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162,792 | 5e7f4624e87a8ce7268fa03ccf467dacfa4b6936 | Demanding urgent action: Lord Hurd (pictured) said the issue has 'dragged on beyond questions of mere negligence and forgivable delay' Delays in publishing the findings of the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war are a scandal, peers were told last night. Demanding urgent action, Lord Hurd said the issue had ‘dragged on beyond questions of mere negligence and forgivable delay’. ‘It is becoming a scandal,’ said the peer, who as Douglas Hurd was foreign secretary from 1989 to 1995. ‘This is not a matter of trivial importance; it is something to which a large number of people in this country look anxiously for the truth,’ he told Parliament. ‘Is it not time the Government exerted themselves to make sure that reasonable demand is met?’ Lord Dykes – a former Tory minister and now Lib Dem peer – said the delay in a process that started more than five years ago was ‘an utter and total disgrace’. He added: ‘More and more people think that it is some kind of attempt to prolong the agony for Tony Blair facing possible war crimes charges.’ Lord Wallace, a Lib Dem minister, told peers yesterday the report may now not be published until after the election in May. He suggested the wait was the result of telling subjects of the report – including Mr Blair and Jack Straw – about its conclusions and allowing them to respond. This so-called ‘Maxwellisation’ process means anyone who faces criticism by a public inquiry must be sent a letter warning them of the contents so they can challenge any negative findings. Scroll down for video . Politicians: It has been suggested the wait was the result of telling subjects of the report – including Tony Blair (left) and Jack Straw (right) – about its conclusions and allowing them to respond . The procedure takes its name from a court challenge by media tycoon Robert Maxwell who overturned the verdict of a critical report in 1969. Lord Wallace said if the report was not released by the end of next month there would be no time to debate it properly before Parliament is dissolved in March for the election. ‘It is up to the inquiry and its chairman to decide when the process is complete,’ he added. ‘Maxwellisation is part of the process of completing the report. When it is complete, it will be published.’ Long process: Launched by Gordon Brown (left) in July 2009, the inquiry began its hearings four months later under Sir John Chilcot (right) and finished taking formal evidence in 2011 . In November, the Mail revealed letters had been sent to the main participants. Lord Wallace said the process of deciding what classified and sensitive material could be published has been completed. These documents include letters between Mr Blair and George W Bush in the run-up to the war. They will expose what assurances the former prime minister gave the US president about Britain’s involvement. The report will contain more than a million words and ‘publish substantial documentation from more than 200 Cabinet meetings’, according to Lord Wallace. A spokesman for the Chilcot Inquiry said the aim was to submit the report ‘as soon as possible’. David Cameron must decide when to make it public. Former leaders: Earlier this year there were claims of a whitewash after Sir John confirmed his report would publish only 'the gist' and some quotes of Tony Blair’s (right) messages to George W Bush (left) In May last year the Prime Minister said he expected it to be released ‘before the end of the year’. Launched by Gordon Brown in July 2009, the inquiry began its hearings four months later under Sir John Chilcot and finished taking formal evidence in 2011. Earlier this year there were claims of a whitewash after Sir John confirmed his report would publish only ‘the gist’ and some quotes of Mr Blair’s messages to Mr Bush. The US president’s replies will not be published. Families of servicemen killed in Iraq condemned the decision not to publish the documents in full, saying they might never learn the full truth about the decision to go to war. Mr Blair insists he is not the reason for the delay and has said the ‘sooner the report is published the better’. | Lord Hurd: Issue has 'dragged on beyond questions of forgivable delay'
Lord Dykes says delay in process that started in 2009 is 'total disgrace'
Report may now not be published until after election, says Lord Wallace .
Wait could be due to 'Maxwellisation' process to allow subjects to reply . |
224,640 | aed7b59570c604dd66c2be29c6a06772ba46050e | By . Misty White Sidell . Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has struck a deal to reinvent the Charles James label – the subject of this year’s Costume Institute exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A spokesperson for Mr Weinstein confirmed the Miramax co-founder’s ‘partnership’ with James’s relatives to MailOnline this evening. He has installed his wife and Marchesa co-designer Georgina Chapman, as well as her brother Edward, to come on board as creative consultants. Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein (left) has confirmed that he has 'struck a deal' with the family of couturier Charles James to reinvent the brand with the help of his designer wife Georgina Chapman (right) Sources tell MailOnline that in striking the deal, Mr Weinstein has also partnered with the MET to transport the Costume Institute’s Charles James: Beyond Fashion retrospective – whose opening was feted last evening with the museum’s annual star-studded gala - around the country as a traveling exhibit. They said that ‘In taking the exhibit around the country, [Harvey’s] hope is to reinvent Charles James, and bring it back to being a luxury label that stands alongside Oscar de la Renta and Christian Dior.’ It is understood that Mr Weinstein’s ‘partnership’ with Mr James’s relatives is a licensing contract, which will allow him to extensively develop the brand. Charles James, a British designer who passed away in 1978, was the choice couturier of mid-century American socialites including Babe Pailey, Millicent Rogers, and Austine Hearst.They favored his designs for their swan-appropriate appearance. In utilizing yards of precious fabrics, James was able to create ball gowns that were majestic in texture, shape, and color.But aesthetics aside, the designer himself took a greater pleasure in fashion design's constructional complexities. It allowed him to play with dimension, shadow, and weight - using fabric as the figurative means to a larger experiment. James's work was a favorite among mid-century American socialites, and is best recalled through this Cecil Beaton photograph, which captures the designer's creations and muses as if they were part of the Eighteenth century French court . The MET’s exhibit showcases James’s interest in construction – using modern technology including robotic cameras and X-ray animations to, somewhat ironically, highlight the inner workings of his gowns’ old-world glamor. But while his body of work was successful from a cachet perspective, James lacked the extensive business panache required to sustain a fashion label. Throughout his career, the Charles James brand encountered numerous financial disasters – which forced the designer to embark on multiple licensing deals, a taboo at the time. Due to his many monetary pitfalls, James died penniless and alone – his name as a designer nearly forgotten. But the MET’s exhibit, which opens to the public on May 8 and runs until August 11, hits a more positive note by focusing on James’s golden period from the Thirties to Sixties. Luckily, this angle seems to have worked. Chatter surrounding Charles James has been endless since the exhibit’s initial announcement in September – exacerbated by a flood of very public teasers released by the MET, as well as Vogue. However infinite these promotional efforts may have been, they helped create an opportune time for a revival of the Charles James aesthetic. Charles James's vast body of work is currently being celebrated with an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (pictured) The first of the exhibit's two galleries use pattern and X-ray animations to give visitors a more in-depth look at the gown's intricate construction . The concept of bringing a label back from the dead may have seemed daunting in previous years, but the recent reboot of Schiaparelli– a fabled brand that rose from extinction in 2013 with help from Tod’s CEO Diego Della Valle – made the prospect of an actual James resurgence seem not so far-fetched. It seemed like only a matter of time before a buyer came forward. And today he did. In restarting the Charles James label, Mr Weinstein has wife Georgina, the co-designer of Marchesa to help guide the brand’s likely ballgown-heavy ship. Ms Chapman herself is an avid fan of eveningwear. Her label, which she designs with Keren Craig, is known for its heavily-embellished gowns that are favored by starlets like Blake Lively and Diane Kruger. Mr Weinstein has a bit of fashion experience himself too. In 2007 he attempted to restart Halston – the iconic label that served as an archetype for the Seventies’ disco fashions. While accomplished, James (pictured) unfortunately died alone and penniless following years of life in solitude and numerous business fall outs . The project began with good intentions – and an impressive creative team that included Jimmy Choo’s Tamara Mellon and Rachel Zoe – but it never seemed to quite get off the ground. Following multiple changes in design leadership (which at one point even included Sarah Jessica Parker as chief creative officer) and a lack of financial promise, Mr Weinstein departed the label in 2011. Coincidentally for Mr Weinstein – or perhaps something of a nightmare - Charles James actually was a mentor to Halston founder Roy Halston in the late Fifties, when he was still an unknown. The two later presented a joint collection in 1970, which Halston hoped would revive James’s career – one that had already lost steam following numerous financial downturns. Sadly, the collection was panned, and is said to have permanently soured their friendship. Hopefully Mr Weinstein’s attempt at resuscitating the Charles James name will result in a more positive outcome. | Mr Weinstein has entered a partnership with James's relatives to revive the Charles James label as a luxury house .
Sources say that he has also partnered with the MET to bring its Charles James exhibit across the country .
The movie mogul has prior fashion experience - he helped reboot Halston in 2007 .
Coincidentally, Charles James was a mentor to Halston in the late Fifties . |
164,755 | 61086915b73fdbb4d66972a588ee1f6d618a2e18 | By . Alexandra Klausner . A man was arrested this weekend after he allegedly vandalized a Burger King and then he posed for his mugshot with a very dirty face. Police say Jamie Henson, 36, was intoxicated when he placed at order at an Orlando Burger King on International Drive at 3:20 a.m. on Saturday morning but he was arrested before he even got to eat his meal. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Henson pushed the door of the Burger King so hard that it fell off of its hinges. Glamor shot: Jamie Henson, 36, posed for his mugshot with a very dirty face on Saturday after he was arrested for vandalizing a burger king . When officers arrived at the scene after responding to a criminal mischief complaint, they found Henson talking on his cell phone. An officer told the Orlando Sentinel that as he approached Henson, he could hear him saying, 'the police are here' and that he had to 'get off the phone.' Henson attempted to run away from the officer but he was detained after running just 100 feet away. Henson is charged with criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence. 'No force was used to detain Henson and no injuries were sustained by myself or Henson,' Officer Matthew Davis said in his report. Henson's face was drenched in mud when he posed for his mug shot but the police report nor Henson ever explained how he got so dirty. Henson caused the Burger King around $500 in damages. 'I was able place the door back on the hinges but noticed there was still damage to the hinges and closing mechanism,' Davis said in the report. Damaged: Jamie Henson is accused . of vandalizing this Burger King on International Drive in Orlando . | Jamie Henson allegedly ripped the door at an Orlando Burger King off of its hinges .
It's unknown as to why Henson is covered in dirt as it was not addressed in the police report .
Police chased Henson 100 feet before they arrested him and charged him with criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence . |
30,430 | 56815bcceb80eca07deed485affecabcceeb02ca | (CNN) -- A teenager is being held on 19 counts of animal cruelty linked to a month-long killing spree of pet cats in the Miami area, police said. Tyler Hayes Weinman, 18, was charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty in Miami, Florida, on Monday. Tyler Hayes Weinman, 18, also is charged with 19 counts of improper disposal of dead animals and four counts of burglary, police said. Weinman lives in Cutler Bay and has lived with his parents in Palmetto Bay, the two towns where police said 19 cats were mutilated and killed. Pet owners and police began discovering disfigured cats May 13. One pet owner, Donna Gleason, said her family cat, Tommy, was "partially skinned" and left dead in her yard. Police said 34 cats have been found dead in the towns, but only 19 mutilated cats could be linked to a serial killer. Police confirmed that some of the cats were killed by dogs, said Maj. Julie Miller of Cutler Bay police. Weinman, who works odd jobs but spends most of his time at home and unemployed, had been a person of interest for several weeks, Miller said. He was arrested Saturday. Watch the teen suspect's first court appearance » . The police are looking into whether any people Weinman associates with might have been accomplices in the killings. Weinman's sealed juvenile record includes two prior offenses, Miller said. He could face a maximum of 158 years in state prison if convicted on all counts, said Terry Shavez, spokeswoman for the state attorney's office. The mayor of Cutler Bay referred to the string of feline attacks as a "plague in South Miami-Dade." "The cruelty of these crimes were horrific for the animal victims, but there were many human victims as well," Mayor Paul Vrooman said. "Let's not forget the children and the families who found their pets mutilated. These awful scenes inflicted a human toll." | Tyler Hayes Weinman charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty .
Teen lived in areas where pet cats were found dead, mutilated .
Pet owners began making gruesome discoveries May 13 .
Police say Weinman had been person of interest for several weeks . |
38,444 | 6cacd5daf1681c98f9af78d03f328a6435c2c70e | By . Graeme Yorke . Jack Wilshere revealed that England will watch the colossal Wembley showdown between Carl Froch and George Groves before jetting off to Miami, and that he is backing the ‘mouthy little Londoner’ to win. The Arsenal midfielder believes Groves proved a lot of people wrong in the first fight between the pair and he backed the underdog to win this time. England take on Peru in a World Cup warm-up on Friday before Wembley is transformed into a boxing ring, ready for Froch and Groves to do battle in front of 80,000 on Saturday. Eye on the ball: Jack Wilshere backed George Groves to beat Carl Froch at Wembley on Saturday . Preparation: England face Peru at Wembley on Friday before flying to Miami for two more friendlies . Wilshere said: ‘Groves, last time, he shut a lot of people up. People thought he was just a mouthy little Londoner but he walked the walk as well. He has got a lot of respect from Froch this time.‘It will be an interesting fight but I’d have to say I probably go for Groves to win.’ After their friendly against Peru, England complete their World Cup preparations in Miami with games against Ecuador and Honduras. Wilshere’s place in England’s starting line-up is far from certain, and he wants to use the next three games to cement his spot. But the Arsenal midfielder doesn’t think it is a straight shootout with Jordan Henderson to partner captain Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield. Workout: Groves trains in public at Westfield Shopping Centre ahead of the fight at Wembley . ‘There are a lot of good players in this squad, like Ross Barkley and Frank Lampard, so I wouldn’t like to think it is just between us two (him and Henderson),’ Wilshere said. ‘There are a lot of young players and experience. If you look at the young players like me and Barkley and Henderson – we will be looking for help. Gerrard is there, Lampard is there and they will always be looking to help us. ‘I am at the stage now where I just need a few games. I have been training for six weeks and am feeling good. I am just desperate to get out there now.’ The home of boxing? Froch and Groves will square off in front of 80,000 fans at Wembley on Saturday . Respect: Despite his controversial defeat, Wilshere says Groves earned a lot of respect from the first fight . England’s squad features a lot of young players, such as Barkley, Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw, and Wilshere is pleased at the level of focus on developing the next generation.He said: ‘It is good – a lot of people have been calling for it for a long time. The likes of Germany do it and they have been successful and now we are doing it. ‘I know they are young but they are good players. They have played in the Premier League 30 or 40 times this season and have done well. They have been the better players in their teams so we are looking forward to seeing what they can do as well. ‘I know they have got to prove themselves internationally but they are here on merit, they have got great talent and hopefully they can show that.’ | Carl Froch and George Groves will box in front of 80,000 on Saturday .
Jack Wilshere is backing Groves to win the fight .
England take on Peru on Friday at Wembley before the stadium is transformed for the boxing clash . |
195,748 | 895d104c472d6e8e196a231b83ad576d56882aa1 | By . Jenny Hope . Last updated at 12:04 AM on 8th December 2011 . Protection: Taking the contraceptive pill could reduce the risk of childless nuns developing cancer . Nuns should go on the Pill because it would protect them from cancer, according to researchers. Like any other women who don’t have children, nuns are at an increased risk of dying from certain forms of the disease. But the contraceptive Pill can cut the likelihood of developing breast, ovarian and womb cancer. For this reason – regardless of their vows of celibacy – researchers in Australia say nuns should take the Pill. Studies show overall death rates are 12 per cent lower in women who have used or are using the Pill, compared with those who never took it. The risk of developing ovarian and womb cancers falls by 50 to 60 per cent in users, with the benefits lasting more than 20 years – and long after women stop taking it. The Pill is believed to offer protection because women taking it are not producing eggs. The process of egg release triggers cell damage and repair that raises the risk of tumour development. Permissible: Researchers claim the Roman Catholic Church does not prevent the Pill being used for health reasons . Similarly, women who have children cease to produce eggs during pregnancy and often during breastfeeding. Dr . Kara Britt of Monash University, Melbourne, and Professor Roger Short . of Melbourne University, argue that nuns are at increased risk of cancer . through their celibate lifestyle, and deserve protection. They claim the Roman Catholic Church’s own teaching does not prevent the Pill being used for health reasons. They conclude: ‘The Catholic Church condemns all forms of contraception, as outlined by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae in 1968. Although Humanae Vitae never mentions nuns, they should be free to use the contraceptive Pill to protect against the hazards of nulliparity (not having children) since the document states that 'the Church in no way regards as unlawful therapeutic means considered necessary to cure organic diseases, even though they also have a contraceptive effect'. 'If the Catholic Church could make . the Pill freely available to all its nuns, it would reduce the risk of . those accursed pests, cancer of the ovary and uterus, and give nuns’ plight the recognition it deserves.’ Research has shown that women using the Pill are at lower risk of getting any kind of cancer. 'They gain most protection at a time . in life when they are at greatest risk – their 50s and 60s – because of . the long-term preventive effect of oral contraception. A . study of the records of 46,000 women held by the Royal College of . General Practitioners since 1968 found a 12 per cent lower risk of . cancer among women who had used the Pill at some time during their . lives. It appears to cause a . short-term increase in breast and cervical cancer, but the risk reverts . within ten years of ceasing to use it to the same as a woman who has . never taken it. Mothers-to-be . who are highly stressed in the later stages of pregnancy are more at . risk of giving birth pre-term and miscarrying boys, say researchers. A team investigated the effect of the stress caused by the 2005 Tarapaca earthquake in Chile on pregnant women. Professors . Florencia Torche and Karine Kleinhaus, of New York University, analysed . the birth certificates of all babies born in the country from 2004 to . 2006. Their . research – published online today in the leading reproductive medicine . journal Human Reproduction – found that women who lived closest to the . magnitude-7.9 earthquake and were in their second and third trimesters . of pregnancy when it hit were at higher risk of delivering pre-term, . before 37 weeks gestation. Normally, . about six in 100 women had a pre-term birth, but among those exposed to . the earthquake in the final third of their pregnancy, this rose to more . than nine in 100. Usually, . the ratio of male to female births is around 51:49. But the researchers . found a 5.8 per cent decline in the ratio among mothers exposed in the . final three months, meaning fewer boys than girls survived to delivery. Previous . research has suggested stressed women are more likely to miscarry boys . than girls because they grow larger and require more sustenance from the mother. | Researchers claim Catholic Church does not prevent the Pill being used for health reasons . |
236,420 | be04d1e668e372bafb4bbd2fd5547dc01e62ecf5 | (EW.com) -- These days, there are many less flattering things you could say about a movie than that it's enjoyable in a square, uncomplicated, stirringly old-fashioned way. 42, a sports drama about how Jackie Robinson broke the color line in professional baseball, is in some ways a film that could have been made 30 years ago, or 50 years ago. (In fact, it was made 63 years ago: 1950's The Jackie Robinson Story starred the legendary second baseman himself.) The film depicts Robinson, played by the dazzling, little-known actor Chadwick Boseman, as a fearless, noble athlete-crusader — which, of course, is just what he was, though 42 scarcely spends three minutes trying to find any flaws in him (surely he must have had one), or even giving him a sprinkle of idiosyncrasy. Is the writer-director, Brian Helgeland (who wrote L.A. Confidential and directed A Knight's Tale), worried that we wouldn't admire Robinson enough? Helgeland works in what I think of as a conservative — or maybe it's just really, really basic — neoclassical Hollywood style, spelling everything out, letting the story unfold in a plainspoken and deliberate fashion, with a big, wide, open pictorial camera eye. It's like the latter-day Clint Eastwood style, applied to material that's as traditional as can be. EW: '42' aims to be box office MVP . Yet in one vital way, the movie feels very contemporary. When Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, spearheading the civil rights era before it had a name, he was subjected, on and off the field, to a degree of racial antagonism that could almost be called terrorism. For all its wholesomely uplifting, message-movie design, 42 makes that struggle look every bit as brutal and scary as it was. Robinson's fellow Dodgers, many of them Southern boys, welcome him to the team by signing a petition to have him kicked off. He's booed from the stands, pitchers take open delight in beaning him, and in one scene, when he's up at bat, the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies (Alan Tudyk) heckles him from the sidelines by calling him the N-word for five unrelenting minutes. The way that scene goes on and on is scathingly powerful, as Jackie can barely keep himself from coming apart. Boseman, a graceful and handsome actor with a deep inner fire, gives Robinson a stare that's penetrating and guarded at the same time. A lot of the film's drama is reading that face — the intelligence and masked outrage. Jackie isn't allowed to fight back against any of the viciousness (if he did, it would look to mainstream America like he was the troublemaker), yet swallowing it eats up his spirit. How does he cope? EW: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' 10 new pics . By playing the hell out of the game. Even if he hadn't been baseball's trailblazing crossover star, Robinson had a talent on the field that was explosive. He was a wizard at stealing bases, and the movie glories in his quickness and bravado — how he steps off first base and eases down the path, hopping back and forth like a jackrabbit on a hot stove, holding his arms low, letting his fingers wiggle like nervous antennae. 42 portrays this athletic showmanship with an element of racial psychodrama. Robinson isn't just teasing the pitchers (the more they look at him, the less they can tell what he's going to do next). He's mocking them, working off his anger. He triumphs, and holds on to his sanity, by beating racist players at their own game. The movie covers just three years of Robinson's life, beginning in 1945, when he's a World War II veteran playing in the Negro Leagues and gets recruited by the forward-thinking Dodgers general manager, Branch Rickey, to join his minor-league club, the Montreal Royals. As Rickey, a stogie-chomping grump with a heart of gold, Harrison Ford seems to have reinvented himself as an actor. He gives an ingeniously stylized cartoon performance, his eyes atwinkle, his mouth a rubbery grin, his voice all wily Southern music, though with that growl of Fordian anger just beneath it. Calling Robinson into his office, he tells him that he needs a player who doesn't so much have the guts to fight back as the guts not to fight back. 42 is a rousing tribute to how impossible, and therefore heroic, a stance that was. Grade: B+ . 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. | "42" is a sports drama about how Jackie Robinson broke the color line .
Critic says the writer-director lets it "unfold in a plainspoken and deliberate fashion"
The film stars Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford . |
150,087 | 4e0cb6536ccd9a9d3a7f5b254f411ab1b4fd3fb0 | (CNN) -- Nearly six months after an explosion aboard an oil rig sent crude spewing from a BP-owned well deep below the Gulf of Mexico, cleanup work along the Gulf Coast is far from over. Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft, federal on-scene coordinator for the Deepwater Horizon spill, said Wednesday that operations in some areas won't stop once winter hits. "I envision there will be some areas where cleanup will go on through winter, although there will be others that will close down within a matter of weeks," Zukunft said. Shoreline cleanup assessment teams still have yet to analyze 557 miles of oil-affected beaches and declare them clean. In the meantime, Zukunft said, oil spill response teams will be in place to clean up any residual oil as necessary. "What we have during this spill, this was 87 consecutive days of a major spill, reoccurring, day in and day out. During that phase, we were in a crisis. Now [crews are] along the traditional lines, dealing with last release of oil and whether that impacted, time-consuming, labor-intensive process," he said. Seafood testing continues to be a priority, according to Zukunft. Christine Patrick, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service, said out of more than 2,700 seafood samples that went through rigorous sensory and chemical testing, none have come up positive for the presence of oil or dispersants. "No samples have been taken from opened fishing areas that haven't passed those tests," Patrick said. As for the search for existing oil still within the Gulf of Mexico, NOAA scientist Sam Walker said Wednesday there is an "aggressive program" of work being conducted both offshore, near-shore and within the water to locate hydrocarbons. Walker said more than 31,000 samples have been tested and are in the process of being analyzed for evidence of dispersants or oil contamination, and that the results should be released in the next few weeks. Although it's been nearly three months since oil has last been released into the Gulf, Zukunft said the effects of the disaster remain substantial. "If you look at what a traditional oil spill has been, you know this is anything but that," he said. "What's different about this is now we have oil that's in a very deep water column." Zukunft said even though the highest concentrations of oil detected in the water column is in the parts per billion, the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry is suffering from an unfair stigma attached to its product. "As I've said, and will continue to say time and again, it is the most sampled seafood anywhere on the face of the Earth," the rear admiral said. "The science, and I've seen it on a first-hand basis, is thorough, it's comprehensive, and so those are some of the hardships that the Gulf of Mexico residents are trying to recover from right now, especially those who make their livelihood harvesting seafood, and then dealing with the image of that." | Federal officials say work will continue through the winter in some Gulf areas .
Officials stress that seafood testing has not turned up any problems in fish .
Rear Adm. Paul Zukunft says effects of the disaster remain substantial . |
21,890 | 3e353743898ac318afeaf6bce099d50f6b0715b8 | By . Ruth Styles . PUBLISHED: . 04:38 EST, 12 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 07:09 EST, 12 March 2014 . Dominique was just 13 years old when she was first trafficked for sex - one of an estimated 100,000 American children sold into prostitution each year, according to anti-trafficking charity, Saving Innocence. And Dominique, now 18 and back in school, is by no means unusual. As Mark Harris, director of hard-hitting new film Abducted, reveals, teenage girls are easy prey for traffickers. 'Girls go out to LA thinking they're going to be pop stars and then they get drugged up and end up in trafficking,' he explains. Grim: A scene from Abducted, showing what happens to the girls taken by traffickers in LA . 'Only two per cent [of young girls who go there] find work. Agents don't give a s*** about talent - they just care about money. 'You get all these 16 and 18-year-olds who think they're going to be the next Britney Spears... They think they're going to be stars but we all know they aren't.' Delving deeper into Los Angeles' seedy underworld, Harris came across tales of paedophilia, rape, human trafficking and child abduction. The latter proved something of a bombshell, so much so that it forms the premise of the controversial Abducted, a relentlessly black eye-opener of a film that offers a glimpse of Tinsel Town at odds with its glamorous image. 'It is very shocking,' he admits. 'I spent a whole night in Hollywood with Saving Innocence and in one night, I came across paeodophila, abduction, rape, trafficking and a story about two girls just being taken off the . street.' Dream: Many teens head to Hollywood in the hopes of one day joining Angelina Jolie and co at the Oscars . He adds: 'People did find the film very controversial because it's so dark and near to the edge but I wanted to go right near to the mark . and show people what this is about. 'I didn't want to make a fairytale . movie - I wanted people to really understand what Hollywood was really like.' Incredible as it might seem, Harris and Saving Innocence insist every episode seen on screen is based on real life; a claim that becomes all the more believable when listening to Dominique and fellow survivor, Keila McCain. Keila, who is now in her twenties, was rescued by workers from the charity after being plunged into a life of vice when she was just 12 years old. 'I was twelve when I became involved with sex trafficking,' she explains. 'When . I was 18, it was the last time I got arrested for prostitution. Hard: Keila McCain was trafficked from the age of 12 but has now escaped from her life as a prostitute . Tragic: According to Saving Innocence, up to 100,000 people are trafficked in the USA each year . 'I . was stuck in sex trafficking for six years, but that doesn’t define who I . am today.' Amazingly, Keila repeatedly slipped through the net and was the victim of numerous missed chances to intervene, although that, in part, was thanks to her pimp's insistence on moving her around the USA. 'I was . exposed to sex trafficking when I was about 12, but I didn’t meet my . pimp until I was about fifteen years old,' she remembers. 'We met one day on the . streets, and he just started walking with me and trying to talk to me . but I wouldn’t give him any eye contact, and then he was like - "oh you . must have a pimp cause you not talking to me" and I looked at him and . he said "so what are you doing out here?" and we just went from there. 'Me and other girls worked all night, every night for him, with him . moving us between states the whole year.' Star: Director Mark Harris (right) also appears in the film, which is released on the 17th March . She added: 'You’re risking so much; your life your freedom and your body and . your degrading yourself in how others look at you.' Keila is now off the streets and has found an apartment with the help of Saving Innocence but for other girls like her, the nightmare continues. 'I’m proud of myself because a year ago I couldn’t see this happening – . all I saw was the streets,' adds Keila. 'But my past doesn’t take away my present. I’m . going fast and strong and independent and now I finally feel worthy of love.' Abducted is released on 17th March. For more on Saving Innocence and their work, see savinginnocence.org . | Abducted tells the horrifying story of Hollywood's sex trafficking gangs .
Girls as young as 12 are taken and put to work as prostitutes .
One girl is Keila McCain who was pimped until the age of 18 .
Helped by charity Saving Innocence and is now moving on with her life . |
166,470 | 6343f87e7a78aafbab76762f48c53f8ece02fa10 | (CNN) -- The nephew of deposed Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali found his sentence for a drug possession conviction doubled when he appealed it, state media said. Imed Trabelsi was sentenced in May to two years in prison and a 2,000-dinar (about $1,440) fine for possession and consumption of drugs, Tunisia's official news agency said. He appealed the ruling. On Saturday, the Tunis Court of Appeal upheld the decision and added two more years to the sentence: four years in prison and a 3,000-dinar ($2,160) fine, the TAP news agency said. The report did not say why the court imposed the additional time. Trabelsi is still to be tried as part of corruption cases filed against 114 Ben Ali relatives after the former president's ouster earlier this year, the news agency said. Last week, a Tunisian court sentenced Ben Ali and his wife to 35 years in prison in absentia on corruption charges. The court also imposed a fine of 91 million dinars ($65 million). Ben Ali and his wife, Leila Trabelsi, have been living in exile in Saudi Arabia since the January revolt that ended his 23-year rule and touched off a wave of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. The pair faced a total of 93 counts stemming from the discovery of cash, weapons, jewelry and drugs in the presidential palace after the revolt. Of those, 35 counts against Ben Ali and his inner circle -- including murder and torture -- have been referred to a Tunisian military court, the state news agency reported. Ben Ali had ruled the North African country since 1987. Protests began to erupt in December after the self-immolation of a fruit vendor whose cart had been seized by police. His fiery suicide touched off a firestorm among Tunisians fed up with corruption, high unemployment and escalating food prices. Ben Ali fled the country in mid-January after a revolt that left at least 300 people dead and 700 wounded, a top U.N. human rights expert said last month. The former strongman's political party has since been dissolved by a court order, and parliamentary elections have been scheduled for July. Earlier this month, Ben Ali said he has been unfairly portrayed and discredited by political opponents seeking to make a break with their country's past. In a written statement released by one of his attorneys, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, Ben Ali said it was time to break his silence because he was "tired of being made a scapegoat" and is a victim of "injustice." | Trabelsi was sentenced in May to a two-year term .
He is still to be tried as part of cases filed against Ben Ali and his relatives .
The former Tunisian president has been sentenced to 36 years in prison .
The ousted leader and his wife are living in Saudi Arabia and were tried in absentia . |
276,804 | f29ba6b59a2c717b6829ac07bf1d745beac1ff7b | Florence Crittenton High School in Denver, Colorado, enrolls students aged between 14 and 21 who require parenting assistance . The Florence Crittenton Services of Colorado states that more than 1,000 teenagers become pregnant every year in Denver County . The American Pregnancy Association states that around 469,000 babies are born to teenage mothers across the country each year . A Colorado high school for students who are either pregnant or already a teenage mother is the focus of a new reality series. Florence Crittenton High School in Denver, which caters for 9th to 12th grade female students, has opened up its classroom doors to a film crew putting together a new TV show. The show will follow a group of expecting teenagers and mothers from as young as 14 - some even have braces on their teeth - who are able to drop off their children at the school's day care facilities before attending the day's classes. Grandparent breakfasts, CPR training, dads' clubs and 'raising a reader exchange day' are just some of the calender events on offer at the school. Scroll down for videos . Young moms: A new reality show will focus on a Colorado high school that caters only for pregnant teens and young mothers. Young Londisha (left) is a tenth grader, with braces, who has a son of her own (right) Unique: The Denver high school, pictured above, offers day care facilities to young teenage mothers . The school also provides career guidance including the teaching of 'marketable job skills' and other parenting training to teenagers. Enrollment is open to students aged 14 to 21 and the school is able to care for 170 students each semester. It attracts 280 students, on average, per year. The school's website states: 'Students have a choice of how long they would like to attend; they could be a student from one semester to five years' while most students typically 'stay in the program from 18-24 months'. Class is in session between the hours of 8am to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday, as explored in the new six-part TLC series which premieres on August 12. Exclusive: The school caters for mothers and those expecting who are aged between 14 and 21 years old . In session: The girls, above, are offered a range of services that extend past the schools hours; 8am to 3.15pm . Precious: Babies are able to be cared for in the school's day care facilities, above, as mothers attend class . The show, in typical TLC style, will aim to showcase the drama experienced by mothers and those teens who are expecting as they juggle parenthood with textbooks. Londisha, a tenth grader who has been enrolled at the school for eight months, says the experience has offered her a second chance at life. 'I feel it's a way for me to get caught up quicker but still feel like I'm at a regular high school,' the mother-of-one says. 'They support me with my situations that I do have going on. So yeah, my second chance is here.' The youngster, who is fitted with a mouth full of braces, reveals that just like regular high school, Florence Crittenton has its own cliques. 'I don't really hang out with the pregnant girls,' she says. 'Pregnant girls definitely have a lot of . hormones. A lot, like, it's scary. You'll walk down the hall and see a . big fat pregnant girl crying for no reason. It's funny... but it's not funny.' Support: Another teen mom Catrina (left) seems to have struck up a friendship with Londisha (right) En route: The students are seen traveling to school on the bus, their bellies in full sight as they text, above . She adds: 'Pregnant girls get on my nerves. I know I . probably got on a lot of people's nerves when I was pregnant, just . crying all over the place.' She also offers some insight into her life prior to becoming a mother. 'A couple of years ago, I was partying and having fun,' she says. 'And now there's no time for that really. I go to school. He's [her son] had a big impact on my life. Good.' She also says that attending an all-female school can be overwhelming at times. 'Like, I get tired of looking at the same . girls every day,' she says. 'I wish I could see some boys but boys aren't that . important. Well, they are, but they're not THAT important.' The new series comes after the success of 16 And Pregnant, which was so popular that a spin-off series titled Teen Moms was created. The Florence Crittenton Services of . Colorado states that more than 1,000 teenagers become pregnant every year . in Denver County alone. The American Pregnancy Association states that around 469,000 babies are born to teenage mothers across the country each year. | Florence Crittenton High School in Denver, Colorado, enrolls students aged between 14 and 21 who require parenting assistance .
The Florence Crittenton Services of Colorado states that more than 1,000 teenagers become pregnant every year in Denver County .
The American Pregnancy Association states that around 469,000 babies are born to teenage mothers across the country each year . |
164,513 | 60be8034da63477d3597ec4394518c9109a84a59 | Editor's note: Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Fauci has overseen research into preventing, diagnosing and treating disease and has made numerous discoveries related to HIV/AIDS. He has received the National Medal of Science, the Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. April 25, 2009, is World Malaria Day. Dr. Anthony Fauci says we should aim to eradicate the killer disease of malaria. (CNN) -- For the past few decades when talking about malaria, public health officials and malaria experts have avoided the word "eradication." This reluctance is based in part on relatively recent history. In 1955, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a valiant effort to eradicate malaria throughout the world. Although the disease was virtually eliminated in many temperate regions and reduced in some tropical areas, the goal of worldwide eradication fell short, and the effort ultimately was abandoned. Today, malaria has resurged with a vengeance. Half the world's population is at risk of malaria infection. Approximately 250 million people get sick with malaria each year and nearly a million individuals die -- mostly young children and pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa. So when Bill and Melinda Gates dared to resurrect the "E" word in 2007, many in the public health community were skeptical and said in private conversation, "It can't be done." We at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases initially leaned toward the views of the large chorus of "eradication skeptics," but as the idea began to sink in and we assessed the research landscape, a new sense of optimism emerged. We now believe that malaria eradication -- controlling and eliminating the malaria parasite in every region across the globe -- is possible, but only if we learn from history and our past mistakes. Previous efforts to eradicate malaria failed for several reasons, including political instability and technical challenges in delivering resources, especially in certain countries in Africa. The goal of malaria eradication, although popular among physicians and public health workers, did not muster sustained widespread support among the general public. The diversity of malaria in communities across the globe and the changes in tools and monitoring strategies required over time to achieve eradication were not fully appreciated. And the impact and sustainability of single interventions such as the drug chloroquine and the pesticide DDT were overestimated. Inevitably, malaria parasites developed resistance to commonly used drugs and mosquito vectors became insecticide-resistant. Unfortunately, investments in the research needed to develop new tools was never really adequate. And a sustainable yet flexible infrastructure to deliver the treatment and preventive services that could respond to a changing epidemiology was never developed. It is now widely recognized that any attempt at malaria eradication must be a long-term commitment that involves multiple interventions, disciplines, strategies and organizations. One of the means to develop important new tools critical for the eradication of malaria is through biomedical research. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases recognizes that malaria eradication will require a sustained, multidisciplinary research effort by multiple partners across the globe. Indeed, we are a part of a global initiative recently launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation called the Malaria Eradication Research and Development Agenda involving research sponsors, public health agencies and interested organizations throughout the world joined by the common collaborative goal of malaria eradication. As we work toward controlling and eliminating malaria in endemic regions of the world, it will be important to monitor shifts in disease patterns as we achieve success. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes may die out in some regions, but reappear in others. Certain drugs may be successful in reducing the burden and controlling the spread of the malaria parasite, but other parasites may soon emerge to reintroduce or resume the disease. Such changes in the patterns of the disease will require new interventions: diagnostics, drugs and ultimately an effective vaccine. Thus, we must maintain a robust pipeline of new interventions that can substitute for failing ones. In developing a research plan for controlling, eliminating and eventually eradicating malaria, we are confronted by substantial challenges. An immediate challenge is diagnosis. Different species of the malaria parasite exist, and it is important to have sensitive and rapid diagnostics that can detect which species are infecting patients and whether they are resistant to standard malaria drug regimens so that the optimal drugs are administered. As our successes mount, we also will need rapid new diagnostics to detect infected individuals with no symptoms who might re-introduce the parasite into areas where the disease has been controlled or eliminated. A second challenge will be to translate the enormous wealth of basic information about malaria parasites, mosquito vectors and the human host into new intervention strategies. For example, we now know the genetic sequences from Anopheles gambiae, the most important mosquito species for spreading malaria, and for the two major malaria parasites of humans: Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax. It is a daunting task to translate this information into better ways of blocking transmission and preventing and treating infection. Finally, perhaps our greatest challenge is sustaining our research efforts until the ultimate eradication of malaria. We may run the risk of becoming victims of our own success. Once we find ways to reduce the disease burden and deaths due to malaria, the world may no longer perceive malaria as a major threat and may lose interest. Celebrities, politicians and even health officials may focus their attention on other maladies that pose a more immediate threat. We cannot allow this to happen. Unless we want to face the persistence and even resurgence of malaria in the next century and beyond, we must maintain our resolve to fully eradicate this deadly scourge across the globe. It can be done. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Anthony S. Fauci. | Dr. Anthony Fauci: Eradicating malaria was dismissed as impossible .
He says a reassessment shows the disease can be wiped out over time .
Fauci says malaria sickens 250 million and kills nearly a million a year .
Fauci says it will take coordinated effort, including more research . |
62,153 | b0917fed0170e3fb6470b44ffbe55bcb34151450 | By . Kate Gardiner . England's James Willstrop and Daryl Selby have won bronze in the men's doubles squash after defeating Scotland's Harry Leitch and Alan Clyne at Scotstoun on the final day of the Commonwealth Games. Willstrop and Selby came through a hard-fought match to take a 11-9 11-7 in a match time of one hour 19 minutes. Willstrop asked the match referee to tell the audience to try and silence their screaming children midway through a tense opening game before the Scottish duo edged 7-5 in front. British batlle: England's James Willstrop (centre) and Daryl Selby (right) celebrate winning squash bronze . The English duo moved ahead before there was a short break after Selby accidentally smashed his racquet into Clyne's face, forcing the Scot to replace his visor, but Willstrop and Selby continued their comeback to take the first game. A closely-fought second was also won by the England pair in front of the Scottish crowd. Earlier, top seeds Kasey Brown and Cameron Pilley from Australia defeated number two seeds Joelle King and Martin Knight of New Zealand 8-11 11-9 11-8 in a mammoth match time of one hour and 20 minutes to win mixed doubles bronze. Eyes on the prize: Willstrop swots away a forehand in his bronze medal squash doubles match . 'This is our Olympics - it is the biggest stage that we can perform on,' Selby said after winning bronze. 'I didn't get a chance to perform last week in the singles so this was my personal chance and our chance together to show what we can do and get a Commonwealth medal. 'It is something I can say now that I am a Commonwealth medallist and it ticks a box for me - it's a nice feeling.' Willstrop added: 'This was about as special as any of my Commonwealth medals. 'It is great to do it with a friend and with someone you have worked hard with. 'All of last summer and this summer we have worked hard on doubles and we have known each other for years, so of course it is special. 'We play singles all the time and we are training to be good at that, but, to do it with someone else, it has been a great experience.' Leaving it all on the line: Selby (centre) dives for the ball during his bronze medal match . | England's James Willstrop and Daryl Selby have won squash bronze .
