No.10 as the scene for another prank. As the squad posed for a picture, he stuck two fingers behind the Prime Minister to give him ‘bunny ears’. As they might say in the Commons: ‘Ear, ear.’ High spirits: Prime Minister David Cameron with Lions captain Sam Warburton as they celebrate the Lion's summer of triumphs over Australia . Joining the club: Lions head coach Warren Gatland, manager Andy Irvine and captain Sam Warburton present Prime Minister David Cameron with a Lions jersey . British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, speaks to the Lions tour team during a reception at Downing Street . | Manu Tuilagi took his chance to play a trick on the PM .
Cameron remains blissfully unaware as smiles for the cameras . |
128,581 | 3225d9269f8e880831ab3d5217604111f9bf7260 | (CNN) -- The United Methodist Church announced Monday it is dropping its denominational case against a New York clergyman who officiated his son's same-sex wedding. The Rev. Thomas Ogletree was charged by the church after presiding over the wedding of his son to another man on October 20, 2012, according to a statement from the New York Annual Conference (NYAC) of the United Methodist Church. The Methodist church says it welcomes members regardless of sexual orientation, but same-sex marriages cannot be performed in Methodist churches or by ordained ministers under church policy. An official church trial was set for Ogletree, in which his case would have been heard by a jury of 13 ordained clergy members with a penalty ranging from a reprimand to a full defrocking. Following an additional meeting among the church counsels, the decision was made to reach a "just resolution agreement" instead of a trial, said the statement. "Church trials produce no winners," NYAC Bishop Martin McLee said in a statement Monday, stating that such prosecutions result in "harmful polarization and continue the harm brought upon our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters." The case began when a fellow clergyman who had seen the wedding announcement for Ogletree's son in The New York Times filed a complaint with the bishop of the conference, according to the statement. The complaint set in motion a formal disciplinary process with McLee, who then referred the case to counsel for the church, the equivalent of a prosecutor. After the case was reviewed, it was determined that there was sufficient evidence to warrant charges against Ogletree for his violations, the statement said. "I could not with any integrity as a Christian refuse my son's request to preside at his wedding," Ogletree said in a statement in January. "It is a shame that the church is choosing to prosecute me for this act of love," the January statement said. Ogletree is a retired professor and a past dean of the Yale Divinity School. As part of Monday's resolution, Ogletree agreed to join others from varying perspectives in a public forum that "shall reflect a variety of different opinions and understandings," according to the just resolution agreement. Ogletree released a statement Monday relinquishing his right to the trial and accepting McLee's intention to "approach the matter of marriage equality in a non-juridical manner." The decision comes just months after Pennsylvania pastor, Frank Schaefer, was defrocked in December after being found guilty in a church trial for officiating his own son's same-sex wedding. "On first blush it doesn't seem fair," Schaefer said on Monday, "two United Methodist Ministers are charged with the exact same 'crime' of officiating at their son's same sex weddings -- one is defrocked, the other one's case is dropped without conditions." Schaefer went on to say that despite the different outcomes, overall he is happy about the church's decision to drop Ogletree's case. "It is a victory for the LGBT movement...if trials are part of the reason why things are changing now in the United Methodist church, it will have been worth my sacrifice," Schaefer said. | The Rev. Thomas Ogletree officiated at his son's same-sex marriage in 2012 .
Church policy bars such marriages in Methodist churches or being performed by ministers .
A fellow clergyman filed a complaint against Ogletree .
The UMC says there will be no church trial against Ogletree . |
196,806 | 8ab0a60bf573f7184d847b2cb16ca8b35b1c7301 | By . Claire Bates . PUBLISHED: . 07:59 EST, 7 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 03:39 EST, 8 November 2012 . As the first blind person to reach the South Pole on foot, Mark Pollock knows a great deal about overcoming adversity. But when he lost the use of his legs following a freak accident in 2010, even he wasn't sure he could come back from the brink a second time. 'I didn’t get out of bed for six months,' the adventurer told MailOnline. 'And after that I didn't do any exercise in just over a year. I was in a pretty dark place. I wasn't sure I could bounce back.' Back on his feet: Mark (pictured in his wheelchair, left) gets to grip with walking in the Ekso suit (right). He was tethered at first to prevent falls . Yet just a year later he is taking 2,500 steps a day after becoming the first person in the world to own a £100,000 bionic suit. The . robotic legs wrap around Mark's lower limbs and contain electric motors . that power walking. Sensors in the feet detect when he shifts his . weight and sends this information to software held in a backpack, which . then activates the legs. A pair of crutches completes the ensemble, . which help him to balance. Mark, from County Down in Northern Ireland, says the impact of the new technology on his self-esteem has been dramatic. 'When I stand I feel normal again, like I used to feel,' he said. 'Psychologically . I . feel so much better after I’ve been walking in the suit. Plus I can hug . my fiance on her level which is really important,' he said. Mark was paralysed from the ribs down two years ago after falling out of a second-storey window. The accident left him 'in a pretty dark place' for 18 months, before the determination that spurred him to travel around the world and to win two rowing medals at the Commonwealth Games reasserted itself. 'I thought the world had ended went I was blind at 22,' he said. 'But I set myself goals. First I reached my . bedroom door, then the Gobi desert, then the South Pole. ‘I find if I set big and exciting goals it means I won’t focus on . hardships. I also don’t want to let down my . supporters down.' It was thanks to fundraising by his supporters that he was able to purchase his own EKSO robotic suit, after discovering the innovative company at the start of 2012. He travelled to San Francisco where he stood and took a few steps for the first time since his fall. 'It felt like getting up after a long-haul flight,' he said. 'The muscles were very tight.' Mark was the first blind person to reach the South Pole in 2009 (left), he is now using an exoskeleton every day to see if it could improve the help of paralysed patients . He is now taking part in a six-month clinical trial at Trinity College in Dublin to see how walking in the suit affects the health of wheelchair-bound patients, but noted his 'heart and lung function' had already improved. 'I think it's bad for you to be sitting all the time,’ he added. 'All your organs, everything inside you is compressed when you're sitting. That puts pressure on certain organs and can cause heart, bladder, kidney and blood flow issues.' Mr Pollock believes that a combination of training, robotics and medical intervention, will one day return the use of his legs. 'You have to accept where you are. I am in a wheelchair. But the . exciting bit is the hope that something might change and that I can be . part of the solution,' he said. 'I want to see if it's possible to fix myself from the outside in. If it doesn’t work for me I hope it will one day help other . people.’ The Ekso suit (right) can be worn by patients whose lower limbs are paralysed but who have the strength to transfer themselves to and from a wheelchair. It weighs 23kg with batteries but 'feels like a backpack' according to Ekso's Barry Richards, because the weight is transferred through the frame to the floor. The two high-powered lithium batteries can be detached and charged at the mains in an hour. Motors are located at the hips and knees. Sensors in the feet detect any weight shifting. Software held in the backpack uses algorithms to translate this into movement. A hand held computer is used to adjust the gait, including step height, speed of stride and stride length. The device costs £100,000 and the service charge is £6,000 a year. In the UK there are six 'ambassadors' who use an Ekso suit regularly, and around 60 people have tested it in hospitals. There are three stages of training: . 1) The therapist sets the step length and speed and operate the buttons to move the legs when they see the patient shifting their weight. 2) The patient triggers the steps via buttons on the crutches, while shifting their weight while the physio acts as a spotter. 3) The patient operates the legs solely by shifting their weight. Currently a physiotherapist needs to be on hand while the suit is in use for safety reasons. The company hopes to have a device that can be used without supervision at home by 2014. Barry Richards, clinical specialist physiotherapist at EKSO, certainly believes in Mr Pollock's potential. 'Mark is a unique character, nothing will stop him,' he said. Mr Pollock certainly isn't remaining idle. He is also organising a 10-day trip to Siberia using a especially-customised hand bike. His charitable trust is also running simultaneous night-time running events in London, New York and Ireland to fund his continued rehabilitation and help other disability charities. And while he won't be taking part this time, Mr Pollock won't rule out joining the participants on the starting line in the future. ‘I am exploring the boundaries of what is possible. My desire is to run again,’ he said. Today is the last day you can sign up for the event on November 14. For more information , go to www.runinthedark.org . http://www.markpollock.com/ . | Mark went blind aged 22 but trekked to the South Pole when he was 33 .
The next year he lost the use of his legs following a freak accident .
After struggling to motivate himself Mark came across Ekso bionic suits .
He now takes 2,500 steps a day using his own pair of robotic legs and is planning an expedition to Siberia . |
111,523 | 1bcfd047f1db9ba1fe380e9748214d5a10e9f7cf | By . Chris Pleasance . PUBLISHED: . 05:40 EST, 25 February 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 06:47 EST, 25 February 2014 . An elderly woman has been reduced to tears after being handed a Burger King receipt which called her and and daughter-in-law 'b**** a** hoes'. The grandmother, who would only give her names as Lorel, said she went to the fast food chain in Richmond, Central Virginia, on Sunday night to buy dinner. However she was left horrified and upset after she was handed a receipt with the offensive phrase printed at the top. Offensive: An elderly woman and her daughter-in-law were handed this receipt at a Burger King in Virginia which labelled them as 'b**** a** hoes' In an interview with CBS 6 she said: 'This is more than an insult. I mean calling you names on a piece of a paper, that will hurt somebody. 'I liked going there. But after this they won’t get my business anymore.' Speaking about the manager, she added: 'He did apologise. He also called the young lady over and asked her, "did you see this?" She just shook her head. He said it had never happened before.' According to the TV station a dsitrict manager of Burger King said the chain was 'dealing with it', and that they were using CCTV tapes to try and track down the culprit. Lorel is not the first person to be insulted on a receipt. In April last year a father received the note 'f****** needy kids' on his bill after asking for an extra chicken leg for his son. The grandmother, who gave her name as Lorel, said she will not go back to the restaurant (file pic) Joseph Gibson stopped at a St Louis bar called Friendly's on a day out with his son when the incident happened. The store manager later apologised, saying a female waitress had put it on the bill as a joke, intending to remove it before handing it over. In November last year a lesbian waitress and former Marine also posted a receipt showing on offensive letter a family had apparently left for her instead of tipping. The note, left for Danya Morales, 22, at the Bridgewater Bistro in New Jersey, said: 'Sorry, I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle and the way you live your life'. Ms Morales then received thousands of dollars in donations after she claimed to be collecting for a gay rights charity. However following protests from the family, and no money being given to the charity, Ms Morales admitted the receipt had been a fake and was fired. | Woman named Lorel and daughter-in-law bought dinner at Burger King .
When they were handed their receipt they noticed the offensive phrase .
Their customer name was recorded as 'b**** a** hoes'
Manager apologised and is using CCTV footage to find the culprit . |
178,093 | 728b99b57b375c20131fd8db0265e61855289038 | By . Joel Christie . A lawyer for the wife of a Georgia man arrested in the death of their toddler who was left in a overheated SUV believes the woman has been ruled out as a suspect in the murder case. The attorney for Leanna Harris says a victims impact statement has been requested of his client, suggesting prosecutors do not intend to charge her. Her husband, Ross Harris, has been charged with intentionally leaving their son, 22-month-old Cooper, in a hot SUV for seven hours on June 18, killing him. Leanna Harris has since received a grief package to help her deal with her loss, according to WSBTV. 'Cleared': Attorneys for Leanna Harris believe the victim impact statement sent to her shows that law enforcement are not considering her a suspect death of her son, Cooper, who was left in scorching SUV for seven years . Leanna Harris, whose husband Ross faces a murder . charge after leaving their 22-month-old son Cooper to die in a . scorching hot SUV in June, hired her own attorney for the case . Scene: Cobb County police investigate the SUV where . toddler Cooper Harris died near Marietta, Ga., when his father Ross . forgot to drop his child off at day care and went to work . Justin Ross Harris, the Georgia man charged . with murder after his toddler son died inside of a hot SUV, was refused . bond and will now remain in jail until he is tried . 'In my experience, the district attorney only sends packages like these when they think someone is the victim of a crime,' attorney Lawrence Zimmerman told WSBTV. 'That’s what I believe based on what they’ve sent her. 'This is the most high-profile case in the social media era that Cobb County’s ever had, and the biggest case by far that Vic Reynolds has had since becoming the district attorney. 'This just didn’t get out by mistake. 'That doesn’t happen.' In her statement, Harris said she is still yet to swallow the loss of her son. 'The death of my son is still unreal,' she said in the statement. 'Not a moment goes by when I don’t think about him or what our future would have held. 'I now live a tortured existence.' Heartbreaking details: A detective testified . last Thursday that there was scratch marks on Cooper Harris' face and . abrasions on the back of the toddler's head . Justin Ross Harris is accused of leaving his 22-month-old son Cooper to die in a scorching hot SUV on June 18 . Harris also said that she has been suffering from depression. 'Some days I completely break down because I miss my baby and my family so much,' Harris wrote. 'The rush to judgment by the public and the mainstream media has left me with little confidence in our legal system and our society.' Also in the statement, Harris stood up for her husband, saying Cooper's death was accidentally. 'Ross was a wonderful father, and he loved Cooper with all his heart,' she wrote. 'I know without a doubt he would never have knowingly allowed any harm to come to our son.' Harris described Cooper as peaceful with his . eyes closed, when this wasn't the case, according to Stoddard. He . allegedly also told his wife: 'I dreaded how he would look' Ross Harris has been charged with child cruelty murder and is being held without bond in Cobb jail. Police are still investigating the child's death. However they maintain Mr Harris intended to kill his son. During a bond hearing on July 3, prosecutors claims Mr Harris was leading a double life. They said he had sent explicit messages to numerous women -including at least one teenager- on the day of Cooper's death. Investigators had described Mrs Harris' behavior on the day her son died as odd, if not suspicious. When informed by workers at her son’s day care facility that Cooper had never been dropped off, she calmly responded, ‘Ross must have left him in the car. There’s no other explanation,’ according to Cobb County Police Det. Phil Stoddard’s testimony. Then, when reunited with her husband at police headquarters after he had been charged with murder, Leanna Harris asked him, ‘Did you say too much?’ according to Stoddard. When she called home June 18 with the grim news of Cooper’s death, her mother could be overheard on the phone saying: ‘Why aren’t you crying? Why aren’t you reacting?’ Her response, according to Stoddard: ‘I must be in shock.’ Police had previously disclosed that, like her husband, she had researched children dying in hot vehicles prior to her son Cooper’s death, telling officers it was her ‘worst fear.’ | Criminal defense attorney Lawrence Zimmerman said Leanna Harris was asked to submit a victims impact statement over the death of her son .
Move suggest she will not charged in the death of 22-month-old Cooper, who was left to die in a scorching SUV for seven hours on June 18 .
Prosecutors had previously questioned Harris' odd behavior in the wake of her son's death .
At police headquarters she asked her husband whether he had 'said too much'
Ross Harris has been charged with child cruelty murder and is being held without bond in Cobb jail . |
4,095 | 0bce34a008fb755d200c6d8e306ee1a022b669ce | Washington (CNN) -- Some conservatives unhappy with House Speaker John Boehner's leadership are looking for a replacement, and recent moves by Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling are fueling speculation he wants Boehner's job in the next Congress. Hensarling, who was part of Boehner's leadership team two years ago but left to chair the House Financial Services Committee, gave an expansive speech last week hosted by Heritage Action for America, a group that frequently and publicly clashes with Boehner. Asked afterward if he was interested in running for speaker, Hensarling initially said he was "flattered," and said, "It's not something I've aspired to. It's not something I'm thinking about." But then he left the door open, saying, "No, I haven't been Shermanesque, again I'm not sure there's any opportunity I want to foreclose." While Heritage Action's Chief Executive Officer Michael Needham told CNN that his group doesn't get involved in leadership races, the conservative group gave Hensarling a high-profile platform to outline his own conservative philosophy for governing. Needham said there is a "real need to take on sacred cows in Washington at time when the party too often looks after K Street," a reference to the downtown D.C. address for corporate lobbyists. He said, "Jeb Hensarling is a great spokesman and fighter for conservative values." Boehner has said he's staying put . Boehner, in his 12th term in Congress and in his second as speaker, continues to insist he's not going anywhere and expects to remain in charge next year. But he raised questions earlier this month when he wouldn't commit to serving out another full term as speaker. At the beginning of the current Congress in January 2013, a dozen House GOP members voted for someone other than Boehner, or voted "present," an expression of no confidence. Many in that small group are convinced Boehner won't run for his post after this year's midterms or that he won't have the votes to keep that title. If Boehner decides to step down from the position, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is popular among conservatives, and most expect him to move up and take the speaker's gavel. In that scenario conservatives could wage an effort to fill in top House GOP posts. Boehner on the establishment and the tea party . Multiple House Republicans -- some who voted for Boehner in 2013 and some who didn't -- praised Hensarling as a solid conservative, but also told CNN there's a short list of others who are viable candidates. Many House Republicans interviewed by CNN declined to talk openly about potential leadership challenges, but admitted there are informal discussions about options. The names repeatedly raised include Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, who like Hensarling is a former chairman of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee; Louisiana Republican Rep. Steve Scalise, who currently heads that group; and Georgia Rep. Tom Price, another former study group leader who also served in Boehner's leadership team in the last Congress. "The one consensus point is that we'd like to see more conservatives in future leadership posts," Louisiana Republican John Fleming told CNN. But he cautioned for now there's no single alternative emerging to Boehner -- or anyone who might want to challenge the speaker's current top lieutenants -- Cantor and GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy. He said he expected more serious discussions to ramp up by the end of the summer. Hensarling's recent speech at Heritage may be a way to ensure his name gets in the mix. The Texas Republican used the speech to position himself firmly on the right. He called out his own party for breaking with its free market roots, arguing that the party should be shifting away from policies designed to help big business and the well-connected and instead champion policies to help the "Main Street competitive economy." The thrust of Hensarling's speech lines up with the message many on the right flank of the House GOP conference have been pushing. Idaho Republican Raul Labrador has publicly criticized House GOP leaders for pushing a legislative agenda that positions the GOP as the "party of big business" and doesn't resonate with small businesses and entrepreneurs. Challenging the party . Hensarling argued those on Main Street are "not looking for a subsidy, earmark, tax preference or legislated advantage." On a series of issues -- tax reform, farm policy, reform of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- Hensarling challenged his party to hold votes on legislation that would restructure current federal systems. The bulk of Hensarling's ire was directed at the Export Import Bank, the 80-year-old credit agency that gives out loans to companies to promote U.S. exports. The bank's lending authority is due to expire at the end of the year. Hensarling defended 2013 GOP shutdown strategy . Hensarling held it up as the poster child of corporate welfare, citing that the vast majority of its taxpayer backed loans go to companies like aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing. He said getting rid of the bank "is a defining issue for our party and our movement." If Hensarling or anyone else is serious about mounting a challenge, the Republicans that CNN interviewed all agree that if they are serious they need to move soon. "It seems to me that the odds of there being some type of change within the leadership team seem to be more likely than less, and so as long as there are members talking about it it's better to do so early than late," Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King told CNN. North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones, who opposed Boehner in the last election, told CNN that he hears from Republicans in his district that it's time for a leadership change in Washington. "There is a great deal of frustration," Jones said. He wasn't sure if Hensarling or someone else was the right fit, but said a successful campaign required several months or preparation. A few months ago unhappiness about Boehner's handling of government spending fights and concern he would negotiate with Democrats on a major immigration bill roiled the conference. But because members aren't coalescing around a single alternative, the vacuum gives Boehner some job security for now. Fleming said tension is down between conservatives and Boehner because the speaker agreed to form a select committee on the deadly Benghazi terror attack and hold a House vote that held former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt for the controversy around her agency's targeting of conservative groups. He said "there are less things that divide us -- but the one question would be immigration." | Boehner has been speaker since 2011 and has said he's not going anywhere .
Hensarling says he's flattered by the attention, but is not thinking about being speaker .
But he's leaving the door open as some conservatives have been unhappy with Boehner's leadership . |
145,371 | 4800072301f2d73362c80b4fdc15210e2576b0a4 | An Albuquerque police officer unknowingly shot an undercover detective during a narcotic operation Friday near a busy intersection on the city's southeast side, police said. Both of the officers were working undercover and wearing plain clothes, KOAT reports. The shooting officer did not know the man he was confronting was one of the Albuquerque Police Department's own. The unnamed undercover detective is a 10-year veteran of the force and the other officer has been with the department for several years. Shot: An Albuquerque police officer unknowingly shot an undercover detective during a narcotic operation Friday near a busy intersection on the city's southeast side . Didn't Know: Both of the officers were wearing plain clothes but the shooting officer did not know the man he was confronting was a fellow cop . The shooting happened just before noon as unmarked police vehicles surrounded a car in the parking lot of a McDonald's. Witnesses told KRQE that three unmarked police vehicles surrounded a black car, and when officers tried to take a man into custody, shots rang out. The witnesses said they heard a series of gunshots and it was not long before dozens of officers had the area surrounded. Police Chief Gordon Eden said the undercover detective who was shot was rushed to University of New Mexico Hospital in critical condition and entered surgery soon after. He was not wearing a bullet proof vest at the time of the shooting. Hospital: The undercover detective who was shot was rushed to University of New Mexico Hospital in critical condition and entered surgery soon after . McDonald's: The shooting happened just before noon as unmarked police vehicles surrounded a car in the parking lot of a McDonald's . Eden had no other details about the circumstances that led to the shooting and he did not release the names of the officers. 'There are many questions that need to be answered and right now I don't have those answers,' he told reporters gathered near the scene. Eden said the two suspects involved in the drug bust were taken into custody. No one else has been reported injured as a result of the shooting. Dozens of law enforcement agents had the restaurant parking lot cordoned off with yellow tape as police cruisers surrounded the area. Wallace Anderson, 68, of Albuquerque, was inside the restaurant having coffee with a group of people when he heard at least four gunshots. 'They told us we couldn't leave because it was a crime scene now,' he said. Surrounded: Dozens of law enforcement agents had the restaurant parking lot cordoned off with yellow tape as police cruisers surrounded the area . Custody: Police Chief Gordon Eden (photographed) said the two suspects involved in the drug bust were taken into custody . Friday's shooting comes less than a week after another Albuquerque officer was shot and wounded after pulling over a convicted felon on suspicion of driving drunk. The officer injured in that case, Lou Golson, is in stable condition at a hospital and the suspect is being held on attempted murder and other charges. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry called Friday's shooting a tragic incident and said it was another example of the dangers that come along with police work. He and Eden asked residents to pray for the officers. | An Albuquerque police officer unknowingly shot an undercover detective during a narcotic operation Friday .
Both of the officers were wearing plain clothes but the shooting officer did not know the man he was confronting was a fellow cop .
Shots rang out at a McDonald's as the officers tried to take a man into custody . |
204,544 | 94ce89c1aabcd5f3238d421aa524542d686832f0 | Honey Boo Boo's mother is coming clean about her past, which she says includes her involvement with a second sex offender. In an exclusive interview with "Entertainment Tonight" to begin airing Thursday, reality TV matriarch June "Mama June" Shannon explains why she was seen in the company of Mark Anthony McDaniel, a man who served 10 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated child molestation in 2004 and who is a registered sex offender. Shannon also says the father of two of her children is another man who was convicted of a sex crime. "Shannon also revealed for the first time her claim that Pumpkin's biological father is also the father of her 18-year-old daughter Jessica," according to ET online. "His name is Michael Anthony Ford, he is a convicted sex offender who served time for sexual exploitation of minors after being caught on 'To Catch a Predator' in 2005." Her rumored involvement with McDaniel -- who was recently released after serving a 10-year sentence -- touched off a firestorm that resulted in the cancellation of the popular TLC reality show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" in October. The show centered around Shannon and her family, including 9-year-old daughter Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, who came to fame competing in child beauty pageants. TLC ends production on 'Honey Boo Boo' It was announced in September that Shannon had split with Alana's father, longtime love Mike "Sugar Bear" Thompson. Shannon's oldest daughter, Anna "Chickadee" Cardwell, 20, has said McDaniel molested her when she was 8. Shannon told ET's Brooke Anderson that she does believe "that something happened" between her daughter and McDaniel and that she's "told Anna not to bring up the past again. It would be hard for me." She said she's seen him only twice since his release, once coincidentally and once at an arranged meeting for her 14-year-old daughter, Lauryn "Pumpkin" Shannon, who grew up believing McDaniel was her father. "Since 2 months to almost 6 years, she knew nobody but him," Shannon said. "She was starting to resent Anna, and she was starting to ask me questions. I can't answer those questions for Pumpkin." But Shannon now says Pumpkin's biological father is actually Ford. "Jessica and Pumpkin have the same dad, but Jessica's dad has had nothing to do with her over the years," she said. "So, why the hell would I open up that can of worms until today? I lied to my family and told them it was somebody else." Shannon said she wanted to do the interview to clear the air. "I have nothing to hide. I have nothing to lose," she told ET. "I just want, honestly, to tell my side of the story, and let's move on." | Mama June tells "Entertainment Tonight" that she has seen Mark McDaniel only twice .
She said two of her daughters were fathered by another sex offender .
The reality star said she has "nothing to hide" |
279,122 | f5a58fc76361f88a06f9b69d20bdf589d2b60968 | Beijing (CNN) -- China's former President Jiang Zemin appeared in Beijing on Sunday, the first time he's been seen publicly since rumors surfaced months ago that he had died. Jiang, 85, was among many current and former dignitaries attending a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of China's 1911 revolution, which led to the toppling of the Qing Dynasty. China became a Communist state in 1949, under the leadership of Mao Zedong. At the start of the ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, live footage on China's state-run television showed Jiang for a few seconds as he walked on the stage, closely followed by an assistant. In another segment, Jiang appears to sing along with others during the playing of the Chinese national anthem. Death rumors spur reflections on Jiang legacy . Former Chinese premier Li Peng was also in the crowd, among other retired party and government leaders. So were active government ministers, private entrepreneurs and Beijing-based ambassadors from other countries. In the event's keynote speech, current President Hu Jintao extolled the "thoroughly modern, national and democratic revolution" of 1911. And among other stances, he urged mainland China and Taiwan to work together for a "peaceful reunification of China," according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Reaching an accord with Taiwan had been one of Jiang's focuses in his tenure as president, during which he made conciliatory overtures to the island nation including a "One Country, Two Systems" proposal. It was one of many efforts he pursued in his time, between 1989 and 2002, as the general-secretary of China's Communist Party and, from 1993 to 2003, as the nation's president. As China's ruler, he generally pushed market reforms while working to keep the country politically and socially conservative. China's economy boomed under his leadership, growing at an annual average rate of over 9%. China also regained control of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macau in 1999, while national pride soared in 2000 when Beijing was picked to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. With rare exceptions, Jiang largely has been out of the public eye in recent years. This summer, Chinese authorities dismissed as "pure rumors" reports that he was on his death bed. | Jiang Zemin appears at a ceremony marking China's 1911 revolution .
It is his first public appearance since rumors months ago about his health .
Jiang was China's president from 1993 to 2003 . |
251,104 | d0fc2134342f112bed25d9e7f8941613cd8fdb0a | (CNN) -- Of all things to steal, you'd think love letters would be low on the list. But that's exactly what thieves took from Lloyd and Marian Michael -- the couple's sweet letters and the sleeping memories they stirred. "We were just overwhelmed ... so sad," said Marian, 88, about the day they discovered them missing. Still, she and Lloyd, 89, were never the type for self-pity. What could they do? They moved on. Then, several decades later, the Michaels got a strange message on their answering machine. The caller, a military veteran, had painstakingly tracked them down after his father's death. He said he had news about their letters. "We thought, 'Oh, it must be a mistake,' " Marian said. It wasn't. In love and war . Lloyd and Marian met at a California high school in the 1940s, when Bing Crosby was big, a stamp cost 3 cents, and war raged around the world. For their first date, Lloyd took Marian to a dance at a civic center. He told his family that night he'd found his girl. Marian took some convincing, but Lloyd's persistence paid off. "I think that the war situation was so intense at that time," she said. "It was just important for him to find a girlfriend and for me to find a boyfriend. That's what we were, girl- and boyfriend." They married on December 31, 1942, just about a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II. Lloyd had joined the U.S. Army Air Forces by that point, and had to get a weekend pass for the wedding. They were madly in love and eager to start their new life, but the war had plans of its own. After the wedding, the Army sent Lloyd to Mississippi for aircraft mechanic training, then back to California and on to New Jersey before he deployed to Europe, where Marian could not follow. To stay connected, the newlyweds wrote each other as often as they could -- open, affectionate letters describing how much they missed each other and longed to be together. "Darling, I can hear Bing (Crosby) singing over the loudspeaker," wrote Lloyd on July 6, 1944. "He is singing 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon.' Boy, he can really sing. Marian, remember the old moon down in Mississippi ... "That moon means more than ever to me now. Just right when I got into my foxhole, I could look out and see that old moon shining so very bright. It was so very full. I got a very warm feeling inside of me just sitting there, laying there, and looking at it, and thinking of you." Lloyd later explained the motif of the moon: "We had made a commitment when we left that we'd kiss the moon at night." "If you think about it ... the moon, wherever you're at, the other party will see that same moon that day," he said. "That moon would be over her." The couple made other promises too. Before Lloyd left, he and Marian bought identical maps of Europe. In his letters, Lloyd wrote the position on his map that matched, more or less, where he was. The censors never cracked their code. Lloyd was deployed overseas for 27 months. He served in England, Germany, Belgium and France, arriving in Normandy just 12 days after the historic invasion. After the war, he returned to California. He and Marian made a life in Alta Loma, outside Los Angeles, where they raised four children. The Michaels locked their love letters in a trunk for safekeeping, along with the rest of Lloyd's war memorabilia. They put the trunk in a shed. But sometime in the late 1960s, or early 1970s -- the Michaels aren't sure -- someone gutted their shed, snatching the trunk and everything in it. "We just accepted that they were gone forever, probably trashed. We never dreamed we'd ever see them," Marian said. "And when we had this message from this young man on the phone we just couldn't believe it." A mystery man . The man at the other end of the line had a plan when he dialed the Michaels' phone last fall. Using Lloyd's Army serial number, he had tracked the couple down. Apparently, there had been a number of men with the name Lloyd Michael in the service. But there was just one with a wife named Marian. He asked the Michaels to meet at a nearby In-N-Out Burger. It was about 12:30 in the afternoon when they pulled into the parking lot. "He undoubtedly saw two old, gray-haired people walk right in, and got out of his car and walked over and said: 'Are you Lloyd Michael?' " Lloyd said. "Handed me this big box he had of our letters." The man told the Michaels he had come across their correspondence as he was going through his father's things. His father, a stamp collector, had died. Maybe his father bought the letters, hoping their stamps would be worth something one day. But who knows? The man wasn't saying much, and the Michaels didn't want to pry. "I don't want to put him through that," Lloyd said. "He just did something that was a marvelous thing for him to do." As quickly as he entered the Michaels' lives, the man left. They tried to buy his lunch. But he wouldn't take a thing. Later, they sent the man a box of candy for Christmas anyway. "He'd been a veteran himself, and he had a boy that had been in either Iraq or Afghanistan and had just returned home. So he knew what letters meant to him, his family -- the same thing," Lloyd said. "He just thought ... they weren't his, and he wanted to get them back to where they belong." 'Sweetheart, all my life is yours' The letters are written in tiny print, many on thin onion skin paper. Most have upside down stamps, which was the Michaels' way of saying: "I love you." They got back 241 letters, which they say is just a fraction of the many hundreds they sent each other over the years. As they read through their letters, they often have to stop on account of tears, both happy and sad. Reading one out loud, Marian's voice broke. The emotion was raw, as if she was reading the letter for the first time and still waiting and worrying for a husband in harm's way. "They're pretty difficult for us to read. It just brings back all the agony, and the worry, and the concern," she said. Though some letters were serious, others were playful. The Michaels poked gentle fun at themselves and each other, and imagined what they were going to do when the war was over. They shared the sort of small details that make up a life. "Guess what we're going to have for supper!" Marian wrote in a letter dated December 8, 1944. "It's really going to be a treat because we haven't had any for so long. We're going to have bacon! Boy, now that's really something in this neck of the woods. ... Pork is a luxury these days." Though times were tough and being separated was hard, Lloyd said he and Marian never really wrote about their problems. "That would just burden the other party," he said. "We were always trying to give the best that we had." Reading from her December 8, 1944, letter, Marian hints at the other reason why Lloyd said they initially kept their letters under lock and key -- to keep their children's prying eyes out of their most private exchanges: . "Darling, I love you more every day. It seems as if I'm wanting your caresses more and more, and I'm wanting your kisses more ... I'm wanting you more and more. Sweetheart, all my life is yours." Her promise proved true. Surrounded by family and friends, the Michaels celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in December, shortly after they were reunited with their letters. Where the rest are is anyone's guess, but they are grateful they got back what they did. "It's bringing back all the memories. But it can't draw the two of us any closer than we are," Lloyd said. "We've been up and down life -- been to the top of it and down to the bottom. We're just a couple determined to make the best out of our lives." | Lloyd and Marian Michael married in December 1942, a year after the U.S. joined WW II .
During Lloyd's deployment to Europe, the couple wrote hundreds of letters to each other .
More than 40 years ago, those letters were stolen .
Exactly who took them, and why, remains a mystery . |
44,748 | 7e2609e39a1bcf835fe1c252b33e178d75ddaa6e | (CNN) -- As historically high flood waters receded in Tennessee on Wednesday, dramatic stories of tragedy and survival emerged, including that of a woman who saw her husband and daughter swept away. Sherry Qualls watched in horror as chest-deep water washed away her husband and daughter as he tried to save the girl from a rushing creek roaring through their backyard in Linden, Tennessee, on Sunday, according to CNN Nashville affiliate WSMV. "From his neck up, he was staring at me," Qualls said of her husband Bobby. "He didn't say anything, just staring at me. She was screaming for her daddy to help her, and then by the time the rescue squad got her, I didn't see them any more." Their bodies were found the next day, washed almost a mile away, the affiliate reported. "He was a hero," Qualls said Wednesday of her husband, who earlier had rescued the couple's son from floodwaters. "He sacrificed himself for his kids, that's what I think." Surveying the property where her home once stood, Qualls said it's hard to believe her husband and daughter are gone. "Every time I drive in the driveway, I see my daughter standing at the door smiling, and him, too, and I expect them to call me and ask where I'm at," she said. Linden is located between Nashville and Memphis in western Tennessee. CNN iReporter Nathan Clark went to his father's house in Dickson, Tennessee -- west of Nashville -- on Saturday to help him salvage possessions as waters from a flooded creek rose on his dad's property. Clark says they got out just in time. "The water was at the top of his truck's hood." Clark said. "If we had stayed any longer, we wouldn't have gotten out of there." With waters receding on Wednesday, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean announced that most city government offices would reopen Thursday and that city bus service would be restored. Nashville students will have another day off Thursday, though teachers and other staff will return to work. "The news is largely good," Dean said at a Wednesday evening press conference. "We're making progress and we'll continue to make progress in the days ahead." The weekend deluge in the Mid-South has swelled many rivers to historic levels, turned roads to lakes and caused at least 28 deaths. The rains were especially cruel to Tennessee, killing 19 and immersing landmarks like the Grand Ole Opry. Two Nashville residents are still missing, Dean's office said Wednesday night. President Obama has declared six Tennessee counties major disaster areas, which makes federal funding available to affected residents. Many area waterways remained well past flood level on Wednesday. The Cumberland River, which cuts through Nashville, stood at just over 48 feet on Wednesday evening -- about 13 feet above flood stage -- said Jim Moser, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. On Wednesday afternoon, more more than 100 Nashville firefighters and police officers were going door-to-door on foot in flood-ravaged neighborhoods, checking on residents and providing assistance. Search and rescue teams visited more than 700 homes Wednesday and will visit more Thursday, Dean's office said. One Nashville neighborhood, Metro Center, remained closed to residents and workers Wednesday because of standing water. The city allowed some business owners and managers to survey their businesses for a few hours in the afternoon but limited access to people in trucks and SUVS and made clear that they entered the area at their own risk. With one of Nashville's main water treatment plants still closed from flooding, the city asked residents Wednesday to use water only when absolutely necessary, telling them to put off washing dishes and to limit toilet flushing. "Citizens are using water at a greater rate than we can treat it and pump it out to the community," said Sonia Harvat, a spokesman for Nashville's water department, in an e-mail message. City officials said Wednesday that the city would be forced to rely on bottled water unless more people started conserving. Still, flood waters should recede significantly in the next couple of days, the National Weather Service's Moser said. "We're not expecting a significant amount of rain through Monday," he said. "It might amount to a quarter or half inch but not enough to affect things." After an aerial tour of central Tennessee Wednesday, Gov. Phil Bredesen warned residents to beware of con artists looking to capitalize on the flood response. "There are always people who come in and do these scams of charging people -- and they seem to prey on elderly people an awful lot -- just charging people an awful lot to do something," Bredesen said. "(They say) 'I'm going to fix your house, you have to do it or the state's going to tear it down, and it's like $20,000. Write me a check or give me cash.' " | Nineteen deaths reported across state; at least 28 killed in Southeast .
City government offices in Nashville to reopen Thursday, city bus service to be restored .
100 Nashville firefighters, police officers go door-to-door checking on residents .
Cumberland River still about 13 feet above flood stage . |
177,569 | 71dfedb5980e5b7715ebde44d1d63e0456e0ebc0 | By . Rachel Reilly . PUBLISHED: . 10:53 EST, 26 August 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 14:02 EST, 27 August 2013 . Oliver Kirk had to wear a bicycle helmet to protect his exposed brain from injury . A boy had half of his skull removed because of a simple sinus infection but didn't let it get in the way of his schoolwork. Despite undergoing extreme surgery to halt the spread of the infection, Oliver Kirk, nine, from Abingdon in Oxfordshire, still attended school and protected his vulnerable brain by wearing a bicycle helmet. The operation left half his brain covered only by a thin layer of skin and, as a result, he had to wear the helmet for five months. However, two weeks ago he had surgery to place a ceramic skull replacement over the gap. He is now free of the helmet and looking forward to playing sport again. Oliver's initial infection was common - sinusitis causes the chambers above the nose to swell and become painful. It typically causes a high temperature, pain and tenderness in the face, and a blocked or runny nose. The majority of people take over-the-counter medications and the infection clears up on its own. When the condition is severe, antibiotics are often able to control the spread of infection to the nearby bone. However, . in very rare cases - about one in 10,000 - infection can spread to the . area surrounding the eye, the bones, the blood or the brain. His mother, Liz, and father, David, first noticed something was wrong in February when Oliver's eyes began to droop and he suffered headaches. This was because his brain was beginning to swell and push against his eyes. His condition rapidly deteriorated and surgeons were forced to painstakingly cut away the entire left side of his skull. Doctors 'cleaned' his brain of infection but were concerned that potentially . fatal bacteria had spread into his skull bone, so decided not to replace . it after surgery. Oliver underwent surgery to remove half his skull because a usually harmless sinus infection spread to the bone in his skull, and to his brain . Oliver was back on his . feet within weeks, but with only his skin covering his brain he had to . wear a helmet to protect his 'squidgy' head. Two weeks ago he went under the knife again to allow doctors to fit a new custom-made ceramic skull implant. Oliver said: 'An infection went . up my nose and under my skull so they had to take the skull out, and . they then stitched the skin back over so you couldn't see the inside. Surprisingly Oliver was back on his feet within weeks, but with only his skin covering his brain he had to wear a helmet to protect his 'squidgy' head. Two weeks ago he went under the knife again when doctors fitted a new custom-made ceramic skull implant . 'At first I thought "Where has it gone?" and then my mum told me and I was really shocked. It felt really weird. It was really squidgy and jelly.' Sinusitis is inflammation of the lining of the sinuses, caused by a viral or bacterial infection. The sinuses are small, air-filled cavities behind the cheekbones and forehead. Sinusitis typically causes a high temperature, pain and tenderness in the face, and a blocked or runny nose. It is a common, usually harmless, condition and can affect people of any age . Complications of sinusitis are more common in children than in adults. If a child has sinusitis and swelling around the cheekbone or eyelid, it may be a bacterial infection of the skin and soft tissue or an infection of the tissue surrounding the eye. When the condition is severe, antibiotics are often able to control the spread of infection to the nearby bone. However, in very rare cases - about one in 10,000 - infection can spread to the area surrounding the eye, the bones, the blood or the brain. This can be fatal unless treated quickly. He added: 'When the skull wasn't there it was like a blancmange, because it was all squidgy, and there was only fluid there, and it wasn't symmetrical like heads sould be.' Oliver was on holiday with his parents, and brother Christian, 14, in February, when he developed a temperature. Surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford discovered an infection had moved from his sinuses to his brain and was putting pressure on his skull. He was rushed into surgery and doctors worked against the clock to catch the infection before it permanently damaged his brain. He was in an induced coma for three days, but after a few weeks in bed he was back on his feet. His mother said: 'He went back to school and he could do anything apart from sport. 'He had to wear his protective helmet right up until two weeks ago. 'He then underwent surgery to have a "ceramic" skull replacement fitted. The material, which is similar in tecture to coral, is porous. 'This means that as Ollie’s skull grows it will fuse with the synthetic bone, healing over the hole. 'Because the skull implant will be able to grow with Ollie, it will not restrict the growth of his brain and affect his development. 'He was really good about it and got . used to it. His attitude and his positive approach over the last few . months has been a lesson to us all really.' Oliver underwent surgery to have a 'ceramic' skull replacement fitted (mock up of how much was removed). The material, which is similar in texture to coral, is porous. This means that as Oliver skull grows it will fuse with the synthetic bone, healing over the hole . Surgeons believe it is the first time the operation has been carried out in the UK in response to an infection, instead of trauma. They hope it will eventually fuse with his remaining bits of skull. Neurosurgeon Dr Shailendra Magdum said: 'Ollie's case is, I think, the first case in this country to use this material.' | Oliver Kirk, from Oxfordshire, developed sinusitis that spread to his brain .