Pair beat Scotland's Harry Leitch and Alan Clyne at Scotstoun .
English duo won 11-9 11-7 in hour and 19 minutes . |
97,134 | 0900573d45828ac78899bd445d72c0c3dc7d033c | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:49 EST, 26 July 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:49 EST, 26 July 2013 . Lack of sleep could double the signs of skin ageing, including fine lines, claim researchers. A US study shows the skin of women who were poor sleepers showed accelerated signs of age and was slower to recover from damage such as sunburn. Women who slept badly were also more likely to rate themselves as unattractive. Side effects: Not getting enough restorative sleep can age skin and make it slow to repair . Dr Elma Baron, director of the Skin Study Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center, Cleveland, Ohio, said: ‘Sleep-deprived women show signs of premature skin ageing and a decrease in their skin’s ability to recover after sun exposure.’ The study analysed 60 women aged 30 to 49, with half not getting enough sleep. Scientists used tests such as UV light exposure to check for moisture loss – a sign of poor skin quality. Those who had insufficient sleep showed increased signs of skin ageing, with an average score of 4.4 – double the 2.2 average for good sleepers. This means those who slept badly had more fine lines, uneven skin colour and slackening of skin. The differences were statistically significant, says the study, commissioned by Estee Lauder. Slow recovery: Skin damage can take longer to heal if women have not slept enough . The researchers found good sleepers repaired skin damage more quickly and they were more likely to rate themselves as attractive. Dr Baron said: ‘While chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to medical problems such as obesity, diabetes, cancer and immune deficiency, its effects on skin function have previously been unknown.’ Dr Daniel Yarosh, of Basic Science Research at Estee Lauder, said: ‘This research shows for the first time that poor sleep quality can accelerate signs of skin ageing and weaken the skin’s ability to repair itself at night.’ | Research found good sleepers repaired skin damage more quickly . |
236,285 | bdd6628b84dcdabddecf9544efbce28956ec9164 | By . Martin Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 05:07 EST, 29 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:22 EST, 29 November 2013 . Olympic hero Sir Bradley Wiggins has apologised today after a lewd joke about a sex act fell flat at a £300-a-head charity event to support child abuse victims. The cycling great was heard asking the compere to 's*** me off' because he had a 'posh voice' but diners at the Barnado's children's charity event in Harrogate were 'stunned into silence'. Alcohol had been running 'extremely freely' at the exclusive Rudding Park Hotel in North Yorkshire, but MailOnline understands that Sir Bradley, who was there with his wife Catherine, was not drunk. Off comment: Sir Bradley Wiggins with his wife Catherine (pictured last year) were at the event earlier this month where the cycling star made a rude joke that shocked diners . Wiggins had donated a signed shirt to raise money and as his face appeared on a big screen he was heard saying to Jon Hammond, the auctioneer, 'You’ve got a . posh voice. I like posh voices. S*** me off', according to the Daily Star. His shirt still made around £5,000 for charity. Today Sir Bradley's representatives apologised to anyone . offended by the joke, and said the knight had been enjoying 'banter' but was then 'caught unawares'. Guests at the Firecracker Ball event admitted they felt let down by what happened. Grand: Rudding Park Hotel hosted the Firecracker Ball, which cost diners £300 a head and raised money for Barnado's children's charity . Star: Sir Bradley after taking gold at the Men's time trial at London 2012, in a summer where he also won the Tour de France . 'Initially there was just stunned silence. It was bizarre and shocking,' businessman David Parkin told the Star. 'The chap sitting next to me said: ‘Before tonight he was my hero, but not any more. 'It was completely the wrong time and place to say something like that. People were completely disgusted by him.' Retired PR manager Malcolm Cowing added: 'Bradley’s remarks were at very best completely misjudged. On a stag do maybe, but not at a dinner for victims of childhood sexual abuse.' Great: Sir Bradley is one of Britain's greatest sportsman, but also has a reputation as a badboy, pictured here drinking at the London 2012 velodrome . Cycling’s ‘Modfather’ was taken to people’s hearts last year when he pulled off the minor miracle of becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France — before winning the Olympic time trial and celebrating with a Churchill victory sign as he sat on the gaudy throne, providing one of London 2012’s imperishable memories. He won BBC Sports Personality of the Year by a mile after amusing Sue Barker by calling her ‘Susan’ in mock seriousness and was then awarded a knighthood to wide public acclaim. But a year on he has suffered, failing to compete in the Tour de France after a row with rival Chris Froome over who would lead Team Sky. After Froome won, Wiggins apparently did not phone to congratulate the new champion. Wiggins is also becoming known as the badboy of British sport, sometimes seen swearing at photographers, stumbling out of nightclubs drunk or having a cheeky cigarette. Last night Sir Bradley's spokesman said: 'There had been some friendly banter beforehand and Bradley was caught unawares by the auctioneer. We'd like to apologise to anyone who was offended by his language'. | Cycling great asked compere: 's*** me off' at £300-a-head Barnado's dinner .
Diners said they were 'stunned into silence' and called joke 'inappropriate'
Sir Bradley's spokesman says star apologises if he offended anyone . |
223,433 | ad41e8b7b93a596f56c6a5fc5944489d8dc3000b | Two long lost siblings have become reunited after 30 years apart and discovered they both work for the Navy in the same state. Cmdr. Cinday Murray and her brother, Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson were separated in the 1970s when their parents separated. Originally from Denver both brother and sister grew up to enlist and on reuniting discovered they were both working for the Navy in California. Scroll down for video . Cmdr. Cinday Murray reunited with her brother, Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson, after 30 years of being apart . Cmdr. Cinday Murray salutes her brother her brother, Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson, after 30 years of being apart . Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson holds his sister Cmdr. Cinday Murray lovingly after being apart for 30 years . The happy moment they had waited thirty years for took place at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego on Friday. Williamson was just 6 years old the last time he saw his sister. When their parents separated he stayed with their father, while Murray, 14, moved away with their mother. Friday, the siblings reconnected with an emotional embrace. Williamson gave his sister an honorable Navy salute and hugged her tightly. 'It's my brother!' Murray said with tears in her eyes. Despite trying to find each other for years and years, neither sibling seemed to have any luck. 'I tried looking on Facebook, but there are a million Robert Williamsons. There are a million Bobby Williamsons. Without pictures, I wouldn’t have known what he looked like anyway,' said Murray. Murray is a senior nursing officer assigned to NMCSD's Military Health Center. Williamson is in the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 122 at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson holds his sister Cmdr. Cinday Murray in a warm embrace after being apart for three decades . Cindy Murray and her brother Robert Williamson, at home, during Easter 1975 before being separated by their parents and reunited years later by the Navy . After the siblings' parents separated, Murray took her mother's maiden name, making it difficult for Williamson to find his sister. Two months ago Murray called her estranged father who told her that her brother was a chief in the Navy. Within only 15 minutes of giving her brother's name to her leading chief petty officer (LCPO), the pair were on the phone. Chief Petty Officer Hospital Corpsman Jeremy Simon, and he made the siblings’ connection possible. Williamson reported that he was in shock. According to Williamson, Murray's LCPO called saying, 'I'm pretty sure my boss is your sister. Do you have a sister named Cindy?' Williamson replied, 'Yes, I do.' Cheif Aviation Ordnanceman Robert Williamson and his sister Cmdr. Cinday Murray plan to spend more time together after being reunited . After their first phone call, the brother and sister would talk to each other frequently in attempts to reclaim lost time. Even though the two spent years apart, they have a lot of common qualities. 'We both love Goldfish crackers and we both love the same types of TV shows,' said Murray. 'He was like my live doll. I would cook in my Easy-Bake-Oven for him. I remember holding him when he was just a tiny baby,' said Murray. 'Our Navy is awesome and to find out that they are both serving does not surprise me. There is a bond among siblings and where one is serving you can usually find another,' Simon said. Chief Simon said that reuniting the siblings was one of the 'proudest moments' of his career. 'The main thing is to never give up,” said Williamson. 'Multiple times she looked and looked and one little phone call ended 30 years of no contact. Amazing. Outstanding,' he continued. The siblings plan to see each other as much as possible. Williamson and his wife are going to spend the weekend in San Diego with his sister.They are also planning a trip to Cabo San Lucas. | The pair were separated when Cinday Murray was 14 and Robert Williamson was only 6 .
They came back together when a kind-hearted officer acted as go between and made the call .
For more video of their reunion click here . |
171,114 | 69782c47069be9d7f076094410c1a8919648cf77 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 08:10 EST, 17 May 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 13:23 EST, 17 May 2013 . A police officer allegedly parked illegally on double yellow lines so he could collect a meal from McDonald's. A lorry driver took a photograph of the police car as it blocked his exit from a Texaco garage forecourt in Strood, Kent. The trucker said he saw the police officer get out of his car and go into the fast food outlet before returning minutes later, eating a burger. The photograph taken by a lorry driver of a police car parked on double yellow lines outside a McDonald's . He said: 'This police officer parked there, seeing that I was about to pull out. He then sauntered into the McDonald’s for his food and then sauntered out with it five minutes later. 'People parking on this set of double yellows cause a great deal of problems for trucks trying to exit the truck fuel pumps. 'The reason the yellow lines are there is to prevent accidents with trucks trying to manoeuvre around this tight corner. 'Members of the public park here and frequently become quite abusive when we ask them to move. The police are setting a bad example. The longest I’ve been stuck waiting to get out is about 20 minutes.' 'He sauntered into the McDonald’s for his food and sauntered out with it five minutes later' Unnamed lorry driver . A spokesman for Kent Police said: 'We take reports of this nature very seriously and the incident is currently under investigation. 'Where evidence of an alleged road traffic offence or parking offence is brought to our attention we will review any such evidence placed before us and deal with the incident in the most appropriate manner. 'Options available to us include issuing a Fixed Penalty Notice or a report for summons.' | Police officer accused of parking illegally to collect McDonald's meal .
Car photographed on double yellow lines in Strood, Kent .
Kent Police said the incident is 'under investigation' |
169,339 | 671b576a930db4429569df1f3acfed3d598370f4 | Lorna Clymo, who suffered with depression, jumped to her death from a multi-storey car park after calls to NHS out-of-hours numbers went unanswered . A mother-of-one who suffered suicidal bouts of depression jumped to her death from a multi-storey car park after calls by her desperate family to NHS out-of-hours numbers went unanswered. Lorna Clymo, 42, from Haworth, Keighley, suffered so badly from depression her partner, Mark Feather, was given a list of telephone helpline numbers for doctors to call in case she had depressive episodes after her discharge from hospital. But although she was rated by health professionals as being at 'red' - at high risk of harming herself - Mr Feather found all the numbers rang out and he was unable to leave a message when he tried to contact them. On February 1 last year Ms Clymo, a homecare worker, drove her Peugeot to the top of a car park in Keighley, near Bradford, and jumped. She died a short time later in hospital from chest, spinal and pelvic injuries. Her anti depressants had been switched by doctors in the run up to her death. At an inquest Ms Clymo's family condemned Bradford District Care Trust over its failure to have a messaging service and claimed she was not on the correct medication. Her sister Sharon Charlton, 44, told Bradford Coroner's Court: 'If you are providing a service and somebody said 'just ring us up' and there was no message how would you know who was ringing you? 'If someone crying for help - you wouldn't know. The number you gave, there was no answer. 'For somebody high risk, there was no support. 'Lorna was agitated and we were getting agitated because nobody was there. 'You are professionals. You should have already had that in place. I am just thinking about it to make it safer. 'To me her mood was down but she tried to act normally as if everything as okay. 'She was struggling and her mood just got low and I think the only people who could help her with the professionals. Ms Clymo's family have condemned Bradford District Care Trust over its failure to have a messaging service . 'We were out of our depth because that is not what we do. 'You go to professionals and hopefully you think they are going to look after her. I just do not think she was on the right medication. 'On the day she was sent home, even though she was high risk, she had to manage her own medication. She had to wean off one and increase another. 'I feel as if she was neglected, a lack of care. 'Why she was not sectioned? For somebody who tried two attempts in such a short space of time, why did you feel the need to let her go home? 'The community nurses rang her but how can you see down a telephone?' Earlier the Bradford hearing was told Ms Clymo had suffered from depression since 1998 but since September 2013 her condition deteriorated and she made two suicide attempts. A month before her death she told Mr Feather she had taken dozens of pills and was rushed to hospital. She was subsequently admitted to the Airedale Centre for Mental Health where she was kept as in-patient for a week - but she was still allowed out to visit friends and go home for period of time. Just nine days after taking the pills, Ms Clymo attempted to hang herself and was readmitted again to the Heather ward and kept in from January 11 until the January 22, when her anti-depressant medication citalopram was changed to mirtazapine. Engineer Mr Feather, 46, said in a statement: 'Since leaving the hospital she had more bad days than good days but still came across well to all of the mental health visitors. 'I woke up on February 1 at 5am and Lorna got up with me. She had a coffee and said she felt fine. Bradford Coroner's Court (pictured) heard Ms Clymo's medication had changed in the run up to her death . 'But the police came to my place of work just after 8.30am and I knew what had happened straight away. 'I have been told a car was found at the top floor of the carpark and she had told me in the past she had driven there and thought about jumping off.' Dr Andrew Aspin, a consultant psychiatrist for Bradford District Care Trust, said Ms Clymo's medication had been switched due to a deterioration in her condition, but that she was not mentally ill enough to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. He said: 'There was a risk, but toward the end of January Lorna was firmly saying she wanted to be out of hospital. 'She did have capacity - she was not suffering from confusion or memory loss which made her unable to understand the situation. 'There was no doubt she suffered from depression and a risk of harming herself, however parties felt the risk could be managed in the community in part because she was compliant with her treatment, she took her medication and was willing to sit down and talk with the intensive home treatment team. 'We also have a duty to use the least restrictive option. Lorna expressed the view that being in the hospital was detrimental for her. 'She clearly and firmly said that she wanted to be home. 'I would say she did not have any immediate plans to harm herself but there remained a large concern about her depression and impulsivity. 'The intensive home care treatment team grade or rate patients they are seeing according to how concerned they are. 'She was rated as a red which is the highest level of concern. But it was the opinion of doctors and nurses that the level of risk was not such that such immediate action be taken.' Jackie Haw-Wells, who works for the Serious Incident Department told the inquest: 'Everybody felt there was a risk that she had had two previous suicide attempts and there was a concern but she would not have met the criteria.' She said the lack of response from the out of hours hotline as an 'oversight' and an answer message service has been put in place. Recording a verdict of suicide Coroner Martin Fleming said: 'She did receive in that regard the best care from her doctors and they factored into the equation what they thought Lorna wanted. 'The family have raised concerns and certain issues and I am grateful the concerns have been acted open as far as the trust and hospital are concerned.' After the hearing Mrs Charlton added: 'We left Lorna's care to the professionals and the outcome was fatal. 'They are supposed to know what's best but at the end of the day my sister died even though she is high risk. 'Everything seems to stop on a Friday in adult health services. 'When you have got an out of hour's number and somebody is supposedly on duty you expect to speak to someone and yet we could not do that. 'Where are they all at these times? Do they not work Saturday and Sunday?' | Lorna Clymo, 42, tried to kill herself twice in weeks leading up to her death .
She was considered at high risk of harming herself by health professionals .
Partner was given list of out-of-hours numbers to call if she was depressive .
But the numbers rang out and he was unable to leave a message .
Her family have condemned Bradford District Care Trust over its 'failure'
Her sister Sharon said she believes her sister was 'neglected' by experts . |
233,828 | bab8c20b8d57b8b65272260ba9264ad35ea9aaf9 | Wembley Stadium once again established itself as the home of the NFL outside American shores as 84,000 fans flocked to see the Oakland Raider host the Miami Dolphins in the ninth International Series game. Now in its eighth year, the national stadium was awash with colour as fans of all 32 franchises attended a range of American football-themed events outside the national stadium. Punters queued for pictures with the Vince Lombardi Trophy and autographs of NFL legends, while people of all ages were asked to test their passing and kicking skills. Following Saturday's rally on Regent Street which played host to over half a million people, American football fever is once again gripping these shores with the first of three regular season games taking place. Next month, the Atlanta Falcons play host the Detroit Lions and the Jacksonville Jaguars entertain the Dallas Cowboys in November. All three games are sell-outs. Writing in his MailOnline column yesterday, Vernon Kay said he believes England will host five games next season. Oakland Raiders fans pose for a photograph ahead of their NFL game with Miami Dolphins at Wembley . Wembley Stadium displays the Raiders' name as fans arrive ahead of kick-off in North London . More Dolphins fans get into the party spirit inside the famous 'other football' ground . Darth Vader appeared to be among the Raiders supporters - with a similarly dressed friend . A Miami Dolphins fan helps out a Raiders fan with his face paint on the London Underground . There were plenty of pirates around Wembley - this one managed to get his sword past the security checks . Fans opted for all sorts of outfits around the ground as they prepared to cheer on the travelling teams . A Dolphins fan goes for a much simpler design with her face paint outside the national stadium . Wembley Stadium might have played host to Wimbledon's Crazy Gang but this was a whole new level! This particular Raiders fan had travelled a long way to get to the game, judging by his flag . Englishman Mark Waller, the NFL's chief marketing officer, spoke this week of the growing appetite for gridiron in this country. 'I think the fact that we have demand to sell out three games is just fantastic,' he said. 'So I'd start with, if the challenges are around the execution of that, then that's a great set of challenges to have. I'd be worried if it was the other way around and we were going backwards.' The sun shines in through the roof of Wembley Stadium as preparations continue for the evening match . Yet another Oakland Raiders fan catches the cameraman's eye with a crazy outfit . Facepaint and masks were the order of the day for many fans ahead of the evening entertainment . Fans walk up Wembley Way from Wembley Park station as they prepare for the evening match . Two Raiders supporters sport the stars and stripes of the US flag around their shoulders . Shirts from all sorts of NFL teams can be seen climbing the Wembley steps towards their seats . British interests were on show too though, as shown by this Union Jack Raiders flag at pitchside . Raiders supporters called themselves 'Football's Most Notorious Fans' and they certainly lived up to the title! VIDEO Dolphins heading in the right direction - Tannehill . | The Raiders supporters call themselves 'Football's Most Notorious Fans'
They lived up to that title with some impressive outfits and face paint .
Miami Dolphins fans went more subtle but were still out in force .
The two face each other in the now-regular Wembley showpiece . |
146,947 | 4a074989cd2036a114416a7c377aea10afc39de6 | The syrup is used in processed foods because it improves appearance, providing a consistent browning after oven heating . A sweetener used in food manufacture could be partly to blame for rising rates of type 2 diabetes, say scientists. Countries that use large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have higher rates of the disease than those that consume little, says a new study. Among 42 countries studied, rates of diabetes were 8 per cent in high-consuming nations and 6.7 among low consumers - a difference of 20 per cent. Professor Stanley Ulijaszek, from Oxford University, who co-led the study, said: ‘This research suggests that HFCS can increase the risk of type-2 diabetes, which is one of the most common causes of death in the world today.’ In the UK, foods containing fructose syrup include McVitie’s HobNobs, McVitie’s Jaffa Cakes, Carte D’Or ice cream and Mr Kipling Bakewell Slices. It often appears in ingredients lists as ‘glucose-fructose syrup’, ‘high fructose corn syrup’ or ‘HFCS’. HFCS has a greater proportion of fructose sugar than sucrose, which contains an equal amount of glucose. The syrup is widely used in drinks and processed foods such as biscuits and ice cream because it acts as a sweetener and improves appearance, providing a consistent browning after oven heating. Of the countries studied, the US had far and away the greatest consumption per head of HFCS, amounting to 55lb per year per year, says a report in the journal Global Public Health. Hungary, Canada, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Argentina, Korea, Japan and Mexico were also high consumers. UK consumption was very low at less than 1lb per person per year, placing it alongside Australia, China, Denmark, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and Uruguay. But Professor Ulijaszek said the UK was a high consumer of total sugar at some 88lb per person per year. Sugar consumption, irrespective of the type, was strongly linked to diabetes, he added. He said: ‘Although this syrup can be found in many of our processed foods and drinks, this varies enormously from country to country.’ He said there was relatively little fructose consumed in the UK, with Hobnob biscuits being an exception. Consumption of high fructose corn per person per year . ‘But eating fructose at low levels is OK’ he added. ‘You would have to eat very many biscuits to get high fructose levels into your system.’ He said the UK had relatively high diabetes rates and was a high consumer of total sugar at almost 40kilos per person per year. Sugar consumption, irrespective of the type, was strongly linked to diabetes, he said. ‘There are many factors involved in developing diabetes. The novel point of our paper is the link with fructose but other forms of sugar have been linked with it in the past.' British people love their sugar which goes back to colonial times and there is also a very strong sugar industry here. Consumers . should have better labelling with regards to sugar consumption, and . public health strategies aimed at diabetes prevention should incorporate . efforts to limit sugar consumption’ he added. Tim . Lobstein, director of policy for the UK-based International Association . for the Study of Obesity, said ‘If HFCS is a risk factor for . diabetes-one of the world’s most serious chronic diseases-then we need . to rewrite national dietary guidelines and review agriculture trade . polices. Consumption of high fructose corn per person per year. The U.S consumed by far the most . ‘HFCS will join trans fats and salt as ingredients to avoid, and foods should carry warning labels.’ A spokesman for the British Soft Drinks Association said ‘You can’t draw any conclusions from this research because it does not actually look at the relationship between consumption of HFCS and diabetes. ‘Those studies that have looked at this relationship find that there isn’t one. ‘The risk factors for type 2 diabetes have been assessed by the International Diabetes Federation as being overweight/obesity, aging, ethnicity, family history of diabetes, previous gestational diabetes and a sedentary lifestyle. ‘The way to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes is to control one’s weight and live a physically active lifestyle. There is a place for soft drinks as part of a balanced diet.’ | Countries that use large amounts of fructose corn syrup have diabetes rates 20% higher than those that consume little .
U.S has greatest consumption of the syrup by far amounting to 25kg per person a year, compared to 0.5kg in the UK . |
28,995 | 524be1a29a3b9a4d571a0cf2a8947eaff685da7d | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 19:49 EST, 31 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 20:31 EST, 31 October 2012 . A beloved Minneapolis school teacher tragically died in front of her class early Monday, leaving behind 10 bewildered students, two beautiful daughters, age 6 and 8, and a doting husband. Lori Blomme, 40, was known as a teacher who inspired students 'to achieve beyond what they ever believed,' officials said, and the Menlo Park Academy has been devastated by the loss. Mrs Blomme collapsed at the end of her third period class on Monday after she told her students that she felt faint. Scroll down for video . School teacher Lori Blomme, 40, tragically died in front of her class early Monday . Mrs Blomme with her husband and two beautiful daughters, aged 6 and 8, who she has left behind . Mrs Blomme, pictured in the garden, collapsed at the end of her third period class on Monday after she told her students that she felt faint . 'In the beginning of the day, she was the same old Lori -- a great smile on her face,' student Marshaun Williams, a sophomore in Blomme's class, said to Fox. A few minutes later she collapsed, Marshaun said, and the ten confused students rushed for assistance. 'We didn't know what to do,' Marshaun said. 'She just said she was going to faint. We did the best thing we could do and get help.' The group was rushed out to the gymnasium while paramedics tried to revive her. She passed away before her husband could say goodbye. 'She was a person who lived for what she could do for everybody,' said Blomme's brother-in-law, Rick Blomme, to Fox. She was a teacher who inspired students at her school Menlo Park Academy, pictured . Behind the trees the sign for the school can be seen where the popular teacher tragically died . Family: Mrs Blomme, top right, lived in south Minneapolis with her loving family . The family pooch that went missing days before her death . 'Absolute unsung hero -- when they say love in a million, she definitely fit that bill.' Officials have not identified her cause of death, only identifying it as a 'medical emergency.' Autopsy results are pending. 'In the morning of October 29, 2012, teacher Lori Blomme experienced a medical emergency in a classroom at Menlo Park Alternative High School and later passed away,' the Minneapolis Public Schools said in a statement. 'Menlo Park and MPS express condolences to Lori's family, friends, coworkers and students.' 'Lori was a committed and caring teacher who dedicated so much of herself to the Menlo Park school community,' said Helen Henly, the school's director, to the Star Tribune. 'She inspired and encouraged students to achieve beyond what they ever believed.' Her students and family struggled to indentify a reason for her passing, pointing to the stresses of losing her beloved dog Queen. '[Her daughters] were going door to door and passing out flyers and saying, "If you have my dog, please give us a call,"' family friend Gloria Tollefson told Fox. The teacher died days after her dog went missing and she put flyers up hoping for its return . Her daughters were going door to door and passing out flyers . Student at the school Marshaun Williams said that at the beginning of the day she had a great smile on her face . The flyers, which are still posted all over the school, read 'Reward: Missing family member, small black and white dog' and show a photo of the adorable animal. Late Wednesday night, the dog was returned - though the family's mourning process is far from over. Mrs Blomme lived in south Minneapolis, often biking or walking to work, and is survived by her husband and two daughters, ages 6 and 8. Her funeral has been scheduled for Friday morning at the Church of the Holy Name at 3637 11th Ave in South Minneapolis. Her family has established fund in her name and donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch. 'She was the best teacher,' said former student Darrian Lenoir. 'I did my best to try and pass her class. I'm up there now, and I'm happy.' | Lori Blomme taught science at Menlo Park Academy in northeast Minneapolis since 2003 .
The 40-year-old mother of two was upset by her dog's recent disappearance but was otherwise happy and healthy .
On Monday, she collapsed and died of an unknown condition in front of her classroom .
On Wednesday her dog was mysteriously returned . |
25,337 | 47c547d84d3eb0b9a1a2879bdc04ab827a247c9e | What if this is it? After 13 days of searching amid fears that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may never be found, investigators said Thursday that satellites have beamed down a ray of hope -- images of a debris field floating in the southern Indian Ocean that may show wreckage of the jet. It was not immediately clear just how long it would take before investigators could track down just what those images are. Still, "It is probably the best lead we have right now," said John Young, a spokesman for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. Australian authorities poring over images that were shot Sunday spotted the debris floating in one of the world's most remote places -- the southern Indian Ocean more than 1,500 miles off the southwest coast of Australia. The images were brought to the authority's attention Thursday morning, it said. The find warranted attention from the Australian Prime Minister. "Two possible objects related to the search have been identified," Tony Abbott told parliament. But satellites have been wrong about Flight 370 before. And Australian authorities warn that the pictures, too, could end in a goose chase and disappointment. If the photographs do show wreckage of the Boeing 777-200ER that departed Kuala Lumpur on March 8 and never arrived in Beijing, what would be next? Locate . The first mission is to find the "blob," as Young called it. One piece of the debris is 24 meters (79 feet) long. "The size and fact that there are a number located in the same area really makes it worth looking at," he said. He urged caution. "Our experience is that there is debris out there -- from ships, for example, falling overboard," he said. "I don't want to speculate about what they are until we get there and we see them." One expert said that might happen soon. "I would say a day -- guessing," said Capt. Timothy Taylor, president of Tiburon Subsea Services and an ocean search expert. Time is critical, given that the batteries powering the pings emanating from the plane's voice and data recorders go dead after about 30 days. "There's a clock ticking," Taylor said. "Maybe 18 days left." Overcome complications . Complicating the search -- which the Australian Maritime Safety Authority suspended Thursday night and will resume Friday morning -- is the fact that the debris field is probably far away from where it was when it was spotted in satellite images shot four days ago. "It could have drifted a thousand miles," he said. And he noted, too, that the debris may be unrelated. "It could be just a false lead," Taylor told CNN's "New Day." John Blaxland, senior fellow at Australian National University and an expert on Australian radar, agreed. "I'm a little bit pessimistic," he told "New Day." He said the debris might be one of the ubiquitous cargo containers carried by ships around the world. "It's not at all inconceivable that that's exactly what it is," he said, adding that other satellites have been steered to the area to get a better view. "The problem now is we don't know exactly where" it is, he said. And poor visibility has not helped. "It's still really hard, in this kind of environment, to pick out these little semi-submerged blips," he said. "You're looking for something that is potentially not even there anymore." Search . Four planes were involved in Thursday's search, which covered 8,880 square miles (23,000 square kilometers) about 1,600 miles (2,500 kilometers) southwest of Perth, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. An Australian plane has flown over the area, and more planes were on their way, including at least one from the United States and one from New Zealand. But the planes burn much of their fuel just to get to the remote spot, leaving them little time to search. "We are in the most isolated part of the world," Australian Defense Minister David Johnston told Sky News. If pilots do find the field, they would drop a buoy to mark the spot and to transmit data to help ships find it, aviation expert Bill Waldock said. But the area is known for high winds, and white-capped waves could obscure any debris, he added. And on top of that, a storm in the area may have foiled one flyover. The crew of a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion was unable to find the objects, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a tweet. Clouds and rain made things hard to see. Eyeball . "What we're looking for is a confirmation that it does belong to the aircraft, or it does not," Young said. If a ship reaches the suspected wreckage, it would take some of it back to land for inspection, he said. But the expanse of ocean contains a mass of floating garbage from around the world, which could mingle with any plane parts. Recover . In a stroke of luck for investigators, a Norwegian merchant cargo vessel carrying 19 sailors and a cargo of cars reached the suspected debris location and is pitching in on the search. "All men are on deck to continue the search," said Erik Gierchsky, a spokesman for the Norwegian Shipowners Association, in a telephone interview with CNN, adding that they were planning to work through the night in shifts, using lights and binoculars. "It's OK weather, with some fog," he said. The 755-foot (230-meter) Hoegh St. Petersburg is owned by Hoegh Autoliners. It had been headed to Melbourne, Australia, from South Africa when it diverted to help in the search, he said. Its presence opens great possibilities, said former CIA counterterrorism expert Jeff Beatty. It could serve as a base for the salvage teams, especially if it is equipped for helicopter landings, which Gierchsky said might be possible, given that the ship has a flat deck. If refueled in the air, the choppers could carry divers to the ship, and they could search for any debris. Asked how long it would remain on site, Gierchsky said, "It will be there as long as required ... at least all of tomorrow." Another merchant ship arrived in the area Thursday evening, the maritime authority said. In all, six merchant ships have aided in the search since an appeal was issued Monday night. And the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Success was en route to the search area on Thursday. The issue of the remaining lifetime of the batteries powering the cockpit recorder and flight data recorder looms. They were stored inside the tail of the jetliner. If the tail is found, it may have to be disassembled. French rescuers have underscored to Malaysia's leaders the importance of finding the recorders quickly, said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transportation minister. After Air France Flight 447 went down in the Atlantic in 2009, it took two years and a special submarine for investigators to find them. Malaysia does not have that submarine technology, which makes finding the data recorders before the signals fail all the more important, he added. Analyze . The recorders could be invaluable to investigators trying to find out what happened to the flight. The flight data recorder holds about 17,000 pieces of information, said David Soucie, author of "Why Planes Crash: An Accident Investigator Fights for Safe Skies." And then there is the cockpit recording. Though it keeps only two hours of recordings, it too could prove key. "The last two hours of what happened before this aircraft impacted could be really important to determine whether or not there was foul play," he said. Keep an open mind . The searchers have not put all of their resources into hunting for the tantalizing debris. On Thursday, four aircraft continued to search along the northern corridor, and 25 aircraft and 18 ships were searching along the southern corridor, Hishammuddin said. "Until we are certain that we have located MH370, search and rescue operations will continue in both corridors," he said. China was using 21 satellites to search within its borders, the airline said. LIVE: Updates on the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner . | "It's OK weather, with some fog," Shipowners Association spokesman says .
Australian satellites have spotted a field of debris floating in the Indian Ocean .
First, searchers must find the debris and mark the spot .
Second, they must see the debris to determine if it is from Flight 370 . |
226,830 | b1b86b6947ffe33300e691078715ffee1f36c75c | By . Sara Malm . PUBLISHED: . 10:53 EST, 16 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:07 EST, 16 January 2013 . Australian outlaw Ned Kelly will finally be laid to rest, 132 years after he was hanged for murder, despite the location of his head remaining a mystery . His remains, sans head, are to be buried in an unmarked grave, reportedly alongside his mother and siblings, in Greta, near Glenrowan this Sunday. Ned Kelly, who was executed in Melbourne in 1880 for killing three policemen, has become an iconic figure in Australian history, his last words 'such is life', and identification of his remains adding to the legend. Outlawed: Ned Kelly, pictured aged 16, will are finally to be laid to rest, 132 years after he was hanged for murder . Ned Kelly's descendants said today they would hold a private church memorial service on Friday . before the burial in an unmarked grave. His family, the Kelly Gang, became a symbol for social tensions between poor Irish settlers and the wealthy establishment at the time. Although many saw him as a simple criminal, Kelly became a folk hero in the Irish community for standing up to the Anglo-Australian ruling class. Kelly's descendants said the private farewells were in keeping with the outlaw's requests. Pictures of Ned Kelly at Melbourne Jail shortly before his execution in 1880 . 'The descendants of the Kelly family wish to give effect to Ned Kelly's last wish and that he now be buried in consecrated ground with only his family in attendance in order to ensure a private, respectful and dignified funeral,' the family said in a statement. 'The family wish for their privacy to be respected so that they may farewell a very much loved member of their family,' they added. It has previously been reported by . Australian media that Ned Kelly will rest in an unmarked grave in a . small cemetery in a churchyard in Greta, near Glenrowan, north-east of Victoria, where his mother and several of his brothers and sister are also buried. Rest in peace: Ned Kelly's relatives have said they will hold a private church memorial service on Friday before the burial in an unmarked grave on Sunday . Nearly Headless Ned: It is said that the remains of Ned Kelly will be laid to rest in an unmarked grave alongside his mother and several of his siblings, despite his head still missing . Kelly's . remains were first buried in a mass grave at Melbourne jail. When that . closed in 1929, Kelly's bones were exhumed and reburied in another mass . grave at the newer Pentridge Prison. All . the bones buried in Pentridge yard were exhumed in 2009 and Kelly's . skeleton was positively identified in 2011 by scientists after DNA tests . against his great-niece. Kelly's skull remains missing. It was believed to have been separated from his skeleton during the transfer. His . life story inspired the Booker Prize winning novel 'True History of the . Kelly Gang' by Peter Carey, which won the 2001 Booker Prize, and the . late actor Heath Ledger played him in 2003 film Ned Kelly. Edward 'Ned' Kelly was the first son of Irish convict John 'Red' Kelly, who moved to Australia in 1848. Ned was born in Beveridge, just north of Melbourne, some time between June 1854 and June 1855. At the age of 14, Ned was arrested for the first time for assaulting a Chinese pig farmer. Ned had numerous run-ins with the police over the years, for charges ranging from being an accomplice to a bushranger, being in possession of a stolen horse, assault and drunkenness. Ned and other members of his family went into hiding after an incident at their home in which a police officer was injured in a scuffle. Three police officers who were chasing Ned were shot at Stringybark by the outlaw and his brother Dan. The pair robbed two banks before police finally caught up with them. Ned was hanged on November 11 1880. His last words were ‘Such is life’. | Australia's most famous outlaw will finally be buried on Sunday .
Ned Kelly, member of the Kelly Gang, was hanged for murder in 1880 . |
172,084 | 6abad83ad5b7541cbe8cd7201aaea927ed1a4fb6 | By . Lizzie Edmonds . A teenager was late for her own 18th birthday party after a trainee hairdresser spent six hours giving her a 'terrible' and 'lopsided' style. Paige Kearns from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, paid £85 for a shampoo and a blonde dip dye to look her best for the 1960s themed party. Unbeknown to her, the job was given to a trainee stylist. Having arrived at Decisions salon in Basford just after 3pm, she finally left six hours later - with what she describes as 'lopsided' dyed hair. The waitress eventually arrived at her party at 9.30pm - over two-and-a-half hours late. By the time she arrived, her relatives from Wales were leaving to go home. Paige Kearns, pictured on her 18th birthday, right, arrived late to her own party because a trainee hairstylist took six hours to give her a 'lopsided' dip dye, left . The teen says because of the disastrous trip to the hairdressers she 'didn't enjoy her party at all' - which took place on March 15, cost £600 and had taken months to organise. Miss Kearns says the style . has gained her a lot of unwanted attention - with people mocking her . hair in the street. She says she has tried to get a full refund from the salon - who, she claims, have only offered her £40. Now, she is pursuing legal action after the salon 'refused to take any blame' for the style. She said: 'I couldn't believe what they had done - people were laughing at me in the street. 'I was left looking like an Afghan hound dog, it was so humiliating. Your 18th birthday is supposed to be special but it turned into a nightmare for me. 'I thought the hair cut was going to be done by 6pm but I was concerned when the hairdresser asked how to mix the colours. 'It looked like she was just mixing . some paint but I was too shy and scared to say anything - I had no idea . she wasn't qualified to do it. 'I . am known for my long hair and now it is ruined. The colour has gone all . orange and the dip dye is much higher than I wanted and not even . straight. The waitress posted this picture of the style on Facebook shortly after her birthday on March 15. She says she has been mocked in the street for the dip dye which 'makes her look like an Afghan hound' The teen is now taking the salon to court, saying they only offered her a £40 refund and 'refused to take any of the blame' for the style . 'I will have to have about five inches cut off and that will be the shortest I have ever had it. 'I have taken a lot of photos because we are taking the salon to court because they have only agreed to give £40 back. 'The salon manager is refusing to take any blame so it is going all the way to court now.' At the time, the teen took to Facebook to complain about her hairstyle, posting: 'Wow! thank you Decisions hairdressing for producing this three gradient hair colour! 'Putting a level 1 trainee on my hair and I really enjoyed sitting there for 6 hours to miss my own 18th birthday party that cost £600! 'Well done ladies! you really know . about customer service! especially missing the cut, and not even . shampooing my hair! amazing result. Lets put a level 1 on wedding hair! that sounds like an amazing idea doesn’t it!' In . another angry post she added: 'Majorly gutted the hairdressers pretty . much ruined my evening of being 2 hours late to my 18th, nevertheless . was an amazing night thank you to everyone who came and got me drinks, . cards and presents and to my dad who paid for it all, especially my . beatles cake!' Many of Miss Kearns' friends took to Facebook in support. Leanne . Boden - who paid for the teen's hairdo said: 'The . hairdresser said it was nice before we left, she even took herself a tip . and took £90 of my pre-paid money instead of £85... do u think i have . bn robbed?' The salon in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent. Salon manager Candice Lindsay says the stylist behind the look has apologised and the family have been offered a partial refund . 'I . paid £18 for mine aswell, 6 hours later it had all fallen down so i did . it myself but i don’t mind, they had created such a homely atmosphere, . they had even placed a couple of their hyperactive children in the salon . to run around moaning n messing with everything including the foils in . paige’s hair... i felt right at home. 'She . was just learning her level two, but was totally unsupervised, she . asked for help several times but was refused it as she “had to do it . some time."' The stylist behind the 'terrible' cut, Sarah-Jane Mascia, has said she is 'upset' the teen didn't like her hair and that she wasn't qualified to do the style . Olivia . Edge said: 'They shouldn’t have put a level 1 on your hair not even . meant to do anything on level one other than the basic hairdressing . stuff. 'Cutting and . colouring is level 2 this is absolutely disgusting that a professional . hairdressers would even do this to someones hair. If this was me id be . demanding every little bit off my money back. Vikki Loraso said: 'Go back and demand your money back that is appalling paige!' Amy . Statham said: 'God I did a better job doing this myself! Make sure they . pay paige! Disgusting. Luckily on the picture I saw of you you still . looked lovely.' Ritta Baker said: 'Oh dear. Wouldn’t have had that prob if u came to my salon xxx.' The stylist behind the 'terrible' cut was Sarah-Jane Mascia, 29, who responded to the criticism by saying: 'I’m studying for my level two qualification and this was level three work. It’s almost like running before you can walk. 'I was upset because I did my best and I know it wasn’t good enough but someone else should have taken over. 'When I looked at the hair I thought the colour was fine. It was the dip dye that looked bad because it had been rushed. I feel let down and everyone at college knows it was me who did the girl’s hair.' Salon manager Candice Lindsay, 27, said: 'I was not in the salon at the time. The junior stylist was very upset after the family complained as she knew she had made a mistake and she apologised. I offered the family a partial refund, which they refused.' | Paige Kearns booked shampoo and blonde dip dye for 18th birthday party .
Was given a trainee stylist at Decisions salon in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent .
Stylist: 'Didn't shampoo her hair and gave her lopsided dye' she says .
Teen left salon six hours later - turning up to party over two hours late .
'I’ve had abuse from girls in street telling me how bad it looks,' she says .
Teen is taking the salon to court after they 'wouldn't offer full refund'
Trainee behind the style says she wasn't qualified to do the style . |
35,973 | 661dcb04dae4747cd0f38320e2b1901f1ca3f1bb | By . Chris Parsons . PUBLISHED: . 03:45 EST, 30 April 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 04:37 EST, 30 April 2012 . Staff on P&O cruise ships paid just 75p an hour are having their tips withheld unless they reach certain performance targets, it was reported today. In a move designed to make crew 'more responsive', staff are having their bonuses cut unless their work matches pre-agreed customer feedback ratings, some of which are more than 96 per cent. The extreme end of the scale sees junior waiters on a cruise from Southampton earning just £250 a month, with a possible £150 in bonuses, according to the Guardian. Pay package: Crewmembers on P&O ships will have their bonuses withheld unless they meet certain performance targets . Documents seen by the newspaper claim this pay, for 11-hour shifts, seven days a week, represents a 'significantly increased basic salary'. David Dingle, CEO of Carnival UK, the firm in charge of P&O cruises, told the Guardian that customers were 'reluctant to pay the recommended level of tipping', claiming the move had made crew 'much happier.' He said: 'You've got staff from eastern Europe in restaurants in Britain – why? Because it's great money. 'Yes, the minimum wage is more than we pay, but this is a global industry, Our businesses have to remain competitive. P&O boss DAvid Dingle defended the pay move, saying it has made crew 'much happier' 'Let's not forget the level of take-home pay for our staff, the vast majority of whom come from India. Look at hotels in Goa. The earning ability is greater on our ships.' Many restaurants have already phased out cash tipping in favour of electronic tips which are automatically added to customers' bills. However, P&O bosses have opted to remove the risk of tips not being paid by paying bonuses if targets are met. Mr Dingle said the new measures have . been handled 'fairly and decently' to make sure staff pay is protected, . but the move is likely to attract criticism for the treatment of already . low-earning crewmembers. The new system will see bonus payments withheld if performances do not match certain customer feedback ratings. For . example, cabin stewards whose work performance does not match a 92 per . cent approval rating ave bonuses worth 15 per cent of their salary held . back. | Staff must meet customer feedback ratings to receive bonuses .
P&O chief claims move has made staff 'much happier' |
273,283 | ee02c905cd27f18e42442b9a7fb32f9c5508f862 | (CNN) -- Thirty-nine years ago, Roe v. Wade was decided. With the passage of nearly four decades, the landscape of abortion has changed in a way that should trouble even those who consider themselves pro-choice. Right now, 10 states and the District of Columbia have no statutory time limit on when abortions can be performed, while five more states allow abortion up to the end of the second trimester (about 27 or 28 weeks). Yet, we know that by 28 weeks, the great majority of fetuses would survive birth. In other words, we allow the killing of viable infants in our country. This is a fact that progressives (including me) would rather not address. As two Maryland abortion doctors face murder charges for allegedly performing late-term abortions, the issue now has a pair of human faces. Drs. Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley were arrested after the discovery of what are alleged to be several viable fetuses in a freezer chest. The story only got stranger on New Year's Day, when a clinic apparently owned by Brigham burned to the ground in Florida. Important facts are still unknown, and the doctors have asserted their innocence regarding any late-term abortions. There has been relatively little discussion of this case in progressive circles. It's no wonder that we would rather look away. The abortion debate has largely devolved into professional activists screaming at each other on television and at street protests. We don't want to be like those people. We are also haunted by the ragged remains of the Supreme Court opinion in Roe v. Wade. Despite being disavowed by subsequent opinions and some of the individual justices, one part of that precedent lives on in the statutes of some states and the practices of several doctors: The assertion in Roe's majority opinion that "viability is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks)." The scientific claim that viability (the ability of a fetus to live outside the womb) "usually" occurs at 28 weeks has been undermined by medical advances over the past 38 years. Children who would have died if born late in the second trimester in 1973 would more than likely live if they were born now. A Swedish study in 2009 found that preterm babies born late in the second trimester who are given intensive care survive at surprising rates: 53% of those born at 23 weeks live, 67% at 24 weeks, and by 25 weeks, 82% of the babies survive. (Sweden's health care system makes it possible to reliably track survival rates, but the type of care provided there is similar to that available in the United States). In the same way that the law had to change to accommodate advances in DNA evidence that can exonerate those on death row, state laws must change to accommodate that with modern medical care, a child born at 27 weeks is very likely not only going to live, but live a fairly normal life. We progressives tend to revere science, and there are few scientific proofs more convincing than those former preterm infants who live and thrive all around us. Though late-term abortions are only a small fraction of the total number of terminated pregnancies, it remains a defining issue for our society. As someone who works against the death penalty, trying to save the lives of people who have committed murder, I have a moral obligation to set my feet, breathe in deeply and honestly admit that prosecutors are morally in the right to pursue cases where they believe viable fetuses are being aborted in violation of the law. A life is ended, and that is murder, if the facts so prove. Some will see any accommodation on abortion as "appeasement" of conservatives, but this attitude is nothing less than the adoption of hard-line evidence-ignoring tactics that progressives so often (and properly) decry in groups such as the National Rifle Association. We may disagree about whether life begins at conception, but it is now irrefutable that life is viable at 27 weeks. To deny this plainly observable fact is akin to denying the existence of evolution or global warming. Much as Troy Davis (who was executed in Georgia last year despite troubling exculpatory evidence) and Hank Skinner (who received a stay of his execution in Texas to allow DNA testing to be pursued) personified the problems with the death penalty, there are those who do so just as starkly when we ponder late-term abortion. For me, that person is named Rees. On a hot summer day in Waco, Texas, his proud grandfather carried him across the street for me to meet, months after his birth at about 24 weeks. His eyes were clear in the Texas sun, he was wrapped in a blue-and-white blanket, and he was surrounded by love. He was, and is, a person, and that matters as much as Troy Davis and Hank Skinner. Follow CNN Opinion on Twitter . Join the conversation on Facebook . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mark Osler. | Mark Osler: 39 years after Roe v. Wade, time limits on abortion should be rethought .
Some states have no statutory time limit; others allow abortion up to the end of second trimester .
Osler says medical technology makes some fetuses viable in second trimester . |
105,399 | 13e5a6ee512381572a41b836e651160d25f22644 | (CNN) -- Taoufik Makhloufi stormed to gold in the 1500-meters, making the most of his reinstatement after initially being thrown out of the Olympics for not trying hard enough. The Algerian middle distance runner was expelled from the Games on Monday after the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) said he didn't give his all in heats for the 800m. Makhloufi had tried to withdraw from the heat but didn't meet the deadline. He completed just 200m of the race before pulling out, prompting the IAAF to act. But after evidence submitted by a medical officer from the Games organizers, LOCOG, Makhloufi was reinstated and made the most of his reprieve by taking his first Olympic title. Day eleven of the Olympics as it happened . American Leonel Manzano grabbed the silver medal while Morocco's Abdelati Iguider took bronze. Sally Pearson asserted her dominance in the women's 100m hurdles by winning Australia's first track and field gold of the 2012 Games. Pearson, the reigning world champion, set a new Olympic record time of 12.35 seconds, narrowly beating defending champion Dawn Harper of the United States while another American, Kellie Wells, claimed bronze. "I don't even know how to describe it because it's like a dream right now," she told the host broadcaster. "I really wanted this tonight, I've worked so hard for the last two years. "My goals were last year to win the world champs and this year to win the Olympic Games and I've done that and I couldn't be happier." Robert Harting won the men's discus final with a throw of 68.18m to hand Germany their first athletics gold of the Games. The 27-year-old kept up his formidable record in the sport, having not been beaten in two years, and celebrated by jumping some of the hurdles that were on the track during his lap of honor. Ehsan Hadadi came second to give Iran their first ever Olympic medal in athletics while defending champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia took the bronze medal. In the men's high jump, Russia's Ivan Ukhov took gold with a leap of 2.38 meters, edging America's Erik Kynard into second. Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim, Derek Drouin of Canada and Great Britain's Robbie Grabarz shared the bronze. Usain Bolt, who successfully retained his 100-meter title on Sunday, began the defense of his 200m title easing through his heat, shortly before fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake. Team USA's Maurice Mitchell clinched the third heat, while France's Christophe Lemaitre clocked the fastest time of the morning to win his heat. The women's 200-meter semifinals were also held ahead of the final Wednesday. American sprinters Sanya Richards Ross, Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter will likely battle with Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce for the medals after clocking fast times to qualify. | Taoufik Makhloufi wins gold in the 1500m after being reinstated to the Games .
Algerian was initially disqualified from Olympics for not trying hard enough in 800m .
Australia's Sally Pearson takes gold in the 100m hurdles in an Olympic record time .
Russia's Ivan Ukhov wins men's high jump, Germany's Robert Harting the discus . |
51,134 | 90aebb8748f98be76884b7a4e641f3bc173c78e3 | A trainee nun was kidnapped and gang raped for a week by three men in a suspected revenge attack, Indian media have reported. The 22-year-old was allegedly lured to a train station by her cousins and then held captive and raped over days because they blame her family for their father's murder. It is the latest in a series of appalling rape cases in India this year since a student was gang raped and died from her horrific injuries on a Delhi bus in December. The trainee nun was lured to meet her cousins and held captive and raped for a week (file picture) The suspects dropped her at Brahampur station and warned her not to report the attack to anyone . The nun told police she was due to meet her cousins at a train station near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, southern India, after they claimed their mother was ill. However, she says she was then taken to a nearby village where she repeatedly attacked. The suspects later dropped her back at the station and told her not to report the incident. The woman's cousins Jotindra Sobhasundar, 30, and Tukuna Sobhasundar, 28, were arrested on Sunday, according to The Times of India. A third suspect was detained on Monday during a series of raids in Kandhamal district. Local media said the nun's brother was questioned in connection with the murder of one the suspects. The attack allegedly happened between July 5 and 11 but has only been made public this week. Sexual violence against women in India has triggered nationwide protests and law changes . It has been condemned by the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, was quoted by Catholic Culture, as saying: 'This gang rape is physical and emotional terrorism. 'Rape is an abhorrent crime and an abominable transgression against the honour of women and reflects the abysmal state of woman in our society, community and nation.' He also accused government agencies of 'appalling apathy'. The death of the Delhi student in December sparked mass protests against the government's initial response to the attack and demonstrators called for better protection for women. This week four Indian girls, aged 12 to 14, were abducted from a care home and gang raped by up to 20 armed men. The children were kidnapped from a hostel at Lawada village in Pakur district. | Trainee nun, 22, said she visited cousins after they said their mother was ill .
Was held captive for a week and repeatedly raped by three men .
Three people, including her two cousins, have been arrested .
Latest in string of appalling rape cases reported in India this year . |
255,006 | d613e3c0d4711e97f756243024d44a48a17782c1 | Click here for all the latest news . Manchester United will pursue Edinson Cavani in the summer after establishing that his club Paris Saint-Germain would not countenance a sale this month. Sir Alex Ferguson is understood to have called his former United centre half Laurent Blanc to check on the Uruguay striker's situation and the PSG coach said they would not listen to bids in this window, but would be willing to discuss the possibility at the end of the season. It proves how comfortable Moyes is with Ferguson's presence that he is utilising his predecessor's network of contacts to take the next stage in rebuilding United. Target man: Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani has emerged as a summer target for Man United . On the move? It's understood PSG would be willing to discuss Cavani's (second left) departure in summer . It's good to talk: Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to PSG boss and former United player Laurent Blanc about Cavani . Moyes was interested in Cavani in the summer but shelved the idea of a bid as he pursued midfielders and a left back. Injuries and form have dictated a world-class striker is required though and Cavani's dissatisfaction with life in Paris means he is a prime candidate. That does not mean Moyes wants to offload Wayne Rooney, however. United are prepared to bite the bullet and let Rooney run down his contract until 2015 if he continues to turn down talks on a new deal. He has worked well with Moyes and the hope is he will be convinced by what the manager looks to bring in in the summer. Contract rebel? Man Utd are prepared to let Wayne Rooney (right) run down his contract until 2015 . Silence: Rooney's representatives have so far delayed contract talks with Man Utd officials . Suitor: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is a known admirer of Rooney and is expected to bid again for the striker . Chelsea remain keen on Rooney and will bid again for the England striker but United plan to stick to their stance that he is not for sale. United are interested in Juan Mata but a swap is unlikely. They believe the player would push to move to Old Trafford if a bid was made but, likewise, Chelsea would prefer to sell abroad, if at all. With that in mind United, are continuing to look elsewhere but Moyes is wary of what pressure would fall on the shoulders of any signing that is made now. Form and morale should be lifted this week by the return of Rooney to the first-team squad, while Robin van Persie is back at Carrington today after his weekend trip to Holland. Final details: Everton expect to finalise Lacina Traore's loan move from Monaco to Goodison Park shortly . Difficult deal: Everton have struggled to strike a deal with Standard Liege for Michy Batshuayi (left) The presence of PSV Eindhoven's fitness coach Arno Philips in recent weeks has not gone down too well among all sports science staff at United but there is an acceptance that he is a man the player has grown to trust over his career. Which Premier League defenders were involved in such an angry training ground spat that the mother of one of the youth team players decided to complain to local police? The players have since settled their differences - for now. Everton hope to wrap up the signing of Lacina Traore on loan from Monaco but are facing an increasingly difficult task to sign No 1 target Michy Batshuayi of Standard Liege. Roberto Martinez was keen to sign the 20-year-old Belgian until Everton were told his £7million clause would have to be paid in full. That has delayed their bid until the summer but an extra complication is that Borussia Dortmund have made a move to sign the striker. The clubs met in a friendly in La Manga last week and Dortmund officials are ready to pay the asking price. Liege president Roland Duchatelet insists Batshuayi will not be leaving the club this month. Benfica, as well as Arsenal, have also shown interest. When Batshuayi was asked whether he will play the next five months for Liege, he answered: 'For sure!' However, the player himself told Het Laatste Nieuws: 'The Premier League and the Bundesliga are my favourite destinations. Benfica is a big club, but I'm not really convinced by the Portuguese league.' Prospect: Arsenal were spotted scouting Lille's Pape Souare in their match against St Etienne on Friday . Arsenal scouts were at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard on Friday to watch Lille left-back Pape Souare against St Etienne. The Senegal defender has impressed this season and has scored three goals in 20 Ligue 1 appearances. Meanwhile, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he is not 'particularly interested' in signing Juventus' Mirko Vucinic. The 30-year-old striker's agent was reportedly heading for London on Monday but instead he is expected to join Inter Milan on loan. Ailing Inter have been frustrated in their attempts to sign Pablo Osvaldo from Southampton and have offered Fredy Guarin to Juventus in a bid to make Vucinic's transfer permanent. Should Guarin stay, Juve may try again for Nani at Manchester United but the £16m price may still beyond their January budget. In safe hands: Manchester City are considering swooping for Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez . Manchester City will monitor developments with Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez. The 32-year-old, installed as No 1 ahead of Iker Casillas by Jose Mourinho last year, is wanted by Borussia Dortmund and City may enter the bidding if there is any sign of a sale. Costel Pantilimon is ready to leave in the summer and Lopez would be perfect competition for Joe Hart. | Manchester United believe PSG will consider offer for striker Edinson Cavani this summer .
Sir Alex Ferguson has discussed the transfer with PSG boss and former Old Trafford defender Laurent Blanc .
United are prepared to let Wayne Rooney run down his contract until 2015 if he continues to delay talks over a new deal .
Everton hope to tie up the loan signing of Lacina Traore from Monaco but are struggling to strike a deal with Standard Liege for Michy Batshuayi .
Arsenal are scouting Lille full back Pape Souare .
Manchester City are monitoring developments with Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez . |
169,062 | 66b935a2299f8dd802c8db17daaca33531ec301f | Martin Skrtel has warned Liverpool’s top-four rivals they should be ready to fight as they look to take momentum from his ‘most important’ goal. The Slovakian defender had eight staples put into a head wound following a clash with Olivier Giroud but carried on with a bandage to score the equaliser deep into injury time in Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Anfield. Liverpool have a chance to push on over Christmas with a fixture away to Burnley followed by home games against Swansea and Leicester. Martin Skrtel's last-gasp goal earned Liverpool a deserved point against Arsenal on Sunday . Skrtel feels the full force of Olivier Giroud's boot early in the second half at Anfield . Skrtel was in obvious pain as the blood poured from his head, but the Slovakian still played on . Skrtel was treated on the pitch for six minutes after being caught by Giroud's boot . The4 Slovakian posted this picture on Instagram on Sunday night of his head wound with eight staples . Skrtel knows they have to start showing consistency to fulfil their Champions League ambitions. Using Arsenal as the barometer for fourth place, though, Skrtel insists Liverpool should not feel daunted, as he maintains there was enough evidence on show on Sunday to prove that Brendan Rodgers’ side have the better prospects for the second half of the campaign. ‘We showed a great performance, we moved the ball well and scored two goals but unfortunately we conceded two as well,’ said Skrtel. ‘It was not an easy game, it was tough as it always is against Arsenal, but if we carry on in this way it can be good for us. In the last three games against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Arsenal we have shown great performances and we need to keep going this way. ‘We showed spirit, fight and desire. It is a good point but we wanted more. To get a point was reward for fighting to the end. Skrtel leaps above the Arsenal backline to power home a late leveller with his head and claim a point . The Liverpool defender celebrates his last-minute goal as the crowd go wild at Anfield . ‘The goal and the performance can help turn things around because there has been a lot of criticism of us and I hope it will change and be better in the second half of the season.’ Of his injury, Skrtel added: ‘It was sore afterwards but I was glad I could carry on and be there to the end. I had eight staples. Staples again! I spoke to the doctor on the pitch and he said it would be all right to carry on and I am glad I stayed there.’ Skrtel, who has 18 months left on his contract, is one of 13 defensive players with doubts over their long-term futures at the club. | Martin Skrtel scored late equaliser in 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday .
Defender needed eight staples in his head after clash with Olivier Giroud .
Slovakia international insists that the Reds' performances are improving . |
116,604 | 22837232b4b970b7501bc92f51902cae1a0c3580 | By . Ashley Collman . A Massachusetts hospital is under investigation after two women died giving birth to healthy children within a month of each other. Maternal deaths in the United States are quite rare and happened just three times in the state last year. Colleen Celia, 32, died last week during a planned Caesarian section at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth. She was preceded in death by Christie Fazio, 30, who died on December 14. According to family, the two women were able to hold their children before passing away. Left behind: Paul Celia (left) and John Fazio (right) became widowers within a month of each other after their wives Colleen Celia and Christie Fazio died in childbirth. Above, Mr Celia holds daughter Mya and Mr Fazio holds son Johnathan . Under investigation: The South Shore Hospital in Weymouth is being investigated by the state public health department over the deaths . On Sunday, the hospital released a statement saying that their staff did all they could in attempting to save the women. 'It is too early to know the exact nature of the underlying factors that led to these tragic outcomes,' the statement read. 'All signs suggest that the two situations were unrelated, unanticipated and unpreventable.' Hospitals are required to report maternal deaths and other serious injuries within seven days and file an additional follow-up report after 30 days. Mrs Celia, a patient coordinator at Vanguard Medical, was already a mother of three children, ages 14, 9 and 6. She had given birth to her other children vaginally but delivered daughter Mya Rose via c-section after her pregnancy was ruled high-risk. High risk: 32-year-old Colleen Celia had previously given birth to three other children, but scheduled a Caesarian section at South Shore Hospital last week since her pregnancy was deemed 'high-risk' Mother taken: Mrs Celia left behind four children including her newborn Mya. Her previous children range in age from 6 to 14 . Doctors told her family that she died from an amniotic fluid embolism which happens when there is a blockage in the bloodstream. Her husband Paul Celia, 31, was in the room as she slipped away. 'I wouldn’t leave her,' Mr Celia told the Boston Herald. 'They tried everything they could to save her.' Mr Celia says he's not angry at the hospital, but he would like to make sure it doesn't happen again. It was unclear whether Mrs Fazio underwent a c-section or vaginal birth. She was able to briefly hold her son Jonathan before doctors noticed she was bleeding and tried to save her. Meeting her son: Christie Fazio died on December 14. She was briefly able to hold her son Jonathan before doctors noticed her bleeding and tried to save her . Her husband John Fazio, 27, also spoke with the Herald and said he is dealing with her death by taking comfort that she is 'with the lord'. Mr Fazio also treasures the newborn son she left behind. 'I definitely see Christie’s face in him,' Fazio said. 'I get strength from that smile.' Mr Celia echoed the same sentiment, calling newborn daughter Mya a gift. Hospital staff are also having a hard time dealing with the deaths. Previous gifts: John Fazio says he takes comfort in his newborn son who has Christie's face. 'I get strength from that smile,' he said. Spokesman Sarah Darcy told the Enterprise News that the maternity ward 'has been understandably devastated'. 'Their focus right now is on supporting these two families,' Ms Darcy said Sunday. The Board of Registration in Medicine lists no discipline or malpractice decision against any obstetricians at the hospital. Maternal deaths happen just 650 times a year in the U.S. Maternal deaths have been on the rise and are double what they were 25 years ago, but most of that is contributed to better reporting and environmental reasons. | Colleen Celia, 32, and Christie Fazio, 30, died in childbirth at South Shore Hospital just one month apart .
Mrs Celia died of an amniotic fluid embolism during a scheduled Caesarian section .
Mrs Fazio was able to briefly hold her newborn son before doctors noticed she was bleeding and tried to save her .
The state public health department is investigating but the hospital believes the incidents were 'unrelated, unanticipated, and unpreventable'
Only three mothers died in childbirth last year in Massachusetts . |
153,165 | 51ea95a60ccaa96326cb4fc89977e309be333451 | (CNN) -- If you are pregnant, ask your doctor questions about their delivery habits long before you go into labor. Several studies now suggest doctors may be performing too many cesarean sections. Doctors may be performing them based more out of habit, training, expediency or worry about lawsuits than out of medical necessity, according to the studies. A surgical birth, while generally safe, does carry more health risks and more expense. If a woman has a C-section once, it also increases the chances she'll need another if she gets pregnant again. Risks go up with each procedure. The latest information comes from Consumer Reports. The nonprofit ranked hospitals based on the number of C-sections performed at each. Looking at hospital billing records the authors found the number of procedures performed vary wildly -- even at hospitals in the same town. In Texas, for instance, 15% of births at El Paso's University Medical Center are C-sections; four miles away, at Sierra Medical Center, the rate is more than double that at 37%. The Denver Health Medical Center earned Consumer Report's highest rating for low rate of C-sections. Doctors delivered 8% of babies by C-section; at Denver's Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, by comparison, 20% of the low-risk deliveries were C-sections. The report looked at more than 1,500 hospitals in 22 states. Not all states make such information available -- something Consumer Reports said it hopes will change. Overall, 66% of the hospitals in the report earned the organization's lowest or second-lowest rating for a high rate of C-sections. Only 12% got either of the organization's top scores for a low rate. Nation gets "C" for preterm birth rates . "The variation is what gets you, that really is the thing," said Doris Peter, director of Consumer Reports' Health Ratings Center. "If you compare peer hospitals in urban areas that treat the same kind of patients -- meaning they share similar socioeconomic issues -- to have wildly different rates suggests that there is a problem here." Sometimes C-sections are medically necessary, meaning either the life of the mother or her fetus would be endangered by a vaginal birth. But several studies found surgical births are being performed for low-risk pregnancies, too. C-sections are generally considered safe, compared with vaginal births, but the surgery carries risks, including infection, increased bleeding, reactions to anesthesia and blood clots, according to the Mayo Clinic. The rates vary regionally as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More C-sections are performed in the South compared with the Mountain States, the West Coast and the Upper Midwest, which tend to have the lowest rates. The South does have higher diabetes and obesity rates. Both lead to more medically challenged deliveries, as does the mother's age. The older she is, the more complications she may have. Overall nearly one out of three women now give birth by C-section, according to the CDC. That number has made medical associations uncomfortable. Making note of other studies that look at regional variations in surgical birth rates, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine issued guidelines in March. These are intended to help doctors make more informed decisions about which mothers need C-sections. The high number of surgical births, plus the fact that fewer women or children die these days during the childbirth process, "raises significant concern that cesarean delivery is overused," according to the recommendations. Definition of "term" pregnancy changing . Dr. Aaron Caughey, lead author of the report and recommendations, said he hopes these guidelines will raise awareness about this issue. "Over the next five years, I would hope we will see a slow decline in the rate," Caughey said. But it "will be contingent on more people embracing the message and will have to involve people at the grass-roots level doing things in their practice that changes this trend." The medical community started to see the number of C-sections going up during the 1970s when there was an increase in the ability to monitor the fetus' heartbeat. "We didn't always know precisely how to interpret the data," Caughey said, adding at the time there was a "general abandonment of more aggressive vaginal deliveries." The medical community still needs better research on fetal heart rates, he said. Monitoring the heart rate can tell a doctor if a fetus is in distress. Doctors also do C-sections if they believe labor is "going on too long," according to the recommendations. However, that decision may be based on outdated research, according to Consumer Reports and other studies. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine do recommend that "normal" labor should be a longer process than initially thought, and concluded doctors "should be more patient in the first and second phase of labor." Doctors should not induce labor unless "it's an absolute medical necessity," according to the recommendations. Encouraging a woman to give birth before her body is ready increases the likelihood she'll need a surgical birth. Doctors often perform C-sections if there is a possibility the baby will be large. The new guidelines said that may not always be warranted. A baby should be more than 11 pounds before inducing labor. "Everyone can do better," Caughey said. Consumer Reports' Peter agrees, saying that the women she talks to often don't know the extra health risks of having a C-section. The best and worst place to give birth . "We want to get a dialogue going," Peter said. "We want the patient to go to her doctor and say, 'I'd like for us to find ways to avoid a C-section if possible.' Find a doctor that meets your needs in all practice patterns." Most doctors likely will not know the number of C-sections they perform, Caughey said. Even if a doctor does know it, the rate of the surgical deliveries they perform still may not give patients the perspective they would need. A doctor doing general rounds, for instance, could have to finish up a procedure another doctor started. Or a doctor could be seeing a disproportionately older, heavier and sicker population, which would affect his or her rates of C-sections. Caughey suggests women ask doctors about their general philosophy on C-sections. "I think a healthy dialogue is always important for any kind of medical care," he said. | C-section rates vary wildly among hospitals, Consumer Reports finds .
Nearly one out of three women gives birth by C-section, the CDC says .
C-sections carry higher health risks and expenses . |
162,279 | 5dcf81a4edbac62ce190b37ae510202352c8a944 | By . Lucy Crossley . PUBLISHED: . 02:29 EST, 8 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 06:13 EST, 8 January 2014 . A single police force arrested 2,000 criminal suspects from 100 different countries in just 12 months, new figures have revealed. Details of the arrests, revealed in a Freedom Of Information Act request to Kent Police, have prompted criticism over the country's free borders and a lack of control over who is allowed to enter the UK. The majority of non-UK citizens held for . crimes in the county have come from Eastern Europe - particularly . Lithuania and Poland, the figures for 2012 to 2013 reveal. Global problem: Kent Police arrested 2,000 criminal suspects from 100 different countries in just 12 months . The figures show that 13 per cent of those arrested and charged last year were born abroad. And six per cent of the total arrested were from Eastern Europe, including 230 Lithuanians, 213 Poles, 208 Romanians, 162 Slovaks and 79 Czechs. Polish nationals have been the largest non-UK community in Kent for many years, with the latest census, carried out in 2011, revealing there were 10,357 Polish people in the county. Influx: It has been predicted that as many as 50,000 people from Romania and Bulgaria will head to the UK every year to live and work after restrictions were lifted earlier this month. Pictured are Romanians checking in their luggage for a flight to Britain . Lithuanians and Poles head the table of arrested non-British nationals in Kent . The . numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians is now expected to rise after . access restrictions to the UK labour market were lifted for migrants . from both countries. In . the light of these changes it has been predicted that as many as 50,000 . people from those two nations will head to the UK every year to live . and work. Altogether 14,842 people were arrested and charged with at least one offence in the county in the 12 months from October 2012. The highest number of those arrested (12,960 or 87 per cent) were UK citizens. With a number of ports including Dover and Folkestone, officers in Kent have become accustomed to arresting people from all corners of the globe, including such far-flung places as Nigeria, India and Afghanistan. Ukip councillor Cllr Lee Burgess, Kent County Council representative for Swale Central, said: 'No one nationality is more disposed to committing crime than any other. 'But it's logical that if Bulgarians and Romanians start making up a larger proportion of the population, then the crime statistics will go up among those communities. 'I'm more concerned that free borders means we will have no control over who comes here. 'We may get the doctors and nurses we need and rely on, but we might also get the undesirables which we can send back, but can't stop coming back.' A Kent County Council spokeswoman said the arrival of migrants from around the world had for some time put pressures on local services. She said: 'Part of the reason for the wide variety of people settling in Kent is because of the Channel ports and also because of the county's closeness to London.' Port of call: Kent is home to the busy Port of Dover, through which many migrants arrive in the UK . | Majority of non-UK citizens held for crimes from Eastern Europe .
UK suspects make up 87% of the 14,842 arrested and charged in county .
Ukip councillor raises fears over free borders and lack of migration controls . |
200,819 | 8ff833424999546c0e17b904f034b85f9444a9e4 | A millionaire's wife who blamed their pre-nup for ending her marriage was actually having an affair with her cousin's husband, it was claimed today. Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis, 39, from Long Island, famously got her pre-nup agreement overturned last month after claiming her tycoon husband Peter Petrakis coerced her into accepting it four days before their lavish wedding in June 1998. But Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis began having an affair with the Steve Houraney, the husband of her then-pregnant cousin Ailsa Houraney in 2007, according to Mrs Houraney. Scroll down for video . Claims: Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis, 37, from Long Island, claims her husband Peter Petrakis, 41, coerced her into signing the document four days before their luxury wedding in June 1998 . Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis claimed she had been forced to sign a pre-nup by her husband Peter four days before their wedding in June 1998 . Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis is said to have had an affair with Steve Houraney, pictured above, the husband of her then-pregnant cousin Ailsa Houraney in 2007 . Mrs Houraney told the New York Post that after the affair was discovered Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis, who had been maid of honor . at the Houraneys' wedding: ‘called a meeting of her and my family and . admitted everything.' Mrs Houraney said: 'I want people to know the truth. The prenup didn’t break up her marriage — she did. ‘Liz said, "Steve and I are in love, and you’re going to have to get over it." ‘I felt I got punked by Ashton Kutcher. It was like a bad dream. I said, "Get over it? Get out of my house!" ‘I don’t know why my cousin would ever . do this to me. It was very hurtful, it was a betrayal. She destroyed two families and all the kids.’ Alisa Houraney said Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis had bedded . her husband, who was the best friend of Peter Petrakis, when the . Houraneys were still newlyweds. Both Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis and Mr Houraney admit the affair, but she denies it ended her marriage, while Mr Houraney said their sexual relationship was 'probably the last nail in the coffin' of the Petrakis' marriage. Sometimes acting as her own lawyer during the proceedings Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis now heads up her own company called Divorce Prep Experts. She is seen her in a promotional video . Defiant: Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis said her husband promised to 'tear up' the document after the couple had children and vowed to put their Old Brookville home under both their names . Peter Petrakis refused to comment on Alisa Houraney’s claims. In an 'unprecedented' ruling last month, an appellate panel decided Peter Petrakis, 41, had 'fraudulently induced' his wife to sign and that his 'credibility was suspect.' Calling the document 'a knife in my heart from Day One,' she testified that Mr Petrakis threatened to cancel the wedding if . she didn’t sign the agreement, reported the New York Post. He made the threat even though her father already paid out . $40,000 for their reception. The agreement stated that Mr Petrakis would keep everything in his name if they split up. He had transformed a string of smoke shops into a $20 million commercial . real-estate empire. Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis said her husband promised to 'tear up' the document after the couple had children. He also vowed . to put their Old Brookville home under both their names. But Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis, who is a stay at home mother, said that he failed to carry out his promise, even after they couple had twin sons and a daughter. Peter Petrakis, left at a Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Long Island event, and right his wife Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis . On February 20, a Brooklyn Appellate Court panel unanimously affirmed two Nassau County court decisions, saying Mr Petrakis, 'fraudulently induced' his wife to sign the prenuptial agreement and found his 'credibility to be suspect.' Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis admitted having an affair with her cousin's husband but claimed it did not cause her marriage to end . Mrs Cioffi-Petrakis' lawyer, Dennis . D’Antonio said the decision 'is unprecedented, vacating a pre-nup on the . basis of a verbal promise,' even though a clause in the contract says . there were no verbal promises. 'It . resets the bar. It’s an entirely different landscape out there in . regard to prenups. I’ve been inundated with calls. Spouses who are . challenging pre-nups now have a leg to stand on,' Ms D’Antonio said. The pair will now begin divorce proceedings. Sometimes acting as her own lawyer during the proceedings Cioffi-Petrakis . now heads up her own company called Divorce Prep Experts which counsels . people divorcing with prenuptial agreements. The company promises to 'help one of the most overlooked groups in our population, those facing divorce.' In . a video posted on the website she is seen holding signs up to the . camera reading 'Divorce has robbed me' and 'I am a victim.' She also appeared on national television . after being interviewed on the Anderson Cooper show about her story and . her new business. The case will hold significance for many Americans who are fighting prenupital agreements. Long-term divorce lawyer Vanessa Lloyd Platt who was not involved in the case said of the ruling: 'This new case however of Elizabeth . Cioffi-Petrakis introduces a new principle in America that if there has . been a misrepresentation ie he was said to have fraudulently induced the . wife to sign the prenup on the basis that he would put the house in her . name and would make certain provision for her and did not, it will be . set aside. 'What this means is if the husband makes a promise that . induces the prenup and does not keep it, it is now open to the American . Courts to set aside the prenup. This is very new and very . controversial.' | Elizabeth Cioffi-Petrakis claims .
her husband coerced her to sign pre-nup .
She admits affair with Steve Houraney husband of her cousin Ailsa .
Mrs Petrakis was maid of honor at the Houraneys' wedding . |
187,608 | 7ef4da2bf178cbcb992d40ec14f5afe1166bc6d9 | A customer who bought a Big Mac meal in Japan was shocked to discover a human tooth in the fries - in the latest food safety scandal that has led to plummeting sales in the country this year. Japanese officials apologized to the customer for the incident, which occurred in August last year, and said none of the employees at the branch in question had lost a tooth. They added there were no signs the tooth had been fried - and said they are investigating how it came to be in the fries. Scroll down for video . A customer in Japan who bought a Big Mac meal was horrified to discover a human tooth in the fries . Senior executive Takehiko Aoki said: 'To make such cases zero is our goal. We are doing our utmost to tackle them, one by one.' He added: 'I will eat McNuggets. I will feed McNuggets to my children. I have no doubts.' McDonald's is extremely popular in Japan with more than 3,000 restaurants. But a series of recent scares, including customers finding fillings and plastic in chicken nuggets, has led to the company reporting its first annual operating loss in Japan. Sales for January fell by a record 39%, and over the course of 2014, losses totaled 6.7billion yen - or $57 million. This is compared with an operating profit of 11.5billion yen a year earlier. In December last year, a child was injured by a piece of plastic in an ice cream sundae in a McDonald's in Japan. McDonald's Japan chief executive Sarah Casanova, pictured speaking at a news conference yesterday, said the company was determined to restore its reputation after sales were battered by a food safety scandals . According to the fast food chain, the fragment had fallen into the dispenser while it was assembled. In two other cases, pieces of plastic were found in Chicken McNuggets, delivered from a plant in Thailand. One was blue, and could have fallen in during production, but the other was clear, a type not used at McDonald's, said officials. Mr Aoki denied these cases highlight an overall quality-control problem and branded them 'isolated' incidents. He acknowledged there were other cases, including a piece metal in a pancake and plastic in a McMuffin, but declined to give a tally of the total number of incidents. But he also added that it was possible that outsiders had planted the tooth and other items. Over the years, the restaurant has survived "mad cow" scares and general health worries about high calories. McDonald's is extremely popular in Japan, with more than 3000 outlets but customers have been driven away after a shortage of fries and series of food safety failings . Last year, orders for fries were limited to small servings because of a potato shortage. Large fries only came back recently. The problems are an added distraction for McDonald's Corp, the world's largest restaurant chain by sales, which last month replaced its CEO with Chief Brand Officer Steve Easterbrook following one of its worst financial years in decades. McDonald's in China and Japan along with other fast food chains were hit by a scandal last year over expired meat from a Chinese supplier. The Japan unit, 49.9% owned by McDonald's Corp, was hit after a major Chinese supplier of chicken was found to have been in breach of food safety standards. McDonald's Japan chief executive Sarah Casanova said the company was determined to restore its reputation. 'We serve billions of menu items every year and in the food industry we understand these kind of issues should never happen. It's our responsibility to do everything we can to obtain as close to zero as possible,' she said. The company has also announced plans for third-party inspections of its kitchens, fresh training for staff and sharing of information about suppliers on its website. Shares in McDonald's Japan fell 1 percent prior to the earnings release. They have lost around 12 percent since last year's peak in June. | Customer bought a Big Mac meal in Japan and found a tooth in the fries .
Japanese officials apologized for the incident in August last year .
They said no employees had lost a tooth and added it had not been fried .
Latest food safety scandal in the country had led to plummeting sales .
Other cases involve plastic in Chicken McNuggets and ice cream sundaes . |
200,008 | 8ef194f9b5d8416771aadb8b242eb686e54c6a67 | (CNN) -- Shaquille O'Neal is fighting allegations from a former employee who says the NBA star stole his personal information and attempted to frame him for using child porn. Shawn Darling, who was O'Neal's personal computer consultant, said the NBA center acted in retaliation because Darling had proof that O'Neal cheated on his wife with several women. O'Neal's Florida lawyer said he will file a motion on Thursday to dismiss Shawn Darling's lawsuit claiming privacy invasion, racketeering and intentional infliction of emotional distress on the grounds that the suit has no basis in law. "Even if everything he was saying were true, we believe there is no basis in the law to bring the case," Miami attorney Ben Reid said. "But in this case, none of it's true." O'Neal, who this summer signed with the Boston Celtics, employed Darling from 2008 to 2009, while O'Neal lived primarily in Miami. During that time, Darling performed various odd jobs that gave him access to O'Neal's e-mail and cell phone accounts, according to the lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court in August and posted Wednesday on RadarOnline.com. The 15-page complaint describes O'Neal's dealings with three alleged mistresses and his ex-wife, whom he was divorcing at the time. Among them are allegations that O'Neal used law enforcement contacts to obtain information about Alexis Miller, and that he hacked into a phone belonging to Vanessa Lopez, erasing messages and changing her password. The lawsuit also accuses O'Neal and an associate of throwing his computer into a lake after Darling performed a "'Defense Department' type wipe" of the computer. Darling also claims that O'Neal believes he has pictures of him with Dominica Westling. As a result, the lawsuit alleges, O'Neal has attempted to "control" Darling's actions through threats of violence and attempts to frame him for possession of child pornography and to have him arrested using O'Neal's extensive law enforcement contacts. "O'Neal knows that Darling not only has knowledge of his bad acts that might be used against him in litigation, but O'Neal also knows that Darling has evidence that shows he cheated on his former wife [Shaunie O'Neal] with many more people than just Vanessa Lopez," the lawsuit states. "Darling is in apprehension and fears for his safety," the lawsuit says. O'Neal's lawyer issued a statement after the lawsuit was reported on Wednesday that described Darling as an ex-con who has served time in a federal prison in Wisconsin for misusing Social Security numbers, and said Darling failed to disclose the prison record to O'Neal. An online inmate search of the Federal Bureau of Prisons showed that a man named Shawn Darling was released on March 22, 2002. An attorney for Darling did not return calls seeking comment. Reid said Darling used his position to copy O'Neal's e-mails and communications. Over the past 12 months and through three separate lawyers, he has demanded $12 million for their return, Reid said. When O'Neal refused to cooperate with Darling, he filed the lawsuit, Reid said. The complaint seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial. "It doesn't take much to file a suit and unfortunately, this seems pretty common in our society. People target celebrities," he said. | Former computer consultant says he has proof of Shaquille O'Neal's affairs .