Surgeons 'cleaned' his brain but were concerned his skull remained infected so left one side of his brain without bone covering it .
Because this left only a thin layer of skin over his brain, he wore a bicycle helmet to prevent his 'squidgy head' being knocked and damaged .
He wore the hat for five months until he underwent surgery to fit a ceramic skull replacement over the hole . |
150,958 | 4f2d7470fbd52b9a50533ca58d49d468e4024d8f | By . Corey Charlton . Eric Head, from Canada, is a real life toy boy. The 19-year-old spends his days collecting, styling and photographing expensive dolls into modern and ‘ghetto-cute’ styles. The photography student loves nothing more than dressing up and photographing his dolls with gold chains and huge gold hooped earrings. And the dolls that he collects are a far cry from your traditional Barbie dolls – his are the brainchild of American fashion designer Jason Wu, and are called Fashion Royalty Dolls. They can cost as much as £1,000. Canadian Eric Head pictured working on his dolls which he dresses up and photographs in 'ghetto' style . Mr Head's dolls are often photographed to mimic magazine fashion shoots, with the models in suggestive poses . The young photographer can sometimes spend hours adding eyelashes and eye colour . Mr Head's pictures are shot to mimic the look of high fashion magazine shoots, with the dolls posing in suggestive and sultry poses. The young photographer spends hours styling and then photographing his dolls, even painstakingly adding individual eyelashes or changing their eye colour to create the perfect look. He said: 'The dolls are very fun to customize yourself, even the simplest things like adding eyelashes to make them look much more real. 'I cut off one doll's hair and purchased synthetic 'flock' hair from eBay, and gave her a new hair do. 'I started by cutting off all of her hair, and plucking out the excess from the rooting holes. I then painted her scalp black. He said it was 'very fun' to customise the dolls himself and even simple additions made them look more realistic . Pictured are two of the dolls collected by Mr Head and restyled, complete with hooped earrings and jewellery . Mr Head is a photography student who takes pictures of the dolls once he has finished working on them . 'Then I paint Kraft glue over her entire scalp and dust the flock on top of her head and let her dry. I then repeat the process five more times, and voila, she has a completely new look.' Mr Head who has been playing with dolls since he was a child, loves nothing more than styling his dolls and photographing them and he posts all of his work on his Flickr page. He said: 'The inspiration comes from many things that I see in my day. I'm an avid fan of modern fashion. 'I also truthfully just love ghetto-cute fashion, and the combination of high class dolls and low class ghetto fashion just excites me. I've been playing with dolls since I was a little boy, so it's no surprise to me that I'm now a doll collector.' Mr Head has been playing with dolls since he was a child and posts all his finished work to his Flickr page . Mr Head, pictured left, with one of his dolls yet to undergo a makeover while on the right is a finished example . He said his inspiration for the dolls' styles came from everything he saw in day-to-day life and modern fashion . These two dolls, like many others in Eric Head's collection, are based on a high fashion magazine photo shoot . Mr Head said he had been playing with dolls since he was small, so it was 'no surprise' he was now a collector . The dolls are not everyday Barbies - they are Fashion Royalty Dolls which can cost up to £1,000 . Eric Head is a photography student who undertakes a small photo-shoot once he has finished styling a doll . | Canadian photography student, 19, collects and dresses up expensive dolls .
Eric Head said he mimics magazine shoots and loves 'ghetto-cute' fashion .
The dolls used are not Barbies but £1,000 high-end 'Fashion Royalty Dolls' |
121,818 | 2975b068b202355e58ad44df2d94bc7edf5c1c5a | A Marine died Thursday in a noncombat incident in Baghdad — becoming the second U.S. military death associated with the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. The Marine was identified as 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Sean P. Neal of Riverside, California. The Pentagon isn't providing more details and says it's investigating. Neal was a mortarman and had joined the Marine Corps. on July 22, 2013. Lance Cpl. Sean P. Neal, 19, has died in a noncombat incident in Baghdad . Neal joined the Marine Corps. in 2013 and had just arrived in the Middle East a month before his death . He was assigned assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force - Crisis Response - Central Command, whose headquarters element deploys from Camp Pendleton, California. He was deployed to the Middle East last month. A second Marine is presumed dead after an incident on Oct. 2, when he ejected from an MV-22 Osprey aircraft over the Persian Gulf and appears to have been lost at sea. The Osprey flew from aboard a Navy ship supporting U.S. operations in Iraq and Syria. A second Marine is presumed dead after an incident on Oct. 2, when he ejected from an MV-22 Osprey aircraft over the Persian Gulf and appears to have been lost at sea . A Turkish forces soldier rides atop an armored vehicle as he patrols the Turkish-Syrian border on October 20 . Kurdish fighters in Syrian city of Kobani have pushed back Islamic State militants in a number of locations as U.S. air strikes on ISIS positions continue in and around the city . That was the first death associated with the fight against IS. But Pentagon officials say that Marine isn't on the Defense Department's public list of deaths because the official paperwork hasn't been completed. The United States' current combat against the Islamic State has primarily focused on air strikes. But some U.S. troops are on the ground advising the Iraqi military. Militants of Islamic State (IS) stand just before explosion of an air strike on Tilsehir hill near Turkish border . Big plume covers the Syrian city of Kobane . It is thought that the smoke is a result of the US led coalition forces bombing IS positions in the city . | Lance Cpl. Sean P. Neal, 19, died in a noncombat incident in Baghdad .
Neal, of Riverside, California, arrived in Iraq a month ago .
He becomes the second US military death in the campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria . |
277,112 | f305e506c6df301dd740dcf30d1a89b4a40e9509 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . Fisher-Price is facing a backlash over its decision to sell a baby bouncy seat with an attachment where parents can insert an iPad to keep their newborns entertained. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based advocacy group, wants the company to recall its Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity Seat for iPads. The group says it's not healthy for a baby's development and encourages parents to leave baby alone. Outrage: Fisher Price faced a heavy backlash last December when it introduced this iPad-enabled baby bouncing seat, pictured. Experts warned it could affect development and limit parent-child interaction . Demanding a recall: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is calling on Fisher-Price to immediately stop selling its Newborn-to-Toddler Apptivity¿ Seat for iPad® device . The seat is angering parents and child advocates who say the introduction of screen technology so early is harmful to the health and development of babies and claim Fisher-Price’s seat hits a new low. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood today began a letter writing campaign against the $75 product, calling it 'oppressive and destructive to young children,' while also naming it the worst toy of the year. Fisher-Price’s iPad seat is the 'ultimate electronic babysitter, whose very existence suggests that it’s fine to leave babies as young as newborns all alone and with an iPad inches from their face,' said Susan Linn, director of child advocacy group the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). 'Fisher-Price should stay true to its mission to foster learning and development by creating products for infants that promote, rather than undermine, interaction with caregivers,' Ms Linn said. How it works: The Apptivity Seat is a bouncy seat for infants with a place for an iPad directly above the baby¿s face. Critics say it blocks his or her view of the rest of the world . There is an equal amount of outrage . aimed at a similar product aimed at potty-training toddlers . which mounts an iPad in infront of a child who is learning to use the . toilet. Both efforts ask . for the products to be recalled under the guise that they could harm . developmental learning of body cues, and socialization. Victor . Strasburger, a doctor and professor of pediatrics at the University of . New Mexico School of Medicine said attaching iPads to babies’ seats is . 'a terrible idea.' 'Does . anyone out there think that kids need more screen time?” Strasburger . asked. “There is no need to hurry to expose kids to new technology, . certainly not babies — or newborns!' A doctor who spoke to ABC is weary about how it might affect babies. ‘I think parents need to be really careful here,’ said Dr. Richard Besser. He . explained that toddler’s brains go through changes and a lot of . development in early years before explaining that the real world, not . the virtual one, is where babies belong. Virtual babysitter: More than half of U.S. parents have admitted that they use tech gadgets to entertain their children when they are busy . Other options: The arm can be removed to 'disable' the iPad-holding feature . ‘The . best thing for a child is extensive interaction with people, hearing . voices, seeing faces, physically touching toys,’ he said. ‘I worry that . screens will replace these important human interactions.’ Fisher-Price describes the seat on its Web site as 'a grow-with-me seat . for baby that’s soothing, entertaining, and has a touch of technology, . too.' Mattel is already . under pressure by the CCFC and other advocacy groups that have . complained to the Federal Trade Commission that Fisher-Price’s mobile . Apptivity suite of apps deceives consumers with promised educational . benefits despite little research having been done to prove that online . sites can help babies’ brain development. Parent company Mattel has kept quiet on the matter so far. The . slew of new baby-tech products has drawn criticism from parents . blasting CTA and Fisher-Price in Amazon.com’s customer-review sections. Fisher-Price’s seat had more than 100 reviews, the majority negative. One . customer wrote: 'I am disgusted with Fisher Price and urge Amazon to . reconsider carrying this terrible contraption!! First of all children . need to be able to move and putting them on the floor (on rugs or mats) is the best way they can freely move and explore their world. Secondly, . the American Pediatric Association recommends NO SCREEN TIME for babies . under 2. Babies need . to move to understand and explore their world and they need to . manipulate things, not passively watch them! It has NO redeeming . features, it is actually detrimental to children 's growth and . development!! For shame Fisher Price - you have stooped to new lows (and . there are lots of them).' Other . reviewers wrote similar scathing remarks: 'This has to be one of the . worst ideas for a baby product that I have ever seen. Babies under six . months of age should NEVER be strapped in and forced to stare at a . screen pulsing images in front of them. Not only is it horrible for vision and brain development, but it . encourages irresponsible parenting as well. The American Academy of . Pediatrics recommends ZERO screen time for children under the age of . two.' Bathroom reading: There have also been complaints about this potty-training device that comes complete with room for an iPad . As companies rush to . integrate technology into toys, baby gear and classrooms, doctors and . child advocates say children today are immersed more than ever in a . world of screens and thatt constant access to games, television and the . Internet may be taking away from family time, exercise and discovery in . the physical world, critics say. It's not the first time Fisher Price has been in the hot seat for a high-tech baby toy. Last year the company picked up the same worst toy award from the group for a stuffed monkey toy that mounted an iPhone in the belly area, and ran special Fisher Price apps. | Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood say Fisher Price should 'stay true to its mission' to promote interaction .
Child psychologists recommend no screen time at all until a child is two .
There is no conclusive evidence on how electronic device usage affects toddlers over the long-term . |
254,533 | d57a0b07e3ce9872797b1cf0749f1e90985f0c49 | Walt Disney Comapny, which owns the ABC broadcast network and a suite of cable channels, is axing junk-food ads from its TV programmes, radio shows and websites aimed at children and announced the change alongside First Lady Michelle Obama. Mrs Obama has championed the fight against obesity, and her presence at the press conference was timed to coincide with her taped reading of the nightly Top Ten segment of David Letterman's talk show, where she extolled the virtues of gardening. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger announced the company's change with Mrs Obama in Washington. 'This . is huge,' said Mrs Obama, an exercise buff who has made healthy living her main cause through her 'Let's Move' initiative. Michelle Obama spoke at the Disney 'Magic of Healthy Living' food program launch, in Washington, DC, . Anti-obesity: The First Lady has been described as an exercise buff . Robert Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of Walt Disney Co, spoke during the high profile event . The president's wife shakes hands with Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger during Tuesday's launch . The change in marketing tactics is . the latest effort to curb the worrying obesity epidemic faced by the . U.S. and will force food and drinks companies to comply with strict . nutrition requirements if they want to advertise during Disney's shows. Nearly one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese, a shocking figure which is contributed to by junk food marketing, a 2006 Institute of Medicine report said. They are at a greater risk for type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea and other serious health problems. The launch was held at the Newseum in Washington, where samples of healthy kids meals were on show . Disney's packed sliced sweet apples is held with other Disney food products at the launch . 'Disney is doing what no major media company has ever done before in the United States,' Mrs Obama lauded. 'And what I hope every company will . do going forward when it comes to the ads they show and the food they . sell they're asking themselves one simple question: Is this good for our . kids?' Nutrition experts have long called for an end to child-targeted junk food advertising. Mrs Obama has long-targeted junk food . and recently has been making the press rounds to promote her cookbook, . American Grown, which includes a variety of recipes based off the . healthy vegetables grown in the White House garden. Mickey Mouse helps Disney chefs prepare smoothies at the event in Washington DC . Mice job! Chef Gary Jones helps Micky prepare healthy snacks before the company's announcement of the new policy . Fighting the flab: Gary takes over from Mickey as he stirs the wholesome granola mix . A . clip of her appearance on the Letterman Show was released in advanced . to its airing on Tuesday night, and she gave a few 'fun facts' about . gardening. Mrs. Obama's turn in the spotlight comes . as President Barack Obama's campaign seeks to use his wife's popularity . to help him get re-elected. The full segment of Mrs Obama's appearance will run Tuesday night, but CBS released three of her Top Ten: . Number 7: In his lifetime, the average American will eat half a radish . Number 6: The largest zucchini ever grown contained a Starbucks . Number 5: Later this year the Supreme Court will finally rule on `tomato' vs. `tomahto' A crackdown on unhealthy food is not limited to the White House agenda, however, as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last week that he planed to implement a band on sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces (about half a litre) in most restaurants, theaters, delis and sports stadiums throughout the city. According to the New York City Health Department, 34 per cent of adult New Yorkers are overweight and 22 per cent are obese. Obesity also kills thousands of New . Yorkers every year and costs $4billion in health care. Across the U.S. $168 billion is spent on obesity a year. The ban, also aimed at fighting . obesity, would affect drinks equivalent to what McDonald's Corp calls . small and has incensed food and beverage makers, many of which have . agreed to voluntary nutritional measures. Disney . plans to cut advertising during children's programming on its networks . such as ABC and Disney XD or its kid-focused websites for foods that . fail to meet minimum nutrition requirements. Happy hosts: David Letterman smiled during the taped portion of the segment with Mrs Obama . Countdown: Mrs Obama taped the Top Ten portion for David Letterman's nightly talk show from The White House . At its theme parks, Disney offers healthier alternatives to fries and soft drinks in kids' meals, such as carrots and low-fat milk. Left, the Magic Kingdom and right, Epcot . 'We . want parents to know that the food products that we license and the . ones promoted and advertised within our kids programming will be held to . the same healthier standards,' Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said. The . new guidelines, which take effect in 2015, set limits on the number of . calories and amount of fat and added sugar for main and side dishes and . snacks. Kraft Foods Inc's Oscar Mayer Lunchables and Capri Sun products, for example, would not make the cut, Disney said. Disney will cut adverts that don't . comply with requirements. Breakfast cereals will . have to contain less than 10 grams of sugar per . serving. At its theme . parks, Disney offers healthier alternatives to fries and soft drinks in . kids' meals, such as carrots and low-fat milk. Sugary drinks larger than 16 ounces are to be banned from New York restaurants, theatres, delis and vending carts. $70 . million in federal funding is available to help states and . communities address the root causes of obesity. An . Atlanta ad campaign featured images of overweight children with slogans . such as 'chubby kids may not outlive parents'. Food and drinks companies spend around $2 billion a year on advertising aimed at kids. Advertised . breakfast cereals will have to contain fewer than 10 grams of sugar in a . serving - about the same amount as three Chips Ahoy cookies. Disney is also launching its own 'Mickey Check' label for food it deems to be nutritious to help promote certain healthier foods in grocery stores and other retailers. A 2006 Institute of Medicine report said junk food marketing contributed to childhood obesity. That same year Disney, which owns the ABC-TV network and a host of cable channels, introduced voluntary guidelines that prohibited licensing of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for foods that do not meet minimum nutritional requirements. That helped sell more than 2 billon servings of Disney-licensed fruits and vegetables since then, Iger said at the event, which featured a Mickey Mouse character making yogurt parfaits surrounded by buckets of lemons, oranges and apples. Its theme parks also started offering carrots and milk -- rather than fries and soda -- as the default choice for kids meals and saw that 60 percent of parents chose the healthier option, he added. Disney's new effort will not allow advertising during children's programming on its networks, including ABC and Disney XD and its child-focused websites, for foods that fail to meet minimum nutrition requirements. The company could not say how many products would be affected by the new rules, but experts said not all unhealthy foods will disappear. WATCH THE CLIP HERE . | Nearly one third of children are overweight or obese in the U.S .
Food and beverage companies spend about .
$2 billion a year on advertising aimed at young consumers . |
149,195 | 4ceae769eba2d8c03c24f78f6e33b99d1c02a16a | Super-tall Olympic hopeful Jade Slavin is having the last laugh on school bullies who made cruel jibes about her height. Classmates would risk a kicking now if they still teased 6ft 2ins Jade over her stature. University graduate Jade, 21, has mixed brawn, brains and beauty to become one of Britain's best exponents of the ancient Korean martial art of taekwondo. Scroll down for video . Olympic hopeful Jade Slavinwas was bullied at school over her height, but has now become one of Britain's best exponents of the ancient Korean martial art of taekwondo . She is also a model and aspiring beauty queen after reaching the finals of last year's Miss Earth and recently signing for Manchester agency, Maverick Models. However, the Beswick-based fighter will be seeing less of the catwalk and more of the world's taekwondo mats as she chases her Rio 2016 Olympics dream for the next 18 months. After just four months as a full-time member of the GB Academy on Ten Acres Lane in Manchester, she has been selected for next weekend's prestigious World Taekwondo Grand Prix in the city, featuring 256 of the planet's best in the sport. Jade said: 'It was hard at school and I used to get bullied a few times for being tall and skinny. 'That's one of the reasons I got into taekwondo, because my dad thought it would be a good idea to learn how to defend myself. Standing tall at 6ft 2ins has also helped Jade to be scouted for a local modelling agency . 'A friend of my dad's friends did it and one day I bumped in to him and he had his taekwondo suit (dobok) on. 'I was like "dad, what is he doing? Why he is he wearing that suit?" 'Dad just said he does taekwondo, like the Bruce Lee films. 'I just wanted to have a go straight away and I loved it.' Jade, who became national champion in Manchester last month, took up the sport aged nine. A few years later, she added another string to her bow - modelling. Jade has modeled for Atos, the clothing website and other fashion shows . She said: 'I began modelling when I was 11, sending photos to agencies, but it wasn't until I was about 16 when things started to roll. 'I got asked to do modelling for Atos, the clothing website, and other fashion shows. 'I am signed up to Maverick Models but I want to focus on my taekwondo as the castings are usually during the week when I have training.' Last year she entered her first beauty pageants, reaching the final of Miss Sunderland and the grand final of Miss Earth. She said: 'I started modelling to boost my confidence and prove people wrong. Hopefully, I am doing that now.' Jade is hoping to represent Britain in taekwondo at Rio 2016 . Jade had just completed a three-year sports science degree at Northumbria University when the call came for her to move to Manchester to join the GB Academy. She said: 'I was excited and surprised when I was told because I thought I was too old - most of the girls are 18 or 19. 'I did have trials when I was 16, but the last stage and boot camp were on at the same time as my exams. 'I did my exams instead and didn't think I would get another chance to prove myself, but I am here now. 'I've finished my studies and while I still have my modelling to fall back on, my main goal is taekwondo and trying to focus on Rio 2016.' | Jade Slavin, 21, from Beswick is one of UK's best at taekwondo .