Shawn Darling says the NBA star tried to have him arrested, stole his personal data .
Lawyer says Darling copied O'Neal's e-mails, demanded money in exchange for them .
O'Neal's lawyer says he will file motion to dismiss lawsuit on Thursday . |
137,439 | 3dc05d54a957676bae61e1fdbaa5b847671e44f9 | Two former Navy SEALs found dead aboard the Maersk Alabama last week had suffered respiratory failure caused by a possible heroin overdose. Seychelles police today said security guards Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey . Keith Reynolds, 44, may have suffered heart attacks, with a syringe and traces of heroin found in their cabin. The samples are being sent to . Mauritius to establish if the drugs were responsible for the deaths. Official: Seychelles police said Jeffrey Reynolds, 43 (left) and Mark Kennedy, 44 (right) died of respiratory failure . Security guard: Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, worked for Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group . Life of service: Mark Kennedy (left, and pictured with his wife Julia right) was a former Navy SEAL . After the incident, a government official told CNN the presence of drug traces and paraphernalia 'would suggest that their deaths were a result of drug overdose.' Reynolds and Kennedy worked for Trident . Group, a Virginia-based maritime security services firm. The company's . president, Tom Rothrauff, confirmed to CNN the men were former Navy . SEALs. 'It's bizarre. Of course, it's a shock. They're all great guys,' Rothrauff said. 'I'm absolutely clueless as to what happened.' Before working as security guards, the men belonged to the SEALs, an elite unit of the military's special . operations forces who are sometimes called upon to combat piracy. The Maersk Alabama is a Norfolk, Va.-based . container ship that provides feeder service to the east coast of Africa . and employs security contractors to provide anti-piracy services. Kevin . N. Speers, a senior director for Maersk Line, said in a statement the deaths of Reynolds and Kennedy were 'not related to vessel operations or their duties as . security personnel.' Work: Mark Kennedy was employed by Trident Group to work on the Maersk Alabama, which had been hijacked by pirates in 2009 and later dramatized on screen . Stash: Police say drugs were found in a cabin shared by Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44, aboard the Maersk Alabama . The Maersk Alabama ship gained international attention in April 2009 when four armed pirates tried to hijack it 380 miles off Somalia. After the crew foiled their efforts to take control of the container ship, the pirates took the ship's captain, Richard Phillips, hostage. The incident ended three days later when Navy SEALs killed three of the pirates and captured the fourth. Phillips was unharmed. The incident was dramatized in the 2013 movie 'Captain Phillips' starring Tom Hanks. Rescued: Captain Richard Phillips, (right), master of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama who had been captured by pirates with United States Navy Commander Frank Castellano . Hit movie: Tom Hanks starred as Captain Phillips in the 2013 movie which dramatized the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama in 2009 by Somalian pirates . | Security guards Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, died on Maersk Alabama in Seychelles last week .
Officials say they died of respiratory failure possibly caused by drugs .
Both served in the elite Navy SEALs before working for private defense contractor .
The ship was targeted by Somali pirates in an attempted hijacking off the east coast of Africa in 2009 .
The 2013 film Captain Phillips is based on the incident . |
249,809 | cf4fe0637e328d5bd5bdf71988138553c31f693e | Nine days on from his Open Championship success and Rory McIlroy says he has already moved on. ‘Rather than reflect on it and enjoy it, I want to use it as a springboard,’ he said. ‘Yes, it’s going to be great to be introduced as the Open champion but that’s not all I want to be this year. I’ve got a lot more things I want to achieve.’ Two more goals will move instantly into view when the driven Northern Irishman plays in his first tournament since his stirring victory at Hoylake at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, which begins at Firestone on Thursday. VIDEO Scroll down for The Open highlights . Sealed with a kiss: McIlroy cradles the Claret Jug at Hoylake after his stunning Open triumph . Give me a hug: The 25-year-old embraces his mum after winning the tournament at the Royal Liverpool course . What's next? McIlroy insists he is motivated to win more trophies, starting at Firestone this weekend . VIDEO Sunday - Final Round Highlights . ‘I’ve won three majors but never a World Golf Championship event, so that’s a goal,’ he said. ‘I can also become world No 1 again if I win, and that’s definitely on my list.’ Naturally, it’s not all work. There’s still been time for back-slapping and story swapping with his peers on the practice ground. ‘Keegan Bradley was telling me when he won the USPGA he took the Wanamaker Trophy to this bar and became a bit nervous when everyone started drinking out of it,’ said McIlroy. ‘I couldn’t have done that. I took the Claret Jug to this bar in Belfast on the Monday with my mates and I must admit I did find myself watching where it was going. I didn’t want it going beyond the people I trust.’ McIlroy spent the rest of the week working on his fitness in London and fulfilling some sponsorship obligations before returning with the jug to his home in Florida last Friday. ‘I’ve taken a photo of it on top of the television, on top of the toilet, silly things like that and sending the pictures to my friends,’ he said, smiling. ‘It’s just nice to have it in my possession.’ Old friends: The three-time Major winner consoles his friend Rickie Fowler after the final round of The Open . Picturesque: McIlroy looked comfortable throughout his four rounds on his way to victory . After winning his first major, the US Open, in 2011 McIlroy admitted he could happily have taken the rest of the year off. ‘It was such a relief after what had happened at the Masters (he lost a four-shot lead heading into the final round),’ he said. ‘Winning the USPGA the following year definitely felt different. The London Olympics were on, there were a lot of great sports stories around, and I felt like I do now, that I wanted to get out there and win some more. ‘Going home after winning The Open, though, I certainly feel like my fame has gone up a notch. We’ve got social media now and so your whole life is out there. But it won’t deflect me from my main objectives.’ Reach for the sky: After his US Open win in 2011, McIlroy admitted feeling like taking a year off from golf . Asked if it was possible to live a normal life and still be so intent on winning majors, McIlroy responded: ‘I never grew up wanting to live a normal life. I wanted to win majors. But I still think you can sort of do both. I can still do relatively normal things, and it’s not going to be difficult for me to stay hungry.’ Only once in his life did McIlroy lose his appetite for the game. He explained, laughing: ‘I was 16, I’d just won the Mullingar Scratch Cup and I was driving home with my dad and said to him: “I don’t think I like this anymore.” ‘Three days later, I said to him: “I like it again now.” I guess I was just a grumpy teenager going through some hormonal issues.’ Advisory role: McIlroy thinks Bernhard Langer should stay as Europe's assistant captain for the Ryder Cup . McIlroy was asked about the possibility of Bernhard Langer playing in September’s Ryder Cup at the age of 57 and, typically, didn’t duck the question. ‘I think the dynamic in the team room is just great right now,’ he said. ‘He’d be a great assistant captain but I don’t think he should play.’ It’s a curious thing that McIlroy’s two victories this year have come at Wentworth, a venue he doesn’t like, and at a links that is not supposed to suit his game. Now he’s at Firestone, where he has had three top-five finishes in five starts, followed by the season’s final major, the USPGA at the similarly constructed Valhalla. ‘They’re definitely two courses that should suit me and I’ve got a lot of faith in my game, so let’s see what happens,’ he said. ‘Let’s see if I can ride this momentum.’ | The 25-year-old won his third Major title at Hoylake earlier in July .
McIlroy insists he has already moved on from that win and is focused on adding more silverware to his trophy cabinet .
His first tournament since Hoylake is at Firestone, starting on Thursday .
McIlroy has not won a World Golf Championship, despite three Major wins .
The Northern Irishman spent the week after his Open win working on his fitness in London before returning to his Florida home with the Claret Jug .
McIlroy feels his fame has gone up a notch since the triumph at Hoylake . |
118,220 | 24a3f512e64f564af1624270dc21a480505b3187 | Sen. Bernie Sanders, one of the Senate's leading doves, said Tuesday he doesn't want the United States leading the fight against ISIS. Instead, said the Vermont senator, who is eyeing a 2016 presidential bid, the nation should be focused on helping the middle class. Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he doesn't want to see the United States fall into another "quagmire in the Middle East," and he put the onus on Muslim countries to take on ISIS. "I'm sitting here wondering where Saudi Arabia is, where Kuwait is, where Qatar is," Sanders said on CNN's "New Day." "I'll be damned if kids in the state of Vermont -- or taxpayers in the state of Vermont -- have to defend the royal Saudi family, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars." Saudi Arabia and Qatar are part of a five-country coalition of Middle Eastern nations that have joined the U.S. in airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, but Sanders suggested the U.S. should only be "supportive." Sanders also joined 21 other senators earlier this month in opposing a resolution to train and arm 5,000 moderate Syrian rebels to combat ISIS. "It cannot be won and it will not be won by the United States alone," Sanders said of the war on ISIS. And like a candidate running for office, Sanders, who is not up for reelection this fall, quickly shifted the interview away from whether the Senate should declare war to the plight of the middle class and increasing income inequality. "While we focus all of our attention on ISIS, the middle class in this country continues to collapse," Sanders said. "And you know what the people tell me in Vermont and around the country? Let's also start paying attention to the crises facing working families in America." Instead of a war resolution, Sanders rattled off a list of progressive initiatives he does "want to vote on," including raising the minimum wage and creating a national jobs program. Sanders calls for 'political revolution' in Iowa . Sanders traveled to Iowa earlier this month on what he has described as a listening tour to gauge the appetite for what would be a populist campaign for the presidency. "I'm going around the country getting an assessment from the American people as to whether or not there would be support for a campaign that in fact takes on the Koch brothers, takes on the billionaire class," Sanders said. | Sanders doesn't want to see the United States fall into another "quagmire in the Middle East"
Sanders: "I'll be damned if kids in the state of Vermont ... have to defend the royal Saudi family"
The Independent senator from Vermont says U.S. should instead focus on the middle class .
Sanders visited Iowa recently to gauge appetite for what would be a populist 2016 presidential bid . |
92,901 | 03803e050590b95a773741e03e5a82dfdaba9564 | Andy Murray and Roger Federer will need little reminding that the clock is ticking relentlessly on their careers. The Wimbledon champion is turning 27 and playing in the third round of the Italian Open, while his predecessor will be back at home with his rapidly expanding family, having lost early at his main preparatory event for the French Open. Murray has no celebratory plans, just the focus of taking on Austrian Jurgen Melzer for a place in the last eight, a match he earned with an impressive 6-2, 7-5 victory yesterday over Spain’s Marcel Granollers. Brit of all right: Andy Murray will face Jurgen Melzer in the third round in Italy after beating Marcel Granollers . Up for the battle: Murray was in good form as he attempts to put together a decent run ahead of Wimbledon . Federer’s . visit to the eternal city turned out to be brief, mounting a third-set . comeback before ceding a late match point to lose 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 to . Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. The . great Swiss’s career is far more advanced than Murray’s and afterwards . he dwelt on how much a defeat can hurt him these days, especially at . such a contented time when his twin boys have just arrived. ‘At . this time I know how much a defeat hurts and how much it doesn’t, when . it’s good when it hurts and when it’s not. This one is totally OK if it . doesn’t hurt,’ he admitted. ‘I . tried everything; you can’t do more than that on the court. Sure, it . wasn’t fun leaving the court, walking through the corridor and thinking . what happened out there, so maybe I was angry and disappointed and . frustrated but then I was like: “OK, let’s just do the press conference . and go home, let’s not waste too much more time.”’ Yellow peril: Marcel Granollers was soundly beaten in Rome by the British No 1 on Wednesday . Heading home: Roger Federer departs after losing in three sets to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy . It . was a particularly painful reverse for Federer, 32, who led 6-5 in the . tiebreak when Chardy pulled out a freakishly good forehand passing shot. Two more points and Federer was off to the airport where a private jet . got him home for bathtime. Murray’s . French Open prospects will start to look a whole lot rosier if he can . beat Melzer, a left-hander against whom he holds a 5-0 record. Having . fallen to a listless defeat in Madrid last week, he cut a totally different figure, calmly handling atrociously windy conditions and . playing smartly within himself for a creditable win against the world No . 31. Murray . was also unrecognisable from the player who met the same opponent a . year ago in the same round, having to pull out at a set all with back . problems that forced him out of Paris. He has come here without any . specialist physio in his team. Like Federer, he was also reflective . about the passage of time. Relief: Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates as he comes through a tough test against France's Gilles Simon . ‘Birthdays for me are not the same as when you’re 12 years old, really. I don’t look forward to them,’ he said. ‘No . plans. If I go home for a couple of days (before Paris) I’ll do . something. No girlfriend or family or friends here this year...well, not . that I know of. Maybe they’ll surprise me.’ A win for Murray over Melzer will probably see the Scot go on to face Rafael Nadal in the quarters. The Spaniard laboured again on Wednesday night, but ultimately saw off Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. | British No 1 wins 6-2, 7-5 in his Rome Opener .
Murray plays left-handed Austrian Jurgen Melzer in third round .
Roger Federer loses to Jeremy Chardy in three sets .
Rafael Nadal survives a tough test from Gilles Simon . |
237,148 | beee4082b96da8e9202b5846a3f61af6296f34fa | Le Bourget, France (CNN) -- Emirates has been voted the world's best airline by passengers at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards. The awards -- decided by 18.2 million passengers in 160 countries around the world -- judge airlines on everything from the cleanliness of the cabin to the quality of the in-flight food and entertainment. Dubai-based Emirates took the debut prize in 2001, and retained it in 2002, before missing out on the top spot for a decade. Now they're back to make it a hat-trick -- and the company's president, Tim Clark, puts their return to award-winning form down to one thing, "exteremely hard work." "We've got 200 aircraft, 18,000 cabin crew and ground staff," he explained, admitting that with 200 aircraft and 18,000 cabin crew and ground staff the company's operations were "not easy, but you work hard at what you're doing, you deliver to people's expectations, and hopefully exceed those expectations." Emirates was also named best airline in the Middle East, and won a third award for its in-flight entertainment system. Cathay Pacific's cabin crew were crowned the world's best, while Air Asia took the prize for best low-cost airline. Japan's ANA won a new award for cabin cleanliness, as well as receiving a five-star airline rating. John Slosar, CEO of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific said the win was recognition for the company's "fabulous team." "We work very hard to make sure it's all about the team, not about individuals. We teach our crew not to just follow the rules, but to express themselves through their work, to offer service straight from the heart." Test your knowledge of airline liveries . Presenting the awards, CNN's Richard Quest said consistency was key to the success of those crowned the best in the world. "It's all about the ability to deliver a product every time -- every flight, for every passenger in every class." The Skytrax World Airline Awards were established in 1999; they are compiled from the world's largest airline passenger satisfaction survey -- responses to questionnaires in English, Spanish, Chinese and Russian. New Airbus makes first flight . | Emirates named airline of the year at the Skytrax World Airline Awards .
Awards were voted on by 18.2 million passengers from 160 countries around the world .
Cathay Pacific cabin crew named world's best, Air Asia top budget airline . |
31,529 | 59aa58375fcd78b80c489a4e1d19a4d5268831b7 | By . Travelmail Reporter . It might be based on Native American culture... but not as we know it: A motel owner in California is offering accommodation in wigwams that will never blow over... as they're made from concrete. Frank Redford, originally from Kentucky, created his chain of Native American inspired motels in 1935, and they continue attract masses of people every year. The motel sits in San Bernadino, California, along the famous Route 66, and is one of only three out of the seven originals that still remain. Teepee or not teepee? The concrete wigwams are based on Native American culture... but with all mod cons . The winter of our discount tent: Motel owner Frank Redford first created his chain of native Indian inspired motels in 1935 . His innovative idea began when he built a teepee shaped building to display a collection of Native American historical items. He went on to create several more teepees, dubbed 'Wigwam village', especially for travellers to stay in. The motel proved to be a huge success and another six wigwam villages were built in the south and south western areas of America by the early 1950s. But only three of the 25ft tall wigwam motels remain, with other versions still going strong in Arizona and Kentucky. Too intense? The Californa site off Route 66 boasts a pool and BBQ area too . Frank said: 'The motel attracts all kinds of guests. We have all types of people from folks from southern California to out of state, and tourists from other countries.' The wigwams are painted in white with a classic red zig-zag border and surround the motel's main office and gift shop. Each wigwam boasts a private bathroom, wifi, TV, telephone and fridge while the main site includes a swimming pool and BBQ area. Prices at the quirky motel range from £40 to £58 a night. | The motel chain is 'Native American inspired' with huge decorated wigwams .
Each wigwam has a private bathroom, wifi, TV, telephone and fridge .
Prices at the quirky motel start at £40 a night . |
112,826 | 1d949d371b287805e49d2312493d61db41a0f4e1 | These slimy creatures may look like aliens from another planet but they are actually the life teeming inside a single drop of pond water. The colourful organisms were captured using a photography technique called high-definition microscopy in a lab in Ohio by photographer Peter Matulavich. The pond safari pictures show everything from a single-celled paramecium organism moving through bacteria to a defecating 10mm creature called hydra and a cluster of Euglena Protozoa that are seen in such high numbers they have been known to make entire ponds and puddles appear green or red. Scroll down for video . This image shows a microscopic view of the small freshwater animal Hydra as it defecates in a single drop of water in a lab in Ohio. The creature grows around 10mm long and biologists are keen to study them because they appear not to age or die . This pair of Blepharisma, pictured, are sharing genetic information inside a drop of pond water. Blepharismas are what's known as protists, or single cellular organisms. They are filter feeders, which means they suck in water, eat bacteria and algae and filter the clean water back out of their bodies . Microscopy is the method of using microscopes to view samples and objects that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Matulavich's first image shows a microscopic view of the small freshwater Hydra as it defecates in a single drop of water in a lab in Ohio. The creature grows around 10mm long and biologists are keen to study them because they appear not to age or die. They are found in most unpolluted freshwater ponds, lakes and . streams and possess what's called radial symmetry. This means that its body has a symmetrical shape and its body parts are evenly distributed. Matulavich managed to also capture a pair of Blepharisma. Blepharismas are what's known as protists, or single cellular organisms. They are filter feeders, which means they suck in water, eat bacteria and algae found inside this water and filter the clean water back out of their bodies. Filter feeders can help regulate the ecosystem of the freshwater in which they live. The Actinosphaerium is part of a small group of protists called actinophryids and are mostly found in freshwater, especially lakes and rivers, but some have been found in soil too. Each actinophryid have a single cell and are roughly spherical. The outer portion of the cell, or ectoplasm, is filled with tiny vacuoles, or bubbles, that help the creature to float. The Actinosphaerium variety of actinophryid are between 200-1000 micrometres in diameter. The Actinosphaerium, pictured, is part of a small group of protists called actinophryids that are mostly found in freshwater, especially lakes and rivers. Each actinophryid have a single cell and are roughly spherical. The outer portion of the cell, or ectoplasm, is filled with tiny vacuoles, or bubbles, that help the creature to float. The Actinosphaerium variety of actinophryid are between 200-1000 micrometres in diameter . This shot shows a high-definition microscopic view of a Planarian - a type of flatworm capable of regenerating after being cut in half. A study in July by Boston University discovered that when a Planarian regrows its head, it is also capable of regrowing memories. They live in both saltwater and freshwater ponds and rivers . Other protists caught on camera in Ohio include this cluster of Euglena Protozoa. They are seen in such large numbers that they can colour the surface of ponds and ditches completely green. Species of Euglena were among the first protists to be seen under the microscope and were recorded as early as 1674 . This shot shows a high-definition microscopic view of a Planarian - a type of flatworm capable of regenerating after being cut in half. A study in July by Boston University discovered that when a Planarian regrows its head, it is also capable of regrowing memories. The worms live in both saltwater and freshwater ponds and rivers and they have two eye spots that can detect the intensity of light. These spots act as photoreceptors and are used to move away from bright light sources. Other protists caught on camera in Ohio include a cluster of Euglena Protozoa. They are seen in such large numbers that they have been known to colour the surface of ponds and ditches completely green. Species of Euglena were among the first protists to be seen under the microscope and were recorded as early as 1674. This bundle of Panagrellus Nematodes is a common feature in aquariums and is also known as the microworm. It is a tiny roundworm used as food for a variety of fish, especially when they first hatch. The microworm is about 50 micrometres in diameter and just over one millimetre in length which makes it barely visible to the human eye . Cytoplasm flowing through water was captured by Matulavich, pictured. The cytoplasm is made up of everything within an organism that sits outside of the nucleus, enclosed within the cell membrane. The cytoplasm can also include the cytoskeleton - fibres that help support the cell and maintain its shape . This cluster of Micrasterias algae was photographed as it floated through a drop of pond water. It is also called green algae. Micrasterias can reproduce both asexually and sexually. During sexual reproduction two organisms fuse their haploid cells to form a zygote, or yolk. This zygote forms a thick protective wall which lets the organism remain dormant for months to survive cold winters and long droughts. When the conditions are right, the organism, known as a zygospore, is born . The bundle of Panagrellus Nematodes captured by Matulavich is a common feature in aquariums and they are also known as microworms. A microworm is a tiny roundworm used as food for a variety of fish, especially when they are newborn. The microworm is about 50 micrometres in diameter and just over one millimetre in length which makes it barely visible to the human eye. Cytoplasm flowing through water was also snapped in the pond water by Matulavich. The cytoplasm is made up of everything within an organism that sits outside of the nucleus, enclosed within the cell membrane. The cytoplasm can also include the cytoskeleton which are fibres that help support the cell and help it to maintain its shape. A cluster of Micrasterias algae was photographed as it floated through a drop of pond water. It is also called green algae. Micrasterias can reproduce both asexually and sexually. During sexual reproduction two organisms fuse what's called their haploid cells to form a zygote, or yolk. This zygote forms a thick protective wall which lets the organism remain dormant for months to survive cold winters and long droughts. When the conditions are right, the organism, known as a zygospore, is born. A microscopic view of a Paramecium protist caught inside the digestive organ of bacteria. Paramecia are found in freshwater and marine environments and are often seen in large numbers inside stagnant basins and ponds. Paramecium are widely used in labs to study biological processes . This alternative shot of Paramecium shows it swimming through the centre of two bacteria . | Photographer captures incredible shots of creepy crawlies and strange organisms living in a drop of pond water .
Peter Matulavich used high-definition microscopy to film the pond life in a lab in Ohio .
Creatures include a hydra that never appears to age, a worm that can regrow its head and asexual algae . |
232,984 | b9a50aaa7ec10c7bc41927e5f39f4a5811516a5f | By . Becky Evans . PUBLISHED: . 17:56 EST, 25 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 03:29 EST, 26 November 2012 . The traditional Christmas dinner of turkey and all the trimmings contains as much as 900 calories - and that does not even include pudding. Now two chip shops owners believe they can take festive gluttony to a new level. Andrew Doughty and Chris Christoforou are offering a fast-food version of the traditional feast - complete with battered sprouts, roast potatoes and carrots. The Bearwood Fish Bar, in Smethwick, near Birmingham, have created a deep-friend Christmas dinner served in a bun. Christmas excess: Maxine Devenport, manager of Bearwood Fish Bar, holds up a battered mince pie and battered Christmas pudding . The trimmings are wrapped in turkey breast and doused in batter. They also offer battered mince pies and Christmas pudding. Mr Doughty said: 'I think we'll have a decent take-up on the mince pies and the pudding, but I don't think as many people will try the Christmas dinner. 'Even so, it's a challenge for the team and you never know what the response will be.' Not to be outdone, Mr Christoforou, who owns the Hollywood Fish Bar, in nearby Wythall, is planning to serve a burger consisting of a turkey crown, stuffing and cranberry sauce, covered in gravy - with battered Christmas cake for pudding. Batty: Staff at Bearwood Fish Bar expect the battered mince pies to be well received . Calorific: The battered mince pie and battered Christmas pudding are the latest in list of strange foods to be given the deep-fried treatment . Mr Christoforou, 31, who runs the take-away with his wife Nicki, said: 'I'm really pleased with the burger. 'It's a complete Christmas meal - without the sprouts. 'It's the ideal thing to bite into while watching the Queen's Speech or Great Escape.' The seasonal special - to be rolled-out in the next two weeks - is the latest in a line of culinary stunts dreamed up by Mr Christoforou. At Easter he served up battered Cadbury Creme Eggs. He said: 'Everyone tells me I should be in PR.' A battered cheeseboard is also in the planning stage, with the working title 'Cheeses of Nazareth'. And turkey and cake are not the only Christmas fare in danger of getting the Hollywood treatment. Twist: The traditional Christmas pudding is given a battered twist . | Andrew Doughty believes his deep fried Christmas pudding will be a hit but is not sure about his deep-fried Turkey .
Battered mince pie is Chris Christoforou's latest culinary stunt after selling deep-fried Cadbury's Creme Eggs at Easter . |
128,186 | 31ac568d2bf5e083112864690d17bf3ffa3eb1a5 | While senior U.S. officials say they are now less worried about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launching a coup to stay in power, they still predict he'll try to obstruct the political process to keep his designated successor, Haider al-Abadi, out of office. One senior U.S. official compared al-Maliki to former President Richard Nixon -- a paranoid leader who grew more mercurial as his political fortunes collapsed. Al-Maliki has vowed to fight al-Abadi's nomination. Al-Maliki could bide his time and try to divide Iraqi politicians to make it difficult for al-Abadi to muster enough support to form a government over the next 30 days as Iraq's Constitution outlines. But the officials say they don't think he has enough backing to do that. A large portion of the Shia bloc, including most of his own party, is behind al-Abadi, and that gives the United States some confidence a government can be formed within the prescribed time frame. Iraq's political power struggle reached a breaking point on Monday when President Fuad Masum named al-Abadi, the deputy speaker of Parliament, to replace al-Maliki. President Barack Obama publicly endorsed al-Abadi, calling his nomination a "promising step forward." Both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden called him to express their support. As a further incentive to quickly form a new government, the Obama administration is promising additional financial and military support in its fight in northern Iraq against the Islamic State, militants formerly known as ISIS. Airstrikes and airdrops . Secretary of State John Kerry said in Australia on Tuesday the United States "stands ready to fully support a new inclusive Iraqi government." Despite frustrations with al-Maliki's leadership, the United States has increased military aid to his government over the past year to combat militants. That assistance has been stepped up over the past two months as ISIS forces claimed large areas of territory in northern Iraq in a brutal campaign. Just last week, Obama ordered airstrikes against militant positions and humanitarian airdrops to aid thousands of the Yazzidi minority under threat from the extremist group and trapped in the Sinjar Mountains. On Tuesday, he decided to send more than 100 additional military advisers to that region in a move the United States said was necessary to look at additional humanitarian relief options. Washington has sought to separate the need for urgent support to combat militants from support for al-Maliki. The administration is also helping covertly arm Kurdish Peshmerga forces battling ISIS. More help possible . Kerry said the United States was "prepared to consider additional political, economic and security options as Iraq starts to build a new government" noting that the aid was "very much calculated to try to stabilize the security situation, expand economic development and strengthen the democratic institutions." The United States has been encouraged by unprecedented cooperation between the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces in fighting ISIS and helping the civilians in the north. Officials said it gives them hope that Iraq's long-divided ethnic groups are finally uniting in the wake of the Islamic State threat. But with its military support, Washington also risks fueling Iraq's sectarian divide. Between additional backing for a new Iraqi Shia-led government and its direct support for the Kurds, the United States risks pushing Iraq's Sunni population toward the Islamic State, which is also Sunni, because they will see that support as taking sides in what is widely viewed as a civil war. And with Sunnis already disenfranchised from the Shia-led government, U.S. airstrikes are only likely to exacerbate those political differences. Al-Abadi is a Shia, from the same party as al-Maliki, serving at one time as his aide. But can he unite the country and fight off the sweeping Islamic State advance? "Abadi has never been involved in personal controversy, he is someone who really has tried to tow a straight line," said Kurt Sowell, editor of the newsletter Inside Iraqi Politics. "I think he is someone who will try to be inclusive and work with people. But at same time he's never been someone to push for reform." Showing political skills . While al-Abadi may not be viewed as a transformational figure, the United States has been impressed with the way he stood up to al-Maliki politically and accumulated support of many Shia. "Sometimes what is needed is a good bureaucrat who can get things back on track," one senior State Department official said. "We don't need anymore personalities." What happens, however, if al-Maliki is able to keep al-Abadi from forming a government? Iraqi politicans would be back to Square One and the United States would be forced to choose between supporting al-Maliki's caretaker government, despite its stated reservations about him, or waiting until a new prime minister is designated who can form a government. If ISIS continues to advance, however, neither the Iraqis nor the United States will have the luxury of time. Will Iraq's Nuri al-Maliki go without a fight? 5 things to know . Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki objects as his ouster looms . What to know about Iraq's Prime Minister . | ANALYSIS: Iraqi Prime Minister has vowed to fight the nomination of his successor .
Haider al-Abadi, the deputy speaker of Parliament, is working to form a government .
The United States backs the prime minister-designate and has stepped up aid .
The militant group Islamic State has made sweeping gains in Iraq's north . |
128,708 | 324d127d5fecc99abc4ac1db9b7c527a5affc1f3 | (CNN) -- Yemen's embattled president has accepted opposition demands for constitutional reforms and holding parliamentary elections by the end of the year, according to a statement issued by his office. The statement said President Ali Abdullah Saleh was "committed to undertaking all possible initiatives to reach a settlement" with the opposition JMP bloc and "prevent any future bloodshed of the Yemeni people." According to the statement, Saleh "has accepted the five points submitted by the JMP, including formation of a government of national unity and a national committee to draft a new constitution, drafting a new electoral law, and holding a constitutional referendum, parliamentary elections and a presidential vote by the end of the year. "These accepted proposals have been submitted to the mediating party on the basis that this would end the current state of political turmoil facing the nation and paving the way for a smooth, peaceful and democratic transition," the statement from Saleh's office said. There was no immediate reaction from the opposition, which previously has demanded Saleh's immediate resignation. On Tuesday, a JMP spokesman rejected a report that Saleh was offering to step down by early 2012. "Any offer that does not include the president's immediate resignation is rejected," JMP spokesman Mohammed Qahtan said. Saleh's statement came on the same day that Yemen's parliament approved a 30-day extension of emergency powers he declared last week in response to the protests. The emergency law expands the government's powers of arrest, detention, and censorship. The president's standing has weakened after some government officials and military officers declared their support for the opposition Monday in the wake of a crackdown on protesters that left 52 people dead last week. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Wednesday for full political dialogue in Yemen involving all players to find a peaceful solution. Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, has been a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist network based in Yemen. "The people of Yemen have the same rights as people anywhere, and we support dialogue as a path to a peaceful solution," Clinton said in Washington. Asked about putting any pressure on Saleh, Clinton said: "We are certainly making our views known on both a regular and consistent basis, both publicly and privately." Yemen's army repelled an attack Tuesday on a military position by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, killing 12 militants and wounding five, a Yemeni official said, citing sources at the Interior Ministry in Sanaa. The official, who spoke on condition of not being named because he is not authorized to talk to the media, said the attack occurred east of the city of Lawdar, in Abyan province in southwest Yemen. The violence against opposition demonstrators last week drew international condemnation. Rupert Colville of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that the agency deplored the reported killings of protesters, including allegations of snipers shooting from rooftops. "All such violations of human rights must indeed be investigated by independent and impartial mechanisms," Colville said in Geneva. Saleh and Maj. Gen. Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar on Monday discussed a deal for a peaceful transition of power that would allow Saleh to stay in place for the rest of the year, a Yemeni official and senior U.S. official said. Then on Tuesday, Saleh appeared to criticize the powerful general and other officers who declared their support for the opposition on Monday, saying, "Any division in the military will have negative impacts on the whole country." A government official said the speech was a warning to those who broke ranks. "Saleh was sending a message to the generals who defected yesterday, telling them, you know you're going to come back, so why not come back now rather than trying to do so later?" said the official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive situation. Al-Ahmar, who belongs to an important tribe whose backing is significant for Saleh, said Monday he would order his troops to protect civilians demonstrating against the president. Other officials who announced their support for the opposition Monday included Yemen's ambassador to Britain and the embassy's entire diplomatic staff, as well as Yemen's ambassador to the European Union, Mohamed Jaffer. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday the United States was "obviously concerned about the instability in Yemen. We consider al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is largely located in Yemen, to be perhaps the most dangerous of all the franchises of al Qaeda right now." Radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in the country. The cleric has been linked to terror plots including the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day 2009, and he corresponded separately with a British Airways employee about trying to smuggle explosives onto planes. Top American officials, including U.S. President Barack Obama's counter-terrorism chief, have traveled to Yemen to meet with Saleh. Leaked diplomatic cables suggest Saleh's government helped disguise strikes by U.S. unmanned drones on terror targets in Yemen by calling them Yemeni actions. CNN's Tracy Doueiry, Caroline Faraj, Elise Labott, Richard Roth, Pam Benson, Jo Shelley and journalist Hakim Almasmari contributed to this report. | NEW: Yemeni parliament extends emergency law for 30 days .
President Saleh agrees to a new constitution and elections .
The opposition previously rejected any plan without Saleh's immediate ouster .
Some government, military officials have joined the opposition . |
149,867 | 4dc232d97f7d1f782e3fd2c42366fbefe862c833 | Taxpayers have spent more than £10million to stop Julian Assange avoiding extradition to Sweden. The suspected rapist remains holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London more than two-and-a-half years since he claimed asylum there. The Wikileaks founder faces immediate arrest on a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Swedish authorities if he steps outside the building. Scroll down for video . WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been at the Ecuadorian embassy in west London since June 2012 . British taxpayers have now spent £10m on guarding the embassy in Knightsbridge where Assange is staying . A team of up to three Metropolitan Police officers monitors the property 24 hours a day after ministers insisted the law must be upheld. The last official estimate for police costs was made in October when it had reached £9million. The figure has since risen by at least £1million. It equates to around £10,500 for each of the 959 days Assange has been holed up in the building, a stone’s throw from Harrods in Knightsbridge. Stephen Greenhalgh, the deputy mayor for policing and crime in London, said: ‘It is an eye-watering amount of money. We do need a diplomatic solution, but ultimately it is the taxpayer who foots the bill.’ Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: ‘Am I frustrated that taxpayers are picking up the tab around the Ecuadorian Embassy? Yes, sure. 'Just imagine the frustration of the Swedish government. ‘This is a country with impeccable democratic credentials, with a well-respected judicial system who say that he should go to Sweden to face very serious allegations and charges of rape, which he denies. 'Of course, the right thing for him to do is to do that and face justice.’ Assange is wanted in Sweden after allegedly sexually assaulting two women in Stockholm in 2010 . In August, Assange indicated he would ‘soon’ leave the embassy but yesterday he showed no sign of giving up. The 43-year-old Australian also hit out at Sweden, saying: ‘Sweden has imported Guantanamo’s most shameful legal practice – indefinite detention without charge.’ His comments came after the country’s director general of legal affairs, Anders Ronquist, said someone could be held indefinitely until they are charged. Assange has been granted asylum by the government of Ecuador but cannot travel there because he will be arrested first. He wants to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over claims he assaulted two women in Stockholm, something he denies. Assange believes that if he goes to Sweden, he will be extradited to the US and questioned over classified documents published by WikiLeaks. He has given a series of speeches from the balcony of the building and ‘attended’ conferences around the world by video message. October 2006 – Assange sets up WikiLeaks for anonymous whistleblowers. April 2010 – WikiLeaks reveals a video called Collateral Murder, showing two US military teams shooting a group of men from Apache helicopters. Among those killed were two Reuters war correspondents. July 2010 – WikiLeaks releases US logs from the Afghan War, which includes civilian casualties and the names of alleged NATO informers. August 2010 - During a visit to Sweden a prosecutor orders Assange's arrest for rape and molestation, though this is terminated five days later. September 2010 – After reviewing the original claim, the investigation is renewed by Swedish prosecutors. Assange is arrested in his absence. October 2010 – Iraq War logs are released – the biggest single leak in US military history. November 2010 – A quarter of a million unclassified and confidential diplomatic cables are published by WikiLeaks. US Attorney-General Eric Holder confirms there is 'an active, ongoing criminal investigation' into WikiLeaks. Swedish prosecutors issue an international warrant for Assange's arrest. December 2010 – US vice president Joe Biden dubs Assange a 'terrorist'. He is arrested by British police and later released on bail. February 2011 – A High Court in London approves Sweden's extradition request. April 2011 – WikiLeaks publishes files from Guantanamo Bay revealing details of detainees. November 2011 – High Court dismisses Assange's appeal against extradition. He takes it to the UK's Supreme Court. May 2012 – Supreme Court upholds the High Court's decision to surrender Assange to Sweden. June 2012 – Assange requests the appeal to be re-opened; Supreme Court rejects this request. Assange then seeks political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. August 2012 – Ecuador grants Assange asylum, saying there are fears his human rights might be violated if he is extradited. August 2014 - Assange reveals plans to leave the embassy 'soon'. November 2014 - Sweden's Court of Appeal upholds the arrest warrant against Assange. | Julian Assange has claimed asylum at Ecuador embassy since June 2012 .
He faces arrest on a European Arrest Warrant if he leaves the building .
Team of up to three police officers monitors the property 24 hours a day .
Spend tops £10million to stop Assange avoiding extradition to Sweden . |
85,628 | f2df1e9fe8e5140a789271de3232755754709fc5 | Almost 50 new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, harming the fight against an outbreak which has now infected more than 20,000 people across West Africa. Medics had hoped they were finally beating the disease in Liberia after infection rates began to fall last month amid a global disaster appeal. But today officials said 49 new cases had been identified in one part of one county - and they blamed them partly on the tradition of washing loved ones' bodies before they are buried. Scroll down for new death toll figures . Setback: 49 new Ebola cases have erupted in one area of Liberia, blamed partly on the tradition of washing loved ones' bodies before they are buried. Pictured: Nurses carry out a safe burial in Liberia (file photo) Medics have been battling with locals to halt the tradition, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) previously said caused more than a fifth of fresh Ebola cases. It has continued in some isolated communities where resources or health education are poor. Liberia's Assistant Health Minister, who detailed the new cases today, said the body-washing tradition was to blame alongside other factors such as people crossing the border to and from Sierra Leone. Speaking on state radio, Tolbert Nyenswah said the new cases had been reported between December 1 and Christmas Day in the western part of Grand Cape Mount County. The region on the border with Sierra Leone had previously reported just 18 new Ebola cases in the three weeks leading up to December 24, the date of the WHO's latest full death toll update. Central: Grand Cape Mount County, where the new cases were seen, is on the Liberia-Sierra Leone border. This WHO map shows the state of the disease across the main three affected countries as of December 24 . Mr Nyenswah said: 'In a very small population, an increase in the number of cases raises high level of concerns that we need to take very seriously as people of Liberia and people of Grand Cape Mount in particular. Today the World Health Organisation confirmed more than 20,000 people have been infected since the start of the outbreak, with the death toll now standing at 7,842 worldwide. A new test which it is claimed can diagnose Ebola in just three hours was approved today by U.S. regulators. Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche said the Lightmix test would help medics fight the disease by drawing their attention away from false alarms and ensuring quick treatment. Certain laboratories in the U.S. and other countries are now authorised to use the test for a limited period to detect the type of Ebola that has been spreading. It has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for general use. More than a third were laboratory-confirmed cases in Sierra Leone, which is now the worst-hit country. The 49 new cases in Liberia represent a significant increase, however, because there were thought to have been just 121 new infections in the three weeks to December 24. The country where 3,384 people have died of Ebola - more than any other nation - had been seeing a drop in the number of new infections since mid-November. Part of the problem were religious customs in which family members wash a dead relative's body before burial, exactly the point at which Ebola is at its most infectious. Last month the WHO's Dr Pierre Formenty said medics were 'building trust and respect between burial teams, bereaved families and religious groups'. He added: 'Introducing components such as inviting the family to be involved in digging the grave and offering options for dry ablution and shrouding will make a significant difference.' In its Christmas Eve update, however, the WHO admitted there was still more work to be done. Transmission: The markets of Monrovia, Liberia's capital, had become safer places to be in recent weeks . 'While every country has sufficient capacity to isolate patients, the uneven geographical distribution of beds and cases means shortfalls persist in some districts,' a spokesman wrote. 'Each country has sufficient capacity to bury all people known to have died from Ebola, although it is possible that capacity is inadequate in some districts.' Britain has pledged £230million to curb the outbreak in West Africa, including sending British doctors and matching the first £5million of public donations pound-for-pound. Officials have warned a failure to contain it could lead to it becoming an unstoppable outbreak, the way HIV did in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, cases have so far largely been contained within Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Because of Liberia's falling infection rate it has now been eclipsed by Sierra Leone, but Liberia still has the record for the highest number of deaths. The most deadly previous outbreak in 1976, the first ever recorded, infected 318 people and killed 280 in the country now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: World Health Organisation, December 29. Figures are not thought to include the latest announcement in Liberia. *Data incomplete or not available . | Infection rates had been declining in Liberia with just 121 in three weeks .