The 6ft 2ins university graduate is member of prestigious GB Academy .
She also reached the finals of last year's Miss Earth and works as a model . |
190,110 | 82240a6e9123a853a2f3fa80779cb1986c5a1583 | McDonald’s will start giving customers the choice of a salad, fruit or vegetable as a substitute for french fries in its value meals in a bid to target consumers wanting healthier options. McDonald’s Corp. will roll out the change early next year in the U.S., where people will be able to pick a salad instead of fries at no extra cost. McDonald’s says it already lets customers make such swaps in some countries, such as France. Healthy options: McDonald's will start letting customers swap fries for salads in the new year for no extra cost in value meals . But now it says it now work to make the options available in 20 of its biggest markets around the world, which represent 85 percent of sales. McDonald’s, which has more than 34,000 locations around the world, said the change will be in place in 30 to 50 percent of the areas within the next three years and 100 percent the regions by 2020. The world’s biggest hamburger chain made the announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, where CEO Don Thompson made an appearance on stage with former President Bill Clinton. In an interview before the announcement, Thompson said McDonald’s is looking at developing other healthy sides that will appeal to customers. He noted that the company could also take the fruits and vegetables it offers in other parts of the world, such as cups of corn and kiwi on a stick, and make them more widely available. 'What is it that customers will choose, and what will they eat?' Thompson said. 'What we don’t want to do is just put something on the menu and say, hey, we did it. We really want consumption.' Value pack: The humble hamburger is usually accompanied by fries in McDonald's value meals, but soon vegetables and fruit will be an option . McDonald’s also announced that it would use its packaging to make healthier options more appealing to kids. For example, a side of carrots might come in a more colorfully designed bag. Parents will still be able to order soda with Happy Meals, but McDonald’s says it will only promote milk, juice and water on menu boards and in advertising. All advertising to kids will include a 'fun nutrition or children’s well-being' message, the company said. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said taking soda off the menu as an option for Happy Meals was a big step that other fast-food chains should follow. But she said the push to include positive nutrition messages in ads to kids could serve to give McDonald’s a 'health halo' that it doesn’t necessarily deserve. 'The changes McDonald’s are making make the food somewhat healthier. But I don’t think a hamburger, some applies and fries is something I’d call healthy,' she said. McDonald's is also trying to encourage consumers to drink low fat milk drinks instead of sodas . The announcement comes as McDonald’s faces criticism from health advocates who say it promotes bad eating habits. After years of outperforming its rivals, McDonald’s is also struggling to shake its fast-food image and keep up with shifting tastes. Late last year, the company reported its first monthly sales decline in nearly a decade and sales performance around the world has been choppy ever since. To better reflect the way people are eating, McDonald’s recently started giving customers the choice to substitute egg whites in all its breakfast sandwiches. It also rolled out chicken wraps, which are partly intended to go after people who want foods they feel are fresher or healthier. Earlier in the week, rival Burger King rolled out lower-calorie french fries, reflecting the growing demand for better-for-you options. McDonald’s marketing to children is also an ongoing issue. A recent study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for example, found that the chain’s ads targeting children often emphasize toy giveaways and movie tie-ins, rather than food. And at its latest annual shareholders meeting, a 9-year-old girl made headlines after she stood to ask Thompson to stop 'tricking' kids into eating the company’s food. The girl was with her mother, who was affiliated with Corporate Accountability, which has pressured McDonald’s to changes its marketing practices to kids. The criticism is clearly a sensitive topic for Thompson, who noted that the Alliance for a Healthier Generation was among the first organizations that approached the company to use its “marketing might” to help kids. The group, which is working with McDonald’s on its new health goals, was founded by the Clinton Global Initiative and the American Heart Association.“Others have said, ‘McDonald’s, don’t advertise to kids,’” Thompson said. “We’ve always felt like, wow, if we had the impact that you think we have, why don’t we leverage it to do something great for kids?”Howell Wechsler, CEO of Alliance for a Healthier Generation, said the commitments made by McDonald’s were worked out over the course of more than a year. He said the final agreement could help change the way people eat over time, given McDonald’s enormous reach. | McDonald's CEO Don Thompson made announcement at Clinton Global Initiative in NYC .
Company already lets customers swap fries for salad in France .
Substituting salad for fries will be at no extra cost in value meals . |
158,342 | 58b5a9ad47671d854084e205111f9a05ba7cfa7f | Mexico City (CNN) -- Hours after Mexico's presumed president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, said it was time for his country to leave behind the political rancor of campaign season, his closest opponent in the polls refused to concede and said the vote had been "plagued by irregularities." Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who election authorities projected as the runner-up in Sunday's presidential vote, said Monday that he was awaiting the official election results, and prepared to contest them before judicial authorities if they didn't turn out in his favor. "The election was plagued by irregularities before, during and after the process," said Lopez Obrador. The Democratic Revolution Party candidate's declarations echoed comments he made in 2006, when election authorities said the leftist candidate narrowly lost the presidential race to Felipe Calderon. Lopez Obrador claimed election fraud and never conceded, referring to himself afterward as "the legitimate president of Mexico." His supporters protested nationwide. In Mexico City, they staged sit-ins and blockades. On Monday, Lopez Obrador called on his supporters to wait for the official results. The Federal Election Institute's verification of individual poll results begins Wednesday. Earlier, Peña Nieto, who election authorities projected as the winner of Sunday's presidential vote, told CNN en Español he was ready to work across party lines to build a better Mexico. "We have to be constructive and put aside our differences, which are only for competitions and electoral contests," Peña Nieto said Monday. "Yesterday I indicated that (after) this tense and divisive atmosphere, which is natural in all democratic contests, we have to turn the page and move on to enter another chapter, another moment in our political lives, with a willingness and spirit that are constructive and purposeful." A quick count based on samples from polling stations throughout the country gave Peña Nieto the lead, with between 37.93% and 38.55% of votes, the Federal Election Institute said late Sunday night. On Monday, the presumed president-elect said he had been receiving congratulatory phone calls and messages from world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama. Peña Nieto said he was unfazed by the fact that more than 50% of Mexicans had not voted for him. "We, fortunately, live in democratic conditions with three predominant political forces, and this makes it very hard for any party to have an absolute majority," he told CNN en Español. The projected victory for Peña Nieto marks a triumphant return to power for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost its grip on Mexico's presidency to the conservative National Action Party in 2000. Peña Nieto profile . The Federal Election Institute's projections raised two key questions rooted in Mexico's complicated political past: Has the PRI, a political party that critics accuse of being authoritarian and corrupt, changed its approach? And will supporters of Lopez Obrador protest election results as they have in the past? U.S.-Mexico relationship . Peña Nieto said Sunday night that he was looking forward, not back. "We are a new generation. There is no return to the past. My government will have its vision based in the future," he told reporters. On the local level, there may not be many differences between today's PRI and the political party that dominated Mexico for decades, said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "What's changed on the national stage is that Mexican citizens have different expectations for their federal government that are going to force the PRI to govern in a different way than it did 20 years ago," he said. For much of the PRI's rule, the political party controlled not only the presidency, but also national and state legislatures and local governments across the country. Now, in the country's Senate, a preliminary tally Monday showed the PRI winning only 33 of 128 seats. In the House of Representatives, the PRI had secured more seats than any other party, according to the preliminary tally. But opposition parties combined held a majority of seats. "Then, the PRI was really a party that included all of Mexico, that had a broad patronage network and tolerated little dissent outside of the party," Selee said. "And the PRI today is going to have to deal with opposition parties that have tasted power, an active citizenry that expects to be involved in major policies decisions, and a very vigilant press that will report on everything that happens." Weeks before Sunday's vote, criticisms of Peña Nieto and concerns about the PRI's possible return to power fueled a student movement that has staged demonstrations throughout the country. On Monday, outraged students from the group marched in Mexico City. They carried signs that said, "Mexico without PRI" and "Mexico voted, and Peña did not win." But while critics slam Peña Nieto, the charismatic 45-year-old former governor galvanized fervent support among residents of his home state and party loyalists nationwide. 8 things U.S. could learn from Mexico . The Consulta Mitofsky, GEA/ISA and Parametria firms said their exit poll results projected a win for Peña Nieto, with more than 40% of voters saying they cast ballots for the PRI candidate. Peña Nieto's campaign platform included plans to stop the rise in food prices, promote energy reform, give social security to all Mexicans and reduce violence nationwide. "He is obviously prepared. There was obviously a dirty war against him," said Martha Rojas Ramos, 58, as she prepared to cast a ballot for Peña Nieto at a Mexico City elementary school on Sunday. Critics lamenting the possible return of the PRI to power aren't thinking straight, she said. "That's all in the past," Rojas said. "What's important is that he is young and has all the ability to represent us." CNN's Mario Gonzalez, Rafael Romo, Miguel Marquez, Krupskaia Alis, Ariel Crespo, Rey Rodriguez, Rene Hernandez and CNNMexico.com's Tania L. Montalvo and Arturo Ascención contributed to this report. | NEW: Peña Nieto says he has received congratulatory messages from world leaders .
Lopez Obrador says he's waiting for official results, and prepared to contest them .
Peña Nieto's apparent victory marks a triumphant return to power for his party .
Analyst: Mexicans "are going to force the PRI to govern in a different way" |
226,779 | b1a6f4fe2742aa63e7c68f84dcfee2c664f96dc5 | A McDonald's employee in Pittsburgh was arrested Wednesday after undercover police officers said they discovered her selling heroin in Happy Meal boxes, according to a criminal complaint. Shantia Dennis, 26, was arrested after undercover law enforcement officials conducted a drug buy, according to a statement from Mike Manko, communications director for the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. Customers looking for heroin were instructed to go through the drive-through and say, "I'd like to order a toy." The customer would then be told to proceed to the first window, where they would be handed a Happy Meal box containing heroin, Manko said. During the drug buy, the undercover officers recovered 10 stamp bags of heroin inside of a Happy Meal box, according to the statement. Officers immediately arrested Dennis and recovered an additional 50 bags of heroin, as well as a small amount of marijuana, according to the complaint. The sales of heroin do not appear to be related to the potentially lethal batches of heroin being sold in Western Pennsylvania, according to the statement. Dennis is charged with two counts of possession, one count of criminal use of a communication facility, one count of prohibited acts of delivery and one count of possession with intent to deliver. Attorney information for Dennis was not immediately available Wednesday. The McDonald's location declined to comment to CNN. Cancer painkiller mixed with heroin blamed for 22 Pennsylvania deaths . | A McDonald's worker in Pittsburgh sold heroin at the drive-through, authorities say .
Customers would receive the drug in Happy Meal boxes, a criminal complaint says .
Shantia Dennis is charged with possession, criminal use of a communication facility . |
124,235 | 2c9a5057237c047a245d80579cd5b7533698af46 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 11:02 EST, 10 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 07:10 EST, 11 July 2013 . A mother-of-three has survived deadly meningitis three times after the bug infiltrated her brain via a hole in her skull. Janine Blackhurst, now 39, was first struck down with meningitis when she was five and then went to catch different strains when she was 33 and then 37, just weeks before her wedding day. It was not until the third bout that doctors discovered the hole in her skull, next to her sinuses, that was exposing her brain to the bacterial and viral infections. Janine, 39, (pictured on her wedding day in 2011) has survived meningitis three times. She married shortly after her third encounter with the deadly condition which left her temporarily unable to walk. Three months after her wedding she underwent surgery to close the hole in her skull that was making her prone to the infection . Mrs Blackhurst caught the meningococcus strain of the bug when she was five-years-old. She responded well to treatment and made a full recovery. She then enjoyed good health - apart from frequent colds and flu - until October 2007, when she was rushed to hospital again. Mrs Blackhurst, then 33, was diagnosed with meningitis again but this time it was the pneumococcal strain. She said: 'I thought I’d been unlucky to get it the first time so I couldn’t believe it when they said I had it again.' After spending two weeks in hospital on strong antibiotics, she was finally allowed home. Tests showed Janine had a weak immune system and doctors believed that she had probably contracted meningitis a second time because of this. She was given a series of injections to help boost her immune system. But in 2011 - and just weeks before she was due to marry her partner Stephen Blackhurst, 34 - she was struck down with the same strain of the bug again. Janine (pictured with husband Stephen on their honeymoon) was born with a small hole in her skull which opportunistic bacteria used as a gateway to her brain. When she caught meningitis for the third time, paramedics said her temperature was so high that 'she was cooking inside' Janine, who works in a chip shop, said: 'I developed what I thought was a migraine and took myself to bed only to wake at 6am with the worst pains in my head I’d ever experienced. 'By the time the ambulance arrived, I was fitting and lashing out. The paramedics couldn’t do anything with me. 'I’d become violent as well because of the temperature and I wasn’t responding to the medication they were giving me. 'They then rang for a doctor to come from the hospital to sedate me so they could get me out of the house.' Paramedics told her worried daughter, Bobbi-Jo Caffery, 19, that her mother’s temperature was so high, she was ‘cooking from the inside out.’ At hospital, doctors kept her in a darkened room and ran brain scans. Initially, they thought Janine had suffered a brain haemorrhage but a lumbar puncture revealed she actually had pneumococcal meningitis. Ms Blackhurst's eye became paralysed shut as the infection took hold. Initially, doctors thought Janine had suffered a brain haemorrhage but a lumbar puncture revealed she actually had meningitis for a third time . Ms Blackhurst said she lokoed as if she had suffered a stroke. When she woke from her coma, she could not talk, walk or feed herself . Mrs Blackhurst was immediately given . intravenous antibiotics to fight the infection and spent eight . days in a coma in intensive care while doctors battled to save her. When she woke up, she couldn’t talk, walk or feed herself. She said: 'All my left side seemed to be worse and my left eye wouldn’t open. I looked like I’d had a stroke. 'All I wanted to do was go home as I was due to get married in ten weeks. I was devastated. We’d cancelled the wedding once already back in 2009. 'I told Stephen to call it off but he, Bobbi-Jo and my gran persuaded me to change my mind. 'It was something to work towards. I was determined to get myself better. Everything was organised and paid for.' Brain scans showed that Mrs Blackhurst had a very small hole in her skull (right) which had made her brain prone to infection. During surgery to fix the hole they then discovered that a small amount of brain had grown through the skull which had had to be removed . It was at this point that doctors discovered Janine had a . hole in her skull, just behind her sinuses. They believed that this had exposed her brain to both the bacterial and viral forms of meningitis. To close the hole in Mrs Blackhurst's head, surgeons removed bone from her leg (pictured after doctors extracted a small amount of bone) and grafted it onto the skull . After three weeks in hospital, Mrs Blackhurst was discharged and with the help of physiotherapy she took her first steps. She was referred to a specialist who told her she needed an operation to fill the hole to reduce the risk of her contracting meningitis again - and they could use bone from her leg to do it. Janine decided to go ahead with the wedding and doctors agreed to postpone theoperation. She said: 'It was a lovely day especially considering I nearly didn’t make it. It was emotional for me but I think even more so for Stephen and my family as they were the ones who had to see me so ill.' A month later, Janine went into hospital for the operation. Surgeons were left stunned when what they initially thought might be a polyp, an abnormal growth, in her left nostril was actually piece of her brain that had grown through the hole. Janine said: 'It had grown through the hole and died so they cut it out. I couldn’t quite believe it when they told me. It was weird. Having a defect in the skull which exposes the brain to infection is not unheard off, according to specialist research and education manager Jane Blewitt of the Meningitis Trust. She said: 'A group of pneumococcal bacteria that cause minor infections are very opportunistic and have been known, on rare occasions, to use a small hole in the skull as a gateway to the brain.' Mrs Blackhurst was in hospital for five days and was then released with dressings packed into my nose to keep the bone graft in place.' A week later, doctors confirmed the operation had been a success. Janine said: 'It was such a relief. 'I wasn’t well enough to go on the honeymoon so we had to postpone. We’ve just got back home. We went to Majorca and it was well worth the wait. 'I’m so lucky because things could have been very different. I’m lucky to be alive.' For more information visit www.meningitis.org and www.meningitis-trust.org . | Janine Blackhurst, 39, has had meningitis three times since the age of five .
It wasn't until third bout, four years ago, that doctors discovered she had a hole in her skull, next to her sinuses, that was exposing her brain .
Surgeons took a small amount of bone from her leg and grafted it on to the skull to close the hole up and prevent future infections .