But 49 cases have emerged in just one area, Grand Cape Mount County .
Officials fear body-washing religious rites could be partly responsible .
Today it emerged more than 20,000 people infected since start of outbreak .
World Health Organisation said death toll now stands at 7,842 worldwide . |
165,395 | 61e34988a374aab14b33801ec51e7e2443418070 | By . Chris Foy for the Daily Mail . Follow @@FoyChris . Cardiff Blues and the WRU are on standby to offer Leigh Halfpenny a swift return to Wales if Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal carries out his threat to tear up the full back’s contract. The 25-year-old British Lion is yet to play for the French club after a summer move, as he continues to struggle with a groin problem. Toulon fear that he could need another operation and may opt to release him. Boudjellal told Toulon newspaper Var Matin: ‘The problem that we have now is that we think he may have arrived at Toulon with that injury. If this is the case, we haven’t ruled out terminating his contract. We’re conducting an investigation. We don’t feel like preparing Halfpenny for Wales, just for the Rugby World Cup.’ Leigh Halfpenny kicks in the second test on the British and Irish Lions Tour last year . Leigh Halfpenny has struggled with a groin injury since joining Toulon in the summer . The WRU and regions recently announced a six-year deal which includes provision to place top Welsh players on dual contracts and that would be an option if Halfpenny became available. The Blues’ chief executive Richard Holland said: ‘Of course we would be interested, be that on a dual contract or a regional deal. ‘We would be extremely keen to have back a player of Leigh’s calibre. If the reports are true, we are keen to explore this.’ England wing Jack Nowell is on course for an imminent return to first-team action after a successful comeback on Monday, following shoulder and knee surgery. The 21-year-old, who last played in March, scored two tries in a 34-minute cameo as Exeter Chiefs earned a 45-7 ‘A’-league victory over London Welsh. Halfpenny celebrates the British and Irish Lions 41-16 third test win over Australia . Halfpenny (right) has struggled with injury previously in his career, pictured going off during the Six Nations . Halfpenny kicks during the second test of the British and Irish Lions Tour in Australia . | Leigh Halfpenny has struggled with a groin injury since moving to Toulon .
The 25-year-old is yet to play for his new club since his summer transfer .
Toulon fear that he could need an operation and may release him .
Cardiff Blues and the WRU are on standby to offer him a contract . |
111,997 | 1c7093a19563ebc274366898411ed389c5685a9c | Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa is set to complete his season-long loan move to Roma from Newcastle in the next few hours. The French defender arrived at Rome's Fiumicino Airport on Monday and is reportedly undergoing a medical before completing his Serie A switch. 'I am happy, forza Roma,' Yanga-Mbiwa was reported as saying by the Italian press. Jumping ship: Newcastle defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (left) is set to join Roma on a season-long loan . CLICK HERE to follow all the latest wheels, deals and steals with MailOnline's brilliant by-the-minute service, including breaking news, best pictures and videos. The 25-year-old was looking to leave the Magpies this summer after finding himself down the pecking order under manager Alan Pardew. The France international moved to St James' Park in January 2013 from Ligue 1 side Montpellier. Yanga-Mbiwa is under contract with Newcastle for another four years. New boy: Ashley Cole (right) and boss Rudi Garcia celebrate Roma's victory against Fiorentina on Saturday . A move to Roma, who won their Serie A opener 2-0 against Fiorentina on Saturday, will allow Yanga-Mbiwa to play Champions League football. Roma finished runners-up in Italy's top flight last season and will face Manchester City, Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow in the group stages of Europe's elite club competition. Former Arsenal and England defender Ashley Cole also signed for the club in the summer following his release by Chelsea. | Newcastle are prepared to let Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa leave on loan .
Defender has flown to Italy to seal season-long loan to Roma .
Frenchman has dropped down the pecking order at St James' Park . |
2,483 | 07408425df675cd822bc334836dd37509b36b27d | Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- President Barack Obama, speaking early Wednesday in Afghanistan at the tail end of a surprise visit there, discussed how the war will end and promised a steady drawdown of U.S. troops. Obama committed to pulling 23,000 troops out of the country by the end of summer and sticking to the 2014 deadline to turn security fully over to the Afghan government. He said that NATO will set a goal this month for Afghan forces to be in the lead for combat operations next year. "We will not build permanent bases in this country, nor will we be patrolling its cities and mountains. That will be the job of the Afghan people," the president said during a speech at Bagram Air Base. Read extensive excerpts of the speech . His unannounced trip was Obama's third visit to Afghanistan since taking office. It coincided with the first anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan, and comes as Obama is fighting for re-election. Hours after Obama left the country, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force reported a loud explosion in the capital, Kabul. Gen. Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, Kabul chief of police, told CNN it was a suicide car bomb. The blast killed five people outside a compound known as Green Village, according Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for Afghan Interior Ministry. An undetermined number of others also were injured. The president promised not to keep troops in harm's way "a single day longer than is absolutely required for our national security," but promised to "finish the job" and "end this war responsibly." Obama spoke of a "negotiated peace," and said his administration has been in direct talks with the Taliban. "We've made it clear that they can be a part of this future if they break with al Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws," he said. Finally, the president vowed: "This time of war began in Afghanistan, and this is where it will end." Earlier in his trip, Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed an agreement outlining cooperation between their countries once the U.S.-led international force withdraws in 2014. Some U.S. forces will remain in a post-war Afghanistan as military advisers, but both U.S. and Afghan officials have yet to decide how many troops will continue supporting the Afghan military, and for how long. See reactions to Obama's surprise trip . At a signing ceremony for the Strategic Partnership Agreement, Obama said that neither country asked for the war that began more than a decade ago, but now they would work in partnership for a peaceful future. "There will be difficult days ahead, but as we move forward in our transition, I'm confident that Afghan forces will grow stronger; the Afghan people will take control of their future," Obama said. Addressing a concern in Afghanistan that the United States will abandon the country once its troops leave, Obama said, "With this agreement, I am confident that the Afghan people will understand that the United States will stand by them." He later added that the United States "did not come here to claim resources or to claim territory. We came here with a very clear mission to destroy al Qaeda," referring to the terrorist organization responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks. Obama's address came nine years to the day after then-President George W. Bush delivered his "Mission Accomplished" speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq. Karzai offered his thanks to the American people for helping Afghanistan, and the presidents shook hands after signing the document in the atrium of the King's Residence, part of the Presidential Palace in Kabul. "This agreement will close the season of the past 10 years and is going to open an equal relationship season. With the signing of this agreement, we are starting a phase between two sovereign and independent countries that will be based on mutual respect, mutual commitments and mutual friendship," Karzai said. Obama warned the Afghan people and, later, U.S. troops he met with, of difficult days ahead. In remarks to troops at Bagram, Obama sounded emotional as he said that soldiers could see friends get hurt or killed as the mission winds down. "There's going to heartbreak and pain and difficulty ahead, but there's a light on the horizon because of the sacrifices you've made," he said. The security risks in Afghanistan were evident from the secretive nature and timing of the trip. Obama landed in Afghanistan in the cover of darkness, and the signing ceremony occurred in the late evening. Back in the United States, politicians reacted to the president's visit -- some with praise, others claiming it was politically motivated. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said, "I am pleased that President Obama has returned to Afghanistan. Our troops and the American people deserve to hear from our president about what is at stake in this war. Success in Afghanistan is vital to our nation's security. It would be a tragedy for Afghanistan and a strategic setback for America if the Taliban returned to power and once again created a sanctuary for terrorists." Sen. James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, was less supportive. "Clearly, this trip is campaign-related. We've seen recently that President Obama has visited college campuses in an attempt to win back the support of that age group since he has lost it over the last three years. Similarly, this trip to Afghanistan is an attempt to shore up his national security credentials, because he has spent the past three years gutting our military," he said in a statement. The Strategic Partnership Agreement provides a framework for the U.S.-Afghanistan partnership for the decade after the U.S. and allied troop withdrawal, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the flight. Specific levels of U.S. forces and funding are not set in the agreement and will be determined by the United States in consultation with allies, the officials said on condition of not being identified. Noting the anniversary of the bin Laden mission, the officials called it a resonant day for the Afghan and American people. More than 130,000 troops from 50 countries serve in Afghanistan, according to the NATO-led International Security and Assistance Force. The United States is the biggest contributor, providing about 90,000 troops, followed by the United Kingdom (9,500), Germany (4,800) and France (3,600). The war that began in 2001 is increasingly unpopular in the United States, with the latest CNN/ORC International poll in late March showing 25% of respondents supporting it and 72% opposing it. More than 2,700 troops from the United States and its partners have died in the war, the majority of them American. In 2011, the United States outlined its plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The move was followed by withdrawal announcements by most of the NATO nations. Last week, Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Daftar Spanta and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker initialed a text that outlined the kind of relationship the two countries want in the decade following the NATO withdrawal. The deal had been long expected after Washington and Kabul found compromises over the thorny issues of "night raids" by U.S. forces on Afghan homes and the transfer of U.S. detainees to Afghan custody. It seeks to create an enduring partnership that prevents the Taliban from waiting until the U.S. withdrawal to try to regain power, the senior administration officials said. Obama visited Afghanistan in March 2010 and returned in December of the same year. He also visited Afghanistan in 2008 as a presidential candidate. CNN's Tom Cohen, Barbara Starr, Keating Holland, Nick Paton Walsh and journalist Masoud Popalzai contributed to this report. | NEW: Car bomb in Kabul kills 5 after Obama visit .
Facing an election at home, the president says "this time of war" will end .
Romney lauds Obama visit, says Afghanistan "success" is vital .
Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai sign an agreement on future cooperation . |
76,233 | d835fac56958c8f6ec404699907babc459d1b969 | By . Matt Blake . PUBLISHED: . 06:13 EST, 11 March 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:52 EST, 11 March 2013 . As any seasoned prankster will know, drive-thru takeaway cashiers make easy targets... you might even say giving them a fright is pure Child's Play. And now one veteran online mischief-maker has put this theory quite literally to the test, with this hilarious Chucky doll drive-thru prank. Magic of Rahat put the possessed child's toy in the . front seat of his car as he drove into a series of fast-food pick-up . points in a bid to hoodwink employees into thinking that the infamous movie villain . was behind the wheel. Scroll down for video. Child's Play: 'Magic of Rahat' put the possessed child's toy in the front seat of his car as he drove into a series of fast-food pick-up points in a bid to hoodwink employees into thinking that the infamous movie villain was behind the wheel . Scary sight: This is how the car looked to Magic of Rafat's victims . Fear: Using a hidden camera in the passenger seat, he filmed the reactions of his unsuspecting victims . And their reactions were quite something to behold, ranging from fear to laughter to downright disbelief. The practical joker camouflaged himself behind a fake, home-made car seat which allowed him to drive without being seen. Using a hidden camera in the passenger seat, he filmed the reactions of his unsuspecting victims. One female employee slams the service window shut as soon as she sees the scar-faced apparition, from Hollywood film franchise Child's Play, and runs to her manager, whimpering: 'I don't like Chucky.' 'I don't like Chucky': One female employee slams the service window shut as soon as she sees the scar-faced apparition, from Hollywood film franchise Child's Play, and runs to her manager, whimpering: 'I don't like Chucky' Funny: Another runs to get her colleagues who point and laugh while taking pictures on a mobile phone . Attack: Perhaps the most unusual reaction, however, comes from one group of workers who resort to throwing a bag of chips at the doll in a bid to scare him off with saturated fats . Another runs to get her colleagues who point and laugh while taking pictures on a mobile phone. Perhaps the most unusual reaction, however, comes from one group of workers who resort to throwing a bag of chips at the doll in a bid to scare him off with saturated fats. The clip was uploaded to YouTube five days ago and already has almost three million hits. 'Wuuuut?': This worker cannot believe his eyes as the car pulls up . Popular: The clip was uploaded to YouTube five days ago and already has almost three million hits . It is not the first time Magic of Rahat has used his 'invisible driver' car seat to scare unsuspecting passers by. In January a video of him fooling fast food workers into believing his car could drive itself went viral and has now had more than 30 million hits. His other tomfoolery includes a ghost cereal box prank in a supermarket, a floating dollar bill prank and a breaking wind in a lift prank. | Magic of Rahat camouflaged himself behind a fake, home-made car seat .
He put scary Chucky doll in front seat and visited drive thru takeaways .
Reactions range from scared to filming on cell phone to throwing chips .
Clip uploaded to YouTube five days ago and already has almost 3m hits . |
261,648 | dede04c65e632ca36e8b8572ada455627c64bccd | An American luger had the likes of Beyonce cheering her on today as she placed in the top 10 at the Sochi Olympics. Kate Hansen, a student at Brigham Young University, grabbed the star's attention after making headlines with her unique warm-up ritual. Before every race, the 21-year-old puts on her headphones and dances out to a 'strictly Beyonce' playlist. Scroll down for video . Crazy in LUGE: American luger Kate Hansen warms up for each race by dancing to Beyonce . Secret ritual: She says her 'strictly Beyonce' playlist helps her get fierce and stoked for competition . Winner: Hansen placed 10th in Tuesday's luge race . When the star read Hansen's story on SBNation, she reposted it on her Facebook page and wrote: 'Go Kate!' And the good vibes seemed to have paid off. While Hansen didn't medal in the competition, she did place a respectable 10th in the race. Teammate Erin Hamlin won the bronze medal. Before the competition Tuesday, Hansen spoke with NBC about the entertaining warm-up routine. Hansen said her girl Bey 'gets me fierce and I get stoked'. Bey knows! Beyonce found out about Hansen and seemed delighted in her pre-race ritual . Star support: Beyonce wished Kate good look on her Facebook today . And she doesn't care what other people think of the ritual. 'I'm completely in my own world and it doesn't matter who's staring, I'm still going to dance.' While most find the dancing endearing, one NBC commentator wasn't impressed. Former luger Duncan Kennedy said he'd like to see a more 'sport-specific' warm-up from Hansen. 'What you see out of the top runners, the really-heavy-hitters, is they're working the arms and the shoulders and getting the power out of them because the start has to be a powerful explosive movement. Beaming: Hansen didn't medal but still placed in the top 10 in the individual race, which she seemed very proud of . Fast: Hansen clocked a time of 50.499 seconds on her final pass at the course . Good sport: Hansen fist pumps in excitement after her final run . 'While that may be a very good general warm-up, I'm not sure it gets the job done.' But words can't bring Hansen down. After the race, the California native beamed with four smooth runs- clocking 50.793 on the first run and 50.499 on the fourth run. 'It was so fun,' Hansen said. 'It was probably the most fun I've had sliding in a long time.' 'I didn't make a fool out of myself, so I'm just stoked to be here.' | Beyonce found out about the ritual and wished the luger luck on Facebook .
Hansen placed 10th today in the individual race at the Sochi Olympics .
NBC commentator Duncan Kennedy wasn't impressed with the dance .
He said he's like to see a more 'sport-specific' warm-up from Hansen .
Teammate Erin Hamlin took home the bronze medal . |
49,770 | 8cb2af8187399db6e4aaffb41c0697b017e2e514 | By . Garry Doolan . The transfer of Luis Suarez to Barcelona may have given Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers the hard cash to make it a record-breaking summer of transfers at Anfield. But the signing of France forward Loic Remy has been in the pipeline long before the arrival of Rodgers at the club. The versatility of a player often likened to former Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was what made ex-Reds boss Kenny Dalglish enquire about Remy’s availability way back in 2011. VIDEO Scroll down for Liverpool eye Remy . Almost there: Remy is on the brink of joining Liverpool after last season's loan spell at Newcastle . Gone: Luis Suarez left Anfield to join Barcelona for £75m after yet more controversy this summer . VIDEO Borini off to Sunderland as Liverpool eye Remy . And the 27-year-old’s stock has only risen in the years since, scoring the goals for QPR and Newcastle United which have proven he can hack it in the Premier League. He smashed six in 13 starts for a struggling QPR side eventually relegated from the top flight and bagged 14 in 24 starts for Newcastle last season. Rodgers himself went after the Frenchman in January this year and again in March - long before Suarez departed for La Liga. The forward’s goal return is clearly a draw as Rodgers seeks to fill the 31-goal gap left by the Uruguayan. Crucially, though, Remy will also provide the pace, ability and willingness to play in any position forward of deep midfield, which appeals to the Ulsterman’s desire for his players to be interchangeable in a fluid, rotating system. In and out: Remy will not be able to fill Suarez's shoes but he will offer Liverpool a different type of option . Versatile: The French striker's pace and ability to play across the front line is a key factor in his signing . It was this ability to take up any role asked of him - coupled with blistering pace - which made Remy a much better bet that Wilfried Bony. Although primarily a striker, he can operate anywhere across the front line. Remy featured in five different positions for Newcastle last season and that is a clear sign he will fit into a Liverpool attacking system that is likely to have Daniel Sturridge as its beating heart but with a mix-and-match group of players as its lifeblood. Raheem Sterling assumed a key role during Liverpool’s title challenge last season after learning to be more flexible, while Philippe Coutinho earned rave reviews in the latter half of the season after showing a similar willingness to adapt. Key role: Coutinho is one of the Liverpool players who functioned so well behind the strikers last year . Key pair: Suarez and Sturridge formed an excellent partnership last season, something Remy wants to emulate . Rarely did they get in each others’ way as Liverpool smashed goals with abandon at the height of their resurgence; Remy will be equally expected to work out his place in this grand scheme. There will be inevitable moments of confusion when Sturridge and Remy both pull wide and deep, or chase the same balls into the box. But Rodgers will trust them to come good, in time. The Liverpool manager would not have spent the £8.5m on Remy if he were not confident there will be no long-term clash of styles, no fighting for the same positions. It was a similar train of thought with the purchase of Rickie Lambert from Southampton last month. Rodgers has always been happy to compliment how well his front line complement. Remy’s arrival will not change that. Searing: Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge used their pace to rip teams apart last season . Irreplaceable: No one player was ever going to be signed to make up for the Uruguayan leaving . With Remy now signing on the dotted line for Liverpool, the work of his agent, Frederic Guerra, would appear done. Guerra has previously wasted no opportunity suggesting his player would be he perfect match for Liverpool, but his sales-pitch from 2011 would appear to be perfectly aimed at Rodgers now. 'This boy is pure gold,' he said. 'And I am not just saying that because I am his agent. 'He has great pace and that is something Liverpool need in attack. He has his heart set on playing for Liverpool.' If Guerra’s high-praise should come with the obvious health-warning of somebody pedalling self-interest, the words of former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson perhaps carry more credibility. Back in May this year, the Match of the Day pundit was proclaiming Remy as an ideal signing for the Reds. Rebuilding: Rodgers has already brought in several stars to fill the whole left by Suarez . 'Personally, I would take him all day long,' he was reported as saying. 'He would provide a perfect option as he is such a good player.' Lawrenson was commenting in the knowledge that Liverpool will be tested by a challenge for honours on four fronts next season following their return to the Champions League. Prior to joining QPR in January 2013, Remy was a regular for Marseille in the Champions League, scoring four goals in 16 appearances in the competition. He also played for the French club in the Europa League. In buying Remy, nobody, especially, Rodgers will believe he has signed a direct replacement for Suarez. But the Northern Irishman perhaps knows now more than ever, following the disappointment from by the antics of its greatest individual performer last season, that Liverpool’s strength next term will come from the sum of its parts. | Remy set to join Liverpool of £8.5million .
Rodgers impressed with striker's versatility .
Frenchman will not play instead of Daniel Sturridge but could support him from the flanks along with Sterling and Coutinho .
Suarez joined Barcelona for £75m . |
111,239 | 1b71079f05d643eef0a655d51527387b8a52a783 | By . Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 12:14 EST, 28 November 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:39 EST, 28 November 2012 . A former Cabinet minister tonight revealed urine has been pouring through the ceiling of his Commons office. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw took to Twitter to complain that his office ‘stinks’ after sewage from a toilets above his office seeped through Parliament’s crumbling walls. The former Culture Secretary revealed Victorian copper piping was to blame for the disgusting plumbing problem which has plagued his office for two days. Ben Bradshaw posted this picture on Twitter, telling his 18,000 followers 'urine not visible but *stinks*' The Exeter MP revealed on Twitter that he has been struck with the plumbing problem two days . Mr Bradshaw, who served in Gordon Brown's last Cabinet, revealed the smell was only made bearable by his staff wearing strong perfume. The Houses of Parliament are in such a dreadful state of disrepair that MPs could be moved out for five years for massive renovations to be carried out. Mr Bradshaw suffered the consequences first hand when waste from toilets above his office began seeping through. Parliament is so dilapidated that it would be condemned and demolished were it not one of the most famous buildings in the world . ‘Urine seems to be pouring through the ceiling into my Commons office for the second day running!’ he wrote on Twitter. Quizzed by other users of the site, he said the problem was caused by ‘a men's urinal with Victorian copper piping with holes in it’. He later used the hashtag #urinegate. When someone suggested by a can of air freshener, Mr Bradshaw replied: ‘Thankfully my 2 female student assistants wear very nice strong perfume.’ Another Twitter user asked if his office was ‘all grandeur and pomp’, but the Exeter MP posted a photograph, adding: ‘v grand as you can see urine not visible but *stinks*#urinegate’ An aide in the MPs office said Commons officials had leapt into action after he started posting the tweets. A contractor will be sent to clean up the mess in the morning. The Commons Commission has warned the repair bill for Parliament will top £1.6billion, saying it is so dilapidated that it would be condemned and demolished were it not one of the most famous buildings in the world. A recent report by MPs revealed decades of alterations had created a complex patchwork of wiring and plumbing which was almost impossible to repair. ‘Even routine tasks, such as unblocking down pipes and sewage outlets, are problematic in this environment, where pipes disappear into inaccessible voids and are entangled with other uncharted services and asbestos,’ the House of Commons Commission said. | Former Culture Secretary uses Twitter to reveal his office 'stinks' after urinal springs a leak .
Exeter MP thanks staff for wearing strong perfume to disguise the smell .
Houses of Parliament are in need of urgent repairs worth £1.6billion . |
278,539 | f4cfea14a15b1cf063cf24ce76f13a9144280ab3 | (CNN)My parents, Shanthi and C. S. Seshadri, met only twice before their wedding 30 years ago in southern India. "Met" is a stretch. My father was 32. My mother was 21 and had no say in the pairing. It was a shock to her when the man who came to see her was my father. She didn't understand why her brothers and her father would set her up with a man 11 years older, from a family that was so different from hers. He was a city boy, had traveled to and lived in various parts of India. He enjoyed cheese puffs, knew how to eat with chopsticks and the names of different types of alcohol. She had never ventured too far out of her town of Vellore, had never heard of these foods and alcohol was an unspeakable word. Whether it was a desperate match to stop a few town boys from pursuing her, or whether their horoscopes were perfectly aligned, she doesn't know. But her brother had a great feeling about it, and the match was made. Engagement. Wedding. They had no choice but to trust that their parents knew what they were doing, and they went with it. They were thrown into a relationship, their first and only one, and slowly learned everything about that person -- raw and true -- from the beginning. They grew together because it was new and awkward and special for both of them. And no matter what came their way -- scraping for dowries, moving countries, a heart attack, the death of a child -- they stayed together and they dealt with it. They didn't even know that it could be any other way. I think there's a beauty to that. Indian parents aren't the best at expressing love, in my experience. They don't think the words are necessary when you support each other for ... well, forever. But over the past few years, my parents have individually divulged their fondness for one another to me. And maybe because I'm older now, I catch them looking adoringly at each other in the temple. Stealing smiles in the kitchen. One discreetly stroking the other's head. My father doesn't like talking about his feelings, but a year ago, he told me my mother is his favorite person. When we tease him about their age difference, he says he likes taking care of her. He thinks she's innocent, has a good heart and deserves to be taken care of. My mother says she and my father are 99% made for each other. They are on the same page for all the things that matter. They are opposites in many ways. She doesn't share his love for cricket or Hollywood, and he doesn't engage in her discussions of Tamil literature. But they are perfectly complementary. Often my mother jokes and tells me even if she searches the heavens and Earth, she can't find a husband as great as hers for me. If that isn't love, I don't know what is. | The author's parents were arranged to be married in 1985 .
'They are on the same page for all the things that matter'
Share your love story at CNN.com/soulmatestories . |
127,925 | 315cf43f61b1125b09ddafa97d6ec7e63044cc6b | Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his government's decision Wednesday to speed up construction in East Jerusalem. "We will continue to build in Jerusalem. This is our right and obligation," Netanyahu said at a Knesset memorial ceremony for former tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi, who was assassinated by Palestinian militants a decade ago. "This is not a punishment -- it is our national right to build our capital. I guarantee that we will never return to the situation we had on the evening of the Six Day War," Netanyahu said. His remarks came a day after his government announced it was expediting construction of 2,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and suspending the transfer of Palestinian tax revenue in wake of the Palestinian Authority's successful membership bid at UNESCO, the U.N. cultural, science, and education agency. British Foreign Minister William Hague released a statement Wednesday condemning the Israeli measures and calling them "a serious blow to the (Middle East) Quartet's efforts to restart peace negotiations." "This settlement building program is illegal under international law and is the latest in a series of provocative and unhelpful settlement announcements," he said in the statement. In Washington, White House press secretary Jay Carney said President Barack Obama's administration was "deeply disappointed" with Israel's announcement. "Unilateral actions work against efforts for direct negotiations" necessary to achieve a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Carney told reporters Wednesday. On Tuesday, a senior Israeli official said the planned construction involves 1,650 units in East Jerusalem and the rest in the West Bank settlements of Efrat and Maaleh Adumin. The construction will take place in areas that are expected to be part of Israeli territory in any future peace agreement, the official said, and there is no contradiction between it and the various peace plans that have been on the table. Palestinians claim the land Israel occupied in East Jerusalem and the West Bank after the 1967 war as part of a future Palestinian state. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said repeatedly that the Palestinians will not return to negotiations until Israel halts all settlement construction and accepts the borders in place before the 1967 Six Day War. Israel, for its part, has maintained that negotiations should begin with no preconditions. "You cannot expect Israel to continue to be restrained when the Palestinian Authority leadership repeatedly slams the door in our face," said the Israeli official, who was not authorized to speak to the media. As an example of a door slamming, the official cited the UNESCO bid and the effort to win membership in the United Nations among other instances of Palestinian actions that damaged prospects for a peace deal. The Israeli government has also put a temporary hold on the transfer of Palestinian tax revenue collected by the Israeli government, the official said. Palestinians rely on the revenue to fund government operations, including the payment of public sector salaries. Hague, in his statement, expressed concern about that as well, saying it would have "direct implications for the Palestinian Authority's ability to maintain effective security in the West Bank." Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Abbas' spokesman, criticized the Israeli construction announcement Tuesday, calling the decision one "to accelerate the destruction of the peace process," according to WAFA, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency. Senior Palestinian negotiator Mohamad Ishtayeh also condemned the move. "Two days ago, they (the Israeli government) announced the building of 1 million settlement housing units over the span of 10 years. What Israel decided today was another episode in settlement construction. Using the UNESCO Palestinian membership is only looking for excuses and another way of building settlement housing units. This fits within the overall plan which was announced two days ago before the UNESCO vote," he told CNN. Separately on Tuesday, the permanent observer of the Palestinian Authority to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said he sent a letter to the U.N. secretary-general and the president of the Security Council about Israel. "We write today to express our grave concern about the military escalation undertaken by Israel, the occupying Power, against the Gaza Strip," he wrote. Within the past four days, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 11 people and injured many more, Mansour said. Since Saturday, scores of rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza, resulting in the death of one Israeli civilian and the temporary closure of schools and universities in the southern part of the country. The United States said Monday that it would cut funding to UNESCO after the agency voted in support of Palestinian membership. The vote, which required two-thirds approval by UNESCO members, passed with 107 in favor, 14 against, and 52 abstentions. It was the first such vote by a part of the world body and is separate from the Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations. After Monday's vote, Palestinian officials told CNN they are considering the pursuit of membership in other international groups, such as the World Health Organization. "Instead of sitting around the negotiating table," Netanyahu said after the vote, Palestinian leaders "have decided to make an alliance with Hamas and are carrying out one-sided endeavors in the U.N., including today. We will not sit with folded arms against these measures which are hurting Israel and are violating bluntly the most basic obligations the parties took in the peace process, to solve the conflict between us through negotiations." | NEW: The White House expresses disappointment at Israel's move .
Netanyahu: "It is our national right to build our capital"
Abbas' spokesman said the decision is "to accelerate the destruction of the peace process"
The announcement follows UNESCO's approval of the Palestinians' bid for full membership . |
48,288 | 884e7b77106db99765a892938a2bc0fa89be0ca0 | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 12:03 EST, 19 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 12:20 EST, 19 September 2012 . Historical experts have poured cold water over claims that an ancient papyrus proves Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, describing the fragment as 'suspicious' and 'a forgery'. The antique attracted worldwide attention because of a bombshell phrase written in Egyptian Coptic that says Jesus refers to Magdalene as 'my wife' when speaking to his disciples. The 8cm by 4cm fragment supports an undercurrent in Christian thought that undermines centuries of Church dogma by suggesting the Christian Messiah was not celibate. Scroll down for video . Explosive: The ancient papyrus that was said to prove that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene . In the text, Jesus appears to be defending her against some criticism, saying 'she will be my disciple'. Two lines later he then tells the disciples: 'I dwell with her.' But historical experts at a Coptic conference in Rome today began to dismiss the papyrus. Stephen Emmel, professor of Coptology at the University of Muenster, was on the international advisory panel that reviewed the 2006 discovery of the Gospel of Judas. He said the text accurately quotes Jesus as saying 'my wife', but added: 'There's something about this fragment in its appearance and also in the grammar of the Coptic that strikes me as being not completely convincing somehow.' University of Hamburg papyrologist Alin Suciu declared, simply: 'I would say it's a forgery. The script doesn't look authentic.' Wolf-Peter Funk, a Coptic . linguist, said the fragment cannot be judged as it has no context and dismissed it as 'suspicious'. He explained: 'There are thousands of scraps of . papyrus where you find crazy things. It can be anything.' The incomplete manuscript, written in . the ancient Egyptian Coptic language, has been studied by Karen King, . Hollis professor of divinity at Harvard University, the oldest endowed . academic seat in the US. Today, King acknowledged there were unanswered questions about the fragment, and said she planned to carry out ink tests to determine its authenticity. She said: 'We still have some work to do, testing the ink and so on and so forth, but what is exciting about this fragment is that it's the first case we have of Christians claiming that Jesus had a wife.' Ancient: The back side, or verso, of the papyrus is so badly damaged that only a few key words - 'my mother' and 'three' - were decipherable . King also made the point that the . text does not offer any historical evidence of Jesus being married, . merely that some Christians believed he was 200 years after he died. She also revealed that the owner of the papyrus wants to sell it - prompting further speculation over its authenticity. 'There are all sorts of really dodgy . things about this,' said David Gill, professor of archaeological . heritage at University Campus Suffolk and author of the Looting Matters . blog, which closely follows the illicit trade in antiquities. 'This . looks to me as if any sensible, responsible academic would keep their . distance from it.' Ancient papyrus fragments have been frequently cut up by unscrupulous dealers seeking to make more money. Gill . cited the ongoing debate in academia over publishing articles about . possibly dubiously obtained antiquities, thus potentially fueling the . illicit market. However, . if genuine, the document casts doubt on a centuries old official . representation of Magdalene as a repentant whore and overturns the . Christian ideal of sexual abstinence. It . elaborates an ancient and persistent undercurrent in Christian thought . that Jesus and Magdalene were in fact a couple, as picked up by Dan . Brown in the plot of his best-selling thriller The Da Vinci Code. Professor . King downplays the fragment's validity as a biographical document, . saying that it was probably composed in Greek a century or so after the . Crucifixion, then subsequently transcribed into Coptic. Its significance instead lies in the . possibility that an early Christian sect drew spiritual succour from . portraying their prophet as having a wife. This representation of Jesus as a man . with earthly passions and needs has not survived in the doctrines of . the established churches, which emphasise celibacy and asceticism as a . spiritual ideal. Professor . King's interpretation of the text are based on the assumption that the . fragment is genuine, a question that is by no means definitively . settled. The papyrus’ back side, or verso, is so badly damaged that only a few key words - 'my mother' and 'three'- were decipherable, but on the front side, or recto, King gleaned eight fragmentary lines: . Because chemical tests of its ink have not yet been done, the papyrus could still be challenged on the basis of its authenticity, though independent experts have given their support based on other benchmarks. To authenticate the papyrus, . Professor King sent photos of it to AnneMarie Luijendijk, a professor at . Princeton and an authority on Coptic papyri and sacred scriptures. Professor . Luijendijk forwarded the pictures to Roger Bagnall, a renowned . papyrologist who directs the Institute for the Study of the Ancient . World at New York University. Known . for his conservative assessments of the authenticity and date of . ancient papyri, Professor Bagnall nevertheless confirmed that he . believed the document was genuine. The . scribe's dialect and style of handwriting, and the colour and texture . of the papyrus, helped them to date it to the second half of the fourth . century AD and place its probable origin in upper Egypt. The details of the fragment support another view of the life of Jesus that has begun to gain traction since the discovery of a cache of ancient manuscripts in Nag Hammadi, Upper Egypt, in 1945. These manuscripts, including the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip and the Secret Revelation of John, outline the so-called Gnostic version of Christianity which differs sharply from the official Church line. Christ Appearing to the Magdalen by Titian: A newly discovered ancient papyrus suggests the Messiah and Mary Magdalene were man and wife . Gnosticism is a modern scholarly term for a set of esoteric religious beliefs found among early Christian groups who believed the realisation of intuitive knowledge is the way to salvation. In general, they believed that the material world was created not by God but via some intermediary being sometimes identified as Ahriman, Satan or Yahweh. Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth, according to Wikipedia. Others deny that Jesus was God made flesh, claiming him merely to be a human who reached divinity through enlightenment and taught his disciples to do the same. The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths, and the Persian Empire; it continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Conversion to Islam and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics during the Middle Ages, though a few communities still exist. Gnostic and pseudo-gnostic ideas became influential in some of the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America. Persecuted and often cut off from each . other, ancient Christian communities had very different opinions on . fundamental doctrines regarding Jesus' birth, life and death. It was only with the establishment of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire that the Emperor Constantine summoned 300 bishops to issue a definitive statement of Christian doctrine. This so-called Nicene creed - named for Nicaea, the town where they met - affirmed a model of Christian belief that is to this day taken as orthodoxy. The origins of this latest fragment are as yet unknown. Professor King received it from an anonymous collector who had found it among a job lot of ancient Greek and Coptic papyri. Accompanying the fragment was an unsigned and undated handwritten note from a translator claiming it is the sole example of a text in which Jesus refers in direct speech to having a wife. Professor King, who is able to read ancient Coptic, believes some of the phrases within the text echo passages in Luke, Matthew and the Gnostic gospels about the role of the family. These parallels convinced her that this account of the life of Jesus was originally composed in the second century AD when such questions were a subject of intense theological debate. Those who disagreed with the official line as established by the Council of Nicaea were in time branded by the Roman Church as heretics and their teachings suppressed. | Ancient document attracted worldwide attention because of a phrase that says Jesus refers to Mary Magdalene as his wife .
Experts criticise its appearance and grammar, with one calling it 'dodgy' |
24,356 | 4513d00a5655381c9df3a990c5061de02fe8a41d | (CNN) -- Bayer Leverkusen reclaimed top spot in the Bundesliga from Bayern Munich with a 2-2 draw at Werder Bremen to extend their unbeaten run to a record equaling 23 games. Eren Derdiyok gave Leverkusen the lead in the 29th minute, but Claudio Pizarro equalized for the home side five minutes later. Toni Kroos put Leverkusen ahead again in the 57th minute only for Per Mertesacker to salvage a draw for Bremen in injury time. The late goal meant Bayer failed to take full advantage of Bayern Munich's 1-1 draw at Nuremberg on Saturday, but they go ahead of the Bavarian giants on goal difference. Bayer's coach Jupp Heynckes was a member of the Bayern Munich team in the 1988 - 89 season which also went 23 games unbeaten in the Bundesliga. Prolific Swiss star Derdiyok put the visitors ahead with a superb free kick which eluded Tim Wiese in the Bremen goal. But German international goalkeeper Rene Adler blundered to enable Werder to level as he allowed a free kick to slip through his hands and Peruvian star Pizarro accepted the invitation to score from close range. A fine strike from outside the area gave Kroos his ninth of the season and the league leaders might have added to their tally before in stoppage time Mertesacker headed the equalizer from a Marko Marin cross. In other matches on Sunday, coach Felix Magath's return to reigning champions Wolfsburg saw new side Schalke slip to a 2-1 defeat to lose ground in the title race. The third-placers took the lead through Kevin Kuranyi on the half-hour mark, but in the 71st minute Grafite headed the equalizer for Wolfsburg. And it was Grafite who scored the winner six minutes from time. In a relegation battle, bottom club Hertha Berlin beat fellow strugglers Freiburg 3-0 with Brazilian Cicero scoring twice. | Bayer Leverkusen go top again in Bundesliga after 2-2 away draw at Werder Bremen .
It gives then a record equaling unbeaten run of 23 games in German top flight .
Third-placed Schalke slip back after losing 2-1 at Wolfsburg . |
173,537 | 6c93f4ebd78097f422010263e41799cb43e92032 | By . Alexandra Klausner . PUBLISHED: . 09:42 EST, 17 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 10:35 EST, 17 November 2013 . An adorable baby raccoon in Matheson Hammock , Fla. got its head stuck in a jar on Saturday. The Raccoon, was tirelessly trying to find some food, managed to wedge his head through the tiny opening of a jar, but couldn't get its furry face back out. The animal was hopelessly wandering around when a reporter working the field for Local 10 news, Carlos Suarez, found the animal in need. He called 911. The tired raccoon sat on top of a trash can and almost passed out in resignation before Miami Fire Rescue came to free the animal from it's sticky situation. Once a firefighter freed the racoons from the jar, it joyfully leaped from the firefighter's hands and scampered off to find some more food hopefully--hopefully not in any tight spaces. A firefighter from Miami rescue told Mail Online that this was a rare occasion for them and that while they do animal and fire rescue, less people call about animals than they do people but that they do their best to help both. If people spot injured animals in Florida they should call the South Florida Wildlife Center at 954-524-4302. video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player . The baby raccoon desperately tries to find some food in the trash can but the giant jar stuck on it's head prevents it from getting even the tiniest morsel . Tired and hungry, the raccoon rests it's heavy head and waits hopelessly for someone to help it escape . Miami Fire rescue came to the baby raccoon's aid, removed his head from the jar, and set him free . The raccoon leaps from the firefighter's hands and scampers off to find more grub--hopefully not in any jars . | The baby raccoon got his head stuck in the jar while he was trying to forage some food .