She has since made a full recovery and married her long-term partner, Stephen, 34 . |
110,904 | 1b01ff8c122b87a09ced8a21c93f71dd057ab2a5 | By . Associated Press . The inspiration for Chanel's Metiers d'Art traveling fashion show this year will come from Dallas, the Texas city where Coco Chanel was once given a warm welcome that included being picked up at the airport in a white Rolls-Royce and being feted at a Western-themed party complete with a catwalk featuring cows. For more than a decade, designer Karl Lagerfeld has picked a city linked to the house for the theme of the show staged each December to highlight the work of its artisans. On Tuesday evening, it will be the turn for the city that fashion house founder Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel visited in 1957 at the invitation of Stanley Marcus, who led Neiman Marcus, the Dallas-based luxury retailer founded by his family. Fashion icon: Stanley Marcus (left), who lead Dallas-based retailer Neiman Marcus, pictured on September 6th 1957 greeting Coco Chanel as she arrived at Dallas Love field . 'It's . going to be over the top and it's going to be spectacular,' said Neiman . Marcus fashion director Ken Downing. 'It's going to be a big fashion . moment here in Dallas. 'I'm . anticipating that we're going to see a lot of Dallas and certainly a . lot of Texas and the American West translated into the collection.' The . show that will be held at Dallas' Art Deco exhibition venue Fair Park . will begin with the premiere of a film written and directed by Lagerfeld . titled, 'The Return,' that retraces the steps of Coco Chanel as she . reopened her Paris couture house in 1954 after shuttering it as Europe . entered World War II. Her return wasn't well-received by the French . press, but was embraced by the Americans. Neiman Marcus was among . those that lauded her return, with a special appreciation for the suits . that her name is now synonymous with. Taking in Texas: Chanel and Marcus during the Marcus Western party outside Dallas on September 7th 1957 . 'They thought it was . wonderful and perfect for the modern American customer,' said Myra . Walker, director of the Texas Fashion Collection, an assemblage of . thousands of clothing items housed at the University of North Texas that . had its genesis with the Marcus family. 'Women look good in it. You can . wear it to lunch or you can dress it up for the evening.' 'It was very much Mr Stanley's way of introducing the world to Dallas and Dallas to the world' During . Coco Chanel's September 1957 trip to Dallas - only three years after . the return of her fashion house - she was given the Neiman Marcus Award . for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion. The next month, . Neiman Marcus, celebrating its 50th anniversary that year, launched the . Fortnight celebrations, which became famous for bringing festivities and . offerings inspired by a certain country to the city. With the title . 'France Comes to Texas,' the celebration included turning the downtown . store's facade into a re-creation of shops along a Paris street. 'It was very much Mr. Stanley's way of introducing the world to Dallas and Dallas to the world,' Downing said. Marcus, . who died in 2002 at 96, would have been thrilled that Lagerfeld was . bringing his international show to Dallas, Walker said. 'This is the . kind of thing he worked toward.' Retail tour: Chanel inspecting a hat on a visit to the Dallas outpost of luxury retailer Neiman Marcus . Take a twirl! Coco Chanel watching square dancing at the Marcus Western party outside Dallas . Photos from Coco Chanel's visit . include her posing for a picture with a Western-attired Marcus and his . wife at the party at a ranch where she took in the cow fashion show in . addition to watching square dancers. She was also snapped inspecting a . hat on her tour of the store. 'She was very mesmerized by the . idea of Texas, so they threw a barbecue for her,' Downing said. 'The . story goes she actually didn't like the taste of the barbecue, and she . tossed her plate under the table, which, as the story goes, it went all . over Elizabeth Arden's red satin shoes.' 'She didn't like the taste of the barbecue, and tossed her plate under the table, which, as the story goes, went over Elizabeth Arden's red satin shoes' In Marcus' speech as he . bestowed Coco Chanel with the award, he called her 'the great innovator . who emancipated the feminine silhouette' and noted she was the first to . recognize 'that the casualness of the 20th century must be reflected in . the clothes women wear.' In another tie to the Lone Star State, . when Coco Chanel came to Dallas, she was accompanied by her famous model . and muse Suzy Parker, a San Antonio native. The film will be . shown at the same time on Chanel's website at its premiere here. It . follows the Lagerfeld's film 'Once Upon a Time ...' that explores Coco . Chanel's early days in fashion in Deauville on the French Riviera. That . film debuted last May in Singapore. Other cities that have served . as inspiration for the Metiers d'Art show include Tokyo, New York, . London, Shanghai and Edinburgh, Scotland. The collection, which will be . in boutiques in May, highlights the work of the artisans who are part of . a Chanel subsidiary company, including a costume jewelry and button . maker, a feather and flower maker, a milliner, shoemaker, glovemaker and . embroiderers. | Karl Lagerfeld will be showing the latest Chanel Metiers d'Art collection this evening in Dallas . |
67,336 | bf0d650839896e1696ef09fd83855a126b769dcc | Zanib Khan pictured arriving at Southwark Crown Court, was jailed for 12 months yesterday after exchanging sexy letters and phone calls with seven inmates at Brixton prison . One prison officer every week is being caught having an ‘inappropriate relationship’ with an inmate, official figures show. More than 120 prison staff faced disciplinary action for getting too close to a prisoner over a 33-month period. But less than a third were dismissed, and most were simply moved to another job with only a handful prosecuted. Earlier this week a woman prison officer was jailed for swapping erotic letters and phone calls with four serving convicts. Zanib Khan, 27, was given a 12-month term after a court heard she made ten hours of amorous calls to drug dealers and robbers. Among other staff exposed in recent years are several who had sex with prisoners, sent racy texts or letters, or had contact with criminals outside work, on the phone or online. At one prison, HMP Onley, five female prison officers resigned in six years. Tory MP Philip Davies, who uncovered the figures, said: ‘Not all inappropriate relationships are sexual, but this is still a big issue. 'Many prisoners are very manipulative people and do actively set out to manipulate prison officers. ‘Some want physical relationships or often it’s to get special favour while they are in prison. ‘There are very serious implications for security in prisons.’ Prisoners enjoying some leisure time at Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution in Buckinghamshire where six female prison officers were either sacked or forced to resign during a three year period for having relationships with inmates . In one of the worst cases, six women officers were forced to resign or were sacked from Aylesbury Young Offenders’ Institution in Buckinghamshire after forming relationships with prisoners over three years. One, Kelly-Anne McDade, was jailed for 30 months in November 2010 after she had a baby with an inmate. Prison volunteer Alice Belton, 23, had ‘phone sex’ with inmates at Parkhurst jail on the Isle of Wight and was arrested after smuggling in a mobile phone. She was given a suspended sentence after a probe uncovered explicit photos of her on inmates’ mobiles. Ministry of Justice figures show that between January 2008 and October 2010, some 126 prison workers were investigated and found to have had inappropriate relationships with inmates at jails in England and Wales. Five were convicted, 85 moved to other jails and 36 dismissed. The Prison Service says it has strict guidelines about what constitutes an inappropriate relationship between staff and criminals, and anybody breaking the rules will face the toughest sanctions. The HM Prison Service conduct and discipline guidelines state: ‘Staff must exercise particular care to ensure that their dealings with prisoners, former prisoners and their friends and relations are not open to abuse, misrepresentation or exploitation on either side.’ Steve Wagstaffe, director of Public Sector Prisons, said: ‘We remain committed to identifying and eradicating all forms of staff wrongdoing. 'Where staff develop an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner they put themselves and their colleagues at risk, potentially undermining the safety of the prison.’ | 120 prison officers were disciplined over 2.5 years .
Only a handful were prosecuted .
Less than a third dismissed .
Six women were sacked or forced to resign from a young offenders institution in Buckinghamshire .
Figures come after the imprisonment of Zanib Khan, 27, who faces 12 months in jail after exchanging raunchy letters and phone calls with inmates . |
274,472 | ef86e4563171d3ffdbafa5cc6b6c95a10be074a7 | By . Paul Donnelley . Dozens of discarded shopping trolleys are stacked into an enormous heap after being dragged from the River Thames as part of a major clean-up operation. The trolleys were among a staggering four tons of junk that was pulled from a 200ft stretch of the Thames by a 50-strong team of volunteer students. Other bizarre items cleared from the river bed at Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey included 35 skateboards, 14 bikes, three prams, almost 400 bottles and four carpets. Scroll down for video . Shopping? A traffic cone, several bicycles as well as several trolleys are among the detritus pulled from the Thames after volunteers decided to clean up the river bed . The items were found by a team of 15 divers then pulled from the river using grapple hooks by volunteers on the riverside. They were then stacked onto a barge and towed away by the Environment Agency to be recycled. The project was run by Kingston University Sub Aqua Club and nearby dive centre Aquanaut Scuba and Snorkelling. Messy business: Four tons of junk was dredged from just a 200ft section of the Thames at Richmond by volunteers. The items were found by a team of 15 divers then pulled from the river using grapple hooks by volunteers on the riverside . The clean-up was first held in 2011 after being started by former Kingston University student and keen diver Chris Elliot. Last year’s event saw three tons of junk retrieved from the same stretch of river. Lynne Clafton, one of the coordinators of the clean-up, said: “This is the third year the river clean has taken place and it was the biggest and most successful yet. Gloves: A volunteer and the rubbish pulled from the River Thames. Dozens of discarded shopping trolleys are stacked into an enormous heap after being dragged up . Other items cleared from the river bed at Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey . included 35 skateboards, 14 bikes, three prams, almost 400 bottles and . four carpets . Piles of waste: The rubbish pulled from the Thames is stored on a barge ready to be taken off for recycling after more than 50 volunteers got stuck into help . 'We had more than 50 volunteers helping to remove debris from a 200ft stretch of the Thames close to by Kingston Bridge. 'The divers found the big items like trolleys and prams, connected a grapple hook onto them and then people on the banks of the river dragged the items out. 'Everything was logged then stacked onto a barge which the Environment Agency took away at the end of the day to be recycled. 'The amount of stuff we retrieved from the river was shocking – it was a real eye opener. 'People walking by were staggered at the sheer volume of junk we were pulling out. 'As divers we spend so much time in the water and we wanted to give something back to the community. 'It has been proven that clean-up projects along the Thames have helped improve the environment for wildlife and we hope our project will contribute to that.' | Items were found by a team of 15 divers then pulled from river using grapple hooks by volunteers on the riverside .
Project was run by Kingston University Sub Aqua Club and nearby dive centre Aquanaut Scuba and Snorkelling . |
33,956 | 6080e7471f740e3cfbe24f08b9cfd9913f1aa159 | (CNN) -- There is a consistent message on Russian state media concerning the situation in Ukraine. The revolving "crisis in Ukraine" bug on state news channel Rossiya 24 sums it up. It shows the players on the ground on a loop: 1) unmasked, kindly looking pro-Russian separatists against the background of the orange and black ribbon of St. George, the ubiquitous symbol of pro-Russian sentiment and of Soviet military glory, 2) masked, authoritarian-looking Ukrainian state security against the national flag, and 3) a balaclava-clad ultra-nationalist against the red and black flag of Ukraine's Pravvy Sektor (Right Sector) party -- the ultimate bogeyman of the conflict, as far as Russia is concerned. It's all part of the Kremlin narrative that Ukraine is at risk of a fascist takeover. "Fascist is now being used to designate all things obnoxious and bad in the Kremlin line of argument so you call fascists those who allegedly seek to oppress the Russian speaking population in Ukraine," says Moscow based political analyst Mikhail Troitsky. "And in Russia domestically you have this tendency of anyone who disagrees with the main line to be called a fascist." Media fates and fortunes . This talk, Troitsky says, is all part of a broader notion of patriotism, carefully honed across state media, which tapped into a swelling of national pride over the Sochi Olympics and kept its momentum through Russia's annexation of Crimea. It is a redefining of boundaries many Russians feel was a historical injustice made right, the return of the peninsula to the motherland. In this climate, some, like the editor in chief of Dozhd TV, feel they face unusually strong hounding if deemed unpatriotic. Dozhd TV -- one of Russia's few independent media outlets -- was dropped by most cable operators a few weeks ago after a poll it ran in a talk show. "We asked the question, was it necessary to give Leningrad to the Nazis for the sake of the survival of the city," says editor in chief Mikhail Zygar. "Some viewers felt that the question was insulting and in about 10 minutes our editor of our website apologized and we deleted the question. But there was a huge campaign against us, blaming us for insulting all the veterans of the Leningrad siege." Even as Zygar suspected that the Kremlin was behind the cable operators' decision, President Putin mentioned Dozhd in last week's question and answer session with the nation - promising to do what he could to help. Shortly thereafter, the cable operators said they were prepared to negotiate with Dozhd. A sign of the sway the Kremlin has on media fates and fortunes. Zygar says he's worried about a polarization of Russian society over the Ukraine crisis. "They really see us as traitors. And that's really worse. Because the new generation is coming, that really believes that there is some kind of 5th column, some group of Western -- as Castro used to say 'mercenarios' -- those people paid by the Western countries who are working just to undermine the greatness of Russia." Sweep of history . Zygar believes Putin's third term is characterized by a desire to place himself firmly within the grand sweep of history. "Something like Peter the First or Catherine the Great -- he wants to change the history of this country and be the great statesman and liberator." In the context of Ukraine, that appears to be working. According to opinion polls around the time of the Crimea referendum, some 70% of Russians approved of Putin's leadership. The notion that President Putin is taking care of the interests of all those associated with the motherland in Russia's near abroad is falling on fertile soil. It's on domestic issues -- such as housing and social welfare -- that Troitsky says people aren't quite so prepared to accept the Kremlin's story, which he believes is telling. "Domestically I think people are keenly aware of the issues they are facing with their daily lives and I don't think it's easy to mislead them. But internationally I think this nationalist feeling, this feeling of being strong is also quite natural." How will the crisis end? 5 possible scenarios . U.S. troops in Poland as Ukraine crisis persists . | Russian state media's message is that Ukraine risks a fascist takeover, Diana Magnay says .
Analyst Mikhail Troitsky says "fascist" is now applied to those who oppose Moscow's view .
Troitsky says a broader notion of patriotism portrays Crimea's annexation as a wrong righted .
But he says Russians support for foreign policy doesn't blind them to domestic issues . |
125,519 | 2e45cae625959d44c628c98fdb043b6aa17442b6 | (CNN) -- The "mommy war" between stay-at-home and working mothers is in danger of being overshadowed by another maddening contest: the one between mothers in the U.S. and France. Two recent books, Pamela Druckerman's "Bringing Up Bébé" and Karen Le Billon's "French Kids Eat Everything," make the case that French parents raise kids who behave and eat far better than their American counterparts. This month, the English language debut of the European bestseller by French philosopher Elisabeth Badinter, "The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women," is already causing a stir. Badinter argues that overwhelming numbers of French mamans manage to work full-time and have several kids because they haven't succumbed to intensive ideals of motherhood, most of all American-style "natural mothering." Think extended breastfeeding, nonmedicalized birth, co-sleeping, and cloth diapers. Commentators are already jumping on Badinter's polemic as mommy war fodder. Does La Leche League oppress women? Is the environmental movement, or feminism, to blame? It's been a busy season indeed for chroniclers of the faux mommy wars. But as usual, that war is more farce than reality. Fini, everyone. The global battle between mamans and mamas, just as the one between stay-at-home and working moms, is largely staged. The sometimes jazzy headlines -- such as "The conflict attacks progressive parenting as anti-feminist" on April 10 in The Washington Post -- do a disservice to the complex lives of women. Creating two categories of mothers pits one against the other, and obscures the way traditional mommy-dividing categories often overlap. Women frequently opt in and out and back from paid work. Conversations about that fabricated domestic war and the latest international one obscure real differences linked to factors such as class and education. And of course, "French" and "American" simplify the lives of millions of mothers in both countries. If, instead, we actually read these books, we would realize that these authors are trying to offer solutions to the same problems in different ways. We admit it's hardly as sexy as the Hilary Rosen-Ann Romney showdown, whereby stay-at-home motherhood became partisan fodder after the Democratic strategist Rosen criticized Mitt Romney for turning to his wife, who has "never worked a day in her life," for counsel on the economic issues working mothers face. But we ought to slow down long enough to hear what these authors say before pulling our guns. There are kernels of wisdom here. Badinter, for example, wants all women (and particularly those who are French) to resist ideals of mothering that view women as the primary, more "natural" caregiver, which can make it all the more difficult to balance motherhood with work and a full, adult life. We applaud the way she asks us to examine these intensive ideals of motherhood and their reach. No woman should feel shame because she fails to breastfeed or give birth without an epidural. More fundamentally, we agree that care-giving shouldn't be the province of women alone. We disagree with Badinter, however, that the obstacles are merely in our heads. We think they're in political structures, too. Despite Badinter dismissing as irrelevant the French policies that make health care and day care accessible and affordable, here in the U.S., we lack such support for parents, mothers in particular, who work and do the second shift at home. The battle for pumHping stations and flextime seems a worthier cause than the trumped-up war between those who breastfeed and those who don't. Surely natural mothering practices would not be so oppressive and disadvantageous to women if we set up society to accommodate them. And while we're on it, the focus on breasts is a diversion. As a mother said in an interview when Badinter's book came out in France, the real conflict is not between the mother and the woman, but the woman and the company. When Badinter rejects breastfeeding so mothers can retain their sexuality, one could argue she is merely replacing the tyranny of "breasts for bébé" for the tyranny of "breasts for men." Still, Badinter has good points, and we shouldn't be so offended as to let the criticism of our parenting overshadow the reality that we, in the United States, have a long way to go. Perhaps there is something to American mothers' nostalgia for the French way of life, like authors Judith Warner, Jennifer Conlin, Le Billon and Druckerman, all who have raised children in France. You don't have to be an anthropologist to know that other cultural perspectives can shed light on how we've constructed particular ideals of motherhood and family, how our government and workplaces value -- or don't value -- motherhood. Perhaps the French experience might be a reminder that, with a revolution, structures can, and do, change. The solution to the challenges of American parenting is hardly as simple as making children eat spinach, or privileging disposable diapers over cloth. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writers. | Writers: The first "mommy war" pitted stay-at-home against working mothers .
Now, three books extoll the virtues of the French mothering style, they say .
These divisive conflicts over a mother's role ignore extenuating circumstances, they say .
Writers say that Americans face challenges in child-rearing that are more complex . |
240,668 | c392821ab02713aab04c2ab6f1c22a215f7a3301 | (CNN) -- Six Nations winners Ireland ended the year unbeaten after defeating world rugby champions South Africa 15-10 in Dublin on Saturday thanks to an assured kicking performance from newcomer Jonathan Sexton. The fly-half, playing only his second international ahead of the veteran Ronan O'Gara, landed five penalties as the Irish overcame conceding the game's only try to Schalk Burger in the 16th minute. The injury-hit Springboks, who won the southern hemisphere's Tri-Nations title this year, were left to lament three missed kicks at goal by fly-half Morne Steyn and one by substitute Ruan Pienaar. The Irish fielded nine players who toured South Africa with the Lions earlier this year, when flanker Burger was banned for eight weeks for eye-gouging Luke Fitzgerald. Sexton landed an early penalty from long range, but Steyn helped to send blindsider Burger over the line and added the extras, before making it 10-3 with a drop-goal. Sexton reduced the deficit before halftime as Steyn three times missed from considerable distance. Ireland moved 12-10 ahead with two more Sexton goals despite struggling at the scrums, and the visitors started to wilt after Pienaar hit the post with a penalty attempt. New Zealand ended their northern hemisphere tour unbeaten after crushing France 39-12 in Marseille, running in five tries to none. The All Blacks have suffered an uncharacteristic four defeats this year -- three of them to the Springboks -- but took the chance to avenge the shock 27-22 home loss to Les Bleus in June. The Kiwis, who had earlier beaten Wales, Italy and England on tour, led 22-12 at halftime as backs Sitiveni Sivivatu and Mils Muliaina crossed for tries along with back-row forward Jerome Kaino. Winger Cory Jane and center Conrad Smith went over in the second half and mercurial fly-half Dan Carter kicked a total of 14 points while orchestrating the All Blacks' most free-flowing performance of the tour against a side who had earlier beaten South Africa and Samoa. New Zealand captain Richie McCaw was named the International Rugby Board's player of the year after the match, becoming the first to achieve the honor twice following his 2006 award. Scotland crashed back to earth following last weekend's first win over Australia in 27 years, losing 9-6 at home to bogey side Argentina. The visitors came back from 6-0 down at halftime in Edinburgh, where they have not lost for 19 years, and inflicted the first defeat on Scots coach Andy Robinson. Phil Godman kicked two penalties to give Scotland hope of winning all their November internationals for the first time since 2002, but paid the price for lock Nathan Hines' second-half sin-binning as Martin Rodriguez leveled with two kicks of his own. Rodriguez then landed a drop-goal two minutes from time to give the Pumas a fourth straight win at Murrayfield and their first victory on this tour. Australia, however, relieved the pressure on coach Robbie Deans by crushing Wales 33-12 in Cardiff, avenging last year's 21-18 defeat. Matt Giteau missed a last-gasp conversion against the Scots which would have won the match, but was to the fore this time as the Wallabies ran in three early tries. Center Digby Ioane, lock James Horwill, flanker David Pocock went over in the first 16 minutes, while Wales lost Shane Williams, try-scorer Leigh Halfpenny and Matthew Rees to injury as they surrendered a 23-12 halftime deficit. Substitute hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau crossed in the second half while Giteau kicked 13 points in total to hand Wales coach Warren Gatland, a New Zealander, his heaviest home defeat in front of a 74,339 crowd. Italy beat the touring Samoa team 24-6 for their first victory in four encounters with the Pacific Islanders, who had Henry Fa'afili sent off for a high tackle on first-half tryscorer Luke McLean. | Six Nations winners Ireland ended the year unbeaten after defeating South Africa 15-10 .
Jonathan Sexton kicked five penalties as world rugby champions lose in Dublin .
New Zealand avenge June's home defeat by France with a 39-12 victory in Paris .
Scotland lose 9-6 at home to Argentina, while Australia triumph 33-12 in Wales . |
21,688 | 3da3a56efacda9e9808d8a023b02428a0f88fe17 | By . Associated Press . UPDATED: . 12:57 EST, 18 January 2012 . The mother of Moeed Abdul Salam tried to teach her son about religious tolerance and infaith harmony as he grew up in their well-off Texas household. Salam certainly didn't descend into radical Islam for lack of other options. His mother Hasna Shaheen Salam ensured he attended a pricey boarding school and graduated from one of the state's most respected universities. She and her husband and the generation before them had spent years promoting interfaith harmony and combating Muslim stereotypes in their hometown and even on national television. But somewhere along the way, Salam rejected his relatives' moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path that led him to work for al Qaeda. Hasna Shaheen Salam, centre, said of her son's death: 'There are things that we don't want to happen but we have to accept, things that we don't want to know but we have to learn, and a loved one we can't live without but have to let go' The dead body of Moeed Abdul Salam, 37, who killed himself with a grenade during a paramilitary raid on his apartment on November 19,, is is carried by volunteers in Karachi, Pakistan . The home where Moeed Abdul Salam, 37, spent formative years with his parents in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. The family, originally from Pakistan, immigrated to the U.S. decades ago and gained citizenship . His odyssey ended late last year in a middle-of-the-night explosion in Pakistan. The 37-year-old father-of-four was dead after paramilitary troops stormed his apartment. His November 19 death went largely unnoticed in the U.S. and rated only limited attention in Pakistan. But the circumstances threatened to overshadow the work of an American family devoted to religious understanding. And his mysterious evolution presented a reminder of the attraction Pakistan still holds for Islamic militants, especially well-educated Westerners whose Internet and language skills make them useful converts for jihad. 'There are things that we don't want to happen but we have to accept, things that we don't want to know but we have to learn, and a loved one we can't live without but have to let go,' Salam's mother, Hasna, wrote last month on her Facebook page. The violence didn't stop after Salam died. Weeks after his death, fellow militants killed three soldiers with a roadside bomb to avenge the raid. It is not clear to what extent . Salam's family knew of his radicalism, but on his Facebook page the . month before he died, he posted an image of Anwar al-Awalki, the . American al Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, . beside a burning American flag. He . had also recently linked to a document praising al-Awalki's martyrdom . and to a message urging Muslims to rejoice 'in this time when you see . the mujahideen all over the world victorious'. After . his death, the Global Islamic Media Forum, a propaganda group for al . Qaeda and its allies, hailed Salam as a martyr, explaining in an online . posting that he had overseen a unit that produced propaganda in Urdu and . other South Asian languages. A . senior U.S. counterterrorism official said Salam's role had expanded . over the years beyond propaganda to being an operative. The official . spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the . information. The body of Salam - father of four kids - is taken away in this jeep. He rejected his relatives' moderate faith and comfortable life, choosing instead a path that led him to work for al Qaeda . The family, originally from Pakistan, . immigrated to the U.S. decades ago. Salam's father was a pilot for a . Saudi airline, and the family eventually settled in the Dallas suburb of . Plano. Their cream-colored brick home, assessed at nearly $400,000, stands on a corner lot in a quiet, upper-class neighborhood. The . family obtained American citizenship in 1986. Salam attended Suffield . Academy in Connecticut, a private high school where tuition and board . currently run $46,500. He graduated in 1992. A . classmate, Wadiya Wynn, of Laurel, Maryland, recalled that Salam played . varsity golf, sang in an a cappella group and in the chamber choir, and . that he hung out with a small group of 'hippie-ish' friends. She thought he was a mediocre student, but noted that just being admitted to Suffield was highly competitive. Salam . went on to study history at the University of Texas at Austin and . graduated in 1996. His Facebook profile indicated he moved to Saudi . Arabia by 2003 and began working as a translator, writer and editor for . websites about Islam. 'Anyone . can pick up a gun, but there aren't as many people who can code html . and understand the use of proxies,' said Evan Kohlmann, a senior partner . a Flashpoint Global Partners, which tracks radical Muslim propaganda. A man peers into a sealed apartment of Moeed Abdul Salam where he killed himself with a grenade during a paramilitary raid on his apartment in Karachi, Pakistan . Salam, who had apparently been active in militant circles for as long as nine years, arrived three years ago in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, and became an important link between al Qaeda, the Taliban and other extremists groups, according to an al Qaeda operative in Karachi who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is wanted by authorities. Salam traveled to the tribal areas close to the Afghan border three or four times for meetings with senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, the operative said. He would handle money and logistics in the city and deliver instructions from other members of the network. Back in the United States, Salam's mother is a prominent resident of Plano, where she is co-chairwoman of a city advisory group called the Plano Multicultural Outreach Roundtable, as well as a former president of the Texas Muslim Women's Foundation. The founder of the latter group, Hind Jarrah, said Shaheen and her husband are too upset to speak with anyone. 'She's a committed American citizen. She's a hard worker,' Jarrah said, calling her 'one of the nicest, most committed, most open-minded' women she had ever met. Salam's brother, Monem Salam, has traveled the country speaking about Islam, seeking to correct misconceptions following the 9/11 attacks. On Salam's Facebook page the month before he died, he posted an image of Anwar al-Awalki, pictured, the American al Qaeda leader who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, beside a burning American flag . He works for Saturna Capital, where he manages funds that invest according to Islamic principles — for example, in companies that do not profit from alcohol or pork. He recently moved from the company's Bellingham, Washington, headquarters to head its office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. After the 2001 attacks, he and his wife made a public-television documentary about his efforts as a Muslim man to obtain a pilot's license. They also wrote a column for The Bellingham Herald newspaper that answered readers' questions about Islam. Both Salam's parents and his brother declined numerous interview requests from The Associated Press. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, dozens of U.S. citizens have been accused of participating in terrorism activities, including several prominent al-Qaida propagandists, such as al-Awalaki and Samir Khan, who was killed alongside him. Perhaps best known is Adam Gadahn, an al Qaeda spokesman believed to be in Pakistan. Of 46 cases of 'homegrown terrorism' in the U.S. since 2001, 16 have a connection to Pakistan, according to a recent RAND Corporation study. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, dozens of U.S. citizens have been accused of participating in terrorism activities - best known is Adam Gadahn, pictured . Salam's background as college-educated and from a prosperous family isn't unusual among them. He divorced his wife in October, but was contesting custody of their three sons and one daughter. The children were staying with him in the third-floor apartment when a squad of paramilitary troops known as Rangers arrived around 3:30 a.m. Officers said they pushed through the flimsy door, and Salam killed himself with a grenade when he realized he was surrounded. The Islamic media group and the al Qaeda contact in Karachi disputed that account, saying Salam was killed by the troops. Through the windows, blood splatter and shrapnel marks were visible on the wall close to the dining table. There were boxes of unpacked luggage, a treadmill and two large stereo speakers. Residents said Moeed had only been living there for five days. Neighbor Syed Mohammad Farooq was woken by an explosion. Minutes later, one of the troops asked him to go inside the apartment and see what had happened, he said. 'He was lying on the floor with blood pooling around him. One of his arms had been blown off. I couldn't look for long. He was moaning and seemed to be reciting verses from the Koran,' he said. 'I could hear the children crying, but I couldn't see them.' Hours later, Salam's wife and father-in-law, a lawyer in the city, came to collect the children from the apartment in Gulistane Jauhar, a middle-class area of Karachi, Farooq said. On the night he died, Salam led evening prayers at the small mosque on the ground floor of the apartment building. 'His Koranic recitation was very good,' said Karim Baloch, who prayed behind him that night. 'It was like that of an Arab.' | Salam's mother, Hasna Shaheen Salam, tried to teach her son interfaith harmony and religious tolerance .
Of her son's death she said: 'There are things that we don't want to .
happen but we have to accept, things that we don't want to know but we .
have to learn, and a loved one we can't live without but have to let .
go' |
196,443 | 8a3cdc20bcec39fcf6e58d28d8414e0f1afca157 | By . Sara Smyth . PUBLISHED: . 12:47 EST, 11 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 02:38 EST, 12 July 2013 . Bunk beds line the walls in a large room where light streams through barred windows and a group of men gaze at a TV mounted to the wall. There are reading rooms down the corridor where some men study at desks. And the garden is complete with a greenhouse, where shrubs and plants are planted in the baking Jordanian heat. This is now the home of radical Isliamist Abu Qatada- the reviled hate preacher who used human rights appeals to prolong his stay in Britain. Inside: Abu Qatada occupies a communal cell like this one, where there is a TV mounted on the wall and inmates can choose to wear their own clothes . Facilities: Muwaqqar Prison has a library where students can read and study. The Jordanian jail holds 718 inmates in total . Ominous: For all its perks, the prison looks daunting with barbed-wire fences and watch towers . The 53-year-old is being held in Muwaqqar Jail outside Amman, where he shares a cell with 15 other inmates. Many of the prisoners have been sentenced or charged with offences against state security. Muwaqqar is known as one of Jordan's best-kept prisons. Colour-coded textbooks and maps are lined up in the prison's libraries and there is a computer room for the inmates. The inmates are allowed to wear their own clothes, and only have to wear a brown prison uniform to leave their cell. They are referred to as 'guests,' according to the Sun, where . they can be visited by friends or relatives for half an hour, three . times a week. Charged: Qatada is being held on terrorist charges. He was deported from Belmarsh prison in London on Sunday after eight years of stalling . Conditions: Prison inmates can use volleyball or football courts (pictured right) for exercise at the prison. Officers guard the prison's entrance (left) Activities: Abu Qatada will tend to plants and vegetables in the greenhouse with other prison 'guests' Green-fingered: Inmates plant shrubs and flowers in the baking Jordanian desert as part of their dauily ritual at Muwaqqar . Football and voleyball pitches are used during recreation time by the prison's 'guests'. The . prison has 240 solitary confinement cells, but Qatada has been placed . in a communal cell, where he will bunk with other inmates. He was transferred there on Sunday from Belmarsh prison in South East London. According to the Telegraph, Qatada's family have already been to visit him, speaking with him through a glass barrier. Once Qatada left the UK and landed at . Jordan’s Marka military airport, the authorities moved swiftly. He was . driven in a green SUV, escorted by a 12-car convoy, to the sealed-off . state security court in Amman. Military prosecutors charged him with . conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts, remanded him in custody for 15 . days and then took him to Muwaqqar prison. Well-kept: Muwaqqar is known for having high standards . Textbook: Rows of colour-coded mathematics books are available to prisoners who want to further their education . He was first arrested over . his alleged terror connections in 2001. He was rearrested in 2005, when . attempts to deport him began. He lodged appeal after appeal, claiming . his human rights would be infringed if he was sent home – finally . winning his case in the European Court of Human Rights last year. But Home Secretary Theresa May continued to pursue his . removal, signing a landmark treaty with Jordan promising that no . evidence obtained by torture would be used against him. Part of the treaty ensures Qatada's proper treatment in prison. | Radical Islamist cleric is being held in Jordan's Muwaqqar Jail .
Prison holds 718 men and Qatada shares cell with 15 other inmates .
Qatada, 53, deported from London prison after using human rights to thwart his removal .
Convicted of terror charges in Jordan in his absence in 1999 . |
74,716 | d3cce22224effc89cce126d5930f25f7ebadd3b5 | (CNN) -- Need some social etiquette advice for the digital age? Brad Pitt's got your back in this month's cover story from Wired Magazine. In Wired's new cover story, Brad Pitt offers etiquette for the digital age. So Brad, should people talk on the phone while they're using the restroom? "No, you can't talk on the phone!" Pitt tells the magazine. "Do you want the guy next to you to hear your entire conversation? "That's why you should only text in the bathroom. Just be sure you don't hit the wrong button and end up putting a photo of your junk on Twitter. Trust me, you don't want those followers." Watch a CNN video about cell phone etiquette » . Humor covers for Pitt's lack of tech credentials as the Hollywood hunk and star of Quentin Tarantino's new film, "Inglourious Basterds" offers up a range of tongue-in-cheek advice for Wired readers. He touches on subjects ranging from managing your online persona to looking at porn on your work computer. Wired says Pitt approached the magazine with ideas for the story. The magazine, which is owned by Conde Nast and is a CNN.com content partner, collaborated with Pitt and contributing photographer Dan Winters to create the article. "How to Behave: New Rules for Highly Evolved Humans" hits newsstands July 21. Wired said in an e-mail that the piece is a re-think of the celebrity magazine profile. On the cover, a photo shows Pitt wearing a Bluetooth device in his ear. "Rule No. 52: Ditch the headset. He can barely pull it off -- and you are not him," a blurb on the magazine front says. Most of the article is delivered in a spoof question-answer format. Pitt contributes several answers, as do regular Wired writers. One question asks if a person who exaggerated his or her salary on an online dating profile should confess. "Hell no," Pitt writes. "Everyone lies online. In fact, readers expect you to lie. If you don't, they'll think you make less than you actually do. So the only way to tell the truth is to lie." A question about viewing pornography at work is paired with a photo of Pitt scanning a copy of Hustler magazine at an office desk. A half-eaten doughnut sits on the table in front of him. "Don't just look at it at work, bring in your old porn mags and scan them there!" Pitt writes in the magazine. "It's like converting your vinyl to MP3s. Fill up your hard drive, and when you need a break from spreadsheets, just open a favorite pictorial." Pitt's OK with porn, but he's less understanding of people who want to answer urgent cell phone calls during movies. "It may be a brief interruption -- just a few seconds -- but what if someone sitting near you is trying to make a decent bootleg? Did you ever think of that? Now all those street-corner copies are permanently defiled by your so-called 'emergency,' " he writes. "Don't be so damn selfish." | Wired Magazine's cover story features spoof tech advice from Brad Pitt .
The Hollywood hunk is promoting his new movie, "Inglourious Basterds"
Pitt says talking on the phone at the urinal is rude; you should text instead .
Pitt: Online communication is based on lies: "The only way to tell the truth is to lie" |
264,067 | e1ffef6569661b90f78098baa24c918fee88f705 | Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Syrian rebels call them "wizwayzi," humming eyes in the sky they say guide the government warplanes and gunners who bombard their positions. They're surveillance drones, easily visible from the ground and seen in video shot by rebel fighters. Syrian opposition activists and rebel commanders say both the tempo and accuracy of airstrikes have increased since government forces began using them -- and they point to Iran as the source of the equipment. "Of course it's Iranian. It doesn't go up that high. We can see it," Muhiyee Deen al-Zein, a Free Syrian Army leader in Homs, told CNN. "They say, 'The wizwayzi is out.' It's a small drone that films al-Qusayr, and then you think, 'Oh God, help al-Qusayr, it will sleep under rockets.' " Opposition activists say the number of airstrikes has gone up sharply since the collapse of a cease-fire for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, growing from about 20 a day before the truce to as many as 60 a day this week. Wednesday, Russian-built MiG jets pounded targets in the Damascus suburbs, near the port of Latakia and around the cities of Deir Ezzor and Idlib, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists. Rebels have displayed captured aircraft they describe as Iranian-built drones -- brightly colored, pilotless jets. They're accompanied by training manuals emblazoned with the image of Iran's revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Syria is Iran's leading ally in the region. The Islamic republic has said it doesn't supply military aid to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which is battling a 19-month-old revolt, but Iran hasn't commented on the drone allegations. Defense analysts say the aircraft displayed by the rebels resemble Iranian drones, but cautioned that they could be training craft or even fakes. And at the United Nations, British diplomats said they are "deeply concerned by credible information that Iran is providing military support" to al-Assad. But there's no smoking gun connecting Tehran to the recent airstrikes -- leaving only a distant, suspicious hum in the air over Syria. | Syrian rebels say Iranian drones are guiding government attacks .
"Of course it's Iranian ... we can see it," one rebel commander says .
Iran says it's not supplying military aid to Syria . |
243,774 | c789185d060250f1dec43bfb2291177c5979047b | Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed a bid on Wednesday to join the International Criminal Court. The move comes one day after the U.N. Security Council rejected a resolution calling for Palestinian statehood by 2017, and for Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It sets the stage for the Palestinian Authority to possibly pursue war crime complaints against Israel. "This is another step forward. Legally, it gives anyone the opportunity to raise claims to the ICC and for the ICC to do work here. We are opening a door," said Xavier Abu Eid, spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. "It is not, necessarily, that the state of Palestine will raise a claim against Israel, but that basically now, anyone can. If any events take place here, then they can do work here, and likewise anyone -- from individuals, NGOs, churches, etc. -- can raise claims. It's important to remember that settlements are on occupied Palestinian lands and are illegal," he said. The U.S. State Department said it was "deeply troubled" by the development, calling it an "escalatory step." "Today's action is entirely counterproductive and does nothing to further the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a sovereign and independent state. It badly damages the atmosphere with the very people with whom they ultimately need to make peace," the State Department said. "While we are under no illusions regarding the difficult road of negotiations, direct negotiations are ultimately the only realistic path for achieving the aspirations of both peoples. All of us would like to see the day when that effort can resume, and can lead to the peace that we all know is the only real, sustainable answer to the underlying causes of this conflict," the statement read. | The move comes one day after the U.N. Security Council rejected a call for statehood .
It sets the stage for the Palestinian Authority to possibly pursue war crime complaints .
The U.S says it is "deeply troubled" by the development, calling it an "escalatory step" |
244,338 | c834718fa237ba82de45e61ec197cee7b56b3208 | By . Matt Morlidge . Follow @@MattMorlidge . QPR owner Tony Fernandes hopes sought-after striker Loic Remy remains with the Premier League new-boys this season so he can play FIFA 15 against him. The French international has been linked with a move away from Loftus Road all summer, famously failing a medical ahead of signing for Liverpool. And while Fernandes told talkSPORT it is their loss and QPR's gain, he also said he is ready to strengthen his 'special bond' with Remy playing the video game. Set to stay? QPR owner Tony Fernandes wants Loic Remy to stay at the club so he can play FIFA 15 against him . Big season: Fernandes was talking to talkSPORT ahead of QPR's Premier League reunion . 'It is Liverpool's loss and our gain,' he said on the Alan Brazil Breakfast Show. 'I have a special relationship with Remy from playing FIFA with him and I hope to continue playing FIFA 15 with him throughout the season! 'Nothing is ever cast in stone in football, but I am moderately optimistic Remy will be wearing the Hoops' shirt throughout this season.' No getaway: Remy failed a medical ahead of a move to Liverpool earlier this summer . QPR gained promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs last season, and Fernandes has praised the job Harry Redknapp has done at the club. The Malaysian owner is also happy with his dealings in the transfer market this summer, having attracted the likes of Jordon Mutch, Steven Caulker and Rio Ferdinand to west London. | Fernandes says he has 'special relationship' with Remy .
Duo used to play the video game together .
Remy has been linked with move to Premier League rivals this summer .
French striker failed medical at Liverpool ahead of signing for club . |
286,334 | ff052e238787c215e8249965d6d848f39e492ff7 | (CNN) -- The United States should drop charges against an Indian diplomat accused of fraud and making false statements on a visa application for her housekeeper, the country's foreign minister told CNN on Friday. "I imagine yes, if we think the charges are unwarranted, unjustified, then how would we say, 'But you can carry on,'" Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said. "I mean charges have to be withdrawn." Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York, was arrested and stripped-searched last week on charges of visa fraud related to her treatment of a woman she brought from India to work as her housekeeper. She's accused of telling the U.S. government she would pay the woman, who has been publicly identified as Sangeeta Richard, $9.75 an hour. Authorities say in reality, the woman received only $3.31 an hour and was told to keep quiet about the arrangement. "This type of fraud on the United States and exploitation of an individual will not be tolerated," the chief federal prosecutor in Manhattan, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, said Thursday. Khurshid, however, said the matter should have been handled by Indian courts. "It's not a really good idea to have people put question marks on the Indian judicial system," he told CNN. "We may take time to decide cases in this country, but we have one of the finest rule-of-law institutions. "I mean if you have a problem, you have a problem about compliance with the labor law, just tell us," Khurshid said. "I mean what would we do — either withdraw the person, the employee — or just negotiate a, negotiate some, some exceptions." Indian diplomat: Does she have immunity? The incident has outraged Indian politicians, some of whom may be stirring up anti-U.S. sentiment ahead of presidential elections, prompting the removal of barricades from the road leading to the U.S. Embassy. A senior U.S. official expressed concern about removal of the barricades. But Khurshid told CNN's Mallika Kapur that traffic barricades, not security barricades, were removed. Indian politicians have called the diplomat's treatment "barbaric" and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called her treatment "deplorable." Bharara defended how Khobragade was treated, saying officials took pains to treat her better than many other suspects. "Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded," he said Wednesday. "She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained." In addition, she was allowed to keep her phone and make calls to arrange personal matters, including child care, he said. Khobragade was strip-searched by a female officer, Bharara said, but noted that's standard practice for every suspect taken into custody of the U.S. Marshal's Service. Debate: Arrest, strip-search of Indian diplomat 'barbaric?' In a statement, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed "regret" over the situation, without saying the United States had done anything wrong. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said officials are trying to arrange a call between Kerry and Khurshid. She also said the department has not received a request to change the status of the Indian diplomat and that such a change would not wipe out any criminal charges filed before her immunity status changed. Khurshid said Friday he hoped the row would not pose long-term harm to U.S.-Indian relations. "I think it's important that we, we understand this is a valuable relationship for both sides. There's a huge amount of investment both public and private into this relationship," he said, "and I don't think the world wants a relationship like this to deteriorate at all." Khobragade is charged with one count of visa fraud and one count of making false statements, which carry a combined maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. According to court documents and statements, prosecutors argue she lied in her visa application to bring the housekeeper to the United States, promising to pay her the minimum wage of $9.75. She was actually paid $3.31 an hour, prosecutors say. Khobragade allegedly instructed the housekeeper to say she would be paid the higher rate and not mention her actual pay. Khobragade allegedly also had the housekeeper sign another employment contract that "deleted the required language protecting the victim from other forms of exploitation and abuse" and also deleted language that said Khobragade agreed to abide by U.S. laws, Bharara said Wednesday. That document wasn't provided to U.S. authorities as part of the visa application process, authorities said. Her attorney, Dan Arshack, said Thursday that the allegations have "nothing to do with what the actual facts are." Richard requested the second contact, Arshack said. The document shows that a portion of Richard's earnings would be sent to her husband in New Delhi, he said. "And that's what happened," Arshack said. "And that's what the documents support." But Dana Sussman, the housekeeper's attorney, said his client was only paid the smaller amount, which was deposited into an Indian bank account. Her client denies being given any money in the United States that could be considered a salary, she said. "I don't know what he's talking about," Sussman said of Arshack's claims. "This story seems to keep changing." Opinion: What about the nanny? CNN's Josh Levs, Jethro Mullen, Tom Watkins, Deborah Feyerick, Elise Labott, Harmeet Shah Singh, Ross Levitt and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report. | U.S. should drop charges, India's foreign minister says .