Miami fire rescue came to the racoon's aid and said this was a 'rare' situation . |
751 | 023054ed9358d85fcb1e5977cac35563556e4e0d | By . Chris Pleasance . PUBLISHED: . 04:36 EST, 25 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 05:00 EST, 25 October 2013 . The Swiss public could be about to back a law which would stop company bosses earning more than 12 times more than their lowest paid employee. Campaigners from Young Socialists Switzerland, a youth arm of the Swiss . Socialist Party, are now 'pulling out all the stops' to ensure a win . when the country votes on the proposed law on November 24. The latest opinion polls, published yesterday, showed support for and against tied on 44 per cent after earlier polls predicted defeat for those pledging to vote for the law in the referendum. The campaign has targeted UBS investment bank CEO Andrea Orcel after claiming his pay is 194 times higher than the lowest paid employee . As part of the campaign, the left-wing activists have launched a 'fat cat of the week' competition on their facebook page, targetting UBS' CEO Andrea Orcel, whose pay is 194 times higher than the lowest paid employee, they claim. He also received a $29million (£17.9million) payment when he joined the investment bank in 2012, though Switzerland has already . passed a law forbidding these so-called 'golden handshakes'. The new move, which is fiercely opposed by the Swiss banking sector, had been expected to fail after being criticised by both right-wing and centre politicians. Activists from Switzerland's Young Socialists have been projecting campaign material onto the UBS building and are organising a rally for November 2 . However the recent polls have given hope to activists who have begun projecting campaign material onto banking buildings, and are organising a rally for November 2. David Roth, head of the youth group, said: 'It’s better than previous polls which only gave 35 percent in favour, but it could still vary between 10 or 15 per cent for each side.' That means campaigners still have their work cut out to ensure it passes, he added. Switzerland hosts two referendums a year by postal vote, which form the cornerstone of Swiss democracy. Earlier this month a petition signed by 120,000 people called on the Swiss government to ensure a minimum income of $2,800 (£1,700) per month for every worker in the country. The petition was backed by enough people to force a vote on the issue in parliament, though no date has yet been set. | Referendum will be held on November 24 to decide whether law is brought in .
Young Socialists Switzerland had been expected to fail in campaign .
However latest polls show yes and no vote tied at 44 per cent . |
47,663 | 8674d2890ddf91d986ccaff92d8e9d9bfe6cd988 | Slow-moving lava which has been creeping down a Hawaii mountain since June has reached civilian territory, incinerating a home. The $200,000 house was cleared out and abandoned by its Oregon-based owners in September and no injuries were reported as molten rock engulfed the structure on Monday, officials said. It is the first residential property hit by the lava that has crept towards the town of Pahoa, the largest town in Big Island's agricultural Puna district, for weeks. Scroll down for video . Incinerated: The lava flow that has crept down Hawaii's Big Island for four months has engulfed a property in the town of Pahoa . Up in smoke: Lava flow from the Kilauea Volcano burns a residential structure on Monday in a rural Hawaii town that has been watching the slow-moving flow approach for months . Slowly taking over: Lava flow from Kilauea Volcano burns vegetation as it approaches a property boundary after slowly creeping its way towards residential plots of land turning grass into ash . View from the top: An aerial view into a skylight reveals flowing lava . Lava flow from Kilauea volcano in Hawaii . The molten rock hit the house just before noon, said Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira. It took about 45 minutes for the 1,100-square-foot home to burn down, Oliveira said. 'The house has been destroyed,' he said. Officials said they will fight any wildfire outbreaks but plan to let sole properties burn if struck by the lava flow. Earlier in the day, lava burned down a small corrugated steel storage shed on the property, which is half a mile from its nearing neighbor. A garage or barn structure still remained on the property, but it was possible that the lava would also consume it. Obliterated: Officials said they were powerless to stop the molten rock burn the $200,000 home in the agricultural Puna district . Abandoned: The Oregon-based brothers who owned the home abandoned it and cleared it out in September . A relative of the home's owners, who live on the mainland, arrived at the site to watch the house burn, officials said. That family member drove from another part of the island about two hours away and used an iPhone to take video of the house burning. The county estimates the value of the home at about $200,000, Oliveira said. The 800 residents that reside at the base of Kilauea Volcano were warned of a potential evacuation when it erupted in late June. Around 50 families in the lava's projected path abandoned their homes. The flow entered Puna on October 26 and engulfed a cemetery. On Sunday, officials suspected the lava had come to a complete and final standstill 480 feet from the main street that runs through the town, which remains closed. Devastating: A relative of the owner drove from another part of Hawaii when they realized the house was burning but could only watch . Billowing smoke: Smoke could be seen pouring from the home and officials warned residents with breathing problems to stay inside . Blistering: The burning molten rock is continuing its advance towards Pahoa and other parts such as Leilani . Warning: The flow is still active and the main road of Pahoa town is closed to all residents in case it hits . However, a finger of molten rock broke out from the central flow and poured over the abandoned home. According to KITV, wind is blowing heavy smoke south west towards other towns such as Leilani. Residents with respiratory difficulties have been warned to remain indoors. Pahoa stands on the site of a . former sugar cane plantation on the eastern edge of the Big . Island. Kilauea's current eruption began in 1983, and the flow of . lava that has menaced Pahoa began bubbling out of the volcano's . Pu'u O'o vent on June 27. Lava from Kilauea destroyed more than . 180 homes between 1983 and 1990, but until this week none had . been lost since 2012. | Home belonging to two Oregon brothers in Pahoa was cleared out in September, Kilauea Volcano erupted June 27 .
50 homes have been abandoned, officials on Big Island warn residents with breathing problems to stay inside .
Main flow of lava came to a standstill in late October but breakouts are active and flowing into the 800-person town . |
44,970 | 7ebd667488e2dc5768fbdfd892056d9f68d4a4eb | By . Kerry Mcdermott . PUBLISHED: . 10:50 EST, 24 September 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 02:59 EST, 25 September 2012 . Lied: Irshad Ahmed told the little boy's parents he had been pushed from a fire escape at the Birmingham nursery . The owner of a nursery where a child was left critically ill after falling 15-foot onto concrete from a fire escape lied to his family and said the three-year-old had been pushed. Eshan Ahmed, now four, had to be put into a coma after suffering a fractured skull when he fell headfirst through a gap in the railings of the staircase at the first-floor nursery in Birmingham. A court heard the steep staircase was used as an entrance and exit to Little Hippos Multicultural Nursery and Day Care Centre even though the owner knew the fire escape was unsafe, as small children could easily slip through large gaps on either side of the steps. Birmingham Crown Court was told that . Irshad Ahmed had lied to Eshan's family and to Ofsted about the fall . and created a 'fiction' surrounding it, claiming that the three-year-old . was pushed off the steps during a fire drill at the nursery in Summer . Lane. Ahmed - who has . been ordered to pay out over £20,000 - even tried to persuade other . members of staff to back up his story as part of his 'utterly cynical' cover-up after Eshan plunged headfirst from the top of the fire escape . in March last year. Recorder Malcolm Morse said it was only thanks to 'pure luck' that a similar accident had not happened before at the nursery. 'It was, in a hackneyed but accurate phrase, an accident waiting to happen,' he said. 'The fact it had not happened before is, in my judgement, pure luck. 'You tried to persuade two members of staff to uphold this fiction but they have always refused to do so,' he added. The court was told how Ahmed fed his . story to Eshan's distraught mother while she was at the hospital with . her critically ill son. 'Mr Ahmed’s conduct on behalf of the . company was as bad as his conduct exposing children to this risk in the . first place,' the judge said. Critical: Eshan Ahmed suffered a fractured skull following the fall at the Little Hippos nursery in Summer Lane, Birmingham . Injuries: The swelling on Eshan's head is clear in this photograph . 'You don't expect to see your child in that condition, especially when they are left at a nursery, a place you trust to keep them safe,' she said. 'Unsafe': Wooden panels have now been added to the railings on either side of the fire escape leading from the first-floor nursery . Fined: Little Hippos owner Irshad Ahmed was ordered to pay out more than £20,000 at Birmingham Crown Court . Nusery owner Irshad Ahmed admitted one count of breaching his duty as an employer, as well as failing to notify the authorities - in this case Birmingham City Council - within ten days of the incident in March last year. The judge fined the nursery £16,000 and ordered it to pay costs of £7,500 and a £15 victim surcharge. But Eshan's mother said she was disappointed by the verdict, and insisted that Ahmed should not be allowed to care for children. 'Doctors have told us the effects of the fall might not show until Eshan reaches puberty as it could have damaged his pituitary gland at the base of his brain,' she said. 'I am disappointed by the verdict in this case and would say this man and his nursery should not be allowed to care for children.' Prosecutor Barry Berlin described Ahmed’s attempt to cover up the incident as ‘utterly cynical’. 'What we have here is a cover up of how the incident occurred and that is an obstruction of the authorities,' he said. 'Why was he covering it up? Because he recognised the serious nature of the offence.' Dominic Adamson, defending, apologised to Eshan Ahmed on behalf of the company for the injuries he sustained. He said the nursery-owner wrongly believed the fire escape was safe to use following both a fire safety inspection and an Ofsted inspection. On the mend: Sabrina Ahmed with her son Eshan, now four (front), and his brother Junaide, nine . | Eshan Ahmed fractured his skull after falling 15ft onto concrete from fire escape outside nursery building .
Nursery owner Irshad Ahmed allowed steep staircase to be used despite knowing it was unsafe for children, court was told .
Owner then lied to three-year-old's parents in an 'utterly cynical' cover-up .
Little Hippos Nursery in Birmingham ordered to pay out more than £20,000 . |
141,766 | 4355724e53a7afee863ce076dd9f7138e0343d8f | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 06:27 EST, 25 October 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 19:33 EST, 25 October 2013 . A real-life Trotter family – who even drove around in a yellow three-wheel van – have been ordered to pay back more than £200,000 they made from their dodgy dealings. Trevor Wales, 56, and his son Richard, 30, the Del Boy and Rodney of the operation, sold contraband tobacco and cigarettes in a six-year scam. They evaded more than £200,000 in duty on the sales and used the proceeds to buy property, jet skis, luxury cars, caravans and motorbikes. The real-life Trotters: Trevor Wales, 56 (left) and son Richard, 30, were ordered to pay back £100,000 for selling counterfeit goods in dealings similar to the ones performed by the Trotters in Only Fools and Horses . Replica: Trevor Wales' 'Del Boy' three-wheeled van is parked outside his home in Leeds, West Yorkshire . Rusting: The Reliant Robin even had the words 'Trotters Independent Traders' sprawled on the side . Some of the cash went on a replica of the famous yellow Reliant Regal . Supervan three-wheeler used by slippery cockney Del Boy Trotter in the . comedy series Only Fools And Horses. The vehicle even bore the logo Trotters Independent Traders. Unlike . the fictional Del Boy and his younger brother Rodney, the father and . son make a fortune from their crime – and unlike the Trotters, they went . to prison. When police went to the house of Trevor Wales and his . wife Mary in Leeds to arrest them, she stuffed more than £5,000 in the . knickers she was wearing, only for it to fall out in front of officers. In . another room, police found £16,000 in £1,000 bundles. At the time of . their arrest, Trevor and Mary Wales had a legitimate income of only . £7,400 a year. But they had managed to build a two-storey extension . to the house and installed a luxury kitchen and gym. Raid: When police searched the home, the wife and mother, Mary, had cash flowing from underneath her skirt . Characters: Delboy Trotter, played by Sir David Jason and Rodney, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst, stand next to their Robin Reliant during filming for Only Fools and Horses . They had £144,000 . in bank accounts even after Mary Wales had gambled away £47,000 in a . casino. In 2011, Trevor Wales was jailed for two years and three months . and Richard Wales for 15 months. Mary Wales, 55, who acted as the banker for the operation, escaped with a suspended sentence. Between . them the three admitted charges including evading VAT on tobacco and . converting criminal property. This week, the jail sentences having been . served, they were back at Leeds Crown Court for a proceeds of crime . hearing to decide how much they must pay back. Trevor Wales was ordered to repay £71,469 and his son £21,029. Mary . Wales – who, the court heard, made most from the counterfeit cigarette . scam – was ordered to repay £110,747. All three must pay up within six . months or face jail. An order was also made for the forfeiture and . destruction of contraband tobacco seized by police. Judge Tom Bayliss QC . said the defendants had ‘benefited from criminal conduct’. | Conman Trevor Wales was caught selling fake goods with son Richard .
Were jailed in 2011 for a counterfeit tobacco scam which lasted six years .
Illegal business enabled them to buy luxury properties and jet skies .
Husband and wife only had a legitimate income of £7,400 .
£5,000 fell out of his wife's underwear when police searched their house . |
184,822 | 7b683b478450beca0c9aaa077927b6a6380140ce | Juba, South Sudan (CNN) -- South Sudan accused Sudan of launching ground and aerial attacks inside South Sudan's territory Sunday. "There have been bombings since 9 this morning, and at 1 o'clock they launched a ground attack," said Barnaba Marial Benjamin, South Sudan's minister of information. The clashes came after the southern army said it withdrew troops from a contested, oil-rich border region. A spokesman for the Sudanese military could not be immediately reached for comment. Claims from both sides are difficult to confirm, as journalists and independent observers do not have access to the front lines. South Sudan announced Friday that it would comply with a request from the United Nations Security Council to pull troops out of the disputed oil-rich region of Heglig, which it had occupied since April 10. Sudan claimed its forces had forced southern troops out and captured the area. Benjamin said his country's army withdrew to bases near the border and inside South Sudan. Sudanese forces crossed the border and attacked them there, he said. "They are trying to drag us back into a war, and that's what the Security Council didn't want," he said. "They must tell them to stop these attacks." Benjamin said the bases near the border have been repeatedly attacked in the past by Sudanese troops based in Heglig, and those previous attacks prompted South Sudan to occupy the area. Heglig is on the border created last year when the two countries split. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had vowed to "never give up" the disputed region. While both countries claim Heglig, Sudan continued administering the region after South Sudan declared independence last July following a two-decade civil war. The south took with it three quarters of the formerly united country's oil reserves, a loss that sent Sudan's economy reeling. Sudan's oil industry suffered further when fighting in Heglig forced a halt to oil production in those fields, which account for about half of the country's entire production of 115,000 barrels a day. Satellite images suggest that infrastructure in the Heglig oil fields may have been severely damaged by the fighting. The Satellite Sentinel Project released images Sunday that suggest a critical part of the oil pipeline infrastructure was destroyed. The collection manifold, which allows oil flows to be separated or combined without interrupting the flow, appears to have been damaged by an explosion. "The evident destruction of the collection manifold is a big deal in that this by itself is likely to result in immediate cessation of oil flow from the area," said Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the project, which is led by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Hutson said analysts could not determine whether the destruction was the result of ground fighting or aerial bombardment. On Friday, South Sudan's military spokesman, Philip Aguer, told reporters in Juba that Sudan had bombed Heglig's central processing facility the previous day and that it continued to burn. Serious damage to the facility would prevent companies from resuming production and would require substantial investment to repair or rebuild. Sudan has accused South Sudan of destroying oil infrastructure and said it would attempt to force South Sudan to pay for damages. The renewed fighting follows an appeal Saturday by U.S. President Barack Obama, urging the countries to "choose peace" and return to negotiations. "You still have a chance to avoid being dragged back into war," he said in a video, which was subtitled in Arabic and posted to the White House website. | South Sudan's information minister reports hours of bombings .
A Sudanese military spokesman cannot be reached for comment .
"They are trying to drag us back into a war," the South Sudanese official says .
Satellite images suggest damage to oil fields . |
149,938 | 4dd9878684bf0a3ed879e28547cd757f1e5a67e1 | By . Alex Delmar-morgan . PUBLISHED: . 08:44 EST, 27 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 09:20 EST, 27 January 2014 . The U.S. threatened targeted sanctions Sunday against those responsible for the worsening sectarian violence in the Central African Republic as at least eight died in fresh clashes. Mob violence in the capital Bangui claimed eight lives Sunday as Christian militia attacked and looted predominantly Muslim neighborhoods, with fighting between religious groups intensifying. On Friday a former Muslim minister was hacked to death by armed groups. John Kerry, the U.S. secretary of state, said . Washington was considering ‘targeted sanctions against those who further . destabilize the situation, or pursue their own selfish ends by abetting . or encouraging the violence’. Protesters block a road during continuing sectarian violence in the Miskine district of the capital Bangui, as at least eight people were killed in clashes on Sunday in the Central African Republic . Residents run for cover amid continuing violence in the Central African Republic, where an interim president was sworn in last week . Men carry an injured woman in the Central African Republic where the U.S. may impose selected sanctions on those behind the violence . He called on the country’s leaders to halt attacks on civilians and to condemn the violence. Almost one million people have been displaced by fighting that began when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian former French colony in March. Christian groups, known as "anti-balaka", or anti-machete, have since taken up arms against Muslims, with the U.N. estimating that more than 2,000 people have been killed in the last ten months. French and African Union peacekeeping troops have so failed to stem the bloodshed. Kerry said the appointment of new interim President Catherine Samba-Panza last week was a chance to move forward. She replaced Michel Djotodia, a former Seleka leader, who stepped down earlier in the month because of intense international pressure. Samba-Panza has said she will aim to start talks between armed groups and called for militia to lay down their weapons. A witness told the Reuters News Agency he saw two burning bodies in Bagui’s Castor district. A convoy of heavily armed rebel Seleka Muslim fighters was seen leaving Bangui Sunday. Central African Army Forces (FACA) cadets display a fake rocket launcher in Jean Bedel Bocassa's Berengo palace near Pissa, 45 miles south west of Bangui in the Central African Republic on Sunday . African peacekeeping forces, which have been unable to stop the violence, on patrol in the capital . Almost 1 million people have been displaced by fighting that began when mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian former French colony in March. "The youth in the neighbourhood saw the men here. They called them over, and they ran away. They caught them just right here and killed them," said a young man who gave his name only as Alex. With the U.N. backed peacekeeping mission largely present in the capital, the violence has spread to the surrounding countryside. Rights groups have warned of heavy fighting in the northwestern towns of Baoro and Bossemptle, where civilians were killed and hundreds of homes were burned last week. "There is a huge risk of a major human tragedy because of the complete absence of any peacekeeping force," Amnesty senior crisis adviser Donatella Rovera said. "Peacekeepers were sent to the CAR with a clear mandate: to protect civilian lives. They must not fail it." | U.S. says it is mulling targeted sanctions against ringleaders of the violence .
Eight more killed in fresh clashes between Christian and Muslim militia .
Two bodies seen burning in the street, witnesses say . |
207,974 | 9944125f81284ca7daafaeffce15f36a8ad07f56 | By . Sami Mokbel . Follow @@SamiMokbel81_DM . Eden Hazard claims he is '100 per cent' staying at Chelsea and confirmed he is in talks over a new deal. Paris Saint Germain manager Laurent Blanc has publicly spoken of the French club's desire to sign the attacker. But Sportsmail revealed on Thursday that the Belgium international was in line for a new five-year contract worth in the region of £200,000-per-week. Committed: Eden Hazard insists he is happy to remain at Chelsea, ending speculation about a summer transfer . Focus mode: Hazard is currently preparing to represent Belgium in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil . And Hazard has confirmed discussions over fresh terms have begun, whilst also committing his future to the Stamford Bridge club. 'I am staying at Chelsea, 100 per cent sure,' said the 23-year-old. 'Of course in football you never know, but I am under contract with Chelsea and I want to stay there. 'And I am in discussions with Chelsea for a new contract. It is only the beginning of the talks right now, but we have got time. 'But the fact that Chelsea have offered me a new deal means that they have got a lot of confidence in me, that I can do a good job, and that they can count on me.' Mega money: Hazard could be in line to agree terms on a £200,000-a-week contract with Chelsea . Spurned: Laurent Blanc had wanted to take Hazard to Paris Saint-Germain this summer . | Eden Hazard ends speculation by saying he is happy to stay at Chelsea .
Belgium international reveals he has opened negotiations over new deal .
Hazard in line to receive five-year deal in the region of £200,000-per-week .
Had been linked with a summer transfer to Paris Saint-Germain . |
44,422 | 7d48180d6e563bf7fa92c10db43fc1a05e17b0a6 | By . Wills Robinson . PUBLISHED: . 12:54 EST, 11 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:05 EST, 14 March 2014 . Claims: Catriona Carter Jonas, the former events coordinator at Kellogg College, Oxford, told a tribunal she was called a 'wrinkly old bag' by a manager . An Oxford University events co-ordinator was described by her managers as a 'wrinkly old bag', an employment tribunal was told. Catriona Carter Jonas, 53, said she received 'nasty treatment' from her superiors while working at the prestigious Kellogg College and was so depressed she would 'cry herself to sleep'. Details of the alleged bullying emerged at Reading Tribunal Centre where Miss Carter Jonas is suing the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University for discrimination on age grounds, unfair dismissal and the payment of outstanding wages. Miss Carter Jonas, who worked at the college for six years, told the tribunal she had been bullied from January 2011 and once she left had 'no confidence in herself'. She alleges former line manager Sarah Gauntlett called her a 'wrinkly old bag' and asked if she was strong enough to move furniture for events. When Donna Lipsky took over as her manager in January 2012, Miss Carter Jonas said: 'As soon as Donna started her role it was clear that her intention was to manage me out.' She claimed Mrs Lipsky was overly argumentative in a meeting shortly after taking over and refused to listen to Miss Carter Jonas’ concerns about her previous manager’s behaviour. A month later, Miss Carter Jonas, from Wantage, Oxfordshire, said she walked past Mrs Lipsky’s office and overheard her saying to a colleague: 'We need someone cheaper, younger, stronger.' 'I was the only member of staff that had to move furniture around for events, therefore I needed to be reasonably strong and that is why I believe that comment was made about me,' she told the hearing. She said that Mrs Lipsky attempted to increase her workload by up to 80 per cent without any recognition. 'She was trying to make my job more difficult for me so that I would make mistakes or resign,' she added. Judge Robin Lewis heard that she was . told to 'f**k off' by bursary staff member Samantha Williams, and heard Mrs . Lipsky had claimed Miss Carter Jonas lied about taking time off sick . with suspected appendicitis in April 2012. Allegations: The hearing at Reading Tribunal Centre was also told that a senior member of staff said Miss Carter Jonas would 'sit on people' until she broke them . In June 2012, Miss Carter Jonas was taken to a disciplinary hearing for poor performance by Mrs Lipsky, which she labelled 'very strange' as the accusations were 'petty' or 'not true'. She had previously been subject to a similar hearing in 2011, which she did not dispute. Miss Carter Jonas was then given a final written warning, meaning she needed daily meetings with her manager to monitor performance. 'These were never good or constructive and I was either treated with contempt or completely ignored,' she added. Prestigious: She was the events co-ordinator at Kellogg College for six years before leaving last year . Miss Carter Jonas submitted a grievance against Mrs Lipsky in July 2012 and appealed her warning, claiming two other employees had complained about her manager at the time. Judge Lewis heard that further health problems followed as the disciplinary and grievance process continued. 'I was depressed and would cry myself to sleep on most nights. I was suffering from regular panic attacks, she said. She claimed the grievance was not investigated properly and appealed its dismissal, but that was also rejected. University administration: Miss Carter Jonas is suing the Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford for discrimination on age grounds, unfair dismissal and the payment of outstanding wages . 'The result of the appeal was the last straw, it forced me to resign. I couldn’t go back to Kellogg, I had no confidence in myself,' she said. Alice Carse, representing Oxford University, told the hearing that Miss Carter Jonas had been mistaken regarding Mr Fraser’s comments that Mrs Lipsky would 'sit on people'. She added that Miss Carter Jonas, referred to by colleagues as Mimi in some evidence, was 'making something out of nothing and that Mrs Lipsky had not in fact threatened her with dismissal in their January 2012 meeting. 'Did you ever consider that what Keith Fraser told you about her was untrue and was part of his own agenda?' she asked, to which Miss Carter Jonas said she took it as true. Speaking of her original meeting in 2012 with Mrs Lipsky, Miss Carter Jonas said: 'Donna wagged her finger repeatedly at me, banned me from using Gabriele Del Monte, IT officer, to help me move furniture, changed my work hours and threatened to dismiss me by asking "do you still want this job?" in front of former manager Sarah Gauntlett. The tribunal is expected to conclude today. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article. | Catriona Cater Jonas, 53 told hearing she would 'cry herself to sleep'
Claimed she received 'nasty treatment' by staff at Kellogg College .
She is suing the University for discrimination on age grounds .
Also alleges she was unfairly dismissed and has not received some wages . |
117,240 | 23655f318392dab9edc0015e5566b4563274cabc | By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 09:39 EST, 1 January 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 11:23 EST, 1 January 2014 . A Manhattan heiress has claimed the tanning salon worker she married tricked her out of $700,000 by saying gangsters were chasing him for gambling debts. Candice Feinberg Lalicata is suing the man she married in 2011, claiming that he used the money to buy lavish gifts for his girlfriend in New Jersey. Steven Lalicata, his alleged mistress Diana Fernandez, and a couple of their friends are named in a $10 million lawsuit that alleges that they conned Lalicata's new wife out of the money. Claims: Candice Feinberg, pictured at her wedding to Steven Lalicata, alleges her husband tricked her out of tens of thousands of dollars . According to court papers seen by the Daily News, the daughter of Herbert Feinberg, one of the creators of seamless panties, was led to believe her husband had gambling debts with an organized crime group. 'Through a series of coordinated . communications, they led her to believe physical well-being would be in . jeopardy if she did not make huge amounts of cash available to him on . short notice,' the lawsuit claimed. The case alleges that rather than being in debt and danger, Lalicata 'was stealing the money to live a double life'. The couple had met in April 2010, when Lalicata was working at the Beach Bum Tanning Salon in Manhattan. Shortly after he started dating Ms Feinberg, a divorcee with a five-year-old son, Lalicata learned that she had just cashed in her trust fund. It was then that he allegedly started befriending her son before proposing just a few months into their relationship. Shortly after their wedding, Lalicata started to disappear overnight or for a few days at a time. When his new wife confronted him, she claims he told her 'he had been gambling and had run up large debts to 'individuals . connected with organized crime in Brooklyn who would hurt him if he did . not pay,' the suit claimed. When his cousin and a friend allegedly backed up his story, Ms Feinberg started to wire tens of thousands of dollars to him to clear the debt. When he allegedly pushed her for a further $150,000 - telling her when the debts were gone they could focus on starting a family - she mortgaged her Upstate New York home to raise the money. The suit claimed that Lalicata staged a handover with a friend posing a gangster, who met them in a car outside the bank so she could hand over the cash. That night, Lalicata allegedly told his wife he was having trouble sleeping and went downstairs - only to disappear. A few days later Ms Feinberg discovered that he had been on vacation with Fernandez in the Dominican Republic. Double life: The lawsuit claims that after they married Steven Lalicata would disappear from the couple's Manhattan apartment, above. When confronted he allegedly told his wife he had run up gambling debts . With the help of a private detective, Ms Feinberg allegedly found her husband had been having a relationship with Fernandez and instead of using her money to pay off gambling debts he had used it for luxury shopping trips to buy his mistress 'jewelry, luxury goods, home . furnishings and travel'. An employee at the couple's former Manhattan apartment told the New York Post Lalicata would return from shopping trips with goods from Louis Vuitton and Armani. The employee, who has not been named, claimed Lalicata would say: 'Hold these for me. Don't tell my wife.' Attempts to get her husband to admit to fraud on tape in July 2012 failed after he allegedly seduced her at a hotel to invalidate the tape. Ms Feinberg told the New York Post: 'I am concerned that these people may pray on other victims ... I believe that they brought me and my young son into their confidences solely from the get go, to steal as much as they could from me.' The suit, filed in the spring of 2013, seeks repayment of $744,105 and $10 million in damages from Lalicata, Fernandez and their friends for false arrest and fraud. A lawyer for Fernandez denied that his client had been involved in any wrongdoing or that she had been romantically involved with Lalicata. Lalicata could not be reached for comment. | Candice Feinberg Lalicata claims she was tricked out of trust fund .
Husband and alleged mistress named in $10m lawsuit . |
74,741 | d3e4f002512742aed38a2f239b8f4814e0d67b3f | France manager Didier Deschamps has launched an attack on Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri's character insisting he lacks 'sincerity'. The former Arsenal player has not featured for France since November 2013 and has endured frosty relations with the national side since he was handed a three-match ban for his behaviour during Euro 2012. Nasri was then left furious after he was omitted from France's World Cup squad last year despite playing a key role in City's title-winning campaign. Samir Nasri trains with Manchester City ahead of the Champions League clash with Barcelona . Former Arsenal midfielder Nasri faced the media on Monday ahead of the fixture . Nasri has not played for France since a World Cup qualifier in November 2013 . The 27-year-old retired from international football following the tournament in Brazil and criticised Deschamps again in an interview with L'Equipe earlier this month, referring to the former midfielder as a 'joker' and a 'hypocrite'. And now the 46-year-old has hit back by claiming Nasri refused to talk with him and insists France are doing just fine without him. 'People need to know that, in the autumn of 2012, I decided to call him to discuss stuff with him,' he told RMC Sport. 'He refused to listen. He did not want to discuss anything. France manager Didier Deschamps described Nasri as insincere and said midfielder refused to talk to him . Nasri (centre) retired from international duty last August after being left out of France's World Cup squad . 'I was waiting for him to want to talk, but he did not meet my expectations in sport. Apparently, he says he is happier without the France team. Without him, France are continuing perfectly fine. 'If a person who is an example of sincerity and frankness told me something, I'd consider it, but Nasri is not that type of person.' | Samir Nasri criticised Didier Deschamps for World Cup omission last year .
Manchester City midfielder retired from international duty in August 2014 .
Nasri called France boss a 'joker' and a 'hypocrite' in recent interview .
Deschamps has hit back at Nasri saying he lacks 'sincerity' |
60,248 | ab3a0a7324f42477e1be9f11f4122729817f9769 | Wanted terrorist Mohamed Elomar could have appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video alongside a Sydney teenager. On Tuesday, video surfaced of Abdullah Elmir, 17, who fled Australia back in June to join the terror group in Syria, telling his mother he was going fishing. In the video posted on YouTube, Elmir - going by the name of Abu Khaled – makes threats to Australia and the rest of the Western world and also takes aim at Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Wanted terrorist Mohamed Elomar could have appeared in an Islamic State propaganda video alongside a Sydney teenager . But a day later, speculation about the identity of a man who appeared alongside the teenager mounted and The Sydney Morning Herald reported intelligence officers were now looking closely at the video to determine if the man seen standing to the right of Elmir is the notorious extremist. When asked by Daily Mail Australia if he thought the man in question was Elomar, Dr Jamal Rifi - a friend of the former boxer's family - said: 'I believe he is.' Dr Rifi also added he had not spoken with the Elomars. 'They are overseas and I have no way in contacting them,' he said. Intelligence agencies are looking to confirm if Elomar (pictured) appears in the 1.43 minute video . Fairfax Media has been told intelligence agencies were inspecting the video and chief among their concerns was the man standing closest to Elmir is the wanted terrorist who has close ties with another extremist, Khaled Sharrouf. Earlier this year, Sharrouf caused a worldwide stir when he posted photos on Twitter of his son proudly holding up a severed head in Syria. Warrants for the arrest of Elomar and Sharrouf were issued by the Australian Federal Police in July. In the recently emerged footage, Elmir is flanked by his Islamic State comrades with the well-known black and white flag and brandishing a weapon. Elomar is one of two notorious extremists the Australian Federal Police have put arrest warrants out for in July . The jihadist claimed IS were going to put a 'black flag on top of Buckingham Palace' and the White House. 'We will keep on fighting and we will fight you and defeat you,' he stated. As his hate-filled diatribe finishes he begins chanting in Arabic and the fighters around him join in. Throughout, the man believed to Elomar alternates his gaze from Elmir and in front of him. His face remains expressionless and the only time he shows any emotion is when he joins in chanting with his brothers-in-arms at the conclusion of the video. The man holds a rifle in front of his body with both hands. | A video surfaced of Sydney teenager Abdullah Elmir, 17, on Tuesday .
Intelligence personnel are trying to confirm if Mohamed Elomar is in it .
Elomar is one of two extremists the AFP issued a warrant for in July .
Dr Jamal Rifi - a friend of the suspect terrorist's family - believes it is him . |
179,272 | 7419cf3df0e452c97d467a3b49957b581c2fff3e | Plea: After fleeing the Swazi king, Tintswalo Ngobeni seeks asylum in the UK . A young woman is seeking asylum in Britain after she spurned the advances of the polyamorous King Mswati III of Swaziland and refused to join his harem of 13 wives. Tintswalo Ngobeni, 22, fled to England from the southern African nation as a teenager after she caught the attention of the millionaire monarch, a notoriously oppressive ruler known for his lavish lifestyle. As part of Swazi custom, King Mswati III, 45, is permitted to choose a new bride every year. Miss Ngobeni, who now lives in Birmingham, was just 15 when the King made his advances after seeing her at the palace of his fourth wife, LaNgangaza. She said she was ‘terrified’ when she learned of his marriage intentions. She added: ‘He started calling me at boarding school. He would ask me if I wanted to be a part of the royal family. I had to keep quiet about my fears but I knew I didn’t want to get married to him and have a life devoted to the king. 'His wives are kept in their palace, surrounded by bodyguards, and they can’t really go anywhere unless the king says so. The only thing they do is go to America once a year, as the king gives them a shopping allowance.' Miss Ngobeni was forced to abandon a comfortable lifestyle in a private boarding school as her aunt, who was her chief guardian, arranged the escape to England to join her mother, who moved to Birmingham five years earlier, fleeing an abusive husband. Scroll down for video . Culture: The Reed Dance ceremony, pictured, is known as Umhlanga and sees thousands of Swaziland's 'prettiest virgins' dance topless for King Mswati III, every August, hoping to be his next wife. Fears: Miss Ngobeni believes she could be arrested or even killed if she has to return to Swaziland . ‘I didn’t have a choice,’ she said. ‘Nobody has ever turned down the king or dares to disobey him, so I just disappeared.’ Since . her arrival in England, Miss Ngobeni has become a vocal opponent of the . oppressive Swazi regime, where political opposition parties are banned . and activists routinely arrested or assaulted. Amorous: As part of Swazi custom, King Mswati II, 45, is permitted to choose a new bride every year . However, Miss Ngobeni’s high-profile activities, including weekly protests outside the Swazi embassy in London with activist group Swazi Vigil, have caught the attention of the authorities in her home country and she now believes she is in more danger than ever. She said: ‘Recently I had news that people had been sent from Swaziland to come and get me, which really scares me. If I went back, I would be arrested or much worse as there are people there who are tortured, beaten up or killed for being politically active.’ Miss Ngobeni now lives in fear of having to return to Swaziland, after her first plea for political asylum in England in 2007 was denied in 2011. Last month, she was arrested and taken to an immigration detention centre after 18 months of reporting weekly to the authorities. However, after pressure from the TUC and the office of Roger Godsiff, Labour MP for Birmingham, Miss Ngobeni was released and has now been granted an appeal by the Home Office. Mr Godsiff said yesterday: ‘We were very pleased solicitors were successful in achieving a judicial review into Miss Ngobeni’s case.’ The father of 27 children, King Mswati III was a guest at the William and Kate wedding as well as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations last summer. The king’s sixth wife escaped from the royal harem last year, citing years of ‘emotional and physical abuse’ by her husband. A spokesman from the Home Office refused to comment. | Tintswalo Ngobeni, 22, fled to England from Africa as a teenager .
Caught attentions of King Mswati III - monarch notorious for lavish lifestyle .
Began contacting her at school when she was just 15 .
Wants asylum saying she could be arrested or even killed if she returns . |
98,628 | 0b01585b47904f5a456027e1c305f35b99786388 | The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to keep in place an Obamacare requirement that certain religious-affiliated groups cover birth control and other reproductive health services in their employee insurance plans. The high court was poised to decide whether to grant a temporary injunction sought by a Catholic charity of nuns to delay the mandate, which carries fines for non-compliance. The Denver-based Little Sisters of the Poor and other non-profits had filed a lawsuit against the federal government, saying the contraception coverage requirement violates their moral beliefs and their religious liberty. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an emergency injunction on Tuesday for the charity that cares for the elderly poor and sought a response from the Obama administration. The Catholic-affiliated group submitted a rebuttal after the Justice Department submitted its brief. It is not clear how Sotomayor will handle the matter ultimately, but one option would be to ask the broader court to weigh in. The appeal again thrusts the politically charged Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, into the national legal spotlight. President Barack Obama's signature domestic initiative, ruled constitutional by the court in 2012, became even more controversial this past fall during its flawed public rollout. The current case spotlights a major sticking point in the law over contraception coverage. The mandate was designed by the administration to give women employed at nonprofit, religious-based organizations -- such as certain hospitals and private faith-based universities -- the ability to receive contraception through separate health policies with no co-pay. 5 things: Obamacare and contraception . A court ruling on this matter could ultimately impact dozens of religious groups and businesses that have mounted legal challenges in recent months. Church and state . The church and state issue now in the spotlight involves rules negotiated last year between the Obama administration and various outside groups to address the controversy over contraception. Under the law, churches and houses of worships are exempt from the mandate. But other nonprofit religious-affiliated groups, such as church-run hospitals, parochial schools and certain charities must either provide no-cost contraception coverage or have a third-party insurer provide separate benefits without the employer's direct involvement. Organizations that choose to opt-out of direct coverage must sign a document certifying their religious objections, and the government would then require the outside insurer pick up the costs. "At that point, the employer-applicants will have satisfied all their obligations under the contraceptive coverage provision," the Justice Department said in its brief with the Supreme Court. The Catholic charity has "no legal basis to challenge the self-certification requirement or to complain that it involves them in the process of providing contraceptive coverage," the government said. But the Little Sisters of the Poor and the entity that administers its insurance plans, Christian Brothers Services, both qualify for exemptions under the conditions in the law, the Justice Department said. But the groups raised objections in their appeal to the Supreme Court that an exemption ultimately amounts to tacit approval of something that violates their religious and moral beliefs. Contraception coverage would be provided by someone in the future -- and they oppose that. "The government demands that the Little Sisters of the Poor sign a permission slip for abortion drugs and contraceptives, or pay of millions in fines" for non-compliance, said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the group representing the nuns. "The sisters believe that doing that violates their faith, and that they shouldn't be forced to divert funds from the poor elderly and dying people they've devoted their lives to serve," Rienzi said. The Supreme Court in March will take up a related challenge to the birth control mandate, when it hears arguments over whether some for-profit corporations should be exempt, again on religious liberty grounds. Supreme Court to take up contraception case . | Supreme Court Justice Soniya Sotomayor issued emergency injunction on Tuesday .
The case again puts Obamacare in legal spotlight .
Case prompted by suit from Denver-based charity run by nuns .
Ruling could impact dozens of religious groups and businesses . |
243,068 | c69713d3eefeda4b52accec5c75726d09cdb53f6 | By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 14:49 EST, 26 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:37 EST, 27 November 2013 . A veteran nurse was stabbed to death on Tuesday as she bravely tried to protect her patients from a knife-wielding man. Gail Sandidge, had been on the hospital staff . since 1978, hospital CEO Steve Altmiller said at a news . conference. 'She was protecting her patients by an act of courage, and she lost . her life as a result,' he said. Four other people were injured on Tuesday in a stabbing attack at the Ambulatory Surgical Center of Good . Shepherd Medical Center in Longview, Texas. Scroll down for video . Nurse Gail Sandidge, who had worked at the Texas hospital since 1979, died protecting her patients . Kyron Rayshawn of Longview, Texas has been charged with murder after a nurse was stabbed to death at the Good Shepherd Medical Center on Tuesday . A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder in the stabbings . which happened around 7am. Gregg County Jail booking records show Kyron Rayshawn Templeton . of Longview is also accused of four counts of aggravated assault. Officer Kristie Brian, a Longview police spokeswoman, said it’s . not yet clear what led to the attack. Of the four others wounded, one was in critical condition, one . was in good condition and two were treated at the hospital and discharged, . Altmiller said. Templeton was at the hospital with his mother when he went on a . knife-slashing rampage, Longview police said. Templeton fled on foot but was . caught nearby, subdued after a brief struggle and arrested, Brian said. Neither Templeton nor the arresting officers were injured, Brian . said. A knife believed to have been the weapon used in the attack has been . recovered, she said. His bond has . been set at $2.6 million. Jail records did not list an attorney for Templeton. Surveillance video was being reviewed by the hospital’s security . team and would be turned over to police, said Kenny Jernigan, Good Shepherd’s . security director. Good Shepherd Medical Center is a 425-bed acute-care hospital . about 120 miles southeast of Dallas. All surgeries scheduled for Tuesday and . Wednesday were postponed and were being rescheduled, Altmiller said. Good Shepherd Medical Center lost a nurse this morning when she was stabbed with a hunting knife by a crazed man . | Kyron Rayshawn Templeton .
of Longview charged with murder .