Officials should have referred the situation to Indian officials to handle, Salman Khurshid says .
Prosecutors say diplomat lied about housekeeper's pay on visa application .
She could face up to 15 years in prison . |
72,896 | ceb258244a421dab018c110a5745d1829c2bde04 | By . Sara Malm . PUBLISHED: . 07:05 EST, 9 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:46 EST, 9 May 2013 . In today’s tough job market, many are forced to take desperate measures to get noticed by employers. But one group on unemployed Danes are taking ‘putting yourself out there’ to another level, by spending their days on display in a shop window. The display, called ‘Exhibited: Too clever to sit in a window?’ allows 15 job seekers to take a seat in a shopfront on a busy Copenhagen in the hopes that potential employers will walk by. Window seat: One of the 15 unemployed academics have taken his place in the window for project 'Exhibit? Too clever to sit in a window?' Thanks to a low public debt and . remaining outside the Eurozone, Denmark has been shielded from much of . the economic turmoil blighting the rest of Europe. But despite this qualified professionals are still finding it tough to get a job and opportunities for academics are sparse. Danish marketing firm Reputation . Copenhagen came up with ingenious way of helping 15 unemployed and . top-educated men and women get noticed and built an office display in . the window of its headquarters, located in the Danish capital’s business . district. The unemployed range from former CEOs . to lawyers, economists and a ballerina and will each be given slots to . spend their time in the window as they please to get potential employers to double-take. Showcase: The project involves 15 unemployed men and women who are given free reins to use the window for presentations or as a work space in the hopes an employer walks by . They can put on a presentation, performance, or simply use the time to work at the provided desk as people walk by. 'I am sitting here like a monkey in a . cage,' Hannibal Camel Holt, an unemployed political scientist describes . the experience as ‘a monkey in a cage’ as he takes his space in the . window. Despite a long CV of qualifications . and experience - as well as speaking six languages - Mr Holt has been . unemployed on and off for four years and hopes for further success . following his two predecessors. Both Lene Damgaard Jørgensen and Christel Werenskiold who were the first to take the window seat have been hired. Success: The signs placed on the desk reads 'Has been given a job' after the two first partakers were given a job during their week in the window . | Unemployed Danes spend a week in a shop window to get noticed .
The 15 job seekers are allowed to use the space as they please . |
2,695 | 07e238bc6a1a1ec826a5f3d47f4c37421037a2b9 | The European space agency has unveiled the full image sequence of Philae's historic descent on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The probe made its dramatic touchdown on 12 November while the comet was travelling at an incredible 34,000 mph (55,000 km per hour). This series of 19 images tracks the probe's seven hour journey as it fell 14 miles (22.5km) towards the comet's icy surface. Scroll down for video . The latest images were taken from Rosetta’s Osiris camera with the timestamp marked in GMT. Only a few frames of this image series had been made public previously. When Philae first made contact with the surface it failed to fire harpoons that would have kept it attached to the comet. This resulted in it bouncing to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) above the comet before again landing on the surface. It then bounced again, but to a much lower altitude. While its precise location still remains unknown, early images suggest the probe landed with two legs on the ground and one pointing into space, which is severely limiting its access to sunlight. Since then the search has been on to identify it in higher-resolution images, but now that Rosetta has moved to a different orbit, and is further away from the comet, the chances of observing the lander are less . Previously, only a few frames of this image series had been made public. The latest images were taken from Rosetta’s Osiris camera with the timestamp marked in GMT . While its precise location still remains unknown, early images suggest the probe landed with two legs on the ground and one pointing into space, which is severely limiting its access to sunlight. It is shown here during the fifth stage of its descent . Controllers have now said they will simply wait for Philae to make contact with its mothership. Rosetta engineers in Darmstadt, Germany, will begin to monitor the feed in a few weeks' time and say there could be a chance the communication will be established in May or June. During these months, improved lighting conditions at the probe's assumed location could provide enough power to run the onboard radio transmitter. Radio tests on the probe just before it lost power have narrowed down its location to somewhere in a strip of terrain roughly 350m by 30m. Rosetta camera's scoured this location in early December, and each of its images were scanned by mission controllers to see if they could spot any pixels that were brighter than the rest. But Philae still couldn't be found. If Philae gets its power back, it would resume all science observations, which could take place in August, just when the comet is at its most active phase, according to a report by the BBC. In the meantime, the scientific haul from the comet continues as Rosetta continues its orbit around the icy body - and now illustrations have revealed amazing new details of the comet. An array of colours and diagrams highlight the gravitational field of the comet, thermal energy trapped between its cliffs and organic compounds on its surface. Scientists are hoping to answer many questions about this and other comets, including its formation, structure and evolution over time. Controllers have now said they will wait for Philae to make contact with its mothership. Philae is seen here on its seven-hour descent . When Philae first made contact, a few hours after this image was taken, it failed to fire harpoons causing it to bounce twice before landing . Using data from the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (Osiris) and the Radio Science Investigation instrument, scientists have now been able to calculate the comet’s gravitational field. They have found that the gravitational force at the ‘lobes’ - the two ends of the comet - is about six times stronger than at the neck - the narrower area connecting the two lobes. It is still unknown whether the two-lobed shape of the comet is the result of two smaller bodies coming together, or if the neck has been ‘eaten’ away over time - like the core of an apple. Currently the latter theory is becoming the preferred explanation, as it appears the two lobes have similar structures – indicating they have the same origin. From this gravitational data scientists also found that comet’s density is about half that of water. Dr Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, who was involved in the studies, told MailOnline that they now had a greater understanding of the comet's interior. Pictured is the current lander search area. Now that Rosetta has moved to a different orbit, and is further away from the comet, the chances of observing the lander are less, Rosetta engineers have said . The blurry image captures the rapid motion in which Philae was launched back out into space. The probe was launched to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) and then to a much lower height of 65ft (20 metres) before coming to rest . Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is showing signs of waking up early as it streaks towards the Sun at 47,800 mph (76,900 km/h). As it approaches the sun, the rubber duck-shaped lump of ice, dust and rock is expected to heat up and release more gas and water vapour from its interior. Comets are most active when they reach perihelion, the point in their orbit when they are closest to the Sun. But even at a distance of more than 200 million miles (320 million km), comet 67P is beginning to stir in dramatic fashion. Dr Dennis Bodewits, from the University of Maryland, US, who led one of several teams reporting latest findings from the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission in the journal Science, said: 'We are already seeing more activity. 'Jets are sprouting up everywhere. We've been surprised to see how active it is. It already has more jets than many other comets do at perihelion.' He said the interior is now thought to be analogous to 'ash, cigarette ash or super-dry powder snow.' Data from several instruments, meanwhile, has shown that the comet’s neck is the source of most of the dust and gas it is ejecting. The reason for this is quite interesting. Based on data, the Rosetta team found that the neck receives less energy than the rest of the comet because it is shaded. However, the two lobes either side trap radiation, with energy being ‘bounced’ between cliffs, causing the neck to be move active. The low gravitational pull of the neck also means that less force is needed to blow its dust and gas away than at the lobes. From the images and data, five basic - but diverse - categories of terrain type have been determined: dust-covered; brittle materials with pits and circular structures; large-scale depressions; smooth terrains; and more ‘rock-like’ surfaces. Much of the comet also appears to be covered in dust, as a result of dust that is dragged along by the comet falling to the surface over time. One prominent and intriguing feature is a 1,640ft (500m) long crack seen roughly parallel to the neck of the comet, running between its two larger lobes at either end. The biggest question remaining about the comet, though, is how it formed. Two predominant theories remain: either it is the result of two smaller bodies ‘sticking’ together, forming a single comet, or its central neck has been eaten away over time like the core of an apple. Rosetta is essentially living with the comet as it moves towards the sun along its orbit, learning how its behaviour changes on a daily basis and, over longer timescales, how its activity increases, how its surface may evolve, and how it interacts with the solar wind,’ said Esa Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor. ‘We have already learned a lot in the few months we have been alongside the comet, but as more and more data are collected and analysed from this close study of the comet we hope to answer many key questions about its origin and evolution.’ This graphic reveals the sequence of huge bounces before the Philae probe came to its final, unknown resting spot in November . | 19 images track the probes seven hour journey as it fell 14 miles (22.5km) towards the comet's icy surface .
A harpoon failure resulted in it bouncing twice, once to a height of 0.62 miles (1km), before again landing .
Scientists still haven't found Philae's location despite scouring high-resolution images of the icy comet .
Controllers have now said they will wait for Philae to make contact, which may happen in May or June . |
213,829 | a0f078030d2ac3b15e223dda30283be45db3efaa | Police are hunting for a man who they believe stole a woman's phone after she was hit by a subway train. Surveillance footage at Boston's Downtown Crossing station shows the man cover his face in shock as the car struck and killed the woman at 9.48pm on Thursday. After reviewing the video, police saw her phone - in an orange case - flew out of her purse on impact and landed on the platform. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Manhunt: This is the moment a man put his foot over a woman's phone after it flew out her purse as she was hit by a subway car in Boston's Downtown Crossing station a 9.48pm on Thursday. He then picked it up . Lodged: As people rushed toward the scene, the man can be seen lightly turning his foot to cover the phone . As crowds rushed over to the scene, the man in question is seen placing his foot over the phone. He then slowly reached down, picked it up, and put it in his pocket, before walking down to another part of the station. MBTA Transit Police have now released images from the video in a bid to track down the alleged thief. Lieutenant Richard Sullivan told Boston Globe: 'Ninety-nine percent of all of the other people were concerned about what happened, running to the end of the train to see if they could help. Grabbing: After looking around at other passersby, he swiftly bends down to pick up the device . Search: Police said footage shows him putting the phone in his pocket then walking off down the platform . Appeal: Witnesses or people that know the man pictured are urged to contact the police with information . 'This gentleman had a different idea.' The man appeared in the footage to have brown hair. He was wearing a dark jacket with a black-and-white checkered scarf with dark pants. Anyone with information is asked to call Transit Police Criminal Investigations Unit at 617-222-1050. | Woman hit by Boston subway car, her orange phone flew out her purse .
CCTV footage shows man walk over, put foot over it, then pick it up .
Police have released images of the man and appealed for witnesses .
If you know this man, MailOnline wants to hear from you. Call us on 646-885-5112 . |
191,530 | 840711f3ab3f74f2083fcfa677f554559313bdd3 | (CNN) -- Route 66 has been called "the most famous highway in the world," and it remains the ultimate road trip. Within the United States and to travelers from around the globe, Route 66 is on par with the Alamo and the Statue of Liberty as an icon of America. Route 66 offers today's travelers the chance to press their noses against the window peering into another time, and it shows us an America that still exists off the modern freeway system. Here's a glimpse into that world, with seven things most folks don't know about Route 66. 1. Over 2,000 of Route 66's original 2,448 connected miles are still approachable, if not always drivable. While there are many lovely stretches and remarkable towns to be found along the way, "roadies" still debate which is the top stretch of Route 66 for a modern day road trip. When autumn leaves fall . Some say the best unbroken drives happen along Oklahoma's 400 miles of the old road, much of it uninterrupted by the interstate. Or possibly the most memorable drive is the 158 continuous miles on Route 66 heading west from Seligman, Arizona, and on to the California state line and Topock. Uncontested: Kansas has always had the shortest length of this road in any of the eight Route 66 states, and all 13 historic miles are drivable today through Galena and Baxter Springs. 2. John Steinbeck conceived of "The Grapes of Wrath" on a late 1937 summer drive from Chicago west on Route 66, which he called the "long concrete path." Steinbeck's wife, Carol, suggested the title of the book (in which he called Route 66 "the Mother Road"). She was inspired by "the Battle Hymn of the Republic." The song's first verse reads: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored." Oktoberfest close to home . The book's English-language title translated into foreign-edition titles such as "Angry Grapes" in Germany and "Rage of Grapes" in Japan. 3. Of the 116 episodes in the 1960-1964 TV show "route 66" (yes, always spelled with a lower-case "r") only two episodes were actually filmed on Route 66. The cast and crew moved on location to 81 U.S. communities in 23 states. They also made two side trips to Canada, to film episodes in Toronto and Niagara Falls. Of the two destinations on Route 66 that were part of the series, one is in Needles, California, and the other is on a pre-1937 Route 66 stretch near Santa Fe, New Mexico. 4. Route 66 is the only national highway to be decommissioned from the original 1926 grid that created the U.S. Highways System. It all came to a head on October 13, 1984, when a new, efficient six-mile freeway heading west at Williams, Arizona, opened to traffic. That's when the last portion of Route 66 was bypassed by the interstates. Because of the new freeway, Highway 40 no longer intersected with Route 66. It now arched away from "the old road" and ended any necessity for motorists to travel on Route 66 to get between Chicago and L.A. How the world welcomed fall (or spring) The town of Williams had negotiated three interstate off-ramps to ensure travelers had access to their services. In return, Williams today is a wonderful place to experience Route 66 memorabilia and gain a sense of the road's history (and it is also gateway to the Grand Canyon). With Williams bypassed, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials voted in favor of the "Elimination of U.S. Route 66" on June 26, 1985. 5. Bobby Troup met Nat King Cole within days of Troup and his wife Cynthia arriving in Los Angeles, after the couple's February 1946 drive across the country, part of it on Route 66. The Troups had driven U.S. Highway 40 from their Philadelphia home to St. Louis, where they in fact did motor west on U.S. Highway 66. Inspired by Cynthia's suggestion of "Get your kicks on Route 66" as a song title, Troup had written less than half of "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" when he met Cole. Troup sat at Cole's piano at the Trocadero Club on Sunset Boulevard and played his half-song for the first time. Cole liked it so much he joined Troup and played along. Cole told Troup to finish the song and committed to recording it for his upcoming album. We dare you to take a real vacation . Bobby and Cynthia got out their AAA maps to help frame the next verse, concentrating on their overnight stops. Cynthia said years later, "What I really can't believe is that he doesn't have Albuquerque in the song." Kansas is the only one of the Route 66 states Troup did not reference, while Winona -- for reasons of rhyme -- is the one place out of driving sequence. Keeping his word, Cole recorded the song on March 16, 1946. Its popularity soared. And the Rolling Stones recorded it for their first album. 6. Route 66 has had many nicknames, such as "America's Main Street," and "the Road of Dreams." But Route 66 is properly co-designated "the Will Rogers Highway." Rogers, who spent his younger years in and around Route 66 communities, was the most widely read newspaper writer of his time and by 1933 he was the top male box-office draw in the United States movie industry, becoming "honorary mayor" of Beverly Hills. When he died in a 1935 plane crash, radio stations in many parts of the country went silent for 30 minutes out of respect for their most quoted broadcaster. While the highway signage for this designation seems sporadic, it is official. A wonderful tribute to the man and his times is the Will Rogers Memorial Museum located in Claremore, just outside of Tulsa. 7. Oklahoma's Cyrus Avery, "the father of Route 66," was so confident his proposed road from Chicago to L.A. would be designated "Highway 60" that he printed 60,000 brochures promoting Highway 60 going through his state in 1926. Avery began erecting Highway 60 road signs along Oklahoma's state road. (Of course, all of these had to be destroyed when the U.S. Highway 66 designation was stipulated later that year.) The decision by Avery and his compatriots to accept "66" as their favored route's designation was made in Springfield, Missouri, on April 30, 1926, giving that town recognition as "the birthplace of Route 66." To learn more about Route 66, check out the National Historic Route 66 Federation and the eight state associations that support America's love affair with Route 66. The Route 66 News website is independent clearinghouse of news and events along Route 66. Do you remember driving along Route 66 in its heyday? What are your favorite versions of the famous song? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. | John Steinbeck conceived of "The Grapes of Wrath" on a late 1937 summer drive on the famous highway .
"(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" was partially written while the songwriter and his wife were driving to Los Angeles .
Although the signage is sporadic, Route 66 is properly co-designated "the Will Rogers Highway" |
235,940 | bd6e1fe5fdb90a4121225f0cec42410b86ff0a1a | (CNN) -- Joss Whedon has picked one formidable villain for The Avengers team to battle in the sequel to last year's mega-grossing blockbuster. But sentient super-bot Ultron also presents a challenge for the film's screenwriter too: How to make a machine that can do just about anything into an interesting on-screen character. Joss Whedon on his past, present, and future (hint: 'Agents of SHIELD') Created by a scientist in the Marvel comics, Ultron is a self-aware robot who develops a lust for power. He has a laundry list of abilities — super-human strength, speed, stamina, durability, flight, mind control, a coma ray and a genius intellect. For "Avengers: Age of Ultron," Whedon reveals to Entertainment Weekly in this week's cover story that he's stripping back some of Ultron's abilities and will find a way to humanize — to some degree — the angry bot. "I knew right away what I wanted to do with him," Whedon says. "He's always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamn it, he's got a bee in his bonnet. He's not a happy guy, which means he's an interesting guy. He's got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we'll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic, and I already have someone [a new character, Scarlet Witch] who's a witch." Whedon adds that he has to be careful "to ground [the character] while still evoking that guy." And like a certain giant green Avenger hero, it sounds like large doses of rage will be key to his personality. "As a character I love [Ultron]," Whedon says, "because he's so pissed off." For more, much more, from Whedon, pick up this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, Aug. 23, which features a 10-page Q&A spread with the writer-producer-director discussing his entire career and future projects. See the original story at EW.com . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . © 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved. | Joss Whedon reveals details about 'Avengers' sequel .
'Age of Ultron' centers around a sentient super-robot .
Whedon says rage is key quality of Ultron's personality . |
264,673 | e2d184db3dac0599da8ddba4d9d98d8ded4a797e | By . Associated Press Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 14:36 EST, 17 April 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 15:09 EST, 17 April 2013 . Mug shot: Summer Laminack pictured at the Bryan County Sherrif's office in Georgia . A mother whose 21-month-old daughter was mauled to death in their backyard by the family's seven dogs is facing up to 10 years in prison after being charged with second-degree cruelty to children yesterday. Summer Laminack, 18, was studying in her bedroom when her toddler, Monica Renee, slipped into their backyard, in the tiny town of Ellabell, near Savannah, and was attacked, her attorney said today. "We feel and contend there is no question the death of this child was a tragic accident," attorney Tom Edenfield said by phone. "My client is an 18-year-old mother who loved her daughter and cared for her very much." Bryan County sheriff's investigators . said the child slipped outside through a doggie door and was attacked by . the seven pit bulls and pit bull mixes. By the time the girl's mother and other adults in the house noticed the dogs barking, the child was dead - on March 27. Her clothing and diaper were found in shreds throughout the large fenced-in yard. Edenfield said the toddler's mother was in her bedroom studying for her GED diploma when the attack happened. The child's grandmother was taking a . nap, Sheriff Clyde Smith has said. And at least one other adult was . home, but authorities haven't said what that person was doing. Horrific attack: Monica Renee Laminack, who would have turned two in June, as mauled to death by her family's seven pit bulls in the backyard of their Georgia home . Four generations of the same family . shared the home, including the child's mother, grandparents and two . uncles who are still young boys, the sheriff said. The family let the dogs come in and out of the house and never considered them a threat, Edenfield said. "The baby had been around the dogs her entire life," he said. Laminack was released from jail on . bond. Georgia law defines second-degree child cruelty as an act of . criminal negligence that causes a child excessive pain, either physical . or mental. It is a felony punishable by one to 10 years in prison. District Attorney Tom Durden said he plans to let a grand jury decide if the case should go to trial. "It was a very horrific event that . happened," Durden said. "With what the facts are right now, it's . something that should be presented to the grand jury for a decision." Mourning her loss: Mom Summer Laminack, 18, 'picked the child up and stayed with it, but she knew the child was dead at that time,' the sheriff said . Tragic death: Deputies found Monica's shoes, diaper and shredded clothing scattered across the fenced-in yard after the horrific attack . Animal control officers euthanized . all of the dogs. The sheriff said they appeared to be healthy and . well-fed. Investigators have been unable to say what might have caused . them to attack the toddler. Though he called the girl's death an . accident, Laminack's attorney stopped short of saying his client had . committed no crimes. Edenfield said he's still looking into the details . of the case. He said Laminack's family has . cooperated with authorities throughout their investigation. Meanwhile, . the attorney said, the young mother is still grieving the death of her . child. "She is still, I think, suffering . from the trauma of this event and will probably suffer for some time, if . not her entire life," Edenfield said. Location of attack: Monica Renee Laminack was killed by family pit bulls at this Georgia home . Vicious attack: The two-year-old girl was mauled to death by seven pit bulls (not pictured), who were later put to death . | Monica Renee Laminack slipped unnoticed into the backyard of her family's home and was set upon by the seven pit bulls .
Her mom Summer, 18, was one of three adults and two children inside the house at the time of the attack .
The dogs were euthanized .
Mother has been charged with second-degree cruelty to children . |
250,023 | cf8ea8378aa68b6e8213b81297aca07aefa4f2af | By . Steve Robson . PUBLISHED: . 08:52 EST, 6 February 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:12 EST, 7 February 2013 . Embarrassing: Germany's education minister Annette Schavan has been stripped of her philosophy doctorate after her university found her guilty of plagiarism . The German minister for education is under pressure to resign after being stripped of her philosophy doctorate for alleged plagiarism. Annette Schavan, a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, has been rocked by the decision of the University of Duesseldorf after they said parts of her 1980 doctoral thesis had been copied. Incredibly, she is the second minister to be accused of plagiarism in the German government after defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was also found to have copied work for his thesis and quit in 2011. The University of Duesseldorf launched an investigation after an accusation against Mrs Schavan was posted online by an anonymous blogger. A faculty committee concluded that her work, which dealt with the formation of conscience, included a 'substantial number of unaccredited direct quotes from other texts'. In a statement declaring the doctorate invalid and withdrawing it from Ms Schavan, the faculty head Bruno Bleckmann said they had 'decided by secret ballot, by 12 votes to two, with one abstention'. Mrs Schavan has said she will take legal action against the decision, but it is an untimely distraction for Angela Merkel ahead of September's national election. 'I will not accept the decision of the University of Duesseldorf and I will file a lawsuit against it,' Mrs Schavan, 57, told reporters during a visit to Johannesburg, South Africa. She declined to make any further comment for legal reasons. Pressure: The scandal surrounding Mrs Schavan (left) is an unwelcome distraction for Chancellor Angela Merkel (right) ahead of German national elections in September . The accusations of plagiarism are especially embarrassing for Mrs Schavan because she oversees Germany's universities and had previously been scathing in her criticism of Mr Guttenberg, who resigned a month after losing his doctorate. 'An education minister who is proven to have grossly violated academic rules cannot continue in the post,' said Renate Kuenast, a leading member of the opposition Greens. 'I assume that Frau Schavan will spare herself and education a prolongation of this affair by resigning.' Mrs Merkel has not publicly commented on the Schavan case. But members of her centre-right coalition said the minister had fallen victim to a politically motivated campaign to damage the government ahead of the autumn federal election. Recurring problem: Mrs Schavan is the second government minister to be found guilty of plagiarism after former defence minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg who resigned in 2011 . Plagiarised: The University of Duesseldorf said Annette Schavan's work had a 'substantial number of unaccredited direct quotes from other texts' The German media has been mostly critical of Mrs Schavan. 'If the education minister has cheated in her doctoral thesis, it is like the finance minister secretly hiding away his money in Switzerland or the traffic minister driving a car while drunk,' said the Bild newspaper. 'There is no alternative (to resignation) for her.' In Tuesday's ruling, the Duesseldorf University commission said Schavan had 'systematically and intentionally presented intellectual performance that in reality she did not generate herself'. The decision left Schavan without an academic title, an important symbol of status in German politics and business, as her degree programme in philosophy finished solely with a PhD. Since the allegations first arose in May last year, Schavan has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said she wrote her dissertation with a clear conscience. Her lawyers have said the proceedings of the commission had been riddled with mistakes and were unlawful, not least because information was leaked to the public in the process. | Annette Schavan, 57, under pressure to resign after decision .
University of Duesseldorf says her work contained 'a substantial number of unaccredited direct quotes from other texts'
Second government minister to be found guilty of plagiarism .
Denies the accusation and says she will take legal action . |
83,373 | ec8464a3330d46e01e4b87b0d3a6ef5cb212638b | By . Rik Sharma . PUBLISHED: . 04:44 EST, 6 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 09:38 EST, 6 November 2012 . A Canadian woman who purchased a $1million house has discovered it is a 5,000sq ft mice nest. Carrie Forsythe had to have all of the insulation ripped out of the Winnipeg, Manitoba home she took possession of in September, after discovering the severe infestation. Forsythe is considering suing the previous owner to recover the costs of taking the house to pieces to clear out the mice, expected to reach tens of thousands of dollars. Co-tenants: Carrie Forsythe took possesion of her south Winnipeg home and found she was not the only occupant . Worth the price? Canadian Forsythe paid $1million for the house but did not know about the mice problem . Decisions: Forsythe may sue the previous owner who did not inform her about the problem, although he claims he did not know . The nest was discovered after she began renovating the house by opening up the walls. 'All you see is just feces and urine, just puddles and piles,' Forsythe told CBC News. 'The whole vapour barrier is just filled with this nest.' Every piece of insulation has been removed so the house can be thoroughly disinfected - and after re-insulation the vapour barrier and drywall need to be replaced. 'Now I have a shell, which I love, and it will be clean. But someone's got to help me,' she continued. A pest control expert declared the infestation the worst he had ever seen - but Forsythe did not notice anything wrong before she acquired the house she bought in May. Shaun Jeffrey said while inspecting the house: 'Oh my God! This is years, years in the making. This is not new.' Running wild: Mice infested the 5,000-square-foot home over an estimated five-year period . Mess: The rodents' faeces and urine filled the vapour barrier and made the house a health hazard . He said that it would have taken about five years to reach this level of infestation. Although Forsythe did not have the home inspected before she took possession she had been there with architects, engineers and contractors and nobody noticed anything amiss. The house's previous owner said he knew nothing about an issue with mice and confirmed he would never have sold the property if he had. Jeffrey said it is possible the owner might not have known because the walls and insulation were both thick. No inspection: Although an inspection of the house would not include a check inside the walls the problem may have been discovered . A Manitoba Real Estate Association spokesman said the matter will most likely need to be settled in court. Ari Marantz, a Winnipeg home inspector, said an infestation on this scale is rare in the city. He confirmed that although a full inspection would not include a check for this it may still have caught the mice issue. Home sweet home: An infestation of this scale is quite rare in Winnipeg, but more common in rural areas . | All of the insulation has been ripped out leaving a bill for tens of thousands of dollars .
Carrie Forsythe is considering suing the previous owner who claims he knew nothing about it . |
279,494 | f61047c615d360bc9e2f9a6726ed2c19fcb5f545 | Facebook portrait of Jade Stringer, 14, from Manchester, who was found hanged by her father David . A schoolgirl who was found hanged in . her bedroom may have been driven to kill herself by bullies jealous of . her popularity and good looks, it emerged yesterday. Jade Stringer, 14, died six days after she was found unconscious by her father, David. Friends say the teenager, who was well-liked and attractive, had endured a campaign of bullying over the past few months. It is understood she may also have . been upset at having her mobile phone confiscated by her family because . they felt she was using it too much. She was rushed to Fairfield General Hospital on June 10 where she died after almost a week on life support. Friends of the teenager, who attended Haslingden High School, in nearby Rossendale, Lancashire, claimed she’d been bullied. Tributes to Jade left on Twitter and Facebook said she had been a victim of bullying. One pupil wrote: 'She was being bullied by numerous people.' Chelsea Lazaruik added: 'R.I.P jade . stringer you didn’t deserve to die the way you did bullying is horrible . your was gorgeous in everyway.. Sleep tight xxx.' 'Gorgeous in every way': Jade Stringer died on Saturday six days after being discovered unconscious in her bedroom by her father . Vanessa Nuttall said: 'Why anyone feels the need to bully someone so much is absolutely disgusting.' It has also been reported she had . clashed with her father after her mobile phone was taken off her. Police said they were not treating her death as suspicious but were 'reviewing the circumstances' leading up to the incident. Popular: Friends of the teenager (far right) claimed she had been bullied . Jade, who has a brother Jack, 13, was discovered in the attic bedroom of the home in Bury by her father nine days ago. She was put on a life-support machine at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury where she died on Saturday afternoon. A Greater Manchester Police spokesman . said: 'Shortly after 3.35pm on Sunday, 10 June, police were called by . paramedics to attend a house in Bolton Road in Hawkshaw, Edenfield, . following a report a 14-year-old girl had been found unconscious. 'The incident is not being treated as suspicious and we are not searching for anybody else in relation to the incident. 'However, police are reviewing the circumstances leading up to this incident.' The latest Ofsted report found Haslingden High to be an ‘outstanding school’. The report added: ‘Surveys of students’ and parents’ opinions continue to support the view that “the control of bullying” is one of the school’s strongest features.’ | Jade Stringer was discovered in bedroom by her father .
Friends make claims about bullying on tribute pages . |
237,077 | bed82552e247c49186349f2e55603079027abe38 | By . Adam Shergold . Joe Bennett scored his first goal for Aston Villa as they concluded their pre-season tour of Texas with a win over Houston Dynamo. The decisive goal came four minutes before the break, left-back Bennett heading home a cross from Andreas Weimann. Having beaten FC Dallas 2-0 last Wednesday, Villa return to Birmingham from the Lone Star state with a 100 per cent record and there was a piece of silverware too, with this friendly dubbed 'The Charities Cup.' Match winner: Joe Bennett scored the decisive goal as Aston Villa rounded off their mini-tour of Texas with a 1-0 win over Houston Dynamo . Satisfactory: Paul Lambert's side have won both matches on their tour of Texas . On the charge: Villa's Charles N'Zogbia is challenged by Ricardo Clark during the match at the BBVA Compass Stadium . Aston Villa First half: Steer; Herd, Senderos, Baker, Lowton, Bennett; El-Ahmadi, Delph (Richardson 30); N’Zogbia, Agbonlahor (c), WeimannSecond half: Steer; Hutton, Herd, Clark, Stevens; Bacuna, Gardner, Westwood, Grealish; Richardson, BentSubstitute not used: Given . Scorer: Bennett 41Houston Dynamo: Deric; Sarkodie, Horst (Arena 79), Taylor, Ashe (Cochran 72); García (Ownby 72), Carrasco, Clark (Lopez 72), Davis (c) (Driver 64); Barnes (Cummings 64), Bruin (Johnson 72)Substitutes not used: Hall, BeasleyReferee: Sorin StoicaAttendance: 20,514 . Paul Lambert and Gabriel Agbonlahor lifted the silverware at the end of a comfortable win that could have seen the Premier League side win by three or four goals. It took them a little while to settle, with Dynamo captain Brad Davis firing wide after 19 minutes, but thereafter Villa were in the ascendancy. Fabian Delph dragged a shot wide after 27 minutes after a penetrating run from the heart of midfield, before Bennett headed over a minute later. Delph picked up a knock, however, and was withdrawn for Kieran Richardson as a precaution just after the half-hour mark. Karim El Ahmadi came close to giving Villa the lead with a well-struck 25 yard effort that swerved in the air and caused problems for goalkeeper Tyler Deric. But Lambert's men would not have to wait too much longer for a lead, as Bennett rose highest at the back post to score. Villa, who made wholesale changes at the break, picked up where they left off after the break, with Darren Bent wasting a couple of decent opportunities. Alan Hutton jumped to meet an Ashley Westwood free-kick 10 minutes into the second period, but Deric was equal to it. High hurdle: Ashley Westwood leaps over the slide challenge of Ricardo Clark during the pre-season friendly . Off the mark: Bennett's goal was his first for the club and came four minutes before half-time . Aerial collision: Karim El Ahmadi goes up for a challenge with Corey Ashe . Chest control: Matthew Lowton brings the ball under control in Villa's victory . Dynamo had their best chance late on when Brian Ownby blazed over from a good position inside the box. But it was Villa who came closest to having the final say when Gary Gardner struck the post in the dying seconds. Lambert was pleased with how his side coped in very warm conditions to end their American tour on a high. 'It was hard in this game because of the heat. It's very hard to play in,' he told Aston Villa's official website. 'But I was delighted with them again. It was really, really pleasing in these conditions. 'It was another win - and it round off this mini-tour really well.' Villa's next friendly is at Chesterfield on Wednesday night, with other fixtures against Groningen, Walsall and Parma to come. | Bennett headed in decisive goal four minutes before the break in Houston .
Villa have recorded two wins from two during their mini-tour of Texas .
Paul Lambert pleased with manner of performance in hot conditions . |
70,096 | c6bacee2214cb31adc97e56f30b71f2a374e18ca | Three people washed off their crippled ship and engulfed by Atlantic waters roiled by Hurricane Sandy scrambled for help on Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, but only one of them made it to safety. When the HMS Bounty's crew members realized their lives were in danger off the North Carolina coast in the dark morning hours, they made a short journey they hoped they'd never have to take -- to two waiting life rafts. But only 13 of the 16 people aboard got off the ship safely, initially, and only one of the three washed overboard made it into a raft, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Robert Parker told CNN. That left rescuers scrambling to find them in the frenzied ocean, Parker said. One of them -- the Bounty's longtime captain, Robin Walbridge -- remained missing as night approached Monday, said Lt. Mike Patterson, a Coast Guard spokesman. The body of the second, deckhand Claudene Christian, was found Monday evening, the Coast Guard announced. Crane partially collapses, dangles over New York street . The 180-foot, three-masted ship, a replica of the famous British vessel, foundered about 90 miles off North Carolina as Sandy's fury churned the Atlantic into 18-foot seas, its owner, Bob Hansen, told CNN affilliate KUSA. Hansen said Walbridge was attempting to head east, away from the hurricane, when the ship began taking on water. "At that time it wasn't considered an emergency, even though they had several feet of water inside the boat," Hansen said. "She's a very large ship, and that little bit of water really does not do anything to her. But somehow we lost power in our generator and in our main engines, and as a result, we could not pump any water out of the boat." As the waves continued to batter the ship, "it just got to the point where she couldn't stay afloat anymore." CNN meteorologists say the water temperature varies greatly in that part of the ocean because of the gulf stream. So the water could be anywhere from 50 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the crew members were wearing orange survival suits with strobe lights designed to keep them afloat, warm and easy to find. "But in these conditions, it's very problematic," Parker said, adding that a timely deployment of search-and-rescue aircraft and ships gives the missing a chance. A C-130 aircraft and a helicopter have been monitoring the area around the shipwreck. Two Coast Guard cutters were en route to the scene to help with search-and-rescue, with one expected to arrive later on Monday and the other expected on Tuesday, Parker said. Coast Guard helicopters plucked 14 people out of two lifeboats around 6:30 a.m., Petty Officer Brandyn Hill said. "The first guy we pulled up, he was really happy to see us. That's for sure," said Aviation Survival Technician 2 Randy Haba, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. "We got him up there, and he was all excited and saying, 'That's a good job,' and everything was great. He was just a little cold, but he was good to go." The life boats were designed to hold 25 people and had canopies for shelter against pelting rain and winds. All of those rescued arrived at the Coast Guard air station in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and were in good health, Parker said. Initial reports said 17 crew members were aboard, but the Coast Guard later corrected that number. The Coast Guard said it has "diminished search-and-rescue capabilities" as Category 1 Hurricane Sandy batters the U.S. East Coast. More sea rescues prompted by Sandy were reported in Delaware Bay. The ship was built for the 1962 film version of "Mutiny on the Bounty," starring Marlon Brando, and appeared in the 2006 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." It was once owned by America's Cup winner and CNN founder Ted Turner, who acquired it in 1986 along with the rights to the MGM film library. "Among the many troubling reports on the devastating impact of Hurricane Sandy, I am deeply saddened to hear that the HMS Bounty was overtaken by the storm," Turner said in a statement Monday night. "As a sailor and former owner of the Bounty, my heart goes out to the families of the missing crew members, and I am truly hopeful for their safe recovery." The ship departed New London, Connecticut, for St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 25, according to the ship's Facebook page. Facebook postings bearing that date say things such as "I'm sure that Hurricane Sandy will be a major consideration when Bounty leaves for St. Petersburg later today," and "Bounty will be sailing East out to sea before heading South to avoid the brunt of Hurricane Sandy." The ship was scheduled to arrive at the Pier in St. Petersburg as early as November 7 for a public display on November 10 and 11, the Pier's general manager, Carol Everson, said Monday. The St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention and Vistors Bureau is promoting "The HMS Bounty Returns To The Pier" on its website. Everson said it's hard to believe the Bounty, which has docked in St. Petersburg for long stretches since the 1970s, is buried under the ocean. Streets turn to rivers, residents trapped in homes . "It had such a history, not only because of 'Mutiny on the Bounty,' but it's been a great part of St. Petersburg for so many years. It's going to be missed," Everson said. "It had a majestic look with its tall masts. It had an aura about it." While following the ship's Facebook timeline, you can read a mixture of trepidation and attempts at soothing fears. On Saturday, this post appeared: "Bounty's current voyage is a calculated decision... NOT AT ALL... irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is... A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!" No one responded to the contact e-mail or phone number listed on the ship's website and Facebook account. Sandy is evoking memories of the "nor'easter" that struck off New England in 1991 and inspired the best-selling book and movie "The Perfect Storm." Ray Leonard, who survived that storm on his sailboat before the Coast Guard rescued him, said being besieged by high winds and waves can be exhausting, but sometimes sailors just have to deal with that physical discomfort. "You don't really have time to think about much outside, because there's always about six jobs that need doing," Leonard said Monday. Leonard said he never felt terribly vulnerable in '91. However, he said, Hurricane Sandy's immensity poses more of a quandary for sailors. "The one I was in was different, because you could do something. In Sandy, you can't do much," Leonard said. How to help . | Former owner Ted Turner says he's "deeply saddened" by the Bounty's loss .
A deckhand's body has been found and the captain is missing .
The Coast Guard says 14 rescued crew members are "in good health"
The Bounty was en route to St. Petersburg, Florida, when it sank in heavy seas . |
145,425 | 480ea969dd7d8f9ca18f8f6935776599040bf8d4 | Some people like to show their disillusionment with politics by voting with their feet. Others, however, prefer to do it with their pen - and it can spawn a colourful array of alternative characters for the seat in question. A supervisor has published a list of all the 'write-in' names that appeared on invalid ballot papers in the November elections for Orange County in Florida. One of the highest was none other than Mickey Mouse who pulled in 273 'votes' for positions ranging from governor to commissioner of agriculture. Cartoon capers: Mickey Mouse pulled in nearly 300 invalid votes from people who wrote his name onto the ballot papers of Orange County's November elections in apparent protest against the candidates . Darth Vader (pictured at a polling station in Ukraine in October) also featured in the Orange County vote . A write-in name is invalid if it doesn't match a registered candidate's name exactly for a specific race. Only two other invalid names received more votes - None of the Above, et al, with 555 and Orange County School Board District 3 candidate Regina Hellinger with 376 votes. Barack Obama 46 . Jesus Christ 21 . Megatron/ Optimus Prime 11 . Darth Vader 7 . Kermit the Frog 6 . Yo Mama 4 . Wile E Coyote 3 . Kanye West 2 . A Hitler 1 . Pizza 1 . All but one of Hellinger's votes were written in for the position of School Board chair, it was reported by MyNews13. Other invalid names included on Orange County's ballot papers included Barack Obama, Bozo the Clown and Kanye West. Luke Skywalker, Megatron and Optimus Prime from Transformers, Tom Sawyer and Wile E Coyote also featured. Voters also took the opportunity to offer suggestions about how to fill the seats. Some of these included: almost literally anyone else, any other crook and can't even choose the lesser evil. Other invalid names included Optimus Prime from Transformers, Tom Sawyer and Wile E Coyote (above) | Mickey Mouse featured on 273 invalid ballot papers at Orange County vote .
Other 'write-ins' included Darth Vader, Optimus Prime and Wile E Coyote . |
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