Knife man also injured 4 people during attack at 7am on Tuesday .
Nurse Gail Sandidge, who had worked at hospital .
since 1978, was killed while trying to protect her patients . |
265,947 | e476ca884691f54dd4d554a5dfc363266f236fda | By . Tamara Cohen . Outburst: Education Secretary Michael Gove (pictured on Tuesday) shouted 'you're a disgrace' at those MPs who opposed the Government in the vote . Michael Gove was so furious with Tory MPs for voting down intervention he had to be restrained by colleagues, it was claimed last night. The Education Secretary, a staunch backer of military action in Syria, shouted 'you're a disgrace' at those MPs who opposed the Government in the tense vote last night. Scottish National MP Angus Robertson said Mr Gove carried on yelling 'disgrace, disgrace, disgrace' at Tory and Liberal Democrat rebels in stunning scenes in the House of Commons around 11pm last night. Labour MP Barry Gardiner also told how Mr Gove, a close ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, 'lost it' and accused colleagues of 'supporting (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad'. He had to be persuaded to calm down by colleagues. Mr Gove, speaking about Syria this week, did not join colleagues in calling for MPs to vote on military action, saying he believed the appropriate response should be decided by the Prime Minister. He said at a speech in London on Tuesday that any action should be predicated 'above all' on the 'horrendous humanitarian atrocities' thought to have been carried out by regime forces. 'I am like everyone, horrified by what we've seen in Syria and like almost everyone anxious that whatever can be done to alleviate the suffering is done', he said. Dramatic: Mr Gove's outburst came after David Cameron (left) and Labour leader Ed Miliband (right) had spoken . 'I think we're lucky that we have in David Cameron and William Hague the right people leading this country and its response to the terrible things that have happened in Syria.... ‘We all need to be calm but resolute in our response, and I think that's exactly the position and the virtues the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have shown. 'The decision about the government is going to respond to the horrendous humanitarian atrocities that we have witnessed is one that is properly taken by the Prime Minister and the members of the National Security Council.' | Education Secretary Gove was staunch backer of military action in Syria .
Carried on yelling 'disgrace' at Tory and Lib Dem rebels, says SNP MP .
Gove 'lost it' and accused colleagues of 'supporting Assad', it's claimed . |
13,853 | 2745f93afca3edf25dd9ccfd094eef06298f62cb | A schoolboy was raped in a busy department store after being threatened by two men. The 14-year-old was wandering around a shopping centre after travelling into a city centre on a Saturday afternoon. He was using a public toilet in the mall when he became aware of two men staring at him. Inquiry: Police want to speak to these men in connection with an attack on a 14-year-old boy, who was raped in a department store in Manchester . Suddenly one of the men approached him and said: ‘Come with us, do what we say and if you try to run, we’ll get you.’ The boy was then frogmarched by the men – one white and the other Asian – out of the Arndale Centre in Manchester. Led by the arm, he was forcibly taken . about 50 yards away to the nearby Debenhams store. As shoppers and staff . walked around the four-storey department store, oblivious to the boy’s . ordeal, the teenager was forced into a lift by the two men. He was taken by the lift upstairs, where he was marched into a men’s toilet and raped by the Asian man. Two men have been arrested after a teenage boy was raped in a toilet in this Debenhams store in Manchester city centre . Yesterday a police source said the . attack was ‘absolutely horrendous’. The source said: ‘The attack on a . child in a busy department store on a Saturday afternoon will put fear . and dread into the heart of every parent. ‘If teenagers are not safe from . paedophile predators in the heart of a busy city, then it is extremely . worrying.’ Greater Manchester Police have issued CCTV images of the two . suspects wanted for questioning. Detective Sergeant Liam Boden said: ‘This young victim has been absolutely devastated by what happened to him. ‘What makes this incident doubly . shocking is that he was marched across a busy part of the city centre . during the late afternoon on Saturday. ‘However, this means I am confident that shoppers may have seen the offenders either before or after the incident. ‘I want people to take a good look at the men in these images and tell me who they are.’ The boy was attacked after being approached by two men in the Arndale Centre in Manchester . The youngster was frogmarched from the shopping mall by the men - one white and the other Asian . His colleague, Superintendent Stuart . Ellison, said: ‘When you think about a 14-year-old out in the city . centre at that time of the evening, when the footfall is pretty heavy . and there are a lot of people about, the fact that someone could be . marched across the street and into a store in this way is pretty . horrific.’ He added that he found the attack . ‘particularly disturbing’, saying: ‘When I think about family or friends . who could have been out in the Arndale at that time of night, it . disturbs me greatly.’ The assault happened ten weeks ago – . at 5.45pm on Saturday, June 2 – in the heart of Manchester. The teenager . reported the incident and was taken to a rape crisis centre at St . Mary’s Hospital where he was checked by doctors. A team of officers has been working . with the traumatised victim to build up a picture of what happened and . to obtain forensic evidence. A spokesman for Debenhams said senior staff at the Manchester store were looking into the matter. | Boy was attacked in toilet of a Debenhams store in Manchester .
He had been taken there by two men who approached him in the city's Arndale Centre .
Police release CCTV images of two men they want to question in connection with the attack .
Detectives: 'This young victim has been absolutely devastated by what happened to him' |
262,567 | e01c8c6d5039c651732ae24c31397551b8e1e08a | Violent offenders may have to wear electronic ankle tags following the horrific murder of an 11-year-old boy who was beaten to death by his abusive father earlier in the year. This is a $150 million proposal put forward by the Victorian government as part of their re-election campaign to order high-risk perpetrators to wear GPS trackers while victims would be given separate devices to trigger an alarm if offenders approached. It comes eight months after Luke Batty was killed by his deranged father Greg Anderson, who attacked his son at cricket training, despite an intervention order placed against him by the boy's mother. Scroll down for video . Luke Batty was beaten to death with a cricket bat by his deranged father Greg Anderson, 57, earlier this year . Luke Batty, 11, who was the son of British-born Rosie Batty and her Australian ex-partner Greg Anderson . Tyabb Cricket Ground, south of Melbourne, where Luke Batty was killed on the evening of February 12 . On the evening of February 12, Rosie Batty watched in horror as her ex-partner Greg Anderson stabbed and beat their son to death with a cricket bat after a training session at Tyabb Cricket Ground, south of Melbourne. While emergency services were too late to save the 11-year-old, who died at the scene, police attempted to subdue the father with capsicum spray . Witnesses included parents and children who were gathered at the grounds for evening cricket training and watched on as the 54-year-old father charged with a knife at one of the officers, who shot him dead. Ms Batty had previously taken out domestic violence warrants on her deranged ex-partner. Tyabb Cricket Ground, in Victoria, where the 11-year-old boy was murdered by his father during evening cricket training . Ten days after he was murdered by his father, the body of 11-year-old Luke Batty is carried from his school chapel in a bright yellow coffin . The boy's British mother Rosie was standing metres from Luke when he was murdered . The Victorian government's pledge for electronic ankle tags on violent offenders would follow a pilot program next year, as part of the $150 million package announced on Saturday. Premier Denis Napthine says it would be a quicker way of dealing with the scourge than the Labor Party's plan to hold a royal commission into the issue. 'This pilot will help us evaluate how effective GPS can be to prevent family violence and help women and children feel safer,' he told the Herald Sun. 'When we identify opportunities to protect Victorians from family violence, we will act immediately,' he said. | Family violence perpetrators in Victoria might have to wear electronic tags as part of a $150 million package .
Luke Batty was killed at a cricket training ground in Tyabb, south of Melbourne, on February 12 .
The 11-year-old was beaten to death with a cricket bat by his deranged Australian father Greg Anderson .
The boy's British mother Rosie was standing metres from Luke when he was murdered . |
233,170 | b9de0c80a36261698c7590ed235c609f829ea06e | By . Associated Press . PUBLISHED: . 14:59 EST, 24 October 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 02:00 EST, 25 October 2012 . The last leg of the fastest road in America opened on Wednesday where the speed limit is 85mph. The final 41-mile stretch of Texas Highway 130 was finally finished after three years of construction. The toll road is intended to alleviate the crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, which are two of the state's largest metropolitan areas. Scroll down for flyover of the new high-speed road . Controversial: The 85 mph speed limit has been approved for a 41-mile-long toll road near the increasingly crowded Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio . The new stretch will be from . Mustang Ridge, ten miles south of Austin's international airport, . to Interstate 10, just east of Seguin. A 50-mile stretch bypassing . Austin is already open. Tolls . for cars displaying an electronic toll tag will be about . 15 cents per mile. But no tolls will be collected until November 11. The new stretch of high-speed road has prompted fears that fatalities could increase. 'The research is clear that when speed limits go up, fatalities go up,' said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Higher speed limits get people to their destinations faster, Rader said, 'but the trade-off is more crashes and more highway deaths.' A 2009 report in the American Journal of Public Health studied traffic fatalities in the U.S. from 1995 to 2005 and found that more than 12,500 deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits on all kinds of roads. Speed strip: The map shows exactly where motorists can hit the gas . The study also said that rural . highways showed a 9.1 per cent increase in fatalities on roads where . speed limits were raised, but did not cite specific numbers in those . instances. There are no longer any roads in the . U.S. with no speed limit like Germany's autobahn with most top speeds being 75mph. Some highways in rural . West Texas and Utah have 80 mph speed limits. The . Texas Legislature last year approved 85 mph limits for some new . stretches of road. The . Texas Transportation Commission, which is appointed by Gov. Rick Perry, . approved the 85 mph speed limit at a public meeting on August 30. A . transportation department spokesman said commissioners would not comment . on their decision. Agency officials had previously said they would study the toll road's topography, the speeds that most drivers were reaching, and the safety of access points and cross sections before approving the 85 mph speed limit. 'Safety is our top priority and tests have shown the designated speed is a safe one,' agency spokeswoman Veronica Beyer said. Record speeds: Map shows top speed limits across the U.S . Alan Guckian, who lives in Austin and regularly drives to Seguin to visit family, said he'll likely use the road for convenience and the pleasure of driving fast. 'I would love it,' Guckian said. 'Sometimes it's fun to just open it up.' Steve Marcy sometimes uses another part of the toll road on his daily commute from Round Rock, north of Austin, to his job in San Antonio. The section he drives now has an 80 mph speed limit. Marcy said he'd be comfortable driving 85, but would be concerned about others driving vehicles that are not in good condition. 'A tire blowout (at 85 mph) could be a big hazard,' Marcy said. Chris Lippincott, spokesman for SH 130 Concession Co. that is building the road, said the company is committed to operating a safe highway. 'On any road, drivers hold the key to safety based on traffic, travel conditions and the capabilities of their own vehicles,' Lippincott said. Toll prices have not yet been set for the new section. Marcy predicted the higher speed limit will attract new drivers, but said most won't think it's worth the cost of the tolls. 'For most people I talk to, it's a cost issue,' Marcy said. | Road between Austin and San Antonio will have country's top speed .
More than 12,500 U.S. deaths were attributable to increases in speed limits between 1995 and 2005 . |
63,093 | b33da49470a6c0e286ec68077284877582cc7843 | Sir Andrew Green, a leading opponent of mass immigration to Britain, is to become a peer. David Cameron personally nominated the chairman of MigrationWatch for a seat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher for his public service as a former diplomat and for his role in the immigration debate. The appointment comes amid a growing public clamour for tighter controls on immigration, with Mr Cameron promising to impose curbs on EU migrants as part of his plan to claw powers back from Brussels. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, is to join the House of Lords as a crossbench peer . MigrationWatch is a think tank which campaigns against Britain's open borders with Europe, warning levels of immigration are unsustainable. Three other people will also become crossbench peers. They include former MI5 boss Sir Jonathan Evans and education expert Professor Alison Wolf. One appointment which is likely to raise eyebrows in Westminster is that of Sir Robert Rogers, who this year quit as the clerk to the Commons after reports of rows with Speaker John Bercow. However, Sir Andrew's elevation to the Lords at a time when immigration is dominating political debate is likely to prove the most controversial. He co-founded the MigrationWatch think tank in 2001, after a career as a diplomat in the civil service, retiring in 2000 after four years a Britain's ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He has become a leading voice against immigration and a supporter of Mr Cameron's promise to cut net migration to the tens of thousands. The official citation for Sir Andrew states: 'Sir Andrew Green KCMG was the British Ambassador to Syria from 1991 to 1994, and to Saudi Arabia, 1996 to 2000. 'He served for over 35 years in the Diplomatic Service. Since retirement in 2000, he has carried out a wide range of voluntary work. This includes MigrationWatch UK which he co-founded in 2001 and still chairs.' The decision to reward such an outspoken opponent of mass immigration comes as Mr Cameron is in the grip of a major row with the EU over attempts to curb freedom of movement. Former MI5 boss Sir Jonathan Evans also becomes a crossbench peer in the list announced today . Former Commons clerk Sir Robert Rogers and education expert Alison Wolf also become peers . The Premier has pledged to put immigration 'at the very heart' of his renegotiation strategy for Europe, which he has promised before staging an in-out referendum by 2017. The Tories promised to cut net migration to the tens of thousands, but latest figures show it has topped 200,000. Sir Andrew has warned that 'immigration on this scale is simply not sustainable'. He has urged the government to consider 'what reforms can be made to Freedom of Movement in the EU, so as to limit the number of low skilled EU migrants coming to the UK, at least until migratory pressures abate.' Senior Conservatives are considering a proposal to impose quote on 'time-limited national insurance numbers' to limit the numbers of people able to move to Britain for work. But outgoing European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has warned restricting migrant numbers would 'not be in conformity with European laws'. As Prime Minister, Mr Cameron personally nominates crossbench peers to the Queen in recognition of their public service. The number of appointments covered under this arrangement is a maximum of 10 in any one Parliament, Downing Street said. | Prime Minister personally nominates appointment to the Queen .
Peerage for Sir Andrew's diplomatic career and role in immigration debate .
Sir Robert Rogers, who quit early as Commons clerk, also becomes a peer .
Ex-MI5 boss Sir Jonathan Evans given a peerage for public service .
Seat in the Lords for education expert and Gove ally Professor Alison Wolf . |
253,242 | d3ca7b502ffdeb5d096ff0640230f1a0f7e33efd | In the wake of Edward Snowden's revelations, a San Franciso privay group has revealed that all of the major messaging apps have fundamental flaws. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released its Secure Messaging Scorecard today, evaluating dozens of messaging technologies on a range of security best practices. The scorecard includes more than three dozen tools, including chat clients, text messaging apps, email applications, and technologies for voice and video calls - and found all of the major players were left wanting. Scroll down for video . The big players: EFF examined them on seven factors, like whether the message is encrypted both in-transit and at the provider level, and if the code is audited and open to independent review. not of the big players, all shown here, scored aperfectly. The EFF looked at the following when assessing the security of various tools: . 1. Is your communication encrypted in transit? 2. Is your communication encrypted with a key the provider doesn't have access to? 3. Can you independently verify your correspondent's identity? 4. Are past communications secure if your keys are stolen? 5. Is the code open to independent review? 6. Is the crypto design well-documented? 7. Has there been an independent security audit? 'The revelations from Edward Snowden confirm that governments are spying on our digital lives, devouring all communications that aren't protected by encryption,' said EFF Technology Projects Director Peter Eckersley. 'Many new tools claim to protect you, but don't include critical features like end-to-end encryption or secure deletion. 'This scorecard gives you the facts you need to choose the right technology to send your message.' The scorecard includes more than three dozen tools, including chat clients, text messaging apps, email applications, and technologies for voice and video calls. EFF examined them on seven factors, like whether the message is encrypted both in-transit and at the provider level, and if the code is audited and open to independent review. Six of these tools scored all seven stars, including ChatSecure, CryptoCat, Signal/Redphone, Silent Phone, Silent Text, and TextSecure. Apple's iMessage and FaceTime products stood out as the best of the mass-market options, although neither currently provides complete protection against sophisticated, targeted forms of surveillance. The tool was launched in the wake of revelations from Edward Snowden . Many options—including Google, Facebook, and Apple's email products, Yahoo's web and mobile chat, Secret, and WhatsApp—lack the end-to-end encryption that is necessary to protect against disclosure by the service provider. Several major messaging platforms, like QQ, Mxit, and the desktop version of Yahoo Messenger, have no encryption at all. Both WhatsApp and Facebook messenger scored poorly in the tests . 'We're focused on improving the tools that everyday users need to communicate with friends, family members, and colleagues,' said EFF Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo. 'We hope the Secure Messaging Scorecard will start a race-to-the-top, spurring innovation in stronger and more usable cryptography.' | Electronic Frontier Foundation created scorecard for messaging systems .
Just six tools scored top marks - ChatSecure, CryptoCat, Signal/Redphone, Silent Phone, Silent Text, and TextSecure .
Examined seven factors, from whether the message is encrypted both in-transit and at the provider level to if code is audited# .
Apple scored best among major players . |
246,077 | ca80fd1e909b48d2d2384bcdebbeb3f6b7973394 | (CNN) -- Washingtonians from both sides of the aisle gathered this week to see actor Kevin Spacey in concert, a benefit for the Kevin Spacey Foundation. "Good evening and welcome to an evening to benefit the Frank Underwood Super PAC," Spacey joked to the sold-out crowd, with a guest list including Dr. Jill Biden, several members of Congress and business leaders. Underwood is the ruthless politician Spacey plays as the star of "House of Cards." During his performance Monday night, at Washington's Sidney Harman Hall, he threw in Underwood impersonations among his set list, which ranged from Sinatra to "Piano Man," and an "All Night Long" duet with Jeff Goldblum. Yes, that Jeff Goldblum. In between songs, Spacey shared lessons from what he dubbed "Frank Underwood's Guide to Philanthropy." "Generosity is its own form of power," he said in his signature Underwoodian Southern drawl. Spacey's foundation strives to "send the elevator back down" by training and mentoring emerging artists through scholarships and funding. The actor's commitment to arts accessibility and paying it forward was front and center throughout the benefit, which raised over $700,000 for the foundation. "The most important thing to me is not a financial or monetary thing. When I'm in a workshop and I see that kid in the corner who is really shy and wants to be involved but doesn't know how, maybe is a little scared. I was that kid," Spacey said. "I want that kid ... to have an experience of realizing something about themselves that they didn't know that they were capable of. That's the moment I live for." 'House of Cards': Season 2 brings more dirty dealing . Spacey said that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland, both in attendance, were "instrumental" in developing the role of Frank Underwood, although McCarthy wasn't initially willing to work with him. "When I first asked to meet (McCarthy), he refused to meet me," Spacey told reporters after the show. "Until he found out I was playing a Democrat." Although both McCarthy and Hoyer came out publicly against the show's portrayal of Congress, Spacey said, "You've gotta thank Frank Underwood for getting both sides of the aisle to agree on something." Spacey's next project will use his distinctive voice in a different way, starring alongside Alec Baldwin in Dreamworks' animated feature "Boss Baby." 'House of Cards' renewed for third season . | Crowd at actor Kevin Spacey's sold-out benefit concert includes members of Congress .
The event raised over $700,000 for the actor's foundation . |
82,290 | e942a3cf4f6d39cb83fbadeec5686006b5e76ee4 | (CNN) -- Search and rescue teams on Friday were trying to reach an airplane that crashed with 18 people aboard in the mountains of western Indonesia, an air transportation official said. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the airplane Thursday morning shortly after it took off from the Medan Polonia Airport in North Sumatra. It was bound for the Kutacane district in Aceh province when it crashed in the mountains in North Sumatra, said Henry Bakti, Indonesia's director general for air transportation. The plane was spotted during an aerial search, and it appeared to be largely intact, Bakti told reporters. The condition of the passengers, including two children and two infants, was not immediately known, he said. Nusantara Buana Air owns the plane, which operates nine planes and services destinations in Aceh from the Medan Polonia and Banda Aceh airports. Airplanes are the primary mode of transportation between Indonesia's scattered islands. In May, a plane that crashed off the coast of Kaimana killed at least 15 people. Indonesia's poor aviation record has led the European Union and the United States to blacklist a number of the country's small airlines, including Nusantara Buana Air. CNN's Kathy Quiano contributed to this report. | The airplane carrying 14 people crashed in the mountains in North Sumatra, an air official says .
The flight was bound for the Aceh province when it crashed .
Two children and two infants are among the passengers, the official says .
An aerial search spotted the plane, which appeared to be largely intact . |
268,618 | e7f00ff0bfb72741f2d3e5105628d89afaeb155d | She was the young cancer sufferer pictured sitting on the knee of Diana, Princess of Wales, at the royal's final official engagement before her tragic death. Hollie Robinson Marsh beat cancer as a child but has now sadly passed away after the leukaemia returned, 17 years after the photo was taken. The girl was just four when she met the Princess at north London's Northwick Park Hospital children's ward in July 1997. Scroll down for video . Hollie Robinson Marsh was four-years-old when she met Diana, Princess of Wales, during the princess's visit to Northwick Park Hospital . Recalling the day, her mother Claire Robinson from Ruislip, London, told MailOnline: "To Hollie it wasn’t a big thing, but Hollie was always that kind of person. You could introduce her to The Queen and she’d be the same way as she is with everyone. 'She just treated everyone the same. She was very natural with Princess Diana. Hollie was always just a very easygoing child.' The subsequent image of their encounter was published around the world and was eventually used as an official photo accompanying a £5 coin marking Diana's death. Ms Robinson, 46, said: 'She was excited about it and over the years she was always happy to talk to other children and take her coins into school to show the class. It was always something that she looked at.' Hollie recovered from her illness and, inspired to help others by the Princess, went on to study childcare at school. Her last official engagement in Britain was on 21 July, when she visited Northwick Park Hospital, London (children's accident and emergency unit) Two years on, Hollie showed off the souvenir coins of her meeting with Diana, Princess of Wales, which inspired her in later life . Hollie began working for a children's organisation at 16 and was there until she died, aged 21 . By the age of 16 she had a part-time job with Kids Can Achieve, a Harrow-based organisation offering support to youngsters with special needs and their families. And she was still working there when, on her 21st birthday, she had the shocking news that her cancer had returned. Ms Robinson said: 'Doctors told us it was a one-in-a-million chance.' She went on: "Hollie never said “why me, I’ve had it once, why have I got to have it again?” 'She always said to the doctors "it’s new for me because I don’t remember having it last time, but my mum’s going through it twice." 'Hollie didn’t want anyone’s sympathy. She just wanted her life back.' Diana, Princess of Wales, also met a youngster called Camila Fiocco during her visit to Northwick Park Hospital . Despite the fact that her 18-year-old brother Jake was ready to be a bone marrow donor so his sister could undergo a transplant, Hollie became seriously ill from the chemotherapy and radiotherapy she received, eventually leading to multi-organ failure. And when details of her funeral were put on Facebook, hundreds of friends got in touch with family. In the end, around 400 people came to the service, many lining the road to Breakspear Crematorium. Her mother said: "Looking back on it now I can see she was put here for a reason. There was a reason why we had her for those extra 17 years. She was made to look after those children. 'It’s inspiring in the fact that she met Princess Diana who loved children and Hollie went on to work with children with special needs. She was a remarkable person in that respect.' Simon Jarrett, the chair of Kids Can Achieve, said her passing is a huge loss to both the staff she worked with and the children they care for. He told MailOnline: 'We are terribly shocked and saddened by her death. 'She'd worked with us from the early days of our organisation. She is somebody who had gone through great trials herself and the gave up a career to work with children with very high levels of need. 'She was a great worker and friend and we'll all miss her greatly. It's a really shocking loss we've suffered.' During her visit to the hospital, her last official engagement, Princess Diana, also met a girl called Camila. The four-year-old, who lost her hair during chemotherapy, was one of the patients who saw the Princess unveil a foundation stone for the children's casualty centre. The Princess spotted the child in a bright floral dress and cuddled her as she spoke to her Brazilian-born mother, Anna Fiocco. Leukaemia is the most common form of blood cancer in children. Leukaemia is a blood cancer that affects the white blood cells, a really important part of our immune system that fights infection. Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALA) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are forms of cancer which affect blood-producing cells in the bone marrow. When a child has leukaemia, control of blood cell production breaks down. The bone marrow - the soft tissue in the middle of our bones where all our blood cells are made - makes lots of abnormal white blood, or leukaemia cells. These never mature into proper white blood cells, vital to a healthy immune system, and so children with leukaemia are at more risk of infection. Now nine in ten children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) - a remarkable turnaround for a previously untreatable disease. The cure rates for children with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are now around 65 per cent. The photo of Hollie meeting Princess Diana was eventually used inside a presentation package featuring a £5 coin to mark the princess's death . | Hollie Robinson Marsh was pictured during Diana's final official engagement .
Photo of pair published worldwide and used for £5 commemorative coin .
Girl beat leukaemia and was inspired to help children with special needs .
On her 21st birthday she was diagnosed with cancer again and later died .
Hundreds turn out for funeral of 'amazing person' who bravely fought illness . |
226,862 | b1c17fb8646cfe00e2d49326249a231e4d17a4c8 | Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji may have just found his true calling: capturing the little-seen breathtaking beauty of Iran's most dazzling mosques. The 24-year-old physics student, who lives in Babol in Iran's Mazandaran province, pursues his passion for photography on the side. Having no formal training whatsoever, Ganji has honed his eye by reading articles and watching Internet tutorial videos, and has a particular affinity for photographing historical architecture. Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji captures the little-seen beauty of Iran's most stunning mosques. Pictured: the Pink Mosque in Shiraz . Experimenting with panorama, monument, and landscape photography, Ganji embarked on a project to photograph Muslim places of worship around Iran from unexpected viewpoints over five years ago. He was inspired after seeing some shots taken from the interior of the Egyptian pyramids online and began to wonder if he too could take pictures of significant historical sites. From the kaleidoscope-like patterns of the famous Nasīr al-Mulk Mosque (also known as the Pink Mosque) in Shiraz to documenting the intricate ceiling detailing of the Seyyed Mosque in Isfahan, Ganji has travelled to the far reaches of Iran to show foreigners a side of the country rarely seen. Making the project all the more fascinating is the fact that, while many of these mosques allow for tourists to snap quick photos, most do not allow professional photography equipment through the doors. This 'little planet view' captures the intricate detailing on the ceiling of the Vakil Mosque, also in Shiraz . 'To take professional photos, especially using a tripod, you require permits for most of these locations,' Ganji told MailOnline Travel. 'I go through the paperwork process to obtain a permit a few days before my trip. 'It’s not an easy process and there has been times when even with a permit, I didn’t receive the appropriate reception from the people in charge.' According to his website, Ganji's believes that the most important element in photography is light, a fact made evident in the images below as he often plays with shadow and streaming sunlight when framing his shots. Ganji also enjoys photographing popular tourist attractions, such as this historical bath located in Isfahan, south of Tehran . Ganji photographed the plaster ceiling of the music room in Ali Qapu Palace, located in Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan City . 'Normally mornings are the best times for photography in any respect,' he told us. 'Specifically, for the lighting and [because] it's less crowded.' Ganji normally uses wide and fish-eye lenses to capture his stunning panoramic shots. 'Wide lenses provide a larger angle, while panoramic photography offers an even wider angle when joining photographs together,' he said. 'It allows me to show all of the area in one image. Many of my pictures are a combination of more than three images.' But no matter your lens of choice, Ganji's most important piece of advice? 'Always try to find the distinguishing elements of the place that you're going to photograph,' he told MailOnline. 'Imagine your final result before staring your panoramic shoot.' This traditional carpet repair workshop is located near the entrance of the Vakil Mosque and Vakil Bazaar, in Shiraz . This is the stunning ceiling of the Chehel Sotoun Palace (or the Palace of Forty Columns), built by Shah Abbas II, in Isfahan . For those who wish to see the grandeur for themselves, tourism to Iran has tripled in the past year, thanks to improved relations with the West and Iran's newly-introduced measures to facilitate foreign tourists. The Director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO), Masoud Soltanifar, said: 'Tourist trips to Iran are very attractive, important and cheap for foreigners while at the same time the country enjoys a high level of political and security stability. 'A two-week tourist visa is issued for the nationals of 190 countries at Iranian ports and airports.' Though the Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel, it's expected that the agency will relax their advisories, especially when it comes to visiting major city centres, like Tehran. Ganji hopes to continue photographing places of historical significance at other well-known Christian and Jewish monuments around the world and will post them on both hisFacebook page and website. Another shot of the finer details of the Ali Qapu Palace ceiling . One of Ganji's favourite places to photograph is the famed Pink Mosque, however, tourists usually block him from getting such stunning shots . Seyyed Mosque is the biggest and arguably most famous mosque from the Qajar era in Isfahan. It was founded in the 19th century . Eram Garden is an historic Persian garden located in Shiraz, known for its wide variety of flowers, trees and other plants . Another image of the intricate rosy detailing of the Pink Mosque's interiors . Photographed from this fish-eye perspective, the Vakil Mosque - and all of its columns - look like something out of a sci-fi film . Also in the Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan is the Sheikh Lutfollah Mosque, which was completed in 1619 . Dolat Abad, which was built in 1750, is renowned for its intricate latticework and exquisite stained glass windows . The ceiling of the Dolat Abad, a small pavilion set amid UNESCO-listed gardens, is nothing short of breathtaking . Ganji believes that light is the most important element when it comes to capturing a stunning photo. Pictured: Emamzadeh-Hasan . Tehran's Azadi Tower (also known as the Liberty Tower) is one of its most notable structures, also marking the west entrance to the city . One of the most popular historical sites in Yazd, the blue and rose-hued Yazd Grand Mosque is still in use . The interior of the Dolat Abad pavilion is a maze of doors and windows, illuminated by the streaming sunshine . In Joffa, the Kordasht Bath is situated on the southern banks of the Aras River, and hosts thousands of visitors each year . Ganji captured a rare bottom-up view of the Jameh Mosque ceilings in Yazd. This mosque is the grand, congregational mosque . The Nasir al-Mulk Mosque is known as the Pink Mosque because of its rose-coloured tiles . As the sun shines through the stained glass windows, its dominant red hue is highlighted by a kailedoscope of colours . The broad spectrum of light is really only visible in late autumn and early winter, when the sun is lower in the sky . The Shah Mosque is also known as Emam Mosque and was named after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran . The Palace of Hasht Behesht, meaning Eight Paradises, is a Safavid-era palace in Isfahan and was built in 1669 . Another view of the gilded hues of the Shah Mosque's ceilings in Isfahah, Iran . The panoramic view of the Shah (Emam) Mosque is positively stunning . In the early morning light, the Shah Mosque's detailing is as vibrant as ever . A rare view of the Azadi Tower, which was built in 1971 in commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire . The incredible turquoise hues of the Sheikh Lutfollah Mosque stands on the eastern side of Naqsh-e Jahan Square . Clouds swirl above Tehran City's most iconic monument: the Azadi (Liberty) Tower . Ganji calls this black and white photograph, shot using a strategic fish-eye lens, the 'Smiling Tower' The 'little planet view' of the Vakil Bath in Shiraz was originally part of the royal district constructed during Karim Khan Zand's reign . | 24-year-old physics student Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji captures the mind-boggling beauty of Iran's mosques .
An amateur photographer on the side, Ganji honed his eye by reading articles and watching Internet tutorial videos .
Using fish-eye and panoramic lenses, the photographer highlights the stunning light and symmetry of the buildings . |
274,223 | ef2edf39d2954bb76df363fb47782c79b7b3d9f2 | (Rolling Stone) -- There are roughly a million Rolling Stones albums, and almost all of them have songs that will drastically improve your life. (Some of them also have "Angie.") Where to start? Where to go after the classics? Here's a road map of the good, the great and the "Angie." 'Out of Our Heads' (1965) Their great R&B album -- by now the Stones could write their own classics as well as pick them. Mick struts through the grooves with a sullen edge of seduction, his voice dripping with sex, while Keith and Brian keep hitting new twin-guitar highs. Key Track: "Satisfaction" -- if they quit the day after they cut this, they'd still be legends. Best Mick Moment: His toweringly soulful version of "Cry to Me." The Hottest Live Photos of 2012 . 'Let It Bleed' (1969) The Stones luxuriate in darkness and dread, as if they always knew flower power was a scam. If you're taking just one Stones album to that moon colony, let it be this. Key Track: "Gimme Shelter," a portrait of Sixties turmoil that Keith wrote in 20 minutes. Best Mick Moment: His crazed whoops on "Let It Bleed," dripping bodily fluids all over Charlie Watts' drums. Honky Tonk Man: "You Got the Silver" was Keith's first lead vocal on a Stones LP. 500 Greatest Albums of All Time . 'Goats Head Soup' (1973) Since this was the follow-up to "Exile," everyone expected more raw, uncut, filthy rock & roll. Instead, everyone got "Angie" and a load of hippie-mom wind-chime ambience. Key Track: "Star Star." Is this the first song about a groupie with a sex tape? Best Mick Moment: You know what? "Angie" is f------ awesome. Nobody else in a million years would have tried to get away with that "let me whisper in your eeeaaar" bit. 100 Greatest Artists of All Time . 'Some Girls' (1978) The band's all-time bestseller. It put the Stones back on top, with Mick dishing about the New York rock-star high life. Key Track: "Shattered." Key lines: "Laughter, joy and loneliness/And sex and sex and sex and sex." Best Keith Moment: "Before They Make Me Run," a defiant statement of the What Would Keef Do? lifestyle. Girls, Girls, Girls: Keith was once asked why the album was called Some Girls. His reply: "Because we couldn't remember their f------ names." 100 Greatest Guitarists . 'A Bigger Bang' (2005) The Stones took their time with this one, as if they had something to prove. Their toughest album in a long time. Key Track: "Sweet Neo Con," where Mick rips Republicans a new one. Best Keith Moment: "Infamy." If he ever decides he wants to start doing LPs of cocktail ballads, he could give Rod Stewart a run for his money. Fresh Ones: The guys wanted new songs to play live, even if fans didn't. "They say, 'I much prefer to hear 'Brown Sugar,' " Mick said. "Well, I don't give a s--- what you prefer." To see the full list of albums, go to RollingStone.com. Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone. | Since "Goats Head Soup" was the follow-up to "Exile," everyone expected it to be more raw .
"Some Girls" is the band's all-time bestseller; it put the Stones back on top .
The Stones took their time with "A Bigger Bang," as if they had something to prove . |
28,758 | 51a6fb579503a81f2de30ad0dc9f5d40f1b88987 | KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- A Sudanese court found a British teacher guilty of insulting religion and sentenced her to 15 days in prison Thursday for allowing a teddy bear to be named "Mohammed," British authorities and her lawyer reported. An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons, who has been found guilty of insulting religion. Gillian Gibbons also faces deportation from Sudan after her prison term, her lawyer told CNN. He said that he was "very disappointed" with the verdict and that Gibbons planned to appeal. Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her -- inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer said. Gibbons, 54, was arrested Sunday after she asked her class of 7-year-olds in Khartoum to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the British Foreign Office said. She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan's constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred. Although there is no ban in the Quran on images of Allah or the Prophet Mohammed, Islam's founder, likenesses are considered highly offensive by Muslims. Watch latest developments in the case. » . Appearing somber and dazed, Gibbons arrived at the central courthouse in Khartoum for her closed hearing early Thursday. A staff member from the British Embassy in Khartoum and defense lawyers attended the hearing with her. The courthouse was heavily guarded by police, who kept journalists -- and, for a while, even one of her attorneys -- away. Gibbons could have faced a sentence of 40 lashes, a fine, or a jail term of up to a year, according to the Foreign Office, which expressed Britain's dissatisfaction with the verdict. "We are extremely disappointed that the charges against Gillian Gibbons were not dismissed," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement issued shortly after the verdict was announced. "As I said this morning, our clear view is that this is an innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher. Our priority now is to ensure Ms. Gibbons' welfare, and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her. I have called in the Sudanese ambassador, Omer Siddig, this evening to explain the decision and discuss next steps." Watch a report on reactions to the verdict » . The Foreign Office said Gibbons would be given credit for the four days since her arrest, meaning that the she has 11 days remaining on her sentence. Earlier, Miliband had met with Siddig, who was summoned to the Foreign Office in London. "I explained to him that we were very concerned by the case. We believe that this was an innocent misunderstanding," Miliband said in a statement released Thursday after the meeting. "The Sudanese ambassador undertook to ensure our concerns were relayed to Khartoum at the highest level. He also said he would reflect back to Khartoum the real respect for the Islamic religion in this country," the statement added. On the first floor of the courthouse, around 25 police linked arms and forced journalists and British officials away from the court entrance. Police detained some journalists, and confiscated a camera belonging to a freelance CNN cameraman. Four vans filled with riot police were waiting outside the courthouse, but there were no signs of street disturbances or protests. Staff from Gibbons' school, including Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School, were present. The staff members refused to comment on their colleague's predicament. On Wednesday, Boulos said he was "horrified" when he found out that the complaint about the naming of the bear came from a member of his own staff -- not from a parent, as originally thought. Defense counsel later confirmed that the complaint came from Sarah Khawad, a secretary at the school. Gibbons has been working at the school -- popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates -- since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool, England, this summer, Boulos said. He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. E-mail to a friend . Journalist Andrew Heavens contributed to this report. Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. | British teacher in Sudan found guilty of insulting religion .
Gillian Gibbons, 54, arrested after her class named teddy bear "Mohammed"
Gibbons was not convicted of two other charges brought against her .
UK consular staff, Gibbons' defense team initially refused access to the court . |
214,556 | a1cf9533d773bb7f1c9f1a1343867f3979a6a653 | By . Alexandra Klausner . PUBLISHED: . 00:47 EST, 2 March 2014 . | . UPDATED: . 00:51 EST, 2 March 2014 . Two siblings from Shepardsville, Kentucky have an extraordinary dance routine that is gaining international attention. Even though Grace Latkovski, 9, uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis, that doesn't stop her and her sister Quincy Latkovski, 11, from competing at the Jamfest Super Nationals and becoming an instant darling among fans. In fact, both Quincy and Gracie incorporate wheelchairs in their heart-warming routine set to the song 'Reflection' from popular Disney film Mulan. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Gracie Latkovski may be in a wheel chair but that doesn't stop her from living her life to the fullest . Both Gracie (left) and her sister Quincy (right) use a wheelchair in their dance performance . The routine incorporates the use of a mirror to illustrate the lyrics to the song 'Reflection' and to show how Gracie feels liberated on the inside despite her disability . This year’s Jamfest Super Nationals was larger than ever with 300 teams performing and more than 4,000 dancers. 'There wasn't a dry eye in the house,' Jamfest representative Hayley Reyes said of their unique performance. Jamfest was the first time the girls appeared on a national stage and they made quite the impression. 'Within a second, everyone became a family,' Reyes said to HLN. The girls' mom Christin Latkovski told HLN that Gracie picks all her songs and that the lyrics, 'I am now in a world where I have to hide my heart and what I believe in, but somehow I will show the world what's inside my heart and be loved for who I am,' describes the way Gracie struggles with her disability but how she overcomes it. In the performance, Quincy doesn't push Gracie around, rather Gracie is able to operate her own motorized wheelchair on which she can twirl and dance. The girls show the national audience how they've manged to master their ability . As Gracie twirls in her chair, Quincy does impressive flips in the air . Gracie does not see herself as disabled and wants people to believe in themselves despite what other people may view as limitations. The sisters study at a dance studio where Gracie takes both private and group lessons. Gracie teaches others how to reveal who they are on the inside not through physical appearance but through art and creativity. The routine begins with both Gracie and her sister Quincy sitting in wheelchairs looking at each other from opposite sides. Eventually, Quincy rises from her wheelchair, dances through the mirror to the other side and acts as Quincy's inner self full of enthusiasm and exuberance. Quincy spins, pops her leg into the air, and even flips on the stage in front of the massive and appreciative audience. The girls spin hand in hand on the stage until Quincy walks back through the mirror for the grand finale. Even though Gracie may never be able to kick her legs, it doesn't make her feel any less special on the inside especially with the love of her mother, her older sister, and her adoring fans. Their touching routine was undeniably a showstopper . The girls, pictured here with their parents and their little brother, love performing together and working together to create art . | Gracie, 9, is in a wheelchair but doesn't see herself as disabled .
In fact, both Quincy and Gracie .
incorporate wheelchairs in their heart-warming routine set to the song .
'Reflection' from the popular Disney film Mulan .
The girls performed their first ever national routine at Jamfest Super nationals in Kentucky . |
248,898 | ce17f62293905ef92cf21aa03db6d7e4723fbb1d | (CNN) -- Convicted serial rapist Gary Irving was offered a weekend of freedom by a judge in Massachusetts before reporting to jail. He took nearly 35 years. One of Massachusetts' most wanted fugitives was living a quiet life in Gorham, Maine, until he was arrested Wednesday night at his home. Irving, 52, was found living under the name Gregg Irving, Massachusetts State Police spokesman Dave Procopio said Friday in a statement. Irving was convicted in 1978 of raping three young women in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. According to Massachusetts State Police, Judge Robert Prince released the 18-year-old defendant on bail to his parents in order to make final arrangements before sentencing. Irving, facing the possibility of life in prison, never returned. Massachusetts State Police put Irving on their "Most Wanted" list and launched a manhunt. Louis Sabadini, the Norfolk County prosecutor for the case in 1978, told CNN he had advised Prince, who died in 2010, not to release Irving before his sentencing because he knew he would run. Sabadini said he had hoped Irving would be sent straight to state prison and was surprised by Prince's decision to grant bail because there was no longer a presumption of innocence. "Usually the judges, even the easy ones, will revoke bail if (the defendant) is found guilty," Sabadini said. "I think most people would run." Irving had been convicted of three counts of rape with force, unnatural acts and kidnapping, Massachusetts State Police said. In one incident, Irving knocked the victim off her bike and brought her to a secluded area, where he repeatedly raped her. During another, Irving threatened a victim with a knife if she did not comply with his sexual demands. Since he fled, Irving's profile has been featured on the TV shows "America's Most Wanted," "Unsolved Mysteries" and "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol," according to the Most Wanted poster. Investigators found numerous handguns and long guns in his home in Gorham on Wednesday. Irving did not possess the guns legally and will be charged by federal authorities on firearms offenses, Procopio said. Sabadini, now retired and living in Norwell, Massachusetts, told CNN that most lawyers quickly move on to the next case, but this one never quite left his mind. "It did bother me," he said. "Rapists generally have a tendency to commit that crime over and over again, so I don't know what (Irving) has been doing all those years." Maine State Police, Gorham police and FBI agents joined the investigation and aided in the arrest, Procopio said. Irving is being held in Portland, Maine. He is scheduled for a hearing Monday morning at Cumberland County Courthouse, according to Stephen McClausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police. Irving's lawyer, Christopher Leddy, told CNN that he would not comment on the case until after the hearing Monday. "Please understand that this is an extremely difficult situation for Mr. Irving's family and they would like to be given some space for now," Leddy said. CNN's Laura Ly contributed to this report. | Gary Irving fled before sentencing in Massachusetts in 1978 .
He was found Wednesday living in Maine, using a different first name .
Case was featured on "America's Most Wanted," other shows .
Irving due in court for a hearing on Monday . |
34,319 | 61858ed02b946cfd7fd0d34c8cf8796392b00356 | By . Ian Parkes, Press Association . Daniel Ricciardo believes finishing ahead of Sebastian Vettel in this year's Formula One world championship would prove to be a real feather in his cap. Back-to-back third-place finishes in the last two grands prix behind dominant Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have elevated Red Bull's Ricciardo into fourth place in the drivers' standings. Centre of attention: Daniel Ricciardo claims finishing above Sebastian Vettel would boost his confidence . Reigning four-times champion Vettel, meanwhile, has suffered gremlins this year and is now nine points adrift of Ricciardo, promoted from Toro Rosso at the end of last season as replacement for Mark Webber. Despite the regulation changes over the winter, not many would have put good money on the 24-year-old Australian having the edge over Vettel so far, but that is how the season is panning out. Naturally, Ricciardo is aware of the kudos he would gain should he still be ahead of Vettel come the conclusion to the season in Abu Dhabi. 'It . wouldn't be a bad thing. It would give me a lot of confidence,' said . Ricciardo, speaking ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix that was . won by Vettel 12 months ago. 'In . saying that, I've probably already done enough to show the guys I can . do it, and when I say 'can do it', not specifically beat Seb, but to . race at the front, be in a top team, and deserve to be here. 'Whatever happens in the championship, the final result, unless we win then it's probably not going to matter. 'They . (the team) will probably look at specific races in the year and say 'in . this one he did well', or 'in this he did quite well'. It would be a . nice pat on the back I guess.' I'm still smiling: Vettel has won the F1 title in the last four years but has struggled to hit the front this term . Bearing in mind Vettel has never finished behind a team-mate since he entered F1 in 2007, Ricciardo insists there is no magic to what he has achieved so far, just unwavering confidence in himself. 'It's important for me to try to learn from him (Vettel), and I'd be silly not to because he's obviously the best in the world, so I can't be stubborn about that," added Ricciardo. 'At the same time I work well when I focus on myself. If I get distracted too much with what Seb is doing then it takes my mind off what I need to be doing. On the march: Ricciardo (right) has leaped to fourth in the championship following his third place at Monaco . Surprise: Ricciardo has exceeded expectations by leading Vettel in the championship . 'I have a lot of belief in my ability, and I know if I do everything I can to my best then the results will come. 'At the moment 95 per cent is directed towards myself, and then on the side, if I can learn a bit from Seb, then I do. It's trying to do what I know first and then worry about the rest later.' | Red Bull driver fourth place in championship standings after six races .
Australian leads world champion team-mate by nine points .
Ricciardo in first season at Red Bull after replacing Mark Webber .
Vettel has never finished behind a team-mate in Formula One . |
125,616 | 2e68885b47e408da6bbb9ad7dca44b54362b746a | (CNN) -- Trinidad and Tobago's Kelly-Ann Baptiste should have been contending for a medal in Monday's women's 100m final at Moscow -- instead she has been withdrawn from the World Athletics Championships by her federation for a "doping matter." Baptiste, who won a bronze in the last global championships in Daegu two years ago, set a national record of 10.83 seconds for the 100m earlier this season to underline her medal potential. Only two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, who went on to claim the gold, and Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare have run faster this year. But the Trinidad and Tobago National Association of Athletic Administrations confirmed Monday that Baptiste and fellow sprinter Semoy Hackett would not be competing. "The absence of both athletes is related to doping matters of varying degrees and complexity," read a statement from the organization. "In the case of Ms Baptiste this association was notified on Thursday August 8 by the IAAF (of a failed doping control) and the results management process is currently under way and as a result, any further comment at this stage would be premature and inappropriate." Hackett, who trains in the United States, tested positive last year at the U.S. Collegiate Championships for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant. She was subsequently exonerated by the Trinidad and Tobago federation, but the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) appealed the decision and re-suspended her pending an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. The Baptiste case is another blow to the image of track and field, still reeling from the high profile doping cases which have seen American sprinter Tyson Gay and leading Jamaicans Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown facing lengthy bans. A batch of lesser known names from Turkey and Russia have also fallen foul of the testers ahead of the championships. The IAAF announced before the event that it will bring in four-year bans for those caught doping from 2015, against the current two-year maximum penalty for a first offense. | Leading sprinter Kelly-Ann Baptiste withdrawn from world championships .
Her Trinidad and Tobogo federation said it was for a 'doping matter'
Teammate Semoy Hackett also pulled out of Moscow events .
Latest leading track and field athlete to fail drugs test . |
163,416 | 5f492666ceae9c73df07a9e178a973e9de8363ae | By . Mark Duell . PUBLISHED: . 11:35 EST, 19 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 12:16 EST, 19 November 2013 . Trial: Anxiang Du, 54, allegedly said 'blackness' came over him as he carried out the brutal stabbings . A man accused of murdering a family of four told a psychiatrist that ‘blackness’ came over him as he carried out the brutal stabbings, a court heard today. Anxiang Du, 54, is accused of knifing Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng ‘Jeff’ Ding, his wife Ge ‘Helen’ Chui, and their two daughters, Xing ‘Nancy’, 18, and Alice, 12, at their home in Wootton, Northamptonshire. During his trial which began last week, a jury has heard he carried out the stabbings following a long-running legal dispute after a business relationship turned sour. After the April 2011 killings, Du, who denies four counts of murder, fled to Morocco where he was eventually arrested and extradited back to the UK, at Northampton Crown Court heard. Today Professor Nigel Eastman, a forensic psychiatrist, told jurors he interviewed Du in prison in August last year after he was brought back to Britain to face four charges of murder. Giving evidence for the defence today, Mr Eastman told the court Mr Du had given him an account of the events that had unfolded on the day of the killings in 2011. Mr Eastman said Du thought about going . to see the Dings after seeing a knife in a bag in his shop in . Birmingham on the morning of April 29, 2011. Dead: Du, 54, is accused of knifing (from left) Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng 'Jeff' Ding, his wife Ge 'Helen' Chui, and their two daughters, Xing 'Nancy', 18, and Alice, 12, at their home . The . court heard Du had taken the knife to his shop previously with the . thought that he may take his own life. Mr Eastman said Du told him he . had wanted to get the Dings to give back the money. Mr . Eastman told the court: ‘He said “I wanted to get them to give back the . money. It is why I carried the bag. I picked up the bag with the knife . in it at that stage”.’ 'At the time my heart was feeling hopeless. There was a very strong feeling of no way out' What Anxiang Du 'told psychiatrist' The psychiatrist had asked Du whether he had thought about causing the Dings harm. Mr . Eastman told the court: ‘He replied “possibly”. I then asked him what . possibly meant. He said “If they don’t give me the money then I would do . that to harm them”.’ The psychiatrist had then asked Du whether he had the intention to kill the Dings if they had not given him money. Mr . Du replied: ‘I think that if the Dings had apologised to me I probably . would not have done that. Throughout they never apologised.’ Mr Eastman told the jury he then asked Mr Du whether he had thought in advance about killing the Dings. House: Du told a psychiatrist that he had become 'uncontrollably distressed and sobbed' when he saw the two daughters in the bedroom of the home in Wootton, Northamptonshire, the court heard . ‘He . said “I did not have such forethought. I did not think so far ahead. If . I had I probably would never have gone there. At the time my heart was . feeling hopeless. There was a very strong feeling of no way out”.’ Du . said that when he arrived at the Dings house in Wootton he went through . the garage as the family had never answered the front door in the past . when he had rung the doorbell. Mr . Eastman went on: ‘He told me he went into the garden and saw Mr Ding . through the kitchen window and then he went into the kitchen.’ Du told Mr Eastman he had asked Mr Ding for money but that he could not remember how much. Mr . Eastman said Du told him: ‘Mr Ding said I was stupid and a fool. His . facial expression was one of mocking. He ordered me to leave. I think he . also said he would call the police. ‘I . did not say anything. I withdrew the knife from the bag. I was not . thinking anything. My mind was blank.’ Mr Eastman then said Du told him . he felt he saw ‘blackness’ and that Mr Ding’s appearance was distorted . and ‘ugly’. The psychiatrist . said the evidence demonstrated Mr Du was in a ‘high state of arousal’ at the time he carried out the killings but did not fully support the . basis of diminished responsibility. Mr Ding (left) was a lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University while his wife Helen (right) was a translator . Mr . Eastman continued: ‘He (Du) said another person came and grabbed my arm . so I pointed the knife at her then they fell. He said he had stabbed Mr . Ding to the body and his wife but did not continue when they fell to . the ground. 'I did not hate them (the daughters) at all. I don’t know why. I am so sorry' What Anxiang Du 'told psychiatrist' ‘He told me he . did not know how many times he had stabbed them both.’ Du told the . psychiatrist that he went upstairs ‘after hearing a noise’. He . told Mr Eastman that he had become ‘uncontrollably distressed and . sobbed’ when he saw the two daughters in the bedroom. ‘I also killed . them, I don’t know why,’ Du told Mr Eastman. Mr . Eastman asked him whether he had any hatred for the two children. Du . replied: ‘I did not hate them at all. I don’t know why. I am so sorry.’ He . added that he did not resent the daughters, saying: ‘I do not have any . such feelings. It was a big sin, me killing them. I was not thinking of . anything.’ Du told him he could not remember which daughter he had stabbed first or how many times he had attacked each of them. Deaths: Sisters Xing 'Nancy' Ding (left) and Alice (right) were also killed in the attack, the court has been told . ‘The . next thing I remember is I laid down and slept then it was dark . already. I did not know what time it was then I saw a wallet with money . in it and car keys and decided to escape.’ Mr Eastman said he asked Du why he wanted to escape and he had replied: ‘I don’t know. I wanted to run away.’ The . bodies of Mr and Mrs Ding were found downstairs in the kitchen of their . home, and Alice and Nancy were found dead in an upstairs bedroom on May . 1, 2011, two days after the brutal killings. Post-mortem tests showed Mr Ding had been stabbed 23 times, Mrs Ding 13 times, Nancy had 11 stab wounds and Alice had four. Prosecutors . allege Du stabbed the Ding family in order to ‘avenge himself’ after . their business relationship in Chinese medicine broke down and he ended . up owing £88,000 in costs following a lengthy legal battle between the . two families. William . Harbage QC, prosecuting, has told jurors that there was no argument that . Du was responsible for the killings but the defendant would claim he . should only be convicted of manslaughter on the basis of either . diminished responsibility or loss of control. The case continues. Sorry we are unable to accept comments for legal reasons. | Anxiang Du, 54, allegedly killed family in Nothamptonshire in April 2011 .
He 'knifed Jeff Ding, his wife Helen and their daughters Nancy and Alice'
Du 'fled to Morocco where he was arrested and extradited back to Britain' |
68,318 | c1c70bde2f633fe078304fefd06a1ab2d2e0a2da | (CNN) -- AT&T has announced a plan that could see high-speed fiber Internet networks rolled out in as many as 100 cities in 21 metro regions throughout the United States. It's a move that puts the telecommunications company in a head-to-head battle with Google, which has begun its own charge to dramatically Increase internet speeds in various cities. The network, called AT&T U-verse With GigaPower, is able to deliver broadband at up to 1 gigabit per second. That's roughly 100 times faster than current speeds in many parts of the nation. The company plans to enter discussions with local leaders in areas it has identified as having suitable existing networks and likely high demand for the service. "This initiative continues AT&T's ongoing commitment to economic development in these communities, bringing jobs, advanced technologies and infrastructure," the company said in a news release. The metropolitan areas being considered are: Atlanta; Augusta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Chicago; Cleveland; Fort Worth, Texas; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Greensboro, North Carolina; Houston; Jacksonville, Florida; Kansas City, Kansas; Los Angeles; Miami; Nashville; Oakland, California; Orlando, Florida; San Antonio, Texas; San Diego; St. Louis; San Francisco, and San Jose. AT&T had already announced plans to install the high-speed network in Austin and Dallas, Texas, and says it is in "advanced discussions" with Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It's worth emphasizing that none of this is a guarantee yet. More likely, it's AT&T publicly pointing out locations it thinks are good candidates for network upgrades. Google, meanwhile, first launched Google Fiber in 2012. That service also promises speeds of 1 gigabit per second, which the company says could allow someone at full capacity to download an entire feature-length movie in 38 seconds. Google has already brought the service to Kansas City, Kansas; and Provo, Utah and plans to roll out in Austin, Texas, by the end of this year. Google connects fiberoptic cables directly to a home or office in order to give users broadband Internet and television service. In Kansas City and Provo, Google's ultra-fast Internet service costs $70 a month for Internet, or $120 if you add streaming video. In February, Google said it's exploring plans to lay down the special cables in nine more metro areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Phoenix, Portland, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and San Jose. That includes 34 cities in those regions. | AT&T looks to bring high-speed Internet to 21 major metro areas .
AT&T U-Verse With GigaPower offers speeds up to 1 gigabit per second .
The move would compete with Google Fiber with similar speed . |
74,557 | d35620de488e1b1b1e0e891e468a187993d3b2eb | Leeds are looking at a loan deal for Catania's Albanian striker Edgar Cani. The 25-year-old forward has spent most of his career in the Italian leagues. He moved to Poland in 2011 for a spell with Polonia Warsaw which was marred by the team’s severe financial position and repeated fall-outs between the striker and club's officials. Leeds are interested in signing Edgar Cani (right, pictured playing for Carpi in 2013) on loan from Catania . Bristol City are in talks over loan deals for Wolves midfielder George Saville and Wigan right-back James Tavernier. The 21-year-old Saville joined Wolves on a permanent deal last summer but the move has failed to work out. Tavernier, 23, started his career at Newcastle before joining the Latics in June. Bristol City are in talks over securing Wolves midfielder George Saville (left) on loan . | Edgar Cani has spent more of his career in the Italian leagues .
Bristol City are in talks over signing Wolves' George Saville on loan .
City are also interested in a loan deal for Wigan's James Tavernier . |
13,281 | 25b96a41f2418bc4f5f249ebc79c237e9ffce201 | (CNN) -- Was the third time a charm for Jim Carrey as the host of "Saturday Night Live?" The stakes were pretty high for the elastic-faced funnyman, whose new movie "Dumb and Dumber To" comes out next month. Preliminary reviews of his SNL performance were mixed, but there's no denying that Carrey rose to the occasion, leading to some hilarious scenes. He took a trip down memory lane as the SNL cast impersonated his biggest roles in a family reunion, which included a cameo from "Dumb and Dumber" co-star Jeff Daniels. Other memorable moments included a parody within a parody with his take on actor Matthew McConaughey's odd Lincoln car commercials. He also showed off his penchant for physical comedy in a dance-off with "SNL" cast member Kate McKinnon to Sia's "Chandelier" music video, complete with nude body suits and a cameo from musical guest Iggy Azalea. Did you catch the episode? Tell us what you thought in the comments. | Jim Carrey hosts "Saturday Night Live" for third time .
"Dumb and Dumber" co-star Jeff Daniels makes cameo .
Carrey plays Matthew McConaughey's role in Lincoln car commercial . |
280,897 | f7e2726b020b70df21588a4b77c0f1fc50438a2a | Anti-terror police in Germany have arrested a man codenamed 'The Tailor' who they claim ran a secret textile factory supplying large amounts of clothes and boots for ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria. The Lebanese man, identified only as 31-year-old Kassem R., was woken up at his home in a suburb of Bonn by GSG-9 officers blowing off the front door of his apartment with explosives. Similar raids at other addresses in Germany on Saturday resulted in more arrests of ISIS sympathisers. Terror tailor: A man codenamed 'the tailor', who is believed to have run a textile factory producing clothes for ISIS militants (pictured) has been arrested in Germany . He was led away for questioning along with his wife and children. Computers, mobile phones and paperwork were seized by officers who suspect him of supplying ISIS terrorists with combat suits, 7,500 pairs of boots, 6,000 military-issue parkas and 100 military shirts - in all worth £100,000 - from a secret plant inside Germany. Fifteen people were held in other raids in Germany as the intelligence service attempts to dismantle the support system underwriting the killers on the ground in the Middle East. A 38-year-old Tunisian called Kamel Ben Yahia S. is accused of also sending clothing and cash to ISIS while Yusup G., 28, a Russian, was identified as the quartermaster responsible for shipping the goods. The man identified only as Kassem R., 31 is suspected of supplying ISIS terrorists with combat suits, 7,500 pairs of boots, 6,000 military-issue parkas and 100 military shirts worth £100,000 . A 38-year-old Tunisian man named Kamel Ben Yahia S. is accused of also sending clothing and cash to ISIS while Yusup G., 28, a Russian, was identified as the quartermaster responsible for shipping the goods . Germany has seen some 400 of its citizens leave to fight for the jihad in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Spy chiefs say that a well-structured support system in the country is helping them with materials and goods to continue fighting. Meanwhile Turkey said it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to reinforce fellow Kurds in the Syrian town of Kobani, while the United States air-dropped arms for the first time to help the defenders resist an Islamic State assault. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington had asked Ankara to let Iraqi Kurds cross its territory so that they could help defend the town which lies on the Turkish frontier, adding that he hoped the Kurds would 'take this fight on'. Smoke and flames rise over Syrian town of Kobane after an airstrike today. Turkey said it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to reinforce fellow Kurds in the Syrian town of Kobani . Strike: The United States air-dropped arms into Kobane for the first time today to help the defenders resist an Islamic State assault. Smoke rises from a building after an ISIS mortar strike in the town of Kobane today . Smoke billows out from behind a building in the Syrian city of Kobane following an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition planes . Bombing run: A U.S.-led coalition aircraft is seen over the Syrian city of Kobane today . Kurdish militias in Kobane have been fighting off an Islamic State offensive since September without, until now, outside help apart from U.S.-led airstrikes on the jihadists. The town, which is besieged by Islamic State on three sides, lies on the frontline of the battle to foil the radical group's attempt to reshape the Middle East. The U.S. Central Command said it had delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to allow the Kurdish fighters to keep up their resistance in the town which is called Kobani in Kurdish and Ayn al-Arab in Arabic. Kurdish fighters gather at a position near the Mursitpinar border crossing. The militias have been fighting off an Isis offensive since September without, until now, outside help apart from U.S.-led airstrikes on the jihadists . Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) fighters take position in the Syrian town of Kobani, as seen from inside Turkey . A Turkish tank near the Turkish-Syrian. Turkey will reportedly allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to cross the Syrian border to fight Islamic State (IS) militants in the Syrian city of Kobane . The main Syrian Kurdish armed group, the YPG, said it had received 'a large quantity' of ammunition and weapons. The Islamic State relies on its global online propaganda machine, run largely by supporters far from the battle, to entice fighters, funding and other aid to the front. If the militants' victories begin to ebb in such a public forum, U.S. officials believe, so too will their lines of support. That alone makes the battle for Kobani a must-win fight for the U.S. strategy. | Lebanese man, identified as 31-year-old Kassem R, arrested in dawn raid .
Suspected of supplying ISIS with equipment produced in a secret factory .
He is believed to have sent combat suits, 7,500 pairs of boots, 6,000 parkas and 100 military shirts .
Similar raids at other addresses in Germany resulted in more arrests of ISIS sympathisers .
Germany has seen some 400 citizens leave to fight for the jihad in Syria . |
270,895 | eae23be41038dfc5a0f56c76b9a985a1023236ef | (Rolling Stone) -- For most of his life he's been Gene Ween, the nimble-voiced frontman of one of rock's great genre-hoppers -- but Aaron Freeman is finally ready to put his alter-ego to bed. "It's time to move on," Freeman told Rolling Stone from his home in New Jersey. "I'm retiring Gene Ween." So does that mean the end for Ween, the band that Freeman formed with high school friend Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) in New Hope, Pennsylvania, in the mid-Eighties? "Pretty much, yeah," says Freeman. "It's been a long time, 25 years. It was a good run." Freeman, who released his solo debut "Marvelous Clouds" earlier this month, says there's no animosity towards his bandmates or Melchiondo, who he met in the eighth grade. He says the pair are still on speaking terms, even though he's been contemplating the decision for the past eight years. "For me it's a closed book. In life sometimes, in the universe, you have to close some doors to have others open," says Freeman. "There's no, 'Godd**n that such and such!' For me, I'd like to think it's a door I can close finally." Freeman and Melchiondo released a slew of home-recorded tapes in the Eighties before they tasted unlikely MTV success in 1992 with "Push th' Little Daisies," from their major-label debut "Pure Guava." After that novelty single, Ween went on to release albums that reflected their intense love of music, from metal to MOR and all points in between. On 1996's "Golden Country Greats," they brought in Nashville session players for an album of country originals, while saxophonist David Sanborn guested on "Your Party," from Ween's most recent album, 2007's "La Cucaracha." But question marks over Ween's future were raised following an onstage meltdown by Freeman at a show in Vancouver last year. The singer spent several weeks in an Arizona rehab facility battling substance abuse issues. Back at home and in good spirits, he says that his solo debut helped him get back on track. "It's a nice recovery record, definitely," he says. Like most of Ween's oeuvre, "Marvelous Clouds" is another unexpected detour: a covers album of tunes by the reclusive Sixties songwriter Rod McKuen. In his heyday, McKuen was penning songs for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash and Perry Como, but he's become somewhat of an obscure figure since he retired from the stage in the early-Eighties. "I was struck by the simplicity and power of songs," says Freeman, who came to McKuen through "Golden Country Greats" producer Ben Vaughn. "Anybody that can accomplish that kind of thing is great." Freeman recently spent an afternoon with the 79-year-old singer in his Beverly Hills home. "He's got this incredible studio downstairs in his house -- it hasn't been touched since 1973. He's got a room full of master tapes ... He's got probably thousands of songs that haven't seen the light of day." So is another volume of McKuen covers on the cards? "I could make five more Rod McKuen records, but that could get a little weird," jokes Freeman, who plans on releasing an album of original material next. "It's important to know that this isn't a side project. I'm forging a new thing for myself. So that's all. There's no plans for any records or touring for Ween from my end." See the full story at RollingStone.com . Copyright © 2011 Rolling Stone. | "I'm retiring Gene Ween" Aaron Freeman told Rolling Stone .
Freeman released his solo debut "Marvelous Clouds" earlier this month .
He's been contemplating the decision for the past eight years . |
88,026 | f9ca5f72bd513cf6faf26fea4a54165d87389f03 | (CNN) -- It's been five days since Hurricane Ike smashed into the Texas coast, but people are still struggling mightily with its effects. Flags of the United States and Texas fly where homes stood in Gilchrist, Texas, before Ike's wrath came ashore. From the destroyed coastline, to far inland where evacuees are seeking shelter, to communities in the Midwest where the storm dumped flooding rains, CNN's affiliates are reporting on the rebuilding of lives. Galveston, Texas Wrecked homes and possessions strewn around the ubiquitous sludge were the sights awaiting residents of Galveston, some of whom were allowed to check their property on Wednesday, KHOU reported. Paula Munoz said although the damage to the family's El Rey restaurant was worse than she could have imagined, they still planned to rebuild. "We spent 10 years paying off this place," she told KHOU. "We'll rebuild, and we'll do it here. Where else would we go? This is our life." But there was some relief for Maria Patina, who was worried she had lost everything. When she saw her house was standing, she rushed inside, grabbed a statue of Jesus and said: "Thank you, God." Read KHOU's report on going back to Galveston . Crystal Beach, Texas Frank and Dee Ann Sherman huddled in the attic of their beachfront home in Crystal Beach as Hurricane Ike ripped the house apart -- washing walls out to sea and lifting up what remained only to smash it down, KHOU said. Watch the Shermans tell their amazing survival story » . Somehow the roof stayed on and they survived, but they are not being allowed back into the ruins, not even to retrieve the ashes of their dead daughter. The couple said they were frustrated with complaints by people better off than them. "We see all of these people that are crying and moaning because they got some mud on their floor or their lights are out in Houston," Frank Sherman told KHOU. "We don't see anything about our friends that died in Crystal Beach and about the fact that our world is totally devastated. I'm 60 years old and I have to start my life all over again." Read how the Shermans contacted KHOU when they found they couldn't escape . Brazoria County, Texas Patty Smith fled Brazoria County and evacuated to Austin before the storm. She still does not know whether she has a home to return to, KVUE said. "It's like a nightmare. You look at your house when you pack up to leave and you're like 'Am I going to see this again'?" she said. Right now she's now relying on donations and just making it through each day. "We don't even know if we're going to have the money to pay our bills. It's that bad. My husband hasn't been able to work since we left," she said. Read KVUE's report on how Austin residents and workers are trying to help . Austin, Texas Parents still staying at the Austin Convention Center are trying to stay strong for their kids, News 8 reported, but they say it is getting harder. Watch Homeland Security boss discuss plans to help evacuees » . William Jones said the hardest part was trying to talk to his two daughters about their home. "I just tell them the truth and keep it simple," he said. "I don't try to sugarcoat it, so they know this is a real serious situation, but it's just hard on everybody right now," he told the station. Read what young victims are telling News 8 . San Antonio, Texas Kevin Green's mind was on laundry as he spent another day in a shelter in San Antonio, Texas, after getting out of Houston to avoid Ike. "I've been washing these clothes out and putting them on every day," he told KSAT. The Salvation Army said there would be enough clothes to hand out to evacuees, but there were concerns about making sure distribution was fair, KSAT said. Read KSAT report on how a planned clothing donation was stopped . Cincinnati, Ohio Tempers are running hot in Cincinnati even as hundreds of energy workers try to get the power back on, WLWT reported. Resident Betty Ruark told the station she was "really teed off" that houses either side of her had power, but she still needed a generator just to make coffee. "They're right here a week after you pay your bill to read your cotton-picking meter for next month," she said. "They're threatening to cut you off if you don't pay it, but could they care less that they don't got the electric on. It don't make sense, you know?" Duke Energy told WLWT that some repairs were helping only a small number of homes but that it hoped to have service back to normal by Sunday. Read WLWT's report on how people are getting upset . Carlisle, Ohio Police in Carlisle are enforcing a night-time curfew to prevent looting and other crime while the power is out, officials told WLWT. The action was taken because of problems elsewhere in the area hit by the storm, the station said. Residents told WLWT they didn't like the strict rules but were for the measure if it kept crime down. Read WLWT report on the action on Carlisle . Albuquerque, New Mexico A family who fled Galveston has given up on ever going home, instead deciding to make Albuquerque their new base, KOAT reported. Linda Sanchez and her two children thought they'd be able to ride out the storm and immediate aftermath in Houston but when Ike took out the power and the water they decided to head to more family in New Mexico. "It's better when you know someone around you," Sanchez told KOAT. Read how KOAT is trying to help the Sanchez family . | The effects of Hurricane Ike are still being felt across the United States .
CNN affiliates report on how communities are struggling to recover .
From Texas to Ohio, people are still battling homelessness and power outages . |
157,575 | 57bdd68552fb178c89c8c04bb961eea95026e518 | Medellin, Colombia (CNN) -- Medellin is a place that, for many, will always be associated with Pablo Escobar -- the late drug lord who unleashed a murderous wave of violence and turned the Colombian city into one of the world's most dangerous. Nearly 20 years after his death, the Medellin that Escobar and his infamous cartel once ruled has been transformed beyond recognition. In March, it was named the world's most innovative city by the Urban Land Institute. "It's a great opportunity to show the city we are building," says mayor Anibal Gaviria. "Medellin has gone through really difficult times and people internationally have a reference to this pain." "This designation as the most innovative city allows us to show the new face of Medellin, which has a lot of challenges but which has come a long way." Visiting one poor hillside community in the city, the traditional chaotic construction of cheap housing associated with slums is still there. But now a gleaming seven-station outdoor escalator runs through the heart of the community. "I have a lot of fun," says nine-year-old Mariana Savalo. "You can take it wherever you want to go and it helps bring up sick people." The project took two years to complete, at a cost of $5 million. It replaced a 300-step staircase, runs 18 hours a day, and has become a crucial link to the city center -- and the job market. "Medellin has taken things which in themselves are not innovative," explains Gaviria. "But the way Medellin has included them in urban and social development is the innovation. " This city's infrastructure illustrates his point: For less than a dollar, citizens can ride the subway and then transfer directly to the Metrocable -- a vast cable car system which sweeps residents high into the city's deprived areas. It stops in a mountaintop nature reserve, giving residents easy access to weekend recreation. The regeneration began under former mayor Sergio Fajardo, who pioneered a theory known as "urban acupuncture" from 2003, which focused on reclaiming areas from the cartels through strategic projects. "Fajardo said his strategy was, for the first time, to put a lot of investment towards the most deprived areas," says Italian architect Francesco Orsini. "Before that politicians used to go there to get votes, promising many things and not go back." Orsini was a member of the team that redesigned the city's urban landscape. One landmark project is the Parque Biblioteca Espana -- a striking library built in an area where Escobar used to recruit assassins. "We managed to bring into these low income settlements a high standard of architecture," says Orsini. "So we managed to dignify these spaces. So everybody says: 'This is my library and I identify myself with that beautiful design.'" The overall aim was to create pride in each citizen's neighborhood and the city itself. A scheme known as participatory budgeting -- where residents define local priorities -- remains central to its success. "One of the biggest things about Medellin is pride and love towards the city," says Gaviria. "That pride needs to be nurtured ... how? Through civic participation. Through citizens feeling they participate in the construction, design and approval of public works and government programs." A level of civic pride is evident. Many of the poor areas used to be strewn with rubbish and sewage. Now, the streets are clean, with brightly-colored recycling bins featuring prominently. As the city looks to its future, the hillside communities, together with the majority of the city's young people, are obvious areas of economic expansion. The mayor's office has established small clinics to encourage "micro entrepreneurs" like Clara Ramirez, who sells handicrafts. "I have learned a lot, like calculating costs and budgets," she says. "And computers -- now I have a few ideas if one day I have to present my work as an entrepreneur." Medellin is by no means a perfect city: Its murder rate has fallen by 80% since the Escobar days but it remains significant. And many still live in poverty. Yet there is an undeniable sense of optimism and pride that the city seems to be on the right path through a commitment to innovation. | Colombian city of Medellin was once known as the home of drug lord Pablo Escobar .
Now the city has been the focal point for innovative urban regeneration .
Named the world's most innovative city by the Urban Land Institute .
Regeneration began under former mayor who pioneered theory known as "urban acupuncture" |
6,305 | 11e37c69fcbbb24d92401c1c5f5f76692790fef5 | Editor's note: CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com. Job seekers need to be ready to deal with the perception that they are overqualified. Sherry Shealy Martschink, 57, is a former state legislator, state senator and worker's compensation commissioner for South Carolina. She's a recent law school graduate and has experience in journalism, marketing and education. For the past few years during her job search, she's been told -- in not so many words -- that she's overqualified. "Sometimes the opposition is in the tone of voice rather than the actual wording of the questions and comments," Martschink said. "An employer may say something like, 'We are hoping to find someone who will make a career here' or 'Why would you want this job after doing such-and-such?' Another type of question has to do with whether I could be a team player after being in such leadership positions." How does Martschink respond to such opposition? Plain and simple: . "If I weren't willing to do the work, I wouldn't be applying for the job," she said. Geoff Tucker, who has a college degree and six years experience in his field, has faced opposition more than once during his job search. In one interview, the hiring manager started with, "We both know you're overqualified," and went on to say she wanted to do a "gut check " to determine if Tucker would be OK with the tasks he'd be handing. "In other words, she wanted to see if I was OK with being versatile to the point of helping clean around the office and refill the toilet paper in the bathroom," Tucker said. "I affirmed that I do not have an issue with doing tasks that maybe I haven't had to do in a while. I am not that egocentric and I don't regard these tasks as below me." Many job seekers wonder how being qualified can be a bad thing, but it's a Catch 22 that many job seekers face today. They can't get hired for positions relevant to their experience so they apply for jobs at lower levels. The problem is that they can't get hired for those positions, either, because they're overqualified. "Employers are in the cat-bird seat," said Kathryn Sollman, co-founder and managing partner of the Women at Work Network. "The high volume of job seekers makes it possible for employers to hold out for their ideal candidates. You're not an ideal candidate if you have held a more senior position in the past; employers assume you will leave as soon as you find something at your normal level." What's the deal? Assuming you'll jump ship when the economy turns around is only one of the many objections employers have to hiring overqualified candidates. For one thing, many job seekers assume that their high credentials automatically mean they are skilled for a more junior job. But, Sollman said, just because a position is less senior than the one you previously held does not mean that you have the appropriate skills to succeed in that role. "Take an administrative position, for example. Many mid- to senior-level job seekers haven't done anything remotely administrative for years," she said. Right or wrong, other assumptions hiring managers might have about hiring overqualified candidates include: . • You'll be bored and unmotivated . • The salary will be too low for you . • You'll be unhappy . • You'll leave the minute something better comes along . • You could possibly steal his/her job . • You won't be able to step down from a leadership role . Hiring managers only take overqualified candidates seriously if they are convincing about a valid reason they want to take a more junior-level job, Sollman said. The best reason is saying you have decided that you don't want to work crazy schedules and are interested in a better work/life balance, she said. If that's the truth and you're truly not looking over your shoulder for a senior-level job, employers will consider you for a more junior job. Tucker says the doubt he gets from hiring managers regarding his experience is unfair. "They should consider my above-par qualifications as a way to gain additional capabilities on their staff and team. I will bring just as much passion to this role as I would any other," he said. "I would not apply for a job if it weren't a fit for me. It's about the work I'm doing and the contributions I'm making that matter." If you're being told you're overqualified during your job search, here are seven ways to convince your interviewer otherwise: . 1. Admit that you're worried, too Tell the hiring manager that you are also concerned that it might not be a fit, suggests Duncan Mathison, co-author of "The Truth about the Hidden Job Market." Promise that if at any point during the hiring process you feel the job appears too low or not one where you will bring the full engagement needed to excel in the position, you will withdraw your candidacy. Your willingness to walk away tells them you are motivated if you stay in the game. 2. Take salary off the table Make it clear that you're flexible about salary and that your previous earnings are not relevant to your current job search. "Tell the hiring manager that you work for both green dollars and personal satisfaction dollars," Sollman says. "Lately you've had a deficit in personal satisfaction dollars and you want a chance to try something new." 3. Put the issue out there Ask the interviewer if he or she sees any positives or negatives to your candidacy based on your higher qualifications. Get the issue on the table so it can be addressed, Mathison suggests. 4. Use your accomplishments "Tell the hiring manager that you're proud of your accomplishments and you have proven to yourself that you can perform at a more senior level," Sollman said. "Now you're not interested in chasing titles and promotion. You want to make a contribution at a compelling company." 5. Distance yourself from your higher qualifications Be empathetic to those parts of the hiring manager's jobs -- indicate that you have a clearer understanding of what a manager needs from their people. "For example, say you were a manager and are applying to an individual contributor job," Mathison said. "Tell the hiring manager that you are looking for a job that would give you more hands-on technical work and give you a break from the people management and corporate politics." 6. You want to learn If you've held more senior positions at a different kind of company or in a different industry, tell the hiring manager that the best way to really learn about a new industry is from the bottom up, Sollman says. 7. Make a commitment "Tell the employer that you know that job hopping is a major 'don't' in the business world. Say that barring unforeseen circumstances, you are ready to make at least a two-year commitment to the company," Sollman suggests. Copyright CareerBuilder.com 2009. All rights reserved. The information contained in this article may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority . | "Overqualified" tag a Catch 22 for job seekers who can't get hired at their level .
Employers may fear overqualified applicants will jump ship, take their jobs .
Experts advise to put the issue out there so it can be addressed in interviews .
Tell interviewers you want to learn new skills, will make a commitment to stay . |
225,919 | b08c7670f0a2f15d07c790623e18f659a8f4e22c | (CNN Student News) -- November 17, 2014 . We're kicking off the week with news from Australia, Mexico, and the atmosphere over our heads. What exactly is an omega block, and how does it differ from a bomb cyclone or the polar vortex? What is the G20? We've got the answers in this Monday's show. We're also reporting on an AP U.S. History controversy involving both the College Board and some school boards across the country. On this page you will find today's show Transcript and a place for you to request to be on the CNN Student News Roll Call. TRANSCRIPT . Click here to access the transcript of today's CNN Student News program. Please note that there may be a delay between the time when the video is available and when the transcript is published. CNN Student News is created by a team of journalists who consider the Common Core State Standards, national standards in different subject areas, and state standards when producing the show. ROLL CALL . For a chance to be mentioned on the next CNN Student News, comment on the bottom of this page with your school name, mascot, city and state. We will be selecting schools from the comments of the previous show. You must be a teacher or a student age 13 or older to request a mention on the CNN Student News Roll Call! Thank you for using CNN Student News! | This page includes the show Transcript .
Use the Transcript to help students with reading comprehension and vocabulary .
At the bottom of the page, comment for a chance to be mentioned on CNN Student News. You must be a teacher or a student age 13 or older to request a mention on the CNN Student News Roll Call. |
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